Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

THE PORTRAIT IN MY UNCLE'S 21
asked his mother ; 'than- I sit down here.' She. made
(or liiin liy her side at the table, und turning to his wife,
said, 'Gome, daughter-in-law, get your husliand's eo
The, young woman did us she was bid, and fetched a large loaf
shea: If her petticoats happened
to ca ch fire, I don' believe, heaven forgive me, that she
would stretch out her hand to put it out.'
" I was in the habit of vis. ting the different families ia my
parish once or twice a month, according to what I supposed to
be their need of spiritual advice or consolation, and only under
exceptional circumstances bioke through this rule. A fort-
I heref01 e elapsed before I went, agai i to the Piuatels.
This t me I found the young woman alone. She was sitting in
the Him near the d< or of the house, her peasant's hat overinf,
her eye , so that she only saw me when I was
within a few steps of her. She seemed disagreeably surprised,
girting up suddenly, said in Proveugul. 'There is no-
They have all been out in the fields since
. h,
'
i I am not in your way, I
will sit down and rest a little while. '
She had probably f
that 1 knew not] i ing of her former position, for she 1
and seemed surprised t iat I did not speak to her in the di;der-t
of the country, as I did to the other members of t
But she soon recovered her self-possession, and with the air
the fire. It is luoky that everybody is not, so helpless as you,'
she added, glancing approvingly at her favorite daughter-in-
'
law. When my eldest son comes home, he always finds his
wife hard at work, and something hot and snug by the fire for
his supper. If you want to be a good housewife you had better
learn a lesson from your sister-in-law. '
"'As long as Fraueois does not complain, you have no
business to iiud fault with me,' she answered in
tone. I hastened to say that it was my fault if
an arrogant
the Abbat's
supper was < old ; that I had meddled with the saucepan.
'
Francois will excuse it,' I added; '
I shall not be so stupid
'
another time.' There is nothing to be angry about," he said
to the two women; '
the soup is very well as it is. So all is
for the best; let us hear no more about it. Do you know that the
fair turned out a poor concern after all ? There were neither
buyer or sellers, and not a creature with so much as a piece of
five francs in his pocket. And then the weather turned cold
yesterday. Snow fell on the Luberon, and I had to come back
through roads where a dog would not like to travel. I
W..B ankle deep in mud all the and manner she would have had in her mother's drawing
'
she said, Will you do me the honor to walk into the In
I thanked her, but declined; and we remained seated on
bench outside.
the
"The weather happened to be wonderfully mild for the time
of year. The birds hopped joyously amongst the bushi
the little snowdrops were beginning
time, and my feet are like ici-
'
cles." Make haste then and put some hot ashes in your shoes,'
there ia nothing like it to prevent a
to peep out in the shel-
'
tered spots under the hedges. What a beautiful day it is !' I
said to the pale, stern young creature by my side.
'
I always
think this bright sunshine is like a look of love the love of a
merciful God on the works of His hand. The most deeply
afflicted soul ought to be cheered by those benignant rays,
which seem to give new life to all creation. We feel that God
is our Father, and that he watches over iis. '
She did not
answer, but looked at me in that sneering, offensive way which
persons who have no religion always put on with priests when
they endeavor to suggest to them thoughts of faith, gratitude,
and love of God. I had often met with this sort of contemptuous
treatment at the hands of men imbued with the prejudices
of philosophical intolerance, and I had sometimes been
insulted by impious boasters who gloried in abusing the habit
I wear, but the hostile, unfriendly manner of this young woman
took me painfully by surprise. I went on to speak of the great
consolations which the practice of Christian duties afford, but
my words had an effect quite contrary to what I intended.
They provoked an outburst I little expected, and which revealed
opinions I could never have imagined to exist in a person
of her age and sex. She began at once to argils, or i
Here, wife,' the Abbat said, taking off his thick hobnailed
shoes, the leather of which was covered with a thick
coat ng of frozen mud; 'take my shoes and manage it for me.'
She scraped off the mud without saying a word, put in each
shoe a shovelful of ashes, and brought them back to her husband.
"Seeing her so humbled and so cruelly punished for her
fault, I could not but to hold forth, explaining her views, and calling into question
the teachings, not only of the Church, but of the Holy
Scriptures. I was amazed at discovering
hope that she would have recourse to
tliose religious consolat.ous which alone could support and
in so young a woman
such false and presumptuous ideas, such obstinacy in err:,r,
and a sort of impassioned scepticism. She had a mind at once
arrogant and disputatious, which was easily worked t. > up excitement,
and a heart which nothing seemed to soften and
touch. There was not an atom in her of what the world calls
tenderness and sensibility, but she possessed uu impetuous
imagination, full of false enthusiasm. As I sat listening to
her, I could perfectly understand how her unbridled passions
had misled her from one folly arid one fault to another, into
her present miserable position. I was young myself at that
time, and had not yet learnt to fathom the fearful depths of the
human conscience. I was so shocked at the state of that nuhappy
soul that I began silently to pray for her with all my
heart, and to beseech our blessed Lord to dispel by a miracle
of grace her miserable pride. Whilst I was thus pouring forth
secret supplications to the divine mercy for her, the young
woman, who fancied she had humbled and silenced me, said in
a light tone, '
of something
There is an end of the argument. Let us talk
I knaw that I could give her some n
else. '
advice with regard to her position and the line of conduct she
would do well to follow with regard to her husband's rein
but she did not let rne finish what I had to
say.
'
I kno\.
'
well what I have to expect. she interrupted.
detest me, and nothing
'
These people
will ever alter their feelings towards
me :
I must own, that if they hate me, I hate them just as
much. We must, however, put up with one another on both
sides till the widow Piuatel can pay her son the sum that is
due to him from his father's inheritance. It is only i
louis; but with that we shall be able to hire and s'ock a :
farm, which we shall manage ourselves. My husband has been
already looking out for something of the kind, and has heard of a
place that would just suit us. It is property belonging to an emigre,
so it will be long before the ow. er comes back. Theworstof
it is that we must wait till text Michaelmas, almost a whole
But i ever mind; I must have p;itien e.' This plan apj.
o me very questionable, aud I ventured to v bserve t:
.would be difficult to make it answer. 'Y,u ore not used to