Letter from Mrs. Martin to her brother Isidore CF 7
March 28, 1864.
I'm opening my father's letter to give you a few words and give you some news from Alencon, which will perhaps interest you, although my father wants you to be completely indifferent.
I don't know if you knew Mr. Ch. who ran the big mill and who was married to a sister of Mrs. L. Well! this M. Ch. and his wife were having a magnificent house built, just opposite the Café de la Renaissance; this house was their delight in advance; they were to go and live there on Saint John's Day and not to dislodge it until after their death. The lady especially felt such great joy in staying there that she said to everyone: “My God! Oh ! how happy I am! I don't miss anything. I have health, I have fortune; I get everything I want; I have no children to disturb my rest; well, I don't know anyone as comfortable as me. »
I have always heard it said: "Woe, three times woe to anyone who can use such language!" "And my dear friend, I am so convinced of what I am telling you here, that at certain periods of my life, when I gave myself this testimony that I was happy, I did not think of it without trembling, because it is certain and proven by experience that happiness is not on earth... No, happiness cannot be found here below, and it is a bad sign when everything prospers. God wanted it so in his wisdom, to remind us that the earth is not our true homeland.
Finally, back to our story:
Mr. and Mrs. Ch. went around six o'clock on Saturday evening to visit their splendid residence and spend the evening with their parents at the Renaissance cafe. Around half past eight, the gentleman said to the lady: "I have a letter to post and it's already late, come with me." They leave immediately and say to themselves, as they come back: "To go faster, let's take a shortcut through our garden." Their garden actually opened into this place, ending just opposite the cafe where they were expected. But at the end of the garden, a pit was being built and you had to walk past it on planks. As we couldn't see very clearly, the gentleman gets too close and falls in; the lady falls afterwards and drags a stone which kills her husband instantly; she calls for help, her cries are heard. She was seriously injured; they take her to her sister and she expires ten minutes later.
Around nine-thirty, I heard many footsteps in front of the house and people were talking loudly. I watch; the two corpses were carried away on stretchers. This is the sad story of this happy couple!...
Little Pauline is getting cuter and cuter. I'm taking her to Le Mans in a month. She knows her aunt [Sr Marie-Dosithée] well because on Good Friday, as she was in church and was looking at a little paper nun that Elise had sent to me and who is wearing the costume of the Visitation, she took the image, lifted it above his head and shouted with all his might: “Here is my aunt! which made the people around him laugh.
