Author: Jane Goodwin Austin

Publisher: Theclassics.Us

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13: 9781230391793

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XLV. GOOD-BY. PROBABLY Francois, le baron de Rien-de-Tout as he once styled himself, in all his chequered life enjoyed few things more than superintending the uprooting cf his own monumental stone, and erecting it afresh in his own garden, precisely opposite the office window and leathern chair; and many was the quiet hour he spent, pipe in mouth, gazing dreamily out upon it, a placid smile upon his lips, a humorous twinkle in his eye. And, final proof of his wife's devotion and womanliness: few things annoyed her more than this habit, and yet she never spoke of it. Valerie's last promise was kept. Never more came tidings over sea to disturb the quiet of that simple home, the hard-fought peace of that strange, nameless life; never flew butterfly or humming-bird from the rose-gardens of Provence to the bleak shores of Plymouth Bay, but the pure breath of the Mayflower perfumed those barren shores, and heart's-ease bloomed in Mary's garden-plot, nor failed as the years went on. Lazarus married, nor once alone; and his second wife was daughter of the Bradfords: many children sat around his board, and went out into the world carrying the new name of LeBaron; but the fairest, the best-beloved, the nearest to her father's heart, of all the girls, was his daughter Therese; and it was his whim, or one of them, -- for this Dr. LeBaron, like the first, was whimsical and reticent, -- to like to see her dark hair decked with carnation ribbons. On the crest of Burying-Hill stands to-day, just where Dr. Francois uprooted his mistaken memorial, another stone, of black marble, and stately even in its decrepitude: it bears the inscription, true this time, although not all of the truth: -- Here lyes y Body of Doctor Francis Lebaron A natyve of...