it was hardly sun-up on the following morning when the three children—trézinie, cami and the little negress, la fringante—were filling big, flat indian baskets from the abundance of brilliant flowers that studded the hill.
in their eagerness they had ascended the slope and penetrated deep into the forest without thought of m’sieur michel or of his abode. suddenly, in the dense wood, they came upon his hut—low, forbidding, seeming to scowl rebuke upon them for their intrusion.
la fringante dropped her basket, and, with a cry, fled. cami looked as if he wanted to 113do the same. but trézinie, after the first tremor, saw that the ogre himself was away. the wooden shutter of the one window was closed. the door, so low that even a small man must have stooped to enter it, was secured with a chain. absolute silence reigned, except for the whirr of wings in the air, the fitful notes of a bird in the treetop.
“can’t you see it’s nobody there!” cried trézinie impatiently.
la fringante, distracted between curiosity and terror, had crept cautiously back again. then they all peeped through the wide chinks between the logs of which the cabin was built.
m’sieur michel had evidently begun the construction of his house by felling a huge tree, whose remaining stump stood in the centre of the hut, and served him as a table. this primitive table was worn smooth by twenty-five years of use. upon it were such humble utensils as the man required. everything within the hovel, the sleeping bunk, the one seat, were as rude as a savage would have fashioned them.
the stolid cami could have stayed for hours with his eyes fastened to the aperture, morbidly 114seeking some dead, mute sign of that awful pastime with which he believed m’sieur michel was accustomed to beguile his solitude. but trézinie was wholly possessed by the thought of her easter offerings. she wanted flowers and flowers, fresh with the earth and crisp with dew.
when the three youngsters scampered down the hill again there was not a purple verbena left about m’sieur michel’s hut; not a may apple blossom, not a stalk of crimson phlox—hardly a violet.
he was something of a savage, feeling that the solitude belonged to him. of late there had been forming within his soul a sentiment toward man, keener than indifference, bitter as hate. he was coming to dread even that brief intercourse with others into which his traffic forced him.
so when m’sieur michel returned to his hut, and with his quick, accustomed eye saw that his woods had been despoiled, rage seized him. it was not that he loved the flowers that were gone more than he loved the stars, or the wind that trailed across the hill, but they belonged to and were a part of that life which he had 115made for himself, and which he wanted to live alone and unmolested.
did not those flowers help him to keep his record of time that was passing? they had no right to vanish until the hot may days were upon him. how else should he know? why had these people, with whom he had nothing in common, intruded upon his privacy and violated it? what would they not rob him of next?
he knew well enough it was easter; he had heard and seen signs yesterday in the store that told him so. and he guessed that his woods had been rifled to add to the mummery of the day.
m’sieur michel sat himself moodily down beside his table—centuries old—and brooded. he did not even notice his hounds that were pleading to be fed. as he revolved in his mind the event of the morning—innocent as it was in itself—it grew in importance and assumed a significance not at first apparent. he could not remain passive under pressure of its disturbance. he rose to his feet, every impulse aggressive, urging him to activity. he would go down among those people all gathered 116together, blacks and whites, and face them for once and all. he did not know what he would say to them, but it would be defiance—something to voice the hate that oppressed him.
the way down the hill, then across a piece of flat, swampy woodland and through the lane to the village was so familiar that it required no attention from him to follow it. his thoughts were left free to revel in the humor that had driven him from his kennel.
as he walked down the village street he saw plainly that the place was deserted save for the appearance of an occasional negress, who seemed occupied with preparing the midday meal. but about the church scores of horses were fastened; and m’sieur michel could see that the edifice was thronged to the very threshold.
he did not once hesitate, but obeying the force that impelled him to face the people wherever they might be, he was soon standing with the crowd within the entrance of the church. his broad, robust shoulders had forced space for himself, and his leonine head stood higher than any there.
117“take off yo’ hat!”
it was an indignant mulatto who addressed him. m’sieur michel instinctively did as he was bidden. he saw confusedly that there was a mass of humanity close to him, whose contact and atmosphere affected him strangely. he saw his wild-flowers, too. he saw them plainly, in bunches and festoons, among the easter lilies and roses and geraniums. he was going to speak out, now; he had the right to and he would, just as soon as that clamor overhead would cease.
“bonté divine! m’sieur michel!” whispered ’dame suzanne tragically to her neighbor. trézinie heard. cami saw. they exchanged an electric glance, and tremblingly bowed their heads low.
m’sieur michel looked wrathfully down at the puny mulatto who had ordered him to remove his hat. why had he obeyed? that initial act of compliance had somehow weakened his will, his resolution. but he would regain firmness just as soon as that clamor above gave him chance to speak.
it was the organ filling the small edifice with volumes of sound. it was the voices of men 118and women mingling in the “gloria in excelsis deo!”
the words bore no meaning for him apart from the old familiar strain which he had known as a child and chanted himself in that same organ-loft years ago. how it went on and on. would it never cease? it was like a menace; like a voice reaching out from the dead past to taunt him.
“gloria in excelsis deo!” over and over! how the deep basso rolled it out! how the tenor and alto caught it up and passed it on to be lifted by the high, flute-like ring of the soprano, till all mingled again in the wild pæan, “gloria in excelsis!”
how insistent was the refrain! and where, what, was that mysterious, hidden quality in it; the power which was overcoming m’sieur michel, stirring within him a turmoil that bewildered him?
there was no use in trying to speak, or in wanting to. his throat could not have uttered a sound. he wanted to escape, that was all. “bonæ voluntatis,”—he bent his head as if before a beating storm. “gloria! gloria! gloria!” he must fly; he must save himself, regain 119his hill where sights and odors and sounds and saints or devils would cease to molest him. “in excelsis deo!” he retreated, forcing his way backward to the door. he dragged his hat down over his eyes and staggered away down the road. but the refrain pursued him—“ax! pax! pax!”—fretting him like a lash. he did not slacken his pace till the tones grew fainter than an echo, floating, dying away in an “in excelsis!” when he could hear it no longer he stopped and breathed a sigh of rest and relief.
