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diff --git a/old/whtls10.txt b/old/whtls10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4db32fd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/whtls10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15607 @@ +**The Project Gutenberg Etext of White Lies, by Charles Reade** +#3 in our series by Charles Reade + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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His family was of +prodigious antiquity; seven successive barons had already flourished +on this spot when a younger son of the house accompanied his +neighbor the Duke of Normandy in his descent on England, and was +rewarded by a grant of English land, on which he dug a mote and +built a chateau, and called it Beaurepaire (the worthy Saxons turned +this into Borreper without delay). Since that day more than twenty +gentlemen of the same lineage had held in turn the original chateau +and lands, and handed them down to their present lord. + +Thus rooted in his native Brittany, Henri Lionel Marie St. Quentin +de Beaurepaire was as fortunate as any man can be pronounced before +he dies. He had health, rank, a good income, a fair domain, a +goodly house, a loving wife, and two lovely young daughters, all +veneration and affection. Two months every year he visited the +Faubourg St. Germain and the Court. At both every gentleman and +every lacquey knew his name, and his face: his return to Brittany +after this short absence was celebrated by a rustic fete. + +Above all, Monsieur de Beaurepaire possessed that treasure of +treasures, content. He hunted no heart-burns. Ambition did not +tempt him; why should he listen to long speeches, and court the +unworthy, and descend to intrigue, for so precarious and equivocal a +prize as a place in the Government, when he could be De Beaurepaire +without trouble or loss of self-respect? Social ambition could get +little hold of him; let parvenus give balls half in doors, half out, +and light two thousand lamps, and waste their substance battling and +manoeuvring for fashionable distinction; he had nothing to gain by +such foolery, nothing to lose by modest living; he was the twenty- +ninth Baron of Beaurepaire. So wise, so proud, so little vain, so +strong in health and wealth and honor, one would have said nothing +less than an earthquake could shake this gentleman and his house. +Yet both were shaken, though rooted by centuries to the soil; and by +no vulgar earthquake. + +For years France had bowed in silence beneath two galling burdens--a +selfish and corrupt monarchy, and a multitudinous, privileged, lazy, +and oppressive aristocracy, by whom the peasant was handled like a +Russian serf. [Said peasant is now the principal proprietor of the +soil.] + +The lower orders rose upon their oppressors, and soon showed +themselves far blacker specimens of the same breed. Law, religion, +humanity, and common sense, hid their faces; innocent blood flowed +in a stream, and terror reigned. To Monsieur de Beaurepaire these +republicans--murderers of women, children, and kings--seemed the +most horrible monsters nature had ever produced; he put on black, +and retired from society; he felled timber, and raised large sums of +money upon his estate. And one day he mounted his charger, and +disappeared from the chateau. + +Three months after this, a cavalier, dusty and pale, rode into the +courtyard of Beaurepaire, and asked to see the baroness. She came +to him; he hung his head and held her out a letter. + +It contained a few sad words from Monsieur de Laroche-jaquelin. The +baron had just fallen in La Vendee, fighting for the Crown. + +From that hour till her death the baroness wore black. + +The mourner would have been arrested, and perhaps beheaded, but for +a friend, the last in the world on whom the family reckoned for any +solid aid. Dr. Aubertin had lived in the chateau twenty years. He +was a man of science, and did not care a button for money; so he had +retired from the practice of medicine, and pursued his researches at +ease under the baron's roof. They all loved him, and laughed at his +occasional reveries, in the days of prosperity; and now, in one +great crisis, the protege became the protector, to their astonishment +and his own. But it was an age of ups and downs. This amiable +theorist was one of the oldest verbal republicans in Europe. And +why not? In theory a republic is the perfect form of government: +it is merely in practice that it is impossible; it is only upon +going off paper into reality, and trying actually to self-govern +limited nations, after heating them white hot with the fire of +politics and the bellows of bombast--that the thing resolves +itself into bloodshed silvered with moonshine. + +Dr. Aubertin had for years talked and written speculative +republicanism. So they applied to him whether the baroness shared +her husband's opinions, and he boldly assured them she did not; he +added, "She is a pupil of mine." On this audacious statement they +contented themselves with laying a heavy fine on the lands of +Beaurepaire. + +Assignats were abundant, but good mercantile paper, a notorious +coward, had made itself wings and fled, and specie was creeping into +strong boxes like a startled rabbit into its hole. The fine was +paid; but Beaurepaire had to be heavily mortgaged, and the loan bore +a high rate of interest. This, with the baron's previous mortgages, +swamped the estate. + +The baroness sold her carriage and horses, and she and her daughters +prepared to deny themselves all but the bare necessaries of life, +and pay off their debts if possible. On this their dependants fell +away from them; their fair-weather friends came no longer near them; +and many a flush of indignation crossed their brows, and many an +aching pang their hearts, as adversity revealed the baseness and +inconstancy of common people high or low. + +When the other servants had retired with their wages, one Jacintha +remained behind, and begged permission to speak to the baroness. + +"What would you with me, my child?" asked that lady, with an accent +in which a shade of surprise mingled with great politeness. + +"Forgive me, madame," began Jacintha, with a formal courtesy; "but +how can I leave you, and Mademoiselle Josephine, and Mademoiselle +Rose? I was born at Beaurepaire; my mother died in the chateau: my +father died in the village; but he had meat every day from the +baron's own table, and fuel from the baron's wood, and died blessing +the house of Beaurepaire. I CANNOT go. The others are gone because +prosperity is here no longer. Let it be so; I will stay till the +sun shines again upon the chateau, and then you shall send me away +if you are bent on it; but not now, my ladies--oh, not now! Oh! oh! +oh!" And the warm-hearted girl burst out sobbing ungracefully. + +"My child," said the baroness, "these sentiments touch me, and honor +you. But retire, if you please, while I consult my daughters." + +Jacintha cut her sobs dead short, and retreated with a formal +reverence. + +The consultation consisted of the baroness opening her arms, and +both her daughters embracing her at once. Proud as they were, they +wept with joy at having made one friend amongst all their servants. +Jacintha stayed. + +As months rolled on, Rose de Beaurepaire recovered her natural +gayety in spite of bereavement and poverty; so strong are youth, and +health, and temperament. But her elder sister had a grief all her +own: Captain Dujardin, a gallant young officer, well-born, and his +own master, had courted her with her parents' consent; and, even +when the baron began to look coldly on the soldier of the Republic, +young Dujardin, though too proud to encounter the baron's irony and +looks of scorn, would not yield love to pique. He came no more to +the chateau, but he would wait hours and hours on the path to the +little oratory in the park, on the bare chance of a passing word or +even a kind look from Josephine. So much devotion gradually won a +heart which in happier times she had been half encouraged to give +him; and, when he left her on a military service of uncommon danger, +the woman's reserve melted, and, in that moment of mutual grief and +passion, she vowed she loved him better than all the world. + +Letters from the camp breathing a devotion little short of worship +fed her attachment; and more than one public mention of his name and +services made her proud as well as fond of the fiery young soldier. + +Still she did not open her heart to her parents. The baron, alive +at that time, was exasperated against the Republic, and all who +served it; and, as for the baroness, she was of the old school: a +passionate love in a lady's heart before marriage was contrary to +her notions of etiquette. Josephine loved Rose very tenderly; but +shrank with modest delicacy from making her a confidante of +feelings, the bare relation of which leaves the female hearer a +child no longer. + +So she hid her heart, and delicious first love nestled deep in her +nature, and thrilled in every secret vein and fibre. + +They had parted two years, and he had joined the army of the +Pyrenees about one month, when suddenly all correspondence ceased on +his part. + +Restless anxiety rose into terror as this silence continued; and +starting and trembling at every sound, and edging to the window at +every footstep, Josephine expected hourly the tidings of her lover's +death. + +Months rolled on in silence. + +Then a new torture came. He must not be dead but unfaithful. At +this all the pride of her race was fired in her. + +The struggle between love and ire was almost too much for nature: +violently gay and moody by turns she alarmed both her mother and the +good Dr. Aubertin. The latter was not, I think, quite without +suspicion of the truth; however, he simply prescribed change of air +and place; she must go to Frejus, a watering-place distant about +five leagues. Mademoiselle de Beaurepaire yielded a languid assent. +To her all places were alike. + +But when they returned from Frejus a change had taken place. Rose +had extracted her sister's secret, and was a changed girl. Pity, +and the keen sense of Josephine's wrong, had raised her sisterly +love to a passion. The great-hearted girl hovered about her lovely, +suffering sister like an angel, and paid her the tender attentions +of a devoted lover, and hated Camille Dujardin with all her heart: +hated him all the more that she saw Josephine shrink even from her +whenever she inveighed against him. + +At last Rose heard some news of the truant lover. The fact is, this +young lady was as intelligent as she was inexperienced; and she had +asked Jacintha to tell Dard to talk to every soldier that passed +through the village, and ask him if he knew anything about Captain +Dujardin of the 17th regiment. Dard cross-examined about a hundred +invalided warriors, who did not even recognize the captain's name; +but at last, by extraordinary luck, he actually did fall in with +two, who told him strange news about Captain Dujardin. And so then +Dard told Jacintha; and Jacintha soon had the men into the kitchen +and told Rose. Rose ran to tell Josephine; but stopped in the +passage, and turned suddenly very cold. Her courage failed her; she +feared Josephine would not take the news as she ought; and perhaps +would not love her so well if SHE told her; so she thought to +herself she would let the soldiers tell their own tale. She went +into the room where Josephine was reading to the baroness and Dr. +Aubertin; she sat quietly down; but at the first opportunity made +Josephine one of those imperceptible signals which women, and above +all, sisters, have reduced to so subtle a system. This done, she +went carelessly out: and Josephine in due course followed her, and +found her at the door. + +"What is it?" said Josephine, earnestly. + +"Have you courage?" was Rose's reply. + +"He is dead?" said Josephine, turning pale as ashes. + +"No, no;" said Rose hastily; "he is alive. But you will need all +your courage." + +"Since he lives I fear nothing," said Josephine; and stood there and +quivered from head to foot. Rose, with pitying looks, took her by +the hand and drew her in silence towards the kitchen. + +Josephine yielded a mute submission at first; but at the very door +hung back and faltered, "He loves another; he is married: let me +go." Rose made no reply, but left her there and went into the +kitchen and found two dragoons seated round a bottle of wine. They +rose and saluted her. + +"Be seated, my brave men," said she; "only please tell me what you +told Jacintha about Captain Dujardin." + +"Don't stain your mouth with the captain, my little lady. He is a +traitor." + +"How do you know?" + +"Marcellus! mademoiselle asks us how we know Captain Dujardin to be +a traitor. Speak." + +Marcellus, thus appealed to, told Rose after his own fashion that he +knew the captain well: that one day the captain rode out of the camp +and never returned: that at first great anxiety was felt on his +behalf, for the captain was a great favorite, and passed for the +smartest soldier in the division: that after awhile anxiety gave +place to some very awkward suspicions, and these suspicions it was +his lot and his comrade's here to confirm. About a month later he +and the said comrade and two more were sent, well mounted, to +reconnoitre a Spanish village. At the door of a little inn they +caught sight of a French uniform. This so excited their curiosity +that he went forward nearer than prudent, and distinctly recognized +Captain Dujardin seated at a table drinking between two guerillas; +then he rode back and told the others, who then came up and +satisfied themselves it was so: that if any of the party had +entertained a doubt, it was removed in an unpleasant way; he, +Marcellus, disgusted at the sight of a French uniform drinking among +Spaniards, took down his carabine and fired at the group as +carefully as a somewhat restive horse permitted: at this, as if by +magic, a score or so of guerillas poured out from Heaven knows +where, musket in hand, and delivered a volley; the officer in +command of the party fell dead, Jean Jacques here got a broken arm, +and his own horse was wounded in two places, and fell from loss of +blood a few furlongs from the French camp, to the neighborhood of +which the vagabonds pursued them, hallooing and shouting and firing +like barbarous banditti as they were. + +"However, here I am," concluded Marcellus, "invalided for awhile, my +lady, but not expended yet: we will soon dash in among them again +for death or glory. Meantime," concluded he, filling both glasses, +"let us drink to the eyes of beauty (military salute); and to the +renown of France; and double damnation to all her traitors, like +that Captain Dujardin; whose neck may the devil twist." + +Ere they could drink to this energetic toast, a low wail at the +door, like a dying hare's, arrested the glasses on their road, and +the rough soldiers stood transfixed, and looked at one another in +some dismay. Rose flew to the door with a face full of concern. + +Josephine was gone. + +Then Rose had the tact and resolution to say a few kind, encouraging +words to the soldiers, and bid Jacintha be hospitable to them. This +done she darted up-stairs after Josephine; she reached the main +corridor just in time to see her creep along it with the air and +carriage of a woman of fifty, and enter her own room. + +Rose followed softly with wet eyes, and turned the handle gently. +But the door was locked. + +"Josephine! Josephine!" + +No answer. + +"I want to speak to you. I am frightened. Oh, do not be alone." + +A choking voice answered, "Give me a little while to draw my +breath." Rose sank down at the door, and sat close to it, with her +head against it, sobbing bitterly. She was hurt at not being let +in; such a friend as she had proved herself. But this personal +feeling was only a fraction of her grief and anxiety. + +A good half hour elapsed ere Josephine, pale and stern as no one had +ever seen her till that hour, suddenly opened the door. She started +at sight of Rose couched sorrowful on the threshold; her stern look +relaxed into tender love and pity; she sank, blushing, on her knees, +and took her sister's head quickly to her bosom. "Oh, my little +love, have you been here all this time?"--"Oh! oh! oh!" was all the +little love could reply. Then the deserted one, still kneeling, +took Rose in her lap, and caressed and comforted her, and poured +words of gratitude and affection over her like a warm shower. + +They rose hand in hand. + +Then Rose suddenly seized Josephine, and looked long and anxiously +down into her eyes. They flashed fire under the scrutiny. "Yes, it +is all over; I could not despise and love. I am dead to him, as he +is dead to France." + +This was joyful news to Rose. "I hoped it would be so," said she; +"but you frightened me. My noble sister, were I ever to lose your +esteem, I should die. Oh, how awful yet how beautiful is your +scorn. For worlds I would not be that Cam"-- Josephine laid her +hand imperiously on Rose's mouth. "To mention his name to me will +be to insult me; De Beaurepaire I am, and a Frenchwoman. Come, +dear, let us go down and comfort our mother." + +They went down; and this patient sufferer, and high minded +conqueror, of her own accord took up a commonplace book, and read +aloud for two mortal hours to her mother and Aubertin. Her voice +only wavered twice. + +To feel that life is ended; to wish existence, too, had ceased; and +so to sit down, an aching hollow, and take a part and sham an +interest in twaddle to please others; such are woman's feats. How +like nothing at all they look! + +A man would rather sit on the buffer of a steam-engine and ride at +the Great Redan. + +Rose sat at her elbow, a little behind her, and turned the leaves, +and on one pretence or other held Josephine's hand nearly all the +rest of the day. Its delicate fibres remained tense, like a +greyhound's sinews after a race, and the blue veins rose to sight in +it, though her voice and eyes were mastered. + +So keen was the strife, so matched the antagonists, so hard the +victory. + +For ire and scorn are mighty. And noble blood in a noble heart is +heroic. And Love is a giant. + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The French provinces were now organized upon a half military plan, +by which all the local authorities radiated towards a centre of +government. By-the-by, this feature has survived subsequent +revolutions and political changes. + +In days of change, youth is at a premium; because, though experience +is valuable, the experience of one order of things unfits ordinary +men for another order of things. So a good many old fogies in +office were shown the door, and a good deal of youth and energy +infused into the veins of provincial government. For instance, +Edouard Riviere, who had but just completed his education with +singular eclat at a military school, was one fine day ordered into +Brittany to fill a responsible post under Commandant Raynal, a +blunt, rough soldier, that had risen from the ranks, and bore a much +higher character for zeal and moral integrity than for affability. + +This officer was the son of a widow that kept a grocer's shop in +Paris. She intended him for spice, but he thirsted for glory, and +vexed her. So she yielded, as mothers will. + +In the armies of the republic a good soldier rose with unparalleled +certainty, and rapidity, too; for when soldiers are being mowed down +like oats, it is a glorious time for such of them as keep their +feet. Raynal mounted fast, and used to write to his mother, and +joke her about the army being such a bad profession; and, as he was +all for glory, not money, he lived with Spartan frugality, and saved +half his pay and all his prize money for the old lady in Paris. + +But this prosperous man had to endure a deep disappointment; on the +very day he was made commandant and one of the general's aides-de- +camp, came a letter into the camp. His mother was dead after a +short illness. This was a terrible blow to the simple, rugged +soldier, who had never had much time nor inclination to flirt with a +lot of girls, and toughen his heart. He came back to Paris honored +and rich, but downcast. The old home, empty of his mother, seemed +to him not to have the old look. It made him sadder. To cheer him +up they brought him much money. The widow's trade had taken a +wonderful start the last few years, and she had been playing the +same game as he had, living on ten-pence a day, and saving all for +him. This made him sadder, if anything. + +"What," said he, "have we both been scraping all this dross together +for? I would give it all to sit one hour by the fire, with her hand +in mine, and hear her say, 'Scamp, you made me unhappy when you were +young, but I have lived to be proud of you.'" + +He applied for active service, no matter what: obtained at once this +post in Brittany, and threw himself into it with that honest zeal +and activity, which are the best earthly medicine for all our +griefs. He was busy writing, when young Riviere first presented +himself. He looked up for a moment, and eyed him, to take his +measure; then put into his hand a report by young Nicole, a +subordinate filling a post of the same nature as Riviere's; and bade +him analyze that report on the spot: with this he instantly resumed +his own work. + +Edouard Riviere was an adept at this sort of task, and soon handed +him a neat analysis. Raynal ran his eye over it, nodded cold +approval, and told him to take this for the present as a guide as to +his own duties. He then pointed to a map on which Riviere's +district was marked in blue ink, and bade him find the centre of it. +Edouard took a pair of compasses off the table, and soon discovered +that the village of Beaurepaire was his centre. "Then quarter +yourself at Beaurepaire; and good-day," said Raynal. + +The chateau was in sight from Riviere's quarters, and he soon +learned that it belonged to a royalist widow and her daughters, who +all three held themselves quite aloof from the rest of the world. +"Ah," said the young citizen, "I see. If these rococo citizens play +that game with me, I shall have to take them down." Thus a fresh +peril menaced this family, on whose hearts and fortunes such heavy +blows had fallen. + +One evening our young official, after a day spent in the service of +the country, deigned to take a little stroll to relieve the cares of +administration. He imprinted on his beardless face the expression +of a wearied statesman, and strolled through an admiring village. +The men pretended veneration from policy; the women, whose views of +this great man were shallower but more sincere, smiled approval of +his airs; and the young puppy affected to take no notice of either +sex. + +Outside the village, Publicola suddenly encountered two young +ladies, who resembled nothing he had hitherto met with in his +district; they were dressed in black, and with extreme simplicity; +but their easy grace and composure, and the refined sentiment of +their gentle faces, told at a glance they belonged to the high +nobility. Publicola divined them at once, and involuntarily raised +his hat to so much beauty and dignity, instead of poking it with a +finger as usual. On this the ladies instantly courtesied to him +after the manner of their party, with a sweep and a majesty, and a +precision of politeness, that the pup would have laughed at if he +had heard of it; but seeing it done, and well done, and by lovely +women of rank, he was taken aback by it, and lifted his hat again, +and bowed again after he had gone by, and was generally flustered. +In short, instead of a member of the Consular Government saluting +private individuals of a decayed party that existed only by +sufferance, a handsome, vain, good-natured boy had met two self- +possessed young ladies of distinction and breeding, and had cut the +usual figure. + +For the next hundred yards his cheeks burned and his vanity cooled. +But bumptiousness is elastic in France, as in England, and doubtless +among the Esquimaux. "Well, they are pretty girls," says he to +himself. "I never saw two such pretty girls together; they will do +for me to flirt with while I am banished to this Arcadia." Banished +from school, I beg to observe. + +And "awful beauty" being no longer in sight, Mr. Edouard resolved he +would flirt with them to their hearts' content. But there are +ladies with whom a certain preliminary is required before you can +flirt with them. You must be on speaking terms. How was this to be +managed? + +He used to watch at his window with a telescope, and whenever the +sisters came out of their own grounds, which unfortunately was not +above twice a week, he would throw himself in their way by the +merest accident, and pay them a dignified and courteous salute, +which he had carefully got up before a mirror in the privacy of his +own chamber. + +One day, as he took off his hat to the young ladies, there broke +from one of them a smile, so sudden, sweet, and vivid, that he +seemed to feel it smite him first on the eyes then in the heart. He +could not sleep for this smile. + +Yet he had seen many smilers; but to be sure most of them smiled +without effect, because they smiled eternally; they seemed cast with +their mouths open, and their pretty teeth forever in sight; and this +has a saddening influence on a man of sense--when it has any. But +here a fair, pensive face had brightened at sight of him; a lovely +countenance, on which circumstances, not nature, had impressed +gravity, had sprung back to its natural gayety for a moment, and had +thrilled and bewitched the beholder. + +The next Sunday he went to church--and there worshipped--whom? +Cupid. He smarted for his heathenism; for the young ladies went +with higher motives, and took no notice of him. They lowered their +long silken lashes over one breviary, and scarcely observed the +handsome citizen. Meantime he, contemplating their pious beauty +with earthly eyes, was drinking long draughts of intoxicating +passion. And when after the service they each took an arm of Dr. +Aubertin, and he with the air of an admiral convoying two ships +choke-full of specie, conducted his precious charge away home, our +young citizen felt jealous, and all but hated the worthy doctor. + +This went on till he became listless and dejected on the days he did +not see them. Then he asked himself whether he was not a cowardly +fool to keep at such a distance. After all he was a man in +authority. His friendship was not to be despised, least of all by a +family suspected of disaffection to the state. + +He put on his glossy beaver with enormous brim, high curved; his +blue coat with brass buttons; his white waistcoat, gray breeches, +and top-boots; and marched up to the chateau of Beaurepaire, and +sent in his card with his name and office inscribed. + +Jacintha took it, bestowed a glance of undisguised admiration on the +young Adonis, and carried it to the baroness. That lady sent her +promptly down again with a black-edged note to this effect. + + +Highly flattered by Monsieur de Riviere's visit, the baroness must +inform him that she receives none but old acquaintances, in the +present grief of the family, and of the KINGDOM. + + +Young Riviere was cruelly mortified by this rebuff. He went off +hurriedly, grinding his teeth with rage. + +"Cursed aristocrats! We have done well to pull you down, and we +will have you lower still. How I despise myself for giving any one +the chance to affront me thus. The haughty old fool; if she had +known her interest, she would have been too glad to make a powerful +friend. These royalists are in a ticklish position; I can tell her +that. She calls me De Riviere; that implies nobody without a 'De' +to their name would have the presumption to visit her old tumble- +down house. Well, it is a lesson; I am a republican, and the +Commonwealth trusts and honors me; yet I am so ungrateful as to go +out of the way to be civil to her enemies, to royalists; as if those +worn-out creatures had hearts, as if they could comprehend the +struggle that took place in my mind between duty, and generosity to +the fallen, before I could make the first overture to their +acquaintance; as if they could understand the politeness of the +heart, or anything nobler than curving and ducking and heartless +etiquette. This is the last notice I will ever take of that old +woman, unless it is to denounce her." + +He walked home to the town very fast, his heart boiling, and his +lips compressed, and his brow knitted. + +To this mood succeeded a sullen and bitter one. He was generous, +but vain, and his love had humiliated him so bitterly, he resolved +to tear it out of his heart. He absented himself from church; he +met the young ladies no more. He struggled fiercely with his +passion; he went about dogged, silent, and sighing. Presently he +devoted his leisure hours to shooting partridges instead of ladies. +And he was right; partridges cannot shoot back; whereas beautiful +women, like Cupid, are all archers more or less, and often with one +arrow from eye or lip do more execution than they have suffered from +several discharges of our small shot. + +In these excursions, Edouard was generally accompanied by a thick- +set rustic called Dard, who, I believe, purposes to reveal his own +character to you, and so save me that trouble. + +One fine afternoon, about four o'clock, this pair burst remorselessly +through a fence, and landed in the road opposite Bigot's Auberge; a +long low house, with "ICI ON LOGE A PIED ET A CHEVAL," written all +across it in gigantic letters. Riviere was for moving homeward, +but Dard halted and complained dismally of "the soldier's gripes." +The statesman had never heard of that complaint, so Dard explained +that the VULGAR name for it was hunger. "And only smell," said he, +"the soup is just fit to come off the fire." + +Riviere smiled sadly, but consented to deign to eat a morsel in the +porch. Thereat Dard dashed wildly into the kitchen. + +They dined at one little round table, each after his fashion. When +Dard could eat no more, he proceeded to drink; and to talk in +proportion. Riviere, lost in his own thoughts, attended to him as +men of business do to a babbling brook; until suddenly from the mass +of twaddle broke forth a magic word--Beaurepaire; then the languid +lover pricked up his ears and found Mr. Dard was abusing that noble +family right and left. Young Riviere inquired what ground of +offence they had given HIM. "I'll tell you," said Dard; "they +impose on Jacintha; and so she imposes on me." Then observing he +had at last gained his employer's ear, he became prodigiously +loquacious, as such people generally are when once they get upon +their own griefs. + +"These Beaurepaire aristocrats," said he, with his hard peasant +good-sense, "are neither the one thing nor the other; they cannot +keep up nobility, they have not the means; they will not come down +off their perch, they have not the sense. No, for as small as they +are, they must look and talk as big as ever. They can only afford +one servant, and I don't believe they pay her; but they must be +attended on just as obsequious as when they had a dozen. And this +is fatal to all us little people that have the misfortune to be +connected with them." + +"Why, how are you connected with them?" + +"By the tie of affection." + +"I thought you hated them." + +"Of course I do; but I have the ill-luck to love Jacintha, and she +loves these aristocrats, and makes me do little odd jobs for them." +And at this Dard's eyes suddenly glared with horror. + +"Well, what of that?" asked Riviere. + +"What of it, citizen, what? you do not know the fatal meaning of +those accursed words?" + +"Why, I never heard of a man's back being broken by little odd +jobs." + +"Perhaps not his back, citizen, but his heart? if little odd jobs +will not break that, why nothing will. Torn from place to place, +and from trouble to trouble; as soon as one tiresome thing begins to +go a bit smooth, off to a fresh plague, in-doors work when it is +dry, out-a-doors when it snows; and then all bustle; no taking one's +work quietly, the only way it agrees with a fellow. 'Milk the cow, +Dard, but look sharp; the baroness's chair wants mending. Take +these slops to the pig, but you must not wait to see him enjoy them: +you are wanted to chop billets.' Beat the mats, take down the +curtains, walk to church (best part of a league), and heat the pew +cushions; come back and cut the cabbages, paint the door, and wheel +the old lady about the terrace, rub quicksilver on the little dog's +back,--mind he don't bite you to make hisself sick,--repair the +ottoman, roll the gravel, scour the kettles, carry half a ton of +water up twopurostairs, trim the turf, prune the vine, drag the +fish-pond; and when you ARE there, go in and gather water lilies for +Mademoiselle Josephine while you are drowning the puppies; that is +little odd jobs: may Satan twist her neck who invented them!" + +"Very sad all this," said young Riviere. + +Dard took the little sneer for sympathy, and proceeded to "the +cruellest wrong of all." + +"When I go into their kitchen to court Jacintha a bit, instead of +finding a good supper there, which a man has a right to, courting a +cook, if I don't take one in my pocket, there is no supper, not to +say supper, for either her or me. I don't call a salad and a bit of +cheese-rind--SUPPER. Beggars in silk and satin! Every sou they +have goes on to their backs, instead of into their bellies." + +"I have heard their income is much reduced," said Edouard gently. + +"Income! I would not change with them if they'd throw me in half a +pancake a day. I tell you they are the poorest family for leagues +round; not that they need be quite so starved, if they could swallow +a little of their pride. But no, they must have china and plate and +fine linen at dinner; so their fine plates are always bare, and +their silver trays empty. Ask the butcher, if you don't believe ME. +Just you ask him whether he does not go three times to the smallest +shopkeeper, for once he goes to Beaurepaire. Their tenants send +them a little meal and eggs, and now and then a hen; and their great +garden is chock full of fruit and vegetables, and Jacintha makes me +dig in it gratis; and so they muddle on. But, bless your heart, +coffee! they can't afford it; so they roast a lot of horse-beans +that cost nothing, and grind them, and serve up the liquor in a +silver coffee-pot, on a silver salver. Haw, haw, haw!" + +"Is it possible? reduced to this?" said Edouard gravely. + +"Don't you be so weak as to pity them," cried the remorseless +plebeian. "Why don't they melt their silver into soup, and cut down +their plate into rashers of bacon? why not sell the superfluous, and +buy the needful, which it is grub? And, above all, why don't they +let their old tumble-down palace to some rich grocer, and that +accursed garden along with it, where I sweat gratis, and live small +and comfortable, and pay honest men for their little odd jobs, and"-- + +Here Riviere interrupted him, and asked if it was really true +about the beans. + +"True?" said Dard, "why, I have seen Rose doing it for the old +woman's breakfast: it was Rose invented the move. A girl of +nineteen beginning already to deceive the world! But they are all +tarred with the same stick. Down with the aristocrats!" + +"Dard," said Riviere, "you are a brute." + +"Me, citizen?" inquired Dard with every appearance of genuine +surprise. + +Edouard Riviere rose from his seat in great excitement. Dard's +abuse of the family he was lately so bitter against had turned him +right round. He pitied the very baroness herself, and forgave her +declining his visit. + +"Be silent," said he, "for shame! There is such a thing as noble +poverty; and you have described it. I might have disdained these +people in their prosperity, but I revere them in their affliction. +And I'll tell you what, don't you ever dare to speak slightly of +them again in my presence, or"-- + +He did not conclude his threat, for just then he observed that a +strapping girl, with a basket at her feet, was standing against the +corner of the Auberge, in a mighty careless attitude, but doing +nothing, so most likely listening with all her ears and soul. Dard, +however, did not see her, his back being turned to her as he sat; so +he replied at his ease,-- + +"I consent," said he very coolly: "that is your affair; but permit +me," and here he clenched his teeth at remembrance of his wrongs, +"to say that I will no more be a scullery man without wages to these +high-minded starvelings, these illustrious beggars." Then he heated +himself red-hot. "I will not even be their galley slave. Next, I +have done my last little odd job in this world," yelled the now +infuriated factotum, bouncing up to his feet in brief fury. "Of two +things one: either Jacintha quits those aristos, or I leave Jacin-- +eh?--ah!--oh!--ahem! How--'ow d'ye do, Jacintha?" And his roar +ended in a whine, as when a dog runs barking out, and receives in +full career a cut from his master's whip, his generous rage turns to +whimper with ludicrous abruptness. "I was just talking of you, +Jacintha," quavered Dard in conclusion. + +"I heard you, Dard," replied Jacintha slowly, softly, grimly. + +Dard withered. + +It was a lusty young woman, with a comely peasant face somewhat +freckled, and a pair of large black eyes surmounted by coal-black +brows. She stood in a bold attitude, her massive but well-formed +arms folded so that the pressure of each against the other made them +seem gigantic, and her cheek red with anger, and her eyes glistening +like basilisks upon citizen Dard. She looked so grand, with her +lowering black brows, that even Riviere felt a little uneasy. As +for Jacintha, she was evidently brooding with more ire than she +chose to utter before a stranger. She just slowly unclasped her +arms, and, keeping her eye fixed on Dard, pointed with a domineering +gesture towards Beaurepaire. Then the doughty Dard seemed no longer +master of his limbs: he rose slowly, with his eyes fastened to hers, +and was moving off like an ill-oiled automaton in the direction +indicated; but at that a suppressed snigger began to shake Riviere's +whole body till it bobbed up and down on the seat. Dard turned to +him for sympathy. + +"There, citizen," he cried, "do you see that imperious gesture? +That means you promised to dig in the aristocrat's garden this +afternoon, so march! Here, then, is one that has gained nothing by +kings being put down, for I am ruled with a mopstick of iron. Thank +your stars, citizen, that you are not in may place." + +"Dard," retorted Jacintha, "if you don't like your place, I'd quit +it. There are two or three young men down in the village will be +glad to take it." + +"I won't give them the chance, the vile egotists!" cried Dard. And +he returned to the chateau and little odd jobs. + +Jacintha hung behind, lowered her eyes, put on a very deferential +manner, and thanked Edouard for the kind sentiments he had uttered; +but at the same time she took the liberty to warn him against +believing the extravagant stories Dard had been telling about her +mistress's poverty. She said the simple fact was that the baron had +contracted debts, and the baroness, being the soul of honor, was +living in great economy to pay them off. Then, as to Dard getting +no supper up at Beaurepaire, a complaint that appeared to sting her +particularly, she assured him she was alone to blame: the baroness +would be very angry if she knew it. "But," said she, "Dard is an +egotist. Perhaps you may have noticed that trait in him." + +"Glimpses of it," replied Riviere, laughing. + +"Monsieur, he is so egotistic that he has not a friend in the world +but me. I forgive him, because I know the reason; he has never had +a headache or a heartache in his life." + +Edouard, aged twenty, and a male, did not comprehend this piece of +feminine logic one bit: and, while he puzzled over it in silence, +Jacintha went on to say that if she were to fill her egotist's +paunch, she should never know whether he came to Beaurepaire for +her, or himself. "Now, Dard," she added, "is no beauty, monsieur; +why, he is three inches shorter than I am." + +"You are joking! he looks a foot," said Edouard. + +"He is no scholar neither, and I have had to wipe up many a sneer +and many a sarcasm on his account; but up to now I have always been +able to reply that this five feet one of egotism loves me sincerely; +and the moment I doubt this, I give him the sack,--poor little +fellow!" + +"In a word," said Riviere, a little impatiently, "the family at +Beaurepaire are not in such straits as he pretends?" + +"Monsieur, do I look like one starved?" + +"By Jove, no! by Ceres, I mean." + +"Are my young mistresses wan, and thin?" + +"Treason! blasphemy! ah, no! By Venus and Hebe, no!" + +Jacintha smiled at this enthusiastic denial, and also because her +sex is apt to smile when words are used they do not understand. + +"Dard is a fool," suggested Riviere, by way of general solution. He +added, "And yet, do you know I wish every word he said had been +true." (Jacintha's eyes expressed some astonishment.) "Because +then you and I would have concerted means to do them kindnesses, +secretly; for I see you are no ordinary servant; you love your young +mistresses. Do you not?" + +These simple words seemed to touch a grander chord in Jacintha's +nature. + +"Love them?" said she, clasping her hands; "ah, sir, do not be +offended; but, believe me, it is no small thing to serve an old, old +family. My grandfather lived and died with them; my father was +their gamekeeper, and fed to his last from off the poor baron's +plate (and now they have killed him, poor man); my mother died in +the house and was buried in the sacred ground near the family +chapel. They put an inscription on her tomb praising her fidelity +and probity. Do you think these things do not sink into the heart +of the poor?--praise on her tomb, and not a word on their own, but +just the name, and when each was born and died, you know. Ah! the +pride of the mean is dirt; but the pride of the noble is gold." + +"For, look you, among parvenues I should be a servant, and nothing +more; in this proud family I am a humble friend; of course they are +not always gossiping with me like vulgar masters and mistresses; if +they did, I should neither respect nor love them; but they all smile +on me whenever I come into the room, even the baroness herself. I +belong to them, and they belong to me, by ties without number, by +the many kind words in many troubles, by the one roof that sheltered +us a hundred years, and the grave where our bones lie together till +the day of judgment."* + + +* The French peasant often thinks half a sentence, and utters the +other half aloud, and so breaks air in the middle of a thought. +Probably Jacintha's whole thought, if we had the means of knowing +it, would have run like this--Besides, I have another reason: I +could not be so comfortable myself elsewhere--for, look you"-- + + +Jacintha clasped her hands, and her black eyes shone out warm +through the dew. Riviere's glistened too. + +"That is well said," he cried; "it is nobly said: yet, after all, +these are ties that owe their force to the souls they bind. How +often have such bonds round human hearts proved ropes of sand! They +grapple YOU like hooks of steel; because you are steel yourself to +the backbone. I admire you, Jacintha. Such women as you have a +great mission in France just now." + +Jacintha shook her head incredulously. "What can we poor women do?" + +"Bring forth heroes," cried Publicola with fervor. "Be the mothers +of great men, the Catos and the Gracchi of the future!" + +Jacintha smiled. She did not know the Gracchi nor their politics; +but the name rang well. "Gracchi!" Aristocrats, no doubt. "That +would be too much honor," replied she modestly. "At present, I must +say adieu!" and she moved off an inch at a time, in an uncertain +hesitating manner, not very difficult to read; but Riviere, you must +know, had more than once during this interview begged her to sit +down, and in vain; she had always thanked him, but said she had not +a moment to stay. So he made no effort to detain her now. The +consequence was--she came slowly back of her own accord, and sat +down in a corner of the porch, where nobody could see her, and then +she sighed deeply. + +"What is the matter now?" said Edouard, opening his eyes. + +She looked at him point-blank for one moment; and her scale turned. + +"Monsieur," said she timidly, "you have a good face, and a good +heart. All I told you was--give me your honor not to betray us." + +"I swear it," said Edouard, a little pompously. + +"Then--Dard was not so far from the truth; it was but a guess of +his, for I never trusted my own sweetheart as I now trust a +stranger. But to see what I see every day, and have no one I dare +breathe a word to, oh, it is very hard! But on what a thread things +turn! If any one had told me an hour ago it was you I should open +my heart to! It's not economy: it's not stinginess; they are not +paying off their debts. They never can. The baroness and the +Demoiselles de Beaurepaire--are paupers." + +"Paupers, Jacintha?" + +"Ay, paupers! their debts are greater than their means. They live +here by sufferance. They have only their old clothes to wear. They +have hardly enough to eat. Just now our cow is in full milk, you +know; so that is a great help: but, when she goes dry, Heaven knows +what we shall do; for I don't. But that is not the worst; better a +light meal than a broken heart. Your precious government offers the +chateau for sale. They might as well send for the guillotine at +once, and cut off all our heads. You don't know my mistress as I +do. Ah, butchers, you will drag nothing out of that but her corpse. +And is it come to this? the great old family to be turned adrift +like beggars. My poor mistress! my pretty demoiselles that I played +with and nursed ever since I was a child! (I was just six when +Josephine was born) and that I shall love with my last breath"-- + +She could say no more, but choked by the strong feeling so long pent +up in her own bosom, fell to sobbing hysterically, and trembling +like one in an ague. + +The statesman, who had passed all his short life at school and +college, was frightened, and took hold of her and pulled her, and +cried, "Oh! don't, Jacintha; you will kill yourself, you will die; +this is frightful: help here! help!" Jacintha put her hand to his +mouth, and, without leaving off her hysterics, gasped out, "Ah! +don't expose me." So then he didn't know what to do; but he seized +a tumbler and filled it with wine, and forced it between her lips. +All she did was to bite a piece out of the glass as clean as if a +diamond had cut it. This did her a world of good: destruction of +sacred household property gave her another turn. "There, I've broke +your glass now," she cried, with a marvellous change of tone; and +she came-to and cried quietly like a reasonable person, with her +apron to her eyes. + +When Edouard saw she was better, he took her hand and said proudly, +"Secret for secret. I choose this moment to confide to you that I +love Mademoiselle Rose de Beaurepaire. Love her? I did love her; +but now you tell me she is poor and in distress, I adore her." The +effect of this declaration on Jacintha was magical, comical. Her +apron came down from one eye, and that eye dried itself and sparkled +with curiosity: the whole countenance speedily followed suit and +beamed with sacred joy. What! an interesting love affair confided +to her all in a moment! She lowered her voice to a whisper +directly. "Why, how did you manage? She never goes into company." + +"No; but she goes to church. Besides, I have met her eleven times +out walking with her sister, and twice out of the eleven she smiled +on me. O Jacintha! a smile such as angels smile; a smile to warm +the heart and purify the soul and last forever in the mind." + +"Well, they say 'man is fire and woman tow:' but this beats all. +Ha! ha!" + +"Oh! do not jest. I did not laugh at you. Jacintha, it is no +laughing matter; I revere her as mortals revere the saints; I love +her so that were I ever to lose all hope of her I would not live a +day. And now that you have told me she is poor and in sorrow, and I +think of her walking so calm and gentle--always in black, Jacintha,-- +and her low courtesy to me whenever we met, and her sweet smile to +me though her heart must be sad, oh! my heart yearns for her. What +can I do for her? How shall I surround her with myself unseen--make +her feel that a man's love waits upon her feet every step she takes-- +that a man's love floats in the air round that lovely head?" Then +descending to earth for a moment, "but I say, you promise not to +betray me; come, secret for secret." + +"I will not tell a soul; on the honor of a woman," said Jacintha. + +The form of protestation was quite new to Edouard, and not exactly +the one his study of the ancient writers would have led him to +select. But the tone was convincing: he trusted her. They parted +sworn allies; and, at the very moment of parting, Jacintha, who had +cast many a furtive glance at the dead game, told Edouard demurely, +Mademoiselle Rose was very fond of roast partridge. On this he made +her take the whole bag; and went home on wings. Jacintha's +revelation roused all that was noble and forgiving in him. His +understanding and his heart expanded from that hour, and his fancy +spread its pinions to the sun of love. Ah! generous Youth, let who +will betray thee; let who will sneer at thee; let me, though young +no longer, smile on thee and joy in thee! She he loved was sad, was +poor, was menaced by many ills; then she needed a champion. He +would be her unseen friend, her guardian angel. A hundred wild +schemes whirled in his beating heart and brain. He could not go in- +doors, indeed, no room could contain him: he made for a green lane +he knew at the back of the village, and there he walked up and down +for hours. The sun set, and the night came, and the stars +glittered; but still he walked alone, inspired, exalted, full of +generous and loving schemes: of sweet and tender fancies: a heart on +fire; and youth the fuel, and the flame vestal. + + +CHAPTER III. + + +This very day was the anniversary of the baron's death. + +The baroness kept her room all the morning, and took no nourishment +but one cup of spurious coffee Rose brought her. Towards evening +she came down-stairs. In the hall she found two chaplets of +flowers; they were always placed there for her on this sad day. She +took them in her hand, and went into the little oratory that was in +the park; there she found two wax candles burning, and two fresh +chaplets hung up. Her daughters had been there before her. + +She knelt and prayed many hours for her husband's soul; then she +rose and hung up one chaplet and came slowly away with the other in +her hand. At the gate of the park, Josephine met her with tender +anxiety in her sapphire eyes, and wreathed her arms round her, and +whispered, "But you have your children still." + +The baroness kissed her and they came towards the house together, +the baroness leaning gently on her daughter's elbow. + +Between the park and the angle of the chateau was a small plot of +turf called at Beaurepaire the Pleasance, a name that had descended +along with other traditions; and in the centre of this Pleasance, or +Pleasaunce, stood a wonderful oak-tree. Its circumference was +thirty-four feet. The baroness came to this ancient tree, and hung +her chaplet on a mutilated limb called the "knights' bough." + +The sun was setting tranquil and red; a broad ruby streak lingered +on the deep green leaves of the prodigious oak. The baroness looked +at it awhile in silence. + +Then she spoke slowly to it and said, "You were here before us: you +will be here when we are gone." + +A spasm crossed Josephine's face, but she said nothing at the time. +And so they went in together. + +Now as this tree was a feat of nature, and, above all, played a +curious part in our story, I will ask you to stay a few minutes and +look at it, while I say what was known about it; not the thousandth +part of what it could have told, if trees could speak as well as +breathe. + +The baroness did not exaggerate; the tree was far older than even +this ancient family. They possessed among other archives a +manuscript written by a monk, a son of the house, about four hundred +years before our story, and containing many of the oral traditions +about this tree that had come down to him from remote antiquity. +According to this authority, the first Baron of Beaurepaire had +pitched his tent under a fair oak-tree that stood prope rivum, near +a brook. His grandson built a square tower hard by, and dug a moat +that enclosed both tree and tower, and received the waters of the +brook aforesaid. + +At this time the tree seems only to have been remarked for its +height. But, a century and a half before the monk wrote, it had +become famous in all the district for its girth, and in the monk's +own day had ceased to grow; but not begun to decay. The mutilated +arm I have mentioned was once a long sturdy bough, worn smooth as +velvet in one part from a curious cause: it ran about as high above +the ground as a full-sized horse, and the knights and squires used +to be forever vaulting upon it, the former in armor; the monk, when +a boy, had seen them do it a thousand times. This bough broke in +two, A.D. 1617: but the mutilated limb was still called the knights' +bough, nobody knew why. So do names survive their ideas. + +What had not this tree seen since first it came green and tender as +a cabbage above the soil, and stood at the mercy of the first hare +or rabbit that should choose to cut short its frail existence! + +Since then eagles had perched on its crown, and wild boars fed +without fear of man upon its acorns. Troubadours had sung beneath +it to lords and ladies seated round, or walking on the grass and +commenting the minstrel's tales of love by exchange of amorous +glances. Mediaeval sculptors had taken its leaves, and wisely +trusting to nature, had adorned churches with those leaves cut in +stone. + +It had seen a Norman duke conquer England, and English kings invade +France and be crowned at Paris. It had seen a girl put knights to +the rout, and seen the warrior virgin burned by envious priests with +common consent both of the curs she had defended and the curs she +had defeated. + +Why, in its old age it had seen the rise of printing, and the first +dawn of national civilization in Europe. It flourished and decayed +in France; but it sprung in Gaul. And more remarkable still, though +by all accounts it may see the world to an end, it was a tree in +ancient history: its old age awaits the millennium; its first youth +belonged to that great tract of time which includes the birth of +Christ, the building of Rome, and the siege of Troy. + +The tree had, ere this, mingled in the fortunes of the family. It +had saved their lives and taken their lives. One lord of +Beaurepaire, hotly pursued by his feudal enemies, made for the tree, +and hid himself partly by a great bough, partly by the thick screen +of leaves. The foe darted in, made sure he had taken to the house, +ransacked it, and got into the cellar, where by good-luck was a +store of Malvoisie: and so the oak and the vine saved the quaking +baron. Another lord of Beaurepaire, besieged in his castle, was +shot dead on the ramparts by a cross-bowman who had secreted himself +unobserved in this tree a little before the dawn. + +A young heir of Beaurepaire, climbing for a raven's nest to the top +of this tree, lost his footing and fell, and died at its foot: and +his mother in her anguish bade them cut down the tree that had +killed her boy. But the baron her husband refused, and spake in +this wise: "ytte ys eneugh that I lose mine sonne, I will nat alsoe +lose mine Tre." In the male you see the sober sentiment of the +proprietor outweighed the temporary irritation of the parent. Then +the mother bought fifteen ells of black velvet, and stretched a pall +from the knights' bough across the west side to another branch, and +cursed the hand that should remove it, and she herself "wolde never +passe the Tre neither going nor coming, but went still about." And +when she died and should have been carried past the tree to the +park, her dochter did cry from a window to the bearers, "Goe about! +goe about!" and they went about, and all the company. And in time +the velvet pall rotted, and was torn and driven away by the winds: +and when the hand of Nature, and no human hand, had thus flouted and +dispersed the trappings of the mother's grief, two pieces were +picked up and preserved among the family relics: but the black +velvet had turned a rusty red. + +So the baroness did nothing new in this family when she hung her +chaplet on the knights' bough; and, in fact, on the west side, about +eighteen feet from the ground, there still mouldered one corner of +an Atchievement an heir of Beaurepaire had nailed there two +centuries before, when his predecessor died: "For," said he, "the +chateau is of yesterday, but the tree has seen us all come and go." +The inside of the oak was hollow as a drum; and on its east side +yawned a fissure as high as a man and as broad as a street-door. +Dard used to wheel his wheelbarrow into the tree at a trot, and +there leave it. + +Yet in spite of excavation and mutilation not life only but vigor +dwelt in this wooden shell. The extreme ends of the longer boughs +were firewood, touchwood, and the crown was gone this many a year: +but narrow the circle a very little to where the indomitable trunk +could still shoot sap from its cruse deep in earth, and there on +every side burst the green foliage in its season countless as the +sand. The leaves carved centuries ago from these very models, +though cut in stone, were most of them mouldered, blunted, notched, +deformed: but the delicate types came back with every summer, +perfect and lovely as when the tree was but their elder brother: and +greener than ever: for, from what cause nature only knows, the +leaves were many shades richer than any other tree could show for a +hundred miles round; a deep green, fiery, yet soft; and then their +multitude--the staircases of foliage as you looked up the tree, and +could scarce catch a glimpse of the sky. An inverted abyss of +color, a mound, a dome, of flake emeralds that quivered in the +golden air. + +And now the sun sets; the green leaves are black; the moon rises: +her cold light shoots across one half that giant stem. + +How solemn and calm stands the great round tower of living wood, +half ebony, half silver, with its mighty cloud above of flake jet +leaves tipped with frosty fire! + +Now is the still hour to repeat in a whisper the words of the dame +of Beaurepaire, "You were here before us: you will be here when we +are gone." + +We leave the hoary king of trees standing in the moonlight, calmly +defying time, and follow the creatures of a day; for, what they +were, we are. + + +A spacious saloon panelled; dead but showy white picked out +sparingly with gold. Festoons of fruits and flowers finely carved +in wood on some of the panels. These also not smothered in gilding, +but as it were gold speckled here and there, like tongues of flame +winding among insoluble snow. Ranged against the walls were sofas +and chairs covered with rich stuffs well worn. And in one little +distant corner of the long room a gray-haired gentleman and two +young ladies sat round a small plain table, on which burned a +solitary candle; and a little way apart in this candle's twilight an +old lady sat in an easy-chair, thinking of the past, scarce daring +to inquire the future. Josephine and Rose were working: not fancy- +work but needle-work; Dr. Aubertin writing. Every now and then he +put the one candle nearer the girls. They raised no objection: only +a few minutes after a white hand would glide from one or other of +them like a serpent, and smoothly convey the light nearer to the +doctor's manuscript. + +"Is it not supper-time?" he inquired. "I have an inward monitor; +and I think our dinner was more ethereal than usual." + +"Hush!" said Josephine, and looked uneasily towards her mother. +"Wax is so dear." + +"Wax?--ah!--pardon me:" and the doctor returned hastily to his work. +But Rose looked up and said, "I wonder Jacintha does not come; it is +certainly past the hour;" and she pried into the room as if she +expected to see Jacintha on the road. But she saw in fact very +little of anything, for the spacious room was impenetrable to her +eye; midway from the candle to the distant door its twilight +deepened, and all became shapeless and sombre. The prospect ended +sharp and black, as in those out-o'-door closets imagined and +painted by a certain great painter, whose Nature comes to a full +stop as soon as he has no further commercial need of her, instead of +melting by fine expanse and exquisite gradation into genuine +distance, as nature does in Claude and in nature. To reverse the +picture, if you stood at the door you looked across forty feet of +black, and the little corner seemed on fire, and the fair heads +about the candle shone like the St. Cecilias and Madonnas in an +antique stained-glass window. + +At last the door opened, and another candle fired Jacintha's comely +peasant face in the doorway. She put down her candle outside the +door, and started as crow flies for the other light. After glowing +a moment in the doorway she dived into the shadow and emerged into +light again close to the table with napkins on her arm. She removed +the work-box reverentially, the doctor's manuscript unceremoniously, +and proceeded to lay a cloth: in which operation she looked at Rose +a point-blank glance of admiration: then she placed the napkins; and +in this process she again cast a strange look of interest upon Rose. +The young lady noticed it this time, and looked inquiringly at her +in return, half expecting some communication; but Jacintha lowered +her eyes and bustled about the table. Then Rose spoke to her with a +sort of instinct of curiosity, on the chance of drawing her out. + +"Supper is late to-night, is it not, Jacintha?" + +"Yes, mademoiselle; I have had more cooking than usual," and with +this she delivered another point-blank look as before, and dived +into the palpable obscure, and came to light in the doorway. + +Her return was anxiously expected; for, if the truth must be told, +they were very hungry. So rigorous was the economy in this decayed +but honorable house that the wax candles burned to-day in the +oratory had scrimped their dinner, unsubstantial as it was wont to +be. Think of that, you in fustian jackets who grumble after meat. +The door opened, Jacintha reappeared in the light of her candle a +moment with a tray in both hands, and, approaching, was lost to +view; but a strange and fragrant smell heralded her. All their eyes +turned with curiosity towards the unwonted odor, and Jacintha dawned +with three roast partridges on a dish. + +They were wonder-struck, and looked from the birds to her in mute +surprise, that was not diminished by a certain cynical indifference +she put on. She avoided their eyes, and forcibly excluded from her +face everything that could imply she did not serve up partridges to +this family every night of her life. + +"The supper is served, madame," said she, with a respectful courtesy +and a mechanical tone, and, plunging into the night, swam out at her +own candle, shut the door, and, unlocking her face that moment, +burst out radiant, and so to the kitchen, and, with a tear in her +eye, set-to and polished all the copper stewpans with a vigor and +expedition unknown to the new-fangled domestic. + +"Partridges, mamma! What next?" + +"Pheasants, I hope," cried the doctor, gayly. "And after them +hares; to conclude with royal venison. Permit me, ladies." And he +set himself to carve with zeal. + +Now nature is nature, and two pair of violet eyes brightened and +dwelt on the fragrant and delicate food with demure desire; for all +that, when Aubertin offered Josephine a wing, she declined it. "No +partridge?" cried the savant, in utter amazement. + +"Not to-day, dear friend; it is not a feast day to-day." + +"Ah! no; what was I thinking of?" + +"But you are not to be deprived," put in Josephine, anxiously. "We +will not deny ourselves the pleasure of seeing you eat some." + +"What!" remonstrated Aubertin, "am I not one of you?" + +The baroness had attended to every word of this. She rose from her +chair, and said quietly, "Both you and he and Rose will be so good +as to let me see you eat." + +"But, mamma," remonstrated Josephine and Rose in one breath. + +"Je le veux," was the cold reply. + +These were words the baroness uttered so seldom that they were +little likely to be disputed. + +The doctor carved and helped the young ladies and himself. + +When they had all eaten a little, a discussion was observed to be +going on between Rose and her sister. At last Aubertin caught these +words, "It will be in vain; even you have not influence enough for +that, Rose." + +"We shall see," was the reply, and Rose put the wing of a partridge +on a plate and rose calmly from her chair. She took the plate and +put it on a little work-table by her mother's side. The others +pretended to be all mouths, but they were all ears. The baroness +looked in Rose's face with an air of wonder that was not very +encouraging. Then, as Rose said nothing, she raised her +aristocratic hand with a courteous but decided gesture of refusal. + +Undaunted Rose laid her palm softly on the baroness's shoulder, and +said to her as firmly as the baroness herself had just spoken,-- + +"Il le veut." + +The baroness was staggered. Then she looked with moist eyes at the +fair young face, then she reflected. At last she said, with an +exquisite mixture of politeness and affection, "It is his daughter +who has told me 'Il le veut.' I obey." + +Rose returning like a victorious knight from the lists, saucily +exultant, and with only one wet eyelash, was solemnly kissed and +petted by Josephine and the doctor. + +Thus they loved one another in this great, old, falling house. +Their familiarity had no coarse side; a form, not of custom but +affection, it went hand-in-hand with courtesy by day and night. + +The love of the daughters for their mother had all the tenderness, +subtlety, and unselfishness of womanly natures, together with a +certain characteristic of the female character. And whither that +one defect led them, and by what gradations, it may be worth the +reader's while to observe. + +The baroness retired to rest early; and she was no sooner gone than +Josephine leaned over to Rose, and told her what their mother had +said to the oak-tree. Rose heard this with anxiety; hitherto they +had carefully concealed from their mother that the government +claimed the right of selling the chateau to pay the creditors, etc.; +and now both sisters feared the old lady had discovered it somehow, +or why that strange thing she had said to the oak-tree? But Dr. +Aubertin caught their remarks, and laid down his immortal MS. on +French insects, to express his hope that they were putting a forced +interpretation on the baroness's words. + +"I think," said he, "she merely meant how short-lived are we all +compared with this ancient oak. I should be very sorry to adopt the +other interpretation; for if she knows she can at any moment be +expelled from Beaurepaire, it will be almost as bad for her as the +calamity itself; THAT, I think, would kill her." + +"Why so?" said Rose, eagerly. "What is this house or that? Mamma +will still have her daughters' love, go where she will." + +Aubertin replied, "It is idle to deceive ourselves; at her age men +and women hang to life by their habits; take her away from her +chateau, from the little oratory where she prays every day for the +departed, from her place in the sun on the south terrace, and from +all the memories that surround her here; she would soon pine, and +die." + +Here the savant seeing a hobby-horse near, caught him and jumped on. +He launched into a treatise upon the vitality of human beings, and +proved that it is the mind which keeps the body of a man alive for +so great a length of time as fourscore years; for that he had in the +earlier part of his studies carefully dissected a multitude of +animals,--frogs, rabbits, dogs, men, horses, sheep, squirrels, +foxes, cats, etc.,--and discovered no peculiarity in man's organs to +account for his singular longevity, except in the brain or organ of +mind. Thence he went to the longevity of men with contented minds, +and the rapid decay of the careworn. Finally he succeeded in +convincing them the baroness was so constituted, physically and +mentally, that she would never move from Beaurepaire except into her +grave. However, having thus terrified them, he proceeded to console +them. "You have a friend," said he, "a powerful friend; and here in +my pocket--somewhere--is a letter that proves it." + +The letter was from Mr. Perrin the notary. It appeared by it that +Dr. Aubertin had reminded the said Perrin of his obligations to the +late baron, and entreated him to use all his influence to keep the +estate in this ancient family. + +Perrin had replied at first in a few civil lines; but his present +letter was a long and friendly one. It made both the daughters of +Beaurepaire shudder at the peril they had so narrowly escaped. For +by it they now learned for the first time that one Jaques Bonard, a +small farmer, to whom they owed but five thousand francs, had gone +to the mayor and insisted, as he had a perfect right, on the estate +being put up to public auction. This had come to Perrin's ears just +in time, and he had instantly bought Bonard's debt, and stopped the +auction; not, however, before the very bills were printed; for which +he, Perrin, had paid, and now forwarded the receipt. He concluded +by saying that the government agent was personally inert, and would +never move a step in the matter unless driven by a creditor. + +"But we have so many," said Rose in dismay. "We are not safe a day." + +Aubertin assured her the danger was only in appearance. "Your large +creditors are men of property, and such men let their funds lie +unless compelled to move them. The small mortgagee, the petty +miser, who has, perhaps, no investment to watch but one small loan, +about which he is as anxious and as noisy as a hen with one chicken, +he is the clamorous creditor, the harsh little egoist, who for fear +of risking a crown piece would bring the Garden of Eden to the +hammer. Now we are rid of that little wretch, Bonard, and have +Perrin on our side; so there is literally nothing to fear." + +The sisters thanked him warmly, and Rose shared his hopes; and said +so; but Josephine was silent and thoughtful. Nothing more worth +recording passed that night. But the next day was the first of May, +Josephine's birthday. + +Now they always celebrated this day as well as they could; and used +to plant a tree, for one thing. Dard, well spurred by Jacintha, had +got a little acacia; and they were all out in the Pleasaunce to +plant it. Unhappily, they were a preposterous time making up their +feminine minds where to have it set; so Dard turned rusty and said +the park was the best place for it. There it could do no harm, +stick it where you would. + +"And who told you to put in your word?" inquired Jacintha. "You're +here to dig the hole where mademoiselle chooses; not to argufy." + +Josephine whispered Rose, "I admire the energy of her character. +Could she be induced to order once for all where the poor thing is +to be planted?" + +"Then where WILL you have it, mademoiselle?" asked Dard, sulkily. + +"Here, I think, Dard," said Josephine sweetly. + +Dard grinned malignantly, and drove in his spade. "It will never be +much bigger than a stinging nettle," thought he, "for the roots of +the oak have sucked every atom of heart out of this." His black +soul exulted secretly. + +Jacintha stood by Dard, inspecting his work; the sisters +intertwined, a few feet from him. The baroness turned aside, and +went to look for a moment at the chaplet she had placed yesterday on +the oak-tree bough. Presently she uttered a slight ejaculation; and +her daughters looked up directly. + +"Come here, children," said she. They glided to her in a moment; +and found her eyes fixed upon an object that lay on the knights' +bough. + +It was a sparkling purse. + +I dare say you have noticed that the bark on the boughs of these +very ancient trees is as deeply furrowed as the very stem of an oak +tree that boasts but a few centuries; and in one of these deep +furrows lay a green silk purse with gold coins glittering through +the glossy meshes. + +Josephine and Rose eyed it a moment like startled deer; then Rose +pounced on it. "Oh, how heavy!" she cried. This brought up Dard +and Jacintha, in time to see Rose pour ten shining gold pieces out +of the purse into her pink-white palm, while her face flushed and +her eyes glittered with excitement. Jacintha gave a scream of joy; +"Our luck is turned," she cried, superstitiously. Meanwhile, +Josephine had found a slip of paper close to the purse. She opened +it with nimble fingers; it contained one line in a hand like that of +a copying clerk: FROM A FRIEND: IN PART PAYMENT OF A GREAT DEBT. + +Keen, piquant curiosity now took the place of surprise. Who could +it be? The baroness's suspicion fell at once on Dr. Aubertin. But +Rose maintained he had not ten gold pieces in the world. The +baroness appealed to Josephine. She only blushed in an extraordinary +way, and said nothing. They puzzled, and puzzled, and were as much +in the dark as ever, when lo! one of the suspected parties delivered +himself into the hands of justice with ludicrous simplicity. It +happened to be Dr. Aubertin's hour of out-a-door study; and he +came mooning along, buried in a book, and walked slowly into the +group--started, made a slight apology, and was mooning off, lost +in his book again. Then the baroness, who had eyed him with grim +suspicion all the time, said with well-affected nonchalance, "Doctor, +you dropped your purse; we have just picked it up." And she handed +it to him. "Thank you, madame," said he, and took it quietly without +looking at it, put it in his pocket, and retired, with his soul in +his book. They stared comically at one another, and at this cool +hand. "It's no more his than it's mine," said Jacintha, bluntly. +Rose darted after the absorbed student, and took him captive. "Now, +doctor," she cried, "be pleased to come out of the clouds." And +with the word she whipped the purse out of his coat pocket, and +holding it right up before his eye, insisted on his telling her +whether that was his purse or not, money and all. Thus adjured, +he disowned the property mighty coolly, for a retired physician, +who had just pocketed it. + +"No, my dear," said he; "and, now I think of it, I have not carried +a purse this twenty years." + +The baroness, as a last resource, appealed to his honor whether he +had not left a purse and paper on the knights' bough. The question +had to be explained by Josephine, and then the doctor surprised them +all by being rather affronted--for once in his life. + +"Baroness," said he, "I have been your friend and pensioner nearly +twenty years; if by some strange chance money were to come into my +hands, I should not play you a childish trick like this. What! have +I not the right to come to you, and say, 'My old friend, here I +bring you back a very small part of all I owe you?'" + +"What geese we are," remarked Rose. "Dear doctor, YOU tell us who +it is." + +Dr. Aubertin reflected a single moment; then said he could make a +shrewd guess. + +"Who? who? who?" cried the whole party. + +"Perrin the notary." + +It was the baroness's turn to be surprised; for there was nothing +romantic about Perrin the notary. Aubertin, however, let her know +that he was in private communication with the said Perrin, and this +was not the first friendly act the good notary had done her in secret. + +While he was converting the baroness to his view, Josephine and Rose +exchanged a signal, and slipped away round an angle of the chateau. + +"Who is it?" said Rose. + +"It is some one who has a delicate mind." + +"Clearly, and therefore not a notary." + +"Rose, dear, might it not be some person who has done us some wrong, +and is perhaps penitent?" + +"Certainly; one of our tenants, or creditors, you mean; but then, +the paper says 'a friend.' Stay, it says a debtor. Why a debtor? +Down with enigmas!" + +"Rose, love," said Josephine, coaxingly, "think of some one that +might--since it is not the doctor, nor Monsieur Perrin, might it not +be--for after all, he would naturally be ashamed to appear before me." + +"Before you? Who do you mean?" asked Rose nervously, catching a +glimpse now. + +"He who once pretended to love me." + +"Josephine, you love that man still." + +"No, no. Spare me!" + +"You love him just the same as ever. Oh, it is wonderful; it is +terrible; the power he has over you; over your judgment as well as +your heart." + +"No! for I believe he has forgotten my very name; don't you think so?" + +"Dear Josephine, can you doubt it? Come, you do doubt it." + +"Sometimes." + +"But why? for what reason?" + +"Because of what he said to me as we parted at that gate; the words +and the voice seem still to ring like truth across the weary years. +He said, 'I am to join the army of the Pyrenees, so fatal to our +troops; but say to me what you never yet have said, Camille, I love +you: and I swear I will come back alive.' So then I said to him, 'I +love you,'--and he never came back." + +"How could he come here? a deserter, a traitor!" + +"It is not true; it is not in his nature; inconstancy may be. Tell +me that he never really loved me, and I will believe you; but not +that he is a traitor. Let me weep over my past love, not blush for +it." + +"Past? You love him to-day as you did three years ago." + +"No," said Josephine, "no; I love no one. I never shall love any +one again." + +"But him. It is that love which turns your heart against others. +Oh, yes, you love him, dearest, or why should you fancy our secret +benefactor COULD be that Camille?" + +"Why? Because I was mad: because it is impossible; but I see my +folly. I am going in." + +"What! don't you care to know who I think it was, perhaps?" + +"No," said Josephine sadly and doggedly; she added with cold +nonchalance, "I dare say time will show." And she went slowly in, +her hand to her head. + +"Her birthday!" sighed Rose. + +The donor, whoever he was, little knew the pain he was inflicting on +this distressed but proud family, or the hard battle that ensued +between their necessities and their delicacy. The ten gold pieces +were a perpetual temptation: a daily conflict. The words that +accompanied the donation offered a bait. Their pride and dignity +declined it; but these bright bits of gold cost them many a sharp +pang. You must know that Josephine and Rose had worn out their +mourning by this time; and were obliged to have recourse to gayer +materials that lay in their great wardrobes, and were older, but +less worn. A few of these gold pieces would have enabled the poor +girls to be neat, and yet to mourn their father openly. And it went +through and through those tender, simple hearts, to think that they +must be disunited, even in so small a thing as dress; that while +their mother remained in her weeds, they must seem no longer to +share her woe. + +The baroness knew their feeling, and felt its piety, and yet could +not bow her dignity to say, "Take five of these bits of gold, and +let us all look what we are--one." Yet in this, as in everything +else, they supported each other. They resisted, they struggled, and +with a wrench they conquered day by day. At last, by general +consent, Josephine locked up the tempter, and they looked at it no +more. But the little bit of paper met a kinder fate. Rose made a +little frame for it, and it was kept in a drawer, in the salon: and +often looked at and blessed. Just when they despaired of human +friendship, this paper with the sacred word "friend" written on it, +had fallen all in a moment on their aching hearts. + +They could not tell whence it came, this blessed word. + +But men dispute whence comes the dew? + +Then let us go with the poets, who say it comes from heaven. + +And even so that sweet word, friend, dropped like the dew from +heaven on these afflicted ones. + +So they locked the potent gold away from themselves, and took the +kind slip of paper to their hearts. + +The others left off guessing: Aubertin had it all his own way: he +upheld Perrin as their silent benefactor, and bade them all observe +that the worthy notary had never visited the chateau openly since +the day the purse was left there. "Guilty conscience," said +Aubertin dryly. + +One day in his walks he met a gaunt figure ambling on a fat pony: he +stopped him, and, holding up his finger, said abruptly, "We have +found you out, Maitre Perrin." + +The notary changed color. + +"Oh, never be ashamed," said Aubertin; "a good action done slyly is +none the less a good action." + +The notary wore a puzzled air. + +Aubertin admired his histrionic powers in calling up this look. + +"Come, come, don't overdo it," said he. "Well, well; they cannot +profit by your liberality; but you will be rewarded in a better +world, take my word for that." + +The notary muttered indistinctly. He was a man of moderate desires; +would have been quite content if there had been no other world in +perspective. He had studied this one, and made it pay: did not +desire a better; sometimes feared a worse. + +"Ah!" said Aubertin, "I see how it is; we do not like to hear +ourselves praised, do we? When shall we see you at the chateau?" + +"I propose to call on the baroness the moment I have good news to +bring," replied Perrin; and to avoid any more compliments spurred +the dun pony suddenly; and he waddled away. + +Now this Perrin was at that moment on the way to dine with a +character who plays a considerable part in the tale--Commandant +Raynal. Perrin had made himself useful to the commandant, and had +become his legal adviser. And, this very day after dinner, the +commandant having done a good day's work permitted himself a little +sentiment over the bottle, and to a man he thought his friend. He +let out that he had a heap of money he did not know what to do with, +and almost hated it now his mother was gone and could not share it. + +The man of law consoled him with oleaginous phrases: told him he +very much underrated the power of money. His hoard, directed by a +judicious adviser, would make him a landed proprietor, and the +husband of some young lady, all beauty, virtue, and accomplishment, +whose soothing influence would soon heal the sorrow caused by an +excess of filial sentiment. + +"Halt!" shouted Raynal: "say that again in half the words." + +Perrin was nettled, for he prided himself on his colloquial style. + +"You can buy a fine estate and a chaste wife with the money," +snapped this smooth personage, substituting curt brutality for +honeyed prolixity. + +The soldier was struck by the propositions the moment they flew at +him small and solid, like bullets. + +"I've no time," said he, "to be running after women. But the estate +I'll certainly have, because you can get that for me without my +troubling my head." + +"Is it a commission, then?" asked the other sharply. + +"Of course. Do you think I speak for the sake of talking?" + +And so Perrin received formal instructions to look out for a landed +estate; and he was to receive a handsome commission as agent. + +Now to settle this affair, and pocket a handsome percentage for +himself, he had only to say "Beaurepaire." + +Well, he didn't. Never mentioned the place; nor the fact that it +was for sale. + +Such are all our agents, when rival speculators. Mind that. Still +it is a terrible thing to be so completely in the power of any man +of the world, as from this hour Beaurepaire was in the power of +Perrin the notary. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Edouard Riviere was unhappy. She never came out now. This alone +made the days dark to him. And then he began to fear it was him she +shunned. She must have seen him lie in wait for her; and so she +would come out no more. He prowled about and contrived to fall in +with Jacintha; he told her his grief. She assured him the simple +fact was their mourning was worn out, and they were ashamed to go +abroad in colors. This revelation made his heart yearn still more. + +"O Jacintha," said he, "if I could only make a beginning; but here +we might live a century in the same parish, and not one chance for a +poor wretch to make acquaintance." + +Jacintha admitted this, and said gentlefolks were to be pitied. +"Why, if it was the likes of me, you and I should have made friends +long before now." + +Jacintha herself was puzzled what to do; she would have told Rose if +she had felt sure it would be well received; but she could not find +out that the young lady had even noticed the existence of Edouard. +But her brain worked, and lay in wait for an opportunity. + +One came sooner than she expected. One morning at about six +o'clock, as she came home from milking the cow, she caught sight of +young Riviere trying to open the iron gate. "What is up now?" +thought she; suddenly the truth flashed upon her, clear as day. She +put her pail down and stole upon him. "You want to leave us another +purse," said she. He colored all over and panted. + +"How did you know? how could you know? you won't betray me? you +won't be so cruel? you promised." + +"Me betray you," said Jacintha; "why, I'll help you; and then they +will be able to buy mourning, you know, and then they will come out, +and give you a chance. You can't open that gate, for it's locked. +But you come round to the lane, and I'll get you the key; it is +hanging up in the kitchen." + +The key was in her pocket. But the sly jade wanted him away from +that gate; it commanded a view of the Pleasaunce. He was no sooner +safe in the lane, than she tore up-stairs to her young ladies, and +asked them with affected calm whether they would like to know who +left the purse. + +"Oh, yes, yes!" screamed Rose. + +"Then come with me. You ARE dressed; never mind your bonnets, or +you will be too late." + +Questions poured on her; but she waived all explanation, and did not +give them time to think, or Josephine, for one, she knew would raise +objections. She led the way to the Pleasaunce, and, when she got to +the ancestral oak, she said hurriedly, "Now, mesdemoiselles, hide in +there, and as still as mice. You'll soon know who leaves the purses." + +With this she scudded to the lane, and gave Edouard the key. "Look +sharp," said she, "before they get up; it's almost their dressing +time." + +"YOU'LL SOON KNOW WHO LEAVES THE PURSES!" + +Curiosity, delicious curiosity, thrilled our two daughters of Eve. + +This soon began to alternate with chill misgivings at the novelty of +the situation. + +"She is not coming back," said Josephine ruefully. + +"No," said Rose, "and suppose when we pounce out on him, it should +be a stranger." + +"Pounce on him? surely we are not to do that?" + +"Oh, y-yes; that is the p-p-programme," quavered Rose. + +A key grated, and the iron gate creaked on its hinges. They ran +together and pinched one another for mutual support, but did not +dare to speak. + +Presently a man's shadow came slap into the tree. They crouched and +quivered, and expected to be caught instead of catching, and wished +themselves safe back in bed, and all this a nightmare, and no worse. + +At last they recovered themselves enough to observe that this +shadow, one half of which lay on the ground, while the head and +shoulders went a little way up the wall of the tree, represented a +man's profile, not his front face. The figure, in short, was +standing between them and the sun, and was contemplating the +chateau, not the tree. + +The shadow took off its hat to Josephine, in the tree. Then would +she have screamed if she had not bitten her white hand instead, and +made a red mark thereon. + +It wiped its brow with a handkerchief; it had walked fast, poor +thing! The next moment it was away. + +They looked at one another and panted. They scarcely dared do it +before. Then Rose, with one hand on her heaving bosom, shook her +little white fist viciously at where the figure must be, and perhaps +a comical desire of vengeance stimulated her curiosity. She now +glided through the fissure like a cautious panther from her den; and +noiseless and supple as a serpent began to wind slowly round the +tree. She soon came to a great protuberance in the tree, and +twining and peering round it with diamond eye, she saw a very young, +very handsome gentleman, stealing on tiptoe to the nearest flower- +bed. Then she saw him take a purse out of his bosom, and drop it on +the bed. This done, he came slowly past the tree again, and was +even heard to vent a little innocent chuckle of intense satisfaction: +but of brief duration; for, when Rose saw the purse leave his hand, +she made a rapid signal to Josephine to wheel round the other side +of the tree, and, starting together with admirable concert, both +the daughters of Beaurepaire glided into sight with a vast appearance +of composure. + +Two women together are really braver than fifteen separate; but +still, most of this tranquillity was merely put on, but so admirably +that Edouard Riviere had no chance with them. He knew nothing about +their tremors; all he saw or heard was, a rustle, then a flap on +each side of him as of great wings, and two lovely women were upon +him with angelic swiftness. "Ah!" he cried out with a start, and +glanced from the first-comer, Rose, to the gate. But Josephine was +on that side by this time, and put up her hand, as much as to say, +"You can't pass here." In such situations, the mind works quicker +than lightning. He took off his hat, and stammered an excuse--"Come +to look at the oak." At this moment Rose pounced on the purse, and +held it up to Josephine. He was caught. His only chance now was to +bolt for the mark and run; but it was not the notary, it was a +novice who lost his presence of mind, or perhaps thought it rude to +run when a lady told him to stand still. All he did was to crush +his face into his two hands, round which his cheeks and neck now +blushed red as blood. Blush? they could both see the color rush +like a wave to the very roots of his hair and the tips of his +fingers. + +The moment our heroines, who, in that desperation which is one of +the forms of cowardice, had hurled themselves on the foe, saw this, +flash--the quick-witted poltroons exchanged purple lightning over +Edouard's drooping head, and enacted lionesses in a moment. + +It was with the quiet composure of lofty and powerful natures that +Josephine opened on him. "Compose yourself, sir; and be so good as +to tell us who you are." Edouard must answer. Now he could not +speak through his hands; and he could not face a brace of tranquil +lionesses: so he took a middle course, removed one hand, and shading +himself from Josephine with the other, he gasped out, "I am--my name +is Riviere; and I--I--ladies!" + +"I am afraid we frighten you," said Josephine, demurely. + +"Don't be frightened," said Rose, majestically; "we are not VERY +angry, only a LITTLE curious to know why you water our flowers with +gold." + +At this point-blank thrust, and from her, Edouard was so confounded +and distressed, they both began to pity him. He stammered out that +he was so confused he did not know what to say. He couldn't think +how ever he could have taken such a liberty; might he be permitted +to retire? and with this he tried to slip away. + +"Let me detain you one instant," said Josephine, and made for the +house. + +Left alone so suddenly with the culprit, the dignity, and majesty, +and valor of Rose seemed to ooze gently out; and she stood blushing, +and had not a word to say; no more had Edouard. But he hung his +head, and she hung her head. And, somehow or other, whenever she +raised her eyes to glance at him, he raised his to steal a look at +her, and mutual discomfiture resulted. + +This awkward, embarrassing delirium was interrupted by Josephine's +return. She now held another purse in her hand, and quietly poured +the rest of the coin into it. She then, with a blush, requested him +to take back the money. + +At that he found his tongue. "No, no," he cried, and put up his +hands in supplication. "Ladies, do let me speak ONE word to you. +Do not reject my friendship. You are alone in the world; your +father is dead; your mother has but you to lean on. After all, I am +your neighbor, and neighbors should be friends. And I am your +debtor; I owe you more than you could ever owe me; for ever since I +came into this neighborhood I have been happy. No man was ever so +happy as I, ever since one day I was walking, and met for the first +time an angel. I don't say it was you, Mademoiselle Rose. It might +be Mademoiselle Josephine." + +"How pat he has got our names," said Rose, smiling. + +"A look from that angel has made me so good, so happy. I used to +vegetate, but now I live. Live! I walk on wings, and tread on +roses. Yet you insist on declining a few miserable louis d'or from +him who owes you so much. Well, don't be angry; I'll take them +back, and throw them into the nearest pond, for they are really no +use to me. But then you will be generous in your turn. You will +accept my devotion, my services. You have no brother, you know; +well, I have no sisters; let me be your brother, and your servant +forever." + +At all this, delivered in as many little earnest pants as there were +sentences, the water stood in the fair eyes he was looking into so +piteously. + +Josephine was firm, but angelical. "We thank you, Monsieur +Riviere," said she, softly, "for showing us that the world is still +embellished with hearts like yours. Here is the money;" and she +held it out in her creamy hand. + +"But we are very grateful," put in Rose, softly and earnestly. + +"That we are," said Josephine, "and we beg to keep the purse as a +souvenir of one who tried to do us a kindness without mortifying us. +And now, Monsieur Riviere, you will permit us to bid you adieu." + +Edouard was obliged to take the hint. "It is I who am the +intruder," said he. "Mesdemoiselles, conceive, if you can, my pride +and my disappointment." He then bowed low; they courtesied low to +him in return; and he retired slowly in a state of mixed feeling +indescribable. + +With all their sweetness and graciousness, he felt overpowered by +their high breeding, their reserve, and their composure, in a +situation that had set his heart beating itself nearly out of his +bosom. He acted the scene over again, only much more adroitly, and +concocted speeches for past use, and was very hot and very cold by +turns. + +I wish he could have heard what passed between the sisters as soon +as ever he was out of earshot. It would have opened his eyes, and +given him a little peep into what certain writers call "the sex." + +"Poor boy," murmured Josephine, "he has gone away unhappy." + +"Oh, I dare say he hasn't gone far," replied Rose, gayly. "I +shouldn't if I was a boy." + +Josephine held up her finger like an elder sister; then went on to +say she really hardly knew why she had dismissed him. + +"Well, dear," said Rose, dryly, "since you admit so much, I must say +I couldn't help thinking--while you were doing it--we were letting +'the poor boy' off ridiculously cheap." + +"At least I did my duty?" suggested Josephine, inquiringly. + +"Magnificently; you overawed even me. So now to business, as the +gentlemen say. Which of us two takes him?" + +"Takes whom?" inquired Josephine, opening her lovely eyes. + +"Edouard," murmured Rose, lowering hers. + +Josephine glared on the lovely minx with wonder and comical horror. + +"Oh! you shall have him," said Rose, "if you like. You are the +eldest, you know." + +"Fie!" + +"Do now; TO OBLIGE ME." + +"For shame! Rose. Is this you? talking like that!" + +"Oh! there's no compulsion, dear; I never force young ladies' +inclinations. So you decline him?" + +"Of course I decline him." + +"Then, oh, you dear, darling Josephine, this is the prettiest +present you ever made me," and she kissed her vehemently. + +Josephine was frightened now. She held Rose out at arm's length +with both hands, and looked earnestly into her, and implored her not +to play with fire. "Take warning by me." + +Rose recommended her to keep her pity for Monsieur Riviere, "who had +fallen into nice hands," she said. That no doubt might remain on +that head, she whispered mysteriously, but with much gravity and +conviction, "I am an Imp;" and aimed at Josephine with her +forefinger to point the remark. For one second she stood and +watched this important statement sink into her sister's mind, then +set-to and gambolled elfishly round her as she moved stately and +thoughtful across the grass to the chateau. + +Two days after this a large tree was blown down in Beaurepaire park, +and made quite a gap in the prospect. You never know what a big +thing a leafy tree is till it comes down. And this ill wind blew +Edouard good; for it laid bare the chateau to his inquiring +telescope. He had not gazed above half an hour, when a female +figure emerged from the chateau. His heart beat. It was only +Jacintha. He saw her look this way and that, and presently Dard +appeared, and she sent him with his axe to the fallen tree. Edouard +watched him hacking away at it. Presently his heart gave a violent +leap; for why? two ladies emerged from the Pleasaunce and walked +across the park. They came up to Dard, and stood looking at the +tree and Dard hacking it, and Edouard watched them greedily. You +know we all love to magnify her we love. And this was a delightful +way of doing it. It is "a system of espionage" that prevails under +every form of government. How he gazed, and gazed, on his now polar +star; studied every turn, every gesture, with eager delight, and +tried to gather what she said, or at least the nature of it. + +But by and by they left Dard and strolled towards the other end of +the park. Then did our astronomer fling down his tube, and come +running out in hopes of intercepting them, and seeming to meet them +by some strange fortuity. Hope whispered he should be blessed with +a smile; perhaps a word even. So another minute and he was running +up the road to Beaurepaire. But his good heart was doomed to be +diverted to a much humbler object than his idol; as he came near the +fallen tree he heard loud cries for help, followed by groans of +pain. He bounded over the hedge, and there was Dard hanging over +his axe, moaning. "What is the matter? what is the matter?" cried +Edouard, running to him. + +"Oh! oh! cut my foot. Oh!" + +Edouard looked, and turned sick, for there was a gash right through +Dard's shoe, and the blood welling up through it. But, recovering +himself by an effort of the will, he cried out, "Courage, my lad! +don't give in. Thank Heaven there's no artery there. Oh, dear, it +is a terrible cut! Let us get you home, that is the first thing. +Can you walk?" + +"Lord bless you, no! nor stand neither without help." + +Edouard flew to the wheelbarrow, and, reversing it, spun a lot of +billet out. "Ye must not do that," said Dard with all the energy he +was capable of in his present condition. "Why, that is Jacintha's +wood."--"To the devil with Jacintha and her wood too!" cried +Edouard, "a man is worth more than a fagot. Come, I shall wheel you +home: it is only just across the park." + +With some difficulty he lifted him into the barrow. Luckily he had +his shooting-jacket on with a brandy-flask in it: he administered it +with excellent effect. + +The ladies, as they walked, saw a man wheeling a barrow across the +park, and took no particular notice; but, as Riviere was making for +the same point they were, though at another angle, presently the +barrow came near enough for them to see Dard's head and arms in it. +Rose was the first to notice this. "Look! look! if he is not +wheeling Dard in the barrow now." + +"Who?" + +"Can you ask? Who provides all our excitement?" + +Josephine instantly divined there was something amiss. "Consider," +said she, "Monsieur Riviere would not wheel Dard all across the park +for amusement." + +Rose assented; and in another minute, by a strange caprice of fate, +those Edouard had come to intercept, quickened their pace to +intercept him. As soon as he saw their intention he thrilled all +over, but did not slacken his pace. He told Dard to take his coat +and throw it over his foot, for here were the young ladies coming. + +"What for?" said Dard sulkily. "No! let them see what they have +done with their little odd jobs: this is my last for one while. I +sha'n't go on two legs again this year." + +The ladies came up with them. + +"O monsieur!" said Josephine, "what is the matter?" + +"We have met with a little accident, mademoiselle, that is all. +Dard has hurt his foot; nothing to speak of, but I thought he would +be best at home." + +Rose raised the coat which Riviere, in spite of Dard, had flung over +his foot. + +"He is bleeding! Dard is bleeding! Oh, my poor Dard. Oh! oh!" + +"Hush, Rose!" + +"No, don't put him out of heart, mademoiselle. Take another pull at +the flask, Dard. If you please, ladies, I must have him home +without delay." + +"Oh yes, but I want him to have a surgeon," cried Josephine. "And +we have no horses nor people to send off as we used to have." + +"But you have me, mademoiselle," said Edouard tenderly. "Me, who +would go to the world's end for you." He said this to Josephine, +but his eye sought Rose. "I'm a famous runner," he added, a little +bumptiously; "I'll be at the town in half an hour, and send a +surgeon up full gallop." + +"You have a good heart," said Rose simply. + +He bowed his blushing, delighted face, and wheeled Dard to his +cottage hard by with almost more than mortal vigor. How softly, how +nobly, that frolicsome girl could speak! Those sweet words rang in +his ears and ran warm round and round his heart, as he straightened +his arms and his back to the work. When they had gone about a +hundred yards, a single snivel went off in the wheelbarrow. Five +minutes after, Dard was at home in charge of his grandmother, his +shoe off, his foot in a wet linen cloth; and Edouard, his coat tied +round the neck, squared his shoulders, and ran the two short leagues +out. He ran them in forty minutes, found the surgeon at home, told +the case, pooh-poohed that worthy's promise to go to the patient +presently, darted into his stable, saddled the horse, brought him +round, saw the surgeon into the saddle, started him, dined at the +restaurateur's, strolled back, and was in time to get a good look at +the chateau of Beaurepaire just as the sun set on it. + +Jacintha came into Dard's cottage that evening. + +"So you have been at it, my man," cried she cheerfully and rather +roughly, then sat down and rocked herself, with her apron over her +head. She explained this anomalous proceeding to his grandmother +privately. "I thought I would keep his heart up anyway, but you see +I was not fit." + +Next morning, as Riviere sat writing, he received an unexpected +visit from Jacintha. She came in with her finger to her lips, and +said, "You prowl about Dard's cottage. They are sure to go and see +him every day, and him wounded in their service." + +"Oh, you good girl! you dear girl!" cried Edouard. + +She did not reply in words, but, after going to the door, returned +and gave him a great kiss without ceremony. "Dare say you know what +that's for," said she, and went off with a clear conscience and +reddish cheeks. + +Dard's grandmother had a little house, a little land, a little +money, and a little cow. She could just maintain Dard and herself, +and her resources enabled Dard to do so many little odd jobs for +love, yet keep his main organ tolerably filled. + +"Go to bed, my little son, since you have got hashed," said she.-- +"Bed be hanged," cried he. "What good is bed? That's a silly old +custom wants doing away with. It weakens you: it turns you into +train oil: it is the doctor's friend, and the sick man's bane. Many +a one dies through taking to bed, that could have kept his life if +he had kept his feet like a man. If I had cut myself in two I would +not go to bed,--till I go to the bed with a spade in it. No! sit up +like Julius Caesar; and die as you lived, in your clothes: don't +strip yourself: let the old women strip you; that is their delight +laying out a chap; that is the time they brighten up, the old +sorceresses." He concluded this amiable rhapsody, the latter part +of which was levelled at a lugubrious weakness of his grandmother's +for the superfluous embellishment of the dead, by telling her it was +bad enough to be tied by the foot like an ass, without settling down +on his back like a cast sheep. "Give me the armchair. I'll sit in +it, and, if I have any friends, they will show it now: they will +come and tell me what is going on in the village, for I can't get +out to see it and hear it, they must know that." + +Seated in state in his granny's easy-chair, the loss of which after +thirty years' use made her miserable, she couldn't tell why, le +Sieur Dard awaited his friends. + +They did not come. + +The rain did, and poured all the afternoon. Night succeeded, and +solitude. Dard boiled over with bitterness. "They are a lot of +pigs then, all those fellows I have drunk with at Bigot's and +Simmet's. Down with all fair-weather friends." + +The next day the sun shone, the air was clear, and the sky blue. +"Ah! let us see now," cried Dard. + +Alas! no fellow-drinkers, no fellow-smokers, came to console their +hurt fellow. And Dard, who had boiled with anger yesterday, was now +sad and despondent. "Down with egotists," he groaned. + +About three in the afternoon came a tap at the door. + +"Ah! at last," cried Dard: "come in!" + +The door was slowly opened, and two lovely faces appeared at the +threshold. The demoiselles De Beaurepaire wore a tender look of +interest and pity when they caught sight of Dard, and on the old +woman courtesying to them they courtesied to her and Dard. The next +moment they were close to him, one a little to his right, the other +to his left, and two pair of sapphire eyes with the mild lustre of +sympathy playing down incessantly upon him. How was he? How had he +slept? Was he in pain? Was he in much pain? tell the truth now. +Was there anything to eat or drink he could fancy? Jacintha should +make it and bring it, if it was within their means. A prince could +not have had more solicitous attendants, nor a fairy king lovelier +and less earthly ones. + +He looked in heavy amazement from one to the other. Rose bent, and +was by some supple process on one knee, taking the measure of the +wounded foot. When she first approached it he winced: but the next +moment he smiled. He had never been touched like this--it was +contact and no contact--she treated his foot as the zephyr the +violets--she handled it as if it had been some sacred thing. By the +help of his eye he could just know she was touching him. Presently +she informed him he was measured for a list shoe: and she would run +home for the materials. During her absence came a timid tap to the +door; and Edouard Riviere entered. He was delighted to see +Josephine, and made sure Rose was not far off. It was Dard who let +out that she was gone to Beaurepaire for some cloth to make him a +shoe. This information set Edouard fidgeting on his chair. He saw +such a chance as was not likely to occur again. He rose with +feigned nonchalance, and saying, "I leave you in good hands; angel +visitors are best enjoyed alone," slowly retired, with a deep +obeisance. Once outside the door, dignity vanished in alacrity; he +flew off into the park, and ran as hard as he could towards the +chateau. He was within fifty yards of the little gate, when sure +enough Rose emerged. They met; his heart beat violently. +"Mademoiselle," he faltered. + +"Ah! it is Monsieur Riviere, I declare," said Rose, coolly; all over +blushes though. + +"Yes, mademoiselle, and I am so out of breath. Mademoiselle +Josephine awaits you at Dard's house." + +"She sent you for me?" inquired Rose, demurely. + +"Not positively. But I could see I should please her by coming for +you; there is, I believe, a bull or so about." + +"A bull or two! don't talk in that reckless way about such things. +She has done well to send you; let us make haste." + +"But I am a little out of breath." + +"Oh, never mind that! I abhor bulls." + +"But, mademoiselle, we are not come to them yet, and the faster we +go now the sooner we shall." + +"Yes; but I always like to get a disagreeable thing over as soon as +possible," said Rose, slyly. + +"Ah," replied Edouard, mournfully, "in that case let us make haste." + +After a little spurt, mademoiselle relaxed the pace of her own +accord, and even went slower than before. There was an awkward +silence. Edouard eyed the park boundary, and thought, "Now what I +have to say I must say before we get to you;" and being thus +impressed with the necessity of immediate action, he turned to lead. + +Rose eyed him and the ground, alternately, from under her long +lashes. + +At last he began to color and flutter. She saw something was +coming, and all the woman donned defensive armor. + +"Mademoiselle." + +"Monsieur." + +"Is it quite decided that your family refuse my acquaintance, my +services, which I still--forgive me--press on you? Ah! Mademoiselle +Rose, am I never to have the happiness of--of--even speaking to +you?" + +"It seems so," said Rose, ironically. + +"Have you then decided against me too?" + +"I?" asked Rose. "What have I to do with questions of etiquette? I +am only a child: so considered at least." + +"You a child--an angel like you?" + +"Ask any of them, they will tell you I am a child; and it is to that +I owe this conversation, no doubt; if you did not look on me as a +child, you would not take this liberty with me," said the young cat, +scratching without a moment's notice. + +"Mademoiselle, do not be angry. I was wrong." + +"Oh! never mind. Children are little creatures without reserve, and +treated accordingly, and to notice them is to honor them." + +"Adieu then, mademoiselle. Try to believe no one respects you more +than I do." + +"Yes, let us part, for there is Dard's house; and I begin to suspect +that Josephine never sent you." + +"I confess it." + +"There, he confesses it. I thought so all along; WHAT A DUPE I HAVE +BEEN!" + +"I will offend no more," said poor silly Edouard. "Adieu, +mademoiselle. May you find friends as sincere as I am, and more to +your taste!" + +"Heaven hear your prayers!" replied the malicious thing, casting up +her eyes with a mock tragic air. + +Edouard sighed; a chill conviction that she was both heartless and +empty fell on him. He turned away without another word. She called +to him with a sudden airy cheerfulness that made him start. "Stay, +monsieur, I forgot--I have a favor to ask you." + +"I wish I could believe that:" and his eyes brightened. + +Rose stopped, and began to play with her parasol. "You seem," said +she softly, "to be pretty generous in bestowing your acquaintance on +strangers. I should be glad if I might secure you for a dear friend +of mine, Dr. Aubertin. He will not discredit my recommendation; and +he will not make so many difficulties as we do; shall I tell you +why? Because he is really worth knowing. In short, believe me, it +will be a valuable acquaintance for you--and for him," added she +with all the grace of the De Beaurepaires. + +Many a man, inferior in a general way to Edouard Riviere, would have +made a sensible reply to this. Such as, "Oh, any friend of yours, +mademoiselle, must be welcome to me," or the like. But the proposal +caught Edouard on his foible, his vanity, to wit; and our foibles +are our manias. He was mortified to the heart's core. "She refuses +to know me herself," thought he, "but she will use my love to make +me amuse that old man." His heart swelled against her injustice and +ingratitude, and his crushed vanity turned to strychnine. +"Mademoiselle," said he, bitterly and doggedly, but sadly, "were I +so happy as to have your esteem, my heart would overflow, not only +on the doctor but on every honest person around. But if I must not +have the acquaintance I value more than life, suffer me to be alone +in the world, and never to say a word either to Dr. Aubertin, or to +any human creature if I can help it." + +The imperious young beauty drew herself up directly. "So be it, +monsieur; you teach me how a child should be answered that forgets +herself, and asks a favor of a stranger--a perfect stranger," added +she, maliciously. + +Could one of the dog-days change to mid-winter in a second, it would +hardly seem so cold and cross as Rose de Beaurepaire turned from the +smiling, saucy fairy of the moment before. Edouard felt as it were +a portcullis of ice come down between her and him. She courtesied +and glided away. He bowed and stood frozen to the spot. + +He felt so lonely and so bitter, he must go to Jacintha for comfort. + +He took advantage of the ladies being with Dard, and marched boldly +into the kitchen of Beaurepaire. + +"Well, I never," cried Jacintha. "But, after all, why not?" + +He hurled himself on the kitchen table (clean as china), and told +her it was all over. "She hates me now; but it is not my fault," +and so poured forth his tale, and feeling sure of sympathy, asked +Jacintha whether it was not bitterly unjust of Rose to refuse him +her own acquaintance, yet ask him to amuse that old fogy. + +Jacintha stood with her great arms akimbo, taking it all in, and +looking at him with a droll expression of satirical wonder. + +"Now you listen to a parable," said she. "Once there was a little +boy madly in love with raspberry jam." + +"A thing I hate." + +"Don't tell me! Who hates raspberry jam? He came to the store +closet, where he knew there were jars of it, and--oh! misery--the +door was locked. He kicked the door, and wept bitterly. His mamma +came and said, 'Here is the key,' and gave him the key. And what +did he do? Why, he fell to crying and roaring, and kicking the +door. 'I don't wa-wa-wa-wa-nt the key-ey-ey. I wa-a-ant the jam-- +oh! oh! oh! oh!'" and Jacintha mimicked, after her fashion, the +mingled grief and ire of infancy debarred its jam. Edouard wore a +puzzled air, but it was only for a moment; the next he hid his face +in his hands, and cried, "Fool!" + +"I shall not contradict you," said his Mentor. + +"She was my best friend. Once acquainted with the doctor, I could +visit at Beaurepaire." + +"Parbleu!" + +"She had thought of a way to reconcile my wishes with this terrible +etiquette that reigns here." + +"She thinks to more purpose than you do; that is clear." + +"Nothing is left now but to ask her pardon, and to consent; I am +off." + +"No, you are not," and Jacintha laid a grasp of iron on him. "Will +you be quiet?--is not one blunder a day enough? If you go near her +now, she will affront you, and order the doctor not to speak to you." + +"O Jacintha! your sex then are fiends of malice?" + +"While it lasts. Luckily with us nothing lasts very long. Now you +don't go near her till you have taken advantage of her hint, and +made the doctor's acquaintance; that is easy done. He walks two +hours on the east road every day, with his feet in the puddles and +his head in the clouds. Them's HIS two tastes." + +"But how am I to get him out of the clouds and the puddles?" +inquired Riviere half peevishly. + +"How?" asked Jacintha, with a dash of that contempt uneducated +persons generally have for any one who does not know some little +thing they happen to know themselves. "How? Why, with the nearest +blackbeetle, to be sure." + +"A blackbeetle?" + +"Black or brown; it matters little. Have her ready for use in your +handkerchief: pull a long face: and says you--'Excuse me, sir, I +have THE MISFORTUNE not to know the Greek name of this merchandise +here.' Say that, and behold him launched. He will christen you the +beast in Hebrew and Latin as well as Greek, and tell you her history +down from the flood: next he will beg her of you, and out will come +a cork and a pin, and behold the creature impaled. For that is how +men love beetles. He has a thousand pinned down at home--beetles, +butterflies, and so forth. When I go near the rubbish with my +duster he trembles like an aspen. I pretend to be going to clean +them, but it is only to see the face he makes, for even a domestic +must laugh now and then--or die. But I never do clean them, for +after all he is more stupid than wicked, poor man: I have not +therefore the sad courage to make him wretched." + +"Let us return to our beetle--what will his tirades about its +antiquity advance me?" + +"Oh! one begins about a beetle, but one ends Heaven knows where." + +Riviere profited by this advice. He even improved on it. In due +course he threw himself into Aubertin's way. He stopped the doctor +reverentially, and said he had heard he was an entomologist. WOULD +he be kind enough to tell him what was this enormous chrysalis he +had just found? + +"The death's head moth!" cried Aubertin with enthusiasm--"the +death's head moth! a great rarity in this district. Where found you +this?" Riviere undertook to show him the place. + +It was half a league distant. Coming and going he had time to make +friends with Aubertin, and this was the easier that the old +gentleman, who was a physiognomist as well as ologist, had seen +goodness and sensibility in Edouard's face. At the end of the walk +he begged the doctor to accept the chrysalis. The doctor coquetted. +"That would be a robbery. You take an interest in these things +yourself--at least I hope so." + +The young rogue confessed modestly to the sentiment of entomology, +but "the government worked him so hard as to leave him no hopes of +shining in so high a science," said he sorrowfully. + +The doctor pitied him. "A young man of your attainments and tastes +to be debarred from the everlasting secrets of nature, by the +fleeting politics of the day." + +Riviere shrugged his shoulders. "Somebody must do the dirty work," +said he, chuckling inwardly. + +The chrysalis went to Beaurepaire in the pocket of a grateful man, +who that same evening told the whole party his conversation with +young Riviere, on whom he pronounced high encomiums. Rose's saucy +eyes sparkled with fun: you might have lighted a candle at one and +exploded a mine at the other; but not a syllable did she utter. + +The doctor proved a key, and opened the enchanted castle. One fine +day he presented his friend in the Pleasaunce to the baroness and +her daughters. + +They received him with perfect politeness. Thus introduced, and as +he was not one to let the grass grow under his feet, he soon +obtained a footing as friend of the family, which, being now advised +by Josephine, he took care not to compromise by making love to Rose +before the baroness. However, he insisted on placing his financial +talent at their service. He surveyed and valued their lands, and +soon discovered that all their farms were grossly underlet. Luckily +most of the leases were run out. He prepared a new rent roll, and +showed it Aubertin, now his fast friend. Aubertin at his request +obtained a list of the mortgages, and Edouard drew a balance-sheet +founded on sure data, and proved to the baroness that in able hands +the said estate was now solvent. + +This was a great comfort to the old lady: and she said to Aubertin, +"Heaven has sent us a champion, a little republican--with the face +of an angel." + +Descending to practice, Edouard actually put three of the farms into +the market, and let them at an advance of twenty per cent on the +expired leases. He brought these leases signed; and the baroness +had scarcely done thanking him, when her other secret friend, +Monsieur Perrin, was announced. Edouard exchanged civilities with +him, and then retired to the Pleasaunce. There he found both +sisters, who were all tenderness and gratitude to him. By this time +he had learned to value Josephine: she was so lovely and so good, +and such a true womanly friend to him. Even Rose could not resist +her influence, and was obliged to be kind to him, when Josephine was +by. But let Josephine go, and instead of her being more tender, as +any other girl would, left alone with her lover, sauciness resumed +its empire till sweet Josephine returned. Whereof cometh an +example; for the said Josephine was summoned to a final conference +with the baroness and Monsieur Perrin. + +"Don't be long," said Rose, as Josephine glided away, and (taking +the precaution to wait till she was quite out of hearing), "I shall +be so dull, dear, till you come back." + +"I shall not though," said Edouard. + +"I am not so sure of that. Now then." + +"Now then, what?" + +"Begin." + +"Begin what?" + +"Amusing me." And she made herself look sullen and unamusable all +over. + +"I will try," said Riviere. "I'll tell you what they say of you: +that you are too young to love." + +"So I am, much." + +"No, no, no! I made a mistake. I mean too young to be loved." + +"Oh, I am not too young for that, not a bit." + +This point settled, she suggested that, if he could not amuse her, +he had better do THE NEXT BEST THING, and that was, talk sense. + +"I think I had better not talk at all," said he, "for I am no match +for such a nimble tongue. And then you are so remorseless. I'll +hold my tongue, and make a sketch of this magnificent oak." + +"Ay, do: draw it as it appeared on a late occasion: with two ladies +flying out of it, and you rooted with dismay." + +"There is no need; that scene is engraved." + +"Where? in all the shops?" + +"No; on all our memories." + +"Not on mine; not on mine. How terrified you were--ha, ha! and how +terrified we should have been if you had not. Listen: once upon a +time--don't be alarmed: it was long after Noah--a frightened hare +ran by a pond; the frogs splashed in the water, smit with awe. Then +she said, 'Ah ha! there are people in the world I frighten in my +turn; I am the thunderbolt of war.' Excuse my quoting La Fontaine: +I am not in 'Charles the Twelfth of Sweden' yet. I am but a child." + +"And it's a great mercy, for when you grow up, you will be too much +for me, that is evident. Come, then, Mademoiselle the Quizzer, come +and adorn my sketch." + +"Monsieur, shall I make you a confession? You will not be angry: I +could not support your displeasure. I have a strange inclination to +walk up and down this terrace while you go and draw that tree in the +Pleasaunce." + +"Resist that inclination; perhaps it will fly from you." + +"No; you fly from me, and draw. I will rejoin you in a few minutes." + +"Thank you, I'm not so stupid. You will step indoors directly." + +"Do you doubt my word, sir?" asked she haughtily. + +He had learned to obey all her caprices; so he went and placed +himself on the west side of the oak and took out his sketch-book, +and worked zealously and rapidly. He had done the outlines of the +tree and was finishing in detail a part of the huge trunk, when his +eyes were suddenly dazzled: in the middle of the rugged bark, +deformed here and there with great wart-like bosses, and wrinkled, +seamed, and ploughed all over with age, burst a bit of variegated +color; bright as a poppy on a dungeon wall, it glowed and glittered +out through a large hole in the brown bark; it was Rose's face +peeping. To our young lover's eye how divine it shone! None of the +half tints of common flesh were there, but a thing all rose, lily, +sapphire, and soul. His pencil dropped, his mouth opened, he was +downright dazzled by the glowing, bewitching face, sparkling with +fun, in the gaunt tree. Tell me, ladies, did she know, even at that +age, the value of that sombre frame to her brightness? The moment +she found herself detected, the gaunt old tree rang musical with a +crystal laugh, and out came the arch-dryad. "I have been there all +the time. How solemn you looked! Now for the result of such +profound study." He showed her his work; she altered her tone. +"Oh, how clever!" she cried, "and how rapid! What a facility you +have! Monsieur is an artist," said she gravely; "I will be more +respectful," and she dropped him a low courtesy. "Mind you promised +it me," she added sharply. + +"You will accept it, then?" + +"That I will, now it is worth having: dear me, I never reckoned on +that. Finish it directly," cried this peremptory young person. + +"First I must trouble you to stand out there near the tree." + +"Me? what for?" + +"Because art loves contrasts. The tree is a picture of age and +gradual decay; by its side then I must place a personification of +youth and growing loveliness." + +She did not answer, but made a sort of defiant pirouette, and went +where she was bid, and stood there with her back to the artist. +"That will never do," said he; "you really must be so good as to +turn round." + +"Oh, very well." And when she came round, behold her color had +risen mightily. Flattery is sweet. + +This child of nature was delighted, and ashamed it should be seen +that she was. + +And so he drew her, and kept looking off the paper at her, and had a +right in his character of artist to look her full in the face; and +he did so with long lingering glances. To be sure, they all began +severe and businesslike with half-closed eyes, and the peculiar +hostile expression art puts on; but then they always ended open- +eyed, and so full and tender, that she, poor girl, who was all real +gold, though sham brass, blushed and blushed, and did not know which +way to look not to be scorched up by his eye like a tender flower, +or blandly absorbed like the pearly dew. Ah, happy hour! ah, happy +days of youth and innocence and first love! + +Trouble loves to intrude on these halcyon days. + +The usually quiet Josephine came flying from the house, pale and +agitated, and clung despairingly to Rose, and then fell to sobbing +and lamenting piteously. + +I shall take leave to relate in my own words what had just occurred +to agitate her so. When she entered her mother's room, she found +the baroness and Perrin the notary seated watching for her. She sat +down after the usual civilities, and Perrin entered upon the subject +that had brought him. + +He began by confessing to them that he had not overcome the +refractory creditor without much trouble; and that he had since +learned there was another, a larger creditor, likely to press for +payment or for sale of the estate. The baroness was greatly +troubled by this communication: the notary remained cool as a +cucumber, and keenly observant. After a pause he went on to say all +this had caused him grave reflections. "It seems," said he with +cool candor, "a sad pity the estate should pass from a family that +has held it since the days of Charlemagne." + +"Now God forbid!" cried the baroness, lifting her eyes and her +quivering hands to heaven. + +The notary held the republican creed in all its branches. +"Providence, madame, does not interfere--in matters of business," +said he. "Nothing but money can save the estate. Let us then be +practical. Has any means occurred to you of raising money to pay +off these incumbrances?" + +"No. What means can there be? The estate is mortgaged to its full +value: so they say, at least." + +"And they say true," put in the notary quickly. "But do not +distress yourself, madame: confide in me." + +"Ah, my good friend, may Heaven reward you." + +"Madame, up to the present time I have no complaint to make of +Heaven. I am on the rise: here, mademoiselle, is a gimcrack they +have given me;" and he unbuttoned his overcoat, and showed them a +piece of tricolored ribbon and a clasp. "As for me, I look to 'the +solid;' I care little for these things," said he, swelling visibly, +"but the world is dazzled by them. However, I can show you +something better." He took out a letter. "This is from the +Minister of the Interior to a client of mine: a promise I shall be +the next prefect; and the present prefect--I am happy to say--is on +his death-bed. Thus, madame, your humble servant in a few short +months will be notary no longer, but prefect; I shall then sell my +office of notary: and I flatter myself when I am a prefect you will +not blush to own me." + +"Then, as now, monsieur," said the baroness politely, "we shall +recognize your merit. But"-- + +"I understand, madame: like me you look to 'the solid.' Thus then +it is; I have money." + +"Ah! all the better for you." + +"I have a good deal of money. But it is dispersed in a great many +small but profitable investments: to call it in suddenly would +entail some loss. Nevertheless, if you and my young lady there have +ever so little of that friendly feeling towards me of which I have +so much towards you, all my investments shall be called in, and two- +thirds of your creditors shall be paid off at once. A single client +of mine, no less a man than the Commandant Raynal, will, I am sure, +advance me the remaining third at an hour's notice; and so +Beaurepaire chateau, park, estate, and grounds, down to the old oak- +tree, shall be saved; and no power shall alienate them from you, +mademoiselle, and from the heirs of your body." + +The baroness clasped her hands in ecstasy. + +"But what are we to do for this?" inquired Josephine calmly, "for it +seems to me that it can only be effected by a sacrifice on your +part." + +"I thank you, mademoiselle, for your penetration in seeing that I +must make sacrifices. I would never have told you, but you have +seen it; and I do not regret that you have seen it. Madame-- +mademoiselle--those sacrifices appear little to me; will seem +nothing; will never be mentioned, or even alluded to after this day, +if you, on your part, will lay me under a far heavier obligation, if +in short"--here the contemner of things unsubstantial reopened his +coat, and brought his ribbon to light again--"if you, madame, will +accept me for your son-in-law--if you, mademoiselle, will take me +for your husband." + +The baroness and her daughter looked at one another in silence. + +"Is it a jest?" inquired the former of the latter. + +"Can you think so? Answer Monsieur Perrin. He has just done us a +kind office, mother." + +"I shall remember it. Monsieur, permit me to regret that having +lately won our gratitude and esteem, you have taken this way of +modifying those feelings. But after all," she added with gentle +courtesy, "we may well put your good deeds against this--this error +in judgment. The balance is in your favor still, provided you never +return to this topic. Come, is it agreed?" The baroness's manner +was full of tact, and the latter sentences were said with an open +kindliness of manner. There was nothing to prevent Perrin from +dropping the subject, and remaining good friends. A gentleman or a +lover would have so done. Monsieur Perrin was neither. He said +bitterly, "You refuse me, then." + +The tone and the words were each singly too much for the baroness's +pride. She answered coldly but civilly,-- + +"I do not refuse you. I do not take an affront into consideration." + +"Be calm, mamma; no affront whatever was intended." + +"Ah! here is one that is more reasonable," cried Perrin. + +"There are men," continued Josephine without noticing him, "who look +to but one thing--interest. It was an offer made politely in the +way of business: decline it in the same spirit; that is what you +have to do." + +"Monsieur, you hear what mademoiselle says? She carries politeness +a long way. After all it is a good fault. Well, monsieur, I need +not answer you, since Mademoiselle de Beaurepaire has answered you; +but I detain you no longer." + +Strictly a weasel has no business with the temper of a tiger, but +this one had, and the long vindictiveness of a Corsican. "Ah! my +little lady, you turn me out of the house, do you?" cried he, +grinding his teeth. + +"Turn him out of the house? what a phrase! where has this man +lived?" + +"A man!" snarled Perrin, "whom none ever yet insulted without +repenting it, and repenting in vain. You are under obligations to +me, and you think to turn me out! You are at my mercy, and you +think I will let you turn me to your door! In less than a mouth I +will stand here, and say to you, Beaurepaire is mine. Begone from +it!" + +When he uttered these terrible words, each of which was like a +sword-stroke to the baroness, the old lady, whose courage was not +equal to her strength, shrank over the side of her arm-chair, and +cried piteously--"He threatens me! he threatens me! I am +frightened;" and put up her trembling hands, for the notary's +eloquence, being accompanied with abundance of gesture, bordered +upon physical violence. His brutality received an unexpected check. +Imagine that a sparrow-hawk had seized a trembling pigeon, and that +a royal falcon swooped, and with one lightning-like stroke of body +and wing, buffeted him away, and sent him gaping and glaring and +grasping at pigeonless air with his claws. So swift and majestic, +Josephine de Beaurepaire came from her chair with one gesture of her +body between her mother and the notary, who was advancing with arms +folded in a brutal, menacing way--not the Josephine we have seen +her, the calm languid beauty, but the demoiselle de Beaurepaire--her +great heart on fire--her blood up--not her own only, but all the +blood of all the De Beaurepaires--pale as ashes with great wrath, +her purple eyes on fire, and her whole panther-like body full of +spring. "Wretch! you dare to insult her, and before me! Arriere +miserable! or I soil my hand with your face." And her hand was up +with the word, up, up, higher it seemed than ever a hand was raised +before. And if he had hesitated one moment, I really believe it +would have come down; not heavily, perhaps--the lightning is not +heavy. But there was no need. The towering threat and the flaming +eye and the swift rush buffeted the caitiff away: he recoiled. She +followed him as he went, strong, FOR A MOMENT OR TWO, as Hercules, +beautiful and terrible as Michael driving Satan. He dared not, or +could not stand before her: he writhed and cowered and recoiled all +down the room, while she marched upon him. But the driven serpent +hissed horribly as it wriggled away. + +"You shall both be turned out of Beaurepaire by me, and forever; I +swear it, parole de Perrin." + +He had not been gone a minute when Josephine's courage oozed away, +and she ran, or rather tottered, into the Pleasaunce, and clung like +a drowning thing to Rose, and, when Edouard took her hand, she clung +to him. They had to gather what had happened how they could: the +account was constantly interrupted with her sobs and self- +reproaches. She said she had ruined all she loved: ruined her +sister, ruined her mother, ruined the house of Beaurepaire. Why was +she ever born? Why had she not died three years ago? (Query, what +was the date at which Camille's letters suddenly stopped?) "That +coward," said she, "has the heart of a fiend. He told us he never +forgave an affront; and he holds our fate in his hands. He will +drive our mother from her home, and she will die: murdered by her +own daughter. After all, why did I refuse him? What should I have +sacrificed by marrying him? Rose, write to him, and say--say--I was +taken by surprise, I--I"--a violent flood of tears interrupted the +sentence. + +Rose flung her arms round her neck. "My beautiful Josephine marry +that creature? Let house and lands go a thousand times sooner. I +love my sister a thousand times better than the walls of this or any +other house." + +"Come, come," cried Edouard, "you are forgetting ME all this time. +Do you really think I am the sort of man to stand by with my hands +in my pockets, and let her marry that cur, or you be driven out of +Beaurepaire? Neither, while I live." + +"Alas! dear boy," sighed Josephine, "what can you do?" + +"I'll soon show you. From this hour forth it is a duel between that +Perrin and me. Now, Josephine--Rose--don't you cry and fret like +that: but just look quietly on, and enjoy the fight, both of you." + +Josephine shook her head with a sad smile: but Rose delivered +herself thus, after a sob, "La, yes; I forgot: we have got a +gentleman now; that's one comfort." + +Edouard rose to the situation: he saw that Perrin would lose no +time; and that every day, or even hour, might be precious. He told +them that the first thing he must do for them was to leave the +company he loved best on earth, and run down to the town to consult +Picard the rival notary: he would be back by supper-time, when he +hoped they would do him the honor, in a matter of such importance, +to admit him to a family council. + +Josephine assented with perfect simplicity; Rose with a deep blush, +for she was too quick not to see all the consequences of admitting +so brisk a wooer into a family council. + + +It was a wet evening, and a sad and silent party sat round a wood +fire in the great dining-hall. The baroness was almost prostrated +by the scene with Perrin; and a sombre melancholy and foreboding +weighed on all their spirits, when presently Edouard Riviere entered +briskly, and saluted them all profoundly, and opened the proceedings +with a little favorite pomposity. "Madame the baroness, and you +Monsieur Aubertin, who honor me with your esteem, and you +Mademoiselle de Beaurepaire, whom I adore, and you Mademoiselle +Rose, whom I hoped to be permitted--you have this day done me the +honor to admit me as your adviser. I am here to lay my plans before +you. I believe, madame, I have already convinced you that your +farms are under-let, and your property lowered in value by general +mismanagement; this was doubtless known to Perrin, and set him +scheming. Well, I rely on the same circumstance to defeat him. I +have consulted Picard and shown him the rent-roll and balance-sheet +I had already shown you. He has confessed that the estate is worth +more than its debts, so capitalists can safely advance the money. +To-morrow morning, then, I ride to Commandant Raynal for a week's +leave of absence; then, armed with Picard's certificate, shall +proceed to my uncle and ask him to lend the money. His estate is +very small compared with Beaurepaire, but he has always farmed it +himself. 'I'll have no go-between,' says he, 'to impoverish both +self and soil.' He is also a bit of a misanthrope, and has made me +one. I have a very poor opinion of my fellow-creatures, very." + +"Well, but," said Rose, "if he is all that, he will not sympathize +with us, who have so mismanaged Beaurepaire. Will he not despise +us?" + +Edouard was a little staggered, but Aubertin came to his aid. + +"Permit me, Josephine," said he. "Natural history steps in here, +and teaches by me, its mouth-piece. A misanthrope hates all +mankind, but is kind to every individual, generally too kind. A +philanthrope loves the whole human race, but dislikes his wife, his +mother, his brother, and his friends and acquaintances. Misanthrope +is the potato: rough and repulsive outside, but good to the core. +Philanthrope is a peach: his manner all velvet and bloom, his words +sweet juice, his heart of hearts a stone. Let me read Philanthrope's +book, and fall into the hands of Misanthrope." + +Edouard admitted the shrewdness of this remark. + +"And so," said he, "my misanthrope will say plenty of biting words,-- +which, by-the-by, will not hurt you, who will not hear them, only +me,--and then he'll lend us the money, and Beaurepaire will be free, +and I shall have had a hand in it. Hurrah!" + +Then came a delicious hour to Edouard Riviere. Young and old poured +out their glowing thanks and praises upon him till his checks burned +like fire. + +The baroness was especially grateful, and expressed a gentle regret +that she could see no way of showing her gratitude except in words. +"What can we do for this little angel?" said she, turning to +Josephine. + +"Leave that to me, mamma," replied Josephine, turning her lovely +eyes full on Edouard, with a look the baroness misunderstood +directly. + +She sat and watched Josephine and Edouard with comical severity all +the rest of the time she was there; and, when she retired, she +kissed Rose affectionately, but whispered her eldest daughter, "I +hope you are not serious. A mere boy compared with you." + +"But such a sweet one," suggested Josephine, apologetically. + +"What will the world come to?" said the baroness out loud, and +retreated with a sour glance at all of them--except Rose. + +She had not been gone five minutes when a letter came by messenger +to Edouard. It was from Picard. He read it out. + + +"Perrin has been with me, to raise money. He wants it in forty- +eight hours. Promises good legal security. I have agreed to try +and arrange the matter for him." + + +They were all astonished at this. + +"The double-faced traitor!" cried Edouard. "Stay; wait a minute. +Let us read it to an end." + + +"This promise is, of course, merely to prevent his going elsewhere. +At the end of the forty-eight hours I shall begin to make +difficulties. Meantime, as Perrin is no fool, you had better profit +to the full by this temporary delay." + + +"Well done, Picard!" shouted Edouard. "Notary cut notary. I won't +lose an hour. I'll start at five; Commandant Raynal is an early +riser himself." + +Accordingly, at five he was on the road; Raynal's quarters lay in +the direct line to his uncle's place. He found the commandant at +home, and was well received. Raynal had observed his zeal, and +liked his manners. He gave him the week's leave, and kept him to +breakfast, and had his horse well fed. At eight o'clock Edouard +rode out of the premises in high spirits. At the very gate he met a +gaunt figure riding in on a squab pony. It was Perrin the notary +coming in hot haste to his friend and employer, Commandant Raynal. + + +CHAPTER V. + + +After Edouard's departure, Josephine de Beaurepaire was sad, and +weighed down with presentiments. She felt as soldiers sometimes +feel who know the enemy is undermining them; no danger on the +surface; nothing that can be seen, met, baffled, attacked, or +evaded; in daily peril, all the more horrible that it imitates +perfect serenity, they await the fatal match. She imparted her +misgivings to Aubertin; but he assured her she exaggerated the +danger. + +"We have a friend still more zealous and active than our enemy; +believe me, your depression is really caused by his absence; we all +miss the contact of that young heroic spirit; we are a body, and he +its soul." + +Josephine was silent, for she said to herself, "Why should I dash +their spirits? they are so happy and confident." + +Edouard had animated Rose and Aubertin with his own courage, and had +even revived the baroness. + +It had been agreed between him and Picard that the latter should +communicate with Dr. Aubertin direct, should anything fresh occur. +And on the third day after Edouard's departure, Picard sent up a +private message: "Perrin has just sent me a line to say he will not +trouble us, as he is offered the money in another quarter." + +This was a heavy blow, and sent them all to bed more or less +despondent. + +The next day brought a long letter from Edouard to Rose, telling her +he had found his uncle crusty at first; but at last with a little +patience, and the co-operation of Martha, his uncle's old servant, +and his nurse, the old boy had come round. They might look on the +affair as all but settled. + +The contents of this letter were conveyed to the baroness. The +house brightened under it: the more so that there was some hope of +their successful champion returning in person next day. Meantime +Perrin had applied to Raynal for the immediate loan of a large sum +of money on excellent security. Raynal refused plump. Perrin rode +away disconsolate. + +But the next day he returned to the charge with another proposal: +and the nature of this second proposal we shall learn from events. + +The day Edouard was expected opened deliciously. It was a balmy +morning, and tempted the sisters out before breakfast. They +strolled on the south terrace with their arms round each other's +waists, talking about Edouard, and wondering whether they should +really see him before night. Rose owned she had missed him, and +confessed for the first time she was a proud and happy girl. + +"May I tell him so?" asked Josephine. + +"Not for all the world. Would you dare?" + +Further discussion of that nice point was stopped by the baroness +coming out, leaning on Dr. Aubertin. + +Then--how we young people of an unceremonious age should have +stared--the demoiselles de Beaurepaire, inasmuch as this was their +mother's first appearance, lowered their fair heads at the same time +like young poplars bowing to the wind, and so waited reverently till +she had slightly lifted her hands, and said, "God bless you, my +children!" + +It was done in a moment on both sides, but full of grace and piety, +and the charm of ancient manners. + +"How did our dear mother sleep?" inquired Josephine. Aubertin +interposed with a theory that she slept very well indeed if she took +what he gave her. + +"Ay, IF," suggested Rose, saucily. + +"I slept," said the baroness, "and I wish I had not for I dreamed an +ugly dream." They all gathered round her, and she told her dream. + +"I thought I was with you all in this garden. I was admiring the +flowers and the trees, and the birds were singing with all their +might. Suddenly a dark cloud came; it cleared almost directly; but +flowers, trees, sky, and birds were gone now, and I could see the +chateau itself no more. It means that I was dead. An ugly dream, +my children, an ugly dream." + +"But only a dream, dear mother," said Rose: then with a sweet, +consoling smile, "See, here is your terrace and your chateau." + +"And here are your daughters," said Josephine; and they both came +and kissed her to put their existence out of doubt. "And here is +your Aesculapius," said Aubertin. "And here is your Jacintha." + +"Breakfast, madame," said Jacintha. "Breakfast, mesdemoiselles. +Breakfast, monsieur:" dropping each a distinct courtesy in turn. + +"She has turned the conversation very agreeably," said the baroness, +and went in leaning on her old friend. + +But the sisters lagged behind and took several turns in silence. +Rose was the first to speak. "How superstitious of you!" + +"I said nothing." + +"No; but you looked volumes at me while mamma was telling her dream. +For my part I feel sure love is stronger than hate; and we shall +stay all our days in this sweet place: and O Josey! am I not a happy +girl that it's all owing to HIM!" + +At this moment Jacintha came running towards them. They took it for +a summons to breakfast, and moved to meet her. But they soon saw +she was almost as white as her apron, and she came open-mouthed and +wringing her hands. "What shall I do? what shall I do? Oh, don't +let my poor mistress know!" + +They soon got from her that Dard had just come from the town, and +learned the chateau was sold, and the proprietor coming to take +possession this very day. The poor girls were stupefied by the +blow. + +If anything, Josephine felt it worst. "It is my doing," she gasped, +and tottered fainting. Rose supported her: she shook it off by a +violent effort. "This is no time for weakness," she cried, wildly; +"come to the Pleasaunce; there is water there. I love my mother. +What will I not do for her? I love my mother." + +Muttering thus wildly she made for the pond in the Pleasaunce. She +had no sooner turned the angle of the chateau than she started back +with a convulsive cry, and her momentary feebleness left her +directly; she crouched against the wall and griped the ancient +corner-stone with her tender hand till it powdered, and she spied +with dilating eye into the Pleasaunce, Rose and Jacintha panting +behind her. Two men stood with their backs turned to her looking at +the oak-tree; one an officer in full uniform, the other the human +snake Perrin. Though the soldier's back was turned, his off-handed, +peremptory manner told her he was inspecting the place as its master. + +"The baroness! the baroness!" cried Jacintha, with horror. They +looked round, and the baroness was at their very backs. + +"What is it?" cried she, gayly. + +"Nothing, mamma." + +"Let me see this nothing." + +They glanced at one another, and, idle as the attempt was, the habit +of sparing her prevailed, and they flung themselves between her and +the blow. + +"Josephine is not well," said Rose. "She wants to go in." Both +girls faced the baroness. + +"Jacintha," said the baroness, "fetch Dr. Aubertin. There, I have +sent her away. So now tell me, why do you drive me back so? +Something has happened," and she looked keenly from one to the +other. + +"O mamma! do not go that way: there are strangers in the Pleasaunce." + +"Let me see. So there are. Call Jacintha back that I may order +these people out of my premises." Josephine implored her to be +calm. + +"Be calm when impertinent intruders come into my garden?" + +"Mother, they are not intruders." + +"What do you mean?" + +"They have a right to be in our Pleasaunce. They have bought the +chateau." + +"It is impossible. HE was to buy it for us--there is some mistake-- +what man would kill a poor old woman like me? I will speak to this +gentleman: he wears a sword. Soldiers do not trample on women. Ah! +that man." + +The notary, attracted by her voice, was coming towards her, a paper +in his hand. + +Raynal coolly inspected the tree, and tapped it with his scabbard, +and left Perrin to do the dirty work. The notary took off his hat, +and, with a malignant affectation of respect, presented the baroness +with a paper. + +The poor old thing took it with a courtesy, the effect of habit, and +read it to her daughters as well as her emotion permitted, and the +language, which was as new to her as the dialect of Cat Island to +Columbus. + + +"Jean Raynal, domiciled by right, and lodging in fact at the Chateau +of Beaurepaire, acting by the pursuit and diligence of Master +Perrin, notary; I, Guillaume Le Gras, bailiff, give notice to +Josephine Aglae St. Croix de Beaurepaire, commonly called the +Baroness de Beaurepaire, having no known place of abode"-- + + +"Oh!" + + +"but lodging wrongfully at the said Chateau of Beaurepaire, that she +is warned to decamp within twenty-four hours"-- + + +"To decamp!" + + +"failing which that she will be thereto enforced in the manner for +that case made and provided with the aid of all the officers and +agents of the public force." + + +"Ah! no, messieurs, pray do not use force. I am frightened enough +already. I did not know I was doing anything wrong. I have been +here thirty years. But, since Beaurepaire is sold, I comprehend +perfectly that I must go. It is just. As you say, I am not in my +own house. I will go, gentlemen, I will go. Whither shall I go, my +children? The house where you were born to me is ours no longer. +Excuse me, gentlemen--this is nothing to you. Ah! sir, you have +revenged yourself on two weak women--may Heaven forgive you!" + +The notary turned on his heel. The poor baroness, all whose pride +the iron law, with its iron gripe, had crushed into dismay and +terror, appealed to him. "O sir! send me from the house, but not +from the soil where my Henri is laid! is there not in all this +domain a corner where she who was its mistress may lie down and die? +Where is the NEW BARON, that I may ask this favor of him on my +knees?" + +She turned towards Raynal and seemed to be going towards him with +outstretched arms. But Rose checked her with fervor. "Mamma! do +not lower yourself. Ask nothing of these wretches. Let us lose +all, but not forget ourselves." + +The baroness had not her daughter's spirit. Her very person +tottered under this blow. Josephine supported her, and the next +moment Aubertin came out and hastened to her side. Her head fell +back; what little strength she had failed her; she was half lifted, +half led, into the house. + +Commandant Raynal was amazed at all this, and asked what the deuce +was the matter. + +"Oh!" said the notary, "we are used to these little scenes in our +business." + +"But I am not," replied the soldier. "You never told me there was +to be all this fuss." + +He then dismissed his friend rather abruptly and strode up and down +the Pleasaunce. He twisted his mustaches, muttered, and "pested," +and was ill at ease. Accustomed to march gayly into a town, and see +the regiment, that was there before, marching gayly out, or vice +versa, and to strike tents twice a quarter at least, he was little +prepared for such a scene as this. True, he did not hear all the +baroness's words, but more than one tone of sharp distress reached +him where he stood, and the action of the whole scene was so +expressive, there was little need of words. He saw the notice +given; the dismay it caused, and the old lady turn imploringly +towards him with a speaking gesture, and above all he saw her +carried away, half fainting, her hands clasped, her reverend face +pale. He was not a man of quick sensibilities. He did not +thoroughly take the scene in at first: it grew upon him afterwards. + +"Confound it," thought he, "I am the proprietor. They all say so. +Instead of which I feel like a thief. Fancy her getting so fond of +a PLACE as all this." + +Presently it occurred to him that the shortness of the notice might +have much to do with her distress. "These notaries," said he to +himself, "understand nothing save law: women have piles of baggage, +and can't strike tents directly the order comes, as we can. Perhaps +if I were to give them twenty-four days instead of hours?--hum!" + +With this the commandant fell into a brown study. Now each of us +has his attitude of brown study. One runs about the room like hyena +in his den; another stands stately with folded arms (this one seldom +thinks to the purpose); another sits cross-legged, brows lowered: +another must put his head into his hand, and so keep it up to +thinking mark: another must twiddle a bit of string, or a key; grant +him this, he can hatch an epic. This commandant must draw himself +up very straight, and walk six paces and back very slowly, till the +problem was solved: I suspect he had done a good bit of sentinel +work in his time. + +Now whilst he was guarding the old oak-tree, for all the world as if +it had been the gate of the Tuileries or the barracks, Josephine de +Beaurepaire came suddenly out from the house and crossed the +Pleasaunce: her hair was in disorder, her manner wild: she passed +swiftly into the park. + +Raynal recognized her as one of the family; and after a moment's +reflection followed her into the park with the good-natured +intention of offering her a month to clear out instead of a day. + +But it was not so easy to catch her: she flew. He had to take his +scabbard in his left hand and fairly run after her. Before he could +catch her, she entered the little chapel. He came up and had his +foot on the very step to go in, when he was arrested by that he +heard within. + +Josephine had thrown herself on her knees and was praying aloud: +praying to the Virgin with sighs and sobs and all her soul: +wrestling so in prayer with a dead saint as by a strange perversity +men cannot or will not wrestle with Him, who alone can hear a +million prayers at once from a million different places,--can +realize and be touched with a sense of all man's infirmities in a +way no single saint with his partial experience of them can realize +and be touched by them; who unasked suspended the laws of nature +that had taken a stranger's only son, and she a widow; and wept at +another great human sorrow, while the eyes of all the great saints +that stood around it and Him were dry. + +Well, the soldier stood, his right foot on the step and his sword in +his left hand, transfixed: listening gravely to the agony of prayer +the innocent young creature poured forth within:-- + +"O Madonna! hear me: it is for my mother's life. She will die--she +will die. You know she cannot live if she is taken away from her +house and from this holy place where she prays to you this many +years. O Queen of Heaven! put out your hand to us unfortunates! +Virgin, hear a virgin: mother, listen to a child who prays for her +mother's life! The doctor says she will not live away from here. +She is too old to wander over the world. Let them drive us forth: +we are young, but not her, mother, oh, not her! Forgive the cruel +men that do this thing!--they are like those who crucified your Son-- +they know not what they are doing. But you, Queen of Heaven, you +know all; and, sweet mother, if you have kind sentiments towards me, +poor Josephine, ah! show them now: for you know that it was I who +insulted that wicked notary, and it is out of hatred to me he has +sold our beloved house to a hard stranger. Look down on me, a child +who loves her mother, yet will destroy her unless you pity me and +help me. Oh! what shall I say?--what shall I do? mercy! mercy! for +my poor mother, for me!" + +Here her utterance was broken by sobs. + +The soldier withdrew his foot quietly. Her words had knocked +against his very breast-bone. He marched slowly to and fro before +the chapel, upright as a dart, and stiff as a ramrod, and actually +pale: for even our nerves have their habits; a woman's passionate +grief shook him as a cannon fired over his head could not. + +Josephine little thought who was her sentinel. She came to the door +at last, and there he was marching backwards and forwards, upright +and stiff. She gave a faint scream and drew back with a shudder at +the sight of their persecutor. She even felt faintish at him, as +women will in such cases. + +Not being very quick at interpreting emotion, Raynal noticed her +alarm, but not her repugnance; he saluted her with military +precision by touching his cap as only a soldier can, and said rather +gently for him, "A word with you, mademoiselle." + +She replied only by trembling. + +"Don't be frightened," said Raynal, in a tone not very reassuring. +"I propose an armistice." + +"I am at your disposal, sir," said Josephine, now assuming a +calmness that was belied by the long swell of her heaving bosom. + +"Of course you look on me as an enemy." + +"How can I do otherwise, sir? yet perhaps I ought not. You did not +know us. You just wanted an estate, I suppose--and--oh!" + +"Well, don't cry; and let us come to the point, since I am a man of +few words." + +"If you please, sir. My mother may miss me." + +"Well, I was in position on your flank when the notary delivered his +fire. And I saw the old woman's distress." + +"Ah, sir!" + +"When you came flying out I followed to say a good word to you. I +could not catch you. I listened while you prayed to the Virgin. +That was not a soldier-like trick, you will say. I confess it." + +"It matters little, sir, and you heard nothing I blush for." + +"No! by St. Denis; quite the contrary. Well, to the point. Young +lady, you love your mother." + +"What has she on earth now but her children's love?" + +"Now look here, young lady, I had a mother; I loved her in my +humdrum way very dearly. She promised me faithfully not to die till +I should be a colonel; and she went and died before I was a +commandant, even; just before, too." + +"Then I pity you," murmured Josephine; and her soft purple eye began +to dwell on him with less repugnance. + +"Thank you for that word, my good young lady," said Raynal. "Now, I +declare, you are the first that has said that word to me about my +losing the true friend, that nursed me on her knee, and pinched and +pinched to make a man of me. I should like to tell you about her +and me." + +"I shall feel honored," said Josephine, politely, but with +considerable restraint. + +Then he told her all about how he had vexed her when he was a boy, +and gone for a soldier, though she was all for trade, and how he had +been the more anxious to see her enjoy his honors and success. +"And, mademoiselle," said he, appealingly, "the day this epaulet was +put on my shoulder in Italy, she died in Paris. Ah! how could you +have the heart to do that, my old woman?" + +The soldier's mustache quivered, and he turned away brusquely, and +took several steps. Then he came back to Josephine, and to his +infinite surprise saw that her purple eyes were thick with tears. +"What? you are within an inch of crying for my mother, you who have +your own trouble at this hour." + +"Monsieur, our situations are so alike, I may well spare some little +sympathy for your misfortune." + +"Thank you, my good young lady. Well, then, to business; while you +were praying to the Virgin, I was saying a word or two for my part +to her who is no more." + +"Sir!" + +"Oh! it was nothing beautiful like the things you said to the other. +Can I turn phrases? I saw her behind her little counter in the Rue +Quincampoix; for she is a woman of the people, is my mother. I saw +myself come to the other side of the counter, and I said, 'Look +here, mother, here is the devil to pay about this new house. The +old woman talks of dying if we take her from her home, and the young +one weeps and prays to all the saints in paradise; what shall we do, +eh?' Then I thought my old woman said to me, 'Jean, you are a +soldier, a sort of vagabond; what do you want with a house in +France? you who are always in a tent in Italy or Austria, or who +knows where. Have you the courage to give honest folk so much pain +for a caprice? Come now,' says she, 'the lady is of my age, say +you, and I can't keep your fine house, because God has willed it +otherwise; so give her my place; so then you can fancy it is me you +have set down at your hearth: that will warm your heart up a bit, +you little scamp,' said my old woman in her rough way. She was not +well-bred like you, mademoiselle. A woman of the people, nothing +more." + +"She was a woman of God's own making, if she was like that," cried +Josephine, the tears now running down her cheeks. + +"Ah, that she was, she was. So between her and me it is settled-- +what are you crying for NOW? why, you have won the day; the field is +yours; your mother and you remain; I decamp." He whipped his +scabbard up with his left hand, and was going off without another +word, if Josephine had not stopped him. + +"But, sir, what am I to think? what am I to hope? it is impossible +that in this short interview--and we must not forget what is due to +you. You have bought the estate." + +"True; well, we will talk over that, to-morrow; but being turned out +of the house, that was the bayonet thrust to the old lady. So you +run in and put her heart at rest about it. Tell her that she may +live and die in this house for Jean Raynal; and tell her about the +old woman in the Rue Quincampoix." + +"God bless you, Jean Raynal!" cried Josephine, clasping her hands. + +"Are you going?" said he, peremptorily. + +"Oh, yes!" and she darted towards the chateau. + +But when she had taken three steps she paused, and seemed irresolute. +She turned, and in a moment she had glided to Raynal again and had +taken his hand before he could hinder her, and pressed two velvet +lips on it, and was away again, her cheeks scarlet at what she had +done, and her wet eyes beaming with joy. She skimmed the grass like +a lapwing; you would have taken her at this minute for Rose, or for +Virgil's Camilla; at the gate she turned an instant and clasped her +hands together, with such a look, to show Raynal she blessed him +again, then darted into the house. + +"Aha, my lady," said he, as he watched her fly, "behold you changed +a little since you came out." He was soon on the high road marching +down to the town at a great rate, his sword clanking, and thus ran +his thoughts: "This does one good; you are right, my old woman. +Your son's bosom feels as warm as toast. Long live the five-franc +pieces! And they pretend money cannot make a fellow happy. They +lie; it is because they do not know how to spend it." + +Meantime at the chateau, as still befalls in emergencies and trials, +the master spirit came out and took its real place. Rose was now +the mistress of Beaurepaire; she set Jacintha, and Dard, and the +doctor, to pack up everything of value in the house. "Do it this +moment!" she cried; "once that notary gets possession of the house, +it may be too late. Enough of folly and helplessness. We have +fooled away house and lands; our movables shall not follow them." + +The moment she had set the others to work, she wrote a single line +to Riviere to tell him the chateau and lands were sold, and would he +come to Beaurepaire at once? She ran with it herself to Bigot's +auberge, the nearest post-office, and then back to comfort her +mother. + +The baroness was seated in her arm-chair, moaning and wringing her +hands, and Rose was nursing and soothing her, and bathing her +temples with her last drop of eau de Cologne, and trying in vain to +put some of her own courage into her, when in came Josephine radiant +with happiness, crying "Joy! joy! joy!" and told her strange tale, +with this difference, that she related her own share in it briefly +and coldly, and was more eloquent than I about the strange soldier's +goodness, and the interest her mother had awakened in his heart. +And she told about the old woman in the Rue Quincampoix, her rugged +phrases, and her noble, tender heart. The baroness, deaf to Rose's +consolations, brightened up directly at Josephine's news, and at her +glowing face, as she knelt pouring the good news, and hope, and +comfort, point blank into her. But Rose chilled them both. + +"It is a generous offer," said, she, "but one we cannot accept. We +cannot live under so great an obligation. Is all the generosity to +be on the side of this Bonapartist? Are we noble in name only? +What would our father have said to such a proposal?" + +Josephine hung her head. The baroness groaned. + +"No, mother," continued Rose; "let house and land go, but honor and +true nobility remain." + +"What shall I do? you are cruel to me, Rose." + +"Mamma," cried the enthusiastic girl, "we need depend on no one. +Josephine and I have youth and spirit." + +"But no money." + +"We have plenty of jewels, and pictures, and movables. We can take +a farm." + +"A farm!" shrieked the baroness. + +"Why, his uncle has a farm, and we have had recourse to him for +help: better a farmhouse than an almshouse, though that almshouse +were a palace instead of a chateau." + +Josephine winced and held up her hand deprecatingly. The baroness +paled: it was a terrible stroke of language to come from her +daughter. She said sternly, "There is no answer to that. We were +born nobles, let us die farmers: only permit me to die first." + +"Forgive me, mother," said Rose, kneeling. "I was wrong; it is for +me to obey you, not to dictate. I speak no more." And, after +kissing her mother and Josephine, she crept away, but she left her +words sticking in both their consciences. + +"HIS uncle," said the shrewd old lady. "She is no longer a child; +and she says his uncle. This makes me half suspect it is her that +dear boy--Josephine, tell me the truth, which of you is it?" + +"Dear mother, who should it be? they are nearly of an age: and what +man would not love our sweet Rose, that had eyes or a heart?" + +The baroness sighed deeply; and was silent. After awhile she said, +"The moment they have a lover, he detaches their hearts from their +poor old mother. She is no longer what my Josephine is to me." + +"Mamma, she is my superior. I see it more and more every day. She +is proud: she is just; she looks at both sides. As for me, I am too +apt to see only what will please those I love." + +"And that is the daughter for me," cried the poor baroness, opening +her arms wide to her. + +The next morning when they were at breakfast, in came Jacintha to +say the officer was in the dining-room and wanted to speak with the +young lady he talked to yesterday. Josephine rose and went to him. +"Well, mademoiselle," said he gayly, "the old woman was right. Here +I have just got my orders to march: to leave France in a month. A +pretty business it would have been if I had turned your mother out. +So you see there is nothing to hinder you from living here." + +"In your house, sir?" + +"Why not, pray?" + +"Forgive us. But we feel that would be unjust to you, humiliating +to us: the poor are sometimes proud." + +"Of course they are," said Raynal: "and I don't want to offend your +pride. Confound the house: why did I go and buy it? It is no use +to me except to give pain to worthy people." He then, after a +moment's reflection, asked her if the matter could not be arranged +by some third party, a mutual friend. "Then again," said he, "I +don't know any friend of yours." + +"Yes, sir," said Josephine; "we have one friend, who knows you, and +esteems you highly." + +She wanted to name Edouard; but she hesitated, and asked her +conscience if it was fair to name him: and while she blushed and +hesitated, lo and behold a rival referee hove in sight. Raynal saw +him, suddenly opened a window, and shouted, "Hallo come in here: you +are wanted." + +Perrin had ridden up to complete the exodus of the De Beaurepaires, +and was strolling about inspecting the premises he had expelled them +from. + +Here was a pretty referee! + +Josephine almost screamed--"What are you doing? that is our enemy, +our bitterest enemy. He has only sold you the estate to spite us, +not for the love of you. I had--we had--we mortified his vanity. +It was not our fault: he is a viper. Sir, pray, pray, pray be on +your guard against his counsels." + +These words spoken with rare fire and earnestness carried +conviction: but it was too late to recall the invitation. The +notary entered the room, and was going to bow obsequiously to +Raynal, when he caught sight of Josephine, and almost started. +Raynal, after Josephine's warning, was a little at a loss how to +make him available; and even that short delay gave the notary's one +foible time to lead him into temptation. "Our foibles are our +manias." + +"So," said he, "you have taken possession, commandant. These +military men are prompt, are they not, mademoiselle?" + +"Do not address yourself to me, sir, I beg," said Josephine quietly. + +Perrin kept his self-command. "It is only as Commandant Raynal's +agent I presume to address so distinguished a lady: in that +character I must inform you that whatever movables you have removed +are yours: those we find in the house on entering we keep." + +"Come, come, not so fast," cried Raynal; "bother the chairs and +tables! that is not the point." + +"Commandant," said the notary with dignity, "have I done anything to +merit this? have I served your interests so ill that you withdraw +your confidence from me?" + +"No, no, my good fellow; but you exceed your powers. Just now I +want you to take orders, not give them." + +"That is only just," said Perrin, "and I recall my hasty remark: +excuse the susceptibility of a professional man, who is honored with +the esteem of his clients; and favor me with your wishes." + +"All right," said Raynal heartily. "Well, then--I want mademoiselle +and her family to stay here while I go to Egypt with the First +Consul. Mademoiselle makes difficulties; it offends her delicacy." + +"Comedy!" said the notary contemptuously. + +"Though her mother's life depends on her staying here." + +"Comedy!" said Perrin. Raynal frowned. + +"Her pride (begging her pardon) is greater than her affection." + +"Farce!" + +"I have pitched upon you to reconcile the two." + +"Then you have pitched upon the wrong man," said Perrin bluntly. He +added obsequiously, "I am too much your friend. She has been +talking you over, no doubt; but you have a friend, an Ulysses, who +is deaf to the siren's voice. I will be no party to such a +transaction. I will not co-operate to humbug my friend and rob him +of his rights." + +If Josephine was inferior to the notary in petty sharpness, she was +his superior in the higher kinds of sagacity; and particularly in +instinctive perception of character. Her eye flashed with delight +at the line Perrin was now taking with Raynal. The latter speedily +justified her expectations: he just told Perrin to be off, and send +him a more accommodating notary. + +"A more accommodating notary!" screamed Perrin, stung to madness by +this reproach. "There is not a more accommodating notary in Europe. +Ungrateful man! is this the return for all my zeal, my integrity, my +unselfishness? Is there another agent in the world who would have +let such a bargain as Beaurepaire fall into your hands? It serves +me right for deviating from the rules of business. Send me another +agent--oh!" + +The honest soldier was confused. The lawyer's eloquence overpowered +him. He felt guilty. Josephine saw his simplicity, and made a cut +with a woman's two-edged sword. "Sir," said she coolly, "do you not +see it is an affair of money? This is his way of saying, Pay me +handsomely for so unusual a commission." + +"And I'll pay him double," cried Raynal, catching the idea; "don't +be alarmed, I'll pay you for it." + +"And my zeal, my devotion?" + +"Put 'em in figures." + +"And my prob--?" + +"Add it up." + +"And my integ--?" + +"Add them together: and don't bother me." + +"I see! I see! my poor soldier. You are no match for a woman's +tongue." + +"Nor, for a notary's. Go to h---, and send in your bill!" roared +the soldier in a fury. "Well, will you go?" and he marched at him. + +The notary scuttled out, with something between a snarl and a squeak. + +Josephine hid her face in her hands. + +"What is the matter with you?" inquired Raynal. "Not crying again, +surely!" + +"Me! I never cry--hardly. I hid my face because I could not help +laughing. You frightened me, sir," said she: then very demurely, "I +was afraid you were going to beat him." + +"No, no; a good soldier never leathers a civilian if he can possibly +help it; it looks so bad; and before a lady!" + +"Oh, I would have forgiven you, monsieur," said Josephine benignly, +and something like a little sun danced in her eye. + +"Now, mademoiselle, since my referee has proved a pig, it is your +turn. Choose you a mutual friend." + +Josephine hesitated. "Ours is so young. You know him very well. +You are doubtless the commandant of whom I once heard him speak with +such admiration: his name is Riviere, Edouard Riviere." + +"Know him? he is my best officer, out and out." And without a +moment's hesitation he took Edouard's present address, and accepted +that youthful Daniel as their referee; then looked at his watch and +marched off to his public duties with sabre clanking at his heels. + +The notary went home gnashing his teeth. His sweet revenge was +turned to wormwood this day. Raynal's parting commissions rang in +his ear; in his bitter mood the want of logical sequence in the two +orders disgusted him. + +So he inverted them. + +He sent in a thundering bill the very next morning, but postponed +the other commission till his dying day. + +As for Josephine, she came into the drawing-room beaming with love +and happiness, and after kissing both her mother and Rose with +gentle violence, she let them know the strange turn things had +taken. + +And she whispered to Rose, "Only think, YOUR Edouard to be OUR +referee!" + +Rose blushed and bent over her work; and wondered how Edouard would +discharge so grave an office. + +The matter approached a climax; for, as the reader is aware, Edouard +was hourly expected at Beaurepaire. + +He did not come; but it was not his fault. On receiving Rose's +letter he declined to stay another hour at his uncle's. + +He flung himself on his horse; and, before he was well settled on +the stirrups, the animal shied violently at a wheelbarrow some fool +had left there; and threw Edouard on the stones of the courtyard. +He jumped up in a moment and laughed at Marthe's terror; meantime a +farm-servant caught the nag and brought him back to his work. + +But when Edouard went to put his hand on the saddle, he found it +would not obey him. "Wait a minute," said he; "my arm is benumbed." + +"Let me see!" said the farmer, and examined the limb himself; +"benumbed? yes; and no wonder. Jacques, get on the brute and ride +for the surgeon." + +"Are you mad, uncle?" cried Edouard. "I can't spare my horse, and I +want no surgeon; it will be well directly." + +"It will be worse before it is better." + +"I don't know what you mean, uncle; it is only numbed, ah! it hurts +when I rub it." + +"It is worse than numbed, boy; it is broken." + +"Broken? nonsense:" and he looked at it in piteous bewilderment: +"how can it be broken? it does not hurt except when I touch it." + +"It WILL hurt: I know all about it. I broke mine fifteen years ago: +fell off a haystack." + +"Oh, how unfortunate I am!" cried Edouard, piteously. "But I will +go to Beaurepaire all the same. I can have the thing mended there, +as well as here." + +"You will go to bed," said the old man, quietly; "that is where +YOU'LL go." + +"I'll go to blazes sooner," yelled the young one. + +The old man made a signal to his myrmidons, whom Marthe's cries had +brought around, and four stout fellows took hold of Edouard by the +legs and the left shoulder and carried him up-stairs raging and +kicking; and deposited him on a bed. + +Presently he began to feel faint, and so more reasonable. They cut +his coat off, and put him in a loose wrapper, and after considerable +delay the surgeon came, and set his arm skilfully, and behold this +ardent spirit caged. He chafed and fretted sadly. Fortitude was +not his forte. + +It was two days after his accident. He was lying on his back, +environed by slops and cursing his evil fate, and fretting his soul +out of its fleshly prison, when suddenly he heard a cheerful +trombone saying three words to Marthe, then came a clink-clank, and +Marthe ushered into the sickroom the Commandant Raynal. The sick +man raised himself in bed, with great surprise and joy. + +"O commandant! this is kind to come and see your poor officer in +purgatory." + +"Ah," cried Raynal, "you see I know what it is. I have been chained +down by the arm, and the leg, and all: it is deadly tiresome." + +"Tiresome! it is--it is--oh, dear commandant, Heaven bless you for +coming!" + +"Ta! ta! ta! I am come on my own business." + +"All the better. I have nothing to do; that is what kills me. I'm +eating my own heart." + +"Cannibal! Well, my lad, since you are in that humor, cheer up, for +I bring you a job, and a tough one; it has puzzled me." + +"What is it, commandant? What is it?" + +"Well, do you know a house and a family called Beaurepaire?" + +"Do I know Beaurepaire?" + +And the pale youth turned very red; and stared with awe at this +wizard of a commandant. He thought he was going to be called over +the coals for frequenting a disaffected family. "Well," said +Raynal, "I have been and bought this Beaurepaire." + +Edouard uttered a loud exclamation. "It was YOU bought it! she +never told me that." + +"Yes," said Raynal, "I am the culprit; and we have fixed on you to +undo my work without hurting their pride too much, poor souls; but +let us begin with the facts." + +Then Raynal told him my story after his fashion. Of course I shall +not go and print his version; you might like his concise way better +than my verbose; and I'm not here to hold up any man's coat-tails. +Short as he made it, Edouard's eyes were moist more than once; and +at the end he caught Raynal's hand and kissed it. Then he asked +time to reflect; "for," said he, "I must try and be just." + +"I'll give you an hour," said Raynal, with an air of grand +munificence. The only treasure he valued was time. + +In less than an hour Edouard had solved the knot, to his entire +satisfaction; he even gave the commandant particular instructions +for carrying out his sovereign decree. Raynal received these orders +from his subordinate with that simplicity which formed part of his +amazing character, and rode home relieved of all responsibility in +the matter. + + +COMMANDANT RAYNAL TO MADEMOISELLE DE BEAUREPAIRE. + +Mademoiselle,--Before I could find time to write to our referee, +news came in that he had just broken his arm;-- + + +"Oh! oh, dear! our poor Edouard!" + +And if poor Edouard had seen the pale faces, and heard the faltering +accents, it would have reconciled him to his broken arm almost. +This hand-grenade the commandant had dropped so coolly among them, +it was a long while ere they could recover from it enough to read +the rest of the letter,-- + + +so I rode over to him, and found him on his back, fretting for want +of something to do. I told him the whole story. He undertook the +business. I have received his instructions, and next week shall be +at his quarters to clear off his arrears of business, and make +acquaintance with all your family, if they permit. + +RAYNAL. + + +As the latter part of this letter seemed to require a reply, the +baroness wrote a polite note, and Jacintha sent Dard to leave it for +the commandant at Riviere's lodgings. But first they all sat down +and wrote kind and pitying and soothing letters to Edouard. Need I +say these letters fell upon him like balm? + +They all inquired carelessly in their postscripts what he had +decided as their referee. He replied mysteriously that they would +know that in a week or two. Meantime, all he thought it prudent to +tell them was that he had endeavored to be just to both parties. + +"Little solemn puppy," said Rose, and was racked with curiosity. + +Next week Raynal called on the baroness. She received him alone. +They talked about Madame Raynal. The next day he dined with the +whole party, and the commandant's manners were the opposite of what +the baroness had inculcated. But she had a strong prejudice in his +favor. Had her feelings been the other way his brusquerie would +have shocked her. It amused her. If people's hearts are with you, +THAT for their heads! + +He came every day for a week, chatted with the baroness, walked with +the young ladies; and when after work he came over in the evening, +Rose used to cross-examine him, and out came such descriptions of +battles and sieges, such heroism and such simplicity mixed, as made +the evening pass delightfully. On these occasions the young ladies +fixed their glowing eyes on him, and drank in his character as well +as his narrative, in which were fewer "I's" than in anything of the +sort you ever read or heard. + +At length Rose contrived to draw him aside, and, hiding her +curiosity under feigned nonchalance, asked him what the referee had +decided. He told her that was a secret for the present. + +"Well, but," said Rose, "not from me. Edouard and I have no +secrets." + +"Come, that's good," said Raynal. "Why, you are the very one he +warned me against the most; said you were as curious as Mother Eve, +and as sharp as her needle." + +"Then he is a little scurrilous traitor," cried Rose, turning very +red. "So that is how he talks of me behind my back, and calls me an +angel to my face; I'll pay him for this. Do tell me, commandant; +never mind what HE says." + +"What! disobey orders?" + +"Orders? to you from that boy!" + +"Oh!" said Raynal, "for that matter, we soldiers are used to command +one moment, and obey the next." + +In a word, this military pedant was impracticable, and Rose gave him +up in disgust, and began to call up a sulky look when the other two +sang his praises. For the old lady pronounced him charming, and +Josephine said he was a man of crystal; never said a word he did not +mean, and she wished she was like him. But the baroness thought +this was going a little too far. + +"No, thank you," said she hastily; "he is a man, a thorough man. He +would make an intolerable woman. A fine life if one had a parcel of +women about, all blurting out their real minds every moment, and +never smoothing matters." + +"Mamma, what a horrid picture!" chuckled Rose. + +She then proposed that at his next visit they should all three make +an earnest appeal to him to let them know what Edouard had decided. + +But Josephine begged to be excused, feared it would be hardly +delicate; and said languidly that for her part she felt they were in +good hands, and prescribed patience. The baroness acquiesced, and +poor Rose and her curiosity were baffled on every side. + +At last, one fine day, her torments were relieved without any +further exertion on her part. Jacintha bounced into the drawing- +room with a notice that the commandant wanted to speak to Josephine +a minute out in the Pleasaunce. + +"How droll he is," said Rose; "fancy sending in for a young lady +like that. Don't go, Josephine; how, he would stare." + +"My dear, I no more dare disobey him than if I was one of his +soldiers." And she laid down her work, and rose quietly to do what +she was bid. + +"Well," said Rose, superciliously, "go to your commanding officer. +And, O Josephine, if you are worth anything at all, do get out of +him what that Edouard has settled." + +Josephine kissed her, and promised to try. After the first +salutation, there was a certain hesitation about Raynal which +Josephine had never seen a trace of in him before; so, to put him at +his ease, and at the same time keep her promise to Rose, she asked +timidly if their mutual friend had been able to suggest anything. + +"What! don't you know that I have been acting all along upon his +instructions?" answered Raynal. + +"No, indeed! and you have not told us what he advised." + +"Told you? why, of course not; they were secret instructions. I +have obeyed one set, and now I come to the other; and there is the +difficulty, being a kind of warfare I know nothing about." + +"It must be savage warfare, then," suggested the lady politely. + +"Not a bit of it. Now, who would have thought I was such a coward?" + +Josephine was mystified; however, she made a shrewd guess. "Do you +fear a repulse from any one of us? Then, I suppose, you meditate +some extravagant act of generosity." + +"Not I." + +"Of delicacy, then." + +"Just the reverse. Confound the young dog! why is he not here to +help me?" + +"But, after all," suggested Josephine, "you have only to carry out +his instructions." + +"That is true! that is true! but when a fellow is a coward, a +poltroon, and all that sort of thing." + +This repeated assertion of cowardice on the part of the living +Damascus blade that stood bolt-upright before her, struck Josephine +as so funny that she laughed merrily, and bade him fancy it was only +a fort he was attacking instead of the terrible Josephine; whom none +but heroes feared, she assured him. + +This encouragement, uttered in jest, was taken in earnest. The +soldier thanked her, and rallied visibly at the comparison. "All +right," said he, "as you say, it is only a fort--so--mademoiselle!" + +"Monsieur!" + +"Hum! will you lend me your hand for a moment?" + +"My hand! what for? there," and she put it out an inch a minute. He +took it, and inspected it closely. + +"A charming hand; the hand of a virtuous woman?" + +"Yes," said Josephine as cool as a cucumber, too sublimely and +absurdly innocent even to blush. + +"Is it your own?" + +"Sir!" She blushed at that, I can tell you. + +"Because if it was, I would ask you to give it me. (I've fired the +first shot anyway.)" + +Josephine whipped her hand off his palm, where it lay like cream +spilt on a trencher. + +"Ah! I see; you are not free: you have a lover." + +"No, no!" cried Josephine in distress; "I love nobody but my mother +and sister: I never shall." + +"Your mother," cried Raynal; "that reminds me; he told me to ask +her; by Jove, I think he told me to ask her first;" and Raynal up +with his scabbard and was making off. + +Josephine begged him to do nothing of the kind. + +"I can save you the trouble," said she. + +"Ah, but my instructions! my instructions!" cried the military +pedant, and ran off into the house, and left Josephine "planted +there," as they say in France. + +Raynal demanded a private interview of the baroness so significantly +and unceremoniously that Rose had no alternative but to retire, but +not without a glance of defiance at the bear. She ran straight, +without her bonnet, into the Pleasaunce to slake her curiosity at +Josephine. That young lady was walking pensively, but turned at +sight of Rose, and the sisters came together with a clash of tongues. + +"O Rose! he has"-- + +"Oh!" + +So nimbly does the female mind run on its little beaten tracks, that +it took no more than those syllables for even these innocent young +women to communicate that Raynal had popped. + +Josephine apologized for this weakness in a hero. "It wasn't his +fault," said she. "It is your Edouard who set him to do it." + +"My Edouard? Don't talk in that horrid way: I have no Edouard. You +said 'no' of course." + +"Something of the kind." + +"What, did you not say 'no' plump?" + +"I did not say it brutally, dear." + +"Josephine, you frighten me. I know you can't say 'no' to any one; +and if you don't say 'no' plump to such a man as this, you might as +well say 'yes.'" + +"Well, love," said Josephine, "you know our mother will relieve me +of this; what a comfort to have a mother!" + +They waited for Raynal's departure, to go to the baroness. They had +to wait a long time. Moreover, when he did leave the chateau he +came straight into the Pleasaunce. At sight of him Rose seized +Josephine tight and bade her hold her tongue, as she could not say +"no" plump to any one. Josephine was far from raising any objection +to the arrangement. + +"Monsieur," said Rose, before he could get a word out, "even if she +had not declined, I could not consent." + +Raynal tapped his forehead reflectively, and drew forth from memory +that he had no instructions whatever to ask HER consent. + +She colored high, but returned to the charge. + +"Is her own consent to be dispensed with too? She declined the +honor, did she not?" + +"Of course she did; but this was anticipated in my instructions. I +am to be sure and not take the first two or three refusals." + +"O Josephine, look at that insolent boy: he has found you out." + +"Insolent boy!" cried Raynal; "why, it is the referee of your own +choosing, and as well behaved a lad as ever I saw, and a zealous +officer." + +"My kind friends," put in Josephine with a sweet languor, "I cannot +let you quarrel about a straw." + +"It is not about a straw," said Raynal, "it is about you." + +"The distinction involves a compliment, sir," said Josephine; then +she turned to Rose, "Is it possible you do not see Monsieur Raynal's +strange proposal in its true light? and you so shrewd in general. +He has no personal feeling whatever in this eccentric proceeding: he +wants to make us all happy, especially my mother, without seeming to +lay us under too great an obligation. Surely good-nature was never +carried so far before; ha, ha! Monsieur, I will encumber you with my +friendship forever, if you permit me, but farther than that I will +not abuse your generosity." + +"Now look here, mademoiselle," began Raynal bluntly, "I did start +with a good motive at first, that there's no denying. But, since I +have been every day in your company, and seen how good and kind you +are to all about you, I have turned selfish; and I say to myself, +what a comfort such a wife as you would be to a soldier! Why, only +to have you to write letters home to, would be worth half a fellow's +pay. Do you know sometimes when I see the fellows writing their +letters it gives me a knock here to think I have no one at all to +write to." + +Josephine sighed. + +"So you see I am not so mighty disinterested. Now, mademoiselle, +you speak so charmingly, I can't tell what you mean: can't tell +whether you say 'no' because you could never like me, or whether it +is out of delicacy, and you only want pressing. So I say no more at +present: it is a standing offer. Take a day to consider. Take two +if you like. I must go to the barracks; good-day." + +"Oh! this must be put an end to at once," said Rose. + +"With all my heart," replied Josephine; "but how?" + +"Come to our mother, and settle that," said the impetuous sister, +and nearly dragged the languid one into the drawing-room. + +To their surprise they found the baroness walking up and down the +room with unusual alacrity for a person of her years. She no sooner +caught sight of Josephine than she threw her arms open to her with +joyful vivacity, and kissed her warmly. "My love, you have saved +us. I am a happy old woman. If I had all France to pick from I +could not have found a man so worthy of my Josephine. He is brave, +he is handsome, he is young, he is a rising man, he is a good son, +and good sons make good husbands--and--I shall die at Beaurepaire, +shall I not, Madame the Commandante?" + +Josephine held her mother round the neck, but never spoke. After a +silence she held her tighter, and cried a little. + +"What is it?" asked the baroness confidentially of Rose, but without +showing any very profound concern. + +"Mamma! mamma! she does not love him." + +"Love him? She would be no daughter of mine if she loved a man at +sight. A modest woman loves her husband only." + +"But she scarcely knows Monsieur Raynal." + +"She knows more of him than I knew of your father when I married +him. She knows his virtues and appreciates them. I have heard her, +have I not, love? Esteem soon ripens into love when they are once +fairly married." + +"Mother, does her silence then tell you nothing? Her tears--are +they nothing to you?" + +"Silly child! These are tears that do not scald. The sweet soul +weeps because she now for the first time sees she will have to leave +her mother. Alas! my eldest, it is inevitable. Mothers are not +immortal. While they are here it is their duty to choose good +husbands for their daughters. My youngest, I believe, has chosen +for herself--like the nation. But for my eldest I choose. We shall +see which chooses the best. Meantime we stay at Beaurepaire, thanks +to my treasure here." + +"Josephine! Josephine! you don't say one word," cried Rose in +dismay. + +"What CAN I say? I love my mother and I love you. You draw me +different ways. I want you to be both happy." + +"Then if you will not speak out I must. Mother, do not deceive +yourself: it is duty alone that keeps her silent: this match is +odious to her." + +"Then we are ruined. Josephine, is this match odious to you?" + +"Not exactly odious: but I am very, very indifferent." + +"There!" cried Rose triumphantly. + +"There!" cried the baroness in the same breath, triumphantly. "She +esteems his character; but his person is indifferent to her: in +other words, she is a modest girl, and my daughter; and let me tell +you, Rose, that but for the misfortunes of our house, both my +daughters would be married as I was, without knowing half as much of +their husbands as Josephine knows of this brave, honest, generous, +filial gentleman." + +"Well, then, since she will not speak out, I will. Pity me: I love +her so. If this stranger, whom she does not love, takes her away +from us, he will kill me. I shall die; oh!" + +Josephine left her mother and went to console Rose. + +The baroness lost her temper at this last stroke of opposition. +"Now the truth comes out, Rose; this is selfishness. Do not deceive +YOURself--selfishness!" + +"Mamma!" + +"You are only waiting to leave me yourself. Yet your eldest sister, +forsooth, must be kept here for you,--till then." She added more +gently, "Let me advise you to retire to your own room, and examine +your heart fairly. You will find there is a strong dash of egoism +in all this." + +"If I do"-- + +"You will retract your opposition." + +"My heart won't let me; but I will despise myself, and be silent." + +And the young lady, who had dried her eyes the moment she was +accused of selfishness, walked, head erect, from the room. +Josephine cast a deprecating glance at her mother. "Yes, my angel!" +said the latter, "I was harsh. But we are no longer of one mind, +and I suppose never shall be again." + +"Oh, yes, we shall. Be patient! Mother--you shall not leave +Beaurepaire." + +The baroness colored faintly at these four last words of her +daughter, and hung her head. + +Josephine saw that, and darted to her and covered her with kisses. + +That day the doctor scolded them both. "You have put your mother +into a high fever," said he; "here's a pulse; I do wish you would be +more considerate." + +The commandant did not come to dinner as usual. The evening passed +heavily; their hearts were full of uncertainty. + +"We miss our merry, spirited companion," said the baroness with a +grim look at Rose. Both young ladies assented with ludicrous +eagerness. + +That night Rose came and slept with Josephine, and more than once +she awoke with a start and seized Josephine convulsively and held +her tight. + +Accused of egoism! at first her whole nature rose in arms against +the charge: but, after a while, coming as it did from so revered a +person, it forced her to serious self-examination. The poor girl +said to herself, "Mamma is a shrewd woman. Am I after all deceiving +myself? Would she be happy, and am I standing in the way?" In the +morning she begged her sister to walk with her in the park, so that +they might be safe from interruption. + +There, she said sadly, she could not understand her own sister. +"Why are you so calm and cold, while am I in tortures of anxiety? +Have you made some resolve and not confided it to your Rose?" + +"No, love," was the reply; "I am scarce capable of a resolution; I +am a mere thing that drifts." + +"Let me put it in other words, then. How will this end?" + +"I hardly know." + +"Do you mean to marry Monsieur Raynal, then? answer me that." + +"No; but I should not wonder if he were to marry ME." + +"But you said 'no.'" + +"Yes, I said 'no' once." + +"And don't you mean to say it again, and again, and again, till +kingdom come?" + +"What is the use? you heard him say he would not desist any the +more, and I care too little about the matter to go on persisting, +and persisting, and persisting." + +"Why not, if he goes on pestering, and pestering, and pestering?" + +"Ah, he is like you, all energy, at all hours; but I have so little +where my heart is unconcerned: he seems, too, to have a wish! I +have none either way, and my conscience says 'marry him!'" + +"Your conscience say marry one man when you love another?" + +"Heaven forbid! Rose, I love no one: I HAVE loved; but now my heart +is dead and silent; only my conscience says, 'You are the cause of +all your mother's trouble; you are the cause that Beaurepaire was +sold. Now you can repair that mischief, and at the same time make a +brave man happy, our benefactor happy.' It is a great temptation: I +hardly know why I said 'no' at all; surprise, perhaps--or to please +you, pretty one." + +Rose groaned: "Are you then worth so little that you would throw +yourself away on a man who does not love you, nor want you, and is +quite as happy single?" + +"No; not happy; he is only stout-hearted and good, and therefore +content; and he is a character that it would be easy--in short, I +feel my power here: I could make that man happy; he has nobody to +write to even, when he is away--poor fellow!" + +"I shall lose all patience," cried Rose; "you are at your old trick, +thinking of everybody but yourself: I let you do it in trifles, but +I love you too well to permit it when the happiness of your whole +life is at stake. I must be satisfied on one point, or else this +marriage shall never take place: just answer me this; if Camille +Dujardin stood on one side, and Monsieur Raynal on the other, and +both asked your hand, which would you take?" + +"That will never be. Whose? Not his whom I despise. Esteem might +ripen into love, but what must contempt end in?" + +This reply gave Rose great satisfaction. To exhaust all awkward +contingencies, she said, "One question more, and I have done. +Suppose Camille should turn out--be not quite--what shall I say-- +inexcusable?" + +At this unlucky gush, Josephine turned pale, then red, then pale +again, and cried eagerly, "Then all the world should not part us. +Why torture me with such a question? Ah! you have heard something." +And in a moment the lava of passion burst wildly through its thin +sheet of ice. "I was blind. This is why you would save me from +this unnatural marriage. You are breaking the good news to me by +degrees. There is no need. Quick--quick--let me have it. I have +waited three years; I am sick of waiting. Why don't you speak? Why +don't you tell me? Then I will tell YOU. He is alive--he is well-- +he is coming. It was not he those soldiers saw; they were so far +off. How could they tell? They saw a uniform but not a face. +Perhaps he has been a prisoner, and so could not write; could not +come: but he is coming now. Why do you groan? why do you turn pale? +ah! I see; I have once more deceived myself. I was mad. He I love +is still a traitor to France and me, and I am wretched forever. Oh! +that I were dead! oh! that I were dead! No; don't speak to me: +never mind me; this madness will pass as it has before, and leave me +a dead thing among the living. Ah! sister, why did you wake me from +my dream? I was drifting so calmly, so peacefully, so dead, and +painless, drifting over the dead sea of the heart towards the living +waters of gratitude and duty. I was going to make more than one +worthy soul happy; and seeing them happy, I should have been content +and useful--what am I now?--and comforted other hearts, and died +joyful--and young. For God is good; he releases the meek and +patient from their burdens." + +With this came a flood of tears; and she leaned against a bough with +her forehead on her arm, bowed like a wounded lily. + +"Accursed be that man's name, and MY tongue if ever I utter it again +in your hearing!" cried Rose, weeping bitterly. "You are wiser than +I, and every way better. O my darling, dry your tears! Here he +comes: look! riding across the park." + +"Rose," cried Josephine, hastily, "I leave all to you. Receive +Monsieur Raynal, and decline his offer if you think proper. It is +you who love me best. My mother would give me up for a house; for +an estate, poor dear." + +"I would not give you for all the world." + +"I know it. I trust all to you." + +"Well, but don't go; stay and hear what I shall say." + +"Oh, no; that poor man is intolerable to me NOW. Let me avoid his +sight, and think of his virtues." + +Rose was left alone, mistress of her sister's fate. She put her +head into her hands and filled with anxiety and sudden doubt. + +Like a good many more of us, she had been positive so long as the +decision did not rest with her. But with power comes responsibility, +with responsibility comes doubt. Easy to be an advocate in +re incerta; hard to be the judge. And she had but a few seconds +to think in; for Raynal was at hand. The last thing in her +mind before he joined her was the terrible power of that base +Camille over her sister. She despaired of curing Josephine, but a +husband might. There's such divinity doth hedge a husband in +innocent girls' minds. + +"Well, little lady," began Raynal, "and how are you, and how is my +mother-in-law that is to be--or is not to be, as your sister +pleases; and how is SHE? have I frightened her away? There were two +petticoats, and now there is but one." + +"She left me to answer you." + +"All the worse for me: I am not to your taste." + +"Do not say that," said Rose, almost hysterically. + +"Oh! it is no sacrilege. Not one in fifty likes me." + +"But I do like you, sir." + +"Then why won't you let me have your sister?" + +"I have not quite decided that you shall not have her," faltered +poor Rose. She murmured on, "I dare say you think me very unkind, +very selfish; but put yourself in my place. I love my sister as no +man can ever love her, I know: my heart has been one flesh and one +soul with hers all my life. A stranger comes and takes her away +from me as if she was I don't know what; his portmanteau; takes her +to Egypt, oh! oh! oh!" + +Raynal comforted her. + +"What, do you think I am such a brute as to take that delicate +creature about fighting with me? why, the hot sand would choke her, +to begin. No. You don't take my manoeuvre. I have no family; I +try for a wife that will throw me in a mother and sister. You will +live all together the same as before, of course; only you must let +me make one of you when I am at home. And how often will that be? +Besides, I am as likely to be knocked on the head in Egypt as not; +you are worrying yourself for nothing, little lady." + +He uttered the last topic of consolation in a broad, hearty, +hilarious tone, like a trombone impregnated with cheerful views of +fate. + +"Heaven forbid!" cried Rose: "and I will, for even I shall pray for +you now. What you will leave her at home? forgive me for not seeing +all your worth: of course I knew you were an angel, but I had no +idea you were a duck. You are just the man for my sister. She +likes to obey: you are all for commanding. So you see. Then she +never thinks of herself; any other man but you would impose on her +good-nature; but you are too generous to do that. So you see. Then +she esteems you so highly. And one whom I esteem (between you and +me) has chosen you for her." + +"Then say yes, and have done with it," suggested the straightforward +soldier. + +"Why should I say 'no?' you will make one another happy some day: +you are both so good. Any other man but you would tear her from me; +but you are too just, too kind. Heaven will reward you. No! I +will. I will give you Josephine: ah, my dear brother-in-law, it is +the most precious thing I have to give in the world." + +"Thank you, then. So that is settled. Hum! no, it is not quite; I +forgot; I have something for you to read; an anonymous letter. I +got it this morning; it says your sister has a lover." + +The letter ran to this tune: a friend who had observed the +commandant's frequent visits at Beaurepaire wrote to warn him +against traps. Both the young ladies of Beaurepaire were doubtless +at the new proprietor's service to pick and choose from. But for +all that each of them had a lover, and though these lovers had their +orders to keep out of the way till monsieur should be hooked, he +might be sure that if he married either, the man of her heart would +come on the scene soon after, perhaps be present at the wedding. + +In short, it was one of those poisoned arrows a coarse vindictive +coward can shoot. + +It was the first anonymous letter Rose had ever seen. It almost +drove her mad on the spot. Raynal was sorry he had let her see it. + +She turned red and white by turns, and gasped for breath. + +"Why am I not a man?--why don't I wear a sword? I would pass it +through this caitiff's heart. The cowardly slave!--the fiend! for +who but a fiend could slander an angel like my Josephine? Hooked? +Oh! she will never marry you if she sees this." + +"Then don't let her see it: and why take it to heart like that? I +don't trust to the word of a man who owns that his story is a thing +he dares not sign his name to; at all events, I shall not put his +word against yours. But it is best to understand one another in +time. I am a plain man, but not a soft one. I should not be an +easygoing husband like some I see about: I'd have no wasps round my +honey; if my wife took a lover I would not lecture THE WOMAN--what +is the use?--I'd kill THE MAN then and there, in-doors or out, as I +would kill a snake. If she took another, I'd send him after the +first, and so on till one killed me." + +"And serve the wretches right." + +"Yes; but for my own sake I don't choose to marry a woman that loves +any other man. So tell me the plain truth; come." + +Rose turned chill in her inside. "I have no lover," she stammered. +"I have a young fool that comes and teases me: but it is no secret. +He is away, but why? he is on a sickbed, poor little fellow!" + +"But your sister? She could not have a lover unknown to you." + +"I defy her. No, sir; I have not seen her speak three words to any +young man except Monsieur Riviere this three years past." + +"That is enough;" and he tore the letter quietly to atoms. + +Then Rose saw she could afford a little more candor. "Understand +me; I can't speak of what happened when I was a child. But if ever +she had a girlish attachment, he has not followed it up, or surely I +should have seen something of him all these years." + +"Of course. Oh! as for flirtations, let them pass: a lovely girl +does not grow up without one or two whispering some nonsense into +her ear. Why, I myself should have flirted no doubt; but I never +had the time. Bonaparte gives you time to eat and drink, but not to +sleep or flirt, and that reminds me I have fifty miles to ride, so +good-by, sister-in-law, eh?" + +"Adieu, brother-in-law." + +Left alone, Rose had some misgivings. She had equivocated with one +whose upright, candid nature ought to have protected him: but an +enemy had accused Josephine; and it came so natural to shield her. +"Did he really think I would expose my own sister?" said she to +herself, angrily. Was not this anger secret self-discontent? + + +"Well, love," said Josephine, demurely, "have you dismissed him?" + +"No." + +Josephine smiled feebly. "It is easy to say 'say no;' but it is not +so easy to say 'no,' especially when you feel you ought to say +'yes,' and have no wish either way except to give pleasure to +others." + +"But I am not such skim milk as all that," replied Rose: "I have +always a strong wish where you are concerned, and your happiness. I +hesitated whilst I was in doubt, but I doubt no longer: I have had a +long talk with him. He has shown me his whole heart: he is the +best, the noblest of creatures: he has no littleness or meanness. +And then he is a thorough man; I know that by his being the very +opposite of a woman in his ways. Now you are a thorough woman, and +so you will suit one another to a T. I have decided: so no more +doubts, love; no more tears; no more disputes. We are all of one +mind, and I do think I have secured your happiness. It will not +come in a day, perhaps, but it will come. So then in one little +fortnight you marry Monsieur Raynal." + +"What!" said Josephine, "you have actually settled that?" + +"Yes." + +"But are you sure I can make him as happy as he deserves?" + +"Positive." + +"I think so too; still"-- + +"It is settled, dear," said Rose soothingly. + +"Oh, the comfort of that! you relieve me of a weight; you give me +peace. I shall have duties; I shall do some good in the world. +They were all for it but you before, were they not?" + +"Yes, and now I am strongest for it of them all. Josephine, it is +settled." + +Josephine looked at her for a moment in silence, then said eagerly, +"Bless you, dear Rose; you have saved your sister;" then, after a +moment, in a very different voice, "O Camille! Camille! why have you +deserted me?" + +And with this she fell to sobbing terribly. Rose wept on her neck, +but said nothing. She too was a woman, and felt that this was the +last despairing cry of love giving up a hopeless struggle. + +They sat twined together in silence till Jacintha came to tell them +it was close upon dinner-time; so then they hastened to dry their +tears and wash their red eyes, for fear their mother should see what +they had been at, and worry herself. + + +"Well, mademoiselle, these two consent; but what do you say? for +after all, it is you I am courting, and not them. Have you the +courage to venture on a rough soldier like me?" + +This delicate question was put point-blank before the three ladies. + +"Sir," replied Josephine timidly, "I will be as frank, as +straightforward as you are. I thank you for the honor you do me." + +Raynal looked perplexed. + +"And does that mean 'yes' or 'no'?" + +"Which you please," said Josephine, hanging her sweet head. + +The wedding was fixed for that day fortnight. The next morning +wardrobes were ransacked. The silk, muslin, and lace of their +prosperous days were looked out: grave discussions were held over +each work of art. Rose was active, busy, fussy. The baroness threw +in the weight of her judgment and experience. + +Josephine managed to smile whenever either Rose or the baroness +looked at all fixedly at her. + +So glided the peaceful days. So Josephine drifted towards the haven +of wedlock. + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +At Bayonne, a garrison town on the south frontier of France, two +sentinels walked lethargically, crossing and recrossing before the +governor's house. Suddenly their official drowsiness burst into +energy; for a pale, grisly man, in rusty, defaced, dirty, and torn +regimentals, was walking into the courtyard as if it belonged to +him. The sentinels lowered their muskets, and crossed them with a +clash before the gateway. + +The scarecrow did not start back. He stopped and looked down with a +smile at the steel barrier the soldiers had improvised for him, then +drew himself a little up, carried his hand carelessly to his cap, +which was nearly in two, and gave the name of an officer in the +French army. + +If you or I, dressed like a beggar who years ago had stolen +regimentals and worn them down to civil garments, had addressed +these soldiers with these very same words, the bayonets would have +kissed closer, or perhaps the points been turned against our sacred +and rusty person: but there is a freemasonry of the sword. The +light, imperious hand that touched that battered cap, and the quiet +clear tone of command told. The sentinels slowly recovered their +pieces, but still looked uneasy and doubtful in their minds. The +battered one saw this, and gave a sort of lofty smile; he turned up +his cuffs and showed his wrists, and drew himself still higher. + +The sentinels shouldered their pieces sharp, then dropped them +simultaneously with a clatter and ring upon the pavement. + +"Pass, captain." + +The rusty figure rang the governor's bell. A servant came and eyed +him with horror and contempt. He gave his name, and begged to see +the governor. The servant left him in the hall, and went up-stairs +to tell his master. At the name the governor reflected, then +frowned, then bade his servant reach him down a certain book. He +inspected it. "I thought so: any one with him?" + +"No, your excellency." + +"Load my pistols, put them on the table, show him in, and then order +a guard to the door." + +The governor was a stern veteran with a powerful brow, a shaggy +eyebrow, and a piercing eye. He never rose, but leaned his chin on +his hand, and his elbow on a table that stood between them, and eyed +his visitor very fixedly and strangely. "We did not expect to see +you on this side the Pyrenees," said he gravely. + +"Nor I myself, governor." + +"What do you come for?" + +"A suit of regimentals, and money to take me to Paris." + +"And suppose, instead of that, I turn out a corporal's guard, and +bid them shoot you in the courtyard?" + +"It would be the drollest thing you ever did, all things considered," +said the other coolly, but bitterly. + +The governor looked for the book he had lately consulted, found the +page, handed it to the rusty officer, and watched him keenly: the +blood rushed all over his face, and his lip trembled; but his eye +dwelt stern yet sorrowful on the governor. + +"I have read your book, now read mine." He drew off his coat and +showed his wrists and arms, blue and waled. "Can you read that, +sir?" + +"No." + +"All the better for you: Spanish fetters, general." He showed a +white scar on his shoulder. "Can you read that? This is what I cut +out of it," and he handed the governor a little round stone as big +and almost as regular as a musket-ball. + +"Humph! that could hardly have been fired from a French musket." + +"Can you read this?" and he showed him a long cicatrix on his other +arm. + +"Knife I think," said the governor. + +"You are right, sir: Spanish knife. Can you read this?" and opening +his bosom he showed a raw wound on his breast. + +"Oh, the devil!" cried the governor. + +The wounded man put his rusty coat on again, and stood erect, and +haughty, and silent. + +The general eyed him, and saw his great spirit shining through this +man. The more he looked the less could the scarecrow veil the hero +from his practised eye. He said there must be some mistake, or else +he was in his dotage; after a moment's hesitation, he added, "Be +seated, if you please, and tell me what you have been doing all +these years." + +"Suffering." + +"Not all the time, I suppose." + +"Without intermission." + +"But what? suffering what?" + +"Cold, hunger, darkness, wounds, solitude, sickness, despair, +prison, all that man can suffer." + +"Impossible! a man would be dead at that rate before this." + +"I should have died a dozen deaths but for one thing; I had promised +her to live." + +There was a pause. Then the old soldier said gravely, but more +kindly, to the young one, "Tell me the facts, captain" (the first +time he had acknowledged his visitor's military rank). + +An hour had scarce elapsed since the rusty figure was stopped by the +sentinels at the gate, when two glittering officers passed out under +the same archway, followed by a servant carrying a furred cloak. +The sentinels presented arms. The elder of these officers was the +governor: the younger was the late scarecrow, in a brand-new uniform +belonging to the governor's son. He shone out now in his true +light; the beau ideal of a patrician soldier; one would have said he +had been born with a sword by his side and drilled by nature, so +straight and smart, yet easy he was in every movement. He was like +a falcon, eye and all, only, as it were, down at the bottom of the +hawk's eye lay a dove's eye. That compound and varying eye seemed +to say, I can love, I can fight: I can fight, I can love, as few of +you can do either. + +The old man was trying to persuade him to stay at Bayonne, until his +wound should be cured. + +"No, general, I have other wounds to cure of longer standing than +this one." + +"Well, promise me to lay up at Paris." + +"General, I shall stay an hour at Paris." + +"An hour in Paris! Well, at least call at the War Office and +present this letter." + +That same afternoon, wrapped in the governor's furred cloak, the +young officer lay at his full length in the coupe of the diligence, +the whole of which the governor had peremptorily demanded for him, +and rolled day and night towards Paris. + +He reached it worn with fatigue and fevered by his wound, but his +spirit as indomitable as ever. He went to the War Office with the +governor's letter. It seemed to create some little sensation; one +functionary came and said a polite word to him, then another. At +last to his infinite surprise the minister himself sent down word he +wished to see him; the minister put several questions to him, and +seemed interested in him and touched by his relation. + +"I think, captain, I shall have to send to you: where do you stay in +Paris?" + +"Nowhere, monsieur; I leave Paris as soon as I can find an easy- +going horse." + +"But General Bretaux tells me you are wounded." + +"Not dangerously." + +"Pardon me, captain, but is this prudent? is it just to yourself and +your friends?" + +"Yes, I owe it to those who perhaps think me dead." + +"You can write to them." + +"I grudge so great, so sacred a joy to a letter. No! after all I +have suffered I claim to be the one to tell her I have kept my word: +I promised to live, and I live." + +"HER? then I say no more, only tell me what road you take." + +"The road to Brittany." + +As the young officer was walking his horse by the roadside about a +league and a half from Paris, he heard a clatter behind him, and up +galloped an aide-de-camp and drew up alongside, bringing his horse +nearly on his haunches. + +He handed him a large packet sealed with the arms of France. The +other tore it open; and there was his brevet as colonel. His cheek +flushed and his eye glittered with joy. The aide-de-camp next gave +him a parcel: "Your epaulets, colonel! We hear you are going into +the wilds where epaulets don't grow. You are to join the army of +the Rhine as soon as your wound is well." + +"Wherever my country calls me." + +"Your address, then, colonel, that we may know where to put our +finger on a tried soldier when we want one." + +"I am going to Beaurepaire." + +"Beaurepaire? I never heard of it." + +"You never heard of Beaurepaire? it is in Brittany, forty-five +leagues from Paris, forty-three leagues and a half from here." + +"Good! Health and honor to you, colonel." + +"The same to you, lieutenant; or a soldier's death." + +The new colonel read the precious document across his horse's mane, +and then he was going to put one of the epaulets on his right +shoulder, bare at present: but he reflected. + +"No; she should make him a colonel with her own dear hand. He put +them in his pocket. He would not even look at them till she had +seen them. Oh, how happy he was not only to come back to her alive, +but to come back to her honored." + +His wound smarted, his limbs ached, but no pain past or present +could lay hold of his mind. In his great joy he remembered past +suffering and felt present pain--yet smiled. Only every now and +then he pined for wings to shorten the weary road. + +He was walking his horse quietly, drooping a little over his saddle, +when another officer well mounted came after him and passed him at a +hand gallop with one hasty glance at his uniform, and went tearing +on like one riding for his life. + +"Don't I know that face?" said Dujardin. + +He cudgelled his memory, and at last he remembered it was the face +of an old comrade. At least it strongly reminded him of one Jean +Raynal who had saved his life in the Arno, when they were lieutenants +together. + +Yes, it was certainly Raynal, only bronzed by service in some hot +country. + +"Ah!" thought Camille; "I suppose I am more changed than he is; for +he certainly did not recognize me at all. Now I wonder what that +fellow has been doing all this time. What a hurry he was in! a +moment more and I should have hailed him. Perhaps I may fall in +with him at the next town." + +He touched his horse with the spur, and cantered gently on, for +trotting shook him more than he could bear. Even when he cantered +he had to press his hand against his bosom, and often with the +motion a bitterer pang than usual came and forced the water from his +eyes; and then he smiled. His great love and his high courage made +this reply to the body's anguish. And still his eyes looked +straight forward as at some object in the distant horizon, while he +came gently on, his hand pressed to his bosom, his head drooping now +and then, smiling patiently, upon the road to Beaurepaire. + +Oh! if anybody had told him that in five days his Josephine was to +be married; and that the bronzed comrade, who had just galloped past +him, was to marry her! + + +At Beaurepaire they were making and altering wedding-dresses. Rose +was excited, and even Josephine took a calm interest. Dress never +goes for nothing with her sex. The chairs and tables were covered, +and the floor was littered. The baroness was presiding over the +rites of vanity, and telling them what she wore at her wedding, +under Louis XV., with strict accuracy, and what we men should +consider a wonderful effort of memory, when the Commandant Raynal +came in like a cannon-ball, without any warning, and stood among +them in a stiff, military attitude. Exclamations from all the +party, and then a kind greeting, especially from the baroness. + +"We have been so dull without you, Jean." + +"And I have missed you once or twice, mother-in-law, I can tell you. +Well, I have got bad news; but you must consider we live in a busy +time. To-morrow I start for Egypt." + +Loud ejaculations from the baroness and Rose. Josephine put down +her work quietly. + +The baroness sighed deeply, and the tears came into her eyes. "Oh, +you must not be down-hearted, old lady," shouted Raynal. "Why, I am +as likely to come back from Egypt as not. It is an even chance, to +say the least." + +This piece of consolation completed the baroness's unhappiness. She +really had conceived a great affection for Raynal, and her heart had +been set on the wedding. + +"Take away all that finery, girls," said she bitterly; "we shall not +want it for years. I shall not be alive when he comes home from +Egypt. I never had a son--only daughters--the best any woman ever +had; but a mother is not complete without a son, and I shall never +live to have one now." + +"I hate General Bonaparte," said Rose viciously. + +"Hate my general?" groaned Raynal, looking down with a sort of +superstitious awe and wonder at the lovely vixen. "Hate the best +soldier the world ever saw?" + +"What do I care for his soldiership? He has put off our wedding. +For how many years did you say?" + +"No; he has put it on." + +In answer to the astonished looks this excited, he explained that +the wedding was to have been in a week, but now it must be to-morrow +at ten o'clock. + +The three ladies set up their throats together. "Tomorrow?" + +"To-morrow. Why, what do you suppose I left Paris for yesterday? +left my duties even." + +"What, monsieur?" asked Josephine, timidly, "did you ride all that +way, and leave your duties MERELY TO MARRY ME?" and she looked a +little pleased. + +"You are worth a great deal more trouble than that," said Raynal +simply. "Besides, I had passed my word, and I always keep my word." + +"So do I," said Josephine, a little proudly. "I will not go from it +now, if you insist; but I confess to you, that such a proposal +staggers me; so sudden--no preliminaries--no time to reflect; in +short, there are so many difficulties that I must request you to +reconsider the matter." + +"Difficulties," shouted Raynal with merry disdain; "there are none, +unless you sit down and make them; we do more difficult things than +this every day of our lives: we passed the bridge of Arcola in +thirteen minutes; and we had not the consent of the enemy, as we +have yours--have we not?" + +Her only reply was a look at her mother, to which the baroness +replied by a nod; then turning to Raynal, "This empressement is very +flattering; but I see no possibility: there is an etiquette we +cannot altogether defy: there are preliminaries before a daughter of +Beaurepaire can become a wife." + +"There used to be all that, madam," laughed Raynal, putting her down +good-humoredly; "but it was in the days when armies came out and +touched their caps to one another, and went back into winter +quarters. Then the struggle was who could go slowest; now the fight +is who can go fastest. Time and Bonaparte wait for nobody; and +ladies and other strong places are taken by storm, not undermined a +foot a month as under Noah Quartorze: let me cut this short, as time +is short." + +He then drew a little plan of a wedding campaign. "The carriages +will be here at 9 A.M.," said he; "they will whisk us down to the +mayor's house by a quarter to ten: Picard, the notary, meets us +there with the marriage contract, to save time; the contract signed, +the mayor will do the marriage at quick step out of respect for me-- +half an hour--quarter past ten; breakfast in the same house an hour +and a quarter:--we mustn't hurry a wedding breakfast--then ten +minutes or so for the old fogies to waste in making speeches about +our virtues--my watch will come out--my charger will come round--I +rise from the table--embrace my dear old mother--kiss my wife's +hand--into the saddle--canter to Paris--roll to Toulon--sail to +Egypt. But I shall leave a wife and a mother behind me: they will +both send me a kind word now and then; and I will write letters to +you all from Egypt, and when I come home, my wife and I will make +acquaintance, and we will all be happy together: and if I am killed +out there, don't you go and fret your poor little hearts about it; +it is a soldier's lot sooner or later. Besides, you will find I +have taken care of you; nobody shall come and turn you out of your +quarters, even though Jean Raynal should be dead; I have got to meet +Picard at Riviere's on that very business--I am off." + +He was gone as brusquely as he came. + +"Mother! sister!" cried Josephine, "help me to love this man." + +"You need no help," cried the baroness, with enthusiasm, "not love +him, we should all be monsters." + +Raynal came to supper looking bright and cheerful. "No more work +to-day. I have nothing to do but talk; fancy that." + +This evening Josephine de Beaurepaire, who had been silent and +thoughtful, took a quiet opportunity, and purred in his ear, +"Monsieur!" + +"Mademoiselle!" rang the trombone. + +"Am I not to go to Egypt?" + +"No." + +Josephine drew back at this brusque reply like a sensitive plant. +But she returned to the attack. + +"But is it not a wife's duty to be by her husband's side to look +after his comfort--to console him when others vex him--to soothe him +when he is harassed?" + +"Her first duty is to obey him." + +"Certainly." + +"Well, when I am your husband, I shall bid you stay with your mother +and sister while I go to Egypt." + +"I shall obey you." + +He told her bluntly he thought none the worse of her for making the +offer; but should not accept it. + + +Camille Dujardin slept that night at a roadside inn about twelve +miles from Beaurepaire, and not more than six from the town where +the wedding was to take place next day. + +It was a close race. + +And the racers all unconscious of each other, yet spurred impartially +by events that were now hurrying to a climax. + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The next day at sharp nine two carriages were at the door. + +But the ladies were not ready. Thus early in the campaign did they +throw all into disorder. For so nicely had Raynal timed the several +events that this threw him all into confusion. He stamped backwards +and forwards, and twisted his mustaches, and swore. This enforced +unpunctuality was a new torture to him. Jacintha told them he was +angry, and that made them nervous and flurried, and their fingers +strayed wildly among hooks and eyes, and all sorts of fastenings; +they were not ready till half-past nine. Conscious they deserved a +scolding, they sent Josephine down first to mollify. She dawned +upon the honest soldier so radiant, so dazzling in her snowy dress, +with her coronet of pearls (an heirloom), and her bridal veil +parted, and the flush of conscious beauty on her cheek, that instead +of scolding her, he actually blurted out, "Well! by St. Denis it was +worth waiting half an hour for." + +He recovered a quarter of an hour by making the driver gallop. Then +occasional shrieks issued from the carriage that held the baroness. +That ancient lady feared annihilation: she had not come down from a +galloping age. + +They drove into the town, drew up at the mayor's house, were +received with great ceremony by that functionary and Picard, and +entered the house. + +When their carriages rattled into the street from the north side, +Colonel Dujardin had already entered it from the south, and was +riding at a foot's pace along the principal street. The motion of +his horse now shook him past endurance. He dismounted at an inn a +few doors from the mayor's house, and determined to do the rest of +the short journey on foot. The landlord bustled about him +obsequiously. "You are faint, colonel; you have travelled too far. +Let me order you an excellent breakfast." + +"No. I want a carriage; have you one?" + +"I have two; but, unluckily, they are both engaged for the day, and +by people of distinction. Commandant Raynal is married to-day." + +"Ah! I wish him joy," said Camille, heartily. He then asked the +landlord to open the window, as he felt rather faint. The landlord +insisted on breakfast, and Camille sat down to an omelet and a +bottle of red wine. Then he lay awhile near the window, revived by +the air, and watched the dear little street he had not seen for +years. He felt languid, but happy, celestially happy. + +She was a few doors from him, and neither knew it. + +A pen was put into her white hand, and in another moment she had +signed a marriage contract. + +"Now to the church," cried the baroness, gayly. To get to the +church, they must pass by the window Camille reclined at. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +"Oh! there's no time for that," said Raynal. And as the baroness +looked horrified and amazed, Picard explained: "The state marries +its citizens now, with reason: since marriage is a civil contract." + +"Marriage a civil contract!" repeated the baroness. "What, is it +then no longer one of the holy sacraments? What horrible impiety +shall we come to next? Unhappy France! Such a contract would never +be a marriage in my eyes: and what would become of an union the +Church had not blessed?" + +"Madame," said Picard, "the Church can bless it still; but it is +only the mayor here that can DO it." + +All this time Josephine was blushing scarlet, and looking this way +and that, with a sort of instinctive desire to fly and hide, no +matter where, for a week or so. + +"Haw! haw! haw!" roared Raynal; "here is a pretty mother. Wants her +daughter to be unlawfully married in a church, instead of lawfully +in a house. Give me the will!" + +"Look here, mother-in-law: I have left Beaurepaire to my lawful +wife." + +"Otherwise," put in Picard, "in case of death, it would pass to his +heir-at-law." + +"And HE would turn you all out, and that does not suit me. Now +there stands the only man who can make mademoiselle my LAWFUL wife. +So quick march, monsieur the mayor, for time and Bonaparte wait for +no man." + +"Stay a minute, young people," said the mayor. "We should soothe +respectable prejudices, not crush them. Madam, I am at least as old +as you, and have seen many changes. I perfectly understand your +feelings." + +"Ah, monsieur! oh!" + +"Calm yourself, dear madam; the case is not so bad as you think. It +is perfectly true that in republican France the civil magistrate +alone can bind French citizens in lawful wedlock. But this does not +annihilate the religious ceremony. You can ask the Church's +blessing on my work; and be assured you are not the only one who +retains that natural prejudice. Out of every ten couples that I +marry, four or five go to church afterwards and perform the ancient +ceremonies. And they do well. For there before the altar the +priest tells them what it is not my business to dilate upon--the +grave moral and religious duties they have undertaken along with +this civil contract. The state binds, but the Church still blesses, +and piously assents to that"-- + +"From which she has no power to dissent." + +"Monsieur Picard, do you consider it polite to interrupt the chief +magistrate of the place while he is explaining the law to a +citizen?" + +(This closed Picard.) + +"I married a daughter last year," continued the worthy mayor. + +"What, after this fashion?" + +"I married her myself, as I will marry yours, if you will trust me +with her. And after I have made them one, there is nothing to +prevent them adjourning to the church." + +"I beg your pardon," cried Raynal, "there are two things to prevent +it: a couple that wait for no man: Time and Bonaparte. Come, sir; +marry us, and have done with it." + +The mayor assented. He invited Josephine to stand before him. She +trembled and wept a little: Rose clung to her and wept, and the good +mayor married the parties off hand. + +"Is that all?" asked the baroness; "it is terribly soon done." + +"It is done effectively, madam," said the mayor, with a smile. +"Permit me to tell you that his Holiness the Pope cannot undo my +work." + +Picard grinned slyly, and whispered something into Raynal's ear. + +"Oh! indeed," said Raynal aloud and carelessly. "Come, Madame +Raynal, to breakfast: follow us, the rest of you." + +They paired, and followed the bride and bridegroom into the +breakfast-room. + + +The light words Picard whispered were five in number. + +Now if the mayor had not snubbed Picard just before, he would have +uttered those jocose but true words aloud. There was no particular +reason why he should not. And if he had,--The threads of the web of +life, how subtle they are! The finest cotton of Manchester, the +finer meshes of the spider, seem three-inch cables by comparison +with those moral gossamers which vulgar eyes cannot see at all, the +"somethings, nothings," on which great fates have hung. + +It was a cheerful breakfast, thanks to Raynal, who would be in high +spirits, and would not allow a word of regret from any one. Madame +Raynal sat by his side, looking up at him every now and then with +innocent admiration. A merry wedding breakfast. + +But if men and women could see through the walls of houses! + +Two doors off sat the wounded colonel alone, recruiting the small +remnant of his sore tried strength, that he might struggle on to +Beaurepaire, and lose in one moment years of separation, pain, +prison, anguish, martyrdom, in one great gush of joy without +compare. + + +The wedding breakfast was ended. The time was drawing near to part. +There was a silence. It was broken by Madame Raynal. She asked +Raynal very timidly if he had reflected. "On what?" said he. + +"About taking me to Egypt." + +"No: I have not given it a thought since I said 'no.'" + +"Yet permit me to say that it is my duty to be by your side, my +husband." And she colored at this word, being the first time she +had ever used it. Raynal was silent. She murmured on, "I would not +be an encumbrance to you, sir: I should not be useless. Gentlemen, +I could add more to his comfort than he gives me credit for." + +Warm assent of the mayor and notary to this hint. + +"I give you credit for being an angel," said Raynal warmly. + +He hesitated. Rose was trembling, her fork shaking in her poor +little hand. + +She cast a piteous glance at him. He saw it. + +"You shall go with me next time," said he. "Let us speak of it no +more." + +Josephine bowed her head. "At least give me something to do for you +while you are away. Tell me what I can do for my absent friend to +show my gratitude, my regard, my esteem." + +"Well, let me think. I saw a plain gray dress at Beaurepaire." + +"Yes, monsieur. My gray silk, Rose." + +"I like that dress." + +"Do you? Then the moment I reach home after losing you I shall put +it on, and it shall be my constant wear. I see; you are right; gray +becomes a wife whose husband is not dead, but is absent, and alas! +in hourly danger." + +"Now look at that!" cried Raynal to the company. "That is her all +over: she can see six meanings where another would see but one. I +never thought of that, I swear. I like modest colors, that is all. +My mother used to be all for modest wives wearing modest colors." + +"I am of her mind, sir. Is there nothing more difficult you will be +so good as give me to do?" + +"No; there is only one order more, and that will be easier still to +such a woman as you. I commit to your care the name of Raynal. It +is not so high a name as yours, but it is as honest. I am proud of +it: I am jealous of it. I shall guard it for you in Egypt: you +guard it in France for me." + +"With my life," cried Josephine, lifting her eyes and her hand to +heaven. + +Soon after this Raynal ordered his charger. + +The baroness began to cry. "The young people may hope to see you +again," said she; "but there are two chances against your poor old +mother." + +"Courage, mother!" cried the stout soldier. "No, no; you won't play +me such a trick: once is enough for that game." + +"Brother!" cried Rose, "do not go without kissing your little +sister, who loves you and thanks you." He kissed her. "Bravo, +generous soul!" she cried, with her arms round his neck. "God +protect you, and send you back safe to us!" + +"Amen!" cried all present by one impulse, even the cold notary. + +Raynal's mustache quivered. He kissed Josephine hastily on the +brow, the baroness on both cheeks; shook the men's hands warmly but +hastily, and strode out without looking behind him. He was moved +for once. + +They all followed him to the door of the house. He was tightening +his horse's girths. He flung himself with all the resolution of his +steel nature into the saddle, and, with one grand wave of his cocked +hat to the tearful group, he spurred away for Egypt. + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +The baroness took the doctor a-shopping; she must buy Rose a gray +silk. In doing this she saw many other tempting things. I say no +more. + +But the young ladies went up to Beaurepaire in the other carriage, +for Josephine wished to avoid the gaze of the town, and get home and +be quiet. The driver went very fast. He had drunk the bride's +health at the mayor's, item the bridegroom's, the bridesmaid's, the +mayor's, etc., and "a spur in the head is worth two in the heel," +says the proverb. The sisters leaned back on the soft cushions, and +enjoyed the smooth and rapid motion once so familiar to them, so +rare of late. + +Then Rose took her sister gently to task for having offered to go to +Egypt. She had forgotten her poor sister. + +"No, love," replied Josephine, "did you not see I dared not look +towards you? I love you better than all the world; but this was my +duty. I was his wife: I had no longer a feeble inclination and a +feeble disinclination to decide between, but right on one side, +wrong on the other." + +"Oh! I know where your ladyship's strength lies: my force is--in--my +inclinations." + +"Yes, Rose," continued Josephine thoughtfully, "duty is a great +comfort: it is so tangible; it is something to lay hold of for life +or death; a strong tower for the weak but well disposed." + +Rose assented, and they were silent a minute; and when she spoke +again it was to own she loved a carriage. "How fast we glide! Now +lean back with me, and take my hand, and as we glide shut your eyes +and think: whisper me all your feelings, every one of them." + +"Well, then," said Josephine, half closing her eyes, "in the first +place I feel a great calm, a heavenly calm. My fate is decided. No +more suspense. My duties are clear. I have a husband I am proud +of. There is no perfidy with him, no deceit, no disingenuousness, +no shade. He is a human sun. He will make me a better, truer +woman, and I him a happier man. Yes, is it not nice to think that +great and strong as he is I can teach him a happiness he knows not +as yet?" And she smiled with the sense of her delicate power, but +said no more; for she was not the one to talk much about herself. +But Rose pressed her. "Yes, go on, dear," she said, "I seem to see +your pretty little thoughts rising out of your heart like a bubbling +fountain: go on." + +Thus encouraged, Josephine thought on aloud, "And then, gratitude!" +said she. "I have heard it said, or read it somewhere, that +gratitude is a burden: I cannot understand that sentiment; why, to +me gratitude is a delight, gratitude is a passion. It is the +warmest of all the tender feelings I have for dear Monsieur Raynal. +I feel it glow here, in my bosom. I think I shall love him as I +ought long before he comes back." + +"BEFORE?" + +"Yes," murmured Josephine, her eyes still half closed. "His virtues +will always be present to me. His little faults of manner will not +be in sight. Good Raynal! The image of those great qualities I +revere so, perhaps because I fail in them myself, will be before my +mind; and ere he comes home I shall love him dearly. I'll tell you +one reason why I wished to go home at once was--no--you must guess." + +"Guess?" said Rose, contemptuously. "As if I did not see it was to +put on your gray silk." + +Josephine smiled assent, and said almost with fervor, "Good Raynal! +I feel prouder of his honest name than of our noble one. And I am +so calm, dear, thanks to you, so tranquil; so pleased that my +mother's mind is at rest, so convinced all is for the best, so +contented with my own lot; so hap--py." + +A gentle tear stole from beneath her long lashes. Rose looked at +her wistfully: then laid her cheek to hers. They leaned back hand +in hand, placid and silent. + +The carriage glided fast. Beaurepaire was almost in sight. + +Suddenly Josephine's hand tightened on Rose's, and she sat up in the +carriage like a person awakened from a strange dream. + +"What is it?" asked Rose. + +"Some one in uniform." + +"Oh, is that all? Ah! you thought it was a message from Raynal." + +"Oh! no! on foot--walking very slowly. Coming this way, too. +Coming this way!" and she became singularly restless, and looked +round in the carriage. It was one of those old chariots with no +side windows, but a peep hole at the back. This aperture, however, +had a flap over it. Josephine undid the flap with nimble though +agitated fingers; and saw--nothing. The road had taken a turn. +"Oh," said Rose, carelessly, "for that matter the roads are full of +soldiers just now." + +"Ay, but not of officers on foot." + +Rose gave her such a look, and for the first time this many a day +spoke sternly to her, and asked her what on earth she had to do with +uniforms or officers except one, the noblest in the world, her +husband. + +A month ago that word was almost indifferent to Josephine, or rather +she uttered it with a sort of mild complacency. Now she started at +it, and it struck chill upon her. She did not reply, however, and +the carriage rolled on. + +"He seemed to be dragging himself along." This was the first word +Josephine had spoken for some time. "Oh, did he?" replied Rose +carelessly; "well, let him. Here we are, at home." + +"I am glad of it," said Josephine, "very glad." + +On reaching Beaurepaire she wanted to go up-stairs at once and put +on her gray gown. But the day was so delightful that Rose begged +her to stroll in the Pleasaunce for half an hour and watch for their +mother's return. She consented in an absent way, and presently +began to walk very fast, unconscious of her companion. Rose laid a +hand upon her playfully to moderate her, and found her skin burning. + +"Why, what is the matter?" said she, anxiously. + +"Nothing, nothing," was the sharp reply. + +"There's a fretful tone; and how excited you look, and feel too. +Well, I thought you were unnaturally calm after such an event." + +"I only saw his back," said Josephine. "Did not you see him?" + +"See who? Oh, that tiresome officer. Why, how much more are we to +hear about him? I don't believe there WAS one." + +At this moment a cocked hat came in sight, bobbing up and down above +the palings that divided the park from the road. Josephine pointed +to it without a word. + +Rose got a little cross at being practically confuted, and said +coldly, "Come, let us go in; the only cocked hat we can see is on +the way to Paris." + +Josephine assented eagerly. But she had not taken two steps towards +the house ere she altered her mind, and said she felt faint, she +wanted air; no, she should stay out a little longer. "Look, Rose," +said she, in a strangely excited way, "what a shame! They put all +manner of rubbish into this dear old tree: I will have it all turned +out." And she looked with feigned interest into the tree: but her +eyes seemed turned inward. + +Rose gave a cry of surprise. "He is waving his hat to me! What on +earth does that mean?" + +"Perhaps he takes you for me," said Josephine. + +"Who is it? What do you mean?" + +"IT IS HE! I knew his figure at a glance." And she blushed and +trembled with joy; she darted behind the tree and peered round at +him unseen: turning round a moment she found Rose at her back pale +and stern. She looked at her, and said with terrible simplicity, +"Ah, Rose, I forgot." + +"Are you mad, Josephine? Into the house this moment; if it IS he, I +will receive him and send him about his business." + +But Josephine stood fascinated, and pale as ashes; for now the +cocked hat stopped, and a pale face with eyes whose eager fire shone +even at that distance, rose above the palings. Josephine crouched +behind Rose, and gasped out, "Something terrible is coming, +terrible! terrible!" + +"Say something hateful," said Rose, trembling in her turn, but only +with anger. "The heartless selfish traitor! He never notices you +till you are married to the noblest of mankind; and then he comes +here directly to ruin your peace. No; I have altered my mind. He +shall not see you, of course; but YOU shall hear HIM. I'll soon +make you know the wretch and loathe him as I do. There, now he has +turned the corner; hide in the oak while he is out of sight. Hide, +quick, quick." Josephine obeyed mechanically; and presently, +through that very aperture whence her sister had smiled on her lover +she hissed out, in a tone of which one would not have thought her +capable, "Be wise, be shrewd; find out who is the woman that has +seduced him from me, and has brought two wretches to this. I tell +you it is some wicked woman's doing. He loved me once." + +"Not so loud!--one word: you are a wife. Swear to me you will not +let him see you, come what may." + +"Oh! never! never!" cried Josephine with terror. "I would rather +die. When you have heard what he has to say, then tell him I am +dead. No, tell him I adore my husband, and went to Egypt this day +with him. Ah! would to God I had!" + +"Sh! sh!" + +"Sh!" + +Camille was at the little gate. + +Rose stood still, and nerved herself in silence. Josephine panted +in her hiding-place. + +Rose's only thought now was to expose the traitor to her sister, and +restore her peace. She pretended not to see Camille till he was +near her. He came eagerly towards her, his pale face flushing with +great joy, and his eyes like diamonds. + +"Josephine! It is not Josephine, after all," said he. "Why, this +must be Rose, little Rose, grown up to a fine lady, a beautiful +lady." + +"What do you come here for, sir?" asked Rose in a tone of icy +indifference. + +"What do I come here for? is that the way to speak to me? but I am +too happy to mind. Dear Beaurepaire! do I see you once again!" + +"And madame?" + +"What madame?" + +"Madame Dujardin that is or was to be." + +"This is the first I have ever heard of her," said Camille, gayly. + +"This is odd, for we have heard all about it." + +"Are you jesting?" + +"No." + +"If I understand you right, you imply that I have broken faith with +Josephine?" + +"Certainly." + +"Then you lie, Mademoiselle Rose de Beaurepaire." + +"Insolent!" + +"No. It is you who have insulted your sister as well as me. She +was not made to be deserted for meaner women. Come, mademoiselle, +affront me, and me alone, and you shall find me more patient. Oh! +who would have thought Beaurepaire would receive me thus?" + +"It is your own fault. You never sent her a line for all these +years." + +"Why, how could I?" + +"Well, sir, the information you did not supply others did. We know +that you were seen in a Spanish village drinking between two +guerillas." + +"That is true," said Camille. + +"An honest French soldier fired at you. Why, he told us so himself." + +"He told you true," said Camille, sullenly. "The bullet grazed my +hand; see, here is the mark. Look!" She did look, and gave a +little scream; but recovering herself, said she wished it had gone +through his heart. "Why prolong this painful interview?" said she; +"the soldier told us all." + +"I doubt that," said Camille. "Did he tell you that under the table +I was chained tight down to the chair I sat in? Did he tell you +that my hand was fastened to a drinking-horn, and my elbow to the +table, and two fellows sitting opposite me with pistols quietly +covering me, ready to draw the trigger if I should utter a cry? Did +he tell you that I would have uttered that cry and died at that +table but for one thing, I had promised her to live?" + +"Not he; he told me nothing so incredible. Besides, what became of +you all these years? You are a double traitor, to your country and +to her." + +Camille literally gasped for breath. "You are a most cruel young +lady to insult me so," said he, and scalding tears forced themselves +from his eyes. + +Rose eyed him with merciless scorn. + +He fought manfully against this weakness, with which his wound and +his fatigue had something to do, as well as Rose's bitter words; and +after a gallant struggle he returned her her haughty stare, and +addressed her thus: "Mademoiselle, I feel myself blush, but it is +for you I blush, not for myself. This is what BECAME of me. I went +out alone to explore; I fell into an ambuscade; I shot one of the +enemy, and pinked another, but my arm being broken by a bullet, and +my horse killed under me, the rascals got me. They took me about, +tried to make a decoy of me as I have told you, and ended by +throwing me into a dungeon. They loaded me with chains, too, though +the walls were ten feet thick, and the door iron, and bolted and +double-bolted outside. And there for months and years, in spite of +wounds, hunger, thirst, and all the tortures those cowards made me +suffer, I lived, because, Rose, I had promised some one at that gate +there (and he turned suddenly and pointed to it) that I would come +back alive. At last, one night, my jailer came to my cell drunk. I +seized him by the throat and throttled him till he was insensible; +his keys unlocked my fetters, and locked him in the cell, and I got +safely outside. But there a sentinel saw me, and fired at me. He +missed me but ran after me, and caught me. You see I was stiff, +confined so long. He gave me a thrust of his bayonet; I flung my +heavy keys fiercely in his face; he staggered; I wrested his piece +from him, and disabled him." + +"Ah!" + +"I crossed the frontier in the night, and got to Bayonne; and +thence, day and night, to Paris. There I met a reward for all my +anguish. They gave me the epaulets of a colonel. See, here they +are. France does not give these to traitors, young lady." He held +them out to her in both hands. She eyed them half stupidly; all her +thoughts were on the oak-tree hard by. She began to shudder. +Camille was telling the truth. She felt that; she saw it; and +Josephine was hearing it. "Ay! look at them, you naughty girl," +said Camille, trying to be jocose over it all with his poor +trembling lip. He went on to say that from the moment he had left +dark Spain, and entered fair France everybody was so kind, so +sympathizing. "They felt for the poor worn soldier coming back to +his love. All but you, Rose. You told me I was a traitor to her +and to France." + +"I was told so," said Rose, faintly. She was almost at her wits' +end what to say or do. + +"Well, are you sorry or not sorry for saying such a cruel thing to a +poor fellow?" + +"Sorry, very sorry," whispered Rose. She could not persist in +injustice, yet she did not want Josephine to hear. + +"Then say no more about it; there's my hand. You are not a soldier, +and did not know what you were talking about." + +"I am very sorry I spoke so harshly to you. But you understand. +How you look; how you pant." + +"There, I will show you I forgive you. These epaulets, dear, I have +never put them on. I said, no; Josephine shall put them on for me. +I will take honor as well as happiness from her dear hand. But you +are her sister, and what are epaulets compared with what she will +give me? You shall put them on, dear. Come, then you will be sure +I bear no malice." + +Rose, faint at heart, consented in silence, and fastened on the +epaulets. "Yes, Camille!" she cried, with sudden terror, "think of +glory, now; nothing but glory." + +"No one thinks of it more. But to-day how can I think of it, how +can I give her a rival? To-day I am all love. Rose, no man ever +loved a human creature as I love Josephine. Your mother is well, +dear? All are well at Beaurepaire? Oh, where is she all this time? +in the house?" He was moving quickly towards the house; but Rose +instinctively put out her hand to stop him. He recoiled a little +and winced. + +"What is the matter?" cried she. + +"Nothing, dear girl; you put your hand on my wound, that is all. +What is that noise in the tree? Anybody listening to us?" + +"I'll see," said Rose, with all a woman's wit, and whipped hastily +round to hinder Camille from going. She found Josephine white as +death, apparently fainting, and clutching at the tree convulsively +with her nails. Such was the intensity of the situation that she +left her beloved sister in that piteous state, and even hoped she +would faint dead away, and so hear no more. She came back white, +and told Camille it was only a bird got into the tree. "And to +think you should be wounded," said she, to divert his attention from +the tree. + +"Yes," said he, "and it is rather inflamed, and has worried me all +the way. You need not go telling Josephine, though. They wanted me +to stop and lay up at Bayonne. How could I? And again at Paris. +How could I? They said, 'You will die.'--'Not before I get to +Beaurepaire,' said I. I could bear the motion of a horse no longer, +so at the nearest town I asked for a carriage. Would you believe +it? both his carriages were OUT AT A WEDDING. I could not wait till +they came back. I had waited an eternity. I came on foot. I +dragged my self along; the body was weak, but the heart was strong. +A little way from here my wound seemed inclined to open. I pressed +it together tight with my hand; you see I could not afford to lose +any more blood, and so struggled on. 'Die?' said I, 'not before +Beaurepaire.' And, O Rose! now I could be content to die--at her +feet; for I am happy. Oh! I am happy beyond words to utter. What I +have gone through! But I kept my word, and this is Beaurepaire. +Hurrah!" and his pale cheek flushed, and his eye gleamed, and he +waved his hat feebly over his head, "hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" + +"Oh, don't!--don't!--don't!" cried Rose wild with pity and dismay. + +"How can I help?--I am mad with joy--hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" + +"No! no! no! no! no!" + +"What is the matter?" + +"And must I stab you worse than all your enemies have stabbed you?" +sighed Rose, and tears of womanly pity now streamed down her cheeks. + +Camille's mind began to misgive him. What was become of Josephine? +she did not appear. He faltered out, "Your mother is well; all are +well I hope. Oh, where is she?" and receiving no reply, began to +tremble visibly with the fear of some terrible calamity. + +Rose, with a sister fainting close by, and this poor lover trembling +before her, lost all self-command, and began to wring her hands and +cry wildly. "Camille," she almost screamed, "there is but one thing +for you to do; leave Beaurepaire on the instant: fly from it; it is +no place for you." + +"She is dead," said Camille, very quietly. + +When he said that, with an unnatural and monotonous calm such as +precedes deliberate suicide, it flashed in one moment across Rose +that it was much best he should think so. + +She did not reply; but she drooped her head and let him think it. + +"She would have come to me ere this if she was alive," said he. +"You are all in white: they mourn in white for angels like her, that +go to heaven, virgins. Oh! I was blind. You might have told me at +once; you see I can bear it. What does it matter to one who loves +as I love? It is only to give her one more proof I lived only for +her. I would have died a hundred times but for my promise to her. +Yes, I am coming, love; I am coming." + +He fell on his knees and smiled, and whispered, "I am coming, +Josephine, I am coming." + +A sob and a moan as of a creature dying in anguish answered him. + +Rose screamed with terror when she heard it. + +Camille rose to his feet, awestruck. "That was her voice, behind +this tree," he whispered. + +"No, no," cried Rose; "it was me." + +But at that moment a rustle and a rush was heard of some one darting +out of the tree. + +Camille darted furiously round it in the same direction. Rose tried +to stop him, but was too late. The next moment Raynal's wife was in +his arms. + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Josephine wrestled long and terribly with nature in that old oak- +tree. But who can so struggle forever? Anguish, remorse, horror, +despair, and love wrenched her to and fro; and O mysterious human +heart! gleams of a mad fitful joy shot through her, coming quick as +lightning, going as quickly, and leaving the despair darker. And +then the fierce struggle of the soul to make itself heard! More +than once she had to close her mouth with her hand: more than once +she seized her throat not to cry out. But as the struggle endured, +she got weaker and weaker, and nature mightier and mightier. And +when the wounded hero fell on his knees so close to her; when he who +had resisted death so bravely for her, prepared to give up life +calmly for her, her bosom rose beyond all control: it seemed to fill +to choking, then to split wide open and give the struggling soul +passage in one gasping sob and heart-stricken cry. Could she have +pent this in she must have died. + +It betrayed her. She felt it had: so then came the woman's +instinct--flight: the coward's impulse--flight: the chaste wife's +inspiration--flight. She rushed from her hiding-place and made +wildly for the house. + +But, unluckily, Camille was at that moment darting round the tree: +she ran right into the danger she meant to flee. He caught her in +his arms. He held her irresistibly. "I have got her; I have got +her," he shouted in wild triumph. "No! I will not let you go. None +but God shall ever take you from me, and he has spared you to me. +You are not dead: you have kept faith as I have: you have lived. +See! look at me. I am alive, I am well, I am happy. I told Rose +that I suffered. If I had suffered I should remember it. It is all +gone at sight of you, my love! my love! Oh, my Josephine! my love!" + +His arm was firm round her waist. His glowing eyes poured love upon +her. She felt his beating heart. + +All that passed in her then, what mortal can say? She seemed two +women: that part of her which could not get away from his strong arm +lost all strength to resist, it yielded and thrilled under his +embrace, her bosom heaving madly: all that was free writhed away +from him; her face was averted with a glare of terror, and both her +hands put up between his eyes and it. + +"You turn away your head. Rose, she turns away. Speak for me. +Scold her; for I don't know how to scold her. No answer from +either; oh, what has turned your hearts against me so?" + +"Camille," cried Rose--the tears streaming down her cheeks--"my poor +Camille! leave Beaurepaire. Oh, leave it at once." + +Returned towards her with a look of inquiry. + +At that Josephine, like some feeble but nimble wild creature on whom +a grasp has relaxed, writhed away from him and got free: "Farewell! +Farewell!" she cried, in despair's own voice, and made swiftly for +the house. + +Camille stood aghast, and did not follow her. + +Now ere she had gone many steps who should meet her right in front +but Jacintha. + +"Madame Raynal, the baroness's carriage is just in sight. I thought +you'd like to know." Then she bawled proudly to Rose, "I was the +first to call her madame;" and off went Jacintha convinced she had +done something very clever. + +This blow turned those three to stone. + +Josephine had no longer the power or the wish to fly. "Better so," +she thought, and she stood cowering. + +The great passions that had spoken so loud were struck dumb, and a +deep silence fell upon the place. Madame Raynal's quivering eye +turned slowly and askant towards Camille, but stopped in terror ere +it could see him. For she knew by this fearful stillness that the +truth was creeping on Camille. And so did Rose. + +At last Camille spoke one word in a low whisper. + +"Madame?" + +Dead silence. + +"White? both in white?" + +Rose came between him and Josephine, and sobbed out, "Camille, it +was our doing. We drove her to it. O sir, look how afraid of you +she is. Do not reproach her, if you are a man." + +He waved her out of his way as if she had been some idle feather, +and almost staggered up to Josephine. + +"It is for you to speak, my betrothed: are you married?" + +The poor creature, true to her nature, was thinking more of him than +herself. Even in her despair it flashed across her, "If he knew +all, he too would be wretched for life. If I let him think ill of +me he may be happy one day." She cowered the picture of sorrow and +tongue-tied guilt. + +"Are you a wife?" + +"Yes." + +He winced and quivered as if a bullet had pierced him. + +"This is how I came to be suspected; she I loved was false." + +"Yes, Camille." + +"No, no!" cried Rose; "don't believe HER: she never suspected you. +We have brought her to this, we alone." + +"Be silent, Rose! oh, be silent!" gasped Josephine. + +"I lived for you: I would have died for you; you could not even wait +for me." + +A low moan, but not a word of excuse. + +"What can I do for you now?" + +"Forget me, Camille," said she despairingly, doggedly. + +"Forget you? never, never! there is but one thing I can do to show +you how I loved you: I will forgive you, and begone. Whither shall +I go? whither shall I go now?" + +"Camile, your words stab her." + +"Let none speak but I," said Camille; "none but I have the right to +speak. Poor weak angel that loved yet could not wait: I forgive +you. Be happy, if you can; I bid you be hap-py." + +The quiet, despairing tones died away, and with them life seemed to +end to her, and hope to go out. He turned his back quickly on her. +He cried hoarsely, "To the army! Back to the army, and a soldier's +grave!" Then with a prodigious effort he drew himself haughtily up +in marching attitude. He took three strides, erect and fiery and +bold. + +At the next something seemed to snap asunder in the great heart, and +the worn body that heart had held up so long, rolled like a dead log +upon the ground with a tremendous fall. + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +The baroness and Aubertin were just getting out of their carriage, +when suddenly they heard shrieks of terror in the Pleasaunce. They +came with quaking hearts as fast as their old limbs would carry +them. They found Rose and Josephine crouched over the body of a +man, an officer. + +Rose was just tearing open his collar and jacket. Dard and Jacintha +had run from the kitchen at the screams. Camille lay on his back, +white and motionless. + +The doctor was the first to come up. "Who! what is this? I seem to +know his face." Then shaking his head, "Whoever it is, it is a bad +case. Stand away, ladies. Let me feel his pulse." + +Whilst the old man was going stiffly down on one knee, Jacintha +uttered a cry of terror. "See, see! his shirt! that red streak! +Ah, ah! it is getting bigger and bigger:" and she turned faint in a +moment, and would have fallen but for Dard. + +The doctor looked. "All the better," said he firmly. "I thought he +was dead. His blood flows; then I will save him. Don't clutch me +so, Josephine; don't cling to me like that. Now is the time to show +your breed: not turn sick at the sight of a little blood, like that +foolish creature, but help me save him." + +"Take him in-doors," cried the baroness. + +"Into our house, mamma?" gasped Rose; "no, no." + +"What," said the baroness, "a wounded soldier who has fought for +France! leave him to lie and die outside my door: what would my son +say to that? He is a soldier himself." + +Rose cast a hasty look at Josephine. Josephine's eyes were bent on +the ground, and her hands clenched and trembling. + +"Now, Jacintha, you be off," said the doctor. "I can't have cowards +about him to make the others as bad. Go and stew down a piece of +good beef for him. Stew it in red wine and water." + +"That I will: poor thing!" + +"Why, I know him," said the baroness suddenly; "it is an old +acquaintance, young Dujardin: you remember, Josephine. I used to +suspect him of a fancy for you, poor fellow! Why, he must have come +here to see us, poor soul." + +"No matter who it is; it is a man. Now, girls, have you courage, +have you humanity? Then come one on each side of him and take hands +beneath his back, while I lift his head and Dard his legs." + +"And handle him gently whatever you do," said Dard. "I know what it +is to be wounded." + +These four carried the lifeless burden very slowly and gently across +the Pleasaunce to the house, then with more difficulty and caution +up the stairs. + +All the while the sisters' hands griped one another tight beneath +the lifeless burden, and spoke to one another. And Josephine's arm +upheld tenderly but not weakly the hero she had struck down. She +avoided Rose's eye, her mother's, and even the doctor's: one gasping +sob escaped her as she walked with head half averted, and vacant, +terror-stricken eyes, and her victim on her sustaining arm. + +The doctor selected the tapestried chamber for him as being most +airy. Then he ordered the women out, and with Dard's help undressed +the still insensible patient. + +Josephine sat down on the stairs in gloomy silence, her eyes on the +ground, like one waiting for her deathblow. + +Rose, sick at heart, sat silent too at some distance. At last she +said faintly, "Have we done well?" + +"I don't know," said Josephine doggedly. Her eyes never left the +ground. + +"We could not let him die for want of care." + +"He will not thank us. Better for him to die than live. Better for +me." + +At this instant Dard came running down. "Good news, mesdemoiselles, +good news! the wound runs all along; it is not deep, like mine was. +He has opened his eyes and shut them again. The dear good doctor +stopped the blood in a twinkle. The doctor says he'll be bound to +save him. I must run and tell Jacintha. She is taking on in the +kitchen." + +Josephine, who had risen eagerly from her despairing posture, +clasped her hands together, then lifted up her voice and wept. "He +will live! he will live!" + +When she had wept a long while, she said to Rose, "Come, sister, +help your poor Josephine." + +"Yes, love, what shall we do?" + +"My duty," faltered Josephine. "An hour ago it seemed so sweet," +and she fell to weeping patiently again. They went to Josephine's +room. She crept slowly to a wardrobe, and took out a gray silk +dress. + +"Oh, never mind for to-day," cried Rose. + +"Help me, Rose. It is for myself as well; to remind me every moment +I am Madame Raynal." + +They put the gray gown on her, both weeping patiently. It will be +known at the last day, all that honest women have suffered weeping +silently in this noisy world. + + +Camille soon recovered his senses and a portion of his strength: +then the irritation of his wound brought on fever. This in turn +retired before the doctor's remedies and a sound constitution, but +it left behind it a great weakness and general prostration. And in +this state the fate of the body depends greatly on the mind. + +The baroness and the doctor went constantly to see him, and soothe +him: he smiled and thanked them, but his eager eyes watched the door +for one who came not. + +When he got well enough to leave his bed the largest couch was sent +up to him from the saloon; a kind hand lined the baron's silk +dressing-gown for him warm and soft and nice; and he would sit or +lie on his couch, or take two turns in the room leaning upon Rose's +shoulder, and glad of the support; and he looked piteously in her +eyes when she came and when she went. Rose looked down; she could +do nothing, she could say nothing. + +With his strength, Camille lost a portion of his pride: he pined for +a sight of her he no longer respected; pined for her, as the thirsty +pine for water in Sahara. + +At last one day he spoke out. "How kind you are to me, Rose! how +kind you all are--but one." + +He waited in hopes she would say something, but she held her tongue. + +"At least tell me why it is. Is she ashamed? Is she afraid?" + +"Neither." + +"She hates me: it is true, then, that we hate those whom we have +wounded. Cruel, cruel Josephine! Oh, heart of marble against which +my heart has wrecked itself forever!" + +"No, no! She is anything but cruel: but she is Madame Raynal." + +"Ah! I forgot. But have I no claim on her? Nearly four years she +has been my betrothed. What have I done? Was I ever false to her? +I could forgive her for what she has done to me, but she cannot +forgive me. Does she mean never to see me again?" + +"Ask yourself what good could come of it." + +"Very well," said Camille, with a malicious smile. "I am in her +way. I see what she wants; she shall have it." + +Rose carried these words to Josephine. They went through her like a +sword. + +Rose pitied her. Rose had a moment's weakness. + +"Let us go to him," she said; "anything is better than this." + +"Rose, I dare not," was the wise reply. + +But the next day early, Josephine took Rose to a door outside the +house, a door that had long been disused. Nettles grew before it. +She produced a key and with great difficulty opened this door. It +led to the tapestried chamber, and years ago they used to steal up +it and peep into the room. + +Rose scarcely needed to be told that she was to watch Camille, and +report to her. In truth, it was a mysterious, vague protection +against a danger equally mysterious. Yet it made Josephine easier. +But so unflinching was her prudence that she never once could be +prevailed on to mount those stairs, and peep at Camille herself. "I +must starve my heart, not feed it," said she. And she grew paler +and more hollow-eyed day by day. + +Yet this was the same woman who showed such feebleness and +irresolution when Raynal pressed her to marry him. But then dwarfs +feebly drew her this way and that. Now giants fought for her. +Between a feeble inclination and a feeble disinclination her dead +heart had drifted to and fro. Now honor, duty, gratitude,--which +last with her was a passion,--dragged her one way: love, pity, and +remorse another. + +Not one of these giants would relax his grasp, and nothing yielded +except her vital powers. Yes; her temper, one of the loveliest +Heaven ever gave a human creature, was soured at times. + +Was it a wonder? There lay the man she loved pining for her; +cursing her for her cruelty, and alternately praying Heaven to +forgive him and to bless her: sighing, at intervals, all the day +long, so loud, so deep, so piteously, as if his heart broke with +each sigh; and sometimes, for he little knew, poor soul, that any +human eye was upon him, casting aside his manhood in his despair, +and flinging himself on the very floor, and muffling his head, and +sobbing; he a hero. + +And here was she pining in secret for him who pined for her? "I am +not a woman at all," said she, who was all woman. "I am crueller to +him than a tiger or any savage creature is to the victim she tears. +I must cure him of his love for me; and then die; for what shall I +have to live for? He weeps, he sighs, he cries for Josephine." + +Her enforced cruelty was more contrary to this woman's nature than +black is to white, or heat to cold, and the heart rebelled furiously +at times. As when a rock tries to stem a current, the water fights +its way on more sides than one, so insulted nature dealt with +Josephine. Not only did her body pine, but her nerves were +exasperated. Sudden twitches came over her, that almost made her +scream. Her permanent state was utter despondency, but across it +came fitful flashes of irritation; and then she was scarce mistress +of herself. + +Wherefore you, who find some holy woman cross and bitter, stop a +moment before you sum her up vixen and her religion naught: inquire +the history of her heart: perhaps beneath the smooth cold surface of +duties well discharged, her life has been, or even is, a battle +against some self-indulgence the insignificant saint's very blood +cries out for: and so the poor thing is cross, not because she is +bad, but because she is better than the rest of us; yet only human. + +Now though Josephine was more on her guard with the baroness than +with Rose, or the doctor, or Jacintha, her state could not +altogether escape the vigilance of a mother's eye. + +But the baroness had not the clew we have; and what a difference +that makes! How small an understanding, put by accident or +instruction on the right track, shall run the game down! How great +a sagacity shall wander if it gets on a false scent! + +"Doctor," said the baroness one day, "you are so taken up with your +patient you neglect the rest of us. Do look at Josephine! She is +ill, or going to be ill. She is so pale, and so fretful, so +peevish, which is not in her nature. Would you believe it, doctor, +she snaps?" + +"Our Josephine snap? This is new." + +"And snarls." + +"Then look for the end of the world." + +"The other day I heard her snap Rose: and this morning she half +snarled at me, just because I pressed her to go and console our +patient. Hush! here she is. My child, I am accusing you to the +doctor. I tell him you neglect his patient: never go near him." + +"I will visit him one of these days," said Josephine, coldly. + +"One of these days," said the baroness, shocked. "You used not to +be so hard-hearted. A soldier, an old comrade of your husband's, +wounded and sick, and you alone never go to him, to console him with +a word of sympathy or encouragement." + +Josephine looked at her mother with a sort of incredulous stare. +Then, after a struggle, she replied with a tone and manner so +spiteful and icy that it would have deceived even us who know her +had we heard it. "He has plenty of nurses without me." She added, +almost violently, "My husband, if he were wounded, would not have so +many, perhaps not have one." + +With this she rose and went out, leaving them aghast. She sat down +in the passage on a window-seat, and laughed hysterically. Rose +heard her and ran to her. Josephine told her what her mother had +said to her. Rose soothed her. "Never mind, you have your sister +who understands you: don't you go back till they have got some other +topic." + +Rose out of curiosity went in, and found a discussion going on. The +doctor was fathoming Josephine, for the benefit of his companion. + +"It is a female jealousy, and of a mighty innocent kind. We are so +taken up with this poor fellow, she thinks her soldier is forgotten." + +"Surely, doctor, our Josephine would not be so unreasonable, so +unjust," suggested her mother. + +"She belongs to a sex, be it said without offending you, madame, +among whose numberless virtues justice does not fill a prominent +place." + +The baroness shook her head. "That is not it. It is a piece of +prudery. This young gentleman was a sort of admirer of hers, though +she did not admire him much, as far as I remember. But it was four +years ago; and she is married to a man she loves, or is going to +love." + +"Well, but, mamma, a trifling excess of delicacy is surely +excusable." This from Rose. + +"No, no; it is not delicacy; it is prudery. And when people are +sick and suffering, an honest woman should take up her charity and +lay down her prudery, or her coquetry: two things that I suspect are +the same thing in different shapes." + +Here Jacintha came in. "Mademoiselle, here is the colonel's broth; +Madame Raynal has flavored it for him, and you are to take it up to +him, and keep him company while he eats it." + +"Come," cried the baroness, "my lecture has not been lost." + +Rose followed Jacintha up-stairs. + +Rose was heart and head on Raynal's side. + +She had deceived him about Josephine's attachment, and felt all the +more desirous to guard him against any ill consequences of it. Then +he had been so generous to her: he had left her her sister, who +would have gone to Egypt, and escaped this misery, but for her. + +But on the other hand, + + + --Gentle pity + Tugged at her heartstrings with complaining cries. + + +This watching of Camille saddened even her. When she was with him +his pride bore him up: but when he was alone as he thought, his +anguish and despair were terrible, and broke out in so many ways +that often Rose shrank in terror from her peep hole. + +She dared not tell Josephine the half of what she saw: what she did +tell her agitated her so terribly: and often Rose had it on the tip +of her tongue to say, "Do pray go and see if you can say nothing +that will do him good;" but she fought the impulse down. This +battle of feeling, though less severe than her sister's, was +constant; it destroyed her gayety. She, whose merry laugh used to +ring like chimes through the house, never laughed now, seldom +smiled, and often sighed. + +Dr. Aubertin was the last to succumb to the deep depression, but his +time came: and he had been for a day or two as grave and as sad as +the rest, when one day that Rose was absent, spying on Camille, he +took the baroness and Josephine into his confidence; and +condescended finally to ask their advice. + +"It is humiliating," said he, "after all my experience, to be +obliged to consult unprofessional persons. Forty years ago I should +have been TOO WISE to do so. But since then I have often seen +science baffled and untrained intelligences throw light upon hard +questions: and your sex in particular has luminous instincts and +reads things by flashes that we men miss with a microscope. Our +dear Madame Raynal suspected that plausible notary, and to this day +I believe she could not tell us why." + +Josephine admitted as much very frankly. + +"There you see," said the doctor. "Well, then, you must help me in +this case. And this time I promise to treat your art with more +respect." + +"And pray who is it she is to read now?" asked the baroness. + +"Who should it be but my poor patient? He puzzles me. I never knew +a patient so faint-hearted." + +"A soldier faint-hearted!" exclaimed the baroness. "To be sure +these men that storm cities, and fire cannon, and cut and hack one +another with so much spirit, are poor creatures compared with us +when they have to lie quiet and suffer." + +The doctor walked the room in great excitement. "It is not his +wound that is killing him, there's something on his mind. You, +Josephine, with your instincts do help me: do pray, for pity's sake, +throw off that sublime indifference you have manifested all along to +this man's fate." + +"She has not," cried the baroness, firing up. "Did I not see her +lining his dressing-gown for him? and she inspects everything that +he eats: do you not?" + +"Yes, mother." She then suggested in a faltering voice that time +would cure the patient, and time alone. + +"Time! you speak as if time was a quality: time is only a measure of +events, favorable or unfavorable; it kills as many as it cures." + +"Why, you surely would not imply his life is in any danger?" This +was the baroness. + +"Madame, if the case was not grave, should I take this unusual step? +I tell you if some change does not take place soon, he will be a +dead man in another fortnight. That is all TIME will do for him." + +The baroness uttered an exclamation of pity and distress. Josephine +put her hand to her bosom, and a creeping horror came over her, and +then a faintness. She sat working mechanically, and turning like +ice within. After a few minutes of this, she rose with every +appearance of external composure and left the room. In the passage +she met Rose coming hastily towards the salon laughing: the first +time she had laughed this many a day. Oh, what a contrast between +the two faces that met there--the one pale and horror stricken, the +other rosy and laughing! + +"Well, dear, at last I am paid for all my trouble, and yours, by a +discovery; he never drinks a drop of his medicine; he pours it into +the ashes under the grate; I caught him in the fact." + +"Then this is too much: I can resist no longer. Come with me," said +Josephine doggedly. + +"Where?" + +"To him." + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Josephine paused on the landing, and laid her hand on Rose's +shoulder. It was so cold it made Rose shudder, and exacted a +promise from her not to contradict a word she should say to Camille. +"I do not go to him for my pleasure, but for his life," she said; "I +must deceive him and save him; and then let me lie down and die." + +"Oh, that the wretch had never been born!" cried Rose, in despair. +But she gave the required promise, and offered to go and tell +Camille Josephine was coming to visit him. + +But Josephine declined this. "No," said she; "give me every +advantage; I must think beforehand every word I shall say; but take +him by surprise, coward and doubleface that I am." + +Rose knocked at the door. A faint voice said, "Come in." The +sisters entered the room very softly. Camille sat on the sofa, his +head bowed over his hands. A glance showed Josephine that he was +doggedly and resolutely thrusting himself into the grave. Thinking +it was only Rose--for he had now lost all hope of seeing Josephine +come in at the door--he never moved. Some one glided gently but +rapidly up to him. He looked up. Josephine was kneeling to him. + +He lifted his head with a start, and trembled all over. + +She whispered, "I am come to you to beg your pity; to appeal to your +generosity; to ask a favor; I who deserve so little of you." + +"You have waited a long time," said Camille, agitated greatly; "and +so have I." + +"Camille, you are torturing one who loved you once, and who has been +very weak and faithless, but not so wicked as she appears." + +"How am I torturing you?" + +"With remorse; do I not suffer enough? Would you make me a +murderess?" + +"Why have you never been near me?" retorted Camille. "I could +forgive your weakness, but not your heartlessness." + +"It is my duty. I have no right to seek your society. If you +really want mine, you have only to get well, and so join us down- +stairs a week or two before you leave us." + +"How am I to get well? My heart is broken." + +"Camille, be a man. Do not fling away a soldier's life because a +fickle, worthless woman could not wait for you. Forgive me like a +man, or else revenge yourself like a man. If you cannot forgive me, +kill me. See, I kneel at your feet. I will not resist you. Kill +me." + +"I wish I could. Oh! if I could kill you with a look and myself +with a wish! No man should ever take you from me, then. We would +be together in the grave at this hour. Do not tempt me, I say;" and +he cast a terrible look of love, and hatred, and despair upon her. +Her purple eye never winced; it poured back tenderness and affection +in return. He saw and turned away with a groan, and held out his +hand to her. She seized it and kissed it. "You are great, you are +generous; you will not strike me as a woman strikes; you will not +die to drive me to despair." + +"I see," said he, more gently, "love is gone, but pity remains. I +thought that was gone, too." + +"Yes, Camille," said Josephine, in a whisper, "pity remains, and +remorse and terror at what I have done to a man of whom I was never +worthy." + +"Well, madame, as you have come at last to me, and even do me the +honor to ask me a favor--I shall try--if only out of courtesy--to-- +ah, Josephine! Josephine! when did I ever refuse you anything?" + +At this Josephine sank into a chair, and burst out crying. Camille, +at this, began to cry too; and the two poor things sat a long way +from one another, and sobbed bitterly. + +The man, weakened as he was, recovered his quiet despair first. + +"Don't cry so," said he. "But tell me what is your will, and I +shall obey you as I used before any one came between us." + +"Then, live, Camille. I implore you to live." + +"Well, Josephine, since you care about it, I will try and live. Why +did not you come before and ask me? I thought I was in your way. I +thought you wanted me dead." + +Josephine cast a look of wonder and anguish on Camille, but she said +nothing. She rang the bell, and, on Jacintha coming up, despatched +her to Dr. Aubertin for the patient's medicine. + +"Tell the doctor," said she, "Colonel Dujardin has let fall the +glass." While Jacintha was gone, she scolded Camille gently. "How +could you be so unkind to the poor doctor who loves you so? Only +think: to throw away his medicines! Look at the ashes; they are +wet. Camille, are you, too, becoming disingenuous?" + +Jacintha came in with the tonic in a glass, and retired with an +obeisance. Josephine took it to Camille. + +"Drink with me, then," said he, "or I will not touch it." Josephine +took the glass. "I drink to your health, Camille, and to your +glory; laurels to your brow, and some faithful woman to your heart, +who will make you forget this folly: it is for her I am saving you." +She put the glass with well-acted spirit to her lips; but in the +very action a spasm seized her throat and almost choked her; she +lowered her head that he might not see her face, and tried again; +but the tears burst from her eyes and ran into the liquid, and her +lips trembled over the brim, and were paralyzed. + +"No, no! give it me!" he cried; "there is a tear of yours in it." +He drank off the bitter remedy now as if it had been nectar. + +Josephine blushed. + +"If you wanted me to live, why did you not come here before?" + +"I did not think you would be so foolish, so wicked, so cruel as to +do what you have been doing." + +"Come and shine upon me every day, and you shall have no fresh cause +of complaint; things flourish in the sunshine that die in the dark: +Rose, it is as if the sun had come into my prison; you are pale, but +you are beautiful as ever--more beautiful; what a sweet dress! so +quiet, so modest, it sets off your beauty instead of vainly trying +to vie with it." With this he put out his hand and took her gray +silk dress, and went to kiss it as a devotee kisses the altar steps. + +She snatched it away with a shudder. + +"Yes, you are right," said she; "thank you for noticing my dress; it +is a beautiful dress--ha! ha! A dress I take a pride in wearing, +and always shall, I hope. I mean to be buried in it. Come, Rose. +Thank you, Camille; you are very good, you have once more promised +me to live. Get well; come down-stairs; then you will see me every +day, you know--there is a temptation. Good-by, Camille!--are you +coming, Rose? What are you loitering for? God bless you, and +comfort you, and help you to forget what it is madness to remember!" + +With these wild words she literally fled; and in one moment the room +seemed to darken to Camille. + +Outside the door Josephine caught hold of Rose. "Have I committed +myself?" + +"Over and over again. Do not look so terrified; I mean to me, but +not to him. How blind he is! and how much better you must know him +than I do to venture on such a transparent deceit. He believes +whatever you tell him. He is all ears and no eyes. Yes, love, I +watched him keenly all the time. He really thinks it is pity and +remorse, nothing more. My poor sister, you have a hard life to +lead, a hard game to play; but so far you have succeeded; yet could +look poor Raynal in the face if he came home to-day." + +"Then God be thanked!" cried Josephine. "I am as happy to-day as I +can ever hope to be. Now let us go through the farce of dressing-- +it is near dinner-time--and then the farce of talking, and, hardest +of all, the farce of living." + +From that hour Camille began to get better very slowly, yet +perceptibly. + +The doctor, afraid of being mistaken, said nothing for some days, +but at last he announced the good news at the dinner-table. "He is +to come down-stairs in three days," added the doctor. + +But I am sorry to say that as Camille's body strengthened some of +the worst passions in our nature attacked him. Fierce gusts of hate +and love combined overpowered this man's high sentiments of honor +and justice, and made him clench his teeth, and vow never to leave +Beaurepaire without Josephine. She had been his four years before +she ever saw this interloper, and she should be his forever. Her +love would soon revive when they should meet every day, and she +would end by eloping with him. + +Then conscience pricked him, and reminded him how and why Raynal had +married her: for Rose had told him all. Should he undermine an +absent soldier, whose whole conduct in this had been so pure, so +generous, so unselfish? + +But this was not all. As I have already hinted, he was under a +great personal obligation to his quondam comrade Raynal. Whenever +this was vividly present to his mind, a great terror fell on him, +and he would cry out in anguish, "Oh! that some angel would come to +me and tear me by force from this place!" And the next moment +passion swept over him like a flood, and carried away all his +virtuous resolves. His soul was in deep waters; great waves drove +it to and fro. Perilous condition, which seldom ends well. Camille +was a man of honor. In no other earthly circumstance could he have +hesitated an instant between right and wrong. But such natures, +proof against all other temptations, have often fallen, and will +fall, where sin takes the angel form of her they love. Yet, of all +men, they should pray for help to stand; for when they fall they +still retain one thing that divides them from mean sinners. + +Remorse, the giant that rends the great hearts which mock at fear. + +The day came in which the doctor had promised his patient he should +come down-stairs. First his comfortable sofa was taken down into +the saloon for his use: then the patient himself came down leaning +on the doctor's arm, and his heart palpitating at the thought of the +meeting. He came into the room; the baroness was alone. She +greeted him kindly, and welcomed him. Rose came in soon after and +did the same. But no Josephine. Camille felt sick at heart. At +last dinner was announced; "She will surely join us at dinner," +thought he. He cast his eyes anxiously on the table; the napkins +were laid for four only. The baroness carelessly explained this to +him as they sat down. "Madame Raynal dines in her own room. I am +sorry to say she is indisposed." + +Camille muttered polite regrets: the rage of disappointment drove +its fangs into him, and then came the heart-sickness of hope +deferred. The next day he saw her, but could not get a word with +her alone. The baroness tortured him another way. She was full of +Raynal. She loved him. She called him her son; was never weary of +descanting on his virtues to Camille. Not a day passed that she did +not pester Camille to make a calculation as to the probable period +of his return, and he was obliged to answer her. She related to him +before Josephine and Rose, how this honest soldier had come to them +like a guardian angel and saved the whole family. In vain he +muttered that Rose had told him. + +"Let me have the pleasure of telling it you my way," cried she, and +told it diffusely, and kept him writhing. + +The next thing was, Josephine had received no letter from him this +month; the first month he had missed. In vain did Rose represent +that he was only a few days over his time. The baroness became +anxious, communicated her anxieties to Camille among the rest; and, +by a torturing interrogatory, compelled him to explain to her before +Josephine and them all, that ships do not always sail to a day, and +are sometimes delayed. But oh! he winced at the man's name; and +Rose observed that he never mentioned it, nor acknowledged the +existence of such a person as Josephine's husband, except when +others compelled him. Yet they were acquainted; and Rose sometimes +wondered that he did not detract or sneer. + +"I should," said she; "I feel I should." + +"He is too noble," said Josephine, "and too wise. For, if he did, I +should respect him less, and my husband more than I do--if +possible." + +Certainly Camille was not the sort of nature that detracts, but the +reason he avoided Raynal's name was simply that his whole internal +battle was to forget such a man existed. From this dream he was +rudely awakened every hour since he joined the family, and the wound +his self-deceiving heart would fain have skinned over, was torn +open. But worse than this was the torture of being tantalized. He +was in company with Josephine, but never alone. Even if she left +the room for an instant, Rose accompanied her and returned with her. +Camille at last began to comprehend that Josephine had decided there +should be no private interviews between her and him. Thus, not only +the shadow of the absent Raynal stood between them, but her mother +and sister in person, and worst of all, her own will. He called her +a cold-blooded fiend in his rage. Then the thought of all her +tenderness and goodness came to rebuke him. But even in rebuking it +maddened him. "Yes, it is her very nature to love; but since she +can make her heart turn whichever way her honor bids, she will love +her husband; she does not now; but sooner or later she will. Then +she will have children--(he writhed with anguish and fury at this +thought)--loving ties between him and her. He has everything on his +side. I, nothing but memories she will efface from her heart. Will +efface? She must have effaced them, or she could not have married +him." I know no more pitiable state of mind than to love and hate +the same creature. But when the two feelings are both intense, and +meet in an ardent bosom, such a man would do well to spend a day or +two upon his knees, praying for grace divine. For he who with all +his soul loves and hates one woman is next door to a maniac, and is +scarcely safe an hour together from suicide or even from homicide; +this truth the newspapers tell us, by examples, every month; but are +wonderfully little heeded, because newspapers do not, nor is it +their business to, analyze and dwell upon the internal feelings of +the despairing lover, whose mad and bloody act they record. With +such a tempest in his heart did Camille one day wander into the +park. And soon an irresistible attraction drew him to the side of +the stream that flowed along one side of it. He eyed it gloomily, +and wherever the stagnant water indicated a deeper pool than usual +he stopped, and looked, and thought, "How calm and peaceful you +are!" + +He sat down at last by the water-side, his eyes bent on a calm, +green pool. + +It looked very peaceful; and it could give peace. He thought, oh! +what a blessing; to be quit of rage, jealousy, despair, and life, +all in a minute! + +Yet that was a sordid death for a soldier to die, who had seen great +battles. Could he not die more nobly than that? With this he +suddenly felt in his pocket; and there sure enough fate had placed +his pistols. He had put them into this coat; and he had not worn +this coat until to-day. He had armed himself unconsciously. "Ah!" +said he; "it is to be; all these things are preordained." (This +notion of fate has strengthened many a fatal resolution.) Then he +had a cruel regret. To die without a word; a parting word. Then he +thought to himself, it was best so; for perhaps he should have taken +her with him. + +"Sir! colonel!" uttered a solemn voice behind him. + +Absorbed and strung up to desperation as he was, this voice seemed +unnaturally loud, and discordant with Camille's mood; a sudden +trumpet from the world of small things. + +It was Picard, the notary. + +"Can you tell me where Madame Raynal is?" + +"No. At the chateau, I suppose." + +"She is not there; I inquired of the servant. She was out. You +have not seen her, colonel?" + +"Not I; I never see her." + +"Then perhaps I had better go back to the chateau and wait for her: +stay, are you a friend of the family? Colonel, suppose I were to +tell you, and ask you to break it to Madame Raynal, or, better +still, to the baroness, or Mademoiselle Rose." + +"Monsieur," said Camille coldly, "charge me with no messages, for I +cannot deliver them. I AM GOING ANOTHER WAY." + +"In that case, I will go to the chateau once more; for what I have +to say must be heard." + +Picard returned to the chateau wondering at the colonel's strange +manner. + +Camille, for his part, wondered that any one could be so mad as to +talk to him about trifles; to him, a man standing on the brink of +eternity. Poor soul, it was he who was mad and unlucky. He should +have heard what Picard had to say. The very gentleness and +solemnity of manner ought to have excited his curiosity. + +He watched Picard's retiring form. When he was out of sight, then +he turned round and resumed his thoughts as if Picard had been no +more than a fly that had buzzed and then gone. + +"Yes, I should have taken her with me," he said. He sat gloomy and +dogged like a dangerous maniac in his cell; never moved, scarce +thought for more than half an hour; but his deadly purpose grew in +him. Suddenly he started. A lady was at the style, about a hundred +yards distant. He trembled. It was Josephine. + +She came towards him slowly, her eyes bent on the ground in a deep +reverie. She stopped about a stone's throw from him, and looked at +the river long and thoughtfully; then casting her eye around, she +caught sight of Camille. He watched her grimly. He saw her give a +little start, and half turn round; but if this was an impulse to +retreat, it was instantly suppressed; for the next moment she +pursued her way. + +Camille stood gloomy and bitter, awaiting her in silence. He +planted himself in the middle of the path, and said not a word. + +She looked him all over, and her color came and went. + +"Out so far as this," she said kindly; "and without your cap." + +He put his hand to his head, and discovered that he was bareheaded. + +"You will catch your death of cold. Come, let us go in and get your +cap." + +She made as if she would pass him. He planted himself right before +her. + +"No." + +"Camille!" + +"Why do you shun me as if I was a viper?" + +"I do not shun you. I but avoid conferences that can lead to no +good; it is my duty." + +"You are very wise; cold-hearted people can be wise." + +"Am I cold-hearted, Camille?" + +"As marble." + +She looked him in the face; the water came into her eyes; after +awhile she whispered, sorrowfully, "Well, Camille, I am." + +"But with all your wisdom and all your coldness," he went on to say, +"you have made a mistake; you have driven me to madness and +despair." + +"Heaven forbid!" said she. + +"Your prayer comes too late; you have done it." + +"Camille, let me go to the oratory, and pray for you. You terrify +me." + +"It is no use. Heaven has no mercy for me. Take my advice; stay +where you are; don't hurry; for what remains of your life you gave +to pass with me, do you understand that?" + +"Ah!" And she turned pale. + +"Can you read my riddle?" + +She looked him in the face. "I can read your eyes, and I know you +love me. I think you mean to kill me. I have heard men kill the +thing they love." + +"Of course they do; sooner than another should have it, they kill +it--they kill it." + +"God has not made them patient like us women. Poor Camille!" + +"Patience dies when hope dies. Come, Madame Raynal, say a prayer, +for you are going to die." + +"God bless you, Camille!" said the poor girl, putting her hands +together in her last prayer. At this sweet touch of affection, +Camille hung his head, and sobbed. Then suddenly lashing himself +into fury, he cried,-- + +"You are my betrothed! you talk of duty; but you forget your duty to +me. Are you not my betrothed this four years? Answer me that." + +"Yes, Camille, I was." + +"Did I not suffer death a hundred times for you, to keep faith with +you, you cold-blooded traitress with an angel's face?" + +"Ah, Camille! can you speak so bitterly to me? Have I denied your +right to kill me? You shall never dishonor me, but you shall kill +me, if it is your pleasure. I do not resist. Why, then, speak to +me like that; must the last words I hear from your mouth be words of +anger, cruel Camille?" + +"I was wrong. But it is so hard to kill her I love in cold blood. +I want anger as well as despair to keep me to it. Come, turn your +head away from me, and all our troubles shall end." + +"No, Camille, let me look at you. Then you will be the last thing I +shall see on earth." + +At this he hesitated a moment; then, with a fierce stamp at what he +thought was weakness, he levelled a pistol at her. + +She put up her hands with a piteous cry, "Oh! not my face, Camille! +pray do not disfigure my face. Here--kill me here--in my bosom--my +heart that loved you well, when it was no sin to love you." + +"I can't shoot you. I can't spill your blood. The river will end +all, and not disfigure your beauty, that has driven me mad, and cost +you, poor wretch, your life." + +"Thank you, dear Camille. The water does not frighten me as a +pistol does; it will not hurt me; it will only kill me." + +"No, it is but a plunge, and you will be at peace forever; and so +shall I. Come, take my hand, Madame Raynal, Madame Raynal." + +She gave him her hand with a look of infinite love. She only said, +"My poor mother!" That word did not fall to the ground. It flashed +like lightning at night across the demented lover, and lighted up +his egotism (suicide, like homicide, is generally a fit of maniacal +egotism), even to his eyes blinded by fury. + +"Wretch that I am," he shrieked. "Fly, Josephine, fly! escape this +moment, that my better angel whispers to me. Do you hear? begone, +while it is time." + +"I will not leave you, Camille." + +"I say you shall. Go to your mother and Rose; go to those you love, +and I can pity; go to the chapel and thank Heaven for your escape." + +"Yes, but not without you, Camille. I am afraid to leave you." + +"You have more to fear if you stay. Well, I can't wait any longer. +Stay, then, and live; and learn from me how to love Jean Raynal." + +He levelled the pistol at himself. + +Josephine threw herself on him with a cry, and seized his arm. With +the strength excitement lent her she got the better, and all but +overpowered him. But, as usual, the man's strength lasted longer, +and with a sustained effort he threw her off; then, pale and +panting, raised the pistol to take his life. This time she moved +neither hand nor foot; but she palsied his rash hand with a word. + +"No; I LOVE YOU." + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +There lie the dead corpses of those words on paper; but my art is +powerless to tell you how they were uttered, those words, potent as +a king's, for they saved a life. + +They were a cry of terror and a cry of reproach and a cry of love +unfathomable. + +The weapon shook in his hand. He looked at her with growing +astonishment and joy; she at him fixedly and anxiously, her hands +clasped in supplication. + +"As you used to love me?" + +"More, far more. Give me the pistol. I love you, dearest. I love +you." + +At these delicious words he lost all power of resistance, she saw; +and her soft and supple hand stole in and closed upon his, and +gently withdrew the weapon, and threw it into the water. "Good +Camille! now give me the other." + +"How do you know there is another?" + +"I know you are not the man to kill a woman and spare yourself. +Come." + +"Josephine, have pity on me, do not deceive me; pray do not take +this, my only friend, from me, unless you really love me." + +"I love you; I adore you," was her reply. + +She leaned her head on his shoulder, but with her hand she sought +his, and even as she uttered those loving words she coaxed the +weapon from his now unresisting grasp. + +"There, it is gone; you are saved from death--saved from crime." +And with that, the danger was over, she trembled for the first time, +and fell to sobbing hysterically. + +He threw himself at her knees, and embraced them again and again, +and begged her forgiveness in a transport of remorse and self- +reproach. + +She looked down with tender pity on him, and heard his cries of +penitence and shame. + +"Rise, Camille, and go home with me," said she faintly. + +"Yes, Josephine." + +They went slowly and in silence. Camille was too ashamed and +penitent to speak; too full of terror too at the abyss of crime from +which he had been saved. The ancients feigned that a virgin could +subdue a lion; perhaps they meant that a pure gentle nature can +subdue a nature fierce but generous. Lion-like Camille walked by +Josephine's side with his eyes bent on the ground, the picture of +humility and penitence. + +"This is the last walk you and I shall take together," said +Josephine solemnly. + +"I know it," said he humbly. "I have forfeited all right to be by +your side." + +"My poor, lost love," sighed Josephine, "will you never understand +me? You never stood higher in my esteem than at this moment. It is +the avowal you have forced from ME that parts us. The man to whom I +have said 'I'--must not remain beneath my husband's roof. Does not +your sense of honor agree with mine?" + +"It does," faltered he. + +"To-morrow you must leave the chateau." + +"I will obey you." + +"What, you do not resist, you do not break my heart by complaints, +by reproaches?" + +"No, Josephine, all is changed. I thought you unfeeling: I thought +you were going to be HAPPY with him; that was what maddened me." + +"I pray daily YOU may be happy, no matter how. But you and I are +not alike, dear as we are to one another. Well, do not fear: I +shall never be happy--will that soothe you, Camille?" + +"Yes, Josephine, all is changed; the words you have spoken have +driven the fiends out of my heart. I have nothing to do now but to +obey, you to command: it is your right. Since you love me a little +still, dispose of me. Bid me live: bid me die: bid me stay: bid me +go. I shall never disobey the angel who loves me, my only friend +upon the earth." + +A single deep sob from Josephine was all the answer. + +Then he could not help asking her why she had not trusted him? + +"Why did you not say to me long ago, 'I love you, but I am a wife; +my husband is an honest soldier, absent, and fighting for France: I +am the guardian of his honor and my own; be just, be generous, be +self-denying; depart and love me only as angels love'? Perhaps this +might have helped me to show you that I too am a man of honor." + +"Perhaps I was wrong," sighed Josephine. "I think I should have +trusted more to you. But then, who would have thought you could +really doubt my love? You were ill; I could not bear you to go till +you were well, quite well. I saw no other way to keep you but this, +to treat you with feigned coldness. You saw the coldness, but not +what it cost me to maintain it. Yes, I was unjust; and inconsiderate, +for I had many furtive joys to sustain me: I had you in my house +under my care--that thought was always sweet--I had a hand in +everything that was for your good, for your comfort. I helped +Jacintha make your soup and your chocolate every day. I had the +delight of lining the dressing-gown you were to wear. I had always +some little thing or other to do for you. These kept me up: I forgot +in my selfishness that you had none of these supports, and that I +was driving you to despair. I am a foolish, disingenuous woman: +I have been very culpable. Forgive me!" + +"Forgive you, angel of purity and goodness? I alone am to blame. +What right had I to doubt your heart? I knew the whole story of +your marriage; I saw your sweet pale face; but I was not pure enough +to comprehend angelic virtue and unselfishness. Well, I am brought +to my senses. There is but one thing for me to do--you bade me +leave you to-morrow." + +"I was very cruel." + +"No! not cruel, wise. But I will be wiser. I shall go to-night." + +"To-night, Camille?" said Josephine, turning pale. + +"Ay! for to-night I am strong; to-morrow I may be weak. To-night +everything thrusts me on the right path. To-morrow everything will +draw me from it. Do not cry, beloved one; you and I have a hard +fight. We must be true allies; whenever one is weak, then is the +time for the other to be strong. I have been weaker than you, to my +shame be it said; but this is my hour of strength. A light from +heaven shows me my path. I am full of passion, but like you I have +honor. You are Raynal's wife, and--Raynal saved my life." + +"Ah! is it possible? When? where? may Heaven bless him for it!" + +"Ask HIM; and say I told you of it--I have not strength to tell it +you, but I will go to-night." + +Then Josephine, who had resisted till all her strength was gone, +whispered with a blush that it was too late to get a conveyance. + +"I need none to carry my sword, my epaulets, and my love for you. I +shall go on foot." + +Josephine said nothing, but she began to walk slower and slower. +And so the unfortunate pair came along creeping slowly with drooping +heads towards the gate of the Pleasaunce. There their last walk in +this world must end. Many a man and woman have gone to the scaffold +with hearts less heavy and more hopeful than theirs. + +"Dry your eyes, Josephine," said Camille with a deep sigh. "They +are all out on the Pleasaunce." + +"No, I will not dry my eyes," cried Josephine, almost violently. "I +care for nothing now." + +The baroness, the doctor, and Rose, were all in the Pleasaunce: and +as the pair came in, lo! every eye was bent on Josephine. + +She felt this, and her eyes sought the ground: benumbed as she was +with despondency, she began now to dread some fresh stroke or other. + +Camille felt doubly guilty and confused. How they all look at us, +he thought. Do they know what a villain I have been? He determined +to slip away, and pack up, and begone. However, nobody took any +notice of him. The baroness drew Josephine apart. And Rose +followed her mother and sister with eyes bent on the ground. + +There was a strange solemnity about them all. + +Aubertin remained behind. But even he took no notice of Camille, +but walked up and down with his hands behind him, and a sad and +troubled face. Camille felt his utter desolation. He was nothing +to any of them. He resolved to go at once, and charge Aubertin with +his last adieus to the family. It was a wise and manly resolve. He +stopped Aubertin in the middle of his walk, and said in a faint +voice of the deepest dejection,-- + +"Doctor, the time is come that I must once more thank you for all +your goodness to me, and bid you all farewell." + +"What, going before your strength is re-established?" said the +doctor politely, but not warmly. + +"I am out of all danger, thanks to your skill." + +"Colonel, at another time I should insist upon your staying a day or +two longer; but now I think it would be unadvisable to press you to +stay. Ah, colonel, you came to a happy house, but you leave a sad +one. Poor Madame Raynal!" + +"Sir!" + +"You saw the baroness draw her aside." + +"Y-yes." + +"By this time she knows it." + +"In Heaven's name what do you mean?" asked Camille. + +"I forgot; you are not aware of the calamity that has fallen upon +our beloved Josephine; on the darling of the house." + +Camille turned cold with vague apprehension. But he contrived to +stammer out, "No; tell me! for Heaven's sake tell me." + +The doctor thus pressed revealed all in a very few words. "My poor +friend," said he solemnly, "her husband--is dead." + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +The baroness, as I have said, drew Josephine aside, and tried to +break to her the sad news: but her own grief overcame her, and +bursting into tears she bewailed the loss of her son. Josephine was +greatly shocked. Death!--Raynal dead--her true, kind friend dead-- +her benefactor dead. She clung to her mother's neck, and sobbed +with her. Presently she withdrew her face and suddenly hid it in +both her hands. + +She rose and kissed her mother once more: and went to her own room: +and then, though there was none to see her, she hid her wet, but +burning, cheeks in her hands. + +Josephine confined herself for some days to her own room, leaving it +only to go to the chapel in the park, where she spent hours in +prayers for the dead and in self-humiliation. Her "tender +conscience" accused herself bitterly for not having loved this +gallant spirit more than she had. + +Camille realized nothing at first; he looked all confused in the +doctor's face, and was silent. Then after awhile he said, "Dead? +Raynal dead?" + +"Killed in action." + +A red flush came to Camille's face, and his eyes went down to the +ground at his very feet, nor did he once raise them while the doctor +told him how the sad news had come. "Picard the notary brought us +the Moniteur, and there was Commandant Raynal among the killed in a +cavalry skirmish." With this, he took the journal from his pocket, +and Camille read it, with awe-struck, and other feelings he would +have been sorry to see analyzed. He said not a word; and lowered +his eyes to the ground. + +"And now," said Aubertin, "you will excuse me. I must go to my poor +friend the baroness. She had a mother's love for him who is no +more: well she might." + +Aubertin went away, and left Dujardin standing there like a statue, +his eyes still glued to the ground at his feet. + +The doctor was no sooner out of sight, than Camille raised his eyes +furtively, like a guilty person, and looked irresolutely this way +and that: at last he turned and went back to the place where he had +meditated suicide and murder; looked down at it a long while, then +looked up to heaven--then fell suddenly on his knees: and so +remained till night-fall. Then he came back to the chateau. + +He whispered to himself, "And I am afraid it is too late to go away +to-night." He went softly into the saloon. Nobody was there but +Rose and Aubertin. At sight of him Rose got up and left the room. +But I suppose she went to Josephine; for she returned in a few +minutes, and rang the bell, and ordered some supper to be brought up +for Colonel Dujardin. + +"You have not dined, I hear," said she, very coldly. + +"I was afraid you were gone altogether," said the doctor: then +turning to Rose, "He told me he was going this evening. You had +better stay quiet another day or two," added he, kindly. + +"Do you think so?" said Camille, timidly. + +He stayed upon these terms. And now he began to examine himself. +"Did I wish him dead? I hope I never formed such a thought! I +don't remember ever wishing him dead." And he went twice a day to +that place by the stream, and thought very solemnly what a terrible +thing ungoverned passion is; and repented--not eloquently, but +silently, sincerely. + +But soon his impatient spirit began to torment itself again. Why +did Josephine shun him now? Ah! she loved Raynal now that he was +dead. Women love the thing they have lost; so he had heard say. In +that case, the very sight of him would of course be odious to her: +he could understand that. The absolute, unreasoning faith he once +had in her had been so rudely shaken by her marriage with Raynal, +that now he could only believe just so much as he saw, and he saw +that she shunned him. + +He became moody, sad, and disconsolate: and as Josephine shunned +him, so he avoided all the others, and wandered for hours by +himself, perplexed and miserable. After awhile, he became conscious +that he was under a sort of surveillance. Rose de Beaurepaire, who +had been so kind to him when he was confined to his own room, but +had taken little notice of him since he came down, now resumed her +care of him, and evidently made it her business to keep up his +heart. She used to meet him out walking in a mysterious way, and in +short, be always falling in with him and trying to cheer him up: +with tolerable success. + +Such was the state of affairs when the party was swelled and matters +complicated by the arrival of one we have lost sight of. + +Edouard Riviere retarded his cure by an impatient spirit: but he got +well at last, and his uncle drove him in the cabriolet to his own +quarters. The news of the house had been told him by letter, but, +of course, in so vague and general a way that, thinking he knew all, +in reality he knew nothing. + +Josephine had married Raynal. The marriage was sudden, but no doubt +there was an attachment: he had some reason to believe in sudden +attachments. Colonel Dujardin, an old acquaintance, had come back +to France wounded, and the good doctor had undertaken his cure: this +incident appeared neither strange nor any way important. What +affected him most deeply was the death of Raynal, his personal +friend and patron. But when his tyrants, as he called the surgeon +and his uncle, gave him leave to go home, all feelings were +overpowered by his great joy at the prospect of seeing Rose. He +walked over to Beaurepaire, his arm in a sling, his heart beating. +He was coming to receive the reward of all he had done, and all he +had attempted. "I will surprise them," thought he. "I will see her +face when I come in at the door: oh, happy hour! this pays for all." +He entered the house without announcing himself; he went softly up +to the saloon; to his great disappointment he found no one but the +baroness: she received him kindly, but not with the warmth he +expected. She was absorbed in her new grief. He asked timidly +after her daughters. "Madame Raynal bears up, for the sake of +others. You will not, however, see her: she keeps her room. My +daughter Rose is taking a walk, I believe." After some polite +inquiries, and sympathy with his accident, the baroness retired to +indulge her grief, and Edouard thus liberated ran in search of his +beloved. + +He met her at the gate of the Pleasaunce, but not alone. She was +walking with an officer, a handsome, commanding, haughty, brilliant +officer. She was walking by his side, talking earnestly to him. + +An arrow of ice shot through young Riviere; and then came a feeling +of death at his heart, a new symptom in his young life. + +The next moment Rose caught sight of him. She flushed all over and +uttered a little exclamation, and she bounded towards him like a +little antelope, and put out both her hands at once. He could only +give her one. + +"Ah!" she cried with an accent of heavenly pity, and took his hand +with both hers. + +This was like the meridian sun coming suddenly on a cold place. He +was all happiness. + +When Josephine heard he was come her eye flashed, and she said +quickly, "I will come down to welcome him--dear Edouard!" + +The sisters looked at one another. Josephine blushed. Rose smiled +and kissed her. She colored higher still, and said, "No, she was +ashamed to go down." + +"Why?" + +"Look at my face." + +"I see nothing wrong with it, except that it eclipses other +people's, and I have long forgiven you that." + +"Oh, yes, dear Rose: look what a color it has, and a fortnight ago +it was pale as ashes." + +"Never mind; do you expect me to regret that?" + +"Rose, I am a very bad woman." + +"Are you, dear? then hook this for me." + +"Yes, love. But I sometimes think you would forgive me if you knew +how hard I pray to be better. Rose, I do try so to be as unhappy as +I ought; but I can't, I can't. My cold heart seems as dead to +unhappiness as once it was to happiness. Am I a heartless woman +after all?" + +"Not altogether," said Rose dryly. "Fasten my collar, dear, and +don't torment yourself. You have suffered much and nobly. It was +Heaven's will: you bowed to it. It was not Heaven's will that you +should be blighted altogether. Bow in this, too, to Heaven's will: +take things as they come, and do cease to try and reconcile feelings +that are too opposite to live together." + +"Ah! these are such comfortable words, Rose; but mamma will see this +dreadful color in my cheek, and what can I say to her?" + +"Ten to one it will not be observed; and if it should, I will say it +is the excitement of seeing Edouard. Leave all to me." + +Josephine greeted Edouard most affectionately, drew from him his +whole history, and petted him and sympathized with him deliciously, +and made him the hero of the evening. Camille, who was not +naturally of a jealous temper, bore this very well at first, but at +last he looked so bitter at her neglect of him, that Rose took him +aside to soothe him. Edouard, missing the auditor he most valued, +and seeing her in secret conference with the brilliant colonel, felt +a return of the jealous pangs that had seized him at first sight of +the man; and so they played at cross purposes. + +At another period of the evening the conversation became more +general; and Edouard took a dislike to Colonel Dujardin. A young +man of twenty-eight nearly always looks on a boy of twenty-one with +the air of a superior, and this assumption, not being an ill-natured +one, is apt to be so easy and so undefined that the younger hardly +knows how to resent or to resist it. But Edouard was a little vain +as we know; and the Colonel jarred him terribly. His quick haughty +eye jarred him. His regimentals jarred him: they fitted like a +glove. His mustache and his manner jarred him, and, worst of all, +his cool familiarity with Rose, who seemed to court him rather than +be courted by him. He put this act of Rose's to the colonel's +account, according to the custom of lovers, and revenged himself in +a small way by telling Josephine in her ear "that the colonel +produced on his mind the effect of an intolerable puppy." + +Josephine colored up and looked at him with a momentary surprise. +She said quietly, "Military men do give themselves some airs, but he +is very amiable at bottom. You must make a better acquaintance with +him, and then he will reveal to you his nobler qualities."--"Oh! I +have no particular desire," sneered unlucky Edouard. Sweet as +Josephine was, this was too much for her: she said nothing; but she +quietly turned Edouard over to Aubertin, and joined Rose, and under +cover of her had a sweet timid chat with her falsely accused. + +This occupied the two so entirely that Edouard was neglected. This +hurt his foible, and seemed to be so unkind on the very first day of +his return that he made his adieus to the baroness, and marched off +in dudgeon unobserved. + +Rose missed him first, but said nothing. + +When Josephine saw he was gone, she uttered a little exclamation, +and looked at Rose. Rose put on a mien of haughty indifference, but +the water was in her eyes. + +Josephine looked sorrowful. + +When they talked over everything together at night, she reproached +herself. "We behaved ill to poor Edouard: we neglected him." + +"He is a little cross, ill-tempered fellow," said Rose pettishly. + +"Oh, no! no!" + +"And as vain as a peacock." + +"Has he not some right to be vain in this house?" + +"Yes,--no. I am very angry with him. I won't hear a word in his +favor," said Rose pouting: then she gave his defender a kiss. "Yes, +dear," said Josephine, answering the kiss, and ignoring the words, +"he is a dear; and he is not cross, nor so very vain, poor boy! now +don't you see what it was?" + +"No." + +"Yes, you do, you little cunning thing: you are too shrewd not to +see everything." + +"No, indeed, Josephine; do tell me, don't keep me waiting: I can't +bear that." + +"Well, then--jealous! A little." + +"Jealous? Oh, what fun! Of Camille? Ha! ha! Little goose!" + +"And," said Josephine very seriously, "I almost think he would be +jealous of any one that occupied your attention. I watched him more +or less all the evening." + +"All the better. I'll torment my lord." + +"Heaven forbid you should be so cruel." + +"Oh! I will not make him unhappy, but I'll tease him a little; it is +not in nature to abstain." + +This foible detected in her lover, Rose was very gay at the prospect +of amusement it afforded her. + +And I think I have many readers who at this moment are awaiting +unmixed enjoyment and hilarity from the same source. + +I wish them joy of their prospect. + +Edouard called the next day: he wore a gloomy air. Rose met this +with a particularly cheerful one; on this, Edouard's face cleared +up, and he was himself again; agreeable as this was, Rose felt a +little disappointed. "I am afraid he is not very jealous after +all," thought she. + +Josephine left her room this day and mingled once more with the +family. The bare sight of her was enough for Camille at first, but +after awhile he wanted more. He wanted to be often alone with her; +but several causes co-operated to make her shy of giving him many +such opportunities: first, her natural delicacy, coupled with her +habit of self-denial; then her fear of shocking her mother, and +lastly her fear of her own heart, and of Camille, whose power over +her she knew. For Camille, when he did get a sweet word alone with +her, seemed to forget everything except that she was his betrothed, +and that he had come back alive to marry her. He spoke to her of +his love with an ardor and an urgency that made her thrill with +happiness, but at the same time shrink with a certain fear and self- +reproach. Possessed with a feeling no stronger than hers, but +single, he did not comprehend the tumult, the trouble, the daily +contest in her heart. The wind seemed to him to be always changing, +and hot and cold the same hour. Since he did not even see that she +was acting in hourly fear of her mother's eye, he was little likely +to penetrate her more hidden sentiments; and then he had not touched +her key-note,--self-denial. + +Women are self-denying and uncandid. Men are self-indulgent and +outspoken. + +And this is the key to a thousand double misunderstandings; for +believe me, good women are just as stupid in misunderstanding men as +honest men are in misunderstanding women. + +To Camille, Josephine's fluctuations, joys, tremors, love, terror, +modesty, seemed one grand total, caprice. The component parts of it +he saw not; and her caprice tortured him almost to madness. Too +penitent to give way again to violent passion, he gently fretted. +His health retrograded and his temper began to sour. The eye of +timid love that watched him with maternal anxiety from under its +long lashes saw this with dismay, and Rose, who looked into her +sister's bosom, devoted herself once more to soothe him without +compromising Josephine's delicacy. Matters were not so bad but what +a fine sprightly girl like Rose could cheer up a dejected but manly +colonel; and Rose was generally successful. + +But then, unfortunately, this led to a fresh mystification. +Riviere's natural jealousy revived, and found constant food in the +attention Rose paid Camille, a brilliant colonel living in the house +while he, poor wretch, lived in lodgings. The false position of all +the parties brought about some singular turns. I give from their +number one that forms a link, though a small one, in my narrative. + +One day Edouard came to tell Rose she was making him unhappy; he had +her alone in the Pleasaunce; she received him with a radiant smile, +and they had a charming talk,--a talk all about HIM: what the family +owed him, etc. + +On this, his late jealousy and sense of injury seemed a thing of +three years ago, and never to return. So hard it is for the loving +heart to resist its sun. + +Jacintha came with a message from the colonel: "Would it be +agreeable to Mademoiselle Rose to walk with him at the usual hour?" + +"Certainly," said Rose. + +As Jacintha was retiring Edouard called to her to stop a minute. + +Then, turning to Rose, he begged her very ceremoniously to +reconsider that determination. + +"What determination?" + +"To sacrifice me to this Colonel Dujardin." Still politely, only a +little grimly. + +Rose opened her eyes. "Are you mad?" inquired she with quiet +hauteur. + +"Neither mad nor a fool," was the reply. "I love you too well to +share your regard with any one, upon any terms; least of all upon +these, that there is to be a man in the world at whose beck and call +you are to be, and at whose orders you are to break off an interview +with me. Perdition!" + +"Dear Edouard, what folly! Can you suspect me of discourtesy, as +well as of--I know not what. Colonel Dujardin will join us, that is +all, and we shall take a little walk with him." + +"Not I. I decline the intrusion; you are engaged with me, and I +have things to say to you that are not fit for that puppy to hear. +So choose between me and him, and choose forever." + +Rose colored. "I should be very sorry to choose either of you +forever; but for this afternoon I choose you." + +"Oh, thank you--my whole life shall prove my gratitude for this +preference." + +Rose beckoned Jacintha, and sent her with an excuse to Colonel +Dujardin. She then turned with an air of mock submission to +Edouard. "I am at monsieur's ORDERS." + +Then this unhappy novice, being naturally good-natured, thanked her +again and again for her condescension in setting his heart at rest. +He proposed a walk, since his interference had lost her one. She +yielded a cold assent. This vexed him, but he took it for granted +it would wear off before the end of the walk. Edouard's heart +bounded, but he loved her too sincerely to be happy unless he could +see her happy too; the malicious thing saw this, or perhaps knew it +by instinct, and by means of this good feeling of his she revenged +herself for his tyranny. She tortured him as only a woman can +torture, and as even she can torture only a worthy man, and one who +loves her. In the course of that short walk this inexperienced +girl, strong in the instincts and inborn arts of her sex, drove pins +and needles, needles and pins, of all sorts and sizes, through her +lover's heart. + +She was everything by turns, except kind, and nothing for long +together. She was peevish, she was ostentatiously patient and +submissive, she was inattentive to her companion and seemingly +wrapped up in contemplation of absent things and persons, the +colonel to wit; she was dogged, repulsive, and cold; and she never +was herself a single moment. They returned to the gate of the +Pleasaunce. "Well, mademoiselle," said Riviere very sadly, "that +interloper might as well have been with us." + +"Of course he might, and you would have lost nothing by permitting +me to be courteous to a guest and an invalid. If you had not played +the tyrant, and taken the matter into your own hands, I should have +found means to soothe your jeal--I mean your vanity; but you +preferred to have your own way. Well, you have had it." + +"Yes, mademoiselle, you have given me a lesson; you have shown me +how idle it is to attempt to force a young lady's inclinations in +anything." + +He bade her good-day, and went away sorrowful. + +She cut Camille dead for the rest of the day. + +Next morning, early, Edouard called expressly to see her. +"Mademoiselle Rose," said he, humbly, "I called to apologize for the +ungentlemanly tone of my remonstrances yesterday." + +"Fiddle-dee," said Rose. "Don't do it again; that is the best +apology." + +"I am not likely to offend so again," said he sadly. "I am going +away. I am sorry to say I am promoted; my new post is ten leagues. +HE WILL HAVE IT ALL HIS OWN WAY NOW. But perhaps it is best. Were +I to stay here, I foresee you would soon lose whatever friendly +feeling you have for me." + +"Am I so changeable? I am not considered so," remonstrated Rose, +gently. + +Riviere explained; "I am not vain," said he, with that self- +knowledge which is so general an attribute of human beings; "no man +less so, nor am I jealous; but I respect myself, and I could never +be content to share your time and your regard with Colonel Dujardin, +nor with a much better man. See now; he has made me arrogant. Was +I ever so before?" + +"No! no! no! and I forgive you now, my poor Edouard." + +"He has made you cold as ice to me." + +"No! that was my own wickedness and spitefulness." + +"Wickedness, spitefulness! they are not in your nature. It is all +that wretch's doing." + +Rose sighed, but she said nothing; for she saw that to excuse +Camille would only make the jealous one more bitter against him. + +"Will you deign to write to me at my new post? once a month? in +answer to my letters?" + +"Yes, dear. But you will ride over sometimes to see us." + +"Oh, yes; but for some little time I shall not be able. The duties +of a new post." + +"Perhaps in a month--a fortnight?" + +"Sooner perhaps; the moment I hear that man is out of the house." + +Edouard went away, dogged and sad; Rose shut herself up in her +room and had a good cry. In the afternoon Josephine came and +remonstrated with her. "You have not walked with him at all to-day." + +"No; you must pet him yourself for once. I hate the sight of him; +it has made mischief between Edouard and me, my being so attentive +to him. Edouard is jealous, and I cannot wonder. After all, what +right have I to mystify him who honors me with his affection?" + +Then, being pressed with questions by Josephine, she related to her +all that had passed between Edouard and her, word for word. + +"Poor Camille!" sighed Josephine the just. + +"Oh, dear, yes! poor Camille! who has the power to make us all +miserable, and who does it, and will go on doing it until he is +happy himself." + +"Ah! would to Heaven I could make him as happy as he deserves to +be." + +"You could easily make him much happier than that. And why not do +it?" + +"O Rose," said Josephine, shocked, "how can you advise me so?" + +She then asked her if she thought it possible that Camille could be +ignorant of her heart. + +"Josephine," replied Rose, angrily, "these men are absurd: they +believe only what they see. I have done what I can for you and +Camille, but it is useless. Would you have him believe you love +him, you must yourself be kind to him; and it would be a charitable +action: you would make four unhappy people happy, or, at least, put +them on the road; NOW they are off the road, and, by what I have +seen to-day, I think, if we go on so much longer, it will be too +late to try to return. Come, Josephine, for my sake! Let me go and +tell him you will consent--to all our happinesses. There, the crime +is mine." And she ran off in spite of Josephine's faint and +hypocritical entreaties. She returns the next minute looking all +aghast. "It is too late," said she. "He is going away. I am sure +he is, for he is packing up his things to go. I spied through the +old place and saw him. He was sighing like a furnace as he strapped +his portmanteau. I hate him, of course, but I was sorry for him. I +could not help being. He sighed so all the time, piteously." + +Josephine turned pale, and lifted her hands in surprise and dismay. + +"Depend on it, Josephine, we are wrong," said Rose, firmly: "these +wretches will not stand our nonsense above a certain time: they are +not such fools. We are mismanaging: one gone, the other going; both +losing faith in us." + +Josephine's color returned to her cheek, and then mounted high. +Presently she smiled, a smile full of conscious power and furtive +complacency, and said quietly, "He will not go." + +Rose was pleased, but not surprised, to hear her sister speak so +confidently, for she knew her power over Camille. "That is right," +said she, "go to him, and say two honest words: 'I bid you stay.'" + +"O Rose! no!" + +"Poltroon! You know he would go down on his knees, and stay +directly." + +"No: I should blush all my life before you and him. I COULD not. I +should let him go sooner, almost. Oh, no! I will never ask a man +to stay who wishes to leave me. But just you go to him, and say +Madame Raynal is going to take a little walk: will he do her the +honor to be her companion? Not a word more, if you love me." + +"I'll go. Hypocrite!" + + +Josephine received Camille with a bright smile. She seemed in +unusually good spirits, and overflowing with kindness and innocent +affection. On this his high gloomy brow relaxed, and all his +prospects brightened as by magic. Then she communicated to him a +number of little plans for next week and the week after. Among the +rest he was to go with her and Rose to Frejus. "Such a sweet place: +I want to show it you. You will come?" + +He hesitated a single moment: a moment of intense anxiety to the +smiling Josephine. + +"Yes! he would come: it was a great temptation, he saw so little of +her." + +"Well, you will see more of me now." + +"Shall I see you every day--alone, I mean?" + +"Oh, yes, if you wish it," replied Josephine, in an off-hand, +indifferent way. + +He seized her hand and devoured it with kisses. "Foolish thing!" +murmured she, looking down on him with ineffable tenderness. +"Should I not be always with you if I consulted my inclination?--let +me go." + +"No! consult your inclination a little longer." + +"Must I?" + +"Yes; that shall be your punishment." + +"For what? What have I done?" asked she with an air of great +innocence. + +"You have made me happy, me who adore you," was the evasive reply. + +Josephine came in from her walk with a high color and beaming eyes, +and screamed, "Run, Rose!" + +On this concise, and to us not very clear instruction, Rose slipped +up the secret stair. She saw Camille come in and gravely unpack his +little portmanteau, and dispose his things in the drawers with +soldier-like neatness, and hum an agreeable march. She came and +told Josephine. + +"Ah!" said Josephine with a little sigh of pleasure, and a gentle +triumph in her eyes. + +She had not only got her desire, but had arrived at it her way,-- +woman's way, round about. + +This adroit benevolence led to more than she bargained for. She and +Camille were now together every day: and their hearts, being under +restraint in public, melted together all the more in their stolen +interviews. + +At the third delicious interview the modest Camille begged Josephine +to be his wife directly. + +Have you noticed those half tame deer that come up to you in a park +so lovingly, with great tender eyes, and, being now almost within +reach, stop short, and with bodies fixed like statues on pedestals, +crane out their graceful necks for sugar, or bread, or a chestnut, +or a pocket-handkerchief? Do but offer to put your hand upon them, +away they bound that moment twenty yards, and then stand quite +still, and look at your hand and you, with great inquiring, +suspicious, tender eyes. + +So Josephine started at Camille's audacious proposal. "Never +mention such a thing to me again: or--or, I will not walk with you +any more:" then she thrilled with pleasure at the obnoxious idea, +"she Camille's wife!" and colored all over--with rage, Camille +thought. He promised submissively not to renew the topic: no more +he did till next day. Josephine had spent nearly the whole interval +in thinking of it; so she was prepared to put him down by calm +reasons. She proceeded to do so, gently, but firmly. + +Lo and behold! what does he do, but meets her with just as many +reasons, and just as calm ones: and urges them gently, but firmly. + +Heaven had been very kind to them: why should they be unkind to +themselves? They had had a great escape: why not accept the +happiness, as, being persons of honor, they had accepted the misery? +with many other arguments, differing in other things, but agreeing +in this, that they were all sober, grave, and full of common-sense. + +Finding him not defenceless on the score of reason, she shifted her +ground and appealed to his delicacy. On this he appealed to her +love, and then calm reason was jostled off the field, and passion +and sentiment battled in her place. + +In these contests day by day renewed, Camille had many advantages. + +Rose, though she did not like him, had now declared on his side. +She refused to show him the least attention. This threw him on +Josephine: and when Josephine begged her to help reduce Camille to +reason, her answer would be,-- + +"Hypocrite!" with a kiss: or else she would say, with a half comic +petulance, "No! no! I am on his side. Give him his own way, or he +will make us all four miserable." + +Thus Josephine's ally went over to the enemy. + +And then this coy young lady's very power of resistance began to +give way. She had now battled for months against her own heart: +first for her mother; then, in a far more terrible conflict for +Raynal, for honor and purity; and of late she had been battling, +still against her own heart, for delicacy, for etiquette, things +very dear to her, but not so great, holy, and sustaining as honor +and charity that were her very household gods: and so, just when the +motives of resistance were lowered, the length of the resistance +began to wear her out. + +For nothing is so hard to her sex as a long steady struggle. In +matters physical, this is the thing the muscles of the fair cannot +stand; in matters intellectual and moral, the long strain it is that +beats them dead. + +Do not look for a Bacona, a Newtona, a Handella, a Victoria Huga. + +Some American ladies tell us education has stopped the growth of +these. + +No! mesdames. These are not in nature. + +They can bubble letters in ten minutes that you could no more +deliver to order in ten days than a river can play like a fountain. +They can sparkle gems of stories: they can flash little diamonds of +poems. The entire sex has never produced one opera nor one epic +that mankind could tolerate: and why? these come by long, high- +strung labor. But, weak as they are in the long run of everything +but the affections (and there giants), they are all overpowering +while their gallop lasts. Fragilla shall dance any two of you flat +on the floor before four o'clock, and then dance on till the peep of +day. + +Only you trundle off to your business as usual, and could dance +again the next night, and so on through countless ages. + +She who danced you into nothing is in bed, a human jelly tipped with +headache. + +What did Josephine say to Rose one day? "I am tired of saying 'No! +no! no! no! no!' forever and ever to him I love." + +But this was not all. She was not free from self-reproach. +Camille's faith in her had stood firm. Hers in him had not. She +had wronged him, first by believing him false, then by marrying +another. One day she asked his pardon for this. He replied that he +had forgiven that; but would she be good enough to make him forget +it? + +"I wish I could." + +"You can. Marry me: then your relation to that man will seem but a +hideous dream. I shall be able to say, looking at you, my wife, 'I +was faithful: I suffered something for her; I came home: she loved +me still; the proof is, she was my wife within three months of my +return.'" + +When he said that to her in the Pleasaunce, if there had been a +priest at hand--. In a word, Josephine longed to show him her love, +yet wished not to shock her mother, nor offend her own sense of +delicacy; but Camille cared for nothing but his love. To sacrifice +love and happiness, even for a time, to etiquette, seemed to him to +be trifling with the substance of great things for the shadow of +petty things; and he said so: sometimes sadly, sometimes almost +bitterly. + +So Josephine was a beleagured fortress, attacked with one will, and +defended by troops, one-third of which were hot on the side of the +besiegers. + +When singleness attacks division, you know the result beforehand. +Why then should I spin words? I will not trace so ill-matched a +contest step by step, sentence by sentence: let me rather hasten to +relate the one peculiarity that arose out of this trite contest, +where, under the names of Camille and Josephine, the two great sexes +may be seen acting the whole world-wide distich,-- + + + "It's a man's part to try, + And a woman's to deny [for a while?]." + + +Finding her own resolutions oozing away, Josephine caught at another +person. + +She said to Camille before Rose,-- + +"Even if I could bring myself to snatch at happiness in this +indelicate way--scarce a month after, oh!" And there ended the +lady's sentence. In the absence of a legitimate full stop, she put +one hand before her lovely face to hide it, and so no more. But +some two minutes after she delivered the rest in the form and with +the tone of a distinct remark, "No: my mother would never consent." + +"Yes, she would if you could be brought to implore her as earnestly +as I implore you." + +"Now would she?" asked Josephine, turning quickly to her sister. + +"No, never. Our mother would look with horror on such a proposal. +A daughter of hers to marry within a twelvemonth of her widowhood!" + +"There, you see, Camille." + +"And, besides, she loved Raynal so; she has not forgotten him as we +have, almost." + +"Ungrateful creature that I am!" sighed Josephine! + +"She mourns for him every day. Often I see her eyes suddenly fill; +that is for him. Josephine's influence with mamma is very great: it +is double mine: but if we all went on our knees to her, the doctor +and all, she would never consent." + +"There you see, Camille: and I could not defy my mother, even for +you." + +Camille sighed. + +"I see everything is against me, even my love: for that love is too +much akin to veneration to propose to you a clandestine marriage." + +"Oh, thank you! bless you for respecting as well as loving me, dear +Camille," said Josephine. + +These words, uttered with gentle warmth, were some consolation to +Camille, and confirmed him, as they were intended to do, in the +above good resolution. He smiled. + +"Maladroit!" muttered Rose. + +"Why maladroit?" asked Camille, opening his eyes. + +"Let us talk of something else," replied Rose, coolly. + +Camille turned red. He understood that he had done something very +stupid, but he could not conceive what. He looked from one sister +to the other alternately. Rose was smiling ironically, Josephine +had her eyes bent demurely on a handkerchief she was embroidering. + +That evening Camille drew Rose aside, and asked for an explanation +of her "maladroit." + +"So it was," replied Rose, sharply. + +But as this did not make the matter quite clear, Camille begged a +little further explanation. + +"Was it your part to make difficulties?" + +"No, indeed." + +"Was it for you to tell her a secret marriage would not be delicate? +Do you think she will be behind you in delicacy? or that a love +without respect will satisfy her? yet you must go and tell her you +respected her too much to ask her to marry you secretly. In other +words, situated as she is, you asked her not to marry you at all: +she consented to that directly; what else could you expect?" + +"Maladroit! indeed," said Camille, "but I would not have said it, +only I thought"-- + +"You thought nothing would induce her to marry secretly, so you said +to yourself, 'I will assume a virtue: I will do a bit of cheap self- +denial: decline to the sound of trumpets what another will be sure +to deny me if I don't--ha! ha!'--well, for your comfort, I am by no +means so sure she might not have been brought to do ANYTHING for +you, except openly defy mamma: but now of course"-- + +And here this young lady's sentence ended: for the sisters, unlike +in most things, were one in grammar. + +Camille was so disconcerted and sad at what he had done, that Rose +began to pity him: so she rallied him a little longer in spite of +her pity: and then all of a sudden gave him her hand, and said she +would try and repair the mischief. + +He began to smother her hand with kisses. + +"Oh!" said she, "I don't deserve all that: I have a motive of my +own; let me alone, child, do. Your unlucky speech will be quoted to +me a dozen times. Never mind." + +Rose went and bribed Josephine to consent. + +"Come, mamma shall not know, and as for you, you shall scarcely move +in the matter; only do not oppose me very violently, and all will be +well." + +"Ah, Rose!" said Josephine; "it is delightful--terrible, I mean--to +have a little creature about one that reads one like this. What +shall I do? What shall I do?" + +"Why, do the best you can under all the circumstances. His wound is +healed, you know; he must go back to the army; you have both +suffered to the limits of mortal endurance. Is he to go away +unhappy, in any doubt of your affection? and you to remain behind +with the misery of self-reproach added to the desolation of +absence?--think." + +"It is cruel. But to deceive my mother!" + +"Do not say deceive our mother; that is such a shocking phrase." + +Rose then reminded Josephine that their confessor had told them a +wise reticence was not the same thing as a moral deceit. She +reminded her, too, how often they had acted on his advice and always +with good effect; how many anxieties and worries they had saved +their mother by reticence. Josephine assented warmly to this. + +Was there not some reason to think they had saved their mother's +very life by these reticences? Josephine assented. "And, +Josephine, you are of age; you are your own mistress; you have a +right to marry whom you please: and, sooner or later, you will +certainly marry Camille. I doubt whether even our mother could +prevail on you to refuse him altogether. So it is but a question of +time, and of giving our mother pain, or sparing her pain. Dear +mamma is old; she is prejudiced. Why shock her prejudices? She +could not be brought to understand the case: these things never +happened in her day. Everything seems to have gone by rule then. +Let us do nothing to worry her for the short time she has to live. +Let us take a course between pain to her and cruelty to you and +Camille." + +These arguments went far to convince Josephine: for her own heart +supported them. She went from her solid objections to untenable +ones--a great point gained. She urged the difficulty, the +impossibility of a secret marriage. + +Camille burst in here: he undertook at once to overcome these +imaginary difficulties. "They could be married at a distance." + +"You will find no priest who will consent to do such a wicked thing +as marry us without my mother's knowledge," objected Josephine. + +"Oh! as to that," said Rose, "you know the mayor marries people +nowadays." + +"I will not be married again without a priest," said Josephine, +sharply. + +"Nor I," said Camille. "I know a mayor who will do the civil forms +for me, and a priest who will marry me in the sight of Heaven, and +both will keep it secret for love of me till it shall please +Josephine to throw off this disguise." + +"Who is the priest?" inquired Josephine, keenly. + +"An old cure: he lives near Frejus: he was my tutor, and the mayor +is the mayor of Frejus, also an old friend of mine." + +"But what on earth will you say to them?" + +"That is my affair: I must give them some reasons which compel me to +keep my marriage secret. Oh! I shall have to tell them some fibs, +of course." + +"There, I thought so! I will not have you telling fibs; it lowers +you." + +"Of course it does; but you can't have secrecy without a fib or +two." + +"Fibs that will injure no one," said Rose, majestically. + +From this day Camille began to act as well as to talk. He bought a +light caleche and a powerful horse, and elected factotum Dard his +groom. Camille rode over to Frejus and told a made-up story to the +old cure and the mayor, and these his old friends believed every +word he said, and readily promised their services and strict +secrecy. + +He told the young ladies what he had done. + +Rose approved. Josephine shook her head, and seeing matters going +as her heart desired and her conscience did not quite approve, she +suddenly affected to be next to nobody in the business--to be +resigned, passive, and disposed of to her surprise by Queen Rose and +King Camille, without herself taking any actual part in their +proceedings. + +At last the great day arrived on which Camille and Josephine were to +be married at Frejus. + +The mayor awaited them at eleven o'clock. The cure at twelve. The +family had been duly prepared for this excursion by several smaller +ones. + +Rose announced their intention over night; a part of it. + +"Mamma," said she, blushing a little, "Colonel Dujardin is good +enough to take us to Frejus tomorrow. It is a long way, and we must +breakfast early or we shall not be back to dinner." + +"Do so, my child. I hope you will have a fine day: and mind you +take plenty of wraps with you in case of a shower." + +At seven o'clock the next morning Camille and the two ladies took a +hasty cup of coffee together instead of breakfast, and then Dard +brought the caleche round. + +The ladies got in, and Camille had just taken the reins in his hand, +when Jacintha screamed to him from the hall, "Wait a moment, +colonel, wait a moment! The doctor! don't go without the doctor!" +And the next moment Dr. Aubertin appeared with his cloak on his arm, +and, saluting the ladies politely, seated himself quietly in the +vehicle before the party had recovered their surprise. + +The ladies managed to keep their countenances, but Dujardin's +discomfiture was evident. + +He looked piteously at Josephine, and then asked Aubertin if they +were to set him down anywhere in particular. + +"Oh, no; I am going with you to Frejus," was the quiet reply. + +Josephine quaked. Camille was devoured with secret rage: he lashed +the horse and away they went. + +It was a silent party. The doctor seemed in a reverie. The others +did not know what to think, much less to say. Aubertin sat by +Camille's side; so the latter could hold no secret communication +with either lady. + +Now it was not the doctor's habit to rise at this time of the +morning: yet there he was, going with them to Frejus uninvited. + +Josephine was in agony; had their intention transpired through some +imprudence of Camille? + +Camille was terribly uneasy. He concluded the secret had transpired +through female indiscretion. Then they all tortured themselves as +to the old man's intention. But what seemed most likely was, that +he was with them to prevent a clandestine marriage by his bare +presence, without making a scene and shocking Josephine's pride: and +if so, was he there by his own impulse? No, it was rather to be +feared that all this was done by order of the baroness. There was a +finesse about it that smacked of a feminine origin, and the baroness +was very capable of adopting such a means as this, to spare her own +pride and her favorite daughter's. "The clandestine" is not all +sugar. A more miserable party never went along, even to a wedding. + +After waiting a long time for the doctor to declare himself, they +turned desperate, and began to chatter all manner of trifles. This +had a good effect: it roused Aubertin from his reverie, and +presently he gave them the following piece of information: "I told +you the other day that a nephew of mine was just dead; a nephew I +had not seen for many years. Well, my friends, I received last +night a hasty summons to his funeral." + +"At Frejus?" + +"No, at Paris. The invitation was so pressing, that I was obliged +to go. The letter informed me, however, that a diligence passes +through Frejus, at eleven o'clock, for Paris. I heard you say you +were going to Frejus; so I packed up a few changes of linen, and my +MS., my work on entomology, which at my last visit to the capital +all the publishers were mad enough to refuse: here it is. Apropos, +has Jacintha put my bag into the carriage?" + +On this a fierce foot-search, and the bag was found. Meantime, +Josephine leaned back in her seat with a sigh of thankfulness. She +was more intent on not being found out than on being married. But +Camille, who was more intent on being married than on not being +found out, was asking himself, with fury, how on earth they should +get rid of Aubertin in time. + +Well, of course, under such circumstances as these the diligence did +not come to its time, nor till long after; and all the while, they +were waiting for it they were failing their rendezvous with the +mayor, and making their rendezvous with the curate impossible. But, +above all, there was the risk of one or other of those friends +coming up and blurting all out, taking for granted that the doctor +must be in their confidence, or why bring him. + +At last, at half-past eleven o'clock, to their great relief, up came +the diligence. The doctor prepared to take his place in the +interior, when the conductor politely informed him that the vehicle +stopped there a quarter of an hour. + +"In that case I will not abandon my friends," said the doctor, +affectionately. + +One of his friends gnashed his teeth at this mark of affection. But +Josephine smiled sweetly. + +At last he was gone; but it wanted ten minutes only to twelve. + +Josephine inquired amiably, whether it would not be as well to +postpone matters to another day--meaning forever. "My ARDOR is +chilled," said she, and showed symptoms of crying at what she had +gone through. + +Camille replied by half dragging them to the mayor. That worthy +received them with profound, though somewhat demure respect, and +invited them to a table sumptuously served. The ladies, out of +politeness, were about to assent, but Camille begged permission to +postpone that part until after the ceremony. + +At last, to their astonishment, they were married. Then, with a +promise to return and dine with the mayor, they went to the cure. +Lo and behold! he was gone to visit a sick person. "He had waited a +long time for them," said the servant. + +Josephine was much disconcerted, and showed a disposition to cry +again. The servant, a good-natured girl, nosed a wedding, and +offered to run and bring his reverence in a minute. + +Presently there came an old silvery-haired man, who addressed them +all as his children. He took them to the church, and blessed their +union; and for the first time Josephine felt as if Heaven consented. +They took a gentle farewell of him, and went back to the mayor's to +dine; and at this stage of the business Rose and Josephine at last +effected a downright simultaneous cry, apropos of nothing that was +then occurring. + +This refreshed them mightily, and they glowed at the mayor's table +like roses washed with dew. + +But oh! how glad at heart they all were to find themselves in the +carriage once more going home to Beaurepaire. + +Rose and Josephine sat intertwined on the back seat; Camille, the +reins in his right hand, nearly turned his back on the horse, and +leaned back over to them and purred to Rose and his wife with +ineffable triumph and tenderness. + +The lovers were in Elysium, and Rose was not a little proud of her +good management in ending all their troubles. Their mother received +them back with great, and as they fancied, with singular, affection. +She was beginning to be anxious about them, she said. Then her +kindness gave these happy souls a pang it never gave them before. + +Since the above events scarce a fortnight had elapsed; but such a +change! Camille sunburnt and healthy, and full of animation and +confidence; Josephine beaming with suppressed happiness, and more +beautiful than Rose could ever remember to have seen her. For a +soft halo of love and happiness shone around her head; a new and +indefinable attraction bloomed on her face. She was a wife. Her +eye, that used to glance furtively on Camille, now dwelt demurely on +him; dwelt with a sort of gentle wonder and admiration as well as +affection, and, when he came or passed very near her, a keen +observer might have seen her thrill. + +She kept a good deal out of her mother's way; for she felt within +that her face must be too happy. She feared to shock her mother's +grief with her radiance. She was ashamed of feeling unmixed heaven. +But the flood of secret bliss she floated in bore all misgivings +away. The pair were forever stealing away together for hours, and +on these occasions Rose used to keep out of her mother's sight, +until they should return. So then the new-married couple could +wander hand in hand through the thick woods of Beaurepaire, whose +fresh green leaves were now just out, and hear the distant cuckoo, +and sit on mossy banks, and pour love into one another's eyes, and +plan ages of happiness, and murmur their deep passion and their +bliss almost more than mortal; could do all this and more, without +shocking propriety. These sweet duets passed for trios: for on +their return Rose would be out looking for them, or would go and +meet them at some distance, and all three would go up together to +the baroness, as from a joint excursion. And when they went up to +their bedrooms, Josephine would throw her arms round her sister's +neck, and sigh, "It is not happiness, it is beatitude!" + +Meantime, the baroness mourned for Raynal. Her grief showed no +decrease. Rose even fancied at times she wore a gloomy and +discontented look as well; but on reflection she attributed that to +her own fancy, or to the contrast that had now sprung up in her +sister's beaming complacency. + +Rose, when she found herself left day after day alone for hours, was +sad and thought of Edouard. And this feeling gained on her day by +day. + +At last, one afternoon, she locked herself in her own room, and, +after a long contest with her pride, which, if not indomitable, was +next door to it, she sat down to write him a little letter. Now, in +this letter, in the place devoted by men to their after-thoughts, by +women to their pretended after-thoughts; i. e., to what they have +been thinking of all through the letter, she dropped a careless hint +that all the party missed him very much, "even the obnoxious +colonel, who, by-the-by, has transferred his services elsewhere. I +have forgiven him that, because he has said civil things about you." + +Rose was reading her letter over again, to make sure that all the +principal expressions were indistinct, and that the composition +generally, except the postscript, resembled a Delphic oracle, when +there was a hasty footstep, and a tap at her door, and in came +Jacintha, excited. + +"He is come, mademoiselle," cried she, and nodded her head like a +mandarin, only more knowingly; then she added, "So you may burn +that." For her quick eye had glanced at the table. + +"Who is come?" inquired Rose, eagerly. + +"Why, your one?" + +"My one?" asked the young lady, reddening, "my what?" + +"The little one--Edouard--Monsieur Riviere." + +"Oh, Monsieur Riviere," said Rose, acting nonchalance. "Why could +you not say so? you use such phrases, who can conjecture what you +mean? I will come to Monsieur Riviere directly; mamma will be so +glad." + +Jacintha gone, Rose tore up the letter and locked up the pieces, +then ran to the glass. Etc. + +Edouard had been so profoundly miserable he could stand it no +longer; in spite of his determination not to visit Beaurepaire while +it contained a rival, he rode over to see whether he had not +tormented himself idly: above all, to see the beloved face. + +Jacintha put him into the salle a manger. "By that you will see her +alone," said the knowing Jacintha. He sat down, hat and whip in +hand, and wondered how he should be received--if at all. + +In glides Rose all sprightliness and good-humor, and puts out her +hand to him; the which he kisses. + +"How could I keep away so long?" asked he vaguely, and self- +astonished. + +"How indeed, and we missing you so all the time!" + +"Have YOU missed me?" was the eager inquiry. + +"Oh, no!" was the cheerful reply; "but all the rest have." + +Presently the malicious thing gave a sudden start. + +"Oh! such a piece of news; you remember Colonel Dujardin, the +obnoxious colonel?" + +No answer. + +"Transferred his attentions. Fancy!" + +"Who to?" + +"To Josephine and mamma. But such are the military. He only wanted +to get rid of you: this done (through your want of spirit), he +scorns the rich prize; so now I scorn HIM. Will you come for a +walk?" + +"Oh, yes!" + +"We will go and look for my deserter. I say, tell me now; cannot I +write to the commander-in-chief about this? a soldier has no right +to be a deserter, has he? tell me, you are a public man, and know +everything except my heart." + +"Is it not too bad to tease me to-day?" + +"Yes! but please! I have had few amusements of late. I find it so +dull without you to tease." + +Formal permission to tease being conceded, she went that instant on +the opposite tack, and began to tell him how she had missed him, and +how sorry she had been anything should have occurred to vex their +kind good friend. In short, Edouard spent a delightful day, for +Rose took him one way to meet Josephine, who, she knew, was coming +another. At night the last embers of jealousy got quenched, for +Josephine was a wife now, and had already begun to tell Camille all +her little innocent secrets; and she told him all about Edouard and +Rose, and gave him his orders; so he treated Rose with great respect +before Edouard; but paid her no marked attention; also he was +affable to Riviere, who, having ceased to suspect, began to like +him. + +In the course of the evening, the colonel also informed the baroness +that he expected every day an order to join the army of the Rhine. + +Edouard pricked his ears. + +The baroness said no more than politeness dictated. She did not +press him to stay, but treated his departure as a matter of course. +Riviere rode home late in the evening in high spirits. + +The next day Rose varied her late deportment; she sang snatches of +melody, going about the house; it was for all the world like a bird +chirping. In the middle of one chirp Jacintha interfered. "Hush, +mademoiselle, your mamma! she is at the bottom of the corridor." + +"What was I thinking of?" said Rose. + +"Oh! I dare say you know, mademoiselle," replied the privileged +domestic. + +A letter of good news came from Aubertin. That summons to his +nephew's funeral was an era in his harmless life. + +The said nephew was a rich man and an oddity; one of those who love +to surprise folk. Moreover, he had no children, and detected his +nephews and nieces being unnaturally civil to him. "Waiting to cut +me up," was his generous reading of them. So with this he made a +will, and there defied, as far as in him lay, the laws of nature; +for he set his wealth a-flowing backwards instead of forwards; he +handed his property up to an ancestor, instead of down to posterity. + +All this the doctor's pen set down with some humor, and in the calm +spirit with which a genuine philosopher receives prosperity as well +as adversity. Yet one natural regret escaped him; that all this +wealth, since it was to come, had not come a year or two sooner. + +All at Beaurepaire knew what their dear old friend meant. + +His other news to them was that they might expect him any moment. + +So here was another cause of rejoicing. + +"I am so glad," said Josephine. "Now, perhaps, he will be able to +publish his poor dear entomology, that the booksellers were all so +unkind, so unfeeling about." + +I linger on the brink of painful scenes to observe that a sweet and +loving friendship, such as this was between the good doctor and +three persons of another sex, is one of the best treasures of the +human heart. Poverty had strengthened it; yet now wealth could not +weaken it. With no tie of blood it yet was filial, sisterly, +brotherly, national, chivalrous; happy, unalloyed sentiment, free +from ups and downs, from heats and chills, from rivalry, from +caprice; and, indeed, from all mortal accidents but one--and why say +one? methinks death itself does but suspend these gentle, rare, +unselfish amities a moment, then waft them upward to their abiding +home. + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +It was a fair morning in June: the sky was a bright, deep, lovely, +speckless blue: the flowers and bushes poured perfume, and sprinkled +song upon the balmy air. On such a day, so calm, so warm, so +bright, so scented, so tuneful, to live and to be young is to be +happy. With gentle hand it wipes all other days out of the memory; +it smiles, it smells, it sings, and clouds and rain and biting wind +seem as far off and impossible as grief and trouble. + +Camille and Josephine had stolen out, and strolled lazily up and +down close under the house, drinking the sweet air, fragrant with +perfume and melody; the blue sky, and love. + +Rose was in the house. She had missed them; but she thought they +must be near; for they seldom took long walks early in the day. +Meeting Jacintha on the landing of the great staircase, she asked +her where her sister was. + +"Madame Raynal is gone for a walk. She has taken the colonel with +her. You know she always takes the colonel out with her now." + +"That will do. You can finish your work." + +Jacintha went into Camille's room. + +Rose, who had looked as grave as a judge while Jacintha was present, +bubbled into laughter. She even repeated Jacintha's words aloud, +and chuckled over them. "You know she always takes the colonel out +with her now--ha, ha, ha!" + +"Rose!" sighed a distant voice. + +She looked round, and saw the baroness at some distance in the +corridor, coming slowly towards her, with eyes bent gloomily on the +ground. Rose composed her features into a settled gravity, and went +to meet her. + +"I wish to speak with you," said the baroness; "let us sit down; it +is cool here." + +Rose ran and brought a seat without a back, but well stuffed, and +set it against the wall. The old lady sat down and leaned back, and +looked at Rose in silence a good while; then she said,-- + +"There is room for you; sit down, for I want to speak seriously to +you." + +"Yes, mamma; what is it?" + +"Turn a little round, and let me see your face." + +Rose complied; and began to feel a little uneasy. + +"Perhaps you can guess what I am going to say to you?" + +"I have no idea." + +"Well, I am going to put a question to you." + +"With all my heart, dear mamma." + +"I invite you to explain to me the most singular, the most +unaccountable thing that ever fell under my notice. Will you do +this for your mother?" + +"O mamma! of course I will do anything to please you that I can; +but, indeed, I don't know what you mean." + +"I am going to tell you." + +The old lady paused. The young one, naturally enough, felt a chill +of vague anxiety strike across her frame. + +"Rose," said the old lady, speaking very gently but firmly, and +leaning in a peculiar way on her words, while her eye worked like an +ice gimlet on her daughter's face, "a little while ago, when my poor +Raynal--our benefactor--was alive--and I was happy--you all chilled +my happiness by your gloom: the whole house seemed a house of +mourning--tell me now why was this." + +"Mamma!" said Rose, after a moment's hesitation, "we could hardly be +gay. Sickness in the house! And if Colonel Raynal was alive, still +he was absent, and in danger." + +"Oh! then it was out of regard for him we were all dispirited?" + +"Why, I suppose so," said Rose, stoutly; but then colored high at +her own want of candor. However, she congratulated herself that her +mother's suspicion was confined to past events. + +Her self-congratulation on that score was short; for the baroness, +after eying her grimly for a second or two in silence, put her this +awkward question plump. + +"If so, tell me why is it that ever since that black day when the +news of his DEATH reached us, the whole house has gone into black, +and has gone out of mourning?" + +"Mamma," stammered Rose, "what DO you mean?" + +"Even poor Camille, who was so pale and wan, has recovered like +magic." + +"O mamma! is not that fancy?" said Rose, piteously. "Of what do you +suspect me? Can you think I am unfeeling--ungrateful? I should not +be YOUR daughter." + +"No, no," said the baroness, "to do you justice, you attempt sorrow; +as you put on black. But, my poor child, you do it with so little +skill that one sees a horrible gayety breaking through that thin +disguise: you are no true mourners: you are like the mutes or the +undertakers at a funeral, forced grief on the surface of your faces, +and frightful complacency below." + +"Tra la! lal! la! la! Tra la! la! Tra la! la!" carolled Jacintha, +in the colonel's room hard by. + +The ladies looked at one another: Rose in great confusion. + +"Tra la! la! la! Tra lal! lal! la! la! la!" + +"Jacintha!" screamed Rose angrily. + +"Hush! not a word," said the baroness. "Why remonstrate with HER? +Servants are but chameleons: they take the color of those they +serve. Do not cry. I wanted your confidence, not your tears, love. +There, I will not twice in one day ask you for your heart: it would +be to lower the mother, and give the daughter the pain of refusing +it, and the regret, sure to come one day, of having refused it. I +will discover the meaning of it all by myself." She went away with +a gentle sigh; and Rose was cut to the heart by her words; she +resolved, whatever it might cost her and Josephine, to make a clean +breast this very day. As she was one of those who act promptly, she +went instantly in search of her sister, to gain her consent, if +possible. + +Now, the said Josephine was in the garden walking with Camille, and +uttering a wife's tender solicitudes. + +"And must you leave me? must you risk your life again so soon; the +life on which mine depends?" + +"My dear, that letter I received from headquarters two days ago, +that inquiry whether my wound was cured. A hint, Josephine--a hint +too broad for any soldier not to take." + +"Camille, you are very proud," said Josephine, with an accent of +reproach, and a look of approval. + +"I am obliged to be. I am the husband of the proudest woman in +France." + +"Hush! not so loud: there is Dard on the grass." + +"Dard!" muttered the soldier with a word of meaning. "Josephine," +said he after a pause, and a little peevishly, "how much longer are +we to lower our voices, and turn away our eyes from each other, and +be ashamed of our happiness?" + +"Five months longer, is it not?" answered Josephine quietly. + +"Five months longer!" + +Josephine was hurt at this, and for once was betrayed into a serious +and merited remonstrance. + +"Is this just?" said she. "Think of two months ago: yes, but two +months ago, you were dying. You doubted my love, because it could +not overcome my virtue and my gratitude: yet you might have seen it +was destroying my life. Poor Raynal, my husband, my benefactor, +died. Then I could do more for you, if not with delicacy, at least +with honor; but no! words, and looks, and tender offices of love +were not enough, I must give stronger proof. Dear Camille, I have +been reared in a strict school: and perhaps none of your sex can +know what it cost me to go to Frejus that day with him I love." + +"My own Josephine!" + +"I made but one condition: that you would not rob me of my mother's +respect: to her our hasty marriage would appear monstrous, +heartless. You consented to be secretly happy for six months. One +fortnight has passed, and you are discontented again." + +"Oh, no! do not think so. It is every word true. I am an +ungrateful villain." + +"How dare you say so? and to me! No! but you are a man." + +"So I have been told; but my conduct to you, sweet one, has not been +that of a man from first to last. Yet I could die for you, with a +smile on my lips. But when I think that once I lifted this +sacrilegious hand against your life--oh!" + +"Do not be silly, Camille. I love you all the better for loving me +well enough to kill me. What woman would not? I tell you, you +foolish thing, you are a man: monseigneur is one of the lordly sex, +that is accustomed to have everything its own way. My love, in a +world that is full of misery, here are two that are condemned to be +secretly happy a few months longer: a hard fate for one of your sex, +it seems: but it is so much sweeter than the usual lot of mine, that +really I cannot share your misery," and she smiled joyously. + +"Then share my happiness, my dear wife." + +"I do; only mine is deep, not loud." + +"Why, Dard is gone, and we are out of doors; will the little birds +betray us?" + +"The lower windows are open, and I saw Jacintha in one of the +rooms." + +"Jacintha? we are in awe of the very servants. Well, if I must not +say it loud I will say it often," and putting his mouth to her ear, +he poured a burning whisper of love into it--"My love! my angel! my +wife! my wife! my wife!" + +She turned her swimming eyes on him. + +"My husband!" she whispered in return. + +Rose came out, and found them billing and cooing. "You MUST not be +so happy, you two," said she authoritatively. + +"How can we help it?" asked Camille. + +"You must and shall help it, somehow," retorted this little tyrant. +"Mamma suspects. She has given me such a cross-examination, my +blood runs cold. No, on second thoughts, kiss her again, and you +may both be as happy as you like; for I am going to tell mamma all, +and no power on earth shall hinder me." + +"Rose," said Camille, "you are a sensible girl; and I always said +so." + +But Josephine was horrified. "What! tell my mother that within a +month of my husband's death?"-- + +"Don't say your husband," put in Camille wincing; "the priest never +confirmed that union; words spoken before a magistrate do not make a +marriage in the sight of Heaven." + +Josephine cut him short. "Amongst honorable men and women all oaths +are alike sacred: and Heaven's eye is in a magistrate's room as in a +church. A daughter of Beaurepaire gave her hand to him, and called +herself his wife. Therefore, she was his wife: and is his widow. +She owes him everything; the house you are all living in among the +rest. She ought to be proud of her brief connection with that pure, +heroic spirit, and, when she is so little noble as to disown him, +then say that gratitude and justice have no longer a place among +mankind." + +"Come into the chapel," said Camille, with a voice that showed he +was hurt. + +They entered the chapel, and there they saw something that +thoroughly surprised them: a marble monument to the memory of +Raynal. It leaned at present against the wall below the place +prepared to receive it. The inscription, short, but emphatic, and +full of feeling, told of the battles he had fought in, including the +last fatal skirmish, and his marriage with the heiress of +Beaurepaire; and, in a few soldier-like words, the uprightness, +simplicity, and generosity of his character. + +They were so touched by this unexpected trait in Camille that they +both threw their arms round his neck by one impulse. "Am I wrong to +be proud of him?" said Josephine, triumphantly. + +"Well, don't say too much to me," said Camille, looking down +confused. "One tries to be good; but it is very hard--to some of +us--not to you, Josephine; and, after all, it is only the truth that +we have written on that stone. Poor Raynal! he was my old comrade; +he saved me from death, and not a soldier's death--drowning; and he +was a better man than I am, or ever shall be. Now he is dead, I can +say these things. If I had said them when he was alive, it would +have been more to my credit." + +They all three went back towards the house; and on the way Rose told +them all that had passed between the baroness and her. When she +came to the actual details of that conversation, to the words, and +looks, and tones, Josephine's uneasiness rose to an overpowering +height; she even admitted that further concealment would be very +difficult. + +"Better tell her than let her find out," said Rose. "We must tell +her some day." + +At last, after a long and agitated discussion, Josephine consented; +but Rose must be the one to tell. "So then, you at least will make +your peace with mamma," argued Josephine, "and let us go in and do +this before our courage fails; besides, it is going to rain, and it +has turned cold. Where have all these clouds come from? An hour +ago there was not one in the sky." + +They went, with hesitating steps and guilty looks, to the saloon. +Their mother was not there. Here was a reprieve. + +Rose had an idea. She would take her to the chapel, and show her +the monument, and that would please her with poor Camille. "After +that," said Rose, "I will begin by telling her all the misery you +have both gone through; and, when she pities you, then I will show +her it was all my fault your misery ended in a secret marriage." + +The confederates sat there in a chilly state, waiting for the +baroness. At last, as she did not come, Rose got up to go to her. +"When the mind is made up, it is no use being cowardly, and putting +off," said she, firmly. For all that, her cheek had but little +color left in it, when she left her chair with this resolve. + +Now as Rose went down the long saloon to carry out their united +resolve, Jacintha looked in; and, after a hasty glance to see who +was present, she waited till Rose came up to her, and then whipped a +letter from under her apron and gave it her. + +"For my mistress," said she, with an air of mystery. + +"Why not take it to her, then?" inquired Rose. + +"I thought you might like to see it first, mademoiselle," said +Jacintha, with quiet meaning. + +"Is it from the dear doctor?" asked Josephine. + +"La, no, mademoiselle, don't you know the doctor is come home? Why, +he has been in the house near an hour. He is with my lady." + +The doctor proved Jacintha correct by entering the room in person +soon after; on this Rose threw down the letter, and she and the +whole party were instantly occupied in greeting him. + +When the ladies had embraced him and Camille shaken hands with him, +they plied him with a thousand questions. Indeed, he had not half +satisfied their curiosity, when Rose happened to catch sight of the +letter again, and took it up to carry to the baroness. She now, for +the first time, eyed it attentively, and the consequence was she +uttered an exclamation, and took the first opportunity to beckon +Aubertin. + +He came to her; and she put the letter into his hand. + +He put up his glasses, and eyed it. "Yes!" whispered he, "it is +from HIM." + +Josephine and Camille saw something was going on; they joined the +other two, with curiosity in their faces. + +Rose put her hand on a small table near her, and leaned a moment. +She turned half sick at a letter coming from the dead. Josephine +now came towards her with a face of concern, and asked what was the +matter. + +The reply came from Aubertin. "My poor friends," said he, solemnly, +"this is one of those fearful things that you have not seen in your +short lives, but it has been more than once my lot to witness it. +The ships that carry letters from distant countries vary greatly in +speed, and are subject to detaining accidents. Yes, this is the +third time I have seen a letter come written by a hand known to be +cold. The baroness is a little excited to-day, I don't know from +what cause. With your approbation, Madame Raynal, I will read this +letter before I let her see it." + +"Read it, if you please." + +"Shall I read it out?" + +"Certainly. There may be some wish expressed in it; oh, I hope +there is!" + +Camille, from delicacy, retired to some little distance, and the +doctor read the letter in a low and solemn voice. + + +"MY DEAR MOTHER,--I hope all are well at Beaurepaire, as I am, or I +hope soon to be. I received a wound in our last skirmish; not a +very severe one; but it put an end to my writing for some time." + + +"Poor fellow! it was his death wound. Why, when was this written?-- +why," and the doctor paused, and seemed stupefied: "why, my dears, +has my memory gone, or"--and again he looked eagerly at the letter-- +"what was the date of the battle in which he was killed? for this +letter is dated the 15th of May. Is it a dream? no! this was +written since the date of his death." + +"No, doctor," said Rose, "you deceive yourself." + +"Why, what was the date of the Moniteur, then?" asked Aubertin, in +great agitation. + +"Considerably later than this," said Camille. + +"I don't think so; the journal! where is it?" + +"My mother has it locked up. I'll run." + +"No, Rose; no one but me. Now, Josephine, do not you go and give +way to hopes that may be delusive. I must see that journal +directly. I will go to the baroness. I shall excuse her less than +you would." + +He was scarcely gone when a cry of horror filled the room, a cry as +of madness falling like a thunderbolt on a human mind. It was +Josephine, who up to this had not uttered one word. But now she +stood, white as a corpse, in the middle of the room, and wrung her +hands. "What have I done? What shall I do? It was the 3d of May. +I see it before me in letters of fire; the 3d of May! the 3d of +May!--and he writes the 15th." + +"No! no!" cried Camille wildly. "It was long, long after time 3d." + +"It was the 3d of May," repeated Josephine in a hoarse voice that +none would have known for hers. + +Camille ran to her with words of comfort and hope; he did not share +her fears. He remembered about when the Moniteur came, though not +the very day. He threw his arm lovingly round her as if to protect +her against these shadowy terrors. Her dilating eyes seemed fixed +on something distant in space or time, at some horrible thing coming +slowly towards her. She did not see Camille approach her, but the +moment she felt him she turned upon him swiftly. + +"Do you love me?" still in the hoarse voice that had so little in it +of Josephine. "I mean, does one grain of respect or virtue mingle +in your love for me?" + +"What words are these, my wife?" + +"Then leave Raynal's house upon the instant. You wonder I can be so +cruel? I wonder too; and that I can see my duty so clear in one +short moment. But I have lived twenty years since that letter came. +Oh! my brain has whirled through a thousand agonies. And I have +come back a thousand times to the same thing; you and I must see +each other's face no more." + +"Oh!" cried Rose, "is there no way but this?" + +"Take care," she screamed, wildly, to her and Camille, "I am on the +verge of madness; is it for you two to thrust me over the precipice? +Come, now, if you are a man of honor, if you have a spark of +gratitude towards the poor woman who has given you all except her +fair name--that she will take to the grave in spite of you all-- +promise that you will leave Raynal's house this minute if he is +alive, and let me die in honor as I have lived." + +"No, no!" cried Camille, terror-stricken; "it cannot be. Heaven is +merciful, and Heaven sees how happy we are. Be calm! these are idle +fears; be calm! I say. For if it is so I will obey you. I will +stay; I will go; I will die; I will live; I will obey you." + +"Swear this to me by the thing you hold most sacred," she almost +shrieked. + +"I swear by my love for you," was his touching reply. + +Ere they had recovered a miserable composure after this passionate +outburst, all the more terrible as coming from a creature so tender +as Josephine, agitated voices were heard at the door, and the +baroness tottered in, followed by the doctor, who was trying in vain +to put some bounds to her emotion and her hopes. + +"Oh, my children! my children!" cried she, trembling violently. +"Here, Rose, my hands shake so; take this key, open the cabinet, +there is the Moniteur. What is the date?" + +The journal was found, and rapidly examined. The date was the 20th +of May. + +"There!" cried Camille. "I told you!" + +The baroness uttered a feeble moan. Her hopes died as suddenly as +they had been born, and she sank drooping into a chair, with a +bitter sigh. + +Camille stole a joyful look at Josephine. She was in the same +attitude looking straight before her as at a coming horror. +Presently Rose uttered a faint cry, "The battle was BEFORE." + +"To be sure," cried the doctor. "You forget, it is not the date of +the paper we want, but of the battle it records. For Heaven's sake, +when was the battle?" + +"The 3d of May," said Josephine, in a voice that seemed to come from +the tomb. + +Rose's hands that held the journal fell like a dead weight upon her +knees, journal and all. She whispered, "It was the 3d of May." + +"Ah!" cried the baroness, starting up, "he may yet be alive. He +must be alive. Heaven is merciful! Heaven would not take my son +from me, a poor old woman who has not long to live. There was a +letter; where is the letter?" + +"Are we mad, not to read the letter?" said the doctor. "I had it; +it has dropped from my old fingers when I went for the journal." + +A short examination of the room showed the letter lying crumpled up +near the door. Camille gave it to the baroness. She tried to read +it, but could not. + +"I am old," said she; "my hand shakes and my eyes are troubled. +This young gentleman will read it to us. His eyes are not dim and +troubled. Something tells me that when I hear this letter, I shall +find out whether my son lives. Why do you not read it to me, +Camille?" cried she, almost fiercely. + +Camille, thus pressed, obeyed mechanically, and began to read +Raynal's letter aloud, scarce knowing what he did, but urged and +driven by the baroness. + + +"MY DEAR MOTHER,--I hope all are well at Beaurepaire, as I am, or I +hope soon to be. I received a wound in our last skirmish; not a +very severe one, but it put an end to my writing for some time." + + +"Go on, dear Camille! go on." + +"The page ends there, madame," + +The paper was thin, and Camille, whose hand trembled, had some +difficulty in detaching the leaves from one another. He succeeded, +however, at last, and went on reading and writhing. + + +"By the way, you must address your next letter to me as Colonel +Raynal. I was promoted just before this last affair, but had not +time to tell you; and my wound stopped my writing till now." + + +"There, there!" cried the baroness. "He was Colonel Raynal, and +Colonel Raynal was not killed." + +The doctor implored her not to interrupt. + +"Go on, Camille. Why do you hesitate? what is the matter? Do for +pity's sake go on, sir." + +Camille cast a look of agony around, and put his hand to his brow, +on which large drops of cold perspiration, like a death dew, were +gathering; but driven to the stake on all sides, he gasped on rather +than read, for his eye had gone down the page. + + +"A namesake of mine, Commandant Raynal,"-- + + +"Ah!" + + +"has not been--so fortunate. He"-- + + +"Go on! go on!" + +The wretched man could now scarcely utter Raynal's words; they came +from him in a choking groan. + + +"he was killed, poor fellow! while heading a gallant charge upon the +enemy's flank." + + +He ground the letter convulsively in his hand, then it fell all +crumpled on the floor. + +"Bless you, Camille!" cried the baroness, "bless you! bless you! I +have a son still." + +She stooped with difficulty, took up the letter, and, kissing it +again and again, fell on her knees, and thanked Heaven aloud before +them all. Then she rose and went hastily out, and her voice was +heard crying very loud, "Jacintha! Jacintha!" + +The doctor followed in considerable anxiety for the effects of this +violent joy on so aged a person. Three remained behind, panting and +pale like those to whom dead Lazarus burst the tomb, and came forth +in a moment, at a word. Then Camille half kneeled, half fell, at +Josephine's feet, and, in a voice choked with sobs, bade her dispose +of him. + +She turned her head away. "Do not speak to me; do not look at me; +if we look at one another, we are lost. Go! die at your post, and I +at mine." + +He bowed his head, and kissed her dress, then rose calm as despair, +and white as death, and, with his knees knocking under him, tottered +away like a corpse set moving. + +He disappeared from the house. + +The baroness soon came back, triumphant and gay. + +"I have sent her to bid them ring the bells in the village. The +poor shall be feasted; all shall share our joy: my son was dead, and +lives. Oh, joy! joy! joy!" + +"Mother!" shrieked Josephine. + +"Mad woman that I am, I am too boisterous. Help me, Rose! she is +going to faint; her lips are white." + +Dr. Aubertin and Rose brought a chair. They forced Josephine into +it. She was not the least faint; yet her body obeyed their hands +just like a dead body. The baroness melted into tears; tears +streamed from Rose's eyes. Josephine's were dry and stony, and +fixed on coming horror. The baroness looked at her with anxiety. +"Thoughtless old woman! It was too sudden; it is too much for my +dear child; too much for me," and she kneeled, and laid her aged +head on her daughter's bosom, saying feebly through her tears, "too +much joy, too much joy!" + +Josephine took no notice of her. She sat like one turned to stone +looking far away over her mother's head with rigid eyes fixed on the +air and on coming horrors. + +Rose felt her arm seized. It was Aubertin. He too was pale now, +though not before. He spoke in a terrible whisper to Rose, his eye +fixed on the woman of stone that sat there. + +"IS THIS JOY?" + +Rose, by a mighty effort, raised her eyes and confronted his full. +"What else should it be?" said she. + +And with these words this Spartan girl was her sister's champion +once more against all comers, friend or foe. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Dr. Aubertin received one day a note from a publishing bookseller, +to inquire whether he still thought of giving the world his valuable +work on insects. The doctor was amazed. "My valuable work! Why, +Rose, they all refused it, and this person in particular recoiled +from it as if my insects could sting on paper." + +The above led to a correspondence, in which the convert to insects +explained that the work must be published at the author's expense, +the publisher contenting himself with the profits. The author, +thirsting for the public, consented. Then the publisher wrote again +to say that the immortal treatise must be spiced; a little politics +flung in: "Nothing goes down, else." The author answered in some +heat that he would not dilute things everlasting with the fleeting +topics of the day, nor defile science with politics. On this his +Mentor smoothed him down, despising him secretly for not seeing that +a book is a matter of trade and nothing else. It ended in Aubertin +going to Paris to hatch his Phoenix. He had not been there a week, +when a small deputation called on him, and informed him he had been +elected honorary member of a certain scientific society. The +compliment was followed by others, till at last certain ladies, with +the pliancy of their sex, find out they had always secretly cared +for butterflies. Then the naturalist smelt a rat, or, in other +words, began to scent that entomology, a form of idiocy in a poor +man, is a graceful decoration of the intellect in a rich one. + +Philosopher without bile, he saw through this, and let it amuse, not +shock him. His own species, a singularly interesting one in my +opinion, had another trait in reserve for him. + +He took a world of trouble to find out the circumstances of his +nephew's nephews and nieces: then he made arrangements for +distributing a large part of his legacy among them. His intentions +and the proportions of his generosity transpired. + +Hitherto they had been silent, but now they all fell-to and abused +him: each looking only to the amount of his individual share, not at +the sum total the doctor was giving way to an ungrateful lot. + +The donor was greatly amused, and noted down the incident and some +of the remarks in his commonplace book, under the general head of +"Bestiarium;" and the particular head of "Homo." + +Paris with its seductions netted the good doctor, and held him two +or three months; would have detained him longer, but for alarming +accounts the baroness sent of Josephine's health. These determined +him to return to Beaurepaire; and, must I own it, the announcement +was no longer hailed at Beaurepaire with universal joy as +heretofore. + + +Josephine Raynal, late Dujardin, is by this time no stranger to my +intelligent reader. I wish him to bring his knowledge of her +character and her sensibility to my aid. Imagine, as the weary +hours and days and weeks roll over her head, what this loving woman +feels for her lover whom she has dismissed; what this grateful wife +feels for the benefactor she has unwittingly wronged; but will never +wrong with her eyes open; what this lady pure as snow, and proud as +fire, feels at the seeming frailty into which a cruel combination of +circumstances has entrapped her. + +Put down the book a moment: shut your eyes: and imagine this strange +and complicated form of human suffering. + +Her mental sufferings were terrible; and for some time Rose feared +for her reason. At last her agonies subsided into a listlessness +and apathy little less alarming. She seemed a creature descending +inch by inch into the tomb. Indeed, I fully believe she would have +died of despair: but one of nature's greatest forces stepped into +the arena and fought on the side of life. She was affected with +certain bilious symptoms that added to Rose's uneasiness, but +Jacintha assured her it was nothing, and would retire and leave the +sufferer better. Jacintha, indeed, seemed now to take a particular +interest in Josephine, and was always about her with looks of pity +and interest. + +"Good creature!" thought Rose, "she sees my sister is unhappy: and +that makes her more attentive and devoted to her than ever." + +One day these three were together in Josephine's room. Josephine +was mechanically combing her long hair, when all of a sudden she +stretched out her hand and cried, "Rose!" + +Rose ran to her, and coming behind her saw in the glass that her +lips were colorless. She screamed to Jacintha, and between them +they supported Josephine to the bed. She had hardly touched it when +she fainted dead away. "Mamma! mamma!" cried Rose in her terror. + +"Hush!" cried Jacintha roughly, "hold your tongue: it is only a +faint. Help me loosen her: don't make any noise, whatever." They +loosened her stays, and applied the usual remedies, but it was some +time before she came-to. At last the color came back to her lips, +then to her cheek, and the light to her eye. She smiled feebly on +Jacintha and Rose, and asked if she had not been insensible. + +"Yes, love, and frightened us--a little--not much--oh, dear! oh, +dear!" + +"Don't be alarmed, sweet one, I am better. And I will never do it +again, since it frightens you." Then Josephine said to her sister +in a low voice, and in the Italian language, "I hoped it was death, +my sister; but he comes not to the wretched." + +"If you hoped that," replied Rose in the same language, "you do not +love your poor sister who so loves you." + +While the Italian was going on, Jacintha's dark eyes glanced +suspiciously on each speaker in turn. But her suspicions were all +wide of the mark. + +"Now may I go and tell mamma?" asked Rose. + +"No, mademoiselle, you shall not," said Jacintha. "Madame Raynal, +do take my side, and forbid her." + +"Why, what is it to you?" said Rose, haughtily. + +"If it was not something to me, should I thwart my dear young lady?" + +"No. And you shall have your own way, if you will but condescend to +give me a reason." + +This to some of us might appear reasonable, but not to Jacintha: it +even hurt her feelings. + +"Mademoiselle Rose," she said, "when you were little and used to ask +me for anything, did I ever say to you, 'Give me a REASON first'?" + +"There! she is right," said Josephine. "We should not make terms +with tried friends. Come, we will pay her devotion this compliment. +It is such a small favor. For my part I feel obliged to her for +asking it." + +Josephine's health improved steadily from that day. Her hollow +cheeks recovered their plump smoothness, and her beauty its bloom, +and her person grew more noble and statue-like than ever, and within +she felt a sense of indomitable vitality. Her appetite had for some +time been excessively feeble and uncertain, and her food tasteless; +but of late, by what she conceived to be a reaction such as is +common after youth has shaken off a long sickness, her appetite had +been not only healthy but eager. The baroness observed this, and it +relieved her of a large portion of her anxiety. One day at dinner +her maternal heart was so pleased with Josephine's performance that +she took it as a personal favor, "Well done, Josephine," said she; +"that gives your mother pleasure to see you eat again. Soup and +bouillon: and now twice you have been to Rose for some of that pate, +which does you so much credit, Jacintha." + +Josephine colored high at this compliment. + +"It is true," said she, "I eat like a pig;" and, with a furtive +glance at the said pate, she laid down her knife and fork, and ate +no more of anything. The baroness had now a droll misgiving. + +"The doctor will be angry with me," said she: "he will find her as +well as ever." + +"Madame," said Jacintha hastily, "when does the doctor come, if I +may make so bold, that I may get his room ready, you know?" + +"Well thought of, Jacintha. He comes the day after to-morrow, in +the afternoon." + +At night when the young ladies went up to bed, what did they find +but a little cloth laid on a little table in Josephine's room, and +the remains of the pate she had liked. Rose burst out laughing. +"Look at that dear duck of a goose, Jacintha! Our mother's flattery +sank deep: she thinks we can eat her pates at all hours of the day +and night. Shall I send it away?" + +"No," said Josephine, "that would hurt her culinary pride, and +perhaps her affection: only cover it up, dear, for just now I am not +in the humor: it rather turns me." + +It was covered up. The sisters retired to rest. In the morning +Rose lifted the cover and found the plate cleared, polished. She +was astounded. + +The large tapestried chamber, once occupied by Camille Dujardin, was +now turned into a sitting-room, and it was a favorite on account of +the beautiful view from the windows. + +One day Josephine sat there alone with some work in her hand; but +the needle often stopped, and the fair head drooped. She heaved a +deep sigh. To her surprise it was echoed by a sigh that, like her +own, seemed to come from a heart full of sighs. + +She turned hastily round and saw Jacintha. + +Now Josephine had all a woman's eye for reading faces, and she was +instantly struck by a certain gravity in Jacintha's gaze, and a +flutter which the young woman was suppressing with tolerable but not +complete success. + +Disguising the uneasiness this discovery gave her, she looked her +visitor full in the face, and said mildly, but a little coldly, +"Well, Jacintha?" + +Jacintha lowered her eyes and muttered slowly,-- + +"The doctor--comes--to-day," then raised her eyes all in a moment to +take Josephine off her guard; but the calm face was impenetrable. +So then Jacintha added, "to our misfortune," throwing in still more +meaning. + +"To our misfortune? A dear old friend--like him?" + +Jacintha explained. "That old man makes me shake. You are never +safe with him. So long as his head is in the clouds, you might take +his shoes off, and on he'd walk and never know it; but every now and +then he comes out of the clouds all in one moment, without a word of +warning, and when he does his eye is on everything, like a bird's. +Then he is so old: he has seen a heap. Take my word for it, the old +are more knowing than the young, let them be as sharp as you like: +the old have seen everything. WE have only heard talk of the most +part, with here and there a glimpse. To know life to the bottom you +must live it out, from the soup to the dessert; and that is what the +doctor has done, and now he is coming here. And Mademoiselle Rose +will go telling him everything; and if she tells him half what she +has seen, your secret will be no secret to that old man." + +"My secret!" gasped Josephine, turning pale. + +"Don't look so, madame: don't be frightened at poor Jacintha. +Sooner or later you MUST trust somebody besides Mademoiselle Rose." + +Josephine looked at her with inquiring, frightened eyes. + +Jacintha drew nearer to her. + +"Mademoiselle,--I beg pardon, madame,--I carried you in my arms when +I was a child. When I was a girl you toddled at my side, and held +my gown, and lisped my name, and used to put your little arms round +my neck, and kissed me, you would; and if ever I had the least pain +or sickness your dear little face would turn as sorrowful, and all +the pretty color leave it for Jacintha; and now you are in trouble, +in sore trouble, yet you turn away from me, you dare not trust me, +that would be cut in pieces ere I would betray you. Ah, +mademoiselle, you are wrong. The poor can feel: they have all seen +trouble, and a servant is the best of friends where she has the +heart to love her mistress; and do not I love you? Pray do not turn +from her who has carried you in her arms, and laid you to sleep upon +her bosom, many's and many's the time." + +Josephine panted audibly. She held out her hand eloquently to +Jacintha, but she turned her head away and trembled. + +Jacintha cast a hasty glance round the room. Then she trembled too +at what she was going to say, and the effect it might have on the +young lady. As for Josephine, terrible as the conversation had +become, she made no attempt to evade it: she remained perfectly +passive. It was the best way to learn how far Jacintha had +penetrated her secret, if at all. + +Jacintha looked fearfully round and whispered in Josephine's ear, +"When the news of Colonel Raynal's death came, you wept, but the +color came back to your cheek. When the news of his life came, you +turned to stone. Ah! my poor young lady, there has been more +between you and THAT MAN than should be. Ever since one day you all +went to Frejus together, you were a changed woman. I have seen you +look at him as--as a wife looks at her man. I have seen HIM"-- + +"Hush, Jacintha! Do not tell me what you have seen: oh! do not +remind me of joys I pray God to help me forget. He was my husband, +then!--oh, cruel Jacintha, to remind me of what I have been, of what +I am! Ah me! ah me! ah me!" + +"Your husband!" cried Jacintha in utter amazement. + +Then Josephine drooped her head on this faithful creature's +shoulder, and told her with many sobs the story I have told you. +She told it very briefly, for it was to a woman who, though little +educated, was full of feeling and shrewdness, and needed but the +bare facts: she could add the rest from her own heart and +experience: could tell the storm of feelings through which these two +unhappy lovers must have passed. Her frequent sighs of pity and +sympathy drew Josephine on to pour out all her griefs. When the +tale was ended she gave a sigh of relief. + +"It might have been worse: I thought it was worse the more fool I. +I deserve to have my head cut off." This was Jacintha's only +comment at that time. + +It was Josephine's turn to be amazed. "It could have been worse?" +said she. "How? tell me," added she bitterly. "It would be a +consolation to me, could I see that." + +Jacintha colored and evaded this question, and begged her to go on, +to keep nothing back from her. Josephine assured her she had +revealed all. Jacintha looked at her a moment in silence. + +"It is then as I half suspected. You do not know all that is before +you. You do not see why I am afraid of that old man." + +"No, not of him in particular." + +"Nor why I want to keep Mademoiselle Rose from prattling to him?" + +"No. I assure you Rose is to be trusted; she is wise--wiser than I +am." + +"You are neither of you wise. You neither of you know anything. My +poor young mistress, you are but a child still. You have a deep +water to wade through," said Jacintha, so solemnly that Josephine +trembled. "A deep water, and do not see it even. You have told me +what is past, now I must tell you what is coming. Heaven help me! +But is it possible you have no misgiving? Tell the truth, now." + +"Alas! I am full of them; at your words, at your manner, they fly +around me in crowds." + +"Have you no ONE?" + +"No." + +"Then turn your head from me a bit, my sweet young lady; I am an +honest woman, though I am not so innocent as you, and I am forced +against my will to speak my mind plainer than I am used to." + +Then followed a conversation, to detail which might anticipate our +story; suffice it to say, that Rose, coming into the room rather +suddenly, found her sister weeping on Jacintha's bosom, and Jacintha +crying and sobbing over her. + +She stood and stared in utter amazement. + + +Dr. Aubertin, on his arrival, was agreeably surprised at Madame +Raynal's appearance. He inquired after her appetite. + +"Oh, as to her appetite," cried the baroness, "that is immense." + +"Indeed!" + +"It was," explained Josephine, "just when I began to get better, but +now it is as much as usual." This answer had been arranged +beforehand by Jacintha. She added, "The fact is, we wanted to see +you, doctor, and my ridiculous ailments were a good excuse for +tearing you from Paris."--"And now we have succeeded," said Rose, +"let us throw off the mask, and talk of other things; above all, of +Paris, and your eclat." + +"For all that," persisted the baroness, "she was ill, when I first +wrote, and very ill too." + +"Madame Raynal," said the doctor solemnly, "your conduct has been +irregular; once ill, and your illness announced to your medical +adviser, etiquette forbade you to get well but by his prescriptions. +Since, then, you have shown yourself unfit to conduct a malady, it +becomes my painful duty to forbid you henceforth ever to be ill at +all, without my permission first obtained in writing." + +This badinage was greatly relished by Rose, but not at all by the +baroness, who was as humorless as a swan. + +He stayed a month at Beaurepaire, then off to Paris again: and being +now a rich man, and not too old to enjoy innocent pleasures, he got +a habit of running backwards and forwards between the two places, +spending a month or so at each alternately. So the days rolled on. +Josephine fell into a state that almost defies description; her +heart was full of deadly wounds, yet it seemed, by some mysterious, +half-healing balm, to throb and ache, but bleed no more. Beams of +strange, unreasonable complacency would shoot across her; the next +moment reflection would come, she would droop her head, and sigh +piteously. Then all would merge in a wild terror of detection. She +seemed on the borders of a river of bliss, new, divine, and +inexhaustible: and on the other bank mocking malignant fiends dared +her to enter that heavenly stream. The past to her was full of +regrets; the future full of terrors, and empty of hope. Yet she did +not, could not succumb. Instead of the listlessness and languor of +a few months back, she had now more energy than ever; at times it +mounted to irritation. An activity possessed her: it broke out in +many feminine ways. Among the rest she was seized with what we men +call a cacoethes of the needle: "a raging desire" for work. Her +fingers itched for work. She was at it all day. As devotees retire +to pray, so she to stitch. On a wet day she would often slip into +the kitchen, and ply the needle beside Jacintha: on a dry day she +would hide in the old oak-tree, and sit like a mouse, and ply the +tools of her craft, and make things of no mortal use to man or +woman; and she tried little fringes of muslin upon her white hand, +and held it up in front of her, and smiled, and then moaned. It was +winter, and Rose used sometimes to bring her out a thick shawl, as +she sat in the old oak-tree stitching, but Josephine nearly always +declined it. SHE WAS NEARLY IMPERVIOUS TO COLD. + +Then, her purse being better filled than formerly, she visited the +poor more than ever, and above all the young couples; and took a +warm interest in their household matters, and gave them muslin +articles of her own making, and sometimes sniffed the soup in a +young housewife's pot, and took a fancy to it, and, if invited to +taste it, paid her the compliment of eating a good plateful of it, +and said it was much better soup than the chateau produced, and, +what is stranger, thought so: and, whenever some peevish little brat +set up a yell in its cradle and the father naturally enough shook +his fist at the destroyer of his peace, Madame Raynal's lovely face +filled with concern not for the sufferer but the pest, and she flew +to it and rocked it and coaxed it and consoled it, till the young +housewife smiled and stopped its mouth by other means. And, besides +the five-franc pieces she gave the infants to hold, these visits of +Madame Raynal were always followed by one from Jacintha with a +basket of provisions on her stalwart arm, and honest Sir John +Burgoyne peeping out at the corner. Kind and beneficent as she was, +her temper deteriorated considerably, for it came down from angelic +to human. Rose and Jacintha were struck with the change, assented +to everything she said, and encouraged her in everything it pleased +her caprice to do. Meantime the baroness lived on her son Raynal's +letters (they came regularly twice a month). Rose too had a +correspondence, a constant source of delight to her. Edouard +Riviere was posted at a distance, and could not visit her; but their +love advanced rapidly. Every day he wrote down for his Rose the +acts of the day, and twice a week sent the budget to his sweetheart, +and told her at the same time every feeling of his heart. She was +less fortunate than he; she had to carry a heavy secret; but still +she found plenty to tell him, and tender feelings too to vent on him +in her own arch, shy, fitful way. Letters can enchain hearts; it +was by letters that these two found themselves imperceptibly +betrothed. Their union was looked forward to as certain, and not +very distant. Rose was fairly in love. + +One day, Dr. Aubertin, coming back from Paris to Beaurepaire rather +suddenly, found nobody at home but the baroness. Josephine and Rose +were gone to Frejus; had been there more than a week. She was +ailing again; so as Frejus had agreed with her once, Rose thought it +might again. "She would send for them back directly." + +"No," said the doctor, "why do that? I will go over there and see +them." Accordingly, a day or two after this, he hired a carriage, +and went off early in the morning to Frejus. In so small a place he +expected to find the young ladies at once; but, to his surprise, no +one knew them nor had heard of them. He was at a nonplus, and just +about to return home and laugh at himself and the baroness for this +wild-goose chase, when he fell in with a face he knew, one Mivart, a +surgeon, a young man of some talent, who had made his acquaintance +in Paris. Mivart accosted him with great respect; and, after the +first compliments, informed him that he had been settled some months +in this little town, and was doing a fair stroke of business. + +"Killing some, and letting nature cure others, eh?" said the doctor; +then, having had his joke, he told Mivart what had brought him to +Frejus. + +"Are they pretty women, your friends? I think I know all the pretty +women about," said Mivart with levity. "They are not pretty," +replied Aubertin. Mivart's interest in them faded visibly out of +his countenance. "But they are beautiful. The elder might pass for +Venus, and the younger for Hebe." + +"I know them then!" cried he; "they are patients of mine." + +The doctor colored. "Ah, indeed!" + +"In the absence of your greater skill," said Mivart, politely; "it +is Madame Aubertin and her sister you are looking for, is it not?" + +Aubertin groaned. "I am rather too old to be looking for a Madame +Aubertin," said he; "no; it is Madame Raynal, and Mademoiselle de +Beaurepaire." + +Mivart became confidential. "Madame Aubertin and her sister," said +he, "are so lovely they make me ill to look at them: the deepest +blue eyes you ever saw, both of them; high foreheads; teeth like +ivory mixed with pearl; such aristocratic feet and hands; and their +arms--oh!" and by way of general summary the young surgeon kissed +the tips of his fingers, and was silent; language succumbed under +the theme. The doctor smiled coldly. + +Mivart added, "If you had come an hour sooner, you might have seen +Mademoiselle Rose; she was in the town." + +"Mademoiselle Rose? who is that?" + +"Why, Madame Aubertin's sister." + +At this Dr. Aubertin looked first very puzzled, then very grave. + +"Hum!" said he, after a little reflection, "where do these paragons +live?" + +"They lodge at a small farm; it belongs to a widow; her name is +Roth." They parted. Dr. Aubertin walked slowly towards his +carriage, his hands behind him, his eyes on the ground. He bade the +driver inquire where the Widow Roth lived, and learned it was about +half a league out of the town. He drove to the farmhouse; when the +carriage drove up, a young lady looked out of the window on the +first floor. It was Rose de Beaurepaire. She caught the doctor's +eye, and he hers. She came down and welcomed him with a great +appearance of cordiality, and asked him, with a smile, how he found +them out. + +"From your medical attendant," said the doctor, dryly. + +Rose looked keenly in his face. + +"He said he was in attendance on two paragons of beauty, blue eyes, +white teeth and arms." + +"And you found us out by that?" inquired Rose, looking still more +keenly at him. + +"Hardly; but it was my last chance of finding you, so I came. Where +is Madame Raynal?" + +"Come into this room, dear friend. I will go and find her." + +Full twenty minutes was the doctor kept waiting, and then in came +Rose, gayly crying, "I have hunted her high and low, and where do +you think my lady was? sitting out in the garden--come." + +Sure enough, they found Josephine in the garden, seated on a low +chair. She smiled when the doctor came up to her, and asked after +her mother. There was an air of languor about her; her color was +clear, delicate, and beautiful. + +"You have been unwell, my child." + +"A little, dear friend; you know me; always ailing, and tormenting +those I love." + +"Well! but, Josephine, you know this place and this sweet air always +set you up. Look at her now, doctor; did you ever see her look +better? See what a color. I never saw her look more lovely." + +"I never saw her look SO lovely; but I have seen her look better. +Your pulse. A little languid?" + +"Yes, I am a little." + +"Do you stay at Beaurepaire?" inquired Rose; "if so, we will come +home." + +"On the contrary, you will stay here another fortnight," said the +doctor, authoritatively. + +"Prescribe some of your nice tonics for me, doctor," said Josephine, +coaxingly. + +"No! I can't do that; you are in the hands of another practitioner." + +"What does that matter? You were at Paris." + +"It is not the etiquette in our profession to interfere with another +man's patients." + +"Oh, dear! I am so sorry," began Josephine. + +"I see nothing here that my good friend Mivart is not competent to +deal with," said the doctor, coldly. + +Then followed some general conversation, at the end of which the +doctor once more laid his commands on them to stay another fortnight +where they were, and bade them good-by. + +He was no sooner gone than Rose went to the door of the kitchen, and +called out, "Madame Jouvenel! Madame Jouvenel! you may come into +the garden again." + +The doctor drove away; but, instead of going straight to Beaurepaire, +he ordered the driver to return to the town. He then walked to +Mivart's house. + +In about a quarter of an hour he came out of it, looking singularly +grave, sad, and stern. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +Edouard Riviere contrived one Saturday to work off all arrears of +business, and start for Beaurepaire. He had received a very kind +letter from Rose, and his longing to see her overpowered him. On +the road his eyes often glittered, and his cheek flushed with +expectation. At last he got there. His heart beat: for four months +he had not seen her. He ran up into the drawing-room, and there +found the baroness alone; she welcomed him cordially, but soon let +him know Rose and her sister were at Frejus. His heart sank. +Frejus was a long way off. But this was not all. Rose's last +letter was dated from Beaurepaire, yet it must have been written at +Frejus. He went to Jacintha, and demanded an explanation of this. +The ready Jacintha said it looked as if she meant to be home +directly; and added, with cool cunning, "That is a hint for me to +get their rooms ready." + +"This letter must have come here enclosed in another," said Edouard, +sternly. + +"Like enough," replied Jacintha, with an appearance of sovereign +indifference. + +Edouard looked at her, and said, grimly, "I will go to Frejus." + +"So I would," said Jacintha, faltering a little, but not +perceptibly; "you might meet them on the road, if so be they come +the same road; there are two roads, you know." + +Edouard hesitated; but he ended by sending Dard to the town on his +own horse, with orders to leave him at the inn, and borrow a fresh +horse. "I shall just have time," said he. He rode to Frejus, and +inquired at the inns and post-office for Mademoiselle de +Beaurepaire. They did not know her; then he inquired for Madame +Raynal. No such name known. He rode by the seaside upon the chance +of their seeing him. He paraded on horseback throughout the place, +in hopes every moment that a window would open, and a fair face +shine at it, and call him. At last his time was up, and he was +obliged to ride back, sick at heart, to Beaurepaire. He told the +baroness, with some natural irritation, what had happened. She was +as much surprised as he was. + +"I write to Madame Raynal at the post-office, Frejus," said she. + +"And Madame Raynal gets your letters?" + +"Of course she does, since she answers them; you cannot have +inquired at the post." + +"Why, it was the first place I inquired at, and neither Mademoiselle +de Beaurepaire nor Madame Raynal were known there." + +Jacintha, who could have given the clew, seemed so puzzled herself, +that they did not even apply to her. Edouard took a sorrowful leave +of the baroness, and set out on his journey home. + +Oh! how sad and weary that ride seemed now by what it had been +coming. His disappointment was deep and irritating; and ere he had +ridden half way a torturer fastened on his heart. That torture is +suspicion; a vague and shadowy, but gigantic phantom that oppresses +and rends the mind more terribly than certainty. In this state of +vague, sickening suspicion, he remained some days: then came an +affectionate letter from Rose, who had actually returned home. In +this she expressed her regret and disappointment at having missed +him; blamed herself for misleading him, but explained that their +stay at Frejus had been prolonged from day to day far beyond her +expectation. "The stupidity of the post-office was more than she +could account for," said she. But, what went farthest to console +Edouard, was, that after this contretemps she never ceased to invite +him to come to Beaurepaire. Now, before this, though she said many +kind and pretty things in her letters, she had never invited him to +visit the chateau; he had noticed this. "Sweet soul," thought he, +"she really is vexed. I must be a brute to think any more about it. +Still"-- + +So this wound was skinned over. + +At last, what he called his lucky star ordained that he should be +transferred to the very post his Commandant Raynal had once +occupied. He sought and obtained permission to fix his quarters in +the little village near Beaurepaire, and though this plan could not +be carried out for three months, yet the prospect of it was joyful +all that time--joyful to both lovers. Rose needed this consolation, +for she was very unhappy: her beloved sister, since their return +from Frejus, had gone back. The flush of health was faded, and so +was her late energy. She fell into deep depression and languor, +broken occasionally by fits of nervous irritation. + +She would sit for hours together at one window languishing and +fretting. Can the female reader guess which way that window looked? + +Now, Edouard was a favorite of Josephine's; so Rose hoped he would +help to distract her attention from those sorrows which a lapse of +years alone could cure. + +On every account, then, his visit was looked forward to with hope +and joy. + +He came. He was received with open arms. He took up his quarters +at his old lodgings, but spent his evenings and every leisure hour +at the chateau. + +He was very much in love, and showed it. He adhered to Rose like a +leech, and followed her about like a little dog. + +This would have made her very happy if there had been nothing great +to distract her attention and her heart; but she had Josephine, +whose deep depression and fits of irritation and terror filled her +with anxiety; and so Edouard was in the way now and then. On these +occasions he was too vain to see what she was too polite to show him +offensively. + +But on this she became vexed at his obtuseness. + +"Does he think I can be always at his beck and call?" thought she. + +"She is always after her sister," said he. + +He was just beginning to be jealous of Josephine when the following +incident occurred:-- + +Rose and the doctor were discussing Josephine. Edouard pretended to +be reading a book, but he listened to every word. + +Dr. Aubertin gave it as his opinion that Madame Raynal did not make +enough blood. + +"Oh! if I thought that!" cried Rose. + +"Well, then, it is so, I assure you." + +"Doctor," said Rose, "do you remember, one day you said healthy +blood could be drawn from robust veins and poured into a sick +person's?" + +"It is a well-known fact," said Aubertin. + +"I don't believe it," said Rose, dryly. + +"Then you place a very narrow limit to science," said the doctor, +coldly. + +"Did you ever see it done?" asked Rose, slyly. + +"I have not only seen it done, but have done it myself." + +"Then do it for us. There's my arm; take blood from that for dear +Josephine!" and she thrust a white arm out under his eye with such a +bold movement and such a look of fire and love as never beamed from +common eyes. + +A keen, cold pang shot through the human heart of Edouard Riviere. + +The doctor started and gazed at her with admiration: then he hung +his head. "I could not do it. I love you both too well to drain +either of life's current." + +Rose veiled her fire, and began to coax. "Once a week; just once a +week, dear, dear doctor; you know I should never miss it. I am so +full of that health, which Heaven denies to her I love." + +"Let us try milder measures first," said the doctor. "I have most +faith in time." + +"What if I were to take her to Frejus? hitherto, the sea has always +done wonders for her." + +"Frejus, by all means," said Edouard, mingling suddenly in the +conversation; "and this time I will go with you, and then I shall +find out where you lodged before, and how the boobies came to say +they did not know you." + +Rose bit her lip. She could not help seeing then how much dear +Edouard was in her way and Josephine's. Their best friends are in +the way of all who have secrets. Presently the doctor went to his +study. Then Edouard let fall a mock soliloquy. "I wonder," said +he, dropping out his words one by one, "whether any one will ever +love me well enough to give a drop of their blood for me." + +"If you were in sickness and sorrow, who knows?" said Rose, coloring +up. + +"I would soon be in sickness and sorrow if I thought that." + +"Don't jest with such matters, monsieur." + +"I am serious. I wish I was as ill as Madame Raynal is, to be loved +as she is." + +"You must resemble her in some other things to be loved as she is. + +"You have often made me feel that of late, dear Rose." + +This touched her. But she fought down the kindly feeling. "I am +glad of it," said she, out of perverseness. She added after a +while, "Edouard, you are naturally jealous." + +"Not the least in the world, Rose, I assure you. I have many +faults, but jealous I am not." + +"Oh, yes, you are, and suspicious, too; there is something in your +character that alarms me for our happiness." + +"Well, if you come to that, there are things in YOUR conduct I could +wish explained." + +"There! I said so. You have not confidence in me." + +"Pray don't say that, dear Rose. I have every confidence in you; +only please don't ask me to divest myself of my senses and my +reason." + +"I don't ask you to do that or anything else for me; good-by, for +the present." + +"Where are you going now? tic! tic! I never can get a word in peace +with you." + +"I am not going to commit murder. I'm only going up-stairs to my +sister." + +"Poor Madame Raynal, she makes it very hard for me not to dislike +her." + +"Dislike my Josephine?" and Rose bristled visibly. + +"She is an angel, but I should hate an angel if it came forever +between you and me." + +"Excuse me, she was here long before you. It is you that came +between her and me." + +"I came because I was told I should be welcome," said Edouard +bitterly, and equivocating a little; he added, "and I dare say I +shall go when I am told I am one too many." + +"Bad heart! who says you are one too many in the house? But you are +too exigent, monsieur; you assume the husband, and you tease me. It +is selfish; can you not see I am anxious and worried? you ought to +be kind to me, and soothe me; that is what I look for from you, and, +instead of that, I declare you are getting to be quite a worry." + +"I should not be if you loved me as I love you. I give YOU no +rival. Shall I tell you the cause of all this? you have secrets." + +"What secrets?" + +"Is it me you ask? am I trusted with them? Secrets are a bond that +not even love can overcome. It is to talk secrets you run away from +me to Madame Raynal. Where did you lodge at Frejus, Mademoiselle +the Reticent?" + +"In a grotto, dry at low water, Monsieur the Inquisitive." + +"That is enough: since you will not tell me, I will find it out +before I am a week older." + +This alarmed Rose terribly, and drove her to extremities. She +decided to quarrel. + +"Sir," said she, "I thank you for playing the tyrant a little +prematurely; it has put me on my guard. Let us part; you and I are +not suited to each other, Edouard Riviere." + +He took this more humbly than she expected. "Part!" said he, in +consternation; "that is a terrible word to pass between you and me. +Forgive me! I suppose I am jealous." + +"You are; you are actually jealous of my sister. Well, I tell you +plainly I love you, but I love my sister better. I never could love +any man as I do her; it is ridiculous to expect such a thing." + +"And do you think I could bear to play second fiddle to her all my +life?" + +"I don't ask you. Go and play first trumpet to some other lady." + +"You speak your wishes so plainly now, I have nothing to do but to +obey." + +He kissed her hand and went away disconsolately. + +Rose, instead of going to Josephine, her determination to do which +had mainly caused the quarrel, sat sadly down, and leaned her head +on her hand. "I am cruel. I am ungrateful. He has gone away +broken-hearted. And what shall I do without him?--little fool! I +love him better than he loves me. He will never forgive me. I have +wounded his vanity; and they are vainer than we are. If we meet at +dinner I will be so kind to him, he will forget it all. No! Edouard +will not come to dinner. He is not a spaniel that you can beat, and +then whistle back again. Something tells me I have lost him, and if +I have, what shall I do? I will write him a note. I will ask him +to forgive me." + +She sat down at the table, and took a sheet of notepaper and began +to write a few conciliatory words. She was so occupied in making +these kind enough, and not too kind, that a light step approached +her unobserved. She looked up and there was Edouard. She whipped +the paper off the table. + +A look of suspicion and misery crossed Edouard's face. + +Rose caught it, and said, "Well, am I to be affronted any more?" + +"No, Rose. I came back to beg you to forget what passed just now," +said he. + +Rose's eye flashed; his return showed her her power. She abused it +directly. + +"How can I forget it if you come reminding me?" + +"Dear Rose, now don't be so unkind, so cruel--I have not come back +to tease you, sweet one. I come to know what I can do to please +you; to make you love me again?" and he was about to kneel +graciously on one knee. + +"I'll tell you. Don't come near me for a month." + +Edouard started up, white as ashes with mortification and wounded +love. + +"This is how you treat me for humbling myself, when it is you that +ought to ask forgiveness." + +"Why should I ask what I don't care about?" + +"What DO you care about?--except that sister of yours? You have no +heart. And on this cold-blooded creature I have wasted a love an +empress might have been proud of inspiring. I pray Heaven some man +may sport with your affections, you heartless creature, as you have +played with mine, and make you suffer what I suffer now!" + +And with a burst of inarticulate grief and rage he flung out of the +room. + +Rose sank trembling on the sofa a little while: then with a mighty +effort rose and went to comfort her sister. + +Edouard came no more to Beaurepaire. + + +There is an old French proverb, and a wise one, "Rien n'est certain +que l'imprevu;" it means you can make sure of nothing but this, that +matters will not turn as you feel sure they will. And, even for +this reason, you, who are thinking of suicide because trade is +declining, speculation failing, bankruptcy impending, or your life +going to be blighted forever by unrequited love--DON'T DO IT. +Whether you are English, American, French, or German, listen to a +man that knows what is what, and DON'T DO IT. I tell you none of +those horrors, when they really come, will affect you as you fancy +they will. The joys we expect are not a quarter so bright, nor the +troubles half so dark as we think they will be. Bankruptcy coming +is one thing, come is quite another: and no heart or life was ever +really blighted at twenty years of age. The love-sick girls that +are picked out of the canal alive, all, without exception, marry +another man, have brats, and get to screech with laughter when they +think of sweetheart No. 1, generally a blockhead, or else a +blackguard, whom they were fools enough to wet their clothes for, +let alone kill their souls. This happens INVARIABLY. The love-sick +girls that are picked out of the canal dead have fled from a year's +misery to eternal pain, from grief that time never failed to cure, +to anguish incurable. In this world "Rien n'est certain que +l'imprevu." + +Edouard and Rose were tender lovers, at a distance. How much +happier and more loving they thought they should be beneath the same +roof. They came together: their prominent faults of character +rubbed: the secret that was in the house did its work: and +altogether, they quarrelled. L'imprevu. + +Dard had been saying to Jacintha for ever so long, "When granny +dies, I will marry you." + +Granny died. Dard took possession of her little property. Up came +a glittering official, and turned him out; he was not her heir. +Perrin, the notary, was. He had bought the inheritance of her two +sons, long since dead. + +Dard had not only looked on the cottage and cow, as his, but had +spoken of them as such for years. The disappointment and the irony +of comrades ate into him. + +"I will leave this cursed place," said he. + +Josephine instantly sent for him to Beaurepaire. He came, and was +factotum with the novelty of a fixed salary. Jacintha accommodated +him with a new little odd job or two. She set him to dance on the +oak floors with a brush fastened to his right foot; and, after a +rehearsal or two, she made him wait at table. Didn't he bang the +things about: and when he brought a lady a dish, and she did not +instantly attend, he gave her elbow a poke to attract attention: +then she squeaked; and he grinned at her double absurdity in minding +a touch, and not minding the real business of the table. + +But his wrongs rankled in him. He vented antique phrases such as, +"I want a change;" "This village is the last place the Almighty +made," etc. + +Then he was attacked with a moral disease: affected the company of +soldiers. He spent his weekly salary carousing with the military, a +class of men so brilliant that they are not expected to pay for +their share of the drink; they contribute the anecdotes and the +familiar appeals to Heaven: and is not that enough? + +Present at many recitals, the heroes of which lost nothing by being +their own historians, Dard imbibed a taste for military adventure. +His very talk, which used to be so homely, began now to be tinselled +with big swelling words of vanity imported from the army. I need +hardly say these bombastical phrases did not elevate his general +dialect: they lay fearfully distinct upon the surface, "like lumps +of marl upon a barren soil, encumbering the ground they could not +fertilize." + +Jacintha took leave to remind him of an incident connected with +warfare--wounds. + +"Do you remember how you were down upon your luck when you did but +cut your foot? Why, that is nothing in the army. They never go out +to fight but some come back with arms off, and some with legs off +and some with heads; and the rest don't come back at all: and how +would you like that?" + +This intrusion of statistics into warfare at first cooled Dard's +impatience for the field. But presently the fighting half of his +heart received an ally in one Sergeant La Croix (not a bad name for +a military aspirant). This sergeant was at the village waiting to +march with the new recruits to the Rhine. Sergeant La Croix was a +man who, by force of eloquence, could make soldiering appear the +most delightful as well as glorious of human pursuits. His tongue +fired the inexperienced soul with a love of arms, as do the drums +and trumpets and tramp of soldiers, and their bayonets glittering in +the sun. He would have been worth his weight in fustian here, where +we recruit by that and jargon; he was superfluous in France, where +they recruited by force: but he was ornamental: and he set Dard and +one or two more on fire. Indeed, so absorbing was his sense of +military glory, that there was no room left in him for that mere +verbal honor civilians call veracity. + +To speak plainly, the sergeant was a fluent, fertile, interesting, +sonorous, prompt, audacious liar: and such was his success, that +Dard and one or two more became mere human fiction pipes--of +comparatively small diameter--irrigating a rural district with false +views of military life, derived from that inexhaustible reservoir, +La Croix. + +At last the long-threatened conscription was levied: every person +fit to bear arms, and not coming under the allowed exceptions, drew +a number: and at a certain hour the numbers corresponding to these +were deposited in an urn, and one-third of them were drawn in +presence of the authorities. Those men whose numbers were drawn had +to go for soldiers. Jacintha awaited the result in great anxiety. +She could not sit at home for it; so she went down the road to meet +Dard, who had promised to come and tell her the result as soon as +known. At last she saw him approaching in a disconsolate way. "O +Dard! speak! are we undone? are you a dead man?" cried she. "Have +they made a soldier of you?" + +"No such luck: I shall die a man of all work," grunted Dard. + +"And you are sorry? you unnatural little monster! you have no +feeling for me, then." + +"Oh, yes, I have; but glory is No. 1 with me now." + +"How loud the bantams crow! You leave glory to fools that be six +feet high." + +"General Bonaparte isn't much higher than I am, and glory sits upon +his brow. Why shouldn't glory sit upon my brow?" + +"Because it would weigh you down, and smother you, you little fool." +She added, "And think of me, that couldn't bear you to be killed at +any price, glory or no glory." + +Then, to appease her fears, Dard showed her his number, 99; and +assured her he had seen the last number in the functionary's hand +before he came away, and it was sixty something. + +This ocular demonstration satisfied Jacintha; and she ordered Dard +to help her draw the water. + +"All right," said he, "there is no immortal glory to be picked up +to-day, so I'll go in for odd jobs." + +While they were at this job a voice was heard hallooing. Dard +looked up, and there was a rigid military figure, with a tremendous +mustache, peering about. Dard was overjoyed. It was his friend, +his boon-companion. "Come here, old fellow," cried he, "ain't I +glad to see you, that is all?" La Croix marched towards the pair. +"What are you skulking here for, recruit ninety-nine?" said he, +sternly, dropping the boon-companion in the sergeant; "the rest are +on the road." + +"The rest, old fellow! what do you mean? why, I was not drawn." + +"Yes, you were." + +"No, I wasn't." + +"Thunder of war, but I say you were. Yours was the last number." + +"That is an unlucky guess of yours, for I saw the last number. Look +here," and he fumbled in his pocket, and produced his number. + +La Croix instantly fished out a corresponding number. + +"Well, and here you are; this was the last number drawn." + +Dard burst out laughing. + +"You goose!" said he, "that is sixty-six--look at it." + +"Sixty-six!" roared the sergeant; "no more than yours is--they are +both sixty-sixes when you play tricks with them, and turn them up +like that; but they are both ninety-nines when you look at them +fair." + +Dard scratched his head. + +"Come," said the corporal, briskly, "make up his bundle, girl, and +let us be off; we have got our marching orders; going to the Rhine." + +"And do you think that I will let him go?" screamed Jacintha. "No! +I will say one word to Madame Raynal, and she will buy him a +substitute directly." + +Dard stopped her sullenly. "No! I have told all in the village that +I would go the first chance: it is come, and I'll go. I won't stay +to be laughed at about this too. If I was sure to be cut in pieces, +I'd go. Give over blubbering, girl, and get us a bottle of the best +wine, and while we are drinking it, the sergeant and I, you make up +my bundle. I shall never do any good here." + +Jacintha knew the obstinate toad. She did as she was bid, and soon +the little bundle was ready, and the two men faced the wine; La +Croix, radiant and bellicose; Dard, crestfallen but dogged (for +there was a little bit of good stuff at the bottom of the creature); +and Jacintha rocking herself, with her apron over her head. + +"I'll give you a toast," said La Croix. "Here's gunpowder." + +Jacintha promptly honored the toast with a flood of tears. + +"Drop that, Jacintha," said Dard, angrily; "do you think that is +encouraging? Sergeant, I told this poor girl all about glory before +you came, but she was not ripe for it: say something to cheer her +up, for I can't." + +"I can," cried this trumpet of battle, emptying its glass. +"Attention, young woman." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! yes, sir." + +"A French soldier is a man who carries France in his heart"-- + +"But if the cruel foreign soldiers kill him? Oh!" + +"Why, in that case, he does not care a straw. Every man must die; +horses likewise, and dogs, and donkeys, when they come to the end of +their troubles; but dogs and donkeys and chaps in blouses can't die +gloriously; as Dard may, if he has any luck at all: so, from this +hour, if there was twice as little of him, be proud of him, for from +this time he is a part of France and her renown. Come, recruit +ninety-nine, shoulder your traps at duty's call, and let us go forth +in form. Attention! Quick--march! Halt! is that the way I showed +you to march? Didn't I tell you to start from the left? Now try +again. QUICK--march! left--right--left--right--left--right--NOW +you've--GOT it--DRAT ye,--KEEP it--left--right--left--right--left-- +right." And with no more ado the sergeant marched the little odd- +job man to the wars. + +VIVE LA FRANCE! + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Edouard, the moment his temper cooled, became very sad. He longed +to be friends again with Rose, but did not know how. His own pride +held him back, and so did his fear that he had gone too far, and +that his offended mistress would not listen to an offer of +reconciliation from him. He sat down alone now to all his little +meals. No sweet, mellow voices in his ear after the fatigues of the +day. It was a dismal change in his life. + +At last, one day, he received three lines from Josephine, requesting +him to come and speak to her. He went over directly, full of vague +hopes. He found her seated pale and languid in a small room on the +ground floor. + +"What has she been doing to you, dear?" began she kindly. + +"Has she not told you, Madame Raynal?" + +"No; she is refractory. She will tell me nothing, and that makes me +fear she is the one in fault." + +"Oh! if she does not accuse me, I am sure I will not accuse her. I +dare say I am to blame; it is not her fault that I cannot make her +love me." + +"But you can. She does." + +"Yes; but she loves others better, and she holds me out no hope it +will ever be otherwise. On this one point how can I hope for your +sympathy; unfortunately for me you are one of my rivals. She told +me plainly she never could love me as she loves you." + +"And you believed her?" + +"I had good reason to believe her." + +Josephine smiled sadly. "Dear Edouard," said she, "you must not +attach so much importance to every word we say. Does Rose at her +age know everything? Is she a prophet? Perhaps she really fancies +she will always love her sister as she does now; but you are a man +of sense; you ought to smile and let her talk. When you marry her +you will take her to your own house; she will only see me now and +then; she will have you and your affection always present. Each day +some new tie between you and her. You two will share every joy, +every sorrow. Your children playing at your feet, and reflecting +the features of both parents, will make you one. Your hearts will +melt together in that blessed union which raises earth so near to +heaven; and then you will wonder you could ever be jealous of poor +Josephine, who must never hope--ah, me!" + +Edouard, wrapped up in himself, mistook Josephine's emotion at the +picture she had drawn of conjugal love. He soothed her, and vowed +upon his honor he never would separate Rose from her. + +"Madame Raynal," said he, "you are an angel, and I am a fiend. +Jealousy must be the meanest of all sentiments. I never will be +jealous again, above all, of you, sweet angel. Why, you are my +sister as well as hers, and she has a right to love you, for I love +you myself." + +"You make me very happy when you talk so," sighed Josephine. "Peace +is made?" + +"Never again to be broken. I will go and ask her pardon. What is +the matter now?" + +For Jacintha was cackling very loud, and dismissing with ignominy +two beggars, male and female. + +She was industry personified, and had no sympathy with mendicity. +In vain the couple protested, Heaven knows with what truth, that +they were not beggars, but mechanics out of work. "March! tramp!" +was Jacintha's least word. She added, giving the rein to her +imagination, "I'll loose the dog." The man moved away, the woman +turned appealingly to Edouard. He and Josephine came towards the +group. She had got a sort of large hood, and in that hood she +carried an infant on her shoulders. Josephine inspected it. "It +looks sickly, poor little thing," said she. + +"What can you expect, young lady?" said the woman. "Its mother had +to rise and go about when she ought to have been in her bed, and now +she has not enough to give it." + +"Oh, dear!" cried Josephine. "Jacintha, give them some food and a +nice bottle of wine." + +"That I will," cried Jacintha, changing her tone with courtier-like +alacrity. "I did not see she was nursing." + +Josephine put a franc into the infant's hand; the little fingers +closed on it with that instinct of appropriation, which is our first +and often our last sentiment. Josephine smiled lovingly on the +child, and the child seeing that gave a small crow. + +"Bless it," said Josephine, and thereupon her lovely head reared +itself like a snake's, and then darted down on the child; and the +young noble kissed the beggar's brat as if she would eat it. + +This won the mother's heart more than even the gifts. + +"Blessings on you, my lady!" she cried. "I pray the Lord not to +forget this when a woman's trouble comes on you in your turn! It is +a small child, mademoiselle, but it is not an unhealthy one. See." +Inspection was offered, and eagerly accepted. + +Edouard stood looking on at some distance in amazement, mingled with +disgust. + +"Ugh!" said he, when she rejoined him, "how could you kiss that +nasty little brat?" + +"Dear Edouard, don't speak so of a poor little innocent. Who would +pity them if we women did not? It had lovely eyes." + +"Like saucers." + +"Yes." + +"It is no compliment when you are affectionate to anybody; you +overflow with benevolence on all creation, like the rose which sheds +its perfume on the first-comer." + +"If he is not going to be jealous of me next," whined Josephine. + +She took him to Rose, and she said, "There, whenever good friends +quarrel, it is understood they were both in the wrong. Bygones are +to be bygones; and when your time comes round to quarrel again, +please consult me first, since it is me you will afflict." She left +them together, and went and tapped timidly at the doctor's study. + +Aubertin received her with none of that reserve she had seen in him. +He appeared both surprised and pleased at her visit to his little +sanctum. He even showed an emotion Josephine was at a loss to +account for. But that wore off during the conversation, and, +indeed, gave place to a sort of coldness. + +"Dear friend," said she, "I come to consult you about Rose and +Edouard." She then told him what had happened, and hinted at +Edouard's one fault. The doctor smiled. "It is curious. You have +come to draw my attention to a point on which it has been fixed for +some days past. I am preparing a cure for the two young fools; a +severe remedy, but in their case a sure one." + +He then showed her a deed, wherein he had settled sixty thousand +francs on Rose and her children. "Edouard," said he, "has a good +place. He is active and rising, and with my sixty thousand francs, +and a little purse of ten thousand more for furniture and nonsense, +they can marry next week, if they like. Yes, marriage is a +sovereign medicine for both of these patients. She does not love +him quite enough. Cure: marriage. He loves her a little too much. +Cure: marriage." + +"O doctor!" + +"Can't help it. I did not make men and women. We must take human +nature as we find it, and thank God for it on the whole. Have you +nothing else to confide to me?" + +"No, doctor." + +"Are you sure?" + +"No, dear friend. But this is very near my heart," faltered +Josephine. + +The doctor sighed; then said gently, "They shall be happy: as happy +as you wish them." + +Meantime, in another room, a reconciliation scene was taking place, +and the mutual concessions of two impetuous but generous spirits. + + +The baroness noticed the change in Josephine's appearance. + +She asked Rose what could be the matter. + +"Some passing ailment," was the reply. + +"Passing? She has been so, on and off, a long time. She makes me +very anxious." + +Rose made light of it to her mother, but in her own heart she grew +more and more anxious day by day. She held secret conferences with +Jacintha; that sagacious personage had a plan to wake Josephine from +her deathly languor, and even soothe her nerves, and check those +pitiable fits of nervous irritation to which she had become subject. +Unfortunately, Jacintha's plan was so difficult and so dangerous, +that at first even the courageous Rose recoiled from it; but there +are dangers that seem to diminish when you look them long in the +face. + +The whole party was seated in the tapestried room: Jacintha was +there, sewing a pair of sheets, at a respectful distance from the +gentlefolks, absorbed in her work; but with both ears on full cock. + +The doctor, holding his glasses to his eye, had just begun to read +out the Moniteur. + +The baroness sat close to him, Edouard opposite; and the young +ladies each in her corner of a large luxurious sofa, at some little +distance. + + +"'The Austrians left seventy cannon, eight thousand men, and three +colors upon the field. Army of the North: General Menard defeated +the enemy after a severe engagement, taking thirteen field-pieces +and a quantity of ammunition.'" + + +The baroness made a narrow-minded renmark. "That is always the way +with these journals," said she. "Austrians! Prussians! when it's +Egypt one wants to hear about."--"No, not a word about Egypt," said +the doctor; "but there is a whole column about the Rhine, where +Colonel Dujardin is--and Dard. If I was dictator, the first +nuisance I would put down is small type." He then spelled out a +sanguinary engagement: "eight thousand of the enemy killed. We have +some losses to lament. Colonel Dujardin"-- + +"Only wounded, I hope," said the baroness. + +The doctor went coolly on. "At the head of the 24th brigade made a +brilliant charge on the enemy's flank, that is described in the +general order as having decided the fate of the battle." + +"How badly you do read," said the old lady, sharply. "I thought he +was gone; instead of that he has covered himself with glory; but it +is all our doing, is it not, young ladies? We saved his life." + +"We saved it amongst us, madame." + +"What is the matter, Rose?" said Edouard. + +"Nothing: give me the salts, quick." + +She only passed them, as it were, under her own nostrils; then held +them to Josephine, who was now observed to be trembling all over. +Rose contrived to make it appear that this was mere sympathy on +Josephine's part. + +"Don't be silly, girls," cried the baroness, cheerfully; "there is +nobody killed that we care about." + +Dr. Aubertin read the rest to himself. + +Edouard fell into a gloomy silence and tortured himself about +Camille, and Rose's anxiety and agitation. + +By and by the new servant brought in a letter. It was the long- +expected one from Egypt. + +"Here is something better than salts for you. A long letter, +Josephine, and all in his own hand; so he is safe, thank Heaven! I +was beginning to be uneasy again. You frightened me for that poor +Camille: but this is worth a dozen Camilles; this is my son; I would +give my old life for him."--"My dear Mother--('Bless him!'), my dear +wife, and my dear sister--('Well! you sit there like two rocks!')-- +We have just gained a battle--fifty colors. ('What do you think of +that?') All the enemy's baggage and ammunition are in our hands. +('This is something like a battle, this one.') Also the Pasha of +Natolie. ('Ah! the Pasha of Natolie; an important personage, no +doubt, though I never had the honor of hearing of him. Do you +hear?--you on the sofa. My son has captured the Pasha of Natolie. +He is as brave as Caesar.') But this success is not one of those +that lead to important results ('Never mind, a victory is a +victory'), and I should not wonder if Bonaparte was to dash home any +day. If so, I shall go with him, and perhaps spend a whole day with +you, on my way to the Rhine." + +At this prospect a ghastly look passed quick as lightning between +Rose and Josephine. + +The baroness beckoned Josephine to come close to her, and read her +what followed in a lower tone of voice. + +"Tell my wife I love her more and more every day. I don't expect as +much from her, but she will make me very happy if she can make shift +to like me as well as her family do."--"No danger! What husband +deserves to be loved as he does? I long for his return, that his +wife, his mother, and his sister may all combine to teach this poor +soldier what happiness means. We owe him everything, Josephine, and +if we did not love him, and make him happy, we should be monsters; +now should we not?" + +Josephine stammered an assent. + +"NOW you may read his letter: Jacintha and all," said the baroness +graciously. + +The letter circulated. Meantime, the baroness conversed with +Aubertin in quite an undertone. + +"My friend, look at Josephine. That girl is ill, or else she is +going to be ill." + +"Neither the one nor the other, madame," said Aubertin, looking her +coolly in the face. + +"But I say she is. Is a doctor's eye keener than a mother's?" + +"Considerably," replied the doctor with cool and enviable effrontery. + +The baroness rose. "Now, children, for our evening walk. We shall +enjoy it now." + +"I trust you may: but for all that I must forbid the evening air to +one of the party--to Madame Raynal." + +The baroness came to him and whispered, "That is right. Thank you. +See what is the matter with her, and tell me." And she carried off +the rest of the party. + +At the same time Jacintha asked permission to pass the rest of the +evening with her relations in the village. But why that swift, +quivering glance of intelligence between Jacintha and Rose de +Beaurepaire when the baroness said, "Yes, certainly"? + +Time will show. + +Josephine and the doctor were left alone. Now Josephine had noticed +the old people whisper and her mother glance her way, and the whole +woman was on her guard. She assumed a languid complacency, and by +way of shield, if necessary, took some work, and bent her eyes and +apparently her attention on it. + +The doctor was silent and ill at ease. + +She saw he had something weighty on his mind. "The air would have +done me no harm," said she. + +"Neither will a few words with me." + +"Oh, no, dear friend. Only I think I should have liked a little +walk this evening." + +"Josephine," said the doctor quietly, "when you were a child I saved +your life." + +"I have often heard my mother speak of it. I was choked by the +croup, and you had the courage to lance my windpipe." + +"Had I?" said the doctor, with a smile. He added gravely, "It seems +then that to be cruel is sometimes kindness. It is the nature of +men to love those whose life they save." + +"And they love you." + +"Well, our affection is not perfect. I don't know which is most to +blame, but after all these years I have failed to inspire you with +confidence." The doctor's voice was sad, and Josephine's bosom +panted. + +"Pray do not say so," she cried. "I would trust you with my life." + +"But not with your secret." + +"My secret! What secret? I have no secrets." + +"Josephine, you have now for full twelve months suffered in body and +mind, yet you have never come to me for counsel, for comfort, for an +old man's experience and advice, nor even for medical aid." + +"But, dear friend, I assure you"-- + +"We DO NOT deceive our friend. We CANNOT deceive our doctor." + +Josephine trembled, but defended herself after the manner of her +sex. "Dear doctor," said she, "I love you all the better for this. +Your regard for me has for once blinded your science. I am not so +robust as you have known me, but there is nothing serious the matter +with me. Let us talk of something else. Besides, it is not +interesting to talk about one's self." + +"Very well; since there is nothing serious or interesting in your +case, we will talk about something that is both serious and +interesting." + +"With all my heart;" and she smiled with a sense of relief. + +But the doctor leaned over the table to her, and said in a cautious +and most emphatic whisper, "We will talk about YOUR CHILD." + +The work dropped from Josephine's hands: she turned her face wildly +on Aubertin, and faltered out, "M--my child?" + +"My words are plain," replied he gravely. "YOUR CHILD." + +When the doctor repeated these words, when Josephine looking in his +face saw he spoke from knowledge, however acquired, and not from +guess, she glided down slowly off the sofa and clasped his knees as +he stood before her, and hid her face in an agony of shame and +terror on his knees. + +"Forgive me," she sobbed. "Pray do not expose me! Do not destroy +me." + +"Unhappy young lady," said he, "did you think you had deceived me, +or that you are fit to deceive any but the blind? Your face, your +anguish after Colonel Dujardin's departure, your languor, and then +your sudden robustness, your appetite, your caprices, your strange +sojourn at Frejus, your changed looks and loss of health on your +return! Josephine, your old friend has passed many an hour thinking +of you, divining your folly, following your trouble step by step. +Yet you never invited him to aid you." + +Josephine faltered out a lame excuse. If she had revered him less +she could have borne to confess to him. She added it would be a +relief to her to confide in him. + +"Then tell me all," said he. + +She consented almost eagerly, and told him--nearly all. The old man +was deeply affected. He murmured in a broken voice, "Your story is +the story of your sex, self-sacrifice, first to your mother, then to +Camille, now to your husband." + +"And he is well worthy of any sacrifice I can make," said Josephine. +"But oh, how hard it is to live!" + +"I hope to make it less hard to you ere long," said the doctor +quietly. He then congratulated himself on having forced Josephine +to confide in him. "For," said he, "you never needed an experienced +friend more than at this moment. Your mother will not always be so +blind as of late. Edouard is suspicious. Jacintha is a shrewd +young woman, and very inquisitive." + +Josephine was not at the end of her concealments: she was ashamed to +let him know she had made a confidant of Jacintha and not of him. +She held her peace. + +"Then," continued Aubertin, "there is the terrible chance of +Raynal's return. But ere I take on me to advise you, what are your +own plans?" + +"I don't know," said Josephine helplessly. + +"You--don't--know!" cried the doctor, looking at her in utter +amazement. + +"It is the answer of a mad woman, is it not? Doctor, I am little +better. My foot has slipped on the edge of a precipice. I close my +eyes, and let myself glide down it. What will become of me?" + +"All shall be well," said Aubertin, "provided you do not still love +that man." + +Josephine did not immediately reply: her thoughts turned inwards. +The good doctor was proceeding to congratulate her on being cured of +a fatal passion, when she stopped him with wonder in her face. "Not +love him! How can I help loving him? I was his betrothed. I +wronged him in my thoughts. War, prison, anguish, could not kill +him; he loved me so. He struggled bleeding to my feet; and could I +let him die, after all? Could I be crueller than prison, and +torture, and despair?" + +The doctor sighed deeply; but, arming himself with the necessary +resolution, he sternly replied, "A woman of your name cannot +vacillate between love and honor; such vacillations have but one +end. I will not let you drift a moral wreck between passion and +virtue; and that is what it will come to if you hesitate now." + +"Hesitate! Who can say I have hesitated where my honor was +concerned? You can read our bodies then, but not our hearts. What! +you see me so pale, forlorn, and dead, and that does not tell you I +have bid Camille farewell forever? That we might be safer still I +have not even told him he is a father: was ever woman so cruel as I +am? I have written him but one letter, and in that I must deceive +him. I told him I thought I might one day be happy, if I could hear +that he did not give way to despair. I told him we must never meet +again in this world. So now come what will: show me my duty and I +will do it. This endless deceit burns my heart. Shall I tell my +husband? It will be but one pang more, one blush more for me. But +my mother!" and, thus appealed to, Dr. Aubertin felt, for the first +time, all the difficulty of the situation he had undertaken to cure. +He hesitated, he was embarrassed. + +"Ah," said Josephine, "you see." Then, after a short silence, she +said despairingly, "This is my only hope: that poor Raynal will be +long absent, and that ere he returns mamma will lie safe from sorrow +and shame in the little chapel. Doctor, when a woman of my age +forms such wishes as these, I think you might pity her, and forgive +her ill-treatment of you, for she cannot be very happy. Ah me! ah +me! ah me!" + +"Courage, poor soul! All is now in my hands, and I will save you," +said the doctor, his voice trembling in spite of him. "Guilt lies +in the intention. A more innocent woman than you does not breathe. +Two courses lay open to you: to leave this house with Camille +Dujardin, or to dismiss him, and live for your hard duty till it +shall please Heaven to make that duty easy (no middle course was +tenable for a day); of these two paths you chose the right one, and, +having chosen, I really think you are not called on to reveal your +misfortune, and make those unhappy to whose happiness you have +sacrificed your own for years to come." + +"Forever," said Josephine quietly. + +"The young use that word lightly. The old have almost ceased to use +it. They have seen how few earthly things can conquer time." + +He resumed, "You think only of others, Josephine, but I shall think +of you as well. I shall not allow your life to be wasted in a +needless struggle against nature." Then turning to Rose, who had +glided into the room, and stood amazed, "Her griefs were as many +before her child was born, yet her health stood firm. Why? because +nature was on her side. Now she is sinking into the grave. Why? +because she is defying nature. Nature intended her to be pressing +her child to her bosom day and night; instead of that, a peasant +woman at Frejus nurses the child, and the mother pines at +Beaurepaire." + +At this, Josephine leaned her face on her hands on the doctor's +shoulder. In this attitude she murmured to him, "I have never seen +him since I left Frejus." Dr. Aubertin sighed for her. Emboldened +by this, she announced her intention of going to Frejus the very +next day to see her little Henri. But to this Dr. Aubertin +demurred. "What, another journey to Frejus?" said he, "when the +first has already roused Edouard's suspicions; I can never consent +to that." + +Then Josephine surprised them both. She dropped her coaxing voice +and pecked the doctor like an irritated pigeon. "Take care," said +she, "don't be too cruel to me. You see I am obedient, resigned. I +have given up all I lived for: but if I am never to have my little +boy's arms round me to console me, then--why torment me any longer? +Why not say to me, 'Josephine, you have offended Heaven; pray for +pardon, and die'?" + +Then the doctor was angry in his turn. "Oh, go then," said he, "go +to Frejus; you will have Edouard Riviere for a companion this time. +Your first visit roused his suspicions. So before you go tell your +mother all; for since she is sure to find it out, she had better +hear it from you than from another." + +"Doctor, have pity on me," said Josephine. + +"You have no heart," said Rose. "She shall see him though, in spite +of you." + +"Oh, yes! he has a heart," said Josephine: "he is my best friend. +He will let me see my boy." + +All this, and the tearful eyes and coaxing yet trembling voice, was +hard to resist. But Aubertin saw clearly, and stood firm. He put +his handkerchief to his eyes a moment: then took the pining young +mother's hand. "And, do you think," said he, "I do not pity you and +love your boy? Ah! he will never want a father whilst I live; and +from this moment he is under my care. I will go to see him; I will +bring you news, and all in good time; I will place him where you +shall visit him without imprudence; but, for the present, trust a +wiser head than yours or Rose's; and give me your sacred promise not +to go to Frejus." + +Weighed down by his good-sense and kindness, Josephine resisted no +longer in words. She just lifted her hands in despair and began to +cry. It was so piteous, Aubertin was ready to yield in turn, and +consent to any imprudence, when he met with an unexpected ally. + +"Promise," said Rose, doggedly. + +Josephine looked at her calmly through her tears. + +"Promise, dear," repeated Rose, and this time with an intonation so +fine that it attracted Josephine's notice, but not the doctor's. It +was followed by a glance equally subtle. + +"I promise," said Josephine, with her eye fixed inquiringly on her +sister. + +For once she could not make the telegraph out: but she could see it +was playing, and that was enough. She did what Rose bid her; she +promised not to go to Frejus without leave. + +Finding her so submissive all of a sudden, he went on to suggest +that she must not go kissing every child she saw. "Edouard tells me +he saw you kissing a beggar's brat. The young rogue was going to +quiz you about it at the dinner-table; luckily, he told me his +intention, and I would not let him. I said the baroness would be +annoyed with you for descending from your dignity--and exposing a +noble family to fleas--hush! here he is." + +"Tiresome!" muttered Rose, "just when"-- + +Edouard came forward with a half-vexed face. + +However, he turned it off into play. "What have you been saying to +her, monsieur, to interest her so? Give me a leaf out of your book. +I need it." + +The doctor was taken aback for a moment, but at last he said slyly, +"I have been proposing to her to name the day. She says she must +consult you before she decides that." + +"Oh, you wicked doctor!--and consult HIM of all people!" + +"So be off, both of you, and don't reappear before me till it is +settled." + +Edouard's eyes sparkled. Rose went out with a face as red as fire. + +It was a balmy evening. Edouard was to leave them for a week the +next day. They were alone: Rose was determined he should go away +quite happy. Everything was in Edouard's favor: he pleaded his +cause warmly: she listened tenderly: this happy evening her piquancy +and archness seemed to dissolve into tenderness as she and Edouard +walked hand in hand under the moon: a tenderness all the more +heavenly to her devoted lover, that she was not one of those angels +who cloy a man by invariable sweetness. + +For a little while she forgot everything but her companion. In that +soft hour he won her to name the day, after her fashion. + +"Josephine goes to Paris with the doctor in about three weeks," +murmured she. + +"And you will stay behind, all alone?" + +"Alone? that shall depend on you, monsieur." + +On this Edouard caught her for the first time in his arms. + +She made a faint resistance. + +"Seal me that promise, sweet one!" + +"No! no!--there!" + +He pressed a delicious first kiss upon two velvet lips that in their +innocence scarcely shunned the sweet attack. + +For all that, the bond was no sooner sealed after this fashion, than +the lady's cheek began to burn. + +"Suppose we go in NOW?" said she, dryly. + +"Ah, not yet." + +"It is late, dear Edouard." + +And with these words something returned to her mind with its full +force: something that Edouard had actually made her forget. She +wanted to get rid of him now. + +"Edouard," said she, "can you get up early in the morning? If you +can, meet me here to-morrow before any of them are up; then we can +talk without interruption." + +Edouard was delighted. + +"Eight o'clock?" + +"Sooner if you like. Mamma bade me come and read to her in her room +to-night. She will be waiting for me. Is it not tiresome?" + +"Yes, it is." + +"Well, we must not mind that, dear; in three weeks' time we are to +have too much of one another, you know, instead of too little." + +"Too much! I shall never have enough of you. I shall hate the night +which will rob me of the sight of you for so many hours in the +twenty-four." + +"If you can't see me, perhaps you may hear me; my tongue runs by +night as well as by day." + +"Well, that is a comfort," said Edouard, gravely. "Yes, little +quizzer, I would rather hear you scold than an angel sing. Judge, +then, what music it is when you say you love me!" + +"I love you, Edouard." + +Edouard kissed her hand warmly, and then looked irresolutely at her +face. + +"No, no!" said she, laughing and blushing. "How rude you are. Next +time we meet." + +"That is a bargain. But I won't go till you say you love me again. + +"Edouard, don't be silly. I am ashamed of saying the same thing so +often--I won't say it any more. What is the use? You know I love +you. There, I HAVE said it: how stupid!" + +"Adieu, then, my wife that is to be." + +"Adieu! dear Edouard." + +"My hus--go on--my hus--" + +"My huswife that shall be." + +Then they walked very slowly towards the house, and once more Rose +left quizzing, and was all tenderness. + +"Will you not come in, and bid them 'good-night'?" + +"No, my own; I am in heaven. Common faces--common voices would +bring me down to earth. Let me be alone;--your sweet words ringing +in my ear. I will dilute you with nothing meaner than the stars. +See how bright they shine in heaven; but not so bright as you shine +in my heart." + +"Dear Edouard, you flatter me, you spoil me. Alas! why am I not +more worthy of your love?" + +"More worthy! How can that be?" + +Rose sighed. + +"But I will atone for all. I will make you a better--(here she +substituted a full stop for a substantive)--than you expect. You +will see else." + +She lingered at the door: a proof that if Edouard, at that +particular moment, had seized another kiss, there would have been no +very violent opposition or offence. + +But he was not so impudent as some. He had been told to wait till +the next meeting for that. He prayed Heaven to bless her, and so +the affianced lovers parted for the night. + +It was about nine o'clock. Edouard, instead of returning to his +lodgings, started down towards the town, to conclude a bargain with +the innkeeper for an English mare he was in treaty for. He wanted +her for to-morrow's work; so that decided him to make the purchase. +In purchases, as in other matters, a feather turns the balanced +scale. He sauntered leisurely down. It was a very clear night; the +full moon and the stars shining silvery and vivid. Edouard's heart +swelled with joy. He was loved after all, deeply loved; and in +three short weeks he was actually to be Rose's husband: her lord and +master. How like a heavenly dream it all seemed--the first hopeless +courtship, and now the wedding fixed! But it was no dream; he felt +her soft words still murmur music at his heart, and the shadow of +her velvet lips slept upon his own. + +He had strolled about a league when he heard the ring of a horse's +hoofs coming towards him, accompanied by a clanking noise; it came +nearer and nearer, till it reached a hill that lay a little ahead of +Edouard; then the sounds ceased; the cavalier was walking his horse +up the hill. + +Presently, as if they had started from the earth, up popped between +Edouard and the sky, first a cocked hat that seemed in that light to +be cut with a razor out of flint; then the wearer, phosphorescent +here and there; so brightly the keen moonlight played on his +epaulets and steel scabbard. A step or two nearer, and Edouard gave +a great shout; it was Colonel Raynal. + +After the first warm greeting, and questions and answers, Raynal +told him he was on his way to the Rhine with despatches. + +"To the Rhine?" + +I am allowed six days to get there. I made a calculation, and found +I could give Beaurepaire half a day. I shall have to make up for it +by hard riding. You know me; always in a hurry. It is Bonaparte's +fault this time. He is always in a hurry too." + +"Why, colonel," said Edouard, "let us make haste then. Mind they go +early to rest at the chateau." + +"But you are not coming my way, youngster?" + +"Not coming your way? Yes, but I am. Yours is a face I don't see +every day, colonel; besides I would not miss THEIR faces, especially +the baroness's and Madame Raynal's, at sight of you; and, besides,"-- +and the young gentleman chuckled to himself, and thought of Rose's +words, "the next time we meet;" well, this will be the next time. +"May I jump up behind?" + +Colonel Raynal nodded assent. Edouard took a run, and lighted like +a monkey on the horse's crupper. He pranced and kicked at this +unexpected addition; but the spur being promptly applied to his +flanks, he bounded off with a snort that betrayed more astonishment +than satisfaction, and away they cantered to Beaurepaire, without +drawing rein. + +"There," said Edouard, "I was afraid they would be gone to bed; and +they are. The very house seems asleep--fancy--at half-past ten." + +"That is a pity," said Raynal, "for this chateau is the stronghold +of etiquette. They will be two hours dressing before they will come +out and shake hands. I must put my horse into the stable. Go you +and give the alarm." + +"I will, colonel. Stop, first let me see whether none of them are +up, after all." + +And Edouard walked round the chateau, and soon discovered a light at +one window, the window of the tapestried room. Running round the +other way he came slap upon another light: this one was nearer the +ground. A narrow but massive door, which he had always seen not +only locked but screwed up, was wide open; and through the aperture +the light of a candle streamed out and met the moonlight streaming +in. + +"Hallo!" cried Edouard. + +He stopped, turned, and looked in. + +"Hallo!" he cried again much louder. + +A young woman was sleeping with her feet in the silvery moonlight, +and her head in the orange-colored blaze of a flat candle, which +rested on the next step above of a fine stone staircase, whose +existence was now first revealed to the inquisitive Edouard. + +Coming plump upon all this so unexpectedly, he quite started. + +"Why, Jacintha!" + +He touched her on the shoulder to wake her. No. Jacintha was +sleeping as only tired domestics can sleep. He might have taken the +candle and burnt her gown off her back. She had found a step that +fitted into the small of her back, and another that supported her +head, and there she was fast as a door. + +At this moment Raynal's voice was heard calling him. + +"There is a light in that bedroom." + +"It is not a bedroom, colonel; it is our sitting-room now. We shall +find them all there, or at least the young ladies; and perhaps the +doctor. The baroness goes to bed early. Meantime I can show you +one of our dramatis personae, and an important one too. She rules +the roost." + +He took him mysteriously and showed him Jacintha. + +Moonlight by itself seems white, and candlelight by itself seems +yellow; but when the two come into close contrast at night, candle +turns a reddish flame, and moonlight a bluish gleam. + +So Jacintha, with her shoes in this celestial sheen, and her face in +that demoniacal glare, was enough to knock the gazer's eye out. + +"Make a good sentinel--this one," said Raynal--"an outlying picket +for instance, on rough ground, in front of the enemy's riflemen." + +"Ha! ha! colonel! Let us see where this staircase leads. I have an +idea it will prove a short cut." + +"Where to?" + +"To the saloon, or somewhere, or else to some of Jacintha's haunts. +Serve her right for going to sleep at the mouth of her den." + +"Forward then--no, halt! Suppose it leads to the bedrooms? Mind +this is a thundering place for ceremony. We shall get drummed out +of the barracks if we don't mind our etiquette." + +At this they hesitated; and Edouard himself thought, on the whole, +it would be better to go and hammer at the front door. + +Now while they hesitated, a soft delicious harmony of female voices +suddenly rose, and seemed to come and run round the walls. The men +looked at one another in astonishment; for the effect was magical. +The staircase being enclosed on all sides with stone walls and +floored with stone, they were like flies inside a violoncello; the +voices rang above, below, and on every side of the vibrating walls. +In some epochs spirits as hardy as Raynal's, and wits as quick as +Riviere's, would have fled then and there to the nearest public, and +told over cups how they had heard the dames of Beaurepaire, long +since dead, holding their revel, and the conscious old devil's nest +of a chateau quivering to the ghostly strains. + +But this was an incredulous age. They listened, and listened, and +decided the sounds came from up-stairs. + +"Let us mount, and surprise these singing witches," said Edouard. + +"Surprise them! what for? It is not the enemy--for once. What is +the good of surprising our friends?" + +Storming parties and surprises were no novelty and therefore no +treat to Raynal. + +"It will be so delightful to see their faces at first sight of you. +O colonel, for my sake! Don't spoil it by going tamely in at the +front door, after coming at night from Egypt for half an hour." + +Raynal grumbled something about its being a childish trick; but to +please Edouard consented at last; only stipulated for a light: "or +else," said he, "we shall surprise ourselves instead with a broken +neck, going over ground we don't know to surprise the natives--our +skirmishers got nicked that way now and then in Egypt." + +"Yes, colonel, I will go first with Jacintha's candle." Edouard +mounted the stairs on tiptoe. Raynal followed. The solid stone +steps did not prate. The men had mounted a considerable way, when +puff a blast of wind came through a hole, and out went Edouard's +candle. He turned sharply round to Raynal. "Peste!" said he in a +vicious whisper. But the other laid his hand on his shoulder and +whispered, "Look to the front." He looked, and, his own candle +being out, saw a glimmer on ahead. He crept towards it. It was a +taper shooting a feeble light across a small aperture. They caught +a glimpse of what seemed to be a small apartment. Yet Edouard +recognized the carpet of the tapestried room--which was a very large +room. Creeping a yard nearer, he discovered that it was the +tapestried room, and that what had seemed the further wall was only +the screen, behind which were lights, and two women singing a duet. + +He whispered to Raynal, "It is the tapestried room." + +"Is it a sitting-room?" whispered Raynal. + +"Yes! yes! Mind and not knock your foot against the wood." + +And Raynal went softly up and put his foot quietly through the +aperture, which he now saw was made by a panel drawn back close to +the ground; and stood in the tapestried chamber. The carpet was +thick; the voices favored the stealthy advance; the floor of the old +house was like a rock; and Edouard put his face through the +aperture, glowing all over with anticipation of the little scream of +joy that would welcome his friend dropping in so nice and suddenly +from Egypt. + +The feeling was rendered still more piquant by a sharp curiosity +that had been growing on him for some minutes past. For why was +this passage opened to-night?--he had never seen it opened before. +And why was Jacintha lying sentinel at the foot of the stairs? + +But this was not all. Now that they were in the room both men +became conscious of another sound besides the ladies' voices--a very +peculiar sound. It also came from behind the screen. They both +heard it, and showed, by the puzzled looks they cast at one another, +that neither could make out what on earth it was. It consisted of a +succession of little rustles, followed by little thumps on the +floor. + +But what was curious, too, this rustle, thump--rustle, thump--fell +exactly into the time of the music; so that, clearly, either the +rustle thump was being played to the tune, or the tune sung to the +rustle thump. + +This last touch of mystery inflamed Edouard's impatience beyond +bearing: he pointed eagerly and merrily to the corner of the screen. +Raynal obeyed, and stepped very slowly and cautiously towards it. + +Rustle, thump! rustle, thump! rustle, thump! with the rhythm of +harmonious voices. + +Edouard got his head and foot into the room without taking his eye +off Raynal. + +Rustle, thump! rustle, thump! rustle, thump! + +Raynal was now at the screen, and quietly put his head round it, and +his hand upon it. + +Edouard was bursting with expectation. + +No result. What is this? Don't they see him? Why does he not +speak to them? He seems transfixed. + +Rustle, thump! rustle, thump; accompanied now for a few notes by one +voice only, Rose's. + +Suddenly there burst a shriek from Josephine, so loud, so fearful, +that it made even Raynal stagger back a step, the screen in his +hand. + +Then another scream of terror and anguish from Rose. Then a fainter +cry, and the heavy helpless fall of a human body. + +Raynal sprang forward whirling the screen to the earth in terrible +agitation, and Edouard bounded over it as it fell at his feet. He +did not take a second step. The scene that caught his eye stupefied +and paralyzed him in full career, and froze him to the spot with +amazement and strange misgivings. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +To return for a moment to Rose. She parted from Edouard, and went +in at the front door: but the next moment she opened it softly and +watched her lover unseen. "Dear Edouard!" she murmured: and then +she thought, "how sad it is that I must deceive him, even to-night: +must make up an excuse to get him from me, when we were so happy +together. Ah! he little knows how I shall welcome our wedding-day. +When once I can see my poor martyr on the road to peace and content +under the good doctor's care. And oh! the happiness of having no +more secrets from him I love! Dear Edouard! when once we are +married, I never, never, will have a secret from you again--I swear +it." + +As a comment on these words she now stepped cautiously out, and +peered in every direction. + +"St--st!" she whispered. No answer came to this signal. + +Rose returned into the house and bolted the door inside. She went +up to the tapestried room, and found the doctor in the act of +wishing Josephine good-night. The baroness, fatigued a little by +her walk, had mounted no higher than her own bedroom, which was on +the first floor just under the tapestried room. Rose followed the +doctor out. "Dear friend, one word. Josephine talked of telling +Raynal. You have not encouraged her to do that?" + +"Certainly not, while he is in Egypt." + +"Still less on his return. Doctor, you don't know that man. +Josephine does not know him. But I do. He would kill her if he +knew. He would kill her that minute. He would not wait: he would +not listen to excuses: he is a man of iron. Or if he spared her he +would kill Camille: and that would destroy her by the cruellest of +all deaths! My friend, I am a wicked, miserable girl. I am the +cause of all this misery!" + +She then told Aubertin all about the anonymous letter, and what +Raynal had said to her in consequence. + +"He never would have married her had he known she loved another. He +asked me was it so. I told him a falsehood. At least I +equivocated, and to equivocate with one so loyal and simple was to +deceive him. I am the only sinner: that sweet angel is the only +sufferer. Is this the justice of Heaven? Doctor, my remorse is +great. No one knows what I feel when I look at my work. Edouard +thinks I love her so much better than I do him. He is wrong: it is +not love only, it is pity: it is remorse for the sorrow I have +brought on her, and the wrong I have done poor Raynal." + +The high-spirited girl was greatly agitated: and Aubertin, though he +did not acquit her of all blame, soothed her, and made excuses for +her. + +"We must not always judge by results," said he. "Things turned +unfortunately. You did for the best. I forgive you for one. That +is, I will forgive you if you promise not to act again without my +advice." + +"Oh, never! never!" + +"And, above all, no imprudence about that child. In three little +weeks they will be together without risk of discovery. Well, you +don't answer me." + +Rose's blood turned cold. "Dear friend," she stammered, "I quite +agree with you." + +"Promise, then." + +"Not to let Josephine go to Frejus?" said Rose hastily. "Oh, yes! I +promise." + +"You are a good girl," said Aubertin. "You have a will of your own. +But you can submit to age and experience." The doctor then kissed +her, and bade her farewell. + +"I leave for Paris at six in the morning," he said. "I will not try +your patience or hers unnecessarily. Perhaps it will not be three +weeks ere she sees her child under her friend's roof." + +The moment Rose was alone, she sat down and sighed bitterly. "There +is no end to it," she sobbed despairingly. "It is like a spider's +web: every struggle to be free but multiplies the fine yet +irresistible thread that seems to bind me. And to-night I thought +to be so happy; instead of that, he has left me scarce the heart to +do what I have to do." + +She went back to the room, opened a window, and put out a white +handkerchief, then closed the window down on it. + +Then she went to Josephine's bedroom-door: it opened on the +tapestried room. + +"Josephine," she cried, "don't go to bed just yet." + +"No, love. What are you doing? I want to talk to you. Why did you +say promise? and what did you mean by looking at me so? Shall I +come out to you?" + +"Not just yet," said Rose; she then glided into the corridor, and +passed her mother's room and the doctor's, and listened to see if +all was quiet. While she was gone Josephine opened her door; but +not seeing Rose in the sitting-room, retired again. + +Rose returned softly, and sat down with her head in her hand, in a +calm attitude belied by her glancing eye, and the quick tapping of +her other hand upon the table. + +Presently she raised her head quickly; a sound had reached her ear,-- +a sound so slight that none but a high-strung ear could have caught +it. It was like a mouse giving a single scratch against a stone +wall. + +Rose coughed slightly. + +On this a clearer sound was heard, as of a person scratching wood +with the finger-nail. Rose darted to the side of the room, pressed +against the wall, and at the same time put her other hand against +the rim of one of the panels and pushed it laterally; it yielded, +and at the opening stood Jacintha in her cloak and bonnet. + +"Yes," said Jacintha, "under my cloak--look!" + +"Ah! you found the things on the steps?" + +"Yes! I nearly tumbled over them. Have you locked that door?" + +"No, but I will." And Rose glided to the door and locked it. Then +she put the screen up between Josephine's room and the open panel: +then she and Jacintha were wonderfully busy on the other side the +screen, but presently Rose said, "This is imprudent; you must go +down to the foot of the stairs and wait till I call you." + +Jacintha pleaded hard against this arrangement, and represented that +there was no earthly chance of any one coming to that part of the +chateau. + +"No matter; I will be guarded on every side." + +"Mustn't I stop and just see her happy for once?" + +"No, my poor Jacintha, you must hear it from my lips." + +Jacintha retired to keep watch as she was bid. Rose went to +Josephine's room, and threw her arms round her neck and kissed her +vehemently. Josephine returned her embrace, then held her out at +arm's length and looked at her. + +"Your eyes are red, yet your little face is full of joy. There, you +smile." + +"I can't help that; I am so happy." + +"I am glad of it. Are you coming to bed?" + +"Not yet. I invite you to take a little walk with me first. Come!" +and she led the way slowly, looking back with infinite archness and +tenderness. + +"You almost frighten me," said Josephine; "it is not like you to be +all joy when I am sad. Three whole weeks more!" + +"That is it. Why are you sad? because the doctor would not let you +go to Frejus. And why am I not sad? because I had already thought +of a way to let you see Edouard without going so far." + +"Rose! O Rose! O Rose!" + +"This way--come!" and she smiled and beckoned with her finger, while +Josephine followed like one under a spell, her bosom heaving, her +eye glancing on every side, hoping some strange joy, yet scarce +daring to hope. + +Rose drew back the screen, and there was a sweet little berceau that +had once been Josephine's own, and in it, sunk deep in snow-white +lawn, was a sleeping child, that lay there looking as a rose might +look could it fall upon new-fallen snow. + +At sight of it Josephine uttered a little cry, not loud but deep-- +ay, a cry to bring tears into the eye of the hearer, and she stood +trembling from head to foot, her hands clasped, and her eye +fascinated and fixed on the cradle. + +"My child under this roof! What have you done?" but her eye, +fascinated and fixed, never left the cradle. + +"I saw you languishing, dying, for want of him." + +"Oh, if anybody should come?" But her eye never stirred an inch +from the cradle. + +"No, no, no! the door is locked. Jacintha watches below; there is +no dan-- Ah, oh, poor sister!" + +For, as Rose was speaking, the young mother sprang silently upon her +child. You would have thought she was going to kill him; her head +reared itself again and again like a crested snake's, and again and +again and again and again plunged down upon the child, and she +kissed his little body from head to foot with soft violence, and +murmured, through her streaming tears, "My child! my darling! my +angel! oh, my poor boy! my child! my child!" + +I will ask my female readers of every degree to tell their brothers +and husbands all the young noble did: how she sat on the floor, and +had her child on her bosom; how she smiled over it through her +tears; how she purred over it; how she, the stately one, lisped and +prattled over it; and how life came pouring into her heart from it. + +Before she had had it in her arms five minutes, her pale cheek was +as red as a rose, and her eyes brighter than diamonds. + +"Bless you, Rose! bless you! bless you! in one moment you have made +me forget all I ever suffered in my life." + +"There is a cold draught," cried she presently, with maternal +anxiety; "close the panel, Rose." + +"No, dear; or I could not call to Jacintha, or she to me; but I will +shift the screen round between him and the draught. There, now, +come to his aunt--a darling!" + +Then Rose sat on the floor too, and Josephine put her boy on aunt's +lap, and took a distant view of him. But she could not bear so vast +a separation long. She must have him to her bosom again. + +Presently my lord, finding himself hugged, opened his eyes, and, as +a natural consequence, his mouth. + +"Oh, that will never do," cried Rose, and they put him back in the +cradle with all expedition, and began to rock it. Young master was +not to be altogether appeased even by that. So Rose began singing +an old-fashioned Breton chant or lullaby. + +Josephine sang with her, and, singing, watched with a smile her boy +drop off by degrees to sleep under the gentle motion and the lulling +song. They sang and rocked till the lids came creeping down, and +hid the great blue eyes; but still they sang and rocked, lulling the +boy, and gladdening their own hearts; for the quaint old Breton +ditty was tunable as the lark that carols over the green wheat in +April; and the words so simple and motherly, that a nation had taken +them to heart. Such songs bind ages together and make the lofty and +the low akin by the great ties of music and the heart. Many a +Breton peasant's bosom in the olden time had gushed over her +sleeping boy as the young dame's of Beaurepaire gushed now--in this +quaint, tuneful lullaby. + +Now, as they kneeled over the cradle, one on each side, and rocked +it, and sang that ancient chant, Josephine, who was opposite the +screen, happening to raise her eyes, saw a strange thing. + +There was the face of a man set close against the side of the +screen, and peeping and peering out of the gloom. The light of her +candle fell full on this face; it glared at her, set pale, wonder- +struck, and vivid in the surrounding gloom. + +Horror! It was her husband's face. + +At first she was quite stupefied, and looked at it with soul and +senses benumbed. Then she trembled, and put her hand to her eyes; +for she thought it a phantom or a delusion of the mind. No: there +it glared still. Then she trembled violently, and held out her left +hand, the fingers working convulsively, to Rose, who was still +singing. + +But, at the same moment, the mouth of this face suddenly opened in a +long-drawn breath. At this, Josephine uttered a violent shriek, and +sprang to her feet, with her right hand quivering and pointing at +that pale face set in the dark. + +Rose started up, and, wheeling her head round, saw Raynal's gloomy +face looking over her shoulder. She fell screaming upon her knees, +and, almost out of her senses, began to pray wildly and piteously +for mercy. + +Josephine uttered one more cry, but this was the faint cry of +nature, sinking under the shock of terror. She swooned dead away, +and fell senseless on the floor ere Raynal could debarrass himself +of the screen, and get to her. + +This, then, was the scene that met Edouard's eyes. His affianced +bride on her knees, white as a ghost, trembling, and screaming, +rather than crying, for mercy. And Raynal standing over his wife, +showing by the working of his iron features that he doubted whether +she was worthy he should raise her. + +One would have thought nothing could add to the terror of this +scene. Yet it was added to. The baroness rang her bell violently +in the room below. She had heard Josephine's scream and fall. + +At the ringing of this shrill bell Rose shuddered like a maniac, and +grovelled on her knees to Raynal, and seized his very knees and +implored him to show some pity. + +"O sir! kill us! we are culpable"-- + +Dring! dring! dring! dring! dring! pealed the baroness's bell again. + +"But do not tell our mother. Oh, if you are a man! do not! do not! +Show us some pity. We are but women. Mercy! mercy! mercy!" + +"Speak out then," groaned Raynal. "What does this mean? Why has my +wife swooned at sight of me?--whose is this child?" + +"Whose?" stammered Rose. Till he said that, she never thought there +COULD be a doubt whose child. + +Dring! dring! dring! dring! dring! + +"Oh, my God!" cried the poor girl, and her scared eyes glanced every +way like some wild creature looking for a hole, however small, to +escape by. + +Edouard, seeing her hesitation, came down on her other side. "Whose +is the child, Rose?" said he sternly. + +"You, too? Why were we born? mercy! oh! pray let me go to my +sister." + +Dring! dring! dring! dring! dring! went the terrible bell. + +The men were excited to fury by Rose's hesitation; they each seized +an arm, and tore her screaming with fear at their violence, from her +knees up to her feet between them with a single gesture. + +"Whose is the child?" + +"You hurt me!" said she bitterly to Edouard, and she left crying and +was terribly calm and sullen all in a moment. + +"Whose is the child?" roared Edouard and Raynal, in one raging +breath. "Whose is the child?" + +"It is mine." + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +These were not words; they were electric shocks. + +The two arms that gripped Rose's arms were paralyzed, and dropped +off them; and there was silence. + +Then first the thought of all she had done with those three words +began to rise and grow and surge over her. She stood, her eyes +turned downwards, yet inwards, and dilating with horror. + +Silence. + +Now a mist began to spread over her eyes, and in it she saw +indistinctly the figure of Raynal darting to her sister's side, and +raising her head. + +She dared not look round on the other side. She heard feet stagger +on the floor. She heard a groan, too; but not a word. + +Horrible silence. + +With nerves strung to frenzy, and quivering ears, that magnified +every sound, she waited for a reproach, a curse; either would have +been some little relief. But no! a silence far more terrible. + +Then a step wavered across the room. Her soul was in her ear. She +could hear and feel the step totter, and it shook her as it went. +All sounds were trebled to her. Then it struck on the stone step of +the staircase, not like a step, but a knell; another step, another +and another; down to the very bottom. Each slow step made her head +ring and her heart freeze. + +At last she heard no more. Then a scream of anguish and recall rose +to her lips. She fought it down, for Josephine and Raynal. Edouard +was gone. She had but her sister now, the sister she loved better +than herself; the sister to save whose life and honor she had this +moment sacrificed her own, and all a woman lives for. + +She turned, with a wild cry of love and pity, to that sister's side +to help her; and when she kneeled down beside her, an iron arm was +promptly thrust out between the beloved one and her. + +"This is my care, madame," said Raynal, coldly. + +There was no mistaking his manner. The stained one was not to touch +his wife. + +She looked at him in piteous amazement at his ingratitude. "It is +well," said she. "It is just. I deserve this from you." + +She said no more, but drooped gently down beside the cradle, and hid +her forehead in the clothes beside the child that had brought all +this woe, and sobbed bitterly. + +Then honest Raynal began to be sorry for her, in spite of himself. +But there was no time for this. Josephine stirred; and, at the same +moment, a violent knocking came at the door of the apartment, and +the new servant's voice, crying, "Ladies, for Heaven's sake, what is +the matter? The baroness heard a fall--she is getting up--she will +be here. What shall I tell her is the matter?" + +Raynal was going to answer, but Rose, who had started up at the +knocking, put her hand in a moment right before his mouth, and ran +to the door. "There is nothing the matter; tell mamma I am coming +down to her directly." She flew back to Raynal in an excitement +little short of frenzy. "Help me carry her into her own room," +cried she imperiously. Raynal obeyed by instinct; for the fiery +girl spoke like a general, giving the word of command, with the +enemy in front. He carried the true culprit in his arms, and laid +her gently on her bed. + +"Now put IT out of sight--take this, quick, man! quick!" cried Rose. + +Raynal went to the cradle. "Ah! my poor girl," said he, as he +lifted it in his arms, "this is a sorry business; to have to hide +your own child from your own mother!" + +"Colonel Raynal," said Rose, "do not insult a poor, despairing girl. +C'est lache." + +"I am silent, young woman," said Raynal, sternly. "What is to be +done?" + +"Take it down the steps, and give it to Jacintha. Stay, here is a +candle; I go to tell mamma you are come; and, Colonel Raynal, I +never injured YOU: if you tell my mother you will stab her to the +heart, and me, and may the curse of cowards light on you!--may"-- + +"Enough!" said Raynal, sternly. "Do you take me for a babbling +girl? I love your mother better than you do, or this brat of yours +would not be here. I shall not bring her gray hairs down with +sorrow to the grave. I shall speak of this villany to but one +person; and to him I shall talk with this, and not with the idle +tongue." And he tapped his sword-hilt with a sombre look of +terrible significance. + +He carried out the cradle. The child slept sweetly through it all. + +Rose darted into Josephine's room, took the key from the inside to +the outside, locked the door, put the key in her pocket, and ran +down to her mother's room; her knees trembled under her as she went. + +Meantime, Jacintha, sleeping tranquilly, suddenly felt her throat +griped, and heard a loud voice ring in her ear; then she was lifted, +and wrenched, and dropped. She found herself lying clear of the +steps in the moonlight; her head was where her feet had been, and +her candle out. + +She uttered shriek upon shriek, and was too frightened to get up. +She thought it was supernatural; some old De Beaurepaire had served +her thus for sleeping on her post. A struggle took place between +her fidelity and her superstitious fears. Fidelity conquered. +Quaking in every limb, she groped up the staircase for her candle. + +It was gone. + +Then a still more sickening fear came over her. + +What if this was no spirit's work, but a human arm--a strong one-- +some man's arm? + +Her first impulse was to dart up the stairs, and make sure that no +calamity had befallen through her mistimed drowsiness. But, when +she came to try, her dread of the supernatural revived. She could +not venture without a light up those stairs, thronged perhaps with +angry spirits. She ran to the kitchen. She found the tinderbox, +and with trembling hands struck a light. She came back shading it +with her shaky hands; and, committing her soul to the care of +Heaven, she crept quaking up the stairs. Then she heard voices +above, and that restored her more; she mounted more steadily. +Presently she stopped, for a heavy step was coming down. It did not +sound like a woman's step. It came further down; she turned to fly. + +"Jacintha!" said a deep voice, that in this stone cylinder rang like +thunder from a tomb. + +"Oh! saints and angels save me!" yelled Jacintha; and fell on her +knees, and hid her head for security; and down went her candlestick +clattering on the stone. + +"Don't be a fool!" said the iron voice. "Get up and take this." + +She raised her head by slow degrees, shuddering. A man was holding +out a cradle to her; the candle he carried lighted up his face; it +was Colonel Raynal. + +She stared at him stupidly, but never moved from her knees, and the +candle began to shake violently in her hand, as she herself trembled +from head to foot. + +Then Raynal concluded she was in the plot; but, scorning to reproach +a servant, he merely said, "Well, what do you kneel there for, +gaping at me like that? Take this, I tell you, and carry it out of +the house." + +He shoved the cradle roughly down into her hands, then turned on his +heel without a word. + +Jacintha collapsed on the stairs, and the cradle beside her, for all +the power was driven out of her body; she could hardly support her +own weight, much less the cradle. + +She rocked herself, and moaned out, "Oh, what's this? oh, what's +this?" + +A cold perspiration came over her whole frame. + +"What could this mean? What on earth had happened?" + +She took up the candle, for it was lying burning and guttering on +the stairs; scraped up the grease with the snuffers, and by force of +habit tried to polish it clean with a bit of paper that shook +between her fingers; she did not know what she was doing. When she +recovered her wits, she took the child out of the cradle, and +wrapped it carefully in her shawl; then went slowly down the stairs; +and holding him close to her bosom, with a furtive eye, and brain +confused, and a heart like lead, stole away to the tenantless +cottage, where Madame Jouvenel awaited her. + +Meantime, Rose, with quaking heart, had encountered the baroness. +She found her pale and agitated, and her first question was, "What +is the matter? what have you been all doing over my head?" + +"Darling mother," replied Rose, evasively, "something has happened +that will rejoice your heart. Somebody has come home." + +"My son? eh, no! impossible! We cannot be so happy." + +"He will be with you directly." + +The old lady now trembled with joyful agitation. + +"In five minutes I will bring him to you. Shall you be dressed? I +will ring for the girl to help you." + +"But, Rose, the scream, and that terrible fall. Ah! where is +Josephine?" + +"Can't you guess, mamma? Oh, the fall was only the screen; they +stumbled over it in the dark." + +"They! who?" + +"Colonel Raynal, and--and Edouard. I will tell you, mamma, but +don't be angry, or even mention it; they wanted to surprise us. +They saw a light burning, and they crept on tiptoe up to the +tapestried room, where Josephine and I were, and they did give us a +great fright." + +"What madness!" cried the baroness, angrily; "and in Josephine's +weak state! Such a surprise might have driven her into a fit." + +"Yes, it was foolish, but let it pass, mamma. Don't speak of it, +for he is so sorry about it." + +Then Rose slipped out, ordered a fire in the salon, and not in the +tapestried room, and the next minute was at her sister's door. +There she found Raynal knocking, and asking Josephine how she was. + +"Pray leave her to me a moment," said she. "I will bring her down to +you. Mamma is waiting for you in the salon." + +Raynal went down. Rose unlocked the bedroom-door, went in, and, to +her horror, found Josephine lying on the floor. She dashed water in +her face, and applied every remedy; and at last she came back to +life, and its terrors. + +"Save me, Rose! save me--he is coming to kill me--I heard him at the +door," and she clung trembling piteously to Rose. + +Then Rose, seeing her terror, was almost glad at the suicidal +falsehood she had told. She comforted and encouraged Josephine and-- +deceived her. (This was the climax.) + +"All is well, my poor coward," she cried; "your fears are all +imaginary; another has owned the child, and the story is believed." + +"Another! impossible! He would not believe it." + +"He does believe it--he shall believe it." + +Rose then, feeling by no means sure that Josephine, terrified as she +was, would consent to let her sister come to shame to screen her, +told her boldly that Jacintha had owned herself the mother of the +child, and that Raynal's only feeling towards HER was pity, and +regret at having so foolishly frightened her, weakened as she was by +illness. "I told him you had been ill, dear. But how came you on +the ground?" + +"I had come to myself; I was on my knees praying. He tapped. I +heard his voice. I remember no more. I must have fainted again +directly." + +Rose had hard work to make her believe that her guilt, as she called +it, was not known; and even then she could not prevail on her to +come down-stairs, until she said, "If you don't, he will come to +you." On that Josephine consented eagerly, and with trembling +fingers began to adjust her hair and her dress for the interview. + +All this terrible night Rose fought for her sister. She took her +down-stairs to the salon; she put her on the sofa; she sat by her +and pressed her hand constantly to give her courage. She told the +story of the surprise her own way, before the whole party, including +the doctor, to prevent Raynal from being called on to tell it his +way. She laughed at Josephine's absurdity, but excused it on +account of her feeble health. In short, she threw more and more +dust in all their eyes. + +But by the time when the rising sun came faintly in and lighted the +haggard party, where the deceived were happy, the deceivers +wretched, the supernatural strength this young girl had shown was +almost exhausted. She felt an hysterical impulse to scream and +weep: each minute it became more and more ungovernable. Then came +an unexpected turn. Raynal after a long and tiring talk with his +mother, as he called her, looked at his watch, and in a +characteristic way coolly announced his immediate departure, this +being the first hint he had given them that he was not come back for +good. + +The baroness was thunderstruck. + +Rose and Josephine pressed one another's hands, and had much ado not +to utter a loud cry of joy. + +Raynal explained that he was the bearer of despatches. "I must be +off: not an hour to lose. Don't fret, mother, I shall soon be back +again, if I am not knocked on the head." + +Raynal took leave of them all. When it came to Rose's turn, he drew +her aside and whispered into her ear, "Who is the man?" + +She started, and seemed dumfounded. + +"Tell me, or I ask my wife." + +"She has promised me not to betray me: I made her swear. Spare me +now, brother; I will tell you all when you come back." + +"That is a bargain: now hear ME swear: he shall marry you, or he +shall die by my hand." + +He confirmed this by a tremendous oath. + +Rose shuddered, but said nothing, only she thought to herself, "I am +forewarned. Never shall you know who is the father of that child." + +He was no sooner gone than the baroness insisted on knowing what +this private communication between him and Rose was about. + +"Oh," said Rose, "he was only telling me to keep up your courage and +Josephine's till he comes back." + +This was the last lie the poor entangled wretch had to tell that +morning. The next minute the sisters, exhausted by their terrible +struggle, went feebly, with downcast eyes, along the corridor and up +the staircase to Josephine's room. + +They went hand in hand. They sank down, dressed as they were, on +Josephine's bed, and clung to one another and trembled together, +till their exhausted natures sank into uneasy slumbers, from which +each in turn would wake ever and anon with a convulsive start, and +clasp her sister tighter to her breast. + +Theirs was a marvellous love. Even a course of deceit had not yet +prevailed to separate or chill their sister bosoms. But still in +this deep and wonderful love there were degrees: one went a shade +deeper than the other now--ay, since last night. Which? why, she +who had sacrificed herself for the other, and dared not tell her, +lest the sacrifice should be refused. + + +It was the gray of the morning, and foggy, when Raynal, after taking +leave, went to the stable for his horse. At the stable-door he came +upon a man sitting doubled up on the very stones of the yard, with +his head on his knees. The figure lifted his head, and showed him +the face of Edouard Riviere, white and ghastly: his hair lank with +the mist, his teeth chattering with cold and misery. The poor +wretch had walked frantically all night round and round the chateau, +waiting till Raynal should come out. He told him so. + +"But why didn't you?--Ah! I see. No! you could not go into the +house after that. My poor fellow, there is but one thing for you to +do. Turn your back on her, and forget she ever lived; she is dead +to you." + +"There is something to be done besides that," said Edouard, gloomily. + +"What?" + +"Vengeance." + +"That is my affair, young man. When I come back from the Rhine, she +will tell me who her seducer is. She has promised." + +"And don't you see through that?" said Edouard, gnashing his teeth; +"that is only to gain time: she will never tell you. She is young +in years, but old in treachery." + +He groaned and was silent a moment, then laying his hand on Raynal's +arm said grimly, "Thank Heaven, we don't depend on her for +information! I know the villain." + +Raynal's eyes flashed: "Ah! then tell me this moment." + +"It is that scoundrel Dujardin." + +"Dujardin! What do you mean?" + +"I mean that, while you were fighting for France, your house was +turned into a hospital for wounded soldiers." + +"And pray, sir, to what more honorable use could they put it?" + +"Well, this Dujardin was housed by you, was nursed by your wife and +all the family; and in return has seduced your sister, my affianced." + +"I can hardly believe that. Camille Dujardin was always a man of +honor, and a good soldier." + +"Colonel, there has been no man near the place but this Dujardin. I +tell you it is he. Don't make me tear my bleeding heart out: must I +tell you how often I caught them together, how I suspected, and how +she gulled me? blind fool that I was, to believe a woman's words +before my own eyes. I swear to you he is the villain; the only +question is, which of us two is to kill him." + +"Where is the man?" + +"In the army of the Rhine." + +"Ah! all the better." + +"Covered with glory and honor. Curse him! oh, curse him! curse +him!" + +"I am in luck. I am going to the Rhine." + +"I know it. That is why I waited here all through this night of +misery. Yes, you are in luck. But you will send me a line when you +have killed him; will you not? Then I shall know joy again. Should +he escape you, he shall not escape me." + +"Young man," said Raynal, with dignity, "this rage is unmanly. +Besides, we have not heard his side of the story. He is a good +soldier; perhaps he is not all to blame: or perhaps passion has +betrayed him into a sin that his conscience and honor disapprove: if +so, he must not die. You think only of your wrong: it is natural: +but I am the girl's brother; guardian of her honor and my own. His +life is precious as gold. I shall make him marry her." + +"What! reward him for his villany?" cried Edouard, frantically. + +"A mighty reward," replied Raynal, with a sneer. + +"You leave one thing out of the calculation, monsieur," said +Edouard, trembling with anger, "that I will kill your brother-in-law +at the altar, before her eyes." + +"YOU leave one thing out of the calculation: that you will first +have to cross swords, at the altar, with me." + +"So be it. I will not draw on my old commandant. I could not; but +be sure I will catch him and her alone some day, and the bride shall +be a widow in her honeymoon." + +"As you please," said Raynal, coolly. "That is all fair, as you +have been wronged. I shall make her an honest wife, and then you +may make her an honest widow. (This is what they call LOVE, and +sneer at me for keeping clear of it.) But neither he nor you shall +keep MY SISTER what she is now, a ----," and he used a word out of +camp. + +Edouard winced and groaned. "Oh! don't call her by such a name. +There is some mystery. She loved me once. There must have been +some strange seduction." + +"Now you deceive yourself," said Raynal. "I never saw a girl that +could take her own part better than she can; she is not like her +sister at all in character. Not that I excuse him; it was a +dishonorable act, an ungrateful act to my wife and my mother." + +"And to you." + +"Now listen to me: in four days I shall stand before him. I shall +not go into a pet like you; I am in earnest. I shall just say to +him, 'Dujardin, I know all!' Then if he is guilty his face will +show it directly. Then I shall say, 'Comrade, you must marry her +whom you have dishonored.'" + +"He will not. He is a libertine, a rascal." + +"You are speaking of a man you don't know. He WILL marry her and +repair the wrong he has done." + +"Suppose he refuses?" + +"Why should he refuse? The girl is not ugly nor old, and if she has +done a folly, he was her partner in it." + +"But SUPPOSE he refuses?" + +Raynal ground his teeth. "Refuse? If he does, I'll run my sword +through his carcass then and there, and the hussy shall go into a +convent." + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The French army lay before a fortified place near the Rhine, which +we will call Philipsburg. + +This army knew Bonaparte by report only; it was commanded by +generals of the old school. + +Philipsburg was defended on three sides by the nature of the ground; +but on the side that faced the French line of march there was only a +zigzag wall, pierced, and a low tower or two at each of the salient +angles. + +There were evidences of a tardy attempt to improve the defences. In +particular there was a large round bastion, about three times the +height of the wall; but the masonry was new, and the very embrasures +were not yet cut. + +Young blood was for assaulting these equivocal fortifications at the +end of the day's march that brought the French advanced guard in +sight of the place; but the old generals would not hear of it; the +soldiers' lives must not be flung away assaulting a place that could +be reduced in twenty-one days with mathematical certainty. For at +this epoch a siege was looked on as a process with a certain result, +the only problem was in how many days would the place be taken; and +even this they used to settle to a day or two on paper by +arithmetic; so many feet of wall, and so many guns on the one side; +so many guns, so many men, and such and such a soil to cut the +trenches in on the other: result, two figures varying from fourteen +to forty. These two figures represented the duration of the siege. + +For all that, siege arithmetic, right in general, has often been +terribly disturbed by one little incident, that occurs from time to +time; viz., Genius INside. And, indeed, this is one of the sins of +genius; it goes and puts out calculations that have stood the brunt +of years. Archimedes and Todleben were, no doubt, clever men in +their way and good citizens, yet one characteristic of delicate +men's minds they lacked--veneration; they showed a sad disrespect +for the wisdom of the ancients, deranged the calculations which so +much learning and patient thought had hallowed, disturbed the minds +of white-haired veterans, took sieges out of the grasp of science, +and plunged them back into the field of wild conjecture. + +Our generals then sat down at fourteen hundred yards' distance, and +planned the trenches artistically, and directed them to be cut at +artful angles, and so creep nearer and nearer the devoted town. +Then the Prussians, whose hearts had been in their shoes at first +sight of the French shakos, plucked up, and turned not the garrison +only but the population of the town into engineers and masons. +Their fortifications grew almost as fast as the French trenches. + +The first day of the siege, a young but distinguished brigadier in +the French army rode to the quarters of General Raimbaut, who +commanded his division, and was his personal friend, and +respectfully but firmly entreated the general to represent to the +commander-in-chief the propriety of assaulting that new bastion +before it should become dangerous. "My brigade shall carry it in +fifteen minutes, general," said he. + +"What! cross all that open under fire? One-half your brigade would +never reach the bastion." + +"But the other half would take it." + +"That is not so certain." + +General Raimbaut refused to forward the young colonel's proposal to +headquarters. "I will not subject you to TWO refusals in one +matter," said he, kindly. + +The young colonel lingered. He said, respectfully, "One question, +general, when that bastion cuts its teeth will it be any easier to +take than now?" + +"Certainly; it will always be easier to take it from the sap than to +cross the open under fire to it, and take it. Come, colonel, to +your trenches; and if your friend should cut its teeth, you shall +have a battery in your attack that will set its teeth on edge. Ha! +ha!" + +The young colonel did not echo his chief's humor; he saluted +gravely, and returned to the trenches. + +The next morning three fresh tiers of embrasures grinned one above +another at the besiegers. The besieged had been up all night, and +not idle. In half these apertures black muzzles showed themselves. + +The bastion had cut its front teeth. + +Thirteenth day of the siege. + +The trenches were within four hundred yards of the enemy's guns, and +it was hot work in them. The enemy had three tiers of guns in the +round bastion, and on the top they had got a long 48-pounder, which +they worked with a swivel joint, or the like, and threw a great +roaring shot into any part of the French lines. + +As to the commander-in-chief and his generals, they were dotted +about a long way in the rear, and no shot came as far as them; but +in the trenches the men began now to fall fast, especially on the +left attack, which faced the round bastion. Our young colonel had +got his heavy battery, and every now and then he would divert the +general efforts of the bastion, and compel it to concentrate its +attention on him, by pounding away at it till it was all in sore +places. But he meant it worse mischief than that. Still, as +heretofore, regarding it as the key to Philipsburg, he had got a +large force of engineers at work driving a mine towards it, and to +this he trusted more than to breaching it; for the bigger holes he +made in it by day were all stopped at night by the townspeople. + +This colonel was not a favorite in the division to which his brigade +belonged. He was a good soldier, but a dull companion. He was also +accused of hauteur and of an unsoldierly reserve with his brother +officers. + +Some loose-tongued ones even called him a milk-sop, because he was +constantly seen conversing with the priest--he who had nothing to +say to an honest soldier. + +Others said, "No, hang it, he is not a milk-sop: he is a tried +soldier: he is a sulky beggar all the same." Those under his +immediate command were divided in opinion about him. There was +something about him they could not understand. Why was his sallow +face so stern, so sad? and why with all that was his voice so +gentle? somehow the few words that did fall from his mouth were +prized. One old soldier used to say, "I would rather have a word +from our brigadier than from the commander-in-chief." Others +thought he must at some part of his career have pillaged a church, +taken the altar-piece, and sold it to a picture-dealer in Paris, or +whipped the earrings out of the Madonna's ears, or admitted the +female enemy to quarter upon ungenerous conditions: this, or some +such crime to which we poor soldiers are liable: and now was +committing the mistake of remording himself about it. "Always +alongside the chaplain, you see!" + +This cold and silent man had won the heart of the most talkative +sergeant in the French army. Sergeant La Croix protested with many +oaths that all the best generals of the day had commanded him in +turn, and that his present colonel was the first that had succeeded +in inspiring him with unlimited confidence. "He knows every point +of war--this one," said La Croix, "I heard him beg and pray for +leave to storm this thundering bastion before it was armed: but no, +the old muffs would be wiser than our colonel. So now here we are +kept at bay by a place that Julius Caesar and Cannibal wouldn't have +made two bites at apiece; no more would I if I was the old boy out +there behind the hill." In such terms do sergeants denote +commanders-in-chief--at a distance. A voluble sergeant has more +influence with the men than the minister of war is perhaps aware: on +the whole, the 24th brigade would have followed its gloomy colonel +to grim death and a foot farther. One thing gave these men a touch +of superstitious reverence for their commander. He seemed to them +free from physical weakness. He never SAT DOWN to dinner, and +seemed never to sleep. At no hour of the day or night were the +sentries safe from his visits. + +Very annoying. But, after awhile, it led to keen watchfulness: the +more so that the sad and gloomy colonel showed by his manner he +appreciated it. Indeed, one night he even opened his marble jaws, +and told Sergeant La Croix that a watchful sentry was an important +soldier, not to his brigade only, but to the whole army. Judge +whether the maxim and the implied encomium did not circulate next +morning, with additions. + +Sixteenth day of the siege. The round bastion opened fire at eight +o'clock, not on the opposing battery, but on the right of the French +attack. Its advanced position enabled a portion of its guns to rake +these trenches slant-wise: and depressing its guns it made the round +shot strike the ground first and ricochet over. + +On this our colonel opened on them with all his guns: one of these +he served himself. Among his other warlike accomplishments, he was +a wonderful shot with a cannon. He showed them capital practice +this morning: drove two embrasures into one, and knocked about a ton +of masonry off the parapet. Then taking advantage of this, he +served two of his guns with grape, and swept the enemy off the top +of the bastion, and kept it clear. He made it so hot they could not +work the upper guns. Then they turned the other two tiers all upon +him, and at it both sides went ding, dong, till the guns were too +hot to be worked. So then Sergeant La Croix popped his head up from +the battery, and showed the enemy a great white plate. This was +meant to convey to them an invitation to dine with the French army: +the other side of the table of course. + +To the credit of Prussian intelligence be it recorded, that this +pantomimic hint was at once taken and both sides went to dinner. + +The fighting colonel, however, remained in the battery, and kept a +detachment of his gunners employed cooling the guns and repairing +the touch-holes. He ordered his two cutlets and his glass of water +into the battery. + +Meantime, the enemy fired a single gun at long intervals, as much as +to say, "We had the last word." + +Let trenches be cut ever so artfully, there will be a little space +exposed here and there at the angles. These spaces the men are +ordered to avoid, or whip quickly across them into cover. + +Now the enemy had just got the range of one of these places with +their solitary gun, and had already dropped a couple of shot right +on to it. A camp follower with a tray, two cutlets, and a glass of +water, came to this open space just as a puff of white smoke burst +from the bastion. Instead of instantly seeking shelter till the +shot had struck, he, in his inexperience, thought the shot must have +struck, and all danger be over. He stayed there mooning instead of +pelting under cover: the shot (eighteen-pound) struck him right on +the breast, knocked him into spilikins, and sent the mutton cutlets +flying. + +The human fragments lay quiet, ten yards off. But a soldier that +was eating his dinner kicked it over, and jumped up at the side of +"Death's Alley" (as it was christened next minute), and danced and +yelled with pain. + +"Haw! haw! haw!" roared a soldier from the other side of the alley. + +"What is that?" cried Sergeant La Croix. "What do you laugh at, +Private Cadel?" said he sternly, for, though he was too far in the +trench to see, he had heard that horrible sound a soldier knows from +every other, the "thud" of a round shot striking man or horse. + +"Sergeant," said Cadel, respectfully, "I laugh to see Private Dard, +that got the wind of the shot, dance and sing, when the man that got +the shot itself does not say a word." + +"The wind of the shot, you rascal!" roared Private Dard: "look +here!" and he showed the blood running down his face. + +The shot had actually driven a splinter of bone out of the sutler +into Dard's temple. + +"I am the unluckiest fellow in the army," remonstrated Dard: and he +stamped in a circle. + +"Seems to me you are only the second unluckiest this time," said a +young soldier with his mouth full; and, with a certain dry humor, he +pointed vaguely over his shoulder with the fork towards the corpse. + +The trenches laughed and assented. + +This want of sympathy and justice irritated Dard. "You cursed +fools!" cried he. "He is gone where we must all go--without any +trouble. But look at me. I am always getting barked. Dogs of +Prussians! they pick me out among a thousand. I shall have a +headache all the afternoon, you see else." + +Some of our heads would never have ached again: but Dard had a good +thick skull. + +Dard pulled out his spilikin savagely. + +"I'll wrap it up in paper for Jacintha," said he. "Then that will +learn her what a poor soldier has to go through." + +Even this consolation was denied Private Dard. + +Corporal Coriolanus Gand, a bit of an infidel from Lyons, who +sometimes amused himself with the Breton's superstition, told him +with a grave face, that the splinter belonged not to him, but to the +sutler, and, though so small, was doubtless a necessary part of his +frame. + +"If you keep that, it will be a bone of contention between you two," +said he; "especially at midnight. HE WILL BE ALWAYS COMING BACK TO +YOU FOR IT." + +"There, take it away!" said the Breton hastily, "and bury it with +the poor fellow." + +Sergeant La Croix presented himself before the colonel with a rueful +face and saluted him and said, "Colonel, I beg a thousand pardons; +your dinner has been spilt--a shot from the bastion." + +"No matter," said the colonel. "Give me a piece of bread instead." + +La Croix went for it himself, and on his return found Cadel sitting +on one side of Death's Alley, and Dard with his head bound up on the +other. They had got a bottle which each put up in turn wherever he +fancied the next round shot would strike, and they were betting +their afternoon rations which would get the Prussians to hit the +bottle first. + +La Croix pulled both their ears playfully. + +"Time is up for playing marbles," said he. "Be off, and play at +duty," and he bundled them into the battery. + + +It was an hour past midnight: a cloudy night. The moon was up, but +seen only by fitful gleams. A calm, peaceful silence reigned. + +Dard was sentinel in the battery. + +An officer going his rounds found the said sentinel flat instead of +vertical. He stirred him with his scabbard, and up jumped Dard. + +"It's all right, sergeant. O Lord! it's the colonel. I wasn't +asleep, colonel." + +"I have not accused you. But you will explain what you were doing." + +"Colonel," said Dard, all in a flutter, "I was taking a squint at +them, because I saw something. The beggars are building a wall, +now." + +"Where?" + +"Between us and the bastion." + +"Show me." + +"I can't, colonel; the moon has gone in; but I did see it." + +"How long was it?" + +"About a hundred yards." + +"How high?" + +"Colonel, it was ten feet high if it was an inch." + +"Have you good sight?" + +"La! colonel, wasn't I a bit of a poacher before I took to the +bayonet?" + +"Good! Now reflect. If you persist in this statement, I turn out +the brigade on your information." + +"I'll stand the fire of a corporal's guard at break of day if I make +a mistake now," said Dard. + +The colonel glided away, called his captain and first lieutenants, +and said two words in each ear, that made them spring off their +backs. + +Dard, marching to an fro, musket on shoulder, found himself suddenly +surrounded by grim, silent, but deadly eager soldiers, that came +pouring like bees into the open space behind the battery. The +officers came round the colonel. + +"Attend to two things," said he to the captains. "Don't fire till +they are within ten yards: and don't follow them unless I lead you." + +The men were then told off by companies, some to the battery, some +to the trenches, some were kept on each side Death's Alley, ready +for a rush. + +They were not all of them in position, when those behind the parapet +saw, as it were, something deepen the gloom of night, some fourscore +yards to the front: it was like a line of black ink suddenly drawn +upon a sheet covered with Indian ink. + +It seems quite stationary. The novices wondered what it was. The +veterans muttered--"Three deep." + +Though it looked stationary, it got blacker and blacker. The +soldiers of the 24th brigade griped their muskets hard, and set +their teeth, and the sergeants had much ado to keep them quiet. + +All of a sudden, a loud yell on the right of the brigade, two or +three single shots from the trenches in that direction, followed by +a volley, the cries of wounded men, and the fierce hurrahs of an +attacking party. + +Our colonel knew too well those sounds: the next parallel had been +surprised, and the Prussian bayonet was now silently at work. + +Disguise was now impossible. At the first shot, a guttural voice in +front of Dujardin's men was heard to give a word of command. There +was a sharp rattle and in a moment the thick black line was tipped +with glittering steel. + +A roar and a rush, and the Prussian line three deep came furiously +like a huge steel-pointed wave, at the French lines. A tremendous +wave of fire rushed out to meet that wave of steel: a crash of two +hundred muskets, and all was still. Then you could see through the +black steel-tipped line in a hundred frightful gaps, and the ground +sparkled with bayonets and the air rang with the cries of the +wounded. + +A tremendous cheer from the brigade, and the colonel charged at the +head of his column, out by Death's Alley. + +The broken wall was melting away into the night. The colonel +wheeled his men to the right: one company, led by the impetuous +young Captain Jullien, followed the flying enemy. + +The other attack had been only too successful. They shot the +sentries, and bayoneted many of the soldiers in their tents: others +escaped by running to the rear, and some into the next parallel. + +Several, half dressed, snatched up their muskets, killed one +Prussian, and fell riddled like sieves. + +A gallant officer got a company together into the place of arms and +formed in line. + +Half the Prussian force went at them, the rest swept the trenches: +the French company delivered a deadly volley, and the next moment +clash the two forces crossed bayonets, and a silent deadly stabbing +match was played: the final result of which was inevitable. The +Prussians were five to one. The gallant officer and the poor +fellows who did their duty so stoutly, had no thought left but to +die hard, when suddenly a roaring cheer seemed to come from the rear +rank of the enemy. "France! France!" Half the 24th brigade came +leaping and swarming over the trenches in the Prussian rear. The +Prussians wavered. "France!" cried the little party that were being +overpowered, and charged in their turn with such fury that in two +seconds the two French corps went through the enemy's centre like +paper, and their very bayonets clashed together in more than one +Prussian body. + +Broken thus in two fragments the Prussian corps ceased to exist as a +military force. The men fled each his own way back to the fort, and +many flung away their muskets, for French soldiers were swarming in +from all quarters. At this moment, bang! bang! bang! from the +bastion. + +"They are firing on my brigade," said our colonel. "Who has led his +company there against my orders? Captain Neville, into the battery, +and fire twenty rounds at the bastion! Aim at the flashes from +their middle tier." + +"Yes, colonel." + +The battery opened with all its guns on the bastion. The right +attack followed suit. The town answered, and a furious cannonade +roared and blazed all down both lines till daybreak. Hell seemed +broken loose. + +Captain Jullien had followed the flying foe: but could not come up +with them: and, as the enemy had prepared for every contingency, the +fatal bastion, after first throwing a rocket or two to discover +their position, poured showers of grape into them, killed many, and +would have killed more but that Captain Neville and his gunners +happened by mere accident to dismount one gun and to kill a couple +of gunners at the others. This gave the remains of the company time +to disperse and run back. When the men were mustered, Captain +Jullien and twenty-five of his company did not answer to their +names. At daybreak they were visible from the trenches lying all by +themselves within eighty yards of the bastion. + +A flag of truce came from the fort: the dead were removed on both +sides and buried. Some Prussian officers strolled into the French +lines. Civilities and cigars exchanged: "Bon jour," "Gooten daeg:" +then at it again, ding dong all down the line blazing and roaring. + +At twelve o'clock the besieged had got a man on horseback, on top of +a hill, with colored flags in his hand, making signals. + +"What are you up to now?" inquired Dard. + +"You will see," said La Croix, affecting mystery; he knew no more +than the other. + +Presently off went Long Tom on the top of the bastion, and the shot +came roaring over the heads of the speakers. + +The flags were changed, and off went Long Tom again at an elevation. + +Ten seconds had scarcely elapsed when a tremendous explosion took +place on the French right. Long Tom was throwing red-hot shot; one +had fallen on a powder wagon, and blown it to pieces, and killed two +poor fellows and a horse, and turned an artillery man at some +distance into a seeming nigger, but did him no great harm; only took +him three days to get the powder out of his clothes with pipe clay, +and off his face with raw potato-peel. + +When the tumbril exploded, the Prussians could be heard to cheer, +and they turned to and fired every iron spout they owned. Long Tom +worked all day. + +They got into a corner where the guns of the battery could not hit +them or him, and there was his long muzzle looking towards the sky, +and sending half a hundredweight of iron up into the clouds, and +plunging down a mile off into the French lines. + +And, at every shot, the man on horseback made signals to let the +gunners know where the shot fell. + +At last, about four in the afternoon, they threw a forty-eight-pound +shot slap into the commander-in-chief's tent, a mile and a half +behind trenches. + +Down comes a glittering aide-de-camp as hard as he can gallop. + +"Colonel Dujardin, what are you about, sir? YOUR BASTION has thrown +a round shot into the commander-in-chief's tent." + +The colonel did not appear so staggered as the aide-de-camp +expected. + +"Ah, indeed!" said he quietly. "I observed they were trying +distances." + +"Must not happen again, colonel. You must drive them from the gun." + +"How?" + +"Why, where is the difficulty?" + +"If you will do me the honor to step into the battery, I will show +you," said the colonel. + +"If you please," said the aide-de-camp stiffly. + +Colonel Dujardin took him to the parapet, and began, in a calm, +painstaking way, to show him how and why none of his guns could be +brought to bear upon Long Tom. + +In the middle of the explanation a melodious sound was heard in the +air above them, like a swarm of Brobdingnag bees. + +"What is that?" inquired the aide-de-camp. + +"What? I see nothing." + +"That humming noise." + +"Oh, that? Prussian bullets. Ah, by-the-by, it is a compliment to +your uniform, monsieur; they take you for some one of importance. +Well, as I was observing"-- + +"Your explanation is sufficient, colonel; let us get out of this. +Ha, ha! you are a cool hand, colonel, I must say. But your battery +is a warm place enough: I shall report it so at headquarters." + +The grim colonel relaxed. + +"Captain," said he politely, "you shall not have ridden to my post +in vain. Will you lend me your horse for ten minutes?" + +"Certainly; and I will inspect your trenches meantime." + +"Do so; oblige me by avoiding that angle; it is exposed, and the +enemy have got the range to an inch." + +Colonel Dujardin slipped into his quarters; off with his half-dress +jacket and his dirty boots, and presently out he came full fig, +glittering brighter than the other, with one French and two foreign +orders shining on his breast, mounted the aide-de-camp's horse, and +away full pelt. + +Admitted, after some delay, into the generalissimo's tent, Dujardin +found the old gentleman surrounded by his staff and wroth: nor was +the danger to which he had been exposed his sole cause of ire. + +The shot had burst through his canvas, struck a table on which was a +large inkstand, and had squirted the whole contents over the +despatches he was writing for Paris. + +Now this old gentleman prided himself upon the neatness of his +despatches: a blot on his paper darkened his soul. + +Colonel Dujardin expressed his profound regret. The commander, +however, continued to remonstrate. "I have a great deal of writing +to do," said he, "as you must be aware; and, when I am writing, I +expect to be quiet." + +Colonel Dujardin assented respectfully to the justice of this. He +then explained at full length why he could not bring a gun in the +battery to silence "Long Tom," and quietly asked to be permitted to +run a gun out of the trenches, and take a shot at the offender. + +"It is a point-blank distance, and I have a new gun, with which a +man ought to be able to hit his own ball at three hundred yards." + +The commander hesitated. + +"I cannot have the men exposed." + +"I engage not to lose a man--except him who fires the gun. HE must +take his chance." + +"Well, colonel, it must be done by volunteers. The men must not be +ORDERED out on such a service as that." + +Colonel Dujardin bowed, and retired. + + +"Volunteers to go out of the trenches!" cried Sergeant La Croix, in +a stentorian voice, standing erect as a poker, and swelling with +importance. + +There were fifty offers in less than as many seconds. + +"Only twelve allowed to go," said the sergeant; "and I am one," +added he, adroitly inserting himself. + +A gun was taken down, placed on a carriage, and posted near Death's +Alley, but out of the line of fire. + +The colonel himself superintended the loading of this gun; and to +the surprise of the men had the shot weighed first, and then weighed +out the powder himself. + +He then waited quietly a long time till the bastion pitched one of +its periodical shots into Death's Alley, but no sooner had the shot +struck, and sent the sand flying past the two lanes of curious +noses, than Colonel Dujardin jumped upon the gun and waved his +cocked hat. At this preconcerted signal, his battery opened fire on +the bastion, and the battery to his right opened on the wall that +fronted them; and the colonel gave the word to run the gun out of +the trenches. They ran it out into the cloud of smoke their own +guns were belching forth, unseen by the enemy; but they had no +sooner twisted it into the line of Long Tom, than the smoke was +gone, and there they were, a fair mark. + +"Back into the trenches, all but one!" roared Dujardin. + +And in they ran like rabbits. + +"Quick! the elevation." + +Colonel Dujardin and La Croix raised the muzzle to the mark--hoo, +hoo, hoo! ping, ping, ping! came the bullets about their ears. + +"Away with you!" cried the colonel, taking the linstock from him. + +Then Colonel Dujardin, fifteen yards from the trenches, in full +blazing uniform, showed two armies what one intrepid soldier can do. +He kneeled down and adjusted his gun, just as he would have done in +a practising ground. He had a pot shot to take, and a pot shot he +would take. He ignored three hundred muskets that were levelled at +him. He looked along his gun, adjusted it, and re-adjusted it to a +hair's breadth. The enemy's bullets pattered upon it: still he +adjusted it delicately. His men were groaning and tearing their +hair inside at his danger. + +At last it was levelled to his mind, and then his movements were as +quick as they had hitherto been slow. In a moment he stood erect in +the half-fencing attitude of a gunner, and his linstock at the +touch-hole: a huge tongue of flame, a volume of smoke, a roar, and +the iron thunderbolt was on its way, and the colonel walked +haughtily but rapidly back to the trenches; for in all this no +bravado. He was there to make a shot; not to throw a chance of life +away watching the effect. + +Ten thousand eyes did that for him. + +Both French and Prussians risked their own lives craning out to see +what a colonel in full uniform was doing under fire from a whole +line of forts, and what would be his fate; but when he fired the gun +their curiosity left the man and followed the iron thunderbolt. + +For two seconds all was uncertain; the ball was travelling. + +Tom gave a rear like a wild horse, his protruding muzzle went up +sky-high, then was seen no more, and a ring of old iron and a +clatter of fragments was heard on the top of the bastion. Long Tom +was dismounted. Oh! the roar of laughter and triumph from one end +to another of the trenches; and the clapping of forty thousand hands +that went on for full five minutes; then the Prussians, either +through a burst of generous praise for an act so chivalrous and so +brilliant, or because they would not be crowed over, clapped their +tea thousand hands as loudly, and thus thundering, heart-thrilling +salvo of applause answered salvo on both sides that terrible arena. + +That evening came a courteous and flattering message from the +commander-in-chief to Colonel Dujardin; and several officers visited +his quarters to look at him; they went back disappointed. The cry +was, "What a miserable, melancholy dog! I expected to see a fine, +dashing fellow." + + +The trenches neared the town. Colonel Dujardin's mine was far +advanced; the end of the chamber was within a few yards of the +bastion. Of late, the colonel had often visited this mine in +person. He seemed a little uneasy about something in that quarter; +but no one knew what: he was a silent man. The third evening, after +he dismounted Long Tom, he received private notice that an order was +coming down from the commander-in-chief to assault the bastion. He +shrugged his shoulders, but said nothing. That same night the +colonel and one of his lieutenants stole out of the trenches, and by +the help of a pitch-dark, windy night, got under the bastion +unperceived, and crept round it, and made their observations, and +got safe back. About noon down came General Raimbaut. + +"Well, colonel, you are to have your way at last. Your bastion is +to be stormed this afternoon previous to the general assault. Why, +how is this? you don't seem enchanted?" + +"I am not." + +"Why, it was you who pressed for the assault." + +"At the right time, general, not the wrong. In five days I +undertake to blow that bastion into the air. To assault it now +would be to waste our men." + +General Raimbaut thought this excess of caution a great piece of +perversity in Achilles. They were alone, and he said a little +peevishly,-- + +"Is not this to blow hot and cold on the same thing?" + +"No, general," was the calm reply. "Not on the same thing. I blew +hot upon timorous counsels; I blow cold on rash ones. General, last +night Lieutenant Fleming and I were under that bastion; and all +round it." + +"Ah! my prudent colonel, I thought we should not talk long without +your coming out in your true light. If ever a man secretly enjoyed +risking his life, it is you." + +"No, general," said Dujardin looking gloomily down; "I enjoy neither +that nor anything else. Live or die, it is all one to me; but to +the lives of my soldiers I am not indifferent, and never will be +while I live. My apparent rashness of last night was pure +prudence." + +Raimbaut's eye twinkled with suppressed irony. "No doubt!" said he; +"no doubt!" + +The impassive colonel would not notice the other's irony; he went +calmly on:-- + +"I suspected something; I went to confute, or confirm that +suspicion. I confirmed it." + +Rat! tat! tat! tat! tat! tat! tat! was heard a drum. Relieving +guard in the mine. + +Colonel Dujardin interrupted himself. + +"That comes apropos," said he. "I expect one proof more from that +quarter. Sergeant, send me the sentinel they are relieving." + +Sergeant La Croix soon came back, as pompous as a hen with one +chick, predominating with a grand military air over a droll figure +that chattered with cold, and held its musket in hands clothed in +great mittens. Dard. + +La Croix marched him up as if he had been a file; halted him like a +file, sang out to him as to a file, stentorian and unintelligible, +after the manner of sergeants. + +"Private No. 4." + +DARD. P-p-p-present! + +LA CROIX. Advance to the word of command, and speak to the colonel. + +The shivering figure became an upright statue directly, and carried +one of his mittens to his forehead. Then, suddenly recognizing the +rank of the gray-haired officer, he was morally shaken, but remained +physically erect, and stammered,-- + +"Colonel!--general!--colonel!" + +"Don't be frightened, my lad. But look at the general and answer +me." + +"Yes! general! colonel!" and he levelled his eye dead at the +general, as he would a bayonet at a foe, being so commanded. + +"Now answer in as few syllables as you can." + +"Yes! general--colonel." + +"You have been on guard in the mine." + +"Yes, general." + +"What did you see there?" + +"Nothing; it was night down there." + +"What did you feel?" + +"Cold! I--was--in--water--hugh!" + +"Did you hear nothing, then?" + +"Yes." + +"What?" + +"Bum! bum! bum!" + +"Are you sure you did not hear particles of earth fall at the end of +the trench?" + +"I think it did, and this (touching his musket) sounded of its own +accord." + +"Good! you have answered well; go." + +"Sergeant, I did not miss a word," cried Dard, exulting. He thought +he had passed a sort of military college examination. The sergeant +was awe-struck and disgusted at his familiarity, speaking to him +before the great: he pushed Private Dard hastily out of the +presence, and bundled him into the trenches. + +"Are you countermined, then?" asked General Raimbaut. + +"I think not, general; but the whole bastion is. And we found it +had been opened in the rear, and lately half a dozen broad roads cut +through the masonry." + +"To let in re-enforcements?" + +"Or to let the men run out in ease of an assault. I have seen from +the first an able hand behind that part of the defences. If we +assault the bastion, they will pick off as many of us as they can +with their muskets then they will run for it, and fire a train, and +blow it and us into the air." + +"Colonel, this is serious. Are you prepared to lay this statement +before the commander-in-chief?" + +"I am, and I do so through you, the general of my division. I even +beg you to say, as from me, that the assault will be mere suicide-- +bloody and useless." + +General Raimbaut went off to headquarters in some haste, a thorough +convert to Colonel Dujardin's opinion. Meantime the colonel went +slowly to his tent. At the mouth of it a corporal, who was also his +body-servant, met him, saluted, and asked respectfully if there were +any orders. + +"A few minutes' repose, Francois, that is all. Do not let me be +disturbed for an hour." + +"Attention!" cried Francois. "Colonel wants to sleep." + +The tent was sentinelled, and Dujardin was alone with the past. + +Then had the fools, that took (as fools will do) deep sorrow for +sullenness, seen the fiery soldier droop, and his wan face fall into +haggard lines, and his martial figure shrink, and heard his stout +heart sigh! He took a letter from his bosom: it was almost worn to +pieces. He had read it a thousand times, yet he read it again. A +part of the sweet sad words ran thus:-- + + +"We must bow. We can never be happy together on earth; let us make +Heaven our friend. This is still left us,--not to blush for our +love; to do our duty, and to die." + + +"How tender, but how firm," thought Camille. "I might agitate, +taunt, grieve her I love, but I could not shake her. No! God and +the saints to my aid! they saved me from a crime I now shudder at. +And they have given me the good chaplain: he prays with me, he weeps +for me. His prayers still my beating heart. Yes, poor suffering +angel! I read your will in these tender, but bitter, words: you +prefer duty to love. And one day you will forget me; not yet +awhile, but it will be so. It wounds me when I think of it, but I +must bow. Your will is sacred. I must rise to your level, not drag +you to mine." + +Then the soldier that had stood between two armies in a hail of +bullets, and fired a master-shot, took a little book of offices in +one hand,--the chaplain had given it him,--and fixed his eyes upon +the pious words, and clung like a child to the pious words, and +kissed his lost wife's letter, and tried hard to be like her he +loved: patient, very patient, till the end should come. + +"Qui vive?" cried the sentinel outside to a strange officer. + +"France," was his reply. He then asked the sentinel, "Where is the +colonel commanding the brigade?" + +The sentinel lowered his voice, "Asleep, my officer," said he; for +the new-comer carried two epaulets. + +"Wake him," said the officer in a tone of a man used to command on a +large scale. + +Dujardin heard, and did not choose a stranger should think he was +asleep in broad day. He came hastily out of the tent, therefore, +with Josephine's letter in his hand, and, in the very act of +conveying it to his bosom, found himself face to face with--her +husband. + +Did you ever see two duellists cross rapiers? + +How unlike a theatrical duel! How smooth and quiet the bright +blades are! they glide into contact. They are polished and +slippery, yet they hold each other. So these two men's eyes met, +and fastened: neither spoke: each searched the other's face keenly. +Raynal's countenance, prepared as he was for this meeting, was like +a stern statue's. The other's face flushed, and his heart raged and +sickened at sight of the man, that, once his comrade and benefactor, +was now possessor of the woman he loved. But the figures of both +stood alike haughty, erect, and immovable, face to face. + +Colonel Raynal saluted Colonel Dujardin ceremoniously. Colonel +Dujardin returned the salute in the same style. + +"You thought I was in Egypt," said Raynal with grim significance +that caught Dujardin's attention, though he did not know quite how +to interpret it. + +He answered mechanically, "Yes, I did." + +"I am sent here by General Bonaparte to take a command," explained +Raynal. + +"You are welcome. What command?" + +"Yours." + +"Mine?" cried Dujardin, his forehead flushing with mortification and +anger. "What, is it not enough that you take my"-- He stopped +then. + +"Come, colonel," said the other calmly, "do not be unjust to an old +comrade. I take your demi-brigade; but you are promoted to +Raimbaut's brigade. The exchange is to be made to-morrow." + +"Was it then to announce to me my promotion you came to my +quarters?" and Camille looked with a strange mixture of feelings at +his old comrade. + +"That was the first thing, being duty, you know." + +"What? have you anything else to say to me, then?" + +"I have." + +"Is it important? for my own duties will soon demand me." + +"It is so important that, command or no command, I should have come +further than the Rhine to say it to you." + +Let a man be as bold as a lion, a certain awe still waits upon doubt +and mystery; and some of this vague awe crept over Camille Dujardin +at Raynal's mysterious speech, and his grave, quiet, significant +manner. + +Had he discovered something, and what? For Josephine's sake, more +than his own, Camille was on his guard directly. + +Raynal looked at him in silence a moment. + +"What?" said he with a slight sneer, "has it never occurred to you +that I MUST have a serious word to say to you? First, let me put +you a question: did they treat you well at my house? at the chateau +de Beaurepaire?" + +"Yes," faltered Camille. + +"You met, I trust, all the kindness and care due to a wounded +soldier and an officer of merit. It would annoy me greatly if I +thought you were not treated like a brother in my house." + +Colonel Dujardin writhed inwardly at this view of matters. He could +not reply in few words. This made him hesitate. + +His inquisitor waited, but, receiving no reply, went on, "Well, +colonel, have you shown the sense of gratitude we had a right to +look for in return? In a word, when you left Beaurepaire, had your +conscience nothing to reproach you with?" + +Dujardin still hesitated. He scarcely knew what to think or what to +say. But he thought to himself, "Who has told him? does he know +all?" + +"Colonel Dujardin, I am the husband of Josephine, the son of Madame +de Beaurepaire, and the brother of Rose. You know very well what +brings me here. Your answer?" + +"Colonel Raynal, between men of honor, placed as you and I are, few +words should pass, for words are idle. You will never prove to me +that I have wronged you: I shall never convince you that I have not. +Let us therefore close this painful interview in the way it is sure +to close. I am at your service, at any hour and place you please." + +"And pray is that all the answer you can think of?" asked Raynal +somewhat scornfully. + +"Why, what other answer can I give you?" + +"A more sensible, a more honest, and a less boyish one. Who doubts +that you can fight, you silly fellow? haven't I seen you? I want +you to show me a much higher sort of courage: the courage to repair +a wrong, not the paltry valor to defend one." + +"I really do not understand you, sir. How can I undo what is done?" + +"Why, of course you cannot. And therefore I stand here ready to +forgive all that is past; not without a struggle, which you don't +seem to appreciate." + +Camille was now utterly mystified. Raynal continued, "But of course +it is upon condition that you consent to heal the wound you have +made. If you refuse--hum! but you will not refuse." + +"But what is it you require of me?" inquired Camille impatiently. + +"Only a little common honesty. This is the case: you have seduced a +young lady." + +"Sir!" cried Camille angrily. + +"What is the matter? The word is not so bad as the crime, I take +it. You have seduced her, and under circumstances-- But we won't +speak of them, because I am resolved to keep cool. Well, sir, as +you said just now, it's no use crying over spilled milk; you can't +unseduce the little fool; so you must marry her." + +"M--m--marry her?" and Dujardin flushed all over, and his heart +beat, and he stared in Raynal's face. + +"Why, what is the matter again? If she has played the fool, it was +with you, and no other man: it is not as if she was depraved. Come, +my lad, show a little generosity! Take the consequences of your own +act--or your share of it--don't throw it all on the poor feeble +woman. If she has loved you too much, you are the man of all others +that should forgive her. Come, what do you say?" + +This was too much for Camille; that Raynal should come and demand of +him to marry his own wife, for so he understood the proposal. He +stared at Raynal in silence ever so long, and even when he spoke it +was only to mutter, "Are you out of your senses, or am I?" + +At this it cost Raynal a considerable effort to restrain his wrath. +However, he showed himself worthy of the office he had undertaken. +He contained himself, and submitted to argue the matter. "Why, +colonel," said he, "is it such a misfortune to marry poor Rose? She +is young, she is lovely, she has many good qualities, and she would +have walked straight to the end of her days but for you." + +Now here was another surprise for Dujardin, another mystification. + +"Rose de Beaurepaire?" said he, putting his hand to his head, as if +to see whether his reason was still there. + +"Yes, Rose de Beaurepaire--Rose Dujardin that ought to be, and that +is to be, if you please." + +"One word, monsieur: is it of Rose we have been talking all this +time?" + +Raynal nearly lost his temper at this question, and the cold, +contemptuous tone with which it was put; but he gulped down his ire. + +"It is," said he. + +"One question more. Did she tell you I had--I had"-- + +"Why, as to that, she was in no condition to deny she had fallen, +poor girl; the evidence was too strong. She did not reveal her +seducer's name; but I had not far to go for that." + +"One question more," said Dujardin, with a face of anguish. "Is it +Jos--is it Madame Raynal's wish I should marry her sister?" + +"Why, of course," said Raynal, in all sincerity, assuming that +naturally enough as a matter of course; "if you have any respect for +HER feelings, look on me as her envoy in this matter." + +At this Camille turned sick with disgust; then rage and bitterness +swelled his heart. A furious impulse seized him to expose Josephine +on the spot. He overcame that, however, and merely said, "She +wishes me to marry her sister, does she? very well then, I decline." + +Raynal was shocked. "Oh," said he, sorrowfully, "I cannot believe +this of you; such heartlessness as this is not written in your face; +it is contradicted by your past actions." + +"I refuse," said Dujardin, hastily; and to tell the truth, not sorry +to inflict some pain on the honest soldier who had unintentionally +driven the iron so deep into his own soul. + +"And I," said Raynal, losing his temper, "insist, in the name of my +dear Josephine"-- + +"Perdition!" snarled Dujardin, losing his self-command in turn. + +"And of the whole family." + +"And I tell you I will never marry her. Upon my honor, never." + +"Your honor! you have none. The only question is would you rather +marry her--or die." + +"Die, to be sure." + +"Then die you shall." + +"Ah!" said Dujardin; "did I not tell you we were wasting time? + +"Let us waste no more then. WHEN and WHERE?" + +"At the rear of the commander-in-chief's tent; when you like." + +"This afternoon, then--at five." + +"At five." + +"Seconds?" + +"What for?" + +"You are right. They are only in the way of men who carry sabres; +and besides the less gossip the better. Good-by, till five," and +the two saluted one another with grim ceremony; and Raynal turned on +his heel. + +Camille stood transfixed; a fierce, guilty joy throbbed in his +heart. His rival had quarrelled with him, had insulted him, had +challenged him. It was not his fault. The sun shone bright now +upon his cold despair. An hour ago life offered nothing. A few +hours more, and then joy beyond expression, or an end of all. Death +or Josephine! Then he remembered that this very Josephine wished to +marry him to Rose. Then he remembered Raynal had saved his life. +Cold chills crossed his breaking heart. Of all that could happen to +him death alone seemed a blessing without alloy. + +He stood there so torn with conflicting passions, that he noted +neither the passing hours nor the flying bullets. + +He was only awakened from his miserable trance by the even tread of +soldiers marching towards him; he looked up and there were several +officers coming along the edge of the trench, escorted by a +corporal's guard. + +He took a step or two to meet them. After the usual salutes, one of +the three colonels delivered a large paper, with a large seal, to +Dujardin. He read it out to his captains and lieutenants, who had +assembled at sight of the cocked hats and full uniforms. + + +"Attack by the army to-morrow upon all the lines. Attack of the +bastion St. Andre this evening. The 22d, the 24th, and 12th +brigades will furnish the contingents; the operation will be +conducted by one of the colonels of the second division, to be +appointed by General Raimbaut." + + +"Aha!" sounded a voice like a trombone at the reader's elbow. "I am +just in the nick of time. When, colonel, when?" + +"At five this evening, Colonel Raynal." + +"There," said Raynal, in a half-whisper, to Dujardin; "could they +choose no hour but that?" + +"Do not be uneasy," replied Dujardin, under his breath. He +explained aloud--"the assault will not take place, gentlemen; the +bastion is mined." + +"What of that? half of them are mined. We will take our engineers +in with us," said Raynal. + +"Such an assault will be a useless massacre," resumed Dujardin. "I +reconnoitred the bastion last night, and saw their preparations for +blowing us to the devil; and General Raimbaut, at my request, is +even now presenting my remarks to the commander-in-chief, and +enforcing them. There will be no assault. In a day or two we shall +blow the bastion, mines, and all into the air." + +At this moment Raynal caught sight of a gray-haired officer coming +at some distance. "There IS General Raimbaut," said he. "I will go +and pay my respects to him." General Raimbaut shook his hand +warmly, and welcomed him to the army. They were old and warm +friends. "And you are come at the right time," said he. "It will +soon be as hot here as in Egypt." + +Raynal laughed and said all the better. + +General Raimbaut now joined the group of officers, and entered at +once in the business which had brought him. Addressing himself to +Colonel Dujardin, first he informs that officer he had presented his +observations to the commander-in-chief, who had given them the +attention they merited. + +Colonel Dujardin bowed. + +"But," continued General Raimbaut, "they are overruled by imperious +circumstances, some of which he did not reveal; they remain in his +own breast. However, on the eve of a general attack, which he +cannot postpone, that bastion must be disarmed, otherwise it would +be too fatal to all the storming parties. It is a painful +necessity." He added, "Tell Colonel Dujardin I count greatly on the +courage and discipline of his brigade, and on his own wise +measures." + +Colonel Dujardin bowed. Then he whispered in the other's ear, "Both +will alike be wasted." + +The other colonels waved their hats in triumph at the commander-in- +chief's decision, and Raynal's face showed he looked on Dujardin as +a sort of spoil-sport happily defeated. + +"Well, then, gentlemen," said General Raimbaut, "we begin by +settling the contingents to be furnished by your several brigades. +Say, an equal number from each. The sum total shall be settled by +Colonel Dujardin, who has so long and ably baffled the bastion at +this post." + +Colonel Dujardin bowed stiffly and not very graciously. In his +heart he despised these old fogies, compounds of timidity and +rashness. + +"So, how many men in all, colonel?" asked General Raimbaut. + +"The fewer the better," replied the other solemnly, "since"--and +then discipline tied his tongue. + +"I understand you," said the old man. "Shall we say eight hundred +men?" + +"I should prefer three hundred. They have made a back door to the +bastion, and the means of flight at hand will put flight into their +heads. They will pick off some of our men as we go at them. When +the rest jump in they will jump out, and"-- He paused. + +"Why, he knows all about it before it comes," said one of the +colonels naively. + +"I do. I see the whole operation and its result before me, as I see +this hand. Three hundred men will do." + +"But, general," objected Raynal, "you are not beginning at the +beginning. The first thing in these cases is to choose the officer +to command the storming party." + +"Yes, Raynal, unquestionably; but you must be aware that is a +painful and embarrassing part of my duty, especially after Colonel +Dujardin's remarks." + +"Ah, bah!" cried Raynal. "He is prejudiced. He has been digging a +thundering long mine here, and now you are going to make his child +useless. We none of us like that. But when he gets the colors in +his hand, and the storming column at his back, his misgivings will +all go to the wind, and the enemy after them, unless he has been +committing some crime, and is very much changed from what I knew him +four years ago." + +"Colonel Raynal," said one of the other colonels, politely but +firmly, "pray do not assume that Colonel Dujardin is to lead the +column; there are three other claimants. General Raimbaut is to +select from us four." + +"Yes, gentlemen, and in a service of this kind I would feel grateful +to you all if you would relieve me of that painful duty." + +"Gentlemen," said Dujardin, with an imperceptible sneer, "the +general means to say this: the operation is so glorious that he +could hardly without partiality assign the command to either of us +four claimants. Well, then, let us cast lots." + +The proposal was received by acclamation. + +"The general will mark a black cross on one lot, and he who draws it +wins the command." + +The young colonels prepared their lots with almost boyish eagerness. +These fiery spirits were sick to death of lying and skulking in the +trenches. They flung their lots into the hat. After them, who +should approach the hat, lot in hand, but Raynal. Dujardin +instantly interfered, and held his arm as he was in the act of +dropping in his lot. + +"What is the matter?" said Raynal, sharply. + +"This is our affair, Colonel Raynal. You have no command in this +army." + +"I beg your pardon, sir, I have yours." + +"Not till to-morrow." + +"Why, you would not take such a pettifogging advantage of an old +comrade as that." + +"Tell him the day ends at twelve o'clock," said one of the colonels +interested by this strange strife. + +"Ah!" cried Raynal, triumphantly; "but no," said he, altering his +tone, "let us leave that sort of argument to lawyers. I have come a +good many miles to fight with you, general; and now you must decide +to pay me this little compliment on my arrival, or put a bitter +affront on me--choose!" + +While the old general hesitated, Camille replied, "Since you take +that tone there can be but one answer. You are too great a credit +to the French army for even an apparent slight to be put on you +here. The rule, I think, is, that one of the privates shall hold +the hat.--Hallo! Private Dard, come here--there--hold this hat." + +"Yes, colonel.--Lord, here is my young mistress's husband!" + +"Silence!" + +And they began to draw, and, in the act of drawing, a change of +manner was first visible in these gay and ardent spirits. + +"It is not I," said one, throwing away his lot. + +"Nor I." + +"It is I," said Raynal; then with sudden gravity, "I am the lucky +one." + +And now that the honor and the danger no longer floated vaguely over +four heads, but had fixed on one, a sudden silence and solemnity +took the place of eager voices. + +It was first broken by Private Dard saying, with foolish triumph, +"And I held the hat for you, colonel." + +"Ah, Raynal!" said General Raimbaut, sorrowfully, "it was not worth +while to come from Egypt for this." + +Raynal made no reply to this. He drew out his watch, and said +calmly, he had no time to lose; he must inspect the detachments he +was to command. "Besides," said he, "I have some domestic +arrangements to make. Hitherto on these occasions I was a bachelor, +now I am married." General Raimbaut could not help sighing. Raynal +read this aright, and turned to him, "A droll marriage, my old +friend; I'll tell you all about it if ever I have the time. It +began with a purchase, general, and ends with--with a bequest, which +I might as well write now, and so have nothing to think of but duty +afterwards. Where can I write?" + +"Colonel Dujardin will lend you his tent, I am sure." + +"Certainly." + +"And, messieurs," said Raynal, "if I waste time you need not. You +can pick me my men from your brigades. Give me a strong spice of +old hands." + +The colonels withdrew on this, and General Raimbaut walked sadly and +thoughtfully towards the battery. Dujardin and Raynal were left +alone. + +"This postpones our affair, sir." + +"Yes, Raynal." + +"Have you writing materials in your tent?" + +"Yes; on the table." + +"You are quite sure the bastion is mined, comrade?" + +This unexpected word and Raynal's gentle appeal touched Dujardin +deeply. It was in a broken voice he replied that he was +unfortunately too sure of it. + +Raynal received this reply as a sentence of death, and without +another word walked slowly into Dujardin's tent. + +Dujardin's generosity was up in arms; he followed Raynal, and said +eagerly, "Raynal, for Heaven's sake resign this command!" + +"Allow me to write to my wife, colonel," was the cold reply. + +Camille winced at this affront, and drew back a moment; but his +nobler part prevailed. He seized Raynal by the wrist. "You shall +not affront me, you cannot affront me. You go to certain death I +tell you, if you attack that bastion." + +"Don't be a fool, colonel," said Raynal: "somebody must lead the +men." + +"Yes; but not you. Who has so good a right to lead them as I, their +colonel?" + +"And be killed in my place, eh?" + +"I know the ground better than you," said Camille. "Besides, who +cares for me? I have no friends, no family. But you are married-- +and so many will mourn if you"-- + +Raynal interrupted him sternly. "You forget, sir, that Rose de +Beaurepaire is my sister, when you tell me you have no tie to life." +He added, with wonderful dignity and sobriety, "Allow me to write to +my wife, sir; and, while I write, reflect that you can embitter an +old comrade's last moments by persisting in your refusal to restore +his sister the honor you have robbed her of." + +And leaving the other staggered and confused by this sudden blow, he +retired into Dujardin's tent, and finding writing materials on a +little table that was there, sat down to pen a line to Josephine. + +Camille knew to whom he was writing, and a jealous pang passed +through him. + +What he wrote ran thus,-- + + +"A bastion is to be attacked at five. I command. Colonel Dujardin +proposed we should draw lots, and I lost. The service is honorable, +but the result may, I fear, give you some pain. My dear wife, it is +our fate. I was not to have time to make you know, and perhaps love +me. God bless you." + + +In writing these simple words, Raynal's hard face worked, and his +mustache quivered, and once he had to clear his eye with his hand to +form the letters. He, the man of iron. + +He who stood there, leaning on his scabbard and watching the writer, +saw this, and it stirred all that was great and good in that grand +though passionate heart of his. + +"Poor Raynal!" thought he, "you were never like that before on going +into action. He is loath to die. Ay, and it is a coward's trick to +let him die. I shall have her, but shall I have her esteem? What +will the army say? What will my conscience say? Oh! I feel already +it will gnaw my heart to death; the ghost of that brave fellow--once +my dear friend, my rival now, by no fault of his--will rise between +her and me, and reproach me with my bloody inheritance. The heart +never deceives; I feel it now whispering in my ear: 'Skulking +captain, white-livered soldier, that stand behind a parapet while a +better man does your work! you assassinate the husband, but the +rival conquers you.' There, he puts his hand to his eyes. What +shall I do?" + +"Colonel," said a low voice, and at the same time a hand was laid on +his shoulder. + +It was General Raimbaut. The general looked pale and distressed. + +"Come apart, colonel, for Heaven's sake! One word, while he is +writing. Ah! that was an unlucky idea of yours." + +"Of mine, general?" + +"'Twas you proposed to cast lots." + +"Good God! so it was." + +"I thought of course it was to be managed so that Raynal should not +be the one. Between ourselves, what honorable excuse can we make?" + +"None, general." + +"The whole division will be disgraced, and forgive me if I say a +portion of the discredit will fall on you." + +"Help me to avert that shame then," cried Camille, eagerly. + +"Ah! that I will: but how?" + +"Take your pencil and write--'I authorize Colonel Dujardin to save +the honor of the colonels of the second division.'" + +The general hesitated. He had never seen an order so worded. But +at last he took out his pencil and wrote the required order, after +his own fashion; i.e., in milk and water:-- + + +On account of the singular ability and courage with which Colonel +Dujardin has conducted the operations against the Bastion St. Andre, +a discretionary power is given him at the moment of assault to carry +into effect such measures, as, without interfering with the +commander-in-chief's order, may sustain his own credit, and that of +the other colonels of the second division. + +RAIMBAUT, General of Division. + + +Camille put the paper into his bosom. + +"Now, general, you may leave all to me. I swear to you, Raynal +shall not die--shall not lead this assault." + +"Your hand, colonel. You are an honor to the French armies. How +will you do it?" + +"Leave it to me, general, it shall be done." + +"I feel it will, my noble fellow: but, alas! I fear not without +risking some valuable life or other, most likely your own. Tell +me!" + +"General, I decline." + +"You refuse me, sir?" + +"Yes; this order gives me a discretionary power. I will hand back +the order at your command; but modify it I will not. Come, sir, you +veteran generals have been unjust to me, and listened to me too +little all through this siege, but at last you have honored me. +This order is the greatest honor that was ever done me since I wore +a sword.". + +"My poor colonel!" + +"Let me wear it intact, and carry it to my grave." + +"Say no more! One word--Is there anything on earth I can do for +you, my brave soldier?" + +"Yes, general. Be so kind as to retire to your quarters; there are +reasons why you ought not to be near this post in half an hour." + +"I go. Is there NOTHING else?" + +"Well, general, ask the good priest Ambrose, to pray for all those +who shall die doing their duty to their country this afternoon." + +They parted. General Raimbaut looked back more than once at the +firm, intrepid figure that stood there unflinching, on the edge of +the grave. But HE never took his eye off Raynal. The next minute +the sad letter was finished, and Raynal walked out of the tent, and +confronted the man he had challenged to single combat. + +I have mentioned elsewhere that Colonel Dujardin had eyes strangely +compounded of battle and love, of the dove and the hawk. And these, +softened by a noble act he meditated, now rested on Raynal with a +strange expression of warmth and goodness. This strange gaze struck +Raynal, so far at least as this; he saw it was no hostile eye. He +was glad of that, for his own heart was calmed and softened by the +solemn prospect before him. + +"We, too, have a little account to settle before I order out the +men," said he, calmly, "and I can't give you a long credit. I am +pressed for time." + +"Our quarrel is at an end. When duty sounds the recall, a soldier's +heart leaves private feuds. See! I come to you without anger and +ill-will. Just now my voice was loud, my manner, I dare say, +offensive, and menacing even, and that always tempts a brave fellow +like you to resist. But now, you see, I am harmless as a woman. We +are alone. Humbug to the winds! I know that you are the only man +in this army fit to command a division. I know that when you say +the assault of that bastion is death, death it is. To the point +then; now that my manner is no longer irritating, now that I am +going to die, Camille Dujardin, my old comrade, have you the heart +to refuse me? am I to die unhappy?" + +"No; no: I will do whatever you like." + +"You will marry that poor girl, then?" + +"Yes." + +"Aha! did not I always say he was a good fellow? Clench the nail; +give me your honor." + +"I give you my honor to marry her, if I live." + +"You take a load off me; may Heaven reward you. In one hour those +poor women, whose support I had promised to be, will lose their +protector; but I give them another in you. We shall not leave that +family in tears, Rose in shame, and your child without a name." + +Dujardin stared at the speaker. What new and devilish deception was +this? + +"My child!" he faltered. "What child?" + +"Ah," said Raynal, "what a fool I was! That is the first thing I +ought to have told you. Poor little fellow! I surprised him in his +cradle; his mother and Josephine were rocking him, and singing over +him. Oh! it was a scene, I can tell you. My poor wife had been ill +for some time, and was so weakened by it, that I frightened her into +a fit, stealing a march on her that way. She fainted away. Perhaps +it is as well she did; for I--I did not know what to think; it +looked ugly; but while she lay at our feet insensible, I forced the +truth from Rose; she owned the boy was hers." + +While Raynal told him this strange story, Camille turned hot and +cold. First came a thrill of glowing joy; he had some clew to all +this: he was a father; that child was Josephine's and his; the next +moment he froze within. So Josephine had not only gulled her +husband, but him, too; she had refused him the sad consolation of +knowing he had a child. Cruelty, calculation, and baseness +unexampled! Here was a creature who could sacrifice anything and +anybody to her comfort, to the peace and sordid smoothness of her +domestic life. She stood between two men--a thing. Between two +truths--a double lie. + +His heart, in one moment, turned against her like a stone. A +musket-bullet through the body does not turn life to death quicker +than Raynal turned his rival's love to despair and scorn: that love +which neither wounds, absence, prison, nor even her want of +constancy had prevailed to shake. + +"Out of my bosom!" he cried--"out of it, in this world and the +next!" + +He forgot, in his lofty rage, who stood beside him. + +"What?--what?" cried Raynal. + +"No matter," said Camille; "only I esteem YOU, Raynal. You are +truth; you are a man, and deserve a better lot." + +"Don't say that," replied Raynal, quite misunderstanding him. "It +is a soldier's end: I never desired nor hoped a better: only, of +course, I feel sad. You are a happy fellow, to have a child and to +live to see it, and her you love." + +"Oh, yes, I am very happy," replied the poor fellow, his lip +quivering. + +"Watch over all those poor women, comrade, and sometimes speak to +them of me. It is foolish, but we like to be remembered." + +"Yes! but do not let us speak of that. Raynal, you and I were +lieutenants together; do you remember saving my life in the Arno?" + +"Yes." + +"Then promise me, if you should live, to remember not our quarrel of +to-day, nor anything; but only those early days, AND THIS AFTERNOON." + +"I do." + +"Your hand, comrade." + +"There, comrade, there." + +They wrung one another's hands, and turned away and hid their faces +from each other, for their eyes were moist. + +"This won't do, comrade, I must go. I shall attack from your +position. So I shall go down the line, and bring the men up. +Meantime, pick me your detachment. Give me a good spice of +veterans. I shall get one word with you before we go out. God +bless you!" + +"God bless you, Raynal!" + +The moment Raynal was gone, Camille beckoned a lieutenant to him, +and ordered half the brigade to form in a strong column on both +sides Death's Alley. + +His eye fell upon private Dard, as luck would have it. "Come here," +said he. Dard came and saluted. + +"Have you anybody at Beaurepaire that would be sorry if you were +killed?" + +"Yes, colonel! Jacintha, that used to make your broth, colonel." + +"Take this line to Colonel Raynal. You will find him with the 12th +brigade." + +He wrote a few lines in pencil, folded them, and Dard went off with +them, little dreaming that the colonel of his brigade was taking the +trouble to save his life, because he came from Beaurepaire. Colonel +Dujardin then went into his tent, and closed the aperture, and took +the good book the priest had given him, and prayed humbly, and +forgave all the world. + +Then he sat down, his head in his hands, and thought of his child, +and how hard it was he must die and never see him. Then he lighted +a candle, and sealed up his orders of valor, and wrote a line, +begging that they might be sent to his sister. He also sealed up +his purse, and left a memorandum that the contents should be given +to disabled soldiers of his brigade upon their being invalided. + +Then he took out Josephine's letter. "Poor coward," he said, "let +me not be unkind. See, I burn your letter, lest it should be found, +and disturb the peace you prize so highly. I, too, shall soon be at +peace." He lighted the letter, and dropped it on the ground: it +burned slowly away. He eyed it, despairingly. "Ay," said he, "you +perish, last record of an unhappy love: and even so pass away my +life; my hopes of glory, and my dreams of love; it all ends to-day: +at nine and twenty." + +He put his white handkerchief to his eyes. Josephine had given it +him. He cried a little. + +When he had done crying, he put his white handkerchief in his bosom, +and the whole man was transformed beyond language to express. +Powder does not change more when it catches fire. He rose that +moment and went like a flash of lightning out of the tent. The +next, he came down between the lines of the strong column that stood +awaiting orders in Death's Alley. + +"Attention!" cried the sergeants; "the colonel!" + +There was a dead silence, for the bare sight of that erect and +inspired figure made the men's bosoms thrill with the certainty of +great deeds to come: the light of battle was in his eye. No longer +the moody colonel, but a thunderbolt of war, red-hot, and waiting to +be launched. + +"Officers, sergeants, soldiers, a word with you!" + +La Croix. Attention! + +"Do you know what passed here five minutes ago?" + +"The attack of the bastion was settled!" cried a captain. + +"It was; and who was to lead the assault? do you know that?" + +"No." + +"A colonel FROM EGYPT." + +At that there was a groan from the men. + +"With detachments from the other brigades." + +"AH!" an angry roar. + +Colonel Dujardin walked quickly down between the two lines, looking +with his fiery eye into the men's eyes on his right. Then he came +back on the other side, and, as he went, he lighted those men's eyes +with his own. It was a torch passing along a line of ready gas- +lights. + +"The work to us!" he cried in a voice like a clarion (it fired the +hearts as his eye had fired the eyes)--"The triumph to strangers! +Our fatigues and our losses have not gained the brigade the honor of +going out at those fellows that have killed so many of our +comrades." + +A fierce groan broke from the men. + +"What! shall the colors of another brigade and not ours fly from +that bastion this afternoon?" + +"No! no!" in a roar like thunder. + +"Ah! you are of my mind. Attention! the attack is fixed for five +o'clock. Suppose you and I were to carry the bastion ten minutes +before the colonel from Egypt can bring his men upon the ground." + +At this there was a fierce burst of joy and laughter; the strange +laughter of veterans and born invincibles. Then a yell of exulting +assent, accompanied by the thunder of impatient drums, and the +rattle of fixing bayonets. + +The colonel told off a party to the battery. + +"Level the guns at the top tier. Fire at my signal, and keep firing +over our heads, till you see our colors on the place." + +He then darted to the head of the column, which instantly formed +behind him in the centre of Death's Alley. + +"The colors! No hand but mine shall hold them to-day." + +They were instantly brought him: his left hand shook them free in +the afternoon sun. + +A deep murmur of joy rolled out from the old hands at the now +unwonted sight. Out flashed the colonel's sword like steel +lightning. He pointed to the battery. + +Bang! bang! bang! bang! went his cannon, and the smoke rolled over +the trenches. At the same moment up went the colors waving, and the +colonel's clarion voice pealed high above all:-- + +"Twenty-fourth brigade--FORWARD!" + +They went so swiftly out of the trenches that they were not seen +through their own smoke until they had run some sixty yards. As +soon as they were seen, coming on like devils through their own +smoke, two thousand muskets were levelled at them from the Prussian +line. It was not a rattle of small arms--it was a crash, and the +men fell fast: but in a moment they were seen to spread out like a +fan, and to offer less mark, and when the fan closed again, it half +encircled the bastion. It was a French attack: part swarmed at it +in front like bees, part swept round the glacis and flanked it. +They were seen to fall in numbers, shot down from the embrasures. +But the living took the place of the dead: and the fight ranged +evenly there. Where are the colors? Towards the rear there. The +colonel and a hundred men are fighting hand to hand with the +Prussians, who have charged out at the back doors of the bastion. +Success there, and the bastion must fall--both sides know this. + +The colors disappeared. There was a groan from the French lines. +The colors reappeared, and close under the bastion. + +And now in front the attack was so hot, that often the Prussian +gunners were seen to jump down, driven from their posts; and the +next moment a fierce hurrah from the rear told that the French had +won some great advantage there. The fire slackening told a similar +tale and presently down came the Prussian flag-staff. That might be +an accident. A few moments of thirsting expectation, and up went +the colors of the 24th brigade upon the Bastion St. Andre. + +The French army raised a shout that rent the sky, and their cannon +began to play on the Prussian lines and between the bastion and the +nearest fort, to prevent a recapture. + +Sudden there shot from the bastion a cubic acre of fire: it carried +up a heavy mountain of red and black smoke that looked solid as +marble. There was a heavy, sullen, tremendous explosion that +snuffed out the sound of the cannon, and paralyzed the French and +Prussian gunners' hands, and checked the very beating of their +hearts. Thirty thousand pounds of gunpowder were in that awful +explosion. War itself held its breath, and both armies, like +peaceable spectators, gazed wonder-struck, terror-struck. Great +hell seemed to burst through the earth's crust, and to be rushing at +heaven. Huge stones, cannons, corpses, and limbs of soldiers, were +seen driven or falling through the smoke. Some of these last came +quite clear of the ruins, ay, into the French and Prussian lines, +that even the veterans put their hands to their eyes. Raynal felt +something patter on him from the sky--it was blood--a comrade's +perhaps. + + +The smoke cleared. Where, a moment before, the great bastion stood +and fought, was a monstrous pile of blackened, bloody stones and +timbers, with dismounted cannon sticking up here and there. + +And, rent and crushed to atoms beneath the smoking mass, lay the +relics of the gallant brigade, and their victorious colors. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +A few wounded soldiers of the brigade lay still till dusk. Then +they crept back to the trenches. These had all been struck down or +disabled short of the bastion. Of those that had taken the place no +one came home. + +Raynal, after the first stupefaction, pressed hard and even angrily +for an immediate assault on the whole Prussian line. Not they. It +was on paper that the assault should be at daybreak to-morrow. Such +leaders as they were cannot IMPROVISE. + +Rage and grief in his heart, Raynal waited chafing in the trenches +till five minutes past midnight. He then became commander of the +brigade, gave his orders, and took thirty men out to creep up to the +wreck of the bastion, and find the late colonel's body. + +Going for so pious a purpose, he was rewarded by an important +discovery. The whole Prussian lines had been abandoned since +sunset, and, mounting cautiously on the ramparts, Raynal saw the +town too was evacuated, and lights and other indications on a rising +ground behind it convinced him that the Prussians were in full +retreat, probably to effect that junction with other forces which +the assault he had recommended would have rendered impossible. + +They now lighted lanterns, and searched all over and round the +bastion for the poor colonel, in the rear of the bastion they found +many French soldiers, most of whom had died by the bayonet. The +Prussian dead had all been carried off. + +Here they found the talkative Sergeant La Croix. The poor fellow +was silent enough now. A terrible sabre-cut on the skull. The +colonel was not there. Raynal groaned, and led the way on to the +bastion. The ruins still smoked. Seven or eight bodies were +discovered by an arm or a foot protruding through the masses of +masonry. Of these some were Prussians; a proof that some devoted +hand had fired the train, and destroyed both friend and foe. + +They found the tube of Long Tom sticking up, just as he had shown +over the battlements that glorious day, with this exception, that a +great piece was knocked off his lip, and the slice ended in a long, +broad crack. + +The soldiers looked at this. "That is our bullet's work," said +they. Then one old veteran touched his cap, and told Raynal +gravely, he knew where their beloved colonel was. "Dig here, to the +bottom," said he. "HE LIES BENEATH HIS WORK." + +Improbable and superstitious as this was, the hearts of the soldiers +assented to it. + +Presently there was a joyful cry outside the bastion. A rush was +made thither. But it proved to be only Dard, who had discovered +that Sergeant La Croix's heart still beat. They took him up +carefully, and carried him gently into camp. To Dard's delight the +surgeon pronounced him curable. For all that, he was three days +insensible, and after that unfit for duty. So they sent him home +invalided, with a hundred francs out of the poor colonel's purse. + +Raynal reported the evacuation of the place, and that Colonel +Dujardin was buried under the bastion, and soon after rode out of +the camp. + +The words Camille had scratched with a pencil, and sent him from the +edge of the grave, were few but striking. + + +"A dead man takes you once more by the hand. My last thought, thank +God, is France. For her sake and mine, Raynal. GO FOR GENERAL +BONAPARTE. Tell him, from a dying soldier, the Rhine is a river to +these generals, but to him a field of glory. He will lay out our +lives, not waste them." + + +There was nothing to hinder Raynal from carrying out this sacred +request: for the 24th brigade had ceased to exist: already thinned +by hard service, it was reduced to a file or two by the fatal +bastion. It was incorporated with the 12th; and Raynal rode heavy +at heart to Paris, with a black scarf across his breast. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +You see now into what a fatal entanglement two high-minded young +ladies were led, step by step, through yielding to the natural +foible of their sex--the desire to hide everything painful from +those they love, even at the expense of truth. + +A nice mess they made of it with their amiable dishonesty. And pray +take notice that after the first White Lie or two, circumstances +overpowered them, and drove them on against their will. It was no +small part of all their misery that they longed to get back to truth +and could not. + +We shall see presently how far they succeeded in that pious object, +for the sake of which they first entered on concealments. But first +a word is due about one of the victims of their amiable, self- +sacrificing lubricity. Edouard Riviere fell in one night, from +happiness and confidence, such as till that night be had never +enjoyed, to deep and hopeless misery. + +He lost that which, to every heart capable of really loving, is the +greatest earthly blessing, the woman he adored. But worse than +that, he lost those prime treasures of the masculine soul, belief in +human goodness, and in female purity. To him no more could there be +in nature a candid eye, a virtuous ready-mantling cheek: for frailty +and treachery had put on these signs of virtue and nobility. +Henceforth, let him live a hundred years, whom could he trust or +believe in? + +Here was a creature whose virtues seemed to make frailty impossible: +treachery, doubly impossible: a creature whose very faults--for +faults she had--had seemed as opposite to treachery as her very +virtues were. Yet she was all frailty and falsehood. + +He passed in that one night of anguish from youth to age. He went +about his business like a leaden thing. His food turned tasteless. +His life seemed ended. Nothing appeared what it had been. The very +landscape seemed cut in stone, and he a stone in the middle of it, +and his heart a stone in him. At times, across that heavy heart +came gushes of furious rage and bitter mortification; his heart was +broken, and his faith was gone, for his vanity had been stabbed as +fiercely as his love. "Georges Dandin!" he would cry, "curse her! +curse her!" But love and misery overpowered these heats, and froze +him to stone again. + +The poor boy pined and pined. His clothes hung loose about him; his +face was so drawn with suffering, you would not have known him. He +hated company. The things he was expected to talk about!--he with +his crushed heart. He could not. He would not. He shunned all the +world; he went alone like a wounded deer. The good doctor, on his +return from Paris, called on him to see if he was ill: since he had +not come for days to the chateau. He saw the doctor coming and bade +the servant say he was not in the village. + +He drew down the blind, that he might never see the chateau again. +He drew it up again: he could not exist without seeing it. "She +will be miserable, too," he cried, gnashing his teeth. "She will +see whether she has chosen well." At other times, all his courage, +and his hatred, and his wounded vanity, were drowned in his love and +its despair, and then he bowed his head, and sobbed and cried as if +his heart would burst. One morning he was so sobbing with his head +on the table, when his landlady tapped at his door. He started up +and turned his head away from the door. + +"A young woman from Beaurepaire, monsieur." + +"From Beaurepaire?" his heart gave a furious leap. "Show her in." + +He wiped his eyes and seated himself at a table, and, all in a +flutter, pretended to be the state's. + +It was not Jacintha, as he expected, but the other servant. She +made a low reverence, cast a look of admiration on him, and gave him +a letter. His eye darted on it: his hand trembled as he took it. +He turned away again to open it. He forced himself to say, in a +tolerably calm voice, "I will send an answer." + +The letter was apparently from the baroness de Beaurepaire; a mere +line inviting him to pay her a visit. It was written in a tremulous +hand. Edouard examined the writing, and saw directly it was written +by Rose. + +Being now, naturally enough, full of suspicion, he set this down as +an attempt to disguise her hand. "So," said he, to himself, "this +is the game. The old woman is to be drawn into it, too. She is to +help to make Georges Dandin of me. I will go. I will baffle them +all. I will expose this nest of depravity, all ceremony on the +surface, and voluptuousness and treachery below. O God! who could +believe that creature never loved me! They shall none of them see +my weakness. Their benefactor shall be still their superior. They +shall see me cold as ice, and bitter as gall." + +But to follow him farther just now, would be to run too far in +advance of the main story. I must, therefore, return to +Beaurepaire, and show, amongst other things, how this very letter +came to be written. + + +When Josephine and Rose awoke from that startled slumber that +followed the exhaustion of that troubled night, Rose was the more +wretched of the two. She had not only dishonored herself, but +stabbed the man she loved. + +Josephine, on the other hand, was exhausted, but calm. The fearful +escape she had had softened down by contrast her more distant +terrors. + +She began to shut her eyes again, and let herself drift. Above all, +the doctor's promise comforted her: that she should go to Paris with +him, and have her boy. + +This deceitful calm of the heart lasted three days. + +Carefully encouraged by Rose, it was destroyed by Jacintha. + +Jacintha, conscious that she had betrayed her trust, was almost +heart-broken. She was ashamed to appear before her young mistress, +and, coward-like, wanted to avoid knowing even how much harm she had +done. + +She pretended toothache, bound up her face, and never stirred from +the kitchen. But she was not to escape: the other servant came down +with a message: "Madame Raynal wanted to see her directly." + +She came quaking, and found Josephine all alone. + +Josephine rose to meet her, and casting a furtive glance round the +room first, threw her arms round Jacintha's neck, and embraced her +with many tears. + +"Was ever fidelity like yours? how COULD you do it, Jacintha? and +how can I ever repay it? But, no; it is too base of me to accept +such a sacrifice from any woman." + +Jacintha was so confounded she did not know what to say. But it was +a mystification that could not endure long between two women, who +were both deceived by a third. Between them they soon discovered +that it must have been Rose who had sacrificed herself. + +"And Edouard has never been here since," said Josephine. + +"And never will, madame." + +"Yes, he shall! there must be some limit even to my feebleness, and +my sister's devotion. You shall take a line to him from me. I will +write it this moment." + +The letter was written. But it was never sent. Rose found +Josephine and Jacintha together; saw a letter was being written, +asked to see it; on Josephine's hesitating, snatched it out of her +hand, read it, tore it to pieces, and told Jacintha to leave the +room. She hated the sight of poor Jacintha, who had slept at the +very moment when all depended on her watchfulness. + +"So you were going to send to HIM, unknown to me." + +"Forgive me, Rose." Rose burst out crying. + +"O Josephine! is it come to this? Would you deceive ME?" + +"You have deceived ME! Yes! it has come to that. I know all. +Twill not consent to destroy ALL I love." + +She then begged hard for leave to send the letter. + +Rose gave an impetuous refusal. "What could you say to him? foolish +thing, don't you know him, and his vanity? When you had exposed +yourself to him, and showed him I had insulted him for you, do you +think he would forgive me? No! this is to make light of my love--to +make me waste the sacrifice I have made. I feel that sacrifice as +much as you do, more perhaps, and I would rather die in a convent +than waste that night of shame and agony. Come, promise me, no more +attempts of that kind, or we are sisters no more, friends no more, +one heart and one blood no more." + +The weaker nature, weakened still more by ill-health and grief, was +terrified into submission, or rather temporized. "Kiss me then," +said Josephine, "and love me to the end. Ah, if I was only in my +grave!" + +Rose kissed her with many sighs, but Josephine smiled. Rose eyed +her with suspicion. That deep smile; what did it mean? She had +formed some resolution. "She is going to deceive me somehow," +thought Rose. + +From that day she watched Josephine like a spy. Confidence was gone +between them. Suspicion took its place. + +Rose was right in her misgivings. The moment Josephine saw that +Edouard's happiness and Rose's were to be sacrificed for her whom +nothing could make happy, the poor thing said to herself, "I CAN +DIE." + +And that was the happy thought that made her smile. + +The doctor gave her laudanum: he found she could not sleep: and he +thought it all-important that she should sleep. + +Josephine, instead of taking these small doses, saved them all up, +secreted them in a phial, and so, from the sleep of a dozen nights, +collected the sleep of death: and now she was tranquil. This young +creature that could not bear to give pain to any one else, prepared +her own death with a calm resolution the heroes of our sex have not +often equalled. It was so little a thing to her to strike +Josephine. Death would save her honor, would spare her the +frightful alternative of deceiving her husband, or of telling him +she was another's. "Poor Raynal," said she to herself, "it is so +cruel to tie him to a woman who can never be to him what he +deserves. Rose would then prove her innocence to Edouard. A few +tears for a weak, loving soul, and they would all be happy and +forget her." + + +One day the baroness, finding herself alone with Rose and Dr. +Aubertin, asked the latter what he thought of Josephine's state. + +"Oh, she was better: had slept last night without her usual +narcotic." + +The baroness laid down her knitting and said, with much meaning, +"And I tell you, you will never cure her body till you can cure her +mind. My poor child has some secret sorrow." + +"Sorrow!" said Aubertin, stoutly concealing the uneasiness these +words created, "what sorrow?" + +"Oh, she has some deep sorrow. And so have you, Rose." + +"Me, mamma! what DO you mean?" + +The baroness's pale cheek flushed a little. "I mean," said she, +"that my patience is worn out at last; I cannot live surrounded by +secrets. Raynal's gloomy looks when he left us, after staying but +one hour; Josephine ill from that day, and bursting into tears at +every word; yourself pale and changed, hiding an unaccountable +sadness under forced smiles-- Now, don't interrupt me. Edouard, +who was almost like a son, gone off, without a word, and never comes +near us now." + +"Really you are ingenious in tormenting yourself. Josephine is ill! +Well, is it so very strange? Have you never been ill? Rose is +pale! you ARE pale, my dear; but she has nursed her sister for a +month; is it a wonder she has lost color? Edouard is gone a +journey, to inherit his uncle's property: a million francs. But +don't you go and fall ill, like Josephine; turn pale, like Rose; and +make journeys in the region of fancy, after Edouard Riviere, who is +tramping along on the vulgar high road." + +This tirade came from Aubertin, and very clever he thought himself. +But he had to do with a shrewd old lady, whose suspicions had long +smouldered; and now burst out. She said quietly, "Oh, then Edouard +is not in this part of the world. That alters the case: where IS +he?" + +"In Normandy, probably," said Rose, blushing. + +The baroness looked inquiringly towards Aubertin. He put on an +innocent face and said nothing. + +"Very good," said the baroness. "It's plain I am to learn nothing +from you two. But I know somebody who will be more communicative. +Yes: this uncomfortable smiling, and unreasonable crying, and +interminable whispering; these appearances of the absent, and +disappearances of the present; I shall know this very day what they +all mean." + +"Really, I do not understand you." + +"Oh, never mind; I am an old woman, and I am in my dotage. For all +that, perhaps you will allow me two words alone with my daughter." + +"I retire, madame," and he disappeared with a bow to her, and an +anxious look at Rose. She did not need this; she clenched her +teeth, and braced herself up to stand a severe interrogatory. + +Mother and daughter looked at one another, as if to measure forces, +and then, instead of questioning her as she had intended, the +baroness sank back in her chair and wept aloud. Rose was all +unprepared for this. She almost screamed in a voice of agony, "O +mamma! mamma! O God! kill me where I stand for making my mother +weep!" + +"My girl," said the baroness in a broken voice, and with the most +touching dignity, "may you never know what a mother feels who finds +herself shut out from her daughters' hearts. Sometimes I think it +is my fault; I was born in a severer age. A mother nowadays seems +to be a sort of elder sister. In my day she was something more. +Yet I loved my mother as well, or better than I did my sisters. But +it is not so with those I have borne in my bosom, and nursed upon my +knee." + +At this Rose flung herself, sobbing and screaming, at her mother's +knees. The baroness was alarmed. "Come, dearest, don't cry like +that. It is not too late to take your poor old mother into your +confidence. What is this mystery? and why this sorrow? How comes +it I intercept at every instant glances that were not intended for +me? Why is the very air loaded with signals and secrecy? (Rose +replied only by sobs.) Is some deceit going on? (Rose sobbed.) Am +I to have no reply but these sullen sobs? will you really tell me +nothing?" + +"I've nothing to tell," sobbed Rose. + +"Well, then, will you do something for me?" + +Such a proposal was not only a relief, but a delight to the +deceiving but loving daughter. She started up crying, "Oh, yes, +mamma; anything, everything. Oh, thank you!" In the ardor of her +gratitude, she wanted to kiss her mother; but the baroness declined +the embrace politely, and said, coldly and bitterly, "I shall not +ask much; I should not venture now to draw largely on your +affection; it's only to write a few lines for me." + +Rose got paper and ink with great alacrity, and sat down all +beaming, pen in hand. + +The baroness dictated the letter slowly, with an eye gimleting her +daughter all the time. + +"Dear--Monsieur--Riviere." + +The pen fell from Rose's hand, and she turned red and then pale. + +"What! write to him?" + +"Not in your own name; in mine. But perhaps you prefer to give me +the trouble." + +"Cruel! cruel!" sighed Rose, and wrote the words as requested. + +The baroness dictated again,-- + +"Oblige me by coming here at your very earliest convenience." + +"But, mamma, if he is in Normandy," remonstrated Rose, fighting +every inch of the ground. + +"Never you mind where he is," said the baroness. "Write as I +request." + +"Yes, mamma," said Rose with sudden alacrity; for she had recovered +her ready wit, and was prepared to write anything, being now fully +resolved the letter should never go. + +"Now sign my name." Rose complied. "There; now fold it, and +address it to his lodgings." Rose did so; and, rising with a +cheerful air, said she would send Jacintha with it directly. + +She was half across the room when her mother called her quietly +back. + +"No, mademoiselle," said she sternly. "You will give me the letter. +I can trust neither the friend of twenty years, nor the servant that +stayed by me in adversity, nor the daughter I suffered for and +nursed. And why don't I trust you? Because YOU HAVE TOLD ME A +LIE." + +At this word, which in its coarsest form she had never heard from +those high-born lips till then, Rose cowered like a hare. + +"Ay, A LIE," said the baroness. "I saw Edouard Riviere in the park +but yesterday. I saw him. My old eyes are feeble, but they are not +deceitful. I saw him. Send my breakfast to my own room. I come of +an ancient race: I could not sit with liars; I should forget +courtesy; you would see in my face how thoroughly I scorn you all." +And she went haughtily out with the letter in her hand. + +Rose for the first time, was prostrated. Vain had been all this +deceit; her mother was not happy; was not blinded. Edouard might +come and tell her his story. Then no power could keep Josephine +silent. The plot was thickening; the fatal net was drawing closer +and closer. + +She sank with a groan into a chair, and body and spirit alike +succumbed. But that was only for a little while. To this +prostration succeeded a feverish excitement. She could not, would +not, look Edouard in the face. She would implore Josephine to be +silent; and she herself would fly from the chateau. But, if +Josephine would not be silent? Why, then she would go herself to +Edouard, and throw herself upon his honor, and tell him the truth. +With this, she ran wildly up the stairs, and burst into Josephine's +room so suddenly, that she caught her, pale as death, on her knees, +with a letter in one hand and a phial of laudanum in the other. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Josephine conveyed the phial into her bosom with wonderful rapidity +and dexterity, and rose to her feet. But Rose just saw her conceal +something, and resolved to find out quietly what it was. So she +said nothing about it, but asked Josephine what on earth she was +doing. + +"I was praying." + +"And what is that letter?" + +"A letter I have just received from Colonel Raynal." + +Rose took the letter and read it. Raynal had written from Paris. +He was coming to Beaurepaire to stay a month, and was to arrive that +very day. + +Then Rose forgot all about herself, and even what she had come for. +She clung about her sister's neck, and implored her, for her sake, +to try and love Raynal. + +Josephine shuddered, and clung weeping to her sister in turn. For +in Rose's arms she realized more powerfully what that sister would +suffer if she were to die. Now, while they clung together, Rose +felt something hard, and contrived just to feel it with her cheek. +It was the phial. + +A chill suspicion crossed the poor girl. The attitude in which she +had found Josephine; the letter, the look of despair, and now this +little bottle, which she had hidden. WHY HIDE IT? She resolved not +to let Josephine out of her sight; at all events, until she had seen +this little bottle, and got it away from her. + +She helped her to dress, and breakfasted with her in the tapestried +room, and dissembled, and put on gayety, and made light of +everything but Josephine's health. + +Her efforts were not quite in vain. Josephine became more composed; +and Rose even drew from her a half promise that she would give +Raynal and time a fair trial. + +And now Rose was relieved of her immediate apprehensions for +Josephine, but the danger of another kind, from Edouard, remained. +So she ran into her bedroom for her bonnet and shawl, determined to +take the strong measure of visiting Edouard at once, or intercepting +him. While she was making her little toilet, she heard her mother's +voice in the room. This was unlucky; she must pass through that +room to go out. She sat down and fretted at this delay. And then, +as the baroness appeared to be very animated, Rose went to the +keyhole, and listened. Their mother was telling Josephine how she +had questioned Rose, and how Rose had told her an untruth, and how +she had made that young lady write to Edouard, etc.; in short, the +very thing Rose wanted to conceal from Josephine. + +Rose lost all patience, and determined to fly through the room and +out before anybody could stop her. She heard Jacintha come in with +some message, and thought that would be a good opportunity to slip +out unmolested. So she opened the door softly. Jacintha, it +seemed, had been volunteering some remark that was not well +received, for the baroness was saying, sharply, "Your opinion is not +asked. Go down directly, and bring him up here, to this room." +Jacintha cast a look of dismay at Rose, and vanished. + +Rose gathered from that look, as much as from the words, who the +visitor was. She made a dart after Jacintha. But the room was a +long one, and the baroness intercepted her: "No," said she, gravely, +"I cannot spare you." + +Rose stood pale and panting, but almost defiant. "Mamma," said she, +"if it is Monsieur Riviere, I MUST ask your leave to retire. And +you have neither love nor pity, nor respect for me, if you detain +me." + +"Mademoiselle!" was the stern reply, "I FORBID you to move. Be good +enough to sit there;" with which the baroness pointed imperiously to +a sofa at the other side of the room. "Josephine, go to your room." +Josephine retired, casting more than one anxious glance over her +shoulder. + +Rose looked this way and that in despair and terror; but ended by +sinking, more dead than alive, into the seat indicated; and even as +she drooped, pale and trembling, on that sofa, Edouard Riviere, worn +and agitated, entered the room, and bowed low to them all, without a +word. + +The baroness looked at him, and then at her daughter, as much as to +say, now I have got you; deceive me now if you can. "Rose, my +dear," said this terrible old woman, affecting honeyed accents, +"don't you see Monsieur Riviere?" + +The poor girl at this challenge rose with difficulty, and courtesied +humbly to Edouard. + +He bowed to her, and stealing a rapid glance saw her pallor and +distress; and that showed him she was not so hardened as he had +thought. + +"You have not come to see us lately," said the baroness, quietly, +"yet you have been in the neighborhood." + +These words puzzled Edouard. Was the old lady all in the dark, +then? As a public man he had already learned to be on his guard; so +he stammered out, "That he had been much occupied with public +duties." + +Madame de Beaurepaire despised this threadbare excuse too much to +notice it at all. She went on as if he had said nothing. "Intimate +as you were with us, you must have some reason for deserting us so +suddenly." + +"I have," said Edouard, gravely. + +"What is it?" + +"Excuse me," said Edouard, sullenly. + +"No, monsieur, I cannot. This neglect, succeeding to a somewhat +ardent pursuit of my daughter, is almost an affront. You shall, of +course, withdraw yourself altogether, if you choose. But not +without an explanation. This much is due to me; and, if you are a +gentleman, you will not withhold it from me." + +"If he is a gentleman!" cried Rose; "O mamma, do not you affront a +gentleman, who never, never gave you nor me any ground of offence. +Why affront the friends and benefactors we have lost by our own +fault?" + +"Oh, then, it is all your fault," said the baroness. "I feared as +much." + +"All my fault, all," said Rose; then putting her pretty palms +together, and casting a look of abject supplication on Edouard, she +murmured, "my temper!" + +"Do not you put words into his mouth," said the shrewd old lady. +"Come, Monsieur Riviere, be a man, and tell me the truth. What has +she said to you? What has she done?" + +By this time the abject state of terror the high-spirited Rose was +in, and her piteous glances, had so disarmed Edouard, that he had +not the heart to expose her to her mother. + +"Madame," said he, stiffly, taking Rose's hint, "my temper and +mademoiselle's could not accord." + +"Why, her temper is charming: it is joyous, equal, and gentle." + +"You misunderstand me, madame; I do not reproach Mademoiselle Rose. +It is I who am to blame." + +"For what?" inquired the baroness dryly. + +"For not being able to make her love me." + +"Oh! that is it! She did not love you?" + +"Ask herself, madame," said Edouard, bitterly. + +"Rose," said the baroness, her eye now beginning to twinkle, "were +you really guilty of such a want of discrimination? Didn't you love +monsieur?" + +Rose flung her arms round her mother's neck, and said, "No, mamma, I +did not love Monsieur Edouard," in an exquisite tone of love, that +to a female ear conveyed the exact opposite of the words. + +But Edouard had not that nice discriminating ear. He sighed deeply, +and the baroness smiled. "You tell me that?" said she, "and you are +crying!" + +"She is crying, madame?" said Edouard, inquiringly, and taking a +step towards them. + +"Why, you see she is, you foolish boy. Come, I must put an end to +this;" and she rose coolly from her seat, and begging Edouard to +forgive her for leaving him a moment with his deadly enemy, went off +with knowing little nods into Josephine's room; only, before she +entered it, she turned, and with a maternal smile discharged this +word at the pair. + +"Babies!" + +But between the alienated lovers was a long distressing silence. +Neither knew what to say; and their situation was intolerable. At +last Rose ventured in a timorous voice to say, "I thank you for your +generosity. But I knew that you would not betray me." + +"Your secret is safe for me," sighed Edouard. "Is there anything +else I can do for you?" + +Rose shook her head sadly. + +Edouard moved to the door. + +Rose bowed her head with a despairing moan. It took him by the +heart and held him. He hesitated, then came towards her. + +"I see you are sorry for what you have done to me who loved you so; +and you loved me. Oh! yes, do not deny it, Rose; there was a time +you loved me. And that makes it worse: to have given me such sweet +hopes, only to crush both them and me. And is not this cruel of you +to weep so and let me see your penitence--when it is too late?" + +"Alas! how can I help my regrets? I have insulted so good a +friend." + +There was a sad silence. Then as he looked at her, her looks belied +the charge her own lips had made against herself. + +A light seemed to burst on Edouard from that high-minded, sorrow- +stricken face. + +"Tell me it is false!" he cried. + +She hid her face in her hands--woman's instinct to avoid being read. + +"Tell me you were misled then, fascinated, perverted, but that your +heart returned to me. Clear yourself of deliberate deceit, and I +will believe and thank you on my knees." + +"Heaven have pity on us both!" cried poor Rose. + +"On us! Thank you for saying on us. See now, you have not gained +happiness by destroying mine. One word--do you love that man?--that +Dujardin?" + +"You know I do not." + +"I am glad of that; since his life is forfeited; if he escapes my +friend Raynal, he shall not escape me." + +Rose uttered a cry of terror. "Hush! not so loud. The life of +Camille! Oh! if he were to die, what would become of--oh, pray do +not speak so loud." + +"Own then that you DO love him," yelled Edouard; "give me truth, if +you have no love to give. Own that you love him, and he shall be +safe. It is myself I will kill, for being such a slave as to love +you still." + +Rose's fortitude gave way. + +"I cannot bear it," she cried despairingly; "it is beyond my +strength; Edouard, swear to me you will keep what I tell you secret +as the grave!" + +"Ah!" cried Edouard, all radiant with hope, "I swear." + +"Then you are under a delirium. I have deceived, but never wronged +you; that unhappy child is not-- Hush! HERE SHE COMES." + +The baroness came smiling out, and Josephine's wan, anxious face was +seen behind her. + +"Well," said the baroness, "is the war at an end? What, are we +still silent? Let me try then what I can do. Edouard, lend me your +hand." + +While Edouard hesitated, Josephine clasped her hands and mutely +supplicated him to consent. Her sad face, and the thought of how +often she had stood his friend, shook his resolution. He held out +his hand, but slowly and reluctantly. + +"There is my hand," he groaned. + +"And here is mine, mamma," said Rose, smiling to please her mother. + +Oh! the mixture of feeling, when her soft warm palm pressed his. +How the delicious sense baffled and mystified the cold judgment. + +Josephine raised her eyes thankfully to heaven. + +While the young lovers yet thrilled at each other's touch, yet could +not look one another in the face, a clatter of horses' feet was +heard. + +"That is Colonel Raynal," said Josephine, with unnatural calmness. +"I expected him to-day." + +The baroness was at the side window in a moment. + +"It is he!--it is he!" + +She hurried down to embrace her son. + +Josephine went without a word to her own room. Rose followed her +the next minute. But in that one minute she worked magic. + +She glided up to Edouard, and looked him full in the face: not the +sad, depressed, guilty-looking humble Rose of a moment before, but +the old high-spirited, and some what imperious girl. + +"You have shown yourself noble this day. I am going to trust you as +only the noble are trusted. Stay in the house till I can speak to +you." + +She was gone, and something leaped within Edouard's bosom, and a +flood of light seemed to burst in on him. Yet he saw no object +clearly: but he saw light. + +Rose ran into Josephine's room, and once more surprised her on her +knees, and in the very act of hiding something in her bosom. + +"What are you doing, Josephine, on your knees?" said she, sternly. + +"I have a great trial to go through," was the hesitating answer. + +Rose said nothing. She turned paler. She is deceiving me, thought +she, and she sat down full of bitterness and terror, and, affecting +not to watch Josephine, watched her. + +"Go and tell them I am coming, Rose." + +"No, Josephine, I will not leave you till this terrible meeting is +over. We will encounter him hand in hand, as we used to go when our +hearts were one, and we deceived others, but never each other." + +At this tender reproach Josephine fell upon her neck and wept. + +"I will not deceive you," she said. "I am worse than the poor +doctor thinks me. My life is but a little candle that a breath may +put out any day." + +Rose said nothing, but trembled and watched her keenly. + +"My little Henri," said Josephine imploringly, "what would you do +with him--if anything should happen to me?" + +"What would I do with him? He is mine. I should be his mother. +Oh! what words are these: my heart! my heart!" + +"No, dearest; some day you will be married, and owe all the mother +to your children; and Henri is not ours only: he belongs to some one +I have seemed unkind to. Perhaps he thinks me heartless. For I am +a foolish woman; I don't know how to be virtuous, yet show a man my +heart. But THEN he will understand me and forgive me. Rose, love, +you will write to him. He will come to you. You will go together +to the place where I shall be sleeping. You will show him my heart. +You will tell him all my long love that lasted to the end. YOU need +not blush to tell him all. I have no right. Then you will give him +his poor Josephine's boy, and you will say to him, 'She never loved +but you: she gives you all that is left of her, her child. She only +prays you not to give him a bad mother.'" + +Poor soul! this was her one bit of little, gentle jealousy; but it +made her eyes stream. She would have put out her hand from the tomb +to keep her boy's father single all his life. + +"Oh! my Josephine, my darling sister," cried Rose, "why do you speak +of death? Do you meditate a crime?" + +"No; but it was on my heart to say it: it has done me good." + +"At least, take me to your bosom, my well-beloved, that I may not +SEE your tears." + +"There--tears? No, you have lightened my heart. Bless you! bless +you!" + +The sisters twined their bosoms together in a long, gentle embrace. +You might have taken them for two angels that flowed together in one +love, but for their tears. + +A deep voice was now heard in the sitting-room. + +Josephine and Rose postponed the inevitable one moment more, by +arranging their hair in the glass: then they opened the door, and +entered the tapestried room. + +Raynal was sitting on the sofa, the baroness's hand in his. Edouard +was not there. + +Colonel Raynal had given him a strange look, and said, "What, you +here?" in a tone of voice that was intolerable. + +Raynal came to meet the sisters. He saluted Josephine on the brow. + +"You are pale, wife: and how cold her hand is." + +"She has been ill this month past," said Rose interposing. + +"You look ill, too, Mademoiselle Rose." + +"Never mind," cried the baroness joyously, "you will revive them +both." + +Raynal made no reply to that. + +"How long do you stay this time, a day?" + +"A month, mother." + +The doctor now joined the party, and friendly greetings passed +between him and Raynal. + +But ere long somehow all became conscious this was not a joyful +meeting. The baroness could not alone sustain the spirits of the +party, and soon even she began to notice that Raynal's replies were +short, and that his manner was distrait and gloomy. The sisters saw +this too, and trembled for what might be coming. + +At last Raynal said bluntly, "Josephine, I want to speak to you +alone." + +The baroness gave the doctor a look, and made an excuse for going +down-stairs to her own room. As she was going Josephine went to her +and said calmly,-- + +"Mother, you have not kissed me to-day." + +"There! Bless you, my darling!" + +Raynal looked at Rose. She saw she must go, but she lingered, and +sought her sister's eye: it avoided her. At that Rose ran to the +doctor, who was just going out of the door. + +"Oh! doctor," she whispered trembling, "don't go beyond the door. I +found her praying. My mind misgives me. She is going to tell him-- +or something worse." + +"What do you mean?" + +"I am afraid to say all I dread. She could not be so calm if she +meant to live. Be near! as I shall. She has a phial hid in her +bosom." + +She left the old man trembling, and went back. + +"Excuse me," said she to Raynal, "I only came to ask Josephine if +she wants anything." + +"No!--yes!--a glass of eau sucree." + +Rose mixed it for her. While doing this she noticed that Josephine +shunned her eye, but Raynal gazed gently and with an air of pity on +her. + +She retired slowly into Josephine's bedroom, but did not quite close +the door. + +Raynal had something to say so painful that he shrank from plunging +into it. He therefore, like many others, tried to creep into it, +beginning with something else. + +"Your health," said he, "alarms me. You seem sad, too. I don't +understand that. You have no news from the Rhine, have you?" + +"Monsieur!" said Josephine scared. + +"Do not call me monsieur, nor look so frightened. Call me your +friend. I am your sincere friend." + +"Oh, yes; you always were." + +"Thank you. You will give me a dearer title before we part this +time." + +"Yes," said Josephine in a low whisper, and shuddered. + +"Have you forgiven me frightening you so that night?" + +"Yes." + +"It was a shock to me, too, I can tell you. I like the boy. She +professed to love him, and, to own the truth, I loathe all treachery +and deceit. If I had done a murder, I would own it. A lie doubles +every crime. But I took heart; we are all selfish, we men; of the +two sisters one was all innocence and good faith; and she was the +one I had chosen." + +At these words Josephine rose, like a statue moving, and took a +phial from her bosom and poured the contents into the glass. + +But ere she could drink it, if such was her intention, Raynal, with +his eyes gloomily lowered, said, in a voice full of strange +solemnity,-- + +"I went to the army of the Rhine." + +Josephine put down the glass directly, though without removing her +hand from it. + +"I see you understand me, and approve. Yes, I saw that your sister +would be dishonored, and I went to the army and saw her seducer." + +"You saw HIM. Oh, I hope you did not go and speak to him of--of +this?" + +"Why, of course I did." + +Josephine resolved to know the worst at once. "May I ask," said +she, "what you told him?" + +"Why, I told him all I had discovered, and pointed out the course he +must take; he must marry your sister at once. He refused. I +challenged him. But ere we met, I was ordered to lead a forlorn +hope against a bastion. Then, seeing me go to certain death, the +noble fellow pitied me. I mean this is how I understood it all at +the time; at any rate, he promised to marry Rose if he should live." + +Josephine put out her hand, and with a horrible smile said, "I thank +you; you have saved the honor of our family;" and with no more ado, +she took the glass in her hand to drink the fatal contents. + +But Raynal's reply arrested her hand. He said solemnly, "No, I have +not. Have you no inkling of the terrible truth? Do not fiddle with +that glass: drink it, or leave it alone; for, indeed, I need all +your attention." + +He took the glass out of her patient hand, and with a furtive look +at the bedroom-door, drew her away to the other end of the room; +"and," said he, "I could not tell your mother, for she knows nothing +of the girl's folly; still less Rose, for I see she loves him still, +or why is she so pale? Advise me, now, whilst we are alone. +Colonel Dujardin was COMPARATIVELY indifferent to YOU. Will you +undertake the task? A rough soldier like me is not the person to +break the terrible tidings to that poor girl." + +"What tidings? You confuse, you perplex me. Oh! what does this +horrible preparation mean?" + +"It means he will never marry your sister; he will never see her +more." + +Then Raynal walked the room in great agitation, which at once +communicated itself to his hearer. But the loving heart is +ingenious in avoiding its dire misgivings. + +"I see," said she; "he told you he would never visit Beaurepaire +again. He was right." + +Raynal shook his head sorrowfully. + +"Ah, Josephine, you are far from the truth. I was to attack the +bastion. It was mined by the enemy, and he knew it. He took +advantage of my back being turned. He led his men out of the +trenches; he assaulted the bastion at the head of his brigade. He +took it." + +"Ah, it was noble; it was like him." + +"The enemy, retiring, blew the bastion into the air, and Dujardin-- +is dead." + +"Dead!" said Josephine, in stupefied tones, as if the word conveyed +no meaning to her mind, benumbed and stunned by the blow. + +"Don't speak so loud," said Raynal; "I hear the poor girl at the +door. Ay, he took my place, and is dead." + +"Dead!" + +"Swallowed up in smoke and flames, overwhelmed and crushed under the +ruins." + +Josephine's whole body gave way, and heaved like a tree falling +under the axe. She sank slowly to her knees, and low moans of agony +broke from her at intervals. "Dead, dead, dead!" + +"Is it not terrible?" he cried. + +She did not see him nor hear him, but moaned out wildly, "Dead, +dead, dead!" The bedroom-door was opened. + +She shrieked with sudden violence, "Dead! ah, pity! the glass! the +composing draught." She stretched her hands out wildly. Raynal, +with a face full of concern, ran to the table, and got the glass. +She crawled on her knees to meet it; he brought it quickly to her +hand. + +"There, my poor soul!" + +Even as their hands met, Rose threw herself on the cup, and snatched +it with fury from them both. She was white as ashes, and her eyes, +supernaturally large, glared on Raynal with terror. "Madman!" she +cried, "would you kill her?" + +He glared back on her: what did this mean? Their eyes were fixed on +each other like combatants for life and death; they did not see that +the room was filling with people, that the doctor was only on the +other side of the table, and that the baroness and Edouard were at +the door, and all looking wonderstruck at this strange sight-- +Josephine on her knees, and those two facing each other, white, with +dilating eyes, the glass between them. + +But what was that to the horror, when the next moment the patient +Josephine started to her feet, and, standing in the midst, tore her +hair by handfuls, out of her head. + +"Ah, you snatch the kind poison from me!" + +"Poison!" + +"Poison!" + +"Poison!" cried the others, horror-stricken. + +"Ah! you won't let me die. Curse you all! curse you! I never had +my own way in anything. I was always a slave and a fool. I have +murdered the man I love--I love. Yes, my husband, do you hear? the +man I love." + +"Hush! daughter, respect my gray hairs." + +"Your gray hairs! You are not so old in years as I am in agony. So +this is your love, Rose! Ah, you won't let me die--won't you? THEN +I'LL DO WORSE--I'LL TELL." + +"He who is dead; you have murdered him amongst you, and I'll follow +him in spite of you all--he was my betrothed. He struggled wounded, +bleeding, to my feet. He found me married. News came of my +husband's death; I married my betrothed." + +"Married him!" exclaimed the baroness. + +"Ah, my poor mother. And she kissed me so kindly just now--she will +kiss me no more. Oh, I am not ashamed of marrying him. I am only +ashamed of the cowardice that dared not do it in face of all the +world. We had scarce been happy a fortnight, when a letter came +from Colonel Raynal. He was alive. I drove my true husband away, +wretch that I was. None but bad women have an atom of sense. I +tried to do my duty to my legal husband. He was my benefactor. I +thought it was my duty. Was it? I don't know: I have lost the +sense of right and wrong. I turned from a living creature to a lie. +He who had scattered benefits on me and all this house; he whom it +was too little to love; he ought to have been adored: this man came +here one night to wife proud, joyous, and warm-hearted. He found a +cradle, and two women watching it. Now Edouard, now MONSIEUR, do +you see that life is IMPOSSIBLE to me? One bravely accused herself: +she was innocent. One swooned away like a guilty coward." + +Edouard uttered an exclamation. + +"Yes, Edouard, you shall not be miserable like me; she was guilty. +You do not understand me yet, my poor mother--and she was so happy +this morning--I was the liar, the coward, the double-faced wife, the +miserable mother that denied her child. Now will you let me die? +Now do you see that I can't and won't live upon shame and despair? +Ah, Monsieur Raynal, my dear friend, you were always generous: you +will pity and kill me. I have dishonored the name you gave me to +keep: I am neither Beaurepaire nor Raynal. Do pray kill me, +monsieur--Jean, do pray release me from my life!" + +And she crawled to his knees and embraced them, and kissed his hand, +and pleaded more piteously for death, than others have begged for +life. + +Raynal stood like a rock: he was pale, and drew his breath audibly, +but not a word. Then came a sight scarce less terrible than +Josephine's despair. The baroness, looking and moving twenty years +older than an hour before, tottered across the room to Raynal. + +"Sir, you whom I have called my son, but whom I will never presume +so to call again, I thought I had lived long enough never to have to +blush again. I loved you, monsieur. I prayed every day for you. +But she who WAS my daughter was not of my mind. Monsieur, I have +never knelt but to God and to my king, and I kneel to you: forgive +us, sir, forgive us!" + +She tried to go down on her knees. He raised her with his strong +arm, but he could not speak. She turned on the others. + +"So this is the secret you were hiding from me! This secret has not +killed you all. Oh! I shall not live under its shame so long as you +have. Chateau of Beaurepaire--nest of treason, ingratitude, and +immodesty--I loathe you as much as once I loved you. I will go and +hide my head, and die elsewhere." + +"Stay, madame!" said he, in a voice whose depth and dignity was such +that it seemed impossible to disobey it. "It was sudden--I was +shaken--but I am myself again." + +"Oh, show some pity!" cried Rose. + +"I shall try to be just." + +There was a long, trembling silence; and during that silence and +terrible agitation, one figure stood firm among those quaking, +beating hearts, like a rock with the waves breaking round it--the +MAN OF PRINCIPLE among the creatures of impulse. + +He raised Josephine from her knees, and placed her all limp and +powerless in an arm-chair. To her frenzy had now succeeded a +sickness and feebleness like unto death. + +"Widow Dujardin," said he, in a broken voice, "listen to me." + +She moaned a sort of assent. + +"Your mistake has been not trusting me. I was your friend, and not +a selfish friend. I was not enough in love with you to destroy your +happiness. Besides, I despise that sort of love. If you had told +me all, I would have spared you this misery. By the present law, +civil contracts of marriage can be dissolved by mutual consent." + +At this the baroness uttered some sign of surprise. + +"Ah!" continued Raynal, sadly, "you are aristocrats, and cannot keep +pace with the times. This very day our mere contract shall be +formally dissolved. Indeed, it ceases to exist since both parties +are resolved to withdraw from it. So, if you married Dujardin in a +church, you are Madame Dujardin at this moment, and his child is +legitimate. What does she say?" + +This question was to Rose, for what Josephine uttered sounded like a +mere articulate moan. But Rose's quick ear had caught words, and +she replied, all in tears, "My poor sister is blessing you, sir. We +all bless you." + +"She does not understand my position," said Raynal. He then walked +up to Josephine, and leaning over her arm, and speaking rather loud, +under the impression that her senses were blunted by grief, he said, +"Look here: Colonel Dujardin, your husband, deliberately, and with +his eyes open, sacrificed his life for me, and for his own heroic +sense of honor. Now, it is my turn. If that hero stood here, and +asked me for all the blood in my body, I would give it him. He is +gone; but, dying for me, he has left me his widow and his child; +they remain under my wing. To protect them is my pride, and my only +consolation. I am going to the mayor to annul our unlucky contract +in due form, and make us brother and sister instead. But," turning +to the baroness, "don't you think to escape me as your daughter has +done: no, no, old lady, once a mother, always a mother. Stir from +your son's home if you dare!" + +And with these words, in speaking which his voice had recovered its +iron firmness, he strode out at the door, superb in manhood and +principle, and every eye turned with wonder and admiration after +him. Even when he was gone they gazed at the door by which a +creature so strangely noble had disappeared. + +The baroness was about to follow him without taking any notice of +Josephine. But Rose caught her by the gown. "O mother, speak to +poor Josephine: bid her live." + +The baroness only made a gesture of horror and disgust, and turned +her back on them both. + +Josephine, who had tottered up from her seat at Rose's words, sank +heavily down again, and murmured, "Ah! the grave holds all that love +me now." + +Rose ran to her side. "Cruel Josephine! what, do not I love you? +Mother, will you not help me persuade her to live? Oh! if she dies, +I will die too; you will kill both your children." + +Stern and indignant as the baroness was, yet these words pierced her +heart. She turned with a piteous, half apologetic air to Edouard +and Aubertin. "Gentlemen," said she, "she has been foolish, not +guilty. Heaven pardons the best of us. Surely a mother may forgive +her child." And with this nature conquered utterly; and she held +out her arms, wide, wide, as is a mother's heart. Her two erring +children rushed sobbing violently into them; and there was not a dry +eye in the room for a long time. + +After this, Josephine's heart almost ceased to beat. Fear and +misgivings, and the heavy sense of deceit gnawing an honorable +heart, were gone. Grief reigned alone in the pale, listless, +bereaved widow. + +The marriage was annulled before the mayor; and, three days +afterwards, Raynal, by his influence, got the consummated marriage +formally allowed in Paris. + +With a delicacy for which one would hardly have given him credit, he +never came near Beaurepaire till all this was settled; but he +brought the document from Paris that made Josephine the widow +Dujardin, and her boy the heir of Beaurepaire; and the moment she +was really Madame Dujardin he avoided her no longer; and he became a +comfort to her instead of a terror. + +The dissolution of the marriage was a great tie between them. So +much that, seeing how much she looked up to Raynal, the doctor said +one day to the baroness, "If I know anything of human nature, they +will marry again, provided none of you give her a hint which way her +heart is turning." + +They, who have habituated themselves to live for others, can suffer +as well as do great things. Josephine kept alive. A passion such +as hers, in a selfish nature, must have killed her. + +Even as it was, she often said, "It is hard to live." + +Then they used to talk to her of her boy. Would she leave him-- +Camille's boy--without a mother? And these words were never spoken +to her quite in vain. + +Her mother forgave her entirely, and loved her as before. Who could +be angry with her long? The air was no longer heavy with lies. +Wretched as she was, she breathed lighter. Joy and hope were gone. +Sorrowful peace was coming. When the heart comes to this, nothing +but Time can cure; but what will not Time do? What wounds have I +seen him heal! His cures are incredible. + + +The little party sat one day, peaceful, but silent and sad, in the +Pleasaunce, under the great oak. + +Two soldiers came to the gate. They walked feebly, for one was +lame, and leaned upon the other, who was pale and weak, and leaned +upon a stick. + +"Soldiers," said Raynal, "and invalided." + +"Give them food and wine," said Josephine. + +Rose went towards them; but she had scarcely taken three steps ere +she cried out,-- + +"It is Dard! it is poor Dard! Come in, Dard, come in." + +Dard limped towards them, leaning upon Sergeant La Croix. A bit of +Dard's heel had been shot away, and of La Croix's head. + +Rose ran to the kitchen. + +"Jacintha, bring out a table into the Pleasaunce, and something for +two guests to eat." + +The soldiers came slowly to the Pleasaunce, and were welcomed, and +invited to sit down, and received with respect; for France even in +that day honored the humblest of her brave. + +Soon Jacintha came out with a little round table in her hands, and +affected a composure which was belied by her shaking hands and her +glowing cheek. + +After a few words of homely welcome--not eloquent, but very sincere-- +she went off again with her apron to her eyes. She reappeared with +the good cheer, and served the poor fellows with radiant zeal. + +"What regiment?" asked Raynal. + +Dard was about to answer, but his superior stopped him severely; +then, rising with his hand to his forehead, he replied, with pride, +"Twenty-fourth brigade, second company. We were cut up at +Philipsburg, and incorporated with the 12th." + +Raynal instantly regretted his question; for Josephine's eye fixed +on Sergeant La Croix with an expression words cannot paint. Yet she +showed more composure, real or forced, than he expected. + +"Heaven sends him," said she. "My friend, tell me, were you--ah!" + +Colonel Raynal interfered hastily. "Think what you do. He can tell +you nothing but what we know, not so much, in fact, as we know; for, +now I look at him, I think this is the very sergeant we found lying +insensible under the bastion. He must have been struck before the +bastion was taken even." + +"I was, colonel, I was. I remember nothing but losing my senses, +and feeling the colors go out of my hand." + +"There, you see, he knows nothing," said Raynal. + +"It was hot work, colonel, under that bastion, but it was hotter to +the poor fellows that got in. I heard all about it from Private +Dard here." + +"So, then, it was you who carried the colors?" + +"Yes, I was struck down with the colors of the brigade in my hand," +cried La Croix. + +"See how people blunder about, everything; they told me the colonel +carried the colors." + +"Why, of course he did. You don't think our colonel, the fighting +colonel, would let me hold the colors of the brigade so long as he +was alive. No; he was struck by a Prussian bullet, and he had just +time to hand the colors to me, and point with his sword to the +bastion, and down he went. It was hot work, I can tell you. I did +not hold them long, not thirty seconds, and if we could know their +history, they passed through more hands than that before they got to +the Prussian flag-staff." + +Raynal suddenly rose, and walked rapidly to and fro, with his hands +behind him. + +"Poor colonel!" continued La Croix. "Well, I love to think he died +like a soldier, and not like some of my poor comrades, hashed to +atoms, and not a volley fired over him. I hope they put a stone +over him, for he was the best soldier and the best general in the +army." + +"O sir!" cried Josephine, "there is no stone even to mark the spot +where he fell," and she sobbed despairingly. + +"Why, how is this, Private Dard?" inquired La Croix, sternly. + +Dard apologized for his comrade, and touching his own head +significantly told them that since his wound the sergeant's memory +was defective. + +"Now, sergeant, didn't I tell you the colonel must have got the +better of his wound, and got into the battery?" + +"It's false, Private Dard; don't I know our colonel better than +that? Would ever he have let those colors out of his hand, if there +had been an ounce of life left in him?" + +"He died at the foot of the battery, I tell you." + +"Then why didn't we find him?" + +Here Jacintha put in a word with the quiet subdued meaning of her +class. "I can't find that anybody ever saw the colonel dead." + +"They did not find him, because they did not look for him," said +Sergeant La Croix. + +"God forgive you, sergeant!" said Dard, with some feeling. "Not +look for OUR COLONEL! We turned over every body that lay there,-- +full thirty there were,--and you were one of them." + +"Only thirty! Why, we settled more Prussians than that, I'll +swear." + +"Oh! they carried off their dead." + +"Ay! but I don't see why they should carry our colonel off. His +epaulets was all the thieves could do any good with. Stop! yet I +do, Private Dard; I have a horrible suspicion. No, I have not; it +is a certainty. What! don't you see, ye ninny? Thunder and +thousands of devils, here's a disgrace. Dogs of Prussians! they +have got our colonel, they have taken him prisoner." + +"O God bless them!" cried Josephine; "O God bless the mouth that +tells me so! O sir, I am his wife, his poor heart-broken wife. You +would not be so cruel as to mock my despair. Say again that he may +be alive, pray, say it again!" + +"His wife! Private Dard, why didn't you tell me? You tell me +nothing. Yes, my pretty lady, I'll say it again, and I'll prove it. +Here is an enemy in full retreat, would they encumber themselves +with the colonel? If he was dead, they'd have whipped off his +epaulets, and left him there. Alive? why not? Look at me: I am +alive, and I was worse wounded than he was. They took me for dead, +you see. Courage, madame! you will see him again, take an old +soldier's word for it. Dard, attention! this is the colonel's +wife." + +She gazed on the speaker like one in a trance. + +Every eye and every soul had been so bent on Sergeant La Croix that +it was only now Raynal was observed to be missing. The next minute +he came riding out of the stable-yard, and went full gallop down the +road. + +"Ah!" cried Rose, with a burst of hope; "he thinks so too; he has +hopes. He is gone somewhere for information. Perhaps to Paris." + +Josephine's excitement and alternations of hope and fear were now +alarming. Rose held her hand, and implored her to try and be calm +till they could see Raynal. + +Just before dark he came riding fiercely home. Josephine flew down +the stairs. Raynal at sight of her forgot all his caution. He +waved his cocked hat in the air. She fell on her knees and thanked +God. He gasped out,-- + +"Prisoner--exchanged for two Prussian lieutenants--sent home--they +say he is in France!" + +The tears of joy gushed in streams from her. + +Some days passed in hope and joy inexpressible; but the good doctor +was uneasy for Josephine. She was always listening with +supernatural keenness and starting from her chair, and every fibre +of her lovely person seemed to be on the quiver. + +Nor was Rose without a serious misgiving. Would husband and wife +ever meet? He evidently looked on her as Madame Raynal, and made it +a point of honor to keep away from Beaurepaire. + +They had recourse to that ever-soothing influence--her child. +Madame Jouvenel was settled in the village, and Josephine visited +her every day, and came back often with red eyes, but always +soothed. + +One day Rose and she went to Madame Jouvenel, and, entering the +house without ceremony, found the nurse out, and no one watching the +child. + +"How careless!" said Rose. + +Josephine stopped eagerly to kiss him. But instead of kissing him, +she uttered a loud cry. There was a locket hanging round his neck. + +It was a locket containing some of Josephine's hair and Camille's. +She had given it him in the happy days that followed their marriage. +She stood gasping in the middle of the room. Madame Jouvenel came +running in soon after. Josephine, by a wonderful effort over +herself, asked her calmly and cunningly,-- + +"Where is the gentleman who put this locket round my child's neck? +I want to speak with him." + +Madame Jouvenel stammered and looked confused. + +"A soldier--an officer?--come, tell me!" + +"Woman," cried Rose, "why do you hesitate?" + +"What am I to do?" said Madame Jouvenel. "He made me swear never to +mention his coming here. He goes away, or hides whenever you come. +And since Madame does not love the poor wounded gentleman, what can +he do better?" + +"Not love him!" cried Rose: "why, she is his wife, his lawful wedded +wife; he is a fool or a monster to run away for her. She loves him +as no woman ever loved before. She pines for him. She dies for +him." + +The door of a little back room opened at these words of Rose, and +there stood Camille, with his arm in a sling, pale and astounded, +but great joy and wonder working in his face. + +Josephine gave a cry of love that made the other two women weep, and +in a moment they were sobbing for joy upon each other's neck. + +Away went sorrow, doubt, despair, and all they had suffered. That +one moment paid for all. And in that moment of joy and surprise, so +great as to be almost terrible, perhaps it was well for Josephine +that Camille, weakened by his wound, was quite overcome, and nearly +fainted. She was herself just going into hysterics; but, seeing him +quite overcome, she conquered them directly, and nursed, and +soothed, and pitied, and encouraged him instead. + +Then they sat hand in hand. Their happiness stopped their very +breath. They could not speak. So Rose told him all. He never +owned why he had slipped away when he saw them coming. He forgot +it. He forgot all his hard thoughts of her. They took him home in +the carriage. His wife would not let him out of her sight. For +years and years after this she could hardly bear to let him be an +hour out of her sight. + +The world is wide; there may be a man in it who can paint the sudden +bliss that fell on these two much suffering hearts; but I am not +that man; this is beyond me; it was not only heaven, but heaven +after hell. + +Leave we the indescribable and the unspeakable for a moment, and go +to a lighter theme. + +The day Rose's character was so unexpectedly cleared, Edouard had no +opportunity of speaking to her, or a reconciliation would have taken +place. As it was, he went home intensely happy. But he did not +resume his visits to the chateau. When he came to think calmly over +it, his vanity was cruelly mortified. She was innocent of the +greater offence; but how insolently she had sacrificed him, his +love, and his respect, to another's interest. + +More generous thoughts prevailed by degrees. And one day that her +pale face, her tears, and her remorse got the better of his offended +pride, he determined to give her a good lecture that should drown +her in penitent tears; and then end by forgiving her. For one thing +he could not be happy till he had forgiven her. + +She walked into the room with a calm, dignified, stately air, and +before he could utter one word of his grave remonstrance, attacked +him thus: "You wish to speak to me, sir. If it is to apologize to +me, I will save your vanity the mortification. I forgive you." + +"YOU forgive ME!" cried Edouard furiously. + +"No violence, if you please," said the lady with cold hauteur. "Let +us be friends, as Josephine and Raynal are. We cannot be anything +more to one another now. You have wounded me too deeply by your +jealous, suspicious nature." + +Edouard gasped for breath, and was so far out-generalled that he +accepted the place of defendant. "Wasn't I to believe your own +lips? Did not Colonel Raynal believe you?" + +"Oh, that's excusable. He did not know me. But you were my lover; +you ought to have seen I was forced to deceive poor Raynal. How +dare you believe your eyes; much more your ears, against my truth, +against my honor; and then to believe such nonsense?" Then, with a +grand assumption of superior knowledge, says she, "You little +simpleton, how could the child be mine when I wasn't married at +all?" + +At this reproach, Edouard first stared, then grinned. "I forgot +that," said he. + +"Yes, and you forgot the moon isn't made of green cheese. However, +if I saw you very humble, and very penitent, I might, perhaps, +really forgive you--in time." + +"No, forgive me at once. I don't understand your angelical, +diabolical, incomprehensible sex: who on earth can? forgive me." + +"Oh! oh! oh! oh!" + +Lo! the tears that could not come at a remonstrance were flowing in +a stream at his generosity. + +"What is the matter now?" said he tenderly. She cried away, but at +the same time explained,-- + +"What a f--f--foolish you must be not to see that it is I who am +without excuse. You were my betrothed. It was to you I owed my +duty; not my sister. I am a wicked, unhappy girl. How you must +hate me!" + +"I adore you. There, no more forgiving on either side. Let our +only quarrel be who shall love the other best." + +"Oh, I know how that will be," said the observant toad. "You will +love me best till you have got me; and then I shall love you best; +oh, ever so much." + +However, the prospect of loving best did not seem disagreeable to +her; for with this announcement she deposited her head on his +shoulder, and in that attitude took a little walk with him up and +down the Pleasaunce: sixty times; about eight miles. + +These two were a happy pair. This wayward, but generous heart never +forgot her offence, and his forgiveness. She gave herself to him +heart and soul, at the altar, and well she redeemed her vow. He +rose high in political life: and paid the penalty of that sort of +ambition; his heart was often sore. But by his own hearth sat +comfort and ever ready sympathy. Ay, and patient industry to read +blue-books, and a ready hand and brain to write diplomatic notes for +him, off which the mind glided as from a ball of ice. + +In thirty years she never once mentioned the servants to him. + +"Oh, let eternal honor crown her name!" + +It was only a little bit of heel that Dard had left in Prussia. +More fortunate than his predecessor (Achilles), he got off with a +slight but enduring limp. And so the army lost him. + +He married Jacintha, and Josephine set them up in Bigot's, +(deceased) auberge. Jacintha shone as a landlady, and custom flowed +in. For all that, a hankering after Beaurepaire was observable in +her. Her favorite stroll was into the Beaurepaire kitchen, and on +all fetes and grand occasions she was prominent in gay attire as a +retainer of the house. The last specimen of her homely sagacity I +shall have the honor to lay before you is a critique upon her +husband, which she vented six years after marriage. + +"My Dard," said she, "is very good as far as he goes. What he has +felt himself, that he can feel FOR: nobody better. You come to him +with an empty belly, or a broken head, or all bleeding with a cut, +or black and blue, and you shall find a friend. But if it is a sore +heart, or trouble, and sorrow, and no hole in your carcass to show +for it, you had better come to ME; for you might as well tell your +grief to a stone wall as to my man." + + +The baroness took her son Raynal to Paris, and there, with keen eye, +selected him a wife. She proved an excellent one. It would have +been hard if she had not, for the baroness with the severe sagacity +of her age and sex, had set aside as naught a score of seeming +angels, before she could suit herself with a daughter-in-law. At +first the Raynals very properly saw little of the Dujardins; but +when both had been married some years, the recollection of that +fleeting and nominal connection waxed faint, while the memory of +great benefits conferred on both sides remained lively as ever in +hearts so great, and there was a warm, a sacred friendship between +the two houses--a friendship of the ancient Greeks, not of the +modern club-house. + +Camille and Josephine were blessed almost beyond the lot of +humanity: none can really appreciate sunshine but those who come out +of the cold dark. And so with happiness. For years they could +hardly be said to live like mortals: they basked in bliss. But it +was a near thing; for they but just scraped clear of life-long +misery, and death's cold touch grazed them both as they went. + +Yet they had heroic virtues to balance White Lies in the great +Judge's eye. + +A wholesome lesson, therefore, and a warning may be gathered from +this story: and I know many novelists who would have preached that +lesson at some length in every other chapter, and interrupted the +sacred narrative to do it. But when I read stories so mutilated, I +think of a circumstance related by Mr. Joseph Miller. + +"An Englishman sojourning in some part of Scotland was afflicted +with many hairs in the butter, and remonstrated. He was told, in +reply, that the hairs and the butter came from one source--the cow; +and that the just and natural proportions hitherto observed, could +not be deranged, and bald butter invented--for ONE. 'So be it,' +said the Englishman; 'but let me have the butter in one plate, and +the hairs in another.'" + +Acting on this hint, I have reserved some admirable remarks, +reflections, discourses, and tirades, until the story should be +ended, and the other plate be ready for the subsidiary sermon. + +And now that the proper time is come, that love of intruding one's +own wisdom in one's own person on the reader, which has marred so +many works of art, is in my case restrained--first, by pure fatigue; +secondly, because the moral of this particular story stands out so +clear in the narrative, that he who runs may read it without any +sermon at all. + +Those who will not take the trouble to gather my moral from the +living tree, would not lift it out of my dead basket: would not +unlock their jaw-bones to bite it, were I to thrust it into their +very mouths. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of White Lies, by Charles Reade + diff --git a/old/whtls10.zip b/old/whtls10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0b74e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/whtls10.zip |