Joseph Balsamo (17 page)

” What did you say ? ” asked Andre.

” I said not a word I bowed to the very ground. She passed on.”

” What, you said nothing ? ” exclaimed the baron.

” I had no voice, I assure you, sir ; my heart beat so rapidly I was so much agitated.”

” What the devil ! do you think I had nothing to say when about your age I was presented to the Princess Lec-zinska ? “

” But, sir, you had always a great deal of wit,” Philip replied. Andre pressed his hand.

“I profited by her royal highness’s departure,” continued Philip, ” to hasten to my apartment and change my clothes, for I was wet to the skin, and covered with mud from head to foot.”

” Poor, dear brother ! ” whispered Andre.

” When the dauphiness,” Philip continued, “reached the town-hall, she had to receive the congratulations of the principal inhabitants. That being over, it was announced that dinner was served. A friend of mine, the major of my regiment, since told me that while at the table she looked several times round on the officers who were present, and at last she said, ‘ I do not see the young officer who was sent to meet me this morning ; has he not been told that I wished to thank him ? ‘ The major stepped forward. < Madame,’ said he, ‘ Lieutenant de Taverney was obliged to retire and change his dress, that he might present himself in a more suitable manner before you A moment after I entered the room, and I had not been five minutes in it when the dauphiness perceived me. She made a sign to me to approach I obeyed. ‘ Sir said she, ‘ should you object to follow me to Paris ? ‘ ‘ Oh, ma-dame I cried, ‘ it would only make me too happy, but I am in garrison at Strasbourg, and I am not my own master ‘ Well, I shall arrange that matter with the governor ; ‘ and she made a gesture for me to retire. In the evening she said to the governor, ‘ Sir, I have a vow to fulfil, and you must assist me in it ‘I shall consider it a sacred duty, madame he replied. * You must know

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she continued, ‘ that I made a vow to take into my own service the first Frenchman, whoever he should be, whom I should meet on touching the soil of France, and that I would make him and his family happy, if, indeed, princes can make any one happy.’ < Madame said the governor, ‘ princes are God’s representatives on earth ; but may I ask continued he, ‘ who was the person who had the good fortune to be the first met by your royal highness ? ‘ ‘The Chevalier de Taverney Maison Bouge, a young lieutenant.’ ‘ We shall be jealous of the Chevalier de Taverney, madame replied the governor ; ‘ but we shall not place any obstacle in the way of his high fortune the ties which engage him here shall be broken, and he shall depart at the same time as your highness So the’day on which the dauphiness left Strasbourg I was ordered to accompany her on horseback, and since then have never left the door of her carriage.”

” Oh ! ” said the baron, with his former singular smile, ” strange enough, but not impossible ! “

” What, father ? “

” Oh, never mind ! “

” But, brother ‘ said Andre, ” I don’t see what all this has to do with the dauphiness coming hither.”

“Wait till you hear. Yesterday morning we arrived at Nancy about eleven o’clock, and were passing through the town by torchlight. The dauphiness called me to her. ‘ I wish said she, ‘ to depart early to-morrow morning.’ ‘ Your highness is going to make a long march, then ? ‘ ”No ; but I wish to stop on the road, and yon can guess where ? ‘ she asked, smiling. ‘ No, madame.’ ‘ I mean to stop at Taverney, to see your father and sister ‘ My fa-ther and sister ? What ! your royal highness knows ‘

‘ I have made inquiries, and know that they live only two hundred paces from the road which we are traveling.’ The perspiration broke on my forehead, and, trembling, as you may suppose, I hastened to reply, ‘ My father’s house, ma-dame, is not worthy to receive so great a princess we are poor.’ ‘ So much the better replied she ; ‘I shall, therefore, I am certain, be received more cordially and more

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simply ; however poor you may be, there will always be a cup of milk for a friend who wishes to forget for a moment that she is Archduchess of Austria and Dauphiness of France.’ ‘ Oh, madame,’ said I. This was all respect forbid me to go further ‘

” Stupid fellow ! ” cried the baron.

” One might have thought that her royal highness guessed what was passing in my mind, for she added : ‘Do not be afraid, I shall not stay long ; but since you think that I shall suffer any inconvenience by this visit, it is only fair, for I caused you to suffer on my arrival at Strasbourg Who could resist such charming words, father ?

” Oh, it would have been impossible ! ” cried Andre ; ” she is so sweet, so good, she will be satisfied with my flowers and a cup of my milk, as she says ! “

” Yes ; but she will not be very Avell satisfied with my chairs, which will dislocate her bones, and my hangings, which will disgust her. Devil take all whims ! So ! France will be well governed with a woman who takes such caprices. Plague on it ! A strange reign it will be, to judge from the commencement,” said the baron angrily.

” Oh, father, how can you say such things of a princess who is honoring us so highly ?”

” Who is dishonoring us, rather ! ” cried the old man. ” Taverney was forgotten, buried under the ruins of Mai-son Kouge. I intended that if it came to light again it should be in a suitable manner, and now the whims of a girl are going to drag us into day dusty, shabby, wretched ! and the gazettes, on the watch for everything absurd, will amuse their readers with the visit of a great princess to this den of Taverney. Cordieu ! I have an idea.”

The young people started at the manner in which he pronounced these words.

” What do you mean, sir ? ” demanded Philip.

The baron muttered to himself, “If the Duke of Medina burned his palace that he might embrace a queen, I may

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well burn my kennel to get rid of the visit of a princess. Let her come ! let her come ! “

Philip and Andre only heard the last words, and they looked at each other uneasily.

” It cannot be long before she will be here, sir,” said Philip. ” I took the way through the wood, in order to get some minutes in advance of the cortege ; it will soon be here.”

” Then I not must lose time,” said the baron ; and with the agility of twenty, he left the saloon. He hastened to the kitchen, snatched a flaming piece of wood from the hearth, and proceeded to his barns ; but just as he raised his arm to throw it in to a heap of straw, he was seized by Balsamo, who flung to a safe distance the burning brand.

“What are you about, sir?” cried he. “The Archduchess of Austria is not a Constable de Bourbon, whose presence contaminates, so that we should rather burn our house than permit her to enter it.”

The old man stopped, pale, trembling, and his habitual smile banished from his lips. He had gathered all his strength to enable him to resolve on making his poverty yet greater by the destruction of his dwelling, rather than be disgraced, according to his ideas, by allowing its me-diocrity to be seen.

“Come, sir, come !” continued Balsamo ; “you have only time to throw off your dressing-gown and put yourself in better trim. The Baron of Taverney, whom I knew at the siege of Philipsbourg, wore the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Louis ; any coat will be rich and elegant when decorated with that.”

” But, sir, shall I show to our dauphiness that poverty which I wished to hide from you ? “

” Be not uneasy ; we shall manage to occupy her attention so that she shall not know whether your house be new or old, poor or rich. Be hospitable, sir ; it is your duty as a gentleman. What will the enemies of the dauphiness and she has many what will they do, if her friends burn their castles rather than receive her under their roof ?

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Let us not thus anticipate that vengeance which is to come everything in its predestined time.”

The baron again showed an involuntary submission to Balsamo, and hurried to his children, who, uneasy at his absence, were seeking him on every side.

As to Balsamo, he retired in silence, like a man intent on some work which he had undertaken, and which he must complete.

CHAPTER XIV.

MARIE ANTOINETTE JOSEPHE, ARCHDUCHESS OF AUSTRIA.

As Balsamo had said, there was no time to be lost, for now on the road, generally so peaceful, which led to the Baron of Taverney’s dwelling, a great sound of carriages, horses, and voice’s was heard.

Three carriages, one of which was covered with gilding and mythological bas-reliefs, and which, notwithstanding its magnificence, was not less dusty and bespattered than the others, stopped at the great gate of the avenue. Gilbert held it open, his eyes distended, his whole frame trembling with feverish agitation at the sight of so much magnificence. Twenty gentlemen on horseback, all yonng and splendidly dressed, drew up near the principal carriage, from which a young girl of sixteen, dressed with great simplicity, but with her hair elaborately piled on her forehead, got out, assisted by a gentleman in black, who wore, saltier wise, under his mantle, the ribbon of St. Louis.

Marie Antoinette, for it was she, brought with her a reputation for beauty which the princesses destined to share the thrones of the kings of France have not always possessed. It was difficult to say whether her eyes were beautiful or not, yet they were capable of every expression, more particularly of the opposite expressions of mildness and scorn. Her nose was finely formed, her upper lip beautiful, but the lower lip, her aristocratic inheritance from seventeen emperors, was too

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thick and prominent. Her complexion was lovely ; her neck, shoulders, and bust were of marble whiteness and beautifully formed ; her hands truly regal. At times, when roused to energy, her carriage was majestic, firm, and decided ; at other times, when not excited, soft, un-dulating one might almost say caressing. No woman ever made a more graceful courtesy no queen ever bowed with more tact and discrimination. This day the most expressive sweetness shone in her countenance. She had resolved to be only the woman, and to forget the dauphiness. She wore a dress of white silk, and her beautiful bare arms supported a mantle of rich lace.

Scarcely had she touched the ground, when she turned to assist one of her ladies of honor whom age had weakened a little, and, refusing the arm of a gentleman in black, she advanced, inhaling the fresh air, and looking around as if determined to enjoy to the utmost the few moments of freedom with which she was indulging herself.

” Oh, what a beautiful situation ! ” she exclaimed ; ” what magnificent trees ! and such a pretty little house ! How happy one might be in this healthful air, under those trees which form so sweet a retirement !-“

At this moment Philip appeared, followed by Andr e, on whose arm the baron leaned. She was dressed in a simple gown of gray silk, and the baron in a coat of blue velvet, the remains of some of his old magnificence ; he had not forgotten Balsamo’s recommendation, and wore his ribbon of St. Louis. On seeing the three approach, the dau phiness stopped. Her escort then grouped itself around her the officers holding their horses by the bridles, and the courtiers, hat in hand, whispering to one another. Philip drew near, pale with agitation, yet with a noble bearing.

“With your royal highness’s permission,” said he, “I have the honor of presenting to you the Baron de Taverney Maison Kouge, my father, and Claire Andre de Tavern ey, my sister.”

The baron bowed profoundly, like a man who knew how to bow to queens. Andre showed, in her graceful timid-

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ity, the most flattering kind of politeness sincere respect. Marie Antoinette looked at the two young people, aud recalling what Philip had said of their poverty, she guessed what they suffered at that moment.

” I know that it is the abode of an old soldier of France,” replied the dauphiness, ”and my mother, the Empress Maria Theresa, who was a distinguished warrior, has told me that often in your country those richest in glory are the poorest in meaner treasures ; ” and with ineffable grace, she extended her lovely hand to Andre, who, kneeling, kissed it.

The baron was, however, still haunted by the idea which had so much tormented him, that the train of the dauphiness was about to crowd into his little house, in which there could not be found chairs for a fourth of their number. The dauphiness hastened to relieve him from all embarrassment.

” Gentlemen,” said she, turning to those who formed her escort, ” I must not impose on you the trouble of following me in all my caprices. You will wait here, if you please ; in half an hour I shall return. Come with me, my good Langershausen,” she added, in German, to the lady whom she had assisted out of the carriage, ” and you, sir,” said she to the gentleman in black, ” have the goodness to follow us.”

This personage, though dressed thus simply, was remarkable for the elegance of his manners, and was about thirty years of age, and very handsome. He drew to one side to allow the princess to pass. Marie Antoinette took AndrSe for her guide, and made a sign to Philip to come near his sister.

As to the baron, he was left to the personage of high rank doubtless to whom the dauphiuess had granted the honor of accompanying her.

” So you are a Taverney Maison Kouge ? ” said he,

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playing with his splendid ruffles of the most expensive lace, and turning to the baron with truly aristocratic impertinence.

” Must I reply, sir, or my lord ? ” asked the baron, with equal impertinence.

“You may say simply prince, or your eminence, which you choose,” the other replied.

” Well, then, your eminence, I am a Taverney Maison Eouge a real one,” said the baron, in that tone of raillery which he so seldom abandoned.