Frantz

“ Habits are not changed when one is my age. And, then, my love for Frantz is as great as my love for you. If I left him I should be ungrateful, for these ten years he has made my life a pleasant and happy one. ”

“ Her eyes are just like blue waters, grave and still, and her hair is long and as bright as the gold on a harp. And as for her voice, well, you can hear that whenever Frantz plays the organ. She is as kind and gentle as she is beautiful, and everybody in our country loves her. She lives in that part of Musicland where the hills and white mountains are. ”

“ It was no easy matter to pervert an honest young heart like Frantz's to the point of committing a crime; and in that strange contest, in which the one who really loved fought against his own cause, she had often felt that she was at the end of her strength and was almost discouraged. ”

“ There is a sort of family resemblance in your features, in your gait, in your voices especially, for I have often closed my eyes under his caresses, saying to myself, 'It is he, it is Frantz.' When I saw that that wicked thought was becoming a source of torment to me, something that I could not escape, I tried to find distraction, I consented to listen to this Georges, who had been pestering me for a long time, to transform my life to one of noise and excitement. ”

“ I, gentlemen, picture to myself Count Frantz modestly dropping his eyes as he gave the Circassians a thrust of his sword."
"Besides, I believe that his Royal Highness makes a decided convenience of the ingenuousness of his son—"
"The devil! No indiscretion, dear sir!"
"Let me finish, please. I say that monseigneur makes a convenience of the unconquerable ingenuousness of his godson."
"Well and good. And I think with you that the prince does not see this handsome boy exposed to the temptations of wicked Paris, without some anxiety. But what are you smiling at, my dear sir?" ”

“ Our readers know that the burgomaster had a daughter, Suzel But, shrewd as they may be, they cannot have divined that the counsellor Niklausse had a son, Frantz; and had they divined this, nothing could have led them to imagine that Frantz was the betrothed lover of Suzel. We will add that these young people were made for each other, and that they loved each other, as folks did love at Quiquendone.
It must not be thought that young hearts did not beat in this exceptional place; only they beat with a certain deliberation. There were marriages there, as in every other town in the world ”

“ Frantz, who is at college in the second form, is constantly suspected of laziness, of a life of recklessness in the way of excessive enjoyment of cigarettes and clandestine drinks. He also arouses the displeasure of my æsthetic papa by a certain slackness in manners, by holding his knife and fork carelessly, by rocking on his chair, by neglecting his nails, etc. Thus our dinner is seasoned in a most delightful way.
The evening is the oasis of the day. When Frantz has retired to his lessons or his clandestine drink, and father at ten o'clock has said good-night, mother and I have a cosy chat. ”

“ The major bowed respectfully.
"Say to Colonel Heidelberg that, after a few minutes, he can introduce the envoy of Mexico and the person who accompanies him."
"Yes, monseigneur."
The officer bowed profoundly, and went out.
The prince, left alone, said to himself as he slowly unsealed the letter which had been delivered to him:
"I must save this unhappy young man from his own folly. Such a marriage! It is insanity. Well, I must be mad myself to feel so disturbed about the consequences of this foolish passion of Frantz, as if I had not complete power over him. ”

“ THE NOVELIST. THE HEARTHSTONE.—A GERMAN TRADITIONAL TALE. (For the Mirror.)
Frantz did not at all like his new benefice; his parishioners were evidently idle, ill-disposed people, doing no credit to the ministry of the deceased incumbent; and looking with eyes any thing but respectful and affectionate upon their new pastor. In short, he foresaw a host of troubles ”

“ Frank made a quick gesture as if to speak out, but Andrew checked him with a laugh.
“Oh, I mean it,” he said. “I’d rather he joined us.”
Frank gave an indignant start.
“There, there! Don’t be cross. I won’t say any more. You ask the King. He’s only a man, if he is a king; and if he doesn’t grant your petition, I shall hate him ten times as much as I do now. Why, what a fellow you are! You’re all of a tremble, and your face is quite white.”
“Is it?” said Frank, with a strange little gasp. ”

“ Frank laughed.
“But I say yes, sir,” cried Sir Robert. “Why, in sixteen years’ time, if I could have stood still, we two would be as much alike as a couple of peas. But in sixteen years perhaps I shall be in my grave.”
“Father!”
“Well, I’m a soldier, my boy; and soldiers have to run risks more than other men.”
“Oh, but you won’t; you’re too big and brave.”
“Ha—ha—ha! Flattering again. Why, Frank, I sometimes think I’m a coward.” ”

“ Frank panted with excitement, for there, written in his friend’s hand, were the words:
“Good-bye, old Frank. We’ll shake hands some day, when I come back in triumph. I can’t forget you, though we did fall out so much. You’ll be wiser some day. I can’t write more; my wound hurts so much. I’m going to escape. If they shoot me, never mind; I shall have died like a man, crying, ‘God save King James!’
“Drew F.”
The tears rose to Frank’s eyes, and he did not feel ashamed of them, as he closed the book and thrust it into his pocket. ”

“ But as you are a mere thoughtless boy, ready to act on the impulse of the moment, and as, for your mother’s sake, the Princess has interceded for you, I am disposed to look over it.”
“Thank your Royal Highness,” cried Frank, drawing a long, deep breath, full of relief.
“Now you may go back to your duties, and remember this: you are very young, and have good prospects before you. You are my servant now you are a boy; I hope you will be my servant still when you grow up to be a man. I shall want men whom I can trust—men to whom I can say ‘Protect me,’ and who will do it.” ”

“ Frank, your mother must know, and if she waits she will get a garbled account. Go to her as soon as you get to the Palace, and tell her everything—the simple truth. I am not hurt much—only a flesh wound, which will soon heal.”
“And if she asks me why you fought, father,” whispered Frank, “what am I to say?”
Sir Robert frowned heavily, and turned sharply to gaze in his son’s eyes.
“Frank boy,” he said, “you are beginning trouble early; but you must try and think and act like a man. When I go, your place is at your mother’s side.” ”

“ Frank turned to him warmly.
“Yes, I know you do,” he said, with a wild and wistful look in his eyes; and his lips parted as if he were eager to say something particular to his companion.
“There, don’t take on about it. Things seem all out of joint with us all; but they’ll come right some day. And don’t you take any notice of me. I feel sometimes as if I’d turned sour, and as if everything was wrong, and I was curdled. I can’t help it. Perhaps the doctor’s right. You do as he said, and ask the King boldly. For some things I should like to see Sir Robert back.” ”

“ In this manner it chanced that the maiden was tended of the Abbess. The lady considered the maid as her niece, and since she was taken from the ash, gave her the name of Frêne. By this name she was known of all, within the Abbey precincts, where she was nourished.
When Frêne came to that age in which a girl turns to woman, there was no fairer maiden in Brittany, nor so sweet a damsel. Frank, she was, and open, but discreet in semblance and in speech. To see her was to love her, and to prize her smile above the beauty of the world. Now at Dol there lived a lord of whom much good was spoken. ”

“ He repaired to the cottage and called Frank. Frank appeared; he also wore corduroys and other suitable habiliments. "Very good, Frank, very good. You're really an intelligent man. If a young lady calls, you're an idiot."
"I—I beg your Grace's pardon?"
"If a young lady calls, you're to appear to be an idiot." The Duke, as he spoke, smiled over the reflection that his order to Frank embodied nothing very unusual.
"Very good, your Grace! What's Monsieur Alphonse to be?" ”

“ I was very proud of my post in the office, having just been emancipated from school, and always felt very manly and important whenever I could feel that Mr French had not his eye upon me—the effect of that eye being to make me turn to a boy in an instant. Fred and he were very intimate, and French often went up to the cottage to have a cigar and game of chess; and, somehow, I always used to feel jealous of his smooth, oily civilities, and could see that they were anything but agreeable to Annie. ”

“ Franz saw nothing but the keys, he heard nothing but the sweet soul harmony, and this he must interpret to the beautiful lady and the sick prince by means of his instrument. How long he played he never knew, but when he ceased a slight hand lay on his shoulder, and a sweet face bent above him.
"To do good, Franz, is the secret of happiness. This power is yours, and so long as you use it, so long you will be happy. The dear, heavenly Father watches over and cares for those whose lives are given for the good of others." ”

“ Fate is a hag old and blind, and Life is a song from a charmed lute.
Soon after his meeting with Nelly Forman, Freneau wrote his tragedy of "Major André," which was never presented before the footlights. It is not known whether he ever gave it to a printer, and only fragments of his manuscript are in existence to-day. A portion of it shows us the unfortunate André pleading for his life before a tribunal, and as we finger the time-stained paper, desecrated by the household accounts of later years, a tearful Eleanor rises up before us, listening to the impassioned reading of her poetic lover. ”

“ Frank laughed merrily, and for the time being he was the schoolboy again.
“Please, sir,” he said mockingly, “it wasn’t me. Answer me first,” he cried. “Why do you talk about feeling like an impostor? Why,” continued the young man warmly, “I feel as if through my plan I am going to heap blessings upon mine enemy’s head. I am taking you through this country, amongst these cruelly savage people, to do nothing but good. Wherever you go your name will be blessed; they will think of the Great Hakim as long as they live.” ”

“ For a moment François was silent; then the voice which came from his stolid visage was monotonously solemn, and the words dropped from it one by one, as if they were the mechanical product of some machine without interest in the results of its own action. One long, lean forefinger traversed the abbé's palm, and paused. "An easy life thou hast had. A woman has troubled it." The two pupils were delighted; the crowd laughed. "The line of life is broken—broken"—François's hands went through the pantomime of the snapping of a thread—"like that." ”

“ After this, when Franky, tired out, dropped suddenly asleep, as children do, his father and Penelope talked a good while, she inquiring, in her sensible, practical way, about his circumstances and prospects; he answering, candidly and apparently truthfully without any hesitation, anger, or pride; every now and then looking down, at the least movement of the pretty, sleepy face; while a soft expression, quite new in Francis Charteris, brightened his own. ”

“ But look here, Frank; take my advice: Don’t you do anything foolish, for so sure as you betray any secret you possess there will be hundreds of hands against you—yes, boy as you are, and unimportant as you think yourself. If you breathe a word, it is not merely against me, but against the safety of scores here; and to save themselves one or the other will send his sword through you at the first opportunity, wipe it, put it back in its sheath, and walk away. ”

“ This recruit's manners appeared to François a good deal like those of the young nobles whom he had taught to fence.
"What I was is of no moment," replied the young fellow. "The De's are as dead as the saints. I am a soldier. But, pardon me, the citizen may be as frank as suits his appetite for peril. I have had my bellyful."
"Frank? Dame! why not? Up-stairs I was a Jacobin; down here I am a Royalist. I was an aide in Gamel's fencing-school, and, pardie! I came away. Thou canst do me a little service."
"Can I help thee, and not hurt myself? We—my people—are grown scarce of late. I am the last ”

“ There, shake hands, Frank. Don’t you mind all this. He believes this now; but he’ll soon see that he is wrong, and come back and shake hands. Your father knew how to choose his friends when he chose Captain Murray. He’s angry, and, more than that, he’s hurt, because he thinks you have deceived him; but you have not, my lad. Doctors can see much farther into a fellow than a soldier can, and both of your windows are as wide-open and clear as crystal. ”

“ My poor boy! No. The news is now running through the Palace like wildfire. She went to visit your father in Newgate this afternoon, as you know. I don’t wish to ask what complicity you had in the plot.”
“None,” cried Frank excitedly.
“I am glad of it, though anything was excusable for you at such a time. On reaching the prison she was supported in by the servants and gaolers. She stayed there nearly an hour, and, as the people there supposed, she was carried back to the carriage in a chair, half fainting.”
“Ah!” ejaculated Frank, who was trembling in every limb. ”