The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-04-08

which tnere WIS iittio ouSCh "ho % 6oo>s
deal of grief; 81 shall not be able TO
walk until tomorrow morning.
"Walkr' cried my mother, terrified.
The soldier shook his head.
"You don't know, you. must.
It was VOW.
In our Ardennes those primitive souls
have respect and faith. l saw my father
look Mt the young man in the face with
out astonishment, and with mute inter
rogation.
Eyes" said the soldier, 81 will tell
YOU the whole story. You have, perhaps.
saved my life; i ought, ut least, to tell
you who / am. My name is Jean Chevau-
cheux, and my father il wood-splitter
Mt Mezieres. He is an honest man, like
YOU, monsieur Seven years ago, when
drew for the CONSUMPTION, was madly
in love with Marguerite Servan, a good
hearty girl and n pretty one. l. had
already asked her in marriage, and her
father had not said no; but, you see,
Pierre Puvioux had asked her i'll mar
riage mt the same time that did. Pierre
Puvioux is man of my age, who carries
his heart in his hand, as the saying Is;
CAV and well-looking. I 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,
nv 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 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 CONSUMPTION came we drew lots,
Puvioux and 1, on the same day. l had
No. and he had No. 7, and so we both
of us became soldiers For a moment L
was in state of great fright, l confess.
People at Mezieres said that Puyioux
had rich aunt, and that she would buy
lin or ii puy.ol:: did not JOIN the
army, Puvioux would marry Marguerite
and /, knowing that L 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 lost her
now, after having waited seven years for
her, upon my honor, l 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 I 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
Aidennais, equal in merit. l love you
with all my heart One of you shall be
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 / am,
my time is OUT" he, 1 swear, shall be
the husband of Marguerite
81 was astonished; [ thought that
had misunderstood. / looked at Pierre
Puvioux and he looked at me, and, al
though we were sad enough Mt heart, we
were certainly ready to burst out laugh
ing.
"But Father Servan was not joking
L. Io1 lieaoyaxal tl,,a q.
out of the difficulty, and he meant to
stick to it. l 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 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 filled our glasses once more, and
we drank parting draught
"Before leaving, L wished to see Mar
guerite. Just as L was arriving under
her window-it was at dusk-I saw some
one in the shade coming in the same di-
rection. / stopped short. twas Pierre
Puvioux He seemed vexed to find me
there. L was not particularly pleased to
meet him. We stood there for a 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 together
"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 talking, stopped
and began to sob and 1 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, L felt in
clined 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
n melancholy voice song of his coun-
try, and / said to myself: 1t is all over
Jean. you will never see her again.
"Well, you sec, time passes. The
seven years are over, and who knows?
n a n