W. A. Fraser

“ Many days after, at the time of Christmas, again the cry of Le Bretagne rang through the streets of Arichat; and again was there much of horror in the cry, for though the sea was calm now, there was Le Bretagne slowly sailing into port; and was not Le Bretagne at the bottom of the sea, and all hands drowned?
Small wonder that the browned faces were blanched now, as the fisher-folk lined up on the sand, as they had on that day two moons before.
“What sorcery is this?” they asked each other. It was Le Bretagne; they know her as they knew their own houses. ”

“ Christmas had come to Marie. The Holy Mother had heard her prayer, and she was with Leon.
And every Christmas since, in Arichat, a mass is said for the repose of the soul of little Marie, and the lover who rose from the sea to come to her, even in death. ”

“ IT was two o’clock when Le Bretagne spread her white sails and crept out toward the eastern sky. It was six when the gray wall of the sea rose and blotted out the ship as though she had gone to the bottom.
Then the dark figure which had been outlined against the crimson of the big, red setting sun turned wearily and crept over the sands towards Arichat—it was Marie, returning to her newly widowed home.
“Leon said he would come at the time of Christmas, so why should I fear?” she kept muttering, “and Leon will keep his word in life or death. ”