Pride of the King, The by Amanda Hughes Page B

imagine the misery and despair he must have felt when he realized the ox had passed the rabies on to him. When his ox had been mysteriously choking weeks ago, Gabriel had reached deeply into the beast's mouth to determine the problem. He did not know the open wound on his hand could provide an avenue for the transmission of disease. Later when the erratic behavior started in the ox, he realized it was rabies.
    He told the family nothing and waited, alone and anxious, to see if he had indeed contracted the disease. When his throat began to constrict, he knew that the disease was upon him, and a choice had to be made, live for two to three more days and face a violent agonizing death putting his family at risk, or deliberately plan his own demise.
    On that last windy morning, Gabriel told Rene to take his mother and the children to Prairie Du Rocher to visit Anne's sister. He said that Anne needed a diversion and that he had far too many chores to take her there himself. After the family left, he went to the Aberjon residence to get the gun. Although Gabriel had a musket, the act was not possible with such a weapon, so he lied to Lauren to obtain Aberjon’s pistol. He returned home, put his affairs in order and took his own life. All of these facts were in a letter to Anne. The majority of the testament contained instructions about the estate, but one page was for Anne's eyes only, and this she locked away in her hope chest.
    Monsieur Aberjon did not berate Lauren for giving Gabriel the pistol. He did not have to chastise her; Lauren punished herself instead. She paced the floor of her room; turning over the events of that day, chiding herself for handing him the gun, feeling overwhelmed with guilt. She hated herself for saying she never wanted to see him again and believed that she had been too selfish that day to see that the man was suffering.
    There was a full moon the night before they buried Gabriel Lupone. It illuminated the front lawn of the Aberjon residence. As if staring at an empty stage, Lauren sat at her bedroom window gazing at the lawn below. She needed solace; she needed Simone, she needed Eugenie. She ached with loneliness. It was a peaceful quiet night, and it lulled her briefly into serenity. As if answering her prayer for companionship, a little brown rabbit hopped across the yard into the moonlight. The little creature stopped to nibble on a blade of grass and looked up at Lauren, its nose twitching. For the first time in days, Lauren smiled. In spite of the ugliness, there was still beauty. Suddenly, a fox dashed out, grabbed the rabbit by the neck and dragged it into the underbrush as it screamed.
    " Mon Dieu !" gasped Lauren slamming her hands onto the windowsill sending the window crashing down. “Is there no escape?”
    She wished the sun would not come up at all. She hated Kaskaskia. She hated the thought of burying Gabriel in a solitary meadow outside of town because he had been banned from consecrated ground.
    The next day Lauren walked at the back of the funeral procession carrying Celeste, Gabriel’s youngest daughter. The wind snapped the skirts of the women, and the slate gray sky promised rain. The funeral was brief, without benefit of clergy, and after Rene read a few words from the Bible the simple wooden casket was lowered into the ground. The small procession ended at the Lupone home where a few loyal friends and neighbors gathered to give their condolences. Since taking one's own life was a sin in the Church many stayed away, condemning Gabriel for his action.
    Filled with shame, Lauren wished she were invisible. She believed everyone was thinking, "There is the foolish girl who handed Gabriel the gun."
    Nevertheless, abandoning the Lupones at their time of need was unthinkable. Filled with anxiety, Lauren waited all afternoon for the guests to leave and then approached Anne. The older children were washing dishes while Anne readied the younger ones for bed. She was by the fire