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

28
CAPTAIX
" A country where all convictions are respected when they
" Monsieur !"
"Monsieur Joseph -Fraugois Chameron, and you, messieurs,
who, for the past hour, have insulted a man who has done nothing
to provoke you, you are a set of cowards !"
The young men, thunderstruck at this epithet, and the fierce
looks of the officer, kept silence. The officer continued.
"
Amongst you all, insulting bullies, there will not be found
one whose heart is manly enough to offer me the reparation
which is due to me. "
"Enough, monsieur!" cried one of the insulters, unable to
stand this taunt. "What are your arms ?"
" M no will be yours."
' Your hour?"
" That which is next to strike will be the best."
" Well, then, let us go !"
"
I am at your service; but, before leaving, you have a small
account to settle," said the captain, addressing him whose face
was ornamented with the red nose.
"For what?"
" That which you owe this boy."
" Who for a hundred sous favored your wishes in transform-
ing to a carp the bird he had served me with."
" Ah ! I had forgotten," said the traveller; and with ill-dis-
guised vexation he gave a five-franc pi; ce to Frangois.
"Now let us depart," said the captain; and a few minutes
after the two adversaries found themselves, sword in hand, in
t e isle of La Bartolasse.
" Monsieur," said the officer, disarming the travelling clerk
at the first pass, " I am not in the habit of fighting duels; but
I Jike to show those who know not how to use a sword, that
they will do well to learn how to hold their tongue. March
off!"
lateii, years fuil of events more or less strange, more or less
dramatic. Frederic Kicard, the principal personage in this
history, passed through them with the stoicism that characterizes
a strong-hearted man. Leaving Du Vigan where he
had gone immediately after the above occurrence to sell a
Bmull patrimony a .d real.ze a few livres, he determined to
seek a fortune on some of the great roads which were open to
his ;un.,ition. Once he thought of finding it in Portugal, under
ttie banner of Don Miguel. Vain hope ! The courage of
heroism does not always suffice to fix the capricious goddess,
not even on afield of ba tie. Grievously wounded at Santaretni
by the side of the Marquis De Larochejacqueliu, who himoeived
a mortal wound, he escaped as by a miracle. As
eoon as he was cured, he renounced the profession of : rms,
und.rcturned to France to seek a new position. Then, one
after the other, he became a lawyer without clients, a physician
with ut patients he ; tried every means, and succeeded in
none ; indeed he would have died of misery and hunger if one
of his old comrades, a discharged officer like himself, now liv-
ing on the products of his v.neyards at Grenoble, had not offered
him a place in his flourishing .omain.
Strange inconsistency of ! earthly things our brilliant cavalry
officer, Frederic Kicard, has become a traveller in the
15'irdi HUM wines. Ho consoled himself with this metamorphosis
in thinking, like a good royalist, that Bordeaux was
Now, as he was ac ive, zealous and intel-
ligent, ho rapidly rose in hia new employment, and soon dis-
tinguished himself above his companions in all those qnnli-
:i ,','"od commercial traveller. The,
are conscientious."
'
( >f what loligion are you?"
" I am a Huguenot.."
" ! Huguenot Why, then, do you abstain on a Friday ?"
"To give, in religious matters, lessons of tolerance to nature of his business often called him to that part of the
country
pretended
patriots, to give, on suitable occasions, lessons of i>liteness
to importinents. Monsieur Joseph-Frangois Chameron,
you are a worthless fellow."
where the first scene of our story occurred, and he
spent mnny weeks of every year nt Avignon.
One day, when he was proceeding to this town, he met as a
traveling companion in the Marseilles diligence a priest, whose
pleasant countenance and interesting conversation attracted
his notice. Ere the first stage they had formed an intimacy,
which is not BO soon made now, since horses have been ol
to give way to the power of steam. Locomotion has gained in
rapidity what it has lost in agreeableness. Thus, we do not
travel in these days ; we are removed from one place to anoth-
er we can ; go quicker now from Lyons to Paris than we could
formerly from Paris to St. Germain. Our two travellers wers
making their reflections on the subject of the railroads established
at this time in the department of the Loire, when (lie
di igeuce stopped before the gate of Louie they had arrived
at Avignon.
" At what hotel do you stop ?" asked the ecclesiastic of the
traveller.
"At the hotel Sain'-Yves."
"
If you will allow me, I will join you at the same hotel."
"We can do still better we can dine ;
together."
"
I was just going to propose so. At least, if," answered
the traveller, with marked "
emphasis, at least, if you have no
repugnance to sit at table with a man who differs from you in
religious belief. I am a Protestant."
"I am a Catholic priest, monsieur," replied the ecclesiastic,
"that is to siy, your brother, for all men, even those born in
error, are the sons of the same God. By this title, I love and
esteem you. I love you more, perhaps, since I see you living so
:
far from the truth. We will diiw together, monsieur ;
if you," and the priest hesitated a little in his
"
turn, if you
do not object to a Friday's abstinence."
" A maigre dinner has never frightened me,"' replied the
Protestant; "and I have even made an excellent one at the
hotel we are about to enter. It is many years ago now, but I
will tell you the story, between the fruit and the cheese ; per-
II.
Five years had flown by since the incident I have just rehaps
it will please you, as much as your company in the diligence
has me."
The priest answered these words with a smile, the singular
expression 01 which escaped the notice of his companion.
As he promised, the traveller related the story of his encounter,
with which the abbe" seemed much interested.
" You conducted yourself nobly, monsieur," said the priest;
"and you maybe sure that the lesson you gave, though a
Protestant, to a bad Catholic, will not have been lost. Be that
as it may, the man you so wisely corrected ought to bless your
name, for you might have ended his days with your sword.
May the life you have preserved be nobly and usefully spent !
Have you seen him since ?"
" I have never met him again. I should like to see him,
however, as we are now in a similar position in life ; for I, like
himself, traffic in wines,"
" Then most certainly you will one day find him."
" To be frank with you, I should greatly like it."
' ' To offer him his revenge ?"
"To offer him my hand."
"Well said, monsieur: you have a noble heart. You will
see him one day, be assured; but, till that time arrives, you
will always have a share of my prayers, that
"
"That,"
interrupted the traveller, laughing, "that, as at this same
table a fowl was transformed into a carp so a Huguenot may
be changed into a Catholic. Is that what you would say, my
dear AbbC ? It will be more difficult, I forewarn you. "
" Nothing is impossible with God," added the priest
solemnly.
The two new friends separated, after exchanging cards, and
promising to meet in Paris, where both were going; the priest
to preach during Lent, the traveller to visit Ins custon.,
One ii after arriving at Lyons, Frederic 1:
ascended the top of Notre- 1 '.nue Je 1'Vir, ieivs, iu order to ail-