The five brothers lived with Louison, three miles from Pontiac, and
Medallion came to know them first through having sold them, at an
auction, a slice of an adjoining farm. He had been invited to their
home, intimacy had grown, and afterwards, stricken with a severe illness,
he had been taken into the household and kept there till he was well
again. The night of his arrival, Louison, the sister, stood with a
brother on either hand--Octave and Florian--and received him with a
courtesy more stately than usual, an expression of the reserve and
modesty of her single state. This maidenly dignity was at all times
shielded by the five brothers, who treated her with a constant and
reverential courtesy. There was something signally suggestive in their
homage, and Medallion concluded at last that it was paid not only to the
sister, but to something that gave her great importance in their eyes.
He puzzled long, and finally decided that Louison had a romance. There
was something which suggested it in the way they said "P'tite Louison";
in the manner they avoided all gossip regarding marriages and marriage-
feasting; in the way they deferred to her on questions of etiquette (as,
for instance, Should the eldest child be given the family name of the
wife or a Christian name from her husband's family?). And P'tite
Louison's opinion was accepted instantly as final, with satisfied
nods on the part of all the brothers, and whispers of "How clever!
how adorable!"
P'tite Louison affected never to hear these remarks, but looked
complacently straight before her, stirring the spoon in her cup, or
benignly passing the bread and butter. She was quite aware of the homage
paid to her, and she gracefully accepted the fact that she was an object
of interest.
Medallion had not the heart to laugh at the adoration of the brothers,
or at the outlandish sister, for, though she was angular, and sallow, and
thin, and her hands were large and red, there was a something deep in her
eyes, a curious quality in her carriage commanding respect. She had
ruled these brothers, had been worshipped by them, for near half a
century, and the romance they had kept alive had produced a grotesque
sort of truth and beauty in the admiring "P'tite Louison"--an
affectionate name for her greatness, like "The Little Corporal" for
Napoleon. She was not little, either, but above the middle height,
and her hair was well streaked with grey.
Her manner towards Medallion was not marked by any affectation. She was
friendly in a kind, impersonal way, much as a nurse cares for a patient,
and she never relaxed a sort of old-fashioned courtesy, which might have
been trying in such close quarters, were it not for the real simplicity
of the life and the spirit and lightness of their race. One night
Florian--there were Florian and Octave and Felix and Isidore and Emile
--the eldest, drew Medallion aside from the others, and they walked
together by the river. Florian's air suggested confidence and mystery,
and soon, with a voice of hushed suggestion, he told Medallion the
romance of P'tite Louison. And each of the brothers at different times
during the next fortnight did the same, differing scarcely at all in
details, or choice of phrase or meaning, and not at all in general facts
and essentials. But each, as he ended, made a different exclamation.
"Voila, so sad, so wonderful! She keeps the ring--dear P'tite Louison!"
said Florian, the eldest.
"Alors, she gives him a legacy in her will! Sweet P'tite Louison," said
Octave.
"Mais, the governor and the archbishop admire her--P'tite Louison:" said
Felix, nodding confidently at Medallion.
"Bien, you should see the linen and the petticoats!" said Isidore, the
humorous one of the family. "He was great--she was an angel, P'tite
Louison!"
"Attends! what love--what history--what passion!--the perfect P'tite
Louison!" cried Emile, the youngest, the most sentimental. "Ah,
Moliere!" he added, as if calling on the master to rise and sing the
glories of this daughter of romance.
Isidore's tale was after this fashion:
"I ver' well remember the first of it; and the last of it--who can tell?
He was an actor--oh, so droll, that! Tall, ver' smart, and he play in
theatre at Montreal. It is in the winter. P'tite Louison visit
Montreal. She walk past the theatre and, as she go by, she slip on the
snow and fall. Out from a door with a jomp come M'sieu' Hadrian, and
pick her up. And when he see the purty face of P'tite Louison, his eyes
go all fire, and he clasp her hand to his breast.
"'Ma'm'selle, Ma'm'selle,' he say, 'we must meet again!'
"She thank him and hurry away queeck. Next day we are on the river, and
P'tite Louison try to do the Dance of the Blue Fox on the ice. While she
do it, some one come up swift, and catch her hand and say: 'Ma'm'selle,
let's do it together'--like that! It take her breath away. It is
M'sieu' Hadrian. He not seem like the other men she know; but he have a
sharp look, he is smooth in the face, and he smile kind like a woman.
P'tite Louison, she give him her hand, and they run away, and every one
stop to look. It is a gran' sight. M'sieu' Hadrian laugh, and his teeth
shine, and the ladies say things of him, and he tell P'tite Louison that
she look ver' fine, and walk like a queen. I am there that day, and I
see all, and I think it dam good. I say: 'That P'tite Louison, she beat
them all'--I am only twelve year old then. When M'sieu' Hadrian leave,
he give her two seats for the theatre, and we go. Bagosh! that is grand
thing that play, and M'sieu' Hadrian, he is a prince; and when he say to
his minister, 'But no, my lord, I will marry out of my star, and where my
heart go, not as the State wills,' he look down at P'tite Louison, and
she go all red, and some of the women look at her, and there is a whisper
all roun'.
"Nex' day he come to the house where we stay, but the Cure come also
pretty soon and tell her she must go home--he say an actor is not good
company. Never mind. And so we come out home. Well, what you think?
Nex' day M'sieu' Hadrian come, too, and we have dam good time--Florian,
Octave, Felix, Emile, they all sit and say bully-good to him all the
time. Holy, what fine stories he tell! And he talk about P'tite
Louison, and his eyes get wet, and Emile he say his prayers to him--
bagosh! yes, I think. Well, at last, what you guess? M'sieu' he come
and come, and at last one day, he say that he leave Montreal and go to
New York, where he get a good place in a big theatre--his time in
Montreal is finish. So he speak to Florian and say he want marry P'tite
Louison, and he say, of course, that he is not marry and he have money.
But he is a Protestan', and the Cure at first ver' mad, bagosh!
"But at las' when he give a hunder' dollars to the Church, the Cure say
yes. All happy that way for while. P'tite Louison, she get ready quick-
sapre, what fine things had she--and it is all to be done in a week,
while the theatre in New York wait for M'sieu'. He sit there with us,
and play on the fiddle, and sing songs, and act plays, and help Florian
in the barn, and Octave to mend the fence, and the Cure to fix the grape-
vines on his wall. He show me and Emile how to play sword-sticks; and he
pick flowers and fetch them to P'tite Louison, and teach her how to make
an omelette and a salad like the chef of the Louis Quinze Hotel, so he
say. Bagosh, what a good time we have! But first one, then another, he
get a choke-throat when he think that P'tite Louison go to leave us, and
the more we try, the more we are bagosh fools. And that P'tite Louison,
she kiss us hevery one, and say to M'sieu' Hadrian, 'Charles, I love you,
but I cannot go.' He laugh at her, and say, 'Voila! we will take them
all with us:' and P'tite Louison she laugh. That night a thing happen.
The Cure come, and he look ver' mad, and he frown and he say to M'sieu'
Hadrian before us all, 'M'sieu', you are married.'
"Sapre! that P'tite Louison get pale like snow, and we all stan' roun'
her close and say to her quick, 'Courage, P'tite Louison!' M'sieu'
Hadrian then look at the priest and say: 'No, M'sieu', I was married ten
years ago; my wife drink and go wrong, and I get divorce. I am free like
the wind.'
"'You are not free,' the Cure say quick. 'Once married, married till
death. The Church cannot marry you again, and I command Louison to give
you up.'
"P'tite Louison stan' like stone. M'sieu' turn to her. 'What shall it
be, Louison?' he say. 'You will come with me?'
"'Kiss me, Charles,' she say, 'and tell me good-bye till--till you are
free.'
"He look like a madman. 'Kiss me once, Charles,' she say, 'and let me
go.'
"And he come to her and kiss her on the lips once, and he say, 'Louison,
come with me. I will never give you up.'
"She draw back to Florian. 'Good-bye, Charles,' she say. 'I will wait
as long as you will. Mother of God, how hard it is to do right!' she
say, and then she turn and leave the room.
"M'sieu' Hadrian, he give a long sigh. 'It was my one chance,' he say.
'Now the devil take it all!' Then he nod and say to the Cure: 'We'll
thrash this out at Judgment Day, M'sieu'. I'll meet you there--you and
the woman that spoiled me.'
"He turn to Florian and the rest of us, and shake hands, and say: 'Take
care of Louison. Thank you. Good-bye.' Then he start towards the door,
but stumble, for he look sick. 'Give me a drink,' he say, and begin to
cough a little--a queer sort of rattle. Florian give him big drink, and
he toss it off-whiff! 'Thank you,' he say, and start again, and we see
him walk away over the hill ver' slow--an' he never come back. But every
year there come from New York a box of flowers, and every year P'tite
Louison send him a 'Merci, Charles, mille fois. Dieu to garde.' It is
so every year for twenty-five year."
"Where is he now?" asked Medallion.
Isidore shook his head, then lifted his eyes religiously. "Waiting for
Judgment Day and P'tite Louison," he answered.
"Dead!" said Medallion.
"How long?"
"Twenty year."
"But the flowers--the flowers?"
"He left word for them to be sent just the same, and the money for it."
Medallion turned and took off his hat reverently, as if a soul were
passing from the world; but it was only P'tite Louison going out into the
garden.
"She thinks him living?" he asked gently as he watched Louison.
"Yes; we have no heart to tell her. And then he wish it so. And the
flowers kep' coming."
"Why did he wish it so?" Isidore mused a while.
"Who can tell? Perhaps a whim. He was a great actor--ah, yes, sublime!"
he said.
Medallion did not reply, but walked slowly down to where P'tite Louison
was picking berries. His hat was still off.
"Let me help you, Mademoiselle," he said softly. And henceforth he was
as foolish as her brothers.