Alice Dunbar ............................................................................................................................................1

THE GOODNESS OF SAINT ROCQUE...............................................................................................1

TONY'S WIFE .........................................................................................................................................4

THE FISHERMAN OF PASS CHRISTIAN ...........................................................................................8

M'SIEU FORTIER'S VIOLIN ...............................................................................................................15

BY THE BAYOU ST. JOHN................................................................................................................18

WHEN THE BAYOU OVERFLOWS..................................................................................................20

MR. BAPTISTE .....................................................................................................................................23

A CARNIVAL JANGLE .......................................................................................................................26

LITTLE MISS SOPHIE .........................................................................................................................28

SISTER JOSEPHA................................................................................................................................32

THE PRALINE WOMAN .....................................................................................................................36

ODALIE .................................................................................................................................................37

LA JUANITA........................................................................................................................................39

TITEE....................................................................................................................................................42

Manuela was tall and slender and graceful, and once you knew her the lithe form could never be mistaken.

She walked with the easy spring that comes from a perfectly arched foot. Today she swept swiftly down

Marais Street, casting a quick glance here and there from under her heavy veil as if she feared she was being

followed. If you had peered under the veil, you would have seen that Manuela's dark eyes were swollen and

discoloured about the lids, as though they had known a sleepless, tearful night. There had been a picnic the

day before, and as merry a crowd of giddy, chattering Creole girls and boys as ever you could see boarded the

ramshackle dummytrain that puffed its way wheezily out wide Elysian Fields Street, around the

lilycovered bayous, to MilneburgontheLake. Now, a picnic at Milneburg is a thing to be remembered

for ever. One charters a ricketylooking, weatherbeaten dancingpavilion, built over the water, and after

storing the childrenfor your true Creole never leaves the small folks at homeand the baskets and

mothers downstairs, the young folks go upstairs and dance to the tune of the best band you ever heard. For

what can equal the music of a violin, a guitar, a cornet, and a bass viol to trip the quadrille to at a picnic?

Then one can fish in the lake and go bathing under the prim bathhouses, so severely separated sexually, and

go rowing on the lake in a trim boat, followed by the shrill warnings of anxious mamans. And in the evening

one comes home, hat crowned with cool gray Spanish moss, hands burdened with fantastic latanier baskets

woven by the brown bayou boys, hand in hand with your dearest one, tired but happy.

At this particular picnic, however, there had been bitterness of spirit. Theophile was Manuela's own especial

property, and Theophile had proven false. He had not danced a single waltz or quadrille with Manuela, but

had deserted her for Claralie, blonde and petite. It was Claralie whom Theophile had rowed out on the lake; it

was Claralie whom Theophile had gallantly led to dinner; it was Claralie's hat that he wreathed with Spanish

moss, and Claralie whom he escorted home after the jolly singing ride in town on the little dummytrain.

Not that Manuela lacked partners or admirers. Dear no! she was too graceful and beautiful for that. There had

been more than enough for her. But Manuela loved Theophile, you see, and no one could take his place. Still,

she had tossed her head and let her silvery laughter ring out in the dance, as though she were the happiest of

mortals, and had tripped home with Henri, leaning on his arm, and looking up into his eyes as though she

This morning she showed the traces of a sleepless night and an aching heart as she walked down Marais

Street. Across wide St. Rocque Avenue she hastened. "Two blocks to the river and one below" she

repeated to herself breathlessly. Then she stood on the corner gazing about her, until with a final summoning

of a desperate courage she dived through a small wicket gate into a garden of weedchoked flowers.

There was a hoarse, rusty little bell on the gate that gave querulous tongue as she pushed it open. The house

that sat back in the yard was little and old and weatherbeaten. Its onestory frame had once been painted,

but that was a memory remote and traditional. A straggling morningglory strove to conceal its timeravaged

face. The little walk of broken bits of brick was reddened carefully, and the one little step was scrupulously

yellowwashed, which denoted that the occupants were cleanly as well as religious.

It was a small sombre room within, with a bare yellowwashed floor and ragged curtains at the little window.

In a corner was a diminutive altar draped with threadbare lace. The red glow of the taper lighted a cheap print

of St. Joseph and a brazen crucifix. The human element in the room was furnished by a little, wizened yellow

woman, who, blackrobed, turbaned, and stern, sat before an uncertain table whereon were greasy cards.

Manuela paused, her eyes blinking at the semiobscurity within. The Wizened One called in croaking tones:

"I want," she began faintly; but the Mistress of the Cards understood: she had had much experience. The

"Now you cut dem in t'ree part, soun, deux, trois, bien! You mek' you' weesh wid all you' heart, bien!

Breathlessly did Manuela learn that her lover was true, but "dat light gal, yaas, she mek' nouvena in St.

"I give you one lil' charm, yaas," said the Wizened One when the seance was over, and Manuela, all white

and nervous, leaned back in the rickety chair. "I give you one lil' charm fo' to ween him back, yaas. You wear

h'it 'roun' you' wais', an' he come back. Den you mek prayer at St. Rocque an' burn can'le. Den you come back

Readjusting her veil, Manuela passed out the little wicket gate, treading on air. Again the sun shone, and the

breath of the swamps came as healthful seabreeze unto her nostrils. She fairly flew in the direction of St.

There were quite a number of persons entering the white gates of the cemetery, for this was Friday, when all

those who wish good luck pray to the saint, and wash their steps promptly at twelve o'clock with a wondrous

mixture to guard the house. Manuela bought a candle from the keeper of the little lodge at the entrance, and

pausing one instant by the great sundial to see if the heavens and the hour were propitious, glided into the

tiny chapel, dim and stifling with heavy air from myriad wishcandles blazing on the wide table before the

altarrail. She said her prayer and lighting her candle placed it with the others.

Mon Dieu! how brightly the sun seemed to shine now, she thought, pausing at the door on her way out. Her

small fingertips, still bedewed with holy water, rested caressingly on a gamin's head. The ivy which enfolds

the quaint chapel never seemed so green; the shrines which serve as the Way of the Cross never seemed so

Theophile called Sunday. Manuela's heart leaped. He had been spending his Sundays with Claralie. His stay

was short and he was plainly bored. But Manuela knelt to thank the good St. Rocque that night, and fondled

the charm about her slim waist. There came a box of bonbons during the week, with a decorative card all

roses and fringe, from Theophile; but being a Creole, and therefore superstitiously careful, and having been

reared by a wise and experienced maman to mistrust the gifts of a recreant lover, Manuela quietly thrust

bonbons, box, and card into the kitchen fire, and the Friday following placed the second candle of her

Those of Manuela's friends who had watched with indignation Theophile gallantly leading Claralie home

from High Mass on Sundays, gasped with astonishment when the next Sunday, with his usual bow, the young

man offered Manuela his arm as the worshippers filed out in step to the organ's march. Claralie tossed her

head as she crossed herself with holy water, and the pink in her cheeks was brighter than usual.

Manuela smiled a bright goodmorning when she met Claralie in St. Rocque the next Friday. The little

blonde blushed furiously, and Manuela rushed posthaste to the Wizened One to confer upon this new issue.

"H'it ees good," said the dame, shaking her turbaned head. "She ees 'fraid, she will work, mais you' charm,

Theophile was not at Mass Sunday morning, and murderous glances flashed from Claralie to Manuela before

the tinkling of the HostBell. Nor did Theophile call at either house. Two hearts beat furiously at the sound

of every passing footstep, and two minds wondered if the other were enjoying the beloved one's smiles. Two

pair of eyes, however, blue and black, smiled on others, and their owners laughed and seemed none the less

happy. For your Creole girls are proud, and would die rather than let the world see their sorrows.

Monday evening Theophile, the missing, showed his rather sheepish countenance in Manuela's parlour, and

explained that he, with some chosen spirits, had gone for a trip"over the Lake."

The next week there was a birthday fete in honour of Louise, Theophile's young sister. Everyone was bidden,

and no one thought of refusing, for Louise was young, and this would be her first party. So, though the night

was hot, the dancing went on as merrily as light young feet could make it go. Claralie fluffed her dainty white

skirts, and cast mischievous sparkles in the direction of Theophile, who with the maman and Louise was

bravely trying not to look selfconscious. Manuela, tall and calm and proudlooking, in a cool, pale yellow

gown was apparently enjoying herself without paying the slightest attention to her young host.

"Have I the pleasure of this dance?" he asked her finally, in a lull of the music.

She bowed assent, and as if moved by a common impulse they strolled out of the dancingroom into the cool,

quaint garden, where jessamines gave out an overpowering perfume, and a caged mockingbird complained

It must have been an engrossing teteatete, for the call to supper had sounded twice before they heard and

hurried into the house. The march had formed with Louise radiantly leading on the arm of papa. Claralie

tripped by with Leon. Of course, nothing remained for Theophile and Manuela to do but to bring up the rear,

But when the party reached the diningroom, Theophile proudly led his partner to the head of the table, at the

right hand of maman, and smiled benignly about at the delighted assemblage. Now you know, when a Creole

young man places a girl at his mother's right hand at his own table, there is but one conclusion to be deduced

If you had asked Manuela, after the wedding was over, how it happened, she would have said nothing, but

If you had asked Claralie, she would have laughed and said she always preferred Leon.

If you had asked Theophile, he would have wondered that you thought he had ever meant more than to tease

But St. Rocque knows, for he is a good saint, and if you believe in him and are true and good, and make your

"Gimme fi' cents worth o' candy, please." It was the little Jew girl who spoke, and Tony's wife roused herself

from her knitting to rise and count out the multihued candy which should go in exchange for the dingy

nickel grasped in warm, damp fingers. Three long sticks, carefully wrapped in crispest brown paper, and a

half dozen or more of pink candy fish for lagniappe, and the little Jew girl sped away in blissful contentment.

Tony's wife resumed her knitting with a stifled sigh until the next customer should come.

A low growl caused her to look up apprehensively. Tony himself stood beetlebrowed and huge in the small

"Get up from there," he muttered, "and open two dozen oysters right away; the Eliots want 'em." His English

She moved meekly behind the counter, and began work on the thick shells. Tony stretched his long neck up

"Mr. Tony, mama wants some charcoal." The very small voice at his feet must have pleased him, for his

black brows relaxed into a smile, and he poked the little one's chin with a hard, dirty finger, as he emptied the

ridiculously small bucket of charcoal into the child's bucket, and gave a banana for lagniappe.

The crackling of shells went on behind, and a stifled sob arose as a bit of sharp edge cut into the thin, worn

"Hurry up there, will you?" growled the black brows; "the Eliots are sending for the oysters."

She deftly strained and counted them, and, after wiping her fingers, resumed her seat, and took up the endless

Tony and his wife had always been in this same little queer old shop on Prytania Street, at least to the

memory of the oldest inhabitant in the neighbourhood. When or how they came, or how they stayed, no one

knew; it was enough that they were there, like a sort of ancestral fixture to the street. The neighbourhood was

fine enough to look down upon these two tumbledown shops at the corner, kept by Tony and Mrs. Murphy,

the grocer. It was a semifashionable locality, far uptown, away from the oldtime French quarter. It was

the sort of neighbourhood where millionaires live before their fortunes are made and fashionable,

highpriced private schools flourish, where the small cottages are occupied by aspiring schoolteachers and

choirsingers. Such was this locality, and you must admit that it was indeed a condescension to tolerate Tony

He was a great, blackbearded, hoarsevoiced, sixfoot specimen of Italian humanity, who looked in his

little shop and on the prosaic pavement of Prytania Street somewhat as Hercules might seem in a modern

drawingroom. You instinctively thought of wild mountainpasses, and the gleaming dirks of bandit

contadini in looking at him. What his last name was, no one knew. Someone had maintained once that he had

been christened Antonio Malatesta, but that was unauthentic, and as little to be believed as that other wild

She was meek, pale, little, ugly, and German. Altogether part of his arms and legs would have very decently

made another larger than she. Her hair was pale and drawn in sleek, thin tightness away from a pinched,

pitiful face, whose dull cold eyes hurt you, because you knew they were trying to mirror sorrow, and could

not because of their expressionless quality. No matter what the weather or what her other toilet, she always

wore a thin little shawl of dingy brickdust hue about her shoulders. No matter what the occasion or what the

day, she always carried her knitting with her, and seldom ceased the incessant twist, twist of the shining steel

among the white cotton meshes. She might put down the needles and lace into the spoolbox long enough to

open oysters, or wrap up fruit and candy, or count out wood and coal into infinitesimal portions, or do her

housework; but the knitting was snatched with avidity at the first spare moment, and the worn, white,

bluemarked fingers, half enclosed in kidglove stalls for protection, would writhe and twist in and out

again. Little girls just learning to crochet borrowed their patterns from Tony's wife, and it was considered

quite a mark of advancement to have her inspect a bit of lace done by eager, chubby fingers. The ladies in

larger houses, whose husbands would be millionaires some day, bought her lace, and gave it to their servants

As for Tony, when she was slow in opening his oysters or in cooking his red beans and spaghetti, he roared at

her, and prefixed picturesque adjectives to her lace, which made her hide it under her apron with a fearsome

He hated her in a lusty, roaring fashion, as a healthy beefy boy hates a sick cat and torments it to madness.

When she displeased him, he beat her, and knocked her frail form on the floor. The children could tell when

this had happened. Her eyes would be red, and there would be blue marks on her face and neck. "Poor Mrs.

Tony," they would say, and nestle close to her. Tony did not roar at her for petting them, perhaps, because

Her mother appeared upon the scene once, and stayed a short time; but Tony got drunk one day and beat her

because she ate too much, and she disappeared soon after. Whence she came and where she departed, no one

Tony had gout, and suffered for many days in roaring helplessness, the while his foot, bound and swathed in

many folds of red flannel, lay on the chair before him. In proportion as his gout increased and he bawled from

pure physical discomfort, she became lighthearted, and moved about the shop with real, brisk cheeriness.

He could not hit her then without such pain that after one or two trials he gave up in disgust.

So the dull years had passed, and life had gone on pretty much the same for Tony and the German wife and

the shop. The children came on Sunday evenings to buy the stick candy, and on weekdays for coal and

wood. The servants came to buy oysters for the larger houses, and to gossip over the counter about their

employers. The little dry woman knitted, and the big man moved lazily in and out in his red flannel shirt,

exchanged politics with the tailor next door through the window, or lounged into Mrs. Murphy's bar and

drank fiercely. Some of the children grew up and moved away, and other little girls came to buy candy and

One day Tony was ill, more than the mummied foot of gout, or the wheeze of asthma; he must keep his bed

AEsculapius shook his head as wisely as the occasion would permit. She followed him out of the room into

AEsculapius buttoned up his frock coat, smoothed his shining hat, cleared his throat, then replied oracularly,

"Madam, he is completely burned out inside. Empty as a shell, madam, empty as a shell. He cannot live, for

As the cobblestones rattled under the doctor's equipage rolling leisurely up Prytania Street, Tony's wife sat in

her chair and laughed,laughed with a hearty joyousness that lifted the film from the dull eyes and disclosed

The drear days went by, and Tony lay like a veritable Samson shorn of his strength, for his voice was sunken

to a hoarse, sibilant whisper, and his black eyes gazed fiercely from the shock of hair and beard about a white

face. Life went on pretty much as before in the shop; the children paused to ask how Mr. Tony was, and even

hushed the jingles on their bell hoops as they passed the door. Redheaded Jimmie, Mrs. Murphy's nephew,

did the hard jobs, such as splitting wood and lifting coal from the bin; and in the intervals between tending

the fallen giant and waiting on the customers, Tony's wife sat in her accustomed chair, knitting fiercely, with

John was Tony's brother, huge and bluff too, but fair and blond, with the beauty of Northern Italy. With the

same lack of race pride which Tony had displayed in selecting his German spouse, John had taken unto

himself Betty, a daughter of Erin, aggressive, powerful, and crosseyed. He turned up now, having heard of

A hunted look stole into the dull eyes, and after John had departed with blustering directions as to Tony's

"Tony, you ought to see the priest; you mustn't go any longer without taking the sacrament."

"Don't want any priest; you 're always after some snivelling old woman's fuss. You and Mrs. Murphy go on

She shivered under this parting shot, and crept back into the shop. Still the priest came next day.

Tony was too languid to curse out loud; he only expressed his hate in a toss of the black beard and shaggy

"Tony," she said nervously, "won't you do it now? It won't take long, and it will be better for you when you

But the Titan roared aloud: "No; get out. Think I'm agoing to give you a chance to grab my money now? Let

Father Leblanc knelt meekly and prayed, and the woman's weak pleadings continued,

"Tony, I've been true and good and faithful to you. Don't die and leave me no better than before. Tony, I do

want to be a good woman once, a realfortrue married woman. Tony, here's the priest; say yes." And she

"You want my money," said Tony, slowly, "and you sha'n't have it, not a cent; John shall have it."

Father Leblanc shrank away like a fading spectre. He came next day and next day, only to see reenacted the

same piteous scene,the woman pleading to be made a wife ere death hushed Tony's blasphemies, the man

chuckling in painracked glee at the prospect of her bereaved misery. Not all the prayers of Father Leblanc

nor the wailings of Mrs. Murphy could alter the determination of the will beneath the shock of hair; he

"Tony," she wailed on the last day, her voice rising to a shriek in its eagerness, "tell them I'm your wife; it'll

He raised his head, and turned stiff eyes and gibbering mouth on her; then, with one chill finger pointing at

They buried him with many honours by the Society of Italia's Sons. John took possession of the shop when

As for Tony's wife, since she was not his wife after all, they sent her forth in the world penniless, her worn

fingers clutching her bundle of clothes in nervous agitation, as though they regretted the time lost from

The swift breezes on the beach at Pass Christian meet and conflict as though each strove for the mastery of

the air. The landbreeze blows down through the pines, resinous, fragrant, cold, bringing breathlike

memories of dim, dark woods shaded by myriad pineneedles. The breeze from the Gulf is warm and soft

and languorous, blowing up from the south with its suggestion of tropical warmth and passion. It is strong

and masterful, and tossed Annette's hair and whipped her skirts about her in bold disregard for the proprieties.

Arm in arm with Philip, she was strolling slowly down the great pier which extends from the Mexican Gulf

Hotel into the waters of the Sound. There was no moon tonight, but the sky glittered and scintillated with

myriad stars, brighter than you can ever see farther North, and the great waves that the Gulf breeze tossed up

in restless profusion gleamed with the white fire of phosphorescent flame. The wet sands on the beach

glowed white fire; the posts of the pier where the waves had leapt and left a laughing kiss, the sides of the

little boats and fishcars tugging at their ropes, alike showed white and flaming, as though the sea and all it

Annette and Philip paused midway the pier to watch two fishermen casting their nets. With heads bared to the

Drawing himself up to his full height, with one end of the huge seine between his teeth, and the cord in his

left hand, the taller fisherman of the two paused a half instant, his right arm extended, grasping the folds of

the net. There was a swishing rush through the air, and it settled with a sort of sob as it cut the waters and

struck a million sparkles of fire from the waves. Then, with backs bending under the strain, the two men

swung on the cord, drawing in the net, laden with glittering restless fish, which were unceremoniously

Philip laughingly picked up a soft, gleaming jellyfish, and threatened to put it on Annette's neck. She

screamed, ran, slipped on the wet boards, and in another instant would have fallen over into the water below.

"Mademoiselle must be very careful," he said in the softest and most correct French. "The tide is in and the

Annette murmured confused thanks, which were supplemented by Philip's hearty tones. She was silent until

they reached the pavilion at the end of the pier. The semidarkness was unrelieved by lantern or light. The

strong wind wafted the strains from a couple of mandolins, a guitar, and a tenor voice stationed in one corner

to sundry engrossed couples in sundry other corners. Philip found an untenanted nook and they ensconced

"Do you know there's something mysterious about that fisherman?" said Annette, during a lull in the wind.

"No; he spoke correctly, and with the accent that goes only with an excellent education."

Philip shrugged his shoulders. "That's nothing remarkable. If you stay about Pass Christian for any length of

time, you'll find more things than perfect French and courtly grace among fishermen to surprise you. These

Annette was lolling in the hammock under the big catalpatree some days later, when the gate opened, and

Natalie's big sunbonnet appeared. Natalie herself was discovered blushing in its dainty depths. She was only

a little Creole seaside girl, you must know, and very shy of the city demoiselles. Natalie's patois was quite as

"Mees Annette," she began, peonyhued all over at her own boldness, "we will have one lil' hayride this

Annette sprang to her feet in delight. "Will I come? Certainly. How delightful! You are so good to ask me.

What shallwhat time" But Natalie's pink bonnet had fled precipitately down the shaded walk. Annette

You've never been for a hayride and fishfry on the shores of the Mississippi Sound, have you? When the

summer boarders and the Northern visitors undertake to give one, it is a comparatively staid affair, where due

regard is had for one's wearing apparel, and where there are servants to do the hardest work. Then it isn't

enjoyable at all. But when the natives, the boys and girls who live there, make up their minds to have fun,

This time there were twenty boys and girls, a mamma or so, several papas, and a grizzled fisherman to

restrain the ardor of the amateurs. The cart was vast and solid, and two comfortable, sleepylooking mules

constituted the drawing power. There were also tin horns, some guitars, an accordion, and a quartet of much

praised voices. The hay in the bottom of the wagon was freely mixed with pine needles, whose prickiness

After a triumphantly noisy passage down the beach one comes to the stretch of heavy sand that lies between

Pass Christian proper and Henderson's Point. This is a hard pull for the mules, and the more ambitious riders

get out and walk. Then, after a final strain through the shifting sands, bravo! the shell road is reached, and

If ever you go to Pass Christian, you must have a fishfry at Henderson's Point. It is the pinethicketed,

whitebeached peninsula jutting out from the land, with one side caressed by the waters of the Sound and the

other purred over by the blue waves of the Bay of St. Louis. Here is the beginning of the great threemile

trestle bridge to the town of Bay St. Louis, and tonight from the beach could be seen the lights of the villas

Here upon a firm stretch of white sand camped the merrymakers. Soon a great fire of driftwood and pine

cones tossed its flames defiantly at a radiant moon in the sky, and the fishers were casting their nets in the

sea. The more daring of the girls waded barelegged in the water, holding pinetorches, spearing flounders

Annette had wandered farther in the shallow water than the rest. Suddenly she stumbled against a stone, the

torch dropped and spluttered at her feet. With a little helpless cry she looked at the stretch of unfamiliar beach

It was her fisherman, and with a scarce conscious sigh of relief, Annette put her hand into the outstretched

"I was looking for soft shells," she explained, "and lost the crowd, and now my torch is out."

"Where is the crowd?" There was some amusement in the tone, and Annette glanced up quickly, prepared to

be thoroughly indignant at this fisherman who dared make fun at her; but there was such a kindly look about

"You have wandered a halfmile away," he mused, "and have nothing to show for your pains but very wet

skirts. If mademoiselle will permit me, I will take her to her friends, but allow me to suggest that

Fiddler crabs, you know, aren't pleasant things to be dangling around one's bare feet, and they are more

The fishing was over when they rounded the point and came in sight of the cheery bonfire with its

Rembrandtlike group, and the air was savoury with the smell of frying fish and crabs. The fisherman was

not to be tempted by appeals to stay, but smilingly disappeared down the sands, the red glare of his torch

"Ah, Mees Annette," whispered Natalie, between mouthfuls of a rich croaker, "you have found a beau in the

"Do you know, Philip," cried Annette a few days after, rudely shaking him from his siesta on the gallery,

"Yes, and it's the quaintest, most delightful spot imaginable. Philip, do come with me and see it."

"Yes, but, my dear Annette," protested Philip, "this is a warm day, and I am tired."

Still, his curiosity being aroused, he went grumbling. It was not a very long drive, back from the beach across

the railroad and through the pine forest to the bank of a dark, slowflowing bayou. The fisherman's hut was

small, tworoomed, whitewashed, pineboarded, with the traditional mud chimney acting as a sort of support

to one of its uneven sides. Within was a weird assortment of curios from every uncivilized part of the globe.

Also were there fishingtackle and guns in reckless profusion. The fisherman, in the kitchen of the

"Entrez, mademoiselle et monsieur," he said pleasantly, grabbing a vicious crab by its flippers, and smiling at

"Shsh" whispered Annette. "I was driving out in the woods this morning, and stumbled on the hut. He

The fisherman, having succeeded in getting the last crab in the kettle of boiling water, came forward smiling

"And he spends his winters, doubtless, selling fish in the French market," spitefully soliloquised Philip.

The fisherman was looking unutterable things into Annette's eyes, and, it seemed to Philip, taking an

"Why, Monsieur LeConte says he'll take six of us out in his catboat tomorrow for a fishingtrip on the Gulf."

Annette chattered on, entirely oblivious of the strainedness of the men's adieux, and still chattered as they

"I did not know that you were going to take fishermen and marchands into the bosom of your social set when

"But, Cousin Phil, can't you see he is a gentleman? The fact that he makes no excuses or protestations is a

Still, at six o'clock next morning, there was a little crowd of seven upon the pier, laughing and chatting at the

little "Virginie" dipping her bows in the water and flapping her sails in the brisk wind. Natalie's pink bonnet

blushed in the early sunshine, and Natalie's mamma, comely and portly, did chaperonage duty. It was not

long before the sails gave swell into the breeze and the little boat scurried to the Sound. Past the lighthouse

on its gawky iron stalls, she flew, and now rounded the white sands of Cat Island.

"Bravo, the Gulf!" sang a voice on the lookout. The little boat dipped, halted an instant, then rushed fast into

Philip could not exactly understand why the fisherman should sit so close to Annette and whisper so much

into her ears. He chafed at her acting the part of hostess, and was possessed of a murderous desire to throw

the pink sunbonnet and its owner into the sea, when Natalie whispered audibly to one of her cousins that

The sun was banking up flaming pillars of rose and gold in the west when the little "Virginie" rounded Cat

Island on her way home, and the quick Southern twilight was fast dying into darkness when she was tied up

to the pier and the merrymakers sprang off with baskets of fish. Annette had distinguished herself by

catching one small shark, and had immediately ceased to fish and devoted her attention to her fisherman and

his line. Philip had angled fiercely, landing trout, croakers, sheepshead, snappers in bewildering luck. He had

broken each hopeless captive's neck savagely, as though they were personal enemies. He did not look happy

As the days passed on, "the fisherman of the Pass" began to dance attendance on Annette. What had seemed a

joke became serious. Aunt Nina, urged by Philip, remonstrated, and even the mamma of the pink sunbonnet

began to look grave. It was all very well for a city demoiselle to talk with a fisherman and accept favours at

his hands, provided that the city demoiselle understood that a vast and bridgeless gulf stretched between her

But when the demoiselle forgot the gulf and the fisherman refused to recognise it, why, it was time to take

To all of Aunt Nina's remonstrances, Philip's growlings, and the averted glances of her companions, Annette

was deaf. "You are narrowminded," she said laughingly. "I am interested in Monsieur LeConte simply as a

study. He is entertaining; he talks well of his travels, and as for refusing to recognise the difference between

Suddenly a peremptory summons home from Annette's father put an end to the fears of Philip. Annette

pouted, but papa must be obeyed. She blamed Philip and Aunt Nina for telling tales, but Aunt Nina was

uncommunicative, and Philip too obviously cheerful to derive much satisfaction from.

That night she walked with the fisherman hand in hand on the sands. The wind from the pines bore the

scarcely recognisable, subtle freshness of early autumn, and the waters had a hint of dying summer in their

"You will remember," said the fisherman, "that I have told you nothing about myself."

"I promise you that I will not forget you. I promise you that I will never speak of you to anyone until I see

It was all very romantic, by the waves of the Sound, under a harvest moon, that seemed all sympathy for

these two, despite the fact that it was probably looking down upon hundreds of other equally romantic

couples. Annette went to bed with glowing cheeks, and a heart whose pulsations would have caused a

It was still hot in New Orleans when she returned home, and it seemed hard to go immediately to work. But if

one is going to be an operasinger some day and capture the world with one's voice, there is nothing to do but

to study, study, sing, practise, even though one's throat be parched, one's head a great ache, and one's heart a

nest of discouragement and sadness at what seems the uselessness of it all. Annette had now a new incentive

to work; the fisherman had once praised her voice when she hummed a barcarole on the sands, and he had

insisted that there was power in its rich notes. Though the fisherman had showed no cause why he should be

accepted as a musical critic, Annette had somehow respected his judgment and been accordingly elated.

It was the night of the opening of the opera. There was the usual crush, the glitter and confusing radiance of

the brilliant audience. Annette, with papa, Aunt Nina, and Philip, was late reaching her box. The curtain was

up, and "La Juive" was pouring forth defiance at her angry persecutors. Annette listened breathlessly. In

fancy, she too was ringing her voice out to an applauding house. Her head unconsciously beat time to the

Then Eleazar appeared, and the house rose at the end of his song. Encores it gave, and bravos and cheers. He

bowed calmly, swept his eyes over the tiers until they found Annette, where they rested in a halfsmile of

The curtain fell on the first act. The house was won by the new tenor; it called and recalled him before the

"Papa, Aunt Nina," said Annette, "you must come behind the scenes with me. I want you to meet him. He is

Philip was bending ostentatiously over the girl in the next box. Papa and Aunt Nina consented to be dragged

behind the scenes. Annette was well known, for, in hopes of some day being an occupant of one of the

"How you deceived me!" she laughed, when the greetings and introductions were over.

"I came to America early," he smiled back at her, "and thought I'd try a little incognito at the Pass. I was not

Annette's teacher began to note a wonderful improvement in his pupil's voice. Never did a girl study so hard

or practise so faithfully. It was truly wonderful. Now and then Annette would say to papa as if to reassure

And papa would say a "Certainly" that would send her back to the piano with renewed ardour.

As for Monsieur LeConte, he was the idol of New Orleans. Seldom had there been a tenor who had sung

himself so completely into the very hearts of a populace. When he was billed, the opera displayed "Standing

Room" signs, no matter what the other attractions in the city might be. Sometimes Monsieur LeConte

delighted small audiences in Annette's parlour, when the hostess was in a perfect flutter of happiness. Not

often, you know, for the leading tenor was in great demand at the homes of society queens.

"Do you know," said Annette, petulantly, one evening, "I wish for the old days at Pass Christian."

Still she might have been happy, had it not been for Madame Dubeau,Madame Dubeau, the flutevoiced

leading soprano, who wore the single dainty curl on her forehead, and thrilled her audiences oftentimes more

completely than the fisherman. Madame Dubeau was La Juive to his Eleazar, Leonore to his Manfred, Elsa to

his Lohengrin, Aida to his Rhadames, Marguerite to his Faust; in brief, Madame Dubeau was his opposite.

She caressed him as Mignon, pleaded with him as Michaela, died for him in "Les Huguenots," broke her

heart for love of him in "La Favorite." How could he help but love her, Annette asked herself, how could he?

Once she whispered her fears to him when there was the meagrest bit of an opportunity. He laughed. "You

don't understand, little one," he said tenderly; "the relations of professional people to each other are peculiar.

"Have you heard the news?" whispered Lola to Annette, leaning from her box at the opera one night. The

curtain had just gone up on "Herodias," and for some reason or other, the audience applauded with more

warmth than usual. There was a noticeable number of goodhumoured, benignant smiles on the faces of the

"No," answered Annette, breathlessly,"no, indeed, Lola; I am going to Paris next week. I am so delighted I

"Yes, that is excellent," said Lola, "but all New Orleans is smiling at the romance. Monsieur LeConte and

Madame Dubeau were quietly married last night, but it leaked out this afternoon. See all the applause she's

Annette leaned back in her chair, very white and still. Her box was empty after the first act, and a quiet little

tired voice that was almost too faint to be heard in the carriage on the way home, said

Slowly, one by one, the lights in the French Opera go out, until there is but a single glimmer of pale yellow

flickering in the great dark space, a few moments ago all aglitter with jewels and the radiance of

womanhood and aclash with music. Darkness now, and silence, and a great haunted hush over all, save for

The glimmer of gas makes a halo about the bowed white head of a little old man putting his violin carefully

away in its case with aged, trembling, nervous fingers. Old M'sieu Fortier was the last one out every night.

Outside the air was murky, foggy. Gas and electricity were but faint splotches of light on the thick curtain of

fog and mist. Around the opera was a mighty bustle of carriages and drivers and footmen, with a car gaining

headway in the street now and then, a howling of names and numbers, the laughter and small talk of cloaked

society stepping slowly to its carriages, and the more bourgeoisie vocalisation of the foot passengers who

streamed along and hummed little bits of music. The fog's denseness was confusing, too, and at one moment

it seemed that the little narrow street would become inextricably choked and remain so until some mighty

engine would blow the crowd into atoms. It had been a crowded night. From around Toulouse Street, where

led the entrance to the troisiemes, from the grand stairway, from the entrance to the quatriemes, the human

M'sieu Fortier stood at the corner, blinking at the beautiful ladies in their carriages. He exchanged a hearty

salutation with the saloonkeeper at the corner, then, tenderly carrying his violin case, he trudged down

Bourbon Street, a little old, bent, withered figure, with shoulders shrugged up to keep warm, as though the

Down on Bayou Road, not so far from Claiborne Street, was a house, little and old and queer, but quite large

enough to hold M'sieu Fortier, a wrinkled dame, and a white cat. He was home but little, for on nearly every

day there were rehearsals; then on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights, and twice Sundays there were

performances, so Ma'am Jeanne and the white cat kept house almost always alone. Then, when M'sieu Fortier

was at home, why, it was practice, practice all the day, and smoke, snore, sleep at night. Altogether it was not

M'sieu Fortier had played first violin in the orchestra ever sincewell, no one remembered his not playing

there. Sometimes there would come breaks in the seasons, and for a year the great building would be dark and

silent. Then M'sieu Fortier would do jobs of playing here and there, one night for this ball, another night for

that soiree dansante, and in the day, work at his trade,that of a cigarmaker. But now for seven years there

had been no break in the season, and the little old violinist was happy. There is nothing sweeter than a regular

job and good music to play, music into which one can put some soul, some expression, and which one must

study to understand. Dance music, of the frivolous, frothy kind deemed essential to soirees, is trivial, easy,

So M'sieu Fortier, Ma'am Jeanne, and the white cat lived a peaceful, uneventful existence out on Bayou

Road. When the opera season was over in February, M'sieu went back to cigarmaking, and the white cat

It had been a benefit tonight for the leading tenor, and he had chosen "Roland a Ronceveaux," a favourite

this season, for his farewell. And, mon Dieu, mused the little M'sieu, but how his voice had rung out

belllike, piercing above the chorus of the first act! Encore after encore was given, and the bravos of the

"Superbes Pyrenees Qui dressez dans le ciel, Vos cimes couronnees D'un hiver eternelle, Pour nous livrer

passage Ouvrez vos larges flancs, Faites faire l'orage, Voici, venir les Francs!"

M'sieu quickened his pace down Bourbon Street as he sang the chorus to himself in a thin old voice, and then,

"Most certainly," was the careless response; then the speaker, taking a second glance at the object of the

"Oh, M'sieu Fortier, is it you? Why, you are so happy, singing your love sonnet to your lady's eyebrow, that

you didn't see a thing but the moon, did you? And who is the fair one who should clog your senses so?"

"I know nothing save that I want that violin of yours. When is it to be mine, M'sieu Fortier?"

"Nevare, nevare!" exclaimed M'sieu, gripping on as tightly to the case as if he feared it might be wrenched

"Martel," said the first speaker to his companion as they moved on up town, "I wish you knew that little

Frenchman. He's a unique specimen. He has the most exquisite violin I've seen in years; beautiful and mellow

as a genuine Cremona, and he can make the music leap, sing, laugh, sob, skip, wail, anything you like from

under his bow when he wishes. It's something wonderful. We are good friends. Picked him up in my

"To throw it aside a week later?" lazily inquired Martel. "You are like the rest of these nineteenthcentury

vandals, you can see nothing picturesque that you do not wish to deface for a souvenir; you cannot even let

simple happiness alone, but must needs destroy it in a vain attempt to make it your own or parade it as an

As for M'sieu Fortier, he went right on with his song and turned into Bayou Road, his shoulders still shrugged

high as though he were cold, and into the quaint little house, where Ma'am Jeanne and the white cat, who

It was not long after this that the opera closed, and M'sieu went back to his old outofseason job. But

somehow he did not do as well this spring and summer as always. There is a certain amount of cunning and

finesse required to roll a cigar just so, that M'sieu seemed to be losing, whether from age or deterioration it

was hard to tell. Nevertheless, there was just about half as much money coming in as formerly, and the quaint

little pucker between M'sieu's eyebrows which served for a frown came oftener and stayed longer than ever

"Minesse," he said one day to the white cat,he told all his troubles to her; it was of no use to talk to Ma'am

Jeanne, she was too deaf to understand,"Minesse, we are gettin' po'. You' pere git h'old, an' hees han's dey

go no mo' rapidement, an' dere be no mo' soirees dese day. Minesse, eef la saison don' hurry up, we shall eat

Before the summer had fairly begun, strange rumours began to float about in musical circles. M. Mauge

would no longer manage the opera, but it would be turned into the hands of Americans, a syndicate. Bah!

These Englishspeaking people could do nothing unless there was a trust, a syndicate, a company immense

and dishonest. It was going to be a guarantee business, with a strictly financial basis. But worse than all this,

the new manager, who was now in France, would not only procure the artists, but a new orchestra, a new

leader. M'sieu Fortier grew apprehensive at this, for he knew what the loss of his place would mean to him.

September and October came, and the papers were filled with accounts of the new artists from France and of

the new orchestra leader too. He was described as a most talented, progressive, energetic young man. M'sieu

Fortier's heart sank at the word "progressive." He was anything but that. The New Orleans Creole blood

"Minesse," he said with a catch in his voice that strongly resembled a sob, "Minesse, we mus' go hongry

sometime. Ah, mon pauvre violon! Ah, mon Dieu, dey put us h'out, an' dey will not have us. Nev' min', we

will sing anyhow." And drawing his bow across the strings, he sang in his thin, quavering voice, "Salut

It is strange what a peculiar power of fascination former haunts have for the human mind. The criminal, after

he has fled from justice, steals back and skulks about the scene of his crime; the employee thrown from work

hangs about the place of his former industry; the schoolboy, truant or expelled, peeps in at the schoolgate

and taunts the good boys within. M'sieu Fortier was no exception. Night after night of the performances he

climbed the stairs of the opera and sat, an attentive listener to the orchestra, with one ear inclined to the stage,

and a quizzical expression on his wrinkled face. Then he would go home, and pat Minesse, and fondle the

"Ah, Minesse, dose new player! Not one bit can dey play. Such tones, Minesse, such tones! All the time

portemento, oh, so ver' bad! Ah, mon chere violon, we can play." And he would play and sing a romance, and

At first it used to be into the deuxiemes that M'sieu Fortier went, into the front seats. But soon they were too

expensive, and after all, one could hear just as well in the fourth row as in the first. After a while even the

rear row of the deuxiemes was too costly, and the little musician wended his way with the plebeians around

on Toulouse Street, and climbed the long, tedious flight of stairs into the troisiemes. It makes no difference to

be one row higher. It was more to the liking, after all. One felt more at home up here among the people. If

one was thirsty, one could drink a glass of wine or beer being passed about by the libretto boys, and the music

But it happened one night that M'sieu could not even afford to climb the Toulouse Street stairs. To be sure,

there was yet another gallery, the quatriemes, where the peanut boys went for a dime, but M'sieu could not

get down to that yet. So he stayed outside until all the beautiful women in their warm wraps, a brighthued

It was on one of these nights that Courcey and Martel found him shivering at the corner.

"Hello, M'sieu Fortier," cried Courcey, "are you ready to let me have that violin yet?"

"Fifty dollars, you know," continued Courcey, taking no heed of his friend's interpolation.

M'sieu Fortier made a courtly bow. "Eef Monsieur will call at my 'ouse on de morrow, he may have mon

violon," he said huskily; then turned abruptly on his heel, and went down Bourbon Street, his shoulders

When Courcey and Martel entered the gate of the little house on Bayou Road the next day, there floated out

to their ears a wordless song thrilling from the violin, a song that told more than speech or tears or gestures

could have done of the utter sorrow and desolation of the little old man. They walked softly up the short red

brick walk and tapped at the door. Within, M'sieu Fortier was caressing the violin, with silent tears streaming

There was not much said on either side. Courcey came away with the instrument, leaving the money behind,

while Martel grumbled at the essentially sordid, mercenary spirit of the world. M'sieu Fortier turned back into

the room, after bowing his visitors out with oldtime French courtliness, and turning to the sleepy white cat,

About six days later, Courcey's morning dreams were disturbed by the announcement of a visitor. Hastily

doing a toilet, he descended the stairs to find M'sieu Fortier nervously pacing the hall floor.

"I come fo' bring back you' money, yaas. I cannot sleep, I cannot eat, I only cry, and t'ink, and weesh fo' mon

violon; and Minesse, an' de ol' woman too, dey mope an' look bad too, all for mon violon. I try fo' to use dat

money, but eet burn an' sting lak blood money. I feel lak' I done sol' my child. I cannot go at l'opera no mo', I

t'ink of mon violon. I starve befo' I live widout. My heart, he is broke, I die for mon violon."

"M'sieu Fortier," he said, bowing low, as he handed the case to the little man, "take your violin; it was a

whim with me, a passion with you. And as for the money, why, keep that too; it was worth a hundred dollars

The Bayou St. John slowly makes its darkhued way through reeds and rushes, high banks and flat slopes,

until it casts itself into the turbulent bosom of Lake Pontchartrain. It is dark, like the passionate women of

Egypt; placid, like their broad brows; deep, silent, like their souls. Within its bosom are hidden romances and

stories, such as were sung by minstrels of old. From the source to the mouth is not far distant, visibly

speaking, but in the life of the bayou a hundred heartmiles could scarce measure it. Just where it winds

about the northwest of the city are some of its most beautiful bits, orange groves on one side, and quaint old

Spanish gardens on the other. Who cares that the bridges are modern, and that here and there pert

boathouses rear their prim heads? It is the bayou, even though it be invaded with the ruthless vandalism of

the improving idea, and can a boathouse kill the beauty of a mossgrown centurion of an oak with a history

as old as the city? Can an iron bridge with tarantula piers detract from the song of a mockingbird in a

fragrant orange grove? We know that farther out, past the Confederate Soldiers' Home,that

roseembowered, rambling place of graycoated, whitehaired old men with broken hearts for a lost

cause,it flows, unimpeded by the faintest conception of man, and we love it all the more that, like the

To its banks at the end of Moss Street, one day there came a man and a maiden. They were both tall and lithe

and slender, with the agility of youth and fire. He was the final concentration of the essence of Spanish

passion filtered into an American frame; she, a repressed Southern exotic, trying to fit itself into the niches of

They climbed the levee that stretched a feeble check to waters that seldom rise, and on the other side of the

embankment, at the brink of the river, she sat on a log, and impatiently pulled off the little cap she wore. The

skies were gray, heavy, overcast, with an occasional windrift in the clouds that only revealed new depths of

grayness behind; the tideless waters murmured a faint ripple against the logs and jutting beams of the

breakwater, and were answered by the crescendo wail of the dried reeds on the other bank,reeds that

He stood up, his dark form a slender silhouette against the sky; she looked upward from her log, and their

eyes met with an exquisite shock of recognising understanding; dark eyes into dark eyes, Iberian fire into

Iberian fire, soul unto soul: it was enough. He sat down and took her into his arms, and in the eerie murmur of

"And then I hope to go to Italy or France. It is only there, beneath those far Southern skies, that I could ever

hope to attain to anything that the soul within me says I can. I have wasted so much time in the mere struggle

for bread, while the powers of a higher calling have clamoured for recognition and expression. I will go some

She was silent a moment, watching with halfclosed lids a dejectedlooking hunter on the other bank, and a

lean dog who trailed through the reeds behind him with drooping tail. Then she asked:

"You, Athanasia? There is a great future before you, little woman, and I and my love can only mar it. Try to

forget me and go your way. I am only the epitome of unhappiness and illsuccess."

Will you ever forget that day, Athanasia? How the little gamins, Creole throughout, came half shyly near the

log, fishing, and exchanging furtive whispers and halfconcealed glances at the silent couple. Their angling

was rewarded only by a little black watermoccasin that wriggled and forked its venomous red tongue in an

attempt to exercise its deathdealing prerogative. This Athanasia insisted must go back into its native black

waters, and paid the price the boys asked that it might enjoy its freedom. The gamins laughed and chattered in

their soft patois; the Don smiled tenderly upon Athanasia, and she durst not look at the reeds as she talked,

lest their crescendo sadness yield a foreboding. Just then a wee girl appeared, clad in a multihued garment,

evidently a sister to the small fishermen. Her keen black eyes set in a dusky face glanced sharply and

suspiciously at the group as she clambered over the wet embankment, and it seemed the drizzling mist grew

colder, the sobbing wind more pronounced in its prophetic wail. Athanasia rose suddenly. "Let us go," she

The bayou flows as calmly, as darkly, as full of hidden passions as ever. On a night years after, the moon was

shining upon it with a silvery tenderness that seemed brighter, more caressingly lingering than anywhere

within the old city. Behind, there rose the spires and towers; before, only the reeds, green now, and soft in

their rustlings and whisperings for the future. False reeds! They tell themselves of their happiness to be, and it

all ends in dry stalks and drizzling skies. The mockingbird in the fragrant orange grove sends out his night

song, and blends it with the cricket's chirp, as the blossoms of orange and magnolia mingle their perfume

with the earthy smell of a summer rain just blown over. Perfect in its stillness, absolute in its beauty, tenderly

healing in its suggestion of peace, the night in its clearlighted, cloudless sweetness enfolds Athanasia, as she

stands on the levee and gazes down at the old log, now almost hidden in the luxuriant grass.

"It was the eternal feminine that spoiled our dream that day as it spoiled the after life, was it not?"

But the Bayou St. John did not answer. It merely gathered into its silent bosom another brokenhearted

When the sun goes down behind the great oaks along the Bayou Teche near Franklin, it throws red needles of

light into the dark woods, and leaves a great glow on the still bayou. Ma'am Mouton paused at her gate and

Ma'am Mouton's remark must have been addressed to herself or to the lean dog, for no one else was visible.

She moved briskly about the yard, taking things from the line, when Louisette's voice called cheerily:

Louisette was petite and plump and blackhaired. Louisette's eyes danced, and her lips were red and

tempting. Ma'am Mouton's face relaxed as the small brown hands relieved hers of their burden.

"Mais non, ma chere," said Ma'am Mouton, sadly, "I can' tell fo' w'y he no come home soon dese day. Ah me,

Even as she spoke a quick nervous step was heard crunching up the brick walk. Sylves' paused an instant

without the kitchen door, his face turned to the setting sun. He was tall and slim and agile; a true 'cajan.

Sylves' frowned, but said nothing. It was a silent supper that followed. Louisette was sad, Ma'am Mouton

Ma'am Mouton dropped her fork and stared at him with unseeing eyes; then, as she comprehended his

"Maman, don't, don't!" he said weakly; then gathering strength from the silence, he burst forth:

"Yaas, I 'm goin' away to work. I 'm tired of dis, jus' dig, dig, work in de fiel', nothin' to see but de cloud, de

tree, de bayou. I don't lak' New Orleans; it too near here, dere no mo' money dere. I go up fo' Mardi Gras, an'

Chicago! That vast, faroff city that seemed in another world. Chicago! A name to conjure with for

"W'y, yaas," continued Sylves', "lots of boys I know dere. Henri an' Joseph Lascaud an' Arthur, dey write me

what money dey mek' in cigar. I can mek' a livin' too. I can mek' fine cigar. See how I do in New Orleans in

"Non, non, ma chere," he answered tenderly. "I will come back when the bayou overflows again, an' maman

Ma'am Mouton had bowed her head on her hands, and was rocking to and fro in an agony of dryeyed

Sylves' went to her side and knelt. "Maman," he said softly, "maman, you mus' not cry. All de boys go 'way,

It was even as Sylves' had said. In the summertime the boys of the Bayou Teche would work in the field or

in the town of Franklin, hackdriving and doing odd jobs. When winter came, there was a general exodus to

New Orleans, a hundred miles away, where work was to be had as cigarmakers. There is money, plenty of

it, in cigarmaking, if one can get in the right place. Of late, however, there had been a general slackness of

the trade. Last winter oftentimes Sylves' had walked the streets out of work. Many were the Creole boys who

had gone to Chicago to earn a living, for the cigarmaking trade flourishes there wonderfully. Friends of

Sylves' had gone, and written home glowing accounts of the money to be had almost for the asking. When

one's blood leaps for new scenes, new adventures, and one needs money, what is the use of frittering away

time alternately between the Bayou Teche and New Orleans? Sylves' had brooded all summer, and now that

Louisette, the orphan, the girllover, whom everyone in Franklin knew would some day be Ma'am Mouton's

"Ma chere," he would say, "t'ink, I will bring you one fine diamon' ring, nex' spring, when de bayou

Louisette would fain be content with this promise. As for Ma'am Mouton, she seemed to have grown ages

older. Her Sylves' was going from her; Sylves', whose trips to New Orleans had been a yearly source of

heartbreak, was going far away for months to that mistily wicked city, a thousand miles away.

October came, and Sylves' had gone. Ma'am Mouton had kept up bravely until the last, when with one final

cry she extended her arms to the pitiless train bearing him northward. Then she and Louisette went home

Louisette came running in breathlessly from the postoffice, and together they read it again and again.

Chicago was such a wonderful city, said Sylves'. Why, it was always like New Orleans at Mardi Gras with

the people. He had seen Joseph Lascaud, and he had a place to work promised him. He was well, but he

Was ever such a wonderful letter? Louisette sat for an hour afterwards building gorgeous aircastles, while

Ma'am Mouton fingered the paper and murmured prayers to the Virgin for Sylves'. When the bayou

overflowed again? That would be in April. Then Louisette caught herself looking critically at her slender

brown fingers, and blushed furiously, though Ma'am Mouton could not see her in the gathering twilight.

Next week there was another letter, even more wonderful than the first. Sylves' had found work. He was

making cigars, and was earning two dollars a day. Such wages! Ma'am Mouton and Louisette began to plan

That was a pleasant winter, after all. True, there was no Sylves', but then he was always in New Orleans for a

few months any way. There were his letters, full of wondrous tales of the great queer city, where cars went by

ropes underground, and where there was no Mardi Gras and the people did not mind Lent. Now and then

there would be a present, a keepsake for Louisette, and some money for maman. They would plan

improvements for the cottage, and Louisette began to do sewing and dainty crochet, which she would hide

It was March now, and Springtime. The bayou began to sweep down between its banks less sluggishly than

before; it was rising, and soon would spread over its tiny levees. The doors could be left open now, though

the trees were not yet green; but then down here the trees do not swell and bud slowly and tease you for

weeks with promises of greenness. Dear no, they simply look mysterious, and their twigs shake against each

other and tell secrets of the leaves that will soon be born. Then one morning you awake, and lo, it is a green

world! The boughs have suddenly clothed themselves all in a wondrous garment, and you feel the blood run

One day in March, it was warm and sweet. Underfoot were violets, and wee white star flowers peering

through the babygrass. The sky was blue, with flecks of white clouds reflecting themselves in the brown

bayou. Louisette tripped up the red brick walk with the Chicago letter in her hand, and paused a minute at the

"I know the bayou must be ready to overflow," went the letter in the carefully phrased French that the

brothers taught at the parochial school, "and I am glad, for I want to see the dear maman and my Louisette. I

am not so well, and Monsieur le docteur says it is well for me to go to the South again."

Monsieur le docteur! Sylves' not well! The thought struck a chill to the hearts of Ma'am Mouton and

Louisette, but not for long. Of course, Sylves' was not well, he needed some of maman's tisanes. Then he was

At last the great day came, Sylves' would be home. The brown waters of the bayou had spread until they were

seemingly trying to rival the Mississippi in width. The little house was scrubbed and cleaned until it shone

again. Louisette had looked her dainty little dress over and over to be sure that there was not a flaw to be

found wherein Sylves' could compare her unfavourably to the stylish Chicago girls.

The train rumbled in on the platform, and two pair of eyes opened wide for the first glimpse of Sylves'. The

There appeared Joseph Lascaud, then some men bearing Something. Louisette put her hands up to her eyes to

"It was too cold for him," Joseph was saying to almost deaf ears, "and he took the consumption. He thought

he could get well when he come home. He talk all the way down about the bayou, and about you and

Louisette. Just three hours ago he had a bad hemorrhage, and he died from weakness. Just three hours ago. He

said he wanted to get home and give Louisette her diamond ring, when the bayou overflowed."

He might have had another name; we never knew. Some one had christened him Mr. Baptiste long ago in the

dim past, and it sufficed. No one had ever been known who had the temerity to ask him for another

cognomen, for though he was a mildmannered little man, he had an uncomfortable way of shutting up

oysterwise and looking disagreeable when approached concerning his personal history.

He was small: most Creole men are small when they are old. It is strange, but a fact. It must be that age

withers them sooner and more effectually than those of unLatinised extraction. Mr. Baptiste was,

furthermore, very much wrinkled and lame. Like the Son of Man, he had nowhere to lay his head, save when

some kindly family made room for him in a garret or a barn. He subsisted by doing odd jobs, whitewashing,

The little old man was a frequenter of the levee. Never a day passed that his quaint little figure was not seen

moving up and down about the ships. Chiefly did he haunt the Texas and Pacific warehouses and the

landingplace of the Morganline steamships. This seemed like madness, for these spots are almost the

busiest on the levee, and the rough seamen and 'longshoremen have least time to be bothered with small weak

folks. Still there was method in the madness of Mr. Baptiste. The Morgan steamships, as every one knows,

ply between New Orleans and Central and South American ports, doing the major part of the fruit trade; and

many were the baskets of forgotten fruit that Mr. Baptiste took away with him unmolested. Sometimes, you

know, bananas and mangoes and oranges and citrons will half spoil, particularly if it has been a bad voyage

over the stormy Gulf, and the officers of the ships will give away stacks of fruit, too good to go into the river,

You could see Mr. Baptiste trudging up the street with his quaint onesided walk, bearing his dilapidated

basket on one shoulder, a nondescript headcover pulled over his eyes, whistling cheerily. Then he would

"Ah, bonjour, madame. Now here ees jus' a lil' bit fruit, some bananas. Perhaps madame would cook some for

And madame, who understood and knew his ways, would fry him some of the bananas, and set it before him,

a tempting dish, with a bit of madame's bread and meat and coffee thrown in for lagniappe; and Mr. Baptiste

would depart, filled and contented, leaving the load of fruit behind as madame's pay. Thus did he eat, and his

clients were many, and never too tired or too cross to cook his meals and get their pay in baskets of fruit.

One day he slipped in at Madame Garcia's kitchen door with such a woebegone air, and slid a small sack of

nearly ripe plantains on the table with such a miseryladen sigh, that madame, who was fat and excitable,

For answer, Mr. Baptiste shook his head gloomily and sighed again. Madame Garcia moved heavily about the

kitchen, putting the plantains in a cool spot and punctuating her footsteps with sundry "Mon Dieux" and

"Oui, out," said Madame Garcia. She had carefully inspected the plantains, and seeing that they were good

He grew excited. "Yaas, dose cottonyardmans, dose 'longsho'mans, dey go out on one strik'. Dey t'row down

dey tool an' say dey work no mo' wid niggers. Les veseaux, dey lay in de river, no work, no cargo, yaas. Den

de fruit ship, dey can' mak' lan', de mans, dey t'reaten an' say t'ings. Dey mak' big fight, yaas. Dere no mo'

"Oh, mon Dieu, mon Dieu!" groaned Madame Garcia, rocking her guineablueclad self to and fro.

Mr. Baptiste picked up his nondescript headcover and walked out through the brickreddened alley, talking

excitedly to himself. Madame Garcia called after him to know if he did not want his luncheon, but he shook

Down on the levee it was even as Mr. Baptiste had said. The 'longshoremen, the cottonyardmen, and the

stevedores had gone out on a strike. The levee lay hot and unsheltered under the glare of a noonday sun. The

turgid Mississippi scarce seemed to flow, but gave forth a brazen gleam from its yellow bosom. Great vessels

lay against the wharf, silent and unpopulated. Excited groups of men clustered here and there among bales of

uncompressed cotton, lying about in disorderly profusion. Cargoes of molasses and sugar gave out a sticky

sweet smell, and now and then the fierce rays of the sun would kindle tiny blazes in the cotton and

Mr. Baptiste wandered in and out among the groups of men, exchanging a friendly salutation here and there.

"Hello, Mr. Baptiste," cried a big, brawny Irishman, "sure an' you look, as if you was about to be hanged."

"Damn the fruit!" cheerily replied the Irishman, artistically disposing of a mouthful of tobacco juice. "It ain't

"Hey, by howly St. Patrick, here's that little fruiteater!" called the centre of another group of strikers perched

"Hello! Where" began a second; but the leader suddenly held up his hand for silence, and the men listened

It might not have been a sound, for the levee lay quiet and the mules on the cottondrays dozed languidly,

their ears pitched at varying acute angles. But the practiced ears of the men heard a familiar sound stealing up

If ever you go on the levee you'll know that sound, the rhythmic song of the stevedores heaving cottonbales,

and the steady thump, thump, of the machine compressing them within the hold of the ship.

There was no need for a further invitation. The men rose in sullen wrath and went down the levee, the crowd

gathering in numbers as it passed along. Mr. Baptiste followed in its wake, now and then sighing a mournful

"Scabs!" Finnegan had said; and the word was passed along, until it seemed that the half of the second

The rhythmic chorus sounded nearer, and the cause manifested itself when the curve of the levee above the

French Market was passed. There rose a White Star steamer, insolently settling itself to the water as each

With muscles standing out like cables through their blue cotton shirts, and sweat rolling from glossy black

skins, the Negro stevedores were at work steadily labouring at the cotton, with the rhythmic song swinging its

cadence in the hot air. The roar of the crowd caused the men to look up with momentary apprehension, but at

Finnegan was a Titan. With livid face and bursting veins he ran into the street facing the French Market, and

uprooted a huge block of paving stone. Staggering under its weight, he rushed back to the ship, and with one

The delicate poles of the costly machine tottered in the air, then fell forward with a crash as the whole iron

The crowd's cheers at this changed to howls, as the Negroes, infuriated at their loss, for those costly machines

belong to the labourers and not to the shipowners, turned upon the mob and began to throw brickbats, pieces

of iron, chunks of wood, anything that came to hand. It was pandemonium turned loose over a turgid stream,

Mr. Baptiste had taken refuge behind a breadstall on the outside of the market. He had taken off his cap, and

"Will yez look at that damned fruiteatin' Frinchman!" howled McMahon. "Cheerin' the niggers, are you?"

Mr. Baptiste lay very still, with a great ugly gash in his wrinkled brown temple. Fishmen and vegetable

marchands gathered around him in a quick, sympathetic mass. The individual, the concrete bit of helpless

The noonhour pealed from the brazen throats of many bells, and the numerous hoarse whistles of the

steamboats called the unheeded luncheontime to the levee workers. The war waged furiously, and groans

"Killed instantly," said the surgeon, carefully lifting Mr. Baptiste into the ambulance.

"Whist! do yez hear!" shouted Finnegan; and the conflict had ceased ere the yellow river could reflect the sun

You remember, of course, how long the strike lasted, and how many battles were fought and lives lost before

the final adjustment of affairs. It was a fearsome war, and many forgot afterwards whose was the first life lost

in the struggle,poor little Mr. Baptiste's, whose body lay at the Morgue unclaimed for days before it was

There is a merry jangle of bells in the air, an allpervading sense of jester's noise, and the flaunting vividness

of royal colours. The streets swarm with humanity,humanity in all shapes, manners, forms, laughing,

pushing, jostling, crowding, a mass of men and women and children, as varied and assorted in their several

individual peculiarities as ever a crowd that gathered in one locality since the days of Babel.

It is Carnival in New Orleans; a brilliant Tuesday in February, when the very air gives forth an ozone

intensely exhilarating, making one long to cut capers. The buildings are a blazing mass of royal purple and

golden yellow, national flags, bunting, and decorations that laugh in the glint of the Midas sun. The streets

are a crush of jesters and maskers, Jim Crows and clowns, ballet girls and Mephistos, Indians and monkeys;

of wild and sudden flashes of music, of glittering pageants and comic ones, of befeathered and belled horses;

a dream of colour and melody and fantasy gone wild in an effervescent bubble of beauty that shifts and

A bevy of brighteyed girls and boys of that uncertain age that hovers between childhood and maturity, were

moving down Canal Street when there was a sudden jostle with another crowd meeting them. For a minute

there was a deafening clamour of shouts and laughter, cracking of the whips, which all maskers carry, a jingle

and clatter of carnival bells, and the masked and unmasked extricated themselves and moved from each

other's paths. But in the confusion a tall Prince of Darkness had whispered to one of the girls in the unmasked

crowd: "You'd better come with us, Flo; you're wasting time in that tame gang. Slip off, they'll never miss

And so it happened, when a halfhour passed, and the brighteyed bevy missed Flo and couldn't find her,

wisely giving up the search at last, she, the quietest and most bashful of the lot, was being initiated into the

Down Bourbon Street and on Toulouse and St. Peter Streets there are quaint little oldworld places where

one may be disguised effectually for a tiny consideration. Thither, guided by the shapely Mephisto and

guarded by the team of jockeys and ballet girls, tripped Flo. Into one of the lowestceiled, dingiest, and most

"A disguise for the demoiselle," announced Mephisto to the woman who met them. She was small and

wizened and old, with yellow, flabby jaws, a neck like the throat of an alligator, and straight, white hair that

"But the demoiselle wishes to appear a boy, un petit garcon?" she inquired, gazing eagerly at Flo's long,

slender frame. Her voice was old and thin, like the high quavering of an imperfect tuningfork, and her eyes

"Ma foi, there is no other," said the ancient, shrugging her shoulders. "But one is left now; mademoiselle

"Flo," said Mephisto, "it's a daredevil scheme, try it; no one will ever know it but us, and we'll die before we

And that was why you might have seen a Mephisto and a slender troubadour of lovely form, with mandolin

flung across his shoulder, followed by a bevy of jockeys and ballet girls, laughing and singing as they swept

When the flash and glare and brilliancy of Canal Street have palled upon the tired eye, when it is yet too soon

to go home to such a prosaic thing as dinner, and one still wishes for novelty, then it is wise to go into the

lower districts. There is fantasy and fancy and grotesqueness run wild in the costuming and the behaviour of

the maskers. Such dances and whoops and leaps as these hideous Indians and devils do indulge in; such wild

curvetings and long walks! In the open squares, where whole groups do congregate, it is wonderfully

amusing. Then, too, there is a ball in every available hall, a delirious ball, where one may dance all day for

ten cents; dance and grow mad for joy, and never know who were your companions, and be yourself

unknown. And in the exhilaration of the day, one walks miles and miles, and dances and skips, and the

In Washington Square, away down where Royal Street empties its stream of children great and small into the

broad channel of Elysian Fields Avenue, there was a perfect Indian powwow. With a little imagination one

might have willed away the vision of the surrounding houses, and fancied one's self again in the forest, where

the natives were holding a sacred riot. The square was filled with spectators, masked and unmasked. It was

Suddenly one chief touched another on the elbow. "See that Mephisto and troubadour over there?" he

"I don't know the devil," responded the other, quietly, "but I'd know that other form anywhere. It's Leon, see?

"No. I'd know that one anywhere; I feel it is he. I'll pay him now. Ah, sweetheart, you've waited long, but you

shall feast now!" He was caressing something long and lithe and glittering beneath his blanket.

In a masked dance it is easy to give a deathblow between the shoulders. Two crowds meet and laugh and

shout and mingle almost inextricably, and if a shriek of pain should arise, it is not noticed in the din, and

when they part, if one should stagger and fall bleeding to the ground, can any one tell who has given the

blow? There is nothing but an unknown stiletto on the ground, the crowd has dispersed, and masks tell no

And that is how it happened on Carnival night, in the last mad moments of Rex's reign, a brokenhearted

mother sat gazing wideeyed and mute at a horrible something that lay across the bed. Outside the long sweet

march music of many bands floated in as if in mockery, and the flash of rockets and Bengal lights illumined

When Miss Sophie knew consciousness again, the long, faint, swelling notes of the organ were dying away in

distant echoes through the great arches of the silent church, and she was alone, crouching in a little, forsaken

black heap at the altar of the Virgin. The twinkling tapers shone pityingly upon her, the beneficent smile of

the whiterobed Madonna seemed to whisper comfort. A long gust of chill air swept up the aisles, and Miss

But darkness was falling, and soon the lights would be lowered, and the great massive doors would be closed;

so, gathering her thin little cape about her frail shoulders, Miss Sophie hurried out, and along the brilliant

It was a wretched, lonely little room, where the cracks let the boisterous wind whistle through, and the

smoky, grimy walls looked cheerless and unhomelike. A miserable little room in a miserable little cottage in

one of the squalid streets of the Third District that nature and the city fathers seemed to have forgotten.

As bare and comfortless as the room was Miss Sophie's life. She rented these four walls from an unkempt

little Creole woman, whose progeny seemed like the promised offspring of Abraham. She scarcely kept the

flickering life in her pale little body by the unceasing toil of a pair of bony hands, stitching, stitching,

ceaselessly, wearingly, on the bands and pockets of trousers. It was her bread, this monotonous, unending

work; and though whole days and nights constant labour brought but the most meagre recompense, it was her

She sat before the little charcoal brazier and warmed her transparent, needlepricked fingers, thinking

meanwhile of the strange events of the day. She had been up town to carry the great, black bundle of coarse

pants and vests to the factory and to receive her small pittance, and on the way home stopped in at the Jesuit

Church to say her little prayer at the altar of the calm white Virgin. There had been a wondrous burst of

music from the great organ as she knelt there, an overpowering perfume of many flowers, the glittering

dazzle of many lights, and the dainty froufrou made by the silken skirts of wedding guests. So Miss Sophie

stayed to the wedding; for what feminine heart, be it ever so old and seared, does not delight in one? And

Then the wedding party had filed in solemnly, to the rolling, swelling tones of the organ. Importantlooking

groomsmen; dainty, fluffy, whiterobed maids; stately, satinrobed, illusionveiled bride, and happy groom.

Those near the Virgin's altar who heard a faint sigh and rustle on the steps glanced curiously as they saw a

slight blackrobed figure clutch the railing and lean her head against it. Miss Sophie had fainted.

"I must have been hungry," she mused over the charcoal fire in her little room, "I must have been hungry;"

and she smiled a wan smile, and busied herself getting her evening meal of coffee and bread and ham.

If one were given to pity, the first thought that would rush to one's lips at sight of Miss Sophie would have

been, "Poor little woman!" She had come among the bareness and sordidness of this neighbourhood five

years ago, robed in crape, and crying with great sobs that seemed to shake the vitality out of her. Perfectly

silent, too, she was about her former life; but for all that, Michel, the quartee grocer at the corner, and

Madame Laurent, who kept the rabbe shop opposite, had fixed it all up between them, of her sad history and

past glories. Not that they knew; but then Michel must invent something when the neighbours came to him as

One morning little Miss Sophie opened wide her dingy windows to catch the early freshness of the autumn

wind as it whistled through the yellowleafed trees. It was one of those calm, bluemisted, balmy, November

days that New Orleans can have when all the rest of the country is furwrapped. Miss Sophie pulled her

machine to the window, where the sweet, damp wind could whisk among her black locks.

Whirr, whirr, went the machine, ticking fast and lightly over the belts of the rough jeans pants. Whirr, whirr,

yes, and Miss Sophie was actually humming a tune! She felt strangely light today.

"Ma foi," muttered Michel, strolling across the street to where Madame Laurent sat sewing behind the

counter on blue and brownchecked aprons, "but the little ma'amselle sings. Perhaps she recollects."

But little Miss Sophie felt restless. A strange impulse seemed drawing her up town, and the machine seemed

to run slow, slow, before it would stitch all of the endless number of jeans belts. Her fingers trembled with

nervous haste as she pinned up the unwieldy black bundle of finished work, and her feet fairly tripped over

each other in their eagerness to get to Claiborne Street, where she could board the uptown car. There was a

feverish desire to go somewhere, a sense of elation, a foolish happiness that brought a faint echo of colour

No one noticed her in the car. Passengers on the Claiborne line are too much accustomed to frail little

blackrobed women with big, black bundles; it is one of the city's most pitiful sights. She leaned her head out

of the window to catch a glimpse of the oleanders on Bayou Road, when her attention was caught by a

"Yes, it's too bad for Neale, and lately married too," said the elder man. "I can't see what he is to do."

Neale! She pricked up her ears. That was the name of the groom in the Jesuit Church.

"How did it happen?" languidly inquired the younger. He was a stranger, evidently; a stranger with a high

"Well, the firm failed first; he didn't mind that much, he was so sure of his uncle's inheritance repairing his

lost fortunes; but suddenly this difficulty of identification springs up, and he is literally on the verge of ruin."

"Gracious man, we've tried; but the absurd old will expressly stipulates that he shall be known only by a

certain quaint Roman ring, and unless he has it, no identification, no fortune. He has given the ring away, and

"Easily said; butit seems that Neale had some little Creole loveaffair some years ago, and gave this ring

to his duskyeyed fiancee. You know how Neale is with his loveaffairs, went off and forgot the girl in a

month. It seems, however, she took it to heart,so much so that he's ashamed to try to find her or the ring."

Miss Sophie heard no more as she gazed out into the dusty grass. There were tears in her eyes, hot blinding

ones that wouldn't drop for pride, but stayed and scalded. She knew the story, with all its embellishment of

heartaches. She knew the ring, too. She remembered the day she had kissed and wept and fondled it, until it

seemed her heart must burst under its load of grief before she took it to the pawnbroker's that another might

be eased before the end came,that other her father. The little "Creole love affair" of Neale's had not always

been poor and old and jadedlooking; but reverses must come, even Neale knew that, so the ring was at the

Mont de Piete. Still he must have it, it was his; it would save him from disgrace and suffering and from

There it was still at the pawnbroker's; no one would have such an odd jewel, and the ticket was home in the

bureau drawer. Well, he must have it; she might starve in the attempt. Such a thing as going to him and

telling him that he might redeem it was an impossibility. That good, straightbacked, stiffnecked Creole

blood would have risen in all its strength and choked her. No; as a present had the quaint Roman circlet been

The bumping car rode slowly, and the hot thoughts beat heavily in her poor little head. He must have the ring;

but howthe ringthe Roman ringthe whiterobed bride starvingshe was going madah yesthe

There it was, right in the busiest, most bustling part of the town, its fresco and bronze and iron quaintly

suggestive of mediaeval times. Within, all was cool and dim and restful, with the faintest whiff of lingering

incense rising and pervading the gray arches. Yes, the Virgin would know and have pity; the sweet,

whiterobed Virgin at the pretty flowerdecked altar, or the one away up in the niche, far above the golden

dome where the Host was. Titiche, the busybody of the house, noticed that Miss Sophie's bundle was larger

than usual that afternoon. "Ah, poor woman!" sighed Titiche's mother, "she would be rich for Christmas."

The bundle grew larger each day, and Miss Sophie grew smaller. The damp, cold rain and mist closed the

whitecurtained window, but always there behind the sewingmachine drooped and bobbed the little

blackrobed figure. Whirr, whirr went the wheels, and the coarse jeans pants piled in great heaps at her side.

The Claiborne Street car saw her oftener than before, and the sweet white Virgin in the flowered niche above

"Ma foi," said the slatternly landlady to Madame Laurent and Michel one day, "I no see how she live! Eat?

Nothin', nothin', almos', and las' night when it was so cold and foggy, eh? I hav' to mek him build fire. She

Whereupon the rumour spread that Miss Sophie was starving herself to death to get some luckless relative out

of jail for Christmas; a rumour which enveloped her scraggy little figure with a kind of halo to the neighbours

November had merged into December, and the little pile of coins was yet far from the sum needed. Dear

God! how the money did have to go! The rent and the groceries and the coal, though, to be sure, she used a

precious bit of that. Would all the work and saving and skimping do good? Maybe, yes, maybe by Christmas.

Christmas Eve on Royal Street is no place for a weakling, for the shouts and carousels of the roisterers will

strike fear into the bravest ones. Yet amid the cries and yells, the deafening blow of horns and tin whistles,

and the really dangerous fusillade of fireworks, a little figure hurried along, one hand clutching tightly the

battered hat that the rude merrymakers had torn off, the other grasping under the thin black cape a worn

Into the Mont de Piete she ran breathless, eager. The ticket? Here, worn, crumpled. The ring? It was not

gone? No, thank Heaven! It was a joy well worth her toil, she thought, to have it again.

Had Titiche not been shooting crackers on the banquette instead of peering into the crack, as was his wont,

his big, round black eyes would have grown saucerwide to see little Miss Sophie kiss and fondle a ring, an

"Ah, dear ring," she murmured, "once you were his, and you shall be his again. You shall be on his finger,

and perhaps touch his heart. Dear ring, ma chere petite de ma coeur, cherie de ma coeur. Je t'aime, je t'aime,

oui, oui. You are his; you were mine once too. Tonight, just one night, I'll keep youthentomorrow,

The loud whistles and horns of the little ones rose on the balmy air next morning. No one would doubt it was

Christmas Day, even if doors and windows were open wide to let in cool air. Why, there was Christmas even

in the very look of the mules on the poky cars; there was Christmas noise in the streets, and Christmas toys

and Christmas odours, savoury ones that made the nose wrinkle approvingly, issuing from the kitchen.

Michel and Madame Laurent smiled greetings across the street at each other, and the salutation from a

"Miss Sophie, well, po' soul, not ver' much Chris'mas for her. Mais, I'll jus' call him in fo' to spen' the day

It was so clean and orderly within the poor little room. Not a speck of dust or a litter of any kind on the quaint

little oldtime high bureau, unless you might except a sheet of paper lying loose with something written on it.

Titiche had evidently inherited his prying propensities, for the landlady turned it over and read,

LOUIS,Here is the ring. I return it to you. I heard you needed it. I hope it comes not too late. SOPHIE.

"The ring, where?" muttered the landlady. There it was, clasped between her fingers on her bosom,a

bosom white and cold, under a cold happy face. Christmas had indeed dawned for Miss Sophie.

Sister Josepha told her beads mechanically, her fingers numb with the accustomed exercise. The little organ

creaked a dismal "O Salutaris," and she still knelt on the floor, her whitebonneted head nodding

suspiciously. The Mother Superior gave a sharp glance at the tired figure; then, as a sudden lurch forward

brought the little sister back to consciousness, Mother's eyes relaxed into a genuine smile.

The bell tolled the end of vespers, and the sombrerobed nuns filed out of the chapel to go about their

evening duties. Little Sister Josepha's work was to attend to the household lamps, but there must have been as

much oil spilled upon the table tonight as was put in the vessels. The small brown hands trembled so that

most of the wicks were trimmed with points at one corner which caused them to smoke that night.

"Oh, cher Seigneur," she sighed, giving an impatient polish to a refractory chimney, "it is wicked and sinful, I

know, but I am so tired. I can't be happy and sing any more. It doesn't seem right for le bon Dieu to have me

all cooped up here with nothing to see but stray visitors, and always the same old work, teaching those mean

little girls to sew, and washing and filling the same old lamps. Pah!" And she polished the chimney with a

They were rebellious prayers that the red mouth murmured that night, and a restless figure that tossed on the

hard dormitory bed. Sister Dominica called from her couch to know if Sister Josepha were ill.

"No," was the somewhat short response; then a muttered, "Why can't they let me alone for a minute? That

About fifteen years before this night some one had brought to the orphan asylum connected with this convent,

du Sacre Coeur, a round, dimpled bit of threeyearold humanity, who regarded the world from a pair of

gravely twinkling black eyes, and only took a chubby thumb out of a rosy mouth long enough to answer in

monosyllabic French. It was a child without an identity; there was but one name that any one seemed to

She grew up with the rest of the waifs; scraps of French and American civilization thrown together to develop

a seemingly inconsistent miniature world. Mademoiselle Camille was a queen among them, a pretty little

One day an awakening came. When she was fifteen, and almost fully ripened into a glorious tropical beauty

of the type that matures early, some visitors to the convent were fascinated by her and asked the Mother

Camille fled like a frightened fawn into the yard, and was only unearthed with some difficulty from behind a

group of palms. Sulky and pouting, she was led into the parlour, picking at her blue pinafore like a spoiled

"The lady and gentleman wish you to go home with them, Camille," said the Mother Superior, in the

language of the convent. Her voice was kind and gentle apparently; but the child, accustomed to its various

inflections, detected a steely ring behind its softness, like the proverbial iron hand in the velvet glove.

"You must understand, madame," continued Mother, in stilted English, "that we never force children from us.

We are ever glad to place them in comfortablehow you say that?quarters maisonshomesbien!

Camille stole a glance at her wouldbe guardians, and decided instantly, impulsively, finally. The woman

suited her; but the man! It was doubtless intuition of the quick, vivacious sort which belonged to her blood

that served her. Untutored in worldly knowledge, she could not divine the meaning of the pronounced leers

and admiration of her physical charms which gleamed in the man's face, but she knew it made her feel

creepy, and stoutly refused to go. Next day Camille was summoned from a task to the Mother Superior's

parlour. The other girls gazed with envy upon her as she dashed down the courtyard with impetuous

movement. Camille, they decided crossly, received too much notice. It was Camille this, Camille that; she

was pretty, it was to be expected. Even Father Ray lingered longer in his blessing when his hands pressed her

As she entered the parlour, a strange chill swept over the girl. The room was not an unaccustomed one, for

she had swept it many times, but today the stiff black chairs, the dismal crucifixes, the gleaming whiteness

of the walls, even the cheap lithograph of the Madonna which Camille had always regarded as a perfect

"Camille, ma chere," said Mother, "I am extremely displeased with you. Why did you not wish to go with

The girl uncrossed her hands from her bosom, and spread them out in a deprecating gesture.

"It is not foolishness, ma mere; I could not help it, but that man looked at me so funny, I felt all cold chills

down my back. Oh, dear Mother, I love the convent and the sisters so, I just want to stay and be a sister too,

And thus it was that Camille took the white veil at sixteen years. Now that the period of novitiate was over, it

"Maybe it would have been better had I gone with the funnylooking lady and gentleman," she mused

bitterly one night. "Oh, Seigneur, I 'm so tired and impatient; it's so dull here, and, dear God, I'm so young."

There was no help for it. One must arise in the morning, and help in the refectory with the stupid Sister

Francesca, and go about one's duties with a prayerful mien, and not even let a sigh escape when one's head

A great fete day was coming, and an atmosphere of preparation and mild excitement pervaded the brown

walls of the convent like a delicate aroma. The old Cathedral around the corner had stood a hundred years,

and all the city was rising to do honour to its age and timesoftened beauty. There would be a service, oh, but

such a one! with two Cardinals, and Archbishops and Bishops, and all the accompanying glitter of soldiers

and orchestras. The little sisters of the Convent du Sacre Coeur clasped their hands in anticipation of the holy

The day came, a gold and blue spring day, when the air hung heavy with the scent of roses and magnolias,

and the sunbeams fairly laughed as they kissed the houses. The old Cathedral stood gray and solemn, and the

flowers in Jackson Square smiled cheery birthday greetings across the way. The crowd around the door

surged and pressed and pushed in its eagerness to get within. Ribbons stretched across the banquette were of

no avail to repress it, and important ushers with cardinal colours could do little more.

The Sacred Heart sisters filed slowly in at the side door, creating a momentary flutter as they paced reverently

to their seats, guarding the bluebonneted orphans. Sister Josepha, determined to see as much of the world as

she could, kept her big black eyes opened wide, as the church rapidly filled with the fashionably dressed,

Her heart beat quickly. The rebellious thoughts that will arise in the most philosophical of us surged in her

small heavily gowned bosom. For her were the gray things, the neutral tinted skies, the ugly garb, the coarse

meats; for them the rainbow, the ethereal airiness of earthly joys, the bonbons and glaces of the world. Sister

Josepha did not know that the rainbow is elusive, and its colours but the illumination of tears; she had never

been told that earthly ethereality is necessarily ephemeral, nor that bonbons and glaces, whether of the palate

or of the soul, nauseate and pall upon the taste. Dear God, forgive her, for she bent with contrite tears over

The sunbeams streamed through the high windows in purple and crimson lights upon a veritable fugue of

colour. Within the seats, crush upon crush of spring millinery; within the aisles erect lines of goldbraided,

goldbuttoned military. Upon the altar, broad sweeps of golden robes, great dashes of crimson skirts, mitres

and gleaming crosses, the soft neutral hue of rich lace vestments; the tender heads of childhood in picturesque

attire; the proud, golden magnificence of the domed altar with its weighting mass of lilies and wideeyed

roses, and the long candles that sparkled their yellow star points above the reverent throng within the altar

The soft baritone of the Cardinal intoned a single phrase in the suspended silence. The censer took up the

note in its delicate clink clink, as it swung to and fro in the hands of a fairhaired child. Then the organ,

pausing an instant in a deep, mellow, longdrawn note, burst suddenly into a magnificent strain, and the choir

sang forth, "Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison." One voice, flutelike, piercing, sweet, rang high over the rest.

Sister Josepha heard and trembled, as she buried her face in her hands, and let her tears fall, like other beads,

It was when the final word of the service had been intoned, the last peal of the exit march had died away, that

she looked up meekly, to encounter a pair of youthful brown eyes gazing pityingly upon her. That was all she

remembered for a moment, that the eyes were youthful and handsome and tender. Later, she saw that they

were placed in a rather beautiful boyish face, surmounted by waves of brown hair, curling and soft, and that

the head was set on a pair of shoulders decked in military uniform. Then the brown eyes marched away with

the rest of the rear guard, and the whitebonneted sisters filed out the side door, through the narrow court,

That night Sister Josepha tossed more than usual on her hard bed, and clasped her fingers often in prayer to

quell the wickedness in her heart. Turn where she would, pray as she might, there was ever a pair of tender,

pitying brown eyes, haunting her persistently. The squeaky organ at vespers intoned the clank of military

accoutrements to her ears, the white bonnets of the sisters about her faded into mists of curling brown hair.

The days went on pretty much as before, save for the one little heart that beat rebelliously now and then,

though it tried so hard to be submissive. There was the morning work in the refectory, the stupid little girls to

teach sewing, and the insatiable lamps that were so greedy for oil. And always the tender, boyish brown eyes,

that looked so sorrowfully at the fragile, beautiful little sister, haunting, following, pleading.

Perchance, had Sister Josepha been in the world, the eyes would have been an incident. But in this home of

selfrepression and retrospection, it was a lifestory. The eyes had gone their way, doubtless forgetting the

The days glided into weeks, the weeks into months. Thoughts of escape had come to Sister Josepha, to flee

into the world, to merge in the great city where recognition was impossible, and, working her way like the

It was all planned and ready. She would wait until some morning when the little band of blackrobed sisters

wended their way to mass at the Cathedral. When it was time to file out the sidedoor into the courtway, she

would linger at prayers, then slip out another door, and unseen glide up Chartres Street to Canal, and once

there, mingle in the throng that filled the wide thoroughfare. Beyond this first plan she could think no further.

Penniless, garbed, and shaven though she would be, other difficulties never presented themselves to her. She

would rely on the mercies of the world to help her escape from this torturing life of inertia. It seemed easy

The Saturday night before the final day had come, and she lay feverishly nervous in her narrow little bed,

wondering with wideeyed fear at the morrow. Paleeyed Sister Dominica and Sister Francesca were

whispering together in the dark silence, and Sister Josepha's ears pricked up as she heard her name.

"She is not well, poor child," said Francesca. "I fear the life is too confining."

"It is best for her," was the reply. "You know, sister, how hard it would be for her in the world, with no name

Sister Josepha heard no more, for her heart beating tumultuously in her bosom drowned the rest. Like the

rush of the bitter salt tide over a drowning man clinging to a spar, came the complete submerging of her

hopes of another life. No name but Camille, that was true; no nationality, for she could never tell from whom

or whence she came; no friends, and a beauty that not even an ungainly bonnet and shaven head could hide.

In a flash she realised the deception of the life she would lead, and the cruel selftorture of wonder at her

own identity. Already, as if in anticipation of the world's questionings, she was asking herself, "Who am I?

The next morning the sisters du Sacre Coeur filed into the Cathedral at High Mass, and bent devout knees at

the general confession. "Confiteor Deo omnipotenti," murmured the priest; and tremblingly one little sister

followed the words, "Je confesse a Dieu, tout puissantque j'ai beaucoup peche par penseesc'est ma

The organ pealed forth as mass ended, the throng slowly filed out, and the sisters paced through the courtway

back into the brown convent walls. One paused at the entrance, and gazed with swift longing eyes in the

direction of narrow, squalid Chartres Street, then, with a gulping sob, followed the rest, and vanished behind

The praline woman sits by the side of the Archbishop's quaint little old chapel on Royal Street, and slowly

"Pralines, pralines. Ah, ma'amzelle, you buy? S'il vous plait, ma'amzelle, ces pralines, dey be fine, ver' fresh.

"Sho', chile, ma bebe, ma petite, she put dese up hissef. He's hans' so small, ma'amzelle, lak you's, mais

"Mais oui, madame, I know you etranger. You don' look lak dese New Orleans peop'. You lak' dose Yankee

Dingdong, dingdong, dingdong, chimes the Cathedral bell across Jack son Square, and the praline

"Pralines, madame? You buy lak' dat? Dix sous, madame, an' one lil' piece fo' lagniappe fo' madame's lil'

"Pralines, pralines, so fresh, so fine! M'sieu would lak' some fo' he's lil' gal' at home? Mais non, what's dat

you say? She's daid! Ah, m'sieu, 'tis my lil' gal what died long year ago. Misere, misere!

"Here come dat lazy Indien squaw. What she good fo', anyhow? She jes' sit lak dat in de French Market an'

sell her file, an' sleep, sleep, sleep, lak' so in he's blanket. Hey, dere, you, Tonita, how goes you' beezness?

"Pralines, pralines! Holy Father, you give me dat blessin' sho'? Tak' one, I know you lak dat w'ite one. It tas'

"Pralines, madame? I lak' you' face. What fo' you wear black? You' lil' boy daid? You tak' one, jes' see how it

tas'. I had one lil' boy once, he jes' grow 'twell he's big lak' dis, den one day he tak' sick an' die. Oh, madame,

it mos' brek my po' heart. I burn candle in St. Rocque, I say my beads, I sprinkle holy water roun' he's bed; he

jes' lay so, he's eyes turn up, he say 'Maman, maman,' den he die! Madame, you tak' one. Non, non, no

"Pralines, pralines, m'sieu? Who mak' dese? My lil' gal, Didele, of co'se. Non, non, I don't mak' no mo'. Po'

Tante Marie get too ol'. Didele? She's one lil' gal I 'dopt. I see her one day in de strit. He walk so; hit col' she

shiver, an' I say, 'Where you gone, lil' gal?' and he can' tell. He jes' crip close to me, an' cry so! Den I tak' her

home wid me, and she say he's name Didele. You see dey wa'nt nobody dere. My lil' gal, she's daid of de

yellow fever; my lil' boy, he's daid, po' Tante Marie all alone. Didele, she grow fine, she keep house an' mek'

"'Tu l'aime ces trois jours, Tu l'aime ces trois jours, Ma coeur a toi, Ma coeur a toi, Tu l'aime ces trois jours!'

"Here come dat lazy I'ishman down de strit. I don't lak' I'ishman, me, non, dey so funny. One day one

I'ishman, he say to me, 'Auntie, what fo' you talk so?' and I jes' say back, 'What fo' you say "Faith an' be

"Here come de rain! Now I got fo' to go. Didele, she be wait fo' me. Down h'it come! H'it fall in de

Meesseesip, an' fill upupso, clean to de levee, den we have big crivasse, an' po' Tante Marie float away.

Now and then Carnival time comes at the time of the good Saint Valentine, and then sometimes it comes as

late as the warm days in March, when spring is indeed upon us, and the greenness of the grass outvies the

Days and days before the Carnival proper, New Orleans begins to take on a festive appearance. Here and

there the royal flags with their glowing greens and violets and yellows appear, and then, as if by magic, the

streets and buildings flame and burst like poppies out of bud, into a glorious refulgence of colour that steeps

On Mardi Gras day, as you know, it is a town gone mad with folly. A huge masked ball emptied into the

streets at daylight; a meeting of all nations on common ground, a potpourri of every conceivable human

ingredient, but faintly describes it all. There are music and flowers, cries and laughter and song and

joyousness, and never an aching heart to show its sorrow or dim the happiness of the streets. A wondrous

But the old cronies down in Frenchtown, who know everything, and can recite you many a story, tell of one

sad heart on Mardi Gras years ago. It was a woman's, of course; for "Il est toujours les femmes qui sont

malheureuses," says an old proverb, and perhaps it is right. This womana child, she would be called

elsewhere, save in this land of tropical growth and precocitylost her heart to one who never knew, a very

common story, by the way, but one which would have been quite distasteful to the haughty judge, her father,

Odalie was beautiful. Odalie was haughty too, but gracious enough to those who pleased her dainty fancy. In

the old French house on Royal Street, with its quaint windows and Spanish courtyard green and cool, and

made musical by the plashing of the fountain and the trill of caged birds, lived Odalie in conventlike

seclusion. Monsieur le Juge was determined no hawk should break through the cage and steal his dove; and

Alas for the precautions of la Tante! Bright eyes that search for other bright eyes in which lurks the spirit of

youth and mischief are ever on the lookout, even in church. Dutifully was Odalie marched to the Cathedral

every Sunday to mass, and Tante Louise, nodding devoutly over her beads, could not see the blushes and

glances full of meaning, a whole code of signals as it were, that passed between Odalie and Pierre, the

Odalie loved, perhaps, because there was not much else to do. When one is shut up in a great French house

with a grim sleepy tante and no companions of one's own age, life becomes a dull thing, and one is ready for

any new sensation, particularly if in the veins there bounds the tempestuous SpanishFrench blood that

Monsieur le Juge boasted of. So Odalie hugged the image of her Pierre during the week days, and played

tremulous little lovesongs to it in the twilight when la Tante dozed over her devotion book, and on Sundays

at mass there were glances and blushes, and mayhap, at some especially remembered time, the touch of

Then came the Carnival time, and one little heart beat faster, as the gray house on Royal Street hung out its

manyhued flags, and draped its grim front with glowing colours. It was to be a time of joy and relaxation,

when every one could go abroad, and in the crowds one could speak to whom one chose. Unconscious plans

It was Mardi Gras day at last, and early through her window Odalie could hear the jingle of folly bells on the

maskers' costumes, the tinkle of music, and the echoing strains of songs. Up to her ears there floated the

laughter of the older maskers, and the screams of the little children frightened at their own images under the

mask and domino. What a hurry to be out and in the motley merry throng, to be pacing Royal Street to Canal

They were tired eyes with which Odalie looked at the gay pageant at last, tired with watching throng after

throng of maskers, of the unmasked, of peering into the cartsful of singing minstrels, into carriages of

revellers, hoping for a glimpse of Pierre the devout. The allegorical carts rumbling by with their important

redclothed horses were beginning to lose charm, the disguises showed tawdry, even the gayhued flags

Mardi Gras was a tiresome day, after all, she sighed, and Tante Louise agreed with her for once.

Six o'clock had come, the hour when all masks must be removed. The long red rays of the setting sun glinted

athwart the manyhued costumes of the revellers trooping unmasked homeward to rest for the night's last

Down Toulouse Street there came the merriest throng of all. Young men and women in dainty, fairylike

garb, dancers, and dresses of the picturesque Empire, a butterfly or two and a dame here and there with

powdered hair and graces of olden time. Singing with unmasked faces, they danced toward Tante Louise and

Odalie. She stood with eyes lustrous and tearheavy, for there in the front was Pierre, Pierre the faithless, his

arms about the slender waist of a butterfly, whose tinselled powdered hair floated across the lace ruffles of his

"Pierre!" cried Odalie, softly. No one heard, for it was a mere faint breath and fell unheeded. Instead the

laughing throng pelted her with flowers and candy and went their way, and even Pierre did not see.

You see, when one is shut up in the grim walls of a Royal Street house, with no one but a Tante Louise and a

grim judge, how is one to learn that in this world there are faithless ones who may glance tenderly into one's

eyes at mass and pass the holy water on caressing fingers without being madly in love? There was no one to

tell Odalie, so she sat at home in the dull first days of Lent, and nursed her dear dead love, and mourned as

women have done from time immemorial over the faithlessness of man. And when one day she asked that she

might go back to the Ursulines' convent where her childish days were spent, only to go this time as a nun,

Monsieur le Juge and Tante Louise thought it quite the proper and convenient thing to do; for how were they

If you never lived in Mandeville, you cannot appreciate the thrill of wholesome, satisfied joy which sweeps

over its inhabitants every evening at five o'clock. It is the hour for the arrival of the "New Camelia," the

happening of the day. As early as four o'clock the trailing smoke across the horizon of the treacherous Lake

Pontchartrain appears, and Mandeville knows then that the hour for its siesta has passed, and that it must

array itself in its coolest and fluffiest garments, and go down to the pier to meet this sole connection between

itself and the outside world; the little, puffy, sidewheel steamer that comes daily from New Orleans and

On this particular day there was an air of suppressed excitement about the little knot of people which

gathered on the pier. To be sure, there were no outward signs to show that anything unusual had occurred.

The small folks danced with the same glee over the worn boards, and peered down with daring excitement

into the perilous depths of the water below. The sun, fast sinking in a gorgeous glow behind the pines of the

Tchefuncta region far away, danced his mischievous rays in much the same manner that he did every other

day. But there was a something in the air, a something not tangible, but mysterious, subtle. You could catch

an indescribable whiff of it in your inner senses, by the halfeager, furtive glances that the small crowd cast

"Gar, gar, le bateau!" said one darktressed mother to the wideeyed baby. "Et, oui," she added, in an

La Juanita, you must know, was the pride of Mandeville, the adored, the admired of all, with her petite,

halfSpanish, halfFrench beauty. Whether rocking in the shade of the Cherokeerosecovered gallery of

Grandpere Colomes' big house, her fair face bonnetshaded, her dainty hands gloved to keep the sun from

too close an acquaintance, or splashing the spray from the bow of her little pirogue, or fluffing her skirts

about her tiny feet on the pier, she was the pet and ward of Mandeville, as it were, La Juanita Alvarez, since

And now La Juanita had set her small foot down with a passionate stamp before Grandpere Colomes' very

face, and tossed her black curls about her wilful head, and said she would go to the pier this evening to meet

her Mercer. All Mandeville knew this, and cast its furtive glances alternately at La Juanita with two big pink

spots in her cheeks, and at the entrance to the pier, expecting Grandpere Colomes and a scene.

The sun cast red glows and violet shadows over the pier, and the pines murmured a soft little vesper hymn

among themselves up on the beach, as the "New Camelia" swung herself in, crabby, sidewise, like a fat old

gentleman going into a small door. There was the clang of an important bell, the scream of a hoarse little

whistle, and Mandeville rushed to the gangplank to welcome the outside world. Juanita put her hand

through a waiting arm, and tripped away with her Mercer, big and blond and brawny. "Un Americain, pah!"

said the little mother of the black eyes. And Mandeville sighed sadly, and shook its head, and was sorry for

This was Saturday, and the big regatta would be Monday. Ah, that regatta, such a one as Mandeville had

never seen! There were to be boats from Madisonville and Amite, from Lewisburg and Covington, and even

faraway Nott's Point. There was to be a Class A and Class B and Class C, and the little French girls of the

town flaunted their ribbons down the one oakshaded, lakekissed street, and dared anyone to say theirs were

In Class A was entered, "La Juanita,' captain Mercer Grangeman, colours pink and gold." Her name, her

Of course, not being a Mandevillian, you could not understand the shame of Grandpere Colomes at this. Was

it not bad enough for his petite Juanita, his Spanish blossom, his hope of a family that had held itself proudly

aloof from "dose Americain" from time immemorial, to have smiled upon this Mercer, this paleeyed youth?

Was it not bad enough for her to demean herself by walking upon the pier with him? But for a boat, his boat,

"un bateau Americain," to be named La Juanita! Oh, the shame of it! Grandpere Colomes prayed a devout

Monday came, clear and blue and stifling. The waves of hot air danced on the sands and adown the one street

merrily. Glassily calm lay the Pontchartrain, heavily still hung the atmosphere. Madame Alvarez cast an

inquiring glance toward the sky. Grandpere Colomes chuckled. He had not lived on the shores of the

treacherous Lake Pontchartrain for nothing. He knew its every mood, its petulances and passions; he knew

this glassy warmth and what it meant. Chuckling again and again, he stepped to the gallery and looked out

over the lake, and at the pier, where lay the boats rocking and idly tugging at their moorings. La Juanita in her

rosescented room tied the pink ribbons on her dainty frock, and fastened cloth of gold roses at her lithe

It was said that just before the crack of the pistol La Juanita's tiny hand lay in Mercer's, and that he bent his

In another instant the white wings were off scudding before the rising breeze, dipping their glossy boatsides

into the clear water, straining their cordage in their tense efforts to reach the stake boats. Mandeville

indiscriminately distributed itself on piers, large and small, bathhouse tops, trees, and craft of all kinds, from

pirogue, dory, and pineraft to pretentious catboat and shellschooner. Mandeville cheered and strained its

eyes after all the boats, but chiefly was its attention directed to "La Juanita."

Old Colomes on the big pier with Madame Alvarez and his granddaughter was intently straining his

weatherbeaten face in the direction of Nott's Point, his back resolutely turned upon the scudding white

wings. A sudden chuckle of grim satisfaction caused La Petite's head to toss petulantly.

But only for a minute, for Grandpere Colomes' chuckle was followed by a shout of dismay from those whose

glance had followed his. You must know that it is around Nott's Point that the storm king shows his wings

first, for the little peninsula guards the entrance which leads into the southeast waters of the stormy Rigolets

and the blustering Gulf. You would know, if you lived in Mandeville, that when the pines on Nott's Point

darken and when the water shows white beyond like the teeth of a hungry wolf, it is time to steer your boat

into the mouth of some one of the many calm bayous which flow silently throughout St. Tammany parish

into the lake. Small wonder that the cry of dismay went up now, for Nott's Point was black, with a lurid light

overhead, and the roar of the grim southeast wind came ominously over the water.

La Juanita clasped her hands and strained her eyes for her namesake. The racers had rounded the second

stakeboat, and the course of the triangle headed them directly for the lurid cloud.

You should have seen Grandpere Colomes then. He danced up and down the pier in a perfect frenzy. The thin

pale lips of Madame Alvarez moved in a silent prayer; La Juanita stood coldly silent.

And now you could see that the advance guard of the southeast force had struck the little fleet. They dipped

and scurried and rocked, and you could see the sails being reefed hurriedly, and almost hear the rigging creak

and moan under the strain. Then the wind came up the lake, and struck the town with a tumultuous force. The

waters rose and heaved in the long, sullen groundswell, which betokened serious trouble. There was a rush

of lakecraft to shelter. Heavy gray waves boomed against the breakwaters and piers, dashing their brackish

spray upon the strained watchers; then with a shriek and a howl the storm burst full, with blinding sheets of

rain, and a great hurricane of Gulf wind that threatened to blow the little town away.

La Juanita was proud. When Grandpere and Madame led her away in the storm, though her face was white,

and the rose mouth pressed close, not a word did she say, and her eyes were as bright as ever before. It was

foolish to hope that the frail boats could survive such a storm. There was not even the merest excuse for

shelter out in the waters, and when Lake Pontchartrain grows angry, it devours without pity.

Your tropical storm is soon over, however, and in an hour the sun struggled through a gray and misty sky,

over which the wind was sweeping great clouds. The raindrops hung diamondlike on the thick foliage, but

the long groundswell still boomed against the breakwaters and showed white teeth, far to the south.

As chickens creep from under shelter after a rain, so the people of Mandeville crept out again on the piers, on

the bathhouses, on the breakwater edge, and watched eagerly for the boats. Slowly upon the horizon

appeared white sails, and the little craft swung into sight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,

counted Mandeville. Every one coming in! Bravo! And a great cheer that swept the whole length of the town

from the postoffice to Black Bayou went up. Bravo! Every boat was coming in. Butwas every man?

This was a sobering thought, and in the hush which followed it you could hear the Q. and C. train thundering

Well, they came into the pier at last, "La Juanita" in the lead; and as Captain Mercer landed, he was

surrounded by a voluble, chattering, anxious throng that loaded him with questions in patois, in broken

When the other eight boats came in, and Mandeville saw that no one was lost, there was another ringing

We heard the truth finally. When the storm burst, Captain Mercer suddenly promoted himself to an

admiralship and assumed command of his little fleet. He had led them through the teeth of the gale to a small

inlet on the coast between Bayou Lacombe and Nott's Point, and there they had waited until the storm passed.

Loud were the praises of the other captains for Admiral Mercer, profuse were the thanks of the sisters and

sweethearts, as he was carried triumphantly on the shoulders of the sailors adown the wharf to the Maison

The crispness had gone from Juanita's pink frock, and the cloth of gold roses were wellnigh petalless, but the

hand that she slipped into his was warm and soft, and the eyes that were upturned to Mercer's blue ones were

shining with admiring tears. And even Grandpere Colomes, as he brewed on the Cherokeerosecovered

gallery, a fiery punch for the heroes, was heard to admit that "some time dose Americain can mos' be lak one

It was cold that day. The great sharp northwind swept out Elysian Fields Street in blasts that made men

shiver, and bent everything in their track. The skies hung lowering and gloomy; the usually quiet street was

Titee leaned against one of the brown freight cars for protection against the shrill norther, and warmed his

little chapped hands at a blaze of chips and dry grass. "Maybe it'll snow," he muttered, casting a glance at the

sky that would have done credit to a practised seaman. "Then won't I have fun! Ugh, but the wind blows!"

It was Saturday, or Titee would have been in school, the big yellow school on Marigny Street, where he went

every day when its bell boomed nine o'clock, went with a run and a joyous whoop, ostensibly to imbibe

Idle, lazy, dirty, troublesome boy, she called him to herself, as day by day wore on, and Titee improved not,

but let his whole class pass him on its way to a higher grade. A practical joke he relished infinitely more than

a practical problem, and a good game at pinsticking was far more entertaining than a language lesson.

Moreover, he was always hungry, and would eat in school before the halfpast ten recess, thereby losing

He could dissect a butterfly or a mosquito hawk, and describe their parts as accurately as a spectacled student

with a scalpel and microscope could talk about a cadaver. The entire Third District, with its swamps and

canals and commons and railroad sections, and its wondrous, crooked, tortuous streets, was an open book to

Titee. There was not a nook or corner that he did not know or could not tell of. There was not a bit of gossip

among the gamins, little Creole and Spanish fellows, with dark skins and lovely eyes, like spaniels, that Titee

could not tell of. He knew just exactly when it was time for crawfish to be plentiful down in the Claiborne

and Marigny canals; just when a poor, breadless fellow might get a job in the big boneyard and fertilising

factory, out on the railroad track; and as for the levee, with its ships and schooners and sailors, how he could

revel in them! The wondrous ships, the pretty little schooners, where the foreignlooking sailors lay on long

moonlight nights, singing to their guitars and telling great stories,all these things and more could Titee tell

of. He had been down to the Gulf, and out on its treacherous waters through the Eads jetties on a

fishingsmack with some jolly brown sailors, and could interest the whole schoolroom in the talklessons,

Titee shivered as the wind swept round the freightcars. There isn't much warmth in a bit of a jersey coat.

"Wish 'twas summer," he murmured, casting another sailor's glance at the sky. "Don't believe I like snow; it's

too wet and cold." And with a last parting caress at the little fire he had builded for a minute's warmth, he

plunged his hands in his pockets, shut his teeth, and started manfully on his mission out the railroad track

It was late when Titee came home, to such a home as it was, and he had but illy performed his errand; so his

mother beat him and sent him to bed supperless. A sharp strap stings in cold weather, and a long walk in the

teeth of a biting wind creates a keen appetite. But if Titee cried himself to sleep that night, he was up bright

and early next morning, had been to mass, devoutly kneeling on the cold floor, blowing his fingers to keep

There was evidently some great matter of business on the young man's mind, for he scarcely ate his breakfast,

and left the table soon, eagerly cramming the remainder of his meal in his pockets.

"Ma foi, but what now?" mused his mother, as she watched his little form sturdily trudging the track in the

face of the wind; his head, with the rimless cap thrust close on the shock of black hair, bent low; his hands

The next day Titee was late for school. It was something unusual, for he was always the first on hand to fix

some plan of mechanism to make the teacher miserable. She looked reprovingly at him this morning, when he

came in during arithmetic class, his hair all windblown, his cheeks rosy from a hard fight with the sharp

blasts. But he made up for his tardiness by his extreme goodness all day; just think, Titee did not even eat

once before noon, a something unparalleled in the entire previous history of his school life.

When the lunchhour came, and all the yard was a scene of feast and fun, one of the boys found him standing

by a post, disconsolately watching a ham sandwich as it rapidly disappeared down the throat of a sturdy,

"Ah, why don't you stop eatin' in school, fer a change? You don't ever have nothin' to eat."

"I tell you I didn't!" and Titee's hard little fist planted a punctuation mark on his comrade's eye.

A fight in the schoolyard! Poor Titee was in disgrace again. Still, in spite of his battered appearance, a severe

scolding from the principal, lines to write, and a further punishment from his mother, Titee scarcely remained

for his dinner, but was off down the railroad track with his pockets partly stuffed with the remnants of the

And the next day Titee was tardy again, and lunchless too, and the next, until the teacher, in despair, sent a

nicely printed note to his mother about him, which might have done some good, had not Titee taken great

One day it rained, whole bucketsful of water, that poured in torrents from a miserable, angry sky. Too wet a

day for bits of boys to be trudging to school, so Titee's mother thought; so she kept him at home to watch the

weather through the window, fretting and fuming like a regular storm in miniature. As the day wore on, and

the rain did not abate, his mother kept a strong watch upon him, for he tried many times to slip away.

Dinner came and went, and the gray soddenness of the skies deepened into the blackness of coming night.

Under the beds, in closets and corners, in such impossible places as the soapdish and waterpitcher even,

they searched, but he had gone as completely as if he had been spirited away. It was of no use to call up the

neighbors, he had never been near their houses, they affirmed, so there was nothing to do but to go to the

railroad track where Titee had been seen so often trudging in the shrill northwind.

With lanterns and sticks, and his little yellow dog, the rescuing party started down the track. The rain had

ceased falling, but the wind blew a gale, scurrying great gray clouds over a fierce sky. It was not exactly dark,

though in this part of the city there is neither gas nor electricity, and on such a night as this neither moon nor

stars dared show their faces in so gray a sky; but a sort of alldiffused luminosity was in the air, as though the

Search as they did, there were no signs of Titee. The soft earth between the railroad ties crumbled between

So on they went, slipping on the wet earth, stumbling over the loose rocks, until a sudden wild yelp from

Tiger brought them to a standstill. He had rushed ahead of them, and his voice could be heard in the distance,

With a fresh impetus the little muddy party hurried forward. Tiger's yelps could be heard plainer and plainer,

After a while they found a pitiful little heap of sodden rags, lying at the foot of a mound of earth and stones

thrown upon the side of the track. It was Titee with a broken leg, all wet and miserable and moaning.

They picked him up tenderly, and started to carry him home. But he cried and clung to the mother, and

"No, no, it's my old man. He's hungry," sobbed Titee, holding out a little package. It was the remnants of his

"My old man. Oh, please, please don't go home till I see him. I'm not hurting much, I can go."

So, yielding to his whim, they carried him farther away, down the sides of the track up to an embankment or

levee by the sides of the Marigny Canal. Then the big brother, suddenly stopping, exclaimed:

There cannot be much ceremony in entering a cave. There is but one thing to do,walk in. This they did,

and holding up the lantern, beheld a weird sight. On a bed of straw and paper in one corner lay a withered,

wizened, whitebearded old man with wide eyes staring at the unaccustomed light. In the other corner was an

"It's my old man!" cried Titee, joyfully. "Oh, please, grandpa, I couldn't get here today, it rained all mornin'

an' when I ran away, I fell down an' broke something, an', oh, grandpa, I'm all tired an' hurty, an' I'm so 'fraid

So the secret of Titee's jaunts down the railroad was out. In one of his trips around the swampland, he had

discovered the old man exhausted from cold and hunger in the fields. Together they had found this cave, and

Titee had gathered the straw and paper that made the bed. Then a tramp cow, old and turned adrift, too, had

crept in and shared the damp dwelling. And thither Titee had trudged twice a day, carrying his luncheon in

"There's a crown in heaven for that child," said the officer of charity to whom the case was referred.