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The Awakening

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The

Awakening

KATE CHOPIN

Author of «A NIOHT IN ACADIE,"
"BAYOU FOLKS," Etc.

HERBERT S. STONE & COMPANY

CHICAGO & NEW YORK

MDCCCXCIX

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A^ /<^V^. ACS'

HAIVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FROM

P THE BEQUEST OF

EVERT JANSEN WINDill.

191 B

HARVARD \
JNIVERSITrl
LIBRARY

APR 21 19/1 j

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THE AWAKENING

A green and yellow parrot^ which hung
in a cage outside the door, kept repeating
over and over:

^^Allez vous-ent Allez vaus-ent SaprisAl
That's all right!"

He could speak a little Spanish, and also
a language which nobody understood, un-
less it was the mocking-bird that hung on
the other side of the door, whistling his
fluty notes out upon the breeze with mad-
dening persistence.

Mr. Pontellier, unable to read his news-
paper with any degree of comfort, arose
with an expression and an exclamation of
disgust. He walked down the gallery and
across the narrow *' bridges" which con-
nected the Lebrun cottages one with the
other. He had been seated before the door
of the main house. The parrot and the

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2 THE AWAKENING

mocking-bird were the property of Madame
Lebrun, and they had the right to make all
the noise they wished. Mr. Pontellier had
the privilege of quitting their society when
they ceased to be entertaining.

He stopped before the door of his own
cottage, which was the fourth one from the
main building and next to the last. Seat-
ing himself in a wicker rocker which was
there, he once more applied himself to the
task of reading the newspaper. The day
was Sunday; the paper was a day old.
The Sunday papers had not yet reached
Grand Isle. He was already acquainted
with the market reports, and he glanced
restlessly over the editorials and bits of
news which he had not had time to read
before quitting New Orleans the day before.

Mr. Pontellier wore eye-glasses. He was
a man of forty, of medium height and
rather slender build; he stooped a little.
His hair was brown and straight, parted on
one side. His beard was neatly and closely
trimmed.

Once in a while he withdrew his glance
from the newspaper and looked about him.

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THE AWAKENING 3

There was more noise than ever over at
the house. Jhe main building.was called
"the house," to distinguish it from the cot-
tages. The chattering and whistling birds
were still at it. Two young girls, the
Farival twins, were playing a duet from
"Zampa" upon the piano. Madame
Lebrun was bustling in and out, giving
orders in a high key to a yard-boy whenever
she got inside the house, and directions in
an equally high voice to a dining-room
servant whenever she got outside. She was
a fresh, pretty woman, clad always in white
with elbow sleeves. Her starched skirts
crinkled as she came and went. Farther
down, before one of the cottages, a lady in
black was walking demurely up and down,
telling her beads. A good many persons of
the pension had gone over to the Chhdire
Candnada in Beaudelet's lugger to hear
mass. Some young people were out under
the water-oaks playing croquet. Mr. Pon-
tellier's two children were there — sturdy
little fellows of four and five. A quadroon
nurse followed them about with a far-away,
meditative air.

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4 THE AWAKENING )

Mr. Pontellier finally lit a cigar and be-
gan to smoke, letting ^he paper drag idly
from his hand. He fixed his gaze upon
a white sunshade that was advancing at
snail's pace from the beach. He could
see it plainly between the gaunt trunks of
the water-oaks and across the stretch of yel-
low camomile. The gulf looked far away,
melting hazily into the blue of the hori-
zon. The sunshade continued to approach
slowly. Beneath its pink-lined shelter were
his wife, Mrs. Pontellier, and young Robert
Lebrun. When they reached the cottage,
the two seated themselves with some ap-
f)earance of fatigue upon the upper step of
the porch, facing each other, each leaning
against a supporting post.

**What folly! to bathe at such an hour in
such heat!*' exclaimed Mr. Pontellier. He
himself had taken a plunge at daylight.
That was why the morning seemed long to
him.

'*You are burnt beyond recognition," he
added, looking at his wife as one looks at a
valuable piece of personal property which
has suffered some damage. She held up

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}

THE AWAKENING 5

her hands, strong, shapely hands, and sur-
veyed them critically, drawing up her lawn
sleeves above the wrists. Looking at them
reminded her of her rings, which she had
given to her husband before leaving for the
beach. She silently reached out to him,
and he, understanding, took the rings from
his vest pocket and dropped them into her
open palm. She slipped them upon her
fingers ; then clasping her knees, she looked
across at Robert and began to laugh. The
rings sparkled upon her fingers. He sent
back an answering smile.

"What is it?" asked Pontellier, looking
lazily and amused from one to the other.
It was some utter nonsense; some adven-
ture out there in the water, and they both
tried to relate it at once. It did not seem
half so amusing when told. They realized
this, and so did Mr. Pontellier. He yawned
and stretched himself. Then he got up,
saying he had half a mind to go over
to Klein's hotel and play a game of
billiards.

'Xomecft along, Lebrun, " he proposed to
Robert. But Robert admitted quite frankly

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6 THE AWAKENING

that he preferred to stay where he w^ ^nd
talk to Mrs. PontelUer.

''Well, send him about his business when
he bores you, Edna," instructed her hus-
band as he prepared to leave.

"Here, take the umbrella," she ex-
claimed, holding it out to him. He
accepted the sunshade, and lifting it over
his head descended the steps and walked
away.

"Coming back to dinner?" his wife called
after him. He halted a moment and
shrugged his shoulders. He felt in his vest
pocket; there was a ten-dollar bill there.
He did not know ; perhaps he would return
for the early dinner and perhaps he would
not. It all depended upon the company
which he found over at Klein's and the size
of "the game." He did not say this, but
she understood it, and laughed, nodding
good-by to him.

Both children wanted to follow their
father when they saw him starting out. He
kissed them and promised to bring them
back bonbons and peanuts.

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Mrs. Pontellier's eyes were quick and
bright ; they were a yellowish brown, about
the color of her hair. * She had a way of
turning them swiftly upon an object and
holding them there as if lost in some inward
maze of contemplation or thought.

Her eyebrows were a shade darker than
her hair. They were thick and almost hori-
zontal, emphasizing the depth of her eyes.
She was rather handsome than beautiful.
Her face was captivating by reason of a cer-
tain frankness of expression and a contra-
dictory subtle play of features. Her man-
ner was engaging.

Robert rolled a cigarette. He smoked
cigarettes because he could not afford
cigars, he said. He had a cigar in his
pocket which Mr. Pontellier had presented
him with, and he was saving it for his after-
dinner smoke.

This seemed quite proper and natural on
7

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8 THE AWAKENING

his part. In coloring he was not unlike his
companion. A clean-shaved face made the
resemblance more pronounced than it would
otherwise have been. There rested no
shadow of caVeupon his open countenance.
His «yes gathered in and reflected the light
and languor of the summer day.

Mrs. Pontellier reached over for a palm-
leaf fan that lay on the porch and began to
fan herself, while Robert sent between his
lips light puffs from his cigarette. They
chatted incessantly: about the things
around them ; their amusing adventure out
in the water — it had again assumed its enter-
taining aspect; about the wind, the trees,
the people who had gone to the Chiniire;
about the children playing croquet under
the oaks, and the Farival twins, who. were
now performing the overture to '*The Poet
and the Peasant.**

Robert talked a good deal about himself.
He was very young, and did not know
any better. Mrs. Pontellier talked a little
about herself for the same reason. Each
was interested in what the other said. Rob-
ert spoke of his intention to go to Mexico

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THE AWAKENING 9

in the autumn, where fortune awaited him.
He was always intending to go_tpJMexico, ,
but some way never got there. Meanwhile
he held on to his modest position in a mer-
cantile house in New Orleans, where an
equal familiarity with English, French and
Spanish gave him no small value as a clerk
and correspondent.

He was spending his summer vacation,
as he always did, with his mother at Grand
Isle. In former times, before Robert could
remember, **the house" had been a summer
luxury of the Lebruns. Now, flanked by
its do^en or more cottages, which were
always filled with exclusive visitors from the
^'QuarHer Frangais^^' it enabled Madame
Lebrun to maintain the easy and comfort-
able existence which appeared to be her
birthright.

Mrs. Pontellier talked about her father^s
Mississippi plantation and her girlhood
home in the old Kentuck^ ^ ^lue-gra ss coun-
try. She was an American womanT^ith a
small infusion of French which seemed to
have been lost in dilution. She read a let-
ter from her sister, who was away in the

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THE AWAKENING

East, and who had engaged herself to be
married. Robert was interested, and
wanted to know what manner of girls the
sisters were, what the father was like, and
how long the mother had been dead.

When Mrs. Pontellier folded the letter it
was time for her to dress for the early din-
ner.

"I see L^once isn't coming back,*' she
said, with a glance in the direction whence
her husband had disappeared. Robert
supposed he was not, as there were a good
many New Orleans club men over at Klein's.

When Mrs. Pontellier left him to enter
her room, the young man descended the
steps and strolled over toward the croquet
players, where, during the half-hour before
dinner, he amused himself with the little
Pontellier children, who were very fond of
him.

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Ill

It was eleven o'clock that night when
Mr. Pontellier returned from Klein's hotel.
He was in an excellent humor, in high spir-
its, and very talkative. His entrance awoke
his wife, who was in bed and fast asleep
when he came in. He talked to her while
he undressed, telling her anecdotes and bits
of news and gossip that he had gathered dur-
ing the day. From his trousers pockets he
took a fistful of crumpled bank notes and
a good deal of silver coin, which he piled
on the bureau indiscriminately with keys,
knife, handkerchief, and whatever else hap-
pened to be in his pockets. She was over-
come with sleep, and answered him with little
half utterances.

, He thought it very discouraging that
his wife, who was the sole object of his
existence, evinced so little interest in things
which concerned him, and valued so little
his conversation.

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12 THE AWAKENING

Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the bonbons
and peanuts for the boys. Notwithstand-
ing he loved them very much, and went into
the adjoining room where they slept to take
a look at them and make sure that they
were resting comfortably. The result of
his investigation was far from satisfactory.
He turned and shifted the youngsters about
in bed. One of them began to kick and
talk about a basket full of crabs.

Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with
the information that Raoul had a high
fever and needed looking after. Then he lit
a cigar and went and sat near the open door
to smoke it.

Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had
no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly '
well, she said, and nothing had ailed him all
day. Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted
with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He
assured her the child was consuming at that
moment in the next room.

He reproached his wife with her inatten-
tion, her habitual neglect of the children.
If it was not a mother's place to look after
children, whose on earth was it? He him-

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THE AWAKENING 13

self had his hands full with his brokerage
business. He could not be in two places at
once ; making a living for his family on the
street, and staying at home to see that no
harm befell them. He talked in a monoto-
nous, insistent way.

Mrs. PonteUier sprang out of bed and
went into the next room. She soon came
back and sat on the edge of the bed, lean-
ing her head down on the pillow. She said
nothing, and refused to answer her husband
when he questioned her. When his cigar
was smoked out he went to bed, and in
half a minute he was fast asleep.

Mrs. PontelHer was by that time thor-
oughly awake. She began to cry a little;
and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her
peignoir. Blowing out the candle, which
her husband had left burning, she slipped
her bare feet into a pair of satin tntdes at the
foot of the bed and went out on the porch,
where she sat down in the wicker chair and
began to rock gently to and fro.

It was then past midnight. The cottages
were all dark. A single faint light gleamed

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14 THE AWAKENING

out from the hallway of the house. There '
was no sound abroad except the hooting of
an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and
the everlasting voice of the sea, that was
not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke
like a mournful lullaby upon the night.

The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier's
eyes that the damp sleeve of h^r peignoir no
longer served to dry them. She was hold-
ing the back of her chair with one hand ;
her loose sleeve had slipped almost to the
shoulder of her uplifted arm. TiuMraing, she
thrust her face, steaming and wet, into* the
bend of her arm, and she went on crying
there, not caring any longer to dry her face,
her eyes, her arms. She could not have
told why she was crying. Such experiences
as the foregoing were not uncommon in her
married life. They seemed never before to
have weighed much against the abundance
of her husband's kindness and a uniform
devotion which had come to be tacit and
self-understood.

An indescribable oppression, whichseemed
to generate in some unfamiliar part of her
ConsciousnesSi filled her whole being with a

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THE AWAKENING 15

vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like
a mist passing across her soul's summer
day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was
a mood. She did not sit there inwardly
upbraiding her husband, lamenting at Fate,
which had directed her footsteps to the
path which they had taken. She was just
having a good cry all to herself. The
mosquitoes made merry over her, biting her
firm, round arms and nipping at her bare
insteps.

The little stinging, buzzing imps suc-
ceeded in dispelling a mood which might
have held her there in the darkness half a
night longer.

The following morning Mr. Pontellier was
up in good time to take the rockaway which
was to convey him to the steamer at the
wharf. He was returning to the city to his
business, and they would not see him again
at the Island till the coming Saturday. He
had regained his composure, which seemed
to have been somewhat impaired the night
before. He was eager to be gone, as he
looked forward to a lively week in Caron-
delet Street.

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i6 THE AWAKENING

Mr. PontelHer gave his wife half of the'
money which he had brought away from
Klein's hotel the evening before. She liked
money as well as most women, and accepted
it with no little satisfaction.

*'It will buy a handsome wedding present
for Sister Janet!" she exclaimed, smooth-
ing out the bills as she counted them one
by one.

''Oh! we'll treat Sister Janet better than
that, my dear," he laughed, as he prepared
to kiss her good-by.

The boys were tumbling about, clinging
to his legs, imploring that numerous things
be brought back to them. Mr. Pontellier
was a great favorite, and ladies, men, chil-
dren, even nurses, were always on hand to
say good-by to him. His wife stood smil-
ing and waving, the boys shouting, as he
disappeared in the old rockaway down the
sandy road.

A few days later a box arrived for Mrs.
PontelHer from New Orleans. It was from
her husband. It was filled with fiiandises,
with luscious and toothsome bits — the finest

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THE AWAKENING 17

of fruits, paiiSy a rare bottle or two, delicious
syrups, and bonbons in abundance.

Mrs. Pontellier was always very generous
with the contents of such a box; she was
quite used to receiving them when away
from home. The patis and fruit were
brought to the dining-room; the bonbons
were passed around. And the ladies,
selecting with dainty and discriminating
fingers and a little greedily, all declared that
Mr. Pontellier was the best husban^ in the
world* Mrs. Pontellier was forced- fo admit
that she knew of none better.

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It would have been a difficult matter for
Mr. Pontellier to define to his own satisfac-
tion or any one else's wherein his wife failed
in her duty toward their children. It was
something which he felt rather than per-
ceived, and he never voiced the feeling with-
out subsequent regret and ample "atone-^
ment.

If one of the little Pontellier boys took
a tumble whilst at play, he was not apt to
rush crying to his mother's arms for com-
fort ; he would more likely pick-himsetf'up,
wipe the water out of his eyes and the sand
out of his mouth, and go on playing. Tots
as they were, they pulled together and
stood their ground in childish battles with
doubled .fists and uplifted voices, which
usually prevailed against the other mother-
tots. The quadroon nurse was looked upon
as a huge encumbrance, only good to but-
ton up waists and panties and to brush and
i8

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THE AWAKENING 19

part hair; since it seemed to be a law of
society that hair must be parted and
brushed.

In short, Mrs. Pontellier was not a
mother- woman. The mother-women seemed
to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It
'was easy to know them, fluttering about
with extended, protecting wings when any
harm, real or imaginary, threatened their
precious brood. They were women who
idolized their children, worshiped their
husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege
to efface themselves as individuals and grow
wings as ministering angels.

Many of them were delicious in the r61e ;
one of them was the embodiment of every
womanly grace and charm. If her husband
did not adore her, he was a brute, deserv-
ing of death by slow torture. Her name
was Adfele RatignoUe. There are no
words to describe her save the old ones
that have served so often to picture the by-
gone heroine of romance and the fair lady
of our dreams. There was nothing subtle
or hidden about her charms; her beauty
was all there, flaming and apparent: the

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ao THE AWAKENING

spun-gold hair that comb nor confining pin
could restrain ; the blue eyes that were like
nothing but sapphires ; two lips that pouted,
that were so red one could only think of
cherries or some other delicious crimson
fruit in looking at them. She was growing
a little stout, but it did not seem to detract
an iota from the grace of every step, pose,
gesture. One would not have wanted her
white neck a mite less full or her beautiful
arms more slender. Never were hands
more exquisite than hers, and it was a joy
to look at them when she threaded her
needl« or adjusted her gold thimble to her
taper middle finger as she sewed away on
the little night-drawers or fashioned a bodice
or a bib.

Madame RatignoUe was very fond of Mrs.
Pontellier, and often she took her sewing
and went over to sit with her in the after-
noons. She was sitting there the afternoon
of the day the box arrived from New
Orleans. She had possession of the rocker,
and she was busily engaged in sewing upon
a diminutive pair of night-drawers.

She had brought the pattern of the draw-

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THE AWAKENING 21

ers for Mrs. PontelHer to cut out — a marvel
of construction, fashioned to enclose a
baby's body so effectually that only two
Bmall eyes might look out from the gar-
ment, like an Eskimo's. They were de-
signed for winter wear, when treacherous
drafts came, down chimneys and insidious
currents of deadly cold found their way
through key-holes.

Mrs. Pontellier's mind was quite at rest
concerning the present material needs of her
children, and she could not see the use of
anticipating and making winter night gar-
ments the subject of her summer medita-.
tions. But she did not want to appear
unamiable and uninterested, so she had
brought forth newspapers, which she spread
upon the floor of the gallery, and under
Madame RatignoUe's directions she had cut
a pattern of the impervious garment.

Robert was there, seated as he had been
the Sunday before, and Mrs. Pontellier also
occupied her former position on the upper
step, leaning listlessly against the post. Be-
side her was a box of bonbons, which she
held out at intervals to Madame RatignoUe.

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12 THE AWAKENING

That lady seemed at a loss to make a selec-
tion, but finally settled upon a stick of nugat,
wondering if it were not too rich ; whether
it could possibly hurt her. Madame RatTg-
noUe had been married seven years. About
every two years she had a baby. At that
time she had three babies, and was begin-
ning to think of a fourth one. She was
alwkys talking about her "condition."
Her ''condition" was in noway apparent,'
and no one would have known a thing about
it but for her persistence in making it the
subject of conversation.

Robert started to reassure her, asserting
that he had known a lady who had sub-
sisted upon nugat during the entire — but
seeing the color mount into Mrs. Pontel-
lier's face he checked himself and changed
the subject.

Mrs. Pontellier, though she had married
a Creole, was not thoroughly at home in
the society of Creoles; never before had she
been thrown so intimately among them.
There were only Creoles that summer at
Lebrun's. They all knew each other, and
felt like one lai^e family, among whom

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THE AWAKENING 23

existed the most amicable relations. A
characteristic which distinguished them and
which impressed Mrs. Pontellier most for-
cibly was their entire absence of prudery.
Their freedom of expression was at first
incomprehensible to her, though she had
no difficulty in reconciling it with a lofty
chastity which in the Creole woman seems
to be inborn and unmistakable.

Never would Edna Pontellier forget the
shock with which she heard Madame Ratig-
noUe relating to old Monsieur Farival the
harrowing story of one of her accouchementSi
withholding no intimate detail. She was
gfrowing accustomed to lijce shocks, but she
could not keep the mounting color back from
her cheeks. Oftener than once her coming
had interrupted the droll story with which
Robert was entertaining some amused group
of married women.

A book had gone the rounds of the
pension. When it came her turn to read it,
she did so with profound astonishment. She
felt moved to read the book in secret and
solitude, though none of the others had
done so — to hide it from view at the sound

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24 THE AWAKENING

of approaching footsteps. It was openly
criticised and freely discussed at table.
Mrs. Pontellier gave over being astonished,
and concluded that wonders would never
cease.

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They formed a congenial group sitting
there that summer afternoon — Madame Rat-
ignoUe sewing away, often stopping to relate
a story or incident with much expressive
gesture of her perfect hands; Robert and
Mrs. Pontellier sitting idle, exchanging
occasional words, glances or smiles which
indicated a certain advanced stage of inti-
macy and camaraderie, i

He had lived in her shadow during the
past month. No one thought anything of
it. Many had predicted that Robert would
devote himself to Mrs. Pontellier when he
arrived. Since the age of fifteen, which
was eleven years before, Robert each sum-
mer at Grand Isle had constituted himself
the devoted attendant of some fair dame or
damsel. Sometimes it was a young girl,
again a widow; but as often as not it was
some interesting married woman.

For two consecutive seasons he lived in
35

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26 THE AWAKENING

the sunlight of Mademoiselle Duvign^'s
presence. But she died between summers ;
then Robert posed as an inconsolable, pros-
trating himself at the feet of Madame
RatignoUe for whatever crumbs of sympa-
thy and comfort she might be pleased to
vouchsafe. ,

Mrs. Pontellier liked to sit and gaze at
her fair companion as she might look upon
a faultless Madonna.

** Could any one fathom the cruelty be-
neath that fair exterior?" murmured Robert.
*'She knew that I adored her once, and she
let me adore her. It was 'Robert, come;
go ; stand up ; sit down ; do this ; do that ;
see if the baby sleeps ; my thimble, please,
that I left God knows where. Come and
read Daudet to me while 1 sew.' "

^^Par exemple! I never had to ask. You
were always there under my feet, like a
troublesome cat."

**You mean like an adoring dog. And
just as soon as RatignoUe appeared on the
scene, then it was like a dog. ' Passe zt
Adieu! AUez vous-enf "

** Perhaps I feared to make Alphonse

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THE AWAKENING 27

jealous," she interjoined, with excessive
naivete. That made them all laugh. The
right hand jealous of the left ! The heart
jealous of the soul ! But for that matter,
the Creole husband is never jealous; with
him the gangrene passion is one which has
become dwarfed by disuse.

Meanwhile Robert, addressing Mrs. Pon-
tellier, continued to tell of his one time
hopeless passion for Madame RatignoUe;
of sleepless nights, of consuming flames till
the very sea sizzled when he took his daily
plunge. While the lady at the needle kept
up a little running, contemptuous com-
ment :

^^ Blagueur-^arceur—gros bite^ vaf
He never assumed this serio-eomic tone
when alone with Mrs. Pontellier. She
never knew precisely what to make of Nit;
at that moment it was impossible for her to
guess how much of it was jest and what
proportion was earnest. It was understood
that he had often spoken words of love to
Madame RatignoUe, without any thought
of being taken seriously. Mrs. Pontellier
was glad he had not assumed a similar rdle

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28 THE AWAKENING

toward herself. It would have been unac-
ceptable and annoying.

Mrs. Pontellier had brought her sketching
materials, which she sometimes dabbled with ;
in an unprofessional way. She liked the
dabbling. • She felt in it satisfaction of a
kind which no other employment afiForded
her.

She had long wished to try herself on
Madame RatignoUe. Never had that lady
seemed a more tempting subject than at
that moment, seated there like some sensu-
ous Madonna, with the gleam of the fading \
day enriching her splendid color.

Robert crossed over and seated himself
upon the step below Mrs. Pontellier, that
he might watch her work. She handled her
brushes with a certain ease and freedom
which came, not from long and close
acquaintance with them, but f rom -a-iwctural
aptitude. Robert followed her work with
close attention, giving forth little ejacula-
tory expressions of appreciation in French,
which he addressed to Madame RatignoUe.

^^Mais ce ti est pas mcdi Elk s'y contudt^ elU
ade laforcCf aui.**

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J>.

THE AWAKENING 29

During his oblivious attention he once
quietly rested his head against Mrs. Pontel-
lier's arm. As gently she repulsed him.
Once again he repeated the offense. She
could not but believe it to be thoughtless-
ness on his part ; yet that was no reason she
should submit to it. She did not remon-
strate, except again to repulse him quietly
but firmly. He offered no apology.

The picture completed bore no resem-
blance to Madame Ratignolle. She was
greatly disappointed to find that it did not
look like her. But it was a fair enough
piece of work, and in many respects satisfy-
ing.

Mrs. Pontellier evidently did not think
so. After surveying the sketch critically
she drew a broad smudge of paint across its
surface, and crumpled the paper between
her hands.

The youngsters came tumbling up the
steps, the quadroon following at the
respectful distance which they required her
to observe. Mrs. Pontellier made them
carry her paints and things into the house.
She sought to detain them for a little

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30 THE AWAKENING

talk and some pleasantry. But they were
greatly in earnest. They had only com^
to investigate the contents of the bon-
bon box. They accepted without murmur-
ing what she chose to give them, each
holding out two chubby hands scoop-like,
in the vain hope that they might be filled ;
and then away they went.

The sun was low in the west, and the
breeze soft and languorous that came up
from the south, charged with the seductive
odor of the sea. Children, freshly befur-
belowed, were gathering for their games
under the oaks. Their voices were high and
penetrating,

Madame RatignoUe folded her sewing,
placing thimble, scissors and thread all
neatly together in the roll, which she pinned
securely. She complained of faintness.
Mrs. Pontellier flew for the cologne water
and a fan. She bathed Madame Ratig-
noUe's face with cologne, while Robert
plied the fan with unnecessary vigor.

The spell was soon over, and Mrs. Pon-
tellier could not help wondering if there were
not a little imagination responsible for its

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THE AWAKENING 31

origin, for the rose tint had never faded
from her friend's face.

She stood watching the fair woman walk
down the long line of galleries with the
grace and majesty which queens are some-
times supposed to possess. Her little ones
ran to meet her. Two of them clung about
her white skirts, the third she took from its
nurse and with a thousand endearments
bore it along in her own fond, encircling
arms. Though, as everybody welt knew,
the doctor had forbidden her to lift so much
as a pin !

*'Are you gomg bathing?" asked Robert
of Mrs. Pontellier. It was not so much a
question as a reminder.

*'0h, no," she answered, with a tone of
indecision. "I'm tired; Ithinknot." Her
glance wandered from his face away toward
the Gulf, whose sonorous murmur reached
her like a loving but imperative entreaty.

"Oh, come!" he insisted. "You mustn't
miss your bath. Come on. The water
must be delicious; it will not hurt you.
Come."

He reached up for her big, rough straw

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32 THE AWAKENING

hat that hung on a peg outside the door,
and put it on her head. They descended
the steps, and walked away together toward
the beach. The sun was low in the west
and the breeze was soft and warm.

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Edna Pontellier could not have told why,
wishing to go to the beach with Robert, she
should in the first place have declined, and
in the second place have followed in obedi-
ence to one of the two contradictory im-
pulses which impelled her.

A certain light was beginning to dawn
dimly within her, — the light which, show-
ing the way, forbids it.

At that early period it served but to be-
wilder, her. It moved her to dreams^ to
thoughtfulness, to the shadowy anguish
which had overcome her the midnight when
she had abandoned herself to tears.
** In short, Mrs. Pontellier was beginning
to realize her position in the universe as a
human being, and to recognize her relations
as an individual to the world within and
about her. This may seem like a ponder-
ous weight of wisdom to descend upon the
soul of a young woman of twenty-eight —
33

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34 THE AWAKENING

perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost
is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any
woman.

But the beginning of things, of a world
especially, is necessarily vague, tangled,
chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How
few of us ever emerge from such beginning!
How many souls perish in its tumult !

*^ The voice of the sea is seductive ; never
ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring,
inviting the soul to wander for a spell in
abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes
of inward contemplation. ^

The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.

►The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding
the body in its soft, close embrace^ m^

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VII

Mrs. Pontellier was not a woman given to
confidences, a characteristic hitherto con-
trary to her nature. Even as a child she
had lived her own small life ali within her-
self. Q^t a very early period she had;^
apprehended instinctively the dual life —
that outward existence which conforms, the
inward life which questionsT)

That summer at Grand Isle she began to
loosen a little the mantle of reserve that had
always enveloped her. There may have
been — ^there must have been— influences,
J>oth subtle and apparent, working in their
several ways to induce her to do this ; but
the most obvious was the influence of Ad^le
Ratignolle. The excessive physical charm
of the Creole had first attracted her, for
Edna had a sensuous susceptibility to
beauty. Then the candor of the woman's
whole existence, which every one might
read, and which formed so striking a con-
35

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36 THE AWAKENING

trast to her own habitual reserve — ^this
might have furnished a link. Who can tell
what metals the gods use in forging the sub-
tle bond which we call sympathy, which we
might as well call love.

The two women went away one morning
to the beach together, arm in arm, under
the huge white sunshade. Edna had pre-
vailed upon Madame RatignoUe to leave
the children behind, though she could not
induce her to relinquish a diminutive roll of
needlework, which Adfele begged to be
allowed to slip into the depths of her pocket.
In some unaccountable way they had
escaped from Robert.

The walk to the beach was no inconsider-
able one, consisting as it did of a long,
sandy path, upon which a sporadic and
tangled growth that bordered it- on either
side made frequent and unexpected inroads.
There were acres of yellow camomile reach-
ing out on either hand. Further away still,
vegetable gardens abounded, with frequent
small plantations of orange or lemon trees
intervening. The dark green clusters glis-
tened from afar in the sun.

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THE AWAKENING 37

The women were both of goodly height,
Madame Ratignolle possessing the more
feminine and matronly figure. The charm
of Edna Ponjtellier's physique stole insen-
sibly upon you. The lines of her body
were long, clean and symmetricci; it was
a body which occasionally fell into splen-
did poses; there was no suggestion of
the trim, stereotyped fashion-plate about
it. A casual and indiscriminating observer,
in passing, might not cast a second glance
upon the figure. But with more feeling
and discernment he would have recognized
the noble beauty of its modeling, and the
graceful severity of poise and movement,
which made Edna Pontellier different from
the crowd.

She wore a cool muslin that morning-
white, with a waving vertical line of brown
running through it; also a white linen col-
lar and the big straw hat which she had
taken from the peg outside the door. The
hat rested any way on her yellow-brown
hair, that waved a little, was heavy, and
clung close to her head.

Madame Ratignolle, more careful of her

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38 THE AWAKENING

complexion, had twined a gauze veil about
her head. She wore dogskin gloves, with
gauntlets that protected her wrists. She
was dressed in pure white, with a fluffiness
of ruffles that became her. The draperies
and fluttering things which she wore suited
her rich, luxuriant beauty as a greater sever-
ity of line could not have done.

There were a number of bath-houses
along the beach, of rough but solid con-
struction, built with small, protecting gal-
leries facing the water. Each house con-
sisted of two compartments, and each
family at Lebrun's possessed a compart-
ment for itself, fitted out with all the essen-
tial paraphernalia of the bath and whatever
other conveniences the owners might desire.
The two women had no intention of bath-
ing; they had just strolled down to the
beach for a walk and to be alone and near
the water. The Pontellier and RatignoUe
compartments adjoined one another under
the same roof.

Mrs. Pontellier had brought down her
key through force of habit. Unlocking the
door of her bath-room she went inside, and

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THE AWAKENING 39

soon emerged, bringing a rug, which she
spread upon the floor of the gallery, and
two huge hair pillows covered with crash,
which she placed against the front of the
building.

The two seated, themselves there in the
shade of the porch, side by side, with their
backs against the pillows and their feet ex-
tended. Madame RatignoUe removed her
veil, wiped her face with a rather delicate
handkerchief, and fanned herself with the
fan which she always carried suspended
somewhere about her person by a long,
narrow ribbon. Edna removed her collar
and opened her dress at the throat.
She took the fan from Madame Ratig-
noUe and began to fan both herself and
her companion. It was very warm, and
for a while they did nothing but exchange
remarks about the heat, the sun, the glare.
But there was a breeze blowing, a choppy,
stiff wind that whipped the water into froth.
It fluttered the skirts of the two women and
kept them for a while engaged in adjusting,
readjusting, tucking in, securing hair-pins
and hat-pins. A few persons were sport-

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40 THE AWAKENING

ing some distance away in the water. The
beach was very still of human sound at that
hour. The lady in black was reading her
morning devotions on the porch of a neigh-
boring bath-house. Two young lovers were
exchanging their hearts' yearnings beneath
the children's tent, which they had found
unoccupied.

Edna Pontellier, casting her eyes about,
had finally kept them at rest upon the sea.
The day was clear and carried the gaze out
as far as the blue sky went ; there were a few
white clouds suspended idly over the hori-
zon. A lateen sail was visible in the direc-
tion of Cat Island, and others to the south
seemed almost motionless in the far dis-
tance.

'*0f whom^ — of what are you thinking?'*
asked Adfele of her companion, whose coun-
tenance she had been watching with a little
amused attention, arrested by the absorbed
expression which seemed to have seized
and fixed every feature into a statuesque
repose.

''Nothing," returned Mrs. Pontellier,
with a start, adding at once: ''How stupid I

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THE AWAKENING 41

But it seems to me it is the reply we make
instinctively to such a question. Let me
see," she went on, throwing back her head
and narrowing her fine eyes till they shone
like two vivid points of light. "Let me see.
I was really not conscious of thinking of
anything; but perhaps I can retrace my
thoughts."

"Oh! never mind!" laughed Madame
RatignoUe. "I am not quite so exacting.
I will let you off this time. It is really too
hot to think, especially to think about
thinking,"

"But for the fun of it," persisted Edna.
"First of all, the sight of the water stretch-
ing so far away, those motionless sails
against the blue sky, made a delicious pic-
ture that I just wanted to sit and look at.
The hot wind beating in my face made me
think — ^without any connection that I can
trace — of a summer day in Kentucky, of a
meadow that seemed as big as the ocean to
the very little girl walking through the
grass, which was higher than her waist.
She threw out her arms as if swimming
when she walked, beating the tall grass as

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42 THE AWAKENING

one strikes out in the water. Oh, I see the
connection now!"

"Where were you going that day in Ken-
tucky, walking through the grass?"

'*I don't remember now. I was just
walking diagonally across a big field. My
sun-bonnet obstructed the view. I could
see only the stretch of green before me, and
• I felt as if I must walk on forever, without
coming to the end of it. I don't remem-
ber whether I was frightened or pleased.^^ I
must have been entertained.

"Likely as not it was Sunday," she
laughed; "and I was running away from
prayers, from the Presbyterian service, read
in a spirit of gloom by my father that chills
me yet to think of."

"And have you been running away from
prayers ever since, ma chiref^ asked
Madame RatignoUe, amused.

"No! oh, no!" Edna hastened to say.
"I was a little unthinking child in those
days, just following a misleading impulse
without question. On the contrary, dur-
ing one period of my life religion took a
firm hold upon me ; after I was twelve and

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THE AWAKENING 43

until — until — why, I suppose until now,
though I never thought much about it —
just driven along by habit. But do you
know," she broke off, turning her quick
eyes upon Madame RatignoUe and leaning
forward a little so as to bring hjr face quite
close to that of her companion^* sometimes
I feel this summer as if I were walking
through the green meadow again; idly,
aimlessly, unthinking and unguided."*^

Madame RatignoUe laid her hand over
that of Mrs. Pontellier, which was near her.
Seeing that the hand was not withdrawn,
she clasped it firmly and warmly. She even
stroked it a little, fondly, with the other
hand, murmuring in an undertone, ^^Pauvre
chirier

The action was at first a little confusing
to Edna, but she soon lent herself readily
to the Creole's gentle caress. She was not
accustomed to an outward and spoken ex-
pression of affection, either in herself or in
others. She and her younger sister, Janet,
had quarreled a good deal through force of
unfortunate habit. Her older sister, Mar-
gareti was matronly and dignified, probably

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44 THE AWAKENING

from having assumed matronly and house-
wifely responsibilities too early in life, their
mother having died when they were quite
young. Margaret was not effusive ; she was
practical. Edna had had an occasional girl
friend, but whether accidentally or not, they
seemed to have been all of one type — the
self-contained. She never realized that the
reserve of her own character had much,
perhaps everything, to do with this. Her
most intimate friend at school had been one
of rather exceptional intellectual gifts, who
wrote fine-sounding essays, which Edna
admired and strove to imitate ; and with her
she talked and glowed over the English
classics, and sometimes held religious and
political controversies.

Edna often wondered at one propensity
which sometimes had inwardly disturbed her
without causing any outward show or mani-
festation on her part. At a very early
age — perhaps it was when she traversed the
ocean of waving grass — she remembered that
she had been passionately enamored of a dig-
nified and sad-eyed cavalry officer who vis-
ited her father in Kentucky, She could

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THE AWAKENING 45

not leave his presence when he was; there,
nor remove her eyes from his face, which
was something like Napoleon's, with a lock
of black hair falling across the forehead.
But the cavalry officer melted imperceptibly
out of her existence.

At another time her affections were
deeply engaged by a young gentleman who
visited a lady on a neighboring plantation.
It was after they went to Mississippi to live.
The young man was engaged to be married
to the young lady, and they sometimes
called upon Margaret, driving over of after-
noons in a buggy. Edna was a little miss,
just merging into her teens ; and the realiza-
tion that she herself was nothing, nothing,
nothing to the engaged young man was a
bitter affliction to her. But he, too, went
the way of dreams.

She was a grown young woman when she*
was overtaken by what she supposed to be
the climax of her fate. It was when the
face and figure of a great tragedian began to
haunt her imagination and stir her senses.
The persistence of the infatuation lent it an
aspect of genuineness. The hopelessness -

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46 THE AWAKENING

of it colored it with the lofty tones of a
great passion.

The picture of the tragedian stood en-
framed upon her desk. Any one may pos-
sess the portrait of a tragedian without
exciting suspicion or comment. (This was
a sinister reflection which she cherished.)
In the presence of others she expressed
admiration for his exalted gifts, as she
handed the photograph around and dwelt
upon the fidelity of the likeness. When
alone she sometimes picked it up and kissed
the cold glass passionately.
.Qler marriage to L^once Pontellier was
purely an accident, in this respect resem-
bling many other marriages which masquer-
ade as the decrees of FateJ It was in the
midst of her secret great passion that she
met him. He fell in love, as men are in
the habit of doing, and pressed his suit with
an earnestness and an ardor which left noth-
ing to be desired. He pleased her; his
absolute devotion flattered her. She
fancied there was a sympathy of thought
and taste between them, in which fancy she
was mistaken. Add to this the violent

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THE AWAKENING 47

opposition of her father and her sister Mar-
garet to her marriage with a Catholic, and
we need seek no further for the motives
which led her to accept Monsieur Pontellier
for her husband.

-^jw^The acme of bliss, which would have been
a marriage with the tragedian, was not for
her in this world. As the devoted wife of
a man who worshiped her, she felt she
would take her place with a certain dignity
in the world of reality,, closing the portals
forever behind her upon the realm of
romance and dreams.-*^

But it was not long before the tragedian
had gone to join the cavalry officer and the
engaged young man and a few others; and
Edna found herself face to face with the
realities. She grew fond of her husband,
realizing with some unaccountable satisfac-
tion that no trace of passion or excessive
and fictitious warmth colored her affection,
thereby threatening its dissolution.

— She was fond of her children in an
uneven, impulsive way. She would some-
times gather them passionately to her heart ;
she would sometimes forget them. The-i

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48 THE AWAKENING

year before they had spent part of the sum-
mer with their grandmother Pontellier in
Iberville, Feeling secure regarding their
/happiness and welfare, she did not miss
them except with an occasional intense
longing. Their absence was a sort of re-
lief, though she did not admit this, even to
herself. —It seemed to free her of a respon-
sibility which she had blindly assumed and
for which Fate had not fitted her/

Edna did not reveal so much as all this
to Madame RatignoUe that summer day
when they sat with faces turned to the sea.
But a good part of it escaped her. She had
put her head down on Madame RatignoUe 's
shoulder. She was flushed and felt intoxi-
cated with the sound of her own voice and
the unaccustomed taste of candor. It mud-
dled her like wine, or like a first breath of
freedom.

There was the sound of approaching
voices. It was Robert, surrounded by a
troop of children, searching for them. The
two little Pontelliers were with him, and he
carried Madame RatignoUe 's little girl in his
arms. There were other children beside,

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THE AWAKENING 49

and two nurse-maids followed, looking dis-
agreeable and resigned.

The women at once rose and began to
shake out their draperies and relax their
muscles. Mrs. Pontellier threw the cush-
ions and rug into the bath-house. The
children all scampered off to the awning,
and they stood there in a line, gazing upon
the intruding lovers, still exchanging their
vows and sighs. The lovers got up, with
only a silent protest, and walked slowly
away somewhere else.

The children possessed themselves of the
tent, and Mrs. Pontellier went over to join
them.

Madame Ratignolle begged Robert to
accompany her to the house; she com-
plained of cramp in her limbs and stiffness
of the joints. She leaned draggingly upon
his arm as they walked.

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VIII

t^^

'Do me a favor, Robert," spoke the
pretty woman at his side, almost as soon
as she and Robert had started on their
slow, homeward way. She looked up in
his face, leaning on his arm beneath the
encircling shadow of the umbrella which he
had lifted.

'* Granted; as many as you like," he
returned, glancing down into her eyes that
were full of thoughtfulness and some specu-
lation.

**I only ask for one; let Mrs. Pontellier
alone."

"Tiem/'* he exclaimed, with a sudden,
boyish laugh. **VMd que' Madame RoHg"
fwlle estjalouset^

''Nonsense! I'm in earnest; I mean what
I say. Let Mrs. Pontellier alone. ' *

*'Why?" he asked; himself growing seri-
ous at his companion's solicitation.

**She is not one of us; she is not like us.
50

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THE AWAKENING 51

She might make the unfortunate blunder of
taking you seriously.**

His face flushed with annoyance, and
taking off his soft hat he began to beat it
impatiently against his leg as he walked.
"Why shouldn't she take me seriously?" he
demanded sharply. **Am I a comedian, a
clown, a jack-in-the-box? Why shouldn't
she? You Creoles! I have no patience
with you ! Am I always to be regarded as a
feature of an amusing programme? I hope
Mrs. Pontellier does take me seriously. I
hope she has discernment enough to find in
me something besides the blagueur. If I
thought there was any doubt — ' *

'*0h, enough, Robert!" she broke into
his heated outburst. '*You are not think-
ing of what you are saying. You speak
with about as little reflection as we might
expect from one of those children down
there playing in the sand. If your atten-
tions to any married women here were ever
offered with any intention of being convinc-
ing, you would not be the gentleman we all
know you to be, and you would be unfit to

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'f^

52 THE AWAKENING

associate with the wives and daughters of
the people who trust you."

Madame Ratig^olle had spoken what she
believed to be the law and the gospel. The
young man shrugged his shoulders impa-
tiently.

'*0h! well! That isn't it/* slamming
his hat down vehemently upon his head.
"You ought to feel that such things are not
flattering to say to a fellow."

''Should our whole intercourse consist of
an exchange of compliments? Ma foiT*

''It isn't pleasant to have a woman tell
you — ** he went on, unheedingly, but break-
ing o£f suddenly: "Now if I were like
Arobin — you remember Alc6e Arobin and
that story of the consul's wife at Biloxi?"
And he related the story of Alc^e Arobin
and the consul's wife; and another about
the tenor of the French Opera, who received
letters which should never have been writ-
ten ; and still other stories, grave and gay,
till Mrs. Pontellier and her possible propen-
sity for taking young men seriously was
apparently forgotten.

Madame RatignoUe, when they had rc-

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THE AWAKENING 53

gained her cottage, went in to take the
hour's rest which she considered helpful.
Before leaving her, Robert begged her par-
don for the impatience — he called it rude-
ness — with which he had received her
well-meant caution.

''You made one mistake, Adfele," he
said, with a light smile; "there is nq earthly
possibility of Mrs. Pontellier ever taking
me seriously. You should have warned me
against taking myself seriously. Your
advice might then have carried some weight
and given me subject for some reflection.
Au revoir. But you look tired," he added,
solicitously. "Would you like a cup of
bouillon ? Shall I stir you a toddy ? Let me
mix you a toddy with a drop of Angostura. * *

She acceded to the suggestion of bouillon,
which was grateful and acceptable. He
went himself to the kitchen, which was a
building apart from the cottages and lying
to the rear of the house. And he himself
brought her the golden-brown bouillon, in a
dainty Sfevres cup, with a flaky cracker or
two on the saucer.

She thrust a bare, white arm from the

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54 THE AWAKENING

curtain which shielded her open door, and
received the cup from his hands. She told
him he was a ban garqotiy and she meant it.
Robert thanked her and turned away toward
"the house."

The lovers were just entering the grounds
of the pension. They were leaning toward
each other as the water-oaks bent from the
sea. There was not a particle of earth
beneath their feet. Their heads might have
been turned upside-down, so absolutely
did they tread upon blue ether. The lady
in» black, creeping behind them, looked a
trifle paler and more jaded than usual.
There was no sign of Mrs. Pontellier and
the children. Robert scanned the distance
for any such apparition. They would
doubtless remain away till the dinner hour.
The young man ascended to his mother's
room. It was situated at the top of the
house, made up of odd angles and a queer,
sloping ceiling. Two broad dormer win-
dows looked out toward the Gulf, and as
far across it as a man's eye might reach.
The furnishings of the room were light,
cool, and practical.

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THE AWAKENING SS

Madame Lebrun was busily engaged at
the sewing-machine. A little black girl sat
on the floor, and with her hands worked
the treadle of the machine. The Creole
woman does not take any chances which
may be avoided of imperiling her health.

Robert went over and seated himself on
the broad sill of one of the dormer windows.
He took a book from his pocket and be-
gan energetically to read it, judging by the
precision and frequency with which he
turned the leaves. The sewing-machine
made a resounding clatter in the room ; it
was. of a ponderous, by-gone make. In
the lulls, Robert and his mother exchanged
bits of desultory conversation.

"Where is Mrs. Pontellier?"

''Down at the beach with the children."

"I promised to lend her the Goncourt.
Don't forget to take it down when you go;
it's there on the bookshelf over the small
table." Clatter, clatter, clatter, bang! for
the next five or eight minutes.

"Where is Victor going with the rock-
away?"

' ' The rockaway ? Victor ?' *

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S6 THE AWAKENING

'^Yes; down there in front. He seems to
be getting ready to drive away somewhere."

"Call him." Clatter, clatter!

Robert uttered a shrill, piercing whistle
which might have been heard back at the
wharf.

''He won't look up."

Madame Lebrun flew to the window.
She called ''Victor!" She waved a hand-
kerchief and called again. The young fel-
low below got into the vehicle and started
the horse off at a gallop.

Madame Lebrun went back to the ma-
chine, crimson with annoyance. Victor
was the younger son and brother-7-a tite
montde^ with a temper which invited violence
and a will which no ax could break.

"Whenever you say the word I'm ready
to thrash any amount of reason into him
that he's able to hold."

"If your father had only lived!" Clat-
ter, clatter, clatter, clatter, bang! It was a
fixed belief with Madame Lebrun that the
conduct of the universe and all things per-
taining thereto would have been manifestly
of a more intelligent and higher order had

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THE AWAKENING 57

not Monsieur Lebrun been removed to other
spheres during the ?arly years of their mar-
ried life.

''What do you hear from Montel?"
Montel was a middle-aged gentleman whose
vain anibition and desire for the past twenty
years had been to fill the void which Mon-
sieur Lebrun*s taking off had left in the
Lebrun household. Clatter, clatter, bang,
clatter!

''I have a letter somewhere," looking in
the machine drawer and finding the letter
in the bottom of the work-basket '*He
says to tell you he will be in Vera Cruz the
beginning of next month'* — clatter, clat-
ter! — ''and if you still have the intention of
joining him" — bang! clatter, clatter, bang!

"Why didn't you tell me so before,
mother? You know I wanted — ' * Clatter,
clatter, clatter!

"Do you see Mrs. Pontellier starting back
with the children? She will be in late to
luncheon again. She never starts to get
ready for luncheon till the last minute."
Clatter, clatter! "Where are you going?"

"Where did you say the Goncourt was?"

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Every light in the hall was ablaze; every
lamp turned as high as it could be without
smoking the chimney or threatening explo-
sion. The lamps were fixed at intervals
against the wall, encircling the whole roomr
Some one had gathered orange and lemon
branches, and with these fashioned graceful
festoons between. The dark green of the
branches stood out and glistened against
the white muslin curtains which draped the
windows, and which puffed, floated, and
flapped at the capricious will of a stiff
breeze that swept up from the Gulf.

It was Saturday night a few weeks after
the intimate conversation held between
Robert and Madame RatignoUe on their
way from the beach. An unusual number
of husbands, fathers, and friends had come
down to stay over Sunday; and they were
being suitably entertained by their families,
with the material help of Madame Lebrun.
58

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THE AWAKENING 59

The dining tables had all beeo removed to
one end of the hall, and the chairs ranged
about in rows and in clusters. Each little
family group had had its say and exchanged
its domestic gossip earlier in the evening.
There was now an apparent disposition to
relax ; to widen the circle of confidences and
give a more general tone to the conversation.

Many of the children had been permitted
to sit up beyond their usual bedtime. A
small band of them were lying on their stom-
achs on the floor looking at the colored sheets
of the comic papers which Mr. Pontellier had
brought down. The little Pontellier boys
were permitting them to do so, and making
their authority felt.

Music, dancing, and a recitation or two
were the entertainments fun^shed, or
rather, offered. But there was nothing
systematic about the programme, no appear-
ance of prearrangement nor even premedita-
tion.

At an early hour in the evening the Far-
ival twins were prevailed upon to play the
piano. They were girls of fourteen, always
clad in the Virgin's colors, blue and white,

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6o THE AWAKENING

having been dedicated to the Blessed Vir-
gin at their baptism. They played a duet
from "Zampa," and at the earnest solicita-
tion of every one present followed it with the
overture to "The Poet and the Peasant.'^

^^Allez vous-en/ Sapristi/'* shrieked the
parrot outside the door. He was the only
being present who possessed sufficient can-
dor to admit that he was not listening
to these gracious performances for the
first time that summer. Old Monsieur
Farival, grandfather of the twins, grew
indignant over the interruption, and insisted
upon having the bird removed and con-
signed to regions of darkness. Victor
Lebrun objected ; and his decrees were as
immutable as those of Fate. The parrot
fortunately offered no further interruption
to the entertainment, the whole venom of
his nature apparently having been cherished
up and hurled against the twins in that one
impetuous outburst.

Later a young brother and sister gave
recitations, which every one present had
heard many times at winter evening enter-
tainments in the city.

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THE AWAKENING 6i

A little girl performed a skirt dance in
the center of the floor. The mother played
her accompaniments and at the same time
watched her daughter with greedy admira-
tion and nervous apprehension. She need
have had no apprehension. The child was
mistress of the situation. She had been
properly dressed for the occasion in black
tulle and black silk tights. Her little neck
and arms were bare, and her hair, artificially
crimped, stood out like fluffy black plumes
over her head. Her poses were full of
grace, and her little black-shod toes twinkled
as they shot out and upward with a rapidity
and suddenness which were bewildering.

But there was no reason why every one
should not dance. Madame Ratignolle
could not, so it was she who gaily con-
sented to play for the others. She played
very well, keeping excellent waltz time and
infusing an expression into the strains which
was indeed inspiring. -She was keeping up
her music on account of the children, she
said; because she and her husband both
considered it a means of brightening the
home and making it attractive.

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62 THE AWAKENING

Almost every one danced but the twins,
who could not be induced to separate dur-
ing the brief period when one or the other
should be whirling around the room in the
arms of a man. They might have danced
together, but they did not think of it.

The children were sent to bed. Some
went submissively ; others with shrieks and
protests as they were dragged away. They
had been permitted to sit up till after the
ice-cream, which naturally marked the limit
of human indulgence.

The ice-cream was passed around with
cake — ^gold and silver cake arranged on plat-
ters in alternate slices ; it had been made
and frozen during the afternoon back of the
kitchen by two black women, under the
supervision of Victor. It was pronounced
a great success — excellent if it had only
contained a little less vanilla or a little
more sugar, if it had been frozen a degree
harder, and if the salt might have been kept
out of portions of it. Victor was proud of
his achievement, and went about recom-
mending it and urging every one to partake
of it to excess.

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THE AWAKENING 63

After Mrs. Pontellier had danced twice
with her husband, once with Robert, and
once with Monsieur RatignoUe, who was
thin and tall and swayed like a reed in the
wind when he danced, she went out on
the gallery and seated herself on the low
window-sill, where she commanded a view
of all that went on in the hall and could
look out toward the Gulf. There was a
soft effulgence in the east. The moon was
coming up, and its mystic shimmer was
casting a million lights across the distant,
restless water.

''Would you like to hear Mademoiselle
Reisz play?" asked Robert, coming out on
the porch where she was. Of course Edna
would like to hear Mademoiselle Reisz play ;
but she feared it would be useless to entreat
her.

'TU ask her," he said. 'TU tell her
that you want to hear her. She likes you.
She will come." He turned and hurried
away to one of the far cottages, where
Mademoiselle Reisz was shuffling away.
She was dragging a chair in and out of her
room, and at intervals objecting to the cry-

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64 THE AWAKENING

ing of a baby, which a nurse in the adjoin-
ing cottage was endeavoring to put to sleep.
She was a disagreeable little woman, no
longer young, who had quarreled witli-
almost every one, owing to a temper which. ^
was self-assertive and a disposition to tram-
ple upon the rights of others. Robert
prevailed upon her without ^ny too great '
difficulty.

She entered the hall with him during a
lull in the dance. She made an awkward,
imperious little bow as she went in. She
was a homely woman, with a small wea-
zened face and body and eyes that glowed.
She had absolutely no taste in dress, and
wore a batch of rusty black lace with a
bunch of artificial violets pinned to the side
of her hair.

"Ask Mrs. Pontellier what she would like
to hear me play," she requested of Robert.
She sat perfectly still before the piano, not
touching the keys, while Robert carried her
message to Edna at the window. A gen-
eral air of surprise and genuine satisfaction
fell upon every one as they saw the pianist
enter. There was a settling down, and a

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THE AWAKENING 65

prevailing air of expectancy everywhere.
Edna was a trifle embarrassed at being thus
signaled out for the imperious little wom-
.,^an*s favor. She would not dare to choose,
"and begged that Mademoiselle Keisz would
please herself in her selections.

Edna was what she herself called very
fond of music. Musical strains, well ren-
dered, had a way of evoking pictures in her
mind. She sometimes liked to sit in the
room of mornings when Madame Ratig-
noUe played or practiced. One piece which
that lady played Edna had entitled "Soli-
tude.** It was a short, plaintive, minor
strain. The name of the piece was some-
thing else, but she called it "Solitude.**
When she heard it there came before her
imagination the figure of a man standing
beside a desolate rock on the seashore. He
was naked. His attitude was one of hope-
less resignation as he looked toward a dis-
tant bird winging its flight away from him^

Another piece called to her mind a dainty
young woman clad in an Empire gown, tak-
ing mincing dancing steps as she came down
a long avenue between tall hedges. Again,

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66 THE AWAKENING

another reminded her of children at play,
and still another of nothing on earth but a
demure lady stroking a cat.

The very first chords which Mademoiiselle
Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen
tremor down Mrs. Pontellier*s spinA-coluniii/
It was not the first time she had heard an
artist at the piano. Perhaps it was the first
time she was ready, perhaps the first time
her being was tempered to take an impress
of the abiding truth.

She waited for the material pictures which
she thought would gather and blaze before
her imagination. She waited in vain. She
saw no pictures of solitude, of hope, of
longing, or of despair. But the very pas-
sions themselves were aroused within her
soul, swaying it, lashing it, as the waves
daily beat upon her splendid body. She
trembled, she was choking, and the tears
blinded her.

Mademoiselle had finished. She arose,
and bowing her stiff, lofty bow, she went
away, . stopping for neither thanks nor ap-
plause. As she passed along the gallery
she patted Edna upon the shoulder.

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THE AWAKENING 67

*'Well, how did you like my music?** she
asked. The young woman was unable to
answer; she pressed the hand of the pian-
ist convulsively. Mademoiselle Reisz per-
ceived her agitation and even her tears.
She patted her again upon the shoulder as
she said :

« ** You are the only one worth playing for.
Those others? Bah!'* and she went shuf-
fling and sidling on down the gallery toward
her room.

But she was mistaken about. * 'those
others.** Her playing had aroused a fever
of enthusiasm . * * What passion ! * * '* What
an artist!** "I have always said no one
could play Chopin like Mademoiselle
Reisz!'* ''That last prelude! BonDieu!
It shakes a man!"

It was growing late, and there was a
general disposition to disband. But some
one, perhaps it was Robert, thought of a
bath at that mystic hour and under that
mystic moon.

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At all events Robert proposed it, and
there was not a dissenting voice. There
was^ not one but was ready to follow when
he led the way. He did not lead the way,
however, he directed the way; and ^e
himself loitered behind with the lovers, who
had betrayed a disposition to linger and
hold themselves apart. He walked between
them, whether with malicious or mischiev-
ous intent was not wholly clear, even to
himself.

The Pontelliers and RatignoUes walked
ahead; the women leaning upon the arms
of their husbands. Edna could hear
Robert's voice behind them, and could
sometimes hear what he said. She won-
dered why he did not join them. It was
unlike him not to. Of late he had some-
times held away from her for an entire day,
redoubling his devotion upon the next and
68

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THE AWAKENING 69

the next, as though to make up for hours
that had been lost. She missed him the
days when some pretext served to take him
away from her, just 33 one misses the sun
on a cloudy day without having thought
much about the sun when it was shining.

The people walked in little groups toward
the beach. They talked and laughed ; some
of them sang. There was a band playing
down at Klein's hotel, and the strains
reached them faintly, tempered by the dis-
tance. There were strange, rare odors
abroad — a tangle of the sea smell and of
weeds and damp, new-plowed earth, min-
gled with the heavy perfume of a field of
white blossoms somewhere near. But the
night sat lightly upon the sea and the land.
There was no weight of darkness; there
were no shadows. The white light of the
moon had fallen upon the world like
the mystery and the softness of sleep.

Most of them walked into the water as
though into a native element. The sea was
quiet now, and swelled lazily in broad bil-
lows that melted into one another and did
not break except upon the beach in little

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70 THE AWAKENING

foamy crests that coiled back like slow,
white serpents,

Edna had attempted all summer to learn
to swim. She had . received instructions
from both the men and women; in some
instances from the children. Robert had
pursued a system of lessons almost daily;
and he was nearly at the point of discour-
agement in realizing the futility of his
efforts. A certain ungovernable dread hung
about her when in the water, unless there
was a hand near by that might reach out
and reassure her.

But that night she was like the little tot-
tering, stumbling, clutching child, who of a
sudden realizes its powers, and walks for the
first time alone, boldly and with over-confi-
dence. She could have shouted for joy.^
She did shout for joy, as with a sweeping
stroke or two she lifted her body to the sur-
face of the water.

A feeling of exultation overtook her, as if
some power of significant import had been
given her to control the working of her
body and her soul. She grew daring and
reckless, overestimating her strength. She

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THE AWAKENING 71

wanted to swim far out, where no woman
had swum before.

Her unlooked-for achievement was the
subject of wonder, applause, and admiration.
Each one congratulated himself that his
special teachings had accomplished this
desired end.

*'Howeasyit is!" she thought. ''It is
nothing," she said aloud; * 'why did I not
disc6ver before that it was nothing. Think
of the time I have lost splashing about like a
baby!" She would not join the groups in
their sports and bouts, but intoxicated with
her newly conquered power, she swam out
alone.

She turned her face seaward to gather in
an impression of space and solitude, which
the vast expanse of water, meeting and melt-
ing with the moonlit sky, conveyed to her
excited fancy. As she swam she seemed to
be reaching out for the unlimited in which
to lose herself.

Once she turned and looked toward the
shore, toward the people she had left there.
She had not gone any great distance — that
is, what would have been a great distance

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72 THE AWAKENING

for an experienced swimmer. But to her
unaccustomed virion the stretch of water
behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier
which her unaided strength would never be
able to overcome.

A quick vision of death smote her soul,
and for a second of time appalled and en-
feebled her senses. But by an effort she
rallied her staggering faculties and managed
to regain the land.

She made no mention of her encounter
with death and her flash of terror, except to
say to her husband, "I thought I should
have perished out there alone.*'

**You were not so very far, my dear; I
was watching you," he told her.

Edna went at once to the bath-house, and
she had put on her dry clothes and was
ready to return home before the others had
left the water. She started to walk away
alone. They all called to her and shouted
to her. She waved a dissenting hand,
and went on, paying no further heed to
their renewed cries which sought to detain
her.

** Sometimes I am tempted to think that

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THE AWAKENING 73

Mrs. PontelHer is capricious," said Madame
Lebrun, who was amusing herself immensely
and feared that Edna's abrupt departure
might put an end to the pleasure.

*'I know she is/* assented Mr, Pontel-
lier; *' sometimes, not often,"

Edna had not traversed a quarter of the
distance on her way home before she was
overtaken by Robert.

'*Did you think I was afraid?" she asked
him, without a shade of annoyance.

''No; I knew you weren't afraid."

''Then why did you come? Why didn't
you stay out there with the others?"

"I never thought of it."

^'Thought of what?"

"Of anything. What difference does it
make?"

"I'm very tired," she uttered, complain-
ingly,

"I know you are."

"You don't know anything about it.
Why should you know? I never was so
exhausted in my life. But it isn't unpleas-
ant. A thousand emotions have swept
through me to-night. I don't comprehend

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74 THE AWAKENING

half of them. Don't mind what I'm say-
ing; I am just thinking aloud. I wonder
if I shall ever be stirred again as Mademoi-
selle Reisz's playing moved me to-night.
I wonder if any night on earth will ever
again be like this one. It is like a night in
a dream. The people about me are like
some uncanny, half-human beings. There ,
must be spirits abroad to-night."

' ' There are, * ' whispered Robert. ' ' Didn't
you know this was the twenty-eighth of
August?"

''The twenty-eighth of August?"
"Yes. On the twenty-eighth df August,
at the hour of midnight, and if the moon
is shining — the moon must be shining — a
spirit that has haunted these shores for ages
rises up from the Gulf. With its own pene-
trating vision the spirit seeks some one
mortal worthy to hold him company,
worthy of being exalted for a few hours
into realms of the semi-celestials. His
search has always hitherto been fruitless,
and he has sunk back, disheartened, into the
sea. But to-night he found Mrs. Pontellier.
Perhaps he will never wholly release her

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THE AWAKENING 75

from the spell. Perhaps she will never
again sufifer a poor, unworthy earthling to
walk in the shadow of her divine presence.**

''Don't banter me," she said, wounded
at what appeared to be his flippancy. He
did not mind the entreaty, but the tone
with its delicate note of pathos was like a
reproach. He could not explain ; he could
not tell her that he had penetrated her
mood and understood. He said nothing
except to offer her his arm, for, by her own
admission, she was exhausted. She had
been walking alone with her arms hanging
limp, letting her white skirts trail along the
dewy path. She took his arm, but she did
not lean upon it. She let her hand lie list-
lessly, as though her thoughts were else-
where — somewhere in advance of her body,
and she was striving to overtake them.

Robert assisted her into the hammock
which swung from the post before her door
out to the trunk of a tree.

"Will you stay out here and wait for
Mr. Pontellier?** he asked.

'TU stay out here. Good-night.**

''Shall I get you a pillow?**

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76 THE AWAKENING

''There's one here,** she said, feeling
about, for they were in the shadow.

''It must be soiled; the children have
been tumbling it about,"

"No matter.*' And having discovered
the pillow, she adjusted it beneath her
head. She extended herself in the ham-
mock with a deep breath of relief. She was
not a supercilious or an over-dainty woman.
She was not much given to reclining in the
hammock, and when she did so it was with
no cat-like suggestion of voluptuous ease,
but with a beneficent repose which seemed
to invade her whole body.

"Shall I stay with you till Mr. Pontellier
comes?" asked Robert, seating himself on
the outer edge of one of the steps and tak-
ing hold of the hammock rope which was
fastened to the post.

* ' If you wish. Don't swing the hammock.
Will you get my white shawl which I left
on the window-sill over at the house?**

"Are you chilly?"

"No; but I shall be presently.**

"Presently?** he laughed. "Do you

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THE AWAKENING 77

know what time it is? How long are
you going to stay out here?"

"I don't know. Will you get the shawl?'*

*'0f course I will, "he said, rising. He
went over to the house, walking along the
grass. She watched his figure pass in and
out of the strips of moonlight. It was past
midnight. It was very quiet.

When he returned with the shawl she
took it and kept it in her hand. She did
not put it around her.

*'Did you say I should stay till Mr. Pon-
tellier came back?"

"I said you might if you wished to."

He seated himself again and rolled a cig-
arette, which he smoked in silence. Neither
did Mrs. Pontellier speak. No multitude of
words could have been more significant than
those moments of silence, or more pregnant
with the first-felt throbbings of desire.

When the voices of the bathers were
heard approaching, Robert said good-night.
She did not answer him. He thought she
was asleep. Again she watched his figure
pass in and out of the strips of moonlight as
he walked away.

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''What are you doing out here, Edna? I
thought I should find you in bed," said her
husband, when he discovered her lying there.
He had walked up with Madame Lebrun
and left her at the house. His wife did not
reply.

"Are you asleep?** he asked, bending
down close to look at her.

"No." Her eyes gleamed bright and
intense, with no sleepy shadows, as they
looked into his.

'*Do you know it is past one o'clock?
Come on," and he mounted the steps and
went into their room.

''Edna!" called Mr. Pontellier from
within, after a few moments had gone by..

"Don*t wait for me,*' she answered. He
thrust his head through the door.

"You will take cold out there,** he said,
irritably. "What folly is this? Why don* t
you come in?*' '

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THE AWAKENING 79

"It isn't cold; I have my shawl/'

**The mosquitoes will devour you,*'

"There are no mosquitoes."

She heard him moving about the room ; '
every sound indicating impatience and irri-
tation. Another time she would have gone
in at his request. She would, through
habit, have yielded to his desire; not
with any sense of submission or obedience
to his compelling wishes, but unthinkingly,
as we walk, move, sit, stand, go through
the daily treadmill of the life which has been
portioned out to us.

"Edna, dear, are you not coming in
soon?" he asked again, this time fondly,
with a note of entreaty.

"No; I am going to stay out here."

"This is more than folly," he blurted out.
"I can't permit you to stay out there all
night. You must come in the house in-
stantly."

With a writhing motion she settled her-
self more securely in the hammock. She
perceived that her will had blazed up, stub-
bom and resistant. She could not at that
moment have done other than denied and

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8o THE AWAKENING

resisted. She wondered if her husband had
ever spoken to her like that before, and if*
she had submitted to his command. Of
course she had; she remembered that she
had. But she could not realize why or how
she should have yielded, feeling as she then
did.

'*Leonce, go to bed,'* she said. *'I mean
to stay out here. I don't wish to go in,
and I don't intend to. Don't speak to
me like that again; I shall not answer
you."

Mr. Pontellier had prepared for bed, but
he slipped on an extra garment. He
opened a bottle of wine, of which he kept a
small and select supply in a buffet of his
own. He drank a glass of the wine and
went out on the gallery and offered a glass
to his wife. She did not wish any. He
drew up the rocker, hoisted his slippered
feet on the rail, and proceeded to smoke a
cigar. He smoked two cigars; then he
went inside and drank another glass of wine.
Mrs. Pontellier again declined to accept a
glass when it was offered to her. Mr. Pon-
tellier once more seated himself with ele-

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THE AWAKENING 8i

vated feet, and after a reasonable interval
"'of time smoked some more cigars.

Edna began to feel like one who awakens
gradually out of a dream, a delicious, gro-
tesque, impossible dream, to feel *again the
realities pressing into her soul. The phys-
ical need for sleep began to overtake her;
the exuberance which had sustained and
exalted her spirit left her helpless and yield-
ing to the conditions which crowded her in.

The stillest hour of the night had come,
the hour before dawn, when the world
seems to hold its breath. The moon hung
low, and had turned from silver to copper
in the sleeping sky. The old owl no longer
hooted, and the water-oaks had ceased to
moan as they bent their heads.

Edna arose, cramped from lying so long
and still in the hammock. She tottered up
the steps, clutching feebly at the post before
passing into the house.

"Are you coming in, L6once?" she asked,
turning her face toward her husband.

"Yes, dear," he answered, with a glance
following a misty puff of smoke. "Just as
soon as I have finished my cigar."

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XII

She slept but a few hours, TJiey were
troubled and feverish hours, disturbed with
dreams that were intangible, that eluded
her, leaving only an impression_ uppa^lier
half-awakened senses of something unat-
tainable. She was up and dressed in the
cool of the early morning. The air was
invigorating and steadied somewhat her
faculties. However, she was not seeking
refreshment or help from any source, eithej?
external or from within. •She was blindl)?'
following whatever impulse moved her, as
if she had placed herself in alien hands for
direction, and freed her soul of responsi-
bility.

Most of the people at that early hour
were still in bed and asleep. A few, who
intended to go over to the ChStdkre for
mass, were moving about. The lovers, who
had laid their plans the night before, were
already strolling toward the wharf. The
82

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THE AWAKENING 83

lady in black, with her Sunday prayer-
book, velvet and gold-clasped, and her
Sunday silver beads, was following them at
no great distance. Old Monsieur Farival
was up, and was more than half inclined to
do anything that suggested itself. He put
on his big straw hat, and taking his um-
brella from the stand in the hall, followed
the lady in black, never overtaking her.

The little negro girl who worked Madame
Lebrun's sewing-machine was sweeping the
galleries with long, absent-minded strokes
of the broom. Edna sent her up into the
house to awaken Robert.

'*Tell him I am going to the Chiniire.
The boat is ready; tell him to hurry.'*

He had soon joined her. She had never
sent for him before. She had never asked
for him. She had never seemed to want
him before. She did not appear conscious
that she had done anything unusual in com-
manding, his presence. He was apparently
equally unconscious of anything extraordi-
nary in the situation. But his face was
suffused with a quiet glow when he met
her.

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84 THE AWAKENING

They went together back to the kitchen
to drink coffee. There was no time to wait
for any nicety of service. They stood out-
side the window and the cook passed them
their coffee and a roll, which they drank
and ate from the window-sill. Edna said it
tested good. She had not thought of coffee
Jlor of anything. He told her he had often
noticed that she lacked forethought.

''Wasn't it enougK to think of going to
the ChinUre and waking you up?" she
laughed. "Do I have to think of eveiy*
thing? — as L^once says when he's in a bad
humor. I don't blame him; he'd qevSrlSe
in^-bad humor if it weren't for me^'

They took a short cut across the sands.
At a distance they could see the curious
procession moving toward the wharf — the
lovers, shoulder to shoulder, creeping; the
lady in black, gaining steadily upon them ;
old Monsieur Farival, losing ground inch by
inch, and a young barefooted Spanish girl,
with a red kerchief on her head and a basket
on her arm, bringing up the rear.

Robert knew the girl, and he talked to
her a little in the boat. No one present

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THE AWAKENING 85

understood what they said. Her name
was Mariequita. She had a round, sly,i^
piquant face and pretty black eyes. Her
hands were small, and she kept them folded
over the handle of her basket. Her feet
were broad and coarse. She did not strive
to hide them. Edna looked at her feet,
and noticed.the sand and slime between her
brown Joes.

Beaude^i^t. grumbled because Mariequita
was there, taking up so much room. In
reality he was annoyed at having old Mon-
sieur Farival, who considered himself the
better sailor of the two. But he would not
quarrel with so old a man as Monsieur Far-
ival, so he quarreled with Mariequita. The
girl was deprecatory at one moment, appeal-
ing to Robert. She was saucy the next,
moving her head up and down, making
"eyes** at Robert and making *V tifloutfa s** at
Beaudelet. Pfk:^6

The lovers were all alone. They saw
nothing, they heard nothing. The lady in
black was counting her beads for the third
time. Old Monsieur Farival talked inces-
santly of what he knew about handling a

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86 THE AWAKENING

boat, and of what Beaudelet did not know
on the same subject.

Edna liked it all. She looked Mariequita
up and down, from her ugly brown toes to
her pretty black eyes, and back again.

'*Why does she look at me like that?"
inquired the girl of Robert.

"Maybe she thinks you are pretty.
Shall I ask her?**

'*No. Is she your sweetheart?"

"She's a married lady, and has two chil-
dren."

"Oh! well! Francisco ran away with
Sylvano's wife, who had four children.
They took all his money and one of the
children and stole his boat."

"Shut up!"

"Does she understand?"

"Oh, hush!"

"Are those two married over there — Clean-
ing on each other?"

"Of course not," laughed Robert.

"Of course not," echoed Mariequita, with
a serious, confirmatory bob pf the head.

The sun was high up and beginning to
bite. The swift breeze seemed to Edna

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THE AWAKENING 87

to bury the sting of it into the pores of her
face and hands. Robert held his umbrella
overjifir.

As they went cutting sidewise through
the water, the sails bellied taut, with the
wind filling and overflowing them. Old
Monsieur Farival laughed sardonically at
something as he looked at the sails, and
Beaudelet swore at the old man under his
breath.

Sailing across the bay to the Chinihe
Canunaday Edna felt as if she were being
borne away from some jinchiaragejwhiehrterd
held htCTjiast^ jdiosirchains:^ been loosen-
ing — haid snapped the night^efore when the
mystic ipirit wn'^ abrooftri^nving her free to
drift whithersoever she chose to set her sails. .
Robert spoke to her incessantly; he no
longer noticed Mariequita. The girl had
shrimps in her bamboo basket. They were
covered with Spanish moss. She beat the
moss down impatiently, and muttered to
herself sullenly.

"Let us go to Grande Terre to-morrow?*'
said Robert in a low voice.

"What shall we do there?"

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88 THE AWAKENING

*' Climb up the hill to the old fort and
^Jook at the little wriggling gold snakes,
and watch the lizards sun themselves."

She gazed away toward Grande Terre and
thought she would like to be alone there
with Robert, in the sun, listening to the
ocean's roar and watching the slimy lizards
writhe in and out among the ruins of the old
fort.

"And the next day or the next we can
sail to the Bayou Brulow,*' he went on.

"What shall we do there?"

"Anything—cast bait for fish."

"No; we'll go back to Grande Terre.
Let the fish alone."

"We'll go wherever you like," he said.
"I'll have Tonie come over and help me
patch and trim my boat. We shall not
need Beaudelet nor any one. Are you
afraid of the pirogue?"

"Oh, no."

"Then Til take you some night in the
pirogue when the moon shines. Maybe
your Gulf spirit will whisper to you in which
of these islands the treasures are hidden —
direct you to the very spat, perhaps."

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THE AWAKENING 89

^'And in a day we should be rich!** she
laughed. ** I'd give it all to you, the
pirate gold and every bit of treasure we
could dig up. I think you would know
how to spend it. Pirate gold isn't a thing
to be hoarded or utilized. It is something
to squander and throw to the four winds,
for the fun of seeing the golden specks
fly."

''We'd share it, and scatter it together/'
he said, ^is face flushed^

They allSvent .togetlier up to the quaint
little Gothic church of Our Lady of Lourdes,
gleaming all brown and yellow with paint
in the sun's glare.

Only Beaudelet remained behind, tinker-
ing at his boat, and Mariequita walked
away with her basket of shrimps, casting a
look of childish ill-humor and reproach at
Robert from the corner of her eye.

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XIII

A feeling of oppression and drowsiaess
overcame Edna during the service. Her
head began to ache, and the lights on
the altar swayed before her eyes. Another
time she might have made an effort to
regain her composure ; but her one thought
was to quit the stifling atmosphere of the
church and reach the open air. She arose,
climbing over Robert's feet with a muttered
apology. Old Monsieur Farival, flurried,
curious, stood up, but upon seeing that
Robert had followed Mrs. Pontellier, he
sank back into his seat. He whispered an
anxious inquiry of the lady in black, who
did not notice him or reply, but kept her
eyes fastened upon the pages of her velvet
prayer-book.

**I felt giddy and almost overcome,"

Edna said, lifting her hands instinctively to

her head and pushing her straw hat up from

her forehead. '*I couldn't have stayed

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THE AWAKENING 91

through the service." They were outside
in the shadow of the church. Robert was
full of solicitude.

*'It was folly to have thought of going
in the first place, let alone staying. Come
over to Madame Antoine's; you can rest
there." He took her arm and led her
away, looking anxiously and continuously
down into her face.

How still it was, with only the voice of
the sea whispering through the reeds that
grew in the salt-water pools! The long line
of little gray, weather-beaten houses nestled
peacefully among the orange trees. It
must always have been God's day on that
low, drowsy island, Edna thought. They
stopped, leaning over a jagged fence made
of sea-drift, to ask for water. A youth, a
mild-faced Acadian, was drawing water
from the cistern, which was nothing more
than a rusty buoy, with an opening on one
side, sunk in the ground. The water which
the youth handed to them in a tin pail was
not cold to taste, but it was cool to her
heated face, and it greatly revived and re-
freshed her.

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92 THE AWAKENING

Madame Antoine's cot was at the far end
of the village. She welcomed them with
all the native hospitality, as she would have
opened her door to let the sunlight in.
She was fat, and walked heavily and clum-
sily across the floor. She could speak no
English, but when Robert made her under-
stand that the lady who accompanied him
was ill and desired to rest, she was all
eagerness to make Edna feel at home and
to dispose of her comfortably.

The whole place was immaculately clean,

and the big, four-posted bed, snow-white,

j invited one to repose. It stood in a small

( side room which looked out across a narrow

i grass plot toward the shed, where there

was a disabled boat lying keel upward/*

Madame Antoine had not gone to mass.
Her son Tonie had, but she supposed he
would soon be back, and she invited Robert
to be seated and wait for him. But he
went and sat outside the door and smoked.
Madame Antoine busied herself in the large
front room preparing dinner. She was
boiling mullets over a few red coals in the
huge fireplace.

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THE AWAKENING 93

Edna, left alone in the little side room,
loosened her clothes, removing the greater
part of them. She bathed her face, her
neck and arms in the basin that stood be-
tween the windows. She took off her shoes
and stockings and stretched herself in the
very center of the high, white bed. How
luxurious it felt to rest thus in a strange,
quaint bed, with its sweet country odor of
laurel lingering about the sheets and mat-
tress ! She stretched her strong limbs that
ached a little. She ran her fingers through
her loosened hair for a while. She looked
at her round arms as she held them straight
up and rubbed them one after the other,
observing closely, as if it were something
she saw for the first time, the fine, firm y
quality and texture of her flesh. She clasped
her hands easily above her head, and it was
thus she fell asleep.

She slept lightly at first, half awake and
drowsily attentive to the things about her.
She could hear Madame Antoine's heavy,
scraping tread as she walked back and forth
on the sandeid floor. Some chickens were
clucking outside the windows, scratching

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94 THE AWAKENING

for bits of gravel in the grass. Later she
half heard the voices of Robert and Tonie
talking under the shed. She did not stir.
Even her eyelids rested numb and heavily
over her sleepy eyes. The voices weftt
on — Tonie's slow, Acadian drawl, Robert's
quick, soft, smooth French. She under-
stood French imperfectly unless directly
addressed, and the voices were only part of
the other drowsy, muffled sounds lulling her
senses.

When Edna awoke it was with the con-
viction that she had slept long and soundly.
The voices were hushed under the shed.
Madame Antoine's step was no longer to
be heard in the adjoining room. Even the.
chickens had gone elsewhere to scratch and
cluck. The mosquito bar was drawn over
her; the old woman had come in while she
slept and let down the bar. Edna arose
quietly from the bed, and looking between
the curtains of the window, she saw by the
slanting rays of the sun that the afternoon
was far advanced. Robert was out there
under the shed, reclining in the shade
against the sloping keel of the overturned

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THE AWAKENING ^ 95

boat. He^was reading from a book. Tonie
was no longer with him. She wondered
what had become of the rest of the party.
She peeped out at him two or three times
as- sfhe stood washing herself in the little
basin between the windows.

Madame Antoine had laid some coarse,
clean towels upon a chair, and had placed
a box of potidre de viz within easy reach.
Edna dabbed the powder upon her nose and
cheeks as she looked at herself closely in the
little distorted mirror which hung on the
wall above the basin. Her eyes were bright
and wide awake and her face glowed.

When she had completed her toilet she
walked into the adjoining room. She was
very hungry. No one was there. But
there was a cloth spread upon the table
that stood against the wall, and a cover was
laid for one, with a crusty brown loaf and a
bottle of wine beside the plate. Edna bit
a piece frOm the brown loaf, tearing it with
her strong, white teeth. She poured some
of the wine into the glass and drank it
down. Then she went softly out of doors,
and plucking an orange from the low-hang-

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96 THE AWAKENING

ing bough of a tree, threw it at Robert,
who did not know she was awake and up.

An illumination broke over his whole face
when he saw her and joined her under the
orange tree.

"How many years have I slept?** she in-
quired. '*The whole island seems changed.
A new race of beings must have sprung up,
leaving only you and me as past relics.
How many ages ago did Madame Antoine
and Tonie die? and when did our people
from Grand Isle disappear from the earth?"

He familiarly adjusted a ruffle upon her
shoulder.

'*You have slept precisely one hundred
years. I was left here to guard your slum-
bers; and for one hundred years I have
been out under the shed reading a book.
The only evil I couldn't prevent was to
keep a broiled fowl from drying up."

'*If it has turned to stone, still will I eat
it/' said Edna, moving with him into the
house. '*But really, what has become of
Monsieur Farival and the others?"

"Gone hours ago. When they found
that you were sleeping they thought it best

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THE AWAKENING 97

not to awake you. Any way, I wouldn't
have let them. What was I here for?*'

*'I wonder if L6once will be uneasy!"
she speculated, as she seated herself at
table.

"Of course not; he knows you are with
me," Robert replied, as he busied himself
among sundry pans and covered dishes
which had been left standing on the hearth.

"Where are Madame Antoine and her
son?" asked Edna.

"Gone to Vespers, and to visit some
friends, I believe. I am to take you back
in Tonie's boat whenever you are ready to

go-
He stirred the smoldering ashes till the

broiled fowl began to sizzle afresh. He

served her with no mean repast, dripping

the coffee anew and sharing it with her.

Madame Antoine had cooked little else than

the mullets, but while Edna slept Robert

had foraged the island. He was childishly

gratified to discover her appetite, and to see

the relish with which she ate the food which

he had procured for her.

"Shall we go right away?" she asked,

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98 THE AWAKENING

after draining her glass and brushing to-
gether the crumbs of the crusty loaf.

"The sun isn't as low as it will be in two
hours," he answered.

''The sun will be gone in two hours."

''Well, let it go; who cares!"

They waited a good while under the
orange trees, till Madame Antoine came
back, panting, waddling, with a thousand
apologies to explain her absence. Tonie
did not dare to return. He was shy, and
would not willingly face any woman except
his mother.

It was very pleasant to stay there under
the orange trees, while the sun dipped lower
and lower, turning the western sky to flam-
ing copper and gold. The shadows length-
ened and crept out like stealthy, grotesque
monsters across the grass.

Edna and Robert both sat t^on the
ground — that is, he lay won the ground
beside her, occasionally piclcing at the hem
of her muslin gown.

Madame Antoine seated her fat body,
broad and squat, upon a bench beside the
door. She had been talking all the after-

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THE AWAKENING 99

noon, and had wound herself up to the
story-telling pitch.

And what stories she told them! But
twice in her life she had left the Chiniire
Candnaduy and then for the briefest span.
All her years she had squatted and" waddled
there upon the island, gathering ifigends of
the Baratarians and the sea. The night
came on, with the moon to lighten it. Edna
could hear the whispering voices of dead
men and the click of muffled gold.

When she and Robert stepped into
Tonie's boat, with the red lateen sail, misty
spirit forms were prowling in the shadows
and among the reeds, and upon the water
were phantom ships, speeding to cover.

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XIV

The youngest boy , Etienne, ha d been very
naughty, Madame RatignoUe said, as she
delivered him into the hands of his mother.
He had been unwilling to go to bed and
had made a scene ; whereupon she had taken
charge of him and pacified him as well as
she could. Raoul had been in bed and
asleep for two hours.

The youngster was in his long white
nightgown, that kept tripping him up as
Madame Ratignolle led him along by the
hand. With the other chubby fist he n
rubbed his eyes, \^hich were heavy with 4
sleep and illjiumor. Edna took him in her
arms, and seating herself in the rocker,
began to coddle and caress him, calling him
all manner of tender names, soothing him
to sleep.

It was not more than nine o'clock. No
one had yet gone to bed but the children.

L6once had been very uneasy at first,
too

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THE AWAKENING loi

Madame Ratignolle said, and had wanted
to start at once for the Chinikre. But
Monsieur Farival had assured him that his
wife was only overcome with sleep and
fatigue, that Tonie would bring her safely
back later in the day ; and he had thus been
dissuaded from crossing the bay. He had
gone over to Klein's, looking up some
cotton broker whom he wished to see in
regard to securities, exchanges, stocks,
bonds, or something of the sort, Madame
RatigfnoUe did not remember what. He
said he would not remain away late. She /
herself was suffering from heat and oppres- ^
sion, she said. She carried a bottle of salts
and a large fan. She would not consent to
remain with Edna, for Monsieur Ratignolle
was alone, and he detested above all things
to be left alone.

When Etienne had fallen asleep Edna
jbo^imn into the back room, and Robert
went and lifted the mosquito bar that she
might lay the child comfortably in his bed./
The quadroon had vanished. When they
emerged from the cottage Robert bade
Edna good-night.

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102 THE AWAKENING

''Do you know we have been together
the whole livelong day, Robert — since
early this morning?" she said at parting.

'*A11 but the hundred years when you
were sleeping. Good-night."

He pressed her hand and went away in
the direction of the beach. He did not join
any of the others, J>ut walked alone^t^Hcard
the Gulfi... '^' ^, ^

Edna stayed outside, awaiting her hus-
band's return. She had no desire to sleep
or to retire ; nor did she feel like going over
to sit with the Ratignolles, or to join
Madame Lebrun and a group whose ani-
mated voices reached her as they sat in con-
versation before the house. She let her
mind wander back over her stay at Grand
Isle ; and she tried to discover wherein this
summer had been different from any and
every other summer of her life. She could
only realize that she herself — her present
self — was in some way different from the
other self. That she was seeing with differ-
ent eyes and making the acquaintance of new
conditions in herself that colored and changed
her environment, she did not yet suspect.

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THE AWAKENING 103

She wondered why Robert had gone
away and left her. It did not occur to her
to think he might have grown tired of being
with her the livelong day. She was not
tired, and she felt that he was not. She / ^
regretted that he had gone. It was so much a ^P
more na tural to JEay»-£ktt-i5tay. when he \
"was not absolutely required to leave her.

As Edna waited for her husband she sang
low a little song that Robert had sung as
they crossed the bay. It began with "Ah!
Si tu savais,'' and every verse ended with
**si tu savais.**

Robert's voice was not pretentious. It
was musical and true. The voice, the
notes, the whole refrain haunted her mem-
ory.

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When Edna entered the dining-room one
evening a little late, as was her habit, an
unusually animated conversation seemed to
be going on. Several persons were talk-
ing at once, and Victor's voice was predom-
inating, even over that of his mother.
Edna had returned late from her bath, had
dressed in some haste, and her face was
flushed. Her head, set off by her dainty
white gown, suggested a rich, rare blossom.
She took her seat at table between old
Monsieur Farival and Madame Ratignolle.

As she seated herself and was about to
begin to eat her soup, which had been
served when she entered the room, several
persons informed her simultaneously that
Robert was going to Mexico. She laid her
spoon down and looked about her bewil-
dered. He had been with her, reading to
her all the morning, and had never even men-

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THE AWAKENING 105

tioned such a place as Mexico. She had
not seen him during the afternoon ; she had
heard some one say he was at the house,
upstairs with his mother. This she had
thought nothing of, though she was sur-
prised when he did not join her later in
the afternoon, when she went down to the
beach.

She looked across at him, where he sat
beside Madame Lebrun, who presided.
Edna's face was a blank picture of bewilder-
ment, which she never thought of disguising.
He lifted his eyebrows with the pretext
of a smile as he returned her glance. He
looked embarrassed and uneasy.

"When is he going?" she asked of every-
body in general, as if Robert were not there
to answer for himself.

"To-night!" "This very evening!"
"Did you ever!" "What possesses him!"
were some of the replies she gathered,
uttered simultaneously in French and Eng-
lish.

"Impossible!" she exclaimed. "How
can a person start off from Grand Isle to
Mexico at a moment's notice, as if he were

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io6 THE AWAKENING

going over to Klein's or to the wharf or
down to the beach?"

"I said all along I was going to Mexico;
I've been saying so for years!" cried
Robert, in an excited and irritable tone,
with the air of a man defending himself
against a swarm of stinging insects.

Madame Lebrun knocked on the table
with her knife handle.

"Please let Robert explain why he is
going, and why he is going to-night," she
called out. "Really, this table is getting
to be more and more like Bedlam every
day, with everybody talking at once.
Sometimes — I hope God will forgive me —
but positively, sometimes I wish Victor
would lose the power of speech."

Victor laughed sardonically as he thanked
his mother for her holy wish, of which he
failed to see the benefit to anybody, except
that it might alBford her a more ample oppor-
tunity and license to talk herself. ,

Monsieur Farival thought that Victor
should have been taken out in mid-ocean in
his earliest youth and drowned. Victor
thought there would be more logic in thus

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THE AWAKENING 107

disposing of old people with an established
claim for making themselves universally
obnoxious. Madame Lebrun grew a trifle
hysterical ; Robert called his brother some
sharp, hard names.

''There's nothing much to explain,
mother," he said; though he explained,
nevertheless — looking chiefly at Edna — ^that
he could only meet the gentleman whom he
intended to join at Vera Cruz by taking
such and such a steamer, which left New
Orleans on such a day ; that Beaudelet was
going out with his lugger-load of vegetables
that night, which gave him an opportunity
of reaching the city and making his vessel
in time.

'*But when did you make up your mind
to all this?" demanded Monsieur Farival.

'*This afternoon," returned Robert, with
a shade of annoyance.

"At what time this afternoon?" persisted
the old gentleman, with nagging determina-
tion, as if he were cross-questioning a crim-
inal in a court of justice.

"At four o'clock this afternoon. Monsieur
Farival," Robert replied, in a high voice

Digitized by CjOOQIC

io8 THE AWAKENING

and with a lofty air, which reminded Edna
of some gentleman on the stage.

She had forced herself to eat most of her
soup, and now she was picking the flaky
bits of a court bouillon with her fork.

The lovers were profiting by the general
conversation on Mexico to speak in whispers
of matters which they rightly considered
were interesting to no one but them-
selves. The lady in black had once received
a pair of prayer-beads of curious workman-
ship from Mexico, with very special indul-
gence attached to them, but she had never
been able to ascertain whether the indul-
gence extended outside the Mexican bor-
der. , Fat her Fochel of the Cathedral had
attempted to explain it; but he had not
done so to her satisfaction. And she
begged that Robert would interest himself,
and discover, if possible, whether she was
entitled to the indulgence accompanying
the remarkably curious Mexican prayer-
beads.

Madame RatignoUe hoped that Robert
would exercise extreme caution in dealing
with the Mexicans, who, she considered,

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THE AWAKENING 109

were a treacherous pe ople, unscrupulous and
rfe^ngefuL_ She trusted she did them nol
injustice in thus condemning them as ^ u^
race. She had known personally but onei
Mexican, who made and sold excellent
tamales, and whom she would have trusted
implicitly, so soft-spoken was he. One day
he was arrested for stabbing his wife.^ She
never knew whether he had been hanged or
not.

Victor had grown hilarious, and was
attempting to tell an anecdote about a Mex-
ican girl who served chocolate one winter in
a restaurant in Dauphine Street. No one
would listen to him but old Monsieur Fari-
val, who went into convulsions over the
droll story.

Edna-Wondered if they had all gone mad,
to be talking and clamoring at that rate.
She herself could think of nothing to say
abgi4t_MexicgjaJJie.Mfixicajas

"At what time do you leave?" she asked
Robert,

"At ten," he told her, "Beaudelet
wants to wait for the moon."

"Are you all ready to go?"

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no THE AWAKENING

"Quite ready. I shall only take a hand-
bag, and shall pack my trunk in the city."

He turned to answer some question put
to him by his mother, and Edna, having
finished her black coffee, left the table.

She went directly to her room. The lit-
tle cottage was close and stuffy after leav-
ing the w^ air. But she did not mind ;
there appeared to be a hundred different
things demanding her attention indoors.
She began to set the toilet-stand to rights,
grumbling at the negligence of the quad-
roon, who was in the adjoining room put-
ting the children to bed. She gathered
together stray garments that were hanging
on the backs of chairs, and put each where
it belonged in closet or bureau drawer.
She changed her gown for a more com-
fortable and commodious wrapper. She
rearranged her hair, combing and brushing
it with unusual energy. Then she went in
and assisted the quadroon in getting the
boys to bed.

They were very playful and inclined to
talk — to do anything but lie quiet and go
to sleep. Edna sent the quadroon away

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THE AWAKENING in

to her supper and told her she need not
return. Then she sat and told the children
a story. Instead of soothing it excited
them, and added to their wakefulness. She
left them in heated argument, speculating
about the conclusion of the tale which their
mother promised to finish the following
night.

The little black girl came in to say that
Madame Lebrun would like to have Mrs.
Pontellier go and sit with them over at the
house till Mr. Robert went away. Edna
returned answer that she had already un-
dressed, that she did not feel quite well,
but perhaps she would go over to the
house later. She started to dress again,
and got as far advanced as to remove her
peignoir. But changing her mind once
more she resumed the peignoir^ and went
outside and sat down before her door. She
was overheated and irritable, and fanned
herself energetically Cor a while. Madame
RatignoUe came down to discover what was
the matter.

"All that noise and confusion at the table
must have upset me," replied Edna, "and

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112 THE AWAKENING

moreover, I hate shocks and surprises.. The
idea of Robert starting off in such a ridicii-
lously sudden and dramatic way! As if it
were a matter of life and death! Never
saying a word about it all morning when he
was with me."

''Yes,*' agreed Madame Ratignolle. "I^
think it was showing us all — you espe-
cially — very little consideration. It wouldn't
have surprised me in any of the others;
those Lebruns are all given to heroics. But
I must say I should never have expected
such a thing from Robert. Are you not
coming down? Come on, dear; it doesn't
look friendly."

''No," said Edna, a little sullenly. "I
can't go to the trouble of dressing again;
I don't feel like it."

"You needn't dress; you look all right;
fasten a belt around your waist. Just look
at me!"

"No," persisted Edna; "but you go on.
Madame Lebrun might be offended if we
both stayed away."

Madame Ratignolle kissed Edna good-
night, and went away, being in truth rather

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THE AWAKENING 113

desirous of joining in the general and ani-
mated conversation which was still in prog-
ress concerning Mexico and the Mexicans.

Somewhat later Robert came up, carrying
his hand-bag.

"Aren't you feeling well?*' he asked.

''Oh, well enough. Are you going right
away?"

He lit a match and looked at his watch.
*'In twenty minutes," he said. The sudden
and brief flare of the match emphasized the
darkness for a while. He sat down ftpon a
stool which the children had left out on the
porch.

''Get a chair," said Edna.

"This will do," he replied. He put on
his soft hat and nervously took it off again,
and wiping his face with his handkerchief,
complained of the heat.

"Take the fan," said Edna, offering it to
him.

"Oh, no! Thank you. It does no good;
you have to stop faniiing some time, and
feel all the more uncomfortable afterward."

"That's one of the ridiculous things
which men always say. I have never known

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114 THE AWAKENING

one to speak otherwise of fanning. How
long will you be gone?"

''Forever, perhaps. I don't know. It
depends upon a good many things."

"Well, in case it shouldn't be forever,
how long will it be?'*

''I don't know."

"This seems to me perfectly preposterous
and uncalled for. I don't like it. I don't
understand your motive for silence and
mystery, never saying a word to me about
it this morning." He remained silent, not
offering to defend himself. He only said,
after a moment :

"Don't part from me in an ill-humor. I
never knew you to be out of patience with
me before."

"I don't want to part in any ill-humor,"
she said. ' ' But can't you understand ? I've

.grown used to seeing, _yxxu^ to having_you
, with me altllie'tLme, and your action seems
unfriendly, even unkind. You don't even
offer an excuse for it. Why, I was plan-
ning to be together, thinking of how pleas-
ant it would be to see you in the city next
winter."

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THE AWAKENING 115

<«<

'So was I," he blurted. ''Perhaps
that's the — " He stood up suddenly ancf
held out his hand. "Good-by, my dear
Mrs. Pontellier; good-by. You won't — I
hope you won't completely forget me."
She clung to his hand, striving to detain
him.

** Write to me when you get there, won't
you, Robert?" she entreated.

"I will, thank you. Good-by."

How unlike Robert! The merest
acquaintance would have said something
more emphatic than "I will, thank you;
good-by," to such a request.

He had evidently already taken leave of
the people over at the house, for he de-
scended the steps and went to join Beau-
delet, who was out there with an oar across
his shoulder waiting for Robert. They
walked away in the darkness. She could
only hear Beaudelet's voice; Robert had
apparently not even spoken a word of greet-
ing to his companion.

Edna bit her handkerchief convulsively,
striving to hold back and to hide, even from ^/\ •
herself as she would have hidden from an-

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ii6 THE AWAKENING.

other, the emotion which was troubling —
teariog -— Iibr. Her eyes were brimming
with tears, .<'

FoT^tlie first time she recognized anew
the symptoms of infatuation-which she had
felt incipiently as a child, as a girl in
her earliest teens, and later as a young
woman. The recognition did not lessen the
reality, the poignancy of the revelation by
any suggestion or promise of instability. ,
iThe past was nothing to her; offeifid^jno
lesson which jhe was willing to heed. The
future was. a , mystery which she never
attempted to penetrate. The present alone
was significant; was hers, to torture her as
it was doing then with the biting conviction
that she had lost that which she had held,
that she had been denied that which her
impassioned, newly awakened being de-
manded.

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XVI

"Do you miss your friend greatly?*' asked
Mademoiselle Reisz o ne morning as she
came creeping up behind Edna, who had
just left her cottage on her way to the
beach. She spent much of her time in the
water since she had acquired finally the art
of swimming. As their stay at Grand Isle
drew near its close, she felt that she could
not give too much time to a diversion which
afforded her the only real pleasurable mo-
ments that she knew. When Mademoiselle
iteisz came and touched her upon the
shoulder and spoke to her, the woi^^n
seemed to echo the thought which was ever
in Edna's mind; or, better, the feeling
which constantly possessed her.

Robert's going had some way taken thef
brightness, the color, the meaning out of "^
everything: The conditions -of -her life
wfercJu-iio way changed, but her whole/
existence was dulled, like a faded garment.
"7

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ii8 THE AWAKENING

which seems to be no longer worth wearing.
She sought him everywhere — in others
whom she induced to talk about him. She
went up in the mornings to Madame Le-
brun's room, braving the clatter of the old
sewing-machine. She sat there and chatted
at intervals as Robert had done. She gazed
around the room at the pictures and photo-
graphs hanging upon the wall, and discov-
ered in some comer an old family album,
which she examined with the keenest in-
terest, appealing to Madame Lebrun for
enlightenment concerning the many figures
and faces which she discovered between its
pages.

There was a picture of Madame Lebrun
with Robert as a baby, seated in her lap, a
round-faced infant with a fist in his mouth.
The eyes alone in the baby suggested the
man. And that was he also in kilts, at
the age of five, wearing long curls and hold-
ing a whip in his hand. It made Edna
laugh, and she laughed, too, at the portrait
in his first long trousers ; while another inter-
ested her, taken when he left for college,
looking thin, long- faced, with eyes full of fire,

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THE AWAKENING 119

ambition and great intentions. But there
was no recent picture, none which suggested
[ thie Robert who had gone away five days ago,
leaving a void and wilderness behind him.
- "Oh, Robert stopped having his pictures
taken when he had to pay for them himself!
He found wiser use for his money, he says,"
explained Madame Lebrun. She had a
letter from him, written before he left New
Orleans. Edna wished to see the letter,
and Madame Lebrun told her to look for it
either on the table or the dresser, or per-
haps it was on the mantelpiece.

The letter was on the bookshelf. It
possessed the greatest interest and attraction
for Edna; the envelope, its size and shape,
the post-mark, the handwriting. She ex-
amined every detail of the outside before
opening it. There were only a few lines,
setting forth that he would leave the city
that afternoon, that he had packed his
trunk in good shape, that he was well, and
sent her his love and begged to be affec-
tionately remembered to all. There was no
special message to Edna except a postscript
saying that if Mrs. Pontellier desired to

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120 THE AWAKENING

finish the book which he had been reading
to her, his mother would find it in his room,
among other books there on the table.
Edna experienced a pang of jealousy be-
cause he had written to his mother rather

. than to her.

Every one, seemed to take for" granted
that she missed him. Even her husband,

, when he came down the Saturday follow-
ing Robert's departure, expressed regret
that he had gone.

/ "How do you get on without him,
Edna?** he asked.

*'It*s very dull without him," she ad-
mitted. Mr. Pontellier had seen Robert
in the city, and Edna asked him a dozen
questions or more. Where had they met?
On Carondelet Street, in the morning.
They had gone "in" and had a drink and a
cigar together. What had they talked
about? Chiefly about his prospects in
Mexico, which Mr. Pontellier thought were
promising. How did he look? How did
he seem — grave, or gay, or how? Quite
cheerful, and wholly taken up with the idea
of his trip, which Mr. Pontellier found alto-

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THE AWAKENING 121

gether natural in a young fellow about to
seek fortune and adventure in a strange,
jjueer country.

Edna tapped her foot impatiently, and
wondered why the children persisted in
playing in the sun when they might be
under the trees. She went down and led
them out of the sun, scolding the quadroon
for not being more attentive.

It did not strike her as in the least gro-
tesque that she should be making of Robert
the object of conversation and leading her
husband to speak of him. The sentiment
which she entertained for Robert in no way
resembled that which she felt for her hus-
band, or had ever felt, or ever expected to
feel. She had all her life long been accus-
tomed to harbor thoughts and emotions
which never voiced themselves. They had
never taken the form of struggles. They
belonged to her and were her own, and she
entertained the conviction that she had a
right to them and that they concerned no
one but herself. Edna had once ''told
Madame RatignoUe that she would never
fctcnfic g hciself ^for her children, or for any

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122 THE AWAKENING

' one. Then had followed a rather heated
argument; the two women did not appear
to understand each other or to be talking
the same language. Edna tried to appease
her frieftdy^to explain.

"I would give up the unessential; I
. / would give my money, I would give my
life for my children; but I wouldn't give
myself. I can't make it more clear; it's
only something which I am beginning
to comprehend, which is revealing itself to
me.

'*I don't know what you would call the
essential, or what you mean by the unessen-
tial," said Madame RatignoUe, cheerfully;
"but a woman who would give heiQife ';for
her children could do no more than tKat —
your Bible tells you so. I'm sure I couldn't
do more than that."

''Oh, yes you could!" laughed Edna.

She was not surprised at Mademoiselle
Reisz 's question the morning that lady, fol-
lowing her to the beach, tapped her on the
shoulder and asked if she did not greatly
miss her young friend.

*'0h, good morning. Mademoiselle; is it

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THE AWAKENING 123

you? Why, of course I miss Robert. Are
you going down to bathe?"

'*Why should I go down to bathe at the
very end of the season when I haven't been
in the surf all summer," replied the woman,
disagreeably.

"I beg your pardon," offered Edna, in
some embarrassment, for she should have
remembered that Mademoiselle Reisz's '
avoidance of the water had furnished a
theme for much pleasantry. Some among 1
them thought it was on account of her
false hair, or the dread of getting the violets
wet, while others attributed it to the nat-
ural aversion for water sometimes believed
to accompany the artistic temperament.
Mademoiselle offered Edna some chocolates
in a paper bag, which she took from her
pocket, by way of showing that she bore
no ill feeling. She habitually ate chocolates
for their sustaining quality ; they contained
much nutriment in small compass, she said.
They saved her from starvation, as Madame
Lebrun's table was utterly impossible ; and
no one save so impertinent a woman as
Madame Lebrun could think of offering

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124 THE AWAKENING

such food to people and requiring them to
pay for it.

"She must feel very lonely without her
son," said Edna, desiring to change the sub-
ject. "Her favorite son,' too. It must
have been quite hard to let him go.''

Mademoiselle laughed maliciously.

"Her favorite son! Oh, dear! Who
could have been imposing such a tale upon
you? Aline Lebrun lives for Victor, and
for Victor alone. She has spoiled him into
the worthless creature he is. She worships
him and the ground he walks on. Robert
is very well in a way, to give up all the
money he can earn to the family, and keep
the barest pittance for himself. Favorite
son, indeed! I miss the poor fellow my-
self, my dear. I liked to see him and to
hear him about the place — the only Lebmn
who is worth a pinch of salt. He .comes to
see me often in the city. I like to play
to him. That Victor! hanging would be too
good for him. It's a wonder Robert hasn't
beaten him to death long ago."

' ' I thought he had gredt patience with
his brother," offered Edna, glad to be

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THE AWAKENING 125

talking about Robert, no matter what was
said.

**0h! he thrashed him well enough a
year or two ago/' said Mademoiselle. "It
was about a Spanish girl, whom Victor con-
sidered that he had some sort of claim'
upon. He met Robert one day talking to
the girl, or walking with her, or bathing
with her, or carrying her basket — I don't
remember what ; — and he became so insult-
ing and abusive that Robert gave him a.
thrashing on the spot that has kept him
comparatively in order for a good while.
It's about time he was getting another."

"Was her name Mariequita?" asked
Edna.

"Mariequita — yes, that was it; Marie-
quita. I had forgotten. Oh, she's a sly one,
and a bad one, that Mariequita!"

Edna looked down at Mademoiselle
Reisz .and wondered how she could have
listened to her venom so long. For some
reason she felt depressed, almost unhappy.
She had not intended to go into the water;
but she donned her bathing suit, and left
Mademoiselle alone, seated under the shade

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126 THE AWAKENING

of the children's tent. The water was
growing cooler as the season advanced.
Edna plunged and swam about with an
abandon that thrilled and invigorated her.
She remained a long time in the water, half
hoping that Mademoiselle Reisz would not
wait for her.

But Mademoiselle waited. She was very
amiable during the walk back, and raved
much over Edna's appearance in her bath-
ing suit. She talked about music. She
hoped that Edna would go to see he^ in
the city, and wrote her address with the
stub of a pencil on a piece of card which she
found in her pocket.

**When do you leave?" asked Edna.

' ' Next Monday ; and you ?* '

'*The following week," answered Edna,
adding, **It has been a pleasant summer,
hasn't it. Mademoiselle?"

* * Well, ' ' agreed Mademoiselle Reisz,
with a shrug, ** rather pleasant, if it hadn't
been for the mosquitoes and the Farival
twins."

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XVII

The Pontelliers possessed a very charm-
ing home on Esplanade Street in New
Orleans. It was a large, double cottage,
with a broad front veranda, whose round,
fluted columns supported the sloping roof. \ vj
The house was painted a dazzling white ; the '^'
outside shutters, or jalousies, were green.
In the yard, which was kept scrupulously
neat, were flowers and plants of every de-
scription which flourishes in South Louisi-
ana. Within doors the appointments were
perfect after the conventional type. The
softest carpets and rugs covered the floors ;
rich and tasteful draperies hung at doors and
windows. There were paintings, selected
with judgment and discrimination, upon
the walls. The cut glass, the silver, the
heavy damask which daily appeared upon
the table were the envy of many women •
whose^ husbands were less generous than
Mr. Pontellier.

127

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128 THE AWAKENING

Mr. Pontellier was very fond of walking
about his house examining its various
appointments and details, to see that noth-
ing was amiss. He greatly valu ed hii
sessions, chiefly because they were his , and
-■ J ei ivcd gcna itie'^easure from contemplat-
ing a painting, a statuette, at rare lace cur-
tain — no matter what — after he had bought
it and placed it among his household gods.

On Tuesday afternoons— ^Tuesday being
Mrs. Pontellier's reception day — there was
a constant stream of callers — women who
came in carriages or in the street cars, or
walked when the air was soft and distance
permitted. A . light-colored mulatto boy,
in dress coat and bearing a diminutive
silver tray for the reception of cards, ad-
mitted the'm. A maid, in White fluted
cap, offered the callers liqueur, coffee,
or chocolate, as they might desire. Mrs.
Pontellier, attired in a handsome reception
gown, remained in the drawing-room the
entire afternoon receiving her visitors. Men
sometimes called in the evenihg with
their wives.

This had been the programme which Mrs.

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THE AWAKENING 129

Pontellier had religiously followed since her
marriage, six years before. Certain even-
ings during the weet she and her hus-
band attended the opera or sometimes the
play.

Mr. Pontellier left his home in the morn-
ings between nine and ten o'clock, and
rarely returned before half-past six or seven
in the evening — dinner being served at half-
past seven.

He and his wife seated themselves at
table one Tuesday evening, a few weeks
after their return from Grand Isle. They
were alone together. The boys were being
put to bed ; the patter of their bare, escap-
ing feet could be heard occasionally, as well
as the pursuing voice of the quadroon, lifted
in mild protest and entreaty. Mrs. Pontel-
lier did not wear her usual Tuesday recep-
tion gown ; she was in ordinary house dress.
Mr. Pontellier, who was observant about
such things, noticed it, as he served the soup
and handed it to the boy in waiting.

"Tired out, Edna? Whom did you
have? Many callers?" he asked. He tasted
his soup and began to season it with pepper,

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130 THE AWAKENING

salt, vinegar, mustard — everything within
reach.

'* There were a good many," replied
Edna, who was eating her soup with
evident satisfaction. '*I found their cards
when I got home ; I was out. ' *

**Out!" exclaimed her husband, with
something like genuine consternation in his
voice as he laid down the vinegar cruet and
looked at her through his glasses. '*Why,
what could have taken you out on Tuesday?
What did you have to do?"
. / ** Nothing. I simply felt like going out,
and I went out.'*

**Well, I hope you left some suitable ji
excuse," said her husband, somewhat
appeased, as he added a dash of cayenne
pepper to the soup.

"No, I left no excuse. I told Joe to
say I w^s'out, that was all."

**)Vhy, my dear, I should think_you!d
UHoerstand by this time that people don^t^
do such things; we've got to observe les
• convenances if we ever expect to get on and
keep up with the procession. If you felt
that you had to leave home this afternoon.

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THE AWAKENING 131

you should have left some suitable explana-
tion for your absence.

"This soup is really impossible; it's
strange that woman hasn't learned yet to
make a decent soup. Any free-lunch stand
in town serves a better one. Was Mrs.
Belthrop here?"

** Bring the tray with the cards, Joe. I
don't remember who was here."

The boy retired and returned after a mo-
ment, bringing the tiny silver tray, which
was covered with ladies' visiting cards. He
handed it to Mrs. Pontellier.

"Give it to Mr. Pontellier," she said.

Joe offered the tray to Mr. Pontellier, and
removed the soup.

Mr. Pontellier scanned the names of his
wife's callers, reading some of them aloud,
with comments as he read.

" *The Misses Delasidas.' I worked a
big deal in futures for their father this
morning; nice girls; it's time they were
getting married. *Mrs. Belthrop.' I tell
you what it is, Edna; you can't afford to
snub Mrs. Belthrop. Why, Belthrop could
buy and sell us ten times over. His busi-

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132 THE AWAKENING

ness is worth a good, round sum to me.
You'd better write her a note. 'Mrs.
James Highcamp.* Hugh! the less you
have to do with Mrs. Highcamp, the better.
'Madame Laforc^.' Came all the way from
Carrolton, too, poor old soul. ' Miss Wiggs, *
'Mrs. Eleanor Boltons.* *' He pushed the
cards aside.

"Mercy!" exclaimed Edna, who had
been fuming. "Why are you taking the
thing so seriously and making such a fuss
over it?"

"I'm not making any fuss over it. But
it's just such seeming trifles that we've got^
to take seriously; such things count."

The fish was scorched. Mr. Pontellier
would not touch it. Edna said she did not
mind a little scorched taste. The roast was
in some way not to his fancy, and he did
not like the manner in which the vege-
tables were served.

"It seems to me," he said, "we spend
money enough in this house to procure at
least one meal a day which a man could eat
and retain his self-respect."

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^ THE AWAKENING 133

"You used to think the cook was a treas-
ure," returned Edna, indifferently.

** Perhaps she was when she first came;
but cooks are only human. Th«y^--ft€cd" "
Jooi dufe aftgi/l ike any other class of per-
sons thaf you emplo)^. Suppose I didn't
look afterthr-ct6fl« in my office, just let
them run things their own way ; they'd soon
make a nice mess of me and my business."

'* Where are you going?" asked Edna,
seeing that her husband arose from table
without having eaten a morsel except a
taste of the highly-seasoned soup.

**rm going to get my dinner at the club.
Good night." He went into the hall,
took his hat and stick from the stand, and
left the house.

She was somewhat familiar with such y
scenes. They had often made her very
unhappy. On a few previous occasions she
had been completely deprived of any desire
to finish her dinner. Sometimes she had
gone into the kitchen to administer a tardy
rebuke to the cook. Once she went to her
room and studied the cookbook during an
entire evening, finally writing out a menu

:ecTby

Digitizelby Google

134 THE AWAKENING

for the week, which left her harassed with
a feeling that, after all, she had accomplished
no good that was worth the name.

But that evening Edna finished her din-
ner alone, with forced deliberation. Her
face was flushed and her eyes flamed with
some inward fire that lighted them. After
finishing her dinner she went to her room,
having instructed the boy to tell any other
callers that she was indisposed.

It was a large, beautiful room, rich and
picturesque in the soft, dim light which the
maid had turned low. She went and stood
at an open window and looked out upon
the deep tangle of the garden below. /All the
mystery and witchery of the night seemed
to have gathered there amid the perfumes
and the dusky and tortuous outline* of
flowers and foliage. She was seeking
herself and finding herself in just such
sweet, half-darkness which met her moods.
But the voices were not soothing that came
to her from the darkness and the sky above
and the stars. They jeered and sounded
mournful notes without promise, devoid
even of hope. She turned back into the

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THE AWAKENING 135

room and began to walk to and fro down
Its whole length, without stopping, without
resting. She carried in her hands a thin
handkerchief, which she tore into ribbons,
rolled into a ball, and flung from her,
Gnce she stopped, and taking off her wed-
ding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When
she saw it lying there, she stamped her heel
upon it, striving to crush it. But her
small boot heel did not make an indenture,
not a mark upon the little glittering cir-
clet..

In a sweeping passion she seized a glass
vase from the table and flung it upon the
tiles of the hearth. She wanted to destroy
something. The crash and clatter were
what she wanted to hear.
^ A maid, alarmed at the din of breaking
glass, entered the room to discover what
was the matter.

**A vase fell upon the hearth," said
Edna. ** Never mind; leave it till morn-
mg.

**0h! you might get some of the glass in
your feet, ma'am," insisted the young
woman, picking up bits of the broken

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136 THE AWAKENING

vase that were scattered upon the carpet.
**And here's your ring, ma'am, under the
chair."

Edna held out her hand, and taking the
ring, slipped it^tf^n her finger.

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XVIII

The following morning Mr. Pontellier,
upon leaving for his office, asked Edna if
she would not meet him in town in order to
look at some new fixtures for the library.

"I hardly think we need new fixtures,
L^once. Don't let us get anything new;
you are too extravagant. I don't* believe
you ever tliink of saving or putting by.'*

**The way to become rich is to make
money, my dear Edna, not to save it," he
said. He regretted that she did not feel
inclined to go with him and select new fix-
tures. He kissed her good-by, and told her
she was not looking well and must take care
of herself. She was unusually pale and very
quiet.

She stood on the front veranda as he
quitted the house, and absently picked a few (Jk-^^ ' ^^^'^

sprays of jessamine that grew_iipon aJxellJa

near by. She inhaled the^^^^ the bios- Ba^i isJ^^-^^
soms and thrust them into/ttie bosom^f her ^f^^y^ . .. ,
137 ^^' ^

Digitized by VjOOQ IC.

138 THE AWAKENING

vv^ white morning gown. The boys were drag-
ging along the banquette a small ''express
wagon,** which they had filled with blocks
and sticks. The quadroon was following
them with little quick steps, having assumed
a fictitious animation and alacrity for the
occasion. A fruit vender was crying his
wareyin the street.

ina looked straight before her with a
sejif-absorbed expression upon her face,
le felt no interest in anything about her.
The street, tTie children, the'TFuIt vender,
the flowers growing there under her eyes,
were all part and parcel of an alien world
which had suddenly become antagonistic.

She went back into the house. She had
thought of speaking to the cook concerning
her blunders of the previous night ; but Mr.
Pontellier had saved her that disagreeable
mission, for which she was so poorly fitted.
Mr. Pontellier's arguments were usually
convincing with those whom he employed.
He left home feeling quite sure that he and
Edna would sit down that evening, and
possibly a few subsequent evenings, to a
dinner deserving of the name.

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THE AWAKENING 139

f
Edna spent an hour or two in looking '
over some of her old sketches. She could
see their shortcomings and defects, which
were glaring in her eyes. She tried to work
a little, but found she was not in the humor.
Finally she gathered together a few of the
sketches — those which she considered the
least discreditable; and she carried them
with her when, a little later, she dressed and
left the house. She looked handsome and
distinguished in her street gown. The tan v, sN '
of the seashore had left her face, and her '■'
forehead was smooth, wh^te^ and polished T/f/)/A£^
beneath her heavy, yellow-brown hair.
There were a few freckles on her face, and
a small, dark mole near the under lip and
one on the temple, half-hidden in her hair.
As Edna walked along the street she was
thinking of Robert. -S he v v^b --stiIL-under
the spell of hgjiinfatn.ition. ^ She had tried
ta for g et him, realizing the JnutlUt)/ of pyTl^/^^y
rememberiffg. Bat, the thought of him was '

like an obsession, ever pressing itself upon
her. It was not that she dwelt upon details
of their acquaintance, or recalled in any
special or peculiar way his personality; it

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140 THE AWAKENING

was his being, his existence, which domi-
nated her thought, fading sometimes as if it
would melt into the mist of the forgotten,
reviving again with an intensity which filled
her with an incomprehensible longing.
Edna was on her way to Madame Ratig-
l»n!4wvA^^ ^^^1^'s- Their iMiVn^Ky, begun at Grand
* Isle, had not declined, and they had seen

each other with some frequency since their
return to the city. The Ratignolles lived
at no great distance from Edna's home, on
the corner of a side street, where Monsieur
Ratignolle owned and conducted a drug
store which enjoyed a steady and prosper-
ous trade. His father had been in the busi-
ness before him, and Monsieur Ratignolle
stood well in the community and bore an
enviable reputation for integrity and clear-
headedness. His family lived in commodi-
ous apartments over the store, having an
entrance on the side within th^porte cochire.
I There was something which Edna thought
J very French, very foreign, about their whole
manner of living. In the large and pleasant
salon which extended across the width of
the house, the Ratignolles entertained their

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THE AWAKENING 141

friends once a fortnight with 3L^i^^/t;;mu£i^'
calej^soxsxeiAmes diversified Imt card-playing ^
There was a friend who pla >r t' d up o n t He
'cello. One brought his flute and another
his violin, while there were some who sang
and a number who performed upon the
piano with various degrees of taste and agil-
ity. The Ratignolles' soirees musicales
were widely known, and it was considered a
privilege to be invited to them.

Edna found her friend engaged in msort-
ing the clothes which had returnecf that
morning from the laundry. She at once
abandoned her occupation upon seeing
Edna, who had been ushered without cere-
mony into her presence.

'*'Cite can do it as well as I; it is really
her business," she explained to Edna, who
apologized for interrupting her. And she
summoned a young black woman, whom
she instructed, in French, to be very careful
in checking off the list which she handed
her. She told her to notice particularly if
a fine linen handkerchief of Monsieur Ratig-
noUe's, which was missing last week, had
been returned ; and to be sure to set to one

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142 THE AWAKENING

side such pieces as required mending and
darniifg.

Then placing an arm around Edna's
waist, she led her to the front of the house,
to the salon, where it was cool and sweet
with the odor of great roses that stood upon
the hearth in jars.

Madame RatignoUe looked more beauti-
ful than ever there at home, in a neglig^
which left her arms almost wholly bare and
exposed the rich, melting curves of her
white throat.

"Perhaps I shall be able to paint your
picture some day,** said Edna with a smile
when they were seated. She produced the
roll of sketches and started to unfold them.
*'I believe I ought to work again. I feel as
if I wanted to be doing something. What
do you think of them? Do you think it
worth while to take it up again and study
some more? I might study for a while with
Laidpore. * *

She knew that Madame Ratignolle*s opin-
ion in such a matter would be next to
valueless, that she herself had not alone
decided, but determined; but she sought

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THE AWAKENING 143

the words of praise and encouragement that
would help her to put heart into her venture.

''Your talent is immense, dear!"

"Nonsense!** protested Edna, well
pleased.

"Immense, I tell you," persisted Madame
RatignoUe, surveying the sketches one by
one, at close range, then holding them at
arm's length, narrowing her eyes, and drop-
ping her head on one side. "Surely, this
Bavarian peasant is worthy of framing; and
this basket of apples J never have I seen
anything more lifelike. One might almost
be tempted to reach out a hand and take
one."

Edna could not control a feeling which
bordered upon complacency at her friend's
praise, even realizing, as she did, its true
worth. She retained a few of the sketches,
and gave all the rest to Madame RatignoUe,
who appreciated the gift far beyond its
value and proudly exhibited the pictures to
her husband when he came up from the
store a little later for his midday dinner.

Mr. RatignoUe was one of those men who
are called the salt of the earth. His cheer-

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144 THE AWAKENING

fulness was unbounded, and it was matched
by his goodness of heart, his broad charity,
and common sense. He and his wife spoke
English with an accent which was only dis-
cernible through its un-English emphasis
and a certain carefulness and deliberation.
Edna's husband spoke English with no
accent whatever. The RatignoUes under-
stood each other perfectly. If ever the
fusion of two human beings into one has
• been accomplished on this sphere it was
surely in their union.

As Edna seated herself at table with

them she thought, ** Better a dinner of

herbs, ' ' though it did not take her long to

discover that was no difiner of herbs, but

jZ'i a delicious repast, simple, choice, and in

>>1.1 every way satisfying.

Monsieur RatignoUe was delighted to see
her, though he found her looking not so
well as at Grand Isle, and he advised a
tonic. He talked a good deal on various
topics, a little politics, some city news and
neighborhood gossip. He spoke with an
animation and earnestness that gave an
exaggerated importance to every syllable he

'" ^i

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THE AWAKENING 145

uttered. His-wife ivas ^KiES:^ interested in
eveiytiting he"sard, nayifig down her fork
the better to listen, chiming in, taking the
words out of his mouth.

Edna felt depressed rather than soothed
after-leaving tham;--<rhe little glimpse of
domestic hai3Ban2J52hrch^4«Ki^een offered
Ivener no regret, no longing- ^ It was
not a condition of life which fitted her, and
she could see in it but an fippalling and
hopeless ennui. She was moved by a kind
orcainnHseration for Madame RatignoUe, —
/a pity^ that colorless existence which
ng^er uplifted its possessor beyond the
region of blind contentment, in which no
moment of anguish ever visited her soul, in
which she would never have the taste of
life's delirium. Edna vaguely wondered
what she meant by **life*| delirium." It
had crossed her thougtfP - like some un-
sought, extraneous impression.

L.'6

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XIX

Edna could not help but think that it was
very foolish, very childish, to have stamped
upon her wedding ring and smashed the
crystal vase upon the tiles. She was visited
by no more outbursts, moving her to such
fudj^ expedients. ^Sb€-begaa-tCLdiLas_she
^^iJkeS 'Sndrw^'f ^ ac c hc li ked. She com-
pletely abandoned her Tuesdays at home,
and^ did not return the visits of those who
had called upon her. She made no ineffect-
ual efforts to conduct her household^w bonne
m^nagirey going and coming as it suited
her fancy, and, so far as she was able, lend-
ing herself to any passing caprice.

Mr. Pontellier had been a rather cour-
teous husband so long as he met a certain
tacit submissiveness in his wife. But her
new and unexpected line of conduct com-
pletely bewildered him. It shocked him.
Then her absolute disregard f prober duties
as a^ wife angered him. When Mr. Pontel-
146

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V 7\ Sv. /-

THE AWAKENING 147

Her became rude, Edna grew insolent. She
had resolved never to take another step
backward.

"It seems to me the utmost folly for a
woman at the head of a household, and the
mother of children, to spend in an atelier
days which would be better employed con-
triving for the comfort of Jier family.**

**I feel like paintingr^ -answered Edna.
^-^Eerha^xs-i- shan't always feel like it.*'

"Then in God's name paint! but don*t
let the family go to the devil. There's
Madame RatignoUe; because she keeps up
her music, she doesn't let everything else
go to chaos. And she's more of a musician
than you are a painter."

"She isn't a musician, and I'm not a
painter. It isn't on account of painting
that I let things go."

"On account of what, then?"

"Oh! I don't know. Let me alone; you

bother me." —

"It sometimes entered Mr. Pontellier's ^^
mind to wonder if his -wife were not grow-
ing a little unbalanced mentally. He could
see plainly that she was- not herself. That

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148 THE AWAKENING

\is, he could not see that she was becoming

Y] i;i^ g, herself and daily casting asi^e^hat fictitious

y/^^li which we assvime likle a ^garment with

\y whic|i to appear before the^P^dd^ - -'

Hei^JujgbancMiet^hfir alane^-as- she re-
quested, and went away to his office. Edna
went up to her atelier — a bright room in the
top of the house. She was working with
great energy and interest, without accom-
plishing anything, however, which satisfied
her even in the smallest degree. For a
time she had the whole household enrolled
in the service of art. The boys posed for
her. TheyThoughTit amusing at first, but
the occupation soon lost its attractiveness
when they discovered that it was not a game
arranged especially for their entertainment.
The quadroon sat for hours before Edna's
palette, patient as a savage, while the house-
maid took charge of the children, and the
drawing-room went undusted. But the
house-maid, too, served her term as model
when Edna perceived that the young wom-
an's back and shoulders were molded on
classic lines, and that her hair, loosened
from its confining cap, became an inspiration.

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THE AWAKENING 149

While Edna worked she sometimes sang low
the little air, ^^ Ah! situ savaisi*'

It moved her with recollections. She
could hear again the ripple of the water,
the flapping sail. She could see the glint
of the moon upon the bay, and could feel
the soft, gusty beating of the hot south
wind. A subtle current of desire passed
through her body, weakening her hold
upon the brushes and making her eyes
bum.

There were days when sh^-^as very
happj^ withoulrkpowing why. She was hap-
py / to b^ alixfc^'toid breathing, when her
whote be ftigseemed to be one with the sun-
light, the color, the ■odore ^ the luxuriant 'f^f^tr^^^'^'
warmth of some perfect Southern day.
She liked then to wander alone into strange
and unfamiliar places. She discovered many
a sunny, sleepy comer, fashioned to dream
in. And she found it good to dream and
to be alone and unmo lested.

There were days when she was unhappy,
she did not know why, — ^when it did not
seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be
alive or dead; when life appeared to her

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150 THE AWAKENING

like a grotesque pandemonium and human-
ity like worms struggling blindly toward
inevitable annihilation. She could not
work on such a day, nor weave fancies to stir
her pulses and warm her blood.

jiiii

'iiii

Digitized by CjOOQIC

It was duringsuch a mood tha>- Edna
hunted up Mademolselk ILeldk^Jrfie had not
forgotten the rather disagreeable impression
left upon her by their last interview; but
she nevertheless felt a desire to see her —
above all, to listen while she played^on the
piano. Quite early in the afternoon she
started lijjon her quest for the pianist.
Unfortunately she had mislaid or lost Made-
moiselle Reisz's card, and looking up her
address in the city directory, she found that
the woman lived on Bienville Street, some
distance away. The directory which fell
into her hands was a year or more old, how-
ever, and upon reaching the number in-
dicated, Edna discovered that the house
was occupied by a respectable family of
mulattoes who had chambres garnies to let.
They had been living there for six months,
and knew absolutely nothing of a Mademoi-
selle Reisz% In fact, they knew nothing of
151

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152 THE AWAKENING

any of their neighbors ; their lodgers were
all people of the highest distinction, they
assured Edna. She did not linger to dis-
cuss class distinctions with Madame Pou-
ponne, but hastened to a neighboring
grocery store, feeling sure that Mademoi-
selle would have left her address with the
proprietor.

He knew Mademoiselle Reisz a good deal
better than he wanted to know her, he
informed his questioner. In truth, he did
not want to know her at all^ or anything
concerning her — ^th^ most disagreeable and
unpopular woman who -ever lived iii Bien-
ville Street. He thanked heaven she had left
the neighborhood, and was equally thankful
that he did not know where she had gone.

Edna's desire to see Mademoiselle Reisz
had increased tenfold since these unlooked-
for obstacles had arisen to thwart it. She
was wondering who could give her the infor-
mation she sought, when it suddenly oc-
curred to her that Madame Lebrun would be
the one most likely to do so. She knew, it
was useless to ask Madame RatignoUe, who
was on the most distant terms with the

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THE AWAKENING 153

musician, and preferred to know nothing
concerning her. She had once been almost
as emphatic in expressing herself upon the
subject as the corner grocer.

Edna knew that Madame Lebrun had
returned to the city, for it was the middle
of November. And she also knew where
the Lebruns lived, on Chartres Street.

Their home (rom the outside looked like
a_prison, with iron bars before the door and
lower windows. The iron bars were a relic
of the old regime, and no one had ever
thought of dislodging them. At the side
was a high fence enclosing the garden. A
gate or door opening upon the street was
locked. Edna rang the bell at this side
garden gate, and stood upon the banquette,
waiting to be admitted.

It was Victor who opened the gate for
her. A black woman, wiping her hands
upon her apron, was close at his heels.
Before she saw them Edna could hear them
in altercation, the woman — plainly an
anomaly — claiming the right to be allowed
to perform her duties, one of which was to
answer the bell.

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154 THE AWAKENING

Victor was surprised and delighted to see
Mrs. Pontellier, and he made no attempt
to conceal either his astonishment or his
delight. He was a dark-browed, good-
looking youngster of nineteen, greatly
resembling his mother, but with ten times
her impetuosity. He instructed the black
woman to go at once and inform Madame
Lebrun that Mrs. Pontellier desired to see
her. The woman grumbled a refusal to do
part of her duty when she had not been
permitted to do it all, and started back to
her interrupted task of weeding the garden.
Whereupon Victor administered a rebuke in
the form of a volley of abuse, which,
owing to its rapidity and incoherence, was
all but inconiprehensible to Edna. What-
ever it was, the rebuke was convincing, for
the woman dropped her hoe and went
mumbling into the house.

Edna did not wish to enter. It was very
pleasant there on the side porch, where
there were chairs, a wicker lounge, and a
small table. She seated herself, for she was
tired from her lo^ig tramp; and she be-
gan to rock gently and smooth out the

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THE AWAKENING 155

folds of her silk parasol. Victor drew up
his chair beside her. He at once explained
,that the black woman's offensive conduct
was all due to imperfect training, as he was
not there to take her in hand. He had
only come up from the island the morning
before, and expected to return next day.
He stayed all winter at the island ; he lived
there, and kept the place in order and got
things ready for the summer visitors.

But a man needed occasional relaxation,
he informed Mrs. Pontellier, and every now
and again he drummed up a pretext to bring
him to the city. My! but he had had a
time of it the evening before ! He wouldn't
want his mother to know, and he began to
talk in a whisper. He was scintillant with
recollections. Of course, he couldn't think
of telling Mrs. Pontellier all about it, she
being a woman and not comprehending such
things. But it all began with a girl peep-
ing and smiling at him through the shutters
as he passed by. Oh! but she was a
beauty! Certainly he smiled back, and
went up and talked to her. Mrs. Pontel-
lier did not know him if she supposed he was

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156 THE AWAKENING

one to let an opportunity like that escape
him. Despite herself, the youngster
amused her. She must have betrayed in
her look some degree of interest or enter-
tainment. The boy grew more daring, and
Mrs. Pontellier might have found herself, in
a little while, listening to a highly colored
story but for the timely appearance of
Madame Lebrun.

That lady was still clad in white, accord-
ing to her custom of the summer. Her eyes
beamed an effusive welcome. Would not
Mrs. Pontellier go inside? Would she par-
take of some refreshment ? Why had she
not been there before? How was that dear
Mr. Pontellier and how were those sweet
children? Had Mrs. Pontellier ever known
such a warm November?

Victor went and reclined on the wicker
lounge, behind his mother's chair, where he
commanded a view of Edna's face. He had
taken her parasol from her hands while he
spoke to her, and he now lifted it and
twirled it above him as he lay on his back.
When Madame Lebrun complained that it
was so dull coming back to the city ; that she

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THE AWAKENING 157

saw so few people now ; that even Victor,
when he came up from the island for a day
or two, had so much to occupy him and
engage his time ; then it was that the youth
went into contortions on the lounge and
winked mischievously at Edna. She some-
how felt like a confederate in crime, and
tried to look severe and disapproving.

There had been but two letters from
Robert, with little in them, they told her.
Victor said it was really not worth while
to go inside for the letters, when his mother
entreated him to go in search of them. He
remembered the contents, which in truth he
rattled off very glibly when put to the
test.

One letter was written from Vera Cruz and
the other from the City of Mexico. He
had met Montf^ who was doing everything
toward his advancement. So far, the finan-
cial situation was no improvement over the
one he had left in New Orleans, but of
course the prospects were vastly better. He
wrote of the City of Mexico, the buildings,
the people and their habits, the conditions
of life which he found there. He sent his

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158 THE AWAKENING

love to the family. He Enclosed a check to
his mother, and hoped she would afifection-
ately remember him to all his friends.
That was about the substance of the two
letters. Edna felt that if there had been a
message for her, she would have received it.
The despondent frame of mind in which she
had left home began again to overtake her,
and she remembered that she wished to find
Mademoiselle Reisz.

Madame Lebrun knew where Mademoi-
selle Reisz lived. She gave Edna the
address, regretting that she would not con-
sent to stay and spend the remainder of the
afternoon, and pay a visit to -Mademoiselle
Reisz some other day. The afternoon was
already well advanced.

Victor escorted her out upon the ban-
quette, lifted her parasol, and held it over
her while he walked to the car with her.
He entreated her to bear in mind that the
disclosures of the afternoon were strictly
confidential. She laughed and bantered
him t!- titt^-^ r^mfrnb^rrinc too lat£jj^^^ she
^should have been dignified and reserved,--

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THE AWAKENING 159

'* How handsome Mrs. Pontellier looked !**
said Madame Lebrun to her son.

"Ravishing!** he admitted. ''The city
atmosphere has improved her. Some way-
she doesn't seem like the same woman."

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XXI

Some people contended that the reason
Mademoiselle .Reisz^ always chose apart-
ments up under the roof was to discourage
the approach of beggars, peddlars and call-
ers. There were plenty of windows in her
little front room. They were for the most
part dingy, but as they were nearly always
open it did not make so much difference.
They often admitted into the room a good
deal of smoke and soot; but at the same
time all the light and air that there was
came through them. From her windows
could be seen the crescent of the river, the
masts of ships and the big chimneys of
the Mississippi steamers, A magnificent
piano crowded the apartment. In the next
room she slept, and in the third and last
she harbored a gasoline stove on which she
cooked her meals when disinclined to
descend to the neighboring ' restaurant. It
was there also that she ate, keeping her be-
i6o

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THE AWAKENING i6i

longings in a rare old buffet, dingy and bat-
tered from a hundred years of use.

When Edna knocked at Mademoiselle
Reisz's front room door and entered, she
discovered that person standing beside the
window, engaged in mending or patching
an old prunella gaiter. The little musician
laughed all over when she saw Edna. Her
laugh consisted of a contortion of the face
and all the muscles of the body. She
seemed strikingly homely, standing there in
the afternoon light. She still wore the
shabby lace and the artificial bunch of vio-
lets on the side of her head.

''So you remembered me at last," said
Mademoiselle. '*I had said to myself,
'Ah, bah! she will never come.' "

''Did you want me to come?" asked
Edna with a smile.

"I had not thought much about it,"
answered Mademoiselle. The two had
seated themselves on a little bumpy sofa
which stood against the wall. "I am glad,
however, that you came. I have the water
boiling back there, and was just about to
make some coffee. You will drink a cup

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i62 THE AWAKENING

with me. And how is la belle dame?
Always handsome ! always healthy ! always
contented!" She took Edna's hand be-
tween her strong wiry fingers, holding it
loosely without warmth, and executing a
sort of double theme upon the back and
palm.

"Yes," she went on; "I sometimes
thought : ' She will never come. She prom-
ised as those women in society always do,
without meaning it. She will not come.
For I really don't believe you like me, Mrs.
Pontellier."

''I don't know whether I like you or
not," replied Edna, gazing down at the lit-
tle woman with a quizzical look.

The candor of Mrs. Pontellier's admission
greatly pleased Mademoiselle Reisz. She
expressed her gratification by repairing
forthwith to the region of the gasoline stove
and rewarding her guest with the promised
cup of coffee. The coffee and the biscuit
accompanying it proved very acceptable to
Edna, who had declined refreshment at
Madame Lebrun's and was now beginning
to feel hungry. Mademoiselle set the tray

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THE AWAKENING 163

which she brought in upon a small table
near at hand, and seated herself once again
on the lumpy sofa.

**I have had a letter from your friend,"
she remarked, as she poured a little cream
into Edna's cup and handed it to her.

"My friend?''

"Yes, your friend Robert. He wrote to
me from the City of Mexico."

"Wrote to you?'* repeated Edna in
amazement, stirring her coffee absently.

Yes, to me. Why not? Don't stir all
the warmth out of your coffee; drink it.
Though the letter might as well have been
sent to you ; it was nothing but Mrs. Pon-
tellier from beginning to end."

"Let me see it," requested the young
woman, entreatingly.

"No; a letter concerns no one but the
person who writes it and the one to whom
it is written."

"Haven't you just said it concerned me
from beginning to end?"

"It was written about you, not to you.
'Have you seen Mrs. Pontellier? How is
she looking?' he asks. *As Mrs, Pontellier

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i64 THE AWAKENING

says,' or 'as Mrs. Pontellier once said.* 'If
Mrs. Pontellier should call upon you, play
for her that Impromptu of Chopin's, my
favorite. I heard it here a day or two ago,
but not as you play it. I should like to
know how it affects her,* and so on, as if he
supposed we were constantly in each other's
society."

**Let me see the letter."

''Oh, no."
. "Have you answered it?"

"No."
^ "Let me see the letter."

"No, and again, no."

"Then play the Impromptu for me,"

"It is growing late; what time do you
have to be home?"

"Time doesn't concern me. Your ques-
tion seems a little rude. Play the Im-
promptu."

"But you have told me nothing of your-
self. What are you doing?"

"Painting!" laughed Edna. "I am be-
coming an artist. Think of it!" -

"Ah! an artist! You have pretensions,
Madame." - ,

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THE AWAKENING 165

*' Why pretensions? Do you think I could
not become an artist?"

''I do not know you well enough to say.
I do not know your talent or your tempera-
ment. To be an artist includes much ; one
must possess many gifts — absolute gifts —
which have not been acquired by one's own
effort. And, moreover, to succeed, the
artist must possess the courageous soul."

* * What do you mean by the courageous
soul?"

''Courageous, ma foil The brave soul.
The soul that dares and defies."

"Show me the letter and play for me the
Impromptu. You see that I have persist-
ence. Does that quality count for anything
in art?"

"It counts with a foolish old woman
whom you have captivated," replied Made-
moiselle, with her wriggling laugh.

The letter was right there at hand in the
drawer of the little table upon which Edna
had just placed her coffee cup. Mademoi-
selle opened the drawer and drew forth the
letter, the topmost one. She placed it in

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i66 THE AWAKENING

Edna's hands, and without further comment
arose and went to the piano.

Mademoiselle played a soft interlude. It
was an improvisation. She sat low at the
instrument, and the lines of her body settled
into ungraceful curves and angles that gave
it an appearance of deformity. Gradually
and imperceptibly the interlude melted into
the soft opening minor chords of the Chopin
Impromptu.

Edna did not know when the Impromptu
began or ended. She sat in the sofa corner
reading Robert's letter by the fading light.
Mademoiselle had glided from the Chopin
into the quivering love-notes of Isolde's
song, and back again to the Impromptu
with its soulful and poignant longing.

The shadows deepened in the little room.
The music grew strange and fantastic — tur-
bulent, insistent, plaintive and soft with
entreaty. The shadows grew deeper. The
music -filled the room. It floated out upon
the night, over the housetops, the crescent
of the river, losing itself in^the silence of the
upper air.

Edna was sobbing, just as she had wept

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THE AWAKENING 167

one midnight at Grand Isle when strange,
new voices awoke in her. She arose in
some agitation to take her departure.
'*May I come again, Mademoiselle?" she
asked at the threshold.

**Come whenever you feel like it. Be
careful; the stairs and landings are dark;
don't stumble."

Mademoiselle reentered and lit a candle.
Robert's letter was on the floor. She
stooped and picked it up. It was crumpled
and damp with tears. Mademoiselle
smoothed the letter out, restored it to the
envelope, and replaced it in the table drawer.

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XXII

One morning on his way into town Mr.
PontelHer stopped at the house of his old
friend and family physician, Doctor Man-
delet. The Doctor was a semi-retired phy-
sician, resting, as the saying is, upon his
laurels. He bore a reputation for wisdom
rather than skill — leaving the active practice
of medicine to his assistants and younger
contemporaries — and was much sought for
in matters of consultation. A few families,
united to him by bonds of friendship, he
still attended when they required the serv-
ices of a physician. The Pontelliers were
among these.

Mr. Pontellier found the Doctor reading
at the open window of his study. His
house stood rather far back from the street,
in the center of a delightful garden, so that
it was quiet and peaceful at the old gentle-
man's study window. He was a great
reader. He stared up disapprovingly over
x68 ^

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THE AWAKENING 169

his eye-glasses as Mr. Pontellier entered,
wondering who had the temerity to disturb
him at that hour of the morning.

''Ah, Pontellier! Not sick, I hope.
Come and have a seat. What news do you
bring this morning?" He was quite portly,
with a profusion of gray hair, and small
blue eyes which age had robbed pf much of
their brightness but none of their penetra-
tion.

"Oh! I'm never sick, Doctor. You know
that I come of tough fiber — of that old
Creole race of Pontelliers that dry up and
finally blow away. I came to consult — no,
not precisely to consult — to talk to you
about Edna. I don't know what ails her."

"Madame Pontellier not well?" marveled
the Doctor. "Why, I saw her — I think it
was a week ago — ^walking along Canal Street,
the picture of health, it seemed to me."

"Yes, yes; she seems quite well," said
Mr. Pontellier, leaning forward and whirling
his stick between" his two hands; "but she
doesn't act well. She's odd, she's not like
herself. I can't .make her out, and I
thought perhaps you'd help me."

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170 THE AWAKENING

"How does she act?'* inquired the doctor.

*'WelI, it isn't easy to explain," said Mr.
Pontellier, throwing himself back in his
chair. "She lets the housekeeping go to
the dickens."

"Well, well; women are not all alike,
my dear Pontellier. We've got to con-
sider—"

"I know that; I told you I couldn't
explain. Her whole attitude — toward me
and everybody and everything — has
phanged. You know I have a quick tem-
per, but I don't want to quarrel or be rude
to a woman, especially my wife; yet- I'm
driven to it, and feel like ten thousand
devils after I've made a fool of myself.
She's making it devilishly uncomfortable for
me," he went on nervously. "She's got
some sort of notion in her head concerning
the eternal rights of women; and — ^you
understand — ^we meet in the morning at
the breakfast table.".

The old gentleman lifted his shaggy eye-
brows, protruded his thick nether lip, and
tapped the arms of his chair with his cush-
ioned finger-tips.

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THE AWAKENING 171

''What have you been doing to her, Pon-
tellier?"

''Doing! Parbkur*

"Has she," asked the Doctor, with a
smile, "has she been associating of late with a
circle o( pseudo-intellectual women — super-
spiritual /superior beings? My wife has
been telling me; about them.**

"That's the trouble,** broke in Mr. Pon-
tellier, "she hasn*t been associating with
any one. She Has abandoned her Tues-
days at home, has thrown over all her
acquaintances, and goes tramping about by
herself, moping in the street-cars, getting
in after dark. I tell you she's peculiar. I
don't like it; I feel a little worried over it.**

This was a new aspect for the Doctor.
"Nothing hereditary?" he asked, seriously.
"Nothing peculiar about her family ante-
cedents, is there?"

"Oh, no, indeed! She comes of sound
old Presbyterian Kentucky^stock. The old
gentleman, her father, I have heard, used to
atone for his week-dav sins with his Sunday
devotions. I know for a fact, that his race
horses literally ran away with the prettiest

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172 THE AWAKENING

bit of Kentucky farming land I ever laid
eyjes upon. Margaret — you know Mar-
garet — she has all the Presbyterianism
undiluted. And the youngest is something
of a vixen. By the way, she gets married in
a couple of weeks from now."

"Send your wife up to the wedding,"
exclaimed the Doctor, foreseeing a happy
splution. "Let her stay among her own
people for a while; it will do her good."

"That's what I want her to do. She
won't go to the marriage. She says a wed-
ding is one of the most lamentable spec-
tacles on earth. Nice thing for a woman
to say to her husband!" exclaimed Mr.
Pontellier, fuming anew at the recollection.

" Pontellier, " said the Doctor, after a
moment's reflection, "let your wife alone
for a while. Don't bother her, and don't
let her bother you. Woman, my dear friend,
<is a very peculiar and delicate organism —
a sensitive and highly organized woman,
such as I know Mrs. Pontellier to be, is
especially peculiar. It would require an in-
spired psychologist to deal successfully with
them. And when ordinary fellows like you

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THE AWAKENING -.

and me attempt to cop&iglllx "dieir idtoa^li*
crasies the result M^bungiitig. Most women
are moody and whimsicSil. This is some pass-
ing whim of your wife, due to some cause
or causes which you and I needn't try to
fathom. But it will pass happily over,
especially if you let her alone. Send her
around to see me."

"Oh! I couldn't do that; there'd be no
reason for it," objected Mr. Pontellier.

''Then TU go around and see her," said
the Doctor. "Til drop in to dinner some
evening en bon ami.*'

''Do! by all means," urged Mr. Pon-
tellier, * * What evening will you come ? Say
Thursday. Will you come Thursday?" he
asked, rising to take his leave.

"Very well; Thursday. My wife may
possibly have some engagement for me
Thursday. In case she has, I shall let you
know. Otherwise, you may expect me."

Mr. Pontellier turned before leaving to
say:

"I am going to New York on business
very soon. I have a big scheme on hand,
and want to be on the field proper to pull

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i74 THE AWAKENING

the ropes and: handle 4he^4ibbans. We'll
let you in on the inside if you say so,
Doctor," he laughed.

'*No, I thank you, my dear sir/* returned
the Doctor. '*I leave such ventures to you
younger men with the fever of life still in
your blood.**

'*What I wanted to say/' continued Mr.
Pontellier, with his hand on the knob; **I
may have to be absent a good while.
Would you advise me to take Edna along?*'

**By all means, if she wishes> to go. If
not, leave her here. Don't contradict her.
The mood will pass, I assure you. It may
take a month, two, three months — possibly
longer, but it will pass; have patience."

**Well, good-by, hjeudi,'' said Mr. Pon-
tellier, as he let himself out.

The Doctor would have liked during the
course of conversation to ask, ** Is there any
man in the case?" but he knew his Creole
too well to make such a blunder as that.

He did not resume his book immediately,
but sat for a while meditatively looking out
into the garden.

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'-^^

XXIII

Edna's father was in the city, and had
been with them several days. She was not
very warmly or deeply attached to him,
but they had certain tastes in common,
and when together they were coxnpampn-
able. His coining was in the nature of a
welcome disturbance; it seemed to furnish
a new direction for her emotions.

He had come to purchase a wedding gift
for his daughter, Janet, and an outfit for
himself in which he might make a creditable
appearance at her marriage. Mr. Pontellier
had selected the bridal gift, as every one
immediately connected with him always
deferred to his taste in such matters. And
his suggestions on the question of dress —
which too often assumes the nature of a
problem — were of inestimable value to his
father-in-law. But for the past few days
the old gentleman had been upon Edna's
hands, and in his society she was becoming
175

dbyGoogfe

176 THE AWAKENING

acquainted with a new set of sensations.
He had been a colonel in the Confederate
army, and still maintained, with the title,
the military bearing which had always
accompanied it. His hair and mustache
were white and silky, emphasizing the rug-
ged bronze of his face. He was tall and
thin, and wore his coats padded, which gave
a fictitious breadth and depth to his shoul-
ders and chest. Edna and her father looked
very distinguished together, and excited a
good deal of notice during their perambula-
tions. Upon his arrival she began by intro-
ducing him to her atelier and making a
sketch of him. He took the whole matter
very seriously. If her talent had been ten-
fold greater than it was, it would not have
surprised him, convinced as he was that he
had bequeathed to Sill of his daughters the
germs of a masterful capability, which only
depended upon their own efforts to be
directed toward successful achievement.

Before her pencil he sat rigid and unflinch-
ing, as he had faced the cannon's mouth in
days gone by. He xesented the intrusion
of the children, who gaped with wondering

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THE AWAKENING 177

eyes at him, sitting so stiff up there in their
mother's bright atelier. When they drew
near he motioned them away with an ex-
pressive action of the foot, loath to disturb
the fixed lines of his countenance, his arms,
or his rigid shoulders,

Edna, anxious to entertain him, invited
Mademoiselle Reisz to meet him, having
promised him a treat in her piano playing;
but Mademoiselle declined the invitation.
So together they attended a soirie musicale
at the RatignoUe's. Monsieur and Madame
RatignoUe made much of the Colonel,
-installing him as the guest of honor and
engaging him at once to dine with them the
following Sunday, or any day which he
might select. Madame coquetted with him
in the most captivating and naive manner,,
with eyes, gestures, and a profusion of com-
pliments, till the Colonel's old head felt
thirty years younger on his padded shoul-
ders. Edna marveled, not comprehend-
ing. She herself was almost devoid of
coquetry.

There were one or two men whom she
observed at the soirde musicale; but she

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178 THE AWAKENING

would never have felt moved to any kitten-
ish display to attract their notice — ^to any
feline or feminine wiles to express herself
toward them. Their personality attracted
her in an agreeable way. Her fancy
selected them, and she was glad when a lull
in the music gave them an opportunity to
meet her and talk with her. Often on
the street the glance of strange eyes had
lingered in her memory, and sometimes had
disturbed her. •

Mr. Pontellier did not attend these soiries
musicales. He considered them bourgeois^
and found more diversion at the club. To
Madame RatignoUe he said the music dis-
pensed at her soirees was too "heavy," too
far beyond his untrained comprehension.
His excuse flattered her. But she disap-
proved of Mr. PontelHer's club, and she
was frank enough to tell Edna so.

"It's a pity Mr. Pontellier doesn't stay
home more in the evenings. I think you
would be more — ^well, if you don't mind
my saying it — more united, if he did."

"Oh! dear no!" said Edna, with a blank
look in her eyes. "What should I do if he

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THE AWAKENING 179

stayed home? We wouldn't have anything
to say to each other."

She had not much of anything to say to
her father, for that matter; but he did not
antagonize her. She discovered that he
interested her, though she realized that he
might not interest her long; and for the first
time in her life she felt as if she were thor-
oughly acquainted with him. He kept her
busy serving him and ministering to his
wants. It amused her to do so. She
would not permit a servant or one of the
children to do anything for him which she
might do herself. Her husband noticed,
and thought it was the expression of a deep
filial attachment which he had never sus-
pected.

The Colonel drank numerous "toddies"
during the course of the day, which left
him, however, imperturbed. He was an
expert at concocting strong drinks. He
had even invented some, to which he had
given fantastic names; and for whose manu-
facture he required diverse ingredients that it
devolved upon Edna to procure for him.

When Doctor Mandelet dined with the

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i8o THE AWAKENING ^

Pontelliers on Thursday he could discern in
Mrs. Pontellier no trace of that morbid con-
dition which her husband had reported to
him. She was excited and in a manner
radiant. She and her father' had been to
the race course, and their ' thoughts when
they seated ^ themselves at table were still
occupied with the events of the afternoon,
and their talk was still of the track. The
Doctor had not kept pace with turf affairs.
He had certain recollections of racing in
what he called '*the good old times** when
the Lecompte stables flourished, and he drew
upon this fund of memories so that he might
not be left out and seem wholly devoid of
the modern spirit. But he failed to impose
upon the Colonel, and was even far from
impressing him with this trumped-up knowl-
edge of bygone days. Edna had staked
her father on his last venture, with the most
gratifying results to both of them. Besides,
they had met some very charming people',
according to the Colonel's impressions.
Mrs. Mortimer Merriman and Mrs. James
Highcamp, who were there with Alc^e
Arobin, had joined them and had enlivened

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THE AWAKENING i8i

the hours in a f zishion that warmed him to
think oL

Mr. Pontellier himself had no particular
leaning toward horse-racing, and was even
rather inclined to discourage it as a pastime,
especialty when he considered the fate of
that blue-grass farm in Keatucl^. He
endeavored, in a general way, to express a
particular disapproval, and only succeeded
in arousing the ire and opposition of his
father-in-law. A pretty dispute followed,
in which Edna warmly espoused her father's
cause and the Doctor remained neutral.

He ot^served his hostess attentively from
under his shaggy brows, and noted a subtle
chang'e which had transformed her from the
listless woman he had known into a being
who, for the moment, seemed palpitant with
the forces of life. Her speech was warm
and energetic. There was no repression in
her glance or gesture. She reminded him
of some beautiful, sleek animal waking up in
the sun.

The dinner was excellent. The claret was
warm and the champagne was cold, and
under their beneficent influence the threat-

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1 82 THE AWAKENING

ened unpleasantness melted and vanished
with the fumes of the wine.

Mr. Pontellier warmed up and grew
reminiscent. He told some amusing plan-
tation experiences, recollections of old Iber-
ville and his youth, when he hunted
'possum in company with some friendly
darky ; thrashed the pecan trees, shot the
grosbec, and roamed the woods and fields
in mischievous idleness.

The Colonel, with little sense of humor
and of the fitness of things, related a somber
episode of those dark and bitter days, in
which he had acted a conspicuous part atid
always formed a central figure. Nor was
the Doctor happier in his selection, when he
told the old, ever new and curious story of the
waning of a woman's love, seeking strange,
new channels, only to return to its legitimate
source after days of fierce unrest. It was
one of the many little human documents
which had been unfolded to him during his
long career as a physician. The story did
not seem especially to impress Edna. She
had one of her own to tell, of a woman who
paddled away with her lover one night in a

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THE AWAKENING 183

pirogue and never came back. They were
lost amid the Baratarian Islands, and no one
ever heard of them or found trace of thenv
from that day to this. It was a pure inven-
tion. .She said that Madame Antoine had
related it to her. That, also, was an inven-
tion. Perhaps it was a dream she had had.
But every glowing word seemed real to
those who listened. They could feel the hot
breath of the Southern night ; they could
hear the long sweep of the pirogue through
the glistening moonlit water, the beating of
birds* wings, rising startled from among the
reeds in the salt-water pools; they could
see the faces of the lovers, pale, close
together, rapt in oblivious forgetfulness,
drifting into the unknown.

The champagne was cold, and its subtle
fumes played fantastic tricks with Edna's
memory that night.

Outside, away from the glow of the fire
and the soft lamplight, the night was chill
and murky. The Doctor doubled his old-
fashioned cloak across his breast as he strode
home through the darkness. He knew his
fellow-creatures better than most men;

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i84 THE AWAKENING

knew that inner life which so seldom unfolds
Itself to unanointed eyes. He was sorry he
had accepted Pontellier's invitation. He
was growing old, and beginning to need rest
and an imperturbed spirit. He did not
want the secrets of other lives thrust upon
him.

''I hope it isn't Arobija,'' he muttered
to himself as he' walked. "I hope to
heaven it isn't Alc6e Arobin."

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XXIV

Edna and her father had a warm, and
almost violent, dispute upon the subject of
her refusal to attend her sister's wedding.
Mr. Pontellier declined to interfere, to
interpose either his influence or his author-
ity. He was following Doctor Mandelet's
advice, and letting her do as she liked.
The Colonel reproached his daughter for
her lack of filial kindness and respect, her

W;ant ^,t gig<-^r1jr jfff*rf mn anf| jynmanljrrnn-

-.sijderation. His arguments were labored
and unconvincing. He doubted if Janet
would accept any excuse — forgetting that
Edna had offered none. He doubted if
Janet would ever speak to her again, and he
was sure Margaret would not.

Edna was glad to be rid of her father
when he finally took himself off with his
wedding garments and his bridal gifts, with
his padded shoulders, his Bible reading, his .
'* toddies" and ponderous oaths.
185

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1 86

THE AWAKENING

o:i

Mr. Pontellier followed him closely. He
meant to stop at the wedding on his way to
New York and endeavor by every means
which money and love could devise to atone
somewhat for Edna's incomprehensible
action.

''You are tofl Jenient, too lenient by far,
L6once,*' asserted the Colonel. ** Author-
ity, coercion are what is needed.. Put your
foot down good and hard ; the only way to
Inanage a wife. Take my word for it.*'**^

The Colonel was perhaps unaware that he

had , coerced .hisL-own-^wife intaier grstve.'

Mr. Pontellier had a vague suspicion of it

which he thought it needless to mention at

that late day.

Edna was not so consciously gratified at
her husband's leaving home as she had been
over the departure of her father. As the
day approached when he was to leave her
for a comparatively long stay, she grew
melting and affectionate, remembering his
many acts of consideration and his repeated
expressions of an ardent attachment. She
was solicitous about his health and his wel-
fare. She bustled around, looking after his

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THE, AWAKENING 187

clothing, thinking about heavy underwear,
quite as Madame RatignoUe would have
done under similar circumstances. She
cried when he went away, calling him her
dear, good friend, and she was quite certain
she would grow lonely before very long and j^.^
go to join him in NewYprk.

But after all, ^ radiant peaS^ettled upon
her when she at^k»t- -found Tierself alone, ^ji^
Even the children were gone. ^ Old Madame
Pontellier had come herself and carried
them off to Iberville with their quadroon.
The old madame did not venture to say she
was afraid they would be neglected during
L6once's absence; she hardly ventured to
think so. She was hungry for them — even
a little fierce in her attachment. She did
not want them to be wholly "children of
the pavement," she always said when beg-
ging to have them for.a space. She wished
them to know the country, with its streams,
its fields, its woods, its freedom, so deli-
cious to the young. She wished them to
taste something of the life their father had
lived and known and loved when he, too,
was a little child.

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i88 THE AWAKENING

When Edna was at last alone, she
breathed a big, genuine sigh of relief. A
feeling that was unfamiliar but very deli-
cious came over her. She walked all
through the house, from one room to an-
other, as if inspe'cting it for the first time.
She tried the various chairs and lounges, as
if she had never sat and reclined upon them
before. And she perambulated around the
outside of the house, investigating, looking
to see if windows and shutters were secure
and • in order. The flowers were like new
acquaintances; she" approached them in a
famiKar spirit, and made herself at home
among them. The garden walks were
damp, and Edna called to the maid to bring
out her rubber sandals. And there she
stayed, and stooped, digging around the
plants, trimming, picking dead, dry leaves.
The children's little dog came out, interfer-
ing, getting in her way. She scolded him,
laughed at him, played with him. The gar-
den smelled so good and looked so pretty
in the afternoon sunlight. Edna plucked
all the bright flowers she could find, and

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THE AWAKENING 189

went into the house with them, she and the
little dog.

Even the kitchen assumed a sudden inter-
esting character which she had never before
perceived. She went in to give directions to
the cook, to say that the butcher would
have to bring much less meat, that they
would require only half their usual quantity
of bread, of milk and groceries. She told
the cook that she herself would be greatly
occupied during Mr. Pohtellier's absence,
and she begged her to take all thought and
responsibility of the larder upon her own
shoulders.

That night Edna dined alone. The can-
delabra, with a few candles in the center of
the table, gave all the light she needed.
Outside the circle ot light in which she sat,
the large dining-room looked solemn and
shadowy. The cook, placed upon her met-
tle, served a delicious repast — a luscious
tenderloin broile^ k point. The wine tasted
good ; the marron glac^ seemed to be just
what she wanted. It was so pleasant, too,
to dine in a comfortable peignoir.

She thought a little sentimentally about

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190 THE AWAKENING

L^once and the children, and wondered
what they were doing. As she gave a
dainty scrap or two to the doggie, she
talked intimately to him about Etienne and
Raoul. He was beside himself with aston-
ishment and delight over these companion-
able advances, and showed his appreciation
by his little quick, snappy barks and a lively
agitation.

V Then Edna^sat^in the library after dinner
and read Emerson until she grew sleepj^. She
realized that she had neglected her reading,
and determined to start anew upon a course
of improving studies, now that her time was
completely her own to do with as she liked.
After a refreshing bath, Edna went to
bed. And as she snuggled comfortably
/beneath the eiderdown a sense of restful-

^ ness invaded her, such as she had not known

' before.

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XXV

When the weather was dark and cloudy
Edna could not work. She needed the sun
to mellow and temper her mood to the
sticking point. She had reached a stage
when she seemed to be no longer feeling
her way, working, when in the humor, with
sureness and ease. And being devoid of V
ambition, and_strjving not toward accom- .
pli5havent^sh.e drew satisfaction from the
viod^iu itself.

OiTTatny or melancholy days Edna went
out and sought the society of the friends
she had made at Grand Isle. Or else she
stayed indoors and nursed a mood with
which she was becoming too familiar for her
own comfort and peace of mind. It was ^
not despair; but [it seemed to her as if life
were passing by, leaving its promise broken
and unfulfiUedr) Yet there were other days X
when she listened, was led on and deceived
191

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192 THE AWAKENING

by fresh promises which her youth held out
to her.

She went again to the races, and again.
A^]qee_ ^rnh{n and Mrs. Highcamp called for
hef* one bright afternoon in Arobin's drag.
Mrs. Highcamp was a worldly but unaf-
fected, intelligent, slim, tall blonde woman
in the forties, with an indifferent manner
and blue eyes that stared. She had a
daughter who served her as a pretext for
cultivating the society of young men of
fashion. Alc6e Arobin was one of them.
He was a familiar figure at the race course,
the opert[, the fashionable clubs. There
was ,a pjerpetual smi lejnJllsjgyeg, which sel-
dom failed to awaken a corresponding cheer-
fulness in any one who looked into them
and listened to his good-humored voice.
His manner was quiet, and at times a little
insolent. He possessed a good figure, a
. pleasing face, not overburdened with depth
of thought or feeling; and his dress was
that of the conventional man of fashion.

He admired Edna extravagantly, after
meeting her at the races with her father.
He had met her before on other occasionsi

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THE AWAKENING 193

but she had seemed to him unapproachable
until that day. It was at his instigation
that Mrs. Highcamp called to ask her to go
with them to the Jockey Club to witness
the turf event of the season.

There were possibly a few track men out
there who knew the race horse as well as
Edna, but there was certainly none who
knew it better. She sat between her two
companions as one having authority to
speak. She laughed at Arobin's preten-
sions, and deplored Mrs. Highcamp's igno-
rance. The race horse was a friend and
intimate associate of her childhood. The
atmosphere of the stables and the breath of
the blue grass paddock revived in her mem-
ory and lingered in her nostrils. She did
not perceive that she was talking like her
father as the sleek geldings ambled in re-
view before them. She played for very
high stakes, and fortune favored her. The
fever of the game flamed in her cheeks and
eyes, and it got into her blood and into her
brain like an intoxicant. People turned
their heads to look at her, and more than
one lent an attentive ear to her utterances,

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194 THE AWAKENING

hoping thereby to secure the elusive but
ever-desired ''tip.** Arobin caught the
contagion of excitement which drew him to
Edna like a magnet. Mrs. Highcamp
remained, as usual, unmoved, with her indif-
ferent stare and uplifted eyebrows.

Edna stayed and dined with Mrs. High-
camp upon being urged to do so. Arobin
also remained and sent away his drag.

The dinner was quiet and uninteresting,
save for the cheerful efforts of Arobin to
enliven things. Mrs. Highcamp deplored
the absence of her daughter from the races,
and tried to convey to her what she had
missed by going to the ''Dante reading*'
instead of joining them. The girl held a
geranium leaf up to her nose and said noth-
ing, but looked knowing and noncommittal.
Mr. Highcamp was a plain, bald-headed
man, who only talked under compulsion.
He was unresponsive. Mrs. Highcamp was
full of delicate courtesy and consideration
toward her husband. She addressed most
of her conversation to him at table. They
sat in the library after dinner and read the
evening papers together under the drop-

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THE AWAKENING 195

light ; while the younger people went into
the drawing-room near by and talked. Miss
Highcamp played some selections from
Grieg-^^on the piano. She seemed to have
apprehended all of the composer's coldness
and none of his poetry. While Edna
listened she could not help wondering if
she had lost her taste for music.

When the time came for her to go home,
Mr. Highcamp gfrunted a lame offer to escort
her, looking down at his slippered feet with
tactless concern. It was Arobin who took
her home. The car ride was long, and it
was late when they reached Esplanade
Street. Arobin asked permission to enter
for a second to light his cigarette — ^his
match safe was empty. He filled his match
safe) but did not light his cigarette until he
left her, after she had expressed her willing-
ness to go to the races with him again.

Edna was neither tired nor sleepy. She
was hungry again, for the Highcamp dinner,
though of excellent quality, had lacked
abundance. She rummaged in the larder
and brought forth a slice of "Gruyfere" and
some crackers. She opened a bottle of

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196 THE AWAKENING

beer which she found in the ice-box. Edna
v/^felt extremely restless and excited. She
vacantly hummed a fantastic tune as she
poked at the wood embers on the hearth and
munched a cracker.

She wanted something to happen — ^some-
thing, anything; she did not know what.
She regretted that she had not made Arobin
stay a half hour to talk over the horses with
her. She counted the money she had won.
But there was nothing else to do, so she
went to bed, and tossed there for hours in a
sort of monotonous agitation.

In the middle of the night she remem-
bered that she had forgotten to write her
regular letter to her husband; and she
decided to do so next day and tell him
about her afternoon at the Jockey Club.
She lay wide awake composing a letter
which was nothing like the one which she
wrote next day. When the maid awoke
her in the morning Edna was dreaming of
Mr. Highcamp playing the piano at the
entrance of a music store on Canal Street,
while his wife waa saying to Alc^e Arobin,
as they boarded an Esplanade Street car:

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THE AWAKENING 197

"What a pity that aa. much-, talent has
^eeh neglected! .but I must go.**

When, a few days later, Alc6e Arobin
again called for Edna in his drag, Mrs.
Highcamp was not with him. He said they
would pick her up. But as that lady had
not been apprised of his intention of pick-
ing her up, she was not at home. The
daughter was just leaving the house to
attend the meeting of a branch Folk Lore
Society, and regretted that Sjhe could not
accompany them. Arobin appeared non-
plused, and asked Edna if there were any
one else she cared to. ask.

She did not deem it worth while to go in
search of any of the fashionable acquaint-
ances from whom she had withdrawn her-
self. She thought of Madame Ratignolle,
but knew that her fair friend did not leave
the house, except to take a languid walk
around the block with her husband after
nightfall. Mademoiselle Reisz would have
laughed at such a request from Edna.
Madame Lebrun might have enjoyed the
outing, but for some reason Edna did not

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198 THE AWAKENING

want her. So they went alone, she and
Arobin.

The afternoon was intensely interesting
to her. The excitement came back upon
her like a remittent fever. Her talk grew
familiar and confidential. It was no labor
to become intimate with Arobin. His man-
ner invited easy confidence. The prelimi-
nary stage of becoming acquainted was one
which he always endeavored to ignore when
a pretty and engaging woman was con-
cerned.

He stayed and^ined with , Edna. He
stayed and sat beside the wdod fire. They
laughed and talked ; and before it was time
to go he was telling her how different life
might have been if he had known her years
before. With ingenuous frankness he spoke
of what a wicked, ill-disciplined boy he had
been, and impulsively drew up his cuff to
exhibit upon his wrist the scar from a saber
cut which he had received in a duel outside
of Paris when he was nineteen. She touched
his hand as she scanned the red cicatrice on
the inside of his white wrist. A quick im-
pulse that was somewhat spasmodic impelled

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THE AWAKENING 199

her fingers to close in a sort of clutch upon
his hand. He felt the pressure of her
pointed nails in the flesh of his palm.

She arose hastily and walked toward the
mantel.

*'The sight of a wound or scar always
agitates and sickens me,'* she said. ''I
shouldn't have looked at it."

"I beg your pardon," he entreated, fol-
lowing her; "it never occurred to me that it
might be repulsive."

Ae stood close to her, and the effrontery
in his eyes repelled the eW, vanishing self in
hef , yet drew all her awakening sensuous-
ness. He saw enough in her face to impel
him to take her hand and hold it while he
said his lingering good night.

"Will you go to the races again?" He
asked.

"No," she said. "Tve had enough of
the races. I don't want to lose all the
money I've won, and I've got to work
when the weather is bright, instead of — "

"Yes; work; to be sure. You promised
to show me your work. What morning may
I come up to your atelier? To-morrow?"

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200 THE AWAKENING

"No!**

"Day after?"

"No, no."

"Oh, please don't refuse me! I know
something of such things. I might help
you with a stray suggestion or two."

"No. Good night. Why don't you go
after you have said good night? I don't
like you," she went on in a high, excited
pitch, attempting to draw away her hand.
She felt that her words lacked dignity and
sincerity, and she knew that he felt it.

"I'm sorry you don't like me. I'm sorry
1 offended you. How have I offended you?
What have I done? Can't you forgive
me?" And he bent and pressed his lips
upon her hand as if he wished never more
to withdraw them.

"Mr. Arobin," she complained, "I'm
greatly upset by the excitement of the
afternoon; I'm not myself. My manner
must have misled you in some way. I
wish you to go, please." She spoke in a
monotonous, dull tone. He took his hat
from the table, and stood with eyes turned

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THE AWAKENING 201

from her, looking into the dying fire. For
a moment or two he kept an impressive
silence.

**Your manner has not misled me, Mrs.
Pontellier," he said finally. **My own
emotions have done that. I couldn't help it.
When Tm near you, how could I help
it? Don't think anything of it, don't bother,
please. You see, I go when you command
me. If you wish me to stay away, I shall
do so. If you let me come back, I — oh!
you will let me come back?"

He cast one appealing glance at her, to
which she made no response. Alc^e Aro-
bin's manner was so genuine that it often
deceived even himself.

Edna did not care or think whether it
were genuine or not. When she was alone
she looked mechanically at the back of her
hand which he had kissed so warmly. Then
she leaned her head down on the mantel-
piece. She felt somewhat like a woman
who in a moment of passion is betrayed
into an act of infidelity, and realizes the
significance of the act without being wholly

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202 THE AWAKENING

awakened from its glamour. The thought
was passing vaguely through her mind,
"Whatwould he think?"

She did not mean hec. husband; she was
thinking of Robert Lebrun. Her husband
seemed to her now like a person whom she
had married without love as an excuse.

She lit a candle and went up to her room.
Alc6e Arobin was absolutely nothing to her.
Yet his presence, his manners, the warmth
of his glances, and above all the touch of
his lips upon her hand had acted like a nar-
cotic upon her.

She slept a languorous sleep, interwoven
with vanishing dreams.

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XXVI

Alc^e Arobin wrote Edna an elaborate
note of apology, palpitant with sincerity.
It embarrassed her; for in a cooler, quieter
moment it appeared to her absurd that she
should have taken his action so seriously,
so dramatically. She felt sure that the sig-
nificance of the whole occurrence had lain
in her own self-consciousness. If she
ignored his note it would give undue im-
portance to a trivial affair. If she replied
to it in a serious spirit it would still leave
in his mind the impression that she had in a
susceptible moment yielded to his influence.
After all, it was no great matter to have one's
hand kissed. She was provoked at his hav-
ing written the apology. She answered in as
light and bantering a spirit as she fancied it
deserved, and said she would be glad to
have him look in upon her at work when-
ever he felt the inclination and his business
gave him the opportunity.
203

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204 THE AWAKENING

He responded at once by presenting htm-
self at her home with all his disarming
naivete. And then there was scarcely a
day which followed that she did not see him
or was not reminded of him. He was pro-
lific in pretexts. His attitude became one
of good-humored subservience and tacit
adoration. He was ready at all times to
submit to her moods, which were as often
kind as they were cold. She grew accus-
tomed to him. They became intimate and
friendly by imperceptible degrees, and then
by leaps. He sometimes talked in a way
that astonished her at first and brought the
crimson into her face ; in a way that pleased
her at last, appealing to the animalism that
stirred Jmgati^ntly within her.

There was nothing which so quieted the
turmoil of Edna's senses as a visit to Made-
moiselle Reisz. It was then, in the pres-
ence of that personality whidMra^jaffensive
to her, that the-^wmtBrn ^l^ her divinpjy- ^
seemed to reach) Edna's sp irit anaT erTTfree,

It was misty, with heavy, lowering
phere, one afternoon, when Edna climbed the
stairs to the pianist's apartments under

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THE AWAKENING 205

the roof. Her clothes were dripping with
moisture. She felt chilled and pinched as
she entered the room. Mademoiselle was
poking at a rusty stove that smoked a little'
and warmed the room indifferently. She
was endeavoring to heat a pot of chocolate
on the stove. The room looked cheerless
and dingy to Edna as she entered. A bust
of Beethoven, covered with a hood of dust,
scowled at her from the mantelpiece. >^

"Ah! here comes the sunlight!** e3^
claimed Mademoiselle, rising from her knees
before the stove. '*Now it will be warm
and bright enough; I can let the fire
alone. * '

She closed the stove door with a bang,
and approaching, assisted in removing
Edna's dripping mackintosh.

' * You are cold ; you look miserable. The
chocolate will soon be hot. But would you
rather have a taste of brandy? I have
scarcely touched the bottle which you
brought me for my cold.*' A piece of red
flannel was wrapped around Mademoiselle's
throat ; a stiff neck compelled her to hold
her head on one side.

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2o6 THE AWAKENING

''I will take some brandy," said Edtia,
shivering as she removed her gloves and
overshoes. She drank the liquor from the
glass as a man would have done. Then
' flinging herself upon the uncomfortable sofa
she said, "Mademoiselle, I am going to move
away from my house on Esplanade Street.'*

'*Ah!" ejaculated the musician, neither
surprised nor especially interested. Noth-
ing ever seemed to astonish her very much.
She was endeavoring to adjust the bunch
of violets which had become loose from its
fastening in her hair. Edna drew her down
upon the sofa, and taking a pin from her
own hair, secured the shabby artificial flow-
ers in their accustomed place.

"Aren't you astonished?"

"Passably. Where are you going? to
New York? to Iberville? to your father in
Mississippi? where?"

"Just two steps away," laughed Edna,
"in a little four- room house around the
corner. It looks so cozy, so inviting and
restful, whenever I pass by; and it's for
rent. I'm tired looking after that big
house. It never seemed like mine, ^ny-

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THE AWAKENING 207

way — like home. It's too much trouble.
I have to keep too many servants. I am
tired bothering with them. ' '

"That is not your true reason, ma belle.
There is no use in telling me lies. I don't
know your reason, but you have not told
me the truth." Edna did not protest or
endeavor to justify herself.

"The house, the money that provides for
Jtjj^ejipXimfte. Isn't that enough reason?"

"They are your husband's," returned
Mademoiselle, with a shrug and a malicious
elevation of the eyebrows.

"Oh! I see there is no deceiving you.
Then let me tell you: It is a caprice. I
have a little money of my own from my
mother's estate, which my father sends me
by driblets- I won a large sum this winter
on the races, and I am beginning to sell
my sketches. ^ L aidpore^ is more and more
pleased with my work; he says it grows in
force and individuality. I cannot judge of
that myself, but I feel that I have gained in
ease and confidence. However, as I said,
I have sold a good many through Laidpore.
I can live in the tiny house for little or

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ao8 THE AWAKENING

nothing, with one servant. Old Celestine,
who works occasionally for me, says she
will come stay with me and do my work.
I know I shall like it, like the feeling of
freedom and independence."

''What does your husband say?"

''I have not told him yet. I only
thought of it this morning. He >yill th ink
I. am demented, no doubt. Perhaps you
think so."

Mademoiselle shook hei head slowly.
*'Your reason is not yet clear to me," she
said.

Neither was it quite clear to Edna her-
self ; but it unfolded kseif as she sat for a
while in silence. |nstinct had prompted
her to put away her'husband's bounty in
casting off her allegiance. She did not
know how it would be when he returned.
There would have to be an understanding,
an explanation. Conditions would some
way adjust themselves, she felt; but what-
I ever came, she had resolved never again to
^ belong to another than hersplf.

'*I shall give a grand* "dinner before I
leave the old house!" Edna exclaimed.

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THE AWAKENING ^09

*'You will hav^ to come to it, Mademoi-
selle. I will give you everything that you
like to eat and to drink. We shall sing and
laugh and be merry for once." And she
uttered a sigh that came from the very
depths of her being.

If Mademoiselle happened to have re-
ceived a letter from Robert during the
interval of Edna's visits, she would give her
the letter unsolicited. And she would seat
herself at the piano and play as her humor
prompted her while the young woman read
the letter.

The little stove was roaring; it was red-
hot, and the chocolate in the tin sizzled and
sputtered. Edna went forward and opened
the stove door, and Mademoiselle rising,
took a letter from under the bust of Beetho-
ven and handed it to Edna.

''Another! so soon!" she exclaimed, her
eyes filled with delight. *'Tell me, Made-
moiselle, does he know that I see his let-
ters?"

"Never in the world t' He would be
angry and would never write to me again if
he thought so. Does he write to you?

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2IO THE AWAKENING

Never a line. Does he send you a message?
Never a word. It is because he loves you,
poor fool, and is trying to forget you, since
you are not free to listen to him or to
belong to him."

''Why do you show me his letters,
then?"

"Haven't you begged for them? Can I
refuse you anything? Oh! you cannot
deceive me," and Mademoiselle approached
her beloved instrument and began to play*
Edna did not at once read the letter. She
sat holding it in her hand, while the music
penetrated her whole being like an efful-
gence, warming and brightening the dark
places of her soul. It prepared her for joy
and exultation.

'*0h!" she exclaimed, letting the letter
fall to the floor. ''Why did you not tell
me?" She went and grasped Mademoi-
selle's hands up from the keys. "Oh!
unkind ! malicious ! Why did you not tell
me?"

"That he was coming back? No great
news, ma fou I wonder ^e did not come
long ago."

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THE AWAKENING 211

"But when, when?" cried Edna, impa-
tiently. '*He does not say when."

'*He says 'very soon.' You know as
much about it as I do; it is all in the let-
ter."

"But why? Why is he coming? Oh, if
I thought — ** and she snatched the letter
from the floor and turned the pages this
way and that way, looking for the reason,
which was left untold.

"If I were young and in love with a
man," said Mademoiselle, turning on the
stool and pressing her wiry hands between
her knees as she looked down at Edna, who
sat on the floor holding the letter, "it seems ^
to me he would have to be some grand
esprit; a man with lofty aims and ability to ^
reach them; one who stood high enough /
to attract the notice of his fellow-men. It
seems to me if I were young and in love I
should never deem a man of ordinary caliber '
worthy of my devotion."

"Now it is you who are telling lies and
seeking to deceive me. Mademoiselle; or
else you have never been in love, and know
nothing about it. Why," went on Edna,

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212 THE AWAKENING

clasping her knees and looking up into
Mademoiselle's twisted face, "do you sup-
pose a woman knows why she loves? Does
she select? Does she say to herself i 'Go
to ! Here is a distinguished statesman* with
presidential possibilities ; I shall proceed to
fall in love with him.* Or, 'I shall set my
heart upon this musician, whose fame is on
every tongue?' Or, 'This financier, who
controls the world's money markets?' "

"You are purposely misunderstanding
me, ma reine. Are you in love with Rob-
ert?"

"Yes," said Edna. It was the first time
she had admitted it, and a glow overspread
her/face, blotching it with red spots.
v/'Why?" asked her companion. "Why
do you love him when you ought not to?"

Edna, with a motion or two, dragged
herself on her knees before Mademoiselle
Reisz, who took the glowing face between
her two hands.

"Why? Because his hair is brown and
grows away from his temples; because he
opens and shuts his eyes, and his nose is a

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THE AWAKENING 213

little out of drawing; because he has two
lips and a square chin, and a little finger
which he can't straighten from having
played baseball too energetically in his
youth. Because — ' *

"Because you do, in short," laughed
Mademoiselle. "What will you do when
he comes back?" she asked.

"Do? Nothing, except feel glad and
happy to be alive."

She was already glad and happy to be
alive at the mere thought of his return.
The murky, lowering sky, which had de-
pressed her a few hours before, seemed
bracing and invigorating as she splashed
through the streets on her way home.

She stopped at a confectioner's and
ordered a huge box of bonbons for the chil-
dren in Iberville. She slipped a card in the
box, on which she scribbled a tender mes-
sage and sent an abundance of kisses.

Before dinner in the evening Edna wrote
a charming letter to her husband, telling
him of her intention to move for a while
into the little house around the block, and

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214 THE AWAKENING

to give a farewell dinner before leaving,
regretting that he was not there to share it,
to help her out with the menu and assist
her in entertaining the guests. Her letter
was brilliant and brimming with cheerful-
ness.

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XXVII

*'What is the matter with you?" asked
Arobin that evening. *'I never found you
in such a happy mood." Edna was tired
by that time, and was reclining on the
lounge before the fire.

''Don't you know the weather prophet
has told us we shall see the sun pretty
soon?"

''Well, that ought to be reason enough,"
he acquiesced. "You wouldn't give me
another if I sat here all night imploring
you." He sat close to her on a low
tabouret, and as he spoke his fingers lightly
touched the hair tfiat fell a little over her
forehead. She liked the touch of his fingers
through her hair, and closed her eyes sensi-
tively.

"One of these days," she said, "I'm

going to pull myself together for a while

and think — try to determine what character

of a woman I am; for, candidly, I don't

315

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2i6 THE AWAKENING

know. By all the codes which I am

, ' acquainted with, I am a devilishly wicked

i specimen of the sex. But some way I can't

convince myself that I am. I must think

about it."

''Don't. What's the use? Why should
you bother thinking about it when I can
tell you what manner of woman you are. ' *
His fingers strayed occasionally down to her
warm, smooth cheeks and firm chin, which
was growing a little full and double.

''Oh, yes! You will tell me that I am
adorable; everything that is captivating.
Spare yourself the effort. * '

"No; I shan't tell you anything of the
sort, though I shouldn't be lying if I did.'*

"Do you know Mademoiselle Reisz?" she
asked irrelevantly.

"The pianist? I know her by sight.
I've heard her play."

"She says queer things sometimes in a
bantering way that you don't notice at the
time and you find yourself thinking about
afterward."

"For instance?"

"Well, for instance, when I left her to-

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THE AWAKENING 217

day, she put her areas - around me and felt
mj^ shoulder blades, to .§ee if my wings were ^
strong, she said. 'The bird that would
soar above the level plain of tradition ani^
prejudice must have strong wrng^ It is a'
sad spectacle to see the weaklings bruised,
exhausted, fluttering back to earth.' "

/'Whither would you soar?"

"Tm not thinking of any extraordinary
flights. I only half comprehend her. ' '

"I've heard she's partially demented,"
said Arobin.

"She seems to me wonderfully sane,"
Edna replied.

"I'm told she's extremely disagreeable
and unpleasant. Why have you introduced
her at a moment when I desired to talk of
you?"

"Oh! talk of me if you like," cried Edna,
clasping her hands beneath her head; "but
let me think of something else while you
do.'^

"I'm jealous of your thoughts to-night.
They're making you a little kinder than
tfsual; but some way I feel as if they were
wandering, as if they were not here with

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2i8 THE AWAKENING

me." She only looked at him and smiled.
His eyes were very near. He leaned upon
the lounge with an arm extended across
her, while the other hand still rested upon
her hair. They continued silently to look
into each other's eyes. When he leaned
forward and kissed her, she clasped his
heady holding his lips to hers,
^t was the first kiss of her life to which
/^ her nature had really responded. It was a
flaming torch that kindled desire.*^

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XXVIII

Edna cried a little that night after Arobin
left her. It was only one phase of the
multitudinous emotions which had assailed
her. There was with her an overwhelming
feeling of irresponsibility. There was the
shock of the unexpected and the unaccus-
tomed. There was her husband's reproach
looking at her from the external things
around her which he had provided for her
external existence. There was Robert's
reproach making itself felt by a quicker,
fiercer, more overpowering love, which had
awakened within her toward him. Above
all, there was understanding. She felt as
if a mist had been lifted from her eyes,
enabling her to look upon and comprehend
the significance of life, that monster made
up of beauty and brutality. But among the
conflicting sensations which assailed her,
there was neither shame nor remorse. There
was a dull pang of regret because it was not
the kiss of love which had inflamed her,
because it was not love which had held this
cup of life to her lips.
319

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XXIX

Without even waiting for an answer from
her husband regarding his opinion or wishes
in the matter, Edna hastened her prepara-
tions for quitting her home on Esplanade
Street and moving into the little house
around the block. A feverish anxiety
attended her every action in that direction.
There was no moment of deliberation, no
interval of repose between the thought and
its fulfillment. Early upon 'the morning
following those hours passed in Arobin's
society, Edna set about securing her new
abode and hurrying her arrangements for
occupying it. Within the precincts of her
home she felt like one who has entered and
lingered within the portals of some forbid-
den temple in which a thousand muffled
voices bsCde her begone.

Whatever was her own in the house,
everything which §he had acquired aside
from her husband's bounty, she caused
to be transported to- the other house, sup-

330

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THE AWAKENING aai

plying simple and meager deficiencies from
her own resources.

Arobin found her with rolled sleeves,
working in company with the house-maid
when he looked in during the afternoon.
She was splendid and robust, and had never
appeared handsomer than in the old blue
gown, with a red silk handkerchief knotted
at random around her head to protect her
hair from the dust. She was mounted upon
a high step-ladder, unhooking a picture from
the wall when he entered. He had found
the front door open, and had followed his
ring by walking in unceremoniously.

*'Come down!" he said. *'Do you want
to kill yourself?'/ She greeted him with af-
fected carelessness, and appeared absorbed
in her occupation.

If he had expected to find her languish-
ing, reproachful, or indulging in sentimental
tears, he must have been greatly surprised.

He was no doubt prepared for any emer-
gency, ready for any one of the foregoing
attitudes, just as he bent himself easily and
naturally to the situation which confronted
him.

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222 THE AWAKENING

''Please come down," he insisted, hold-
ing the ladder and looking up at her.

*'No,'* she answered; "Ellen is afraid to
mount the ladder. Joe is working over at
the 'pigeon house'-: — that's the name Ellen
gives it, because it's so small and looks like a
pigeon house — and some one has to do this. "

Arobin pulled ofl his coat, -and expressed
himself ready and willing to tempt fate in
her place. Ellen brought him one of her
dust-caps, and went into contortions of
mirth, which she found it impossible to
control, when she saw him put it on before
the mirror as grotesquely as he could.
Edna herself could not refrain from smiling
when she fastened it at his request. So it
was he who in turn mounted the ladder,
unhooking pictures and curtains, and dis-
lodging ornaments as Edna directed. When
he had finished he took off his dust-cap
and went out to wash his hands. '

Edna was sitting on the tabouret, idly
brushing the tips of a feather duster alonjg
the carpet when he came in again.

"Is there anything more you will let me
do?" he asked.

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THE AWAKENING 223

''That IS all," she answered. ''Ellen can
manage the rest.** She kept the young
woman occupied in the drawing-room,
unwilling to be left alone with Arobin.

*'What about the dinner?" he asked;
"the grand event, the coup (PitatV

"It will be day after to-morrow. Why
do you call it the 'coupcTitatr Oh ! it will
be very fine; all my best of everything —
crystal, silver and gold, Sfevres, flowers,
music, and champagne to swim in. I'll let
L^once pay the bills. I wonder what he'll
say when he sees the bills."

"And you ask me why I call it a coup
cPitatV Arobin had put on his coat, and
he stood before her and asked if his cravat
was plumb. She told him it was, looking
no higher than the tip of his collar.

"When do you go to the 'pigeon
house?' — ^with all due acknowledgment to
Ellen."

"Day after to-morrow, after the dinner.
I shall sleep there."

"Ellen, will you very kindly get me a
glass of water?" asked Arobin. ''The dust
in the curtains, if you will pardon me for

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224 THE AWAKENING

hinting such a thing, has parched my throat
to a crisp."

''While Ellen gets the water," said
Edna, rising, "I will say good-by and let
you go. I must get rid of this grime, and
I have a million things to do and think of. ' '

"When shall I see you?" asked Arobin,
seeking to detain her, the maid having left
the room.

**At the dinner, of course* You are
invited."

**Not before? — not to-night or to-morrow
morning or to-morrow noon or night? or the
day after morning or noon? Can't you see
yourself, without my telling you, what an
eternity it is?"

He had followed her into the hall and to
the foot of the stairway, looking up at her
as she mounted with her face half turned to
him.

'*Not an instant sooner,'? «Jie said. But
^ she laughed and looked at him with eyes
x^ that at once gave him courage to wait and
made it torture to wait.

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XXX

Though Edna had spoken of the dinner
as a very grand affair, it was in truth a very
small affair and very select, in so much as the
guests invited were few and were selected
with discrimination. She had counted upon
an even dozen seating themselves at her
round mahogany board, forgetting for the
moment that Madame RatignoUe was to the
last degree souffrante and unpresentable, ^^s^ ; w<ii-^**'
and not foreseeing that Madame Lebrun
would send a thousand regrets at the last
moment. So there were only ten, after all,
which made a cozy, comfortable number.

There were Mr. and Mrs. Merriman, a
pretty, vivacious ^little woman in the thir-
ties ; her husband, a jovial fellow, something
of a shallow-pate, who laughed a good deal
at other people's witticisms, and had
thereby made himself extremely popular,
Mrs. Highcamp had accompanied them.
Of course, there was Alc6e Arobin; and

325

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226 THE AWAKENING

Mademoiselle Reisz had consented to come.
Edna had sent her a fresh bunch of violets
with black lace trimmings for her hair.
Monsieur Ratignolle brought himself and
his wife's excuses. Victor Lebrun, who
happened to be in the city, bent upon
relaxation, had accepted with alacrity.
There was a Miss Mayblunt, no longer in
her teens, who looked at the world through
lorgnettes and with the keenest interest. It
was thought and said that she was intellec-
tual ; it was suspected of her that she wrote
under a nom de guerre. She had come
with a gentleman by the name of Gouver-
nail, connected with one of the daily papers,
of whom nothing special could be said,
except that he was observant and seemed
quiet and inoffensive. Edna herself made
the tenth, and at half-past eight they seated
themselves at table, Arobin and Monsieur
Ratignolle on either side of their hostess.

Mrs. Highcamp sat between Arobin and
Victor Lebrun. Then came Mrs. Merri-
man, Mr. Gouvemail, Miss Mayblunt, Mr.
Merriman, and Mademoiselle Reisz next to
Monsieur Ratignolle.

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THE AWAKENING 227

There was something extremely gorgeous
about the appearance of the table, an effect
of splendor conveyed by a cover of pale
yellow satin under strips of lace-work.
There were wax candles in massive brass
candelabra, burning softly under yellow^ silk
shades; full, fragrant roses, yellow and red,
abounded. There were silver and gold, as
she had said there would be, and crystal
which glittered like the gems which the
women wore.

^- The ordinary stiff dining chairs had been
discarded for the occasion and replaced by
the most commqdious and luxurious which
could be collected throughout the house.
Mademoiselle Reisz, being exceedingly
diminutive, was elevated upon cushions, as
small children are sometimes hoisted at
table upon bulky volumes.

''Something new, Edna?" exclaimed
Miss Mayblunt, with lorgnette directed
toward a magnificent cluster of diamonds
that sparkled, that almost sputtered, in
Edna's hair, just over the center of her
forehead.

''Quite new; 'brand' new, in fact; apreS'

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228 THE AWAKENING

ent from my husband. It arrived this
morning from New York. I may as well
admit that this is my birthday, and that I
am twenty-nine. In good time I expect
you to drink my health. Meanwhile, I
shall ask you to begin with this cocktail,
composed — ^would you say 'composed?* "
with an appeal to Miss Mayblunt — "com-
posed by my father in honor of Sister
Janet's wedding."

Before each guest stood a tiny glass that
looked and sparkled like a garnet gem.
. "Then, all things considered," spoke
Arobin, "it might nojt be amiss to start out
by drinking the Colonel's health in the
^cocktail which he composed, on the birth-
day of the most charming of women — the
daughter whom he invented."

Mr. Merriman's laugh at this sally was
such a genuine outburst and so contagious
that it started the dinner with an agreeable
swing that never slackened.

Miss Mayblunt begged to be allowed to
keep her cocktail untouched before her, just
to look at. The color was marvelous 1 She
could compare it to nothing she had ever

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THE AWAKENING 229

seen, and the garnet lights which it emitted
were unspeakably rare. She pronounced
the Colonel an artist, and stuck to it.

Monsieur Ratignolle was prepared to take
things seriously: the mets, the entre-mets^
the service, the decorations, even the peo-
ple. He looked up from his pompono and
inquired of Arobin if he were related to the
gentleman of that name who formed one of
the firm of Laitner and Arobin, lawyers.
The young man admitted that Laitner was
a warm personal friend, who permitted
Arobin's name to decorate the firm's letter-
heads and to . appear upon a shingle that
graced Perdido Street.

"There are so many inquisitive people
and institutions abounding*" said Arobin,
*'that one is reglly forced as a matter of
convenience these days to assume the vir-
tue of an occupation if he has it not. ' '

Monsieur RatigqoUe stared a little, and
turned to ask Mademoiselle Reisz if she
considered the symphony concerts up to the
standard which haa been set the previous
winter. Mademoiselle Reisz anwered Mon-
sieur Ratignolle in French, which Edna

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230 THE AWAKENING

thought a little rude, under the circum-
stanceSy but characteristic. Mademoiselle
had only disagreeable things to say of the
symphony concerts, and insulting remarks
to make of all the musicians of New
Orleans, singly and collectively. All her
interest seemed to be centered upon the
delicacies placed before her.

Mr. Merriman said that Mr. Arobin's
remark about inquisitive people reminded
him of a man from Waco the other day at
the St. Charles Hotel — ^but as Mr. Merri-
man' s stories were always lame and lacking
point, his wife seldom permitted him to
complete them. She interrupted him to
ask if he remembered the name of the
author whose bdbk she had bought the week
before to send to a friend in Geneva.
She was talking ''books'* with Mr. Gouver-
nail and trying to draw from him his
opinion upon current literary topics. Her
husband told the story of the Waco man
privately to Miss Mayblunt, who pretended
to be greatly amused and to think it ex-
tremely clever.

Mrs. Highcamp hung with languid but

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THE AWAKENING 231

unaffected interest upon the warm and im-
petuous volubility of her left-hand neighbor,
Victor Lebrun. Her attention was never
for a moment withdrawn from him after
seating herself at table ; and when he turned
' to Mrs. Merriman, who was prettier and
more vivacious than Mrs. Highcamp, she
waited with easy indifference for an oppor-
tunity to reclaim his attention. There was
the occasional sound of music, of mando-
lins, sufficiently removed to be an agreeable
accompaniment rather than an interruption
to the conversation. Outside the soft,
monotonous splash of a fountain could be
heard ; the sound penetrated into the room
with the heavy odor of jessamine that came
through the open windows.

The golden shimmer of Edna's satin gown
spread in rich folds on either side of her.
There was a soft fall of lace encircling her
shoulders. It was the color of her skin,
without the glow, the myriad living tints
that one may sometimes discover in vibrant
flesh. There was something in her attitude,
in her whole appearance when she leaned
her head against the high-backed chair and

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232 THE AWAKENING

spread her arms»..whirh fniggestefl.thg,xegil
/ woman, the one who rules» who looks. on,
\\dLo stand s„alone.

\ But as she sat there amid her guests, she
'felt the old ennui overtaking her; the hope-

v/ilessness which so often assailed her, which
came uppn her like an obsession, like some-
thing extraneous, independent of volition.
It was something which announced itself; a
chill breath that seemed to issue from some
vast cavern wherein discords wailed. There
came over her the acute lo nging which

.^- always summoned into her spiritual vision the
presence of the beloved one, ov erpow eijng
her at once with a sense of th^^iinattainaBI

The moments glided on, ^^^hile-a-ieeling
of good fellowship passed dround the circle
like a mystic cord, holding and binding
these people together with jest and laugh-
ter. Monsieur RatignoUe was the first to
break the pleasant charm. At ten o'clock
he excused himself. Madame RatignoUe
was waiting for him .at home. She was
Hen souffrante^ and sh e was filled with vag ue
dread, which,.. o^aly^JifillJiMgband's presepc^
could allay. ~

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THE AWAKENING

Mademoiselle Reisz arose with Monsieur
Ratignolle, who offered to escort her to the'
car. She had eaten well; she had tasted
the good, rich wines, and they must have
turned her head, for she bowed pleasantly
to all as she withdrew from table. She
kissed Edna upon the shoulder, and whis-
pered: ** Bonne nuit, ma reine; kpyez sage.*'
She had been a little bewildered upon ris-
ing, or rather, descending from her cush-
ions, and Monsieur Ratignolle gallantly
took her arm and led her away.

Mrs. Highcamp was weaving a garland
of roses, yellow and red. When she had
finished the.garland, she laid it lightly upon
Victor's black curls. He was reclining far
back in the luxurious chair, holding a glass
of champagne to the light.

As if a magician's wand had touched
him, the garland of roses transformed him
into a vision of Oriental beauty. His
cheeks were the color of crushed grapes,
and his dusky eyes glowed with a languish-
ing fire.

^^Sapristir* exclaimed Arobin.

But Mrs. Highcamp had one more touch

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234 THE AWAKENING

tQ add to the picture. She took from the
back of her chair a white silken scarf, with
which she had covered her shoulders in the
early part of the evening. She draped it
across the boy in graceful folds, and in a
way to conceal his black, conventional even-
ing dress. He did not seem to mind what
she did to him, only smiled, showing a
faint gleam of white t eeth, while he contin-
ued to gaze with narrowing eyes at the
light through his glass of champag^ne.

''Oh! to be able to paint in color ^rather
than in words!" exclaimed Miss Mayblunt,
losing herself in a rhapsodic dream as she
looked at him.

" 'There was a graven image of Desire
Painted with red blood on a ground of *^ol3^* **

murmured Gouvemail, under his breath.

The effect of the wine upon Victor was,
to change his accustomed volubility into
silence. He seemed to have abandoned
himself to a reverie, and to be seeing pleas-
ing visions in the amber bead.

''Sing," entreated Mrs. Highcamp.
"Won't you sing to us?"

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THE AWAKENING 235

*'Let him alone," said Arobin.

''He's posing,*' offered Mr. Merriman;
"let him have it out."

**I believe he's paralyzed," laughed Mrs.
Merriman. And leaning over the youth's
chair, she took the glass from his hand and
held it to his lips. He sipped the wine
slowly, and when he had drained the glass
she laid it upon the table and wiped his
lips with her little filmy handkerchief.

"Yes, rU sing for you," he said, turn-
ing in his chair toward Mrs. Highcamp.
He clasped his hands behind his head, and
looking up at the ceiling began to hum a
little, trying his voice like a musician tun-
ing an instrument. Then, looking at
Edna, he began to sing:

"Ah! si tu savai^I*'

''Stop!" she cried, "don't sing that. I
don't want you to sing it," and she laid her
glass so impetuously and blindly upon the
table as to shatter it against a caraffe. The
wine spilled over Arobin 's legs and some
of it trickled down upon Mrs. Highcamp's
black gauze gown. Victor had lost all idea

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236 THE AWAKENING

of courtesy, or else he thought his hostess

was not in earnest, for he laughed and

went on :

"Ah! si tu savais
Ce que tes yeux me disent"—

''Oh! you mustn't! you mustn't,'*
exclaimed Edna, and pushing back her
chair she got up, and going behind him
placed her hand over his mouth. He kissed
the soft palm that pressed upon his lips.

''No, no, I won't, Mrs. Pontellier. I
didn't know you meant it,** looking up at
her with caressing eyes. The touch of his
lips was like a pleasing sting to her hand.
She lifted the garland of roses from his head
and flung it across the room.

"Come, Victor; you've posed long
enough. Give Mrs. Highcamp her scarf."

Mrs. Highcamp undraped the scarf from
about him with her own hands. Miss May-
blunt and Mr. Gouvernail suddenly con-
ceived the notion that it was time to say
good night. And Mr. and Mrs. Merriman
wondered how it could be so late.

Before parting from Victor, Mrs. High-
camp invited him to call upon her daughter,

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THE AWAKENING 237

who she knew' would be charmed to meet
him and talk French and sing French songs
with him. Victor expressed his desire and
intention to call upon Miss Highcamp at
the first opportunity which presented itself.
He asked if Arobin were going his way.
Arobin was not.

The mandolin players had long since
stolen away. A profound stillness had
fallen upon the broad, beautiful street. Xbe \^,
voices_of._Ednal&. disbanding guests jarred
like a discordant note upon the quiet har-
mony of the night. l a u :i ^ -

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XXXI

*'Well?'* questioned Arobin, who had
remained with Edna after the others had
departed.

"Well," she reiterated, and stood up,
stretching her arms, and feeling the need to
relax her muscles after having been so long
seated.

''What next?" he asked.

''The servants are all gone. They left
when the musicians did. I have dismissed
them. The house has to be closed and
locked, and I shall trot around to the pigeon
house, and shall send Celestine over in the
morning to straighten things up."

He looked around, and began to turn out
some of the lights.

"What about upstairs?" he inquired.

"I think it is all right; but there may be
a window or two unlatched. We had bet-
ter look; you might take a candle and see.
And bring me my wrap and hat on the
foot of the bed in the middle room."
238

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THE AWAKENING 239

He went up with the light, and Edna
began closing doors and windows. She
hated to shut in the smoke and the fumes
of the wine. Arobin found her cape and
hat, which he brought down and helped her
to put on.

When everything was secured and the
lights put out, they left through the front
door, Arobin locking it and taking the key,
which he carried for Edna. He helped her
down the steps.

*' Will you have a spray of jessamine?" he
asked, breaking off a few blossoms as
he passed.

''No; I don't want anything."

She seemedv disheartened, and had noth-
ing to say. She toolc "tiis arm, which he
offered her, holding up the weight of her
satin train with the other hand. She looked
down, noticing the black line of his leg
moving in and out so close to her against
the yellow shimmer of her gown. There
was the whistle of a railway train somewhere
in the distance, and the midnight bells were
ringing. They met no one in their short
walk.

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240 THE AWAKENING

The ''pigeon-house** stood behind a
locked gate, and a shallow /fl^r/^r^ that had
been somewhat neglected. There was a
small front porch, upon which a long win-
dow and the front door opened. The door
opened directly into the parlor; there was
no side entry. Back in the yard was a room
for servants, in which old Celestine had
been ensconced.

Edna had left a lamp burning low upon
the table. She had succeeded in making
the room look habitable and homelike.
There were some books on the table and
a lounge near at hand. On the floor was a
fresh matting, covered with a rug or two ;
and on the walls hung a few tasteful pic-
tures. But the room was fiUedjadtli-flowers.
These were a surprise to her. Arobin had
sent them, and had had Celestine distribute
them during Edna's absence. Her bed-
room was adjoining, and across a small pas-
sage were the dining-room and kitchen.

Edna seated herself with every appear-
ance of discomfort.
■* ''Are you tired?" he asked.

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THE AWAKENING 241

*'Yes, and chilled, and miserable. I feel
as if I had been wound up to a certain
pitch — too tight — ^and something inside of
me had snapped." She rested her head
against the table upon her bare arm.

*'You want to rest," he said, *'and to be
quiet. rU go; 1*11 leave you and let you
rest."

**Yes," she replied.

He stood up beside her and smoothed her
hair with his soft, magnetic hand. His
touch conveyed to her a certain physical
comfort. She could have fallen quietly
asleep there if he had continued to pass his
hand over her hair. He brushed the hair
upward from the nape of her neck.

**I hope you will feel better and happier
in the morning," he said. '*You have tried
to do too much in the past few days. The
dinner was the last straw ; you might have
dispensed with it."

"Yes," she admitted; '*it was stupid."

''No, it was delightful; but it has worn
you out." His hand had strayed to her
beautiful shoulders, and he could feel the
response of her flesh to his touch. He

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242 THE AWAKENING

seated himself beside her and kissed her
lightly upon the shoulder.

*'I thought you were going away," she
said, in an uneven voice.

*'I am, after I have said good night."

**Good night," she murmured.

He did not answer, except to continue
to caress her. He did not say good .night
until she had become supple to his gentle,
seductive entreaties.

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XXXII

When Mr, Pontellier learned of his wife's
intention to abandon her home and take up
her residence elsewhere, he immediately
wrote her a letter of unqualified disapproval
and remonstrance. She had given reasons
which he was unwilling to acknowledge as
adequate. He hoped she had not acted ^
upon her ra$fc"tmpulse; and he begged her
consider, first, ' foremost^^nd above all
else, what j^eogle would, say* He was not
-dreaming of scandal when he uttered this
warning; that was a thing which would
never have entered into his mind to consider
in connection with his wife's name or his
own. He was simply thinking of his finan-
cial integrity.; It might get noised about
that the Pontelliers had met with reverses,
and were forced to conduct their manage on
a humbler scale than heretofore. It might
do incalculable mischief to his business pros-
pects.

243

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244 THE AWAKENING

But remembering Edna's whimsical turn
of mind of late, and foreseeing that she had
immediately acted up6n her impetuous (j e-
v/^terminatjoru, he grasped the situation
with his usual promptness and handled it with
his well-known business tact and cleverness.

The same mail which brought to Edna
his letter of disapproval carried instruc-
tions — the most minute instructions — to a
well-known architect concerning the remod-
eling of his home, changes which he had
long contemplated, and which he desired
carried forward during his temporary
absence.

Expert and reliable packers and movers
were engaged to convey the furniture, car-
pets, pictures — everything movable, in
short — to places of security. And in an
incredibly short time the Pontellier house
was turned over to the artisans. There was
to be an addition — a small snuggery ; there
was to be frescoing, and hardwood flooring
was to be put into such rooms as had not
yet been subjected to this improvement.

Furthermore, in one of the daily papers
appeared a brief notice to the effect that

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THE AWAKENING 245

Mr. and Mrs. Pontellier were contemplating
a summer sojourn abroad, and that their
handsome residence on Esplanade Street
was undergoing sumptuous alterations, and
would not be ready for occupancy until
their return. Mr. Pontellier had saved -
appearances !

Edna admired the skill of his maneuver,
and avoided any occasion to balk his inten-
tions. When the situation as set forth by
Mr. Pontellier was accepted and taken for
granted, she was apparently satisfied that
it should be so.

The pigeon-house pleased her. It at
once assumed the intimate character of
a home, while she herself invested it with a
charm which it reflected like a warm glow,
^'here was with her a feeling of having
descended in the social scale, with a corres-
ponding sense of having risen in the spirit-
ual.^ Every step which she- took toward
relieving herself from obligations added to
he'r strength and expansion as an individual.
She began ToTook'with her own eyes; to
see and to apprehend the deeper undercur-
rents of life. No longer was she content to

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246 THE AWAKENING

''feed upon opinion" when her own soul
had invited her.

r^ After a little while, a few days, in fact,

C^ Edna went up and spent a week with her

^ children in Iberville. They were delicious

February days, with all the summer's

promise hovering in the air.

How glad she was to see -the. children!
She wept for very pleasure when she felt
their little arms clasping her; their hard,
ruddy cheeks pressed against her own glow-
ing cheeks. She looked into their faces
with hungry eyes that could not be satisfied
with looking. And what stories they had
to tell their mother! About the pigs,
the cows, the mules! About riding to the
mill behind Gluglu ; fishing back in the lake
with their Uncle Jasper; picking pecans
with Lidie's little black brood, and hauling
chips in their express wagon. It was a
thousand times more fun to haul real chips
for old lame Susie's real fire than to drag
painted blocks along the banquette on
Esplanade Street!

She went with them herself to see the
pigs and the cows, to look at the darkies

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THE AWAKENING 247

laying the cane, to thrash the pecan trees,
and catch fish in the back lake. She lived
with tliem a whole week long, giving them
all of herself, and gathering- and filling her-
self with their young existence. They
listened, breathless, when she told them the
house in Esplanade Street was crowded with
workmen, hammering, nailing, sawing, and
filling the place with clatter. They wanted
to know where their bed was ; what had been
done with their rocking-horse; and where
did Joe sleep, and where had Ellen gone,
and the cook? But, above all, they were
fired with a desire to see the little house
around the block. Was there any place to
play? Were there any boys next door?
Raoul, with pessimistic foreboding, was
convinced that there were only girls next
door. Where would they sleep, and where
would papa sleep? She told them the fairies
would fix it all right.

The old Madame was charmed with
Edna's visit, and showered all manner of
delicate attentions upon her. She was
delighted to know that the Esplanade Street
house was in a dismantled condition. It

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248 THE AWAKENING

gave her the promise and pretext to keep
the children indefinitely.

It was with a wrench and a pang that
Edna left her children. She carried away
with her the sound of their voices and the
touch of their cheeks. All along the jour-
ney homeward their presence lingered with
her like the memory of a delicious, song.
But by the time she had regained the city
the song no longer echoed in her soul.^ She
was s^ain alone.

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XXXIII

It happened sometimes when Edna went
to see Mademoiselle Reisz that the little
musician was absent, giving a lesson or
making some small necessary household
purchase. The key was always left in a
secret hiding-place in the entry, which Edna
knew. If Mademoiselle happened to be
away, Edna would usually enter and wait
for her return.

When she knocked at Mademoiselle
Reisz 's door one afternoon there was no
response; so unlocking the door, as usual,
she entered and found the apartment de-
serted, as she had expected. Her day had
been quite filled up, and it was for a rest,
for a refuge, and to talk about Robert, that
she sought out her friend.

She had worked at her canvas — a young

Italian character study — all the morning,

completing the work without the model ; but

there had been many interruptions, some

249

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250 THE AWAKENING

incident to her modest housekeeping, and
others of a social nature.

Madame Ratignolle had dragged herself
over, avoiding the too public thorough-
fares, she said. She complained that Edna
had neglected her much of late. Besides,
she was consumed with curiosity to see the
little house and the manner in which it was
conducted. She wanted to hear all about
the dinner party; Monsieur Ratignolle had
left so early. What had happened after he
.left? The champagne and grapes which
Edna sent over were too delicious. She had
so little appetite; they had refreshed and
toned her stomach. Where on earth was she
going to put Mr. Pontellier in that little
house, and the boys? And then she made
Edna promise to go to her when her hour of
trial overtook her.

''At any time — any time of the day or
night, dear," Edna assured her.

Before leaving Madame Ratignolle said :

"In some way you seem to me like a

\hild, Edna. You seem to act witfiout

, a ^rtain amount of reflection which is

necessary in this life. That is the reason I

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want to say you mustn't mind if I advise
you to be a little careful while you are liv-
ing here alone. Why don't you have some
one come and stay with you? Wouldn't
Mademoiselle Reisz come?"

''No; she wouldn't wish to come, and I
shouldn't want her always with me."

"Well, the reason — you know how evil-
minded the world is — some one was talking
of Alc^e Arobin visiting you. Of course,
it wouldn't matter if Mr. Arobin had not
such a dreadful reputation. Monsieur
RatignoUe was telling me that his attentions
alone are considered enough to ruin a wom-
an's name."

'*Does he boast of his successes?" asked
Edna, indifferently, squinting at her pic-
ture.

"No, I think not. I believe he is a
decent fellow as far as that goes. But his
character is so well known among the men.
I shan't be able to come back and see
you; it was very, very imprudent to-day."

"Mind the step!" cried Edna."

"Don't neglect me," entreated Madame
RatignoUe; "and don't mind what I said

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•252 THE AWAKENING

about Arobin, or having some one to stay
with you."

''Of course not," Edna laughed. '*You
,may say an)rthing you like to me." They
kissed each other good-by. Madame Ratig-
nolle had not far to go, and Edna stood
on the porch a while watching her ^alk
down the street.

Then in the afternoon Mrs. Merriman and
Mrs. Highcamp had made their ''party
call." Edna felt that they might have dis-
pensed with the formality. They had also
come to invite her to play vingt-et-un one
evening at Mrs. Merriman 's. She was
asked to go early, to dinner, and Mr. Mer-
riman or Mr. Arobin would take her home.
Edna accepted in a half-hearted way. She
sometimes felt very tired of Mrs. Highcamp
and Mrs. Merriman.

Late in the afternoon she sought rei uge
with MadanDiselle. Reisz, and stayed there
alone, waiting for her, feeling a kind of
repose invade her with the very atmosphere
of the shabby, unpretentious little room.

Edna sat at the window, which looked
out over the house-tops and across the river.

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THE AWAKENING 253

The window frame was filled with pots of
flowers, and she sat and picked the dry
leaves from a rose geranium. The day was
warm, and the breeze which blew from the
river was very pleasant. She removed her
hat and laid it on the piano. She went on
picking the leaves and digging around the
plants with her hat pin. Once she thought
she heard Mademoiselle Reisz approaching.
But it was a young black girl, who came in,
bringing a small bundle of laundry, which
she deposited in the adjoining room, and
went away.

Edna seated herself at the piano, and
softly picked out with one hand the bars of
a piece of music which lay open before her.
A half-hour went by. There was the occa-
sional sound of people going and coming in
the lower hall. She was growing interested
in her occupation of picking out the aria,
when there was a second rap at the door.
She vaguely wondered what these people
did when they found Mademoiselle's door
locked.

'Xome in," she called, turning her face
toward the door. And this time it was

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254 THE AWAKENING

Robert Le brun who presented himself.
She attempted to rise ; she could not have
done so without betraying the agitation
, which mastered her at sight of him, so she
• fell back upon the stool, only exclaiming,
/^Why, Robert!"

He came and clasped her hand, seemingly
without knowing what he was saying or
doing.

'*Mrs. Pontellier! How do you hap-
pen — oh! how well you look! Is Made-
moiselle Reisz not here? I never expected
to see you."

''When did you come back?" asked Edna
in an unsteady voice, wiping her face with
her handkerchief. She seemed ill at ease
on the piano stool, and he begged her to
take the chair by the window. She did so,
njechanically, while he seated himself on
the stool.

''I returned day before yesterday," he
answered, while he leaned his arm on the
keys, bringing forth a crash of discordant
, sound.

"Day before yesterday!" she repeated,
aloud; and went on thinking to herself,

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THE AWAKENING 255

**day before yesterday,*' in a sort of an
uncomprehending way. She had pictured
him seeking her at the very first hour, and
he had lived under the same sky since day
before yesterday; while only by accident
had he stumbled upon her. Mademoiselle
must have lied when she said, ''Poor fool,
he loves you."

''Day before yesterday,** she repeated,
breaking oflf a spray of Mademoiselle's
geranium; "then if you had not met me
here to-day you wouldn't — ^when — that is,
didn*t you mean to come and see me?*'

"Of course, I should have gone to see
you. There have been so many things — '*
he turned the leaves of Mademoiselle*s
music nervously. "I started in at once
yesterday with the old firm. After all there
is as much chance for me here as there was
there — that is, I might find it profitable
some day. The Mexicans were not very
congenial. **i/

Sohenad come back because the Mexi-
cans were not congenial ; because business
was as profitable here as there ; because of
any reason, and not because he cared to be

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2s6

THE AWAKENING

' near her. She remembered the day she sat
on the floor, turning the pages of his letter,
seeking the reason which was left untold.

She had not noticed how he looked — only
feeling his presence ; but she turned deliber-
ately and observed him. After all, he had
been absent but a few months, and was not
changed. His hair — the color of hers —
waved back from his temples in the same
way as before. His skin was not more
burned than it had been at Grand Isle.
She found in his eyes, when he looked at
her for one silent moment, the same tender
caress, with an added warmth and entreaty
which had not been there before — the same
glance which had penetrated to the sleepjng /
places of her soul and awakened them.

A hundred times Edna had pictured
Robert's return, and imagined their first
meeting. It was usually at her home,
whither he had sought her out at once.
She always fancied him expressing or
betraying in some way his love for her.
And here, the reality was that they sat ten
feet apart, she at the window, crushing
geranium leaves in her hand and smelling

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THE AWAKENING 257

them, he twirling around on the piano
stool, saying:

* ' I was very much surprised to hear of
Mr. Pontellier's absence; it's a wonder
Mademoiselle Reisz did not tell me; and
your moving — mother told me yesterday.
I should think you would have gone to New
York with him, or to Iberville with the chil-
dren, rather than be bothered here with
housekeeping. And you are going abroad,
too, I hear. We shan't have you at Grand
Isle next summer; it won't seem — do you
see much of Mademoiselle Reisz? She
often spoke of you in the few letters she
wrote."

*'Do you remember that you premised to
write to me when you went away?" A
flush overspread his whole face.

**I couldn't believe that my letters would
be of any interest to you."

** That is an excuse; it isn't the truth."
Edna reached for her hat on the piano.
She adjusted it, sticking the hat pin through
the heavy coil of hair with some deliberation.

''Are you not going to wait for Made-
moiselle Reisz?" asked Robert,

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258 THE AWAKENING

''No; I have found when she is absent
this long, she is liable not to come back till
late." She drew on her gloves, and Robert
picked up his hat.

''Won't you wait for her?" asked Edna.

"Not if you think she will not be back
till late," adding, as if suddenly aware of
some discourtesy in his speech, "and I
should miss the pleasure of walking home
with you." Edna locked the door and put
the key back in its hiding-place.

They went together, picking their way
I across muddy streets and sidewalks encum-
j 1 bered with the cheap display of small trades-
men. ^Part of the distance they rode in the
car, and after disembarking, passed the
y(^ Pontellier mansion, which looked broken and
. half torn asunder? Robert had never known
the house, and looked at it with interest.

"I never knew you in your home," he
remarked.

"I am glad you did not."

"Why?" She did not answer. They
went on around the corner, and it seemed
las if her dreams were coming true after all,
when he followed her into the little house.

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THE AWAKENING 259

**You must stJEiy and dine with me, Rob-
ert. You see I am all alone, and it is
so long since I have seen you. There is so
much I want to ask you.'*

She took oflf her hat and gloves. He
stood irresolute, making some excuse about
his mother who expected him ; he even mut-
tered something about an_ engagement.
She strucIFTniafch and lit the lamp on the
table ; it was growing dusk. When he saw
her face in the lamp-light, looking pained,
with all the soft lines gone out of it, he
threw his hat aside and seated himself.

"Oh! you know I want to stay if you
will let me!" he exclaimed. All the soft-
ness came back. She laughed, and went
and put her hand on his shoulder.

"This is the first moment you have
seemed like the old Robert. I'll go tell Ce-
lestine." She hurried away to tell Celes-
tine to set an extra place. She even sent
her oflf in search of some added delicacy
which she had not thought of for herself.
And she recommended great care in dripping
the coffee and having the omelet done to
a proper turn.

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26o THE AWAKENING

When she reentered, Robert was turning
over magazines, sketches, and things that
lay upon the table in great disorder. He
picked up a photograph, and exclaimed :_

"Alc^e Arobin! What on earth is his
picture doing here?"

'*I tried to make a sketch of his head one
day,** answered Edna, "and he thought
the photograph might help me. It was at
the other house. I thought it had been left
there. I must have packed it up with my
drawing materials.*'

*'I should think you would give it back
to him if you have finished with it.'*

'*0h! I have a great many such photo-
graphs. I never think of returning them.
They don't amount to anything.** Robert
kept on looking at the picture.

"It seems to me — do you think his head
worth drawing? Is he a friend of Mr.
Pontellier*s? You never said you knew
him.*'

"He isn't a friend of Mr. Pontellier's;
he's a friend of mine. I always knew him —
that is, it is only of late that I know him
pretty well. But I'd rather talk about you,

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THE AWAKENING 261

and know what you have been seeing and
doing and feeling out there in Mexico."
Robert threw aside the picture.

*'rve been seeing the waves and the
white beach of Grand Isle ; the quiet, grassy
street of the Chiniire; the old fort at Grande s/

Terre. IVe^been working like a machine, r
and feeling .Uke^"Iost soul. There was
nothing interesting. ' '

She leaned her head upon her hand to
shade her eyes from the light.

"And what have you been seeing and
doing and feeling all these days?'' he asked.

'*rve been seeing the waves and the
white beach of Grand Isle; the quiet, grassy i .

street of the Chiniire Caminada; the old | '
sunny fort at Grande Terre. I've been v^
working with a little more comprehension
than a machine, and still feeling like a lost
soul. There was nothing interesting."

''Mrs. Pontellier, you are cruel," he said,
with feeling, closing his eyes and resting his
head back in his chair. They remained in
silence till old Celestine announced dinner.

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XXXIV

The dining-room was very small. Edna*s
round mahogany would have almost filled
It. As it was there was but a step or two
from the little table to the kitchen, to the
mantel, the small buflfet, and the side door
that opened out on the narrow brick-paved
yard.

A certain degree of ceremony settled
upon them with the announcement of din-
ner. There was no return to personalities.
Robert related incidents of his sojourn in
Mexico, and Edna talked of events likely
to interest him, which had occurred during
his absence. The dinner was of ordinary
quality, except for the few delicacies which
she had sent out to purchase. Old Celes-
tine, with a bandana tignon twisted about
her head, hobbled in and out, taking a per-
sonal interest in everything; and she lin-
gered occasionally to talk patois with Robert,
whom she had known as a boy.
262

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THE AWAKENING 263

He went out to a neighboring cigar stand
to purchase cigarette papers, and when he
came back he found that Celestine had
served the black coffee in the parlor.

''Perhaps I shouldn't have come back,**
he said. "When you are tired of me, tell
me to go."

"You never tire me. You must have
forgotten the hours and hours at Grand Isle
in which we grew accustomed to each other
and used to being together."

"I have forgotten nothing at Grand
Isle," he said, not looking at her, but roll-
ing a cigarette. His tobacco pouch, which
he laid upon the table, was a fantastic em-
broidered silk affair, evidently the handiwork
of a woman.

"You used to cany your tobacco in a
rubber pouch," said Edna, picking up the
pouch and examining the needlework.

"Yes; it was lost."

"Where did you buy this one? In Mex-
ico?"

"It was given to me by a Vera Cruz girl;
they are very generous," he replied, striking
a match and lighting his cigarette.

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264 THE AWAKENING

''They are very handsome, I suppose,
those Mexican women; very picturesque,
with their black eyes and their lace scarfs."

"Some are; others are hideous. Just as
you find women everywhere."

''What was she like — the one who gave
you the pouch? You must have known
her very well."

"She was very ordinary. She wasn't of
the slightest importance. I knew her well
enough."

"Did you visit at her house? Was it
interesting? I should like to know and
hear about the people you met, and the im-
pressions they made on you."

' ' There are some people who leave impres-
sions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar
upon the water."

"Was she such a one?"

"It would be ungenerous for me to admit
that she was of that order and kind." He
thrust the pouch back in his pocket, as if
to put away the subject with the trifle
which had brought it up.

Arobin dropped in with a message from

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THE AWAKENING 265

Mrs. Merriman, to say that the card party
was postponed on account of the illness of
one of her children.

"How do you do, Arobin?" said Robert,
rising from the obscurity.

' ' Oh ! Lebrun. To be sure ! I heard yes-
terday you were back. How did they treat
you down in Mexique?**

"Fairly well/'

"But not well enough to keep you there.
Stunning girls, though, in Mexico. I
thought I should never get away from Vera
Cruz when I was down there a couple of
years ago."

"Did they embroider slippers and tobacco
pouches and hat-bands and things for you?"
asked Edna.

"Oh! my! no! I didn't get so deep in
their regard. I fear they made more im-
pression on me than I made on them."

"You were less fortunate than Robert,
then."

"I am always less fortunate than Robert.
Has he been imparting tender confidences?"
'I've been imposing myself long

<<i

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266 THE AWAKENING

enough,*' said Robert, rising, and shaking
hands with Edna. ''Please convey my
regards to Mr. Pontellier when you write."

He shook hands with Arobin and went
away.

"Fine fellow, that Lebrun," said Arobin
.-►'I when Robert had gone. ''I never heard
} you speak of him."

''i knew him last summer at Grand Isle,"
she replied. ''Here is that photograph of
yours. Don't you want it?"

"What do I want with it? Throw it
away." She threw it back on the table.
^."I'm not going to Mrs. Merriman's," she
said. "If you see her, tell her so. But
perhaps I had better write. I think I shall
write now, and say that I am sorry her child
is sick, and tell her not to count on me. ' '

"It would be a good scheme," acquiesced
Arobin. "I don't blame you; stupid lot!"

Edna opened the blotter, and having pro-
cured paper and pen, began to write the
note. Arobin lit a cigar and read the even-
ing paper, which he had in his pocket.

' ' What is the date ?' ' she asked. He told
her.

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THE AWAKENING 267

*'Will you mail this for me when you go
out?*'

''Certainly.*' He read to her little bits
out of the newspaper, while she straight-
ened things on the table.

"What do you want to do?" he asked,
throwing aside the paper. * * Do you want to
go out for a walk or a drive or anything?
It would be a fine night to drive."

"No; I don't want to do anything but
just be quiet. You go away and amuse
yourself. Don't stay."

"I'll go away if I must; but I shan't
amuse myself. You know that I only live
when I am near you."

He stood up to bid her good night.

"Is that one of the things you always say
to women?"

"I have said it before, but I don't think
I ever came so near meaning it," he
answered with a smile. There were no
warm lights in her eyes; only a dreamy,
absent look.

' '_Good night. I adore you. Sleep well, ' *
he said, and he kissed her hand and went
away.

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268 THE AWAKENING

She stayed alone in a kind of reverie — a
sort of stupor. Step by step she lived over
every instant of the time she had been with
Robert after he had entered Mademoiselle
Reisz's door. She recalled his words, his
looks. How few and meager they had been
for her hungry heart ! A vision — a trans-
cendently seductive vision of a Mexican girl
arose before her. She writhed with a jeal-
ous pang. She wondered when he would come
back. He had not said he would come back.
She had been with him, had heard his voice
' and touched his hand. But some w^Jie had
. seemed nearer to her, off there jn^ Mexico.

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XXXV

The morning was full of sunlight and
hope. Edna could see before her no
denial — only the promise of excessive joy.
She lay in bed awake, with bright eyes full
of speculation. "He loves you, poor fool."
If she could but get that conviction firmly
fixed in her mind, what mattered about the
rest? She felt she had been childish and
unwise the night before in giving herself
over to despondency. She recapitulated
the motives which no doubt explained Rob-
ert's reserve. They were not insurmount-
able ; they would not hold if he really loved
her; they could not hold against her own
passion, which he must come to realize in
time. She pictured him going to his busi-
ness that morning. She even saw how he
was dressed; how he walked down one
street, and turned the corner of another;
saw him bending over his desk, talking to
people who entered the office, going to his
269

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270 THE AWAKENING

lunch, and perhaps watching for her on the

^ street. He would come to her in the after-

"- noon or -evening, sit and roll his cigarette,

^ talk a little, and go away as he had done the

night before. But how delicious it would be

to have him there with her! She would

have no regrets, nor seek to penetrate his

reserve if he still chose to wear it.

Edna ate her breakfast only half dressed.
The maid. brought her a delicious printed
scrawl from Raoul, expressing his love, ask-
ing her to send him some bonbons, and
telling her they had found that morning ten
tiny white pigs all lying in a row beside
Lidie's bi£ white pig.

A letter also came from her husband, say-
ing he hoped to be back early in March, and
then they would get ready for that journey
abroad which he had promised her so long,
which he felt now fully able to afford ; he
felt able to travel as people should, without
any thought of small economies — thanks to
his recent speculations in Wall Street.

Much to her surprise she received a note
from Arobin, written at midnight from the
club. It was to say good morning to her,

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THE AWAKENING 271

to hope that she had slept well, to assure
her of his devotion, which he trusted she in
some faintest manner returned.

All these letters were pleasing to her.
She answered the children in a cheerful'
frame of mind, promising them bonbons,
and congratulating them upon their happy
find of the little pigs. *

She answered her husband with friendly
evasiveness, — not with any fixed design to? U^
mislead him, only because all sense of real-
ity had gone out pf her life ; she Had aT)an-
doned herself to Fate, and awaited the
consequences with indifference.

To Arobin's note she made no reply.
She put it under Celestine's stove-lid.

Edna worked several hours with much
spirit. She saw no one but a picture dealer,
who asked her if it were true that she was
going abroad to study in Paris.

She said possibly she might, and he nego-
tiated with her for some Parisian studies to
reach him in time for the holiday trade in
December.

Robert did not come that day. She was
keenly disappointed. He did not come the

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272 THE AWAKENING

following day, nor the next. Each morn-
ing she awoke with hope, and each night
she was a prey to despondency. She was
tempted to seek him out. But far from
yielding to the impulse, she avoided any
occasion which might throw her in his way.
She did not go to Mademoiselle Reisz's nor
pass by Madame Lebrun's, as she might
have done if he had still been in Mexico.

When Arobin, one night, urged her to
drive with him, she went — out to the lake,
on the Shell Road. His horses were full
of mettle, and even a little unmanageable.
She liked the rapid gait at which they spun
along, and the quick, sharp sound of the
horses* hoofs on the hard road. They did
not stop anywhere to eat or to drink.
Arobin was not needlessly imprudent. But
they ate and they drank when they regained
Edna's little dining-room — which was com-
paratively early in the evening.

It was late when he left her. It was get-

• ting to be more than a passing whim with

Arobin to see her and be with her. He had

detected the latent sensuality, which un-

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THE AWAKENING 273

folded under his delicate sense of her na-*
ture's requirements like a torpid, torrid,, v
sensitive blossom.

There was no despondency when she fell \y^
asleep that night ; nor was there hope when
she awoke in the morning.

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XXXVI

There was a garden out in the suburbs ;
a small, leafy corner, with a few green
tables under the orange trees. An old cat
slept all day on the stone step in the sun,
and an old mulatresse slept her idle hours
away in her chair at the open window, till
some one happened to knock on one of the
green tables. She had milk and cream
cheese to sell, and bread and butter. There
was no one who could make such excellent
coffee or fry a chicken so golden brown as
she.

The place was too modest to attract the
attention of people of fashion, and so quiet
as to have escaped the notice of those in
search of pleasure and dissipation. Edna
had discovered it accidentally one day when
the high-board gate stood ajar. She caught
sight of a little green table, blotched with
the checkered sunlight that filtered through
274

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THE AWAKENING 275

the quivering leaves overhead. Within she
had found the slumbering mulatresse^ the
drowsy cat, and a glass of milk which
reminded her of the milk she had tasted in
Iberville.

She often stopped there during her per-
ambulations ; sometimes taking a book with
her, and sitting an hour or two under the
trees when she found the place deserted.
Once or twice she took a quiet dinner there
alone, having instructed Celestine before-
hand to prepare no dinner at home. It was
the last place in the city where she would
have expected to meet any one she knew.

Still she was not astonished when, as she
was partaking of a modest dinner late in the
afternoon, looking into an open book, strok-
ing the cat, which had made friends with her
— she was not greatly astonished to see
Robert come in at the tall garden gate.

"I am destined to see you only by acci-
dentj" she said, shoving the cat off the
chair beside her. He was surprised, ill at
ease, almost embarrassed at meeting her
thus so unexpectedly.

"Do you come here often?" he asked.

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276 THE AWAKENING

''I almost live here/' she sai^.

*'I used to drop in very often for a cup
of Catiche's good coffee. This is the first
time since I came back."

*'She'll bring you a plate, and you will
share my dinner. There's always enough
for two — even three." Edna had intended
to be indifferent and as reserved as he when
she met him; she had reached the deter-
mination by a laborious train of reasoning*
incident to one of her despondent moods.
But her resolve melted when she saw him
before her, seated there beside her in the
little garden, as if a designing Providence
had led him into her path.

*'Why have you kept away from me,
Robert?" she asked, closing the book that
lay open upon the table.

'*Why are you so personal, Mrs. Pontel-
lier? Why do you force me to idiotic sub-
terfuges?" he exclaimed with sudden
warmth. "I suppose there's no use. telling
you I've been very busy, or that I've been
sick, or that I've been to see you and not
found you at home. Please let me off with
any one of these excuses."

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THE AWAKENING 277

"You are the embodiment of selfish-
ness," she said. ''You save yourself some-
thing — I don't know what — but there is
some selfish motive, and in sparing yourself
you never consider for a moment what I
think, or how I feel your neglect and indif-
ference, . . I ^uppose this is what you would
call unwomanly 5 but I have got into a habit
of expressing myself. It doesn't matter to
me, and you may think me unwomanly if
you like."

''No; I only think you cruel, as I said
the other day. Maybe not intentionally
cruel ; but you seem to be forcing me into
disclosures which can result in nothing; as
if you would have me bareja wound for the
pleasure of looking~af it, without the inten-
tion or power of healing it."

'Tm spoiling your dinner, Robert; never
mind what I say. You haven't eaten a
morsel."

''I only came in for a cup of coffee."
His sensitive face was all disfigured with
excitement.

''Isn't this a delightful place?" she re-
marked. "I am so glad it has never actu-

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278 THE AWAKENING

ally been discovered. It is so quiet, so
sweet, here. Do you notice there is scarcely
a sound to be heird? It's so out of the
way; and a good walk from the car. How-
ever, I don't mind walking. I always feel
so sorry for women who don't like to walk;
they miss so much — so many rare little
glimpses of life; and we women learn so lit-
tle of life on the whole.

"Catiche's coffee is always hot. I don't
know how she manages it, here in the open
air. Celestine's coffee gets cold bringing it
from the kitchen to the dining-room.
Three lumps!' How can you drink it so
sweet?' Take, some of the' cress with your
chop ; it's so-biting and crisp. Then there's
the advantage of being able to smoke with
your coffee out here. Now; in the city —
aren't you going to smoke?"

** After a while," he said, laying a cigar
on the table.

"Who gave it to you?" she laughed.

*'I bought it. I suppose I'm getting
reckless; I bought a whole box." She was
determined not to be personal again and
make him uncomfortable.

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THE AWAKENING 279

The cat made friends with him, and
climbed into his lap when he smoked his
cigar. He stroked her silky fur, and talked
a little about her. He looked at Edna's \ 1^:.
book, which he had read; and he told her ; *«
the end, to save her the trouble of wading 1,.
through it, he said. '

Again he accompanied her back to her
home; and it was after dusk when they
reached the little * * pigeon-house. ' ' She did
not ask him to remain, which he was grate-
ful for, as it permitted him to stay without
the discomfort of blundering through an
excuse which he had no intention of consid-
ering. He helped her to light the lamp;
then she went into her room to take off her
hat and to bathe her face and hands.

When she came^ back Robert was not
examining the pictures and magazines as
before ; he sat off in the shadow, leaning his
head back on the chair as if in a reverie.
Edna lingered a, moment beside the table,
arranging the books there. Then she went
across the room to where he sat. She bent
over the arm qf his chair and called his
name.

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a8o THE AWAKENING

** Robert,'* she said, "are you asleep?'*

*'No," he answered, looking up at her.

She leaned over and kissed him — ^a soft,
cool, delicate kiss, whose voluptuous sting
penetrated his whole being — then she moved
away from him. He followed, and took her
in his arms, just holding her close to him.
She put her hand up to his face and pressed
his cheek against her own. The action
was full of love and tenderness. He sought
her lips again. Then he drew her down
upon the sofa beside him and held her hand
in both of his,

'*Now you know," he said, ** now you
know what I have been fighting against
since last summer at Grand Isle; what drove
me away and drove me back again."

''Why have you been fighting against
it?" she asked. Her face glowed with soft
lights.

"Why? Because you were not free; you
were L6once Pontellier's wife. I couldn't
help loving you if you were ten times his
wife; but so long as I went away from you
and kept away I could help telling you so. ' '
She put her free hand up to his shoulder,

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THE AWAKENING 281

and then against his cheek, rubbing it softly.
He kissed her again. His face was warm
and flushed.

"There in Mexico I was thinking of you
all the time, and longing for you."

"But not writing to me,'* she inter-
rupted.

"Something put into my head that you
cared for me ; and I lost my senses. I for-
got everything but a wild dream of your
some way becoming my wife.**

"Your wife!"

"Religion, loyalty, everything would
give way if only you cared.'*

"Then you must have forgotten that I
wac L^once Pontellier's wife."

"Oh! I was demented, dreaming of wild,
impossible things, recalling men who had
set their wives free, we have heard of such
things."

"Yes, we have heard of such things."

"I came back full of vague, mad inten-
tions. And when I got here — "

"When you got here you never came
near me!" She was still caressing his
cheek.

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282 THE AWAKENING

'*I realized what a cur I was to dream of
such a thing, even if you had been willing. "

She took his face between her hands and
looked into it as if she would never with-
draw her eyes more. She kissed him on
the forehead, the eyes, the cheeks, and the
lips.

**You have been a very, very foolish boy.
Wasting your time dreaming of impossible
things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier
setting me free ! I am no longer one of Mr.
Vontellier's possessions to dispose of or not.
|I give myself where I choose* If he were
to say, 'Here, Robert, take her and be
happy ; she is yours, ' I should laugh at you
both."

His face grew a little white. "What do
you mean?" he asked.

There was a knock at the door. Old
Celestine came, in to say that Madame
Ratignolle's servant had come around the
back way with a message that Madame had
been taken sick and begged Mrs. Pontellier
to go to her immediately.

*'Yes, yes/' said Edna, rising; "I prom-

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THE AWAKENING 283

ised. Tell her yes — to wait for me. I'll
go back with her."

''Let me walk over with you/* offered
Robert.

"No," she said; ''I will go with the ser-
vant." She went into her room to put on
her hat, and when she came in again she sat
once more upon the sofa beside him. He
had not stirred. She put her arms about
his neck.

"Good-by, my sweet Robert. Tell me
good-by." He kissed her with a degree of
passion which had not before entered into
his caress, and strained her to him.

**I love you," she whispered, "only you;
no one but you. It was you who awoke '
me last summer out of a life-long, stupid
dream. Oh ! you have made me so unhappy
with your indifference. Oh ! I have suffered,
suffered ! Now * you are here we shall love
each other, my Robert. We shall be every-
thing to each other. Nothing else in the.
world is of any consequence. I must go to
my friend; but you will wait for me? No
matter how . late ; you will wait for me,
Robert?"

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284 THE AWAKENING

''Don't go; don't go! Oh! Edna, stay
with me," he pleaded. "Why should you
go? Stay with me, stay with me."

"I shall come back as soon as I can; I
shall find you here." She buried her face
: in his neck, and said good-by again. Her
seductive voice, together with his great
': love for her, had enthralled his senses, had
I deprived him of every impulse but the
I longing to hold her and keep her.

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XXXVII

Edna looked in at the drug store. Mon-
sieur RatignoUe was putting up a mixture
himself, very carefully, dropping a red
liquid into a tiny glass. He was grateful to
Edna for having come ; her presence would
be a comfort to his wife. Madame Ratig-
noUe's sister, who had always been with her
at such trying times, had not been able to
come up frotn the plantation, and Adfele
had been inconsolable until Mrs. Pontellier
so kindly promised to come to her. The
nurse had been with them at night for the
past week, as she lived a great distance
away. And Dr. Mandelet had been coming
and going all the afternoon. They were
then looking for him any moment.

Edna hastened upstairs by a private stair-
way that led from the rear of the store to
the apartments above. The children were
all sleeping in a back room. Madame
RatignoUe was4n the salon, whither she had
285

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„/

286 THE AWAKENING

strayed in her suffering impatience. She
sat on the sofa, clad in an ample white
peignoity holding a handkerchief tight in
her hand with a nervous clutch. Her face
was drawn and pinched, her sweet blue
eyes haggard and unnatural. All her beau-
tiful hair had been drawn back and plaited.
It lay in a long braid on the sofa pillow,
coiled like a golden serpent. The nurse, a
comfortable looking Griffe woman in white
apron and cap, was urging her to return to
her bedroom.

"There is no use, there is no use," she
said at once to Edna. "We must get rid
of Mandelet ; he is getting too old and care-
less. He said he would be here at half-past
seven; now it must be eight* See what
time it is, Josephine."

The woman was possessed of a cheerful
nature, and refused to take any situation
too seriously, especially a situation with
which she was so familiar. She urged
Madame to have courage and patience.
But Madame only set her teeth hard into
her under lip, and Edna saw the sweat
gather in beads on her white forehead.

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THE AWAKENING 287

After a moment or two she uttered a pro-
found sigh and wiped her face with the
handkerchief rolled in a ball. She appeared
exhausted. The nurse gave her a fresh
handkerchief, sprinkled with cologne water.

* ' This is too much ! ' ' she cried. ' * Mande-
let ought to be killed! Where is Alphonse?
Is it possible I am to be abandoned like
this — neglected by every one?"

"Neglectedyindeed!** exclaimed the nurse.
Wasn't she there? And here was Mrs, Pon-
tellier leaving, no doubt, a pleasant evening
at home to devote to her? And wasn't
Monsieur RatignoUe coming that very
instant through the hall? And Josephine
was quite sure she had heard Doctor Man-
delet's coup6. Yes, there it was, down at
the door.

Ad^le consented to go back to her room.
She sat on the edge of a little low couch
next to her bed.

Doctor Mandelet paid no attention to
Madame RatignoUe's upbraidings. He was
accustomed to them at such times, and
was too well convinced of her loyalty to
doubt it.

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288 THE AWAKENING

He was glad to see Edna, and wanted
her to go with him into the salon and enter-
tain him. But Madame RatignoUe would
not consent that Edna should leave her for
an instant. Between agonizing moments,
she chatted a little, and said it took her
mind off her sufferings.

Edna began to feel uneasy. She was
seized with a vague dread. Her own like
experiences seemed far away, unreal, and
only half remembered. She recalled faintly
an ecstasy of pain, the heavy odor of chloro-
form, a stupor which had deadened sensa-
tion, and an awakening to find a little new
life to which she had given being, added to
the great unnumbered multitude of soub
that come and go.

She began to wish she had not come;
her presence was not necessary. She might
have invented a pretext for staying away ;
she might even invent a pretext now for go-
ing. But Edna did not go. With an inward
agony, with >^-:fil^ming, outspoken revolt
against- the ways o^NNature, she witnessed
tKe scene torture.

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THE AWAKENING 289

She was still stunned and speechless with
emotion when later she leaned over her
friend to kiss her and softly say good-by.
Adfele, pressing her cheek, whispered in an
exhausted voice: "Think of the children,
Edna. Oh think of the children ! Remem-
ber them! *'

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XXXVIII

Edna still felt dazed when she got out-
side in the open air. The Doctor's coup6
had returned for him and stood before the
porte cochire. She did not wish to enter
the coup6, and told Doctor Mandelet she
would walk; she was not afraid, and would
go alone. He directed his carriage to meet
him at Mrs. Pontellier's, and he started to
walk home with her.

Up — ^away up, over the narrow street
between the tall houses, the stars were blaz-
ing. The air was mild and caressing, but
cool with the breath of spring and the night.
They walked slowly, the Doctor with a
heavy, measured tread "and his hands behind
him; Edna, in an absent-minded way, as
she had walked one night at Grand Isle, as
if her thoughts had gone ahead of her and
she was striving to overtake them.

"You shouldn't have been there, Mrs.
Pontellier," he said, **That was no place
290.

Digitized by CjOOQiC

THE AWAKENING 291

for you. Adfele is full of whims at such
times. There were a dozen women she
might have had with her, unimpressionable
women. I felt that it was cruel, cruel.
You shouldn't have gone.**

"Oh, well!*' she answered, indififerently.
'*I don't know that it matters after all.
One has to think of the children some time
or other; the sooner the better."

"When is L6once coming back?"

"Quite soon. Some time in March."

"And you are going abroad?"

"Perhaps — no, I am not going. I'm not
going to be forced into doing things. I
don't want to go abroad. I want to be let
alone. Nobody has any right — except chil-
dren, perhaps — and even then, it seems to
me — or it did seem — " She felt that her
speech was voicing the incoherency of
her thoughts, and stopped abruptly.

' * The trouble is, ' ' sighed the Doctor, grasp-
ing her meaning intuitively, "that youth is
given up to illusions. It seems to be a pro-
vision of Nature ; a decoy to secure moth-
ers for the race. And Nature takes no
account of moral consequences, of arbitrary

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292 THE AWAKENING

conditions which we create, and which we
feel obliged to maintain at any cost/*

"Yes," she said. ''The years that are
gone seem like dreairis — if one might go on
sleeping and dreaming — but to wake up
and find — oh ! well ! perhaps it is better to
wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than
to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life,"

"It seems to me, my dear child," said
the Doctor at parting, holding her hand,
"you seem to me to be^ in trouble. I am
not going to ask for your confidence. I
will only say that if ever you feel moved to
give it to me, perhaps I might help you,
I know I would understand, and I tell you
there are not many who would — not many,
my dear,"

"Some way I don't' feel moved to speak
of things that trouble me. Don't think I
am ungrateful or that I don't appreciate
your sympathy. There are periods of
despondency and suffering which take pos-
session of me. But I .don't want anything
but my own way. That is wantinga good
deal, of course, when you have to trample
upon the lives, the hearts, the prejudices of

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THE AWAKENING 293

others — but no matter — still, I shouldn't
want to trample upon the little lives. Oh ! I
don't know what Tm saying, Doctor, Good
night. Don't blame me for anything."

'* Yes, I will blame you if you don't come
and see me soon. We will talk of things
you never have dreamt of talking about
before. It will do us both good. I don't
want you to blame yourself, whatever
comes. Good night, my child."

She let herself in at the gate, but instead
of entering she sat upon the step of the
porch. The night was quiet and soothing.
All the tearing emotion of the last few
hours seemed to fall away from her like a
somber, uncomfortable garment, which she
had but to loosen to be rid of. She went
back to that hour before Adfele had sent for
her; and her senses kindled afresh in think-
ing of Robert's words, the pressure of his
arms, and the feeling of his lips upon her
own. She could picture at that moment no
greater bliss on earth than possession of the
beloved one. His expresstoh' of Tove^had
already given him to her in part. When
she thought th^t he was there at hand.

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294 THE AWAKENING

waiting for her, she grew numb with the
intoxication of expectancy. It was so late ;
he would be asleep perhaps. She would
awaken him with a kiss. She hoped he
would be asleep that she might arouse him
with her caresses.

Still, she remembered Adfele's voice whis-
pering, '* Think of the children; think of
them." She meant to think of them; that
determination had driven into her soul like
a death wound— ^but not to-night. To-mor-
row would be time to think of everything,

Robert was not waiting for her in the lit-
tle parlor. He was nowhere at hand. The
house was empty. But he had scrawled on
a piece of paper that lay in the lamplight :
x"I love you. Good-by — because I love
you."

Edna grew faint when she read the words.
She went and sat on the sofa. Then she
stretched herself out there, never uttering a
sound. She did not sleep. She did not
go to bed. The lamp sputtered and went
out. She was still awake in the morning,
when Celestine unlocked the kitchen door
and came in to light the fire.

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XXXIX

Victor, with hammer and nails and scraps
of scantling, was patching a corner of one
of the galleries. Mariequita sat near by,
dangling her legs, watching him work, and
handing him nails from the tool-box. The
sun was beating down upon them. The girl
had covered her head with her apron folded
into a square pad. They had been talking
for an hour or more. She was never tired
of hearing Victor describe the dinner at
Mrs. Pontellier's. He exaggerated every
detail, making it appear a veritable Lucillean
feast. The flowers were in tubs, he said.
The champagne was quaffed from huge
golden goblets. Venus rising from the foam
could have presented no more entrancing a
spectacle than Mrs. Pontellier, blazing with
beauty and diamonds at the head of the
board, while the other women were all of
them "youthful houris, possessed of incom-
parable charms.

295

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296 THE AWAKENING

She got it into her head that Victor was
in love with Mrs. Pontellier, and he gave
her evasive answers, framed so as to con-
firm her belief. She grew sullen and cried
a little, threatening to go ofif and leave him
to his fine ladies. There were a dozen men
crazy about her at the Chhiiire; and since
it was the fashion to be in loVe with married
people, why, she could run away any time
she liked to New Orleans with C^lina's hus-
band,

C(§lina*s husband was a fool, a coward, and
a pig, and to prove it to her, Victor in-
tended to hammer his head into a jelly the
next time he encountered him. This
assurance was very consoling to Mariequita.
She dried her eyes, and grew cheerful at the
prospect.

They were still talking of the dinner and
the allurements of city life when Mrs. Pon-
tellier herself slipped around the corner of
the house. \The two youngsters stayed
dumb with amazement before what they
considered to be an app?j*ition. But it was
really she in flesh and blood, looking tired
and a little travel-stained.

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THE AWAKENING 297

**I walked up from the wharf," she said,
**and heard the hammering. I supposed it
was you, mending the porch. It's a good
thing. I was always tripping over those
loose planks last summer. How dreary and
deserted everything looks ! * ' •

It took Victor some little time to com-
prehend that she had come in Beaudelet's
lugger, that she had come alone, and for
no^purpose but to rest.

"There's nothing fixed up yet, you see.
rU give you my room ; it's the only place. ' '

'*Any comer will do," she assured him.

"And if you can stand Philomel's cook-
ing," he went on, "though I might try to
get her mother while you are here. Do
you think she would come?" turning to
Mariequita.

Mariequita thought that perhaps Philo-
mel's mother might come for a few days,
and money enough.

Beholding Mrs. Pontellier make her ap-
pearance, the girl had at once suspected a
lovers* rendezvous. But Victor's astonish-
ment was so genuine, and Mrs. Pontellier's
indifference so apparent, that the disturbing

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298 THE AWAKENING

notion did not lodge long in her brain. She
contemplated with the greatest interest this
woman who gave the most sumptuous din-
ners in America, and who had all the men
in New Orleans at her feet.

"What time will you have dinner?"
asked Edna. ^Tm very hungry; but don't
get anything extra. ' '

'*ril have it ready in little or no time/'
he said, bustling and packing away his
tools. "You may go to my room to brush
up and rest yourself. Mariequita will show
you."

' * Thank you, ' ' said Edna. ' ' But, do you
know, I have a notion to go down to the
beach and take a good wash and even a lit-
tle swim, before dinner?"

"The water is too cold!" they both
exclaimed. "Don't think of it."

"Well, I might go down and try — dip
my toes in. Why, it seems to me the sun
is hot enough to have warmed the very
depths of the ocean. Could you get me a
coqple of towels? I'd better go right away,
so as to be back in time. It would be a little
too chilly if I waited till this afternoon/*

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THE AWAKENING 299

Mariequita ran over to Victor's room, and
returned with some towels, which she gave
to Edna.

**I hope you have fish for dinner," said
Edna, as she started to walkaway; "but
don't do anything extra if you haven't."

''Run and find Philomel's mother," Vic-
tor instructed the girl. ''I'll go to the
kitchen and see what I can do. By Gim-
miny ! Women have no consideration ! She
might have sent me word."

Edna walked on down to the beach rather
mechanically, not noticing anything special
except that the sun was hot. She was not
dwelling upon any particular train of
thought. She had done all the thinking
which was necessary after Robert went
away, when she lay awake upon the sofa
till morning.

She had said over and over to herself:
"To-day it is Arobin; to-morrow it will be
some one else. It makes no difference to
me, it doesn't matter about L^once Pon-
tellier — but Raoul and Etienne!" She
understood now clearly what she had meant
long ago when she said to Adfele RatignoUe

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300 THE AWAKENING

that she would give up the unessential, but
she would' never sacrifice herself for her
children.

Despondency had come upon her there
in the wakeful night, and had never lifted.
There was no one" thing in the world that
she desired. There was no human being
whom she wanted near her except Robert ;
and she even realized that the day would
come when he, too, and the thought of him
would melt out of her existence, leaving her
alone. The cKildren appeared before her
like antagonists who had overcome her;
who had overpowered and sought to drag
her into the soul's slavery for the rest of
her days. But she knew a way to elude
them. She was not thinking of these things
when she walked down to the beach.

The water of the Gulf stretched out
before her, gleaming with the million lights
of the sun. The voice of the sea is seduc-
tive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring,
murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in
abysses of solitude. All along the white
beach, up and down, tliere was no living
thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing

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THE AWAKENING 301

was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering,
circling disabled down, down to the water.

Edna had found her old bathing suit still
hanging, faded, upon its accustomed peg.

She put it on, leaving her clothing in the
bath-house. , But when she was there beside
the sea, absolutely alone, she cast the
unpleasant, pricking garments from her, and
for the first time in her life she stood naked
in the open air, at the mercy of the sun,
the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves
that invited her.

How strange and awful it seemed to stand
naked under the sky ! how delicious ! She
felt like some new-born creature, opening
its eyes in a familiar world that it had never
known.

The foamy wavelets curled up to her
white feet, and coiled like serpents about her
ankles. She walked out. The water was chill,
but she walked on. The water was deep,
but she lifted her white body and reached
out with a long, sweeping stroke. The
touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the
body in its soft, close embrace.

She went on and on. She remembered

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302 THE AWAKENING

the night she swam far out, and recalled
the terror that seized her at the fear of
being unable to regain the shore. She did
not look back now, but went on and on,
thinking of the blue-grass meadow that she
had traversed when a little child," believing
that it had no beginning and no end.

Her arms and legs were growing tired.

She thought of L^once and the children.
They were a part of her life. But they
need not have thought that they could pos-
sess lier, body and soul. How Mademoi-
selle Reisz would have laughed, perhaps
sneered, if she knew! '*And you call your-
self an artist ! What pretensions, Madame !
The artist must possess th^ cpjirageouSi-SOiil
that dares and defies.*'

Exhaustion was pressing upon and over-
powering her.

'*Good-by — because, I love you." He
did not know; he did not understand.
Hewould never understand. Perhaps Doctor
Mandelet would have understood if she had
seen him — but it was too late; the shore
was far behind her, and her strength was
gone.

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THE AWAKENING 303

She looked into the distance, and the old
terror flamed up for an instant, then sank
again. Edna heard her father's voice and
her sister Margaret's. She heard the bark-
ing of an old dog that was chained to the
sycamore tree. The spurs of the cavalry
officer clanged as he walked across the porch.
There was the hum of bees, and the musky
odor of pinks filled the air.

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-.^

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/V v^.

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THE Bnpprniir-ti

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the last date stamped below. If another user
places a recall for this item, the borrower will
be notified of the need for an earlier return.

Non-receipt of overdue notices does not exempt
the borrower from overdue fines.

Harvard CoDege ^dener Library
_^A 02138 617-495-2413

WXfS

BOOK UL

Please handT

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