The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-19
"rOUr DE SUITE.
BY F. H. LANCASTER.

l Where the green hills dipped to the bayou and where the sunset thickened In tie woods 'Tout-de-Suite' had builded a cabin of clean, new boards. cut from the very heart of the pines. Had roofed it snug and fioored it close and done one other thing nobody knew but him. Work ing eagerly by carly stars and late in a i fine frenzy of love; dreaming by day and | by night strange, sweet dreams: laboring loving'y. until it Stood in all it's sweet scented completeness where the pines had lately stood and sung. One evening he had walked around it scarcely whistling for happiness: the next he had locked the door, barred the Windows and gone away.
 ''Pourquoi? An. mon ami, il ny per- some sans defaut." And him they call | ''Tout-de-Suite,' he had his fault as his nickname showed. He was impatient! Hien. He was as impatient as fire with wind behind it.
 | You see. mon ami. it used to be a bit of Eden "out yondah." They had rattle snakes in the woods and alligat ITS in the bayou, but 1t was a bit of Eden for all that-no newspapers no automobiles. no appendicitis. Love for the young, liberty for the middle-aged. peace for the old, and plenty of hard work for everybody. That was the way it was until the rail- road came like a serpent into paradise, filling foolish heads with the notion that money could be had without working "A bas." you say, "a railroad to bring such a notion" Mais arretez, mon ami. Down at the tie camp did they not offer 30 cents head for cabbages? And was not Madam Aloysuis' garden full of cabbages that she had been wont to give to the neighbors for nothing-or, next to noth- ing? Now. every day she and Cherie filled their little cart. hitched the old steer to it and logged leisurely into camp, there to sell dozens of cabbages for 3O cents apiece. Think of it. they had hith- erte had to depend for spending money on figs at three cents a pound. "Ah s ere, 1t takes so many figs to make a r.N l." Cherie had sometimes sighed. sof ly. to 'Tout-de-Sute." when he came in his Sunday clothes to smoke his cigarettes on Mime. Aloysuis' front gallery. Such g shabby little gallery with rirkety steps that the four o'clocks couldn't hide. thorgh they crowded ever so close. Tout de-Suite'' lonsed for the right to r>pair that rotten roof. put new books under those sagging corners and replace the hinges on the gate tied up with cowhide thongs. But while he wai'ed imnat'ently for the time when all these and dearer- far dearer rights should come to pass. the railroad came and prosperity breathed it's reviving breath upon madams tumNled- down establishment. The house squared itself with the world, new boards gleamed from the roof and new steps turned snowy under Cherries energetic scrubbing. ''Tout-de-Suite'' was up the river hauling logs when things began to happen and his first call set him agape
 Mamma have a man come up fom de camp and fix heem.' Cherie explained, with modest assumption of carelessness, when she saw his staring at the new boards. Says she t'ink mebbe she have 1 neem come mek new fence some day But me. don know. I t'ink best finish de house first. Man say de glass W ndow don cost more'n two dollars, mebbe What you t'ink?'
 Tout de Suite" thought dreadful things He had not heard about the boom in cabbages.
 What man is das?'' he asked, harshly.
 Cherie was delightfully."- innocent. q don know, me. It was mamma talk to lheem.'
 Another thought only slightly less dreadful than the first came to Tout de-Suite,, but before he, could word it Cherie was telling him to their sudden rise in riches. He began to understand that this pretty new dress was not her very best put on for his especial benefit She spoke slightingly of it. Good enough, yas, fo' de house every day" and hinted darkly of things done in the way of hats In sudden anguish the boy un- | derstood that he was no longer the bright est light in her girlhood Leaven, and a perfect frenzy of fear and impotence seized him.
 Could not Cherie be ready by spring. He had his ground most ready to D ow, he could work on the house wet days and evenings. Couldn't she be ready by then. He was so tired of being lonesome, and much more along this line for your Cajan land wooes well. And Cherie was kind. Viola An unlimited supply of new ribbons need not always make a girl cold to old friends. So kind was Cherie, '"Tout-de-Suite" went home whist ing My Love is Like a Little Bird" with heart as light as happiness. Le pauvre garcon, forgetting the other words of the pretty song, that they all waltzed by at the balls out yondah.'
 | Why should he not be happy-very hap py? He and Cherie had been engaged | five years, now they were to be married in the spring. It was as though he could never get used to the joy of that thought, but must need tell it to his heart again and again as he cleared and fenced and |dug and builded. The busiest man on all Bayou des Acadien. Too busy, even to hear the news until a charcoal burn~E stopped his tired team before the new house ''Tout-de-Suite" was surveying in an ecstasy of pride and happiness. It was the coal-burner that told him how they said that Cherie had a fresh dress every Sunday. how madam had bought up all the cabbages and wouldn't sell any more for 30 cents, was asking 40, and getting it. and then, with q cruel look on his smutty face. how there was a handsome young boss down at the tie-camp who talked to Cherie while madame sold cab bages. Then he had chuckled and cracked bis whip, and said ''allons, allons'' to his team, and "Tout-de-Suite" was on his horse-tired. hungry, dirty. mad-urging the fleet little beast until the wind hum med in his ears. but could not soothe his burning impetuosity. And as he rode he arraigned Cherie bitterly. While he had been work like one dog, she had been talk to das railroad fellow, and-and- But I show her. me Das what"
 The meeting was what might have been expected-a result to bring joy to any gossips heart. ''Tout-de-Suite'' stormed. Cherie was disdainfully calm. She