With darkness all the population of the island retire to their
homes;--the streets become silent, and the life of the day is done.
By eight o'clock nearly all the windows are closed, and the lights put
out;--by nine the people are asleep. There are no evening parties, no
night amusements, except during rare theatrical seasons and times of
Carnival; there are no evening visits: active existence is almost timed
by the rising and setting of the sun.... The only pleasure left for the
stranger of evenings is a quiet smoke on his balcony or before his door:
reading is out of the question, partly because books are rare, partly
because lights are bad, partly because insects throng about every lamp
or candle. I am lucky enough to have a balcony, broad enough for a
rocking-chair; and sometimes Cyrillia and the kitten come to keep me
company before bedtime. The kitten climbs on my knees; Cyrillia sits
right down upon the balcony.
One bright evening, Cyrillia was amusing herself very much by watching
the clouds: they were floating high; the moonlight made them brilliant
as frost. As they changed shape under the pressure of the trade-wind,
Cyrillia seemed to discover wonderful things in them: sheep, ships with
sails, cows, faces, perhaps even _zombis_.
--"_Travaill Bon-Dié joli,--anh?_" (Is not the work of the Good-God
pretty?) she said at last.... "There was Madame Remy, who used to sell
the finest _foulards_ and Madrases in St. Pierre;--she used to study the
clouds. She drew the patterns of the clouds for her _foulards_: whenever
she saw a beautiful cloud or a beautiful rainbow, she would make a
drawing of it in color at once; and then she would send that to France
to have _foulards_ made just like it.... Since she is dead, you do not
see any more pretty _foulards_ such as there used to be."...
--"Would you like to look at the moon with my telescope, Cyrillia?" I
asked. "Let me get it for you."
--"Oh no, no!" she answered, as if shocked.
--"Why?"
--"_Ah! faut pa gàdé baggaïe Bon-Dié conm ça!_" (It is not right to look
at the things of the Good-God that way.)