Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1891-07-04


- have drawn. he responded. q bad
mnmber-one of those that will send me
to the colonies as marine for five years
at least. and leave my mother without
resources, and with my father. who has
never drunk as he drinks now, or been SO
wicked. Poor people are certainly nc.
cursedr
"Ah-h! NJ. lie Cure. the horrible night
have passed! The twenty years efforts
of this poor mother destroyed IN a single
instant by the turn Of chancei the sim.
pie rummaging Of hand in a sack the
Withdrawing Of a iettered scrap.
1t was barely daylight when arose
this morning and returned to the build
ing which | am helping 10 construct
ON the Boulevard Arego Work is the
only relief for suffering. and climbed
to my place--the walls are already TO
the fourth story and began 10 lay the
bricks Suddenly q hand touched my
shoulder. turned. IL was Philippe,
working today through a caprice. and
the patron. under contract for d certain
time. had accepted him--the first conner.
Il had not seen Philippe until this
morning for long, long while, and |
had difficulty To- recognize him. Burned
and withered away by eau de vie, with
gray hair and shaking hands, he was an
old man, "A hideous and bloated ruin
"sAnd so, said to him. for my heart
was full the lad has drawn bad mum.
bert
"A bad number. you sayT he repeat.
ed. i'm rough voice and with a wicked
look. and why bad number. pray? Are
you. too. as stupid as the rest-as mother
and son? Camille should serve his coun.
try as the others serve her, though
know very well what il is that both ei
them wish. IL | was dead, YOU see, and
he leered at me with hideous grin on
his, bkated lips. III was dead he
wouldn't 10 But-and so much the
worse for them-fm solid as post still.
and Camille Is not the son of a widowf
"The son of IA widowl
"Ah-h. NJ le Cure. why did he say
those words before me-in that spot of
all others |. wllom he had outraged in
every way. whom he had made to suffer
SO much, and who still suffered SO much
under the suffering he inflicted upon
others? Like flash bad thought came
into my mind-a thought that stayed
with me all day long. as side by side
worked with this mani That poor Cath
erine-what torture he would infiict
upon her when she had no longer a son
to protect her against n miserable drunk
ard, always ugly, always evil under the
lash Of Iiqnor. and capable of being
more.
-Four O'Clock struck and was still
thinking Of this: then o'clock, then
5:30 The men had all descended: Phil.
ippe and | we're the last TO start, and in
he stopped an instant to look above him
and 10 say-God knows what possessed
him--to say with sneer that was simply
deviIisa:
III have always sailors foot, you
see: Camille isn't near 10 being the sor
of widowf
M IL Cure, for a moment | was mad
with anger and revolt AT the fate which
this man had drawn upon us all. had
only to stretch out hand TO end every
thing-only tn seize the ladder to which
Philippe clnng and 10 send II whirline
into space. had only TO do this. | say
and NJ. le Cure did it!
"He was stone dead when they picked
him up There WAS no-one to say it wa
not an accident. and Camille--well. Ca
mile is the son of widow now and h,
will not go, II Is who will 90, win
/ will emigraie 10 America. for | dare no
stay
Il have told the truth to YOU and {,
the good God. and ! repent. but should
stay and see Catherine i'm, her black robe
and 80 happy and proud on the arm o
her SON her own at last. | know that
should repent no longer-that | shouli
cease 10 regret my bad action.
AS for a penance. NJ. lie Cure, tax
you this. a golden trinket ! bought fo
Catherine when SHE should be my wife
and which have always treasured. Sci
il now and divide the money among TN
poor
Did Jacques rise up absolyed Of his 81
by the Abbe Faberi Who knows Blu
that which is certain is this-the prizes
! did not sell the golden trinket given hin
! by the hand of a murderer under tn
seal and shadow of the confessional II
turned the price Of it, or as near 1t as h
could guess. into the Golfer of the church
but he suspended 1t like an en- voto upo
the altar Of the chapel of the Virgin. bs
fore which lie daily prays for the soul {
the poor mason. Translated from IL
French OF Francois Coppes by f
Waggener for The New York Mercury.