Memoirs of a Physician (6 page)

” Oh,” said Philip, dreamily, ” That is not surprising ; you have met with a dreadful trial, and your escape was almost miraculous.”

” Miraculous is, in truth, the proper term, brother.”

” But, speaking of your miraculous escape, Andre,” said Philip, approaching closer to his sister, to give more emphasis to the question, ” do you know I have never yet had an opportunity of speaking to you of this catastrophe ? “

Andre blushed and seemed uneasy, but Philip did not remark this change of color, or, at least, did not appear to remark it.

” I thought, however,” said the young girl, ” that the person who restored me to you gave all the explanations you could wish ; my father, at least, told me he was quite satisfied.”

” Of course, my dear Andre ; and this man, so far as I could judge, behaved with extreme delicacy in the whole affair ; but still some parts of his tale seemed to me, not suspicious, indeed, but obscure that is the proper term.”

” How so, and what do you mean, brother?” asked Andre, with the frankness of innocence^

” For instance,” said Philip, ” there is one point which did not at first strike me, but which has since seemed to me to bear a very strange aspect.”

” Which ? ” asked Andre.

” Why, the very manner in which you were saved. Can you describe it to me ? “

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The young girl seemed to make an effort over herself.

“Oh, Philip,”, said she, ” I have almost forgotten I was so much terrified.”

” No matter, my sweetest Andre ; tell me all you remember.”

” Well, yon know, brother, we were separated about twenty paces from the Garde Meuble. I saw you dragged away toward the garden of the Tuileries, while I was drawn toward the Rue Royale. For an instant I could distinguish you making fruitless attempts to rejoin me. I stretched out my arms toward you, crying, ‘ Philip ! Philip ! ‘ when, all at once, I was, as it were, seized by a whirlwind, which raised me aloft and bore me in the direction of the railings. I felt the living tide carrying me toward the wall, where it must be dashed to atoms ; I heard the cries of those who were crushed against the railings ; I felt that my turn would come to be crushed and mangled ; I could almost calculate the number of seconds I had yet to live, when, half dead and almost frantic, raising my hands and eyes to heaven in a last prayer, I met the burning glance of a man who seemed to govern the crowd, and whom the crowd seemed to obey.”

“And this man was the Count Joseph Balsamo?”

” Yes ; the same whom I had already seen at Taverney the same who, even there, inspired me with such a strange terror ; he, in short, who seems to be endowed with some supernatural power, who has fascinated my sight with his eyes, my ears with his voice ; who has made my whole being tremble by the mere touch of his finger on my shoulder.”

” Proceed, proceed, Andre,” said Philip, his features and voice becoming gloomier as she spoke.

“Well, this man seemed to tower aloft above the catastrophe, as if human suffering could not reach him. I read in his eyes that he wished to save me that he had the power to do so. Then something extraordinary took place in me and around me. Bruised, powerless, half dead as I was, I felt myself raised toward this man as if some unknown, mysterious, invincible power drew me to him. I

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felt as if some strong arm, by a mighty effort, was lifting me out of the gulf of mangled flesh in which so many unhappy victims were suffocating, and was restoring me to air, to life. Oh, Philip,” continued Andre, with a sort of feverish vehemence, ” I feel certain it was that man’s look which attracted me to him. I reached his hand, I was saved ! “

” Alas ! ” murmured Gilbert, ” she had eyes only for him ; and I I who was dying at her feet she saw me not ! “

He wiped his brow, bathed in perspiration.

” That is how the affair happened, then?” asked Philip.

” Yes, up to the moment when I felt myself out of danger. Then, whether all my force had been exhausted in the last effort I had made, or whether the terror I had experienced had outstripped the measure of my strength, 1 do not know, but I fainted.”

” And at what time do you think you fainted ? “

” About ten minutes after we were separated, brother.”

” Yes,” pursued Philip, ” that was about midnight. How, then, did it happen that yon did not return till three o’clock ? Forgive me this catechizing, which may seem ridiculous to you, dear Andre, but I have a good reason for it.”

“Thanks, Philip,” said Andre, pressing her brother’s hand. ” Three days ago I could not have replied to you as I have now done ; but to-day it may seem strange to you what I am about to say but to-day my mental vision is stronger ; it seems to me as if some will stronger than my own ordered me to remember, and I do remember.”

” Then tell me, dear Andre, for I am all impatience to know, did this man carry you away in his arms ?”

“In his arms?” said Andre, blushing;””! do not well recollect. All I know is, that he extricated me out of the crowd. But the touch of his hand caused me the same feeling as at Taverney, and scarcely had he touched me when I fainted again, or, rather, I sunk to sleep ; for fainting is generally preceded by a painful feeling, and on

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this occasion I only felt the pleasing sensation attendant on sleep.”

“In truth, Andre, what you tell me seems so strange that if any other related these things I should not believe them. But proceed, ” continued he, in a voice which betrayed more emotion than he was willing to let appear.

As for Gilbert he devoured Andre’s every word, for he knew that so far, at least, each word was true.

” When I regained my consciousness,” continued the young girl, “I was in a splendidly furnished saloon. A femme de chambre and a lady were standing beside me, but they did not seem at all uneasy, for when I awoke they were smiling benevolently.”

” Do you know what time this was, Andre ?”

” The half hour after midnight was just striking.”

” Oh ! ” said the young man, breathing freely, ” that is well. Proceed, Andre, with your narrative.

“I thanked the ladies for the attentions they lavished on me ; but knowing how uneasy you would be, I begged them to send me home immediately. Then they told me that the count had returned to the scene of the accident to assist the wounded, but that he would return with a carriage and convey me back himself to our hotel. In fact, about two o’clock I heard a carriage roll along the street ; then the same sensation which I had formerly felt on the approach of that man overpowered me ; I fell back trembling and almost senseless upon a sofa. The door opened. In the midst of my confusion I could still recognize the man who had saved me ; then for a second time I lost all consciousness. They must then have carried me down, placed me in the carriage, and brought me here. That is all I can remember, brother.”

Philip calculated the time, and saw that his sister must have been brought direct from the Eue des Ecuries du Louvre to the Rue Coq Heron, as she had been from the Place Louis XV. to the Eue des Ecuries du Louvre ; and, joyfully pressing her hand, he said, in a frank, cheerful voice :

” Thanks, my dear sister, thanks ; all the calculations

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correspond exactly. I will cull upon the Marchioness de Seviguy, and thank her in person. In the meantime, one word more, upon a subject of secondary importance.”

” Speak ‘

” Do you remember seeing among the crowd any face with which you were acquainted ? “

” Xo, none.”

” The little Gilbert’s, for example ? “

” In fact,” said Andre, endeavoring to recall her thoughts, ” I do remember to have seen him. At the mo-ment when we were separated he was about ten paces f rom me.”

” She saw me ! ” murmured Gilbert.

” Because, while searching for you, Andre, I discovered the poor lad.”

” Among the dead ? ” asked Andre with that peculiar shade of interest which the great testify for their dependents.

“Xo, he was only wounded ; he was saved, and I hope he will recover.”

” Oh, I am glad to hear it,” said Andre , ” and what injury had he received ? “

” His chest was greatly bruised.”

” Yes, yes, against thine, Andre ! ” murmured Gilbert.

” But,” continued Philip, ” the strangest circumstance of all, and the one which induced me to speak of the lad, was, that I found in his hand, clinched and stiffened by pain, a fragment of your dress.”

” That is strange, indeed.”

” Did you not see him at the last moment ? “

” At the last moment, Philip, I saw so many fearful forms of terror, pain, selfishness, love, pity, avarice, and indifference, that I felt as if I had passed a year in the realms of torment, and as if these figures were those of the damned passing in review before me. I may, therefore, have seen the young man, but I do not remember him.”

” And yet the piece of stuff torn from your dress ? and it was your dress, Andre, for Nicole has examined it.”

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” Did you tell the girl for what purpose you questioned her ?” asked Andre ; for she remembered the singular explanation she had had at Taveruey with her waiting-maid on the subject of this same Gilbert.

” Oh, no ! However, the fragment was in his hand. How can you explain that ? “

” Oh, very easily,” said Andre, with a calmness which presented a strange contrast to the fearful beating of Gilbert’s heart ; “if he was near me when I felt myself raised aloft, as it were, by this man’s look, he has probably clung to me to profit by the help I was receiving, in the same manner as a drowning man clings to the belt of the swimmer.”

” Oh ! ” said Gilbert, with a feeling of angry contempt at this explanation of the young girl ; ” oh, what an ignoble interpretation of my devotion ! How these nobles judge us sons of the people ! Monsieur Rousseau is right ; we are worth more than they ; our hearts are purer and our arms stronger.”

As he once more settled himself to listen to the conversation of the brother and sister, which he had for a moment lost during this aside, he heard a noise behind him.

“Oh, heavens!” murmured he, “some one in the anteroom ? “

And hearing the step approach the corridor, Gilbert drew back into the dressing-room, letting the curtain fall before him.

” Well, is that madcap Nicole not here ? “said the Baron de Taverney’s voice, as he entered his daughter’s apartment, touching Gilbert with the flaps of his coat as he passed.

” I dare say she is in the garden,” said Andre, with a tranquillity which showed that she had no suspicion of the presence of a third person ; “good evening, my dear father.”

Philip rose respectfully ; the baron motioned him to re-main where he was, and taking an armchair, sat down near his children.

” Ah, my children,” said the baron, ” it is a long journey from the Rue Coq Heron to Versailles, when, instead of

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going in a good court carriage, you have only a fiacre drawn by one horse. However, I saw the dauphiness, neverthelesss. “

“Ah,” said Andre, “then you have just arrived from Versailles, my dear father ? “

” Yes ; the princess did me the honor to send for me, having heard of the accident which had happened to my daughter.”

” Andre is much better, father,” said Philip

” I am perfectly aware of it, and I told her royal highness so, who was kind enough to promise that as soon rs your sister is completely restored she will summon her to Petit Trianon, which she has fixed upon for her residence, and which she is now having decorated according to her taste.”.

” I I at court ! ” said Andre, timidly.

” It is not the court, my child. The dauphiness has quiet and unobtrusive habits, and the dauphin hates show and noise. They will live in complete retirement at Trianon. However, from what I know of her highness the dauphiness’s disposition, her little family parties will turn out, in the end, much better than Beds of Justice and meetings of states-general. The princess, has a decided character, and the dauphin, I am told, is learned.”

“Oh, it will always be the court. Do not deceive yourself, sister,” said Philip, mournfully.

” The court ! ” said Gilbert to himself, with an emotion of concentrated rage and despair. ” The court ! that is, a summit which I cannot reach, or a gulf into which I can-not dash myself. In that case, farewell, Andre ! Lost lost to me forever ! “

” But, my father,” replied Andre, “we have neither the fortune which would warrant our choosing such a residence, nor the education necessary for those who move in its lofty circle. “What shall I, a poor girl, do among those brilliant ladies, whose dazzling splendor I on one occasion witnessed, whose minds I thought so empty, but at the same time so sparkling ? Alas ! my brother, we are too obscure to mingle among so many dazzling lights !”

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The baron knit his brow.

” Still the same absurd ideas,” said he. ” In truth, I cannot understand the pains which my family take to de-preciate everything which they inherit from rne, or which relates to me. Obscure ! Really, mademoiselle, you are mad. Obscure ! a Taverney Maison Rouge obscure ? And who will shine, pray, if you do not ? Fortune pardieu ! we know what the fortunes of the court are. The sun of royalty fills them, the same sun makes them blow it is the great vivifier of court nature. I have ruined myself at court, and now I shall grow rich again at court, that’s all. Has the king no more money to bestow upon his faithful servants ? And do you really think I would blush at a regiment being offered to my eldest son, at a dowry being granted to you, Andre, at a nice little ap-panage conferred on myself, or at finding a handsome pension under my napkin some day at dinner ? No, no ; fools alone have prejudices ; I have none ; besides, it is only my own property which is given back to me. Do not, therefore, entertain these foolish scruples. There remains only one of your objections your education, of which you spoke just now. But, mademoiselle, remember that no young lady of the court has been educated as you have been. Nay, more, you have, besides the education usually given to the daughters of the noblesse, the solid acquirements more generally confined to the families of lawyers or financiers. You are a musician, and you draw landscapes, with sheep and cows, which Berghem need not disclaim. Now, the dauphiness absolutely dotes on cows, on sheep, and on Berghern. You are beautiful ; the king cannot fail to notice it. You can converse ; that will charm the Count d’Artois and the Count de Prove^e ; you Avill not only be well received, therefore, but adored. Yes, yes,” continued the baron, rubbing his hands, and chuckling in so strange a manner, that Philip gazed at his father to see if the laugh was really produced by a human mouth. ” Adored ! I have said the word.”