The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-04-07

his heart in his hand, as the saying is;
gay and well-looking. ought to have
detested him, and he has remained my
friend. Well, Father Servan said to me
as he held out his hand:
"'You are worthy to be 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 Puvioux. She loved both
of MS, 'one as much as the other; she
hesitated-she did not dare to decide.
But still she could not marry both of us.
Time went on. When the time Of
the CONSUMPTION came we drew lots,
Puvioux and /, on the same day. had
No. 8 and he had No. 7, and SO we both
of us became soldiers. For moment
was in q state Of great fright, / confess.
People at Mezieres said that Puvioux
had q rich aunt, and that she would buy
him of. II Puvioux did not join the
army, Puvioux would marry Marguerite,
and I, knowing that 1 should be obliged
TO go on, for I was poor. / thought
already heard the fiddler at the wedding,
rending my ears and my heart"
'T must tell you that Marguerite
Servan has not her equal II I lost her
now, after having waited seven years for
her, upon my honor, think I should
blow out my brains.
Luckily, Pierre Puvioux was not
bought off. His aunt died, leaving debts
instead of fortune. He had not q pen
ny any more than / 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 US to an inn,
and this is what he said to us as we
emptied bottle Of Moselle wine:
"'My boys, you are good and honest
A1dennais, equal in merit, I 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, Puvioux, or
for you, Chevaucneux, 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 Servan, and says: "Here I am,
my time is. OUT" he, 1 swear, shall be
the husband of Marguerite
II was astonished; I thought that I
had misunderstood. / looked at Pierre
Puvioux 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
out Of the difficulty, and he meant to
stick to it. / held out my hand, and
swore to act neither by ruse or violence,
and to let Pierre Puvioux marry Mar.
guerite, if he returned to Mezieres be.
fore 1 did. Pierre stood up and swore
the same, and then we shook hands
while Father Ssrvan said:
"'Now, the rest is your affair. The
only thing is to escape bullets and to re.
turn safe and sound
HE filled our glasses once more, and
we drank parting draught.
Before leaving, I wished TO see Mar.
guerite. just AZ was arriving uneel
her window-it was at dusk-I saw some
one in the shade coming in the same di
rection. stopped short. Itwas Pierre
Puvioux. He seemed vexed 10 find me
there. / was not particularly pleased tC
meet him. We stood there for . mo-
ment like two simpletons looking at the
toes of our boots. Then with move
ment Of courage said to Puvioux:
Shall we go in togetherY
"We entered and took our farewell ol
Marguerite. She listened TO MS without
saying anything, but there were tears al
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 ii
away from Mezieres began to rattle OF
the pavement the next day, felt In
clined to throw myself down from tn
imperial and get crushed under tn
wheels. The more so as there was
Lorrainer at my side who was singing IL
a melancholy voice song of his coun
try, and said to myself: 1T is all owe
Jean. you will never see her again.
"Well, you see, time passes. TIL,
seven years are over, and who knows
Perhaps am not only going to see he
again, but TO marry her.
There are, indeed, strange chances il
life," continued Jean Chevaucheux
pierce and started on the same day
and at the same hour, and we wer
placed in the same regiment. At first
was vexed. should have liked to hav
known that he was far away. As yo,
may imagine, could not love him much
But I reflected afterward that /
Puvioux was with me I could at leas
,, talk about her. That consoled me. Well
l said to myself, / am in for seven year
! Of it. After all, one gets over it.
'1n the regiment I became fas
friend of Pierce Puvioux. He proved =
.. be an excellent good fellow, and at night
in order to kill time, we used often
talk of Mezieres, of Father Servan, AM
of Marguerite. We used to write
Mezieres often, but each told the othe
the contents of his letters. It was
struggle, it is true, but it was loyal
Z When Marguerite or old Servan replied
the letter was for both of MS. An equs
dose of hope was given to each of us, an
so we went on hoping.
) "One day the Colonel took it into h
/; head to appoint me Corporal. WI
( vexed and proud at the same time. Yo
I see, I was no longer the equal
Puvioux. My stripes gave me the rigi
to command him, and in the eyes of o,
!, Ardennais, that was no small advantag
But did not glory in my rank; on Il
. contrary, it made me i'll at ease. I d
!, not dare to talk to Puvioux any NOR
! Then I reflected that there we're mo
= ways than one of getting rid Of my ne
rank. neglected my duty and W
forthwith degraded. But who should
; made Corporal in my stead but Puviou
v But Puvioux was not to be outdone;
q the end of a week he resigned. Aft
t that there was no danger of any propoa
tions being made to us to make ar
O change in our uniform. We were co
7 demned to remain common soldiers.
80 much the BETTER said Puviou
r. What luckp said L
a when we had served our seven yea