It was yesterday, the 31st of December.
I had just finished breakfast with my old friend Georges Garin when
the servant handed him a letter covered with seals and foreign stamps.
Georges said:
"Will you excuse me?"
"Certainly."
And so he began to read the letter, which was written in a large
English handwriting, crossed and re-crossed in every direction. He
read slowly, with serious attention and the interest which we only
pay to things that touch our hearts.
Then he put the letter on the mantel-piece and said:
"That was a curious story! I've never told you about it, I think.
Yet it was a sentimental adventure, and it really happened to me.
That was a strange New Year's Day indeed! It must have been twenty
years ago, since I was then thirty, and am now fifty years old.
"I was then an inspector in the Maritime Insurance Company, of which
I am now director. I had arranged to pass the _fête_ of New Year's
in Paris--since it is a convention to make that day a _fête_--when I
received a letter from the manager, asking me to proceed at once to
the island of Ré, where a three-masted vessel from Saint-Nazaire,
insured by us, had just been driven ashore. It was then eight
o'clock in the morning. I arrived at the office at ten, to get my
advices, and that evening I took the express, which put me down in La
Rochelle the next day, the thirty-first of December.
"I had two hours to wait before going aboard the boat for Ré. So I
made a tour in the town. It is certainly a fantastic city, La
Rochelle, with a strong character of its own--streets tangled like a
labyrinth, sidewalks running under endless arcaded galleries like
those of the Rue de Rivoli, but low, mysterious, built as if to form
a fit scene for conspirators, and making an ancient and striking
background for those old-time wars, the savage heroic wars of
religion. It is indeed the typical old Huguenot city, conservative,
discreet, with no fine art to show, with no wonderful monuments, such
as make Rouen; but it is remarkable for its severe, somewhat cunning
look; it is a city of obstinate fighters, a city where fanaticisms
might well blossom, where the faith of the Calvinists became exalted,
and which gave birth to the plot of the 'Four Sergeants.'
"After I had wandered for some time about these curious streets, I
went aboard the black, rotund little steamboat which was to take me
to the island of Ré. It was called the _Jean Guiton_. It started
with angry puffings, passed between the two old towers which guard
the harbour, crossed the roadstead, and issued from the mole built by
Richelieu, the great stones of which can be seen at the water's edge,
enclosing the town like a great necklace. Then the steamboat turned
to the right.
"It was one of those sad days which give one the blues, tighten the
heart and kill in us all energy and force--a gray, cold day, with a
heavy mist which was as wet as rain, as cold as frost, as bad to
breathe as the mist of a wash-tub.
"Under this low ceiling of sinister fog, the shallow, yellow, sandy
sea of all gradually receding coasts lay without a wrinkle, without a
movement, without life, a sea of turbid water, greasy water, of
stagnant water. The _Jean Guiton_ passed over it, rolling a little
from habit, dividing the smooth, dark blue water, and leaving behind
a little chopping sea, a few big waves, which were soon calm.
"I began to talk to the captain, a little man with small feet, as
round as his boat and balancing himself like it. I wanted some
details about the disaster on which I was to give a report. A great
square-rigged three-master, the _Marie Joseph_, of Saint-Nazaire, had
gone ashore one night in a hurricane on the sands of the island of Ré.
"The owner wrote us that the storm had thrown the ship so far ashore
that it was impossible to float her, and that they had to remove
everything which could be detached, with the utmost possible haste.
Nevertheless, I must examine the situation of the wreck, estimate
what must have been her condition before the disaster, and decide
whether all efforts had been used to get her afloat. I came as an
agent of the company in order to give contradictory testimony, if
necessary, at the trial.
"On receipt of my report, the manager would take what measures he
might think necessary to protect our interests.
"The captain of the _Jean Guiton_ knew all about the affair, having
been summoned with his boat to assist in the attempts at salvage.
"He told me the story of the disaster. The _Marie Joseph_, driven by
a furious gale, lost her bearings completely, in the night, and
steering by chance over a heavy foaming sea--'a milk-soup sea,' said
the captain--had gone ashore on those immense banks of sand which
make the coasts of this country seem like limitless Saharas at hours
when the tide is low.
"While talking I looked around and ahead. Between the ocean and the
lowering sky lay a free space where the eye could see far. We were
following a coast. I asked:
"'Is that the island of Ré?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"And suddenly the captain stretched his right hand out before us,
pointed to something almost invisible in the middle of the sea, and
said:
"'There's your ship!'
"'The _Marie Joseph_?'
"'Yes.'
"I was stupefied. This black, almost imperceptible speck, which
looked to me like a rock, seemed at least three miles from land.
"I continued:
"'But, captain, there must be a hundred fathoms of water in that
place.'
"He began to laugh.
"'A hundred fathoms, my child! Well, I should say about two!'
"He was from Bordeaux. He continued:
"'It's now nine-forty, just high tide. Go down along the beach with
your hands in your pockets after you've had lunch at the Hotel du
Dauphin, and I'll wager that at ten minutes to three, or three
o'clock, you'll reach the wreck without wetting your feet, and have
from an hour and three-quarters to two hours aboard of her; but not
more, or you'll be caught. The faster the sea goes out the faster it
comes back. This coast is as flat as a turtle! But start away at
ten minutes to five, as I tell you, and at half-past seven you will
be aboard of the _Jean Guiton_ again, which will put you down this
same evening on the quay at La Rochelle.'
"I thanked the captain, and I went and sat down in the bow of the
steamer to get a good look at the little city of Saint-Martin, which
we were now rapidly drawing near.
"It was just like all small seaports which serve as the capitals of
the barren islands scattered along the coast--a large fishing
village, one foot on sea and one on shore, living on fish and
wild-fowl, vegetables and shell-fish, radishes and mussels. The
island is very low, and little cultivated, yet it seems to be thickly
populated. However, I did not penetrate into the interior.
"After breakfast I climbed across a little promontory, and then, as
the tide was rapidly falling, I started out across the sands toward a
kind of black rock which I could just perceive above the surface of
the water, out a considerable distance.
"I walked quickly over the yellow plain; it was elastic, like flesh,
and seemed to sweat beneath my foot. The sea had been there very
lately; now I perceived it at a distance, escaping out of sight, and
I no longer could distinguish the line which separated the sands from
ocean. I felt as though I were assisting at a gigantic supernatural
work of enchantment. The Atlantic had just now been before me, then
it had disappeared into the strand, just as does scenery through a
trap; and I now walked in the midst of a desert. Only the feeling,
the breath of the salt-water, remained in me. I perceived the smell
of the wreck, the smell of the wide sea, the good smell of
sea-coasts. I walked fast; I was no longer cold; I looked at the
stranded wreck, which grew in size as I approached, and came now to
resemble an enormous shipwrecked whale.
"It seemed fairly to rise out of the ground, and on that great, flat,
yellow stretch of sand assumed wonderful proportions. After an
hour's walk I at last reached it. Bulging out and crushed, it lay
upon its side, which, like the flanks of an animal, displayed its
broken bones, its bones of tarry wood pierced with great bolts. The
sand had already invaded it, entering it by all the crannies, and
held it, and refused to let it go. It seemed to have taken root in
it. The bow had entered deep into this soft, treacherous beach;
while the stern, high in air, seemed to cast at heaven, like a cry of
despairing appeal, the two white words on the black planking, _Marie
Joseph_.
"I climbed upon this carcass of a ship by the lowest side; then,
having reached the deck, I went below. The daylight, which entered
by the stove-in hatches and the cracks in the sides, showed me a long
somber cellar full of demolished woodwork. There was nothing here
but the sand, which served as foot-soil in this cavern of planks.
"I began to take some notes about the condition of the ship. I was
seated on a broken empty cask, writing by the light of a great crack,
through which I could perceive the boundless stretch of the strand.
A strange shivering of cold and loneliness ran over my skin from time
to time; and I would often stop writing for a moment to listen to the
mysterious noises: the noise of the crabs scratching the planking
with their crooked claws; the noise of a thousand little creatures of
the sea already crawling over this dead body.
"Suddenly, very near me, I heard human voices; I started as though I
had seen a ghost. For a second I really thought I was about to see
drowned men rise from the sinister depths of the hold, who would tell
me about their death. At any rate, it did not take me long to swing
myself on deck. There, below the bow, I found standing a tall
Englishman with three young girls. Certainly, they were a good deal
more frightened at seeing this sudden apparition on the abandoned
three-master than I had been at seeing them. The youngest girl
turned round and ran; the two others caught their father by the arms;
as for him, he opened his mouth--that was the only sign of his
emotion which he showed.
"Then, after several seconds, he spoke:
"'Môsieu, are you the owner of this ship?'
"'I am.'
"'May I go over it?"
"'You may.'
"Then he uttered a long sentence in English, in which I only
distinguished the word 'gracious,' repeated several times.
"As he was looking for a place to climb up, I showed him the best,
and gave him a hand. He ascended. Then we helped up the three
little girls, who had now quite recovered their composure. They were
charming, especially the oldest, a blonde of eighteen, fresh as a
flower, and very dainty and pretty! Ah yes! the pretty Englishwomen
have indeed the look of tender fruits of the sea. One would have
said of this one that she had just risen from the sands and that her
hair had kept their tint. They all, with their exquisite freshness,
make you think of the delicate colours of pink sea-shells, and of
shining pearls hidden in the unknown depths of the ocean.
"She spoke French a little better than her father, and she acted as
interpreter. I must tell all about the shipwreck, and I romanced as
though I had been present at the catastrophe. Then the whole family
descended into the interior of the wreck. As soon as they had
penetrated into this sombre, dim-lit gallery, they uttered cries of
astonishment and admiration. Suddenly the father and his three
daughters were holding sketch-books in their hands, which they had
doubtless carried hidden somewhere in their heavy weather-proof
clothes, and were all beginning at once to make pencil sketches of
the melancholy and fantastic place.
"They had seated themselves side by side on a projecting beam, and
the four sketch-books on the eight knees were being rapidly covered
with little black lines which were intended to represent the
half-opened hulk of the _Marie Joseph_.
"I continued to inspect the skeleton of the ship, and the oldest girl
talked to me while she worked.
"They had none of the usual English arrogance; they were simple
honest hearts of that class of constant travellers with which England
covers the globe. The father was long and thin, with a red face
framed in white whiskers, and looking like a living sandwich, placed
between two wedges of hair. The daughters, like little wading-birds
in embryo, had long legs and were also thin--except the oldest. All
three were pretty, especially the tallest.
"She had such a droll way of speaking, of laughing, of understanding
and of not understanding, of raising her eyes to ask a question (eyes
blue as the deep ocean), of stopping her drawing a moment to make a
guess at what you meant, of returning once more to work, of saying
'yes' or 'no'--that I could have listened and looked indefinitely.
"Suddenly she murmured:
"'I hear a little movement on this boat.'
"I lent an ear; and I immediately distinguished a low, steady,
curious sound. I rose and looked out of the crack, and I uttered a
violent cry. The sea had come back; it had already surrounded us!
"We were on deck in an instant. It was too late. The water circled
us about, and was running towards the coast with awful swiftness.
No, it did not run, it raced, it grew longer, like a kind of great
limitless blot. The water on the sands was barely a few centimeters
deep; but the rising flood had gone so far that we no longer saw the
flying line of its edge.
"The Englishman wanted to jump. I held him back. Flight was
impossible because of the deep places which we had been obliged to go
round on our way out, and through which we could not pass on our
return.
"There was a minute of horrible anguish in our hearts. Then the
little English girl began to smile, and murmured:
"'So we too are shipwrecked?'
"I tried to laugh; but fear caught me tight, a fear which was
cowardly and horrid and base and mean, like the tide. All the
dangers which we ran appeared to me at once. I wanted to shriek
'Help!' But to whom?
"The two younger girls were clinging to their father, who regarded,
with a look of consternation, the measureless sea which hedged us
round about.
"The night fell as swiftly as the ocean rose--a lowering, wet, icy
night.
"I said:
"'There's nothing to do but to stay on the ship.'
"The Englishman answered:
"'Oh, yes!'
"And we waited there a quarter of an hour, half an hour, indeed I
don't know how long, watching that creeping water which grew deep
about us, whirled round and round the wreck.
"One of the little girls was cold, and we went below to shelter
ourselves from the light but freezing wind which blew upon us and
pricked our skins.
"I leaned over the hatchway. The ship was full of water. So we must
cower against the stern planking, which shielded us a little.
"The shades were now enwrapping us, and we remained pressed close to
one another. I felt trembling against my shoulder the shoulder of
the little English girl, whose teeth chattered from time to time.
But I also felt the gentle warmth of her body through her ulster, and
that warmth was as delicious to me as a kiss. We no longer spoke; we
sat motionless, mute, cowering down like animals in a ditch when a
hurricane is raging. And, nevertheless, despite the night, despite
the terrible and increasing danger, I began to feel happy that I was
there, glad of the cold and the peril, to rejoice in the long hours
of darkness and anguish which I must pass on this plank so near this
dainty and pretty little girl.
"I asked myself, 'Why this strange sensation of well-being and of
joy?'
"Why! Does one know? Because she was there? Who? She, a little
unknown English girl? I did not love her, I did not even know her.
And for all that I was touched and conquered. I wanted to save her,
to sacrifice myself for her, to commit a thousand follies! Strange
thing! How does it happen that the presence of a woman overwhelms us
so? Is it the power of her grace which infolds us? Is it the
seduction in her beauty and youth, which intoxicates one like wine?
"Is it not rather the touch of Love, of Love the Mysterious, who
seeks constantly to unite two beings, who tries his strength the
instant he has put a man and a woman face to face?
"The silence of the shades and of the sky became dreadful, because we
could thus hear vaguely about us an infinite low roar, the dull sound
of the rising sea, and the monotonous dashing of the waves against
the ship.
"Suddenly I heard the sound of sobs. The youngest of the little
girls was crying. Her father tried to console her, and they began to
talk in their own tongue, which I did not understand. I guessed that
he was reassuring her, and that she was still afraid.
"I asked my neighbour:
"'You are not too cold, are you, Mademoiselle?'
"'Oh, yes. I am very cold.'
"I offered to give her my cloak; she refused it. But I had taken it
off, and I covered her with it against her will. In the short
struggle her hand touched mine. It made a charming shiver run over
my body.
"For some minutes the air had been growing brisker, the dashing of
the water stronger against the flanks of the ship. I raised myself;
a great gust of wind blew in my face. The wind was rising!
"The Englishman perceived this at the same time that I did, and said,
simply:
"'This is bad for us, this--'
"Of course it was bad, it was certain death if any breakers, however
feeble, should attack and shake the wreck, which was already so loose
and broken that the first big sea would carry it off.
"So our anguish increased momentarily as the squalls grew stronger
and stronger. Now the sea broke a little, and I saw in the darkness
white lines appearing and disappearing, which were lines of foam;
while each wave struck the _Marie Joseph_, and shook her with a short
quiver which rose to our hearts.
"The English girl was trembling; I felt her shiver against me. And I
had a wild desire to take her in my arms.
"Down there before and behind us, to left and right, lighthouses were
shining along the shore--lighthouses white and yellow and red,
revolving like the enormous eyes of giants who were staring at us,
watching us, waiting eagerly for us to disappear. One of them in
especial irritated me. It went out every thirty seconds and it lit
up again as soon. It was indeed an eye, that one, with its lid
ceaselessly lowered over its fiery look.
"From time to time the Englishman struck a match to see the hour;
then he put his watch back in his pocket. Suddenly he said to me,
over the heads of his daughters, with a gravity which was awful:
"'I wish you a Happy New Year, Môsieu.'
"It was midnight. I held out my hand, which he pressed. Then he
said something in English, and suddenly he and his daughters began to
sing 'God Save the Queen,' which rose through the black and silent
air and vanished into space.
"At first I felt a desire to laugh; then I was seized by a strong,
fantastic emotion.
"It was something sinister and superb, this chant of the shipwrecked,
the condemned, something like a prayer, and also something grander,
something comparable to the ancient '_Ave Cæsar morituri te
salutamus_.'
"When they had finished I asked my neighbour to sing a ballad alone,
anything she liked, to make us forget our terrors. She consented,
and immediately her clear young voice rang out into the night. She
sang something which was doubtless sad, because the notes were long
drawn out, and hovered, like wounded birds, about the waves.
"The sea was rising now and beating upon our wreck. As for me, I
thought only of that voice. And I thought also of the sirens. If a
ship had passed nearby us what would the sailors have said? My
troubled spirit lost itself in the dream! A siren! Was she not
really a siren, this daughter of the sea, who had kept me on this
worm-eaten ship, and who was soon about to go down with me deep into
the waters?
"But suddenly we were all five rolling on the deck, because the
_Marie Joseph_ had sunk on her right side. The English girl had
fallen upon me, and before I knew what I was doing, thinking that my
last moment was come, I had caught her in my arms and kissed her
cheek, her temple, and her hair.
"The ship did not move again, and we, we also, remained motionless.
"The father said, 'Kate!' The one whom I was holding answered,
'Yes,' and made a movement to free herself. And at that moment I
should have wished the ship to split in two and let me fall with her
into the sea.
"The Englishman continued:
"'A little rocking; it's nothing. I have my three daughters safe.'
"Not having seen the oldest, he had thought she was lost overboard!
"I rose slowly, and suddenly I made out a light on the sea quite near
us. I shouted; they answered. It was a boat sent out in search of
us by the hotel-keeper, who had guessed at our imprudence.
"We were saved. I was in despair. They picked us up off our raft,
and they brought us back to Saint-Martin.
"The Englishman began to rub his hands and murmur:
"'A good supper! A good supper!'
"We did sup. I was not gay. I regretted the _Marie Joseph_.
"We had to separate the next day after much handshaking and many
promises to write. They departed for Biarritz. I wanted to follow
them.
"I was hard hit; I wanted to ask this little girl to marry me. If we
had passed eight days together, I should have done so! How weak and
incomprehensible a man sometimes is!
"Two years passed without my hearing a word from them. Then I
received a letter from New York. She was married, and wrote to tell
me. And since then we write to each other every year, on New Year's
Day. She tells me about her life, talks of her children, her
sisters, never of her husband! Why? Ah! why? ... And as for me I
only talk of the _Marie Joseph_. That was perhaps the only woman I
have ever loved. No--that I ever should have loved.... Ah, well!
who can tell? Facts master you.... And then--and then--all
passes.... She must be old now; I should not know her.... Ah! she
of the by-gone time, she of the wreck! What a creature! ... Divine!
... She writes me her hair is white.... That caused me terrible
pain.... Ah! her yellow hair.... No, my English girl exists no
longer.... They are sad, such things as that!"