The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1899-08-10

Inc uObu0T SOOu luV1GeU Hill I'D CO1u0
and eat chestnuts at the mill during the
long autumn evenings.
The first time, however, that the
young shopkeeper went to visit his
sweetheart strange thing happened.
The cricket which always chirped be-
hind the kitchen chimney remained ST.
lent.
"That is singular, " thought Noeline's
mother.
And the young girl on her part turn
ed quite pale.
And when Jouanin came for his Sec
ond visit the same thing happened. AS
soon as the wooer opened the door the
cricket ceased chirping.
Upon this Noeline's mother crossed
herself, and her daughter clasped her
trembling hands beneath her apron.
Every time that Jouanin entered the
house the hostile cricket refused to let
itself be heard, and in listening closely
one could hear peculiar sound, an in
applicable scratching in the chimney,
as if the little creature were revolving.
Noeline cried good deal, and her
mother was much depressed.
Like the majority of peasant women,
they both attached great Importance to
the chirping of their cricket. They were
aware that the song of one of those in
sects in a house insures to it's inhabi-
tants happiness and prosperity. The
fact of it's remaining silent whenever
sure sign that the poor lad would bring
misfortune upon any one who had any
thing to do with him.
And yet Noeline knew very well
| that her lover was good, honest and in
dustrious. She thought she could read
many promises Of happiness in his low
ing gray eyes, but the cricket did not
agree with her. It might have proved
dangerous not to heed its warning, and
when the timid shopkeeper came, with
bowed head and a lump in his throat,
to ask Noeline's mother for her daugh-
ter's hand the old woman looked very
grave and the girl could hardly refrain
from sobbing in her apron. Jouanin
was rejected. He was not given the true
reason. 1t would have troubled him to
learn that he brought bad luck to a
house that he entered.
The mother gave him plenty of prob
able pretexts, and Noeline escaped from
the room to hide her grief. She went
and sat down by the milestone in the
old, dilapidated mill, listened to the
drops of water falling over the great
iron wheel, and when she heard Jouanin
closing the door as he left the house to
return home by the alder grove, along
the murmuring brook, she thought her
heart would stop beating in her breast,
and she prayed to God aloud, as if she
had been in fear of death.
The following week Jouanin left the
country. With his clothes tied in a
handkerchief he went off during a cold
twilight, when the last leaves seemed
shivering on the trees. He entered the
alder grove and went along the brook
Of Espibos. The young mistress of the
mill saw him coming and remained
standing motionless at her door.
"Good evening, Noelinep' he sale
slowly.
"Good evening, Jouaninl'' she re-
piled, lowering her eyes.
Then as he went on she ventured tx
ask:
$50 you are going to leave the coun
try 2'
He seemed to stumble little on tn,
path covered with leaves.
eyes; l have found place a
Orthez''
She said nothing. Unconsciously sh,
turned and twisted between her finger
a small silver cross that hung at he
throat, ana with dim, trout led eyes sh,
watched Jouanin as he went in the in
creasing darkness through the silen
woods.
A small, slight person, bent, with tn
lean body and limbs of a wornout oil
woman, but still possessed of pair O
expressive eyes far younger than tn
face of which they formed part-sucl
was Nceline Fargues, the mistress O
the mill of Espibos % years after tn
departure of Jouanin Lacaze. The peas
ant women of the south of France fad
rapidly.
A-straddle of the brook, as of old, tn
mill still held its own, thanks to severa
supplementary clutches, and it's clatte
was as merry as that CT new one.
Noeline Fargues had not married
Jouanin gone, no other lover had sue
ceeded in touching her heart. Aristid
Larrieussec, ardent though he was, ha,
been discarded like all the rest. TIL
young farmer, long inconsolable, ha,
finally married a girl from the neigh
borhood. At the present day he visite'
his old sweetheart only for the purpos
og, L L, Sc l.
probably forgotten the delicious frui
they had eaten together by the mill
stone long ago while the white fou
fell silently, busting every objec
around them.
Jouanin. for his part, had never re
turned.
Many a time Noeline had wandere,
along the brook in the innocent hope O
seeing the young shopkeeper appear be
fore her. She had thought of him near
ly every day, and almost every nigh
when the cricket sang she grew sad am
sat dreaming by her lonely Preside un
til the resin candle had burned itsel
out.
Alas, Orthez was SO far awayi TIL
people of Espibos never go to that town
At the shop in the village no one ha.
heard anything about Jouanin. Wha
had become of the fair haired youn
appentice? Noeline still prayed for hin
from time to time when her poor SOU
was sadder than usual, and by degrees
in the hollow breast of the lonely peas
ant woman, the beatings Of her hear
became cold and monotonous, like tn
chatter of her poor old mill.
| One moonlight evening Noeline, VIII