A Promising Life by Emily Arnold McCully

Author:Emily Arnold McCully
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

THOUGHTS OF MME CHOUTEAU began to weigh on his mind. He imagined she had grown accustomed to his visits and was disappointed that he hadn’t gone back in months.

The guilt that resulted reminded him of how he’d felt when his mother left. She abandoned him—but he had abandoned her as well. One day, he went to call and found Mme Chouteau in a parlor with an elderly gentleman. She wasn’t at all put out and greeted him warmly.

“Come in! Sit with us! Doctor, see how handsome is Baptiste. They call him little Baptiste, you know. But I believe he has a big soul. And a flair for literature, which I encourage.”

Her companion twisted stiffly in his chair, to take a look. Above his smiling, rheumy eyes, a noble forehead sprouted a few wispy white tendrils. “You will frighten him off, my dear madame, with your praise,” he murmured. Baptiste recognized Dr. Saugrain, much the same, but older.

“How do you do, Doctor?” he said. “I am Baptiste. You gave me a dose of the pox to prevent it when I was at the Indian school.”

The doctor’s eyes brightened. “Sakakawea’s son. I do remember you. Nearly a man now. No wonder my friend here takes such an interest.” Mme Chouteau snorted. “Does Captain Clark still support you?”

“He has placed me in the Academy, sir.”

“Ah. Very good. Those priests will follow a logical thought. But I am concerned about the election. General Clark’s prospects don’t seem good. The tide of change takes everything with it, bad and good. Our system of government obliges us to live with the whims of self-seeking men.”

“He may yet prevail, sir.”

“Hmmmmm. Has the bishop tried to convert you?” This unexpected question stopped Baptiste’s tongue. Dr. Saugrain was amused. “He might do so without your realizing it. He is a slick fellow.”

“He has asked if I would join his order. But I told him I am not interested.”

Mme Chouteau giggled. “I gave the boy Voltaire,” she confided.

Dr. Saugrain said, “You don’t need those black coats, Baptiste! I wonder what General Clark has in mind for you.”

“I do too!” Baptiste blurted.

“M. Voltaire may seem to reject society. But he really calls for keeping an open mind on all questions of human relations.” Saugrain held up a small volume. “Here is an ancient work that explains the fundamental composition of the world. Have the good priests told you of it?”

Baptiste shook his head.

Saugrain handed him the book.

“De Rerum Natura, by Lucretius. On the Nature of Things,” Baptiste translated aloud.

“Indeed. A remarkable work, written before Christ was born, during violent change in Rome. Lucretius believed that everything, man and nature alike, is made of atoms that are always moving. The idea came from Democritus, in 375 BC. Atoms are also capable of swerving unexpectedly. From this deviation comes our concept of free will.”

Baptiste was fascinated. “How can all things, which are so different from each other, be made of the same particles?” he asked.

“Isaac Newton reached a similar conclusion,” Saugrain said. “He

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