by Eugène Sue
CHAPTER XXIII. THE TESTAMENT.
When Gabriel, Rodin, and Father d'Aigrigny entered the Red Room, theywere differently affected. Gabriel, pale and sad, felt a kind of painfulimpatience. He was anxious to quit this house, though he had alreadyrelieved himself of a great weight, by executing before the notary,secured by every legal formality, a deed making over all his rights ofinheritance to Father d'Aigrigny. Until now it had not occurred to theyoung priest, that in bestowing the care upon him, which he was aboutto reward so generously, and in forcing his vocation by a sacrilegiousfalsehood, the only object of Father d'Aigrigny might have been tosecure the success of a dark intrigue. In acting as he did, Gabriel wasnot yielding, in his view of the question, to a sentiment of exaggerateddelicacy. He had made this donation freely, many years before. He wouldhave looked upon it as infamy now to withdraw it. It was hard enoughto be suspected of cowardice: for nothing in the world would he haveincurred the least reproach of cupidity.
The missionary must have been endowed with a very rare and excellentnature, or this flower of scrupulous probity would have witheredbeneath the deleterious and demoralizing influence of his education; buthappily, as cold sometimes preserves from corruption, the icy atmospherein which he had passed a portion of his childhood and youth hadbenumbed, but not vitiated, his generous qualities, which had indeedsoon revived in the warm air of liberty. Father d'Aigrigny, much palerand more agitated than Gabriel, strove to excuse and explain his anxietyby attributing it to the sorrow he experienced at the rupture of hisdear son with the Order. Rodin, calm, and perfectly master of himself,saw with secret rage the strong emotion of Father d'Aigrigny, whichmight have inspired a man less confiding than Gabriel with strangesuspicions. Yet, notwithstanding his apparent indifference, the sociuswas perhaps still more ardently impatient than his superior for thesuccess of this important affair. Samuel appeared quite desponding, noother heir but Gabriel having presented himself. No doubt the old manfelt a lively sympathy for the young priest; but then he was a priest,and with him would finish the line of Rennepont; and this immensefortune, accumulated with so much labor, would either be againdistributed, or employed otherwise than the testator had desired. Thedifferent actors in this scene were standing around the table. As theywere about to seat themselves, at the invitation of the notary, Samuelpointed to the register bound in black shagreen, and said: "I wasordered, sir, to deposit here this register. It is locked. I willdeliver up the key, immediately after the reading of the will."
"This course is, in fact, directed by the note which accompanies thewill," said M. Dumesnil, "as it was deposited, in the year 1682, in thehands of Master Thomas Le Semelier, king's counsel, and notary of theChatelet of Paris, then living at No. 13, Place Royale."
So saying, M. Dumesnil drew from a portfolio of red morocco a largeparchment envelope, grown yellow with time; to this envelope wasannexed, by a silken thread, a note also upon vellum.
"Gentlemen," said the notary, "if you please to sit down, I will readthe subjoined note, to regulate the formalities at the opening of thewill."
The notary, Rodin, Father d'Aigrigny, and Gabriel, took seats. The youngpriest, having his back turned to the fireplace, could not see the twoportraits. In spite of the notary's invitation, Samuel remained standingbehind the chair of that functionary, who read as follows:
"'On the 13th February, 1832, my will shall be carried to No. 3, in theRue Saint-Francois.
"'At ten o'clock precisely, the door of the Red Room shall be openedto my heirs, who will no doubt have arrived long before at Paris, inanticipation of this day, and will have had time to establish their lineof descent.
"'As soon as they are assembled, the will shall be read, and, at thelast stroke of noon, the inheritance shall be finally settled in favorof those of my kindred, who according to my recommendation (preserved,I hope, by tradition in my family, during a century and a half); shallpresent themselves in person, and not by agents, before twelve o'clock,on the 13th of February, in the Rue Saint-Francois.'"
Having read these words in a sonorous voice, the notary stopped aninstant, and resumed, in a solemn tone: "M. Gabriel Francois Marie deRennepont, priest, having established, by legal documents, his descenton the father's side, and his relationship to the testator, and being atthis hour the only one of the descendants of the Rennepont family herepresent, I open the testament in his presence, as it has been ordered."
So saying, the notary drew from its envelope the will, which had beenpreviously opened by the President of the Tribunal, with the formalitiesrequired by law. Father d'Aigrigny leaned forward, and resting his elbowon the table, seemed to pant for breath. Gabriel prepared himself tolisten with more curiosity than interest. Rodin was seated at somedistance from the table, with his old hat between his knees, in thebottom of which, half hidden by the folds of a shabby blue cottonhandkerchief, he had placed his watch. The attention of the socius wasdivided between the least noise from without, and the slow evolution ofthe hands of the watch, which he followed with his little, wrathful eye,as if hastening their progress, so great was his impatience for the hourof noon.
The notary, unfolding the sheet of parchment, read what follows, in themidst of profound attention:
Hameau de Villetaneuse,
"'February 13th, 1682.
"'I am about to escape, by death, from the disgrace of the galleys, towhich the implacable enemies of my family have caused me to be condemnedas a relapsed heretic.
"'Moreover, life is too bitter for me since the death of my son, thevictim of a mysterious crime.
"'At nineteen years of age--poor henry!--and his murderers unknown--no,not unknown--if I may trust my presentiments.
"'To preserve my fortune for my son, I had feigned to abjure theProtestant faith. As long as that beloved boy lived, I scrupulously keptup Catholic appearances. The imposture revolted me, but the interest ofmy son was concerned.
"'When they killed him, this deceit became insupportable to me. Iwas watched, accused, and condemned as relapsed. My property has beenconfiscated, and I am sentenced to the galleys.
"'Tis a terrible time we live in! Misery and servitude! sanguinarydespotism and religious intolerance! Oh, it is sweet to abandon life!sweet to rest and see no more such evils and such sorrows!
"'In a few hours, I shall enjoy that rest. I shall die. Let me thinkof those who will survive--or rather, of those who will live perhaps inbetter times.
"'Out of all my fortune, there remains to me a sum of fifty thousandcrowns, deposited in a friend's hands.
"'I have no longer a son; but I have numerous relations, exiled invarious parts of Europe. This sum of fifty thousand crowns, dividedbetween them, would profit each of them very little. I have disposed ofit differently.
"'In this I have followed the wise counsels of a man, whom I venerateas the image of God on earth, for his intelligence, wisdom, and goodnessare almost divine.
"'Twice in the course of my life have I seen this man, under very fatalcircumstances--twice have I owed him safety, once of the soul, once ofthe body.
"'Alas! he might perhaps have saved my poor child, but he came toolate--too late.
"'Before he left me, he wished to divert me from the intention ofdying--for he knew all. But his voice was powerless. My grief, myregret, my discouragement, were too much for him.
"'It is strange! when he was convinced of my resolution to finish mydays by violence, some words of terrible bitterness escaped him, makingme believe that he envied me--my fate--my death!
"'Is he perhaps condemned to live?
"'Yes; he has, no doubt, condemned himself to be useful to humanity,and yet life is heavy on him, for I heard him repeat one day, with anexpression of despair and weariness that I have never forgotten: "Life!life! who will deliver me from it?"
"'Is life then so very burdensome to him?
"'He is gone. His last words have made me look for my departure withserenity. Thanks to him, my death shall not be without fruit.
"'Thanks to him,
these lines, written at this moment by a man who, in afew hours, will have ceased to live, may perhaps be the parents of greatthings a century and a half hence--yes! great and noble things, if mylast will is piously followed by my descendants, for it is to them thatI here address myself.
"'That they may understand and appreciate this last will--which Icommend to the care of the unborn, who dwell in the future whither I amhastening--they must know the persecutors of my family and avenge theirancestor, but by a noble vengeance.
"'My grandfather was a Catholic. Induced by perfidious counsels ratherthan religious zeal, he attached himself, though a layman, to a Societywhose power has always been terrible and mysterious--the Society ofJesus--'"
At these words of the testament, Father d'Aigrigny, Rodin, and Gabriellooked involuntarily at each other: The notary, who had not perceivedthis action, continued to read:
"'After some years, during which he had never ceased to profess themost absolute devotion to this Society, he was suddenly enlightened byfearful revelations as to the secret ends it pursued, and the means itemployed.
"'This was in 1510, a month before the assassination of Henry IV."'My grandfather, terrified at the secret of which he had become theunwilling depositary, and which was to be fully explained by the deathof the best of kings, not only broke with the Society, but, as ifCatholicism itself had been answerable for the crimes of its members,he abandoned the Romish religion, in which he had hitherto lived, andbecame a Protestant.
"'Undeniable proofs, attesting the connivance of two members of theCompany with Ravaillac, a connivance also proved in the case of JeanChatel, the regicide, were in my grandfather's possession.
"'This was the first cause of the violent hatred of the Society for ourfamily. Thank Heaven, these papers have been placed in safety, and if mylast will is executed, will be found marked A. M.C. D. G., in the ebonycasket in the Hall of Mourning, in the house in the Rue Saint-Francois.
"'My father was also exposed to these secret persecutions. His ruin, andperhaps his death, would have been the consequence, had it not been forthe intervention of an angelic woman, towards whom he felt an almostreligious veneration.
"'The portrait of this woman, whom I saw a few years ago, as well asthat of the man whom I hold in the greatest reverence, were paintedby me from memory, and have been placed in the Red Room in the RueSaint-Francois--to be gratefully valued, I hope, by the descendants ofmy family.'"
For some moments Gabriel had become more and more attentive to thereading of this testament. He thought within himself by how strange acoincidence one of his ancestors had, two centuries before, broken withthe Society of Jesus, as he himself had just done; and that from thisrupture, two centuries old, dated also that species of hatred with whichthe Society of Jesus had always pursued his family. Nor did the youngpriest find it less strange that this inheritance, transmitted to himafter a lapse of a hundred and fifty years, from one of his kindred (thevictim of the Society of Jesus), should return by a voluntary act to thecoffers of this same society. When the notary read the passage relativeto the two portraits, Gabriel, who, like Father d'Aigrigny, sat with hisback towards the pictures, turned round to look at them. Hardly had themissionary cast his eyes on the portrait of the woman, than he uttereda loud cry of surprise, and almost terror. The notary paused in hisreading, and looked uneasily at the young priest.