Joseph Balsamo (61 page)
“I came on foot.”
“On foot !” said Andre, with a sort of pity in her tone.
” And pray, what do you intend to do in Paris ? ” inquired the baron.
” To get educated first then make my fortune.”
“Educated?”
” Yes, I am certain of being educated.”
” Make your fortune ? “
” I hope to make it.”
” And in the meantime what do you do ? Beg ?”
” Beg ! ” exclaimed Gilbert, with lofty scorn.
“You steal, then?”
” Sir,” said Gilbert, with a look so proud and fierce that it fixed Andre’s attention on him for a moment, “sir, did I ever steal from you ? “
” What can your idle hands do but steal ?”
” What those of a man of genius do a man whom I wish
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to imitate, were it in only in his perseverance,” replied Gilbert. “They copy music.”
Andre turned toward him, ” Copy music ? ” said she.
“Yes, mademoiselle.”
” You know music, then ? ” inquired she, with the same contemptuous tone in which she would have said, ” It is false ‘
” I know my notes, and that is enough for a copyist.”
” And how the devil did you learn your notes, you ras-cal ?” cried the baron.
” Yes, how ?” added Andre, smiling.
” I love music, sir, passionately, and when Mademoiselle Andre played on the harpsichord every day, I hid myself that I might listen.”
” Good-for-nothing fellow ! “
” At first I remembered the airs ; then as they were written in a music-book by degrees I learned to read the notes from the book.”
” From my music-book ! ” exclaimed Andre, with the utmost indignation, ” did you dare to touch my music-book ? “
” No, mademoiselle, I did not permit myself to do so, but as it remained open on the harpsichord, sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, I endeavored to read in it, but without touching it. My eyes would not soil the pages.”
“You will see,” cried the baron, “that the fellow will assert next that he plays on the piano like Haydn “
” I should probably have been able by this time to play,” said Gilbert, ” had I dared to place my fingers on the keys.”
Andre again glanced at that face which was animated by a sentiment only to be compared to the fanaticism of a martyr eager for the stake ; but the baron, who did not possess his daughter’s clear and comprehensive intellect, felt his choler rise on reflecting that the young man was in the right, and that he had been treated inhumanly in being left with Mahon at Taverney. It is not easy to pardon in an inferior the wrong which he proves you have done
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him, and the baron therefore became more furious in proportion as his daughter became calm.
” Wretch !” he cried, ” you steal away, you go running about like a vagabond, and when questioned about your mode of life you utter such a tissue of absurdities as those which we have just heard ! But it shall not be my fault if rogues and pickpockets infest the king’s highways.”
Andre, by a gesture, entreated her father to be calm ; she felt that ungoverned anger destroys all superiority in the person giving way to it. But the baron thrust aside her hand which she had placed on his arm, and continued :
“I shall recommend you to the notice of the Count de Sartines, and you shall speedily take a turn in the Bicetre, you scarecrow of a philosopher ! “
Gilbert stepped back, crushed his hat under his arm, and, pale with anger, exclaimed :
” Learn, my lord baron, that since I arrived in Paris I have found protectors in whose antechambers your Count de Sartines would be glad to wait.”
” Indeed ? ” said the baron. ” In that case I shall take care, if you escape a prison, that you do not escape a good caning. Andre, call your brother.”
Andre’e leaned forward out of the carriage, and said, in a low voice, to Gilbert, ‘ ‘ Take my advice, Monsieur Gilbert, and retire.”
” Philip, Philip ! ” shouted the old man.
” Leave us ! ” said Andre again to the young man, who remained silent and motionless in his place as if in ecstatic contemplation.
An officer, summoned by the baron’s cries, hurried forward to the carriage door ; it was Philip, dressed in his captain’s uniform.
The young man was splendidly attired, and seemed in high spirits.
” How Gilbert ? ” he exclaimed, with a good-humored smile on recognizing the young man ; ” Gilbert here ! How do you do, Gilbert ? Well, what do you want with me, my dear father ? “
” How do you do, Monsieur Philip ? ” replied Gilbert,
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“What do I want?” said the baron, furiously, “I want you to take the sheath of your swo;rd and chastise this scoundrel.”
“But what has he done ?” asked Philip, gazing by turns with increasing astonishment at the angry face of his father and the rigid and motionless features of Gilbert.
“Done? He he has Beat him, Philip beat him like a dog ! ” cried the baron. Taverney turned to his sister.
” What has he done, Andre ? has he insulted you ? “
“Insulted her ? ” repeated Gilbert.
“No, Philip, no!” replied Andre. “He has done nothing wrong ; my father is in error. Gilbert is no longer in our service, and has a perfect right to go where he pleases ; but my father will not understand this, and is angry at finding him here.”
“Is that all? “said Philip.
” Nothing more, brother ; and I cannot imagine why my father should be so angry, particularly on such a subject, and about things and persons that do not deserve even a thought. Philip, look whether the train is moving on.”
The barou was silent, overcome by the lofty serenity of his daughter. Gilbert’s heart sunk in his breast, crushed and withered under her contempt. For a moment a feeling akin to hatred darted through his heart. He would have preferred the mortal thrust of Philip’s sword aye, even a lash of his whip, to her insulting scorn.
He was almost fainting ; fortunately, the address was now ended, and the cortege once more moved on. The baron’s carriage advanced with the rest, and Andre disappeared from before his eyes like a vision. Gilbert remained alone he could have wept he could have groaned aloud he thought that he could no longer bear the weight of his suffering.
Just then a hand rested on his shoulder. He turned and saw Philip, who, having given his horse to a soldier of his regiment to hold, returned smiling toward him.
” Come, let me hear what has happened, my poor Gilbert,” said he, “and why you have come to Paris.”
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His frank and cordial tone touched the young man’s heart.
” Oh, sir,” replied he, with a sigh, his stern stoicism melting at once, ” what would I have done at Taverney, I ask yon t I must have died of despair, ignorance, and hunger.”
Philip started ; his generous heart was struck, as An-dree’s had been, by the misery and destitution in which Gilbert had been left.
” And you think, my poor fellow, to succeed in Paris without money, protectors, or resources ? “
” I trust so, sir. A man who is willing to work rarely dies of hunger where there are other men who wish to do nothing.”
Philip was struck by this reply ; until then he had always looked on Gilbert as a commonplace domestic.
” But have you any means of buying food ?” he said.
” I can earn my daily bread, Monsieur Philip. That is sufficient for one who has never had any cause for self-reproach, but that of having eaten bread not gained by his toil.”
” I hope you do not say so with reference to that which you received at Taverney, my poor lad. Your father and mother were faithful servants, and you were always willing to make yourself useful.”
” I only did my duty, sir.”
” Listen to me, Gilbert. You are aware that I always liked you. I have always looked upon you in a more favorable light than others, whether justly or the reverse, the future will show. What others called haughty pride, I termed delicacy ; where others saw rudeness and ill-breeding, I perceived only honest bluntness.”
” Ah, chevalier I ” said Gilbert, breathing more freely.
” I really wish you well, Gilbert.”
“Thank you, sir.” ‘
” Young like you, and like you also in an unhappy position, I was perhaps on that account more disposed to feel for and pity yon. Fortune has blessed me with abundance ; let me assist you until fortune smiles on you in your turn.”
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“Thanks, sir, many thanks.”
” What do you think of doing ? You are too proud to accept of a situation as servant.”
Gilbert shook his head with a scornful smile, ” I wish to study,” said he.
” But, in order to study, you must have masters, and to pay them you must have money.”
” I can earn money, sir.”
” Earn money ? How much can you earn ? “
” Twenty-five sous a day, and in a short time perhaps thirty and even forty sous.”
“But that is barely enough for food.”
Gilbert smiled.
“Perhaps,” continued Philip, “I am not taking the right way of “offering you my services.”
” Your services to me, Monsieur Philip ? “
” Yes, my services. Are yon ashamed to accept them ? “
” Gilbert made no answer.
” Men are sent on earth to aid one another,” continued Maison Rouge. ” Are we not all brethren ? “
Gilbert raised his head and fixed his intelligent gaze on the chevalier’s noble countenance.
” Does this language surprise you ? ” said he.
” No, sir,” said Gilbert ; ” it is the language of philosophy ; but it is not usual to hear such from persons of your rank.”
f Yet it is the language of the times. The dauphin himself shares in these sentiments. Come, do not be proud with me,” continued Philip. ” “What I lend you, you can repay me one day or other. Who knows but you may yet be a Colbert or a Vauban ? “
” Or a Tronchin.” said Gilbert.
” Yes, or a Tronchin. Here is my purse, let me share its contents with you.”
” Thank you, sir,” said the indomitable Gilbert, moved, in spite of himself, by Philip’s genial kindness, ” but I do not want anything only only believe me, I am as grateful to you as if I had accepted your offer.”
And, bowing, he disappeared in the crowd, leaving the
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young captain lost in astonishment. The latter waited a few minutes, as if he could not believe his eyes or ears, but finding that Gilbert did not return, he mounted his horse and returned to his post.
CHAPTER L.
THE DEMONIAC.
THE noise of the carriages, the prolonged and merry peals of the bells, the joyful beating of the drums, all the pomp and ceremony of the day a faint reflection of that world now lost to her forever faded from the Princess Louise’s mind like an idle wave which had rolled up to the walls of her cell and then retreated.
When the king had departed, after having once more endeavored, but in vain, to win his daughter back to the world by a mixture of paternal entreaty and royal command, and when the dauphiness, who had been at the first glance struck by the real greatness of soul displayed by her august aunt, had also disappeared with her gay throng of courtiers, the superior of the Carmelites gave orders that the hangings should be taken down, the flowers removed, and the lace with which the convent had been decorated once more placed in its usual repository.
Of all the sisterhood of the Carmelites she alone was unmoved when the massive gates of the convent, which had for a moment opened to the world, closed heavily again on their solitude.
Then she summoned the sister who acted as treasurer of the convent.
” During these two noisy and bustling days,” asked she, ” have the poor received their usual alms ? “
” Yes, madame.”
” Have the sick been visited ? “
“Yes, madame.”
” Did the soldiers receive some refreshments before they departed ?”
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” They received the wine and the bread which you ordered, madame.”
” Then no one is ill or sick in the convent ? “
” No one, madame.”
The princess approached the window and softly inhaled the cool and perfumed breeze which was wafted toward her on the humid wings of the evening. The treasurer waited respectfully until her august superior should give her an order or dismiss her.
Mme.
Louise commenced to pluck the leaves of the roses and jasmine which twined around the windows, and climbed up the walls of the building. Heaven alone knows what were the thoughts of the poor royal recluse at that moment.
Suddenly the door of a detached building in the courtyard, close at hand, was shaken by the violent kick of a horse.
Mme.
Louise started.
” What nobleman of the court has remained after the rest at St. Denis ? ” asked she.
” His Eminence the Cardinal de Rohan, madame.”
11 Are his horses here, too ?”
” No, madame ; they are at the chapter-house of the abbey, where he is to pass the night.”
” What noise was that, then ? “
” Madame, it was caused by the foreign woman’s horse.”
” What woman ? ;J> asked
Mme.
Louise, endeavoring to recollect.
” The Italian who came yesterday to request the protection of your royal highness.”
” Ah, true, I remember now. Where is she ? “
” In her chamber, or in the church.”
” How has she conducted herself since she came ?”
” Since yesterday she has refused all nourishment ex-cept dry bread, and has spent the entire night praying in the chapel.”
” Some great criminal, doubtless ?” said the superior, frowning.
” I do not know, madame ; she has spoken to no one since she arrived.”
” What sort of a woman is she ? “
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” Extremely handsome, and with an expression at once gentle and haughty.”
” This morning, during the ceremony, where was she ?”
” In her chamber, close to the window, where I saw her, half hidden by the curtain, watching with anxious eyes every person who entered, as if in each she feared an enemy. “
