g back from the village, by the
walls of the farm in the shade of the old nettle trees, when I saw some
farm-hands quietly finishing loading a hay wain on the road in front of
the farm. The gate had been left open and discovered a tall,
white-haired, old man at the back of the yard, with his elbows on a
large stone table, and his head in his hands. He was wearing an
ill-fitting jacket and tattered trousers.... The sight of him stopped
me in my tracks. One of the men whispered, almost inaudibly, to me:

--Sush. It's the Master. He's been like that since his son's death.

At that moment a woman and a small boy, both dressed in black and
accompanied by fat and sun-tanned villagers, passed near us and went
into the farm.

The man went on:

--... The lady and the youngest, Cadet, are coming back from the mass.
Every day it's the same thing since the eldest killed himself. Oh,
monsieur, what a tragedy. The father still goes round in his mourning
weeds, nothing will stop him.... Gee-up!

The wagon lurched ready to go, but I still wanted to know more, so I
asked the driver if I could sit with him, and it was up there in the
hay, that I learned all about the tragic story of young Jan.

* * * * *

Jan was an admirable countryman of twenty, as well-behaved as a girl,
well-built and open-hearted. He was very handsome and so caught the eye
of lots of women, but he had eyes for only one--a petite girl from
Arles, velvet and lace vision, whom he had once met in the town's main
square. This wasn't well received at first in the farm. The girl was
known as a flirt, and her parents weren't local people. But Jan wanted
her, whatever the cost. He said:

--I will die if I don't have her. And so, it just had to be. The
marriage was duly arranged to take place after the harvest.

One Sunday evening, the family were just finishing dinner in the
courtyard. It was almost a wedding feast. The fiancee was not there,
but her health and well-being were toasted throughout the meal.... A
man appeared unexpectedly at the door, and stuttered a request to speak
to Esteve, the master of the house, alone. Esteve got up and went out
onto the road.

--Monsieur, the man said, you are about to marry your boy off to a
woman who is a bitch, and has been my mistress for two years. I have
proof of what I say; here are some of her letters!... Her parents know
all about it and have promised her to me, but since your son took an
inter