Marie: An Episode in the Life of the Late Allan Quatermain

of my first love and of the adventures that are grouped around her beautiful and tragic history. I suppose this is because it has al

times I seem to see the opening doors through which I must pass, and leaning earthwards across their threshold,

ms to me that only of late have I come to understand and appreciate at its true value the character of her of whom I tell, and the passionate affection which was her bounteous offering to one so utterly unworthy as myself. What have I done, I wonder, that to me should have been decreed the love of two such women as Marie and that of Stella, also now lo

that once, long afterwards, a certain little witch of a Zulu did say tender words to me, and for an hour or so almost turned my head, an art in which she had great skill. This I say because I wis

sed my youth with my old father, a Church of England clergy

rm called Maraisfontein. I say he was a Boer, but, as may be guessed from both his Christian and surname, his origin was Huguenot, his forefather, who was also named Henri Marais-though I think the Mar

h it is, or was, the custom of the Boers to spell out every morning, should their learning allow them to do so), not in the "taal" or patois Dutch, but in good old French. I have the very book from which he used to read now, for, curiously enough, in after years, when all these events had long been gathered to the past, I chanced to buy it among a parcel of other works at the weekly auctio

ation, and amongst them a few notes telling of such matters as the change of the dwelling-places of the family, always in French. Towards the end of the list appears the entry of the birth of the Henri Marais whom I knew, alas! too well, and of his only sister. Then is written h

sauver du maudit gouvernement Britannique comme

es ministres tyranni

and the opinions of Henri Marais, and the

ends-that is, so far as the writings in the Bible

ter I will tell

fashion suited to romance. Indeed, we interchanged our young ideas across a small and extremely massive table, which, in fact, had once done duty as a block f

e lost oxen. He was a thin, bearded man with rather wild, dark eyes set close together, and a quick nervous manner, not in the le

eak if he could help it, and Mr. Marais preferred not to talk English. To meet someone who could converse in French delighted him, and although his ver

ired youth with a sharp nose, asked my father whether he would like me to be ins

own experience where Latin and Greek are conc

cquire a knowledge of the French tongue from a tutor whom Mr. Marais had hired to instruct his daughter in that language and other subjects

nd I was allowed to carry a gun, which even in those days I could use fairly well. So to Maraisfontein I rode on the appointed day, attended by a Hottentot after-rider, a certain Hans, of whom I shall have a good deal

ky child appeared in front of me, clad in a frock which exactly matched the colour of the peach bloom. I can see her now, her dark hair hanging down her back, and her big, shy eyes st

ay. For a while she stared back at me, being afflicted, presumably, with the same

main who is coming to learn Fren

do you call me little, missie? I am taller than you," I added indignantl

get off that horse, and we will

on"), she took the writing slate which she was carrying-it had no frame, I remember, being, in fact, but a piece of the material used for roofing-and,

stly done. Now, little Allan,

behold! she was the tall

on tiptoe," I sa

e the good Lord, and when you come to know me better you will learn th

as I am whole months older, for my father told me so. Come, let us write our names against these marks, so that in a year or two you may see how you outgrow

be seen the name Marie, against the little line, and by it the mark that I had made. My own name and with it subsequent measurements were gone, for in the intervening forty years or so the sandstone ha

rough the peach orchard I rode, where the trees-perhaps the same, perhaps others-were once more in bloom, f

just half an inch the taller in body, and ho

g to observe for the first time the beautiful bustard and the two koran hanging from my saddl

all these, Al

the pauw and koran were flying, not sitting, which is more th

hoot at living things unless I must because I was hungry, for I think that to kill is cruel. But, of course, it is different with

hunting, and when there are so many wild things it does not matte

yard, where the outbuildings stood in which the riding horses and the best of the breeding cattle were kept at night, and s

country, where mimosa and other trees grew in clumps, two men were seated,

ot in the least like one of the phlegmatic Boers, either in person or in temperament, but, rather, a typical Frenchman, although no member of his race

ars and fell upon his shoulders, giving him the appearance of a tonsured but dishevelled priest. His eyes were blue and watery, his mouth was rather weak, and his cheeks were pale, full and flabby. When the Heer Marais r

pe to avoid prosecution. Here he obtained a professorship at one of the colleges, but after a while appeared in the lecture-room quite drunk and lost his employment. The same thing happened in other towns, till at last he drifted to distant Maraisfontein, where his employer tolerated his weakness for the sake of the intellectual companionship for which

fferent, but of that I sha

sie has been sitting for two hours in the sun waiting for you, although I told her you would not arrive much before ten o'clock, as your father the prédicant said you would

shade of a peach tree. Also, I was working out the sums that Monsieur Leblanc set me on my slate. See, here they are," and she

urally quick at modern languages. At any rate, I made out that he was asking if I was the little "cochon d'anglais," or English pig, whom for his sins he had

r of the others could speak, I answered in

e to be my master, I hope you will not

mp), "and pray, what will happen if

sult, "the same that has happened to yonder buck," and I pointed to t

lucky), exclaimed Monsieur Leblanc, astonished. From that moment, I ma

, speaking in Dutch t

ng? Speak so again and I turn you out to starve on the veld. Allan Quatermain, although, as you may have heard, I do not like the English, I beg your pardon. I hope you will forgive

tub of cold water and swallow a pint of new milk, which were his favourite antidotes after too much strong drink. At

er seemed to please him more than the former. Then my saddle-bags were taken to my room, a little cupboard of a place next to that occupied by Monsieur Leblanc,

the eye. For the rest, there was one window opening on to the veranda, which, in that bright climate, admitted a shaded but sufficient light, especially as it always stood open; the ceiling was of unplastered reeds; a large bookcase stood in the corner containing many French works, most of them the property of Monsieur Leblanc, and in the centre of the room was the strong, rough table made of native yellow-wood, that once had served as a butc

a standstill by a curious choking sound which seemed to proceed from the shadows behind the bookcase. Wondering as to its cause, I advanced ca

, why do you

cks of long, black hair which h

shame which has been put upon you and up

alled me a pig, but I think I have

es; and the worst of it is that my father is of his mind. He, too, hates the English,

o with it, have we?" I replied wit

he said solemnly. "Hush! he