The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-06-17


men in the world, We thought--we
said, indeod--'she was young to have
wandered so far; she must have been
very young to have quilted her fathers
house ten years gone by.
Very young-very foolish, Monsieur
/ see, saws she, turning, That YOU want
TO know how it was, and if you will be
so good as to listen, i will tell you,
Monsieur
OF course we were very happy to lis
ten to so charming story-teller; and
our readers as well, perhaps.
you know, Monsieur, the quiet of
one Of our little country towns very
well; Semur is one of them. Ny
father was a small prVprietajre; the
house he lived in is not upon the road.
or would show it to you by-and-by
It had large courtyard, with an
arched gateway-and there were two
hearts cut upon the top-stone; the mi
tails of my grandfather and grandmoth-
or on either side; and all were pierced
by little dart. | dare say you have
seen many such as you have wandered
through the country; but nowadays
they do not make them.
Wei, my mother died when was a
little girl and my iather WAS lett with
three children-my sister, little JAG
ques, and |. Many and many time
we used to romp about the courtyard.
and sometimes 90 into the fields at
vineyard dressing, and pluck off the
Lone 4o,,I,.;le. o,l 1 WOULD 40 y,ov,
round the head of little jacques; and
my sister, who was a year older than l,
and whose name was Lucie, would tie
them around my head 1t looked very
pretty, to be sure, Monsieur; and !
was SO proud of little Jacques, and Of
myself too; l wish they would come
back, Monsieur -thosetimes Doyou
know | think sometimes that, III Hea-
ven, they will come back
4 do not know which was prettiest,
Lucie or ]; she was taller and had
lighter hair; and mine, You see is
dark Two rows Of curls hung each
side Of her face, jet black l know l
was never cnvious Of her
There was little need
You think not, Monsieur; YOU shall
see, presently
j have told You that my father was
small proprie'G0'e; there was another
in the town whose lands We're greater
than ours, aud who boosted of having
been some time connected with noble
blood, and who quite looked down
upon our family. But there is little OF
hat feeling left now in the French
country aud thank God for it, Mon
sieur And Jean Frere, who was a
son of this proud gentleman, had none
,, of it when we were young.
There was no one in the village he
went to see oftener than he did Lucie
and me. And we talked ike girls then,
about who should marry Jean, and
y never thought of what might really
happen; and our bohRe used to say
Khen wo spoke of Iegns Shat there
{ were others as good as jean IN the
land, and capital husbands in plenty
And then we would laugh, and some
: times tie the hand Of jacques TO the
hand of some pretty girl, and SO marry
. them, and never mind Jacques pettlsl
:, struggles, and the pouts Of the little
u bride, and Jean himself would laugh
MS loud as any at this play Some
D times Jeans father would come whel
;, we were romping together, and tak'
Il Jean away; and sometimes kiss littli
5 Jacques, and say he was a young rogue
3 but have never word for us.
80 matters went on till Lucie wa
i eighteen, and Jacques fine tall lad
Jean was not SO rich as he had been
, for his fathers vineyard had grow
poor. Still he came TO see us, and al
a the village said there would be a mar
IS riage some day: and some said it woul'
be Lucie, and some said it would be
II And now it was | began to watch Luci
% when Jean came; and to count tn
IS times he danced with Lucie, and thel
Is to count the times that he danced wit
me- But | did not dare to joke wit
s. Iucie about Jean, and when we wer
Is together alone, we scarce ever talke'
Ie of jean.
You were not in love with him, c
N course y
P L did not say so, said madame. Bu
IT he was handsomer than any of tn
S, young men we saw; and so young
never mind You do not know ho'
e. Jealous / became. We had a room tC
gether Lucie and /, and often in tn
night | would steal to her bed and lis
2 ten, to find if she ever whispered amy
st thing in her dreams; and sometime
ne when | came in at evening, | woul
lie find her weeping. / remember WEI
d, to her once, and put my hrfn soft
ty around her neck, and asked her wins
ly it was that troubled her; and she onl
sobbed | asked her if had otfende
n her; 'You 7 said she, ma srlo', ma mi!
NOME p and she laid her head upo
my shoulder, and cried more than eve
y and | cried too.
he 80 matters went on, and we SAY
though we did not speak to each otht
al of it, that Jean came to see us mo-
and more rarely, and looked sad whe
he parted with us, and did not play
as often with little Jacques. At length
how it was we women never knew
rs, was said that poor jeans father, Il
hd proud gentleman, had lost all his m
n nov and That ba WAS poinp avVav