CHAPTER XXI.
COUNTESS CUT COUNTESS.
On the road to Paris from Luciennes the poor Countess Dubarry wasracing along like a disembodied spirit. An advice from her brotherJean had dashed her down when she had brought the king to the point ofarranging for her presentation day.
"So the old donkey has fooled us?" she cried, when she was alone withhim.
"I am afraid so. But listen: I stayed in town because I am not trustfullike you--and I am not wrong. An hour before the time when I oughtto call for the old countess at her inn, I met my man Patrick at thedoor, where I had sent him to stand sentry since daybreak. He hadseen nothing wrong, and I left the carriage and went up stairs quiteassured. At her door a woman stopped me to say that her mistress hadupset the chocolate, which she boiled herself, on her foot, and wascrippled."
"Oh, heavens! you drive me to despair, Jean."
"I am not in despair. You can do what I could not; if there be anyimposture you can discover it, and somehow we will punish her. I wasconsulting a lawyer; he says we must not thrash a person in a house; itis fine and prison, while without----"
"Beat a woman, a countess of the old stock? You mad rogue, let merather see her and try another method."
Jean conducted her to the Chanticleer Inn, where the old lady dwelt. Atthe foot of the stairs she was stopped by the landlady.
"Countess Bearn is ill," she said.
"Just so; I am coming to see how she is," and Jeanne darted by her asnimble as a fawn.
"Your ladyship here!" ejaculated the old lady, on seeing the courtbeauty's face screwed up into the conventional expression of condolence.
"I have only just learnt of the accident. You seem to be in much pain."
"My right foot is scalded. But misfortunes will happen."
"But you know the king expected you this morning?"
"You double my despair, lady."
"His majesty was vexed at your not coming."
"My excuse is in my sufferings, and I must present my most humbleexcuses to his majesty."
"I am not saying this to cause you pain," said Lady Dubarry, seeingthat the old noblewoman was angry, "but just to show you how set hismajesty was on seeing you for the step which made him grateful. Iregret the accident the more as I think it was due to your excitementfrom meeting a certain person abruptly at my house."
"The lady who came as I went away?"
"The same; my sister, Mademoiselle Dubarry; only she bore another namewhen you met her--that of Mademoiselle Flageot."
"Oh, indeed!" said the old dame, with unhidden sourness. "Did you sendher to deceive me?"
"No, to do you a service at the same time as you did me one. Let usspeak seriously. In spite of your wound, painful but not dangerous,could you make the effort to ride to Luciennes and stand up a shortwhile before the king?"
"Impossible; if you could bear the sight----"
"I wish to assure myself of its extent."
To her great surprise, while writhing in agony, the lady let Jeanneundo the bandage and expose a burn, horridly raw. It spoke eloquently,for, as Lady Bearn had seen and recognized Chon, this self-inflictedhurt raised her to the height of Mutius Scaevola.
The visitor mutely admired. Come to consciousness, the old countessfully enjoyed her triumph; her wild eye gloated on the young womankneeling at her foot. The latter replaced the bands with the tendernessof her sex to the ailing, placed the limb on the cushions as before,and said as she took a seat beside her:
"You are a grander character than I suspected. I ask your pardonfor not having gone straight to business at the start. Name yourconditions."
"I want the two hundred thousand livres at stake in my lawsuit to beguaranteed me," replied the old dame, with a firmness clearly provingthat one queen was speaking with another.
"But that would make double if you won your case."
"No, for I look upon the sum I am contesting with the Saluces for asmine own. The like sum is something to thank you for in addition to thehonor of your acquaintance. I ask a captaincy and a company for my son,who has martial instincts inborn but would make a bad soldier becausehe is fit for officership alone. A captaincy now, with a promotion to acolonelcy next year."
"Who is to raise the regiment?"
"The king, for if I spent my money in so doing I should be no betteroff. I ask the restitution of my vineyard in Touraine; the royalengineers took six acres for the Grand Canal, and condemning it at theexpert's valuation I was cheated out of half price. I went to some lawexpenses in the matter and my whole bill at Lawyer Flageot's is nearlyten thousand livres."
"I will pay this last bill out of my own purse," said Jeanne. "Is thisall?"
"Stay, I cannot appear before our great monarch thus. Versailles andits splendors have been so long strange to me that I have no dresses."
"I foresaw that, and ordered a costume at the same maker's as mine own.It will be ready by noon to-morrow."
"I have no jewels."
"The court jewelers will loan you my set called the 'Louise,' as Ibought them when the Princess Louise sold her jewels to go into thenunnery. They will charge you two hundred thousand and ten livres, butwill take it back in a day or two for two hundred thousand, so thatthus you will receive that sum in cash."
"Very well, countess; I have nothing to desire."
"I will write you my pledges, but first, the little letter to the king,which I beg to dictate. We will exchange the documents."
"That is fair," said the old fox, drawing the table toward her, andgetting the pen and paper ready, as Lady Dubarry spoke.
"SIRE: The happiness I feel at seeing your majesty's acceptance of my offer to present the Countess Dubarry at court----"
The pen stuck and spluttered.
"A bad pen; you should change it!"
"Never mind; it must be broken in."
"--emboldens me (the letter proceeded) to solicit your majesty's favorable eye when I appear at Versailles to-morrow under permission. I venture to hope for a kind welcome from my kinship to a house of which every head has shed his blood in the service of your august ancestors.
"ANASTASIE EUPHRAMIE RODOLPHE, Countess of Bearn."
In return, the plotter handed over the notes and the order on herjewelry.
"Will you let me send my brother for you at three o'clock with thecoach?"
"Just so."
"Mind you take care of yourself."
"Fear nothing. I am a noblewoman, and as you have my word, I will keepit to-morrow though I die for it."
So they parted, the old countess, lying down, going over her documents,and the young one lighter than she arrived, but with her heart achingat not having baffled the old litigant who easily defeated the king ofFrance. In the main room, she perceived her brother, draining a secondbottle of wine in order not to rouse suspicions on his reasons forstaying in the inn. He jumped up and ran to her.
"How goes it?" he asked.
"As Marshal Saxe said to the king on showing him the field of Fontenoy:'Sire, learn by this sight how dear and agonizing a victory is.'"
"But you have a patroness?"
"Yes, but she costs us a million! It is cruel; but I could not helpmyself. Mind how you handle her, or she may back out, or charge doubleher present price."
"What a woman! A Roman!"
"A Spartan. But bring her to Luciennes at three, for I shall not beeasy till I have her under lock and key."
As the countess sprang into the coach, Jean watched her and muttered:
"By Croesus, we cost France a nice round sum! It is highly flatteringto the Dubarrys."
Balsamo, the Magician; or, The Memoirs of a Physician Page 21