The Hickman courier., 1881-04-08

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 Won must please
my daughter. l will ask her.
Marguerite, when asked, said tnat
she would gladly consent to be my wlie;
But she sad the same when they talked
to her about Puvioux. 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 eonscription came we drew lots,
Puvloux and l, on the same day. L had
No. 3 and he had No. Z, and so we both
OF us became soldiers. For moment
was IN state of great fright, L confess.
People at Mezieres said that Puyloux
had rich aunt, and that she would Duy
him of. If Puvioux did not JON the
army, Puvioux would marry Marguerite,
and l, knowing that l should be ooilged
To go ON, for i was poor. L thought
already heard the fiddler ut the wedding,
rendlng my ears and my heart,
Il must tell you that Marguerite
Servan has not her equal. II lost her
now, after having waited seven years for
her, upon my honor, think L should
blow ont my brains.
LUCKILY, Pierre Puvioux was not
bought OFT 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-blu every
moment. One night Father Servan took
us each by the arm aud led us to an Inn,
and this is what he said TO us as we
emptied bottle of MoseAe vino:
"'AIy bows, you are good and honest
AIdennais. equal III merit l love YOU
with all my heart One of you shall be
my son.in-law; that Is understood Mar
guerite VIII wait seven years. She has
no preference either tor 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 l am,
my time is OUT he, | swear, shall be
the husband of Marguerlte;'
Il was astonished; l thought that /
had misunderstood. 1 looked at Pierre
Puvioux and he looked at me, and, al
though we were sad enough at heart, we
were certainly ready to burst ont 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. 1 held ont 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 Servan said:
"'Now, the rest is your affair The
only thing is to escape bullets and to re-
turn safe and sound.
He filed our glasses once more, and
we drank a parting draught.
'sBefOre leaving. l wished TO see Mar
guerite Just as 1 was arriving under
her window-it was at dusk-I saw some
one in the shade coming in the same di-
rection. l stopped short. Itwas Pierre
Puvioux. He seemed vexed to find me
there. / was not particularly pleased to
meet him. We stood there for a mo-
ment like two simpletons looking at the
ment of courage / said to Puvioux:
"'Shall we go in together 2
''We entered and took our farewell Of
Marguerite. She listened to us without
saying anything, but there were tears at
the tips of her blonde eye-lashes. Sud
denly Pierre, who was talSing, stopped
and began to sob and 1 TO do the same.
Then Marguerite Joined in, and there
tua all oh 4
pressing each others hands.
when the diligence that took Us
away from Mezieres began to rattle on
the pavement the next day, 1 felt in
elined to throw myself down from the
and get crushed under the
Wheels. The more so as there was q
Lorrainer at my side who was singing in
a melancholy voice n song of his coun-
try, and l said to myself: 1t Is all over
Jean. YOU will never see her again..
"Well, you see, time passes. The
seven years are over, and who knows?
Perhaps L am not only going to see her
again, but to marry her.
"There are, indeed, strange chances in
Iife," continued Jean Chevaucheux.
''Pierce and L started on the same day,
and at the same hour, and we were
placed in the same regiment. At first /
was vexed 1 should have liked to have
known that he was far away. As YOU
may imagine. could not love him much.
But 1 reflected afterward that if
Puvioux WAS with me l could at least
ak about her. That consOled me. Well,
[ said to myself, ] am In for seven years
Of it. After all, one gets over il.
"In the regiment l became a fast
friend of Pierce Puvioux He proved to
be an excellent good fellow, and at night,
IN order to kill time, we used often to
ak of Mezieres, of Father Servan, and
If Marguerite. We used to write to
often, but each told the other
.he contents of his letters. 1t was q
struggle, it is true, but it was loyal.
When Marguerite or old Servan replied,
the letter was for both of us. An equal
lose of hope was given to each of us, and
so we went on hoping.
Zone dav the Colonel took it into his
head to appoint me Corporal. 1 was
yexed and proud at the same time. You
see, L was no longer the equal of
Puvioux Ny stripes gave me the right
to command him, and in the eyes of our
that was 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 I reflected that there were more
ways than one of getting rid of my next
rank. 1 neglected my duty and was
forthwith degraded. But who should be
made Corporal in my stead but Puvioux.
But Puvioux was not to be outdone; at
the end of a week be resigned. After
that there was no danger of any PROPOSE
tons being made to MS to make any
change IN our uniform. We were con-
demned to remain common soldiers.
so much the better, said Puvioux.
what luckp said L
when we had served our seven years
for do not mean to tell you our his
tory day by day. said to Puvioux:
"'Well, now is the time 10 start, eh?'
Yes, he replied, we are expected;
A" You know 1 said, the game VIII
not be finally won until both of us arrive
at Mezieres. and until the loser has de
clared that the combat has been loyal.
''And so one morning, with good shoes