CHAPTER I

THE day before yesterday I took a walk through the meadows and along the river as far as the ancient tower which is situated at the foot of the hill. The weather was clear and warm; the birds were Singing as if their hearts were full of joy, and the whole valley was flooded with light. I revisited my uncle’s farm, and here | my cousin Denise, who, although only sixteen, has become a tall and handsome young lady, As was out shooting, Denise and I, instead of going to the evening service, spent the afternoon in the garden, where we gathered flowers and fruits.

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While plucking a rose, Denise tore her arm so badly among the thorns of the rose-bush, that she dropped the rose and went back into the house. All afternoon | prowled about the woods that surround the farm, and did not

return till the darkness came on.

It was the season of vintage. Carts laden with ripe grapes were to be met on every h ghway, and the hills

resounded with the coarse laughter of the vintagers who

kept calling each other by name

day long. Denise and I had just topped for a moment

and singing songs all

RETRANSLATION EXERCISES 75

io rest under the shade of a walnut-tree when there appeared a cart driven by Simon. ‘Tormented by flies, or perhaps stung by a wasp, the horse made as if to lt, but Simon dashed forward, and with one arm forced the poor animal to remain still As he did this he looked stealthily at me, and for the first time I felt jealous in the presence of this powerful fellow. The violet eyes of Denise sparkled with pleasure as she admired the strength of the man she was to marry in a few days.

This afternoon at half-past three I was sitting in my usual place near the choir, and little Daniel with his right eyes had managed to get beside me; for children oon guess that they are loved. The warm spring air and the heat of the church sent him to sleep with his head leaning on my arm. Before the last candle was put out I heard a noise, and turning round saw an old woman approaching the choir. “Father,” she said, ‘come quick. An accident has happened in the village. Peyré the carpenter has fallen from the roof of the new house and is just dying.” With my surplice on I ran towards the village, and there I saw the poor man lying on the ground. When { took his hand in mine, he

oked at me and moved his lips as if to say something important before dying, but that very moment he expired. We buried his widow three days afterwards, and now I am little Danel’s sole guardian, for he has neither father nor mother.

CHAPTER Il

A \t first Father Daniel had been forced to think of clothing and taming the young savage, and, for one

imid and so inexperienced in thi tails of practical

life as the abbé, you may imagine how difficult a task it was. He interested himself in the food and clothing of the boy in the same awkward way as the young mother who is still a novice. However, he set himself to it with all his heart, and love made him guess what experience had not been able to teach him. Weeks changed rapidly into months and months into years, for the little orphan was now entering his sixteenth vear, and had gradually acquired all that the abbé could teach him. Now the problem was: what should become of the youth, who must in two or three years leave the vicarage and go out into the world to choose his own position in life ?

Never was there a boy so strong and active as Daniel. Always easy-going, he was the life and soul of every village festival. Every time he left the house the priest was uneasy until his return, for the boy played with danger as children play with fire. At one time he was brought home wounded in falling from a horse which he had endeavoured to ride bare-back. At another time he was almost drowned in the mill-lade into which he had dived to save a child that had fallen

in. Nothing terrified him and nothing stepped him.

One evening the abbé and he were taking a walk on the public highway. It was evrowing dark when a figure

approached the wayfarers and passed them with quick

and rhythmic step It was a soldier, who with kn p sack on his back was doubtl hastening to give some one a Jovi! surprise, Daniel turned round and looked after the soldier for a lo time, then he suddenly said to his adopted father, “D ou kn I should ike to be a soldier.” The father inswered never a word,

but held on

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On the evening of the accident Daniel came home late, and on his return found the abbé gradually recovering from his unconsciousness. After lighting a night-lizht the boy sat down at the bedside and tried to cool the sick man’s forehead with compresses of cold water. About eleven o’ciock the patient awoke with a start and began to speak of Denise who had just died. With tears in his eyes the boy a kel the invalid, “Do you want me to send for the doctor?” “No,” he replied. ‘Go and fetch paper, for I want to dictate a letter to inform my friends of the accident which has made me unfit to perform the service at church.” When the address was written and the letter sealed, he asked, ‘‘ What do you think of the letter?” ‘Then, without waiting for a reply, ic added, “I shall be better in a month, so we have no ume to waste. ‘To-morrow you shall find out whai are the formalities to be gone through in order to enter the army, and when I recover you shall become a soldier.”