The Topeka state journal., 1902-07-19
An Affair Of Honor.
[F'rom the Commercial Advertiser.l

IFrom the Commercial Advertised
Fame had come to NJ. Fregonard
(Louis Marie Victor PhiiiberG entirely
It is not given to all men
to have assurance and bravery. Whose
fault but natures if NJ. Fregonard, the
wealthy landlord of the Pomme-de PIN,
in the Rue Bac, had such plentiful lack
of both. Had he a mind to make a
figure in the world, or an inclination TO
seat himself above his neighbors? Be
shrew the thought! What he longed for
in some pleasant solitary place where he
might follow the even tenor of his way
without fear of treading on anybody's
coattails, corns or susceptibilities-
So, as may be well imagined, M. Fire.
gonard had been too much worried by
his shadow in his lifetime to have
grown fat upon it. He was sman,
slender man with restless eyes, .fdgety
hands and mouth that always Sim
pe-ed. Too timid to face the discipline
of a woman's tongue, he had never
married. But one evening, soon after
he had passed the critical period of 10,
meeting a petticoat in the hall and !
know not what devil urging him, he
had reached out his arms and stolen
hug, and then kiss-twc kisses-fil
the dark. And suddenly, when dread
horror at himself was beginning to dawn
IL his winesoal,ed head. his kisses had
been returned; he had felt himself trans
ported into the seventh heaven of Ma
homet- The captains wife. precise
truth to tell-for that shameless, plump
little body it was-had mistaken him for
Blondin, the government clerk. But.
alas! Unhappy Fregonard! Foolish
little woman. While she allowed her.
self deliciously to be hugged, wondering
only at the unusual intensity and ear
nestness of the embrace, an irate nus
band whose suspicious she had aroused,
stood by in ambush, like tiger for his
prey.
And a duel, as must needs be, ensued.
to which Fregonard was literally drag
ged by his seconds like the victim to
sacrifice. Oh it was short work. But
how it happened that at the first passes
of the swords it was the captain that
fell, transfixed, do not inquire of me-
When the sun rose and broke upon the
scene it rose upon the fame of Fregon-
ard.
From that day a transforma ton
seemed to come over him. He who, be-
fore, had never dared to put SO much
as a drop of water in the wine which he
supplied to his customers or to initiate
his bills with a single dishonest penny,
openly made his scandalous admix-
lures at the bar and the arrantest over
charges as unblushingly set down to
such unSuSceptible items soap and
candle. He walked about the Rue du
Bac with his hat cooked on one side
of his head, shouldering the elderly gen.
tlenen and ogling the women, reaping
all along the street a rich harvest of
admiration. And little by little he ex-
MISUNDERSTANDING, he did so,
the breadth of his renown-until he
came to the last house, facing the city
walls, which bordered his accustomed
route.
Now, in that very house, there lived,
with her crusty, splenetic trustee,
maiden fair of II to whom Fregonard
must needs lose his virgin heart upon
the very first sight he caught of her,
one day, at her window In a short time
hero hpc9n1P the A A1n9VjV9 of fTliS
Partisan Rosina, and every afternoon,
in order that he might see her, he was
accustomed to come there and brave.
quite unconsciously, the choleric eye of
a Bertholo more watchful and more
jealous than the one Beaumarcnais has
portrayed in his play.
The days went by full of gladness for
Fregonard. For the first time in his life
he loved and felt himself loved. And
indeed his exultation had reached such
a point that he had come to look with
a tolerable degree of Indifference on the
old tarnished sign which swung to and
fro with the wind over his head, where
he took up his station daily opposite
| the maiden's window, and on which he
had read at first the words 'Labaudiere,
Fencing Master" with painful impress
sion of ill-bOding.
One day. it might be month after
the spontaneous combustion of his
heart when he had learned that she
would be at the theater of the Bouffes-
ParlSleIneS III the company Ol dIl elueF-
| ly couple who had been very intimate
with her mother in her lifetime, and
| now transferred to her their affection
! for this departed parent, he repaired
| thither in all his finery- He felt a need
lsof seeing her at closer range, a vague
| hope, also, that he might brush against
| her and squeeze her hand. in the lobby,
| as he went out. His heart was singing
within him. And directly he came in
| he saw her. saw nothing but her. but
| gazed his soul away, his eyes rivetee
| upon her.
! Presently he became conscious of an
| elbow urgently forcing itself in the
| middle region between his fourth and
| fifth ribs. Il must desire you to cease
| staring at ny ward, SIR" said an angry
voice at his side. These simple words
were amply sufficient to flush him. He
| felt his cheeks suffused with an ire
pressib1e blush, and, his voice inoppor-
! tunely sticking in his throat, he en-
| deavored to give himself a countenance
| by turning upon his interlocutor and
| leveHing his glasses at him. Perhaps it
| was that Fregonard had one of those
/