Joseph Balsamo (66 page)
The cardinal took the paper and read it.
“Yes,” said he, “it is a perfectly legal register of a marriage, and the signature is that of Monsieur Remy, Vicar of St. John’s, in Strasbourg. But in what way does that concern your royal highness ? “
” Oh, it concerns me deeply, sir ! So, the signature is correct ? “
” Certainly ; but 1 will not guarantee that it may not have been extorted “
” Extorted ?” cried the princess. “Yes, that is possible.”
“And the consent of Lorenza, also ?” said the count, with a tone of irony which was aimed directly at the princess.
” By what means, cardinal by what means could this signature have been extorted ? Do you know ? “
” By means which this gentleman has at his disposal by means of magic ! “
” Magic ? Is it you, cardinal, who speaks to me of magic ? “
“Yes; I have said that this gentleman is a sorcerer; and I shall not unsay it.”
” Your eminence mnst be jesting.”
” By no means ; and the proof is, that I am going, in the presence of your highness, to have a very serious explanation with him.”
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” I was myself going to request it from yonr highness,” said the count.
“Excellent ! But pray, do not forget ‘ said the cardinal, haughtily, ” that it is I who am the questioner.”
” And do not forget, also,” said the count, ” that I will answer all your questions before her royal highness, if you insist upon it but I feel certain that you will not insist.”
The cardinal smiled contemptuously.
” Sir,” said he, “to play the magician well is, in our times, a rather difficult task. I have seen you at work, and, to do you justice, you were very successful ; but every one will not show the patience, and, above all, the generosity of her royal highness the dauphiness.”
” The dauphiness ?” exclaimed the princess.
“Yes, madame,” said the count; “I have had the honor of being presented to her royal highness.”
” And how did you repay that honor, sir ? Come ! Speak ! “
” Alas ! much worse than I could have wished ; for I have no personal hatred against men, jind, above all, none against women.”
” But what did he really do before my august niece ? ” asked the princess.
” I had the misfortune, madame, to tell her the truth, which she demanded of me.”
” Yes,” said the cardinal, ” a truth which made her swoon ! “
“Was it my fault,” cried the count, in that commanding tone which he could at times assume, ” was it my fault that the truth was so terrible that it produced such effects ? Was it I who sought the princess ? Did I request to be presented to her ? On the contrary, I avoided her ; I was brought before her almost by force, and she positively commanded me to reply to her questions.’
” But what, then, sir, was that truth which you declare to have been so terrible ? ” asked the princess.
” The truth which was hidden by the veil of futurity. I raised the veil, and then she beheld that future which
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appeared so alarming to your royal highness, that you fled for shelter from it to a cloister to offer up tears and prayers before the altar “
” Sir, sir I” cried the princess.
” Is it my fault, if the future, which was revealed to her as one of the sainted, was shadowed forth to me as a prophet, and if the dauphiness, whom it threatens personally, terrified at the sight, fainted when I declared it to her ?”
” You hear him acknowledge it ! ” said the cardinal.
” Alas !” sighed the princess.
” For her reign is doomed,” continued the count, “as the most fatal and disastrous to the monarchy of any on record.”
” Oh, sir ! ” exclaimed the princess.
” For yourself, madame,” continued the count, “your prayers have perhaps obtained favor, for you will not see those events which I foretell ; you will be in the bosom of the Lord when they come to pass. But pray ! Pray always ! “
The princess, overcome by his prophetic words, which agreed too well with the terrors of her own soul, sunk again on her knees at the foot of the crucifix, and commenced to pray fervently.
The count turned to the cardinal, and, preceding him toward the embrasure of a window, “Xow that we are alone,” said he, “what does your eminence wish with
me
The cardinal hastened to join him. The princess seemed wholly absorbed in her prayers, and Lorenza remained si-lent and motionless in the middle of the room. Her eyes were wide open, but she seemed to see nothing. The two men stood apart in the embrasure of the window, half concealed by the curtains.
” What are your higlmess’s wishes ? ” repeated the count. ” First, I wish to know who you are,” replied the cardinal.
” Yet you seem to know. Did you not say that I was a sorcerer ? “
“Yes; but when I met you formerly you were called
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Joseph Balsamo, and now you are called the Count de Fenix. “
” Well, that only proves that I have changed my name, nothing more.”
” Very true ; but are you aware that such changes may make Monsieur de Sartiues, the minister of police, rather inquisitive about you ? “
The count smiled.
” Oh, sir,” said he, ” this is a petty warfare for a Rohan ! What ! your eminence quibbles about names ? Verba et Soces, as the Latin has it. Is there nothing worse with which I can be reproached ?”
” You seem to have become satirical,” said the cardinal.
” I have not become so ; it is my character.”
” In that case I shall do myself the pleasure of lowering your tone a little.”
4 Do so, sir.”
“I am certain I shall please the dauphiness by so doing.”
” Which may be not altogether useless to you, considering the terms on which you stand at present with her,” answered Balsamo, with the greatest coolness.
“And, suppose, most learned dealer in horoscopes, that I should cause you to be arrested ? ” said the cardinal.
” I should say that your eminence would commit a very grave mistake in doing so.”
” Indeed ?” said the prince cardinal, with withering contempt. ” And pray, who will suffer from my mistake?”
“Yourself, my lord cardinal.”
” Then I shall give the order for your arrest this mo-ment, sir, and we shall soon know who this Baron Balsamo Count de Fenix is, this illustrious branch of a genealogical tree not to be discovered in any field of heraldry in Europe ! “
” But why has your highness not asked for information respecting me from your friend, the Count de Bretenil ?”
” Monsieur de Breteuil is no friend of mine. “
” That is to say, he is no longer so. Yet he must have
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been one of your best friends when you wrote him a certain letter “
” What letter ? ” asked the cardinal, drawing nearer to the count,
” A little closer, Monsieur le Cardinal, I do not wish to speak loud, for fear of compromising you that letter which you wrote from Vienna to Paris, to endeavor to prevent the marriage of the dauphin.”
The prelate could not repress a gesture of alarm.
” I know that letter by heart ‘ continued the count coldly.
” Then Breteuil has turned traitor ? “
” How so?”
” Because, when the marriage was decided on, I demanded back my letter, and he told me he had burned it!”
” Ah ! he dared not tell you he had lost it ! “
“Lost it ?”
” Yes, and you know that a lost letter may be found by some one.”
‘ ‘ And so my letter “
” Was found by me. Oh ! by the merest chance, I assure you, one day when crossing the marble court at Versailles.”
” And you did not return it to the Count de Breteuil ? “
” I took good care not to do so.”
” Why so ? “
” Because, being a sorcerer, I knew that, although 1 wished to be of all the service I could to your highness, you wished to do me all the harm you could. So, you understand ? A disarmed man who journeys through a wood where he knows he will be attacked, would be a fool not to pick up a loaded pistol which he found at his foot.”
The cardinal’s head swam, and he was obliged to lean against the window-frame for a few minutes ; but, after an instant’s hesitation, during which the count eagerly watched every variation of his countenance :
” So be it,” said he. ” It shajl never be said that a prince of my house gave way before the threats of a charlatan. Though that letter should be shown to thedauph-
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iness herself though, in a political point of view, it ruin me, I shall maintain my character as a loyal subject and faithful ambassador. I shall say what is the truth, that I thought the alliance hurtful to the interests of my country and my country will defend me, and weep for my fate.”
” But if some one should happen to relate how the young, handsome, gallant ambassador, confident in the name of Rohan and the title of prince, and being most graciously received by the Archduchess, Marie Antoinette said so, not because he saw anything in the marriage hurtful to France, but because in his vanity he imagined he saw something more than affability in her manner toward him. What would the loyal subject and the loyal ambas-ador reply then ? “
” He would deny, sir, that there ever had existed the sentiments that your words imply : there is no proof that it did exist.”
” Yes, sir, you mistake. There is the strongest proof, in the coldness of the dauphiness toward you.”
The cardinal hesitated.
“My lord,” said the count, “trust me, it is better for us to remain good friends than to quarrel which we should have done before this had I not been more prudent than you.”
“Good friends?”
” Why not ? Our friends are those who render us good offices.”
” Have I ever asked you for any ? “
” No, and that is where you have been wrong ; for dur-ing the two days you were in Paris “
” I in Paris ?
” Yes, you. Why attempt to hide that from me who am a sorcerer ? You left the dauphiness at Soissons, you came post to Paris by Villers, Cotterets, and Dammartin that is to say, the shortest road and you hastened to request your kind friends there for assistance, which they all refused. After their refusals you once more set out post for Compiegne in despair.”
The cardinal seemed overwhelmed.
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” And what sort of assistance might I have expected from yon, ” he asked, ” had I addressed myself to you ? “
” That assistance which a man who makes gold can grant.”
” And what matters it to me that yon can make gold ? “
“Peste ! when your highness has to pay five hundred thousand francs within forty-eight hours ! Am I not right ? Is not that the sum ? J *
” Yes ; that is indeed the sum ‘
” And yet yon ask what matters it to have a friend who can make gold ? It matters just this, that the hundred thousand francs which you cannot procure elsewhere, you may procure from him.”
” And where ? ” asked the cardinal.
” In the Rne St. Claude.”
” How shall I know your house ? “
” By a griffin’s head in bronze, which serves as a knocker to the gate.”
” When may I present myself ? “
” The day after to-morrow, my lord, and afterward you may come as often and whenever you please. But stay, we have just finished our conversation in time, for the princess, I see, has ended her prayers.”
The cardinal was conquered ; and, no longer attempting to resist, he approached the princess : ” Madame, ” said he, “I am obliged to confess that the Count de Fenix is perfectly correct ; his register of marriage is authentic and valid, and he has explained all the circumstances to my perfect satisfaction.”
The count bowed. ” Has your royal highness any further commands for me ? ” he asked.
” I wish to speak once more to the young woman, ” she replied. Then turning to Lorenza, f Is it of your own free and unconstrained will that you leave this convent, in which you sought refuge ? “
“Her highness asks you,” said Balsamo, quickly ” whether it is of your own free and unfettered choice that you leave this convent. Answer, Lorenza.”
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” Yes,” said the young woman, “it is of my own free and unfettered will.”
” And to accompany your husband, the Count de Fenix ? “
” And to accompany me ? ” repeated the count.
” Oh, yes ! ” exclaimed Lorenza.
“In that case ‘ said the princess, “I wish to detain neither one nor the other ; for it would be doing violence to your feelings. But if there is in all this anything out of the common order of events, may the vengeance of Heaven fall on him, who, for his own advantage or profit, troubles the harmony, the proper course of nature ! Go, Count de Fenix ! Go, Lorenza Feliciani ! only take with you your jewels.”
“They are for the use of the poor, madame,” said the count, “and, distributed by your hands, the alms will be doubly acceptable to God. I only demand back my horse Djerid.”
” You can claim him as yon pass, sir. Go ! “
The count bowed low, and gave his arm to Lorenza, who took it, and left the room without uttering a word.
” Ah, my lord cardinal,” said the princess, shaking her head sorrowfully, ” there are incomprehensible and fatal omens in the very air which we breathe.”
CHAPTER LIII.
THE RETURN FROM ST. DENIS.
AFTER leaving Philip, Gilbert, as we have said, had re-entered the crowd. But not now with a heart bounding with joyful anticipation did he throw himself into the noisy billow of human beings ; his soul was wounded to the quick, and Philip’s kind reception of him, and all his friendly offers of assistance, had no power to soothe him. Andre never suspected that she had been cruel to Gilbert. The lovely and serene young girl was entirely ignorant that there could be between her and the son of her nurse any point of contact either for pain or for pleasure. She
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revolved above all the lower spheres of life, casting light or shadow on them, according as she herself was gay or sad. But now the shadow of her disdain had fallen on Gilbert and frozen him to the soul, while she, following only the impulse of her nature, knew not even that she had been scornful. But Gilbert, like a gladiator disarmed, had offered his naked breast to the full brunt of her haughty looks and disdainful words, and now bleeding at every pore, his philosophy suggested nothing better than the consolation of despair.