"Will you authorise me to write that to Cosima?"
"Certainly," he replied. "I wished to ask you to do so. Assure her that
there is no need of a rupture between us, that my heart is with her,
but that she ought to comprehend my reserve, and to show, before the
world, a certain consideration with respect to me, until the new order
of things is established."
"I will write this very evening. If you could know what relief and what
happiness this news will give them."
"I am very glad of that. You see how I have seized the first
opportunity that has offered to make known to my daughter, secretly,
my innermost thought. I have sought for such an opportunity without
finding it. In whom could I confide? Envy and hypocrisy find a
place in all human hearts. Very few have your frankness and your
beautiful, unrestrained enthusiasm.... But let us go in. I believe
that we are watched, and that people are already surprised by our long
conversation."
In fact many anxious and irritated looks were directed toward us, and,
if the eyes of the women clustered there, had been daggers, I should
never have passed the threshold of the dining-room alive.
During the refreshment hour Villiers de l'Isle-Adam talked with the
Countess Muchanoff, who appeared to be struck with amazement. He had
pinned upon his evening coat the decoration of the Knights of Malta,
a little cross set with white enamel, and he explained to her that he
was Grand Master of that order, which had been bestowed upon one of his
ancestors in 1520. France not recognizing the knighthood of Malta, he
could only wear the insignia when abroad. Then, at least, he could wear
them conscientiously.
Villiers then proceeded to recount the complicated and confused
history of his incontestable claims to the throne of Greece, by reason
of this Grand-mastership. He had even, once upon a time, presented his
claim as a candidate for the royal succession, and had had a memorable
campaign in the effort to maintain it.
From heraldic fantasies and aristocratic vanities, Villiers passed,
happily, to the more reasonable pride of the poet: he narrated his
reading at Wagner's house and his glorious success, and, when they
separated, he had promised the Countess Muchanoff to give, at the
_Hôtel des Quatre Saisons_, on any evening which she should be pleased
to name, a second reading of _La Révolte_.