The Project Gutenberg EBook of The French Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins

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Title: The French Twins

Author: Lucy Fitch Perkins

Posting Date: July 4, 2009 [EBook #4091]

Release Date: May, 2003

First Posted: November 21, 2001

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FRENCH TWINS ***

Produced by Lynn Hill. HTML version by Al Haines.

To all friends of the brave children of France

Map of the Voyage

THE FRENCH TWINS

by

Lucy Fitch Perkins

CONTENTS

I. THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE

The sunlight of the clear September afternoon shone across the roofs of the City of Rheims, and fell in a yellow flood upon the towers of the most beautiful cathedral in the world, turning them into two shining golden pillars against the deep blue of the eastern sky.

The streets below were already in shadow, but the sunshine still poured through the great rose window above the western portal, lighting the dim interior of the church with long shafts of brilliant reds, blues, and greens, and falling at last in a shower of broken color upon the steps of the high altar. Somewhere in the mysterious shadows an unseen musician touched the keys of the great organ, and the voice of the Cathedral throbbed through its echoing aisles in tremulous waves of sound. Above the deep tones of the bass notes a delicate melody floated, like a lark singing above the surf.

Though the great church seemed empty but for sound and color, there lingered among its shadows a few persons who loved it well. There were priests and a few worshipers. There was also Father Varennes, the Verger, and far away in one of the small chapels opening from the apse in the eastern end good Mother Meraut was down upon her knees, not praying as you might suppose, but scrubbing the stone floor. Mother Meraut was a wise woman; she knew when to pray and when to scrub, and upon occasion did both with equal energy to the glory of God and the service of his Church. Today it was her task to make the little chapel clean and sweet, for was not the Abbe coming to examine the Confirmation Class in its catechism, and were not her own two children, Pierre and Pierette, in the class? In time to the heart-beats of the organ, Mother Meraut swept her brush back and forth, and it was already near the hour for the class to assemble when at last she set aside her scrubbing-pail, wiped her hands upon her apron, and began to dust the chairs which had been standing outside the arched entrance, and to place them in orderly rows within the chapel.

She had nearly completed her task, when there was a tap-tapping upon the stone floor, and down the long aisle, leaning upon his crutch, came Father Varennes. He stopped near the chapel and watched her as she whisked the last chair into place and then paused with her hands upon her hips to make a final inspection of her work.

Bonjour, Antoinette, said the Verger.

Mother Meraut turned her round, cheerful face toward him. Ah, it is you, Henri, she cried, come, no doubt, to see if the chapel is clean enough for the Abbe! Well, behold.

The Verger peered through the arched opening, and sniffed the wet, soapy smell which pervaded the air. One might even eat from your clean floor, Antoinette, he said, smiling, and taste nothing worse with his food than a bit of soap. Truly the chapel is as clean as a shriven soul.

It's a bold bit of dirt that would try to stand out against me, declared Mother Meraut, with a flourish of her dust-cloth, for when I go after it I think to myself, 'Ah, if I but had one of those detestable Germans by the nose, how I would grind it!' and the very thought brings such power to my elbow that I check myself lest I wear through the stones of the floor.

The Verger laughed, then shook his head. Truly, Antoinette, he said, I believe you could seize your husband's gun if he were to fall, and fill his place in the Army as well as you fill his place here in the Cathedral, doing a man's work with a woman's strength, and smiling as if it were but play! Our France can never despair while there are women like you.

My Jacques shall carry his own gun, said Mother Meraut, stoutly, and bring it home with him when the war is over, if God wills, and may it be soon! Meanwhile I will help to keep our holy Cathedral clean as he used to do. It is not easy work, but one must do what one can, and surely it is better to do it with smiles than with tears!

The Verger nodded. That is true, he said, yet it is hard to smile in the face of sorrow.

But we must smile—though our hearts break—for France, and for our children, lest they forget joy! cried Mother Meraut. She smiled as she spoke, though her lip trembled I will you the truth, Henri, sometimes when I think of what the Germans have already done in Belgium, and may yet do in France, I feel my heart breaking in my bosom. And then I say to myself, 'Courage, Antoinette! It is our business to live bravely for the France that is to be when this madness is over. Our armies are still between us and the Boche. It is not time to be afraid.'

And I tell you, they shall not pass, cried Father Varennes, striking his crutch angrily upon the stone floor. The brave soldiers of France will not permit it! Oh, if I could but carry a gun instead of this! He rattled his crutch despairingly as he spoke.

Mother Meraut sighed. Though I am a woman, I too wish I might fight the invaders, she said, but since I may not carry a gun, I will put all the more energy into my broom and sweep the dirt from the Cathedral as I would sweep the Germans back to the Rhine if I could.

It is, indeed, the only way for women, children, and such as I, grieved the Verger.

Tut, tut, answered Mother Meraut cheerfully, it isn't given us to choose our service. If God had wanted us to fight he would have given us power to do it.

The Verger shook his head. I wish I were sure of that, he said, for there's going to be need for all the fighting blood in France if half one hears is true. They say now that the Germans are already far over the French border and that our Army is retreating before them. The roads are more than ever crowded with refugees, and the word they bring is that the Germans have already reached the valley of the Aisne.

But that is at our very doors! cried Mother Meraut. It is absurd, that rumor. Chicken hearts! They listen to nothing but their fears. As for me, I will not believe it until I must. I will trust in the Army as I do in my God and the holy Saints.

Amen, responded the Verger devoutly.

At this moment the great western portal swung on its hinges, a patch of light showed itself against the gloom of the interior of the Cathedral, and the sound of footsteps and of fresh young voices mingled with the tones of the organ.

It's the children, bless their innocent hearts, said Mother Meraut. I hear the voices of my Pierre and Pierrette.

And I of my Jean, said the Verger, starting hastily down the aisle. The little magpies forget they must be quiet in the House of God! He shook his finger at them and laid it warningly upon his lips. The noise instantly subsided, and it was a silent and demure