The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-12-07
get out.-Go, and don't break tho eggs, and
hrinc hack the basket Mind.n

tOOk largo Key uOWn IrOm u nal irOu
where it had hung beside the projecting
chimney, and once more looking out and al
around, she re-entercd and proceeded througt
the long, dark, tortu0us passages to the room
that formed the last Of the struggling series,
unlocked the door and entered.
1t was small gloomy lnmber-room. In
one corner the long-collected dust had been
swept from tho floor. where was spread some
fresh straw, and on 1t, rolled up, mattress
and sono bedding. Alter listening in
tently for minute, Jeanne, satisfied by the
silence, pulled down broken.leggcd chair
and ragged rug that were placed on the
top of box in the obscurest part 0fthc room,
and, from within ii, drew bundle tied up
in an old colorcd handkerchief. Opening
this carefully, several articles Of babies clo-
thing, some complete, some in progress, all
OF the commoncst description, but carefully
made and clean, were disclosed, and Jeanne,
taking working materials from her pocket,
began stitching away ut an unfinished frock
with feverish npidity, still pausing now and
then, with that look Of intense anxiety W
listen.
For moro than an hour she worked undis-
turbed then, rs IL fearing to remain longer
away from her usual emplOyments, she, put
ting into her pocket half.fnished cap,
which might be worked ut In any stray mo-
mcnts, tied up the bundle, restored 1t to tho
box, and again covered the latter with the
rug and chair as before. Then, carefully
locking the door behind her, she returned to
the kitchen.
She did 50 Just in time for, while she
was putting together the brands that during
her absence had burnt through the middle,
and, falling outwards had become cxtin.
guished, an old crone, half beggar, half
peasant, and commonly reported witch, tot
tered into the kitchen. Standing just be-
tween the threshold, her knottcd claw-likc
hands crossed on the top of her staff, che gave
Jeanne " Bon jour" and there remained,
contemplating the girl with a grin intoler-
able to be borne.
"Sit down, Mere Gausset," Jeanne said,
crossing herself In secret as sho turned to
place chair for the unwclcomc guest. "Sit
down; the warm weather's come at last |;
that ought to agree with your rheumatism"
"Eh, eh, well enough. How is Monsieur
10 Cure ?-and yourself ?" suddenly, and
with q scrutinlzing look.
Monsieur well and l, I'm always WELL
$50 much the better, 10 much the better
my girl ready TO dance ut the wedding on
Thursday +? All, it'll bs u fine wedding"
So deadly whitcness overpread the girls
face that she turned from the hag to conceal
it, us she replied:
$50 hear"
" Well, you'll see II no doubt, that'll be
better. Gigeuo Landry and you were great
friends, last year, I remember everybody
said you were going to be married. But,
alas. when the girls got nothing, the lovers
are shy, and they say Mclio Prunicr has not
only good dowry, but will have oil old
Louis Pruner's savings. Oh, it's Gne
marriage for Eugene"
=" A fine marriage" Jeanne repeated, me-
chanically. Happily, at that moment the
Cures voice calling her, released her for an
instant from her torture, and, when she had
performed the service for which she was
summoned, she fingered about upstairs, till
tho old woman, tired of waiting, took her
departure.
At night Jeanne went, solitary and sad,
to her bed !; in tho morning. when shc went
about her work she left an infant sleeping in
it.-What she had gone through that night
none but God and her own poor heart could
tell.
Jeanne, how dreadful i'll you look, my
girl !" tho cure said, as hc entered tho kitch-
On. What is the matter 2"
Z" am not very well" she replied. al
was i'll all night, and had bad dreams but
am better now, Monsieur il is nothing
it will all pass away"
NJ. Leroy paused, hcsitated, sighed he
would fain have sought her confidence, fain
have rc-assurcd him Us to the suspicion that,
never occurring Ito himself had lately been
suggested by village gossip. But Jeanne
went TO and fro, bestirring herself in a way
to make any such opportunities difficult, and
with slow step and anxious mind, the cure
went out to tend his roses.
Through the next three or four days the
subject still haunted him, but by degrees less
painfully and at longer intervals. Jeanne
seemed getting we'll again, and was, no fam
cicd, less prc-Occupied, less oppressed with
somo hidden care, than, despite all her
efforts to conceal tho fact, she had lately
been. lie had some knowledge Of Eugene
Landrys former attachment to her, and he
bcsanito think that It was Eugene's un.
faithfulness alone that had SO weighed upon
her mind.
On the sixth day from tho wedding Jeanne
came to him with O troubled face. Her
mother was alarmingly i'll she had letter
from q neighbor, entrcating that, If the cure
could spare her, she would lose no time in
coming to her.-M. Leroy scanned the face
before hlm-a face whose color went and
came, and whose set mouth and desperately
beseeching eyes told oil that hung on his
reply. lie could not keep her in that ago
ny Of suspense, no could not by the hint
even Of q perhaps unmerited suspicion, fur
ther torture her her 50 he consented.
1t was distance OF nearly FIVE leagues to
Montroguc, the village where Jeanne's mo-
ther resided, and, there being only chance
communications between 1t and Auray-le-
Coucher, she had no means Of getting there
except on loot.-Sho was yet far from strong,
aud the weather was hot but on the mis-.
sion ON which she was going, solitude was
wholly Indispensable, and this she could only
secure by walking.
She had arranged with her cousin Picrrctte
10 take her place IN the cure g household uur-
ing her absense and now oil things were
prepared for her departure, which was to
take place before even the early june dawn,
that she might get beyond the risk Of recog.
milton while Auray and Its neighborhood
were yet buried in sleep. ..
Strange, terrible, and yet crcssed with
CLEANS Of stormy sunshine. had been the ex.
perience Of those last few days TO Jeanne.
Happily her child was healthy and quiet
one, and passed most Of the hours Of its first
days in sleep. Still what agonies Of visi.
lance lest its occasional cries should be heard,
lest the frequency Of her visits to It's hidink
place should be noticed; lest Claude should
at any time track her there unawarcs! Yet
with all this, the passionate love she had for
the infant, the ecstacics Of maternal pride
and tenderness that not oil tho shame, the
terror, the suffering Of her situation could