The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-08

II, however, his will held good his body
ana Inlnd were unable to stand the strain
OF the constant struggle In which he was
engaged. Before the end OF the long holi-
Gays ne was worn to a shadow of his former
darf eve, eohlu nor eat, or sleep, or rest ms
race. His strength broke down utterly and
ne could no longer drag his weary limbs
OF course Nine. Savariaud forbade
Berthe to enter her house, so the lovers used
to inset sometimes on the hillside under the
pine tree where the Croix du Sorcier now
stands; at other times IL fell TO my lot to
oe the messenger between them, though in
my heart hated the thought of my pretty
cousin giving up all that she might have
mad TO a 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 falling health troubled her sore
~. What would be the end of it? Would
ne die? Was there no remedy? She thought
or many things, and one day as a last re-
source, She went to burn a taper in the
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
10 Durn that taper.
She told me all about 1T afterwards; how
she was so deeply absorbed with her own
thoughts as she entered the chanel that she
did not notice whether or not it was empty.
and how she went straight to the altar adj
1usted her taper. lighted it, and, kneeing
her first paternoster she looked up and saw
tnat her taper had gone out. She rose,
loosened the. wick, relighted it, and knelt
DOWN again; but as she watched it the fame
sputtered and struggled and went out again
lit seemed as If the Holy Virgin 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 the ground and sank down
weeping Historically in front of the altar.
Do not cry so bitterly, said a voice
beside her, your candle only went out be-
cause 1t was badly made
She looked up startled, and saw standing
beside her the man whom We afterwards
called ale the wizard He did not look in the
may of about five-and-thirty, with q, kind
face and large gray eyes, which seemed to
to Berthe that he had been sitting by the
watching her ana that he Understood 0e ex
actly why the candle had gone out. But
Berthe could not accept the explanation.
1t seemed all Of piece with the rest of her
ill-luck that The taper she had brought to
the shrine should so out in that mysterious
manner; she said as much, and went on
crying. Then the stranger, little by little,
she could scarcely tell how, drew the story
of her trouble from her, and when he had
heard it he told her that even if her taper
had not burnt, her visit to the shrine need
not be frultless; that he was a doctor from
Paris Jacques Reynaudie by name, that his
skill lay chiefly in dealing with such cases
as Francois's, and that he was staying in
st. Ute long enough to make an attempt at
least to help him. The end of 1t was that
Berthe brought her new acquaintance down
to the inn, and while he explained himself
to the S3variauds, she ran around to find me
in the stable, where | was milking, and to
tell me the whole story.
" Fancy Martini she cried, when she had
told it to me, fancy, great doctor-a real
gentleman-come and talking like that to
a poor girl like me, and fancy, if he cures
which / firmly believe he will Oh Martin
come and have a look at him, he is so
handsome. l never saw any one so hand
some.
MY pail of milk was ready to carry to the
house, so went, nothing loath, to see this
monsieur about whom she was so excited.
place / stood STILL and so did Berthe; for
what we saw was quite beyond our expert
ence or our comprehension. 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, hold
ing his hands and gazing fxedly into his
eyes. lie pere Savariaud and his wife stood
near the window with astonished faces. No
one was moving, and the only sounds in the
kitchen were the ticking of the clock and the
buZzing of the flies / knew but little of
doctors, still felt that this doctor, with
his calm, masterful face, was something
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 l saw
that an extraordinary change had come over
Francols race. ne nag o. no. IooAeu da 80
The emotion the mental anguish which had
tortured him so long seemed to have burned
themselves out, the calm reSLIulneSS OF the
stranger seemed to be taking possession or
him. He was leaning his head TRANQUILITY
against the back of the settle, every nervous
movement stilled, while his eyelids dropped
softly over his eyes. He raised them once
or twice and then-was it possible? He was
asleep, asleep as child lulled py It's MOTH
er's cradle song.
Then the stranger looked round. His face
was pale and beads of perspiration stood
So far so good he said, smiling at
Berthe. Now, some one come and help me
of waking him; he will sleep till tomorrow
What have you done to him?' asked lie
pere Savariaud angrily, as he obeyed. 1T
is not natural to send man to sleep like
that by looking into his eyes. You are
sorcerer; ia
the stranger, laughing, and keep your dis
pleasure for those who deserve it, and then
he went on to explain to us that few doc
tors in Paris of whom he was one, had
discovered a way of making man sleep by
influencing his will, and this, he said was
a very good remedy In cases of mental dis
order, such as that of Francois. where the
brain was becoming exhausted for want Of
rest. And now he added, / will give.
few directions which must be carefully
Obeyed. My patient must Je allowed to sleep
undisturbed till / come to rouse him to-
morrow, and when he is awake all agita-
ton must be avoided for him. For instance,
1t will be WELL mademoselle, that you
should not see him for the present. ! VIII
take care that you have news of his prog
ress. My cure requires three weeks. VIII
you allow me as long to try and effect It?
/ assure you that besides the gain to your
son, which you can easily see and appre-
ciate, his cure, if l bring it about, will be
extremely important step in my career
80 it was settled that Monsieur Rey-
naudie should do his best by his mysterious
process to restore Francois to health, and
Berthe went home, feeling very pleased
with her afternoons adventure.
During the next three weeks Berthe new
or came near st. Antoine, nor did l happen
to meet her when L was down in the town.
L suppose Monsieur Reynaudie carried her
all the news of Francois. which was certain
ly very wonderful news. Every evening he
came to the inn and in a shorter time every
evening he cast Francois into the Deep
dreamless sleep which we had seen settle
down on him that first afternoon; and every
morning Francois awoke refreshed and
Gained in mind and body. His appetite re-
turned, his nervous irFitablity almost dis
appeared, his step grew firm again, his eyes
lost their wild expression, and his face re-
gained its natural outline and color. Every
one was talking of his cure and Monsieur
Reynaudie was already famous in ST. Ute
under the sobriQuet of the Sorcerer, but the
father abbot denounced the cure as impiouS
In fact, Francois was not likely to find has
position less difficult as he recovered, and
many people thought that the monks would
carry the day after all. My own opinion
was that Francois would hold out.
1.-The allotted three weeks was nearly over,
when one day at market l found Berthe
sitting at her fruit stall, looking paler and
gloon1ier than had ever seen her.
sIOr,1 forth I w