In reading the fourth letter of Mme. de Lorcy, M. Moriaz experienced a
feeling of satisfaction and deliverance, over which he was not master.
His daughter had gone to pay a visit in the neighbourhood, and he was
alone with Mlle. Moiseney, who said to him, “You have received good
news, monsieur?”
“It is excellent,” he replied; then, promptly correcting himself, he
added: “Excellent, or to be regretted, or vexatious; I leave that to our
powers of discernment.”
When he had finished reading the letter, and replaced it in the
envelope, he remained thoughtful for some moments; he was wondering how
he should proceed to announce the excellent news. For three weeks his
daughter had been a mystery to him. She never once had pronounced the
name of Count Larinski. Churwalden pleased her as much as Saint Moritz;
apparently, she was gay, tranquil, perfectly happy. Had her delusion
passed away? Had she changed her mind? M. Moriaz did not know; but he
surmised that still waters should be mistrusted, and that a young girl’s
imagination is like an abyss. One thoroughly good warning is worth two
indifferent ones; henceforth, he feared everything. “If I speak to her,”
thought he, “I shall not be able to dissimulate my joy, and perhaps she
will go into hysterics.” He had a horror of hysterics; he resolved to
have recourse to Mlle. Moiseney, and he said to her, abruptly:
“I suppose, mademoiselle, that you are acquainted with all that has
passed, and that Antoinette has given you her confidence?”
She opened her eyes wide, and was on the point of answering that she
knew nothing; but she restrained herself, and setting her little pointed
head erect on her thin shoulders, she said, proudly, “Can you imagine
that Antoinette would keep any secrets from me?”
“Heaven forbid!” replied he. “And do you approve, do you encourage her
sentiments for M. Larinski?”
Mlle. Moiseney started; she had been far from suspecting that Count
Larinski had specially impressed Mlle. Moriaz, and, as on certain
occasions her mind worked rapidly, she understood immediately all the
consequences of this prodigious event. There was a cloud before her
eyes, and in this cloud she beheld all manner of things, both pleasing
and displeasing to her; her mouth open, she strove to clear her ideas.
She said to herself: “It is an imprudent act; not only that, it cannot
be;” but she also said: “Mlle. Antoinette can no more make a mistake
than the Queen of England can; because she wishes it, she is right in
wishing it.” Mlle. Moiseney ended by regaining her self-possession; her
lips formed the most pleasant smile, as she exclaimed:
“He has no fortune, but he has a beautiful name. Mme. la Comtesse
Larinski! it sounds well to the ear.”
“Like music; I grant, it is perfect,” rejoined M. Moriaz.
“Unfortunately, music is not everything in the affairs of this world.”
She was not listening to him. Full of her own idea, without taking time
to breathe: “You jest, monsieur,” she continued, with extraordinary
volubility. “Believe me or not, I have foreseen this marriage for some
time. I have presentiments that never deceive me. I was sure that it
would be thus. What a handsome couple! Fancy them driving in an open
carriage through the park, or entering a proscenium-box at the opera!
They will make a sensation. And truly, without boasting, I think I may
call your attention to the fact that I have been of some account in the
affair. The first time I saw Count Larinski, you know, at the _table
d’hote_ in Bergun, I recognised at once that he was beyond comparison--”
“By-the-way, he ate trout?” interrupted M. Moriaz; “it does honour to
your discernment.”
“You had better ask Antoinette,” replied she, “if that very evening I
did not praise the handsome stranger. She maintained that he stooped,
and that his head was badly poised; would you believe it?--his head
badly poised! Ah! I was sure it would end so. Do you wish to prove my
discernment? Shall I tell you where your letter comes from that contains
such excellent news? The count wrote it; he has at last proposed. I
guessed it at once. Ah! monsieur, I sympathize in your joy. He is,
indeed, the son-in-law that I have dreamed of for you. A superior man,
so open-hearted, so unaffected and frank!”
“Do you really think so?” asked M. Moriaz, fanning himself with the
letter.
“He related to us his whole life,” rejoined she, in a pedantic tone.
“How many people could do as much?”
“A delightful narration. I only regret that he was silent concerning one
detail which was of a nature to interest us.”
“An unpleasant detail?” she asked, raising her gooseberry-coloured eyes
to him.
“On the contrary, a circumstance that does him honour, and for which I
am obliged to him. Believe me, my dear demoiselle, I should be charmed
to receive a son-in-law from your hands, and to give my daughter to a
man whose genius and noble sentiments you divined from merely seeing him
eat. Unfortunately, I fear this marriage will not come about; there is
one little difficulty.”
“What?”
“Count Larinski forgot to apprise us that he was already married.”
Mlle. Moiseney sent forth a doleful cry. M. Moriaz handed her Mme.
de Lorcy’s letter; after reading it, she remained in a state of deep
dejection; a pitiless finger had burst the iris bubble that she had just
blown, and that she saw resplendent at the end of her pipe.
“Do not give way to your despair,” said M. Moriaz; “take courage, follow
the example I set you, imitate my resignation. But tell me, how do you
think Antoinette will take the matter?”
“It will be a terrible blow to her,” replied Mlle. Moiseney; “she loves
him so much!”
“How do you know, since she has not judged it best to tell you?”
“I know from circumstances. Poor dear Antoinette! The greatest
consideration must be used in announcing to her this intelligence; and I
alone, I believe--”
“I agree with you,” M. Moriaz hastened to interpose; “you alone are
capable of operating on our patient without causing her suffering. You
are so skilful! your hand is so light! Make the best of the situation,
mademoiselle--I leave it to you.”
With these words he took up his hat and cane, and hastened to get away,
rather anxious about what had passed, yet feeling too happy, too much
rejoiced, to be a good consoler.
It was not long before Mlle. Moriaz returned from her walk. She came
humming a ballad; she was joyous, her complexion brilliant, her eyes
sparkling, and she carried an armful of heather and ferns. Mlle.
Moiseney went to meet her, her face mournful, her head bent down, her
glance tearful.
“Why! what is the matter, my dear Joan?” she said; “you look like a
funeral.”
“Alas!” sighed Mlle. Moiseney, “I have sad news to communicate.”
“What! have they written to you from Cormeilles that your parrot is
dead?”
“Ah, my dear child, be reasonable, be strong; summon up all your
courage.”
“For the love of God, what is the matter?”
“Ah! would that I could spare you this trouble! Your father has just
received a letter from Mme. de Lorcy.”
Antoinette grew more attentive, her breath came quickly. “And what was
there in this letter that is so terrible, so heart-rending?” she asked,
forcing a smile.
“Fortunately, I am here,” replied Mlle. Moiseney. “You know that your
joys and your sorrows are mine. All the consolation that I can lavish
upon you, the tenderest sympathy--”
“My dear Joan, in the name of Heaven, explain first, and then console!”
“You told me nothing, my child--I have a right to complain; but I have
divined all. I can read your heart. I am sure that you love him.”
“Of whom do you speak?” replied Antoinette, whose colour rose in her
cheeks.
“Of a most charming man, who, either through inconceivable stupidity,
or through most criminal calculation, neglected to tell us that he was
married.”
And with these words, Mlle. Moiseney extended both arms, that she
might receive into them Mlle. Moriaz, whom she believed to be already
swooning.
Mlle. Moriaz did not swoon. She flushed crimson, then grew very pale;
but she remained standing, her head proudly erect, and she said, in a
tone of well-feigned indifference: “Oh! M. Larinski is married? My very
sincere compliments to the Countess Larinski.”
After which she busied herself arranging in a vase the heather and ferns
she had brought back with her. Mlle. Moiseney stood lost in astonishment
at her calm; she gazed in a stupor at her, and suddenly exclaimed:
“Thank God! you do not love him! Your father has mistaken, he often
mistakes; he sometimes gets the strangest ideas into his mind; he was
persuaded that this would be a death-blow to you; he does not know you
at all. Ah! unquestionably, M. Larinski is far from being disagreeable;
I do not dispute his having some merit; but I always thought that there
was something suspicious about him; his manners were a little equivocal;
I suspected him of hiding something from us. As it appears, he has made
a _mesalliance_ that he did not care to acknowledge. It is deplorable
that a man of such excellent address should have low tastes and
doubtful morality. His duty was to tell us all; he was neither loyal nor
delicate.”
“You dream, my dear,” replied Antoinette. “What law, human or divine,
obliged M. Larinski to tell us everything? Did you expect him to render
an account of his deeds and misdeeds to us as to a tribunal of penance?”
In speaking thus, she took off her hat and mantilla, seated herself in
the embrasure of a window, and opened a book which she began to read
with great attention.
“God be praised! she does not love him,” thought Mlle. Moiseney, who
was not aware that Mlle. Moriaz was turning two or three pages at a time
with perceiving it.
Deeply absorbed as she was, she still recognised her father’s step as he
came upstairs to his room. She hurried out to meet him. He noticed with
pleasure that her face was not wan, nor were her eyes red. He was less
satisfied when she said, in a calm, clear voice:
“Please show me the letter that you have received from Mme. de Lorcy.”
“What is the use?” he rejoined. “I know it by heart. I am ready to
recite it to you.”
“Is it a letter that cannot be shown?”
“No, indeed; but as I tell you that I am ready to give you an account of
it--”
“I would prefer to read it with my own eyes.”
“After all, you have a right. There! take it. But I beg of you do not be
offended by unfortunate expressions.”
“Mme. de Lorcy always knows how to choose the proper word to express her
thought,” she responded.
When she had run her eye rapidly over Mme. de Lorcy’s eight closely
written pages, she looked at her father and smiled.
“You must own that you found a very useful and a very zealous ally in
Mme. de Lorcy; do her this justice, she has worked hard, and you owe
her many thanks for having busied herself so actively in ridding you of
‘this worthy man, this good man, this delightful man’; those are her own
words, if you remember.”
M. Moriaz exclaimed: “I hope you do not imagine that it was a matter
arranged between us. Do you really suspect me of having some dark plot
with Mme. de Lorcy! Do you believe me capable of being implicated in an
act of perfidy?”
“God forbid! I only accuse you of being too joyous, and of not knowing
how to conceal it.”
“Is that a crime?”
“Perhaps it is an indiscretion.”
“I swear to you, my dear child, that I only consider your happiness,
and Mme. de Lorcy herself--Since M. Langis no longer thinks of you, what
reason could she have--”
“I do not know,” interrupted Antoinette; “but her prejudice would take
the place of reason.”
“So you will not believe that Count Larinski is married?”
“I believe it, without being certain, and I wish to be assured of it.
Have I not acted in good faith through all this matter? was I not ready
to comply with your conditions? I consented to refer to the judgment of
Mme. de Lorcy. She has deigned to be gracious to the accused. She
has admitted that M. Larinski is a perfectly honourable and even a
delightful man; but she has discovered, at intervals of several days,
first, that he does not love me, and then, that he has deceived me by
letting me believe that he was still free. I wish to satisfy my own
mind, and convince myself that I am not being played with.”
“And you have concluded----”
“I have concluded that, with your permission, we shall leave to-morrow
morning for Cormeilles.”
This conclusion was by no means agreeable to M. Moriaz, whose face grew
sensibly longer.
“Of what are you afraid? You know that I have character, and you ought
to know, no matter what Mme. de Lorcy says, that I am not wanting in
good sense. When it is proved to me that I have deceived myself, I will
make the sign of the cross over my romance; it will be dead and buried,
and I promise you not to wear mourning for it.”
“So be it,” said he; “I believe in your good sense, I have faith in your
reason: we shall leave to-morrow for Cormeilles.”
Four days later, Mme. de Lorcy was walking in an alley in her park.
She was joined there by M. Langis, to whom she said, in a good-humoured
tone: “Always grave and melancholy, my dear Camille! When will you
cease your drooping airs? I cannot understand you. I do my best to be
agreeable to you, to settle matters satisfactorily. Nothing seems to
cheer you. You make me think of the hare in La Fontaine:
“‘Cet animal est triste, et la Crainte le ronge.’”
“Fear and hate, madame,” replied he. “I hate this man; he is
insupportable to me. I will give up coming to Maisons if I always must
meet him here. Has he paid you his adieux for the last time?”
“Not yet; a little patience--we shall not count the minutes. Besides,
what harm can this man do you? The lion has lost his claws--what do I
say?--he has carried his good-nature to the point of muzzling himself.
It is not generous to pursue with hate a disarmed enemy.”
“Very well, madame, if he is not gone in three days, I return to my
first idea; it was the best.”
“You will cut his throat?”
“With all my heart.”
“For the love of art?”
“I am not a very bloodthirsty individual, but I would take a singular
delight in slashing at the skin of this gloomy personage.”
Mme. de Lorcy shrugged her shoulders. “What makes you think him gloomy,
my dear? You are perfectly reasonable. You ought to adore M. Larinski;
you are under the greatest obligations to him. He has been the first to
succeed in touching the heart of our dear, hitherto insensible girl; he
has broken the charm. She was the Sleeping Beauty; he has awakened her,
and, through the favour of Heaven, he cannot marry her. I can see her in
Churwalden, a prey to the gloomiest ennui, weeping over her illusions,
furious at having been deceived. Do you not divine all the advantage
that can be derived from a woman’s anger?”
“You know that I love her, and yet I do not wish to owe anything to her
spite.”
“You are a child: be guided. The moment is come for you to propose. In
a few days you will start for Churwalden, and you will say to this angry
woman, ‘I have lied--I love you.’ In short, you will talk to her of your
amorous flame; and you may, freely, under these circumstances, exhaust
all your treasure-store of hyperbole. She will listen to you, I can
promise you, and she will say to herself, ‘I seek vengeance--here it
is.’”
“I would like to believe you, madame,” he replied, “but are you very
certain that Mlle. Moriaz is still at Churwalden?”
And, pointing with his finger, he showed her at the end of the avenue a
figure coming towards them clad in a pretty nut-brown dress with a long
train sweeping the gravel.
“Truly, I believe that it is she,” cried Mme. de Lorcy. “M. Moriaz is
the most unskilful person; but, after all, not much harm is done.”
Mlle. Moriaz had arrived the evening previous at Cormeilles. After
resting somewhat from the fatigues of the journey, she had nothing more
urgent to do than to order the horses put to her coupe and to come and
pay her respects to her godmother, who could not fail to be touched by
this attention.
Mme. de Lorcy ran to Antoinette and embraced her several times, saying:
“You are here at last! How charmed I am to see you again! You made
us wait long enough; I began to fear that you had taken root in the
Grisons. Is it indeed an enchanted land? I rather believe that your
father is a cruel egotist, that he shamefully sacrificed you to his own
convenience in prolonging his cure; but here you are--I will pardon
him. Your poor, your _proteges_, are clamorous for you. Who do you think
asked after you, the other day? Mlle. Galet, whom, according to your
orders, I supplied with her quarter’s allowance. How you spoil her! I
found on her table a bouquet fit for a duchess; she insisted that you
had sent it to her from where you were, and I had all the trouble in
the world to make her understand that double camellias are not gathered
among the glaciers of Roseg. Strew with flowers, if you will, Mlle.
Galet’s existence and garret; but do not fling at her head a bushel
of double camellias, streaked with white; it is madness. I seriously
propose to have you put under restraint. Never mind, I am very happy
to see you again. You are looking very well.--Don’t you think, Camille,
that she appears extremely well?”
Mlle. Moriaz coldly received Mme. de Lorcy’s embraces; but she smiled
graciously on M. Langis, and pressed his hand affectionately. Mme.
de Lorcy led them into her _salon_, where they talked on indifferent
subjects. Antoinette was waiting for M. Langis’s departure to broach the
subject that she had at heart. At the end of twenty minutes, he rose,
but immediately reseated himself. A door had just opened, giving
admittance to Count Abel Larinski.
At the unexpected apparition of Samuel Brohl, the two women changed
colour; the one flushed from the effort that she made to dissimulate her
vexation, the other turned pale from emotion. Samuel Brohl crossed the
_salon_ with deliberate step, without appearing to recognise the person
who was with Mme. de Lorcy. Suddenly he trembled, as if he had been
touched by a torpedo, and, profoundly agitated, almost lost countenance.
Was he as much astonished as he seemed? For some time the Sannois Hill
had become his favourite promenade, and he never went there without
going as far as a certain spot whence he could see the front of a
certain house, the window-shutters of which had remained during two
months as though hermetically sealed. It might be that the evening
before he had found them open. Induction is a scientific process with
which Samuel Brohls are familiar.
He had abundant will and self-control. He was not long in recovering
himself; he raised his head like one who feels himself strong enough to
defy all dangers. After greeting Mme. de Lorcy, he drew near Antoinette,
and asked how she was, in a grave, almost ceremonious tone.
“Your visit distresses me, my dear count,” said Mme. de Lorcy to him; “I
fear it is the last. Have you come to bid us farewell?”
“Alas! yes, madame,” he replied. “The letter for which I have been
waiting has not yet arrived; but this delay will not alter my plans: in
three days I shall leave Paris.”
“Without a desire to return, without regret?” she asked.
“I shall only regret Maisons, and the kind reception I have received
there. Paris is too large; little people like myself feel their
smallness more here than elsewhere; it does not require an excess of
pride for one to dislike being reduced to the state of an atom. Residing
in Vienna suits me better; I breathe freer there; it is a city better
adapted to my size and taste. Birds do wrong to change their nests.”
Thereupon, he began to describe and warmly extol the Prater and its fine
walks, Schonbrunn, its botanical gardens and the Gloriette, the church
of St. Stephen’s, and the limpid waters of the Danube; sometimes
addressing himself to Antoinette, who listened without a word, and
sometimes to Mme. de Lorcy, whose eyes were turned at intervals towards
M. Langis, seeming to say to him: “Was I not right? Confess that your
apprehensions lacked common-sense. Do you hear him? he has only half
an hour to spend with her, and he describes the Prater. Are you still
thinking of cutting his throat? Please say one polite and civil word
to him. It is not he, it is you who are gloomy. Throw off your sinister
air. How long will this taciturn reverie last in which you are sunk?
You make yourself a laughing-stock--you act like a fool. You resemble
a sphinx of the desert engaged in meditating upon a serpent, and who
mistakes an innocent adder for a viper.” M. Langis understood what she
wished to say to him, but he did not throw off his sinister air.
After praising Vienna and its environs, Samuel Brohl eulogized the easy,
careless character of the Viennese. He told, in a sprightly way, several
anecdotes. His gaiety was rather feverish--somewhat forced studied, and
abrupt; but, nevertheless, it was gaiety. Mme. de Lorcy responded to
him, Mlle. Moriaz continued silent; she crumpled between her fingers
the guipure lace of her Marie-Antoinette fichu, and, with fixed eye, she
seemed to be counting the stitches. Samuel Brohl interrupted himself
in the midst of a sentence, and rose suddenly. He turned towards
Antoinette; in a hollow voice he begged her to tell M. Moriaz how much
he regretted that his early departure would deprive him of the honour
and pleasure of visiting him at Cormeilles; then he bowed to Mme. de
Lorcy, thanked her for the happy moments that he had spent with her, and
charged her to commend him to the kind remembrance of Abbe Miollens.
“We shall meet again, my dear count,” she said to him, in a clear voice,
emphasizing her words; “and I hope that, before long, we shall make the
acquaintance of the Countess Larinski.”
He looked at her in astonishment, and murmured, “I lost my mother ten
years ago.”
Immediately, without giving Mme. de Lorcy time to explain herself, he
directed his steps hastily towards the door, followed by three glances,
all three of which spoke, although they did not all say the same thing.
The room was large; during the thirty seconds that it took him to cross
it, the angel of silence hovered in the air.
He was about passing through the door, when, as fatality ordained, there
occurred to him an unfortunate and disastrous thought. He could not
resist the desire to see Mlle. Moriaz once more, to impress forever
on his memory her adored image. He turned, and their eyes met. He paid
dearly for this weakness of the will. Apparently the violent restraint
that he had exercised over himself for an hour had exhausted his
strength. It seemed to him that his heart ceased to beat; he felt his
legs stiffen, and refuse to serve him; his teeth clinched, his pupils
dilated, consciousness forsook him. Suddenly, heavily as a mass of
lead, he fell prone upon the floor, where he remained in a senseless
condition.
Mlle. Moriaz could not suppress a cry, and seemed for a moment on the
point of fainting herself. Mme. de Lorcy drew her arm around her waist,
and hurried her into the next room, throwing to M. Langis a bottle of
salts as she did so, and saying, “Take care of Count Larinski.”
The first thing that M. Langis did was to set the bottle on the
table, after which he went close up to Samuel Brohl, who, fainting
and inanimate, bore almost the appearance of death. He examined him
an instant, bent over him, then, folding his arms and shrugging his
shoulders, he said to him, “Monsieur, Mlle. Moriaz is no longer here.”
Samuel Brohl did not stir. “You did not hear me,” continued Camille.
“You are superb, M. le Comte; you are very handsome; your attitude is
irreproachable, and you might well be taken for a dead person. You
fell admirably; I swear I never saw at the theatre a more successful
fainting-fit; but spare yourself further trouble for the performance. I
repeat, Mlle. Moriaz is no longer here.”
Samuel Brohl remained inert and rigid.
“Perhaps you want to try the strength of my wrists,” continued Camille.
“Very well, I will give you that satisfaction.”
And, with these words, he seized him round his waist, summoned all his
strength in order to lift him, and deposited him at full length on the
sofa.
He examined him again, and said: “Will this tragi-comedy last much
longer? Shall I not find a secret to resuscitate you? Listen to me,
monsieur. I love with all my soul the woman that you pretend to love.
Does that not suffice? Monsieur, you are a Polish adventurer, and I have
as much admiration for your social talents as I have little esteem for
yourself. Does that not suffice yet? I would not, however, lift my hand
to you. I entreat you to consider the affront received.”
It seemed as if the dead man trembled slightly, and Camille exclaimed:
“Thank God! this time you have given sign of life, and the insult found
the way to your heart. I would be charmed to restore you to your senses.
I await your commands. The day, the place, and the weapons, I leave to
your choice. And, stay! You can count on my absolute discretion. No one,
I give you my word, shall learn from me that your fainting-fit had ears,
and resented insults. Here is my address, monsieur.”
And, drawing from his pocket a visiting-card, he tried to slip it into
the cold, listless, pendent hand, which let it fall to the ground.
“What obstinacy!” he said. “As you will, M. le Comte; I am at the end of
my eloquence.”
He turned his back, seated himself in a chair, and taking a paper, he
unfolded it. Meanwhile the door opened, and Mme. de Lorcy appeared.
“What are you doing here, Camille?” she exclaimed.
“You see, madame,” he answered, “I am waiting until this great comedian
has finished playing his piece.”
He was not aware that Mlle. Moriaz also had just entered the _salon_.
She cast him an angry, indignant, threatening glance, in which he read
his condemnation. He tried to find some word of excuse or explanation to
disarm her anger, but his voice failed him. He bowed low, took his hat,
and went away.
Mme. de Lorcy, very much agitated, opened a window; then she threw water
into Samuel Brohl’s face, rubbed his temples with a vivacity that was
not altogether exempt from roughness, and made him smell English salts.
“Ah, my dear! pray go away,” she said to Antoinette; “this is no place
for you.”
Antoinette did not go away; her face contracted, her lips trembling, she
seated herself aside at some distance from the sofa.
Mme. de Lorcy’s energetic exertions at last produced their effect.
Samuel Brohl was not dead; a quiver ran through his frame, his limbs
relaxed, and at the end of a few instants he reopened his eyes, then his
mouth; he sat up, and stammered: “Where am I? What has happened? Ah, my
God! it was but a moment ago that she was here!”
Mme. de Lorcy laid her hand on his mouth, and, bending over his ears,
she said, in a severe, imperious tone, “She is here still!”
She did not succeed in making herself understood. One only recovers by
degrees from such a fainting-fit. Samuel Brohl was again overcome by
weakness; his eyes closed once more, and he let his head sink between
his hands. After a silence of a few moments he said, in a choked voice:
“Ah! pardon me, madame. I am ashamed of myself. My courage failed me; my
strength betrayed me. I love her madly, and I had sworn never to see her
again. It was in order to fly from her that I was going away.”
He raised his head; he saw Antoinette; he looked wildly at her, as
though he did not recognise her.
He recognised her at last, made a gesture of alarm, rose precipitately,
and fled.
Mlle. Moriaz drew near Mme. de Lorcy, and said to her, “Well, what do
you think of it?”
“I think, my dear,” she replied, “that Mme. de Lorcy is a fool, and that
Count Larinski is a powerful man.”
Antoinette looked at her with a bitter smile, and touched her arm
lightly. “Admit, madame,” she said, “that if he had a hundred thousand
livres’ income, you would not think of doubting his sincerity.”
Mme. de Lorcy did not reply; she could not say “No,” and she was enraged
to feel that she was both right and wrong. It is an accident that
happens sometimes to women of the world.