"And now, gentlemen," resumed the Baroness after a momentary pause,
and in a tone of great vivacity, "you are fully informed, as far as I
am concerned. You have a thorough knowledge of the antecedents of the
defendant, but you are apparently undismayed, and you continue to
prefer your suit. Be it so! Then do not complain, if, after exposing
myself, I expose you in turn."
The three aspirants made a simultaneous effort to interrupt her.
"One moment, please," said she quickly, "I ask for no confessions
from you, seeing that they would be superfluous. For the last six
months I have been gaining information about you, I have been
studying you, and now I know you. That sounds flattering, does it
not? Do not let yourselves be prematurely inflated with pride, for
you are very, very far from divining either the thought which has
actuated me, or the object of my inquiries. First of all I will
consider you generally, in the aggregate, if you prefer it. You are,
each of you, from thirty to thirty-five years of age, the best age
for marriage; on that point I profess myself satisfied. You are
neither," continued she laughing, "too prepossessing nor too plain;
you can all of you boast that golden mien, as far as appearances are
concerned, which every sensible woman would desire in the man whom
she intends to acknowledge as her lord. Each of you is in the
enjoyment of a fortune sufficiently large to secure independence, and
to divest marriage with a rich woman of even a suspicion of mercenary
motives. You have your faults, no doubt; who, indeed, has not? But
those persons from whom I have gained my information assure me that
you have no vices, and that is sufficient for me. Moreover, during
the siege of Paris, which in some degree was a standard by which to
test the men of our time, you all of you bore yourselves as good men
and true. Lastly, you have shown yourselves, capable of creating
occupations for yourselves and you have the great merit, which I
gladly acknowledge, of being neither idlers nor useless members of
society. I have thus, as I promised, described you generally, and now
I will sum you up individually.
"You, M. de Morin," continued the Baroness, addressing the one who
was seated nearest to her, "you are one of our most notable
draughtsmen. I know the greater part of your works, and I appreciate
them, both from an artistic point of view, and as a woman who has a
certain object in view. But the moment has not come to unfold that
object, so you must perforce exercise your patience a little longer.
You are, moreover, daring to a degree; that is to say, no adventure,
however perilous, would cause you to recoil. You have an intuitive
genius, and are formed for attack; a shrewd commander would appoint
you to the Zouaves. I shall post you—but we will discuss that later
on. Take your place in the ranks, Mr. Zouave, and I will pass on to
No 2."
The young aspirant, who was seated next to M. de Morin, at once made
ready for the inspection, for he stood up, saluted his hostess after
the military fashion, and sat down again.
Madame de Guéran smilingly continued—
"You, M. Périères, are to be congratulated on the articles which have
appeared in the _Revue de France_. Your ideas are good, your
reflections often profound, and you put your thoughts into language
both elegant and concise. In the field you would be admirably adapted
for writing despatches, without, however, precluding you from taking
your part in the campaign as a combatant. You would scarcely advance
without an order, but once committed to the fray you would bear
yourself as bravely as would M. de Morin. You are gazetted to an
infantry regiment, and so I dispose of your case."
The third aspirant, with whom alone Madame de Guéran had now to deal,
was a man of about thirty, fair, of medium height, with a rather sad
expression, and whose clothes, of a serious cut, made him look
somewhat older than he really was.
"My dear M. Desrioux," said the Baroness to him, "in my eyes you
possess a rare merit, very rare, indeed, amongst men of your means;
that of having adopted the medical profession, a profession which
binds you down to a course of severe study, and condemns you to a
continuous slavery. Accept my sincere congratulations, and if I do
not, as I have done in the case of these other gentlemen, post you to
any particular branch of the service, it is not that I doubt your
courage, but that a military surgeon, a _rôle_ for which you are
admirably adapted, cannot be considered as belonging to any special
arm, or, I might almost say, to any nationality, for he hastens to
the succour of all who call upon him, be they friends or foes,
wheresoever they may be. You may, therefore, resume your own
position, my dear doctor, and consider your case disposed of."
Then turning once more to all three, she continued with all the charm
of manner which was so natural to her—
"You cannot accuse me of having been too hard upon you or ill-treated
you in any way. Indeed, I have dwelt upon your merits alone, and any
one hearing me might place you all in the calendar as minor saints.
But I will be quite open with you. I have spoken well of you because
I have nothing to say against you. It is not by accident that you
meet here to-night in my house, or that, during the past six months
you have been admitted by degrees to intimacy with me—it is solely
because I so willed it. In view of certain projects, of which I am
about to apprise you, I have chosen you out of all my acquaintances,
and, as I believe, I have chosen well."
Her hearers bowed in silence, and she resumed—
"Alas! It is your very good qualities which puzzle me. They are
varied, but each one of you has an equal share. How then, without
being inexcusably unjust, can I choose between you? In a state of
embarrassment, similar to that of the shepherd, Paris, of old, I know
not on whom to bestow the apple. If one of you had only made himself
famous by some conspicuous action, my mind would be more at ease,
but, situated as you are in this civilized Paris of ours, and so long
as the country is at peace, what test can I impose upon you, or what
proof can you offer me? As matters stand, you are simply men of the
world, whose first duty is to be as little conspicuous as possible.
I, therefore, have nothing to expect, nothing which could put an end
to my hesitation. You see, do you not, that I am approaching—no, not
yet? Well, at last I am coming to the root of the matter, without
further circumlocution or beating about the bush. The daughter, the
wife, the friend of the famous explorers of our age comes once more
upon the scene.
"I have made up my mind definitively to traverse Africa, not that
portion which all the world knows, and which commences at Alexandria
and finishes at the desert; but the desert itself, and those strange
territories which are to be found by those who have the courage to
cross it. The longing, nay, I may say, the necessity which has taken
possession of me, and impels me to see for myself these imperfectly
explored regions—to what can I attribute it? To the education I have
received, to the conversations to which I have listened, and the
circle in which I have lived? Or, is it not rather that I am obeying
an impulse which attracts me towards the spot where M. de Guéran
perished? Does not this contemplated journey seem almost like a
'pilgrimage?' I cannot explain it, and, after all, it is of but
slight importance as far as you are concerned. What really does
concern you, gentlemen, is, that for some time past I have thought of
you as my companions. Yes, it would be impossible for me alone to
conquer the difficulties and encounter the dangers which I foresee.
As for surrounding myself with hired attendants or companions, I
should never dream of any such thing. They would only desert me half-way.
No! courage and devotion are not to be bought. With you it is
different. I have been brought in contact with you, I have watched
you narrowly, and I have come to the conclusion that you are the only
persons who are capable of aiding me in the accomplishment of my
self-imposed task.
"In you I possess the man of literary accomplishments, who will
record our impressions, the painter whose pencil will immortalize the
scenes through which we pass, and the doctor and savant combined,
who, whilst assuaging our sufferings, and the sufferings of those
with whom we may meet, will labour, hand-in-hand with us, in the
interests of science. If I mistake not, and I know you too well to be
mistaken, I shall find in you, above all, three champions, three
friends, three brothers, and to your loyalty and your honour I would
confide, without one single qualm, my reputation and my life."
She was entirely carried away by her feelings, and without paying any
attention to her guests, who had in turn and in silence warmly
pressed her hand, she resumed—
"And what shall I give you in exchange for the immense sacrifice I am
calling upon you to make, for the almost sublime devotion to which I
lay claim? My unending friendship to two of you; my love, perhaps, to
the third, and who will that third one be? I know not. At this moment
I assure you that I know not; you have each an equal chance. If, on
our journey, one of you should succeed in gaining my heart, I will
make no sign, lest by so doing I should rouse the jealousy of the
other two. Not until we return will I proclaim the name of the
conqueror. Either of you gentlemen may achieve this conquest; it
depends on yourselves alone. In the regions where we shall spend our
days, you will find ample field for exploits of all descriptions, and
he who shall prove himself richest in good and brave actions, shall
be rewarded by me. Thus he will have deserved the hand I cannot, with
any show of reason, bestow upon him to-day. For my part, too, I shall
have every cause to love him and for ever.
"And now you know all I had to say to you; now you know why you have
met here to-day. Whatever may be your decision, I trust that my too
lengthy address will not lead to your passing an unfavourable
judgment upon me. My education has been peculiar, carried on in the
midst of people who had studied so many diverse manners and customs,
that their minds had become confused, and well-nigh incapable of
distinguishing between the usages tolerated in Europe and the habits
in vogue amongst savages. I carry this eccentricity to the extent of
wishing to make my own choice of a husband, and putting him to the
proof. I am wayward, if you will; obstinate, hard upon others as well
as upon myself, greedy of sensation, an ardent seeker after
adventure. I am guilty, too, of making strange propositions to my
friends—on that count you can give evidence; but I do not insist on
an immediate answer. I allow them time to reflect. In eight days you
will have had leisure enough to weigh all the _pros_ and _cons_ and
come to a decision, and I will ask you to meet me then, in this same
room, at the same hour. If you accompany me, I shall be very pleased
indeed; if you do not, none the less shall I set out on my journey,
and I shall remain a widow. And now, gentlemen, it is late, so
good-night."