THE NUN'S HUSBAND.
A deep silence long surrounded the two women, one in painful
meditation, the other in astonishment readily understood.
"If you were removed out of the nunnery," said Lady Louise, to break
this silence, "you are unaware of how it was done? Yet a convent is
well enclosed and guarded, with bars to the windows, walls of height
and a warder who keeps the keys. In Italy it is particularly so, where
the regulations are stricter than in France."
"What can I tell your ladyship, when I puzzle my brains without finding
a clue?"
"But if you saw this man, did you not blame him for the abduction?"
"I did, but he excused himself on the plea that he loved me. I told him
that he frightened me, and that I was sure that I did not like him. The
strange feeling is another kind. I am not myself when he is by, but
his; whatever he wills, I must do; one look fascinates me and subdues
me. You see, lady, this must be magic."
"At least, it is strange, if not supernatural," said the princess. "But
you are in the company of this man?"
"Yes; but I do not love him."
"Then why not appeal to the authorities, your parents, the
ecclesiastical powers?"
"He so watched me that I could not move."
"But you could have written."
"On the road, he stopped at houses where everything is owned by him and
he is master of everybody. When I asked the people about for writing
materials, they gave no answer; they were his bondwomen."
"But how did you travel?"
"At first in a postchaise; but at Milan, he had a kind of house on
wheels to continue the journey in."
"Still, he must have left you alone sometimes?"
"Yes; but then he bade me sleep, and sleep I did, only waking up when
he returned."
"You could not have strongly wanted to get away," observed Princess
Louise, shaking her head, "or else you would have managed it."
"Alas! I was so fascinated."
"By his loving speech and endearments?"
"Seldom did he speak of love, and I remember me of no caresses save a
kiss night and morning."
"Really, this is very strange?" muttered the abbess; but as a suspicion
struck her, she resumed: "Repeat to me that you do not love him, and
that as no worldly tie unites you, he would have no claim on you if he
came."
"He has none."
"But tell me how you came here through all; for I am in a fog," said
the princess.
"I took advantage of a violent thunderstorm, which broke on us near
a town called Nancy, I believe. He left me to go into a part of his
travelling house which is inhabited by an old man; I leaped upon his
horse and fled. My resolution was to hide in Paris, or some great city
where I could be lost to all eyes, especially to his. When I arrived
here, all were talking of your highness' retirement into the Carmelite
convent. All extolled your piety, solicitude for the unhappy, and
compassion for the afflicted. This was a ray of heavenly light, showing
me that you alone were generous enough to receive me and powerful
enough to defend me."
"You continually appeal to power, my child, as though he were powerful?"
"I am ignorant what he is. I only know that no king inspires more
respect--no idol commands more adoration--than he from those to whom he
deigns to reveal himself."
"But his name--how is he entitled?"
"I have heard him called by many names. But only two remain in my
memory. One is used by the old man who is his traveling companion from
Milan to where I left him; the other that he gives himself. The aged
man calls him Acharat, and that sounds anti-Christian, does it not,
lady? He calls himself Joseph Balsamo."
"What does he say of himself?"
"He knows everything and divines what he knew not. He is the
contemporary of all time. He has lived through all ages. He speaks--the
Lord forgive me! and forgive him for such blasphemy! not only of
Alexander the Great, Cæsar and Charlemagne, as though he had known
them, albeit I believe they were dead ever so long ago, but also of
the high priest Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate and Our Lord Himself, whose
martyrdom he claims to have witnessed."
"He is some quack," said the Princess Louise.
"I do not clearly understand the word, madame; but he is a dangerous
man, terrible too, before whom everything bends, snaps and crumbles
away. When he is taken to be defenseless he is armed at all points;
when believed alone, he stamps his foot and an army springs up; or at
a beck of the finger--smiling the while."
"Very well," soothed the daughter of France; "take cheer, my child; you
will be protected against him. So long as you desire the protection,
of course. But do not believe any longer in these supernatural visions
born of a sick brain. In any case the walls of St. Denis Abbey are a
sure rampart against infernal power, and what is more to be dreaded,
mark you! against human power. Now, what do you propose doing?"
"With this property of mine, in jewels, I mean to pay for my repose in
a convent--if possible, in this one."
Lorenza placed on the table some twenty thousand crowns' worth of
bracelets, rings and earrings of price.
"These jewels are mine, as Balsamo gave them to me, and I shall turn
them over to Heaven's use. I have nothing of his but his steed Djerid,
which was the instrument of my deliverance, but I should like him to
have it. So I solicit the favor of staying here, on my knees."
"Rest easy, my child," said the lady superior; "from this time forth
you may dwell among us; and when you shall have shown by your exemplary
conduct that you deserve the favor, you may again be the bride of the
Lord; and I will answer for it that you will not be removed out of St.
Denis without knowledge of the superior."
Lorenza fell at the princess feet and poured forth the most
affectionate and sincere thanks.
But suddenly she rose on one knee, and listened with trembling and
pallor.
"Oh, God, how I shake! he is coming! he means to be my destroyer--that
man is at hand. Do you not see how my limbs quiver?"
"I see this, indeed."
"Now I feel the stab in the heart," continued the Italian: "he comes
nearer and nearer."
"You are mistaken."
"No, no. In spite of myself, he draws me to him. Hold me back from him."
Princess Louise seized the speaker in her arms.
"Recover your senses, child," she said. "Even if any one came, even he,
you would be in safety here."
"He approaches--I tell you, he approaches," screamed Lorenza, terrified
into inertia, but with her hands and her eyes directed toward the room
door.
"Madness!" said the abbess. "Do you think that anybody can intrude on
the Royal Lady of France? None but the bearer of an order from the
king."
"I do not know how he entered," stammered the fugitive, recoiling,
"but I am certain that he is coming up the stairs--he is not ten steps
off--there he is!"
The door flew open, so that the princess receded, frightened in spite
of herself by the odd coincidence. But it was a nun who appeared.
"What do you want--who is there?" cried her superior.
"Madame, it is a nobleman who presents himself to have speech with your
royal highness."
"His title?"
"Count Fenix, please your highness."
"Do you know the name as his?" inquired the princess of the fugitive.
"I do not know the name, but it is he," she replied.
"Charged with a mission to the king of France from the king of
Prussia," said the nun, "he wishes the honor of a hearing by your
highness."
Princess Louise reflected an instant; then turning to Lorenza and
bidding her go into her inner room, she ordered the sister to show in
the visitor. She went and took her chair, waiting, not without emotion,
for the sequel of the incident.
Almost instantly reappearing, the Carmelite ushered in a man whom we
have seen under the title of Fenix, at the presentation of Jeanne
Dubarry at court. He was garbed in the same Prussian uniform, of severe
cut; he wore the military wig and the black stock; his expressive black
eyes lowered in presence of Princess Louise, but only with the respect
of any man for a princess of the royal house, whatever his rank. He
raised them rapidly, as though he feared showing too much timidity.
"I thank your royal highness for the favor kindly done me," he said,
"though I reckoned upon it from knowing that your highness always
upholds the unfortunate."
"I endeavor so to do, my lord," replied the lady with dignity, for she
hoped in ten minutes to defeat the man who impudently came to claim
outside help to oppress where he had abused his powers.
The count bowed as if he did not see any hidden meaning in the
rejoinder.
"What can I do for your lordship?" continued the lady in the same tone
of irony.
"Everything. I should like your highness to believe that I would not
without grave motives vex you in the solitude she has chosen, but you
have sheltered a person in whom I am interested in all points."
"What is the name of this person?"
"Lorenza Feliciani."
"What is this person to you--a relative, sister?"
"She is my wife."
"Lorenza Feliciani, wife of Count Fenix!" said the abbess, raising her
voice so as to be heard in the inner room. "No Countess Fenix is in St.
Denis Abbey," she dryly added.
"It may be," said the count, who was not yet acknowledging his defeat,
"that your highness is not persuaded that Lorenza and Countess Fenix
are the same person. Kindly give the order that Lorenza shall be
brought before you, and all doubt will cease. I ask pardon for being
so persistent, but I am tenderly attached to this wife of mine, and I
believe she is sorry we are separated, poor as is my merit."
"Ah!" thought the princess, "Lorenza spoke the truth, for this man is
highly dangerous."
The count stood with a calm bearing, strictly according to court
etiquette.
"I must prevaricate," thought Princess Louise, before she said: "My
lord, I am not in the position to restore a wife who is not here. I
understand your seeking her with such persistency, if you love her as
dearly as you say; but you will have to seek elsewhere if you want
success."
On entering, the count had glanced round the closet, and his gaze had
caught a reflection, however slight, of the jewels placed by Lorenza
on the little table in the darkest corner. By the sparkling Fenix
recognized them.
"If your royal highness would kindly collect your memory, though I
have to ask her to do such violence--it will be recalled that Lorenza
Feliciani was here, for she laid those jewels on yonder table before
she retired into the next room."
The princess colored up as the count continued:
"So that I wait solely for your highness' leave for me to order her to
come forth, for I cannot doubt that she will immediately obey."
The abbess remembered that Lorenza had locked the door behind her,
and consequently that she could not be prevailed upon except by her
own will to come out. No longer trying to dissimulate her vexation at
having been lying uselessly to this man, from whom nothing could be
concealed, she said:
"Were she to enter, what would be done to her?"
"Nothing, your highness; she will merely tell you that she wishes to go
with her husband."
This encouraged the princess, recalling the Italian woman's protests.
"It would seem that your highness does not believe me," said the count,
in answer to her apparent indignation. "Is there anything incredible in
Count Fenix marrying Lorenza Feliciani, and claiming his wife. I can
easily lay before your royal highness's eyes the marriage certificate,
properly signed by the priest who performed the ceremony."
The princess started, for such calmness shook her conviction. He
opened a portfolio and took out a twice-folded paper.
"This is the proof of my claim on my wife," he said; "the signature
ought to carry belief. It is that of the curate of St. John's in
Strasburg, well-known to Prince Louis of Rohan for one, and were his
eminence the cardinal here----"
"He is here at this very time," exclaimed the abbess, fastening fiery
looks on the count. "His eminence has not left the abbey, where
he is with the cathedral canons; so nothing is more easy than the
verification you challenge."
"This is a great boon to me," said the count, coolly replacing the
document in the pocket-book. "I hope this verification will dispel your
royal highness' unjust suspicions against me."
"Indeed, impudence does disgust me," said the princess, ringing her
hand bell quickly.
The nun in waiting entered hastily.
"Send my courier to carry this note to Cardinal Rohan, who is in the
cathedral chapter. Let his eminence come hither, as I await him."
While speaking she scribbled a couple of lines on paper which she
handed the nun, whispering:
"Post two archers of the rural guard in the corridor, and let not a
soul issue without my leave. Go!"
The count had watched all the princess' preparations to fight out the
battle with him. While she was writing, he approached the inner room,
and he muttered some words while extending and working his hands in a
movement more methodical than nervous, with his eyes fastened on the
door. The princess, turning, caught him in the act.
"Madame," said the count, "I am adjuring Lorenza Feliciani to come
personally and confirm by her own words and by her free will whether
I am or not a forger and an impostor, without prejudice to the other
proofs your highness may exact. Lorenza," called out the count, rising
above all--even to the princess' will, "come forth!"
The key grated in the lock and the princess beheld with unspeakable
apprehension the coming of the Italian beauty. Her eyes were fixed on
the count, with no show of hatred or anger.
"What are you doing, child," faltered the Lady Louise, "and why do you
come to the man whom you shunned? I told you that you were in safety
there."
"She is also in safety in my house, my lady," replied the nobleman.
"Are you not in safety there, Lorenza," he demanded of the refugee.
"Yes," was the other's answer.
At the height of amazement the princess clasped her hands and dropped
into her chair.
"Lorenza," went on the count, in a soft voice but one with the accent
of command, "I am accused of doing you violence. Tell me if I have ever
acted so toward you?"
"Never," replied the woman, in a clear and precise voice but without
any gesture accompanying the denial.
"Then what did the story about the abduction mean?" questioned the
princess.
Lorenza remained dumb, but looking at the count as though all her life,
and speech--which is its expression--must come from him.
"Her highness doubtless wishes to know how you came to leave your
nunnery. Relate what happened from your fainting in the choir until you
awoke in our postchaise."
"I remember," said Lorenza in the same monotonous voice.
"Speak, for I wish it."
"When I fainted, as the scissors touched my hair, I was carried into my
cell, and placed in bed. My mother stayed with me until evening, when
the village doctor declared that I was dead."
"How did you know this?" inquired the princess.
"Her highness wishes to know how you were aware of what went on," said
the count.
"Strange thing!" said Lorenza, "I could see and hear but without having
my eyes open. I was in a trance."
"In fact," said the abbess, "I have heard Doctor Tronchin speak of
patients in catalepsy who were buried alive."
"Proceed Lorenza."
"My mother was in despair and would not believe in my death. She passed
six-and thirty hours beside me, without my making a move or uttering a
sigh. The priest came three times and told my mother that she was wrong
to dispute the interment as her daughter had passed away just as she
was speaking the vow, and that my soul had gone straight from the altar
to heaven. But my mother insisted on watching all Monday night.
"Tuesday morning I was in the same insensibility, and my mother
retired, vanquished. The nuns hooted her for the sacrilege.
"The death-candles were lighted in the chapel, where the custom was for
the exposure of the body to repose a day and a night.
"I was shrouded, dressed in white, as I had not taken the vow; my hands
crossed on my bosom, and a wreath of white blossoms placed on my brow.
"When the coffin was brought in, I felt a shiver pass over my body;
for, I repeat, I saw all that happened as though I were my second self
standing invisibly beside my counter-part.
"I was placed in the coffin, and after my time of lying in state, left
with only the hospital sister to watch me.
"A dreadful thought tormented me in this lethargy--that I should be
buried living on the morrow unless some interposition came.
"Each stroke of the time bell echoed in my heart, for I was
listening--doleful idea! to my own death-knell.
"Heaven alone knows what efforts I made to break the iron bonds which
held me down on the bier; but it had pity on me in my frozen sleep,
since here I am.
"Midnight rang.
"At the first stroke, I felt that convulsion experienced whenever
Acharat approached me; a shock came to my heart; I saw him appear in
the chapel doorway."
"Was it fright that you felt?" asked Count Fenix.
"No, no; it was joy, bliss, ecstasy, for I knew that he came to tear me
from the desperate death which I so abhorred. Slowly he came up to my
coffin; he smiled on me as he gazed for a moment, and he said:
"'Are you glad to live? Then come with me.'
"All the bonds snapped at his call; I rose, extricated myself from the
bier as from the grave clothes, and passed by the slumbering nun. I
followed him who for the second time had snatched me from death.
"Out in the courtyard I beheld the sky spangled with stars which never
more had I expected to see. I felt that cool night air which blesses
not the dead, but which is so refreshing to the living.
"'Now,' said my liberator, 'before quitting the convent, choose between
it and me. Will you be a nun, or will you be my wife?' I wanted to be
his wife, and I followed him.
"The tower gate was closed and locked. He asked where were the keys,
and as I said in the pocket of the wardress, who slept within, he sent
me there to get them.
"Five minutes after we were in the street. I took his arm and we ran
to the end of Subiaco village. A hundred paces beyond the last house
a postchaise was waiting, all ready. We got in, and off it went at a
gallop."
"And no violence was done you? No threat was proffered? You followed
the man willingly?"
Lorenza remained mute.
"Her royal highness asks you, Lorenza, if by threat or act I forced you
to follow me."
"No; I went because I loved you, darling."
With a triumphant smile, Count Fenix turned round to the royal
princess.