—"Pretty Moon, I show you my little money;—now let me always have money so long as you shiner!"[21]
Then the mother takes them up to bed;—and in a little while there floats to me, through the open window, the murmur of the children's evening prayer:—
"Ange-gardien,
Veillez sur moi."
* * * *
"Ayez pitié de ma faiblesse;
Couchez-vous sur mon petit lit;
Suivez-moi sans cesse."[22]...
I can only catch a line here and there.... They do not sleep immediately;—they continue to chat in bed. Gabrielle wants to know what a guardian-angel is like. And I hear Mimi's voice replying in creole:—
—"Zange-gàdien, c'est yon jeine fi, touts bel." (The guardian-angel is a young girl, all beautiful.)
A little while, and there is silence; and I see Yzore come out, barefooted, upon the moonlit balcony of her little room,—looking up and down the hushed street, looking at the sea, looking up betimes at the high flickering of stars,—moving her lips as in prayer.... And, standing there white-robed, with her rich dark hair loose-falling, there is a weird grace about her that recalls those long slim figures of guardian-angels in French religious prints....
[21]Bel ladine, moin ka montré ou ti pièce moin!—ba moin làgent toutt tempe ou ka clairé!"... This little invocation is supposed to have most power when ottered on the first appearance of the new moon.
[22]"Guardian-angel, watch over me;—have pity upon my weakness; lie down on my little bed with me; follow me whithersoever I go."... The prayers are always said in French. Metaphysical and theological terms cannot be rendered in the patois; and the authors of creole catechisms have always been obliged to borrow and explain French religious phrases in order to make their texts comprehensible.
XVI
March 6th.