Joseph Balsamo (19 page)
” Assuredly.”
” Repeat them to me.”
” They were, ‘ my dear friend.’”
Marie Antoinette bit her lip and turned pale.
” Shall I tell your royal highness to whom the letter was addressed ?”
” No ; but you may write the name.”
Balsamo drew out a pocket-book with gold clasps, and having written some words on one of the leaves, he tore it out, and, bowing, presented it to the dauphiness. Marie Antoinette unfolded the leaf, read it, and looked with astonishment at the man who, though he bowed low before her, seemed to have it in his power to direct her fate.
The letter was addressed to the mistress of. King Louis XV., ” To the Marchioness de Pompadour ‘
” All this is true, sir,” said Marie Antoinette, after a pause ; ‘ ‘ and although I am ignorant by what means you have become acquainted with these circumstances, I cannot speak falsely, and I must declare that what you have said is true.”
” Then,” said Balsamo’, ” will your royal highness permit me to retire, satisfied with this harmless proof of my art ? “
” No, sir,” replied the dauphiness ; ” the more I know of your powers, the more desirous I become to have my fate foretold. You have spoken only of the past ; let me learn what the future will be.”
The princess spoke these words with a feverish impatience, which he in vain endeavored to conceal from her auditors.
” I am ready, if your royal highness commands me, to declare it ; yet let me supplicate you not to do so.”
” I have never expressed a command twice ; and you will recollect, sir, that I have already commanded once.”
” Let me at least consult the oracle whether it may be revealed to your royal highness or not,” he said entreat-
“Good or bad, sir,” replied Marie Antoinette, “I will know it. If good, I shall take it for flattery ; if bad, I
140 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
shall hold it as a warning, and shall be obliged to you for it. Begin.”
Balsauio took the round caraffe with the narrow neck and placed it on a golden saucer ; the rays of the sun striking on this, shone dimly yellow in the water, and seemed to offer something worthy of deep consideration to the attentive soothsayer. Every one was silent. At length he placed the caraffe again on the table, and shook his head.
“Well, sir ?” said the dauphiness.
” I cannot speak it,” replied Balsamo.
“You cannot, because you have nothing to tell me,” replied Marie Antoinette, a little contemptuously.
” There are things which must never be said to princes, madame,” replied Balsamo, in a tone which seemed to express his determination to oppose her wishes.
” Yes, when those things, I repeat, may be expressed by the word nothing.”
” It is not that which prevents me, madame ; on the contrary, it is the very reverse.”
The dauphiness smiled disdainfully, Balsamo appeared embarrassed, the cardinal began to laugh outright, and the baron drew near, grumbling :
” So ! my magician has exhausted himself ; his powers have not lasted very long. It only remains for us to see all those fine things turned into vine leaves, as we have read in Eastern tales.”
” I should rather have had the simple vine leaves,” said Marie Antoinette, ” than these fine things displayed by the gentleman for the purpose of getting himself presented to me.”
” Deign to remember, madame,” replied Balsamo, who was deathly pale, “that I did not solicit this honor.”
” It was not difficult for you to guess, sir, that I should ask to see you.”
” Pardon him, madame,” said Andre, in a low voice ; “he thought he was doing right.”
” And I tell you he was doing wrong,” replied the princess, so as only to be heard by Andre and Balsamo. “No
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one can elevate himself by humiliating an old man, and when we have the pewter goblet of a gentleman to drink in, we need not the golden one of a mountebank ! “
Balsamo started as if a viper had bitten him. ” Ma-dame,” he said, greatly agitated, “I am ready to let you know your destiny, since your blindness impels you to desire such knowledge.”
He pronounced these words in a tone so firm and so threatening, that all present felt the blood chilled in their veins.
. ” Gib im Jcein gehcer, mein Tochter,”* said the old lady to Marie Antoinette.
“Lass sie liosren, sie hat wissen ivollcn, und so soil sie wissen,” f replied Balsamo.
These words, spoken in German, a language which was understood by only a few present, seemed to render more mysterious what was going on.
” No,” said the dauphiness, resisting the entreaties of her venerable governess ; “let him say what he desires to say ; were I now to permit him to be silent, he would believe me afrai
Balsamo heard these words, and a dark, furtive smile played for a second on his lips. ” It is as I said,” he muttered to himself ; “the courage of bravado merely.”
” Speak ! ” said the dauphiness, “speak, sir.”
” Then your royal highness is decided ? “
“I never go back from a decision once made.”
“In that case, madame, I would entreat that we may be alone.”
She made a sign which those around understood all retired.
” This is not a bad plan for obtaining a private audience,” said the dauphiness, turning to Balsamo ; ” is it not, sir ? “
” I would beg your royal highness not to irritate me ! ” replied Balsamo ; ” I am but an instrument of Providence to enlighten you on those sorrows which await you. In=
* ” Do not listen to him, my daughter.”
f ” Let her ; she wishes to know, and she shall know. “
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suit Fortune, if you will she can revenge herself ; but for me, I am but the gloomy herald of the misfortunes she has in store for you.”
” Then it appears that misfortunes await me ? ” said the dauphiness, mildly, touched by Balsamo’s respectful manner.
” Yes; terrible misfortunes.”
” First, will my family be happy ? “
“That which you have left, or that to which you are going?”
” Oh, my own family my mother, my brother Joseph, my sister Caroline.”
” Your misfortunes will not reach them.”
” They are mine alone, then ?”
” They are yours, and those of your new family.”
” The royal family of France includes three princes, the Duke de Berry, the Count de Prove e, and the Count d’Artois what will be their fate ? “
“They will all reign.”
” Then I shall have no children ? “
” You will have children.”
” N x ot sons ? “
” Some of them sons.” …
” My sorrows, then, will be caused by their death ?”
” You will grieve that one is dead, but most will you grieve that the other lives.”
“Will my husband love me ?”
“Yes, too well.”
” Shall I not, then, be able to bear my grief, supported by my husband and my family ? “
” Neither will support you.”
” The love of my people will still be mine ? “
” The people! the ocean in a calm ! have you seen the ocean in a storm, madame ? “
” By doing good 1 shall prevent the storm ; or, if it rise, I shall -rise above it.”
” The higher the wave, the deeper the abyss.”
” God will defend me ‘
“Alas ! there are heads which He himself foredooms.”
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” What mean yon, sir ? ” Shall I not, then, be queen ? “
“Yes, madame ; but would to Heaven that you were not to be ! “
She smiled disdainfully.
” Did you remark,” he continued, ” the tapestry of the first room in which you slept after having entered France ? “
” Yes, sir.”
” What did it represent ? “
” The slaughter of the innocents.”
‘ ‘ Have not the grim faces of the murderers haunted your memory ?”
” I confess that they have.”
” Had you not a storm on the way hither ? “
“Yes ; a thunderbolt fell, and nearly on my carriage.”
” Were not those omens ?”
” Fatal omens ? “
” It would be difficult to interpret them as happy ones.”
The dauphiness let her head fall on her bosom, and raising it after a minute’s silence, ” Speak,” said she ; ” in what manner shall I die ? “
He shook his head.
” Speak ! “
“I dare not.”
” It is my will that you should,” she said, imperiously.
” Have mercy have mercy on yourself ! “
” Speak, sir, or I shall say that all this is but an absurd fable. Take care ! the daughter of Maria Theresa is not to be jested with ! the woman who holds in her hand the destiny of thirty millions of men is not to be trifled with ! “
He continued silent.
” You know no more,” she said, contemptuously ; ” your imagination is exhausted.”
” My knowledge of the future is not exhausted, madame ; and if you will force me “
“Yes; I will hear all.”
He seized the caraffe on the golden saucer, placed it in a dark hollow, where some rocks formed a sort of grotto ; then he took the hand of the archduchess, and drew her under the vault.
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” Are you ready ? ” he asked the princess, who was alarmed by his rapid movements.
“Yes.”
” On your knees, then ! on yonr knees ! and pray to God to spare you the dreadful end of all your greatness, which you are now to witness ! “
She obeyed mechanically, and fell on both knees.
He pointed with a wand to the glass globe, in the center of which must have appeared some dark and terrible form, for the dauphiness, in trying to rise, trembled and sunk again to the ground with a shriek of horror she had fainted.
The baron hastened to her assistance, and in a few minutes she came to herself. She put her hand to her forehead, as if to recall her thoughts, then suddenly exclaimed : ” The caraffe ! the caraffe ! “
The baron presented it to her. The water was perfectly limpid not a stain mingled with it. Balsamo was gone.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE BAJRON DE TAVERNEY THINKS HE SEES AT LAST A SMALL OPENING INTO THE FUTURE.
THE baron was the first to perceive that the dauphiness had fainted ; he had kept on the watch, more uneasy than any one else at what might take place between her and the sorcerer. Hearing her cry of terror, and seeing Balsamo spring out of the grotto, 4 he ran to the spot.
The dauphiness’s first request was to see the caraffe ; her second, that no injury should be done the magician ; and it was well she made this request, for no sooner had Philip heard her cry than he bounded after him like an angry lion.
When her laiy of honor came near, and ventured to question her in German, she only drew from her that Balsamo had in no way been wanting in respect to her
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that she thought the storm of the preceding night and her long journey had fatigued her and brought on a nervous attack. Her replies were translated to the Cardinal de Rohan, who stood by, but dared not himself ask for information. In courts, people are obliged to be satisfied with half answers, so what the dauphiness said satisfied nobody, but every one appeared perfectly satisfied. Philip then drew near and said : i,
“lam obliged to obey your royal highness’s orders, yet it is with regret that I do so ; the half hour during which you intended to stay is past, and the horses are ready ‘
” Thanks, sir,” said she, with a smile full of fascinating languor ; ” but I must alter my determination I do not feel able to set out just now. If 1 could sleep for a few hours, I should be quite restored.”’
” Your royal highness knows what a poor abode ours is,” the baron stammered out.
“Oh, sir, any place will do ; a little rest is all I want ! ” She said this as if again fainting, and her head sunk again on her bosom.
Andre disappeared to prepare her room for her, and having in a few minutes returned, she stood beside the dauphiness, not daring to speak until some indication was given that she might do so. At length Marie Antoinette raised her head, smiled to Andre, and, with her hand, made a sign to her to draw nearer.
” The room is ready for your royal highness. We entreat only “
But she was not permitted to finish her apology the dauphiness interrupted her.
” Thank you ! thank you ! May I ask you to summon the Countess of Langershausen, and to lead us to the apartment ? “
Andre obeyed. The old lady of honor advanced. ” Give me your arm, my dear friend,” said the dauphiness to her, in German, ” for indeed I have scarcely strength enough to walk without support.”
The baroness obeyed ; Andre approached to assist her. Turning soon after to Andre, the dauphiness asked .
DUMAS VOL. VI. Gr
146 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
” Do you understand German, then, mademoiselle ? “
” Yes, inadame ; I even speak it a little,” replied Andre, in German.
” That is delightful ! ” exclaimed the dauphiness ; ” that makes my plan still more agreeable.”
Andre dared not ask her august guest what her plan was, although she longed to know it. The dauphiness leaned on the arm of the Countess de Langershausen, and advanced slowly, her limbs trembling under her. As she issued from the trees in front of the grotto, she heard the cardinal’s voice.
” What ! ” said he, ” Count de Stainville, do you mean to insist on speaking to her royal highness notwithstanding her orders to the contrary ? “
”I must insist on doing so,” replied the governor of Strasbourg, in a firm voice ; ” her royal highness will pardon me, I am certain.”
” And I, sir, on the contrary, insist “
” Let the governor come forward,” said the dauphiness, appearing at the opening of the trees, which formed a verdant arch above her head. ” Come forward, Count de Stainville.”
Every one bowed at her command, and drew back to allow free passage to the brother-in-law of the then all-powerful minister who governed France. The count looked around, as if to request a private audience. Marie Antoinette understood that he had something important to say to her, but before she could express a wish to be left alone, all had withdrawn.
