THE END.
A fortnight after the events we have just related, a queer carriage, the
same which we saw arrive at Paris at the commencement of this history,
went out at the same barrier by which it had entered, and proceeded
along the road from Paris to Nantes. A young woman, pale and almost
dying, was seated in it by the side of an Augustine nun, who uttered a
sigh and wiped away a tear every time she looked at her companion.
A man on horseback was watching for the carriage a little beyond
Rambouillet. He was wrapped in a large cloak which left nothing visible
but his eyes.
Near him was another man also enveloped in a cloak.
When the carriage passed, he heaved a deep sigh, and two silent tears
fell from his eyes.
"Adieu!" he murmured, "adieu all my joy, adieu my happiness; adieu
Helene, my child, adieu!"
"Monseigneur," said the man beside him, "you must pay for being a great
prince; and he who would govern others must first conquer himself. Be
strong to the end, monseigneur, and posterity will say that you were
great."
"Oh, I shall never forgive you," said the regent, with a sigh so deep it
sounded like a groan; "for you have killed my happiness."
"Ah! yes--work for kings," said the companion of this sorrowful man,
shrugging his shoulders. "'Noli fidere principibus terrae nec filiis
eorum.'"
The two men remained there till the carriage had disappeared, and then
returned to Paris.
Eight days afterward the carriage entered the porch of the Augustines at
Clisson. On its arrival, all the convent pressed round the suffering
traveler--poor floweret! broken by the rough winds of the world.
"Come, my child; come and live with us again," said the superior.
"Not live, my mother," said the young girl, "but die."
"Think only of the Lord, my child," said the good abbess.
"Yes, my mother! Our Lord, who died for the sins of men."
Helene returned to her little cell, from which she had been absent
scarcely a month. Everything was still in its place, and exactly as she
had left it. She went to the window--the lake was sleeping tranquil and
sad, but the ice which had covered it had disappeared beneath the rain,
and with it the snow, where, before departing, the young girl had seen
the impression of Gaston's footsteps.
Spring came, and everything but Helene began to live once more. The
trees around the little lake grew green, the large leaves of the
water-lilies floated once more upon the surface, the reeds raised up
their heads, and all the families of warbling birds came back to people
them again.
Even the barred gate opened to let the sturdy gardener in.
Helene survived the summer, but in September she faded with the waning
of the year, and died.
The very morning of her death, the superior received a letter from Paris
by a courier. She carried it to the dying girl. It contained only these
words:
"My mother--obtain from your daughter her pardon for the regent."
Helene, implored by the superior, grew paler than ever at that name, but
she answered:
"Yes, my mother, I forgive him. But it is because I go to rejoin him
whom he killed."
At four o'clock in the afternoon she breathed her last.
She asked to be buried at the spot where Gaston used to untie the boat
with which he came to visit her; and her last wishes were complied with.
And there she sleeps beneath the sod, pure as the flowers that blossom
over her grave: and like them, broken by the cruel gusts that sweep the
delicate blossoms so mercilessly down, and wither them with a breath.
END OF "THE REGENT'S DAUGHTER."
[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors, present in the
original text, have been corrected.
On page 439 and page 441, "Tahouet" was changed to "Talhouet".
On page 442, an extra quotation mark following "In Heaven's name" was
removed.
On page 445, "this curiosty displeased him" was changed to "this
curiosity displeased him".
On page 448, "My child, said he" was changed to "My child, said she".
On page 464, a comma following "said the other" was changed to a period.
On page 466, "a piece of twelve sons" was changed to "a piece of twelve
sous".
On page 469, a period following "Talhouet" was changed to a comma.
On page 484, a quotation mark preceding "it is the Bastille" was
removed.
On page 485, "I is the same person" was changed to "It is the same
person", and "the pride of am empress" was changed to "the pride of an
empress".
On page 489, the line "ties, "your language might suit a gen-" appeared
between "to break all" and "the laws of the State"; it has been deleted.
On page 490, "not an easy thing to arrrange" was changed to "not an easy
thing to arrange", and "naming the tribuual" was changed to "naming the
tribunal".
On page 495, "said, an usher's voice" was changed to "said an usher's
voice".
On page 501, "I knew thas he was called De Chanlay" was changed to "I
knew that he was called De Chanlay".
On page 511, "I am here to arrest yon" was changed to "I am here to
arrest you".
On page 512, "an annoynace and cause of alarm" was changed to "an
annoyance and cause of alarm".
In the caption of the illustration following page 512, "ABBE BRIGAND"
has been changed to "ABBE BRIGAUD".
On page 517, "reddening with pleasue" has been changed to "reddening
with pleasure".
On page 525, "watching La Jouquiere intently" was changed to "watching
La Jonquiere intently", and "fain illness" was changed to "feign
illness".
On page 528, "went to the hole to Pompador" was changed to "went to the
hole to Pompadour".
On page 535, "denounced--detrayed" was changed to "denounced--betrayed".
On page 543, "sad the captain" was changed to "said the captain".
On page 551, a quotation mark following "Gaston placed the point against
his breast." was removed.
On page 561, "till an hour and a half in advance" was changed to "still
an hour and a half in advance".]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Regent's Daughter, by Alexandre Dumas (Pere)