LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1753, 2 October 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

TEE RENDEZVOUS. A Story op, a Silly Little Woman’s Adventure. BY, HENRY ORBNVHLE.

It happened a long time ago —bo long that when I think of it I cannot help smiling, as if my adventure concerned some one else. Yet the portrait that I see before me, bung facing my sofa, with fair curia and droumy eyes, ia my own.——that is, as X was thirtyfive years ago, whoa we wore tight sleeves and-. .English ccrls--3; was a widow, and had been one a sufficient length of time to find great enjoyment in returning to society, I had worn mourning for two years —crape throughout the fireS ‘year— B o that returning to tfca_ world wf.fl quite propor. By a clever transition I had passed from, black to grey, from grey to lilac, lilac to pale pink, so adroitly and so quietly that no one had perceived ii, excepting my dressmaker, whoso account, charged me with three grey dresses —three, where the goodnfiiured public thought it, had seen only one. An affair of shades 1 I had reached soft blue, with rosea in my hair, when I met at a friend’s house Count Alexis B . H» was one of the most charming talkers at that time, when every one prided him on his wit i he wore bis hair like Lord Byron, had besn a frload of our ever-regrettad Lermontof, and, moreover when out walking, hod a way of wrapping himself iu bis military cloak that turned all heads. Mine was no stronger than that of others, and did not hold out any longsr} it I ia trno that Count Alexia did his best, for he I offered roe homage in the roost unequivocal

fashion. At balls he was my partner for the mazurka; at concerts he Waa always'behind my chair, arid when out driving his open carriage, in which, with the aid of the famous cloak he was superbly draped, passed and repaired before me ten times or more. What resistance could I offer to bo much fascination 7'

Nevertheless there could bo no question of my marrying Count Alexis. My dearest enemies took too much pains to induce mo to accept him, and my real friends, those who had passed the age of harming, were too urgent in their dissuasions. Count Alexis was an incomparable cavalier servant, but he was over head and ears in debt, and moreovera great rake, it was said He Would have been, it seCms, one of those husbands who tarn their backs on their wives at the end of a week of married life I had a s'n, and I owed it to him to keep his father’s fortune intact; if I remarried it should be to a steady and prudent man, -who should make good nso of our money—in short, I could not m»-ry Count Alexis. Every one was agreed on that point, I among the ve- yVorst, Ye*; biit ho was charming. His black eyes, his stories of the Caucasus—at that time only spoken of with poetical enthusiasm - his very follies had an irresistible charm for mo Every evening I met him somewhere, and if in a -sensible moment I stayed at home, at about ten o’clock he would be announced, and beg the favor of a cup of t"a—could I refuse it to him 7 I granted it, and these talks by the softened light of the lamp, in the solitude of my little jdrawing-room, seemed to be more dangerous than all the rest. I felt the danger so much that I forbade him to return. He protested with his usual eloquence. ‘ No,’ said I to him, l it is useless ; all this leads to nothing; we are losing our time, you in asking me, I In defending myself. My dear Count, yon are irresistible, but I will never marry you.’ Alexis assumed a tragic air that became him admirably. ‘ Accursed fortune,’ murmured he, ‘that places a big gulf between you and me 1 Why are yon not poor 7 With what joy would I not have hailed you as my wife 1' I shook my head. - ‘lt is not my fortune,’ I answered ; *it is the little trust that can be placed in you ’

‘ln me?’ ‘What a -calumny !’ cried my lover, bounding up. He leaned against the mantlepieco and declaimed some verses tbat described the state tf his soul. He was--superb thus, and his eyes magnatised me.

‘ You are a rnauvaia snjot,’ I said, smiling, but with downcast eyes, for I felt myself giving way; * you are adored by all women, and it is too much to be loved by one.’ Ho smiled in bis turn. A rose was blooming in a glass of water on the table beside me. He’took it and scattered the petals at my feet. ‘All before - one,' said he, pointing to the perfumed rose leaves strewn on the carpet.

It was in very bad taste, perhaps; I can not tell; it was puerile, declamatory, and meant nothing into the bargain ; but thanks to the black eyes and to the poetry, I felt deeply moved. ‘Go away !’ I said In a low voice. This was acknowledging myself unable to continue the struggle. The Count understood it and threw himself at my feet. ‘ What .are you doing !' I cried ; * you are mad! Some one will come in—yon will compromise me.’ Alexis was a gieit good-for-nothing, but he was not stupid. He got up Immediately, eat down ,at. a semi-respectful distance and began to deliver me a little speech. Herecited it very well, thanks, I suppose to a long habit of drawing it from his memory at a given moment. He spoke of the fatal chains of, society, of the slavery of its senrant'-, of the small thanks one got from the world for submitting to its fantastic laws—here he paused—of the ineffable joy of talking open-hearted together, of dreaming together, of losing one’s self in the azure. Here another and longer pause. I listened, (lulled by his words. I thought it grand. It seemed to me as if the muss of poetry herself was hovering over us, and protecting us with her spotless wings Who would have dared to think of evil under the shield of poetry? Is she not imaculato? Does she not purify what grows under her wings ? - Count -Alexis said all this to me, and I listened enraptured—enraptured, above ..all, at .not being obliged to answer, for. I should not havo known what to say. Changing the subject abruptly, he began speaking of the Caucasus. Nowadays the shopkeepers in the Prospect’d Nowsky sell mateiials, nicknacks, authentic collections of weapons. of that country, and by means of money one can create for one’s self an emir’o paradise. But then the Caucasus was in ths full bloom of novelty, a few officers had brought wonders thence, and It was the dream of all'belles to toi possess some staff, some trinket coming from this Eden, so fall of smoke of fire-arms and the essence of roses.

' ‘ It. is ia the Caucasus,' said; Alexis, ' that I have wished to live with — yoyt, bo beautitifal, so noble, so courageous*' (I was not at all courageous, but then he did not know;, that). *ln the midst of those mountains, in th*j recesses of some valley shaded by great oaks wo would have lived happy* forgetting and forgotten. I would have spread the softest carpet beneath your feet,’—he trampled with disdain upon a superb yelvoty Aubussion. that had cost me GO francs per yard, but I thought much more of -.Persian carpets naturally— ‘ I would hnyp unfurled the embroidered silks of the East before you ; your queenly hands would have toyed with .neck-, haoea of amber and pearl. .Apropos,’ he said, interrupting himself, < and turning toward me, ‘do you know . that what 1 .have brought, from the Caucasus would furnish a palace T X had heard of ’Count Alexia’ Circassian boudoir, but the owner of the boudoir interested me sufficiently to have prevented my curiosity from- attaching itself to what belonged to him, * I have heard, of it,’,l said, sjjaently.

He then began, to enumerate hia riches tn me ;to dazzle my imagination by, a description of the strange, and charming objects th«h filled his apartment, and when he saw how ascinated I tuna by his account, he said, with a sigh : ‘ What loathe use of speaking of it t- It ought to bo seen.’ I sighed iastinotiyely, aa an echo to. him., doubtless.

‘ But, Princes,’ cried my hero suddenly as waking frnna.a dream, ‘ why ahop.ld.you not go to seoJLt 1 . (To le ocfttiKued.)