The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-02


Rouen's magnate, commercially and
socially, and. until an upstart young
lawyer named Vanrevel struck into his
power with d broad-ax, politically.
The wharves were Carewe's: the ware
houses that stood by the river, and the
! line of packets which piled upon it,
were his; half the town was his, and in
ROuen this meant that he was pos
sessed of the Middle Justice, the High
and the Low. His mother was a
FrenchWoman. and. in those days
when to go abroad was a ponderous
and Venturesone undertaking. the fact
that he had spent most of his youth in
the French capital wrought a certain
glamour about him: for to the Amerf-
can. Paris was Europe. and it lay
shimmering on the far horizon of every
Imagination, a golden city SARGE a
drawing-rOom in Rouen lacked its
fearsome engraving. entitled, Grand
Ball at the Tuilleries," nor was Godey's
Magazine ever more popular than when
It contained articles elaborate of SINH
lar scenes of festal light where bril-
liant uniforms mingled with shining
jewels, fair locks, and the white shout
ders of magniflcently dressed duchesses,
countesses and ladies. Credit for
this deception should be given entirely
TO the aforementioned periodicals.
Furthermore, a sojOurn in Paris was
held to confer a certain nameless and
indescribAble polish" upon the manners
of the visitor; also. there was some
thing called IAN air of foreign travel"
They talked a great deal about polish
in those days; and some examples still
extant do not deny their justification
but in the case of Mr.. Carewe, there
existed citizen of Rouen, one already
quoted. who had the temerity to de-
clare the polish to be in truth quite
"a MI nd no Co.
son that one cannot paint a vacuum.
However. subscription to this opinion
should not be over-hasty, since Mr..
Crailey Gray had been VIGOROUSLY a
rival of Carewe's with every pretty
woman in town, both having the same
eye in such matters, and also because
the slandered gentleman could assume
manner when he chose to, whether or
not he possessed 1t. At his own table
he exhaled a hOspitable graciousness
which, from a man of known evil tenn
per- carried the winsomeness of sur
prise. When he wooed, it was with
! an air of stately devotion, combined
with that knowingness which some
times offsets for a widower the ten
dency girl has to giggle at him; and
the combination had been, once or
twice, too much for even the alluring
Crailey
| Mr.. Carewe lived in an old-fashion-
ed house on the broad, quiet shady
/ street which bore his name. There was
a wide lawn in front, shadowy under
! elm and locust trees, and bounded nv
| thick strawberries. A long garden, fair
| with roses and hollyhocks, lay outside
| the library windows, an old-time gar
/ den, with fine gravel paths and green
i arbors; drowsed over in summertime
+, by the bees, while overhead the locust
rasped his rusty cadences the live-long
day; and faraway sounding love-
! note from the high branches brought
to mind the line. like an old rafrain:
THE voice of the turtle was heard in
the land"
Between the garden and the carriage
gates there was a fountain where a
bronze boy with the dropsy (but not
minding it, lived in a perpetual bath
from green goblet held over his head.
| Nearby, a stone sun-dial CLEANED
against a clump of lilac bushes; and it
was upon this spot that the white kit
en- introduced Thomas Vanrevel o
| Miss CareWe.
Upon the morning after her arrival.
| having finished her piano-forte prac-
| tice, touched her harp twice, and ar
peggiced the Spanish Fandango on her
guitar, Miss Betty read two paragraphs
| of Gilbert Cor she was profoundly
determined to pursue her tasks with
dillgence), but the open windows dis
closing a world all sunshine and green
leaves she threw the book aside with
a good conscience, and danced out to
the garden. There, coming upon a
fuzzy, white ball rolling into itself
| spirally on a lazy pathway she pounc-
| ed at it, whereupon the thing uncurled
with lightning swiftness. and fed more
| like a streak than a kitten, down the
drive, through the open gates and into
| he OF, c..lt
| Across the way there CHANGED to be
| strolling a young lady in blue, accom-
panied by gentleman whose leisurely
gait gave no indication of the man.
eouvring ne had done to hasten their
walk into its present direction. He
was apparently thirty or thirty-one
tall, very straight, dark, smooth
shaven. his eyes keen, deep-set and
thoughtful, and his high white hat
! white satin crdvat and careful collar
were evidence of an elaboration OF
toilet somewhat unusual in Rouen foI
| the morning; also, he was carrying a
pair of white gloves in his hand ano
dangled a slender ebony cane from his
wrist The flying kitten headed toward
the couple, when, with a celebrity only
to be accounted for on the theory that
his eye had been fixed on the Carewt
gateway for some time previous to this
sudden apparition, the gentleman
leaped in front of the fugitive.
The kitten attempted to dodge Il
pass; the gentleman was there before
II. The kitten tented: the gentleman
was altogether too much on the spot
1mnediately-and just as Miss Carewe
flushed and glowing ran into the stree
the small animal doubled evadeC
Miss Betty's frantic clutch, re-enteret
the gateway, and attempted a disap
pearance into the lilac bushes, instead
of going round them, only to find it.
self, for a fatal two seconds, in diff.
culties with the close-set thicket G.
stems.
In regard to the extraordinary agility
Of which the pursuing gentleman wa!
capable, ii is enough to say that hi
caught the cat He emerged from tn.
lilacs holding it in one hand, hi
gloves and white hat in the other
and presented himself before Miss Bet
ty with a breathlessness not entirel,
attributable to his exertions.
For a moment, as she came running
toward him he met her flashing look
bright with laughter and recognition
and haste. he stammered. A thrill
nothing less than delirious sent tn,
blood up behind his brown cheeks, fol
he saw that she, too. knew this wa.
the second time their eyes had met
Naturally, at that time he could no
know how many other gentlemen wer,
TO feel that same thrill Gin their cases
also delirious, no less) with the same
accompanying, mysterious feelinE
which came just before Miss Betty!
lashes fell, that one had found, at last
a precious thing, lost long since il
childhood. or left, perhaps upon some
/ other plaOpt in a life fhOusaV1C