from mother of pearl, by anatole france. copyright by john lane company. by permission of the publishers.
this tale the sacristan of the church of st. eulalie at neuville d'aumont told me, as we sat under the arbor of the white horse, one fine summer evening, drinking a bottle of old wine to the health of the dead man, now very much at his ease, whom that very morning he had borne to the grave with full honors, beneath a pall powdered with smart silver tears.
"my poor father who is dead" (it is the sacristan who is speaking,) "was in his lifetime a grave-digger. he was of an agreeable disposition, the result, no doubt, of the calling he followed, for it has often been pointed out that people who work in cemeteries are of a jovial turn. death has no terrors for them; they never give it a thought. i, for instance, monsieur, enter a cemetery at night as little perturbed as though it were the arbor of the white horse. and if by chance i meet with a ghost, i don't disturb myself in the least about it, for i reflect that he may just as likely have business of his own to attend to as i. i know the habits of the dead, and i know their character. indeed, so far as that goes, i know things of which the priests themselves are ignorant. if i were to tell you all i have seen, you would be astounded. but a still tongue makes a wise head, and my father, who, all the same, delighted in spinning a yarn, did not disclose a twentieth part of what he knew. to make up for this he often repeated the same stories, and to my knowledge he told the story of catherine fontaine at least a hundred times.
"catherine fontaine was an old maid whom he well remembered having seen when he was a mere child. i should not be surprised if there were still, perhaps, three old fellows in the district who could remember having heard folks speak of her, for she was very well known and of excellent reputation, though poor enough. she lived at the corner of the rue aux nonnes, in the turret which is still to be seen there, and which formed part of an old half-ruined mansion looking on to the garden of the ursuline nuns. on that turret can still be traced certain figures and half-obliterated inscriptions. the late curé of st. eulalie, monsieur levasseur, asserted that there are the words in latin, love is stronger than death, 'which is to be understood,' so he would add, 'of divine love.'
"catherine fontaine lived by herself in this tiny apartment. she was a lace-maker. you know, of course, that the lace made in our part of the world was formerly held in high esteem. no one knew anything of her relatives or friends. it was reported that when she was eighteen years of age she had loved the young chevalier d'aumont-cléry, and had been secretly affianced to him. but decent folk didn't believe a word of it, and said it was nothing but a tale concocted because catherine fontaine's demeanor was that of a lady rather than that of a working woman, and because, moreover, she possessed beneath her white locks the remains of great beauty. her expression was sorrowful, and on one finger she wore one of those rings fashioned by the goldsmith into the semblance of two tiny hands clasped together. in former days folks were accustomed to exchange such rings at their betrothal ceremony. i am sure you know the sort of thing i mean.
"catherine fontaine lived a saintly life. she spent a great deal of time in churches, and every morning, whatever might be the weather, she went to assist at the six o'clock mass at st. eulalie.
"now one december night, whilst she was in her little chamber, she was awakened by the sound of bells, and nothing doubting that they were ringing for the first mass, the pious woman dressed herself, and came downstairs and out into the street. the night was so obscure that not even the walls of the houses were visible, and not a ray of light shone from the murky sky. and such was the silence amid this black darkness, that there was not even the sound of a distant dog barking, and a feeling of aloofness from every living creature was perceptible. but catherine fontaine knew well every single stone she stepped on, and, as she could have found her way to the church with her eyes shut, she reached without difficulty the corner of the rue aux nonnes and the rue de la paroisse, where the timbered house stands with the tree of jesse carved on one of its massive beams. when she reached this spot she perceived that the church doors were open, and that a great light was streaming out from the wax tapers. she resumed her journey, and when she had passed through the porch she found herself in the midst of a vast congregation which entirely filled the church. but she did not recognize any of the worshipers and was surprised to observe that all of these people were dressed in velvets and brocades, with feathers in their hats, and that they wore swords in the fashion of days gone by. here were gentlemen who carried tall canes with gold knobs, and ladies with lace caps fastened with coronet-shaped combs. chevaliers of the order of st. louis extended their hands to these ladies, who concealed behind their fans painted faces, of which only the powdered brow and the patch at the corner of the eye were visible! all of them proceeded to take their places without the slightest sound, and as they moved neither the sound of their footsteps on the pavement, nor the rustle of their garments could be heard. the lower places were filled with a crowd of young artisans in brown jackets, dimity breeches, and blue stockings, with their arms round the waists of pretty blushing girls who lowered their eyes. near the holy water stoups peasant women, in scarlet petticoats and laced bodices, sat upon the ground as immovable as domestic animals, whilst young lads, standing up behind them, stared out from wide-open eyes and twirled their hats round and round on their fingers, and all these sorrowful countenances seemed centred irremovably on one and the same thought, at once sweet and sorrowful. on her knees, in her accustomed place, catherine fontaine saw the priest advance toward the altar, preceded by two servers. she recognized neither priest nor clerks. the mass began. it was a silent mass, during which neither the sound of the moving lips nor the tinkle of the bell was audible. catherine fontaine felt that she was under the observation and the influence also of her mysterious neighbor, and when, scarcely turning her head, she stole a glance at him, she recognized the young chevalier d'aumont-cléry, who had once loved her, and who had been dead for five and forty years. she recognized him by a small mark which he had over the left ear, and above all by the shadow which his long black eyelashes cast upon his cheeks. he was dressed in his hunting clothes, scarlet with gold lace, the very clothes he wore that day when he met her in st. leonard's wood, begged of her a drink, and stole a kiss. he had preserved his youth and good looks. when he smiled, he still displayed magnificent teeth. catherine said to him in an undertone:
"'monseigneur, you who were my friend, and to whom in days gone by i gave all that a girl holds most dear, may god keep you in his grace! o, that he would at length inspire me with regret for the sin i committed in yielding to you; for it is a fact that, though my hair is white and i approach my end, i have not yet repented of having loved you. but, dear dead friend and noble seigneur, tell me, who are these folk, habited after the antique fashion, who are here assisting at this silent mass?'
"the chevalier d'aumont-cléry replied in a voice feebler than a breath, but none the less crystal clear:
"'catherine, these men and women are souls from purgatory who have grieved god by sinning as we ourselves sinned through love of the creature, but who are not on that account cast off by god, inasmuch as their sin, like ours, was not deliberate.
"'whilst separated from those whom they loved upon earth, they are purified in the cleansing fires of purgatory, they suffer the pangs of absence, which is for them the most cruel of tortures. they are so unhappy that an angel from heaven takes pity upon their love-torment. by the permission of the most high, for one hour in the night, he reunites each year lover to loved in their parish church, where they are permitted to assist at the mass of shadows, hand clasped in hand. these are the facts. if it has been granted to me to see thee before thy death, catherine, it is a boon which is bestowed by god's special permission.'
"and catherine fontaine answered him:
"'i would die gladly enough, dear, dead lord, if i might recover the beauty that was mine when i gave you to drink in the forest.'
"whilst they thus conversed under their breath, a very old canon was taking the collection and proffering to the worshipers a great copper dish, wherein they let fall, each in his turn, ancient coins which have long since ceased to pass current: écus of six livres, florins, ducats and ducatoons, jacobuses and rose-nobles, and the pieces fell silently into the dish. when at length it was placed before the chevalier, he dropped into it a louis which made no more sound than had the other pieces of gold and silver.
"then the old canon stopped before catherine fontaine, who fumbled in her pocket without being able to find a farthing. then, being unwilling to allow the dish to pass without an offering from herself, she slipped from her finger the ring which the chevalier had given her the day before his death, and cast it into the copper bowl. as the golden ring fell, a sound like the heavy clang of a bell rang out, and on the stroke of this reverberation the chevalier, the canon, the celebrant, the servers, the ladies and their cavaliers, the whole assembly vanished utterly; the candles guttered out, and catherine fontaine was left alone in the darkness."
having concluded his narrative after this fashion, the sacristan drank a long draught of wine, remained pensive for a moment, and then resumed his talk in these words:
"i have told you this tale exactly as my father has told it to me over and over again, and i believe that it is authentic, because it agrees in all respects with what i have observed of the manners and customs peculiar to those who have passed away. i have associated a good deal with the dead ever since my childhood, and i know that they are accustomed to return to what they have loved.
"it is on this account that the miserly dead wander at night in the neighborhood of the treasures they conceal during their life time. they keep a strict watch over their gold; but the trouble they give themselves, far from being of service to them, turns to their disadvantage; and it is not a rare thing at all to come upon money buried in the ground on digging in a place haunted by a ghost. in the same way deceased husbands come by night to harass their wives who have made a second matrimonial venture, and i could easily name several who have kept a better watch over their wives since death than they ever did while living.
"that sort of thing is blameworthy, for in all fairness the dead have no business to stir up jealousies. still i do but tell you what i have observed myself. it is a matter to take into account if one marries a widow. besides, the tale i have told you is vouchsafed for in the manner following:
"the morning after that extraordinary night catherine fontaine was discovered dead in her chamber. and the beadle attached to st. eulalie found in the copper bowl used for the collection a gold ring with two clasped hands. besides, i'm not the kind of man to make jokes. suppose we order another bottle of wine?..."
