The Storyteller.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7849, 15 June 1905, Page 4

The Storyteller.

I>j;A, SILLY LITTLE WOMAN'S AJDP' VENTURE, , : ?Jt happened a long time ago—so long lhr.l when I- think of it I cannot help smiling, just as if my adiWliture concerned someone else. Yet, portrait that I see before me, jBB-ifung facing my Soda, with fair curls IMP 11 dreamy eyes, is my own —that jlsgfe, 98 I was tlUinty-flvfc years ago,. f&JHtazi we wore light sleeves and EngK jajglfeh curls. - «ufficient length of time to find enjoyment in returning, to sogitfety. I had worn} mourning for two. rajpais—crape throughout the first jj&Seafr-so that returning to the world Jfc'WßS quite proper.' Byi.a clover transi&f£on I' had passed from black to fcgrw, irom grey to lilac, lilac to po,'e ißTOrit, so adroitly and so quietly that Sjfe- one had perceived - it, ■ excepting iljiy drtaamaker, whose account chargmo with thsee grey SjNiwe _ the good-natured pufclic Mougbt it had seen o»ly one. An ■jHalr of shades ! had reached soft blue, with roses Iwr, when I met at a friend's house Count Alexis B—. He was gfoft of the most, charming talkers a t Pt time, when everyone prided him self on his wit, he wore his hair like gAAttl Byron, had- been a 1 friend of jgut *ever-regretted Lcrmontol, arof, gßoreover t had a way of wrapping Mmsetf in hjs military cloak that' aji UJne was" no strong*igr ..than -tfiab ofotkers, an d did not S,|tbld.oitt any iiagcr. It is true that sCount Alexis didSas IwSiß* for faa oft *«w* ma homage {» the most un;«jp?ivo<aU fashion. Ait all balls he was |swr parGner For Dm tnaeurk*; COR»slßerta ho whs alwayH pdUod tny chiir, wd'when out driving his open <iarstagtr, ia which, with the aM of tho S«W»U9 cloafche-* Was superbly dripeft passed and repassed before me ten ten® op more. - What resistance * Oder to 80 much fascina&Ne»ertfieleaj, there onuld be ne quesKgr of my ■ marrying. Count Alexis.' ™3f Nearest enemies took too much ' ilWff*. to induce to nie accept him, am say real friends, those who had Surfed the age ol harming, were "too Mgent in their dissuasions. Count was an incomparable ciivalier Sfovante, "but he waa heajdi over cars % debt, and moreover, a great rakq,. if-.vas said. Ho would have been, jt-aaemß, one of those husbands who |®fn *thcir backs on their vives at 'end of a week of married life. I I Igjl a son, and I-owed it to him to> ] SW W 8 father's fortune intact; if

... parried it should be to a steady, imprudent man,\who should make: * use of our money—in short, I , ! not marry Count Alexis. Ev- ' "'One was agreed on that point, the very- first. " JS* j b u t he was charming. His ack eyes, his stories of the Causus—at that lime only spoken o£ poetical enthusiasm—his verv "Hies had an irresistible charm for Every evening I met him soineand -if in a sensible moment) at home, at about ten o'he would be announced, and ? the favour of a cup of tea—lid I- refuse it to him ? I granted! fear*f. these talks by tho softened i£ f lal " p ' in tfle solitude ot ' drawing-eopm., seemed- toi P <lai«er6us than all Ihe'rest. •*llt the danger s 0 piuoh thai I pr^r—him to return.' He protestJfcwfth his usual eloggieace. • .1 said to' him. "It js'uscfcill this leads to nothing • we frposjng our time, you in askintf \ I defending, myself. My dear ■pt. you are irsesiatiWe, but I will -r-marry yoif." p&lexis assumed a tragit a ir that him admirably.. fortune," murmured he,. ' Places a big gulf between you me ! Why are you not poor ? JIT-what joy Would I not haves ted; you as my .wife ! " • sboofc my heati. not my X answerI'; "it Is the little trust that can. pjkjpjaced in you." me ? " "What a ealumny -! " r lover, bounding up. 0 leumxi against - the mantelpiece r declaimed some verses that des- ' the state of his soul. He was i thus, and his eyes magnctisgLYPH are a mauvaia sujet," I said Taping- liut with downcast eyes, for gffilt myself giving way ; "you are (ill women, and it is too. f to be loved by one." in his turn. A rose was "Bing in aglass of'water be- . we- He took it and scatteredf jetals at my feet. if Air before one," he said, 'pointing J :thß perfumed rose leaves strewn: bite carpet. "; was :in, veiy bad taste, perhaps; "ifnofc 4ell; it was puerile, deand meant nothing into bargain ; but thank* to the bjacb; «*> *o the'poetry, I feltdeepti, , j away! " I said in a low voice. Tfla was acknowledging myself as bio to continue the struggle. The' ilit understood it and threw bimr at my feet. are you doing?" I cried; Tfijo are mad . Some one will come you will compromise me." n Alexia was a great good-for-nothing ■"■ lie was not stupid. 'He got up diately, sat down at semi-res#-sigctful distance to deliver "IWJ a litOo 'speech. He recited it well, thanks, I suppose, 'to a Tg habit of. drawing it from his nory at a given moment. Ho , of the fatal chains of society, f-P lO slavery of its servants, of the tyll thanks one got from the world to its fantastic jlaws Paused —of tho ineffable joy open-hoarted together, of fining toother, of losing one's

self in the riuto. Here another and longer pause. I listened, dulled by his words.- I thought it grand. It seemed to me as if the muse 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 1 Is she not immaculate ? Doss she not purify what grows under her wings ? Count Alexis said all this to me, and I listened enraptured— enraptured. above all, al not tfcing obliged to answer, for I should have known what to do. Ohagiiig the subject abruptly, he lb{;ysaii speaking of the Caucasus. Nowadays .the shopkeepers in the FrospectiJ Newsky sell materials, nicknacks, authentic collections of weapons of that country, and byr means of money one can create for one's self an emir's paradise. But tSien the Caucasus was in the full bloom of novelty, a few officers had brought the : wondere hence and it was the dream of belles' to| possess some stuff, some trinket, coming from this Eden, so full of smoke of firearms and the essence of roses. " It is in the Caucasus," said Alexis, "that I have wished to live with—you, so beautiful, so noble,, so courageous." (I was not al all courageous, but then he did not know that). "In the midst of those mountains, in the recesses of some valley, shaded by great oaks We would have lived happy, forgetting and forgotten. I would have spreadjthe softest!' carpet bfmea th your feet"—he trampled with disdain upon a superb velvel Aubussion that had cost me sixty francs per. yard, but I thought much more of Persian carpets naturally—"l would have unfurled the embroidered solks ol fcho East) before you ; your que-nly hands would have toyed with necklaces of amber and pearls. Apropos," he said, interrupting himself, and turning (towards me, "do you know that what I 'have brought from the Caucasus wouldi furnish a palace ? " I had 1 heard of Count 'Alexis's Circassian boudoir, but the owner of the interested me sufficiently to have prevented my curiosity from attaching itself to what belonged' to. him.

r II Have heard of it," I said ablscntly. Then he began to enumerate his riches to' one ; to dazzle my imagination by a description of the strango and charming objects that filled his apartment, and when he saw how fascinated I was by his,, account, he •aid, with a sigh : " What is the use of speaking of it ? It ought to be seen." I sighed instinctively, as an cchot to him, doubtless. •'Butu Prints," cried my hero suddenly, as waking from a dream, '.'why should you not see it? " "Count ! " replied I, indignantly, with a secret pleasure, however, at toeing invited. " I mean no harm," he answered, with the most Jesuitical air. "I 'am away from home all day. If you will honour my trifles by deigning to look at them you may be quite sure tilat the master' of the house will not offend your eyes by* his presence." "But," I answered, devoured by the demdn of curiosity, and also, it must Ihj said, consumed with an ardent desire to see the jjlace inhabited by so fascinating a mortal, "such a step would compromise me." "You need not Come by davlight," said my tempter. "At night, toward 8 o'clock, when it is dark, a stairsato, leading into tihe portecochere, will take you directly into my cabinet without passing under the eyes of the Suisse who guards thq Staircase. My servants, evon, v. ill hear nothing ab«ut it; this littlo key opiens tie' door."

He {landed me a. key—such a key! "Hie size of a watch-key, in chased,, gold ornamented with ■ rubies. That key would have been the perdition ol a saint, such wonders did it promise, He placed it before rnc ; I kopt silent. . "What jday ? " he saiixl, in a low voice- , I pushed the key away. Count, I shaji not go." *' l ask-you on what day, so as not tc run tho risk of. meeting you —and you have promised that you should not see me." (To be continued).