New-York tribune., 1918-03-31

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CUZANNE ANoU1ER had arrived
in the course of her stroll at
the beach next to the beach
where she was passing the bathing sea-
son, at a hotel recommended by her lat
est admirer; a curb broker, who re-
Joined her there once or twice q week.
She was wandering along without even
the aim of exhibiting her toilette to the
bathers there, who were mostly unprc-
tentious people, without succeeding at
all in dispelling her feeling of ennui or
in forgetting her forty-two years and
the fact that her blond charms were
already fast fading The long, gray
shore line and the regular fux and re-
flux of the waves had no other effect
on her than to accentuate her sense
of the monotony of her life with
man whom she did not love, with
others of whom she would know little
or nothing except that they had sue
ceeded him, even to that indefinitely
fixed period when she would be left
alone and would have to manage things
she couldn't yet tell exactly how.
She was passing along the rows of
bathing cabins and looking abstracted
ly at the romping children and the
grown people seated on the sand, when
a few steps ahead of her she recognized
ba bo6
deceived and abandoned a dozen years
before. Yes, it was certainly he,
dressed in horizon blue, his legs
crossed at the ankles, a cape over his
shoulders, and on his head cap which
showed a lieutenant's band. But this
costume left him as near-sighted, as
awkward, as commonplace looking as
ever. He retained the air of petty
bourgeois, of cashier in a shop; who
would never be anything else. Beside
him sat his wife, little woman, or
dinary in appearance, respectable and
hopelessly mediocre. Both of them
were watching their little daughter,
who was making pates out of sand.
She Studied Her
Former Husband
Suzanne Auquier, stopping at the
corner of bathing cabin, studied her
former husband with disdain and al
most with rancor, as if she still re-
joiced in the wrong which she had
4 Ii;
shattered life-at least had achieved
a new life of 4 paltry sort; fer SUI
zanne Auquler, after cne look at her
successor, decided that she didn't mer
it second, and the child was like her.
But this meeting had happened at an
hour when Suzanne had been admitting
to herself that she was not happy and
when she was walking under sky made
loaden by her own gloomy thoughts.
Because of that, perhaps, encountering
the man who had been associated with
her youth, she stopped maliciously to
observe him, with a view to persuading
herself that he, too, was not happy.
The poor creature! Always at the
same point cf existence, one Of those
who are born to vegetate and to have
10 future. Eager for a more brilliant
life, she had deserted him, revolving at
that ncurable stability, without am
hitior, without ideals. She had not
done we'll. But neither had he. And,
assuredly, he was vegetating now with
a creature of his own sort, living hum
bly, in some fourth story apartment
facing a court, ends of the month
painful, and their sole luxury few
weeks at the seashore because of the
child's annma.
Modified? Yes, like everybody else
But the uniform, which adds distinc
ton to so many people-he still found
a way to wear it without any addition
of prestige. He remained a clerk, with
his glasses and his placid expression,
which in the old days had so eXas-
perated the eager and pushing Suzanne.
How Could He
Have Won Them?
For that matter. modified in what
branch of the service? In the quarter
masters or commissary corps. no doubt.
He would continue his civilian occupa-
ton inside the army-that was all
Of what else would he be capable?
The war might have requisitioned him
to add duty TO the duties to which
he was already accustomed and re
signed. But it could not have altered
his character, made him inventive or
resourceful. exalted his nature, given
him talent or spirit. Sub-lieutenant
of Territorials, and accountant-for
that he was good enough!
The sun broke through the clouds;
its yellow rays flooded the dunes.
The sand, pitilessly glaring. reflected
the sudden heat The man threw off
his cloak. And them Suzanne saw
on his breast the Legion Of
Honor, the Military Medal ard the
CroiX de Guerrc.
She felt a shock of surprise and
then other sensations more obscure.
III which, in spite Of her ariditv OF
soul. the instinct of feminine admira-
tion mingled How could Alfred have
hnpn heroic enough IN merit al ibAser