BLOOMS OF THE MAY.
The spring came in with a quickening glory. A fortnight ago the snow was
everywhere, the skaters were still out on the streams, the young fellows
having rough snowballing matches, then suddenly one morning the white
blanket turned a faint, sickly, soft gray, and withered. The pallid
skies grew blue, the brown earth showed in patches, there were cheerful
sounds from the long-housed animals, rivulets were all afloat running in
haste to swell the streams, and from thence to the river and the lakes.
The tiny rings of fir and juniper brightened, the pine branches swelled
with great furry buds, bursting open into pale green tassels that moved
with every breath of wind. The hemlocks shot out feathery fronds, the
spruce spikes of bluish green, the maples shook around red blossoms and
then uncurled tiny leaves. The hickories budded in a strange, pale
yellow, but the oaks stood sturdy with some of the winter's brown leaves
clinging to them.
The long farms outside the stockade awoke to new vigor as well.
Everybody set to work, for the summer heats would soon be upon them, and
the season was short. There was a stir in the town proper, as well.
And now, at mid-May, when some of the crops were in, there was a day of
merrymaking, beginning with a procession and a blessing of the fields,
and then the fiddles were taken down, for the hard work lasting well
into the evening made both men and women tired enough to go to bed
early, when their morning began in the twilight.
The orchards were abloom and sweetened all the air. The evergreens sent
out a resinous, pungent fragrance, the grass was odorous with the night
dews. The maypole was raised anew, for generally the winter winds
blowing fiercely over from the great western lake demolished it, though
they always let it stand as long as it would, and in the autumn again
danced about it. It had been the old French symbol of welcome and good
wishes to their Seigneurs, as well as to the spring. And now it was a
legend of past things and a merrymaking.
The pole had bunches of flowers tied here and there, and long streamers
that it was fun to jerk from some one's hand and let the wind blow them
away. Girls and youths did this to rivals, with mischievous laughter.
The habitans were in their holiday garb, which had hardly changed for
two hundred years except when it was put by for winter furs, clean blue
tunics, scarlet caps and sashes, deerskin breeches trimmed with yellow
or brown fringe, sometimes both, leggings and moccasins with bead
embroidery and brightly dyed threads.
There were shopkeepers, too, there were boatmen and Indians, and some of
the quality with their wives in satin and lace and gay brocades.
Soldiers as well in their military gear, and officers in buff and blue
with cocked hats and pompons.
The French girls had put on their holiday attire and some had festooned
a light skirt over one of cloth and placed in it a bright bow. Gowns
that were family heirlooms, never seeing day except on some festive
occasion, strings of beads, belts studded with wampum shells,
high-heeled shoes with a great buckle or bow, but not as easy to dance
in as moccasins.
Two years had brought more changes to the individual, or rather the
younger part of the community, than to the town. A few new houses had
been built, many old ones repaired and enlarged a little. The streets
were still narrow and many of them winding about. The greatest signs of
life were at the river's edge. The newer American emigrant came for land
and secured it outside. Every week some of the better class English who
were not in the fur trade went to Quebec or Montreal to be under their
own rulers.
There was not an entire feeling of security. Since Pontiac there had
been no great Indian leader, but many subordinate chiefs who were very
sore over the treaties. There was an Indian prophet, twin brother to the
chief Tecumseh who afterward led his people to a bloody war, who used
his rude eloquence to unite the warring tribes in one nation by wild
visions he foresaw of their greatness.
Marauding tribes still harassed parties of travelers, but about Detroit
they were peaceable; and many joined in the festivities of a day like
this. While as farm laborers they were of little worth, they were often
useful at the wharves, and as boatmen.
Two years had brought a strange, new life to Jeanne, so imperceptibly
that she was now a puzzle to herself. The child had disappeared, the
growing girl she hardly knew. The wild feats that had once been the
admiration of the children pleased her no longer. The children had grown
as well. The boys tilled the fields with their fathers, worked in shops
or on the docks, or were employed about the Fort. Some few, smitten with
military ardor, were in training for future soldiers. The field for
girls had grown wider. Beside the household employments there were
spinning and sewing. The Indian women had made a coarse kind of lace
worked with beads that the French maidens improved upon and disposed of
to the better class. Or the more hoydenish ones delighted to work in the
fields with their brothers, enjoying the outdoor life.
For a year Jeanne had kept on with her master, though at spring a wild
impulse of liberty threatened to sweep her from her moorings.
"Why do I feel so?" she inquired almost fiercely of the master.
"Something stifles me! Then I wish I had been made a bird to fly up and
up until I had left the earth. Oh, what glorious thing is in the bird's
mind when he can look into the very heavens, soaring out of sight?"
"There is nothing in the bird's mind, except to find a mate, build a
nest and rear some young; to feed them until they can care for
themselves, and, though there is much romance about the mother bird,
they are always eager to get rid of their offspring. He sings because
God has given him a song, his language. But he has no thought of
heaven."
"Oh, he must have!" she cried passionately.
The master studied her.
"Art thou ready to die, to go out of the world, to be put into the dark
ground?"
"Oh, no! no!" Jeanne shuddered. "It is because I like to live, to
breathe the sweet air, to run over the grass, to linger about the woods
and hear all the voices. The pines have one tone, the hemlocks and
spruces another, and the soft swish of the larches is like the last
tender notes of some of the hymns I sing with the sisters occasionally.
And the sun is so glorious! He clasps the baby leaves in his unseen
hands and they grow, and he makes the blades of grass to dance for very
joy. I catch him in my hands, too; I steep my face in the floods of
golden light and all the air is full of stars. Oh, no, I would not,
could not die! I would like to live forever. Even Pani is in no haste to
die."
"Thou art a strange child, surely. I have read of some such in books.
And I wonder that the heaven of the nuns does not take more hold of
thee."
"But I do not like the black gowns, and the coifs so close over their
ears, and the little rooms in which one is buried alive. For it seems
like dying before one's time, like being half dead in a gay, glad world.
Did not God give it to us to enjoy?"
The master nodded. He wondered when she was in these strange moods. And
he noticed that the mad pranks grew less, that there were days when she
studied like a soul possessed, and paid little heed to those about her.
But when a foreign letter with a great waxen seal came to her one day
her delight knew no bounds. It was not a noisy joy, however.
"Let us go out under the oak," she said to Pani.
The children were playing about. Wenonah looked up from her work and
smiled.
"No, children," said Jeanne with a wave of the hand, "I cannot have you
now. You may come to-morrow. This afternoon is all mine."
It was a pleasant, grave, fatherly letter. M. St. Armand had found much
to do, and presently he would go to England. Laurent was at a school
where he should leave him for a year.
"Listen," said Jeanne when they were both seated on the short turf that
was half moss, "a grown man at school--is it not funny?" and she laughed
gayly.
"But there are young men sent to Quebec and Montreal, and to that
southern town, New York. And young women, too. But I hope thou wilt know
enough, Jeanne, without all this journeying."
Pani studied her with great perplexity.
"But he wants me to know many things--as if I were a rich girl! I know
my English quite well and can read in it. And, Pani, how wonderful that
a letter can talk as if one were beside you!"
She read it over and over. Some words she wondered at. The great city
with its handsome churches and gardens and walks and palaces, how
beautiful it must be! It was remarkable that she had no longing, envious
feeling. She was so full of delight there was no room.
They sat still a long while. She patted the thin, brown hand, then laid
her soft cheek on it or made a cradle of it for her chin.
"Pani," she said at length, "how splendid it would be to have M. St.
Armand for one's father! I have never cared for any girl's father, but
M. St. Armand would be gentle and kind. I think, too, he could smooth
away all the sort of cobweb things that haunt one's brain and the
thoughts you cannot make take any shape but go floating like drifts in
the sky, until you are lost in the clouds."
Pani looked over toward the river. Like the master, the child's strange
thoughts puzzled her, but she was afraid they were wrong. The master
wished that she could be translated to some wider living.
It took Jeanne several days to answer her letter, but every hour was one
of exultant joy. It gave her hardly less delight than the reception of
his. Then it was to be sent to New York by Monsieur Fleury, who had
dealings back and forth.
There had been a great wedding at the Fleury house. Madelon had married
a titled French gentleman and gone to Montreal.
"Oh!" cried Jeanne to Monsieur Fleury, "you will be very careful and not
let it get lost. I took so much pains with it. And when it gets to New
York--"
"A ship takes it to France. See, child, there is all this bundle to go,
and there are many valuable papers in it. Do not fear;" and he smiled.
"But what has M. St. Armand to say to you?"
"Oh, many things about what I should learn. I have already studied much
that he asked me to, and he will be very glad to hear that."
M. Fleury smiled indulgently, and Jeanne with a proud step went down the
paved walk bordered with flowers, a great innovation for that time. But
his wife voiced his thoughts when she said:--
"Do you not think it rather foolish that Monsieur St. Armand should
trouble his head about a child like that? No one knows to what sort of
people she has belonged. And she will marry some habitan who cares
little whether she can write a letter or not."
"She will have quite a dowry. She ought to marry well. A little learning
will not hurt her."
"M. Bellestre must have known more than he confessed," with suspicion in
her voice.
M. Fleury nodded assentingly.
Jeanne had been quite taken into Madame De Ber's good graces again. The
money had worked wonders with her, only she did not see the need of it
being spent upon an education. There was Pierre, who would be about the
right age, but would she want Pierre to have that kind of a wife?
Rose and Jeanne became very neighborly. Marie was a happy, commonplace
wife, who really adored her rough husband, and was always extolling
him. He had never learned to dance, but he was a swift skater, and could
row with anybody in a match. Then there was a little son, not at all to
Jeanne's liking, for he had a wide mouth and no nose to speak of.
"He is not as pretty as Aurel," she said.
"He will grow prettier," returned the proud grandmother, sharply.
That autumn the old schoolmaster did not come back. Some other schools
had been started. M. Loisel sounded his charge as to whether she would
not go to Montreal to school, but she decisively declined.
And now another spring had come, and Jeanne was a tall girl, but she
would not put up her hair nor wear a coif. Father Rameau had been sent
on a mission to St. Ignace. The new priest that came did not agree very
well with Father Gilbert. He wanted to establish some Ursulines on a
much stricter plan than the few sisters had been accustomed to, and
there were bickerings and strained feelings. Beside, the Protestants
were making some headway in the town.
"It is not to be wondered at," said the new priest to many of his flock.
"One could hardly tell what you are. There must be better regulations."
"But we pay our tithes regularly. And Father Rameau--"
"I am tired of Father Rameau!" said the priest angrily. "And the
fiddling and the dancing!"
"I do not like the quarreling," commented Jeanne. "And in the little
chapel they all agree. They worship God, and not the Saints or the
Virgin."
"But the Virgin was a woman and is tender to us, and will intercede for
us," interposed Pani.
Jeanne went to the English school that winter but the children were not
much to her mind.
And now it was May, and Jeanne suddenly decided that she was tired of
school.
"Pierre has come home!" almost shouted Rose to the two sitting in the
doorway. "And he is a big man with a heavy voice, and, would you
believe, he fairly lifted mother off her feet, and she tried to box his
ears, but could not, and we all laughed so. He will be at the Fete
to-morrow."
"Come, Pani," Jeanne said quite early, "we will hunt for some flowers.
Susette Mass said we were to bring as many as we could."
"But--there will be the procession and the blessings--"
"And you will like that. Then we can be first to put some flowers on the
shrines, maybe."
That won Pani. So together they went. At the edge of the wood wild
flowers had begun to bloom, and they gathered handfuls. Little maple
trees just coming up had four tiny red leaves that looked like a
blossom.
There under a great birch tree was a small wooden temple with a
weather-beaten cross on top, and on a shelf inside, raised a little from
the ground, stood a plaster cast of the Virgin. Jeanne sprinkled the
white blossoms of the wild strawberry all around. Pani knelt and said a
little prayer.
Susette Mass ran to meet them.
"Oh, how early you are!" she cried. "And how beautiful! Where did you
find so many flowers? Some must go to the chapel."
"There will be plenty to give to the chapel. There is another shrine
somewhere."
"And they say you are not a good Catholic!"
"I would like to be good. Sometimes I try," returned Jeanne, softly, and
her eyes looked like a saint's, Susette thought.
Pani led the way to the other shrine and while the child scattered
flowers and stood in silent reverence, Pani knelt and prayed. Then the
throng of gayly dressed girls and laughing young men were coming from
several quarters and the procession formed amid much chattering.
Afterward there were games of various sorts, tests of strength, running
and jumping, and the Indian game of ball, which was wilder and more
exciting than the French.
"Oh, here you are!" exclaimed Rose De Ber. On one side was Martin
Lavosse, a well-favored young fellow, and on the other a great giant, it
seemed to Jeanne. For a moment she felt afraid.
"Why, it isn't Jeanne Angelot?" Pierre caught both hands and almost
crushed them, and looked into the deep blue eyes with such eagerness
that the warm color flew to Jeanne's forehead. "Oh, how beautiful you
have grown!"
He bent down a little and uttered it in a whisper. Jeanne flushed and
then was angry at herself for the rising color.
Pierre was fascinated anew. More than once in the two years he had
smiled at his infatuation for the wild little girl who might be half
Indian so far as anyone knew. No, not half--but very likely a little.
What a temper she had, too! He had nearly forgotten all her charms. Of
course it had been a childish intimacy. He had driven her in his dog
sledge over the ice, he had watched her climb trees to his daring, they
had been out in his father's canoe when she _would_ paddle and he was
almost afraid of tipping over. Really he had run risks of his life for
her foolishness. And his foolishness had been in begging her to promise
to marry him!
He had seen quite a good deal of the world since, and been treated as a
man. In his slow-thoughted fashion he saw her the same wild, willful,
obstinate little thing. Rose was a young lady, that was natural, but
Jeanne--
"They are going to dance. Hear the fiddles! It is one of the great
amusements up there," indicating the North with his head. "Only half the
time you dance with boys--young fellows;" and he gave a chuckling laugh.
"You see there is a scarcity of women. The Indian girls stand a good
chance. Only a good many of the men have left wives and children at
home."
"Did you like it?" Jeanne asked with interest.
Pierre shrugged his broad shoulders.
"At first I hated it. I would have run away, but if I had come back to
Detroit everybody would have laughed and my father would have beaten me.
Now he looks me over as if he knew I was worth something. Why, I am
taller than he! And I have learned a great deal about making money."
They were done tuning up the violins and all the air was soft with the
natural melody of birds and whispering winds. This was broken by a
stentorian shout, and men and maids fell into places. Pierre grasped
Jeanne's hand so tightly that she winced. With the other hand he caught
one of the streamers. There was a great scramble for them. And when, as
soon as the dancing was in earnest, a young fellow had to let his
streamer go in turning his partner, some one caught it and a merry shout
rang through the group.
"How stupid you are!" cried Rose to Martin. "Why did you not catch that
streamer? Now we are on the outside." She pouted her pretty lips. "Are
you bewitched with Pierre and Jeanne?"
"How beautifully she dances, and Pierre for a clumsy, big fellow is not
bad."
Hugh Pallent had caught a streamer and held out his hand to Rose.
"Well, amuse yourself with looking at them, Monsieur," returned Rose
pettishly. "As for me, I came to dance," and Pallent whisked her off.
Martin's eyes followed them, other eyes as well.
Pierre threw his streamer with a sleight of hand one would hardly have
looked for, and caught it again amid the cheers of his companions. Round
they went, only once losing their place in the whole circle. The violins
flew faster, the dancing grew almost furious, eyes sparkled and cheeks
bloomed.
"I am tired," Jeanne said, and lagging she half drew Pierre out of the
circle.
"Tired! I could dance forever with you."
"But you must not. See how the mothers are watching you for a chance,
and the girls will be proud enough to have you ask them."
"I am not going to;" shrugging his square shoulders.
"Oh, yes, you are!" with a pretty air of authority.
Jeanne saw envious eyes wandering in her direction. She did not know how
she outshone most of the girls, with an air that was so different from
the ordinary. Her white cotton gown had a strip of bright, curiously
worked embroidery above the hem and around the square neck that gave her
exquisite throat full play. The sleeves came to the elbow, and both
hands and arms were beautiful. Her skin was many shades fairer, her
cheeks like the heart of a rose, and her mouth dimpled in the corners.
Her lithe figure had none of the squareness of the ordinary habitan, and
every movement was grace itself.
"If you will not dance, let us walk, then. I have so much to say--"
"There will be all summer to say it in. And there is only one May dance.
Susette!"
Susette came with sparkling eyes.
"This young man is dance bewitched. See how he has changed. We can
hardly believe it is the Pierre we used to run races and climb trees
with in nutting time. And he knows how to dance;" laughing.
Pierre held out his hand, but there was a shade of reluctance in his
eyes.
"I thought you were never going to throw over that great giant," said
Martin Lavosse. "I suppose every girl will go crazy about him because he
has been up north and made some money. His father has planned to take
him into business. Jeanne, dance with me."
"No, not now. I am tired."
"I should think you would be, pulled around at that rate. Look, Susette
can hardly keep up, and her braids have tumbled."
"Did I look like that?" asked Jeanne with sudden disapprobation in her
tone.
"Oh, no, no! You were like--like the fairies and wood things old Mere
Michaud tells of. Your hair just floated around like a cloud full of
twilight--"
"No, the black ones when the thunderstorm is coming on," she returned
mischievously.
"It was beautiful and full of waves. And you are so straight and slim.
You just floated."
"And you watched me and lost your streamer twice. Rose did not like it."
He was a little jealous and a little vexed at Rose giving him the go by
in such a pointed manner. He would get even with her.
"Why did you go off so early? We all went up for you."
"I wanted to gather flowers for the shrines."
"But we could have gone, too."
"No, it would have been too late. It was such a pleasure to Pani. She
can't dance, you know."
"Let us walk around and see the tables."
They were being spread out on the green sward, planks raised a foot or
so, for every one would sit on the grass. Some of the Indian women had
booths, and were already selling birch and sassafras beer, pipes and
tobacco, and maple sugar. Little ones were running helter-skelter,
tumbling down and getting up without a whimper. Here a knot of men were
playing cards or dominoes. It was a pretty scene, and needed only
cavaliers and the glittering, stately stepping dames to make it a
picture of old France.
They were all tired and breathless with the dance presently, and threw
themselves around on the grass for a bit of rest. There was laughing and
chattering, and bright eyes full of mirth sent coquettish glances first
on this side, then on that. Susette had borne off her partner in triumph
to see her mother, and there were old neighbors welcoming and
complimenting Pierre De Ber.
"Pierre," said a stout fellow banteringly, "you have shown us your
improvement in dancing. As I remember you were a rather clumsy boy, too
big for your years. Now they are going to try feats of skill and
strength. After that we shall have some of the Indian women run a race.
Monsieur De Ber, we shall be glad to count you in, if you have the
daring to compete with the stay-at-homes."
"For shame, Hugh! What kind of an invitation is that? Pierre, you do not
look as if you had spent all your prowess in dancing;" glancing
admiringly at the big fellow.
"You will see. Give me a trial." Pierre was nettled at the first
speaker's tone. "I have not been up on the Mich for nothing. You fellows
think the river and Lake St. Clair half the world. You should see Lake
Michigan and Lake Superior."
"Yes, Pierre," spoke up another. "You used to be good on a jump. Come
and try to distance us stay-at-homes, if you haven't grown too heavy."
They were marking off a place for the jumping on a level, and at a short
distance hurdles of different heights had been put up.
Pierre had been the butt of several things in his boyish days, but,
though a heavy lad, often excelled in jumping. The chaffing stirred his
spirit. He would show what he could do. And Jeanne should see it. What
did he care for Susette's shining eyes!
Two or three supple young fellows, two older ones with a well-seasoned
appearance, stood on the mark. Pierre eyed it.
"No," he said, "it is not fair. I'm a sight heavier than those. And I
won't take the glory from them. But if you are all agreed I'll try the
other."
"Why, man, the other is a deal harder."
Pierre nodded indifferently.
The first started like a young athlete; a running jump and it fell
short. There was a great laugh of derision. But the second was more
successful and a shout went up. The next one leaped over the mark. Four
of them won.
Rose was piqued that Martin should sit all this while on the grass
chatting to Jeanne. She came around to them.
"Pierre is going to jump," she announced. "I'm sorry, but they badgered
him into it. They were really envious of his dancing."
Jeanne rose. "I do wonder where Pani is!" she said. "Shall we go
nearer?"
"Oh, Pani is with the Indian women over there at the booths. No, stay,
Jeanne," and Rose caught her hand. "Look! look! Why, they might almost
be birds. Isn't it grand? But--Pierre--"
She might have spared her anxiety. Pierre came over with a splendid
flying leap, clearing the bar better than his predecessor. A wild shout
went up and Pierre's hand was clasped and shaken with a hearty approval.
The girls crowded around him, and all was noisy jollity. Jeanne simply
glanced up and he caught her eye.
"I have pleased her this time," he thought.
The racing of the squaws, though some indeed were quite young girls, was
productive of much amusement. This was the only trial that had a prize
attached to it,--a beautiful blanket, for money was a scarce commodity.
A slim, young damsel won it.
"Jeanne," and Pierre bent over her, for, though she was taller than the
average, he was head and almost shoulders above her, "Jeanne, you could
have beaten them all."
She flushed. "I do not run races anymore," she returned with dignity.
He sighed. "That was a happy old time. How long ago it seems!
Jeanne--are you glad to see me? You are so--so grave. And all the time I
have been thinking of the child--I forgot you were to grow."
Some one blew a horn long and loud that sent echoes among the trees a
thousand times more beautiful than the sound itself. The tables, if they
could be called that, were spread, and in no time were surrounded by
merry, laughing, chatting groups, who brought with them the appetites of
the woods and wilds, hardly leaving crumbs for the birds.
After that there was dancing again and rambling around, and Pierre was
made much of by the mothers. It was a proud day for Madame De Ber, and
she glanced about among the girls to see whom of them she would choose
for a daughter-in-law. For now Pierre could have his pick of them all.