lage a day, it
was common property, and had been read and re-read until almost every
soul in the place knew it off by heart.

The wanderer's return was to be made more momentous by Madame Charest
inviting a large number of guests to a party, to be given by her the
evening he returned.

If these worthy people were in a joyous mood the night of the party,
nature appeared equally so; for by the time the first hay-cart, with
its burden of guests, drove up to the scene of the festivities, the
moon, as though specially engaged to do duty on this honored occasion,
stood right over farmer Charest's house, and with jovial countenance
beamed into the faces of the arriving guests, and threw such a kindly
light over the farmer's rough, nondescript garments as to make them
look almost like good, soft broadcloth. It also paid flattering
attention to Madame Charest, and so beautified her thin face and
silvered her grey hair, as she stood in the door and welcomed the
arrivals, as to make the neighbors affirm--and that in a manner that
it would have been utterly useless to try and gainsay--that she looked
far younger than she did ten years ago!

The lion of the hour, of course, was the wanderer Zotique. He stood in
the main room of the house, the kitchen, near the long improvised
table, with its burden of seductive viands, and shook hands with the
guests without even the slightest tinge of the superiority which it
was thought he would, and that justly, assume.

Notwithstanding his graciousness, however, he was looked upon with no
little awe. He had grown so tall, got so broad-shouldered, become the
owner of such a soft, curling moustache, and wore such fine clothes
and white linen as to quite throw in the shade his elder brother
Vital, and the other men present, who wore, as was customary on all
occasions--state or otherwise--the dark woollen suits and grey woollen
shirts, with the long pointed, attached collars.

Had Zotique not been a sensible fellow, he would surely have had his
head turned by the many flattering things said to him.

It so chanced, too, that remarks were passed about him to his parents
and brother, _sotto voce_, which, strange as it may appear, managed in
some unaccountable manner always to reach his ears.

"He certainly has grown good-looking, very good-looking," thought
Vital, as he hovered about his younger brother. Although he was
sincerely glad to see him, he could not altogether drive away the
shameful