r, Monsieur Hamot had seized the ruffian by the throat, and they
were rolling on the ground together, amidst a scene of indescribable
confusion, and the ceremony was interrupted.

"An hour later, as the Hamots were returning home, the young woman, who
had not uttered a word since the insult, but who was trembling as if all
her nerves had been set in motion by springs, suddenly sprang on the
parapet of the bridge, and threw herself into the river, before her
husband could prevent her. The water is very deep under the arches, and
it was two hours before her body was recovered. Of course, she was
dead."

The narrator stopped, and then added:

"It was, perhaps, the best thing she could do in her position. There are
some things which cannot be wiped out, and now you understand why the
clergy refused to have her taken into church. Ah! If it had been a
religious funeral, the whole town would have been present, but you can
understand that her suicide added to the other affair, and made families
abstain from attending her funeral; and then, it is not an easy matter,
here, to attend a funeral which is performed without religious rites."

We passed through the cemetery gates and I waited, much moved by what I
had heard, until the coffin had been lowered into the grave, before I
went up to the poor fellow who was sobbing violently, to press his hand
vigorously. He looked at me in surprise through his tears, and then
said:

"Thank you, Monsieur." And I was not sorry that I had followed the
funeral.

HAPPINESS

The sky was blue, with light clouds that looked like swans slowly
sailing on the waters of a lake, and the atmosphere was so warm, so
saturated with the subtle odors of the mimosas, that Madame de
Viellemont ordered coffee to be served on the terrace which overlooked
the sea.

And while the steam rose from the delicate china cups, one felt an
almost inexpressible pleasure in looking at the sails, which were
gradually becoming lost in the mysterious distance, and at the almost
motionless sea, which had the sheen of jewels, which attracted the eyes
like the looks of a dreamy woman.

Monsieur de Pardeillac, who had arrived from Paris, fresh from the
remembrance of the last election there, from that Carnival of variegated
posters, which for weeks had imparted the strange aspect of some
Oriental bazaar to the whole city, had just been relating the victory of
_The General_, and went on to say that those who had t