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diff --git a/37173-0.txt b/37173-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b85070 --- /dev/null +++ b/37173-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4984 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 37173 *** + +IN A GLASS DARKLY. + +BY + +J. SHERIDAN LE FANU, + +AUTHOR OF "UNCLE SILAS", &C. + +IN THREE VOLUMES. + +VOL. II. + + +LONDON: + +R. BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. + +1872. + + + + +In a Glass Darkly. + + +THE ROOM + +IN + +THE DRAGON VOLANT. + + +VOL. II. + + + + +PROLOGUE. + + +The curious case which I am about to place before you, is +referred to, very pointedly, and more than once, in the +extraordinary Essay upon the drugs of the Dark and the Middle +Ages, from the pen of Doctor Hesselius. + +This Essay he entitles "Mortis Imago," and he, therein, discusses +the _Vinum letiferum_, the _Beatifica_, the _Somnus Angelorum_, +the _Hypnus Sagarum_, the _Aqua Thessalliæ_, and about twenty +other infusions and distillations, well known to the sages of +eight hundred years ago, and two of which are still, he alleges, +known to the fraternity of thieves, and, among them, as +police-office inquiries sometimes disclose to this day, in +practical use. + +The Essay, _Mortis Imago_, will occupy as nearly as I can, at +present, calculate, two volumes, the ninth and tenth, of the +collected papers of Doctor Martin Hesselius. + +This Essay, I may remark, in conclusion, is very curiously +enriched by citations, in great abundance, from mediæval verse +and prose romance, some of the most valuable of which, strange to +say, are Egyptian. + +I have selected this particular statement from among many cases +equally striking, but hardly, I think, so effective as mere +narratives, in this irregular form of publication, it is simply +as a story that I present it. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ON THE ROAD. + + +In the eventful year, 1815, I was exactly three-and-twenty, and +had just succeeded to a very large sum in consols, and other +securities. The first fall of Napoleon had thrown the continent +open to English excursionists, anxious, let us suppose, to +improve their minds by foreign travel; and I--the slight check of +the 'hundred days' removed, by the genius of Wellington, on the +field of Waterloo--was now added to the philosophic throng. + +I was posting up to Paris from Bruxelles, following, I presume, +the route that the allied army had pursued but a few weeks +before--more carriages than you could believe were pursuing the +same line. You could not look back or forward, without seeing +into far perspective the clouds of dust which marked the line of +the long series of vehicles. We were, perpetually, passing relays +of return-horses, on their way, jaded and dusty, to the inns from +which they had been taken. They were arduous times for those +patient public servants. The whole world seemed posting up to +Paris. + +I ought to have noted it more particularly, but my head was so +full of Paris and the future, that I passed the intervening +scenery with little patience and less attention; I think, +however, that it was about four miles to the frontier side of a +rather picturesque little town, the name of which, as of many +more important places through which I posted in my hurried +journey, I forget, and about two hours before sunset, that we +came up with a carriage in distress. + +It was not quite an upset. But the two leaders were lying flat. +The booted postillions had got down, and two servants who seemed +very much at sea in such matters, were by way of assisting them. +A pretty little bonnet and head were popped out of the window of +the carriage in distress. Its _tournure_, and that of the +shoulders that also appeared for a moment, was captivating: I +resolved to play the part of a good Samaritan; stopped my chaise, +jumped out, and with my servant lent a very willing hand in the +emergency. Alas! the lady with the pretty bonnet, wore a very +thick, black veil. I could see nothing but the pattern of the +Bruxelles lace, as she drew back. + +A lean old gentleman, almost at the same time, stuck his head +out of the window. An invalid he seemed, for although the day was +hot, he wore a black muffler which came up to his ears and nose, +quite covering the lower part of his face, an arrangement which +he disturbed by pulling it down for a moment, and poured forth a +torrent of French thanks, as he uncovered his black wig, and +gesticulated with grateful animation. + +One of my very few accomplishments besides boxing, which was +cultivated by all Englishmen at that time, was French; and I +replied, I hope and believe, grammatically. Many bows being +exchanged, the old gentleman's head went in again, and the +demure, pretty little bonnet once more appeared. + +The lady must have heard me speak to my servant, for she framed +her little speech in such pretty, broken English, and in a voice +so sweet, that I more than ever cursed the black veil that +baulked my romantic curiosity. + +The arms that were emblazoned on the panel were peculiar; I +remember especially, one device, it was the figure of a stork, +painted in carmine, upon what the heralds call a 'field or.' The +bird was standing upon one leg, and in the other claw held a +stone. This is, I believe, the emblem of vigilance. Its oddity +struck me, and remained impressed upon my memory. There were +supporters besides, but I forget what they were. + +The courtly manners of these people, the style of their servants, +the elegance of their travelling carriage, and the supporters to +their arms, satisfied me that they were noble. + +The lady, you may be sure, was not the less interesting on that account. +What a fascination a title exercises upon the imagination! I do not mean +on that of snobs or moral flunkies. Superiority of rank is a powerful +and genuine influence in love. The idea of superior refinement is +associated with it. The careless notice of the squire tells more upon +the heart of the pretty milkmaid, than years of honest Dobbin's manly +devotion, and so on and up. It is an unjust world! + +But in this case there was something more. I was conscious of +being good-looking. I really believe I was; and there could be no +mistake about my being nearly six feet high. Why need this lady +have thanked me? Had not her husband, for such I assumed him to +be, thanked me quite enough, and for both? I was instinctively +aware that the lady was looking on me with no unwilling eyes; +and, through her veil, I felt the power of her gaze. + +She was now rolling away, with a train of dust behind her wheels, +in the golden sunlight, and a wise young gentleman followed her +with ardent eyes, and sighed profoundly as the distance +increased. + +I told the postillions on no account to pass the carriage, but to keep +it steadily in view, and to pull up at whatever posting-house it should +stop at. We were soon in the little town, and the carriage we followed +drew up at the Belle Etoile, a comfortable old inn. They got out of the +carriage and entered the house. + +At a leisurely pace we followed. I got down, and mounted the +steps listlessly, like a man quite apathetic and careless. + +Audacious as I was, I did not care to inquire in what room I +should find them. I peeped into the apartment to my right, and +then into that on my left. _My_ people were not there. + +I ascended the stairs. A drawing-room door stood open. I entered +with the most innocent air in the world. It was a spacious room, +and, beside myself, contained but one living figure--a very +pretty and lady-like one. There was the very bonnet with which I +had fallen in love. The lady stood with her back toward me. I +could not tell whether the envious veil was raised; she was +reading a letter. + +I stood for a minute in fixed attention, gazing upon her, in the +vague hope that she might turn about, and give me an opportunity +of seeing her features. She did not; but with a step or two she +placed herself before a little cabriole-table, which stood +against the wall, from which rose a tall mirror, in a tarnished +frame. + +I might, indeed, have mistaken it for a picture; for it now +reflected a half-length portrait of a singularly beautiful woman. + +She was looking down upon a letter which she held in her slender +fingers, and in which she seemed absorbed. + +The face was oval, melancholy, sweet. It had in it, nevertheless, +a faint and undefinably sensual quality also. Nothing could +exceed the delicacy of its features, or the brilliancy of its +tints. The eyes, indeed, were lowered, so that I could not see +their colour; nothing but their long lashes, and delicate +eyebrows. She continued reading. She must have been deeply +interested; I never saw a living form so motionless--I gazed on a +tinted statue. + +Being at that time blessed with long and keen vision, I saw this +beautiful face with perfect distinctness. I saw even the blue +veins that traced their wanderings on the whiteness of her full +throat. + +I ought to have retreated as noiselessly as I came in, before my +presence was detected. But I was too much interested to move from +the spot, for a few moments longer; and while they were passing, +she raised her eyes. Those eyes were large, and of that hue which +modern poets term "violet." + +These splendid melancholy eyes were turned upon me from the +glass, with a haughty stare, and hastily the lady lowered her +black veil, and turned about. + +I fancied that she hoped I had not seen her. I was watching every +look and movement, the minutest, with an attention as intense as +if an ordeal involving my life depended on them. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE INN-YARD OF THE BELLE ETOILE. + + +The face was, indeed, one to fall in love with at first sight. +Those sentiments that take such sudden possession of young men +were now dominating my curiosity. My audacity faltered before +her; and I felt that my presence in this room was probably an +impertinence. This point she quickly settled, for the same very +sweet voice I had heard before, now said coldly, and this time in +French, "Monsieur cannot be aware that this apartment is not +public." + +I bowed very low, faltered some apologies, and backed to the +door. + +I suppose I looked penitent and embarrassed. I certainly felt so; +for the lady said, by way it seemed of softening matters, "I am +happy, however, to have an opportunity of again thanking Monsieur +for the assistance, so prompt and effectual, which he had the +goodness to render us to-day." + +It was more the altered tone in which it was spoken, than the +speech itself that encouraged me. It was also true that she need +not have recognized me; and even if she had, she certainly was +not obliged to thank me over again. + +All this was indescribably flattering, and all the more so that +it followed so quickly on her slight reproof. + +The tone in which she spoke had become low and timid, and I +observed that she turned her head quickly towards a second door +of the room, I fancied that the gentleman in the black wig, a +jealous husband, perhaps, might reappear through it. Almost at +the same moment, a voice at once reedy and nasal, was heard +snarling some directions to a servant, and evidently approaching. +It was the voice that had thanked me so profusely, from the +carriage windows, about an hour before. + +"Monsieur will have the goodness to retire," said the lady, in a +tone that resembled entreaty, at the same time gently waving her +hand toward the door through which I had entered. Bowing again +very low, I stepped back, and closed the door. + +I ran down the stairs, very much elated. I saw the host of the +Belle Etoile which, as I said, was the sign and designation of my +inn. + +I described the apartment I had just quitted, said I liked it, +and asked whether I could have it. + +He was extremely troubled, but that apartment and two adjoining +rooms were engaged-- + +"By whom?" + +"People of distinction." + +"But who are they? They must have names, or titles." + +"Undoubtedly, Monsieur, but such a stream is rolling into Paris, +that we have ceased to inquire the names or titles of our +guests--we designate them simply by the rooms they occupy." + +"What stay do they make?" + +"Even that, Monsieur, I cannot answer. It does not interest us. +Our rooms, while this continues, can never be, for a moment, +disengaged." + +"I should have liked those rooms so much! Is one of them a +sleeping apartment?" + +"Yes, sir, and Monsieur will observe that people do not usually +engage bed-rooms, unless they mean to stay the night." + +"Well, I can, I suppose, have some rooms, any, I don't care in +what part of the house?" + +"Certainly, Monsieur can have two apartments. They are the last +at present disengaged." + +I took them instantly. + +It was plain these people meant to make a stay here; at least +they would not go till morning. I began to feel that I was all +but engaged in an adventure. + +I took possession of my rooms, and looked out of the window, +which I found commanded the inn-yard. Many horses were being +liberated from the traces, hot and weary, and others fresh from +the stables, being put to. A great many vehicles--some private +carriages, others, like mine, of that public class, which is +equivalent to our old English post-chaise, were standing on the +pavement, waiting their turn for relays. Fussy servants were +to-ing and fro-ing, and idle ones lounging or laughing, and the +scene, on the whole, was animated and amusing. + +Among these objects, I thought I recognized the travelling +carriage, and one of the servants of the "persons of distinction" +about whom I was, just then, so profoundly interested. + +I therefore ran down the stairs, made my way to the back door; +and so, behold me, in a moment, upon the uneven pavement, among +all these sights and sounds which in such a place attend upon a +period of extraordinary crush and traffic. + +By this time the sun was near its setting, and threw its golden +beams on the red brick chimneys of the offices, and made the two +barrels, that figured as pigeon-houses, on the tops of poles, +look as if they were on fire. Everything in this light becomes +picturesque; and things interest us which, in the sober grey of +morning, are dull enough. + +After a little search, I lighted upon the very carriage, of which +I was in quest. A servant was locking one of the doors, for it +was made with the security of lock and key. I paused near, +looking at the panel of the door. + +"A very pretty device that red stork!" I observed, pointing to +the shield on the door, "and no doubt indicates a distinguished +family?" + +The servant looked at me, for a moment, as he placed the little +key in his pocket, and said with a slightly sarcastic bow and +smile, "Monsieur is at liberty to conjecture." + +Nothing daunted, I forthwith administered that laxative which, on +occasion, acts so happily upon the tongue--I mean a "tip." + +The servant looked at the Napoleon in his hand, and then, in my +face, with a sincere expression of surprise. + +"Monsieur is very generous!" + +"Not worth mentioning--who are the lady and gentleman who came +here, in this carriage, and whom, you may remember, I and my +servant assisted to-day in an emergency, when their horses had +come to the ground?" + +"They are the Count, and the young lady we call the Countess--but +I know not, she may be his daughter." + +"Can you tell me where they live?" + +"Upon my honour, Monsieur, I am unable--I know not." + +"Not know where your master lives! Surely you know something more +about him than his name?" + +"Nothing worth relating, Monsieur; in fact, I was hired in +Bruxelles, on the very day they started. Monsieur Picard, my +fellow-servant, Monsieur the Comte's gentleman, he has been years +in his service and knows everything; but he never speaks except +to communicate an order. From him I have learned nothing. We are +going to Paris, however, and there I shall speedily pick up all +about them. At present I am as ignorant of all that as Monsieur +himself." + +"And where is Monsieur Picard?" + +"He has gone to the cutler's to get his razors set. But I do not +think he will tell anything." + +This was a poor harvest for my golden sowing. The man, I think, +spoke truth, and would honestly have betrayed the secrets of the +family, if he had possessed any. I took my leave politely; and +mounting the stairs, again I found myself once more in my room. + +Forthwith I summoned my servant. Though I had brought him with me +from England, he was a native of France--a useful fellow, sharp, +bustling, and, of course, quite familiar with the ways and +tricks of his countrymen. + +"St. Clair, shut the door; come here. I can't rest till I have +made out something about those people of rank who have got the +apartments under mine. Here are fifteen francs; make out the +servants we assisted to-day; have them to a _petit souper_, and +come back and tell me their entire history. I have, this moment, +seen one of them who knows nothing, and has communicated it. The +other, whose name I forget, is the unknown nobleman's valet, and +knows everything. Him you must pump. It is, of course, the +venerable peer, and not the young lady who accompanies him, that +interests me--you understand? Begone! fly! and return with all +the details I sigh for, and every circumstance that can possibly +interest me." + +It was a commission which admirably suited the tastes and spirits +of my worthy St. Clair, to whom, you will have observed, I had +accustomed myself to talk with the peculiar familiarity which the +old French comedy establishes between master and valet. + +I am sure he laughed at me in secret; but nothing could be more, +polite and deferential. + +With several wise looks, nods and shrugs, he withdrew; and +looking down from my window, I saw him, with incredible +quickness, enter the yard, where I soon lost sight of him among +the carriages. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +DEATH AND LOVE TOGETHER MATED. + + +When the day drags, when a man is solitary, and in a fever of +impatience and suspense; when the minute-hand of his watch +travels as slowly as the hour-hand used to do, and the hour-hand +has lost all appreciable motion; when he yawns, and beats the +devil's tatto, and flattens his handsome nose against the window, +and whistles tunes he hates, and, in short, does not know what to +do with himself, it is deeply to be regretted that he cannot make +a solemn dinner of three courses more than once in a day. The +laws of matter, to which we are slaves, deny us that resource. + +But in the times I speak of, supper was still a substantial meal, and +its hour was approaching. This was consolatory. Three-quarters of an +hour, however, still interposed. How was I to dispose of that interval? + +I had two or three idle books, it is true, as +travelling-companions; but there are many moods in which one +cannot read. My novel lay with my rug and walking-stick on the +sofa, and I did not care if the heroine and the hero were both +drowned together in the water-barrel that I saw in the inn-yard +under my window. + +I took a turn or two up and down my room, and sighed, looking at myself +in the glass, adjusted my great white "choker," folded and tied after +Brummel, the immortal "Beau," put on a buff waistcoat and my blue +swallow-tailed coat with gilt buttons; I deluged my pocket handkerchief +with Eau-de-Cologne (we had not then the variety of bouquets with which +the genius of perfumery has since blessed us); I arranged my hair, on +which I piqued myself, and which I loved to groom in those days. That +dark-brown _chevelure_, with a natural curl, is now represented by a few +dozen perfectly white hairs, and its place--a smooth, bald, pink +head--knows it no more. But let us forget these mortifications. It was +then rich, thick, and dark-brown. I was making a very careful toilet. I +took my unexceptionable hat from its case, and placed it lightly on my +wise head, as nearly as memory and practice enabled me to do so, at that +very slight inclination which the immortal person I have mentioned was +wont to give to his. A pair of light French gloves and a rather +club-like knotted walking-stick, such as just then came into vogue, for +a year or two again in England, in the phraseology of Sir Walter Scott's +romances, "completed my equipment." + +All this attention to effect, preparatory to a mere lounge in the +yard, or on the steps of the Belle Etoile, was a simple act of +devotion to the wonderful eyes which I had that evening beheld +for the first time, and never, never could forget! In plain +terms, it was all done in the vague, very vague hope that those +eyes might behold the unexceptionable get-up of a melancholy +slave, and retain the image, not altogether without secret +approbation. + +As I completed my preparations the light failed me; the last +level streak of sunlight disappeared, and a fading twilight only +remained. I sighed in unison with the pensive hour, and threw +open the window, intending to look out for a moment before going +downstairs. I perceived instantly that the window underneath mine +was also open, for I heard two voices in conversation, although I +could not distinguish what they were saying. + +The male voice was peculiar; it was, as I told you, reedy and +nasal. I knew it, of course, instantly. The answering voice spoke +in those sweet tones which I recognised only too easily. The +dialogue was only for a minute; the repulsive male voice laughed, +I fancied, with a kind of devilish satire, and retired from the +window, so that I almost ceased to hear it. + +The other voice remained nearer the window, but not so near as at +first. + +It was not an altercation; there was evidently nothing the least +exciting in the colloquy. What would I not have given that it had +been a quarrel--a violent one--and I the redresser of wrongs, and +the defender of insulted beauty! Alas! so far as I could +pronounce upon the character of the tones I heard, they might be +as tranquil a pair as any in existence. In a moment more the lady +began to sing an odd little _chanson_. I need not remind you how +much farther the voice is heard _singing_ than speaking. I could +distinguish the words. The voice was of that exquisitely sweet +kind which is called, I believe, a semi-contralto; it had +something pathetic, and something, I fancied, a little mocking in +its tones. I venture a clumsy, but adequate translation of the +words:-- + + "Death and Love, together mated, + Watch and wait in ambuscade; + At early morn, or else belated. + They meet and mark the man or maid. + + "Burning sigh, or breath that freezes, + Numbs or maddens man or maid; + Death or Love the victim seizes, + Breathing from their ambuscade." + +"Enough, Madame!" said the old voice, with sudden severity. "We +do not desire, I believe, to amuse the grooms and hostlers in the +yard with our music." + +The lady's voice laughed gaily. + +"You desire to quarrel, Madame!" And the old man, I presume, shut +down the window. Down it went, at all events, with a rattle that +might easily have broken the glass. + +Of all thin partitions, glass is the most effectual excluder of +sound. I heard no more, not even the subdued hum of the colloquy. + +What a charming voice this Countess had! How it melted, swelled, +and trembled! How it moved, and even agitated me! What a pity +that a hoarse old jackdaw should have power to crow down such a +Philomel! "Alas! what a life it is!" I moralized, wisely. "That +beautiful Countess, with the patience of an angel and the beauty +of a Venus and the accomplishments of all the Muses, a slave! She +knows perfectly who occupies the apartments over hers; she heard +me raise my window. One may conjecture pretty well for whom that +music was intended--ay, old gentleman, and for whom you suspected +it to be intended." + +In a very agreeable flutter I left my room, and descending the +stairs, passed the Count's door very much at my leisure. There +was just a chance that the beautiful songstress might emerge. I +dropped my stick on the lobby, near their door, and you may be +sure it took me some little time to pick it up! Fortune, +nevertheless, did not favour me. I could not stay on the lobby +all night picking up my stick, so I went down to the hall. + +I consulted the clock, and found that there remained but a +quarter of an hour to the moment of supper. + +Every one was roughing it now, every inn in confusion; people +might do at such a juncture what they never did before. Was it +just possible that, for once, the Count and Countess would take +their chairs at the table-d'hôte? + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MONSIEUR DROQVILLE. + + +Full of this exciting hope, I sauntered out, upon the steps of +the Belle Etoile. It was now night, and a pleasant moonlight over +everything. I had entered more into my romance since my arrival, +and this poetic light heightened the sentiment. What a drama, if +she turned out to be the Count's daughter, and in love with me! +What a delightful--_tragedy_, if she turned out to be the Count's +wife! + +In this luxurious mood, I was accosted by a tall and very +elegantly-made gentleman, who appeared to be about fifty. His air +was courtly and graceful, and there was in his whole manner and +appearance something so distinguished, that it was impossible not +to suspect him of being a person of rank. + +He had been standing upon the steps, looking out, like me, upon +the moonlight effects that transformed, as it were, the objects +and buildings in the little street. He accosted me, I say, with +the politeness, at once easy and lofty, of a French nobleman of +the old school. He asked me if I were not Mr. Beckett? I +assented; and he immediately introduced himself as the Marquis +d'Harmonville (this information he gave me in a low tone), and +asked leave to present me with a letter from Lord R----, who knew +my father slightly, and had once done me, also, a trifling +kindness. + +This English peer, I may mention, stood very high in the +political world, and was named as the most probable successor to +the distinguished post of English Minister at Paris. + +I received it with a low bow, and read: + + +"MY DEAR BECKETT, + +"I beg to introduce my very dear friend, the Marquis +d'Harmonville, who will explain to you the nature of the services +it may be in your power to render him and us." + +He went on to speak of the Marquis as a man whose great wealth, +whose intimate relations with the old families, and whose +legitimate influence with the court rendered him the fittest +possible person for those friendly offices which, at the desire +of his own sovereign, and of our government, he has so obligingly +undertaken. + +It added a great deal to my perplexity, when I read, further-- + +"By-the-bye, Walton was here yesterday, and told me that your seat was +likely to be attacked; something, he says, is unquestionably going on at +Domwell. You know there is an awkwardness in my meddling ever so +cautiously. But I advise, if it is not very officious, your making +Haxton look after it, and report immediately. I fear it is serious. I +ought to have mentioned that, for reasons that you will see, when you +have talked with him for five minutes, the Marquis--with the concurrence +of all our friends--drops his title, for a few weeks, and is at present +plain Monsieur Droqville. + +"I am this moment going to town, and can say no more. + + "Yours faithfully, + "R----." + +I was utterly puzzled. I could scarcely boast of Lord ----'s +acquaintance. I knew no one named Haxton, and, except my hatter, +no one called Walton; and this peer wrote as if we were intimate +friends! I looked at the back of the letter, and the mystery was +solved. And now, to my consternation--for I was plain Richard +Beckett--I read-- + + "_To George Stanhope Beckett, Esq., M.P._" + +I looked with consternation in the face of the Marquis. + +"What apology can I offer to Monsieur the Mar--to Monsieur +Droqville? It is true my name is Beckett--it is true I am known, +though very slightly to Lord R----; but the letter was not +intended for me. My name is Richard Beckett--this is to Mr. +Stanhope Beckett, the member for Shillingsworth. What can I say, +or do, in this unfortunate situation? I can only give you my +honour as a gentleman, that, for me, the letter, which I now +return, shall remain as unviolated a secret as before I opened +it. I am so shocked and grieved that such a mistake should have +occurred!" + +I dare say my honest vexation and good faith were pretty legibly +written in my countenance; for the look of gloomy embarrassment +which had for a moment settled on the face of the Marquis, +brightened; he smiled, kindly, and extended his hand. + +"I have not the least doubt that Monsieur Beckett will respect my +little secret. As a mistake was destined to occur, I have reason +to thank my good stars that it should have been with a gentleman +of honour. Monsieur Beckett will permit me, I hope, to place his +name among those of my friends?" + +I thanked the Marquis very much for his kind expressions. He went +on to say-- + +"If, Monsieur, I can persuade you to visit me at Claironville, +in Normandy, where I hope to see, on the 15th of August, a great +many friends, whose acquaintance it might interest you to make, I +shall be too happy." + +I thanked him, of course, very gratefully for his hospitality. He +continued: + +"I cannot, for the present, see my friends, for reasons which you +may surmise, at my house in Paris. But Monsieur will be so good +as to let me know the hotel he means to stay at in Paris; and he +will find that although the Marquis d'Harmonville is not in town, +that Monsieur Droqville will not lose sight of him." + +With many acknowledgments I gave him the information he desired. + +"And in the meantime," he continued, "if you think of any way in +which Monsieur Droqville can be of use to you, our communication +shall not be interrupted, and I shall so manage matters that you +can easily let me know." + +I was very much flattered. The Marquis had, as we say, taken a +fancy to me. Such likings at first sight often ripen into lasting +friendships. To be sure it was just possible that the Marquis +might think it prudent to keep the involuntary depository of a +political secret, even so vague a one, in good humour. + +Very graciously the Marquis took his leave, going up the stairs +of the Belle Etoile. + +I remained upon the steps, for a minute lost in speculation upon +this new theme of interest. But the wonderful eyes, the thrilling +voice, the exquisite figure of the beautiful lady who had taken +possession of my imagination, quickly reasserted their influence. +I was again gazing at the sympathetic moon, and descending the +steps, I loitered along the pavements among strange objects, and +houses that were antique and picturesque, in a dreamy state, +thinking. + +In a little while, I turned into the inn-yard again. There had +come a lull. Instead of the noisy place it was, an hour or two +before, the yard was perfectly still and empty, except for the +carriages that stood here and there. Perhaps there was a +servants' table-d'hôte just then. I was rather pleased to find +solitude; and undisturbed I found out my lady-love's carriage, in +the moonlight. I mused, I walked round it; I was as utterly +foolish and maudlin as very young men, in my situation, usually +are. The blinds were down, the doors, I suppose, locked. The +brilliant moonlight revealed everything, and cast sharp, black +shadows of wheel, and bar, and spring, on the pavement. I stood +before the escutcheon painted on the door, which I had examined +in the daylight. I wondered how often her eyes had rested on the +same object. I pondered in a charming dream. A harsh, loud voice, +over my shoulder, said suddenly, + +"A red stork--good! The stork is a bird of prey; it is vigilant, +greedy, and catches gudgeons. Red, too!--blood red! Ha! ha! the +symbol is appropriate." + +I had turned about, and beheld the palest face I ever saw. It was +broad, ugly, and malignant. The figure was that of a French +officer, in undress, and was six feet high. Across the nose and +eyebrow there was a deep scar, which made the repulsive face +grimmer. + +The officer elevated his chin and his eyebrows, with a scoffing +chuckle, and said,--"I have shot a stork, with a rifle bullet, +when he thought himself safe in the clouds, for mere sport!" (He +shrugged, and laughed malignantly). "See, Monsieur; when a man +like me--a man of energy, you understand, a man with all his wits +about him, a man who has made the tour of Europe under canvas, +and, _parbleu!_ often without it--resolves to discover a secret, +expose a crime, catch a thief, spit a robber on the point of his +sword, it is odd if he does not succeed. Ha! ha! ha! Adieu, +Monsieur!" + +He turned with an angry whisk on his heel, and swaggered with +long strides out of the gate. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SUPPER AT THE BELLE ETOILE. + + +The French army were in a rather savage temper, just then. The +English, especially, had but scant courtesy to expect at their +hands. It was plain, however, that the cadaverous gentleman who +had just apostrophized the heraldry of the Count's carriage, with +such mysterious acrimony, had not intended any of his malevolence +for me. He was stung by some old recollection, and had marched +off, seething with fury. + +I had received one of those unacknowledged shocks which startle +us, when fancying ourselves perfectly alone, we discover on a +sudden, that our antics have been watched by a spectator, almost +at our elbow. In this case, the effect was enhanced by the +extreme repulsiveness of the face, and, I may add, its proximity, +for, as I think, it almost touched mine. The enigmatical harangue +of this person, so full of hatred and implied denunciation, was +still in my ears. Here at all events was new matter for the +industrious fancy of a lover to work upon. + +It was time now to go to the table-d'hôte. Who could tell what +lights the gossip of the supper-table might throw upon the +subject that interested me so powerfully! + +I stepped into the room, my eyes searching the little assembly, +about thirty people, for the persons who specially interested me. + +It was not easy to induce people, so hurried and overworked as +those of the Belle Etoile just now, to send meals up to one's +private apartments, in the midst of this unparalleled confusion; +and, therefore, many people who did not like it, might find +themselves reduced to the alternative of supping at the +table-d'hôte, or starving. + +The Count was not there, nor his beautiful companion; but the +Marquis d'Harmonville, whom I hardly expected to see in so public +a place, signed, with a significant smile, to a vacant chair +beside himself. I secured it, and he seemed pleased, and almost +immediately entered into conversation with me. + +"This is, probably, your first visit to France?" he said. + +I told him it was, and he said: + +"You must not think me very curious and impertinent; but Paris is +about the most dangerous capital a high-spirited and generous +young gentleman could visit without a Mentor. If you have not an +experienced friend as a companion during your visit--" He +paused. + +I told him I was not so provided, but that I had my wits about +me; that I had seen a good deal of life in England, and that, I +fancied, human nature was pretty much the same in all parts of +the world. The Marquis shook his head, smiling. + +"You will find very marked differences, notwithstanding," he +said. "Peculiarities of intellect and peculiarities of character, +undoubtedly, do pervade different nations; and this results, +among the criminal classes, in a style of villainy no less +peculiar. In Paris, the class who live by their wits, is three or +four times as great as in London; and they live much better; some +of them even splendidly. They are more ingenious than the London +rogues; they have more animation, and invention, and the dramatic +faculty, in which your countrymen are deficient, is everywhere. +These invaluable attributes place them upon a totally different +level. They can affect the manners and enjoy the luxuries of +people of distinction. They live, many of them, by play." + +"So do many of our London rogues." + +"Yes, but in a totally different way. They are the _habitués_ of +certain gaming-tables, billiard-rooms, and other places, +including your races, where high play goes on; and by superior +knowledge of chances, by masking their play, by means of +confederates, by means of bribery, and other artifices, varying +with the subject of their imposture, they rob the unwary. But +here it is more elaborately done, and with a really exquisite +_finesse_. There are people whose manners, style, conversation, +are unexceptionable, living in handsome houses in the best +situations, with everything about them in the most refined taste, +and exquisitely luxurious, who impose even upon the Parisian +bourgeois, who believe them to be, in good faith, people of rank +and fashion, because their habits are expensive and refined, and +their houses are frequented by foreigners of distinction, and, to +a degree, by foolish young Frenchmen of rank. At all these houses +play goes on. The ostensible host and hostess seldom join in it; +they provide it simply to plunder their guests, by means of their +accomplices, and thus wealthy strangers are inveigled and +robbed." + +"But I have heard of a young Englishman, a son of Lord Rooksbury, +who broke two Parisian gaming-tables only last year." + +"I see," he said, laughing, "you are come here to do likewise. I, +myself, at about your age, undertook the same spirited enterprise. I +raised no less a sum than five hundred thousand francs to begin with; I +expected to carry all before me by the simple expedient of going on +doubling my stakes. I had heard of it, and I fancied that the sharpers, +who kept the table, knew nothing of the matter. I found, however, that +they not only knew all about it, but had provided against the +possibility of any such experiments; and I was pulled up before I had +well begun, by a rule which forbids the doubling of an original stake +more than four times, consecutively." + +"And is that rule in force still?" I inquired, chap-fallen. + +He laughed and shrugged, "Of course it is, my young friend. +People who live by an art, always understand it better than an +amateur. I see you had formed the same plan, and no doubt came +provided." + +I confessed I had prepared for conquest upon a still grander +scale. I had arrived with a purse of thirty thousand pounds +sterling. + +"Any acquaintance of my very dear friend, Lord R----, interests +me; and, besides my regard for him, I am charmed with you; so you +will pardon all my, perhaps, too officious questions and advice." + +I thanked him most earnestly for his valuable counsel, and begged +that he would have the goodness to give me all the advice in his +power. + +"Then if you take my advice," said he, "you will leave your money in the +bank where it lies. Never risk a Napoleon in a gaming-house. The night I +went to break the bank, I lost between seven and eight thousand pounds +sterling of your English money; and my next adventure, I had obtained an +introduction to one of those elegant gaming-houses which affect to be +the private mansions of persons of distinction, and was saved from ruin +by a gentleman, whom, ever since, I have regarded with increasing +respect and friendship. It oddly happens he is in this house at this +moment. I recognized his servant, and made him a visit in his apartments +here, and found him the same brave, kind, honourable man I always knew +him. But that he is living so entirely out of the world, now, I should +have made a point of introducing you. Fifteen years ago he would have +been the man of all others to consult. The gentleman I speak of is the +Comte de St. Alyre. He represents a very old family. He is the very soul +of honour, and the most sensible man in the world, except in one +particular." + +"And that particular?" I hesitated. I was now deeply interested. + +"Is that he has married a charming creature, at least +five-and-forty years younger than himself, and is, of course, +although I believe absolutely without cause, horribly jealous." + +"And the lady?" + +"The Countess is, I believe, in every way worthy of so good a +man," he answered, a little drily. + +"I think I heard her sing this evening." + +"Yes, I daresay; she is very accomplished." After a few moments' +silence he continued. + +"I must not lose sight of you, for I should be sorry, when next +you meet my friend Lord R----, that you had to tell him you had +been pigeoned in Paris. A rich Englishman as you are, with so +large a sum at his Paris bankers, young, gay, generous, a +thousand ghouls and harpies will be contending who shall be first +to seize and devour you." + +At this moment I received something like a jerk from the elbow of +the gentleman at my right. It was an accidental jog, as he turned +in his seat. + +"On the honour of a soldier, there is no man's flesh in this +company heals so fast as mine." + +The tone in which this was spoken was harsh and stentorian, and +almost made me bounce. I looked round and recognised the officer, +whose large white face had half scared me in the inn-yard, wiping +his mouth furiously, and then with a gulp of Maçon, he went on-- + +"_No_ one! It's not blood; it is ichor! it's miracle! Set aside +stature, thew, bone, and muscle--set aside courage, and by all +the angels of death, I'd fight a lion naked and dash his teeth +down his jaws with my fist, and flog him to death with his own +tail! Set aside, I say, all those attributes, which I am allowed +to possess, and I am worth six men in any campaign; for that one +quality of healing as I do--rip me up; punch me through, tear me +to tatters with bomb-shells, and nature has me whole again, while +your tailor would fine-draw an old-coat. _Parbleu!_ gentlemen, +if you saw me naked, you would laugh? Look at my hand, a +sabre-cut across the palm, to the bone, to save my head, taken up +with three stitches, and five days afterwards I was playing ball +with an English general, a prisoner in Madrid, against the wall +of the convent of the Santa Maria de la Castita! At Arcola, by +the great devil himself! that was an action. Every man there, +gentlemen, swallowed as much smoke in five minutes as would +smother you all, in this room! I received, at the same moment, +two musket balls in the thighs, a grape shot through the calf of +my leg, a lance through my left shoulder, a piece of a shrapnel +in the left deltoid, a bayonet through the cartilage of my right +ribs, a sabre-cut that carried away a pound of flesh from my +chest, and the better part of a congreve rocket on my forehead. +Pretty well, ha, ha! and all while you'd say _bah!_ and in eight +days and a half I was making a forced march, without shoes, and +only one gaiter, the life and soul of my company, and as sound as +a roach!" + +"Bravo! Bravissimo! Per Bacco! un gallant uomo!" exclaimed, in a +martial ecstacy, a fat little Italian, who manufactured +tooth-picks and wicker cradles on the island of Notre Dame; "your +exploits shall resound through Europe! and the history of those +wars should be written in your blood!" + +"Never mind! a trifle!" exclaimed the soldier. "At Ligny, the +other day, where we smashed the Prussians into ten hundred +thousand milliards of atoms, a bit of a shell cut me across the +leg and opened an artery. It was spouting as high as the chimney, +and in half a minute I had lost enough to fill a pitcher. I must +have expired in another minute, if I had not whipped off my sash +like a flash of lightning, tied it round my leg above the wound, +whipt a bayonet out of the back of a dead Prussian, and passing +it under, made a tournequet of it with a couple of twists, and so +stayed the hemorrhage, and saved my life. But, _sacré bleu!_ +gentlemen, I lost so much blood, I have been as pale as the +bottom of a plate ever since. No matter. A trifle. Blood well +spent, gentlemen." He applied himself now to his bottle of _vin +ordinaire_. + +The Marquis had closed his eyes, and looked resigned and +disgusted, while all this was going on. + +"_Garçon_" said the officer, for the first time, speaking in a +low tone over the back of his chair to the waiter; "who came in +that travelling carriage, dark yellow and black, that stands in +the middle of the yard, with arms and supporters emblazoned on +the door, and a red stork, as red as my facings?" + +The waiter could not say. + +The eye of the eccentric officer, who had suddenly grown grim and +serious, and seemed to have abandoned the general conversation to +other people, lighted, as it were, accidentally, on me. + +"Pardon me, Monsieur," he said. "Did I not see you examining the +panel of that carriage at the same time that I did so, this +evening? Can you tell me who arrived in it?" + +"I rather think the Count and Countess de St. Alyre." + +"And are they here, in the Belle Etoile?" he asked. + +"They have got apartments upstairs," I answered. + +He started up, and half pushed his chair from the table. He +quickly sat down again, and I could hear him _sacré_-ing and +muttering to himself, and grinning and scowling. I could not tell +whether he was alarmed or furious. + +I turned to say a word or two to the Marquis, but he was gone. +Several other people had dropped out also, and the supper party +soon broke up. + +Two or three substantial pieces of wood smouldered on the hearth, +for the night had turned out chilly. I sat down by the fire in a +great arm-chair, of carved oak, with a marvellously high back, +that looked as old as the days of Henry IV. + +"_Garçon_," said I, "do you happen to know who that officer is?" + +"That is Colonel Gaillarde, Monsieur." + +"Has he been often here?" + +"Once before, Monsieur, for a week; it is a year since." + +"He is the palest man I ever saw." + +"That is true, Monsieur; he has been often taken for a +_revenant_." + +"Can you give me a bottle of really good Burgundy?" + +"The best in France, Monsieur." + +"Place it, and a glass by my side, on this table, if you please. +I may sit here for half an hour?" + +"Certainly, Monsieur." + +I was very comfortable, the wine excellent, and my thoughts +glowing and serene. "Beautiful Countess! Beautiful Countess! +shall we ever be better acquainted." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE NAKED SWORD. + + +A man who has been posting all day long, and changing the air he +breathes every half hour, who is well pleased with himself, and +has nothing on earth to trouble him, and who sits alone by a fire +in a comfortable chair after having eaten a hearty supper, may be +pardoned if he takes an accidental nap. + +I had filled my fourth glass when I fell asleep. My head, I +daresay, hung uncomfortably; and it is admitted, that a variety +of French dishes is not the most favourable precursor to pleasant +dreams. + +I had a dream as I took mine ease in mine inn on this occasion. I +fancied myself in a huge cathedral, without light, except from +four tapers that stood at the corners of a raised platform hung +with black, on which lay, draped also in black, what seemed to me +the dead body of the Countess de St. Alyre. The place seemed +empty, it was cold, and I could see only (in the halo of the +candles) a little way round. + +The little I saw bore the character of Gothic gloom, and helped +my fancy to shape and furnish the black void that yawned all +round me. I heard a sound like the slow tread of two persons +walking up the flagged aisle. A faint echo told of the vastness +of the place. An awful sense of expectation was upon me, and I +was horribly frightened when the body that lay on the catafalque +said (without stirring), in a whisper that froze me, "They come +to place me in the grave alive; save me." + +I found that I could neither speak nor move. I was horribly +frightened. + +The two people who approached now emerged from the darkness. One, +the Count de St. Alyre glided to the head of the figure and +placed his long thin hands under it. The white-faced Colonel, +with the scar across his face, and a look of infernal triumph, +placed his hands under her feet, and they began to raise her. + +With an indescribable effort I broke the spell that bound me, and +started to my feet with a gasp. + +I was wide awake, but the broad, wicked face of Colonel Gaillarde +was staring, white as death, at me, from the other side of the +hearth. "Where is she?" I shuddered. + +"That depends on who she is, Monsieur," replied the Colonel, +curtly. + +"Good heavens!" I gasped, looking about me. + +The Colonel, who was eyeing me sarcastically, had had his +_demi-tasse_ of _café noir_, and now drank his _tasse_, diffusing +a pleasant perfume of brandy. + +"I fell asleep and was dreaming," I said, least any strong +language, founded on the _rôle_ he played in my dream, should +have escaped me. "I did not know for some moments where I was." + +"You are the young gentleman who has the apartments over the +Count and Countess de St. Alyre?" he said, winking one eye, close +in meditation, and glaring at me with the other. + +"I believe so--yes," I answered. + +"Well, younker, take care you have not worse dreams than that +some night," he said, enigmatically, and wagged his head with a +chuckle. "Worse dreams," he repeated. + +"What does Monsieur the Colonel mean?" I inquired. + +"I am trying to find that out myself," said the Colonel; "and I think I +shall. When _I_ get the first inch of the thread fast between my finger +and thumb, it goes hard but I follow it up, bit by bit, little by +little, tracing it this way and that, and up and down, and round about, +until the whole clue is wound up on my thumb, and the end, and its +secret, fast in my fingers. Ingenious! Crafty as five foxes! wide awake +as a weazel! _Parbleu!_ if I had descended to that occupation I should +have made my fortune as a spy. Good wine here?" he glanced +interrogatively at my bottle. + +"Very good," said I, "Will Monsieur the Colonel try a glass?" + +He took the largest he could find, and filled it, raised it with +a bow, and drank it slowly. "Ah! ah! Bah! That is not it," he +exclaimed, with some disgust, filling it again. "You ought to +have told _me_ to order your Burgundy, and they would not have +brought you that stuff." + +I got away from this man as soon as I civilly could, and, putting +on my hat, I walked out with no other company than my sturdy +walking stick. I visited the inn-yard, and looked up to the +windows of the Countess's apartments. They were closed, however, +and I had not even the unsubstantial consolation of contemplating +the light in which that beautiful lady was at that moment +writing, or reading, or sitting and thinking of--any one you +please. + +I bore this serious privation as well as I could, and took a +little saunter through the town. I shan't bore you with moonlight +effects, nor with the maunderings of a man who has fallen in +love at first sight with a beautiful face. My ramble, it is +enough to say, occupied about half-an-hour, and, returning by a +slight _détour_, I found myself in a little square, with about +two high gabled houses on each side, and a rude stone statue, +worn by centuries of rain, on a pedestal in the centre of the +pavement. Looking at this statue was a slight and rather tall +man, whom I instantly recognized as the Marquis d'Harmonville: he +knew me almost as quickly. He walked a step towards me, shrugged +and laughed: + +"You are surprised to find Monsieur Droqville staring at that old +stone figure by moonlight. Anything to pass the time. You, I see, +suffer from _ennui_, as I do. These little provincial towns! +Heavens! what an effort it is to live in them! If I could regret +having formed in early life a friendship that does me honour, I +think its condemning me to a sojourn in such a place would make +me do so. You go on towards Paris, I suppose, in the morning?" + +"I have ordered horses." + +"As for me I await a letter, or an arrival, either would +emancipate me; but I can't say how soon either event will +happen." + +"Can I be of any use in this matter?" I began. + +"None, Monsieur, I thank you a thousand times. No, this is a +piece in which every _rôle_ is already cast. I am but an amateur, +and induced, solely by friendship, to take a part." + +So he talked on, for a time, as we walked slowly toward the Belle +Etoile, and then came a silence, which I broke by asking him if +he knew anything of Colonel Gaillarde. + +"Oh! yes, to be sure. He is a little mad; he has had some bad +injuries of the head. He used to plague the people in the War +Office to death. He has always some delusion. They contrived some +employment for him--not regimental, of course--but in this +campaign Napoleon, who could spare nobody, placed him in command +of a regiment. He was always a desperate fighter, and such men +were more than ever needed." + +There is, or was, a second inn, in this town, called l'Ecu de +France. At its door the Marquis stopped, bade me a mysterious +good-night, and disappeared. + +As I walked slowly toward my inn, I met, in the shadow of a row +of poplars, the _garçon_ who had brought me my Burgundy a little +time ago. I was thinking of Colonel Gaillarde, and I stopped the +little waiter as he passed me. + +"You said, I think, that Colonel Gaillarde was at the Belle +Etoile for a week at one time." + +"Yes, Monsieur." + +"Is he perfectly in his right mind?" + +The waiter stared. "Perfectly, Monsieur." + +"Has he been suspected at any time of being out of his mind?" + +"Never, Monsieur; he is a little noisy, but a very shrewd man." + +"What is a fellow to think?" I muttered, as I walked on. + +I was soon within sight of the lights of the Belle Etoile. A +carriage, with four horses, stood in the moonlight at the door, +and a furious altercation was going on in the hall, in which the +yell of Colonel Gaillarde out-topped all other sounds. + +Most young men like, at least, to witness a row. But, +intuitively, I felt that this would interest me in a very special +manner. I had only fifty yards to run, when I found myself in the +hall of the old inn. The principal actor in this strange drama +was, indeed, the Colonel, who stood facing the old Count de St. +Alyre, who, in his travelling costume, with his black silk scarf +covering the lower part of his face, confronted him; he had +evidently been intercepted in an endeavour to reach his carriage. +A little in the rear of the Count stood the Countess, also in +travelling costume, with her thick black veil down, and holding +in her delicate fingers a white rose. You can't conceive a more +diabolical effigy of hate and fury than the Colonel; the knotted +veins stood out on his forehead, his eyes were leaping from their +sockets, he was grinding his teeth, and froth was on his lips. +His sword was drawn, in his hand, and he accompanied his yelling +denunciations with stamps upon the floor and flourishes of his +weapon in the air. + +The host of the Belle Etoile was talking to the Colonel in +soothing terms utterly thrown away. Two waiters, pale with fear, +stared uselessly from behind. The Colonel screamed, and +thundered, and whirled his sword. "I was not sure of your red +birds of prey; I could not believe you would have the audacity to +travel on high roads, and to stop at honest inns, and lie under +the same roof with honest men. You! _you! both_--vampires, +wolves, ghouls. Summon the _gendarmes_, I say. By St. Peter and +all the devils, if either of you try to get out of that door I'll +take your heads off." + +For a moment I had stood aghast. Here was a situation! I walked +up to the lady; she laid her hand wildly upon my arm. "Oh! +Monsieur," she whispered, in great agitation, "that dreadful +madman! What are we to do? He won't let us pass; he will kill my +husband." + +"Fear nothing, Madame," I answered, with romantic devotion, and +stepping between the Count and Gaillarde, as he shrieked his +invective, "Hold your tongue, and clear the way, you ruffian, +you bully, you coward!" I roared. + +A faint cry escaped the lady, which more than repaid the risk I +ran, as the sword of the frantic soldier, after a moment's +astonished pause, flashed in the air to cut me down. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE WHITE ROSE. + + +I was too quick for Colonel Gaillarde. As he raised his sword, +reckless of all consequences but my condign punishment, and quite +resolved to cleave me to the teeth, I struck him across the side +of his head, with my heavy stick; and while he staggered back, I +struck him another blow, nearly in the same place, that felled +him to the floor, where he lay as if dead. + +I did not care one of his own regimental buttons, whether he was +dead or not; I was, at that moment, carried away by such a +tumult of delightful and diabolical emotions! + +I broke his sword under my foot, and flung the pieces across the +street. The old Count de St. Alyre skipped nimbly without looking +to the right or left, or thanking anybody, over the floor, out of +the door, down the steps, and into his carriage. Instantly I was +at the side of the beautiful Countess, thus left to shift for +herself; I offered her my arm, which she took, and I led her to +her carriage. She entered, and I shut the door. All this without +a word. + +I was about to ask if there were any commands with which she +would honour me--my hand was laid upon the lower edge of the +window, which was open. + +The lady's hand was laid upon mine timidly and excitedly. Her +lips almost touched my cheek as she whispered hurriedly. + +"I may never see you more, and, oh! that I could forget you. +Go--farewell--for God's sake, go!" + +I pressed her hand for a moment. She withdrew it, but tremblingly +pressed into mine the rose which she had held in her fingers +during the agitating scene she had just passed through. + +All this took place while the Count was commanding, entreating, +cursing his servants, tipsy, and out of the way during the +crisis, my conscience afterwards insinuated, by my clever +contrivance. They now mounted to their places with the agility of +alarm. The postillions' whips cracked, the horses scrambled into +a trot, and away rolled the carriage, with its precious +freightage, along the quaint main street, in the moonlight, +toward Paris. + +I stood on the pavement, till it was quite lost to eye and ear in +the distance. + +With a deep sigh, I then turned, my white rose folded in my +handkerchief--the little parting _gage_--the + + "Favour secret, sweet, and precious;" + +which no mortal eye but hers and mine had seen conveyed to me. + +The care of the host of the Belle Etoile, and his assistants, had +raised the wounded hero of a hundred fights partly against the +wall, and propped him at each side with portmanteaus and pillows, +and poured a glass of brandy, which was duly placed to his +account, into his big mouth, where, for the first time, such a +Godsend remained unswallowed. + +A bald-headed little military surgeon of sixty, with spectacles, +who had cut off eighty-seven legs and arms to his own share, +after the battle of Eylau, having retired with his sword and his +saw, his laurels and his sticking-plaster to this, his native +town, was called in, and rather thought the gallant Colonel's +skull was fractured, at all events there was concussion of the +seat of thought, and quite enough work for his remarkable +self-healing powers, to occupy him for a fortnight. + +I began to grow a little uneasy. A disagreeable surprise, if my +excursion, in which I was to break banks and hearts, and, as you +see, heads, should end upon the gallows or the guillotine. I was +not clear, in those times of political oscillation, which was the +established apparatus. + +The Colonel was conveyed, snorting apoplectically to his room. + +I saw my host in the apartment in which we had supped. Wherever +you employ a force of any sort, to carry a point of real +importance, reject all nice calculations of economy. Better to be +a thousand per cent, over the mark, than the smallest fraction of +a unit under it. I instinctively felt this. + +I ordered a bottle of my landlord's very best wine; made him +partake with me, in the proportion of two glasses to one; and +then told him that he must not decline a trifling _souvenir_ from +a guest who had been so charmed with all he had seen of the +renowned Belle Etoile. Thus saying, I placed five-and-thirty +Napoleons in his hand. At touch of which his countenance, by no +means encouraging before, grew sunny, his manners thawed, and it +was plain, as he dropped the coins hastily into his pocket, that +benevolent relations had been established between us. + +I immediately placed the Colonel's broken head upon the _tapis_. +We both agreed that if I had not given him that rather smart tap +of my walking-cane, he would have beheaded half the inmates of +the Belle Etoile. There was not a waiter in the house who would +not verify that statement on oath. + +The reader may suppose that I had other motives, beside the +desire to escape the tedious inquisition of the law, for desiring +to recommence my journey to Paris with the least possible delay. +Judge what was my horror then to learn, that for love or money, +horses were nowhere to be had that night. The last pair in the +town had been obtained from the Ecu de France, by a gentleman who +dined and supped at the Belle Etoile, and was obliged to proceed +to Paris that night. + +Who was the gentleman? Had he actually gone? Could he possibly be +induced to wait till morning? + +The gentleman was now upstairs getting his things together, and +his name was Monsieur Droqville. + +I ran upstairs. I found my servant St. Clair in my room. At sight +of him, for a moment, my thoughts were turned into a different +channel. + +"Well, St. Clair, tell me this moment who the lady is?" I +demanded. + +"The lady is the daughter or wife, it matters not which, of the +Count de St. Alyre;--the old gentleman who was so near being +sliced like a cucumber to-night, I am informed, by the sword of +the general whom Monsieur, by a turn of fortune, has put to bed +of an apoplexy." + +"Hold your tongue, fool! The man's beastly drunk--he's +sulking--he could talk if he liked--who cares? Pack up my things. +Which are Monsieur Droqville's apartments?" + +He knew, of course; he always knew everything. + +Half an hour later Monsieur Droqville and I were travelling +towards Paris, in my carriage, and with his horses. I ventured to +ask the Marquis d'Harmonville, in a little while, whether the +lady, who accompanied the Count, was certainly the Countess. +"Has he not a daughter?" + +"Yes;--I believe a very beautiful and charming young lady--I +cannot say--it may have been she, his daughter by an earlier +marriage. I saw only the Count himself to-day." + +The Marquis was growing a little sleepy and, in a little while, +he actually fell asleep in his corner. I dozed and nodded; but +the Marquis slept like a top. He awoke only for a minute or two +at the next posting-house, where he had fortunately secured +horses by sending on his man, he told me. + +"You will excuse my being so dull a companion," he said, "but +till to-night I have had but two hours' sleep, for more than +sixty hours. I shall have a cup of coffee here; I have had my +nap. Permit me to recommend you to do likewise. Their coffee is +really excellent." He ordered two cups of _café noir_, and +waited, with his head from the window. "We will keep the cups," +he said, as he received them from the waiter, "and the tray. +Thank you." + +There was a little delay as he paid for these things; and then he +took in the little tray, and handed me a cup of coffee. + +I declined the tray; so he placed it on his own knees, to act as +a miniature table. + +"I can't endure being waited for and hurried," he said, "I like +to sip my coffee at leisure." + +I agreed. It really _was_ the very perfection of coffee. + +"I, like Monsieur le Marquis, have slept very little for the last +two or three nights; and find it difficult to keep awake. This +coffee will do wonders for me; it refreshes one so." + +Before we had half done, the carriage was again in motion. + +For a time our coffee made us chatty, and our conversation was +animated. + +The Marquis was extremely good-natured, as well as clever, and +gave me a brilliant and amusing account of Parisian life, +schemes, and dangers, all put so as to furnish me with practical +warnings of the most valuable kind. + +In spite of the amusing and curious stories which the Marquis +related, with so much point and colour, I felt myself again +becoming gradually drowsy and dreamy. + +Perceiving this, no doubt, the Marquis good-naturedly suffered +our conversation to subside into silence. The window next him was +open. He threw his cup out of it; and did the same kind office +for mine, and finally the little tray flew after, and I heard it +clank on the road; a valuable waif, no doubt, for some early +wayfarer in wooden shoes. + +I leaned back in my corner; I had my beloved _souvenir_--my +white rose--close to my heart, folded, now, in white paper. It +inspired all manner of romantic dreams. I began to grow more and +more sleepy. But actual slumber did not come. I was still +viewing, with my half-closed eyes, from my corner, diagonally, +the interior of the carriage. + +I wished for sleep; but the barrier between waking and sleeping +seemed absolutely insurmountable; and instead, I entered into a +state of novel and indescribable indolence. + +The Marquis lifted his despatch-box from the floor, placed it on +his knees, unlocked it, and took out what proved to be a lamp, +which he hung with two hooks, attached to it, to the window +opposite to him. He lighted it with a match, put on his +spectacles, and taking out a bundle of letters, began to read +them carefully. + +We were making way very slowly. My impatience had hitherto +employed four horses from stage to stage. We were in this +emergency, only too happy to have secured two. But the difference +in pace was depressing. + +I grew tired of the monotony of seeing the spectacled Marquis +reading, folding, and docketing, letter after letter. I wished to +shut out the image which wearied me, but something prevented my +being able to shut my eyes. I tried again and again; but, +positively, I had lost the power of closing them. + +I would have rubbed my eyes, but I could not stir my hand, my +will no longer acted on my body--I found that I could not move +one joint, or muscle, no more than I could, by an effort of my +will, have turned the carriage about. + +Up to this I had experienced no sense of horror. Whatever it was, +simple nightmare was not the cause. I was awfully frightened! +Was I in a fit? + +It was horrible to see my good-natured companion pursue his +occupation so serenely, when he might have dissipated my horrors +by a single shake. + +I made a stupendous exertion to call out but in vain; I repeated +the effort again and again, with no result. + +My companion now tied up his letters, and looked out of the +window, humming an air from an opera. He drew back his head, and +said, turning to me-- + +"Yes, I see the lights; we shall be there in two or three +minutes." + +He looked more closely at me, and with a kind smile, and a little +shrug, he said, "Poor child! how fatigued he must have been--how +profoundly he sleeps! when the carriage stops he will waken." + +He then replaced his letters in the despatch-box, locked it, put +his spectacles in his pocket, and again looked out of the window. + +We had entered a little town. I suppose it was past two o'clock +by this time. The carriage drew up, I saw an inn-door open, and a +light issuing from it. + +"Here we are!" said my companion, turning gaily to me. But I did +not awake. + +"Yes, how tired he must have been!" he exclaimed, after he had +waited for an answer. + +My servant was at the carriage door, and opened it. + +"Your master sleeps soundly, he is so fatigued! It would be cruel +to disturb him. You and I will go in, while they change the +horses, and take some refreshment, and choose something that +Monsieur Beckett will like to take in the carriage, for when he +awakes by-and-by, he will, I am sure, be hungry." + +He trimmed his lamp, poured in some oil; and taking care not to +disturb me, with another kind smile, and another word or caution +to my servant, he got out, and I heard him talking to St. Clair, +as they entered the inn-door, and I was left in my corner, in the +carriage, in the same state. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A THREE MINUTES' VISIT. + + +I have suffered extreme and protracted bodily pain, at different +periods of my life, but anything like that misery, thank God, I +never endured before or since. I earnestly hope it may not +resemble any type of death, to which we are liable. I was, +indeed, a spirit in prison; and unspeakable was my dumb and +unmoving agony. + +The power of thought remained clear and active. Dull terror +filled my mind. How would this end? Was it actual death? + +You will understand that my faculty of observing was unimpaired. +I could hear and see anything as distinctly as ever I did in my +life. It was simply that my will had, as it were, lost its hold +of my body. + +I told you that the Marquis d'Harmonville had not extinguished +his carriage lamp on going into this village inn. I was listening +intently, longing for his return, which might result, by some +lucky accident, in awaking me from my catalepsy. + +Without any sound of steps approaching, to announce an arrival, +the carriage-door suddenly opened, and a total stranger got in +silently, and shut the door. + +The lamp gave about as strong a light as a wax-candle, so I could +see the intruder perfectly. He was a young man, with a dark grey, +loose surtout, made with a sort of hood, which was pulled over +his head. I thought, as he moved, that I saw the gold band of a +military undress cap under it; and I certainly saw the lace and +buttons of a uniform, on the cuffs of the coat that were visible +under the wide sleeves of his outside wrapper. + +This young man had thick moustaches, and an imperial, and I +observed that he had a red scar running upward from his lip +across his cheek. + +He entered, shut the door softly, and sat down beside me. It was +all done in a moment; leaning toward me, and shading his eyes +with his gloved hand, he examined my face closely, for a few +seconds. + +This man had come as noiselessly as a ghost; and everything he +did was accomplished with the rapidity and decision, that +indicated a well defined and prearranged plan. His designs were +evidently sinister. I thought he was going to rob, and, perhaps, +murder me. I lay, nevertheless, like a corpse under his hands. +He inserted his hand in my breast pocket, from which he took my +precious white rose and all the letters it contained, among which +was a paper of some consequence to me. + +My letters he glanced at. They were plainly not what he wanted. +My precious rose, too, he laid aside with them. It was evidently +about the paper I have mentioned, that he was concerned; for the +moment he opened it, he began with a pencil, in a small +pocket-book, to make rapid notes of its contents. + +This man seemed to glide through his work with a noiseless and +cool celerity which argued, I thought, the training of the +police-department. + +He re-arranged the papers, possibly in the very order in which he +had found them, replaced them in my breast-pocket, and was gone. + +His visit, I think, did not quite last three minutes. Very soon +after his disappearance, I heard the voice of the Marquis once +more. He got in, and I saw him look at me, and smile, half +envying me, I fancied, my sound repose. If he had but known all! + +He resumed his reading and docketing, by the light of the little +lamp which had just subserved the purposes of a spy. + +We were now out of the town, pursuing our journey at the same +moderate pace. We had left the scene of my police visit, as I +should have termed it, now two leagues behind us, when I suddenly +felt a strange throbbing in one ear, and a sensation as if air +passed through it into my throat. It seemed as if a bubble of +air, formed deep in my ear, swelled, and burst there. The +indescribable tension of my brain seemed all at once to give way; +there was an odd humming in my head, and a sort of vibration +through every nerve of my body, such as I have experienced in a +limb that has been, in popular phraseology, asleep. I uttered a +cry and half rose from my seat, and then fell back trembling, and +with a sense of mortal faintness. + +The Marquis stared at me, took my hand, and earnestly asked if I +was ill. I could answer only with a deep groan. + +Gradually the process of restoration was completed; and I was +able, though very faintly, to tell him how very ill I had been; +and then to describe the violation of my letters, during the time +of his absence from the carriage. + +"Good heaven!" he exclaimed, "the miscreant did not get at my +dispatch-box?" + +I satisfied him, so far as I had observed, on that point. He +placed the box on the seat beside him, and opened and examined +its contents very minutely. + +"Yes, undisturbed; all safe, thank heaven!" he murmured. "There +are half-a-dozen letters here, that I would not have some people +read, for a great deal." + +He now asked with a very kind anxiety all about the illness I +complained of. When he had heard me, he said-- + +"A friend of mine once had an attack as like yours as possible. +It was on board-ship, and followed a state of high excitement. He +was a brave man like you; and was called on to exert both his +strength and his courage suddenly. An hour or two after, fatigue +overpowered him, and he appeared to fall into a sound sleep. He +really sank into a state which he afterwards described so, that I +think it must have been precisely the same affection as yours." + +"I am happy to think that my attack was not unique. Did he ever +experience a return of it." + +"I knew him for years after, and never heard of any such thing. +What strikes me is a parallel in the predisposing causes of each +attack. Your unexpected, and gallant hand-to-hand encounter, at +such desperate odds, with an experienced swordsman, like that +insane colonel of dragoons, your fatigue, and, finally, your +composing yourself, as my other friend did, to sleep." + +"I wish," he resumed, "one could make out who that _coquin_ was, +who examined your letters. It is not worth turning back, however, +because we should learn nothing. Those people always manage so +adroitly. I am satisfied, however, that he must have been an +agent of the police. A rogue of any other kind would have robbed +you." + +I talked very little, being ill and exhausted, but the Marquis +talked on agreeably. + +"We grow so intimate," said he, at last, "that I must remind you +that I am not, for the present, the Marquis d'Harmonville, but +only Monsieur Droqville; nevertheless, when we get to Paris, +although I cannot see you often, I may be of use. I shall ask you +to name to me the hotel at which you mean to put up; because the +Marquis being, as you are aware, on his travels, the Hotel +d'Harmonville is, for the present, tenanted only by two or three +old servants, who must not even see Monsieur Droqville. That +gentleman will, nevertheless, contrive to get you access to the +box of Monsieur le Marquis, at the Opera; as well, possibly, as +to other places more difficult; and so soon as the diplomatic +office of the Marquis d'Harmonville is ended, and he at liberty +to declare himself, he will not excuse his friend, Monsieur +Beckett, from fulfilling his promise to visit him this autumn at +the Château d'Harmonville." + +You may be sure I thanked the Marquis. + +The nearer we got to Paris, the more I valued his protection. The +countenance of a great man on the spot, just then, taking so kind +an interest in the stranger whom he had, as it were, blundered +upon, might make my visit ever so many degrees more delightful +than I had anticipated. + +Nothing could be more gracious than the manner and looks of the +Marquis; and, as I still thanked him, the carriage suddenly +stopped in front of the place where a relay of horses awaited us, +and where, as it turned out, we were to part. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GOSSIP AND COUNSEL. + + +My eventful journey was over, at last. I sat in my hotel window +looking out upon brilliant Paris, which had, in a moment, +recovered all its gaiety, and more than its accustomed bustle. +Every one has read of the kind of excitement that followed the +catastrophe of Napoleon, and the second restoration of the +Bourbons. I need not, therefore, even if, at this distance, I +could, recall and describe my experiences and impressions of the +peculiar aspect of Paris, in those strange times. It was, to be +sure, my first visit. But, often as I have seen it since, I don't +think I ever saw that delightful capital in a state, pleasurably, +so excited and exciting. + +I had been two days in Paris, and had seen all sorts of sights, +and experienced none of that rudeness and insolence of which +others complained, from the exasperated officers of the defeated +French army. + +I must say this, also. My romance had taken complete possession +of me; and the chance of seeing the object of my dream, gave a +secret and delightful interest to my rambles and drives in the +streets and environs, and my visits to the galleries and other +sights of the metropolis. + +I had neither seen nor heard of Count or Countess, nor had the +Marquis d'Harmonville made any sign. I had quite recovered the +strange indisposition under which I had suffered during my night +journey. + +It was now evening, and I was beginning to fear that my patrician +acquaintance had quite forgotten me, when the waiter presented me +the card of 'Monsieur Droqville;' and, with no small elation and +hurry, I desired him to show the gentleman up. + +In came the Marquis d'Harmonville, kind and gracious as ever. + +"I am a night-bird at present," said he, so soon as we had +exchanged the little speeches which are usual. "I keep in the +shade, during the daytime, and even now I hardly ventured to come +in a close carriage. The friends for whom I have undertaken a +rather critical service, have so ordained it. They think all is +lost, if I am known to be in Paris. First let me present you with +these orders for my box. I am so vexed that I cannot command it +oftener during the next fortnight; during my absence, I had +directed my secretary to give it for any night to the first of my +friends who might apply, and the result is, that I find next to +nothing left at my disposal." + +I thanked him very much. + +"And now, a word, in my office of Mentor. You have not come here, +of course, without introductions?" + +I produced half-a-dozen letters, the addresses of which he looked +at. + +"Don't mind these letters," he said. "I will introduce you. I +will take you myself from house to house. One friend at your side +is worth many letters. Make no intimacies, no acquaintances, +until then. You young men like best to exhaust the public +amusements of a great city, before embarrassing yourself with the +engagements of society. Go to all these. It will occupy you, day +and night, for at least three weeks. When this is over, I shall +be at liberty, and will myself introduce you to the brilliant but +comparatively quiet routine of society. Place yourself in my +hands; and in Paris remember, when once in society, you are +always there." + +I thanked him very much, and promised to follow his counsels +implicitly. + +He seemed pleased, and said-- + +"I shall now tell you some of the places you ought to go to. Take +your map, and write letters or numbers upon the points I will +indicate, and we will make out a little list. All the places that +I shall mention to you are worth seeing." + +In this methodical way, and with a great deal of amusing and scandalous +anecdote, he furnished me with a catalogue and a guide, which, to a +seeker of novelty and pleasure, was invaluable. + +"In a fortnight, perhaps in a week," he said, "I shall be at +leisure to be of real use to you. In the meantime, be on your +guard. You must not play; you will be robbed if you do. Remember, +you are surrounded, here, by plausible swindlers and villains of +all kinds, who subsist by devouring strangers. Trust no one but +those you know." + +I thanked him again, and promised to profit by his advice. But my +heart was too full of the beautiful lady of the Belle Etoile, to +allow our interview to close without an effort to learn something +about her. I therefore asked for the Count and Countess de St. +Alyre, whom I had had the good fortune to extricate from an +extremely unpleasant row in the hall of the inn. + +Alas! he had not seen them since. He did not know where they were +staying. They had a fine old house only a few leagues from Paris; +but he thought it probable that they would remain, for a few days +at least, in the city, as preparations would, no doubt, be +necessary, after so long an absence, for their reception at home. + +"How long have they been away?" + +"About eight months, I think." + +"They are poor, I think you said?" + +"What _you_ would consider poor. But, Monsieur, the Count has an +income which affords them the comforts, and even the elegancies +of life, living as they do, in a very quiet and retired way, in +this cheap country." + +"Then they are very happy?" + +"One would say they _ought_ to be happy." + +"And what prevents?" + +"He is jealous." + +"But his wife--she gives him no cause?" + +"I am afraid she does." + +"How, Monsieur?" + +"I always thought she was a little too--a _great deal_ too--" + +"Too _what_, Monsieur?" + +"Too handsome. But although she has remarkably fine eyes, +exquisite features, and the most delicate complexion in the +world, I believe that she is a woman of probity. You have never +seen her?" + +"There was a lady, muffled up in a cloak, with a very thick veil +on, the other night, in the hall of the Belle Etoile, when I +broke that fellow's head who was bullying the old Count. But her +veil was so thick I could not see a feature through it." My +answer was diplomatic, you observe. "She may have been the +Count's daughter. Do they quarrel?" + +"Who, he and his wife?" + +"Yes." + +"A little." + +"Oh! and what do they quarrel about?" "It is a long story; about +the lady's diamonds. They are valuable--they are worth, La +Perelleuse says, about a million of francs. The Count wishes them +sold and turned into revenue, which he offers to settle as she +pleases. The Countess, whose they are, resists, and for a reason +which, I rather think, she can't disclose to him." + +"And pray what is that?" I asked, my curiosity a good deal +piqued. + +"She is thinking, I conjecture, how well she will look in them +when she marries her second husband." + +"Oh?--yes, to be sure. But the Count de St. Alyre is a good man?" + +"Admirable, and extremely intelligent." + +"I should wish so much to be presented to the Count: you tell me +he's so--" + +"So agreeably married. But they are living quite out of the +world. He takes her now and then to the Opera, or to a public +entertainment; but that is all." + +"And he must remember so much of the old _régime_, and so many +of the scenes of the revolution!" + +"Yes, the very man for a philosopher, like you! And he falls +asleep after dinner; and his wife don't. But, seriously, he has +retired from the gay and the great world, and has grown +apathetic; and so has his wife; and nothing seems to interest her +now, not even--her husband!" + +The Marquis stood up to take his leave. + +"Don't risk your money," said he. "You will soon have an +opportunity of laying out some of it to great advantage. Several +collections of really good pictures, belonging to persons who +have mixed themselves up in this Bonapartist restoration, must +come within a few weeks to the hammer. You can do wonders when +these sales commence. There will be startling bargains! Reserve +yourself for them. I shall let you know all about it. By-the-by," +he said, stopping short as he approached the door, "I was so +near forgetting. There is to be, next week, the very thing you +would enjoy so much, because you see so little of it in +England--I mean a _bal masqué_, conducted, it is said, with more +than usual splendour. It takes place at Versailles--all the world +will be there; there is such a rush for cards! But I think I may +promise you one. Good-night! Adieu!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BLACK VEIL. + + +Speaking the language fluently and with unlimited money, there +was nothing to prevent my enjoying all that was enjoyable in the +French capital. You may easily suppose how two days were passed. +At the end of that time, and at about the same hour, Monsieur +Droqville called again. + +Courtly, good-natured, gay, as usual, he told me that the +masquerade ball was fixed for the next Wednesday, and that he had +applied for a card for me. + +How awfully unlucky. I was so afraid I should not be able to go. + +He stared at me for a moment with a suspicious and menacing look +which I did not understand, in silence, and then inquired, rather +sharply. + +"And will Monsieur Beckett be good enough to say, why not?" + +I was a little surprised, but answered the simple truth: I had +made an engagement for that evening with two or three English +friends, and did not see how I could. + +"Just so! You English, wherever you are, always look out for your +English boors, your beer and '_bifstek_'; and when you come here, +instead of trying to learn something of the people you visit, and +pretend to study, you are guzzling, and swearing, and smoking +with one another, and no wiser or more polished at the end of +your travels than if you had been all the time carousing in a +booth at Greenwich." + +He laughed sarcastically, and looked as if he could have poisoned +me. + +"There it is," said he, throwing the card on the table. "Take it +or leave it, just as you please. I suppose I shall have my +trouble for my pains; but it is not usual when a man, such as I, +takes trouble, asks a favour, and secures a privilege for an +acquaintance, to treat him so." + +This was astonishingly impertinent! + +I was shocked, offended, penitent. I had possibly committed +unwittingly a breach of good-breeding, according to French ideas, +which almost justified the brusque severity of the Marquis's +undignified rebuke. + +In a confusion, therefore, of many feelings, I hastened to make +my apologies, and to propitiate the chance friend who had showed +me so much disinterested kindness. + +I told him that I would, at any cost, break through the +engagement in which I had unluckily entangled myself; that I had +spoken with too little reflection, and that I certainly had not +thanked him at all in proportion to his kindness and to my real +estimate of it. + +"Pray say not a word more; my vexation was entirely on your +account; and I expressed it, I am only too conscious, in terms a +great deal too strong, which, I am sure, your goodnature will +pardon. Those who know me a little better are aware that I +sometimes say a good deal more than I intend; and am always sorry +when I do. Monsieur Beckett will forget that his old friend, +Monsieur Droqville, has lost his temper in his cause, for a +moment, and--we are as good friends as before." + +He smiled like the Monsieur Droqville of the Belle Etoile, and +extended his hand, which I took very respectfully and cordially. + +Our momentary quarrel had left us only better friends. + +The Marquis then told me I had better secure a bed in some hotel +at Versailles, as a rush would be made to take them; and advised +my going down next morning for the purpose. + +I ordered horses accordingly for eleven o'clock; and, after a +little more conversation, the Marquis d'Harmonville bid me +good-night, and ran down the stairs with his handkerchief to his +mouth and nose, and, as I saw from my window, jumped into his +close carriage again and drove away. + +Next day I was at Versailles. As I approached the door of the +Hotel de France, it was plain that I was not a moment too soon, +if, indeed, I were not already too late. + +A crowd of carriages were drawn up about the entrance, so that I +had no chance of approaching except by dismounting and pushing +my way among the horses. The hall was full of servants and +gentlemen screaming to the proprietor, who, in a state of polite +distraction, was assuring them, one and all, that there was not a +room or a closet disengaged in his entire house. + +I slipped out again, leaving the hall to those who were shouting, +expostulating, wheedling, in the delusion that the host might, if +he pleased, manage something for them. I jumped into my carriage +and drove, at my horses' best pace, to the Hotel du Reservoir. +The blockade about this door was as complete as the other. The +result was the same. It was very provoking, but what was to be +done? My postillion had, a little officiously, while I was in the +hall talking with the hotel authorities, got his horses, bit by +bit, as other carriages moved away, to the very steps of the inn +door. + +This arrangement was very convenient so far as getting in again +was concerned. But, this accomplished, how were we to get on? +There were carriages in front, and carriages behind, and no less +than four rows of carriages, of all sorts, outside. + +I had at this time remarkably long and clear sight, and if I had +been impatient before, guess what my feelings were when I saw an +open carriage pass along the narrow strip of roadway left open at +the other side, a barouche in which I was certain I recognized +the veiled Countess and her husband. This carriage had been +brought to a walk by a cart which occupied the whole breadth of +the narrow way, and was moving with the customary tardiness of +such vehicles. + +I should have done more wisely if I had jumped down on the +_trottoir_, and run round the block of carriages in front of the +barouche. But, unfortunately, I was more of a Murat than a +Moltke, and preferred a direct charge upon my object to relying +on _tactique_. I dashed across the back seat of a carriage which +was next mine, I don't know how; tumbled through a sort of gig, +in which an old gentleman and a dog were dozing; stepped with an +incoherent apology over the side of an open carriage, in which +were four gentlemen engaged in a hot dispute; tripped at the far +side in getting out, and fell flat across the backs of a pair of +horses, who instantly began plunging and threw me head foremost +in the dust. + +To those who observed my reckless charge without being in the +secret of my object I must have appeared demented. Fortunately, +the interesting barouche had passed before the catastrophe, and +covered as I was with dust, and my hat blocked, you may be sure I +did not care to present myself before the object of my Quixotic +devotion. + +I stood for a while amid a storm of _sacré_-ing, tempered disagreeably +with laughter; and in the midst of these, while endeavouring to beat the +dust from my clothes with my handkerchief, I heard a voice with which I +was acquainted call, "Monsieur Beckett." + +I looked and saw the Marquis peeping from a carriage-window. It +was a welcome sight. In a moment I was at his carriage side. + +"You may as well leave Versailles," he said; "you have learned, +no doubt, that there is not a bed to hire in either of the +hotels; and I can add that there is not a room to let in the +whole town. But I have managed something for you that will answer +just as well. Tell your servant to follow us, and get in here and +sit beside me." + +Fortunately an opening in the closely-packed carriages had just +occurred, and mine was approaching. + +I directed the servant to follow us; and the Marquis having said +a word to his driver, we were immediately in motion. + +"I will bring you to a comfortable place, the very existence of +which is known to but few Parisians, where, knowing how things +were here, I secured a room for you. It is only a mile away, and +an old comfortable inn, called Le Dragon Volant. It was fortunate +for you that my tiresome business called me to this place so +early." + +I think we had driven about a mile-and-a-half to the further side +of the palace when we found ourselves upon a narrow old road, +with the woods of Versailles on one side, and much older trees, +of a size seldom seen in France, on the other. + +We pulled up before an antique and solid inn, built of Caen +stone, in a fashion richer and more florid than was ever usual in +such houses, and which indicated that it was originally designed +for the private mansion of some person of wealth, and probably, +as the wall bore many carved shields and supporters, of +distinction also. A kind of porch, less ancient than the rest, +projected hospitably with a wide and florid arch, over which, cut +in high relief in stone, and painted and gilded, was the sign of +the inn. This was the Flying Dragon, with wings of brilliant red +and gold, expanded, and its tail, pale green and gold, twisted +and knotted into ever so many rings, and ending in a burnished +point barbed like the dart of death. + +"I shan't go in--but you will find it a comfortable place; at all +events better than nothing. I would go in with you, but my +incognito forbids. You will, I daresay, be all the better pleased +to learn that the inn is haunted--I should have been, in my young +days, I know. But don't allude to that awful fact in hearing of +your host, for I believe it is a sore subject. Adieu. If you +want to enjoy yourself at the ball take my advice, and go in a +domino. I think I shall look in; and certainly, if I do, in the +same costume. How shall we recognize one another? Let me see, +something held in the fingers--a flower won't do, so many people +will have flowers. Suppose you get a red cross a couple of inches +long--you're an Englishman--stitched or pinned on the breast of +your domino, and I a white one? Yes, that will do very well; and +whatever room you go into keep near the door till we meet. I +shall look for you at all the doors I pass; and you, in the same +way, for me; and we _must_ find each other soon. So that is +understood. I can't enjoy a thing of that kind with any but a +young person; a man of my age requires the contagion of young +spirits and the companionship of some one who enjoys everything +spontaneously. Farewell; we meet to-night." + +By this time I was standing _on_ the road; I shut the +carriage-door; bid him good-bye; and away he drove. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE DRAGON VOLANT. + + +I took one look about me. + +The building was picturesque; the trees made it more so. The +antique and sequestered character of the scene, contrasted +strangely with the glare and bustle of the Parisian life, to +which my eye and ear had become accustomed. + +Then I examined the gorgeous old sign for a minute or two. Next I +surveyed the exterior of the house more carefully. It was large +and solid, and squared more with my ideas of an ancient English +hostelrie, such as the Canterbury pilgrims might have put up at, +than a French house of entertainment. Except, indeed, for a round +turret, that rose at the left flank of the house, and terminated +in the extinguisher-shaped roof that suggests a French château. + +I entered and announced myself as Monsieur Beckett, for whom a +room had been taken. I was received with all the consideration +due to an English milord, with, of course, an unfathomable purse. + +My host conducted me to my apartment. It was a large room, a little +sombre, panelled with dark wainscoting, and furnished in a stately and +sombre style, long out of date. There was a wide hearth, and a heavy +mantelpiece, carved with shields, in which I might, had I been curious +enough, have discovered a correspondence with the heraldry on the outer +walls. There was something interesting, melancholy, and even depressing +in all this. I went to the stone-shafted window, and looked out upon a +small park, with a thick wood, forming the background of a château, +which presented a cluster of such conical-topped turrets as I have just +now mentioned. + +The wood and château were melancholy objects. They showed signs +of neglect, and almost of decay; and the gloom of fallen +grandeur, and a certain air of desertion hung oppressively over +the scene. + +I asked my host the name of the château. + +"That, Monsieur, is the Château de la Carque," he answered. + +"It is a pity it is so neglected," I observed. "I should say, +perhaps, a pity that its proprietor is not more wealthy?" + +"Perhaps so, Monsieur." + +"_Perhaps_?"--I repeated, and looked at him. "Then I suppose he +is not very popular." + +"Neither one thing nor the other, Monsieur," he answered; "I +meant only that we could not tell what use he might make of +riches." + +"And who is he?" I inquired. + +"The Count de St. Alyre." + +"Oh! The Count! You are quite sure?" I asked, very eagerly. + +It was now the innkeeper's turn to look at me. + +"_Quite_ sure, Monsieur, the Count de St. Alyre." + +"Do you see much of him in this part of the world?" + +"Not a great deal, Monsieur; he is often absent for a +considerable time." + +"And is he poor?" I inquired. + +"I pay rent to him for this house. It is not much; but I find he +cannot wait long for it," he replied, smiling satirically. + +"From what I have heard, however, I should think he cannot be +very poor?" I continued. + +"They say, Monsieur, he plays. I know not. He certainly is not +rich. About seven months ago, a relation of his died in a distant +place. His body was sent to the Count's house here, and by him +buried in Père la Chaise, as the poor gentleman had desired. The +Count was in profound affliction; although he got a handsome +legacy, they say, by that death. But money never seems to do him +good for any time." + +"He is old, I believe?" + +"Old? we call him the 'Wandering Jew,' except, indeed, that he +has not always the five _sous_ in his pocket. Yet, Monsieur, his +courage does not fail him. He has taken a young and handsome +wife." + +"And, she?" I urged-- + +"Is the Countess de St. Alyre." + +"Yes; but I fancy we may say something more? She has attributes?" + +"Three, Monsieur, three, at least most amiable." + +"Ah! And what are they?" + +"Youth, beauty, and--diamonds." + +I laughed. The sly old gentleman was foiling my curiosity. + +"I see, my friend," said I, "you are reluctant--" + +"To quarrel with the Count," he concluded. "True. You see, +Monsieur, he could vex me in two or three ways; so could I him. +But, on the whole, it is better each to mind his business, and to +maintain peaceful relations; you understand." + +It was, therefore, no use trying, at least for the present. +Perhaps he had nothing to relate. Should I think differently, +by-and-by, I could try the effect of a few Napoleons. Possibly +he meant to extract them. + +The host of the Dragon Volant was an elderly man, thin, bronzed, +intelligent, and with an air of decision, perfectly military. I +learned afterwards that he had served under Napoleon in his early +Italian campaigns. + +"One question, I think you may answer," I said, "without risking +a quarrel. Is the Count at home?" + +"He has many homes, I conjecture," said the host evasively. +"But--but I think I may say, Monsieur, that he is, I believe, at +present staying at the Château de la Carque." + +I looked out of the window, more interested than ever, across the +undulating grounds to the château, with its gloomy background of +foliage. + +"I saw him to-day, in his carriage at Versailles," I said. + +"Very natural." + +"Then his carriage and horses and servants are at the château?" + +"The carriage he puts up here, Monsieur, and the servants are +hired for the occasion. There is but one who sleeps at the +château. Such a life must be terrifying for Madame the Countess," +he replied. + +"The old screw!" I thought. "By this torture, he hopes to extract +her diamonds. What a life! What fiends to contend with--jealousy +and extortion!" + +The knight having made this speech to himself, cast his eyes once +more upon the enchanter's castle, and heaved a gentle sigh--a +sigh of longing, of resolution, and of love. + +What a fool I was! and yet, in the sight of angels, are we any +wiser as we grow older? It seems to me, only, that our illusions +change as we go on; but, still, we are madmen all the same. + +"Well, St. Clair," said I, as my servant entered, and began to +arrange my things. "You have got a bed?" + +"In the cock-loft, Monsieur, among the spiders, and, _par ma +foi_! the cats and the owls. But we agree very well. _Vive la +bagatelle_!" + +"I had no idea it was so full." + +"Chiefly the servants, Monsieur, of those persons who were +fortunate enough to get apartments at Versailles." + +"And what do you think of the Dragon Volant?" + +"The Dragon Volant! Monsieur; the old fiery dragon! The devil +himself, if all is true! On the faith of a Christian, Monsieur, +they say that diabolical miracles have taken place in this +house." + +"What do you mean? _Revenants_?" + +"Not at all, sir; I wish it was no worse. _Revenants_? No! People +who have _never_ returned--who vanished, before the eyes of +half-a-dozen men, all looking at them." + +"What do you mean, St. Clair? Let us hear the story, or miracle, +or whatever it is." + +"It is only this, Monsieur, that an ex-master-of-the-horse of the +late king, who lost his head--Monsieur will have the goodness to +recollect, in the revolution--being permitted by the Emperor to +return to France, lived here in this hotel, for a month, and at +the end of that time vanished, visibly, as I told you, before the +faces of half-a-dozen credible witnesses! The other was a Russian +nobleman, six feet high and upwards, who, standing in the centre +of the room, downstairs, describing to seven gentlemen of +unquestionable veracity, the last moments of Peter the Great, and +having a glass of _eau de vie_ in his left hand, and his _tasse +de café_, nearly finished, in his right, in like manner vanished. +His boots were found on the floor where he had been standing; +and the gentleman at his right, found, to his astonishment, his +cup of coffee in his fingers, and the gentleman at his left, his +glass of _eau de vie_--" + +"Which he swallowed in his confusion," I suggested. + +"Which was preserved for three years among the curious articles +of this house, and was broken by the _curé_ while conversing with +Mademoiselle Fidone in the housekeeper's room; but of the Russian +nobleman himself, nothing more was ever seen or heard! _Parbleu!_ +when _we_ go out of the Dragon Volant, I hope it may be by the +door. I heard all this, Monsieur, from the postillion who drove +us." + +"Then it _must_ be true!" said I, jocularly: but I was beginning +to feel the gloom of the view, and of the chamber in which I +stood; there had stolen over me, I know not how, a presentiment +of evil; and my joke was with an effort, and my spirit flagged. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE MAGICIAN. + + +No more brilliant spectacle than this masked ball could be +imagined. Among other _salons_ and galleries, thrown open, was +the enormous perspective of the "Grande Galerie des Glaces," +lighted up on that occasion with no less than four thousand wax +candles, reflected and repeated by all the mirrors, so that the +effect was almost dazzling. The grand suite of _salons_ was +thronged with masques, in every conceivable costume. There was +not a single room deserted. Every place was animated with music, +voices, brilliant colours, flashing jewels, the hilarity of +extemporized comedy, and all the spirited incidents of a cleverly +sustained masquerade. I had never seen before anything, in the +least, comparable to this magnificent _fête_. I moved along, +indolently, in my domino and mask, loitering, now and then, to +enjoy a clever dialogue, a farcical song, or an amusing +monologue, but, at the same time, keeping my eyes about me, lest +my friend in the black domino, with the little white cross on his +breast, should pass me by. + +I had delayed and looked about me, specially, at every door I +passed, as the Marquis and I had agreed; but he had not yet +appeared. + +While I was thus employed, in the very luxury of lazy amusement, +I saw a gilded sedan chair, or, rather, a Chinese palanquin, +exhibiting the fantastic exuberance of "Celestial" decoration, +borne forward on gilded poles by four richly-dressed Chinese; one +with a wand in his hand marched in front, and another behind; and +a slight and solemn man, with a long black beard, a tall fez, +such as a dervish is represented as wearing, walked close to its +side. A strangely-embroidered robe fell over his shoulders, +covered with hieroglyphic symbols; the embroidery was in black +and gold, upon a variegated ground of brilliant colours. The robe +was bound about his waist with a broad belt of gold, with +cabalistic devices traced on it, in dark red and black; red +stockings, and shoes embroidered with gold, and pointed and +curved upward at the toes, in Oriental fashion, appeared below +the skirt of the robe. The man's face was dark, fixed, and +solemn, and his eyebrows black, and enormously heavy--he carried +a singular-looking book under his arm, a wand of polished black +wood in his other hand, and walked with his chin sunk on his +breast, and his eyes fixed upon the floor. The man in front waved +his wand right and left to clear the way for the advancing +palanquin, the curtains of which were closed; and there was +something so singular, strange, and solemn about the whole thing, +that I felt at once interested. + +I was very well pleased when I saw the bearers set down their +burthen within a few yards of the spot on which I stood. + +The bearers and the men with the gilded wands forthwith clapped +their hands, and in silence danced round the palanquin a curious +and half frantic dance, which was yet, as to figures and +postures, perfectly methodical. This was soon accompanied by a +clapping of hands and a ha-ha-ing, rhythmically delivered. + +While the dance was going on a hand was lightly laid on my arm, +and, looking round, a black domino with a white cross stood +beside me. + +"I am so glad I have found you," said the Marquis; "and at this +moment. This is the best group in the rooms. _You_ must speak to +the wizard. About an hour ago I lighted upon them, in another +_salon_, and consulted the oracle, by putting questions. I never +was more amazed. Although his answers were a little disguised it +was soon perfectly plain that he knew every detail about the +business, which no one on earth had heard of but myself, and two +or three other men, about the most cautious persons in France. I +shall never forget that shock. I saw other people who consulted +him, evidently as much surprised, and more frightened than I. I +came with the Count St. Alyre and the Countess." + +He nodded toward a thin figure, also in a domino. It was the +Count. + +"Come," he said to me, "I'll introduce you." + +I followed, you may suppose, readily enough. + +The Marquis presented me, with a very prettily-turned allusion to +my fortunate intervention in his favour at the Belle Etoile; and +the Count overwhelmed me with polite speeches, and ended by +saying, what pleased me better still: + +"The Countess is near us, in the next _salon_ but one, chatting with her +old friend the Duchesse d'Argensaque; I shall go for her in a few +minutes; and when I bring her here, she shall make your acquaintance; +and thank you, also, for your assistance, rendered with so much courage +when we were so very disagreeably interrupted." + +"You must, positively, speak with the magician," said the Marquis +to the Count de St. Alyre, "you will be so much amused. _I_ did +so; and, I assure you, I could not have anticipated such answers! +I don't know what to believe." + +"Really! Then, by all means, let us try," he replied. + +We three approached, together, the side of the palanquin, at +which the black-bearded magician stood. + +A young man, in a Spanish dress, who, with a friend at his side, +had just conferred with the conjuror, was saying, as he passed us +by: + +"Ingenious mystification! Who is that in the palanquin. He seems +to know everybody." + +The Count, in his mask and domino, moved along, stiffly, with us, +toward the palanquin. A clear circle was maintained by the +Chinese attendants, and the spectators crowded round in a ring. + +One of these men--he who with a gilded wand had preceded the +procession--advanced, extending his empty hand, palm upward. + +"Money?" inquired the Count. + +"Gold," replied the usher. + +The Count placed a piece of money in his hand; and I and the +Marquis were each called on in turn to do likewise as we entered +the circle. We paid accordingly. + +The conjuror stood beside the palanquin, its silk curtain in his +hand; his chin sunk, with its long, jet-black beard, on his +chest; the outer hand grasping the black wand, on which he +leaned; his eyes were lowered, as before, to the ground; his face +looked absolutely lifeless. Indeed, I never saw face or figure so +moveless, except in death. + +The first question the Count put, was-- + +"Am I married, or unmarried?" + +The conjuror drew back the curtain quickly, and placed his ear +toward a richly-dressed Chinese, who sat in the litter; withdrew +his head, and closed the curtain again; and then answered-- + +"Yes." + +The same preliminary was observed each time, so that the man with +the black wand presented himself, not as a prophet, but as a +medium; and answered, as it seemed, in the words of a greater +than himself. + +Two or three questions followed, the answers to which seemed to +amuse the Marquis very much; but the point of which I could not +see, for I knew next to nothing of the Count's peculiarities and +adventures. + +"Does my wife love me?" asked he, playfully. + +"As well as you deserve." + +"Whom do I love best in the world?" + +"Self." + +"Oh! That I fancy is pretty much the case with every one. But, +putting myself out of the question, do I love anything on earth +better than my wife?" + +"Her diamonds." + +"Oh!" said the Count. + +The Marquis, I could see, laughed. + +"Is it true," said the Count, changing the conversation +peremptorily, "that there has been a battle in Naples?" + +"No; in France." + +"Indeed," said the Count, satirically, with a glance round. "And +may I inquire between what powers, and on what particular +quarrel?" + +"Between the Count and Countess de St. Alyre, and about a +document they subscribed on the 25th July, 1811." + +The Marquis afterwards told me that this was the date of their +marriage settlement. + +The Count stood stock-still for a minute or so; and one could +fancy that they saw his face flushing through his mask. + +Nobody, but we two, knew that the inquirer was the Count de St. +Alyre. + +I thought he was puzzled to find a subject for his next question; +and, perhaps, repented having entangled himself in such a +colloquy. If so, he was relieved; for the Marquis, touching his +arm, whispered-- + +"Look to your right, and see who is coming." + +I looked in the direction indicated by the Marquis, and I saw a +gaunt figure stalking toward us. It was not a masque. The face +was broad, scarred, and white. In a word, it was the ugly face of +Colonel Gaillarde, who, in the costume of a corporal of the +Imperial Guard, with his left arm so adjusted as to look like a +stump, leaving the lower part of the coat-sleeve empty, and +pinned up to the breast. There were strips of very real +sticking-plaster across his eyebrow and temple, where my stick +had left its mark, to score, hereafter, among the more honourable +scars of war. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE ORACLE TELLS ME WONDERS. + + +I forgot for a moment how impervious my mask and domino were to +the hard stare of the old campaigner, and was preparing for an +animated scuffle. It was only for a moment, of course; but the +Count cautiously drew a little back as the gasconading corporal, +in blue uniform, white vest, and white gaiters--for my friend +Gaillarde was as loud and swaggering in his assumed character as +in his real one of a colonel of dragoons--drew near. He had +already twice all but got himself turned out of doors for +vaunting the exploits of Napoleon le Grand, in terrific +mock-heroics, and had very nearly come to hand-grips with a +Prussian hussar. In fact, he would have been involved in several +sanguinary rows already, had not his discretion reminded him that +the object of his coming there at all, namely, to arrange a +meeting with an affluent widow, on whom he believed he had made a +tender impression, would not have been promoted by his premature +removal from the festive scene, of which he was an ornament, in +charge of a couple of gendarmes. + +"Money! Gold! Bah! What money can a wounded soldier like your +humble servant have amassed, with but his sword-hand left, which, +being necessarily occupied, places not a finger at his command +with which to scrape together the spoils of a routed enemy?" + +"No gold from him," said the magician. "His scars frank him." + +"Bravo, Monsieur le prophète! Bravissimo! Here I am. Shall I +begin, mon _sorcier_, without further loss of time, to question +your--" + +Without waiting for an answer, he commenced, in Stentorian tones. + +After half-a-dozen questions and answers, he asked-- + +"Whom do I pursue at present?" + +"Two persons." + +"Ha! Two? Well, who are they?" + +"An Englishman, whom, if you catch, he will kill you; and a +French widow, whom if you find, she will spit in your face." + +"Monsieur le magicien calls a spade a spade, and knows that his +cloth protects him. No matter! Why do I pursue them?" + +"The widow has inflicted a wound on your heart, and the +Englishman a wound on your head. They are each separately too +strong for you; take care your pursuit does not unite them." + +"Bah! How could that be?" + +"The Englishman protects ladies. He has got that fact into your +head. The widow, if she sees, will marry him. It takes some time, +she will reflect, to become a colonel, and the Englishman is +unquestionably young." + +"I will cut his cock's-comb for him," he ejaculated with an oath +and a grin; and in a softer tone he asked, "Where is she?" + +"Near enough to be offended if you fail." + +"So she ought, by my faith. You are right, Monsieur le prophète! +A hundred thousand thanks! Farewell!" And staring about him, and +stretching his lank neck as high as he could, he strode away with +his scars, and white waistcoat and gaiters, and his bearskin +shako. + +I had been trying to see the person who sat in the palanquin. I +had only once an opportunity of a tolerably steady peep. What I +saw was singular. The oracle was dressed, as I have said, very +richly, in the Chinese fashion. He was a figure altogether on a +larger scale than the interpreter, who stood outside. The +features seemed to me large and heavy, and the head was carried +with a downward inclination! the eyes were closed, and the chin +rested on the breast of his embroidered pelisse. The face seemed +fixed, and the very image of apathy. Its character and _pose_ +seemed an exaggerated repetition of the immobility of the figure +who communicated with the noisy outer world. This face looked +blood-red; but that was caused, I concluded, by the light +entering through the red silk curtains. All this struck me almost +at a glance; I had not many seconds in which to make my +observation. The ground was now clear, and the Marquis said, "Go +forward, my friend." + +I did so. When I reached the magician, as we called the man with +the black wand, I glanced over my shoulder to see whether the +Count was near. + +No, he was some yards behind; and he and the Marquis, whose +curiosity seemed to be, by this time, satisfied, were now +conversing generally upon some subject of course quite different. + +I was relieved, for the sage seemed to blurt out secrets in an +unexpected way; and some of mine might not have amused the Count. + +I thought for a moment. I wished to test the prophet. A +Church-of-England man was a _rara avis_ in Paris. + +"What is my religion?" I asked. + +"A beautiful heresy," answered the oracle instantly. + +"A heresy?--and pray how is it named?" + +"Love." + +"Oh! Then I suppose I am a polytheist, and love a great many?" + +"One." + +"But, seriously," I asked, intending to turn the course of our +colloquy a little out of an embarrassing channel, "have I ever +learned any words of devotion by heart?" + +"Yes." + +"Can you repeat them?" + +"Approach." + +I did, and lowered my ear. + +The man with the black wand closed the curtains, and whispered, +slowly and distinctly, these words, which, I need scarcely tell +you, I instantly recognized: + + +_I may never see you more; and, oh! that I could forget you! +go--farewell--for God's sake, go!_ + + +I started as I heard them. They were, you know, the last words +whispered to me by the Countess. + +Good Heaven! How miraculous! Words heard, most assuredly, by no +ear on earth but my own and the lady's who uttered them, till +now! + +I looked at the impassive face of the spokesman with the wand. +There was no trace of meaning, or even of a consciousness that +the words he had uttered could possibly interest me. + +"What do I most long for?" I asked, scarcely knowing what I said. + +"Paradise." + +"And what prevents my reaching it?" + +"A black veil." + +Stronger and stronger! The answers seemed to me to indicate the +minutest acquaintance with every detail of my little romance, of +which not even the Marquis knew anything! And I, the questioner, +masked and robed so that my own brother could not have known me! + +"You said I loved some one. Am I loved in return?" I asked. + +"Try." + +I was speaking lower than before, and stood near the dark man +with the beard, to prevent the necessity of his speaking in a +loud key. + +"Does any one love me?" I repeated. + +"Secretly," was the answer. + +"Much or little?" I inquired. + +"Too well." + +"How long will that love last?" + +"Till the rose casts its leaves." + +"The rose--another allusion!" + +"Then--darkness!" I sighed. "But till then I live in light." + +"The light of violet eyes." + +Love, if not a religion, as the oracle had just pronounced it, +is, at least, a superstition. How it exalts the imagination! How +it enervates the reason! How credulous it makes us! + +All this which, in the case of another, I should have laughed at, +most powerfully affected me in my own. It inflamed my ardour, and +half crazed my brain, and even influenced my conduct. + +The spokesman of this wonderful trick--if trick it were--now +waved me backward with his wand, and as I withdrew, my eyes still +fixed upon the group, by this time encircled with an aura of +mystery in my fancy; backing toward the ring of spectators, I saw +him raise his hand suddenly, with a gesture of command, as a +signal to the usher who carried the golden wand in front. + +The usher struck his wand on the ground, and, in a shrill voice, +proclaimed; "The great Confu is silent for an hour." + +Instantly the bearers pulled down a sort of blind of bamboo, +which descended with a sharp clatter, and secured it at the +bottom; and then the man in the tall fez, with the black beard +and wand, began a sort of dervish dance. In this the men with the +gold wands joined, and finally, in an outer ring, the bearers, +the palanquin being the centre of the circles described by these +solemn dancers, whose pace, little by little, quickened, whose +gestures grew sudden, strange, frantic, as the motion became +swifter and swifter, until at length the whirl became so rapid +that the dancers seemed to fly by with the speed of a mill-wheel, +and amid a general clapping of hands, and universal wonder, these +strange performers mingled with the crowd, and the exhibition, +for the time at least, ended. + +The Marquis d'Harmonville was standing not far away, looking on +the ground, as one could judge by his attitude and musing. I +approached, and he said: + +"The Count has just gone away to look for his wife. It is a pity +she was not here to consult the prophet; it would have been +amusing, I daresay, to see how the Count bore it. Suppose we +follow him. I have asked him to introduce you." + +With a beating heart, I accompanied the Marquis d'Harmonville. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +MADEMOISELLE DE LA VALLIÈRE. + + +We wandered through the salons, the Marquis and I. It was no easy +matter to find a friend in rooms so crowded. + +"Stay here," said the Marquis, "I have thought of a way of +finding him. Besides, his jealousy may have warned him that there +is no particular advantage to be gained by presenting you to his +wife, I had better go and reason with him; as you seem to wish an +introduction so very much." + +This occurred in the room that is now called the "Salon +d'Apollon." The paintings remained in my memory, and my adventure +of that evening was destined to occur there. + +I sat down upon a sofa; and looked about me. Three or four +persons beside myself were seated on this roomy piece of gilded +furniture. They were chatting all very gaily; all--except the +person who sat next me, and she was a lady. Hardly two feet +interposed between us. The lady sat apparently in a reverie. +Nothing could be more graceful. She wore the costume perpetuated +in Collignan's full-length portrait of Mademoiselle de la +Vallière. It is, as you know, not only rich, but elegant. Her +hair was powdered, but one could perceive that it was naturally a +dark brown. One pretty little foot appeared, and could anything +be more exquisite than her hand? + +It was extremely provoking that this lady wore her mask, and did +not, as many did, hold it for a time in her hand. + +I was convinced that she was pretty. Availing myself of the +privilege of a masquerade, a microcosm in which it is impossible, +except by voice and allusion, to distinguish friend from foe, I +spoke-- + +"It is not easy, Mademoiselle, to deceive me," I began. + +"So much the better for Monsieur," answered the mask, quietly. + +"I mean," I said, determined to tell my fib, "that beauty is a +gift more difficult to conceal than Mademoiselle supposes." + +"Yet Monsieur has succeeded very well," she said in the same +sweet and careless tones. + +"I see the costume of this, the beautiful Mademoiselle de la +Vallière, upon a form that surpasses her own; I raise my eyes, +and I behold a mask, and yet I recognise the lady; beauty is +like that precious stone in the 'Arabian Nights,' which emits, no +matter how concealed, a light that betrays it." + +"I know the story," said the young lady. "The light betrayed it, +not in the sun, but in darkness. Is there so little light in +these rooms, Monsieur, that a poor glowworm can show so brightly. +I thought we were in a luminous atmosphere, wherever a certain +countess moved?" + +Here was an awkward speech! How was I to answer? This lady might +be, as they say some ladies are, a lover of mischief, or an +intimate of the Countess de St. Alyre. Cautiously, therefore, I +inquired, + +"What countess?" + +"If you know me, you must know that she is my dearest friend. Is +she not beautiful?" + +"How can I answer, there are so many countesses." + +"Every one who knows me, knows who my best beloved friend is. You +don't know me?" + +"That is cruel. I can scarcely believe I am mistaken." + +"With whom were you walking, just now?" she asked. + +"A gentleman, a friend," I answered. + +"I saw him, of course, a friend; but I think I know him, and +should like to be certain. Is he not a certain marquis?" + +Here was another question that was extremely awkward. + +"There are so many people here, and one may walk, at one time, +with one, and at another with a different one, that--" + +"That an unscrupulous person has no difficulty in evading a +simple question like mine. Know then, once for all, that nothing +disgusts a person of spirit so much as suspicion. You, Monsieur, +are a gentleman of discretion. I shall respect you accordingly." + +"Mademoiselle would despise me, were I to violate a confidence." + +"But you don't deceive me. You imitate your friend's diplomacy. I +hate diplomacy. It means fraud and cowardice. Don't you think I +know him. The gentleman with the cross of white ribbon on his +breast. I know the Marquis d'Harmonville perfectly. You see to +what good purpose your ingenuity has been expended." + +"To that conjecture I can answer neither yes nor no." + +"You need not. But what was your motive in mortifying a lady?" + +"It is the last thing on earth I should do." + +"You affected to know me, and you don't; through caprice or +listlessness or curiosity you wished to converse, not with a +lady, but with a costume. You admired, and you pretend to +mistake me for another. But who is quite perfect? Is truth any +longer to be found on earth?" + +"Mademoiselle has formed a mistaken opinion of me." + +"And you also of me; you find me less foolish than you supposed. +I know perfectly whom you intend amusing with compliments and +melancholy declamation, and whom, with that amiable purpose, you +have been seeking." + +"Tell me whom you mean," I entreated. + +"Upon one condition." + +"What is that?" + +"That you will confess if I name the lady." + +"You describe my object unfairly." I objected. "I can't admit +that I proposed speaking to any lady in the tone you describe." + +"Well, I shan't insist on that; only if I name the lady, you +will promise to admit that I am right." + +"_Must_ I promise?" + +"Certainly not, there is no compulsion; but your promise is the +only condition on which I will speak to you again." + +I hesitated for a moment; but how could she possibly tell? The +Countess would scarcely have admitted this little romance to any +one; and the mask in the La Vallière costume could not possibly +know who the masked domino beside her was. + +"I consent," I said, "I promise." + +"You must promise on the honour of a gentleman." + +"Well, I do; on the honour of a gentleman." + +"Then this lady is the Countess de St. Alyre." I was unspeakably +surprised; I was disconcerted; but I remembered my promise, and +said-- + +"The Countess de St. Alyre _is_, unquestionably, the lady to whom +I hoped for an introduction to-night; but I beg to assure you +also on the honour of a gentleman, that she has not the faintest +imaginable suspicion that I was seeking such an honour, nor, in +all probability, does she remember that such a person as I +exists. I had the honour to render her and the Count a trifling +service, too trifling, I fear, to have earned more than an hour's +recollection." + +"The world is not so ungrateful as you suppose; or if it be, +there are, nevertheless, a few hearts that redeem it. I can +answer for the Countess de St. Alyre, she never forgets a +kindness. She does not show all she feels; for she is unhappy, +and cannot." + +"Unhappy! I feared, indeed, that might be. But for all the rest +that you are good enough to suppose, it is but a flattering +dream." + +"I told you that I am the Countess's friend, and being so I must +know something of her character; also, there are confidences +between us, and I may know more than you think, of those trifling +services of which you suppose the recollection is so transitory." + +I was becoming more and more interested. I was as wicked as other +young men, and the heinousness of such a pursuit was as nothing, +now that self-love and all the passions that mingle in such a +romance, were roused. The image of the beautiful Countess had now +again quite superseded the pretty counterpart of La Vallière, who +was before me. I would have given a great deal to hear, in solemn +earnest, that she did remember the champion who, for her sake, +had thrown himself before the sabre of an enraged dragoon, with +only a cudgel in his hand, and conquered. + +"You say the Countess is unhappy," said I. "What causes her +unhappiness?" + +"Many things. Her husband is old, jealous, and tyrannical. Is not +that enough? Even when relieved from his society, she is lonely." + +"But you are her friend?" I suggested. + +"And you think one friend enough?" she answered; "she has one +alone, to whom she can open her heart." + +"Is there room for another friend?" + +"Try." + +"How can I find a way?" + +"She will aid you." + +"How?" + +She answered by a question. "Have you secured rooms in either of +the hotels of Versailles?" + +"No, I could not. I am lodged in the Dragon Volant, which stands +at the verge of the grounds of the Château de la Carque." + +"That is better still. I need not ask if you have courage for an +adventure. I need not ask if you are a man of honour. A lady may +trust herself to you, and fear nothing. There are few men to whom +the interview, such as I shall arrange, could be granted with +safety. You shall meet her at two o'clock this morning in the +Park of the Château de la Carque. What room do you occupy in the +Dragon Volant?" + +I was amazed at the audacity and decision of this girl. Was she, +as we say in England, hoaxing me? + +"I can describe that accurately," said I. "As I look from the +rear of the house, in which my apartment is, I am at the extreme +right, next the angle; and one pair of stairs up, from the hall." + +"Very well; you must have observed, if you looked into the park, +two or three clumps of chestnut and lime-trees, growing so close +together as to form a small grove. You must return to your hotel, +change your dress, and, preserving a scrupulous secrecy, as to +why or where you go, leave the Dragon Volant, and climb the +park-wall, unseen; you will easily recognize the grove I have +mentioned; there you will meet the Countess, who will grant you +an audience of a few minutes, who will expect the most scrupulous +reserve on your part, and who will explain to you, in a few +words, a great deal which _I_ could not so well tell you here." + +I cannot describe the feeling with which I heard these words. I +was astounded. Doubt succeeded. I could not believe these +agitating words. + +"Mademoiselle will believe that if I only dared assure myself +that so great a happiness and honour were really intended for me, +my gratitude would be as lasting as my life. But how dare I +believe that Mademoiselle does not speak, rather from her own +sympathy or goodness, than from a certainty that the Countess de +St. Alyre would concede so great an honour?" + +"Monsieur believes either that I am not, as I pretend to be, in +the secret which he hitherto supposed to be shared by no one but +the Countess and himself, or else that I am cruelly mystifying +him. That I am in her confidence, I swear by all that is dear in +a whispered farewell. By the last companion of this flower!" and +she took for a moment in her fingers the nodding head of a white +rosebud that was nestled in her bouquet. "By my own good star, +and hers--or shall I call it our '_belle_ étoile?' Have I said +enough?" + +"Enough?" I repeated, "more than enough--a thousand thanks." + +"And being thus in her confidence, I am clearly her friend; and +being a friend would it be friendly to use her dear name so; and +all for sake of practising a vulgar trick upon you--a stranger?" + +"Mademoiselle will forgive me. Remember how very precious is the +hope of seeing, and speaking to the Countess. Is it wonderful, +then, that I should falter in my belief? You have convinced me, +however, and will forgive my hesitation." + +"You will be at the place I have described, then, at two +o'clock?" + +"Assuredly," I answered. + +"And Monsieur, I know, will not fail, through fear. No, he need +not assure me; his courage is already proved." + +"No danger, in such a case, will be unwelcome to me." + +"Had you not better go now, Monsieur, and rejoin your friend?" + +"I promised to wait here for my friend's return. The Count de St. +Alyre said that he intended to introduce me to the Countess." + +"And Monsieur is so simple as to believe him?" + +"Why should I not?" + +"Because he is jealous and cunning. You will see. He will never +introduce you to his wife. He will come here and say he cannot +find her, and promise another time." + +"I think I see him approaching, with my friend. No--there is no +lady with him." + +"I told you so. You will wait a long time for that happiness, if +it is never to reach you except through his hands. In the +meantime, you had better not let him see you so near me. He will +suspect that we have been talking of his wife; and that will whet +his jealousy and his vigilance." + +I thanked my unknown friend in the mask, and withdrawing a few +steps, came, by a little "circumbendibus," upon the flank of the +Count. + +I smiled under my mask, as he assured me that the Duchesse de la +Roqueme had changed her place, and taken the Countess with her; +but he hoped, at some very early time, to have an opportunity of +enabling her to make my acquaintance. + +I avoided the Marquis d'Harmonville, who was following the Count. +I was afraid he might propose accompanying me home, and had no +wish to be forced to make an explanation. + +I lost myself quickly, therefore, in the crowd, and moved, as +rapidly as it would allow me, toward the Galerie des Glaces, +which lay in the direction opposite to that in which I saw the +Count and my friend the Marquis moving. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +STRANGE STORY OF THE DRAGON VOLANT. + + +These _fêtes_ were earlier in those days, and in France, than our +modern balls are in London. I consulted my watch. It was a little +past twelve. + +It was a still and sultry night; the magnificent suite of rooms, +vast as some of them were, could not be kept at a temperature +less than oppressive, especially to people with masks on. In some +places the crowd was inconvenient, and the profusion of lights +added to the heat. I removed my mask, therefore, as I saw some +other people do, who were as careless of mystery as I. I had +hardly done so, and began to breathe more comfortably, when I +heard a friendly English voice call me by my name. It was Tom +Whistlewick, of the --th Dragoons. He had unmasked, with a very +flushed face, as I did. He was one of those Waterloo heroes, new +from the mint of glory, whom, as a body, all the world, except +France, revered; and the only thing I knew against him, was a +habit of allaying his thirst, which was excessive, at balls, +_fêtes_, musical parties, and all gatherings, where it was to be +had, with champagne; and, as he introduced me to his friend, +Monsieur Carmaignac, I observed that he spoke a little thick. +Monsieur Carmaignac was little, lean, and as straight as a +ramrod. He was bald, took snuff, and wore spectacles; and, as I +soon learned, held an official position. + +Tom was facetious, sly, and rather difficult to understand, in +his present pleasant mood. He was elevating his eyebrows and +screwing his lips oddly, and fanning himself vaguely with his +mask. + +After some agreeable conversation, I was glad to observe that he +preferred silence, and was satisfied with the _rôle_ of listener, +as I and Monsieur Carmaignac chatted; and he seated himself, with +extraordinary caution and indecision, upon a bench, beside us, +and seemed very soon to find a difficulty in keeping his eyes +open. + +"I heard you mention," said the French gentleman, "that you had +engaged an apartment in the Dragon Volant, about half a league +from this. When I was in a different police department, about +four years ago, two very strange cases were connected with that +house. One was of a wealthy _émigré_, permitted to return to +France, by the Em--by Napoleon. He vanished. The other--equally +strange--was the case of a Russian of rank and wealth. He +disappeared just as mysteriously." + +"My servant," I said, "gave me a confused account of some +occurrences, and, as well as I recollect he described the same +persons--I mean a returned French nobleman, and a Russian +gentleman. But he made the whole story so marvellous--I mean in +the supernatural sense--that, I confess, I did not believe a word +of it." + +"No, there was nothing supernatural; but a great deal +inexplicable," said the French gentleman. "Of course there may be +theories; but the thing was never explained, nor, so far as I +know, was a ray of light ever thrown upon it." + +"Pray let me hear the story," I said. "I think I have a claim, as +it affects my quarters. You don't suspect the people of the +house?" + +"Oh! it has changed hands since then. But there seemed to be a +fatality about a particular room." + +"Could you describe that room?" + +"Certainly. It is a spacious, panelled bed-room, up one pair of +stairs, in the back of the house, and at the extreme right, as +you look from its windows." + +"Ho! Really? Why, then, I have got the very room!" I said, +beginning to be more interested--perhaps the least bit in the +world, disagreeably. "Did the people die, or were they actually +spirited away?" + +"No, they did not die--they disappeared very oddly. I'll tell you +the particulars--I happen to know them exactly, because I made an +official visit, on the first occasion, to the house, to collect +evidence; and although I did not go down there, upon the second, +the papers came before me, and I dictated the official letter +despatched to the relations of the people who had disappeared; +they had applied to the government to investigate, the affair. We +had letters from the same relations more than two years later, +from which we learned that the missing men had never turned up." + +He took a pinch of snuff, and looked steadily at me. + +"Never! I shall relate all that happened, so far as we could +discover. The French noble, who was the Chevalier Chateau +Blassemare, unlike most _émigrés_, had taken the matter in time, +sold a large portion of his property before the revolution had +proceeded so far as to render that next to impossible, and +retired with a large sum. He brought with him about half a +million of francs, the greater part of which he invested in the +French funds; a much larger sum remained in Austrian land and +securities. You will observe then that this gentleman was rich, +and there was no allegation of his having lost money, or being, +in any way, embarrassed. You see?" + +I assented. + +"This gentleman's habits were not expensive in proportion to his +means. He had suitable lodgings in Paris; and for a time, +society, the theatres, and other reasonable amusements, engrossed +him. He did not play. He was a middle-aged man, affecting youth, +with the vanities which are usual in such persons; but, for the +rest, he was a gentle and polite person, who disturbed nobody--a +person, you see, not likely to provoke an enmity." + +"Certainly not," I agreed. + +"Early in the summer of 1811, he got an order permitting him to +copy a picture in one of these _salons_, and came down here, to +Versailles, for the purpose. His work was getting on slowly. +After a time he left his hotel, here, and went, by way of +change, to the Dragon Volant: there he took, by special choice, +the bed-room which has fallen to you by chance. From this time, +it appeared, he painted little; and seldom visited his apartments +in Paris. One night he saw the host of the Dragon Volant, and +told him that he was going into Paris, to remain for a day or +two, on very particular business; that his servant would +accompany him, but that he would retain his apartments at the +Dragon Volant, and return in a few days. He left some clothes +there, but packed a portmanteau, took his dressing-case, and the +rest, and, with his servant behind his carriage, drove into +Paris. You observe all this, Monsieur?" + +"Most attentively," I answered. + +"Well, Monsieur, as soon as they were approaching his lodgings, +he stopped the carriage on a sudden, told his servant that he had +changed his mind; that he would sleep elsewhere that night, that +he had very particular business in the north of France, not far +from Rouen, that he would set out before daylight on his journey, +and return in a fortnight. He called a _fiacre_, took in his hand +a leather bag which, the servant said, was just large enough to +hold a few shirts and a coat, but that it was enormously heavy, +as he could testify, for he held it in his hand, while his master +took out his purse to count thirty-six Napoleons, for which the +servant was to account when he should return. He then sent him +on, in the carriage; and he, with the bag I have mentioned, got +into the _fiacre_. Up to that, you see, the narrative is quite +clear." + +"Perfectly," I agreed. + +"Now comes the mystery," said Monsieur Carmaignac. "After that, +the Count Chateau Blassemare was never more seen, so far as we +can make out, by acquaintance or friend. We learned that the day +before the Count's stockbroker had, by his direction, sold all +his stock in the French funds, and handed him the cash it +realized. The reason he gave him for this measure tallied with +what he said to his servant. He told him that he was going to the +north of France to settle some claims, and did not know exactly +how much might be required. The bag, which had puzzled the +servant by its weight, contained, no doubt, a large sum in gold. +Will Monsieur try my snuff?" + +He politely tendered his open snuff-box, of which I partook, +experimentally. + +"A reward was offered," he continued, "when the inquiry was instituted, +for any information tending to throw a light upon the mystery, which +might be afforded by the driver of the _fiacre_ 'employed on the night +of' (so-and-so), 'at about the hour of half-past ten, by a gentleman, +with a black-leather travelling-bag in his hand, who descended from a +private carriage, and gave his servant some money, which he counted +twice over.' About a hundred-and-fifty drivers applied, but not one of +them was the right man. We did, however, elicit a curious and unexpected +piece of evidence in quite another quarter. What a racket that plaguey +harlequin makes with his sword!" + +"Intolerable!" I chimed in. + +The harlequin was soon gone, and he resumed. + +"The evidence I speak of, came from a boy, about twelve years +old, who knew the appearance of the Count perfectly, having been +often employed by him as a messenger. He stated that about +half-past twelve o'clock, on the same night--upon which you are +to observe, there was a brilliant moon--he was sent, his mother +having been suddenly taken ill, for the _sage femme_ who lived +within a stone's throw of the Dragon Volant. His father's house, +from which he started, was a mile away, or more, from that inn, +in order to reach which he had to pass round the park of the +Château de la Carque, at the site most remote from the point to +which he was going. It passes the old churchyard of St. Aubin, +which is separated from the road only by a very low fence, and +two or three enormous old trees. The boy was a little nervous as +he approached this ancient cemetery; and, under the bright +moonlight, he saw a man whom he distinctly recognised as the +Count, whom they designated by a soubriquet which means 'the man +of smiles.' He was looking rueful enough now, and was seated on +the side of a tombstone, on which he had laid a pistol, while he +was ramming home the charge of another. + +"The boy got cautiously by, on tip-toe, with his eyes all the +time on the Count Chateau Blassemare, or the man he mistook for +him; his dress was not what he usually wore, but the witness +swore that he could not be mistaken as to his identity. He said +his face looked grave and stern; but though he did not smile, it +was the same face he knew so well. Nothing would make him swerve +from that. If that were he, it was the last time he was seen. He +has never been heard of since. Nothing could be heard of him in +the neighbourhood of Rouen. There has been no evidence of his +death; and there is no sign that he is living." + +"That certainly is a most singular case," I replied; and was +about to ask a question or two, when Tom Whistlewick who, without +my observing it, had been taking a ramble, returned, a great deal +more awake, and a great deal less tipsy. + +"I say, Carmaignac, it is getting late, and I must go; I really +must, for the reason I told you--and, Beckett, we must soon meet +again." + +"I regret very much, Monsieur, my not being able at present to +relate to you the other case, that of another tenant of the very +same room--a case more mysterious and sinister than the last--and +which occurred in the autumn of the same year." + +"Will you both do a very good-natured thing, and come and dine +with me at the Dragon Volant to-morrow?" + +So, as we pursued our way along the Galerie des Glaces, I +extracted their promise. + +"By Jove!" said Whistlewick, when this was done; "look at that +pagoda, or sedan chair, or whatever it is, just where those +fellows set it down, and not one of them near it! I can't imagine +how they tell fortunes so devilish well. Jack Nuffles--I met him +here to-night--says they are gipsies--where are they, I wonder? +I'll go over and have a peep at the prophet." + +I saw him plucking at the blinds, which were constructed +something on the principle of Venetian blinds; the red curtains +were inside; but they did not yield, and he could only peep under +one that did not come quite down. + +When he rejoined us, he related: "I could scarcely see the old +fellow, it's so dark. He is covered with gold and red, and has an +embroidered hat on like a mandarin's; he's fast asleep; and, by +Jove, he smells like a pole-cat! It's worth going over only to +have it to say. Fiew! pooh! oh! It _is_ a perfume. Faugh!" + +Not caring to accept this tempting invitation, we got along +slowly toward the door. I bid them good-night, reminding them of +their promise. And so found my way at last to my carriage; and +was soon rolling slowly toward the Dragon Volant, on the +loneliest of roads, under old trees, and the soft moonlight. + +What a number of things had happened within the last two hours! +what a variety of strange and vivid pictures were crowded +together in that brief space! What an adventure was before me! + +The silent, moonlighted, solitary road, how it contrasted with +the many-eddied whirl of pleasure from whose roar and music, +lights, diamonds and colours, I had just extricated myself. + +The sight of lonely Nature at such an hour, acts like a sudden +sedative. The madness and guilt of my pursuit struck me with a +momentary compunction and horror. I wished I had never entered +the labyrinth which was leading me, I knew not whither. It was +too late to think of that now; but the bitter was already +stealing into my cup; and vague anticipations lay, for a few +minutes, heavy on my heart. It would not have taken much to make +me disclose my unmanly state of mind to my lively friend, Alfred +Ogle, nor even to the milder ridicule of the agreeable Tom +Whistlewick. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE PARC OF THE CHATEAU DE LA CARQUE. + + +There was no danger of the Dragon Volant's closing its doors on +that occasion till three or four in the morning. There were +quartered there many servants of great people, whose masters +would not leave the ball till the last moment, and who could not +return to their corners in the Dragon Volant, till their last +services had been rendered. + +I knew, therefore, I should have ample time for my mysterious +excursion without exciting curiosity by being shut out. + +And now we pulled up under the canopy of boughs, before the sign +of the Dragon Volant, and the light that shone from its +hall-door. + +I dismissed my carriage, ran up the broad staircase, mask in +hand, with my domino fluttering about me, and entered the large +bed-room. The black wainscoting and stately furniture, with the +dark curtains of the very tall bed, made the night there more +sombre. + +An oblique patch of moonlight was thrown upon the floor from the +window to which I hastened. I looked out upon the landscape +slumbering in those silvery beams. There stood the outline of the +Château de la Carque, its chimneys, and many turrets with their +extinguisher-shaped roofs black against the soft grey sky. There, +also, more in the foreground, about midway between the window +where I stood, and the château, but a little to the left, I +traced the tufted masses of the grove which the lady in the mask +had appointed as the trysting-place, where I and the beautiful +Countess were to meet that night. + +I took "the bearings" of this gloomy bit of wood, whose foliage +glimmered softly at top in the light of the moon. + +You may guess with what a strange interest and swelling of the +heart I gazed on the unknown scene of my coming adventure. + +But time was flying, and the hour already near. I threw my robe +upon a sofa; I groped out a pair of boots, which I substituted +for those thin heelless shoes, in those days called "pumps," +without which a gentleman could not attend an evening party. I +put on my hat, and lastly, I took a pair of loaded pistols which +I had been advised were satisfactory companions in the then +unsettled state of French society: swarms of disbanded soldiers, +some of them alleged to be desperate characters, being everywhere +to be met with. These preparations made, I confess I took a +looking-glass to the window to see how I looked in the moonlight; +and being satisfied, I replaced it, and ran downstairs. + +In the hall I called for my servant. + +"St. Clair," said I; "I mean to take a little moonlight ramble, +only ten minutes or so. You must not go to bed until I return. If +the night is very beautiful, I may possibly extend my ramble a +little." + +So down the steps I lounged, looking first over my right, and +then over my left shoulder, like a man uncertain which direction +to take, and I sauntered up the road, gazing now at the moon, and +now at the thin white clouds in the opposite direction, +whistling, all the time, an air which I had picked up at one of +the theatres. + +When I had got a couple of hundred yards away from the Dragon +Volant, my minstrelsy totally ceased; and I turned about, and +glanced sharply down the road that looked as white as hoar-frost +under the moon, and saw the gable of the old inn, and a window, +partly concealed by the foliage, with a dusky light shining from +it. + +No sound of footstep was stirring; no sign of human figure in +sight. I consulted my watch, which the light was sufficiently +strong to enable me to do. It now wanted but eight minutes of the +appointed hour. A thick mantle of ivy at this point covered the +wall and rose in a clustering head at top. + +It afforded me facilities for scaling the wall, and a partial +screen for my operations, if any eye should chance to be looking +that way. And now it was done. I was in the park of the Château +de la Carque, as nefarious a poacher as ever trespassed on the +grounds of unsuspicious lord! + +Before me rose the appointed grove, which looked as black as a +clump of gigantic hearse-plumes. It seemed to tower higher and +higher at every step; and cast a broader and blacker shadow +toward my feet. On I marched, and was glad when I plunged into +the shadow which concealed me. Now I was among the grand old lime +and chestnut trees--my heart beat fast with expectation. + +This grove opened, a little, near the middle; and in the space +thus cleared, there stood with a surrounding flight of steps, a +small Greek temple or shrine, with a statue in the centre. It was +built of white marble with fluted Corinthian columns, and the +crevices were tufted with grass; moss had shown itself on +pedestal and cornice, and signs of long neglect and decay were +apparent in its discoloured and weather-worn marble. A few feet +in front of the steps a fountain, fed from the great ponds at the +other side of the château, was making a constant tinkle and +plashing in a wide marble basin, and the jet of water glimmered +like a shower of diamonds in the broken moonlight. The very +neglect and half-ruinous state of all this made it only the +prettier, as well as sadder. I was too intently watching for the +arrival of the lady, in the direction of the château, to study +these things; but the half-noted effect of them was romantic, and +suggested somehow the grotto and the fountain, and the apparition +of Egeria. + +As I watched a voice spoke to me, a little behind my left +shoulder. I turned, almost with a start, and the masque, in the +costume of Mademoiselle de la Vallière stood there. + +"The Countess will be here presently," she said. The lady stood +upon the open space, and the moonlight fell unbroken upon her. +Nothing could be more becoming; her figure looked more graceful +and elegant than ever. "In the meantime I shall tell you some +peculiarities of her situation. She is unhappy; miserable in an +ill-assorted marriage, with a jealous tyrant who now would +constrain her to sell her diamonds, which are--" + +"Worth thirty thousand pounds sterling. I heard all that from a +friend. Can I aid the Countess in her unequal struggle? Say but +how, and the greater the danger or the sacrifice, the happier +will it make me. _Can_ I aid her?" + +"If you despise a danger--which, yet, is not a danger; if you +despise, as she does, the tyrannical canons of the world; and, if +you are chivalrous enough to devote yourself to a lady's cause, +with no reward but her poor gratitude; if you can do these things +you can aid her, and earn a foremost place, not in her gratitude +only, but in her friendship." + +At those words the lady in the mask turned away, and seemed to +weep. + +I vowed myself the willing slave of the Countess. "But," I added, +"you told me she would soon be here." + +"That is, if nothing unforeseen should happen; but with the eye +of the Count de St. Alyre in the house, and open, it is seldom +safe to stir." + +"Does she wish to see me?" I asked, with a tender hesitation. + +"First, say have you really thought of _her_, more than once, +since the adventure of the Belle Etoile." + +"She never leaves my thoughts; day and night her beautiful eyes +haunt me; her sweet voice is always in my ear." + +"Mine is said to resemble hers," said the mask. + +"So it does," I answered. "But it is only a resemblance." + +"Oh! then mine is better?" + +"Pardon me, Mademoiselle, I did not say _that_. Yours is a sweet +voice, but I fancy a little higher." + +"A little shriller, you would say," answered the De la Vallière, +I fancied a good deal vexed. + +"No, not shriller: your voice is not shrill, it is beautifully +sweet; but not so pathetically sweet as her." + +"That is prejudice, Monsieur; it is not true." + +I bowed; I could not contradict a lady. + +"I see, Monsieur, you laugh at me; you think me vain, because I +claim in some points to be equal to the Countess de St. Alyre. I +challenge you to say, my hand, at least, is less beautiful than +hers." As she thus spoke, she drew her glove off, and extended +her hand, back upward, in the moonlight. + +The lady seemed really nettled. It was undignified and +irritating; for in this uninteresting competition the precious +moments were flying, and my interview leading apparently to +nothing. + +"You will admit, then, that my hand is as beautiful as hers?" + +"I cannot admit it, Mademoiselle," said I, with the honesty of +irritation. "I will not enter into comparisons, but the Countess +de St. Alyre is, in all respects, the most beautiful lady I ever +beheld." + +The masque laughed coldly, and then, more and more softly, said, +with a sigh, "I will prove all I say." And as she spoke she +removed the mask: and the Countess de St. Alyre, smiling, +confused, bashful, more beautiful than ever, stood before me! + +"Good Heavens!" I exclaimed. "How monstrously stupid I have been. +And it was to Madame la Comtesse that I spoke for so long in the +_salon_!" I gazed on her in silence. And with a low sweet laugh +of goodnature she extended her hand. I took it, and carried it to +my lips. + +"No, you must not do that," she said, quietly, "we are not old +enough friends yet. I find, although you were mistaken, that you +do remember the Countess of the Belle Etoile, and that you are a +champion true and fearless. Had you yielded to the claims just +now pressed upon you by the rivalry of Mademoiselle de la +Vallière, in her mask, the Countess de St. Alyre should never +have trusted or seen you more. I now am sure that you are true, +as well as brave. You now know that I have not forgotten you; +and, also, that if you would risk your life for me, I, too, would +brave some danger, rather than lose my friend for ever. I have +but a few moments more. Will you come here again to-morrow night, +at a quarter past eleven? I will be here at that moment; you must +exercise the most scrupulous care to prevent suspicion that you +have come here, Monsieur. _You owe that to me._" + +She spoke these last words with the most solemn entreaty. + +I vowed again and again, that I would die rather than permit the +least rashness to endanger the secret which made all the interest +and value of my life. + +She was looking, I thought, more and more beautiful every moment. +My enthusiasm expanded in proportion. + +"You must come to-morrow night by a different route," she said; +"and if you come again, we can change it once more. At the other +side of the château there is a little churchyard, with a ruined +chapel. The neighbours are afraid to pass it by night. The road +is deserted there, and a stile opens a way into these grounds. +Cross it and you can find a covert of thickets, to within fifty +steps of this spot." + +I promised, of course, to observe her instructions implicitly. + +"I have lived for more than a year in an agony of irresolution. I +have decided at last. I have lived a melancholy life; a lonelier +life than is passed in the cloister. I have had no one to confide +in; no one to advise me; no one to save me from the horrors of my +existence. I have found a brave and prompt friend at last. Shall +I ever forget the heroic tableau of the hall of the Belle Etoile? +Have you--have you really kept the rose I gave you, as we parted? +Yes--you swear it. You need not; I trust you. Richard, how often +have I in solitude repeated your name, learned from my servant. +Richard, my hero! Oh! Richard! Oh, my king! I love you." + +I would have folded her to my heart--thrown myself at her feet. +But this beautiful and--shall I say it--inconsistent woman +repelled me. + +"No, we must not waste our moments in extravagances. Understand +my case. There is no such thing as indifference in the married +state. Not to love one's husband," she continued, "is to hate +him. The Count, ridiculous in all else, is formidable in his +jealousy. In mercy, then, to me, observe caution. Affect to all +you speak to, the most complete ignorance of all the people in +the Château de la Carque; and, if any one in your presence +mentions the Count or Countess de St. Alyre, be sure you say you +never saw either. I shall have more to say to you to-morrow +night. I have reasons that I cannot now explain, for all I do, +and all I postpone. Farewell. Go! Leave me." + +She waved me back, peremptorily. I echoed her "farewell," and +obeyed. + +This interview had not lasted, I think, more than ten minutes. I +scaled the park-wall again, and reached the Dragon Volant before +its doors were closed. + +I lay awake in my bed, in a fever of elation. I saw, till the +dawn broke, and chased the vision, the beautiful Countess de St. +Alyre, always in the dark, before me. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE TENANT OF THE PALANQUIN. + + +The Marquis called on me next day. My late breakfast was still +upon the table. + +He had come, he said, to ask a favour. An accident had happened +to his carriage in the crowd on leaving the ball, and he begged, +if I were going into Paris, a seat in mine--I was going in, and +was extremely glad of his company. He came with me to my hotel; +we went up to my rooms. I was surprised to see a man seated in an +easy chair, with his back towards us, reading a newspaper. He +rose. It was the Count de St. Alyre, his gold spectacles on his +nose; his black wig, in oily curls, lying close to his narrow +head, and showing, like carved ebony over a repulsive visage of +boxwood. His black muffler had been pulled down. His right arm +was in a sling. I don't know whether there was anything unusual +in his countenance that day, or whether it was but the effect of +prejudice arising from all I had heard in my mysterious interview +in his park, but I thought his countenance was more strikingly +forbidding than I had seen it before. + +I was not callous enough in the ways of sin to meet this man, +injured at least in intent, thus suddenly, without a momentary +disturbance. + +He smiled. + +"I called, Monsieur Beckett, in the hope of finding you here," +he croaked, "and I meditated, I fear, taking a great liberty, but +my friend the Marquis d'Harmonville, on whom I have perhaps some +claim, will perhaps give me the assistance I require so much." + +"With great pleasure," said the Marquis, "but not till after six +o'clock. I must go this moment to a meeting of three or four +people, whom I cannot disappoint, and I know, perfectly, we +cannot break up earlier." + +"What am I to do?" exclaimed the Count, "an hour would have done +it all. Was ever _contre-temps_ so unlucky!" + +"I'll give you an hour, with pleasure," said I. + +"How very good of you, Monsieur, I hardly dare to hope it. The +business, for so gay and charming a man as Monsieur Beckett, is a +little _funeste_. Pray read this note which reached me this +morning." + +It certainly was not cheerful. It was a note stating that the +body of his, the Count's cousin, Monsieur de St. Amand, who had +died at his house, the Château Clery, had been, in accordance +with his written directions, sent for burial at Père La Chaise, +and, with the permission of the Count de St. Alyre, would reach +his house (the Château de la Carque), at about ten o'clock on the +night following, to be conveyed thence in a hearse, with any +member of the family who might wish to attend the obsequies. + +"I did not see the poor gentleman twice in my life," said the +Count, "but this office, as he has no other kinsman, disagreeable +as it is, I could scarcely decline, and so I want to attend at +the office to have the book signed, and the order entered. But +here is another misery. By ill luck, I have sprained my thumb, +and can't sign my name for a week to come. However, one name +answers as well as another. Yours as well as mine. And as you +are so good as to come with me, all will go right." + +Away, we drove. The Count gave me a memorandum of the christian +and surnames of the deceased, his age, the complaint he died of, +and the usual particulars; also a note of the exact position in +which a grave, the dimensions of which were described, of the +ordinary simple kind, was to be dug, between two vaults belonging +to the family of St. Amand. The funeral, it was stated, would +arrive at half-past one o'clock A.M. (the next night but one); +and he handed me the money, with extra fees, for a burial by +night. It was a good deal; and I asked him, as he entrusted the +whole affair to me, in whose name I should take the receipt. + +"Not in mine, my good friend. They wanted me to become an +executor, which I, yesterday, wrote to decline; and I am informed +that if the receipt were in my name it would constitute me an +executor in the eye of the law, and fix me in that position. Take +it, pray, if you have no objection, in your own name." + +This, accordingly, I did. + +"You will see, by-and-by, why I am obliged to mention all these +particulars." + +The Count, meanwhile, was leaning back in the carriage, with his +black silk muffler up to his nose, and his hat shading his eyes, +while he dozed in his corner; in which state I found him on my +return. + +Paris had lost its charm for me. I hurried through the little +business I had to do, longed once more for my quiet room in the +Dragon Volant, the melancholy woods of the Château de la Carque, +and the tumultuous and thrilling influence of proximity to the +object of my wild but wicked romance. + +I was delayed some time by my stockbroker. I had a very large +sum, as I told you, at my banker's, uninvested. I cared very +little for a few days' interest--very little for the entire sum, +compared with the image that occupied my thoughts, and beckoned +me with a white arm, through the dark, toward the spreading +lime-trees and chestnuts of the Château de la Carque. But I had +fixed this day to meet him, and was relieved when he told me that +I had better let it lie in my banker's hands for a few days +longer, as the funds would certainly fall immediately. This +accident, too, was not without its immediate bearing on my +subsequent adventures. + +When I reached the Dragon Volant, I found, in my sitting-room, a +good deal to my chagrin, my two guests, whom I had quite +forgotten. I inwardly cursed my own stupidity for having +embarrassed myself with their agreeable society. It could not be +helped now, however, and a word to the waiters put all things in +train for dinner. + +Tom Whistlewick was in great force; and he commenced almost +immediately with a very odd story. + +He told me that not only Versailles, but all Paris, was in a +ferment, in consequence of a revolting, and all but sacrilegious, +practical joke, played off on the night before. + +The pagoda, as he persisted in calling the palanquin, had been +left standing on the spot where we last saw it. Neither conjuror, +nor usher, nor bearers had ever returned. When the ball closed, +and the company at length retired, the servants who attended to +put out the lights, and secure the doors, found it still there. + +It was determined, however, to let it stand where it was until +next morning, by which time, it was conjectured, its owners would +send messengers to remove it. + +None arrived. The servants were then ordered to take it away; and +its extraordinary weight, for the first time, reminded them of +its forgotten human occupant. Its door was forced; and, judge +what was their disgust, when they discovered, not a living man, +but a corpse! Three or four days must have passed since the death +of the burly man in the Chinese tunic and painted cap. Some +people thought it was a trick designed to insult the Allies, in +whose honour the ball was got up. Others were of opinion that it +was nothing worse than a daring and cynical jocularity which, +shocking as it was, might yet be forgiven to the high spirits and +irrepressible buffoonery of youth. Others, again, fewer in +number, and mystically given, insisted that the corpse was _bonâ +fide_ necessary to the exhibition, and that the disclosures and +allusions which had astonished so many people were distinctly due +to necromancy. + +"The matter, however, is now in the hands of the police," +observed Monsieur Carmaignac, "and we are not the body they were +two or three months ago, if the offenders against propriety and +public feeling are not traced, and convicted, unless, indeed, +they have been a great deal more cunning than such fools +generally are." + +I was thinking within myself how utterly inexplicable was my +colloquy with the conjuror, so cavalierly dismissed by Monsieur +Carmaignac as a "fool;" and the more I thought the more +marvellous it seemed. + +"It certainly was an original joke, though not a very clear one," +said Whistlewick. + +"Not even original," said Carmaignac. "Very nearly the same thing +was done, a hundred years ago or more, at a state ball in Paris; +and the rascals who played the trick were never found out." + +In this Monsieur Carmaignac, as I afterwards discovered, spoke +truly; for, among my books of French anecdote and memoirs, the +very incident is marked, by my own hand. + +While we were thus talking, the waiter told us that dinner was +served; and we withdrew accordingly; my guests more than making +amends for my comparative taciturnity. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE CHURCH-YARD. + + +Our dinner was really good, so were the wines; better, perhaps, +at this out-of-the-way inn, than at some of the more pretentious +hotels in Paris. The moral effect of a really good dinner is +immense--we all felt it. The serenity and goodnature that follow +are more solid and comfortable than the tumultuous benevolences +of Bacchus. + +My friends were happy, therefore, and very chatty; which latter +relieved me of the trouble of talking, and prompted them to +entertain me and one another incessantly with agreeable stories +and conversation, of which, until suddenly a subject emerged, +which interested me powerfully, I confess, so much were my +thoughts engaged elsewhere, I heard next to nothing. + +"Yes," said Carmaignac, continuing a conversation which had +escaped me, "there was another case, beside that Russian +nobleman, odder still. I remembered it this morning, but cannot +recall the name. He was a tenant of the very same room. +By-the-by, Monsieur, might it not be as well," he added, turning +to me, with a laugh, half joke whole earnest, as they say, "if +you were to get into another apartment, now that the house is no +longer crowded? that is, if you mean to make any stay here." + +"A thousand thanks! no. I'm thinking of changing my hotel; and I +can run into town so easily at night; and though I stay here, +for this night, at least, I don't expect to vanish like those +others. But you say there is another adventure, of the same kind, +connected with the same room. Do let us hear it. But take some +wine first." + +The story he told was curious. + +"It happened," said Carmaignac, "as well as I recollect, before +either of the other cases. A French gentleman--I wish I could +remember his name--the son of a merchant, came to this inn (the +Dragon Volant), and was put by the landlord into the same room of +which we have been speaking. _Your_ apartment, Monsieur. He was +by no means young--past forty--and very far from good-looking. +The people here said that he was the ugliest man, and the most +good-natured, that ever lived. He played on the fiddle, sang, and +wrote poetry. His habits were odd and desultory. He would +sometimes sit all day in his room writing, singing, and +fiddling, and go out at night for a walk. An eccentric man! He +was by no means a millionaire, but he had a _modicum bonum_ you +understand--a trifle more than half a million of francs. He +consulted his stockbroker about investing this money in foreign +stocks, and drew the entire sum from his banker. You now have the +situation of affairs when the catastrophe occurred." + +"Pray fill your glass," I said. + +"Dutch courage, Monsieur, to face the catastrophe!" said +Whistlewick, filling his own. + +"Now, that was the last that ever was heard of his money," +resumed Carmaignac. "You shall hear about himself. The night +after this financial operation, he was seized with a poetic +frenzy; he sent for the then landlord of this house, and told him +that he long meditated an epic, and meant to commence that +night, and that he was on no account to be disturbed until nine +o'clock in the morning. He had two pairs of wax candles, a little +cold supper on a side-table, his desk open, paper enough upon it +to contain the entire Henriade, and a proportionate store of pens +and ink. + +"Seated at this desk he was seen by the waiter who brought him a +cup of coffee at nine o'clock, at which time the intruder said he +was writing fast enough to set fire to the paper--that was his +phrase; he did not look up, he appeared too much engrossed. But, +when the waiter came back, half an hour afterwards, the door was +locked; and the poet, from within, answered, that he must not be +disturbed. + +"Away went the _garçon_; and next morning at nine o'clock knocked +at his door, and receiving no answer, looked through the +key-hole; the lights were still burning, the window-shutters +were closed as he had left them; he renewed his knocking, knocked +louder, no answer came. He reported this continued and alarming +silence to the inn-keeper, who, finding that his guest had not +left his key in the lock, succeeded in finding another that +opened it. The candles were just giving up the ghost in their +sockets, but there was light enough to ascertain that the tenant +of the room was gone! The bed had not been disturbed; the +window-shutter was barred. He must have let himself out, and, +locking the door on the outside, put the key in his pocket, and +so made his way out of the house. Here, however, was another +difficulty, the Dragon Volant shut its doors and made all fast at +twelve o'clock; after that hour no one could leave the house, +except by obtaining the key and letting himself out, and of +necessity leaving the door unsecured, or else by collusion and +aid of some person in the house. + +"Now it happened that, some time after the doors were secured, at +half-past twelve, a servant who had not been apprized of his +order to be left undisturbed, seeing a light shine through the +key-hole, knocked at the door to inquire whether the poet wanted +anything. He was very little obliged to his disturber, and +dismissed him with a renewed charge that he was not to be +interrupted again during the night. This incident established the +fact that he was in the house after the doors had been locked and +barred. The inn-keeper himself kept the keys, and swore that he +found them hung on the wall above his head, in his bed, in their +usual place, in the morning; and that nobody could have taken +them away without awakening him. That was all we could discover. +The Count de St. Alyre, to whom this house belongs, was very +active and very much chagrined. But nothing was discovered." + +"And nothing heard since of the epic poet?" I asked. + +"Nothing--not the slightest clue--he never turned up again. I +suppose he is dead; if he is not, he must have got into some +devilish bad scrape, of which we have heard nothing, that +compelled him to abscond with all the secresy and expedition in +his power. All that we know for certain is that, having occupied +the room in which you sleep, he vanished, nobody ever knew how, +and never was heard of since." + +"You have now mentioned three cases," I said, "and all from the +same room." + +"Three. Yes, all equally unintelligible. When men are murdered, +the great and immediate difficulty the assassins encounter is how +to conceal the body. It is very hard to believe that three +persons should have been consecutively murdered, in the same +room, and their bodies so effectually disposed of that no trace +of them was ever discovered." + +From this we passed to other topics, and the grave Monsieur +Carmaignac amused us with a perfectly prodigious collection of +scandalous anecdote, which his opportunities in the police +department had enabled him to accumulate. + +My guests happily had engagements in Paris, and left me about +ten. + +I went up to my room, and looked out upon the grounds of the +Château de la Carque. The moonlight was broken by clouds, and the +view of the park in this desultory light, acquired a melancholy +and fantastic character. + +The strange anecdotes recounted of the room in which I stood, by +Monsieur Carmaignac, returned vaguely upon my mind, drowning in +sudden shadows the gaiety of the more frivolous stories with +which he had followed them. I looked round me on the room that +lay in ominous gloom, with an almost disagreeable sensation. I +took my pistols now with an undefined apprehension that they +might be really needed before my return to-night. This feeling, +be it understood, in nowise chilled my ardour. Never had my +enthusiasm mounted higher. My adventure absorbed and carried me +away; but it added a strange and stern excitement to the +expedition. + +I loitered for a time in my room. I had ascertained the exact +point at which the little churchyard lay. It was about a mile +away; I did not wish to reach it earlier than necessary. + +I stole quietly out, and sauntered along the road to my left, and +thence entered a narrower track, still to my left, which, +skirting the park wall, and describing a circuitous route, all +the way, under grand old trees, passes the ancient cemetery. That +cemetery is embowered in trees, and occupies little more than +half an acre of ground, to the left of the road, interposing +between it and the park of the Château de la Carque. + +Here, at this haunted spot, I paused and listened. The place was +utterly silent. A thick cloud had darkened the moon, so that I +could distinguish little more than the outlines of near objects, +and that vaguely enough; and sometimes, as it were, floating in +black fog, the white surface of a tombstone emerged. + +Among the forms that met my eye against the iron-grey of the +horizon, were some of those shrubs or trees that grow like our +junipers, some six feet high, in form like a miniature poplar, +with the darker foliage of the yew. I do not know the name of +the plant, but I have often seen it in such funereal places. + +Knowing that I was a little too early, I sat down upon the edge +of a tombstone to wait, as, for aught I knew, the beautiful +Countess might have wise reasons for not caring that I should +enter the grounds of the château earlier than she had appointed. +In the listless state induced by waiting, I sat there, with my +eyes on the object straight before me, which chanced to be that +faint black outline I have described. It was right before me, +about half-a-dozen steps away. + +The moon now began to escape from under the skirt of the cloud +that had hid her face for so long; and, as the light gradually +improved, the tree on which I had been lazily staring began to +take a new shape. It was no longer a tree, but a man standing +motionless. Brighter and brighter grew the moonlight, clearer +and clearer the image became, and at last stood out perfectly +distinctly. It was Colonel Gaillarde. + +Luckily, he was not looking toward me. I could only see him in +profile; but there was no mistaking the white moustache, the +_farouche_ visage, and the gaunt six-foot stature. There he was, +his shoulder toward me, listening and watching, plainly, for some +signal or person expected, straight in front of him. + +If he were, by chance, to turn his eyes in my direction, I knew +that I must reckon upon an instantaneous renewal of the combat +only commenced in the hall of the Belle Etoile. In any case, +could malignant fortune have posted, at this place and hour, a +more dangerous watcher? What ecstasy to him, by a single +discovery, to hit me so hard, and blast the Countess de St. +Alyre, whom he seemed to hate. + +He raised his arm; he whistled softly; I heard an answering +whistle as low; and, to my relief, the Colonel advanced in the +direction of this sound, widening the distance between us at +every step; and immediately I heard talking, but in a low and +cautious key. + +I recognized, I thought, even so, the peculiar voice of +Gaillarde. + +I stole softly forward in the direction in which those sounds +were audible. In doing so, I had, of course, to use the extremest +caution. + +I thought I saw a hat above a jagged piece of ruined wall, and +then a second--yes, I saw two hats conversing; the voices came +from under them. They moved off, not in the direction of the +park, but of the road, and I lay along the grass, peeping over a +grave, as a skirmisher might, observing the enemy. One after the +other, the figures emerged full into view as they mounted the +stile at the road-side. The Colonel, who was last, stood on the +wall for awhile, looking about him, and then jumped down on the +road. I heard their steps and talk as they moved away together, +with their backs toward me, in the direction which led them +farther and farther from the Dragon Volant. + +I waited until these sounds were quite lost in distance before I +entered the park. I followed the instructions I had received from +the Countess de St. Alyre, and made my way among brushwood and +thickets to the point nearest the ruinous temple, and crossed the +short intervening space of open ground rapidly. + +I was now once more under the gigantic boughs of the old lime and +chestnut trees; softly, and with a heart throbbing fast, I +approached the little structure. + +The moon was now shining steadily, pouring down its radiance on +the soft foliage, and here and there mottling the verdure under +my feet. + +I reached the steps; I was among its worn marble shafts. She was +not there, nor in the inner sanctuary, the arched windows of +which were screened almost entirely by masses of ivy. The lady +had not yet arrived. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE KEY. + + +I stood now upon the steps, watching and listening. In a minute +or two I heard the crackle of withered sticks trod upon, and, +looking in the direction, I saw a figure approaching among the +trees, wrapped in a mantle. + +I advanced eagerly. It was the Countess. She did not speak, but +gave me her hand, and I led her to the scene of our last +interview. She repressed the ardour of my impassioned greeting +with a gentle but peremptory firmness. She removed her hood, +shook back her beautiful hair, and, gazing on me with sad and +glowing eyes, sighed deeply. Some awful thought seemed to weigh +upon her. + +"Richard, I must speak plainly. The crisis of my life has come. I +am sure you would defend me. I think you pity me; perhaps you +even love me." + +At these words I became eloquent, as young madmen in my plight +do. She silenced me, however, with the same melancholy firmness. + +"Listen, dear friend, and then say whether you can aid me. How +madly I am trusting you; and yet my heart tells me how wisely! To +meet you here as I do--what insanity it seems! How poorly you +must think of me! But when you know all, you will judge me +fairly. Without your aid I cannot accomplish my purpose. That +purpose unaccomplished, I must die. I am chained to a man whom I +despise--whom I abhor. I have resolved to fly. I have jewels, +principally diamonds, for which I am offered thirty thousand +pounds of your English money. They are my separate property by my +marriage settlement; I will take them with me. You are a judge, +no doubt, of jewels. I was counting mine when the hour came, and +brought this in my hand to show you. Look." + +"It is magnificent!" I exclaimed, as a collar of diamonds +twinkled and flashed in the moonlight, suspended from her pretty +fingers. I thought, even at that tragic moment, that she +prolonged the show, with a feminine delight in these brilliant +toys. + +"Yes," she said, "I shall part with them all. I will turn them +into money, and break, for ever, the unnatural and wicked bonds +that tied me, in the name of a sacrament, to a tyrant. A man +young, handsome, generous, brave as you, can hardly be rich. +Richard, you say you love me; you shall share all this with me. +We will fly together to Switzerland; we will evade pursuit; my +powerful friends will intervene and arrange a separation; and I +shall, at length, be happy and reward my hero." + +You may suppose the style, florid and vehement, in which I poured +forth my gratitude, vowed the devotion of my life, and placed +myself absolutely at her disposal. + +"To-morrow night," she said, "my husband will attend the remains +of his cousin, Monsieur de St. Amand, to Père la Chaise. The +hearse, he says, will leave this at half-past nine. You must be +here, where we stand, at nine o'clock." + +I promised punctual obedience. + +"I will not meet you here; but you see a red light in the window +of the tower at that angle of the château?" + +I assented. + +"I placed it there, that, to-morrow night, when it comes, you may +recognize it. So soon as that rose-coloured light appears at that +window, it will be a signal to you that the funeral has left the +château, and that you may approach safely. Come, then, to that +window; I will open it, and admit you. Five minutes after a +travelling-carriage, with four horses, shall stand ready in the +_porte-cochère_. I will place my diamonds in your hands; and so +soon as we enter the carriage, our flight commences. We shall +have at least five hours' start; and with energy, stratagem, and +resource, I fear nothing. Are you ready to undertake all this for +my sake?" + +Again I vowed myself her slave. + +"My only difficulty," she said, "is how we shall quickly enough +convert my diamonds into money; I dare not remove them while my +husband is in the house." + +Here was the opportunity I wished for. I now told her that I had +in my banker's hands no less a sum than thirty thousand pounds, +with which, in the shape of gold and notes, I should come +furnished, and thus the risk and loss of disposing of her +diamonds in too much haste would be avoided. + +"Good heaven!" she exclaimed, with a kind of disappointment. "You +are rich, then? and I have lost the felicity of making my +generous friend more happy. Be it so! since so it must be. Let us +contribute, each, in equal shares, to our common fund. Bring you, +your money; I, my jewels. There is a happiness to me even in +mingling my resources with yours." + +On this there followed a romantic colloquy, all poetry and +passion, such as I should, in vain, endeavour to reproduce. + +Then came a very special instruction. + +"I have come provided, too, with a key, the use of which I must +explain." + +It was a double key--a long, slender stem, with a key at each +end--one about the size which opens an ordinary room door; the +other, as small, almost, as the key of a dressing-case. + +"You cannot employ too much caution to-morrow night. An +interruption would murder all my hopes. I have learned that you +occupy the haunted room in the Dragon Volant. It is the very room +I would have wished you in. I will tell you why--there is a story +of a man who, having shut himself up in that room one night, +disappeared before morning. The truth is, he wanted, I believe, +to escape from creditors; and the host of the Dragon Volant, at +that time, being a rogue, aided him in absconding. My husband +investigated the matter, and discovered how his escape was made. +It was by means of this key. Here is a memorandum and a plan +describing how they are to be applied. I have taken them from the +Count's escritoire. And now, once more I must leave to your +ingenuity how to mystify the people at the Dragon Volant. Be sure +you try the keys first, to see that the locks turn freely. I will +have my jewels ready. You, whatever we divide, had better bring +your money, because it may be many months before you can revisit +Paris, or disclose our place of residence to any one; and our +passports--arrange all that; in what names, and whither, you +please. And now, dear Richard" (she leaned her arm fondly on my +shoulder, and looked with ineffable passion in my eyes, with her +other hand clasped in mine), "my very life is in your hands; I +have staked all on your fidelity." + +As she spoke the last word, she, on a sudden, grew deadly pale, +and gasped, "Good God! who is here?" + +At the same moment she receded through the door in the marble +screen, close to which she stood, and behind which was a small +roofless chamber, as small as the shrine, the window of which was +darkened by a clustering mass of ivy so dense that hardly a gleam +of light came through the leaves. + +I stood upon the threshold which she had just crossed, looking in +the direction in which she had thrown that one terrified glance. +No wonder she was frightened. Quite close upon us, not twenty +yards away, and approaching at a quick step, very distinctly +lighted by the moon, Colonel Gaillarde and his companion were +coming. The shadow of the cornice and a piece of wall were upon +me. Unconscious of this, I was expecting the moment when, with +one of his frantic yells, he should spring forward to assail me. + +I made a step backward, drew one of my pistols from my pocket, +and cocked it. It was obvious he had not seen me. + +I stood, with my finger on the trigger, determined to shoot him +dead if he should attempt to enter the place where the Countess +was. It would, no doubt, have been a murder; but, in my mind, I +had no question or qualm about it. When once we engage in secret +and guilty practices we are nearer other and greater crimes than +we at all suspect. + +"There's the statue," said the Colonel, in his brief discordant +tones. "That's the figure." + +"Alluded to in the stanzas?" inquired his companion. + +"The very thing. We shall see more next time. Forward, Monsieur; +let us march." + +And, much to my relief, the gallant Colonel turned on his heel, +and marched through the trees, with his back toward the château, +striding over the grass, as I quickly saw, to the park wall, +which they crossed not far from the gables of the Dragon Volant. + +I found the Countess trembling in no affected, but a very real +terror. She would not hear of my accompanying her toward the +château. But I told her that I would prevent the return of the +mad Colonel; and upon that point, at least, that she need fear +nothing. She quickly recovered, again bid me a fond and lingering +good-night, and left me, gazing after her, with the key in my +hand, and such a phantasmagoria floating in my brain as amounted +very nearly to madness. + +There was I, ready to brave all dangers, all right and reason, +plunge into murder itself, on the first summons, and entangle +myself in consequences inextricable and horrible (what cared I?) +for a woman of whom I knew nothing, but that she was beautiful +and reckless! + +I have often thanked heaven for its mercy in conducting me +through the labyrinths in which I had all but lost myself. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A HIGH-CAULD CAP. + + +I was now upon the road, within two or three hundred yards of the +Dragon Volant. I had undertaken an adventure with a vengeance! +And by way of prelude, there not improbably awaited me, at my +inn, another encounter, perhaps, this time, not so lucky, with +the grotesque sabreur. + +I was glad I had my pistols. I certainly was bound by no law to +allow a ruffian to cut me down, unresisting. + +Stooping boughs from the old park, gigantic poplars on the other +side, and the moonlight over all, made the narrow road to the +inn-door picturesque. + +I could not think very clearly just now; events were succeeding +one another so rapidly, and I, involved in the action of a drama +so extravagant and guilty, hardly knew myself or believed my own +story, as I slowly paced towards the still open door of the +Flying Dragon. + +No sign of the Colonel, visible or audible, was there. In the +hall I inquired. No gentleman had arrived at the inn for the last +half hour. I looked into the public room. It was deserted. The +clock struck twelve, and I heard the servant barring the great +door. I took my candle. The lights in this rural hostelry were by +this time out, and the house had the air of one that had settled +to slumber for many hours. The cold moonlight streamed in at the +window on the landing, as I ascended the broad staircase; and I +paused for a moment to look over the wooded grounds to the +turreted château, to me, so full of interest. I bethought me, +however, that prying eyes might read a meaning in this midnight +gazing, and possibly the Count himself might, in his jealous +mood, surmise a signal in this unwonted light in the stair-window +of the Dragon Volant. + +On opening my room door, with a little start, I met an extremely +old woman with the longest face I ever saw; she had what used to +be termed, a high-cauld-cap, on, the white border of which +contrasted with her brown and yellow skin, and made her wrinkled +face more ugly. She raised her curved shoulders, and looked up in +my face, with eyes unnaturally black and bright. + +"I have lighted a little wood, Monsieur, because the night is +chill." + +I thanked her, but she did not go. She stood with her candle in +her tremulous fingers. + +"Excuse an old woman. Monsieur," she said; "but what on earth can +a young English _milord_, with all Paris at his feet, find to +amuse him in the Dragon Volant?" + +Had I been at the age of fairy tales, and in daily intercourse +with the delightful Countess d'Aulnois, I should have seen in +this withered apparition, the _genius loci_, the malignant fairy, +at the stamp of whose foot, the ill-fated tenants of this very +room had, from time to time, vanished. I was past that, however; +but the old woman's dark eyes were fixed on mine, with a steady +meaning that plainly told me that my secret was known. I was +embarrassed and alarmed; I never thought of asking her what +business that was of hers. + +"These old eyes saw you in the park of the château to-night." + +"_I!_" I began, with all the scornful surprise I could affect. + +"It avails nothing, Monsieur; I know why you stay here; and I +tell you to begone. Leave this house to-morrow morning, and never +come again." + +She lifted her disengaged hand, as she looked at me with intense +horror in her eyes. + +"There is nothing on earth--I don't know what you mean," I +answered; "and why should you care about me?" + +"I don't care about you, Monsieur--I care about the honour of an +ancient family, whom I served in their happier days, when to be +noble, was to be honoured. But my words are thrown away, +Monsieur; you are insolent. I will keep my secret, and you, +yours; that is all. You will soon find it hard enough to divulge +it." + +The old woman went slowly from the room and shut the door, before +I had made up my mind to say anything. I was standing where she +had left me, nearly five minutes later. The jealousy of Monsieur +the Count, I assumed, appears to this old creature about the most +terrible thing in creation. Whatever contempt I might entertain +for the dangers which this old lady so darkly intimated, it was +by no means pleasant, you may suppose, that a secret so dangerous +should be so much as suspected by a stranger, and that stranger a +partisan of the Count de St. Alyre. + +Ought I not, at all risks, to apprize the Countess, who had +trusted me so generously, or, as she said herself, so madly, of +the fact that our secret was, at least, suspected by another? But +was there not greater danger in attempting to communicate? What +did the beldame mean by saying, "Keep your secret, and I'll keep +mine?" + +I had a thousand distracting questions before me. My progress +seemed like a journey through the Spessart, where at every step +some new goblin or monster starts from the ground or steps from +behind a tree. + +Peremptorily I dismissed these harassing and frightful doubts. I +secured my door, sat myself down at my table, and with a candle +at each side, placed before me the piece of vellum which +contained the drawings and notes on which I was to rely for full +instructions as to how to use the key. + +When I had studied this for awhile, I made my investigation. The +angle of the room at the right side of the window was cut off by +an oblique turn in the wainscot. I examined this carefully, and, +on pressure, a small bit of the frame of the woodwork slid aside, +and disclosed a keyhole. On removing my finger, it shot back to +its place again, with a spring. So far I had interpreted my +instructions successfully. A similar search, next the door, and +directly under this, was rewarded by a like discovery. The small +end of the key fitted this, as it had the upper keyhole; and now, +with two or three hard jerks at the key, a door in the panel +opened, showing a strip of the bare wall, and a narrow, arched +doorway, piercing the thickness of the wall; and within which I +saw a screw-staircase of stone. + +Candle in hand I stepped in. I do not know whether the quality of air, +long undisturbed, is peculiar; to me it has always seemed so, and the +damp smell of the old masonry hung in this atmosphere. My candle faintly +lighted the bare stone wall that enclosed the stair, the foot of which I +could not see. Down I went, and a few turns brought me to the stone +floor. Here was another door, of the simple, old, oak kind, deep sunk in +the thickness of the wall. The large end of the key fitted this. The +lock was stiff; I set the candle down upon the stair, and applied both +hands; it turned with difficulty, and as it revolved, uttered a shriek +that alarmed me for my secret. + +For some minutes I did not move. In a little time, however, I +took courage, and opened the door. The night-air floating in, +puffed out the candle. There was a thicket of holly and +underwood, as dense as a jungle, close about the door. I should +have been in pitch-darkness, were it not that through the topmost +leaves, there twinkled, here and there, a glimmer of moonshine. + +Softly, lest any one should have opened his window, at the sound +of the rusty bolt, I struggled through this, till I gained a view +of the open grounds. Here I found that the brushwood spread a +good way up the park, uniting with the wood that approached the +little temple I have described. + +A general could not have chosen a more effectually-covered +approach from the Dragon Volant to the trysting-place where +hitherto I had conferred with the idol of my lawless adoration. + +Looking back upon the old inn, I discovered that the stair I +descended, was enclosed in one of those slender turrets that +decorate such buildings. It was placed at that angle which +corresponded with the part of the paneling of my room indicated +in the plan I had been studying. + +Thoroughly satisfied with my experiment, I made my way back to +the door, with some little difficulty, re-mounted to my room, +locked my secret door again; kissed the mysterious key that her +hand had pressed that night, and placed it under my pillow, upon +which, very soon after, my giddy head was laid, not, for some +time, to sleep soundly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +I SEE THREE MEN IN A MIRROR. + + +I awoke very early next morning, and was too excited to sleep +again. As soon as I could, without exciting remark, I saw my +host. I told him that I was going into town that night, and +thence to ----, where I had to see some people on business, and +requested him to mention my being there to any friend who might +call. That I expected to be back in about a week, and that in the +meantime my servant, St. Clair, would keep the key of my room, +and look after my things. + +Having prepared this mystification for my landlord, I drove into +Paris, and there transacted the financial part of the affair. The +problem was to reduce my balance, nearly thirty thousand pounds, +to a shape in which it would be not only easily portable, but +available, wherever I might go, without involving correspondence, +or any other incident which would disclose my place of residence, +for the time being. All these points were as nearly provided for +as they could be. I need not trouble you about my arrangements +for passports. It is enough to say that the point I selected for +our flight was, in the spirit of romance, one of the most +beautiful and sequestered nooks in Switzerland. + +Luggage, I should start with none. The first considerable town we +reached next morning, would supply an extemporized wardrobe. It +was now two o'clock; _only_ two! How on earth was I to dispose of +the remainder of the day? + +I had not yet seen the cathedral of Notre Dame; and thither I drove. I +spent an hour or more there; and then to the Conciergerie, the Palais de +Justice, and the beautiful Sainte Chapelle. Still there remained some +time to get rid of, and I strolled into the narrow streets adjoining the +cathedral. I recollect seeing, in one of them, an old house with a mural +inscription stating that it had been the residence of Canon Fulbert, the +uncle of Abelard's Eloise. I don't know whether these curious old +streets, in which I observed fragments of ancient gothic churches fitted +up as warehouses, are still extant. I lighted, among other dingy and +eccentric shops, upon one that seemed that of a broker of all sorts of +old decorations, armour, china, furniture. I entered the shop; it was +dark, dusty, and low. The proprietor was busy scouring a piece of inlaid +armour, and allowed me to poke about his shop, and examine the curious +things accumulated there, just as I pleased. Gradually I made my way to +the farther end of it, where there was but one window with many panes, +each with a bull's-eye in it, and in the dirtiest possible state. When I +reached this window, I turned about, and in a recess, standing at right +angles with the side wall of the shop, was a large mirror in an +old-fashioned dingy frame. Reflected in this I saw, what in old houses I +have heard termed an "alcove," in which, among lumber, and various dusty +articles hanging on the wall, there stood a table, at which three +persons were seated, as it seemed to me, in earnest conversation. Two of +these persons I instantly recognized; one was Colonel Gaillarde, the +other was the Marquis d'Harmonville. The third, who was fiddling with a +pen, was a lean, pale man, pitted with the small-pox, with lank black +hair, and about as mean-looking a person as I had ever seen in my life. +The Marquis looked up, and his glance was instantaneously followed by +his two companions. For a moment I hesitated what to do. But it was +plain that I was not recognized, as indeed I could hardly have been, the +light from the window being behind me, and the portion of the shop +immediately before me, being very dark indeed. + +Perceiving this, I had presence of mind to affect being entirely +engrossed by the objects before me, and strolled slowly down the +shop again. I paused for a moment to hear whether I was followed, +and was relieved when I heard no step. You may be sure I did not +waste more time in that shop, where I had just made a discovery +so curious and so unexpected. + +It was no business of mine to inquire what brought Colonel +Gaillarde and the Marquis together, in so shabby, and even dirty +a place, or who the mean person, biting the feather end of his +pen, might be. Such employments as the Marquis had accepted +sometimes make strange bed-fellows. + +I was glad to get away, and just as the sun set, I had reached the steps +of the Dragon Volant, and dismissed the vehicle in which I arrived, +carrying in my hand a strong box, of marvellously small dimensions +considering all it contained, strapped in a leather cover, which +disguised its real character. + +When I got to my room, I summoned St. Clair. I told him nearly +the same story, I had already told my host. I gave him fifty +pounds, with orders to expend whatever was necessary on himself, +and in payment for my rooms till my return. I then eat a slight +and hasty dinner. My eyes were often upon the solemn old clock +over the chimney-piece, which was my sole accomplice in keeping +tryste in this iniquitous venture. The sky favoured my design, +and darkened all things with a sea of clouds. + +The innkeeper met me in the hall, to ask whether I should want a +vehicle to Paris? I was prepared for this question, and instantly +answered that I meant to walk to Versailles, and take a carriage +there. I called St. Clair. + +"Go," said I, "and drink a bottle of wine with your friends. I +shall call you if I should want anything; in the meantime, here +is the key of my room; I shall be writing some notes, so don't +allow any one to disturb me, for at least half an hour. At the +end of that time you will probably find that I have left this for +Versailles; and should you not find me in the room, you may take +that for granted; and you take charge of everything, and lock the +door, you understand?" + +St. Clair took his leave, wishing me all happiness and no doubt +promising himself some little amusement with my money. With my +candle in my hand, I hastened upstairs. It wanted now but five +minutes to the appointed time. I do not think there is anything +of the coward in my nature; but I confess, as the crisis +approached, I felt something of the suspense and awe of a soldier +going into action. Would I have receded? Not for all this earth +could offer. + +I bolted my door, put on my great coat, and placed my pistols, +one in each pocket. I now applied my key to the secret locks; +drew the wainscot-door a little open, took my strong box under my +arm, extinguished my candle, unbolted my door, listened at it +for a few moments to be sure that no one was approaching, and +then crossed the floor of my room swiftly, entered the secret +door, and closed the spring lock after me. I was upon the +screw-stair in total darkness, the key in my fingers. Thus far +the undertaking was successful. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +RAPTURE. + + +Down the screw-stair I went in utter darkness; and having reached +the stone floor, I discerned the door and groped out the +key-hole. With more caution, and less noise than upon the night +before, I opened the door, and stepped out into the thick +brushwood. It was almost as dark in this jungle. + +Having secured the door, I slowly pushed my way through the +bushes, which soon became less dense. Then, with more ease, but +still under thick cover, I pursued in the track of the wood, +keeping near its edge. + +At length, in the darkened air, about fifty yards away, the +shafts of the marble temple rose like phantoms before me, seen +through the trunks of the old trees. Everything favoured my +enterprise. I had effectually mystified my servant and the people +of the Dragon Volant, and so dark was the night, that even had I +alarmed the suspicions of all the tenants of the inn, I might +safely defy their united curiosity, though posted at every window +of the house. + +Through the trunks, over the roots of the old trees, I reached +the appointed place of observation. I laid my treasure, in its +leathern case, in the embrasure, and leaning my arms upon it, +looked steadily in the direction of the château. The outline of +the building was scarcely discernible, blending dimly, as it did, +with the sky. No light in any window was visible. I was plainly +to wait; but for how long? + +Leaning on my box of treasure, gazing toward the massive shadow +that represented the château, in the midst of my ardent and +elated longings, there came upon me an odd thought, which you +will think might well have struck me long before. It seemed on a +sudden, as it came, that the darkness deepened, and a chill stole +into the air around me. + +Suppose I were to disappear finally, like those other men whose +stories I had listened to! Had I not been at all the pains that +mortal could, to obliterate every trace of my real proceedings, +and to mislead every one to whom I spoke as to the direction in +which I had gone? + +This icy, snake-light thought stole through my mind, and was +gone. + +It was with me the full-blooded season of youth, conscious +strength, rashness, passion, pursuit, the adventure! Here were a +pair of double-barrelled pistols, four lives in my hands? What +could possibly happen? The Count--except for the sake of my +dulcinea, what was it to me whether the old coward whom I had +seen, in an ague of terror before the brawling Colonel, +interposed or not? I was assuming the worst that could happen. +But with an ally so clever and courageous as my beautiful +Countess, could any such misadventure befall? Bah! I laughed at +all such fancies. + +As I thus communed with myself, the signal light sprang up. The +rose-coloured light, _couleur de rose_, emblem of sanguine hope, +and the dawn of a happy day. + +Clear, soft, and steady, glowed the light from the window. The +stone shafts showed black against it. Murmuring words of +passionate love as I gazed upon the signal, I grasped my strong +box under my arm, and with rapid strides approached the Château +de la Carque. No sign of light or life, no human voice, no tread +of foot, no bark of dog, indicated a chance of interruption. A +blind was down; and as I came close to the tall window, I found +that half-a-dozen steps led up to it, and that a large lattice, +answering for a door, lay open. + +A shadow from within fell upon the blind; it was drawn aside, and +as I ascended the steps, a soft voice murmured--"Richard, dearest +Richard, come, oh! come! how I have longed for this moment?" + +Never did she look so beautiful. My love rose to passionate +enthusiasm. I only wished there were some real danger in the +adventure worthy of such a creature. When the first tumultuous +greeting was over, she made me sit beside her on a sofa. There we +talked for a minute or two. She told me that the Count had gone, +and was by that time more than a mile on his way, with the +funeral, to Père la Chaise. Here were her diamonds. She +exhibited, hastily, an open casket containing a profusion of the +largest brilliants. + +"What is this?" she asked. + +"A box containing money to the amount of thirty thousand pounds," +I answered. + +"What! all that money?" she exclaimed. + +"Every _sou_." + +"Was it not unnecessary to bring so much, seeing all these," she +said, touching her diamonds. "It would have been kind of you, to +allow me to provide for both for a time, at least. It would have +made me happier even than I am." + +"Dearest, generous angel!" Such was my extravagant declamation. +"You forget that it may be necessary, for a long time, to observe +silence as to where we are, and impossible to communicate safely +with any one." + +"You have then here this great sum--are you certain; have you +counted it?" + +"Yes, certainly; I received it to-day," I answered, perhaps +showing a little surprise in my face, "I counted it, of course, +on drawing it from my bankers." + +"It makes me feel a little nervous, travelling with so much +money; but these jewels make as great a danger; _that_ can add +but little to it. Place them side by side; you shall take off +your great coat when we are ready to go, and with it manage to +conceal these boxes. I should not like the drivers to suspect +that we were conveying such a treasure. I must ask you now to +close the curtains of that window, and bar the shutters." + +I had hardly done this when a knock was heard at the room-door. + +"I know who this is," she said, in a whisper to me. + +I saw that she was not alarmed. She went softly to the door, and +a whispered conversation for a minute followed. + +"My trusty maid, who is coming with us. She says we cannot safely +go sooner than ten minutes. She is bringing some coffee to the +next room." + +She opened the door and looked in. + +"I must tell her not to take too much luggage. She is so odd! +Don't follow--stay where you are--it is better that she should +not see you." + +She left the room with a gesture of caution. + +A change had come over the manner of this beautiful woman. For +the last few minutes a shadow had been stealing over her, an air +of abstraction, a look bordering on suspicion. Why was she pale? +Why had there come that dark look in her eyes? Why had her very +voice become changed? Had anything gone suddenly wrong? Did some +danger threaten? + +This doubt, however, speedily quieted itself. If there had been +anything of the kind, she would, of course, have told me. It was +only natural that, as the crisis approached, she should become +more and more nervous. She did not return quite so soon as I had +expected. To a man in my situation absolute quietude is next to +impossible. I moved restlessly about the room. It was a small +one. There was a door at the other end. I opened it, rashly +enough. I listened, it was perfectly silent. I was in an excited, +eager state, and every faculty engrossed about what was coming, +and in so far detached from the immediate present. I can't +account, in any other way, for my having done so many foolish +things that night, for I was, naturally, by no means deficient +in cunning. About the most stupid of those was, that instead of +immediately closing that door, which I never ought to have +opened, I actually took a candle and walked into the room. + +There I made, quite unexpectedly, a rather startling discovery. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +A CUP OF COFFEE. + + +The room was carpetless. On the floor were a quantity of +shavings, and some score of bricks. Beyond these, on a narrow +table, lay an object, which I could hardly believe I saw aright. + +I approached and drew from it a sheet which had very slightly +disguised its shape. There was no mistake about it. It was a +coffin; and on the lid was a plate, with the inscription in +French: + + PIERRE DE LA ROCHE ST. AMAND. + + AGÉE DE XXIII ANS. + +I drew back with a double shock. So, then, the funeral after all +had not yet left! Here lay the body. I had been deceived. This, +no doubt, accounted for the embarrassment so manifest in the +Countess's manner. She would have done more wisely had she told +me the true state of the case. + +I drew back from this melancholy room, and closed the door. Her +distrust of me was the worst rashness she could have committed. +There is nothing more dangerous than misapplied caution. In +entire ignorance of the fact I had entered the room, and there I +might have lighted upon some of the very persons it was our +special anxiety that I should avoid. + +These reflections were interrupted, almost as soon as begun, by +the return of the Countess de St. Alyre. I saw at a glance that +she detected in my face some evidence of what had happened, for +she threw a hasty look towards the door. + +"Have you seen anything--anything to disturb you, dear Richard? +Have you been out of this room?" + +I answered promptly, "Yes," and told her frankly what had +happened. + +"Well, I did not like to make you more uneasy than necessary. +Besides, it is disgusting and horrible. The body _is_ there; but +the Count had departed a quarter of an hour before I lighted the +coloured lamp, and prepared to receive you. The body did not +arrive till eight or ten minutes after he had set out. He was +afraid lest the people at Père la Chaise should suppose that the +funeral was postponed. He knew that the remains of poor Pierre +would certainly reach this to-night although an unexpected delay +has occurred; and there are reasons why he wishes the funeral +completed before to-morrow. The hearse with the body must leave +this in ten minutes. So soon as it is gone, we shall be free to +set out upon our wild and happy journey. The horses are to the +carriage in the _porte-cochère_. As for this _funeste_ horror +(she shuddered very prettily), let us think of it no more." + +She bolted the door of communication, and when she turned, it was +with such a pretty penitence in her face and attitude, that I was +ready to throw myself at her feet. + +"It is the last time," she said, in a sweet sad little pleading, +"I shall ever practise a deception on my brave and beautiful +Richard--my hero? Am I forgiven." + +Here was another scene of passionate effusion, and lovers' +raptures and declamations, but only murmured, lest the ears of +listeners should be busy. + +At length, on a sudden, she raised her hand, as if to prevent my +stirring, her eyes fixed on me, and her ear toward the door of +the room in which the coffin was placed, and remained breathless +in that attitude for a few moments. Then, with a little nod +towards me, she moved on tip-toe to the door, and listened, +extending her hand backward as if to warn me against advancing; +and, after a little time, she returned, still on tip-toe, and +whispered to me, "They are removing the coffin--come with me." + +I accompanied her into the room from which her maid, as she told +me, had spoken to her. Coffee and some old china cups, which +appeared to me quite beautiful, stood on a silver tray; and some +liqueur glasses, with a flask, which turned out to be noyeau, on +a salver beside it. + +"I shall attend you. I'm to be your servant here; I am to have my +own way; I shall not think myself forgiven by my darling if he +refuses to indulge me in anything." She filled a cup with +coffee, and handed it to me with her left hand, her right arm she +fondly, passed over my shoulder, and with her fingers through my +curls caressingly, she whispered, "Take this, I shall take some +just now." + +It was excellent; and when I had done she handed me the liqueur, +which I also drank. + +"Come back, dearest, to the next room," she said. "By this time +those terrible people must have gone away, and we shall be safer +there, for the present, than here." + +"You shall direct, and I obey; you shall command me, not only +now, but always, and in all things, my beautiful queen!" I +murmured. + +My heroics were unconsciously, I daresay, founded upon my ideal +of the French school of lovemaking. I am, even now, ashamed as I +recall the bombast to which I treated the Countess de St. Alyre. + +"There, you shall have another miniature glass--a fairy glass--of +noyeau," she said, gaily. In this volatile creature, the funereal +gloom of the moment before, and the suspense of an adventure on +which all her future was staked, disappeared in a moment. She ran +and returned with another tiny glass, which, with an eloquent or +tender little speech, I placed to my lips and sipped. + +I kissed her hand, I kissed her lips, I gazed in her beautiful +eyes, and kissed her again unresisting. + +"You call me Richard, by what name am I to call my beautiful +divinity?" I asked. + +"You call me Eugenie, it is my name. Let us be quite real; that +is, if you love as entirely as I do." + +"Eugenie!" I exclaimed, and broke into a new rapture upon the +name. + +It ended by my telling her how impatient I was to set out upon +our journey; and, as I spoke, suddenly an odd sensation overcame +me. It was not in the slightest degree like faintness. I can find +no phrase to describe it, but a sudden constraint of the brain; +it was as if the membrane in which it lies, if there be such a +thing, contracted, and became inflexible. + +"Dear Richard! what is the matter?" she exclaimed, with terror in +her looks. "Good Heavens! are you ill. I conjure you, sit down; +sit in this chair." She almost forced me into one; I was in no +condition to offer the least resistance. I recognised but too +truly the sensations that supervened. I was lying back in the +chair in which I sat without the power, by this time, of uttering +a syllable, of closing my eyelids, of moving my eyes, of stirring +a muscle. I had in a few seconds glided into precisely the state +in which I had passed so many appalling hours when approaching +Paris, in my night-drive with the Marquis d'Harmonville. + +Great and loud was the lady's agony. She seemed to have lost all +sense of fear. She called me by my name, shook me by the +shoulder, raised my arm and let it fall, all the time imploring +of me, in distracting sentences, to make the slightest sign of +life, and vowing that if I did not, she would make away with +herself. + +These ejaculations, after a minute or two, suddenly subsided. The +lady was perfectly silent and cool. In a very business-like way +she took a candle and stood before me, pale indeed, very pale, +but with an expression only of intense scrutiny with a dash of +horror in it. She moved the candle before my eyes slowly, +evidently watching the effect. She then set it down, and rang a +hand-bell two or three times sharply. She placed the two cases (I +mean hers containing the jewels) and my strong box, side by side +on the table; and I saw her carefully lock the door that gave +access to the room in which I had just now sipped my coffee. + +END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In a Glass Darkly, v. 2/3, by +Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 37173 *** |