Paul et Virginie. English Read online

and in opposition to the willof her relations, who refused their consent because he was found guiltyof being descended from parents who had no claims to nobility. Monsieurde la Tour, leaving his wife at Port Louis, embarked for Madagascar, inorder to purchase a few slaves, to assist him in forming a plantation onthis island. He landed at Madagascar during that unhealthy season whichcommences about the middle of October; and soon after his arrival diedof the pestilential fever, which prevails in that island six months ofthe year, and which will forever baffle the attempts of the Europeannations to form establishments on that fatal soil. His effects wereseized upon by the rapacity of strangers, as commonly happens to personsdying in foreign parts; and his wife, who was pregnant, found herself awidow in a country where she had neither credit nor acquaintance, and noearthly possession, or rather support, but one negro woman. Too delicateto solicit protection or relief from any one else after the death ofhim whom alone she loved, misfortune armed her with courage, and sheresolved to cultivate, with her slave, a little spot of ground, andprocure for herself the means of subsistence.

  Desert as was the island, and the ground left to the choice of thesettler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and mostfavorable to commerce: seeking some nook of the mountain, some secretasylum where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her wayfrom the town towards these rocks, where she might conceal herselffrom observation. All sensitive and suffering creatures, from a sort ofcommon instinct, fly for refuge amidst their pains to haunts themost wild and desolate; as if rocks could form a rampart againstmisfortune--as if the calm of Nature could hush the tumults of the soul.That Providence, which lends its support when we ask but the supply ofour necessary wants, had a blessing in reserve for Madame de la Tour,which neither riches nor greatness can purchase:--this blessing was afriend.

  The spot to which Madame de la Tour had fled had already been inhabitedfor a year by a young woman of a lively, good-natured and affectionatedisposition. Margaret (for that was her name) was born in Brittany, of afamily of peasants, by whom she was cherished and beloved, and withwhom she might have passed through life in simple rustic happiness, if,misled by the weakness of a tender heart, she had not listened to thepassion of a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who promised her marriage.He soon abandoned her, and adding inhumanity to seduction, refused toinsure a provision for the child of which she was pregnant. Margaretthen determined to leave forever her native village, and retire, whereher fault might be concealed, to some colony distant from that countrywhere she had lost the only portion of a poor peasant girl--herreputation. With some borrowed money she purchased an old negro slave,with whom she cultivated a little corner of this district.

  Madame de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, came to this spot, whereshe found Margaret engaged in suckling her child. Soothed and charmed bythe sight of a person in a situation somewhat similar to her own, Madamede la Tour related, in a few words, her past condition and her presentwants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital; and more anxious tomerit confidence than to create esteem, she confessed without disguise,the errors of which she had been guilty. "As for me," said she,"I deserve my fate: but you, madam--you! at once virtuous andunhappy"--and, sobbing, she offered Madame de la Tour both her hut andher friendship. That lady, affected by this tender reception, pressedher in her arms, and exclaimed,--"Ah surely Heaven has put an end to mymisfortunes, since it inspires you, to whom I am a stranger, with moregoodness towards me than I have ever experienced from my own relations!"

  I was acquainted with Margaret: and, although my habitation is a leagueand a half from hence, in the woods behind that sloping mountain, Iconsidered myself as her neighbour. In the cities of Europe, a street,even a simple wall, frequently prevents members of the same family frommeeting for years; but in new colonies we consider those persons asneighbours from whom we are divided only by woods and mountains; andabove all at that period, when this island had little intercourse withthe Indies, vicinity alone gave a claim to friendship, and hospitalitytowards strangers seemed less a duty than a pleasure. No sooner was Iinformed that Margaret had found a companion, than I hastened to her, inthe hope of being useful to my neighbour and her guest. I found Madamede la Tour possessed of all those melancholy graces which, byblending sympathy with admiration give to beauty additional power.Her countenance was interesting, expressive at once of dignity anddejection. She appeared to be in the last stage of her pregnancy. I toldthe two friends that for the future interests of their children, andto prevent the intrusion of any other settler, they had better dividebetween them the property of this wild, sequestered valley, which isnearly twenty acres in extent. They confided that task to me, and Imarked out two equal portions of land. One included the higher part ofthis enclosure, from the cloudy pinnacle of that rock, whence springsthe river of Fan-Palms, to that precipitous cleft which you see on thesummit of the mountain, and which, from its resemblance in form to thebattlement of a fortress, is called the Embrasure. It is difficult tofind a path along this wild portion of the enclosure, the soil of whichis encumbered with fragments of rock, or worn into channels formedby torrents; yet it produces noble trees, and innumerable springs andrivulets. The other portion of land comprised the plain extending alongthe banks of the river of Fan-Palms, to the opening where we are nowseated, whence the river takes its course between these two hills, untilit falls into the sea. You may still trace the vestiges of some meadowland; and this part of the common is less rugged, but not more valuablethan the other; since in the rainy season it becomes marshy, and in dryweather is so hard and unyielding, that it will almost resist the strokeof the pickaxe. When I had thus divided the property, I persuaded myneighbours to draw lots for their respective possessions. The higherportion of land, containing the source of the river of Fan-Palms, becamethe property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, comprising the plainon the banks of the river, was allotted to Margaret; and each seemedsatisfied with her share. They entreated me to place their habitationstogether, that they might at all times enjoy the soothing intercourseof friendship, and the consolation of mutual kind offices. Margaret'scottage was situated near the centre of the valley, and just on theboundary of her own plantation. Close to that spot I built anothercottage for the residence of Madame de la Tour; and thus the twofriends, while they possessed all the advantages of neighbourhood livedon their own property. I myself cut palisades from the mountain, andbrought leaves of fan-palms from the sea-shore in order to constructthose two cottages, of which you can now discern neither the entrancenor the roof. Yet, alas! there still remains but too many traces formy remembrance! Time, which so rapidly destroys the proud monuments ofempires, seems in this desert to spare those of friendship, as if toperpetuate my regrets to the last hour of my existence.

  As soon as the second cottage was finished, Madame de la Tour wasdelivered of a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, whowas christened by the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour desired me toperform the same office for her child also, together with her friend,who gave her the name of Virginia. "She will be virtuous," criedMargaret, "and she will be happy. I have only known misfortune bywandering from virtue."

  About the time Madame de la Tour recovered, these two little estates hadalready begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree owingto the care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement, but farmore to the indefatigable labours of the two slaves. Margaret's slave,who was called Domingo, was still healthy and robust, though advanced inyears: he possessed some knowledge, and a good natural understanding.He cultivated indiscriminately, on both plantations, the spots of groundthat seemed most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he thought mostcongenial to each particular soil. Where the ground was poor, he strewedmaize; where it was most fruitful, he planted wheat; and rice in suchspots as were marshy. He threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at thefoot of the rocks, which they loved to climb and decorate with theirluxuriant foliage. In dry spots he cultivated the sweet potatoe; thecotton-tree flourished upon the height
s, and the sugar-cane grew in theclayey soil. He reared some plants of coffee on the hills, where thegrain, although small, is excellent. His plantain-trees, which spreadtheir grateful shade on the banks of the river, and encircled thecottages, yielded fruit throughout the year. And lastly, Domingo, tosoothe his cares, cultivated a few plants of tobacco. Sometimes he wasemployed in cutting wood for firing from the mountain, sometimes inhewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level the paths.The zeal which inspired him enabled him to perform all these labourswith intelligence and activity. He was much attached to Margaret, andnot less to Madame de la Tour, whose negro woman, Mary, he had marriedon the birth of Virginia; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Marywas born at Madagascar, and had there acquired the knowledge of someuseful arts. She could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with longgrass that grows in the woods. She was