Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-03-23
cadet ROUSELLE"
BY TEIEO GIFT


much further, and we shall be able to
get drink of milk at one of the vii
lagos we pass, and perhaps, if we are
very tired, lift in wagon Would you
condescend TO a wagon. TrompetteH You
would not refuse the milk now, / fancy,
heinz"
Trompette wagged his tail and barked
assentingly. "Barkis is willin'" was al
ways his motto where his mistress was
concerned, though. being a dog of in
wondering why she should elect to take
him for so long a walk in the very hot
test part of the afternoon.
1t seemed quite long way, even to
the first village; and there was no milk
TO be got there. 1t was only tiny
hamlet score or so of little gray stone
cottages with heavily matched roofs, and
the doors were shut and locked. for the
tenants We're all away, toiing in the
harvest fields. A few babies were left
behind, under the care of small elder
sister or two, playing in the shadow of
the old church-the one cool spot in the
place.
Bebe sat down on its steps and from
petite put his paws in her lap and stared
reproachfully into her face. His tongue
was hanging out thirstiE. How long is
this ridiculous walk going to last ?" he
seemed to say.
| Bebe stopped and kissed him.
"Oh. long long way farther, from
pette,' she said in her native French,
"and | am so tired already. But we
mustn't lose heart, mon ami. Two miles
| further on there is another village, a
| bigger one. where we shall be sure to get
something to eat and drink. Only two
little miles, TrOmpette tomorrow
we shall be in England. Think of that,
dear-beautiful Mother England, where
everybody will be our friends, as kind as
poor Cadet Rouselle, and all our troubles
will be over"
| She raised her head. and over, from
I pettes head she saw, down the straight
white road they had come, black spot
growing bigger and bigger each moment
in a whirl of dust as it drew nearer to
them-a man on a bicycle!
ITEMS, c'est un Anglais," said one of
the children. But how these English
affect the SUM-"
Bebe uttered . little frightened cry,
and, Selling Trompette in her arms,
rushed inside the batterd portals of the
old church.
"No, quite impossible! What an alb
surd thing to fancy, even for a moment"
| GARNER said to himself. with little con-
! temptuous laugh 1t was past II o'clock
the same night, and he was pacing up and
| down the after deck of the steamer
| Prince Arthur, which runs between New
haven and Caen. The intense heat of the
day had given place to a thunderstorm
shortly after sunset, and it was still
raining-a close. thick rain which left
the decks sloppy, and had driven below all
of the passengers except those who could
| find no room there, or who preferred wet
and fresh air to stuffiness and evil smells
! below.
! GARNER was one of the latter. He was
not indeed, man who ever cared much
about minor discomforts of weather and
such like; and as he paced the deck, well
protected from the rain by his big ulster
and Inverness cap he had far more dis
| turbing things to think of than the con-
dition of the elements.
! He was leaving Normandy in a frame
of mind, compounded of irritation and
depression, which surprised even himself.
| 1t is not pleasant to find when you have
| tried to do a good -natured act that your
good nature has acted injuriously on the
person 1t was intended to benefit. and
that you are put down as an unmitigated
villain in consequence. 1t was not the
| first time in Carriers life that the in
nate kindness of heart, which not even
later touch of cynicism had been able
! to destroy had landed him in some sim
! liar quagmire; but in all previous cases
he had been the principal sufferer there
! bv, whereas this time the chief weight
of the punishment had fallen on his
companion, and with force so dispro-
portionate to the crime as to fill him
with a kind of fury. of pity and indig
nation. The poor little culprit's white,
shocked face. and eyes full of dazed, sor-
rowful reproach. returned again and again
! to his memory, with a pathos and
| poignancy which surprised even himself
| He had done what he could to set mat
tiers right, by going straight to the chap
| lain and taking with him the justly
| indignant landlord of the hotel but the
visit had not been a success. Mr.. Jack
son had been cold, judicial, unfriendly
| He did not wish to discuss the subject
at all. he said. 1t was most painful to
him to say anything against former
acquaintance. but Mr. Carriers character
and way of living were unfortunately
matters of common repute. and what he
had said had been uttered in his capacity
as a clergyman and in answer to an APP
peal on behalf of an orphan girl, par
| ishioner of his own. and who from her
ambiguous position-here he coughed
shghtly-and comparative friendhness
had a special claim on her pastor. The
facts mentioned in connection with her
outing with Mr.. GARNER were given on
the authority of eye witnesses and had
not been denied He drew no inference
| from them. neither had he made any &C
cusation against the hotel or its pro-
prietor; but, if the latter or Miss Rich
ard sustained any injury through the
scandal created by the honest woman's
indignation, they had only to thank Mr..
I GARNER himself for it.
That gentleman had stated that his &C
ouaintance with the girl was of the
slightest. and that when he brought her
home on the previous night he had no