THE RECTORY-HOUSE.
The last rays of the sun were gradually disappearing behind the vast
pile of the Château d'Ecouen and the woods which surrounded it. On all
sides, until the sight lost them in the distance, were vast tracts of
land lying in brown furrows hardened by the frost--an extensive desert,
of which the hamlet of Bouqueval appeared to be the oasis. The sky,
which was serenely glorious, was tinted by the sunset, and glowed with
long lines of empurpled light, the certain token of wind and cold. These
tints, which were at first of a deep red, became violet; then a bluish
black, as the twilight grew more and more dark on the atmosphere. The
crescent of the moon was as delicately and clearly defined as a silver
ring, and began to shine beautifully in the midst of the blue and dimmed
sky, where many stars already had appeared. The silence was profound;
the hour most solemn. The curate stopped for a moment on the summit of
the acclivity to enjoy the calm of this delicious evening. After some
minutes' reflection, he extended his trembling hand towards the depths
of the horizon, half veiled by the shadows of the evening, and said to
Fleur-de-Marie, who was walking pensively beside him:
"Look, my child, at the vastness and extent to which we have no visible
limit; we hear not the slightest sound. Say, does not this silence give
us an idea of infinity and of eternity? I say this to you, Marie,
because you are peculiarly sensitive of the beauties of creation. I
have often been struck at the admiration, alike poetical and religious,
with which they inspire you,--you, a poor prisoner so long deprived of
them. Are you not, as I am, struck with the solemn tranquillity of the
hour?"
The Goualeuse made no reply. The curé, regarding her with astonishment,
found she was weeping.
"What ails you, my child?"
"My father, I am unhappy!"
"Unhappy!--you?--still unhappy!"
"I know it is ingratitude to complain of my lot after all that has been
and is done for me; and yet--"
"And yet?"
"Father, I pray of you forgive my sorrows; their expression may offend
my benefactors."
"Listen, Marie. We have often asked you the cause of these sorrows with
which you are depressed, and which excite in your second mother the most
serious uneasiness. You have avoided all reply, and we have respected
your secret whilst we have been afflicted at not being able to solace
your sorrows."
"Alas; good father, I dare not tell you what is passing in my mind. I
have been moved, as you have been, at the sight of this calm and
saddening evening. My heart is sorely afflicted, and I have wept."
"But what ails you, Marie? You know how we love you! Come, tell me all.
You should; for I must tell you that the time is very close at hand when
Madame Georges and M. Rodolph will present you at the baptismal font,
and take upon themselves the engagement before God to protect you all
the days of your life."
"M. Rodolph--he who has saved me?" cried Fleur-de-Marie, clasping her
hands; "he will deign to give me this new proof of affection! Oh,
indeed, my father, I can no longer conceal from you anything, lest I
should, indeed, deserve to be called and thought an ingrate."
"An ingrate! How?"
"That you may understand me, I must begin and tell you of my first day
at the farm."
"Then let us talk as we walk on."
"You will be indulgent to me, my father? What I shall say may perhaps be
wrong."
"The Lord has shown his mercy unto you. Be of good heart."
"When," said Fleur-de-Marie, after a moment's reflection, "I knew that,
on arriving here, I should not again leave the farm and Madame Georges,
I believed it was all a dream. At first I felt giddy with my happiness,
and thought every moment of M. Rodolph. Very often when I was alone, and
in spite of myself, I raised my eyes to heaven, as if to seek him there
and thank him. Afterwards--and I was wrong, father--I thought more of
him than God, attributing to him what God alone could do. I was
happy--as happy as a creature who had suddenly and entirely escaped from
a great danger. You and Madame Georges were so kind to me, that I
thought I deserved pity rather than blame."
The curé looked at the Goualeuse with an air of surprise. She continued:
"Gradually I became used to my sweet course of life. I no longer felt
fear when I awoke, of finding myself at the ogress's. I seemed to sleep
in full security, and all my delight was to assist Madame Georges in her
work, and to apply myself to the lesson you gave me, my father, as well
as to profit by your advice and exhortation. Except some moments of
shame, when I reflected on the past, I thought myself equal to all the
world, because all the world was so kind to me. When, one day--"
Here sobs cut short poor Fleur-de-Marie's narration.
"Come, come, my poor child, calm yourself. Courage, courage!"
The Goualeuse wiped her eyes, and resumed:
"You recollect, father, during the fêtes of the Toussaints, that Madame
Dubreuil, who superintends the Duke de Lucenay's farm at Arnouville,
came, with her daughter, to pass some time with us?"
"I do; and I was delighted to see you form an acquaintance with Clara
Dubreuil, who is a very excellent girl."
"She is an angel--an angel, father. When I knew that she was coming to
stay for some days at the farm, my delight was so great that I could
think of nothing else but the moment when she should arrive. At length
she came. I was in my room, which she was to share with me; and, whilst
I was putting it into nice order I was sent for. I went into the saloon,
my heart beating excessively, when Madame Georges, presenting me to the
pretty young lady, whose looks were so kind and good, said, 'Marie, here
is a friend for you.' 'I hope,' added Madame Dubreuil, 'that you and my
daughter will soon be like two sisters;' and hardly had her mother
uttered these words, than Mademoiselle Clara came and embraced me. Then,
father," continued Fleur-de-Marie, weeping, "I do not know what came
over me; but, when I felt the fresh and fair face of Clara pressed
against my cheek of shame, that cheek became scorching with
guilt--remorse. I remembered who and what I was;--I--I--to receive the
caresses of a good and virtuous girl!"
"Why, my child?"
"Ah, my father," cried Fleur-de-Marie, interrupting the curé with
painful emotion, "when M. Rodolph took me away from the Cité, I began
vaguely to be conscious of the depth of my degradation. But do you think
that education, advice, the examples I receive from Madame Georges and
yourself, have not, whilst they have enlightened my mind, made me, alas!
to comprehend but too clearly that I have been more culpable than
unfortunate? Before Clara's arrival, when these thoughts grew upon me,
I drove them away by seeking to please Madame Georges and you, father.
If I blushed for the past it was only in my own presence. But the sight
of this young lady of my own age, so charming, so virtuous, has conjured
up the recollection of the distance that exists between us; and, for the
first time, I have felt that there are wrongs which nothing can efface.
From that time the thought has haunted me perpetually, and, in spite of
myself, I recur to it. From that day I have not had one moment's
repose." The Goualeuse again wiped her eyes, that swam in tears.
After having looked at her for some moments with a gaze of the tenderest
pity, the curé replied:
"Reflect, my child, that if Madame Georges desired to see you the friend
of Mademoiselle Dubreuil, it was that she felt you were worthy of such a
confidence from your good conduct. Your reproaches, addressed to
yourself, seem almost to impugn your second mother."
"I feel that, father, and was wrong, no doubt; but I could not subdue my
shame and fear. When Clara was once settled at the farm, I was as sad as
I had before thought I should be happy, when I reflected on the pleasure
of having a companion of my own age. She, on the contrary, was all joy
and lightness. She had a bed in my apartment; and the first evening
before she went to bed she kissed me, saying that she loved me already,
and felt every kind sentiment towards me. She made me to call her Clara,
and she would call me Marie. Then she said her prayers, telling me that
she would join my name with hers in her prayers, if I would also unite
her name with mine. I did not dare to refuse; and, after talking for
some time, she went to sleep. I had not got into my bed, and,
approaching her bedside, I contemplated her angel face with tears in my
eyes; and then, reflecting that she was sleeping in the same chamber
with me--with one who had been at the ogress's, mixed up with robbers
and murderers, I trembled as if I had committed some crime, and a
thousand nameless fears beset me. I thought that God would one day
punish me. I went to sleep and had horrid dreams. I saw again those
frightful objects I had nearly forgotten--the Chourineur, the
Schoolmaster, the Chouette--that horrible, one-eyed woman who had
tortured my earliest infancy. Oh, what a night! _Mon Dieu!_--what a
night! What dreams!" said the Goualeuse, shuddering at their very
recollection.
"Poor Marie!" said the curé with emotion. "Why did you not earlier tell
me all this? I should have found comfort for you. But go on."
"I slept so late, that Mademoiselle Clara awoke me by kissing me. To
overcome what she called my coldness, and show her regard, she told me a
secret--that she was going to be married when she was eighteen to the
son of a farmer at Goussainville, whom she loved very dearly, and the
union had long been agreed upon by the two families. Then she added a
few words of her past life, so simple, calm, and happy! She had never
quitted her mother, and never intended to do so, for her husband was to
take part in the management of the farm with M. Dubreuil. 'Now, Marie,'
she said, 'you know me as well as if you were my sister. So tell me all
about your early days.'
"I thought when I heard the words that I should have died of them; I
blushed and stammered; I did not know what Madame Georges had said of
me, and I was fearful of telling a falsehood; I answered vaguely, that I
had been an orphan, educated by a very rigid person; and that I had not
been happy in my infancy; and that my happiness was dated from the
moment when I had come to live with Madame Georges; then Clara, as much
by interest as curiosity, asked me where I had been educated, in the
city or the country, my father's name, and, above all, if I remembered
anything of my mother. All these questions embarrassed as much as they
pained me, for I was obliged to reply with falsehood, and you have
taught me, father, how wicked it is to lie; but Clara did not think that
I was deceiving her; she attributed the hesitation of my answers to the
pain which my early sorrows renewed; she believed me and pitied me with
a sincerity that cut me to the soul. Oh, father, you never can know what
I suffered in this conversation, and how much it cost me only to reply
in language of falsehood and hypocrisy!"
"Unfortunate girl! The anger of heaven will weigh heavily on those who,
by casting you into the vile road of perdition, have compelled you to
undergo all your life the sad consequences of a first fault."
"Oh, yes, they were indeed cruel, father," replied Fleur-de-Marie,
bitterly, "for my shame is ineffaceable. As Clara talked to me of the
happiness that awaited her,--her marriage, her peaceful joys of home, I
could not help comparing my lot with hers; for, in spite of the kindness
showered upon me, my fate must always be miserable. You and Madame
Georges, in teaching me what virtue is, have taught me the depth of that
abasement into which I had fallen; nothing can take from me the brand of
having been the refuse of all that is vilest in the world. Alas! if the
knowledge of good and evil was to be so sad to me, why not have
abandoned me to my unhappy fate?"
"Oh, Marie, Marie!"
"Father, I speak ill, do I not? Alas! I dare not confess it; but I am at
times so ungrateful as to repine at the benefits heaped upon me, and to
say to myself, 'If I had not been snatched from infamy, why,
wretchedness, misery, blows, would soon have ended my life; and, at
least, I should have remained in ignorance of that purity which I must
for ever regret.'"
"Alas! Marie, that is indeed fatal! A nature ever so nobly endowed by
the Creator, though plunged but for one day in the foul mire from which
you have been extricated, will preserve for ever the ineffaceable
stigma."
"Yes, yes, my father," cried Fleur-de-Marie, full of grief, "I must
despair until I die!"
"You must despair of ever tearing out this frightful page from the book
of your existence," said the priest, in a sad and serious voice; "but
you must have faith in the infinite mercy of the Almighty. Here, on
earth, my poor child, there are for you tears, remorse, expiation; but,
one day, there,--up there," and he raised his hand to the sky, now
filling with stars, "there is pardon and everlasting happiness."
"Pity, pity, _mon Dieu_! I am so young, and my life may still endure so
long," said the Goualeuse, in a voice rent by agony, and falling at the
curé's knees almost involuntarily.
The priest was standing at the top of the hill, not far from where his
"modest mansion rose;" his black cassock, his venerable countenance,
shaded by long white locks, lighted by the last ray of twilight, stood
out from the horizon, which was of a deep transparency,--a perfect
clearness: pale gold in the west, sapphire over his head. The priest
again elevated towards heaven one of his tremulous hands, and gave the
other to Fleur-de-Marie, who bedewed it with her tears. The hood of her
gray cloak fell at this moment from her shoulders, displaying the
perfect outline of her lovely profile,--her charming features full of
suffering, and suffused with tears.
This simple and sublime scene offered a strange contrast,--a singular
coincidence with the horrid one which, almost at the same moment, was
passing in the ravine between the Schoolmaster and the Chouette.
Concealed in the darkness of the sombre cleft, assailed by base fears, a
fearful murderer, carrying on his person the punishment of his crimes,
was also on his knees, but in the presence of an accessory, a sneering,
revengeful Fury, who tormented him mercilessly, and urged him on to
fresh crimes,--that accomplice, the first cause of Fleur-de-Marie's
misery.
Of Fleur-de-Marie, whose days and nights were embittered by never-dying
remorse; whose anguish, hardly endurable, was not conceivable;
surrounded from her earliest days by degraded, cruel, infamous outcasts
of society; leaving the walls of a prison for the den of the
ogress,--even a more horrid prison; never leaving the precincts of her
gaol, or the squalid streets of the Cité; this unhappy young creature
had hitherto lived in utter ignorance of the beautiful and the good, as
strange to noble and religious sentiments as to the magnificent
splendour of nature. Then all that was admirable in the creature and in
the Creator was revealed in a moment to her astonished soul. At this
striking spectacle her mind expanded, her intelligence unfolded itself,
her noble instincts were awakened; and because her mind expanded,
because her intelligence was unfolded, because her noble instincts were
awakened, yet the very consciousness of her early degradation brings
with it the feeling of horror for her past life, alike torturing and
enduring,--she feels, as she had described, that, alas! there are stains
which nothing can remove.
"Ah, unhappiness for me!" said the Goualeuse, in despair; "my whole life
has long to run, it may be; were it as long, as pure as your own,
father, it must henceforth be blighted by the knowledge and
consciousness of the past; unhappiness for me for ever!"
"On the contrary, Marie, it is happiness for you,--yes, happiness for
you. Your remorse, so full of bitterness, but so purifying, testifies
the religious susceptibility of your mind. How many there are who, less
nobly sensitive than you, would, in your place, have soon forgotten the
fact, and only revelled in the delight of the present. Believe me, every
pang that you now endure will tell in your favour when on high. God has
left you for a moment in an unrighteous path, to reserve for you the
glory of repentance and the everlasting reward reserved for expiation.
Has he not said himself, 'Those who fight the good fight and come to me
with a smile on their lips, they are my chosen; but they who, wounded in
the struggle, come to me fainting and dying, they are the chosen amongst
my chosen!' Courage, then, my child! Support, help, counsel,--nothing
will fail you. I am very aged, but Madame Georges and M. Rodolph have
still many years before them; particularly M. Rodolph, who has taken so
deep an interest in you, who watches your progress with so much
anxiety."
[Illustration: "'_So I Have Brought Turk with Me_'"
Original Etching by Adrian Marcel]
The Goualeuse was about to reply, when she was interrupted by the
peasant girl whom we have already mentioned, who, having followed in the
steps of the curé and Marie, now came up to them. She was one of the
peasants of the farm.
"Beg your pardon, M. le Curé," she said to the priest, "but Madame
Georges told me to bring this basket of fruit to the rectory, and then I
could accompany Mlle. Marie back again, for it is getting late. So I
have brought Turk with me," added the dairy-maid, patting an enormous
dog of the Pyrenees, which would have mastered a bear in a struggle.
"Although we never have any bad people about us here in the country, it
is as well to be careful."
"You are quite right, Claudine. Here we are now at the rectory. Pray
thank Madame Georges for me."
Then addressing the Goualeuse in a low tone, the curé said to her, in a
grave voice:
"I must go to-morrow to the conference of the diocese, but I shall
return at five o'clock. If you like, my child, I will wait for you at
the rectory. I see your state of mind, and that you require a lengthened
conversation with me."
"I thank you, father," replied Fleur-de-Marie. "To-morrow I will come,
since you are so good as to allow me to do so."
"Here we are at the garden gate," said the priest. "Leave your basket
there, Claudine; my housekeeper will take it. Return quickly to the farm
with Marie, for it is almost night, and the cold is increasing.
To-morrow, Marie, at five o'clock."
"To-morrow, father."
The abbé went into his garden. The Goualeuse and Claudine, followed by
Turk, took the road to the farm.