Short Fiction Kate Chopin (best e reader for android .txt) đ
- Author: Kate Chopin
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She had her face hidden in her arm that she was resting against the saddle when she said that.
He began to wonder if this meant love. But she had to tell him so, before he believed it. And when she told him, he thought the face of the Universe was changedâ âjust like BobinĂŽt. Was it last week the cyclone had well-nigh ruined him? The cyclone seemed a huge joke, now. It was he, then, who, an hour ago was kissing little Calixtaâs ear and whispering nonsense into it. Calixta was like a myth, now. The one, only, great reality in the world was Clarisse standing before him, telling him that she loved him.
In the distance they heard the rapid discharge of pistol-shots; but it did not disturb them. They knew it was only the negro musicians who had gone into the yard to fire their pistols into the air, as the custom is, and to announce âle bal est fini.â
A Visit to AvoyellesEveryone who came up from Avoyelles had the same story to tell of Mentine. Cher MaĂźtre! but she was changed. And there were babies, more than she could well manage; as good as four already. Jules was not kind except to himself. They seldom went to church, and never anywhere upon a visit. They lived as poorly as pine-woods people. Doudouce had heard the story often, the last time no later than that morning.
âHo-a!â he shouted to his mule plumb in the middle of the cotton row. He had staggered along behind the plow since early morning, and of a sudden he felt he had had enough of it. He mounted the mule and rode away to the stable, leaving the plow with its polished blade thrust deep in the red Cane River soil. His head felt like a windmill with the recollections and sudden intentions that had crowded it and were whirling through his brain since he had heard the last story about Mentine.
He knew well enough Mentine would have married him seven years ago had not Jules Trodon come up from Avoyelles and captivated her with his handsome eyes and pleasant speech. Doudouce was resigned then, for he held Mentineâs happiness above his own. But now she was suffering in a hopeless, common, exasperating way for the small comforts of life. People had told him so. And somehow, today, he could not stand the knowledge passively. He felt he must see those things they spoke of with his own eyes. He must strive to help her and her children if it were possible.
Doudouce could not sleep that night. He lay with wakeful eyes watching the moonlight creep across the bare floor of his room; listening to sounds that seemed unfamiliar and weird down among the rushes along the bayou. But towards morning he saw Mentine as he had seen her last in her white wedding gown and veil. She looked at him with appealing eyes and held out her arms for protectionâ âfor, rescue, it seemed to him. That dream determined him. The following day Doudouce started for Avoyelles.
Jules Trodonâs home lay a mile or two from Marksville. It consisted of three rooms strung in a row and opening upon a narrow gallery. The whole wore an aspect of poverty and dilapidation that summer day, towards noon, when Doudouce approached it. His presence outside the gate aroused the frantic barking of dogs that dashed down the steps as if to attack him. Two little brown barefooted children, a boy and girl, stood upon the gallery staring stupidly at him. âCall off youâ dogs,â he requested; but they only continued to stare.
âDown, Pluto! down, Achille!â cried the shrill voice of a woman who emerged from the house, holding upon her arm a delicate baby of a year or two. There was only an instant of unrecognition.
âMais Doudouce, that ent you, comment! Well, if anyone would tole me this morninâ! Git a chair, âTit Jules. Thatâs Mista Doudouce, fâom âway yonda Natchitoches wâere yoâ maman useâ to live. Mais, you ent changeâ; youâ lookinâ well, Doudouce.â
He shook hands in a slow, undemonstrative way, and seated himself clumsily upon the hide-bottomed chair, laying his broad-rimmed felt hat upon the floor beside him. He was very uncomfortable in the cloth Sunday coat which he wore.
âI had business that callâ me to Marksville,â he began, âanâ I say to myseâf, âTiens, you canât pass by without tellâ âem all howdy.âââ
âPar exemple! wâat Jules would said to that! Mais, youâ lookinâ well; you ent changeâ, Doudouce.â
âAnâ youâ lookinâ well, Mentine, Jisâ the same Mentine.â He regretted that he lacked talent to make the lie bolder.
She moved a little uneasily, and felt upon her shoulder for a pin with which to fasten the front of her old gown where it lacked a button. She had kept the baby in her lap. Doudouce was wondering miserably if he would have known her outside her home. He would have known her sweet, cheerful brown eyes, that were not changed; but her figure, that had looked so trim in the wedding gown, was sadly misshapen. She was brown, with skin like parchment, and piteously thin. There were lines, some deep as if old age had cut them, about the eyes and mouth.
âAnâ how you lefâ âem all, yonda?â she asked, in a high voice that had grown shrill from screaming at children and dogs.
âThey all well. Itâs mighty liâle sickness in the country this yeaâ. But they been lookinâ foâ you up yonda, straight along, Mentine.â
âDonât talk,
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