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The Key to the Riddle
The Key to the Riddle
CHAPTER I
THE PRESBYTHE OF PONEFRA
It was the month of April in the Val Martino. The year was 1686. At the open salon window of the old presbythe of Ponefra stood a young girl. A shadow rested on her brow, and ever and again with a quick, furtive movement she drew her hand across her eyes. A gentle touch on her shoulder made her start. "My darling! My precious little Azerolel And you had looked for it that this day should have been the brightest in all the year for you I Child, child ! in the happy past how easy it was for your mother to make her little ones' birthdays gladsome, but to-day ' There was a quiver in the low voice, and for a moment the speaker, Madame Montoux, the pastor's gentle wife, had a hard fight to maintain her own composure. The girl turned swiftly and flung her arms round her mother's neck in an almost convulsive clasp, then, moved by a quick impulse, she freed herself, and drawing her slender figure to its full height, said, with a prond effort to be calm, " Mother, I am seventeen years old to-day. I am 'little Azerole' no longer, but a woman grown. I have been telling myself that now it is time I shonld think of the happiness of others rather than of my own. If I were not so selfish I should not forget so often as I do that it will be even harder for my father and for you to leave the presbythe and our own dear valleys. As Lion says, exile is after all only exile, not worse ; and in the new home we have to make for ourselves in the new country we shall have each other, and truly that is everything." " Our own dear valleys," she had said. But in truth, to the Montoux family the valleys of Piedmont were theirs only by adoption. It was but sixteen years since Francois Montoux, at the earnest request of the Table in Torre Pelice, had quitted his native Dauphin^, to look of motherly pride change to one of distre
CHAPTER I
THE PRESBYTHE OF PONEFRA
It was the month of April in the Val Martino. The year was 1686. At the open salon window of the old presbythe of Ponefra stood a young girl. A shadow rested on her brow, and ever and again with a quick, furtive movement she drew her hand across her eyes. A gentle touch on her shoulder made her start. "My darling! My precious little Azerolel And you had looked for it that this day should have been the brightest in all the year for you I Child, child ! in the happy past how easy it was for your mother to make her little ones' birthdays gladsome, but to-day ' There was a quiver in the low voice, and for a moment the speaker, Madame Montoux, the pastor's gentle wife, had a hard fight to maintain her own composure. The girl turned swiftly and flung her arms round her mother's neck in an almost convulsive clasp, then, moved by a quick impulse, she freed herself, and drawing her slender figure to its full height, said, with a prond effort to be calm, " Mother, I am seventeen years old to-day. I am 'little Azerole' no longer, but a woman grown. I have been telling myself that now it is time I shonld think of the happiness of others rather than of my own. If I were not so selfish I should not forget so often as I do that it will be even harder for my father and for you to leave the presbythe and our own dear valleys. As Lion says, exile is after all only exile, not worse ; and in the new home we have to make for ourselves in the new country we shall have each other, and truly that is everything." " Our own dear valleys," she had said. But in truth, to the Montoux family the valleys of Piedmont were theirs only by adoption. It was but sixteen years since Francois Montoux, at the earnest request of the Table in Torre Pelice, had quitted his native Dauphin^, to look of motherly pride change to one of distre
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Published January 1, 2018
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March 29, 2021
Though set in an era of history I do not usually enjoy, "The Key to the Riddle" is a sweet and stirring story with a wide range of characters, mystery, plots, and surprises. Good encouragement for any who feels their life has not gone as hoped or planned.
The free LibriVox audio-book edition (from which this cover photo is taken) is well-read and easy to follow.
The free LibriVox audio-book edition (from which this cover photo is taken) is well-read and easy to follow.
Displaying 1 of 1 review