The Red Cloud chief., 1881-05-12

tested 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 Puvoux. She loved
both of us. one as much as the other;
she hesitated, she did not dare to de-
eide. But still she could not marry
both of US.
"Time went on. When the time of
the CONSUMPTION came We drew lots,
Puvoux and /, on the same day. i had
number three and he had number
seven, and SO we both of US became
soldiers. For a moment | was in a
state of great fright, / confess. Peo-
| pie at Mezieres said that Puvioux had
a rich aunt, and that she would buy
him of. IL Puvioux did not join the
army. Puvioux would marry Margue-
rite, and /, knowing that l should be
obliged to 90, for l was poor-l
thought / already heard the fiddler at
the wedding, rending my ears and my
heart.
II must tell you that Marguerite
Servan has not her equal. If | lost her
now, after having waited seven years
for her, upon my honor, think should
blow out my brains!
Luckily, Pierre Puvioux was not
bought off. His aunt died leavingdebts
instead of a fortune. He had not a
penny any more than had! W. 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 as
we emptied IA bottle of Moselle wine.
My boys, you are good and honest
Ardennais, equal in merit. love you
with all my heart. One of you shall be
my ~son-in-law: that is understood.
Marguerite will wait sever years. She
has no preference either for you, Pu-
| vioux. or for you. C~hevaucheux, but she
loves both of you, and she win make
happy the one whom fortune shall
choose. These are the conditions on
which one of you shall marry NV
daughter; you start on the same day,
it is probable that YOU will return on
the same day. Well, the n who first
comes and shakes hands with Father
Scrvan, and says: Here | am. mytime
is OUT he, | swear, SHALL be the husband
of Marguerite
:" / was astonished; ! thought that l
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 Seryan was not joking.
He had discovered this means Of getting
out of the difficulty and he meant to
stick to it. / held ont my hand and
swore to act neither by ruSc nor vio-
lence. and to let Pierre Puvioux marry
Marguerite. if he returned to Mezieres
before | did. Pierre stood up AMI
swore the same. and then we shook
hands while Father Servan said: Now
the rest is your affair. The only thing
is to escape bullets and to return safe
and sound
ale filled our glasses once more and
we drank n parting draught.
Before leaving | wished to see
| MIL ouSl ~ Il WIS silIlN IL ul-
der her window-it was at dusk-I saw
some one in the shade coming in the
same direction. L stopped short. 1t
was Pierre Puvioux. He seemed yexed
10 find me there. was not particular
ly pleased to meet him. We stood there
for a moment like two simpletons look
ing at the toes of our boots. Then with
a movement of courage | said to Pu-
voix:
".Shall we 90 i'm ~together?'
1--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 eyelashcs.
Suddenly Pierre, who was talking,
stopped and began to sob and | to do
the anne. 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 l felt in
clined to throw myself down from the
imperial and get crushed under the
wheels. The more so as there was 4
Lorrainer at nv side who was singing in
a melancholy voice a song of his coun-
try, and l said to myself: 1t is all over,
Jean; you will never See her again
We'll, YOU see. Time passes. The
seven wears are over and who knows?
Perhaps l am not only going to see her
again, but to marry her.
There are, indeed, strange changes
in life" continued Jean C~hevaucheux.
"Pierre and i started on the same day
and at the same hour and we were
placed in the same regiment. At first
/ was vexed. l should have liked to
have know that he was far away. As
you may imagine could not love him.
But | reflected afterwards that if Pu-
voix was with M | could at least talk
about her. That consoled me. Well, l
said to myself, l am in for seven years
of it. After all, one gets over it.
I'm the regiment L became a fast
friend of Pierre P~uvioux. He proved
to be an excellent good fellow, and at
night, in order to kill time, we used
often to talk of Mezieres, of Father
Servan and of Marguerite. We used to
write TO Mezieres often. but each told
the other the contents of his letters. 1t
was a struggle, it is true, but it was
loyal. When Marguerite or old Servan
replied the letter was for both of us.
An equal dose of hope was given to each
of us, and so we went on hoping.
lone day the Colonel took it into his
head to appoint me Corporal. / was
vexed and proud at the same time.
You see, / was no longer the equal of
Puvioux. My stripes gave me the right
to command him. and in the ewes of our
Ardennais that vas no small advantage.
But | did not glory in my rank; on the
contrary, it made me i'll at ease. | did
not dare TO talk to Puvioux any more.
Then | reflected that there were more
ways than one of getting rid of nv new
rank. | neglected my duty and was
forthwith degraded. But who should
be made Corporal in my stead but
PuviOuN. But Puvioux was not to be
outdone; at the end of a week he re-
signed. After that there was no danger
of any propositions being made to us to
make any change in our uniform. We
were condemned TO remain common
soldiers.
$50 much the BETTER said Puvioux.