THE INCOGNITA.
Maurice arrived in Washington without having apprised his father of his
purposed visit. Count Tristan received him with ill-concealed
embarrassment; but the young viscount was too ingenuous himself, and
therefore too unsuspicious of others, for him to attribute his father's
discomposure to any source but surprise at his unexpected appearance. If
Maurice noted an absence of pleasure in the count's constrained
greeting, he was too much accustomed to the formal and undemonstrative
manners of the aristocracy to dwell upon the lack of warmth.
The count had taken up his residence at Brown's hotel. He chanced to be
sitting alone when his son was ushered into the drawing-room. The
opportunity was a favorable one for Maurice to communicate to his father
the object of his visit.
After the first salutations were over, he inquired, rather abruptly,
"Have you seen Mr. Hilson? What does he say in regard to the
probabilities that the railroad will take the direction which we so much
desire?"
"Our prospects are tolerably good," returned the count; "but we need to
exert ourselves, and, possibly, you may be of service. The committee
that has the decision in its hands consists of nine persons. Out of
these, four have declared their preference for the road to the right,
and are immovable. Our friends, Meredith and Hilson, who are on the
committee, vote, of course, for the left road; then there are two rival
bankers, Mr. Gobert and Mr. Gilmer, who are bitterly opposed to each
other, and generally vote in opposition one to the other; we must bring
some agency into play which will induce them, for once, to vote alike."
"That seems indispensable; but is it possible?" questioned Maurice.
"I trust so. Mr. Gobert is the banker of the Marquis de Fleury, who
exerts unbounded power over him. One word from the marquis, and Gobert's
vote is secured. The marquis, as every one is aware, can always be
approached through Madame de Fleury. Obtain _her_ promise that we shall
have Mr. Gobert's vote, and it is ours! The marchioness, I fear, may not
have forgiven Bertha's rejection of her brother's suit; but, as both
parties are still unmarried and unengaged, if she can only be convinced
that Bertha's refusal was mere girlish caprice, and that there is still
hope of the young duke's success, she will be ready enough to serve us."
"But is there hope?" inquired Maurice, quite innocently.
The wily schemer replied by a glance half-angry, half-contemptuous; but,
without making any other answer, went on.
"The other banker, Mr. Gilmer, I am seeking the means to influence. I
have no doubt that I shall find them. The ninth member of the committee
is Mr. Rutledge, quite a young man, the only son and heir of a
Washington millionnaire. I learn, from M. de Bois, that Rutledge is
deeply enamored of the sister of Lord Linden."
"I beg pardon, but you have not yet told me who Lord Linden is; and it
is so unusual to hear _lords_ mentioned in this country that my ears are
quite unattuned to the sound of a title."
Another hasty look from the count might have been interpreted into one
of slight disgust. His son was far more Americanized than he could have
desired. He went on, with increased haughtiness.
"The English ambassador to the United States married a sister of Lord
Linden, and his lordship and a younger sister accompanied them to
Washington. Mr. Rutledge aspires to the hand of this young lady,--so
says M. de Bois, who is intimately acquainted with her brother. If she
can be interested in our plans the vote of Mr. Rutledge is easily
secured."
Maurice could not help laughing.
"It is, _in reality_, the votes of _women_, then, that are to determine
the direction of this road? I ought hardly to be surprised at _that_;
for, if they have feeble voices in other lands, they have very decided
ones in America. But how is the young lady in question to be reached?"
"That is what I am pondering upon," resumed his father. "I shall form
some plan, you may be sure; and no time must be wasted in carrying it
into execution. I have already ventured to touch upon the subject to
Lord Linden, but have not said anything definite. It is a difficult
affair to conduct delicately; yet the obtaining of these votes is of
such vital importance that we must strain every nerve to secure them."
"Certainly, since it will more than treble the value of the property,"
observed Maurice, placidly. "By the by, I presume you have had no
occasion to use the power of attorney which I gave you? Just at this
moment it is very fortunate for me that the estate is wholly
unencumbered."
The count grew ashy pale; but Maurice did not observe his change of
color, nor mark the hesitating tone in which he replied, "Very
fortunate, of course,--very fortunate, indeed;" and then, looking at his
watch, he added, "It is time for your grandmother and Bertha to return.
Lord Linden and M. de Bois escorted them to the capitol. You must be
impatient to see them."
"In regard to this property, Mr. Lorrillard informs me," resumed
Maurice; but the count interrupted him.
"A visit to Madame de Fleury is now the first step to be taken; _there_
you may be useful; you are such a decided favorite of hers, that your
advocacy may be inestimable. Suppose you call at once, and learn at what
hour she will receive your grandmother, Bertha, and myself. A visit from
you will open the way."
"I will call with pleasure," answered Maurice. "I have a letter from Mr.
Lorrillard to his friend Mr. Emerson, which I should like to deliver
without delay. It is a matter of business. Mr. Lorrillard thinks that,
as my estate is wholly unencumbered"--
"We can talk of that at another time," replied the count, hurriedly.
"Suppose you pay your visit to the marchioness at once. It is hardly
worth while waiting for the ladies; no one can tell when they may
return."
Maurice, though he could not interpret the count's singular manner,
could not even remotely divine the meaning of its abruptness and
confusion, felt himself checked in his proposed communication. He
experienced no uneasiness; he had not the faintest conception that the
count was dealing doubly with him, and that his very first act, on
reaching Washington, had been to mortgage the estate of his son for so
large amount that, but for the advent of the railroad, upon which he
confidently calculated, the mortgage must prove ruinous to the
interests of the landholder.
Had Maurice been aware of this fact, he would not for a moment have
contemplated delivering to Mr. Emerson Mr. Lorrillard's letter, in which
it was distinctly stated that the property of the viscount was without
lien.
Further discussion between the father and son was prevented by the
entrance of the countess, accompanied by Lord Linden, and followed by
Bertha and Gaston de Bois.
Maurice, as he saluted his grandmother, was gratified to observe that,
albeit her air was by no means less stately, it was more satisfied and
complacent. Though titled nobility had no native existence in the
semi-civilized land, she rejoiced to find that it was sometimes
_imported_. She had at last encountered an individual with whom she
could associate without derogation. The French, as all the world knows,
have a national antipathy towards the English; but a nobleman, even
though he chanced to be an Englishman, was hailed by the Countess de
Gramont, upon American soil, as a God-send. Lord Linden was not aware of
the compliment implied by the unwonted graciousness of her demeanor, and
the tone of _almost_ equality in which she addressed him.
Maurice comprehended the altered expression that softened his
grandmother's countenance, but was struck and amazed by the wonderful
radiance of Bertha's face. Her eyes shone as though a veritable sun
lived behind those azure heavens, and almost annihilated their color by
its brightness; her lips were eloquent with a voiceless happiness they
did not care to hide, yet could not speak; the laughing dimples played
perpetually about her softly suffused cheeks; her elastic feet almost
danced, so airy was their tread; about her whole presence there was a
buoyant glow that seemed to encompass her with an atmosphere of light
and warmth.
She had not attempted to disguise her joy on again meeting Gaston de
Bois; and, though he had paid them repeated visits during their sojourn
in Washington, there was always the same deepening of the hue upon
Bertha's cheek; the same flood of sunshine brightening over her face;
the same softening of the tones of her voice; the same quickened rise
and fall of her fair bosom when he approached.
And he,--did he not note these betraying indications of his own power?
Did they strike no electric thrill through his rejoicing soul? If they
did, he was too much bewildered by a happiness so unexpected to search
out calmly the hidden meaning of these precious signs.
The change in the deportment and character of M. de Bois, which we
described at its commencement, was now fully confirmed; and though the
blood still sprang too rapidly into his face, and his breathing grew
labored with emotion, and his manner, especially in Bertha's presence,
was slightly confused, it was the confusion of elation rather than
embarrassment. The self-control he had acquired had almost overcome his
propensity to stammer, and Bertha was unreasonable enough to half regret
that she could no longer finish his sentences, and thus prove how
instinctively she divined his thoughts.
Maurice greeted her, as was his cousinly wont after a separation, with a
kiss on either cheek; but, for the first time, she shrank from his
touch, and her ingenuous eyes involuntarily glanced toward Gaston, then
were quickly cast down; and the mutinous ringlets that had, as usual,
escaped from bondage, were a welcome veil, as they fell over her face.
"Why, little Bertha, has an absence of four years made you forget that
we are cousins?" asked Maurice, in surprise at her manner.
"No--no," she answered, shaking back the curls, and looking up brightly
in his face; "and I am rejoiced that you have come to Washington: it is
a delightful place; I am charmed with everything I see."
Did Bertha reflect how much the charm of a locality depends upon our own
internal condition? Was she aware that any place, however tame and dull,
becomes delightful through the presence of one who creates in us a state
receptive of enjoyment?
Maurice expressed his intention of calling upon Madame de Fleury; Lord
Linden and M. de Bois proposed to accompany him. The three gentlemen
took their departure together. But soon after they left the hotel,
Maurice changed his mind; and, telling his companions that he had some
business to transact which required immediate attention, apologized for
leaving them, adding that he would call upon Madame de Fleury an hour
later, and hoped he might have the pleasure of meeting them there.
M. de Bois proposed to Lord Linden that they, also, should postpone
their visit.
"As you please," answered his lordship, languidly. "I am perfectly at
leisure. I will go wherever you are going,--it does not matter where; I
am indifferent to place."
Lord Linden always _was_ at leisure, and always indifferent, and not
unfrequently attached himself to Gaston de Bois, and seemed disposed to
accompany him wherever he went.
His lordship was one of that vast race of _blasé_ young noblemen whose
opportunities of enjoyment had never been circumscribed, except by the
absence of the capacity to enjoy, and who, as a natural sequence, were
continually oppressed with a sense of satiety, enervated by the noonday
sunshine of unbroken prosperity, and thoroughly weary of their own
existence. When his brother-in-law had been appointed ambassador to
America, he had accompanied him to the United States with a vague idea
that he would be thrown in contact with warlike tribes of Indians, the
aborigines of the soil, whose novel and barbarous usages might afford
him some mediocre measure of excitement. We need hardly picture his
disappointment.
The ambassadors from foreign courts and their suites were as a matter of
course, thrown into constant communication with each other, and the
secretary of the French ambassador and the brother-in-law of the English
formed an acquaintance which ripened into an approach to intimacy. There
was no particular affinity between them, but Lord Linden liked M. de
Bois's society because he was a patient listener, and Lord Linden was
the opposite to taciturn; and Gaston, though he sometimes, as in the
present instance, felt his lordship an encumbrance, had too often been a
victim to ennui not to sympathize with a fellow-sufferer.
"Mademoiselle de Merrivale has a remarkably attractive face," said Lord
Linden. "I do not particularly fancy blondes; there is too much
milk-and-water and crushed rose-leaves in their general make-up; but, if
a blonde could, to my eyes, enter the charmed circle of the positively
beautiful, I would give her admission."
Gaston, who had fallen into a pleasant revery, was quickly roused by
this observation, and exclaimed, with an indignant intonation, "Not
admit a _blonde_ into the circle of the beautiful? Can anything be
lovelier than the countenance you have just looked upon?"
"Yes," replied the nobleman, musing in his turn.
"I think I could show you a face that would make Mademoiselle de
Merrivale's sink into the most utter insignificance."
"Is your beauty a Washington belle?" inquired Gaston, half-scornfully.
"I do not know,--I do not know anything about her. I merely spoke
figuratively when I said _I could show you_,--for I certainly could
_not_, at this moment; but I allude to the most peerless being that ever
captivated the eyes of man. In her, indeed, one could realize the poet's
thought,--
"'All beauty compassed in a female form.'"
"And who is this incomparable divinity?" asked Gaston, still with a
touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"Who is she? That is more than I know myself. We were thrown together by
an accident,--quite an every-day occurrence in this headlong-rushing,
pell-mell, neck-breaking land, where the people contemplate railroad
catastrophes and steamboat explosions with as cool indifference as
though they were a necessary part of a traveller's programme."
"You were thrown in contact with your beauty, then, by a railroad
collision, or were blown together through the bursting of a boiler?"
remarked Gaston interrogatively, and more because civility seemed to
demand the question than because he took any especial interest in the
narrative.
"Yes, quite a stirring incident. I felt alive for a month after. I was
travelling from New York to Washington, in such a listless and used-up
state that, in my desperation, I seriously pondered upon the amount of
emotion that could be derived from jumping off the train, at the risk of
one's neck. As I was glancing restlessly around, suddenly a face rose
before me that riveted my eyes. It was a countenance unlike any I had
ever seen. Though features and outline were faultless, in these the
least part of its beauty was embodied. There was an eloquence in the
rapid transitions of expression that melted one into another; there was
a dreamy thoughtfulness in the magnificent hazel eyes. They were not
exactly hazel either,--they reminded one of a topaz. I hardly know what
name to give to their hue. But it is useless to attempt to describe such
a face and form. I might heap epithet upon epithet, and then leave you
without the faintest conception of the bewildering loveliness of their
possessor."
"You succeeded in becoming acquainted with the lady?" inquired Gaston,
now really interested.
"That good fortune was brought about by one of those ill winds, which,
for the proverb's sake, must blow good to some one. It could not have
been accomplished by any effort of my own, for there was an air of quiet
dignity about the lady that no gentleman could have ventured to ruffle
by too marked observation, far less by presuming to address even a
passing remark. We were about half way between Philadelphia and
Baltimore, when suddenly a terrific shock was felt, followed by a
dashing of all humanity to one side of the cars, and a great crash. We
had run into another train, were thrown off the track, and, in a moment
more, upset."
"Since you were longing for excitement," observed Gaston, "this
agreeable little variety must have gratified you."
"Yes, it was well enough in its way, not being positively fatal to
existence. You may conceive the confusion and the difficulty of getting
upon one's feet. How the people scrambled out of the cars I do not
exactly know; for a short time I was too much stunned to see anything
distinctly. I remember nothing clearly until somebody helped me up, and,
in trying to move my left arm, I discovered that it was broken."
"How unfortunate! And you lost sight of the lady?"
"It would have been unfortunate if I _had_ lost sight of her; but I did
not. The passengers were huddled together in a most primitive inn by the
road-side. There I beheld her, moving about, quite unharmed, quieting a
child here, assisting a young mother there, doing something helpful
everywhere. There chanced to be a surgeon in the cars, who, happily, was
uninjured. He saw my predicament, for I was suffering confoundedly, and,
upon examining my arm, said that it must be set at once. He called upon
several persons to aid him. Some were too much occupied with their own
distress; some too bewildered; and some shrank from the task. But, to my
supreme joy (it was worth breaking an arm for such a piece of good
luck), the lady I just mentioned came forward, and offered her services!
She tore my handkerchief and her own into bandages, produced needle and
thread from her little travelling reticule, and sewed them together. She
assisted the surgeon in the most skilful but the calmest manner. What
could I do but express my gratitude? This was the opening to a
conversation. We were detained several hours at the inn before a train
arrived to take us on our journey. I had always detested these American
cars, where all the travellers sit together in pairs; but now I rejoiced
over them, for I managed to obtain a seat beside her. We conversed,
without pause, during the whole way to Washington; and what propriety
and good sense she evinced! Her beauty had deeply impressed me, but her
conversation struck me even more. Such elevated thoughts dropped
spontaneously from her lips, and so naturally, that she did not seem to
be aware that there was anything peculiar about them. It was enough to
drive a man distracted; I confess that it did me!"
"She came to Washington then?"
"Yes; and here we were forced to part. I begged that she would allow me
the privilege of calling to thank her. In the most suave, lady-like, but
resolute manner,--a manner that silenced all pleading,--she declined.
But she had inadvertently admitted that she resided in Washington.
_That_ has kept me here ever since. I have been searching for her these
six months."
"And you have never met her again?"
"No, I have sought her in the highest circles; for, from her
distinguished and even aristocratic air, her exceeding cultivation and
good-breeding, I infer that she is a person of standing. It was somewhat
singular that a lady of her unmistakable stamp should have been
travelling alone; but that is not unusual in this country. In spite of
all my efforts, I have never been able to encounter her again. I
examined the strips of the fine cambric handkerchief with which my arm
was bound, hoping to find a name. Upon one strip the letter 'M' was
daintily embroidered. I have those strips yet carefully preserved."
"Do you think she was an American lady?"
"No, assuredly not. Though she spoke the English language very purely,
and as only a scholar could have conversed, a slight accent betrayed
that she was a foreigner; French, or Italian, I imagine. If I could only
behold her once again, I should not be so miserably tired of everything
and so bored by my own existence. Washington is killingly dull. By the
way, the de Fleurys give a grand ball on Monday. I hear that there is
great anxiety prevalent in the _beau monde_ on the score of invitations.
Of course, Mademoiselle de Merrivale will be there. Her face must create
a sensation. What a piece of good fortune it would be if I could see it,
at this very ball, contrasted with that of my lovely incognita! _There_
is a day-dream for you! I never attend a ball, or any large assembly,
without a vague anticipation of finding her in the crowd. I should like
to hear _your_ candid opinion if you saw those two faces placed side by
side."
The response which Gaston made to this remark, and which expressed
certain convictions of his own, was not uttered aloud.
It is one of love's happy prerogatives that the countenance best beloved
gains to the lover's eye a charm beyond that with which any other face
is endowed, even when he is forced to admit _that_ dearest visage is
surpassed in point of positive, calculable, tangible beauty.
"A man may love a woman perfectly,
And yet by no means ignorantly maintain
A thousand women have not larger eyes:
Enough that she alone has looked at him
With eyes that, large or small, have won his soul."