Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1923-04-06
The
Lame Fiddler
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By EDWARD LEVINE
20. 1884. western Newspaper unlon.I

7 S@ NvGNAND AAA@ AANaA 1
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20. 1922. Western Newspaper union.)
IF only the lafas ilddler could be
here" sighed Mad4ms Bienvenu. HE
swore that he would play at they we'd
ding, child, as he played at miner
But the lame fiddler had been found
dead In q snowdrift the winter before,
and now he could not play at Aimee's
wedding.
For years the lame fiddler had been
a feature Of the countryside. Antoine
Forget was humpbacked, an ugly little
man, with a dreamy face, and he
played divinely-all the old songs. la
Rose en- Bois." and Malbrouck's "S'en
va-t-en Guerre," and "Alouetts" No
wedding was complete without An.
tome.
They would send for him perhaps
hundred miles, driving him in sleighs
or carioles. And It was considered
lucky to have Antoine at the wedding;
1t insured happiness for the young peo-
pie.
Madame, I shall surely come for
your child's wedding" Antoine had
said.
And Antoine had died in a snowdrift
the winter before.
He had played at Madame Blenve-
NUS wedding. He had known her all
her life, but she did not know who An.
tome really was. No one knew that
except perhaps Madame Bienvenu's ia
ther, old Simeon, who had sat for years
in the chimney corner, paralyzed and
incapable Of speech--a huge hulk Of a
man, who had to be shifted by the
strong hands Of his grandsons, Hugose
and Theophrastus, from chimney cor
ner to bed, and back again.
Old Siemon was eighty-seven. He
sat all day In dream. If he knew
What was going on, he gave no sign Of
Il. He was dead In life, great hulk
of human flesh, no more.
Somewhere, far back In the past, An
tome Forget, the fiddler, and old Sim
con had become bound together by
some tie. What It was no one knew,
though gossips said that there had
been a love affair, years before, and
that Simeon had won his young bride
away from hump-backed Antoine, and
that this had only cemented the bond
between the two men. No matter. All
that was past years before, and the
things Of the dead past belong only to
those Of the past.
SO Antoine Forget would never play
at Aimee Bienvenu's wedding, which
was a pity, for she was marrying
Pierre Dubois, a fine young man, with
a share In a sealing schooner and Q
house already built In st. Dominique.
The absence Of the lame fiddler cas-
gloom over the wedding party. Younl
Hector Bray was doing his best Will
the gaddle. but who could play Tx
4 Antoine? Nevertheless The meiiimen
rose higher and higher. Il was pas
midnight. the feast was over, tn
horses were champing impatlently a
their bits outside. 1t was time to leav,
the young pair and say good-by.
All Of a sudden a gloom, a silence
seemed to strike the wedding party
They looked at one another. What had
happened?
All, they knewl Antoine Forget al
ways kept this last, his most pathetic
piece. la Belle Moullniere," for the
breakup of the wedding party.
'Tiensl !" whispered one guest to an.
other. II almost thought saw lame
Antoine pass the Window"
They stared outside into the dark.
A fine snow had begun to drift down
from the sky They stared at one an
other.
And then an extraordinary thing
happened. Old Simeon, In his corner,
who had sat like an image all through
the dancing, as IL he were unconscious
Of what was happening, had risen and
had not happened since his stroke, long
years before.
What was he dOlng7 Raising his
arms, pointing to the fiddler, young
Hector Bray, who stood with the violin
under his arm.
muuuHe bleuVeHu utLtTeu ScreHH
and ran toward him, but he waved her
away. And he was demanding the I'D
dlei
But he had never played the fiddle.
so far as anyone could remember
Nevertheless, Hector Bray crossed the
room and placed the instrument In the
old mans hands. But when old Simeon
put the end TO his neck gasp went
up:
at Is lame Antolnep
For those were the gestures OF the
dead fiddler. And that was how An
tome had played. And that was the
magic Of dead Antolne's music sweep
ing from the strings.
OF sudden a couple began 10 dance,
and soon the room was awhirl. They
could not stop, for sort of mania had
seized them-not until the tune
changed suddenly to ia Belle MoulI.
Mere"
Old Simeon stood there, playing.
They watched him, spellbound, till the
last sound died away. And suddenly the
eddie fell from the nerveless hands.
Old Simeon tottered like an oak, and
fell face downward, dead.
Madame Blenvenu looked up from
beside him, crossing herself. HE told
me he would come" she whispered.