The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-18


The duchesse was very rnuch interested
in the occult and known to be given
to table tipping and the invocation Of
spirits.
Il see something here began hes
itatingly, (which looks to me as If you
had once been threatened with a great
danger, but had been miraculously pre-
served"
The old woman drew away her hand.
"HHmph" she muttered with her
mouth full of homard. II wondered If
you would see that 1t was assassina-
ton l escaped, but it was enough to
leave a mark. Eth, Mademoiselle?"
Evidently So" / murmured.
The young Count de X. to my right
said in tone which the Duchesse
might have heard; when she was a
young girl, only 10, her husband tied
her with ropes to her bed and set fire
to the bed curtains. Her screams
brought the servants and they res
cued her."
My fork fell with a clatter.
What an awful man." / gasped.
HE was my uncle, mademoiselle!"
said the young man imperturbably, ar
ranging the gardenia in his buttonhole,
''but as you say, he was bad lot"
II beg your pardonI" / exclaimed.
cit is nothing" he answered. sit is
no secret. Everybody knows it,"
Later in the Afternoon / took occa-
sion to apologize to the Duchesse for
having referred to the subject.
why should yougbe distressed, mad
emoiselle?" said the old woman, peer
ing up into my face from under her
majenta bonnet with her little watery
brown eyes, Such things will go in
books and be history a few years
hence. We make history such families
as ours" she added proudly.
L 4
for an hour sarcastically watched Bee
and Mrs. Jimmie being presented to
those who called to pay their respects
to our hostess. They were Of all de-
scriptions and fascinating to a degree.
Finally the Duchesse came up to me
bringing a lady whom she introduced
as the Countess Y.
"she is a compatriot of yours, mad
emoiselle."
1t so happened that Bee and Mrs.
Jimmie were standing near me and
overheard.
"Ah, you are an American" I said.
We'll" said the Countess, moving
her shoulders a little uneasily, II am
an American, but my husband does not
like to have me admit it
1t was a small thing. She had right
to deny her nationality IL she wished,
but in some way it shocked the three
as If pulled by one string.
II think we must be going" said
Bee, haughtily.
Jimmie's jaw was so set as we left
the house of the countess, and Bee and
Mrs. Jimmie looked so disturbed, that
l suggested we drive down to the
Louvre and take one last look at our
three treasures. Mine are the Venus
de Milo and the Victory and Jimmie's
fu he .n1A sal .4nA. ..f ~
Jimmie loves that old giant, Father
Tiber. lying there with the horn of
plenty and dear little Romulus and
Remus with their foster mother under
his right hand. Jimmie says the toes of
the giant fascinate him.
1t looked like rain as we hastily
checked our parasols and Jimmie's
stick and cut down the left corridor to
the stairs, and SO on down to the
chamber where we left Jimmie and the
Tiber to stare each other out of coun-
tenance. The rest of us continued our
way to the room where the Venus
stands enthroned in her silent majesty.
We sat down to rest and worship for
awhile, and then coming up the steps
again and mounting another flight we
stood looking across the arcade at the
brilliant electric poise of the Victory,
and in taking our last look at her. we
grown very dark.
When we came out rested, uplifted
and Gained as that glorious Venus al
ways does our fretted spirits, we dis
covered that the most terrific rain
storm was in progress it was ever our
luck to behold. The water came down
in cataracts and binding sheets of
rain. Everyone except us had been
warned by the darkness and had got
themselves home. The streets were
empty except for the cabs and car
riages which skurried by with occu-
pants Our frantic signals and Jim
mics dashes into the street were of no
avail.
We would have walked except that
Bee and / had colds, and big, beauti-
ful Mrs. Jimmie was subject to Group,
which as every one knows is terrible in
its attacks upon grown people.
Poor Jimmie ran in every direction in
his wild efforts for a carriage, but none
was to be had. We waited two hours.
then Mrs. Jimmie saw a black covered
wagon approaching and she gathered
up her skirts and hailed it. The driver
obligingly pulled up at the curb.
You must drive us to our hotel" she
said. firmly. 1--WE have waited two
hours"
impossible, madamel" said the man.
But you must" we all said in
chorus.
"Jou shall have much money" said
Jimmie in his worst French.
"All the same 1t is impossible, Mon
sieur," said the man.
He regretted exceedingly his inability
to oblige the ladies, but--and he pre-
pared to drive OF.
Get in, girls" said Mrs. Jimmie.
firmly, pushing us in at the back Of
the wagon. The man exposulated, not
in anger, but appealingly. Mrs. Jim
mic would not listen. She told him
there should be more cabs in Paris. and
that she regretted the emergency as
much as he did, but she climbed i'm as
she talked and gave the address of the
hotel.
You shall have three times your
fare" she said, calmly; drive on"
But what Madame demands is inn
possible" pleaded the poor man; 81 am
on my way for another body Madame
sits in the morgue wagon"
But there he was mistaken, for mad
anne sat nowhere. Before he had done
speaking madame was flying through
the air, alighting on poor Jimmies foot
and tanning him for q week, while Bee
and / clawed at our dripping skirts in
a mad effort to follow her flight UP the
street.
The morgue wagon pursued it's way
down the Rue de Rivoli, while we risk
ed colds, Group and everything else as
we splashed through puddles and
marched steadily on, Jimmie Inning