The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-03-13
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bSTTTN play-nO uOule, no muSlC.
(&&GD What is the good?"
''Truly," replied Antoine. Here it
is New Years day, snow three feet
deep, the house so hot you can't
breathe, thirty pair of feet waiting,
lots of tobac, of cold pork, plenty Of
cider behind the door and no music!
We'll, it's droll, that! Pshaw! I'll
stand on tub and whistler
Babette laughed. Look at Alphonse.
Watch how he shake his black head,
and his eyes dance So All, poor man!
He would give his head for Marie, but
she sits with half dozen gallants be-
side her, and she flash her big brown
eyes over at Alphonse and they drive
him mad. Mon Dieu! You think she
care for him, with his purity eyes and
black hair? No, no. You see? You
hear her feet tap the floor. She long to
dance like us all, and Alphonse he long
for her."
$780," rejoined Antoine. II do not
understand that Marie. Why is't all
get on their knees to her and she care
for no man."
AOu tA1uA ludI. CSACu DdUCItc.
"Ah, you are only man, with a mans
eyes! You think because she not care
for you she care for nobody. That's
like a man. He is so vain. When a
woman care not for him, he is so hap
by when she care not for dny one else.
well, I'm glad I'm not man."
Antoine bristled up. "Come, come,
jBabette. You think care for Marie :?
mo; only for you. You are the one
great woman in the world!'
Babette laughed merrily, her little
white teeth flashing. She tapped him
on the arm.
"Oh, you foolish-foolish! A man can
never see when it is a woman. He
thinks her great when she's very little.
He thinks he understands himself, and
he knows nothing. There is Marie.
What do you know? You think her all
coquette. You think I'm better. Mon
Dieu! If were in the same way as
Marie, I'd be like her."
Antoine ran his fingers through his
hair, knotted his forehead and smiled
i'll droll way.
''By the holy, do not understand"
he said. "Who is there Marie loves?
You can see she play the game with
them all, but there is no one. She has
them Jacques, Adrien, Jules, Al
phonse and the rest-comme ca! They
are on their shins, and she put her lit
tie foot on them all. What does she
care? All, Babette, what she care?
There's no onev'
Babette suddenly became grave, and
her eyes watched Antoine with Won
dering kind Of sadness. She was
younger than he, yet she was wiser,
for every good woman is wiser than
any man. She wondered why he did
not know that when love first stirs in
woman's heart she begins to be wise,
when in a mans he begins to be fool
ish, for the one becomes unselfish and
the other vain.
After a moment she said, with a Sc
rious little twist of the head: can
tome, l do not know who tits, but
there's some one Marie loves. Do you
think I'm woman and not know the
look Of love in another? There is
happy. I know that. Do you think if
it was all right she would play with
them like that-so cold, so heartless?
No. but she must do something A wo-
man will go mad unless. Poor Marie!
Perhaps the man does not love her.
Perhaps he loved her and should not.
Perhaps something prevents. Well, it
is q II tho &hn Sc
Antoine was a little nervous, facing
Babette's seriousness. He had not the
care of life, only the shanties in the
winter, the river in summer, the little
farming in the autumn and counting
Isabelle in a happy, irresponsible fash
Ion all the time. But take it seriously
t-life-love? Watch how his feet tap
the floor impatiently. He is wild for
the dance.
1t was New Years day, the time of
festivity beyond all others in French
Canadian home, and the young people
OF the parish were gathered, ready to
dance until the morning, but to the
house OF Marie's father old Vigord, the
fiddler, had not come. For the last
hour there had been nothing but "Vi-
CORD! Vigord! Why doesn't Vigord
Gomez" Every one seemed troubled
save Marie. She did not worry. Per-
haps that was because she had been
a year at school in Quebec city and
therefore had got a kind Of manner.
was playing the self possessed lady, or
that If she could not enjoy herself in
one way she could in another. There
was something in her different from
the other girls in the room You felt
that you did not know her as you
knew them. All that they thought or
were flashed in their brown eyes, on
their red, careless lips and in the
loose softness of their hair, but in
Marie's strong chin, dark coquettish
eyes and strong brow there hid some
thing which had little to do with the
life moving at the moment. Perhaps,
as Babette had said, there was a man
somewhere in the world whose love
or lack of love had given he,. wisdom,