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Show this LicHtfiu, triw.J v. U was. sho nr.J ! begun to erect -a viJcr.ary eCEUokluiz of , dreams. Suddenly the door opened 1 again csti M. Iiamillat vrag nnuouuecd. M. Tarvenue hurried forward to meet him, "ily dear friend, at last?" "Why, yes, here I am affnin. But l?t me tell "yii'u all of you the moat extraordinary extra-ordinary and laughable occurrence imaginable. imag-inable. Vou know, Tarvcnue, that I was offended Lecause of your having , failed to take any notice of a certain ; visit I paid you three weeks ago. You said tlmt vou had not heard of it. I was ' sure that I left cards. Well, I left cardd, ; and you never knew it." i He broke oil with a loud laugh. 1 "Tell me. Tarvenuo, do you know tho i Comte do Prevaret';' i "Very little, but becomes here." ! "Ah! he coinee here!1 lio came on tho : 6th of January, eh? Well. 1 left bis card!" ! Bolange, who had raised her head from her book, now approached. j "And this is the way of it: It's all tho 1 fault of that good-for-nothing engraver, Bladel. I ordered some cards for Jan. 1. i Probably the Count Gerard did the same. Now, what do vou suppose I discovered after three weeks? That the cards in the packages were mixed inadvertently half of them were mine and half those of the Count Prevaret. That is how it happened hap-pened that you received a card from that gentleman and that is how" Solange, whiter than a sheet, had risen with difficulty and retreated into tho embrasuro of a window. Her mother followed bar. "Courage, Solangel Bo kind to M. Ramillat. After all, Eusebo is not such a bad match 1" "What! When one thought one was going to be a countess!" and she hastened horn the room. "Excuse Solange," said Mme. Tar-venue. Tar-venue. "She is feeling indisposed." Three months later Gerard do Brevaret waa married to one of his cousins, and tho samo day M. Eusebo Ramillat, disdained dis-dained by Solange, conducted- to tho altar the daughter of his father's partner. part-ner. They say that Solange Tarvenuo will not marry at all. Translated for The New York Mercury from tho French of M. Floran by Agnes Giiiord. spectacles; the motner very stout tau rubicund: the daughter a superb creature, crea-ture, a blonde, who dresses very1 weli. You must have seen them?" '"Oil, yes, I remember now. I believe they bow to me. They are good bouLs, 1 should think they go to church very regularly." "Good fioub. perhaps." laughed Iter son, "but frighlfrlly ordinary. The mother is impossible. An for the daughter, wecali her the empress. 1 assure you the name stilus her. Sho is a tremendous poseuse." "But why should thoy come to see me," asked the countess. "Perhaps to cohcit subscriptions for some charily. The mother and daughter belong to dtiterent church organizations, I think." "Perhaps. I don't care to know them, but I want to be polite. I might leave my card sotno day at their house. That 1 would not commit me to anything." "Of course not. Especially with the Tarvenucs." The lady little dreamed what a commotion com-motion the square of pasteboard her footman foot-man deposited ut tho Tarvcnue doors one afternoon would cause in that household. house-hold. When Solange, who was at the window, recognized the Prevaret livery, she forgot all her assumption of indifference indiffer-ence and rushed down to the kitchen to tell the servant that the ladies would receive. re-ceive. Then she threw a hasty glance into the drawing room to assure herself that all things were in order there, and, still running, returned to her room and began to make au appropriate toilet. What was not her disappointment when sho heard the carriage drive away again. "Idiot!" she cried to tho (servant over the bannister. "Whv didn'tyou say we were at home as I told you?" "But, mademoiselle, the footman didn't ask. He gave me the card, and I said, 'Madame is at home.' Then he aaid, 'Well, give her that then.'" "Very well," said Solange with ascer-bity. ascer-bity. "But you might at least have refrained re-frained from saying that we were at home, since you hadn't been asked." Nevertheless the sight of the countess' card Bomewhat appeased her. That a grande dame of the countess' age, too, should have taken the trouble to drive out in the cold in order to leavo a card at their house proved conclusively that she wished to sanction her son'B course. Thus did Mme. Tarvcnue think likewise, and the two ladies resolved that the least thoy could do would bo to call once more upon the countess without delay. This had been arranged, when M. Tarvenue, who spent an hour at his club every day, came in with a very clouded brow. "Something very serious has happened," hap-pened," said tho retired linen draper. Then "We have no secrets from you, my daughter, and you know already that my friend Ramillat has spoken to me of his desire of making a match between you and his son. I expected on official proposal from him three weeks ago. I did not receive it, and since then he has seemed to avoid me. I did not like to call upon liim because that would have been undignified under the circumstances. circumstan-ces. Finally I met him today on the street and, although ho pretended not to sco me, I accosted him. 'What's the reason one never sees you any more, EarniUat?' 'It seems to me, sir,' he answered an-swered stiffly, 'that it is scarcely my place to call upon you again after the step I took threo weeks ago and which you failed to recognize in any way.' And now it turns out that he came here, left his card, as I was not at home, and-thoughtof and-thoughtof course, as wo liad had a conversation con-versation on the subject the previous day, that I would understand the visit as a formal demand on his and his son's part for Solanre's hand. Here we are at loggerheads, log-gerheads, and all because you did not give me his card." "But he never came he never left a I card!" cried Mme. Tarvenue. j "In any case, there's a good match off." I grumbled M. Tarvenue. ! "Do not deplore it, I beg," remarked1 Solange with her most superb mien. "1 should not have accepted M. Eusebe.Ra- I millat in any event. 1 hope before long ! to present to you a son-in-law of quite , another stamp." In less than eight days Mme. Tarve- : nue and her daughter repaired anew to j the dowager countess.' Solange was cn- j chantingly handsome in a suit of dark blue with astrakhan trimmings, and a toque of tho same on her golden hair. Mme. Tarvenue, in plush and jets, had assumed an indifferent .and contemptuous contemptu-ous air which eho thought in the best possiblo form. When the countess saw the two ladies enter her drawing room she suppressed a movement of surprise, butsle received her guests with that gracious amiability which so successfully keeps people at a distance. 1 "I was sorry," she said in her slow, ; ' musicial voice, "not to have been at homo "when you caino some little time ago to see me." "Tho loss was entirely ours, madam," Baid Solange, with empressemcnt. "Certainly, certainly," said Mme. Tarvenue, Tar-venue, who was very red and very ill at ease. "I regretted tho coincidence all the more that I thought you might have wished to see me with regard to some church charity." Solange understood tho allusion, and her eyes Hashed fire. "No, madame, I am interested in church work, but 1 do not solicit aid from others," sheannounced trenchantly, "Wo have come simply to prove our recognition rec-ognition of the visit uy which you wore pleased to show us that you approved of vnnr snn'R vUir rn nn " A VISITING CARD. It was a rainy day in January. Large drops were beating monotonously against ; the windows of a red brick house whose j white stone trimmings and other heavy j architectural oniamcn tat ions wore that air of having been manufactured by 1 the thousand which characterizes the : dwellings of those good people who have j gained wealth without gaining taste. j Behind the guipure curtains on the i first floor stood a handsome blonde look- j ing out with a bored expression in her i cold blue eyes. This was Solange Tarvenue, Tar-venue, the only daughter of a respect- i able bourgeois who, having made his j money hi trade, now lived a gentleman of leisure in this fine new house. ! "Heaven!" exclaimed Mile. Tarvenue, ; "how tiresome this rain isl One can't go out to mako any calls and no one I 1 comes to sco one." j Tho bell rang. ! "There I I'm sure that is a call. You see, mamma, you were very wrong to say that you were not at homo to visitors. Every one is not as much afraid of bad weather as you arc." "My dear child, what are you thinking think-ing of I Such a day as this! Why the Earlor furniture would have been ruined y people's wet clothcsl" "People's wet clothes! It is to be hoped the people wo know would wear waterproofs as long as they come on foot," added tho young lady, bitterly. Sho rang tho bell. A young servant girl camo in. "Bring the cords that were left just now." The servant returned. Solange threw an mdifferent glance on the bit of pasteboard. Suddenly her face lighted up; sho exclaimed, quickly: "Mamma! It was M. de Prevaretl And you didn't receive him!" "M. do Prevaret!" wailed Mme. Tarvenue. Tar-venue. "Dear me! What a pity!" "It does great good to 6ay 'What a pity, now!' " cried Solango, sourly. M. de Prevaret was considered tho very best catch in Villo Abbel Young and handsome and clever, and the' possessor pos-sessor of a largo fortune, he lived with his mother, the dowager countess, in one of tho most sumptuous residences in the town. And this young man, on whom every woman of rank with a marriageable marriage-able daughter smiled, had rungthe doorbell door-bell of tho Tarvenue3 and left his cards for them! How had this ever come about? He bowed to them, because thoy bowed to his mother, but he had never been introduced to tho ladies. "AVhat can it mean?" asked Mme. Tarvenue, Tar-venue, anxiously. Solange was standing before the glass. "Why, it seems to me that it is very clearl" she replied, with deep conipta-1 conipta-1 cency. "Haven't you noticed, my dear ; mamma, that every time we go to hear tho hand play M. do Prevarot is there too?" "W'liat! why do you think?" Mme. Tarvenuo did not dare finish, so audacious audaci-ous did her thought seem to her. "And why not?" demanded Solange, throwing up her blonde head with a triumphant air that made her really immensely im-mensely handsome. "Vou are right," murmured poor Mme. Tarvenue; "vou are pretty enough." It was quite truo that Solango Tarvenuo Tar-venuo was handsome enough to inspire a passion, but she would never have had any attraction for a fastidious man. This young person, with her sculpturesque sculptur-esque form and her dazzling coloring, waa absolutely lacking in innato refinement refine-ment or distinction. No reflection of a gentle nature, an elevated soul, ever gave that indcsci ibablocharm to her regular regu-lar features that such attributes only can convey. Sho was clever enough, but it was a thoroughly material sort of cleverness, clever-ness, and it yis joined to a most extraordinary extra-ordinary amount of egotism and vanity. She had played, in childhood, behind the paternal counter; but she had been educated edu-cated in a fashionable Parisian school, from which sho had brought away all manner of ambitions. In her dreams for tho future she saw noblemen at her feet, and she would njt have thought a crown misplaced had it been made to rest on her magnificent yellow hair. It was therefore no wonder that tho Comte de Provaret's visit had not much surprised her. Sho saw hi it simply tho natural result of her beauty. Sho received her father when ho returned with a superior smile of calm fatuousness, while Mine. Tarvenue, who was inoro unsophisticated In her new grandeur, exclaimed agitatedly: agitat-edly: "If you only knew whom we havo just missed!" "Ohl outrank I don't know," replied re-plied the good man, trying to look very subtle. "fco ho has como to mako his proposal, has he?" "To make lus proposal? quavered Mme. Tarvcnue. "Vou knew, then?" 1 "It is to bo hoped that I did know," remarked M. Tarvenuo with importance "lie said to mo only this morning: 'It is timo wo came to an understanding. Eusebo Eu-sebo is fairly wasting away, ho is so much in love with Solange. " "Eusebo! Of whom are you talking?" "Of my friend Kamillat, who is most anxious that Solango should marry his son." "51. Iiamillat did not call. But tho Comto do Prevaret rang the doorbell whilo you wcro away." And Solange, having pronounced theso words, majestically majes-tically left tho room. "M. do Provarett" exclaimed M. Tarvenue. Tar-venue. "Why, yes.' said madame, imitating her daughter's self possessed and indifferent indif-ferent mien. "Solange is not' astonished, aston-ished, lie has been noticing her a great deal of late. And if he should want to marry her there would bo nothing surprising sur-prising in that either. Sho is handsomo enough to mako a mesalliance possible." A discussion then arose between Mme. Tarvenuo and her daughter aa to whether they should call, in their turn, on the dowager countess a discussion , which was thus concluded by the young lady: ! "On general principles it should be ; papa who returned the call. But be would not know bow to appear in u way that would do us justice. Now, if it were I. having the habit of tbe world, 1 should know liow to manage perfectly. So it is best ihnt mamma and I should go to rail on Iho count ess. Hy doing no we will make her understand that wo nre verv willing lo know her. but not willing' will-ing' to accept the attentions of her son against her wishes." The plan lev r 1 y conceived, and a week Liter u ;! earned out. On the 'lie da v t he dowaevr Countess de Prevaret w.: ehaliiiig wtlh her son in a large :ten tilled with line old furniture. furni-ture. Mr. who vens iho most touching? devoted of sons, bad lxvn asking his mother how she had jvissed tbe afternoon. after-noon. Shf had Uvti ttw tired to receive, she said: but there had leen several callers. "Among others those" and she took up n card. "Mine. Tarvenue" nnd mademoiselle. "Do you know these people';" usked the countess. "I was surprised to get their card." "I know tbcm and I don't lie used to bo a linen draper, 1 think. He is out of business now. They sit near you in church tho father is a httle man with It was now tho countess' turn to be agitated. Had Gerard really gono to Gee theso people? The daughter was pretty very pretty. "I did not know that my son had called upon yon." she said with her grand nir, "but bis friends are mine. Ah! There he is now. Gerard," addressing ad-dressing the yoimg man who now entered en-tered with a smile, "will you not introduce intro-duce me to Mme. and Mile. Tarvcnue':" "It seems to me that it is you who ought to introduce me," remarked the young man, lowing low before his mother's guests. "It is truo, monsieur," said Solange, while her uiotlwrr wished that the earth might open and swallow her up; "wo regretted re-gretted not Ittdng at homo when you called some time ugo." Tho young raau bowed again, and looked embarrassed, and said nothing. "My daughter alludes to tho visit you mado us at the beginning of January," hero threw in Mine. Tarvenue. "I wish that 1 too might allude to it, madame, but 1 am afraid thero is a misunderstanding, mis-understanding, since I would never have permitted myself, not having the honor of knowing von. to present myself at your door. Now, however, 1 shall," ho continued with a profound bow," "certainly "cer-tainly beg for tho pleasure of doing so." Mine. Ter venue desperately rose mid. followed by her daughter, left the room. When Gerard had returned from seeing them to the door, bis mother said to him: . "Tell me truly, my son. did you call1 on those pK)ple-' 1 "Never in tho world, my dear mother; and I don't in tho least know what all this means!" In the street meanwhile Solange was biting her lips till the blood started. "What idiots wo were! We have spoiled everything! He had come to the house without letting bis mother know, and wo have let tho cat out of tho bag!" she raged. "What a pityl If only he comrs back agrinl" said Mme. Tarvenue, praver-fully. praver-fully. Tho next dav thero occurred Mme. Tarvenuc's small weekly reception. Tbe lamps were Lighted and Solange was setting set-ting out some doniinoa nonchalantly on the" baize table. "Is everything ready demanded M. Tarvenue. "Oh. vos." "Welf; because T hold a good deal to this one evening in the week, when I can gather my old friends around me," said tho old fellow. "I miss one, though, Ramillat," and he sighed. His guests eoon began to arrive. Solange, So-lange, with a book in her hand, abandoned aban-doned herself to gold tinted reveries. That very morning tho Count Gerard liad bowed to her profoundly, and orj |