Joseph Balsamo (14 page)
” I have forgotten ; tell it me.”
” You said, ‘ I am poor ; ‘ it was the day we were reading among the old ruins.”
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” Well, go on.”
” You trembled very much that day “
” Very likely ; I am naturally timid ; but I do all I can to correct that fault, and some others also.”
” So that when you have corrected all your faults,” said Nicole, laughing, “you will be perfect.”
” I shall be strong ; wisdom gives strength.”
” Where did you read that, pray ? “
” Never mind ; return to what you were saying.”
Nicole felt that she was losing ground every minute.
” Well, you said to me, ‘ I am poor no one loves me ; yet there is something here and you pressed your hand on your heart.”
” No, Nicole ; if I pressed my hand anywhere when I said that, it must have been on my forehead. The heart is merely a forcing pump, which drives the blood to the extremities of the body. Read the article ‘ Heart,’ in the ‘Philosophical Dictionary;’ and Gilbert drew himself up proudly. Humble before Balsamo, he gave himself the airs of a prince before Nicole.
” You are right, Gilbert ; it must have been your head which you struck. Well, striking your forehead, you said, 1 1 am treated here worse than a dog ; indeed, Mahon is in a happier condition than I.’ I replied that they were wrong not to love you ; that if you had been my brother, I should have loved you also. I think, however, I said that from my heart, not from my head ; but perhaps I am wrong, for I never read the ‘ Philosophical Dictionary. ”’
” You ought to read it, Nicole.”
” Then you threw your arms round me. You said, ‘ You are an-orphan ; I am one, too. Let us love each other as if we were brother and sister ; no, better than if we were, for if we were, we should be forbidden to love as I wish we should ;’ then you kissed me.”
” Very possibly.”
” Did you think then as you spoke ? “
“Oh, yes ; one generally thinks what one says at the time one says it.”
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” So that now “
” Now I am five months older than I was. I have learned things of which I knew nothing then, and 1 look forward to things which I do not yet know ; I think differently now.”
” You are a deceiver, a hypocrite, a liar ! ” exclaimed she, furiously.
“No more than a traveler, should he make two different answers to the same question if you asked him in a valley’ what he thought of the prospect, and again when he had got to the top of a mountain which before had closed his view.”
” So, then, you will not marry me ?”
” I never said I would marry you,” said Gilbert, contemptuously.
” And yet,” cried the exasperated girl, ” I think Nicole Legay fully the equal of Sebastian Gilbert.”
“All human beings are equal ; but nature or education makes certain faculties greater in one man than another, and according as these faculties are more or less developed, men differ from one another.”
” So that your faculties being more developed than mine, you are raised above me ? “
” Quite correct ; you do not reason yet, Nicole, but you understand.”
” Yes, yes ; I understand ! ” cried Nicole, with redoubled passion.
” What do yon understand ? “
“That you are a bad man.”
” It is possible. Many are born with bad inclinations. Rousseau himself had such, but he corrected them I shall do the same.”
” Oh, heavens !” cried Nicole, “how could I ever love such a man ? “
“You did not love me, Nicole,” replied Gilbert, coldly. ” I pleased you that was all. You had just come from Nancy, where you had only seen students whom you laughed at or soldiers who frightened you ; so you took a fancy to me, and for a mouth or two we enjoyed our dream of love.
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But should we, therefore, be tied together, to be eternally miserable ? Yon see, Nicole, if we bound ourselves for our lives in a moment of happiness, we should give up our free will, and that would be absurd.”
” Is that philosophy ? ” asked Nicole.
” I think so ‘ replied Gilbert.
“Then there is nothing sacred in the eyes of philosophers ?
” Oh, yes ; reason is.”
” Yet I think you once said something about being faithful to the choice of the heart. You recollect your theory on marriages “
“On unions, Nicole, for I shall never marry.”
” You will never marry ? “
” No ; I shall be a learned man a philosopher. Science requires perfect freedom of the mind, and philosophy that of the body.”
“Monsieur Gilbert,” said she, ” you are a wretch ; and whatever I am, I am at least better than you.”
” Now,” said Gilbert, rising, ” we are only losing time you in abusing me, and I in listening to you ; let us end. You loved me because you took pleasure in loving.”
” Well ? “
” Well, there is no reason in the world that I should make myself unhappy because you did a thing which gave you gratification.”
” Fool ! ” she exclaimed, “you think you can confound my common sense, and you pretend not to fear me ! “
” Fear you ? Why, Nicole, jealousy is turning your brain.”
“Jealousy!” she cried, stamping her foot “and why should I be jealous ? Is there a prettier girl in the province than I ? if I had but as white a hand as mademoiselle and I shall have some day when I do no more hard work. You are my first lover, it is true; but you are not the first man who has paid court to me. Gilbert, Gilbert, do not force me to seek revenge on you do not make me leave the narrow path in which a last remembrance of my mother, and the regular -repetition of my prayers, have kept me.
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Gilbert, if you do, you may have to reproach yourself with bringing many evils on yourself and others.”
” All in good time,” said Gilbert. ” So now that you have got to the summit of your dignity, Nicole, I am perfectly satisfied on one point.”
” And what may that be ? ” inquired the girl.
” Simply that if I consent now to marry you “
” What then ? “
” Why, that yon would refuse me.”
Nicole paused, her clinched hands and gnashing teeth showing the workings of her mind.
” You are right ! ” she exclaimed, at length. “Yes ; I also begin to ascend the mountain of which yon spoke. I see a wider prospect before me. The wife of a learned man, a philosopher ! No, I am destined for something greater than that ! Mount your ladder, and don’t break your neck though I begin to think it would be a blessing for many persons if you would perhaps even a blessing for yourself.”
She turned her back on him. Gilbert stood a moment wavering and irresolute ; for Nicole, excited by anger and jealousy, was truly beautiful. But he had resolved to break with her Nicole could blast at once his love and his ambition. His decision was made.
In a few seconds, Nicole, hearing no sound, looked be-hind her. She was alone in the apartment.
” Gone ! ” she murmured ; ” and mademoiselle oh, I shall know to-morrow whether she loves him or not ? “
She went to the window and looked out ; all was dark, every light extinguished. She stole on tiptoe to her lady’s door and listened.
” She is in bed she sleeps soundly,” said she ; “but to-morrow I shall know all.”
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CHAPTEE XL
WAITING-MAID AN’D MISTRESS.
THE calmness with which Kicole returned to her room was not affected. Young, strong, full of an uncultivated self-confidence, she was blessed with that faculty so important for those who would govern where they love the faculty of forgetting ; and she could sleep after she had arranged with the little malicious sprites that dwelt in her heart her plan of vengeance.
Mile, de Taverney appeared to her even more guilty than Gilbert. This aristocratic girl, rigid in her prejudices, elevated in her pride, who at their convent would descend to familiarity with none below the daughters of marquises this statue, outwardly so cold, but yet with feeling in its marble bosom this statue, warming to life for a rural Pygmalion like Gilbert, became contemptible in her estimation. For Nicole felt that Gilbert was her inferior in everything but a little reading, and thought that she had condescended very much when she, the waiting-maid of the daughter of a ruined baron, put herself on a level with the son of a poor peasant.
What, then, could she think of her mistress, if she really returned Gilbert’s love ?
She calculated that, in relating what she had seen to the baron, she should fall into a great error ; first, because he would only laugh at the affair, box Gilbert’s ears, and turn him out-of-doors ; next, because it would deprive her of her power over Gilbert and Andre. What pleasure she should have she, the waiting-maid in seeing them turn pale or red as her eye fell on them ! This idea flattered her pride and soothed her vindictive spirit ; and, at this idea, her reflections ceased she slept.
It was day when she awoke, fresh, light-hearted, and her mind prepared for everything. She took her usual time
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to dress that is, an hour. She looked at herself in the piece of broken glass which served as her mirror ; her eyes appeared to her more brilliant than ever her lips had not lost their brightness nor their roundness her teeth were perfect her neck, which she took particular care to hide from the sun, was white as a lily. Seeing herself so handsome, she began to think she could easily make her young lady jealous. Thus armed personally and mentally, she opened Andre’s door, as she was authorized to do whenever, at seven o’clock, her mistress had not rung for her.
When Xicole entered the room she stopped in amazement.
Pale, her beautiful hair damp with perspiration, Andre lay on her bed in a heavy sleep, in which she sometimes writhed as if in pain. She was still in the dress which she had worn the Jay before. Her breathing was hurried, and now and then a low groan escaped her lips. Nicole looked at her fora minute, then shook her head, for she acknowledged to herself that there could be no beauty which could contest the palm with Aiidree’s.
She went to the rindow and opened the shutters. A stream of light poured in, and made Mile, de Taverney’s violet-veined eyelids quiver. She awoke, tried to rise, but felt, at the same time, such great weakness and such excessive pain, that she fell back on her pillow with a cry of suffering.
” Oh ! mademoiselle, what is the matter ? ” asked Nicole.
“Is it late ? ” said Andre, rubbing her eyes.
” Very late, madame much later than your usual hour for rising.”
” I do not know what is the matter with me, Nicole,” said she, looking around her, ” I feel so oppressed so ill ! “
Nicole fixed her eyes on her mistress before replying : ” It is the commencement of a cold that you have caught, madame, last night.”
” Last night ! ” replied Andre, surprised ; then, looking at her disordered dress, ” Have I really lain down without undressing ? How could that be ? “
” If mademoiselle would reflect “
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” I don’t recollect anything about it ‘ replied Andre leaning her head on her hand. ” What has happened ? Am I going mad?” She sat up on the bed, and looked round for the second time, all bewildered. Then, after reflecting : ” Oh ! yes, I remember I was very much tired very much exhausted yesterday ; it was the storm, no doubt ; then I fell asleep, on the music-stool at my harpsichord but, after that, I remember nothing. I must have come up to my room half asleep, and thrown myself on my bed without strength to undress.”
“You should have called me, mademoiselle,” said Nicole ; ” mademoiselle knows that I am always ready to wait on her.”
” I either did not think of it, or had not the strength to do it “
‘ Hypocrite ! ” muttered Nicole to herself then she added :
” But mademoiselle must have stayed very late at her harpsichord, then, for before she came up to her room,
hearing a noise, I went down ” She stopped, hoping to
discover in Andre something like agitation a blush, perhaps. No ; Andre was calm, and her countenance, that clear mirror of her soul, was undisturbed. ” I went down.” repeated Nicole.
“Well?”
” Well, madame, you were not at your harpsichord.”
Andre looked up, but there was only surprise to be read in her lovely eyes.
” Very strange ! ” said she.
” It is quite true, however.”
” You say I was not in the saloon; but I never left it for a moment till I came to bed.”
” Mademoiselle will pardon me for contradicting her.”
” But where was I, then ? “
” Mademoiselle must know that better than I,” said Nicole, shrugging her shoulders.
” You must be wrong, Nicole,” said Andre, mildly ; ” I only remember feeling cold and stiff, and having great difficulty in walking.”
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” Oh, but when I saw mademoiselle, she walked very well,” said Nicole, almost with a sneer.
” You saw me walk ? “
“Yes, indeed, madame.”
” But just now you said I was not in the saloon.”
” It was not in the saloon I saw mademoiselle.”
” Where, then ? “
” In the vestibule, near the staircase.”
“I ? “
” Yes ; I think I ought to know mademoiselle when I see her ‘ said Nicole, with an affected laugh.
“I am certain, however,” said Andre, with great simplicity, after she had again tried to recall the events of the night, “that I did not stir out of the saloon.”
” I am, however, quite as certain that I saw mademoiselle in the vestibule. I thought, indeed, she had just come in from a walk in the garden. It was a beautiful night, after the storm, and it is very pleasant to walk out when the air is so cool, and when the flowers smell so sweet is it not, mademoiselle ? “
” Oh, but you know I dare not walk out at night. I am too timid.”
” Mademoiselle might have some one with her, and then she would not be afraid.”
” And whom, pray, could I have with me ? ” asked Andre, without the least suspicion that she was undergoing a cross-examination.