The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-11-29
BOOK I.
An Idyl of Brittany.
CHAPTER V.-Continued.
The Rose and the Garden.

Little Anne. Countess de Rohan in her
own right, lived alone with her grand
IA Their in the old Chateau de Josseiin.
Save when unavoidably called away on
business connected with the management
OF his great estates, he rarely left her.
He watched over her with the SOicitude
Of a mother and the devotion of a lover.
The Withered old man grew to love her
as few children We're then loved-cer-
tainly with such a feeling as few French
men of rank at that day ever exhibited
toward child. She the sole heir to
all his possessions. the last Of that branch
of her ancient house. and he lavished upon
her a depth Of tenderness and a wealth
Of affection which surrounded her with
an atmosphere Of alteration.
Loath to part with her, instead Of COM
hitting her education to one of the great
conyentual schools as was the custom
among the nOblesse of the country. he
supervised it himself. Her growing mind
afforded him new food for wonder daily.
her present engrOssed his mind, her future
filled his dreams. AS he was one OF the
most accomplished gentlemen OF his time.
and had been man of the world in the
highest and best sense Of the word, she
received such training as had not often
been bestowed upon a young demolselle
OF France.
In but one particular, indeed the old
mans scheme Of education in the car
Tying OUT Ol WHICH lie was dSSlSlCd W tilo
best masters that money could procure,
might have been deemed faulty. The
marquis as he grew Old lived more and
more in the past--and as he went back
ward in time he took the little maid back
with him.
The same strange fancy which led him
20 restore medieval usageS and customs
as far as possible, and which made his
favorte study the ancient tales chivalry,
the stories Of the hardy adventurous
knights like the great Du Guesclin, some
of whose blood indeed ran in his veins,
gave an unusual turn to the thoughts Of
his grand daughter. She, like him, was
STEPPED in the romantic lore of ancient
days. The traditions of their ancient
house, the deeds of daring. devotion and
courage which had made the De Rohans
iustrious. were as familiar to her as
fairy tales and childish rhymes are to
other children. Her own maidenly vision
dmly comprehended the future through
the windows Of the past
knowing nothing Of the life of the
world around her, she gazed from
the tower windows Of the castle
over the leagues Of tossing sea.
and dreamed vague dreams of shin
ing knights coming from far away
to break lance and spear in her
honor: to crowr her queen OF love and
beauty, after deeds of daring to which the
MINISTRIES and troubadors would give as
wide a. fame as they would spread the
story Of her virtues and beauty. The
world of her mind was very different from
the real one in which by-and-bye she must
needs live, but no one had ever told her
of the difference. And that creature OF
quaint contradictions was yet but child
after ALL more often playing with dolls in
the intervals between her studies and her
dreams than anything else. The dolls at
least were real, and though she should
have outgrown them, instinctively, in de-
fault Of better things, she still chung to
them. She was romance wanting a touch;