Then Mother Manon arrived, breathless; she had waited at home a long
time for the bride-groom. He had not arrived. At the last stroke of the
clock she grew anxious and went to Monsieur Hautmartin’s. There anew
surprise awaited her. She learned that the Governor, together with
the officers of the Viguerie, had appeared and taken possession of
the accounts, chests, and papers of the justice and at the same time
arrested Monsieur Hautmartin.
“This, surely, is the work of that wicked Colin,” thought she, and
hurried to the parsonage in order to apologize to Father Jerome for
delaying the marriage. The good gray-headed old man advanced toward her,
proud of his work, and leading by the hand the newly married pair.
Now Mother Manon lost her wits and her speech in good earnest when she
learned what had happened. But Colin had more thoughts and power of
speech than in his whole previous life. He told of his love and the
broken cup, the falsehood of the justice, and how he had unmasked this
unjust magistrate in the Viguerie at Grasse. Then he besought Mother
Manon’s blessing, since all this had happened without any fault on the
part of Marietta or himself.
Father Jerome, who for a long while could not make out what had
happened, when he received a full explanation of the marriage through
mistake, piously folded his hands and exclaimed, with uplifted eyes:
“Wonderful are the dispensations of Providence!” Colin and Marietta
kissed his hands; Mother Manon, through sheer veneration of heaven, gave
the young couple her blessing, but remarked incidentally that her head
seemed turned round.
Mother Manon herself was pleased with her son-in-law when she came to
know the full extent of his property, and especially when she found that
Monsieur Hautmartin and his nose had been arrested.
“But am I then really a wife?” asked Marietta; “and really Colin’s
wife?”
Mother Manon nodded her head, and Marietta hung upon Colin’s arm. Thus
they went to Colin’s farm, to his dwelling-house, through the garden.
“Look at the flowers, Marietta,” said Colin; “how carefully I cultivated
them for your cup!”
Colin, who had not expected so pleasant an event, now prepared a wedding
feast on the spur of the occasion. Two days was it continued. All
Napoule was feasted. Who shall describe Colin’s extravagance?
The broken cup is preserved in the family to the present day as a
memorial and sacred relic.