The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1881-04-13

walk until tomorrow morning."
" Walk y cried my mother, terrified,
The soldier shook his head.
''Yor ont know-I must It was
vow
In ouI Ardennes those primitive souls
have respect and faith. / saw my father
look at the young man in the face with
out astonishment and with mute inter
rogation.
Yes" said the soldier, 4" L will tell
/ you the whole story. You have, per
haps, saved my life; ought, at least,
to tell you who am. Ny name is Jean
Chevaucheux, and my father is 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 Ser
van, a good hearty girl and pretty one.
l had already asked her in marriage, and
her father had not said no; but, you see,
Pierre Puvioux had asked her in mar
riage at the same time that 1 did. Pierre
Puvloux IS man of my age, who car
ries his heart in his hand, as the saying
is-gay and well-loolIing. / ought to
I 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 nv son-in.
law my lad, but first of all you must
please my daughter. L 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 Pnvioux. She loved both
of us, 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, conscription came we drew lots.
Puyioux and l, on the same day. I had
number three and he had number seven,
and so we both of us became soldiers.
For moment [ was in 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 L, knowing that / should
be obliged to go, for was poor, /
thought already heard the fiddler at
the wedding, rending my ears and my
heart.
Luckily, Pierre Puvioux was not
bought off. His aunt died leaving debts
instead of a fortune. He had not O
sou. We were obliged to shoulder our
guns, and we were expected on our way
bill every moment. One night Father
Seryan took us each by the arm and led
us to an inn, and this is what he said to
us:
"' My boys, you are good and honest
Ardennais, equal in merit. 1 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, Chevaucheux, but she loves
both of you, and she will make happy
the one whom fortune shall choose.
These are the conditions on which one
uf you shall marry my daughter you
start on the same day-it is probable
that you will return the same day. Well,
the one who first comes and. shakes
hands with Father Servan, and says
"Here 1 am, my time is out he,
swear, shall be the husband of Marguer-
ite.'
81 was astonished; 1 thought that
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
laughing,
"But Father Servan was not Joking.
He had discovered this means of getting
out of the difficulty, and he meant to
stick to it. l held out my hand and
swore to act neither by ruse nor vio-
lence, and to let Pierre Puvioux marry
20 hn 81 -
| before / did. Pierre stood up and swore
the same, and then we shook hands,
while Father Seryan said:
"'Now, the rest is your affair. The
only thing is to escape bullets and to
return safe and sound
"Before leaving 1 wished to see Mar
gueTite. Just as l was arriving under
her window-it was at dusk-I saw some
one in the shade coming in the same
direction. stopped short. 1t was
Pierre Puvioux. He seemed vexed to
find me there. 1 was not particularly
pleased to meet him. We stood there
for a moment like two simpletons look
ing at the toes of our boots. Then,
with movement of courage, / said to
Puvioux:
Shall we go in together?'
"We entered and took our farewell of
Marguerite. She listened to us with
out saying anything, but there were
tears at the tips of her blonde eyelashes.
Suddenly Pierre, who was talking, stop
ped 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 us
away from Mezieres began to rattle ON
the pavement the next day felt inclined
to throw myself down from the imperial
and get crushed under the wheels. The
more so as there was Lorrainer at my
side who was singing in a melancholy
voice a song of his country, and / said
to myself; 1t is all over, Jean, you will
never see her again.
"Well. you see. Time paSses The