Athénaïse

thénaïse went away in the morning to make a visit toher parents, ten miles back on rigolet de Bon Dieu. She

did not return in the evening, and Cazeau, her husband, fret-ted not a little. He did not worry much about Athénaïse,who, he suspected, was resting only too content in the bosomof her family; his chief solicitude was manifestly for the ponyshe had ridden. He felt sure those “lazy pigs,” her brothers,were capable of neglecting it seriously. This misgiving Cazeaucommunicated to his servant, old Félicité, who waited uponhim at supper.

His voice was low pitched, and even softer than Félicité’s.He was tall, sinewy, swarthy, and altogether severe looking.His thick black hair waved, and it gleamed like the breast of acrow. The sweep of his mustache, which was not so black,outlined the broad contour of the mouth. Beneath the underlip grew a small tuft which he was much given to twisting,and which he permitted to grow, apparently for no otherpurpose. Cazeau’s eyes were dark blue, narrow and over-shadowed. His hands were coarse and stiff from close ac-quaintance with farming tools and implements, and hehandled his fork and knife clumsily. But he was distinguishedlooking, and succeeded in commanding a good deal of re-spect, and even fear sometimes.

He ate his supper alone, by the light of a single coal-oillamp that but faintly illuminated the big room, with its barefloor and huge rafters, and its heavy pieces of furniture thatloomed dimly in the gloom of the apartment. Félicité, minis-tering to his wants, hovered about the table like a little, bent,restless shadow.

She served him with a dish of sunfish fried crisp and brown.There was nothing else set before him beside the bread andbutter and the bottle of red wine which she locked carefullyin the buffet after he had poured his second glass. She wasoccupied with her mistress’s absence, and kept reverting to itafter he had expressed his solicitude about the pony.

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The Library of America • Story of the WeekReprinted from Kate Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories

(The Library of America, 2000), pages 353–85.

Originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, August and September 1896. Reprinted in the story collection A Night in Acadie (1897).

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“Dat beat me! on’y marry two mont’, an’ got de head turn’a’ready to go ’broad. C’est pas Chrétien, ténez!”

Cazeau shrugged his shoulders for answer, after he haddrained his glass and pushed aside his plate. Félicité’s opinionof the unchristian-like behavior of his wife in leaving him thusalone after two months of marriage weighed little with him.He was used to solitude, and did not mind a day or a nightor two of it. He had lived alone ten years, since his first wifedied, and Félicité might have known better than to supposethat he cared. He told her she was a fool. It sounded like acompliment in his modulated, caressing voice. She grumbledto herself as she set about clearing the table, and Cazeau aroseand walked outside on the gallery; his spur, which he had notremoved upon entering the house, jangled at every step.

The night was beginning to deepen, and to gather blackabout the clusters of trees and shrubs that were grouped inthe yard. In the beam of light from the open kitchen door ablack boy stood feeding a brace of snarling, hungry dogs; fur-ther away, on the steps of a cabin, some one was playing theaccordion; and in still another direction a little negro babywas crying lustily. Cazeau walked around to the front of thehouse, which was square, squat and one-story.

A belated wagon was driving in at the gate, and the impa-tient driver was swearing hoarsely at his jaded oxen. Félicitéstepped out on the gallery, glass and polishing towel in hand,to investigate, and to wonder, too, who could be singing outon the river. It was a party of young people paddling around,waiting for the moon to rise, and they were singing Juanita,their voices coming tempered and melodious through the dis-tance and the night.

Cazeau’s horse was waiting, saddled, ready to be mounted,for Cazeau had many things to attend to before bed-time; somany things that there was not left to him a moment in whichto think of Athénaïse. He felt her absence, though, like a dull,insistent pain.

However, before he slept that night he was visited by thethought of her, and by a vision of her fair young face with itsdrooping lips and sullen and averted eyes. The marriage hadbeen a blunder; he had only to look into her eyes to feel that,to discover her growing aversion. But it was a thing not by

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any possibility to be undone. He was quite prepared to makethe best of it, and expected no less than a like effort on herpart. The less she revisited the rigolet, the better. He wouldfind means to keep her at home hereafter.

These unpleasant reflections kept Cazeau awake far into thenight, notwithstanding the craving of his whole body for restand sleep. The moon was shining, and its pale effulgencereached dimly into the room, and with it a touch of the coolbreath of the spring night. There was an unusual stillnessabroad; no sound to be heard save the distant, tireless, plain-tive notes of the accordion.

ii.

Athénaïse did not return the following day, even though herhusband sent her word to do so by her brother, Montéclin,who passed on his way to the village early in the morning.

On the third day Cazeau saddled his horse and went him-self in search of her. She had sent no word, no message, ex-plaining her absence, and he felt that he had good cause to beoffended. It was rather awkward to have to leave his work,even though late in the afternoon,—Cazeau had always somuch to do; but among the many urgent calls upon him, thetask of bringing his wife back to a sense of her duty seemedto him for the moment paramount.

The Michés, Athénaïse’s parents, lived on the old Gotrainplace. It did not belong to them; they were “running” it for amerchant in Alexandria. The house was far too big for theiruse. One of the lower rooms served for the storing of woodand tools; the person “occupying” the place before Michéhaving pulled up the flooring in despair of being able to patchit. Upstairs, the rooms were so large, so bare, that they offereda constant temptation to lovers of the dance, whose impor-tunities Madame Miché was accustomed to meet with ami-able indulgence. A dance at Miché’s and a plate of MadameMiché’s gumbo filé at midnight were pleasures not to be ne-glected or despised, unless by such serious souls as Cazeau.

Long before Cazeau reached the house his approach hadbeen observed, for there was nothing to obstruct the view ofthe outer road; vegetation was not yet abundantly advanced,

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and there was but a patchy, straggling stand of cotton andcorn in Miché’s field.

Madame Miché, who had been seated on the gallery in arocking-chair, stood up to greet him as he drew near. Shewas short and fat, and wore a black skirt and loose muslinsack fastened at the throat with a hair brooch. Her own hair,brown and glossy, showed but a few threads of silver. Herround pink face was cheery, and her eyes were bright andgood humored. But she was plainly perturbed and ill at ease asCazeau advanced.

Montéclin, who was there too, was not ill at ease, and madeno attempt to disguise the dislike with which his brother-in-law inspired him. He was a slim, wiry fellow of twenty-five,short of stature like his mother, and resembling her in feature.He was in shirt-sleeves, half leaning, half sitting, on the inse-cure railing of the gallery, and fanning himself with his broad-rimmed felt hat.

“Cochon!” he muttered under his breath as Cazeaumounted the stairs,—“sacré cochon!”

“Cochon” had sufficiently characterized the man who hadonce on a time declined to lend Montéclin money. But whenthis same man had had the presumption to propose marriageto his well-beloved sister, Athénaïse, and the honor to be ac-cepted by her, Montéclin felt that a qualifying epithet wasneeded fully to express his estimate of Cazeau.

Miché and his oldest son were absent. They both esteemedCazeau highly, and talked much of his qualities of head andheart, and thought much of his excellent standing with citymerchants.

Athénaïse had shut herself up in her room. Cazeau hadseen her rise and enter the house at perceiving him. He was agood deal mystified, but no one could have guessed it whenhe shook hands with Madame Miché. He had only nodded toMontéclin, with a muttered “Comment ça va?”

“Tiens! something tole me you were coming to-day!” ex-claimed Madame Miché, with a little blustering appearance ofbeing cordial and at ease, as she offered Cazeau a chair.

He ventured a short laugh as he seated himself.“You know, nothing would do,” she went on, with much

gesture of her small, plump hands, “nothing would do but

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Athénaïse mus’ stay las’ night fo’ a li’le dance. The boyswouldn’ year to their sister leaving.”

Cazeau shrugged his shoulders significantly, telling asplainly as words that he knew nothing about it.

“Comment! Montéclin didn’ tell you we were going tokeep Athénaïse?” Montéclin had evidently told nothing.

“An’ how about the night befo’,” questioned Cazeau, “an’las’ night? It isn’t possible you dance every night out yere onthe Bon Dieu!”

Madame Miché laughed, with amiable appreciation of thesarcasm; and turning to her son, “Montéclin, my boy, go tellyo’ sister that Monsieur Cazeau is yere.”

Montéclin did not stir except to shift his position and settlehimself more securely on the railing.

“Did you year me, Montéclin?”“Oh yes, I yeard you plain enough,” responded her son,

“but you know as well as me it’s no use to tell ’Thénaïse any-thing. You been talkin’ to her yo’se’f since Monday; an’ pa’spreached himse’f hoa’se on the subject; an’ you even haduncle Achille down yere yesterday to reason with her. W’en’Thénaïse said she wasn’ goin’ to set her foot back inCazeau’s house, she meant it.”

This speech, which Montéclin delivered with thoroughunconcern, threw his mother into a condition of painful butdumb embarrassment. It brought two fiery red spots to Ca-zeau’s cheeks, and for the space of a moment he looked wicked.

What Montéclin had spoken was quite true, though histaste in the manner and choice of time and place in saying itwere not of the best. Athénaïse, upon the first day of her ar-rival, had announced that she came to stay, having no inten-tion of returning under Cazeau’s roof. The announcementhad scattered consternation, as she knew it would. She hadbeen implored, scolded, entreated, stormed at, until she feltherself like a dragging sail that all the winds of heaven hadbeaten upon. Why in the name of God had she marriedCazeau? Her father had lashed her with the question a dozentimes. Why indeed? It was difficult now for her to understandwhy, unless because she supposed it was customary for girls tomarry when the right opportunity came. Cazeau, she knew,would make life more comfortable for her; and again, she had

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liked him, and had even been rather flustered when hepressed her hands and kissed them, and kissed her lips andcheeks and eyes, when she accepted him.

Montéclin himself had taken her aside to talk the thingover. The turn of affairs was delighting him.

“Come, now, ’Thénaïse, you mus’ explain to me all aboutit, so we can settle on a good cause, an’ secu’ a separation fo’you. Has he been mistreating an’ abusing you, the sacré co-chon?” They were alone together in her room, whither shehad taken refuge from the angry domestic elements.

“You please to reserve yo’ disgusting expressions, Monté-clin. No, he has not abused me in any way that I can think.”

“Does he drink? Come ’Thénaïse, think well over it. Doeshe ever get drunk?”

“Drunk! Oh, mercy, no,—Cazeau never gets drunk.”“I see; it’s jus’ simply you feel like me; you hate him.”“No, I don’t hate him,” she returned reflectively; adding

with a sudden impulse, “It’s jus’ being married that I detes’an’ despise. I hate being Mrs. Cazeau, an’ would want to beAthénaïse Miché again. I can’t stan’ to live with a man; tohave him always there; his coats an’ pantaloons hanging in myroom; his ugly bare feet—washing them in my tub, befo’ myvery eyes, ugh!” She shuddered with recollections, and re-sumed, with a sigh that was almost a sob: “Mon Dieu, monDieu! Sister Marie Angélique knew w’at she was saying; sheknew me better than myse’f w’en she said God had sent me avocation an’ I was turning deaf ears. W’en I think of a blessedlife in the convent, at peace! Oh, w’at was I dreaming of!”and then the tears came.

Montéclin felt disconcerted and greatly disappointed athaving obtained evidence that would carry no weight with acourt of justice. The day had not come when a young womanmight ask the court’s permission to return to her mamma onthe sweeping ground of a constitutional disinclination formarriage. But if there was no way of untying this Gordianknot of marriage, there was surely a way of cutting it.

“Well, ’Thénaïse, I’m mighty durn sorry yo got no bettergroun’s ’an w’at you say. But you can count on me to stan’by you w’atever you do. God knows I don’ blame you fo’ notwantin’ to live with Cazeau.”

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And now there was Cazeau himself, with the red spotsflaming in his swarthy cheeks, looking and feeling as if hewanted to thrash Montéclin into some semblance of decency.He arose abruptly, and approaching the room which he hadseen his wife enter, thrust open the door after a hasty prelim-inary knock. Athénaïse, who was standing erect at a far win-dow, turned at his entrance.

She appeared neither angry nor frightened, but thoroughlyunhappy, with an appeal in her soft dark eyes and a tremor onher lips that seemed to him expressions of unjust reproach,that wounded and maddened him at once. But whatever hemight feel, Cazeau knew only one way to act toward a woman.

“Athénaïse, you are not ready?” he asked in his quiet tones.“It’s getting late; we havn’ any time to lose.”

She knew that Montéclin had spoken out, and she hadhoped for a wordy interview, a stormy scene, in which shemight have held her own as she had held it for the past threedays against her family, with Montéclin’s aid. But she had noweapon with which to combat subtlety. Her husband’s looks,his tones, his mere presence, brought to her a sudden sense ofhopelessness, an instinctive realization of the futility of rebel-lion against a social and sacred institution.

Cazeau said nothing further, but stood waiting in the door-way. Madame Miché had walked to the far end of the gallery,and pretended to be occupied with having a chicken drivenfrom her parterre. Montéclin stood by, exasperated, fuming,ready to burst out.

Athénaïse went and reached for her riding skirt that hungagainst the wall. She was rather tall, with a figure which,though not robust, seemed perfect in its fine proportions.“La fille de son père,” she was often called, which was agreat compliment to Miché. Her brown hair was brushed allfluffily back from her temples and low forehead, and about herfeatures and expression lurked a softness, a prettiness, adewiness, that were perhaps too childlike, that savored ofimmaturity.

She slipped the riding-skirt, which was of black alpaca, overher head, and with impatient fingers hooked it at the waistover her pink linen-lawn. Then she fastened on her white sun-bonnet and reached for her gloves on the mantelpiece.

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“If you don’ wan’ to go, you know w’at you got to do,’Thénaïse,” fumed Montéclin. “You don’ set yo’ feet back onCane River, by God, unless you want to,—not w’ile I’malive.”

Cazeau looked at him as if he were a monkey whose anticsfell short of being amusing.

Athénaïse still made no reply, said not a word. She walkedrapidly past her husband, past her brother; bidding good-byeto no one, not even to her mother. She descended the stairs,and without assistance from any one mounted the pony,which Cazeau had ordered to be saddled upon his arrival. Inthis way she obtained a fair start of her husband, whose de-parture was far more leisurely, and for the greater part of theway she managed to keep an appreciable gap between them.She rode almost madly at first, with the wind inflating herskirt balloon-like about her knees, and her sunbonnet fallingback between her shoulders.

At no time did Cazeau make an effort to overtake heruntil traversing an old fallow meadow that was level and hard asa table. The sight of a great solitary oak-tree, with its seem-ingly immutable outlines, that had been a landmark forages—or was it the odor of elderberry stealing up from thegully to the south? or what was it that brought vividly back toCazeau, by some association of ideas, a scene of many yearsago? He had passed that old live-oak hundreds of times, butit was only now that the memory of one day came back tohim. He was a very small boy that day, seated before his fa-ther on horseback. They were proceeding slowly, and BlackGabe was moving on before them at a little dog-trot. BlackGabe had run away, and had been discovered back in theGotrain swamp. They had halted beneath this big oak to en-able the negro to take breath; for Cazeau’s father was a kindand considerate master, and every one had agreed at the timethat Black Gabe was a fool, a great idiot indeed, for wantingto run away from him.

The whole impression was for some reason hideous, and todispel it Cazeau spurred his horse to a swift gallop. Over-taking his wife, he rode the remainder of the way at her sidein silence.

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It was late when they reached home. Félicité was standingon the grassy edge of the road, in the moonlight, waiting forthem.

Cazeau once more ate his supper alone; for Athénaïse wentto her room, and there she was crying again.

iii.

Athénaïse was not one to accept the inevitable with patientresignation, a talent born in the souls of many women; nei-ther was she the one to accept it with philosophical resigna-tion, like her husband. Her sensibilities were alive and keenand responsive. She met the pleasurable things of life withfrank, open appreciation, and against distasteful conditionsshe rebelled. Dissimulation was as foreign to her nature asguile to the breast of a babe, and her rebellious outbreaks, byno means rare, had hitherto been quite open and aboveboard.People often said that Athénaïse would know her own mindsome day, which was equivalent to saying that she was at pres-ent unacquainted with it. If she ever came to such knowledge,it would be by no intellectual research, by no subtle analysesor tracing the motives of actions to their source. It wouldcome to her as the song to the bird, the perfume and color tothe flower.

Her parents had hoped—not without reason and justice—that marriage would bring the poise, the desirable pose, soglaringly lacking in Athénaïse’s character. Marriage they knewto be a wonderful and powerful agent in the developmentand formation of a woman’s character; they had seen its effecttoo often to doubt it.

“And if this marriage does nothing else,” exclaimed Michéin an outburst of sudden exasperation, “it will rid us of Athé-naïse; for I am at the end of my patience with her! You havenever had the firmness to manage her,”—he was speaking tohis wife,—“I have not had the time, the leisure, to devote toher training; and what good we might have accomplished,that maudit Montéclin—Well, Cazeau is the one! It takes justsuch a steady hand to guide a disposition like Athénaïse’s, amaster hand, a strong will that compels obedience.”

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And now, when they had hoped for so much, here wasAthénaïse, with gathered and fierce vehemence, beside whichher former outbursts appeared mild, declaring that she wouldnot, and she would not, and she would not continue to enactthe rôle of wife to Cazeau. If she had had a reason! asMadame Miché lamented; but it could not be discovered thatshe had any sane one. He had never scolded, or called names,or deprived her of comforts, or been guilty of any of the manyreprehensible acts commonly attributed to objectionable hus-bands. He did not slight nor neglect her. Indeed, Cazeau’schief offense seemed to be that he loved her, and Athénaïsewas not the woman to be loved against her will. She calledmarriage a trap set for the feet of unwary and unsuspectinggirls, and in round, unmeasured terms reproached her motherwith treachery and deceit.

“I told you Cazeau was the man,” chuckled Miché, whenhis wife had related the scene that had accompanied and in-fluenced Athénaïse’s departure.

Athénaïse again hoped, in the morning, that Cazeau wouldscold or make some sort of a scene, but he apparently did notdream of it. It was exasperating that he should take her ac-quiescence so for granted. It is true he had been up and overthe fields and across the river and back long before she wasout of bed, and he may have been thinking of something else,which was no excuse, which was even in some sense an ag-gravation. But he did say to her at breakfast, “That brother ofyo’s, that Montéclin, is unbearable.”

“Montéclin? Par exemple!”Athénaïse, seated opposite to her husband, was attired in a

white morning wrapper. She wore a somewhat abused, longface, it is true,—an expression of countenance familiar to somehusbands,—but the expression was not sufficiently pro-nounced to mar the charm of her youthful freshness. She hadlittle heart to eat, only playing with the food before her, andshe felt a pang of resentment at her husband’s healthy appetite.

“Yes, Montéclin,” he reasserted. “He’s developed into afirs’-class nuisance; an’ you better tell him, Athénaïse,—unlessyou want me to tell him,—to confine his energies after this tomatters that concern him. I have no use fo’ him or fo’ his in-terference in w’at regards you an’ me alone.”

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This was said with unusual asperity. It was the little breachthat Athénaïse had been watching for, and she chargedrapidly: “It’s strange, if you detes’ Montéclin so heartily, thatyou would desire to marry his sister.” She knew it was a sillything to say, and was not surprised when he told her so. Itgave her a little foothold for further attack, however. “I don’tsee, anyhow, w’at reason you had to marry me, w’en therewere so many others,” she complained, as if accusing him ofpersecution and injury. “There was Marianne running afteryou fo’ the las’ five years till it was disgraceful; an’ any one ofthe Dortrand girls would have been glad to marry you. Butno, nothing would do; you mus’ come out on the rigolet fo’me.” Her complaint was pathetic, and at the same time soamusing that Cazeau was forced to smile.

“I can’t see w’at the Dortrand girls or Marianne have to dowith it,” he rejoined; adding, with no trace of amusement, “Imarried you because I loved you; because you were thewoman I wanted to marry, an’ the only one. I reckon I toleyou that befo’. I thought—of co’se I was a fool fo’ takingthings fo’ granted—but I did think that I might make youhappy in making things easier an’ mo’ comfortable fo’ you. Iexpected—I was even that big a fool—I believed that yo’coming yere to me would be like the sun shining out of theclouds, an’ that our days would be like w’at the story-bookspromise after the wedding. I was mistaken. But I can’t imag-ine w’at induced you to marry me. W’atever it was, I reckonyou foun’ out you made a mistake, too. I don’ see anythingto do but make the best of a bad bargain, an’ shake han’s overit.” He had arisen from the table, and, approaching, held outhis hand to her. What he had said was commonplace enough,but it was significant, coming from Cazeau, who was not of-ten so unreserved in expressing himself.

Athénaïse ignored the hand held out to her. She was restingher chin in her palm, and kept her eyes fixed moodily uponthe table. He rested his hand, that she would not touch, uponher head for an instant, and walked away out of the room.

She heard him giving orders to workmen who had beenwaiting for him out on the gallery, and she heard him mounthis horse and ride away. A hundred things would distract himand engage his attention during the day. She felt that he had

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perhaps put her and her grievance from his thoughts when hecrossed the threshold; whilst she—

Old Félicité was standing there holding a shining tin pail,asking for flour and lard and eggs from the storeroom, andmeal for the chicks.

Athénaïse seized the bunch of keys which hung from herbelt and flung them at Félicité’s feet.

“Tiens! tu vas les garder comme tu as jadis fait. Je ne veuxplus de ce train là, moi!”

The old woman stooped and picked up the keys from thefloor. It was really all one to her that her mistress returnedthem to her keeping, and refused to take further account ofthe ménage.

iv.

It seemed now to Athénaïse that Montéclin was the onlyfriend left to her in the world. Her father and mother hadturned from her in what appeared to be her hour of need.Her friends laughed at her, and refused to take seriously thehints which she threw out,—feeling her way to discover ifmarriage were as distasteful to other women as to herself.Montéclin alone understood her. He alone had always beenready to act for her and with her, to comfort and solace herwith his sympathy and his support. Her only hope for rescuefrom her hateful surroundings lay in Montéclin. Of herself shefelt powerless to plan, to act, even to conceive a way out ofthis pitfall into which the whole world seemed to have con-spired to thrust her.

She had a great desire to see her brother, and wrote askinghim to come to her. But it better suited Montéclin’s spirit ofadventure to appoint a meeting-place at the turn of the lane,where Athénaïse might appear to be walking leisurely forhealth and recreation, and where he might seem to be ridingalong, bent on some errand of business or pleasure.

There had been a shower, a sudden downpour, short as itwas sudden, that had laid the dust in the road. It had fresh-ened the pointed leaves of the live-oaks, and brightened upthe big fields of cotton on either side of the lane till theyseemed carpeted with green, glittering gems.

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Athénaïse walked along the grassy edge of the road, liftingher crisp skirts with one hand, and with the other twirling agay sunshade over her bare head. The scent of the fields afterthe rain was delicious. She inhaled long breaths of their fresh-ness and perfume, that soothed and quieted her for the mo-ment. There were birds splashing and spluttering in the pools,pluming themselves on the fence-rails, and sending out littlesharp cries, twitters, and shrill rhapsodies of delight.

She saw Montéclin approaching from a great distance,—al-most as far away as the turn of the woods. But she could notfeel sure it was he; it appeared too tall for Montéclin, but thatwas because he was riding a large horse. She waved her para-sol to him; she was so glad to see him. She had never been soglad to see Montéclin before; not even the day when he hadtaken her out of the convent, against her parents’ wishes, be-cause she had expressed a desire to remain there no longer.He seemed to her, as he drew near, the embodiment of kind-ness, of bravery, of chivalry, even of wisdom; for she hadnever known Montéclin at a loss to extricate himself from adisagreeable situation.

He dismounted, and, leading his horse by the bridle,started to walk beside her, after he had kissed her affection-ately and asked her what she was crying about. She protestedthat she was not crying, for she was laughing, though dryingher eyes at the same time on her handkerchief, rolled in a softmop for the purpose.

She took Montéclin’s arm, and they strolled slowly downthe lane; they could not seat themselves for a comfortablechat, as they would have liked, with the grass all sparkling andbristling wet.

Yes, she was quite as wretched as ever, she told him. Theweek which had gone by since she saw him had in no wiselightened the burden of her discontent. There had even beensome additional provocations laid upon her, and she toldMontéclin all about them,—about the keys, for instance,which in a fit of temper she had returned to Félicité’s keep-ing; and she told how Cazeau had brought them back to heras if they were something she had accidentally lost, and hehad recovered; and how he had said, in that aggravating toneof his, that it was not the custom on Cane river for the negro

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servants to carry the keys, when there was a mistress at thehead of the household.

But Athénaïse could not tell Montéclin anything to increasethe disrespect which he already entertained for his brother-in-law; and it was then he unfolded to her a plan which hehad conceived and worked out for her deliverance from thisgalling matrimonial yoke.

It was not a plan which met with instant favor, which shewas at once ready to accept, for it involved secrecy and dis-simulation, hateful alternatives, both of them. But she wasfilled with admiration for Montéclin’s resources and wonder-ful talent for contrivance. She accepted the plan; not with theimmediate determination to act upon it, rather with the in-tention to sleep and to dream upon it.

Three days later she wrote to Montéclin that she had aban-doned herself to his counsel. Displeasing as it might be to hersense of honesty, it would yet be less trying than to live onwith a soul full of bitterness and revolt, as she had done forthe past two months.

v.

When Cazeau awoke, one morning at his usual very earlyhour, it was to find the place at his side vacant. This did notsurprise him until he discovered that Athénaïse was not in theadjoining room, where he had often found her sleeping in themorning on the lounge. She had perhaps gone out for anearly stroll, he reflected, for her jacket and hat were not onthe rack where she had hung them the night before. But therewere other things absent,—a gown or two from the armoire;and there was a great gap in the piles of lingerie on the shelf;and her traveling-bag was missing, and so were her bits ofjewelry from the toilet tray—and Athénaïse was gone!

But the absurdity of going during the night, as if she hadbeen a prisoner, and he the keeper of a dungeon! So much se-crecy and mystery, to go sojourning out on the Bon Dieu?Well, the Michés might keep their daughter after this. For thecompanionship of no woman on earth would he again un-dergo the humiliating sensation of baseness that had over-taken him in passing the old oak-tree in the fallow meadow.

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But a terrible sense of loss overwhelmed Cazeau. It was notnew or sudden; he had felt it for weeks growing upon him,and it seemed to culminate with Athénaïse’s flight fromhome. He knew that he could again compel her return as hehad done once before,—compel her to return to the shelterof his roof, compel her cold and unwilling submission to hislove and passionate transports; but the loss of self-respectseemed to him too dear a price to pay for a wife.

He could not comprehend why she had seemed to preferhim above others; why she had attracted him with eyes, withvoice, with a hundred womanly ways, and finally distracted himwith love which she seemed, in her timid, maidenly fashion, toreturn. The great sense of loss came from the realization ofhaving missed a chance for happiness,—a chance that wouldcome his way again only through a miracle. He could not thinkof himself loving any other woman, and could not think ofAthénaïse ever—even at some remote date—caring for him.

He wrote her a letter, in which he disclaimed any furtherintention of forcing his commands upon her. He did not de-sire her presence ever again in his home unless she came ofher free will, uninfluenced by family or friends; unless shecould be the companion he had hoped for in marrying her,and in some measure return affection and respect for the lovewhich he continued and would always continue to feel forher. This letter he sent out to the rigolet by a messenger earlyin the day. But she was not out on the rigolet, and had notbeen there.

The family turned instinctively to Montéclin, and almostliterally fell upon him for an explanation; he had been absentfrom home all night. There was much mystification in his an-swers, and a plain desire to mislead in his assurances of igno-rance and innocence.

But with Cazeau there was no doubt or speculation whenhe accosted the young fellow. “Montéclin, w’at have youdone with Athénaïse?” he questioned bluntly. They had metin the open road on horseback, just as Cazeau ascended theriver bank before his house.

“W’at have you done to Athénaïse?” returned Montéclinfor answer.

“I don’t reckon you’ve considered yo’ conduct by any light

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of decency an’ propriety in encouraging yo’ sister to such anaction, but let me tell you”—

“Voyons! you can let me alone with yo’ decency an’ moral-ity an’ fiddlesticks. I know you mus’ ’a’ done Athénaïse prettymean that she can’t live with you; an’ fo’ my part, I’m mightydurn glad she had the spirit to quit you.”

“I ain’t in the humor to take any notice of yo’ imperti-nence, Montéclin; but let me remine you that Athénaïse isnothing but a chile in character; besides that, she’s my wife,an’ I hole you responsible fo’ her safety an’ welfare. If anyharm of any description happens to her, I’ll strangle you, byGod, like a rat, and fling you in Cane river, if I have to hangfo’ it!” He had not lifted his voice. The only sign of anger wasa savage gleam in his eyes.

“I reckon you better keep yo’ big talk fo’ the women,Cazeau,” replied Montéclin, riding away.

But he went doubly armed after that, and intimated thatthe precaution was not needless, in view of the threats andmenaces that were abroad touching his personal safety.

vi.

Athénaïse reached her destination sound of skin and limb,but a good deal flustered, a little frightened, and altogetherexcited and interested by her unusual experiences.

Her destination was the house of Sylvie, on DauphineStreet, in New Orleans,—a three-story gray brick, standingdirectly on the banquette, with three broad stone steps leading to the deep front entrance. From the second-storybalcony swung a small sign, conveying to passers-by the intel-ligence that within were “chambres garnies.”

It was one morning in the last week of April that Athénaïsepresented herself at the Dauphine Street house. Sylvie was ex-pecting her, and introduced her at once to her apartment,which was in the second story of the back ell, and accessibleby an open, outside gallery. There was a yard below, pavedwith broad stone flagging; many fragrant flowering shrubsand plants grew in a bed along the side of the opposite wall,and others were distributed about in tubs and green boxes.

It was a plain but large enough room into which Athénaïse

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was ushered, with matting on the floor, green shades andNottingham-lace curtains at the windows that looked out onthe gallery, and furnished with a cheap walnut suit. But every-thing looked exquisitely clean, and the whole place smelled ofcleanliness.

Athénaïse at once fell into the rocking-chair, with the air ofexhaustion and intense relief of one who has come to the endof her troubles. Sylvie, entering behind her, laid the big trav-eling-bag on the floor and deposited the jacket on the bed.

She was a portly quadroon of fifty or thereabout, clad in anample volante of the old-fashioned purple calico so much af-fected by her class. She wore large golden hoop-earrings, andher hair was combed plainly, with every appearance of effortto smooth out the kinks. She had broad, coarse features, witha nose that turned up, exposing the wide nostrils, and thatseemed to emphasize the loftiness and command of her bear-ing,—a dignity that in the presence of white people assumeda character of respectfulness, but never of obsequiousness.Sylvie believed firmly in maintaining the color-line, and wouldnot suffer a white person, even a child, to call her “MadameSylvie,”—a title which she exacted religiously, however, fromthose of her own race.

“I hope you be please’ wid yo’ room, madame,” she ob-served amiably. “Dat’s de same room w’at yo’ brother, M’sieurMiché, all time like w’en he come to New Orlean’. He well,M’sieur Miché? I receive’ his letter las’ week, an’ dat same daya gent’man want I give ’im dat room. I say, ‘No, dat room al-ready ingage’.’ Ev-body like dat room on ’count it so quite(quiet). M’sieur Gouvernail, dere in nax’ room, you can’t pay’im! He been stay t’ree year’ in dat room; but all fix’ up finewid his own furn’ture an’ books, ’tel you can’t see! I say to ’implenty time’, ‘M’sieur Gouvernail, w’y you don’t take datt’ree-story front, now, long it’s empty?’ He tells me, ‘Leave me’lone, Sylvie; I know a good room w’en I fine it, me.’”

She had been moving slowly and majestically about theapartment, straightening and smoothing down bed and pil-lows, peering into ewer and basin, evidently casting an eyearound to make sure that everything was as it should be.

“I sen’ you some fresh water, madame,” she offered uponretiring from the room. “An’ w’en you want an’t’ing, you jus’

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go out on de gall’ry an’ call Pousette: she year you plain,—she right down dere in de kitchen.”

Athénaïse was really not so exhausted as she had every rea-son to be after that interminable and circuitous way by whichMontéclin had seen fit to have her conveyed to the city.

Would she ever forget that dark and truly dangerous mid-night ride along the “coast” to the mouth of Cane river!There Montéclin had parted with her, after seeing her aboardthe St. Louis and Shreveport packet which he knew wouldpass there before dawn. She had received instructions to dis-embark at the mouth of Red river, and there transfer to thefirst south-bound steamer for New Orleans; all of which in-structions she had followed implicitly, even to making her wayat once to Sylvie’s upon her arrival in the city. Montéclin hadenjoined secrecy and much caution; the clandestine nature ofthe affair gave it a savor of adventure which was highly pleas-ing to him. Eloping with his sister was only a little less en-gaging than eloping with some one else’s sister.

But Montéclin did not do the grand seigneur by halves. Hehad paid Sylvie a whole month in advance for Athénaïse’sboard and lodging. Part of the sum he had been forced toborrow, it is true, but he was not niggardly.

Athénaïse was to take her meals in the house, which noneof the other lodgers did; the one exception being that Mr.Gouvernail was served with breakfast on Sunday mornings.

Sylvie’s clientèle came chiefly from the southern parishes;for the most part, people spending but a few days in the city.She prided herself upon the quality and highly respectablecharacter of her patrons, who came and went unobtrusively.

The large parlor opening upon the front balcony was sel-dom used. Her guests were permitted to entertain in this sanc-tuary of elegance,—but they never did. She often rented it forthe night to parties of respectable and discreet gentlemen de-siring to enjoy a quiet game of cards outside the bosom oftheir families. The second-story hall also led by a long windowout on the balcony. And Sylvie advised Athénaïse, when shegrew weary of her back room, to go and sit on the front bal-cony, which was shady in the afternoon, and where she mightfind diversion in the sounds and sights of the street below.

Athénaïse refreshed herself with a bath, and was soon un-

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packing her few belongings, which she ranged neatly away inthe bureau drawers and the armoire.

She had revolved certain plans in her mind during the pasthour or so. Her present intention was to live on indefinitelyin this big, cool, clean back room on Dauphine street. Shehad thought seriously, for moments, of the convent, with allreadiness to embrace the vows of poverty and chastity; butwhat about obedience? Later, she intended, in some round-about way, to give her parents and her husband the assuranceof her safety and welfare; reserving the right to remain un-molested and lost to them. To live on at the expense of Mon-téclin’s generosity was wholly out of the question, andAthénaïse meant to look about for some suitable and agree-able employment.

The imperative thing to be done at present, however, wasto go out in search of material for an inexpensive gown ortwo; for she found herself in the painful predicament of ayoung woman having almost literally nothing to wear. She de-cided upon pure white for one, and some sort of a spriggedmuslin for the other.

vii.

On Sunday morning, two days after Athénaïse’s arrival inthe city, she went in to breakfast somewhat later than usual,to find two covers laid at table instead of the one to which shewas accustomed. She had been to mass, and did not removeher hat, but put her fan, parasol, and prayer-book aside. Thedining-room was situated just beneath her own apartment,and, like all rooms of the house, was large and airy; the floorwas covered with a glistening oil-cloth.

The small, round table, immaculately set, was drawn nearthe open window. There were some tall plants in boxes on thegallery outside; and Pousette, a little, old, intensely blackwoman, was splashing and dashing buckets of water on theflagging, and talking loud in her Creole patois to no one inparticular.

A dish piled with delicate river-shrimps and crushed ice wason the table; a caraffe of crystal-clear water, a few hors d’œuvres,beside a small golden-brown crusty loaf of French bread at

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each plate. A half-bottle of wine and the morning paper wereset at the place opposite Athénaïse.

She had almost completed her breakfast when Gouvernailcame in and seated himself at table. He felt annoyed at find-ing his cherished privacy invaded. Sylvie was removing the re-mains of a mutton-chop from before Athénaïse, and servingher with a cup of café au lait.

“M’sieur Gouvernail,” offered Sylvie in her most insinuat-ing and impressive manner, “you please leave me make youacquaint’ wid Madame Cazeau. Dat’s M’sieur Miché’s sister;you meet ’im two t’ree time’, you rec’lec’, an’ been one dayto de race wid ’im. Madame Cazeau, you please leave memake you acquaint’ wid M’sieur Gouvernail.”

Gouvernail expressed himself greatly pleased to meet thesister of Monsieur Miché, of whom he had not the slightestrecollection. He inquired after Monsieur Miché’s health, andpolitely offered Athénaïse a part of his newspaper,—the partwhich contained the Woman’s Page and the social gossip.

Athénaïse faintly remembered that Sylvie had spoken of aMonsieur Gouvernail occupying the room adjoining hers,living amid luxurious surroundings and a multitude of books.She had not thought of him further than to picture him astout, middle-aged gentleman, with a bushy beard turninggray, wearing large gold-rimmed spectacles, and stoopingsomewhat from much bending over books and writing mate-rial. She had confused him in her mind with the likeness ofsome literary celebrity that she had run across in the advertis-ing pages of a magazine.

Gouvernail’s appearance was, in truth, in no sense striking.He looked older than thirty and younger than forty, was ofmedium height and weight, with a quiet, unobtrusive mannerwhich seemed to ask that he be let alone. His hair was lightbrown, brushed carefully and parted in the middle. His mus-tache was brown, and so were his eyes, which had a mild,penetrating quality. He was neatly dressed in the fashion ofthe day; and his hands seemed to Athénaïse remarkably whiteand soft for a man’s.

He had been buried in the contents of his newspaper, whenhe suddenly realized that some further little attention mightbe due to Miché’s sister. He started to offer her a glass of

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wine, when he was surprised and relieved to find that she hadquietly slipped away while he was absorbed in his own edito-rial on Corrupt Legislation.

Gouvernail finished his paper and smoked his cigar out onthe gallery. He lounged about, gathered a rose for his but-tonhole, and had his regular Sunday-morning confab withPousette, to whom he paid a weekly stipend for brushing hisshoes and clothing. He made a great pretense of hagglingover the transaction, only to enjoy her uneasiness and garru-lous excitement.

He worked or read in his room for a few hours, and whenhe quitted the house, at three in the afternoon, it was to re-turn no more till late at night. It was his almost invariablecustom to spend Sunday evenings out in the American quarter,among a congenial set of men and women,—des esprits forts,all of them, whose lives were irreproachable, yet whose opin-ions would startle even the traditional “sapeur,” for whom“nothing is sacred.” But for all his “advanced” opinions,Gouvernail was a liberal-minded fellow; a man or woman lostnothing of his respect by being married.

When he left the house in the afternoon, Athénaïse had al-ready ensconced herself on the front balcony. He could seeher through the jalousies when he passed on his way to thefront entrance. She had not yet grown lonesome or homesick;the newness of her surroundings made them sufficiently en-tertaining. She found it diverting to sit there on the front bal-cony watching people pass by, even though there was no oneto talk to. And then the comforting, comfortable sense of notbeing married!

She watched Gouvernail walk down the street, and couldfind no fault with his bearing. He could hear the sound of herrockers for some little distance. He wondered what the “poorlittle thing” was doing in the city, and meant to ask Sylvieabout her when he should happen to think of it.

viii.

The following morning, towards noon, when Gouvernailquitted his room, he was confronted by Athénaïse, exhibitingsome confusion and trepidation at being forced to request a

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favor of him at so early a stage of their acquaintance. Shestood in her doorway, and had evidently been sewing, as thethimble on her finger testified, as well as a long-threaded nee-dle thrust in the bosom of her gown. She held a stamped butunaddressed letter in her hand.

And would Mr. Gouvernail be so kind as to address the let-ter to her brother, Mr. Montéclin Miché? She would hate todetain him with explanations this morning,—another time,perhaps,—but now she begged that he would give himself thetrouble.

He assured her that it made no difference, that it was notrouble whatever; and he drew a fountain pen from his pocketand addressed the letter at her dictation, resting it on the in-verted rim of his straw hat. She wondered a little at a man ofhis supposed erudition stumbling over the spelling of “Mon-téclin” and “Miché.”

She demurred at overwhelming him with the additionaltrouble of posting it, but he succeeded in convincing her thatso simple a task as the posting of a letter would not add aniota to the burden of the day. Moreover, he promised to carryit in his hand, and thus avoid any possible risk of forgetting itin his pocket.

After that, and after a second repetition of the favor, whenshe had told him that she had had a letter from Montéclin,and looked as if she wanted to tell him more, he felt that heknew her better. He felt that he knew her well enough to joinher out on the balcony, one night, when he found her sittingthere alone. He was not one who deliberately sought the so-ciety of women, but he was not wholly a bear. A little com-miseration for Athénaïse’s aloneness, perhaps some curiosityto know further what manner of woman she was, and the nat-ural influence of her feminine charm were equal unconfessedfactors in turning his steps towards the balcony when he dis-covered the shimmer of her white gown through the openhall window.

It was already quite late, but the day had been intenselyhot, and neighboring balconies and doorways were occupiedby chattering groups of humanity, loath to abandon the grate-ful freshness of the outer air. The voices about her served toreveal to Athénaïse the feeling of loneliness that was gradually

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coming over her. Notwithstanding certain dormant impulses,she craved human sympathy and companionship.

She shook hands impulsively with Gouvernail, and told himhow glad she was to see him. He was not prepared for suchan admission, but it pleased him immensely, detecting as hedid that the expression was as sincere as it was outspoken. Hedrew a chair up within comfortable conversational distance ofAthénaïse, though he had no intention of talking more thanwas barely necessary to encourage Madame— He had actuallyforgotten her name!

He leaned an elbow on the balcony rail, and would have of-fered an opening remark about the oppressive heat of the day,but Athénaïse did not give him the opportunity. How gladshe was to talk to some one, and how she talked!

An hour later she had gone to her room, and Gouvernailstayed smoking on the balcony. He knew her quite well afterthat hour’s talk. It was not so much what she had said as whather half saying had revealed to his quick intelligence. Heknew that she adored Montéclin, and he suspected that sheadored Cazeau without being herself aware of it. He hadgathered that she was self-willed, impulsive, innocent, igno-rant, unsatisfied, dissatisfied; for had she not complained thatthings seemed all wrongly arranged in this world, and no onewas permitted to be happy in his own way? And he told herhe was sorry she had discovered that primordial fact of exis-tence so early in life.

He commiserated her loneliness, and scanned his book-shelves next morning for something to lend her to read, re-jecting everything that offered itself to his view. Philosophywas out of the question, and so was poetry; that is, suchpoetry as he possessed. He had not sounded her literarytastes, and strongly suspected she had none; that she wouldhave rejected The Duchess as readily as Mrs. Humphry Ward.He compromised on a magazine.

It had entertained her passably, she admitted, upon re-turning it. A New England story had puzzled her, it wastrue, and a Creole tale had offended her, but the pictureshad pleased her greatly, especially one which had remindedher so strongly of Montéclin after a hard day’s ride that shewas loath to give it up. It was one of Remington’s Cowboys,

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and Gouvernail insisted upon her keeping it,—keeping themagazine.

He spoke to her daily after that, and was always eager torender her some service or to do something towards her en-tertainment.

One afternoon he took her out to the lake end. She hadbeen there once, some years before, but in winter, so the tripwas comparatively new and strange to her. The large expanseof water studded with pleasure-boats, the sight of childrenplaying merrily along the grassy palisades, the music, all en-chanted her. Gouvernail thought her the most beautifulwoman he had ever seen. Even her gown—the spriggedmuslin—appeared to him the most charming one imaginable.Nor could anything be more becoming than the arrangementof her brown hair under the white sailor hat, all rolled back ina soft puff from her radiant face. And she carried her parasoland lifted her skirts and used her fan in ways that seemedquite unique and peculiar to herself, and which he consideredalmost worthy of study and imitation.

They did not dine out there at the water’s edge, as theymight have done, but returned early to the city to avoid thecrowd. Athénaïse wanted to go home, for she said Sylviewould have dinner prepared and would be expecting her. Butit was not difficult to persuade her to dine instead in the quietlittle restaurant that he knew and liked, with its sanded floor,its secluded atmosphere, its delicious menu, and its obse-quious waiter wanting to know what he might have the honorof serving to “monsieur et madame.” No wonder he madethe mistake, with Gouvernail assuming such an air of propri-etorship! But Athénaïse was very tired after it all; the sparklewent out of her face, and she hung draggingly on his arm inwalking home.

He was reluctant to part from her when she bade himgood-night at her door and thanked him for the agreeableevening. He had hoped she would sit outside until it was timefor him to regain the newspaper office. He knew that shewould undress and get into her peignoir and lie upon herbed; and what he wanted to do, what he would have givenmuch to do, was to go and sit beside her, read to her some-thing restful, soothe her, do her bidding, whatever it might

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be. Of course there was no use in thinking of that. But he wassurprised at his growing desire to be serving her. She gavehim an opportunity sooner than he looked for.

“Mr. Gouvernail,” she called from her room, “will you beso kine as to call Pousette an’ tell her she fo’got to bring myice-water?”

He was indignant at Pousette’s negligence, and called se-verely to her over the banisters. He was sitting before his owndoor, smoking. He knew that Athénaïse had gone to bed, forher room was dark, and she had opened the slats of the doorand windows. Her bed was near a window.

Pousette came flopping up with the ice-water, and with ahundred excuses: “Mo pa oua vou à tab c’te lanuite, mo crivou pé gagni déja là-bas; parole! Vou pas cri conté ça MadameSylvie?” She had not seen Athénaïse at table, and thought shewas gone. She swore to this, and hoped Madame Sylvie wouldnot be informed of her remissness.

A little later Athénaïse lifted her voice again: “Mr. Gouver-nail, did you remark that young man sitting on the oppositeside from us, coming in, with a gray coat an’ a blue ban’aroun’ his hat?”

Of course Gouvernail had not noticed any such individual,but he assured Athénaïse that he had observed the young fel-low particularly.

“Don’t you think he looked something,—not very much,of co’se,—but don’t you think he had a little faux-air ofMontéclin?”

“I think he looked strikingly like Montéclin,” assertedGouvernail, with the one idea of prolonging the conversation.“I meant to call your attention to the resemblance, and some-thing drove it out of my head.”

“The same with me,” returned Athénaïse. “Ah, my dearMontéclin! I wonder w’at he is doing now?”

“Did you receive any news, any letter from him to-day?”asked Gouvernail, determined that if the conversation ceasedit should not be through lack of effort on his part to sustain it.

“Not to-day, but yesterday. He tells me that maman was sodistracted with uneasiness that finally, to pacify her, he wasfo’ced to confess that he knew w’ere I was, but that he wasboun’ by a vow of secrecy not to reveal it. But Cazeau has not

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noticed him or spoken to him since he threaten’ to throw po’Montéclin in Cane river. You know Cazeau wrote me a letterthe morning I lef’, thinking I had gone to the rigolet. An’maman opened it, an’ said it was full of the mos’ noble senti-ments, an’ she wanted Montéclin to sen’ it to me; but Mon-téclin refuse’ poin’ blank, so he wrote to me.”

Gouvernail preferred to talk of Montéclin. He picturedCazeau as unbearable, and did not like to think of him.

A little later Athénaïse called out, “Good-night, Mr. Gou-vernail.”

“Good-night,” he returned reluctantly. And when hethought that she was sleeping, he got up and went away tothe midnight pandemonium of his newspaper office.

ix.

Athénaise could not have held out through the month hadit not been for Gouvernail. With the need of caution and se-crecy always uppermost in her mind, she made no new ac-quaintances, and she did not seek out persons already knownto her; however, she knew so few, it required little effort tokeep out of their way. As for Sylvie, almost every moment ofher time was occupied in looking after her house; and, more-over, her deferential attitude towards her lodgers forbade any-thing like the gossipy chats in which Athénaïse might havecondescended sometimes to indulge with her landlady. Thetransient lodgers, who came and went, she never had occasionto meet. Hence she was entirely dependent upon Gouvernailfor company.

He appreciated the situation fully; and every moment thathe could spare from his work he devoted to her entertain-ment. She liked to be out of doors, and they strolled togetherin the summer twilight through the mazes of the old Frenchquarter. They went again to the lake end, and stayed forhours on the water; returning so late that the streets throughwhich they passed were silent and deserted. On Sundaymorning he arose at an unconscionable hour to take her tothe French market, knowing that the sights and sounds therewould interest her. And he did not join the intellectual coterie

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in the afternoon, as he usually did, but placed himself all dayat the disposition and service of Athénaïse.

Notwithstanding all, his manner toward her was tactful,and evinced intelligence and a deep knowledge of her charac-ter, surprising upon so brief an acquaintance. For the time hewas everything to her that she would have him; he replacedhome and friends. Sometimes she wondered if he had everloved a woman. She could not fancy him loving any one pas-sionately, rudely, offensively, as Cazeau loved her. Once shewas so naïve as to ask him outright if he had ever been in love,and he assured her promptly that he had not. She thought itan admirable trait in his character, and esteemed him greatlytherefor.

He found her crying one night, not openly or violently. Shewas leaning over the gallery rail, watching the toads thathopped about in the moonlight, down on the damp flag-stones of the courtyard. There was an oppressively sweet odorrising from the cape jessamine. Pousette was down there,mumbling and quarreling with some one, and seeming to behaving it all her own way,—as well she might, when her com-panion was only a black cat that had come in from a neigh-boring yard to keep her company.

Athénaïse did admit feeling heart-sick, body-sick, when hequestioned her; she supposed it was nothing but homesick. Aletter from Montéclin had stirred her all up. She longed forher mother, for Montéclin; she was sick for a sight of the cot-ton-fields, the scent of the ploughed earth, for the dim, mys-terious charm of the woods, and the old tumble-down homeon the Bon Dieu.

As Gouvernail listened to her, a wave of pity and tendernessswept through him. He took her hands and pressed themagainst him. He wondered what would happen if he were toput his arms around her.

He was hardly prepared for what happened, but he stood itcourageously. She twined her arms around his neck and weptoutright on his shoulder; the hot tears scalding his cheek andneck, and her whole body shaken in his arms. The impulsewas powerful to strain her to him; the temptation was fierceto seek her lips; but he did neither.

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He understood a thousand times better than she herself un-derstood it that he was acting as substitute for Montéclin. Bit-ter as the conviction was, he accepted it. He was patient; hecould wait. He hoped some day to hold her with a lover’sarms. That she was married made no particle of difference toGouvernail. He could not conceive or dream of it making adifference. When the time came that she wanted him,—as hehoped and believed it would come,—he felt he would have aright to her. So long as she did not want him, he had no rightto her,—no more than her husband had. It was very hard tofeel her warm breath and tears upon his cheek, and her strug-gling bosom pressed against him and her soft arms clinging tohim and his whole body and soul aching for her, and yet tomake no sign.

He tried to think what Montéclin would have said anddone, and to act accordingly. He stroked her hair, and heldher in a gentle embrace, until the tears dried and the sobsended. Before releasing herself she kissed him against theneck; she had to love somebody in her own way! Even that heendured like a stoic. But it was well he left her, to plunge intothe thick of rapid, breathless, exacting work till nearly dawn.

Athénaïse was greatly soothed, and slept well. The touch offriendly hands and caressing arms had been very grateful.Henceforward she would not be lonely and unhappy, withGouvernail there to comfort her.

x.

The fourth week of Athénaïse’s stay in the city was drawingto a close. Keeping in view the intention which she had offinding some suitable and agreeable employment, she hadmade a few tentatives in that direction. But with the exceptionof two little girls who had promised to take piano lessons at aprice that would be embarrassing to mention, these attemptshad been fruitless. Moreover, the homesickness kept comingback, and Gouvernail was not always there to drive it away.

She spent much of her time weeding and pottering amongthe flowers down in the courtyard. She tried to take an inter-est in the black cat, and a mockingbird that hung in a cageoutside the kitchen door, and a disreputable parrot that be-

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longed to the cook next door, and swore hoarsely all day longin bad French.

Beside, she was not well; she was not herself, as she toldSylvie. The climate of New Orleans did not agree with her.Sylvie was distressed to learn this, as she felt in some measureresponsible for the health and well-being of MonsieurMiché’s sister; and she made it her duty to inquire closely intothe nature and character of Athénaïse’s malaise.

Sylvie was very wise, and Athénaïse was very ignorant. Theextent of her ignorance and the depth of her subsequent en-lightenment were bewildering. She stayed a long, long timequite still, quite stunned, after her interview with Sylvie, ex-cept for the short, uneven breathing that ruffled her bosom.Her whole being was steeped in a wave of ecstasy. When shefinally arose from the chair in which she had been seated, andlooked at herself in the mirror, a face met hers which sheseemed to see for the first time, so transfigured was it withwonder and rapture.

One mood quickly followed another, in this new turmoil ofher senses, and the need of action became uppermost. Hermother must know at once, and her mother must tell Mon-téclin. And Cazeau must know. As she thought of him, thefirst purely sensuous tremor of her life swept over her. Shehalf whispered his name, and the sound of it brought redblotches into her cheeks. She spoke it over and over, as if itwere some new, sweet sound born out of darkness and con-fusion, and reaching her for the first time. She was impatientto be with him. Her whole passionate nature was aroused asif by a miracle.

She seated herself to write to her husband. The letter hewould get in the morning, and she would be with him atnight. What would he say? How would he act? She knew thathe would forgive her, for had he not written a letter?—and apang of resentment toward Montéclin shot through her.What did he mean by withholding that letter? How dared henot have sent it?

Athénaïse attired herself for the street, and went out to postthe letter which she had penned with a single thought, aspontaneous impulse. It would have seemed incoherent tomost people, but Cazeau would understand.

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She walked along the street as if she had fallen heir to somemagnificent inheritance. On her face was a look of pride andsatisfaction that passers-by noticed and admired. She wantedto talk to some one, to tell some person; and she stopped atthe corner and told the oyster-woman, who was Irish, andwho God-blessed her, and wished prosperity to the race ofCazeaus for generations to come. She held the oyster-woman’s fat, dirty little baby in her arms and scanned it curi-ously and observingly, as if a baby were a phenomenon thatshe encountered for the first time in life. She even kissed it!

Then what a relief it was to Athénaïse to walk the streetswithout dread of being seen and recognized by some chanceacquaintance from Red river! No one could have said nowthat she did not know her own mind.

She went directly from the oyster-woman’s to the office ofHarding & Offdean, her husband’s merchants; and it waswith such an air of partnership, almost proprietorship, thatshe demanded a sum of money on her husband’s account,they gave it to her as unhesitatingly as they would havehanded it over to Cazeau himself. When Mr. Harding, whoknew her, asked politely after her health, she turned so rosyand looked so conscious, he thought it a great pity for sopretty a woman to be such a little goose.

Athénaïse entered a dry-goods store and bought all mannerof things,—little presents for nearly everybody she knew. Shebought whole bolts of sheerest, softest, downiest white stuff;and when the clerk, in trying to meet her wishes, asked if sheintended it for infant’s use, she could have sunk through thefloor, and wondered how he might have suspected it.

As it was Montéclin who had taken her away from her hus-band, she wanted it to be Montéclin who should take herback to him. So she wrote him a very curt note,—in fact itwas a postal card,—asking that he meet her at the train on theevening following. She felt convinced that after what hadgone before, Cazeau would await her at their own home; andshe preferred it so.

Then there was the agreeable excitement of getting readyto leave, of packing up her things. Pousette kept coming andgoing, coming and going; and each time that she quitted theroom it was with something that Athénaïse had given her,—a

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handkerchief, a petticoat, a pair of stockings with two tinyholes at the toes, some broken prayer-beads, and finally a sil-ver dollar.

Next it was Sylvie who came along bearing a gift of whatshe called “a set of pattern’,”—things of complicated designwhich never could have been obtained in any new-fangledbazaar or pattern-store, that Sylvie had acquired of a foreignlady of distinction whom she had nursed years before at theSt. Charles hotel. Athénaïse accepted and handled them withreverence, fully sensible of the great compliment and favor,and laid them religiously away in the trunk which she hadlately acquired.

She was greatly fatigued after the day of unusual exertion,and went early to bed and to sleep. All day long she had notonce thought of Gouvernail, and only did think of him whenaroused for a brief instant by the sound of his foot-falls on thegallery, as he passed in going to his room. He had hoped tofind her up, waiting for him.

But the next morning he knew. Some one must have toldhim. There was no subject known to her which Sylvie hesi-tated to discuss in detail with any man of suitable years anddiscretion.

Athénaïse found Gouvernail waiting with a carriage to con-vey her to the railway station. A momentary pang visited herfor having forgotten him so completely, when he said to her,“Sylvie tells me you are going away this morning.”

He was kind, attentive, and amiable, as usual, but re-spected to the utmost the new dignity and reserve that hermanner had developed since yesterday. She kept looking fromthe carriage window, silent, and embarrassed as Eve after los-ing her ignorance. He talked of the muddy streets and themurky morning, and of Montéclin. He hoped she would findeverything comfortable and pleasant in the country, andtrusted she would inform him whenever she came to visit thecity again. He talked as if afraid or mistrustful of silence andhimself.

At the station she handed him her purse, and he boughther ticket, secured for her a comfortable section, checked hertrunk, and got all the bundles and things safely aboard thetrain. She felt very grateful. He pressed her hand warmly,

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lifted his hat, and left her. He was a man of intelligence, andtook defeat gracefully; that was all. But as he made his wayback to the carriage, he was thinking, “By heaven, it hurts, ithurts!”

xi.

Athénaïse spent a day of supreme happiness and expectancy.The fair sight of the country unfolding itself before her wasbalm to her vision and to her soul. She was charmed with therather unfamiliar, broad, clean sweep of the sugar plantations,with their monster sugar-houses, their rows of neat cabins likelittle villages of a single street, and their impressive homesstanding apart amid clusters of trees. There were suddenglimpses of a bayou curling between sunny, grassy banks, orcreeping sluggishly out from a tangled growth of wood, andbrush, and fern, and poison-vines, and palmettos. And pass-ing through the long stretches of monotonous woodlands,she would close her eyes and taste in anticipation the momentof her meeting with Cazeau. She could think of nothing buthim.

It was night when she reached her station. There was Mon-téclin, as she had expected, waiting for her with a two-seatedbuggy, to which he had hitched his own swift-footed, spiritedpony. It was good, he felt, to have her back on any terms; andhe had no fault to find since she came of her own choice. Hemore than suspected the cause of her coming; her eyes andher voice and her foolish little manner went far in revealingthe secret that was brimming over in her heart. But after hehad deposited her at her own gate, and as he continued hisway toward the rigolet, he could not help feeling that the af-fair had taken a very disappointing, an ordinary, a most com-monplace turn, after all. He left her in Cazeau’s keeping.

Her husband lifted her out of the buggy, and neither said aword until they stood together within the shelter of thegallery. Even then they did not speak at first. But Athénaïseturned to him with an appealing gesture. As he clasped her inhis arms, he felt the yielding of her whole body against him.He felt her lips for the first time respond to the passion of hisown.

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The country night was dark and warm and still, save for thedistant notes of an accordion which some one was playing ina cabin away off. A little negro baby was crying somewhere.As Athénaïse withdrew from her husband’s embrace, thesound arrested her.

“Listen, Cazeau! How Juliette’s baby is crying! Pauvre tichou, I wonder w’at is the matter with it?”

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