LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 298, 27 May 1875, Page 4

LITERATURE.

ROMANCE IN A PARIS PENSION. ( Concluded,) On seeing me she throws a handkerchief over her face, saying, ‘ What will you think of me, Louise? I am really ashamed, and cry peccavi; but I really feel so happy. I did not think it possible for me ever to care for any one again, and I now find that I never really loved either number one or number two. 1 have told your cousin all about those previous affairs; he is such a good fellow, he does not mind at all. Don’t laugh at me too much, I am sure you must think me a very odd girl,’ * Indeed I do; this is your charm —so unlike everybody else. But I congratulate you, you and Horace will be very happy together.’ ‘ I shall leave the boarding house as soon as I have packed up all my pretty things, and have them all sent to London.’ ‘ You will come and stay at our house till the wedding?’ ‘Just what I should like. I have no home, no relatives, no one in the world. Horace will now be everything to me.’ * Well, nothing will astonish me now, not even if he tries to get you into Parliament. Part 111. The fancy ball at Madame Latour’s studio is -a great success. It is a picnic ball; the ladies send the eatables, the men the wines. Olga and I sent a tremendous pate de foie gras and a boar’s head. The atelier looks quite grand, brilliantly illuminated and festooned with flowers and evergreens, and a long table laden with all the delicacies of the season. Olga is the belle of the ball, as a diavolina in scarlet, gold, and black skirts; little gold horns in her hair, a pitch-fork in her hand, and black and red flames worked into the patterns of her dress. Horace changed his mind, and disguised himself as a wolf. His tail was constantly trodden upon, and then he would roar lustily, to the great amusement of every body. He and Olga were in high spirits. Naturally, poor Mr Morris, having heard of their engagement (such secrets always get known), did not appear at the ball: a sure sign that he really cared for Olga, Mr Blake is disguised as an orange-tree, Miss Magee as a shepherdess. It is noticed by many that she rests continually under that particular tree, and that the tree hovers constantly over her. My costume of vivandiere is a great success. One particular gentleman, whose name I shall not divulge, drank more cognac out of my barrel than was good for him. Madame Latour looks very fine as Queen of the Night, all in black tulle, with silver stars, a crescent moon in her dark hair, and a stuffed owl perched upon her shoulder. ‘ Well, Olga, so you are going to give up art for matrimony ? I am grieved to hear this piece of news ; you cannot serve two masters. You will fail,’

‘Yes, madame, I shall paint more than ever. I do not see why a woman should become a nonentity when she marries. I shall have a studio in our town house; besides, we shall be six months every year on the Continent.’ *We shall see,’ growls Madame Latour. ‘Do not believe the promises made before marriage. Tell me what Mr Dashwood says after the ceremony is over. No, lam disappointed; you ought not to have promised me to give yourself entirely to Art, and then, when a handsome young fellow comes over here, you give up everything for him. Voila les femmes —no tenacity, no decision of character, no strong will.’ ‘ I am catching it,’ whispers Olga to me; ‘but it is no use my trying to persuade Madame that I shall paint pictures after my marriage; but I will, and very likely I shall make Horace study Art, ’ A few days after the ball, Horace departs, Uranie calling him a ‘ varrie naughtie boy.’ He feels he deserves the reproach; he gives Uranie a sovereign to pacify her, and tells her that she must not abuse him when he is gone. Mr Morris leaves the pension without bidding Olga or me good-bye. There is a report that he is engaged to be married to the wily widow, who has been making herself strong in Art, and copying at the Louvre. Mr Blake goes to Cork to visit his family; it is rather a curious coincidence that Miss Magee and her mother should be going over to Erin at that particular time. Miss Hutchinson has gone to New York to study the institutions of the mighty republic. Olga and I, with great regret, bid adieu to Madame Dupont, and all the inmates of the pension. We leave on a sultry morning at the end of June. Uranie has tears in her eyes as she bids us adieu, and declares that we really are ‘ varrie naughtie ’ to leave. When we reach the station we do not find either Mr Morris or Mr Blake awaiting us ; and it is with mixed feelings of pleasure and pain that Olga and I leave bright, beautiful Paris for dreary, dirty London ; but Olga declares, with a blush, that it will no longer be dismal, but delightful.