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

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inh> the water, and returned in a few seconds, carrying in
mouth a pair of little crutches.
"The child was paralytic.
his
"Nothing inspires one with deeper pity than the sight of
these great liumau afflictions in the .young. In old age wi- expect
to see the limbs refusing to bear their weight, to see the
eyes dim, if not quite dead to the light of the sun those privations
loosen the attachment of the soul to the earth, which she
niutst soon leave but to see these infirmities in one whoso life
is only just opening, is very melancholy; and I needed nothing
more to induce me to address the child with pity and com-
passion in ray voice. She could not mistake my feelings, find
having raised herself from the ground, with the help of her
hands clasping Neptune, she allowed ine to take her to the
shade of the tree under which I had been so long resting.
"I wished to know what brought her to the little island. She
told me that while her grandmother was seeking mushrooms in
the meadow for the market, she, on her part, assisted to fill the
basket by gathering watercresses and crocuses, which met with a
ready sale. This occupation would have been dangerous
for the infirm child, had it not been for the vigilant assistance
of the dog, who seated himself gravely close to her c n the edge
of the stream, and was alwavs ready to seize her dress in case
of an accident. Besides, the water was very shallow. The
child surprised me by saying she was nine years old ; she did
not look more than six, she was so small and thin. Her face
alone showed vigor, and notwithstanding the paleness, it was
fall of intelligence.
' A child's confidence is quickly gained. It was sufficient
for me to caress Neptune and to reach a remarkably fina bunch
of watercresses, which being in a deeper part of the stream,
she could not otherwise have obtained, to hear the history of
all her family.
" ' Grandmother is named Lemaire,' Marie said to me, 'and
coming home from a voyage, very happy, because he knew that
ho should find a little baby, for mother had written to tell
him si. Mother went up the cliff to the lighthouse, to see hia
ship enter the harbor. There she met a foolish woman, who
asked her what ship she was looking for. My mother told her.
' Oh ! do you not know that ship was wrecked just round the
point, and every soul on board was lost?' A ship in full sail
was just coming in, which mother, while going up the
cliff, had taken for tte one she was expecting (which it
really was), but now she thought so no longer. She came down
the hill, and when she got home lay down on the bed. Grandmother
said, ' Take courage, because of the child our good God
is going to give you ;' but she would not listen to her, and
turned her face to the wall, that she might see nobody. She
wa-, lying BO, very ill, and the doctor with her, when she heard
lather's step in the passage.
" ' Two days after mother died, kissing me for, do you know,
I wasthebatiy she had promised father he should seo. He went
to sea again, and I have seen him two or three times between his
voyages but I ; only remember one thirg about him, and that
was how he cried when he found I was paralyzed. Grandmother
used to say to me, : Do this to please father," or 'Learn
that, because father will be glad when he comes home;' but
one day she put on me a black frock, and told me that father
was gone to heaven where mother was. I was very sorry;
aud grandmother asked the neighbors to let their children
come in to play with me. These children jumped and danced,
and ran about as much as they liked ; and when
they found that I could not do the same, they used to beat me
and call me sulky. The children have become much kinder
n-iw they are older, but they teased me so much, I asked
grandmother not to let them come to our cottage, for I liked
much better to listen to her stories, and to play alone with
Neptune. He was only a puppy then; and father had brought
him from a long way off on purpose fo/ me.'
" These are almost the exact words in which Marie told her
story; and as her ey I n. WM Ihiuking on
the unhappy lot which Providence appears to have assigned to
some amongst us. Marie had continued making up her nosegays
while she was talking; and as her grandmother had now
adv need to the opposite sido of the stream, she threw over to
her the fruits of her industry. SUe then prepared to regain
the field on Neptune's back; but I rai ^e.
them, ' Let the lame girl pass! No pelting until she II:IH
piif.Bcd !
'
Marie thanked the boys with a smile and inclination
of her Lead; and her grandmother, on hearing the story, experienced
a kind of pride in the misfortune of the child, which had
checked evea these rough boys in the midst of their
amusement, and called forth for the moment their ;
dispositions.
"I fancy I can still see Mrs. Lemaire's room. A largo bed