Gilbert Parker

“ Out of the irresponsibility of his nature, out of the moral ineptitude to which he had been born, moral knowledge came to him at last. Love had not done it; neither the love of Christine, as strong as death, nor the love of his sister, the deepest thing he ever knew—but the look of a woman wronged. He had inflicted on her the deepest wrong that may be done a woman. A woman can forgive passion and ruin, and worse, if the man loves her, and she can forgive herself, remembering that to her who loved much, much was forgiven. ”

“ Suddenly a paroxysm of coughing seized Ferrol, and he let go and staggered back against the window ledge. Shangois was transformed—an animal. No human being had ever seen him as he was at this moment. The fingers of his one hand opened and shut convulsively, his arms worked up and down, his face twitched, his teeth showed like a beast’s as he glared at Ferrol. He looked as though he were about to spring upon the now helpless man. But up from the garden below there came the sound of a voice—Christine’s—singing. ”

“ Her eyes snapped fire. “Nic—mon Dieu, hear the nice Nic!” she said. “The dear Nic, who went in swimming with—”
She said no more, for he had no desire to listen to an account of his misdeeds, which were not a few,—and Christine had a galling tongue.
When the door was shut she went to the bed, sat down on a chair beside it, and looked at Ferrol earnestly and sadly.
“My dear! my dear, dear, dear!” she said in a whisper, “you look so handsome and so kind as you lie there—like no man I ever saw in my life. Who’d have fought as you fought—and nearly dead! ”

“ The bear’s teeth fastened in his shoulder; the horrible pressure of its arms was turning his face black; he felt death coming, when another pistol shot rang out close to his own head, and his breath suddenly came back. He staggered to the wall, and then came to the floor in a heap as the bear lurched downwards and fell over on its side, dead.
Christine had come to kill the beast and, perhaps, the man. The man had saved her life, and now she had saved his; and together they had killed the bear which had maltreated Tom Ferrol.
Castine’s eyes were fixed on the dead beast. ”

“ It sounded peaceful and quiet, as though no war, or rebellion, or misery and shame, were anywhere within the radius of its travel.
Just where they stood there was a tall calvary. Behind it was some shrubbery. Ferrol was going to answer her, when he saw, coming along the road, the Cure in his robes, bearing the host. In front of him trotted an acolyte, swinging the censer.
Ferrol quickly drew Sophie aside behind the bushes, where they should not be seen; for he was no longer reckless. He wished to be careful for the woman’s sake. ”

“ Mr. Ferrol slept in the large guest-chamber of the house. Above it was Christine’s bedroom. Thick as were the timbers and boards of the floor, Christine could hear one sound, painfully monotonous and frequent, coming from his room the whole night—the hacking, rending cough which she had heard so often since he came. The fear of Vanne Castine, the memories of the wild, half animal-like love she had had for him in the old days, the excitement of the new events which had come into her life ”

“ When you do that you will not have to wait for a British bullet to kill you. I will do it with a knife—just where you can hear it sing under your ear!”
“British bullet!” said Lavilette, excitedly; “what about a British bullet—eh—what?”
“Only that the Rebellion’s coming quick now,” answered Castine, his manner changing, and a look of cunning crossing his face. “You’ve given your name to the great Papineau, and I am here, as you see.”
“You—you—what have you got to do with the Revolution? with Papineau?”
“Pah! do you think a Lavilette is the only patriot! ”

“ Yes, he would kill one man. He had a devilish feeling of delight in thinking how he would do it, and how red the sabre would look when he had done it. He wished he had a hundred hands and a hundred sabres in those hands. More than once he had been in danger of his life, and yet he had had no fear.
He had in him the power of hatred; and he hated Ferrol as he had never hated anything in his life. He hated him as much as, in a furtive sort of way, he loved the rebellious, primitive and violent Christine. ”

“ Ferrol saw no particular details in his first view of the house. The picture was satisfying to a tired man—comfort, quiet, the bread of idleness to eat, and welcome, admiring faces round him. Monsieur Lavilette stood in the doorway, and behind him, at a carefully disposed distance, was Madame, rather more emphatically dressed than necessary. As he shook hands genially with Madame he saw Sophie and Christine in the doorway of the parlour. ”

“ Sophie gave Ferrol a look which haunted him while he lived. One idle afternoon he had sowed the seeds of a little storm in the heart of a woman, and a whirlwind was driving through her life to parch and make desolate the green fields of her youth and womanhood. ”

“ He thought he had known Christine, but now he saw her in a new light, through the eyes of her sister from whose heart he had gathered a harvest of passion and affection, and had burnt the stubble and seared the soil forever. Sophie could never justify herself in the eyes of her husband, or in her own eyes, because this man did not love her. ”

“ Then he saw her raise another pistol. The wounded bear lunged heavily on its chain—once—twice—in a devilish rage, and as Christine prepared to fire, snapped the staple loose and sprang forward.
At the same moment Castine threw himself in front of the girl, and caught the onward rush. Calling the beast by its name, he grappled with it. They were man and servant no longer, but two animals fighting for their lives. Castine drew out his knife, as the bear, raised on its hind legs, crushed him in its immense arms, and still calling, half crazily, “Michael! Michael! down, Michael!” ”

“ Her face, within her sunbonnet, caught the reflected light, and the pink calico of her dress threw a glow over her cheeks and forehead, and gave a good gleam to her eyes. She had in her hands a dish of strawberries. It was a charming picture in the eyes of a man to whom the feelings of robustness and health were mostly a reminiscence. Yet, while the first impression was on him, he contrasted Sophie with the impetuous, fiery-hearted Christine, with her dramatic Gallic face and blood, to the latter’s advantage, in spite of the more harmonious setting of this picture. ”

“ A provoking smile flickered at the corners of Shangois’s mouth, and he said, with a dry inflection, as he dipped and redipped his quill pen in the inkhorn:
“He has a bear, my friends, which dances very well.” Farcinelle guffawed. “St. Mary!” said he, slapping his leg, “we’ll have the bear at the wedding, and I’ll have that farm of Vanne Castine’s. What does he want of a farm? He’s got a bear. Come, is it a bargain? Am I to have the mortgage? If you don’t stick it in, I’ll not let my boy marry your girl, Lavilette. ”

“ As the night wore on, Lavilette could hear hoof-beats behind him; those of the mare growing clearer and clearer, and those of the artillerymen remaining about the same, monotonously steady. He looked back, and saw the mare lightly leaning to her work, and a little man hanging to her back. He did not know who it was; and if he had known he would have wondered. Shangois had ridden to camp to fetch him back to Bonaventure for two purposes: to secure the five thousand dollars from Ferrol, and to save Nic’s sister from marrying a highwayman. ”

“ Suddenly some one cried out: “It’s Vanne Castine! It’s Vanne!”
People crowded nearer: there was a flurry of exclamations, and then Christine took a few steps forward where she could see the man’s face, and as swiftly drew back into the crowd, pale and distraite.
The man watched her until she drew away behind a group, which was composed of Ferrol, her brother and her sister Sophie. He dropped no note of his song, and the bear kept jigging on. Children and elders threw coppers, which he picked up, with a little nod of his head, a malicious sort of smile on his lips. ”

“ Farcinelle did not share the social ambitions of the Lavilettes. He liked his political popularity, and he was only concerned for that. He had that touch of shrewdness to save him from fatuity where the Lavilettes were concerned. He was determined to associate with the ceremony all the primitive customs of the country. He had come of a race of simple farmers, and he was consistent enough to attempt to live up to the traditions of his people. He was entirely too good-natured to take exception to Ferrol’s easy-going admiration of Sophie. ”

“ He begged that she would go on with her work; and she got the dish of strawberries, and began stemming them while he talked.
It was much easier talking or listening to him while she was so occupied. She had never enjoyed anything so much in her life. She was not clever, like Christine, but she had admiration of ability, and was obedient to the charm of temperament. Whenever Ferrol had met her he had lavished little attentions on her, had said things to her that carried weight far beyond their intention. ”

“ Like others in the settlement, Shangois was the last of his race. He could put his finger upon the secret history and private lives of nearly every person in a dozen parishes, but most of all in Bonaventure—for such this long parish was called. He knew to a hair’s breadth the social value of every human being in the parish. He was too cunning and acute to be a gossip, but by direct and indirect ways he made every person feel that the Cure and the Lord might forgive their pasts, but he could never forget them, nor wished to do so. ”

“ After he had gone from the store-room, leaving Ferrol dead, as he thought, it was this song alone which had saved himself from peril; for the beast was wild from pain, fury and the taste of blood. As soon as they had cleared the farmyard, he had begun this song, and the bear, cowed at first by the thrusts of its master’s pike, quieted to the well-known ditty. ”

“ Why should you break the heart of any girl in the world? Leave her alone. Is it love to a woman when you break all the commandments, and shame her and bring her down to where you are—a bad vaurien? When a man loves a woman with the true love, he will try to do good for her sake. Go back to that crazy New York—it is the place for you. Ma’m’selle Christine is not for you.”
“Who is she for, m’sieu’ le dev’?”
“Perhaps for the English Irishman,” answered Shangois, in a low suggestive tone, as he dropped a little brandy in his tea with light fingers. ”

“ I have ride a horse in a circus, I have drive a horse and sleigh in a shanty, I have play in a brass band, I have drink whiskey every night for a month—enough whiskey. I have drink water every night for a year—it is not enough. I have learn how to speak English; I have lose all my money when I go to play a game of cards. I go back to de circus; de circus smash; I have no pay. I take dat damn bear Michael as my share—yes. I walk trough de State of New York, all trough de State of Maine to Quebec, all de leetla village, all de big city—yes. I learn dat damn funny song to sing to Michael. ”

“ Vanne Castine—what was he! What was it that made me care for him then? And now—now he travels with a bear, and they toss coppers to him; a beggar, a tramp—a dirty, lazy tramp! He hates me, I know—or else he loves me, and that’s worse. And I’m afraid of him; I know I’m afraid of him. Oh, how will it all end? I know there’s going to be trouble. I could see it in Vanne’s face. But I don’t care, I don’t care, if Mr. Ferrol—”
The cough came droning through the floor.
“If he’d only—ah! I’d do anything for him, anything; anybody would. I saw Sophie look at him as she never looked at Magon. ”

“ Suddenly she sat up straight in bed.
“Oh, if I hadn’t been a Lavilette! If I’d only been born and brought up with the sort of people he comes from, I’d not have been ashamed of myself or him of me.”
The plush bodice she had worn that day danced before her eyes. She knew how horribly ugly it was. Her fingers ran over the patchwork quilt on her bed; and although she could not see it, she loathed it, because she knew it was a painful mess of colours. With a little touch of dramatic extravagance, she leaned over and down, and drew her fingers contemptuously along the rag-carpet on the floor. ”

“ In the matter of power, Baby, the inquisitive postmaster and keeper of the bridge, was unlike the new arrival in Bonaventure. The abilities of the Honourable Tom Ferrol lay in a splendid plausibility, a spontaneous blarney. He could no more help being spendthrift of his affections and his morals than of his money, and many a time he had wished that his money was as inexhaustible as his emotions. ”

“ I’m one of the men who ought to be put above temptation; be well bridled, well fed, and the mere cost of comfortable living provided, and then I’d do big things. But that isn’t the way of the world; and so I feel that a morning like this, and the love of a girl like that” (he nodded towards the horizon into which Christine had gone) “ought to make a man sing a Te Deum. And yet this evening, or to-morrow evening, or the next, I’ll steal five thousand dollars, if it can be done, and risk my neck in doing it—to say nothing of family honour, and what not.” ”

“ The sentences were broken by coughing, and his handkerchief was wet and red.
“It is no concern of the world,” answered Shangois, stretching up his throat, for he still felt the pressure of Ferrol’s fingers—“only of the girl and her brother. The girl—I saved her once before from your friend Vanne Castine, and I will save her from you—but, yes! It is nothing to the world, to Bonaventure, that you are a robber; it is everything to her. You are all robbers—you English—cochons!” ”

“ In point of morals, any of the Lavilettes presented a finer average than their new guest, who had come to give their feasting distinction, and what more time was to show. Indeed, the Hon. Mr. Ferrol had no morals to speak of, and very little honour. He was the penniless son of an Irish peer, who was himself well-nigh penniless; and he and his sister, whose path of life at home was not easy after her marriageable years had passed, drew from the consols the small sum of money their mother had left them, and sailed away for New York. ”