The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-03-04
THE ROSE TREE NINE.

tome, heard child cry in the night,
and could not Sleep"
sIt was devil bird, my wife; it flies
slowly and the summer is dead"
"Antoine, there was rushing Of
wings by my bed before the morn was
breaking"
"The wild geese know their way in
the night, Angelique, but they flew by
the house and not near thy bed"
"The two black squirrels have gone
from the hickory tree"
"They have hidden away with the
bears in the earth, for the frost comes,
and it is the time of sleep"
sA cold hand was knocking at my
heart when I said my ayes last night,
my Antoine"
"The heart of woman feels many
strange things; cannot answer, my
wife"
ssLet US go also southwark, Antoine,
before the great winds and the wild frost
come"
81 have love of thee, Angelique, but
cannot CO."
"Is not love greater than all?''
"To keep pledge is greater"
"Yet if evil Gomez
"There is the mine"
"None travels hither; who should
find it?"
"He said to me, my wife, Antoine,
will you stay and watch the mine until
! come with the birds northward againY
and said 4 will stay and Angelique will
stay; will watch the mine"
'sThis is for his riches, but for our
peril, Antoine"
"Who can say whittier woman's
fancy goes? 1t is full of guessing. It is
clouds and darkness today and sunshine
80 much-tomorrow. cannot an
swer."
Ihave fear. If my husband loved
me-
'There is the mine," he interrupted
firmly.
"When my heart aches SOL
"Angelique, there is the mine"
"Ah, my Antoine!"
And SO these two staid on the island
of Saint Jean, in Lake Superior, through
the purple haze of autumn into the
white brilliancy of winter, guarding the
Rose Tree mine, which Fading, the
Englishman, and his companions had
prospected and declared to be their
Ophir.
But Saint Jean was far from the ways
Of settlements, and there was little food
and only one hut, and many things must
be done for the Rose Tree mine in the
places where men sell their souls for
money; and Antoine and Angelique,
French peasants from the parish of Saint
Irene, ia Quebec, were left to guard the
place of treasure until, to the sound Of
the laughing spring, there should come
many men and much machinery, and
the sinking of shafts in the earth and
the making of riches.
But when Antoine and Angelique were
left alone in the waste, and God began
to dfa-v the pale coverlet of frost slowly
across .snd and water and to surround
Saios ,Js..n with a stubborn moat of ice,
the heart Of the woman felt some coming
danger, and at last broke forth in words
of timid warning. When she once had
spoken she said no more, but staid and
builded the heaps of earth about the
home, and filed every crevice against
the inhospitable Spirit of Winds, and
drew her world closer and closer within
those two rooms where they should live
through many moons.
The winter was harsh, but the hearts
Of the two were strong: They loved,
and love is the parent of endurance, the
begetter Of courage. And every day,
because it seemed his duty, Antoine in
spected the Rose Tree mine; and every
day, also, because it seemed her duty,
Angelique said many aves. And one
prayer was much with her-for spring
to come early, that the child should not
suffer; tho child which the good God
was to give to her and Antoine.
In the fist hours Of each evening An
tome smoked and Angelique sang the
OLD songs which their ancestors learned
In Normandy. One night Antoine's face
was Lighted with a fine fire as he talked
of happy days in the parish of Saint
Irene, and with that romantic fervor of
his race which the stern winters of Can
ada could not kill, he sang la Claire
Fontaine," the well beloved song child
of the voyagers' hearts.
And the wife smiled far away into the
dancing fames-far away, because the
fire retreated, retreated to the little
church where they two were wed; and
she did as most good women do-though
exactly why, man the insufficient can
not declare-she wept little through
her smiles. But when the last verse
came both smiles and tears ceased. An
toinc sang it with fond monotony:
Would that each rose were growing
Upon the rose tree gay.
And that the fatal rose tree
Deep in the ocean lay.
lily @ longtemps cue je t'aime
Jisinas je nc t'oublierai.
Angeiig.e's heart grew suddenly
heavy. From the rose tree of the song
her mind fed and shivered before the
ieafess rose tree by the mine; and her
cd dread came back. e.
OF course this was foolish Of Ange-
liaue; OF course the wise and great
80, c,,ch S11narcfi.