Joseph Balsamo (6 page)
“Yes, yes ; doubt it not. Be calm.”
” Again, again, this eternal
Be calm!
You make me swear. Youth mad youth ! presumptuous youth ! ” cried the old man, with a laugh of scorn, which showed all his toothless gums, and made his eyes sink deeper in their hollow sockets.
” Master,’* said Acharat, ” your fire is going out, your crucible cooling. But what is in the crucible ? “
“Look into it.”
The young man obeyed, uncovered the crucible, and found in it a heap of vitrified charcoal, about the size of a small seed.
” A diamond ! ” cried he ; then, after a slight examination of it, ” Yes, but stained, incomplete, valueless ! “
” Because the fire was put out because there is no fun-nel on the chimney. “
” Let me look at it again, master,” said the young man, turning in his hand the diamond, which sometimes shot forth brilliant rays and sometimes was dull. ” Good ! pardon me, and take some food.”
JOSEPH BALSAMO. 39
” It is unnecessary ; I took my spoonful of elixir two hours ago.”
” You are mistaken, dear master ; it was at six in the morning that you took it.”
” AVell, and what o’clock is it now ?”
” Half-past eight in the evening.”
” Heaven and earth ! another day past ! gone forever ! But the days are shorter than they were ; there are not twenty-four hours in them now.”
” If you will not eat, sleep at least for some minutes.”
” AVell, yes, I will sleep two hours yes, just two hours, Look at your watch, and in two hours awake me.”
” I promise to do rio.”
“Dost thou know, dear Acharat,” said the old man, in a caressing tone, ” when I sleep, I always fear it will be for eternity so in two hours you will wake me. Will you not ? Promise it swear it I”
” I swear it, master.”
” In two hours ? “
” In two hours.”
Just then, something like the trampling of a horse was heard, and then a shout which indicated alarm and surprise.
“What does that mean?” cried the traveler; and hurriedly opening the carriage door, he leaped out.
CIIAPTEE III
LOKEXZA FELICIAXI.
WE shall now inform the reader what passed outside, while the philosopher and the traveler were conversing inside the carriage.
At the noise of the thunderbolt, which struck down two of the horses, and caused the other two to rear so frightfully, the lady in the cabriolet, as we have said, had fainted. She remained for some minutes motionless ; then, as fear alone had caused her to swoon, by slow degrees her consciousness returned.
40 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
” Ah, heaven ! ” she exclaimed, ” abandoned here helpless with no human creature to take pity on me ! “
” Madame ‘ replied a timid voice, ” I am here, if I can be of any service to you.”
At the sound of this voice, which seemed close to her ear, the young lady rose, put her head out between the leather curtains, and found herself face to face with a young man, who was standing on the step of the cabriolet.
“It was you who spoke, sir ? ” said she.
” Yes, madume,” answered the young man.
” And you offered me your services ? “
“Yes.”
” But first, tell me what has happened ? “
” The thunderbolt, which fell almost on your carriage, broke the traces of the front horses, and one of them ran off with the postilion.”
The lady looked mieasily around. ” And he who rode the hinder horses ? ” she asked.
” He has just got into the carriage, madame.”
” Has he not been injured ?”
” Not in the least.”
” Are you sure ?”
” He leaped from his horse, at least, like a man all safe and sound.”
” Heaven be praised ! ” and the young lady breathed more freely.
” But who are you, sir, who are here so opportunely to offer me assistance ? “
” Madame, overtaken by the storm, I was down in that hollow, which is merely the entrance to a quarry, when all at once I heard a carriage coming with alarming speed. I at first supposed the horses had run off, but soon saw that they were managed by a powerful hand. Then the thunderbolt fell with a tremendous explosion, and I thought for an instant that all was over with me. Indeed, on recovering, all that I have related seemed but a dream.”
” Then you are not sure that the gentleman entered the carriage ? “
JOSEPH BALSAMO. 41
” Oh, yes, madame ; I had quite recovered and distinctly saw him enter.”
” Make yourself certain, I entreat you, that he is in the carriage.”
” But how ?”
” Listen if he be there, you will hear two voices.”
The young man jumped down from the step, and approached the door of the carriage.
“Yes, madame,” said he, returning to her; “he is there.”
The young lady, by a movement of her head, seemed to say, ” It is well ;” but she remained for some time as if plunged in deep reverie.
During this time the young man had leisure to examine her appearance. She was about three or four-and-twenty years of age ; a brunette in complexion, but of that rich brown which is more beautiful than the most delicate tint of the rose ; her fine blue eyes, raised to heaven, from which she seemed to ask counsel, shone like two stars, and her black hair, which she wore without powder, notwithstanding the fashion of the day, fell in jetty curls on her neck. All at once she roused herself, as if she had decided on her part.
” Sir,” said she, ” where are we now ? “
” On the road from Strasbourg to Paris, madame.”
” On what part of the road ?”
” Two leagues from Pierrefitte.”
” What is Pierrefitte ? “
” A village.”
” And after Pierrefitte what is the next stage ? “
” Bar-le-Dnc.”
“Is it a town ?”
“Yes, madame.”
“A large one ?”
“About four or five thousand inhabitants.”
” Is there any cross-road by which one could get more directly to Bar-le-Duc ? “
” No, madame ; at least, I know of none.”
” Peccato! ” murmured she, falling back in the cabriolet.
42 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
The young man waited, expecting to be questioned further ; but as she kept silence, he moved a step or two away. This roused her, for, leaning out again, she called, hurriedly :
” Monsieur ! “
The young man returned. ” I am here, madame,” said he, approaching her.
se One question, if you please.”
” Speak, madame.”
” There was a horse behind the carriage ? “
“Yes, madame.”
” Is he there still ? “
“No, madame; the person who got into the carriage untied him and fastened him to the. wheel.”
” Nothing,, then, has injured the horse ? “
“I think not.”
” He is a valuable animal, and I should like to be sure that he is safe ; but how can I reach hint through this mud ?
” I can bring the horse here ‘ said the young man.
” Oh, yes ; do so, I pray I shall be forever grateful to you.”
The young man approached the horse, who tossed his head and neighed.
” Do not be afraid,” said the female ; “he is as gentle as a lamb ; then, in a low voice, she murmured, “Djerid ! Djerid ! “
The animal evidently knew the voice to be that of his mistress, for he snorted and stretched out his intelligent head toward the cabriolet. During this time the young man was untying him, but the horse no sooner felt his bridle in unpractised hands than at one bound he was free, and twenty paces from the carriage.
” Djerid,” repeated the young woman, in her most caressing tones, ” Djerid ! here, here !”
The Arabian tossed his head, snuffed the air, and came toward the cabriolet, pawing as if in time to some musical air.
The lady leaned out. ” Come, Djerid, come ! ” said she.
JOSEPH BALSAMO. 43
And the obedient animal advanced toward the hand which she held out to caress him. Then, with her slender hand, she seized him by the mane, and sprang as lightly into the saddle as the goblin in the German ballads, who leaps behind unwary travelers, and holds on by their belts.
The young man hurried towards her, but she waved him off imperiously.
“Hearken I” said she; ” though young, or rather, because you are young, you ought to be humane. Do not oppose my flight. I leave a man whom I love ; but my religion is still dearer to me. That man will destroy my soul if I stay with him longer ; he is an atheist and a necromancer. God has warned him by His thunders ; may he profit by the warning. Tell him what I have said, and receive my blessing for what you have done for me farewell.”
At that word, light as a vapor, she disappeared, borne away by the aerial Djerid. The young man, seeing her flee, could not prevent a cry of astonishment escaping his lips. It was this cry which startled the traveler in the carriage.
CHAPTER IV.
GILBERT.
THE cry had, as we have said, aroused the traveler. He leaped out, shut the door carefully after him, and looked uneasily around.
The first object which he beheld was the young man standing there in alarm. The lightning, which flashed incessantly, enabled him to examine him from head to foot, a practise Avhich seemed habitual with the traveler when any unknown person or thing met his eye. He was a youth sixteen or seventeen years old, little, thin, and muscular. His black eyes, which he fixed boldly on any object which attracted his attention, wanted mildness, but had a certain kind of beauty ; his nose, small and turned up, his thin lip and projecting cheek-bones, betokened
44 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
cunning and circumspection, and the strong curve of his chin announced firmness.
“Did you shout just now ?” asked the traveler.
“Yes, sir.”
“And why ?”
” Because ” He stopped short.
” Because ? ” repeated the traveler.
” Sir, there was a lady in the cabriolet.”
” Yes ! “
And the eyes of Balsamo darted on the carriage, as if they could have penetrated its sides.
” There was a horse tied to the wheel.”
” Yes ; where the devil is he ? “
” Sir, the lady lias fled on the horse.”
The traveler, without uttering a word, sprung to the cabriolet, undrew the curtains, and a flash of lightning showed him it was empty.
“Sang du Christ I” shouted he, loud almost as the thunder which pealed at that moment.
Then he looked round, as if for some means of recovering the fugitives, but soon felt that it was vain.
“To try to overtake Djerid,” he muttered, “with a common horse, would be to hunt the gazelle with the tortoise ; but I shall know where she is, unless “
He felt hurriedly in the pocket of his vest, and drew from it a little case, opened it, and took out of a folded paper a curl of black hair. At the sight of it the traveler’s face lost its anxious expression, and his manner became calm, at least, in appearance.
” Well,” said he, wiping the perspiration from his forehead, ” well and did she say nothing on leaving ?”
” Oh, yes, sir ! “
” What did she say ?”
” That she quitted you, not through hatred, but fear ;
that she is a good Christian, and that you ” He
hesitated.
“And that I?”
” I know not how to tell it ! ” ” Pardieu ! tell it.”
JOSEPH BALSAMO. 45
” That you are an atheist and an infidel that God has given you a last warning by the storm that she understood that warning, and conjures you not to be deaf to it.”
A smile of contempt curled the lip of the traveler. ” And this was all she said ?”
“Yes, this was all.”
” Well, let us speak of something else ; ” and all trace of disquietude passed away from the traveler’s countenance.
The young man remarked all these emotions reflected on his face, with a curiosity indicating no deficiency on his side of powers of observation.
“And now,” said the traveler, “what is your name, my young friend ?”
” Gilbert, sir.”
” Gilbert ? That is merely a baptismal name.”
“It is the name of our family.”
” AY ell, my dear Gilbert, Providence has sent you to my aid.”
” I shall be happy if I can oblige you, sir.”
” Thank you. At your age one is obliging for the mere pleasure of the thing ; but what I am going to ask is only a trifle merely if you can direct me to a shelter for the night?”
” Why, in the first place, there is that rock under which I was sheltering just now.”
” Yes,” said the traveler ; ” but I should like something more like a house, where I could have a good supper and a good bed.”
” That would be very difficult to find.”
” Are we, then, so far from the next village ? “
” From Pierrefitte ? “
” It is called Pierrefitte, then ? “
” Yes, sir ; it is about a league and a half off.”
” A league and a half ! let us see ; surely there is some habitation nearer ?”
“There is the Chateau of Taverney, about three hundred paces from this.”
46 JOSEPH BALSAMO.
” Well, then “
” What, sir ?” and the young man opened his eyes in astonishment.
” Why did you not say so at once ?”
” The Chateau of Taverney is not an hotel.”
” Is it inhabited ? “
“Yes.”
” By whom ? “
”Why, by the Baron de Taverney, of course.”
” What is this Baron de Taverney ?”
” He is father of Mademoiselle Andre, sir.”
” Very pleasing intelligence, indeed ; but I mean what sort of a man is he ? “
” An old nobleman, sir, of sixty or sixty-five years of age ; he once was rich, they say.”
” Ay, and poor now. That is the history of all those old barons. Well, show me the way to this baron’s abode.”
” To the Baron de Taverney’s ?” he asked, in alarm.
” Then you refuse ? “
” No, sir ; but “
“Well?”
*’ He will not receive you.”
” He will not receive a gentleman in need o’f shelter ? Is he a bear, your baron ? “
” Dame ! ” said the young man, with an expression which said plainly, ” not much unlike one.”