Legend of Moulin Huet | Page 6

when he was plotting against her happiness in
such a deadly manner. So Gaultier turned his steps homeward,
revolving in his mind the plan he had laid out which was briefly this.
The mill wheel was secured by a rope which passed round the corner of
the house and into a room behind the granary, where it was fastened to
a rafter. Now Gaultier thought that when Charlie was standing on the
wheel, if he could get old Pierre to unfasten the rope, the sudden
starting round of the wheel would precipiate Charlie into the stream
below, where he must inevitably be dashed to pieces. Well thought of,
Jacques Gaultier; but it is a pity thy ingenuity had not been turned to
better account!

Jacques spent a most restless night, for the awfulness of the crime
which he was meditating presented itself unceasingly to his mind; but,
on the other hand, he pictured to himself Marguerite Charlie's wife,
therefore lost to him. Not only did he hate Charlie on this score, but
political feeling, as well as the frank pleasant manner of the young
soldier, assisted in making Jacques look hardly on him. He could'nt but
remark the different manner in which he was treated. People rather
avoided than courted the society of "Dark Jacques Gaultier," as he was
called by the boys round his neighbourhood, with the disagreeable
honesty of "small boy" youth.
Jacques was one of those unhappy beings who live with their blinds
down and windows shut, morally speaking; and yet who wonder that
they don't get the bright light and pure air into their minds, which cause
some of their brethren to be such refreshing bits in the way through life.
One of these was Charlie: he went happily through life, carrying
sunshine with him wherever he went: he felt sorry for Jacques, and
would willingly have been friends with him, but in their relative
positions this was impossible. All his overtures were received with
decided rudeness on the part of Jacques, when they received any notice
at all, so Charlie gave up, and took the situation as inevitable. When
morning came Jacques rose very early and went down to the mill. He
judged the early morning to be the best time to see the old man by
himself. In this he was correct, for when he got there he found Pierre
was the only one down. He was standing in the little garden in the front
of the house. After they had exchanged the customary greetings of the
place, the old miller asked Jacques "what had brought him out so
early."
The latter told him all he had overheard the preceding evening, and
then he unfolded his plan, for Charlie's destruction, but tried to impress
on the old man that he had better loosen the rope himself.
This Pierre would not listen to; said his courage might fail him; then
pleaded his age, failing strength, and many other things; finally, he said,
he would not do it, adding, "One would think I wanted the girl for my
wife; no, do thy own business unless thou art very anxious to give

Marguerite to this fine soldier. I warrant me that will be the end of it."
"Father Pierre, thou well know'st I would sooner die a thousand times
than he should have her, so I will do the thing myself; but how shall I
give reason for my presence here? Marguerite, for days, even weeks
past, has been looking at me with suspicion in her eyes, as though she
divined my thoughts towards that lover of hers?"
"Leave all to me. Can I not have whom I like in my own house? I see
that though thou may'st not dread other things, thou art well frightened
at a woman's looks. Well, well, there's something in that, too."
"Yes, Father Pierre, there is; much sometimes."
"But leave looks to mind themselves now, and I will show you what to
do, and where to go. You can well be in the room behind the granary,
as one or two of the rafters need mending. Let Marguerite see you leave
your work and start for home; then when she goes to show her light say
'All is well,' thou can'st come back and be ready for the bird with his
bright plumage. Ha! he would go elsewhere and pipe his song, did he
know the manner in which we are preparing his perch!"
"That is all well; the popinjay can't escape us now."
"Come in, Jacques, and have some breakfast with us; I think I hear
Marguerite busy at it now."
"Marguerite will not have a welcome for me, I know; but as she is to be
my wife, she may as well get used to my presence now."
When they