The Broken Cup | Page 8

priest." And as they went on he took her hand silently, and
both trembled as if they designed some crime against each other.
"Hast thou forgiven me?" whispered Colin, anxiously. "Ah! Marietta,
what have I done to thee, that thou art so cruel toward me?"
She could only say: "Be quiet, Colin, you shall have the ribbon again;
and I will preserve the cup since it came from you! Did it really come
from you?"
"Ah! Marietta, canst thou doubt it? All I have I would gladly give thee.
Wilt thou, hereafter, be as kind to me as thou art to others?"
She replied not. But as she entered the parsonage she looked aside at
him, and when she saw his fine eyes filled with tears, she whispered
softly: "Dear Colin!" Then he bent down and kissed her hand. With this
the door of a chamber opened and Father Jerome, with venerable aspect,
stood before them. The young couple held fast to each other. I know
not whether this was the effect of the hand-kissing, or the awe they felt
for the sage.
Marietta handed him the myrtle wreath. He laid it upon her head and
said: "Little children, love one another;" and then urged the good
maiden, in the most touching and pathetic manner, to love Colin. For
the old gentleman, from his hardness of hearing, had either mistaken
the name of the bridegroom, or forgotten it, and thought Colin must be
the bridegroom.
Then Marietta's heart softened under the exhortation, and with tears and
sobs she exclaimed: "Ah! I have loved him for a long time, but he hates
me."
"I hate thee, Marietta?" cried Colin. "My soul has lived only in thee
since thou earnest to Napoule. Oh! Marietta, how could I hope and
believe that thou didst love me? Does not all Napoule worship thee?"

"Why, then, dost thou avoid me, Colin, and prefer all my companions
before me?"
"Oh! Marietta, I feared and trembled with love and anxiety when I
beheld thee; I had not the courage to approach thee; and when I was
away from thee I was most miserable."
As they talked thus with each other the good father thought they were
quarreling; and he threw his arms around them, brought them together,
and said imploringly: "Little children, love one another."
Then Marietta sank on Colin's breast, and Colin threw his arms around
her, and both faces beamed with rapture. They forgot the priest, the
whole world. Each was sunk into the other, Both had so completely lost
their recollection that, unwittingly, they followed the delightful Father
Jerome into the church and before the altar.
"Marietta!" sighed he.
"Colin!" sighed she.
In the church there were many devout worshipers; but they witnessed
Colin's and Marietta's marriage with amazement. Many ran out before
the close of the ceremony, to spread the news throughout Napoule:
"Colin and Marietta are married."
When the solemnization was over, Father Jerome rejoiced that he had
succeeded so well, and that such little opposition had been made by the
parties. He led them into the parsonage.
Then Mother Manon arrived, breathless; she had waited at home a long
time for the bride-groom. He had not arrived. At the last stroke of the
clock she grew anxious and went to Monsieur Hautmartin's. There
anew surprise awaited her. She learned that the Governor, together with
the officers of the Viguerie, had appeared and taken possession of the
accounts, chests, and papers of the justice and at the same time arrested
Monsieur Hautmartin.

"This, surely, is the work of that wicked Colin," thought she, and
hurried to the parsonage in order to apologize to Father Jerome for
delaying the marriage. The good gray-headed old man advanced toward
her, proud of his work, and leading by the hand the newly married pair.
Now Mother Manon lost her wits and her speech in good earnest when
she learned what had happened. But Colin had more thoughts and
power of speech than in his whole previous life. He told of his love and
the broken cup, the falsehood of the justice, and how he had unmasked
this unjust magistrate in the Viguerie at Grasse. Then he besought
Mother Manon's blessing, since all this had happened without any fault
on the part of Marietta or himself.
Father Jerome, who for a long while could not make out what had
happened, when he received a full explanation of the marriage through
mistake, piously folded his hands and exclaimed, with uplifted eyes:
"Wonderful are the dispensations of Providence!" Colin and Marietta
kissed his hands; Mother Manon, through sheer veneration of heaven,
gave the young couple her blessing, but remarked incidentally that her
head seemed turned round.
Mother Manon herself was pleased with her son-in-law when she came
to know the full