The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-10-19
4 Private Of the Ninety Third.

A. ~ s--fES tSt+F t@#Es-%sFH -f -E"- yE.-.ufa
+ One afternoon late in the summer
pof 1916 the Count de Maurisseau
was walking with his daughter Aga
the in a quiet quarter of Paris, He
was a stately old gentleman, with
the carriage of a soldier and a stern,
sad. face which had aged twenty
years in the preceding two. She
was a fair, slender little maid, child,
like, yet womanly, and almost ma
ternal in her solitude for her IA
Their.
They wandered aimlessly back and
forth, seeming to have no destina.
Ftion o any object except to keep
away from the crowd-away from
everyone. Agathe commented bright
ly on all that they saw, and her ia.
ther answered gently but .absently.
1t was evident that he only feigned
to be interested in what she said: as
for her, probably she was feigning as
much, if not as palpably, as he.
After a while the old Count r
posed that they rest on one of the
benches in a nearby public square.
Il am old and growing feeble, Aga
the" he said sadly. "a short walk in
the city streets tires me now. If we
feel some day that we want to go
home what a poor walker | shall find
among our hills!""
Why father, you're not old! We
have walked for. a long time. and
it's very hot today. 1 am tired,
too" the girl earnestly contradicted,
The Count smiled and shook his
head. -
They were hardly seated on a little
iron bench near the entrance of the
square, before a soldier, who had
.crept. across it. with the help of
roughly made, new crutches, drop
ped into a seat which faced theirs
across the gravel walk. Agathe
watched him pityingly, and seeing
one of his crutches slip and fall as
he put it aside, she darted forward
and placed it beside the other.
Thank. you. You are very kind"
the young officer said, raising his
cap, and by voice and manne be-
traying that he was a gentleman.
The. Count and he then exchanged
some commonplace remarks; but aft
er a few moments the old man be-
gan to- talk to his daughter about
their plans for the next day, and the
conValescent soldier leaned back
YEARLY and forgot them in the
thought of his old mother, alone in
her distant chateau and of a dark
eyed girl whose heart was in his
keeping.
No more would have passed be-
tween him and them if an ambulance
had not come slowly down the street
and stopped before a hospital which
faced the square. Agathe watched
as three stretchers were carried up
the steps and through the broad
doorway. Big tears rolled down over
her sweet, round little face, and she
bit her lips to keep from crying out
right. III
The young officers heart, made
very tender by all the suffering he
had een and shared, was touched by
her sympathy for the unknown
wounded man.
Most of us get well, mademoiselle,"
he said. comfortingly.
81 hope so,"' she answered, hardly
above a whisper, by trying to smile.
Then the young officer began to
talk to her father, not seeing, or in
his loneliness not wishing to- see,
that the old man had no interest in
strangers and would have preferred
to be silent.
In answer to- a perfunctory ques-
ton of the Counts, he said that he
had been wounded during the bonn
bardment of Rheims, and described
it all so wildly that the Count be,
came interested, in spite of himself,
old though the story already was to
the ears and heart of every French
man.
He asked a number of intelligent
questions, using technical terms in
a familiar way which proved that
he, too, had seen active. service.
When the young officer said as
much, the Count answered shortly:
Il fought in the War of TO" He
did not add that he had received the
Cross of the Legion of Honor, and
nothing would have induced him, to
mention his name-a name famous
in, the annals Of France, and once
his greatest pride.
Agathe asked a.. few girlish ques-
tions, not about military, tactics or
victories or defeats, but regarding
the care of the wounded, the hard.
ships of trench life and the fate Of
the poor in ruined villages.
Z The Count had fallen into one Of
his frequent sad ~reveries and did
not heed the young people. Quick. to.
note his change of mood, Agathe was
about to- arouse him by suggesting.
that they had better start towards.
their pension when the stranger
apropos of a remark of hers, but
- 4EH E& EE - &Er & EAL EE.T~