A ROYAL RECOMPENSE
It was night when we reached the chateau of Capello. Afar off, we
could see the windows blazing with lights and hear the heavenly
thrilling of music. The villagers were dancing by moonlight on the
village green, to the music of pipes; we heard that every night since
Gaston Cheverny's return, there had been dancing and music everywhere
on the estates of Capello, as well as at the chateau.
When we dismounted before the great entrance, we could see that the
chateau was full of company, and a ball was going on in the Diana
gallery. Old Peter received us, and fairly burst into tears of joy
when we greeted him. An army of servants were in splendid new
liveries; there seemed to be no limit to waxlights, and everything was
in gala.
We were shown to our rooms to change our traveling clothes, and soon
descended to the red saloon, where Francezka and Gaston received their
guests. I was so eager to see how Francezka bore her happiness, that I
saw only her, standing at the top of the splendidly lighted room with
Gaston by her side. She wore a trailing gown of white shimmering
satin, and pearls and diamonds were on her matchless white throat and
in her rich hair. She had lost long since the air of graceful pride
and innocent triumph which marked her first bright youth, and now,
with all her joy, there was a soft deprecation, that in one by nature
so proud as Francezka was the sweetest thing in the world. I saw all
this while my master was making his compliments to Francezka, and
embracing Gaston. Francezka, by that time, was looking into my face,
with tears on her cheeks, and grasping my hand with both of hers, she
only said:
"My dear, dear Babache--my faithful friend--"
Then she turned to Gaston, who embraced me warmly.
"Francezka has told me all, Babache," he cried. "How can I thank you
enough!"
In that brief moment I noticed that Gaston had changed much, as one
might expect in those seven years of exile and misery, but not for the
worse. On the contrary, I thought him a comelier man than he had ever
been before. And strange, for a man who had spent seven years of
hardship and labor among a half-civilized people, he bore no trace
whatever of awkwardness or boorishness amid his splendid surroundings.
He might just have stepped from the _oeil-de-boeuf_ at the king's
levee at Versailles, he was so graceful and so much at ease, but he
had ever been remarkable for that.
The great apartment was full of people. I recognized Madame Riano, who
called me to her and spoke to me most graciously. Also, Father Benart,
who had on a new cassock for the occasion. He, too, spoke to me most
kindly, but he was rather subdued and silent. I judged that like the
pagan Greeks of old, this Christian man felt a fear for those who
stood upon the shining peaks of perfect joy.
Bellegarde was not there. Francezka, somewhat unreasonably, I think,
haughtily refused to see or to speak with him, and sent him a message
to the effect that his life would be spared, for which he should be
thankful. She was very bitter against him, but the rest of the world,
including Gaston Cheverny, took a more lenient view of poor
Bellegarde's offense, and he was laughed at rather than condemned. Nor
was the Bishop of Louvain present. I fancy he was afraid to face
Madame Riano, after having persistently declared his conviction that
Gaston Cheverny would never be again heard of, and having pooh-poohed
Madame Riano's signs, dreams and presentiments that Gaston would
return.
I have said before, that although declared a prince, a Tatar prince, I
have a most unprince-like habit of retiring to the wall when in fine
company, and this I did in the red saloon. I could not take my eyes
from Francezka. It seemed to me as if no change could come over her
that did not increase her hold upon hearts. Certainly I had never at
any time seen her look so beautiful or so winning as in this, her day
of triumph. She disarmed envy by a silent appeal for forgiveness that
she was so much happier than most of the children of men.
No woman ever lived who knew better how to be splendid than Francezka
Cheverny, and she and all about her were very splendid on this night.
Supper was served in state, the handsomest youths of the best families
in Brabant serving at table, according to the old Brabant custom.
There was no want of attention to any one present--not even to me,
Babache. When the company was being marshaled for supper, Gaston
sought me out and secured me a partner in the person of a very old and
very ugly lady of rank who, I take it, had been misled by my title,
and evidently thought me a person of consideration and treated me
accordingly. Francezka, of course, was escorted by Count Saxe.
The supper was very grand; the old Marquis Capello's wine flowed
like water; there was a servant in livery behind every other
chair; the table was loaded with delicacies; and musicians played
soft music from the gallery, the guests joining in the singing. Many
old songs were sung, like the ancient _Carillon du Verre_, and some
new ones--especially one, a song of hope, beginning, _Espere!
Espere, il reviendra!_ which particularly applied to Francezka and
Gaston. I saw the eyes of Francezka and Gaston meet when this
strain was sweetly played; they sat, after the French custom,
opposite each other in the middle of the long table. Francezka's
eyes were those of an angel, and Gaston's were so full of pride,
of love, of triumph, that they shone like stars.
During the singing I noticed, for the first time, the slight defect of
memory from which I had heard Gaston still suffered. He had formerly
an agreeable voice, of no great compass or quality, but he sang with
taste enough to make up for both. Many heavy hours during our days in
Courland had we been soothed with Gaston's singing to his viol; many
moonlit nights on the island in Lake Uzmaiz had his voice told its
story in songs. In those journeyings through France and Germany and in
those long and quiet evenings in Paris Gaston's singing had been one
of our great resources, but he seemed to have lost all power over both
words and music, and sat quite silent while all the rest trolled
forth. I do not know whether any one else observed this except myself.
When the singing was at its height my master called out to me, as I
sat, near the foot of the long table:
"Babache, my prince, what is the name of the song Monsieur Cheverny
used to sing to us on the terrace of the island in the lake?"
"It was Blondel's song, Monsieur," I answered.
Francezka, with a glowing face and dewy eyes, looked at Gaston, but he
looked puzzled and a little embarrassed.
"I can not recall it," he said; "it has gone from me with the memory
of other things I would remember."
Francezka, to assist his struggling memory, softly repeated the first
two lines:
O Richard! O mon roi,
L'univers t'abandonne!
It would seem as if he could not but remember how they had often sung
and played it together in their golden youth, and the secret, tender
meaning they had affixed to it, known only to themselves. And
Francezka, in her unhappy time, had often played that air upon the
harpsichord as recalling her lost love. But Gaston only shook his
head.
"It is gone from me with other things--the sweetest recollections--the
sacredest memories--never to return."
"When you begin to play the guitar once more, as you used," said
Francezka gently, and smiling, to encourage him, "all these songs will
come back to you again."
Gaston raised his right hand, brown and sinewy.
"This hand looks to be the same it was when I gave it you," he said,
smiling back sadly at Francezka, "but, like my memory, it is not what
it once was. I can neither play the guitar nor write, nor do anything
with it as I once did."
It was sad to see so young a man in the full vigor of manhood with
these cruel marks of mental and physical suffering left upon him, but
on the whole, few men living could at that moment reckon themselves
happier than Gaston Cheverny. If he had suffered he had certainly come
into a royal recompense.
We sat late, and afterward there was dancing in the Diana gallery.
Francezka walked the minuet with Count Saxe, and afterward danced in a
very merry branle. She had danced since Gaston's return, for the first
time in eight years, she told me, having no heart to dance in that
first year, when she was secretly Gaston Cheverny's wife, because he
was away at the wars, and having never seen dancing in those seven
years of sorrow when she waited and longed for him. But she had not
lost either her grace or her gaiety, and danced as she had done in her
first girlhood. Madame Riano did some strange Scotch dances with great
agility in spite of her sixty years, and rated everybody soundly who
could not do the Scotch dances and did not know the Scotch airs.
It was midnight before the company dispersed. I did not go to my
chamber, but driven by some impulse stronger than myself, slipped out
of the chateau and took my way toward a spot sure to be silent and
deserted at this hour--the Italian garden.
A great bright moon rode in the heavens, making the landscape all
black and silver. The yews and box trees were as dark as the darkest
night, and the lake lay in its ever-present gloom shadowed by its sad
cypresses and cedars, with but a shimmering of light in its center. In
the deep silence its faintly mournful sound was softly heard.
Francezka was happy, that was plain. All else mattered little--even a
strange and hateful feeling within my own breast--I no longer loved
Gaston Cheverny.
At the moment my eyes fell upon him there came upon me a sudden fading
of the strong affection I had felt for him every moment of the
fourteen years which had passed since that night in the garden of the
Temple, when I had come near to killing him. Never had I felt so
singular and mysterious an aversion toward a man I had ever loved as
toward Gaston Cheverny on my first seeing him that night, and when he
clasped me in his arms, with all of the old affection, this aversion
became an actual repulsion. I had disguised it perfectly. I had
returned his embrace warmly. All of his kind words, his friendly
glances, I had met in kind; but a coldness not to be expressed in
speech had come over me toward Gaston Cheverny in this, our hour of
reunion. Nothing availed to warm it, not the recollection of long and
close companionship, of keen adventure, of tedious months and years,
lightened by each other's companionship, of community of tastes, of a
high mutual esteem--nothing, nothing availed. The Gaston Cheverny of
other days I still loved tenderly. This Gaston Cheverny I regarded
with entire indifference. I did not fail to remind myself that seven
years' separation, as complete as if we had inhabited different
worlds, might make this change, but I could not deny that the change
seemed wholly on my side; for, unless he were as good an actor as I,
he felt for me all the warmth of affectionate friendship which had
once been ours in common. Tormented with this singular revulsion of
feeling, I remained long in the garden, until my eye happening to fall
on the sun dial, I was reminded there was such a thing as time, and I
heard a distant bell chiming two o'clock in the morning, when I
returned to the chateau and went to bed.
Next morning the chateau was awake early, and then began, in the sweet
May weather, a round of festivities which lasted every day of our stay
at Capello. Fetes in the fields, in the May days; masquerades by
night, with water parties on the canal, where hidden music played; and
always winding up with a ball in the Diana gallery,--these were our
regular occupations. In all of these pastimes Francezka shone as
queen. In beauty, gaiety, grace and wit, she was unmatched. Her
enjoyment and zest of pleasure were contagious. It was natural that it
should be so. Francezka's life had been so clouded and so stormy, for
seven years she had borne so heavy a burden of anguish, that when at
last this burden was removed and the sun shone again it was to be
expected that she should have a thirst for pleasure.
And to Gaston, cut off for so many years from any communion with those
of his own race, tongue and caste, it was necessary, in order to bring
himself once more in touch with his own world, that he should see
something of it.
Despite that coldness of the heart I felt toward him, I could not deny
that Gaston Cheverny had preserved--nay, greatly developed--his gifts
and graces. I had heard that the Chevernys as a family were famed for
eloquence, and certainly both Gaston and Regnard Cheverny had always
known how to speak well. Gaston now displayed in perfection this
excellent gift. His strange adventures in the isles of the East; his
description of his seven years' battle against alien climes, peoples
and conditions; his wanderings by land and sea, the steadiness with
which he kept his face turned to the west, the struggles by which he
finally reached Europe again--were worth hearing and lost nothing in
the telling.
Many nights, after a hard day's pleasuring, a great supper party and a
ball afterward, did Gaston Cheverny keep us up until almost daylight
telling us these things. Nor was he over ready to do it, but being
courteously pressed by Count Saxe, or other gentlemen, he would tell
us what we wished to hear. Sometimes Francezka listened to these
recitals, listened with a glorified face. Her happiness was so great,
so keen, that it made me fear for her. Like the little priest, Father
Benart, I thought the gods would demand their tribute, and only hoped
it had been paid by her seven years of anguish.
Madame Riano was staying at the chateau, and had not changed a whit.
She had ever liked Gaston Cheverny, and they seemed to be the best of
friends still. But she intended shortly to return to Paris, and so
invited herself to travel with Count Saxe when he should be ready to
leave. Old Peter was the same faithful, devoted, sad-eyed creature as
ever, but I think not unhappy after all. Lisa's return had given the
old man's heart its natural resting place. I asked him about her, and
he told me, with tears upon his withered leathery face, of her
devotion to him, her uncomplaining fortitude, her humility--he did not
say penitence, for Francezka told me that neither old Peter nor she
herself had ever been able to get one word of regret for the past out
of Lisa. I told Francezka about my chance meeting with Jacques Haret.
She asked me if I had given him a good beating; Francezka was, in some
respects, a vengeful woman. I told her it had not occurred to me to do
this, but I would remember it if I ever met him under favorable
circumstances again. He had honestly earned a beating--the only thing
he ever honestly earned in his life.
Besides Peter, my other old friend at the chateau, Bold, seemed also
changed, but for the worse. Age had fastened upon him, and he was now
decrepit. That was perhaps the reason why he was not so much with his
mistress as formerly, but, in truth, the whirl of the days and nights
was such that a sober and discreet dog could not keep up the pace.
Now that Gaston Cheverny had been miraculously restored to his wife,
people began to ask about Regnard. Count Saxe inquired of Gaston if
anything was known of Regnard, but Gaston shook his head. He had not
yet had time to have inquiries made about his brother, but would do
so. Judging, however, from such information as he had found awaiting
him, it seemed likely that Regnard was dead. This Count Saxe
combatted, saying it seemed to him most unlikely that an officer of
rank in the East India Company's army should die without his family or
friends receiving any notification.
And if it were indeed true that Regnard was dead, his estate was worth
inquiring after. The sum he had received for Castle Haret was in
itself a considerable one. To this Gaston replied obstinately that he
was convinced Regnard's long silence meant that he was dead, and as
soon as it was possible, inquiries should be set on foot in England to
find out all the facts connected with Regnard's fate. In spite of
this, however, I saw that Gaston was really indifferent to his
brother's fate, and remembering their unclouded intimacy and
affection, in spite of their rivalry for Francezka, I found this
surprising. It was the first genuine cause I had for loving Gaston
Cheverny less, because his warmth and kindness to me suffered no
variation.
I had not, of course, much chance for private talk with Francezka
during that week of dancing and feasting, but I felt she was too loyal
a soul to forget me in her hour of triumph, and would not let me
depart without some evidence of her unchanged regard. On the morning
of our departure I rose early, according to custom, and went forth. It
was but little past sunrise, and a delicate fine rain, as thin as a
muslin veil, was falling. The earth and the blooming plants were
drinking it up eagerly; it was so gentle that it would not roughly
strike the most delicate flower. I walked about the gardens and
terraces, and then went toward the Italian garden, which always seemed
to be consecrated to Francezka. I was scarcely surprised, early as it
was, to see her walking up and down the box walk, with Bold by her
side. She had the hood of her crimson mantle drawn over her head, and
was walking slowly up and down, a branch of roses in her hand. Her
face was not joyful, but rather meditative, and it made my heart leap
to see how it lighted up when she saw me within a yard of her.
"I did not mean to let you slip away, Babache, without one private
word with you," she cried, as I joined her. "I thought if I came out
here I should probably find you. See how strong is habit. Here I am,
walking and watching with my dog and my friend, just as I have done
for seven years past, and he for whom I watched and waited--my best
beloved--is safe at home; and yet I come always once a day to this
spot, and give thanks. And I thank God for you and Bold. You know, it
is high praise to be classed with Bold."
"I know it, Madame," said I, "and Bold is a happy dog now that his
master is come home."
Francezka's brow clouded a little, and she looked about her to be sure
that no gardeners or possible eavesdroppers were near.
"No," she said gravely, even with a little quiver of her lip. "Bold is
not a happy dog. He did not know his master, and does not know him
now, and to think of how Bold and I loved and watched and waited for
seven years--how many conversations we had about Gaston--and how Bold
always assured me that his master would return. I think he was not
less comforting than you, and much more encouraging. And now he cares
nothing--he even snarls at Gaston--"
She looked reproachfully at the old dog, trotting by her side. He was
aged, but he had not lost his sight, or his teeth, or his native good
sense, for at the charge brought against him he looked his mistress
steadily in the eye, and then coolly turned off, as much as to say:
"If you choose to complain of me to Captain Babache, at least I scorn
to defend myself."
"It must have been very hard on Gaston," I said, "for he ever loved
the dog so much."
"No," replied Francezka, as if she were communicating some great
sorrow to me. "Gaston cares no more for Bold than Bold cares for
Gaston. What do you think--now, will you promise me to keep this a
secret?"
"Yes."
She came closer to me, and fixing her eyes on me with tragic
intensity, said in the voice of the broken-hearted:
"Gaston had forgotten his dog!"
It was like Francezka to make a huge mountain of a thing like this.
Therefore, I replied gravely:
"That is very sad and very bad, but at least, Gaston remembered you.
And after all, Madame, you _did_ attach a ridiculous consequence to
the dog."
"Did I?" cried Francezka, with the first flash of her old resentful
imperious spirit that I had yet seen breaking out. "A ridiculous
consequence to the creature my husband left me to be my friend and
companion during his absence? And told me whenever I looked into
Bold's faithful eyes I was to see his--Gaston's--faith reflected
there, for dogs never forget! And was not Bold the only living thing,
except yourself, who gave me any comfort in these last seven years?
Really, Babache, I can not love you any longer, if you say such
things."
It was a trifle, but I saw that the indifference between Bold and his
master troubled her.
"Do you know, Madame," said I, "that when one reaches the very heights
of happiness--near the blue heavens--the least little speck of
unhappiness is visible?"
"True," replied Francezka, her somber eyes brightening. "To
think, after what I have suffered for seven years that I let
this trifle--yes, Babache, your word was the right one--give me
one clouded moment. But--" her eyes were darkened again; "no one
walks those heights of happiness long. It is only for a short time
that one can live in that too pure air. The old Greeks knew this."
"Madame," said I, "give me leave to say that you have lived too much
with your own thoughts and emotions for your own good. No human being,
least of all a sensitive woman, could have endured what you have for
so long without retaining some marks of it. So, although I am only
Babache, a savage Tatar prince, the son of a poor notary in the
Marais, yet, take my advice: be happy when you have achieved your
heart's desire and trouble not yourself with old dogs or old Greeks,
either."
Francezka's face suddenly dimpled into smiles. The sun came out
radiantly at that moment, and the grass and trees, diamond hung,
glittered in the golden sheen of the morning. The earth seemed
new-born; life and joy seemed new created. Francezka looked toward the
chateau and waved her hands to Gaston, on his way to the stables. He
turned and came toward her. I could not but remark how comely a man he
was. He had never been a beautiful creature, like poor silly
Bellegarde, but a good figure of a man, with regular and well-marked
features, full of grace and intelligence. In a minute or two he had
joined us. I had not before noticed the behavior of Gaston and the dog
to each other, but now I observed that when Gaston approached, Bold
exhibited an active dislike toward his former master.
His bristles rose, he showed his teeth, and in spite of Francezka's
command, and even entreaty, he trotted off and would not return. I
have always been sensitive to the dislike of dogs, believing them to
be better judges of character than men are. But Gaston Cheverny did
not seem to mind Bold's disaffection; he was satisfied with
Francezka's constancy.
We remained a pleasant hour in the Italian garden. Gaston was, as he
had been from the first, kind and courteous to me; pressed me to
return in the autumn for the wolf hunting, which is one of the great
sports of the region, and thanked me again for what I had been enabled
to do for Francezka in his absence. When we returned to the chateau
the sun was high, but Count Saxe had not yet left his room. He had
then acquired the habit of lying late abed, except when he was in the
field. Then he never slept at all, so his enemies said.
Madame Riano had threatened to accompany us back to Paris, but we
were not sure whether she would go or not. Paris dragged her one way,
the hope of meeting the Bishop of Louvain and triumphing over him,
dragged her the other. But we saw her great traveling chaise hauled
out of the coach house and her people busy, so we were not surprised
when she met us and announced that she, with her maids and her _maitre
d'hotel_, was ready to start with us. I allowed Beauvais to
communicate this intelligence to Count Saxe, not liking to be the
bearer of bad news, and I heard my master swearing furiously in his
bedroom. But when he appeared in traveling dress, at ten o'clock, he
was smiling and polite as usual, and expressed great joy at being
allowed to journey in Madame Riano's suite. Count Saxe was a prudent
as well as a courageous man, and he never belittled his antagonists,
least of all Madame Riano. He often said he reckoned Madame Riano to
be the first warrior of the age with Prince Eugene and Marshal the
Duke of Berwick a considerable distance behind.
At ten o'clock the start was made, Madame Riano in her traveling
chaise leading. She bade an affectionate farewell to Francezka and a
kindly one to Gaston, placed her hotel in Paris at their disposal
whenever they wished to come to Paris, said adieu to old Peter, sent
poor Lisa a gold piece and a terrible denunciation, mounted into her
chaise and started.
I had said farewell to Francezka several times in the last few years
from the terrace, when she stood alone and lonely, but with undaunted
courage and undying hope. Now that hope and courage were rewarded; she
stood with Gaston by her side, the two happiest creatures on earth.
That last vision of Francezka in her beauty and happiness haunted me
like a ravishing strain of music in a lovely dream.
When we had traveled a couple of stages Madame Riano invited Count
Saxe to ride in her chaise, an honor which he dared not decline. Next
day it was my turn. I loathe riding in a stuffy chaise, full of
packages and waiting maids, but, like my master, needs must when
Madame Riano drives. The first question she asked of me amazed me.
"What think you," said she, "of my nephew Gaston Cheverny?"
"What I always thought," I replied. "An admirable man."
"Nevertheless," replied Madame Riano, "you loved him once. You love
him no longer."
That was the worst of this terrible old lady. She always found out the
awkward truths and proclaimed them at inconvenient seasons. I made no
reply to this, and she continued:
"Men grow hard with time. It is vain to expect of a man separated from
you for seven years, and but three and thirty years of age, the same
sensibility he had when he was six and twenty and had spent many
preceding years in your company."
This was true, and I had often said so to myself, so I told Madame
Riano.
"As for yourself, Babache," continued this indomitable woman, "you are
like old Peter, only fit to love and forgive and lay your heart down
to be trampled on."
"Madame, I have laid my heart at the feet of two persons only,"
replied I, with spirit; "one is my master, Count Saxe. Surely he
never trampled on it. The other is Madame Cheverny, whom I have
reverenced ever since I first knew her, and with whom, by the strange
turns of fate, I have been much cast for some years."
"Count Saxe and my niece do not tread on you because they both have
noble natures. If they were otherwise now--"
"I should not have had for them the reverent love I cherish, had they
been otherwise," I answered, and just then, Madame Riano taking snuff,
she gave a stupendous sneeze that nearly shook the chaise to pieces
and actually jarred the door open; so I slipped out, mounted my horse
and was glad to lay my legs across his back once more.
I had never mentioned to Count Saxe any change I saw in Gaston
Cheverny, for indeed, I saw none--I only felt it. On that Paris
journey, however, we talked together much concerning Francezka and her
strange fate; and I found that Count Saxe, like myself, saw a subtile
and unpleasing change in Gaston. But Francezka was happy--that was
enough. Nothing could matter very much so long as Francezka smiled.