Middletown transcript., 1909-06-19
4 SISTERS SACRlFICE

day, and no changer
These words we're spoken oy
q very pretty girl, sitting 10 q
most comfortable little parlor,
one side of which was formed OF
awide screen lined with green
silk. which divided it from an
other portion of the room fitted
up as q jewelry store.
Marie and Jeanne were the
daughters of Pierre Galoubet' a
diamond jeweler, renowned more
for his taste and honesty than
for his fortune or his luxury. he
was a widower with two daugh'
ters.
Marie and Jeanne were the
very idols of his heart.
Pierre had been a soldier in his
youth, like most Frenchmen,
and during his absence in Algiers
his wife had died. When he
came back a kind neighbor took
him to her cottage, and leading
him to a cradle, showed him two
little infants sleeping side by
side on the same pillow. Pierre
knew that in his absence a child
had been born to him, but he had
had no communication from home
for more than a year before his
return. He therefore turned
from the children to his neighbor
with a look of inquiry.
Are they both my children !?
said he.
Why, no, replied Jacquinette.
There's a whole history about
them, and, Pierre, as you are a
clever man, and have travelled all
over the world, you perhaps will
be able to settle a point that has
puzzled US ever since the death
of your wife.
What is it?
Whv, which of these two is
your daughter?
Which? - why, who is the
otherP
Oh, one day, about.a month
after the birth of your child,
when your wife opened the cot
tage door in the morning, she
found on the threshold one of
these infants. She knew which
it was, but you know poor Nine.
Pierre died suddenly, and she
never had time to tell me which
daughter was yours.
Again Pierre leaned over the
babies and as they opened their
eyes and smiled on him, Pierre
felt as if both were appealing to
his heart, both asking his protec-
ton.
From that hour Galoubet called
both children his, and Marie and
Jeanne, as he christened them,
for they had no name until his
return, became the idols of his
life.
When they we're grown up,
Marie and Jeanne, who both
adored their father, helped him
in his business.
Marie kept the books, and
Jeanne, who had great talent
for drawing, which had been cul-
tivated, made the drawings and
designs for the setting of the dia-
monds.
They were now both eighteen;
at least, knowing the age Of one,
Pierre had always put them down
as the same age; their fathers
strict honesty had prevented his
making fortune, but, thanks to
the management Of Jeanne they
were in easy and comfortable cir
cumstances.
Of late a cloud, however, had
risen on the household so full of
the sunshine of affection. Jeanne
had grown pensive, and even
looked pale and thin, receiving
her fathers caresses with indif.
ference, and sitting for hours,
pencil in hand, without drawing
a stroke. Now, on this evening,
when the sisters were alone to.
ge:her, Jeanne had pushed the
paper from her with disgust, and
throwing down her pencil, had
declared her dissatisfaction to her
sister.
Jeanne, said Marie, looking up,
you have never felt dissatisfac.
ton before, but you are unhappy
and you will always be so until.
you confide what troubles you to
your best friends, your father
and your sister.
Not to my father; 1 dare not,
but to you, Marie. 0 sister, I
am so wretched!
WretchedS-why, what has hap.
pened9
Marie, said Jeanne, sitting
down on a stool at har foot lie.