every one
pitied and loved her.

"When poor, crazed Emmeline strolled upon the banks of the Teche,
plucking the wild flowers that strewed her pathway, and singing in
soft tones some Acadian song, those that met her wondered why so fair
and gentle a being should have been visited with God's wrath.

"She spoke of Acadia and of Louis in such loving words, that no one
could listen to her without shedding tears. She fancied herself still
the girl of sixteen years, on the eve of marrying the chosen one of
her heart, whom she loved with such constancy and devotion, and
imagining that her marriage bells tolled from the village church
tower, her countenance would brighten, and her frame trembled with
ecstatic joy. And then, in a sudden transition from joy to despair,
her countenance would change and, trembling convulsively, gasping,
struggling for utterance, and pointing her finger at some invisible
object, in shrill and piercing accents, she would cry out: 'Mother,
mother, he is gone; they have killed him; what will become of me?' And
uttering a wild, unnatural shriek, she would fall senseless in my
arms.

"Sinking at last under the ravages of her mental disease, she expired
in my arms without a struggle, and with an angelic smile on her lips.

"She now sleeps in her quiet grave, shadowed by the tall oak tree near
the little church at the Poste des Attakapas, and her grave has been
kept green and flower-strewn as long as your grandmother has been able
to visit it. Ah! petiots, how sad was the fate of poor Emmeline,
Evangeline, God's little angel."

And burying her face in her hands, grandmother wept and sobbed
bitterly. Our hearts swelled also with emotion, and sympathetic tears
rolled down our cheeks. We withdrew softly and left dear grandmother
alone, to think of and weep for her Evangeline, God's little angel.

Chapter Nine

The Acadians leave Maryland
to go to Louisiana

_Their perilous and weary journey overland--Death of
Rene Leblanc. They arrive safely in Louisiana
and settle in the Attakapas region on the
Teche and Vermillion Bayous_

"As I have already told you, petiots, during three years, we had lived
contented and happy in Maryland, when we received tidings that a
number of Acadians, exiles like us, had settled in Louisiana, where
they were prospering and retrieving their lost fortunes under the
fostering care of the French government.

"This news which threw us in a flutter, engrossed o