A young man was walking through a forest, and in spite of the approach
of night, in spite of the mist that grew denser every moment, he was
walking slowly, paying no heed either to the weather or to the hour.
His dress of green cloth, his buckskin gaiters, and the gun slung across
his shoulder might have caused him to be taken for a sportsman, had not
the book that half protruded from his game-bag betrayed the dreamer, and
proved that Arnold de Munster was less occupied with observing the track
of wild game than in communing with himself.
For some moments his mind had been filled with thoughts of his family
and of the friends he had left in Paris. He remembered the studio that
he had adorned with fantastic engravings, strange paintings, curious
statuettes; the German songs that his sister had sung, the melancholy
verses that he had repeated in the subdued light of the evening lamps,
and the long talks in which every one confessed his inmost feelings, in
which all the mysteries of thought were discussed and translated into
impassioned or graceful words! Why had he abandoned these choice
pleasures to bury himself in the country?
He was aroused at last from his meditations by the consciousness that
the mist had changed into rain and was beginning to penetrate his
shooting-coat. He was about to quicken his steps, but in looking around
him he saw that he had lost his way, and he tried vainly to determine
the direction he must take. A first attempt only succeeded in
bewildering him still more. The daylight faded, the rain fell more
heavily, and he continued to plunge at random into unknown paths.
He had begun to be discouraged, when the sound of bells reached him
through the leafless trees. A cart driven by a big man in a blouse had
appeared at an intersecting road and was coming toward the one that
Arnold had just reached.
Arnold stopped to wait for the man and asked him if he were far from
Sersberg.
"Sersberg!" repeated the carter; "you don't expect to sleep there
to-night?"
"Pardon me, but I do," answered the young man.
"At Sersberg?" went on his interlocutor; "you'll have to go by train,
then! It is six good leagues from here to the gate; and considering the
weather and the roads, they are equal to twelve."
The young man uttered an exclamation. He had left the château that
morning and did not think that he had wandered so far; but he had been
on the wrong path for hours, and in thinking to take the road to
Sersberg he had continued to turn his back upon it. It was too late to
make good such an error; so he was forced to accept the shelter offered
by his new companion, whose farm was fortunately within gunshot.
He accordingly regulated his pace to the carter's and attempted to enter
into conversation with him; but Moser was not a talkative man and was
apparently a complete stranger to the young man's usual sensations.
When, on issuing from the forest, Arnold pointed to the magnificent
horizon purpled by the last rays of the setting sun, the farmer
contented himself with a grimace.
"Bad weather for to-morrow," he muttered, drawing his cloak about his
shoulders.
"One ought to be able to see the entire valley from here," went on
Arnold, striving to pierce the gloom that already clothed the foot of
the mountain.
"Yes, yes," said Moser, shaking his head; "the ridge is high enough for
that. There's an invention for you that isn't good for much."
"What invention?"
"The mountains."
"You would rather have everything level?"
"What a question!" cried the farmer, laughing. "You might as well ask me
if I would not rather ruin my horses."
"True," said Arnold in a tone of somewhat contemptuous irony. "I had
forgotten the horses! It is clear that God should have thought
principally of them when he created the world."
"I don't know as to God," answered Moser quietly, "but the engineers
certainly made a mistake in forgetting them when they made the roads.
The horse is the laborer's best friend, monsieur--without disrespect to
the oxen, which have their value too."
Arnold looked at the peasant. "So you see in your surroundings only the
advantages you can derive from them?" he asked gravely. "The forest, the
mountains, the clouds, all say nothing to you? You have never paused
before the setting sun or at the sight of the woods lighted by the
stars?"
"I?" cried the farmer. "Do you take me for a maker of almanacs? What
should I get out of your starlight and the setting sun? The main thing
is to earn enough for three meals a day and to keep one's stomach warm.
Would monsieur like a drink of cognac? It comes from the other side of
the Rhine."
He held out a little wicker-covered bottle to Arnold, who refused by a
gesture. The positive coarseness of the peasant had rekindled his regret
and his contempt. Were they really men such as he was, these
unfortunates, doomed to unceasing labor, who lived in the bosom of
nature without heeding it and whose souls never rose above the most
material sensations? Was there one point of resemblance which could
attest their original brotherhood to such as he? Arnold doubted this
more and more each moment.
These thoughts had the effect of communicating to his manner a sort of
contemptuous indifference toward his conductor, to whom he ceased to
talk. Moser showed neither surprise nor pain and set to whistling an
air, interrupted from time to time by some brief word of encouragement
to his horses.
Thus they arrived at the farm, where the noise of the bells announced
their coming. A young boy and a woman of middle age appeared on the
threshold.
"Ah, it is the father!" cried the woman, looking back into the house,
where could be heard the voices of several children, who came running to
the door with shouts of joy and pressed around the peasant.
"Wait a moment, youngsters," interrupted the father in his big voice as
he rummaged in the cart and brought forth a covered basket. "Let Fritz
unharness."
But the children continued to besiege the farmer, all talking at once.
He bent to kiss them, one after another; then rising suddenly:
"Where is Jean?" he asked with a quickness that had something of
uneasiness in it.
"Here, father, here," answered a shrill little voice from the farm-house
door; "mother doesn't want me to go out in the rain."
"Stay where you are," said Moser, throwing the traces on the backs of
the horses; "I will go to you, little son. Go in, the rest of you, so as
not to tempt him to come out."
The three children went back to the doorway, where little Jean was
standing beside his mother, who was protecting him from the weather.
He was a poor little creature, so cruelly deformed that at the first
glance one could not have told his age or the nature of his infirmity.
His whole body, distorted by sickness, formed a curved, not to say a
broken line. His disproportionately large head was sunken between two
unequally rounded shoulders, while his body was sustained by two little
crutches; these took the place of the shrunken legs, which could not
support him.
At the farmer's approach he held out his thin arms with an expression of
love that made Moser's furrowed face brighten. The father lifted him in
his strong arms with an exclamation of tender delight.
"Come!" he cried, "hug your father--with both arms--hard! How has he
been since yesterday?"
The mother shook her head.
"Always the cough," she answered in a low tone.
"It's nothing, father," the child answered in his shrill voice. "Louis
had drawn me too fast in my wheeled chair; but I am well, very well; I
feel as strong as a man."
The peasant placed him carefully on the ground, set him upon his little
crutches, which had fallen, and looked at him with an air of
satisfaction.
"Don't you think he's growing, wife?" he asked in the tone of a man who
wishes to be encouraged. "Walk a bit, Jean; walk, boy! He walks more
quickly and more strongly. It'll all come right, wife; we must only be
patient."
The farmer's wife made no reply, but her eyes turned toward the feeble
child with a look of despair so deep that Arnold trembled; fortunately
Moser paid no heed.
"Come, the whole brood of you," he went on, opening the basket he had
taken from the cart; "here is something for every one! In line and hold
out your hands."
The peasant had displayed three small white rolls glazed in the baking;
three cries of joy burst forth simultaneously and six hands advanced to
seize the rolls, but they all paused at the word of command.
"And Jean?" asked the childish voices.
"To the devil with Jean," answered Moser gayly; "there is nothing for
him to-night. Jean shall have his share another time."
But the child smiled and tried to get up to look into the basket. The
farmer stepped back a pace, took off the cover carefully, and lifting
his arm with an air of solemnity, displayed before the eyes of all a
cake of gingerbread garnished with almonds and pink and white
sugar-plums.
There was a general shout of admiration. Jean himself could not restrain
a cry of delight; a slight flush rose to his pale face and he held out
his hands with an air of joyful expectancy.
"Ah, you like it, little mole!" cried the peasant, whose face was
radiant at the sight of the child's pleasure; "take it, old man, take
it; it is nothing but sugar and honey."
He placed the gingerbread in the hands of the little hunchback, who
trembled with happiness, watched him hobble off, and turning to Arnold
when the sound of the crutches was lost in the house, said with a slight
break in his voice:
"He is my eldest. Sickness has deformed him a little, but he's a shrewd
fellow and it only depends upon us to make a gentleman of him."
While speaking he had crossed the first room on the ground-floor and led
his guest into a species of dining-room, the whitewashed walls of which
were decorated only with a few rudely colored prints. As he entered,
Arnold saw Jean seated on the floor and surrounded by his brothers,
among whom he was dividing the cake given him by his father. But each
one objected to the size of his portion and wished to lessen it; it
required all the little hunchback's eloquence to make them accept what
he had given them. For some time the young sportsman watched this
dispute with singular interest, and when the children had gone out again
he expressed his admiration to the farmer's wife.
"It is quite true," she said with a smile and a sigh, "that there are
times when it seems as though it were a good thing for them to see
Jean's infirmity. It is hard for them to give up to each other, but not
one of them can refuse Jean anything; it is a constant exercise in
kindness and devotion."
"Great virtue, that!" interrupted Moser. "Who could refuse anything to
such a poor, afflicted little innocent? It's a silly thing for a man to
say; but, look you, monsieur, that child there always makes me want to
cry. Often when I am at work in the fields, I begin all at once to think
about him. I say to myself Jean is ill! or Jean is dead! and then I have
to find some excuse for coming home to see how it is. Then he is so weak
and so ailing! If we did not love him more than the others, he would be
too unhappy."
"Yes," said the mother gently, "the poor child is our cross and our joy
at the same time. I love all my children, monsieur, but whenever I hear
the sound of Jean's crutches on the floor, I always feel a rush of
happiness. It is a sign that the good God has not yet taken our darling
away from us. It seems to me as though Jean brought happiness to the
house just like swallows' nests fastened to the windows. If I hadn't him
to take care of, I should think there was nothing for me to do."
Arnold listened to these naive expressions of tenderness with an
interest that was mingled with astonishment. The farmer's wife called a
servant to help set the table; and at Moser's invitation, the young man
approached the brushwood fire which had been rekindled.
As he was leaning against the smoky mantelpiece, his eye fell upon a
small black frame that inclosed a withered leaf. Moser noticed it.
"Ah! you are looking at my relic. It's a leaf of the weeping-willow that
grows down there on the tomb of Napoleon! I got it from a Strasbourg
merchant who had served in the Old Guard. I wouldn't part with it for a
hundred crowns."
"Then there is some particular sentiment attached to it?"
"Sentiment, no," answered the peasant; "but I too was discharged from
the Fourth Regiment of Hussars, a brave regiment, monsieur. There were
only eight men left of our squadron, so when the Little Corporal passed
in front of the line he saluted us--yes, monsieur, raised his hat to us!
That was something to make us ready to die to the last man, look you.
Ah! he was the father of the soldier!"
Here the peasant began to fill his pipe, looking the while at the black
frame and the withered leaf. In this reminder of a marvelous destiny
there was evidently for him a whole romance of youth, emotion, and
regret. He recalled the last struggles of the Empire, in which he had
taken part, the reviews held by the emperor, when his mere presence
aroused confidence in victory; the passing successes of France's famous
campaign, so soon expiated by the disaster at Waterloo; the departure of
the vanquished general and his long agony on the rock of Saint Helena.
Arnold respected the old soldier's silent preoccupation and waited until
he should resume the conversation.
The arrival of supper roused him from his reverie; he drew up a chair
for his guest and took his place at the opposite side of the table.
"Come! fall to on the soup," he cried brusquely. "I have had nothing
since morning but two swallows of cognac. I should eat an ox whole
to-night."
To prove his words, he began to empty the huge porringer of soup before
him.
For several moments nothing was heard but the clatter of spoons followed
by that of the knives cutting up the side of bacon served by the
farmer's wife. His walk and the fresh air had given Arnold himself an
appetite that made him forget his Parisian daintiness. The supper grew
gayer and gayer, when all at once the peasant raised his head.
"And Farraut?" he asked. "I have not seen him since my return."
His wife and the children looked at each other without answering.
"Well, what is it?" went on Moser, who saw their embarrassment. "Where
is the dog? What has happened to him? Why don't you answer, Dorothée?"
"Don't be angry, father," interrupted Jean; "we didn't dare tell you,
but Farraut went away and has not come back."
"A thousand devils! You should have told me!" cried the peasant,
striking the table with his fist. "What road did he take?"
"The road to Garennes."
"When was it?"
"After dinner: we saw him go up the little path."
"Something must have happened to him," said Moser, getting up. "The poor
animal is almost blind and there are sand pits all along the road! Go
fetch my sheepskin and the lantern, wife. I must find Farraut, dead or
alive."
Dorothée went out without making any remark either about the hour or the
weather, and soon reappeared with what her husband had asked for.
"You must think a great deal of this dog," said Arnold, surprised at
such zeal.
"It is not I," answered Moser, lighting his pipe; "but he did good
service to Dorothée's father. One day when the old man was on his way
home from market with the price of his oxen in his pocket, four men
tried to murder him for his money, and they would have done it if it had
not been for Farraut; so when the good man died two years ago, he called
me to his bedside and asked me to care for the dog as for one of his
children--those were his words. I promised, and it would be a crime not
to keep one's promise to the dead. Fritz, give me my iron-shod stick. I
wouldn't have anything happen to Farraut for a pint of my blood. The
animal has been in the family for twenty years--he knows us all by our
voices--and he recalls the grandfather. I shall see you again, monsieur,
and good-night until to-morrow."
Moser wrapped himself in his sheepskin and went out. They could hear the
sound of his iron-shod stick die away in the soughing of the wind and
the falling of the rain.
After awhile the farmer's wife offered to conduct Arnold to his quarters
for the night, but Arnold asked permission to await the return of the
master of the house, if his return were not delayed too long. His
interest in the man who had at first seemed to him so vulgar, and in the
humble family whose existence he had thought to be so valueless,
continued to increase.
The vigil was prolonged, however, and Moser did not return. The children
had fallen asleep one after another, and even Jean, who had held out the
longest, had to seek his bed at last. Dorothée, uneasy, went
incessantly from the fireside to the door and from the door to the
fireside. Arnold strove to reassure her, but her mind was excited by
suspense. She accused Moser of never thinking of his health or of his
safety; of always being ready to sacrifice himself for others; of being
unable to see a human being or an animal suffer without risking all to
relieve it. As she went on with her complaint, which sounded strangely
like a glorification, her fears grew more vivid; she had a thousand
gloomy forebodings. The dog had howled all through the previous night;
an owl had perched upon the roof of the house; it was a Wednesday,
always an unfortunate day in the family. Her fears reached such a pitch
at last that the young man volunteered to go in search of her husband,
and she was about to awaken Fritz to accompany him, when the sound of
footsteps was heard outside.
"It is Moser!" said the woman, stopping short.
"Oho, there, open quickly, wife," cried the farmer from without.
She ran to draw the bolt, and Moser appeared, carrying in his arms the
old blind dog.
"Here he is," he said gayly. "God help me! I thought I should never find
him: the poor brute had rolled to the bottom of the big stone quarry."
"And you went there to get him?" asked Dorothée, horror-stricken.
"Should I have left him at the bottom to find him drowned to-morrow?"
asked the old soldier. "I slid down the length of the big mountain and I
carried him up in my arms like a child: the lantern was left behind,
though."
"But you risked your life, you foolhardy man!" cried Dorothée, who was
shuddering at her husband's explanation.
The latter shrugged his shoulders.
"Ah, bah!" he said with careless gayety; "who risks nothing has nothing;
I have found Farraut--that's the principal thing. If the grandfather
sees us from up there, he ought to be satisfied."
This reflection, made in an almost indifferent tone, touched Arnold, who
held out his hand impetuously to the peasant.
"What you have done was prompted by a good heart," he said with feeling.
"What? Because I have kept a dog from drowning?" answered Moser. "Dogs
and men--thank God I have helped more than one out of a hole since I was
born; but I have sometimes had better weather than to-night to do it in.
Say, wife, there must be a glass of cognac left; bring the bottle here;
there is nothing that dries you better when you're wet."
Dorothée brought the bottle to the farmer, who drank to his guest's
health, and then each sought his bed.
The next morning the weather was fine again; the sky was clear, and the
birds, shaking their feathers, sang on the still dripping trees.
When he descended from the garret, where a bed had been prepared for
him, Arnold found near the door Farraut, who was warming himself in the
sun, while little Jean, seated on his crutches, was making him a collar
of eglantine berries. A little further on, in the first room, the farmer
was clinking glasses with a beggar who had come to collect his weekly
tithe; Dorothée was holding his wallet, which she was filling.
"Come, old Henri, one more draught," said the peasant, refilling the
beggar's glass; "if you mean to finish your round you must take
courage."
"That one always finds here," said the beggar with a smile; "there are
not many houses in the parish where they give more, but there is not one
where they give with such good will."
"Be quiet, will you, Père Henri?" interrupted Moser; "do people talk of
such things? Drink and let the good God judge each man's actions. You,
too, have served; we are old comrades."
The old man contented himself with a shake of the head and touched his
glass to the farmer's; but one could see that he was more moved by the
heartiness that accompanied the alms than the alms itself.
When he had taken up his wallet again and bade them good-by, Moser
watched him go until he had disappeared around a bend in the road. Then
drawing a breath, he said, turning to his guest:
"One more poor old man without a home. You may believe me or not,
monsieur, but when I see men with shaking heads going about like that,
begging their bread from door to door, it turns my blood. I should like
to set the table for them all and touch glasses with them all as I did
just now with Père Henri. To keep your heart from breaking at such a
sight, you must believe that there is a world up there where those who
have not been summoned to the ordinary here will receive double rations
and double pay."
"You must hold to that belief," said Arnold; "it will support and
console you. It will be long before I shall forget the hours I have
passed in your house, and I trust they will not be the last."
"Whenever you choose," said the old soldier; "if you don't find the bed
up there too hard and if you can digest our bacon, come at your
pleasure, and we shall always be under obligations to you."
He shook the hand that the young man had extended, pointed out the way
that he must take, and did not leave the threshold until he had seen his
guest disappear in the turn of the road.
For some time Arnold walked with lowered head, but upon reaching the
summit of the hill he turned to take a last backward look, and seeing
the farm-house chimney, above which curled a light wreath of smoke, he
felt a tear of tenderness rise to his eye.
"May God always protect those who live under that roof!" he murmured;
"for where pride made me see creatures incapable of understanding the
finer qualities of the soul, I have found models for myself. I judged
the depths by the surface and thought poetry absent because, instead of
showing itself without, it hid itself in the heart of the things
themselves; ignorant observer that I was, I pushed aside with my foot
what I thought were pebbles, not guessing that in these rude stones were
hidden diamonds."