The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1920-05-27

many words. had been more sulen and
morose than ever OF late.
During the past week Marie had
been terrified at the way her father
looked at her. He had never meant
very much TO her and now. when he
was about to pass out of her life, she
| felt no regret.
Her mind went travelling back to her
earliest memory. She was on the sea.
| shore with her mother, watching for
the return OF the fishing fleet, and her
| fathers boat, and on the shngle lay
! the sailing boat of n young Dtrient
| from Quebec whom she had seen often
| ut their cottage during her fathers
| absence. The young mau WIS laugh
ingly inviting her mother TO go for
| sail. At last the girl consented
The sail was very lorg one Little
| Marie. who had fallen asleep. was
awakened by the sound of her moth
cr's screaming and the young students
| laughing protestations that Il was too
late in the day Ia return now. She
did not understand all that was said,
and her next memory was of "A squnlid
| lodging in Quebet. ar. Ter mothers
| tenr-stained f. &c, and u sense of un-
happiness.
Then she was back In the cottage,
standing beside thu bed on which her
| dying mother lay, and the sick woman,
| gripping her hand fast In her burning
ones, was repeating a name over and
over. "Say It again, child !" she was
whispering.
She reiterated this demand over and
over again.
"Say II !" she muttered "Say II, and
never forget. And carry It with thee
through life, saying II In moments of
temptation, that thou mayest remem-
ber thy mother and understand. Now
swear by the Virgin to say 1t morning
and night. and never forgetw
The frightened girl had swo-n.
catching the words from her moth .r's
lips. She had sid the name morn and
night until il had become engraved
upon her me'nory forever. But 1t was
long before she understood its mean
ing.
Then sne remembered her father
shaking her by the arms. "rhe name
thy mother told thee-speak II, Ma
riei"
NO" answered the little girl OBJ
stlnately.
He threatened her, but the child of
five years pressed her lips together
and would not utter woh'.
"Listen, Marie If you tell me thou
shalt have everything I'm the world. A
new dress. and thou shalt sail with me
upon my ship, and ! will buy thee the
big doll that opens and shuts her eyes.
The name, Mariep
Marie remained perfectly silent.
And for years she resisted her fathers
threats and promises and pleadIngs.
not understanding that II was mental
inhibition which she could not break.
The. sight of her dying mother had
inflicted wound in the child's soul
that never healed. And every week at
first. every month later. the scene with
her father was renewed.
She never pretended to have forgot
ten, ms she might well have done. As
she grew older her fathers outbursts
became less frequent But the insane
rage which agitated him grew rather
than lessened as the years went by.
Sixteen had passed; she was now
| twenty-one, and she looked back on a
childhood that had been torture.
Her estrangement from her father
was ms complete as from the village
life. At first the scandal had been
against her, and later her aloofness
had set the tongues of the st. Boniface
women TO wagging. Like mother, like
daughtcr"-so runs the hard proverb
in every country. Marie Dupont grew
up friendless and utterly alone. The
girl had never had friend, nor had
she ever even had sweetheart until
six months before.
Pierre, In the course of his peregrl-
nations along the coast, at that time
as assistant on n smuggling craft had
come to know the solitary figure that
paced the beach In those days the
girls heart, cut OFF from natural COM
munlcatlon with the young people of
st. Bonlface. had turned, with the
vague yearnlng of youth, TO dreams of
the world outside. The repressed
spirit seeks It's adventures in devious
ways; II not In action, then in imagina'
ton. Marie Dupont longed for release
from her Imprisonment, and dreamed
Of the prince who was some day to
come and take her away.
When Baptlste began 90 show an I'm
terest In her she hated him, She had
never thought of him as lover, and
hardly as a man he was u part of st
Bonlface. OF the hateful life that en-
compassed her. clutched at her and
would not let her go free. She came
TO invest Baptlste with the qualities of
all that she loathed.
Pierre scraped acquaintance with
her. He hsd the intuition of the base
man who must perforce win his vie
tins by guile. He listened 10 her con
h.. NaN