Antoine

“ He dared not go there every day, although he might have done so without fear that Monsieur Antoine would receive him less warmly. But there is in love a shrinking modesty which takes fright at happiness at the moment of grasping it. So he wandered about in every direction, and hid in the woods, where he could gaze at the ruins of Châteaubrun through the branches, as if he were afraid of being caught in the act of adoration. ”

“ Saint Antoine had been, that morning, a vast dusky mass of scarecrows heaving to and fro, with frequent gleams of light above the billowy heads, where steel blades and bayonets shone in the sun. A tremendous roar arose from the throat of Saint Antoine, and a forest of naked arms struggled in the air like shrivelled branches of trees in a winter wind: all the fingers convulsively clutching at every weapon or semblance of a weapon that was thrown up from the depths below, no matter how far off. ”

“ Antoine, from the streets of petty shopkeepers and tradesmen, from the little bourgeoisie, came to mingle together, indiscriminately, equalized, rendered careless of the origin of companions by their common love of the dice. Here were men of all ages, from the fierce stripling who regarded a franc as a fortune, to the senile creature, glued to his chair, the cubes rattling continually in his trembling cup, and the varying luck of the evening his life and death. ”

“ The hour was come, when Saint Antoine was to execute his horrible idea of hoisting up men for lamps to show what he could be and do. Saint Antoine's blood was up, and the blood of tyranny and domination by the iron hand was down—down on the steps of the Hôtel de Ville where the governor's body lay—down on the sole of the shoe of Madame Defarge where she had trodden on the body to steady it for mutilation. ”

“ People who could lay hold of nothing else, set themselves with bleeding hands to force stones and bricks out of their places in walls. Every pulse and heart in Saint Antoine was on high-fever strain and at high-fever heat. Every living creature there held life as of no account, and was demented with a passionate readiness to sacrifice it. ”

“ Antoine had disgorged its sans-culottic population. A sea of human heads surged to and fro in unwieldy mass,—clinging to chimneys, clustered on the trees, hanging on the roofs, they formed a brutal assemblage—fit spectators of a brutal drama. ”

“ Ever since the night in the ravine, Antoine had been living in a strange world: he had not known himself: his hand had seemed against every man's, and every man's hand against his. He never went to mass, for he felt that the good God had abandoned him.
Now he suddenly realised what it was he needed—the just punishment of Geoffroi. The path of life would be straight again, and God on His Throne in heaven, when Justice had been vindicated, and he had visited his crime on the evildoer. ”

“ A long, sad vista opened before Père Antoine’s mental vision; the questions of love, duty, necessity, beset him. He was a wise man as well as a good one, but sometimes a child may confound a sage. He loved Péron too, with the tenderness of a woman, and he felt that with him lay the chief responsibility, since he was the most intelligent as well as the most deeply concerned of his guardians. After an instant’s pause, a pause so slight that the eager interrogator scarcely noted it, the priest answered him in his usual calm tone. ”

“ And yet that night she lighted the candles at the dead man's head and feet, dragging herself thither in the cold; and in her heart she said that the smile on Antoine's face was deeper than it had been before.
In the early spring, when the earth painfully breathed away the frost that choked it, with her child for mourner, and herself for sexton and priest, she buried Antoine with maimed rites: but hers were the prayers of the poor, and of the pure in heart ”

“ This Foulon was at the Hôtel de Ville, and might be loosed. Never, if Saint Antoine knew his own sufferings, insults, and wrongs! Armed men and women flocked out of the Quarter so fast, and drew even these last dregs after them with such a force of suction, that within a quarter of an hour there was not a human creature in Saint Antoine's bosom but a few old crones and the wailing children. ”

“ The count's embrace was passionate and enthusiastic; the marquis's calm and constrained. He was playing a part beyond his strength; he turned pale, trembled, and was forced to sit down. Antoine sat beside him, his breast shaken with sobs. Gilberte knelt in front of the marquis and covered his hands with kisses, weeping with joy and gratitude.
All this display and emotion disgusted the manufacturer, who looked on with a cold, supercilious eye, awaiting the means of reconciliation. ”

“ The years glided away, and the date-palm and the priest grew together—only one became vigorous and the other feeble. Père Antoine had long passed the meridian of life. The tree was in its youth. It no longer stood in an isolated garden; for pretentious brick and stucco houses had clustered about Antoine’s cottage. ”

“ Don't pretend that you can't understand me. Look you, Emile, I know the whole of your Châteaubrun romance, and I could repeat it to you word for word, from your arrival one stormy night down to the Crozant expedition, and from Crozant down to your conversation last Saturday in Monsieur Antoine's orchard. ”

“ If I ventured to give Monsieur Antoine a piece of advice, it would be to give you a glass of water when you come to breakfast with him, otherwise you might make remarks before his daughter that would force me to put you out of doors. You thought, when you saw us all so merry and so unceremonious with one another, that we were vulgar folk and that you must become vulgar to descend to our level. You made a mistake. Whoever has nothing evil in his heart or unclean in his mind can let himself go ”

“ It was late the next morning when Antoine, presenting himself at my bedside, broke my slumbers, and with them the current of a dream of which the picture and the occurrences of the past night formed the basis. He informed me he had just dressed his master, and tendered me the like service, which, however, I declined, and proceeded, unaided and alone, to dress with all expedition. My friend received me in the salon, where we had dined the preceding day, with his usual benignant smile ”

“ October 1901, a detail absolutely unknown to every one, for Antoine never spoke of it.
‘10. When Antoine was already grown up, shortly before his marriage, his father, Louis, suffered heavy losses of money through a defaulting cashier. Antoine did not take this to heart; moreover, no one ever knew of the incident, which was carefully kept from the knowledge of every one outside of the family. ”

“ Emile wondered what would be the end of this jest, which Monsieur Antoine seemed determined to carry on to the end with a sober face, and, when Gilberte had gone to her room, he followed Monsieur Antoine to his to find out whether he would persuade his page to make the best of the straw.
The count amused himself by causing himself to be waited on like a man of quality. "Come," he said, "pull off my boots, give me my nightcap and put out the lights. You can stretch yourself on the bricks here, and look out for yourself if you are unlucky enough to snore! Good-night, Emile. Go to bed ”

“ In three minutes Antoine appeared, and the dog leaped bodily into his arms, the negro talking to him much as he would to a human being. “I knowed you’d do it, ole feller! Thar! Down! Down, I say, ole Vic! It takes you,—don’t it? Down! Behave yourself afore folk. Why, Peek, is this you?”
“Yes, Antoine, and this is Mr. Vance, and here’s the old flag, and you’re no longer a slave.”
433“What? I no longer a— No! Say them words agin, Peek! Free? Owner of my own flesh an’ blood? Dis arm mine? Dis head mine? Bress de Lord, Peek! ”

“ Antoine had entered the Church, and was already looked upon as a rising man; but his face was pale and his heart leaden, for there was no sweetness in life for him.
Four years had elapsed, when a letter, covered with outlandish postmarks, was brought to the young priest—a letter from Anglice. She was dying;—would he forgive her? Emile, the year previous, had fallen a victim to the fever that raged on the island; and their child, Anglice, was likely to follow him. In pitiful terms she begged Antoine to take charge of the child until she was old enough to enter the convent of the Sacré-Cour. ”

“ Putting their knives alternately to that appetizing morsel, the odor of which was devoid of any agreeable quality, they cut it into small pieces, which they placed carefully on their earthenware plates and ate crumb by crumb on their rye bread. Between every two mouthfuls they took a swallow of the native wine, after touching their glasses and exchanging such compliments as: "Here's to you, comrade!" "Here's to you, Monsieur Antoine!" or: "Here's your good health, old fellow!" ”

“ Before the peasant, who had continued to nibble at his bread with a thoughtful expression, was prepared to begin, the young man thanked Monsieur Antoine warmly for his narrative and for his generous interpretation of Monsieur Cardonnet's course. Without admitting that he was in any way connected with that gentleman, he seemed to be deeply touched by the judgment of his character which the Comte de Châteaubrun expressed, and he added:
"Yes, monsieur, I believe that by seeking the best side of things one goes astray less often than by doing the opposite. ”

“ To-day you have just what you need to keep cool in summer and warm in winter; the village tailor fits you beautifully and doesn't make your clothes too tight at the joints. Come, monsieur, confess that everything is for the best, that you never had less care, and that you are the luckiest of men; for I have said nothing yet of the privilege of having a lovely daughter who is happy with you——-"
"And an incomparable Janille who is intent wholly upon other people's happiness!" cried Monsieur Antoine with deep emotion mingled with gayety. ”

“ Didier in Dauphiné, which took the name of Saint Antoine on account of the relics of the Saint, which were brought there in the 11th century.
It is as true as the Gospel, that three worthy merchants of Savoy set out with their wives to go on a pilgrimage to St. Anthony of Vienne. And in order to render their journey more devout and more agreeable to God and St. Anthony, they determined that from the time they left their houses, and all through the journey, they would not sleep with their wives, but live in continence, both going and returning. ”

“ My mother's sentiments are as lofty as your own; she accepted Monsieur Antoine's benefactions with the very greatest reluctance. To-day she would blush to do it; she will detest the mere thought when she knows what they cost you. And as for me—I am of no consequence in your eyes and shall never be anything in your life; but permit a man, who feels that he is a man of spirit, to tell you that he fears neither poverty, nor vengeance, nor any sort of persecution. ”

“ If it should appear tame to the reader, it will be because I am not habited in a black ribbed-silk dress, with a strip of point-lace around my throat, like Miss Blondeau; it will be because I lack her eyes and lips and Southern music to tell it with.
When Père Antoine was a very young man, he had a friend whom he loved as he loved his life. ”

“ That the old priest, in his last days, became very much emaciated, that he walked about the streets like a mummy, that he gradually dried up, and finally blew away, was the meagre and unsatisfactory result of the tourist’s investigations. This is all that is generally told of Père Antoine. In the summer of 1861, while New Orleans was yet occupied by the Confederate forces, I met at Alexandria, in Virginia, a lady from Louisiana—Miss Blondeau by name—who gave me the substance of the following legend touching Père Antoine and his wonderful date-palm. ”

“ He learned that they had set out to visit a relative at La Clavière before going to Argenton for two days, and that, finding no one at that château, they had determined to make a detour to Crozant and remain there until evening; and it was only midday! Emile imagined that he had all eternity before him. Monsieur Antoine lay down in the shade after luncheon and slept soundly. The two lovers, followed by Charasson, undertook to make the circuit of the fortress. ”

“ I was carpenter's apprentice, journeyman carpenter, and in a few years carpenter's assistant, and not more than two years ago you could have seen me with a blouse on my back and a hatchet over my shoulder, going out for my day's work with Jappeloup."
"That is the reason, then," said Emile, sorely embarrassed, "that——" He paused, not daring to finish.
"That is the reason, yes, I understand," rejoined Monsieur Antoine; "that is the reason that you have heard some one say: 'Old Antoine degenerated terribly during his poverty; he lived with workingmen ”

“ Antoine studied at the university of Montpellier, and travelled with his brother Bernard through Spain, Portugal and southern France. He went to Paris in 1708, J. P. de Tournefort, whom he succeeded at the Jardin des Plantes, dying in that year. ”

“ And the little Antoinette, who, more than any other of her children, seems to have taken her for an especial model, had thus, from her very earliest childhood, learned to feel a friendly interest in the well-doing of the people in general; to think no one too lowly for her notice, to sympathize with sorrow, to be indignant at injustice and ingratitude, to succor misfortune and distress. ”