The west shore., July 01, 1885, Page 218, Image 24

THE WEST SHORE.
218
I saw that a droanu of posiible happiness had dimmed
hor eyes with tears. That dream, she thought, could
never be realized. I had been told that she had given
hor heart to a young officer, aud IUI poverty was an in
superable bar to their marriage.
One morning I received a message from Madame
Jansen begging me to call upon hor. I lost no time in
obeying the summons. In spite of the heat of that June
day the old woman was paciug np and down her room,
limning hoavily upon hor stick. She wore a gray cloak
buttoned to the chin, and on hor head a black lace bon
uet adorned by a red rose. Her false curls hung negli
gently around her face.
" I wish to consult you on a grave matter," she said.
" I am told that the daughter of a rich merchant is en
gaged to marry a couut Now, I do not see why my
niece should not also win a coronet
" I do not raadame, how, without money"
" I have power to altor my will."
Madame Jansen seemed to le full of this new notion.
Hlio walked briskly up and down the room, talking to
herself. At length she paused and said:
" There must surely be a starving count somewhere in
this town who would be willing for a little money My
niece she is not to bo despised. During the short visit
she paid mo I noticed that she was beautiful. She seems
to have had a good education, and there is that about her
which reminds me of my own youth. Yes, I will leave
her a prinoely fortune."
I was much surprised, but said nothing. After the
death of Madame Janson, Matilda, with millions of thal-
ers in her lap, might choose a husband for herself and
lot the shadowy count fade into thin air.
Madamo Janson bogged me to prepare the necessary
documents for a revocation of hor previous will. " Time
protwoa," she said. " My nioce is so beautiful she will
be engaging herself to some one in hor own sphere of
life; wo have no tituo to lose. Next wook I shall open
my rocoptiou rooms. Monsiour le cointe shall be invited.
I will present him to my niece, and as to my nephew, the
chef do iolire, he shall do the honors. Come up stairs,
I want you to see everything with your own eyes."
The key grated in the lock as with difficulty we opened
the door of tho large ballroom. In the embrasures of
tlio windows lay legions of dead moths, and the floor was
thick with dust My attontiou was suddenly arrested bv
two fulUicod portrait; one was that of an elderly man
with a round, sensual face and small eyes; the other was
a boautif ul youug woman in the vestment of a Bacchante.
From her shapely shoulders foil a white tunic, while in
hor ravon black hair which was clipped over the brows
crimson ribbon was eutwinod. The joy of life seemed
to be ruUoctod by those eyes. I saw in this portrait the
original of my grandfather's miniature-line for line the
sauie-only larger and lifelike! A light tap on mv shoul.
dor recalled my waudoriug thoughts; Madame Jansen
was smiling placidly at my side.
M It most have boon a good likeness, although people
thought that the artist had not quite caught the fairness
of my complexion or the bright sparkle of my eyes."
" Is it your portrait? I asked.
"And whose else could it be? The eplobrntod Grogcr
of Hamburg painted it when I was newly married. My
husband paid six hundred ducats for the pair.
" Have you been to Antwerp? I asked suddenly.
"Have I ever beei to Antwerp?" she echoed. "Ah!
indeed, and in the flower of beauty, too! My father
owned three of the largest vessels in the port We spent
six weeks there."
And she paced up and down the long room, leaning
on her stick, growing more and more animated as her
memory rekindled the glories of the past
"We lived a strange life there!" she exclaimed, sud
denly. "A Russian squadron was at anchor in the offing,
and the officers gave dances on board their ships. They
soon found out that there was a beauty on board my
father's ship, whose equal they could not have found had
they swept the Netherlands. I was soon their welcome
guest, and in time became the queen of their fetes. They
would come ashore to fetch me in a barge dressed with
flags. They were all at my feet the officers and the sons
of noble German families who were studying at Antwerp.
But I repulsed the.u all, and still rejoice at it"
I looked at her in blank amazement What -vanity
was embodied in that recital! Her wrinkled cheeks were
Blightly flushed, which brought into greater relief her
age and frightful thinness. At length, in a voice so
sweet that it did not seem to come from those shrunken
lips, she said:
"Do you know, my friend, why I had confidence in
you, and, from the first, in you only? Because I noticed
in you a resemblance a lkeness. Among the young
merchants of Antwerp there was one whom I had known
a long time. Toung man," she continued, in a strange,
sad voice, "have you ever seen a woman repulse, with
hor eyes wide open, that which should have been her
greatest happiness? I don't know why I repulsed him.
He was as handsome as the pictures of St John. Per
haps he was not rich! No, he was not rich. He was
richer." And she pointed at the portrait beside hers.
luat is your husband, I suppose?"
Madame Jansen smiled bitterly, and then continued
hor self-examinatioh:
" Perhajw he was not good?" This time there was no
bitterness in hor smile. "Yes, he was good, and that
was perhaps the reason why I reputed him. And he
loved me! I know that he secretly had a copy of my
portrait made, and then betook himself to the New World.
But that is a long, long time ago," she murmured. "Ah!
if only I knew whether he were still alive! He, or his
children, or even his grandchildren!"
At these words she dropped her stick and joined her
as uiougn m prayer; she trembled in every limb,
feeling of intense pitv crent into mv heart and I
was about to speak. I had it on my lips to tell her that
I could bring a souvenir of the friend of her youth; that
I was his grandson! But her voice checked me.
hands i
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