The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-24

eyes, and suddenly exclaimed
" accept with pleasure"
"That is right" said the old lady,
briskly. "What did / tell you, Claud-
cite? Quick, my pet, set the table
and run for the wine, while go back
to my tot.fait."
The girl had already opened the
press and taken out a striped table
cloth and three napkins, and in the
twinkling of an eye the table was
ready. Then she lighted a candle and
went down stairs to fetch the wine,
while the old dame sat down with her
lap full of chestnuts, which she pro-
ceeded to crack and place upon the
stove.
Is not that bright, lively girl9"
she said. She is my consolation; she
cheers me like linnet on an old root"
Here the speaker ratified the chest
nuts on the stove, and then Claudette
reappeared, little flushed and out of
breath, and the old woman went and
brought in the potee, and set it, steam
ing and fragrant, on the table.
Seated between the CHEEKY octogena-
rian and the artess, smiling girl, and
in the midst of half rural surroundings
which constantly recalled the memory
of his youth, Hubert Boinville, the dep
uty governor, did honor to the potee.
His grave, cold manner thawed out
rapidly, and he conversed familiarly
with his new friends, returned the gay
sallies of Claudette, and shouting with
merriment at the sound of the patois
words and phrases which the old lady
used.
From time to time the widow would
rise and go to attend to her cookery,
and at last she returned triumphant,
bringing in an iron baking dish in which
rose the gently swelling golden brown
tot-fai,, smelling of orange flower
water.
Then came the roasted chestnuts in
their brown, crisped sh ellis, and the old
lady brought from her press bottle of
fignolette, a liquor made of brandy and
sweet wine.
When Claudette had cleared the table
the grandmother took up her knitting
mechanically and sat near the stove,
chatting gayly at first, but she now
yielded to the combined effects of the
warmth and the fgnolette and fell
asleep. Claudette put the lamp on the
table, and she and the visitor were left
to entertain each other. The girl,
sprightly and light hearted, did nearly
all the talking.
She had been brought up at Ar
COME, and described the neighbor-
hood with such exactness that Boin-
vile seemed to be carried back to his
native place. As the room was warm
Claudette had opened a window, and
the fresh air came in laden with the
odors of the market garden and the
gurgling sound of fountain, while fur
Their off was heard the bell of the Capu-
chin Convent.
Hubert Boinville had an hallucina-
ton, for which the fignolette and the
blue eyes of his young countrywoman
were responsible. 1t seemed as if
twenty years had rolled backward and
that he was still in his native village.
The wind in the fruit trees was the
rustling of the Argonne forest, the soft
murmur of running water was the ca
ressing voice of the river Aire.
His youth, which for twenty years
had been buried under old papers and
deeds, was now revived, and before
him were the blue, laughing eyes of
Claudette, looking at him 80 artlessly
that his long torpid heart awoke sud-
denly and beat delightful pit-a-pat
against his breast.
Suddenly the old lady awoke with a
start and stammered an apology. M.
Boinville rose, for it was time to go,
and after thanking the widow warmly
for her hospitality and promising to
come again, he extended his hand to
Claudette. Their eyes met, and the
deputy governors glance was so earn
est that the young girls eyelids dropped
suddenly. She accompanied him down
stairs, and when they reached the
house door he clasped her hand again,
but without knowing what to say to
her. And yet his heart was full.
Hubert Boinvile continued to give,
as is said in official language, "active
and brilliant impulse to the depart.
ment." The ministerial machine went
on heaping up on his desk the daily
grist of reports and paper, and the sit.
tngs of the council, audiences, COM
missions and other official duties kept
him so busy that he could not find q
spare hour in which to 90 to the hum.
VIC iOuSluSo hOdl tuO SapuOhiu SOh'
vent.
In the midst of his work, however
his thoughts often wandered back tc
the humble little dinner, and severa
times his attention was distracted from
an official document by vision of Clau
dette's bright azure eyes, which seemed
to flutter about on the paper like a pail
of blue butterflies.
When he returned to his gloomy
bachelor apartments those eyes wen
before him, and seemed TO laugh mer
rily as he stirred his dull fire; and Their
he thought again of the dinner in the
cheerful room, of the fire blazing W
gayly in the delft stove, and of the
young girls merry prattle, which hat
temporarily resuscitated the sensation
of his 21st year. More than once hi
went to the mirror and looked gloomily
at his gray streaked beard, thought o
his loveless youth and of his increasing
years, and said with La Fontaine:
Have passed the time for loving?'
Then he would be seized with sor
of hOmesckness which filled him will