Short Fiction, Xavier de Maistre [books to read in your 20s txt] 📗

distress; still, if my presence troubles you, I will retire.”

“Stay in welcome,” said the leper, turning quickly round, “if you do not fear to do so after looking at me.”

The officer stood for some moments motionless with surprise and terror at the sight of this unfortunate being, whom leprosy had completely disfigured.

“I will gladly stay,” he said, “if you will accept the visit of a man whom sheer chance has led hither, but whom a lively interest in your case detains.”

The Leper

Interest?⁠ ⁠… I have never moved aught but pity.

The Officer

I should indeed be happy if I could offer you any consolation.

The Leper

It is a great consolation to me but to see a human being, and to hear one of those human voices which generally seem to shun me.

The Officer

Allow me, then, to spend a little time in conversing with you, and in seeing your dwelling.

The Leper

By all means, if agreeable to you. (As he spoke, the leper covered his head with a large felt hat, the falling brim of which hid his face.) Come, (he added,) this way, to the south side. I tend a little flowerbed that may please you; you will find there some rather rare specimens. I procured the seed of all the flowers that grow wild in the Alps, and have tried to get them to double, and to beautify them by cultivation.

The Officer

Some of these flowers do indeed seem quite new to me.

The Leper

Look at that little rosebush. It is the thornless rose, which grows on the high Alps. But it is already losing its peculiarity, and throws out more and more thorns under cultivation.

The Officer

It should be the emblem of ingratitude!

The Leper

If any of these flowers please you, you may gather them without fear, and you will run no risk in carrying them about you. I planted them, and I have the gratification of watering them, and seeing them; but I never handle them.

The Officer

Why so?

The Leper

I should fear to sully them⁠ ⁠… and I could not then venture to offer them for acceptance.

The Officer

And what will you do with them?

The Leper

The people who bring my food from the hospital do not hesitate to make them into nosegays. Sometimes, too, the children from the town come to my garden-gate, when I go at once to my tower, lest I should frighten or harm them. From my window I see them skip about and pick a flower here and there. When they go away they look up at me, and say, “Good day, Leper;” and that cheers me a little.

The Officer

You have managed to get together here a great variety of plants. I see you have vines and several kinds of fruit-trees.

The Leper

The trees are still young. I planted them myself; and so I did that vine, which I trained along the old wall, whose broad top makes me a little walk. It is my favourite spot. Mount those stones; they are a flight of steps of my own handiwork. Keep along by the wall.

The Officer

What a delightful retreat! And how well suited for the meditations of a recluse.

The Leper

I am very fond of it. I look from here upon the country and the labourers in the fields. I see what is going on in the meadow, but am seen by no one.

The Officer

The quietness and retirement of this spot are wonderful. We are in a town, and yet might fancy ourselves in a desert.

The Leper

Solitude is not always to be found in the midst of forests and rocks. The unhappy are alone everywhere.

The Officer

What were the circumstances that brought you here? Is this your native place?

The Leper

I was born by the seaside, in the principality of Oneille, and have only lived here for fifteen years. As to my history, it is but one long unbroken misery.

The Officer

Have you always lived alone?

The Leper

I lost my parents in my infancy. I never knew them. The one sister who was left to me has been dead two years. I never had a friend.

The Officer

Poor man!

The Leper

Such is God’s will.

The Officer

And may I ask your name?

The Leper

Alas! mine is a terrible name. I am known as the Leper. My family name and that which religion conferred upon me on the day of my birth, have remained undivulged. I am the Leper. No other title have I to the kindness of men; and I trust they may never know who I am.

The Officer

And the sister you lost⁠—did she live with you?

The Leper

She lived for five years with me in this dwelling. She was in the same unhappy case as myself; she shared my sorrows, and I did my best to relieve hers.

The Officer

And how do you now occupy yourself in this profound solitude?

The Leper

An account of the occupations of such a solitary being as I am could not but be very monotonous to a man of the world, whose happiness is derived from the activity of social life.

The Officer

Ah! little do you know the life of which you speak⁠—a life in which I have never found happiness. I am often alone from choice; and, perhaps, there is more likeness between our thoughts than you suppose. But, still, I admit that unbroken solitude seems very awful to me. I can hardly picture it to myself.

The Leper

The Imitation of Jesus Christ teaches us that he who loves his cell will find in it peace. I am beginning to feel the truth of these consoling words. The sense of loneliness is relieved by labour. The man who works is never altogether wretched. Of this I am a proof. In fine weather, the cultivation of my garden and flowerbed gives me enough employment; and during winter I make baskets and mats. I also make my own clothes. Every day I prepare my food from the provisions brought me from the