The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-09-24
ABBE CONSTANTIN
BY LUDOVIC HALEVY
Condensation by Charles e. L. Winaate

With a step still valiant and firm, !
! the old Able Constantin walked along |
| the dusty road of the little village
where for more than thirty years he
! had been the Cure. At the entrance
of the Castle of Longueval he stopped
and mournfully regarded the big blue
posters fixed on the pillars.
They announced the sale of the cas-
tie, the former home of the Cures
dear friend, the Marquise, who had
recently died
! And the result of that auction?
! The great estate bought by two en-
| tire strangers!
| DO you know who thew are?" ask
ed Madame de Lavardens.
| yes, Mrs. Scott is an American pos
sessing a colossal fortune. Ten years
ago Mr.. Scott begged in the streets
| of New York, they say. They are rich
parvenus who amuse themselves by
throwing handfulls of gold out of the
window, and who will turn up their
noses at us and care nothing for our
! traditions or our life"
Such was the story.
But when Mrs. Scott and her beau
tiful sister arrived to take possession
of the castle and called Immediately
upon the Able he learned a different
tale. Religious, generous, amiable and
! loveable they proved.
! And they were certainly beautiful,
particularly the younger sister, Bet
tina Percival. Both had the same
large eyes, black, laughing and gay,
and the same hair, not red but fair,
with golden shades which daintily
danced in the light of the sun.
At the Cures little home they met
Jean Raymond, the son of that gallant
doctor of the village, who, while ad-
| vancing with the soldiers in the war
of 1870, to carry on his work of mercy
side by side with his dear old friend,
the Able, had suddenly been struck
by a bullet and killed on the spot.
Jean, inheriting the noble traits Of his
father, was beloved by the whole
village.
But he was poor while the Ameri-
can sisters were UNNECESSARILY rich
AS acquaintanceS and friendships
grew, very pleasing it was to the gen.
/ tie, loveable old cure, to learn that his
new Pensioners were most anxious
to extend their benefactions among
the poor in the hamlet, asking him,
indeed, to be their medium And it de-
lighted him to learn that those Ntories
about begging in the street and ques-
tionable life were mere calumnies
They had. indeed, been poor until
an inherited silver mine made them
fabulouSly rich. Now they had hosts
of ad1nirers-AIrs. Scott because she
was frankly flirtatious; and Betinna
because, as she realized, the fortune
hunters-thirty-fOur of them she
counted, including French duke and
a Spanish noble-sought her wealth.
But through it all they retained their
genuine simplicity and sweetness Of
heart.
And when, one day. they all went
over with Jean 10 visit the little
church, and Bettina at the organ, play
ed a reverie of Chopin, good gentle
Able Constantine heart was filled
with such Joy that tears came to his
eyes.
But all this left deep problem
in Jeans mind-"Which of the two
sisters is the prettier?" At first he
was convinced it was the coquettish
Mrs. Scot who charmed him the more;
then he would see Bettina, smiling and
blushing amid the sunlit clouds OF her
floating hair, and he would declare
to himself, Il was mistaken, the pref
tier was Miss Percival."
So in the confusion of his medita-
tons, he would say, rs it possible
that | have fallen madly in love at
first sight? No; one might fall in
love with a woman, but not with two
women at once"
The days went by and Jean and
J Bettina were often thrown into each
others company. What resulted is
best pictured in Miss Percivals own
remark to her sister one day when
. she exclaimed:
, He is the first man, positively the
first, in whose eyes l have not read,
oh how glad I should be to marry
that little body's millions'!'
| And then as Mrs. Scott went up
stairs to kiss her sleeping children,
Bettina remained long leaning on the
balustrade of her balcony.
5 One day when Jean was telling of
= his expectations of promotion and the
probability that he would wander from
garrison to garrison, finally coming
} back to the little house that was his
fathers, as an old colonel on half pay,
she exclaimed:
always quite alone?'
"Why quite alone? I certainly hope
: not"
You intend to marry?"
Yes, certainly"
Yet you have refused several good
} opportunities. Tell me why"
, Because" he replied, Il think it
best not to marry rather than to mar
~ without love-"
She looked at him; he looked at
2 her; and suddenly, to the great sur
, prise of both, they found nothing more
to say-nothing at all.
But now Jean is no longer tranquil;
l with impotence and at the same time