You know, my dear Louis, that whenever I have formed any plan, whether a
reckless one or even a wise one, I go straight at it with the
stubbornness of a mule. This, perhaps, explains many of my follies.
According to my view (as a believer in free-will), man is himself a will
or independent power served by his organs; he is a kind of manifestation
of the spirit of nature created to control matter. Any man who abdicates
his rights, or gives way before obstacles, abandons his mission and
returns to the rank of the beasts. His is a lost power, which has
evaporated into space. Such is my opinion.
This highly philosophical prelude was necessary, as you will see, in
order to fix my principles before proceeding any further; and, above
all, in order to defend myself beforehand against any rash accusation of
fickleness in my plans. Science has mysterious paths, along which we
feel our way, without seeing clearly our destination. The consequence of
which is that, just when we fancy that we have reached the end, new and
immense horizons open out before us.
But I am getting tired of my metaphor.
It all amounts to this--that having the honour of being my uncle's
nephew, nothing happens to me in the same way as to other mortals, and
that consequently all the careful arrangements that I made in regard to
Kondjé-Gul have eventuated in a manner completely opposed to my express
intentions. But although my objective has been considerably enlarged, it
remains substantially the same, as I think you will remark.
Kondjé-Gul and her mother are now settled down in Count Téral's house;
and it is hardly necessary for me to describe to you the joy which she
felt at the termination of her educational seclusion. The first few days
after her return were days of frenzied delight, and we spent them almost
entirely together. Her metamorphosis was now so complete, that I felt as
if I were witnessing one of the fabulous Indian _avatars_, and that
another soul had taken up its dwelling in this divinely beautiful body
of hers. I could not tire of watching her as she walked, and listening
to her as she spoke. In her Oriental costume, which she occasionally
resumes, in order to please me, the American girl's ways, which she has
picked up from Suzannah and Maud, produce a most remarkable effect. And
with all this was mingled that exquisitely blended aroma of youth,
beauty, and dignity, which permeated her and surrounded her like the
sweet perfume of some strange Oriental blossom!
We have settled our plan of life. Knowing the whole truth, as she does
now, about our social habits, she understands the necessity of veiling
our happiness under the most profound mystery. Confiding in the sanctity
of a tie which her religion legitimizes, she is aware that we must
conceal it from the eyes of the world, like any secret marriage.
Besides, what advantage would there be in lifting the veil of mystery,
and taking the poetry out of this romantic union--thus reducing it to
the vulgar level of an ordinary intrigue? If I were to treat my Kondjé
like a common mistress, would not that be degrading her?
When I tried to console her for the dulness which this constraint must
cause her, she exclaimed, with vehemence--
"Be so good as not to calumniate my woman's heart! What do I care for
your country, and its laws, so long as you love me? I don't care to know
either your society, or its customs, or its conventionalities. I belong
to you, and I love you; that is all I see, all I feel. I am neither your
wife, nor your mistress. From the depths of my soul I feel that I am
more than either. I am your slave, and I wish to preserve my bonds.
Command me, do what you like with me; and when you love me no longer,
kill me, that's all!"
"Yes, dear!" I replied, laughing at her rhapsodies, "I will sew you up
in a sack, and go and throw you in the Bosphorus some evening!"
She received this remark with a peal of childish laughter.
"Goodness me!" she said, in her confusion; "why, I was quite forgetting
that I am civilised!"
Count Téral's house has been quite a find for us; it seems just as if it
had been built expressly for Kondjé-Gul and her mother. On the
ground-floor, approached by a short flight of eight steps, is a
drawing-room, which opens into a sort of hall, resembling an artist's
studio. The latter serves as picture-gallery, library, and concert-room.
Above the wainscoting the eye is relieved by silk hangings, of a large
grey-striped pattern on white ground, in contrast with which is the rich
garnet of a velvet-covered suite of furniture. There are some curious
old cabinets in carved ebony, set out with statuettes, vases, flowers,
and nick-nacks. The general effect is lively, enchanting, and luxurious;
in fact, just what the home of a young lady of patrician birth, who
confines herself to a small circle of friends, should be. On the first
floor are the private apartments, and on the second the servants' rooms.
The establishment is maintained on the elegant, yet simple scale, which
seems proper for members of good society; they keep three horses, and a
neat brougham: nothing more. Their luxuries, in short, are all in the
well-considered style suitable for a rich foreign lady and her daughter,
who mix in Parisian society with the reserve and delicate taste of two
women anxious to avoid attracting too much attention.
Kondjé-Gul's private life is contrived, as well as everything else, to
preserve her against solitude or dulness. She is completing her
"civilisation" with industrious zeal. Every morning, from eight o'clock
to twelve, is devoted to work; governesses from Madame Montier's come to
continue her course of lessons; then from one to two she practises on
the piano. Her curious mind, with its mixture of ardent imagination and
youthful intelligence, is really producing a wonderful intellectual
structure upon its original foundation of native belief and
superstitions. I am often quite surprised by hearing her display, on the
subject of our social contradictions, an amount of observation and a
grasp of view which would do credit to a philosopher.
After two o'clock she dresses, and takes a walk or a ride, or makes
calls with her friends, the Montague girls; for in spite of all my
excellent intentions, their intimacy has only increased since they were
all emancipated from the restraints of school life. Kondjé-Gul being now
under her mother's protection, the most regular position she could have
in the world, it would have been difficult indeed to find a pretext for
breaking it off. Moreover, I had come to the conclusion that, owing to
my having been introduced to the commodore's family by my uncle, there
could be no danger in these encounters with Kondjé-Gul at their house.
It was by Maud and Suzannah that I had been presented to their fair
foreign companion, and who would suspect it was not at Madame de
Villeneuve's party that I had first spoken to her? Consequently, if any
unforeseen circumstance should some day betray our secret, I could at
least rest assured that Commodore Montague would never think of accusing
me of anything more than a romantic adventure, resulting by a natural
train of circumstances from that introduction.
Nothing, as you perceive, could be more correct from the worldly point
of view. I am well aware that as a rigid moralist you would not neglect
the opportunity, if I gave it you, of lecturing me upon the rashness of
my course. Well, for my part, I maintain that our respect for the
proprieties consists chiefly in our respect for ourselves. Chance, which
led us into the society of the foreign colony, together with
Kondjé-Gul's charming manner, have naturally created for her a number of
pleasant acquaintances, which I should never perhaps have aimed at
obtaining for her. All that was needed to secure her this advantage was
that we should both pay to the world this tribute of mystery to which it
is entitled. Our society is so mixed that I do not think you would have
been scandalised if you had met Kondjé-Gul at the ball at the British
Embassy, where she went the other night with her mother, and Commodore
Montague. The admiration which she excited as she passed must certainly
have disarmed your objections.
Being always about with the Montague girls, Kondjé-Gul soon got invited
with them to the balls to which the commodore took his daughters. Having
been admitted to two or three aristocratic drawing-rooms, such as that
of Princess B---- and Marchioness d'A----, she obtained the entry to all
the others. With your knowledge of the infatuations of our fashionable
world, you can imagine the extravagant style of admiring gossip with
which such a beautiful rising star is greeted wherever she goes. I
should add that the young sinner understands it all very well, and is
very much flattered by it.
The mystery which surrounds her increases the peculiarity of our
situation. Being always chaperoned by her mother, whose foreign type of
features creates an imposing impression, Kondjé-Gul is taken for one of
those young ladies who are models of filial respect. The style of their
house and of their dress, and that refined elegance which stamps them as
ladies of distinction, designate them no less indisputably the
possessors of a large fortune and of high rank. All this, you will
perceive, formed a crowning justification for the success which
Kondjé-Gul's remarkable beauty had of itself sufficed to achieve for
her. Then of course the fashionable reporters of the official receptions
fulfilled their duty by heralding the advent of this brilliant star.
They only made the mistake--one of those mistakes so common with
journalists--of describing her as a Georgian.
Confident in the security of our mystery, Kondjé-Gul and I find nothing
more delightful than the manoeuvres by which we deceive them all. We
have invented a code of signs, the meaning of which we keep to
ourselves, and which leads to some very amusing by-play between us.
Thus the other evening, at Madame de T----'s, she was sitting by Maud
and Suzannah, surrounded by a number of admirers, when the young Duke de
Marandal, one of the most ardent of my acknowledged rivals, was
lavishing upon her his most seductive attentions. Kondjé was listening
to him with a charming smile on her face. Now that evening, I must tell
you, she had resolved upon a bit of fun; and knowing that in France
unmarried girls are not supposed to wear jewellery, she had fastened on
her wrist a heavy gold bracelet as a token of her servitude. So while
the young duke was talking, she looked at me, playing carelessly the
while with what she calls her "slave's ring." You may guess how we
laughed together over it.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]