The Grandissimes Read online

  Produced by Suzanne Shell, Charlie Kirschner and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team.

  THE GRANDISSIMES

  BY GEORGE W. CABLE

  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BYALBERT HERTER

  MDCCCXCIX

  1899

  CONTENTS

  I. Masked Batteries. II. The Fate of the Immigrant. III. "And who is my Neighbor?" IV. Family Trees. V. A Maiden who will not Marry. VI. Lost Opportunities. VII. Was it Honore Grandissime? VIII. Signed--Honore Grandissime. IX. Illustrating the Tractive Power of Basil. X. "Oo dad is, 'Sieur Frowenfel'?" XI. Sudden Flashes of Light. XII. The Philosophe. XIII. A Call from the Rent-Spectre. XIV. Before Sunset. XV. Rolled in the Dust. XVI. Starlight in the rue Chartres. XVII. That Night. XVIII. New Light upon Dark Places. XIX. Art and Commerce. XX. A very Natural Mistake. XXI. Doctor Keene Recovers his Bullet. XXII. Wars within the Breast. XXIII. Frowenfeld Keeps his Appointment. XXIV. Frowenfeld Makes an Argument. XXV. Aurora as a Historian. XXVI. A Ride and a Rescue. XXVII. The Fete de Grandpere. XXVIII. The Story of Bras-Coupe. XXIX. The Story of Bras-Coupe, Continued. XXX. Paralysis. XXXI. Another Wound in a New Place. XXXII. Interrupted Preliminaries. XXXIII. Unkindest Cut of All. XXXIV. Clotilde as a Surgeon. XXXV. "Fo' wad you Cryne?" XXXVI. Aurora's Last Picayune. XXXVII. Honore Makes some Confessions.XXXVIII. Tests of Friendship. XXXIX. Louisiana States her Wants. XL. Frowenfeld Finds Sylvestre. XLI. To Come to the Point. XLII. An Inheritance of Wrong. XLIII. The Eagle Visits the Doves in their Nest. XLIV. Bad for Charlie Keene. XLV. More Reparation. XLVI. The Pique-en-terre Loses One of her Crew. XLVII. The News. XLVIII. An Indignant Family and a Smashed Shop. XLIX. Over the New Store. L. A Proposal of Marriage. LI. Business Changes. LII. Love Lies-a-Bleeding. LIII. Frowenfeld at the Grandissime Mansion. LIV. "Cauldron Bubble". LV. Caught. LVI. Blood for a Blow. LVII. Voudou Cured. LVIII. Dying Words. LIX. Where some Creole Money Goes. LX. "All Right". LXI. "No!".

  PHOTOGRAVURES

  "They paused a little within the obscurity of the corridor, and just toreassure themselves that everything _was_ 'all right'" _Frontispiece_.

  "She looked upon an unmasked, noble countenance, lifted her own mask alittle, and then a little more; and then shut it quickly".

  "The daughter of the Natchez sitting in majesty, clothed in many-coloredrobes of shining feathers crossed and recrossed with girdles ofserpent-skins and of wampum".

  "Aurora,--alas! alas!--went down upon her knees with her gaze fixed uponthe candle's flame".

  "The young man with auburn curls rested the edge of his burden upon thecounter, tore away its wrappings and disclosed a painting".

  "Silently regarding the intruder with a pair of eyes that sent an icychill through him and fastened him where he stood, lay PalmyrePhilosophe".

  "On their part, they would sit in deep attention, shielding their facesfrom the fire, and responding to enunciations directly contrary to theirconvictions with an occasional 'yes-seh,' or 'ceddenly,' or 'of coze,'or,--prettier affirmation still,--a solemn drooping of the eyelids".

  "Bras-Coupe was practically declaring his independence on a slight riseof ground hardly sixty feet in circumference and lifted scarce above thewater in the inmost depths of the swamp".

  "'Ma lill dotter, wad dad meggin you cry? Iv you will tell me wad dadmague you cry, I will tell you--on ma _second word of honor_'--sherolled up her fist--'juz wad I thing about dad 'Sieur Frowenfel!'".

  "His head was bowed, a heavy grizzled lock fell down upon his dark,frowning brow, one hand clenched the top of his staff, the other hisknee, and both trembled violently".

  "The tall figure of Palmyre rose slowly and silently from her chair, hereyes lifted up and her lips moving noiselessly. She seemed to have lostall knowledge of place or of human presence".

  "They turned in a direction opposite to the entrance and took chairs ina cool nook of the paved court, at a small table where the hospitalityof Clemence had placed glasses of lemonade".

  _In addition to the foregoing, the stories are illustrated with eightsmaller photogravures from drawings by Mr. Herter_.