Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1907-03-09
cadet ROUSELLE"
BY THEO GIFT

~N~AA
there was no one in the sisters portion
OF the choir, nor any one in the chapel
at all; while if she had gone to the main
door she would have. had an excellent
view of slender, girlish figure, in blue
serge dress and a sailor hat, walking
briskly down the hot dusty lane in the
! direction of the village.
| For moment or two after the mother
| superior's departure Bebe had remained
| standing, staring at the closed panels of
the door in a state of dazed and stupefied
! disappointment so profound that it al
most seemed TO take from her the power
OF speech and movement. She had hoped
so much from her visit to the convent.
| The vision of its quiet chapel and shell
/ tered walls had come back to her in the
/ solitude of her own room, whittier she
( had fled to escape Mere Margot after
/ GARNER had departed; and she longed
with a longing beyond words-a longing
only comparable to that of young bird
that has tried to fly and broken its wing
in the effort, for the warm old nest in
the apple tree and the soft breast of the
/ mother bird that had sheltered it.
/ Had not the dear, dead mother SUI
perior said to her at parting
You are going from us, Bebe, but do
not forget us, my child, and what we
have tried to teach you. Remember that
a mother of religion can never forget her
children. wherever they may be. How
ever widely they may wander, her pray
ers, her thoughts, go with them; and if
you are ever in trouble, danger or per
pleXity, come back to us, my child-come
freely to your mother for help, for coun-
sci, for sympathy, and here at least you
will always find them"
Now the good mother was dead, but
Bebe had gone. all the same 1t was
strange that her mind. in its unquestion-
ing childish confidence, had never stayed
to question itself concerning the person
ality of the new mother superior, of
whom she had seen hardly anything, and
with whom indeed the school girls never
came i'll contact; and the crushing nature
of the result rebuff, the absence of
sympathy, the coldly severe Judgment
and sentence. fell upon her like so many
blows. all the more cruel for their unex-
pectedness.
1t was as though she had laid her
cheek on a friends lap, and the friend
had raised her hand and struck it. There
had been no pain like it, at once SC
sharp and so bewildering, since-sinct
she told Mere Margot that the accuse
tions made against GARNER were lies. and
looked to him to refute them, and he
held his peace.
Now she was to be sent back to Mere
Margot, the woman who had taken his
money-Bebe had seen the notes in the
woman's hand after he was gone-and
who had heaped insults on her-insults
she could not think of without burning
cheeks, intimating that her mother had
been no more honest than her shameless
daughter, and that her father was only q
second edition of Cadet Rouselle," and
had left her TO be brought up on the
charity of his friend "M. Lon'lee"-"c,
pauvre monsieur"-who would be obliget
to get rid of her, now that she had mad,
such a scandal in the place.
Go back to the woman who could say
things like that? No never, never
never! And yet if she waited until tn,
mother supeTior's return she would hav'
to go; there would be no resisting thai
calm, cold, unyielding will. She wOult
be put in charge of a nun specially Sc
lected for the duty. She would never b,
able to escape those watchful eyes anC
that firm handclasp until she was back il
Rue Caumont and safe in the care O
Mere Margot.
The portion of the choir where tn,
sisters worshiped at mass was divided
from the chance by light, open worl
iron grille, with a door in it, through
which the one who served as saeristal
passed in and out to attend to her alta
duties. The door was locked TO proven
village boys and tramps from penetrat
ing into the convent from the chapel, bu
the key hung as it had always hung, OF
nail over the holy water stoup in thu
mother superior's parlor Bebe took i
down, opened the grille, and having le
herself out. put her hands through tht
iron tracery, locked it again-naughtN
as she might be. she could remember tn,
village children and the tramps even il
her naug6tiness-knelt for one moment
on the altar steps to offer up a trem
bling, heartfelt prayer that somehow sh'
might be taken care of and walkee
quickly away She had been gone JUS
two minutes when Sister PamphylI,
trotted into the parlor.
If the good sister had gone to the
chapel door and looked up the dusty Ian,
leading to the high road, she would have
seen not only the girlish figure in tn,
distance, but behind it. only few yard;
from the convent, in fact, but following
swiftly in Bebe's footsteps, a tall man
Enthusiastically of the English tourist
class. a man in a brown knickerbockel
suit and bowler hat, carrying field glass
slung by q strap across his shoulders
He was mounted on a bicycle.
The narrowest shave in the world =
he was saving in his heart. as he SLOWED
down by her side and, raising his hat
spoke to her by name.
And indeed, he had been on her trael
for some time. Two hours before he hac
been coming down the Rue Richard L.
noir. in which the Anglican church il
Caen is situated having been engaged
for some minutes before in a rather
heated argument with the chaplain al
the door Of that sacred edifice, and, OF
reaching the foot of the street. he saw
issuing from the ticket Office Of the little
steam tram which runs between Caer
and Outs reiam, and takes its departur,