The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1884-08-28
tho loud-echoing voice Of his angry wife
could still be heard.

tho loud-echoing voice Of his angry wife
could stu Be heard.
The Vallin family were sitting at tht
table eating very leisurly some biz
crusts of bread, which they rubbed par.
simoniously with little butter, each
taking an almost imperceptible bit Of
butter alta time Oh the end of knife,
from . plate between them IN the mid.
die of the table,
NJ. d'Hubieres recommended his prop.
ositions, but this time more insinuating'
~, with oratorical precautions, with as.
tuteness. The two country people al
first shook their heads in sign Of refusal
but when told that they would receive
100 francs month, they looked at one
another; they began to consult one an.
others eyes, with their resolution con-
siderably shaken.
They kept silence long, long time
feeling tortured; hesitating. At last
the woman asked:
Here! man, what do you say about
it,"
He answered with sententious pro-
nunclation:
Il say that it's worth thinking about. >
Then Madame d'Hubieres, quiverine
with anxiety, began to talk to them
about the fortune of the child, about
the money he would he able to give them
some day.
The peasant asked:
"And that allowance of 1900 francs
you talk about, will he pledged to us
before the notary?"
M. d'Hubieres:
"Why, of course, tomorrow you draw
it,"
The woman, who had been very
thoughtful, spoke again:
"A hundred francs month isn't
enough for giving up the child; that
there child can work in few years; we
must git hundred and twenty francs. "
Stamping her little foot with impa.
thence, Madame d Hubieres ncceded to
the sum at once; and as she wanted to
take the child away at once, she gave
them a present of 100 francs, while her
husband commenced to draw up the
necessary papers. The Mayor and one
of the neighbors being sent for, gladly
gave their service as witnesses.
And the young woman all beaming
with delight, carried off the screaming
child-just as much-longed for toy is
triumphantly carried home from toy
store.
Standing at their own door, the
Tuvaches watched them 60; they said
nothing, looked serious-regretting
perhaps: that they had refused;
Nothing more was heard of little
Jean Vallin. Every month the parents
went to draw their 12O francs from the
notary; and they fell out with their
neighbors because Mother Tuvache
"agonized them with ignominies," in
cessantly going from door to door to
reiterate that one must be inhuman to
sell ones chlld-that it was "a hor-
ror," "a dirty low thing,"a corrom-
perie."
And occasionally she would take up
her Chariot in her arms, ostentatiously
and scream out to him as if he was
able to understand.
II didn't sell thee, I didn't! I didn't
sell thee, my little soul! I don't sell
my children, don't. I'm not rich, but
I don't sell my children"
And for two years and more it was
the same thing every day-every day
coarse illusions vociferated before the
doorway, so that the neighbors could
not help hearing them, Mother Tuvache
at last really came to think herself the
finest woman in the whole country, lust
because she had not sold Chariot. And
people would say, when speaking OF
her:
"Of course, we know the offer was
tempting; but anyhow she acted like a
good mother.
They held her up as an example, and
when Charlot-brought up with these
ideas perpetually dinned into his ears
got to be 18, he also learned to believe
himself superior to all his comrades,
just because he had not been "sold."
|
The Vallins meanwhile lived very
comfortably, thanks to their monthly
pension. The indispensable fury of the
Tuvaches, who remained wretchedly
poor and miserable, was chiefly due to
that.
The eldest son joined the army.
The second son died. Chariot alone
remained to help the old father to
work, and to support his mother and
his two younger sisters.
He was just 21 years old, when one
morning a shining carriage drew up
before the two houses. A young gen
tleman, wearing a gold watch chain,
descended from the vehicle, giving his
arm to an old lady with white hair.
The old lady said to him:
1T is there, my child, the second
house."
And the young gentleman entered
the Vallin residence as if he were enter
ing his own homo.
The old mother was washing her
aprons; the father, now infirm, was
doing beside the great hearth. Both
looked up and the young man said:
"Good day, papa! good day mamma r.
! They rose to their feet almost in
alright. The old peasant woman, in her
sudden emotion, even let her soap fall
into the water, and stammered out
"C'est-te m'efant? Is it thou my
child?? is it thou, my child?"
| He took her in his arms and kissed
her-repeating, "Bonjour, mamma,
while the old father, though trembling
in every limb; exclaimed in that calm
accent which never deserted him: $50
thou art come back, JEAN" As If he
had been gone only a month or less
And when they had got to know each
other little better, then the parents
insisted on going out with their son, tc
show him all tho country folk. They
took him to see the mayor, the deupty,
the priest, the schoolmaster-
And Chariot, standing at the thresh-
old of his fathers cabin, looked as he
W ent by.
That evening, at supper time, he said
to the o ID folks:
| "What idiots you must have been to
let them take Vallin's child"
His mother Ohstinato1v rosnon1od.