Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-05-08
THE DROWNED MAN.

IOr hef man uSeu 10 beat ner, when he was
alive, as they thresh the wheat on the
threshng floors.
He was master of a fishing smack, and
had married her long ago because she was
pleasant, although she was poor.
Patin, a good sailor, but brutal, fire.
quented the drinking shop of old Auban,
where he drank regularly every day his
four or five little nips, and on days of luck
at sea, eight or ten or even more, just ac-
cording to how good he felt, as he said
The drink was served to patrons by old
Auban's daughter, a brown girl, good to
look at, and who drew custom by herpleas-
ant manners solely--for no one had ever
limited a word against her.
Patin when he came into the shop, was
content with looking at her, and his con
versation was polite, the civil remarks of a
decent fellow. After he had drunk his
first glass of brandy he began to find her
more attractive; at the second he winked
his eye at her: at the third he would say,
"If only you liked, Mamzelle Deeiree''-
without ever finishing his sentence; with
the fourth he tried to catch her by the
skirts to kiss her; and when he went as
high as ten her father brought him the
other ones.
The old wine seller, who was up to all
the tricks, sent Desiree round among the
tables to stimulate the orders: and Desiree
who was not her fathers favorite for moth
ing, fitted in and out among the custom
ers, joking with them, with a laughing
mouth and a swapping eye.
What with drinking his little nips, Patin
became so used to the face of Desiree that
he kept thinking of her even out at sea-
when he was casting his nets, far out
windy nights and calm, nights of moon
light and nights of cloud. He thought on
her, gripping the helm in the stern of his
boat, while his four comrades were sleep
ing, their heads on their arms He saw
her, always smiling, pouring him the yell
low brandy with "A swing of the shoulder
then saying rs she went:
"There Does that suit you?"
And at last, keeping her thus in eye and
mind, he was seized with such a longing to
marry her that, unable to fight any longer
against it, he asked for her hand.
He was well of, owner of his boat, of his
nets and of house at the foot of the hill
on the Reserve, while old Auban had moth
ing. So he was received with enthusiasm
and the wedding came off at the earliest
possible day both parties wishing to hurry
matters for different reasons.
But three days after the marriage Patin
was utterly unable to conceive how he
could have thought Desiree different from
any other woman. Well, he must have
been fool! to tie himself up with a girl
without a cent who had bewitched him
with her rum, for sure, liquor that she'd
put some filthy charm into for him.
And he swore, up and down the tide,
breaking his pipe between his teeth, abus
Ing his outfit; and having cursed copiously
in ali the customary terms at everything
he could think of, he spit forth the rest of
his choler on the fish and the Holsters
taken one by one from his nets, never
throwing them into the basket without an
accompaniment of scolding and bad names.
Then, home again, having within reach
of tongue and hand his wife, old Auban's
-,irl, it was not long before he was treating
her like the lowest of the low in his speech
Then, as she heard him resigneilv. used to
that sort OF thing already from her father
lie crew eXaSperated ut her silence, and one
evening struck her. After that their life
was fri4lful.
For ten Ncals they talked of nothing else
on the Reserve but the thraSniugs PatIn
gave hi wife. and his way of swearing at
her whenever he addressed her. He swore
in fact. in an individual style, with rich
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