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diff --git a/16860.txt b/16860.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..421bd24 --- /dev/null +++ b/16860.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5818 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Lover in Homespun, by F. Clifford Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Lover in Homespun + And Other Stories + +Author: F. Clifford Smith + +Release Date: October 12, 2005 [EBook #16860] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LOVER IN HOMESPUN *** + + + + +Produced by Early Canadiana Online, Robert C. Cicconetti, +Diane Monico, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + +A LOVER IN HOMESPUN + +AND OTHER STORIES + +BY + +F. CLIFFORD SMITH + +SECOND EDITION + + +TORONTO: +WILLIAM BRIGGS +29-33 Richmond St. West +MONTREAL: C.W. COATES. HALIFAX: S.F. HUESTIS. +PHILADELPHIA: HENRY ALTEMUS. +1896 + + + + +ENTERED, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year +one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, by WILLIAM BRIGGS, at the +Department of Agriculture. + + + + +To My Mother, + +WHO HAS TAKEN SUCH A WARM AND LOVING +INTEREST IN MY LITERARY ENDEAVORS, + +I DEDICATE + +MY BOOK OF CANADIAN STORIES. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + +A Lover in Homespun 7 + +The Faith that Removes Mountains 31 + +A Pair of Boots 50 + +A Prairie Episode 79 + +A Daughter of the Church 105 + +A Perilous Encounter 125 + +Le Loup-Garou 134 + +A Christmas Adventure 148 + +Narcisse's Friend 155 + +A Strange Presentiment 170 + +A Memorable Dinner 184 + + * * * * * + + + + +A Lover in Homespun. + + +Onesime Charest, farmer, of L'Orignal, was a happy man. As he drove +through the quaint little French-Canadian village, on his way to the +railway station, he was saluted by the villagers with much ceremony. + +Everyone knew perfectly well just what it was that was taking farmer +Charest to the station this beautiful hazy afternoon. Over a week had +now elapsed since he received the letter from his son Zotique, in the +United States, saying he would be home on September 10th. + +Before the important communication had been in the village a day, it +was common property, and had been read and re-read until almost every +soul in the place knew it off by heart. + +The wanderer's return was to be made more momentous by Madame Charest +inviting a large number of guests to a party, to be given by her the +evening he returned. + +If these worthy people were in a joyous mood the night of the party, +nature appeared equally so; for by the time the first hay-cart, with +its burden of guests, drove up to the scene of the festivities, the +moon, as though specially engaged to do duty on this honored occasion, +stood right over farmer Charest's house, and with jovial countenance +beamed into the faces of the arriving guests, and threw such a kindly +light over the farmer's rough, nondescript garments as to make them +look almost like good, soft broadcloth. It also paid flattering +attention to Madame Charest, and so beautified her thin face and +silvered her grey hair, as she stood in the door and welcomed the +arrivals, as to make the neighbors affirm--and that in a manner that +it would have been utterly useless to try and gainsay--that she looked +far younger than she did ten years ago! + +The lion of the hour, of course, was the wanderer Zotique. He stood in +the main room of the house, the kitchen, near the long improvised +table, with its burden of seductive viands, and shook hands with the +guests without even the slightest tinge of the superiority which it +was thought he would, and that justly, assume. + +Notwithstanding his graciousness, however, he was looked upon with no +little awe. He had grown so tall, got so broad-shouldered, become the +owner of such a soft, curling moustache, and wore such fine clothes +and white linen as to quite throw in the shade his elder brother +Vital, and the other men present, who wore, as was customary on all +occasions--state or otherwise--the dark woollen suits and grey woollen +shirts, with the long pointed, attached collars. + +Had Zotique not been a sensible fellow, he would surely have had his +head turned by the many flattering things said to him. + +It so chanced, too, that remarks were passed about him to his parents +and brother, _sotto voce_, which, strange as it may appear, managed in +some unaccountable manner always to reach his ears. + +"He certainly has grown good-looking, very good-looking," thought +Vital, as he hovered about his younger brother. Although he was +sincerely glad to see him, he could not altogether drive away the +shameful wish that he had been less handsome. When he thought of what +it was that gave rise to the wish, he felt ill at ease. + +Vital, in every way, was different from his tall younger brother. He +was slimly built, scarcely the average height, and not prone to many +words. He was given to day-dreams, too, and often did such +absent-minded things as to cause his father much mental perturbation, +and at times to wish that he had not given him so much schooling, but +had trained him for a farmer instead of a school-teacher. Still he was +immensely proud of his two sons, and as he saw them standing together, +he decided that they looked far superior to the other farmers' sons, +who had been given little or no education. + +The wanderer Zotique was only twenty-two years of age, while Vital had +turned thirty. + +As the minutes stole by, and the babel of tongues increased, it might +have been noticed that both the brothers stole anxious glances at the +door. Every time it opened they invariably turned to see who the +arrival was. There must have been some weighty reasons for the +frequent disappointed looks which stole across their faces. + +At last the guests had nearly all arrived, and farmer Charest, his +good-natured face all aglow, intimated by much hammering on the table +that it was time they sat down to supper. There being no dissenting +voice to this popular proposition, a general move was made to the +benches ranged on both sides of the table. By a strange coincidence, +Zotique and Vital, instead of going to the table with the others, +gravitated toward the door. + +"Just thought I would have a look out; it is such a fine night," said +Zotique, as he took a long breath of fresh air. + +Vital looked at his robust brother in a queer, constrained manner, and +said that it was indeed a beautiful evening. Now, instead of looking +up at the queen of the night, as one would naturally have expected +after such flattering comments, they both, as though by common +consent, treated her with the most marked disrespect, not once looking +toward her, but bestowing all their attention on a certain little +whitewashed cottage down the road, from a window of which streamed a +light. + +"I think we had better go in," said Zotique, presently, in a slightly +disappointed tone. + +"Yes, yes, Zotique, what you say is right; there never was a finer +night," answered Vital, dreamily, his eyes still fixed thoughtfully on +the cottage. He was in one of his absent moods, and had not heard +what his brother had said. + +Zotique turned, looked sharply at him, and then broke into a hearty +laugh. "You are as absent-minded as ever, Vital," he said jestingly, +as he seized him by the arm and marched him into the room. + +The guests were seated, but there was still room for four or five +more. After jeering them both for being moon-gazers, farmer Charest +called Zotique to come and sit by his side. Vital, thus being left +alone, wandered off to the foot of the table, and sat down by the side +of an old farmer, where there was plenty of room. What made him go so +far for a seat when there were others nearer, though not so roomy, +will presently be seen. Hardly had he seated himself when he did an +unaccountable thing. Sitting as close as he could get to the farmer on +his right, he stealthily ran his hand along the bench till it reached +his neighbor on his left. The intervening space evidently was +satisfactory, for a look of content came over his face, and he turned +and looked once more expectantly at the door. + +Scarcely had the repast begun when the door was quickly opened, and a +young woman, clad in a bewitching white dress, burst into the room. +She was out of breath, and had evidently been running. + +"Do you know, Madame Charest," she said laughingly, as she advanced, +"the reason I am late is--because--well, because"--the color rushed +into her face as she hesitated for a few moments--"because it took me +so long to dress. There, now, I have told you! Father said he would +tell you all when he came just what did keep me, although I coaxed him +not to. Now I have spoiled the joke he was going to have on me, and we +can laugh at him." + +This audacious thwarting of parental plans caused much laughter, +during which Zotique sprang to his feet, and going over to where she +was standing, and laughing merrily, held out his hand and said, "Have +you no word of welcome for me, Katie White?" + +She put her hand into the outstretched one, and looking up into his +face with her bright blue eyes, told him that she was very much +pleased to see him. + +Vital, who had seen her the very moment the door opened, had risen +with alacrity, and in the hope that she would see the vacant seat by +his side, was unconsciously crushing the hapless farmer on his right +into a most uncomfortable position. The hopeful, expectant look on +Vital's face deserved far better recognition than it was awarded. + +Despite the fact that there was but little room where Zotique was +sitting, the shameless, prevaricating fellow impressed upon her that +seats in that particular quarter were actually going begging. + +For a few moments Katie hesitated as though she hardly knew what to +do. Absent-minded Vital was still standing and looking at her, his +whole heart in his eyes. + +"Yes, I will sit next to you; it was very kind of you to take such +interest in getting me a seat." + +Poor Vital! As he heard these ominous words, saw her look up and smile +at Zotique, and after great crushing sit down by his side, all the +pleasure of eating left him entirely. + +As the good things began to disappear and tongues were loosened, +unobtrusive Vital seemed to be entirely forgotten, except by the +neighbor whom he had so cruelly crowded. Had it not been for this +kindly, unrevengeful soul, Vital's inner man would have been in as +beggarly a condition at the conclusion of the meal as at the +beginning. As it was, it received but scant attention. Seeing the +poverty of his plate, without asking leave, the farmer generously +filled it. + +This act of kindness brought Vital's thoughts to a sudden halt, and +made him feel ashamed of the interest he had been displaying in all +the young woman, seated at his brother's side, had been doing and +saying. With a firm determination no longer to slight his plate, he +turned his attention to it, but had scarcely eaten two mouthfuls when +his treacherous thoughts stole off to Katie again. Absently laying his +knife and fork down, he was soon unconscious of all that was going on +around him. + +His friendly neighbor decided it would be a most opportune time to +pass the salt, and thus give him another hint that he was losing much +valuable time. + +"Oh, thank you," said Vital, absently, as he took the salt and +proceeded to distribute it over his meat in such reckless quantities +as to completely entomb the latter. For a space the farmer looked +aghast, and then, with a mystified shake of his head, turned his +attention to his own affairs, and did not look at him again till the +time for speech-making had arrived. Then, to his consternation, he saw +Vital had not made the slightest effort to extricate the hapless meat +from its strange covering. Besides the farmer, another person had +witnessed the adventures of Vital's plate! + +After considerable solicitation and stimulating applause, farmer +Charest rose to deliver the first speech. "As dare are," he began in +broken English, "a few farmer here who not spick de French lanwige, I +will try for spick a few words in Anglish. I know I not spick de +lanwige vary much, but my son Zotique, who just come from de States, +he spick Anglish just so well as de Anglish, and so he mak you spich +better dan I mak." + +He turned and laid his hand affectionately on Zotique's head. Zotique +colored at the unexpected compliment, and looking down into Miss Katie +White's bright blue eyes, smiled, and shook his head deprecatingly. +She looked up, smiled, and nodded her compact little head, as though +she thought the compliment was fully deserved. + +Vital, who had eyes for only one person in the room, saw the look +Zotique gave her, and her apparent appreciation of it, and longed to +be out in the little garden at the back of the house. + +"I not mak some vary long spich," went on the orator, "as I know dat +you all rather have de dance. Den I see, too, dat my friend Magloire +Meloche, down dare, he look many time at de fiddle he brought and hang +on de wall." This bantering allusion to the veteran fiddle-player of +the district caused a hearty outburst of laughter and applause. + +"All I want for say," continued the speaker, rubbing his hands briskly +with gratified pride, "is dat me and my _femme_ we both glad dat my +son Zotique he come from de States to pay us de visit. My son he do +well in de States, where dare is vary much place for work. When he +write to say dat he pay us de visit, my _femme_, she say she mak dis +little pleasure so dat you all see him. My son Zotique he now spick." + +Had farmer Charest been a second "Mark Antony," the recognition of his +oratorical ability could not have been more marked. Certain it is that +that renowned orator could not have borne more becomingly the honors +showered upon him. + +Very handsome Zotique looked as he rose, and he spoke in English which +fully justified the goodly remarks passed upon it by his father. +Vital's heart beat fast with pride as he looked at his handsome +brother, until it occurred to him how insignificant Katie White must +think him in comparison. + +Before Zotique had spoken many words, he had completely won the hearts +of his hearers. Quite fluently he told them of the cities he had +visited in the States, and how a grocery clerk's life was one much to +be desired. He interspersed little jokes in his speech, at which he +laughed just as heartily and sincerely as his listeners. More than +once he was on the point of concluding, when a glance at Katie White's +sweet face incited him to fresh efforts. + +It was a speech remembered and spoken of for many days. + +Before the dancing began, farmer Charest declared, despite the +increasing and obvious restlessness of Magloire Meloche to get at the +fiddle, that they must have a speech, in English, from his eldest son +Vital. "And my son Vital, he has mak me a good son, if he do like to +tink alone too much, and sometime do forgetful ting." Very +affectionate was the look he gave Vital, who had been with him always, +and for whom it was not necessary to kill the fatted calf. + +If there was anything Vital was an adept at not doing, it was making a +speech in English. He was considered quite clever at playing the organ +in the little village church, singing the mass, teaching school, and a +hundred other things, but at speaking English he was known as an +arrant failure. + +For a few moments he stood struggling hard to regain his composure, +and ardently wishing that Katie were at his side to inspire him as she +had inspired his brother. Finally, he launched forth, to the quiet +amusement of the few English farmers present. Truly, he took liberties +with the language seldom attempted even by French-Canadians, to whom +the Saxon tongue appears to have no terrors. Yet, had he spoken in +Dutch, he would have been listened to just as patiently, for all +present knew and appreciated his quiet worth. After accomplishing the +feat of letting them know, at least half a dozen times, that he was +glad once more to see his brother with them, he got hopelessly +wrecked, and gazed hard at his plate for inspiration. Finding no +succor there, his thoughts again galloped off to the young woman who +had come late, where they evidently delighted to linger. A peaceful +smile stole over the speaker's worried face, and absently taking up +his fork he began to drum contentedly on the table with it, utterly +forgetful of those who were waiting anxiously for the remainder of his +remarks. + +With a broad smile, farmer Charest began to applaud loudly, receiving +generous aid from the guests. + +This unexpected appreciation caused Vital to color painfully, well +intentioned though he knew the applause to be. The thought that Katie +must be again contrasting him with Zotique kept the crimson hue on his +face long after he sat down. The few remaining words which he spoke +were in continued praise of his brother, of whose cleverness both he +and his parents were very proud. + +After the clapping of hands had subsided, the table was carried away +to make room for the dancing. + +Feeling that he had utterly disgraced himself in Katie's eyes, Vital +wandered off to a quiet corner where he could see her without +attracting attention. It seemed to him, once or twice, that she looked +over inquiringly in his direction, but the thought that it was +presumptuous of him to imagine she would think of him now, made him +quickly decide that he had been mistaken as to the direction of her +glances. He was also convinced now that he had made a still more +serious mistake when he allowed himself to hope that she had +cherished tender thoughts of the many walks they had taken along the +quiet country road, and of the evenings he had spent with her. + +Fearing to be thought unsociable, he rose hastily, and was soon +talking to the guests with unusual eagerness. His sudden lapses into +thought, however, created the impression in the minds of some of his +listeners that he was laboring under suppressed excitement. + +At times, when he found himself drifting unconsciously toward Katie, +it was amusing to see what a hasty retreat he would beat. + +As for Zotique, he had never enjoyed himself more. Scarcely for a +moment did he leave Katie's side. Brightly he talked to her of their +school-days and of the many pleasant parties they had met at before he +went away. When, presently, he asked her about a certain little +present which he had sent her a few months before, his voice grew very +tender, as also indeed did his eyes. It took considerable questioning +before she admitted that she had not parted with it. After this slight +admission he grew more chatty than ever, and failed to notice that her +manner was growing a little constrained. + +Finally the floor was cleared, and Magloire Meloche, with much +dignity, took down the doughty fiddle, seated himself, cast his eyes +calmly over the expectant guests, and began slowly to tune up. From +the expression of his face, it was quite apparent that he had a keen +appreciation of the important part he had been called upon to occupy +in the evening's festivities. Besides constituting the entire +orchestra, he was floor manager, and called out the figures. The gusto +with which he cried out, "Swing your pardner! Now tak de hand all +round," etc., and beat time with his huge moccasined foot, added in no +inconsiderable degree to the excitement. + +It being well known that Vital did not dance, no comments were passed +upon his absence. The poor fellow had tried to stay and watch the +dancing, but the pain at his heart had grown so, on seeing Zotique's +arm around her waist, that he really could not endure it, and so had +gone out to the little garden at the back of the house, and was +sitting on his favorite seat under a huge birch tree, whose thick +foliage the inquisitive moon could scarcely pierce. + +Through the open kitchen door there floated to him at intervals the +playing of the fiddle, and the commanding tones of Magloire Meloche. + +Finally the music ceased, and some of the dancers came out into the +garden to view the beauty of the night. Vital was just in the act of +rising, when a couple, whom he recognized as his brother and Katie +White, came within a few yards of him. Where he sat, the shadows were +too deep for them to see him. + +Before he could escape, they paused for a few moments near the outer +branches of the great birch, where the lavish moon beamed clear as +noonday. Their faces were distinctly revealed. Zotique's bore an +intensely eager look, while Katie's was strangely agitated. They were +talking earnestly. Dreading they might think he was eaves-dropping, +Vital was about to make his presence known, when they began slowly to +move away, and there fell upon his ears words that bereft him of +speech. It was his brother's voice, low and pleading: "Before I went +away I loved you, and I have loved you ever since. I was so anxious to +see you, that I came back. You are surprised at me telling you +to-night; but I can only stay a few days. If you will only give me +your promise, I--" + +The voice died away in the distance. + +The shadows where Vital stood suddenly assumed a more sombre hue, and +widened and deepened and spread, until the whole garden was enveloped +in a funereal pall. + +The ancient garden seat groaned audibly as he sank back heavily upon +it; the shock drove the gathering blackness away. Never in his life +before had he been so sorely moved; his pale face had almost a ghastly +hue, while his hands shook painfully. He rose mechanically and passed +out into the moonlight, and looked around absently. There was no one +in sight, and all was quiet. He began to move in the direction of the +house. He appeared to have forgotten all about the festivities; he was +simply weary, and was going home to rest. + +"Tak your pardners for de nex' waltz!" A moment of preliminary +scraping, then the tune, and finally the muffled scuffling of feet +fell upon his ears. Then it all came back to him, and turning +hurriedly, he walked away from the house to the far end of the garden. +Resting his arms on the fence, he stood bathed in the moonlight, +trying to think it all out calmly, and get courage to return and act +as though nothing had happened. While he stood battling with his +rebellious heart, he might have noticed, had he been facing the house, +a young woman, dressed in white, come to the door soon after the dance +had started, and look around the garden as if searching for someone. +Finally her eyes travelled to the far end of the garden, where a +lonely, despondent-looking figure was standing, and then she started +eagerly forward. Very lovely was the color in her cheeks as she sped +toward him. As she was about to lay her hand on his arm she appeared +to grow irresolute. She paused and looked back at the house as though +meditating upon the advisability of returning, and actually did take a +few steps towards it, but again hesitated and looked back; the +pathetic droop of his shoulders affected her keenly, and she stole +back to him again. Bending her little head till it was near his, she +said softly: "Dreaming again, Vital?" + +The foolish fellow turned and looked at her as though he had utterly +abandoned all faith in the veracity of his hitherto faithful eyes: +"Katie! Katie White!" he exclaimed. + +She laughed outright. "Yes, Katie White. Did you think it was my +ghost? Of course, if you are not glad to see me, and would rather be +alone, I can go back to the house again." + +Sly Katie! + +It was marvellous the way the look of misery fled from his face, while +the sudden growth of his friendliness was nothing less than +astounding. Taking her little hand in his he shook it repeatedly, and +impressed upon her, over and over again, that he had never been more +surprised in his life. + +Suddenly she put on a most serious look, and leaning back against the +fence, looked up into his face and said gravely: "Even if you don't +dance, Vital, I think it was a little rude of you to leave the house +for so long, and scarcely speak to anyone the whole evening. And the +way you acted, too, at dinner, Vital! I can't understand it." + +In the happiness of having Katie near him, he had forgotten all about +the scene he had witnessed near the great birch tree, and the dreadful +words that had floated to him, and had almost stopped the beating of +his heart. Of course, she was his brother's now. How foolishly he had +been acting, and how painful to her must have been his extravagant joy +at seeing her. The reference she had made to the dinner made his +humiliation still keener to bear, for he thought she alluded to his +unhappy speech. + +The sudden flight of happiness from his face made her own grow grave, +and she drew a little closer to him; but in his humiliation he did not +notice it. He thought she was haughtily waiting for him to speak. In +his quaint halting English he began to tell her that he feared he had +been most discourteous. The truth was he had "not meant to stay away +so long, but had got thinking of--of--" + +"Thinking of what, Vital?" + +Was he mistaken? Was not that a kindly ring in her voice? It was hard +to keep his eyes from her face. Then he thought of his brother, and he +was sure his ears had deceived him. After a painful pause, he answered +that he had been thinking of many things. Not for a moment did he +dream of letting her know that she had been the magnet around which +all his thoughts had revolved. Then he began to explain about that +speech. Hardly had he begun to apologize for his lack of oratorical +ability, when a pained expression swept across Katie's face, and she +was about to reproach him for thinking she would be so ungenerous as +to upbraid him for such a thing, when a spirit of mischief entered her +heart, and putting on a serious air she let him continue. He finally +wound up by praising his brother's wonderful gift of speech. + +"Oh, yes," she replied warmly, "Zotique is a great speaker, and such a +dancer!" She stole a swift glance at him. His eyes were still fixed on +the trees in the distance. A queer little smile stole around the +corners of her mouth. He admitted, with a valiant effort to throw a +little enthusiasm into his voice, that Zotique was indeed a grand +dancer. The smile, which was in no way scornful, deepened on her face. + +"And he is so polite to ladies, and takes such trouble to provide them +with seats at crowded tables," Katie went on reflectively. + +He stole a hasty glance at her face, but quick as he was she was +quicker; the smile had vanished. He saw only a deeply thoughtful +expression. + +To think of Katie praising Zotique for providing her with a seat! If +she only knew how she was wounding him! but he was sure she did not. +He wondered what she would think if she only knew that the failure of +his speech had been largely due to not having had the privilege of +providing her with a seat. He thought of how anxiously he had watched +the door for her, and how Zotique had upset all his plans by going so +fearlessly up to her and taking her to the seat at his side. He +wondered she had not noticed how he had stood up all the time she had +been talking to his brother, and how in that way he had tried to get +her to notice the generous vacant space at his side. There was nothing +to be done now but to let Katie misunderstand him: to let her know the +true state of his feelings would be treachery to Zotique. + +In a low voice he admitted Zotique's superiority over him also in the +capacity of politeness. + +It is wonderful how cruel maidens can be at times. In a tone in which +there was just the slightest shade of reproach, Katie told him that +she really had expected him to show her a little more attention, +considering how very long they had been friends. Perhaps, however, his +lack of attention had been due to his feeling unwell; she had seen how +he had hardly eaten anything. Ill-health would account, too, for the +tremendous covering of salt he had put over his meat. + +Poor Vital! This was dreadful; she had misunderstood him in +everything. She would never know that his prodigality with the salt +had been due to the perversity of his heart in longing for what it +would now never possess. Manfully he stuck to the thankless part he +had to play, and admitted that ill-health had something to do with his +strange behavior. + +The trees were beginning to assume gigantic shapes and to get mixed up +with the horizon, and his eyes were aching. He was suffering keenly. +Finally his eyes rested on the ground. A new trouble had arisen and +was torturing him: he thought it was his duty to congratulate her on +her engagement with his brother. If he wished her happiness without +waiting for her to tell him about the engagement, she perhaps would +see that he was not quite so impolite as she had thought him. It was +hard to commence. Distressfully his hand caressed the rough fence. + +Katie glanced at him stealthily: the troubled look on his face smote +her to the heart. She was ashamed of her cruelty. + +Trying to piece his barren English so it would not offend, Vital +finally told her how glad he was that she was going to be his +brother's wife. He dwelt upon Zotique's manliness, and how he was +quite sure she would never be sorry that she had chosen him. + +She gazed at him in amazement. "Marry Zotique?" she queried, aghast. + +He thought her surprise was due to his knowledge of the engagement, so +he hastened, with much delicacy, to explain that he had not meant to +listen. Zotique, of course, had been very much in earnest and had +spoken a little loudly to her as they passed the birch tree; that was +how he came to know so soon. + +As Katie noted Vital's innate tact and delicacy, and saw how bravely +he was suffering, and knew that it was all due to her cruelty, her +lips began to tremble pitifully, and her eyes filled with tears. She +tried hard not to break down, but her heart reproached her so fiercely +that there was no use struggling, and so resting her arms on the fence +she buried her face in them, and burst into remorseful tears. + +Had the earth yawned and swallowed the trees in the distance, Vital's +consternation could not have been greater. Had Katie laughed, he would +not have been surprised; but to break into such heart-rending sobs! He +was by her side in an instant, his sensitive face all aglow with +sympathy. Laying his hand lightly on her arm, he told her how sorry he +was for having caused her such bitter grief. He should have known +better, and not have mentioned her engagement until she had first told +him of it. He only now realized how embarrassing his conversation must +have been to her. + +Instead of diminishing her sorrow, these kindly words caused Katie's +shoulders to heave still more quickly, and made the sobs more bitter. +Miserably Vital stood by her side, utterly at a loss to know what to +do; everything he had done and said had given her pain. For the first +time in his life he wished he never had been born. + +He did not again attempt to speak, but stood quietly at her side. At +last the sobs ceased, and then with downcast eyes Katie stepped to his +side and slipped her arm hesitatingly through his. The touch of her +hand thrilled him. Thinking that she wanted him to take her back to +the house, and was too angry to speak to him, he turned, and with the +moon full in their faces they began silently to walk toward the house. +As they neared it, the sounds of the violin and the merry-making grew +more distinct. He thought of the happiness awaiting her there, and the +bitterness for him, and his heart rebelled fiercely. + +Near the house, partly shaded by a friendly apple-tree, was a bench, +where Vital often sat. When they reached it, Katie let go of his arm +and seated herself upon it. + +"She wants to be alone until she can compose herself to go into the +house," he thought, and was hurrying away, when she called to him. He +retraced his steps and stood before her. + +"Sit down, Vital." + +This time he had not made a mistake; there was something in the tone +of her voice which made him tremble with happiness. Willingly he +obeyed the invitation. + +For a few moments she sat and twined her fingers together nervously. +She knew how dear she was to him, and wanted to make amends. + +"I have been very cruel to you to-night, Vital," she began in a low, +uneven tone. + +Wrathfully he began to deny such an outrageous statement. + +"I thought you would like to know," she continued, falteringly, when +his indignation had somewhat subsided, "that you are mistaken in that +about Zotique and me; we are not engaged. I--I--told him, no." It was +hard to tell him this; but she had treated him so very badly and had +taken such an unfair advantage of his trusting nature. + +The sudden relief from the restraint he had borne so long made him +lose command of himself altogether. He sprang quickly to his feet, and +looking down at the fair averted face, said, with the love-light +beaming in his eyes, "I love you, too, Katie." It was only after the +words were spoken that he realized his amazing boldness. As he stood +abashed, a warm, sweet hand crept into his. The daring fellow held it +tightly! + +"I can't tell you how glad I am that you love me, for I love you, +too." In the twinkling of an eye he was sitting by her side. + +"Once agin bow to de ladies!" And to think that he should ever have +thought Magloire Meloche had a coarse voice, and that his fiddle was +always out of tune! He had sorely maligned him. When they married, he +decided mentally, he should have Magloire play at the wedding. + +A laudable feeling of pity for the other little hand, which looked so +lonely on the bench there, caused him to reach over and take +possession of it, too. Then Katie made a full confession of her +duplicity. She told him how she had seen the seat he had been saving +for her the moment she entered the kitchen, but had wilfully pretended +not to notice it in order to tease him. As for his speech, she was +sure it had sounded as sweet to everyone at the table as it had to +her, for they all knew that he had fully meant all the kindly things +he had said about Zotique. His heart beat riotously as he heard her +tell how badly she had been crowded at the table, and how all the time +she had longed to be sitting next to him. When she declared she knew +the reason of his seasoning his food in such a remarkable manner, was +because she had not been by his side, he declared her to be a perfect +mind-reader. + +"All tak hands for de last time!" The sonorous tones brought them down +to earth once more. She started to her feet and caught his hand. +"Quick! quick!" she said; "we must get into the house before the dance +stops, or they will miss us and we shall be teased." + +Hand in hand, like two happy children, they began to run. As +laughingly they turned the corner of the house they ran straight into +the arms of a tall young man. They both uttered an exclamation, and +looked up. It was Zotique! + +Over Zotique's shoulder the shameless moon shone full into their +startled faces. A child could have read their story. In the surprise +of the moment they forgot to unclasp hands. + +As he looked down at them an angry flush mounted to his brow, and then +with a constrained nod Zotique stepped aside as though to continue his +walk. But a closer look into Vital's face aroused a more generous +spirit, and turning, he caught their clasped hands in his great ones, +sympathetically pressed them, and without a word passed on. He would +have liked to wish them happiness, but his heart ached so! + +They entered the house just as Magloire took the fiddle from his +shoulder, and the dancers, with flushed faces, sat down to rest. Katie +was soon surrounded by a circle of admirers, and then, unnoticed, +Vital slipped away, and hurried into the garden. + +Zotique was nowhere in sight, but Vital knew just where he would find +him. When he came to the great birch he stopped and peered in at the +bench, where the shadows were deep: Zotique was there. Vital sat down +by his side, and laying his hand on his brother's shoulder, said in a +low voice, "You--cared--a great deal, Zotique?" + +"A great deal, Vital." There was no reproach in the tone. + +"Zotique--I don't know what to say--I never was, as you know, a very +good hand at saying things. It was hard to think of you being here all +alone. I--I--want you to know, Zotique, that I have not tried to act +underhanded. It all happened between us so suddenly, and so--so--" + +"Yes, I understand; don't worry about it, Vital," he interrupted,--in +a tone which eased Vital's heart more than any words could have done. + +They sat ever so long without speaking. Finally Zotique said quietly, +"My coming back was all a mistake, Vital; I never thought you cared +for her in that way; you were always so quiet and absent-minded that I +misunderstood you." He paused for a few moments and then went on +unevenly: "After I get back--perhaps not just at once--I will write +and tell her how fortunate she is." + + * * * * * + + + + +The Faith that Removes Mountains. + + +Just as the bells in the great towers of old Notre Dame Church, in +Montreal, were striking the hour of ten, a gust of October wind, more +fierce than its fellows, bore down upon the trees in the French Square +fronting the church, tore from them multitudes of leaves, brown and +crisp and dry, drove them past the ancient church, along Notre Dame +Street, across the Champ de Mars to St. Dominique Street, and heaped +them sportively in the doorway of a quaint French-Canadian cottage. + +There huddling apprehensively together, the door opened, just as the +wind with renewed vigor beat down upon them once more. For a few +moments a weird, bent figure, crutch in hand, stood in the doorway +gasping for breath, her claw-like hands brushing away the leaves, +which clung to her as if affrighted. The weight of years bore upon her +so heavily that she scarcely had strength to close the door in the +face of the riotous storm. As she stood panting and wheezing in the +little parlor, into which the street door opened, she made a +remarkable picture. She was clad in a dark, ill-fitting dress, +fastened around the waist by a broad strip of faded yellow ribbon; +about her neck the parchment-like skin hung in heavy folds, while her +entire face was seamed over and over with deep wrinkles, giving it a +marvellously aged appearance. + +At length her strength returned, and she muttered as she hobbled +across the room: "The storm is worse; I fear she cannot go out +to-night." Reaching an ancient door, from which the paint had faded +years before, she turned the handle, when a strange sight was +revealed. Kneeling before a plaster cast of the Virgin, with a string +of bone prayer-beads in her hands, was another aged woman. Ranged on +either side of the statue were two colored wax candles, lighting up +the face of the devout worshipper, whose hair the years had bleached +white as snow. She was twenty years younger than her crippled sister, +who had defied death for nearly a hundred years. + +On seeing the image and the worshipper, the sister in the doorway +painfully fell upon her knees, clasped her hands, and also began to +pray. Finally they both rose. Putting aside her beads, the younger +sister--whom the neighbors called "Little Mother Soulard"--took up an +ancient-looking bonnet, which she proceeded to fasten by two immense +strings under her chin. She was short in stature and inclined to be +stout; her face, though heavily lined, was still pleasing to look at. +"Is it storming as badly as ever, Delmia?" she asked, turning to her +sister, who stood watching her putting on her things with a +dissatisfied countenance. + +"The storm is worse than ever," Delmia answered peevishly. "Do not go +out to-night. You, too, are old, and it is a long way to the +Bonsecours Church. I fear the storm will be too much for you." + +"But think, dear," replied her sister, commiseratingly, "how our poor +nephew will be thinking of us in that dreadful place, and think, too, +of her who was this day to have been his wife. They both sorely need +my prayers this night. I must--I must go, Delmia." + +"But," contended Delmia, persistently, bringing her crutch sharply +down on the floor, "why not pray here" (turning and looking at the +statue) "to the Virgin, instead of going out this fearful night to +pray to her in the church?" + +The Little Mother let the shawl she was drawing around her shoulders +fall to the floor, as she heard the question, and walking over to her +venerable sister, said excitedly, as she grasped her by the arm: "Have +you not heard, Delmia, of the wonderful answers to prayer that the +Virgin has given in the Bonsecours Church? Only yesterday two more +miracles were reported. Madame Dubuc told me about them this morning. +Two women who had been afflicted with lameness for years were fully +restored to health, and they left their crutches in the church, where +they can be seen by anyone." + +Her excitement was infectious; the aged Delmia's eyes also began to +gleam with religious enthusiasm, while her trembling hand caused the +crutch to keep up a soft tattoo on the floor. + +"And guess why the Virgin answered their prayers, Delmia?" she went on +in a hushed voice; "because they prayed in the church from midnight +until daybreak. Nearly all the miracles that the Blessed Virgin has +performed there have been for those who have denied themselves for her +in this manner. The night is rough and she knows how old I am. Who can +tell what she may do for me if I go out on a night like this to the +church and pray to her?" + +"It is wonderful! wonderful! Blessed be the Virgin! It was wrong of me +to tell you not to go. I spoke in ignorance. It may be that she will +hear you, and cause a miracle to be worked, so that our nephew will be +restored to us again. I cannot bear to think of him having to stay +there for four long, long years." + +"That would be too much to ask of the Virgin," answered the Little +Mother, in a voice as though she feared to pursue the thought, "but I +will pray to her that he be comforted, and that little Marie be +restored to health again." As she spoke Mother Soulard glanced in the +direction of the little bedroom where hours ago she, who that day was +to have been a bride, had retired to rest. + +Poor Marie! On this woful night she had persisted in sleeping at their +house. Her parents had tried to soothe her, but she had grown so +violent that, stormy and all as it was, they could do nothing but +bring her to her lover's home. She was now in the little bedroom +which had been Ovide's since he was a boy, but which he had not slept +in for six months and would never sleep in again. + +Delmia turned her dimmed eyes in the direction of the room and said +with a sigh of relief: "Marie seems to be sleeping well, sister!" + +As they stole, hand in hand, past the bedroom toward the street door, +the Little Mother replied: "Sleep is the only thing that can save her +now. She has hardly slept at all since Ovide went away, and her reason +has nearly all gone with sorrowing for him. Everything depends upon +her sleeping to-night. Ah, such trouble! I must go and pray, sister. +If Ovide only knew how she suffers, it would kill him." Turning with +hand on the door she added earnestly, "If you hear the slightest noise +in the room, Delmia, go and soothe her, and tell her I won't be long." + +"Had you not better open the door now, and look at her? She has been +asleep so long," answered Delmia, uneasily. + +"No! no! Delmia; we might disturb her." The next moment the door +opened, a gust of cold air swept into the room and she was gone. If +she only had glanced into the room to see if Marie was sleeping! + +The storm had grown more violent, and great clouds, ominous with rain, +were now overcasting the sky. Her sister could hardly have reached the +corner of the street, when Delmia thought she heard a slight noise in +the bedroom. She bent her head and listened attentively. "It is +nothing; my ears often deceive me now," she mumbled as she laboriously +seated herself on a maimed rocking-chair, which creaked dismally as +she rocked herself to and fro. Its querulous protestations prevented +her hearing the sound of a falling window which came from the +direction of Marie's bedroom. + +"Yes, yes," Delmia rambled on, "my hearing is very bad now." Presently +she stopped, leaned her head toward the door and listened again. +"Marie sleeps soundly," she said with a tired, contented sigh. Poor +Delmia! + +The strangely-clad figure, which had sprung through the window, +crouched close to the side of the house, and with rapidly-beating +heart listened to hear if Delmia had heard the noise the treacherous +sash had made as it fell behind her. She knew there was no danger of +the Little Mother being aroused, for she was listening at the bedroom +door and had heard her go out; she had only the aged Delmia to fear. + +There was no need for alarm; Delmia had not heard. + +The rays from the gas-lamp cast yellow flickering shadows on the lane +and the side of the old brick house, and at intervals upon the +crouching figure. Suddenly Marie sprang to her feet and started to +run; but before she had gone many steps, something white and +cloud-like, which was fastened about her head, and which unperceived +by her, had become fastened in the window, caused her to halt +abruptly. She caught the tremulous thing in her hands and gave it a +quick pull; there was a sound of tearing and then she was free. As she +ran across the sidewalk under the lamp, her strange attire was +distinctly revealed; it was that of a bride! Strikingly grotesque in +the storm appeared her long white dress, flowing veil, and white kid +shoes. + +On reaching the opposite side of the road, where the shadows were +deep, Marie paused and looked back at the little house which she had +so suspiciously left. Finding that she was not being pursued, she +turned, regardless of the storm, and began to walk toward the east, +where lay, some six miles distant, the great penitentiary of St. +Vincent de Paul. As she sped along in the shadow of the houses, she +began to talk to herself like a pleased child. "This is our +wedding-day, and he will be so glad to see me," she chattered. + +Suddenly the smile died out of her face, and she said anxiously: "But +how shall I know him, now that they have changed his name?" She wrung +her hands distressfully. Soon the smile returned to her round, sweet +face, and she went on: "But he cannot have forgotten that this is our +wedding-day, and when he sees me, he is sure to know me." + + * * * * * + +If tender-hearted little Mother Soulard had only known as she +struggled across the Champ de Mars, muttering prayers for Marie and +her nephew Ovide, her strength must surely have failed her. She was so +weak and worn that she fairly staggered across the Notre Dame and down +Bonsecours Street; but her strength revived and her heart grew light +again, as she saw in the near distance the famed Bonsecours Church, +bearing on its lofty roof the great statue of the Blessed Virgin, +which, with arms outstretched toward the River St. Lawrence, welcomes +to port those whose business it is to imperil their lives in deep +waters. + +Although the hour was late, several French-Canadian women were in the +church, crouched at the feet of the marble statue of the Virgin, near +the gorgeous altar. As the church door complainingly opened and +disclosed the wet, weary figure of little Mother Soulard, the +worshippers, with that lack of curiosity so characteristic of +French-Canadian women when in church, did not look up, nor even appear +to notice her as she crowded past them, and also knelt before the +statue that had given such wonderful answers to prayer. Devoutly she +kissed the Virgin's feet. + +One by one, the seekers after health and happiness stole away, and +presently the Little Mother was all alone. Soon the only sounds that +broke the intense silence were her loudly whispered supplications and +the clicking of her prayer-beads, which waked weird echoes in the +great galleries and organ loft. + +Now it was Ovide, and anon Marie; over and over, again she poured out +her heart for them. If the dear Mother would but put it into the +hearts of the men who had sent Ovide, her nephew, from her--whom she +loved as a son--to give him his liberty! She was sure he had never +forged the note; it was cruel of them to have him kept in such an +unhappy, disgraceful place. Even if he had fallen, might they not have +shown him mercy? Better than anyone else the Blessed Virgin knew, that +everyone needed mercy more than justice! Thus she pleaded, and in the +innocence of her own simple mind she condoned the evil the loved one +had done. + +As she continued to pray, her religious enthusiasm increased, until, +at last, raising her bowed head, and looking up into the immobile +face, carved in pitying lines, she cried despairfully: "Dear Mother, +hear my prayers for them both! This was to have been their +wedding-day, and Marie is suffering so. She cannot sleep or eat, and +they say her sorrow may drive her mad, and that she will have to be +taken to the house of the imbecile. Poor, poor Ovide, that would +surely break his heart!" + +Unable any longer to control her sorrow, she sprang to her feet, and +clasping both her arms around the statue, pleaded in a voice which +started a thousand answering echoes: "Mother of us all, hearken to me. +I know of the miracles thou hast wrought for those who have denied +themselves for thee, and made sacrifices and done penance. And I will +make sacrifices and do penance if thou wilt but restore Ovide to me +again and give health to Marie. I will go on a pilgrimage to the +Twelve Stations of the Cross, and pray at each of them; I will pray +every night for the souls in purgatory; I will go every day and +collect for the Little Sisters of the Poor. I--I--_Mon Dieu_, I will +do anything, anything, if thou wilt only answer my prayers." + +Through utter exhaustion her arms slipped from the statue, at whose +feet she sank, sobbing like a child. + +Of a sudden her tears ceased, and her face lighted up with hope--the +sermon that Father Benoit had preached about faith, the previous +Sabbath, had flashed across her mind. He had declared that to those +who had faith nothing was impossible; faith could cause even mountains +to be removed--Christ himself had declared so. It was only through +those who had great faith that the Virgin could perform mighty things. + +Vividly she recalled how the priest had pointed to the crutches in the +glass case near the altar, and had told them that those who had left +them forever behind, had been possessed of faith that nothing could +daunt, and so had brought the blessing down. + +The "faith that could remove mountains!" How the words rang and rang +in her ears! Soon her heart grew so light that she could have shouted +for joy. "Of course," she murmured with beaming eyes, "if I do not +believe that she can do what I ask, how can she answer my prayers? How +simple I have been, and how clear it all is to me now. I do believe +and know that what I have asked will be granted, and that this very +night Ovide will be restored to me, and Marie's mind be made well +again." Again and again, out of the fulness of her heart, she kissed +the marble feet, and give thanks for the faith within her--the faith +that could remove mountains! + +Not for a moment did she stop to think what hard requests she had +made. + +Fatigue and weariness now no longer beset her, and in glad eagerness +to see her dear nephew again, and Marie, Mother Soulard fairly ran +out of the dimly-lighted church, brushing against the shadowy pews as +she sped along the narrow aisles. So bound up was she in her +newly-found faith, that she scarcely noticed, on reaching the street, +how heavily the rain was falling and how fierce the storm had grown. +So boisterous, indeed, was the wind on the bleak Champ de Mars that +again and again she had to halt for breath. + +"I can imagine I see them," she thought, as she struggled on, "sitting +in the parlor together with Delmia. How surprised Delmia must have +been when Ovide walked in! and how Marie must have cried and kissed +him! But the miracle will soon be known to all the neighbors, and will +be told of in the churches, too. They shall be married in church by +Father Benoit, because it was through his sermon the miracle was +brought about. Ah, what a blessed day this will always be to me!" + +As she turned the corner of St. Dominique Street and saw her house, +with the yellow glare of the street-lamp still upon it, she caught her +old, dripping black dress in her hands, drew it in above her ankles, +and began to run, painfully. "_Mon Dieu!_ At last, at last!" she +panted. + +Delmia, who had fallen asleep in her chair, sprang hastily to her feet +as the street-door was burst open, and uttered a startled cry on +seeing her sister standing in the doorway, looking with dazed +expression around the parlor, the water pouring in great streams from +her dress, which she still unconsciously held. + +"Where are they? Where are they, Delmia?" she asked, stretching out +her hand for support. The heavy fatigue she had borne seemed to come +back to her all at once. + +In her surprise and haste to reach the door, the bent and palsied +Delmia let the crutch slip from her hand, and as she fell heavily +after it, and lay struggling to regain her feet again, she looked like +some distorted creature of fancy. + +The sodden, pitiful figure in the door seemed not to have seen her. +"Ovide! Ovide!" she called brokenly, staring blankly around the room. + +At last Delmia reached her side. Very gently she drew her into the +house and closed the door. + +"Has Ovide not come, then?" she asked again, as she sank on the crazy +rocking-chair. + +"Is Ovide coming?" asked her sister, wonderingly. + +The blood rushed back to the Little Mother's face, and she rose +hastily. "How very foolish I am to-night," she said, trying to be +brave. "I had forgotten that he may not have had time to get here yet; +but he is coming, Delmia, surely coming. I have prayed to the Virgin, +and the miracle is sure to be performed. I have the faith now, +Delmia." + +Her poor old face quivered with hope and fear. Across her bosom, she +made the sign of the cross. "I did not mean to doubt," she said +penitently. + +Suddenly catching her sister by the arm, she cried quickly, "He may be +here, though, Delmia, at any moment, and we must tell her of his +coming before he arrives, or the shock may make her worse. Ah! but I +had forgotten. She must be quite well now, for I prayed for her, too! +But we must go and see her; she has been asleep so long." + +The Little Mother sped across the room in the direction of the +bedroom, holding above her head the flaring lamp, Delmia hobbling +after her. + +As she eagerly entered Marie's room, and the light fell across the +bed, she uttered a cry of deep dismay. The bed had not been disturbed. +The horror on her face deepened as she saw a piece of wedding veil, +which the window still securely held, noiselessly beating against the +panes. Slowly she turned her stricken face to the side of the wall, +where Marie's wedding clothes had hung, covered with a sheet; the +finery had gone, and the sheet lay in a disordered heap on the floor. +At length, endurance had come to an end; she had suffered so much, and +the shock had been so very great. The hand that held the lamp began to +shake as though it were palsied; she swayed weakly from side to side; +then there was a crash, and they were in darkness. As she fell heavily +across the bed, she uttered a cry of anguish that was pitiful to hear. + +In the blackness Delmia feebly groped her way to her sister's side, +and throwing her shrunken arms about her, tried to win her back to +consciousness by childishly calling her endearing names. + + * * * * * + +While Delmia called to her sister in the darkness, the storm without +continued to rage. It had shown no mercy to the hapless leaves, +neither did it lessen any of its malignity now as it tore along the +straight road leading to the penitentiary of St. Vincent de Paul, and +overtook the sadly bedraggled figure clad in bridal robes. The heavy +rain had wet her through and through, and she staggered from weakness +and exposure. The road was deep with mud, and the bridal dress was no +longer white; she had fallen so often. The flowing veil, although +sodden and heavy, still afforded excellent sport for the boisterous +wind, which tossed it about her head and face in the most fantastic +manner. Long since the covetous mud had snatched from her feet the +little kid shoes, of which she had been so proud. Her reason had now +entirely gone, and she babbled incessantly. + +"I hope the priest who is to marry us will wait till I come," she +fretted; "I did not mean to be late. How funny that they should now +call Ovide No. 317, instead of his right name." She attempted to +laugh, but no sound reached her lips. + +"If I could only walk faster," she whispered. Her strength was +well-nigh spent and the penitentiary was yet a mile away. Her feet +were so heavy that she could hardly drag them along; the mud had clung +to them so that they looked strangely huge and out of proportion. + +As she neared the end of her journey, the road grew worse, the puddles +deeper and wider. At first the poor girl had not fallen very often, +but now the frequent dull splashes told a pitiful tale. Yet the rain +fell none the less persistently, nor did the wind grow less +aggressive. + +At length, the grey dawn struggled through the clouds, which still +doggedly hugged the earth, and drove away the gloomy shadows which +enveloped the high unpicturesque walls of the penitentiary. The rain +had ceased falling; even the wind had grown weary, and its faint +whispering could now scarcely be heard. + +As the clouds rose slowly above the walls of the penitentiary, the +ghastly pinched face of Marie was revealed. She was on her hands and +knees, climbing up the heap of stones which the convicts had broken +and banked against the great walls. Around her face and shoulders +streamed the tresses of her dark wet hair, while the fragment of veil +which still remained trailed raggedly after her. As she crawled ever +higher, the stones' jagged edges cut her hands and knees, but she did +not feel the wounds; she was too far exhausted. When near the summit, +she stopped abruptly; a shudder ran through her slight frame. For a +few moments her hands clutched at the sharp stones, then she sprang to +her feet, her body rigid, her eyes wild and staring. The end had come. +"Ovide, I am here!" she gasped, and then fell heavily backward, +rolling down the pile of stones into the hole near the wall, which the +carters had made. The weary eyes were wide open and turned toward the +sky, but they no longer comprehended; the disordered brain no longer +conjured up fantastic scenes, nor gave birth to diseased thoughts; the +rest she had so long needed had come to her at last, and she +slept--slept that deep, dreamless sleep from which not even he, for +whom she had sacrificed so much, could wake her. + +As the light grew more distinct, there stood revealed, on the top of +the walls, four sentry-boxes. At short intervals, through the mist, +the forms of the sentries could be seen, as they slowly paced to and +fro, with rifles resting on their shoulders. + +The thick air was suddenly pierced by the penitentiary clock +discordantly striking the hour of five. Hardly had its echoes died +away when the clanking of chains and the decisive voices of the guards +could be heard, issuing from the great stone building in the centre of +the yard. Half an hour later the heavily-barred doors of the +penitentiary swung open, and the convicts, surrounded by guards, filed +slowly out into the courtyard. Before the men were taken to the +various places of labor, they were ranged in single file, and their +numbers called out. + +Nearly all the prisoners responded in sullen, rebellious tones. But +the voice that answered to No. 317 was full of contrition and +hopelessness. Six months before, the young convict who bore this +number was known as Ovide Demers, nephew of Little Mother Soulard. The +day that had just expired was to have been his wedding-day, and little +Marie Ethier, whom he had played with when a child, was to have been +his wife. All night long, as he tossed about in his cell, he had been +thinking of her and of his two old aunts who had taken him to their +meagre home when his parents died, and had watched over and cared for +him with the love of a mother. They had believed in him--although, +alas! his guilt was so glaringly apparent--even when the whole world +had forsaken him. So, because of all these things, his heart, on this +gloomy morning, was almost breaking; little wonder that his voice +nearly failed as he answered to the number that now stood for his +name. + +The file of convicts was broken up into gangs; "317" belonged to the +stone-breaking gang, and worked outside the frowning walls. As they +slowly passed out of the gate to the road, the sentries unswung their +rifles--many successful attempts to escape had been made by convicts +in the past. + +Slowly the men were marched along the road, till they came to the +great mound of stones, heaped against the walls, where they were put +to work. Watchfully the guards stood near by, while the sentries, +equally alert, paced the high walls. + +Scarcely had the hammers begun their monotonous chorus, when the +tragedy occurred. Convict 317 was seen to let his hammer suddenly +fall, and gaze with terrified eyes into the hole near by. "Marie! +Marie!" he shouted, in a voice charged with fear. Just as he reached +the edge of the incline, and was about to jump down and clasp in his +arms the dear, bedraggled figure, clad in the torn bridal robes, the +sentry near the gate brought his rifle to the shoulder, and in a +warning voice called out to the fleeing convict; but the latter failed +to hear the warning. There was a puff of smoke, a sharp report, and +convict 317 was seen to throw up his arms and fall. + +When the guards reached the spot where they thought he had fallen, he +was nowhere to be seen. They took a few steps forward and looked down +the incline: there he was at the bottom, with his head resting on the +bosom of a young girl, in strange array. + +They sprang down and raised him--he would never occupy his cell again! + +As the guards stooped wonderingly over the form of the girl, they +failed to see in the distance the rapid approach of a carriage, which +had passed the gate and was close upon them. Just as they were about +to summon the convicts to carry the bodies into the yard, the carriage +stopped, and she who had prayed so fervently for the lifeless ones, +and had tried so hard to believe, sprang out and ran to where they +were lying. Clasping her arms about them, she wept, and kissed them +passionately. + +"I am too late, too late!" she moaned in an agony of grief. + +The Little Mother had instinctively known the road Marie had taken, +and the moment consciousness returned to her in the bedroom, she had +called a carriage and set out at once after her. The driver had driven +furiously; his horse was covered with foam, but to no avail; Marie was +near her sad journey's end when they started. + +At first the guards were inclined to push the old creature away, but +when they understood, from her grief, what relation the quiet forms +bore to her, and heard snatches of their pitiful history fall, +incoherently, from her lips, they drew back, and let her pour out her +deep grief over them. With sympathizing hearts, at length they made a +sign, and the convicts took up the bodies and bore them into the +courtyard. + +The Little Mother seemed too stunned to notice what they had done, and +still sat sobbing and talking to herself. + +The driver grew weary of waiting, and going to her side said softly, +as he laid his hand on her shoulder: "Let me take you home; it is +cold, and you are shivering." + +She only crouched closer to the spot where they had lain, and talked +on. Thinking she was speaking to him, the man bent his head to listen. +"It is all my fault," he heard her say, "because I had not the +faith--not the right faith--not the faith that Father Benoit +meant--the faith that can remove mountains!" + + * * * * * + + + + +A Pair of Boots. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE RIFT WITHIN THE LUTE. + + + "There is nothing but death + Our affections can sever, + And till life's latest breath, + Love shall bind us forever." + +The words, as they flowed musically from the throat of the fair singer +at the piano, were inflected with a subtle irony, which caused the +frown to deepen upon the brow of the tall, scholarly, though somewhat +morose-looking man who had entered the parlor soon after the singer +had begun, and who, without glancing in her direction, had seated +himself on one of the many luxurious chairs which strewed the room. + +As he sat and listened to the song, sweet and simple in itself, but +made with deft and almost imperceptible intonation on certain words, +clearly for his ear, the stern lines about his mouth visibly deepened. + +Finally the song ceased, and the singer swung slowly and noiselessly +round and looked across at her husband, whose back was turned towards +her. From the brilliant look in her eyes, it was evident she was +laboring under suppressed excitement. She was a young woman of about +twenty-six, singularly beautiful and with a fine intellectual cast of +countenance. From her shoulders hung a richly-lined opera cloak, +which, being fastened only at the throat, disclosed a figure of more +than ordinary grace and symmetry. + +As her husband continued silent, she presently arose, and with a +peculiar smile playing about her mouth, walked calmly over to him, and +laying her hand on the back of his chair, said, in a voice in which +the same subtle tone was noticeable: "My lord, you see I have obeyed, +and have not gone out without coming here, as commanded by you, to +learn your pleasure regarding my coming in and going out." + +Harold Townsley arose hastily, and said sternly and angrily, as he +faced her: "Was it necessary, Grace, to sing that song in such a +manner? Did you wish me to understand through it the state of your +present feelings toward me? I dislike to harbor the thought that you +chose the song, and began to sing it in the manner you did, the moment +you heard me coming." + +Had his tone been less angry and stern, her reply might not have been +so bitterly cutting. + +"Your questions, Harold, I must say, are pointed ones," she answered, +as, seating herself, she broke into a seemingly disingenuous smile, +and shook her head protestingly; "and it seems to me that they are +utterly uncalled for, too. Our life for the past two years should have +demonstrated that fact. However, to answer your questions: Your +intuitions were correct; I did choose that song purposely for you, and +only began to sing it when I heard you coming. As to the question of +my sentiments toward you: When you remember that it is scarcely twenty +minutes since you, once more, bitterly found fault with me, and that, +too, almost before the servants, because I chose to go out again +to-night, and angrily informed me that you would like to see me here +before I left the house--surely you did not expect to find me trilling +a love-song for you in heart-broken accents! Still, I must say that I +wish you had not made it necessary for me to be so tryingly frank." + +Her reply stung him deeply. With tightening lips he turned away, and +muttered under his breath, "I am, indeed, right! She has not the +slightest love left for me; it will delight her to be free." + +"Grace," he said, a little sadly--but, unfortunately, also again +sternly--as he halted by her side, "You and I, like so many others, +evidently were not intended for each other." + +Her clasped hands tightened, but he did not notice it; he was sure +that he thoroughly understood her now. + +"It is a pity," he went on, grimly, with his eyes fixed on the carpet, +"that human nature is not gifted with the faculty of reading the +future; so many mistakes and so much suffering would be prevented." +He was thinking more of the unhappy days she must have spent with him, +during the past two years, than of his own disappointment in her. But +she did not understand the words in this way, and thinking he wanted +her to know what a terrible mistake he had made when he married her, +five years ago, her high-strung, nervous temperament was aroused still +more, and rising quickly, she said, almost recklessly: + +"I never knew before, Harold, that you were such a humanitarian and +had such lofty longings to save others suffering; indeed, were you not +evidently so much in earnest, I should certainly think that you were +indulging in jests." Somehow her low laugh, this time, hardly rang +true. + +The cynical reply caused her husband's figure to straighten out +stiffly--they both were now at dangerous cross purposes. + +Meeting his gaze, she went on crisply: "And was it for the sake of +expatiating on the general failure of marriage that you commanded me +to meet you here before I could go out?" Without waiting for a reply, +she drew out her gold watch, and after glancing at it, said +carelessly, "I am afraid I shall not be able to listen to all the +_pros_ and _cons_ of this vast question to-night, as I have, as you +are aware, to be at the opera in a half-hour or so." + +His face now lit up angrily, as he rejoined hotly, "Yes, it was to +discuss this vast question that I wanted to see you alone; but not to +discuss it in the abstract, as you evidently think, but as it concerns +you and me, and to try to remedy, as far as possible, the mistake you +evidently must have made when you thought you loved and married me." + +As he ceased and turned away toward the piano, she almost sank on the +chair at her side. "Where are we drifting?" she whispered; "surely it +has not come to this between Harold and me!" His back was turned to +her, and he was fingering the music restlessly, trying to get command +of himself for what he had to say. + +Turning, he leaned against the piano, and fixing his eyes on the +comely head with its rich brown covering, he said firmly, but not +without some emotion, "We have drifted, and drifted so, Grace, that +there is nothing else left--we must part." + +Her breath came quickly, but there was no other sign that she was +agitated. + +He paused, in his heart hoping she would give some sign that the words +meant something to her, and that he might, even yet, catch some +evidence that her love for him was not utterly dead. During the pause +which ensued, she turned her face away from him, and so he did not see +the look almost of terror which it now wore. + +Construing her silence into simple acquiescence, and thus angered the +more, he went on in a hard voice: "During the past two years the +change in you, Grace, has been incomprehensible to me. For my wishes +you have not shown the slightest regard, while your home, as you know, +has held no attractions for you--possibly because I am in it. You have +persisted in going out alone to the opera, to parties and social +attractions of a like nature, until you have almost become talked +about." His voice grew more bitter as he continued to recall the past. +"Had you been a plain woman you would likely have found some +attractions at your home; but the love of adulation and the greed of +excitement and false flattery seem now to be so necessary to you that +your true womanliness has been killed." + +He was now pacing the floor in deep agitation. + +A transformation had crept over his wife's face. Her cheeks were no +longer pale, but flushed with anger, while her head was thrown back +defiantly and her hands tightly clenched. + +"And has my lord finished the list of his wife's accomplishments?" she +asked, smothering her anger by a strong effort, and speaking as though +in jest. + +Quietly walking over to where she was sitting, he said, in a tense +voice: "No, not quite. The bitterest memory I have of my wife is her +heartless conduct toward the memory of our poor dead boy. When he was +alive I really believed that you loved him passionately; but scarcely +had he been dead a year when this greed for gaiety and excitement took +possession of you, and you began to go out everywhere. You knew he was +dearer to me than life, and that his memory was with me every hour of +the day. How little true sentiment, after all, there must have been in +your professed idolization of him. With such a mother it is perhaps +well that he is dead!" His voice broke for a moment as memories of the +boy he had so idolized crowded back upon him. Looking into her now +flashing eyes he continued bitterly: "I am weary of the bitter scenes +between us, and of your heartlessness, Grace, and we must part. I +shall leave the house to-night and live my life elsewhere. You can +stay here and enjoy the frivolity which is dearer to you than your +husband, the memory of your dead boy, or--" + +"You are a coward, Harold Townsley!" As she faced him, her head thrown +back, her opera cloak lying in artistic disorder at her feet, exposing +the richly trimmed dress, and the soft outlines of her fine figure, +her eyes flashing and her bosom rapidly heaving, she looked, indeed, +ready to do and dare anything. + +Had he not been so wrought up himself he would have seen that he was +goading her beyond endurance. When he mentioned their dead boy she had +winced as though in bodily pain, but when he accused her of +heartlessness towards his memory, she had grown so unstrung that she +could scarcely contain herself. Never before in their differences had +he accused her of faithlessness to the memory of their boy. The fear +of having her husband leave her had now been swept away by the wave of +indignation which possessed her. + +He could not have started back in more surprise and dismay had she +struck him, than when he heard her call him a coward and saw her +intense anger. + +With a great effort she mastered the wild rush of words that sprang to +her lips, and bowing to him derisively said, as she looked into his +face: "Truly a most gallant husband and a gentleman! And so, forsooth, +you would desert your wife because she has forgotten the memory of her +dead boy--whom she never truly loved--and because she thirsts after +pleasure and excitement! What wondrous discernment! What a wise judge +of human nature!" Her ironical laugh was now true in intonation. + +"Utterly heartless," he whispered, almost wonderingly as he sank down +on his chair. + +She caught the words and said easily: "Yes, thanks to my husband, +utterly heartless." Then calmly drawing a chair near to his, she said +in an amused tone: "And let me tell you how this interesting +metaphysical transformation was brought about." + +His anger had died away and he looked at her pityingly. + +"I shall have to go back to two years ago," she continued, "for up to +that time you never doubted the existence of my heart--in fact, you +will remember you more than once told me that I was too +tender-hearted, and that you hoped deep sorrow would never come to me, +because I had the capacity to suffer more than most women. The great +change came with my boy's death." + +For a brief space the mocking light died out of her face, while her +voice grew deeply earnest. A rush of memories made her emotion so keen +that she could not keep seated, and walking to and fro she talked +rapidly, at times almost wildly. + +"Your discernment for once was right; I had the capacity for +suffering more than most women, and infinitely more than my husband, +with all his worship of our boy. After his death my heart craved love +and sympathy as it had never done before, and to whom but you was I to +turn for it? And was it given? Let your conscience answer. With his +death you shut me out of your heart, as I have said, when I most +needed your sympathy. How many times before this passion for +excitement, which you speak of, took possession of me, did I come to +you in your study, in which you isolated yourself so, and tried, in +numberless little ways, to show you how sorely I needed you--tried to +make our sorrow a common one, tried to make you realize that I needed +your company and sympathy to save me from the thoughts which seemed to +be wearing away my very life. A dog could not more mutely have shown +its craving for pity and companionship than I did; but the more I +sought you out the more the desire seemed to grow upon you to nurse +your own sorrow alone. At last it got so (you _must_ remember) that I +saw you only at our meals, which you ate almost in silence. The +continued quiet of the house, and the company of my own sad thoughts +and longings for him, finally grew more than I could bear, and so, +after a year of suffering and solitude in this house, I broke down and +tried to forget by accepting social invitations. I had, of course, to +go out alone; you refused to go with me. So now I have humiliated +myself to tell you the truth, and you can judge whether I am heartless +or not; whether I truly loved my boy or not; and who is to blame if I +am now heartless." + +She paused suddenly before him and said, in a firm, decisive voice: +"Until I heard your words to-night, my heart had not wholly hardened +toward you, but now the little affection I had left for you has +entirely gone. Never could a woman have been more disappointed in a +man than I have been in you; the idol I set up has been broken into a +thousand fragments. In adversity, when your manliness should have +stood out true and bright, it warped and has grown to be a pitiable +thing. Your life is now so narrow and morbid that you have but little +sense of justice left, as is shown by your throwing upon me all the +blame for the trouble which has been growing up between us, and which +has at last separated us. You have said, Harold, that we must part; +you have spoken truly. You have said, to-night; again you have spoken +truly, for on no consideration shall this roof shelter us again. If +you do not leave to-night, I most surely shall." + +Her mood again changed, and she said, with a low laugh, as she paced +the floor with an amused air: "And so I, Mrs. Townsley, am to be a +deserted wife, a 'grass widow,' and all as a punishment for being +heartless, too fond of pleasure, and for not having had any real love +for my only boy! What a dire, dire punishment, Harold!" She glanced +mockingly down at the bowed head of her husband, which was now +pillowed in his hands, and with another burst of musical laughter, +swept gracefully over to the piano, seated herself at it, struck a +few chords; and then, as if driven by sudden impulse, wheeled quickly +round and said: "But the runaway husband shall have something pleasant +to remember the poor deserted wife by in his wanderings. Be sure, +Harold, and always think of me as singing this love-lorn ditty." Again +she laughed, but this time there was a peculiar tremor in her voice +which betrayed, better than anything else could have done, the great +effort she was making to sustain her pride. "Now listen: + + "Oh! leave not your Kathleen, there's no one can cheer her, + Alone in this wide world unpitied she'll sigh; + And the scenes that were loveliest when thou wert near her + Will--" + +"Grace! Grace!" His hands trembled with deep emotion, as he laid one +on her shoulder, and with the other hushed the words that cut him so +keenly. + +As he had listened to her, and at last understood her overwhelming +love for their boy--and had realized, too, that it was indeed he who +was to blame for their estrangement--a look of deep surprise had +gradually overspread his face. Twice he had tried to interrupt her, +but in vain, until finally, almost convinced by her torrent of anger, +contempt and derision, that he had indeed lost all hold upon her +affections, he had sunk back bewildered in his chair, and covered his +face with his hands. But the mocking refrain of the song was more than +he could bear, and so he had sprung to his feet, gone to her side, and +putting his hand over her scornful lips had hushed the song. + +As she wheeled defiantly round and looked up at him, he said +remorsefully, his face pale and haggard: "I see, at last, Grace; I +have been very blind and narrow; it is I, and only I, who am to blame +for this estrangement. Had I only understood earlier, and not have +been so blinded with my own sorrow! How very deeply you must have +suffered, dear, with no one to comfort the bereaved mother-heart. As I +now look over the past I cannot think how ever I got to think that +your nature was shallow, and that your affection for our boy was not +deep and true. Ah, how much easier it would have been had we borne the +sorrow together, instead of suffering alone; and it was my fault that +we did not! Grace, I need your pardon to-night far more than ever you +needed my help and sympathy; and I know, now, how great that was." + +He held out his arms pleadingly towards her: "Grace, try and forgive +me!" + +If he had humiliated her in any other way than by telling her he would +desert her, her deeply wounded pride could not have held out, and she +surely must have found refuge in his arms. But her humiliation had +been so very deep, and her mood was now such that every nerve was +quivering with indignation; so, subduing the pleading of her heart, +she sprang away from the outstretched arms. As she faced him the angry +color again stole into her cheeks, and she exclaimed, in a suppressed +voice: "There are things, Harold, that a woman cannot forgive and +retain her self-respect. Even had I been as fickle as you thought, +that would not have been sufficient reason for you to make up your +mind to desert me; and in deserting me, place me in a position for the +world to suspect, wag its head at, and gossip over. You knew it would +do this, and yet it did not alter your decision to throw me over. And +now, after having renounced me, you ask me to forget and fly back to +your arms." She laughed bitterly, her manner growing cynical once +more. "No, no, Harold," she continued, "there can be no kissing, no +making up and being good between us; the knife has cut too deep. I +prefer facing the world, as you have decided, rather than trying to +live down this humiliation with you, and being in constant dread of +your threatening to desert me again, should any misunderstanding arise +in the future." + +She again paused for a brief space, and then went on, in a firm, quiet +tone: "There is no use in prolonging this interview; nothing will +alter my decision; we will both follow out the course you have mapped +out. I repeat again, Harold, that if you do not leave the house, as +intended, I certainly shall." + +Again, seating herself at the piano, she ran her fingers restlessly +over the keys, as though his presence were trying to her. + +He stood by the side of the piano for a space and looked sadly and +absently at her; but her set face gave him no encouragement. With a +troubled air he turned and began to walk slowly and thoughtfully +toward the door--when in deep distress he always grew strangely +absent. When near the door his attention was attracted by a little +book lying on a table. He picked it up, without appearing to be +conscious of doing so, and opened it, but his eyes wandered far away +from the open pages. He raised his hand thoughtfully to his face and +said, ponderingly, to himself, in a low voice: "How--how could I have +made such a mistake--such a frightful mistake? How changed she is, +too!" + +She now began to play a low, dreamy air, which stole into his heart +and riveted his laggard feet still more to the room where she was. + +As he slowly turned away, she partly turned her head, and with unmoved +face watched his retreating figure. But when she noted his absent +manner, which she recalled so well; saw the pondering look on his face +when he picked up the book, which she knew he was not conscious of +holding; caught the tired droop of his shoulders, and the glint of +early grey hair at his temples, a pathetic expression stole about her +mouth, and she made a motion as though she would cease playing and go +over to him; but the bitterness was greater than the pity, and +conquering the impulse, she kept her seat and played on. + +As he was closing the book it fell on the table. His eyes followed it +mechanically. "Yes," he went on presently, as though following out a +deep train of thought, "a frightful mistake, how could I have made +it?" + +His restless fingers sought his watch-chain as he once more turned +toward the door. The notes from the piano were now getting faint, low +and irregular--her face was still turned in his direction. + +As he was about to open the door, his attention was attracted by a +thermometer which hung there in a prettily worked frame. Taking it +down he looked at it for a space and then, unthinkingly, put it into +his pocket. As the door was closing behind him his lips again moved: +"Yes, a frightful, frightful mistake!" + +She continued to play, her face turned toward the door; but the white +fingers were now straying very waveringly over the keys. Suddenly the +room was filled with a discordant jar--her arms were resting heavily +on the keys, her face buried in them, and her shoulders were heaving +in quick distress. If he had but come back then! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ARCH-CONSPIRATORS. + + +When Mary Tiffin, who had been in the employ of the Townsleys ever +since their marriage, excitedly entered the parlor ten minutes after +the events narrated, it was empty. Mary was a comely maiden of +forty-three, of comfortable proportions and goodly to look upon. Her +cheeks were still attractively round; her glossy black hair was, with +much placidity, smoothed over her temples, cunningly brought above her +ears, and twisted in an alluring knot at the back of her head. Her +eyes were of that deep peculiar blue which generally is such a menace +to the peace of the sterner sex, and over which lovers are wont to +expatiate so tryingly to bosom friends. + +Wringing her hands and ruefully shaking her head, Mary walked first to +one end and then to the other of the long room. Finally she broke out +in healthy Yorkshire dialect: "Wheere, oh, wheere can that lad John +be? I'm crazed wi' all this trouble; nivver did I see the missus so +worked up before, and she winna change her mind, no matter what is +said. I'm just as sure as I can be that if they part now they'll +nivver come together again. Who'd a thow't it 'ud ever come to this +between 'em." She fairly panted with the burden of her feelings. + +Just as she was about to break out into fresh lamentations, the door +slowly opened, disclosing the sober face and lean figure of John +Herbert Bedford Lawson, confidential servant to Mr. Townsley. + +"Eh, lad, but I'm right glad to see thee!" exclaimed Mary, as she +caught hold of John's meagre arm and unceremoniously hurried him into +the room. For some reason or other, Mr. Lawson evinced no especial +pleasure at seeing the comely Mary, as was clearly demonstrated by the +ungallant manner in which he tried to brace himself back as she drew +him forward. + +When finally released, he said in a sceptical voice, as he indignantly +put to rights his disturbed linen: + +"Oh, thou art glad to see me, art thou? P'raps thou art; strange +things happen in this world. Yet I'll be bound that it's not for +myself thou art glad." While speaking, he knitted his eyebrows in a +most menacing manner. He was a small, thin man, about forty-five +years of age, and clean shaven. As he stood eyeing Mary through his +glasses he looked a crusted character enough. + +"Nay, lad," she said reproachfully, putting her hand on his arm, +"don't thou talk in a tone like that and look so sour; it don't become +thee; it's not natural, too, and thou knows it." Then she went on +anxiously: "Thou knows what is troubling me; thou art the maister's +private servant, and he must have told thee what has happened. Now we +mun think o' something, John, to stop 'em from breaking up in this +way. We daren't go and tell anyone else about the trouble, so do, lad, +do try and think o' something, for there's no time to be lost." In her +excitement and distress she almost shook him. + +The repellent look was still on John's face as he replied more +ungraciously than before: "Nay, I can think o' nowt. I can tell thee, +though, that the maister's told me to have the carriage ready to catch +the train that goes east at nine" (he turned and looked at the clock +on the mantel--it was 8.15), "and, as thou sees, that'll be in +forty-five minutes. Of course, thou knows that I shall go wi' him." + +"Eh, but how the world will talk, and what she'll have to bear!" broke +out Mary vehemently, as she sank back on a chair almost in tears. "And +in my heart I believe that she loves him, too. And thou must believe +that, too, and yet theere thou stands wi' that unnatural frown on thy +face, and will do nowt at all, although in thy heart thou knows thou +likes the missus as well as thou does the maister." + +Suddenly springing to her feet, she caught him by the sleeve, and said +desperately: "Could thou not manage, John, lad, for the maister to be +just a little too late for the train?" + +Without doubt John Herbert Bedford Lawson was in a most +ill-conditioned mood, for instead of being moved by the palpable +distress of the attractive suppliant, he turned his back ungraciously, +thrust his hands viciously under his ample coat-tails, elevated his +chin aggressively, and said airily, as he kept up a warlike tattoo on +the carpet with one of his heels: "John Lawson, thou art reet; it's +not the thow't o' thee going away that's causing her any trouble--thou +canst go to the uttermost parts o' the earth for all she cares, lad." + +Turning and facing her, he said grandly: "I say once more that I know +o' nowt that can be done, Miss Mary Tiffin." He turned again, and this +time pulled out his watch. + +For a few moments Mary sat in deep thought, and then a smile broke +over her face--she had realized where her base of operations had been +weak. Banishing the smile from her lips, to find refuge in her +twinkling eyes, she arose--to vanquish Mr. Lawson. + +Quietly walking up behind him she gently laid one plump hand +caressingly on his shoulder. Wondrous was the change that stole over +his doughty face: the corrugated lines on his forehead gradually +vanished, his eyebrows hovered no longer belligerently near the lids, +while his chin--really a well-modelled one--receded slowly, but +surely, back to its accustomed position, revealing a very pleasant +mouth indeed. It could now be seen that the thin face of Mr. Lawson +was a most kindly one. + +"John," began Mary, in a dangerously soft tone: "I--I think more about +thy going away than thou thinks. But thou knows how afeered I am that +they'll nivver come together again, and so--and--so, just only for the +moment, my thoughts had gone away from thee. And now thou knows this, +lad, won't thou make some effort to save 'em from wrecking their +lives? Maybe we can't do much, John, but we mun try and do something. +Now, if we can prevent the maister from going away to-night, something +may turn up to-morrow that'll give 'em a chance to talk it over, and +then it may come all reet between 'em once more. As for the train, +lad, if the maister should miss it" (both hands were on his shoulders +now, and her comely head was very near his), "he simply couldn't get +away till to-morrow." + +By this time John's face was gloriously radiant, and he was just about +to turn around and promise her anything under the sun, when a shrewd +expression flashed into his eyes, and composing his countenance, he +said, in a somewhat independent, yet nervous tone, as he faced her and +adjusted his now disturbing spectacles: "Er--er, Mary, think o' the +trouble I'd likely get into if I intrigued for the maister to miss the +train; and what should I get for all my trouble? But still, lass, I'm +willing" (the glasses were needing no end of adjusting now) "to do +what I can--that is, of course, on--on condeetions." + +A somewhat embarrassed look came across Mary's face as she covertly +glanced at the man of conditions, who was now looking anything but +imposing. + +"And what may the condeetions be, Mr. Lawson?" There was a touch of +wonder in her tone. + +Mr. Lawson looked past her, again thrust his hands under his +coat-tails, which he waved slowly to and fro like signals of distress, +and said, as he raised his eyebrows and tried to appear perfectly at +ease, "I--I guess thou must remember, Mary." + +Evidently Mary's memory was not all that could be desired, for she +shook her head dubiously, and seemed more ill at ease than ever. + +Being thus suddenly brought to bay, John did what men generally do +when they are cornered--he rushed into the thick of the battle, +regardless of consequences. + +"I axed thee, as thou knows, a year ago," he broke out aggressively, +as he gazed past her, "to have me. Thou didn't say much in reply; but +what thou did say meant No, and now I ax thee once more, wilt thou +have me? I had not meant to ax thee again--though I like thee just the +same. A man like me, lass, has got a little pride, and I don't want to +thrust myself upon any woman. But I mun say that, when I seed how +worked up about the missus thou wert, and about the maister, too, +going away--and hadn't a thow't for me--my feelings did get a little +the best o' me, and I couldn't help exposing 'em again summat. So now +thou knows the condeetions, Mary." The coat-tails by this time were +simply acting in an unheard-of manner, while Mr. Lawson's not very +stalwart back was strikingly erect--his whole manner, in brief, was +that of a man determined to bear the worst, should it come, as becomes +a man. As he was still looking over her head he did not see her look +of admiration as she stood and surveyed his warlike figure. + +"The condeetions are--are extraordinary ones, Mr. Lawson." She lowered +her eyes so that he might not catch the light in them. + +"Oh, are they indeed?"--the swing of the coat-tails was now nothing +less than phenomenal--"then, Miss Mary Tiffin," he continued, as +bravely as he could, throwing out his chin a little more as he +continued to look past her, "that means, I suppose, that thou doesn't +agree to the condeetions, and that thy answer again to me is No?" +Facing quickly about, he began to march independently to the door. + +"Eh, lad, but thou does take me up so, not giving me a chance to +say--say--" She sank down distressfully on a chair. + +The collapse of Mr. Lawson was amazingly sudden; his erect shoulders +fell, his chin lost its lofty altitude; and facing suddenly about, his +glasses all awry, he hurried to Mary's side, and taking her hands from +her face began a most treacherous tirade against himself, his +master--yea, and even men in general--for their shameful treatment of +the weaker sex. Presently his voice grew very low, and then their +heads got dangerously close together. When at last they arose, after +an eloquent pause, John's spectacles were lying forlornly on the +floor, his coat-tails once more were hanging in peace and quietness, +his arm was around her, and he had the audacity to waggishly inform +her that they were the best "condeetions" that he had made in his +whole forty-five years of life. + +Suddenly remembering her mistress's troubles, the happy light died out +of Mary's face, and turning anxiously to her now contented lover she +said eagerly, "And now, lad, do try and think o' something to help +them. If nothing else can be done, there is the train; if it is missed +there will be so much more time." + +"Nay, lass," John answered, as he sat down, "the train scheme is no +good; for I'm sure the missus would, as she has threatened, leave the +house if he didn't go to-night." + +Picking up his glasses and slowly polishing them, John continued +ruminatingly, "Like thee, Mary, I believe her heart's warm towards +him, but it's her pride, and that can only be broken down by deeply +moving her heart. Sure, sure, lass, there's no other way." He was +silent for a brief space and then went on, quietly, speaking to +himself, his eyes fixed steadfastly on the carpet. "And if the boots +don't reach her heart and soften it towards him, there's nowt in this +world that will, sure." + +"Now, John, lad, don't ramble on like that; I'm right anxious. Tell me +what's in thy mind," broke in Mary, restlessly, seating herself on a +chair by his side. + +"That I will, lass," answered John, briskly, shaking off his +contemplative mood, "for I believe we've now got the key to the +sitiwation. Thou remembers," he went on eagerly, "how, soon after +their little lad's death, the maister ordered that all his toys and +clothing should be taken away from the house, as he couldn't bear to +see 'em around?" + +"I do, lad, I do, and it went hard wi' the missus to let 'em go; but +she didn't like to thwart the maister, he wur so restless and morbid. +But it never should have been done, lad; it wer'n't becoming like." + +"Thou art reet, Mary, it wer'n't the thing to do; for in getting rid +o' the things nowt wur left to bring tender memories back to 'em o' +him, and so, having no common sorrow, their hearts grew narrow--as wur +to be expected--and they began to misunderstand each other and drift +apart. Sure as thou lives, Mary, getting rid o' the little lad's +things wur wheere the mistake came in, in their lives." + +Springing excitedly to his feet, he continued quickly, "Thou remembers +the night, too, thou gave me the bundle wi' the little things in to +take to the charitable institoote? Well, I didn't go straight theere +wi' it; I took it first to my room and opened it, just to have one +more look at 'em; and lass, the first thing my eyes fell on wur a +little pair o' his boots--thou remembers the pair--the ones that had a +little hole in one o' the toes. Well, Mary, that little hole staring +me in the face touched my heart and melted it as few things in this +world ever did, and so, lass, I just couldn't send 'em away, and I +took 'em out and put 'em in my trunk, wheere they still are. Now, +Mary, if those little worn boots could break down such a real worldly +man as me--and when the lad wur not my own, too--does thou think for a +moment that, if the maister and the missus could be got to come across +'em just about at the same time, sweet memories, that they've +forgotten, would not rush over 'em, and that their hearts would not be +moved to the very core, and that they would not just _have_ to forgive +each other? Why! I can fairly see 'em together now, lass, and it's +going to be all reet, and--and--and--" He was actually too full for +further utterance, and bending down clasped his equally moved listener +in his arms, and just hugged her. + +When Mary finally managed to extricate herself from his arms, he gave +further vent to his feelings by cutting a series of remarkable capers, +doubtless a species of ancient dance, in which (undignified as +doubtless it would have been) Mary, who had caught the contagion of +his happiness, would, I believe, eventually have joined, had he not +suddenly hove to. + +Hurrying to her side, he said, between his gasps for breath, "And now +for the plot, lass. I'll go and get the boots, wrap 'em up, and put +'em on the table theere. Then thou must go and tell the missus that +there's a parcel for her on the table. Thou wilt manage, of course, to +get out o' the room before she can tell thee to fetch it. As for me, +when I know that she's found it, I'll go to the maister and deliver a +like message to him, and also get away before he can tell me to bring +it. And then, lass, he'll catch her when her heart's full--and then we +shall see!" + +His genial old coat-tails were flashing out of the room before Mary +could say a word in reply. + +As she sank breathlessly down on her chair, she exclaimed: "Ah, but I +am excited and moved!" + +She had scarcely time to wipe her eyes when John flashed back again, +his spectacles in one hand and a small parcel in the other. "Theere +they are, lass," he almost shouted as he laid the parcel hurriedly on +the table. "And now, Mary, quick, go and tell her, and as soon as she +finds 'em I'll go and fix the maister." + +Mary needed no second bidding, but hurried away, while John left by a +door that led to his master's study. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +RECONCILED. + + + "But ties around this heart were spun + That could not, would not, be undone!" + +When Mrs. Townsley entered the parlor her face was pale and careworn. +As she seated herself some little distance from the table, bearing the +precious parcel upon which so many hopes were now founded, she looked +up at the clock. + +"I could not go out to-night; he will be leaving soon"--there was a +touch of wistfulness in her voice. She sat for a little time sadly +turning round and round the plain gold ring on her left hand. "If he +had threatened anything else but to desert me," she went on again +presently, "I could go to him; but it's no use in trying, I cannot do +it." + +She rose with a weary sigh and went over to the table and listlessly +took up the parcel. She had no curiosity as to its contents, as was +shown by her sitting down again without opening it. Resting her chin +on her hand she drifted into thoughts that plainly were not happy +ones. Finally she again sighed deeply and leaned back in her chair. +Her eyes fell upon the parcel. Indifferently she slipped off the cord +and began to unwrap the paper. Something slipped on her lap, and she +looked mechanically down; the paper and string, which was still in her +hand, fluttered to the floor, her lips parted, her eyes dilated and +her face grew pitifully pale. As though fascinated, she continued to +gaze at the poor soiled little boots. Her laboring heart at last threw +off its torpor and drove the rich color once more back to her face, +and then with a cry, full of unutterable love she caught up the +precious little things, kissed, cooed, wept and fondled them +passionately. "My dear, dead darling," she sobbed. Sinking on her +knees by the side of the chair, she fondled them afresh and pressed +her lips hungrily to the spot where the inquisitive little toe had +forced an opening. + +Presently the sound of footsteps fell upon her ears. She sprang to her +feet. "It is Harold!" she exclaimed excitedly. In her new tender mood +she had almost forgotten her resentment toward him. Then an impulse +flashed suddenly into her mind--happily she acted upon it. Hastily +wrapping up the boots again, she hurriedly placed them on the table, +in a position which she thought would attract her husband's attention, +and then she sped across the room and hid behind the heavy curtains +which screened the deep bay window. She had not been mistaken--it was +her husband. + +He was wearing his great-coat and had evidently been preparing to go +out. She could see from her hiding-place that his absent mood was +still strong upon him. + +"I--I wish," he said, thoughtfully, to himself, as he entered the +room, "that John had thought to bring the parcel; this room is filled +with memories of her, and it makes it harder to go." He stopped and +looked regretfully around the room; then, noticing the parcel, he +walked listlessly over to the table, took it up and ponderingly began +to unfold it; the secret the roughly folded paper held was quickly +revealed. As he held out the wee boots in the palm of his strong hand, +his lips moved for a few moments, but they gave forth no sound. When +the words at last came they were pitifully broken: "His, _his_ boots! +My poor, poor darling!" Over and over again he repeated the words as +he passionately stroked the frayed little toes. + +His strength seemed suddenly to desert him and he sank weakly on a +chair, "How I loved him! My God!" Then there flashed back to him the +memory of his wife's deep, true love, and sorrow for the lost one, +and of how he had added to their sorrow, and how they were now about +to separate, and the regret and pity of it all broke down all +self-control and caused sobs to break from his lips, such as only +strong men who seldom know what tears are, can ever utter. + +When the storm had spent itself he rose and carefully wrapped up the +boots. "I will take them with me," he said, "they will keep me from +growing narrow and morose again. Ah, if I had but kept them when I was +passing through the dark days! I should have had more sympathy with +her, have understood myself and her better, and this never would have +happened." He looked around the room for the last time: "No, she never +was so dear to me as she is to-night; I never understood her so well." + +As he was moving sadly toward the door some belated organ-grinder, in +an adjacent street, began to play the weird refrain of that song which +has touched the hearts of so many who have loved home: + + "Home, home, sweet, sweet home--." + +He stopped and listened to the music as it stole plaintively from the +distance into the room. When he began to move toward the door again he +was absently repeating the haunting refrain: + + "Home, home, sweet, sweet home--." + +The music, as well as his words, had floated to the deep bay window; +the curtains had swiftly and noiselessly parted, and she was stealing +after his retreating figure with an expression mantling her face +which brought out every detail of its great beauty. + +As he raised his hand to open the door the organ drifted from the +refrain to the air. + +He began sadly to repeat the pathetic words: + + "An exile from home--." + +Two warm, loving arms had stolen around his neck from behind and +smothered the words on his lips: "Not an exile from home, Harold; no, +no, not that, dear! The boots--we understand better now--forgive me, +Harold. Don't go. I----." + +Once more the organ had reached the refrain: + + "Home, home, sweet, sweet home--." + +As he folded her passionately in his arms she drew his face down to +hers and said, with the happy light still glowing and beautifying her +face: "We will take it as a good omen; to us, now, there shall be no +place like home, shall there, dear?" + +As he looked into her eyes he answered by lovingly repeating the +refrain which was now dying softly away in the distance: + + "Home, home, sweet, sweet home--." + + * * * * * + + + + +A Prairie Episode. + + +The fierce rays of the sun, which had turned the prairie grass into a +lifeless-looking dusty brown, continued to pour pitilessly down on the +horde of perspiring workmen, exhausted Indian ponies, and long-eared +morose mules. + +At intervals, gusts of hot parching winds bent the rank grass, which +gave forth a dry, almost rasping sound, very different from its usual +musical rustle. + +"In ten minutes more it will be noon, and we can get out of this into +the shade for an hour," said Joe Swan, a huge muscular laborer, as he +pushed the nose of the steel scraper into the earth. + +The words were addressed to a pale-faced young man who was driving the +pair of mules hitched to the scraper. The only reply was a tired tug +on the reins, and the next moment the scraper had torn up half a yard +of the tenacious prairie sod and cast it to one side. As he turned the +mules around to get them into position again, Joe glanced covertly at +the weary face, shook his head in a troubled manner, and muttered, "It +ain't the work that's breaking him up like this; it's her, and it's +going to end in trouble long before we reach the Rockies." + +It was a strange, almost fantastic life these two men, with hundreds +of others, were leading away out here on the vast prairie, whose long +solitude was now being broken by the babel that attends track-laying, +and whose vast bosom, for the first time, was being girded with a band +of steel which was to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, and bring +home most forcibly to the Mother Country the value of her great +Canadian colony. + +Stretching away in front of and behind the two men were hundreds of +other scrapers, tearing up the sod, while closely following them came +gangs of track-layers, who laid the ties and fastened the rails to +them as quickly as the sod was removed. It was easy work track-laying +on the flat expanse, where grading for hundreds of miles at a stretch +was practically unnecessary. Such, indeed, was the rapidity with which +the rails were laid that camp had to be moved from two to three miles +westward every day, so that the men never knew what it was to sleep +twice in the same place. + +As Joe was about to scoop up another load, a gunshot echoed and +re-echoed across the prairie. "Dinner time; just what we have been +waiting for!" shouted Joe, as he let go the handles of the scraper, +unhitched the mules, sprang on the back of one of them, and stooping, +swung Harry Langdon, his delicate-looking driver, laughingly across +the back of the other. The next moment they were dashing towards the +camp half a mile away. Other laborers, similarly mounted, were +straining every muscle to reach the same place, for they knew that the +rule of "first come, first served," would be religiously adhered to. + +A fast friendship had sprung up between the huge scraper-handler and +his young driver. The very day the little fellow had wandered into +camp, two months before, with his hands and face swollen with mosquito +bites, and asked for a job, big-hearted Joe took a liking to him. It +was owing to Joe's influence with the foremen that he was at last, +grudgingly, given work, as his slim, girlish figure told strongly +against him among such a crowd of sinewy, hardy men. + +Had he been put driving for any other scraper-handler than Joe he +would never have succeeded; for before he had been in camp a week the +thick tepid surface water, which they all had to drink, coupled with +the intense heat, told on him, and for weeks he was so ill that he +could scarcely drag his feet along. + +Owing to the custom of each scraper being compelled to clear a certain +distance every day, it was impossible--on account of the great stretch +to be covered by all the scrapers--for the foremen to more than two or +three times a day visit the works, and thus it was that Joe, unknown +to the foremen, was able to let his little driver lie for hours, when +he was at his weakest, in the thick grass, while he wrestled with the +stubborn mules and the scraper at the same time. + +At last the evening of the torrid day with which this story opens, had +arrived. Those who had been fortunate enough to get to the surface +holes first, and get a little water, were washing their shirts, while +the less fortunate were lounging around the little tents--of which +there were hundreds--welcoming the cool breeze which the dark, ominous +clouds had brought up. Suddenly there was a blinding flash, followed +by a loud report, and then from the warring clouds the longed-for rain +began to pour in heavy sheets. + +For some time before the storm broke, Joe had been standing in the +opening of the tent, gazing with furrowed brow, through the gathering +darkness, toward a tent much larger than those of the ordinary +laborers, in the shadow of which was dimly outlined the forms of a man +and a woman. He at once recognized the woman as Nellie Shuter (the +only white woman in camp), daughter of Bill Shuter, a general +storekeeper and purveyor of smuggled and doctored whiskey. The man +with her he knew was his mate, Harry Langdon. + +The moment the rain began to fall, Nellie ran into the large tent--her +father's store--and left Harry, who, regardless of the storm, stood +for fully a minute looking after her. As he was about to turn, a +figure, muffled in a gaudy colored blanket, emerged from behind an +adjacent tent and touched him, in a supplicating manner, on the +shoulder. He turned hastily, and seeing who it was, pushed the +intruding hand away. As he did so the blanket fell away from the head +and shoulders of the figure, and there stood revealed a young Indian +girl belonging to the Cree tribe, several of whom--both Indians and +squaws--had for weeks been following the encampment. + +Instead of leaving him, she raised her hands in an imploring manner, +and her lips moved. Her pleading evidently had no effect upon Harry, +as he turned and left her abruptly. With an angry gesture she turned +and vanished in the direction of the Indian encampment. + +After Harry had returned, Joe sat for quite a long time with a +troubled look on his face, silently pulling at his pipe. Harry seemed +too much engrossed in thought to be aware of his companion's unwonted +silence. + +"I seed you again, to-night, with Bill Shuter's daughter," began Joe +at last, breaking a silence that had begun to grow painful to him. + +The reference to the girl caused a flush to steal over Harry's face, +and he said, as he sat down by the big fellow's side, "You are very +good, old fellow, to take the interest you do in me. I should have +been in a queer way now had it not been for you; yet, old chap, I +cannot bring myself to believe that Nellie Shuter and her father are +as bad as you have hinted several times." As he concluded he walked to +the opening of the tent and looked out: it was still raining heavily. +"I guess, Joe," he went on awkwardly, without turning, "that I shall +take a run over to Shuter's store for a little while." + +"I'd like to say a few words to you before you go." + +Harry turned good-humoredly, and sat down on the bench again. + +Covering his companion's knee with his great hand, Joe said gravely, +as he looked down into his face: "I've not had much edication, as you +know, Harry; but I've larned a mighty lot that schools don't teach, +and one thing that I've got a mighty good hold of is sizin' up people, +and if ever I met a bad egg Bill Shuter's one. You must know something +about him yourself by this time, for he got you to gamble, and he's +well-nigh won all you've made since you came to camp. If he'd won it +fairly it'd been bad enough--seein' you were a greenhorn--but in my +heart I believe he cheats you. I've tried to catch him at it, but he's +too mighty sharp." + +Joe's sombre countenance and equally sombre words were more than Harry +could stand, and leaning his head against the giant's shoulder, he +laughed incredulously. + +"I happen to know," Joe went on doggedly, when his companion's +laughter had died away, "that you don't gamble because you love it; +but to please his daughter Nellie, who"--his remarks were interrupted +by Harry springing to his feet and nervously pacing the tent. + +But Joe had warmed up to his subject, and was not to be stopped; "As I +said," he went on, "you gamble only to please his daughter, who is in +league with her father. I've heard that she's told others, that are as +sweet on her as you, that the best way to keep the old wolf quiet, and +allow her to be courted, is to gamble with him. I tell you, Harry, +that she's foolin' you, and that in truth she's as bad as he is, +and--" + +The interruption this time was effective enough: "It's cowardly of +you, Joe Swan, to speak of her like that." Harry's eyes were gleaming +with anger. "You are presuming on the kindnesses you have done me," he +went on, halting in front of him, "and if her father and a few of his +friends had been here, you would not have dared to speak in that +manner. You know I love Nellie Shuter, and nothing you can say will +make me break with her." + +With this he almost ran out of the tent, leaving Joe dragging at his +heavy blonde moustache and gazing at the patches in the canvas tent. + +The minutes sped on, and still he continued to think. Finally he took +the pipe out of his mouth, put it absently into his pocket and said to +himself, as though he had solved a difficult problem, "The lad was +right; I had no business to speak to him in that way, but what I said +about them both I believe to be the truth, gospel truth, and sooner or +later there's going to be trouble for him in Shuter's dive; and I'm +going to be with him when it comes, although he did give me that hard +rub about bein' afraid of Shuter and his friends." + +He slowly picked up his hat, and was about to step out into the +darkness when the Indian girl, whom he had seen accost Harry, +noiselessly entered the tent, and drawing the wet blanket from her +head, said passionately, in quaint broken English, as she pointed in +the direction of Shuter's store, "He go dare again--Harry--for see de +white girl, Nellie; I see him go, and she no love him." + +As Joe looked at her he saw she was far more prepossessing than the +other squaws; while against her character he had not heard a word. He +had seen her for the first time about three months ago, when she came +to camp with some old squaws, to sell prairie chickens and ducks, +which the braves had shot, and Indian-like had sent them to sell. + +Her acquaintance with Harry had not been of long duration. The first +time she met him he was lying in the deep rich grass, for it was the +time the fever was upon him. Joe was away in the distance taking care +of both the mules and the scraper. So unexpectedly had she come across +him, that her moccasined foot touched his hand before he was aware of +her presence. + +In his gentlemanly way he had risen and told her he was sorry he had +been in her way, and then had sunk weakly back again. The suffering on +his pinched boyish face went straight to her heart, which awoke to +longings never known before. + +Every day after this little adventure, on one pretext or another, she +managed to encounter him. At first, he nodded and smiled and had a +kindly word for her, but suddenly he ignored her altogether, for word +of her infatuation had reached Nellie Shuter's ears, and she had acted +as though she were displeased. + +For a time the girl stayed away, and Harry thought she would not +return; but one night, when he was walking alone on the prairie, she +ran suddenly up to him, and pointing to the swiftly-flowing Red +River, told him in the figurative language of her people, that because +of him her heart was as troubled as the river was in the +spring-time--when the melting snow vexed it so that it burst its +barriers and flowed over the prairie. She went on in her childish, +earnest way to tell him that she could not help loving him, and that +if he would take her to be his wife she should work for him as long as +she lived. + +As he did not reply, a gleam of hope crept into her heart, and baring +her dark arm, she showed him how strong it was, how it never grew +weary, and how, if he would throw in his lot with her people, he +should never have to work, as the squaws always worked for the braves. +It was no uncommon thing for French-Canadians to marry squaws, neither +was it uncommon for squaws to offer themselves in marriage, and thus +she did not know how strangely unnatural her proposition sounded to +him. It never, in his inexperience, occurred to him to make any +allowance for her on account of her life and environments, and he +judged her as he would have judged a white girl. + +As she looked up into his blue eyes and saw the look of dismay and +contempt there, her intuitions told her her words had sounded unseemly +to him, and that he abhorred her for them; and in her keen distress +and anger she turned and fled. + +Had he loved no other woman, it might have been the stoicism of her +race would have saved her from further humiliation, but when she saw +him walking with Nellie Shuter, saw the love-light in his eyes when +he looked at her, and noted how flippantly, in return, Nellie treated +him, her love swept away all feelings of pride, and she seized every +opportunity of speaking to him. Naturally such a course only added to +his distaste for her. + +Joe had guessed that she had contracted a liking for Harry, but never +until her visit to their tent had he imagined her falling so +helplessly in love with him. And as he stood and looked into her dark, +passionate face, this new complication of Harry's affairs made him +feel more ill at ease than ever. "Well, and if he has gone to Shuter's +tent to see Nellie, what business is that of yours?" he asked sharply. +He would have liked to answer her kindly, and would have done so, had +he not feared fanning into a keener flame her hopeless passion. + +The bronzed cheeks of the Indian girl flamed into a still deeper hue +as she heard his words. But conquering her passion, she told him again +how dearly she loved Harry, while she was sure the white girl did not; +and she had come to ask him to tell Harry this. + +Joe, who could not trust himself to reply, pointed--with a sorry +attempt at dignity--to the opening in the tent. + +For a few moments she stood and looked at him with clenched hands and +compressed lips, and then, without another word, turned and left, as +he had silently ordered. + +As Joe trudged through the darkness and rain in the direction of +Shuter's store, he repeated several times, "It was pretty small to +treat her like that; I never felt such a mean cuss before; but what in +the world was I to do?" + +As he finally entered Shuter's tent, which bore the dignified title of +store, a scene that would have appeared strangely fantastic to +dwellers in cities, presented itself. Congregated together were about +fifty sunburnt laborers, arrayed in coarse woollen shirts. To their +despondent-looking trousers the blue tenacious prairie mud clung like +glue. Several nationalities were represented in the motley assembly, +for it was the time of the great North-West boom, and men had been +drawn from far and near. + +In one corner of the tent was a quaint table or counter, constructed +of three old boards and two trestles, upon which were deposited a lot +of rolled Canadian smoking and chewing tobacco, clay pipes, and +several long-necked bottles. Pinned to the tent, behind the counter, +was a card, on which was scrawled, in characters which scorned all +laws of proportion, "Mild Drinks." It was owing to the abhorred +fashion of the North-West Mounted Police, of confiscating drinks that +were not mild, that Shuter was led to display this prevaricating sign. + +Behind the counter stood Nellie Shuter, a dashing, good-looking young +woman of about twenty-three, while seated at a number of rude tables +were laborers throwing dice and playing poker. Leaning nonchalantly on +the counter were two or three young men, who were making themselves +agreeable to the fair attendant behind it. + +Joe quietly edged his way through the tent till he came to a table +near the counter, at which were seated his mate, Harry Langdon, and +Bill Shuter. Shuter was a tall, spare man, with a somewhat receding +chin and small, very light-colored blue eyes, which had a habit of +looking past one while their owner was speaking. A glance at Harry's +face was sufficient to show that he had been drinking heavily. +Although Shuter had drunk sparingly, there was a strange irritable +expression about his face. + +Seating himself some little distance from the two men, Joe covertly +watched the play. He soon perceived that Harry was paying little or no +attention to the game--although it was poker--his attention being +almost entirely fixed on Nellie, who was flirting outrageously with +her admirers. Every time her flippant laugh reached him a pained look +crossed his sensitive face, but she pretended to be as unconscious of +it as she appeared to be of his reproachful glances. + +Despite his loose play, however, Harry drew a number of hands that a +child could have won with. Finally he laid down his cards and said, "I +guess I won't play any more to-night, Shuter." + +"Bring us a drink, Nellie," was Shuter's response. + +As Harry raised to his lips the glass of reddish-looking fluid which +Nellie brought, Shuter said insolently, "It's not the custom of men in +this country to run away when they are winning." His daughter heard +the words--as he had intended--and looking Harry full in the face, +shrugged her shoulders contemptuously. No plan of attack could have +been more subtle. Harry's face flushed violently, and sitting down +hastily, he said: "You know it would take me weeks to win back the +money I have lost with you; but it's all right; deal the cards." + +As Joe sat and watched this by-play, he was so enraged that he could +scarcely keep from springing to his feet and laying his huge hands on +Shuter. + +The biting insult appeared to somewhat sober Harry, and he watched his +play more carefully. As his run of luck still continued, Shuter's +ill-humor increased, till it was quite marked. After the fifth or +sixth deal the crucial game arrived. Both players began to bet heavily +on their hands. Harry met his opponent's bets without a tremor of +excitement, and twice Shuter hesitated as though he would throw up the +game--seeing he could not bluff Harry into doing so, and, +consequently, forfeiting what was already on the table. Suddenly +Shuter said, with an air of quiet confidence, "The stakes are pretty +high now; what do you say to having only one raise more and then +showing our hands? We evidently can't bluff each other, and the best +hand will then have to win." + +This subtle effort to discourage his opponent, and make him afraid of +the next raise, failed, as Harry merely nodded and said, "Make your +raise." + +There was silence for a few seconds, and then Shuter said, "I will +raise you thirty dollars better." Before this advance the stakes had +run up to about forty dollars, so the raise, among such men, was a +most unusual one. If Harry lost, it meant the forfeiture of his entire +month's salary. Joe was now so intensely interested that he was +leaning eagerly forward; he was suspicious of Shuter, and was watching +him as a cat watches a mouse. + +The heavy raise caused a slightly startled look to shoot into Harry's +face; but he was now in it to the death and answered, "All right, I'll +take you up; there's my cards" (four aces); "show me yours." + +Joe saw a dangerous look leap into Shuter's eyes as Harry leaned +forward, expectantly, to see what cards Shuter held. + +Stretching out his hand, as if with the intention of also exposing his +cards, Shuter deftly managed to knock off the table the remainder of +the pack. As he did so he uttered an exclamation, as though his action +had been accidental, and stooping began to gather up the cards; but +while doing so dexterously dropped two of his own cards and replaced +them with two others, thus giving himself a royal flush--a hand +impossible to beat. + +Quickly as the trick had been done it was detected by both Harry and +Joe, and the next instant Harry was on his feet, his face convulsed +with anger and his slight frame quivering with excitement. + +Shuter also sprang to his feet, and as his thin lips parted into a +forced, uncomprehending smile, Harry struck him with his fist, full in +the face. Before Harry could draw back Shuter had seized him by the +throat, and was fumbling in his pocket for an old sailor's knife +which he was always known to carry; but before he could draw it he was +swung violently off his feet and brought down with a thud on the +table. He was little better than a child in Joe's grasp. The next +instant the place was in an uproar, and a dozen men sprang on Joe; but +it was only after a long struggle that they succeeded in drawing his +terrified victim from his grasp. + +As Shuter at last staggered to his feet, his daughter ran to his side. +The sight of the girl made Harry forget his resentment, and he walked +toward her with the intention of apologizing; but the moment her eyes +fell upon him she burst forth furiously, "Get out of this, you little +fool; I am sick of making a fool of you. There's not a man in the tent +but knows how I have been laughing at your attempts at love-making." +Pointing her finger derisively at him she continued ironically, "What +do you think, men, of _that thing_ making love to me?" + +All eyes were turned on her unhappy little lover, whose face was now +pitifully white and drawn. The jeers which she expected, to her +surprise did not come, for the little fellow's appreciation of his +trying position was so painfully apparent in his drooping figure and +pallid face, that there was not a man among them who did not feel more +like gathering him in their strong arms than jeering at him. Never +before had they realized what a weakly, effeminate little soul he was. + +"It's all right, boys, you can let go." It was Joe who broke the +silence. They had almost forgotten they were still holding him lest +he should lay hands again on Shuter. Without a word they released him, +for they knew by the tone of his voice, and from the pitiful look he +gave his little driver, that he had forgotten all about his enemy. As +Joe strode toward Harry, and the yellow glare from the coal lamps, +fastened to posts behind the counter, fell athwart his powerful, +weather-beaten face and massive figure, they realized as they had +never done before the striking physical difference between the +scraper-handler and his driver, and wondered vaguely how two such +dissimilar characters could attract each other so powerfully. + +"Don't mind her, Harry, don't mind her; she's not worthy of you. Let's +go." As arm and arm they strode out of the tent the men quietly +parted. + +"I'll have a reckoning with that cub of yours some other time, Joe +Swan," shouted Shuter, with an attempt of bravado, as they were +disappearing. He had mistaken the humor of the men; one of them told +him to shut his cursed mouth. + +Before the two silent figures had taken a dozen steps in the thick +darkness toward their own tent, the storm broke out afresh. The +turbulent clouds, unobstructed for hundreds of miles by either hills +or trees, were now hovering over the very sod, and at short intervals +vivid, sinuous gleams broke from them, and, serpent-like, went +writhing and glistening through the matted grass, while the roar of +the thunder made the apprehensive earth tremble perceptibly. + +Joe had seen two such dread storms before, and so paid but little +attention to them. Thinking his companion might be afraid of the +appalling sight, he said, as he glanced down at his drawn face, "It's +only on the prairies one sees storms like these; and I've seen men as +didn't fear a revolver get mighty scared at a sight like this. First +time I saw it I felt queer enough." + +"No, Joe, you misunderstand; if my face is white it's not because I'm +afraid of the lightning. I have been hurt to-night, Joe, worse than it +could ever hurt me." + +Utterly forgetful of the warring elements, Joe halted abruptly, and +throwing his great arm around the slender shoulders of his companion, +said fiercely, "For God's sake, Harry, don't talk like that; it makes +me feel like going back and choking the life out of both of them." +While he was speaking, a flash of lightning, more vivid than its +fellows, shot across the prairie and revealed the two troubled figures +to some of the laborers who were in the act of leaving Shuter's store, +and their hearts--unluckily for Shuter--hardened against him for the +part he that night had played. + +The deep thrill in Joe's voice went to Harry's heart like a balm, and +he said gratefully, "You're an awful decent fellow, Joe, and it's too +bad of me bringing my troubles into your life in this way." + +Joe's only reply, as they again hurried along, was to hug the little +arm more closely. When they finally reached their tent Joe uttered an +exclamation, for one of the flashes revealed that it was at least two +feet deep in water. Groping his way into the tent, Joe lit a candle, +and holding it high above his head, looked around. "This is hard +luck," he said to his companion, who was standing in the opening; +"we've pitched the tent in a little hollow, and the water's drained +into it. There'll be no sleeping here for us to-night; we shall have +to move the tent and stretchers to higher ground." + +Half an hour later the tent was pitched several acres away. Had the +lightning not died away, they would have seen that they were near two +other tents of exactly the same size as their own. + +It was about five o'clock when Joe awoke, and looking out of the tent +saw the sun was already casting a warm glow in the east. Seeing Harry +showed no signs of waking, he slipped quietly from his stretcher, +dressed, and stealing past his mate, left the tent. Signs of life were +already visible in camp. In another hour the entire camping outfit +would be loaded on the waiting flat-cars and taken to the end of the +track--which again stretched over two miles westward--and a new +camping-ground found, after which breakfast would be served and the +phenomenal track-laying be again continued. + +"It's a great country," Joe muttered, as his gaze swept across the +broad expanse, "and if it hadn't been for the trouble my little mate's +had, I should have been happy out here." + +Turning, he saw for the first time the two small tents, and at once +recognized them as the ones Shuter and his daughter slept in. While he +was thinking how queer it was that above all other spots they should +have chosen this to pitch their tent, Shuter came out of one of the +tents, and in a loud voice called to his daughter, in the other, to +get up. Not wanting to speak to him, Joe hurried back into his own +tent and began to wash. + +By some mischance the tin bowl upset and fell noisily to the ground. +Expecting to see Harry start up, Joe looked across at him as he +stooped to pick up the wayward bowl, but the quiet form did not move. +"Sleeping mighty sound," Joe soliloquized, as he vigorously began to +scour his face with a coarse, unsanitary-looking towel. Suddenly the +towel fell from his hands, and a startled, curious look shot into his +face; it had come to him that the scanty clothing which covered his +little driver neither rose nor fell. + +For a few moments he stood gazing at the dimly outlined figure in the +yet uncertain light, a feeling of growing terror stealing over him. He +tried to convince himself that his eyes were deceiving him, yet his +laboring heart would not be comforted. Twice he opened his mouth to +call Harry's name, but his parched throat refused to utter any sound. +He could endure the growing horror no longer, and with set, terrified +gaze began to move toward the stretcher. When at last his laggard +steps reached it he had not the courage to shake the slim figure, but +in a voice, which sounded strangely unnatural, called his mate's name. +The quiet of the tent was broken by no response. With pitiful +hesitancy he finally stretched out his hand till it rested on the wan +face; then he uttered a great cry--it was as cold as the face of the +dead! + +In his terror and excitement he was about to snatch him up in his +arms, when a sight, which made him start back with an exclamation of +horror met his eyes: in the side of the tent against which the body +rested was a sinister cut, stained with blood. Pushing the canvas +back, the whole treacherous story stood out as clear as daylight; +while sleeping, his companion had been stabbed through the folds of +the tent. + +"There's only one man under God's heaven, who'd do a deed like this, +and that's Bill Shuter." There was something weirdly ominous in the +tones in which he uttered the words; in his dogged manner as he strode +out of the tent, cut several of the ropes that fastened it to the +ground, pieced them together, tried them to see if the knots were +firm--especially those which formed the noose at the end of the +line--and then winding the rope around his huge arm, strode into Bill +Shuter's tent. + +Scarcely had he entered it when a man's cry of terror rang out on the +quiet morning air, and roused the few who already had not risen. +Before the echo had died away, Nellie Shuter ran out of her tent +toward her father's; but before she could reach it Joe Swan emerged +from it, his massive hands grasping the rope, which was now wound +tightly around her father's throat. In vain Shuter struggled to utter +another cry, and to thrust away the avenging hand which grasped the +rope. + +With a terrified scream Nellie sprang upon Joe and endeavored to stop +his march toward the derrick in the near distance, the ponderous arm +of which stretched enticingly out some nine feet above the ground. +Without swerving an inch to the right or the left, Joe hurried on +toward it, while with his disengaged hand, and without apparently +using any force, he kept Nellie aside. + +Before he had got half-way to it, however, shouts fell upon his ears, +and glancing hastily backward, he saw over a hundred laborers running +toward him. For a brief space he stopped, measured with his eyes the +distance he was from the arm of the derrick and his pursuers, then +stooped, threw Shuter across his shoulder, and started off on a brisk +run. Nellie made another desperate effort to stop him, but this time +he pushed her to the earth and sped on. + +Despite his great weight, and the burden which encumbered him, he was +the first to reach the derrick--although the crowd had been close +behind him when he began to run. He had deftly thrown the end of the +rope over the arm of the derrick, and was about to hoist Shuter into +mid-air, when the crowd was upon him. The rope was wrenched from his +hands, and the noose unloosened from the man's throat. "For heaven's +sake, what does all this mean?" asked a foreman, turning toward Joe. + +Before he could reply Shuter gasped, "He's mad, he's mad; he ran into +my tent, and without a word wound that rope about my neck and then +tried to hang me." As he looked at his implacable enemy he edged +towards the foreman. + +"He pretends," began Joe, in a compressed voice, "that he don't know +why I was going to hang him; he's a liar; yes, a million times worse +than a liar--he's a murderer! I thought I'd save you the trouble of +helping me to string him up, for when you hear what he's done you'll +riddle him full of holes and string him up as well!" + +The crowd had now gathered about the speaker, and were gazing at him +with growing excitement. "There's a lot of you," Joe went on, "who saw +him last night, in that gambling whiskey dive of his, try to draw his +knife on Harry Langdon, and heard him shout after me that he'd have a +reckoning some other time with that cub of mine; and, boys, he's kept +his word, for Harry lies in his tent there, dead, stabbed to the +heart, in the dead of night, through the folds of the tent, by that +cuss there that you were so afraid I'd string up." + +Angry exclamations followed this fierce tirade, and a rush was made +for Shuter. + +"It's a lie! I swear it's a lie! I never stabbed the lad!" + +But his words were cut short by the rope, which was again being wound +around his throat. As they dragged him towards the derrick Nellie once +more threw herself across her father's body and begged piteously for +mercy. The sight of the girl's intense grief somewhat cooled the +unreasoning rage which had been kindled in their hearts by Joe's rude +eloquence, and they hesitated as though they hardly knew what to do. + +"Let's see the body before we string him up, anyway," cried a voice. + +The fairness of the proposition appealed to the men--more especially +as they had begun to realize that they had acted impulsively. There +was a general move toward the tent where the body lay. + +In the rush none of them noticed the rapid approach of the Indian +girl, who so prodigally, and unasked, had given her heart to the +murdered boy. As they entered the tent she was close behind Joe, whose +huge body hid Shuter and his daughter, who were in front of him, from +her view. + +As Joe stepped forward to remove the coat he had thrown across the +dead face, a low cry, full of the keenest apprehension and fear, +sounded behind him. Turning, his eyes fell upon the Indian girl, who +was crouching close at his feet, her palsied hands raised as though to +guard off some deadly apparition or danger, while her eyes, full of +the most intense fear and horror, were fixed on Nellie Shuter. + +Joe's temper had been sorely tried, and laying his hand heavily on her +shoulder, he said fiercely, "What's the meaning of this?" + +Instead of trying to escape from his grasp, she caught him +hysterically by the arm, and pointing at Nellie, said wildly, in her +queer broken English, "See, see, de Great Spirit send her back to me! +She's dead." + +As Nellie stood and continued to gaze in amazement at her, the insane +terror of the Indian girl rose to an ungovernable height, and burying +her face in the grass, she screamed to Joe to send her away. The deep +superstition in her nature--bred by her people--had been stronger than +the love of revenge or the fear of punishment. Joe was the first to +read the meaning of her superstitious horror, knowing as he did her +hatred of Nellie and her love for Harry. And suddenly pointing at the +grovelling figure, he said in a shocked voice: "Boys, I see it all +now; she's the murderer. She meant to stab Nellie, her rival, and +would have done it if we hadn't in the darkness last night pitched our +tent next to Nellie's. The tents are alike, and she mistook ours for +hers." + +The mention of Harry's name brought a gleam of reason to the +distracted girl's face, and springing to her feet--apparently now +forgetful of Nellie's presence--she begged Joe to take her from the +tent to Harry. Not for a moment did she appear to realize the dreadful +mistake she had made. + +"He's there!" said Joe, pitilessly, pointing to the stretcher. +Thinking in her half-crazed manner that he was sleeping through it +all, she ran to the stretcher, and tore away the sheet that covered +the face she loved. It was not till she had caught the dear head to +her bosom and pressed her face to his, that the truth broke upon her +clouded mind. They had been drawing near her; but as she let his head +fall back, they all--except Joe--drew away from her; the heart-broken, +insane look on her face was more than they could bear. As she stood, +wildly pressing her hands to her forehead, Joe pointed at the gash in +the tent and then at the blood-stained clothing at Harry's side. Then +with fascinated gaze they watched the rapid changes which sped across +her face, for reason had not yet altogether flown, and they saw that +she was recalling the fearful mistake she had made. Suddenly her hands +slid to her side, and in doing so encountered the handle of the knife +which lay concealed beneath her blanket. That was the connecting link +which brought home to her the whole truth of the tragedy, and with a +cry that haunted many of them for years afterwards, she drew the +knife, gave one glance at the stained blade that had robbed her of him +for whom she would willingly have died, stabbed again and again the +fatal gash in the canvas, and then throwing away the knife, caught up +the lifeless body in her arms and began madly to chant a wild, weird +song which her people sang when they had triumphed over their enemies. + + * * * * * + +She was so violently insane when she reached Winnipeg that they +decided a trial was unnecessary, so she was placed at once in an +asylum. + +After they had buried his little mate on the great silent prairie, Joe +tried to forget and to do his work as usual; but the odor of the +newly-severed sod, the cracking of the drivers' whips, the shouting to +the stubborn mules, the stampede over the prairie at noon, the hateful +sight of Shuter and his daughter--in fact, everything around him--made +the longing for the company of his little driver so keen that he could +not bear it, and a week after his death he drew his wages and slipped +away, none knew whither. + + * * * * * + + + + +A Daughter of the Church. + + +It had been a severe Canadian winter, but the bright spring sunshine +was now honeycombing the great snow-heap, which all winter had beset +farmer Frechette's farm-house, and which, on this early March morning, +was still banked almost as high as the kitchen window. + +Glinting through the old-fashioned narrow panes, the generous rays +fell upon the white bowed head of farmer Frechette, who sat warming +himself at the square box wood-stove, gazing the while with furrowed +brow at the roystering wood sparks, as at short intervals they shot +aggressively from the partly open door. + +Suddenly there floated through the raised window the joyous chimes of +church bells. With an angry exclamation the old man sprang to his +feet, hurried to the window, and violently drew it down. His extreme +weakness made the anger that convulsed his thin, wrinkled face painful +to see. Straightening up his bent frame, he shook his hand at the +church, which he could see in the distance, and uttered anathemas +against it. As he did so, the door leading from the little bedroom at +the back of the kitchen was burst open, and his wife, a woman many +years younger than he, ran over to his side, dragged down his still +uplifted arm, and led him over to his seat. She then sat down beside +him, and burying her face in her hands, began to cry. + +Her distress moved him and he told her somewhat doggedly, but not +unkindly, to cease. "Do you know what the bells are ringing for?" he +asked cynically, after a short pause. + +"Why worry about it? We must submit," she answered, trying to keep out +of her voice the discontent that assailed her. + +"They are ringing," he went on in a hard voice, "for farmer Cadieux's +daughter, who is to take her life vows to-day. Already he has one +daughter a nun, and his honor among French-Canadians will increase. I +have lived in St. Jerome all my life, and have neither daughter nor +son in the Church; they pity me. It was only yesterday we received the +letter from Quebec telling us of the honor that had come to my brother +through his daughter taking the veil. None of our neighbors were more +passionately attached to their children than we; yet death passed by +their doors, came to ours, and took them all. Continued disappointment +has made me weary of life. The sound of the church bells, which I have +heard so often sing honor for others, drives me to outbursts of +shameful anger. At times I think I shall go mad. As for the Church, I +have nearly lost all faith in it." + +As he ceased, his wife rose, kissed his cheek and said, with a little +break in her voice, "We have suffered much, Hormisdas; would to the +Virgin we had not been so sorely afflicted." + +"Such affliction is nothing but cruelty," he went on, scornfully. "It +was cruel when death took all our little ones in childhood. But it was +still more cruel, when we had grown old and were striving to be +content and kiss the rod, for the Virgin to give us another daughter; +to let us keep her till she had grown into womanhood; till we had +given her an education which would have fitted her to be the +superioress of a convent, and then strike her with a fatal illness +just as she was about to take the veil, and once more ruthlessly crush +out all our hopes." + +"So long as Adele lives there is hope," said his wife, trying to be +brave. + +"Doctor Prenoveau says she will die," he answered fiercely. + +"She was resting easier when I came down to you. I cannot get the idea +out of my mind, that if we got Doctor Chalmers from Montreal, he would +cure her. They say, although he is young, he is very clever. As for +Doctor Prenoveau, you know people say he is too old to practise now." + +"When Doctor Prenoveau said the others would die, they died," he +replied, looking at her as though he feared she would no longer argue +with him. + +With a hopeful ring in her voice the brave mother said, "That is true, +but this time he may be mistaken; Doctor Chalmers would know." + +"If we only dared hope," he said under his breath. + +"Doctor Chalmers would know," she repeated eagerly. + +"Send for him," he replied, turning his face away. + +The sun had hardly sunk behind the Laurentian range of mountains, +which for hundreds of miles towers above the great St. Lawrence River, +and dictates its course to the Gulf, when the wind from the north, +bringing with it flurries of fine snow, began to blow cold and strong. +Doctor Chalmers drew the buffalo robes tighter about him, and settled +back in a corner of the sleigh; he had three miles yet to drive before +he reached farmer Frechette's house. "Had I known it was going to be +this cold I would have arranged for some other doctor to take up the +case," he muttered. Had he only done so, how different his life would +have been! + +"We were afraid you would not come to-day," said Madame Frechette as +she led him into the kitchen, where the stove was throwing out a +genial heat. + +"Had the message been less urgent, I should not have done so," he +replied, stooping and warming his benumbed hands. Farmer Frechette sat +facing the doctor at the opposite side of the stove, furtively +glancing at the young physician, dissatisfaction imprinted on every +line of his face; he was bitterly disappointed. "He is little better +than a boy," the old man repeated to himself, over and over again. + +"This is the doctor from Montreal, Adele," said the mother, bending +over her sick daughter. Doctor Chalmers drew near the bed, and as the +light from the coal-oil lamp fell across Adele's face, he could not +help but think how beautiful she was even in her illness. + +For a long time nothing could be heard in the kitchen but the loud +ticking of the yellow-faced clock, hung high above the old deal table, +and the occasional murmur of voices in the sick girl's room. Unable +any longer to sit and endure the suspense, the farmer rose, and began, +fretfully, to walk to and fro. Finally he stopped at the window, and +his gaze travelled across the great expanse of white, beautified by +the pale light of the early moon, to the tin-clad church tower in the +distance, which shone like burnished silver as the moon's rays fell +upon it. + +"If she dies there is no Virgin and the priests have deceived us," he +said, looking steadily at the tower; "but if she lives"--and he +straightened out his bent figure--"I shall die happy in the faith. I +will leave money to help build the new church which Father Sauvalle so +long has wished to have built." Hearing a slight noise behind him, he +turned quickly. His wife, followed by the doctor, was entering the +room. + +"Well?" he queried, in a peculiar tone, looking at the doctor as +though he knew he would tell him there was no hope. + +"She certainly is very ill, but I cannot agree with Doctor Prenoveau, +if he says there is no hope." The words were kindly spoken, for he had +noticed how the old man trembled and how poorly assumed was his air of +defiance. + +"You really think she may not die, doctor?" he asked, almost +incredulously. + +"I really think not." + +Farmer Frechette sank heavily on his chair. "I am beginning to feel +old, very old, doctor," he said weakly. + +Never before had Doctor Chalmers taken so keen an interest in a case. +Inch by inch he contested with death for the life of the young girl +upon whose recovery was founded so many hopes. + +It was a beautiful June day when, for the first time since Adele's +illness, she ventured out of the house, supported on the young +doctor's arm, and walked as far as the little garden at the back of +the house. Very lovely she looked in her light-colored, soft, clinging +dress, large brimmed straw hat, the health color struggling back to +her cheeks, her sweet lips parted, and her heavily fringed dark eyes +lighted up with hope and happiness. + +Among his friends, Doctor Chalmers was known as a man not prone to +many words. Could they but have heard him this afternoon as he sat by +her side on the quaint garden seat, they simply would have been +astounded. + +It had come so gradually, this love of his, that before he was quite +aware, it had taken possession of his heart so that no reasoning could +have forced it to withdraw. He saw no reason, indeed, why he should +wish to banish it; besides being beautiful and winning, she had +received an excellent education, and was in every way fitted to be his +wife. Of Adele's dedication to the Church from her birth, he knew +nothing, so that no misgivings assailed him. Little wonder then that +his heart should be light, and that the primitive garden should appear +to him the most beautiful spot he had ever seen. + +After this little walk and chat in the garden, life seemed to come +back to her with strides. By the end of August Adele was quite strong +again. The change in her health made a new man of her father; from the +day Doctor Prenoveau had said she would not recover, until the day +Doctor Chalmers had pronounced her out of danger, he had not entered +the doors of the church. Now all was different; twice a week he went +to confession, and almost every day knelt before the altar and asked +forgiveness for the dreadful sins of the past. It had never struck him +as being strange that Doctor Chalmers should continue to visit his +house after she had recovered. He had a hazy idea that the doctor's +triumph over his daughter's disease was the cause of the interest he +took in her. The preposterous thought that anyone should want to marry +Adele no more entered his imagination than would the idea of anyone +wanting to marry one of the dark-robed nuns at the convent. + +Everyone in St. Jerome knew that she was to take the veil. If his wife +at times had fears, she never mentioned them to him. + +And Adele? She was very happy. Like most French-Canadian women, she +was passionately attached to the Church. At times her happiness was +dimmed by the thought that she was not looking forward to taking the +veil with that eagerness that she had felt before her illness. She +comforted herself with the thought that the change, somehow, was the +result of her illness, and that by and by the old longings would +surely return. Why her heart should beat so when Doctor Chalmers +called, and what the meaning was of her looking so eagerly forward to +his visiting days, she never stopped to think. + +The time of her awakening was at hand! + +Had Adele's thoughts been less engrossed one afternoon, as she sat on +the porch, she would have noticed approaching the house, in the middle +of the narrow, dusty road that ran to the church, Father Sauvalle, +with his arm linked in that of her father's, both talking eagerly. The +priest's hand was on the latch of the gate before she raised her head; +her face lighted up, and she ran to meet them. The aged priest had +known her all her life, and patted her head with fatherly affection. +As they walked toward the house, he told her, impressively, that his +visit this time was solely on her account. + +"Yes, solely on your account, solely on your account, blessed be the +Virgin!" broke in her father with strange ecstasy. She could not +account for the unhappy feeling which swept over her. + +They went into the little parlor, where hung the great carved wooden +crucifix, which was said to be the most costly in the town, with the +exception of the one in the church. + +Scarcely were they seated, when her father began to tell her the great +news. With eyes beaming with religious enthusiasm and pride, he told +her how Father Sauvalle had received a letter from the bishop, stating +that when the daughter of Hormisdas Frechette had taken the veil at +the convent at St. Jerome, the honor should be bestowed upon her of +being removed to the convent of the Sacred Heart at Montreal. Father +Sauvalle was to be thanked for this. + +Very proudly and with much solemnity the priest took a letter from the +folds of his robe, and as he opened it, impressively told her the +letter he held was the very one which had brought the great news. As +he read it to her, his face beamed with smiles. Little wonder they +were pleased, for it was an honor indeed to the little town of St. +Jerome to be able to say that one of its daughters had been admitted +to this convent, noted as it was for its exclusiveness and the +severity of its discipline. + +"The convent!" she exclaimed falteringly. + +They noticed how pale her face had suddenly grown. They were not +surprised; it was meet that the sudden news of the honor in store for +her should cause some emotion. + +"We have talked the matter over," continued the priest, graciously, +"and have decided that, as you already have served your novitiate, you +may as well return to the convent in a few days. In a month or so +later you will be ready to take your final vows. Your father is an old +man now and has been sorely tried, and has sinned deeply--yea, even +uttered anathemas against the Church. But the Blessed Mother heard +the prayers of the Church for your recovery, and so his soul was saved +from--" + +"He anathematised the Church because of me?" Adele interrupted, fear +gleaming in her eyes. + +For a few moments no one spoke. The painful silence was broken by her +father struggling to his feet. Beseechingly he looked at the great +crucifix, made the sign of the cross on his bosom, and then turned his +wavering gaze on his daughter, who had shrunk back in her chair and +covered her eyes, as though she dared not look at him. + +"I had not meant you to know this," he said, tightly clutching the arm +of his chair for support. "I think I must have been mad when I did it; +I had set my heart so on having a daughter in the Church, and had been +disappointed so often. When they said your illness was fatal, I said, +in my misery, that there was no Virgin, or she would not let such +suffering fall upon me. Even now, wrong as I know it to be, I fear if +anything should happen that you did not take the veil, I should drift +back again into unbelief." + +"Cease, cease! Hormisdas," cried the priest, raising his hand +authoritatively. + +The old man walked weakly over to his wife. The priest turned his +attention to Adele, and said to her soothingly, "There is nothing to +fear now; all will be well with him. It is a great honor to you that +your life was spared in order that your father's soul might be saved. +The bishop knows of this, and is greatly pleased. Already many of the +parish priests have been told of your miraculous recovery, and have +repeated it to those whose faith was weak, and they have been +blessed. You have been honored above most women. In time, I believe +you will rise to be the superioress of a convent." + +As he turned from her, Adele rose and left the room. As the door was +closing behind her she turned and looked back. Before the crucifix, on +their knees, were her aged father and mother, while towering above +them, with hands outstretched toward the cross, was the white-haired +priest, invoking blessings on those bowed at his feet. She knew it was +her duty to be by their side. Stifling the choking tears, she was +about to re-enter the room, when the haunting refrain of a song that +she had heard Doctor Chalmers sing, rang in her ears: + + "To prevail in the cause that is dearer than life, + Or be crushed in its ruins to die." + +The words seemed sacrilegious to her, when compared with the +supplicating tone of the priest's voice. With all her might she strove +to banish them. Twice she stretched out her hand to turn the handle of +the door, but the sound of the voice that had sung the words seemed to +grow more distinct instead of vanishing, and her hand fell to her +side. At last, with a stifled cry of despair, she fled from the house +into the little garden, shocked at the wickedness of her heart. + +For a long time she sat with closed eyes, her little ivory +prayer-beads in her hands. She pleaded for pardon for not being able +to fix her attention on holy things, and asked grace to cease +thinking of him who had taken from her the love for the life of +seclusion to which she had been taught to look forward. + +At last she heard the clang of the garden gate, and knew the priest +had gone. She did not return to the house, but continued battling with +her sins. Suddenly her supplications ceased; she sprang to her feet +and looked along the road. She had not been mistaken; away in the +distance was a light buggy, rapidly approaching. Doctor Chalmers had +said he might be down that day! Her heart seemed to stop beating; she +would have run into the house had not her strength failed. Had the +evil one been approaching, she could not have begun to pray more +earnestly for aid. + +When the vehicle, covered with dust, reached farmer Frechette's house, +the rattle of wheels ceased. + + "To prevail in the cause that is dearer than life." + +She heard him whistling his favorite refrain as he swung up the gravel +walk. He had seen her white dress, and was walking straight toward +her. She heard him coming, and her treacherous heart began to beat +joyously. With an exclamation of despair, she sank to her knees by the +side of the garden seat, deeming herself the very chief of sinners. + +For a few moments he stood and looked down at her in utter amazement, +then stooped quickly and raised her. When he saw how white her face +was, he was sure she was seriously ill, and held out his arm to +support her to the house. + +With averted face, Adele told him that she was only a little nervous +and unstrung, but she would be herself again. Her pathetic face and +helplessness appealed strongly to him, and his heart went out to her, +as a man's will to the woman he loves, and whose sufferings are his. +As he sat down by her side, he could scarcely refrain from gathering +her in his arms and comforting her. + +Her clamoring conscience caused her involuntarily to draw away from +him to the end of the seat. Her strange manner caused an uneasy +feeling to sweep over him, yet accentuated the keen longing to win +her. Almost before he was aware of it, he was by her side again, and +was telling her the story that is ever new, though so very old. She +would have given the world to have let her heart run riot, as the +loving words came pouring from his lips. She learned how she had first +grown dear to him, as he had fought with the great reaper for her +life, and how the sight of health returning to her dear face had been +sweeter to him than he could ever tell her. He told her, too, he was +positive that he would never have been called to play the important +part in her life which he had done, had it not been ordained from the +beginning that his life was to be knit with hers. + + "To prevail in the cause that is dearer than life." + +The haunting words were still ringing in Adele's ears, and made it +ten-fold harder for her to tell him that he was not to prevail in the +cause dearer than life, as it was to him. + +As she sat, with face buried in her cold hands, and listened and +tried to fight down the singing of her heart, she knew that nothing he +could say could make her deny the Church and imperil the soul of her +father once more. + + "Or be crushed in its ruins to die." + +"Marie, pity us! for that is the answer I have for him," she +whispered. Ah! how she wished Doctor Prenoveau had been a true +prophet, and that she had died. + +As he ceased, she took the little silver crucifix which hung around +her neck, pressed it tightly to her bosom, and turning her woe-begone +face to him, said, as she rose, "You do not know, or you would not say +such things to me." + +He had expected something so different. "I--I do not understand," he +said, wonderingly, rising and walking toward her. + +She clutched the cross tighter and stepped back as he approached. He +was sorely perplexed and apprehensive, and she saw it, and her heart +ached for him. + +"I am going," she began weakly, "to be a nun. I have been in the +convent before, and shall return in a few days. In less than two +months I shall take the veil." + +Dear heart! Fight as she would for conscience' sake, she could not +keep out of her eyes the pity and love for him, as she saw the look of +amazement and misery which flashed into his face, and noted how +unsteadily his hand sought the back of the garden bench. + +Suddenly their eyes met, and then he knew, and hope flew back, and +with a glad ring in his voice he said, "You love me, Adele!" He +started forward and imprisoned the hand with the crucifix in his own. +His apprehension had all vanished now, and boldly he told her that if +she loved him she had no right to sacrifice their happiness. Then his +tone changed, and he pleaded with her; and as she looked into his +eager eyes, listened, and saw how dear she was to him, her rejoicing +heart deadened the lashings of her conscience; she forgot all about +her promise to Father Sauvalle and to her parents; forgot all about +the convent of the Sacred Heart; yea, even forgot the anathemas +uttered by her father against the Church, in this, the first great +happiness of her life. + +He thought he had won her, and raising her head, looked teasingly into +her face and said softly, yet triumphantly: + + "To prevail in the cause that is dearer than life, + Or--" + +Adele wrenched her hand from him and started back. Her face was +ghastly pale, while her eyes dilated and shone with terror. "If I do +not enter the convent," she said fearfully, "I shall be responsible +for the loss of my father's soul!" + +For a space he looked at her as though he thought her mind was +affected. She read his look, and remembering that he did not +understand, told him all her father's dread story, how he had told +her, not an hour ago, that if anything should happen that she did not +take the veil, it would be impossible for him to believe. + +She told him, too, that even were her parents willing she should marry +him, she could never be perfectly happy. Her conscience would never +cease to upbraid her; from her childhood she had been taught to look +forward to being a nun. She kissed the cross passionately as she +ceased. + +He noted the religious light in her eyes, and something told him that +it was useless to argue; that nothing he could say would break down +her strong religious convictions. The sudden revulsion from great +happiness to despair was bitter indeed, and sitting down he buried his +face in his hands. + +Adele walked rapidly away a few steps, then turned and looked back. +His dejected attitude smote her sorely. Again she turned, as though +she would leave him, but turned again and looked at him pityingly. +Well she knew that in the long quiet years which were to come, that +lonely figure in the quaint garden would haunt her, and that the +memory of his great sorrow would be the heavy cross she would have to +bear as long as life lasted. + +So quietly did she steal behind him, that he was not aware she had +returned. Her lips moved as though she were about to speak to him, but +no sound came from them. It was so hard not to lean forward and rest +her hand on the thick dark hair, and tell him how much easier it would +be for her to bear her lot if he would only say he forgave her and +would try and think kindly of her. It came to her at last how, +perhaps, she might ease his sorrows. She unclasped the little silver +crucifix from around her neck, kissed it, and then gently slipped it +into the pocket of his coat, which hung over the side of the bench. +She then turned and fled along the grass to the house. + + * * * * * + +Once more the sound of church bells floated into the little cottage +and fell upon the expectant ears of farmer Frechette and his wife, +while a proud look lit up their faces. + +"At last!" said the old man, exultantly, going to the window and +looking at the church and the convent nestling at its side. The bells +no longer mocked him, and he had ceased to hate them. Once more he +stretched his gaunt arm toward the glistening tower. "The Church has +not deceived us," he said humbly. Then he turned to his wife, who was +waiting for him at the door. + +Very slowly, arm in arm, with heads erect and graciously acknowledging +the bows of the neighbors, Hormisdas Frechette and his wife walked +down the narrow crooked road leading to the church. + +The overcast sky looked burdened with snow, and the leaves rustled +complainingly as they were ground beneath the feet of those hurrying +to witness the honor about to fall upon the house of Hormisdas +Frechette. Sweet to the old man was the moaning of the wind as it +jostled the barren trees, while the ungarnished landscape seemed +fairer to him this day than ever before even in harvest time. + +As the aged couple entered the church, with its many pictures of +saints and its gorgeous towering altar, the organ began to play +softly. Presently the narrow door near the altar slowly opened, and +four nuns, in black array, with clasped hands and bowed heads, +repeating a psalm of renunciation, entered the church. Following them, +arrayed in a spotless white veil which fell to her feet, came she who +had saved a soul from unbelief. Eagerly the congregation bent forward, +anxious to catch a glimpse of her whom the bishop had promised to +honor. To be a sister of the convent of the Sacred Heart! She knew not +how many envied her. + +With closed eyes and radiant face sat farmer Frechette, repeating +prayers of thanksgiving. She who had given birth to such a daughter +praised the Virgin that she had known the pangs of motherhood. + +The sweet face had lost all its roses. Her eyes were downcast as she +walked up to the altar; but that was as it should be, with one who was +about to renounce the pleasures of the world, and whose eyes evermore +must humbly seek the earth. + +Just as she was repeating her final vows, one who had told himself a +thousand times that he would not witness the ceremony, drove rapidly +down the road, and halted some little distance from the church near +the convent. Just as he reached the door of the church he saw Father +Sauvalle solemnly raise both hands and bless her. + +With set lips he went back to the buggy, and stood behind the horse +in a position which he thought would prevent him from being seen. +Eagerly he watched the door, and his heart beat furiously as he saw +the four dark-robed nuns step from the church and wait for their new +sister. At last she came, with hands clasped and head bowed so very, +very low. The nuns divided, formed around her, and then began the walk +to the convent, near where the silent figure still waited, screened by +the horse. + +Just as she was about to enter the convent yard, her attention was +attracted by the white feet of the horse, and instantly she knew to +whom it belonged. Wrong as she knew it to be, she could not help +raising her head. Their eyes met: + + "Or be crush'd in its ruins to die!" + +The words came to them both at the same moment. One of the nuns put +out her hand as she saw her falter; but she recovered herself and +entered the yard. The rusty hinges creaked weirdly as the door closed +behind her. A moment later, he heard the metallic click of the lock. + +The snow began to fall in great flakes, and the boisterous wind drove +them violently into the faces of the sightseers as they hurried from +the church. None of them saw the horse on the far side of the road; +the snow was blinding. + +As he heard their voices die away in the distance, Dr. Chalmers' head +drooped till it rested on the animal's mane. Patiently the beast +whisked away the snow and tried to hide its head from the vicious +wind. + +It was growing rapidly dark, but he did not notice it: he was thinking +of the fight he had made for her life, and of the love that had come +to him in the summer days when health came back to her to make amends. + + "To prevail in the cause that is dearer than life!" + +The mocking refrain seemed to have been shouted into his ears; he +started as though he had been struck, seized the reins, and dashed +into the gathering storm. + + * * * * * + + + + +A Perilous Encounter. + + +It is not because I am unduly sensitive of my altered appearance that +I have told so few the story of the ugly scar that disfigures my face, +but on account of the horror that I yet experience when recalling the +terrible incidents that led to my receiving it. How many lives were +saved by that wound I shall never know. + +The great Canadian Pacific Railway, which to-day connects the Atlantic +Ocean with the Pacific, was in the year 1882 built only about two +hundred miles west of Winnipeg, leaving a huge gap of several hundred +miles of untouched prairie before one of the world's wonders, the +famed Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, was reached. + +Such was the rapidity with which the rails were laid and telegraph +offices erected, that when winter set in, fifty telegraph operators +were needed to take charge of the empty stations. + +The management found it hard to induce men to go out and bury +themselves for the winter in the vast prairie, which was only then +being opened up. To-day, men are only too happy to make homes in this +wonderful country, which has very aptly been termed the future granary +of the world. + +Money is a loadstone that few men can resist, and when I heard that +$80 a month was being paid out there for operators, I resigned my +position in Montreal, and with $20 and a pass in my pocket started for +Manitoba. + +On reaching Winnipeg, I was at once sent out to Elkhorn, a bit of a +station 150 miles farther west. When I took charge, in November, four +inches of snow already hid the earth, which did not see the sun again +till March. + +Two passenger trains a day, and an occasional construction train, +formed the only break in the monotonous life which I led. It was a +dreadfully solitary existence. I was alone in the station, and as +December began to wane, and the dread blizzards commenced their wild +revelry, heaping the snow into such huge mounds on the tracks that the +trains were delayed for days, I got as homesick and nervous as a girl +of fourteen instead of a young man of twenty. + +Christmas eve ushered in bitter weather. All day it had been snowing +and storming. At 1 a.m. the glass showed twenty-two below zero. The +storm had risen and risen until it was blowing a perfect blizzard from +the west. The riotous wind, as it swept along the vast prairie, +unobstructed for scores of miles by houses or trees, caught up the +newly-fallen snow in its mad embrace, and drove it with amazing force +against the little telegraph office which sheltered me from its +deathly embrace, as though enraged against this earnest of approaching +civilization. So fierce, at times, was the onslaught that the tense +telegraph wires could be heard humming even above the demoniacal glee +of the storm. + +I knew it was unmanly, but I could not help it: the tears would start +to my eyes. It was Christmas, and I was spending it in such a queer +manner! My thoughts had been with mother and dear old London, where I +had left her two years before to try my fortune in Montreal. I knew +she was thinking of her eldest born. + + "Christians, awake, salute the happy morn." + +All I had to do was to close my eyes, and I could hear my companions +singing that grand old hymn in the greatest city in the world. + +It was a relief to hear the telegraph instrument, which had been quiet +for hours, call my office. Both passenger trains were nearly ten hours +late, and were slowly struggling towards my station. It was just 2 +a.m. when I received the order from the dispatcher at Winnipeg to +detain the east-bound train at my station when she arrived, till the +west-bound express crossed her--double tracks are yet unknown out +there. + +I replied back that I understood the order, and was just about to let +the red lantern swing round from the station and face the track, when +I was startled by hearing a tremendous kicking and howling at the +door. In my surprise, I forgot to turn the lamp which was to signal +the engineer to stop at the station for orders. + +Little wonder I was agitated. The nearest house was seven miles away, +and no white man could have walked a tenth of that distance in such a +blizzard and have lived. Had the shouting and kicking been less +imperative, I might have been superstitious. With trembling hands I +drew the bolt. Before I could step aside the door was thrown violently +open, and to my dismay two stalwart Cree Indians burst into the little +office. It was the manner of the savages in entering that made me feel +nervous. It was no uncommon thing for me to have Indians drop into the +station at night, and to see roaming bands of them pass the station at +all hours; but two drunken Cree Indians, even a native scout might +have been pardoned for fearing had he been unarmed and placed in my +position. + +Without appearing to notice me, the braves walked over to the glowing +wood stove and began to warm themselves. I wanted to show that I +trusted them, and brought two chairs and asked them to be seated. As I +spoke they both turned their wicked, black eyes on me, but did not +deign to speak. Kicking the chairs to one side they began taking off +their great skin-coats and caps and red-and-white blankets. + +As the taller of the two petulantly threw his wraps down, something +hard struck the floor heavily. He gave a cry of greedy exultation, +felt in the pocket of the coat, drew out a bottle of whiskey, and +proceeded without delay to break off the neck on the stove. It was +contrary to the law to sell liquor to Indians, but that did not matter +much, they always managed to get it. + +Just as he was about to raise the ragged mouth of the bottle to his +lips, the telegraph instrument began to work. It had the effect that I +feared. Both the Indians, with superstitious dread in their eyes, +involuntarily took a couple of steps back toward the wall, where I was +sitting, devoutly hoping they would wrap themselves up in their +blankets and go off to sleep. No such good fortune. + +The room was about ten feet wide and fifteen feet long. In the centre +was the stove, and near the door, about six feet to the right, was the +instrument. I was sitting facing the door at the opposite side of the +room. Pretending that I thought they were going to back up against me, +I rose and calmly began to walk toward the instrument. + +I had not passed them two feet when they both caught me violently by +the shoulders, and in excited, guttural tones, began in a threatening +manner to say something to me. Seeing that I did not understand, the +tall brave, pointing the bottle, which he still tightly clutched in +his left hand, at the talkative instrument, said fiercely, "No go +there! no go there!" + +I quickly understood what they meant; the Indian's fear of telegraph +instruments, and his inability to understand electricity, were known +to every operator west of Winnipeg. + +In their drunken fear they imagined that if I got possession of the +wires I would have it in my power to do them an injury. + +As easily as I could have lifted an infant, the great savage with his +unengaged hand swung me from my feet, and contemptuously dropped me on +my chair again, after which he took a long draught out of the bottle, +and then handed it to his companion. The effect of the liquor upon +their savage natures showed itself almost immediately; they began to +yell and shout, and putting their hands around their mouths uttered +cries like prairie wolves. I shrank closer to the wall. + +In ten minutes they had finished the bottle, and were become nothing +better than howling maniacs. They joined hands and capered round the +stove, stamping the floor viciously with their moccasined feet. Again, +they would wave their long arms about their heads in the most +grotesque manner, uttering at the same time the most blood-curdling +war-whoops. + +In their eyes was the baleful light of the wild beast. The coal-oil +light, which but dimly lit up the room, threw a yellow shade upon +their dark, brutal faces, making them look like emissaries from the +evil one, dancing in fiendish glee over some evil deed. The storm, as +though in sympathy with the savage scene, had risen to a hurricane, +shrieking like a mad thing, and through the casement and +ill-constructed door piled up miniature snow-banks. + +Every moment I expected my unwelcome visitors would seize me, and in +their insane glee practise upon me some savage torture. Would they +never cease? For nearly thirty minutes I sat still as death, where +they had flung me. Safety lay in not attracting their attention; but a +dreadful ordeal was in store for me. + +The instrument, which had been silent for a time, again awoke to life. +The dispatcher was calling my office. Like a flash the order to detain +the down express that he had sent came back to my memory, and with a +thrill of horror I remembered that I had omitted to turn the red lamp. +The dispatcher, I knew, wanted to ask me if the train had arrived. +Involuntarily I started to my feet. + +The only sounds now to be heard were the ticking of the instrument and +the ceaseless cries of the storm. The Indians, the instant they heard +the former, ceased their uncivilized mirth, again looked +apprehensively at the mysterious instrument, and hurriedly glanced at +me. Their treacherous, suspicious natures were thoroughly aroused on +seeing me looking eagerly toward the instrument. I knew not how near +the train might be; act I must. I thought of the fearful loss of life +which would surely occur unless I could reach the cord that hung above +the instrument, and with one pull swing round the red lamp and let it +beam across the track. I had received the order to expose the light, +and unless I did so I knew full well the Company would hold me +responsible for any accident that might occur. I had written the order +in the order-book when receiving it. + +All this passed through my mind like a flash. I did not dread the +Company, but I could not let scores of lives be sacrificed in order to +save my own. I had always thought I was not the stuff brave men are +made of, but when put to the test I gloried in finding that I was not +a coward. + +I was quite calm as I began carelessly to walk over to the instrument. +The drunken savages were upon me almost immediately. As they felled me +to the floor, my ears caught the distant rumbling of the east-bound +locomotive. The Indians also had heard the noise, and as they turned +to listen I once more sprang to my feet and dashed past them. One of +them I passed in safety, but as I dodged the big brave he struck +viciously at me with the broken bottle. + +His aim was but too true; the ragged mouth of the bottle opened my +face like a conical bullet. I had only a few more steps to go. Before +I fell I knew that I had turned the light. + + * * * * * + +The conductor put me on the train and took me to Winnipeg, where I +remained in the hospital for three weeks. + +The Indians had gone when he entered the station. He had seen the +order in the book, and had waited the arrival of the west-bound +express, which arrived five minutes later. Had he not seen the red +light he would have gone on, and the trains would have met about two +miles east of the station. + +The detectives tried to trace the two brutal savages, but did not +succeed. + +Yes, as long as I live I shall remember that Christmas when I was +employed in the far west by the great Canadian Pacific Railway. + + * * * * * + + + + +Le Loup-Garou. + + +The fear of it is killing me, Baptiste, for it is on my mind all the +time. Think of it: for seven long years he has neither been to +confession nor partaken of the blessed sacrament, and he is drinking +and growing wickeder every day. This is the last night of the seventh +year, and the curse may fall upon him now at any moment. She buried +her wrinkled, fear-stricken face in her thin trembling hands, and wept +as though her heart was breaking. "O Marie, blessed Virgin!" she +whispered, "save our son, our Pierre; let not the fate of the +loup-garou fall upon him." A thin stream of light shone through an +ancient crack in the old-fashioned box-stove, and fell caressingly +across the bowed head, making its silvery hair look pathetically thin. +The bent shoulders of the sorrowing mother shook convulsively. + +Baptiste gazed with a troubled look at the bar of light on his wife's +head, and his heart went out to her as only a husband's can to a wife +who for half a century has borne with him the joys and trials of the +passing years. As he looked at the thin white hair, memory drifted +back to the time when it was as black as a raven's wing, and fell in +great glossy folds far below her waist. A tender smile stole into his +face as he remembered how, on account of the waywardness of the +beautiful hair and its rebellion against imprisonment, he had more +than once heard her chide it; yes, and at times when more than usually +arrogant, threaten to use the shears upon it. He observed, too, how +round her shoulders had grown, and noted many other signs of old age +which the glow from the stove made so cruelly apparent. It had taken +sixty years of life just to streak her hair with grey; but the past +seven years had remorselessly thinned and whitened it, and now not +even one black hair was to be seen. All these things and many more he +thought of as he gazed upon his sorrowing wife. + +Distressfully the old man put his hand to his forehead, and then +thought reverted to himself, and he recalled the days when his head +was subject to his will and did not, with painful persistency, nod and +tremble the long day through. The infirmity of age was strong upon +him; seventy years is a long time to have lived and toiled as +French-Canadian farmers toil in eastern Canada. He thought, too, how +much he had aged the last seven years, and of the one who had caused +those years to be fraught with so much suffering to them both. He +realized, indeed, that sorrow ages more quickly than years! + +"Pierre, Pierre, my son!" he muttered brokenly, "better that you had +never been born, than after reaching manhood's estate to have +forgotten all our teachings and become a drunkard and an outcast from +the Church." A stifled sob from his wife again changed his rambling +thoughts, and painfully rising he walked over to her side. Gently he +laid his hand on the hair that he so dearly loved, although so much +changed, and bending tenderly down said, bravely, trying to check the +tremor in his voice, "There, wife, don't fret." And then he drew her +head to his shoulder in a way he used to do when they were both in the +noonday of life. She remembered, and her grief grew less. "The Virgin +is good, wife, and we have prayed so much to Her about him. Surely She +will hear us, and not let what you fear fall upon our Pierre. Father +Benoit has been praying to Her all these years, and we are told that +the Virgin sooner or later answers the prayers of the priests of our +Church. Then special prayers will be offered for our son to-night by +the priest, for he knows how you feared for him because this was the +last night of the seventh year." + +A shudder ran through her frame as the anxious mother started to her +feet and said fearfully: + +"Yes, in another hour a new day will dawn, and then seven years will +have passed since our son went to confession, and then the curse may +fall at any time." + +Dropping his voice almost to a whisper, and looking with superstitious +dread out of the window into the moonlight, which made the newly +fallen snow glisten on the road with almost supernatural whiteness, +and trying to speak in a tone of conviction, her husband said: + +"Perhaps the priest may be right, wife, and this about loup-garou may +not be true. He told us that he did not believe in it, and that the +Church had uttered no such curse against those who for seven years did +not confess; although if they died in that sinful state there was no +hope of salvation for them. As for the devil, you remember the priest +said that he had not the power to change a man into a wolf or an +animal of any kind, and--" + +"Speak not like that, Baptiste," broke in his wife with fear in her +eyes; "the evil one may hear what you say, and out of mockery to the +Church, cause the evil to fall upon him." With piteous haste she made +the sign of the cross on her bosom, and instinctively her husband did +the same. + +Although it was near midnight they had not lit the lamp, for the moon +that poured in at the window made the cottage almost as light as +noonday. + +"Husband," she went on in a tone of conviction, "why should we try to +deceive ourselves? for we know that it is true. Father Benoit is sorry +for us and would give us comfort. It may be that the curse is not from +the Church, but the devil knows when human beings are forsaken by the +blessed Church, and if he can change them into animals and keep them +so till death, then he is sure of their souls; even the blessed Mother +then can do nothing for them." + +Baptiste raised his hand beseechingly, as though he would fain have +her cease, but she only drew still closer to him and continued +quickly: + +"Have we not known it since we were children? Did not our parents +believe in it? Even if we had not been told these things, we know it +is true. Have you forgotten Arsene Bolduc, Baptiste?" + +Again he raised his hand, mutely protesting, but she did not heed him. + +"It is only three years ago that it happened to Arsene. He, like our +boy, had not partaken of the blessed sacrament for seven years. You +know how he blasphemed and drank, and grew wickeder every year, till +finally the very last night of the seventh year came, and just a few +minutes before twelve he became possessed of the devil, and beat his +mother, and then ran out of the house and was never seen again. And +why was he never seen again, Baptiste?" She was getting strangely +excited, and her voice was rising. + +"For the love of the Virgin, cease, wife?" + +But she was now far too excited for him to have control over her, and +went on: + +"When Arsene did not come back, his father thought the evil one had +turned him into a wolf; but his mother said she believed he had been +changed into a bull, and we know she was right, for a few days later +you helped, with the other men, to drag out of the river the bull that +was found drowned. Did not all the village folk talk about it, and +regret that someone had not met the beast before it was drowned, and +drawn blood from it so as to release Arsene? Has he ever been seen +since? We have known of others like him who have disappeared and have +never been seen again. How can we deceive ourselves and say there is +no loup-garou? There is; and we must not sleep this night till our son +returns. This night above all others he should not have been out late. +He must be drinking heavily in the village. We do not know what may +happen, Baptiste. I fear some evil is about to befall him, for my +heart is full of fear." + +Her voice had a pitiful break in it as she concluded. + +"Let us pray the good God to protect him this night, wife," answered +Baptiste, no longer pretending that he did not believe in this strange +legend, in which nearly all his race in his station in life have +faith. + +While they were on their knees praying, the yellow-faced clock behind +the stove struck the hour of midnight. + +"_Mon Dieu!_ twelve o'clock!" + +The anxious mother sprang to her feet, ran to the door, opened it, and +standing on the steps shaded her eyes with her hand, and looked +earnestly down the long snow-clad road in the direction of the little +village of St. Pascal. Behind her stood Baptiste, also shading his +weak eyes and looking. Not a human being was in sight. The +zinc-covered spire of the little village church, nearly half a mile +away, glittered and shone in the fairy light like burnished silver. +The quaint whitewashed cottages that dotted the road to the village +looked far different from what they did in the daytime; somehow the +charitable moon had forgotten to reveal the cracks and stains that +time in its relentless march had made. The lines, too, that age and +care had made on the two eager watching faces were also, by the great +ruler of the night, tenderly smoothed out. + +"I cannot see him, Baptiste," she said presently, lowering her hand +from her eyes. + +"Neither can I, wife; neither can I. Let us go into the house and +wait." He laid his hand persuasively on her shoulder. As she turned +the moon shone full in her face. She stopped and looked at it for a +few moments like one fascinated, then slowly raised her hand and +pointed at it. + +"Baptiste," she said in an awed voice, with the superstitious light +again in her eyes, "do you remember once before when it was as bright +as this?" + +He tried to draw her toward the door, but she resisted, and looking +hurriedly up into his face, said: + +"Ah; I see you, too, remember! It was the night Arsene Bolduc went out +never to return. The devil is surely abroad this night, and our Pierre +is not yet home." + +"Talk not of the evil one while the moon shines full in your face, +wife, for it is an evil omen." + +Quickly he drew down her hand, which was still pointing upward, then +put his hand over her eyes to shut out the sight of the moon, made the +sign of the cross, drew her into the house and shut the door. + +Once more they seated themselves near the stove and began their +anxious wait for the erring one. For nearly half an hour they sat +without speaking, but at short intervals glanced at the clock, whose +loud ticking broke the stillness of the night with painful +distinctness. Every relentless tick jarred on the nerves of the aged +watchers. Suddenly they started to their feet with blanched faces, +looked at each other, and apprehensively bent their heads in a +listening attitude. Again there came floating on the still air the +mournful sound that had startled them--the weird wail of a dog! A +marvellous change came over the mother as she listened; the look of +fear vanished and was succeeded by one of intense determination. The +change in her was so great that one would surely have thought that she +had partaken of the fabled elixir of life; her bent shoulders seemed +to grow straight once more, while her steps, as she ran to the door +and wrenched it open, were as firm and elastic as those of a young +woman. For a moment she stood in the open door and looked: One glance +was sufficient--coming toward the house across the field was a large +hound, which was baying the moon. Firmly she picked up a knife from +the kitchen table, thrust another into the hand of Baptiste, and drew +him to the door. + +"See, Baptiste!" she said, standing erect and pointing the knife at +the dog, "I am right; the curse has fallen, as I feared it would. The +devil has turned our Pierre into a hound, and the beast is coming this +way. Even a scratch, if it draws blood, will be sufficient to release +him from the curse and restore him to us again. The dog must not +escape us; if it does, our son is lost to us forever. Pray the holy +Mother to help us now, husband." + +She made a weird picture as she stood in the open door, with her thin +white hair streaming about her face, grasping the knife, which +glittered ominously in the moonlight. + +The huge hound, which was still coming direct toward the house, was +now only a field away. Separating the field from the road was a stone +wall about three and a half feet in height. Anyone crouching behind +it, on the side of the road, could not be seen from the field. The +one, and only chance of intercepting the animal, flashed across her +mind, and calling Baptiste to follow her she ran across the road and +crouched behind the portion of the wall over which the animal must +jump, unless it quickly altered its course. Baptiste made a pitiful +effort to follow her, but his weary limbs were unable to bear the +strain any longer, and he fell unconscious to the floor. + +As she ran across the road, had she glanced down it toward the village +she would have seen a man, only a few rods distant, walking somewhat +unsteadily toward the house. He stopped abruptly and raised his hand +in amazement as he saw the woman, knife in hand, hurry across the road +and crouch behind the wall. He ran toward her calling "Mother!" but +the baying of the hound drowned his voice. Before he could reach her +she sprang to her feet just as the dog rose into the air from the +opposite side of the wall. She was exactly in front of it. The beast +uttered a howl of terror as the strange apparition so unexpectedly +rose up before it. Bravely she seized with her left hand one of the +paws of the animal, and as it fell, the knife in her right hand +gleamed again and was buried deep in the shoulder of the dog. As she +fell, the enraged animal turned upon her and buried its teeth in her +arm. She did not feel the bite; the crisis had passed--the unnatural +strength born of intense excitement had now deserted her. Just as +unconsciousness was dimming her eyes, she saw a man towering above +her; she saw the stick in his hand fall with fearful force on the head +of the animal, which rolled over on its side without uttering a sound. +Then the figure, which was growing more and more indistinct, caught +her up in his arms, and a voice that she knew and loved so well called +"Mother, mother!" She opened her eyes wearily and looked into the face +of the man, and a smile, very beautiful to see, passed over her face. + +"My Pierre; my son," she murmured. "I said I would release you. I saw +the blood on the knife, then I saw you spring up before me, and now I +am in your arms." + +Her lips grew very white and her head fell back on his shoulder. As he +ran into the house with her he saw his father lying near the door, and +he uttered a cry so full of remorse and sorrow that it entered the +dulled ears of Baptiste and restored him to consciousness, and he +followed his son into the little bedroom, where Pierre laid the brave +little mother on the bed. Tenderly the old man put his arms around +his son's neck and kissed him, and then the wayward one knew that he +was once more forgiven, and that the past would be remembered against +him by his father no more. + +They thought she had only fainted, and while Baptiste administered +simple remedies to her, Pierre, the erring one, knelt by the bedside +with his face buried in the hand that had held the knife so firmly and +that had struck the brute, lying so quietly out there in the +moonlight, so fierce a blow. Tears, the first that had fallen from his +eyes since he was a boy, fell and trickled through the fingers that +were now so wan and thin and that had toiled so hard for him. How she +had longed to see tears in his eyes and hear penitent words from his +lips, and now his tears were drenching her fingers, and he was telling +her in a choked voice how bitterly he repented of his drunkenness and +his disregard of the Church, and all his evil ways, and how he would +reform and be a son to her indeed; yet she heard him not. + +So deep was his grief that he did not raise his head, or he would have +noticed how deathly pale her face was and how very light her breathing +had become. Suddenly his grief ceased; a great fear had entered his +heart--What caused the hand that his face was hid in to be so clammy +and cold? It had not been so when he first pressed it to his face. +"She is dead," whispered his heart brutally. "It is a lie, a wicked +lie! she is not dead," he muttered. "Raise your head and see, raise +your head and see," reiterated his heart monotonously. He had no +reply to make to such an answer as this. Slowly he raised his shaking +hands to his face, still not daring to look up, and again took her +hand in his. A chill seemed to emanate from it which reached his very +heart. Slowly his head began to rise. From the foot of the bed his +eyes gradually crept up and up, past her feet, past her knees, past +the bosom that had nourished him; inch by inch, higher and higher, +till at last they rested on her face, and then he uttered a great cry +and started to his feet. + +As he stood and looked, his father entered the room, in one hand a +medicine bottle, in the other a bowl of water. He, too, saw the change +that had come over her since he had left the room to get the simple +remedies, and forgetting all about the things he was carrying, opened +his hands and stretched them out toward her, and would have fallen had +not Pierre caught him and led him over to the bed. + +"Wife, wife!" he cried; but the quiet expression of her face did not +change. + +The sight of his father's sorrow recalled Pierre out of the dazed +condition into which he had fallen. + +"She is dead, father," he whispered falteringly. + +"No, no, Pierre, she has only fainted!" he shouted fiercely. "You do +not know what death is. Quick, Pierre; quick, son, bring me the +medicine, the hot water; quick, quick, the--the--" + +Poor old Baptiste! he could go no further. He ceased rubbing her +hands, staggered over to Pierre, who was standing with averted face in +the middle of the room, buried his head in his bosom and said +brokenly: + +"No, Pierre, don't go for the medicine, nor for the water, nor for +anything now, for what you said is true. _Mon Dieu_, true, too true!" +And Pierre, erring Pierre, folded his arms around his father and tried +to comfort him like one would a sorrowing child. It was while his arms +were yet around him that her eyes slowly opened, and she saw the +precious sight. The dying embers of life, which so often flash up +before they expire forever, were burning in her now. + +"Pierre, _mon garcon_; Baptiste, husband," she whispered. + +For a moment they hesitated as though one from the dead had spoken to +them, then with glad cries they hurried to her side. With infinite +tenderness Pierre put his strong arms around her and bent his head to +catch the last words her lips would ever form. Baptiste, prayer-beads +in hand, knelt by his son's side, saying prayers for the dying. + +"My son; my Pierre." + +"Mother!" + +"Oh, I am so happy that I released you from the spell the evil one +threw over you. For my sake, Pierre, return to the Church and be +forgiven." + +"Before the sun sets, mother, I will go to confession and partake of +the blessed sacrament; and I will cease my evil ways and be a son to +my father. It was so noble of you, mother, to release me from the +spell as you did." + +He would rather have had his tongue cut out than to let her know that +the great sacrifice she had made for him had been a sad, sad mistake. + +And now the end was very near. "Baptiste?" she asked faintly. + +He laid her in his father's arms and turned away. He did not hear what +she said to his father, but he heard him reply in a voice that sounded +strangely far away and weak, "Yes, soon; very soon, wife." + +Then all was silent. With his back still turned to them he waited for +his father to call him; but the seconds sped on and the silence +continued. At last he turned. His father was kneeling on the floor +with his arms around her and his head lying on the pillow close to +hers. + +"Come, father," he said softly, as he tried to raise him. There was no +reply. He bent over and peered into the two quiet faces. The legend of +the loup-garou had no place in the land they had entered. + + * * * * * + + + + +A Christmas Adventure. + + +How vividly do I remember the Christmas eve and Christmas day of 1882! +Ten years make great changes in our lives. To-day I am a well-to-do +business man, and expect to spend Christmas in my cozy home, with wife +and family, and not on the wild, bleak prairies, expecting every +moment a dreadful railway catastrophe. + +But I had better tell my story from the beginning. Back in 1882 the +liberal pay offered by the Canadian Pacific Railway to telegraph +operators induced a friend of mine and myself--as I have related +elsewhere--to leave Montreal and try our fortunes in the great +North-West. We were given free passes as far as Winnipeg. There was a +station which needed two operators, some fifty miles up the line, and +we were both sent there, arriving on Christmas eve. The train stopped +just long enough for us to jump on the platform, and then sped on. +There was not a human being to meet us. The station had been without +operators for three days, and was bitterly cold. We soon had a big +fire started in the telegraph room, and were sitting beside it, +discussing the loneliness of the place and the wildness of the night. + +While we were talking, the busy little telegraph instrument began +busily ticking for our station. The call was answered and a message +received, saying that a weather report received by the dispatcher +stated that the night would likely be stormy, and my friend was asked +to stay up till about one o'clock in the morning, as he might be +needed to take a crossing order for two trains at his station. We did +not mind staying up, and whiled away the hours in pleasant +conversation as we sat as near as we could get to the glowing coal +fire. The storm increased and finally settled down into a blizzard. By +midnight it was something appalling. There was not a hill, nor even a +tree, for scores of miles, to break its force as it dashed against our +lonely station. The telegraph wires along the track hummed at +intervals loudly enough to be distinctly heard above the shrieks of +the wind which buffeted and held high carnival along them. + +Frozen particles of snow rattled fiercely against the window panes, +carried by the relentless wind, which seemed to me to have conceived +the demoniacal intention of wrecking our not very stalwart but +exceedingly lonely home, out of revenge for daring to break even one +jot of its fury as it hurried madly on. We both lapsed into silence. A +feeling of isolation crept over me despite my efforts to fight it off. +How separated from the world I felt. It seemed to me to have been +years since I had mingled with a crowd. A great longing possessed me +to be away from this lonely spot, and walk the streets of some of the +large cities I had lived in. Unable longer to bear these thoughts, I +rose to go out on to the platform for a moment. No sooner, however, +had I raised the latch of the waiting-room door than the fierce wind +dashed it against me with great force, while the huge snow-drift which +had gathered against it fell upon me, almost burying me out of sight. +Laughingly my companion pulled me from under the chilly and unwelcome +covering. + +I returned once more to the operating room, in a more contented frame +of mind, and with a keener appreciation of the comfortable temperature +within. A few minutes after one o'clock, the telegraph instrument, +which had been silent for some time, suddenly woke to life and +commenced imperiously ticking the call of our station. My friend +answered, and received from the dispatcher at Winnipeg a crossing +order for a west-bound passenger train and an east-bound engine. Our +station signal was displayed, and once more we commenced our weary +wait for the two iron horses, which were ploughing their way across +the wild prairie to meet and cross each other at our station, and then +continue their wild journey. + +Two o'clock. Still no sign of the trains. We both fell asleep in our +chairs. + +I seemed scarcely to have closed my eyes when I was startled by the +shriek of the east-bound locomotive. I glanced at the clock; it was +3.30. I looked at my companion. He seemed frozen with deadly fear. +The next instant he jumped wildly to his feet, rushed to the door, and +gazed out into the blinding storm after the engine. It was nowhere in +sight. I looked anxiously at him as he tore back into the room, and +with trembling hands called the dispatcher's office. + +Perspiration was pouring down his face. He could hardly stand. +Promptly the instrument ticked back the return call. + +"Where is the passenger train?" queried our office. The reply was +terrible. "Left for your station three minutes ago. Have you put the +engine on the side track?" Back went the answer: "The engine has +rushed past the station and has not waited for her crossing." + +"My God!" replied the dispatcher, "the two trains will meet." + +My companion sank on the chair. His face was ghostly. + +"It will be a terrible accident," he said aloud, but to himself--he +seemed to have forgotten me in his great terror. + +"God help them! God help them!" he reiterated. The situation was so +fearful to me that I could only sit and look spell-bound at my friend. +The furious storm made the horror of the situation tenfold more +unendurable. + +It seemed to me that I had been sitting in this trance-like condition +for hours, when I was roused by hearing an engine give a certain +number of whistles, which indicated it wanted the switch opened. The +next moment a man rushed into the office. "Open the switch quick!" he +shouted, "the passenger train will be here in two minutes." It was the +driver of the engine! My companion sprang joyously to his feet. +Without asking a question he ran out into the yard, followed by the +engineer. + +A few minutes later they both returned. The mystery was soon explained +by the driver. He had forgotten the order which had been wired to him, +and which he had put in his pocket when he received it, over two hours +before, away up the line. He probably would have remembered it when he +passed our station had he seen any signal displayed, but he had rushed +past. He must have been two miles past the station when, putting his +hand into his coat pocket to get his pipe, he felt the peculiar paper +upon which crossing orders are written. Like a flash the order to +cross with the passenger train at our station came back to his memory. + +He could not see a yard ahead of him for the storm, and knew not but +the next instant he would be dashing into the passenger train with its +burden of precious lives--his heart seemed to cease beating. The +engine was instantly reversed, the sudden revulsion nearly tearing the +locomotive to pieces. She ran on for fifty yards or more rocking like +a ship in a storm. He had hurried back as fast as a full head of steam +could bring him, and thus averted a dreadful accident. + +We found that our station signal light had been blown out. + +Five minutes later both trains had departed, and we went to bed with +happy hearts, thankful for the almost miraculous prevention of a dire +calamity. + +Christmas day, an incident occurred at the station which went a +considerable way toward settling our somewhat shattered nerves. The +station had not been scrubbed for quite a long time, and was beginning +to have anything but an inviting appearance. + +After no end of inquiries as to where a washerwoman could be got, we +located one at the far end of the village. She was a full-blooded +squaw, and one of the most ill-favored specimens of the female sex I +had ever set eyes upon. + +Two dollars a day was the price agreed upon. She must have made five +dollars every day she was at the station. She was a most industrious +thief; we could keep nothing in the place from her. Not only would she +unblushingly steal our groceries, but under the big loose blanket that +hung in folds around her tall, gaunt figure, she actually spirited +away our pots, kettles and pans. + +She worked just as she pleased. Every half-hour or so she would squat +on the floor, pull out an intensely black clay pipe, and indulge in a +smoke. I love smoking, but I never failed to put as much distance as +possible between myself and the rank black fumes which poured with so +much gusto from her mouth. The last place she had to clean was the +telegraph office. She entered the office very reluctantly, and +furtively glanced at the telegraph instruments. "Me no like great +spirit," she said fearfully, pointing to the mass of wires under the +table. We talked to her for a long time and finally got her started +working. The instruments were cut out so as to make no noise. + +Slowly the squaw drew nearer the table where the instruments were. As +she did so her coal-black eyes were actually glittering with nervous +dread. Just as she was stretching her long arm under the table, a +train steamed into the station. The conductor wanted orders. My +companion, forgetting the poor squaw, pulled out the switch and turned +on the current. Her arm must have been just touching the wires under +the table at that instant. + +The next moment a terrific yell was uttered by our frantic +washerwoman, as she sprang to her feet and rushed for the door, +upsetting the bucket of dirty water in her meteor-like progress. Out +of the station, across the tracks, and away out on to the open prairie +she fled, never pausing till she reached the village, where she turned +into an Indian's house and was lost from view. The next morning her +son came to get the few articles belonging to her. He would not come +any nearer the station than the side-track, and we were compelled to +carry her belongings to him. + + * * * * * + + + + +Narcisse's Friend. + + +Narcisse Lafontaine and Charlie Saunders became acquainted on their +way to the lumbering camp, which was situated some fifteen miles back +of St. John's. Charlie had only recently arrived from England, and +knew practically nothing about lumbering, while Narcisse had been born +in Canada, and felt as much at home in the woods as Charlie would have +done in London. Charlie took a liking to Narcisse the moment he saw +him, and Narcisse was not slow in responding to the friendly advances +of the young Englishman. + +In appearance they were strikingly different. Narcisse was a typical +French-Canadian lumberman; he was about five feet eleven inches in +height, dark-skinned, dark-eyed, broad-shouldered, powerful and +good-natured. Not even the most imaginative, had they seen him in the +woods dressed in nondescript Canadian home-spun and swinging an axe, +would have associated him with anything but what was commonplace and +uninteresting; yet the great powerful, rough-looking fellow had a +disposition that was as sympathetic as a woman's. The weather never +affected him. With Charlie it was different. He was not accustomed to +Canadian winters, and the rough unvarying food that was daily dealt +out in the camp. He got to dread the sight of pork, which was the +staple article of diet the week round. His health at times was so poor +that he could not do heavy work, and it was then that the generous +disposition of the young French-Canadian showed itself. Narcisse was a +great favorite with the foreman, and by a series of adroit schemes +always managed to get Charlie put at easy work, although at times his +scheming resulted in his having to do far more than his own share of +the sawing and chopping. + +Charlie was below the average stature, yet he was broad-shouldered and +looked strong. He had blue eyes, fair curly hair, a ruddy skin, and a +laugh that was most pleasant to hear. If they differed outwardly, they +were remarkably alike in disposition. Like Narcisse, Charlie was +light-hearted and sympathetic. All through the long winter they were +inseparable. + +The warm, inquisitive sun had so discomfited the snow that for five +months had determinedly hid the earth, that it had begun to lose its +attractive whiteness and to assume a jaundiced hue, and, finally +succumbing to its ancient foe, was gradually retreating into the +earth--the vanishing of the snow meant the breaking up of the camp, +for without it the logs could not be hauled to the river. + +It was a beautiful day at the latter end of March when Narcisse and +Charlie, with their winter's earnings in their pockets, left camp and +happily trudged off to the railway station, four miles away. They had +agreed to spend a month at St. John's, where Narcisse lived, before +going out to the North-West for the summer. Charlie had suggested that +they should go out west at once, but Narcisse somehow never took +kindly to the proposition, and had offered several excuses for not +hurrying away that seemed to Charlie to be a little hazy and certainly +not very weighty. One reason Narcisse dwelt upon for not going was the +good fishing there was at St. John's. Prior to this suggestion +Narcisse had never mentioned fishing; consequently the sudden outbreak +of this new passion in his friend provided Charlie, on more than one +occasion, with ample food for reflection. + +Town life was wonderfully bright and attractive to them after the long +quiet of the woods. Narcisse knew many people in the pretty little +town, and wherever he went Charlie was always sure to be seen. Rev. +Father Pelletiere, the parish priest, who had christened Narcisse and +buried his parents, called the young men David and Jonathan. The +reverend father was a man thoroughly opposed to race prejudices, and +there could be no doubt but that the friendship between the two young +men had entirely bridged the artificial barriers so often raised +between men of different races and creeds. + +The very day they arrived in town, Narcisse, in an off-hand manner, +told Charlie that they would go and call at a cottage that he had +occasionally visited before he went to the woods. There was something +in the tone in which Narcisse said this that gave Charlie the +impression that the house must be one of more than ordinary size and +importance. The more than usual time that Narcisse took in dressing +that day increased this impression. When finally, after wandering down +a series of little streets, Narcisse stopped at a small whitewashed +cottage with a slanting roof, and knocked at the door with a certain +amount of nervousness, Charlie's astonishment fairly overcame him, and +he was just going to ask Narcisse if he had not made a mistake in the +house, when the door opened. Then he was sure Narcisse had not made a +mistake. Never had he seen a more attractive girlish face. Her eyes +were deep blue, and were tenanted with such a merry, roguish gleam, +that Charlie's hitherto well-regulated heart beat in a most unruly +manner when she fixed her eyes upon his. Her brown, round, vivacious +face took on a deeper hue, as Narcisse eagerly shook hands with her +and introduced her to Charlie. "Jessie Cunningham is a very pretty +name," mused Charlie, as they followed her into the quaint little +kitchen, in the middle of which glowed an old-fashioned wood-burner. + +On the long deal table, just behind the stove, were several loaves, +which evidently had just been taken out of the oven. Jessie's sleeves +were rolled up to the elbow, and her well-rounded arms were covered +with flour. She blushed and gave a nervous little laugh, as she +hurriedly pulled down her sleeves and explained that she had been +baking. Both Narcisse and Charlie hurried over to where the tempting, +warm, browned loaves were, and, after hurriedly glancing at them, +looked at each other in open-eyed wonder, and declared that never in +their lives had they seen finer loaves. After that all awkwardness was +swept away, and Jessie would not be content until they both accepted a +generous slice of the admired bread. The day was a little chilly, so +they drew their chairs near the stove, and Narcisse told Jessie, in +his quaint broken English, how he and Charlie had spent the winter in +the woods, how they had eaten and slept together, and how they had +taken a liking to each other the very moment they met. + +Charlie was a good talker, too, and told her how they had felled some +wonderfully long trees, and how Narcisse was considered the best +chopper in the camp, and could make a tree fall within an inch of +where he wanted it. + +As she listened, her eyes glowed and danced with excitement so as to +make them dangerously attractive. Little wonder indeed that both the +young men found them very pleasant to look into. To Charlie's intense +satisfaction, he decided, after shaking hands with her at the door, +that she had seemed just as anxious that he should come and see her +again as she did that Narcisse should. Narcisse took the invitation in +the most matter-of-fact manner, which created an impression in +Charlie's mind that Narcisse, perhaps, after all, only cared for +Jessie in a brotherly way. + +Both Charlie and Narcisse soon got the reputation of being devoted +disciples of Izaak Walton. They were to be seen every day wandering +down to the river with divers devices to allure and entrap +unsuspecting fish. Their success in being able to catch little or +nothing soon caused much merriment among the boarders where they +stayed. Of course, none of the scoffers knew that a very generous +portion of the time that these ardent fishermen were supposed to be +employing in catching fish, was spent lying on the broad of their +backs on the fresh green grass discussing the virtues of the +blue-eyed, vivacious young woman with whom the reader is already +acquainted. Very naturally the young fishermen did not deem it their +duty to enlighten the boarders as to how they spent their time. + +Three evenings a week, no matter what the weather was, they dressed up +in their best suits and visited the little whitewashed cottage. It +would have taken a very keen observer to decide which of the young men +she cared the most for, or whether, indeed, she had any tender feeling +for either of them. Both were always given a most cordial welcome. If, +however, Charlie had been a very close observer--which was unfair to +expect at such a time--he might, perhaps, have noticed that at long +intervals she stole a rapid glance at Narcisse when she knew his head +was turned away from her--a gentle, caressing look that either of them +would have been delighted to intercept. + +The weeks fled rapidly by, and the month's vacation drew to a close. +Strange to say, for over a week neither of them had mentioned the trip +to the west. They went fishing together as usual, but her name very +rarely passed their lips now. Just exactly how the change had come +about neither of them could tell, but something had come between them. +The little cloud at first was promptly banished, and they tried to be +friendlier than ever. But the cloud was persistent, and returned again +and again, and each time it was harder to overthrow. At first it was +not larger than a man's hand, but before the month had elapsed it had +grown so that it had well-nigh separated them. They both secretly +mourned over the estrangement. They both well knew the birthplace of +the cloud--the little whitewashed cottage. Several times Charlie +generously made excuses for not wanting to go to the cottage, not +because he thought Jessie did not like him as well as Narcisse, but +because he was willing to sacrifice his interest in her on the altar +of pure friendship. He called to memory the numberless acts of +kindness he had received from Narcisse in the camp, and how he had +been introduced to her by Narcisse, who he now felt sure sincerely +liked Jessie. + +Instinctively Narcisse knew why Charlie desired to cease his visits to +the cottage, and it made his heart sore. He decided that he would not +go and see her unless Charlie was with him. When Charlie would +complain of feeling tired, off would come Narcisse's coat, and he +would declare that he was feeling completely done up, too, and would +not bother going down to the cottage. No amount of persuasion would +make him alter his decision. + +After they had a pipe of tobacco, Charlie would generally, in a most +matter-of-fact manner, suggest that they both take a walk. Right well +did Narcisse know where the walk would be to, and always acquiesced in +such an unconcerned manner that no one would ever have imagined that +they had fully made up their minds a few minutes previously not to go +out. + +One day more, and the month's vacation would be gone. Charlie and +Narcisse had been indoors all day, to escape the rain that had been +falling in great sheets since early morning. An ill-disposed wind was +buffeting the rain in such a fierce, malignant manner as to make one's +room a most desirable place to be in. Charlie and Narcisse had sat and +smoked until their tongues were dry and sore. It was a relief for them +to smoke; not so much to kill time as to break the long awkward pauses +in their conversation. Inwardly they had both decided that it was +impossible any longer to bear the constraint that had come between +them. + +During the long day neither of them had been able to muster courage to +refer to the proposed trip to the west, although the day set for it +was so close at hand. They had both decided that day, however, that +they would right themselves in each other's eyes. Narcisse believed +Charlie loved Jessie; Charlie felt sure Narcisse loved her. Charlie +was not sure whether Jessie loved him or Narcisse the better. Narcisse +had, however, a pretty good idea who Jessie had taken a liking to. + +When ten o'clock came, Charlie knocked the ashes out of his pipe, and +said he was going to bed, and would have a long sleep, as he was +played out. Narcisse glanced sleepily at his own bed in the corner of +the room, stretched out his long legs and arms, opened his mouth +alarmingly wide, yawned vociferously, and declared that he was so +sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open. Before leaving the +room to go to his own, which was next to Narcisse's, Charlie pulled +off his coat and threw it over his arm. If Narcisse had entertained +any doubts as to whether or not Charlie was really as sleepy as he had +intimated, this partial unrobing must surely have dispelled it. +Notwithstanding his haste to get to bed, Charlie fumbled at the latch +an unusually long time before he succeeded in opening the door. And +finally, when it did swing open, his coat, without any apparent +provocation, perversely slipped from his arm and fell to the floor. +Charlie found it necessary, before he put it across his arm again, to +carefully dust and fold it. + +Turning round as the door was closing behind him, he said, in a voice +that seemed a little strained, "Yes, we will go to bed and dream of +camp days, eh, Narcisse?" Then he was gone. + +Narcisse walked over to the window, stood for a few moments with +folded arms, gazing out into the darkness, and then said softly, "Yes, +dream of de camp days." + +When Charlie reached his room, he acted in a most peculiar manner; he +put his ear to the partition that separated his room from Narcisse's, +and listened intently; then walked over to his bed, sat on the edge +of it, took off his boots, held them aloof, and then let them fall on +the floor; laid his coat across the foot of the bed, stood still for a +few minutes, and then threw himself so heavily across the bed that it +groaned loudly enough to be distinctly heard by Narcisse, who nodded +his head in a satisfied manner. + +Charlie lay on the top of the clothes, dressed, with the exception of +his boots, hat, and coat, with his eyes wide open and his head bent in +a listening attitude. Presently the sound of falling boots in +Narcisse's room also brought a look of relief to Charlie's face. After +hearing Narcisse blow out the light and get into bed, Charlie lay +perfectly still. An hour sped by; the only sounds to be heard were the +cries of the wind as it tore through the branches of the tree whose +long well-clad arms in summer protected Charlie's room from the fierce +rays of the sun. At short intervals, the branches tapped on the window +panes, as though craving protection from the storm. Inside the house +quietness reigned supreme. From a distance one would have been sure +Charlie was sleeping, but a closer inspection would have shown that +his eyes were wide open. It was 11.30. Charlie quietly raised himself, +pulled his coat to him, and took a railway time-table from it, then +ran his finger down a portion of it. The express left for the west at +12.05 a.m. He drew a line around the figures, and put the table back +into his pocket again. Then he got out of bed, on tip-toe stole to his +carpet-bag, which hung near the door, and quietly began to stow away +in it his modest belongings. So quietly did he gather up his things +that not a mouse, except by sight, could have known that he was in the +room. Every now and then he would pause, with his face turned toward +Narcisse's room, and listen. Twice a slight noise, which seemed to +emanate from Narcisse's room, disturbed him, and with contracted brow +he paused and listened longer than usual. The branches smote the +window, and he smiled at his folly. He was positive that Narcisse was +sound asleep. When the valise was packed, he cautiously turned the +light a little higher, got a sheet of paper and a pencil, and wrote in +a straggling hand: "Dear friend Narcisse,--I thought it better if I +went alone. I know you like her. You knew her before I did, and you +brought me here. I think she likes you better than me, too. She ought +to. That which has come between us has made me feel very bad. When I +am away I will try and think only of the camp days. She will make you +a good wife, Narcisse. Some day I will write and let you know how I am +getting along in the North-West.--CHARLIE." + +He doubled the note carefully and addressed it to Narcisse. Then he +rolled some silver up in a paper and addressed it to his landlady. +Silently he put on his coat and hat, picked up his boots, seized his +carpet-bag, blew out the light, and in his stocking feet stole to the +door. "I will put on my boots at the bottom of the stairs," he +muttered absently. + +He was half-way out of the door, when he stopped suddenly. Again that +slight noise which seemed to come from Narcisse's room! Could it be +possible that Narcisse was not in bed? Again the branches rattled on +the panes, and again he chided himself for his fancy. He softly closed +the door behind him, flitted along the narrow passage and began to +descend the stairs leading to the street. Reaching the bottom of the +stairs, he was just in the act of pulling on his boots, when the door +at the top of the stairs was pulled slowly open. There was no mistake +this time; someone was stealing down the stairs. The darkness was too +great to allow him to see who it was. There was no escape for him; his +boots were off, and his latch-key was in his pocket. Long before he +could open the door he who was descending would be with him at the +bottom of the stairs. Quickly he pulled a match from his pocket and +struck it. Instantly the dark stairway was made light. The sight he +saw fairly stunned him. Standing in the middle of the stairs was +Narcisse, his canvas valise in one hand and his boots in the other. + +"Narcisse!" gasped Charlie. + +"Charlie!" cried Narcisse, letting his boots and bag fall. The match +went out. For a few moments there was silence; then Narcisse descended +the remainder of the stairs. Without a word they both pulled on their +boots. They both understood now. + +Charlie lit a match while Narcisse unfastened the door. As they +stepped out into the street Narcisse drew Charlie's arm through his. + +"De train don't leave for twenty minutes yet," he said calmly, "no +need for hurry; eh, Charlie?" + +Charlie halted. "No, no, Narcisse," he said with a little break in +his voice. "She likes you; you must not leave." + +Narcisse was big and strong; he drew Charlie's arm again through his, +and again they began slowly to walk toward the station. + +"So you try to leave me, Charlie?" + +"I could bear that which came between us no longer, Narcisse. Then, I +thought you liked her." + +"So you would go, because of friendship for me, Charlie?" They were +walking very close to each other now. + +"And why are you here, Narcisse?" + +"I know you liked her, Charlie." The great fellow's voice was very +sweet at times. + +The weather was clearing. Through great rifts in the clouds, every few +minutes, the moon poured great floods of light. + +"The clouds are going away, Narcisse." + +"Dat so, Charlie." He looked up at the moon, which at that moment +broke through the clouds again. "And de cloud dat came between me and +you has now gone away, Charlie." + +In the distance could be seen the headlight of the approaching +express. + +"Yes, all gone, Narcisse; we shall have the camp days over again, +now." + +They were just in time to get their tickets to Manitoba and get on +board. They sat up the remainder of the night, and smoked and talked +and made plans for the future. Never once did they speak of _her_, +although she was often in their thoughts. In Narcisse's pocket was a +note he had received from her a few days ago, which hinted that, if he +desired, he might call sometimes--alone. He was so afraid that Charlie +some day might find this note, that he had no peace until he had torn +it into numberless fragments, and when Charlie was not looking, he +covertly raised the car window and saw the mad wind carry the pieces +in a hundred different directions. + + * * * * * + +Another spring had come. Charlie and Narcisse were sitting in a +smoking-room in a small hotel in Winnipeg. Placidly Narcisse was +leaning back reading a paper that he had just got from St. John's. +They were better dressed and looked more prosperous than in the old +days. Occasionally they talked about her now. To Narcisse she seemed +but a dream, and he had no regrets. To Charlie it was different; to +him she was still very real. + +Suddenly Narcisse uttered an exclamation of surprise, and let the +paper fall. Charlie, who had his eyes fixed thoughtfully on the floor, +looked up in surprise and asked what was the matter. + +"Oh, dare is noting de matter," answered Narcisse, trying to look +unconcerned. "I tink I must have been asleep." + +He gathered up the paper, and said he would go and stand at the door +for a few minutes. + +As soon as the door closed behind him, he opened the paper again and +read the following in the marriage notices: "Married May 13th, 18--, +at St. John's, Miss Jessie Cunningham, to John White, farmer, of St. +John's." + +Narcisse ran up to his room, tore out the notice and burned it. +"Dare," he said to himself, with a satisfied look on his face, +"Charlie won't know anything about dat now. No use for open de old +wound again. Well, she wait about a year. Dat pretty good," he said, +with a good-natured smile. + +"Well, do you feel any better?" asked Charlie, as Narcisse entered the +room again. + +"Oh, yes," replied Narcisse, puffing out his chest. "Dat fresh air do +me all de good in de world." And Charlie never guessed! + + * * * * * + + + + +A Strange Presentiment. + + +While this strange story is fresh in my memory, I am writing it, just +as it was told me by my friend George B----, who a few years ago was +general manager of a well-known Canadian railroad. I had known George +for years, and had been superintendent of the same road. He told me +the history of his life one beautiful night in June as we were seated +in a sleeping car _en route_ for Montreal. For the first time I knew +why he had never married, a problem that had cost me many conjectures. +The story is founded on a presentiment. Presentiments are difficult +things to analyze, but for my part I believe the tale, and am content +to let the reader use his own judgment in the matter. + +"I began my railway career," commenced George, "on the Old Colony +R.R., as operator at Shirley Junction, which at that time was one of +the most important crossing points on the whole road. Poor Herbert +Lawrence, who plays such a tragic part in this story, was the day +operator. It was at Shirley Junction that I met Julia Waine, the +station agent's niece. She was a singularly beautiful girl, and +naturally it was her beauty that first attracted me; but her +intelligence and sympathetic nature were the loadstones that drew my +heart to her as I came to know her better. A week after I arrived at +the Junction, the agent gave a party in honor of Julia's birthday, and +Herbert and I were among the invited guests. Julia looked very +beautiful and sweet, as she welcomed us in the quaint little parlor +over the telegraph office. I had not been in the room ten minutes +before I discovered that Herbert Lawrence loved Julia as unselfishly +as I did. Herbert, who was a gentlemanly fellow, was, on account of +his intensely nervous disposition, ill-adapted to the work of an +operator. He was extremely sensitive, and had a painful habit of +blushing that at times made him look almost ridiculous. He knew his +failing, and it was pitiful to see his struggles for self-command. All +the evening he sat in a corner of the parlor, like a faithful dog, +content to watch the being he so dearly loved. Once or twice during +the party I saw Julia go over to where he was sitting and speak to +him, and from her manner I knew his love was not returned. When +shaking hands with her at the close of the party I heard him say, 'I +hope I may be at your next birthday party.' + +"'I hope so; I shall then be twenty-one, and I am beginning to feel +quite old already,' she replied brightly. + +"Her next birthday party! God wisely hides the future from us! I had +been at the station a little over six months when the adventure that +I am about to relate occurred. November, 1873, ushered in weather that +railway men heartily dislike. All day a cold rain had fallen, coating +the rails with a thin layer of ice. Drivers of express trains had +their work cut out to keep on time, while freight trains straggled in +at all hours. + +"When I came on duty that night, at seven o'clock, I saw that I was +going to have a busy time of it. Until that evening I can truthfully +say that I never knew what nervousness was; but scarcely had I entered +the station when I felt suddenly depressed. I attributed the feeling +to heat, and tried to pull myself together by poking fun at Herbert, +whom I accused of wilfully keeping the trains late in order to shirk +handling them. Every night Herbert gave me a written account of the +trains handled during the day, and especially drew my attention to any +crossing orders that had to be attended to. As Herbert was leaving the +room I glanced at the book and saw there were no orders on hand. This +should have satisfied me that everything was all right; but it did +not, and I called out to him and asked if there were any train orders. +He replied in a low, absent voice that there were none. I could not +help but notice his dejection, and a feeling of pity filled my heart +for him. The evening previous Julia had promised to be my wife. +Herbert did not know this, but I knew he had a presentiment that the +girl he so dearly loved cared more for me than she did for him. He did +not, however, show any resentment, but appeared strangely depressed. +After he had left the station, I tried to drive away from my mind the +foreboding of ill by reading; but, like Banquo's ghost, it would not +down. I began to think I was going to be seriously ill. Restlessly I +paced the floor, longing for, yet dreading, the approach of the +express train which was due at the station at 9 p.m. The wind had +risen and was buffeting the telegraph wires, making them hum in an +exasperating manner. + +"As the minutes slowly wore away, my disquietude alarmingly increased. +I was charged with a nervous dread, for which I could not find the +slightest excuse; I knew, however, that in some strange way the +approaching express was the cause of it. I thought of Julia; surely +the demon of unrest would be banished if I saw her. With an almost +childish impulse I sought her presence. Before I had time to seat +myself, Julia, with a woman's keen perception, noticed my nervousness +and asked the cause of it. Man-like I laughed at her anxiety, and +tried to deceive her by being boisterously happy, but of course this +failed to allay her fears. Before five minutes had elapsed I was madly +anxious to get back to the operating room again, although I knew +perfectly well there was nothing for me to do. To this day I cannot +understand what power, despite all my common-sense, made me hurry +back, and again begin to hunt through the book for an order, which in +my heart of hearts I knew perfectly well was not there. After all, how +little we know of the great other world and the influences that may be +there at work! + +"It was now 8.45. In fifteen minutes more the express would be in. I +was actually unable to endure the dreadful suspense, and had just made +up my mind to go and see Herbert, who boarded across the road from the +station, when the waiting-room door opened and he entered. Without +speaking to me he walked dejectedly over to the station agent's door, +and was just going to knock at it, when I reached his side and said to +him in deep agitation, 'Tell me, Herbert, are you quite sure you +received no orders to hold the express? she will soon be here now.' My +voice trembled with anxiety. Without looking at me or appearing to +notice my strange manner, he replied, 'No orders, if you received +none.' As the door closed behind him I could have cried out, so keen +was the feeling of dread that again swept over me. Just then I heard +the whistle of the locomotive, which seemed to stop my very heart from +beating. Like one bereft I ran back into the telegraph office, and +began to call the dispatcher's office. There was one more chance of +saving the express if it was in danger, and that was by asking if an +order had been sent to hold it for a crossing. I had waited until the +last minute before I could make up my mind to do this: because, if the +dispatcher had telegraphed an order, he would know by repeating it +that Herbert had forgotten to book it and turn the red light facing +the station on to the track. Such a grave omission would mean sure +dismissal. If he had not sent one he would want to know what made me +ask him such a strange question, and would at once get an inkling +that something was wrong. True it is that troubles never come singly! +For a full minute I stood desperately calling the dispatcher's office, +but got no answer. Either the wires had been crossed or the man had +for a few minutes left his post. I closed the key and sank weakly back +on my chair. + +"As the door opened and old Conductor Rawlings, with the typical +railway man's good-natured bustle, entered the room and noisily banged +his lamp down on the desk, I buried my face in my hands, completely +prostrated by contending emotions. The feeling that the train should +not be allowed to proceed burned in me more fiercely than ever. + +"'Here, there!' yelled Rawlings, 'hurry up and trot out that clearance +order.' If I had been chained to the chair I could not have been more +unable to move. Getting no answer from me, Rawlings walked quickly +into the telegraph office, and catching me unceremoniously by the arm, +said impatiently, 'Come, now, wake up and give me that order; what do +you mean by keeping me like this?' + +"With a dazed feeling I staggered to my feet and took up a pad of +orders. If I signed and gave him one of them, I was responsible for +the safety of the train until it reached the next station. The orders +read that the track was clear of all trains, and that no instructions +had been received by the operator to detain trains for crossings. The +forms were printed. All the operators had to do was to sign them. With +averted face I seized the pen and tried to sign my name to one of the +slips, but so fearfully were my nerves unstrung that the pen fell +twice from my hand to the floor. The next thing I knew, Rawlings had +turned me round and was letting the glare of the lantern fall full on +my face. + +"'I will report you for this detention. What is the matter with you? +You look wild enough to be put in an asylum.' + +"Mechanically I completed the signature and handed him the order. Just +as he was about to step from the station to the platform, he suddenly +turned round, and said somewhat apprehensively, 'Of course you have +received no orders to detain me?' 'No,' I replied, in a voice that did +not sound like my own. + +"As the train began to move slowly out of the station I sprang to my +feet, ran to the window, and gazed in terror at it. + +"Just as Rawlings was about to jump on one of the cars, some impulse +made him pause and glance at the window where I was standing. +Something in my face must have strangely affected him, as he allowed +the car on which he was about to jump to go by, and without apparently +seeming to know what he was doing, swung his lantern from right to +left. If the engineer had seen this signal he would have stopped the +train. With an impatient shake of his head Rawlings jumped on to the +step of the next car. He stood on the step as he passed, and with +contracted brow again fixed his eyes on mine. The moment I lost sight +of the train the spell that bound me to the window was broken. An +involuntary cry came from my dry lips, and I dashed my hand through +the glass with the imbecile impulse of stopping the train. The +remarkable presentiment that the train should not go on had full +possession of me now. + +"Like one possessed I ran out of the office, burst open the door +leading to the agent's house, mounted in bounds the stairs leading to +it, and ran through the sitting-room into the parlor, where I knew I +should find Herbert. Just before I entered the room I heard Herbert +say in a broken voice, 'Then there is no hope for me?' + +"'No,' replied a choked voice, which I recognized as Julia's. An +embarrassing scene met my gaze; kneeling at Julia's feet with a look +of keen disappointment on his face was Herbert. + +"As I rushed into the room he sprang to his feet with an exclamation +of anger and amazement. But when he saw my face, an expression of +deadly fear passed over his. Without stopping to think, I caught him +by the coat-collar with my wounded hand; instantly his white shirt was +stained with blood. 'Herbert,' I cried desperately, 'the express has +just left! For heaven's sake tell me that you are quite sure you got +no order to hold her. I am certain something is going to happen, +something dread--' + +"I never finished the sentence. I pray that I never again may see such +a look of mortal agony on any face as passed over his, or again hear +such a scream as he uttered, when he rushed past me with uplifted +arms, and ran downstairs crying at the top of his voice, 'Stop her! +stop her!' This terrible scene had all been acted in less than a +minute. I bounded after him. Someone was following me, but I never +thought of stopping to see who. My mind was now quite clear. If the +express had not passed the semaphore she might yet be stopped. The +semaphore was nearly a quarter of a mile from the station, and the arm +was down. If the engine had passed it by a hair's breadth, ninety-nine +chances out of a hundred the engineer would go on. If I could let up +the arm before the engine reached it, all might be well. My main hope +was in the icy condition of the track; I knew it would take her much +longer than usual to get under way on such rails. + +"As Herbert dashed out of the station I was not two feet behind him. +With naked head, and hands outstretched toward the rapidly departing +train, and still uttering impotent cries, ran the demented fellow, his +reason for the time being entirely gone. The rampant wind blew the +half-frozen rain in my face with such force that I could scarcely +breathe, while my eyes smarted so under the onslaught that I could see +only with great difficulty. With what wonderful velocity the mind +works in moments of great danger! Even before I had left the station, +my alert brain had weighed and reweighed the chances of the plans it +had with such marvellous rapidity given birth to. As I ran, the quick +panting of the locomotive was borne to my strained ears with great +distinctness by the hurrying wind. The ear is easily deceived as to +sounds; whether the train was fifty yards or half a mile away I could +not tell. A few more steps and the lever that worked the semaphore was +in my hands. I quickly released the wire which held down the distant +semaphore arm. Just as I did so I saw Herbert jump from the platform +on to the track, along which he ran, still calling in piteous tones +for the express to stop. + +"Then followed an experience so fearful that I wonder my mind, too, +did not lose its balance. Regardless of wind and rain I stood +clutching the lever, waiting for the engine to whistle the station to +lower the arm. If no whistle came, I was too late! My very heart +seemed to stop and listen, while my nerves seemed as if they must +surely snap, so overwrought were they. To my excited imagination every +second seemed an hour. Still the dreadful suspense went on, while the +panting of the engine grew quicker and quicker. The suspense was +actually too great to bear, and I weakly sank on to the platform. A +moment later there came floating a sound sweeter to my ears than the +triumphant song of the nightingale; yet it was only the deep +discordant whistle of the fleeing locomotive calling for the semaphore +arm to be lowered. + +"Saved! I sprang to my feet, sobbing like a child. As I turned to go +back to the station, a startling apparition met my eyes; standing ten +paces from me and waving a red lamp was Julia. Her white clothing and +the fitful glare of the red light made her look like something +supernatural. The fierce wind tossed the hair in sweet disorder about +her refined delicate face, while the cold rain made the clothing cling +to her slender figure like a shroud. 'Julia!' I exclaimed aghast, +advancing toward her with faltering steps. Then the lantern fell, and +I caught her as she was about to fall. I carried her back to the +station, with the strength born in me by the continued angry whistling +of the engine, and by the final cessation of its violent breathing. As +I laid her on one of the benches in the waiting-room, I heard the +driver whistle 'brakes off.' I knew the train would now soon be back +to the station again with its precious load! + +"Hardly had Julia recovered before the light on the rear car of the +express backed past the station. Standing on the platform of the car +was old Rawlings. With an imprecation he ran into the station and laid +his hand heavily on my shoulder. 'What does all this mean? why did you +throw up the semaphore and wave the red light for us to return?' he +demanded, his face all aglow with passion. 'Don't talk like that,' I +replied; 'thank God for the red lamp and the semaphore! You likely now +would have been a corpse were it not for them. There is a crossing +order to hold you here. Herbert got it and forgot to enter it in the +book and turn the lamp. He will soon be back and tell you whether the +crossing is with a freight or passenger special.' + +"'Bless me, what an escape!' burst out Rawlings. 'There will be a +mighty big row about this. Where is that ass of a fellow?' The +question was soon answered. Slowly walking backward, with bent +shoulders and arms wrapped around some dark object, entered the driver +of the express, while following him and bent in a like manner came the +fireman. With a dull foreboding of evil I took a step forward. They +were carrying Herbert, all torn and mangled! 'We must have backed over +him,' said the driver, quietly as he laid the poor battered burden +down. 'There is just a spark of life left in him, nothing more.' I saw +the pallid lips move, and kneeling, bent my ear to them. The last +words they ever formed came very slow and faint, yet faint as they +were I heard them: 'The express must--cross--the--passenger--special. +I--loved--her--so.' Then the weary lips were at peace--lasting peace. +As I rose, my eyes fell on Julia; she was crouching at the feet of the +poor fellow whom, but a few moments ago she had refused to marry. As +the driver threw a sheet over the remains he said, 'Poor fellow, his +mistake cost him dear.' Then turning to me: 'What a blessing it was +that you kept your head and signalled us with the red light; for I had +just passed under the semaphore when the arm rose. Consequently I +thought nothing of the matter; but the fireman at that moment ran up +the back of the tender to throw down some coal near the fire-box, and +while doing so he noticed the light. He at once called to me to look +behind. The signal, coupled with the arm being thrown up before the +whole train had passed under it, made me think something was wrong, so +I reversed the engine and came back.' + +"It was Julia, then, and not I, who had saved the express! + +"On reaching the operating room I found the conductor of the passenger +special waiting. He had heard of the forgotten order, and said, 'That +is the closest call I have had for years. We should have met about the +trestle bridge over the ravine. It would have been a terrible +pitch-in, as I have eight cars of excursionists.' + +"A few moments later both trains had departed, and the only sounds to +be heard were the ticking of the busy instrument and the monotonous +hum of the wires. I looked at the clock. It was 9.09--just nine +minutes since the regular express had steamed into the station. It +seemed impossible to me that so much could have happened in so short a +time. Had each minute been a week it could not have seemed longer." + +George paused as though his story was done. "And Julia?" I asked, +laying my hand lightly on his knee. Without replying, he drew out of +his pocket an old frayed pocket-book, took out of it a slip of faded +newspaper, and silently handed it to me. The words printed on it were +very few; simply these: "Died March 8th, 1874, of rapid consumption, +Julia Waine, aged twenty years and five months." + +As I raised my head and looked at him, he said as he looked out of the +low window, "The cold she took that fearful night killed her." + + * * * * * + + + + +A Memorable Dinner. + + +As I often have wondered whether a Christmas dinner ever was so +fearfully and wonderfully constructed, and under such novel +circumstances, as the one to which I sat down on Christmas Day, 1879, +I have decided to relate--in the truthful, unvarnished style that one +always looks for in the old railway man--the incidents in which I was +fortunate enough to participate on that occasion. + +That year, I was Assistant-Superintendent of the St. ---- R.R., and +was returning on Christmas eve from the annual inspection of the line, +in company with the General Manager of the road, in the private car +"St. Paul," when one of the worst blizzards I ever experienced, even +in that prairie country, burst upon us, and in less than an hour, had +buried the track so deeply that further progress was impossible. + +It was about midnight when the engine, fully five miles distant from a +human habitation, and two hundred miles from our home, sulkily +admitted the superior power of nature's forces and hove to. + +Fortunately, for humanity's sake, there were on our special--which +consisted of the engine, the baggage car, and our private car--only +five souls: Charles Fielding, the manager; myself, William Thurlow; +Fred Swan, the conductor; Joe Robbins, the driver; and the hero of +this history, Ovide Tetreault, the French-Canadian fireman. + +It was about two o'clock in the morning when we finally gave up all +hope of getting along any farther, at least for some hours, and +Fielding and I lay down in our berths with the hope that the storm +would abate before daybreak, so that a snow-plough might reach us and +clear the line, in time to enable us to reach our homes for the +Christmas dinner. + +But as I lay awake and listened to the shrieks of the storm, the +presentiment grew upon me that the chances of our spending the best +part of Christmas Day in our contracted abode were depressingly +promising. These thoughts, coupled with the knowledge that our car was +but poorly provisioned, and that we were without a cook--having let +that functionary stop off for Christmas Day at the station beyond +which we were stranded--were in nowise conducive to my falling asleep +more readily than was my wont. + +I awoke a little after eight o'clock, and was just about to hurry into +my clothes to see what the weather was like, when I suddenly decided +there was no need of any undue haste--the roar of that festive wind +could have been heard a mile away. + +When I did reach the body of the car and looked out of the window, a +sight met my gaze that might have made a less sinful man, than one who +had spent the best part of his life on railways, give vent to +comments that I am persuaded would not appear quite seemly in print. +Our car was wedged well-nigh up to the windows in a huge drift, while +the wind, which had whipped the harassed snow into fragments as fine +as dust, caught up great clouds of the dismembered flakes, and with +triumphant shrieks drove them against the panes of glass. As I stood +glaring at this inspiring picture, Fielding joined me and said, as he, +too, feasted his eyes on the scene: "A villainous day! we shall be +lucky if we get home by midnight. A lovely way to spend Christmas shut +in like rats in a trap! If we only had our cook to do up the little +food we have, it would not be so hard on us." + +This last reflection was uttered in such a doleful key that I had +considerable difficulty in not laughing outright, for my superior +officer was a man of imposing breadth, and I knew his one weakness was +the love of a good meal. The contemplation of the loss of his +Christmas dinner had made him forget his usual blunt, hopeful tone of +speech, and adopt this dismal strain. + +During the long pause which followed, I knew that he was casting +anxious glances at me. Finally he said, insinuatingly: +"Er--er--William, during all the years that I have known you, it +never occurred to me to ask you if you knew anything about cooking. +But, of course, it is a foolish question to put to the +assistant-superintendent of a railroad," he added deprecatingly. + +I was sorry to have to admit that my education in the culinary art +had been sorely neglected. + +It must have been about two hours after partaking of our Christmas +breakfast, which consisted of bread and butter, cheese and tea, that +we had managed somehow to scrape together, that Fielding said to me: +"Why, William, there is the conductor, and the driver, and the +fireman--perhaps one of them knows enough to roast that beef in the +larder. Suppose you go and interview them. There is enough meat there +to make a dinner for the lot of us." + +The suggestion struck me as being a good one, and I wondered that I +had not thought of questioning them about the matter earlier in the +morning. I soon had the trio marching behind me into our car, to be +examined as to what they knew of the now much-to-be-desired art of +cooking. + +With divers sincere regrets, the conductor protested that he had not +the slightest knowledge of this housewifely accomplishment. But old +Joe Robbins, the driver, a sterling, dogged Yorkshire man, and one of +our oldest employes to whose speech still clung a goodly smattering of +the Yorkshire dialect, raised Fielding's sinking hopes by saying that +although he did not know how to roast, he was pretty well posted in +the art of frying. He further explained, and this time to the +gratification of us all, that he had in a box, on the tender of the +engine, a ten-pound turkey that he had bought up the line to take home +for Christmas, and which we were quite welcome to. The only drawback +to the bird was that it was frozen as hard as a rock, and would +probably take a lot of thawing out. If we wished, however, he would do +his best to thaw it and give us fried turkey for dinner. + +Fielding, after declaring that he would not forget to give the man who +acted as cook that day a souvenir when he got back to town, was just +about to accept the kind offer, when Ovide Tetreault, the +French-Canadian fireman, a dark-skinned, comical-looking little +fellow, pushed past Robbins, and said eagerly to Fielding and myself, +in amusing broken English: "Messieurs, I'm know how for mak de rost +turkey, and rost turkey she's goodder dan de fry turkey. And I'm know, +too, how for mak--how for mak--" He rubbed his pointed little chin +vigorously to jog his laggard memory, and then continued, +triumphantly: "_Ah, oui! ah, oui!_ how for mak what de Anglish call de +Creesmis plum-puddin', and if you lak I will do de cookin' for you." + +Turning to me, Fielding said in a low voice: "Do you really think that +queer-looking specimen knows more about cooking than old Robbins? +Would it be safe to let him try and roast the turkey? It would never +do to have it spoiled, you know." + +Now, from the eager manner in which the little chap had spoken, he +impressed me, in spite of his insignificant appearance, with being +less commonplace than he looked, and believing that our dinner, under +his generalship, would be a much better one than old Robbins would be +likely to provide, I strongly urged Fielding to bestow the commission +of cook upon my favorite. "What possible reason can he have for +saying he can roast turkeys and boil plum-puddings if he cannot?" I +urged as a clincher. Of course he had no good argument to meet such a +question, and so, turning to Ovide, he said: "All right, my good +fellow, go ahead, and give us roast turkey and plum-pudding. I am glad +that after all we shall not be without a Christmas dinner." + +During this conference Robbins had been eyeing his fireman with +growing disfavor, and as Fielding ceased, he strode suddenly up to +Ovide and said to him with ill-suppressed wrath: "Before thou begins +thy duties as cook, it is only right that thou shouldst say how thou +larned to cook, and just how much thou knows about it. For my part, I +believe thou knows nought about it; I know thee and thy foolish way of +thinking that thou canst do anything thou hast seen anyone else do." + +Now, as I knew the old driver heartily disliked his little +fireman--whom he always dubbed an intruding foreigner--and had more +than once reported him to me on the ground of incompetency, I +concluded his remarks were not wholly disinterested, and was about to +reprove him, when Ovide, with much heartiness, replied: "Dat's not +your bizness to ax me question lak dat; I'm not on de engine now." He +then raised his shoulders commiseratingly and continued: "You not be +'fraid, Monsieur Robbin; for when I rost dat turkey and boil dat +puddin' you will find her so good dat you will eat more dan de +odders." + +The dogged old driver was now too angry to be influenced by our amused +smiles, and turning contemptuously away from Ovide, he looked to us +to press his demand for our cook's credentials. + +"Oh, I am sure, Robbins, he will cook the dinner all right. And then +you know," I added reprovingly, "this is Christmas Day, and there +should be no hard feeling among us." + +My reply only the more incensed our doughty old engineer. He pointed +prophetically at the now thoroughly defiant Ovide, and said, "I +suppose I'm interfering; but, mark my words, that foreigner there'll +make you before the day's out forget all about that motto of peace and +good-will." His prophetic arm fell to his side, and he seated himself +in a position from which he could command a good view of the little +kitchen at the end of the passage, where his watchful eyes never +failed to fasten on Ovide as he swaggered about, arrayed in our +regular cook's long, white apron. + +For the next two hours I thought very little of Ovide, my attention +being occupied by a game in which Fielding, the conductor and I were +engaged. + +Suddenly Fielding exclaimed, "Gracious, William, but this car is hot!" +I myself had been uncomfortably warm for some time, and had been dimly +conscious, too, of the conductor frequently wiping his face, and +casting anxious glances in the direction of the kitchen, whence came +blasts of hot air heavily laden with the appetizing odor of roast +turkey. + +Involuntarily I glanced over at Robbins, who was still on guard, +although pretending to read a newspaper, and as I caught the grim look +of satisfaction on his profile, doubts as to the ability of our new +cook for the first time stole over me, and I made my way out to the +kitchen. + +The moment I opened the door, and stepped into Ovide's new sanctum, I +thought the last great day of conflagration had surely come, and that +the elements were melting with fervent heat. Never before had I +experienced such withering heat and choking smoke as proceeded from +that little range, nor such dense vapor as came from the mouth of the +boisterous kettle upon it--many a locomotive would have been proud to +spout forth such a body of steam! + +Finally my half-blinded eyes found out Ovide, who looked truly like an +emissary of the evil one among it all, as he stood with his wet +scarlet face, his feet buried in turkey feathers, and his arms up to +the elbows in a bowl of flour. + +"Ovide!" I called, faintly. + +When he saw me, a pleased, triumphant look lit up his face. + +"Do you want to burn down the car?" I asked, shortly, when I got him +into the passage. + +"Oh, no fear for dat," he answered in a somewhat patronizing tone. +"You know," he went on, good-naturedly, "big turkey can't be cook if +not have pretty good fire. But I'll open de window and den de fire +she'll all go out. For me, you know I'm not mind de heat, for I'm used +to dat when I fire de engine." + +"But surely, Ovide, you will burn the turkey all up," I insisted, in a +milder tone--for, as I have already stated, I was in no wise an +authority on cooking, and from the patronizing way in which he spoke, +I began to feel that I had been interfering unnecessarily. + +"Well," he replied ponderingly, "p'rhaps she do a little too quick, +and I'll tak her out; aldo she's only be in a few minute." + +As I glanced at his flour-bedecked arms, he said, "Oh, yes, I'm find +de raisin, and de curran, and de peel, and lots powder, dat makes de +flour come big, and I'm mix dem all together when you come in, and we +going to have fine Creesmis puddin' sure. It's too bad, do, dat I find +a hole she's born in de bottom of de sospan, so dat I must put de +puddin' in de kettle, which has not got big mouth; but she's pretty +big around de middle, so I suppose de puddin' she's cook just as well +dare." + +I was too bewildered by all this detail to pay much attention to what +he was saying about the smallness of the kettle's mouth; but I +remembered it vividly afterwards. + +Nodding gaily to me, he hurried back to the oven, from which the blue +odorous smoke was still pouring. I lingered long enough to see him +take the turkey out of it, stand it on the shelf in the corner, and +then open the window. + +As I passed Robbins, he let his paper flutter to his knee, and said, +meaningly: "I hope yon chap, sir, don't think he's still firing on the +engine." + +As I smilingly shook my head and passed on, a presentiment of +approaching disaster took possession of me--so that the recollection +of the speaker's prophecies of evil regarding our cook did not come +back with that keen sense of humor one would have expected. + +When I reached Fielding's side, he said anxiously, "I hope he is +getting along all right, William." As I noted his anxiety, and the +hungry expression of his face, I answered with a glibness which I was +far from feeling, that things were getting along swimmingly. I was now +beginning to feel such a weight of responsibility in the success of +the dinner that I sincerely wished I had not taken such an active +interest in the appointment of the cook. + +About an hour later, when we ceased our game, I noticed the odor of +roast turkey was no longer prevalent; so with apprehensive heart, +though nonchalant air, I made my way over to the kitchen again, and +was just in time to see Ovide snatch the turkey--which now looked cold +and forlorn enough--from the shelf and shove it into the still fervent +oven, and to hear him mutter, "Dat's too bad I'm forgot to put you +back for so long." + +He did not see me until he had closed the oven door, and then he said, +joyously, pointing to the kettle: "De puddin' she's in dare, and she's +nearly all done now, and in fifteen or twenty minute more de dinner +she's all be ready." + +I suppose if I had not seen the bird's entrance into the oven for the +second time, the announcement of the early approach of the festivities +would have allayed some of my apprehensions, and perhaps have afforded +me a little of the satisfaction Fielding and the conductor +experienced when they heard the news. The effect of the tidings upon +old Robbins, however, was tantalizing in the extreme. He threw his +paper to one side, rested his elbows on his knees, and holding up his +grizzly chin with his hands, began softly to whistle a monotonous, +soul-disturbing air. + +Ovide was true to his word, for scarcely had the twenty minutes +elapsed, when in he bustled, pulled the table into the centre of the +car, set it fairly well, after a number of amusing blunders, and then +drawing up the chairs, said, with great gusto: "Now, Messieurs, I'm go +and get de dinner." + +As we seated ourselves, Fielding said, with a satisfaction that comes +back to me vividly as I pen these words: "Well, William, I am glad it +is ready; I never remember being so hungry." The kindly look which he +bestowed on Ovide as he came in with the smoking turkey will also +never be difficult to conjure up. But the moment my eyes fell upon +that unfortunate bird, my heart began to beat with renewed +apprehensions. Never before had I seen such an ill-favored, +uninviting-looking fowl placed upon a table; its naturally white, +smooth skin was now as seamy, black and arid-looking as the mouth of +an ancient crater. + +Covertly I glanced at Fielding to see what effect this steaming, yet +mummified-looking object had upon him. My worst fears were verified: +the complacent expression had fled, and was succeeded by a look in +which consternation, anger and amazement were all blended. + +The short, trying silence was broken by a rasping cough from Robbins, +and then Fielding said, in a constrained tone, as he whetted his +knife: "Well, this animal looks as though it had been through the +fiery furnace created by Nebuchadnezzar for the undoing of the three +Israelites." + +Ovide, who was standing complacently behind Fielding's chair, not +understanding the allusion, and thinking that he was called upon to +say something, said brightly, "Oh, yes, sir, dat turkey is de finest +turkey I never see." + +Now, I had known Fielding, on numerous occasions, to laugh heartily at +a much less amusing blunder, but on this occasion I sought his usually +expressive face in vain for even the ghost of a smile. To add to my +annoyance and the constraint of the situation, old Robbins found it +necessary to again loudly clear his troublesome throat. + +To save himself from making an angry reply, Fielding somewhat +viciously commenced operations on the turkey, and attempted to carve +off a leg; but in some unaccountable manner the knife came to a sudden +halt as soon as it had pierced the dark skin. This unlooked-for +interruption brought a puzzled look into Fielding's face; but he was a +man not easily daunted by anything, and thinking that he had somehow +come across a bone hitherto unknown to him in a turkey's anatomy, he +twisted the bird round and confidently began the dissection of the +other leg. The result was equally disheartening; the blade went a +little below the skin, and then refused to budge. + +Poor Fielding! His patience was by this time pretty well exhausted, +and turning to the now anything but jubilant Ovide, said grimly: "In +the name of all that is good, man, what is the matter with this +turkey?" + +He had gone however, to the wrong fount, for information this time, as +Ovide wonderingly shook his head, and said, "Dat is de queerest ting +I'm never see, sir." + +The angry words on Fielding's lips were prevented by a low +comprehensive laugh from old Robbins, who said, as he pointed +satirically at his fireman, "Oh, aye; oh, aye; thou knows how to cook; +thou does, of course thou does." Then turning to Fielding he said, +with a side glance at me: "That bird, sir, has nobbut had its hide +cooked, and all beneath it is frozen." + +Even before Fielding, to verify this startling statement, had seized +the knife, and, laying open the skin, exposed to view the partly +frozen flesh, the whole miserable catastrophe was clear to my mind. I +recalled how I had borne down on Ovide soon after he had put the bird +for the first time into the blazing oven; how, in deference to my +fears, he had taken it out and stood it on the shelf--when its skin, +of course, could only have been scorched--where it had remained over +an hour while he was superintending the construction and cooking of +the pudding; and, finally, how the prevaricating fellow--whom I knew +understood little more about cooking than I did--must have concluded, +from the cinder-like appearance of the skin when he took it out of the +oven the second time, after another twenty minutes' scorching, that +it was cooked to the very marrow. + +"Well!" ejaculated Fielding, letting his knife and fork fall noisily +on the table, and turning to our guilty-looking cook, "of all the +pure--" + +But I am sure, the reader will agree with me that under such trying +circumstances, my friend should not now have recorded against him, in +cold print, every word he uttered on that occasion. + +When Fielding had somewhat relieved his feelings and sat down again, +Ovide, in his ludicrous English, tried to throw the blame for what had +happened upon the stove, which, he explained, burned much more +zealously than he wanted it to; but his lame excuses were cut short by +Fielding telling him to take the thing away. + +Ovide, however, was a difficult subject to silence, and said +apologetically, as he took up the platter: "It's vary much too bad, +sir, dat I'm forgot to mak her freeze out before I'm put her in de +oven. But de puddin', sir,"--with a sudden revival of his old +self-confidence--"no danger of de same trouble with her; I'm sure +she's cook vary well all de way over." + +Somewhat mollified by the outlook of getting a little of something to +eat, Fielding replied somewhat less shortly, "Well, hurry up and bring +it along." + +As we silently waited for him to return, we heard him noisily lift the +kettle containing the now doubly precious pudding off the stove; but +scarcely had he done so when he uttered an amazed cry, and a few +moments later hurried up to the table again, the big kettle in his +hand and his eyes fairly bulging with excitement. + +"See! Monsieur," he exclaimed, almost superstitiously, as he halted at +my side and pointed to the mouth of the kettle, "see de size dat +puddin' she's now! When I'm put her in she's so small dat she's go in +easy; but now look! she's swell, and swell, and swell till she's fill +all de kettle inside, and now she's tree times too big for de mouth, +and she won't come out." + +I glanced down, and true enough, the pudding had assumed alarming +proportions. Little wonder the problem of getting the thing intact out +of the kettle's small mouth had caused him such woful distress. + +"Well," I said impatiently, "go pour off the water and take it out in +sections; if there is more pudding than you expected, so much the +better; there seems little chance of us getting anything else to eat." + +As he was scudding away to carry out my instructions, Robbins, whose +sharp eyes had seen the freak in the kettle, said to Ovide in an +undertone, "Thou hast not forgotten, lad, to take the frost out of +that, anyway." + +After a very brief absence, Ovide hurried back again, bearing aloft +the most marvellous pudding human eyes, I am persuaded, ever rested +upon. Apart from the pitiful manner in which it had been rent and torn +asunder, its complexion was such as to attract the most lively +interest--no chronic sufferer from jaundice ever sported such a +gorgeous yellow. The mystery of its unwonted complexion was solved +the moment he laid it on the table: the car was permeated with the +rank odor of baking powder. + +Out of pure curiosity, I put a piece of the pudding into my mouth. It +was something awful! A spoonful of pure baking powder could not have +tasted much worse. It had been only partially cooked, too. + +Fielding gave Ovide one look, and then, too full for speech, he pushed +back his chair and strode to the other end of the car. + +Slowly I leaned back in my chair and fixed my eyes on the face of the +now thoroughly craven-looking Ovide. "What made you tell us you knew +how to cook?" I asked, trying hard to speak without anger, but in +utter failure. The cravings of the inner man, just then, were strong +upon me. + +After all the fellow was not without some redeeming trait, for he made +a clean breast of it. "It is dis way," he began remorsefully, "when +I'm tak de job for cook to-day I'm tink, for sure, I know de way for +do it. De reason I get idea like dat, is this way: When I'm be little +boy and sit in de kitchen and see my mudder bake de bread, and boil de +puddin', and rost de meat, I'm say to myself, many time, 'Ovide, you +can do little easy ting like dat, just so well as she can.' I'm ax my +mudder, too, many time to let me try and mak de dinner, but she laugh +loud and say, 'Ovide, you just lak all de boys and lots of men too, +for dey all tink dat it's just so easy for de woman to cook de food as +it is for dem to eat it.' And den she laugh some more, and say dat all +de men tink dat what de womans do is noting at all." + +As he paused, I had no small difficulty in preserving the severity of +my countenance, owing to certain recollections of thoughts I had +indulged in when a boy--and, I must admit, a pretty big one, too--when +I had sat and watched my mother cook. From the way Fielding, at the +other end of the car, put his hands into his pockets, I got the +impression that conscience was hard at work with him, too. + +"Even after I'm be away from home all dese years," continued Ovide, +"I'm still have dat feeling dat I can cook just so well as she can; +and so when I'm come into de car to-day and hear Mr. Fielding say dat +he want cook, and say dat he will give a souvenir, and when I'm see, +too, dat engine-driver man Robbin, dare, dat I'm not lak at all, and +who I tink not know how for cook and yet going for get de job--I'm +just tink dat a good chance she's come for me to please de bosses and +make somethin' good for myself, and so I'm come straight out, and say +I'm de best man for de job. And dat's all de truth." + +He had been slowly edging his way to the passage leading to the door, +and as he reached it he continued regretfully, "If I'm only not forget +to freeze out dat turkey before I'm put her in de oven, and tink too +not to put nearly cupful bakin' powder in de puddin', everyting she's +be all right den, sure." As he concluded he turned abruptly down the +passage, and fled out of our car into the baggage-car, with Robbins' +rasping cough in his ears. + + * * * * * + +Half an hour later, thanks to old Robbins' skill, we sat down to +fried turkey, boiled potatoes, bread and butter, and tea. + +The great French-Canadian cook gladly ate his portion of the banquet +in the baggage-car, for no amount of persuasion could make him come to +the table with us. + +Twelve hours later we reached our homes. + +On New Year's Day, a bulky blue envelope was handed to Ovide. As it +bore the stamp of the General Manager's office, he opened it with fear +and trembling, for he was sure that it contained his dismissal. I +shall not attempt to describe his gratification when he found it +contained a handsome silver watch, on the inside of which was neatly +engraved a belligerent-looking turkey. The note from Fielding, +accompanying the gift, read as follows: "May the souvenir bring as +many pleasant memories to the receiver as the memory of Christmas Day, +1879, is sure to bring the donor." + + * * * * * + + + + +Investment +....Securities + + +GOVERNMENT, +MUNICIPAL, AND +OTHER FIRST-CLASS + +BONDS + +SUITABLE FOR + +TRUST ESTATES, BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, +AND PERMANENT INVESTMENT, + +BOUGHT AND SOLD BY + +R. WILSON SMITH + +Investment Broker, + +_BRITISH EMPIRE BUILDING_, + +... Montreal + +First-class Investments +Always on Hand. + + * * * * * + + + + +A LOVER IN HOMESPUN. + +COMMENTS OF THE PRESS. + + +"These stories are of good merit and comprise some excellent +descriptions of forest and clearing, and a clever delineation of the +passions which actuate humanity in the rough.... The stories, eleven +in all, deal with love and life and religion in many aspects, and as +character studies of the simple Canadian peasantry, French and +English, can compare favorably with similar selections in which +Scotch, Welsh and Irish rural life have been exploited.... Its +readability might be further dwelt upon."--_Literary World (London)._ + +"After a careful perusal of 'A Lover in Homespun,' we are impressed +with the fact that the author cannot only 'photograph' pictures but +'paint them'; all the characters live, breathe, act, feel and speak +naturally. Mr. Smith gives individuality and charm to the personages +of his stories, without involving any sacrifice to truth. One thing +characterizes every story in the volume, viz., strong dramatic +sentiment and situation, and a decided deftness and a naturalness in +dialogue. In order to satisfy himself that this estimate of Mr. +Smith's powers and work is not an exaggerated one, let the reader take +up the book and peruse it. He will find every story interesting." +--_Herald (Montreal)._ + +"There is not a poor story in this bright entertaining book. Many of +the stories touch very high dramatic art--Canada has another writer to +be proud of."--_Canadian Home Journal._ + +"There is undoubted power displayed in the stories in this book. Many +of the characters are drawn in a natural and picturesque manner, and +we hope that on a future occasion Mr. Smith will use the material, +that he evidently has on hand, for a long romance. We believe Mr. +Smith's appeal to the literary public will be favorably +received."--_Star (Montreal)._ + +"Mr. Smith's book, 'A Lover in Homespun,' is sure to be found a +literary treat by the reading public. His stories have that polished +finish which is so difficult to attain, and which makes the short +story a work of art."--_Canadian Magazine._ + +"Mr. Smith is a talented writer; his style is pure and he possesses in +a high degree the principal gift of a novelist, imagination. Mr. +Smith's new book is made up of a dozen short stories, several of which +are French-Canadian. The author shows himself very sympathetic to our +race."--_La Presse (Montreal)._ + +"The contents of this volume give evidence not only of innate capacity +for story-telling, but of conscientious elaboration of the various +plots. All the stories have their characteristic merits, and they are +all Canadian."--_Gazette (Montreal)._ + +"A book to be looked for and read, and which is sure to go down to the +future."--_Our Monthly._ + +"As a writer of short stories Mr. Smith is truly +delightful."--_Massey's Magazine._ + +"The studies of French-Canadian character in this book are exceedingly +clever. The stories are peculiarly charming and the volume should +certainly be read by French-Canadians."--_Le Soir._ + +"This book is well written, and all the stories are very interesting; +some are very amusing, some pathetic and some thrilling. The scene of +each is in our own country. The book should certainly sell +well."--_Christian Guardian._ + +"Mr. Clifford Smith's book, 'A Lover in Homespun,' gives graphic +descriptions of habitant life by one who knows it well, or adventures +in the newer Canada of the North-West. The stories have all the same +sympathetic quality, the same rapid movement and strong situations, +and clever use of French-Canadian dialect which made Mr. Thomson's +stories so successful."--_Onward._ + + * * * * * + +TORONTO: WILLIAM BRIGGS. +Montreal: C.W. COATES. Halifax: S.F. HUESTIS. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Lover in Homespun, by F. Clifford Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LOVER IN HOMESPUN *** + +***** This file should be named 16860.txt or 16860.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/8/6/16860/ + +Produced by Early Canadiana Online, Robert C. 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