The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-17
ALICE Old llIAGENNES1
sr r1AuRnE s-7sSsS---ssssss 49,. T4oreooN


called after her. Il should think y0u
could-you mind how we used to trip
il together You were the prettieSt
dancer of them all, and the young fell
lows all went to swords about youl"
But tell me more" Alice insisted; )
Il want to know all about what you |
saw in the great toWns-in the fine 1
houses-how the ladies looked, how !
they acted-what they said-the dresses
they wore-how--'
"CieH you win split my ears. child; /
can't you I'll my pipe and bring ii 70 |
me with a coal on it2 Then I'll try to
tell you what I cam he cried, assum- |
ing humorously resigned air. Per |
haps if smoke can remember every |
thinS.'
Alice gladly ran to do what he asked. |
Meantime Jean was out on the gallery |
blowing a flute that NJ. Roussillon had /
brought him from Quebec.
The pipe well filed and lighted APP
parently did have the effect to steady |
and encourage NJ .ROussillon's memory; |
or if not his memory. then his mag
inatiOn, which was of that ferVid and
liberal sort common to natives of the
Midi. and which has been exquisitely
depicted by the late Alphonse Daudet
in Tartarin and Bompard- He leaned
far back in a strong chair, with his
massive legs stretched at fun length,
and gazed at the roof poles while he
| talked.
He sympathized fully, in his crude
way, with Alice's lively curiosity, and
| his affection for her made him anxious
to appease her longing after news from
( the great outside world. If the sheer
/ truth must come out, however. he knew
precious little about that world, es-
pecially the polite part of it in which
| thrived those femininitieS So dear TO
4 4 rf,e-a
| tive girl. STILL as he, too, lived in Ar
cadia. there was no great effort in
volved when he undertook to blow
dreamer's flute.
i In the first place he had not been in
/ Quebec or Montreal during his absence
1 from home. Most of the time he had
1 spent disposing of pelts and furs at
Detroit and in extending his trading
relations with other posts; but what
mattered trihing want of facts when
MS meridional fancy once began to
warm up? a smattering of social
knowledge. gained at first hand in his
! youthful days in France while he was
a student whose parents fondly ex-
| pected him to conquer the world, came
to his aid, and besides he had saturated
himself all his life with poetry and ro-
nance. Scudery. Scarron, Provost.
Madame La Fayette and CaIprenede
were the chief sources Of his informal
ton touching the life and manners,
morals and gayeties of people who. as
he supposed, stirred the surface of that
Respondent and far off ocean called so
ciety Nothing suited him better than
to smoke a pipe and talk about what
he had seen and done; and the less he
had really seen and done the more he
had to tell
His broad, almost Over-Virile, kindly
and contented face beamed with the
warmth of wholly imaginary recollec-
tions while he recounted with minute
circumstantiality to the delighted Alice
his gallant adventures in the crowded
and brilliant bathrooms of the French
Canadian towns. The rolling burr of
his bass voice, deep and resonant, gave
force to the imprevised descriptions.
Madame Roussillon heard the heavy
booming and presently came softly
back into the door from the kitchen TO
listen She leaned against the facing
in an attitude of ponderous attention, u
hand on her bullying hip. She could not
suppress her unbounded admiration of
her nege lords manly physique, and
Jealous to fierceneSS as she was of his
experiences so eloquently and pictur-
esquely related, her woman's nature
took fire with enjoyment of the scenes
described.
This is the mission of the poet and
enee, for a time, the stiff, refractory
and unlovely realities and give in their
place a scene of ideal mobility and
charm The two women reveled in
[ Casper Roussilions revelations. They
saw the brilliant companies, the lux
urious surroundings, heard the rustic
of brocade and the fine fiutter of laces,
the hum of sweet voices, breathed in
the watts of costly perfumeries, looked
! on while the dancers whirIed and flick
cred in the confusion of lights: and
) over all and through all poured and
! vibrated such ravishing music as only
; the southern Imagination could have
cOnjuTed UP out of nothing.
Alice was absolutely charmed. She
b sat on low wooden stool and gaZed
{ into Casper Roussillons face with di-
= lating eyes in which burned that rich
: and radiant something we call pas
! ! sionate soul. She drank in his fam
u boyant stream of words with a thirst
= which nothing but experience could
; ever quench. He felt her silent APP
: pIause and the admiring involuntary
: absorption that possessed his wife; the
consciousness of his elementary mag
: netism augmented the flow of his fine
= descriptions, and he went on and on
until the arrival of Father Beret put
. an end to it all.
E The priest. hearing of NJ. Roussillon's
: return. had come to inquire about SOme
= friends living at Detroit He tool
c luncheon with the family. enjoying the
a downright refreshing collation. o.
s broiled birds, onions, meal cakes and
:, claret, ending with a dish of blackber
!, ries and cream.
NJ RoussiIIon seized the first oppor
tunity TO resume his successful TO
Il mancing, and presently in the mids
= of the meal began to tell Father Bere
i about what he had seen in Quebec
y by the way" he said, With eXpan
sive casualness in his voice, Il calle
upon your old-time friend and coad
jutcr Father Sebastien, while up there
r A noble old man. he sent you a thou
st sand good messages. Was nightly de
If lighted when 1 told him how happy an
ic hale you have always been here. Al
you should have seen his dear old eye
full Of loving tears. He would wal
100 miles to see you, he said, but neve
pr expected to IN this world. Blessings
I. blessings upon dear Father Beret, wa
II what he murmured in my ear whe
= we were parting. He says that he wi
- never leave Quebec until he goes
Is his home above-sh,"
IS The way in which NJ. Roussillon close
&c his little speech, his large eyes up
It. turned, his huge hands clasped in fror
To of him. was very effective.
4 am under many obligations, IN
. SON." said Father Beret for what yo
T tell me. L was good of you TO remen
Der my dear Old friend and go TO hin