The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-02-22

! treacherouS brown hand went higher
/ so high that the combined altitude of
his jump and the reach of his UNI
naturally long arms was overcome
Again and again he sprang vainly into
| the air comically, like a long-legged,
squat bodied frog.
And you brag of your agility and
strength. JEAN" she laughingly re-
marked; but You can't take cherries
when they are offered to you. What
a clumsy bungler you are"
4 can climb and get some," he said
with a hideously happy grin, and i'm
mediately embraced the bole of the
/ tree, up Which he began scrambling
almost as fast as a squirrel
When he had mounted high enough
to be extending a hand for hold on
a crotch, Alice grasped his leg near
the foot and pulled him down, despite
/ his clinging and struggling, until his
/ hands clawed in the soft earth at the
trees root, while she held his captive
/ leg almost vertically erect
1t was a show of great strength;
but Alice looked quite unconscious of
it, laughing merrily, the dimples deep
ening in her plump cheeks, her fore
arm, now barred to the elbow, CLEAN
ing white and shapely while its
muscles rippled on account of the
jerking and kicking of Jean.
All the time she was holding the
cherries high in her other hand, shak-
ing them by the twig TO which their
slender stems attached them. and
saying in a sweetly tantalZing tone:
What makes you climb downward
after cherries, Jean? What a foolish
fellow you are, indeed, trying to
grabble cherries out of the ground, as
you do potatoes! I'm sure 1 didn't
suppose that you knew SO little as
that"
Her French was colloquial, but
quite good, showing here and there
what we often notice in the speech of
those who have been educated in isO-
lated places far from that babel of
polite energies which we call the
world; something that may be de-
scribed as a bOokish cast appearing
oddly in the midst Of phrasing dis
tinctly rustic and local-a popularity
not easy to transfer from one Ian
guage to another.
Jean the hunchback was a muscu-
lar little defOrmity and a wonder of
good nature. His head looked unnat-
urally large, nesting grotesquely be-
tween the points Of his lifted and dis
torted shoulders. like a shaggy black
animal in the fork of a broken tree.
He was bellicose in his amiable way
and never knew just when to ac-
knowledge defeat. How long he /
might have kept up the hopeless
struggle with the girls invincible grip
would be hard TO guess. His release
was caused by the approach of a third
person, who wore the robe Of a Catho
lie priest and the countenance of a
man who had lived and suffered a
long time without much loss Of
physical strength and endurance.
This was Peter Beret, grizzly, short,
compact, his face deeply lined, his
month decidedly aslant on account Of
some lost teeth. and his eyes set deep
/ under gray, shaggy brows. Looking at
him when his features were in repose
first impression might not have been
favorable; but seeing him smile or
hearing him speak changed every
thing His voice was sweetness It.
slant. Something like a pervading
sorrow always seemed to be close be
hind his eyes and under his speech:
yet he was a genial, sometimes almost
jolly. man. very prone 10 join in the
lighter amusements 0 fhis people.
Children, children. my children"
he called out as he approached along
a little pathway leading up from the
direction of the church. what are
you doing now? Bah there, Alice,
viii you pun Jeans leg OFF,
At first they did not hear him, they
We're so nearly deafened by their own
vocal discords.
Why are you standing on your
head with your feet SO high in air.
Jean?" he added. It's not a polite
attitude in the presence of a young
lady. Are you a pig, that you poke
your nose in the dirt?"
Alice now turned her bright head
and gave Pere Beret a look of frank
welcome. which at the same time shot
q beam of willful self-assertion.
My daughter, are you trying TO help
Jean up the tree feet FOREMOST" the
priest added. standing where he had
halted Just outside of the struggling
yard fence.
He had his hands on his hips and
was quietly chuckling at the scene
-. lore him. as one who, although old,
sympathized with the natural and
harmless spOrtiveness of young people
and would as lief as not join in
prank or two.
You see what I'm doing, Father
Beret," said Alice. Il am preventing
a great damage to you. You will may
be lose a good many cherry pies and
dumplings If 1 let Jean go. He was
climbing the tree to pilfer the fruit
so 1 pulled him down, you under
stand"
TIA. ta" exclaimed the good man,
shaking his gray head; I'VE must
reason with the child. Let go his leg.
laughter, will vouch for him; Ell.
Jean?"
Alice released the hunchback. then
laughed gayly and tossed the cluster
of cherries into his hand, where
upon he began munching them
voraciously and talking at the same
time
Il knew 1 could get them" he
boasted; and see, have them now"
He hoped around, looking like a
species of Informed monkey.