I was quite well; the fever had entirely departed, and my ankle was as
strong and sound as ever. I moved about freely, with a keen enjoyment
of life, an enjoyment intensified by the happiness which I believed to
be in store for me. Four weeks had passed since Lauretta had uttered
the names of Eric and Emilius, and I had seen nothing of them. Not
only had they not visited the house, but I was convinced they were not
in the village. My jealous fears were dead. The hopes in which I
indulged were strengthened by Doctor Louis's behavior towards me.
There had been a short conversation between us on the subject of what
had passed while he was endeavouring to mesmerise me on the first day
of my convalescence. It was I who, to his manifest relief, broached
the subject.
"I remember everything perfectly," I said, "every phase of my
sensations, every word that was spoken, every thought that occurred to
me. Although my eyes were sealed, I saw you plainly, and it seemed to
me that I could _see_ what was passing through your mind."
"It is frank of you," said Doctor Louis, "to say so much. Was I in
error in supposing that you were resisting me?"
"Not entirely in error," I replied. "I was aware of your design, and I
strove to exercise over you, to some extent, a power similar to that
you were exercising over me. If I did nothing else, I gave you pause."
"Yes," he said, "you compelled me to wait your pleasure, and now and
then, instead of being dictated to, dictated. That, to me, was a new
condition of a psychic force at present in its infancy, but which, at
some not too distant time, will be the means of producing marvellous
revealments."
"What brought us into harmony," I observed, "was the fact that the
subject was one which commanded our entire and undivided sympathies."
"My daughter."
"Yes, your daughter Lauretta."
"You obtained a promise from me which was to be confirmed I infer in
such a conversation as we are holding now. I confirm it. And you, on
your part, will abide by the engagement into which you entered with me
respecting Lauretta."
"Assuredly."
We clasped hands, and directed our conversation into another channel.
The agreement we had made necessitated certain action with respect to
my residence in Nerac during the period of probation. I felt that it
would be scarcely right for me to continue to live in the doctor's
house; even were a closer tie not in contemplation, it would have been
indelicate on my part to encroach upon the hospitality of these
generous friends. It was for me to make the first move in the matter,
and I did so when we were sitting together after the evening meal.
"I have had it for some time in my mind," I said, "to endeavour to
express my heartfelt thanks for all the kindness you have shown me;
but although I am not usually at a loss for words, I am at a loss to
carry out my wish in a fitting manner."
"It is enough," said Lauretta's mother, with a gentle inclination of
her head. "Having said so much, there is no need for anything more. Do
not distress yourself. What has been done has been cheerfully and
willingly done, and your restoration to health is the best return you
could make for the slight service we have been able to render you."
"There was a time," I remarked, "when I myself might have regarded the
saving of my life a slight service; that was when I deemed life of
little value, when I thought there was little in the world worth
caring for. But it is different now; my life is precious to me, and
the world is very beautiful."
"It is," said Doctor Louis, "all a question of the liver. The world is
bright or dark according to the state of our digestions."
He often interjected these pleasant discordances, upon which we placed
their proper value, knowing that they were introduced chiefly for the
purpose of giving a healthy turn to the conversation. This did not,
however, detract from the wisdom of his utterances, which were nuts
with sound kernels within.
"Therefore," I continued, smiling at the doctor, and becoming grave
immediately afterwards, "what you have done for me is of inestimable
value, and cannot be priced. There is only one way of showing my
gratitude, and that way lies in the future, not in the present. It
shall be my endeavour to prove to you that your precious kindness has
not been wasted."
Lauretta's mother nodded and looked kindly at me, and then turned her
eyes of full love upon her daughter, who was sitting by her side.
Between me and Lauretta's mother no words had been exchanged with
reference to the dear wish of my heart, but without being told I knew
that Doctor Louis had imparted to his wife all the particulars of what
had passed between us, and that she was aware that I stood in the
position of one who desired to win their Home Rose for my wife. There
was a new tenderness and solicitude in the mother's looks which deeply
moved me.
"Then there is another matter," I said, "upon which I hope we shall be
in accord. I am mustering up courage to leave you."
"I feared, mother," said Lauretta, and it delighted me to note that
her voice was tremulous, "that he was growing weary of us. I told him
so a little while since, I think."
"And my reply was," I said, "that I should be content to remain here
for ever; but that can scarcely be. I have no intention of leaving
Nerac, however."
"Of course not, of course not," said Doctor Louis; "the air here is so
fine, so much finer than it is anywhere else--"
"Very much finer," I said.
"And the fruit is so delicious, so much more delicious than it is
anywhere else--"
"Much more delicious," I said.
"And the skies are so bright, so much brighter than they are anywhere
else--"
"Much brighter."
"And the flowers are so much lovelier, and the stars are so much more
brilliant--"
"The doctor and I," I said, entering into his mood, and addressing his
wife and daughter, "so perfectly agree."
They smiled, but in Lauretta's smile there was a tender wistfulness.
"Then the people," continued Doctor Louis; "they are so much superior,
so much more refined, so much higher--"
"Indeed," I said, with a touch of earnestness, "that has been truly
proved to me."
"No, no," said Doctor Louis, "I am not to be turned from the track by
sentiment. It has been left to our young friend to discover--all
honour to him--that, taking us altogether, we in the little village of
Nerac here are a very exceptional lot. Now, I have only to make this
public to bring us an inch nearer to the sun. The least we can do for
him is to present him with a testimonial."
"Which he is ready to accept," I said gaily; "but, doctor, you omitted
to mention one important thing."
"What is it?"
"My health; it will take a considerable time to establish it, and it
cannot be established elsewhere."
"A poor compliment to my skill," observed Doctor Louis, quizzically.
"Ah, I always thought I was a pretender, but until this moment no one
has had the courage to tell me so to my face."
"Be serious, Louis," said his wife.
"I am dumb," he rejoined, with a comical look.
I then unfolded my plan. It was my desire to take a house in Nerac,
not at too great a distance from the house of Doctor Louis, in which I
could reside, with two or three servants to attend to it and me. I had
seen such a house on the borders of a forest about a mile and a half
away, which appeared to me to have been long uninhabited. The grounds
in which it was built and the gardens by which it was surrounded had
been neglected by man, but there was much wild beauty in them, and a
little care and attention would soon bring them into order. The place
had attracted me, and I had spent an hour in wandering through the
grounds, and had attempted, also, to enter the house to examine it,
but the doors were locked. Attached to the house was a cottage, which
I supposed had been the gardener's cottage. This little dwelling was
literally imbedded in climbing wild roses, which had grown in
wonderful luxuriance upon all its walls. There were stables also,
which I judged would afford accommodation for half a dozen horses.
In some respects the estate reminded me of Rosemullion, which,
considering the kind of life I had passed therein, might not have been
considered an attraction; nevertheless, I found myself insensibly
drawn towards it. Its points of resemblance were that the house stood
alone, and could not be overlooked; that it was at some distance from
other habitations; and that it was on the borders of a wood. In one
respect it was pleasantly dissimilar. No stone walls surrounded it;
there was not even a fence; the fine trees around it had been so
arranged by man or nature as to form an intelligible barrier, which,
however, any person was at liberty to pass. The gloom of Rosemullion
did not, therefore, pervade it, and, living there, I should not feel
as if I were cut off from communion with my fellows.
I had visited it on a bright day; the sun was shining, the birds were
singing in the trees; and when I visited it, and as I wandered through
the grounds, I was thinking of Lauretta. But when, indeed, was I not
thinking of her? She was my sun, my light, my life. All aspects of
nature were rendered beautiful by thought of her; she was to me the
essence of joy; through her, and through her only, my heart was a
garden. Through her I discovered beauties even in nature's sad moods;
her spiritual presence was never absent from me. She moved by my side
when I strolled unaccompanied through the quaint little thoroughfares
of the village and the sweet and solemn woods in the valleys of which
it lay; alone in my chamber she was ever with me; she was not only
life of my life, she was my religion--I who had had no religion, and
to whom the sacred peace of church or chapel had never come. My father
had never taken me by the hand and led me to a place of worship; I had
read the Bible, not as a religious study, but for the most part as a
collection of amusing, improbable romances. There was certainly one
character in it which had deeply impressed me--the character of
Isaiah, for whose wild prophetic life I entertained a profound
admiration. Otherwise, the book simply entertained me. It was
different now. Not that I read the Bible in a newer light, or indeed
that I read it at all, but that, through Lauretta, I became amenable
to certain influences of a religious nature. I sat with her in the
pretty chapel of the village in which Father Daniel officiated, and
the hushed air within the building, and the voices of the choir of
children, and the tender, sacred music, had upon me a purifying
influence. The music was Lauretta's; the angel voices were Lauretta's;
the tender peace was Lauretta's; the priest's consoling, compassionate
admonitions were Lauretta's. What mystic thoughts of a higher future
state these matters brought dimly to my mind were inspired by
Lauretta. It was she for whose sweet sake I gave Father Daniel money
for his poor. Through her I saw "good in everything;" through her I
inhaled it.
The money I gave to Father Daniel was given privately, but I did not
think of laying an injunction of secrecy upon him, and it became
known. I was guiltless of any wish to earn praise for my actions in
that or in any other respect, but a reward most disproportionate, but
most sweet, was bestowed upon me by words and looks from Lauretta and
her mother.
"It is good of you," said Lauretta's mother.
"You almost make me ashamed," I said.
"Why?" asked Lauretta's mother. "It gladdens us. I am learning not
only to know you but to love you."
Precious were those words from her lips; but afterwards, when I
offered my contributions to Father Daniel I asked him not to speak of
them. I think he respected my wish, but nevertheless I gained a
reputation for charity in Nerac which did me no harm.
To return to the conversation respecting the house I desired to take.
It was well known to Doctor Louis and his family, and of course to all
in the village, and one reason why it had remained for so long a time
uninhabited was that it was a gentleman's house, and no person rich
enough had desired to become its tenant.
"It is filled with old furniture," said Doctor Louis, "and a man with
a large family could be tolerably comfortable there, no doubt. There
were gay doings in it once upon a time. A nobleman inhabited it for
many years, and entertained shoals of visitors. He was not a favourite
in Nerac, and took no pains to make himself one, looking down upon us
as somewhat too common for intimate association; and as we have a
pride of our own, we returned his scornful opinion of us in kind. He
died there, and his affairs were found to be hopelessly involved.
Since then the house has been empty. The agents, a firm of lawyers,
live a hundred miles away, but there will be no difficulty in
communicating with them if you are really serious in wishing to occupy
it."
"I am quite serious," I said.
"You will be lonely there," said Lauretta's mother.
"You must remember," I said, "that until I came here I have lived a
life of solitude."
"Have we not cured you of that?" she asked.
"Of the desire for a life of solitude? Yes. It is only that I am
accustomed to it, and that it is not so irksome to me as it would be
to others. But why talk of my being lonely unless you have decided to
banish me from your society?"
"We shall be happy to have you here as often as you care to come,"
said Lauretta's mother. "Meanwhile you will remain with us, and we can
be of assistance to you in settling yourself. Left to your own devices
in arranging matters, you would make, I am afraid, a sad bungle of
them."
It was settled so, and in a few days the keys of the house arrived,
and we all set out together to inspect it. We found it charming, but
very musty. Some of the rooms were spacious, some small and cosy. Of
bedrooms there were at least a dozen, all amply furnished; but
Lauretta's mother shook her head when she examined the linen, and
declared that it would occupy some time and much labour to put it in
order. I asked her to take direction of the affair, and she consented
to do so. We decided which rooms were to be locked up and which used,
and in which way the furniture was to be disposed of. The agents, in
reply to my letter, had sent an inventory, which I would have taken
for granted, but Lauretta's mother would not have it so, and chided me
for my easiness.
"What would you have?" said Doctor Louis. "It was his misfortune to be
born a man, and what does he knows of sheets and curtains and
footstools?"
"He will not want footstools," said Lauretta's mother.
"Indeed I shall," I declared, "and everything feminine. Am I to be
shut up here alone, without ever a visit from my friends?"
"Oh," said Lauretta's mother, "we will come and see you if you invite
us."
"Therefore, footstools," said I gravely.
There was, indeed, a great deal to be done, and it did not surprise me
to discover that Lauretta's mother was thoroughly practical in all
household matters. Lauretta herself gave her opinion and advice,
timidly and shyly, and not a word she said was lost upon me.
Subsequently, when the work was done and I was duly installed in my
new residence, she was delighted to see that every hint she had given
had been acted upon.
"The first necessary thing," said Lauretta's mother, "is to hire some
one to take care of the place and look after it while the workmen are
employed. It should be a gardener, who could usefully employ his time,
and who, perhaps, might afterwards be permanently engaged, if he gives
satisfaction."
"I know the very man," said Doctor Louis. "Martin Hartog, who is
seeking employment. A faithful fellow, and capable."
"He has a daughter, too," said Lauretta's mother, "who could look
after--"
"The footstools," said Doctor Louis.
"His character is excellent," said Lauretta's mother; "it is a pity he
is so eccentric."
"His eccentricity," said Doctor Louis to me, "consists in his having
opinions. For instance, he does not believe in kings and queens; he
believes in the universal equality of man. For another instance, he is
supposed to be a materialist; yet I never heard of his doing wrong to
a fellowman, and I am sure he would scorn to rob even the rich. For my
part, I have a respect for Martin Hartog, and so has my wife, whose
only sorrow with respect to him is that she cannot convert him."
"He is a conscientious man," said Lauretta's mother, "and will
faithfully perform any duty he undertakes."
"As good an epitaph," said Doctor Louts, "as could be graven upon any
tombstone."
The next day Martin Hartog was engaged, but when I spoke to him about
his daughter he declined to allow her to enter service. He had always
maintained her, and he hoped to be always able to do so. She could
live with him in the gardener's cottage attached to the house, and he
promised that I should never find her in my way. If I objected to her
living with him in the cottage he would remain where he was, and come
to his work every morning, and if that would not do, why, he could not
accept the employment I offered him. What particularly struck me in
him was the tender tones in which he spoke of his daughter; she was
evidently the treasure of his life. In the course of a day or two,
when I saw her--for Martin was engaged upon his own conditions, which
were quite suitable to me--I was not surprised at this, for she was a
maiden of singular beauty.
I pass over all further details with respect to the house of which I
became the tenant. It will be sufficient to say that the work
proceeded satisfactorily, though its complete execution occupied a
longer time than I expected. I spared no money, and insisted upon the
appointments, within and without, being of such an order as to be
worthy of the dear friends whom I hoped to receive often as my
guests. The association between me and the members of Doctor Louis's
family grew closer and more binding in its intimate relationship;
perfect confidence was established between us, and it made me glad to
think that they regarded me almost as one of themselves. I faithfully
observed the contract into which I had entered with Doctor Louis;
nearly three months of the twelve belonged to the past, and nothing
had occurred to disturb my tranquillity.
Before the end of the week I expected to remove from Doctor Louis's
house. He and I were frequently together when he went to visit those
of his patients who lived at a distance, and on one occasion at this
period we had arranged to ride in company to a village situated
sixteen miles from Nerac, and on our return to dine at an inn, and
visit some caves which had just been discovered, and which were said
to contain, among other relics of the past, bones and skeletons of
animals now strange to the district.
On our way out of Nerac we met the village postman, who gave Doctor
Louis a letter. He glanced at it, and saying "Ah, a letter from
Emilius," opened and read it as we ambled along the soft forest track.