No 101.]

OR

A CHANGE OF FORTUNE.

On the 3rd of January in the present year, during the cold which reigned so severely in Paris, at the moment when the snow was falling in heavy flakes, a stoppage of passengers, horses, and vehicles took place suddenly at the corner of the Rue St. Honoré and the Rue de l'Arbre-Sec.

"What's the matter?" asked a young man, whose accent declared him to be an inhabitant of the south of France. "I really can't inform you, Monsieur, I was going to ask the question myself."

"It's only a man who has fallen on the ice, said an orange woman who had overheard the colloquy," "Nothing more. Two sous a piece---come buy!"

"It's a man dead drunk," said a porter, pushing his way out of the crowd.

"Bah!" cried an old woman, "I bet that its one of those cursed omnibusses which has overturned some poor wretch. I had my leg broken by one two years ago."

"No such thing," cried a stout man, warmly wrapped up in a thick wrap-rascal, a large handkerchief up to his nose and his hands fixed in his side pockets. "It's no such thing, It's a man struck with cold and hunger. He is dying---that is evident. Poor man! These things quite affect me! I should have stopped to lend him some assistance, but the fact is, I am too late as it is, for my wife is waiting dinner for me. Pardon, Monsieur, permit me to pass."

The stranger, however, to whom this request was addressed, pushed the stout man in the contrary direction, and pressed through the crowd of gazers until he arrived, not without difficulty, at the spot where the cause of this assemblage was lying. There, near the fountain, was extended' on the ice, an old man scarcely covered with a few rags. The stranger, yielding only to the dictates of a kind heart, stooped down and was in the act of raising the unhappy man, when a cry broke the silence of the crowd, and a sweet voice exclaimed, with deep emotion, "It is my poor old man!"

At the same moment a young girl piercing the crowd came forward to join her feeble aid to that of the stranger.

"You know him then?" he demanded, without looking at the new comer, but in trying to prevent her from having any share of the burden.

"Yes and no, Monsieur," she replied, in taking out a smelling bottle. "I know him by sight, but am ignorant of his name."

A third person came to add his assistance to the efforts of the young people. "It is old Gerard!" said he: "He must have gone out this morning the first time for these four days. This way, Monsieur," said he, speaking to the stranger, "he lives here at number 30, and I am the porter of the house. "Come, let me take your place, my little woman," continued he to the young girl: this gentleman and I can take him to his room at the top of the house. It is sheer want that has reduced him to this state. They say he was once rich, and I believe it: for it is only the rich who allow themselves to famish from hunger when they are poor---we have still two stories to go up---I would not be guilty of such a foolish

[VOL. 9.

act; I would at once go the Mayor and demand aid. Take care---the stairs are so steep---there's a step; it is so dark here, you can't well see it. It is different with me, I am used to the place---That's the door. Push! He never needed a key to lock up his property, poor man. They say Gerard is not his real name---Diable! how cold it is up here under these tiles!"

They placed the old man on some straw in one corner of the garret, and the stranger hastened to feel his pulse. "He is dying of cold and want," cried he, "here my friend, here's some money for you; bring up some soup, some wine, and a fire." The porter held out his hand to take the money, when the stranger suddenly exclaimed, after having searched his pockets, "Good heavens! they have taken my purse," and his features expressed most vividly vexation and fear for the old man's recovery.

"I will get them," cried a gentle voice; it was that of the young girl, who had followed them unperceived. She hurried out of the room, and returned speedily; for she perceived that the slightest delay might be fatal. A woman followed her, bringing fire and wood, with which she lit a fire and then retired. The young messenger was loaded with a bottle of wine, a small loaf, and the wing of a fowl, wrapped up in a piece of newspaper. She placed the whole near the old man, and then, kneeling down, arranged the fire, and stirred it up to a blaze.

The old man, by degrees recovered his senses; he was presented with food in small quantities, and in a short time animation was restored. Too weak to thank his benefactors, he could only express his feelings by looks of the most touching gratitude, particularly when they rested on the young girl, still occupied near the hearth. To the stranger she appeared nothing else than a charming and mysterious vision. Who could this young creature be, who so earnestly and so effectively devoted her time to a work of charity, when her own attire gave every indication of privation and penury? Cold as the weather was, the bonnet which encircled her delicate and beautiful features was of black straw: thin silk gloves, mended in several places, served to cover her hands, but certainly not to guarantee them from the cold. An old cachemere, worn to the last extremity, was thrown over a faded gown of dark silk, and her whole appearance betokened the absence of any warm garment. The young man would undoubtedly have been struck by the extreme beauty of her features, had there been no other charm to attract him, but there was about her that indescribable something which pleases man more than mere beauty: and that is, a union of goodness and elegance, which is, indeed, but seldom to be met with, but, when seen is irresistable. At last, her self-imposed task was over; she approached the old man, and stooping down towards him, nodded her head kindly, as she uttered the words, "I will soon return."

She then took up a small case which she had put down on her entrance, and, saluting the stranger, she left the room, and descended the narrow stairs with a rapid step.

The young man gazed after her a moment, and then turned