THE CONSCRIPT'S FATHER. 187 



When Marie mid Pierre were left alone, the old man exacted from 

 her an oath of secrecy as to what he was about to divulge. He then 

 told her that there was but one way by which he could effect the ex- 

 emption of his son : " That is/' said he, " by means of my death !" 

 " Oh I monstrous/' said she j " Pierre, thou dost not surely mean to 

 destroy thyself to save thy son !" " Why, not exactly," rejoined he, 

 " but I mean to pretend to die. If my hat and jacket should be 

 found to-morrow morning on the banks of the river, do not you, by 

 word, deed, intimation, or inuendo, give reason for people to suppose 

 I am still alive. Cherish thy son look after thy affairs let no one 

 overreach thee put thy trust in Heaven, and depend on it thou shalt 

 one day but that day may be far distant again see Pierre^!" 



The next morning, having secretly taken an old hat and jacket, he 

 made the best of his way to the banks of the river, where he depo- 

 sited these articles near a torrent, and ere the sun rose had reached 

 Avranches, a small town about fifteen miles distant. Thence he pro- 

 ceeded with all possible dispatch to Granville, a sea-port, where he 

 engaged himself on board a vessel destined to the coast of Newfound- 

 land. He was unfortunately shipwrecked on the coast of Labrador, 

 and entered the service of a settler. At the end of ten years, 

 finding that he had amassed enough money to pay for a passage home, 

 and thinking that sufficient time had elapsed to exclude his son from 

 the necessity of serving, he embarked for his native country, and 

 landed at Cherbourgh, whence, travelling on foot, he arrived at Haut 

 Verolet, just as the family of his son, who was now married, and had 

 children, were sitting down to supper. The old woman had died 

 without divulging the secret. He opened the door, and stood for an 

 instant on the threshold. Benoni's countenance assumed a deadly 

 paleness. " Do you not recollect me, Benoni ?" said Pierre. " Old 

 man," replied Benoni, et I know thee not." " Not know me, wretch !" 

 said the other, bursting with indignation, and grasping with violence 

 a huge cudgel which he bore in his hand ; ' ' dost thou deny thy fa- 

 ther ?" " Pooh ! pooh !" said Benoni, " the old fool has long been 

 food for the fishes !" These words struck dreadfully on the ear of 

 Pierre. The blood rushed into his face his arm instantly rose the 

 cudgel was brandished in the air, and fell with tremendous violence 

 on the skull of Benoni. He staggered a few paces forward, and fell 

 dead at his father's feet. 



The latter was speedily seized, and conveyed to St. Lo, the capital 

 of the department, where in due time he was brought to his trial, and 

 condemned to die. An appeal, however, being made to Charles the 

 Tenth, and the early incidents of his life, his romantic and devoted 

 attachment to his son, the provocation he had received, the sudden- 

 ness of the act, in which there did not appear the slightest projected 

 malice, being all weighed, his life was spared. He returned to Ve- 

 rolet, and wandered for a few months among its woods, or sat listless 

 and absorbed upon its rocks ; but the hand of death was on him, and 

 at length, realizing his paternal fraud, he precipitated himself into 

 that torrent, on the banks of which, years before, with a view to save 

 Benoni from the conscription, he had deposited his hat and coat. 



