The Vicomte de Bragelonne
Page 60
CHAPTER LIX.
TWO JEALOUSIES.
Lovers are very tender toward everything which concerns the person theyare in love with. Raoul no sooner found himself alone with Montalaisthan he kissed her hand with rapture. "There, there," said the younggirl sadly, "you are throwing your kisses away; I will guarantee thatthey will not bring you back any interest."
"How so?--Why?--Will you explain to me, my dear Aure?"
"Madame will explain everything to you. I am going to take you to herapartments."
"What!"
"Silence! and throw aside your wild and savage looks. The windows herehave eyes, the walls have ears. Have the kindness not to look at me anylonger; be good enough to speak to me aloud of the rain, of the fineweather, and of the charms of England."
"At all events--" interrupted Raoul.
"I tell you, I warn you, that wherever it may be, I know not now, Madameis sure to have eyes and ears open. I am not very desirous, you caneasily believe, to be dismissed or thrown into the Bastille. Let ustalk, I tell you, or rather, do not let us talk at all."
Raoul clenched his hands, and tried to assume the look and gait of a manof courage, it is true, but of a man of courage on his way to thetorture. Montalais, glancing in every direction, walking along with aneasy swinging gait, and holding up her head pertly in the air, precededhim to Madame's apartments, where he was at once introduced. "Well," hethought, "this day will pass away without my learning anything. Guicheshowed too much consideration for my feelings; he had no doubt come toan understanding with Madame, and both of them, by a friendly plot,agreed to postpone the solution of the problem. Why have I not adetermined inveterate enemy--that serpent, De Wardes, for instance; thathe would bite is very likely: but I should not hesitate any more. Tohesitate, to doubt--better by far to die."
The next moment Raoul was in Madame's presence. Henrietta, more charmingthan ever, was half lying, half reclining in her armchair, her littlefeet upon an embroidered velvet cushion; she was playing with a littlekitten with long silky fur, which was biting her fingers and hanging bythe lace of her collar.
Madame seemed plunged in deep thought, so deep, indeed, that it requiredboth Montalais and Raoul's voice to disturb her from her reverie.
"Your highness sent for me?" repeated Raoul.
Madame shook her head, as if she were just awakening, and then said,"Good-morning, Monsieur de Bragelonne; yes, I sent for you; so you havereturned from England?"
"Yes, madame, and am at your royal highness's commands."
"Thank you; leave us, Montalais;" and the latter immediately left theroom.
"You have a few minutes to give me, Monsieur de Bragelonne, have younot?"
"My very life is at your royal highness's disposal," Raoul returned,with respect, guessing that there was something serious in all theseoutward courtesies of Madame; nor was he displeased, indeed, to observethe seriousness of her manner, feeling persuaded that there was somesort of affinity between Madame's sentiments and his own. In fact, everyone at court of any perception at all knew perfectly well the capriciousfancy and absurd despotism of the princess's singular character. Madamehad been flattered beyond all bounds by the king's attentions; she hadmade herself talked about; she had inspired the queen with that mortaljealousy which is the gnawing worm at the root of every woman'shappiness; Madame in a word, in her attempts to cure a wounded pride,had found that her heart had become deeply and passionately attached. Weknow what Madame had done to recall Raoul, who had been sent out of theway by Louis XIV. Raoul did not know of her letter to Charles II.,although D'Artagnan had guessed its contents. Who will undertake toaccount for that seemingly inexplicable mixture of love and vanity, thatpassionate tenderness of feeling, that prodigious duplicity of conduct?No one can, indeed; not even the bad angel who kindles the love ofcoquetry in the heart of woman. "Monsieur de Bragelonne," said theprincess, after a moment's pause, "have you returned satisfied?"
Bragelonne looked at Madame Henrietta, and seeing how pale she was, notalone from what she was keeping back, but also from what she was burningto say, said: "Satisfied! what is there for me to be satisfied ordissatisfied about, madame?"
"But what are those things with which a man of your age and of yourappearance is usually either satisfied or dissatisfied?"
"How eager she is," thought Raoul, almost terrified; "what is it thatshe is going to breathe into my heart?" and then, frightened at what shemight possibly be going to tell him, and wishing to put off theopportunity of having everything explained which he had hitherto soardently wished for, yet had dreaded so much, he replied, "I left behindme, madame, a dear friend in good health, and on my return I find himvery ill."
"You refer to M. de Guiche," replied Madame Henrietta, with the mostimperturbable self-possession; "I have heard he is a very dear friend ofyours."
"He is indeed, madame."
"Well, it is quite true he has been wounded; but he is better now. Oh!M. de Guiche is not to be pitied," she said hurriedly; and then,recovering herself, added, "But has he anything to complain of? Has hecomplained of anything? Is there any cause of grief or sorrow that weare not acquainted with?"
"I allude only to his wound, madame."
"So much the better, then, for, in other respects, M. de Guiche seems tobe very happy; he is always in very high spirits. I am sure that you,Monsieur de Bragelonne, would far prefer to be, like him, wounded onlyin the body ... for what, indeed, is such a wound, after all!"
Raoul started. "Alas!" he said to himself, "she is returning to it."
"What did you say?" she inquired.
"I did not say anything, madame."
"You did not say anything; you disapprove of my observation, then? youare perfectly satisfied, I suppose?"
Raoul approached closer to her. "Madame," he said, "your royal highnesswishes to say something to me, and your instinctive kindness andgenerosity of disposition induce you to be careful and considerate as toyour manner of conveying it. Will your royal highness throw this kindforbearance aside? I am able to bear everything; and I am listening."
"Ah!" replied Henrietta, "what do you understand, then?"
"That which your royal highness wishes me to understand," said Raoul,trembling, notwithstanding his command over himself, as he pronouncedthese words.
"In point of fact," murmured the princess ... "it seems cruel, but sinceI have begun--"
"Yes, madame, since your highness has deigned to begin, will you deignto finish--"
Henrietta rose hurriedly, and walked a few paces up and down the room."What did M. de Guiche tell you?" she said, suddenly.
"Nothing, madame."
"Nothing! Did he say nothing? Ah! how well I recognize him in that."
"No doubt he wished to spare me."
"And that is what friends call friendship. But surely. Monsieurd'Artagnan, whom you have just left, must have told you."
"No more than Guiche, madame."
Henrietta made a gesture full of impatience, as she said, "At least, youknow all that the court has known!"
"I know nothing at all, madame."
"Not the scene in the storm?"
"No, madame."
"Not the tete-a-tete in the forest?"
"No, madame."
"Nor the flight to Chaillot?"
Raoul, whose head drooped like flower which has been cut down by thesickle, made an almost superhuman effort to smile, as he replied withthe greatest gentleness: "I have had the honor to tell your royalhighness that I am absolutely ignorant of everything, that I am a poorunremembered outcast, who has this moment arrived from England. Therehave been so many stormy waves between myself and those whom I leftbehind me here, that the rumor of none of the circumstances yourhighness refers to, has been able to reach me."
Henrietta was affected by his extreme pallor, his gentleness, and hisgreat courage. The principal feeling in her heart at that moment was aneager desire to hear the nature of the remembrance which the poor loverretained of her who had made him suf
fer so much. "Monsieur deBragelonne," she said, "that which your friends have refused to do, Iwill do for you, whom I like and esteem very much. I will be your friendon this occasion. You hold your head high, as a man of honor should do;and I should regret that you should have to bow it down under ridicule,and in a few days, it may be, under contempt."
"Ah!" exclaimed Raoul, perfectly livid. "It is as bad as that, then?"
"If you do not know," said the princess, "I see that you guess; you wereaffianced, I believe, to Mademoiselle de la Valliere?"
"Yes, madame."
"By that right, then, you deserve to be warned about her, as some day oranother I shall be obliged to dismiss Mademoiselle de la Valliere frommy service--"
"Dismiss La Valliere!" cried Bragelonne.
"Of course. Do you suppose that I shall always be accessible to thetears and protestations of the king. No, no; my house shall no longer bemade a convenience for such practices; but you tremble, you cannotstand--"
"No, madame, no," said Bragelonne, making an effort over himself; "Ithought I should have died just now, that was all. Your royal highnessdid me the honor to say that the king wept and implored you--"
"Yes, but in vain," returned the princess; who then related to Raoul thescene that took place at Chaillot, and the king's despair on his return;she told him of his indulgence to herself, and the terrible word withwhich the outraged princess, the humiliated coquette, had dashed asidethe royal anger.
Raoul stood with his head bent down.
"What do you think of it all?" she said.
"The king loves her," he replied.
"But you seem to think she does not love him!"
"Alas, madame, I am thinking of the time when she loved me."
Henrietta was for a moment struck with admiration at this sublimedisbelief; and then, shrugging her shoulders, she said, "You do notbelieve me, I see. How deeply you must love her, and you doubt if sheloves the king?"
"I do, until I have a proof of it. Forgive me, madame, but she has givenme her word; and her mind and heart are too upright to tell afalsehood."
"You require a proof! Be it so. Come with me, then."