PURSUIT.
Maurice, when he took his abrupt leave of Lady Vivian, did not return to
the hotel. He felt as though he could not breathe, could not exist, shut
within four walls, with the oppressive weight of his new disappointment
crushing and stifling his spirit. He traversed the streets with a rapid
pace, not knowing nor caring whither he went, if he only kept in motion.
His own torturing thoughts pursued him like haunting fiends, driving him
mercilessly hither and thither, and he sped onward and onward, as though
by increased celerity he could fly from his intangible persecutors.
Now sprang up the tantalizing suggestion, that, as Lady Vivian had never
seen Madeleine, the latter had presented herself under a feigned name,
for the sake of concealing her rank, and baffling the friends who sought
to discover her abode. Was not _that_ very possible, very natural? He
recalled the tall, finely-moulded form, of which he had caught a glimpse
in Lady Langdon's _salon_, and for awhile he cherished this chimera;
then its place was usurped by one more painful: Madeleine was perhaps
travelling alone, subjected by her very beauty to the curious scrutiny,
the heartless insults of brutal men; and, perchance, through her
ignorance of the world, trapped into some snare from which she could
never be extricated unharmed. Then his mind was filled with the horrible
idea that, in her friendliness and despair, finding no place of refuge
on earth, she had flung away her burdensome life with violent hands.
Nothing was more improbable than that a being endowed with her
self-controlled, serene, sorrow-accepting temperament, should be driven
to such an act of unholy madness. Yet Maurice allowed the frightful
fantasy to work within his brain until it clothed itself with a shape
like reality, and drove him to the verge of distraction.
Where could she have gone? _Where? oh, where?_
Hundreds of times he asked himself that perplexing question! All the
pursuing demons seemed to shout it in his ears, and defy him to answer.
If she had escaped the perils he most dreaded, where had she hidden
herself? Perhaps she had only taken out a passport for England, with a
view of throwing those who sought to track her steps, off the right
scent. If she had gone to England, her passport must have been _viséd_
as she passed through Paris. If it had not been presented at the _bureau
des passeports_, she must have remained in Paris. If she had conceived
any plans by which she thought to earn a livelihood, where could they so
well be carried into execution? In that great city she might reasonably
hope to be lost in the crowd, and draw breath untraced and unknown. If
she had left the metropolis, the fact could easily be ascertained by
examining the list of passports. Maurice walked on and on, until
gradually the clamorous city grew silent, and the streets were deserted.
Besides the vigilant police, only a few, late revellers, with uncertain
steps, and faces hardly more haggard than his own, passed him, from time
to time. Still he walked, carrying his hat in his hand, that the
night-breeze might cool his fevered brow.
There was a stir of wheels again, a waking-up movement around him;
shop-windows lifting their shutter-lids, and opening their closed eyes;
men and women bustling forward, with busy, refreshed morning faces.
Another day had dawned and brought its weight of anguish for endurance.
Maurice had paced the streets all night. The light that struck sharply
upon his bloodshot eyes first made him aware of the new morning. The
season for action then had arrived; the night had flown as a hideous
dream. He did not know into what part of London he had wandered, but
hailed a cab, sprang in, and gave the order to be driven to Morley's.
The distance seemed insupportably long. He was now tormented by the fear
that he should not reach his destination in time to take the first train
for Dover. When he alighted at the hotel, he learned that in less than
an hour the train would start. He dashed off a few, incoherent,
sorrowful lines to Bertha, hastily crammed his clothes into his trunk,
paid his bill, drove to the station, and secured a seat one moment
before the railway carriages were in motion.
After he had crossed the channel, and entered a railway coach at Calais,
utter exhaustion succeeded to his state of turbulent wretchedness.
Nature asserted her soothing rights, and poured over his bruised spirit
the balm of sleep. With reviving strength came renewed hope, and when he
awoke at the terminus, in Paris, he was inspired with the conviction
that he should find Madeleine in that vast metropolis,--a conviction as
firm as the belief he had entertained that he would behold her in
Scotland, and afterwards that he would discover her in London. He
hastened to the _bureau des passeports_, and examined the list. No
passport had been _viséd_ to which her name was attached. It was then
certain that she was still in Paris. But what method could he devise for
a systematic search? He thought of the argus-eyed, keen-scented police,
who, with the faintest clew, can trace out any footprint once made
within the precincts of the far-spreading barriers; but could he drag
his cousin's name before those public authorities? Could he describe her
person to them, and enter into details which would enable them to hunt
her down like a criminal? Delicacy, manly feeling, forbade. He must seek
her himself, unaided, unguided; and a superstitious faith grew strong
within him that, through his unremitting search, never foregone, never
relaxed, he would discover her at last.
His plan was sufficiently vague and wild. He resolved to scour Paris
from end to end, scanning every face that passed him, until the light
shone upon hers, and kindled up once more his darkened existence.
When he last returned from Brittany, he had engaged one small, plain
apartment in the Rue Bonaparte, the _Latin_ quarter of the city,--a
favorite locality of students. Here he again took up his abode, or,
rather, here he passed his nights; he could scarcely be said to have a
dwelling-place by day. From dawn until late in the evening he wandered
through the streets, peering into every youthful countenance that
flitted by him, quickening his pace if he caught sight of some graceful
female form above the ordinary stature, and plunging onward in pursuit,
with his heart throbbing madly, and his fevered brain cheating him with
phantoms. His search became almost a monomania. His mind, fixed
strainingly upon this one, all-engrossing object, lost its balance, and
he could no longer reason upon his own course, or see its futility, or
devise a better. The invariable disappointment which closed every day's
search, by some strange contradiction, only confirmed him in the belief
that Madeleine was in Paris, and that he would shortly find her there;
that he would meet her by some fortunate chance; would be drawn to her
by some mysterious magnetic instinct. Every few days he visited the
_bureau des passeports_, to ascertain whether her passport had been
presented to be _viséd_.
To the friends he daily encountered he scarcely spoke, but hurried past
them with hasty greeting, and a painfully engrossed look, which caused
the sympathetic to turn their heads and gaze after him, wondering at the
disordered attire and unsettled demeanor of the once elegant and
vivacious young nobleman, who had graced the most courtly circles, and
was looked upon as the very "glass of fashion and mould of form."
Maurice had been nearly a month in Paris, passing his days in the manner
we have described, when, for the first time, he encountered Gaston de
Bois. The former would have hastened on, with only the rapid salutation
which had grown habitual to him, but M. de Bois stopped with
outstretched hand, and said,--
"Where have you hidden yourself? I have been expecting to see you ever
since I came to Paris; but I could not discover where you
lod--od--odged."
"My lodgings are in the Rue Bonaparte, numero --," returned
Maurice, abruptly; "but I am seldom at home."
"You will allow me to take my chance of finding you?" asked M. de Bois,
forcibly struck by his friend's altered appearance. "Or," he added, "you
will come to see me instead? I am at the Hotel Meurice at present."
"Thank you," said Maurice, absently, and glancing around him at the
passers-by as he spoke. "Good-morning."
M. de Bois would not be shaken off thus unceremoniously. He was too much
distressed by the evident mental condition of the viscount. He turned
and walked beside him, though conscious that Maurice looked annoyed.
"When we parted, did you go to Scotland, as you pro--o--po--sed?"
inquired Gaston.
"Yes; but Lady Vivian was in London. I sought her there. She knew
nothing of my cousin. I returned to Paris; for I am sure Madeleine is
here."
"Here?" almost gasped M. de Bois, stopping suddenly.
Maurice walked on without even noticing the strange confusion that
arrested his companion's steps.
The latter recovered himself and rejoined him, asking, in as unconcerned
a tone as he could command, "What has caused you to think so?"
"I am certain of it;--her passport was taken out for England, but it has
not been _viséd_ in Paris. She must be here still, and I know that I
shall find her. I have walked the streets day after day, hoping to meet
her, and I tell you I shall--I must!"
M. de Bois, whose equanimity had only been disturbed for a moment, shook
his head sorrowfully, saying, "I fear _not_; it does not seem likely."
"To me it _does_. Fifty times I have thought I caught sight of her, but
she disappeared before I could make my way through some crowd to the
spot where she was standing. This will not last forever,--ere long we
shall meet face to face."
"I hope so! I heartily hope so! I would give all I possess, though that
is little enough, to have it so!"
These words were spoken with such generous warmth, that Maurice was
moved. He had not before noticed the change in his Breton neighbor,--a
change the precise opposite to the one which had taken place in himself,
yet quite as remarkable.
Gaston's address was no longer nervous and flurried; he had gained
considerable self-command and repose of manner. The air of uncomfortable
diffidence, which formerly characterized his deportment, had
disappeared, and given place to a manly and cheerful bearing.
"If he loves Madeleine," thought Maurice, "how can he look so calm while
she is--God only knows where, and exposed to what dangers?"
"Have you heard from Mademoiselle Ber--er--ertha?" asked M. de Bois,
with some hesitation.
"Yes, several times. My cousin Bertha was broken-hearted at the news I
sent her from London; but I trust that soon"--
He did not conclude his sentence: his wan face lighted up; his restless,
straining eyes were fastened upon some form that passed in a carriage.
Without even bidding M. de Bois good morning, he broke away and pursued
the carriage; for some time he kept up with it, then Gaston saw him
motion vehemently to a sleepy coachman, who was lazily driving an empty
fiacre. The next moment Maurice had opened the door himself and leaped
into the vehicle; it followed the carriage the young viscount had kept
in view, and soon both were out of sight.
The imagination of Maurice had become so highly inflamed that forms and
faces constantly took the outline and lineaments of those ever-present
to his mind. And when, after some exhausting pursuits, he approached
near enough for the illusive likeness to fade away, or when the shape he
was impetuously making towards was lost to sight before it could be
neared, he always felt as though he had been upon the eve of that
discovery upon which all his energies were concentrated.
After their accidental encounter Gaston de Bois called upon Maurice
repeatedly, but never found him at home.
Bertha continued to write sorrowful letters teeming with inquiries.
Maurice answered briefly, as though he could not spare time to devote to
his pen, but always giving her hope that the very next letter would
convey the glad intelligence which she pined to receive. Four months was
the limit of her yearly visit to the Château de Gramont, and the period
of her stay was rapidly drawing to a close. She wrote that in a few days
her uncle would arrive and take her back to his residence in Bordeaux.
The language in which this communication was made plainly indicated that
she would rejoice at the change. She touched upon the probability of
seeing Maurice before she left; but he was unmoved by the
half-invitation; nothing could induce him to leave Paris while he
cherished the belief that Madeleine was within its walls.
Count Tristan wrote and urged him to return home; but the summons was
unheeded. He could not have endured, while his mind was in this terrible
state of incertitude, to behold again the old château, which must
conjure up so many harrowing recollections. Then, too, his natural
affection for his father and his grandmother was embittered by the
remembrance of their persecution of Madeleine. Until she had been
found,--until he could hear from her own lips (as he knew he should)
that she harbored no animosity towards them,--he could not force himself
to forgive their injustice and cruelty. She alone had power to soften
his heart and cement anew the broken link.