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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3931.txt b/3931.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..faefc37 --- /dev/null +++ b/3931.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2126 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Zibeline, by Phillipe de Massa, v1 +#18 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy +#1 in our series by Phillipe de Massa + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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He served +in the Imperial Guards, took part in the Italian and Franco-German Wars +and was promoted Chief of Squadron, Fifth Regiment, Chasseurs a Cheval, +September 10, 1871. Having tendered his resignation from active service, +he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel in the territorial army February 3, +1880. He has been decorated with the Legion of Honor. + +The Marquis de Massa is known as a composer of music and as a dramatic +author and novelist. At the Opera Comique there was represented in 1861 +Royal-Cravate, written by him. Fragments of two operas by him were +performed at the Paris Conservatory of Music in 1865, and in 1868. The +list of his principal plays follows: 'Le Service en campagne, comedy +(1882); La Cicatrice, comedy (1885); Au Mont Ida, Fronsac a La Bastille, +and La Coeur de Paris, all in 1887; La Czarine and Brouille depuis +Magenta (1888), and La Bonne Aventure--all comedies--1889. Together with +Petipa he also wrote a ballet Le Roi d'Yvetot (1866); music by Charles +Labarre. He further wrote Zibeline, a most brilliant romance (1892) with +an Introduction by Jules Claretie; crowned by the Academie Francaise. +This odd and dainty little story has a heroine of striking originality, +in character and exploits. Her real name is Valentine de Vermont, and +she is the daughter of a fabulously wealthy French-American dealer in +furs, and when, after his death, she goes to Paris to spend her colossal +fortune, and to make restitution to the man from whom her father won at +play the large sum that became the foundation of his wealth, certain +lively Parisian ladies, envying her her rich furs, gave her the name of +Zibeline, that of a very rare, almost extinct, wild animal. Zibeline's +American unconventionality, her audacity, her wealth, and generosity, set +all Paris by the ears. There are fascinating glimpses into the drawing- +rooms of the most exclusive Parisian society, and also into the historic +greenroom of the Comedie Francaise, on a brilliant "first night." The man +to whom she makes graceful restitution of his fortune is a hero of the +Franco-Mexican and Franco-Prussian wars, and when she gives him back his +property, she throws her heart in with the gift. The story is an +interesting study of a brilliant and unconventional American girl as seen +by the eyes of a clever Frenchman. + +Later came 'La Revue quand meme, comedy, (1894); Souvenirs et Impressions +(1897); La Revue retrospective, comedy (1899); and Sonnets' the same +year. + + PAUL HERVIEU + de l'Academe Francaise. + + + + +LETTER FROM JULES CLARETIE TO THE AUTHOR + +MY DEAR FRIEND: + +I have often declared that I never would write prefaces! But how can one +resist a fine fellow who brings one an attractive manuscript, signed with +a name popular among all his friends, who asks of one, in the most +engaging way, an opinion on the same--then a word, a simple word of +introduction, like a signal to saddle? + +I have read your Zibeline, my dear friend, and this romance--your first-- +has given me a very keen pleasure. You told me once that you felt a +certain timidity in publishing it. Reassure yourself immediately. A man +can not be regarded as a novice when he has known, as you have, all the +Parisian literary world so long; or rather, perhaps, I may more +accurately say, he is always a novice when he tastes for the first time +the intoxication of printer's ink. + +You have the quickest of wits and the least possible affectation of +gravity, and you have made as well known in Mexico as in Paris your +couplets on the end of the Mexican conflict with France. 'Tout Mexico y +passera!' Where are they, the 'tol-de-rols' of autumn? + +Yesterday I found, in a volume of dramatic criticism by that terrible and +charming Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, an appreciation of one of your +comedies which bears a title very appropriate to yourself: 'Honor.' +"And this play does him honor," said Barbey d'Aurevilly, "because it is +charming, light, and supple, written in flowing verse, the correctness of +which does not rob it of its grace." + +That which the critic said of your comedy I will say of your romance. +It is a pretty fairy-story-all about Parisian fairies, for a great many +fairies live in Paris! In fact, more are to be found there than anywhere +else! There are good fairies and bad fairies among them. Your own +particular fairy is good and she is charming. I am tempted to ask +whether you have drawn your characters from life. That is a question +which was frequently put to me recently, after I had published +'L'Americaine.' The public longs to possess keys to our books. It is +not sufficient for them that a romance is interesting; it must possess +also a spice of scandal. + +Portraits? You have not drawn any--neither in the drawing-rooms where +Zibeline scintillates, nor in the foyer of the Comedie Francaise, where +for so long a time you have felt yourself at home. Your women are +visions and not studies from life--and I do not believe that you will +object to my saying this. + +You should not dislike the "romantic romance," which every one in these +days advises us to write--as if that style did not begin as far back as +the birth of romance itself: as if the Princess of Cleves had not +written, and as if Balzac himself, the great realist, had not invented, +the finest "romantic romances" that can be found--for example, the +amorous adventure of General de Montriveau and the Duchesse de Langlais! + +Apropos, in your charming story there is a General who pleases me very +much. How was it that you did not take, after the fashion of Paul de +Molenes, a dashing cavalry officer for your hero?--you, for whom the +literary cavalier has all the attractions of a gentleman and a soldier? + +Nothing could be more piquant, alert, chivalrous--in short, worthy of a +Frenchman--than the departure of your hero for the war after that +dramatic card-party, which was also a battle--and what a battle!--where, +at the end of the conflict, he left his all upon the green cloth. That +is an attractive sketch of the amiable comedienne, who wishes for fair +weather and a smooth sea for the soldier lover who is going so far away. +It seems to me that I have actually known that pretty girl at some time +or another! That chapter is full of the perfume of pearl powder and +iris! It is only a story, of course, but it is a magnificent story, +which will please many readers. + +The public will ask you to write others, be sure of that; and you will do +well, my dear friend, for your own sake and for ours, to follow the +precept of Denis Diderot: "My friends, write stories; while one writes +them he amuses himself, and the story of life goes on, and that is less +gay than the stories we can tell." + +I do not know precisely whether these last words, which are slightly +pessimistic, are those of the good Diderot himself. But they are those +of a Parisian of 1892, who has been able to forget his cares and +annoyances in reading the story that you have told so charmingly. + +With much affection to you, and wishing good luck to Zibeline, I am + +Your friend, + JULES CLARETIE + de l'Academie Francaise. + +APRIL 26, 1892. + + + + + +ZIBELINE + +BOOK 1 + + +CHAPTER I + +LES FRERES-PROVENCAUX + +In the days of the Second Empire, the Restaurant des Freres-Provencaux +still enjoyed a wide renown to which its fifty years of existence had +contributed more than a little to heighten its fame. + +This celebrated establishment was situated near the Beaujolais Gallery of +the Palais-Royal, close to the narrow street leading to the Rue Vivienne, +and it had been the rendezvous of epicures, either residents of Paris or +birds of passage, since the day it was opened. + +On the ground floor was the general dining-room, the gathering-place for +honest folk from the provinces or from other lands; the next floor had +been divided into a succession of private rooms, comfortably furnished, +where, screened behind thick curtains, dined somewhat "irregular" +patrons: lovers who were in either the dawn, the zenith, or the decline +of their often ephemeral fancies. On the top floor, spacious salons, +richly decorated, were used for large and elaborate receptions of various +kinds. + +At times the members of certain social clubs gave in these rooms +subscription balls of anacreontic tendencies, the feminine element of +which was recruited among the popular gay favorites of the period. +Occasionally, also, young fellows about town, of different social rank, +but brought together by a pursuit of amusement in common, met here on +neutral ground, where, after a certain hour, the supper-table was turned +into a gaming-table, enlivened by the clinking of glasses and the rattle +of the croupier's rake, and where to the excitement of good cheer was +added that of high play, with its alternations of unexpected gains and +disastrous losses. + +It was at a reunion of this kind, on the last evening in the month of +May, 1862, that the salons on the top floor were brilliantly illuminated. +A table had been laid for twenty persons, who were to join in a banquet +in honor of the winner of the great military steeplechase at La Marche, +which had taken place a few days before. The victorious gentleman-rider +was, strange to say, an officer of infantry--an unprecedented thing in +the annals of this sport. + +Heir to a seigneurial estate, which had been elevated to a marquisate in +the reign of Louis XII, son of a father who had the strictest notions as +to the preservation of pure blood, Henri de Prerolles, early initiated +into the practice of the breaking and training of horses, was at eighteen +as bold and dashing a rider as he was accomplished in other physical +exercises; and although, three years later, at his debut at St. Cyr, he +expressed no preference for entering the cavalry service, for which his +early training and rare aptitude fitted him, it was because, in the long +line of his ancestors--which included a marshal of France and a goodly +number of lieutenants-general--all, without exception, from Ravenna to +Fontenoy, had won renown as commanders of infantry. + +At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Henri's grandfather, who had +distinguished himself in the American War for Independence, left his +native land only when he was in the last extremity. As soon as +circumstances permitted, he reentered France with his son, upon whom +Napoleon conferred a brevet rank, which the recipient accepted of his +free will. He began his military experience in Spain, returned safe and +well from the retreat from Russia, and fought valiantly at Bautzen and at +Dresden. The Restoration--by which time he had become chief of his +battalion--could not fail to advance his career; and the line was about +to have another lieutenant-general added to its roll, when the events of +1830 decided Field-Marshal the Marquis de Prerolles to sheathe his sword +forever, and to withdraw to his own estate, near the forest of l'Ile- +d'Adam, where hunting and efforts toward the improvement of the equine +race occupied his latter years. + +He died in 1860, a widower, leaving two children: Jeanne, recently +married to the Duc de Montgeron, and his son Henri, then a pupil in a +military school, who found himself, on reaching his majority, in +possession of the chateau and domains of Prerolles, the value of which +was from fifteen to eighteen hundred thousand francs. + +Having been made sub-lieutenant by promotion on the first day of October, +1861, the young Marquis, already the head of his house and a military +leader, asked and obtained the favor of being incorporated with a +battalion of chasseurs garrisoned at Vincennes. + +Exact in the performance of his military duties, and at the same time +ardent in the pursuit of pleasure, he was able, thanks to his robust +health, to conciliate the exigencies of the one with the fatigues of the +other. + +Unfortunately, Henri was fond of gaming, and his natural impetuosity, +which showed itself by an emulation of high standards in his military +duties, degenerated into recklessness before the baccarat-table. At the +end of eighteen months, play, and an expensive liaison with an actress, +had absorbed half his fortune, and his paternal inheritance had been +mortgaged as well. The actress was a favorite in certain circles and had +been very much courted; and this other form of rivalry, springing from +the glitter of the footlights, added so much the more fuel to the +prodigalities of the inflammable young officer. + +Affairs were in this situation when, immediately after Henri's triumph at +the race-track, a bettor on the opposite side paid one of his wagers by +offering to the victor a grand dinner at the Freres-Provencaux. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BIRDS OF PREY + +The hero of the night was seated at the middle of one side of the table, +in the place of honor. For his 'vis-a-vis' he had his lively friend +Fanny Dorville, star of the Palais Royal, while at his right sat Heloise +Virot, the "first old woman," or duenna, of the same theatre, whose well +known jests and eccentricities added their own piquancy to gay life in +Paris. The two artists, being compelled to appear in the after-piece at +their theatre that evening, had come to the dinner made up and in full +stage costume, ready to appear behind the footlights at the summons of +the call-boy. + +The other guests were young men accustomed to the surroundings of the +weighing-stand and the betting-room, at a time when betting had not yet +become a practice of the masses; and most of them felt highly honored to +rub elbows with a nobleman of ancient lineage, as was Henri de Prerolles. + +Among these persons was Andre Desvanneaux, whose father, a churchwarden +at Ste.-Clotilde, had attained a certain social prestige by his good +works, and Paul Landry, in his licentiate in a large banking house in +Paris. The last named was the son of a ship-owner at Havre, and his +character was ambitious and calculating. He cherished, under a quiet +demeanor, a strong hope of being able to supply, by the rapid acquisition +of a fortune, the deficiencies of his inferior birth, from which his +secret vanity suffered severely. Being an expert in all games of chance, +he had already accumulated, while waiting for some brilliant coup, +enough to lead a life of comparative elegance, thus giving a certain +satisfaction to his instincts. He and Henri de Prerolles never yet had +played cards together, but the occasion was sure to come some day, and +Paul Landry had desired it a long time. + +The company, a little silent at first, was becoming somewhat more +animated, when a head-waiter, correct, and full of a sense of his own +importance, entered the salon, holding out before him with both hands a +large tray covered with slender glasses filled with a beverage called +"the cardinal's drink," composed of champagne, Bordeaux, and slices of +pineapple. The method of blending these materials was a professional +secret of the Freres-Provencaux. + +Instantly the guests were on their feet, and Heloise, who had been served +first, proposed that they should drink the health of the Marquis, but, +prompted by one of her facetious impulses, instead of lifting the glass +to her own lips, she presented it to those of the waiter, and, raising +her arm, compelled him to swallow the contents. Encouraged by laughter +and applause, she presented to him a second glass, then a third; and the +unhappy man drank obediently, not being able to push away the glasses +without endangering the safety of the tray he carried. + +Fanny Dorville interceded in vain for the victim; the inexorable duenna +had already seized a fourth glass, and the final catastrophe would have +been infallibly brought about, had not providence intervened in the +person of the call-boy, who, thrusting his head through the half-open +doorway, cried, shrilly: + +"Ladies, they are about to begin!" + +The two actresses hastened away, escorted by Andre Desvanneaux, a modern +Tartufe, who, though married, was seen everywhere, as much at home behind +the scenes as in church. + +Coffee and liqueurs were then served in a salon adjoining the large +dining-room, which gave the effect of a private club-room to this part of +the restaurant. + +Cigars were lighted, and conversation soon turned on feminine charms and +the performances of various horses, particularly those of Franc-Comtois, +the winner of the military steeplechase. This animal was one of the +products of the Prerolles stud, and was ordinary enough on flat ground, +but a jumper of the first rank. + +At last the clock struck the half hour after eleven, and some of the +guests had already manifested their intention to depart, when Paul +Landry, who had been rather silent until then, said, carelessly: + +"You expect to sleep to-night in Paris, no doubt, Monsieur de Prerolles?" + +"Oh, no," Henri replied, "I am on duty this week, and am obliged to +return to Vincennes early in the morning. So I shall stay here until it +is time for me to go." + +"In that case, might we not have a game of cards?" proposed Captain +Constantin Lenaieff, military attache to the suite of the Russian +ambassador. + +"As you please," said Henri. + +This proposal decided every one to remain. The company returned to the +large dining-room, which, in the mean time, had been again transformed +into a gaming-hall, with the usual accessories: a frame for the tally- +sheet, a metal bowl to hold rejected playing-cards set in one end of the +table, and, placed at intervals around it, were tablets on which the +punter registered the amount of the stakes. + +On reentering this apartment, Henri de Prerolles approached a sort of +counter, and, drawing from his pocket thirty thousand francs in bank- +notes, he exchanged them for their value in mother-of-pearl "chips" of +different sizes, representing sums from one to five, ten, twenty-five, or +a hundred louis. Paul Landry took twenty-five thousand francs' worth; +Constantin Unaieff, fifteen thousand; the others, less fortunate or more +prudent, took smaller sums; and about midnight the game began. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE GAME + +It began quietly enough, the two principal players waiting, before making +any bold strokes, to see how the luck should run. The first victory was +in favor of Henri, who, at the end of a hand dealt by Constantin +Lenaieff, had won about three hundred Louis. Just at this moment the two +women returned, accompanied by Desvanneaux. + +"I had some difficulty in persuading our charming friends to return," +said he; "Mademoiselle Dorville was determined that some one should +escort her to her own house." + +"You, perhaps, Desvanneaux," said Henri, twisting up the ends of his +moustache. + +"Not at all," said Fanny; "I wished Heloise to go with me. I have +noticed that when I am here you always lose. I fear I have the evil +eye." + +"Say, rather, that you have no stomach," said Heloise. "Had you made +your debut, as I made mine, with Frederic Lemaitre in 'Thirty Years in +the Life of an Actor'" + +"It certainly would not rejuvenate her," said Henri, finishing the +sentence. + +"Marquis, you are very impertinent," said the duenna, laughing. "As a +penalty, you must lend me five louis." + +"With the greatest pleasure." + +"Thank you!" + +And, as a new hand was about to be dealt, Heloise seated herself at one +of the tables. This time Paul Landry put fifteen thousand francs in the +bank. + +"Will you do me the favor to cut the cards?" he asked of Fanny, who +stood behind Henri's chair. + +"What! in spite of my evil eye, Monsieur?" + +"I do not fear that, Mademoiselle. Your eyes have always been too +beautiful for one of them to change now." + +Stale as was this compliment, it had the desired effect, and the young +woman thrust vertically into the midst of the pack the cards he held out +to her. + +"Play, messieurs," said the banker. + +"Messieurs and Madame," corrected Heloise, placing her five chips before +her, while Henri, at the other table, staked the six thousand francs +which he had just won. + +"Don't put up more than there is in the bank," objected Paul Landry, +throwing a keen glance at the stakes. Having assured himself that on the +opposing side to this large sum there were hardly thirty louis, he dealt +the cards. + +"Eight!" said he, laying down his card. + +"Nine!" said Heloise. + +"Baccarat!" said Henri, throwing two court-cards into the basket. + +The rake rattled on the losing table, but after the small stakes of the +winners had been paid, the greater part of the six thousand francs passed +into the hands of the banker. + +Five times in succession, at the first deal, the same thing happened; and +at the sixth round Heloise won six hundred francs, and Henri found +himself with no more counters. + +"This is the proper moment to retire!" said the duenna, rising from the +table. "Are you coming, Fanny?" + +"I beg you, let us go now," murmured Mademoiselle Dorville in the ear of +her lover. + +Her voice was caressing and full of tender promise. The young man +hesitated an instant. But to desert the game at his first loss seemed to +him an act unworthy of his reputation, and, as between love and pride, +the latter finally prevailed. + +"I have only an hour or two more to wait. Can not you go home by +yourself?" he replied to Fanny's appeal, while Heloise exchanged her +counters for tinkling coin, forgetting, no doubt, to reimburse her +creditor, who, in fact, gave no thought to the matter. + +Henri accompanied the two women to a coach at the door, which had been +engaged by the thoughtful and obliging Desvanneaux; and, pressing +tenderly the hand of his mistress, he murmured: + +"Till to-morrow!" + +"To-morrow!" she echoed, her heart oppressed with sad forebodings. + +Desvanneaux, whose wife was very jealous of him, made all haste to regain +his conjugal abode. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RESULT + +Meanwhile, Paul Landry had begun badly, and had had some ill turns of +luck; nevertheless, feeling that his fortune was about to change, he +raised the stakes. + +"Does any one take him up?" asked Constantin Lenaeiff. + +"I do," said De Prerolles, who had returned to the table. + +And, seizing a pencil that lay on the card-table, he signed four cheques +of twenty-five thousand francs each. Unfortunately for him, the next +hand was disastrous. The stakes were increased, and the bank was broken +several times, when Paul Landry, profiting by a heavy gain, doubled and +redoubled the preceding stakes, and beheld mounting before him a pile of +cheques and counters. + +But, as often happens in such circumstances, his opponent, Henri de +Prerolles, persisted in his vain battle against ill-luck, until at three +o'clock in the morning, controlling his shaken nerves and throwing down +his cards, without any apparent anger, he said: + +"Will you tell me, gentlemen, how much I owe you?" + +After all accounts had been reckoned, he saw that he had lost two hundred +and ninety thousand francs, of which two hundred and sixty thousand in +cheques belonged to Paul Landry, and the thirty thousand francs' balance +to the bank. + +"Monsieur de Prerolles," said Paul Landry, hypocritically, "I am ashamed +to win such a sum from you. If you wish to seek your revenge at some +other game, I am entirely at your service." + +The Marquis looked at the clock, calculated that he had still half an +hour to spare, and, not more for the purpose of "playing to the gallery" +than in the hope of reducing the enormous sum of his indebtedness, he +replied: + +"Will it be agreeable to you to play six hands of bezique?" + +"Certainly, Monsieur. How much a point?" + +"Ten francs, if that is not too much." + +"Not at all! I was about to propose that amount myself." + +A quick movement of curiosity ran through the assembly, and a circle was +formed around the two opponents in this exciting match. + +Every one knows that bezique is played with four packs of cards, and that +the number of points may be continued indefinitely. The essential thing +is to win at least one thousand points at the end of each hand; unless a +player does this he is said to "pass the Rubicon," becoming twice a +loser--that is, the victor adds to his own score the points lost by his +adversary. Good play, therefore, consists largely in avoiding the +"Rubicon" and in remaining master of the game to the last trick, in order +to force one's adversary over the "Rubicon," if he stands in danger of +it. The first two hands were lost by Landry, who, having each time +approached the "Rubicon," succeeded in avoiding it only by the greatest +skill and prudence. Immediately his opponent, still believing that good +luck must return to him, began to neglect the smaller points in order to +make telling strokes, but he became stranded at the very port of success, +as it were; so that, deducting the amount of his first winning, he found +at the end of the fifth hand that he had lost six thousand points. +Notwithstanding his wonderful self-control, it was not without difficulty +that the young officer preserved a calm demeanor under the severe blows +dealt him by Fortune. Paul Landry, always master of himself, lowered his +eyes that their expression of greedy and merciless joy should not be +seen. The nearer the game drew to its conclusion, the closer pressed the +circle of spectators, and in the midst of a profound silence the last +hand began. Favored from the beginning with the luckiest cards, followed +by the most fortunate returns, Paul Landry scored successively "forty, +bezique," five hundred and fifteen hundred. He lacked two cards to make +the highest point possible, but Henri, by their absence from his own +hand, could measure the peril that menaced him. So, surveying the number +of cards that remained in stock, he guarded carefully three aces of +trumps which might help him to avert disaster. But, playing the only ace +that would allow him to score again, Paul Landry announced coldly, laying +on the table four queens of spades and four knaves of diamonds: + +"Four thousand five hundred!" This was the final stroke. The last hand +had wiped out, by eight thousand points, the possessions of Landry's +adversary. The former losses of the unfortunate Marquis were now +augmented by one hundred and forty thousand francs. Henri became very +pale, but, summoning all his pride to meet the glances of the curious, +he arose, rang a bell, and called for a pen and a sheet of stamped paper. +Then, turning to Paul Landry, he said, calmly "Monsieur, I owe you four +hundred thousand francs. Debts of honor are payable within twenty-four +hours, but in order to realize this sum, I shall require more time. +How long a delay will you grant me?" + +"As long as you wish, Monsieur." + +"I thank you. I ask a month." + +A waiter appeared, bringing the pen and paper. + +"Oh, your word will be sufficient for me," said Landry. + +"Pardon me!" said the Marquis. "One never knows what may happen. I +insist that you shall accept a formal acknowledgment of the debt." + +And he wrote: + +"I, the undersigned, acknowledge that I owe to Monsieur Paul Landry the +sum of four hundred thousand francs, which I promise to pay in thirty +days, counting from this date." + +He dated, signed, and folded the paper, and handed it to Paul Landry. +Then, glancing at the clock, whose hands pointed to a quarter before +four, he said: + +"Permit me to take leave of you, gentlemen. I have barely time to reach +Vincennes before roll-call." + +He lighted a cigar, saluted the astonished assembly with perfect +coolness, slowly descended the stairs, and jumped into his carriage, the +chasseur of the restaurant holding open the door for him. + +"To Vincennes!" he cried to the coachman; "and drive like the devil!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A DESPERATE RESOLUTION + +The chimneys and roofs of the tall houses along the boulevards stood out +sharp and clear in the light of the rising sun. Here and there squads of +street-cleaners appeared, and belated hucksters urged their horses toward +the markets; but except for these, the streets were deserted, and the +little coupe that carried Caesar and his misfortunes rolled rapidly +toward the Barriere du Trone. + +With all the coach-windows lowered, in order to admit the fresh morning +air, the energetic nobleman, buffeted by ill-luck, suddenly raised his +head and steadily looked in the face the consequences of his defeat. +He, too, could say that all was lost save honor; and already, from the +depths of his virile soul, sprang the only resolution that seemed to him +worthy of himself. + +When he entered his own rooms in order to dress, his mind was made up; +and although, during the military exercises that morning, his commands +were more abrupt than usual, no one would have suspected that his mind +was preoccupied by any unusual trouble. + +He decided to call upon his superior officer that afternoon to request +from him authorization to seek an exchange for Africa. Then he went +quietly to breakfast at the pension of the officers of his own rank, who, +observing his calm demeanor, in contrast to their own, knew that he must +be unaware of the important news just published in the morning journals. +General de Lorencez, after an unsuccessful attack upon the walls of +Puebla, had been compelled to retreat toward Orizaba, and to intrench +there while waiting for reenforcements. + +This military event awakened the liveliest discussions, and in the midst +of the repast a quartermaster entered to announce the reply to the +report, first presenting his open register to the senior lieutenant. + +"Ah! By Jove, fellows! what luck!" cried that officer, joyously. + +"What is it?" demanded the others in chorus. + +"Listen to this!" And he read aloud: "'General Order: An expedition +corps, composed of two divisions of infantry, under the command of +General Forey, is in process of forming, in order to be sent to Mexico on +urgent business. The brigade of the advance guard will be composed of +the First Regiment of Zouaves and the Eighteenth Battalion of infantry. +As soon as these companies shall be prepared for war, this battalion will +proceed by the shortest route to Toulon; thence they will embark aboard +the Imperial on the twenty-sixth day of June next.'" + +Arousing cheer drowned the end of the reading of this bulletin, the tenor +of which gave to Henri's aspiraitions an immediate and more advantageous +prospect immediate, because, as his company was the first to march, he +was assured of not remaining longer at the garrison; more advantageous, +because the dangers of a foreign expedition opened a much larger field +for his chances of promotion. + +Consequently, less than a month remained to him in which to settle his +indebtedness. After the reading of the bulletin, he asked one of his +brother officers to take his place until evening, caught the first train +to town, and, alighting at the Bastille, went directly to the Hotel de +Montgeron, where he had temporary quarters whenever he chose to use them. + +"Is the Duke at home?" he inquired of the Swiss. + +Receiving an affirmative reply, he crossed the courtyard, and was soon +announced to his brother-in-law, the noble proprietor of La Sarthe, +deputy of the Legitimist opposition to the Corps Legislatif of the +Empire. + +The Duc de Montgeron listened in silence to his relative's explanation +of his situation. When the recital was finished, without uttering a +syllable he opened a drawer, drew out a legal paper, and handed it to +Henri, saying: + +"This is my marriage contract. Read it, and you will see that I have +had, from the head of my family, three hundred and fifteen thousand +livres income. I do not say this to you in order to contrast my riches +with your ruin, but only to prove to you that I was perfectly well able +to marry your sister even had she possessed no dot. That dot yields +seven hundred and fifteen thousand francs' income, at three per cent. +We were married under the law of community of goods, which greatly +simplifies matters when husband and wife have, as have Jeanne and myself, +but one heart and one way of looking at things. To consult her would be, +perhaps, to injure her. To-morrow I will sell the necessary stock, and +ere the end of the week Monsieur Durand, your notary and ours, shall hold +at your disposal the amount of the sum you lost last night." + +The blood rose to the cheeks of the young officer. + +"I--I" he stammered, pressing convulsively the hands of his brother-in- +law. "Shall I let you pay the ransom for my madness and folly? Shall I +a second time despoil my sister, already robbed by me of one half her +rightful share? I should die of shame! Or, rather--wait a moment! +Let us reverse our situations for an instant, and if you will swear to me +that, were you in my place, you would accept--Ah, you see! You hesitate +as much now as you hesitated little a moment ago in your simple and +cordial burst of generosity: Consequently, I refuse!" + +"What do you mean to do, then?" + +"To sell Prerolles immediately-to-day, if possible. This determination +troubles you because of the grief it will cause Jeanne. It will grieve +me, too. And the courage to tell this to her is the only effort to which +my strength is unequal. Only you can tell it in such a way as to soften +the blow--" + +"I will try to do it," said the Duke. + +"I thank you! As to the personal belongings and the family portraits, +their place is at Montgeron, is it not?" + +"That is understood. Now, one word more, Henri." + +"Speak!" + +"Have you not another embarrassment to settle?" + +"I have indeed, and the sooner the better. Unhappily--" + +"You have not enough money," finished the Duke. "I have received this +morning twenty-five thousand francs' rent from my farms. Will you allow +me to lend them to you?" + +"To be repaid from the price of the sale? Very willingly, this time." + +And he placed in an envelope the notes handed him by his brother-in-law. + +"This is the last will and testament of love," said the Marquis, as he +departed, to give the necessary instructions to his notary. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE FAREWELL + +His debts were easily reckoned. He owed eight hundred thousand francs to +the Credit Foncier; four hundred thousand to Paul Landry; more than one +hundred thousand to various jewellers and shopkeepers; twenty-five +thousand to the Duc de Montgeron. It was necessary to sell the chateau +and the property at one million four hundred thousand francs, and the +posters advertising the sale must be displayed without delay. + +Then he must say farewell to Fanny Dorville. Nothing should disturb a +sensible mind; the man who, with so much resolution, deprives himself of +his patrimonial estates should not meet less bravely the separation +imposed by necessity. + +As soon as Henri appeared in Fanny's boudoir, she divined that her +presentiments of the previous night had not deceived her. + +"You have lost heavily?" she asked. + +"Very heavily," he replied, kissing her brow. + +"And it was my fault!" she cried. "I brought you bad luck, and that +wretch of a Landry knew well what he was about when he made me cut the +cards that brought you misfortune!" + +"No, no, my dear-listen! The only one in fault was I, who allowed +myself, through false pride, to be persuaded that I should not seem to +fear him." + +"Fear him--a professional gambler, who lives one knows not how! +Nonsense! It is as if one should fight a duel with a fencing-master." + +"What do you wish, my dear? The evil is done--and it is so great--" + +"That you have not the means to pay the sum? Oh, but wait a moment." + +And taking up a casket containing a superb collar of pearls, she said: + +"This is worth fourteen thousand francs. You may well take them from me, +since it was you that gave them to me." + +No doubt, she had read De Musset, and this action was perhaps a refection +of that of Marion, but the movement was sincere. Something of the stern +pride of this other Rolla was stirred; a sob swelled his bosom, and two +tears--those tears that rise to a soldier's eyes in the presence of +nobility and goodness--fell from his eyes upon the hair of the poor girl. + +"I have not come to that yet," he said, after a short silence. "But we +must part--" + +"You are about to marry?" she cried. + +"Oh, no!" + +"Ah, so much the better!" + +In a few words he told her of his approaching departure, and said that he +must devote all his remaining time to the details of the mobilization of +troops. + +"So--it is all over!" said Fanny, sadly. "But fear nothing! I have +courage, and even if I have the evil eye at play, I know of something +that brings success in war. Will you accept a little fetich from me?" + +"Yes, but you persist in trying to give me something," he said, placing +on a table the sealed envelope he had brought. + +"How good you are!" she murmured. "Now promise me one thing: let us +dine together once more. Not at the Provencaux, however. Oh, heavens! +no! At the Cafe Anglais--where we dined before the play the first time +we--" + +The entrance of Heloise cut short the allusion to a memory of autumn. + +"Ah, it is you," said Fanny nervously. "You come apropos." + +"Is there a row in the family?" inquired Heloise. + +"As if there could be!" + +"What is it, then?" + +"You see Henri, do you not?" + +"Well, yes, I do, certainly. What then?" + +"Then look at him long and well, for you will not see him again in many +a day. He is going to Mexico!" + +"To exploit a mine?" + +"Yes, Heloise," the officer replied, "a mine that will make the walls of +Puebla totter." + +"In that case, good luck, my General!" said the duenna, presenting arms +with her umbrella. + +Fanny could not repress a smile in spite of her tears. Her lover seized +this moment to withdraw from her arms and reach the stairs. + +"And now, Marquis de Prerolles, go forth to battle!" cried the old +actress to him over the banisters, with the air of an artist who knows +her proper cue. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE VOW + +Notwithstanding the desire expressed by his mistress, Henri firmly +decided not to repeat that farewell scene. + +The matter that concerned him most was the wish not to depart without +having freed himself wholly from his debt to Paul Landry. Fortunately, +because of a kindly interest, as well as on account of the guaranty of +the Duc de Montgeron, a rich friend consented to advance the sum; so +that, one week before the day appointed for payment, the losing player +was able to withdraw his signature from the hands of his greedy creditor. + +Relieved from this anxiety, Henri had asked, the night before the day set +for departure, for leave of absence for several hours, in order to visit +for the last time a spot very dear to him, upon whose walls placards now +hung, announcing the sale of the property to take place on the following +morning. + +No one received warning of this visit in extremis save the steward, who +awaited his master before the gates of the chateau, the doors and windows +of which had been flung wide open. + +At the appointed hour the visitor appeared at the end of the avenue, +advancing with a firm step between two hedges bordered with poplars, +behind which several brood-mares, standing knee-deep in the rich grass, +suckled their foal. + +The threshold of the gate crossed, master and man skirted the lawn, +traversed the garden, laid out in the French fashion, and, side by side, +without exchanging a word, mounted the steps of the mansion. Entering +the main hall, the Marquis, whose heart was full of memories of his +childhood, stopped a long time to regard alternately the two suites of +apartments that joined the vestibule to the two opposite wings. Making a +sign to his companion not to follow him, Henri then entered the vast +gallery, wherein hung long rows of the portraits of his ancestors; and +there, baring his head before that of the Marshal of France whose name he +bore, he vowed simply, without excitement, and in a low tone, either to +vanquish the enemy or to add, after the manner of his forbears, a +glorious page to his family's history. + +The object of his pilgrimage having thus been accomplished, the Marquis +ordered the steward to see that all the portraits were sent to the +Chateau de Montgeron; then, after pressing his hand in farewell, he +returned to the station by the road whence he had come, avoiding the +village in order to escape the curious eyes of the peasantry. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +IN SEARCH OF GLORY + +The next morning the 18th battalion of 'chasseurs', in dress uniform, +with knapsacks on their backs and fully armed, awaited in the Gare de +Lyon the moment to board the train destined to transport them to the +coast. + +At a trumpet-call this movement was executed in silence, and in perfect +order; and only after all the men were installed did the functionaries +who kept the crowd in order take their own places in the carriages, +leaving a throng of relatives and friends jostling one another upon the +quay. + +Fanny Dorville and her friend the duenna tried in vain to reach the +compartment wherein Henri had his place, already in marching order; the +presence of the Duc and the Duchesse de Montgeron prevented the two women +from approaching him. Nevertheless, at the moment when the train began +to move slowly out of the station, an employee found the means to slip +into the hands of the Marquis a small packet containing the little fetich +which his mistress had kept for him. It was a medallion of the Holy +Virgin, which had been blessed at Notre-Dame des-Victoires, and it was +attached to a long gold chain. + +Thirty-six hours later, on the evening of the 26th of June, the battalion +embarked aboard the Imperial, which, with steam up, was due to leave the +Toulon roadstead at daybreak. At the moment of getting under weigh, the +officer in charge of the luggage, who was the last to leave the shore, +brought several despatches aboard the ship, and handed to Lieutenant de +Prerolles a telegram, which had been received the evening before at the +quay. + +The Marquis opened it and read: "Chateau and lands sold for 1,450,000 +francs. Everything paid, 1600 francs remain disposable." + +"That is to say," thought the officer, sadly, "I have my pay and barely +three thousand francs' income!" + +Leaning both elbows upon the taffrail, he gazed long at the shores of +France, which appeared to fly toward the horizon; then, brusquely turning +his eyes to the quarters filled with the strong figures and manly faces +of the young foot-soldiers of the 18th battalion, he said to himself that +among such men, under whatever skies or at whatever distance, one found +his country--glancing aloft where floated above his head the folds of his +flag. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Twenty-three years after the events already recorded, on a cold afternoon +in February, the Bois de Boulogne appeared to be draped in a Siberian +mantle rarely seen at that season. A deep and clinging covering of snow +hid the ground, and the prolonged freezing of the lakes gave absolute +guaranty of their solidity. + +A red sun, drowned in mist, threw a mild radiance over the landscape, +and many pedestrians stamped their feet around the borders of the lake +belonging to the Skaters' Club, and watched the hosts of pretty women +descending from their carriages, delighted at the opportunity afforded +them, by this return of winter, to engage in their favorite exercise. + +Received on her arrival by one of the attendants posted at the entrance, +each of the fair skaters entered in turn a small building reserved for +ladies, whence she soon came forth in full skating array, ready to risk +herself on the ice, either alone or guided by the hand of some expert +cavalier. + +Here and there, around the enclosure, large garden-seats, shaped like +sentry-boxes, were reserved for the mothers and sisters of the members of +the club, so that they could observe, from a comfortable shelter, the +evolutions of those in whom they were interested. + +Within two of these nooks, side by side, sat the Duchesse de Montgeron, +president, and the Comtesse Desvanneaux, vice-president of the Charity +Orphan Asylum; the latter had come to look on at the first essay on the +ice of her daughter, Madame de Thomery; the former, to judge the skill of +her brother, General the Marquis de Prerolles, past-master in all +exercises of strength and skill. + +At forty-five years of age, the young General had preserved the same +grace and slenderness that had distinguished him when he had first donned +the elegant tunic of an officer of chasseuys. His hair, cut rather +short, had become slightly gray on his temples, but his jaunty moustache +and well-trimmed beard were as yet innocent of a single silver thread. +The same energy shone in his eyes, the same sonority rang in his voice, +which had become slightly more brusque and authoritative from his long- +continued habit of command. + +In a small round hat, with his hands in the pockets of an outing-jacket, +matching his knickerbockers in color, he strolled to and fro near his +sister, now encouraging Madame de Thomery, hesitating on the arm of her +instructor, now describing scientific flourishes on the ice, in rivalry +against the crosses dashed off by Madame de Lisieux and Madame de +Nointel--two other patronesses of the orphanage--the most renowned among +all the fashionable skaters. This sort of tourney naturally attracted +all eyes, and the idlers along the outer walks had climbed upon the +paling in order to gain a better view of the evolutions, when suddenly a +spectacle of another kind called their attention to the entrance-gate in +their rear. + +Passing through the Porte Dauphine, and driven by a young woman enveloped +in furs, advanced swiftly, over the crisp snow, a light American sleigh, +to which was harnessed a magnificent trotter, whose head and shoulders +emerged, as from an aureole, through that flexible, circular ornament +which the Russians call the 'douga'. + +Having passed the last turn of the path, the driver slackened her grasp, +and the horse stopped short before the entrance. His owner, throwing the +reins to a groom perched up behind, sprang lightly to the ground amid a +crowd of curious observers, whose interest was greatly enhanced by the +sight of the odd-looking vehicle. + +The late-comer presented her card of invitation to the proper +functionary, and went across the enclosure toward the ladies' salon. + +"Ah! there is Zibeline!" cried Madame Desvanneaux, with an affected air. +"Do you know her?" she inquired of the Duchesse de Montgeron. + +"Not yet," the Duchess replied. "She did not arrive in Paris until the +end of spring, just at the time I was leaving town for the seashore. But +I know that she says her real name is Mademoiselle de Vermont, and that +she was born in Louisiana, of an old French family that emigrated to the +North, and recently became rich in the fur trade-from which circumstance +Madame de Nointel has wittily named her 'Zibeline.' I know also that she +is an orphan, that she has an enormous fortune, and has successively +refused, I believe, all pretenders who have thus far aspired to her +hand." + +"Yes--gamblers, and fortune-hunters, in whose eyes her millions excuse +all her eccentricities." + +"Do I understand that she has been presented to you?" asked the Duchess, +surprised. + +"Well, yes-by the old Chevalier de Sainte-Foy, one of her so-called +cousins--rather distant, I fancy! But the independent airs of this young +lady, and her absolute lack of any respectable chaperon, have decided me +to break off any relations that might throw discredit on our patriarchal +house," Madame Desvanneaux replied volubly, as ready to cross herself as +if she had been speaking of the devil! + +The Duchess could not repress a smile, knowing perfectly that her +interlocutor had been among the first to demand for her son the hand of +Mademoiselle de Vermont! + +During this dialogue, the subject of it had had time to cast aside her +fur cloak, to fasten upon her slender, arched feet, clad in dainty, laced +boots, a pair of steel skates, with tangent blades, and without either +grooves or straps, and to dart out upon this miniature sheet of water +with the agility of a person accustomed to skating on the great lakes of +America. + +She was a brunette, with crisply waving hair, a small head, well-set, and +deep yet brilliant eyes beneath arched and slightly meeting brows. Her +complexion was pale, and her little aquiline nose showed thin, dilating +nostrils. Her rosy lips, whose corners drooped slightly, revealed +dazzling teeth, and her whole physiognomy expressed an air of haughty +disdain, somewhat softened by her natural elegance. + +Her cloth costume, which displayed to advantage her slender waist and +graceful bust, was of simple but elegant cut, and was adorned with superb +trimmings of black fox, which matched her toque and a little satin-lined +muff, which from time to time she raised to her cheek to ward off the +biting wind. + +Perhaps her skirt was a shade too short, revealing in its undulations a +trifle too much of the dainty hose; but the revelation was so shapely it +would have been a pity to conceal it! + +"Very bad form!" murmured Madame Desvanneaux. + +"But one can not come to a place like this in a skirt with a train," was +the more charitable thought of the Duchess. + +Meantime the aforesaid tournament went on in the centre of the sheet of +ice, and Zibeline, without mingling with the other skaters, contented +herself with skirting the borders of the lake, rapidly designing a chain +of pierced hearts on the smooth surface, an appropriate symbol of her own +superiority. + +Annoyed to see himself eclipsed by a stranger, the General threw a +challenging glance in her direction, and, striking out vigorously in a +straight line, he sped swiftly toward the other end of the lake. + +Stung to the quick by his glance, Mademoiselle de Vermont darted after +him, passed him halfway along the course, and, wheeling around with a +wide, outward curve, her body swaying low, she allowed him to pass before +her, maintaining an attitude which her antagonist might interpret as a +salute, courteous or ironic, as he chose. + +By this time the crowd was gradually diminishing. The daylight was +waning, and a continued sound of closing gates announced the retreat of +the gay world toward Paris. + +Zibeline alone, taking advantage of the free field, lingered a few +moments to execute some evolutions in the deepening twilight, looking +like the heroines in the old ballads, half-visible, through the mists, \ +to the vivid imagination of the Scottish bards. + +Henri de Prerolles had entered his sister's carriage, in company with +Madame Desvanneaux and Madame Thomery, and during the drive home, these +two gentle dames--for the daughter was worthy of the mother--did not fail +to sneer at the fair stranger, dilating particularly upon the impropriety +of the challenging salute she had given to the General, with whom she was +unacquainted. + +"But my brother could hardly request his seconds to call upon her for +that!" laughingly said the Duchess who, it seemed, had decided to defend +the accused one in all attacks made upon her. + +"Look! Here she comes! She is passing us again. One would think she +was deliberately trying to do it!" exclaimed Madame Desvanneaux, just +before their carriage reached the Arc de Triomphe. + +Zibeline's sleigh, which had glided swiftly, and without hindrance, along +the unfrequented track used chiefly by equestrians, had indeed overtaken +the Duchess's carriage. Turning abruptly to the left, it entered the +open gateway belonging to one of the corner houses of the Rond-Point de +l'Etoile. + +"Decidedly, the young lady is very fond of posing," said the General, +with a shrug, and, settling himself in his corner, he turned his thoughts +elsewhere. + +Having deposited her two friends at their own door, the Duchess ordered +the coachman to take her home, and at the foot of the steps she said to +her brother: + +"Will you dine with us to-night?" + +"No, not to-night," he replied, "but we shall meet at the theatre." + +And, crossing the court, he entered his little bachelor apartment, which +he had occupied from time to time since the days when he was only a sub- +lieutenant. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GENERAL DE PREROLLES + +The sub-lieutenant had kept his word, and the progress of his career +deserves detailed mention. + +He was a lieutenant at the taking of Puebla, where he was first to mount +in the assault of the Convent of Guadalupita. Captain of the Third +Zouaves after the siege of Oajaca, he had exercised, during the rest of +the expedition, command over a mounted company, whose duty was to +maintain communications between the various columns, continuing, at the +same time, their operations in the Michoacan. + +This confidential mission, requiring as much power to take the initiative +as it demanded a cool head, gave the Marquis opportunity to execute, with +rapidity and decision, several master-strokes, which, in the following +circumstances, won for him the cross of the Legion of Honor. + +The most audacious of the guerrillas who had devastated this fertile +country was a chief called Regulas. He pillaged the farms, stopped +railway trains, boldly demanding ransom from captives from the municipal +governments of large towns. He was continually, active, and always +inaccessible. + +Warned by his scouts that the followers of this villain menaced the town +of Pazcuaro, Captain de Prerolles prepared himself eagerly to meet them. +He overtook them in a night march, and fell upon them unexpectedly, just +as they were holding up the diligence from Morelia to Guadalajara. His +plans had been so well laid that not a man escaped. What was the +surprise of the French officer to find, among the travellers, delivered +by himself from certain death, Paul Landry, the principal cause of his +ruin, who the chances of war now laid under obligations to him! + +"This is my revenge," said the Captain, simply, to Landry, attempting to +avoid his thanks, and returning to him intact his luggage, of which the +chinacos had not had time to divide the contents. + +Reconciled in Algiers with his regiment, Henri de Prerolles did not again +quit the province of Constantine except to serve in the army of the +Rhine, as chief of battalion in the line, until the promotions which +followed the declaration of war in 1870. Officer of the Legion of Honor +for his gallantry at Gravelotte and at St. Privat, and assigned for his +ability to the employ of the chief of corps, he had just been called upon +to assume command of his former battalion of chasseurs, when the +disastrous surrender of Metz left him a prisoner of war in the hands of +the Germans. + +Profoundly affected by this disaster, but learning that the conflict +still continued, he refused to avail himself of the offer of comparative +freedom in the city, provided he would give his parole not to attempt to +escape. He was therefore conducted to a distant fortress near the +Russian frontier, and handed over to the captain of the landwehr, who +received instructions to keep a strict guard over him. + +This officer belonged to the engineering corps, and directed, at the same +time, the work of repairs within the citadel, in charge of a civilian +contractor. + +Taking into consideration the rank of his prisoner, the captain permitted +the Marquis to have with him his orderly, an Alsatian, who twice a day +brought from the inn his chief's repasts. This functionary had +permission also, from ten o'clock in the morning until sunset, to +promenade in the court under the eye of the sentinel on guard at the +entrance. At five o'clock in the evening, the officer of the landwehr +politely shut up his guest in his prison, double-locked the door, put the +key in his pocket, and appeared no more until the next morning. + +The middle of November had arrived; heavy snows had already fallen, and +the prisoner amused himself by constructing fortifications of snow-- +a work which his amiable jailer followed with a professional interest, +giving him advice regarding modifications proper to introduce in the +defense of certain places, himself putting a finger in the pie in support +of his demonstration. + +This sort of amusement was followed so industriously that in a few days +a kind of rampart was erected in front of the casemate of the fortress, +behind which, by stooping a little, a man of ordinary height could easily +creep along unseen by the sentinel. + +While pursuing his work of modelling in snow, the Marquis de Prerolles +had taken care to observe the goings and comings of the civilian +contractor, who, wearing a tall hat and attired in a black redingote, +departed regularly every day at half-past four, carrying a large +portfolio under his arm. To procure such a costume and similar +accessories for himself was easy, since the Marquis's orderly spoke the +language of the country; and to introduce them into the prison, hidden in +a basket of provisions, was not difficult to accomplish. + +To execute all this required only four trips to and fro. At the end of +forty-eight hours, the necessary aids to escape were in the proper place, +hidden under the snow behind the bastion. More than this, the clever +Alsatian had slipped a topographical map of the surrounding country +between two of the plates in the basket. According to the scale, the +frontier was distant only about five leagues, across open country, +sparsely settled with occasional farms which would serve as resting- +places. + +By that time, the plan of escape was drawn up. Upon the day fixed for his +flight, the Marquis assumed his disguise, rolled up his own uniform to +look like a man asleep in his bed, lying after the fashion of a sleeping +soldier; and pleading a slight illness as an excuse for not dining that +evening, and, not without emotion, curled himself up behind the snowy +intrenchment which his jailer himself had helped to fashion. That worthy +man, only too glad to be able to rejoin his 'liebe frau' a little earlier +than usual, peeped through the half-open door of the prisoner's room and +threw a glance at the little cot-bed. + +"Good-night, Commander!" said the honest fellow, in a gentle voice. + +Then he double-locked the door, according to custom, and disappeared +whistling a national air. A quarter of an hour later the contractor left +the place, and as soon as the functionary who had seen him depart was +relieved by another, the prisoner left his hiding-place, crossed the +drawbridge in his turn, simulating the gait of his twin, and, without any +hindrance, rejoined his orderly at the place agreed upon. The trick was +played! + +A matter of twenty kilometres was a mere trifle for infantry troopers. +They walked as lightly as gymnasts, under a clear sky, through the +fields, guided by the lights in the farmhouses, and at nine o'clock, +having passed the frontier, they stumbled upon a post of Cossacks +ambuscaded behind a hedge! + +Unfortunately, at that time the Franco-Russian alliance was still in +embryo, and an agreement between the two neighboring States interdicted +all passage to Frenchmen escaping from the hands of their conquerors. +The two deserters were therefore conducted to the major of the nearest +garrison, who alone had the right to question them. + +As soon as they were in his presence, Henri could not restrain a start of +surprise, for he recognized Constantin Lenaieff, one of his adversaries +on the fatal night of the Freres-Provencaux. + +"Who are you?" demanded the Major, brusquely. + +"A dealer in Belgian cattle, purveyor to the German intendant," hazarded +the prisoner, who had his reply all prepared. + +"You--nonsense! You are a French officer; that is plain enough to be +seen, in spite of your disguise." + +The Major advanced a step in order to examine the prisoner more closely. + +"Good heavens!" he muttered, "I can not be mistaken--" + +He made a sign to his soldiers to retire, then, turning to Henri, he +said: + +"You are the Marquis de Prerolles!" and he extended his hand cordially to +the former companion of his pleasures. + +In a few words Henri explained to him the situation. + +"My fate is in your hands," he concluded. "Decide it!" + +"You are too good a player at this game not to win it," Lenaieff replied, +"and I am not a Paul Landry, to dispute it with you. Here is a letter of +safe-conduct made out in due form; write upon it any name you choose. +As for myself, I regard you absolutely as a Belgian citizen, and I shall +make no report of this occurrence. Only, let me warn you, as a matter of +prudence, you would do well not to linger in this territory, and if you +need money--" + +"I thank you!" replied the nobleman, quickly, declining with his +customary proud courtesy. "But I never shall forget the service you have +rendered me!" + +A few moments later, the two travellers drove away in a carriage toward +the nearest railway, in order to reenter France by way of Vienna and +Turin. + +They passed the Austrian and Italian frontiers without difficulty; but at +the station at Modena a too-zealous detective of the French police, +struck with the Alsatian accent of the orderly, immediately decided that +they were two Prussian spies, and refused to allow them to proceed, since +they could show him no passports. + +"Passports!" cried Henri de Prerolles, accompanying his exclamation with +the most Parisian oath that ever had reverberated from the Rue Laffitte +to the Madeleine. + +"Here is my passport!" he added, drawing from his pocket his officer's +cross, which he had taken good care not to allow to become a souvenir in +the hands of his jailer. "And if that does not satisfy you, give me a +pen." + +Suiting the action to the word, he seized a pen and wrote out the +following telegram: + + "DEPUTY OF WAR, TOURS: + + "Escaped from prisons of the enemy, I demand admittance to France, + and official duties suitable to my rank, that I may cooperate in the + national defence. + "DE PREROLLES, Commandant." + +He handed the paper to the police agent, saying: "Do me the favor to +forward this despatch with the utmost expedition." + +As soon as the agent had glanced at the message, he swept a profound +salute. "Pass on, Commandant," said he, in a tone of great respect. + +Promoted to a higher rank, and appointed commander of a regiment of foot, +the Lieutenant-Colonel de Prerolles rejoined the army of Chanzy, which, +having known him a long time, assigned to him the duties of a brigadier- +general, and instructed him to cover his retreat from the Loire on the +Sarthe. + +In the ensuing series of daily combats, the auxiliary General performed +all that his chief expected of him, from Orleans to the battle of Maus, +where, in the thick of the fight, a shell struck him in the breast. It +is necessary to say that on the evening before he had noticed that the +little medallion which had been given to him by Fanny Dorville, worn from +its chain by friction, had disappeared from his neck. Scoffing comrades +smiled at the coincidence; the more credulous looked grave. + +The wound was serious, for, transported to the Chateau de Montgeron, a +few leagues distant, the Marquis was compelled to remain there six months +before he was in fit condition to rejoin his command. Toward the end of +his convalescence, in June, 1871, the brother and sister resolved to make +a pious pilgrimage to the cradle of their ancestors. + +Exactly nine years had elapsed since the castle and lands had been sold +at auction and fallen into the possession of a company of speculators, +who had divided it and resold it to various purchasers. Only the farm of +Valpendant, with a house of ancient and vast construction, built in the +time of Philippe-Auguste, remained to an old tenant, with his +dependencies and his primitive methods of agriculture. + +Leaving the train at the Beaumont tunnel, the two travellers made their +way along a road which crosses the high plateau that separates the forest +of Carnelle from the forest of the Ile-d'Adam, whence one can discern the +steeple of Prerolles rising above the banks of the Oise. + +From this culminating point they beheld the chateau transformed into a +factory, the park cut up into countryseats, the fields turned into +market-gardens! With profound sadness the brother and the sister met +each other's glance, and their eyes filled with tears, as if they stood +before a tomb on All Souls' Day. + +"No expiation is possible," said Henri to Jeanne, pressing her hand +convulsively. "I must go--I must move on forever and ever, like the +Wandering Jew." + +Thanks to the influence of the Duke of Montgeron, whose faithful +constituents had sent him to the National Assembly, his brother-in-law +had been transferred to a regiment of zouaves, of which he became colonel +in 1875, whereupon he decided to remain in Africa during the rest of his +life. + +But Tunis and Tonquin opened new horizons to him. Landing as a +brigadier-general at Haiphong, he was about to assume, at Bac-Ninh, his +third star, when the Minister of War, examining the brilliant record of +this officer who, since 1862, never had ceased his service to his +country, called him to take command of one of the infantry divisions of +the army of Paris, a place which he had occupied only a few months before +the events related in the preceding chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +EUGENIE GONTIER + +Few salons in Paris have so imposing an air as the foyer of the dramatic +artists of the Comedie Francaise, a rectangular room of fine proportions, +whose walls are adorned with portraits of great actors, representing the +principal illustrations of the plays that have been the glory of the +house Mademoiselle Duclos, by Largilliere; Fleury, by Gerard; Moliere +crowned, by Mignard; Baron, by De Troy, and many others. + +At the left of the entrance, separated by a large, high mirror which +faced the fireplace, two other canvases, signed by Geffroy, represent the +foyer itself, in costumes of the classic repertoire, the greater part of +the eminent modern 'societaires', colleagues and contemporaries of the +great painter. + +Between the windows, two pedestals, surmounted by busts of Mademoiselle +Clairon and Mademoiselle Dangeville, stood, one on each side of the great +regulator--made by Robin, clockmaker to the king--which dominated the +bust of Moliere--after Houdon--seeming to keep guard over all this +gathering of artistic glory. + +Opposite this group, hanging above a large table of finely chiselled +iron, were two precious autographs under glass: a brevet of pension, +dated 1682, signed Louis and countersigned Colbert; an act of notary, +dated 1670, bearing the signature of Moliere, the master of the house. + +Disposed about the room were sofas, armchairs, and tete-a-tete seats in +oak, covered with stamped green velvet. + +Here, at the first representations of new plays, or at important revivals +of old ones, flocked literary notables and the regular frequenters of the +theatre, eager to compliment the performers; here, those favored +strangers who have the proper introduction, and who wish to see the place +at close range, are graciously conducted by the administrator-general or +by the officer for the week. + +Here it was that the Marquis de Prerolles appeared in the evening after +his experience at the skating-pond. He had dressed, and had dined in +great haste at a restaurant near the theatre. + +The posters announced a revival of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur', with +Mademoiselle Gontier in the principal role, in which she was to appear +for the first time. + +Eugenie Gontier was, it was said, the natural daughter of a great foreign +lord, who had bequeathed to her a certain amount of money. Therefore, +she had chosen the theatrical life less from necessity than from +inclination. + +She was distinguished in presence, a great favorite with the public, +and had a wide circle of friends, among whom a rich banker, the Baron +de Samoreau, greatly devoted to her, had made for her investments +sufficiently profitable to enable her to occupy a mansion of her own, +and to open a salon which became a favorite rendezvous with many persons +distinguished in artistic, financial, and even political circles. Talent +being the guaranty of good companionship, this salon became much +frequented, and General de Prerolles had become one of its most assiduous +visitors. + +The first act had begun. Although the charming artist was not to appear +until the second act, she had already descended from her dressing-room, +and, finding herself alone in the greenroom, was putting a final touch to +her coiffure before the mirror when the General entered. + +He kissed her hand gallantly, and both seated themselves in a retired +corner between the fireplace and the window. + +"I thank you for coming so early," said Eugenie. "I wished very much to +see you to-night, in order to draw from your eyes a little of your +courage before I must face the footlights in a role so difficult and so +superb." + +"The fire of the footlights is not that of the enemy--above all, for you, +who are so sure of winning the battle." + +"Alas! does one ever know? Although at the last rehearsal Monsieur +Legouve assured me that all was perfect, look up there at that portrait +of Rachel, and judge for yourself whether I have not reason to tremble at +my audacity in attempting this role after such a predecessor." + +"But you yourself caused this play to be revived," said Henri. + +"I did it because of you," Eugenie replied. + +"Of me?" + +"Yes. Am I not your Adrienne, and is not Maurice de Saxe as intrepid as +you, and as prodigal as you have been? Was he not dispossessed of his +duchy of Courlande, as you were of your--" + +A gesture from Henri prevented her from finishing the sentence. + +"Pardon me!" said she. "I had forgotten how painful to you is any +reference to that matter. We will speak only of your present renown, +and of the current of mutual sympathy that attracts each of us toward the +other. For myself, that attraction began on the fourteenth of last July. +You had just arrived at Paris, and a morning journal, in mentioning the +troops, and the names of the generals who appeared at the review, +related, apropos of your military exploits, many exciting details of your +escape during the war. Do you recall the applause that greeted you when +you marched past the tribunes? I saw you then for the first time, but I +should have known you among a thousand! The next day--" + +"The next day," Henri interrupted, "it was my turn to applaud you. I had +been deprived a long time of the pleasures of the theatre, of which I am +very fond, and I began by going to the Comedie Francaise, where you +played, that night, the role of Helene in 'Mademoiselle de la Seigliere.' +Do you remember?" + +"Do I remember! I recognized you instantly, sitting in the third row in +the orchestra." + +"I had never seen you until then," Henri continued, "but that sympathetic +current was soon established, from the moment you appeared until the end +of the second piece. As it is my opinion that any officer is +sufficiently a gentleman to have the right to love a girl of noble birth, +I fell readily under the spell in which she whom you represented echoed +my own sentiments. Bernard Stamply also had just returned from +captivity, and the more enamored of you he became the more I pleased +myself with fancying my own personality an incarnation of his, with less +presumption than would be necessary for me to imagine myself the hero of +which you spoke a moment ago. After the play, a friend brought me here, +presented me to you--" + +"And the sympathetic current did the rest!" added Eugenie Gontier, +looking at him tenderly. "Since then you have consecrated to me a part +of whatever time is at your disposal, and I assure you that I never have +been so happy, nor have felt so flattered, in my life." + +"Second act!" came the voice of the call-boy from the corridor. + +"Will you return here after the fourth act?" said the actress, rising. +"I shall wish to know how you find me in the great scene, and whether +there is another princess de Bouillon among the audience--beware of her!" + +"You know very well that there is not." + +"Not yet, perhaps, but military men are so inconstant! By and by, +Maurice!" she murmured, with a smile. + +"By and by, Adrienne!" Henri replied, kissing her hand. + +He accompanied her to the steps that led to the stage, and, lounging +along the passage that ends at the head of the grand stairway, he entered +the theatre and hastened to his usual seat in the third row of the +orchestra. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +RIVAL BEAUTIES + +It was Tuesday, the subscription night; the auditorium was as much the +more brilliant as the play was more interesting than on other nights. +In one of the proscenium boxes sat the Duchesse de Montgeron with the +Comtesse de Lisieux; in another the Vicomtesse de Nointel and Madame +Thomery. In the first box on the left Madame Desvanneaux was to be seen, +with her husband and her son, the youthful and recently rejected +pretender to the hand of Mademoiselle de Vermont. + +Among the subscription seats in the orchestra sat the Baron de Samoreau, +the notary Durand, treasurer of the Industrial Orphan Asylum; the aide- +de-camp of General Lenaieff, beside his friend the Marquis de Prerolles. +One large box, the first proscenium loge on the right, was still +unoccupied when the curtain rose on the second act. + +The liaison of Eugenie Gontier with the Marquis de Prerolles was not a +mystery; from the moment of her entrance upon the scene, it was evident +that she "played to him," to use a phrase in theatrical parlance. Thus, +after the recital of the combat undertaken in behalf of Adrienne by her +defender--a recital which she concluded in paraphrasing these two lines: + + 'Paraissez, Navarrois, Maures et Castilians, + Et tout ce que l'Espagne a produit de vaillants,' + +many opera-glasses were directed toward the spectator to whom the actress +appeared to address herself, when suddenly a new object of interest +changed the circuit of observation. The door of the large, right-hand +box opened, and Zibeline appeared, accompanied by the Chevalier de +Sainte-Foy, an elderly gallant, carefully dressed and wearing many +decorations, and whose respectable tale of years could give no occasion +for malicious comment on his appearance in the role of 'cavalier +servente'. Having assisted his companion to remove her mantle, +he profited by the instant of time she took to settle her slightly +ruffled plumage before the mirror, to lay upon the railing of the box her +bouquet and her lorgnette. Then he took up a position behind the chair +she would occupy, ready to assist her when she might deign to sit down. +His whole manner suggested a chamberlain of the ancient court in the +service of a princess. + +Mademoiselle de Vermont disliked bright colors, and wore on this occasion +a robe of black velvet, of which the 'decolletee' bodice set off the +whiteness of her shoulders and her neck, the latter ornamented with a +simple band of cherry-colored velvet, without jewels, as was suitable for +a young girl. Long suede gloves, buttoned to the elbow, outlined her +well-modelled arms, of which the upper part emerged, without sleeves, +from lace ruffles gathered in the form of epaulets. + +The men admired her; the women sought some point to criticise, and had +the eyes of Madame Desvanneaux been able to throw deadly projectiles, +her powerful lorgnette would have become an instrument of death for the +object of her resentment. + +"This morning," said the irreconcilable matron, "she showed us her +ankles; this evening she allows us to see the remainder." + +"I should have been very well pleased, however--" murmured young +Desvanneaux, with regret. + +"If you had married her, Victor," said his mother, "I should have taken +full charge of her wardrobe, and should have made some decided changes, +I assure you." + +Perfectly indifferent to the general curiosity, Zibeline in her turn +calmly reviewed the audience. After exploring the boxes with her opera- +glass, she lowered it to examine the orchestra stalls, and, perceiving +the Marquis, she fixed her gaze upon him. Undoubtedly she knew the +reason for the particular attention which he paid to the stage, because, +until the end of the act, her glance was divided alternately between the +General and the actress. + +As the curtain fell on this act the spectators turned their backs to the +footlights, and Lenaieff, indicating Zibeline to his friend, said in his +slightly Slavonic accent: + +"Who is that pretty woman, my dear Henri?" + +"One of Jules Verne's personages, a product of the land of furs." + +"Do you know her?" + +"Not at all. I have a prejudice against girls that are too rich. Why do +you ask?" + +"Because it seems to me that she looks at you very attentively." + +"Indeed! I had not noticed it." + +In saying this, the General--exaggerated! He had been perfectly well +aware of the gaze of Mademoiselle de Vermont, but whether he still +cherished a slight resentment against the lady, or whether her appearance +really displeased him, he cut the conversation short and went to pay his +respects to the occupants of several boxes. + +Evidently Zibeline knew few persons in society, for no visitor appeared +in her box. However, after the next act she made a sign to M. Durand. +That gentleman rejoined the Baron de Samoreau in the corridor and took +him to meet Zibeline, and a sort of council appeared to be going on in +the rear of her box. + +"What the deuce can she be talking about to them?" said Desvanneaux to +his wife. + +"A new offer of marriage, probably. They say she declares she will marry +no one of lower rank than a prince, in order to complete our chagrin! +Perhaps they have succeeded in finding one for her!" + +The instructions that Mademoiselle de Vermont gave to the two men must +have been easy to execute, for neither the notary nor the banker seemed +to raise the least objection. The conversation was finished, and both +gentlemen saluted her, preparing to take leave, when she said to +M. Durand: + +"You understand that the meeting is for tomorrow?" + +"At five o'clock," he replied. + +"Very well. I will stop for you at your door at a quarter of an hour +before that time." + +The fourth act had begun, that scene in which Adrienne accomplishes her +generous sacrifice in furnishing herself the ransom which must deliver +her unfaithful lover. The rapt attention that Zibeline paid to this +scene, and the slight movements of her head, showed her approval of this +disinterested act. Very touching in her invocation to her "old +Corneille," Mademoiselle Gontier was superb at the moment when the +comedienne, knowing at last who is her rival, quotes from Racine that +passage in 'Phedre' which she throws, so to speak, in the face of the +patrician woman: + + . . . . Je sais ses perfidies, + OEnone! et ne suis point de ces femmes hardies + Qui, goutant dans la crime une honteuse paix, + Ont su se faire un front qui ne rougit jamais. + +From the place she was to obliged to take in the arrangement of the +scene, the apostrophe and the gestures of the actress appeared to be +unconsciously directed toward Mademoiselle de Vermont, who could not +restrain a startled movement. + +"Look! One would think that Zibeline took that allusion for herself," +said Madame Desvanneaux, whom nothing escaped. + +On reentering the greenroom, after two well-deserved recalls, Eugenie +Gontier was soon surrounded by a throng of admirers who had come to +congratulate her upon her success. + +"Were you pleased, Henri?" she said in a low tone to the General. + +"Enthusiastically!" he replied. + +"Ah, then I can die happy!" she said, laughingly. + +As she traversed the ranks of her admirers to go to change her costume +for the last act, she found herself face to face with Zibeline, who, +having quickly recovered from her emotion, was advancing on the arm of +the Chevalier de Sainte-Foy. + +"My dear child," said the old nobleman to the actress, "I bring to you +Mademoiselle de Vermont, who wishes to say to you herself--" + +"That Mademoiselle must be very tired of listening to our praises," +interrupted Zibeline. "But if the tribute of a foreigner can prove to +her that her prestige is universal, I beg that she will accept these +flowers which I dared not throw to her from my box." + +"Really, Mademoiselle, you embarrass me!" Eugenie replied, somewhat +surprised. + +"Oh, you need not fear to take them--they are not poisoned!" added +Zibeline, smiling. + +And, after a gracious inclination of her head, to which the actress +responded with a deep courtesy, Zibeline took again the arm of her escort +in order to seek her carriage, without waiting for the end of the play. + +Three-quarters of an hour later, as, the audience was leaving the +theatre, M. Desvanneaux recounted to whoever chose to listen that +Mademoiselle de Vermont had passed the whole of the last 'entr'acte' +in the greenroom corridor, in a friendly chat with Eugenie Gontier. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Life goes on, and that is less gay than the stories +Men admired her; the women sought some point to criticise + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Zibeline, v1 +by Phillipe de Massa + diff --git a/3931.zip b/3931.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bda6d68 --- /dev/null +++ b/3931.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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