The Indiana State sentinel., 1894-11-14
THE WIZARDS CROSS.

clap. and at first they refused to believe
1t. 1t was impossible, they said. after the
monks had done so much for him, that he
would change his purpose in life. To tha:
ne replied that IL he had in his mex
perience mistaken his vocation. IL was
good thing he had found it OUT before
he had taken any irTevocable step. This,
however, was but ona of the objections his
parents raised. They were very avari-
cious. Berthe had not sou. They were
devout catholics. and the pere Maziere
was an avowed free thinker. But Francois
had his answers ready. He could qualify,
he said, as a schOolmaster, and earn suf-
ficient TO be independent Of his parents
before he married. and as to the freethink-
ing, he had convinced Berthe of the error
Of that. and she had been TO mass regu-
larly for weeks.
The abbot however, would not listen
to reasoning of this sort. He maintained
that an irrevocab,e step had been taken
when Francois. after his first communion,
had vowed to devote his life to the serv-
ice Of the church, and that an alliance
with atheists would only make his
apostasy the blacker; and then by all the
threats OF all the punishmentS In MS
power he tried TO bring his former pupil
back to- the allegiance from which he had
swerved.
Francois was. as have said, no
friend of mine. but in those days 1 felt
truly sorry for him. 1t was dreadful to
see the conflict which went on In him
between the great love which had sudden
ly filed his heart. and the fears which the
Father Abbot soon sucoeeded In raising up
in his conscience. AL the while, too, ne
had TO bear his parents reproaches, who
lived in dread that the monks would turn
them out of the house which had been
tlueir home for generations. Still he would
not give in-nOt even when the abbot eX-
communicated him solemnly after mass
on the feast of assumption. If, however,
his will held good, his body and mind
We're unable to stand the strain or the
constant struggle in which he was en-
gagged. Before the end OF the long noll-
DAYS ne was worn to a shadow OF MS
former self. He could not eat, or sleep.
or rest: his dark eyes burned like fires
in his b.oodless face. His strength broke
down utterly, and he could no longer drag
his weary limbs up to La Pigeonnie.
"Of course Nine. Savariaud forbade
Berthe to enter her house, so the lovers
used to meet sometimes on the hillside,
under the pine tree where the Crolx du
Sorcier now stands: at other times II fell
them, though in my heart l hated the
thought of my pretty cousin giving up
all that she might have had 10 love
which could never make her truly happy.
But her one word was that FRANCOIS
was free to marry if he chose, and she
bore her share of the trouble bravely,
though his failing health troubled her
sorely What would be the end OF IL!
Would he die2 Was there no remedy?
She thought of many things, and one
day, as q last resource, she went 10
burn a taper in the chapel yOnder, and
20 pray that Francois might recover from
his strange illness. 1t is quite impossible
to say what the end of her story would
have been If she had not gone to burn
that taper
"She told me all about it afterward; {;
how she was so deeply absorbed with
her own thoughts she entered the
chapel that she did not notice whether
or no 1t was empty, and how she went
straight to the altar, adjusted her taper,
lighted It, and, kneeling down, began 70
pray When she had finished her first
paternoster. she looked up, and saw that
her taper had gone out. She rose, looS-
ened the wick, relignted it, and knelt
down again; but as she watched Il the
flame sputtered and struggled and went
out again-it seemed az If the Holy Nir-
gin. to whom she was praying, would
none of her prayers. She persevered,
however, but always with the same i'll
success, till at last when, for the ninth
time. her taper refused to burn, she
dashed it On to the ground, and sank
down weeping Historically in front of
the altar.
"'Do not cry 50 bitterly said a voice
beside her: your candle only went out
because il is badly made
'She looked up startled, and saw stand
ing beside her the man whom we after
ward called the wizard. He did not look
the least like a wizard. He was tan,
well-built man of about five and thirty,
with a kind face and large gray eyes,
which seemed TO look you through and
through. He explained to Berthe that he
had been sitting by the door as she came
in that he had been watching her, and
that he understood exactly why the can
de had gone out. But Berthe could not
accept the explanation. 1t seemed all of
a piece with the rest of her ill-luck that
the taper she had brought to the shrine
should go out in that mysterious man
ner; she said as much, and went on cry
ing Then the stranger, little by little,
she could scarcely tell how, drew the
story Of her trouble from her, and when
he had heard II he told her that even if
her taper had not burnt her visit 10 the
shrine need not be fruitless; that he was
doctor from Paris, Jacques Reynaudie
by name; that his skill lay chiefly In
dealing with such caoes "a Franceie's,
and that he was staying in ST. Zita long
enough TO make an attempt at least 70
help him. The end Of 1t was that Berthe
brought her new acquaintance down to
the inn. and while he explained himself
10 the Savariauds, she ran round to find
me in the stable. where / was milking,
and to ten me the whole story.
Fancy. Martin she cried when she
had told me, fancy a great doctor-a
real gentleman-coming and talking like
that TO a poor girl like me and fancy If
he cures Francois Of his fever and sleep
lessness. which i firmly believe he will.
Oh. Martin. come and have a look at
him. he is 50 handsome. 1 never saw
any one so handsome
My pail Of milk was ready TO carry to
the house, so / went, nothing loath, to see
this monsieur about whom she was so eX-
cited. But as / reached the threshold of
the houseplace, l stood still, and so did
Berthe; for what we saw was quite be-
yond our experience or our comprehen-
sion. There sat Francois in the corner OF
the settle, leaning back in an attitude OF
repose, while the strange doctor stood in
front Of him holding his hands and gaz-
ing hXedly into his eyes. lie pere Sa-
variaud and his wife stood near the win
dow with astonished faces. No one was
moving, and the only sounds in the
the buZZing OF the flies. / knew but little
with his calm. masterful face, was some
thing quite out of the common. The
minutes slipped on; still nothing moved.
and no one spoke: the doctor never turned
his eyes from those Of Francois. / began
to feel quite uncanny Then all at once
saw that an extraordinary change had
come over Francois's face. He had not
looked so peaceful and untroubled for
many a day. The emotion, the mental
anguish which had tortured him so long
seemed to have burned themselves out
the calm restfulness of the stranger
seemed to be taking possession OF him He
was leaning his head TRANQUILITY against
the back Of the settle, every nervous
stilled, while his eyelids droop-
ed softly over his eyes. He raised them
once or twice. and then-was Ii possible?