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diff --git a/33801.txt b/33801.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d51b6d --- /dev/null +++ b/33801.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11591 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 2 of 6, by Eugene Sue + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 2 of 6 + +Author: Eugene Sue + +Illustrators: G. Mercier + Bicknell + Leon Poiteau + Adrian Marcel + +Release Date: September 22, 2010 [EBook #33801] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIES OF PARIS, V.2 *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Christine Aldridge and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(Stanford University, SUL Books in the Public Domain) + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. + +2. Passages in Gothic Bold are surrounded by +plus+ signs. + +3. Other transcription notes appear at the end of this e-text. + + + + +[Illustration: "_He Took from the Bed a Large Plaid Shawl_" +Etching by Adrian Marcel, after the drawing by Frank T. Merrill] + + + + ++The Mysteries of Paris.+ + + _ILLUSTRATED WITH ETCHINGS + BY MERCIER, BICKNELL, POITEAU, + AND ADRIAN MARCEL._ + + _BY EUGENE SUE_ + + + _IN SIX VOLUMES + VOLUME II._ + + + _PRINTED FOR + FRANCIS A. NICCOLLS & CO. + BOSTON_ + + + _EDITION DE LUXE._ + +_Limited to One Thousand Copies._ + + No.______ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE BALL 11 + II. THE RENDEZVOUS 36 + III. AN IDYL 61 + IV. THE AMBUSCADE 74 + V. THE RECTORY-HOUSE 88 + VI. THE RENCOUNTER 99 + VII. AN EVENING AT THE FARM 105 + VIII. THE DREAM 150 + IX. THE LETTER 159 + X. THE HOLLOW WAY 195 + XI. CLEMENCE D'HARVILLE 201 + XII. MISERY 256 + XIII. JUDGMENT AND EXECUTION 286 + XIV. RIGOLETTE 310 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + "HE TOOK FROM THE BED A LARGE PLAID SHAWL" _Frontispiece_ + "AT LENGTH ALIGHTED ON HER SHOULDER" 66 + "'SO I HAVE BROUGHT TURK WITH ME'" 97 + "'YOU MUST GIVE ME LEAVE'" 208 + + + + +THE MYSTERIES OF PARIS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BALL. + + +Belonging to one of the first families in France, still young, and with +a face that would have been agreeable had it not been for the almost +ridiculous and disproportionate length of his nose, M. de Lucenay joined +to a restless love of constant motion the habit of talking and laughing +fearfully loud upon subjects quite at variance with good taste or +polished manners, and throwing himself into attitudes so abrupt and +awkward that it was only by recalling who he was, that his being found +in the midst of the most distinguished societies in Paris could be +accounted for, or a reason assigned for tolerating his gestures and +language; for both of which he had now, by dint of long practice and +adherence, acquired a sort of free license or impunity. He was shunned +like the plague, although not deficient in a certain description of wit, +which told here and there amid the indescribable confusion of remarkable +phraseology which he allowed himself the use of; in fact, he was one of +those unintentional instruments of vengeance one would always like to +employ in the wholesale chastisement of persons who have rendered +themselves either ridiculous or abhorrent. + +The Duchess de Lucenay, one of the most agreeable, and, at the same +time, most fashionable women in Paris (spite of her having numbered +thirty summers), had more than once furnished matter of conversation +among the scandal-dealers of Paris; but her errors, whatever they were +supposed to be, were pardoned, in consideration of the heavy drawback of +such a partner as M. de Lucenay. + +Another feature in the character of this latter-named individual was a +singular affectation of the most absurd and unknown expressions, +relative to imaginary complaints and ridiculous infirmities he amused +himself in supposing you suffered from, and concerning which he would +make earnest inquiries, in a loud voice, and in the immediate presence +of a hundred persons. But possessed of first-rate courage, and always +ready to take the consequences of his disagreeable jokes, M. de Lucenay +had been concerned in various affairs of honour arising out of them, +with varied success; coming off sometimes victor, sometimes vanquished, +without being in any way cured of his unpleasant and annoying tricks. + +All this premised, we will ask the reader to imagine the loud, harsh +voice of the personage we have been describing, shouting from the +distance at which he first recognised Madame d'Harville and Sarah: + +"Holla! holla! who is that out there? Come, who is it? Let's see. What! +the prettiest woman at the ball sitting out here, away from everybody! I +can't have this; it is high time I returned from the other end of the +world to put a stop to such doings as this. I tell you what, marquise, +if you persist in thus concealing yourself from general view, and +cheating people from looking at you, I will set up a cry of fire! fire! +that shall bring every one out of the ballroom, around you." + +And then, by way of terminating his discourse, M. de Lucenay threw +himself almost on his back beside the two ladies, crossed his left leg +over his right thigh, and held his foot in his hand. + +"You have soon returned from Constantinople, my lord," observed Madame +d'Harville, fancying it was necessary to say something, and, at the same +time, drawing away from her unpleasant neighbour with ill-concealed +impatience. + +"Ah, that is just what my wife said! 'Already back, my lord?' exclaimed +she, when she saw me alight from my travelling-carriage; 'Why, bless me, +I did not expect you so soon!' And, do you know, instead of flying to my +arms, as if the surprise had delighted her, she turned quite sulky, and +refused to appear with me at this, my first ball since my return! And, +upon my soul, I declare her staying away has caused a far greater +sensation than my presence,--droll, isn't it? 'Pon my life, I declare I +can't make it out. When she is with me, nobody pays the least attention +to me; but when I entered the room alone to-night, such a crowd came +humming and buzzing around me, all calling out at once, 'Where is Madame +de Lucenay? Is not she coming this evening? Oh, dear, what a +disappointment! How vexatious! How disagreeable!' etc., etc. And then, +marquise, when I come where you are, and expect, after returning all the +way from Constantinople, you will be overjoyed to see me, you look upon +me as if I were a dog running amidst an interesting game of ninepins; +and yet, for all I see, I am just as agreeable as other people." + +"And it would have been so easy for you to have continued agreeable--in +the East," added Madame d'Harville, slightly smiling. + +"Stop abroad, you mean, I suppose; yes, I dare say. I tell you I could +not, and I would not; and it is not quite what I like, to hear you say +so!" exclaimed M. de Lucenay, uncrossing his legs, and beating the crown +of his hat after the fashion of a tambourine. + +"Well, for heaven's sake, my lord, be still, and do not call out so very +loudly," said Madame d'Harville, angrily, "or really you will compel me +to change my place." + +"Change your place! Ah, to be sure! You want to take my arm, and walk +about the gallery a little; come along then, I'm ready." + +"Walk with you! Certainly not! And pray let me beg of you not to meddle +with that bouquet--and have the goodness not to touch the fan either; +you will only break it, as you always do." + +"Oh, bless you! talking of breaking fans, I am unlucky. Did my wife ever +show you a magnificent Chinese fan, given to her by Madame de Vaudemont? +Well, I broke that!" And, having delivered himself of these comforting +words, M. de Lucenay again threw himself back on the divan he had been +lounging on, but, with his accustomed gaucherie, contrived to pitch +himself over the back of it, on to the ground, grasping in his hand a +quantity of the floating wreaths of climbing plants which depended from +the boughs of the trees under which the party was sitting, and which he +had been, for some time, amusing himself with essaying to catch, as, +moved by the light breeze admitted into the place, they undulated +gracefully over his head. The suddenness of his fall brought down, not +only those he held, but the parent stems belonging to them; and poor De +Lucenay was so covered by the mass of foliage thus unexpectedly +obtained, that, ere he could thoroughly disengage himself from their +circling tendrils, he presented the appearance of some monarch of +May-day crowned with his leafy diadem. So whimsical an appearance as he +presented drew down roars of deafening, stunning laughter; much to the +annoyance of Madame d'Harville, who would quickly have got out of the +vicinity of so awkward and unpleasant a person had she not perceived M. +Charles Robert (the commandant of Madame Pipelet's accounts) advancing +from the other end of the gallery; and, unwilling to appear as though +going to meet him, she once more resumed her seat beside M. de Lucenay. + +"I say, Lady Macgregor," vociferated the incorrigible De Lucenay, +"didn't I look preciously like a wild man of the woods, or the god Pan, +or a sylvan, or a naiad, or some of those savage creatures, with that +green wreath round my head? Oh, but talking of savages," added he, +abruptly approaching Sarah, "Lady Macgregor, I must tell you a most +outrageously indecent story. Just imagine that at Otaheite--" + +"My lord duke--" interrupted Sarah, in a tone of freezing rebuke. + +"Just as you like,--you are not obliged to hear my story if you don't +like it; you are the loser, that's all. Ah! I see Madame de Fonbonne out +there; I shall keep it for her; she is a dear, kind creature, and will +be delighted to hear it; so I'll save it for her." + +Madame de Fonbonne was a fat little woman, of about fifty years of age, +very pretending, and very ridiculous. Her fat double chin rested on her +equally fat throat; and she was continually talking, with upturned eyes, +of her tender, her sensitive soul; the languor of her soul; the craving +of her soul; the aspirations of her soul. To these disadvantages, she +added the additional one of being particularly ill-dressed, upon the +present occasion, in a horrible-looking copper-coloured turban, with a +sprinkling of green flowers over it. + +"Yes," again asserted De Lucenay, in his loudest voice, "that charming +anecdote shall be told to Madame de Fonbonne." + +"May I be permitted, my lord duke, to inquire the subject of your +conversation?" said the lady thus apostrophised, who, hearing her name +mentioned, immediately commenced her usual mincing, bridling attempts to +draw up her chubby self, but, failing in the effort, fell back upon the +easier manoeuvre of "rolling up the whites of her eyes," as it is +commonly called. + +"It refers, madame, to a most horribly indecent, revolting, and strange +story." + +"Heaven bless me! and who dares--oh, dear me, who would venture--" + +"I would, madame. I can answer for the truth of the anecdote, and that +it would make a stick or a stone blush to hear it; but, as I am aware +how dearly you love such stories, I will relate it to you. You must +know, then, that in Otaheite--" + +"My lord," exclaimed the indignant lady, turning up her eyes with +indignant horror, "it really is surprising you can allow yourself to--" + +"Now for those unkind looks you shall not hear my pretty story either, +though I had been reserving it for you. And, now I look at you, I can +but wonder that you, so celebrated for the taste and good style of your +dress, should have put that wretched thing on your head for a turban, +but which looks more like an old copper baking-dish spotted all over +with verdigris." So saying, the duke, as if charmed with his own wit, +burst into a loud and long peal of laughter. + +"If, my lord," exclaimed the enraged lady, "you merely returned from the +East to resume your offensive jokes, which are tolerated because you are +supposed to be only half in your senses, all who know you are bound to +hope you intend to return as quickly as you came;" saying which she +arose, and majestically waddled away. + +"I tell you what, Lady Macgregor, if I don't take devilish good care, I +shall let fly at that stupid old prude and pull her old stew-pan off her +head," said M. de Lucenay, thrusting his hands deep down into his +pockets as if to prevent their committing the retaliating mischief he +contemplated. "But no," said he, after a pause, "I won't hurt the +'sensitive soul,' poor innocent thing! Ha! ha! ha! Besides, think of her +being an orphan at her tender age!" And renewed peals of laughter +announced that the imagination of the duke had again found a fresh fund +of amusement in some reminiscence of Madame de Fonbonne; which, however, +soon gave place to an expression of surprise, as the figure of the +commandant, sauntering towards them, caught his eye. + +"Holla!" cried he, "there's M. Charles Robert. I met him last summer at +the German baths; he is a deuced fine fellow,--sings like a swan. Now, +marquise, I'll show you some fun,--just see how I'll bother him. Would +you like me to introduce him to you?" + +"Be quiet, if you can," said Sarah, turning her back most +unceremoniously upon M. de Lucenay, "and let us alone, I beg." + +As M. Charles Robert, while affecting to be solely occupied in admiring +the rare plants on either side of him, continued to advance, M. de +Lucenay had cleverly contrived to get possession of Sarah's _flacon +d'esprit_, and was deeply and silently engaged in the interesting +employment of demolishing the stopper of the trinket. + +Still M. Charles Robert kept on his gradual approach to the party he +was, in reality, making the object of his visit. His figure was tall and +finely proportioned; his features boasted the most faultless regularity; +his dress was in the first style of modern elegance; yet his +countenance, his whole person, were destitute of grace, or that +_distingue_ air which is more to be coveted than mere beauty, whether of +face or figure; his movements were stiff and constrained, and his hands +and feet large and coarse. As he approached Madame d'Harville his +insipid and insignificant countenance assumed, all at once, an +expression of the deepest melancholy, too sudden to be genuine; +nevertheless he acted the part as closely to nature as might be. M. +Robert had the air of a man so thoroughly wretched, so oppressed by a +multitude of sorrows, that as he came up to Madame d'Harville she could +not help recalling to mind the fearful mention made by Sarah touching +the violence to which grief such as his might drive him. + +"How are you? How are you, my dear sir?" exclaimed the Duke de Lucenay, +interrupting the further approach of the commandant. "I have not had the +pleasure of seeing you since we met at the spas of ----. But what the +devil ails you,--are you ill?" + +Hereupon M. Charles Robert assumed a languid and sentimental air, and, +casting a melancholy look towards Madame d'Harville, replied, in a tone +of deep depression: + +"Indeed, my lord, I am very far from being well." + +"God bless me! Why, what is the matter with you? Ah! I suppose that +confounded plaguy cough still sticks to you," said M. de Lucenay, with +an appearance of the most serious interest in the inquiry. + +At this ridiculous question, M. Charles Robert stood for a moment as +though struck dumb with astonishment, but, quickly recovering himself, +said, while his face crimsoned, and his voice trembled with rage, in a +short, firm voice, to M. de Lucenay: + +"Since you express so much uneasiness respecting my health, my lord, I +trust you will not fail calling to-morrow to know how I am." + +"Upon my life and soul, my dear sir, I--but most certainly I will send," +said the duke, with a haughty bow to M. Charles Robert, who, coolly +returning it, walked away. + +"The best of the joke is," said M. de Lucenay, throwing himself again by +the side of Sarah, "that our tall friend there had no more of a spitting +complaint than the great Turk himself,--unless, indeed, I stumbled upon +the truth without knowing it. Well, he might have that complaint for +anything I know or care. What do you think, Lady Macgregor,--did that +great, tall fellow look, to you, as though he were suffering from _la +pituite_?"[1] + + [1] A sort of viscous, phlegmy complaint. + +Sarah's only reply was an indignant rising from her seat, and hasty +removal from the vicinage of the annoying Duke de Lucenay. + +All this had passed with the rapidity of thought. Sarah had experienced +considerable difficulty in restraining her inclination to indulge in a +hearty fit of laughter at the absurd question put by the Duke de Lucenay +to the commandant; but Madame d'Harville had painfully sympathised with +the feelings of a man so ridiculously interrogated in the presence of +the woman he loved. Then, horror-struck as the probable consequences of +the duke's jest rose to her mind, led away by her dread of the duel +which might arise out of it, and still further instigated by a feeling +of deep pity for one who seemed to her misled imagination as marked out +for every venomed shaft of envy, malice, and revenge, Clemence rose +abruptly from her seat, took the arm of Sarah, overtook M. Charles +Robert, who was boiling over with rage, and whispered to him, as she +passed: + +"To-morrow, at one o'clock, I will be there." + +Then, regaining the gallery with the countess, she immediately quitted +the ball. + +Rodolph, in appearing at this fete, besides fulfilling a duty imposed on +him by his exalted rank and place in society, was further influenced by +the earnest desire to ascertain how far his suspicions, as regarded +Madame d'Harville, were well founded, and if she were, indeed, the +heroine of Madame Pipelet's account. After quitting the winter garden +with the Countess de ----, he had, in vain, traversed the various salons +in the hopes of meeting Madame d'Harville alone. He was returning to the +hothouse when, being momentarily delayed at the top of the stairs, he +was witness to the rapid scene between Madame d'Harville and M. Charles +Robert after the joke played off by the Duke de Lucenay. The significant +glances exchanged between Clemence and the commandant struck Rodolph +powerfully, and impressed him with the firm conviction that this tall +and prepossessing individual was the mysterious lodger of the Rue du +Temple. Wishing for still further confirmation of the idea, he returned +to the gallery. A waltz was about to commence, and in the course of a +few minutes he saw M. Charles Robert standing in the doorway, evidently +revelling in the satisfaction of his own ideas; enjoying, in the first +place, the recollection of his own retort to M. de Lucenay (for M. +Charles Robert, spite of his egregious folly and vanity, was by no means +destitute of bravery), and, secondly, revelling in the triumph of thus +obtaining a voluntary assignation with Madame d'Harville for the morrow; +and something assured him that this time she would be punctual. Rodolph +sought for Murphy. + +"Do you see that fair young man," said he, "standing in the midst of +that group out there?" + +"You mean the tall individual who seems so much amused with his own +thoughts, do you not? Yes, yes, I see him." + +"Endeavour to get sufficiently near to him to be enabled to whisper, so +that he alone can catch the words, while you carefully avoid allowing +him to see the person who utters them, this sentence, 'You are late, my +angel!'" + +The squire gazed at Rodolph with a perplexed air. + +"My lord, do you seriously wish me to do this?" + +"Seriously, my dear Murphy, I do; and should he hastily turn around when +you have spoken, assume that incomparable air of perfect nonchalance for +which you are so justly celebrated, so as to prevent his being able to +fix upon you as the person who has spoken." + +"Depend upon my perfect obedience, my lord, although I am far from +having the slightest idea of your intention in assigning to me such a +task." + +Before the conclusion of the waltz, the worthy Murphy had contrived to +place himself immediately behind M. Charles Robert, while Rodolph, +posted in a situation most advantageous for watching the effect of this +experiment, carefully observed Murphy's movements. In a minute, M. +Charles Robert turned suddenly around, as though struck with +astonishment and wonder. The immovable squire stirred not a feature; and +certainly Murphy's tall, portly figure, bald head, and grave, composed +countenance, appeared the least likely of any in the room to be those of +a man taking part in such a trick; and, indeed, it was evident, from the +continued gaze of the commandant in every other part of the space they +stood in, that M. Charles Robert was far from suspecting his +respectable, middle-aged neighbour of giving utterance to a phrase so +disagreeably recalling the _quid pro quo_ of which Madame Pipelet had +been alike the cause and the heroine. The waltz concluded, Murphy +rejoined Rodolph. + +"Well, my lord," said he, "that smart young gentleman jumped as though +he had trodden on a hornet's nest. The words I uttered appeared to have +the effect of magic on him." + +"They were so far magical, my dear Murphy, as they assisted me to +discover a circumstance I was most anxious to find out." + +Conviction thus painfully obtained, Rodolph could only deplore the +dangerous position in which Madame d'Harville had placed herself, and +which seemed to him fraught with fresh evils, from a vague presentiment +of Sarah's being either a sharer or a confidant in the transaction, and +with this discovery came the fresh pain of believing that he had now +found out the source of M. d'Harville's secret sorrow; the man he so +highly esteemed, and for whom he felt a brother's regard, was pining in +silence over the misconduct of a wife he so tenderly loved, yet who, in +spite of her many charming qualities, could sacrifice her own and her +husband's happiness for the sake of an object so every way unworthy. +Master of so important a secret, yet incapable of betraying it, unable +to devise any plan to open the eyes of Madame d'Harville, who seemed +rather to yield to than resist her unlicensed passion for her lover, +Rodolph found himself obliged to remain a passive witness to the utter +ruin of a woman he had so passionately adored with as much silence as +devotion; nay, whom, spite of his best efforts, he still loved. He was +roused from these reflections by M. de Grauen. + +"If your royal highness," said the baron, bowing, "will deign to grant +me a brief interview in one of the lower rooms, which is now quite +devoid of company, I shall have the honour to lay before you the +particulars you desired me to collect." + +Rodolph signed to M. de Grauen to conduct him to the place named, when +the baron proceeded with his recital, as follows: + +"The only duchess to whose name the initials 'N.' and 'L.' can possibly +belong is Madame de Lucenay, whose maiden name was Normant. Her grace is +not here this evening. I have just seen M. de Lucenay, her husband, who, +it seems, left Paris five months ago, with the expressed intention of +travelling in the East during the next year or two, but has unexpectedly +returned within the last day or two." + +It may be recollected that, during Rodolph's visit to the Rue du Temple, +he picked up, on the landing-place adjoining the door of the charlatan +dentist's apartments, a cambric handkerchief, richly embroidered and +trimmed with costly lace, and bearing in the corner a ducal coronet with +the initials "N. L." It will also be borne in mind that this elegant +indication of high rank was wetted with the bitter tears of its noble +owner. In pursuance of his instructions, but in total ignorance of the +circumstances suggesting them, M. de Grauen had inquired the name of +every duchess then in Paris, and gleaned the information now repeated to +Rodolph, and which the latter perfectly comprehended. He had no reason +for interesting himself in the fate of Madame de Lucenay; but he could +not reflect without a shudder that, if it were really she who visited +the pretended doctor (but who, he felt assured, was no other than the +infamous Polidori), this wretch, having possessed himself of her real +name and address through the agency of Tortillard, might make a fearful +use of a secret which placed the duchess so completely in his power. + +"Chance is a strange thing, my lord, is it not?" resumed M. de Grauen. + +"It is; but how does it apply to the present case?" + +"Why, at the very instant that M. de Grangeneuve was giving me these +facts concerning M. and Madame de Lucenay, and was adding, rather +ill-naturedly, that the unlooked-for return of the duke must have proved +particularly disagreeable, not only to the duchess but to the Viscount +de Saint-Remy, one of the most elegant and fashionable men in Paris, his +excellency the ambassador came up and inquired whether your royal +highness would permit him to present the viscount to you, as, having +just been appointed on the legation to Gerolstein, he would be happy to +avail himself of the present opportunity of paying his court to your +highness." + +An expression of impatience escaped Rodolph, who exclaimed: + +"Nothing could have been less agreeable to me. However, it is impossible +to refuse. Let the count know, therefore, that I am ready to receive M. +de Saint-Remy." + +Rodolph knew too well how to support his princely dignity to allow his +feelings to interfere with the courtesy and affability required on the +present occasion; added to which, the world gave M. de Saint-Remy as a +favoured lover to the Duchess de Lucenay, and this circumstance greatly +excited the curiosity of Rodolph. + +The Viscount de Saint-Remy, conducted by the Count de ----, now +approached. He was an exceedingly handsome young man, of about +twenty-five years of age, tall and slender, with the most _distingue_ +air and prepossessing physiognomy; his olive complexion had that rich, +soft glow of amber cast over its transparent surface, so remarkable in +the paintings of Murillo; his glossy black hair, parted over his left +temple, was worn smooth over his forehead, and fell in light and easy +curls down the sides of his face, almost concealing the pale, +well-shaped ear. The deep, dark eyelash contrasted well with the clear +eye it shaded, the crystal of which was tinged with that blue cast which +bestows so much and such charming expression to the Indian eye. By a +singular caprice of nature, the thick, silky moustache which graced his +lip was the only ornament of a similar description visible on his +countenance, the chin and cheeks being smooth as those of a young +maiden. Perhaps it might be vanity which dictated the narrow black satin +cravat placed so low as to reveal the perfect contour of a throat which, +for whiteness and symmetrical roundness, might have furnished a model +for the artist's studio. The long ends of his cravat were confined by a +single pearl, inestimable for its size, the beauty of its shape, and the +splendour of its colour,--so vivid, that an opal could scarcely have +rivalled its continued prismatic changes. The perfect taste, and +exquisite style of M. de Saint-Remy harmonised well with the magnificent +simplicity of this jewel. + +Once seen, the face and figure of M. de Saint-Remy was never forgotten, +so entirely did it differ from the usual style of _elegants_. He spared +no expense in procuring the most faultless turnout, and his carriages +and horses were everywhere cited as models of taste and correct +judgment. He played high, but skilfully; while the annual amount of his +betting-book was never less than from two to three thousand louis. The +costly elegance of his mansion, in the Rue de Chaillot, was everywhere +spoken of and admired. There he gave the most exquisite dinner-parties. +The highest play followed, and the hospitable host would lose large and +heavy sums with the most perfect indifference, though it was known that +his fortune had been dissipated long ago. All the viscount's property +had been derived from his mother; while his father lived in utter +seclusion in the wilds of Anjou, upon an income of the most slender +description. + +By way of accounting for the unbounded expenditure of M. de Saint-Remy, +many among the envious or ill-natured referred, as Sarah had done, to +the large fortune of the Duchess de Lucenay; but they forgot that, +setting aside the infamy of the idea, M. de Lucenay would naturally +direct the disposal of his wife's property, and that M. de Saint-Remy's +annual expenses were at least two hundred thousand francs. Suspicions +were entertained of his being deeply indebted to imprudent +money-lenders; for Saint-Remy had no further inheritance to look forward +to. Others, again, spoke of his great successes on the turf, and hinted, +in an undertone, dark stories of training-grounds, and jockeys bribed by +him to make the horses against which he had betted largely lose; but by +far the greater number of the crowd by which Saint-Remy was surrounded +was content to eat his dinners, and occasionally to win his rouleaux, +without troubling themselves with conjectures as to how the one was +provided, and where the other came from. + +By birth and education he was fully entitled to the rank he occupied in +the fashionable world; he was lively, witty, brave, a most amusing +companion, obliging and complaisant to the wishes of others; he gave +first-rate bachelor dinners, and afterwards took every bet that was +offered him. What more was required to secure his popularity? He was an +universal favourite with the fair sex, and could boast the most unvaried +success in all his love affairs; he was young, handsome, gallant, and +unsparingly munificent upon all occasions where opportunities occurred +of marking his devotion towards the high-bred females with whom he +associated in the _grande monde_; in a word, thanks to the general +infatuation he excited, the air of mystery thrown over the source of the +Pactolus from which he derived his golden supplies rather embellished +him with a certain mysterious charm, which seemed but to add to his +attractions. Sometimes it would be said, with a careless smile, "What a +fellow that Saint-Remy is: he must have discovered the philosopher's +stone to be able to go the pace he does." And when it was known that he +had caused himself to be attached to the legation of France to the court +of Gerolstein, there were not wanting voices to assert that it was a +"devilish good way of making an honourable retreat." Such was M. de +Saint-Remy. + +"Allow me," said the Count de ----, presenting M. de Saint-Remy, "to +introduce to your royal highness the Viscount de Saint-Remy, attached to +the embassy of Gerolstein." + +The viscount bowed profoundly, saying: + +"May I trust your royal highness will deign to pardon my impatience in +requesting the honour of this introduction during the present evening? I +am, perhaps, unduly hasty in my wishes to secure a gratification I have +so long aspired to." + +"It will give me much pleasure, my lord, to welcome you to Gerolstein. +Do you propose going thither immediately?" + +"Your royal highness being in Paris diminishes very materially my desire +to do so." + +"I fear the peaceful contrast of our German courts will scarcely assort +with a life of Parisian fashion, such as you have always been accustomed +to." + +"Permit me to assure your royal highness that the gracious kindness you +have now shown me, and which it shall be my study to merit a continuance +of in Gerolstein, would of itself far outweigh any attractions Paris +may have had for me." + +"It will not be my fault, my lord, should you see cause to alter your +sentiments when at Gerolstein." + +A slight inclination of Rodolph's head announced that the presentation +was concluded, upon which the viscount bowed and retired. The prince, a +practised physiognomist, was subject to involuntary likes and dislikes +upon the first interview with an individual, and these impulses were in +his case almost invariably borne out by after-circumstances. His first +sensation after the exchange of the very few words we have related +between himself and Saint-Remy was an unaccountable feeling of +repugnance and aversion for the gay and fascinating young man; to his +eye, the handsome features wore a sinister look, and danger seemed to +lurk even in his honeyed words and smooth, polished manner. + +We shall hereafter meet M. de Saint-Remy under circumstances differing +widely and fearfully from the splendour of the position he occupied at +his first interview with Rodolph. It will then be seen how far these +presentiments were ill or well founded. + +The presentation over, Rodolph, in deep meditation upon the singular +rencontres effected by the hand of chance, bent his steps towards the +winter garden. It was now the hour of supper, and the rooms were nearly +deserted. The most retired spot in the hothouse was at the end of a +clump of trees placed against the corner of a wall, and an enormous +banana, covered with climbing plants, effectually concealed a small side +door, masked by the trellis, and conducting to the banquetting-hall by a +long corridor. This door, which was scarcely a yard distant from the +tree above mentioned, had been left temporarily ajar. Sheltered by this +verdant screen, Rodolph seated himself, and was soon lost in a profound +reverie, when the sound of a well-known voice, pronouncing his name, +made Rodolph start. It was Sarah, who, seated with her brother Tom on +the other side of the clump of trees which effectually hid Rodolph from +their view, was conversing with him in the English language. The prince +listened attentively, and the following dialogue ensued: + +"The marquise has just gone to show herself for a few minutes at Baron +de Nerval's ball," said Sarah; "she has luckily quitted this place +without once having an opportunity of exchanging a word with Rodolph, +who has been looking everywhere for her. I still dread the influence he +possesses over her, even unknown to herself,--an influence it has cost +me so much labour and difficulty to combat, and partly to destroy. +However, to-morrow will rid me of any further fears of a rival who, if +not effectually destroyed, might so powerfully derange and overthrow my +plans. Listen to me, brother, for it is of serious matters I would speak +to you. To-morrow witnesses the eternal ruin of my hated rival." + +"You are mistaken, Sarah," answered Tom's well-remembered voice; +"Rodolph never loved the marquise; of that I am certain; your jealous +fears mislead you." + +"It is time," returned Sarah, "that I enlightened you on this subject. +Many things occurred during your last journey, and as it is necessary to +take decisive steps even earlier than I had expected,--nay, this very +night,--so soon as we quit this place, it becomes indispensably +necessary we should take serious counsel together. Happily we are now +quite alone, for the gay butterflies of the night have found fresh +attraction around the supper-tables. Now, then, brother, give your close +and undivided attention to what I am about to say." + +"Proceed, I am all impatience." + +"Well, before Clemence d'Harville met Rodolph, I feel assured the +passion of love was wholly unknown to her, for what reason I have never +been able to discover. She entertains the most invincible repugnance and +aversion towards her husband, who perfectly adores her. There is some +deep mystery in this part of the business I have never succeeded in +fathoming. A thousand new and delightful emotions sprang up in the +breast of Clemence after she became acquainted with Rodolph; but I +stifled her growing love by the most frightful disclosures, or rather +ingeniously invented calumnies, concerning the prince. Still, the void +in her heart required an object to fill it, and chance having thrown M. +Charles Robert in her way during a morning call she was making at my +house, she appeared struck with his appearance, much after the manner in +which we are attracted by a fine picture. Unfortunately, however, this +man is as silly as he is handsome, though he certainly has a very +prepossessing _tout ensemble_. I praised him enthusiastically to Madame +d'Harville, exalted the nobleness of his sentiments, the elevation of +his mind, and, as I knew her weak side, I worked upon her sympathy and +pity, by representing him as loaded with every trouble and affliction +unrelenting fate could heap upon a devoted but most innocent head. I +directed M. Robert to assume a melancholy and sentimental air; to utter +only deep sighs, and to preserve a gloomy and unbroken silence in the +presence of Madame d'Harville. He carefully pursued the path marked out +by me, and, thanks to his vocal skill, his fine person and the constant +expression of silent suffering, so far engaged the interest of Madame +d'Harville, that, ere long, she transferred to my handsome friend the +warm and sympathising regard Rodolph had first awakened. Do you +comprehend me thus far?" + +"Perfectly; proceed." + +"Madame d'Harville and Robert met only upon terms of intimacy at my +house; to draw them more effectually together I projected devoting three +mornings in the week to music, and my mournful ally sighed softly as the +breath of evening while turning over the leaves of the music, ventured +to utter a few impassioned words, and even to slip two or three billets +among the pieces he copied out for the marquise to practise at home. I +own I was more fearful of his epistolary efforts than even his powers of +speech; but a woman always looks indulgently upon the first declaration +of love she receives; so far, therefore, the written nonsense of my +silly pupil did no harm, for, in obedience to my advice, his _billets +doux_ were very laconic. The great point was to obtain a rendezvous, and +this was no easy matter, for Clemence's principles were stronger than +her love; or, rather, her passion was not sufficiently deep to induce +her to sacrifice those principles. Unknown, even to herself, the image +of Rodolph still filled her heart, and seemed in a manner to preserve +her from yielding to her weak fancy for M. Charles Robert,--a fancy, as +I well knew, far more imaginary than real; but, led on by my continual +and exaggerated praises of this brainless Apollo, whom I persisted in +describing as suffering under the daily increase of every imaginary evil +I could invent, Clemence, vanquished by the deep despair of her dejected +adorer, consented one day, more from pity than love, to grant him the +rendezvous so long desired." + +"Did she, then, make you her confidant?" + +"She confessed to me her regard for M. Charles Robert,--nothing more; +neither did I seek to learn more; it would have annoyed and vexed her. +But, as for him, boiling over with love, or, rather, intoxicated with +pride, he came voluntarily to impart his good fortune, without, however, +entrusting me either with the time or place of the intended meeting." + +"How, then, did you know it?" + +"Why, Karl, by my order, hovered about the door of M. Robert during the +following day from an early hour; nothing, however, transpired till the +next day, when our love-stricken youth proceeded in a _fiacre_ to an +obscure part of the town, and finally alighted before a mean-looking +house in the Rue du Temple; there he remained for an hour and a half, +when he came out and walked away. Karl waited a long while to see +whether any person followed M. Charles Robert out of the house; but no +one came. The marquise had evidently failed in her appointment. This was +confirmed to me on the morrow, when the lover came to pour out all his +rage and disappointment. I advised him to assume even an increase of +wretchedness and despair. The plan succeeded; the pity of Clemence was +again excited; a fresh assignation was wrung from her, but which she +failed to keep equally with the former; the third and last rendezvous, +however, produced more decided effects, Madame d'Harville positively +going as far as the door of the house I have specified as the appointed +place; then, repenting so rash a step, returned home without having even +quitted the humble _fiacre_ in which she rode. You may judge by all +these capricious changes of purpose how this woman struggles to be free. +And wherefore? Why, because (and hence arises my bitter, deadly hatred +to Clemence d'Harville) because the recollection of Rodolph still +lingers in her heart, and, with pertinacious love she shrinks from aught +that she fancies breathes of preference for another; thus shielding +herself from harm or danger beneath his worshipped image. Now this very +night the marquise has made a fresh assignation with M. Charles Robert +for to-morrow, and this time I doubt not her punctuality; the Duke de +Lucenay has so grossly ridiculed this young man that, carried away by +pity for the humiliation of her admirer, the marquise has granted that +to compassion he would not else have obtained. But this time, I feel +persuaded she will keep her word, and be punctual to the appointed time +and hour." + +"And how do you propose to act?" + +"M. Charles Robert is so perfectly unable to comprehend the delicacy of +feeling which this evening dictated the marquise's resolution of meeting +him, that he is safe to rush with vulgar eagerness to the rendezvous, +and this will effectually ruin his plans, for pity alone has instigated +Clemence to take this compromising step. No love,--no infatuation has +hurried her into a measure so fatal to her future resolution. I know +every turn of her mind; and I am confident she will keep her appointment +solely from a courageous idea of generous devotion, but with a firm +resolve not for one instant to forget her duties as a wife and mother. +Now the coarse, vulgar mind of M. Charles Robert is sure to take the +fullest advantage of the marquise's concession in his favour. Clemence +will detest him from that instant; and the illusion once destroyed which +has bound herself and Charles Robert in bonds of imaginary sympathy, she +will fall again beneath the influence of her love for Rodolph, which I +am certain still nestles in her heart." + +"Well?" + +"Well! I would have her for ever lost to Rodolph, whose high sense of +honour and deep friendship for M. d'Harville I feel perfectly sure would +not have proved equal to preventing his returning the love of Clemence; +but I will so manage things that he shall henceforward look upon her +with loathing and disgust, as the guilty partner in a crime committed +without his participation. No, no! I know my man. He might pardon the +offence, but never the being excluded from his share in it." + +"Then do you propose apprising the husband of all that is going on, so +that the prince should learn the disgraceful circumstances from the +publicity the affair would obtain?" + +"I do. And the thing is so much the easier to accomplish as, from what +fell from Clemence to-night, I can learn that the marquis has vague and +undefined suspicions, without knowing on whom to fix them. It is now +midnight; we shall almost directly leave the ball, I will set you down +at the first cafe we meet with, whence you shall write M. d'Harville a +minute account of his wife's love affair, with the projected assignation +of to-morrow, with the time and place where it is arranged to take +place. Oh! but I forgot, I didn't state that the place of meeting is No. +17 Rue du Temple. And the time, to-morrow at one o'clock. The marquis is +already jealous of Clemence; well, he will by this information surprise +her under most suspicious circumstances; the rest follows as a matter of +course." + +"But this is a most abominable mode of action," said Seyton, coldly. + +"What! my trusty and well-behaved brother and colleague growing +scrupulous?" said Sarah, sarcastically. "This will never do; suppose my +modes of action are odious,--so be it. I trample on all and every thing +that interferes with my designs,--agreed. I do--I shall, till I have +secured my purpose. But let me ask you, Who thought of scruples when my +destruction was aimed at? Who thought of me or my feelings, let me ask +you? How have I been treated?" + +"Say no more, sister,--say no more,--here is my hand, and you may safely +reckon upon my firm participation in all that concerns you, even to +writing the letter to M. d'Harville. But still I say, and repeat, such +conduct is horrible!" + +"Never mind sermonising, but say, do you consent fully and entirely to +what I wish you, or do you not? Ay, or nay?" + +"Since it must be so, M. d'Harville shall this night be fully instructed +as to all his wife's proceedings,--but--what is that? I fancied I heard +some one on the other side of this thicket,--there was a rustling of +leaves and branches," said Seyton, interrupting himself, and speaking to +Sarah in a low and suppressed voice. + +"For heaven's sake," cried Sarah, uneasily, "don't stop to talk about +it, but quick! and examine the other side of this place!" + +Seyton rose,--made the tour of the clump of trees,--but saw no one. + +Rodolph had just disappeared by the side door, of which we have before +spoken. + +"I must have made a mistake," said Seyton, returning; "there is no +appearance of any persons but ourselves being in this place." + +"I thought there could not possibly be." + +"Now, then, Sarah, hear what I have got to say on the subject of Madame +d'Harville, who, I feel quite satisfied, you make an object of +unnecessary apprehension, as far as it would be possible for her to +interfere with your schemes. The prince, moreover, has certain +principles nothing would induce him to infringe. I am infinitely more +alarmed, and with greater justice, too, as to what can have been his +intentions in conducting that young girl to his farm at Bouqueval, five +or six weeks ago. He is constant in his superintendence of her health +and comfort; is having her well educated, and, moreover, has been +several times to see her. Now we are altogether ignorant who she is or +where she came from; she seems, however, to belong only to the humbler +ranks of society; still, the exquisite style of her beauty, the fact of +the prince having worn the disguise he did when escorting her to the +farm, the increasing interest he seems to take in her welfare, all go to +prove that his regard for her is of no common description. I have, +therefore, in this affair anticipated your wishes; but to remove this +greater, and, as I believe, more serious obstacle to our plans, the +utmost circumspection was requisite to obtain information respecting the +lives and habits of these mysterious occupants of the farm, and +particularly concerning the girl herself. I have been fortunate enough +to learn nearly sufficient to point out what is to be done the moment +for action has arrived. A most singular chance threw that horrid old +woman in my way, to whom, as you remember, I once gave my address, +which she it seems has carefully preserved. Her connection with such +persons as the robber who attacked us during our late visit to the Cite +will powerfully assist us. All is provided for and preconsidered,--there +can be no proof against us,--and, besides, if, as seems evident, this +young creature belongs to the humblest class of society it is not very +probable she will hesitate between our offers and the splendid prospect +she may, perchance, picture to herself, for the prince, I have +ascertained, has preserved a strict incognito towards her. But to-morrow +shall decide the question otherwise,--we shall see,--we shall see." + +"And these two obstacles overcome, then, Tom, for our grand project." + +"There are many, and serious obstacles in the way; still, they may be +overcome." + +"And would it not be a lucky chance if we should bring it to pass at the +very moment when Rodolph would be writhing under the double misery +occasioned by the disclosure of Madame d'Harville's conduct, and the +disappearance of the creature for whom he chooses to evince so deep an +interest? Would not that be an auspicious moment to persuade him that +the daughter, whose loss he daily more and more deplores, still lives? +And then--" + +"Silence, sister," interrupted Seyton, "I hear the steps of the guests +from the supper-table, returning to resume the ball. Since you deem it +expedient to apprise the Marquis d'Harville of the morrow's rendezvous, +let us depart; it is past midnight." + +"The lateness of the hour in which the anonymous information will reach +M. d'Harville, will but tend still more to impress him with an idea of +its importance." + +And with these words Tom and Sarah quitted the splendid ball of the +ambassadress of the court of ----. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE RENDEZVOUS. + + +Determined at all risks to warn Madame d'Harville of the danger she was +incurring, Rodolph had quitted the winter garden without waiting to hear +the remainder of the conversation between Sarah and her brother, thus +remaining ignorant of their designs against Fleur-de-Marie, and of the +extreme peril which threatened the poor girl. But, spite of his earnest +desire to apprise the marquise of the plot laid against her peace and +honour, he was unable to carry his design into execution, for Madame +d'Harville, unable to bear up longer after the trying events of the +evening, had abandoned her original intention of visiting the +entertainment given by Madame de Nerval and gone direct home. + +This contretemps ruined his hopes. Nearly the whole of the company +present at the ambassadress's ball had been invited to that of Madame de +Nerval's, and Rodolph drove rapidly thither, taking with him M. de +Grauen, to whom he gave instructions to look for Madame d'Harville among +the guests, and to acquaint her that the prince, having something of the +utmost consequence to communicate to her without the least delay, would +walk onwards to the Hotel d'Harville, and await her return home, when he +would say a few words at the carriage-door while her servants were +attending to the opening of the entrance-gates. + +After much time spent in fruitless endeavours to find Madame d'Harville, +De Grauen was compelled to return with the account of his ill success. +This failure made Rodolph despair of being able, now, to save the +marquise from impending ruin; his first thought had been to warn her of +the treachery intended, and so prevent the statement of Sarah, which he +had no means of keeping from the hands of M. d'Harville, from obtaining +the slightest credence. Alas! it was now too late. The infamous epistle +dictated by the Countess Macgregor had reached the Marquis d'Harville +shortly after midnight on the night in question. + + * * * * * + +It was morning; and M. d'Harville continued slowly to pace his +sleeping-apartment, the bed of which gave no indication of having been +used during the night, though the silken counterpane hung in fragments, +evidently proving that some powerful and devastating storm had possessed +the mind of its owner. + +The chamber in question was furnished with elegant simplicity, its only +ornaments consisting of a stand of modern arms and a range of shelves +furnished with a well-chosen collection of books. Yet a sudden frenzy, +or the hand of ungovernable rage, had reduced the quiet elegance which +ordinarily reigned to a scene of frantic disorder. Chairs, tables, +broken and overset; the carpet strewed with fragments of the crystal +lamp kept burning through the night; the wax-lights and gilded +chandelier which had contained them, lying around, gave manifest +evidence of a fearful scene. + +M. d'Harville was about thirty years of age, with a fine, manly +countenance, whose usual expression was mild and prepossessing, but now +contracted, haggard, and livid. He had not changed his dress since the +preceding evening; his throat was bare, his waistcoat thrown open, and +on the torn and rumpled cambric of his shirt-front were drops of blood. +His rich, dark hair, which generally fell in curls around his face, now +hung in tangled wildness over his pale countenance. Wholly buried in +the misery of his own thoughts, with folded arms, drooping head, and +fixed, bloodshot eyes, M. d'Harville continued to pace his chamber; +then, stopping opposite his fireplace, in which, spite of the almost +unendurable severity of the frost of the past night, the fire had been +allowed to expire, he took from the marble mantelpiece the following +brief note, which he continued to read over and over with the most eager +attention by the wan, pale light of the cold glimmer of an early winter +morning: + + "To-morrow, at one o'clock, your wife has appointed to meet + her favoured lover. Go to the Rue du Temple, No. 17, and you + will obtain every requisite confirmation of this intelligence. + + "FROM ONE WHO PITIES YOU." + +Whilst reading these words, perused, with such deep anguish and sickness +of heart, so many times through the long midnight hours, the blue, cold +lips of M. d'Harville appeared convulsively to spell each syllable of +this fatal _billet_. + +At this moment the chamber door opened and a servant entered; the man +who now made his appearance was old, even gray-headed, but the +expression of his countenance was frank and honest. The noise of the man +entering disturbed not the marquis from his bitter contemplations; he +merely turned his head without altering his position, but still grasped +the letter in his clenched hands. + +"What do you want?" inquired he, sternly, of the servant. + +The man, instead of answering, continued to gaze with an air of painful +surprise at the disordered state of the room; then, regarding his master +more attentively, exclaimed: + +"Blood on your clothes! My lord, my lord! How is this? You have hurt +yourself,--and all alone, too; why, my lord, did you not summon me, as +of old, when these attacks came on?" + +"Begone!" + +"I entreat your lordship's pardon, but your fire is out,--the cold is +intense,--indeed, I must remind your lordship that after your +late--your--" + +"Will you be silent? Leave me I say!" + +"Pray do not be angry, my lord," replied the trembling valet; "but, if +your lordship pleases to recollect, you appointed M. Doublet to be here +to-day at half past ten, and he is now waiting with the notary." + +"Quite proper," said the marquis, with a bitter smile; "when a man is +rich he ought, he should look carefully to his affairs. Fortune is a +fine thing,--a very fine thing; or would be if it could but purchase +happiness." Then, resuming a cold and collected manner, he added: + +"Show M. Doublet into my study." + +"I have done so, my lord marquis." + +"Then give me my clothes,--quick, I am in haste; I shall be going out +shortly. I--" + +"But if your lordship would only--" + +"Do as I desire you, Joseph," said M. d'Harville, in a more gentle tone; +then added, "Is your lady stirring yet?" + +"I have not yet heard her ladyship's bell, my lord marquis." + +"Let me know when she rings." + +"I will, my lord." + +"Heaven and earth, man, how slow you are!" exclaimed M. d'Harville, +whose raging thoughts almost chafed him into madness; "summon Philip to +assist you; you will keep me all day." + +"My lord, please to allow me to set matters a little straight first," +replied Joseph, sorrowfully; "I would much rather no one but myself +witnessed the state of your chamber, or they would wonder, and talk +about it, because they could not understand what had taken place during +the night, my lord." + +"And if they were to find out, it would be a most shocking +affair,--would it not?" asked M. d'Harville, in a tone of gloomy irony. + +"Thank God, my lord, not a soul in the house has the least suspicion of +it!" + +"No one suspects it," repeated M. d'Harville, despondingly; "no +one,--that's well, for her at least; well, let us hope to keep the +secret." + +And, while Joseph was occupying himself in repairing the havoc in his +master's apartment, D'Harville walked up to the stage of arms we before +mentioned, examined them with an expression of deep interest, then, +turning towards Joseph, with a sinister smile, said: + +"I hope you have not omitted to clean the guns which are placed at the +top of the stand,--I mean those in my hunting-case." + +"I had not your lordship's orders to do so," replied the astonished +servant. + +"You had, sir, and have neglected them!" + +"I humbly assure you, my lord--" + +"They must be in a fine state!" + +"Your lordship will please to bear in mind that it is scarcely a month +since they were regularly repaired and put in order for use by the +gunsmith." + +"Never mind! As soon as I am dressed reach down my shooting-case; I will +examine the guns myself. I may very possibly go out shooting either +to-morrow or next day." + +"I will reach them down directly, my lord." + +The chamber being by this time replaced in its ordinary state, a second +_valet de chambre_ was summoned to assist Joseph. + +His toilet concluded, M. d'Harville repaired to his study, where the +steward (M. Doublet) and his lawyer's clerk were awaiting him. + +"We have brought the agreement that my lord marquis may hear it read +over," said the bowing clerk; "my lord will then only have to sign it, +and the affair is concluded." + +"Have you perused it, M. Doublet?" + +"I have, my lord, attentively." + +"In that case I will affix my signature at once." + +The necessary forms completed, the clerk withdrew, when M. Doublet, +rubbing his hands, and looking triumphantly, exclaimed: + +"Now, then, by this last addition to your lordship's estates, your +manorial property cannot be less than a hundred and twenty-six thousand +francs per annum, in round numbers. And permit me to say, my lord +marquis, that a rent-roll of a hundred and twenty-six thousand francs +per annum is of no common occurrence nowadays." + +"I am a happy man, am I not, M. Doublet? A hundred and twenty-six +thousand livres per annum! Surely the man owning such an income must be +blessed indeed,--sorrow or care cannot reach him through so golden a +shield!" + +"And that is wholly independent of my lord's funded property, amounting +at least to two millions more; or reckoning--" + +"Exactly; I know what you would say; without reckoning my other +blessings and comforts." + +"Why, heaven be praised, your lordship is as rich in all earthly +blessings as in revenue. Not a precious gift but it has been largely +bestowed upon you; ay, and such as even money will not buy: youth, +uninterrupted health, the power of enjoying every happiness, amongst +which, or, rather, at the head of which," said M. Doublet, gracefully +smiling, and gallantly bowing, "place that of being the husband of so +sweet a lady as Madame la Marquise, and the parent of a lovely little +girl, who might be mistaken for a cherubim." + +M. d'Harville cast a look of gloomy mistrust on the poor steward; who, +revelling in his own ecstasy at seeing the princely rent-roll committed +to his charge, exceeding all others in magnificent amount, was far from +perceiving the scowling brow of his master, thus congratulated on being +the happiest man alive, when, to his own view, a verier wretch, or more +complete bankrupt in happiness existed not. Striking M. Doublet +familiarly on the shoulder, and breaking into a wild, ironical laugh, M. +d'Harville rejoined: + +"Then you think that with an income of two hundred and sixty thousand +livres, a wife like mine, and a daughter resembling a cherubim, a man +has nothing more to wish for?" + +"Nay, my lord," replied the steward, with honest zeal, "you have still +to wish for the blessing of lengthened days, that you may be spared to +see mademoiselle married as happily as yourself. Ah, my lord, I may not +hope to see it, but I should be thankful to witness you and my honoured +lady surrounded by your grandchildren,--ay, and great-grandchildren +too,--why not?" + +"Excellent, M. Doublet! A regular Baucis and Philemon idea. You have +always a capital illustration to your ideas." + +"You are too good to me, my lord. Has your lordship any further orders +for me?" + +"None. Stay, though; what cash have you in hand?" + +"Twenty-nine thousand three hundred and odd francs for current expenses, +my lord marquis; but there is a heavy sum at the bank belonging to this +quarter's income." + +"Well, bring me twenty thousand francs in gold, and, should I have gone +out, give them to Joseph for me." + +"Does your lordship wish for them this morning?" + +"I do." + +"Within an hour the gold shall be here. You have nothing else to say to +me, my lord?" + +"No, M. Doublet." + +"A hundred and twenty-six thousand francs per annum, wholly +unincumbered," repeated the steward, as he was about to quit the room; +"this is a glorious day for me to see; I almost feared at one time that +we should not secure this desirable property. Your lordship's most +humble servant, I take my leave." + +"Good morning, M. Doublet." + +As the door closed upon the steward, M. d'Harville, overcome with the +mental agony he had repressed thus far, threw himself into an armchair, +leaned his elbows on the desk before which he sat, and covering his face +with his hands, for the first time since receiving the fatal _billet_, +gave vent to a flood of hot, burning tears. + +"Cruel mockery of fate!" cried he, at length, "to have made me rich, but +to have given me only shame and dishonour to place within the gilded +frame: the perjury of Clemence, the disgrace which will descend upon my +innocent child. Can I suffer this? Or shall I for the sake of her +unoffending offspring spare the guilty mother from the opprobrium of an +exposure?" Then rising suddenly from his seat, with sparkling eyes and +clenched teeth he cried, in a deep, determined voice, "No, no! Blood, +blood! The fearful protection from laughter and derision. Ah, full well +I can now comprehend her coldness, her antipathy, wretched, wretched +woman!" Then, stopping all at once, as though melted by some tender +recollection, he resumed, in a hoarse tone, "Aversion! Alas! too well I +know its cause. I inspire her with loathing, with disgust!" Then, after +a lengthened silence, he cried, in a voice broken by sighs, "Yet, was it +my fault or my misfortune? Should she have wronged me thus for a +calamity beyond my power to avert? Surely I am a more fitting object for +her pity than scorn and hatred." Again rekindling into his excited +feelings, he reiterated, "Nothing but blood--the blood of both--can wash +out this guilty stain! Doubtless he, the favoured lover, has been +informed why she flies her husband's arms." + +This latter thought redoubled the fury of the marquis. He elevated his +tightly compressed hands towards heaven, as though invoking its +vengeance; then, passing his burning fingers over his eyes as he +recollected the necessity that existed for concealing his emotion from +the servants of his establishment, he returned to his sleeping-apartment +with an appearance of perfect tranquillity. There he found Joseph. + +"Well, in what state are the guns?" + +"In perfect order. Please to examine them, my lord." + +"I came for the purpose of so doing. Has your lady yet rung?" + +"I do not know, my lord." + +"Then inquire." + +Directly the servant had quitted the room, M. d'Harville hastily took +from the gun-case a small powder-flask, some balls and caps; then, +locking the case, put the key in his pocket. Then going to the stand of +arms, he took from it a pair of moderate-sized Manton's pistols, loaded +them, and placed them without difficulty in the pockets of his morning +wrapper. Joseph returned with the intimation that Madame d'Harville was +in her dressing-room. + +"Has your lady ordered her carriage?" + +"My lord, I heard Mlle. Juliette say to the head-coachman, when he came +to inquire her ladyship's orders for the day, that, 'as it was cold, dry +walking, if her ladyship went out at all, she would prefer going on +foot.'" + +"Very well. Stay,--I forgot. I shall not go out hunting before +to-morrow, or probably, next day. Desire Williams to look the small +travelling-britcska carefully over. Do you understand?" + +"Perfectly, my lord; it shall be attended to. Will not your lordship +require a stick?" + +"No. Pray tell me, is there not a hackney coach-stand near here?" + +"Quite close, my lord,--in the Rue de Lille." + +After a moment's hesitation, the marquis continued: "Go and inquire of +Mlle. Juliette whether Madame d'Harville can see me for a few minutes." +Joseph obeyed. + +"Yes," murmured the marquis, "I will see the cause of all my misery,--my +disgrace. I will contemplate the guilty mask beneath which the impure +heart conceals its adulterous designs. I will listen to the false lips +that speak the words of innocence, while deep dishonour lurks in the +candid smile,--a smile that seemed to me as that of an angel. Yet 'tis +an appalling spectacle to watch the words, the looks, of one who, +breathing only the sentiments of a chaste wife and mother, is about to +sully your name with one of those deep, deadly stains which can only be +washed out in blood. Fool that I am to give her the chance of again +bewildering my senses! She will look at me with her accustomed sweetness +and candour; greet me (all guilty as she is) with the same pure smile +she bestows upon her child, as, kneeling at her lap, it lisps its early +prayer. That look,--those eyes, mirrors of the soul,--the more modest +and pure the glance" (D'Harville shuddered with contempt) "the greater +must be the innate corruption and falsehood! Alas! she has proved +herself a consummate dissembler; and I--I--have been the veriest dupe! +Only let me consider with what sentiments must that woman look upon me, +if just previous to her meeting with her favoured lover I pay her my +accustomed visit, and express my usual devotion and love for her,--the +young, the virtuous wife, the tender, sensible, and devoted mother, as +until this wretched moment I would have died to prove her. Can I, dare +I, trust myself in her presence, with the knowledge of her being but too +impatient for the arrival of that blessed hour which conveys her to her +guilty rendezvous and infamous paramour? Oh, Clemence, Clemence, you in +whom all my hopes and fondest affections were placed, is this a just +return? No! no! no!" again repeated M. d'Harville, with rapidly +returning excitement. "False, treacherous woman! I will not see you! I +will not trust my ears to your feigned words! Nor you, my child. At the +sight of your innocent countenance I should unman myself, and compromise +my just revenge." + +Quitting his apartment, M. d'Harville, instead of repairing to those of +the marquise, contented himself with leaving a message for her through +Mlle. Juliette, to the effect that he wished a short conversation with +Madame d'Harville, but that being obliged to go out just then, he should +be glad, if it assorted with Madame la Marquise's perfect convenience, +to breakfast with her at twelve o'clock. + +"And so," said the unhappy M. d'Harville, "fancying that after twelve +o'clock I shall be safe at home, she will consider herself more at +liberty to follow out her own plans." + +He then repaired to the coach-stand contiguous to his mansion, and +summoned a vehicle from the ranks. + +"Now, coachee," said he, affecting to disguise his rank, "what's +o'clock?" + +"All right, master," said the man, drawing up to the side of the +footway, "where am I to drive to? Let's have a right understanding, and +a look at the clock. Why, it's as close on half-after eleven as may be." + +"Now, then, drive to the corner of the Rue St. Dominique, and wait at +the end of the garden wall which runs along there; do you understand?" + +"Yes, yes,--I know." + +M. d'Harville then drew down the blinds of the _fiacre_; the coachman +drove on, and soon arrived opposite the Hotel d'Harville, from which +point of observation it was impossible for any person to enter or quit +the house without the marquis having a full view of them. One o'clock +was the hour fixed in the note; and with his eyes riveted on the +entrance-gates of the mansion, the marquis waited in painful suspense, +absorbed in a whirl of fearful thoughts and maddening conjectures. Time +stole on imperceptibly; twelve o'clock reverberated from the dome of St. +Thomas Aquinas, when the door opened slowly at the Hotel d'Harville, and +Madame d'Harville herself came timidly forth. + +"Already?" exclaimed the unhappy husband; "how punctual she is! She +fears to keep him waiting," cried the marquis, with a mixture of irony +and savage rage. + +The cold was excessive; the pavement hard and dry. Clemence was dressed +in a black velvet bonnet, covered with a veil of the same colour, and a +thickly wadded pelisse of dark ruby satin, a large shawl of dark blue +cashmere fell to the very hem of her pelisse, which she lightly and +gracefully held up while crossing the street. Thanks to this movement, +the taper foot and graceful ankle of Madame d'Harville, cased in an +exquisitely fitting boot of black satin, were exposed to view. + +It was strange, that amid the painful and bewildering ideas that crowded +the brain of D'Harville, he should have found one thought to waste upon +the beauty of his wife's foot; but so it was; and at the moment that was +about to separate them for ever, to his eager gaze that fairy foot and +well-turned ankle had never looked so charming; and then, as by a rapid +train of thought he recalled the matchless loveliness of his wife, and, +as he had ever believed till now, her purity, her mental graces, he +groaned aloud as he remembered that another was preferred to him, and +that the light figure that glided on before his fixed gaze, was but the +hollow spectre of fallen goodness, a lost, degraded creature, hastening +to steep her husband and infant in irremediable disgrace, for the +indulging of a base and guilty passion. Even in that wretched moment he +felt how dearly, how exclusively he had loved her; and for the first +time during the blow which had fallen on him, he knew that he mourned +the lovely woman almost equally with the virtuous mother and chaste +wife. A cry of rage and mingled fury escaped him, as he pictured the +rapture of her meeting with the lover of her choice; and a sharp, +darting pain quivered through his heart as he remembered that Clemence, +with all her youth and beauty, her countless charms, both of body and +mind, was lost to him for ever. + +Hitherto his passionate grief had been unmixed by any alloy of self. He +had bewailed the sanctity of the marriage-vow trampled under foot, the +abandonment of all sworn and sacred duties; but his sufferings of rage, +jealousy, and regret almost overpowered him, and with much difficulty +was he able to command his voice sufficiently to say to the coachman, +while partially drawing up the blind: + +"Do you see that lady in the blue shawl and black bonnet walking along +by the wall?" + +"Yes, yes! I see her safe enough." + +"Well, then, go slowly along, and keep up with her. Should she go to the +coach-stand I had you from, pull up; and when she has got into a +_fiacre_, follow it wherever it goes." + +"All right,--I understand! Now this is what I call a good joke!" + +M. d'Harville had conjectured rightly. Madame d'Harville repaired +directly to the coach-stand, and beckoning a _fiacre_ off the stand, +instantly got in, and drove off, closely followed by the vehicle +containing her husband. + +They had proceeded but a very short distance, when the coachman took the +road to the church of St. Thomas Aquinas, and, to the surprise of M. +d'Harville, pulled up directly in front. + +"What is this for? What are you about?" + +"Why, master, the lady you told me to follow has just alighted here, and +a smart, tidy leg and foot of her own she has got. Her dress somehow +caught; so, you see, I couldn't help having a peep, nohow. This is +downright good fun though, this is!" + +A thousand varied thoughts agitated M. d'Harville. One minute he fancied +that his wife, fearing pursuit, had taken this step to escape detection; +then hope whispered that the letter which had given him so much +uneasiness, might after all be only an infamous calumny; for if guilty, +what could be gained by this false assumption of piety? Would it not be +a species of sacrilegious mockery? At this suggestion a bright ray of +hope shot across the troubled mind of M. d'Harville, arising from the +striking contrast between Clemence's present occupation and the crime +alleged as her motive for quitting her home. Alas! this consolatory +illusion was speedily destroyed. Leaning in at the open window the +coachman observed: + +"I say, master, that nice little woman you are after has got back into +her coach." + +"Then follow quickly." + +"I'm off! Now this is what I call downright good fun. Capital; hang me +if it ain't!" + +The vehicle reached the Quais, the Hotel de Ville, the Rue St. Avoye, +and, at last, Rue du Temple. + +"I say," said the coachman, turning round to speak to M. d'Harville from +his seat, "master, just look. My mate, there, has stopped at No. 17; we +are about at 13. Shall I stop here or go on to 17?" + +"Stop here." + +"I say,--look'ee,--you'll lose your pretty lady. She has gone into the +alley leading to No. 17." + +"Open the door." + +"I'm coming, sir." + +And quickly following the steps of his wife, M. d'Harville entered the +obscure passage up which she had disappeared. Madame d'Harville, +however, had so far the start as to have entered the house previously. + +Attracted by the most devouring curiosity, Madame Pipelet, with her +melancholy Alfred and her friend the oyster-woman, were huddled close +together on the sill at the lodge door. The staircase was so dark that a +person just emerging from the daylight into the gloom of the passage +could not discern a single step of it; and Madame d'Harville, agitated +and almost sinking with apprehension, found herself constrained to apply +to Madame Pipelet for further advice how to proceed, saying, in a low, +tremulous voice: + +"Which way must I turn, madame, to find the staircase of the house?" + +"Stop, if you please. Pray, whom do you want?" + +"I wish to go to the apartments of M. Charles, madame." + +"Monsieur who?" repeated the old woman, feigning not to have heard her, +but in reality to afford sufficient leisure to her husband and her +friend thoroughly to scrutinise the unhappy woman's countenance, even +through the folds of her thick veil. + +"M. Charles, madame," repeated Clemence, in a low, trembling tone, and +bending down her head, so as to escape the rude and insolent examination +to which her features were subjected. + +"Ah! M. Charles; very well; you should have spoken so that one could +hear you. Well, my pretty dear, if you want M. Charles,--and a +good-looking fellow he is as ever won a woman's heart,--go straight on, +and the door will stare you in the face. Eh! eh! eh!" laughed out the +old woman, shaking her fat sides with spiteful glee, "it seems he has +not waited for nothing this time. Success to love and love-makings, and +a merry end to it!" + +The marquise, ready to sink with confusion, began slowly to grope her +way up the dingy staircase. + +"I say," bawled out the old shell-fish woman, "our commandant knows what +he is about, don't he? Leave him alone to choose a pretty girl. His marm +is a regular swell, ain't she?" + +Had it not been requisite for her to run the gauntlet of the trio who +occupied the entrance-door, Madame d'Harville, ready to sink with shame +and terror, would gladly have retraced her steps. She made another +effort, and at last reached the landing-place, where, to her unutterable +consternation and surprise, she saw Rodolph waiting, impatiently, her +arrival. Instantly flying to meet her, he hastily placed a purse in her +hand, saying, in a hurried manner: + +"Your husband knows all, and is now following your very steps." + +At this instant, the sharp tones of Madame Pipelet were heard crying +out, "Where are you going to, sir?" + +"'Tis he!" exclaimed Rodolph, and then, almost forcing Madame d'Harville +up the second staircase, he added, in a rapid manner, "make all haste to +the very top of the house; on the fifth floor you will find a wretched +family, named Morel. Remember your sole business in coming hither was to +relieve their distress." + +"I tell you, sir," screamed Madame Pipelet, "that unless you tell me +your name, you shall trample over me, as they walked over our brave men +at Waterloo, before I let you pass." + +Having, from the entrance to the alley, observed Madame d'Harville stop +to speak to the porteress, the marquis had likewise prepared himself to +pass through some sort of questioning. + +"I belong to the lady who just now entered," said the marquis. + +"Bless me!" exclaimed Madame Pipelet, looking the picture of wonderment, +"why, that, of course, is a satisfactory answer. You can pass on, if you +please." + +Hearing an unusual stir, M. Charles Robert had set the door of his +apartments ajar, and Rodolph, unwilling to be recognised by M. +d'Harville, whose quick, searching eye might have detected him, spite of +the murkiness of the staircase, hearing him rapidly ascending the +stairs, just as he reached the landing-place, dashed into the chamber of +the astonished commandant, locking the door after him. M. Charles +Robert, magnificently attired in his _robe de chambre_ of scarlet damask +with orange-coloured stripes, and Greek cap of embroidered velvet, was +struck with astonishment at the unexpected appearance of Rodolph, whom +he had not seen the preceding evening at the embassy, and who was upon +the present occasion very plainly dressed. + +"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" asked he at length, assuming a +tone of killing haughtiness. + +"Be silent!" replied Rodolph; and there was that in his voice and manner +that Charles Robert obeyed, even in spite of his own determination to +strike terror into the bold invader of his private moments. + +A violent and continued noise, as of some heavy substance falling from +one stair to the other, resounded through the dull silence of the gloomy +staircase. + +"Unhappy man! He has murdered her!" exclaimed Rodolph. + +"Murdered!" ejaculated M. Charles Robert, turning very pale; "for the +love of Heaven, what is all this about?" + +But, without heeding his inquiry, Rodolph partially opened the door, and +discovered little Tortillard half rolling, half limping, down the +stairs, holding in his hand the red silk purse Rodolph had just given to +Madame d'Harville. Tortillard, with another scrambling shuffle, +disappeared at the bottom of the last flight of stairs. The light step +of Madame d'Harville, and the heavier tread of her husband, as he +continued his pursuit of her from one story to another, could be +distinctly heard. Somewhat relieved of his worst fears, yet unable to +make out by what chance the purse so recently committed to Madame +d'Harville's hands should have been transferred to those of Tortillard, +Rodolph said, authoritatively, to M. Robert: + +"Do not think of quitting your apartments for the next hour, I request!" + +"Upon my life and soul, that is a pretty thing to say to a gentleman in +his own house," replied M. Robert in an impatient and wrathful tone. "I +ask you, again, what is the meaning of all this? Who the devil are you, +sir? And how dare you dictate to me, a gentleman?" + +"M. d'Harville is informed of everything,--has followed his wife to your +very door,--and is now pursuing her to the upper part of the house." + +"God bless me! Here's a situation!" exclaimed Charles Robert, with an +appearance of utter consternation. "But what is to be done? What is the +use of her going up-stairs? And how will she manage to get down again +unobserved?" + +"Remain where you are, neither speak nor move until the porteress comes +to you," rejoined Rodolph, who hastened to give his final instructions +to Madame Pipelet, leaving the commandant a prey to the most alarming +apprehensions. + +"Well! well!" cried Madame Pipelet, her face radiant with chuckling +exultation; "there's rare sport going on! The lady who came to visit my +fine gentleman on the first floor has been followed by another +gentleman, who seems rather in a passion,--the husband of that silly +young creature, I make no doubt. Directly the truth flashed across me, I +tells him to go straight up; for, thinks I, he'll be sure to murder our +commandant. That'll make a deal of talk in the neighbourhood; and folks +will come crowding to see the house, just as they did at No. 36 after +the man was killed there. Lord! I wonder the fighting has not begun +yet. I have been listening to hear them set to; but I can't catch the +least sound." + +"My dear Madame Pipelet, will you do me a great favour?" said Rodolph, +putting five louis into her hand. "When this lady comes down-stairs, ask +her how she found the poor Morels. Tell her she has performed an act of +real charity in coming to see them, according to her promise, the last +time she called to inquire respecting them." + +Madame Pipelet looked first at the money and then at Rodolph, with an +air of petrified astonishment. + +"What am I to do with this money?" inquired she, at length; "do you give +it to me? Ah, I see! This handsome lady, then, does not come altogether +for the commandant?" + +"The gentleman who followed her was her husband, as you justly supposed; +but, being warned in time, the poor lady went straight on to the Morels, +as though her only business here was to afford them succour. Now do you +understand!" + +"I should think I did,--clear as noonday. 'A nod is as good as a wink,' +as the old woman said. I know! You want me to help you cheat the +husband? Lord bless you! I'm up to all those things,--quick as +lightning, silent as the grave! Go along with you! I'm a regular good +hand at keeping husbands in the dark; you might fancy I'd been used to +it all my life. But tell me--" + +The huge hat of M. Pipelet was here observed sending its dark shadow +across the floor of the lodge. + +"Anastasie," said Alfred, gravely, "you are like M. Cesar Bradamanti; +you have no respect for anything or anybody. And let me tell you that +there are subjects that should never be made the subject of a jest, even +amongst the most familiar acquaintances." + +"Nonsense, my old darling. Don't stand there rolling up your eyes, and +looking about as wise as a pig in a pound. You know well enough I was +only joking; you know well enough that no living soul beneath the canopy +of heaven can ever say I gave him a liberty. But that'll do; so let's +talk of this good gentleman's business. Suppose I do go out of my usual +way to save this young lady, I'm sure I do it solely to oblige our new +lodger, who, for his generosity, may well deserve to be called the king +of lodgers." Then, turning towards Rodolph, she added, "You shall see +how cleverly I will go to work. Just hide yourself there in that corner +behind the curtain. Quick,--quick! I hear them coming." + +Rodolph had scarcely time to conceal himself ere M. and Madame +d'Harville descended the stairs. The features of the marquis shone with +happiness, mingled with a confused and astonished expression, while the +countenance of his wife, as she hung on his arm, looked calm but pale. + +"Well, my good lady," cried Madame Pipelet, going out of her lodge to +address her, as she descended the last stair, "how did you find the poor +creatures,--I mean the Morels? Ah, I doubt not, such a sight made your +heart ache? God knows your charity was well bestowed! I told you the +other day, when you called to inquire about them, what a state of +starvation and misery they were in. Be assured, kind lady, these poor +things are fit objects of your bounty; you will never have to regret +coming to this out-of-the-way place to examine into their case. They +really are deserving all your kindness,--don't you think so, Alfred?" + +Alfred, the strictness of whose ideas touching a due regard for all +conjugal duties made him revolt at the thoughts of helping to deceive a +husband, replied only by a sort of grumbling sound, as vague as +discordant. + +"Please to excuse my husband, madame," resumed Madame Pipelet; "he has +got the cramp in his stomach, and cannot speak loud enough to be +understood, or he would tell you as well as myself that the poor people +you have so fortunately relieved will pray of the Almighty, night and +day, to bless and reward you, my worthy lady." + +M. d'Harville gazed on his wife with feelings approaching to adoration, +as he exclaimed, "Angel of goodness, how has base slander dared to +disturb your heavenly work!" + +"An angel!" repeated Madame Pipelet; "that she is, and one of the very +best heaven could send. There is not a better." + +"Let us return home, I entreat!" said Madame d'Harville, who was +suffering acutely under the restraint she had put upon herself since +entering the house, and, now that the necessity for exertion was over, +found her strength rapidly forsaking her. + +"Instantly," replied the marquis. + +At the instant of their emerging into the open air from the obscurity of +the alley, M. d'Harville, observing the pale looks of his wife, said, +tenderly: + +"Ah, Clemence, I have deep cause to solicit your pity and forgiveness." + +"Alas! my lord," said the marquise, sighing deeply, "which of us has not +need of pardon?" + +Rodolph quitted his hiding-place, deeply ruminating upon so terrible a +scene, thus intermingled with absurdity and coarseness, and pondering +over the curious termination to a drama, the commencement of which had +called forth such different passions. + +"Well, now," exclaimed Madame Pipelet, "you must say I played my part +well. Didn't I send that donkey of a husband home with longer ears than +he came out with? Lord bless you! he'll put his wife under a glass case, +and worship her from this day forward. Poor, dear gentleman! I really +could not help feeling sorry for him. Oh! but about your furniture, M. +Rodolph; it has not come yet." + +"I am now going to see about it. By the by, you had better go and inform +the commandant that he may venture out." + +"True; I'll go and let the caged bird out. But what stuff and nonsense +for him to hire apartments of no more use to him than they are to the +King of Prussia! He is a fine fellow, he is, with his paltry twelve +francs a month. This is the fourth time he has been made a fool of." + +Rodolph quitted the house, and Madame Pipelet, turning to her husband, +said, with a chuckling laugh, "Now, Alfred, the commandant's turn has +come; now for it! I mean to have a jolly good laugh at my gentleman,--up +and dressed for nothing." + +Arrived at the apartments of M. Charles Robert, the porteress rang the +bell; the door was opened by the commandant himself. + +"Commandant," said Anastasie, giving him a military salute, by placing +the back of her little fat hand against the front of her wig, "I have +come to set you free. Your friends have gone away arm in arm, happy as +doves, under your very nose. Well, you are out of a nice mess, thanks to +M. Rodolph. You ought to stand something very handsome to him for all he +has done upon the present occasion." + +"Then this slim individual with the moustachios is called M. Rodolph, is +he?" + +"Exactly so; neither more nor less." + +"And who and what is the fellow?" + +"Fellow, indeed!" cried Madame Pipelet, in a wrathful voice; "he is as +good as other men,--better than some I could mention. Why, he is a +travelling clerk, but the very king of lodgers; for, though he has only +one room, he does not haggle and beat folks down,--not he. Why, he gave +me six francs for doing for him,--six francs, mind, I say, without a +word. Think of that!--without ever offering me a sou less. Oh, he is a +lodger! I wish other people were at all like him!" + +"There, there, that's enough; take the key." + +"Shall I light the fire to-morrow, commandant?" + +"No!" + +"Next day?" + +"No, no! Don't bother me." + +"I say, commandant, if you recollect, I warned you that you would have +your trouble for your pains." + +M. Charles Robert threw a glance at his grinning tormentor that spoke of +annihilation at least, and, dashing furiously by her, quitted the house, +wondering much how a mere clerk should have become acquainted with his +assignation with the Marquise d'Harville. + +As the commandant left the alley, Tortillard came hobbling along. + +"Well, what do you want?" said Madame Pipelet. + +"Has the Borgnesse been to call upon me?" asked the young scamp, without +attending to the porteress's question. + +"The Chouette? No, you ugly monster! What should she come for?" + +"Why, to take me with her into the country, to be sure," said +Tortillard, swinging on the lodge gate. + +"And what does your master say to it?" + +"Oh, father managed all that. He sent this morning to M. Bradamanti, to +ask him to give me leave to go in the country,--the country,--the +country," sang or rather screamed the amiable scion of M. Bras Rouge, +beating time most melodiously on the window-panes. + +"Will you leave off, you young rascal, or are you going to break my +window? Oh, here comes a coach!" + +"Oh! oh! oh!" shrieked the urchin; "it is my dear Chouette! Oh, how nice +the ride in a coach!" + +And, looking through the window, they saw reflected upon the red blind +of the opposite glass the hideous profile of the Borgnesse. She beckoned +to Tortillard, who ran out to her. The coachman descended from his box, +and opened the door; Tortillard sprang into the vehicle, which instantly +drove off. + +Another person beside the Chouette was in the carriage. In the farther +corner, and wrapped in an old cloak with a furred collar, his features +shrouded by a black silk cap pulled down over his brows, sat the +Schoolmaster. His inflamed lids formed a horrible contrast with the +white globeless space beneath; and this fearful spectacle was rendered +still more hideous by the action of the severe cold upon his seamed and +frightful countenance. + +"Now, small boy, squat yourself down on the pins of my man; you'll serve +to keep him warm," said the Borgnesse to Tortillard, who crouched like a +dog close to the feet of the Schoolmaster and the Chouette. + +"Now, then, my coves," said the driver, "on we go to the 'ken' at +Bouqueval, don't we, La Chouette? You shall see whether I can 'tool a +drag' or not." + +"And keep your pads on the move, my fine fellow; for we must get hold of +the girl to-night." + +"All right, my blind un; we'll go the pace." + +"Shall I give you a hint?" said the Schoolmaster. + +"What about?" + +"Why, cut it fine as you pass by the 'nabs' at the barrier; the meeting +might lead to disagreeable recollections. It is not every old +acquaintance it is worth while to renew our friendship with. You have +been wanted at the barriers for some time." + +"I'll keep my weather-eye open," replied the driver, getting on his box. + +It needs scarcely be told, after this specimen of slang, that the +coachman was a robber, one of the Schoolmaster's worthy associates. The +vehicle then quitted the Rue du Temple. + +Two hours afterwards, towards the closing of a winter's day, the vehicle +containing the Chouette, the Schoolmaster, and Tortillard, stopped +before a wooden cross, marking out the sunken and lonely road which +conducted to the farm at Bouqueval, where the Goualeuse remained under +the kind protection of Madame Georges. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +AN IDYL. + + +The hour of five had just struck from the church clock of the little +village of Bouqueval; the cold was intense, the sky clear, the sun, +sinking slowly behind the vast leafless woods which crowned the heights +of Ecouen, cast a purple hue over the horizon, and sent its faint, +sloping rays across the extensive plains, white and hard with winter's +frost. + +In the country each season has its own distinctive features, its own +peculiar charm; at times the dazzling snow changes the whole scene into +immense landscapes of purest alabaster, exhibiting their spotless +beauties to the reddish gray of the sky. Then may be seen in the glimmer +of twilight, either ascending or descending the hill, a benighted farmer +returning to his habitation; his horse, cloak, and hat, are covered with +the falling snow. Bitter is the cold, biting the north wind, dark and +gloomy the approaching night; but what cares he? There, amid those +leafless trees, he sees the bright taper burning in the window of his +cheerful home; while from the tall chimney a column of dark smoke rolls +upwards through the flaky shower that descends, and speaks to the +toil-worn farmer of a blazing hearth and humble meal prepared by kind +affection to welcome him after the fatigues of his journey. Then the +rustic gossip by the fireside, on which the fagot burns and crackles, +and a peaceful, comfortable night's rest, amid the whistling of the +winds, and the barking of the various dogs at the different farms +scattered around, with the answering cry from the distant watch-dog. + +Daylight opens upon a scene of fairy-land. Surely the tiny elves have +been celebrating some grand fete, and have left some of their adornments +behind them, for on each branch hang long spiracles of crystal, +glittering in the rays of a winter's sun with all the prismatic +brilliancy of the diamond. The damp, rich soil of the arable land is +laid down in furrows, where hides the timid hare in her form, or the +speckled partridge runs merrily. Here and there is heard the melancholy +tinkling of the sheep-bell hanging from the neck of some important +leader of the numerous flocks scattered over the verdant heights and +turfy valleys of the neighbourhood; while, carefully wrapped in his dark +gray cloak, the shepherd, seated under shelter of those knotted trunks +and interlaced branches, chants his cheerful lay, while his fingers are +busily employed weaving a basket of rushes. + +Occasionally a more animated scene presents itself; distant echo gives +out the faint sound of the hunting-horn, and the cry of hounds; suddenly +a frightened deer bursts from the neighbouring forest, stands for a few +seconds in terrified alarm upon the frozen plain, then darts onward, and +is quickly lost amid the thickets on the opposite side. The trampling of +horses, the barking of dogs, are rapidly brought nearer by the breeze; +and now, in their turn, a pack of dogs with brown and tawny-spotted +skins issue from the brushwood from which the frightened deer but just +now came; they run eagerly over the sterile ground, the fallow fields, +with noses closely pointed to the ground they pursue with loud cries the +traces left by the flying deer. At their heels come the hunters in their +scarlet coats, bending over the necks of their swift steeds; they +encourage their dogs by their voices mingled with the notes of the horn. +Swift as lightning the brilliant cortege passes on; the noise +decreases; by degrees all is still; dogs, horses, and huntsmen are lost +in the tangled mazes of the forest, where the frightened stag had sought +and found a hiding-place. Then peace and calm resumed their reign; and +the profound stillness of these vast plains was interrupted only by the +monotonous song of the shepherd. + +These sights,--these rustic views abounded in the environs of the +village of Bouqueval, which, spite of its proximity to Paris, was +situated in a sort of desert, to which there was no approach except by +cross-roads. Concealed during the summer among the trees, like a nest +amid the sheltering foliage, the farm which had become the home of the +poor Goualeuse was now utterly bereft of its leafy screen, and entirely +exposed to view. The course of the little river, now quite frozen over, +resembled a long silver riband stretched along the ever verdant meadows, +through which a number of fine cows were leisurely wending their way to +their stable. Brought home by the approach of night, flocks of pigeons +were successively arriving, and perching on the peaked roof of the +dove-house; while the immense walnut-tree, that during the summer +afforded an umbrageous screen both to the farmhouse and its numerous +out-buildings, stripped of its rich foliage, exhibited only bare +branches, through which could plainly be discerned the tiled roof of the +one, and the thatched tops of the others, overgrown with patches of moss +of mingled green and dingy brown. + +A heavy cart, drawn by three strong, sturdy horses, with long, thick +manes and shining coats, with blue collars ornamented with bells and +tassels of red worsted, was bringing in a load of wheat from a +neighbouring rick. This ponderous machine entered the courtyard by the +large gate, while immense flocks of sheep were pressing eagerly round +the side entrances; both men and beasts appeared impatient to escape +from the severity of the cold, and to enjoy the comfort of repose. The +horses neighed joyously at the sight of their stable, the sheep bleated +their satisfaction at returning to their warm folds, while the hungry +labourers cast a longing look towards the kitchen windows, from which +streamed forth pleasant promise of a warm and savoury meal. + +The whole of the exterior arrangements of the farm were indicative of +the most scrupulous order, neatness, and exactitude. Instead of being +covered with dirt and dust, scattered about, and exposed to the +inclemency of the season, the carts, rollers, harrows, etc., with every +agricultural implement (and some were of the last and best invention), +were placed, well cleaned and painted, under a vast shed, where the +carters were accustomed to arrange their cart-harness with the most +symmetrical attention to order and method. Large, clean, and well laid +out, the court-yard had none of those huge dung-heaps, those stagnant +pools of filthy water, which deface the finest establishments of La +Beauce or La Brie. + +The poultry-yard, surrounded by a green trellising, received and shut in +all the feathered tribe, who after wandering in the fields all day, +returned home by a small door left open till all were collected, when it +was carefully closed and secured. Without dwelling too minutely upon +every detail, we shall merely observe, that in all respects this farm +passed most justly in the environs for a model farm, as much for the +excellency of the method by which it was conducted, and the abundant +crops it produced, as for the respectability and correct mode of life +which distinguished the various labourers employed there, who were soon +ranked among the most creditable and efficient workmen of the place. + +The cause of all this prosperity shall be spoken of hereafter. Meanwhile +we will conduct the reader to the trellised gate of the poultry-yard, +which, for the rustic elegance of its perches and poultry-houses, was +noways inferior to the farm itself; while through the centre flowed a +small stream of clear, limpid water, the bed of which was laid down +with smooth pebbles, carefully cleansed from any obstructing substance. + +A sudden stir arose among the winged inhabitants of this charming spot; +the fowls flew fluttering and cackling from their perches, the turkeys +gabbled, the guinea-fowls screamed, and the pigeons, forsaking their +elevated position on the summit of the dove-house, descended to the +sandy surface of the yard, and stood cooing and caressing each other +with every manifestation of joy. The arrival of Fleur-de-Marie had +occasioned all these ecstatic delights. + +A more charming model than the Goualeuse could not have been desired by +Greuze or Watteau, had her cheeks possessed a little more _rondeur_ or +been visited by a brighter tinge; but, spite of their delicate paleness, +the expression of her features, the _tout ensemble_ of her figure, and +the gracefulness of her attitude would have rendered her worthy of +exercising the crayons of even the celebrated artists we have alluded +to. + +The small round cap of Fleur-de-Marie displayed her fair forehead and +light, braided hair, in common with all the young girls in the environs +of Paris; above this cap, but still exposing the crown and ears, she +wore a large red cotton handkerchief, folded smoothly, and pinned behind +her head; while the long ends waving gracefully over her shoulders +formed a costume which, for graceful effect, might be envied by the +tasteful _coiffeurs_ of Italy or Switzerland. A handkerchief of +snow-white linen, crossed over her bosom, was half concealed by the high +and spreading front of her coarse cloth apron. A jacket of blue woollen +cloth with tight sleeves displayed her slender figure, and descended +half way down her thick skirt of dark-striped fustian; white cotton +stockings and tied shoes, partly covered by sabots, furnished with a +leather strap for the instep, completed this costume of rustic +simplicity, to which the natural grace of Fleur-de-Marie lent an +inexpressible charm. + +Holding in one hand the two corners of her apron, with the other she +distributed handfuls of grain among the winged crowd by which she was +surrounded. One beautiful pigeon of a silvery whiteness, with beak and +feet of a rich purple colour, more presuming or more indulged than the +rest, after having flown several times around Fleur-de-Marie, at length +alighted on her shoulder; the young girl, as though well used to these +familiarities, continued, wholly undisturbed, to throw out continued +supplies of grain; but, half turning her head till its perfect outline +alone was visible, she gently raised her head, and smilingly offered her +small rosy lips to meet those of her fond, caressing friend. The last +rays of the setting sun shed a pale golden light over this innocent +picture. + +While the Goualeuse was thus occupied with her rural cares, Madame +Georges and the Abbe Laporte, cure of Bouqueval, sitting by the fireside +in the neat little parlour of the farm, were conversing on the one +constant theme,--Fleur-de-Marie. The old cure, with a pensive, +thoughtful air, his head bent downwards, and his elbows leaning on his +knees, mechanically stretched his two trembling hands before the fire. +Madame Georges, laying aside the needlework on which she had been +occupied, kept an anxious eye on the abbe, as though eagerly waiting for +some observation from him. After a moment's silence: + +"Yes," said he, "you are right, Madame Georges; it will be better for M. +Rodolph to question Marie, for she is so filled with deep gratitude and +devotion to him, that she will probably reveal to him what she persists +in concealing from us." + +"Then, since you agree with me, M. le Cure, I will write, this very +evening, to the address he left with me,--the Allee des Veuves." + +"Poor child," sighed the kind old man, "she ought to have been so happy +here! What secret grief can thus be preying on her mind?" + +[Illustration: "_At Length Alighted on Her Shoulder_" +Original Etching by L. Poiteau] + +"Her unhappiness is too deeply fixed to be removed even by her earnest +and passionate application to study." + +"And yet she has made a most rapid and extraordinary progress since she +has been under our care, has she not?" + +"She has, indeed; already she can read and write with the utmost +fluency, and is already sufficiently advanced in arithmetic to assist me +in keeping my farm accounts; and then the dear child is so active and +industrious, and really affords me so much assistance as both surprises +me and moves me to tears. You know that, spite of my repeated +remonstrances, she persisted in working so hard, that I became quite +alarmed lest such toil should seriously affect her health." + +"I am thankful to hear from you," resumed the worthy cure, "that your +negro doctor has fully quieted your apprehensions respecting the cough +your young friend suffered from; he says it is merely temporary, and +gives no reason for uneasiness." + +"Oh, that kind, excellent M. David! He really appeared to feel the same +interest in the poor girl that we did who know her sad story. She is +universally beloved and respected by all on the farm; though that is not +surprising, as, thanks to the generous and elevated views of M. Rodolph, +all the persons employed on it are selected for their good sense and +excellent conduct, from all parts of the kingdom; but were it not +so,--were they of the common herd of vulgar-minded labourers, they could +not help feeling the influence of Marie's angelic sweetness, and timid, +graceful manner, as though she were always deprecating anger, or +beseeching pardon for some involuntary fault. Unfortunate being! as +though she alone were to blame." + +After remaining for several minutes buried in reflection, the abbe +resumed: + +"Did you not tell me that this deep dejection of Marie's might be dated +from the time when Madame Dubreuil, who rents under the Duke de +Lucenay, paid her a visit during the feast of the Holy Ghost?" + +"Yes, M. le Cure, I did. And yet Madame Dubreuil and her daughter Clara +(a perfect model of candour and goodness) were as much taken with our +dear child as every one else who approaches her; and both of them +lavished on her every mark of the most affectionate regard. You know +that we pass the Sunday alternately at each other's house; but it +invariably happens that, when we return from our Sunday excursion to +Arnouville, where Madame Dubreuil and her daughter reside, the +melancholy of my dear Marie seems augmented, and her spirits more +depressed than ever. I cannot comprehend why this should be, when Madame +Dubreuil treats her like a second daughter, and the sweet Clara loves +her with the tender affection of a sister." + +"In truth, Madame Georges, it is a fearful mystery; what can occasion +all this hidden sorrow, when here she need not have a single care? The +difference between her present and past life must be as great as that +which exists between heaven and the abode of the damned. Surely, hers is +not an ungrateful disposition?" + +"She ungrateful! Oh, no, M. le Cure! her sensitive and affectionate +nature magnifies the slightest service rendered her, and she appears as +though her gratitude could never be sufficiently evinced. There is, too, +in her every thought an instinctive delicacy and fineness of feeling +wholly incompatible with ingratitude, which could never be harboured in +so noble a nature as that of my charge. Dear Marie, how anxious does she +seem to earn the bread she eats, and how eagerly she strives to +compensate the hospitality shown her, by every exertion she can make, or +service she can render! And, then, except on Sunday, when I make it a +point she should dress herself with more regard to appearance to +accompany me to church, she will only wear the coarse, humble garments +worn by our young peasant girls; and yet there is in her such an air of +native superiority, so natural a grace, that one would not desire to see +her otherwise attired, would they, M. le Cure?" + +"Ah, mother's pride! Beware!" said the old priest, smiling. + +At these words, tears filled the eyes of Madame Georges; she thought of +her long-lost child, and of his possible destiny. + +"Come, come, dear friend, cheer up! Look upon our dear Marie as sent by +a gracious Providence to occupy your maternal affections until the +blessed moment when he shall restore you your son; and, besides, you +have a sacred duty to perform towards this child of your adoption. Are +you not her baptismal godmother? And, believe me, when that office is +worthily discharged, it almost equals that of a mother. As for M. +Rodolph, he has discharged his obligation of godfather by anticipation, +for, in snatching her from the abyss of crime into which her misfortunes +and her helplessness had cast her, he may be said to have caused her +immortal existence to begin." + +"Doubtless the poor thing has never received the sacrament of our holy +church. Do you think, M. le Cure, she is now sufficiently acquainted +with its sanctified purposes to be admitted to a participation of it?" + +"I will take an opportunity of learning her sentiments on the subject as +we walk back to the rectory. I shall then apprise her that the holy +ceremony will take place probably in about a fortnight from hence." + +"How gratefully she will receive such an information; her religious +feelings are the strongest I have ever met with." + +"Alas, poor thing! she has deep and heavy expiation to make for the +errors of her past life." + +"Nay, M. l'Abbe, consider. Abandoned so young, without resource, without +friends, almost without a knowledge of good or evil, plunged +involuntarily into the very vortex of crime, what was there to prevent +her from falling the bitter sacrifice she has been?" + +"The clear, moral sense of right and wrong implanted by the Creator in +every breast should have withheld her; and, besides, we have no evidence +of her having even sought to escape from the horrible fate into which +she had fallen. Is there no friendly hand to be found in Paris to listen +to the cries of suffering virtue? Is charity so rare, so hard to obtain +in that large city?" + +"Let us hope not, M. l'Abbe; but how to discover it is the difficulty. +Ere arriving at the knowledge of one kind, commiserating Christian, +think of the refusals, the rebukes, the denials to be endured. And, +then, in such a case as our poor Marie's, it was no passing temporary +aid that could avail her, but the steady, continued patronage and +support, the being placed in the way to earn an honest livelihood. Many +tender and pitying mothers would have succoured her had they known her +sad case, I doubt not, but it was first requisite to secure the +happiness of knowing where to meet with them. Trust me, I, too, have +known want and misery. But for one of those providential chances which, +alas! too late, threw poor Marie in the way of M. Rodolph,--but for one +of those casualties, the wretched and destitute, most commonly repulsed +with rude denial on their first applications, believe pity irretrievably +lost, and, pressed by hunger, fierce, clamorous hunger, often seek in +vice that relief they despair to obtain from commiseration." + +At this moment the Goualeuse entered the parlour. + +"Where have you been, my dear child?" inquired Madame Georges, +anxiously. + +"Visiting the fruit-house, madame, after having shut up the hen-houses +and gates of the poultry-yard. All the fruit has kept excellently,--all +but those I ran away with and ate." + +"Now, Marie, why take all this fatigue upon yourself? You should have +left all this tiring work to Claudine; I fear you have quite tired +yourself." + +"No, no! dear Madame Georges; I wouldn't let Claudine help me for the +world. I take so much delight in my fruit-house,--the smell of the +beautiful ripe fruit is so delicious." + +"M. le Cure," said Madame Georges, "you must go some day and see Marie's +fruit-house. You can scarcely imagine the taste with which she has +arranged it; each different variety of fruit is separated by rows of +grapes, and the grapes are again divided off by strips of moss." + +"Oh, yes, M. le Cure; pray do come and see it," said the Goualeuse, +innocently; "I am sure you would be pleased with it. You would be +surprised what a pretty contrast the moss makes to the bright rosy +apples or the rich golden pears. There are some such lovely waxen +apples, quite a pure red and white; and really, as they lie surrounded +by the soft green moss, I cannot help thinking of the heads of little +cherubim just peeping out from the glorious clouds of heaven," added the +delighted Goualeuse, speaking with all the enthusiasm of an artist of +the work of her creation. + +The cure looked at Madame Georges, then smilingly replied to +Fleur-de-Marie: + +"I have already admired the dairy over which you preside, my child, and +can venture to declare it perfect in its way; the most particular +dairy-woman might envy you the perfection to which you have brought it. +Ere long, I promise myself the pleasure of visiting your fruit-house, +and passing a similar compliment on your skill in arrangement. You shall +then introduce me to those charming rosy apples and delicious golden +pears, as well as to the little cherubim pippins so prettily peeping +from their mossy beds. But see! the sun has already set; you will +scarcely have sufficient time to conduct me back to the rectory-house +and return before dark. Come, my child, fetch your cloak, and let us be +gone; or, now I think of it, do you remain at home this cold bitter +night, and let one of the farm servants go home with me." + +"Oh, M. le Cure," replied the kind Madame Georges, "Marie will be quite +wretched if she is not allowed to accompany you; she so much enjoys the +happiness of escorting you home every evening." + +"Indeed, Monsieur le Cure," added the Goualeuse, timidly raising her +large blue eyes to the priest's countenance, "I shall fear you are +displeased with me if you do not permit me to accompany you as usual." + +"Well, then, my dear child, wrap yourself up very warm, and let us go." + +Fleur-de-Marie hastily threw over her shoulders a sort of cloak of +coarse white cloth, edged with black velvet, and with a large hood, to +be drawn at pleasure over the head. Thus equipped, she eagerly offered +her arm to her venerable friend. + +"Happily," said he, in taking it, "the distance is but trifling, and the +road both good and safe to pass at all hours." + +"As it is somewhat later to-night than usual," said Madame Georges, +"will you have one of the farm-people to return with you, Marie?" + +"Do you take me for a coward?" said Marie, playfully. "I am very much +obliged to you for your good opinion, madame. No, pray do not let any +one be called away on my account. It is not a quarter of an hour's walk +from here to the rectory. I shall be back long before dark." + +"Well, as you like. I merely thought it would be company for you; for as +to fearing, thank heaven, there is no cause. Loose vagabond people, +likely to interrupt your progress, are wholly unknown here." + +"And, were I not equally sure of the absence of all danger, I would not +accept this dear child's arm," added the cure, "useful as, I confess, I +find it." + +And, leaning on Fleur-de-Marie, who regulated her light step to suit the +slow and laboured pace of the old man, the two friends quitted the farm. + +A few minutes' walk brought the Goualeuse and the priest close to the +hollow road in which the Schoolmaster, the Chouette, and Tortillard, +were lying in ambush. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE AMBUSCADE. + + +The church and parsonage of Bouqueval were placed on the side of a hill +covered with chestnut-trees, and commanded an entire view of the +village. Fleur-de-Marie and the abbe reached a winding path which led to +the clergyman's home, crossing the sunken road by which the hill was +intersected diagonally. The Chouette, the Schoolmaster, and Tortillard, +concealed in one of the hollows of the road, saw the priest and +Fleur-de-Marie descend into the ravine, and leave it again by a steep +declivity. The features of the young girl being hidden under the hood of +her cloak, the Chouette did not recognise her old victim. + +"Silence, my old boy," said the old harridan to the Schoolmaster; "the +young 'mot' and the 'black slug' are just crossing the path. I know her +by the description which the tall man in black gave us; a country +appearance, neither tall nor short; a petticoat shot with brown, and a +woollen mantle with a black border. She walks every day with a +'devil-dodger' to his 'crib,' and returns alone. When she come back, +which she will do presently by the end of the road, we must spring upon +her and carry her off to the coach." + +"If she cries for help," replied the Schoolmaster, "they will hear her +at the farm, if, as you say, the out-buildings are visible from here; +for you--you can see," he added, in a sullen tone. + +"Oh, yes, we can see the buildings from here quite plainly," said +Tortillard. "It is only a minute ago that I climbed to the top of the +bank, and, lying down on my belly, I could hear a carter who was talking +to his horses in the yard there." + +"I'll tell you, then, what we must do," said the Schoolmaster, after a +moment's silence. "Let Tortillard have the watch at the entrance to the +path. When he sees the young girl returning, let him go and meet her, +saying that he is the son of a poor old woman who has hurt herself by +falling down the hollow road, and beg the girl to come to her +assistance." + +"I'm up to you, _fourline_; the poor old woman is your darling Chouette. +You're 'wide-awake!' My man, you are always the king of the 'downy ones' +(_tetards_). What must I do afterwards?" + +"Conceal yourself in the hollow way on the side where Barbillon is +waiting with the coach. I will be at hand. When Tortillard has brought +the wench to you in the middle of the ravine, leave off whimpering and +spring upon her, put one 'mauley' round her 'squeeze,' and the other +into her 'patter-box,' and 'grab' her 'red rag' to prevent her from +squeaking." + +"I know, I know, _fourline_; as we did with the woman at the canal of +St. Martin, when we gave her cold water for supper (drowned her), after +having 'prigged' her 'negress' (the parcel wrapped in black oil-skin) +which she had under her arm,--the same 'dodge,' isn't it?" + +"Yes, precisely. But mind, grab the girl tight whilst Tortillard comes +and fetches me. We three will then bundle her up in my cloak, carry her +to Barbillon's coach, from thence to the plain of St. Denis, where the +man in black will await us." + +"That's the way to do business, my _fourline_; you are without an equal! +If I could, I would let off a firework on your head, and illuminate you +with the colours of Saint Charlot, the patron of 'scragsmen.' Do you +see, you urchin? If you would be an 'out-and-outer,' make my husband +your model," said the Chouette, boastingly to Tortillard. Then, +addressing the Schoolmaster, "By the way, do you know that Barbillon is +in an awful 'funk' (fright)? He thinks that he shall be had up before +the 'beaks' on a swinging matter." + +"Why?" + +"The other day, returning from Mother Martial's, the widow of the man +who was scragged, and who keeps the boozing-ken in the Ile du Ravageur, +Barbillon, the Gros-Boiteux, and the Skeleton had a row with the husband +of the milkwoman who comes every morning from the country in a little +cart drawn by a donkey, to sell her milk in the Cite, at the corner of +the Rue de la Vieille-Draperie, close to the ogress's of the 'White +Rabbit,' and they 'walked into him with their slashers' (killed him with +their knives)." + +The son of Bras Rouge, who did not understand slang, listened to the +Chouette with a sort of disappointed curiosity. + +"You would like to know, little man, what we are saying, wouldn't you?" + +"Yes. You were talking of Mother Martial, who is at the Ile du Ravageur, +near Asnieres. I know her very well, and her daughter Calebasse and +Francois and Amandine, who are about as old as I am, and who are made to +bear everybody's snubs and thumps in the house. But when you talked of +'walking into (_buter_) any one,' that's slang, I know." + +"It is; and, if you're a very good chap, I'll teach you to 'patter +flash.' You're just the age when it may be very useful to you. Would you +like to learn, my precious lambkin?" + +"I rather think I should, too, and no mistake; and I would rather live +with you than with my old cheat of a mountebank, pounding his drugs. If +I knew where he hides his 'rat-poison for men,' I'd put some in his +soup, and then that would settle the quarrel between us." + +The Chouette laughed heartily, and said to Tortillard, drawing him +towards her: + +"Come, chick, and kiss his mammy. What a droll boy it is--a darling! +But, my manikin, how didst know that he had 'rat-poison for men'?" + +"Why, 'cause I heard him say so one day when I was hid in the cupboard +in the room where he keeps his bottles, his brass machines, and where he +mixes his stuffs together." + +"What did you hear him say?" asked the Chouette. + +"I heard him say to a gentleman that he gave a powder to, in a paper, +'When you are tired of life, take this in three doses, and you will +sleep without sickness or sorrow.'" + +"Who was the gentleman?" asked the Schoolmaster. + +"Oh, a very handsome gentleman with black moustachios, and a face as +pretty as a girl's. He came another time; and then, when he left, I +followed him, by M. Bradamanti's order, to find out where he perched. +The fine gentleman went into the Rue de Chaillot, and entered a very +grand house. My master said to me, 'No matter where this gentleman goes, +follow and wait for him at the door. If he comes out again, still keep +your eye on him, until he does not come out of the place where he +enters, and that will prove that he lives there. Then Tortillard, my +boy, twist (_tortille_) yourself about to find out his name, or I will +twist your ears in a way that will astonish you.'" + +"Well?" + +"Well, I did twist myself about, and found out his name." + +"How did you manage it?" inquired the Schoolmaster. + +"Why, so. I'm not a fool; so I went to the porter at the house in the +Rue de Chaillot, where this gentleman had gone in and not come out +again. The porter had his hair finely powdered, with a fine brown coat +with a yellow collar trimmed with silver. So I says to him, 'Good +gentleman, I have come to ask for a hundred sous which the gentleman of +the house has promised me for having found his dog and brought it back +to him--a little black dog called Trumpet; and the gentleman with dark +features, with black moustachios, a white riding-coat, and light blue +pantaloons, told me he lived at No. 11 Rue de Chaillot, and that his +name was Dupont.' 'The gentleman you're talking of is my master, and his +name is the Viscount de St. Remy, and we have no dog here but yourself, +you young scamp; so "cut your stick," or I'll make you remember coming +here, and trying to do me out of a hundred sous,' says the porter to me; +and he gave me a kick as he said it. But I didn't mind that," added +Tortillard most philosophically, "for I found out the name of the +handsome young gentleman with black moustachios, who came to my master's +to buy the 'rat-poison for men' who are tired of living. He is called +the Viscount de St. Remy,--my--my--St. Remy," added the son of Bras +Rouge, humming the last words, as was his usual habit. + +"Clever little darling--I could eat him up alive!" said the Chouette, +embracing Tortillard. "Never was such a knowing fellow. He deserves that +I should be his mother, the dear rascal does." + +And the hag embraced Tortillard with an absurd affectation. The son of +Bras Rouge, touched by this proof of affection, and desirous of showing +his gratitude, eagerly answered: + +"Only you tell me what to do, and you shall see how I'll do it." + +"Will you, though? Well, then, you sha'n't repent doing so." + +"Oh, I should like always to stay with you!" + +"If you behave well, we may see about that. You sha'n't leave us if you +are a good boy." + +"Yes," said the Schoolmaster, "you shall lead me about like a poor blind +man, and say you are my son. We will get into houses in this way, and +then--ten thousand slaughters!" added the assassin with enthusiasm; "the +Chouette will assist us in making lucky hits. I will then teach that +devil of a Rodolph, who blinded me, that I am not yet quite done for. He +took away my eyesight, but he could not, did not remove my bent for +mischief. I would be the head, Tortillard the eyes, and you the +hand,--eh, Chouette? You will help me in this, won't you?" + +"Am I not with you to gallows and rope, _fourline_? Didn't I, when I +left the hospital, and learnt that you had sent the 'yokel' from St. +Mande to ask for me at the ogress's--didn't I run to you at the village +directly, telling those chawbacons of labourers that I was your _rib_?" + +These words of the "one-eyed's" reminded the Schoolmaster of an +unpleasant affair, and, altering his tone and language with the +Chouette, he said, in a surly tone: + +"Yes, I was getting tired of being all by myself with these honest +people. After a month I could not stand it any longer; I was frightened. +So then I thought of trying to find you out; and a nice thing I did for +myself," he added, in a tone of increasing anger; "for the day after you +arrived I was robbed of the rest of the money which that devil in the +Allee des Veuves had given me. Yes, some one stole my belt full of gold +whilst I was asleep. It was only you who could have done it; and so now +I am at your mercy. Whenever I think of it, I can hardly restrain myself +from killing you on the spot--you cursed old robber, you!" and he +stepped towards the old woman. + +"Look out for yourself, if you try to do any harm to the Chouette!" +cried Tortillard. + +"I will smash you both--you and she--base vipers as you are!" cried the +ruffian, enraged; and, hearing the boy mumbling near him, he aimed at +him so violent a blow with his fist, as must have killed him if it had +struck him. Tortillard, as much to revenge himself as the Chouette, +picked up a stone, took aim, and struck the Schoolmaster on the +forehead. The blow was not dangerous, but very painful. The brigand grew +furious with passion, raging like a wounded bull, and, rushing forward +swiftly and at random, stumbled. + +"What, break your own back?" shouted the Chouette, laughing till she +cried. + +Despite the bloody ties which bound her to this monster, she saw how +entirely, and with a sort of savage delight, this man, formerly so +dreaded, and so proud of his giant strength, was reduced to impotence. +The old wretch, by these feelings, justified that cold-blooded idea of +La Rochefoucauld's, that "there is something in the misfortunes of our +best friends which does not displease us." The disgusting brat, with his +tawny cheeks and weasel face, enjoyed and participated in the mirth of +the one-eyed hag. The Schoolmaster tripped again, and the urchin +exclaimed: + +"Open your peepers, old fellow; look about you. You are going the wrong +way. What capers you are cutting! Can't you see your way? Why don't you +wipe your eye-glasses?" + +Unable to seize on the boy, the athletic murderer stopped, struck his +foot violently on the ground, put his enormous and hairy fists to his +eyes, and then uttered a sound which resembled the hoarse scream of a +muzzled tiger. + +"Got a bad cough, I'm afraid, old chap!" said Bras Rouge's brat. "You're +hoarse, I'm afraid? I have some capital liquorice which a _gen-d'arme_ +gave me. P'raps you'd like to try it?" and, taking up a handful of sand, +he threw it in the face of the ruffian. + +Struck full in his countenance by this shower of gravel, the +Schoolmaster suffered still more severely by this last attack than by +the blow from the stone. Become pale, in spite of his livid and +cicatrised features, he extended his two arms suddenly in the form of a +cross, in a moment of inexpressible agony and despair, and, raising his +frightful face to heaven, he cried, in a voice of deep suffering: + +"_Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!_" + +This involuntary appeal to divine mercy by a man stained by every crime, +a bandit in whose presence but very recently the most resolute of his +fellows trembled, appeared like an interposition of Providence. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" said the Chouette, in a mocking tone; "look at the thief +making the crucifix! You mistake your road, my man. It is the 'old one' +you should call to your help." + +"A knife! Oh, for a knife to kill myself! A knife! since all the world +abandons me!" shrieked the wretch, gnawing his fists for very agony and +rage. + +"A knife!--there's one in your pocket, cut-throat, and with an edge, +too. The little old man in the Rue du Roule, you know, one moonlight +night, and the cattle-dealer in the Poissy road, could tell the 'moles' +all about it. But if you want it, it's here." + +The Schoolmaster, when thus instructed, changed the conversation, and +replied, in a surly and threatening tone: + +"The Chourineur was true; he did not rob, but had pity on me." + +"Why did you say that I had 'prigged your blunt'?" inquired the +Chouette, hardly able to restrain her laughter. + +"It was only you who came into my room," said the miscreant. "I was +robbed on the night of your arrival, and who else could I suspect? Those +country people could not have done such a thing." + +"Why should not country people steal as well as other folks? Is it +because they drink milk and gather grass for their rabbits?" + +"I don't know. I only know I'm robbed." + +"And is that the fault of your own Chouette? What! suspect me? Do you +think if I had got your belt that I should stay any longer with you. +What a fool you are! Why, if I had chosen to 'pouch your blunt,' I +could, of course; but, as true as I'm Chouette, you would have seen me +again when the 'pewter' was spent, for I like you as well now with your +eyes white, as I did--you rogue, you! Come, be decent, and leave off +grinding your 'snags' in that way, or you'll break 'em." + +"It's just as if he was a-cracking nuts," said Tortillard. + +"Ha! ha! ha! what a droll baby it is! But quiet, now, quiet, my man of +men; let him laugh, it is but an infant. You must own you have been +unfair; for when the tall man in mourning, who looks like a mute at a +funeral, said to me, 'A thousand francs are yours if you carry off this +young girl from the farm at Bouqueval, and bring her to the spot in the +Plain of St. Denis that I shall tell you,' say, cut-throat, didn't I +directly tell you of the affair and agree to share with you, instead of +choosing some 'pal' with his eyesight clear? Why, it's like making you a +handsome present for doing nothing; for unless to bundle up the girl and +carry her, with Tortillard's assistance, you would be of no more use to +me than the fifth wheel to an omnibus. But never mind; for, although I +could have robbed you if I would, I like, on the contrary, to do you +service. I should wish you to owe everything to your darling +Chouette--that's my way, that is. We must give two hundred 'bob' to +Barbillon for driving the coach, and coming once before with the servant +of the tall man in mourning, to look about the place and determine where +we should hide ourselves whilst we waited for the young miss; and then +we shall have eight hundred 'bob' between us. What do you say to that +old boy? What! still angry with your old woman?" + +"How do I know that you will give me a 'mag' when once the thing's done? +Why!--I"--said the ruffian, in a tone of gloomy distrust. + +"Why, if I like, I need not give you a dump, that's true enough; for you +are on my gridiron, my lad, as I once had the Goualeuse; and so I will +broil you to my own taste, till the 'old one' gets the cooking of my +darling--ha! ha! ha! What, still sulky with your Chouette?" added the +horrible woman, patting the shoulder of the ruffian, who stood mute and +motionless. + +"You are right," said he, with a sigh of concentrated rage; "it is my +fate--mine--mine! At the mercy of a woman and child whom but lately I +could have killed with a blow. Oh, if I were not afraid of dying!" said +he, falling back against the bank. + +"What! a coward!--you--you a coward!" said the Chouette, contemptuously. +"Why, you'll be talking next of your conscience! What a precious farce! +Well, if you haven't more pluck than that, I'll 'cut' and leave you." + +"And that I cannot have my revenge of the man who in thus making a +martyr of me has reduced me to the wretched situation in which I am!" +screamed the Schoolmaster, in a renewal of fury. "I am afraid of +death--yes, I own it, I am afraid. But if I were told, 'This man Rodolph +is between your arms--your two arms--and now you shall both be flung +into a pit,' I would say, 'Throw us, then, at once.' Yes, for then I +should be safe not to relax my clutch, till we both reached the bottom +together. I would fix my teeth in his face--his throat--his heart. I +would tear him to pieces with my teeth--yes, my teeth; for I should be +jealous of a knife!" + +"Bravo, _fourline_! now you are my own dear love again. Calm yourself. +We will find him again, that wretch of a Rodolph, and the Chourineur +too. Come, pluck up, old man; we will yet work our will on them both. I +say it, on both!" + +"Well, then, you will not forsake me?" cried the brigand to the Chouette +in a subdued tone, mingled, however, with distrust. "If you do leave me, +what will become of me?" + +"That's true. I say, _fourline_, what a joke if Tortillard and I were to +'mizzle' with the 'drag,' and leave you where you are--in the middle of +the fields; and the night air begins to nip very sharp. I say, it would +be a joke, old cutpurse, wouldn't it?" + +At this threat the Schoolmaster shuddered, and, coming towards the +Chouette, said tremulously, "No, no, you wouldn't do that, Chouette; nor +you, Tortillard. It would be too bad, wouldn't it?" + +"Ha! ha! ha! 'Too bad,' says he, the gentle dear! And the little old man +in the Rue du Roule; and the cattle-dealer and the woman in Saint +Martin's Canal; and the gentleman in the Allee des Veuves; they found +you nice and amiable, I don't think--didn't they--with your +'larding-pin?' Why, then, in your turn, shouldn't you be left to such +tender mercy as you have showed?" + +"I'm in your power, don't abuse it," said the Schoolmaster. "Come, come, +I confess I was wrong to suspect you. I was wrong to try and thump +Tortillard; and, you see, I beg pardon; and of you too, Tortillard. Yes, +I ask pardon of both." + +"I will have you ask pardon on your knees for having tried to beat the +Chouette," said Tortillard. + +"You rum little beggar, how funny you are!" said the Chouette, laughing +loudly; "but I should like to see what a 'guy' you will make of +yourself. So on your knees, as if you were 'pattering' love to your old +darling. Come, do it directly, or we will leave you; and I tell you that +in half an hour it will be quite dark, though you don't look as if you +thought so, old 'No-Eyes.'" + +"Night or day, what's that to him?" said Tortillard, saucily. "The +gentleman always has his shutters closed." + +"Then here, on my knees, I humbly ask your pardon, Chouette; and yours +also, Tortillard! Will not that content you?" said the robber, kneeling +in the middle of the highway. "And now will you leave me?" + +This strange group, enclosed by the embankment of the ravine, and +lighted by the red glimmer of the twilight, was hideous to behold. In +the middle of the road the Schoolmaster, on his knees, extended his +large and coarse hands towards the one-eyed hag; his thick and matted +hair, which his fright had dishevelled, left exposed his motionless, +rigid, glassy, dead eyeballs--the very glance of a corpse. Stooping +deprecatingly his broad-spread shoulders, this Hercules kneels abjectly, +and trembles at the feet of an old woman and a child! + +The old hag herself, wrapped in a red-checked shawl, her head covered +with an old cap of black lace, which allowed some locks of her grizzled +hair to escape, looked down with an air of haughty contempt and +domineering pride on the Schoolmaster. The bony, scorched, shrivelled, +and livid countenance of the parrot-nosed old harridan expressed a +savage and insulting joy; her small but fierce eye glistened like a +burning coal; a sinister expression curled her lips, shaded with long +straight hairs, and revealed three or four large, yellow, and decayed +fangs. + +Tortillard, clothed in a blouse with a leathern belt, standing on one +leg, leaned on the Chouette's arm to keep himself upright. The bad +expression and cunning look of this deformed imp, with a complexion as +sallow as his hair, betokened at this moment his disposition--half +fiend, half monkey. The shadow cast from the declivity of the ravine +increased the horrid _tout ensemble_ of the scene, which the increasing +darkness half hid. + +"Promise me,--oh, promise me--at least, not to forsake me!" repeated +the Schoolmaster, frightened by the silence of the Chouette and +Tortillard, who were enjoying his dismay. "Are you not here?" added the +murderer, leaning forward to listen, and advancing his arms +mechanically. + +"Yes, my man, we are here; don't be frightened. Forsake you! leave my +love! the man of my heart! No, I'd sooner be 'scragged'! Once for all, I +will tell you why I will not forsake you. Listen, and profit. I have +always liked to have some one in my grip--beast or Christian. Before I +had Pegriotte (oh! that the 'old one' would return her to my clutch! for +I have still my idea of scaling off her beauty with my bottle of +vitriol)--before Pegriotte's turn, I had a brat who froze to death under +my care. For that little job, I got six years in the 'Stone Jug.' Then I +used to have little birds, which I used to tame, and then pluck 'em +alive. Ha! ha! but that was troublesome work, for they did not last +long. When I left the 'Jug,' the Goualeuse came to hand; but the little +brat ran away before I had had half my fun out of her carcass. Well, +then I had a dog, who had his little troubles as well as she had; and I +cut off one of his hind feet and one of his four feet; and you never saw +such a rum beggar as I made of him; I almost burst my sides with +laughing at him!" + +"I must serve a dog I know of, who bit me one day, in the same way," +said the promising Master Tortillard. + +"When I fell in again with you, my darling," continued the Chouette, "I +was trying what I could do that was miserable with a cat. Well, now, at +this moment, you, old boy, shall be my cat, my dog, my bird, my +Pegriotte; you shall be anything to worry (_bete de souffrance_). Do you +understand, my love? Instead of having a bird or a child to make +miserable, I shall have, as it were, a wolf or a tiger. I think that's +rather a bright idea; isn't it?" + +"Hag! devil!" cried the Schoolmaster, rising in a desperate rage. + +"What, my pet angry with his darling old deary? Well, if it must be so, +it must. Have your own way; you have a right to it. Good night, blind +sheep!" + +"The field-gate is wide open, so walk alone, Mister No-eyes; and, if you +toddle straight, you'll reach the right road somehow," said Tortillard, +laughing heartily. + +"Oh, that I could die! die! die!" said the Schoolmaster, writhing and +twisting his arms about in agony. + +At this moment, Tortillard, stooping to the ground, exclaimed, in a low +voice: + +"I hear footsteps in the path; let us hide; it is not the young miss, +for they come the same way as she did." + +On the instant, a stout peasant girl in the prime of youth, followed by +a large shepherd's dog, carrying on her head an open basket, appeared, +and followed the same path which the priest and the Goualeuse had taken. +We will rejoin the two latter, leaving the three accomplices concealed +in the hollow of the path. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE RECTORY-HOUSE. + + +The last rays of the sun were gradually disappearing behind the vast +pile of the Chateau d'Ecouen and the woods which surrounded it. On all +sides, until the sight lost them in the distance, were vast tracts of +land lying in brown furrows hardened by the frost--an extensive desert, +of which the hamlet of Bouqueval appeared to be the oasis. The sky, +which was serenely glorious, was tinted by the sunset, and glowed with +long lines of empurpled light, the certain token of wind and cold. These +tints, which were at first of a deep red, became violet; then a bluish +black, as the twilight grew more and more dark on the atmosphere. The +crescent of the moon was as delicately and clearly defined as a silver +ring, and began to shine beautifully in the midst of the blue and dimmed +sky, where many stars already had appeared. The silence was profound; +the hour most solemn. The curate stopped for a moment on the summit of +the acclivity to enjoy the calm of this delicious evening. After some +minutes' reflection, he extended his trembling hand towards the depths +of the horizon, half veiled by the shadows of the evening, and said to +Fleur-de-Marie, who was walking pensively beside him: + +"Look, my child, at the vastness and extent to which we have no visible +limit; we hear not the slightest sound. Say, does not this silence give +us an idea of infinity and of eternity? I say this to you, Marie, +because you are peculiarly sensitive of the beauties of creation. I +have often been struck at the admiration, alike poetical and religious, +with which they inspire you,--you, a poor prisoner so long deprived of +them. Are you not, as I am, struck with the solemn tranquillity of the +hour?" + +The Goualeuse made no reply. The cure, regarding her with astonishment, +found she was weeping. + +"What ails you, my child?" + +"My father, I am unhappy!" + +"Unhappy!--you?--still unhappy!" + +"I know it is ingratitude to complain of my lot after all that has been +and is done for me; and yet--" + +"And yet?" + +"Father, I pray of you forgive my sorrows; their expression may offend +my benefactors." + +"Listen, Marie. We have often asked you the cause of these sorrows with +which you are depressed, and which excite in your second mother the most +serious uneasiness. You have avoided all reply, and we have respected +your secret whilst we have been afflicted at not being able to solace +your sorrows." + +"Alas; good father, I dare not tell you what is passing in my mind. I +have been moved, as you have been, at the sight of this calm and +saddening evening. My heart is sorely afflicted, and I have wept." + +"But what ails you, Marie? You know how we love you! Come, tell me all. +You should; for I must tell you that the time is very close at hand when +Madame Georges and M. Rodolph will present you at the baptismal font, +and take upon themselves the engagement before God to protect you all +the days of your life." + +"M. Rodolph--he who has saved me?" cried Fleur-de-Marie, clasping her +hands; "he will deign to give me this new proof of affection! Oh, +indeed, my father, I can no longer conceal from you anything, lest I +should, indeed, deserve to be called and thought an ingrate." + +"An ingrate! How?" + +"That you may understand me, I must begin and tell you of my first day +at the farm." + +"Then let us talk as we walk on." + +"You will be indulgent to me, my father? What I shall say may perhaps be +wrong." + +"The Lord has shown his mercy unto you. Be of good heart." + +"When," said Fleur-de-Marie, after a moment's reflection, "I knew that, +on arriving here, I should not again leave the farm and Madame Georges, +I believed it was all a dream. At first I felt giddy with my happiness, +and thought every moment of M. Rodolph. Very often when I was alone, and +in spite of myself, I raised my eyes to heaven, as if to seek him there +and thank him. Afterwards--and I was wrong, father--I thought more of +him than God, attributing to him what God alone could do. I was +happy--as happy as a creature who had suddenly and entirely escaped from +a great danger. You and Madame Georges were so kind to me, that I +thought I deserved pity rather than blame." + +The cure looked at the Goualeuse with an air of surprise. She continued: + +"Gradually I became used to my sweet course of life. I no longer felt +fear when I awoke, of finding myself at the ogress's. I seemed to sleep +in full security, and all my delight was to assist Madame Georges in her +work, and to apply myself to the lesson you gave me, my father, as well +as to profit by your advice and exhortation. Except some moments of +shame, when I reflected on the past, I thought myself equal to all the +world, because all the world was so kind to me. When, one day--" + +Here sobs cut short poor Fleur-de-Marie's narration. + +"Come, come, my poor child, calm yourself. Courage, courage!" + +The Goualeuse wiped her eyes, and resumed: + +"You recollect, father, during the fetes of the Toussaints, that Madame +Dubreuil, who superintends the Duke de Lucenay's farm at Arnouville, +came, with her daughter, to pass some time with us?" + +"I do; and I was delighted to see you form an acquaintance with Clara +Dubreuil, who is a very excellent girl." + +"She is an angel--an angel, father. When I knew that she was coming to +stay for some days at the farm, my delight was so great that I could +think of nothing else but the moment when she should arrive. At length +she came. I was in my room, which she was to share with me; and, whilst +I was putting it into nice order I was sent for. I went into the saloon, +my heart beating excessively, when Madame Georges, presenting me to the +pretty young lady, whose looks were so kind and good, said, 'Marie, here +is a friend for you.' 'I hope,' added Madame Dubreuil, 'that you and my +daughter will soon be like two sisters;' and hardly had her mother +uttered these words, than Mademoiselle Clara came and embraced me. Then, +father," continued Fleur-de-Marie, weeping, "I do not know what came +over me; but, when I felt the fresh and fair face of Clara pressed +against my cheek of shame, that cheek became scorching with +guilt--remorse. I remembered who and what I was;--I--I--to receive the +caresses of a good and virtuous girl!" + +"Why, my child?" + +"Ah, my father," cried Fleur-de-Marie, interrupting the cure with +painful emotion, "when M. Rodolph took me away from the Cite, I began +vaguely to be conscious of the depth of my degradation. But do you think +that education, advice, the examples I receive from Madame Georges and +yourself, have not, whilst they have enlightened my mind, made me, alas! +to comprehend but too clearly that I have been more culpable than +unfortunate? Before Clara's arrival, when these thoughts grew upon me, +I drove them away by seeking to please Madame Georges and you, father. +If I blushed for the past it was only in my own presence. But the sight +of this young lady of my own age, so charming, so virtuous, has conjured +up the recollection of the distance that exists between us; and, for the +first time, I have felt that there are wrongs which nothing can efface. +From that time the thought has haunted me perpetually, and, in spite of +myself, I recur to it. From that day I have not had one moment's +repose." The Goualeuse again wiped her eyes, that swam in tears. + +After having looked at her for some moments with a gaze of the tenderest +pity, the cure replied: + +"Reflect, my child, that if Madame Georges desired to see you the friend +of Mademoiselle Dubreuil, it was that she felt you were worthy of such a +confidence from your good conduct. Your reproaches, addressed to +yourself, seem almost to impugn your second mother." + +"I feel that, father, and was wrong, no doubt; but I could not subdue my +shame and fear. When Clara was once settled at the farm, I was as sad as +I had before thought I should be happy, when I reflected on the pleasure +of having a companion of my own age. She, on the contrary, was all joy +and lightness. She had a bed in my apartment; and the first evening +before she went to bed she kissed me, saying that she loved me already, +and felt every kind sentiment towards me. She made me to call her Clara, +and she would call me Marie. Then she said her prayers, telling me that +she would join my name with hers in her prayers, if I would also unite +her name with mine. I did not dare to refuse; and, after talking for +some time, she went to sleep. I had not got into my bed, and, +approaching her bedside, I contemplated her angel face with tears in my +eyes; and then, reflecting that she was sleeping in the same chamber +with me--with one who had been at the ogress's, mixed up with robbers +and murderers, I trembled as if I had committed some crime, and a +thousand nameless fears beset me. I thought that God would one day +punish me. I went to sleep and had horrid dreams. I saw again those +frightful objects I had nearly forgotten--the Chourineur, the +Schoolmaster, the Chouette--that horrible, one-eyed woman who had +tortured my earliest infancy. Oh, what a night! _Mon Dieu!_--what a +night! What dreams!" said the Goualeuse, shuddering at their very +recollection. + +"Poor Marie!" said the cure with emotion. "Why did you not earlier tell +me all this? I should have found comfort for you. But go on." + +"I slept so late, that Mademoiselle Clara awoke me by kissing me. To +overcome what she called my coldness, and show her regard, she told me a +secret--that she was going to be married when she was eighteen to the +son of a farmer at Goussainville, whom she loved very dearly, and the +union had long been agreed upon by the two families. Then she added a +few words of her past life, so simple, calm, and happy! She had never +quitted her mother, and never intended to do so, for her husband was to +take part in the management of the farm with M. Dubreuil. 'Now, Marie,' +she said, 'you know me as well as if you were my sister. So tell me all +about your early days.' + +"I thought when I heard the words that I should have died of them; I +blushed and stammered; I did not know what Madame Georges had said of +me, and I was fearful of telling a falsehood; I answered vaguely, that I +had been an orphan, educated by a very rigid person; and that I had not +been happy in my infancy; and that my happiness was dated from the +moment when I had come to live with Madame Georges; then Clara, as much +by interest as curiosity, asked me where I had been educated, in the +city or the country, my father's name, and, above all, if I remembered +anything of my mother. All these questions embarrassed as much as they +pained me, for I was obliged to reply with falsehood, and you have +taught me, father, how wicked it is to lie; but Clara did not think that +I was deceiving her; she attributed the hesitation of my answers to the +pain which my early sorrows renewed; she believed me and pitied me with +a sincerity that cut me to the soul. Oh, father, you never can know what +I suffered in this conversation, and how much it cost me only to reply +in language of falsehood and hypocrisy!" + +"Unfortunate girl! The anger of heaven will weigh heavily on those who, +by casting you into the vile road of perdition, have compelled you to +undergo all your life the sad consequences of a first fault." + +"Oh, yes, they were indeed cruel, father," replied Fleur-de-Marie, +bitterly, "for my shame is ineffaceable. As Clara talked to me of the +happiness that awaited her,--her marriage, her peaceful joys of home, I +could not help comparing my lot with hers; for, in spite of the kindness +showered upon me, my fate must always be miserable. You and Madame +Georges, in teaching me what virtue is, have taught me the depth of that +abasement into which I had fallen; nothing can take from me the brand of +having been the refuse of all that is vilest in the world. Alas! if the +knowledge of good and evil was to be so sad to me, why not have +abandoned me to my unhappy fate?" + +"Oh, Marie, Marie!" + +"Father, I speak ill, do I not? Alas! I dare not confess it; but I am at +times so ungrateful as to repine at the benefits heaped upon me, and to +say to myself, 'If I had not been snatched from infamy, why, +wretchedness, misery, blows, would soon have ended my life; and, at +least, I should have remained in ignorance of that purity which I must +for ever regret.'" + +"Alas! Marie, that is indeed fatal! A nature ever so nobly endowed by +the Creator, though plunged but for one day in the foul mire from which +you have been extricated, will preserve for ever the ineffaceable +stigma." + +"Yes, yes, my father," cried Fleur-de-Marie, full of grief, "I must +despair until I die!" + +"You must despair of ever tearing out this frightful page from the book +of your existence," said the priest, in a sad and serious voice; "but +you must have faith in the infinite mercy of the Almighty. Here, on +earth, my poor child, there are for you tears, remorse, expiation; but, +one day, there,--up there," and he raised his hand to the sky, now +filling with stars, "there is pardon and everlasting happiness." + +"Pity, pity, _mon Dieu_! I am so young, and my life may still endure so +long," said the Goualeuse, in a voice rent by agony, and falling at the +cure's knees almost involuntarily. + +The priest was standing at the top of the hill, not far from where his +"modest mansion rose;" his black cassock, his venerable countenance, +shaded by long white locks, lighted by the last ray of twilight, stood +out from the horizon, which was of a deep transparency,--a perfect +clearness: pale gold in the west, sapphire over his head. The priest +again elevated towards heaven one of his tremulous hands, and gave the +other to Fleur-de-Marie, who bedewed it with her tears. The hood of her +gray cloak fell at this moment from her shoulders, displaying the +perfect outline of her lovely profile,--her charming features full of +suffering, and suffused with tears. + +This simple and sublime scene offered a strange contrast,--a singular +coincidence with the horrid one which, almost at the same moment, was +passing in the ravine between the Schoolmaster and the Chouette. +Concealed in the darkness of the sombre cleft, assailed by base fears, a +fearful murderer, carrying on his person the punishment of his crimes, +was also on his knees, but in the presence of an accessory, a sneering, +revengeful Fury, who tormented him mercilessly, and urged him on to +fresh crimes,--that accomplice, the first cause of Fleur-de-Marie's +misery. + +Of Fleur-de-Marie, whose days and nights were embittered by never-dying +remorse; whose anguish, hardly endurable, was not conceivable; +surrounded from her earliest days by degraded, cruel, infamous outcasts +of society; leaving the walls of a prison for the den of the +ogress,--even a more horrid prison; never leaving the precincts of her +gaol, or the squalid streets of the Cite; this unhappy young creature +had hitherto lived in utter ignorance of the beautiful and the good, as +strange to noble and religious sentiments as to the magnificent +splendour of nature. Then all that was admirable in the creature and in +the Creator was revealed in a moment to her astonished soul. At this +striking spectacle her mind expanded, her intelligence unfolded itself, +her noble instincts were awakened; and because her mind expanded, +because her intelligence was unfolded, because her noble instincts were +awakened, yet the very consciousness of her early degradation brings +with it the feeling of horror for her past life, alike torturing and +enduring,--she feels, as she had described, that, alas! there are stains +which nothing can remove. + +"Ah, unhappiness for me!" said the Goualeuse, in despair; "my whole life +has long to run, it may be; were it as long, as pure as your own, +father, it must henceforth be blighted by the knowledge and +consciousness of the past; unhappiness for me for ever!" + +"On the contrary, Marie, it is happiness for you,--yes, happiness for +you. Your remorse, so full of bitterness, but so purifying, testifies +the religious susceptibility of your mind. How many there are who, less +nobly sensitive than you, would, in your place, have soon forgotten the +fact, and only revelled in the delight of the present. Believe me, every +pang that you now endure will tell in your favour when on high. God has +left you for a moment in an unrighteous path, to reserve for you the +glory of repentance and the everlasting reward reserved for expiation. +Has he not said himself, 'Those who fight the good fight and come to me +with a smile on their lips, they are my chosen; but they who, wounded in +the struggle, come to me fainting and dying, they are the chosen amongst +my chosen!' Courage, then, my child! Support, help, counsel,--nothing +will fail you. I am very aged, but Madame Georges and M. Rodolph have +still many years before them; particularly M. Rodolph, who has taken so +deep an interest in you, who watches your progress with so much +anxiety." + +[Illustration: "'_So I Have Brought Turk with Me_'" +Original Etching by Adrian Marcel] + +The Goualeuse was about to reply, when she was interrupted by the +peasant girl whom we have already mentioned, who, having followed in the +steps of the cure and Marie, now came up to them. She was one of the +peasants of the farm. + +"Beg your pardon, M. le Cure," she said to the priest, "but Madame +Georges told me to bring this basket of fruit to the rectory, and then I +could accompany Mlle. Marie back again, for it is getting late. So I +have brought Turk with me," added the dairy-maid, patting an enormous +dog of the Pyrenees, which would have mastered a bear in a struggle. +"Although we never have any bad people about us here in the country, it +is as well to be careful." + +"You are quite right, Claudine. Here we are now at the rectory. Pray +thank Madame Georges for me." + +Then addressing the Goualeuse in a low tone, the cure said to her, in a +grave voice: + +"I must go to-morrow to the conference of the diocese, but I shall +return at five o'clock. If you like, my child, I will wait for you at +the rectory. I see your state of mind, and that you require a lengthened +conversation with me." + +"I thank you, father," replied Fleur-de-Marie. "To-morrow I will come, +since you are so good as to allow me to do so." + +"Here we are at the garden gate," said the priest. "Leave your basket +there, Claudine; my housekeeper will take it. Return quickly to the farm +with Marie, for it is almost night, and the cold is increasing. +To-morrow, Marie, at five o'clock." + +"To-morrow, father." + +The abbe went into his garden. The Goualeuse and Claudine, followed by +Turk, took the road to the farm. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RENCOUNTER. + + +The night set in clear and cold. Following the advice of the +Schoolmaster, the Chouette had gone to that part of the hollow way which +was the most remote from the path, and nearest to the cross-road where +Barbillon was waiting with the hackney-coach. Tortillard, who was posted +as an advanced guard, watched for the return of Fleur-de-Marie, whom he +was desirous of drawing into the trap by begging her to come to the +assistance of a poor old woman. The son of Bras Rouge had advanced a few +steps out of the ravine to try and discern Marie, when he heard the +Goualeuse some way off speaking to the peasant girl who accompanied her. +The plan had failed; and Tortillard quickly went down into the ravine to +run and inform the Chouette. + +"There is somebody with the young girl," said he, in a low and +breathless tone. + +"May the hangman squeeze her weasand, the little beggar," exclaimed the +Chouette in a rage. + +"Who's with her?" asked the Schoolmaster. + +"Oh, no doubt, the country wench who passed along the road just now, +followed by a large dog. I heard a woman's voice," said Tortillard. +"Hark!--do you hear? There's the noise of their sabots," and, in the +silence of the night, the wooden soles sounded clearly on the ground +hardened by the frost. + +"There are two of 'em. I can manage the young 'un in the gray mantle, +but what can we do with t'other? _Fourline_ can't see, and Tortillard +is too weak to do for the companion--devil choke her! What can be done?" +asked the Chouette. + +"I'm not strong, but, if you like, I'll cling to the legs of the +country-woman with the dog. I'll hold on by hands and teeth, and not let +her go, I can tell you. You can take away the little one in the +meantime, you know, Chouette." + +"If they cry or resist, they will hear them at the farm," replied the +Chouette, "and come to their assistance before we can reach Barbillon's +coach. It is no easy thing to carry off a woman who resists." + +"And they have a large dog with them," said Tortillard. + +"Bah! bah! If it was only that, I could break the brute's skull with a +blow of my shoe-heel," said the Chouette. + +"Here they are," replied Tortillard, who was listening still to the echo +of their footsteps. "They are coming down the hollow now." + +"Why don't you speak, _fourline_?" said the Chouette to the +Schoolmaster. "What is best to be done, long-headed as you are, eh? Are +you grown dumb?" + +"There's nothing to be done to-day," replied the miscreant. + +"And the thousand 'bob' of the man in mourning," said the Chouette; +"they are gone, then? I'd sooner--Your knife--your knife, _fourline_! I +will stick the companion, that she may be no trouble to us; and, as to +the young miss, Tortillard and I can make off with her." + +"But the man in mourning does not desire that we should kill any one." + +"Well, then, we must put the cold meat down as an extra in his bill. He +must pay, for he will be an accomplice with us." + +"Here they come--down the hill," said Tortillard, softly. + +"Your knife, lad!" said the Chouette, in a similar tone. + +"Ah, Chouette," cried Tortillard, in alarm, and extending his hands to +the hag, "that is too bad--to kill. No!--oh, no!" + +"Your knife, I tell you!" repeated the Chouette, in an undertone, +without paying the least attention to Tortillard's supplication, and +putting her shoes off hastily. "I have taken off my shoes," she added, +"that I may steal on them quietly from behind. It is almost dark; but I +can easily make out the little one by her cloak, and I will do for the +other." + +"No," said the felon; "to-day it is useless. There will be plenty of +time to-morrow." + +"What! you're afraid, old patterer, are you?" said the Chouette, with +fierce contempt. + +"Not at all," replied the Schoolmaster. "But you may fail in your blow +and spoil all." + +The dog which accompanied the country-woman, scenting the persons hidden +in the hollow road, stopped short, and barked furiously, refusing to +come to Fleur-de-Marie, who called him frequently. + +"Do you hear their dog? Here they are! Your knife!--or, if not--" cried +the Chouette, with a threatening air. + +"Come and take it from me, then--by force," said the Schoolmaster. + +"It's all over--it's too late," added the Chouette, after listening for +a moment attentively; "they have gone by. You shall pay for that, +gallows-bird," added she, furiously, shaking her fist at her accomplice. +"A thousand francs lost by your stupidity!" + +"A thousand--two thousand--perhaps three thousand gained," replied the +Schoolmaster, in a tone of authority. "Listen, Chouette! Do you go back +to Barbillon, and let him drive you to the place where you were to meet +the man in mourning. Tell him that it was impossible to do anything +to-day, but that to-morrow she shall be carried off. The young girl goes +every evening to walk home with the priest, and it was only a chance +which to-day led her to meet with any one. To-morrow we shall have a +more secure opportunity. So to-morrow do you return and be with +Barbillon at the cross-road in his coach at the same hour." + +"But thou--thou?" + +"Tortillard shall lead me to the farm where the young girl lives. I will +cook up some tale--say we have lost our road, and ask leave to pass the +night at the farm in a corner of the stable. No one could refuse us +that. Tortillard will examine all the doors, windows, and ins and outs +of the house. There is always money to be looked for amongst these +farming people. You say the farm is situated in a lone spot; and, when +once we know all the ways and outlets, we need only return with some +safe friends, and the thing is done as easy--" + +"Always 'downy!' What a head-piece!" said the Chouette, softening. "Go +on, _fourline_." + +"To-morrow morning, instead of leaving the farm, I will complain of a +pain which prevents me from walking. If they will not believe me, I'll +show them the wound which I have always had since I smashed the 'loop of +my darbies,' and which is always painful to me. I'll say it is a burn I +had from a red-hot bar when I was a workman, and they'll believe me. +I'll remain at the farm part of the day, whilst Tortillard looks about +him. When the evening comes on, and the little wench goes out as usual +with the priest, I'll say I'm better, and fit to go away. Tortillard and +I will follow the young wench at a distance, and await your coming to us +here. As she will know us already, she will have no mistrust when she +sees us. We will speak to her, Tortillard and I; and, when once within +reach of my arms, I will answer for the rest. She's caught safe enough, +and the thousand francs are ours. That is not all. In two or three days +we can 'give the office' of the farm to Barbillon and some others, and +share with them if they get any 'swag,' as it will be me who put them on +the 'lay.'" + +"Well done, No-Eyes! No one can come up to you," said the Chouette, +embracing the Schoolmaster. "Your plan is capital! Tell you what, +_fourline_, when you are done up and old, you must turn consulting +'prig'; you will earn as much money as a 'big-wig.' Come, kiss your old +woman, and be off as quick as you may, for these joskins go to sleep +with their poultry. I shall go to Barbillon; and to-morrow, at four +o'clock, we will be at the cross-road with the 'trap,' unless he is +nabbed for having assisted Gros-Boiteux and the Skeleton to 'do for' the +milk-woman's husband in the Rue de la Vieille-Draperie. But if he can't +come, another can, for the pretended hackney-coach belongs to the man in +mourning who has used it before. A quarter of an hour after we get to +the cross-road, I will be here and wait for you." + +"All right! Good-by till to-morrow, Chouette." + +"I had nearly forgot to give the wax to Tortillard, if there is any lock +to get the print of at the farm. Here, chickabiddy, do you know how to +use it?" said the one-eyed wretch to Tortillard, as she gave him a piece +of wax. + +"Yes, yes, my father showed me how to use it. I took for him the print +of the lock of the little iron chest which my master, the quack doctor, +keeps in his small closet." + +"Ah, that's all right; and, that the wax may not stick, do not forget to +moisten the wax after you have warmed it well in your hand." + +"I know all about it," replied Tortillard. + +"To-morrow, them, _fourline_," said the Chouette. + +"To-morrow," replied the Schoolmaster. + +The Chouette went towards the coach. The Schoolmaster and Tortillard +quitted the hollow way, and bent their steps towards the farm, the +lights which shone from the windows serving to guide them on their way. + +Strange fatality, which again brought Anselm Duresnel under the same +roof with his wife, who had not seen him since his condemnation to hard +labour for life! + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN EVENING AT THE FARM. + + +Perhaps a more gratifying sight does not exist than the interior of a +large farm-kitchen prepared for the evening meal, especially during the +winter season. Its bright wood fire, the long table covered with the +savoury, smoking dishes, the huge tankards of foaming beer or cider, +with the happy countenances scattered round, speak of peaceful labour +and healthful industry. The farm-kitchen of Bouqueval was a fine +exemplification of this remark. Its immense open chimney, about six feet +high and eight feet wide, resembled the yawning mouth of some huge oven. +On the hearth blazed and sparkled enormous logs of beech or oak; and +from this prodigious brazier there issued forth such a body of light, as +well as heat, that the large lamp suspended from the centre beam sunk +into insignificance, and was rendered nearly useless. Every variety of +culinary utensils, sparkling in all the brightness of the most elaborate +cleanliness, and composed invariably of copper, brass, and tin, glowed +in the bright radiance of the winter fire, as they stood ranged with the +utmost nicety and effect on their appropriate shelves. An old-fashioned +cistern of elaborately polished copper showed its bright face, polished +as a mirror; and close beside stood a highly polished bread-trough and +cover, composed of walnut-tree wood, rubbed by the hand of housewifery +till you could see your face in it and from which issued a most tempting +smell of hot bread. A long and substantial table occupied the centre of +the kitchen; a tablecloth, which, though coarse in texture, vied with +the falling snow for whiteness, covered its entire length; while for +each expected guest was placed an earthenware plate, brown without, but +white within, and by its side a knife, fork, and spoon, lustrous as +silver itself. In the midst of the table, an immense tureen of vegetable +soup smoked like the crater of a volcano, and diffused its savoury +vapours over a dish of ham and greens, flanked by a most formidable +array of mutton, most relishly stewed with onions and potatoes. Below +was placed a large joint of roast veal, followed by two great plates of +winter salad, supported by a couple of baskets of apples; and a similar +number of cheeses completed the arrangements of the table. Three or four +stone pitchers filled with sparkling cider, and a like quantity of +loaves of brown bread, equal in size to the stones of a windmill, were +placed at the discretionary use of the supping party. + +An old, shaggy, black shepherd dog, almost toothless, the superannuated +patriarch of all the canine tribe employed on the farm, was, by reason +of his great age and long services, indulged with permission to enjoy +the cheering warmth of the chimney-corner; but, using his privilege with +the utmost modesty and discretion, this venerable servitor, who answered +to the pastoral name of Lysander, lay quietly stretched out in a secure +side-nook, his nose resting on his paws, watching with the deepest +attention the various culinary preparations which preceded the supper. + +The bill of fare thus presented to the reader, as the ordinary mode of +living at the farm of Bouqueval, may strike some of our readers as +unnecessarily sumptuous; but Madame Georges, faithfully following out +the wishes of Rodolph, endeavoured by all possible means to improve the +comforts of the labourers on the farm, who were always selected as being +the most worthy and industrious individuals of their district. They +were well paid, liberally treated, and so kindly used that to be +engaged on the Bouqueval farm was the highest ambition of all the best +labourers in that part of the country--an ambition which most +essentially promoted the welfare and advantage of the masters they then +served; for no applicant for employment at Bouqueval could obtain a +favourable hearing, unless he came provided with most satisfactory +testimonials from his last employer. + +Thus, though on a very small scale, had Rodolph created a species of +model farm, which had for its aim not only the improvement of animals +and agricultural operations, but, above all, improving the nature of man +himself; and this he effected by making it worth their while to be +active, honest, and intelligent. + +After having completed all the preparations for supper, and placed on +the table a jug of wine to accompany the dessert, the farm-cook sounded +the welcome tocsin, which told all that the cheering meal was prepared, +and, their evening toil concluded, they might freely enjoy the delights +of wholesome and temperate refreshment. Ere the sound had ceased to +vibrate on the ear, a merry, joyous throng, composed of men and maidens +to the number of twelve or fifteen, crowded around the table; the men +had open, manly countenances, the women looked healthy and +good-humoured, while the young girls belonging to the party wore the +brightest glow of youth and innocence. Every face was lighted up with +frank gaiety, content, and the satisfaction arising from the +consciousness of having well fulfilled one's duty. Thus happily prepared +in mind and body to do justice to the excellent fare set before them, +the happy party took their appointed places at table. + +The upper end was occupied by an old, white-haired labourer, whose fine, +bold, yet sensible expression of face, bespoke him a descendant of the +ancient Gaulish mothers of the soil. + +Father Chatelain (for so was this Nestor called) had worked on the farm +from his early childhood. When Rodolph purchased the farm, the old +servant had been strongly recommended to him, and he was forthwith +raised to the rank of overlooker, and, under the orders of Madame +Georges, general superintendent of all outdoor work; and unbounded, +indeed, was the influence possessed by Father Chatelain by virtue of his +age, his knowledge, and experience. + +Every one having taken their seat, Father Chatelain, having fervently +invoked a blessing, then, in pursuance of an ancient and pious custom, +marked one of the loaves with the figure of a cross, and cut off a large +slice as the share of the Virgin or the poor, then, pouring out a glass +of wine with a similar consecration to charitable purposes, he +reverently placed both bread and wine on a plate placed in the centre of +the table purposely to receive them. At this moment the yard dogs barked +furiously; old Lysander replied by a low growl, and, curling back his +upper lip, displayed two or three still formidable fangs. + +"Some person is passing near the wall of the courtyard," observed Father +Chatelain. + +Scarcely had the words been uttered, than the bell of the great gate +sounded. + +"Who can this possibly be at so late an hour?" said the old labourer; +"every one belonging to the place is in. Go and see who it is, Jean +Rene." + +The individual thus addressed was a stout, able-bodied young labourer on +the farm, who was then busily employed blowing his scalding hot soup, +with a force of lungs that AEolus himself might have envied; but, used to +prompt obedience, in a moment the half-raised spoon was deposited in its +place, and, half stifling a sigh of regret, he departed on his errand. + +"This is the first time our good Madame Georges and Mlle. Marie have +failed paying a visit to the warm chimney-corner, and looking on whilst +we took our supper, for this long time," said Father Chatelain. "I am +hungry as a hunter, but I shall not relish my supper half so well." + +"Madame Georges is in the chamber of Mlle. Marie, who found herself +somewhat indisposed on her return from escorting M. le Cure to the +rectory," replied Claudine, the girl who had conducted La Goualeuse back +from the rectory, and thus unconsciously frustrated the evil designs of +the Chouette. + +"I trust Mlle. Marie is only indisposed, not seriously ill, is she, +Claudine?" inquired the old man, with almost paternal anxiety. + +"Oh, dear, no, Father Chatelain! God forbid! I hope and believe our dear +mademoiselle is only just a little struck with the cold of the night, +and her walk perhaps fatigued her. I trust she will be quite well by +to-morrow; indeed Madame Georges told me as much, and said that, if she +had had any fears, she should have sent to Paris for M. David, the negro +doctor, who took such care of mademoiselle when she was so ill. Well, I +cannot make out how any one can endure a black doctor! For my part I +should not have the slightest confidence in anything he said or did. No, +no! if one must have a doctor, let it be a Christian man with a white +skin; but a downright blackamoor! O saints above! why, the very sight of +him by my bedside would kill me!" + +"But did not this Monsieur David cure Mlle. Marie from the long illness +with which she suffered when she first came here?" inquired the old man. + +"Yes, Father Chatelain, he certainly did." + +"Well?" + +"Ah! but for all that, Father Chatelain, a doctor with a black face is +enough to terrify any one--I should scream myself into fits if he were +to come rolling up the great whites of his eyes at me." + +"But is not this M. David the same person who cured Dame Anica of that +dreadful wound in her leg, which had confined her to her bed for upwards +of three years?" + +"Yes, exactly so, Father Chatelain; he certainly did set old Dame Anica +up again." + +"Well, then, my child?" + +"Nay, but only think!--a black man! and when one is ill, too! when one +can so ill bear up against such horrid things. If he were only a little +dark, or even deep brown, but quite, quite a black--all black--oh, +Father Chatelain, I really cannot bring myself to think of it!" + +"Tell me, my child, what colour is your favourite heifer Musette?" + +"Oh, white--white as a swan, Father Chatelain; and such a milcher! I can +say that for the poor thing without the least falsehood, a better cow we +have not got on the farm." + +"And your other favourite, Rosette?" + +"Rosette? Oh, she is as black as a raven, not one white hair about her I +should say; and, indeed, to do her justice, she is a first-rate milcher +also. I hardly know which is the best, she or my pretty Musette." + +"And what coloured milk does she give?" + +"Why, white, of course, Father Chatelain; I really thought you knew +that." + +"Is her milk as white and as good as the milk of your snowy pet, +Musette?" + +"Every bit as good in colour and quality." + +"Although Rosette is a black cow?" + +"To be sure! why, Father Chatelain, what difference can it possibly make +to the milk whether the cow that gives it is black, white, red, or +brown?" + +"How, then, my good girl, can it in any way signify whether a doctor has +a black or white skin, or what his complexion may be?" + +"Well," answered Claudine, fairly hunted into a corner from which no +argument could rescue her,--"well, as regards what makes a black doctor +not so good as a white one, it is--it is, because a black skin is so +very ugly to look at, and a white one is so much more agreeable to one's +eyes; I'm sure I can't think of any other reason, Father Chatelain, if I +try for ever; but with cows the colour of the skin makes not the very +least difference, of that you may be assured; but, then, you know +there's a deal of difference between a cow and a man." + +These not very clear physiognomical reflections of Claudine, touching +the effect of light or dark skins in the human and animal race, were +interrupted by the return of Jean Rene, blowing his fingers with +animation as he had before blown his soup. + +"Oh, how cold! how cold it is this night!" exclaimed he, on entering; +"it is enough to freeze one to death; it is a pretty deal more snug and +comfortable in-doors than out this bitter night. Oh, how cold it is!" + +"Why,-- + + 'The frost that cometh from North and East + Biteth the most and ceaseth the least.' + +Don't you know that, my lad?" said the old superintendent Chatelain. +"But who was it that rang so late?" + +"A poor blind man and a boy who leads him about, Father Chatelain." + +"And what does this poor blind man want?" inquired Chatelain. + +"The poor man and his son were going by the cross-road to Louvres, and +have lost themselves in the snow; and as the cold is enough to turn a +man into an icicle, and the night is pitch dark, the poor blind father +has come to entreat permission for himself and lad to pass the night on +the farm; he says he shall be for ever thankful for leave to lie on a +little straw under a hovel, or in any out-building." + +"Oh, as for that, I am quite sure that Madame Georges, who never refuses +charity to any unfortunate being, will willingly permit them to do so; +but we must first acquaint her with it; go, Claudine, and tell her the +whole story." Claudine disappeared. + +"And where is this poor man waiting?" asked Father Chatelain. + +"In the little barn just by." + +"But why in the barn? why put him there?" + +"Bless you, if I had left him in the yard, the dogs would have eaten him +up alive! Why, Father Chatelain, it was no use for me to call out +'Quiet, Medor! come here, Turk! down, Sultan!' I never saw dogs in such +a fury. And, besides, we don't use our dogs on the farm to fly at poor +folks, as they are trained to do at other places." + +"Well, my lads, it seems that the 'share for the poor' has not been laid +aside in vain to-night. But try and sit a little closer; there, that'll +do; now put two more plates and knives and forks for this blind +traveller and his boy, for I feel quite certain what Madame Georges's +answer will be, and that she will desire them to be housed here for the +night." + +"It is really a thing I can't make out," said Jean Rene, "about the dogs +being so very violent, especially Turk, who went with Claudine this +evening to the rectory. Why, when I stroked him, to try and pacify him, +I felt his coat standing up on end like so many bristles of a porcupine. +Now, what do you say to that, eh, Father Chatelain--you who know almost +everything?" + +"Why, my lad, I, 'who know everything,' say just this, that the beasts +know far more than I do, and can see farther. I remember, in the autumn, +when the heavy rains had so swollen the little river, I was returning +with my team-horses one dark night--I was riding upon Cuckoo, the old +roan horse, and deuce take me if I could make out any spot it would be +safe to wade through, for the night was as dark as the mouth of a pit. +Well, I threw the bridle on old Cuckoo's back, and he soon found what, +I'll answer for it, none of us could have discovered. Now, who taught +the dumb brute to know the safe from the unsafe parts of the stream, let +me ask you?" + +"Ay, Father Chatelain, that's what I was waiting to ask you. Who taught +the old roan to discover danger and escape from it so cleverly?" + +"The same Almighty wisdom which instructs the swallow to build in our +chimneys, and guides the marten to make his nest among the reeds of our +banks, my lad. Well, Claudine," said the ancient oracle of the kitchen +to the blooming dairymaid, who just then entered, bearing on her arms +two pairs of snowy white sheets, from which an odoriferous smell of sage +and thyme was wafted along,--"well, I make no doubt but Madame Georges +has sent permission for these poor creatures, the blind man and his +child, to sleep here, has she not?" + +"These sheets are to prepare beds for them, in the little room at the +end of the passage," said Claudine. + +"Go and bid them come in, then, Jean Rene; and you, Claudine, my good +girl, put a couple of chairs near the fire--they will be glad of a good +warm before sitting down to table." + +The furious barking of the dogs was now renewed, mingled with the voice +of Jean Rene, who was endeavoring to pacify them; the door of the +kitchen was abruptly opened, and the Schoolmaster and Tortillard entered +with as much precipitation as though they feared a pursuit from some +dangerous foe. + +"For the love of heaven, keep off your dogs!" cried the Schoolmaster, in +the utmost terror; "they have been trying to bite us!" + +"They have torn a great bit out of my blouse," whined Tortillard, +shivering with cold and pale with fear. + +"Don't be frightened, good man," said Jean Rene, shutting the door +securely; "but I never before saw our dogs in such a perfect fury--it +must be the cold makes them so spiteful; perhaps, being half frozen, +they fancied biting you would serve to warm them--there is no knowing +what mere animals may mean by what they do." + +"Why, are you going to begin, too?" exclaimed the old farmer, as +Lysander, who had hitherto lain perfectly happy in the radiance of the +glowing fire, started up, and, growling fiercely, was about to fly at +the strangers. "This old dog is quiet enough, but, having heard the +other dogs make such a furious noise, he thinks he must do the same. +Will you lie down and be quiet, you old brute? Do you hear, sir? lie +down!" + +At these words from Father Chatelain, accompanied by a significant +motion of the foot, Lysander, with a low, deep growl of dissatisfaction, +slowly returned to his favourite corner by the hearth, while the +Schoolmaster and Tortillard remained trembling by the kitchen-door, as +though fearful of approaching farther. The features of the ruffian were +so hideous, from the frightful effects produced by the cold, that some +of the servants in the kitchen shuddered with alarm, while others +recoiled in disgust; this impression was not lost on Tortillard, who +felt reassured by the terrors of the villagers, and even felt proud of +the repulsiveness of his companion. This first confusion over, Father +Chatelain, thinking only of worthily discharging the duties of +hospitality, said to the Schoolmaster: + +"Come, my good friend--come near the fire and warm yourself thoroughly, +and then you shall have some supper with us; for you happened to come +very fortunately, just as we were sitting down to table. Here, sit down, +just where I have placed your chair. But what am I thinking about?" +added the worthy old labourer. "I ought to have spoken to your son, not +you, seeing that it has pleased God to take away your eyesight--a heavy +loss, a heavy loss; but let us hope all for your good, my friend, though +you may not now think so. Here, my boy, lead your father to that snug +place in the chimney-corner." + +"Yes, kind sir," drawled out Tortillard, with a nasal twang and canting, +hypocritical tone; "may God bless you for your charity to the poor +blind! Here, father, take my arm; lean on my shoulder, father; take +care, take care, gently;" and, with affected zeal and tenderness, the +urchin guided the steps of the brigand till they reached the indicated +spot. As the pair approached Lysander, he uttered a low, growling noise; +but as the Schoolmaster brushed past him, and the sagacious animal had +full scent of his garments, he broke out into one of those deep howls +with which, it is asserted by the superstitious, dogs frequently +announce an approaching death. + +"What, in the devil's name, do all these cursed animals mean by their +confounded noise?" said the Schoolmaster to himself. "Can they smell the +blood on my clothes, I wonder? for I now recollect I wore the trousers I +have on at present the night the cattle-dealer was murdered." + +"Did you notice that?" inquired Jean Rene of Father Chatelain. "Why, I +vow that, as often as old Lysander had caught scent of the wandering +stranger, he actually set up a regular death-howl." + +And this remark was followed up by a most singular confirmation of the +fact; the cries of Lysander were so loud and mournful that the other +dogs caught the sound (for the farmyard was only separated from the +kitchen by a glazed window in the latter), and, according to the custom +of the canine race, they each strove who should outdo the other in +repeating and prolonging the funereal wail, which, according to vulgar +belief, always foretells death. Though but little given to superstitious +dread, the farm-people looked from one to another with a feeling of +wonder not unmixed with awe. Even the Schoolmaster himself, diabolically +hardened as he was, felt a cold shudder steal over him at the thought +that all these fatal sounds burst forth upon the approach of him--the +self-convicted murderer! while Tortillard, too audacious and hardened to +enter into such alarms, with all the infidelity in which he had been +trained, even from his mother's arms, looked on with delighted mockery +at the universal panic, and was, perhaps, the only person present devoid +of an uneasy feeling; but, once freed from his apprehensions of +suffering from the violence of the animals, he listened even with +pleasure to the horrible discord of their long-drawn-out wailings, and +felt almost tempted to pardon them the fright they had originally +occasioned him, in consideration of the perfect terror they had struck +into the inhabitants of the farm, and for the gratification he derived +from the convulsive horror of the Schoolmaster. But after the momentary +stupor had passed away Jean Rene again quitted the kitchen, and the loud +cracking of his whip soon put an end to the prophetic howlings of Medor, +Turk, and Sultan, and quickly dispersed them to their separate kennels, +and as the noise ceased, the gloomy cloud passed away from the kitchen, +and the peasants looked up with the same honest cheerfulness they had +worn upon the entrance of the two travellers. Ere long they had left off +wondering at the repulsive ugliness of the Schoolmaster, and only +thought with pity of his great affliction, in being blind; they +commiserated the lameness of the poor boy, admired the interesting +sharpness of his countenance, the deep, cute glance of his ever-moving +eye, and, above all, loaded him with praises for the extreme care and +watchfulness with which he attended to his afflicted parent. The +appetite of the labourers, which had been momentarily forgotten, now +returned with redoubled violence, and for a time nothing could be heard +but the clattering of plates and rattling of knives and forks. Still, +however busily employed with their suppers, the servants assembled round +the table, both male and female, could not but remark, with infinite +pleasure, the tender assiduity of the lad towards the blind creature who +sat beside him. Nothing could exceed the devoted affection and filial +care with which Tortillard prepared his meat for him, cutting both that +and his bread with most accurate nicety, pouring out his drink, and +never attempting even to taste a morsel himself, till his father +expressed himself as having completed his supper. But, for all this +dutiful attention, the young ruffian took ample and bitter revenge. +Instigated as much by an innate spirit of cruelty as the desire of +imitation natural to his age, Tortillard found an equal enjoyment with +the Chouette in having something to torment (_a bete de souffrance_); +and it was a matter of inexpressible exultation to his wretched mind +that he, a poor, distorted, crippled, abject creature, should have it in +his power to tyrannise over so powerful and ferocious a creature as the +Schoolmaster,--it was like torturing a muzzled tiger. He even refined +his gratification, by compelling his victim to endure all the agonies he +inflicted, without wincing or exhibiting the slightest external sign of +his suffering. Thus he accompanied each outward mark of devoted +tenderness towards his supposed parent, by aiming a severe kick against +the Schoolmaster's legs, on one of which there was (in common with many +who had long worked in the galleys) a deep and severe wound, the effect +of the heavy iron chain worn during the term of punishment around the +right leg; and, by way of compelling the miserable sufferer to exercise +a greater degree of stoical courage, the urchin always seized the moment +when the object of his malice was either drinking or speaking. + +"Here, dear father! here is a nice peeled nut," said Tortillard, placing +on the plate of his supposed parent a nut carefully prepared. + +"Good boy," said old Chatelain, smiling kindly at him. Then, addressing +the bandit, he added: "However great may be your affliction, my friend, +so good a son is almost sufficient to make up even for the loss of +sight; but Providence is so gracious, he never takes away one blessing +without sending another." + +"You are quite right, kind sir! My lot is a very hard one, and, but for +the noble conduct of my excellent child, I--" + +A sharp cry of irrepressible anguish here broke from the quivering lips +of the tortured man; the son of Bras Rouge had this time aimed his blow +so effectually, that the point of his heavy-nailed shoe had reached the +very centre of the wound, and produced unendurable agony. + +"Father! dear father! what is the matter?" exclaimed Tortillard, in a +whimpering voice; then, suddenly rising, he threw both his arms round +the Schoolmaster's neck, whose first impulse of rage and pain was to +stifle the limping varlet in his Herculean grasp; and so powerfully did +he compress the boy's chest against his own, that his impeded +respiration vented itself in a low moaning sound. A few minutes, and +Tortillard's last prank would have been played; but, reflecting that the +lad was for the present indispensable to the furtherance of the schemes +he had on hand, the Schoolmaster, by a violent effort, controlled his +desire to annihilate his tormentor, and contented himself with pushing +him off his shoulders back into his own chair. The sympathising group +around the table were far from seeing through all this, and merely +considered these close embraces as an interchange of paternal and filial +tenderness, while the half suffocation and deadly pallor of Tortillard +they attributed to emotion caused by the sudden illness of his beloved +father. + +"What ailed you just now, my good man?" inquired Father Chatelain; "only +see, you have quite frightened your poor boy. Why, he looks pale as +death, and can scarcely breathe. Come, my little man; you must not take +on so--your father is all right again." + +"I beg your pardon, gentlemen all," replied the Schoolmaster, +controlling himself with much difficulty, for the pain he was still +enduring was most excruciating. "I am better now. I'll tell you, with +your kind leaves, all about it. You see I am by trade a working +locksmith, and, one day that I was employed in beating out a huge bar of +red hot iron, it fell over on my two legs, and burnt them so dreadfully +that it has never healed; unfortunately, just now, I happened to strike +the leg that is worst against the table, and the sudden agony it +occasioned me drew forth the sudden cry which so much disturbed all this +good company, and for which I humbly beg pardon." + +"Poor dear father!" whined out Tortillard, casting a look of fiendish +malice at the shivering Schoolmaster, and wholly recovered from his late +attack of excessive emotion. "Poor father! you have indeed got a bad leg +nobody can cure. Ah, kind gentlemen, I hope you will never have such a +shocking wound, and be obliged to hear all the doctors say it never will +get well. No! never--never. Oh, my dear, dear father! how I wish I could +but suffer the pain instead of you!" + +At this tender, moving speech, the females present expressed the utmost +admiration for the dutiful speaker, and began feeling in their vast +pockets for some more substantial mark of their regard. + +"It is unlucky, my honest friend," said old Chatelain, addressing the +Schoolmaster, "you had not happened to come to this farm about three +weeks ago, instead of to-night." + +"And why so, if you please?" + +"Because we had staying for a few days in the house a celebrated Paris +doctor, who has an infallible remedy for all diseases of the legs. A +worthy old woman, belonging to our village, had been confined to her +bed upwards of three years with some affection of the legs. Well, this +doctor, being here, as I said, heard of the case, applied an unguent to +the wounds, and now, bless you, she is as surefooted, ay, and as swift, +too, as any of our young girls; and the first holiday she makes she +intends walking to the house of her benefactor, in the Allee des Veuves, +at Paris, to return her grateful thanks. To be sure it is a good step +from hence, but then, as Mother Anica says--Why, what has come over you +again, my friend? Is your leg still so painful?" + +The mention of the Allee des Veuves had recalled such frightful +recollections to the Schoolmaster, that, involuntarily, a cold shudder +shook his frame, while a fearful spasm, by contracting his ghastly +countenance, made it appear still more hideous. + +"Yes," replied he, trying to conceal his emotion, "a sudden darting pain +seized me, and--Pray excuse my interrupting your kind and sensible +discourse, and be pleased to proceed." + +"It really is a great pity," resumed the old labourer, "that this +excellent doctor should not be with us at present; but I tell you what, +he is as good as he is skilful, and I am quite sure if you let your +little lad conduct you to his house when you return to Paris, that he +will cure you. His address is not difficult to recollect, it is 17 Allee +des Veuves. Even should you forget the number, it will not matter, for +there are but very few doctors in the neighbourhood, and no other negro +surgeon,--for, only imagine, this clever, kind, and charitable man is a +black, but his heart is white and good. His name is David,--Doctor +David,--you will be able to remember that name, I dare say." + +The features of the Schoolmaster were so seamed and scarred that it was +difficult to perceive when his colour varied. He did, however, on the +present occasion, turn ghastly pale as he first heard the exact number +mentioned of Rodolph's house, and afterwards the description of the +black doctor,--of David, the negro surgeon, who, by Rodolph's orders, +had inflicted on him the fearful punishment, the terrible results of +which were each hour more painfully developed. Father Chatelain, +however, was too much interested in his subject to notice the deadly +paleness of the Schoolmaster, and proceeded with his discourse: + +"When you leave us, my poor fellow, we will be sure to write his address +on a slip of paper and give it to your son, for I know that, besides +putting you in a certain way to be cured of your painful wound, it would +be gratifying to M. David to be able to relieve your sufferings. Oh, he +is so good,--never so happy as when he has rendered any person a +service. I wish he had not always that mournful and dejected look. I +fear he has some heavy care near his heart; and he is so good, so full +of pity for all who suffer. Well, well, Providence will bless him in +another world; but come, friend, let us drink to the health and +happiness of your future benefactor,--here take this mug." + +"No, thank you!" returned the Schoolmaster, with a gloomy air; "none for +me. I--I am not thirsty, and I never drink unless I am." + +"Nay, friend, but this is good old wine I have poured out for you; not +cider," said the labourer. "Many tradespeople do not drink as good. +Bless your heart, this farm is not conducted as other farms are,--what +do you think of our style of living, by the by? have you relished your +supper?" + +"All very good," responded the Schoolmaster mechanically, more and more +absorbed in the painfulness of his ideas. + +"Well, then, as we live one day, so we do another. We work well, we live +well, we have a good conscience, and an equally good bed to rest upon +after the labours of the day. Our lives roll on in peace and +contentment. There are seven labourers constantly employed on the farm, +who are paid almost double wages to what others get; but then I can +venture to assert, that if we are paid double, we do as much work among +us as fourteen ordinary labourers would do. The mere husbandry servants +have one hundred and fifty crowns a year, the dairy-women and other +females engaged about the place sixty crowns, and a tenth share of the +produce of the farm is divided among us all. You may suppose we do not +idle away much time, or fail to make hay while the sun shines, for +Nature is a bountiful mother, and ever returns a hundredfold to those +who assiduously seek her favour; the more we give her, the more she +returns." + +"Your master cannot get very rich if he treats you and pays you thus +liberally," said the Schoolmaster. + +"Oh, our master is different to all others, and has a mode of repaying +himself peculiarly his own." + +"From what you say," answered the blind man, hoping by engaging in +conversation to escape from the gloominess of his own thoughts, "your +master must be a very extraordinary person." + +"Indeed he is, my good man, a most uncommon master to meet with. Now, as +chance has brought you among us, and a strange though a lucky chance for +you it has proved, lying out of the highroad as this village does, it is +so very seldom any stranger ever finds it out. Well, I was going to say, +here you are, and no fault to find with your quarters, is there? Now, in +all human probability, when you turn your back upon the place you will +never return to it, but you shall not depart without hearing from me a +description of our master and all he has done for the farm, upon +condition that you promise to repeat it again wherever you go, and to +whomsoever you may meet with. You will see, I mean, I beg pardon, you +will then be able to understand." + +"I listen to you," answered the Schoolmaster; "proceed." + +"And I can promise you you will not be throwing away your time by +listening," replied the venerable Chatelain. "Now, one day our master +thought all at once: 'Here am I, rich enough to eat two dinners a day if +I liked, but I don't. Now, suppose I were to provide a meal for those +who have none at all, and enable such as can hardly procure half a +dinner to enjoy as much good food as they desired, would not that be +better than over-indulging myself? So it shall be,' says he, and away he +goes to work, and, first thing, he buys this farm, which was not much of +a concern then, and scarcely kept a couple of ploughs at work; and, +being born and bred on the place, I ought to know something about it. +Next, master made considerable additions to the farm. I'll tell you all +about that by and by. At the head of the farm he placed a most worthy +and respectable female, who had known a great deal of trouble in her +past life--master always chose out people for their goodness and their +misfortunes--and, when he brought the person I am telling you of here, +he said to her in my hearing, 'I wish this place to be like the Temple +of our great Maker, open to the deserving and the afflicted, but closed +against the wicked and hardened reprobate.' So idle beggars are always +turned from the gate; but those who are able and willing to work have +always the opportunity set before them: the charity of labour, our +master says, is no humiliation to him who receives it, but a favour and +service conferred on the person whose labour is thus done; and the rich +man who does not act upon this principle but ill employs his wealth. So +said our master. But he did more than talk--he acted. There was formerly +a road from here to Ecouen, which cut off a good mile of distance, but, +Lord love you! it was one great rutty bog, impossible to get up or down +it; it was the death of every horse, and certain destruction to every +vehicle that attempted to pass through it. A little labour, and a +trifling amount of money from each farmer in the adjoining country +would soon have repaired the road; but they never could be brought to +any unanimity on the subject, and, in proportion as one farmer would be +anxious to contribute towards putting the road in order, the others +would invariably decline sending either men or money to assist. So our +master, perceiving all this, said, 'The road shall be repaired; but as +those who can afford to contribute will not, and as it is more for +convenience and accommodation to the rich than necessity for the poor, +it shall first become useful to those who would work if they could get +it to do, who have heart, and hands, and courage, but no employ. Well, +this road shall be reserved as a constant occupation for persons of this +description. Horsemen and carriages belonging to the rich and affluent, +who care not how roads are repaired, so that they can travel at their +ease, may go round by the farther side.' So, for example, whenever a +strong, sturdy fellow presented himself at the farm, pleading hunger and +want of work, I'd say to him, 'Here, my lad; here is a basin of warm +nourishing soup--take it and welcome; then, if you wish for work, here +is a pickaxe and spade; one of our people will show you the Ecouen road; +make every day twelve feet of it good, by spreading and breaking the +flints; and every evening, after your work is examined, you shall +receive at the rate of forty sous for the quantity named; twenty sous +for half as much; ten sous for a quarter; for less than that, nothing at +all.' Then, towards evening, upon my return from labour, I used to go on +the road, measure their work, and examine whether it was well done." + +"And only to think," interposed Jean Rene, in a fit of virtuous +indignation, "only think, now, of there coming two heartless vagabonds, +who drank their soup and walked off with the pickaxe and shovel. It is +enough to sicken one of doing good or trying to benefit one's fellow +creatures." + +"Quite right, Master Rene," exclaimed the other labourers; "so it is." + +"Come, come, lads," resumed Father Chatelain, "don't be too warm. Just +see here. We might as well say it is useless to plant trees, or sow +grain, because there are caterpillars, weevils, and other injurious +insects that gnaw the leaves or devour the seeds put in the ground. No, +no! we destroy the vermin. But God Almighty, who is no niggard, causes +fresh buds to burst forth and new ears of corn to sprout; the damage is +abundantly repaired, and no trace remains of the mischievous insects +which have passed over our work. Am I not right, my friend?" said the +old labourer, addressing the Schoolmaster. + +"No doubt--no doubt," replied the latter, who had appeared for some time +past lost in a train of serious meditation. + +"Then, as for women and children, there is plenty of occupation for them +also, according to their age and strength," added Father Chatelain. + +"Yet, spite of all this," observed Claudine, joining in the +conversation, "the road gets on but very slowly." + +"Which only goes to prove, my good girl, that in this part of the +country there is happily no scarcity of employment for the honest and +industrious labourer." + +"But now, as in the case of a poor, helpless, afflicted creature such as +I am," said the Schoolmaster, hastily, "would not the worthy owner of +the farm grant me a humble corner in it for charity's sake--a shelter +and a morsel of bread for the little while I have to remain a burden to +any one in this troublesome world? Oh, my worthy sir, could I but obtain +such a boon I would pass the remainder of my days in praying for a +blessing on my benefactor." + +And these words were really pronounced in entire sincerity of meaning; +not that compunction for his many crimes touched the brigand's stony +heart, but he contrasted the happy peacefulness of the lives of these +labourers to his own wretched, stormy existence; and still further did +he envy them when he reflected upon all that the Chouette might have in +store for him; he shuddered as he reflected upon the future she would +provide for him, and more than ever regretted, by having recalled his +old accomplice, having for ever lost the means of dwelling with good and +honest persons, such as those with whom the Chourineur had placed him. +Father Chatelain surveyed the Schoolmaster with an air of surprise. + +"My good man," said he, "I did not know you were so utterly destitute." + +"Alas! yes, it is even so. I lost my sight by an accident while working +at my trade. I am going to Louvres to endeavour to find a distant +relation there, who, I hope, may be willing to assist me. But, you are +aware, people are not always so open-hearted as they should be; they do +not like distressed objects, such as myself, coming to claim kindred, +and are frequently harsh and unkind," answered the Schoolmaster, sighing +deeply. + +"But the most selfish heart would grieve at your distress," replied the +old labourer. "The most hard-hearted relative would pity a man like +you--a good and honest workman overtaken by a sudden calamity, and left +without hope or help. Then the moving spectacle of this young and tender +child, your only friend and guide, would wring pity from the very +stones. But how is it that the master for whom you worked previously to +your accident has done nothing for you?" + +"He is now dead," said the Schoolmaster, after a short hesitation; "and +he was my only friend on earth." + +"But then there is the hospital for the blind." + +"I am not the right age to qualify me for admission." + +"Poor man! yours is, indeed, a hard case." + +"Do you think it likely that, in the event of my relation at Louvres +refusing to assist me, your master, whom I already respect without +knowing, would take pity on me?" + +"Unfortunately, you see, the farm is not a hospital. Our general rule is +to grant all infirm or afflicted travellers a temporary shelter of a +night or a day in the house. Then some assistance is furnished, and they +are put on their road with a prayer to kind Providence to take them +under its charge." + +"Then you think there is no hope of interesting your master in my +unhappy fate?" asked the brigand, with a sigh of regret. + +"I tell you what is the general custom here, my good man; but so +compassionate a person as our master might go any lengths to serve you." + +"Do you really think so?" said the Schoolmaster. "Oh, if he would but +permit me to remain here, I could live in any retired corner, and be +happy and grateful for such a mere trifle of subsistence!" + +"As I said before, our master is capable of the most generous actions. +But, were he to consent to your remaining at the farm, there would be no +occasion for you to hide yourself; you would fare in every respect as +you have seen us treated to-day. Some occupation would be found for your +son suitable to his age and strength. He would not want for good +instruction or wise counsels; our venerable minister would teach him +with the other children of the village, and, in the words of Scripture, +he would grow in goodness and in stature beneath the pious care of our +excellent cure. But the best way for you to manage this will be to lay +every particular of your case and petition before our 'Lady of Ready +Help,' when she comes into the kitchen, as she is sure to do before you +start on your journey to-morrow morning." + +"What name did you call your lady by?" + +"Nay, I meant our mistress, who always goes by that appellation amongst +us. If she interests herself for you, your suit will be granted; for, in +matters of charity, our master never opposes her smallest wish." + +"Oh, then," exclaimed the Schoolmaster, in a joyous tone, already +exulting in his hoped-for deliverance from the power of the Chouette, "I +will thankfully follow your advice, and speak to her whenever I have the +blessed opportunity!" + +This hope found no echo in the mind of Tortillard, who felt not the +slightest disposition to avail himself of the offers of the old +labourer, and grow up in goodness under the auspices of the venerable +cure. The inclinations of Bras Rouge's son were anything but rural, +neither did his turn of mind incline to the pastoral. Faithful to the +code of morality professed by the Chouette, and promulgated by her, he +would have been severely distressed to see the Schoolmaster emancipate +himself from their united tyranny; and he now thought it high time to +recall the brigand from the illusory visions of flowery meads and all +the _et coeteras_ of a country life, in which his fancy seemed +revelling, to the realities of his present position. + +"Yes, oh, yes," repeated the Schoolmaster; "I will assuredly address my +prayers to your 'Lady of Ready Help.' She will pity me and kindly--" + +Tortillard here interrupted him by a vigorous and artfully managed kick, +so well directed, that, as before, it took the direst effect on the most +sensitive spot. The intense agony for a time quite bereft the brigand of +speech or breath; but remembering the fatal consequences of giving way +to the feelings which boiled within him, he struggled for self-command, +and, after a pause of a few minutes, added, in a faint and suffering +voice, "Yes, I venture to hope your good mistress would pity and +befriend me." + +"Dear father," said Tortillard, in a hypocritical tone, "you forget my +poor dear aunt, Madame la Chouette, who is so fond of you. Poor Aunty +Chouette, she would never part with you so easily, I know. Directly she +heard of your staying here, she would come along with M. Barbillon and +fetch you away--that she would, I know." + +"Madame la Chouette and M. Barbillon. Why this honest man seems to have +relations among all the 'birds of the air and fishes of the sea,'" +uttered Jean Rene in a voice of mirthful irony, giving his neighbour +rather a vigorous poke with his elbow. "Funny, isn't it, Claudine?" + +"Oh, you great unfeeling calf! How can you make a joke on these poor +creatures?" replied the tender-hearted dairy-maid, returning Jean Rene's +thrust with sufficient interest to compromise the safety of his ribs. + +"Is Madame la Chouette a relation of yours?" inquired the old labourer +of the Schoolmaster. + +"Yes, a distant one," answered the other, with a dull, dejected manner. + +"And is she the person you were going to Louvres to try and find?" asked +Father Chatelain. + +"She is," replied the blind man; "but I think my son overrates her zeal +on my account. However, under any circumstances, I shall speak to your +excellent lady to-morrow, and entreat her aid to further my request with +the kind, charitable owner of this farm, but," added he, purposely to +divert the conversation into another channel, and so put an end to the +imprudent remarks of Tortillard, "talking of farms, you promised to +explain to me the difference that exists in the management of this farm +and farms in general." + +"I did so," replied Father Chatelain, "and I will keep my word. Now, +after having planned all I told you about the charity of labour, our +master said to himself, 'There are many institutions where plans are +devised, and rewards assigned, for improvements in the breed of horses, +cattle, sheep, and other animals for the best constructed ploughs, and +other agricultural implements. And I cannot help thinking that all this +time we are not going to the fountain-head, and beginning, as we ought +to begin, by improving the condition of the labouring classes +themselves, before we give all this heed to the beast which perisheth. +Good beasts are capital things, but good men are better, and more +difficult to meet with. Give your horses and cattle plenty of good food, +clear running water; place them either out-of-doors in a fine, healthy +atmosphere, or give them a clean, well-managed stable, with good and +regular attendance, and they will thrive to your heart's content, and be +capable of reaching any degree of excellence. But with men, look you, it +is quite another thing. You cannot elevate a man's mind as you can +fatten an ox. The animal fattens on his pasture because its taste +gratifies his palate; he eats because he likes what he feeds on, and his +body profits and thrives in proportion to the pleasure with which he has +devoured his food. Well, then, my opinion is, that to make good advice +really profitable to men, they should be enabled clearly to perceive +their own personal advantage in following it.'" + +"Just as the ox is profited by eating the fine grass that grows around +him, Father Chatelain?" said several voices. + +"Precisely the same." + +"But, Father Chatelain," exclaimed another voice. "I have heard talk of +a sort of farm where young thieves, who might in other respects have +conducted themselves very well, are taken in, taught all sorts of +farming knowledge, and fed and treated like princes." + +"You have heard quite right, my good fellow, there is such an +institution, and, as far as it goes, is founded on pure and just +motives, and is calculated to do much good. We should never despair for +the wicked, but we should also hope all things for the good. Suppose now +a strong, healthy, and industrious young man, of excellent character, +ready and willing to work, but desirous of receiving good instruction in +his way of life, were to present himself at the place you are speaking +of--this farm of reclaimed thieves--well, the first question would be, +'Well, my chap, are you a rogue and a vagabond?' 'No!' 'Oh, then we +can't receive you here--we've no room for honest lads.'" + +"What you say, father, is right, every word of it," rejoined Jean Rene. +"Rascals are provided for, while honest men want; and beasts are +considered, and their condition continually improved, while men are +passed over and left in ignorance and neglect." + +"It was purposely to remedy what you complain of, my brave lad, that our +master took this farm (as I was mentioning to our blind visitor). 'I +know very well,' said he, 'that honest men will be rewarded on high, but +then, you see, it is far and long to look forward to, and there are many +(and much to be pitied are they) who can neither look to such a +distance, nor wait with patience the indefinite period which bids them +live on hope alone. Then how are these poor, depressed, and toil-worn +creatures to find leisure thus to seek religious comfort? Rising at the +first dawn of day, they toil and labour with weary limbs, till night +releases them and sends them to their wretched hovels. Sunday is spent +by them at the public-house, drinking to drive away the recollections +both of their past and future wretchedness. Neither can these poor +beings turn their very hardships to a good account by extracting a +useful moral from them. After a hard day's work does their bread seem +less coarse and black, their pallet less hard, their infants less sickly +and meagre, their wives less worn down by giving nourishment to the +feeble babes of their breast? No, no, far from it. Alas, the thin, +half-starved mother is but ill calculated to nourish another, when she +is obliged to yield her slender share of the family meal to still the +clamours of her famishing children. Yet all this might be endured, aye, +even cheerfully, for use has familiarised them with hardships and +privations; their bread is food, though coarse and homely, their straw +bed rests their weary limbs, and their children, though stunted and +sickly, live on. All these, I say, could be borne, did no comparison +arise between their own poverty and the condition of others; but, when +they visit the town or city on market-days, they see an abundance of +good white loaves crowding the windows of the bakers' shops; warm, soft +mattresses and blankets are displayed for sale to such as have the means +of purchasing; children fresh and blooming as the flowers of May are +playing joyously about, and even from the superabundance of their meals +casting a portion to the dogs and other pet animals. Ah! human courage +gives way at this reverse in the picture of human condition; and when +the tired, care-worn men return to their mud hovels, their black bread +and straw pallet, and are surrounded by a number of squalid, +half-starved, wailing infants, to whom they would gladly have brought +the share of cakes and buns thrown by the pampered children of great +towns in the streets, or cast to the animals, then bitter discontent and +repining take possession of their mind, and, utterly forgetting that on +high is One who careth for all, they say, "Why is this difference +allowed? and, if there must be both rich and poor in the world, why were +not we born to riches? why should not every man have his turn in worldly +prosperity? We are not justly used or fairly treated in being always +poor and hard worked." Of course, all this is both sinful and +unreasonable; neither does it in any manner serve to lighten their load; +and yet they must go on, bending, staggering under the burden too heavy +for them to bear, till they sink, utterly exhausted and worn out. They +must toil, toil on, without hope, without relaxing their daily efforts, +or without once daring to entertain the idea that, by a long continuance +in honest, virtuous, industrious conduct, the day might come when, like +the great Creator of all, they might rest from their labours, and behold +peaceful ease succeeding the hard-griping hand of poverty. Think of a +whole life passed thus, in one continued struggle for the bare means of +life, without a glimmer of hope to cheer the thorny path. What must such +a life be like? Why, it would resemble one long rainy day, without a +single ray of brightness from the blessed sun to help us through it. +Then labour is resumed with an unwilling and dissatisfied spirit. "What +does it signify to us," cry the worn-out labourers, "whether the harvest +yields ill or well? Whether the ears of corn be heavy or light makes no +difference to us. Why should we overwork ourselves, or trouble our heads +with matters that only concern our master? It is sufficient for us to +act with strict honesty. We will not commit any crime, because there are +laws ready to punish such as do; but neither will we try to perform acts +of goodness, because for those the laws provide no recompense." Such a +mode of arguing, my boys, is as unwise as it is wrong and sinful, but, +depend upon it, it is true to nature. From this indifference comes +idleness, and from idleness to crime the distance is very short. Now, +unfortunately, among the class I have been describing, the far greater +proportion consists of those whose conduct may be considered as neither +good nor bad, that is to say, without any particular leaning either way, +and, consequently, a mere trifle might firmly enlist them in the service +of virtue or vice. These are the very individuals,' continued our +master, 'we ought to try and improve, just as we should have done had +they been born to the honour of figuring as animals with hoofs, horns, +or woolly coats. Let us continue to point out to them how completely it +is to their interest to be active, industrious, steady, and well +qualified to discharge their several duties; let us effectually convince +them that, by becoming better men, they will also be much happier; let +them see how closely their good behaviour and prosperity are +interwoven, and, that good advice may sink the deeper into their hearts, +give them, as it were, such a taste of earthly comfort as shall, in a +slight degree, communicate to them the hope and notion of expecting the +unspeakable reward prepared by the Great Giver of all, whose dwelling is +on high.' + +"Having well arranged his plans, our master caused it to be made known +in the environs that he wished to engage twelve farm servants, six men +and six females; but that his choice would be entirely regulated by the +most satisfactory certificates of good conduct obtained from the civil +and religious authorities in their native place. They were to be paid +like princes, fed upon the best food to their hearts' content; and +further, a tenth part of the produce of the harvest was to be shared +among the labourers. The engagement at the farm was to last but two +years, at the end of which time they were to give place to other +labourers, chosen upon the same terms; but, at the expiration of five +years, the original labourers were taken on again, in the event of there +being any vacancies; so that, since the establishment of this farm, it +is usual for the labourers and working classes in the neighbourhood to +say, 'Let us be active, honest, and industrious, so as to obtain a high +character for such good qualities, and, perhaps, one day we may be +fortunate to get engaged at Bouqueval Farm. There, for a couple of +years, we shall lead a life of perfect happiness. We shall learn our +business thoroughly; we shall save a little money, so that, when our +time is up, every one will be glad to engage us, because they know that +we must have had first-rate characters to have been admitted on the +establishment at all.'" + +"I am already bespoke by M. Dubreuil for his farm at Arnouville," said +Jean Rene. + +"And I am engaged to a first-rate service at Gonesse," chimed in another +labourer. + +"You see, my good friend, by this plan everybody is a gainer, the +neighbouring farmers particularly. There are but twelve places for +servants on the farm, but there are, perhaps, fifty candidates who have +all earned their right to solicit an engagement by certificates and +testimonials of excellent conduct. Well, though thirty-eight out of the +fifty must be disappointed, yet the good which is in them will still +remain; and there are so many good and deserving characters in the +environs we can safely reckon upon; for, though they have failed in this +application, they still live in hopes of succeeding another time. Why, +for every prize animal to which the medal is assigned, whether for +swiftness, strength, or beauty, there must be a hundred or more trained +to stand forward and dispute the choice; and those animals rejected do +not lose any of those qualifications because they were not accepted; far +from it; their value is acknowledged, and they quickly find persons +desirous of possessing them. Now, friend," said Father Chatelain, having +fairly talked himself out of breath, "do you not confess that I was +right when I said ours was no common farm, any more than our employer +was no ordinary master?" + +"Indeed," said the Schoolmaster, "your account is most interesting, and +fully bears out all you asserted. But, the more I hear of the exalted +views and noble generosity of your master, the more earnestly do I pray +he may be induced to look with pity on my wretched condition. To such a +man, so filled with a desire to improve the condition of God's +creatures, a charitable action more or less would make but little +difference. Oh, tell me beforehand his name, and that of your kind Lady +of the Ready Help, that I may already bless and thank them; for full +certain am I, minds so bent upon good deeds will never turn a deaf ear +to my petition." + +"Now I dare say you expect to be told the high-sounding titles of some +great, grand personages. But, bless you! no such thing; no more parade +about their names than those of the saints themselves. 'Our Lady of +Help' is called Madame Georges, and our good master plain M. Rodolph." + +"Merciful powers! My wife! my judge! my executioner!" faintly exclaimed +the robber, struck almost speechless at this unexpected revelation. +"Rodolph!--Madame Georges!" + +It was wholly impossible for the Schoolmaster to entertain a doubt +respecting the identity of the persons to whom those names belonged. +Previously to adjudging him his fearful punishment, Rodolph had spoken +of the lively interest he took in all that concerned Madame Georges. The +recent visit of the negro David to this farm was another conclusive +proof of there being no mistake in the matter. It seemed as though the +very hand of Providence had brought about this singular rencontre, +overthrowing as it so completely did his recently cherished hopes of +emancipation from his present misery, through the intervention of the +generosity of the proprietor of this farm. To fly was his first impulse. +The very name of Rodolph inspired him with the most intense terror. +Possibly he was even now in the house. Scarcely recovered from his first +alarm, the brigand rose from the table, and, grasping the hand of +Tortillard, exclaimed, in a wild and terrified manner: + +"Let us be gone!--quick!--lead me hence. Let us go, I say." + +The whole of the servants looked on with astonishment. + +"Go!" said Father Chatelain, with much surprise. "Why? Wherefore should +you go? What are you thinking about, my friend? Come, what fresh whim is +this? Are you quite in your right senses?" + +Tortillard cleverly availed himself of this last suggestion, and, +uttering a deep sigh, touched his forehead significantly with his +forefinger, so as to convey to the minds of the wondering labourers the +impression that his pretended parent was not quite right in his head. +The signal elicited a corresponding gesture of pity and due +comprehension. + +"Come, I say, come!" persisted the Schoolmaster, endeavouring to draw +the boy along with him; but, fully determined not to quit such +comfortable quarters to wander about in the fields all night during the +frost and snow, Tortillard began in a whimpering voice to say: + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear! poor father has got one of his old fits come on +again. There, there, father, sit down and keep yourself quiet. Pray do, +and don't think of wandering out in the cold--it would kill you, maybe. +No, not if you are ever so angry with me, will I be so wicked as to lead +you out in such weather." Then, addressing himself to the labourers, he +said, "Will none of you good gentlemen help me to keep my poor dear +father from risking his life by going out to-night?" + +"Yes, yes, my boy," answered Father Chatelain; "make yourself perfectly +easy. We will not allow your father to quit the place. He shall stay +here to-night, in spite of himself." + +"Surely you will not keep me here against my will?" inquired the +wretched Schoolmaster, in hurried accents; "and perhaps, too, I should +offend your master by my presence--that Monsieur Rodolph. You told me +the farm was not an hospital; once more, therefore, I ask you to let me +go forth in peace on my way." + +"Offend our master!--that you would not, I am quite sure. But make +yourself easy on that score. I am sorry to say that he does not live +here, neither do we see him half as frequently as we could wish. But, if +even he had been here, your presence would have made no sort of +difference to him." + +"No, no," persisted the blind man with continued alarm; "I have changed +my mind about applying to him. My son is right. No doubt my relation at +Louvres will take care of me. I will go there at once." + +"All I have got to say," replied Father Chatelain, kindly conceiving +that he was speaking to a man whose brain was unhappily affected, "is +just this--that to attempt to proceed on your journey with this poor +child to-night is wholly out of the question. Come, let me put matters +to rights for you, and say no more about it." + +Although now being reassured of Rodolph's not being at Bouqueval, the +terrors of the Schoolmaster were by no means dissipated; and, spite of +his frightfully disfigured countenance, he was in momentary dread of +being recognized by his wife, who might at any moment enter the kitchen, +when he was perfectly persuaded she would instantly denounce and give +him into custody; his firm impression having been, from the hour of +receiving his horrible punishment from the hands of Rodolph, that it was +done to satisfy the hatred and vengeance of Madame Georges. But, unable +to quit the farm, the ruffian found himself wholly at the mercy of +Tortillard. Resigning himself, therefore, to what was unavoidable, yet +anxious to escape from the eyes of his wife, he said to the venerable +labourer: + +"Since you kindly assure me my being here will in no way displease +either your master or mistress, I will gladly accept your hospitality; +but, as I am much fatigued, and must set out again at break of day, I +would humbly ask permission to go at once to my bed." + +"Oh, yes, to-morrow morning by all means, and as soon as you like; we +are very early people here. And, for fear even that you should again +wander from the right road, some one shall conduct you part of the way." + +"If you have no objection," said Jean Rene, addressing Father Chatelain, +"I will see the poor man a good step on the road; because Madame Georges +said yesterday I was to take the chaise and go to the lawyer's at +Villiers le Bel to fetch a large sum of money she requires of him." + +"Go with the poor blind traveller by all means," replied Father +Chatelain; "but you must walk, mind. Madame has changed her mind about +sending to Villiers del Bel, and, wisely reflecting that it was not +worth while to have so large a sum of money lying useless at the farm, +has determined to let it remain with the lawyer till Monday next, which +will be the day she requires it." + +"Of course, Father Chatelain; mistress knows best. But please to tell me +why she should consider it unsafe to have money at the farm. What is she +afraid of?" + +"Of nothing, my lad. Thank God, there is no occasion for fear. But, for +all that, I would much rather have five hundred sacks of corn on the +premises than ten bags of crowns. Come," said old Chatelain, addressing +himself to the brigand and Tortillard, "come, follow me, friend; and you +too, my lad." Then, taking up a small lamp, he conducted his two guests +to a chamber on the ground floor, first traversing a large passage into +which several doors opened. Placing the light on a table, the old +labourer said to the Schoolmaster, "Here is your lodging, and may God +grant you a good and peaceful night's repose, my good friend. As for +you, my little man, you are sure to sleep sound and well; it belongs to +your happy age to do so." + +The Schoolmaster, pensive and meditative, sat down by the side of the +bed to which Tortillard conducted him. At the instant when Father +Chatelain was quitting the room, Tortillard made him a sign indicative +of his desire to speak with him alone, and hastily rejoined him in the +passage. + +"What is it, my boy, you have to say to me?" inquired the old man, +kindly. + +"Ah, my kind sir, I only wanted to say that my father is frequently +seized during the night with most violent convulsion-fits, which require +a much stronger person than I am to hold him; should I be obliged to +call for help, is there any person near who could hear me?" + +"Poor child!" said the labourer, sympathisingly; "make yourself easy. +There,--do you see that door beside the staircase?" + +"Oh, yes, good, kind gentleman; I see it." + +"Well, one of the farm labourers sleeps in that room. You will only just +have to run to him. He never locks his door; and he will come to your +father in an instant." + +"Thank you, sir; God bless you! I will remember all your kindness when I +say my prayers. But suppose, sir, the man and myself were not strong +enough together to manage my poor father when these violent convulsions +come on, could you, who look so good, and speak so kind--could you be +kind enough to come and tell us what to do?" + +"Me, my boy? Oh, I sleep, as well as all the other men servants, out of +the house, in a large outbuilding in the courtyard. But make yourself +quite comfortable. Jean Rene could manage a mad bull, he is so powerful. +Besides, if you really wished any further help he would go and call up +our old cook; she sleeps on the first floor, even with our mistress and +young mademoiselle, and I can promise you that our old woman is a most +excellent sick-nurse should your father require any one to attend to him +when the fit is over." + +"Thank you, kind gentleman, a thousand times. Good-night, sir. I will go +now and pray of God to bless you for your kindness and pity to the poor +blind." + +"Good night, my lad! Let us hope both you and your father will enjoy a +sound night's rest, and have no occasion to require any person's help. +You had better return to your room now; your poor father may be wanting +you." + +"I will, sir. Good night, and thank you!" + +"God preserve you both, my child!" And the old man returned to the +kitchen. + +Scarcely had he turned his back than the limping rascal made one of +those supremely insulting and derisive gestures familiar to all the +blackguards of Paris, consisting in slapping the nape of the neck +repeatedly with the left hand, darting the right hand quite open +continually out in a straight line. With the most consummate audacity, +this dangerous child had just gleaned, under the mask of guileless +tenderness and apprehension for his father, information most important +for the furtherance of the schemes of the Chouette and Schoolmaster. He +had ascertained during the last few minutes that the part of the +building where he slept was only occupied by Madame Georges, +Fleur-de-Marie, an old female servant, and one of the farm-labourers. +Upon his return to the room he was to share with the blind man, +Tortillard carefully avoided approaching him. The former, however, heard +his step, and growled out: + +"Where have you been, you vagabond?" + +"What! you want to know, do you, old blind 'un?" + +"Oh, I'll make you pay for all you have made me suffer this evening, you +wretched urchin!" exclaimed the Schoolmaster, rising furiously, and +groping about in every direction after Tortillard, feeling by the walls +as a guide. "I'll strangle you when I catch you, you young fiend--you +infernal viper!" + +"Poor, dear father! How prettily he plays at blind-man's buff with his +own little boy," said Tortillard, grinning, and enjoying the ease with +which he escaped from the impotent attempts of the Schoolmaster to seize +him, who, though impelled to the exertion by his overboiling rage, was +soon compelled to cease, and, as had been the case before, to give up +all hopes of inflicting the revenge he yearned to bestow on the impish +son of Bras Rouge. + +Thus compelled to submit to the impudent persecution of his juvenile +tormentor, and await the propitious hour when all his injuries could +safely be avenged, the brigand determined to reserve his powerless wrath +for a fitting opportunity of paying off old scores, and, worn out in +body by his futile violence, threw himself, swearing and cursing, on the +bed. + +"Dear father!--sweet father!--have you got the toothache that you swear +so? Ah, if Monsieur le Cure heard you, what would he say to you? He +would give you such penance! Oh, my!" + +"That's right!--go on!" replied the ruffian, in a hollow and suppressed +voice, after long enduring this entertaining vivacity on the part of the +young gentleman. "Laugh at me!--mock me!--make sport of my calamity, +cowardly scoundrel that you are! That is a fine, noble action, is it +not? Just worthy of such a mean, ignoble, contemptible soul as dwells +within that wretched, crooked body!" + +"Oh, how fine we talk! How nice we preach about being generous, and all +that, don't we?" cried Tortillard, bursting into peals of laughter. "I +beg your pardon, dear father, but I can't possibly help thinking it so +funny to hear you, whose fingers were regular fish-hooks, picking and +stealing whatever came in their way; and, as for generosity, I beg you +don't mention it, because, till you got your eyes poked out I don't +suppose you ever thought of such a word!" + +"But, at least, I never did you any harm. Why, then, torment me thus?" + +"Because, in the first place, you said what I did not like to the +Chouette; then you had a fancy for stopping and playing the fool among +the clodhoppers here. Perhaps you mean to commence a course of asses' +milk?" + +"You impudent young beggar! If I had only had the opportunity of +remaining at this farm--which I now wish sunk in the bottomless pit, or +blasted with eternal lightning--you should not have played your tricks +of devilish cruelty with me any longer!" + +"You to remain here! that would be a farce! Who, then, would Madame la +Chouette have for her _bete de souffrance_? Me, perhaps, thank +ye!--don't you wish you may get it?" + +"Miserable abortion!" + +"Abortion! ah, yes, another reason why I say, as well as Aunt Chouette, +there is nothing so funny as to see you in one of your unaccountable +passions--you, who could kill me with one blow of your fist; it's more +funny than if you were a poor, weak creature. How very funny you were at +supper to-night! _Dieu de Dieu!_ what a lark I had all to myself! Why, +it was better than a play at the Gaite. At every kick I gave you on the +sly, your passion made all the blood fly in your face, and your white +eyes became red all round; they only wanted a bit of blue in the middle +to have been real tri-coloured. They would have made two fine cockades +for the town-sergeant, wouldn't they?" + +"Come, come, you like to laugh--you are merry: bah! it's natural at your +age--it's natural--I'm not angry with you," said the Schoolmaster, in an +air of affected carelessness, hoping to propitiate Tortillard; "but, +instead of standing there, saying saucy things, it would be much better +for you to remember what the Chouette told you; you say you are very +fond of her. You should examine all over the place, and get the print of +the locks. Didn't you hear them say they expected to have a large sum of +money here on Monday? We will be amongst them then, and have our share. +I should have been foolish to have stayed here; I should have had enough +of these asses of country people at the end of a week, shouldn't I, +boy?" asked the ruffian, to flatter Tortillard. + +"If you had stayed here I should have been very much annoyed, 'pon my +word and honour," replied Bras Rouge's son, in a mocking tone. + +"Yes, yes, there's a good business to be done in this house; and, if +there should be nothing to steal, yet I will return here with the +Chouette, if only to have my revenge," said the miscreant, in a tone +full of fury and malice, "for now I am sure it is my wife who excited +that infernal Rodolph against me; he who, in blinding me, has put me at +the mercy of all the world, of the Chouette, and a young blackguard like +yourself. Well, if I cannot avenge myself on him, I will have vengeance +against my wife,--yes, she shall pay me for all, even if I set fire to +this accursed house and bury myself in its smouldering ruins. Yes, I +will--I will have--" + +"You will, you want to get hold of your wife, eh, old gentleman? She is +within ten paces of you! that's vexing, ain't it? If I liked, I could +lead you to the door of her room, that's what I could, for I know the +room. I know it--I know it--I know it," added Tortillard, singing +according to his custom. + +"You know her room?" said the Schoolmaster, in an agony of fervent joy; +"you know it?" + +"I see you coming," said Tortillard; "come, play the pretty, and get on +your hind legs like a dog when they throw him a dainty bone. Now, old +Cupid!" + +"You know my wife's chamber?" said the miscreant, turning to the side +whence the sound of Tortillard's voice proceeded. + +"Yes, I know it; and, what's still better, only one of the farm servants +sleeps on the side of the house where we are. I know his door--the key +is in it--click, one turn, and he's all safe and fast. Come, get up, old +blind Cupid!" + +"Who told you all this?" asked the blind scoundrel, rising +involuntarily. + +"Capital, Cupid! By the side of your wife's room sleeps an old cook--one +more turn of the key, and click! we are masters of the house--masters of +your wife, and the young girl with the gray mantle that you must catch +hold of and carry off. Now, then, your paw, old Cupid; do the pretty to +your master directly." + +"You lie! you lie! how could you know all this?" + +"Why, I'm lame in my leg, but not in my head. Before we left the kitchen +I said to the old guzzling labourer that sometimes in the night you had +convulsions, and I asked him where I could get assistance if you were +attacked. He said if you were attacked I might call up the man servant +and the cook; and he showed me where they slept; one down, the other up +stairs in the first floor, close to your wife--your wife--your wife!" + +And Tortillard repeated his monotonous song. After a lengthened silence +the Schoolmaster said to him, in a calm voice, but with an air of +desperate determination: + +"Listen, boy. I have stayed long enough. Lately--yes, yes, I confess +it--I had a hope which now makes my lot appear still more frightful; the +prison, the _bagne_, the guillotine, are nothing--nothing to what I have +endured since this morning; and I shall have the same to endure always. +Lead me to my wife's room; I have my knife here; I will kill her. I +shall be killed afterwards; but what of that? My hatred swells till it +chokes me; I shall have revenge, and that will console me. What I now +suffer is too much--too much! for me, too, before whom everybody +trembled. Now, lad, if you knew what I endure, even you would pity me. +Even now my brain appears ready to burst; my pulse beats as if my veins +would burst; my head whirls--" + +"A cold in your 'knowledge-box,' old chap--that's it; sneeze--that'll +cure you," said Tortillard, with a loud grin; "what say you to a pinch +of snuff, old brick?" + +And striking loudly on the back of his left hand, which was clenched, as +if he were tapping on the lid of a snuff-box, he sang: + + "J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabatiere; + J'ai du bon tabac, tu n'en auras pas." + +"_Oh, mon Dieu! mon Dieu!_ they will drive me mad!" cried the brigand, +becoming really almost demented by a sort of nervous excitement arising +from bloodthirsty revenge and implacable hatred, which in vain sought to +satiate itself. The exuberant strength of this monster could only be +equalled by the impossibility of satisfying his deadly desires. Let us +imagine a hungry, furious, maddened wolf, teased during a whole day by a +child through the bars of his den, and scenting within two paces of him +a victim who would at once satisfy his hunger and his rage. At the last +taunt of Tortillard the brigand almost lost his senses; unable to reach +his victim, he desired in his frenzy to shed his own blood, for his +blood was stifling him. One moment he resolved to kill himself, and, had +he had a loaded pistol in his hand, he would not have hesitated; he +fumbled in his pocket, and drew out a clasp-knife, opened it, and raised +it to strike; but, quick as were his movements, reflection, fear, and +vital instinct were still more rapid,--the murderer lacked courage,--his +arm fell on his knees. Tortillard had watched all his actions with an +attentive eye, and, when he saw the finale of this pseudo-tragedy, he +continued, mockingly,-- + +"How, boys, a duel? Ah, pluck the chickens!" + +The Schoolmaster, fearing that he should lose his senses if he gave way +to an ineffectual burst of fury, turned a deaf ear to this fresh insult +of Tortillard, who so impertinently commented on the cowardice of an +assassin who recoiled from suicide. Despairing of escape from what he +termed, by a sort of avenging fatality, the cruelty of his cursed child, +the ruffian sought to try what could be done by assailing the avarice of +the son of Bras Rouge. + +"Ah," said he to him, in a tone almost supplicatory, "lead me to the +door of my wife's room, and take anything you like that's in her room +and run away with it! leave me to myself. You may cry out 'murder' if +you like; they will apprehend me--kill me on the spot--I care not, I +shall die avenged, if I have not the courage to end my existence myself. +Oh, lead me there--lead me there; depend on it she has gold, jewels, +anything, and you may take all, all for yourself, for your own, do you +mind?--your own; only lead me to the door where she is." + +"Yes, I mind well enough; you want me to lead you to her door, then to +her bed, and then to tell you when to strike, then to guide your +hand--eh! that's it, ain't it? You want to make me a handle to your +knife, old monster!" replied Tortillard, with an expression of contempt, +anger, and horror, which, for the first time in his life gave an +appearance of seriousness to his weasel face, usually all impertinence +and insolence; "I'll be killed first, I tell you, sooner than I'll lead +you to where your wife is!" + +"You refuse?" + +The son of Bras Rouge made no reply. He approached with bare feet and +without being heard by the Schoolmaster, who, seated on the bed, still +held his large knife in his hand, and then, in a moment, with marvellous +quickness and dexterity, Tortillard snatched from him his weapon, and +with one jump skipped to the further end of the chamber. + +"My knife! my knife!" cried the brigand, extending his arms. + +"No; for then you might to-morrow morning ask to speak with your wife +and try to kill her, since, as you say, you have had enough of life, and +are such a coward that you don't dare kill yourself." + +"How he defends my wife against me!" said the bandit, whose intellect +became obscure. "This little wretch is a devil! Where am I? Why does he +try to save her?" + +"Because I like it," said Tortillard, whose face resumed its usual +appearance of sly impudence. + +"Ah, is that it?" murmured the Schoolmaster, whose mind was wandering; +"well, then, I'll fire the house! we'll all burn--all! I prefer that +furnace to the other. The candle! the candle!" + +"Ah! ah! ah!" exclaimed Tortillard, bursting out again into loud +laughter. "If your own candle--your 'peepers'--had not been snuffed out, +and for ever, you would have known that ours had been extinguished an +hour ago." And Tortillard sang: + + "Ma chandelle est morte, + Je n'ai plus de feu." + +The Schoolmaster gave a deep groan, stretched out his arms, and fell +heavily on the floor, his face on the ground, and, struck by a rush of +blood, remained motionless. + +"Not to be caught, old boy," said Tortillard; "that's only a trick to +make me come to you that you may serve me out! When you have been long +enough on the floor you'll get up." + +Bras Rouge's boy resolved not to go to sleep for fear of being surprised +by the Schoolmaster, so seated himself in a chair, with his eyes fixed +on the ruffian, persuaded that it was a trap laid for him, and not +believing the Schoolmaster in any danger. That he might employ himself +agreeably Tortillard drew silently and carefully from his pocket a +little red silk purse, and counted slowly, and with looks of joy and +avarice, the seventeen pieces of gold which it contained. Tortillard had +acquired his ill-gotten riches thus: It may be remembered that Madame +d'Harville was nearly surprised by her husband at the rendezvous which +she had granted to the commandant. Rodolph, when he had given the purse +to the young lady had told her to go up to the fifth story to the +Morels, under the pretence of bringing them assistance. Madame +d'Harville ran quickly up the staircase holding the purse in her hands. +When Tortillard, who was coming from the quack's, caught a glimpse of +the purse, and, pretending to stumble as he passed the marquise, pushed +against her, and, in the shock, slily stole the purse. Madame +d'Harville, bewildered, and hearing her husband's footsteps, hurried on +to the fifth story without thinking or complaining of the impudent +robbery of the little cripple. After having counted and recounted his +gold Tortillard cast his eyes towards the Schoolmaster who was extended +still on the ground. Disquieted for a moment, he listened, and hearing +the robber breathe freely he thought that he was still meditating some +trick against him. + +Chance saved the Schoolmaster from a congestion of the brain which else +must have proved mortal. His fall had caused a salutary and abundant +bleeding at the nose. He then fell into kind of a feverish torpor--half +sleep, half delirium, and then had this wild, this fearful dream! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE DREAM. + + +This was the Schoolmaster's dream: + +He was again in Rodolph's house in the Allee des Veuves. The saloon in +which the miscreant had received his appalling punishment had not +undergone any alteration. Rodolph himself was sitting at the table on +which were the Schoolmaster's papers and the little _Saint-Esprit_ of +_lapis_ which he had given to the Chouette. Rodolph's countenance was +grave and sad. On his right the negro David was standing motionless and +silent; on his left was the Chourineur, who looked on with a bewildered +mien. In his dream the Schoolmaster was no longer blind, but saw through +a medium of clear blood, which filled the cavities of his eyeballs. All +and everything seemed to him tinted with red. As birds of prey hover on +motionless wing above the head of the victim which they fascinate before +they devour, so a monstrous screech-owl (_chouette_), having for its +head the hideous visage of the one-eyed hag, soared over the +Schoolmaster, keeping fixed on him her round, glaring, and green eye. +This fixed stare was upon his breast like a heavy weight. The +Schoolmaster discerned a vast lake of blood separating him from the +table at which Rodolph was seated. Then this inflexible judge, as well +as the Chourineur and the negro, grew and grew, expanding into colossal +proportions, until they touched the ceiling; and then it also became +higher in proportion. The lake of blood was calm, and as unruffled as a +red mirror; the Schoolmaster saw his hideous countenance reflected +therein. Then that was suddenly effaced by the tumult of the swelling +waves. From their troubled surface there arose a vapour resembling the +foul exhalation of a marsh, a livid-coloured mist of that violet hue +peculiar to the lips of the dead. In proportion as this miasma +rises--rises, the faces of Rodolph, the Chourineur, and the negro +continue to expand and expand in an extraordinary manner, and always +remain above this fearful cloud. In the midst of the awful vapour, the +Schoolmaster sees the pale ghosts, and those murderous scenes in which +he had been the actor. In this fantastic mirage he first sees a little +bald-headed old man, clad in a long brown coat, and wearing an eye-shade +of green silk. He is employing himself in a dilapidated chamber in +counting and arranging pieces of gold into piles by the light of a lamp. +Through the window, lighted by the dim moonlight reflected on the tops +of some high trees waving in the wind, the Schoolmaster recognises his +own figure. Pressing his distorted features against the glass, following +every motion of the old man with glaring eyes, then breaking a pane, he +opens the window itself, leaps with a bound upon his victim, and stabs +him between the shoulders with his long and keen knife. The movement is +so rapid, the blow so quick and sure, that the dead body of the old man +remains seated in the chair. + +The murderer tries to withdraw his weapon from the dead body,--he +cannot! He redoubles his efforts,--in vain! He then seeks to quit the +deadly steel,--impossible! + +The hand of the assassin clings to the handle of the poignard, as the +blade of the poignard clings to the frame of the wounded man. The +murderer then hears the sound of clinking spurs and clashing swords in +the adjoining room. He must escape at all risks, and attempts to carry +with him the body of the feeble old man, from which he cannot withdraw +either his weapon or his hand. + +He cannot do even this. The light and feeble carcass weighs him down +like a mass of lead. Despite his herculean shoulders, his desperate +efforts, the Schoolmaster cannot even stir this overwhelming weight. + +The sound of echoing steps and jingling sabres comes nearer and nearer. +The key turns in the lock,--the door opens. The vision disappears. + +And then the screech-owl flaps her wing, and shrieks out: + +"It is the old miser of the Rue de la Roule. Your maiden murder! murder! +murder!" + +A moment's darkness,--then the miasma which covers the lake of blood +resumes its transparency, and another spectre is revealed. + +The day begins to dawn,--the fog is thick and heavy. A man, clothed like +a cattle-dealer, lies stretched, dead on the bank of the highroad. The +trampled earth, the torn turf, proved that the victim had made a +desperate resistance. The man has five bleeding wounds in his breast. He +is lifeless; yet still he seems to whistle on his dogs, calling to them, +"Help! help!" + +But his whistling, his cries, proceed from five large and gaping +wounds,-- + + "Each one a death in nature,"-- + +which move like so many complaining lips. The five calls, the five +whistlings, all made and heard at once, come from the dead man by the +mouths of his gushing wounds; and fearful are they to hear! + +At this instant the Chouette waves her wings, and mocks the deathly +groans of the victim with five bursts of laughter,--a laughter as +unearthly and as horrible as the madman's mirth; and then again she +shrieks: + +"The cattle-dealer of Poissy. Murder! murder! murder!" + +Protracted and underground echoes first repeat aloud the malevolent +laughter of the screech-owl. Then they seem to die away in the very +bowels of the earth. + +At this sound two large dogs, as black as midnight, with eyes glaring +like burning coals, begin to run rapidly around--around--around the +Schoolmaster, baying furiously. They almost touch him, and yet their +bark appears as distant as if carried on the wind of the morning. + +Gradually these spectres fade away as the previous one did, and are lost +in the pale vapour which is continually ascending. + +A new exhalation now arises from the lake of blood, and spreads itself +on its surface. It is a sort of greenish, transparent mist; it resembles +the vertical section of a canal filled with water. At first he sees the +bed of the canal covered in by a thick vase formed of numberless +reptiles usually imperceptible to the unassisted eye, but which, +enlarged, as if viewed through a microscope, assume monstrous forms, +vast proportions relatively to their actual size. It is no longer mud, +but a compact, living, crawling mass,--an inextricable conglomeration +which wriggles and curls; so close, so dense, that a sullen and low +undulation hardly stirs the level of this vase, or rather bed of foulest +animalculae. Above trickles gently--gently, a turbid stream, thick and +stagnating, which, in its dilatory flow, disturbs the filth incessantly +vomited by the sewers of a great city,--fragments of all sorts, +carcasses of animals, etc., etc. Suddenly the Schoolmaster hears the +plash of a body, which falls heavily on the water; in its recoil the +water sprinkles his very face. In the midst of the air-bubbles which +rise thick and fast to the surface of the canal he sees the body of a +woman, which sinks rapidly as she struggles--struggles. + +Then he sees himself and the Chouette running hastily along the banks of +St. Martin's Canal, carrying with them a box covered with black cloth; +and yet he is still present during all the variations of agony suffered +by the victim whom he and the Chouette have thrown into the canal. After +the first immersion the victim rises to the surface and moves her arms +in violent agitation like some one who, not knowing how to swim, tries +in vain to save herself. Then she utters a piercing cry,--a cry of one +in the last extremity,--despairing--which ends in the sullen, stifled +sound of involuntary choking; and the woman the second time sinks +beneath the troubled waters. + +The screech-owl, which hovers continually motionless, imitates the +convulsive rattle of the drowning wretch, as she mocked the dying groans +of the cattle-dealer. In the midst of bursts of deathlike laughter the +screech-owl utters, "Glou! glou! glou!" + +The subterranean echoes repeated the sound. + +A second time submerged the woman is fast suffocating, and makes one +more desperate effort for breath; but, instead of air, it is water which +she inspires. Then her head falls back, her convulsed features are +swollen and become livid, her neck becomes blue and tumefied, her arms +stiffen, and, in a last spasmodic effort, the drowning woman in her +agony moves her feet, which are resting on the vase. Then she is +surrounded by a mass of black soil, which ascends with her to the +surface of the water. Scarcely has the choked wretch breathed her last +sigh than she is covered with myriads of the microscopic reptiles,--the +greedy and horrible vermin of the mud. The carcass floats for a moment, +balances for a moment, and then sinks slowly, horizontally, the feet +lower than the head, and between the double waters begins to follow the +current of the land. Sometimes the dead corpse turns, and its pale face +is before the Schoolmaster. Then the spectre fixes on him glaringly its +two blue, glassy, and opaque eyes; the livid mouth opens. The +Schoolmaster is far away from the drowning woman, and yet her lips +murmur in his ears, "Glou! glou! glou!" accompanying these appalling +syllables with that singular noise which a bottle thrust into the water +makes when filling itself. + +The screech-owl repeats, "Glou! glou! glou!" flapping her wings, and +shrieking: + +"The woman of the Canal St. Martin! Murder! murder! murder!" + +The vision of the drowned woman disappears. The lake of blood, through +which the Schoolmaster still constantly beholds Rodolph, becomes of a +bronzed, black colour, then red again, and then changes instantaneously +into a liquid, furnace-like, molten metal. Then that lake of fire +rises--rises--rises towards the sky like an immense whirlpool. There is +now a fiery horizon like iron at a white heat. This immense, boundless +horizon dazzles and scorches the very eyes of the Schoolmaster, who, +fascinated, fastened to the spot, cannot turn away his gaze. Then, at +the bottom of this burning lava, whose reflection seems to consume him, +he sees pass and repass, one by one, the black and giant spectres of his +victims. + +"The magic-lanthorn of remorse! remorse! remorse!" shrieks the +night-bird, flapping her hideous wings, and laughing mockingly. + +Notwithstanding the intolerable anguish which his impatient gaze +creates, the Schoolmaster has his eyes fixed on the grisly phantoms +which move in the blazing sheet. Then an indefinable horror steals over +him. Passing through every step of indescribable torture, by dint of +contemplating this blazing sight, he feels his eyeballs--which have +replaced the blood with which his orbits were filled at the commencement +of his dream--he feels his eyeballs grow hot, burning, and melt in this +furnace--to smoke and bubble--and at last to become calcined in their +cavities like two crucibles filled with red fire. By a fearful power, +after having seen as well as felt the successive transformations of his +eyeballs into ashes, he falls into the darkness of his actual blindness. + +But now, suddenly, his intolerable agonies are assuaged as though by +enchantment. An odorous air of delicious freshness passes over his +burning eyeballs. This air is a lovely admixture of the scents of +springtime, which exhale from flowers bathed in evening dew. The +Schoolmaster hears all about him a gentle murmur, like that of the +breeze which just stirs the leaves--like that of a brook of running +waters, which rushes and murmurs on its bed of stone and moss "in the +leafy month of June." Thousands of birds warble the most enchanting +melodies. They are stilled, and the voices of children, of angelic tone, +sing strange, unknown words--words that are "winged" (if we may use the +expression), and which the Schoolmaster hears mount to heaven with +gentle motion. A feeling of moral health, of tranquillity, of undefined +languor, creeps over him by degrees. It is an expansion of the heart, an +elevation of the mind, an effort of the soul, of which no physical +feeling, how delicious soever it may be, can impart the least idea. He +feels himself softly soaring in a heavenly sphere; he seems to rise to +an immeasurable height. + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +After having for some moments revelled in this unspeakable felicity he +again finds himself in the dark abyss of his habitual thoughts. His +dream continues; but he is again but the muzzled miscreant who +blasphemes and curses in the paroxysm of his impotent rage. A voice is +heard--sonorous--solemn. It is Rodolph's. The Schoolmaster starts "like +a guilty thing upon a fearful summons." He has the vague consciousness +of a dream; but the alarm with which Rodolph inspires him is so great +that he tries, but vainly, to escape from this fresh vision. The voice +speaks--he listens. The tone of Rodolph is not severe; it is "rather in +sorrow than in anger." + +"Unhappy man," he says to the Schoolmaster, "the hour of your repentance +has not yet sounded. God only knows when it will strike. The punishment +of your crimes is still incomplete; you have suffered, but not expiated. +Destiny follows out its work of full justice. Your accomplices have +become your tormentors. A woman, a child, tame, subdue, conquer you. +When I sentenced you to a terrible punishment for your crimes I said--do +you remember my words?--'You have wickedly abused the great bodily +strength bestowed upon you; I will paralyse that strength. The strongest +have trembled before you; I will make you henceforward shrink in the +presence of the weakest of beings.' You have left the obscure retreat in +which you might have dwelt for repentance and expiation. You were afraid +of silence and solitude. You sought to drown remembrance by new crimes. +Just now, in a fearful and bloodthirsty access of passion, you have +wished to kill your wife. She is here under the same roof as yourself. +She sleeps without defence. You have a knife. Her apartment is close at +hand. There was nothing to prevent you from reaching her. Nothing could +have protected her from your rage--nothing but your impotence. The dream +you have had, and in which you are still bound, may teach you much, may +save you. The mysterious phantoms of this dream bear with them a most +pregnant meaning. The lake of blood, in which your victims have +appeared, is the blood you have shed. The molten lava which replaced it +is the gnawing, eating remorse, which must consume you before one day, +that the Almighty, having mercy on your protracted tortures, shall call +you to himself, and let you taste the ineffable sweetness of his +gracious forgiveness. But this will not be. No, no! these warnings will +be useless. Far from repenting, you regret every day, with horrid +blasphemies, the time when you could commit such atrocities. Alas! from +this continual struggle between your bloodthirsty desires and the +impossibility of satisfying them,--between your habits of fierce +oppression and the compulsion of submitting to beings as weak as they +are depraved,--there will result to you a fate so fearful, so appalling. +Ah, unhappy wretch!" + +Rodolph's voice faltered, and for a moment he was silent, as if emotion +and horror had hindered him from proceeding. The Schoolmaster's hair +bristled on his brow. What could be--would be--that fate, which even his +executioner pitied? + +"The fate that awaits you is so horrible," resumed Rodolph, "that, if +the Almighty, in his inexorable and all-powerful vengeance, would make +you in your person expiate all the crimes of all mankind, he could not +devise a more fearful punishment! Ah, woe for you! woe for you!" + +At this moment the Schoolmaster uttered a piercing shriek, and awoke +with a bound at this horrid, frightful dream. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE LETTER. + + +The hour of nine had struck on the Bouqueval clock, when Madame Georges +softly entered the chamber of Fleur-de-Marie. The light slumber of the +young girl was quickly broken, and she awoke to find her kind friend +standing by her bedside. A brilliant winter's sun darted its rays +through the blinds and chintz window-curtains, the pink linings of which +cast a bright glow on the pale countenance of La Goualeuse, giving it +the look of health it so greatly needed. + +"Well, my child," said Madame Georges, sitting down and gently kissing +her forehead, "how are you this morning?" + +"Much better, madame, I thank you." + +"I hope you were not awoke very early this morning?" + +"No, indeed, madame." + +"I am glad of it; the blind man and his son, who were permitted to sleep +here last night, insisted upon quitting the farm immediately it was +light, and I was fearful that the noise made in opening the gates might +have woke you." + +"Poor things! why did they go so very early?" + +"I know not. After you became more calm and comfortable last night, I +went down into the kitchen for the purpose of seeing them, but they had +pleaded extreme weariness, and begged permission to retire. Father +Chatelain tells me the blind man does not seem very right in his head; +and the whole body of servants were unanimous in praising the tenderness +and care with which the boy attended upon his blind parent. But now, my +dear Marie, listen to me; you must not expose yourself to the risk of +taking fresh cold after the attack of fever you suffered from last +night, and, therefore, I recommend your keeping quite quiet all day, and +not leaving the parlour at all." + +"Nay, madame, I have promised M. le Cure to be at the rectory at five +o'clock; pray allow me to go, as I am expected." + +"Indeed I cannot, it would be very imprudent; I can perceive you have +passed a very bad night, your eyes are quite heavy." + +"I have not been able to rest through the most frightful dreams which +pursued me whenever I tried to sleep. I fancied myself in the power of a +wicked woman who used to torment me most cruelly when I was a child; and +I kept starting up in dread and alarm. I am ashamed of such silly +weakness as to allow dreams to frighten me, but, indeed, I suffered so +much during the night that when I awoke my pillow was wetted with my +tears." + +"I am truly sorry for this weakness, as you justly style it, my dear +child," said Madame Georges, with affectionate concern, seeing the eyes +of Fleur-de-Marie again filling fast, "because I perceive the pain it +occasions you." + +The poor girl, overpowered by her feelings, threw her arms around the +neck of her adopted mother and buried her sobs in her bosom. + +"Marie, Marie! my child, you terrify me; why, why is this?" + +"Pardon me, dear madame, I beseech you! Indeed, I know not myself what +has come over me, but for the last two days my heart has seemed full +almost to bursting. I cannot restrain my tears, though I know not +wherefore I weep. A fearful dread of some great evil about to befall me +weighs down my spirits and resists every attempt to shake it off." + +"Come! come! I shall scold you in earnest if you thus give way to +imaginary terrors." + +At this moment Claudine, whose previous tap at the door had been +unheard, entered the room. + +"What is it, Claudine?" + +"Madame, Pierre has just arrived from Arnouville, in Madame Dubreuil's +chaise; he brings a letter for you which he says is of great +importance." + +Madame Georges took the paper from Claudine's hand, opened it and read +as follows: + + "MY DEAR MADAME GEORGES: + + "You could do me a considerable favour, and assist me under very + perplexing circumstances, by hastening to the farm here without + delay. Pierre has orders to wait till you are ready, and will + drive you back after dinner. I really am in such confusion that I + hardly know what I am about. M. Dubreuil has gone to the + wool-fair at Pontoise; I have, therefore, no one to turn to for + advice and assistance but you and Marie. Clara sends her best + love to her very dear adopted sister, and anxiously expects her + arrival. Try to be with us by eleven o'clock, to luncheon. + + "Ever yours most sincerely, + "F. DUBREUIL." + +"What can possibly be the matter?" asked Madame Georges of +Fleur-de-Marie; "fortunately the tone of Madame Dubreuil's letter is not +calculated to cause alarm." + +"Do you wish me to accompany you, madame?" asked the Goualeuse. + +"Why, that would scarcely be prudent, so cold as it is. But, upon second +thoughts," continued Madame Georges, "I think you may venture if you +wrap yourself up very warm; it will serve to raise your spirits, and +possibly the short ride may do you good." + +The Goualeuse did not immediately reply, but, after a few minutes' +consideration, she ventured to say: + +"But, madame, M. le Cure expects me this evening, at five o'clock, at +the rectory." + +"But I promise you to be back in good time for you to keep your +engagement; now will you go?" + +"Oh, thank you, madame! Indeed, I shall be so delighted to see Mlle. +Clara." + +"What! again?" uttered Madame Georges, in a tone of gentle reproach. +"Mlle. Clara? She does not speak so distantly to you when she addresses +you." + +"Oh, no, madame!" replied the poor girl, casting down her eyes, while a +bright flush rose even to her temples; "but there is so great a +difference between us that--" + +"Dear Marie! you are cruel and unkind thus needlessly to torment +yourself. Have you so soon forgotten how I chided you but just now for +the very same fault? There, drive away all such foolish thoughts! dress +yourself as quickly as you can, and pray wrap up very carefully. If we +are quick, we may reach Arnouville before eleven o'clock." + +Then, leaving Fleur-de-Marie to perform the duties of her simple toilet, +Madame Georges retired to her own chamber, first dismissing Claudine +with an intimation to Pierre that herself and niece would be ready to +start almost immediately. + +Half an hour afterwards, Madame Georges and Marie were on their way to +Arnouville, in one of those large, roomy cabriolets, in use among the +rich farmers in the environs of Paris; and briskly did their comfortable +vehicle, drawn by a stout Norman horse, roll over the grassy road which +led from Bouqueval to Arnouville. The extensive buildings and numerous +appendages to the farm, tenanted by M. Dubreuil in the latter village, +bore testimony to the wealth and importance of the property bestowed as +a marriage-portion on Mlle. Cesarine de Noirmont upon her union with the +Duke de Lucenay. + +The loud crack of Pierre's whip apprised Madame Dubreuil of the arrival +of her friend, Madame Georges, with Fleur-de-Marie, who were most +affectionately greeted by Clara and her mother. Madame Dubreuil was a +good-looking woman of middle age, with a countenance expressive of +extreme gentleness and kindness; while her daughter Clara was a handsome +brunette, with rich hazel eyes, and a happy, innocent expression for +ever resting on her full, rosy lips, which seemed never to open but to +utter words of sweetness and amiability. As Clara eagerly threw her arms +around her friend's neck as she descended the vehicle, the Goualeuse saw +with extreme surprise that the kind-hearted girl had laid aside her more +fashionable attire, and was habited as a simple country maiden. + +"Why, Clara!" said Madame Georges, affectionately returning her embrace, +"what is the meaning of this strange costume?" + +"It is done in imitation and admiration of her sister Marie," answered +Madame Dubreuil; "I assure you she let me have no peace till I had +procured her a woollen bodice, and a fustian skirt exactly resembling +your Marie's. But, now we are talking of whims and caprices, just come +this way with me," added Madame Dubreuil, drawing a deep sigh, "while I +explain to you my present difficulty, as well as the cause of my so +abruptly summoning you hither; but you are so kind, I feel assured you +will not only forgive it, but also render me all the assistance I +require." + +Following Madame Georges and her mother to their sitting-room, Clara +lovingly conducted the Goualeuse also thither, placing her in the +warmest corner of the fireside, and tenderly chafing her hands to +prevent the cold from affecting her; then fondly caressing her, and +styling her again and again her very dear sister Marie, she playfully +reproached her for allowing so long an interval to pass away without +paying her a visit. After the recent conversation which passed between +the poor Goualeuse and the cure (no doubt fresh in the reader's +memory), it will easily be believed that these tender marks of affection +inspired the unfortunate girl with feelings of deep humility, combined +with a timid joy. + +"Now, then, dear Madame Dubreuil," said Madame Georges, when they were +comfortably seated, "do pray tell me what has happened, and in what +manner I can be serviceable to you." + +"Oh, in several ways! I will tell you exactly how. In the first place, I +believe you are not aware that this farm is the private property of the +Duchesse de Lucenay, and that we are accountable to her alone, having +nothing whatever to do with the duke or his steward." + +"No, indeed, I never heard that before." + +"Neither should I have troubled you with so unimportant a matter now, +but that it forms a necessary part of the explanation I am about to give +you of my present pressing need of your kind services. You must know, +then, that we consider ourselves as the tenants of Madame de Lucenay, +and always pay our rent either to herself or to Madame Simon, her head +_femme de chambre_; and, really, spite of some little impetuosity of +temper, Madame la Duchesse is so amiable that it is delightful to have +business with her. Dubreuil and I would go through fire and water to +serve her: but, la! that is only natural, considering we have known her +from her very cradle, and were accustomed to see her playing about as a +child during the visits she used annually to pay to the estate during +the lifetime of her late father, the Prince de Noirmont. Latterly she +has asked for her rent in advance. Forty thousand francs is not 'picked +up by the roadside,' as the old proverb says; but happily we had laid +that sum by as Clara's dowry, and the very next morning after the +request reached us we carried madame her money in bright, shining, +golden louis. These great ladies spend so much, you see, in luxuries +such as you and I have no idea of. Yet it is only within the last +twelvemonth Madame de Lucenay has wished to be paid beforehand, she used +always to seem as though she had plenty of money; but things are very +different now." + +"Still, my dear Madame Dubreuil, I do not yet perceive in what way I can +possibly assist you." + +"Don't be in a hurry! I am just coming to that part of my story; but I +was obliged to tell you all this that you might be able to understand +the entire confidence Madame la Duchesse places in us. To be sure, she +showed her great regard for us by becoming, when only thirteen years of +age, Clara's godmother, her noble father standing as the other sponsor; +and, ever since, Madame de Lucenay has loaded her godchild with presents +and kind attentions. But I must not keep you--I see you are impatient; +so I will at once proceed with the business part of my tale. You must +know, then, that last night I received by express the following letter +from Madame de Lucenay: + + "MY DEAR MADAME DUBREUIL: + + "'You must prepare the small pavilion in the orchard for + occupation by to-morrow evening. Send there all the requisite + furniture, such as carpets, curtains, etc., etc. Let nothing be + wanted to render it, in every respect, as _comfortable_ as + possible.' + +"Do you mark the word 'comfortable,' Madame Georges?" inquired Madame +Dubreuil, pausing in the midst of her reading; "it is even underlined." +Then looking up at her friend with a thoughtful, puzzled expression of +countenance, and receiving no answer, she continued the perusal of her +letter: + + "'It is so long since the pavilion has been used that it will + require large and constant fires both night and day to remove the + dampness from the walls. I wish you to behave in every respect to + the person who will occupy the apartments as you would do to + myself. And you will receive by the hands of the new visitant a + letter from me explanatory of all I expect from your well-known + zeal and attachment. I depend entirely on you and feel every + assurance that I may safely reckon on your fidelity and desire to + serve me. Adieu, my dear Madame Dubreuil; remember me most kindly + to my pretty goddaughter; and believe me ever, + + "'Yours, sincerely and truly, + "'NOIRMONT DE LUCENAY. + + "'P.S. The person whom I so strongly recommend to your best care + and attention will arrive the day after to-morrow, about dusk. + Pray do your very utmost to render the pavilion as _comfortable_ + as you possibly can.' + +"Comfortable again, you see, and underlined as before," said Madame +Dubreuil, returning the letter of Madame de Lucenay to her pocket. + +"Well," replied Madame Georges, "all this is simple enough!" + +"How do you mean, simple enough? you cannot have heard me read the +letter. Madame la Duchesse wishes particularly 'that the pavilion should +be rendered as comfortable as possible.' Now that is the very reason of +my asking you to come to me to-day; Clara and I have been knocking our +heads together in vain to discover what 'comfortable' can possibly mean, +but without being able to find it out. Yet it seems odd, too, that Clara +should not know its meaning, for she was several years at school at +Villiers le Bel, and gained a quantity of prizes for history and +geography; however, she knows as little as I do about that outlandish +word. I dare say it is only known at court, or in the fashionable world. +However, be that as it may, Madame la Duchesse has thrown me into a +pretty fuss by making use of it; she says, and you see twice repeats the +words, and even underlines it, 'that she requests I will furnish the +pavilion as comfortably as possible.' Now what are we to do when we have +not the slightest notion of the meaning of that word?" + +"Well, heaven be praised, then, that I can relieve your perplexity by +solving this grand mystery!" said Madame Georges, smiling. "Upon the +present occasion the word comfortable merely means an assemblage of +neat, well-chosen, well-arranged, and convenient furniture, so placed, +in apartments well warmed and protected from cold or damp, that the +occupant shall find every thing that is necessary combined with articles +that to some might seem superfluities." + +"Thank you. I perfectly understand what comfortable means as regards +furnishing apartments; but your explanation only increases my +difficulties." + +"How so?" + +"Madame la Duchesse speaks of carpets, furniture, and many _et +coeteras_; now we have no carpets here, and our furniture is of the +most homely description. Neither can I make out by the letter whether +the person I am to expect is a male or female; and yet every thing must +be prepared by to-morrow evening. What shall I do? What can I do? I can +get nothing here. Really, Madame Georges, it is enough to drive one wild +to be placed in such an awkward situation." + +"But, mother," said Clara, "suppose you take the furniture out of my +room, and whilst you are refurnishing it I will go and pass a few days +with dear Marie at Bouqueval." + +"My dear child, what nonsense you talk! as if the humble fittings-up of +your chamber could equal what Madame la Duchesse means by the word +'comfortable,'" returned Madame Dubreuil, with a disconsolate shrug of +the shoulders. "Lord! Lord! why will fine ladies puzzle poor folks like +me by going out of their way to find such expressions as comfortable?" + +"Then I presume the pavilion in question is ordinarily uninhabited?" +said Madame Georges. + +"Oh, yes! There, you see that small white building at the end of the +orchard--that is it. The late Prince de Noirmont, father of Madame la +Duchesse, caused it to be built for his daughter when, in her youthful +days, she was accustomed to visit the farm, and she then occupied it. +There are three pretty chambers in it, and a beautiful little Swiss +dairy at the end of the garden, where, in her childish days, Madame la +Duchesse used to divert herself with feigning to manage. Since her +marriage, she has only been twice at the farm, but each time she passed +several hours in the pavilion. The first time was about six years ago, +and then she came on horseback with--" Then, as though the presence of +Clara and Fleur-de-Marie prevented her from saying more, Madame Dubreuil +interrupted herself by saying, "But I am talking instead of doing; and +that is not the way to get out of my present difficulty. Come, dear, +good Madame Georges, and help a poor bewildered creature like myself!" + +"In the first place," answered Madame Georges, "tell me how is this +pavilion furnished at the present moment." + +"Oh, scarcely at all! In the principal apartment there is a straw +matting on the centre of the floor; a sofa, and a few arm-chairs +composed of rushes, a table, and some chairs, comprise all the +inventory, which, I think you will allow, falls far short of the word +comfortable." + +"Well, I tell you what I should do in your place. Let me see; it is +eleven o'clock. I should send a person on whom you can depend to Paris." + +"Our overseer![2] There cannot be a more active, intelligent person." + + [2] A species of overseer employed in most of the large farming + establishments in the environs of Paris. + +"Exactly! just the right sort of messenger. Well, in two hours at the +utmost, he may be in Paris. Let him go to some upholsterer in the +Chaussee d'Antin--never mind which--and give him the list I will draw +out, after I have seen what is wanting for the pavilion; and let him be +directed to say that, let the expense be what it may--" + +"I don't care about expense, if I can but satisfy the duchess." + +"The upholsterer, then, must be told that, at any cost, he must see that +every article named in the list be sent here either this evening or +before daybreak to-morrow, with three or four of his most clever and +active workmen to arrange them as quickly as possible." + +"They might come by the Gonesse diligence, which leaves Paris at eight +o'clock every evening." + +"And as they would only have to place the furniture, lay down carpets, +and put up curtains, all that could easily be done by to-morrow +evening." + +"Oh, my dear Madame Georges, what a load you have taken off my mind! I +should never have thought of this simple yet proper manner of +proceeding. You are the saving of me! Now, may I ask you to be so kind +as to draw me out the list of articles necessary to render the +pavilion--what is that hard word? I never can recollect it." + +"Comfortable! Yes, I will at once set about it, and with pleasure." + +"Dear me! here is another difficulty. Don't you see we are not told +whether to expect a lady or a gentleman? Madame de Lucenay, in her +letter, only says 'a person.' It is very perplexing, isn't it?" + +"Then make your preparations as if for a lady, my dear Madame Dubreuil; +and, should it turn out a gentleman, why he will only have better reason +to be pleased with his accommodations." + +"Quite right; right again, as you always are." + +A servant here announced that breakfast was ready. + +"Let breakfast wait a little," said Madame Georges. "And, while I draw +out the necessary list, send some person you can depend upon to take the +exact height and width of the three rooms, that the curtains and carpets +may more easily be prepared." + +"Thank you. I will set our overseer to work out this commission." + +"Madame," continued the servant, speaking to her mistress, "the new +dairy-woman from Stains is here with her few goods in a small cart drawn +by a donkey. The beast has not a heavy load to complain of, for the poor +body's luggage seems but very trifling." + +"Poor woman!" said Madame Dubreuil, kindly. + +"What woman is it?" inquired Madame Georges. + +"A poor creature from Stains, who once had four cows of her own, and +used to go every morning to Paris to sell her milk. Her husband was a +blacksmith, and one day accompanied her to Paris to purchase some iron +he required for his work, agreeing to rejoin her at the corner of the +street where she was accustomed to sell her milk. Unhappily, as it +afterwards turned out, the poor woman had selected a very bad part of +Paris; for, when her husband returned, he found her in the midst of a +set of wicked, drunken fellows, who had, for mere mischief's sake, upset +all her milk into the gutter. The poor blacksmith tried to reason with +them upon the score of their unfair conduct, but that only made matters +worse; they all fell on the husband, who sought in vain to defend +himself from their violence. The end of the story is, that, in the +scuffle which ensued, the man received a stab with a knife, which +stretched him a corpse before the eyes of his distracted wife." + +"Dreadful, indeed!" ejaculated Madame Georges. "But, at least, the +murderer was apprehended?" + +"Alas, no! He managed to make his escape during the confusion which +ensued, though the unfortunate widow asserts she should recognise him at +any minute she might meet him, having repeatedly seen him in company +with his associates, inhabitants of that neighbourhood. However, up to +the present hour all attempts to discover him have been useless. But, to +end my tale, I must tell you that, in consequence of the death of her +husband, the poor widow was compelled, in order to pay various debts he +had contracted, to sell not only her cows but some little land he +possessed. The bailiff of the chateau at Stains recommended the poor +creature to me as a most excellent and honest woman, as deserving as she +was unfortunate, having three children to provide for, the eldest not +yet twelve years of age. I happened, just then, to be in want of a +first-rate dairy-woman, therefore offered her the place, which she +gladly accepted, and she has now come to take up her abode on the farm." + +"This act of real kindness on your part, my dear Madame Dubreuil, does +not surprise me, knowing you as well as I do." + +"Here, Clara," said Madame Dubreuil, as though seeking to escape from +the praises of her friend, "will you go and show this good woman the way +to the lodge she is to occupy, while I hasten to explain to our overseer +the necessity for his immediate departure for Paris?" + +"Willingly, dear mother! Marie can come with me, can she not?" + +"Of course," answered Madame Dubreuil, "if she pleases." Then added, +smilingly, "I wonder whether you two girls could do one without the +other!" + +"And now," said Madame Georges, seating herself before a table, "I will +at once begin my part of the business, that no time may be lost; for we +must positively return to Bouqueval at four o'clock." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Madame Dubreuil; "how early! Why, what makes you in +such a hurry?" + +"Marie is obliged to be at the rectory by five o'clock." + +"Oh, if her return relates to that good Abbe Laporte, I am sure it is a +sacred duty with which I would not interfere for the world. Well, then, +I will go and give the necessary orders for everything being punctual +to that hour. Those two girls have so much to say to each other that we +must give them as much time as we can." + +"Then we shall leave you at three o'clock, my dear Madame Dubreuil?" + +"Yes; I promise not to detain you since you so positively wish it. But +pray let me thank you again and again for coming. What a good thing it +was I thought of sending to ask your kind assistance," rejoined Madame +Dubreuil. "Now then, Clara and Marie, off with you!" + +As Madame Georges settled herself to her writing, Madame Dubreuil +quitted the room by a door on one side, while the young friends, in +company with the servant who had announced the arrival of the milkwoman +from Stains, went out by the opposite side. + +"Where is the poor woman?" inquired Clara. + +"There she is, mademoiselle, in the courtyard, near the barns, with her +children and her little donkey-cart." + +"You shall see her, dear Marie," said Clara, taking the arm of la +Goualeuse. "Poor woman! she looks so pale and sad in her deep widow's +mourning. The last time she came here to arrange with my mother about +the place she made my heart ache. She wept bitterly as she spoke of her +husband; then suddenly burst into a fit of rage as she mentioned his +murderer. Really, she quite frightened me, she looked so desperate and +full of fury. But, after all, her resentment was natural. Poor thing! I +am sure I pity her; some people are very unfortunate, are they not, +Marie?" + +"Alas, yes, they are, indeed!" replied the Goualeuse, sighing deeply. +"There are some persons who appear born only to trouble and sorrow, as +you justly observe, Miss Clara." + +"This is really very unkind of you, Marie," said Clara, colouring with +impatience and displeasure. "This is the second time to-day you have +called me 'Miss Clara.' What can I have possibly done to offend you? +For I am sure you must be angry with me, or you would not do what you +know vexes me so very much." + +"How is it possible that you could ever offend me?" + +"Then why do you say 'miss?' You know very well that both Madame Georges +and my mother have scolded you for doing it. And I give you due warning, +if ever you repeat this great offence, I will have you well scolded +again. Now then, will you be good or not? Speak!" + +"Dear Clara, pray pardon me! Indeed, I was not thinking when I spoke." + +"Not thinking!" repeated Clara, sorrowfully. "What, after eight long +days' absence you cannot give me your attention even for five minutes? +Not thinking! That would be bad enough; but that is not it, Marie. And I +tell you what, it is my belief you are too proud to own so humble a +friend as myself." + +Fleur-de-Marie made no answer, but her whole countenance assumed the +pallor of death. + +A woman, dressed as a widow, and in deep mourning, had just caught sight +of her, and uttered a cry of rage and horror which seemed to freeze the +poor girl's blood. This woman was the person who supplied the Goualeuse +with her daily milk, during the time the latter dwelt with the ogress at +the _tapis-franc_. + +The scene which ensued took place in one of the yards belonging to the +farm, in the presence of all the labourers, both male and female, who +chanced just then to be returning to the house to take their mid-day +meal. Beneath a shed stood a small cart, drawn by a donkey, and +containing the few household possessions of the widow; a boy of about +twelve years of age, aided by two younger children, was beginning to +unload the vehicle. The milk-woman herself was a woman of about forty +years of age, her countenance coarse, masculine, and expressive of +great resolution. She was, as we before stated, attired in the deepest +mourning, and her eyelids looked red and inflamed with recent weeping. +Her first impulse at the sight of the Goualeuse had been terror; but +quickly did that feeling change into grief and rage, while the most +violent anger contracted her features. Rapidly darting towards the +unhappy girl, she seized her by the arm, and, presenting her to the gaze +of the farm servants, she exclaimed: + +"Here is a creature who is acquainted with the assassin of my poor +husband! I have seen her more than twenty times speaking to the ruffian +when I was selling my milk at the corner of the Rue de la +Vieille-Draperie; she used to come to buy a ha'porth every morning. She +knows well enough who it was struck the blow that made me a widow, and +my poor children fatherless. 'Birds of a feather flock together,' and +such loose characters as she is are sure to be linked in with thieves +and murderers. Oh, you shall not escape me, you abandoned wretch!" cried +the milk-woman, who had now lashed herself into a perfect fury, and who, +seeing poor Fleur-de-Marie confused and terror-stricken at this sudden +attack, endeavouring to escape from it by flight, grasped her fiercely +by the other arm also. Clara, almost speechless with surprise and alarm +at this outrageous conduct, had been quite incapable of interfering; but +this increased violence on the part of the widow seemed to restore her +to herself, and angrily addressing the woman she said: + +"What is the meaning of this improper behaviour? Are you out of your +senses? Has grief turned your brain? Good woman, I pity you! But let us +pass on; you are mistaken." + +"Mistaken!" repeated the woman, with a bitter smile. "Me mistaken! No, +no, there is no mistake! Just look at her pale, guilty looks! Hark how +her very teeth rattle in her head! Ah, she knows well enough there is +no mistake! Ah, you may hold your wicked tongue if you like, but +justice will find a way to make you speak. You shall go with me before +the mayor; do you hear? Oh, it is not worth while resisting! I have good +strong wrists; I can hold you. And sooner than you should escape I would +carry you every step of the way." + +"You good-for-nothing, insolent woman! How dare you presume to speak in +this way to my dear friend and sister?" + +"Your sister, Mlle. Clara! Believe me, it is you who are deceived--it is +you who have lost your senses," bawled the enraged milk-woman, in a +loud, coarse voice. "Your sister! A likely story a girl out of the +streets, who was the companion of the very lowest wretches in the worst +part of the Cite, should be a sister of yours!" + +At these words the assembled labourers, who naturally enough took that +part in the affair which concerned a person of their own class, and who +really sympathised with the bereaved milk-woman, gave utterance to deep, +threatening words, in which the name of Fleur-de-Marie was angrily +mingled. The three children, hearing their mother speaking in a loud +tone, and fearing they knew not what, ran to her, and, clinging to her +dress, burst out into a loud fit of weeping. The sight of these poor +little fatherless things, dressed also in deep mourning, increased the +pity of the spectators for the unfortunate widow, while it redoubled +their indignation against Fleur-de-Marie; while Clara, completely +frightened by these demonstrations of approaching violence, exclaimed, +in an agitated tone, to a group of farm labourers: + +"Take this woman off the premises directly! Do you not perceive grief +has driven her out of her senses? Marie! dear Marie! never mind what she +says. She is mad, poor creature, and knows not what she does!" + +The poor Goualeuse, pale, exhausted, and almost fainting, made no effort +to escape from the powerful grasp of the incensed milk-woman; she hung +her head, as though unable or unwilling to meet the gaze of friend or +foe. Clara, attributing her condition to the terror excited by so +alarming a scene, renewed her commands to the labourers, "Did you not +hear me desire that this mad woman might be instantly taken away from +the farm? However, unless she immediately ceases her rude and insolent +language, I can promise her, by way of punishment, she shall neither +have the situation my mother promised her nor ever be suffered to put +her foot on the premises again." + +Not a person stirred to obey Clara's orders; on the contrary, one of the +boldest among the party exclaimed: + +"Well, but, Miss Clara, if your friend there is only a common girl out +of the streets, and, as such, acquainted with the murderer of this poor +woman's husband, surely she ought to go before the mayor to give an +account of herself and her bad companions!" + +"I tell you," repeated Clara, with indignant warmth, and addressing the +milk-woman, "you shall never enter this farm again unless you this very +instant, and before all these people, humbly beg pardon of Mlle. Marie +for all the wicked things you have been saying about her!" + +"You turn me off the premises then, mademoiselle, do you?" retorted the +widow with bitterness. "Well, so be it. Come, my poor children, let us +put the things back in the cart, and go and seek our bread elsewhere. +God will take care of us. But, at least, when we go, we will take this +abandoned young woman with us. She shall be made to tell the mayor, if +she won't us, who it was that took away your dear father's life; for she +knows well enough--she who was the daily companion of the worst set of +ruffians who infest Paris. And you, miss," added she, looking spitefully +and insolently at Clara, "you should not, because you choose to make +friends with low girls out of the streets, and because you happen to be +rich, be quite so hard-hearted and unfeeling to poor creatures like +me!" + +"No more she ought," exclaimed one of the labourers; "the poor woman is +right!" + +"Of course she is,--she is only standing up for her own!" + +"Poor thing, she has no one now to do so for her! Why, they have +murdered her husband among them! I should think that might content them, +without trampling the poor woman under foot." + +"One comfort is, nobody can stop her from doing all in her power to +bring the murderers of her husband to justice." + +"It is a shame to send her away in this manner, like a dog!" + +"Can she help it, poor creature, if Miss Clara thinks proper to take up +with common girls and thieves, and make them her companions?" + +"Infamous to turn an honest woman, a poor widow with helpless children, +into the streets for such a base girl as that!" + +These different speeches, uttered nearly simultaneously by the +surrounding crowd, were rapidly assuming a most hostile and threatening +tone, when Clara joyfully exclaimed: + +"Thank God, here comes my mother!" + +It was, indeed, Madame Dubreuil, who was crossing the courtyard on her +return from the pavilion. + +"Now, then, my children," said Madame Dubreuil, gaily approaching the +assembled group, "will you come in to breakfast? I declare it is quite +late! I dare say you are both hungry? Come, Marie!--Clara!" + +"Mother," cried Clara, pointing to the widow, "you are fortunately just +in time to save my dear sister Marie from the insults and violence of +that woman. Oh, pray order her away instantly! If you only knew what she +had the audacity to say to Marie!" + +"Impossible, Clara!" + +"Nay, but, dear mother, only look at my poor dear sister! See how she +trembles! She can scarcely support herself. Oh, it is a shame and +disgrace such conduct should ever have been offered to a guest of ours! +My dear, dear friend--Marie, dear!--look up, and say you are not angry +with us. Pray tell me you will try and forget it!" + +"What is the meaning of all this?" inquired Madame Dubreuil, looking +around her with a disturbed and uneasy look, after having observed the +despairing agony of the Goualeuse. + +"Ah, now we shall have justice done the poor widow woman!" murmured the +labourers. "Madame will see her righted, no doubt about it!" + +"Now, then," exclaimed the milk-woman, exultingly, "here is Madame +Dubreuil. Now, my fine miss," continued she, addressing Fleur-de-Marie, +"you will have your turn of being turned out-of-doors!" + +"Is it true, then," cried Madame Dubreuil, addressing the widow, who +still kept firm hold of Fleur-de-Marie's arm, "that you have dared to +insult my daughter's friend, as she asserts? Is this the way you show +your gratitude for all I have done to serve you? Will you leave that +young lady alone?" + +"Yes, madame," replied the woman, relinquishing her grasp of +Fleur-de-Marie, "at your bidding I will; for I respect you too much to +disobey you. And, besides, I owe you much gratitude for all your +kindness to a poor, friendless creature like myself. But, before you +blame me, and drive me off the premises with my poor children, just +question that wretched creature that has caused all this confusion what +she knows of me. I know a pretty deal more of her than is to her +credit!" + +"For Heaven's sake, Marie," exclaimed Madame Dubreuil, almost petrified +with astonishment, "What does this woman allude to? Do you hear what she +says?" + +"Are you, or are you not known by the name of the Goualeuse?" said the +milk-woman to Marie. + +"Yes," said the wretched girl, in a low, trembling voice, and without +venturing to lift up her eyes towards Madame Dubreuil,--"yes, I am +called so." + +"There you see!" vociferated the enraged labourers. "She owns it! she +owns it!" + +"What does she own?" inquired Madame Dubreuil, half frightened at the +assent given by Fleur-de-Marie. + +"Leave her to me, madame," resumed the widow, "and you shall hear her +confess that she was living in a house of the most infamous description +in the Rue-aux-Feves in the Cite, and that she every morning purchased a +half-pennyworth of milk of me. She cannot deny either having repeatedly +spoken in my presence to the murderer of my poor husband. Oh, she knows +him well enough, I am quite certain; a pale young man, who smoked a good +deal, and always wore a cap and a blouse, and wore his hair very long; +she could tell his name if she chose. Is this true, or is it a lie?" +vociferously demanded the milk-woman. + +"I may have spoken to the man who killed your husband," answered +Fleur-de-Marie, in a faint voice; "for, unhappily, there are more than +one in the Cite capable of such a crime. But, indeed, I know not of whom +you are speaking!" + +"What does she say?" asked Madame Dubreuil, horror-struck at her words. +"She admits having possibly conversed with murderers?" + +"Oh, such lost wretches as she is," replied the widow, "have no better +companions!" + +At first, utterly stupefied by so singular a discovery, confirmed, +indeed, by Fleur-de-Marie's own admission, Madame Dubreuil seemed almost +incapable of comprehending the scene before her; but quickly the whole +truth presented itself to her mental vision, and shrinking from the +unfortunate girl with horror and disgust, she hastily seized her +daughter by the dress, as she was about to sustain the sinking form of +the poor Goualeuse, and, drawing her towards her with sudden violence, +she exclaimed: + +"Clara! For Heaven's sake approach not that vile, that abandoned young +woman! Oh, dreadful, indeed, ever to have admitted her here! But how +came Madame Georges to have her under her roof? And how could she so far +insult me as to bring her here, and allow my daughter to--This is, +indeed, disgraceful! I hardly know whether to trust the evidence of my +own senses. But Madame Georges must have been as much imposed on as +myself, or she never would have permitted such an indignity! No, no! She +is incapable of such dishonourable conduct. It would, indeed, be a +disgrace for one female so to have deceived another." + +Poor Clara, terrified and almost heart-broken at this distressing scene, +could scarcely believe herself awake. It seemed as though she were under +the influence of a fearful dream. Her innocent and pure mind +comprehended not the frightful charges brought against her friend; but +she understood enough to fill her with the most poignant grief at the +unfortunate position of La Goualeuse, who stood mute, passive and +downcast, like a criminal in the presence of the judge. + +"Come, come, my child," repeated Madame Dubreuil, "let us quit this +disgraceful scene." Then, turning towards Fleur-de-Marie, she said: + +"As for you, worthless girl, the Almighty will punish you as you deserve +for your deceit! That my child, good and virtuous as she is, should ever +have been allowed to call you sister or friend. Her sister! You--the +very vilest of the vile! the outcast of the most depraved and lost +wretches! What hardihood, what effrontery you must have possessed, to +dare to show your face among good and honest people, when your proper +place would have been along with your bad companions in a prison!" + +"Ay, ay!" cried all the labourers at once; "let her be sent off to +prison at once. She knows the murderer! Let her be made to declare who +and what he is." + +"She is most likely his accomplice!" + +"You see," exclaimed the widow, doubling her fist in the face of the +Goualeuse, "that my words have come true. Justice will overtake you +before you can commit other crimes." + +"As for you, my good woman," said Madame Dubreuil to the milk-woman, +"far from sending you away I shall reward you for the service you have +done me in unmasking this infamous girl's real character." + +"There, I told you," murmured the voices of the labourers, "our mistress +always does justice to every one!" + +"Come, Clara," resumed Madame Dubreuil, "let us retire and seek Madame +Georges, that she may clear up her share of this disgraceful business, +or she and I never meet again; for either she has herself been most +dreadfully deceived, or her conduct towards us is of the very worst +description." + +"But, mother, only look at poor Marie!" + +"Oh, never mind her! Let her die of shame, if she likes,--there will be +one wicked, hardened girl less in the world. Treat her with the contempt +she deserves. I will not suffer you to remain another instant where she +is. It is impossible for a young person like you to notice her in any +way without disgracing herself." + +"My dear mother," answered Clara, resisting her mother's attempts to +draw her away, "I do not understand what you mean. Marie must be wrong +in some way, since you say so! But look, only look at her--she is +fainting! Pity her! Oh, mother, let her be ever so guilty, pray take +pity on her present distress!" + +"Oh, Mlle. Clara, you are good--very, very good--to pardon me and care +for me," uttered poor Fleur-de-Marie, in a faint voice, casting a look +of unutterable gratitude on her young protectress. "Believe me, it was +sorely against my will ever to deceive you; and daily, hourly, have I +reproached myself for so doing." + +"Mother," exclaimed Clara, in the most piteous tones, "are you then so +merciless? Can you not pity her?" + +"Pity!" returned Madame Dubreuil, scornfully. "No, I waste no pity on +such as she is. Come, I say! Were it not that I consider it the office +of Madame Georges to clear the place of so vile a creature, I would have +her spurned from the doors, as though she carried the plague about with +her." So saying, the angry mother seized her daughter's hand, and, spite +of all her struggles, led her away, Clara continually turning back her +head, and saying: + +"Marie, my sister, I know not what they accuse you of, but I am quite +convinced of your innocence. Be assured of my constant love, whatever +they may say or do." + +"Silence! silence! I command!" cried Madame Dubreuil, placing her hand +over her daughter's mouth. "Speak not another word, I insist! +Fortunately, we have plenty of witnesses to testify that, after the +odious discovery we have just made, you were not suffered to remain a +single instant with this lost and unfortunate young woman. You can all +answer for that, can you not, my good people?" continued she, speaking +to the assembled labourers. + +"Yes, yes, madame," replied one of them, "we all know well enough that +Mlle. Clara was not allowed to stop with this bad girl a single instant +after you found out her wickedness. No doubt she is a thief or she would +not be so intimate with murderers." + +Madame Dubreuil led Clara to the house, while the Goualeuse remained in +the midst of the hostile circle which had now formed around her. Spite +of the reproaches of Madame Dubreuil, her presence, and that of Clara, +had, in some degree, served to allay the fears of Fleur-de-Marie as to +the probable termination of the scene. But, after the departure of both +mother and daughter, when she found herself so entirely at the mercy of +the enraged crowd, her strength seemed to forsake her, and she was +obliged to keep herself from falling by leaning on the parapet of the +deep watering-place where the farm cattle were accustomed to drink. + +Nothing could be conceived more touching than the attitude of the +unfortunate girl, nor could a more threatening appearance have been +displayed than was exhibited in the words and looks of the countrymen +and women who surrounded her. Seated, or rather supporting herself on +the narrow margin of the wall which enclosed the drinking-place, her +head hanging down, and concealed by both hands, her neck and bosom hid +by the ends of the little red cotton handkerchief which was twisted +around her cap, the poor Goualeuse, mute and motionless, presented a +most touching picture of grief and resignation. + +At some little distance from Fleur-de-Marie stood the widow of the +murdered man. Triumphant in her vindictive rage, and still further +excited by the indignation expressed by Madame Dubreuil, she pointed out +the wretched object of her wrath to the labourers and her children, with +gestures of contempt and detestation. The farm servants, who had now +formed into a close circle, sought not to conceal their disgust and +thirst for vengeance; their rude countenances expressed at once rage, +desire for revenge, and a sort of insulting raillery. The women were +even still more bitter, and bent upon mischief. Neither did the striking +beauty of the Goualeuse tend to allay their wrath. But neither men nor +women could pardon Fleur-de-Marie the heinous offence of having, up to +that hour, been treated by their superiors as an equal; and some of the +men now present, having been unsuccessful candidates for the vacant +situations at Bouqueval, and attributing their failure to Madame +Georges, when, in reality, their disappointment arose entirely from +their recommendations not being sufficiently satisfactory, determined to +avail themselves of the opportunity now before them to wreak their +vexation and ill-will on the head of one she was known to protect and +love. The impulses of ignorant minds always lead to extremes either of +good or bad. But they speedily put on a most dangerous form, when the +fury of an enraged multitude is directed against those who may already +have awakened their personal anger or aversion. + +Although the greater number of the labourers now collected together +might not have been so strictly virtuous and free from moral blame as to +be justified in throwing the first stone at the trembling, fainting +girl, who was the object of all their concentrated wrath, yet, on the +present occasion, they unanimously spoke and acted as though her very +presence was capable of contaminating them; and their delicacy and +modesty alike revolted at the bare recollection of the depraved class to +which she had belonged, and they shuddered to be so near one who +confessed to having frequently conversed with assassins. Nothing, then, +was wanting to urge on a blind and prejudiced crowd, still further +instigated by the example of Madame Dubreuil. + +"Take her before the mayor!" cried one. + +"Ay, ay! and, if she won't walk, we'll drag her." + +"And for her to have the impudence to dress herself like one of us +honest girls!" said an awkward, ill-looking farm-wench. + +"I'm sure," rejoined another female, with her mock-modest air, "one +might have thought she would go to heaven, spite of priest or +confession!" + +"Why, she had the assurance even to attend mass!" + +"No! Did she? Why did she not join in the communion afterwards then, I +should like to know?" + +"And then she must play the young lady, and hold up her head as high as +our betters!" + +"As though we were not good company enough for her!" + +"However, every dog has his day!" + +"Oh, I'll make you find your tongue, and tell who it was took my +husband's life!" vociferated the enraged widow, breaking out into a +fresh storm, now she felt her party so strong. "You all belong to one +gang; and I'm not sure but I saw you among them at the very time and +place when the bloody deed was done! Come, come; don't stand there +shedding your crocodile tears; you are found out, and may as well leave +off shamming any more. Show your face, I say! You are a beauty, ain't +you?" And the infuriated woman, suiting the action to the word, +violently snatched the two hands of poor Fleur-de-Marie from the pale +and grief-worn countenance they concealed, and down which tears were +fast streaming. + +The Goualeuse, sinking under a sense of shame, and terrified at finding +herself thus at the mercy of her persecutors, joined her hands, and, +turning towards the milk-woman her supplicating and timid looks, she +said, in a gentle voice: + +"Indeed, indeed, madam, I have been at the farm of Bouqueval these last +two months. How could I, then, have been witness to the dreadful +misfortune you speak of? And--" + +The faint tones of Fleur-de-Marie's voice were drowned in the loud +uproarious cries of the surrounding multitude. + +"Let us take her before the mayor! She can speak; and she shall, too, to +some purpose. March, march, my fine madam! On with you!" + +So saying, the menacing crowd pressed upon the poor girl, who, +mechanically crossing her hands on her bosom, looked eagerly around, as +though in search of help. + +"Oh," cried the milk-woman, "you need not stare about in that wild way. +Mlle. Clara is not here now to take your part. You don't slip through +my fingers, I promise you!" + +"Alas! madam," uttered Fleur-de-Marie, trembling violently, "I seek not +to escape from you. Be assured, I am both ready and willing to answer +all the questions put to me, if I can be of any service to you by so +doing. But what harm have I done to these people, who surround and +threaten me in this manner?" + +"What have you done?" repeated a number of voices, "why, you have dared +to stick yourself up with our betters, when we, who were worth thousands +more than such as you, were made to keep our distance,--that's what you +have done!" + +"And what right had you to cause this poor woman to be turned away with +her fatherless children?" cried another. + +"Indeed, it was no fault of mine. It was Mlle. Clara, who wished--" + +"That is not true!" interrupted the speaker. "You never even opened your +mouth in her favour. No, not you? You were too well pleased to see her +bread taken from her." + +"No, no! no more she did," chimed in a burst of voices, male and female. + +"She is a regular bad one!" + +"A poor widow-woman, with three helpless children!" + +"If I did not plead for her with Mlle. Clara, it was because I had not +power to utter a word." + +"You could find strength enough to talk to a set of thieves and +murderers!" + +And, as is frequently the case in public commotions, the country people, +more ignorant than vicious, actually talked themselves into a fury, +until their own words and violence excited them to fresh acts of rage +and vengeance against their unhappy victim. + +The menacing throng, gesticulating, and loudly threatening, advanced +closer and closer towards Fleur-de-Marie, while the widow appeared to +have lost all command over herself. Separated from the deep pond only by +the parapet on which she was leaning, the Goualeuse shuddered at the +idea of their throwing her into the water; and, extending towards them +her supplicating hands, she exclaimed: + +"Good, kind people! what do you want with me? For pity's sake do not +harm me!" + +And as the milk-woman, with fierce and angry gestures, kept coming +nearer and nearer, holding her clenched fist almost in the face of +Fleur-de-Marie, the poor girl, drawing herself back in terror, said, in +beseeching tones: + +"Pray, pray, do not press so closely on me, or you will cause me to fall +into the water." + +These words suggested a cruel idea to the rough spectators. Intending +merely one of those practical jokes which, however diverting to the +projectors, are fraught with serious harm and suffering to the +unfortunate object of them, one of the most violent of the number called +out, "Let's give her a plunge in! Duck her! duck her!" + +"Yes, yes!" chimed several voices, accompanied with brutal laughter, and +noisy clapping of hands, with other tokens of unanimous approval. "Throw +her in!--in with her!" + +"A good dip will do her good! Water won't kill her!" + +"That will teach her not to show her face among honest people again!" + +"To be sure. Toss her in!--fling her over!" + +"Fortunately, the ice was broken this morning!" + +"And when she has had her bath she may go and tell her street companions +how the folks at Arnouville farm serve such vile girls as she is!" + +As these unfeeling speeches reached her ear, as she heard their +barbarous jokes, and observed the exasperated looks of the brutally +excited individuals who approached her to carry their threat into +execution, Fleur-de-Marie gave herself over for lost. But to her first +horror of a violent death succeeded a sort of gloomy satisfaction. The +future wore so threatening and hopeless an aspect for her that she +thanked heaven for shortening her trial. Not another complaining word +escaped her; but gently falling on her knees, and piously folding her +hands upon her breast, she closed her eyes, and meekly resigned herself +to her fate. + +The labourers, surprised at the attitude and mute resignation of the +Goualeuse, hesitated a moment in the accomplishment of their savage +design; but, rallied on their folly and irresolution by the female part +of the assemblage, they recommenced their uproarious cries, as though to +inspire themselves with the necessary courage to complete their wicked +purpose. + +Just as two of the most furious of the party were about to seize on +Fleur-de-Marie a loud, thrilling voice was heard, exclaiming: + +"Stop! I command you!" + +And at the very instant Madame Georges, who had forced a passage through +the crowd, reached the still kneeling Goualeuse, took her in her arms, +and, raising her, cried: + +"Rise up, my child! Stand up, my beloved daughter! the knee should be +bent to God alone!" + +The expression and attitude of Madame Georges were so full of courageous +firmness that the actors in this cruel scene shrunk back speechless and +confounded. Indignation coloured her usually pale features, and casting +on the labourers a stern look she said to them, in a loud and +threatening voice: + +"Wretches! Are you not ashamed of such brutal conduct to a helpless girl +like this?" + +"She is--" + +"My daughter!" exclaimed Madame Georges, with severity, and abruptly +interrupting the man who was about to speak, "and, as such, both +cherished and protected by our worthy cure, M. l'Abbe Laporte, whom +every one venerates and loves; and those whom he loves and esteems ought +to be respected by every one!" + +These simple words effectually imposed silence on the crowd. The cure of +Bouqueval was looked upon throughout his district almost as a saint, and +many there present were well aware of the interest he took in the +Goualeuse. Still a confused murmur went on, and Madame Georges, fully +comprehending its import, added: + +"Suppose this poor girl were the very worst of creatures--the most +abandoned of her sex--your conduct is not the less disgraceful! What +offence has she committed? And what right have you to punish her?--you, +who call yourselves men, to exert your strength and power against one +poor, feeble, unresisting female! Surely it was a cowardly action all to +unite against a defenceless girl! Come, Marie! come, child of my heart! +let us return home; there, at least, you are known, and justly +appreciated." + +Madame Georges took the arm of Fleur-de-Marie, while the labourers, +ashamed of their conduct, the impropriety of which they now perceived, +respectfully dispersed. The widow alone remained; and, advancing boldly +to Madame Georges, she said, in a resolute tone: + +"I don't care for a word you say; and, as for this girl, she does not +quit this place until after she has deposed before the mayor as to all +she knows of my poor husband's murder." + +"My good woman!" said Madame Georges, restraining herself by a violent +effort, "my daughter has no deposition to make here, but, at any future +period that justice may require her testimony let her be summoned, and +she shall attend with myself; until then no person has a right to +question her." + +"But, madame, I say--" + +Madame Georges prevented the milk-woman from proceeding by replying, in +a severe tone: + +"The severe affliction you have experienced can scarcely excuse your +conduct, and you will one day regret the violence you have so improperly +excited. Mlle. Marie lives with me at the Bouqueval farm; inform the +judge who received your deposition of that circumstance, and say that we +await his further orders." + +The widow, unable to argue against words so temperately and wisely +spoken, seated herself on the parapet of the drinking-place, and, +embracing her children, began to weep bitterly. Almost immediately after +this scene Pierre brought the chaise, into which Madame Georges and +Fleur-de-Marie mounted, to return to Bouqueval. + +As they passed before the farmhouse of Arnouville, the Goualeuse +perceived Clara, who had hid herself behind a partly closed shutter, +weeping bitterly. She was evidently watching for a last glimpse of her +friend, to whom she waved her handkerchief in token of farewell. + +"Ah, madame! what shame to me, and vexation to you, has arisen this +morning from our visit to Arnouville!" said Fleur-de-Marie to her +adopted parent, when they found themselves in the sitting-room at +Bouqueval; "you have probably quarrelled for ever with Madame Dubreuil, +and all on my account! Oh, I foresaw something terrible was about to +happen! God has justly punished me for deceiving that good lady and her +daughter! I am the unfortunate cause of perpetual disunion between +yourself and your friend." + +"My dear child, my friend is a warm-hearted, excellent woman, but rather +weak; still I know her too well not to feel certain that by to-morrow +she will regret her foolish violence of to-day." + +"Alas! madame, think not that I wish to take her part in preference to +yours. No, God forbid! but pardon me if I say that I fear your great +kindness towards me has induced you to shut your eyes to--Put yourself +in the place of Madame Dubreuil--to be told that the companion of your +darling daughter was--what I was--Ah, could any one blame such natural +indignation?" + +Unfortunately Madame Georges could not find any satisfactory reply to +this question of Fleur-de-Marie's, who continued with much excitement: + +"Soon will the degrading scene of yesterday be in everybody's mouth! I +fear not for myself, but who can tell how far it may affect the +reputation of Mlle. Clara? Who can answer for it that I may not have +tarnished her fair fame for ever? for did she not, in the face of the +assembled crowd, persist in calling me her friend--her sister? I ought +to have obeyed my first impulse, and resisted the affection which +attracted me towards Mlle. Dubreuil, and, at the risk of incurring her +dislike, have refused the friendship she offered me. But I forgot the +distance which separated me from her, and now, as you perceive, I am +suffering the just penalty; I am punished--oh, how cruelly punished! for +I have perhaps done an irreparable injury to one so virtuous and so +good." + +"My child," said Madame Georges, after a brief silence, "you are wrong +to accuse yourself so cruelly. 'Tis true your past life has been +guilty--very highly so; but are we to reckon as nothing your having, by +the sincerity of your repentance, obtained the protection and favour of +our excellent cure? and was it not under his auspices and mine you were +introduced to Madame Dubreuil? and did not your own amiable qualities +inspire her with the attachment she so voluntarily professed for you? +was it not she herself who requested you to call Clara your sister? and, +finally, as I told her just now, for I neither wished nor ought to +conceal the whole truth from her, how could I, certain as I felt of your +sincere repentance--how could I, by divulging the past, render your +attempts to reinstate yourself more painful and difficult, perhaps +impossible, by throwing you, in despair of being again received by the +good and virtuous, back upon the scorn and derision of those who, +equally guilty, equally unfortunate as you have been, would not perhaps +like you have preserved the secret instinct of honour and virtue? The +disclosure made by the woman to-day is alike to be lamented and feared; +but could I, in anticipation of an almost impossible casualty, sacrifice +your present comfort and future repose?" + +"Ah, madame, a convincing proof of the false and miserable position I +must ever hold may be found in the fact of your being obliged to conceal +the past; and that the mother of Clara despises me for that past; views +me in the same contemptuous light all will henceforward behold me, for +the scene at the farm of Arnouville will be quickly spread +abroad,--every one will hear of it! Oh, I shall die with shame! never +again can I meet the looks of any human being!" + +"Not even mine, my child?" said Madame Georges, bursting into tears, and +opening her arms to Fleur-de-Marie, "you will never find in my heart any +other feeling than the devoted tenderness of a mother. Courage, then, +dear Marie! console yourself with the knowledge of your hearty and +sincere repentance; you are here surrounded with true and affectionate +friends, let this home be your world. We will anticipate the exposure +you dread so much; our worthy abbe shall assemble the people about the +farm, who all regard you with love and respect, and he shall tell them +the sad history of your past life; and, trust me, my child, told as the +tale would be by him, whose word is law here, such a disclosure will but +serve to increase the interest all take in your welfare." + +"I would fain think so, dear madame, and I submit myself. Yesterday, +when we were conversing together, M. le Cure predicted to me that I +should be called upon painfully to expiate my past offences; I ought +not, therefore, to be astonished at their commencement. He told me also +that my earthly trials would be accepted as some atonement for the great +wrong I have done; I would fain hope so. Supported through these painful +ordeals by you and my venerable pastor, I will not--I ought not to +complain." + +"You will go to his presence ere long, and never will his counsels have +been more valuable to you. It is already half-past four; prepare +yourself for your visit to the rectory, my child. I shall employ myself +in writing to M. Rodolph an account of what occurred at the farm at +Arnouville, and send my letter off by express; I will then join you at +our venerable abbe's, for it is most important we should talk over +matters together." + +Shortly after the Goualeuse quitted the farm in order to repair to the +rectory by the hollow road, where the old woman, the Schoolmaster, and +Tortillard had agreed to meet. + + * * * * * + +As may have been perceived in her conversations with Madame Georges and +the cure of Bouqueval, Fleur-de-Marie had so nobly profited by the +example of her benefactors, so assimilated herself with their +principles, that, remembering her past degradation, she daily became +more hopeless of recovering the place she had lost in society. As her +mind expanded so did her fine and noble instincts arrive at mature +growth, and bring forth worthy fruits in the midst of the atmosphere of +honour and purity in which she lived. Had she possessed a less exalted +mind, a less exquisite sensibility, or an imagination of weaker quality, +Fleur-de-Marie might easily have been comforted and consoled; but, +unfortunately, not a single day passed in which she did not recall, and +almost live over again, with an agony of horror and disgust, the +disgraceful miseries of her past life. Let the reader figure to himself +a young creature of sixteen, candid and pure, and rejoicing in that very +candour and purity, thrown, by frightful circumstances, into the +infamous den of the ogress, and irrecoverably subjected to the dominion +of such a fiend,--such was the reaction of the past on the present on +Fleur-de-Marie's mind. Let us still further display the resentful +retrospect, or, rather, the moral agony with which the Goualeuse +suffered so excruciatingly, by saying that she regretted, more +frequently than she had courage to own to the cure, the not having +perished in the midst of the slough of wickedness by which she was +encompassed. + +However little a person may reflect, or however limited his knowledge of +life may be, he will not refuse to assent to our remarks touching the +commiseration which such a case as Fleur-de-Marie's fully called for. +She was deserving of both interest and pity, not only because she had +never known what it was to have her affections fairly roused, but +because all her senses were torpid, and as yet unawakened by noble +impulses--untaught, unaided, unadvised. Is it not wonderful that this +unfortunate girl, thrown at the tender age of sixteen years in the midst +of the herd of savage and demoralised beings who infest the Cite, should +have viewed her degrading position with horror and disgust, and have +escaped from the sink of iniquity morally pure and free from sin? + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE HOLLOW WAY. + + +The sun was descending, and the fields were silent and deserted. +Fleur-de-Marie had reached the entrance to the hollow way, which it was +necessary to cross in her walk to the rectory, when she saw a little +lame lad, dressed in a gray blouse and blue cap, come out of the ravine. +He appeared in tears, and directly he saw the Goualeuse he ran towards +her. + +"Oh, good lady, have pity on me, I pray!" he exclaimed, clasping his +hands with a supplicating look. + +"What do you want? What is the matter with you, my poor boy?" said the +Goualeuse, with an air of interest. + +"Alas, good lady! my poor grandmother, who is very, very old, has fallen +down in trying to climb up the ravine, and hurt herself very much. I am +afraid she has broken her leg, and I am too weak to lift her up myself. +_Mon Dieu!_ what shall I do if you will not come and help me? Perhaps my +poor grandmother will die!" + +The Goualeuse, touched with the grief of the little cripple, replied: + +"I am not very strong myself, my child; but perhaps I can help you to +assist your poor grandmother. Let us go to her as quickly as we can! I +live at the farm close by here; and, if the poor old woman cannot walk +there with us, I will send somebody to help her!" + +"Oh, good lady, _le bon Dieu_ will bless you for your kindness! It is +close by here--not two steps down this hollow way, as I told you. It was +in going down the slope that she fell." + +"You do not belong to this part of the country?" said the Goualeuse, +inquiringly following Tortillard, whom our readers have, no doubt, +recognised. + +"No, good lady, we came from Ecouen." + +"And where are you going?" + +"To a good clergyman's, who lives on the hill out there," said Bras +Rouge's son, to increase Fleur-de-Marie's confidence. + +"To the Abbe Laport's, perhaps?" + +"Yes, good lady; to the Abbe Laport's. My poor grandmother knows him +very, very well." + +"And I was going there also. How strange that we should meet," said +Fleur-de-Marie, advancing still farther into the hollow way. + +"Grandmamma, I'm coming, I'm coming! Take courage, and I will bring you +help!" cried Tortillard, to forewarn the Schoolmaster and the Chouette +to prepare themselves to lay hands on their victim. + +"Your grandmother, then, did not fall down far off from here?" inquired +the Goualeuse. + +"No, good lady; behind that large tree there, where the road turns, +about twenty paces from here." + +Suddenly Tortillard stopped. + +The noise of a horse galloping was heard in the silence of the place. + +"All is lost again!" said Tortillard to himself. + +The road made a very sudden bend a few yards from the spot where Bras +Rouge's son was with the Goualeuse. A horseman appeared at the angle, +and when he came nigh to the young girl he stopped. And then was heard +the trot of another horse; and some moments after there followed a groom +in a brown coat with silver buttons, white leather breeches, and +top-boots. A leathern belt secured around his waist his master's +macintosh. His master was dressed simply in a stout brown frock-coat, +and a pair of light gray trousers, which fitted closely. He was mounted +on a thoroughbred and splendid bay horse, which he sat admirably, and +which, in spite of the fast gallop, had not a bead of sweat on his skin, +which was as bright and brilliant as a star. The groom's gray horse, +which stood motionless a few paces behind his master, was also well-bred +and perfect of his kind. In the handsome dark face of the gentleman +Tortillard recognised the Vicomte de Saint-Remy, who was supposed to be +the lover of the Duchesse de Lucenay. + +"My pretty lass," said the viscount to the Goualeuse, whose lovely +countenance struck him, "would you be so obliging as to tell me the way +to the village of Arnouville?" + +Fleur-de-Marie's eyes sunk before the bold and admiring look of the +young man, as she replied: + +"On leaving the sunken road, sir, you must take the first turning to the +right, and that path will lead you to an avenue of cherry-trees, which +is the straight road to Arnouville." + +"A thousand thanks, my pretty lass! You tell me better than an old +woman, whom I found a few yards further on stretched under a tree, for I +could only get groans and moans out of her." + +"My poor grandmother!" said Tortillard, in a whining tone. + +"One word more," said M. de Saint-Remy, addressing La Goualeuse. "Can +you tell me if I shall easily find M. Dubreuil's farm at Arnouville?" + +Goualeuse could not prevent a shudder at these words, which recalled to +her the painful scene of the morning. She replied: + +"The farm-buildings border the avenue which you must enter to reach +Arnouville, sir." + +"Once more, many thanks, my pretty dear," said M. de Saint-Remy; and he +galloped off with his groom. + +The handsome features of the viscount were in full animation whilst he +was talking to Fleur-de-Marie, but when he was again alone they became +darkened and contracted by painful uneasiness. Fleur-de-Marie, +remembering the unknown person for whom they were so hastily preparing a +pavilion at the farm of Arnouville by Madame de Lucenay's orders, felt +convinced it was for this young and good-looking cavalier. + +The sound of the horses' feet as they galloped on was heard for some +time on the hard and frozen ground, and by degrees grew fainter, then +were no longer heard, and all was once more hushed in silence. +Tortillard breathed again. Desirous of encouraging and warning his +accomplices, one of whom, the Schoolmaster, was concealed from the +horsemen, Bras Rouge's son called out: + +"Granny! granny! here I am! with the good lady who is coming to help +you!" + +"Quick, quick, my boy! The gentleman on horseback has made us lose some +time," said the Goualeuse, walking at a quicker pace, that she might +reach the turning into the hollow way. + +She had scarcely entered it when the Chouette, who was hidden there, +exclaimed: + +"Now then, _fourline_!" + +Then springing upon the Goualeuse, the one-eyed hag seized her by the +neck with one hand, whilst with the other she pressed her mouth; and +Tortillard, throwing himself at the young girl's feet, clung round her +legs, that she might not be able to stir. + +This took place so rapidly that the Chouette had no time to examine the +Goualeuse's features; but during the few instants it required for the +Schoolmaster to quit the hole in which he was ensconced, to grope his +way along with his cloak, the beldame recognised her old victim. + +"La Pegriotte!" she exclaimed, in great surprise. Then adding with +savage delight, "What, is it you? Ah, the baker (the devil) sends you! +It is your fate, then, to fall into my clutches! I have my vitriol in +the _fiacre_ now, and your white skin shall have a touch, miss; for it +makes me sick to see your fine lady countenance. Come, my man, mind she +don't bite; and hold her tight whilst we bundle her up." + +The Schoolmaster seized the Goualeuse in his two powerful hands, and +before she could utter a cry the Chouette threw the cloak over her head, +and wrapped her up in it, tightly and securely. In a moment, +Fleur-de-Marie, tied and enveloped, was without any power to move or +call for assistance. + +"Now take up your parcel, _fourline_," said the Chouette. "He, he, he! +This is not such a load as the 'black peter' of the woman who was +drowned in the Canal of St. Martin---is it, my man?" And as the brigand +shuddered at these words, which reminded him of his fearful vision, the +one-eyed hag resumed, "Well, well, what ails you, _fourline_? Why, you +seem frozen! Ever since the morning your teeth chatter as if you had the +ague; and you look in the air as if you were looking for something +there!" + +"Vile impostor! He is looking to see the flies," said Tortillard. + +"Come, quick! Haste forward, my man! Up with Pegriotte! That's it!" said +the Chouette, as she saw the ruffian lift Fleur-de-Marie in his arms as +he would carry a sleeping infant. "Quick to the coach! quick,--quick!" + +"But who will lead me?" inquired the Schoolmaster, in a hoarse voice, +and securing his light and flexible burden in his herculean arms. + +"Old wise head!--he thinks of every thing!" said the Chouette. + +Then, lifting aside her shawl, she unfastened a red pocket-handkerchief +which covered her skinny neck, and, twisting it into its length, said +to the Schoolmaster: + +"Open your ivories, and take the end of this 'wipe' between them. Hold +tight! Tortillard will take the other end in his hand, and you have +nothing to do but to follow him. The good blind man requires a good dog! +Here, brat!" + +The cripple cut a caper, and made a sort of low and odd barking. Then, +taking the other end of the handkerchief in his hand, he led the +Schoolmaster in this way, whilst the Chouette hastened forward to +apprise Barbillon. We have not attempted to paint Fleur-de-Marie's +terror when she found herself in the power of the Chouette and the +Schoolmaster. She felt all her strength leave her, and could not offer +the slightest resistance. + +Some minutes afterwards the Goualeuse was lifted into the _fiacre_ which +Barbillon drove, and although it was night they closed the window-blinds +carefully; and the three accomplices went, with their almost expiring +victim, towards the plain of St. Denis, where Thomas Seyton awaited +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +CLEMENCE D'HARVILLE. + + +The reader will kindly excuse our having left one of our heroines in a +most critical situation, the _denouement_ of which we shall state +hereafter. + +It will be remembered that Rodolph had preserved Madame d'Harville from +an imminent danger, occasioned by the jealousy of Sarah, who had +acquainted M. d'Harville with the assignation Clemence had so +imprudently granted to M. Charles Robert. Deeply affected with the scene +he had witnessed, the prince returned directly home after quitting the +Rue du Temple, putting off till the next day the visit he purposed +paying to Mlle. Rigolette and the distressed family of the unfortunate +artisan, of whom we have spoken, believing them out of the reach of +present want, thanks to the money he had given Madame d'Harville to +convey to them, in order that her pretended charitable visit to the +house might assume a more convincing appearance in the eyes of her +husband. + +Unfortunately, Rodolph was ignorant of Tortillard's having possessed +himself of the purse, although the reader has already been told how the +artful young thief contrived to effect the barefaced cheat. + +About four o'clock the prince received the following letter, which was +brought by an old woman, who went away the instant she had delivered it +without awaiting any answer. + + "MY LORD: + + "I owe you more than life; and I would fain express my heartfelt + gratitude for the invaluable service you have rendered me to-day. + To-morrow shame would, perhaps, close my lips. If your royal + highness will honour me with a call this evening, you will finish + the day as you began it--by a generous action. + + "D'ORBIGNY D'HARVILLE. + + "P.S. Do not, my lord, take the trouble to write an answer. I + shall be at home all the evening." + +However rejoiced Rodolph felt at having been the happy instrument of +good to Madame d'Harville, he yet could not help regretting the sort of +a forced intimacy which this circumstance all at once established +between himself and the marquise. Deeply struck with the graceful +vivacity and extreme beauty of Clemence, yet wholly incapable of +infringing upon the friendship which existed between himself and the +marquis, Rodolph, directly he became aware of the passion which was +springing up in his heart for the wife of his friend, almost denied +himself (after having previously devoted a whole month to the most +assiduous attentions) the pleasure of beholding her. And now, too, he +recollected with much emotion the conversation he had overheard at the +embassy between Tom and Sarah, when the latter, by way of accounting for +her hatred and jealousy, had affirmed, and not without truth, that +Madame d'Harville still felt, even unknown to herself, a serious +affection for Rodolph. + +Sarah was too acute, too penetrating, too well versed in the knowledge +of the human heart, not to be well aware that Clemence, believing +herself scorned by a man who had made so deep an impression on her +heart, and yielding, from the effects of her irritated feelings, to the +importunities of a perfidious friend, might be induced to interest +herself in the imaginary woes of M. Charles Robert, without, +consequently, forgetting Rodolph. Other women, faithful to the memory of +a man they had once distinguished, would have remained indifferent to +the melancholy looks of the commandant. Clemence d'Harville was +therefore doubly blamable, although she had only yielded to the +seduction of unhappiness, and, fortunately for her, had been preserved +alike by a keen sense of duty and the remembrance of the prince (which +still lurked in her heart, and kept faithful watch over it) from the +commission of an irreparable fault. + +A thousand contradictory emotions disturbed the mind of Rodolph, as he +thought of his interview with Madame d'Harville. Firmly resolved to +resist the predilection which attracted him to her society, sometimes he +congratulated himself on being able to cast off his love for her by the +recollection of her having entangled herself with such a being as +Charles Robert; and the next instant he bitterly deplored seeing the +flattering veil with which he had invested his idol fall to the ground. + + * * * * * + +Clemence d'Harville, on her part, awaited the approaching interview with +much anxiety; but the two prevailing sentiments which pervaded her +breast were painful confusion, when she remembered the interference of +Rodolph, and a fixed aversion when she thought of M. Charles Robert, and +many reasons were concerned in this feeling of dislike almost +approaching hatred itself. A woman will risk her honour or her life for +a man, but she will never pardon him for having placed her in a +mortifying or a ridiculous situation. + +Madame d'Harville felt her cheeks flush, and her pulse beat rapidly as +she indignantly recalled the insulting looks and impertinent remarks of +Madame Pipelet. Nor was this all. After receiving from Rodolph an +intimation of the danger she was incurring, Clemence had proceeded +rapidly towards the fifth floor, as directed, but the position of the +staircase was such that, as she hurried on, she perceived M. Charles +Robert in his dazzling _robe de chambre_, at the very instant when, +recognising the light step of the woman he expected, he, with a +self-satisfied, confident, and triumphant look, set the door of his +apartment half open. The air of insolent familiarity, expressed by the +_negligee_ toilet he had assumed, quickly enabled the marquise to +perceive how entirely she had been mistaken in his character. Led away +by the kindness and goodness of her heart, and the generosity of her +disposition, to take a step which might for ever destroy her reputation, +she had accorded this meeting, not from love, but solely from +commiseration, in order to console him for the ridiculous part the bad +taste of the Duke de Lucenay had made him play before her at the +embassy. Words can ill describe the disgust and vexation with which +Madame d'Harville beheld the slipshod _deshabille_ of the commandant, +implying as it did his opinion how completely her ill-judged +condescension had broken down the barriers of etiquette, and led him to +consider no further respect towards her necessary. + +The timepiece in the small salon which Madame d'Harville ordinarily +occupied struck nine o'clock. Dressmakers and tavern-keepers have so +much abused the style of Louis XV. and the Renaissance, that the +marquise, a woman of infinite taste, had excluded from her apartments +this description of ornament, now become so vulgarised, and confined it +to that part of the hotel devoted to the reception of visitors and grand +entertainments. Nothing could be more elegant or more _distingue_ than +the fitting-up of the salon in which the marquise awaited Rodolph. The +colour of the walls as well as the curtains (which, without either +valances or draperies, were of Indian texture) was bright straw colour, +on which were embroidered, in a darker shade, in unwrought silk, +arabesques of the most beautiful designs and whimsical devices. Double +curtains of point d'Alencon entirely concealed the windows. The +rosewood doors were set off with gold mouldings, most beautifully +carved, surrounding in each panel an oval medallion of Sevres china, +nearly a foot in diameter, representing a numberless variety of birds +and flowers of surpassing brilliancy and beauty. The frames of the +looking-glasses and the cornices of the curtains were also of rosewood, +ornamented with similar raised work of silver gilt. The white marble +mantelpiece, with its supporting caryatides of antique beauty and +exquisite grace, was from the chisel of the proud and imperious +Marochetti, that great artist having consented to sculpture this +delicious _chef-d'oeuvre_ in imitation of Benvenuto Cellini, who +disdained not to model ewers and armour. Two candelabras, and two +candlesticks of vermeil, forming groups of small figures beautifully +executed, stood on either side of the timepiece, which was formed of a +square block of lapis lazuli raised on a pedestal of Oriental jasper, +and surmounted with a large and magnificently enamelled golden cup, +richly studded with rubies and pearls, once the property of the +Florentine Republic. Several excellent pictures of the Venetian school, +of middle size, completed this assemblage of elegance and refined taste. + +Thanks to a most charming invention but recently introduced, this +splendid yet simple apartment was lighted only by the soft rays of a +lamp, the unground surface of whose crystal globe was half hid among a +mass of real flowers, contained in an immensely large and deep blue and +gold Japan cup, suspended from the ceiling like a lustre by three chains +of vermeil, around which were entwined the green stalks of several +climbing plants; while some of the flexible branches, thickly laden with +flowers, overhanging the edge of the cup and hanging gracefully down, +formed a waving fringe of fresh verdure, beautifully contrasting with +the blue and gold enamel of the purple porcelain. + +We have been thus precise in these details, trifling as they may seem, +in order to give some idea of the exquisite taste possessed by Madame +d'Harville (the almost invariable companion of an elevated mind), and +also because misfortunes always strike us as more poignantly cruel when +they insinuate themselves into abodes like this, the favoured possessors +of which seem gifted by Providence with everything to make life happy +and enviable. + +Buried in the downy softness of a large armchair, totally covered by the +same straw-coloured Indian silk as formed the rest of the hangings, +Clemence d'Harville sat, awaiting the arrival of Rodolph. Her hair was +arranged in the most simple manner. She wore a high dress of black +velvet, which well displayed the beauty and admirable workmanship of her +large collar and cuffs of English lace, which prevented the extreme +black of the velvet from contrasting too harshly with the dazzling +whiteness of her throat and hands. + +In proportion as the hour approached for her interview with Rodolph, the +emotion of the marquise increased; but by degrees her embarrassment +ceased, and firmer resolves took possession of her mind. After a long +and mature reflection she came to the determination of confiding to +Rodolph a great, a cruel secret, hoping by her frankness to win back +that esteem she now so highly prized. Awakened by gratitude, her +pristine admiration of Rodolph returned with fresh force; one of those +secret whispers, which rarely deceives the heart that loves, told her +that chance alone had not brought the prince so opportunely to her +succour, and that his studied avoidance of her society during the last +few months had originated in anything but indifference. A vague +suspicion also arose in her mind as to the reality and sincerity of the +affection Sarah professed for her. + +While deeply meditating on all these things, a _valet de chambre_, +having first gently tapped at the door, entered, saying: + +"Will it please you, my lady, to see Madame Ashton and my young lady?" + +Madame d'Harville made an affirmative gesture of assent, and a little +girl slowly entered the room. + +The child was about four years old, and her countenance would have been +a very charming one but for its sickly pallor and extreme meagreness. +Madame Ashton, the governess, held her by the hand, but, directly Claire +(that was the name of the little girl) saw her mother, she opened her +arms, and, spite of her feebleness, ran towards her. Her light brown +hair was plaited, and tied at each side of her forehead with bows of +cherry-coloured riband. Her health was so delicate that she wore a +wrapping-dress of dark brown silk instead of one of those pretty little +white muslin frocks trimmed with ribands of a similar colour as those in +the hair, and well cut over the bosom to show the plump, pinky arms, and +smooth, fair shoulders, so lovely in healthy children. So sunken were +the cheeks of poor Claire that her large dark eyes looked quite +enormous. But, spite of every appearance of weakness, a sweet and gentle +smile lit up her small features when she was placed on the lap of her +mother, whom she kissed and embraced with intense yet mournful +affection. + +"How has she been of late, Madame Ashton?" inquired Madame d'Harville of +the governess. + +"Tolerably well, madame; although at one time I feared." + +"Again!" cried Clemence, pressing her daughter to her heart with a +movement of involuntary horror. + +"Fortunately, madame, I was mistaken," said the governess, "and the +whole passed away without any further alarm; Mademoiselle Claire became +composed, and merely suffered from a momentary feeling of weakness. She +has not slept much this afternoon, but I could not coax her to bed +without allowing her the pleasure of paying a visit to you." + +"Dear little angel!" cried Madame d'Harville, covering her daughter with +kisses. + +The interesting child repaid her mother's caresses with infantine +delight, when the groom of the chambers entered and announced: + +"His royal highness the Grand Duke of Gerolstein." + +Claire, standing on her mother's lap, had thrown her arms about her +neck, and was clasping her with all the force of which her tiny arms +were capable. At the sight of Rodolph, Clemence blushed deeply, set her +child gently down on the carpet, and signed to Madame Ashton to take her +away; she then rose to receive her guest. + +"You must give me leave," said Rodolph, smilingly, after having +respectfully bowed to the marquise, "to renew my acquaintance with my +little friend here, who I fear has almost forgotten me." + +And, stooping down a little, he extended his hand to Claire, who, first +gazing at him with her large eyes, curiously scrutinised his features, +then, recognising him, she made a gentle inclination of the head, and +blew him a kiss from the tips of her small, thin fingers. + +"You remember my lord, then, my child?" asked Clemence of little Claire, +who gave an assenting nod, and kissed her hand to Rodolph a second time. + +"Her health appears to me much improved since I last saw her," said he, +addressing himself with unfeigned interest to Clemence. + +"Thank heaven, my lord, she is better, though still sadly delicate and +suffering." + +The marquise and the prince, mutually embarrassed at the thoughts of the +approaching interview, would have been equally glad to defer its +commencement, through the medium of Claire's presence; but, the discreet +Madame Ashton having taken her away, Rodolph and Clemence were left +quite alone. + +[Illustration: "_You Must Give Me Leave_" +Original Etching by L. Poiteau] + +The armchair in which Madame d'Harville was reclining stood on the right +hand of the chimney, and Rodolph remained without attempting to seat +himself, gracefully leaning his elbow on the mantelpiece. Never had +Clemence been so strongly impressed with admiration at the noble and +prepossessing appearance of the prince; never had his voice sounded more +gentle or sweet upon her ear. Fully understanding how painful it must be +to the marquise to open the conversation, Rodolph at once proceeded to +the main point by observing: + +"You have been, madame, the victim of a base and treacherous action. A +cowardly and dishonourable disclosure on the part of the Countess +Macgregor has well-nigh effected irremediable mischief." + +"Is it, indeed, so?" exclaimed Clemence, painfully surprised; "then my +presentiments were not ill-founded! And by what means did your royal +highness discover this?" + +"Last night, at the ball given by the Countess C----, I discovered this +infamous secret. I was sitting in a lone part of the 'Winter Garden,' +when Countess Sarah and her brother, unconscious that a mass of verdure +alone concealed me from them, while it enabled me to hear each word they +spoke, began conversing freely upon their own projects, and the snare +they had spread for you. Anxious to warn you of the danger with which +you were threatened, I hastened to Madame de Nerval's ball, hoping to +meet you there, but you did not appear. To write and direct my letter +here was to incur the risk of its falling into the hands of the marquis, +whose suspicions were already aroused by your treacherous friend; and I +therefore preferred awaiting your arrival in the Rue du Temple, that I +might unfold to you the perfidy of Countess Macgregor. Let me hope you +will pardon my thus long dwelling on a subject which must be so painful +to you. And, but for the few lines you were kind enough to write, never +would my lips have in any way reverted to it." + +After a momentary silence, Madame d'Harville said to Rodolph: + +"There is but one way, my lord, in which I can prove to you my gratitude +for your late generous conduct. It is to confess to you that which I +have never revealed to a human being. What I have to say will not +exculpate me in your estimation, but it will, perhaps, enable you to +make some allowances for my imprudence." + +"Candidly speaking, madame," said Rodolph, smiling, "my position as +regards you is a very embarrassing one." + +Clemence, astonished at the almost jesting tone in which he spoke, +looked at Rodolph with extreme surprise, while she said, "How so, my +lord?" + +"Thanks to a circumstance you are doubtless acquainted with, I am +obliged to assume the grave airs of a mentor touching an incident which, +since you have so happily escaped the vile snare laid for you by +Countess Sarah, scarcely merits being treated with so much importance. +But," continued Rodolph with a slight shade of gentle and affectionate +earnestness, "your husband and myself are almost as brothers; and, +before our time, our fathers had vowed the sincerest friendship for each +other. I have, therefore, a double motive in most warmly congratulating +you on having secured the peace and happiness of your husband!" + +"And it is from my knowledge of the high regard and esteem with which +you honour M. d'Harville, that I have determined upon revealing the +whole truth, as well as to explain myself relative to an interest which +must appear to you as ill-chosen and unworthy as it now seems to me. I +wish also to clear up that part of my conduct which bears an injurious +appearance against the tranquillity and honour of him your highness +styles 'almost a brother.'" + +"Believe me, madame, I shall at all times be most proud and happy to +receive the smallest proof of your confidence. Yet permit me to say, as +regards the interest you speak of, that I am perfectly aware it +originated as much in sincere pity as from the constant importunities of +Countess Sarah Macgregor, who had her own reasons for seeking to injure +you. And I also know equally well that you long hesitated ere you could +make up your mind to take the step you now so much regret." + +Clemence looked at the prince with surprise. + +"You seem astonished. Well, that you may not fancy I dabble in +witchcraft, some of these days I will tell you all about it," said +Rodolph, smiling. "But your husband is perfectly tranquillised, is he +not?" + +"Yes, my lord," said Clemence, looking down in much confusion; "and it +is most painful to me to hear him asking my pardon for having ever +suspected me, and then eulogising my modest silence respecting my good +deeds." + +"Nay, do not chide an illusion which renders him so happy. On the +contrary, endeavour to maintain the innocent deception. Were it not +forbidden to treat your late adventure lightly, and had not you, madame, +been so much involved in it, I would say that a woman never appears more +charming in the eyes of her husband than when she has some fault to +conceal. It is inconceivable how many little cajoleries, and what +winning smiles, are employed to ease a troubled conscience. When I was +young," added Rodolph, smiling, "I always, in spite of myself, +mistrusted any unusual marks of tenderness. And, by the same rule, I can +say of myself, that I never felt more disposed to appear in an amiable +light than when I was conscious of requiring forgiveness. So, directly I +perceived a more than ordinary anxiety to please and gratify me, I was +very sure (judging by my own conduct) to ascribe it to some little +peccadillo that needed overlooking and pardoning." + +The light tone with which Rodolph continued to discuss an affair which +might have been attended with circumstances so fearful, at first excited +Madame d'Harville's wonder; but she quickly perceived that the prince, +beneath his outward appearance of trifling, sought to conceal, or at +least lessen, the importance of the service he had rendered her. And, +profoundly touched with his delicacy, she said: + +"I comprehend your generous meaning, my lord; and you are fully at +liberty to jest and forget as much as you like the peril from which you +have preserved me. But that which I have to relate to you is of so +grave, so serious, and mournful a nature, is so closely connected with +the events of this morning, and your advice may so greatly benefit me, +that I beseech you to remember that to you I owe both my honour and my +life: yes, my lord, my life! My husband was armed; and he has owned, in +the excess of his repentance, that it was his intention to have killed +me, had his suspicions proved correct." + +"Great God!" exclaimed Rodolph with emotion. + +"And he would have been justified in so doing," rejoined Madame +d'Harville, bitterly. + +"I beseech you, madame," said Rodolph,--and this time he spoke with deep +seriousness,--"I beseech you to be assured I am incapable of being +careless or indifferent to any matter in which you are concerned. If I +seemed but now to jest, it was but to make you think less of a +circumstance which has already occasioned you so much pain. But now, +madame, you may command my most solemn attention. Since you honour me by +saying my advice may be useful, I listen most anxiously and eagerly." + +"You can, indeed, counsel me most beneficially, my lord. But, before I +explain to you my reasons for seeking your aid, I must say a few words +concerning a period of which you are ignorant,--I mean the years which +preceded my marriage with M. d'Harville." + +Rodolph bowed, and Clemence continued: + +"At sixteen years of age I lost my mother (and here a tear stole down +the fair cheek of Madame d'Harville). I cannot attempt to describe how +much I adored that beloved parent. Imagine, my lord, the very +personification of all earthly goodness. Her fondness for me was +excessive, and appeared her only consolation amid the many bitter +sorrows she had to endure. Caring but little for what is styled the +world, with delicate health, and a natural predilection for sedentary +occupation, her great delight had been in attending solely to my +education, and her ample store of solid and varied knowledge well fitted +her for the task. Conceive, my lord, her astonishment and mine when, in +my sixteenth year, my dear preceptress considered my education nearly +completed, my father--making the feeble health of my mother a +pretext--announced to us that a young and accomplished widow, whose +misfortunes rendered her justly interesting, would henceforth be charged +with finishing what my dear parent had begun. My mother at first +resolutely refused obedience to my father's command, while I in vain +besought him not to interpose a stranger's authority between myself and +my beloved mother. He was inexorable alike to our tears and prayers, and +Madame Roland, who stated herself to be the widow of a colonel who had +died in India, came to take up her abode with us, in the character of +governess to myself." + +"What! the same Madame Roland your father married almost immediately +after the death of your mother?" + +"The same, my lord." + +"Was she, then, very beautiful?" + +"Tolerably so,--nothing more." + +"Clever,--witty, perhaps?" + +"She was a clever dissembler,--a skilful manoeuvrer; her talent went +no higher. She might be about five and twenty years of age, with +extremely light hair and nearly white eyelashes; her eyes were large, +round, and a clear blue; the expression of her countenance was humble +and gentle; and while her outward manner was attentive, even to +servility, her real disposition was as perfidious as it was unfeeling." + +"And what were her acquirements?" + +"Positively none at all, my lord; and I cannot conceive how my father, +who until then had been so completely a slave to the dictates of worldly +propriety, did not reflect that the utter incapacity of this woman must +shamefully proclaim the real cause of her being in the house. My mother +earnestly pointed out to him the extreme ignorance of Madame Roland; he, +however, merely replied, in a tone which admitted of no further +argument, that, competent or otherwise, the young and interesting widow +should retain the situation in his establishment in which he had placed +her. This I heard subsequently. From that instant my poor mother +comprehended the whole affair, over which she deeply grieved; regretting +less, I fancy, her husband's infidelity than the domestic unhappiness +which would result from so indecorous a _liaison_, the account of which +she feared might reach my ears." + +"But, even so far as his foolish passion was concerned, it seems to me +that your father acted very unwisely in introducing this woman into his +house." + +"And you would be still more at a loss to understand his conduct if you +had but known the extreme formality and circumspection of his character. +Nothing could ever have induced him thus to trample under foot all the +established rules of society but the unbounded influence of Madame +Roland,--an influence she exercised with so much the more certainty as +she veiled her designs under the mask of the most passionate love for +him." + +"But what was your father's age then?" + +"About sixty." + +"And he really credited the professions of love made by so much younger +a woman?" + +"My father had been in his time one of the most fashionable and admired +men of the day. And Madame Roland, either following the suggestions of +her own artful mind or urged on by the counsels of others, who could +countenance much more--" + +"Counsel such a person!" + +"I will tell you, my lord. Imagining that a man whose reputation for +gallantry had always stood high in the world would, as he advanced in +years, be more easily delighted than another by being flattered upon his +personal advantages, and more credulously receive such compliments as +served to recall those days most soothing to his vanity to remember, +well, my lord, incredible as it may appear, this woman began to flatter +my poor misguided father upon the graceful _tournure_ of his features +and the inimitable elegance of his shape. And he in his sixtieth year! +Strange as you may consider it, spite of the excellent sense with which +my father was endowed, he fell blindly into the snare, coarse and vulgar +as it was. Such was--such still is, I doubt not--the secret of the +unbounded influence this woman obtained over him. And really, my lord, +spite of my present disinclination for mirth, I can scarcely restrain a +smile at the recollection of having frequently, before my marriage, +heard Madame Roland assert and maintain that what she styled real +maturity was the finest portion of a person's existence, and that this +maturity never began until about the fifty-fifth or sixtieth year of +one's age." + +"I suppose that happened to be your father's age?" + +"Precisely so, my lord! Then, and then only, according to Madame Roland, +had the understanding, combined with experience, attained their full +development; then only could a man, occupying a distinguished position +in the world, enjoy the consideration to which he was entitled; at that +period only were the _tout ensemble_ of his countenance, and the +exquisite grace of his manners, in their highest perfection; the +physiognomy offering at this delightful epoch of a man's life a heavenly +mixture of winning serenity and gentle gravity. Then the slight tinge of +melancholy, caused by the many recollections of the past deceit +experience is fain to look back upon, completes the irresistible charm +of real maturity; unappreciable (Madame Roland hastily added) except by +women with head and heart sufficiently good to despise the youthful +frivolity of a poor, inexperienced forty years, when the character and +countenance can scarcely be called formed, and when good taste turns +away from the boyish folly of such an immature season of life, and seeks +the fine, majestic features impressed with the sublime and poetic +expression resulting from a sixty years' study of the vast book of human +existence." + +Rodolph could not restrain smiling at the powerful irony with which +Madame d'Harville sketched the portrait of her mother-in-law. + +"There is one thing," said he to the marquise, "for which I cannot +forgive ridiculous people." + +"What is that, my lord?" + +"The being also wicked; which prevents our being able to laugh at them +as much as they deserve." + +"They probably calculate upon that available advantage," replied +Clemence. + +"Indeed, it is very probable, though equally lamentable, for, if it were +not for the recollection of all the pain Madame Roland has occasioned +you, I could be highly diverted with her system of real maturity as +opposed to the insipidity of mere boys of only forty years of age, who, +according to her assertion, would be scarcely out of their +leading-strings, as our grandfathers and grandmothers would say." + +"What principally excited my aversion for her was the shamefulness of +her conduct towards my dear mother, and the unfortunately over-zealous +part she took in my marriage," said the marquise, after a moment's +pause. + +Rodolph looked at her with much surprise. + +"Nay, my lord," said Clemence, in a firm, though gentle tone, "I well +remember that M. d'Harville is your friend and my husband. I know +perfectly the grave importance of the words I have just uttered: +hereafter you yourself shall admit the justice of them. But to return to +Madame Roland, who was now, spite of her acknowledged incapacity, +established as my instructress: my mother had a long and most painful +altercation with my father on the subject, which drew down on us his +extreme displeasure, and from that period my mother and myself remained +secluded in our apartments, while Madame Roland, in quality of my +governess, directed the whole household, and almost publicly did the +honours of the mansion." + +"What must your mother have suffered!" + +"She did, indeed, my lord; but her sorrow was less for herself than me, +whose future destiny might be so deeply affected by the introduction of +this woman. Her health, always delicate, became daily weaker, and she +fell seriously ill. It chanced, most unfortunately, that our family +doctor, M. Sorbier, in whom she had the highest confidence, died about +this period, to my mother's extreme regret. Madame Roland immediately +urged my father to place my mother's case in the hands of an Italian +doctor, a particular friend of her own, and whom she described as +possessing a more than ordinary skill in the treatment of diseases. +Thanks to her importunities, my father, who had himself consulted him in +trifling maladies, and found no cause to be dissatisfied, proposed him +to my mother, who, alas, raised no objection. And this man it was who +attended upon her during her last illness." + +Tears filled the eyes of Madame d'Harville as she uttered these words. + +"I am ashamed to confess my weakness, my lord," added she; "but, for the +simple reason of this doctor having been appointed at the suggestion of +Madame Roland, he inspired me (and at that time without any cause) with +the most involuntary repugnance, and it was with the most painful +misgivings I saw him established in my mother's confidence. Still, as +regarded his knowledge of his profession, Doctor Polidori--" + +"What do I hear?" exclaimed Rodolph. + +"Are you indisposed, my lord?" inquired Clemence, struck with the sudden +expression the prince's countenance had assumed. + +"No, no!" said Rodolph, as though unconscious of the presence of Madame +d'Harville, "no, I must be mistaken. Five or six years must have elapsed +since all this occurred, while I am informed that it is not more than +two years since Polidori came to Paris, and then under a feigned name. +He it was I saw yesterday,--I am sure of it,--the quack dentist +Bradamanti and Polidori are one and the same. Still, 'tis singular; two +doctors of the same name,[3]--what a strange rencontre!" + + [3] We must remind the reader that Polidori was a doctor of some + eminence when he undertook the education of Rodolph. + +"Madame," said Rodolph, turning to Madame d'Harville, whose astonishment +at his preoccupation still increased, "we will, if you please, compare +notes as to this Italian. What age was he?" + +"About fifty." + +"And his appearance,--his countenance?" + +"Most sinister. Never shall I forget his clear, piercing, green eye, and +his nose curved like the bill of an eagle." + +"'Tis he,--'tis he himself!" exclaimed Rodolph. "And do you think, +madame, that the Doctor Polidori you were describing is still in Paris?" + +"That I cannot tell you, my lord. He quitted Paris about a year after my +father's marriage. A lady of my acquaintance, who at this period also +employed the Italian as her medical adviser--this lady, Madame de +Lucenay--" + +"The Duchess de Lucenay?" interrupted Rodolph. + +"Yes, my lord. But why this surprise?" + +"Permit me to be silent on that subject. But, at the time of which you +speak, what did Madame de Lucenay tell you of this man?" + +"She said that he travelled much after quitting Paris, and that she +often received from him very clever and amusing letters, descriptive of +the various places he visited. Now I recollect that, about a month ago, +happening to ask Madame de Lucenay whether she had heard lately from M. +Polidori, she replied, with an embarrassed manner, 'that nothing had +been heard of or concerning him for some time; that no one knew what had +become of him; and that by many he was supposed to be dead.'" + +"Strange, indeed," said Rodolph, recalling the recent visit of Madame de +Lucenay to the charlatan Bradamanti. + +"You know this man, then, my lord?" + +"Unfortunately for myself, I do; but let me beseech you to continue your +recital; hereafter I will give you an insight into the history of this +Polidori." + +"Do you mean the doctor?" + +"Say, rather, the wretch stained with the most atrocious crimes." + +"Crimes!" cried Madame d'Harville, in alarm; "can it be possible, the +man whom Madame Roland so highly extolled, and into whose hands my poor +mother was delivered, was guilty of crimes? Alas, my dear parent +lingered but a very short time after she passed into his care! Ah, my +lord, my presentiments have not deceived me!" + +"Your presentiments?" + +"Oh, yes! I was telling you just now of the invincible antipathy I felt +for this man from the circumstance of his having been introduced among +us by Madame Roland; but I did not tell you all, my lord." + +"How so?" + +"I was fearful lest the bitterness of my own griefs should make me +guilty of injustice towards an innocent person; but now, my lord, you +shall know everything. My mother had lain dangerously ill about five +days; I had always watched beside her, night as well as day. One +evening, that I felt much oppressed with confinement and fatigue, I went +to breathe the fresh air on the terrace of the garden: after remaining +about a quarter of an hour, I was returning by a long and obscure +gallery; by a faint light which streamed from the apartment of Madame +Roland I saw M. Polidori quit the room, accompanied by the mistress of +the chamber. Being in the shadow, they did not perceive me; Madame +Roland spoke some words to the doctor, but in so low a tone I could not +catch them; the doctor's answer was given in a louder key, and consisted +only of these words: 'The day after to-morrow;' and, when Madame Roland +seemed to urge him, still in so low a voice as to prevent the words +reaching me, he replied, with singular emphasis, 'The day after +to-morrow, I tell you,--the day after to-morrow.'" + +"What could those words mean?" + +"What did they mean? Alas, alas, my lord, it was on the Wednesday +evening I heard M. Polidori say 'The day after to-morrow;' on the Friday +my mother was a corpse!" + +"Horrible, indeed!" + +"After this mournful event I was consigned to the care of a relation, +who, forgetful of the afflicted state of my mind, as well as tender age, +told me, without reserve or consideration of the consequences, what +powerful reasons there were for my hating Madame Roland, and fully +enlightened me as to the ambitious projects entertained by this woman: +full well I could then imagine all my poor mother must have endured. I +thought my heart would break the first time I again saw my father, which +was upon the occasion of his coming to fetch me from the house of my +relation to take me into Normandy, where we were to pass the first +months of our mourning. During the journey he informed me, without the +least embarrassment, and as though it had been the most natural thing in +the world, that, out of regard for himself and me, madame had kindly +consented to take the command of the establishment, and to act as my +guide and friend. On arriving at Aubiers (so was my father's estate +called), the first object we beheld was Madame Roland, who had +established herself here on the very day of my mother's death. Spite of +her modest, gentle manner, her countenance betrayed an ill-disguised +triumph; never shall I forget the look, at once ironical and spiteful, +she cast on me as I descended from the carriage; it seemed to say, 'I am +mistress here,--'tis you who are the intruder.' A fresh grief awaited +me; whether from an inexcusable want of proper judgment or unpardonable +assurance, this woman occupied the apartment which had been my mother's: +in my just indignation I loudly complained to my father of this +unpleasant forgetfulness of my rights as well as wishes. He reprimanded +me severely for making any remonstrance on the subject, adding that it +was needless for me either to feel or express surprise on the subject, +as it was his desire I should habituate myself to consider Madame Roland +in every respect as a second mother, and show her a corresponding +deference. I replied that it would be a profanation to that sacred name +to act as he commanded; and, to his extreme wrath, I never allowed any +opportunity to escape by which I could evince my deeply rooted aversion +to Madame Roland. At times my father's rage knew no bounds, and bitterly +would he reproach me in the presence of that woman for the coldness and +ingratitude of my conduct towards an angel, as he styled her, sent by +heaven for our consolation and happiness. 'Let me entreat of you to +speak for yourself alone,' said I, one day, quite wearied with the +hypocritical conduct of Madame Roland and my father's blind infatuation. +The harshness and unreasonableness of his conduct became at last quite +unendurable; while Madame Roland, with the honeyed words of feigned +affection, would artfully intercede for me, because she well knew by so +doing she should only increase the storm she had raised. 'You must make +some allowances for Clemence,' she would say; 'the sorrow she +experiences for the excellent parent we all deplore is so natural, and +even praiseworthy, that you should respect her just grief, and pity her +for her unfounded suspicions.' 'You hear her! you hear her!' would my +father exclaim, pointing with mingled triumph and admiration to the +accomplished hypocrite; 'what angelic goodness! what enchanting +nobleness and generosity! Instantly entreat her pardon for the +unworthiness of your conduct.' 'Never!' I used to reply; 'the spirit of +my angel mother, who now beholds me, would be pained to witness such a +degradation in her child;' and, bursting with grief and mortification, I +would fly to my own chamber, leaving my father to dry the tears, and +calm the ruffled feelings of the woman I despised and hated. You will, I +hope, excuse me, my lord, for dwelling so long and so minutely on all my +early troubles, but it is only by so doing I can accurately describe to +you the sort of life I led at that period." + +"I can enter fully into the painful subject; yet how often have the same +scenes been enacted in other families, and still, it is much to be +feared, will they be repeated till the end of time. But in what capacity +did your father introduce Madame Roland to the neighbourhood?" + +"As my instructress and his friend, and she was estimated accordingly." + +"I need scarcely inquire whether he shared in the solitude to which her +questionable character condemned the lady?" + +"With the exception of some few and unavoidable visits, she saw no one. +My father, guided by his passion, or influenced by Madame Roland, threw +off his mourning for my mother ere he had worn it three months, under +the plea that the sable garb continually reminded him of his loss, and +prevented him from regaining his lost tranquillity. His manners to me +daily became colder and more estranged, while his perfect indifference +concerning me allowed a degree of liberty almost incredible in a person +of my age. I met him only at breakfast, after which he returned to his +study with Madame Roland, who acted as his secretary, read and answered +all his letters, etc.; that completed, they either walked or drove out +together, returning only an hour before dinner, against which, Madame +Roland would array herself in an elegant and well-chosen evening dress; +while my father would make a most studiously elaborate toilet, as +uncalled for as ill-adapted to his time of life. Occasionally, after +dinner, he received a few persons he could not avoid asking to his +house, when he would play at tric-trac with Madame Roland until ten +o'clock, at which hour he would offer his arm to conduct her to my +mother's apartment, and return to his guests. As for myself, I had +unrestrained permission to go where I pleased throughout the whole day. +Attended by a servant, I used to take long rides in the extensive woods +surrounding the chateau, and when, as occasionally happened, I felt my +spirits unequal to appearing at the dinner-table, not the slightest +inquiry was ever made after me, or my absence noticed." + +"What singular neglect and forgetfulness!" + +"Having accidentally encountered one of our neighbours during several +successive days of my excursions in the woods, I gave up riding there, +and confined myself entirely to the park." + +"And how did this infamous woman conduct herself towards you when +alone?" + +"She shunned all occasions of being with me as sedulously as I avoided +her; but once that we were unexpectedly _tete-a-tete_ with each other, +and that she was reproaching me for some severe words I had spoken the +preceding evening, she said, coldly, 'Have a care: you cannot contend +against my power; any such attempt will bring down certain ruin on your +head.' 'As it did upon that of my mother,' answered I. 'It is a pity, +madame, you have not M. Polidori by your side, to announce to you that +your vengeance can be satisfied--the day after to-morrow." + +"And what reply did she make when you thus recalled those fearful +words?" + +"She changed colour rapidly, her features were almost convulsed; then, +by a strong effort conquering her emotion, she angrily demanded what I +meant by the expression. 'Ask your own heart, madame,' answered I; 'in +the solitude of your chamber inquire of yourself to what I allude: your +conscience will find a ready explanation.' Shortly after that, a scene +occurred which for ever sealed my destiny. + +"Among a great number of family portraits, which graced the walls of the +salon in which we usually spent the evening, was that of my mother. One +day I observed it had been removed from its accustomed place. Two +neighbours had dined with us. One of them, a M. Dorval, a country +lawyer, had always expressed the utmost veneration and respect for my +mother. When we reached the salon after dinner, I inquired of my father +what had become of my dear mother's picture. 'Cease!' cried my father, +significantly pointing to our guests, as though intimating his desire +that they should not hear any discussion on the subject; 'the reason of +the picture being taken away is that the sight of it continually +reminded me of the heavy loss I have sustained, and so prevented my +regaining my usual calmness and peace of mind.' 'And where is the +portrait at present?' inquired I. Turning towards Madame Roland, with an +impatient and uneasy air, he said, 'Where has the picture been put?' 'In +the lumber-room,' replied she, casting on me a glance of defiance, +evidently under the impression that the presence of witnesses would +prevent me from proceeding further in the matter. 'I can easily believe, +madame,' cried I, indignantly, 'that the recollection of my mother must +have been painful to you; but that was not a sufficient reason for +banishing from the walls the likeness of her who, when you were in want +and misery, kindly and charitably afforded you the shelter of her +roof.'" + +"Excellent!" exclaimed Rodolph; "yours was, indeed, a stinging and a +just reproach." + +"'Mademoiselle,' cried my father, 'you forget that this lady has +watched, and still continues to preside, with maternal solicitude over +your education; you also seem to banish from your recollection the very +high esteem and respect you are aware I entertain for her; and, since +you allow yourself thus to attack her before strangers, you will permit +me to tell you that, in my opinion, the charge of ingratitude lies at +the door of her who, overlooking the tender cares she has received, +presumes to reproach a person, deserving of the utmost interest and +respect, with misfortunes and calamities she so nobly sustained.' 'I +cannot venture to discuss the subject with you, my dear father,' said I, +submissively. 'Perhaps, then, mademoiselle, you will favour me with your +polite arguments in favour of rudeness and unmerited abuse,' cried +Madame Roland, carried away by rage into a neglect of her usual caution +and prudence; 'perhaps you will permit me to assert that, so far from +owing the slightest obligation to your mother, I have nothing to +remember but the constant coldness and dislike she invariably manifested +towards me, fully expressive of the disgust and displeasure with which +my residence in the house inspired her.' 'Forbear, madame!' exclaimed I, +interrupting her. 'Out of respect for my father, if not to spare your +own blushes, cease such shameful confessions as the one you have just +made, or you will make even me regret having exposed you to so +humiliating a disclosure.'" + +"Better and better!" cried Rodolph; "this was, indeed, cutting with a +two-edged sword. Pray go on. And what said this woman?" + +"By a very hackneyed, though convenient expedient, Madame Roland +contrived to end a scene in which she felt she was likely to have the +worst. With a sudden cry she threw herself into a chair, and very +naturally imitated a fainting-fit. Thanks to this incident, the two +visitors quitted the room in search of restoratives; while I retired to +my own apartment, leaving my father hanging in deep anxiety over the +wicked cause of all this confusion." + +"Doubtless your next interview with your father must have been a stormy +one." + +"He came to me next morning, and, without further preamble, addressed me +as follows: 'In order to prevent a recurrence of the disgraceful scene +of yesterday, I think proper to inform you, that, immediately that +decency permits both you and myself to throw off our mourning, it is my +intention to celebrate my marriage with Madame Roland, which will +compel you to treat her with the respect and deference due to my wife. +For certain reasons, it is expedient you should marry before me. You +will have as a dowry your mother's fortune, amounting to more than a +million francs. From this very day, I shall take the necessary steps to +form a suitable match for you, and, for that purpose, I shall accept one +of the many offers I have received for your hand.' After this +conversation, I lived more alone than ever, never meeting my father +except at mealtimes, which generally passed off in the utmost silence. +So really dull and lonely was my present existence, that I only waited +for my father to propose any suitor he might approve of, to accept him +with perfect willingness. Madame Roland, having relinquished all further +ill-natured remarks upon the memory of my deceased parent, indemnified +herself by inflicting on me the continual pain of seeing her appropriate +to herself the various trifles my dear mother had exclusively made use +of. Her easy chair, embroidery-frame, the books which composed her +private library, even a screen I myself had embroidered for her, and in +the centre of which were our united ciphers: this woman laid her +sacrilegious hands on all the elegant articles with which my mother's +taste and my affection had ornamented her apartments." + +"I can well imagine all the horror these profanations must have caused +you." + +"Still, great as were my sufferings, the state of loneliness, in which I +found myself, rendered them even greater." + +"And you had no one, no person in whom you could confide?" + +"No one; but at this time I received a touching proof of the interest my +fate excited, and which might have opened my eyes to the dangers +preparing for me. One of the two persons present, during the scene with +Madame Roland I so lately described, was a M. Dorval, a worthy old +notary, to whom my mother had rendered some signal service. By my +father's orders, I never since then entered the salon when strangers +were there; I had never, therefore, seen M. Dorval after the eventful +day when I spoke so undisguisedly to Madame Roland; great, therefore, +was my surprise to see him coming towards me one day, in the park, while +I was taking my accustomed walk. 'Mademoiselle,' said he to me, with a +mysterious air, 'I am fearful of being observed by your father; here is +a letter,--read it, and destroy it immediately,--its contents are most +important to you.' So saying, he disappeared as quickly as he came. In +the letter he informed me that it was in agitation to marry me to the +Marquis d'Harville, and that the match appeared in every respect +eligible, inasmuch as every one concurred in bearing testimony to the +many excellent qualities of M. d'Harville, who was young, rich, +good-looking, and highly distinguished for his talents and mental +attainments; yet that the families of two young ladies, with whom he had +been on the point of marriage, had abruptly broken off the matches. The +notary added that, although entirely ignorant of the cause of these +ruptures, he still considered it his duty to apprise me of them, without +in the slightest degree insinuating that they originated in any +circumstance prejudicial to the high opinion entertained of M. +d'Harville. The two young ladies alluded to were, one, the daughter of +M. Beauregard, a peer of France; the other, of Lord Dudley. M. Dorval +concluded by saying that his motive in making the communication was +because my father, in his extreme desire to conclude the marriage, did +not appear to attach sufficient importance to the facts now detailed." + +"Now you recall it to my recollection," said Rodolph, after some minutes +spent in deep meditation on what he had just heard, "I remember that +your husband, at intervals of nearly twelve months, told me of two +marriages which had been broken off just as they were on the point of +taking place, and ascribing their abrupt termination to a difficulty in +arranging matters of a mere pecuniary nature." + +Madame d'Harville smiled bitterly as she replied: + +"You shall know what those motives really were, my lord, very shortly. +After reading the letter, so kindly intentioned on the part of the +worthy notary, I felt both my uneasiness and curiosity rapidly increase. +Who was D'Harville? My father had never mentioned him to me. In vain I +ransacked my memory; I could not recollect ever to have heard the name. +Soon, however, the current of my thoughts was directed into another +channel by the abrupt departure of Madame Roland for Paris. Although the +period of her absence was limited to eight days at the utmost, yet my +father expressed the deepest grief at even this trifling separation from +her. His temper became altogether soured, and his coldness towards me +hourly increased; he even went so far as to reply, when one day I +inquired after his health, 'I am ill,--and all through you.' 'Through +me?' exclaimed I. 'Assuredly, through you; you know full well how +indispensable to my happiness is the company of Madame Roland, yet this +incomparable woman, who has been so grossly insulted by you, has left me +to undertake her present journey solely on your account.' This mark of +interest on the part of Madame Roland filled me with the most lively +apprehensions of evil, and a vague presentiment floated across my mind +that my marriage was in some way or other mixed up with it. I must leave +it to your imagination, my lord, to picture the delight of my father +upon the return of my future mother-in-law. The next day he sent to +desire my company; I found him alone with her. 'I have, for some time,' +said he, 'been thinking of establishing you in the world; in another +month your mourning will have expired. To-morrow I expect M. +d'Harville, a young man possessed of every requisite, both as to fortune +and figure, to secure any woman's approbation; he is well looked upon in +society, and is capable of securing the happiness of any lady he may +seek in marriage. Now, having seen you, though accidentally, his choice +has fallen on you. In fact, he is most anxious to obtain your hand. +Every pecuniary arrangement is concluded. It therefore remains solely +with yourself to be married ere the next six weeks have elapsed. If, on +the contrary, from any capricious whim impossible for me to foresee, you +think fit to refuse the unlooked-for good offer now before you, it will +in no respect alter my own plans, as my marriage will take place, +according to my original intention, directly my mourning expires. And, +in this latter case, I am bound to inform you that your presence in my +house will not be agreeable to me, unless I have your promise to treat +my wife with the respect and tenderness to which she is entitled.' 'I +understand you,' replied I; 'whether I accept M. d'Harville or no, you +will marry; and my only resource will then be to retire to the Convent +of the Holy Heart?' 'It will,' answered he, coldly." + +"His conduct now ceases to be classed under the term weakness," said +Rodolph; "it assumes the form of positive cruelty." + +"Shall I tell you, my lord, what has always prevented me from feeling +the least resentment at my father's conduct? It is because I have always +had a strong presentiment that he would one day pay dearly--too dearly, +alas!--for his blind passion for Madame Roland. Thank Heaven, that evil +day has not yet arrived!" + +"And did you not mention to your father what the old notary had informed +you of,--the abrupt breaking off of the two marriages M. d'Harville had +been on the point of contracting?" + +"Indeed, I did, my lord. I signified to my father, upon the occasion of +the conversation I was relating to you, a wish to speak with him alone, +upon which Madame Roland abruptly rose and quitted the apartment. 'I +have no objection to the union you propose with M. d'Harville,' said I; +'only, as I understand, he has twice been upon the point of marriage, +and--' 'Enough--enough!' interrupted he, hastily. 'I know all about +those two affairs, which were so abruptly broken off merely because +matters of a pecuniary nature were not satisfactorily arranged; +although, I am bound to assure you, that not the slightest shadow of +blame was attributable to M. d'Harville. If that be your only objection, +you may consider the match as concluded on, and yourself as +married,--ay, and happily, too,--for, spite of your conduct, my first +wish is for your happiness.'" + +"No doubt Madame Roland was delighted with your marriage?" + +"Delighted? Yes, my lord," said Clemence, with bitterness. "She was, and +well might be, delighted with this union, which was, in fact, of her +effecting. She it was who had first suggested it to my father; she knew +full well the real occasion of breaking off the marriages so nearly +completed by M. d'Harville, and hence arose her exceeding anxiety for +him to become my husband." + +"What motive could she possibly have had?" + +"She sought to avenge herself on me by condemning me to a life of +wretchedness." + +"But your father--" + +"Deceived by Madame Roland, he fully and implicitly believed that +interested motives alone had set aside the two former marriages of M. +d'Harville." + +"What a horrible scheme! But what was this mysterious reason?" + +"You shall know shortly. Well, M. d'Harville arrived at Aubiers, and, I +confess, I was much pleased with his appearance, manners, and cultivated +mind. He seemed very amiable and kind, though somewhat melancholy. I +remarked in him a contradiction which charmed and astonished me at the +same time. His personal and mental advantages were considerable, his +fortune princely, and his birth illustrious; yet, at times, the +expression of his countenance would change, from a firm and manly energy +and decision of purpose, to an almost timid, shrinking look, as though +he feared even his own self; then an utter dejection of spirits and +exhaustion would ensue. There was, at these strangely contrasted +periods, such a look of deprecating humility, such an appearance of +conscious wrong, as touched me deeply, and won my pity to a great +extent. I admired greatly the kindness of manner he ever evinced to an +old servant,--a _valet de chambre_ who had been about him from his +birth, and who alone was suffered to attend upon his master now he had +reached man's estate. Shortly after M. d'Harville's arrival he remained +for two days secluded in his apartment. My father wished to visit him; +but the old servant alluded to objected, stating that his master had so +violent a headache, he could receive no one. When M. d'Harville emerged +from his chamber, he was excessively pale, and looked extremely ill. He +afterwards appeared to experience a sort of impatience and uneasiness +when any reference was made to his temporary indisposition. In +proportion as I became better acquainted with M. d'Harville, I +discovered that, on many points, a singular similarity of taste existed +between us. He had so much to be proud of, and so many reasons for being +happy, that his excessive and shrinking modesty struck me as something +more than admirable. The day for our marriage being fixed, he seemed to +delight in anticipating every wish I could form for the future, and, +when sometimes I alluded to the deep melancholy which at times +possessed him, and begged to know the cause, he would speak of his +deceased parents, and of the delight it would have afforded them to see +him married, to their hearts' dearest wish, to one so justly approved +both by his own judgment and affections, I could not well find fault +with reasons so complimentary to myself. M. d'Harville easily guessed +the terms on which I must have been living with my father and Madame +Roland, although the former, delighted at my marriage, which would serve +as a plea for accelerating his own, had latterly treated me with +excessive tenderness. In some of our conversations, M. d'Harville, with +infinite tact and good feeling, explained to me that his regard was +considerably heightened by the knowledge of all I had suffered since my +dear mother's death. I thought it my duty to hint to him, at such a +time, that, as my father was about to marry again, it might very +possibly affect the property I might be expected to inherit. He would +not even permit me to proceed, but most effectually convinced me of his +own utterly disinterested motives in seeking my hand. I could not but +think that the families, who had so abruptly broken off his former +projected alliances, must have been very unreasonable or avaricious +people if they made pecuniary matters a stumbling-block with one so +generous, easy, and liberal as M. d'Harville." + +"And such as you describe him, so have I always found him," cried +Rodolph; "all heart, disinterestedness, and delicacy! But did you never +speak to him of the marriages so hastily broken off?" + +"I will confess to you, my lord, that the question was several times on +my lips; but, when I recollected the sensitiveness of his nature, I +feared to pain him by questions which might, at any rate, have wounded +his self-love, or taxed his honour to reply to truly. The nearer the day +fixed for our marriage approached, the more delighted did M. d'Harville +appear. Yet I several times detected him absorbed in the most perfect +dejection, the deepest melancholy. One day, in particular, I caught his +eyes fixed on me with a settled gaze, as though resolving to confide to +me some important secret he yet could not bring himself to reveal. I +perceived a large tear trickle slowly down his cheek, as though wrung +from his very heart. The recollection of his two former prospects of +marriage, so suddenly destroyed, rose to my mind; and, I confess, I +almost felt afraid to proceed. A vague presentiment whispered within me +that the happiness of my whole life was at stake,--perhaps perilled for +ever. But then, on the other hand, such was my eager desire to quit my +father's house, that I turned a deaf ear to every suggestion of evil +arising from my union with M. d'Harville." + +"And did M. d'Harville make you no voluntary confession?" + +"Not any. When I inquired the cause of his continual fits of melancholy, +he would answer, 'Pray, do not heed it! But I am always most sad when +most happy.' These words, pronounced in the kindest and most touching +manner, reassured me a little. And how, indeed, was it possible, when +his voice would quiver with emotion, and his eyes fill with tears, to +manifest any further suspicion, by repeating my questions as to the +past, when it was with the future only I had any business? The persons +appointed to witness the contract on the part of M. d'Harville, M. de +Lucenay and M. de Saint-Remy, arrived at Aubiers some days previous to +the marriage; my nearest relations alone were invited. Immediately after +the conclusion of the ceremony, we were to depart for Paris; and it is +true I felt for M. d'Harville none of that love with which a young wife +ought to regard the man she vows her future life to, but I admired and +respected his character and disposition, and, but for the disastrous +events which followed this fatal union, a more tender feeling could +doubtless soon have attached me to him. Well, we were married." + +At these words, Madame d'Harville turned rather pale, and her resolution +appeared to forsake her. After a pause, she resumed: + +"Immediately after the ceremony, my father embraced me tenderly, as did +Madame Roland also. Before so many persons I could not avoid the display +of this fresh exhibition of hypocrisy. With her dry and white hand she +squeezed mine so hard as to pain me, and said, in a whisper, and in a +tone as gentle as it was perfidious, these words, which I never can +forget: 'Think of me sometimes in the midst of your bliss, for it was I +who arranged your marriage.' Alas, I was far from comprehending at that +moment the full force of those words! Our marriage took place at eleven +o'clock, and we immediately entered our carriage, followed by my +waiting-woman and the old _valet de chambre_ of M. d'Harville's, and we +travelled so rapidly that we reached Paris before ten o'clock in the +evening. I should have been surprised at the silence and melancholy of +M. d'Harville had I not known that he had what he termed his happy +sadness. I was myself painfully disturbed; I was returning to Paris for +the first time since my mother's death; I arrived there alone with my +husband, whom I had hardly known more than six weeks, and who, up to the +evening before, had not addressed a word to me but what was marked by +respectful formality. Men, however well bred, do not think sufficiently +of the fear which the sudden change in their tone and manners occasions +to a young female as soon as she belongs to them; they do not reflect +that a youthful maiden cannot in a few hours forget all her timidity and +virgin scruples." + +"Nothing is to me more barbarous than this system of carrying off a +young female as soon as the wedding ceremony is over,--a ceremony which +ought to consecrate the right and duty to employ still more every +tenderness of love and effort to render mutual affection still stronger +and more endearing." + +"You will imagine, monseigneur, the indefinable alarm with which I found +myself in Paris,--in the city in which my mother had died hardly a year +before. We reached the Hotel d'Harville--" + +The emotion of the young lady redoubled, her cheeks were flushed with +scarlet, and she added, in a voice scarcely intelligible: + +"You must know all; if not, I shall appear too contemptible in your +eyes. Well, then," she resumed, with desperate resolution, "I was led to +my apartment and left there alone; after an hour M. d'Harville joined me +there. I was weeping bitterly. My husband came towards me, and was about +to take my arm, when he fell at my feet in agony. He could not hear my +voice, his countenance was spasmodic with fearful convulsions, his eyes +rolled in their orbits with a rapidity that appalled me, his contorted +mouth was filled with blood and foam, and his hand grasped me with +inconceivable force. I made a desperate effort, and his stiffened +fingers at length unclasped from my wrist, and I fainted at the moment +when M. d'Harville was struggling in the paroxysm of this horrible +attack. This was my wedding night, my lord,--this was the vengeance of +Madame Roland!" + +"Unhappy woman!" said Rodolph, overwhelmed. "I understand,--an +epileptic. Ah, 'tis horrible!" + +"And that is not all," added Clemence, in a voice almost choked by +emotion; "my child, my angel girl, she has inherited this frightful +malady." + +"Your daughter! She! What? Her paleness--her weakness--" + +"Is, I dread to believe, hereditary; and the physicians think, +therefore, that it is incurable." + +Madame d'Harville hid her face in her hands; overcome by this painful +disclosure, she had not courage to add another word. Rodolph also +remained silent. His mind recoiled affrighted from the terrible +mysteries of this night. He pictured to himself the young maiden, +already sad, in consequence of her return to the city in which her +mother had died, arriving at a strange house, alone with a man for whom +she felt an interest and esteem, but not love, nor any of those +sentiments which enchant the mind, none of the engrossing feeling which +removes the chaste alarms of a woman in the participation of a lawful +and reciprocal affection. No, no; on the contrary, Clemence arrived +agitated and distressed, with depressed spirits and tearful eyes. She +was, however, resolved on resignation and the fulfilment of duty, when, +instead of listening to language full of devotion, love, and tenderness, +which would compensate for the sorrowful feelings which were uppermost +in her mind, she sees convulsed at her feet a stricken man, who twists, +and foams, and shrieks, in the hideous convulsions of one of the most +fearful infirmities with which a man can be incurably smitten! This is +not all: his child, poor little innocent angel! is also withered from +her birth. These sad and painful avowals excited bitter reflections in +Rodolph's mind. "Such," said he, "is the law of the land. A young, +handsome, and pure girl, the confiding and gentle victim of a shameful +dissimulation, unites her destiny to that of a man tainted with an +incurable malady,--a fatal inheritance which he will assuredly transmit +to his children. The unhappy wife discovers this horrid mystery. What +can she do? Nothing,--nothing but suffer and weep; nothing but endeavour +to overcome her disgust and fright; nothing but pass her days in +anguish, in indefinable and endless terror; nothing but seek, perhaps, +culpable consolation without the desolate existence which has been +created around her. Again," said Rodolph, "these strange laws sometimes +produce horrible unions: fearful for humanity. In these laws, animals +always appear superior to man in the care bestowed upon them; in the +improvements that are studied for them; in the protection which +encircles, the guarantees which attend them. Buy an animal, and, if an +infirmity decried by the law is detected after the purchase, the sale is +null and void. Indeed, what a shame, what a case of public injury would +it be to compel a man to keep an animal which has a cough, is lame, or +has lost an eye! Why, it would be scandalous, criminal, unheard-of +infamy! Only imagine being compelled to keep, and keep for ever, a mule +with a cough, a horse that was blind, or an ass that was lame! What +frightful consequences might not such injustice entail on the community! +Therefore, no such bargains hold good, no words bind, no contract is +valid: the omnipotent law unlooses all that was thus bound. But if it +relates to a creature made after God's own image, if it respects a young +girl who, in the full and innocent reliance on the good faith of a man, +unites her lot with his, and wakes up in the company of an epileptic, an +unhappy wretch stricken with a fearful malady, whose moral and physical +consequences are immeasurably distressing, a malady which may throw +disorder and aversion into a family, perpetuate a horrible disease, +vitiate whole generations, yes, this law, so inexorable when lame, +blind, or coughing animals are the consideration--this law, so +singularly clear-sighted, which will not allow an unsound horse to +increase the species--this law will not loosen the victim of a union +such as we have described. These bonds are sacred, indissoluble: it is +to offend God and man to break them. In truth," continued Rodolph, "men +sometimes display a humility most shameful and an egotistical pride +which is only execrable. He values himself at less than the beast which +he protects by warranties which he refuses for himself; and he imposes +on himself, makes sacred, and perpetuates his most distressing +infirmities by putting them under the protection of the immutability of +laws, human and divine." Rodolph greatly blamed M. d'Harville, but he +promised to himself to excuse him in the eyes of Clemence, although +fully persuaded, after her sad disclosure, that the marquis was for ever +alienated from her heart. One thought led to another, and Rodolph said +to himself, "I have kept aloof from a woman I love, and who, perhaps, +already feels a secret inclination for me. Either from an attachment of +heart or friendship, she has bestowed her honour--her life--for the sake +of a fool whom she thought unhappy. If, instead of leaving her, I had +paid her all sorts of attentions, love, and consideration, my name would +have been such that her reputation would not have received the slightest +stain, the suspicions of her husband would never have been excited: +whilst, now, she is all but at the mercy of such an ass as M. Charles +Robert, who, I fear, will become the more indiscreet in proportion as he +has the less right to be so. And then, too, who knows if, in spite of +the dangers she has risked, the heart of Madame d'Harville will always +remain free? Any return to her husband is henceforward impossible. +Young, handsome, courted, with a disposition sympathising with all who +suffer, what dangers, what shoals and quicksands, lie before her! For M. +d'Harville, what anguish and what deep chagrin! At the same time jealous +of and in love with his wife, who cannot subdue the disgust and fright +which he excited in her on their nuptials,--what a lot is his!" + +Clemence, with her forehead hidden by her hands, her eyes brimful of +tears, and her cheek reddened by embarrassment, avoided Rodolph's look, +such pain had the disclosure cost her. + +"Ah, now," said Rodolph, after a long silence, "I can understand the +cause of M. d'Harville's sadness, which I could not before account for. +I can imagine his regrets--" + +"His regrets!" exclaimed Clemence; "say his remorse, monseigneur, if he +have any, for never was such a crime more coolly meditated." + +"A crime, madame?" + +"What else is it, my lord, to bind to yourself in indissoluble bonds a +young girl, who confides in your honour, when you are fatally stricken +with a malady which inspires fear and horror? What else is it, to devote +with certainty an unhappy child to similar misery? What forced M. +d'Harville to make two victims? A blind, insensate passion? No; he found +my birth, my fortune, and my person, to his taste. He wished to make a +convenient marriage, because, doubtless, a bachelor's life wearied him." + +"Madame, at least pity him." + +"Pity him? If you wish pity, pray let it be bestowed on my child. Poor +victim of this odious union, what nights and days have I passed near +her! What tears have not her misfortunes wrung from me!" + +"But her father suffers from the same unmerited afflictions." + +"Yet it is that father who has condemned her to a sickly infancy, a +withering youth, and, if she should survive, to a life of isolation and +misery, for she will never marry. Ah, no! I love her too well to expose +her to the chance of one day's weeping over her own offspring, similarly +smitten, as I weep over her. I have suffered too much from treachery, to +render myself guilty of, or an accomplice in, such wickedness!" + +"You are right; the vengeance of your mother-in-law was really +atrocious. But patience, and perhaps in your turn you will be avenged," +said Rodolph, after a moment's reflection. + +"What do you mean, my lord?" inquired Clemence, astonished at the change +in his voice. + +"I have generally had the satisfaction of seeing those whom I have known +to be wicked most severely punished," he replied, in a voice that made +Clemence shudder. "But the day after this unhappy event what did your +husband say?" + +"He confessed, with singular candour, that his two former marriages had +been broken off in consequence of the families becoming acquainted with +the secret of his fearful malady. Thus, then, after having been twice +rejected, he had the shameful, the unmanly courage, to drag a third poor +victim into the abyss of misery the kind intervention of friends had +preserved the others from. And this is what the world calls a gentleman +and a man of honour!" + +"For one so good, so full of pity to others, yours are harsh words." + +"Because I feel I have been unworthily treated. M. d'Harville easily +penetrated the girlish openness of my character; why, then, did he not +trust to my sympathy and generosity of feeling, and tell me the whole +truth?" + +"Because you would have refused him." + +"This very expression proves how guilty he was, and how treacherous was +his conduct, if he really entertained the idea of my rejecting his hand +if informed of the truth!" + +"He loved you too well to incur the risk of losing you." + +"No, no, my lord; had he really loved me, he would never have sacrificed +me to his selfish passion. Nay, so wretched was my position at that +time, and such was my desire to quit my father's roof, that, had he been +candid and explicit with me, it is more than probable he would have +moved me to pity the species of misery he was condemned to endure, and +to sympathise with one so cut off from the tender ties which sweeten +life. I really believe, at this moment, that, touched by his open, manly +confession, as well as interested for one labouring under so severe an +infliction of the Almighty's hand, I should scarcely have had the +courage to refuse him my hand; and, once aware of all I had undertaken, +nothing should have deterred me from the full and conscientious +discharge of every solemn duty towards him. But to compel this pity and +interest, merely because he had me in his power, and to exact my +consideration and sympathy, because, unhappily, I was his wife, and had +sworn to obligations, the full force of which had been concealed from +me, was at once the act of a coward and a wrong-judging mind. How could +I hold myself bound to endure the heavy penalties of my unfortunate +marriage, when my husband had trampled on every tie which binds an +honourable mind? And now, my lord, you may form some little idea of my +wedded life; you are now aware how shamefully I was deceived, and that, +too, by the person in whose hands I unsuspectingly placed the future +happiness of my whole existence. I had implicitly trusted in M. +d'Harville, and he had most dishonourably and treacherously repaid my +trustfulness with bitter and irremediable wrongs. The gentle, timid +melancholy which had so greatly interested me in his favour, and which +he attributed to pious recollections, was, in truth, only the workings +of a conscience ill at ease, and the knowledge of his own incurable +infirmity." + +"Still, were he a stranger or an enemy, a heart so noble and generous as +yours would pity such sufferings as he endures?" + +"But can I calm those sufferings? If he could distinguish my voice, or +if only a look of recognition answered my sorrowing glance! But no. Oh, +my lord, it is impossible for such as have never seen them to form an +idea of those frightful paroxysms, in which every sense is suspended, +and the unfortunate sufferer merely recovers from his frenzy to fall +into a sort of sullen dejection! When my dear child experiences one of +these attacks, it almost breaks my heart to see her tender frame +twisted, stiffened, and distorted, by the dreadful convulsions which +accompany it. Still, she is my own, my beloved infant, and, when I see +her bitter agonies, my hatred and aversion to her father are increased +an hundredfold. But, when my poor child becomes calmer, so does my +irritation against my husband subside also; and then--ah, then--the +natural tenderness of my heart makes my angry feelings give place to a +species of sorrow and pity for him. Yet surely I did not marry at only +seventeen years of age merely to experience the alternations of hatred +and painful commiseration, and to weep over a frail and sickly infant, +whom, after all, I may not be permitted to rear. And, as regards this +beloved object of my incessant prayers, permit me, my lord, to +anticipate a reproach I doubtless deserve, and which you would be +unwilling to make. My daughter, young as she is, is capable of +interesting my affections and fully occupying my heart; but the love she +inspires is so cruelly mixed with present anguish and future +apprehensions, that my tenderness for my child invariably ends in tears +and bitter grief. When I am with her, my heart is torn with agony, a +heavy, crushing weight presses on my heart at the thoughts of her +hopeless, suffering state. Not all the fondest devices of a mother's +love can overcome a malady pronounced by all our faculty as incurable. +Thus, then, by way of relief and refuge from the atmosphere of +wretchedness which surrounded me, I had pictured to myself the +possibility of finding calm and repose for my troubled spirit in an +attachment, so vain, so empty, that--But I have been deceived a second +time, most unworthily deceived; and there is now nothing left for me but +to resign myself to the gloom and misery of the life my husband's want +of candour has entailed upon me. But tell me, my lord, is it such an +existence as I was justified in expecting when I bestowed my hand on M. +d'Harville? And am I alone to blame for those injuries, to avenge which +my husband had this day determined to take my life? My fault was great, +very great; and the more so, because the object I had selected was every +way so unworthy, and leaves me the additional shame of having to blush +for my choice. Happily for me, my lord, the conversation you overheard +between the Countess Sarah and her brother on the subject of M. Charles +Robert spares me much of the humiliation I should otherwise have +experienced in making this confession. I only venture to hope that, +since listening to my relation, you may be induced to consider me as +much an object of pity as I admit I am of blame." + +"I cannot express to you, madame, how deeply your narrative has touched +me. What gnawing grief, what hidden sorrows have you not been called +upon to endure, from the death of your mother to the birth of your +child! Who would ever believe such ills could reach one so envied, so +admired, and so calculated to enjoy and impart happiness to others?" + +"Oh, my lord, there are some sorrows so deep, so unapproachable, that +for worlds we would not even have them suspected; and the severest +increase of suffering would arise from the very doubt of our being the +enviable creatures we are believed to be." + +"You are right; nothing would be more painful than the question, openly +expressed, 'Is she or he as happy as they seem to be?' Still, if there +is any happiness in the knowledge, be assured you are not the only one +who has to struggle with the fearful contrast between reality and that +which the world believes." + +"How so, my lord?" + +"Because, in the eyes of all who know you, your husband is esteemed even +happier than yourself, since he possesses one so rich in every good +gift; and yet is not he also much to be pitied? Can there be a more +miserable existence than the one he leads? He has acted unfairly and +selfishly towards you, but has he not been bitterly punished? He loves +you with a passion, deep and sincere, worthy of you to have inspired, +yet he knows that your only feeling towards him is insurmountable +aversion and contempt. In his feeble, suffering child he beholds a +constant reproach; nor is that all he is called upon to endure; +jealousy also assails him with her nameless tortures." + +"And how can I help that, my lord? By giving him no occasion for +jealousy, you reply. And certainly you are right. But, think you, +because no other person would possess my love, it would any the more be +his? He knows full well it would not. Since the fearful scene I related +to you, we have lived entirely apart, while in the eyes of the world I +have kept up every necessary appearance of married happiness. With the +exception of yourself, my lord, I have never breathed a syllable of this +fatal secret to mortal ears: thus, therefore, I venture to ask advice of +you I could not solicit from any human being." + +"And I, madame, can with truth assure you that, if the trifling service +I have rendered you be deemed worthy of notice, I hold myself a thousand +times overpaid by the confidence you have reposed in me. But, since you +deign to ask my advice, and permit me to speak candidly--" + +"Oh, yes, my lord, I beseech you to use the frankness and sincerity you +would show to a sister!" + +"Then allow me to tell you that, for want of employing one of your most +precious qualities, you lose vast enjoyments, which would not only fill +up that void in your heart, but would distract you from your domestic +sorrows and supply that need of stirring emotions, excitement, and," +added the prince, smiling, "I dare almost to venture to add,--pray +forgive me for having so bad an opinion of your sex,--that natural love +for mystery and intrigue which exercises so powerful an empire over +many, if not all, females." + +"What do you mean, my lord?" + +"I mean that, if you would play at the game of doing good, nothing would +please or interest you more." + +Madame d'Harville surveyed Rodolph with astonishment. + +"And understand," resumed he, "I speak not of sending large sums +carelessly, almost disdainfully, to unfortunate creatures, of whom you +know nothing, and who are frequently undeserving of your favour. But if +you would amuse yourself, as I do, at playing, from time to time, at the +game of Providence, you would acknowledge that occasionally our good +deeds put on all the piquancy and charms of a romance." + +"I must confess, my lord," said Clemence, with a smile, "it never +occurred to me to class charity under the head of amusements." + +"It is a discovery I owe to my horror of all tediums, all wearisome, +long-protracted affairs,--a sort of horror which has been principally +inspired by long political conferences and ministerial discussions. But +to return to our game of amusing beneficence: I cannot, alas, aspire to +possess that disinterested virtue which makes some people content to +entrust others with the office of either ill or well distributing their +bounty, and, if it merely required me to send one of my chamberlains to +carry a few hundred louis to each of the divisions in and around Paris, +I confess, to my shame, that the scheme would not interest me nearly as +much as it does at present, while doing good, after my notions on the +subject, is one of the most entertaining and exciting amusements you can +imagine. I prefer the word 'amusing,' because to me it conveys the idea +of all that pleases, charms, and allures us. And, really, madame, if you +would only become my accomplice in a few dark intrigues of this sort, +you would see that, apart from the praiseworthiness of the action, +nothing is really more curious, inviting, attractive, or diverting, than +these charitable adventures. And then, what mystery is requisite to +conceal the benefits we render! what precautions to prevent ourselves +from being discovered! what varied, yet powerful, emotions are excited +at the aspect of poor but worthy people shedding tears of joy and +calling down Heaven's blessing on your head! Depend upon it, such a +group is, after all, more gratifying than the pale, angry countenance of +either a jealous or an unfaithful lover, and there are very few who do +not class either under one head or the other. The emotions I describe +are closely allied to those you experienced this morning while going to +the Rue du Temple. Simply dressed, that you may escape observation, you +go forth with a palpitating heart; you also ascend with a throbbing +breast some modest _fiacre_, carefully drawing down the blinds to +prevent yourself from being seen; then, looking cautiously from side to +side that you are not observed, you quickly enter a mean-looking +dwelling, just like this morning, you see, the only difference being +that, whereas to-day you said, 'If I am discovered I am lost!' then you +would only smile as you mentally uttered, 'If I am discovered, they will +overwhelm me with praises and blessings!' Now, since you possess your +many adorable qualities in all their pure modesty, you would employ the +most artful schemes, the most complicated manoeuvres, to prevent +yourself from being known, and, consequently, wept over and blessed as +an angel of goodness." + +"Ah, my lord," cried Madame d'Harville, deeply moved, "you are indeed my +preserver! I cannot express the new ideas, the consoling hopes, awakened +within me by your words. You are quite right; to endeavour to gain the +blessing and gratitude of such as are poor and in misery is almost equal +to being loved even as I would wish to be; nay, it is even superior in +its purity and absence of self. When I compare the existence I now +venture to anticipate with the shameful and degraded lot I was preparing +for myself, my own reproaches become more bitter and severe." + +"I should, indeed, be grieved," said Rodolph, smiling, "were that to be +the case, since all my desire is to make you forget the past, and to +prove to you that there are various modes of recreating and distracting +our minds; the means of good and evil are very frequently nearly the +same: it is the end, only, which differs. In a word, if good is as +attractive, as amusing, as evil, why should we prefer the latter? I am +going to use a very commonplace and hackneyed simile. Why do many women +take as lovers men not nearly as worthy of that distinction as their own +husbands? Because the greatest charm of love consists in the +difficulties which surround it; for once deprived of the hopes, the +fears, the anxieties, difficulties, mysteries, and dangers, and little +or nothing would remain, merely the lover, stripped of all the prestige +derivable from these causes, and a very every-day object he would +appear; very much after the fashion of the individual who, when asked by +a friend why he did not marry his mistress, replied, 'Why, I was +thinking of it; but, if I did, where should I go to pass my evenings?'" + +"Your picture is coloured after nature, my lord," said Madame +d'Harville, smiling. + +"Well, then, if I can find the means of enabling you to experience the +fears, the anxieties, the excitement, which seem to have such charms for +you, if I can render useful your natural love for mystery and romance, +your inclination for dissimulation and artifice,--you see my bad opinion +of your sex will peep out in spite of me," added Rodolph, gaily,--"shall +I not change into fine and generous qualities instincts which otherwise +are mere ungovernable and unmanageable impulses, excellent, if well +employed, most fatal, if directed badly? Now, then, what do you say? +Shall we get up all manner of benevolent plots and charitable +dissipations? We will have our rendezvous, our correspondence, our +secrets, and, above all, we will carefully conceal all our doings from +the marquis, for your visit of to-day to the Morels has, in all +probability, excited his suspicions. There, you see, it only requires +your consent to commence a regular intrigue." + +"I accept with joy and gratitude the mysterious associations you +propose, my lord," said Clemence; "and, by way of beginning our romance, +I will return to-morrow to visit those poor creatures to whom, +unfortunately, this morning I could only utter a few words of +consolation; for, taking advantage of my terror and alarm, the purse you +so thoughtfully supplied me with was stolen from me by a lame boy as I +ascended the stairs. Ah, my lord," added Clemence (and her countenance +lost the expression of gentle gaiety by which a few minutes before it +was animated), "if you only knew what misery, what a picture of +wretchedness--no! oh, no! I never could have believed so horrid a scene, +or that such want existed; and yet I bewail my condition and complain of +my severe destiny." + +Rodolph, wishing to conceal from Madame d'Harville how deeply he was +touched at this application of the woes of others, as teaching patience +and resignation, yet fully recognising in the meek and subdued spirit +the fine and noble qualities of her mind, said, gaily: + +"With your permission, I shall except the Morels from your jurisdiction; +you shall resign them to my care, and, above all things, promise me not +again to enter that miserable place, for, to tell you the truth, I live +there." + +"You, my lord? What an idea!" + +"Nay, but you really must believe me when I say I live there, for it is +actually true. I confess mine is somewhat a humble lodging, a mere +matter of eight pounds a year, in addition to which I pay the large and +liberal sum of six francs a month to the porteress, Madame Pipelet, that +ugly old woman you saw; but, to make up for all this, I have as my next +neighbour, Mlle. Rigolette, the prettiest grisette in the Quartier du +Temple. And you must allow that, for a merchant's clerk, with a salary +of only seventy-two pounds a year (I pass as a clerk), such a domicile +is well suited to my means." + +"Your unhoped-for presence in that fatal house proves to me that you are +speaking seriously, my lord; some generous action leads you there, no +doubt! But what good action do you reserve for me? What part do you +propose for me to sustain?" + +"That of an angel of consolation, and--pray excuse and allow me the +word--a very demon of cunning and manoeuvres! For there are some +wounds so painful, as well as delicate, that the hand of a woman only +can watch over and heal them. There are, also, unfortunate beings so +proud, so reserved, and so hidden from observation, that it requires +uncommon penetration to discover them, and an irresistible charm to win +their confidence." + +"And when shall I have an opportunity of displaying the penetration and +skill for which you give me credit?" asked Madame d'Harville, +impatiently. + +"Soon, I hope, you will have to make a conquest worthy of you; but, to +succeed, you must employ all your most ingenious resources." + +"And when, my lord, will you confide this great secret to me?" + +"Let me see! You perceive, we have already got as far as arranging our +rendezvous. Could you do me the favour to grant me an audience in four +days' time?" + +"Dear me! so long first?" said Clemence, innocently. + +"But what would become of the mystery of the affair, and all the strict +forms and appearances necessary to be kept up, if we were to meet +sooner? Just imagine! If our partnership were suspected, people would be +on their guard, and we should seldom achieve our purpose. I may very +probably have to write to you. Who was that aged female who brought me +your note?" + +"An old servant of my mother's, the very personification of prudence and +discretion." + +"I will then address my letters under cover to her, and she will +deliver them into your hands. If you are kind enough to return any +answer, address 'To M. Rodolph, Rue Plumet,' and let your maid put your +letters in the post." + +"I will do that myself, my lord, when taking my usual morning's walk." + +"Do you often walk out alone?" + +"In fine weather nearly every day." + +"That's right! It is a custom all young women should observe from the +very earliest period of their marriage,--either from a good or an +improper provision against future evil. The habit once established, it +becomes what the lawyers style a precedent; and, in subsequent days, +these habitual promenades excite no dangerous interpretations. If I had +been a woman,--and, between ourselves, I fear I should have been very +charitable, but equally flighty,--the very day after my marriage I +should, in all possible innocence, have taken the most mysterious steps, +and, with perfect simplicity, have involved myself in all manner of +suspicious and compromising proceedings, for the purpose of establishing +the precedent I spoke of, in order to be at liberty either to visit my +poor pensioners or to meet my lover." + +"But that would be downright perfidy to one's husband, would it not, my +lord?" said Madame d'Harville, smiling. + +"Fortunately for you, madame, you have never been driven to the +necessity of admitting the utility of such provisionary measures." + +Madame d'Harville's smile left her lips. She cast down her eyes, and, +blushing deeply, said, in a low and sad voice, "This is not generous, my +lord!" + +At first Rodolph regarded the marquise with astonishment, then added, "I +understand you, madame. But, once for all, let us weigh well your +position as regards M. Charles Robert. I will just imagine that one of +your acquaintances may one day have pointed out to you one of those +pitiable-looking mendicants who roll their eyes most sentimentally, and +play on the clarionet with desperate energy, to awaken the sympathy of +the passers-by. 'That is really and truly a genuine case of distress,' +observes your friend. 'That interesting musician has at least seven +children, and a wife deaf, dumb, blind,' etc. 'Ah, poor fellow!' you +reply, charitably aiding him with your purse. And so, each time you meet +this case of genuine distress, the clarionet-player, the moment he +discerns you from afar, fixes his imploring eyes upon you, while the +most touching strains of his instrument are directed to touch your +charitable sympathies, and that, too, so successfully, that again your +purse opens at this fresh appeal. One day, more than usually disposed to +pity this very unfortunate object by the importunities of the friend who +first pointed him out to you, and who is most wickedly abusing your +generous heart, you resolve to visit this case of genuine distress, as +your false friend terms it, and to behold the poor object of your +solicitude in the midst of his misery. Well, you go. But, lo! the +grief-stricken musician has vanished; and in his place you find a +lively, rollicking fellow, enjoying himself over some of the good things +of this world, and mirthfully carolling forth the last new alehouse +catch. Then disgust succeeds to pity; for you have bestowed your +sympathy and charity alike upon an impostor, neither more nor less. Is +it not so?" + +Madame d'Harville could not restrain a smile at this singular apologue. +She, however, soon checked it, as she added: + +"However grateful I may feel for this mode of justifying my great +imprudence, my lord, I can but confess I dare not avail myself of so +favourable a pretext as that of mistaken charity." + +"Yet, after all, yours was an error based upon motives of noble and +generous pity for the wounded feelings of one you believed a genuine +object for commiseration. Fortunately, there are so many ways left you +of atoning for one indiscretion, that your regret need be but small. +Shall I not have the pleasure of seeing M. d'Harville this evening?" + +"No, my lord. The scene of this morning has so much affected him that he +is--ill," said the marquise, in a low, tremulous tone. + +"Ah," replied Rodolph, sadly, "I understand! Come, courage! you were +saying that you required an aim, a motive, a means of directing your +thoughts. Permit me to hope that all this will be accomplished by +following out the plan I have proposed. Your heart will be then so +filled with the delightful recollection of all the happiness you have +caused, and all the good you have effected, that, in all probability, +you will find no room for resentment against your husband. In place of +angry feelings, you will regard him with the same sorrowing pity you +look on your dear child. And as for the interesting little creature +herself, now you have confided to me the cause of her delicate health, I +almost think myself warranted in bidding you yet to entertain hopes of +overcoming the fearful complaint which has hitherto affected her tender +frame." + +"Oh, my lord!" exclaimed Clemence, clasping her hands with eagerness, +"can it be possible? How? In what manner can my child be saved?" + +"I have, as physician to myself and household, a man almost unknown, +though possessed of a first-rate science. Great part of his life was +passed in America; and I remember his speaking to me of some marvellous +cures performed by him on slaves attacked by this distressing +complaint." + +"And do you really think, my lord--" + +"Nay, you must not allow yourself to dwell too confidently upon success; +the disappointment would be so very severe. Only, do not let us wholly +despair." + +Clemence d'Harville cast a hasty glance of unutterable gratitude over +the noble features of Rodolph, the firm, unflinching friend, who +reconciled her to herself with so much good sense, intelligence, and +delicacy of feeling. Then she asked herself how, for one instant, she +could ever have been interested in the fate of such a being as M. +Charles Robert,--the very idea was hateful to her. + +"What do I not owe you, my lord?" cried she, in a voice of thrilling +emotion; "you console me for the past; you open to me a glimpse of hope +for my child; and you place before me a plan of future occupation which +shall afford me both consolation and the delight of doing my duty. Ah, +was I not right when I said that, if you would come here to-night, you +would finish the day as you had begun it,--by performing a good action?" + +"And pray, madame, do not omit to add,--an action after my own heart, +where all is pleasure and unmixed enjoyment in its performance. And now, +adieu!" said Rodolph, rising as the clock struck half-past eleven. + +"Adieu, my lord, and pray do not forget to send me news ere long of +those poor people in the Rue du Temple." + +"I will see them to-morrow, for, unfortunately, I knew not of that +little limping rascal having stolen your purse; and I fear that the +unhappy creatures are in the most deplorable want. Have the kindness to +bear in mind that, in the course of four days, I shall come to explain +to you the nature of the part you will be required to undertake. One +thing I must prepare you for; and that is, the probability of its being +requisite for you to assume a disguise on the occasion." + +"A disguise? Oh, how charming! What sort of one, my lord?" + +"I cannot tell you at present. I will leave the choice to you." + + * * * * * + +"All that is requisite," said the prince, on his return home, "to save +this excellent woman from the perils of another attachment, is to fill +her mind with generous thoughts; and, since an invincible repugnance +separates her from her husband, to employ her love for the romantic in +such charitable actions as shall require being enshrouded in mystery." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MISERY. + + +The reader has probably not forgotten that the garret in the Rue du +Temple was occupied by an unfortunate family, the father of whom was a +working lapidary, named Morel. We shall now endeavour to describe the +wretched abode of Morel and his children. + +It was six o'clock in the morning; a deep silence dwelt around. The +streets were still deserted, for the snow fell fast, and the cold, +biting wind froze as it blew. A miserable candle, stuck upon a small +block of wood, and supported by two slips of the same material, scarcely +penetrated with its yellow, flickering light the misty darkness of the +garret,--a narrow, low-built place, two-thirds of which was formed by +the sloping roof, which communicated by a sharp angle with the wretched +flooring, and freely exposed the moss-covered tiles of the outer roof. +Walls covered with plaster, blackened by time, and split into countless +crevices, displayed the rotten, worm-eaten laths, which formed the frail +division from other chambers, while in one corner of this deplorable +habitation a door off the hinges opened upon a narrow staircase. The +ground, of a nameless colour, but foul, fetid, and slippery, was partly +strewed with bits of dirty straw, old rags, and bones, the residue of +that unwholesome and vitiated food sold by the dealers in condemned +meat, and frequently bought by starving wretches, for the purpose of +gnawing the few cartilages that may adhere.[4] + + [4] It is no uncommon thing to meet, in densely crowded parts + of Paris, with persons who openly sell the flesh of animals born + dead, as well as of others who have died of disease, etc. + +So wretched a condition either arises from improvidence and vice, or +from unavoidable misery,--misery so great, so overwhelming and +paralysing, as to enfeeble every energy, and to render the unhappy +object of it too hopeless, too despairing, even to attempt to extricate +himself from the squalor of his utter destitution, and he crouches in +his dirt and desolation like an animal in its den. + +During the day, Morel's garret was lighted by a species of long, narrow +skylight formed in the descending roof, framed and glazed, and made to +open and shut by means of a pulley and string; but, at the hour which we +are describing, a heavy fall of snow encumbered the window, and +effectually prevented its affording any light. The candle placed on +Morel's working-table, which stood in the centre of the chamber, +diffused a kind of halo of pale, sickly beams, which, gradually +diminishing, was at last lost in the dim shadow which overspread the +place, in whose murky duskiness might be seen the faint outline of +several white-looking masses. On the work-table, which was merely a +heavy and roughly cut wooden block of unpolished oak, covered with +grease and soot, lay, loosely scattered about, a handful of rubies and +diamonds, of more than ordinary size and brilliancy, while, as the mean +rays of the small candle were reflected on them, they glittered and +sparkled like so many coruscating fires. + +Morel was a worker of real stones, and not false ones, as he had given +out, and as was universally believed, in the Rue du Temple. Thanks to +this innocent deception, the costly jewels entrusted to him were merely +supposed to be so many pieces of glass, too valueless to tempt the +cupidity of any one. Such riches, confided to the care of one as poor +and miserably destitute as Morel, will render any reference to the +honesty of his character quite unnecessary. + +Seated on a high stool, and wholly overcome by fatigue, cold, and +weariness, after a long winter's night, passed in unceasing labour, the +poor lapidary had fallen asleep on his block, with his head upon his +half-frozen arms, and his forehead resting against a small grindstone, +placed horizontally on the table, and generally put in motion by a +little hand-wheel, while a fine steel saw, and various other tools +belonging to his trade, were lying beside him. The man himself, of whom +nothing but the skull, surrounded by a fringe of gray hairs, was +visible, was dressed in a shabby fustian jacket, without any species of +linen or garment beneath it, and an old pair of cloth trousers, while +his worn-out slippers scarcely concealed the blue, cold feet they +partially covered, from resting solely on the damp, shiny floor; and so +bitter, so freezing, was the sharp winter wind which freely entered into +this scarcely human dwelling, that, spite of the weariness and +exhaustion of the overworked artisan, his frame shuddered and shivered +with involuntary frequency. The length of the wick of the unsnuffed +candle bespoke the length of time even this uneasy slumber must have +lasted, and no sound save his troubled and irregular breathing broke the +deathlike silence that prevailed; for, alas! the other occupants of this +mean abode were not so fortunate as to be able to forget their +sufferings in sleep. Yet this narrow, pent-up, unwholesome spot +contained no less than seven other persons,--five children, the youngest +of whom was four years of age, the eldest twelve, a sick and declining +wife, with an aged grandmother, the parent of Morel's wife, now in her +eightieth year, and an idiot! + +The cold must have been intense, indeed, when the natural warmth of so +many persons, so closely packed together in so small a place, could not +in any way affect the freezing atmosphere; it was evident, therefore, +to speak scientifically, that but little caloric was given out by the +poor, weak, emaciated, shivering creatures, all suffering and almost +expiring with cold and hunger, from the puny infant to the idiotic old +grandmother. + +With the exception of the father of the family, who had temporarily +yielded to the aching of his heavy eyelids, no other creature slept,--no +other; because cold, starvation, and sickness will not allow so sweet an +enjoyment as the closing the eyes in peaceful rest. Little does the +world believe how rarely comes that sound, healthful, and refreshing +slumber to the poor man's pillow, which at once invigorates the mind and +body, and sends the willing labourer back to his toil refreshed and +recruited by the blessing of a beneficent Creator. To taste of nature's +sweet, refreshing, balmy sleep, sickness, sorrow, poverty, and mental +disquietude must not share the humble pallet. + +In contrasting the deep misery of the poor artisan, with whose woes we +are now occupying the reader, with the immense value of the jewelry +confided to him, we are struck by one of those comparisons which afflict +while they elevate the mind. With the distracting spectacle of his +family's want and wretchedness, embracing a wide field from cold and +hunger to drivelling idiocy, constantly before his eyes, this man, in +the pursuance of his daily labour, is compelled to touch and handle and +gaze upon bright and sparkling gems, the smallest of which would be a +mine of wealth to him, and save those dearest to him from sufferings and +privations which wring his very heart; would snatch them from the slow +and lingering death which is consuming them before his eyes. Yet, amid +all these trials and temptations, the artisan remains firmly, truly, and +unflinchingly honest, and would no more appropriate one of the +glittering stones entrusted to him than he would satisfy his hunger at +the expense of his starving babes. Doubtless the man but performed his +duty to his employer,--his simple duty; but because it is enjoined to +all to be honest and faithful in that which is committed to them, does +that render the action itself less noble, magnanimous, or praiseworthy? +Is not this unfortunate artisan, so courageously, so bravely upright and +honest while entrusted with the property of another, the type and model +of an immense class of working people, who, doomed to a life of +continual poverty and privation, see, with calm, patient looks, +thousands of their brethren rolling in splendour and abounding in +riches, yet they toil on, resigned and unenvying, but still +industriously striving for bread their hardest efforts cannot always +procure? And is there not something consolatory, as well as gratifying +to our feelings, to consider that it is neither force nor terror, but +good natural sense and a right mind which alone restrain this formidable +ocean, this heaving mass, whose bounds once broken, a moral inundation +would ensue, in which society itself would be swallowed up? Shall we, +then, refuse to cooperate with all the powers of our mind and body with +those generous and enlightened spirits, who ask but a little sunshine +for so much misfortune, courage, and resignation? + + * * * * * + +Let us now return to the, alas! too true specimen of distressing want we +shall endeavour to describe in all its fearful and startling reality. + +The lapidary possessed only a thin mattress and a portion of a blanket +appropriated to the old grandmother, who, in her stupid and ferocious +selfishness, would not allow any person to share them with her. In the +beginning of the winter she had become quite violent, and had even +attempted to strangle the youngest child, who had been put to sleep with +her. This poor infant was a sickly little creature, of about four years +old, now far gone in consumption, and who found it too cold inside the +mattress, where she slept with her brothers and sisters. Hereafter we +shall explain this mode of sleeping so frequently employed by the very +poor, in comparison with whom the very animals are treated luxuriously, +for their litter is changed. Such was the picture presented in the +humble garret of the poor lapidary, when the eye was enabled to pierce +the gloomy penumbra caused by the flickering rays of the candle. By the +side of the partition wall, not less damp and cracked than the others, +was placed on the floor the mattress on which the idiot grandmother +reposed; as she could not bear anything on her head, her white hair was +cut very short, and revealed the shape of her head and flat forehead; +while her shaggy, gray eyebrows shaded the deep orbits, from which +glared a wild, savage, yet crafty look; her pale, hollow, wrinkled +cheeks hung upon the bones of the face and the sharp angles of her jaws. +Lying upon her side, and almost doubled up, her chin nearly touching her +knees, she lay, shivering with cold, beneath the gray rug, too small to +cover her all over, and which, as she drew it over her shoulders, +exposed her thin, emaciated legs, as well as the wretched old petticoat +in which she was clad. An odour most fetid and repulsive issued from +this bed. + +At a little distance from the mattress of the grandmother, and still +extending along the side of the wall, was placed the _paillasse_ which +served as a sleeping-place for the five children, who were accommodated +after the following manner: + +An opening was made at each side of the cloth which covered the straw, +and the children were inserted into this bed, or, rather, foul and +noisome dunghill, the outer case serving both for sheet and counterpane. +Two little girls, one of whom was extremely ill, shivered on one side, +and three young boys on the other, all going to bed without undressing, +if, indeed, the miserable rags they wore could be termed clothes. Masses +of thick, dry, light hair, tangled, ragged, and uncombed, left uncut +because their poor mother fancied it helped to keep them warm, half +covered their pale, thin, pinched features. One of the boys drew, with +his cold, benumbed fingers, the covering over their straw bed up to his +chin, in order to defend himself from the cold; while another, fearful +of exposing his hands to the influence of the frost, tried to grasp the +bed-covering with his teeth, which rattled and shook in his head; while +a third strove to huddle up to his brothers in the hopes of gaining a +little warmth. The youngest of the two girls, fatally attacked by +consumption, leaned her poor little face, which already bore the hue of +death, languidly against the chilly bosom of her sister, a girl just one +year older, who vainly sought, by pressing her in her arms, to impart +comfort and ease to the little sufferer, over whom she watched with the +anxious solicitude of a parent. + +On another _paillasse_, also placed on the ground, at the foot of that +of the children, the wife of the artisan was extended, groaning in +helpless exhaustion from the effects of a slow fever and an internal +complaint, which had not permitted her to quit her bed for several +months. Madeleine Morel was in her thirty-sixth year; a blue cotton +handkerchief, tied round her low forehead, made the bilious pallor of +her countenance and sharp, emaciated features still more conspicuous. A +dark halo encircled her hollow, sunken eyes, while her lips were split +and bleeding from the effects of the fever which consumed her; her +dejected, grief-worn physiognomy, and small, insignificant features, +indicated one of those gentle but weak natures, without resource or +energy, which unable to struggle with misfortunes, yield at once, and +know no remedy but vain and ceaseless lamentations and regrets. Weak, +spiritless, and of limited capacity, she had remained honest because her +husband was so; had she been left to herself, it is probable that +ignorance and misfortune might have depraved her mind and driven her to +any lengths. She loved her husband and her children, but she had neither +the courage nor resolution to restrain giving vent to loud and open +complaints respecting their mutual misery; and frequently was the +lapidary, whose unflinching labour alone maintained the family, obliged +to quit his work to console and pacify the poor valetudinarian. Over and +above an old ragged sheet of coarse brown cloth, which partially covered +his wife, Morel had, in order to impart a little warmth, laid a few old +clothes, so worn out, and patched and pieced, that the pawnbroker had +refused to have anything to do with them. + +A stove, a saucepan, a damaged earthen stewpan, two or three cracked +cups, scattered about on the floor, a bucket, a board to wash on, and a +large stone pitcher, placed beneath the angle of the roof near the +broken door, which the wind kept continually blowing to and fro, +completed the whole of the family possessions. + +This picture of squalid misery and desolation was lighted up by the +candle, whose flame, agitated by the cold northeasterly wind which found +its way through the tiles on the roof, sometimes imparted a pale, +unearthly light on the wretched scene, and then, playing on the heaps of +diamonds and rubies lying beside the sleeping artisan, caused a thousand +scintillating sparks to spring forth and dazzle the eye with their +prismatic rays of brightness. + +Although the profoundest silence reigned around, seven out of the eight +unfortunate dwellers in this attic were awake; and each, from the +grandmother to the youngest child, watched the sleeping lapidary with +intense emotion, as their only hope, their only resource, and, in their +childlike selfishness, they murmured at seeing him thus inactive and +relinquishing that labour which they well knew was all they had to +depend on; but with different feelings of regret and uneasiness did the +lookers-on observe the slumber of the toil-worn man. The mother trembled +for her children's meal; the children thought but of themselves; while +the idiot neither thought of nor cared for any one. All at once she sat +upright in her wretched bed, crossed her long, bony arms, yellow and +dry as box-wood, on her shrivelled bosom, and kept watching the candle +with twinkling eyes; then, rising slowly and stealthily, she crept +along, trailing after her her old ragged coverlet, which clung around +her as though it had been her winding-sheet. She was above the middle +height, and her hair being so closely shaven made her head appear +disproportionately small; a sort of spasmodic movement kept up a +constant trembling in her thick, pendulous under-lip, while her whole +countenance offered the hideous model of ferocious stupidity. Slowly and +cautiously the idiot approached the lapidary's work-table, like a child +about to commit some forbidden act. When she reached the candle, she +held her two trembling hands over the flame; and such was their +skeleton-like condition, that the flickering light shone through them, +imparting a pale, livid hue to her features. From her pallet Madeleine +Morel watched every movement of the old woman, who, still warming +herself over the candle, stooped her head, and with a silly kind of +delight watched the sparkling of the diamonds and rubies, which lay +glittering on the table. Wholly absorbed in the wondrous contemplation +of such bright and beautiful things, the idiot allowed her hands to fall +into the flame of the candle, nor did she seem to recollect where they +were till the sense of burning recalled her attention, when she +manifested her pain and anger by a harsh, screaming cry. + +At this sound Morel started, and quickly raised his head. He was about +forty years of age, with an open, intelligent, and mild expression of +countenance, but yet wearing the sad, dejected look of one who had been +the sport of misery and misfortune till they had planted furrows in his +cheeks and crushed and broken his spirit. A gray beard of many weeks' +growth covered the lower part of his face, which was deeply marked by +the smallpox; premature wrinkles furrowed his already bald forehead; +while his red and inflamed eyelids showed the overtaxed and sleepless +days and nights of toil he so courageously endured. A circumstance, but +too common with such of the working class as are doomed by their +occupation to remain nearly all day in one position, had warped his +figure, and, acting upon a naturally feeble constitution, had produced a +contraction of his whole frame. Continually obliged to stoop over his +work-table and to lean to the left, in order to keep his grindstone +going, the lapidary, in a manner petrified, ossified in the attitude he +was frequently obliged to preserve from twelve to fifteen hours a day, +had acquired an habitual stoop of the shoulders, and was completely +drawn on one side. So his left arm, incessantly exercised by the +difficult management of the grindstone, had acquired a considerable +muscular development; whilst the right arm, always inert and leaning on +the table, the better to present the faces of the diamonds to the action +of the grindstone, had wasted to the most extreme attenuation; his +wasted limbs, almost paralysed by complete want of exercise, could +scarcely support the weary, worn-out body, as though all strength, +substance, and vitality had concentrated themselves in the only part +called into play when toiling for the subsistence of, with himself, +eight human creatures. + +And often would poor Morel touchingly observe: "It is not for myself +that I care to eat, but to give strength to the arm which turns the +mill." + +Awaking with a sudden start, the lapidary found himself directly +opposite to the poor idiot. + +"What ails you? what is the matter, mother?" said Morel; and then added, +in a lower tone, for fear of awaking the family, whom he hoped and +believed were asleep, "Go back to bed, mother; Madeleine and the +children are asleep!" + +"No, father," cried the eldest of the little girls, "I am awake; I am +trying to warm poor little Adele." + +"And I am too hungry to go to sleep," added one of the boys; "it was not +my turn to-night to have supper with Mlle. Rigolette." + +"Poor things!" said Morel, sorrowfully; "I thought you were asleep--at +least--" + +"I was afraid of awaking you, Morel," said the wife, "or I should have +begged of you to give me a drink of water; I am devoured with thirst! My +feverish fit has come on again!" + +"I will directly," said the lapidary; "only let me first get mother back +to bed. Come! come! what are you meddling with those stones for? Let +them alone, I say!" cried he to the old woman, whose whole attention +seemed riveted upon a splendid ruby, the bright scintillations of which +had so charmed the poor idiot that she was trying by every possible +means to gain possession of it. + +"There's a pretty thing! there, there!" replied the woman, pointing with +vehement gestures to the prize she so ardently coveted. + +"I shall be angry in a few minutes," exclaimed Morel, speaking in a loud +voice to terrify his mother-in-law into submission, and gently pushing +back the hand she advanced to seize her desired treasure. + +"Oh, Morel! Morel!" murmured Madeleine, "I am parching, dying with +thirst. How can you be so cruel as to refuse me a little water?" + +"But how can I at present? I must not allow mother to meddle with these +stones,--perhaps to lose me a diamond, as she did a year ago; and God +alone knows the wretchedness and misery it cost us,--ay, may still +occasion us. Ah, that unfortunate loss of the diamond, what have we not +suffered by it!" + +As the poor lapidary uttered these words, he passed his hand over his +aching brow with a desponding air, and said to one of the children: + +"Felix, give your mother something to drink. You are awake, and can +attend to her." + +"No, no," exclaimed Madeleine; "he will take cold. I will wait." + +"Oh, mother," said the boy, rising, "never mind me. I shall be quite as +warm up as I am in this _paillasse_." + +"Come, will you let the things alone?" cried Morel, in a threatening +tone, to the idiot woman, who kept bending over the precious stones and +trying to seize them, spite of all his efforts to move her from the +table. + +"Mother," called out Felix, "what shall I do? The water in the pitcher +is frozen quite hard." + +"Then break the ice," murmured Madeleine. + +"It is so thick, I can't," answered the boy. + +"Morel!" exclaimed Madeleine, in a querulous and impatient tone, "since +there is nothing but water for me to drink, let me at least have a +draught of that! You are letting me die with thirst!" + +"God of heaven grant me patience!" cried the unfortunate man. "How can I +leave your mother to lose and destroy these stones? Pray let me manage +her first." + +But the lapidary found it no easy matter to get rid of the idiot, who, +beginning to feel irritated at the constant opposition she met with, +gave utterance to her displeasure in a sort of hideous growl. + +"Call her, wife!" said Morel. "She will attend to you sometimes." + +"Mother! mother!" called Madeleine, "go to bed, and be good, and then +you shall have some of that nice coffee you are so fond of!" + +"I want that! and that! There! there!" replied the idiot, making a +desperate effort this time to possess herself of a heap of rubies she +particularly coveted. Morel firmly, but gently, repulsed her,--all in +vain; with pertinacious obstinacy the old woman kept struggling to break +from his grasp, and snatch the bright gems, on which she kept her eyes +fixed with eager fondness. + +"You will never manage her," said Madeleine, "unless you frighten her +with the whip; there is no other means of making her quiet." + +"I am afraid not," returned Morel; "but, though she has no sense, it yet +goes to my heart to be obliged to threaten an old woman, like her, with +the whip." + +Then, addressing the old woman, who was trying to bite him, and whom he +was holding back with one hand, he said, in a loud and terrible voice: +"Take care; you'll have the whip on your shoulders if you don't make +haste to bed this very instant!" + +These menaces were equally vain with his former efforts to subdue her. +Morel then took a whip which lay beside his work-table, and, cracking it +violently, said: "Get to bed with you directly! Get to bed!" + +As the loud noise of the whip saluted the ear of the idiot, she hurried +away from the lapidary's work-table, then, suddenly turning around, she +uttered low, grumbling sounds between her clenched teeth; while she +surveyed her son-in-law with looks of the deepest hatred. + +"To bed! to bed, I say!" continued he, still advancing, and feigning to +raise his whip with the intention of striking; while the idiot, holding +her fist towards her son-in-law, retreated backwards to her wretched +couch. + +The lapidary, anxious to terminate this painful scene, that he might be +at liberty to attend to his sick wife, kept still advancing towards the +idiot woman, brandishing and cracking his whip, though without allowing +it to touch the unhappy creature, repeatedly exclaiming, "To bed! to +bed,--directly! Do you hear?" + +The old woman, now thoroughly conquered, and fully believing in the +reality of the threats held out, began to howl most hideously; and +crawling into her bed, like a dog to his kennel, she kept up a continued +series of cries, screams, and yells, while the frightened children, +believing their poor old grandmother had actually been beaten, began +crying piteously, exclaiming, "Don't beat poor granny, father! Pray +don't flog granny!" + +It is wholly impossible to describe the fearful effect of these +nocturnal horrors, in which were mingled, in one turmoil of sounds, the +supplicating cries of the children, the furious yellings of the idiot, +and the wailing complaints of the lapidary's sick wife. + +To poor Morel such scenes as this were but too frequent. Still, upon the +present occasion, his patience and courage seemed utterly to forsake +him; and, throwing down the whip upon his work-table, he exclaimed, in +bitter despair, "Oh, what a life! what a life!" + +"Is it my fault if my mother is an idiot?" asked Madeleine, weeping. + +"Is it mine, then?" replied Morel. "All I ask for is peace and quiet +enough to allow me to work myself to death for you all. God knows I +labour alike night and day! Yet I complain not. And, as long as my +strength holds out, I will exert myself to the utmost; but it is quite +impossible for me to attend to my business, and be at once a keeper to a +mad woman and a nurse to sick people and young children. And Heaven is +unjust to put it upon me,--yes, I say unjust! It is too much misery to +heap on one man," added Morel, in a tone bordering on distraction. So +saying, the heart-broken lapidary threw himself on his stool, and +covered his face with his hands. + +"Can I help the people at the hospital having refused to receive my +mother, because she was not raving mad?" asked Madeleine, in a low, +peevish, and complaining voice. "What can I do to alter it? What is the +use of your grumbling to me about my mother? and, if you fret ever so +much about what neither you nor I can alter, what good will that do?" + +"None at all," rejoined the artisan, hastily brushing the large bitter +drops despair had driven to his eyes; "none whatever,--you are right; +but when everything goes against you, it is difficult to know what to +do or say." + +"Gracious Father!" cried Madeleine; "what an agony of thirst I am +enduring! My lips are parched with the fever which is consuming me, and +yet I shiver as though death were on me!" + +"Wait one instant, and I will give you some drink!" So saying, Morel +took the pitcher which stood beneath the roof, and, after having with +difficulty broken the ice which covered the water, he filled a cup with +the frozen liquid, and brought it to the bedside of his wife, who +stretched forth her impatient hands to receive it; but, after a moment's +reflection, he said, "No, no, I must not let you have it cold as this; +in your present state of fever it would be dangerous." + +"So much the better if it be dangerous! Quick, quick--give it me!" cried +Madeleine, with bitterness; "it will the sooner end my misery, and free +you from such an incumbrance as I am; then you will only have to look +after mad folks and young children,--there will be no sick-nurse to take +up your time." + +"Why do you say such hard words to me, Madeleine?" asked Morel, +mournfully; "you know I do not deserve them. Pray do not add to my +vexations, for I have scarcely strength or reason enough left to go on +with my work; my head feels as though something were amiss with it, and +I fear much my brain will give way,--and then what would become of you +all? 'Tis for you I speak; were there only myself, I should trouble very +little about to-morrow,--thank Heaven, the river flows for every one!" + +"Poor Morel!" said Madeleine, deeply affected. "I was very wrong to +speak so angrily to you, and to say I knew you would be glad to get rid +of me. Pray forgive me, for indeed I did not mean any harm; for, after +all, what use am I either to you or the children? For the last sixteen +months I have kept my bed! Gracious God! what I do suffer with thirst! +For pity's sake, husband, give me something to moisten my burning lips!" + +"You shall have it directly; I was trying to warm the cup between my +hands." + +"How good you are! and yet I could say such wicked things to you!" + +"My poor wife, you are ill and in pain, and that makes you impatient; +say anything you like to me, but pray never tell me again I wish to get +rid of you!" + +"But what good am I to any one? what good are our children? None +whatever; on the contrary, they heap more toil upon you than you can +bear." + +"True; yet you see that my love for them and you has endued me with +strength and resolution to work frequently twenty hours out of the +twenty-four, till my body is bent and deformed by such incessant labour. +Do you believe for one instant that I would thus toil and struggle on my +own account? Oh, no! life has no such charms for me; and if I were the +only sufferer, I would quickly put an end to it." + +"And so would I," said Madeleine. "God knows, but for the children I +should have said to you, long ago, 'Morel, we have had more than enough +to weary us of our lives; there is nothing left but to finish our misery +by the help of a pan of charcoal!' But then I recollected the poor, +dear, helpless children, and my heart would not let me leave them, alone +and unprotected, to starve by themselves." + +"Well, then, you see, wife, that the children are, after all, of real +good to us, since they prevent us giving way to despair, and serve as a +motive for exerting ourselves," replied Morel, with ready ingenuity, yet +perfect simplicity of tone and manner. "Now, then, take your drink, but +only swallow a little at a time, for it is very cold still." + +"Oh, thank you, Morel!" cried Madeleine, snatching the cup, and drinking +it eagerly. + +"Enough! enough! no more! you shall not have any more just now, +Madeleine." + +"Gracious Heaven!" exclaimed Madeleine, giving back the cup, "how cold +it seems now I have swallowed it,--it has brought back those dreadful +shiverings!" + +"Alas!" ejaculated Morel, "I told you so,--ah, now you are quite ill +again!" + +"I have not strength even to tremble,--I seem as though I were covered +over with ice." + +Morel took off his jacket, and laid it over his wife's feet, remaining +quite naked down to his waist,--the unhappy man did not possess a shirt. + +"But you will be frozen to death, Morel!" + +"Never mind me; if I find it cold by and by, I will put my jacket on for +a few minutes." + +"Poor fellow!" sighed Madeleine. "Ah, as you say, Heaven is not just! +What have we done to be so wretched, while so many others--" + +"Every one has their troubles,--some more, some less,--the great as well +as the small." + +"Yes; but great people know nothing of the gnawings of hunger, or the +bitter pinching of the cold. Why, when I look on those diamonds, and +remember that the smallest amongst them would place us and the poor +children in ease and comfort, my heart sickens, and I ask myself why it +is some should have so much, and others nothing? And what good are these +diamonds, after all, to their owners?" + +"Why, if we were to go to the question of what half the luxuries of life +are really good for, we might go a great way; for instance, what is the +good of that grand gentleman Madame Pipelet calls the commandant having +engaged and furnished the first floor of this house, when he seldom +enters it? What use is it his having there good beds, and warm covering +to them, since he never sleeps in them?" + +"Very true; there is more furniture lying idle there than would supply +two or three poor families like ours. And then Madame Pipelet lights a +fire every day, to preserve the things from the damp. Only think of so +much comfortable warmth being lost, while we and the children are almost +frozen to death! But then, you will say, we are not articles of value; +no, indeed, we are not. Oh, these rich folks, what hard hearts they +have!" + +"Not harder than other people's, Madeleine; but then, you see, they do +not know what misery or want are. They are born rich and happy, they +live and die so. How, then, do you expect they can ever think such poor +distressed beings exist in a world which to them is all happiness? No! I +tell you, they have no idea of such things as fellow creatures toiling +beyond their strength for food, and perishing at last with hunger! How +is it possible for them to imagine privations like ours? The greater +their hunger, the greater enjoyment of their abundant meal. Is the +weather severe, or the cold intense, they call it a fine frost, a +healthful, bracing season. If they walk out, they return to a glowing, +cheerful fire, which the cold only makes them relish the more; so that +they can scarcely be expected to sympathise with such as are said to +suffer from cold and hunger, when those two things rather add to than +diminish their pleasure." + +"Ah, poor folks are better than rich, since they can feel for each +other, and are always ready and willing to assist each other as much as +lies in their power. Look at that kind, good Mlle. Rigolette, who has so +often sat up all night, either with me or the children, during our +illness. Why, last night she took Jerome and Pierre into her room, to +share her supper, and it was not much, either, she had for +herself,--only a cup of milk and some bread; at her age, all young +people have good appetites, and she must have deprived herself to give +to the children." + +"Poor girl! she is indeed most kind,--and why is she so? Because she +knows what poverty is. As I said to you just now, if the rich only +knew--" + +"And then that nice-looking lady who came, seeming so frightened all the +while, to ask us if we wanted anything. Well, now she knows that we do +want everything, will she ever come again, think you?" + +"I dare say she will; for, spite of her uneasy and terrified looks, she +seemed very good and kind." + +"Oh, yes; if a person be but rich, they are always right in your +opinion. One might almost suppose that rich folks are made of different +materials to poor creatures like us." + +"Stop, wife!" said Morel, gently; "you are getting on too fast. I did +not say that; on the contrary, I agree that rich people have as many +faults as poor ones; all I mean is, that, unfortunately, they are not +aware of the wretchedness of one-half of the world. Agents in plenty are +employed to hunt out poor wretches who have committed any crime, but +there are no paid agents to find out half-starving families and honest +artisans, worn-out with toil and privations, who, driven to the last +extremity of distress, are, for want of a little timely succour, led +into sore temptation. It is quite right to punish evil-doers; it would, +perhaps, be better still to prevent ill deeds. A man may have striven +hard to remain honest for fifty years; but want, misery, and utter +destitution put bad thoughts in his head, and one rascal more is let +loose on the world; whilst there are many who, if they had but known of +his distressed condition--However, it is no use talking of that,--the +world is as it is: I am poor and wretched, and therefore I speak as I +do; were I rich, my talk would be of fetes, and happy days, and worldly +engagements--And how do you find yourself now, wife?" + +"Much the same; I seem to have lost all feeling in my limbs. But how you +shiver! Here, take your jacket, and pray put it on. Blow out that +candle, which is burning uselessly,--see, it is nearly day!" + +And, true enough, a faint, glimmering light began to struggle through +the snow with which the skylight was encumbered, and cast a dismal ray +on the interior of this deplorable human abode, rendering its +squalidness still more apparent; the shade of night had at least +concealed a part of its horrors. + +"I shall wait now for the daylight before I go back to work," said the +lapidary, seating himself beside his wife's _paillasse_, and leaning his +forehead upon his two hands. + +After a short interval of silence, Madeleine said: + +"When is Madame Mathieu to come for the stones you are at work upon?" + +"This morning. I have only the side of one false diamond to polish." + +"A false diamond! How is that?--you who only make up real stones, +whatever the people in the house may believe." + +"Don't you know? But I forgot, you were asleep the other day when Madame +Mathieu came about them. Well, then, she brought me ten false +diamonds--Rhine crystals--to cut exactly to the same size and form as +the like number of real diamonds she also brought. There, those are them +mixed with the rubies on my table. I think I never saw more splendid +stones, or of purer water, than those ten diamonds, which must, at +least, be worth 60,000 francs." + +"And why did she wish them imitated?" + +"Because a great lady to whom they belonged--a duchess, I think she +said--had given directions to M. Baudoin, the jeweller, to dispose of +her set of diamonds, and to make her one of false stones to replace it. +Madame Mathieu, who matches stones for M. Baudoin, explained this to me, +when she gave me the real diamonds, in order that I might be quite sure +to cut the false ones to precisely the same size and form. Madame +Mathieu gave a similar job to four other lapidaries, for there are from +forty to fifty stones to cut; and I could not do them all, as they were +required by this morning, because M. Baudoin must have time to set the +false gems. Madame Mathieu says that grand ladies, very frequently +unknown to anybody but the jeweller, sell their valuable diamonds, and +replace them with Rhenish crystals." + +"Why, don't you see, the mock stones look every bit as well as the real +stones? Yet great ladies, who only use such things as ornaments, would +never think of sacrificing one of their diamonds to relieve the distress +of such unfortunate beings as we are." + +"Come, come, wife! Be more reasonable than this; sorrow makes you +unjust. Who do you think knows that such people as Morel and his family +are in existence, still less that they are in want?" + +"Oh, what a man you are, Morel! I really believe, if any one were to cut +you in pieces, that, while they were doing it, you would try to say, +'Thank you!'" + +Morel compassionately shrugged his shoulders. + +"And how much will Madame Mathieu owe you this morning?" asked +Madeleine. + +"Nothing; because you know I have already had an advance of 120 francs." + +"Nothing! Why, our last sou went the day before yesterday. We have not a +single farthing belonging to us!" + +"Alas, no!" cried Morel, with a dejected air. + +"Well, then, what are we to do?" + +"I know not." + +"The baker refuses to let us have anything more on credit,--will he?" + +"No; and I was obliged yesterday to beg Madame Pipelet to lend me part +of a loaf." + +"Can we borrow anything more of Mother Burette?" + +"She has already every article belonging to us in pledge. What have we +to offer her to lend more money on,--our children?" asked Morel, with a +smile of bitterness. + +"But yourself, my mother, and all the children had but part of a loaf +among you all yesterday. You cannot go on in this way; you will be +starved to death. It is all your fault that we are not on the books of +the charitable institution this year." + +"They will not admit any persons without they possess furniture, or some +such property; and you know we have nothing in the world. We are looked +upon as though we lived in furnished apartments, and, consequently, +ineligible. Just the same if we tried to get into any asylum, the +children are required to have at least a blouse, while our poor things +have only rags. Then, as to the charitable societies, one must go +backwards and forwards twenty times before we should obtain relief; and +then what would it be? Why, a loaf once a month, and half a pound of +meat once a fortnight.[5] I should lose more time than it would be +worth." + + [5] Such is the ordinary allowance made at charitable + societies, in consequence of the vast number of applicants for + relief. + +"But, still, what are we to do?" + +"Perhaps the lady who came yesterday will not forget us!" + +"Perhaps not. But don't you think Madame Mathieu would lend us four or +five francs, just to keep us from starving? You have worked for her +upwards of ten years; and surely she will not see an honest workman like +you, burthened with a large and sickly family, perish for want of a +little assistance like that?" + +"I do not think it is in her power to aid us. She did all in her power +when she advanced me little by little 120 francs. That is a large sum +for her. Because she buys diamonds, and has sometimes 50,000 francs in +her reticule, she is not the more rich for that. If she gains 100 +francs a month, she is well content, for she has heavy expenses,--two +nieces to bring up; and five francs is as much to her as it would be to +me. There are times when one does not possess that sum, you know; and +being already so deeply in her debt, I could not ask her to take bread +from her own mouth and that of her family to give it to me." + +"This comes of working for mere agents in jewelry, instead of procuring +employment from first-hand master jewellers. They are sometimes less +particular. But you are such a poor, easy creature, you would almost let +any one take the eyes out of your head. It is all your fault that--" + +"My fault!" exclaimed the unhappy man, exasperated by this absurd +reproach. "Was it or was it not your mother who occasioned all our +misfortunes, by compelling me to make good the price of the diamond she +lost? But for that we should be beforehand with the world; we should +receive the amount of my daily earnings; we should have the 1,100 francs +in our possession we were obliged to draw out of the savings-bank to put +to the 1,300 francs lent us by M. Jacques Ferrand. May every curse light +on him!" + +"And you still persist in not asking him to help you? Certainly he is so +stingy that I daresay he would do nothing for you; but then it is right +to try. You cannot know without you do try." + +"Ask him to help me!" cried Morel. "Ask him! I had rather be burnt +before a slow fire. Hark ye, Madeleine! Unless you wish to drive me mad, +mention that man's name no more to me." + +As he uttered these words, the usually mild, resigned expression of the +lapidary's countenance was exchanged for a look of gloomy energy, while +a slight suffusion coloured the ordinarily pale features of the agitated +man, as, rising abruptly from the pallet beside which he had been +sitting, he began to pace the miserable apartment with hurried steps; +and, spite of the deformed and attenuated appearance of poor Morel, his +attitude and action bespoke the noblest, purest indignation. + +"I am not ill-disposed towards any man," cried he, at length, pausing of +a sudden; "and never, to my knowledge, harmed a human being. But, I tell +you, when I think of this notary, I wish him--ah! I wish him--as much +wretchedness as he has caused me." Then pressing both hands to his +forehead, he murmured, in a mournful tone: "Just God! what crime have I +committed that a hard fate should deliver me and mine, tied hand and +foot, into the power of such a hypocrite? Have his riches been given him +only to worry, harass, and destroy those his bad passions lead him to +persecute, injure, and corrupt?" + +"That's right! that's right!" said Madeleine; "go on abusing him. You +will have done yourself a great deal of good, shall you not, when he +puts you in prison, as he can do any day, for that promissory note of +1,300 francs on which he obtained judgment against you? He holds you +fast as a bird at the end of a string. I hate this notary as badly as +you do; but since we are so completely in his power, why you should--" + +"Let him ruin and dishonour my child, I suppose?" burst from the pale +lips of the lapidary, with violent and impatient energy. + +"For heaven's sake, Morel, don't speak so loud; the children are awake, +and will hear you." + +"Pooh, pooh!" returned Morel, with bitter irony; "it will serve as a +fine example for our two little girls. It will instruct them to expect +that, one of these days, some villain or other like the notary may take +a fancy to them,--perhaps the same man; and then, I suppose, you would +tell me, as now, to be careful how I offended him, since he had me in +his power. You say, if I displease him, he can put me in prison. Now, +tell the truth: you advise me, then, to leave my daughter at his mercy, +do you not?" + +And then, passing from the extreme of rage at the idea of all the +wickedness practised by the notary to tender recollections of his child, +the unhappy man burst into a sort of convulsive weeping, mingled with +deep and heavy sobs, for his kindly nature could not long sustain the +tone of sarcastic indignation he had assumed. + +"Oh, my children!" cried he, with bitter grief; "my poor children! My +good, my beautiful, too--too beautiful Louise! 'Tis from those rich +gifts of nature all our troubles proceeded. Had you been less lovely, +that man would never have pressed his money upon me. I am honest and +hard-working; and if the jeweller had given me time, I should never have +been under the obligation to the old monster, of which he avails himself +to seek to dishonour my child. I should not then have left her a single +hour within his power; but I dare not remove her,--I dare not! For am I +not at his mercy? Oh, want! oh, misery! What insults do they not make us +endure!" + +"But what can you do?" asked Madeleine. "You know he threatens Louise +that if she quits him he will put you in prison directly." + +"Oh, yes! He dares address her as though she were the very vilest of +creatures." + +"Well, you must not mind that; for should she leave the notary, there is +no doubt he would instantly throw you into prison, and then what would +become of me, with these five helpless creatures and my mother? Suppose +Louise did earn twenty francs a month in another place, do you think +seven persons can live on that?" + +"And so that we may live, Louise is to be disgraced and left to ruin?" + +"You always make things out worse than they are. It is true the notary +makes offers of love to Louise; she has told us so repeatedly. But then +you know what a good girl she is; she would never listen to him." + +"She is good, indeed; and so right-minded, active, and industrious! +When, seeing how badly we were off in consequence of your long illness, +she insisted upon going to service that she might not be a burthen to +us, did I not say what it cost me to part with her? To think of my sweet +Louise being subjected to all the harshness and humiliation of a +servant's life,--she who was naturally so proud that we used +jokingly--ah, we could joke then!--to call her the Princess, because she +always said that, by dint of care and cleanliness, she would make our +little home like a palace! Dear Louise! It would have been my greatest +happiness to have kept her with me, though I had worked all day and all +night too. And when I saw her blooming face, with her bright eyes +glancing at me as she sat beside my work-table, my labour always seemed +lightened; and when she sung like a bird those little songs she knew I +liked to hear, I used to fancy myself the happiest father alive. Poor +dear Louise! so hard-working, yet always so gay and lively! Why, she +could even manage your mother, and make her do whatever she wished. But +I defy any one to resist her sweet words or winning smile. And how she +watched over and waited upon you! What pains she would take to try and +divert you from thinking of what you suffered! And how tenderly she +looked after her little brothers and sisters, finding time for +everything! Ah, with our Louise all our joy and happiness--all--all--left +us!" + +"Don't go on so, Morel. Don't remind me of all these things, or you will +break my heart," cried Madeleine, weeping bitterly. + +"And, then, when I think that perhaps that old monster--Do you know, +when that idea flashes across my brain, my senses seem disturbed, and I +have but one thought, that of first killing him and then killing +myself?" + +"What would become of all of us if you were to do so? Besides, I tell +you again, you make things worse than they really are. I dare say the +notary was only joking with Louise. He is such a pious man, and goes so +regularly to mass every Sunday, and only keeps company with priests +folks say. Why, many people think that he is safer to place money with +than the bank itself." + +"Well, and what does all that prove? Merely that he is a rich hypocrite, +instead of a poor one. I know well enough what a good girl Louise is; +but then she loves us so tenderly that it breaks her heart to see the +want and wretchedness we are in. She knows well enough that if anything +were to happen to me you would all perish with hunger; and by +threatening to put me into prison he might work on the dear child's +mind,--like a villain as he is,--and persuade her, on our account! O, +God, my brain burns! I feel as though I were going mad." + +"But, Morel, if ever that were the case, the notary would be sure to +make her a great number of fine presents or money, and, I am sure, she +would not have kept them all to herself. She would certainly have +brought part to us." + +"Silence, woman! Let me hear no more such words escape your lips. Louise +touch the wages of infamy! My good, my virtuous girl, accept such foul +gifts! Oh, wife!" + +"Not for herself, certainly. But to bring to us perhaps she would--" + +"Madeleine," exclaimed Morel, excited almost to frenzy, "again, I say, +let me not hear such language from your lips; you make me shudder. +Heaven only knows what you and the children also would become were I +taken away, if such are your principles." + +"Why, what harm did I say?" + +"Oh, none." + +"Then what makes you uneasy about Louise?" + +The lapidary impatiently interrupted his wife by saying: + +"Because I have noticed for the last three months that, whenever Louise +comes to see us, she seems embarrassed, and even confused. When I take +her in my arms and embrace her, as I have been used to do from her +birth, she blushes." + +"Ah, that is with delight at seeing you, or from shame." + +"She seems sadder and more dejected, too, each visit she pays us." + +"Because she finds our misery constantly increasing. Besides, when I +spoke to her concerning the notary, she told me he had quite ceased his +threats of putting you in prison." + +"But did she tell you the price she has paid to induce him to lay aside +his threats? She did not tell you that, I dare say, did she? Ah, a +father's eye is not to be deceived; and her blushes and embarrassments, +when giving me her usual kiss, make me dread I know not what. Why, would +it not be an atrocious thing to say to a poor girl, whose bread depended +on her employer's word, 'Either sacrifice your virtuous principles, and +become what I would have you, or quit my house? And if any one should +inquire of me respecting the character you have with me, I shall speak +of you in such terms that no one will take you into their service.' +Well, then, how much worse is it to frighten a fond and affectionate +child into surrendering her innocence, by threatening to put her father +into prison if she refused, when the brute knows that upon the labour of +that father a whole family depends? Surely the earth contains nothing +more infamous, more fiendlike, than such conduct." + +"Ah," replied Madeleine, "and then only to think that with the value of +one, only one of those diamonds now lying on your table, we might pay +the notary all we owe him, and so take Louise out of his power and keep +her at home with us. Don't you see, husband?" + +"What is the use of your repeating the same thing over and over again? +You might just as well tell me that if I were rich I should not be +poor," answered Morel, with sorrowful impatience. For such was the +innate and almost constitutional honesty of this man, that it never once +occurred to him that his weak-minded partner, bowed down and irritated +by long suffering and want, could ever have conceived the idea of +tempting him to a dishonourable appropriation of that which belonged to +another. + +With a heavy sigh, the unfortunate man resigned himself to his hard +fate. "Thrice happy those parents who can retain their innocent children +beneath the paternal roof, and defend them from the thousand snares laid +to entrap their unsuspecting youth. But who is there to watch over the +safety of the poor girl condemned at an early age to seek employment +from home? Alas, no one! Directly she is capable of adding her mite to +the family earnings, she leaves her dwelling at an early hour, and +repairs to the manufactory where she may happen to be engaged. +Meanwhile, both father and mother are too busily employed to have +leisure to attend to their daughter's comings or goings. 'Our time is +our stock in trade,' cry they, 'and bread is too dear to enable us to +lay aside our work while we look after our children.' And then there is +an outcry raised as to the quantity of depraved females constantly to be +met with, and of the impropriety of conduct among those of the lower +orders, wholly forgetting that the parents have neither the means of +keeping them at home, nor of watching over their morals when away from +them." + +Thus mentally moralised Morel. Then, speaking aloud, he added: + +"After all, our greatest privation is when forced to quit our parents, +wives, or children. It is to the poor that family affection is most +comforting and beneficial. Yet, directly our children grow up, and are +capable of becoming our dearest companions, we are forced to part with +them." + +At this moment some one knocked loudly at the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +JUDGMENT AND EXECUTION. + + +The lapidary, much astonished, rose and opened the door. Two men entered +the garret. One, tall, lanky, with an ill-favoured and pimply face, +shaded by thick grizzly whiskers, held in his hand a thick cane, loaded +at the head; he wore a battered hat, and a long-tailed and bespattered +green coat, buttoned up close to his throat. Above the threadbare velvet +collar was displayed his long neck, red and bald like that of a vulture. +This man's name was Malicorne. The other was a shorter man, with a look +as low-lived, and red, fat, puffed features, dressed with a great effort +at ridiculous splendour. Shiny buttons were in the folds of the front of +his shirt, whose cleanliness was most suspicious, and a long chain of +mosaic gold serpentined down a faded plaid waistcoat, which was seen +beneath his seedy Chesterfield, of a yellowish gray colour. This +gentleman's name was Bourdin. + +"How poverty-stricken this hole smells," said Malicorne, pausing on the +threshold. + +"Why, it does not scent of lavender-water. Confound it, but we have a +lowish customer to deal with," responded Bourdin, with a gesture of +disgust and contempt, and then advanced towards the artisan, who was +looking at him with as much surprise as indignation. + +Through the door, left a little ajar, might be seen the villainous, +watchful, and cunning face of the young scamp Tortillard, who, having +followed these strangers unknown to them, was sneaking after, spying, +and listening to them. + +"What do you want?" inquired the lapidary, abruptly, disgusted at the +coarseness of these fellows. + +"Jerome Morel?" said Bourdin. + +"I am he!" + +"Working lapidary?" + +"Yes." + +"You are quite sure?" + +"Quite sure. But you are troublesome, so tell me at once your business, +or leave the room." + +"Really, your politeness is remarkable! Much obliged! I say, Malicorne," +said the man, turning to his comrade, "there's not so much fat to cut at +here as there was at that 'ere Viscount de Saint-Remy's." + +"I believe you; but when there is fat, why the door's kept shut in your +face, as we found in the Rue de Chaillot. The bird had hopped the twig, +and precious quick, too, whilst such vermin as these hold on to their +cribs like a snail to his shell." + +"I believe you; well, the stone jug just suits such individuals." + +"The sufferer (creditor) must be a good fellow, for it will cost him +more than it's worth; but that's his lookout." + +"If," said Morel, angrily, "you were not drunk, as you seem to be, I +should be angry with you. Leave this apartment instantly!" + +"Ha! ha! He's a fine fellow with his elegant curve," said Bourdin, +making an insulting allusion to the contorted figure of the poor +lapidary. "I say, Malicorne, he has cheek enough to call this an +apartment,--a hole in which I would not put my dog." + +"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" exclaimed Madeleine, who had been so frightened +that she could not say a word before. "Call for assistance; perhaps they +are rogues. Take care of your diamonds!" + +And, seeing these two ill-looking strangers come closer to his +working-bench, on which his precious stones were still lying, Morel, +fearful of some evil intentions, ran towards the table, and covered the +jewels with his two hands. + +Tortillard, still on the watch, caught at Madeleine's words, observed +the movement of the artisan, and said to himself: + +"Ha! ha! ha! So they said he was a lapidary of sham stones; if they were +mock he would not be afraid of being robbed; this is a good thing to +know. So Mother Mathieu, who comes here so often, is a matcher of _real_ +stones, after all, and has real diamonds in her basket; this is a good +thing to know, and I'll tell the Chouette," added Bras Rouge's brat. + +"If you do not leave this room, I will call in the guard," said Morel. + +The children, alarmed at this scene, began to cry, and the idiotic +mother sat up in her bed. + +"If any one has a right to call for the guard, it is we, you Mister +Twistabout," said Bourdin. + +"And the guard would lend us a hand to carry you off to gaol if you +resist," added Malicorne. "We have not the magistrate with us, it is +true; but if you have any wish for his company, we'll find you one, just +out of bed, hot and heavy; Bourdin will go and fetch him." + +"To prison! me?" exclaimed Morel, struck with dismay. + +"Yes, to Clichy." + +"To Clichy?" repeated the artisan, with an air of despair. + +"It seems a hardish pill," said Malicorne. + +"Well, then, to the debtors' jail, if you like that better," said +Bourdin. + +"You--what--indeed--why--the notary--ah, _mon Dieu_!" + +And the workman, pale as death, fell on his stool, unable to add another +word. + +"We are bound bailiffs, come to lay hold of you; now are you fly?" + +"Morel, it is the note of Louise's master! We are undone!" exclaimed +Madeleine, in a tone of agony. + +"Hear the judgment," said Malicorne, taking from his dirty and crammed +pocketbook a stamped writ. + +After having skimmed over, according to custom, a part of this document +in an unintelligible tone, he distinctly articulated the last words, +which were, unfortunately, but too important to the artisan: + + "Judgment finally given. The Tribunal condemns Jerome Morel to + pay to Pierre Petit-Jean, merchant,[6] by every available means, + even to the arrest of body, the sum of 1,300 francs, with + interest from the day of protest, and to pay all other and extra + costs. Given and judged at Paris, 13 September, etc., etc." + + [6] The cunning notary, unable to prosecute in his own name, + had made the unfortunate Morel give a blank acceptance, and + had filled up the note of hand with the name of a third party. + +"And Louise! Louise!" cried Morel, almost distracted in his brain, and +apparently unheeding the long preamble which had just been read. "Where +is Louise, then, for, doubtless, she has quitted the notary, since he +sends me to prison? My child! My Louise! What has become of you?" + +"Who the devil is Louise?" asked Bourdin. + +"Let him alone!" replied Malicorne, brutally; "don't you see the +respectable old twaddler is not right in his nonsense-box?" Then, +approaching Morel, he added: "I say, my fine fellow, right about file! +March on! Let us get out of here, will you, and have a little fresh air. +You stink enough to poison a cat in this here hole!" + +"Morel!" shrieked Madeleine, wildly, "don't go! Kill those wretches! Oh, +you coward, not to knock them down! What! are you going to let them +take you away? Are you going to abandon us all?" + +"Pray don't put yourself out of the way, ma'am," said Bourdin, with an +ironical grin. "I've only just got to remark that if your good man lays +his little finger on me, why I'll make him remember it," continued he, +swinging his loaded stick round and round. + +Entirely occupied with thoughts of Louise, Morel scarcely heard a word +of what was passing. All at once an expression of bitter satisfaction +passed over his countenance, as he said: + +"Louise has doubtless left the notary's house; now I shall go to prison +willingly." Then, casting a troubled look around him, he exclaimed: "But +my wife! Her mother! The children! Who will provide for them? No one +will trust me with stones to work at in prison, for it will be supposed +my bad conduct has sent me there. Does this hard-hearted notary wish the +destruction of myself and all my family also?" + +"Once, twice, old chap," said Bourdin, "will you stop your gammon? You +are enough to bore a man to death. Come, put on your things, and let us +be off." + +"Good gentlemen, kind gentlemen," cried Madeleine, from her sick-bed, +"pray forgive what I said just now! Surely you will not be so cruel as +to take my husband away; what will become of me and my five poor +children, and my old mother, who is an idiot? There she lies; you see +her, poor old creature, huddled up on her mattress; she is quite out of +her senses, my good gentlemen; she is, indeed, quite mad!" + +"La! what, that old bald-headed thing a woman? Well, hang me if that +ain't enough to astonish a man!" + +"I'll be hanged if it isn't, then!" cried the other bailiff, bursting +into a horse-laugh; "why, I took it for something tied up in an old +sack. Look! her old head is shaved quite close; it seems as though she +had got a white skull-cap on." + +"Go, children, and kneel down, and beg of these good gentlemen not to +take away your poor father, our only support," said Madeleine, anxious +by a last effort to touch the hearts of the bailiffs. But, spite of +their mother's orders, the terrified children remained weeping on their +miserable mattress. + +At the unusual noise which prevailed, added to the aspect of two strange +men in the room, the poor idiot turned herself towards the wall, as +though striving to hide from them, uttering all the time the most +discordant cries and moans. Morel, meanwhile, appeared unconscious of +all that was going on; this last stroke of fate had been so frightful +and unexpected, and the consequences of his arrest were so dreadful, +that his mind seemed almost unequal to understanding its reality. Worn +out by all manner of privations, and exhausted by over-toil, his +strength utterly forsook him, and he remained seated on his stool, pale +and haggard, and as though incapable of speech or motion, his head +drooping on his breast, and his arms hanging listlessly by his side. + +"Deuce take me," cried Malicorne, "if that old patterer is not going +fast asleep! Why, I say, my chap, you seem to think nothing of keeping +gen'l'men like us waiting; just remember, will you, our time is +precious! You know this is not exactly a party of pleasure, so march, or +I shall be obliged to make you." + +Suiting the action to the word, the man grasped the artisan by the +shoulder, and shook him roughly; which so alarmed the children, that, +unable to restrain their terror, the three little boys emerged from +their _paillasse_, and, half naked as they were, came in an agony of +tears to throw themselves at the feet of the bailiffs, holding up their +clasped hands, and crying, in tones of touching earnestness: + +"Pray, pray don't hurt our dear father!" + +At the sight of these poor, shivering, half-clad infants, weeping with +affright, and trembling with cold, Bourdin, spite of his natural +callousness and long acquaintance with scenes of this sort, could not +avoid a feeling almost resembling compassion from stealing over him, +while his pitiless companion, brutally disengaging himself from the +grasp of the small, weak creatures who were clinging to him, exclaimed: + +"Hands off, you young ragamuffins! A devilish fine trade ours would be, +if we were to allow ourselves to be mauled about by a set of beggars' +brats like you!" + +As though the scene were not sufficiently distressing, a fearful +addition was made to its horrors. The eldest of the little girls, who +had remained in the _paillasse_ with her sick sister, suddenly +exclaimed: + +"Mother! mother! I don't know what's the matter with Adele! She is so +cold, and her eyes are fixed on my face, and yet she does not breathe." + +The poor little child, whose consumptive appearance we have before +noticed, had expired gently, and without a sigh, her looks fixed +earnestly on the sister she so tenderly loved. + +No language can describe the cry which burst from the lips of the +lapidary's wife at these words, which at once revealed the dreadful +truth; it was one of those wild, despairing, convulsive shrieks, which +seem to sever the very heart-strings of a mother. + +"My poor little sister looks as though she were dead!" continued the +child; "she frightens me, with her eyes fixed on me, and her face so +cold!" + +Saying which, in an agony of terror, she leaped from beside the corpse +of the infant, and ran to shelter herself in her mother's arms, while +the distracted parent, forgetting that her almost paralysed limbs were +incapable of supporting her, made a violent effort to rise and go to the +assistance of her child, whom she could not believe was actually past +recovery; but her strength failed her, and with a deep sigh of despair +she sunk upon the floor. That cry found an echo in the heart of Morel, +and roused him from his stupor. He sprang with one bound to the +_paillasse_, and withdrew from it the stiffened form of an infant four +years old, dead and cold. Want and misery had accelerated its end, +although its complaint, which had originated in the positive want of +common necessaries, was beyond the reach of any human aid to remove. Its +poor little limbs were already rigid with death. Morel, whose very hair +seemed to stand on end with despair and terror, stood holding his dead +child in his arms, motionlessly contemplating its thin features with a +fixed bloodshot gaze, though no tear moistened his dry, burning +eyeballs. + +"Morel! Morel, give Adele to me!" cried the unhappy mother, extending +her arms towards him; "she is not dead,--it is not possible! Let me have +her, and I shall be able to warm her in my arms." + +The curiosity of the idiot was excited by observing the pertinacity with +which the bailiffs kept close to the lapidary, who would not part with +the body of his child. She ceased her yells and cries, and, rising from +her mattress, approached gently, protruded her hideous, senseless +countenance over Morel's shoulder, staring in vacant wonder at the pale +corpse of her grandchild, the features of the idiot retaining their +usual expression of stupid sullenness. At the end of a few minutes, she +uttered a sort of horrible yawning noise, almost resembling the roar of +a famished animal; then, hurrying back to her mattress, she threw +herself upon it, exclaiming: + +"Hungry! hungry! hungry!" + +"Well, gentlemen," said the poor, half-crazed artisan, with haggard +looks, "you see all that is left me of my poor child, my Adele,--we +called her Adele, she was so pretty she deserved a pretty name; and she +was just four years old last night. Ay, and this morning even I kissed +her, and she put her little arms about my neck and embraced me,--oh, so +fondly! And now, you see, gentlemen, perhaps you will tell me there is +one mouth less to feed, and that I am lucky to get rid of one,--you +think so, don't you?" + +The unfortunate man's reason was fast giving way under the many shocks +he had received. + +"Morel," cried Madeleine, "give me my child! I will have her!" + +"To be sure," replied the lapidary; "that is only fair. Everybody ought +to secure their own happiness!" So saying, he laid the child in its +mother's arms, and uttering a groan, such as comes only from a breaking +heart, he covered his face with his hands; while Madeleine, almost as +frenzied as her husband, placed the body of her child amid the straw of +her wretched bed, watching it with frantic jealousy, while the other +children, kneeling around her, filled the air with their wailings. + +The bailiffs, who had experienced a temporary feeling of compassion at +the death of the child, soon fell back into their accustomed brutality. + +"I say, friend," said Malicorne to the lapidary, "your child is dead, +and there's an end of it! I dare say you think it a misfortune; but +then, you see, we are all mortal, and neither we nor you can bring it +back to life. So come along with us; for, to tell you the truth, we're +upon the scent of a spicy one we must nab to-day. So don't delay us, +that's a trump!" + +But Morel heard not a word he said. Entirely preoccupied with his own +sad thoughts, the bewildered man kept up a kind of wandering delivery of +his own afflicting ideas. + +"My poor Adele!" murmured he; "we must now see about laying you in the +grave, and watching by her little corpse till the people come to carry +it to its last home,--to lay it in the ground. But how are we to do that +without a coffin,--and where shall we get one? Who will give me credit +for one? Oh, a very small coffin will do,--only for a little creature of +four years of age! And we shall want no bearers! Oh, no, I can carry it +under my arm. Ha! ha! ha!" added he, with a burst of frightful mirth; +"what a good thing it is she did not live to be as old as Louise! I +never could have persuaded anybody to trust me for a coffin large enough +for a girl of eighteen years of age." + +"I say, just look at that chap!" said Bourdin to Malicorne. "I'll be +dashed if I don't think as he's a-going mad, like the old woman there! +Only see how he rolls his eyes about,--enough to frighten one! Come, I +say, let's make haste and be off. Only hark, how that idiot creature is +a-roaring for something to eat! Well, they are rum customers, from +beginning to end!" + +"We must get done with them as soon as we can. Although the law only +allows us seventy-six francs, seventy-five centiemes, for arresting this +beggar, yet, in justice to ourselves, we must swell the costs to two +hundred and forty or two hundred and fifty francs. You know the sufferer +(the creditor) pays us!" + +"You mean, advances the cash. Old Gaffer there will have to pay the +piper, since he must dance to the music." + +"Well, by the time he has paid his creditor 2,500 francs for debt, +interest, and expenses, etc., he'll find it pretty warm work." + +"A devilish sight more than we do our job up here! I'm a'most +frost-bitten!" cried the bailiff, blowing the ends of his fingers. +"Come, old fellow, make haste, will you! Just look sharp! You can +snivel, you know, as we go along. Why, how the devil can we help it, if +your brat has kicked the bucket?" + +"These beggars always have such a lot of children, if they have nothing +else!" + +"Yes, so they have," responded Malicorne. Then, slapping Morel on the +shoulder, he called out in a loud voice, "I tell you what it is, my +friend, we're not going to be kept dawdling here all day,--our time is +precious. So either out with the stumpy, or march off to prison, +without any more bother!" + +"Prison!" exclaimed a clear, youthful voice; "take M. Morel to prison!" +and a bright, beaming face appeared at the door. + +"Ah, Mlle. Rigolette," cried the weeping children, as they recognised +the happy, healthful countenance of their young protectress and friend, +"these wicked men are going to take our poor father away, and put him in +prison! And sister Adele is just dead!" + +"Dead!" cried the kind-hearted girl, her dark eyes filling with +compassionating tears; "poor little thing! But it cannot be true that +your father is in danger of a prison;" and, almost stupefied with +surprise, she gazed alternately from the children to Morel, and from him +to the bailiffs. + +"I say, my girl," said Bourdin, approaching Rigolette, "as you do seem +to have the use of your senses, just make this good man hear reason, +will you? His child has just died. Well, that can't be helped now; but, +you see, he is a-keeping of us, because we're a-waiting to take him to +the debtors' prison, being sheriffs' officers, duly sworn in and +appointed. Tell him so!" + +"Then it is true!" exclaimed the feeling girl. + +"True? I should say it was and no mistake! Now, don't you see, while the +mother is busy with the dead babby--and, bless you! she's got it there, +hugging it up in bed, and won't part with it!--she won't notice us? So I +want the father to be off while she isn't thinking nothing about it!" + +"Good God! Good God!" replied Rigolette, in deep distress; "what is to +be done?" + +"Done? Why, pay the money, or go to prison! There is nothing between +them two ways. If you happen to have two or three thousand francs by you +you can oblige him with, why, shell out, and we'll be off, and glad +enough to be gone!" + +"How can you," cried Rigolette, "be so barbarous as to make a jest of +such distress as this?" + +"Well, then," rejoined the other man, "all joking apart, if you really +do wish to be useful, try to prevent the woman from seeing us take her +husband away. You will spare them both a very disagreeable ten minutes!" + +Coarse as was this counsel, it was not destitute of good sense; and +Rigolette, feeling she could do nothing else, approached the bedside of +Madeleine, who, distracted by her grief, appeared unconscious of the +presence of Rigolette, as, gathering the children together, she knelt +with them beside their afflicted mother. + +Meanwhile Morel, upon recovering from his temporary wildness, had sunk +into a state of deep and bitter reflections upon his present position, +which, now that his mind saw things through a calmer medium, only +increased the poignancy of his sufferings. Since the notary had +proceeded to such extremities, any hope from his mercy was vain. He felt +there was nothing left but to submit to his fate, and let the law take +its course. + +"Are we ever to get off?" inquired Bourdin. "I tell you what, my man, if +you are not for marching, we must make you, that's all." + +"I cannot leave these diamonds about in this manner,--my wife is half +distracted," cried Morel, pointing to the stones lying on his +work-table. "The person for whom I am polishing them will come to fetch +them away either this morning or during the day. They are of +considerable value." + +"Capital!" whispered Tortillard, who was still peeping in at the half +closed door; "capital, capital! What will Mother Chouette say when I +tell her this bit of luck?" + +"Only give me till to-morrow," said Morel, beseechingly; "only till I +can return these diamonds to my employer." + +"I tell you, the thing can't be done. So let's have no more to say about +it." + +"But it is impossible for me to leave diamonds of such value as these +exposed, to be lost or even stolen in my absence." + +"Well, then, take them along with you. We have got a coach waiting +below, for which you will have to pay when you settle the costs. We will +go all together to your employer's house, and, if you don't meet with +him, why, then, you can deposit these jewels at the office of the +prison, where they will be as safe as in the bank; only look sharp, and +let's be off before your wife and children perceive us." + +"Give me but till to-morrow,--only to bury my child!" implored Morel, in +a supplicating voice, half stifled by the heavy sobs he strove in vain +to repress. + +"Nonsense, I tell you; why, we have lost an hour here already!" + +"Besides, it's dull work going to berrins," chimed in Malicorne. "It +would be too much for your feelings, p'raps." + +"Yes," said Morel, bitterly; "it is dull work to see what we would have +given our lives to save laid in the cold earth. But, as you are men, +grant me that satisfaction." Then, looking up, and observing the +nonchalant air with which his prayer was received, he added, "But no, +persons of so much feeling as you are would fear to indulge me, lest I +should find it a gloomy sight. Well, then, at least grant me one word!" + +"The deuce take your last words! Why, old chap, there seems no end to +them. Come, put the steam on; make haste," said Malicorne, with brutal +impatience, "or we shall lose t'other gent we're after." + +"When did you receive orders to arrest me?" + +"Oh, why, judgment was signed four months ago! But it was only yesterday +our officer got instructions to put it in execution." + +"Only yesterday! And why has it been delayed so long?" + +"How the devil should I know? Come, look about you, and put up your +things." + +"Only yesterday? And during the whole day we saw nothing of Louise! +Where can she be? Or what has become of her?" inquired the lapidary +mentally, as he took from his table a small box filled with cotton, in +which he placed his stones. "But never mind all that now. I shall have +plenty of time to think about it when I am in prison." + +"Come, look sharp there a bit. Tie up your things to take with you, and +put your clothes on, there's a fine fellow!" + +"I have no clothes to tie up, and have nothing whatever to take with me +except these jewels, that I may deposit them at the office of the +prison." + +"Well, then, dress yourself as quick as you can." + +"I have no other dress than that you now see me in." + +"I say, mate," cried Bourdin, "does he really mean to be seen in our +company with such rags as those on?" + +"I fear, indeed, I shall shame such gentlemen as you are!" said Morel, +bitterly. + +"It don't much signify," replied Malicorne, "as nobody will see us in +the coach." + +"Father!" cried one of the children, "mother is calling for you!" + +"Listen to me!" said Morel, addressing one of the men with hurried +tones; "if one spark of human pity dwells within you, grant me one +favour! I have not the courage to bid my wife and children farewell; it +would break my heart! And if they see you take me away, they will try to +follow me. I wish to spare all this. Therefore, I beseech you to say, in +a loud voice, that you will come again in three or four days, and +pretend to go away. You can wait for me at the next landing-place, and I +will come to you in less than five minutes; that will spare all the +misery of taking leave. I am quite sure it would be too much for me, and +that I should become mad! I was not far off it a little while ago." + +"Not to be caught!" answered Malicorne; "you want to do me! But I'm up +to you! You mean to give us the slip, you old chouse!" + +"God of heaven!" cried Morel, with a mixture of grief and indignation, +"has it come to this?" + +"I don't think he means what you say," whispered Bourdin to his +companion; "let us do what he asks; we shall never get away unless we +do. I'll stand outside the door; there is no other way of escaping from +this garret; he cannot get away from us." + +"Very well. But what a dog-hole! What a place for a man to care about +leaving! Why, a prison will be a palace to it!" Then, addressing Morel, +he said, "Now, then, be quick, and we will wait for you on the next +landing; so make up some pretence for our going." + +"Well," said Bourdin in a loud voice, and bestowing a significant look +on the unhappy artisan, "since things are as you say, and as you think +you shall be able to pay us in a short time, why, we shall leave you for +the present, and return in about four or five days; but you must not +disappoint us then, remember!" + +"Thank you, gentlemen. I have no doubt I shall be able to pay you then." + +The bailiffs then withdrew, while Tortillard, hearing the men talk of +quitting the room, had hastened down-stairs for fear of being detected +listening. + +"There, Madame Morel!" said Rigolette, endeavouring to draw the wife of +the lapidary from the state of gloomy abstraction into which she had +fallen, "do you hear that? The men have gone, and left your husband +undisturbed." + +"Mother! mother!" exclaimed the children, joyfully, "they have not taken +father away!" + +"Morel, Morel!" murmured Madeleine, her brain quite turned, "take one +of those diamonds--take the largest--and sell it; no one will know it, +and then we shall be delivered from our misery; poor little Adele will +get warm then, and come back to us." + +Taking advantage of the instant when no one was observing him, the +lapidary profited by it to steal from the room. One of the men was +waiting for him on the little landing-place, which was also covered only +by the roof; on this small spot opened the door of a garret, which +adjoined the apartment occupied by the Morels, and in which M. Pipelet +kept his depot of leather; and, further, this little angular recess, in +which a person could not stand upright, was dignified by the melancholy +porter with the name of his Melodramatic Cabinet, because, by means of a +hole between the lath and plaster, he frequently indulged in the luxury +of woe by witnessing the many touching scenes occasioned by the distress +of the wretched family who dwelt in the garret beyond it. This door had +not escaped the lynx eye of the bailiff, who had, for a time, suspected +his prisoner of intending either to escape or conceal himself by means +of it. + +"Now, then, let us make a start of it!" cried he, beginning to descend +the stairs as Morel emerged from the garret. "Rather a ragged recruit to +march with," added he, beckoning to the lapidary to follow him. + +"Only an instant, one single instant, for the love of God!" exclaimed +Morel, as, kneeling down, he cast a last look on his wife and children +through a chink in the door. Then clasping his hands, he said, in a low, +heart-broken voice, while bitter tears flowed down his haggard cheeks: + +"Adieu, my poor children! my wife! May Heaven preserve you all! +Farewell, farewell!" + +"Come, don't get preaching!" said Bourdin, coarsely, "or your sermons +may keep us here till night, which is what I can't stand, for I am +almost froze to death as it is. Ugh! what a kennel! what a hole!" + +Morel rose from his knees and was about to follow the bailiff, when the +words, "Father! father!" sounded up the staircase. + +"Louise!" exclaimed the lapidary, raising his hands towards heaven in a +transport of gratitude; "thank God I shall be able to embrace you before +I go!" + +"Heaven be praised, I am here in time!" cried the voice, as it rapidly +approached, and quick, light steps were distinguishable, swiftly +ascending the stairs. + +"Don't be uneasy, my dear," said a second voice, evidently proceeding +from some individual considerably behind the first speaker, but whose +thick puffing and laborious breathing announced the coming of one who +did not find mounting to the top of the house so easy an affair as it +seemed to her light-footed companion. + +The reader may, perhaps, have already guessed that the last comer was no +other than Madame Pipelet, who, less agile than Louise, was compelled to +advance at a much slower pace. + +"Louise! Is it, indeed, you, my own, my good Louise?" said Morel, still +weeping. "But how pale you look! For mercy's sake, my child, what is the +matter?" + +"Nothing, father, nothing, I assure you!" said Louise, in much +agitation; "but I have run so fast! See, I have brought the money!" + +"What?" + +"You are free!" + +"You knew, then, that--" + +"Oh, yes! Here, sir, you will find it quite right," said the poor girl, +placing the rouleau of gold in the hands of Malicorne. + +"But this money, Louise,--how did you become possessed of it?" + +"I will tell you all about it by and by; pray do not be uneasy; let us +go and comfort my mother. Come, father." + +"No, not just this minute!" cried Morel, remembering that, as yet, +Louise was entirely ignorant of the death of her little sister; "wait an +instant. I have something to say to you first. But about this money?" + +"All right," said Malicorne, as, having finished counting the gold, he +put it in his pocket; "precisely one thousand three hundred francs. And +is that all you have got for me, my pretty dear?" + +"I thought, father," said Louise, struck with alarm and surprise at the +man's question, "that you only owed one thousand three hundred francs." + +"Nor do I," replied Morel. + +"Precisely so!" answered the bailiff; "the original debt is one thousand +three hundred francs; well, that is all right now, and we may put +'settled' against that: but then, you see, there are the costs, caption, +etc., amounting to eleven hundred and forty francs, still to be paid." + +"Gracious heavens!" cried Louise, "I thought one thousand three hundred +francs would pay everything! But, sir, we will make up the money, and +bring it to you very soon; take this for the present, it is a good sum; +take it as paid on account; it will go towards the debt, at least, won't +it, father?" + +"Very well; then all you have to do is to bring the required sum to the +prison, and then, and not till then, your father--if he is your +father--will be set at liberty. Come, master, we must start, or we never +shall get there." + +"Do you really mean to take him away?" + +"Do I? Don't I? Just look here; I am ready to give you a memorandum of +having received so much on account; and, whenever you bring the rest, +you shall have a receipt in full, and your father along with it. There, +now, that's a handsome offer, ain't it?" + +"Mercy! mercy!" supplicated Louise. + +"Whew!" cried the man, "here's a scene over again! My stars, I hope this +one isn't a-going mad, too, for the whole family seems uncommon queer +about the head! Well, I declare I never see anything like it! It is +enough to set a man 'prespiring' in the midst of winter!" and here the +bailiff burst into a loud, coarse laugh at his own brutal wit. + +"Oh, my poor, dear father!" exclaimed Louise, almost distractedly; "when +I had hoped to have saved you!" + +"No, no!" cried the lapidary, in a tone of utter despair, and stamping +his foot in wild desperation, "hope nothing for me; God has forgotten +me, and Heaven has ceased to be just to a wretch like me!" + +"Calm yourself, my worthy friend," said a rich, manly voice; "there is +always a kind Providence that watches over and preserves good and honest +men like you." + +At the same instant Rodolph appeared at the door of the small recess we +have spoken of, from whence he had been an invisible spectator of much +that we have related; he was pale, and extremely agitated. At this +sudden apparition the bailiff drew back, with surprise; while Morel and +his daughter gazed on the stranger with bewildered wonder. Taking from +his waistcoat pocket a quantity of folded bank-notes, Rodolph selected +three, and, presenting them to Malicorne, he said: + +"Here are two thousand five hundred francs; give this young woman back +the money you have just received from her." + +Still more and more astonished at this singular interference, the man +half hesitated to take the notes, and, when he had received them, he +eyed them with the utmost suspicion, turning and twisting them about in +every direction; at length, satisfied both as to their reality and +genuineness, he finally deposited them in his pocketbook: but, as his +surprise and alarm began to subside, so did his natural coarseness of +idea return, and, eyeing Rodolph from head to foot with an impertinent +stare, he exclaimed: + +"The notes are right enough; but pray who and what are you that go about +with such sums? I should just wish to know whose it is, and how you came +by it?" + +Rodolph was very plainly dressed, and his appearance by no means +improved by the dust and dirt his clothes had gathered during his stay +in M. Pipelet's Cabinet of Melodrama. + +"I desired you to give back the gold you received just now from this +young person," replied Rodolph, in a severe and authoritative tone. + +"You desired me! And who the devil are you, to give your orders?" +answered the man, approaching Rodolph in a threatening manner. + +"Give back the gold! Give it back, I say!" said the prince, grasping the +wrist of Malicorne so tightly that the unhappy bailiff winced beneath +his iron clutch. + +"I say," bawled he, "hands off, will you? Curse me if I don't think +you're old Nick himself! I am sure your fingers are cased with iron." + +"Then return the money! Why, you despicable wretch! do you want to be +paid twice over? Now return the gold and begone, or, if you utter one +insolent word, I'll fling you over the banisters!" + +"Well, don't kick up such a row! There's the girl's money," said +Malicorne, giving back to Louise the rouleau he had received. "But mind +what you are about, my sparky, and don't think to ill-use me because you +happen to be the strongest!" + +"That's right!" said Bourdin, ensconcing himself behind his taller +associate. "And who are you, I should like to know, who give yourself +such airs?" + +"Who is he? Why, my lodger, my king of lodgers, you ill-looking, +half-starved, hungry hounds! you ill-taught, dirty fellows!" exclaimed +Madame Pipelet, who, puffing and panting for breath, had at last reached +the landing where they stood; her head, as usual, adorned with her +Brutus wig, which, during the heat and bustle she had experienced in +ascending the stairs, had got pushed somewhat awry, while in her hand +she bore an earthen stewpan, filled with smoking-hot broth, which she +was charitably conveying to the Morels. + +"What the devil does this old hedgehog want?" cried Bourdin. + +"If you dare make any of your saucy speeches about me," returned Madame +Pipelet, "I'll make you feel my nails,--ay, and my teeth, too, if you +provoke me! And, if you don't mend your manners, my lodger, my king of +lodgers will pitch you over the banisters, and I will sweep you out into +the street, as I would a heap of rubbish." + +"This old beldam will bring the whole house about our ears," said +Bourdin to Malicorne; "we've touched the blunt, our expenses and all, so +I say 'Off' is a good word." + +"Here, take your property," said the latter, flinging a bundle of +law-papers at the feet of Morel. + +"Pick them up, and deliver them decently; you have been paid as a +respectable officer would have been, act like one!" cried Rodolph, +seizing the bailiff vigorously with one hand, while with the other he +pointed to the papers. + +Fully convinced by this second powerful grip how useless any attempt at +resistance would prove, the bailiff stooped down, and, mechanically +picking up the papers, gave them to Morel, who, scarcely venturing to +credit his senses, believed himself under the influence of a delightful +dream. + +"Well, young chap," grumbled out Malicorne, "although you have got a +fist as strong as a drayman's, mind you, if ever you fall into my +clutches, I'll make you smart for this!" So saying, he doubled his fist +at Rodolph, and then scrambled down the stairs, taking four or five at a +time, followed by his companion, who kept looking behind him with +indescribable terror; while Madame Pipelet, burning to avenge the +insults offered to her king of lodgers, looked at her steaming stewpan +with an air of inspiration, and heroically exclaimed: + +"The debts of the Morels are paid! Henceforward they will have plenty of +food, and can do without my messes! Look out there below!" + +So saying, she stooped over the banisters, and poured the contents of +her stewpan down the backs and shoulders of the two bailiffs, who had +just reached the first floor landing. + +"There goes!" screamed out the delighted porteress. "Capital! Ha, ha, +ha! there they are! two regular sops, in the pan! Well, I do enjoy +this!" + +"What the devil is this?" exclaimed Malicorne, thoroughly soaked with +the hot, greasy liquid. "I say, I wish you would mind what you are about +up there, you old figure of fun!" + +"Alfred!" bawled Madame Pipelet, in a tone sharp and shrill enough to +have split the tympanum of a deaf man; "Alfred, my old darling, have at +'em! They wanted to behave ill to your 'Stasie (Anastasie)! The nasty +fellows have been taking liberties,--quite violent! Knock them down with +your broom! And call the oyster-woman, and the man at the wine-vaults, +to help you! Get out, you! Get--get--get out! Cht, cht, cht! Thieves! +thieves! robbers! Cht--b-r-r-r-r-r-r--hou, hou, hou! Knock them--knock +them down! That's right, old dear! Pay them off! Break their bones! +Serve them out! Boum, boum, boum!" + +And, by way of conclusion to this concatenation of discordant noises, +accompanied by a constant succession of stamping and kicking of feet, +Madame Pipelet, carried away by the excitement of the moment, flung her +earthen stewpan to the bottom of the staircase, which, breaking into a +thousand pieces at the very instant that the two bailiffs, terrified by +the yells and noises from overhead, were precipitately descending the +stairs with hasty strides, added not a little to their terror. + +"Ah, ah, ah!" cried Anastasie, bursting into loud fits of laughter. "Now +be off with you,--I think you have had enough!" Then, crossing her arms, +she stood, like a triumphant Amazon, rejoicing in the victory she had +achieved. + +While Madame Pipelet was thus venting her rage upon the bailiffs, Morel +had thrown himself, in heartfelt gratitude, at the feet of Rodolph. + +"Ah, sir," exclaimed he, when at last words came to his assistance, "you +have saved a whole family! To whom do we owe this unhoped-for +assistance?" + +"'To the God who watches over and protects all honest men,' as your +immortal Beranger says." + + + NOTE.--The following are some curious particulars relative to + bodily restraint, as cited in the "Pauvre Jacques," a journal + published under the patronage of the "Society for the + Furtherance and Protection of Christianity:" + + (Prison Committee.) (_Comite des Prisons._) + + "A protest and intimation of bodily restraint are generally + carried about by sheriffs' officers, and charged by law, the + first, 4_f._ 35_c._, the second, 4_f._ 70_c._; for these, + however, the officers usually demand, for the former, 10_f._ + 40_c._, for the second, 16_f._ 40_c._; thus illegally claiming + from the unfortunate victims of law 26_f._ 80_c._, for that + which is fixed by that very law at 9_f._ 50_c._ + + "For an arrest, the legal charge is, including stamp and + registering, 3_f._ 50_c._; coach-hire, 5_f._; for arrest and + entry in the prison books, 60_f._ 25_c._; office dues, 8_f._ + Total, 76_f._ 75_c._ A bill of the usual scale ordinarily + charged by sheriffs' officers, now lying before us, shows that + these allowances by law are magnified by the extortion of the + officers into a sum of about 240_f._, instead of the 76_f._ they + are alone entitled to claim." + + The same journal says: "Sheriffs' officer ---- has been to our + office, requesting us to correct an article which appeared in + one of our numbers, headed, 'A woman hung.' 'I did not hang the + woman!' observed he, angrily. We did not assert that he did, + but, to prevent any further misapprehension, content ourselves + with reprinting the paragraph in question: 'A few days ago, a + sheriffs' officer, named ----, went to the Rue de la Lune, to + arrest a carpenter, who dwelt there. The man, perceiving him + from the street, rushed hastily into his house, exclaiming, "I + am a ruined man! The officers are here to arrest me!" His wife, + at these words, hastened to secure the door; while the carpenter + ran to a room on the top of the house, to conceal himself. The + officer, finding admittance refused, went and fetched a + magistrate and a blacksmith; the door was forced, and, on + proceeding up-stairs, the woman was found hanging in her own + bedchamber. The officer did not allow himself to be diverted + from the pursuit by the sight of the corpse; he continued his + search, and at length discovered the husband in his + hiding-place. "I arrest you!" cried the bailiff. "I have no + money!" replied the man. "Then you must go to prison." "Let me + at least bid my wife adieu!" "It is not worth while waiting for + that,--your wife is dead! She has hung herself!"' Now, M. ---- + (adds the journal we have quoted), what have you to say to that? + You see we have merely copied your own statement upon oath, in + which you have detailed all these frightful circumstances with + horrible minuteness!" + + The same journal also cites two or three hundred similar facts, + of which the following may serve as a specimen: "The expenses + upon a note of hand for 300_f._ have been run up by the + sheriffs' officers to 964_f._; the debtor, therefore, who is a + mere artisan, with a family of five children, has been detained + in prison for the last seven months!" + + The author of this work had a double reason for borrowing thus + largely from the pages of the "Pauvre Jacques." In the first + place, to show that the horrors of the last chapter are far + below reality in their painful details. And secondly, to prove + that, if only viewed in a philanthropic light, the allowing such + a state of things to go on (namely, the exorbitant and illegal + fees both demanded and exacted by certain public functionaries), + frequently acts as a preventive to the exercise of benevolence, + and paralyses the hand of charity. Thus, were a small capital of + 1000_f._ collected among kind-hearted individuals, three or four + honest, though unfortunate, artisans might be released from a + prison and restored to their families, by employing the + above-named sum in paying the debts of such as were incarcerated + for amounts varying from 250 to 300_f._! But when the original + debt is increased threefold by the excessive and illegal + expenses, even the most charitable recede from the good work of + delivering a fellow creature, from the impression that + two-thirds of their well-intentioned bounty would only go into + the pockets of pampered sheriffs' officers and their satellites. + And yet no class of unfortunate beings stand more in need of aid + and charitable assistance than the unfortunate class we have + just been speaking of. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +RIGOLETTE. + + +Louise, the daughter of the lapidary, was possessed of more than +ordinary loveliness of countenance, a fine, tall, graceful person, +uniting, by the strict regularity of her faultless features and elegance +of her figure, the classic beauty of Juno with the lightness and +elegance assigned to the statue of the hunting Diana. Spite of the +injury her complexion had received from exposure to weather, and the +redness of her well-shaped hands and arms, occasioned by household +labour,--despite even the humble dress she wore, the whole appearance of +Louise Morel was stamped with that indescribable air of grace and +superiority Nature sometimes is pleased to bestow upon the lowly-born, +in preference to the descendant of high lineage. + +We shall not attempt to paint the joy, the heartfelt gratitude of this +family, so wondrously preserved from so severe a calamity; even the +recent death of the little girl was forgotten during the first burst of +happiness. Rodolph alone found leisure to remark the extreme paleness +and utter abstraction of Louise, whose first ecstasy at finding her +father free passed away, apparently plunged in a deep and painful +reverie. Anxious to relieve the mind of Morel of any apprehensions for +the future, and also to explain a liberality which might have raised +suspicions as to the character he chose to assume, Rodolph drew the +lapidary to the further end of the staircase, leaving to Rigolette the +task of acquainting Louise with the death of her little sister, and said +to him: + +"Did not a young lady come to visit you and your family on the morning +of the day before yesterday?" + +"Yes, and appeared much grieved to see the distress we were in." + +"Then you must thank her,--not me." + +"Can it be possible, sir? That young lady--" + +"Is your benefactress. I frequently wait upon her from our warehouse; +when I hired an apartment here, I learned from the porteress all the +particulars of your case, and the painful situation you were placed in; +relying on this lady's well-known kindness and benevolence, I hastened +to acquaint her with all I had heard respecting you; and, the day before +yesterday, she came herself, in order to be fully aware of the extent of +your misery. The distress she witnessed deeply affected her; but as it +might have been brought about by misconduct, she desired me to take upon +myself the task of inquiring into every circumstance relative to your +past and present condition with as little delay as possible, being +desirous of regulating her benevolent aid by the good or bad accounts +she might receive of your honesty and good conduct." + +"Kind, excellent lady! Well might I say--" + +"As you observed just now to Madeleine, 'If the rich did but know!'--was +not that it?" + +"Is it possible that you are acquainted with the name of my wife? Who +could have told you that?" + +"My worthy friend," said Rodolph, interrupting Morel, "I have been +concealed in the little garret adjoining your attic since six o'clock +this morning." + +"Have you, indeed, sir?" + +"Yes, my honest fellow, I have, and from my hiding-place heard all that +passed among you." + +"Oh, sir! but why did you do so?" + +"I could not have employed more satisfactory means of getting at your +real character and sentiments; and I was desirous of seeing and hearing +all you did or said without your being aware of my presence. The porter +had made me acquainted with this small retreat, which he offered to me +for a wood-closet. This morning, I asked his permission to visit it, and +remained there more than an hour, during which time I had ample proof +that a more upright, noble mind did not exist, and that the courageous +resignation with which you bore your heavy trials was above all praise." + +"Nay, indeed, sir, I do not merit such words as these. I was born +honest, I hope, and it comes natural to me to act as I have done." + +"I am quite sure of that; therefore I do not laud your conduct, I +appreciate it. Just as I was about to quit my hiding-place, to relieve +you of the presence of the bailiffs, I heard the voice of your daughter, +and I meant to have allowed her the happiness of saving you. Unhappily, +the rapacity of the men deprived poor Louise of the full completion of +her pious task. I then made my appearance. Fortunately, I yesterday +received several sums that were due to me, so that I was enabled to +advance the money for your benefactress, and to pay off your unfortunate +debt. But your distress has been so great, so unmerited, and so nobly +sustained, that the well-deserved interest you have excited shall not +stop here; and I take upon myself, in the name of your preserving angel, +to promise you henceforward calmness, peace, and happiness, for yourself +and family." + +"Can it be possible? But, at least, sir, let me beseech you to tell me +the name of this angel of goodness,--this heavenly preserver,--that it +may dwell in our hearts and on our lips! By what name shall we bless her +in our prayers?" + +"Think of her and speak of her as the angel she is. Ah, you were right +in saying just now that both rich and poor had their sorrows!" + +"And is this dear lady, then, unhappy?" + +"Who is free from care and suffering in this world of trial? But I see +no cause for concealing from you the name of your protectress. The lady, +then, is named--" + +Remembering that Madame Pipelet was aware of Madame d'Harville's having, +at her first coming to the house, inquired for the commandant, and +fearing her indiscreet mention of the circumstance, Rodolph resumed, +after a short pause: + +"I will venture to tell you this lady's name, upon one condition--" + +"Pray go on, sir." + +"That you never mention it again to any one,--mind, I say to any person +whatever." + +"I solemnly promise you never to let it pass my lips; but may I not hope +to be permitted to thank this friend of the unfortunate?" + +"I will let Madame d'Harville know your wish; but I scarcely think she +will consent to it." + +"Then this generous lady is called--" + +"The Marquise d'Harville." + +"Never will that name be forgotten by me! Henceforward it will be to me +as that of my patron saint,--the object of my grateful worship! Oh, when +I remember that, thanks to her, my wife, children,--all, are +saved!--saved--no, no, not all,--my little Adele has gone from us! We +shall see her sweet face no more; but still, I know we must have parted +with her sooner or later; the dear child's doom was long since decreed!" + +Here the poor lapidary wiped away the tears which filled his eyes at the +recollection of his lost darling. + +"As for the last duties that have now to be performed for your poor +child," said Rodolph, "if you will be guided by me, this is how we will +arrange it. I have not yet begun to occupy my chamber; it is large, +airy, and convenient. There is already one bed in it; and I will give +orders to add all that may be requisite for the accommodation of +yourself and family, until Madame d'Harville is enabled to find an +eligible abode for you. The remains of your little daughter can then be +left in your attic, where, until the period of interment, they can be +properly watched and guarded by a priest with all requisite attention. I +will request M. Pipelet to take upon himself every necessary arrangement +for the mournful office of laying the poor babe in its peaceful grave." + +"Nay, sir,--but, indeed, I cannot allow you to be turned out of your +apartment! Now that we are so happily freed from our misery, and that I +have no longer the dread of being dragged to prison, our poor garret +will seem to me like a palace,--more especially if my Louise remains to +watch over the family as she used to do." + +"Your daughter shall never again quit you. You said, awhile ago, that +the first desire of your heart was to have Louise always with you. Well +then, as a reward for your past sufferings, I promise you she shall +never leave you more." + +"Oh, sir, this is too much; it cannot be reality! It seems as though I +were dreaming some happy dream. I fear I have never been as religious as +I ought. I have, in fact, known no other religion than that of honour. +But such a reverse, such a change from wretchedness to joy, would make +even an atheist believe, if not in priests, at least in a gracious, +interposing, and preserving Providence." + +"And if," said Rodolph, sadly, "a father's sorrow for the loss of his +child can be assuaged by promises of rewards or recompense, I would say +that the heavenly hand which takes one child from you gives you back the +other." + +"True,--most true! And henceforward our dear Louise will be with us to +help us to forget our poor Adele." + +"Then you will accept the offer of my chamber, will you not? Or else how +shall we be able to arrange for the mournful duties to the poor infant? +Think of your wife, whose head is already in so weak a state. It will +never do to allow her to remain with so afflicting a spectacle +constantly before her eyes." + +"What goodness," exclaimed the lapidary, "thus to remember all,--to +think of all! Oh, you are indeed a friend! May Heaven bless and +recompense you!" + +"Come, you must reserve your thanks for the excellent lady you term your +protecting angel. 'Tis her goodness inspires me with a desire to imitate +her benevolence and charity. I feel assured I am but speaking as she +would speak, were she here, and that all I do she will fully approve. So +now, then, it is arranged you will occupy my room. But, just tell me, +this Jacques Ferrand--" + +The forehead of Morel became clouded over at the mention of this name. + +"I suppose," continued Rodolph, "there is no doubt as to his being the +same Jacques Ferrand who practises as a notary in the Rue du Sentier?" + +"None whatever, sir," answered Morel; "but do you know him?" Then, +assailed afresh by his fears for Louise, the lapidary continued: "Since +you overheard all our conversation, tell me, sir,--tell me, do you not +think I have just cause to hate this man, as I do? For who knows but my +daughter--my Louise--" + +The unhappy artisan could not proceed; he groaned with anguish, and +concealed his face with his hands. + +Rodolph easily divined the nature of his apprehensions. + +"The very step taken by the notary ought to reassure your mind," said +he, "as, there can be no doubt, he was instigated by revenge for your +daughter's rejection of his improper advances to proceed to the hostile +measures adopted. However, I have every reason to believe he is a very +bad and dangerous man; and if my suspicions respecting him are +realised," said Rodolph, after a few moments' silence, "then rely on +Providence to punish him. If the just vengeance of the Almighty seems +occasionally to slumber, it awakens, sooner or later." + +"He is both rich and hypocritical!" cried the lapidary. + +"At the moment of your deepest despair, a guardian angel appeared to +save you from ruin; so, at the moment when least expected, will an +inexorable Avenger call upon the notary to atone for his past crimes, if +he be guilty." + +At this moment Rigolette came out of the miserable garret belonging to +Morel; the kind-hearted girl had evidently been shedding tears, and was +trying to dry her eyes before she descended the stairs. Directly Rodolph +perceived her, he exclaimed: + +"Tell me, my good neighbour, will it not be much better for M. Morel and +his family to occupy my chamber while they are waiting till his +benefactress, whose agent I am, shall have found a comfortable residence +for him?" + +Rigolette surveyed Rodolph with an air of unfeigned surprise. + +"Really," cried she, at length, "are you in earnest in making so kind +and considerate an offer?" + +"Quite so, on one condition, which depends on yourself." + +"Oh, all that is in my power!" + +"You see, I had some rather difficult accounts to arrange for my +employer, which are wanted as early as possible,--indeed, I expect they +will be sent for almost directly; my papers are in my room. Now would +you be neighbourly enough to let me bring my work into your apartment, +and just spare a little corner of your table? I should not disturb your +work the least in the world, and then the whole of the Morel family, by +the assistance of Madame Pipelet and her husband, may be at once +established in my apartment." + +"Certainly I will, and with great pleasure; neighbours should always be +ready to help and oblige each other. I am sure, after all you have done +for poor M. Morel, you have set a good example; so I shall be very glad +to give you all the assistance in my power, monsieur." + +"No, no,--don't call me monsieur! say 'my dear friend,' or 'neighbour,' +whichever you prefer; unless you lay aside all ceremony, I shall not +have courage to intrude myself and papers into your room," said Rodolph, +smiling. + +"Well, pray don't let that be any hindrance; then, if you like, I'll +call you 'neighbour,' because, you know, you are so." + +"Father! father!" said one of Morel's little boys, coming out of the +garret, "mother is calling for you! Make haste, father,--pray do!" + +The lapidary hastily followed the child back to his chamber. + +"Now, then, neighbour," said Rodolph to Rigolette, "you must do me one +more service." + +"With all my heart, if it lies in my power to do so." + +"I feel quite sure you are a clever manager and housekeeper; now we must +go to work at once to provide the Morels with comfortable clothing, and +such matters as may be essential for their accommodation in my +apartment, which at present merely contains my slender stock of +bachelor's furniture, sent in yesterday. Beds, bedding, and a great +quantity of requisites will be needed for so many persons; and I want +you to assist me in procuring them all the comforts I wish them to have +with as little delay as possible." + +Rigolette reflected a moment, and then replied: + +"You shall have all this before two hours have passed: good clothes, +nicely made, warm and comfortable, good white linen for all the family, +two small beds for the children, one for the grandmother, and, in fact, +all that is required; but, I can tell you, all this will cost a great, +great deal of money." + +"_Diable!_ and how much?" + +"Oh, at least--the very least, five or six hundred francs." + +"For everything?" + +"Yes; you see it is a great sum of money," said Rigolette, opening her +eyes very wide and shaking her head. + +"But we could procure all this?" + +"Within two hours." + +"My little neighbour, you must be a fairy!" + +"Oh, no! it is easy enough. The Temple is but two steps from here, and +you will get there everything you require." + +"The Temple?" + +"Yes, the Temple." + +"What place is that?" + +"What, neighbour, don't you know the Temple?" + +"No, neighbour." + +"Yet it is the place where such persons as you and I fit themselves out +in furniture and clothes, when they are economical. It is much cheaper +than any other place, and the things are also good." + +"Really!" + +"I think so. Well, now, I suppose--how much did you pay for your +greatcoat?" + +"I cannot say precisely." + +"What, neighbour! not know how much you gave for your greatcoat?" + +"I will tell you, in confidence, neighbour," said Rodolph, smiling, +"that I owe for it; so, you see, I cannot exactly say." + +"Oh, neighbour, neighbour, you do not appear to me to be very orderly in +your habits!" + +"Alas, neighbour, I fear not!" + +"I must cure you of that, if you desire that we should continue friends; +and I see already that we shall be, for you seem so kind! You will not +be sorry to have me for a neighbour, I can see. You will assist me and I +shall assist you,--we are neighbours, and that's why. I shall look after +your linen; you will give me your help in cleaning my room. I am up very +early in the morning, and will call you, that you may not be late in +going to your work; I will knock against the wainscot until you say to +me, 'Good morning, neighbour!'" + +"That's agreed; you shall awaken me, you shall take charge of my linen, +and I will clean out your room." + +"Certainly. And, when you have anything to buy, you must go to the +Temple; for see now, for example, your greatcoat must have cost you +eighty francs, I have no doubt; well, you might have bought one just as +good at the Temple for thirty francs." + +"Really, that is marvellous! And so you think that for four or five +hundred francs these poor Morels--" + +"Will be completely set up, and very comfortable for a long while." + +"Neighbour, an idea comes across me." + +"Well, what is this idea?" + +"Do you understand all about household affairs?" + +"Yes; I should think so," said Rigolette, with a slight affectation of +manner. + +"Take my arm, then, and let us go to the Temple and buy all these things +for the Morels; won't that be a good way?" + +"Oh, how capital! Poor souls! But, then, the money?" + +"I have it." + +"What, five hundred francs?" + +"The benefactor of the Morels has given me _carte blanche_; and she +will spare nothing to see these poor people restored to comfort. Is +there any place where we can buy better supplies than at the Temple?" + +"Certainly not; you will not find better things anywhere; and then there +is everything, and all ready, there; little frocks for children, and +gowns for the mother." + +"Well, then, neighbour, let us go at once to the Temple:" + +"Ah, _mon Dieu_! but--" + +"What?" + +"Nothing; only, you see, my time is everything to me, and I am already a +little behindhand, through coming here to watch over poor Madame Morel; +and you must know that an hour in one way, and an hour in another, that +by little and little makes whole days; well, a day is thirty sous, and, +whether we gain something or nothing, we must live; but bah! never mind. +I will make up for that at night, and then, d'ye see, parties of +pleasure are very rare, and I call this one. It will seem to me that I +am rich, rich, rich, and that it is with my own money that I shall buy +all these things for the Morels. So come along, neighbour, I will throw +on my shawl and cap, and then I am ready." + +"Suppose, whilst you are doing this, I bring my papers to your +apartment?" + +"Willingly; and then you will see my room," said Rigolette, with pride, +"for it is all tidy, which will convince you how early I am in the +morning; and that, if you are idle and a sluggard, so much the worse for +you, for I shall be a troublesome neighbour." + +So saying, light as a bird, Rigolette descended the staircase, followed +by Rodolph, who went into his own room to brush off the dust which had +settled on him in M. Pipelet's garret. We will hereafter disclose how it +was that Rodolph was not informed of the carrying off of Fleur-de-Marie +from the farm at Bouqueval, and why he had not visited the Morels the +day after his conversation with Madame d'Harville. + +Rodolph, furnished, by way of saving appearances, with a thick roll of +papers, entered Rigolette's chamber. + +Rigolette was nearly the same age as Goualeuse, her old prison +acquaintance. There was between these two young girls the same +difference that there is between laughter and tears; between joyous +light-heartedness and melancholy dejection; between the wildest +thoughtlessness and a dark and constant reflection on the future; +between a delicate, refined, elevated, poetic nature, exquisitely +sensitive, and incurably wounded by remorse, and a gay, lively, happy, +good, and compassionate nature. Rigolette had no sorrows but those +derived from the woes of others, and with these she sympathised with all +her might, devoting herself, body and soul, to any suffering fellow +creature; but, her back turned on them, to use a common expression, she +thought no more about them. She often checked her bursts of laughter by +a flood of tears, and then checked her tears by renewing her laughter. +Like a real Parisian, Rigolette preferred excitement to calm, and motion +to repose; the loud and echoing harmony of the orchestra at the fete of +the Chartreuse or the Colysee to the soft murmurs of the breeze, waters, +and leaves; the bustling disturbance of the thoroughfares of Paris to +the silent solitude of the fields; the brilliancy of fireworks, the +flaring of the grand finale, the uproar of the maroons and Roman +candles, to the serenity of a lovely night,--starlight, clear, and +still. Alas, yes! the dear, good little girl actually preferred the +pavement of the streets of the capital to the fresh moss of the shaded +paths, perfumed with violets; the dust of the Boulevards to the waving +of the ears of corn, mingled with the scarlet of the wild poppies and +the azure of the bluebells. + +Rigolette only left her chamber on Sundays, and each morning to provide +her prescribed allowance of chickweed, bread, milk, and millet, for +herself and her two birds, as Madame Pipelet observed; but she lived in +Paris for Paris, and would have been wretched to have resided anywhere +but in the capital. + +A few words as to the personal appearance of the grisette, and we will +then introduce Rodolph into the chamber of his neighbour. + +Rigolette was scarcely eighteen years of age, of middle height, rather +small than large, but so gracefully formed, so admirably proportioned, +so delightfully filled out, so entirely in accordance with her step, +which was light and easy, that she seemed perfect of her kind. The +movement of her finely formed feet, always encased in well-made boots of +black cloth, with a rather thick sole, reminded you of the quick, +pretty, and cautious tread of the quail or wagtail. She did not seem to +walk, but to pass over the pavement as if she were gliding over the +surface. This step, so peculiar to grisettes, at once nimble, +attractive, and as if somewhat alarmed, may doubtless be attributed to +three causes: their desire to be thought pretty, their fear of being +mistaken for what they are not, and to the desire they always have not +to lose a minute in their peregrinations. + +Rodolph had not seen Rigolette but by the dim light of Morel's garret, +or on the landing-place, equally obscure, and he was therefore really +struck by the bright and fresh countenance of the young girl when he +softly entered her apartment, which was lighted up by two large windows. +He remained motionless for a moment, in admiration of the striking +picture before his eyes. Standing in front of a glass placed over her +mantelpiece, Rigolette was tying under her chin the ribands of a small +cap of bordered tulle, ornamented with a light trimming of +cherry-coloured riband. The cap, which fitted tightly, was placed at the +back of her head, and thus revealed two large and thick bandeaux of +glossy hair, shining like jet, and falling very low in front. Her +eyebrows, fine and well defined, seemed as if traced in ink, and curved +above two large black, piercing, and intelligent eyes; her firm and +velvety cheeks were suffused with the rosy hue of health, fresh to the +eye, fresh to the touch, like a ripe peach covered with the dew of dawn; +her small, upturned, attractive, and saucy nose, would have been a +fortune to any Lisette or Marton; her mouth, which was rather large, had +rosy and moist lips, small, white, close, and pearly teeth, and was +laughter-loving and sportive; three charming dimples, which gave a +characteristic grace to her features, were placed, two in her cheeks, +and the other in her chin, close to a beauty-spot, a small ebony speck, +which was most killingly situated at the corner of her mouth. Between a +worked collar, which fell very low, and the border of the little cap, +gathered in by a cherry-coloured riband, was seen a forest of beautiful +hair, so accurately twisted and turned up that their roots were seen as +clearly and as black as if they had been painted on the ivory of that +lovely neck. A plum-coloured merino gown, with a plain back and close +sleeves, made skilfully by Rigolette, covered a figure so small and +slender that the young girl never wore a corset,--for economy's sake. An +ease and unusual freedom in the smallest action of the shoulders and +body, which resembled the facile undulations of a cat's motions, evinced +this fact. Imagine a gown fitting tightly to a form rounded and polished +as marble, and we must agree that Rigolette could easily dispense with +this accessory to the toilet of which we have spoken. The tie of a small +apron of dark green levantine formed a girdle around a waist which might +have been spanned by the ten fingers. + +Believing herself to be alone (for Rodolph still remained at the door, +motionless and unperceived), the grisette, having smoothed down her +bandeaux with her small hand, white and delicately clean, put her small +foot on a chair and stooped to tie the lace of her boot. This attitude +developed to Rodolph a portion of a cotton stocking, white as snow, and +a well-formed ankle and leg. + +After the detail we have given of this toilet, we may guess that +Rigolette had selected her prettiest cap and best apron to do honour to +her neighbour on their excursion to the Temple. She found the pretended +tradesman's clerk very much to her taste; his face, at once kind, bold, +and animated, pleased her greatly; and then he had been so kind to the +Morels, by giving up his room to them; so that, thanks to this proof of +goodness, and, perhaps, also to his good looks, Rodolph had unwittingly +advanced into the confidence of the grisette with giant strides. She, +according to her ideas, founded on the compelled intimacy and reciprocal +obligation which neighbourhood invites, thought herself very fortunate +in having such a neighbour as Rodolph to succeed to the travelling +clerk, Cabrion, and Francois Germain; for she was beginning to find that +the next room had remained very long empty, and was afraid that she +should never again see it occupied in an agreeable manner. + +Rodolph took advantage of his invisibility to cast a curious eye around +him, and he found the apartment even beyond the praises which Madame +Pipelet had bestowed on the extreme cleanliness of the humble home of +Rigolette. Nothing could be more lively or better arranged than this +apartment. A gray paper, with green garlands, covered the walls; the +floor, painted of a red colour, shone like a looking-glass; a small +earthenware stone was placed in the chimney, where was piled up, very +symmetrically, a small store of wood, cut so short, so thin, that, +without exaggeration, each piece might have been compared to a very +large match. On the stone mantelpiece, painted gray marble, there were, +for ornaments, two pots of common flowers, covered in with green moss; a +small case of boxwood contained a silver watch instead of a pendule. On +one side was a brass candlestick, shining like gold, and having in it a +small piece of wax-light; and, on the other side, no less +resplendently, one of those lamps formed by a cylinder and a brass +reflector, supported by a bar of steel, and having a base of lead. A +tolerably large square glass, in a black wood frame, was over the +mantelpiece. Curtains of gray and green Persian cloth, with a +woollen-fringed border, cut and worked by Rigolette, and hung in light +rings of black iron, decorated the windows; and the bed was covered with +a counterpane of the same make and material. Two closets, with glass +doors, and painted white, were in each side of the recess, enclosing, no +doubt, household utensils,--the portable stove, the fountain, brooms, +etc.; for none of these things spoiled the neat appearance of the +chamber. A chest of drawers of well veined and shining walnut-tree; four +chairs of the same wood; a large table for ironing and working, covered +with one of those green woollen coverings which we sometimes see in a +peasant's cottage; a straw armchair, with a stool to match, the constant +seat of the workwoman,--such was the unpretending furniture. There was, +too, in one of the window-seats, a cage with two canary birds, the +faithful companions of Rigolette. By one of those notable ideas which +occur to the poor, this cage was placed in the middle of a large wooden +chest, about a foot deep, placed on a table. This chest, which Rigolette +called her bird's garden, was filled with mould, covered with moss +during the winter, and in spring the young girl sowed grass seeds, and +planted flowers there. Rodolph examined the place with interest, and +entered fully into the cheerful disposition of the grisette. He pictured +to himself this solitude, enlivened by the song of the birds and of +Rigolette herself. In summer, no doubt, she worked at the open window, +half veiled by a verdant curtain of sweet peas, roses, nasturtiums, and +blue and white convolvulus. In winter she warmed herself near her small +stove, by the soft light of her lamp. + +Rodolph was thus reflecting, when, looking mechanically at the door, he +saw there a large bolt,--a bolt which would not have been out of place +on the door of a prison. This bolt made him reflect. It might have two +meanings, two very distinct uses: to close the door on the lover within; +to close the door on the lover without. Rodolph was aroused from his +reflections by Rigolette, who, turning her head, saw him, and, without +changing her attitude, said to him: + +"What, neighbour, are you there?" Then the well-formed ankle instantly +disappeared beneath the ample skirt of the plum-coloured gown, and +Rigolette added, "Ah, Mr. Cunning!" + +"I was here admiring in silence." + +"Admiring what, neighbour?" + +"This pretty little room; for, neighbour, you are lodged like a queen." + +"Why, you must know that is my enjoyment. I never go out, and so I can +do no less than make my home comfortable." + +"But really I never saw anything half so nice. What pretty curtains! and +the drawers as handsome as mahogany! You must have spent a great deal of +money here." + +"Oh, don't mention it! I had, of my own, four hundred and twenty-five +francs when I left the prison, and almost all has been spent." + +"When you left the prison!--you?" + +"Yes, but it is a very long story. Of course, you do not suppose that I +was in prison for anything wrong?" + +"Of course not; but how was it?" + +"After the cholera, I was quite alone in the world. I was then, I think, +ten years of age." + +"But who had taken care of you till then?" + +"Ah, some excellent people! But they died of the cholera;" here +Rigolette's large eyes became moistened. "They had sold the little they +possessed to pay their small debts, and I remained without having any +one who would take care of me. Not knowing what to do, I went to the +guard-house, opposite to our house, and said to the sentinel: 'Sir, my +relations are dead, and I do not know where to go to; what must I do?' +Then the officer came, and he took me to the commissary, who put me in +prison as a vagabond, and I did not go out until I was sixteen years +old." + +"But your relations?" + +"I do not know who my father was, and I was six years old when I lost my +mother, who had recovered me from the Enfants Trouves (Foundling +Hospital), where she had been compelled at first to place me. The kind +people of whom I spoke to you lived in our house; they had no children, +and, seeing me an orphan, they took care of me." + +"And what were they? What was their business or pursuit?" + +"Papa Cretu, so I always called him, was a house-painter, and his wife +worked at her needle." + +"Then they were pretty well off?" + +"Oh, like other people in their station, though they were not married; +but they called each other husband and wife. They had their ups and +downs; to-day plenty, if there was work to be had; to-morrow short +commons, if there was none; but that did not prevent the couple from +being content and always cheerful;" at this remembrance Rigolette's face +brightened up. "There was not such a household in the quarter,--always +merry, always singing, and, with it all, as good as they could be. What +they had any one was welcome to share. Mamma Cretu was a plump body, +about thirty years old, as neat as a penny, as active as an eel, as +merry as a lark. Her husband was a regular good-tempered fellow, with a +large nose, a wide mouth, and always a paper cap on his head, and such a +funny face,--oh, so funny,--you could not look at him without laughing. +When he came home after work, he did nothing but sing, and make faces, +and gambol like a child. He used to dance me on his knees, and play +with me like a child of my own age; and his wife spoiled me, as if I had +been a blessing to her. They both required only one thing from me, and +that was to be in a good humour; and in that I never thwarted them, +thank Heaven. So they called me Rigolette,[7] and the name has stuck to +me. As to mirth, they set me the example, for I never saw them +sorrowful. If ever there was a word, it was the wife who said to her +husband, 'Cretu, you silly fellow, do be quiet, you make me laugh too +much.' Then he said to her, 'Hold your foolish tongue, Ramonette,'--I +don't know why he called her Ramonette,--'do be still, you really make +my sides ache, you are so funny.' And then I laughed to see them laugh, +and in this way I was brought up, and in this way they formed my +disposition; and I hope I have profited by it." + + [7] The French verb _rigoler_ is "to be merry."--E. T. + +"Most assuredly you have, neighbour. So there never were any disputes +between them?" + +"Never, oh, never! Sunday, Monday, and sometimes on Tuesday, they made +holiday, or kept wedding-day, as they called it, and always took me with +them. Papa Cretu was an excellent workman, and, when he chose to work, +he could earn what he pleased, and so could his wife, too. If they had +got enough to do for Sunday and Monday, and live on pretty comfortably, +they were perfectly satisfied. If, after this, they were on short +allowance for a time, they didn't mind it. I remember, when we had only +bread and water, Papa Cretu took from his library--" + +"He had a library, then?" + +"Oh, he used to call a little box so, in which he put his collection of +new songs; for he bought all the new ones, and knew them every one. +When, then, there was nothing but bread in the house, he used to take an +old cookery book from his library, and say to us, 'Well, now, let us +see, what shall we eat to-day? This, or that?' And then he used to read +out a long list of good things. Each of us chose a dish, and then Papa +Cretu took an empty saucepan, and, with the funniest airs and gestures +in the world, pretended to put into the saucepan all the ingredients +requisite for making a capital stew; and then he used to pretend to pour +it all out into a dish--also empty--which he placed on the table, with +still the same drolleries, which almost split our sides. Then he took up +his book again, and, whilst he was reading to us, for instance, the +recipe of a good fricassee of chicken, which we had chosen, and which +made our mouths water, we ate our bread, all laughing like so many mad +people." + +"And, in this happy household, were there any debts to trouble them?" + +"None whatever. So long as the money lasted, they ate, drank, and made +merry, and, when it was all gone, they lived upon 'make believe,' as +before." + +"And did they never think of the future?" + +"Oh, yes, they thought of it, of course; but what is the future to such +as we? Present and future are like Sunday and Monday; the one we spend +gaily and happily outside the barriers, the other is got over in the +faubourgs." + +"And why, since this couple seemed so well assorted, did they never +marry?" + +"A friend of theirs once put that very question in my presence." + +"Well, and what did they say?" + +"'Oh,' said they, 'if ever we have any children, it may be all very well +to marry, but as far as we are concerned, we do very well as we are. And +why should we make an obligation of that which we now perform willingly? +Besides, getting married costs money, and we have none to spare in +unnecessary expenses.' But, my goodness," added Rigolette, "how I am +running on. But, really, when once I begin to talk of these kind people, +who were so good to me, I never know when to leave off. Here, +neighbour, will you give me my shawl off the bed, and put it nicely over +my shoulders, then pin it underneath the collar of my habit-shirt with +this large pin, and then we will set off, for it will take us some time +to select the different things you wish to buy for the poor Morels." + +Rodolph readily obeyed the directions of Rigolette. First he took from +the bed a large plaid shawl, which he placed with all imaginable care on +the well-formed shoulders of Rigolette. + +"That will do, neighbour. Now, lift up my collar, and press the shawl +and dress together; then stick in the pin; but pray try not to prick me +with it." + +The prince executed the orders given with zealous accuracy; then +observed, smilingly, to the grisette: + +"Ah, Mlle. Rigolette, I should not like to be your _femme de chambre_; +there is danger in it!" + +"Yes, I know," answered Rigolette gaily; "there is great danger for me +of having a pin run in by your awkwardness. But now," added she, after +they had left the room, and carefully locked the door after them, "take +my key; it is so large, I always expect it will burst my pocket; it is +as large as a pistol," and here the light-hearted girl laughed merrily +at her own conceit. + +Rodolph accordingly "took charge" (that is the prescribed form of +speech) of an enormous key, which might well have figured in one of +those allegorical devices in which the vanquished are represented as +humbly offering the keys of their lost cities to the conquerors. +Although Rodolph believed himself too much changed by years to run any +risk of being recognised by Polidori, he still deemed it prudent to draw +up the collar of his paletot as he passed by the door of the apartments +belonging to the quack, Bradamanti. + +"Neighbour," said Rigolette, "don't forget to tell M. Pipelet that you +are about to send in some things which are to be carried at once up to +your chamber." + +"You are right, my good friend; let us step into the porter's lodge for +an instant." + +M. Pipelet, with his everlasting bell-shaped hat on his head, dressed, +as usual, in the accustomed green coat, and seated before a table +covered with scraps of leather and fragments of boots and shoes, was +occupied in fixing a new sole on a boot, his whole look and manner +impressed with the same deeply meditative air which characterised his +usual proceedings. Anastasie was just then absent from the lodge. + +"Well, M. Pipelet," said Rigolette, "I hope you will be pleased to hear +the good news. Thanks to my good neighbour here, the poor Morels have +got out of trouble. La! when one thinks of that poor man being taken off +to prison--oh, those bailiffs have no hearts!" + +"Nor manners either, mademoiselle," rejoined M. Pipelet, in an angry +tone, wrathfully brandishing the boot then in progress of repair, and +into which he had inserted his left hand and arm. "No! I have no +hesitation in declaring, in the face of all mankind, that they are a set +of mannerless scoundrels. Why, taking advantage of the darkness of our +stairs, they actually carried their indecent violence so far as to lay +their audacious fingers upon the waist of my wife. When I first heard +the cries of her insulted modesty, I could not restrain myself, and, +spite of all efforts to restrain myself, I yielded to the natural +impetuosity of my disposition. Yes, I will frankly confess, my first +impulse was to remain perfectly motionless." + +"But, I suppose, afterwards," said Rigolette, who had much ado to +preserve a serious air, "afterwards, M. Pipelet, you pursued them, and +bestowed the punishment they so well deserved?" + +"I'll tell you, mademoiselle," answered Pipelet, deliberately; "when +these shameless ruffians passed before my lodge, my blood boiled, and I +could not prevent myself from hastily covering my face, that I might not +be shocked by the sight of these luxurious malefactors; but, afterwards, +I ceased to be astonished; for well I knew I might expect some sight or +sound to shock my senses; full well I was prepared for some direful +misfortune ere the day had passed, for I dreamed last night of Cabrion." + +Rigolette smiled, while the heavy groans which broke from the oppressed +mind of the porter were mingled with blows of his hammer, as he +vigorously applied it to the sole of the boot he was mending. + +"You wisely chose the wisest part, my dear M. Pipelet, that of despising +offences, and holding it beneath you to revenge them; but try to forget +these ill-conducted bailiffs, and oblige me by doing me a great favour." + +"Man is born to help his fellow man," drawled out Pipelet, in a +melancholy and sententious tone; "and he is still further called upon so +to do when a good and worthy gentleman, moreover, a lodger in one's +house, is concerned." + +"What I have to request of you is to carry up to my apartments for me +several things I am about to send in, and which are for the Morels." + +"Make yourself easy upon that point, monsieur," replied Pipelet. "I will +faithfully perform your wishes." + +"And afterwards," said Rodolph, mournfully, "you must obtain a priest to +watch by a little girl the Morels have lost in the night. Go and give +the requisite notification of the death, and bespeak a suitable +funeral." + +"Make your mind easy, monsieur," replied Pipelet, more gravely even than +before; "directly my wife returns, I will go to the mayor, the church, +and the _traiteur's_: to the church, for the soul of the dead; to the +_traiteur's_, for the body of the living," added M. Pipelet, +philosophically and poetically. "Consider it done in both cases; my good +sir, consider it done." + +At the entrance to the alley, Rodolph and Rigolette encountered +Anastasie returning from market with a huge basket of provisions. + +"That's right! That's right!" cried the porteress, looking at the pair +with a knowing and significant air; "there you go, arm in arm already. +To be sure, look and love, love and look. Young people will be young +people, no doubt on't. Me and Alfred was just the same. Whoever heard of +a pretty girl without a beau? So, go along, my dears, and make +yourselves happy while you can." Then, after gazing after them some +minutes, the old woman disappeared in the depths of the alley, crying +out, "Alfred, my old darling! Don't worry yourself; 'Stasie's coming to +bring you something nice,--oh, so nice!" + + +END OF VOLUME II. + + + * * * * * +Transcriber's Notes: + +This e-text was prepared from numbered edition 505 of the 1000 printed. + +Minor punctuation and capitalization corrections have been made without +comment. + +Minor typographical errors of single words, otherwise spelled correctly +throughout the text have been made without comment. + +Word Variations appearing in the original text which have been retained: + +"box-wood" and "boxwood" +"court-yard" and "courtyard" +"dairy-maid" and "dairymaid" +"incumber" and "encumber" +"milk-woman" and "milkwoman" +"out-building" and "outbuilding" +"Saint-Remy" (16) and "Saint-Remy" (6) +"stew-pan" and "stewpan" + +Words using the [oe] ligature, which have been herein represented as +"oe": manoeuvre, <i>et coeteras</i>, <i>chef-d'oeuvre</i> + +Throughout the text, illustrations and their captions were placed on +facing pages. For the purpose of this e-text these pages have been +combined into one entry. + +Footnotes, originally at the bottom of a printed page, have been placed +directly below the paragraph in which their anchor symbol appears. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 2 of 6, by +Eugene Sue + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIES OF PARIS, V.2 *** + +***** This file should be named 33801.txt or 33801.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/8/0/33801/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Christine Aldridge and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(Stanford University, SUL Books in the Public Domain) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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