Part 6 (1/2)

”Because we have court near by, every year. The judge who comes exists in that room. It is a most stirabout time, for many witnesses and lawyers come. Perhaps monsieur pa.s.sed the court-house and saw a lady looking through the bars?”

”No, I did not. Who is the lady?”

”A naughty one, who sold liquor. She had no license, she could not pay her fine, therefore she must look through those iron bars,” and Mrs.

Rose a Charlitte shuddered.

Vesper looked interested, and presently she went on: ”But Clothilde Dubois has some mercies,--one rocking-chair, her own feather bed, some dainties to eat, and many friends to visit and talk through the bars.”

”Is there much drinking among the Acadiens on this Bay?” asked Vesper.

”They do not drink at all,” she said, stoutly.

”Really,--then you never see a drunken man?”

”I never see a drunken man,” rejoined his pretty hostess.

”Then I suppose there are no fights.”

”There are no fights among Acadiens. They are good people. They go to ma.s.s and vespers on Sunday. They listen to their good priests. In the evening one amuses oneself, and on Monday we rise early to work. There are no dances, no fights.”

Vesper's meditative glance wandered through the window to a square of gra.s.s outside, where some little girls in pink cotton dresses were playing croquet. He was drinking his coffee and watching their graceful behavior, when his attention was recalled to the room by hearing Mrs.

Rose a Charlitte say to her child, ”There, Narcisse, is a morsel for thy trees.”

The little boy had come from the corner where he had sat like a patient mouse, and, with some excitement, was heaping a plate with the food that Vesper had rejected.

”Not so fast, little one,” said his mother, with an apologetic glance at the stranger. ”Take these plates to the pantry, it will be better.”

”Ah, but they will have a good dinner to-day,” said the child. ”I will give most to the French willows, my mother. In the morning it will all be gone.”

”But, my treasure, it is the dogs that get it, not the trees.”

”No, my mother,” he drawled, ”you do not know. In the night the long branches stretch out their arms; they sweep it up,” and he clasped his tiny hands in ecstasy.

Vesper's curiosity was aroused, although he had not understood half that the child had said. ”Does he like trees?” he asked.

Rose a Charlitte made a puzzled gesture. ”Sir, to him the trees, the flowers, the gra.s.s, are quite alive. He will not play croquet with those dear little girls lest his shoes hurt the gra.s.s. If I would allow, he would take all the food from the house and lay under the trees and the flowers. He often cries at night, for he says the hollyhocks and sunflowers are hungry, because they are tall and lean. He suffers terribly to see the big spruces and pines cut down and dragged to the sh.o.r.e. The doctor says he should go away for awhile, but it is a puzzle, for I cannot endure to have him leave me.”

Vesper gave more attention than he yet had done to the perusal of the child's sensitive yet strangely composed face. Then he glanced at the mother. Did she understand him?

She did. In her deep blue eyes he could readily perceive the quick flash of maternal love and sympathy whenever her boy spoke to her. She was young, too, extremely young, to have the care of rearing a child. She must have been married in her cradle, and with that thought in mind he said, ”Do Acadien women marry at an early age?”

”Not more so than the English,” said Mrs. Rose, with a shrug of her graceful, sloping shoulders, ”though I was but young,--but seventeen.

But my husband wished it so. He had built this house. He had been long ready for marriage,” and she glanced at the wall behind Vesper.

The young man turned around. Just behind him hung the enlarged photograph of a man of middle age,--a man who must have been many years older than his young wife, and whose death had, evidently, not left a permanent blank in her affections.

In a nave, innocent way she imparted a few more particulars to Vesper with regard to her late husband, and, as he rose from the table, she followed him to the parlor and said, gently, ”Perhaps monsieur will register.”