Joseph Balsamo (42 page)
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” Well,” said the king, f ‘ what can I do in the matter ? I am not an author ; it does not concern me.”
” Sire, I thought of proposing to your majesty to put an end, by royal command, to this demonstration.”
“I shall take good care not to do any such thing, Sartines. Instead of decreeing him a bronze statue, they would then decree him one of gold. Let them alone. Mon Dieu ! he will look even uglier in bronze than in flesh and blood!”
‘ ‘ Then your majesty desires that the matter should take its own course ? “
” Let us understand each other, Sartines. Desire is not the word. I should be very glad to put an end to these things, certainly ; but how can I ? it is impossible. The time is past when royalty could say to the spirit of philosophy, as God says to the ocean, ‘ Thus far shalt thou go, and no further ! ‘ To blame loudly but uselessly, to aim a blow, but strike short of our aim, that would only serve to show our own weakness. Let us turn away our eyes, Sartines, and pretend not to see.”
“The minister sighed.
” At least, sire,” said he, ” if we do not punish the men, let us suppress their works. Here is a list of books, which, in my opinion, should instantly be proscribed, some attack the throne, some the altar ; some teach rebellion, others sacrilege. “
The king took the list, and read in a languid voice :
” The Sacred Contagion ; or, the Natural History of Superstition.”
” The System of Nature ; or, Laws of the Physical and Moral World.”
“Instructions of the Capuchin at Ragnsa, to Brother Pediculoso, on His Setting Out for the Holy Land.”
He had not read one fourth of the list, when he let it fall, while an expression of sadness and dejection overspread his usually unmoved countenance. He remained thoughtful, and for some minutes seemed quite overcome.
” Sartines,” said he at last, “one might as well undertake to move the world. Let others try it.”
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The minister looked at him with that perfect understanding of his wishes, which the king loved in those who approached him, as it saved him the trouble of thinking and acting.
” A tranquil life, sire ‘ said he ” a tranquil life is not that what your majesty wishes ? “
The king nodded.
“Oh, yes!” said he. “I ask for nothing else from your philosophers, encyclopedists, thaumaturgi, illuminati, poets, economists, journalists tribes that come one knows not whence, that are always bustling, writing, croaking, calumniating, calculating, preaching, complaining. Let them be crowned ; let statues be raised to them ; let temples be built to them, but let them leave me in peace ‘
Sartines arose, bowed, and left the apartment, muttering as he went, ” It is fortunate we have on our money Dom-ine salvumfac regem.”
Then the king, now left to himself, took a pen, and wrote to the dauphin the following lines :
” You have requested me to hasten the arrival of her royal highness the dauphiness, and I wish to gratify you.
“I have ordered that there shall be no stay made at Noyon consequently, on Tuesday morning she will be at Compiegne.
” I shall be there myself precisely at ten o’clock that, is to say, a quarter of an hour before her.”
” Thus,” said he to himself, ” I shall get rid of that foolish affair of the presentation, which annoys me more than Voltaire and Rousseau, and all the philosophers, past, present, and to come. The affair will then be between the poor countess, the dauphin, and the dauphiness. Ma foi ! it is only fair that young maids, with strength for it, should contend with these vexations, hatreds, and revenges. Children should early learn to suffer it is an excellent part of education.”
Delighted at having thus got rid of the difficulty, and certain that he would not be reproached with either favor-
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ing or hindering this presentation, about which all Paris was occupied, the king entered his carriage, and drove off to Marly, where the court was waiting for him.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CHAPEKOJT AXD DEBUTANTE.
THE poor countess ! let us continue to apply the epithet which the king had given her, for at this moment she truly deserved it the poor countess hurried, like one in despair, to Paris. Chon, terrified by Jean’s paragraph concerning Gilbert, shut herself up in the boudoir at Luciennes to hide her grief and anxiety, lamenting the fatal whim which induced her to pick up Gilbert on the highroad.
Having reached the outskirts of Paris, the countess found a coach awaiting her. In the coach were Viscount Jean and a lawyer, with whom he seemed to be arguing in the most energetic manner. The moment he perceived the countess he leaped out, and made & sign to his sister’s coachman to stop.
“Quick, countess!” said he. “Quick, get into my carriage, and drive to the Rue St. Germain des Pres ! “
” Is the old lady going to give us the slip ? ” said
Mme.
Dubarry, changing carriages, while the lawyer, on a sign from the viscount, followed her example.
“I fear it, countess,” replied Jean “I fear she is giving us a Roland for our Oliver.”
” But what has happened ? “
” You shall hear. I stayed in Paris because I am always suspicious, and in this case I was not wrong, as you will see. At nine last night I went prowling about the inn of the Coq Chantant.- All quiet no movement no visitors ; all looked well. Consequently, I thought I might go home to bed, and to bed I went. This morning I awoke at break of day. I roused Patrice, and ordered him to go and keep watch at the corner of the street. Well, at nine observe, that was an hour sooner than I
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had appointed I drove up to the hotel. Patrice had seen nothing to cause the least anxiety, so I boldly walked up-stairs. At the door of the countess’s room a maid-servant stopped me, and told me that the countess could not leave the house to-day, and perhaps it would be eight days be-fore she could move from her apartment. I confess that, although prepared for some rebuff, I was not for that ! ‘ What cried I, * she cannot go out ! What is the matter?’ ‘ She is ill.’ ‘ 111 ? Impossible! Yesterday she was perfectly well.* ‘Yes, sir, but madame likes to make her own chocolate ; and this morning, when it was boiling, she spilled it over her foot, and she is scalded. On hearing the countess’s cries I hastened in, and I found her nearly, fainting. I carried her to bed, and I think she is at present asleep. I was as white as your lace, countess, and could not help crying out, ‘ It is a lie ! ‘ ‘ No, my dear Viscount Dubarry replied a sharp voice, which seemed to pierce the very wall,
it is not a lie ! I am in horrible pain.’ I sprung to the side whence the voice came, and burst through a glass door which I could not open the old countess was really in bed. ‘ Ah, madame ! ‘ I exclaimed but it was all I could utter, I was in such a rage ! I could have strangled her with pleasure. ‘Look there,’ said she, pointing to an old ket-tle which was lying on the floor, ‘ there is the coffee-pot that did all the mischief.’ I flew to the coffee-pot, and stamped on it with both feet ; it will make no more chocolate, I can answer for it.
What a misfortune ! ‘ cried the old lady, piteously ; ‘ it must be the Baroness d’Alogny who will present your sister. But what can we do ? It was so written, as the Easterns say.’ “
” Heavens ! Jean, you drive me to despair ! ” exclaimed the countess.
” Oh ! I do not despair yet, if you go to her ; it was for that that I sent for you.”
” But why do you not despair ?”
” Why ! because you are a woman, and can do what I cannot ; you can make the dressing be taken off ; and, if you discover that it is an imposture, you can tell her that
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her son shall never be anything but a clown that she shall never touch a farthing from the estate of the Saluces in short, you can play off the imprecations of Camilla on her much better than I the fury of Orestes.”
” Is this all a jest ?” cried the countess.
” No, I assure you.”
” And where does our sybil lodge ? “
” At the Coq Chantant, Rue St. Germain des Pres, a great black house, with a monstrous cock painted on an iron plate ; when the iron creaks, the cock crows.”
” I shall have a dreadful scene with her.”
” No doubt of it ; but you must take your chance. Shall I go with you ? “
“No, you would spoil all.”
” Just what our lawyer said ; I was consulting him on that point when you drove up. For your information, I may tell you, that he says to beat a person in his own house renders you liable to fine and imprisonment, while to beat him out of it “
“Is nothing!” said the countess. “You know that better than any one else.”
Jean grinned an ugly smile.
“Debts,” said he, “that are long in being paid, are paid with interest ; and if ever I meet my man again “
” I would much rather, at present, speak of my woman.”
” I have nothing more to tell you, so be off.”
” But where will you wait for me ? “
” In the inn itself. I shall ask for a bottle of wine, and be there, in case you want a helping hand.”
” Drive on, coachman,” cried the countess.
“Bue St. Germain des Pres, at the sign o the Coq Chautant,” added the viscount.
In a quarter of an hour they were in the street honored by possessing the Coq Chantant. At some distance from the inn
Mme.
Dubarry left her carriage and proceeded on foot. She feared that the noise of the wheels might put the old lady on the alert, that she might suspect what visitor was coming, and might have time to hide.
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Alone, then, she entered the gaping porch of the inn. No one saw her until she was at the foot of the staircase ; there she encountered the hostess.
” The Countess de Beam ? ” said she.
” She is very ill, madam e, and cannot see any one.”
” Yes, I am aware ; and I came to know exactly how she is.”
And light as a bird, she was at the top of the stairs in a moment.
“Madame, madame ! ” cried the hostess, “a lady is going to force her way into your room.”
” Who is che ? ” asked the old lady, from a distant part of the room.
“I,” said the favorite, appearing on the threshold with a face perfectly suited to the occasion, for she first smiled out of compliment, and then looked sad, by way of con-dolence.
“You here, madame ? ” exclaimed the old lady, turning pale.
” Yes, dear madame, I came to express my sympathy for your misfortune, of which I have just heard. Pray, tell me how this accident happened.”
” But, madame, I dare not ask you to sit down in such a miserable place as this.”
” I know, madame, that you have a castle in Touraine, and can excuse your being obliged to receive your friends here in an inn.” And she sat down so determinedly that the old lady saw she must allow her to have her way.
” You seem in great pain, m ad am e,” said the favorite.
” Oh, in dreadful pain ? “
” The right leg ? But, good heavens, how did you manage to scald it ? “
” Nothing more simple I held the chocolate kettle in my hand, the handle gave way, and I received the boiling water on my ankle.”
” How shocking ! “
The old lady sighed. ” Yes, shocking, indeed,” said she ; ” but this is always the case, misfortunes never come singly.”
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” You are aware that the king expected you this morning ? “
” Oh ! madame, that intelligence makes my sufferings infinitely greater.”
” His majesty is far from satisfied, madame, that you did not pay your visit.”
” But the pain I am in will be a sufficient apology, and I trust yet to be able to offer to his majesty my very humble excuses.”
” I do not tell you that to cause you any vexation,” said the countess, seeing that the old lady was assuming a little formality, ” but merely to let you know that his majesty felt grateful for the offer that you made me.”
” Yon see, madame, that it is now impossible for me to fulfil it.”
” Certainly : but may I ask you a question ?”
” I shall be delighted to hear it.”
” Does not your present state arise from your having experienced some sudden agitation ?”
” Very possibly,” said the old lady, bowing slightly ; ” I must acknowledge that I was deeply moved by your gracious reception of me.” *” Yes ; but there was another thing besides.”
” Another thing ? nothing that I know of, madame.”
” Oh, yes, an unepexcted meeting with a person on leaving my house.”
” I did not meet any one ; I was in your brother’s carriage.”
” Before getting into the carriage ? “
The old lady seemed to be tasking her memory.
” Just as you were going down the stairs to the vestibule?”
The old lady seemed more intent in trying to recall the events of yesterday.
” Yes,” said the favorite, rather impatiently ; ” some one entered the court as you left my house.”
” I am so unfortunate, madame, as not to be able to recollect any one entering.”
” A lady now do you remember ?”
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” I am so short-sighted, that at two paces from me, madame, I canuot distinguish any one.”
” Oh, ho I” said the favorite to herself ; ” she is too cunning for me ! I shall never succeed by these means. Come to the point at once. Then, since you did not see the lady,” she continued, aloud, ” I must tell you that is my sister-in-law, Mademoiselle Dubarry.”
” Oh, very well, madame ; but as I have never had the pleasure of seeing her “
” Yes,” interrupted the other, ” you have seen her only when you saw her it was under the name of Flageot.”
” So ! ” cried the old lady, with a bitterness which she could not dissemble. ” So, that pretended Mademoiselle Flageot, who caused me to undertake the journey to Paris, is your sister-in-law ?”
” She is, madame.”
” And who sent her to me ? “
” I did.”
” To mystify me ? “
” No ; to serve you, while at the same time you should serve me.”