Towards noon we saw Celeste come on deck with her second son, both
carrying baskets full of plates, dishes, covers, and a tablecloth. You
remember I have often told you of an awning stretched at the stern of the
flatboat? We found that in fine weather our dining-room was to be under
this. There was no table; the cloth was simply spread on the deck, and
those who ate had to sit _à la Turque_ or take their plates on their
knees. The Irish family ate in their room. Just as we were drawing around
our repast Madame Carpentier, on her husband's arm, came up on deck.
Dear little Alix! I see you yet as I saw you then. And here, twenty-seven
years after our parting, I have before me the medallion you gave me, and
look tenderly on your dear features, my friend!
She had not changed her dress; only she had replaced her camail with a
scarf of blue silk about her neck and shoulders and had removed her gloves
and _capuche_. Her rich chestnut hair, unpowdered, was combed back _à la
Chinoise_, and the long locks that descended upon her shoulders were tied
by a broad blue ribbon forming a rosette on the forepart of her head. She
wore no jewelry except a pearl at each ear and her wedding ring. Suzanne,
who always saw everything, remarked afterward that Madame Carpentier wore
two.
"As for her earrings," she added, "they are nothing great. Marianne has
some as fine, that cost, I think, ten dollars."
Poor Suzanne, a judge of jewelry! Madame Carpentier's earrings were two
great pearls, worth at least two hundred dollars. Never have I met another
so charming, so lovely, as Alix Carpentier. Her every movement was grace.
She moved, spoke, smiled, and in all things acted differently from all the
women I had ever met until then. She made one think she had lived in a
world all unlike ours; and withal she was simple, sweet, good, and to love
her seemed the most natural thing on earth. There was nothing
extraordinary in her beauty; the charm was in her intelligence and her
goodness.
Maggie, the Irishwoman, was very taciturn. She never mingled with us, nor
spoke to any one except Suzanne, and to her in monosyllables only when
addressed. You would see her sometimes sitting alone at the bow of the
boat, sewing, knitting, or saying her beads. During this last occupation
her eyes never quitted Alix. One would say it was to her she addressed her
prayers; and one day, when she saw my regard fixed upon Alix, she said to
me:
"It does me good to look at her; she must look like the Virgin Mary."
Her little form, so graceful and delicate, had, however, one slight
defect; but this was hidden under the folds of her robe or of the scarf
that she knew how to arrange with such grace. One shoulder was a trifle
higher than the other.
After having greeted my father, whom she already knew, she turned to us,
hesitated a moment, and then, her two little hands extended, and with a
most charming smile, she advanced, first to me and then to Suzanne, and
embraced us both as if we had been old acquaintances. And from that moment
we were good friends.
It had been decided that the boat should not travel by night,
notwithstanding the assurance of Carlo, who had a map of Attakapas. But in
the Mississippi there was no danger; and as papa was pressed to reach our
plantation, we traveled all that first night.
The next day Alix--she required us to call her by that name--invited us to
visit her in her room. Suzanne and I could not withhold a cry of surprise
as we entered the little chamber. (Remember one thing: papa took nothing
from home, not knowing even by what means we should return; but the
Carpentiers were going for good and taking everything.) Joseph had had the
rough walls whitewashed. A cheap carpet--but high-priced in those
times--of bright colors covered the floor; a very low French bed occupied
one corner, and from a sort of dais escaped the folds of an embroidered
bobbinet mosquito-bar. It was the first mosquito-bar of that kind we had
ever seen. Alix explained that she had made it from the curtains of the
same bed, and that both bed and curtains she had brought with her from
England. New mystery!
Beside the bed a walnut dressing-table and mirror, opposite to it a
washstand, at the bed's foot a _príedieu_, a center-table, three
chairs--these were all the furniture; but [an enumeration follows of all
manner of pretty feminine belongings, in crystal, silver, gold, with a
picture of the crucifixion and another of the Virgin]. On the shelves were
a rich box of colors, several books, and some portfolios of music. From a
small peg hung a guitar.
But Suzanne was not satisfied. Her gaze never left an object of unknown
form enveloped in green serge. Alix noticed, laughed, rose, and, lifting
the covering, said:
"This is my harp, Suzanne; later I will play it for you."
The second evening and those that followed, papa, despite Carlo's
representation and the magnificent moonlight, opposed the continuation of
the journey by night; and it was not until the morning of the fifth day
that we reached St. James.
You can fancy the joy with which we were received at the plantation. We
had but begun our voyage, and already my mother and sisters ran to us with
extended arms as though they had not seen us for years. Needless to say,
they were charmed with Alix; and when after dinner we had to say a last
adieu to the loved ones left behind, we boarded the flatboat and left the
plantation amid huzzas,[11] waving handkerchiefs, and kisses thrown from
finger-tips. No one wept, but in saying good-bye to my father, my mother
asked:
"Pierre, how are you going to return?"
"Dear wife, by the mercy of God all things are possible to the man with
his pocket full of money."
During the few days that we passed on the Mississippi each day was like
the one before. We sat on the deck and watched the slow swinging of the
long sweeps, or read, or embroidered, or in the chamber of Alix listened
to her harp or guitar; and at the end of another week, we arrived at
Plaquemine.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] According to a common habit of the Southern slaves.--TRANSLATOR.