HE made her wretched, and as he had never made her happy she was doubly
unlucky in her marriage. She had allowed herself to be married, at
sixteen, to this rough, red-faced man, who drank deeply on Sunday, was
in a fury all Monday, in bad spirits on Tuesday, and worked like a horse
all the rest of the week to make up for lost time, for he was
avaricious, and had no leisure to think of his wife. He was less
ill-tempered on Saturday, because he had finished his work, and expected
to amuse himself next day. But a single day of good humor in a week is
not enough, and Madeleine had no pleasure in seeing him merry, because
she knew that he would be sure to come home the next evening in a
passion.
But as she was young and pretty, and so gentle that it was impossible to
be angry long with her, there were still intervals when he was kind and
just, and when he took her hands in his and said:
"Madeleine, you are a good wife, and I think that you were made
expressly for me. If I had married a coquette, such as so many women
are, I should kill her, or I should drown myself under my own mill-wheel.
But I know that you are well-behaved and industrious, and that you are
worth your weight in gold."
After four years of married life, however, his love had quite gone; he
had no more kind words for her, and was enraged that she made no answer
to his abuse. What answer could she make? She knew that her husband was
unjust, and was unwilling to reproach him for it, for she considered it
her duty to respect the master whom she had never been able to love.
Mother Blanchet was pleased to see her son master of the house again, as
she said; just as if it had ever been otherwise. She hated her
daughter-in-law, because she knew her to be better than herself. When
she could find no other cause of complaint, she reviled her for not
being strong, for coughing all winter, and for having only one child.
She despised her for this, for knowing how to read and write, and for
reading prayers in a corner of the orchard, instead of gossiping and
chattering with the dames of the vicinity.
Madeleine placed her soul in God's hands, and thinking lamentations
useless, she bore her affliction as if it were her due. She withdrew her
heart from this earth, and often dreamed of paradise, as if she wished
to die. Still, she was careful of her health, and armed herself with
courage, because she knew that her child could only be happy through
her, and she accepted everything for the sake of the love she bore him.
Though she could not feel any great affection for Zabelle, she was still
fond of her, because this woman, who was half good and half selfish,
continued to do her best for the poor waif; and Madeleine, who saw how
people deteriorate who think of themselves alone, was inclined to esteem
only those who thought sometimes of others. As she was the only person
in the neighborhood who took no care of herself, she was entirely
isolated and very sorrowful, without fully understanding the cause of
her grief.
Little by little, however, she observed that the waif, who was then ten
years old, began to think as she did. When I say think, I mean you to
understand that she judged from his behavior; for there was no more
sense in the poor child's words than on the first day she had spoken
with him. He could not express himself, and when people tried to make
him talk they were sure to interrupt him immediately, for he knew
nothing about anything. But if he were needed to run an errand, he was
always ready, and when it was an errand for Madeleine, he ran before she
could ask him. He looked as if he had not understood the commission, but
he executed it so swiftly and well that even she was amazed.
One day, as he was carrying little Jeannie in his arms, and allowing him
to pull his hair for his amusement, Madeleine caught the child from him
with some slight irritation, saying half involuntarily:
"François, if you begin now by suffering all the whims of other people,
there is no knowing where they will stop."
To her great surprise, François answered:
"I should rather suffer evil than return it."
Madeleine was astonished, and gazed into the eyes of the waif, where she
saw something she had never observed in the eyes even of the most honest
persons she knew; something so kind, and yet so decided, that she was
quite bewildered. She sat down on the grass with her child on her knees,
and made the waif sit on the edge of her dress, without daring to speak
to him. She could scarcely understand why she was overcome with fear and
shame that she had often jested with this child for being so foolish. It
is true that she had always done so with extreme gentleness, and perhaps
she had pitied and loved him the more for his stupidity; but now she
fancied that he had always understood her ridicule, and had been pained
by it without being able to say anything in return.
She soon forgot this incident, for a short time afterward her husband,
who had become infatuated with a disreputable woman in the neighborhood,
undertook to hate his wife in good earnest, and to forbid her to allow
Zabelle and her boy to enter the mill. Madeleine fell to thinking of
still more secret means of aiding them, and warned Zabelle, telling her
that she should pretend to neglect her for a time.
Zabelle was very much in awe of the miller, and had not Madeleine's
power of endurance for the love of others. She argued to herself that
the miller was the master, and could turn her out of doors, or increase
her rent, and that Madeleine would be unable to prevent it. She
reflected also that if she submitted to Mother Blanchet, she would
establish herself in the good graces of the old woman, whose protection
would be more useful to her than that of the young wife. So she went to
the miller's mother, and confessed that she had received help from her
daughter-in-law, declaring that she had done so against her will, and
only out of pity for the waif, whom she had no means of feeding. The old
woman detested the waif, though for no reason except that Madeleine took
an interest in him. She advised Zabelle to rid herself of him, and
promised her at this price to obtain six months' credit on her rent. The
morrow of Saint Martin's day had come round, and as the year had been a
hard one, Zabelle was out of money, and Madeleine was so closely watched
that for some time she had been unable to give her any. Zabelle boldly
promised to take back the waif to the foundling asylum the next day.
She had no sooner given her word than she repented of it, and at the
sight of little François sleeping on his wretched pallet, her heart was
as heavy as if she were about to commit a mortal sin. She could not
sleep, and before dawn Mother Blanchet entered the hovel.
"Come, get up, Zabeau," she said. "You gave me your promise and you must
keep it. If you wait to speak to my daughter-in-law, you will never do
anything, but you must let the boy go, in her interest as well as your
own, you see. My son has taken a dislike to him on account of his
stupidity and greediness; my daughter-in-law has pampered him too much,
and I am sure that he is a thief already. All foundlings are thieves
from their birth, and it is mere folly to expect anything of such
brats. This one will be the cause of your being driven away from here,
and will ruin your reputation; he will furnish my son with a reason for
beating his wife every day, and in the end, when he is tall and strong,
he will become a highwayman, and will bring you to shame. Come, come,
you must start! Take him through the fields as far as Corley, and there
the stage-coach passes at eight o'clock. Get in with him, and you will
reach Châteauroux, at noon, at the latest. You can come back this
evening; there is a piece of money for your journey, and you will have
enough left over to amuse yourself with in town."
Zabelle woke the child, dressed him in his best, made a bundle of the
rest of his clothes, and, taking his hand, started off with him by the
light of the moon.
As she walked along and the day broke, her heart failed her; she could
neither hasten her steps, nor speak, and when she came to the highroad,
she sat down on the side of a ditch, more dead than alive. The
stage-coach was approaching, and they had arrived only just in time.
The waif was not in the habit of worrying, and thus far he had followed
his mother without suspicion; but when he saw a huge carriage bowling
toward him for the first time in his life, the noise it made frightened
him, and he tried to pull Zabelle back into the meadow which they had
just left to join the highroad. Zabelle thought that he understood his
fate, and said:
"Come, poor François, you really must!"
François was still more frightened. He thought that the stage-coach was
an enormous animal running after him to devour him. He who was so bold
in meeting all the dangers which he knew lost his head, and rushed back
screaming into the meadow. Zabelle ran after him; but when she saw him
pale as death, her courage deserted her. She followed him all across the
meadow, and allowed the stage-coach to go by.
[Illustration]