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diff --git a/40699.txt b/40699.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a55afd2..0000000 --- a/40699.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3265 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago, by -Anne Douglas Sedgwick - -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/license - - -Title: A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago - -Author: Anne Douglas Sedgwick - -Illustrator: Paul de Leslie - -Release Date: September 9, 2012 [EBook #40699] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILDHOOD IN BRITTANY *** - - - - -Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Note: - - Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have - been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - - Incorrect page numbers in the Table of Contents have been corrected. - - - - - [Illustration: "Keransiflan and I, sitting on our wheelbarrow, were - allowed to go on eating in peace"] - - - - - A Childhood - in Brittany - Eighty Years Ago - - by - Anne Douglas Sedgwick - - With illustrations by - Paul de Leslie - - New York - - The Century Co. - - 1919 - - - - - Copyright, 1918, 1919, by - THE CENTURY CO. - - _Published, October, 1919_ - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I QUIMPER AND BONNE MAMAN 3 - - II ELIANE 44 - - III THE FETE AT KER-ELIANE 55 - - IV THE OLD HOUSE AT LANDERNEAU 68 - - V TANTE ROSE 83 - - VI THE DEMOISELLES DE COATNAMPRUN 98 - - VII BON PAPA 122 - - VIII LE MARQUIS DE PLOEUC 131 - - IX LOCH-AR-BRUGG 153 - - X THE PARDON AT FOLGOAT 196 - - XI BONNE MAMAN'S DEATH 204 - - XII THE JOURNEY FROM BRITTANY 215 - - - - - A CHILDHOOD IN - BRITTANY - - -This little sheaf of childish memories has been put together from many -talks, in her own tongue, with an old French friend. The names of her -relatives have, by her wish, been changed to other names, taken from -their Breton properties, or slightly altered while preserving the -character of the Breton original. - - - - -A CHILDHOOD IN BRITTANY - - - - -CHAPTER I - -QUIMPER AND BONNE MAMAN - - -I was born at Quimper in Brittany on the first of August, 1833, at -four o'clock in the morning, and I have been told that I looked about -me resolutely and fixed a steady gaze on the people in the room, so -that the doctor said, "She is not blind, at all events." - -The first thing I remember is a hideous doll to which I was -passionately attached. It belonged to the child of one of the -servants, and my mother, since I would not be parted from it, gave -this child, to replace it, a handsome doll. It had legs stuffed with -sawdust and a clumsily painted cardboard head, and on this head it -wore a _bourrelet_. The _bourrelet_ was a balloon-shaped cap made of -plaited wicker, and was worn by young children to protect their heads -when they fell. We, too, wore them in our infancy, and I remember that -I was very proud when wearing mine and that I thought it a very pretty -head-dress. - -I could not have been more than three years old when I was brought -down to the _grand salon_ to be shown to a friend of my father's, an -Englishman, on his way to England from India, and a pink silk dress I -then wore, and my intense satisfaction in it, is my next memory. It -had a stiff little bodice and skirt, and there were pink rosettes over -my ears. But I could not have been a pretty child, for my golden hair, -which grew abundantly in later years, was then very scanty, and my -mouth was large. I was stood upon a mahogany table, of which I still -see the vast and polished spaces beneath me, and Mr. John Dobray, when -I was introduced to him by my proud father, said, "So this is Sophie." - - [Illustration: "Quimper is an old town"] - -Mr. Dobray wore knee-breeches, silk stockings, and a high stock. I see -my father, too, very tall, robust, and fair, with the pleasantest -face. But my father's figure fills all my childhood. I was his pet and -darling. When I cried and was naughty, my mother would say: "Take your -daughter. She tires me and is insufferable." Then my father would take -me in his arms and walk up and down with me while he sang me to sleep -with old Breton songs. One of these ran: - - Jesus peguen brasve, - Plegar douras nene; - Jesus peguen brasve, - Ad ondar garan te! - -This, as far as I remember, means, "May Jesus be happy, and may His -grace make us all happy." - -At other times my father played strange, melancholy old Breton tunes -to me on a violin, which he held upright on his knee, using the bow -across it as though it were a 'cello. He was, though untaught, -exceedingly musical, and played by ear on the clavecin anything he had -heard. It must have been from him that I inherited my love of music, -and I do not remember the time that I was not singing. - -I see myself, also, at the earliest age, held before my father on his -saddle as we rode through woods. He wore an easy Byronic collar and -always went bareheaded. He spent most of his time on horseback, -visiting his farms or hunting. - -My father was of a wealthy bourgeois family of Landerneau, and it must -have been his happy character and love of sport rather than his -wealth--he was master of hounds and always kept the pack--that made -him popular in Quimper, for the gulf between the _bourgeoisie_ and the -_noblesse_ was almost impassable. Yet not only was he popular, but he -had married my mother, who was of an ancient Breton family, the -Rosvals. One of the Rosvals fought in the Combats de Trente against -the English, and the dying and thirsty Beaumanoir to whom it was said -on that historic day, "Bois ton sang, Beaumanoir," was a cousin of -theirs. - - [Illustration: We played in the garden at Quimper] - -My mother was a beautiful woman with black hair and eyes of an intense -dark blue. She was unaware of her own loveliness, and was much amused -one day when her little boy, after gazing intently at her, said, -"_Maman_, you are very beautiful." She repeated this remark, laughing, -to my father, on which he said, "Yes, my dear, you are." - -My mother was extremely proud, and not at all flattered that she -should be plain Mme. Kerouguet, although she was devoted to my father -and it was the happiest _menage_. I remember one day seeing her bring -to my father, looking, for all her feigned brightness, a little -conscious, some new visiting-cards she had had printed, with the name -of Kerouguet reduced to a simple initial, and followed by several of -the noble ancestral names of her own family. - -"What's this?" said my father, laughing. - -"We needed some new cards," said my mother, "and I dislike so much the -name of Kerouguet." - -But my father, laughing more than ever, said: - -"Kerouguet you married and Kerouguet you must remain," and the new -cards had to be relinquished. - -My mother, with her black hair and blue eyes, had a charming nose of -the sort called "_un nez Roxalane_." It began very straight and fine, -but had a flattened little plateau on the tip which we called "_la -promenade de maman_." My memory of her then is of a very active, gay, -authoritative young woman, going to balls, paying and receiving -visits, and riding out with my father, wearing the sweeping habit of -those days and an immense beaver hat and plume. - -Quimper is an old town, and the _hotels_ of the _noblesse_, all -situated in the same quarter and on a steep street, were of blackened, -crumbling stone. From _portes-cocheres_ one entered the courtyards, -and the gardens behind stretched far into the country. - -In the courtyard of our _hotel_ was a stone staircase, with elaborate -carvings, like those of the Breton churches, leading to the upper -stories, but for use there were inner staircases. My mother's boudoir, -the _petit salon_, the _grand salon_, the _salle-a-manger_, and the -billiard-room were on the ground floor and gave out upon the garden. - -The high walls that ran along the street and surrounded the garden -were concealed by plantations of trees, so that one seemed to look out -into the country. Flower beds were under the salon-windows, and there -were long borders of wild strawberries that had been transplanted from -the woods, as my mother was very fond of them. Fruit-trees grew -against the walls, and beyond the groves and flower beds and winding -gravel paths was an orchard, with apricot-, pear-, and apple-trees, -and the clear little river Odel, with its washing-stones, where the -laundry-maids beat the household linen in the cold, running water. - -It was pleasant to hear the _clap-clap-clap_ on a hot summer day. Is -it known that the pretty pied water-wagtail is called _la lavandiere_ -from its love of water and its manner of beating up and down its tail -as our washerwomen wield their wooden beaters? - -Beyond the river were the woods where I often rode with my father, and -beyond the woods distant ranges of mountains. I looked out at all this -from my nursery-windows, with their frame of climbing-roses and -heliotrope. Near my window was a great lime-tree of the variety known -as American. The vanilla-like scent of its flowers was almost -overpowering, and all this fragrance gave my mother a headache, and -she had to have her room moved away from the garden to another part of -the house. How clearly I see this room of my mother's, with its high, -canopied four-poster bed and the pale-gray paper on the walls covered -with yellow fleurs-de-lis! - -The wall-paper in my father's room was one of the prettiest I have -ever seen, black, all bespangled with bright butterflies. Of the -_grand salon_ I remember most clearly the high marble mantelpiece, -upheld by hounds sitting on their haunches. On this mantelpiece was a -huge _boule_ clock, two tall candelabra of Venetian glass, and two -figures in _vieux Saxe_ of a marquis and a marquise that filled us -with delight. On each side of the fireplace were two Louis XV court -chairs--chairs, that is, with only one arm, to admit of the display of -the great hoop-skirts of the period. I remember, too, our special -delight in the foot-stools, which were of mahogany, shaped rather like -gondolas and cushioned in velvet; for we could sit inside them and -make them rock up and down. - -The houses of the _noblesse_ swarmed with servants; many of them were -married, and their children, and even their grandchildren, lived on -with our family in patriarchal fashion. Men and maids all wore the -costumes of their respective Breton cantons, exceedingly beautiful -some of them, stiff with heavy embroideries, the strange caps of the -women fluted and ruffled, adorned with lace, rising high above their -heads and falling in long lappets upon their shoulders, or perched on -their heads like butterflies. These caps were decorated with large -gold pins and dangling golden pendants, and these and the materials -for the costumes were handed down in the peasants' families from -generation to generation. My young nurse Jeannie--there was an old -nurse called Gertrude--wore a skirt of bright-blue woolen stuff and a -black-cloth bodice opening in a square over a net fichu thickly -embroidered with _paillettes_ of every color. Hers was the small flat -cap of Quimper, with the odd foolscap excrescence, rather like the -horn of a rhinoceros, curving forward over the forehead. Needless to -say, the servants did not do their daily work in this fine array; -while that went on they were enveloped from head to foot in large -aprons. - -The servants and the peasants in the Brittany of those days had a -pretty custom of always using the _thou_ when addressing their masters -or the Deity, thus inverting the usual association of this mode of -address; for to each other they said _you_, and on their lips this was -the familiar word, and the _thou_ implied respect. Our servants were -of the peasant class, but service altered and civilized them very -much, and while no peasant spoke anything but Breton, they talked in -an oddly accented French. I remember a pretty example of this in a -dear old man who served my little cousin Guenole du Jacquelot du -Bois-Laurel. Guenole and I, because of some naughtiness, were deprived -of strawberries one day at our supper, and the fond old man, grieving -over the discomfiture of his little master, said, or, rather chanted, -half in condolence, and half in playful consolation: "Oh, le pauvre -Guen_o_le, que tu es des_o_le!" accenting the _o_ in a very droll -fashion. - - [Illustration: "A very stately autocratic person"] - -The servants were all under the orders of a very stately autocratic -person, the steward or major-domo. It was he who directed the service -from behind his master's chair at the head of the table and he who -prescribed the correct costume for the servants. His wife had charge -of Jeannie and of me; it was she who, when two little sisters and a -brother had been added to the family, took us down to our breakfast -and supervised the meal. We had it in a little tower-room on the -ground floor, milk soup or gruel and the delicious bread and butter of -Brittany. - -We lunched and dined at ten and five--such were the hours of those -days--with our parents in the dining-room, and it was here that one of -the most magnificent figures of my childhood appears; for my devoted -father brought me back from Paris one day a splendid mechanical pony, -life-sized and with a real pony-skin, the apparatus by which he was -moved simulating an exhilarating canter. Upon this steed, after -dessert, we children mounted one by one, and we resorted to many ruses -in order to get the first ride of the day. This dear pony accompanied -all my childhood. He lost his hair as the result of an unhappy -experiment we tried upon him, scrubbing him with hot water and soap, -one day when we were unobserved. He had a melancholy look after that, -but was none the less active and none the less loved. When I saw his -dismembered body lying in the garret of a grand-niece not many years -ago I felt a contraction of the heart. How he brought back my youth, -and since that how many generations had ridden him! - -We played at being horses, too, driving each other in the garden, -where we spent most of our days when at Quimper. Strange to say, even -while we were thus occupied, we always wore veils tightly tied over -our bonnets and faces to preserve our skins from the sun. We all wore, -even in earliest childhood, stiff little dresses with closely fitting -boned bodices. My sister Eliane was delicate and wore flannel next her -skin; but my only underclothing consisted of cambric chemise, -petticoats, and drawers, these last reaching to my ankles and -terminating in frills that fell over the foot in its little sandaled -shoe. When I came back from a wonderful stay, later on, of four or -five years in England, a visit that revolutionized my ideas of life, I -wore the easy dress of English children, and had bare arms, much to my -mother's dismay. Another change that England wrought in me was that I -was filled with discomfort when I saw the peasants kneeling before us -at Loch-ar-Brugg, our country home; for in those days, although the -Revolution had passed over France, it was still the custom for -peasants to kneel before their masters, and my mother felt it right -and proper that they should do so. I begged her not to allow it, but -she insisted upon the ceremony to her dying day, and only when I came -as mistress to Loch-ar-Brugg with my children and grandchildren was it -discontinued. - -Another early memory is the long row of family portraits in the -_salle-a-manger_. I think I must have looked up at these from my -father's shoulder as he walked up and down with me, singing to me -while my mother went on with her interrupted dessert, for the awe that -some of them inspired in me seems to stretch back to babyhood. Some -were so dark and severe that it was natural they should frighten a -baby; but it was a pastel, in flat, pale tones, of an old lady with -high powdered hair, whose steady, forbidding gaze followed me up and -down the room, that frightened me most. This was an elder sister of my -grandmother's, a March'-Inder, who, dressed as a man, had fought with -her husband and daughter in the war of the Chouans against the -republic. Her husband was killed, and her daughter, taken prisoner by -a French officer, had hanged herself, so the family story ran, to -escape insult. Another portrait of a great-grandmother enchanted me -then, as it has done ever since, a charming young woman seated, with -her hands folded before her, her golden hair unpowdered, her dress of -citron-colored satin brocaded with bunches of pale, bright flowers. -And there was a portrait of my grandmother in youth, with black hair -and eyes as black as jet. I thought her very ugly, and could never -associate her with my dearly loved _bonne maman_. - -I must delay no longer in introducing this most important member of -the family, my mother's mother, with whom we lived, for the old -Quimper _hotel_ was her dower-house. - -Poor _bonne maman_! I see her still, in her deep arm-chair, always -dressed in a long gown of puce-colored satin, a white lace mantilla, -caught up with a small bunch of artificial buttercups, on her white -hair. She wore white-thread lace mittens that reached to her elbows, -and her thin, white hands were covered with old-fashioned rings. My -mother was her favorite daughter, and I, as the eldest child of this -favorite, was specially cherished. Both of _bonne maman's_ parents had -been guillotined in the Revolution. I do not think her husband was of -much comfort to her. He came to Quimper only for short stays. He was -_directeur des Ponts et chaussees_ for the district, but also a deputy -in Paris, and these political duties, according to him, gave him no -leisure for family life. He was at least ten years younger than _bonne -maman_, very gay and witty, _l'homme du monde_ in all the acceptations -of the term, full of deference to _bonne maman_, whom he treated like -a queen, with respectful salutes and gallant kissings of the hand. He -seemed very fond of his home at Quimper when he was in it, but he -seldom graced it with his presence. - -When I went up to see _bonne maman_ in the morning, she would give me -her thumb to kiss, an odd formality, since she was full of -demonstrations of affection toward me. I did not find the salute -altogether agreeable, since _bonne maman_ took snuff constantly, and -her delicate thumb and forefinger were strongly impregnated with the -smell of tobacco. Taking me on her knees, she would then very gravely -ask to see my little finger, and when I held it up, she would -scrutinize it carefully, and from its appearance tell me whether I had -been good or naughty. Beside her chair _bonne maman_ had always a -little table, the round polished top surrounded by a low brass -railing. On this were ranged a number of toilet implements, her -glasses, scent-bottle, work-bag, and various knickknacks. A very -unique implement, I imagine, was a little stick of polished wood, with -a tuft of cotton wool tied by a ribbon at one end. This she used, -when her maid had powdered her hair or face, to dust off the -superfluous powder, and I can see her now, her little mirror in one -hand, the ribboned stick in the other, turning her head from side to -side and softly brushing the tuft over her brow and chin. The table -was always carried down with her to the _petit salon_, where, her -morning toilet over, she was borne in her chair by means of the -handles that projected before and behind it. - - [Illustration: "_Bonne maman_ was devoted to my father"] - -_Bonne maman_ had an old carriage, an old horse, and an old coachman. -None of these was ever used, since she never went out except on Easter -day, when she was carried in a sedan-chair to hear mass at the -cathedral near by. The sedan-chair was gray-green with bunches of -flowers painted on it, and upholstered with copper-colored satin. It -was carried by four bearers in full Breton costume. They wore jackets -of a bright light blue, beautifully embroidered along the edges with -disks of red, gold, and black; red sashes, tied round their waists, -hung to the knees; their full kneebreeches were white, their shoes -black, and their stockings of white wool. Like all the peasants of -that time, they wore their hair long, hanging over their shoulders, -and their large, round Breton hats were of black felt tied with a -thick chenille cord of red, blue, and black, which was held to the -brim at one side by a golden fleur-de-lis, and that had a scapular -dangling from the end. Within the chair sat my grandmother, dressed, -as always, in puce color; but this gala costume was of brocade, -flowers of a paler shade woven upon a dark ground, and the lace -mantilla of every-day wear was replaced by a sort of white tulle -head-dress, gathered high upon her head and falling over her breast -and shoulders. I remember her demeanor in church on these great -occasions, her gentle authority and _recueillement_, and the glance of -grave reproach for my mother, who was occupied in looking about her -and in making humorous comments on the odd clothes and attitude of her -fellow-worshipers. On all other days the cure brought the communion to -my grandmother in her room. I remember the first of these communions -that I witnessed. I was sitting on _bonne maman's_ bed when the cure -entered, accompanied by his acolytes in red and white, and I was -highly interested when I recognized in one of these important -personages the cook's little boy. The cure was going to lift me from -the bed, but _bonne maman_ said: "No; let her stay. When you are gone -I will explain to her the meaning of what she sees." This she -attempted to do, but not, I imagine, with much success. Old Gertrude, -Jeannie's chief in the nursery, had of course already told me of _le -petit Jesus_, and I had learned to repeat, "Seigneur, je vous donne -coeur." But _bonne maman_ was grieved to find that I did not yet -know "Our Father." - -"Sophie does not know her Pater," she said to my mother. "She must -learn it." - -"Oh, she is too young to learn it," said my mother. But _bonne maman_ -was not at all satisfied with this evasion and saw that the prayer was -taught to me. She was very devout, and confessed twice a week; but -more than this, she was the best of women. I never heard her speak ill -of any one or saw her angry at any time, nor did I ever see her give -way to mirth, though I remember a species of silent laughter that at -times shook her thin body. - -_Bonne maman_ was devoted to my father, even more devoted than to her -own sons, of whom she had had eight. They had been so severely brought -up by her, but especially, I feel sure, by my grandfather, that -through exaggerated respect and absurd ceremony they almost trembled -during the short audiences granted to them by their parents. My father -trembled before nobody. He was always cheerful, good-tempered, and -kind. During our life at Quimper he was not much at home, as he had a -horror of receptions and visits,--all the bother, as he said, of -social life,--and the time not spent in hunting was fully occupied in -seeing after his farms, his crops, and his peasants. Therefore, when -he came back for a three-or-four-days' stay with us, it was a delight -to young and old. I see him now, sitting in a low chair beside _bonne -maman's_ deep _bergere_, his head close to hers, his pipe between his -teeth,--yes, his pipe--for _bonne maman_ not only permitted, but even -commanded, him to smoke in her presence, so much did she value every -moment of the time he could be with her. So they smiled at each other -while they talked,--the snowy, powdered old head and the fair young -one enveloped in the midst of smoke,--understanding each other -perfectly; and although their opinions were diametrically opposed, -politics was their favorite theme. They must have taught me their -respective battle-cries, for I well remember that, riding my father's -knee and listening, while he varied the gait from trot to gallop, I -knew just when to cry out, "_Vive le Roi!_" in order to please _bonne -maman_, and "_Vive la Republique!_" to make papa laugh. When disputes -occurred in _bonne maman's_ room, they were between my father and -mother, if that can be called a dispute where one is so gay and so -imperturbable. It was _maman_ who brought all the heat and vehemence -to these differences, and, strange to say, _bonne maman_ always took -my father's side against her beloved daughter. My mother's quick -temper, I may add, displayed itself toward me pretty frequently in -slaps and whippings, no doubt well deserved, for I was a naughty, -wilful child; whereas in all my life I never received a punishment -from my father. I remember his distress on one of these occasions and -how he said, "It is unworthy to beat some one who cannot retaliate." -To which my mother, flushed and indignant, replied, "It would indeed -need only that." She was a charming and lovable woman, but I loved my -father best. - - [Illustration: "I heard music constantly"] - -_Bonne maman_ was very musical, and in the _petit salon_, when she was -installed there for the day, I heard music constantly, performed by -two young _proteges_ of the house. One of these was Mlle. Ghislaine du -Guesclin, the youngest descendant of our great Breton hero. It was a -very poor, very haughty family, and extremely proud of its origin. -Ghislaine's father, the Marquis du Guesclin (for with a foolish -conceit he had separated the particle from the name) had died, leaving -his daughter penniless and recommending her to my grandfather, who -placed her as _dame de compagnie_ beside my mother and _bonne maman_. -Ghislaine was an excellent musician, and their relation was of -the happiest. The other _protege_ was called Yves le Grand, and was -the son of _bonne maman's coiffeur_. His story was curious. As a boy -of fourteen or fifteen he had come three times a week to wash the -windows and doors, and while he worked he sang all sorts of Breton -songs and strange airs that, as was learned later, were his own -improvisations. _Bonne maman_, noticing his talent, had him taken to -Paris by her husband, and he was educated in the conservatory, where, -after ten years of admirable study, he took the second prize. He -returned to Quimper, and earned a handsome livelihood by giving -pianoforte lessons while remaining in a sense our private musician, -for he was much attached to us all and accompanied us on all our -travels. Ghislaine sang in a ravishing fashion, and Yves accompanied -her on the clavecin that stood in the _petit salon_, mingling the -grave accents of his baritone with her clear soprano. When I first -heard them I was almost stupefied by the experience, cuddling down -into _bonne maman's_ arms, my head sunk between her cheek and -shoulder, but listening with such absorption and with such evident -appreciation that _bonne maman_ loved me more than ever for the -community of taste thus revealed between us. - -I must often have tired her. I was a noisy, active child, and -sometimes when I sat on her knee and prattled incessantly in my -shrill, childish voice, she would pass her hand over her forehead and -say: "Not so loud, darling; not so loud. You pierce my ear-drums; and -you know that _le bon Dieu_ has said that one must never speak without -first turning one's tongue seven times round in one's mouth." At this -I would gaze wide-eyed at _bonne maman_ and try involuntarily to turn -my tongue seven times, an exercise at which I have never been -successful. I may add in parenthesis that I have often regretted it. -Another amusing adage I heard at the same time from Gertrude. If a -child made a face, it was told to take care lest the wind should turn, -and the face remain like that forever. I was much troubled by this -idea on one occasion when _maman_ and Ghislaine had been to a fancy -dress ball. Ghislaine told me next day about the dances and dresses. -_Maman_ had danced a minuet dressed in a Pompadour costume, and she -herself had gone as a deviless, with a scarlet-and-black dress and -little golden horns in her black hair. I felt this to have been a very -dangerous proceeding, for if _le bon Dieu_ had noticed Ghislaine's -travesty, He might have made the wind turn, and she would then have -remained a deviless and been forced to live in hell for all eternity. - -A pretty custom at that time and in that place was that the young -matrons who went to such balls and dinner-parties were expected to -bring little silk bags in which they carried home to their children -the left-over sweetmeats of the dessert; so that we children enjoyed -these entertainments as much as Ghislaine and _maman_. - -Ghislaine taught me my letters from a colored alphabet in the _petit -salon_, showing an angelic patience despite my yawns and whimperings. -My memories of the alphabet are drolly intermingled with various -objects in the _petit salon_ that from the earliest age charmed my -attention. One of these was an immense tortoise-shell mounted on a -tripod, and another a vast Chinese umbrella of pale yellow satin, with -silk and crystal fringes, that, suspended from the ceiling in front of -the long windows that gave on the garden, was filled with flowers. -This had been an ingenious contrivance of my father's, and _bonne -maman_ found it as bewitching as I did, never failing to say to -visitors, after the first greetings had passed: "Do you see my Chinese -umbrella?" When I had learned seven letters _bonne maman_ gave me four -red _dragees de bapteme_,--the sugar-almonds that are scattered at -christenings,--and promised me as many more for each new attainment. -Thus sustained, I was able to master the alphabet and to pass by slow -degrees to AEsop's Fables, with pictures and a yellow cover. It was -later on that Ghislaine began to coach me in all the _departements_ of -France and their capitals. _Maman_ lent a hand in this and instituted -a method that was singularly successful. I still laugh in remembering -how at any time of the day, before guests, at meals, or while we were -at play, she might suddenly call out to us, "Gers!" for instance, to -which one must instantly reply "Auch." Or else it was "Gironde!" and -the reply, "Bordeaux," must follow without hesitation. If I replied -correctly, I was given fifty centimes; if incorrectly, I received a -slap. I used to dream of the _departements_ and their capitals at -night. One rainy day I was playing in the _petit salon_, lying at full -length on the floor and making a castle of blocks, when _maman_, -coming suddenly out of the library, a great tray of books in her arms, -cried out to me as she came, walking very quickly, "Gare!" ["Take -care!"] Without moving and without looking up, I replied obediently, -"Nimes" (the capital of Gard), and an avalanche of books descended -upon me, poor _maman_ and her tray coming down with a dreadful -clatter. _Maman_ was not hurt, but very much afraid that I was. - -When she found us both, except for a few bruises, safe and sound, she -went off into a peal of laughter, and I followed suit, much relieved; -for I had imagined for one moment that I had made a mistake in my -answer, and I found the punishment too severe. - -"You are sure I have not hurt you, darling?" said _maman_, kissing me; -and I replied with truth: - -"No, _Maman_; but I should have preferred the _gifle_." On that day, -instead of fifty centimes, I received a franc for consolation. - -It was not until my brother's tutor came to us, when I was eight or -nine years old, that I ever had any teacher but Ghislaine. - -Poor Ghislaine! Hers was a rather sad story. She had great beauty, -thick, black hair, white skin, her small prominent nose full of -distinction, but one strange peculiarity: there were no nails on her -long, pointed fingers. This, while not ugly, startled one in noticing -her hands. As I have said, she had been left penniless, and it was -difficult in France, then as now, to find a husband for a _jeune fille -sans dot_. Ghislaine only begged that he should be a gentleman. But -after _bonne maman's_ death, when we had gone to live in Paris, -Ghislaine was left behind with my aunt's family, and they finally -arranged a marriage for her with a notary. My mother was much -distressed by this prosaic match. She had for a time cherished the -romantic project of a marriage between Ghislaine and Yves, who, -besides being an artist, was the best of men, sincere, devoted, and -delicate. - - [Illustration: "Ghislaine taught me my letters"] - -For a descendant of du Guesclin the _coiffeur's_ son would, however, -have been as inappropriate as was the notary. The latter, too, was an -excellent man, and Ghislaine was not unhappy with him. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -ELIANE - - -An important event in my child life was the birth of my sister Eliane. -I remember coming in from the garden one day with a little basket full -of cockchafers that I had found, and running to show them to _maman_. -She was lying in her large bed, with its four carved bedposts and high -canopy, and, smiling faintly, she said: "Oh, no, my little girl; take -them away. They will creep and fly over everything." I was, however, -so much disappointed at this reception of my gift that _maman_, -bending from her pillows, selected a specially beautiful green -cockchafer and said that that one, at all events, she would keep. When -next morning I was told that I had a little sister, old Gertrude, in -answer to my eager, astonished questions, informed me that it was the -cockchafer who, fed on milk, had become very large during the night -and had given birth to a baby cockchafer, which it had presented to my -mother. This story of the cockchafer became a family jest, and later -on, after my mother had had four children, I remembered that when -cockchafers were referred to she would laugh and say: "No! no! No more -cockchafers for me, if you please! I have had enough of their gifts." - -The story, which was repeated to me on the occasion of each subsequent -birth, made a rather painful impression upon me. I did not like the -idea of the baby cockchafer. Nor did I like my little sister Eliane -into whom the cockchafer had grown. _Maman_ remained in bed for a long -time and paid no more attention to me, and I was deeply jealous. I was -no longer allowed to go in and out of her room as had been my wont, -and when my father took me in his arms and carried me gently in to see -my little sister, and bent with me over the small pink cradle so that -I might give her a kiss, I felt instead a violent wish to bite her. -One day I was authorized to rock Eliane while my father and mother -talked together. I was much pleased by this mark of confidence, and I -slipped into the cradle, unnoticed, my horrible doll Josephine, all -untidy and disheveled, not to say dirty, so that she, too, might have -a rocking. She lay cheek to cheek with Eliane, already a young lady -ten days old, and the contact of this cold, clammy cheek woke my -little sister, who began to cry so loudly that, in order to quiet her, -I rocked with might and main, and unless papa had rushed to the rescue -it is probable that Eliane and Josephine would have been tossed out -upon the floor. Jeannie was at once summoned to take me away in -disgrace, and in _bonne maman's_ room I was consoled by two _dragees_, -one white, I remember, and one pink. - -"You love your little sister, don't you, my darling?" asked _bonne -maman_, to whom Jeannie related the affair of the rocking. - -"No," I replied, the pink _dragee_ in my mouth. - -"Why not, dear?" - -"She is horrid," I said. And as _bonne maman_, much distressed, -continued to question and expostulate, I burst, despite the _dragees_, -into a torrent of tears and cried: "She is bad! She is ugly! She -cries!" - -Eliane's christening was a grand affair. Her godmother was _bonne -maman_, and her godfather my uncle de Salabery, who brought her a -casket in which was a cup and saucer in enamel and also an enamel -egg-cup and tiny, round egg-spoon, and this I thought very silly, -since Eliane, like the cockchafer, ate only milk. The casket was of -pale-blue velvet, and had Eliane's name written upon it in golden -letters. She was carried to the cathedral by her nurse, who wore a -gray silk dress woven with silver fleurs-de-lis, a special silk, with -its silver threads, made in Brittany. The bodice opened on a net -guimpe thickly embroidered with white beads. The apron was of gray -satin scattered over with a design, worked in beads, that looked like -tiny fish. Her coif was the tall medieval hennin of Plougastel, a -flood of lace falling from its summit. Eliane, majestically carried on -her white-lace cushion, wore a long robe of lace and lawn, and again I -found this very silly, since if by chance she wished to walk, she -would certainly stumble in it! The cure was replaced by the bishop of -the cathedral, who walked with a tall golden stick, twisted at the top -into a pretty design. Papa, who was near me, explained to me that this -was called a crozier (_crosse_), which puzzled me, as _crosse_ is also -the name for the drumstick of a chicken. I also learned that what I -called the bishop's hat was a miter. When he passed before us every -one knelt down except me, for I wished to gaze with all my eyes at the -magnificent apparition. The bishop leaned toward me, smiling, and made -a little cross on my forehead with his thumb, and then he put his -hand, which was very white and adorned with a great ring of amethyst -and diamond, before my lips. "Kiss Monseigneur's hand," papa -whispered, and, again much puzzled, I obeyed, for _maman_ and _bonne -maman_ gave their hands to be kissed by men and never kissed theirs. -When the bishop put the salt in Eliane's mouth she made the most -hideous grimace. Heavens! how ugly she was! _Maman_ took her into her -arms to calm her. I was near _bonne maman_ who had been borne in her -sedan-chair into the cathedral, and I whispered to her: "You say -that she is pretty, _bonne maman_. Only look at her now! Doesn't she -look like an angry little monkey!" But _bonne maman_ reminded me in a -low voice that unless I was very good, I was not to come to the -christening breakfast, and, hastily, I began to turn my tongue in my -mouth. - - [Illustration: The beach of Loctudiy] - -I remember that on this day _bonne maman_ had left her puce-color and -looked like an old fairy as she sat, covered with all her jewels, in -the sedan-chair, dressed in orange-colored velvet. - -When we came out of the cathedral the square was full of people, and -all the children of Quimper were there. My father, leading me by the -hand, was followed by a servant who carried a basket of _dragees_. He -took out a bagful and told me that I was to throw them to the -children, and this I did with great gusto. What a superb bombardment -it was! The children rolled upon the ground, laughed, and howled, -while _maman_, and _bonne maman_ from the window of her chair, -scattered handfuls of _centimes_, _sous_, and _liards_, an old coin of -the period that no longer exists. Never in my life have I seen -happier children. They accompanied us to our door and stayed for a -long time outside in the street, singing Breton canticles and crying, -"Vive Mademoiselle Liane!" - -It must have been at about this time that I first saw the sea and had -my first sea-bath. Papa said one day that he would take me to the -beach of Loctudiy, near Quimper, with old Gertrude. It is a vast sandy -beach, with scattered rocks that, to my childish eyes, stood like -giants around us. Gertrude took off my shoes and stockings, and we -picked up the shells that lay along the beach in the sunlight like a -gigantic rainbow. What a delight it was! Some were white, some yellow, -some pink, and some of a lovely rosy mauve. I could not pick them up -fast enough or carry those I already had. My little pail overflowed, -and the painful problem that confronts all children engaged in this -delicious pursuit would soon have oppressed me if my thoughts had not -been turned in another direction by the sight of papa making his way -toward the sea in bathing-dress. The sea was immense and mysterious, -and my beloved papa looked very small before it. I ran to him crying: - -"Don't go, papa! Don't go! You will be drowned!" - -"There is no danger of that, my pet," said my father. "See how smooth -and blue the water is. Don't you want to come with me?" - -I felt at once that I did, and in the twinkling of an eye Gertrude had -undressed me, my father had me in his arms, and before I could say -"Ouf!" I was plunged from head to foot in the Atlantic Ocean. It was -my second baptism, and I still feel an agreeable shudder when I -remember it. My father held me under the arms to teach me to swim, and -I vigorously agitated my little legs and arms. Then I was given back -to Gertrude, who dried me and, taking me by the hand, made me run up -and down on the hot sand until I was quite warm. - -When I came home, full of pride in my exploits, I told _bonne maman_ -that during my swim I had met a whale which had looked at me. - -"And were you afraid of it?" asked _bonne maman_. - -"Oh, no," I replied. "They do not eat children. I patted it." - -Perhaps my tendency to tell tall stories dates from this time. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE FETE AT KER-ELIANE - - -It was shortly after Eliane's christening, and to celebrate my -mother's recovery, that my father gave a great entertainment at -Ker-Eliane, near Loch-ar-Brugg. - -Loch-ar-Brugg, which means Place of Heather, was an old manor and -property that my father had bought and at that time used as a -hunting-lodge, and Ker-Eliane was a wild, beautiful piece of country -adjoining it, a pleasure resort, called after my mother's name. - -To reach Loch-ar-Brugg we all went by the traveling carriage to my -father's native town of Landerneau. I dreaded these journeys, since -inside the carriage I always became sick; but on this occasion I sat -outside near an old servant of my grandmother's called Soisick, the -diminutive of Francois, and was very happy, since in the open air I -did not suffer at all. Soisick was an old Breton from Brest. He wore -the costume of that part of the country, a tightly fitting, long, -black jacket opening over a waistcoat adorned with white-bone buttons, -full knee-breeches of coarse, white linen girded over the waistcoat -with a red woolen sash, with white woolen stockings, and black shoes. -One still sees very old Bretons wearing this costume, but nowadays the -peasants prefer the vulgar, commonplace dress of modern work-people. - -My father was waiting for us on the quay of Landerneau. What joy I -felt when I saw him! When he climbed up beside me and Soisick my -happiness was complete. - - [Illustration: "The Chateau de Ker-Azel near by, where we were to - stay"] - -Loch-ar-Brugg at that time was not suitably arranged for our -habitation, and we drove on to the Chateau de Ker-Azel near by, where -we were to stay with my _tante_ de Laisieu. This elder sister of my -mother's was a fat, untidy, shiftless woman who had once been a -beauty, but whose abundant fair hair was now faded, and who went about -her house and gardens in the mornings _en camisole_. When dressed -for the day her appearance was hardly more decorous, for she wore no -stays, and fastened the slender bodices of her old dresses across her -portly person in a very haphazard fashion, so that intervals of white -underclothing showed between the straining hooks. She was a singular -contrast to my mother, always so freshly perfect in every detail of -her toilet. The chateau was partly old and partly new and very ugly, -though the park that sloped down to it was fine. Near the chateau -stood a very old and beautifully carved font that must have belonged -to a church long since destroyed. Later on, in the days of her -descendants, it was kept filled with growing flowers and was a -beautiful object, but my aunt merely used it as a sort of waste-paper -basket for any scraps she picked up in the park. We children used to -conceal ourselves in it in our games of hide-and-seek. I enjoyed -myself among my many cousins, for I was at this time so young and so -naughty that they tended to give way to me in everything. One of them, -however, a singularly selfless and devout boy called France, was fond -of me for myself, and though I never paid much attention to him, -victim rather than play-mate as he usually was in the games of the -others, I was always aware of his gentle, protecting presence, and -happy when his peaceful gaze rested upon me. After long years of -separation and in our great old age we discovered, France and I, that -we had always been dear friends, and in the few years that remained to -us before his recent death we saw each other constantly. But I must -return to the fete. - -My mother and my aunt were absorbed in preparations. It was a general -hurly-burly, every one running north, south, east, and west--to -Landerneau, to Morlaix, to Brest, to every place, in short, that could -boast some special delicacy. And at last the great day came, and we -children were up with the lark. There was first to be a luncheon for -the huntsmen, friends of papa's, and the ladies were to follow in -carriages and to enter Ker-Eliane from the highroad. But we preferred -the shorter way, by the deep paths overgrown with hawthorn and -blackberry. The boys rushed along on the tops of the _talus_, the -sort of steep bank that in Brittany takes the place of hedges, and -even with Jeannie to restrain me I was nearly as torn and tattered as -they when we arrived at Ker-Eliane. What a fairy-land it was! Rocks -and streams, heathery hills, and woods full of bracken. An old ruin, -strange and melancholy, with only a few crumbling walls and a portion -of ivy-clothed tower left standing, rose among trees on a little hill -near the entrance, and farther on, surrounded by woods of beech or -pine, were three lakes, lying in a chain one after the other. -Water-lilies grew upon them, and at their brinks a pinkish-purple -flower the name of which I never knew. The third lake was so somber -and mysterious that my father had called it the Styx. An ancient -laurel-tree--in Brittany the laurels become immense trees--had been -uprooted in a thunderstorm and had fallen across the Styx, making a -natural rustic bridge. We children were forbidden to cross on it, but -on this day I remember my adventurous cousin Jules rushing to and fro -from one bank to the other in defiance of authority. At the foot of -the hill, below the ruin, a clear, delicious stream sprang forth from -a stony cleft and wound through a valley and out into the lower -meadows, and at the entrance to the valley, among heather and enormous -mossy rocks, rose a cross of gray stone without Christ or ornaments. -The peasants made pilgrimages to it on Good Friday, but I never -learned its history. - -It was among the lower meadows, in a charming, smiling spot planted -with chestnuts, poplars, and copper beeches, that the table for the -thirty huntsmen was laid in the shade of a little avenue. Already -the _crepe_-makers from Quimper, renowned through all the country, -were laying their fires upon the ground under the trees, and I must -pause here to describe this Breton dish. A carefully compounded -batter, flavored either with vanilla or malaga, was ladled upon a -large flat pan and spread thinly out to its edge with a wooden -implement rather like a paper-cutter. By means of this knife the -_crepes_, when browned on one side, were turned to the other with a -marvelous dexterity, then lifted from the pan and folded at once into -a square, like a pocket-handkerchief, for, if allowed to cool, they -cracked. They were as fine as paper--six would have made the thickness -of an ordinary pancake, and were served very hot with melted butter -and fresh cream, of which a crystal jar stood before each guest, and -was replenished by the servants as it was emptied. - -The _crepes_ were eaten at the end of the luncheon as a sweet, and -among the other dishes that I remember was the cold salmon,--invariable -on such occasions, salmon abounding in our Breton rivers,--with a -highly spiced local sauce, _filet de boeuf en aspic_, York ham, fowls, -Russian salad, and the usual cakes and fruits. The huntsmen seated at -this feast did not wear the pink coats and top-hats of more formal -occasions, but dark jackets and knee-breeches and the small, round -Breton cap with upturned brim that admitted of a pipe being tucked -into it at one side. And so they carried their pipes, as the peasants -did, and the legitimists among them had a golden fleur-de-lis fixed in -front. The ladies of the party, in summer dresses and wide-brimmed hats, -arrived when the more substantial part of the repast was over, and -their carriages filled the highroad outside the precincts of Ker-Eliane. -A feast was spread at a little distance for the peasants, and wine -flowed all day. After the feasting two famous _biniou_-players took up -their places on the high _talus_ that separated Ker-Eliane from -Loch-ar-Brugg and played the _farandol_, the _jabadao_, and other -country-dances for the peasants to dance to. The _biniou_ is rather -like a small bagpipe and produces a wild, shrill sound. The players -wore a special costume: their caps and their stockings were bright -red; their jackets and waistcoats bright blue, beautifully -embroidered; their full white breeches of coarse linen. Like all the -peasants at that time, they wore their hair long, falling over the -shoulders. It was a charming sight to see the peasants dancing, all in -their local costumes. The women's skirts were of black or red stuff, -with three bands of velvet, their bodices of embroidered velvet, and -they all wore a gold or silver Breton cross, hung on a black velvet -ribbon, round their necks, and a _Saint Esprit_ embroidered in gold on -the front of their bodices. Among the coifs I remember several -beautiful tall hennins. What a day it was! Landerneau talked of it for -years, and I have never forgotten it. We children had our luncheon -sitting on the grass near the big table, and afterward there were -endless games among the heather and bracken. My little sister Eliane -appeared, carried in her pink basket, and seemed to look about her -with great approval. - - [Illustration: "A feast was spread at a little distance from the - peasants, and wine flowed all day"] - -Later on in the day, when the dancing had begun, we went to look on at -that, and I wanted very much to dance, too; but nobody asked me, for I -was too little. I must by that time have begun to get very tired and -troublesome, for I remember that _maman_ promised me a little -wheelbarrow if I would be good and allowed Jeannie to take me back to -Ker-Azel. I was already sleepy, as I had drunk a quantity of -champagne, with which the servants had replenished my little -liqueur-glass, and I allowed myself at last to be carried away by -Jeannie, and fell asleep in her arms. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE OLD HOUSE AT LANDERNEAU - - -During these early years of my life our time, though mainly spent with -_bonne maman_ at Quimper, was also given for many months of the year -to Landerneau, and a little later on was divided between these two -houses and Loch-ar-Brugg. At Landerneau we lived in a vast old house -that had been part of my mother's marriage dowry. The family house, -equally old and vast, of the Kerouguets was also at Landerneau, and -the house of dear Tante Rose, my father's eldest sister. Landerneau -was a picturesque old town, so near the sea that the tides rose and -fell in the River Elorn, which flowed through it. A legend ran that -the part of Landerneau lying on the southern banks of the river, still -all wild with great rocks that seemed to have been hurled together by -some giant's hand, had been reduced to this condition by the devil. -He had been traveling through the country, and the inhabitants of the -southern half of Landerneau had refused to give him food and drink, -whereas those of the northern half had suitably and diplomatically -entertained him; and it was in vengeance that he had hurled these -great rocks across the river, to remain as permanent, if picturesque, -embarrassments to southern Landerneau. The morality of the story was -disconcerting, and very much puzzled me when I was told it by old -Gertrude. Our house formed a corner of the principal street in the -northern side of the town. In the days of the Terror, not so far -distant in my childhood, it had been used, with the house of Tante -Rose across the way, as a prison where the condemned were put on their -way to be guillotined at Brest, and a subterranean passage that ran -between the two houses, under the street, conveyed the unfortunates -swiftly and unobtrusively, if occasion required it, from one prison to -the other. Another lugubrious memento of that terrible time were the -small square openings in the floors of the upper rooms in these -houses. In our days they were used to summon servants from below, but -their original purpose had been for watching the captives unobserved. -In the panels of the great oaken door that opened on the street, in -our house, were little grated squares through which those who knocked -for admittance could be cautiously examined, and this feature gave a -further idea of the strange and perilous circumstances of bygone days. -The kitchen, which was entered from a stone hall, was our delight; it -was called the every-day kitchen. Enormous logs burned in a vast open -fireplace, archaically carved. At that time coal was little known in -the country, and the joints were roasted on a spit before this fire, -which looked like the entrance to an inferno. There was a little oven -for stews and sweets, etc. Under a square glass case on the -mantel-shelf, lifted high above the busy scene, stood a statue of the -Virgin, very old and very ugly, dressed in tinsel, a necklace of -colored beads around its neck. This was a cherished possession of -Nicole's, an old cook of my grandmother's, who followed us everywhere, -and at its foot, under the glass cover, lay her withered -orange-flower wedding-wreath. The kitchen was lighted at night by -numbers of tallow candles that burned in tall brass candlesticks, each -with its pincers and snuffer. (A candle with us does not "take snuff"; -it has "its nose blown"--_on mouchait la chandelle_.) Brass -warming-pans, which we children called Bluebeard's wives, were ranged -along the walls, and a multitude of copper saucepans hung in order of -size, glittering with special splendor on those spaces that could be -seen from the street, for "_ou l'orgueil ne va t'il pas se nicher_?" -Through an opening in the wall opposite the big windows dishes could -be passed to the servants in the dining-room during meals. - -The dining-room windows looked out at a garden full of flowers, the -high walls embroidered with espalier fruit-trees, plum-, cherry-, -mulberry-, and medlar-trees growing along the paths. At the bottom of -the garden was a large aviary containing golden and silver pheasants, -magpies, canaries, and exotic birds that my father's naval friends had -brought him from their long Oriental voyages. My father himself -tended these birds, and I can answer for it that they lacked nothing. -I must tell here of the strange behavior of a golden pheasant. Despite -papa's gentleness and care, this bird seemed to detest him and would -not let him enter the aviary; but when I came with papa, the pheasant -would run to the wires and eat the bread I held out to it from my -hand. Papa was surprised and interested, and suggested one day that I -should go with him into the aviary and "see what the pheasant would -say." No sooner said than done. The bird rushed at papa and pecked at -his feet with a singular ferocity; then, feeling, evidently, that he -had disposed of his enemy, he turned to me, spread out his wings -before me, bowed up and down as if an ecstasy of reverent delight, and -taking the bread I held out to him, he paid no more attention at all -to papa. - - [Illustration: "In the panels of the great oaken door ... were little - grated squares"] - -The principal rooms on the ground floor of the house opened on a stone -hall with an inlaid marble floor, where, in a niche carved in the -wall, and facing the wide stone staircase, stood another Virgin, much -larger and even older than Nicole's. She was of stone, with a -blunted, gentle countenance, and hands held out at each side in a -graceful, simple gesture that seemed to express surprise as much as -benediction. As we came down from our rooms every morning it was as if -she greeted us always with a renewed interest. Fresh flowers were laid -at her feet every day, and we were all taught, the boys to lift their -hats, the girls to drop deep curtseys before her. Indeed, these -respects were paid by us to all the many statues of the Virgin that -are seen on our Breton roads. From the hall one entered the salon, -with its inlaid parquet floor, so polished that we were forbidden to -slide upon it, for it was as slippery as ice, and falls were -inevitable for disobedient children. On the mantelpiece was a clock -representing Marius weeping over the ruins of Carthage. His cloak lay -about his knees, and we used to feel that he would have done much -better had he drawn it up and covered his chilly-looking bronze -shoulders. On each side of the clock were white vases with garlands in -relief upon them of blue convolvulus and their green leaves. But what -bewitched us children were the big Chinese porcelain figures, -mandarins sitting cross-legged, with heads that nodded gently up and -down at the slightest movement made in the room. Their bellies were -bare, their eyes seemed to laugh, and they were putting out their -tongues. Black ibises upon their robes opened wide beaks to catch -butterflies. I remember crossing the hall on tiptoe and opening the -salon-door very softly and looking in at the mandarins sitting there -in their still merriment; and it required a little courage, as though -one summoned a spell, to shake the door and rouse them into life. The -heads gently nodded, the eyes seemed to laugh with a new meaning at me -now; and I gazed, half frightened, half laughing, too, until all again -was motionless. It was as if a secret jest had passed between me and -the mandarins. In an immense room to the left of the salon that had -once, perhaps, been a ball-room, but was now used as a laundry, was a -high sculptured fireplace that was my joy. On each side the great -greyhounds, sitting up on their hind legs, sustained the mantelpiece, -all garlanded with vines. Among the leaves and grapes one saw a nest -of little birds, with their beaks wide open, and the father and mother -perched above them. And, most beautiful of all, a swallow in flight -only touched with the tip of a wing a leaf, and really seemed to be -flying. Only my father appreciated this masterpiece, which must have -been a superb example of Renaissance work, and when, years afterward, -my mother sold the house, the new owner had it broken up and carted -away because it took up too much room! - -On the two floors above were many bedrooms not only for our growing -family, but for that of my Aunt de Laisieu, who, with all her -children, used to pay us long and frequent visits, so that even in the -babyhood of Eliane and Ernest and Maraquita I never lacked -companionship. - -My mother's room was called _la chambre des colonnes_, because at the -foot of the bed, and used there instead of bedposts, were two great -stone pillars wreathed with carving and reaching to the ceiling. What -a pretty room it was! In spring its windows looked down at a sea of -fruit-blossoms and flowers in the garden beneath. The bed had a domed -canopy, with white muslin curtains embroidered in green spots. Above -the doors were two allegorical paintings, one of Love, who makes Time -pass, and one of Time, who makes Love pass. A deep, mysterious drawer -above the oaken mantelpiece was used by _maman_ for storing pots of -specially exquisite preserves that were kept for winter use. On her -dressing-table, flowing with muslin and ribbons, I specially remember -the great jar of _eau de Cologne_, which one used to buy, as if it -were wine, by the liter. - -From this room led papa's, more severe and masculine. Here there were -glass cabinets fitted on each side into the deep window-seats and -containing bibelots from all over the world. A group of family -miniatures hung on the wall near the fireplace. - -On a turning of the staircase was a bath-room, with a little sort of -sentry-box for cold douches, and at the top of the house an enormous -garret, filled with broken old spinning-wheels and furniture, bundles -of old dresses, chests full of dusty papers. I found here one day -_bonne maman's_ betrothal-dress. It was of stiff, rich satin, a wide -blue and white stripe, with a dark line on each side of the blue and a -little garland of pink roses running up the white. The long, pointed -bodice was incredibly narrow. A strange detail was the coarseness with -which this beautiful dress was finished inside. It was lined with a -sort of sacking, and the old lace with which it was still adorned was -pinned into place with brass safety-pins. Finally, for my description -of the house, there was a big courtyard, with the servants' quarters -built round it, and a clear little stream ran through a _basse-cour_ -stocked with poultry. - -I had not seen this house for over fifty years when, some time ago, I -went to visit it. The new proprietor, an unprepossessing person, was -leaning against the great oaken door. He permitted me, very -ungraciously, to enter. - -I went through all these rooms that two generations ago had rung with -the sounds of our happy young life, and it was misery to me. In the -kitchen, which had been so beautiful, the window-panes were broken, -and the dismantled walls daubed with whitewash, with dusty, empty -bottles where Nicole's Virgin had stood. Upon the table was a greasy, -discolored oil-cloth, where one saw M. Thiers, with knitted eyebrows -and folded arms, surrounded by tricolor flags. The salon--I sobbed as -I stood and looked about it; all, all that I had known and loved had -disappeared. The stone Virgin was gone from her niche in the hall. -Trembling, I mounted to my dear parents' rooms. What desolation! -Unmade beds and rickety iron bedsteads; dust, disorder, and dirt. The -carved chimneypiece, with its great drawer, was gone; the paper was -peeled from the walls. Only over the doors, almost invisible under -their cobwebs, were the painted panels of Love, who makes Time pass, -and Time, who makes Love pass. The garden was a dung-heap. - -When I came out, pale and shaken, the proprietor, still complacently -leaning against the door, remarked, "_Eh bien_, Madam is glad to have -seen her house, isn't she!" - -The animal! I could have strangled him! - - [Illustration: "I felt that Tante Rose was enchanting"] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -TANTE ROSE - - -Over the way lived Tante Rose. We children liked best to go to her -house by means of the subterranean passage. It was pitch-dark, and we -felt a fearful delight as we galloped through it at full speed, and -then beat loudly upon the door at the other end, so that old -Kerandraon should not keep us waiting for a moment in the blackness. -In the salon, between the windows, her tame magpie hopping near her, -we would find Tante Rose spinning at her wheel. There were pink -ribbons on her distaff, and her beautiful, rounded arms moved gently -to and fro drawing out the fine white linen thread. Sitting, as I see -her thus, with her back to the light, her white tulle head-dress and -the tulle bow beneath her chin surrounded her delicate, rosy face with -a sort of aureole. She had a pointed little chin and gay, blue eyes, -and though she had snowy hair, she looked so young and was so active -that she seemed to have quicksilver in her veins. A tranquil mirth was -her distinguishing characteristic, and even when hardly more than a -baby I felt that Tante Rose was enchanting. Her first question was -sure to be, "Are you hungry?" and even if we had just risen from a -meal we were sure to be hungry when we came to see Tante Rose. She -would blow into a little silver whistle that hung at her waist, and -old Kerandraon (we children pronounced it Ker-le dragon) would appear -with his benevolent, smiling face. - -"Take Mademoiselle Sophie's orders, Kerandraon," Tante Rose would say; -but the dear old man, who was a great friend, did not need to wait for -them. - -"Demoiselle would like _crepes_ and fresh cream; and there is the rest -of the chocolate paste which Demoiselle likes, too." - - [Illustration: "She did not conceal that she found him a dull - companion"] - -"Bring what pleases you," Tante Rose would say, "and take my key, -Kerandraon, and fetch the box of _sucre d'orge_ from the shelf in my -wardrobe." When Kerandraon had come ambling back with his laden -tray he would stop and talk with us while we ate. He was seventy years -old and had a noble air in his long Louis XV jacket. Tante Rose's -mother had taken him from the streets when he was a little beggar-boy -of twelve. He lived in the family service all his life, and when he -died at seventy-five he was buried in the family vault. Jacquette, the -magpie, sometimes became very noisy on these festive occasions, and -Tante Rose would say: "Go into the garden, Jacquette. _Tu m'annuis_" -(so she pronounced _ennuies_). And Jacquette, who seemed to understand -everything she said, would go obediently hopping off. In the garden, -adjoining the salon, was a greenhouse full of grapes and flowers, and -that was another haven of delight on our visits to Tante Rose. It was -the prettiest sight to see her mounted on a step-ladder cutting the -grapes. A servant held the ladder, and another the basket into which -the carefully chosen bunches were dropped. Tante Rose's little feet -were shod in a sort of high-heeled brown-satin slipper called -_cothurnes_, probably because they tied in classic fashion across the -instep, little gold acorns hanging at the ends of the ribbons. I have -the most distinct recollection of these exquisite feet as I stood -beside the ladder looking up at Tante Rose and waiting for her to drop -softly a great bunch of grapes into my hands. The fruit-trees of Tante -Rose's garden were famous. A great old fig-tree there was so laden -with fruit that supports had to be put under the heavy branches; there -were wonderful Smyrna plums, and an apple-tree covered with tiny red -apples that were our joy. From a high terrace in the garden one could -watch all that went on in the town below. Tante Rose's cream, too, was -famous. Great earthenware pans of milk stood on the wide shelves of -her dairy, and when _maman_ came to see her she would say, "May I go -into the dairy, Rose?" It was always known what this meant. _Maman_ -would skim for herself a bowlful of the thick, golden cream. - -Even the kitchen had an elegance, a grace, and sparkle all its own, -and it is here that I can most characteristically see Tante Rose -distributing milk for the poor of Landerneau. Her farmers' wives had -brought it in from the country in large, covered pails, and Tante -Rose, dressed in a morning-gown of puce-colored silk (like _bonne -maman_ in this, she wore no other color), her full sleeves, with their -wide lawn cuffs turned back over her arms, ladled it into jars, giving -her directions the while to the servants: "This for Yann. This for -Herve [an old cripple]. Did this milk come from the yellow? It is -sure, then, to be very good; take it to the hospital and--wait! This -little jug of cream to the _superieure_; she is so fond of it. And, -Laic, this large jar is for the prison," for Tante Rose forgot nobody, -and all with such quiet grace and order. The poor of Landerneau adored -her. The thread she spun was woven at her country place, La Fontaine -Blanche, into linen to make clothes for them, and she knitted socks -and waistcoats even as she went about the streets on her errands of -mercy. If the poor loved her, it was respect mingled with a little -fear that the _bourgeoisie_ felt, for she had no patience with -scandal-mongering and sharply checked their gossiping, provincial -habits. The chatelaines of the surrounding country sought her out and -delighted in her charm, her accomplishments, and her devil-may-care -wit. Tante Rose was married to a wealthy and excellent Landernean, -Joseph Goury, whom we called Tonton Joson, and his friends, Jason. He -had a placid, kindly face, and stout, fine calves incased in silk -stockings. Still in love with his wife, he was patiently submissive to -her gay sallies; for though very fond of him, she did not conceal that -she found him a dull companion. Very drolly, though she tutoyed him, -she used always to address him as "Monsieur Goury." "_Tais-toi, -Monsieur Goury_," she would say; "you are as tiresome as the flies." -And after enduring his prosy talk for some time she would say quite -calmly: "I am beginning to drink hemlock. Go away, Monsieur Goury--_va -t'en_. You bore me to distraction. You stun and stupefy me. Go away. -_Je n'en puis plus._" And poor Tonton Joson remaining helplessly -gazing, she would lift the little trap-door beside her chair, if the -scene took place in her room, and call out to the servants below, -"Tell Laic to come up and help monsieur on with his coat." - -"But, my dear, I was not thinking of going out," Tonton Joson would -protest; and Tante Rose would reply: - -"_Mais tu sors, Monsieur Goury._" - -Tante Rose was very devout, but after her own fashion. She read the -office to herself every day, but had many _librepensant_ friends, with -whom she used good-temperedly to argue. Any bishop who came to -Landerneau stayed always with Tante Rose. - -Her cuisine was the best I have ever eaten; and oh, the incredible -abundance of those days! All the courses were served at once upon the -immense table. The great silver soup-tureen, big enough for a baby's -bath, and so tall that she had to stand up to it, was in front of -Tante Rose, and before she began to ladle out the platefuls, with the -light, accurate movements of her arms characteristic of her, a servant -carefully fastened behind her her long sleeves _a la pagode_. It was -really charming to watch her serving the soup, and I remember one -guest asserting that he would eat _potage_ four times if Mme. Goury -helped him to it. - -An enormous salmon usually occupied the center of the table, and there -were six _entrees_, _four rotis_, two hot and two cold, and various -_entremets_ and desserts. A favorite _entree_ was a _puree_ of -pistachio nuts, with roasted sheeps' tails on silver spits stuck into -it. The hot dishes stood on silver heaters filled with glowing -charcoal. Between the courses little pots of cream, chocolate, -vanilla, and coffee were actually passed and actually eaten! Chocolate -cream to fill the gap between woodcock and _foie-gras_, for instance! -Champagne-bottles stood in silver coolers at each corner of the table. -I wonder that we all survived. On the other hand, when Tante Rose or -my mother received the visits of their friends, there was no afternoon -tea to offer them, as nowadays. The servants merely passed round -little glasses of Spanish wines and plates of small biscuits. The good -ladies of Landerneau afforded, I imagine, much amusement to my mother -and to Tante Rose, who, though a native, was of a very different -caliber. One little trait I remember was very illustrative of the -bourgeois habit of mind. At that time, as now, lengths of velvet were -included in every _corbeille_ offered to a bride by the bridegroom's -family, and the velvet dresses made from them were dignified -institutions worn year after year. One knows how marked and unsightly -velvet soon becomes if sat upon, and it was a wise and crafty fashion -to have a breadth of perfectly matching silk introduced between the -full folds at the back of these dresses, so that when one sat down it -was upon the silk. It was in regard to this sensible contrivance that -the ladies of Landerneau were reported to declare that it was strange -indeed to see the _noblesse_ so miserly that they could not afford a -whole velvet dress, and therefore let silk into the back. - - [Illustration: "I had only to sweep up the rubbish ... and carry it - out of the wood in my little wheelbarrow"] - -Some of Tante Rose's children were, like herself, very clever and -charming, some very stupid, like Tonton Joson. It can be imagined what -games we all had. Once, in the coach-house, my older cousins put young -Raoul into a large basket with a number of smooth stones under him -and told him that they were eggs and that if he were quiet and -patient, they would hatch out. Then by means of a rope and pulley to -which the basket was attached (it must have been used for raising and -lowering hay and fodder) we pulled poor Raoul up to the rafters, and -there we left him and forgot all about him. His desolate cries were -heard after a time, and when he was rescued, it was found that the -rocking of the basket had made him very seasick. - -Of all our games the best were those in the woods of La Fontaine -Blanche. This property of Tante Rose's, with its old manor-house -dating from the time of Queen Anne of Brittany, was near Landerneau, -and since papa went there nearly every day, caring for it as if it -were his own, we were able to go with him and take full possession of -the beautiful woods. We were given planks and tools, and we built a -little hut on the banks of the stream. I was so young that my share of -the labors was unexacting, as I had only to sweep up the rubbish left -by the builders and carry it out of the wood in my little -wheelbarrow; but I remember that pride with which I felt myself -associated in any capacity with such marvels of construction. Not only -was the hut entirely built by my cousins, but they made an oven inside -it and even fabricated a sort of earthenware service with the clay -soil found along the banks of the stream. It would never fire -properly, however, and therefore our attempts to bake bread were not -successful. - -But _crepes_, as pure-blooded young Bretons, we could make, and our -parents were often entertained by us and regaled with them as they sat -under the trees. Oh, how happy we were! The woods were full of lilies -of the valley, and our hut had been baptized by the cure of Landerneau -the chateau de la Muguetterie, while we were called _Robinson -Crusoes_, and this was to us all our greatest glory. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE DEMOISELLES DE COATNAMPRUN - - -Across the way from our house in Landerneau lived two old maiden -ladies, the Demoiselles de Coatnamprun. The Marquis and Marquise de -Coatnamprun, their father and mother, had died many years ago, and -most of the small fortune had been filched from them in some -iniquitous lawsuit. I remember them very clearly, for I often went to -see them with _maman_ and Tante Rose, who watched over them and -protected them; gentle, austere figures, dressed always in threadbare -black, almost like nuns, with long, white bone rosaries hanging at -their sides, and on their breasts, tied with a red cord, great -crucifixes of brass and wood. Around their necks they wore white -handkerchiefs folded, the points behind, and when they went out, -old-fashioned black _capotes_, which were large bonnets mounted and -drawn on wires, a quilling of white inside around the face. The elder -was called Ismenie, and the younger Suzette; they had the tenderest -love for each other. - -Their house was one of the oldest in Landerneau and was covered with -strange carvings. The great knocker always fascinated me, for it -represented a devil with his pitchfork, and one lifted the pitchfork -to knock. Almost always it was one of the Demoiselles de Coatnamprun -who answered, and she always held a clean white handkerchief by the -center, the points shaken out, and always swept us, as she appeared -before us in the doorway, a wonderful, old-fashioned, stately court -curtsey. The sisters were plain, with dark, mild eyes, faded skins, -and pale, withered lips; but their teeth were beautiful, and they had -abundant hair. Ismenie's features were harsh, and her half-closed, -near-sighted eyes gave her a cold and haughty expression; but in -reality she was a lamb of gentleness, and no one seeing the sisters in -their poverty would have taken them for anything but _grandes dames_. - - [Illustration: "Gentle, austere figures, dressed always in threadbare - black"] - -When we were ushered into the house it was usually into the -dining-room that we went. The drawing-room, which was called the -_salle de compagnie_, was used only on ceremonious occasions, Easter, -the bishop's visit, or when the _noblesse_ from the surrounding -country called, and the proudest among them were proud to do so. So in -the _salle de compagnie_, where engravings of the family coats of arms -hung along the walls, the ugly, massive mahogany furniture was usually -shrouded in cotton covers, and it was in the dining-room that the -sisters sat, making clothes for the poor. Here the pictures interested -me very much; they were _naif_, brightly colored prints bought at the -Landerneau fairs, and representing events in the lives of the saints. -St. Christopher, bending with his staff in the turbulent stream, bore -on his shoulder a child so tiny that I could never imagine why its -weight should incommode him, and another doll-like child stood on the -volume held by St. Anthony of Padua. The oil-cloth cover on the table -had all the kings and queens of France marching in procession round -its border, the dates of their reigns printed above their heads. -The chairs were common straw-bottomed kitchen chairs. _Maman_ -sometimes tried to persuade the sisters to paint the chairs, saying -that if they were painted bright red, for instance, it would make the -room so much more cheerful. But to any such suggestion they would -reply, with an air of gentle surprise: "Oh, but _maman_ had them like -that. We can't change anything that _maman_ had." Their large bedroom -was on the first floor, looking out at the street. It was a most -dismal room. The two four-posted beds, side by side, had canopies and -curtains of old tapestry, but this was all covered with black cambric -muslin and had the most funereal air imaginable. At the head of -Ismenie's bed, crossed against the black, were two bones that she had -brought from the family vault on some occasion when the coffins had -been moved or opened. The only cheerful thing I remember was a -childish little _etagere_ fastened in a corner and filled with the -waxen figures of the _petit Jesus_, and the tiny china dogs, cats and -birds that had been among their presents on Christmas mornings. To -give an idea of the extreme simplicity and innocence of the -Demoiselles de Coatnamprun I may say here that to the end of their -lives they firmly believed that _le petit Jesus_ himself came down -their kitchen chimney on Christmas eve and left their presents for -them on the kitchen table. _Le petit Jesus_, as a matter of fact, was -on these occasions impersonated by _maman_ and Tante Rose. Tante Rose -always had the key of the sisters' house, so that at any time she -could go in and see that nothing was amiss with _ses enfants_, as she -tenderly called them,--and indeed to the end they remained lovely and -ingenuous children,--so she and _maman_, when the sisters were safely -asleep, would steal into the house and pile every sort of good thing, -from legs of mutton to _galettes_, upon the table, and fill the garden -sabots that stood ready with bonbons, handkerchiefs, and the little -china figures of animals the sisters so cherished. And always there -was a waxen figure of _le petit Jesus_ and the card with which he made -his intention clear; for "_Aux Demoiselles de Coatnamprun, du petit -Jesus_" was written upon it. - - [Illustration: Old Kerandraon] - -Other instances of the sisters' ignorance of life and the world I -might give, but they would simply be received with incredulity. Such -types no longer exist, and even then the sisters were unique. I do not -believe that in all their lives they knew an evil thought; they were -incapable of any form of envy or malice or uncharitableness, and -filled with delight at any good fortune that came to others and with -gratitude for their own lot in life. Sometimes Suzette, in the -intimacy of friends, would refer with simple sadness to the one drama, -if such it can be called, that had befallen them. "_Oui_," she would -say, "_Ismenie a eu un chagrin d'amour_." Once, when they were young, -in their parents' lifetime, an officer had been quartered with them, a -kindly, intelligent, honest young fellow of the _bourgeoisie_, and at -once aware of the atmosphere of distinction that surrounded him. He -showed every attention to the sisters, and poor Ismenie found him -altogether charming. He never even guessed at her attachment. Indeed, -no such a marriage at that time would have been possible, but she was -broken-hearted when he went away. Her sister was her confidante, and -this was the _chagrin d'amour_ to which Suzette sometimes referred. - -I have said that when they walked out they wore _capotes_. On one -occasion Mlle. Suzette found in a drawer, among old rubbish put away, -a crumpled artificial rose, a pink rose, and had the strange idea of -fastening it in front of her _capote_. Ismenie, when her near-sighted -eyes caught sight of it, stopped short in the street and peered at her -sister in astonishment. "But, Suzette, what have you there?" she -asked. Suzette bashfully told her that she had found the rose and -thought it might look pretty. "No, no," said Ismenie, turning with her -sister back to the house, "you must not wear it. _Maman_ never wore -anything in her _capote_." It required all my mother's skill to -persuade them to allow her to dress their hair for them on the -occasion of an evening party at Tante Rose's, to which, as usual, they -were going, as "_maman_" had gone, wearing black-lace caps. -"_Voyons_, but you have such pretty hair," said _maman_. "Let me only -show you how charmingly it can be done." They were tempted, yet -uncertain and very anxious, and then _maman_ had the opportune memory -of an old picture of the marquise in youth, her hair done in puffs -upon her forehead. She brought it out triumphantly, and the sisters -yielded. They could consent to have their hair done as "_maman's_" had -been done in her youth. - - [Illustration: "They were buried together on the same day"] - -We children always went with our parents to the evening parties in -Landerneau. _Maman_ did not like to leave us, and it will be -remembered that in those days one dined at five o'clock and that we -children had all our meals except breakfast with our parents. It was -at a dinner-party at Tante Rose's that Mlle. Suzette, next whom I sat, -said to me smiling, with her shy dignity, "I have a present here for a -little girl who has been good," and she drew a small paper parcel from -the silk reticule that hung beside the rosary at her side. I opened -it, and found, to my delight, a sugar mouse and a tiny pipe made of -red sugar such as I knew _maman_ would never allow us to eat when we -went to the confectioner's. But here, in the presence of Mlle. -Suzette, and the gift a gift from her, I felt that I was safe, and I -devoured mouse and pipe at once, quite aware of _maman's_ amused and -rallying glance from across the table. "I saw you," she said to me -afterward. "Little ne'er-do-well, you know that I could not forbid it -when Mademoiselle Suzette was there!" - -The only flower that grew in the Demoiselles de Coatnamprun's garden -was heliotrope, for that had been "_maman's_" favorite flower. They -were poor gardeners, and the little _bonne_ who came in by the day to -do the housework could give them no help in the garden. So it was -Tante Rose, trotting on her high heels, a little garden fork on her -shoulder, who appeared to do battle with the moss and dandelions and -to restore a little order. She always gave to this service the air of -a delightful game, and indeed, in her constant care of the poor old -ladies, had the prettiest skill imaginable in making her gifts weigh -nothing. - -"My dears," she would say, leaning forward to look at their black -robes, "aren't these dresses getting rather shabby? Hasn't the time -come for new ones?" - -"They are shabby," Ismenie would answer sadly, "but _que voulez-vous, -chere Madame_, our means, as you know, are so narrow. It costs so much -to buy a dress. We could hardly afford new ones now." - -"But, on the contrary, it doesn't cost so much," Tante Rose would say. -"I know some excellent woolen material, the very thing for your -dresses, and only five francs for the length. You can well afford -that, can't you? So I'll buy it for you and bring it to-morrow." - -And so she would, the innocent sisters imagining five francs the price -of material for which Tante Rose paid at least thirty. Since the -sisters were very proud, for all their gentleness, and could consent -to accept nothing in the nature of a charity, and since indeed they -could hardly have lived at all on what they had, Tante Rose had woven -a far-reaching conspiracy about them. Her tradespeople had orders to -sell their meat and vegetables to the Demoiselles de Coatnamprun at -about a fifth of their value. Packets of coffee and sugar arrived at -their door, and milk and cream every morning, and when they asked the -messenger what the price might be, he would say: "_Ces dames regleront -le compte avec Monsieur le Cure_," and since they did not like to -refuse gifts from the cure, the innocent plot was never discovered. Of -course fruits from Tante Rose's garden and cakes from her kitchen were -things that could be accepted. She would bring them herself, and have -a slice of _galette_ or a fig from the big basketful with them. They -were rather greedy, poor darlings, and since any money they could save -went to the poor, they could never buy such dainties for themselves. -One extravagance, however, they had: when they came out to pay a -visit, a piece of knitting was always drawn from the reticule, and -when one asked what it was one was told in a whisper: "Silk -stockings--a Christmas present for Suzette," or Ismenie, as the case -might be. Beautifully knitted, fine, openwork stockings they were. - -Another contrivance for their comfort was invented by Tante Rose. They -were great cowards, afraid of the dark and in deadly fear of the -possible robbers that might enter their house at night. Tante Rose -arranged that when they went to bed a lighted, shaded lamp should be -placed in their window, the shade turned toward their room, the light -toward the street, so that any robbers passing by would be deceived -into thinking the house still on foot and forego their schemes for -breaking in. - -Their hearts were tender toward all forms of life. I can see one of -them rising from her work to rescue a fly that had fallen into trouble -and, holding it delicately by the wings, lift the _persiennes_ to let -it fly away. One day in their garden I cried out in disgust at the -sight of a great earthworm writhing across a border. - -"Oh, the horrid worm! Quick! A trowel, Mademoiselle, to cut it in -two." - -But Mademoiselle Suzette came to look with grieved eyes. - -"And why kill the poor creature, Sophie? It does us no harm," she -said, and helped the worm to disappear in the soft earth. - -The Demoiselles de Coatnamprun died one winter of some pulmonary -affection and within a day of one another. They died with the -simplicity and sincerity that had marked all their lives, and toward -the end they were heard to murmur continually, while they smiled as if -in sleep, "_Maman--Papa_." - -Ismenie died first; but since it was seen that Suzette had only a few -hours to live, the body was kept lying on the bed near hers, and she -did not know that her beloved sister had been taken from her. They -were buried together on the same day. - - * * * * * - - [Illustration: "In the days of the Terror ... it had been used ... as - a prison"] - -There was another and very different old lady in Landerneau of whom I -was very fond and whom, since she took a great fancy to me, I saw -often. Her daughter was a friend of _maman's_ and made a _mesalliance_ -that caused the doors of Landerneau to close upon her. _Maman_, -however, remained devoted to her, and continued to see as much of her -as ever, and her mother, my old friend, was entirely indifferent to -the doors, closed or open, of Landerneau. She wore a brightly colored -Turkish silk handkerchief tied turban-wise about her head, and soft -gray-leather riding boots,--men's boots,--so that she was known in her -quarter as _Chat-botte_. In her own house she wore men's -dress-breeches, short jacket, and high boots. Her feet were remarkably -small, and the wave of hair on her forehead was as black as jet. She -was very downright and ready of speech, and used to talk to me as -though I were a person of her own age. "Do you see, Sophie," she would -say, "my poor daughter is a great goose. She struggles to be received, -and gets only buffets for her pains. Why give oneself so much trouble -for nothing?" - -The disconsolate daughter and the son-in-law made their home with her -in a great old house standing on the banks of the river. He was a -wholesale wine merchant, and barrels and casks of wine stood about the -entrance. My old friend lived almost entirely in her own room on the -first floor, the strangest room. It was at once spotlessly clean and -completely untidy. The bed had no posts or canopy and was shaped like -a cradle. Bottles of salad-oil stood on the mantel-shelf, and a bunch -of carrots might be lying on the table among bundles of newspapers. -From the windows one had beautiful views up and down the river and -could see the stone bridge that had old houses built upon it. Across -the river were her gardens, and she used often to row me over to them -and to show me the immense old cherry-tree, planted by her -grandfather, that grew far down the river against the walls of an old -tower. This tower had its story, and I could not sleep at night for -thinking of it. In her girlhood mad people were shut up there. There -was only a dungeon-room, and the water often rose in it so that the -forsaken creatures stood up to their knees in water. Food was thrown -to them through the iron bars of the windows, but it was quite -insufficient, and she gave me terrible descriptions of the faces she -used to see looking out, ravenous and imploring. She remembered that -the bones protruded from the knuckles of one old man as he clutched -the bars. She used to pile loaves of bread in her little boat, row -across to the tower, and fix the loaves on the end of an oar so that -she could pass them up to the window, and she would then see the mad -people snatching the bread apart and devouring it. And when the -cherries on the great tree were ripe she used to climb up into the -branches and bend them against the window so that they might gather -the fruit themselves from among the leaves, and she herself would -gather all she could reach and throw them in. They had not even straw -to sleep on. When one of them died, the body was taken out, and this -was all the care they had. Such were the horrors in a town where -people across the river quietly ate and slept, and the church-bells -rang all day. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -BON PAPA - - -My most vivid recollections of Grandfather de Rosval place him at -Landerneau, where he would stop with us on his way to Quimper during -his tours of inspection. His arrivals in the sleepy little town were -great affairs and caused immense excitement: post-chaise, postilion, -whips cracking, horns blowing, and a retinue of Parisian servants. We -children never had more than a glimpse of him at first, for he -withdrew at once to his own rooms to rest and go through his papers. -When he made his entry into the salon,--the salon of the slippery -parquet and the nodding mandarins,--all the household was ranged on -each side, as if for the arrival of a sovereign, and we had all to -drop deep curtseys before him. - - [Illustration: Grandfather de Rosval] - -He was a rather imposing figure, with splendid clothes, the coat -thickly embroidered along the edge with golden oak-leaves, and a -fine, handsome head; but he was enormously, even ridiculously, stout. -With an often terrifying and even repellent severity he mingled the -most engaging playfulness, and our childish feelings toward him were -strangely compounded of dislike and admiration. - -When he arrived in the salon a lackey came behind him, carrying a -large linen bag filled with a sweetmeat bought at Seugnot's, the great -Parisian confectioner. I always associate these sweetmeats with _bon -papa_. They were called _croquignoles_, were small, hard, yet of the -consistency of soft chalk when one bit into them, and glazed with -pink, white, or yellow. After the salutations, _bon papa_ would take -up his position before the mantelpiece and beckon the servant to give -him the bag of _croquignoles_. We children, quivering with excitement, -each of us already provided with a small basket, stood ready, and as -_bon papa_, with a noble gesture, scattered the handfuls of -_croquignoles_ far and wide, we flung ourselves upon them, scrambling, -falling, and filling our baskets, with much laughter and many -recriminations. Then, besides the little case for _maman_, also from -Seugnot's, filled with tablets of a delicious _sucre-de-pomme_ in -every flavor, were more dignified presents, bracelets and rings for -her and for our _Tante de Laisieu_ and boxes of beautiful toys for us. -The only cloud cast over these occasions was that after having -distributed all his bounties, _bon papa_ sat down, drew a roll of -manuscript from his pocket, and composed himself to read in a sonorous -voice poems of his own composition. Their theme, invariably, was the -delight of reentering one's family and country, and they were very -pompous and very long, sometimes moving _bon papa_ almost to tears. -The comic scene of family prayers that followed was pure relief, for -even we children felt it comic to see _bon papa_ praying. - -"And are they good children?" he would ask. "Have they said their -prayers?" - - [Illustration: "The chateau was one of the oldest in Finisterre"] - -"Not yet, _mon pere_," _maman_ would answer. "They always say their -prayers at bedtime." But _bon papa_ was not to be so deterred from yet -another ceremony. - -"Good, good!" he would reply. "We will all say the evening prayers -together, then." - -And when we had all obediently knelt down around the room, _bon papa_ -recited the prayers in the same complacent, sonorous voice, making -magnificent signs of the cross the while. On one of these occasions we -were almost convulsed by poor little Ernest, whom _bon papa_ had taken -in his arms, and who was so much alarmed by the great gestures going -on over his head that he broke at last into a prolonged wail and had -to be carried hastily away. - -One of _bon papa's_ poetic works I can still remember, of a very -different and more endearing character. I was taken ill one morning -while we were living with him in Paris and had been given to console -me by a cousin of ours staying with us, the Duchesse de M----, a -delicious little purse in white, knitted silk, embroidered with pale -blue forget-me-nots. I told _maman_ that I wished very much to show -this purse to _bon papa_, and that he should be informed of my -illness. So I wrote him a note, and it was taken, with the purse, to -his room. Presently the little parcel, much heavier, was brought back -to me, and on opening my purse, I found inside it a centime, a liard, -a sou--every coin, in fact, up to and including a golden twenty-franc -piece. And this is the poem that was sent with the purse: - - "Vous voulez jeune Princesse - Que je me rends pres de vous? - Que je baise de votre altesse - Les pieds, les mains, et les genoux? - Dans un instant je vais me rendre - A vos desirs et a vos voeux, - Mais vous me permettrez de prendre - Deux baisers sur vos beaux yeux bleus." - -Such a grandfather, it must be admitted, had advantages as well as -charms, yet our memory of him was always clouded by the one or two -acts of cruel severity we had witnessed and of which I could not trust -myself to speak. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -LE MARQUIS DE PLOEUC - - -In the Chateau de Ker-Guelegaan, near Quimper, lived an old friend of -my family's, the Marquis de Ploeuc. The chateau was one of the oldest -in Finisterre, an immense weather-beaten pile with a moat, a -drawbridge, a great crenellated tower, and a turret that, springing -from the first story, seemed, with its high-pointed roof, to be -suspended in the air. Tall, dark trees rose in ordered majesty about -the chateau, and before it a wide band of lawn, called a _tapis vert_, -ran to the lodge-gates that opened on the highroad. From the upper -windows one saw the blue Brittany sea. Along the whole length of the -front facade ran a stone terrace with seven wide steps; the windows of -the _salle d'honneur_ opened upon this, and the windows of the _petit -salon_ and the dining- and billiard-room. The furniture in the _salle -d'honneur_ was of Louis XV white lacquer, court chairs, and -_tabourets de cour_. There were tall mirrors all along the walls, and -in the corners hung four great crystal chandeliers. The curtains and -portieres were of a heavy, white silk that had become gray with time; -they were scattered with bouquets of faded flowers, and caught up and -looped together with knots of ribbon that had once been rose-colored. -This glacial and majestic room was seldom used; it was in the _petit -salon_, leading from it, that guests usually sat. Here the chairs were -carved along their tops with garlands of roses and ribbons so delicate -that we children were specially forbidden to touch them. The walls -were hung with tapestries, at which I used often to gaze with delight. -One saw life-sized ladies and gentlemen dancing in stately rounds or -laughing under trees and among flowers and butterflies. The great -dining-room was paneled with dark wood carved into frames around the -portraits of ancestors that were ranged along it. The coffers and the -sideboards, where the silver stood, were of the same carved wood. I -remember once going down to peep at the kitchen in the basement, and -the dark immensity, streaming, as it were, with cooks, servants, -kitchen-boys, and maids, so bewildered and almost frightened me that I -never ventured there again. - -The old marquis was a widower, and his married daughters, the Marquise -de L---- and Mme. d'A----, usually lived with him and his unmarried -daughter Rosine, who became a nun. He was a splendid old gentleman, -tall, with a noble carriage and severe, yet radiant, countenance. In -the daytime he dressed always in gray coat and knee-breeches, with -gray-and-black striped stockings and buckled shoes. At night his -thick, white hair was gathered into a _catogan_,--a little square -black-silk bag, that is to say,--tied with a bow, and he wore a -black-silk suit. On festal occasions, Christmas, Easter, or his -fete-day, he became a magnificent figure in brocaded coat and -white-satin waistcoat and knee-breeches; he had diamond shoe- and -knee-buckles, diamond buttons on his waistcoat, and golden -_aiguillettes_ looped across his breast and shoulder. - -The diamond buckles he left to me, to be given to me on my first -communion, and in his lifetime he had made for me a beautiful missal -bound in white parchment and closed with a diamond and emerald clasp; -inside were old illuminations. - -In his youth M. de Ploeuc had been an officer of the Chouans, and he -was, of course, a passionate royalist. He always wore the Croix de St. -Louis, a fleur-de-lis, with the little cross attached by blue ribbon. -I asked him once if it was the same sort of decoration as my -Grandfather de Rosval's, which, I said, was larger and was tied with -red, and I remember the kindly and ironic smile of my old friend as he -answered, "Oh, no; that is only the Legion d'honneur." - - [Illustration: "He was a splendid old gentleman"] - -Brittany had many marquises, some of them also old and distinguished; -but he was the _doyen_ of them all, and was always called simply _le_ -marquis. Any disputes or difficulties among the local _noblesse_ were -always brought to him for his decision, and on such occasions, if the -discussions became heated, he would say, "_Palsan bleu, mes seigneurs, -il me semble que vous vous oubliez ici_," using the dignified oath -already becoming obsolete. His French was the old French of the court. -He never, for instance, said, "_Je vous remercie_," but, "_Je vous -rends grace_." - -Guests at Ker-Guelegaan arrived with their own horses and carriages to -stay a month or more, and open house was kept. Breakfast was at six -for those who did not take communion at the mass that was celebrated -every morning in the chapel adjoining the chateau; these breakfasted -on returning. It was permissible for ladies, at this early hour, to -appear very informally in _peignoirs_ and _bigoudics_. _Bigoudics_ are -curl-papers or ribbons. The marquis almost always took communion, but -he usually appeared at the six o'clock breakfast. After mass, once his -correspondence dealt with, he played billiards with Rosine, the -beautiful girl who became a nun in the order of the Carmelites, an -order so strict that those who entered it died, to all intents and -purposes, since their relatives never saw them again, and at that time -were not even informed of their death. I see Rosine very clearly, -bending over the billiard-table under her father's fond gaze, and I -can also see her kneeling to pray in a corner of the _petit salon_. It -was with such simplicity that any suspicion of affectation or parade -was out of the question. In the midst of a conversation she would -gently ask to be excused and would go there apart and pray, sometimes -for an hour. The ladies quietly gossiping over their embroidery-frames -took it quite as a matter of course that Rosine should be praying near -them. - - [Illustration: "Guests at Ker-Guelegaan arrived with their own horses - and carriages"] - -_Dejeuner_ was at ten, and it was then that one saw how strongly -feudal customs still survived at Ker-Guelegaan. The marquis sat at the -head of the table, and behind his chair stood his old servant Yvon, -dressed in Breton mourning-costume in memory of his defunct mistress; -that is to say, in blue, black, and yellow. The other servants wore -the livery of the house. Half-way down the table the white cloth -ended, and the lower half had a matting covering. Here sat all the -farmers of Ker-Guelegaan and their families, taking their midday meal -with their master, while M. de Ploeuc and his guests and family sat -above. We children were usually placed at a little side-table. The -meal aways began by M. de Ploeuc rising and blessing the company with -two outstretched fingers, like a bishop, and he then recited a -benediction. He was always served first, another survival of -patriarchal custom, forced upon him, rather, for I remember his -protesting against it and wishing my mother, who sat next him, to be -served before him; but she would not hear of it. During the repasts a -violinist and a _biniou_-player, dressed in his Breton costume, played -to us. - -After luncheon the ladies drove or rode or walked as the fancy took -them, or, assembled in the _petit salon_, talked over their work. On -hot days the blinds would be drawn down before the open windows, but -in the angle of each window was fixed a long slip of mirror, so that -from every corner one could see if visitors, welcome or unwelcome, -were driving up to the _perron_. _Gouter_, at three, consisted of -bread, fruit, and milk, and dinner was at five. After that the ladies -and gentlemen assembled in the _petit salon_ and talked, told -ghost-stories and legends, or played games till the very early -bedtime of the place and period. - -This was the _train de vie_ at Ker-Guelegaan; but my memories of the -place center almost entirely around the figure of my old friend. I was -his constant companion. When he rode out after luncheon to visit his -farms, I would sit before him on his old horse Pluton. He never let -Pluton gallop for fear of tiring him. "Do you see, _ma petite_," he -would say, "Pluton is a comrade who has never failed me. He has earned -a peaceful old age." We passed, in the wood behind the chateau, a -monument of a Templar that frightened and interested me. He lay with -his hands crossed over his sword, his feet stayed against a couchant -hound, and I could not understand why he wore a knitted coat. My old -friend burst out laughing when I questioned him, and said that I was -as ignorant as a little carp, and that it was high time I went to the -Sacre Coeur. He told me that the knitted coat was a coat of mail, -and tried to instil a little history into my mind, telling me of the -crusades and St. Louis; but I am afraid that my mind soon wandered -away to Pluton's gently pricked ears and to the wonders of the woods -that surrounded us. We had walks together, too, and went one day to -the sea-shore, where there was a famous grotto often visited by -strangers. When we arrived at the black arch among the rocks and I -heard it was called the Devil's Grot, I was terrified, clinging to M. -de Ploeuc's hand and refusing to enter. - - [Illustration: "_Maman_ wrote secretly to _bon papa_ in Paris"] - -"But why not, Sophie? Why not?" he questioned me. "I am here to take -care of you, and there is no danger at all. See, Yann is lighting the -torches to show us the way." - -"But the devil--the devil will get me," I whispered; "Jeannie told me -so." - -Jeannie, indeed, was in the habit of punishing or frightening me by -tales of the devil and his fork and tail and flames, and of how he -would come and carry off disobedient little girls; so it was not to be -wondered at that I feared to enter his grot. I imagined that he -himself lurked there and would certainly carry me off, for I was well -aware that I was often very disobedient. M. de Ploeuc sat down on a -rock, took me on his knee, and said: - -"It is very wrong of Jeannie to fill your head with such nonsense, my -little one. Nothing like her devil exists in the whole world, and you -must pay no attention to her stories." - -He told me that the cavern was filled with beautiful stalactites, like -great clusters of diamonds, and was so gentle and merry and reasonable -that the devil was exorcised from my imagination forever, and I -consented to enter the grotto. - -Yann and the guide, a young farmer of Ker-Guelegaan, led us in with -their lighted torches, and I suddenly saw before me, strangely -illuminated, a somber, yet gorgeous, fairy-land. Diamonds indeed! -Pillars of diamonds rose from the rocky floor to the roof, and -pendants hung in long clusters, glittering in inconceivable vistas of -splendor. I was so dazzled and amazed that I gave the vaguest -attention to M. de Ploeuc's explanation of the way in which the -stalactites were formed among the rocks. Indeed, that night I could -not sleep, still seeing diamond columns and pillars, and my dear -old friend was full of self-reproach next day when he heard that -during the night the Devil's Grot had given me a fever. - - [Illustration: "As a country gentleman he had lived and as a country - gentleman he intended to go on living"] - -Sometimes the Marquis de L---- accompanied us on our expeditions, and -sometimes I was even left in his charge for an afternoon. I disliked -this very much, for he had no amusing stories to tell me and walked -very fast, and when my pace flagged, he would pause to look at me -reproachfully, tapping his foot on the ground, and crying out, as -though I were one of his horses, "Get up! Get up!" - -M. de Ploeuc often took me, after lunch, into his little study and -played the flute to me. I liked being in the study, but it rather -frightened me to see my old friend remove his teeth before beginning -to play. Their absence sadly altered his beautiful and stately -countenance, and gave, besides, an odd, whistling timbre to his music. -Still, I listened attentively, looking away now and then from his -rapt, concentrated countenance to the _tapis vert_ outside, where the -cows were cropping the short grass, or glancing around rather -shrinkingly at the headless bust of Marie Antoinette that stood on the -mantelpiece. The head lay beside the bust, and there was, even to my -childish imagination, a terrible beauty in the proud shoulders thus -devastated. This was one of two such busts that had been decapitated -by the Revolutionists. The other belonged, I think, later on, to the -Empress Eugenie. When the marquis had finished his thin, melancholy -airs, it was my turn to perform, and that I liked much better. I saw -that he loved to hear the old Breton songs sung in my sweet, piping -little voice, and it was especially pleasant, our music over, to be -rewarded by being given chocolate pastils from a little enamel box -that stood on the writing-desk. While I softly crunched the pastils M. -de Ploeuc told me about the countries where the plant from which the -chocolate came grew. It was not at all common in Brittany at that -time, and the pastils much less sweet than our modern bon bons. M. de -Ploeuc also carried for his own delectation small violet and -peppermint lozenges in a little gold box that he drew from his -waistcoat-pocket, and these gave the pleasantest fragrance to his -kiss. I often sat on with him in the study, looking at the pictures in -the books he gave me while he read or wrote. He wore on the third -finger of his right hand an odd black ring that had a tiny -magnifying-glass fixed upon it, and while he read his hand moved -gently across the page. - -I owe a great deal to this dear old friend. He took the deepest -interest in my deportment, and _maman_ was specially delighted that he -should extirpate from my speech provincial words and intonations. He -entirely broke me of the bad habits of shrugging my shoulders and -biting my nails. - -"Only wicked men and women bite their nails," he told me, and pointed -out to me as a terrible warning the beautiful and coquettish Mme. de -G----, one of his guests, who had bitten her nails to the quick and -quite ruined the appearance of her hands. - -"And is she so wicked?" I asked. At which he laughed a little, and -said that she must become so if she continued to bite her nails. He -made me practise coming into and going out of a room until he was -satisfied with my ease and grace. - -"Do you see, _ma petite Sophie_," he said, "a woman, when she walks -well, is a goddess. Walk always as if on clouds, lightly and loftily. -Or imagine that you are skimming over fields of wheat, and that not an -ear must bend beneath your tread." - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -LOCH-AR-BRUGG - - -And now I must tell of Loch-ar-Brugg, the center of my long life and -the spot dearest to me upon earth. It was situated amidst the -beautiful, wild, heathery country that stretched inland from -Landerneau. I first saw it one day when I drove over from Landerneau -with my father, and my chief recollection of this earliest visit is -the deep shade under the high arch of the beech avenue and the -aromatic smell of black currants in an upper room where we were taken -to see the liqueur in process of being made. I was given some to drink -in a tiny glass, and I never smell or taste _cassis_ that the scent, -color, warmth, and sweetness of that long-distant day does not flash -upon me. The liqueur was being made by the farmer's wife; for part of -the house, which, as I have said, papa at that time used only as a -hunting-lodge, was inhabited by a Belgian farmer and his family. They -were all seated at their midday meal when we arrived, and another -thing I remember is that the eldest daughter, a singularly beautiful -young creature, with sea-green eyes and golden hair, was so much -confused at seeing us that she put a spoonful of the custard she was -eating against her cheek instead of into her mouth, greatly to my -delight and to papa's. - -"Monsieur must excuse her," said the mother; "she is very timid." On -which my father replied with some compliment which made all the family -smile. I see them all smiling and happy, yet it must have been soon -after that a tragedy befell them. News was brought to my father that -the farmer had hanged himself. The poor man's rent was badly in -arrears, but when he had last spoken to my father about it, the -latter, as was always his wont in such circumstances, told him not to -torment himself and that he could pay when he liked. _Maman_ always -suspected that my father's agent had threatened the poor fellow and -that he had done away with himself in an access of despondency. -Papa, overcome with grief, hastened to Loch-ar-Brugg and remained -there for a week with the mourning family. He gave them money to -return to Belgium, and the beautiful young daughter became, we heard, -a very skilful lace-maker. - - [Illustration: On the road to Loch-ar-Brugg] - -I was too young for this lugubrious event to cast a shadow on my dear -Loch-ar-Brugg, but for many years _maman_ disliked the place. We still -lived at Quimper or Landerneau, using Loch-ar-Brugg as a mere country -resort; but by degrees the ugly walls, nine feet high, that shut in -the house from the gardens and shut out the view were pulled down, -lawns were thrown into one another, great clumps of blue hydrangeas -were planted all down the avenue, on each side, between each -beech-tree, and the house, if not beautiful, was made comfortable and -convenient. It was when we were really established at Loch-ar-Brugg -that _maman_ began to take the finances of the household into her -capable hands. She reproached my father with his lack of ambition, and -asked him frequently why he did not find an occupation, to which he -always replied, "_Ma chere_, I have precisely the occupations I care -for." _Maman_ wrote secretly to _bon papa_ in Paris and begged him to -find a post for her husband there, and an excellent one was found at -the treasury. But when the letter came, and _maman_, full of joy, -displayed it to him, papa cheerfully, but firmly, refused to consider -for a moment any such change in his way of life. As a country -gentleman he had lived and as a country gentleman he intended to go on -living, and so indeed he continued to the end of his long life. I -don't imagine that he made any difficulties as to _maman_ taking over -the financial management. He was quite incapable of saying no to a -farmer who asked to have his rent run on unpaid, and realized, no -doubt, that his methods would soon bring his family to ruin. So it was -_maman_ who received and paid out all the money. I see her now, -sitting at the end of the long table in the kitchen, between two tall -tallow candles, the peasants kneeling on the floor about her while she -assessed their indebtedness and received their payments. She was never -unkind, but always strict, and I was more than once the sympathetic -witness of an incident that would greatly have incensed her. My -father, meeting a disconsolate peasant going to an interview with _la -Maitresse_, would surreptitiously slide the needful sum into his hand! -What would _maman_ have said had she known that the money so brightly -and briskly paid to her had just come out of her husband's pocket! - - [Illustration: "My father, meeting a disconsolate peasant, ... would - surreptitiously slide the needful sum into his hand"] - -I was always a great deal with papa at Loch-ar-Brugg. At first I used -to walk with him,--when he did not take me on his horse,--trotting -along beside him, my hand in his. Later on, when Tante Rose had given -me a dear little pony, I rode with him, and he had secretly made for -me, knowing that _maman_ would not approve, a very astonishing -riding-costume. It had long, tightly fitting trousers, a short little -jacket, like an Eton jacket, with a red-velvet collar,--red was my -father's racing color,--and on my long golden curls a high silk hat. -_Maman_ burst out laughing when she saw me thus attired and was too -much amused to be displeased. She herself rode a great deal at this -time, but it was to hunting- and shooting-parties, from which she -would return with her "bag" hanging from a sort of little pole fixed -to her saddle; and I remember that one day she brought a strange beast -that none of us ever saw in Brittany again, a species of armadillo -(_tatou_) that her horse had trodden upon and killed. - -It was at Loch-ar-Brugg, on one of those early walks with papa, that -my first vivid recollection of a landscape seen as a beautiful picture -comes to me. We had entered a deep lane where gnarled old trees -interlaced their fingers overhead and looked, with their twisted -trunks, like crouching men or beasts; and as we advanced, it became so -dark and mysterious that I was very much frightened and hung to papa's -hand, begging to be taken out. He pointed then before us, and far, far -away I saw a tiny spot of light. "Don't be frightened, Sophie," he -said; "we are going toward the sunlight." So I kept my eyes fixed on -the widening spot, holding papa's hand very tightly in the haunted -darkness; and when we suddenly emerged, we were on the brink of a -great gorge, and beyond were mountains, and below us lay a tranquil, -silver lake. I have never forgotten the strange, visionary -impression, as of a beauty evoked from the darkness. Papa told me the -story of the lake; it was called "le lac des Korrigans." The Korrigans -are Breton fairies--fairies, I think, more melancholy than those of -other lands, and with something sinister and _macabre_ in their -supernatural activities. They danced upon the turf, it is true, in -fairy-rings, but also, at night, they would unwind the linen from the -dead in the churchyards and wash it in this lake. I felt the same fear -and wonder on hearing this story that all my descendants have shown -when they, in their turn, have come to hear it, and my little -granddaughter, in passing near the lake with me, has often said, -shrinking against me, "Je ne veux pas voir les blanchisseuses, -Grand'mere." - - [Illustration: Le Lac des Korrigans] - -Unlike the marquis, who filled my mind, or tried to fill it, with the -facts of nature and history, papa, on our walks, told me all these old -legends, not as if he believed them, it is true, but as if they were -stories quite as important in their way as the crusades; and perhaps -he was right. - -Sometimes, when we were walking or riding, we met convicts who had -escaped from the great prison at Brest. I was strictly forbidden ever -to go outside the gates alone; but once, at evening, I slipped out and -ran along the road to meet papa, who, I knew, was coming from -Landerneau on foot. He was very much perturbed when he saw me emerge -before him in the dusk, and drew me sharply to his side, and I then -noticed that two men were following him. Presently they joined us and -asked papa, very roughly, for the time. - -"It is nine, I think," said my father, eyeing them very attentively. - -"You think? Haven't you a watch, then?" said one of them. - -I suppose they imagined that the rifle papa carried over his shoulder -was unloaded; but unslinging it in the twinkling of an eye, he said -sternly: - -"Walk ahead. If you turn or stop, I shoot." They obeyed at once, and -as they went along we heard a queer clink come from their ankles. - -"Escaped convicts," said papa in a low voice. "Poor devils! And you -see, Sophie, how dangerous it is for little girls to wander on the -roads at night." - - [Illustration: "Papa took out his hunting-flask and made him drink"] - -On another occasion we found a wretched, exhausted man lying by the -roadside, and papa stopped and asked him what was the matter. He must -have felt the kindness of the face and voice, for he said: - -"I am an escaped convict, monsieur. For God's sake! don't betray me. I -am dying of hunger." Papa took out his hunting-flask and made him -drink, and then, when we saw that the brandy had given him strength, -he put some money into his hand and said: - -"It is against the law that I should help you, but I give you an hour -before I raise the alarm. Go in that direction, and God be with you!" - -The church-bells were rung everywhere, answering one another from -village to village when a convict was known to be at large; but on -this occasion I know that my father did not fulfil his duty, the poor -creature's piteous face had too much touched him. Once, too, when we -children were walking with Jeannie along the highroad we caught sight -of a beggar-woman sleeping in the ditch. In peering over cautiously to -have a good look at her, we saw huge men's boots protruding from her -petticoats, and, at the other end, a black beard, and we then made off -as fast as our legs would carry us, realizing that the beggar-woman -was a convict in disguise. At an inn not far from Loch-ar-Brugg there -was a woman of bad character who sold these disguises to the escaped -convicts. - -Papa and my little brother and sister (Maraquita was not then born) -were not my only companions at Loch-ar-Brugg. The property of Ker-Azel -adjoined ours, and I saw all my Laisieu cousins continually, dear, -gentle France, domineering Jules, and the rest. There were nine of -them. It was Jules who told us one day that he had been thinking over -the future of France (the country, not his brother), and had come to -the conclusion that we should all soon suffer from a terrible famine. -Famines had come before this, said Jules, so why not again? It was -only wise to be prepared for them; and what he suggested was that we -should all accustom ourselves to eat grass and clover, as the cattle -did. If it nourished cows, it would nourish us. All that was needed -was a little good-will in order that we should become accustomed to -the new diet. Jules was sincerely convinced of the truth of what he -said; but he was a tyrannous boy, and threatened us with beatings if -we breathed a word of his plan to our parents. We were to feign at -meals that we were not hungry, and to say that we had eaten before -coming to the table. I well remember the first time that we poor -little creatures knelt down on all fours in a secluded meadow and -began to bite and munch the grass. We complained at once that we did -not like it at all, and Jules, as a concession to our weakness, said -that we might begin with clover, since it was sweeter. For some time -we submitted to the ordeal, getting thinner and thinner and paler, -growing accustomed, it is true, to our tasteless diet and never daring -to confess our predicament; we were really afraid of the famine as -well as of Jules. At last our parents, seriously alarmed, consulted -the good old doctor, as nothing could be got from us but stout -denials of hunger. He took me home with him, for I was his special -pet, and talked gravely and gently to me, reminding me that I was now -eight years old and of the age of reason, going to confession and -capable of sin. It was a sin to tell lies, and if I would tell him the -truth, he would never betray my confidence. Thus adjured, I began to -cry, and confessed that we had all been eating nothing but grass and -clover. The doctor petted and consoled me, told me that it was all -folly on the part of Jules, and that he would set it right without any -one knowing that I had told him. He kept his promise to me. It was as -if by chance he found us all in our meadow next day, on all fours, -munching away. Jules sprang up, sulky and obstinate. - -"Yes; we are eating grass and clover," he said, "and we are quite -accustomed to it now and like it very much, and we shall be better off -than the rest of you when the famine comes." - -The doctor burst out laughing, and his laughter broke the spell Jules -had cast upon us. He told us that not only was there no probability -of a famine, no possibility even, France being a country rich in food, -but that even were there to be a famine, we should certainly all be -dead before it came if we went on eating as the cattle did, since we -were not accommodated with the same digestive apparatus as they. He -described to us this apparatus and our own, and at last even Jules, -who was as thin and as weary as the rest of us, was convinced, and -glad to be convinced. It was not till many years afterward that we -told our parents the story. - -One day we children were all in a deep lane--perhaps the same that had -frightened me years before--when, at a turning, the most inconceivable -monster towered above us in the gloom. We recognized it in a moment as -a camel (a camel in Brittany!), and with it came a band of Gipsies, -with dark skins, flashing teeth, bright handkerchiefs, and ear-rings. -Our alarm was not diminished when we saw that they led, as well as the -camel, two thin performing bears. But as we emerged into the light -with the chattering, fawning crowd, alarm gave way to joyous -excitement. The camel and the bears were under perfect control, and -the Gipsies were not going to hurt us. They asked if they might make -the bears dance for us, and we ran to show them the way to -Loch-ar-Brugg. _Maman_, in her broad garden hat, was walking in the -beech-avenue, and came at once to forbid the Gipsies to enter, as they -were preparing to do; but as we supplicated that we should be allowed -to see the bears dance, she consented to allow the performance to take -place in the highroad before the _grille_. We sat about on the grass; -the camel towered against the sky, gaunt, tawny, and melancholy; and -the bears, armed with wooden staffs, went through their clumsy, -reluctant tricks. _Maman_, from within the _grille_, surveyed the -entertainment with great disfavor, and it lost its charm for us when -we heard her say: "How wretchedly thin and miserable the poor -creatures look! They must be dying of hunger." We then became very -sorry for the bears, too, and glad to have them left in peace, and -while we distributed sous to the Gipsies, _maman_ went to the house -and returned with a basket of broken bread and meat, which she gave to -the famished beasts. How they snatched and devoured it, and how -plainly I see _maman_ standing there, the deep green vault of the -avenue behind her, the clumps of blue hydrangeas, her light dress, her -wide-brimmed garden hat, and her severe, solicitous blue eyes as she -held out the bread to the hungry bears! - - [Illustration: "A woman of bad character, who sold these disguises to - escaped convicts"] - -A great character at Loch-ar-Brugg was the cure. It was he who had -baptized me, for I was baptized not at Quimper, but in the little -church of St. Eloi that stood at the foot of the Loch-ar-Brugg woods -and had been in the Kerouguet family for generations. During my -earliest years there he was our chaplain, inhabiting one of the -_pavillons_ in the garden with his old servant; later on he was given -the living of Plougastel, some miles away, and my father had to -persuade him to accept it, for he was very averse to leaving -Loch-ar-Brugg and our family. Still, even at Plougastel we saw him -constantly; he drove over nearly every day in his little pony-trap, -and officiated every Sunday at the seven o'clock mass at St. Eloi. -What a dear, honest fellow he was, and what startling sermons I have -heard him preach! Once he informed his congregation that they would -all be damned like Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Fenelon! This threat, -pronounced in Breton, was especially impressive, and how he came by -the two ill-assorted names I cannot imagine, for he was nearly as -ignorant of books as his flock. He was devoted to my father body and -soul, being the son of one of his farmers. They were great comrades. -Whenever my father had had a good day's shooting he would go to the -_pavillon_ and cry: "Come to dinner! There are woodcocks." And the -cure never failed to come. I see him now, with his rustic, rugged -face, weather-tanned, gay, and austere. One of my first memories is of -the small, square neck ornament (_rabat_) that the clergy wear,--a -_bavette_ we children called them,--stitched round with white beads. I -longed for these beads, and when he took me on his knee I always fixed -my eyes upon them. Unattainable indeed they seemed, but one day, -noticing the intentness of my gaze, he questioned me, and I was able -to express my longing. "But you shall have the beads!" he cried, -touched and delighted. "I have two _rabats_, and one is old and past -wearing. Nothing is simpler than to cut off the beads for you, my -little Sophie." - -His performance was even better than his promise, for he brought me a -bagful of the beads, collected from among his cure friends, and for -days I was blissfully occupied in making chains, rings, and necklaces. -Some of these ornaments survived for many years. - -The cure was not at all happy in the presence of fine people. "_Je me -sauve!_" he would exclaim if such appeared, and he would make off to -the garden, where he was altogether at home, true son of the soil that -he was. Here he would gird up his _soutane_ over his homespun -knee-breeches, open his coarse peasant's shirt on his bare chest, and -prune and dig and plant; and when he took a task in hand it went -quickly. One of my delights was when he put me into the wheelbarrow -and trundled me off to Ker-Eliane to dig up ferns for _maman's_ -garden. - -He, too, told me many legends. The one of St. Eloi especially -interested me. St. Eloi was the son of a blacksmith and helped his -father at the forge in the tiny hamlet called after him. One day as -they were working, a little child came riding up, mounted on a horse -so gigantic that four men could not have held him. "Will you shoe my -horse, good friends?" said the child,--who of course was _l'Enfant -Jesus_,--very politely. "His shoe is loose, and his hoof will be -hurt." The father blacksmith looked with astonishment and indignation -at the horse, and said that he could not think of shoeing an animal of -such a size; but the son, St. Eloi, said at once that he would do his -best. So _l'Enfant Jesus_ slid down, and took a seat on the _talus_ in -front of the smithy, and St. Eloi at once neatly unscrewed the four -legs of the horse and laid them down beside the enormous body. At this -point in the story I always cried out: - -"But, _Monsieur le Cure_, did it not hurt the poor horse to have its -legs unscrewed?" - -And the cure, smiling calmly, would reply: - -"Not in the least. You see, this was a miracle, my little Sophie." - -So St. Eloi was able to deal with the great hoofs separately, and when -all was neatly done, the legs were screwed on again; and the child -remounted, and said to St. Eloi's father before he rode away: - -"You are a little soured with age, my friend. Your son here is very -wise. Listen to him and take his advice in everything, for it will be -good." - -It was no doubt on account of this legend that all the horses through -all the country far and near were brought to the church of St. Eloi -once a year to be blessed by the cure. This ceremony was called _le -Bapteme des Chevaux_. The horses, from plow-horses to carriage-horses -and hunters, were brought and ranged round the church in groups of -fours and sixes. At the widely opened western door the cure stood, -holding the _goupillon_, or holy-water sprinkler, and the horses were -slowly led round the church, row after row, seven times, and each time -that they passed before him the cure sprinkled them with holy water. -After this initial blessing the cure took up his stand within beside -the christening-font, and the horses were led into the church,--I so -well remember the dull thud and trampling of their feet upon the -earthen floor,--and the cure, with holy water from the font, made the -sign of the cross upon each large, innocent forehead. Finally the tail -of each horse was carefully cut off, and all the tails hung up in the -church together, to be sold for the benefit of the church at the end -of the year, before _le Bapteme des Chevaux_ took place again. This -touching ceremony still survives, but the horses are only led round -the church and blessed, not brought inside. - - [Illustration: "A great character at Loch-ar-Brugg was the cure"] - -The Church of St. Eloi was very ancient, and adorned with strange old -statues of clumsily carved stone painted in garish colors. One was of -a Christ waiting for the cross, His hands tied before Him. It was a -hideous figure, the feet and hands huge and distorted, the eyes -staring like those of a doll; yet it had an impressive look of -suffering. There were no benches in the church except for our family, -near the choir. The peasants, the men on one side, the women on the -other, knelt on the bare earth during the office. They had used, -always, when they entered the church, to pass round before _les -maitres_, bowing before them; but even my mother objected to this, and -the cure was told to give out from the pulpit that _les maitres_ were -no longer to be bowed to in church, where there was only one master. -_Maman_, however, did not at all like it that my father should insist -on us children kneeling with the peasants, and it was the one subject -on which I remember a difference of opinion between my grandfather -Rosval and papa. But the latter was firm, and Ernest on the side of -the men, Eliane and I on the side of the women, we knelt through mass. -This was no hardship to us, for the kind peasants spread their skirts -for our little knees and regaled us all through the service with -_crepes_. - - [Illustration: "All the Breton women smoked"] - -_Crepes_ seem to be present in nearly all my Breton memories. The -peasants made them for us when we went to visit them in their -cottages, and it would have hurt their feelings deeply had we refused -them. We children delighted in these visits not only on account of the -_crepes_, but on account of the picturesque interest of these peasant -interiors. The one living-room had an earthen floor and a huge -chimney-place of stone, often quaintly carved, and so large that -chairs could be set within it about the blazing logs. The room was -paneled, as it were, with beds that looked, when their sliding wooden -doors were closed, like tall wardrobes ranged along the walls. They -were usually of dark old wood and often beautifully carved. A narrow -space between the tops of these beds and the ceiling allowed some air -(but what air!) to reach the sleepers, and, within, the straw was -piled high, and the mattress and feather bed were laid upon it. It was -quite customary for father, mother, and three or four children to -sleep in one bed, several generations often occupying a room, as well -as the servants, who were of the same class as their masters. The beds -were climbed into by means of a carved chest that stood beside them. -These were called _huches_, and contained the heirloom costumes, a -store of bread, and the Sunday shoes! Potatoes were kept under the -bed. In the window stood the table where the family and servants all -ate together, and above it hung, suspended by a pulley and string -from the ceiling, a curious contrivance for holding spoons. It was a -sort of wooden disk, and the spoons were held in notches cut round the -edge; it was lowered when needed, and each person took a spoon. A -great earthenware bowl of creamy milk stood in the center of the -table, and with each mouthful of porridge, or _fare_, the spoons were -dipped, in community, into the milk. _Fare_ was a sort of thick -porridge made of maize, allowed to cool in a large round cake, and cut -in slices when cold. It was one of the peasants' staple dishes, and -another was the porridge made of oatmeal, rye, or buckwheat, served -hot, with a lump of butter. For breakfast they all drank _cafe au -lait_, strong coffee boiled with the milk; fortunately milk and butter -were plentiful. Of the hygienic habits of the peasants at this time -the less said the better; a very minor detail was that the long hair -of the men and the closely coiffed tresses of the women swarmed with -vermin, and after every visit we paid, our heads were always carefully -examined. One peasant, I remember, a good fellow, Paul Simur by name, -of whom my father was specially fond, was so dirty and unwashed that a -sort of mask of dirt had formed upon his features. One day, at a -hunting-party, papa called to Paul to come and sit beside him, and the -other huntsmen, with singular bad taste, began to make fun of poor -Paul, who sat much abashed, with hanging head. Papa affectionately -laid an arm about his neck and defended him, until his friends finally -cried out that they wagered he would not kiss him. At this, although -he confessed afterward to the most intense repugnance, he at once -kissed Paul heartily. Poor Paul was quite overcome. He came to my -father afterward with tears in his eyes and said, standing before him -and gazing at him: - -"_Oh, mon maitre, que je t'aime!_" - -"And why don't you ever wash your face, Paul?" papa asked him then, -and Paul explained that he had never been taught to wash and was -afraid it would seriously hurt him to begin. Papa undertook to teach -him. He got soap and soda and hot water and lathered Paul, gently and -firmly, until at last his very agreeable features were disinterred. -Paul was perfectly delighted, and his face shone with cleanliness ever -after. - - [Illustration: "One sometimes saw such an old woman sitting on a - _talus_"] - -A special friend of mine among the peasants was dear old Keransiflan, -the lodge-keeper. I was fond of joining him while he tended the road -in front of the lodge-gates and sitting on his wheelbarrow with him to -talk to him while he ate his midday meal. This consisted of a huge -slice of black bread thickly spread with butter, and it seemed to me -that no bread and butter had ever looked so good. - -One day he must have seen how much I longed for it, for he said, -holding out the slice, "_Demoiselle, en veux-tu_?" I did not need to -be asked twice, and can still see the great semicircle that I bit into -the slice, and I was happily munching when _maman_ appeared at the -lodge-gates. She was very much displeased, and mainly that I should be -devouring poor Keransiflan's luncheon, and she rated me so soundly -that the kind old man interceded for me, saying, "_Notre maitresse, -c'est moi qui lui l'ai donne_." I think that _maman_ must have seen -that it gave him great pleasure to share his bread with me; at all -events, Keransiflan and I, sitting on our wheelbarrow, were allowed to -go on eating in peace. - -But the peasants were a hard, harsh race and pitiless in their -dealings toward one another. Their treatment of their old people was -terrible. If an old mother, past work, had no money, she was -ruthlessly turned out to beg. One sometimes saw such an old woman -sitting on a _talus_, her pitiful bundle of rags beside her, helpless -and stupefied. I remember a story that was told me by one of my -servants about such an old woman that she had known. She had four -hundred francs, and was cared for in the family of one son until it -was spent, when she was turned out. Another son more kindly took her -in; but his wife was a hard woman, and though she finally consented to -accept the useless old mother into the household, she grudged every -sou spent upon her. Thus, though the only two joys remaining her in -life were snuff and coffee, only two sous a week was allowed her for -tobacco, and as for coffee, she was given never a drop. When she was -dying she told the servant from whom I had the story that what made -her suffer most had been to sit by in the morning and smell the -delicious odor of the coffee as the others drank it. This has always -seemed to me a heart-piercing story. All the Breton women smoked, by -the way, and pipes, and in a curious fashion; for the bowl was turned -downward, though why, I do not know. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE PARDON AT FOLGOAT - - -I was taken while I was a child at Loch-ar-Brugg to the famous _Pardon -de Folgoat_, to which people came from all Brittany. In Folgoat was -the summer residence of Anne de Bretagne, and in the vast hall of the -chateau she had held her audiences. The chateau is now the presbytery, -and is opposite the church, of which there is a legend. A poor child, -Yann Salacin, who was devoid of reason, spent hours every day before -the altar of the Virgin, which he decorated with the wild flowers that -he gathered in the fields, and wandered in the forest, swinging on the -branches of the trees, always singing Ave Maria, the only words he was -ever heard to pronounce. He begged for food from door to door and -slept in the barns. The peasants became impatient with him and began -to whisper that he was possessed of an evil spirit, and at last they -drove him out of the village. The cure, who was a good man, missed him -in the church, sought vainly for him, and at last heard what had -happened. He was filled with indignation, and told the peasants that -they had committed a crime. Then he set out to look for poor Yann, and -found him at last in a distant forest, dead with hunger. He brought -the body back to Folgoat and buried it near the church, and one day he -saw that a tall white lily had grown up from the grave; when he opened -the grave he found that the lily sprang from the lips of the little -innocent, and on the petals of the flower one could read in letters of -gold Ave Maria. This legend is believed in all Brittany, and a -stained-glass window in the church tells the story. - -Behind the church is the Well of Love, so called because not a day -passes that lovers do not come to test their fate by trying to float -pins upon the surface of the water. If the pins float, all promises -well, and they go away happy. Astute ones slightly grease the pins, -and thus aid destiny. - -But to return to the _pardon_. I remember that on this occasion an -old cook in the family had permission to start two or three days -before the _pardon_, so that she might go all the way on her knees, -and during those days one met many such devout pilgrims making their -way on their knees along the dusty roads. Some of them came from far -distances. We children were called before dawn on the August morning, -and it was a sleepy, half-bewildered dressing by candle-light. As a -closed carriage made me sick, I was put into the coupe with papa and -_maman_. Eliane, Ernest, their nurses, and all the other servants, -followed in a sort of omnibus, and behind them came all the horses, -trotting gaily along the road to share in the blessings of this great -day of the Assumption of the Virgin. The horses of Brittany, it will -be conceded, are a specially favored race. Although I was in the coupe -and had all the freshness of the early air to invigorate me, I -remember of the journey from Loch-ar-Brugg to Folgoat only that I was -deplorably sick, and the greatest inconvenience to my parents. -Fortunately, I was restored the moment I set my feet upon the -ground. - - [Illustration: "Je me sauve," he would exclaim] - -We were to be entertained for the day at Folgoat by the cure, and to -lunch with him and with the bishops at the presbytery; but we were -already ravenously hungry, so, although papa and _maman_ must continue -to fast until after taking communion at the early service, we children -had a splendid picnic breakfast in the presbytery garden, and a -jellied breast of lamb is my first recollection of the day at Folgoat! -Then we went out to see the great festival. Seventy-five years or more -have passed since that day, and it still lives in my mind with a -beauty more than splendid, a divine beauty. In the vast plain, under -the vast, blue sky, six bishops, glittering with gold and precious -stones, celebrated mass simultaneously at six great altars among -thousands of worshipers. It was a sea of color under the August sun, -and the white _coiffes_ of the women were like flocks of snowy doves. -There was an early mass, and the high mass at eleven. When this was -over, we assembled at the presbytery to lunch with the bishops. The -table was laid in Anne de Bretagne's council-chamber, its stone walls -covered with archaic figures, and it must have been a picturesque -sight to see the bishops sitting in all their splendor against that -ancient background; but what I most remember are the stories they told -of Louis XI and his misdeeds, which seemed to me more interesting and -more cruel than the Arabian Nights and Ali Baba and his forty thieves. -In the church itself was shown a superbly carved bench where, it was -said, while praying, he ordered with a nod the death of a Breton noble -who had refused to do him homage. When we went into the church after -lunch to see this bench, I sat down on it, and my long golden curls -were caught in the claws of the interlaced monsters on the back, and I -hurt myself so much in wrenching myself free that I hated still more -fiercely the wicked king who condemned men to death while he prayed. O -the horrid monster! - -Then at three came the great procession. First went the six bishops, -mitered and carrying their croziers; then followed the children of the -_noblesse_, we among them, all in white, with white wreaths on our -heads; then all the vast multitude, twenty or thirty abreast, singing -canticles, a stupendous sight and sound, all marching round the -plain, from altar to altar, under the burning sun. I remember little -after that. The Marquis de Ploeuc was there, his hair tied in the -_catogan_, and wearing his black silk suit: I think he must have -lunched with us at the cure's. It was arranged that he and his two -eldest daughters were to drive back to Loch-ar-Brugg with _maman_ and -spend some days with us, and so, though I must have been very tired, I -was to ride back beside papa on my pony, which had been duly blessed. -It was already night when we started, and what a wonderful ride it -was! I remember no fatigue. I still wore my white dress, and _maman_ -swathed my head and shoulders in a white lace shawl, and all the way -back to Loch-ar-Brugg papa told me stories of hunts, of fairies, of -saints, and of escaped convicts. Every group of trees, every rock, -every turning in the road, had its legend or its adventure. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -BONNE MAMAN'S DEATH - - -We were at Quimper when _bonne maman_ died. She had been failing for -some time, and her character, until then so gentle, had altered. Mere -trifles disquieted her, and she became fretful, alarmed, and even -impatient. She seemed so little in her big bed, and, when I wanted to -climb up beside her, after my wont, she signed to Jeannie to take me -away and said that it tired her too much to see children and that the -air of a sick-room was not good for them. "Tell my daughter--tell her. -They must not come!" she repeated several times in a strange, shrill -voice. I slid down from the bed, I remember, abashed and disconcerted, -and while I longed to see my dear _bonne maman_ as I had known her, I -was afraid of this changed _bonne maman_; and it hurt me more for her -than for myself that she should be so changed. - -But one day when _maman_ was in the room, she caught sight of me -hanging about furtively in the passage, and called out gently to me to -go away, that _bonne maman_ was tired and was going to sleep. Then a -poor little voice, no longer shrill, very trembling, came from the -bed, saying: "Let her come, Eliane. It will not hurt me. I want to see -her for a moment." - -I approached the bed, walking on tiptoe; the curtains were drawn to -shade _bonne maman_ from the sunlight, and I softly came and stood -within them. O my poor _bonne maman_! I could hardly recognize her. -She seemed old--old and shrunken, and her eyes no longer smiled. She -looked at me so fixedly that I was frightened, and she said to -_maman_: - -"Lift her up on the bed. I want to kiss her." She took my hand then, -and looked at my little finger as she always used to do, and said: "I -see that you have been very good with your mother, but that you don't -obey your nurse. You must always be obedient. You understand me, -don't you, Sophie? Do you say your prayers?" - -"Yes, _bonne maman_," I answered. - -"Have you said them this morning?" - -"No, _bonne maman_." - -"Say them now." - -I made the sign of the cross and said the following prayer, which I -repeated morning and evening every day, and with slightly altered -nomenclature, my children and grandchildren have repeated, as I did, -until the age of reason: "_Mon Dieu_, bless me and bless and preserve -_grand-pere_, _bonne maman_, _maman_, _papa_, my sisters, my brother, -Tiny" [this was my little dog], "Ghislaine, France, Kerandraon, all my -family, and make me very good. Amen." When I had finished, _bonne -maman_ drew me gently to her, pressed me in her arms, and kissed me on -my eyes. - - [Illustration: Paul] - -After this, for how many days I do not remember, everything became -very still in the house. The servants whispered when they had to -speak, and the older people, when they met us, told us gently to go -into the garden and to be very quiet. We did not see _maman_ or -_papa_ at all. My _tante_ de Laisieu was with us, and dear France. -_Bon papa_ arrived from Paris. One morning was very sunny and -beautiful, and as I played with Eliane in the garden I forgot the -oppression that weighed upon us and began to sing to her a Breton song -which Jeannie had taught me. These were the words: - - Le Roy vient demain au chateau, - "Ecoute moi bien, ma Fleurette, - Tu regarderas bien son aigrette!" - - "Je regarderai," dit Fleurette, - "Pour bien reconnaitre le Roy! - Mes yeux ne verront que toi, - Et mon coeur n'aimera que toi." - -While I sang I looked up at _bonne maman's_ window, for I knew how -fond she was of hearing me. The window was shut, and this was unusual; -so I sang the louder, that she should hear me, of _Fleurette_ and _le -Roy_. Then France and one of the servants came running out of the -house, and I saw that both had been crying, and France put his arm -about me while the servant said, "Mademoiselle must not sing." And -France whispered: "You will wake _bonne maman_. Go into the orchard, -dear Sophie. There you will not be heard." In the evening papa came -for us in the nursery, and I saw that he, too, had been crying. I had -never before seen tears in his dear eyes. He took us up to _maman's_ -room. All the blinds were drawn down, but I could see her lying on her -bed, in her white woolen _peignoir_, her arms crossed behind her head, -her black jet rosary lying along the sheet beside her. We kissed her, -one after the other, and I saw the great tears rolling down her -cheeks. - -"_Maman_--is _bonne maman_ very ill?" I whispered. I felt that -something terrible had happened to us all. - -"My little girl," said _maman_, "your poor _bonne maman_ does not -suffer any more. She is very happy now with the angels and _le bon -Dieu_," but _maman_ was sobbing as she spoke. - - [Illustration: We children had a splendid picnic breakfast] - -I knew death only as it had come to one of my little birds that lived -in the round cage hung in the nursery-window, and I was very much -frightened when papa said: "I am going to take Sophie to your -mother's room, Eliane. She is old enough to understand." But I went -with him obediently, holding his hand. Outside _bonne maman's_ door he -paused and stooped to kiss me and said: "I know how much you loved -your _bonne maman_, Sophie, and I want you to say good-by to her, for -you will never see her again. She loved you so much, my little -darling, and you shall be the last one to kiss her." The room was all -black, and in the middle stood the bed. Beside it, on a table, a -little _chapelle_ had been made with a great silver cross and -candelabra with lighted tapers. A bunch of fresh box stood in a goblet -of holy water. _Bonne maman_ lay with her arms stretched out before -her, the hands clasped on her black wooden crucifix with a silver -Christ that had always hung upon her wall. Her hair was not dressed, -but drawn up from her forehead and covered with a mantilla of white -silk Spanish lace, which fell down over her shoulders on each side. I -stood beside her holding papa's hand. Her profile was sharply cut -against the blackness, and I had never before seen how beautiful it -was. Her eyes were closed, and she smiled tranquilly. I felt no longer -any fear; but when papa lifted me in his arms so that I might kiss -_bonne maman_ and my lips touched her forehead, a great shock went -through me. How cold her forehead was! O my poor _bonne maman_! Even -now, after all the lusters that have passed over me, I feel the cold -of that last kiss. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE JOURNEY FROM BRITTANY - - -It was not long after _bonne maman's_ death that we left Brittany and -went to Paris to live with _bon papa_. I remember every detail of this -my first long journey. The day began with a very early breakfast, -which we all had together in the dining-room and at which we had the -great treat of drinking chocolate. Then came the complicated business -of stowing us all away in our capacious traveling-carriage. It was -divided into three compartments. First came what was called the -_coupe_, with windows at the sides and a large window in front from -which we looked out past the coachman's red-stockinged legs and along -the horses' backs to where the postilion jounced merrily against the -sky in a red Breton costume like the coachman's, his long hair tied -behind with black ribbon, a red jockey's cap on his head, and black -shoulder-knots with jet _aiguillettes_. After the _coupe_, and -communicating with it by a tiny passage, though it had doors of its -own, was another compartment for maids, nurses, and children, and -behind that another and larger division for all the other servants. On -the top were seats beside the coachman, and papa spent most of the day -up there smoking. The luggage, carried on the top, was covered by a -great leather covering, buckled down all over it, called a _bache_. -The horses were post-horses, renewed at every post. It was decided -that I was to go in the _coupe_ with _maman_, papa, and little -Maraquita, as I should get more fresh air there. I wore, I remember, a -red cashmere dress made out of a dress of _maman's_. The material had -been brought from India and was bordered with a design of palm-leaves. -Indeed, this red cashmere must have provided me with a succession of -dresses, for I remember that when I made my _entree_ at the _Sacre -Coeur_ years afterwards, the bishop, visiting the convent, stopped, -smiling, at my bench, and said, "Why, this is a little Republican, is -it not?" Eliane and I both wore _capulets_ on our heads. These were -squares of white cloth that fell to the shoulders and that folded back -from the forehead and fastened under the chin with bands of black -velvet, a Spanish head-dress. Our cloaks were the full cloaks, -gathered finely around the neck and shoulders, that _maman_ had made -for us, copied from the peasants' cloaks, of foulard for summer and -wool for winter. Little Maraquita, who spent most of the three days' -journey on _maman's_ knees, wore, as always until she was seven or -eight, white and pale blue, the Virgin's colors, as she had been -_vouee au bleu et au blanc_ after a terrible accident that had -befallen her in infancy. She had fallen into the fire at Landerneau, -and her head and forehead had been badly burned, and _maman_ had thus -dedicated her to the Virgin with prayers that she might not be -disfigured--prayers that were more than answered, for Maraquita became -exquisitely beautiful. Papa, I may add here, had many friends and -connections in Spain; hence my little sister's name, and hence our -_capulets_. - -Eliane and Ernest traveled in the second compartment with their -nurses, Eliane carrying Tiny and her huge doll, and Ernest, -unfortunately for our peace of mind, a drum of mine that I had given -him and upon which he beat the drumsticks hour after hour. _Maman_, in -the _coupe_, cried out at intervals that it was intolerable to hear -such an incessant noise and that the child must really, now, be made -to stop; but papa always mildly soothed her, saying: "Let him play. It -keeps him distracted; he would probably be crying otherwise." So -Ernest continued to roll his drum. In the _coupe_ I was fully occupied -in playing at horses. Real leather reins had been fixed at each side -of the front window, passing under it so that, looking out over the -horses' haunches, I had the delightful illusion, as I wielded the -reins, of really driving them. I do not remember that I was sick at -all on the first day. The country was mountainous, and at every steep -hill we all got out and walked down, and this also, probably helped to -preserve me. One feature of the Brittany landscape of those days -stands out clearly in my memory, the tall, sinister-looking -telegraph-poles that stood, each one just visible to the last, on the -heights of the country. When I say telegraph it must not be imagined -that they were our modern electric installations, although so they -were called. These were of a very primitive and very ingenious -construction. At the top of each pole, by means of the projecting arm -that gave it the look of a gallows, immense wooden letters were hung -out, one after the other; these letters were worked by means of wires -that passed down the poles into the little hut at its foot. Each wire -at the bottom had a label with its corresponding letter, and the -operator in the hut, by pulling the wire, pulled the letter into its -place at the top of the pole, and was thus able laboriously to spell -out the message he had to convey and to make it visible to the -operator at the next post, who passed it on to the next. These clumsy -telegrams could be sent, as far as I remember, only at certain hours -of the day, and I think that it must have been during a wayside halt -on this journey that I visited a hut with papa and had the system -explained to me and saw a message being sent, for I remember the -clatter and shaking as the big letters overhead were pulled into -place. I do not know whether this method of communication was used all -over France, but one or two of the old poles still survive in -Brittany. - - [Illustration: The postilion sounded his horn] - -Our first stop that day was at Quimperle. The postilion, as we -approached a town or village, sounded his horn, and what excitement it -caused in these quiet little places when we came driving up, and how -all the people crowded round us! - -The inn at Quimperle was called the Hotel du Trefle Noir, and though -very primitive, the thatch showing through the rafters in the roof of -the immense kitchen-dining-room, it was scrupulously clean. We all sat -down together at the long table, servants, coachman, postilion, and -all, and the _dejeuner_ served to us by the good landlady was fit to -put before a king. I remember _maman_ laughing and asking her why she -served the salmon and, afterward, a heaping golden mound of fried -potatoes, on a great plank, and the landlady saying that she had no -dishes large enough. There was a turkey, too, stuffed with chestnuts -and of course _crepes_ and cream. Next door to us, in a smaller room, -a band of commercial travelers were also lunching, and as we finished -each course it was carried in to those cheerful young fellows, whose -hurrahs of joy added zest to our own appetites. That night we slept at -Rennes, where I remember only that I was very tired and that a horrid -man who came to make a fire in our bedrooms spat upon the floor, to -our disgust and indignation. I remember, too, a very pleasant crisp -cake, or roll, that _maman_ gave me to eat before I went to bed. - -It was on the third day that we drove at last into Paris, a fairy-land -to my gazing, stupefied eyes. What struck me most were the fountains -of the Place de la Concorde, the bronze mermaids holding the spouting -fish, and the little sunken gardens, four of them, that at that time -surrounded the obelisk. _Bon papa_ lived in the rue St. Dominique, St. -Germain, and as we drove up to the door I remember that it was under -blossoming acacia-trees and that the postilion blew a great blast -upon his horn to announce our arrival. The house, which was, indeed, a -very pleasing specimen of Louis XV architecture, looked palatial to my -childish eyes. _Bon papa_ was standing, very portly, on the terrace to -welcome us, and we ran into a park behind the house, with an avenue of -horse-chestnuts and a high fountain. But Brittany was left far behind, -and many, many years were to pass before I again saw my Loch-ar-Brugg. - - -THE END - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years -Ago, by Anne Douglas Sedgwick - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILDHOOD IN BRITTANY *** - -***** This file should be named 40699.txt or 40699.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/6/9/40699/ - -Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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