Ma'ame Pelagie, when she saw that her sister slept, arose noiselessly

and stepped outside upon the low-roofed narrow gallery. She did not

linger there, but with a step that was hurried and agitated, she crossed

the distance that divided her cabin from the ruin.

The night was not a dark one, for the sky was clear and the moon

resplendent. But light or dark would have made no difference to Ma'ame

Pelagie. It was not the first time she had stolen away to the ruin at

night-time, when the whole plantation slept; but she never before had

been there with a heart so nearly broken. She was going there for the

last time to dream her dreams; to see the visions that hitherto had

crowded her days and nights, and to bid them farewell.

There was the first of them, awaiting her upon the very portal; a robust

old white-haired man, chiding her for returning home so late. There are

guests to be entertained. Does she not know it? Guests from the city

and from the near plantations. Yes, she knows it is late. She had been

abroad with Felix, and they did not notice how the time was speeding.

Felix is there; he will explain it all. He is there beside her, but she

does not want to hear what he will tell her father.

Ma'ame Pelagie had sunk upon the bench where she and her sister so

often came to sit. Turning, she gazed in through the gaping chasm of

the window at her side. The interior of the ruin is ablaze. Not with the

moonlight, for that is faint beside the other one--the sparkle from the

crystal candelabra, which negroes, moving noiselessly and respectfully

about, are lighting, one after the other. How the gleam of them reflects

and glances from the polished marble pillars!

The room holds a number of guests. There is old Monsieur Lucien Santien,

leaning against one of the pillars, and laughing at something which

Monsieur Lafirme is telling him, till his fat shoulders shake. His

son Jules is with him--Jules, who wants to marry her. She laughs. She

wonders if Felix has told her father yet. There is young Jerome Lafirme

playing at checkers upon the sofa with Leandre. Little Pauline stands

annoying them and disturbing the game. Leandre reproves her. She begins

to cry, and old black Clementine, her nurse, who is not far off, limps

across the room to pick her up and carry her away. How sensitive the

little one is! But she trots about and takes care of herself better than

she did a year or two ago, when she fell upon the stone hall floor

and raised a great "bo-bo" on her forehead. Pelagie was hurt and angry

enough about it; and she ordered rugs and buffalo robes to be brought

and laid thick upon the tiles, till the little one's steps were surer.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024