Rose à Charlitte

by Marshall Saunders

  CHAPTER IX.

  A TALK ON THE WHARF.

  "Long have I lingered where the marshlands are, Oft hearing in the murmur of the tide The past, alive again and at my side, With unrelenting power and hateful war."

  J. F. H.

  "There goes the priest of the parish in his buggy," said Mrs. Nimmo. "Hemust have a sick call."

  She sat on a garden chair, crocheting a white shawl and watching thepassers-by on the road.

  "And there are some Sisters of Charity from one of the convents and anold Indian with a load of baskets is begging from them--Don't you wantto look at these bicyclists, Vesper? One, two, three, four, five, six.They are from Boston, I know, by the square collars on their jerseys.The Nova Scotians do not dress in that way."

  Vesper gave only a partial though pleased attention to his mother, whohad picked up an astonishing amount of neighborhood news, and as he layon a rug at her feet, with his hat pulled over his brows, his mindsoared up to the blue sky above him. During his illness he had alwaysseemed to be sinking down into blackness and desolation. With returninghealth and decreased nervousness his soul mounted upward, and he wouldlie for hours at a time bathed in a delicious reverie and dreaming of "anest among the stars."

  "And there is the blacksmith from the corner," continued Mrs. Nimmo,"who comes here so often to borrow things that a blacksmith is commonlysupposed to have. Yesterday he wanted a hammer. 'Not a hammer,' saidCelina to me, 'but a wife.'"

  Vesper's brain immediately turned an abrupt somersault in a descent fromthe sky to earth. "What did you say, mother?"

  "Merely that the blacksmith wishes to marry our landlady. It will be anexcellent match for her. Don't you think so?"

  "In some respects,--yes."

  "She is too young, and too handsome, to remain a widow. Celina says thatshe has had a great many admirers, but she has never seemed to fancy anyone but the blacksmith. She went for a drive with him last Sundayevening. You know that is the time young Acadiens call on the girls theyadmire. You see them walking by, or driving in their buggies. If agirl's _fiance_ did not call on her that evening she would throw himover--There she is now with your beef tea," and Mrs. Nimmo admiringlywatched Rose coming from the kitchen and carefully guarding a daintychina cup in her hand.

  Vesper got up and took it from her. "Don't you think it is nonsense forme to be drinking this every morning?" he asked.

  Rose looked up at him as he stood, tall, keen-eyed, interested, andwaiting for her answer. "What does madame, your mother, say?" she asked,indicating Mrs. Nimmo, by a pretty gesture.

  "His mother says," remarked Mrs. Nimmo, indulgently, "that her sonshould take any dose, no matter how disagreeable, if it has for itsobject the good of his health."

  Vesper glanced sharply at her, then poured the last few drops of his teaon the ground.

  "Ah," said Mrs. Rose, anxiously, "I feared that I had not put in enoughsalt. Now I know."

  "It was perfect," said Vesper. "I am only offering a libation to thosepansies," and he inclined his dark head towards Narcisse, who was seatedcross-legged in the hammock.

  Rose took the cup, smiled innocently and angelically on her child andthe young man and his mother, and returned to the house.

  Agapit presently came hurrying by the fence. "Ah, that is good!" heexclaimed, when he saw Vesper sauntering to and fro; "do you not thinkyou could essay a walk to the wharf?"

  "Yes," said Vesper, while his mother anxiously looked up from her work.

  "Then come,--let me have the honor of escorting you," and Agapit showedhis big white teeth in an ecstatic smile.

  Vesper extended a hand to Narcisse, and, lifting his cap to his mother,went slowly down the lane to the road.

  Agapit could scarcely contain his delight. He grinned broadly at everyone they met, tried to accommodate his pace to Vesper's, kept forgettingand striding ahead, and finally, cramming his hands in his pockets, fellbehind and muttered, "I feel as if I had known you a hundred years."

  "You didn't feel that way six weeks ago," said Vesper, good-humoredly.

  "I blush for it,--I am ashamed, but can you blame me? Since days of longago, Acadiens have been so much maligned. You do not find that we areworse than others?"

  "Well, I think you would have been a pretty ticklish fellow to havehandled at the time of the expulsion."

  "Our dear Lord knew better than to bring me into the world then," saidAgapit, naively. "I should have urged the Acadiens to take up arms.There were enough of them to kill those devilish English."

  "Do all the Acadiens hate the English as much as you do?"

  "_I_ hate the English?" cried Agapit. "How grossly you deceiveyourself!"

  "What do you mean then by that strong language?"

  Agapit threw himself into an excited attitude. "Let you dare--youyouthful, proud young republic,--to insult our Canadian flag. You wouldsee where stands Agapit LeNoir! England is the greatest nation in theworld," and proudly swelling out his breast, he swept his glance overthe majestic Bay before them.

  "Yes, barring the United States of America."

  "I cannot quarrel with you," said Agapit, and the fire left his glance,and moisture came to his eyes. "Let us each hold to our own opinion."

  "And suppose insults not forthcoming,--give me some further explanationmeantime."

  "My quarrel is not with the great-minded," said Agapit, earnestly, "theeagerly anxious-for-peace Englishmen in years gone by, who reinforcedthe kings and queens of England. No,--I impeach the low-born upstartsand their colonial accomplices. Do you know, can you imagine, that thediabolical scheme of the expulsion of the Acadiens was conceived by abarber, and carried into decapitation by a house painter?"

  "Not possible," murmured Vesper.

  "Yes, possible,--let me find you a seat. I shall not forgive myself if Iweary you, and those women will kill me."

  They had reached the wharf, and Agapit pointed to a pile of boardsagainst the wooden breastwork that kept the waves from dashing over intimes of storm.

  "That infamous letter is always like a scroll of fire before me," heexclaimed, pacing restlessly to and fro before Vesper and the child. "Init the once barber and footman, Craggs, who was then secretary of state,wrote to the governor of Nova Scotia: 'I see you do not get the betterof the Acadiens. It is singular that those people should have preferredto lose their goods rather than be exposed to fight against theirbrethren. This sentimentality is stupid.' Ah, let it be stupid!"exclaimed Agapit, breaking off. "Let us once more have an expulsion. TheAcadiens will go, they will suffer, they will die, before they give upsentimentality."

  "Hear, hear!" observed Vesper.

  Agapit surveyed him with a glowing eye. "Listen to further words fromthis solemn official, this barber secretary: 'These people are evidentlytoo much attached to their fellow countrymen and to their religion everto make true Englishmen.' Of what are true Englishmen made, Mr.Englishman from Boston?"

  "Of poor Frenchmen, according to the barber."

  "Now hear more courtly language from the honorable Craggs: 'It must beavowed that your position is deucedly critical. It was very difficult toprevent them from departing after having left the bargain to theirchoice--'"

  "What does he mean by that?" asked Vesper.

  "Call to your memory the terms of the treaty of Utrecht."

  "I don't remember a word of it,--bear in mind, my friend, that I am notan Acadien, and this question does not possess for me the movinginterest it does for you. I only know Longfellow's 'Evangeline,'--which,until lately, has always seemed to me to be a pretty myth dressed up toplease the public, and make money for the author,--some magazinearticles, and Parkman, my favorite historian, whom you, nevertheless,seem to dislike."

  Agapit dropped on a block of wood, and rocked himself to and fro, as ifin distress. "I will not characterize Parkman, since he is yourcountry
man; but I would dearly love--I would truly admire to say what Ithink of him. Now as to the treaty of Utrecht; think just a moment, andyou will remember that it transferred the Acadiens as the subjects ofLouis XIV. of France to the good Queen Anne of England."

  Vesper, instead of puzzling his brain with historical reminiscences,immediately began to make preparations for physical comfort, andstretched himself out on the pile of boards, with his arm for a pillow.

  "Do not sleep, but conversate," said Agapit, eagerly. "It is cool here,you possibly would get cold if you shut your eyes. I will change thismatter of talk,--there is one I would fain introduce."

  Vesper, in inward diversion, found that a new solemnity had takenpossession of the young Acadien. He looked unutterable things at theBay, indescribable things at the sky, and mysterious things at the cookof the schooner, who had just thrust his head through a window in hiscaboose.

  At last he gave expression to his emotion. "Would this not be a fittingtime to talk of the wonderful letter of which madame, your mother,hinted?"

  Vesper, without a word, drew a folded paper from his pocket, and handedit to him.

  Agapit took it reverently, swayed back and forth while devouring itscontents, then, unable to restrain himself, sprang up, and walked, orrather ran, to and fro while perusing it a second time.

  At last he came to a dead halt, and breathing hard, and with eyesaflame, ejaculated, "Thank you, a thousand, thousand time for showing methis precious letter." Then pressing it to his breast, he disappearedentirely from Vesper's range of vision.

  After a time he came back. Some of his excitement had gone from his headthrough his heels, and he sank heavily on a block of wood.

  "You do not know, you cannot tell," he said, "what this letter means tous."

  "What does it mean?"

  "It means--I do not know that I can say the word, but I willtry--cor-rob-oration."

  "Explain a little further, will you?"

  "In the past all was for the English. Now records are being discovered,old documents are coming to light. The guilty colonial authoritiessuppressed them. Now these records declare for the Acadiens."

  "So--this letter, being from one on the opposite side, is valuable."

  "It is like a diamond unearthed," said Agapit, turning it over;"but,"--in sudden curiosity,--"this is a copy mutilated, for the name ofthe captain is not here. From whom did you have it, if I am permitted toask?"

  "From the great-grandson of the old fellow mentioned."

  "And he does not wish his name known?"

  "Well, naturally one does not care to shout the sins of one'sancestors."

  "The noble young man, the dear young man," said Agapit, warmly. "He willatone for the sins of his fathers."

  "Not particularly noble, only business-like."

  "And has he much money, that he wishes to aid this family of Acadiens?"

  "No, not much. His father's family never succeeded in making money andkeeping it. His mother is rich."

  "I should like to see him," exclaimed Agapit, and his black eyes flashedover Vesper's composed features. "I should love him for his sensitiveheart."

  "There is nothing very interesting about him," said Vesper. "A sick,used-up creature."

  "Ah,--he is delicate."

  "Yes, and without courage. He is a college man and would have chosen aprofession if his health had not broken down."

  "I pity him from my heart; I send good wishes to his sick-bed," saidAgapit, in a passion of enthusiasm. "I will pray to our Lord to raisehim."

  "Can you give him any assistance?" asked Vesper, nodding towards theletter.

  "I do not know; I cannot tell. There are many LeNoirs. But I will goover my papers; I will sit up at night, as I now do some writing forthe post-office. You know I am poor, and obliged to work. I must payRose for my board. I will not depend on a woman."

  Vesper half lifted his drooping eyelids. "What are you going to make ofyourself?"

  "I wish to study law. I save money for a period in a university."

  "How old are you?"

  "Twenty-three."

  "Your cousin looks about that age."

  "She is twenty-four,--a year older; and you,--may I ask your age?"

  "Guess."

  Agapit studied his face. "You are twenty-six."

  "No."

  "I daresay we are both younger than Rose," said Agapit, ingenuously,"and she has less sense than either."

  "Did your ancestors come from the south of France?" asked Vesper,abruptly.

  "Not the LeNoirs; but my mother's family was from Provence. Why do youask?"

  "You are like a Frenchman of the south."

  "I know that I am impetuous," pursued Agapit. "Rose says that I resemblethe tea-kettle. I boil and bubble all the time that I am not asleep,and"--uneasily--"she also says that I speak too hastily of women; thatI do not esteem them as clever as they are. What do you think?"

  Vesper laughed quickly. "Southerners all have a slight contempt forwomen. However, they are frank about it. Is there one thought agitatingyour bosom that you do not express?"

  "No; most unfortunately. It chagrins me that I speak everything. I feel,and often speak before I feel, but what can one do? It is my nature.Rose also follows her nature. She is beautiful, but she studies nothing,absolutely nothing, but the science of cooking."

  "Without which philosophers would go mad from indigestion."

  "Yes; she was born to cook and to obey. Let her keep her position, andnot say, 'Agapit, thou must do so and so,' as she sometimes will, if Iam not rocky with her."

  "Rocky?" queried Vesper.

  "Firmy, firm," said Agapit, in confusion. "The words twist in my mind,unless my blood is hot, when I speak better. Will you not correct me?Upon going out in the world I do not wish to be laughed."

  "To be laughed at," said his new friend. "Don't worry yourself. Youspeak well enough, and will improve."

  Agapit grew pale with emotion. "Ah, but we shall miss you when you go!There has been no Englishman here that we so liked. I hope that you willbe long in finding the descendants of the Fiery Frenchman."

  "Perhaps I shall find some of them in you and your cousin," said Vesper.

  "Ah, if you could, what joy! what bliss!--but I fear it is not so. Ourforefathers were not of Grand Pre."

  Vesper relapsed into silence, only occasionally rousing himself toanswer some of Agapit's restless torrent of remarks about the ancientletter. At last he grew tired, and, sitting up, laid a caressing hand onthe head of Narcisse, who was playing with some shells beside him."Come, little one, we must return to the house."

  On the way back they met the blacksmith. Agapit snickered gleefully,"All the world supposes that he is making the velvet paw to Rose."

  "She drives with him," said Vesper, indifferently.

  "Yes, but to obtain news of her sister who flouts him. She is down theBay, and Rose receives news of her. She will no longer drive with him ifshe hears this gossip."

  "Why should she not?"

  "I do not know, but she will not. Possibly because she is no coquette."

  "She will probably marry some one."

  "She cannot," muttered Agapit, and he fell into a quiet rage, and out ofit again in the duration of a few seconds. Then he resumed alight-hearted conversation with Vesper, who averted his curious eyesfrom him.