Our Novelettes.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1587, 29 April 1887, Page 4

Our Novelettes.

LORLOTTE AND THE CAPITAINE. Chafibb lll.— (Continued). ■ Very well, madame; I go back to Boulogne in a moment, and yon and I bid each other an Internal adieu," averted Lorlotte, as proud as a cuntess who had a chateau and a provincial court to go to And had she not Hyacintl e, her student, and hie garret-lodging and Hpartsn fare to share ? Was not that better than all the chdteaux in and out of Spain, and all the courts in the holy Roman Empire ? So a matrimonial scheme of madame'swasfor the first time in her experience to fill ignominiously to the ground, its wreck damaging in place of benefiting its subject But madame had a week to come and go upon, and there wa« still the chapter of accidents. She found herself compelled, however, to break to the capitaine what remained to be broken to him of the fact that the peacefnl home and the blessed family life which had been in store l for him, were fading and crumbling away before the levity and obstinacy of a girl, an orphan teacher in a school. The intimation did not put the capitainens one of his rages—it was, trifling contradiction which overcame him in that disagreeable manner. He bore great misfortunes like a man, like a good man, meekly as well as mournfully. The capitaine even interposed and interceded for the inconigible culprit Lorlotte. He alleged that, since he had consented to allow an open field and to do battle with another combatant, for his bride, he, the vanquished n an, must conform to the rules of civilized warfare, and surrender and withdraw his claim, without complaint or molestation either of the victor or of the prize he had won. During the days that Lorlotte stood at bay after the glaring impropriety of her resistance to circumstances and madame, the capitaine did not reproach ber and urge her, but was so studiously and wistfully polite to her, that the rigidity of his bearing took a specially tender inclination towards her ; which, though she wilfully mummed it hypocritical assumption, and of a piece with the stratagem that was to have married her off-hand to the elderly, thriftless, turbulenttempered soldier, unconsciously soothed her wounded spirit and tempted the troubled aggrieved girl to fly for refuge to the honour and humanity of her natural enemy. Madame's hawk's eyes detected and darted on the single favourable symptoms. "I do not give it up yet. I do not forbid the patterns of the trousseau. My capitaine has not departed from Fontainebleau. My ctt of a mademoiselle is not packed off to Boulogne again. Perhaps—who knows ?—I may shrug my shoulders at the whole set when Denis does not go to Algvrie after all."

CHAITEB IV.—LOBLOTTE MAD, THE CAPITAINE HEII KEEPER. There was a crisis at the door more imminent and conclusive than madame could have hoped for. In that merry month of May, so fertile in revolutions in Paris, M. Hyacinthe suddenly vanished from the entresol in the Rue des Magaeins to the last hair of his bea-d, and made no sign at the very momen* when Lorlotte was in tribulation because of him, and when as & preux chevalier he should have stood by her to death and marriage.

For three whole days M. Hyacinthe did not show h'mself at the Duponts', and did rot send explanation or apology. He was no longer visible in the streets or the gardens ; was no longer to bo heard of as seen or speken to in any compuny. It looked as if he hsd dissolved in thin air, and become impalpable as any ghost, ancient or modern. Madame vouchsafed no remark on the secession from her society; but there was a repress'd gleum in her eyes which told its tale. Monsieur chattered his wonder, called himself back, anu swallowed bis words a dozen times a day. Lorlotte was staggered, stunned, scared; but she would not be affionted. She stared at madame as if she would look her through and through. Had she done this thing ? But ro ; madame was honest in her bluntness, downright ness, and imperiousness, and madameV face was that of an innocent ignorant worn >n.

Lorlt tie whs looking out of one of the windows of madame's salon which had a back view, somewhat of a Savoyard's Tiew of roofs and chimneys; but the window also com* manded an ancient grand house in a court, long abandoned by the quality, and used as a warehouse. Desolation reigned in the old court and garden ; bent, withered, moss-grown trees, which no summer would make young again, plants falling from the walls, and tiger-cat* watching Jean Jacques' sparrows, were till the life to be seen there. The profound forlornness and the decay of the hotel contrasted with the bourgeoi»e glitter and lacquer of madame's salon, and something in the contrast made Lorlotte clench her small hands and whisper to the capitaine to speak with her in the window. " Will you see what has come to him ? There is only you who has still any regard for me, and that I can ask to serve me j if you refuse, I must find some other messenger."

He did not refute; his brick-red colour rose to the roots of his close-clipped grizzled hair, but be saluted her with his hand to his forehead, accepted her commission in hal military phrase,—*' Yes, my mademoiselle, without fail," —and went away on the instant. He came back in the evening much hotter than could be accounted for from hie march in double quick time to and from M. Uyacinthe's lodgings. He was perturbed, distmsed. Ue knew lhat he was going to hurt, shame, and treak the heart of the little girl who had been proposed to him as his wife. It would be saying little to aesert that the capitaiije would rather have marched up to the cannon's mouth, for Le had seen unoke with the f-tt rn joy of a brave man and of a born solnier; he would sooner have retreated, with borne down colours and trailing pikes, before the foe. But mademoiselle had elected him to the duty of relieving her devouring anxiety, and he would relieve it, though she- would hate him for ever afterwards.

"Where is M. Hyaeinthe?" demanded Lorlotte, laung aside all her coyness in her bewilderment and apprehension. " Why is he not here? Ha* he been interdicted, insulted ?" pressed Lorlotte, her questions following each other like successive flashes of lightning, her bright cheeks stained and diea like poppies, no longer like June roses, but flushed and heavy with passion, her violet eyes distended, and her nostrils quivering. "M. Hyacinthe is particularly engaged, mademoiselle," growled the capitaine, low and slow, and banging his head in spite of the stiffness of his collar. "But how ? I will know," cried Lorlotte, beatinu her hands together, and stamping her foot. " Mon Dieu! he is ill, he is dead." " Oh, not at all, mademoiselle; anything but that," exclaimed the capitaine, blowing bis nose sonorously. ■ Did he not bid you tell me, then V

"I did not wait for his bidding. I am afraid that be was too much occupied to think of it; but I said I should inform you that —tbat M. Hyacintbe Masset was married at noon this day at the bureau of the district mayor, and immediately afterwards at the nearest church —for Mademoiselle Mimie is a good Catholic—to Mademoiselle Mimie Virien, late sewing-girl at an outfit shop in some quarter or other— fete hleau ! I forgot the name," blustered the capitaine, in a clumsy effort to conceal his consciousness. "You are like the rest," cried the poor girl, turning upon him with blind, random blows of her tongue, in her agony resisting and fighting to the last. " You are hired to deceive and betray me." " My mademoiselle, hear me," he pleaded. He did not heed her ingratitude and recklessness, he could no more have been incensed by her words than he could have been enraged by a poor dog which had licked his hand an hour before, but was not snapping at him as he strove to pluck a knife from its side. He was only eager to disabuse her, to open her eyes, though she might be shocked, driven to despair. "M. Hyacintbe was arrested for debt in bed on the morning of the 17th, three days ago. He had been in prison ever since till this morning. He knew what was coming, and, pardon me, mademoiselle, he sought to save himself with your fortune. He thought it was thousands not hundreds. M. Dupont made a mistake in stating the number of days he brougnt him to the railway-station, when he proposed to accompany you to Montmorenci, and M. Hyacintbe had heard a rumour of Mademoiselle Agathe's dot, and stranger as he was, confused the relations," Lorlotte was subdued now; she was shrinking down and biding her face with her bands. " Treacherous," she muttered bitterly," from first to last."

But the eapitaine, though his heart bled for her, did not know what it was to leave a talo unfinished, or to kick a man with his back at a wall, and to trample on the fallen. "Mr Hyacinthe was a desperate man," he continued, "and M. Hyacinthe is arrested—the 17th, as I said—and is taken away without any noise. It goes without saying that he desires to keep the mystery as quiet as possible, and to pass off the officers in plain clothes as friends from the country, as we all do, mademoiselle ; but the quieter he keeps it, the longer he is likely of getting his release. Now, what doe? that brave girl Mimie do ?' went on the eapitaine, warming with his subject, and forgetting for a moment the interest of his auditor. " She is acquainted with the accident; she gives up work, food, rest, everything, for the next three days and nights. The faithful girl flies about—doing it by stealth, keeping her secret all the time—you comprehend ?—to all the journal offices that owe money to M. Hyacinthe, and to all the friends that have borrowed of him, and mu*t pay him before his day of reckoning. She adds her little store to it; she has a sale of the small effects in her garret, and adds that also, till she makes up the requisite sum, and has out her friend, a free man again, in triumph this morning : only there is nothing but bare walls to go to, for his creditors have taken away his bed and chairs. It is to her equal, more than equal; she has not even bare walls to go to, and she may beg in the streets, because she has been dismissed by her employers for him." " Stop there, monsieur the eapitaine," commanded Lorlotte, putting down her hands, and looking at the speaker with a white, contracted face. " She has done all for him. He would have been a brute if he had not done what he could for her in return. Ah! she has the best right to him ; and she may take him," added Lorlotte, with a hysterical laugh, passing swift as an arrow-flight to the painful process called trying to " pluck up a spirit." " Much good may he do her." The eapitaine did not admire and applaud the process; he rebuked it in the simple gravity andpersiitence with which he pursued his narrative and gave its sequel. " They are sitting hand in hand within the bare walls, she is fainting on his breast with hunger and with the bliss ot being his wife. He is feeding her with the only crust and drop of wine he can procure, and crying over her, and vowing to cherish her and live for her. He begs you to forgive and forget him utterly j and you forgive the poor young fools. You bliss, not curse them, mon enfant," implored the eapitaine. Hut Lorlotte broke away from him with a wild " Moi ! I have nothing to forgive and forget. Put there is one person to whom I owe something. I shall not forget you, my eapitaine. I care for you." A perverse, regardless, unblushing speech, but one which caused the eapitaine's brain to reel as if a mine had sprung beneath it.

Lorlotte did not fall ill on the demolition of her romance, she was of too healthy a nature. Neither did she run away back to I Boulogne to escape lectures, blame, condo lei ce, and fresh schemes for her establishment. She was too matter-of-fact, in spite of her spice of romance and her rebellious adventure, an 1 too dependent. She accepted the situation, and lived on iu the Hue des Magaeins, though she was listless and heartsick to begin with. She did not care what became of her, and who talked of or to her. It was nothing to her that the capitaine had not suspended his visits to the entresol, when he was off duty, for a single day, or intermitted a single bouquet; and that madame was as pointed as ever in presenting Lorlotte with the largest and the choicest of the flowers. But what will the world think when it is informed that in about seven days Lorlotte began to recover a little from her mental malady of a broken heart ? Before condemning Lorlotte for fickleness and levity, reflect that she had only known M. ijyacinthe for a wonderful fortnight; now the girl's heart which is broken by the startling, sad, and mortifying end of even the rupture of a fortnight, must be fragile indeed. Lorlotte's heart was made of stouter stuff. In seven more days of judicious neglect from madame, inconsequent mercurialism from monsieur, and old-world loyalty of homage from the capitaine, seven more days of May and of Paris, Lorlotte arrived at looking up and looking about her again, at shaking out her flowing muslin skirts, and twirling her waves of glosoy hair, at lingering over the arrangement of the capitaine's great stars of Cape jessamine, coral fuchsias, and moss rotebuds, even at being guilty of something like delight when the capitaine brought the ladies the family tickets tor a popular vaudeville. Lorlotte was but a bigger child, and a French child; she had rejected monsieur's sugar almonds, but she grasped at the vaudeville, though she recollected herself in time to relapse the next moment into the gloom befitting the blighted heroine of a tragedy. The wounds of the young heal fast j but the month of May was ending as fast as Lorlotte's mourning for her short-lived dream; and so was the term of the capitaine's regiment's sojourn at Fontainbleau. Before Lorlotte had time to think of it, the capitaine, looking graver and gaunter than usual! approached her where she sat among madame's (lowers in the background of the salon, while madame played propriety, stitched, and went through the part of consulting M. Dupont on domestic affairs in the foreground, and thus addressed her,— " I have come to take my leave, my good mademoiselle. We have the route in twentyfour hours, and I shall be very busy in the intemU" '

Lorlotte looked up, taken by surprise. She was forced to stand aghast and feel forlorn, seeing nor the capitaine gone alone, but her holidays gone, and herself back at Boulogne, presiding over the milk-soup in the refrectory and setting copies in the school-room. The realization supplied her with becoming sympathy for the capitaine's position. Tears gathered quickly and dimmed the brightness of the violet eyes, and the corners of the mouth dropped disconsolately. "I am very sorry, M. le Capitaine, I am going to lose one who has been my friend." She said it with breaks, and oh, with such a long, deep, fluttering sigh from the bottom of her girlish heart. " Mademoiselle has many friends," suggested the capitaine, pulling bis wiry, straight mouitaehe a VEmpereur, " I do not know that," replied Lorlotte, briskly and naively. "I have offended madame beyond redemption, and I dare say I shall offend my Boulogne friends too. These strong, self-restrained English, when they find that I have grown cross and wretched, and subject to migraine (I know I shall slap and shake the little ones, and hare hysteria), will preach to me, and doctor me every hour of the day, and when they find it does not answer, I shall perhaps be turned off like that silly girl Mimie. Oh, it will be triste, horrible," ended Lorlotte, letting her head fall as low as her arms, for she had not intended to say so much, and she would fain stay before they were seen—those tears which had broken all bounds, and were dropping in a heavy shower on her lap. " Mademoiselle Lorlotte, promise to tell me —to send me word directly," stammered the capitaine. She shook her head, smiling faintly like the sun through a shower.

•* I wish that I had no more than M. Hyaointhe's years, or had not been a foolish old spendthrift, but had saved my pay. I would that I were anything save a brawling dog whose bark is worse than his bite, maybe, but who disturbs the quarter with his growling all the same," regretted the capitaine idly. Lorlotte stopped crying on the instant, and looked np with tears like dewdrops hanging on her cheeks, and with her lips like the cleft cherry parted in breathless expectation, so that he cDuld not choose but finish his speech. " For then I might have been able to protect and pet my little darling. "Do you mean it, my capitaine?" cried Lorlorte with a quaver in the clear treble of her voice. •' Without doubt, mademoiselle." The old soldier confirmed his words, much struck by his own boldness. "Ah ! I am so glad—so grateful I would say," explained Lorlotte, nodding and flushing violently at the indiscreet slip of her nimble tongue. " I was not so ungrateful as people thought, when you were so .noble even to sinners, and bore with me and pitied me iu the putiishmeut of my naughtiness. I am tired of the, young people, and of the communion of sentiment; I shall have nothing more to say to them. I want only a brave, kind man, whom I can reverence and be fond of, to take good care of me, and I shall take good care of him and his menage, if he will let me. As for his rages, I have no fear of them when I know that though he would think nothing of shooting a Russian or stabbing an Austrian when it was necessary, he would not willingly harm a fly; and as for unwillingly, if he is to go mad and hurt anybody when he does not intend it," concluded Lorlotte with the utmost gravity, " say is it not fitter that he should hurt his own' wife, who will understand it and take it in good part' than a stranger, who might say that he did it on purpose?" So madame mounted the breach at last a conqueror, and the capitaine did not march to Algene. Lorlotte was as good as h»r word ; stored the capitaine's stray francs of pay, marketed and bargaired for him, kept his rooms clean and bright, with his models of fortifications and his military memoirs in beautiful order; nursed him until he was almost young again. She was not. only not frightened at the poor fellow in his constitulioual frenz es, bui would keep her hand upon his arm till he calmed down, mollified and mesmerized. Nay, Lorlotte blossomed so sweetly and cheerily, and remained so childlike by the capitaine's stove and window-frame, on his promenades and in the dances at the rural fetes which the capitaine and Madame Le Froy shared, acsording to agreement, with Madame and M. Dup ;nt, that Lorlotte wellnigh made the capitaine faithless to his old French soldier's deepest love of flowers and children, being herself always the freshest of his flowers, and the youngest-hearted of his children. THB END.