At the Church Door (Maupassant)
Short summary
A French village, 19th century. A wheelwright and his wife lived happily near the main road. They had amassed a small fortune but suffered from childlessness until their son Jean was born. When Jean was five, a circus came to the village. The boy wandered off to watch the performers and disappeared.
The parents searched desperately but never found him. They aged rapidly in their grief, sold their house, and wandered France looking for their son. Eventually they ran out of money and had to beg. Someone suggested they search in Paris. There, they befriended an old holy water sprinkler at a church. When he died, the wheelwright took his place.
Years passed. One day, a young gentleman began escorting two ladies to church. The old wheelwright noticed a familiar resemblance. One evening, as the young man left:
The man touched the sprinkler with his finger, and the old man who was holding it shook so much that the holy water rained upon the ground. 'Jean?' he cried.
The young man recognized his parents by the names "Father Pierre" and "Mother Jeanne" - the only memories from his childhood. The circus had kidnapped him, then a wealthy lady adopted him after the troupe disbanded. She left him her fortune. The family reunited joyfully, and Jean introduced his fiancée. They all lived happily thereafter.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The wheelwrights happiness and Jeans disappearance
A wheelwright lived in a small house near the main road at a village entrance. After marrying a farmer's daughter, he established his trade, and through hard work, the couple amassed a modest fortune. Their greatest sorrow was their childlessness, until at last a son was born to them, whom they named Jean.
They showered kisses upon him, wrapped him up in their affection, and became so fond of him that they could not let an hour pass without seeing him.
When Jean was five years old, a circus passed through the village and pitched its tent on the square. Jean slipped out of the house and was discovered by his father among the trained animals, sitting on the knee of an old clown and laughing with delight. Three days later, at dinner time, the wheelwright and his wife discovered their son was missing from the house. They searched the garden, then the father went to the roadside and called out desperately for Jean. As night fell and darkness gathered, no voice replied to his calls. The father searched frantically until daybreak, but their son was never found.
The desperate search and descent into poverty
From that time they aged rapidly in their sorrow, which nothing could console. Finally they sold their house and set out to look for their son themselves.
The couple questioned shepherds, tradesmen, peasants, and authorities everywhere they went, but nobody knew anything about their lost son. Their money was soon exhausted, and they hired themselves out as day laborers to farmers and innkeepers, performing the most humble tasks and living on scraps. As they became feeble from overwork, nobody would employ them anymore.
They were compelled to beg along the roads. They accosted travellers with sad faces and supplicating voices, imploring a piece of bread from the harvesters eating their dinner.
An innkeeper who heard their story told them he had known someone who found their lost daughter in Paris. Immediately, Pierre and Jeanne set out for the great city, frightened by its size and crowds but determined to find their son among all those people.
Life in Paris and the holy water sprinklers role
Then they were afraid they would not recognise him, for they had not seen him for fifteen years... watching the crowds going in and out, and scanning each face for a distant resemblance.
They visited every street and square, stopping wherever crowds gathered, hoping for a chance meeting. Every Sunday they spent the day in front of churches, scanning faces for any resemblance to their lost son. At one church, they befriended an old man who sprinkled holy water.
His own story was sad, and their mutual compassion led to friendship. They lived together in a wretched garret. When the old man died during a harsh winter, the parish priest appointed Pierre as the new holy water sprinkler. Pierre came every morning to the same place, wearing out the stone column with his back, gazing fixedly at every man who entered, looking forward to Sundays when the church was full of people. He grew old and weak under the damp arches, his hope crumbling daily.
Recognition and joyful reunion
One day, two ladies entered the church - one old, one young - followed by a young man who escorted them. This young man bore a vague resemblance to someone Pierre remembered from long ago. The resemblance obsessed the old man so much that he brought his wife to help identify the stranger. When the three people passed by again, Pierre's wife whispered that the young man resembled Pierre in his youth. As the man touched the holy water sprinkler, Pierre's hand shook so violently that water spilled to the ground. Three times Pierre called out 'Jean?' The young man stopped, looked closely at the old man's face, and suddenly a childhood memory flashed in his mind.