MATRIMONIAL INTENTIONS DISCLOSED.
At the sight of Olivier, the commander's features assumed a joyful
expression, and, not being able to rise from his armchair, he held out
both hands to his nephew, saying:
"Good morning, my boy."
"Good morning, uncle."
"I feel strongly inclined to scold you."
"Me, uncle?"'
"Certainly. Though you only returned yesterday you were off this morning
almost before sunrise. I woke quite early, happy in the thought that I
was not alone, as I have been for two months past. I glance over at your
bed, but no Olivier is to be seen. You had already flown."
"But, uncle--"
"But, my boy, you have cheated me out of nearly two months of your leave
already. A hitch in your master mason's business matters, you told me.
So be it; but now, thanks to the earnings of these two months, you must
be almost a millionaire, so I intend to enjoy your society from this on.
You have earned plenty of money. As it is for me that you are always
working, I cannot prevent you from making me presents, and Heaven only
knows what you are plotting to do with your millions this very minute,
M. Croesus; but I tell you one thing, if you leave me as much of the
time alone as you did before you went away, I will not accept another
present from you. I swear I will not!"
"But, uncle, listen to me--"
"You have only two more months to spend with me, and I am determined to
make the most of them. What is the use of working as you do? Do you
suppose that, with a manager like Mother Barbancon, my purse is not
always full? Only two or three days ago I said to her: 'Well, Madame
Steward, how are we off for funds?' 'You needn't worry about that,
monsieur,' she replied; 'when one has more than one spends, there is a
plenty.' I tell you that a cashier who answers like that is a comfort."
"Oh, well, uncle," said Olivier, anxious to put an end to this
embarrassing conversation, "I promise that I will leave you as little as
possible henceforth. Now, one thing more, do you feel able to see Gerald
this morning?"
"Why, of course. What a kind and loyal heart that young duke has! When I
think that during your absence he came here again and again to see me,
and smoke his cigar with me! I was suffering the torments of the damned,
but somehow he managed to make me feel ever so much more comfortable.
'Olivier is away,' he said to me, 'and it is my business to look after
you.'"
"My good Gerald!" murmured Olivier, deeply moved.
"Yes, he is good. A young man of his position, who leaves his pleasures,
his sweethearts, and friends of his own age, to come and spend two or
three hours with an old cripple like me, proves conclusively that he has
a good heart. But I'm not a conceited fool, I know very well that it was
on your account that Gerald came to see me, my dear nephew, and because
he knew it would give you pleasure."
"No, no, uncle. It was for your sake, and for yours alone, believe me!"
"Hum!"
"He will tell you so himself, presently, for he wrote yesterday to ask
if he would find us at home this morning."
"Alas! he is only too certain to find me; I cannot budge from my
armchair. You see the melancholy proof of that," added the old sailor,
pointing to his dry and weedy flower borders. "My poor garden is nearly
burnt up. Mamma Barbancon has been too busy to attend to it; besides, my
illness seems to have put her all out of sorts. I suggested asking the
porter to water the flowers every day or two; but you should have heard
how she answered me. 'Bring strangers into the house to steal and
destroy everything!' You know what a temper the good woman has, and I
dared not insist, so you can see what a terrible condition my poor
flowers are in."
"Never mind, uncle; I am back now, and I will act as your head
gardener," said Olivier, gaily. "I have thought of it before, and if I
had not been obliged to go out early this morning on business, you would
have found your garden all weeded, and fresh as a rose sparkling with
dew when you woke this morning. But to-morrow morning,--well, you shall
see!"
The commander was about to thank Olivier when Madame Barbancon opened
the door and asked if M. Gerald could come in.
"I should say he could come in!" exclaimed the old naval officer, gaily,
as Olivier advanced to meet his friend.
"Thank heaven! his master mason has returned him to us at last,"
exclaimed the veteran, pointing to Olivier.
"Hopeless chaos seemed to reign in the worthy man's estimates," replied
Olivier, "and when they were at last adjusted, the manager of the
property, struck by my fine handwriting and symmetrical figures, asked
me to straighten out some accounts of his, and I consented. But now I
think of it, do you know, Gerald, who owns the magnificent chateau in
which I spent the last two months?"
"I haven't the slightest idea."
"Well, the Marquise of Carabas."
"What Marquise of Carabas?"
"The enormously wealthy heiress you were talking to us about before I
went away."
"Mlle. de Beaumesnil?" exclaimed Gerald, in profound astonishment.
"The same. This magnificent estate belongs to her and yields her a
yearly income of twenty thousand livres; and it seems that she has
dozens of such properties."
"What the devil can one do with so much money?" exclaimed the veteran.
"It is certainly a strange coincidence," murmured Gerald, thoughtfully.
"And why?"
"Because there is a possibility of my marrying Mlle. de Beaumesnil."
"Indeed, M. Gerald," said the veteran, artlessly, "so a desire to marry
has seized you since I saw you last?"
"So you are in love with Mlle. de Beaumesnil?" asked Olivier, no less
naively.
Gerald, surprised at these questions, replied, after a moment of
reflection:
"It is perfectly natural that you should speak in this way, commander,
and you, too, Olivier; and among all the persons I know you are the only
ones. Yes, for if I had said to a thousand other people, 'It is proposed
that I should marry the richest heiress in France,' each and every one
of them would have replied without a thought about anything else: 'Yes,
marry her by all means. It is a splendid match; marry her, by all
means!'"
Then, after another pause, Gerald added:
"Of course it is only right, but how rare, oh, how rare!"
"Upon my word, I had no idea that I was saying anything remarkable, M.
Gerald. Olivier thinks exactly as I do, don't you, my boy?"
"Yes, uncle. But what is the matter with you, Gerald? Why do you seem so
serious all of a sudden?"
"I will tell you," said the young duke, whose features did, indeed, wear
an unusually thoughtful expression. "I came here this morning to inform
you of my matrimonial intentions,--you, commander, and you, Olivier, for
I regard you both as sincere and devoted friends."
"You certainly have no truer ones, M. Gerald," said the veteran,
earnestly.
"I am certain of that, commander, and this knowledge made me doubly
anxious to confide my projects to you."
"That is very natural," replied Olivier, "for you know so well that
whatever interests you interests us."
"The real state of the case is this," said Gerald, replying to his
friend's words by a friendly gesture. "Yesterday, my mother, dazzled by
Mlle. de Beaumesnil's wealth, proposed to me that I should marry that
young lady. My mother considered my success certain, if I would consent
to follow her counsels. But remembering the pleasures of my bachelor
life and of independence, I at first refused."
"But if you have no liking for married life, the millions upon millions
should not induce you to change this determination," remarked the old
naval officer, kindly.
"But wait, commander," said Gerald, with some little embarrassment. "My
refusal irritated my mother. She told me I was blind, and that I had no
sense; but finally her anger gave place to such profound chagrin that,
seeing her inconsolable at my refusal, I--"
"You consented to the marriage?" asked Olivier.
"Yes," replied Gerald.
Then noticing a slight movement of astonishment on the part of the old
sailor, Gerald added:
"Commander, my decision seems to surprise you."
"Yes, M. Gerald."
"But why? Tell me frankly."
"Well, M. Gerald, if you consent to marry contrary to your inclination,
and that merely to please your mother, I fear you are making a great
mistake," answered the veteran, in firm, but affectionate tones, "for
sooner or later your wife will suffer for the compulsion you exert upon
yourself to-day, and one ought not to marry to make a woman unhappy.
Don't you agree with me, Olivier?"
"Perfectly."
"But how could I bear to see my mother weep, my mother who seems to have
set her heart upon this marriage?"
"But think of seeing your wife weep, M. Gerald. Your mother has your
affection to console her, while your wife, poor orphan that she is, who
will console her? No one, or perhaps she will do as so many other women
do,--console herself with lovers who are inferior to you in every way.
They will torment her, they will disgrace her, perhaps,--another chance
of misery for the poor creature!"
The young duke's head drooped, and he answered not a word.
"You asked us to be frank with you, M. Gerald," continued the commander,
"and we are, because we love you sincerely."
"I did not doubt that you would be perfectly frank with me, so I ought
to be equally so, and say in my defence that in consenting to this
marriage I was influenced by another and not altogether ungenerous
sentiment. You remember that I spoke of Macreuse, the other day,
Olivier?"
"That miserable wretch who put little birds' eyes out with pins!" cried
the veteran, upon whom this incident had evidently made a deep
impression, "that hypocrite who is now a hanger-on of the clergy?"
"The same, commander. Well, he is one of the aspirants for Mlle. de
Beaumesnil's hand."
"Macreuse!" exclaimed Olivier. "Poor girl, but he has no chance of
success, has he?"
"My mother says not, but I fear that he has; for the Church supports
Macreuse's claims, and the Church is very powerful."
"Such a scoundrel as that succeed!" cried the old officer. "It would be
shameful!"
"And it was because I was so indignant at the idea that, already touched
by my mother's disappointment, I consented to the marriage partly in
order to circumvent that wretch, Macreuse."
"But afterwards, M. Gerald, you reflected, did you not, that an
honourable man like yourself does not marry merely to please his mother
and circumvent a rival, even if that rival is a Macreuse?"
"What, commander!" exclaimed Gerald, evidently much surprised. "Do you
think it would be better to allow this wretch to marry Mlle. de
Beaumesnil, when he wants her only for her money?"
"Nothing of the kind," answered the veteran, warmly. "One should always
prevent a crime when one can, and if I were in your place, M. Gerald--"
"What would you do, commander?"
"I would go first to M. Macreuse, and say to him: 'You are a scoundrel,
and as scoundrels should not be allowed to marry women to make them
miserable all their lives, I forbid you to marry Mlle. de Beaumesnil,
and I will prevent you from marrying her; I do not know her, I have no
intention of marrying her myself, but I take an interest in her because
she is in some danger of becoming your wife. As that, in my opinion,
would be infinitely worse for her than if she were going to be bitten by
a mad dog, I intend to warn her that you are worse than a mad dog.'"
"That would be doing exactly right, uncle, exactly!" cried Olivier.
But Gerald motioned him not to interrupt the veteran, who continued:
"I should then go straight to Mlle. de Beaumesnil, and say to her: 'My
dear young lady, there is a certain M. Macreuse who wants to marry you
for your money. He is a vile cur, and I will prove it to his face
whenever and wherever you like. Take my advice; it is entirely
disinterested, for I haven't the slightest idea of marrying you myself,
but honest men should always put unsuspecting persons on their guard
against scoundrels.' I tell you, M. Gerald, my way may be
unconventional, but there might be very much worse ones."
"The course my uncle suggests, though rather rough, certainly has the
merit of being eminently straightforward, you must admit, my dear
Gerald," said Olivier, smilingly; "but you, who are so much better
versed in the ways of the world than either of us are, probably know
whether you could not achieve the same result by less violent means."
But Gerald, more and more impressed by the veteran's frankness and good
sense, had listened to him very respectfully.
"Thanks, commander," he exclaimed, offering him his hand, "you and
Olivier have prevented me from doing a dishonourable deed, for the
danger was all the greater from the fact that I was investing it with a
semblance of virtue. To make my mother the happiest of women, and
prevent Mlle. de Beaumesnil from becoming the victim of a man like
Macreuse, seemed a very fine thing to me at first. I was deceiving
myself most abominably, for I not only gave no thought whatever to the
future of this young girl whom I would probably make miserable for life,
but I was yielding, though unconsciously, to the fascination of her
colossal wealth."
"You are wrong about that, Gerald, I am sure."
"I am not, upon my word, Olivier. So, to save myself from further
temptation, I shall return to my first resolution, viz., not to marry at
all. I regret only one thing in this change of plans," added Gerald,
with much feeling, "and that is the deep disappointment I shall cause
my mother, though she is sure to approve my course eventually."
"But listen, Gerald," interrupted Olivier; "you should not do wrong
merely to please your mother, as uncle says. Yet a mother is so kind,
and it grieves one so much to see her unhappy, why should you not try to
satisfy her without the sacrifice of your convictions as an honest and
honourable man?"
"Good, my boy!" exclaimed the veteran. "But how is that to be done?"
"Explain, Olivier."
"You have no wish to marry, you say?"
"Not the slightest."
"And you have never seen Mlle. de Beaumesnil?"
"Never."
"Then you cannot love her, of course, that is evident. But who knows but
you might fall in love with her if you did see her? A bachelor life is
your idea of perfect happiness now, I admit. But is it not quite
possible that Mlle. de Beaumesnil might inspire you with a taste for
married life instead?"
"You are right, Olivier," exclaimed the veteran. "You ought to see the
young lady before you refuse, M. Gerald, and perhaps, as Olivier says,
the desire to marry may seize you."
"Impossible, commander!" cried Gerald, gaily. "One is born a husband as
one is born a poet or a cripple, and then there is another
objection,--the most important of all,--that occurs to me now. It is
that the young lady in question is the richest heiress in France."
"And what of that?" urged Olivier. "What difference does that make?"
"It makes a great deal of difference," replied Gerald, "for even if I
was obliged to admit that Mlle. de Beaumesnil pleased me
infinitely,--that I was dead in love with her, in fact, and that she
shared my love,--the fact remains that she is the possessor of a
princely fortune, while I have nothing; for my paltry twelve thousand a
year would be but a drop in the ocean of Mlle. de Beaumesnil's millions.
It would be too humiliating to a man's pride, would it not, commander,
to marry a woman to whom you can give nothing, but who gives you
everything? Besides, however sincere your love may be, don't you have
the appearance of marrying for mercenary motives? Don't you know that
everybody would say: 'Mlle. de Beaumesnil wanted to be a duchess. Gerald
de Senneterre hadn't a penny, so he sold her his name and title, and
threw himself in.'"
On hearing these words, the uncle glanced at his nephew with a decidedly
embarrassed air.