faint pink of its twin bells, afterwards to be so sweet and fragrant.
I thought of that passage in the letter which told of "the island
that was green and full of sweet berries." Not a bad description for
a person whom the world must perforce term an illiterate man.
When my conveyance arrived, it proved to be a stage of antiquated
type and I suffered horribly during the journey of three hours. At
the end of that time, I was set down with my luggage at the gate of
a small log hut, with a little garden in front, bordered with
beautiful pink and green stones, the like of which I had never seen
before. A snake fence ran in front of this and on two sides, at the
back was a thick wood.
Etienne was ready for me at which I rejoiced, fearing to make myself
known to the dame his mother.
Once more I felt that honest and affectionate hand grasp, once more
I met those clear and steady blue eyes, and I noted the flush of
pride which overspread his face when I told him that I had received
his letter and marvelled at it.
"Mossieu know so much and Etienne so ver little." But when the flush
had died away, I was pained exceedingly to see the pallor of his
cheeks and the prominence of his high cheekbones. His walk was
unsteady too, he put his feet down, I noticed, as if they were light
instead of solid supports for his body, a sure sign of great
physical weakness. My worst fears were realized when I saw on the
deal table in the front room, furnished with home-made rugs drawn
from woolen rags dyed all colors and some plain deal furniture
stained brown, a little pile of books. There were two copy-books,
two dictionaries, a small "Histoire de Canada" and some illustrated
magazines. I saw that he could read, too, pretty well, for he
presently drew my attention to a very old book indeed, that lay on a
shelf, a little Roman Catholic missal with tarnished gold clasps and
scarlet edges.
"Dat was belong to my fader," he said, "for many a year; and it was
from his fader he get it."
I looked at it eagerly all over. The fly-leaf bore no inscription,
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