Evening star., 1921-03-20
Tranalnted From the French by
WILLIAM l.. MCPHERSON.


THEY told Colette: When you
see a star shooting through the
sky you must make wish.
The star will carry it to the
house of the Fates and your wish will
be fulfilled
anything. Since, she had come into
the world she. had been overindulged
by happy parents, who anticipated her
smallest caprices.
What could she ask of the star il
she happened to see ii rushing across
the deep blue of the armament, with
a long sparkling train behind it. as if
it were on a voyage to the land of the
fairies? Her little bed. beside a win
dow whose shades were never drawn,
was an observatory from which she
used to converse with the angels
whenever she was slow in going to
sleep. For she knew that the most
beautiful and radiant of the living
beings with which she felt a far-off
relationship didn't live on earth. but
in the free spaces. where she would
have loved to rejoin them. Yet how
could she reach them, Her greatest
wish she now realized-her sole wish
even-would be to travel herself up
there among the stars. on that beau
tiful pathway Illuminated with points
of gold which seemed to be making
signs to her She would have liked
to soar. and keep on soaring, driven
by swift, strong wings sprouting
from her shoulders.
But the long golden streak never
showed itself in the sky. Then Co
lette grew angry. She accused the
nurse Of deceiving her. She didn't
like people to tell her stories the con-
clusion Of which was delayed. leav
ing her imagination unsatisfied.
"I want the star" she repeated. Il
want the star which runs through the
sky"
And for the first time an unfulfilled
desire brought tears to her eyes.
TOILETTE had grown. She was now
~ fifteen years old. She was a wise
little girl. already informed about
realities formerly incrusted with the
powder of dreams. She knew that
if there were shooting stars they were
not charged with carrying to the
house of the Fates the wishes, gen.
orally frivolous and unreasonable. of
the people who lived on the earth.
She no longer believed in angels-at
least in that physical and positive
sense which, when she was younger,
brought her into contact with them.
One spring morning she awoke
with a feeling of langour. Her win
dow opened on the garden. She went
to it and heard the birds singing out
side. She saw the first roses opening
on tho bushes. A sweet, infinitely
subtle odor came up to her. A great
thirst, a thirst which she had never
known before, possessed her and gave
her desire to drink from some
limpid. inexhaustibl spring where she
could refresh her soul to its depths.
She dressed and went down into the
garden. She had fayorite corner
there. When she was little she used
to hlQe In IL WIN Her 0ollS anu PIC.
ture books to escape the prying eyes
of the servants. Today she went there
without any reason. weighted down
by this strange sensation, this sudden
inquietude. She would have liked to
pluck all the roses and press them
against her warm lips. The song of
the birds suggested to her desire for
music lisped to her alone. in some
mysterious dell. She was fifteen and
it had just come to her that she was
herself the springtime of the world.
She suffered from not being able to
brother. or sister or any friend inti-
mate enough to talk to about the
stranseness Of her feelings. For that