The marriage between Jaques and Marie was soon arranged, and soon the
second festal day came round.
In the morning I put out to sea as usual; but as the evening wore on,
I found I was under the influence of a spell and that it was quite
impossible for me to remain where I was. Accordingly I returned; and,
led on by the spell and attracted like a moth to the candle, wended my
way to the rejoicings, in order that I might torture myself for the
lost time.
I have heard of the agonies of the rack, of the thumb-screw, of saints
being boiled in oil and crucified, and many other dreadful horrors;
but I very much doubt if any martyr ever suffered the agony that I did
that night.
It was in the dusk of the evening, and Marie was just finishing a
song, while all were resting from the dances which had followed one
another in quick succession. She was just singing the last verse, in
which my name was accidentally introduced, when a sailor who was just
behind me struck a match in order to light his pipe. The light exposed
me to the view of the whole company. Directly Marie saw me, she
uttered a piercing cry and fainted away. I rushed toward her, not
thinking what I was doing. But Jaques was at her side before me.
Instead, however, of showing the least jealousy or putting himself in
a passion, he grasped me warmly by the hand, and then looked tenderly
at Marie, who now began to revive.
"Never fear, and keep up a good heart," said he, in a strange kind of
voice. You would never guess what he did, and perhaps will hardly
believe when I tell you.
Ordinarily a very temperate, steady man, he astonished the company by
giving out that he intended to throw a little life into the fête. On
this he ordered wine and cider, and lastly a plentiful supply of
brandy.
In a very little time he was helplessly drunk, or at least pretended
to be so. As the evening wore on, he got from bad to worse, insulted
and quarrelled with the men, and fairly disgusted the women. The
village was in an uproar, and there was not a soul who did not speak
in strong terms of the disgraceful conduct of Jaques. At the earnest
entreaty of the worthy {118} fellow we kept our counsel, and
accordingly the new marriage was at once broken off.
The rest of my story you know almost as well as I do myself. You see
my life from day to day. You can picture to yourself my sorrow and my
unhappy position. You can see how little _she_ has changed.
And yet we can never be more to one another than we are now. Never.
Never! We are married, and yet we are not. We are separated, alas,
here on earth, but we _must_ be united in heaven. Think of the years
that have passed, and think how happy we might have been, and what a
thread there was between our present existence and the life we long to
lead. God's will be done!
Poor Pierre here let his head fall into his hands, and wept in
silence.
How could I comfort the poor fellow?
It was not the kind of grief that needed consolation, and so I let him
weep on.
All at once a breeze sprung up and filled the sails. Pierre
immediately roused himself, but soon relapsed into his accustomed calm
quiet manner.
Both the other sailors now came on deck, the nets were thrown over,
and the business of the night began.