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The Deemster: Catherine

WATERLOO By MM. ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN Condensation by CHARLES E. L. WINGATE THERE was joy unbounded when Louis the Eighteenth returned in 1814. Yes, everybody was delighted, except the old soldiers and the fencing-masters. Living with Father Goulden in Phalsbourg, of old Lorraine, I was happy in the belief that conscription was now over, and that, at last, I should be able to marry Catherine and live in peace.

So, when the marriage permit came, I rushed at once to her with the news. I kissed her again and again and we both wept for joy. And then, after the happiness of marrying Catherine, my greatest delight lay in thinking that I should be a tradesman for the rest of my life. Ah, what a happy life! what satisfaction to be young and to have a simple, good, industrious wife! We shall never be old! We shall always love each other and always retain about us those whom we love.