Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, 1871-12-28
GRETCHEN.

Translated from the French of Erckmann-chatrienl
1t was about ten O'Clock in the evening
when the darkness came out from the brew
cry of ''The Swan" Theodore with the
others walked down the silent village.
Windows were being shut in the distance,
and the voices of the women could be
heard in the night air as they closed their
shutters. "Good night, Orchel!" "Good
night, Gredel! Sleep well!''~
Then all was silent, and Theodore was
alone in the quiet street; the innumerable
stars over his head, the gently moving
trees at each side all along the way-look-
ing, listening, and dreaming. What fugi-
tive things the night reveals to usl Listen
to the vague murmur-the rustling of the
trees, the birds that chip so low-so low
that the cat always on the watch is scarce
ly able to hear them. Theodore liked the
night; he took few steps, stopped, turned
around, listened. When he looked up to
the sky the words of Conard, the weaver,
came 10 his memory: ''guard thy soul!
guard thy soul!'' But when he looked on
the earth, when he breathed the sweet
perfumes of the autumn-the breath of
the new hay, the faint odor of the dying
leaves-then he dreamed of Gretchen, the
pretty Gretchen; so fresh, so beautiful,
with lips so sweet and red, with great blue
eyes so merry and clear, with laughter so
frank and childlike. How beautiful she
seemed to him then, and how his heart
bounded! He could almost see her move
from table to table, pouring the beer into
the shining measures arms lifted up,
as white as ivory, her form slightly bent; j;
the two braids of her blond hair almost
touching the bottom of her pretty red
dress; her teeth dazzling as crystal.
Gretchen laughed with everybody except
Monsieur Theodore. AS soon as she saw
him enter the room she became grave; but
at the same time her great blue eyes were
filled with an expression so tender that
the heart of the poor fellow melted with
love. He would lose his breath and stam-
mer unintelligible words.
Theodore wandered thus in the lumin-
Gus night; behind the village, along the
bushes, walking in the little paths bor-
dered with fences, and in the fields freshly
moved; looking at the regularly-con-
structed little houses, with their outside
stairs, their worm eaten railings, their
farm-yards, their great spreading roofs,
all bordered with dark, mysterious shad-
ows. At the end Of his long, winding
way, he found himself again before the
house of Reedstock. He stopped under
Gretchen's window, and looking at the
shutter, with the round hole in the top
that gave light to the interior of the little
room, he said to himself, "she is there"
And thinking that she was there, his gaze
became so fixed, 80 absorbed, that to see
him you would have supposed he saw
something strange, something curious.
But he saw nothing. He thought, "she
is theret"
He had dreamed in this way for an
hour, not being able to decide to 60 away,
when he heard a singular noise outside
the building. Theodore listened.
"What is that?" said the artist, and he
stepped cautiously into the yard. There
the sound was repeated three times. The
odore looked everywhere, but saw nothing.
Finally he pushed aside the branches of a
tree loaded with red fruit, and saw at the