Fromont and Risler -- Volume 4

orried. Living in community of ideas and of everything else with her brother, having but one mind for herself and for him, the old maid had felt for several months the rebound of all the cashier'

ly nothing has happe

l asleep on their perches, and the dinner had been removed untouched, Mademoiselle Pl

rang. A timid, melancholy ring, in no wi

nus?" queried the old la

ll then did Mademoiselle Planus recognize Risler Aine, whom she had not seen since the days of the New Year's calls, that is to say, some time before

y sister, you will put

s us the honor to pas

; for, as we know, beside "Monsieur Planus, my brother," Risler was the only man

ent. He leaned on Planus's arm, every nerve in his body strained to the utmost. At t

he said to Sigismond

way from the factory, and as his affectionate heart suggested to the old cashier what he had best sa

ine and trustworthy. No treachery

y walked along the quays, skirted the Jardin des Plantes, plunged into Faubourg Saint

against the sky; and then the ill-defined plains of Montsouris, vast tracts of land scorched and stripped of vegetation by the fiery breat

him. He thought, and justly, that his tranquil fireside, the spectacle of a placid, fraternal, devoted affection, would give the wretched man's heart a sort of fo

on't know yet whether I shall send for him to come home, or go out and join him; the one thing that is certain is that we are going to stay together. Ah! I longed so to have a son! Now I have found one. I want no other. Wh

d, "that's the way I l

elle Planus came to say

for the trouble he

py here. Really, it's too bad t

ours for yourself," said honest Sigismond with beaming face

elf already installed with Frantz in a

as an excellent i

triumphantly. "We'll go

the polished floor, in front of the chairs. The dowager Madame Fromont herself could have found nothing to say as to the orderly and cleanly aspect of the place. On a shelf

s of water was in its place on the walnut ta

in all the drawers-you have only to turn them. Just see what a beautiful view you get from here.

, silent line of the fortifications, with telegraph poles at intervals, or the frowning door of a casemate. Now and then the f

ted by Planus-a melancholy o

od-night. S

was leaving the room, hi

ismo

Sigismond,

lips like a man who is about to spea

ing. Good-ni

ning, the meeting with Sidonie; and you can imagine the-"Oh! these women!" and "Oh! these men?" At last, when they had locked the little

s aroused by his sister calli

Planus, my

t is

you h

. W

thing like a deep sigh,

rom the r

g in torrents, with the dreary rustling of

y the wind,"

not. Hush

d a wailing sound, like a sob, in which

tz! F

rrible an

i, lama sabachthani', they who heard him must have felt the same specie

whispered; "suppo

f his brother. Poor fellow! It's the very though

ashier went t

e little family, surrounded by barracks, regulated its life by the military calls. The sister ha

she said, "I hear noth

But the windo

prised, went and knock

er! R

in great

you there? Ar

reply. He ope

disturbed and the condition of the room, even in the most trivial details, revealed an agitated vigil: the still smoking lamp, which he had neglected to extinguish, the carafe, drained to the last drop by

hair parted over the forehead, and the embarrassed pose of an awkward girl, the little Chebe of the old days, Mademoiselle Le Mire's apprentice, bore littl

was in gre

e keys. But who would have supposed that he was still thinking of her?

anus entered the room with con

er has gone!"

sn't the garde

over the wall. You c

ch other, terrifi

letter!" tho

tion to Risler; and, in order not to disturb his hosts, he had made his esca

you will see that that hussy has played him still another trick." And whe

no gonf

dressed, he darted

pled down at random by deep footprints with long spaces between; there were marks of heels on the garden-wall and the mortar was crumbled slightly on top. The brother and sister went ou

"we are very foolish to torment ourselves about hi

ead. Ah! if he had sa

ouse, sister. I

rushed away like a hurricane, his white

or exercise, sutlers with their paraphernalia, all the bustle and activity that is seen in the morning in the neighborhood of forts. Planus was strid

, ENTRANCE TO

shabby, dirty blouses of barracks-loafers. The old man instinctively approached. A customs officer, seated on the sto

l his strength on the rope! It's clear that he had made up his mind to die, for

devil!" Then another, a tremulous voic

certain tha

d at Planus and

I tell you that he was all blue this morning, when we

that suicides are of frequent occurrence in Paris, especially in those regions; that not a day passes that a dead body is not found somewhere along that lin

himself," said the quartermaster-sergeant at

the shroud-like folds which all draperies assume that come in contact with the rigidity of death. A group of officers and several soldiers in duck trousers were

ry much to see hi

and

summoning courage, uncovered a swollen face, a t

d comrade!" murmured Planus, and f

d, gazing curiously at the b

em. "His hand is closed, as if

ed, drawing nearer. "That sometim

his little daughter's miniature in his hand like t

to open the poor, tig

is a letter that he

fficers took it from his hands and passed

u will find in this some la

m was dim, he walked with faltering step to th

nd forever! What is the use of struggling and fighti

ore, and which Sidonie had sent to her husband on the day following their

s wife's treachery, but that

horror. He stood there, with the letter in his

ck stru

hot, moving slowly upward, with a fringe of red and black around its edges, like the powder- smoke on a field of battle. L

with one accord to exhale their quivering vapor, with the energy of a steamer about to sail. Li

gave way to a terri

fist; and no one could say whether he was

ITOR'S B

give, but he

e," so vague o