“What we want most of all, oh, my only friend! is courage. Will you have
as much as your Henrietta?”
“Oh, certainly, certainly! I shall have all that is needed,” exclaimed
Daniel, moved to tears.
And he vowed to himself that he would devote himself, heart and soul,
to his work, and there find, if not forgetfulness, at least peace. He
found, however, that to swear was easier than to do. In spite of all
his efforts, he could not fix his thoughts upon any thing else but his
misfortunes. The studies which he had formerly pursued with delight now
filled him with disgust. The balance of his whole life was so completely
destroyed, that he was not able to restore it.
The existence which he now led was that of a desperate man. As soon as
he had risen, he hurried to M. de Brevan, and remained in his company
as long as he could. Left alone, he wandered at haphazard along the
Boulevards, or up the Champs Elysees. He dined early, hurried home
again, and, putting on a rough overcoat which he had worn on board ship,
he went to roam around the palace of his beloved.
There, behind those heavy, beautifully carved gates, which were open to
all comers but to him, lived she who was more to him than his life. If
he had struck the flagstones of the sidewalk with the heel of his boots,
she would have heard the sound. He could hear the music of her piano;
and yet the will of one man placed an abyss between them.
He was dying of inaction. It seemed to him atrocious, humiliating,
intolerable, to be thus reduced to expecting good or evil fortune from
fate, passively, without making an effort, like a man, who having taken
a ticket in a lottery, and is all anxiety to obtain a large fortune,
crosses his arms and waits for the drawing.
He was suffering thus for six days, and saw no end of it; when one
morning, just as he was going out, his bell rang. He went to open the
door.
It was a lady, who, without saying a word, swiftly walked in, and as
promptly shut the door behind her.
Although she was wrapped up in a huge cloak which completely hid
her figure, in spite of the very thick veil before her face, Daniel
recognized her at once.
“Miss Brandon!” he exclaimed.
In the meantime she had raised her veil, “Yes, it is I,” she replied,
“risking another calumny in addition to all the others that have been
raised against me, Daniel.”
Amazed at a step which seemed to him the height of imprudence, he
remained standing in the anteroom, and did not even think of inviting
Miss Brandon to go into the next room, his study.
She went in of her own accord, quite aloof; and, when he had followed
her, she said to him,--
“I came, sir, to ask you what you have done with that promise you gave
me the other night at my house?”