Evening star., 1932-02-07

flowing Nltn SOOu Will, IeSI4lS
bourteCu3 as a bulgng horn OF
. plenty And why should be not?
i Paris was being treated to a spell
Of perfect october weather, and he
was essentially of Paris, One OF its great
GODDARD grand couturier, creator Of exquisite
gowns His pre-breakfast cantcr along the
bOis had set his scalp a-tngle under MS gray
ing hair while the warm sun on his PACK mace
a triumph of his threescore years. Inevitable
that he should beam upon his svelte premiere
yendeuse and her hand-maidens as they pre-
pared his salon for the day. And therefore
inevitable that he should feel sense OF per-
sonal injury when, on passing the room where
Mile Val was already at work, he saw $40"
tear creeping down her colorless cheek.
Had Mile Val been of the sort that WeepS
easily he would have ignored her sorrow, but
she had remained dry-eyed through the long
wears she had served him, ever since the war,
and he knew with no word from her, that they
had not been easy years. Had she Wept
coniouslv he would have left her to the solace
of her weeping, but the very furtVenesS OF that
solitary tear drew him to her side.
You are sad mademoiSelle he SAID, ana
his tone carried a reproof to sorrow on so
glorious day.
She looked up, little startled and gave him
an embarrassed smile.
But it's nothing.
~It brings tears And feel can t1x II.
"It was just two letters coming at once, ono
the annual appeal from an aunt IN Boston 70
come back to my native shores, and the other
a note from an old friend I haven't seen In
years saying that he's coming to Paris for one
day and that he'd like to see me-
Very simple it sounded but its undertones
carried the story of her life. She had been
born lust a little less than 40 years ago in
Boston suburb; there she had spent her grI-
hood and from there gone to college. 1t hao
left her with literary ambitions, and after the
death of her parents when she was %, she mad
taken her patrimony and gone abroad to settle
at last in Paris. Her sporadic attempts at
writing had as yet borne fruit when the
war broke out, and she had given herself 10
her adopted country without stint. The END
of the struggle had found her with out htIle
money and greater WEAKNESS OF oody ana
spirit than should come to young woman.
She could have returned then to New England
and subsisted in the devious ways Of the poor
relation, but her name-the full Valandigham,
too much for GODDARD to care to attempt-was
a proud one, and she had preferred to remain
in her beloved Paris and cultivate the one
remuneratiye talent she possessed, rare skill
with the needle, which GODDARD had been quick
to appreciate
The old friend was but an interlude in her
first year in Paris, that glorious year before
war clouds dulled the gay city's glitter, when
it had seemed merely part Of her picture OF
life on the Left Bank to have a serious young
artist desperately in love with her. 1t was
only after she had sent him away with
stormy adoeScent declaration that her writing
must be her supreme passion that she mad
realized the emptiness of the picture without
him She had not heard from him since until
today She had seen his name in dispatches
during the war from time to time, and OF late
she had twice seen landscapes signed with
his name in the window of a well known art
dealer from which she assumed his success.
The Frenchman studied her a moment and
then inquired, This old friend-you would
like to see him?"
Her eyes sought the flaming yellow of the
plane tree in the courtyard on which her WIN
dow looked Eyes, I should like to, if hadn't
faded So"
CuENCE fell as GODDARD gazed in sympathy
- at the bowed head. He could not deny
her words The woman he saw before him was
nondeScript enough, with straight brown hair
drawn back into a charaCterleSS knot, good
features but a pale, almost sallow skin, and
the lines of her figure obScured by dark blue
wool dress
His eyes fell to her lap, where her hands lay
hstleSS. He had liked to watch them at work,
not merely for their deftness, but because of
their slender molding their delicately tapering
fingers their faint glow as of white ivory OF
her hands she had taken care, for the silks
ahe handled required a skin of petal smooth
ness and now their perfection brought sud-
den light to the old Frenchmans eyes.
He broke the silence with explosive SEN
tencc. ut can be doneI Hands one could
not change but a face-yes! Mademoisele,
you have come to my rescue in many an i'm
paSSc, have you not? Now it Is my turn You
wish to see your friend, but you wish him