OUTGENERALLED.
Madame de Gramont welcomed Maurice that morning with more animation than
she had evinced during her illness. He did not anticipate finding her in
the drawing-room; and was even more surprised to see her not in an
invalid's _déshabille_, but dressed for visitors; not reclining, but
sitting up almost as stiffly as in the days of her grandeur. He
congratulated her upon her convalescence with mingled warmth and
astonishment.
"Thank you, I am quite well," she replied; though her colorless lips and
wan, sunken face solemnly contradicted the words. "How is your father?"
This question was asked apparently with newly-awakened anxiety; for of
late she had made no inquiries, but listened in silence to Maurice's
daily report, and turned sullenly from him as though he were responsible
for its unfavorable nature.
He now answered in an unusually cheerful tone,--
"My father is better, much better, to-day; improving fast, I think."
Some of the old triumphant light flashed out of the countess' black eyes
as she ejaculated,--
"Thank God! Then he can be brought here at once!"
Maurice perceived his mistake too late. He had not foreseen that the
countess would have drawn this conclusion from the intelligence just
communicated.
"My dear grandmother, you cannot think of desiring to remove my father
at present?"
"Cannot think of it? What other thought fills my mind night and day? He
_must_ be removed from that house. I say _must_, the very instant his
life would not be perilled by the attempt. Better that it should have
been placed in jeopardy than that he should have remained there thus
long."
"We will talk of this when he is more decidedly convalescent," returned
Maurice, perceiving that some generalship must be employed to protect
his father. "I will let you know how he progresses, and we will make all
the necessary arrangements for his change of abode in due season."
The countess was too shrewd not to see through this answer, and she was
quite competent to return Maurice's move by generalship of her own; for,
in the battle of life, it is the tactics of womanhood that oftenest win
the day. She allowed the conversation to drop; and Maurice secretly
rejoiced at her having, as he supposed, yielded the point. He chatted
awhile with Bertha; then his eyes chanced to fall upon the salver which
Madeleine had prepared. It called to mind her request.
"What have you here? Chocolate? Did you find it well made?"
The countess took no notice of the inquiry.
"These are very fine strawberries," persisted Maurice. "Did you enjoy
them? And these cakes,"--he tasted one,--"used to be favorites of
yours."
The countess checked a rising sigh; for her aversion to betraying even a
passing emotion was insuperable. "They reminded me of Brittany," she
said, involuntarily.
"You liked them, then? They are to your taste?" questioned her grandson,
hoping to be able to tell Madeleine that her labors had been rewarded.
But the countess answered coldly,--
"I find very little in this country, even though the object be imported,
which is to my taste."
She did not open her lips again until Maurice was taking his leave. Then
she said,--
"Has your father's physician been to see him to-day?"
"No; he had not come when I left, though it was past his usual hour."
"Let him know that I wish to see him," ordered the countess.
Had Maurice suspected her object he would not have replied so
cordially,--
"I am truly glad that you will accept medical aid at last. You look very
feeble."
The countess considered such a suggestion an insult; and drew herself up
as she replied,--
"You are mistaken. I am far from feeble. Feebleness does not belong to
my race. My strength does not forsake me readily; it will last while I
last. Still you may inform your father's physician that I desire to see
him."
"I will send him to you at once. You shall certainly see him to-day."
"Thank you."
These two words were spoken dryly by the countess, and with an emphasis
which might have struck Maurice and caused him to suspect her intentions
and possibly to frustrate them, had he not been so thoroughly convinced
that her own state required medical care, and had he not known that her
stoical fortitude made it easier for her to suffer than to admit that
she _could_ suffer.
Maurice found Madeleine where he had left her. The count had just
awakened, much refreshed. He was softly stroking her head and saying
with the same indistinct utterance, "Good angel! good angel!"
At the sight of Maurice the old troubled look passed again over his
face, and he whispered hoarsely,--
"He shall never know. Never, never let him know. It would kill me! kill
me!"
Maurice had told Madeleine how much better he had found his grandmother,
and was giving her the gratifying intelligence that Madame de Gramont
had said the cakes reminded her of Brittany (the highest praise possible
for her to bestow on anything), when the doctor entered.
His patient, he said, had made marvellous progress; but that was owing,
in a great measure, to admirable nursing; and he nodded approvingly to
Madeleine.
"If physicians had only at their disposal a train of well-informed,
efficient, conscientious nurses to distribute among their patients,
medical services might be of some use in the world; but, as it is, we
might make a new application of the old proverb, that God sends us
dinners, and the devil sends us cooks who make the dinners valueless; a
physician gives his orders and prescriptions, and a careless nurse
renders them null."
Dr. Bayard was not a man who dealt in compliments, even in a modified
form; he was sagacious, abrupt, straightforward, and at times spoke his
mind rather sharply. He had been impressed by Madeleine's unremitting
care of his patient, and, in declaring that the count's convalescence
was, in a large degree, due to her prudence and vigilance, he simply
said what he thought.
"I am glad to see you have removed your charge to this room," he
continued. "Change of scene and of air is always good, when practicable.
I recommend a short drive to-morrow. I never keep an invalid imprisoned
one hour longer than is necessary."
Maurice delivered his grandmother's message; and Dr. Bayard promised to
call upon her before his return home. The claims upon his time, however,
were so numerous that it was evening before he reached Brown's hotel.
The countess would not, even to herself have admitted that she could be
subject to such an unaristocratic sensation as impatience; but we are
unable to hit upon any other word to express the state of unquiet
anxiety with which she awaited his coming.
He was announced at last.
At that hour in the day, it was not unnatural for Dr. Bayard to be in a
great hurry to get home to his dinner; and consequently his manners were
even more blunt and informal than usual. Without losing a minute, he
took a seat in front of the lady whom he supposed to be his patient,
looked scrutinizingly into her face and said,--
"Well, and what's the matter? A touch of fever, I suspect. We shall soon
bring that under."
Without further ceremony he placed his fingers on her wrist.
The countess drew her hand away, as though something loathsome had dared
to pollute her; and the bright red fever spot on either cheek deepened
into the crimson of wrath.
"Sir, I am perfectly well. I did not send for you to ask your advice
concerning myself."
Dr. Bayard drew back his chair an inch or two, but made no apology.
"I am the mother of Count Tristan de Gramont whom you are attending."
Dr. Bayard bowed.
"I hear that he is much better."
"Much better," was the physician's laconic reply.
"It would no longer be dangerous for him to be removed from his present
most unfit abode," the countess asserted rather than interrogated.
Dr. Bayard, in answering the queries of patients, or those of their
families, did not follow the practice of physicians in general, but
adhered to the exact truth. He replied, "It would not be dangerous,
madame, but it would be unwise,--confounded folly, I might say. He is
very comfortable where he is, and he has capital care. I do not believe
there is such another nurse as Mademoiselle Melanie in Christendom."
If fiery arrows ever flash from human eyes, as some who have felt their
wound declare they do, such darts flew fast and thick from the eyes of
the countess as she regarded him.
"Sir, it is not a question of nurses. A mother is the fittest person to
watch beside her son."
Dr. Bayard differed with her, but did not give her the benefit of his
private opinion.
"As Count Tristan is in a state to be removed, I will give orders to
have him brought here to-morrow. I suppose it is too late to-night?"
observed the countess.
"I have already said that I do not see the necessity of his being moved
at all, until he is perfectly restored," persisted the doctor.
"It is enough that I see it!" remarked the countess, frigidly. "I
believe my inquiries only extended to asking your medical opinion as to
the _danger_ not the _propriety_ of moving my son."
"Then I have nothing more to say," replied the physician, rising. "I
have already stated that his removal, if advisable in other respects,
would not be dangerous. Allow me to wish you good-evening."
Though Dr. Bayard's visit had highly irritated Madame de Gramont,
exultation prevailed over all other emotions.
Bertha had been present during the interview, and albeit she was filled
with grief at the prospect of Madeleine's sorrow and mortification, she
had not the moral courage to remonstrate.
The countess was up betimes on the morrow. It may be that her strength
had really returned; it may be that excitement supplied its place; but
there was no recurrence of the feebleness which she had not been able
wholly to conceal on the day previous. Before Bertha was dressed for
breakfast her aunt had sent to borrow her writing-desk (having no
correspondents, the countess did not travel with one of her own), and
Bertha experienced a heart-sickening foreboding at the request. When she
entered the drawing-room, Madame de Gramont was writing slowly and
elaborately, as though she were preparing some document which was to
pass into the hands of critical judges; but she never wrote in any other
manner. A hasty, impulsive, dashing off of words and ideas would have
lacked dignity. The whole character of the haughty lady might easily
have been read in the stiff but elegant hand, the formal and carefully
constructed phrases, the icy tenor of her simplest missive.
She folded the note, told Bertha where to find her seal with the de
Gramont arms, impressed it carefully upon the melted wax, desired Bertha
to ring the bell, and bade her send the note at once to Maurice. The
countess could not have stooped to name to the servant the residence of
the mantua-maker.
Though Madame de Gramont expected that her command would be instantly
obeyed, she was too little used to attend to household matters, or
bestow a thought upon the comfort of others, to give any orders
concerning her son's room, or even to reflect that additional care in
its preparation was needed for an invalid.
Count Tristan had passed the best night with which he had been favored
since his attack. He had slept so uninterruptedly that Gaston and Mrs.
Lawkins (whose turn it was to replace Madeleine and Maurice) had
followed the invalid's example and travelled with him to the kingdom of
Morpheus.
In the morning he expressed a desire to rise. The first words he uttered
showed that his articulation was clearer. Madeleine had arranged the
pillows in his arm-chair and placed it where he could look into the
conservatory. He walked into the boudoir supported only by Maurice.
There was a rare amount of stamina, a wondrously recuperative power in
the de Gramont constitution, as was manifested both by mother and son.
When the count was comfortably seated, Madeleine placed before him a
little table with his breakfast so neatly arranged that merely to look
at it gave one an appetite. She served him herself, and the tranquil
pleasure he felt in receiving what he ate from her hands was
unmistakable. His own hands were still weak and numb, and she cut up the
delicate broiled chicken, and broke the bread, disposed his napkin
carefully, and then steadied the cup of chocolate which he tried to
carry to his lips. Maurice stood watching her, just as he always did;
for it was difficult for him to remove his eyes from her face when she
was present, though, in truth, when she was absent he saw her before him
hardly less distinctly.
The trio was thus agreeably occupied when the note of the countess was
placed in the hands of Maurice. His consternation vented itself in an
irrepressible groan, which made Madeleine and the count look up.
The latter trembled with alarm, and, his haunting fear coming back, he
asked, in a terrified tone,--
"What has happened? What do they want? What would they make you believe?
No harm of me,--you wont! you wont! Here's Madeleine will make all
right!"
"Do not trouble yourself," said Madeleine, soothingly; "there are no
business matters to fret you now."
Her sweet, quieting voice, or the assurance, calmed him, and he repeated
once more, for the thousandth time, "Good angel! good angel!"
"It is a note from my grandmother," said Maurice, biting his lips. "She
has seen Dr. Bayard, and insists on carrying out certain views of hers,
and she informs me that she has his permission to do so."
Madeleine had not nerved herself against this blow; it fell heavily upon
her; she could not at once resign the precious privilege of ministering
to her afflicted relative; and she could not hope that the countess
would allow her to approach him if he were removed to the hotel.
"Surely she will not be so cruel! It will harm him,--it will retard his
recovery."
"I will see her, at once, and try what argument and remonstrance can
do," replied Maurice.
And he set forth on his difficult mission.
A moment's reflection convinced Madeleine that if the countess had
received the doctor's consent, she would prove inexorable. There was no
resource but to submit as patiently as possible. Count Tristan must be
reconciled to the change, and to effect that was the task now before
her. She tried to break the news gently; she told him his mother had not
seen him of late because she had been ill; and now, hearing he was so
much better, she desired him to return to the hotel that he might be
nearer to her.
The count answered peevishly, "No--no,--I'll not go! I'm better
here,--better with you, my good angel!"
"But if Madame de Gramont is determined," said Madeleine, "I have no
right, no power to resist her authority."
"Can I not stay? Let me stay!" he pleaded, pathetically.
"I would be only too thankful if you could; but you know the wishes of
the countess cannot be disregarded."
"I cannot go! It will kill me if I go back! I am better here. I'm safe
with you! I'll not go!"
He seemed so much distressed that Madeleine dismissed the subject by
saying, "Maurice has gone to see his grandmother; we need not torment
ourselves until he returns."
The count was easily satisfied, and the remembrance of his trouble soon
faded from his mind. Madeleine asked him if she should sing, and he
nodded a pleased assent. She could not give voice to any but the saddest
melodies, for a sorrowful presentiment that she would never sing to him
again, filled her mind. She continued to charm away his cares by the
witchery of her accents until Maurice returned. The result of his
advocacy was quickly told. The countess was inflexible, and awaited her
son.