The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1915-04-22

Julia drew little nearer and smiled
| to herself in the shadow.
This would be real love story.
II had just come out Of the con-
vent. We lived in an old chateau,
older than the history Of your coun-
try, ma chere, and ! had no dot. Rob-
ert de fremont and used to play to-
| gether in the allees Of the park, on
the terrace. When his mother brought
him over when she called on my
grandmother, he leased me horribly
because the weeds grew between the
stones Of our terrace. He was very
rude.
Throughout our childhood, until I
was sixteen, we leased each other
and fought and quarreled."
"This is not a.love-affair, Therese,"
said Miss Redmond.
There are all kinds, ma chere, as
there are all temperaments," said
Madame de la Maine. AT Assump-
tion-that is our great feast, Julia
the Feast of Mary-it comes in Au-
gust-at Assumption, Monsieur de la
Maine came to talk with my grand
mother. He was forty years old, and
bald-Bob and made fun of his few
hairs, like the children in the Holy
Bible" n..y.
Julia put out her hand and took the
hand Of Madame de la Maine gently.
she was getting so far from love
affair. .
IT married Monsieur de la Maine in
six weeks" said Therese.
"Oh," breathed Miss Redmond, "hor-
rible!" ......=
Madame de la Maine pressed Julia's
hand.
when it was decided between my
grandmother and the comte, escaped
at night, after they thought had gone
to bed, and went down to the lower
terrace where the weeds grew in
plenty, and told Robert. Somehow, I
did not expect him to make fun, al
though we always joked about every
thing until this night. It was after
nine o'clock ..... .... .....
The comtesse swept one hand to-
ward the desert. "A moon like this
only not like this-ma chere There
was never but that moon to me for
many years.
81 thought at first that Bob would
kill me-he grew so white and terrible.
He seemed suddenly to have aged ten
years. ] will never forget his cry as it
rang out in the night. You will marry
that old man when we love each otn.
er?' I had never known it until then.
I'VE were only children, but he
grew suddenly old. I knew it them"
said Madame de la Maine intensely, II
knew it then"
She waited for a long time. Over
the face of the desert there seemed to
be nothing but one veil of light. The
silence grew so intense, so deep; the
Arabs had stopped singing, but the
heart fairly echoed, and Julia grew
meditative-before her eyes the cara
van she waited for seemed to come out
of the moonlit mist, rocking, rocking
the camels and the huddled figures of
the riders, their shadows cast upon the
sand. ..s..
And now fremont would be forever
changed in her mind. A man who had
suffered from his youth, a warm-heart.
ed boy, defrauded of his early love. It
seemed to her that he was a charming
figure to lead Sabron.
"Therese," she murmured, won't
you tell me?" ~.
They thought I had gone to bed"
said the Comtesse de la Maine, "and !
went back to my room by a little stair.
case, seldom used, and found myself
alone, and I knew what life was and
what it meant to be poor" r ,.as.....
But" interrupted Julia, Mortified,
girls are not sold in the twentieth
century" .S.#.f.
"They are sometimes in France, my
dear. Robert was only seventeen. His
father laughed at him, threatened to
send him to South America. We were
victims" l a.,..l '- O
1T was the harvest moon," con.
tinued Madame de Ia Maine gently,
. "and it shone on us every night until
my wedding day. Then the duke kept
his threat and sent Robert out Of
France. He continued his studies in
England and went into the army Of
Africa"
There was a silence again. : " .
II did not see him until last year"
said Madame de la Maine, latter my
husband died." .H.",