Agapit

“ Agapit was nearly frantic. He got up, walked to and fro about her, half stretched out his hand to touch her burnished head, drew it back upon reflecting that the eyes of the street, the neighbors, and the inn might be upon him, and at last said, desperately, "You ought to have a husband, Bidiane. You are a very torrent of energy; you will always be getting into scrapes." ”

“ Is he changed, Agapit? Has his face grown more pale?"
Agapit broke into vigorous French. "He is more foolish than ever, that I assure thee. Such a simpleton, and thou lovest him!"
"If he is a fool, then there are no wise men in the world; but thou art only teasing. Ah, Agapit, dear Agapit," and she clasped her hands, and extended [Pg 289] them towards him. "Tell me only what he says of Narcisse."
"He is well; he will tell thee in the morning of a plan he has. Go now to bed,—and Rose, to-morrow be sensible, be wise. Thou wert so noteworthy these three weeks ago, what has come to thee now?" ”

“ Agapit, who possessed a warm heart, an ardent imagination, and a lively regard for the other sex, was at present without a love-affair of his own, and his mind was therefore free to dwell on the troubles of Rose and Vesper. All night long he dreamed of lovers. They haunted him, tortured him with their griefs, misunderstandings, and afflictions, and, rather glad than sorry to awake from his disturbed sleep, he lifted his shaggy head from the pillow early in the morning and, vehemently shaking it, muttered, "The devil himself is in those who make love." ”

“ The girl, ladylike and modest, and full of contrition for her former misdeeds, was yet possessed by a mischievous impulse to find out whether her power over the burly, youthful, excitable Agapit extended to this thinner, more serious-looking man, with the big black mustache and the shining eye-glasses. ”

“ Agapit, looking deeply into them, forgot immediately the mentor's part that he was to act, and clasped her warmly and approvingly by the hand.
"Come in," she said; but Agapit, who would never sit in the house if it were possible to stay out-of-doors, conducted her to one of the rustic seats by the croquet lawn. He sat down, and she perched in the hammock, sitting on one foot, swinging the other, and overwhelming him with questions about his visit to Halifax. ”

“ There were enough of them to kill those devilish English."
"Do all the Acadiens hate the English as much as you do?"
"I hate the English?" cried Agapit. "How grossly you deceive yourself!"
"What do you mean then by that strong language?"
Agapit threw himself into an excited attitude. "Let you dare—you youthful, proud young republic,—to insult our Canadian flag. You would see where stands Agapit LeNoir! England is the greatest nation in the world," and proudly swelling out his breast, he swept his glance over the majestic Bay before them. ”

“ Followed by Narcisse, he sauntered to the table, where he caused Rose à Charlitte's heart a succession of pangs and anxieties.
"He does not like my cooking; he eats nothing," she said, mournfully, to Agapit, who was taking a substantial dinner at the kitchen table.
"I wish that he would go away," said Agapit, "I hate his insolent face."
"But he is not insolent," said Rose, pleadingly. "It is only that he does not care for us; he is likely rich, and we are but poor."
"Do many millionaires come to thy quiet inn?" asked Agapit, ironically. ”

“ Go and drive him away, Agapit. He should not be allowed to speak to our spotless Rose. I should think that the skies would fall—and I spoke to him, the traitor! Go, Agapit,—I wish you would knock him down."
Agapit, with an indulgent glance, stood at a little distance from her, softly murmuring, from time to time, "You are very young, Bidiane."
"Young! I am glad that I am young, so that I can feel angry. You are stolid, unfeeling. You care [Pg 495] nothing for Rose. ”

“ Agapit hung his head. In accents of deepest shame he murmured, "Charlitte yet lives."
"Charlitte—what, Rose's husband?"
A miserable nod from Agapit answered his question.
"It is rumor," stammered Vesper; "it cannot be. You said that he was dead."
"He has been seen,—the miserable man lives with another woman." ”

“ Rose, did you love your husband as I did la belle Marguerite?"
"My husband was older,—he was as a father," stammered Rose. "Certainly I did not tear my hair, I did not beat my foot on the ground when he died, as you did when la belle married the miller."
"Have you ever loved any man?" pursued Agapit, unmercifully.
"Oh, shut up, Agapit," muttered Vesper; "don't bully a woman."
Agapit turned to stare at him,—not angrily, but rather as if he had discovered something new and [Pg 131] peculiar in the shape of young manhood. ”

“ I am not he for whom you take me. I will tell you the whole truth. Agapit is not my real name. I am a Goth, and my name is really Theodat. But I am obliged to conceal my origin, for I should be put to death if it were known. Haven’t you heard, by my pronunciation, that I am not a Roman. When my fellow-countrymen left your city, I did not follow them. I love Rome, I love its history and its tradition. I want to live and die in the Eternal City, which once belonged to us. ”

“ I think that his visit is a mere caprice that, however, if humored, would degenerate into a carrying away of Rose,—and now au revoir."
Bidiane, in her excited, overstrained condition of mind, bestowed one of her infrequent caresses on him, and Agapit, in mingled surprise and gratification, found a pair of loving arms flung around his neck, and heard a frantic whisper: "If you ever do anything bad, I shall kill you; but you will not, for you are good." ”

“ Agapit, I wish to go home."
"I will send thee; but be quiet, speak not above thy breath. Tell me, has this Englishman—"
"The Englishman has done nothing," said Rose, brokenly, "except that in two days he goes back to the world."
"And dost thou care? Stop, let me see thy face. Rose, thou art like a sister to me. My poor one, my dear cousin, do not cry. Come, where is thy dignity, thy pride? Remember that Acadien women do not give their hearts; they must be begged."
"I remember," she said, resolutely. "I will be strong. Fear not, Agapit, and let us return. The women will be staring." ”

“ The young American had come out of the death-like unconsciousness of past days and nights; he now had a chance to recover; but while a thanksgiving to the mother of angels was trembling on his lips, his patient surveyed him in an ecstasy of irritation and weakness that found expression in hysterical laughter.
Agapit was alarmed. He had never heard Vesper laugh in health. He had rarely smiled. Possibly he might be calmed by the offer of something to eat, and, picking up a bowl of jelly, he approached the bed. ”

“ Rose and Agapit, grown strangely silent, did not answer her, and, without thinking of examining [Pg 482] their faces, she kept her eyes fixed on the man rapidly approaching them.
"He is neither old nor young," she said, vivaciously. "Yes, he is, too,—he is old. His hair is quite gray. He swaggers a little bit. I think he must be the captain of the beautiful stranger. There is an indefinable something about him that doesn't belong to a common sailor; don't you think so, Agapit?"
Her red head tilted itself sideways, yet she still kept a watchful eye on the newcomer. ”

“ Vesper would have enjoyed seeking big game in [Pg 158] the backwoods, if his health had permitted, and he listened with suppressed eagerness to Agapit's account of a moose hunt. The world of sport disposed of, their conversation drifted to literature, to science and art in general,—to women and love affairs, and Agapit rambled on excitedly and delightedly, while Vesper, contenting himself with the briefest of rejoinders, extracted an acute and amused interest from the entirely novel and out-of-the-way opinions presented to him. ”

“ Only Agapit was dissatisfied, only Agapit did not praise her, and Rose on this day, as she stood wistfully looking into his face, carried on an internal soliloquy. It must be because she represents Mr. Nimmo. She has been educated by him, she reveres him. He has only lent her to the Bay, and will some day take her away, and Agapit, who feels this, is jealous because he is rich, and because he will not forgive. It is strange that the best of men and women are so human; but our dear Lord will some day melt their hearts ”

“ Bidiane hesitated a little time. She looked down the Bay, she looked up here towards Weymouth, then she shot a quick glance at me from her curious yellow eyes, and said, 'There is my far-removed cousin, Agapit LeNoir. He is a good Acadien; he is also clever. What do you want of an Englishman?' [Pg 426] 'By Jove!' said the blacksmith, and he slapped his leather apron,—you know he has been much in the States, Agapit, and he is very wide in his opinions,—'By Jove!' he said, 'we couldn't have a better. ”

“ The old gull is telling the young ones to stay back by the lake in the forest, I suppose."
Agapit tried to shake off his dreaminess and to carry on a conversation with her, but failed dismally, until he discovered that she was choking with suppressed laughter.
"Oh, pardon, pardon, monsieur; I was thinking—ah! [Pg 367] how delicious is one's surprise at some things—I am thinking how absurd. You that I fancied would be a brother—you almost as angelic as Mr. Nimmo—you do not care for me at all. You try so hard, but I plague you, I annoy. But what will you? I cannot make myself over. ”

“ Agapit pointed to the Bay. "He lies over Digby Neck, in the Bay of Fundy, but his only child is on this Bay."
"A boy or a girl?"
"A devil," cried Agapit, in a burst of grief, "a little devil."
[Pg 210]
CHAPTER XVI.
FOR THE HONOR OF THEIR RACE.
"Love is the perfect sum
Of all delight!
I have no other choice
Either for pen or voice
To sing or write."
"Why is the descendant of the Fiery Frenchman a devil?" asked Vesper.
"Because she has no heart. They have taken from her her race, her religion. Her mother, who had some Indian blood, was also wild. She would not sweep her kitchen floor. ”

“ Nimmo has sent her here to be an amiable distraction for you," said Agapit. "He is afraid that you are getting too holy, too far beyond him. He sends this Parisian butterfly [Pg 351] to amuse you. He has plenty of money, he can indulge his whims."
His tone was bitter, and Rose forbore to answer him. He was so good, this cousin of hers, and yet his poverty and his long-continued struggle to obtain an education had somewhat soured him, and he had not quite fulfilled the promise of his earlier years. He was also a little jealous of Vesper. ”

“ He would be sure to overtake Rose, who had shortly before left the inn with Narcisse. She had had a terrible scene with the child relative to the approaching departure of the American, and Agapit himself had advised her to take him to her stepmother. He wished now that he had not done so, he wished that he could prevent Vesper from going after her,—he almost wished that this quiet, imperturbable young man had never come to the Bay.
"And yet, why should I do that?" he reflected, penitently. "Does not good come when one works from honest motives, though bad only is at first apparent? ”

“ Célina ran from the house, and Jovite from the stable, both shrieking with laughter. Only Agapit looked grave, and, snatching a hammock from a tree, he ran down the hill to the place where Rose stood with clasped hands.
"Where is Charlitte?" she cried, "and Emmanuel?—they were close together; I do not see them."
A sudden hush followed her words. Every man sprang to his feet. Emmanuel's red jacket was nowhere to be seen,—in the first excitement they had not missed him,—neither was Charlitte visible. ”

“ Agapit made a grimace. He had a lively imagination, and had readily supplied all these details. "I suppose you do not wish to take me back to Sleeping Water?"
Rose hesitated, then said, meekly, "Perhaps it would be better for me not to do it, nor for you to say that I have talked to you. Bidiane speaks plainly, and, though I know she likes me, she is most extremely animated just now. Claudine, you know, [Pg 428] spoils her. Also, she avoids me lately,—you will not be too severe with her. It is so loving that she should work for you. ”

“ Agapitus eagerly enquired of Orion.
"They are withdrawing into the gorge through which the road leads up here," answered the Saite. "But look! only look at these heathen! The Lord be merciful to us! they are climbing up the cliffs like woodpeckers up a tree."
"The stones, fly to the stones!" cried Agapitus with flashing eyes to the anchorites that stood by. "What is going on behind the wall there? Do you hear? Yes that is the Roman tuba. Courage, brethren! the emperor's soldiers are guarding the weakest side of the castle. ”

“ Agapitus the Cappadocian had in his youth been a warrior; he had hardly passed the limits of middle age, and was a vigilant captain of his congregation. When all the youth of Pharan had gone forth to meet the Blemmyes, he had no peace in the oasis, and, after enjoining on the presbyters and deacons that they should pray in the church for the fighting men with the women and the men who remained behind, he himself, accompanied by a guide and two acolytes, had gone up the mountain to witness the battle. ”

“ So Agapitus fulfilled that which his abbot commanded him, and brought Smaragdus into the deserted cell, where he occupied himself in fastings and vigils day and night, serving God in purity of heart; so that his master greatly wondered thereat, and related to his brethren his way of life. But Paphnutius her father, when he came home, went very quickly into the bower wherein his daughter was wont to be; and when that he found her not there he became very uneasy, and began to question of all, both slaves and free-men, (what) had been done with his daughter Euphrosyne? ”