Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped 395

together.

Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed and

feasted;

For with this simple people, who lived like brothers

together,

All things were held in common, and what one had was another's.

Yet under Benedict's roof hospitality seemed more

abundant:

For Evangeline stood among the guests of her father; 400 Bright was her face with smiles, and words of wel

come and gladness

Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as she gave it.

Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the

orchard,

Stript of its golden fruit, was spread the feast of be

trothal.

There in the shade of the porch were the priest and the 405

notary seated;

There good Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil the black

smith.

Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider-press and

the beehives,

Michael the fiddler was placed, with the gayest of

hearts and of waistcoats.

Shadow and light from the leaves alternately played

on his snow-white

Hair, as it waved in the wind; and the jolly face of 410

the fiddler

Glowed like a living coal when the ashes are blown

from the embers.

Gayly the old man sang to the vibrant sound of his

fiddle,

Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres, and Le Carillon de Dunquerque,

And anon with his wooden shoes beat time to the

music.

Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying 415

dances

Under the orchard-trees and down the path to the

meadows;

Old folk and young together, and children mingled among them.

Fairest of all the maids was Evangeline, Benedict's daughter!

Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the blacksmith!

So passed the morning away. And lo! with a 420

summons sonorous

Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows

a drum beat.

Thronged erelong was the church with men. With

out, in the churchyard,

Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and

hung on the headstones

Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from

the forest.

Then came the guard from the ships, and marching 425 proudly among them

Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant

Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of

the soldiers.

Then uprose their commander, and spake from the 430 steps of the altar,

Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal

commission.

"You are convened this day," he said, "by his Maj

esty's orders.

Clement and kind has he been; but how you have answered his kindness,

Let your own hearts reply! To my natural make and

my temper

Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be 435

grievous.

Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our

monarch;

Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle

of all kinds

Forfeited be to the crown; and that you yourselves from this province

Be transported to other lands. God grant you may

dwell there

Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable 440

people!

Prisoners now I declare you; for such is his Majesty's

pleasure!"

As, when the air is serene in sultry solstice of

summer,

Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the

hailstones

Beats down the farmer's corn in the field and shatters

his windows,

Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch 445 from the house-roofs,

Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their en

closures;

So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the speaker.

Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and

then rose

Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and

anger,

But in the course of time the laws of the land were

corrupted;

Might took the place of right, and the weak were

oppressed, and the mighty

Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in a noble- 315

man's palace

That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere long a

suspicion

Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the house

hold.

She, after form of trial condemned to die on the

scaffold,

Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of

Justice.

As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit 320

ascended,

Lo! o'er the city a tempest rose; and the bolts of the

thunder

Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath from its left hand

Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of

the balance,

And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a

magpie,

Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was 325

inwoven."

Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was

ended, the blacksmith