desire's Baby by Kate chopan this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by Linda McDaniel desire Baby by Kate chopan as the day was pleasant Madame valmond drove over to LA to see Desiree and the baby it made her laugh to think of Desiree with a baby why it seemed but yesterday that Desiree was little more than a baby herself when mure in riding through the Gateway of valand had found her lying asleep in the shadow of the Big Stone pillar the little one awoke in his arms and began to cry for Dad da that was as much as she could do or say some people thought that she might have strayed there of her own accord for she was of the toddling age the prevailing belief was that she had been purposefully left there by a party of Texans whose canvas covered wagon late in the day had crossed the ferry that C home May kept just below the plantation in time Madame valmond abandoned every speculation but the one that Desiree had been sent to her by a beneficent Providence to be the child of her affection seeing that she was without child of the flesh for the girl grew to be beautiful and gentle affectionate and sincere the idol of valmond day it was no wonder when she stood one day against the stone pillar in whose Shadow she had Lain asleep 18 years before that Armand abani riding by and seeing her there had fallen in love with her that was the way all the OES fell in love as if struck by a pistol shot the Wonder was that he had not loved her before for he had known her since his father brought him home from Paris a boy of eight after his mother died there the passion that awoken him that day when he saw her at the gate swept along like an avalanche or like a prairie fire or like anything that drives headlong over all obstacles M valmond grew practical and wanted things well considered that is the girl's obscure origin Arman looked into her eyes and did not care he was reminded that she was nameless what did it matter about a name when he could give her one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana he ordered the Cora from Paris and contained himself with what patience he could until it arrived then they were married Madame fande had not seen Desiree and the baby for four weeks when she reached laury she shuddered at the first sight of it as she always did it was a sadl looking place which for many years had not known the gentle presence of a mistress oh mure OB having married and buried his wife in France and she having loved her own land too well ever to leave it the roof came down Steep and black like a cowl reaching out beyond the wide galleries that encircle the yellow stuccoed house big solemn Oaks grew close to it and their thick Lea far-reaching branches shattered it like a paw young oban's rule was a strict one too and under it his Negroes had forgotten how to be gay as they had been during the old Master's easygoing and indulgent lifetime the young mother was recovering slowly and lay full length in her soft white muslins and laces upon a couch the baby was beside her upon her arm arm where he had fallen asleep at her breast the yellow nurse woman sat beside a window fanning herself Madame valand bent her portly figure over Desiree and kissed her holding her an instant tenderly In Her Arms then she turned to the child this is not the baby she exclaimed in startled tones French was the language spoken at valmonde in those days I knew you would be astonished laughed Desiree at the way he has grown the little C shund delay look at his legs mama and his hands and fingernails real fingernails sandrin had to cut them this morning isn't it so zandr the woman bowed her turbaned head majestically Missy Madame and the way he cries when on Desiree is deafening Armand heard him the other day as far away as laan's cabin Madame vond had never removed her eyes from the child she picked it up and walked with it over to the window that was lightest she scanned it narrowly then looked as searchingly at zandr whose face was turned to gaze across the fields yes the child has grown has changed said Madame valmond slowly as she replaced it beside its mother what does Armand say des's face became suffused with a glow that was happiness itself oh Armand is the proudest father in The Parish I believe chiefly because it's a boy to bear his name though he says not that he would have loved a girl as well but I know it isn't true I know he says that to please me and mama she added drawing Madame V's head down to her and speaking in a whisper he hasn't punished one of them not one of them since baby is born even Negron who pretended to have burnt his leg that he might rest from work he only laughed and said Negron was a great Scamp oh Mama I'm so happy it frightens me what Desiree said was true marriage and later the birth of his son had softened Arman obin's imperious and exacting nature greatly this was what made the gentle Desiree so happy for she loved him desperately when he frown she trembled but loved him when he smiled she asked no greater blessing of God but arman's dark handsome face had not often been disfigured by frown since the day he fell in love with her when the baby was about 3 months old Desiree awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace it was at first too subtle to grasp it had only been a disquieting suggestion an air of mystery among the blacks unexpected visits from far off neighbors who could hardly account for their coming then a strange and awful change in her husband's manner which she dared not ask him to explain when he spoke to her it was with averted eyes from which the old love light seemed to have gone out he absented himself from home and when there avoided her presence and that of her child without excuse and the Very Spirit of Satan seemed suddenly to take hold of him in his dealings with the slaves dese was miserable enough to die she sat in her room one hot afternoon in her pinoir listlessly drawing through her fingers the strands of her long silky brown hair that hung about her shoulders the baby half naked lay asleep upon her own great mahogany bed that was like a Sumptuous throne with its satin lined half canopy one of laan's little quadroon boys half naked too stood Fanning the child slowly with a fan of peacock feathers Desiree's eyes had been fixed absently and sadly upon the baby while she was striving to penetrate the threatening Mist that she felt closing about her she looked from her child to the boy who stood beside him and back again over and over ah it was a cry that she could not help which she was not conscious of having uttered the blood turned like ice in her veins and a clammy moisture gathered upon her face she tried to speak to the little quadron boy but no sound would come at first when he heard his name uttered he looked up and his mistress was pointing to the door he laid aside the great soft fan and obediently stole away oh over the polished floor on his bare tiptoes she stayed motionless with gaze riveted upon her child and her face the picture of fright presently her husband entered the room and without noticing her went to a table and began to search among some papers which covered it Armand she called to him in a voice which must have stabbed him if he was human but he did not notice Armand she said again then she Rose and tottered toward him arand she panted once more clutching his arm look at our child what does it mean tell me he coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him tell me what it means she cried despairingly it means he answered lightly that the child is not white it means that you are not white A quick connection of all that this accusation meant to her nerved her with unwanted courage to deny it it is a lie it is not true I am white look at my hair it is brown and my eyes are gray Armand you know they are gray and my skin is fair seizing his wrist look at my hand whiter than yours Armand she laughed hysterically as white as La lanches he said cruy and went away leaving her alone with their child when she could hold a pen in her hand she sent a despairing letter to Madame Vande my mother they tell me I am not white Armand has told me I am not white for God's sake tell them it is not true you must know it is not true I shall die I must die I cannot be so unhappy and live the answer that came was as brief my own Desiree come home to valand back to your mother who loves you come with your child when the letter reached Desiree she went with it to her husband's study and laid it open upon the desk before which he sat she was like a stone image silent white motionless after she placed it there in silence he ran his cold eyes over the written words he said nothing shall I go Armand she asked in tones sharp with agonized suspense yes go do you want me to go yes I want you to go he thought almighty God had dealt cruy and unjust justly with him and felt somehow that he was paying him back in kind when he stabbed thus into his wife's Soul moreover he no longer loved her because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name she turned away like one stunned by a blow and walked slowly towards the door hoping he would call her back goodbye Armand she moaned he did not answer her this was his last blow at fate after it was dealt he felt like a remorseless murderer deser went in search of her child xandr was pacing the somber Gallery with it she took the little one from the nurse's arms and with no word of explanation and descending the steps walked away under the Live Oak branches it was an October afternoon out in the still Fields the Negroes were picking coton and the sun was just sinking Desiree had not changed the thin white garment nor the slippers which she wore her head was uncovered and the sun's Rays brought a golden gleam from its Brown meshes she did not take the broad beaten road which led to the far off Plantation of valand she walked across a deserted field where the stubble bruised her tender feet so delicately Shaw and tore her thin gown to shreds she disappeared among the Reeds and Willows That Grew thick along the banks of the deep sluggish Bayou and she did not not come back again some weeks later there was a curious scene enacted at labri in the center of the smoothly swept backyard was a great bonfire Armand oen sat in the wide hallway that commanded a view of the spectacle and it was he who dealt out to a half dozen Negroes the material which kept this fire Ablaze a graceful cradle of Willow with all its stainy furbishing was laid upon the which had already been fed with the richness of a Priceless leet then there was silk gowns and velvet and satin ones added to these two laces too and embroideries bonnets and gloves for the Cora had been of rare quality the last thing to go was a tiny bundle of letters innocent little scribblings that Desiree had sent to him during the days of their espousal there was the remnant of one back in the drawer from which he took them but it was not desire it was part of an old letter from his mother to his father he read it she was thanking God for the blessing of her husband's love but Above All She Wrote night and day I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother who adores him belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery this concludes the reading of desire's baby by Kate chopan read for you by Linda McDaniel Atlanta Georgia November 2008