The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-01
1ttf -SAI ALONE IN THE chADOw or A CHNE5E 9cREEh WATCHING THE BRILLIANT ASSTNBLAGE

1iness that made the power of Josephine over the hearts and minds of men scarce less than that of her illustrious husband. Finally she turned him over to Monsieur de Custine, who told him all about those present. But" said Custine, q sup pose you had rather gaze upon the peau- ties of the court than upon its great men. There, in that group is the love Hest of them all. She is called the Rose of Provence, Tom turned his eyes and beheld in the Rose of Provence the young lady who had held the cup of water to his lips that day at the Polytechnique. And the Rose of Provence-how is group with Tom. The girl turned, made some answer to the inquiry and made the young Irishmans heart give great thump by recognizing him.
 But it was little conversation Tom could get with the Rose of Provence that evening, for groups of admirers sure rounded her. He learned that she was called Mademoiselle de Rochefort and then went away to sit and gaze at her afar off. He sat alone in the shadow of a Chinese screen watching the brilliant assemblage and the beautiful girl who made his heart beat quicker. Suddenly he heard a door open behind the screen and the voices of two men in earnest conversation. One voice he recognized at once as that of the first consul. The other he guessed from the replies of it's owner to belong to Talleyrand
 The. were talking of the relations be- tween France and England. The short. decisive sentences of Bonapartei soon made it evident that he would concede to no more-that the peace of Europe was about to be broken again. The con- sul and the minister passed on without seeing him.
 Soon afterward he ran into de Beau vais. The marquis held out his hand. My dear sir" said he, 'I have given proofs enough so that l can afford to apologize; and apologize I do, for my
 gs to you this morning. It was en- tirely my fault and hope you will oyer loo. [. To show that you do. instead of shooting me tomorrow morning come and sap with me tonight. See. the soiree is already breaking up"
 q am too little accustomed to the usages of the world to know what 1 ought to do," replied Tom but I am
 au would not advise me to my dis honor"
 .e marquis laughed a frank. boyish laugh. "I am sure your honor is safe in my hands. Come, let us to Beauvilliers
 leutenant of hussars met gay company at the famous restaurant. was
 at the freedom with which the First Consul was discussed. drank too much wine, swore friendship with De Beauvais, and when the subject of war and peace was touched on was foolish enough to tell what he had heard while concealed behind the screen.
 He was much in De Beanvals' company after that. The witty young Frenchman fascinated him, as also did a certain Abbe d'Ervan, to whom the marquise intro- duced him. When he found that De Beauvais was the cousin of Marie de Rochefort, the Rose of Provence, Tom felt that he loved him like brother; but when he detected that De Beauyais loved Marie better than a sister he was not so sure of his feeling toward his new ac- quaintance.
 The threatened war broke out. Bona parte burst across the Rhine to pull down kingdoms and set up kings. But instead of being sent off to win his spurs Tom was sent with a detachment to Varseilies to do guard duty, where Madame la Con- suesse kept her court There were gay times at the palace. but Tom received no invitations to join in the court festivities. For some reason that he could not fathom he felt that he was in disgrace.
 Now and then he caught a glimpse of the Rose of Provence walking with the