The Cairo bulletin., 1904-11-28
BY IRVING BACHELLEE

oteiu uuty were as tHlHES Vi Tue lar
past. The grand passion had hold of
me. | tried to fight 1t down, to shake
it off, but somehow it had the claws of
tiger There was an odd thing about
il all: | could not for the life of me
tell which of the two charming girls
! loved the better. II may seem in
credible; could not understand 1t my
self They looked alike, and yet they
were quite different Louison was a
year older and of stouter build She
had more animation also. and always
quicker and perhaps brighter an
swer The other had face more Sc
rlous. albeit no less beautiful, and
slower tongue. She had little to say,
but her silence had much in 1t to adj
mire. and, indeed. to remember. They
appealed TO different men In me with
equal force, did not then know why
A perplexing problem 1t was, and had
to think and suffer much before | saw
The end of it, and really came to know
what love Is and what 1t is not
Shortly | was near the end of this
delightful season OF illness had been
out of bed week The baroness had
read to me every day, and had been so
kind that | felt a great shame for
my part in our deception. Every af-
ternoon she was off in a boat or in
her caleche, and had promised to take
me with her as soon as | was able to
/, so.
You know said she, Il am going
10 make you stay her full month.
have the consent of the general"
had begun to move about little
and enjoy the splendor of that forest
home. There were, indeed many rare
and priceless things in II that came
out of her chateau in France She had
some curious old clocks, tokens of
ancestral taste and friendship. There
was one her grandfather had got from
the land of Louis XlV.-le Grand Mon
argue, of whom my mother had begun
to tell me as soon as could hear with
understanding. Another came from the
bedchamber of Philip H. of Spain--a
grand high clock that tolled the hours |
in that great hall beyond my door |
little thing, In case of carved |
ivory, that licked on table near my /
bed Molierc had given to one of her I
ancestors, and there were many others |
'iof equal interest
Her walls were adorned with art I
treasures of the value of which had /
little appreciation those days. But I /
remember there were canyasses OF /
HnrrorUin ard Daun hrandt and Ga.
Joshua Reynolds. She was. indeed. a
woman of fine taste, who had brought
her best to America; for no one had
doubt. in the time of which | am writ
tng, that the settlement of the Com
pagnie de New York would grow into
a great colony. with towns and cities
and fine roadways, and the full COM
plement of high living. She had built
the Hermitage was the name OF
Jlie mansion--fne and splendid as II
was, for a mere temporary shelter
pending the arrival of those better
days
She had curious fad, this hermit
baroness of the big woods. She loved
nature and was naturalist OF no
poor attachments. Wasps and hornets
were the special study of this remark
able woman There were at least q
score of their nests on her front por-
tco-big and little and some of them
oddly shaped She hunted them in
wood and field. When she found a
nest she had 1t moved carefully after
nishtfall, under a bit Of netting and
fastened somewhere about the gablessl
Around the Hermitage were many
withered boughs and briers holdipaA
cones of wrought fiber each a cItsdeIH
of these uniformed soldiers OF the air
and the poisoned arrow. They were
assembled in colonies Of yellow, white,
blue, and black wasps and white
faced hornets. She had no fear OF
them. and, indeed, no one of the house
hold was ever stung TO my knowledge.
| have seen her stand in front of her
door and feed them out OF saucer
There were special favorites that
would light upon her palm. overrun-
ming It's pink hollow and gorging at
the honey-drop.
They will never sting" she would
say. 'if one does not declare war. To 81
strike. 20 make any quick notion II
gives them anger. Then. mon cher
ami, it is terrible. They cause you 4
to burn. TO ache. to make great noise.
and even 70 lie down upon the ground.
II people come TO see me, If | get a
new servant. say: Make TO them no
attention. and they viii not harm
you.
In the house have seen her catch
one by the wings on window and
holding it carefully ask me to watch
her captive-sometimes great dare
devil hornet. lion-mane1--as be lay
stabbing with his poison-dagger.
Now" said she, he is angry; she
will remember. If I release him he
will sting me when I come near him
again. So I do not permit him to
live-I kin him"
Then she would !mpale him and in
vite me to look at him with the MI
croscope.
One day the baroness went away to
town with the young ladies' was
quite alone with the servants. Father