The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1881-06-29

iol llIue, anu Jllht tear puzzled me.
"Ah," he said with a movement in
which there was little anger and good
deal of grief; 81 shall not be able to
walk until tomorrow morning
Walk" cried my mother, terrified.
The soldier shook his head.
"You don't know, you, must"
II was VOW.
In our Ardennes those primitive souls
have respect and faith. | saw my father
look at the young man in the face with
out establishment, and with mute inter
rogation.
EYES," said the soldier, 81 will tell
you the whole story. You have, perhaps,
saved my life; | ought, at least, to tell
you who am. My nameis Jean Cheyau-
cheux, and my father is a wood-splitter
at Mezieres. He is an honest man, like
you, monsieur Seven years ago, when |
drew for the conscription, was madly
in love with Marguerite Servan, good
hearty girl and a pretty one. | had
already asked her III marriage, and her
father had not said no; but, you see,
Pierre Puvioux had asked her in mar
riage mt the same time that did. Pierre
PuyiouX is n man Of my age, who carries
his heart in his hand, us the saying is;
gay and wcli-IOoking ought to have
detestcd him, and be has remained my
friend. Well, Father Scwan said to me
as he held out his hand;
"'You are worthy to he my son-in-law,
MY lad; but first of all you must please
my daughter. will ask her.
"Marguerite. when asked, said that
she would gladly consent to be my wife.
But she said the same when they talked
to her about PuyiouX She loved both
of us, one as much as the other; she
hesitated--shc did not dare to decide.
But still she could not marry both OF us,
"Time went on. When the time OF
the conscription came we drew lots,
Puvioux and |, on the same day. / had
No. 3 and he had No. 7, aud so We both
of us became soldiers. For moment |
was in a state Of great fright, confess,
People at Mezieres said that Puvioux
had rich aunt, and that she would buy
him off. If Puvioux did not Join the
army, Puvioux would marry Marguerite,
and |, knowing that | should be obliged
to go on, for ] was poor. | thought |
already heard the fiddler at the wedding,
rending my ears and my heart.
81 must tell you that Marguerite
Servan has not her equal. If L lost her
now, after having waited seven years for
her, upon my honor, / think l should
blow out my brains.
Luckily, Pierre Puvioux was not
bought off. His aunt died, leaving debts
instead of fortune. He had not pen
ny any more than l had. We were
obliged to shoulder our guns, and we
were expected on our way-bill every
moment, One night Father Servan took
us each by the arm and led lis to an inn,
and this is what he said to us as we
empticd bottle of Moselle wine:
"My boys, you are good and honest
Aldcnnais, equal in merit. love You
with all my heart One of you shall be
my son-in-law; that is understood Mar
guerite will wait seven years. She has
no preference either for you, PuylOux, or
for You, Chevaucncux, but she loves both
of YOU, and she will make happy the
one whom fortune shall choose These
are the conditions on which one OF you
shall marry my daughter; you start on
the same day, it is probable that you re-
turn ON the same day. Well, the one
who first comes and shakes hands with
Father Scrvan, and says; Here | am,
my time is out" he, | swear, shall be
the husband Of Marguerite;
81 was astonished; | thought that !
had misunderstood. | looked at Pierre
Puyioux and he looked at me, and, al
though we were sad enough at heart we
were certainly ready to burst out laugh
ing
"But Father Servan was not joking.
He had discovered this means of getting
ont of the difficulty, and he meant to
stick to it, held ont my hand, and
swore to act neither by ruse or violence,
and to let Pierre Puvioux marry Mar
gucritc. if he returned to Mezieres be-
fore | did Pierre stood mp and swore
the same. and then we shook hands
while Father S3rvaa sad:
"'Now, the rest is your affair. me
only thing is to escape bullets and to re-
turn safe and sound.
ole filed our glasses once more, and
we drank parting draught.
Before leaving, | wished to see Mar
puerite. just as | wis arriving uncer
her window-it was at dusk-I saw some
one in the shade coming in the same d.
rectiOn. / stopped short. ltwas Pierre
| Puvioux. He seemed yeXed to find me
there. was not particularly pleased to
meet him. We stood there for mo-
ment like two simpletOns looking at the
toes of our boots. Then with a move
ment of courage ] said to Puvioux;
"'Shall we go in together? -.
1--WE entered and took our farewell OF
Marguerite. She listened to lis without
saving ANYTHING, but there were tears at
the TIPS of her blonde eye-laShes, Sud.
denly Pierre, who was talking, stopped
and began to sob and | to do the same
Then Marguerite joined in, and there
we were all three shedding tears and
pressing each others hands.
"When the diligence that took MS
away from Mezieres began to rattle on
the pavement the next day, | felt in
clired to throw myself down from che
imperial and get crushed under the
wheels. The more 80 as there was a
Lorrniner at my side who was Singing IN
4 melancholy voice song OF his coun-
t,.y. and said to myself: 1T is all over
I - 500, ,,.;II noynr sea her again.