THE DWARF AND THE DAUPHINESS.
On the second day after this scene in the favorite’s bower room, Zamara
came unsummoned into the presence of his mistress, and laid a ring, with
its green scarabee in her hand. She started up with a shriek, and dashed
the ring from her vehemently.
The dwarf picked up the ring, and stood holding it with a frightened
look, astonished at the excitement it had occasioned.
“Madame commanded that Zamara should not return without it,” he said,
with tears in his eyes. “Is it wrong?”
“Lay it down—do not touch it, Zamara. Yet stay. An hour—a single hour
can do little harm. Zamara, do you know the palace? Have you ever been
at Versailles?”
“Often, madame. No one regards Zamara when he is not in these clothes,
especially if it should be night.”
“Could you find your way into the apartments occupied by the Dauphiness,
Zamara?”
“To give madame pleasure, Zamara would find his way anywhere.”
The countess patted the dwarf’s head with her white and beautiful hand.
A small enameled box stood on a _chiffonniere_ among other articles of
expensive jewelry. She opened the box, and bade Zamara drop the ring
into it; then she folded the box in a piece of silver paper, and gave it
again to the dwarf.
“You understand,” she said, “this must go directly into the hands of the
Dauphiness?”
“Madame, I understand.”
“And you will convey it there, at once?”
“At once.”
“But how? It must be done secretly, or you may come to harm, Zamara.”
“The harm will be welcome, if it comes in madame’s service,” answered
the dwarf.
“Then go. It is getting late, shadows are gathering over the Park; but
be careful. If any one sees you, say that you have a message for the
king. There is not a creature in the palace who will dare molest you.
Stay, I will write.”
The dwarf waited patiently till madame had completed a fanciful little
note, which she gave to his charge. Concealing this with the box in his
bosom, the dwarf set forth on his errand.
It was no unusual thing for Zamara to be seen coming and going to the
king’s apartments; but that night he seemed lost in the vast building,
and wandered about from room to room, hiding when the guards appeared,
and darting across each illuminated space like some deer in an open
glade. At last he found himself in a wing of the vast palace that he had
never visited before. The dwarf passed several persons unavoidably on
his way; but if any one observed him, he asked innocently if the king
was yet at dinner, and passed on.
At length, after trying several keys, he entered a spacious bedchamber,
dimly lighted, and rendered somewhat gloomy from the massive high bed
mounted on a dais, from which curtains of crimson damask swept almost
from the frescoed ceiling to the floor. In a smaller room, beyond this
chamber, Zamara saw a toilet brilliantly lighted up, and a casket of
jewels lying open upon it, from which a rope of pearls had fallen
loosely, and lay gleaming like frozen moonlight across an azure satin
cushion, on which the casket was placed.
Zamara knew that this was Marie Antoinette’s dressing-room. He moved
across the bedchamber cautiously, and looked in. The room was empty, but
a robe of some glittering white gauze lay upon a sofa near the toilet;
and near that was a pair of white satin shoes, with high, red heels, and
an enormous pearl in the center of each rosette. These preparations
warned the dwarf that he might any moment be discovered. Quick as
lightning he darted across the room, removed the casket from its azure
cushion, and laid the enameled box, containing the scarabee, in its
place. Before his hand left the box, he heard voices, and a gush of
sweet laughter, as of young persons approaching and conversing together.
That minute the room was empty again.
Zamara had just found time to flee across the bedchamber and hide
himself behind the voluminous curtains, when the Dauphiness came into
the dressing-room, followed by several of her ladies. She had just come
up from dining in public, where some strange characters among the
people, permitted by an old custom, to see the monarch dine, had excited
her mirthfulness.
The Indian looked upon her with admiration, increased by her youth and
wonderful beauty; the light from a dozen wax-tapers fell upon her
rounded arms, shaded at the elbows with a mist of lace; and her neck,
white as the purest leaves of a water-lily, gleaming through a kerchief
of lace so thin that it lay upon it like a shadow. That string of pearls
had fallen entirely from the casket when Zamara lifted it from the
cushion, and this attracted the attention of the Dauphiness. She stooped
and took them from the floor; then saw that the casket had been removed,
and its place occupied.
“What is this?” she exclaimed, unfolding the silver paper, and opening
the box. “Some new gift from my august father-in-law, no doubt. How
strange! Look ladies! what a singular thing!”
She took the Egyptian ring from its box and examined it curiously. “A
beetle with such strange writing on its breast; a serpent coiled around
it. Some valuable antique, I suppose.”
“A talisman, rather, which will bring good fortune to your Highness, and
to France,” said one of the ladies in waiting. “I have heard of such
things.”
“And I,” said the Dauphiness, removing one of the many jewels from her
finger, and putting the scarabee in its place. “It seems to have come
here by a miracle, and we will at least test its virtues.”
Here the dressing-room door was closed, and Zamara stole from his
hiding-place.
An hour after he rushed into the presence of his mistress, wild with
triumph.
“Madame! Oh, madame! she has got it! She accepts! I saw the serpent
coiled around her finger! It looked alive—it looked alive!”
In her gratitude for this evil act, the Countess Du Berry drew Zamara,
the dwarf, toward her, and kissed him on the forehead.