Donewell

Green Girls

VOLUME ONE

CHAPTER I

Profound silence pervaded the house of Mirzan at Chartres and nothing betrayed the discovery of the sad adventure which had happened within its walls. No sound of voices revealed the explosion of anger which emanated from Mr. Francis Mirzan when, called by his wife, he surprised his two children, Paul and Adeline, in the very act of libertinism.

Then came a severe flogging on the backs of the two criminals who were afterward shut up in their respective rooms, a torrent of words among which some epithets like scamp, culprits, wicked children destined to dishonour their parents and so forth; then the calm, the mothers tears, the fathers reflections, the decision to send them as boarders, one to a college and the other to a convent.

Mr. Francis Mirzan, a magistrate of the old school, was austerity itself and Mrs. Isabella Mirzan was of the most devout principles.

Paul Mirzan was thirteen years of age and received the personal correction with rage and fury; Adeline, a girl of fourteen, the more guilty of the two in the affair, received it with icy and haughty impassibility.

The children had been brought up at home. A clergyman gave them their lessons, and as no previous signs had announced the depraved instincts of the children, the incident came like lightning from a blue sky. Yet there were links connecting the event with the past.

Ever since her first communion celebrated when she was twelve years of age, Adeline was of a precocious and vivacious nature, and showed signs of a sudden inquisitiveness which inflamed her blood. She was tall for her age, slender, with fine limbs, a pretty, fair-complexioned girl with innocent eyes which hid from ordinary observers her true lustful thoughts.

The priest charged with the instruction and education of the two children, was a middle-aged man possessing every qualification necessary to accomplish the task confided to his care. He was, however, ugly stunted and almost deformed and was pitted with small pox. He had led a rather laborious life and his gratitude and strict moral principles guaranteed his reliability to the Mirzans. How did it happen that this little man, this saint-conjectured, at once understood the sensual agitation of the little Adeline and felt the effect of it himself?

With regard to the management of the children, he enjoyed the most complete freedom and confidence and commenced his last secret task thereby detaining the girl now and then after school under the pretext of explaining the more difficult parts of her lesson. In the solitude of the schoolroom, when their chairs were drawn close together, the priest's legs swinging to and fro, would meet Adeline's legs which was never withdrawn on such occasions.