THE SEDUCER.
Jacob was absorbed in the study of the works of Maimonides, when his
servant brought him a visiting-card.
This servant had replaced him who had so rudely received his master's
mother, and who, on account of her, had left Jacob's service, with
tears in his eyes, but too proud to serve a country-woman in Jewish
costume.
The visiting-card bore a name engraved indistinctly. Without
deciphering the name, Jacob received his visitor. He frowned when he
recognized David Seebach the younger, the seducer of Lia. He was
dressed richly, but in bad taste, with a cane in his hand, an eye-glass
at his eye, and a smile on his lips. Jacob received him coldly, and,
with a wave of the hand, indicated a chair. David seated himself, put
the end of his cane in his mouth, adjusted his eye-glass, and spoke in
a low voice:--
"My presence at your house is perhaps a surprise, for you gained, I
fear, a bad impression of us on our last interview. We were very sorry,
my father and I, not to have been able to conceal that unfortunate
exile for you, but"--
"I do not blame you for that. Every one has a right to act as he
pleases."
"Since then I have thought it over, and I admit that I was in the
wrong. Your reasoning was just at all points. We must follow the
current; we must side with Poland. My father and I, however, do not
think alike, on account of his former relations. He remains in the
Russian camp, while I take the side of the Poles. Thus we are safe in
any case."
"As you please," said Jacob, in an indifferent tone.
"You are on their side, are you not?" asked David.
"I am for Poland, but I am not a revolutionist."
"As for myself, I have made the acquaintance of the principal
agitators. I attend all the meetings, and I will aid the
revolutionists, for there is money to be made by so doing. As a measure
of precaution I have put all my property in a safe place across the
frontier, so that in case I am taken the Russians can get nothing, and
my father can save me from the hands of the police through the
protection of the high functionaries with whom he is in favour. The
patriots will need capital to procure arms at the Austrian frontier. I
will accommodate them, and the profits will be worth running a little
risk."
"Excuse me," interrupted Jacob. "I do not wish to meddle in such
business."
"How is that? Have you not said that you sympathize with Poland, and
did you not reproach us for being opposed to it?"
"Listen to me, my good David. If I am Polish, it is not from love of
lucre, not for fear, but from conviction."
"I am equally patriotic at heart," said David. "I sing the recent hymns
which ask God to manifest his power against the secular enemy. I
believed that you would aid me to conduct my business to a successful
termination; for to speak frankly, as I am a new convert the patriots
have not yet entire confidence in me. Your recommendation would have
weight, and you can share the profits."
At these words Jacob rang, and the servant appeared immediately.
"You see this gentleman," said the master. "Look at him well so as to
recognize him."
"Monsieur, I will remember him."
"Very well. If he ever presents himself here again you will not admit
him."
David arose, frightened and furious.
"Be careful how you treat me, my dear Jacob," said he, as he left. "I
have your life in my hands, and I will be revenged."
After this scene Jacob's brow was bathed in a cold sweat, and he fell
on a couch nearly prostrated. He was aroused by the arrival of Lia's
servant, who said that her mistress begged him to come immediately to
St. George's street. He called a carriage and hastened to the dwelling
of David's victim.
Near the house he perceived a veiled woman, who seemed agitated on
seeing him, and leaned against the wall as if faint. Then she rapidly
disappeared around the corner. Something about this woman reminded him
of Mathilde.
What if it was she!
This thought could be imaginary only, and Jacob did not entertain it
for a moment. Lia, all in tears, ran to meet him for whom she had
waited impatiently.
"Oh!" cried she, "that wretch has been here; he has dared to look at my
child. Save me from him! He has threatened to return. I will not see
him. I do not know him."
"Be quiet. You have nothing to fear. Did he tell you why he came?
Perhaps he is divorced from his wife, and he wishes to marry you."
"Then I will refuse; but he cannot give his wife the Ghet, for he knows
not where she is. And as for me, I have taken an Issar. I have sworn
never to marry the man who caused the tears of my father and my
mother."
Wrath and contempt gave to Lia's face a wonderful beauty. She
continued:--
"May my child be among the Asufim, the Piggum, and the Schetukim,
rather than bear the name of his miserable father!"
Jacob made vain efforts to calm her, and said:--
"I do not approve of your Issar. The child needs a father, and the
marriage would justify you in your parents' eyes."
All at once they heard David's voice in the antechamber. Lia snatched
her child from its cradle and fled to another room, and Jacob was left
alone. The door opened violently and the seducer rushed into the room,
his face purple with rage. He was stupefied to find in Lia's visitor
one whom he had not expected to meet again so soon. After a moment's
silence his anger returned, and with drawn sword he rushed on his
enemy, but his coolness and the heavy cane which Jacob presented kept
him at a distance. He lowered his arm and muttered some unintelligible
words.
"Why do you come here?" asked Jacob, with a firm voice.
"And you?"
"I am here at the request of Lia's father, with all the rights of a
guardian."
"And I come to see my child."
"Neither the mother nor the child belong to you. Have you given them
your name? Have you shielded them from shame, misery, and malediction?"
"I intend to divorce my wife and marry Lia. I must speak with her. Why
do you hinder me?"
"I consent that she sees you in my presence, if she wish. Otherwise,
no."
"She ought to be willing, for I hold her fate in my hands."
He had hardly ceased speaking when Lia opened the door and entered, her
features convulsed with aversion and contempt. She was superb in her
scorn, and David trembled as he regarded her. She hesitated an instant,
then cried;--
"Between you and me there is no longer anything in common. I declare,
before this witness, that I will never be your wife, and I forbid you
to call yourself my child's father. May my tears, my sobs, my
sufferings, my sleepless nights, and the disgrace that I have brought
to my family bring down upon your head divine wrath! May you be
tortured by demons, and may Dumah invent for you new torments!"
In the midst of these imprecations her eyes became suddenly fixed in
her head. Her arm appeared paralyzed and her legs sank under her; a
froth came from her mouth, and with a convulsive laugh and piercing
cries she fell senseless.
David fled from the house, his face covered with his hands. The maid
ran for a physician, who, on his arrival, said that it was not an
ordinary fainting, but a dangerous attack of apoplexy. All remedies
used in such cases were employed, but the stricken one did not regain
consciousness until toward evening, when she heard her child cry. She
extended her arms to him, but her strength failed anew. Jacob watched
by her bedside until daybreak.