The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-04-24

~ improve. Then was every likeii,
hood now Of being able to carry on
+bronoh the winter Brousseau Ind
cboved no signs of further interfer-
oroe with his men, and there was even
tbe possibility Of getting out another
small load.
Hilary had sent Nanette home to st.
Joseph. She had promised to write to
him. but, as he had expected, he had
not heard from her. Baptiste had
thrown up his position with Dupont
and gone into the Ste. Marie limits tc
tran. Marie DsDont avoided Hilary;
he had not seep her since the da.s @,
their adventure.
AS for Dupont, whatever he knew.
he showed no signs. And things seemed
to settle into equilibrium, though Hill.
ary was sure that denouement was
TO follow. He could only wait pa.
tiently for that. No action could come
from him. He could not violate his
pledge to Marie in order to secure him.
self with Madeleine.
Then came the news which stunned
Hilary out Of his mental apathy. Mad
eleine was to marry BrOusseau. I
WAS TO be In three weeks-at Christ
mas. and the banns had been read IL
church that Sunday morning for the
first time.
What had happened was this: The
Seigneur had not given his daughter
any sign Of remembrance of the events
that had transpired Immediately be
fore his stroke, though he was in Other
RESPECTS normal, save for the paraly
sis of the left side. But as the weeks
went by he grew more and more
nervous and depressed, until one night
he blurted out:
"Where will you take me after thu
estate changes hands? l cannot re
main in ST. Boniface, nor can l remain
with you and the American. l am toe
old to go anywhere but to the grava.'
So he had remembered all the time
Madeleine put her arms about his
neck. II am not going to marry Mor.
sieur Askew," she answered.
Then, without warning, the ole
Seigneur fell to crying and laughing
as If a tremendous load Of care hat
been lifted from his shoulders. The
land, which had meant so much to him
all his life, now seemed to be every
thing, and he interpreted Madeleine':
answer to indicate her willingness tt
marry Brousseau.
"Well, why not?" she thought with
intense bitterness, as she listened
Have any other duty now, save to
my father?"
She never doubted her judgment o.
Hilary. The story had been dinn.d
into her ears by Brousseau since Hi.
ary's first visit to Ste. Marie. She had
heard it from tradesmen's wives. the
postmistress, until their attachment
was known; then had come silence
and furtiveness. And she had scorned
to think Of its possibility until that
night.
And she had given him his chance
and he had said nothing.
She accepted the situation and sat
down and penned a short, formal let
ter to Brousseau.
He came the next day, driving fu.
riously up to the Chateau. He thrust
Robitaille out Of his way and pushed
into the living room, where he found
Madeleine. deathly white, seated alone.
waiting for him. He opened his arma
to embrace her.
"Sit down, Edouard," she said witt
chilling apathy. II am going to talb
frankly to you. You wish to marry
met"
Il want you for my wife," SAID
Brousseau. "You know that. You,
know I don't think anything Of TINT
affair"-Madeleine WINGED at the word,
but he did not notice it-"with Nom
sieur Askew. The mans a scoulrdrel
a thief, and libertine-"
II do not wish to hear that, mon
sieur," said Madeleine peremptosily.
"Diable, that's natural enough! And
so that's forgotten" Brousseau could