Therefore I went, like a careful strategist, equipped with all the knowledge Gr?l could give. I had planned how to reach Father Fafard, and through him how to reach Yvonne. And as the day was to be a great one, I thought well it should be a long one. I set out upon the palest promise of daybreak.
My strength, under one compelling purpose, had 162come back; and it seemed to me that I saw events and their chances with radiating clearness. So up-strung were my nerves that the long tramp seemed over in a few minutes, and I found myself, almost with surprise, at the lower ford7 of the Gaspereau, just under the hill which backs Grand Pré. Here was the thick wood wherein I planned to lie perdu, in the event of dangerous passers. In a little while there came in view a woman, heavy-eyed and dishevelled, carrying a basket of new-baked barley8 bread, very sweet to smell. It was clear she was one with an interest in the prisoners at the chapel9. In such a case I could have no fear of stumbling upon a traitor10. I stepped out to her.
“Would that he, too,” said I significantly, “had gone to the woods in time!”
Her eyes ran over with the ready and waiting tears; but she jerked her apron11 jealously over the loaves, and looked at me with a touch of resentment12, as if to say, “Why had you such foresight13, and not he?”
“He went to hear the reading, and they took him,” she moaned. “And who will keep the little ones from starving in the winter coming on?”
“It is where I, too, would be now—in the chapel prison yonder,” said I gently. “But I lay in the woods, wounded, too sick to go to the reading, so I escaped.”
The resentment faded out. She saw that I was 163not one of those who shamed her husband’s credulity. I might have been caught too, had I been given the same chance.
“For the little ones, I pray you accept this silver, and count it a loan to your husband in his prison,” said I, slipping two broad Spanish pieces into her hand.
She looked grateful and astonished, but had no words ready.
“And do, I beg of you, a kindness to one in bitter need of it,” I went on. “You know Father Fafard?”
Her face lightened with love.
“He grieves for me, thinking me dead,” said I. “Tell him, I beg of you, that one who loves him waits to see him in the wood by the lower ford.”
Her face clouded with suspicion.
“How shall I know—how shall he know—you are honest?” she asked.
I was troubled.
“You must judge by your woman’s wit,” said I. “And he will come. He fears no one. But no, tell him Paul Grande waits at the lower ford.”
“The traitor!” she blazed out; and, recoiling14, hurled15 the money in my face. It stung strangely.
“You are wrong,” said I, in a low voice. “But as you will. Tell him, if you will, that Paul Grande, the traitor, waits for him at the lower ford. But if you do not tell him, be sure he will not soon 164forgive you. And for the money, he shall keep it for your children—and you will be sorry to have unjustly accused me.”
She laughed with bitter mockery, and turned away.
“But I will tell him; that can do no harm,” she said. “I’ll tell him the traitor who loves him waits at the ford.”
I withdrew into the wood, beyond all reason pained at the injustice16.
The unpleasant peasant woman was as good as her word, however; for in little more than the space of an hour I saw Father Fafard approaching. Plainly he had come hot upon the instant.
“My dear, dear boy! Where have you been, and what suffered?” he cried, catching17 me hard by the two arms, and looking into my eyes.
“It was Gr?l saved me,” said I.
Beyond earshot, deep in the wood, where no wind hindered the noon sun from warming a little open glade18, I told my story briefly19.
“Paul,” said he, when I had finished, “my heart has now the first happiness it has known through all these dreadful months. But you must slip out of this doomed21 country without an hour’s delay. Quebec, of course! And then, when an end is made here, I will join you. Have you money for the journey?”
I laughed softly.
165“My plans are not quite formed. I must see Yvonne. Will you fetch her to me?”
He rose in anger—a little forced, I thought.
“No!” said he.
“Then, I beseech22 you, give her a message from me, that I may see her for a little this very day.”
“Paul,” he cried passionately23, “it is a sin to talk of it. She has pledged her troth. She is at peace. I will not have her disturbed.”
“Does she love him?” I asked.
“I—I suppose so. Or she will, doubtless,” he stammered24.
“Oh, doubtless!” said I. “And meanwhile, does she show readiness to carry out her promise? Does she listen kindly25 to her impatient lover—her anxious father?”
“The Englishman has displeased26 her, for a time,” said he, “but that will pass. She knows the duty of obedience27; she respects the plighted28 word. There can be but one ending; though you may succeed in making her very unhappy—for a time.”
“I will make her very happy,” I said quietly, “so long as time endures for her and me.”
He flashed round upon me with sharp scorn.
“What can you do for her? You, hiding for your life, the ruined upholder of a lost cause! Here she is safe, protected, wealth and security before her. And with you?”
166“Life, I think!” said I, rising too, and stretching out my arms. “But listen, father,” I went on more lightly. “I am not so helpless. I have some little rentes in Montreal, you know. And moreover, I am not planning to carry her off to-night. By no means anything so finely irregular. I am not ready. Only, see her I will before I go. If you will not help me, I will stay about this place, about your house indeed, till I meet her. That is all. If you dote upon my going, you know the way to speed me.”
His kind, round face puckered29 anxiously. But he hit upon a compromise.
“I will have no hand in it,” said he. “But if you are resolved to stay, you may as well find her without loss of time. The house we occupy is crowded, and she affects a solitary30 mood. She walks over the hill and down this way, of an evening, to visit some unhappy ones along by the river. You may see her, perhaps, to-night.”
I grasped his hand and kissed it, but he drew it away, vexed31 at himself.
“We will talk of other things now,” I said softly. “But do not be angry if I say I love you, father.”
He smiled with an air of reproach; and thereafter talk we did through hours, save for a little time when he was absent fetching me a meal. All that Gr?l had told me of the ruin of the French cause he told me in another colour, and more 167besides of the doom20 of the Acadians—but upon Yvonne’s name we touched no more by so much as the lightest breath.
At my cousin Marc’s rashness in going to the chapel he glanced with some severity, grieving for the sorrow of the young wife at Quebec. But for the English he had many good words—they were pitiful, he said, in the act of carrying out cruel orders. And they neither robbed nor terrorized. Not they, said he, but a wicked priest and the intriguers of a rotten government at Quebec, were the scourge32 of Acadie.
When the sun got low over the Gaspereau Ridge33 he called to mind some duties too long forgotten, and bade me farewell with a loving wistfulness. I think, however, it was the imminent34 coming of Yvonne that drove him away. He feared lest he should meet her, and in seeming to know of my purpose seem to sanction it. I could not help believing in my heart that in this matter, perhaps for the first time in his priesthood, the kind curé’s conscience was a little tremulous in its admonitions.
I watched him out of sight; and then, posting myself in a coign of vantage behind a great willow35 that overhung the stream, I waited with a thumping36 heart, and with a misgiving37 that all other organs within my frame had slumped38 away to nothing but a meagre and contemptible39 jelly.
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1
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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allot
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| v.分配；拨给；n.部分；小块菜地 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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dribble
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| v.点滴留下，流口水；n.口水 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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barley
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| n.大麦，大麦粒 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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recoiling
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| v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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plighted
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| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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36
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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37
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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38
slumped
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| 大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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