Short Fiction

shut. The priest was late.

“Thereupon the nurse, resting herself on one of the boundary stones near the porch, began to undress the infant. I thought at first that he had wetted his napkin, but I saw that they were stripping him naked, the poor little wretch, stark naked, in the icy air. I ran forward, horrified at the insensate act.

“ ‘Are you mad! You’ll kill him.’

“The woman answered placidly:

“ ‘Oh, no, honoured sir, he must come before the good God quite naked.’

“The father and the aunt looked on at the performance with the utmost calm. It was the custom. If it were not followed, ill luck would befall the infant.

“I worked myself up into a rage, I cursed the man, I threatened to go home, I tried forcibly to cover up the frail little body. It was all no use. The nurse escaped from me, running through the snow, and the poor little devil’s body turned purple.

“I was just going to leave the cruel wretches when I saw the priest coming across the fields, followed by the sacristan and a country lad.

“I ran to meet him, and expressed my indignation to him, without mincing my words. He was not surprised, he did not quicken his pace, he made no attempt to hurry himself. He answered:

“ ‘What do you expect, sir? It’s the custom. They all do it, we can’t hinder them.’

“ ‘But at least get a move on!’ I shouted.

“He replied:

“ ‘I can’t come any quicker.’

“And he entered the vestry, while we remained on the threshold of the church, where I swear I suffered more than the little creature howling under the lash of the bitter cold.

“The door opened at last. We went in. But the child had to remain naked throughout the whole ceremony.

“It was interminable. The priest blundered on through the Latin syllables that issued from his mouth, falsely scanned. He walked with a slow gait, with the slow gait of a pious tortoise, and his white surplice froze my heart, like another fall of snow in which he had wrapped himself to torture, in the name of a cruel and barbarous God, this human grub racked by the cold.

“The christening was at last accomplished according to the proper rites, and I saw the nurse roll up again in its wide quilt the frozen child, who was moaning in a thin pitiful voice.

“The priest said to me:

“ ‘Will you come and sign the register?’

“I turned to my gardener:

“ ‘Now get back as quickly as you can, and get that child warm at once.’

“And I gave him some advice how to ward off inflammation of the lungs if there were still time to do it.

“The man promised to carry out my recommendation, and he went away with his sister-in-law and the nurse. I followed the priest into the vestry.

“When I had signed, he demanded five francs of me for expenses.

“Having given the father ten francs, I refused to pay again. The priest threatened to tear out the leaf and annul the ceremony. I threatened him, on my side, with the Public Prosecutor.

“The quarrel lasted a long time. I ended by paying.

“The instant I got home, I wanted to make sure that no further misfortune had happened. I ran to Kérandec’s house, but the father, the sister-in-law, and the nurse had not yet returned.

“The woman who had given birth to the child, left all alone, was sobbing with cold in her bed, and she was hungry, having had nothing to eat since the night before.

“ ‘Where the devil have they gone?’ I said.

“She answered, without surprise or resentment:

“ ‘They’ve gone off to celebrate the occasion.’

“It was the custom. Then I remembered my ten francs which ought to have paid for the christening and which was doubtless now paying for drink.

“I sent in some soup for the mother and I ordered a good fire to be made in her fireplace. I was anxious and angry, promising myself to let those devils have it hot and strong, and asking myself with horror what would become of the wretched brat.

“At six o’clock in the evening they had not returned.

“I ordered my servant to wait for them and I went to bed.

“I fell asleep very quickly, for I sleep like an old sea-dog.

“I was roused about daybreak, by my servant, who brought me some warm water for shaving.

“As soon as I had my eyes open, I demanded:

“ ‘And Kérandec?’

“The man hesitated, then he stammered:

“ ‘Oh, he came back, sir, after midnight, so drunk he could not walk, and the big Kesmagan woman too, and the nurse too. I verily believe they had slept in a ditch, so that the little baby was dead, which they hadn’t even noticed.’

“I leaped out of bed, shouting:

“ ‘The child is dead!’

“ ‘Yes, sir. They carried it to Mother Kérandec. When she saw it, she began to cry; then they made her drink to comfort her.’

“ ‘What, they made her drink?’

“ ‘Yes, sir. But I only learned that this morning, just now. As Kérandec had neither brandy nor money, he took the lamp oil that you had given them, sir, and all four of them drank it, as much as was left in the bottle. And now the Kérandec woman is very ill.’

“I had flung on my clothes with all haste, and, snatching up a stick, with the determination to thrash all these human beasts, I ran to my gardener’s house.

“The woman in the bed was rolling in agony, stupefied with paraffin, beside the blue corpse of the child.

“Kérandec, the nurse, and the big Kesmagan woman were snoring on the ground.

“I had to look to the wife, who died towards noon.”

---

The old doctor was silent. He took up the bottle of brandy, poured out a fresh glass and, once more flashing the lamplight across the tawny liquor so that it seemed to fill his glass with the translucent essence of dissolved topazes, he swallowed the treacherous and gleaming liquid at a gulp.

The Unknown

We were talking of lucky adventures and each of us had an odd happening to relate, delightful