33 Madeleine, the Fisher Girl. D—— is now the only town in the North of France where the The fisher and factory girls save up sou by sou from their earnings to buy costumes for this great festival, and in every household, however poor, crêpes (a species of pancake) are made. On this Carnival evening the streets presented such a crowded appearance that it was almost impossible to pass through them, and every kind of déguisement was to be seen, from the splendid princely costume to the tattered one of some jester. The Carnival fell later than usual this year, and the weather was mild and warm. A little group of masques were pushing their way through the throng, and a stout girl, dressed up in brilliant and trumpery finery, uttered expletives of no very refined kind; she joked with everybody, and accepted kisses with much complacency. Many turned round to look, and their eyes fell with admiration upon a tall slight figure who seemed to shrink from the bold glances that tried to pierce the velvet loup that partially covered her face. Her costume was the modest neat one of a fisher girl. A checked shawl was tied round her shoulders, and her short striped petticoat displayed red-stockinged feet in sandals. The tiny head had a small woollen handkerchief fastened round it, and the hair -of which a mass of little gold-tinted brown lovelocks escaped on the forehead and neck—was plaited and coiled up close to it. Her companion, to whose arm she clung, wore a red cotton domino and a hideous masque. The fisher girl was the pretty Madeleine une pêcheuse de grenades-and her two cousins, Jean Jennequin and his sister Caroline. Madeleine had yielded with much reluctance to the entreaties of her relatives to join them, for her fiancé, Grand Pierre (thus named on account of his powerful handsome frame that towered above all others), had left a few days before for the fishing in the Northern seas. They would have been married before his departure, but, besides the fisher girl being very young -only sixteen-they were both very poor, and Pierre's hard toil out there was to bring in sufficient money to enable them to set D up en ménage on his return. They were passionately fond of each other, and Madeleine's heart was sick at his absence, and the rattles whirled in her face and the shrill whistling made her start and wince. Ah, if Pierre had been there, how different she would have felt! and pressed against his strong frame she would have laughed at it all! The most powerful reason that induced her to come out was the desire to keep her cousin Jean, a delicate youth of about nineteen, from the cabaret; for she knew that without her he would spend his night there, though while she was on his arm there was no fear of his wishing to do so. She had refused to dress up, but, to pass as much unnoticed as possible, had put on a small velvet loup. However, the graceful set of the head on the shoulders, the pretty figure, were much noticed. Her cousin was as dissimilar to her as possible, being redhaired, freckled, and vulgar. Her jealousy and envy of Madeleine were very great, for she would much have wished Pierre for her own homme; and now, as she saw the admiration she excited, a bitter angry look came over her face. A masque had been persistently following them. He was dressed as a cavalier in black velvet and large hat and feather. He came up near enough sometimes to whisper a few words in Caroline's ear, and then her mouth smiled a cruel triumphant smile. The crowd became more and more dense and compact. A group of masques, dressed up as demons, in scarlet, threw themselves in the throng, and one of them, seizing Madeleine's supple waist, whirled her rapidly round, while another took Caroline, whose harsh discordant voice, screaming with delight, was heard ringing out through the din and noise. Madeleine gave a scream of terror as she felt herself lifted off her feet, and when the cavalier who had followed them came to the rescue she almost fainted in his arms. The demon, her per secutor, uttered a little cry of disdain at her weakness, and then went in search of bolder game. Madeleine's cousins were nowhere to be seen, and, dazed and bewildered, she was thankful to accept the cavalier's arm. As she touched it, however, she shrank back, as if an instinctive feeling of repulsion or of coming danger had seized her, but the next minute she reproached herself for her folly, and was pleased to lean upon her companion for protection as another group of white dominos bore down upon them. "You had better take something to revive you,' whispered the cavalier under his mask in a soft, respectful, disguised tone, |