Joseph Balsamo (22 page)

” Go on, postilion ! ” cried the baron.

Nicole did not smile ; it even required more than her habitual power over herself to prevent her expressing aloud her pity for the poor young man thus heartlessly abandoned. She was obliged to keep her eye on M. de Beausire, who looked so well on his prancing horse.

Now, as Nicole kept her eyes fixed on M. de Beausire, she did not see that Gilbert was gazing, his soul in his eyes, on Andre. Andre saw nothing but the house in which she was born in which her mother died. The carriage disappeared. Gilbert, a moment before of so little importance in the eyes of the travelers, was now nothing to them.

The baron, Andre, Nicole, and La Brie having passed through the gates of the avenue, entered a new world. Each had a peculiar subject for reflection. The baron thought that at Bar-le-Duc he could easily raise five or six thousand crowns on Balsamo’s plate. Andre repeated a prayer her mother had taught her, to keep away the demon of pride and ambition. Nicole covered her neck more closely with her handkerchief, to the great chagrin of M. de Beausire. La Brie, with his hand in his pocket, counted over the ten louis d’ors of the dauphiuess and the two of Balsamo. M. de Beausire galloped at the side of the carriage.

Gilbert closed the gates of Tavern ey, whose hinges, as usual, creaked with a melancholy sound. Then he ran to his little room, pulled out his oaken chest of drawers, be-hind which he found a bundle ready tied up in a napkin, and slung it on his stick. After this, pushing his hands into his

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hay-stuffed mattress, he drew out something wrapped in a piece of paper it was a shining crown piece his savings for three or four years. He opened the paper, looked at his crown to assure himself that it had not been changed, and then put it in his pocket, still wrapped in its paper.

Mahon, on seeing Gilbert, began to howl loudly, making furious leaps the whole length of his chain. Seeing one by one his friends leave him, his fine intellect told him that Gilbert was also about to abandon him, and he howled louder and louder.

“Hush I” cried Gilbert, “hush, Mahon !”

Then smiling bitterly at the parallel which occurred to his mind, he muttered, ” Have they not abandoned me like a dog ? Why should not I abandon thee like a man ? ” But after a minute’s reflection, he added, “They abandoned me free, at least free to seek for food. Well, then, Mahon, I will do for thee what they did for me, neither more nor less ; ” and going to the hook to which the dog’s chain was fastened, he slipped it off. ” You are free I” said he ; “provide for yourself as you like.”

The dog bounded toward the house : but, finding the doors all closed, he sprung toward the ruins and disappeared.

” And now,” said Gilbert, ” we shall see which has most instinct the dog or the man.”

So saying, he went out by the small gate, closed it, double locked it, and threw the key over the wall.

But nature speaks with the same voice in almost all hearts. Gilbert felt something like what Andre experienced in leaving Taverney, only with her sentiments mingled regret for the quiet past, with his hopes for a more stirring future.

” Farewell ! ” said he, turning to look for the last time at the chateau, whose pointed roof appeared peeping over the sycamores and laburnums “farewell ! abode in which I have suffered so much, where every one hated me and threw me food grudgingly, as if I had been a hungry hound. Be cursed ! my heart bounds with joy at my free-164 JOSEPH BALSAMO.

dom, for thy walls inclose me no more ! Farewell, prison ! hell, den of tyrants ! Farewell forever ! “

And after this imprecation, Gilbert sprang forward on the road which the carriage had taken, fancying that he yet heard the roll of its distant wheels.

CHAPTER XIX.

GILBERT’S CROWX-PIECE.

AFTER half an hour’s headlong race, Gilbert nttered a wild shriek of joy; he saw the carriage about a quarter of a league before him, slowly ascending a hill. He felt his heart dilate with pride, as he thought that he, with only youth, strength, spirit, was about to do all that wealth, power, and rank could accomplish. Then, indeed, might the baron have called Gilbert a philosopher, had he seen him, his stick on his shoulder, his small bundle slung on it, walking on with rapid strides, leaping down every slope which could shorten his path, and stopping at every ascent, chafing with impatience, as if saying to the horses, ” You do not go fast enough for me ; see, I am obliged to wait for you ‘

Philosopher ? Yes ; and he deserved the name, if it be philosophy to despise all that contributes to ease and to enjoyment. It was an interesting spectacle, one worthy of the Creator of energetic and intelligent creatures, to see the young man bounding forward on his way, all dusty and panting, for an hour or more, until he had overtaken the carriage, and then resting with delight when the horses were compelled to pause for breath. Gilbert that day must have inspired every one with admiration who could have followed him in spirit as we do ; and who knows but that even the proud Andre might have been moved, could she have seen him, and that her contempt for his indolence would have changed to admiratioi of his energy.

The day passed on in this manner. The baron stopped

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an hour at Bar-le-Duc, which gave Gilbert time to get iii advance of him. He had heard the order to stop at the goldsmith’s ; so, having passed the town, by a detour, without entering it, he hid in a thicket until he saw the carriage coming, and when it had passed, followed it as before. Toward evening it came up with the train of the dauphiuess, at the little village of Brillou, the inhabitants of which were crowded on a neighboring hill, and made the air resound with their shouts of welcome. Gilbert had not eaten a morsel during the entire day, except a morsel of bread which he hud brought with him from Taverney ; but, in return, he had drunk plentifully from a rivulet which crossed the road, and the water of which was so fresh and limpid, that Andre had requested that the carriage might stop, and alighted herself to fill the chased cup, the only article of Balsamo’s service which the baron could be persuaded to retain. Gilbert saw all this, hidden by some trees on the roadside. Then, when the carriage had passed on, he emerged from his hiding-place, and advancing to the stream, at the same spot where Mile, de Taverney had stood, he lifted the water in his hand, and drank from the same source.

Evening came on, shrouding the landscape in her dusky mantle, until at last he saw nothing but the light from the large lanterns which were fastened on each side of the carriage ; this pale gleam, ever hurrying onward in the distance, looked like a phantom impelled forward by some strange destiny. Then night came on. They had traveled twelve leagues ; they were at Combles. The equipages stopped Gilbert was sure that it was for the night, that he should have time to stop for a couple of hours in a barn, and how vigorously should he afterward pursue his way ! He approched to listen for Andre’s voice the carriage still continued stationary. He glided into a deep doorway ; he saw Andre by the glare of the torchlight, and heard her asking what hour it was. A voice replied, ” Eleven o’clock.” At that moment Gilbert no longer felt fatigue and would have rejected with scorn an offer of a seat in a vehicle. Versailles already appeared in view Versailles, all gilded,

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shining, the city of nobles and kings ! and beyond appeared Paris, grim, immense the city of the people !

Two things roused him from his ecstasy the noise of the carriages setting out again, and the complaints of his stomach, which cried ” hunger ! ” very distinctly. On went the carriages, Gilbert following, his hunger unappeased. At midnight they stopped at St. Dizier. For the night ? No ; only to change horses ; while, in the meantime, the illustrious travelers took a little refreshment by torchlight.

Gilbert had need of all his courage, and he sprung to his feet from the bank where he had seated himself, as he heard them depart, with an energy of determination which made him forget that, ten minutes before, his wearied legs had bent under him in spite of all his efforts.

“Well,” cried he, “go, go ! I shall stop also for refreshments at St. Dizier ; I shall buy some bread and a slice of bacon ; I shall drink a glass of wine, and for five sous I shall be refreshed as well as the masters.”

Gilbert entered the town. The train having passed, the good folks were closing their doors and shutters ; but our philosopher saw a good-looking inn not yet shut up, where the large dishes of fowls and other things showed that the attendants of the dauphiness had only had time to levy a very slight contribution. He entered the kitchen resolutely ; the hostess was there, counting what her gains had been.

” Excuse me, madame ; but can I have some bread and ham ? ” said Gilbert.

” We have no ham, but you can have fowl.”

” No, thank you ; I ask for ham, because I wish for ham I don’t like fowl.”

” That is a pity, my little fellow, for we have only fowl ; but it shall not be dearer,” she added, smiling, ” than ham. Take half a one, or, indeed, take a whole one for tenpence, and that will be provision for you for to-morrow. We thought her royal highness would have stayed all night, and that we should have sold all these things to the attendants ; but as she only just passed through, they will be wasted.”

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One would have thought that the offer being so good, and the hostess so kind, Gilbert would have gladly embraced it ; but that would be to have misunderstood his character entirely.

” No, thank you,” replied he ; ” I shall satisfy myself in a more humble manner ; I am neither a prince nor a footman.”

““Well, then,” said the good woman, “I will give you the fowl, my little Artaban.”

” I am not a beggar either,” replied he, in a mortified tone ; “I buy what I wish, and pay for it.”

And he majestically plunged his hand into his breeches pocket ; it went down to the elbow in vain he fumbled in his vest pocket, turning paler and paler. That paper in which the crown had been he found, but the crown was gone. Tossed about by his rapid movements, it had worn the paper, then the thin lining of his pocket, and had slipped out at his knee ; for he had unfastened his garters, to give freer play to his limbs.

His paleness and trembling touched the good woman. Many in her place would have rejoiced at his pride being brought down ; but she felt for him, seeing suffering so powerfully expressed in the changes of his countenance.

“Come, my poor boy,” said she, “you shall sup and sleep here ; then, to-morrow, if you must go on, you shall do so.”

” Oh, yes, yes ! ” exclaimed Gilbert, ” I must go on not to-morrow, but now now ! “

And snatching up his bundle, without waiting to hear more, he darted out of the house, to hide his shame and grief in the darkness. He rushed on,’ alone, truly alone in the world ; for no man is more alone than he who has just parted with his last crown more particularly if it be the only one he ever possessed.

To turn back to look for his crown would have been to begin a hopeless task ; besides, it would make it impossible for him ever to come up with the carriages. He resolved to continue his way. After he had gone about a league, hunger, which his mental suffering had made him forget

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for a time, awoke more keen than ever. “Weariness also seized on every limb on every sinew ; yet, by incredible efforts, he had once more come in sight of the carriages. But fate, it would seem, had decided against him. They stopped only to change horses, and so quickly that he had not five minutes to rest himself.

Again he set out. The day began to dawn the sun appeared above a broad circle of dark clouds, foretelling one of those burning days of May which sometimes precedes the heats of summer. How could Gilbert bear the noon of that day ? In his pride he thought that horses, men, destinies had united against him him alone ! Like Ajax, he shook his clinched fist at the heavens ; and if he did not say, like him, ” I shall escape in spite of the gods,” it was because he knew by heart ” The Social Contract ” better than the Odyssey. At last, however, as Gilbert had dreaded, the moment arrived when he found the utter impossibility of proceeding much further. By a last and almost despairing effort, he summoned up all his remaining force, and once more overtook the carriages, of which he had previously lost sight, and which, under the influence of his heated and feverish imagination, he fancied were surrounded with a strange, fantastic halo. The noise of the wheels sounded like thunder in his ears, and almost maddened his brain ; he staggered on, his blackened lips wide apart, his eyes fixed and staring, his long hair clinging to his forehead bathed in perspiration, and his movements seeming rather the effect of some clever piece of mechanism than those of a thinking being. Since the evening before he had traveled upward of twenty leagues, and his weary and fainting limbs now refused to carry him further A mist overspread his eyes, strange noises sounded in his ears, the earth seemed to reel under him ; he endeavored to utter a cry, and staggered forward, beating the air wildly with his arms. At last his voice returned to utter hoarse cries of rage against his conquerors. Then, tearing his hair with both hands, he reeled forward, and fell heavily to the ground with the consolation of having, like a hero of antiquity, fought the battle to the last.

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“Halloo, there ! halloo, madman ! ” cried a hoarse voice, just as he fell, accompanying his shouts with the loud crack-ing of a whip.

Gilbert heard him riot he had fainted.

” Halloo, I say halloo ! Morbleu ! the fellow will be smashed ! ” And this time his words were accompanied by a vigorous lash, which reached Gilbert’s waist, and cut in-to the flesh.

But Gilbert felt nothing ; he remained immovable under the feet of the horses of a carriage which was issuing into the highroad from a by-way between Thieblemont and Vauclere.

A shrill cry was heard from the carriage, which the horses carried along like a whirlwind. The postilion made an almost superhuman effort, but could not prevent one of the horses, which was placed as a leader, from leaping over Gilbert. The other two, however, he succeeded in pulling up. A lady stretched her body half out of the carriage. ‘ Heavens ! ” cried she, ” you have killed the poor boy ! “