LITMIR.BIZ

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      "Fifteen years ago, in the last letter that your father, on his return from France, brought me from my wife: she told me that, poor as she was, and with our little growing Agricola on her hands, she had taken in a poor deserted child, with the face of a cherub, and the name of Gabriel—and only a short time since I heard of him again."

      "And from whom, then?"

      "You shall know that by and by."

      "Well, then—since you have a Gabriel of your own—there is the more reason that you should love ours."

      "Yours! but who is yours? I am on thorns till you tell me."

      "You know, Dagobert," resumed Rose, "that Blanche and I are accustomed to fall asleep, holding each other by the hand."

      "Yes, yes, I have often seen you in your cradle. I was never tired of looking at you; it was so pretty."

      "Well, then—two nights ago, we had just fallen asleep, when we beheld—"

      "Oh, it was in a dream!" cried Dagobert. "Since you were asleep, it was in a dream!"

      "Certainly, in a dream—how else would you have it?"

      "Pray let my sister go on with her tale!"

      "All, well and good!" said the soldier with a sigh of satisfaction; "well and good! To be sure, I was tranquil enough in any case—because—but still—I like it better to be a dream. Continue, my little Rose."

      "Once asleep, we both dreamt the same thing."

      "What! both the same?"

      "Yes, Dagobert; for the next morning when we awoke we related our two dreams to each other."

      "And they were exactly alike."

      "That's odd enough, my children; and what was this dream all about?"

      "In our dream, Blanche and I were seated together, when we saw enter a beautiful angel, with a long white robe, fair locks, blue eyes, and so handsome and benign a countenance, that we elapsed our hands as if to pray to him. Then he told us, in a soft voice, that he was called Gabriel; that our mother had sent him to be our guardian angel, and that he would never abandon us."

      "And, then," added Blanche, "he took us each by the hand, and, bending his fair face over us, looked at us for a long time in silence, with so much goodness—with so much goodness, that we could not withdraw our eyes from his."

      "Yes," resumed Rose, "and his look seemed, by turns, to attract us, or to go to our hearts. At length, to our great sorrow, Gabriel quitted us, having told us that we should see him again the following night."

      "And did he make his appearance?"

      "Certainly. Judge with what impatience we waited the moment of sleep, to see if our friend would return, and visit us in our slumbers."

      "Humph!" said Dagobert, scratching his forehead; "this reminds me, young ladies, that you kept on rubbing your eyes last evening, and pretending to be half asleep. I wager, it was all to send me away the sooner, and to get to your dream as fast as possible."

      "Yes, Dagobert."

      "The reason being, you could not say to me, as you would to Spoil-sport:

       Lie down, Dagobert! Well—so your friend Gabriel came back?"

      "Yes, and this time he talked to us a great deal, and gave us, in the name of our mother, such touching, such noble counsels, that the next day, Rose and I spent our whole time in recalling every word of our guardian angel—and his face, and his look—"

      "This reminds me again, young ladies, that you were whispering all along the road this morning; and that when I spoke of white, you answered black."

      "Yes, Dagobert, we were thinking of Gabriel."

      "And, ever since, we love him as well as he loves us."

      "But he is only one between both of you!"

      "Was not our mother one between us?"

      "And you, Dagobert—are you not also one for us both?"

      "True, true! And yet, do you know, I shall finish by being jealous of that Gabriel?"

      "You are our friend by day—he is our friend by night."

      "Let's understand it clearly. If you talk of him all day, and dream of him all night, what will there remain for me?"

      "There will remain for you your two orphans, whom you love so much," said

       Rose.

      "And who have only you left upon earth," added Blanche, in a caressing tongue.

      "Humph! humph! that's right, coax the old man over, Nay, believe me, my children," added the soldier, tenderly, "I am quite satisfied with my lot. I can afford to let you have your Gabriel. I felt sure that Spoil sport and myself could take our rest in quiet. After all, there is nothing so astonishing in what you tell me; your first dream struck your fancy, and you talked so much about it that you had a second; nor should I be surprised if you were to see this fine fellow a third time."

      "Oh, Dagobert! do not make a jest of it! They are only dreams, but we think our mother sends them to us. Did she not tell us that orphan children were watched over by guardian angels? Well, Gabriel is our guardian angel; he will protect us, and he will protect you also."

      "Very kind of him to think of me; but you see, my dear children, for the matter of defence, I prefer the dog; he is less fair than your angel, but he has better teeth, and that is more to be depended on."

      "How provoking you are, Dagobert—always jesting!"

      "It is true; you can laugh at everything."

      "Yes, I am astonishingly gay; I laugh with my teeth shut, in the style of old Jovial. Come, children, don't scold me: I know I am wrong. The remembrance of your dear mother is mixed with this dream, and you do well to speak of it seriously. Besides," added he, with a grave air, "dreams will sometimes come true. In Spain, two of the Empress's dragoons, comrades of mine, dreamt, the night before their death, that they would be poisoned by the monks—and so it happened. If you continue to dream of this fair angel Gabriel, it is—it is—why, it is, because you are amused by it; and, as you have none too many pleasures in the daytime, you may as well get an agreeable sleep at night. But, now, my children, I have also much to tell you; it will concern your mother; promise me not to be sad."

      "Be satisfied! when we think of her we are not sad, though serious."

      "That is well. For fear of grieving you, I have always delayed the moment of telling what your poor mother would have confided to you as soon as you were no longer children. But she died before she had time to do so, and that which I have to tell broke her heart—as it nearly did mine. I put off this communication as long as I could, taking for pretext that I would say nothing till we came to the field of battle where your father was made prisoner. That gave me time; but the moment is now come; I can shuffle it off no longer."

      "We listen, Dagobert," responded the two maidens, with an attentive and melancholy air.

      After a moment's silence, during which he appeared to reflect, the veteran thus addressed the young girls:

      "Your father, General Simon, was the son of a workman, who remained a workman; for, notwithstanding all that the general could say or do, the old man was obstinate in not quitting his trade. He had a heart of gold and a head of iron, just like his son. You may suppose, my children, that when your father, who had enlisted as a private soldier, became a general and a count of the empire, it was not without toil or without glory."

      "A count of the Empire! what is that, Dagobert?"

      "Flummery—a title, which the Emperor gave over and above the promotion, just for the sake of saying to the people, whom he loved because he was one of them: Here, children! You wish to play at nobility! You shall be nobles. You wish to play at royalty! You shall be kings. Take what you like—nothing is too good for you—enjoy yourselves!"

      "Kings!"

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