At D'Estreville's second visit to old Pierre Dupré's he was accompanied
by Paul de Tourelle and by Vera Demidof, now a beautiful girl of
nineteen. The Baron was proud of his pretty cousin, between whom and his
friend Paul a considerable friendship had lately sprung up.
In so far as De Tourelle was concerned, his sentiments towards Vera
differed, as he had found to his surprise, from those he had ever
experienced before this time towards any member of the fair sex. Up to
the day upon which he had first made acquaintance with Vera Demidof,
Paul had looked upon women as toys created for the delectation and
amusement of mankind; he was always glad to play with them, to have
his pleasure in their society, but not to take them seriously. He had
always found young women in his own class charmed to meet him upon his
own ground; to excurse with him as far as he was pleased to go into the
pleasant glades of love-making, but to take him no more seriously than
he chose to be taken.
With Vera it was otherwise. From the first he was aware that here was a
creature of a different make, a more attractive toy than any he had yet
set himself to play with, and, withal, one which, somehow, was extremely
difficult to handle. Paul found that he was unable to have his way with
this little Russian; she was unlike the French girls he was accustomed
to; she took life more seriously, moved more cautiously, maintained an
attitude of "stand-offishness" which at first puzzled him very much and
perhaps exasperated him, but which he presently began to admire and
respect.
"You'll have to be careful, my friend," Henri d'Estreville had told
Paul, early in his acquaintance with Vera, before De Tourelle realised
that his heart was in danger; "Vera is not like our French girls; not
only is she far more serious-minded, but also she is a fiancée, after a
fashion."
"A fiancée?" exclaimed Paul, laughing boisterously--"Mademoiselle
Demidof fiancée? To whom? You rave, man!"
"No, it is true; she is betrothed; observe that I added 'after a
fashion'. She was betrothed to some Russian bear as a child."
"Bah! as a child! and the bear a child also? She has never mentioned to
me this young bear of hers. You speak foolishly, Henri, _mon cher_; such
things are not done."
"Ask her for yourself," Henri laughed. "For the matter of that, fall in
love with my cousin, if you like. I would rather she mated with a good
Frenchman than with a--what do you call them--a Moujik of Russia."
Paul did not, however, ask Vera as to her betrothal. He treated the
matter with sufficient contempt to forget all about it. As to the second
half of Henri's advice, however, he followed it to the letter, and fell
so completely in love with Vera Demidof that he was himself astonished,
for he had always boasted that to fall in love was not in his line, and
was, indeed, a mistake he would never commit, since it was his pride to
be a soldier of the French Army, and he possessed ambitions which he
could not afford to thwart by indulgence in such foolishness as love.
Moreover, Paul not only fell in love but confessed the fact to Vera at
the earliest opportunity.
Vera Demidof had listened during the last year or two to some half a
dozen similar confessions from the gilded youth of Paris. She was,
indeed, the object of much admiration in the gay city. But whereas
Vera had listened and simply thanked each aspirant for his flattering
declaration, regretting that she was unable to respond in the manner he
would prefer, she gave Paul de Tourelle a piece of information which she
had withheld from the rest.
"I must not listen to such things," she said, "for I am already a
fiancée."
Paul suddenly remembered that he had been informed a month or two before
that this was so.
"Betrothed as a child to a Russian child whom you may never see again,"
said Paul; "I have heard the story. For God's sake, Mademoiselle, do not
allow so foolish a matter to stand between us."
"Monsieur takes too much for granted," said Vera coldly. "There is much
that stands between Monsieur and myself besides my betrothal."
"You cannot pretend that you desire to regard that betrothal as binding,
Mademoiselle; the idea is preposterous."
"I pretend nothing, Monsieur. I say that, being betrothed, I must not
permit myself to listen to protestations such as you have just made."
Beyond this point Paul was unable, at his first attack, to push his
advance. On subsequent occasions he showed more discretion, and took
nothing for granted. He did not retire from his position as suitor, but
betook himself to graduate for her love, a matter which he had at first
supposed was to be had for the asking.
By this time the two were great friends. Vera made no secret of her
partiality for De Tourelle, whom she liked very much better than any
other youth of his standing; but on the rare occasions when Paul hinted
that friendship was pleasant but lacked finality, Vera would shake her
head and remind him that she was a fiancée.
"There are dark clouds on the horizon," said Paul on one occasion; "our
little Corporal threatens to fasten his fingers about the throat of
your big Emperor; we shall soon be _en route_ for Moscow. Be sure that
I shall seek out your fiancé; it shall be my first act upon reaching
Moscow. Is your fiancé soldier or bourgeois?"
"A soldier and a splendid fencer!" said Vera, looking out of the window
and far away.
"Good," said Paul; "I would rather fight a man than kill a sheep."
"I think you will never come to Moscow, and I pray God you may not,"
said Vera; "that would be a disaster indeed."
"I promise you it should be a disaster for your fiancé," said Paul;
but it is probable that she heard nothing of what he said; her mind
was entirely absorbed by this new and overwhelming idea: that Napoleon
threatened Moscow--the holy city of her own race. "It is not a real
danger?" she asked.
"What, this that your fiancé must run? Indeed, it is a very real danger."
"No, no--this war you speak of--this horrible quarrel of the two
nations."
"They say that Napoleon has almost made up his mind; already the
conscription is in full swing; Russia may yield, of course; if she does
not, Moscow will be a French city by this time next year."
"_Mon Dieu!_" exclaimed Vera, hiding her eyes in her two hands. "The
French must wade through a sea of Russian blood before Moscow is
reached--it is horrible, Monsieur, this thought of yours."
"I did not invent it, Mademoiselle Vera; all the world will tell you
that politics are to-day looking very darkly."
This was true enough. Vera questioned her father presently upon the
subject, and learned many things which caused her the greatest anxiety,
for Vera was a patriotic Russian, and was well aware that war with
France must end disastrously for her beloved country. She was French
enough to feel that to be arrayed against the terrible Napoleon was to
court certain defeat, so tremendous was the Emperor's reputation among
his own people.
With regard to private affairs, when Vera had explained to Paul that
she was already a fiancée and must therefore refuse to listen to
protestations of love, she had spoken the truth.
Only lately Alexander Maximof had written to her. Maximof had heard
wonderful reports from Paris of Vera's beauty and charm, and had
congratulated himself that he had had the good sense to keep the
contract of betrothal intact. It had only now occurred to him, however,
that he had either neglected or forgotten to inform Vera that he had not
destroyed the document, as agreed upon at their last interview, three
years ago. Hence his letter to Paris at this time.
"I forgot to inform you," Maximof wrote, "that upon inquiry at the
notary's office, I learned to my surprise that our contract of betrothal
could not be destroyed excepting in presence of and by sworn consent
of both parties. This may of course merely amount to a formality to be
gone through at your next visit to Russia, which visit is likely to take
place sooner than you had intended, if political prophets speak truly;
for the horizon is dark indeed, and in case of a rupture between the
Tsar and the Emperor, your father would doubtless leave Paris together
with the Ambassador Kurakin. May I add, that I look forward with
particular interest to our next meeting. We have never met as adults,
and if all we hear with regard to the beautiful Vera Demidof be true,
I may yet have cause to rejoice that our parents were longer-sighted
than I at least had supposed. I may say, further, that my heart is
disengaged. I have eschewed the follies of cadetdom...."
Vera laughed when she received this letter. The fact that her betrothal
was still uncancelled did not at that time weigh upon her in the least.
As, however, her friendship with Paul de Tourelle increased, it began
to occur to her that circumstances might possibly arise which would
cause her to regret that Alexander Maximof had not torn up their silly
contract, as he had agreed to do. Paul de Tourelle had not greatly
appealed to Vera's fancy at first acquaintance; she had disapproved
of his self-assurance, his confident manner; but Paul had improved of
late in these respects, and she had come to see beneath the veneer of
mannerism a manliness and strength which she admired.