PERE PEURAULT'S LEGACY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 47, 19 March 1886, Page 5

PERE PEURAULT'S LEGACY.

% (BY ALICE Kokban —in the New Yoik Freeman's Journal ) CHAPTER. 11. The husband and wife paid a mysterious visit to Pere la Chaise next day. They kept their project close. At the promised treat to his mates, Pere Perrault was silent as the grave about it. After a while the scheme oozed ont, however, and the Mouffetardians received the information first with incredulous laughter, then with boisterous derision. The unconcern of tbe couple at the sallies they provoked had a damping effect upon, their brilliancy, and brought to the perpetrators thereof a humiliating sense of wasted powder and shot. After a while it became apparent that the community was growing accustomed to tbe idea, that some of its members were even discuss ing it with something like interest. Pere Perrault was silent before a mocking spirit, but at any manifestation of sympathy his tongue was unloosed. Pere Biot, who had been the fir*t to approach the theme in a spirit of friendly inquiry, was taken into confidence. He came back oue day, and explained to his comrades assemble! at P6re Michel's gargottc that he bad been to Pure la Chais-e, that he had seen the site of the tomb, that ground was actually bought. It was in the second row of graves, the place on the first row having proved too expensive. Pore Biot here explained with lucid gesticulations that the tomb would be easily seen from the pathway, it being placed between an obelisk and a pyramid in the foreground. He° further told that the remainder of the 3,000 francs had been divided into portions to pay for the headstone and expenses of the two funerals, and that Monsieur le Cure had the charge of it. " I find," concluded Pere Biot, bringing his hand down on the table, " that Perrault has had a good thought in buying; this grave ; it is not he only who will profit by it ; for if a fine tomb is put over a chiffonier's body, in a place where everybody shall see it and talk about it, I say all of his trade gain respect by it." In a email community, a decided attitude of mind is catching ; Pere Biot made converts there and then. A certain elation might be noticeable in tbe deportment and glance of tbe Mouffetardians who adopted this doctrine, and acknowledged the scheme a worthy one. It seemed as if these despised waifs and pariahs felt vaguely the cheer of the redeeming sacredness of the body. the time the tombstone was to be designed the Quartier Mouffetard had taken tbe matter in hand as one of personal interest. For the better display of the inscriptions it was decided that there should be two beadstonee. The character of the letters wasa question of much noisy discussion. The majority, headed by Mire Perrault considered that an amount of flourishes gave dignity to the signs' Pere Perrault inclined to plain and honest letters. A compromise was at last effected. The names of the two occupants would be recorded with due ornamentation, but the word '• Chiffonier "—the word that, placed there, was to be a glorification, an apotheosis of the ° u^T. Wa9 1° ** carved in characters that P£re Perrault said would skip to the eyes at a distance of any one who could read The epitaph was recognised to be second only in importance to that word. Mere Perrault, and not a few with her, were swayed by the stonecutter's offer to put " Requiescat in pace." Latin would have a good effect, a little air count. But Pere Perrault, ambitious of a wider immortality than that which he could share with the learned only, ruled that every word should be "all French." After this decision the company proceeded to the composition of the epitaph. The following may pass as a specimen of some submitted :— " Cy git Jean-Dtsiri Perrault, Citiffonier, who for forty years worked in dirt and who now rests in humble hope of a country where no refits, exists." After some discussion, such inscriptions— felt to be derogatory to the trade— were put aside, and two not strikingly original phrases

f were substituted. Over Mere Perrault 1 .. grave, as belonging to the j sentimental sex. it was decided to exhort the passer-by to drop a i tear ; on Pere Perrault's to ask the passer-by to offer up a prayer " After all," remarked Pere Perrault complacently, puffine away I?£ ? " um P. of a PP c ; " a P»y«". Jome tears, are all one can give to the dead ; those fine ladies and gentlemen in their coach can't have | more. Space will not allow us to dwell upon the delighted appreciation 1 I>y the , c . hl f*»»ers f the stone-cutter's representation of the two battered baskets and of Medor's portrait ; on his master's tomb, he was shown trotting in appaient pursuance of his calling : the carved similitude of his inquiring nose and depressed tail, that in their discordant expression teemed scarcely to belong to the same individual, were voted exact copies of these two appendages. On his mistress's tomb Meior was shown repasing. During these discussions, the plot of ground in Pere la Chaise bloomed like a garden under the care bestowed upon it by its future occupants ; nor were they the only ones who prided themselves upon its beauty. Contributions were brought to it by various members^ the tribe, in the shape of roots and seeds. Pere Biot one night picking up a withered rose-bush, thrown out in a broken pot, brought it home, nursed and tended it until it put forth tender leaves and buds, then with some solemnity it was planted in the place of honour, over the spot where it was calculated Fere Perrault's head would rest By a singular process, the.tomb bad become a rallying-point of interest to the rough Bohemians, giving a sort of anticipated triumph to the close of their earthly wanderings. The following winter proved a severe one. To more observant eyes than those of the Mouffetardians it would have been apparent that Mere Perrault's rough health was breaking. Her energetic gesticulations grew languid. The animation of her wrinkled countenance faded. It became difficult for her to get through her task, bhe had a racking cough ; but ailments she and all her tribe considered one of the accessories of winter ; to strive against them would show a fine ignorance of the laws of Nature ; and so she went regularly on with her woik. Spring came, the crocuses were beginning to bloom on the grave, and still she languished. One night, when the hour arrived for tneir setting forth, Pere Perrault strapped on his hotte, He bad acquired the punctuality of a man whose life swings between ever-recurring occurrences with the exactitude of a pendulum. Still Mire Perrault remained crouching over the fire. "Kh old woman, one must hurry, it is the huor of work," remarked Pere I Perrault, briskly. I !' i do "i* * binkl m y man - I can do any work to-night," she said. Pere Perrault remained a moment standing stock still, rigid with amazement. Then he walked rapidly over to her •■ It is your side that is hurting you, eh ?" he asked hastily, bending upon her a glance of indistinct apprehension. " I think my call has come," she replied gently. Pere Perrault looked at her dumbfounded— then a little Bpasm contracted his lectures. "It is not true," he si id roughly • " you are a bit tired— you want to rest. I— l am strong. I can do the workof two She raised her withered hand and put it into bis. " Mon ami it is I wul occupy the pretty grave first," i-he said with a smile. ' But for me first time the thought of tbe tomb brought no answenng gieam to her husband's countenance, Be held h^r hind simply gazing dmn into tier sunken f-aturcs. Theejesof the old' couple met. Perhaps he recoguized m hers the mee«at>e it requires no learning to n :.d IVre Perrault's pale face grew a tiug. paler. He let herhand fall, and lepcating. " I— l am strong, I can do the work of two, he made his way out, and set off alune on his midnight tramp. The next morning Mere Perrault could not get up, and after * few days it became evident that t lie cud was not far off. The stout, hearted old woman had not giveu in until she had walked the last step of the rough path it had been given her to tread. Monsieur Je Cure who bad kept up friendly relations with her and Pore Perrault since the day of the consultation concerning the legacy, and who had made some pr >gress in the estimation of the chiffoniers, one day warned the old maa that tbe time had come for the parting. That night Pere Perrault did not go on his rounds. Some of his comrades arranged to take an extra turn to supply his place. Through her illne-8 the dying woman vainly tried to revive her husband's spirits by leading his thoughts to cluaier round that beautiful grave. She had flashes of her old merriment. She essayed little jokes. It would not be !ike an empty house new. He would be proud to point to it and say, "Itis my wife who lies there." But these contemplations, once ko animating, had apparently at this supreme crisis, lost their power to comfort i J ere Perrault. It seemed rather as if the joy and pride that had kindled hia life had quickened there a new power of suffering. Toward midnight Mere Perrault, who had lain still a long time, suddenly opened her eyes and beckoned to him. He stooped over her. " That will be g,-ntil. Everyone will know we're husband and wife," she said with a little laugh. ,' Well, and I—lI — I tell you," he replied, roughly breaking the silence in which he had taken refuse— " I find that when two people have worked together and walked together, like you and me, and had tneir good and bad luck together for years and years— l tell you they should die together. " Bah ! we'll soon rest together," the old woman said cheerily, and so passed away. The rude and uncouth attempts of the Mouffetardians to console their mate after the fashion of Mere Perrault, failed to lift the desolateness from his face and manner. "Where two have lived together, two should die together," he repeated truculently, addressing nobody in particular, but as if the assertion of a distinct sentiment was a relief to him in his confused misery. The arrangements for the fuueral had been so fully settled beforehand that it needed no supervision for the details to be carried out. There was a mourniog coach for Monsieur le Cure. Pere Perrault had always contemplated walking, should it fall to his lot to be chief mourner. As he found himself cl.vi in black, following bare headed just behind the sable cir wjtb its silver ornaments, drawn by two plumed horses and preceded bj officials carrying silver sticks, a waft of the old comfort and of the

old prtfe stole into bis heart. The Mouffetardians filed behind. To those trudgers on foot it was a triumphal procession. An extra sum had been paid to secure a long march round by the Boulevards. It was a sunshiny afternoon, all the world was out of doors, and men and women turned to look at the strange sight of that fine hearse and the long file of patched and tattered folk. With the gentle respect paid to the dead in Catholic lands, men bared their heads and women crossed themselves. At all these tokens of regard Pere Perrault's heart swelled within him ; his bent frame dileted. " Ah, she is lucky — the old woman— she is lucky," he kept saying to himself. The Emperor's carriage, with four horses mounted by postilions, met the cortege and fell aside to let it pass. The Emperor removed his hat, the little prince did the same, the Empress crossed herself. Then the glory of the situation almost overcame Pere Perrault. He felt suffocated. Something seemed to clutch him by the throat. He could have sobbed, but he would not for the world have wept at this, the grand redeeming moment of his life. To relieve the strangling that choked him, he repeated for the hundredth time in an unresonant and labored utterance, " Ah, she is lucky — the old woman— she is lucky." When the magnificent dream was over, and Mere Perrault was laid in the earth, the grave refilled, and tbe flowers replanted that zealous hands bad removed the day before, Pere Perrault and his friends supped at Pere Michel's. It was a frugal feast, but the talk was glowing. The company enumerated one by one the glories of that day. Every incident of the pageant was dwelt upon. A year elapsed, and Mere Perrault's headstone stood alone amidst the flowers tended by her husband and his mates. The appearance of that brilliantly blossoming grave, dedicated to the memory of a chiffonier, attracted the attention of visitors to Pere la Chaise, and Pere Perrault, who haunted the spot as a bird haunts its nest, would hear tbe comments of the strangers. Returning, he would relate them with animation to bis friends of the Rue Mouffetard. " They were walking about like that— not seeing anything that interested them ; when, sapritti, at sight of the old woman's grave, they stopped. ' A chiffonier, 'they said, ' impossible I — a chiffonier,' and then they remained staring, with their mouths wide open." Pere Perrault would wind up his tale by imitating the astounding attitude and expression of the visitors. The story was repeated, and its closing pose gone through, until all the quarter knew it and had chuckle'! over it with sympathetic pride. There could be no question about it. The Mouffetardians felt they had gone up in the world. Perhaps, as time went on, tbe tLougbt of the dead so continually present in his life began to affect Pere Perraolt's mind. He had dreamy fancies, when he would apparently forget^ that his wife was not active and about. He wou'd mutter and talk to himself. Once or twice, as be strapped on his hotte, he had been heard to call : " Hurry, old woman I Hurry ! time for work." Owing to bis confused state of brain, one morning Pere Perrault, after having sorted and disposed of his pickings, went into Pere Michel's gargotte, and instead of drinking his soup on the premises, as had now become bis habit, carried home .two portions in a covered jug, as in his old days. It was not until he had poured out the soup into two cracked bowls that he suddenly recognised his mistake. He sat down for a few blank moments, then, without touching his meal, went our. As he turned out of the Rue Mouffetard the feverish sense of his wife's presence gradually again came to him, dulling his senses to outward sights and sounds. He was not dependent up in bis eye*, however, for finding his way to bis goal. Crossing tbe Place do la Basulle, the old man had a sudden impression of excited shouts and clattering of wheels. He started up to consciousness of fast driving horses just upon him. He made an instinctive plunge forward, lost his footing, and the next moment hoises and cart went over him. The insensible body was brought to a new hospital at some distance. That night and the next day Pere Perrault remained unconscious. For a passing moment he would wake, and then be woulu seem struggling to speak in a feeble manner. The doctor and the kind Bisters bending over him could discern such words as, 11 La cvmetikre l&-bas." They could not understand, but the straining expression of the fast glazing eyes seemed to indicate there was something on the dying man's mind. No human help could restore the mangled body to activity. On the second day, towards night, Fere Perrault raised his head from his pillow, saying :— "Off, there 1 I told you so. It is like a garden. Everyone knows it by the flowers." He would have risen from his bed but for the restraint of the Sister praying by his pillow since the agony had begun. He struggled and went on : " There, round tbe corner, just behind tbe pyramid. Yes, and there is the old woman coming; a-laughing, her face rested and shining — d perpttuite', a perpitnite," and so he died. The Sister had witnessed those deathbed visions before— when from the shadowy land the loved ones come to guide those starting for the journey. She remained some moments j in prayer, then she rose to perform the last offices. The dead man appeared to her to be a member of that friendless and belated tribe tbe existence of which is one of tbe piteous secrets hidden in the heart of the great city. No one had come to claim kinship with or make inquiries concerning him. He seemed well fitted to demand as a right tbe State's last charity of a pauper | uneral. Pere Perrault's body was put into a humble shell, the lid of which was not nailed down, as a formality to give a last chance of identification. It was placed in the mortuary chapel of the hospital, there to wait the time imposed by law before interment. The morning came, and in the wan light, before the city was astir, the official in rusty black entered. They were removing tbe coffin, in order to close it outside the precincts, when there came a shuffle and scuffle of feet, and a number of ragged and excited figures entered. It was Pere Biot, followed by some chiffoniers. When their eyes fell on the cold and pulseless form in the shell, a cry like a cheer burst from tbeir lips. [the end.j