A little beyond Montrétout, the road makes a sudden turn to the left.
At this point commences a magnificent avenue of old elms, leading to a
country house built in the days of Louis XIV, and now hardly visible
through the dense foliage surrounding it.
Here lived M. and Mme. de Smarte, and here Odette was spending a few
days with her friend.
Adèle de Smarte was one of the loveliest and best women in Paris,
stylish and witty. It is not difficult to acquire a reputation for
brilliancy by making cruel, sarcastic remarks about one's friends; but
Adèle's witty conversation never belied her loving, loyal heart.
Towards eight o'clock, the guests, scattered about the grounds since
dinner, gradually re-assembled in the drawing-rooms. It was one of
those exquisite Summer evenings, when mere existence is bliss.
"Do not forget your promise to give us some music this evening, dear
Odette," said Mme. de Smarte.
"I have not forgotten it," she replied.
Odette was a wonderful pianist. Her exceptional musical talent had
been cultivated until perfection was the result. She never waited to
be urged. Only indifferent performers require coaxing and persuading,
before they will attack the unfortunate piano.
"What will you have?" she asked, turning to her hostess.
"Beethoven--his music suits all tastes."
Odette commenced the sonata in C sharp, minor--that marvelous work--it
is a soul crying out in its agony. Mme. Frager played it with her whole
heart, and when she had finished, all remained silent still affected
by its wonderful beauty.
The sound of the door-bell broke the silence.
"Who can be coming here so late?" exclaimed Mme. de Smarte, in
astonishment.
A servant opened the door to the drawing-room, and announced:
"M. Paul Frager."
Odette started to her feet as she heard her husband's name, and stood
leaning against the piano.
The young man's features were distorted and pale. He was trembling, and
yet seemed rigid in his stately dignity.
Odette saw at the first glance that Paul knew her crime, and felt that
every thing was at an end for her, but did not stir from where she
stood, bravely awaiting the blow.
Mme. de Smarte welcomed M. Frager, and enquired after his mother. But
all in the room felt the tragedy to come, and all held their breath as
the young man began to speak.
"Madame," he said, bowing gravely to Mme. de Smarte, "only the
importance of my errand excuses this late arrival. I hope you will
forgive me, and grant me this request, that I may consider this house
as my own for the next ten minutes."
All had risen to their feet, pale and trembling. All understood that
the tempest had broken, and that the whispers about Odette were to be
answered in this fatal hour. Adèle's heart swelled with sympathy and
compassion for the betrayed husband, yet she dared not reply to him.
Her husband, however, bowed to the young man in token of silent assent,
and he continued slowly, "Madame, I have discovered a most abominable
crime. The woman that bears my name has a lover; that lover is my
mother's husband. I am ignorant of the exact length of time that my
dishonor has lasted; but I know this, every one seeing me live under
his roof and eat his bread, must have supposed my complaisant blindness
was bought and paid for; that I, the son of one and the husband of the
other, bargained with my mother's disgrace and my wife's virtue. God
keep you all from such despair as mine. But if my happiness is gone for
ever, I will at least preserve my honor."
Turning to Odette, he continued:
"As M. de Smarte has had the kindness to allow me to consider this
house as my own, I order you out of it, and not only out of this house,
but out of society. I want your degradation to be as public as your
disgrace has been."
All were silent. Odette stood proudly defiant before them.
Pointing to the open door, Paul exclaimed, "Begone!"
A smile curled her lips. Rather die than let any one see the savage
despair in her heart, she shrugged her shoulders, and passed through
the groups to the door. On the threshold she turned and confronted them
once more, then coolly took her shawl from a chair in the hall, threw
it over her shoulders, and walked slowly down the avenue until she was
lost to sight.
She sank on the grass by the road-side, saying, "There is nothing
so grand as a good, noble man," and sat there a few minutes staring
blankly into the darkness. She imagined she heard steps approaching;
frightened, she rose and fled.
Where could she go? To her father? Claude was away, and besides, in
this supreme hour, she saw clearly that Claude would abandon her
after such public disgrace. She was walking hurriedly down the road
to Montrétout. She could see Paris in front of her; the thousands of
lights twinkled in the distance like stars; no buildings could be
separately distinguished, only a dark mass, stretched as far as she
could see. The Seine lay like a ribbon before her, a belt that the
proud city has wound around her waist; yonder lay a dark shadow that
she knew was the Bois de Boulogne, with its thick foliage. Odette
stopped to gaze at the scene before her. So that was Paris--Paris that
had crowned her one of the queens of fashion and beauty! Paris that was
so indulgent to respectable vice; so forgiving to concealed crimes, and
so pitilessly cruel when the thin disguise was removed; so relentless
when the Rubicon has once been crossed.
The distant murmur that came to her from the great city seemed a
thousand voices, crying Shame. She was an outcast!
The train was just starting as she sprang into the car. Fortunately,
she met none of her acquaintances.
The scandal to-morrow would be known all over the city. The famous
artist's love for his daughter-in-law would be the sensation of the
hour.
Germaine alone remained to her. Germaine would receive her.
She was driven to the old house on the Quai Voltaire, and, in spite
of the late hour, found Germaine still busy at work, sewing. The door
stood open into little Bessie's bed-room, so that as she worked she
could watch the little one's peaceful slumber.
Germaine raised her head as the door opened, and looked quietly at her
sister.
"You are astonished at seeing me, Germaine."
"I was expecting you."
"Expecting me?"
"Yes. When a woman is sunk as deep in crime and degradation as you are,
the hour comes sooner or later when she is driven to seek shelter with
her own family. I am not surprised."
Odette staggered back against the wall. Germaine knew all!
Her sister's cold, quiet tones pierced her to the heart. What! would
Germaine, too, drive her away!
She ran to her sister, and, seizing her hand, cried: "Do you hate me,
too?"
Germaine released her hand without replying. Then the bitterness of
death overcame Odette. She was alone, alone! Even Germaine repulsed
her! But Germaine could not drive her away! She would never believe her
sister capable of such cold-heartedness.
Grasping her hand again, she cried: "Oh, Germaine, why do you treat me
so? I have only you left to love me. I never would have shut you out of
my heart if you had committed a crime. Here, on my knees, I implore you
to take pity on me." And she clung, sobbing, to her sister. Germaine
looked down at her with infinite compassion and sorrow.
"I have no excuse, not one! But, if you only knew what I suffered,
trying to resist this consuming passion. You can not know. Your life
is so pure and holy, that you can not even imagine what love and
passion are."
Germaine started up, her eyes flaming: "Your criminal passion is no
excuse. You think no one can resist this love that carries one away
like a mighty river. You think I can not even imagine what love and
passion are! But, let me tell you that I, too, know them as well as
you! I carry in my heart a love as deep, as wildly passionate, as
yours. You love Claude; I love Paul! Do you remember that little
romance I told you so long ago? It was Paul that was at our house. It
was Paul I loved. When you told me the name of your future husband, my
soul writhed in agony. But I said nothing, because I supposed of course
you loved him."
Odette was still kneeling on the floor, completely overwhelmed by this
revelation.
Germaine continued: "I have never entered your door since I discovered
that you were betraying your noble husband. I became nearly insane
with the longing to throw my arms around his neck, to lavish the love
and tenderness upon him that his wife was giving to another. Many and
many a time have I prayed for strength to resist this burning passion
that drove me to him. My sleepless nights, my feverish days--it is
with me all the time! So, do not come to me with any excuses for your
crime!" Seeing Odette's utter despair, she again felt only pity for
her, and stooped to embrace her. Odette avoided her, however, saying:
"You have compassion on me because you are an angel, but your love for
me is past."
"Odette!"
"Yes; you love me no longer. I do not blame you. I have unconsciously
caused you the greatest suffering and sorrow. I came between you and
your happiness. We can never be the same again, for I have ruined your
life. May I go to your room for to-night? I am fainting with fatigue,
and I wish to be alone."
Odette dragged herself to the bed-room and closed the door. So Germaine
loved Paul, as Odette loved Claude! Why had one fallen, while the
other stood firm? She glanced around the simple chamber, so pure and
sweet. The bed stood in the alcove, half hidden by the pretty muslin
curtains. A few vases and photographs lay on the mantelpiece, with a
little statue of the Virgin Mary in the center. Did Germaine's strength
of character come from that little statue? Could it be her religion
that had sustained and comforted her in her hours of darkness? Odette
meditated long and deeply. Which was true, Atheism or Religion? Which
of the two sisters was the better prepared for the battle of life; the
one with her beads and images, or the one with logic and reason?
Odette dared not reply. Germaine had not fallen, simply because her
temptation had not been as great. It was too absurd to think that her
faith in some stories about a cross and a child in a manger, had given
her the victory.
But Odette was persuaded that Germaine's flame-lit eyes revealed a
love as passionate as her own. Perhaps she, too, would have conquered,
if she had had this faith; and how it would have consoled her in her
present loathsome degradation! Did not Christ forgive the Magdalen at
his feet?
The hours passed slowly. Morning had arrived before she sank to sleep.
When she awoke, Germaine was kneeling at her bedside, holding her hand.
"You?" murmured Odette.
"Yes, dear sister. I am here to implore your forgiveness. I was harsh
and cruel to you last night. Will you accept me for your companion?
I have plenty of money, you know. Let us go far, far away, to some
other country, where you and I can live alone together, in peace and
content."
Odette replied:
"Oh, you brave, noble heart! I am guilty and miserable; but I am not
degraded enough to accept your noble offer."
She embraced her sister tenderly, humbly; then she rose.
"Farewell, dear Germaine! I must go to my doom. Farewell."
As she entered Germaine's sitting-room, she met her father, and saw by
his agitation and the open letter in his hand, that he had heard from
Paul.
"You, here!" he exclaimed. "Miserable girl!"
Odette had her hand on the door, but turned at these words.
"You, at least, can not reproach me, father! An hour of irresistible
temptation comes to us women. We feel ourselves dragged to the edge
of the precipice with a terrible grasp. Other women have some thing
to cling to, some God to cry to; but I could find nothing to seize
hold of. I screamed for help, but none came. I looked to Heaven, but
you had taught me it was empty. I know what you are going to say. My
shame and disgrace are known all over the city. I can feel the pitiless
finger of scorn pointed at me. I am fallen so low that, if I did not
have an angel for a sister, not one compassionate glance would fall on
me. This degradation is your work, father. Are you not proud of it?
God, the soul, eternity, the Virgin--they may be foolish, old-fashioned
superstitions; but women without them are helpless and lost."
She turned again to the door.
"Odette, Odette, where are you going?" cried the unhappy father.
"I am going where all women go whose honor is lost, who are desperate,
who believe in neither God, nor goodness, nor justice. I am going--to
perdition!"
And she disappeared, leaving her father's gray head bowed in despair,
while Germaine was kneeling, her eyes and hands raised to Heaven.
* * * * *
All Paris remembers Claude Sirvin's attempt at suicide.
The famous artist shot himself in the breast, but fortunately he
recovered from the dangerous wound. I met him not long since, gay and
smiling, with a pretty little actress on his arm.
* * * * *
But no one seemed so thoroughly contented and happy as Count David
de Bruges; that is, until the day when his handsome horses ran away
with him and overturned the carriage. His injuries were comparatively
slight, but his companion, the beautiful Odette, was carried home
lifeless.
In a beautiful villa, almost hidden by the grand old elm trees
surrounding it, in Paissy, that lovely suburb of Paris, lives the
author of that work on "Comparative Legislation," which last Winter
attracted such attention in the legal circles of the old and the new
world.
A quiet peace and contentment reign in this charming home, where Elaine
and Paul, in their true and tender affection for each other, have
sought and found forgiveness and forgetfulness of the sad, sad past.
The future shines bright with hope, for Paul is soon to bring Germaine
to his mother as his tenderly loved wife.
With Elaine's devoted affection, and Germaine's true, noble heart that
for so many years has worshiped him in secret, Paul Frager will surely
find that beautiful happiness of home that is
----"The only bliss
Of Paradise that has survived the fall."
THE SUCCESS OF THE YEAR.
HAMMOCK SERIES, NO. 1.
"No Gentlemen."
The brightest, most readable and entertaining novel of the season.
_WHAT THE PRESS SAY OF IT._
"We are soon amused, interested and charmed. Belonging to the class
of stories popularly called 'bright,' and published judiciously at
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"No Gentlemen."
"Is a very bright and readable novel."--_The Commercial, Louisville._
"No Gentlemen."
"Clearly belongs to a class whose highest ambition is to be
'bright'--an ambition which, indeed, is seldom more fully
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"No Gentlemen."
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"The conversations in 'No Gentlemen' are bright, the characters well
drawn and adroitly contrasted."--_Am. Bookseller, N. Y._
"No Gentlemen."
"Is written in a bright, fresh style, something like that of Mrs. A.
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Hezekiah Butterworth, in the Boston _Transcript_, says of "No
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"No Gentlemen."
"The story opens in Boston, and concerns New England life. The
characters, relative to the soil, are very clearly drawn, and there
is a great deal of originality in the plot and treatment of the
story."--_Boston Courier._
"It is a bright narrative of the summering of a half-dozen Boston
girls just out of school, at Red Farm, in Pineland, with Miss Hopeful
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order to make a novel, of course this prohibition must be broken down,
and as the girls, particularly the heroine and her special friend, are
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"No Gentlemen."
Is issued in elegant style, being printed on fine tinted paper, making
a book of 348 pages, bound in fine cloth, with unique side stamp in
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HENRY A. SUMNER & COMPANY,
205 Wabash Ave., CHICAGO
AN INSTANTANEOUS SUCCESS.
We, Von Arldens.
A New Novel by Miss Douglas.
12mo, 487 pp., illustrated. Cloth, side and back stamp. Retail price,
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We, Von Arldens.
"Is a novel which can not fail to become exceedingly popular with that
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HENRY A. SUMNER & COMPANY,
PUBLISHERS, CHICAGO.
THE HAMMOCK SERIES.--No. 2.
BARBERINE:
_The Story of a Woman's Devotion_.
A NOVEL.
"No one can begin this story without reading it to the end, for there
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and thence to San Francisco before the days of the railroad."--_N. Y.
Evening Mail._
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"There is nothing prosy about it in the least, but overflows with a
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1 vol., 12mo, 365 pages, Cloth, Red and Gold Stamp.
Price, $1.00.
Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price, by the Publishers,
_HENRY A. SUMNER & COMPANY, Chicago_.
WHAT THE PRESS SAY ABOUT
A Peculiar People.
An elegant 12mo vol. of 458 pages, handsomely bound in cloth.
A Peculiar People.
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A Peculiar People.
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A Peculiar People.
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A Peculiar People.
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A Peculiar People.
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A Peculiar People.
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A Peculiar People.
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Mailed on receipt of price, $1.25, to any address, by the Publishers,
=_HENRY A. SUMNER & COMPANY_,
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A NEW AMERICAN NOVEL.
_Her Bright Future._
A brilliant story of American life, drawn from fact and fiction.
"In many respects this is a strong story."--_Evening Journal_, Chicago.
"Spiritedly written."--_Gazette_, Cincinnati.
"The writer may be enrolled in the list of successful authors."--_Iowa
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"It is a story wrought out with considerable skill. The style is
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"Holds the attention closely from beginning to end."--_Bookseller and
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"The story is not overdrawn, but it is natural and life-like, in plot
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1880.
"This is an American domestic novel, pure and clean, and beautiful in
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"On the whole 'Her Bright Future' is above the general average, and,
if a first dash into authorship, is at least very readable as well as
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The elegant and unique binding, and handsomely printed page will add to
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black and gold stamp.
HENRY A. SUMNER & COMPANY,
PUBLISHERS, 205 WABASH AVE.,
Offer the following fresh and attractive books at popular prices:
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A Tale of American Society. By Gilbert A. Pierce. Illustrated. Square
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A brilliant story of to-day. Will be read by all classes. NOW READY
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By Ray Thompson. Square 12mo, black and gold stamp, etc. 550 pages,
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The most remarkable and best written of all detective stories. The
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"'Shadowed by Three' is _the_ novel of the day. If the author is as
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Our publications are all gotten up in a superior style as regards
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HENRY A. SUMNER & CO., Publishers, CHICAGO.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious printing mistakes have been corrected.
Both "fireplace" and "fire-place" were used in this book.
Both "depot" and "dépôt" were used in this book.
Page 17, closing quotation mark added.
Page 22, repeated word "the" removed in "the other, about the fogs."
Page 35, "priz" changed to "prix."
Page 100, "for-one" changed to "for one."
Page 111, "wierd" changed to "weird."
Page 160, "acknowlege" changed to "acknowledge."
Page 168, "tête-á-têtes" changed to "tête-à-têtes."
Page 176, opening quotation mark added.
Page 253, superfluous opening quotation mark removed.
Page 254, repeated word "one" removed.
Page 256, added missing period after "May 7, 1880."
Page 257, missing period added after "Detective."
Page 257, opening double quotation mark added before "Shadowed by..."
Page 257, missing period added after "colored story."