CHAPTER XL.
The fatigue which I had endured throughout the preceding day had beenunfelt during the time that I passed in active exertion; but themoment my head touched the pillow, an overpowering sense of drowsinessfell upon me; and without any of that consciousness of fallingasleep--which has, perhaps, something awful in it, from the sensiblerelinquishment of intelligent existence--I passed into a state ofutter forgetfulness, which lasted between seven and eight hours. Onwaking I felt that I had slept long; and dressing myself as fast aspossible, I hurried down to the saloon, in which, as a sort ofrallying point for the whole household, I was sure to find some one.My delight may be supposed, when the one that I did find was my ownbeloved Laura. To bound forward towards me, as she had done frominfancy, was her first emotion, and to it she yielded without fear,feeling, as I, too, felt, that the pain and the apprehension which formany a day had hung upon our morning meetings, were now cleared away,like clouds from the sun, and that all was happiness.
"You have slept long, De Juvigny," she said, looking up in my facewith a smile; "you have slept long, and you look happy!"
"I have slept long and deeply, my beloved," I replied; "but remember,that for the last eight nights I have hardly known what sleep is."
The tears rose in Laura's eyes; but those tears that spring, inmoments of joy, from the recollection of past sorrows, are not amongstthe least sweet things of life. "I wish, De Juvigny," she replied, "Iwish that all the hours of sleep which, during these eight days, fledfrom my pillow also, could have gone and rested upon yours. But littlerepose, indeed, have I known myself; and of course my thoughts,through those long tedious nights, were not rendered less sorrowful bythinking of all that you were suffering at the same time. But let usnot remember anything unhappy now. My father has passed a verytranquil night, and the surgeon assures me that there is but littlechance of his wound proving dangerous."
"Is Monsieur de Villardin awake, then?" I demanded.
"He has been so for some time," she answered, "and is now sitting upspeaking with the Count, who, finding my father so much better, hasdetermined to set out to-day for Paris, glad to leave our dearBrittany, and what he calls its semi-barbarous inhabitants--and ourgloomy ch?teau--and poor Laura de Villardin--and to betake himself tocourts and cities, and scenes and people, much better fitted to himthan any he has met with here."
She spoke with all the playful gaiety of former days; but I knew mydear Laura too well to believe that she would even have jested inregard to a man who had behaved so generously as I believed the Countto have done, had she not known some trait in his character whichmight detract a little from the apparent liberality of his conduct.She felt sorry, however, even for the slight touch of bitterness thathad mingled with her words, almost as soon as they were spoken; andadded, "It is very wrong of me, I believe, to feel so glad of thedeparture of a man who has behaved so kindly to us; and who, with thepower, and, perhaps, with some inducements, to make us very miserable,has, on the contrary, made us very happy; but I cannot help it, DeJuvigny; and the very feelings which I detect in my own heart now,make me tremble to think what would have been those I should haveexperienced, had I been forced to marry a man I could not love. But gonow to my father, who is anxious to see you too; and your presencewill probably break off his conversation with the Count, which I amsure has continued too long for his health already."
I lingered a moment or two more, and then proceeded to the apartmentsof Monsieur de Villardin, where I found the Count in the act of takinghis leave. Father Ferdinand, also, was present; but as the goodpriest remained with the Duke, I was commissioned to do all duehonours to the departing guest, and it would be vain to deny that Ifelt the same satisfaction on seeing him enter his carriage, and quitthe Pr?s Vall?e, that Laura had so artlessly expressed. I was aboutto seek another moment of happiness with Laura ere I returned to thechamber of her father, when the young commander of the guardsstepped up to me and begged a few minutes' conversation. Of courseI could not refuse; and taking him into the library as the nearestvacant apartment, I requested him to state his commands.
"Why, the truth is, Monsieur le Baron," he said, with a somewhatrueful air--"the truth is, one of our prisoners has contrived to slipthrough our fingers."
"Which? Which? Not the one I myself made?" I cried--fearing that itmight be Gaspard de Belleville, and feeling now convinced, from allthat had happened during the last ten years, that it was not quite sonecessary, or so indifferent, to have even one bitter enemy loose inthe same world with us, as I had once thought it--"Not the one I mademyself, surely?"
"The very same," answered the young officer. "However, I trust thereis no great harm done; for it matters little which way such a fellowmeets his death. If he had been taken alive to Rennes, he would havebeen hung, of course, and now he has but broken his neck. So it makeslittle difference."
"Broken his neck!" I exclaimed. "Explain! explain! my good sir!"
"Yes!" he answered; "he has simply broken his neck. The fact was, youwere all so busy last night, and so much occupied with Monsieur deVillardin and Mademoiselle, that we were obliged to dispose of him aswell as we could; and therefore, as the safest place, we put him up inthe small room at the top of the west tower. There is a buttress, youknow, runs down the side just between the windows, with a sort ofsteps upon it as it grows thicker; and it would seem ^hat by thismeans he fancied he could make his escape. He must have fallen,however, in trying to reach the buttress, for his body was found quitedead, and cold, almost exactly beneath the window of the chamber inwhich he was confined."
I remembered, as he spoke, having in boyhood performed, as a feat, thedescent from that very window, while Gaspard de Belleville had stoodby and looked on, declaring that nothing was so easy, and that any onecould do it if they took the trouble of trying. Little had I thoughtat the time that the very attempt would prove the cause of his death;but I clearly perceived that the remembrance of my boyish feat, andthe apparent ease with which it had been performed, had induced theunhappy man to make an effort for escape by that means.
In answer to my inquiries regarding the hour at which the body hadbeen found, the young officer replied: "Oh, it was early this morning.I was about to march, as, of course, it is my duty to return to Rennesas soon as possible, though I thought it right, for the safety of thech?teau, to remain all last night."
I smiled, and remarking that I did so, he went on, with a smile, inreturn: "It was as I said, early this morning, but although I caught aglance of Mademoiselle de Villardin a few moments ago, I thought ituseless to speak with her about it, as she has seen more of cuttingthroats and breaking heads already than ladies generally like. So Ireserved my news for you, Monsieur le Baron, as you seem to commandthe garrison, I think."
It is wonderful how soon a Frenchman discovers it, if there be lovegoing on in a house; and it was easy to see, by the gay look whichaccompanied his words, to what the young officer alluded by mycommanding the garrison. Nor did I doubt that, on his return toRennes, he would carry a full account along with him of all thechanges which had taken place in the arrangements of Monsieur deVillardin's family; but as those changes were very satisfactory tomyself, of course I did not now much care whether the world were asharer in my secret or not. Without any comment then on that part ofhis speech, I accompanied him to take a view of the body of Gaspard deBelleville, and found that as his skull had been terribly fractured bythe fall, his death must have been instantaneous. Such being the case,I was not sorry that he had been spared all the horrors of a publicexecution, and therefore I had very little to regret in his death. Iwas sorry, indeed, that I had not obtained from him some explanationsin regard to all that had occurred, which he alone could haveafforded. A thousand times during the preceding evening I had beenupon the point of visiting him in his confinement; but something hadalways occurred to prevent my doing so till it was too late; and, tosay the truth, it was not very probable that he would have given meany satisfactory reply in
the state of sullen despair into which hehad fallen. Nothing, however, was now to be done further than to secthe young officer march off his men to Rennes, which he soon afterdid, carrying with him the two prisoners who remained. They, at theirvery first interview with the police, were recognised as arrantmalefactors; and at the end of ten days expiated many an enormity,besides that under which we had suffered, by the forfeiture of theirlives upon the scaffold.
Once more left in the ch?teau with none but its usual inhabitants, Iimmediately proceeded to the chamber of Monsieur de Villardin, whom Ifound infinitely better than I could have expected. He felt that hehad been wounded, he said, it was true; but with the exception of someslight pain and stiffness, he was as well as ever. Laura was with himwhen I entered; and, with the permission of the surgeon, we remainedat his bedside for nearly an hour.
When we left him we were joined by Father Ferdinand, who, informing methat he was about to send to Dumont for some books, suggested that bythe same messenger I should recal my servants and little Clement de laMarke, which was accordingly done. The good priest remained with ustill after dinner, and then, perhaps feeling that both in Laura'sheart and mine there was many a topic of conversation which could notbe discussed before any one, he left us to ourselves for the rest ofthe evening. How that evening passed must be imagined; for all thehappiness, and the dreams, and the rapture, and the mutual questionsand explanations that ensued, cannot be described. The cup of joy wasnever drained more deeply, and never tasted sweeter, than when, afterall the agony we had suffered, we felt ourselves at length assured ofhappiness, and of each other.
We were again admitted to Monsieur de Villardin for an hour before hewent to sleep; and, as he still continued wonderfully well, allapprehensions on his account vanished, and not a drop of bittermingled with the sweet.
It was late when we parted; and, seeking my own apartments, I wasabout to give myself up to that more quiet and contemplativeenjoyment, which had now succeeded after all the hurried andfluttering rapture of the reciprocation of words of hope and affectionwith a being so dearly loved, on the termination of all our sorrowsand anxieties; but a light tap at my door disturbed me: and, openingit, I beheld Lise, who had spent the greater part of the day inRennes, appearing now with a face of some anxiety and consternation.When one has suffered much pain and frequent disappointment, it isextraordinary how apprehensive the heart becomes; and I immediatelyconcluded, from the countenance of the soubrette, that some newmisfortune or catastrophe had occurred to mar all our joy.
"Come in, Lise--come in!" I cried.--"What is the matter? You lookfrightened!"
"Oh, Monsieur," she replied, "I am afraid that I have got myself intoa terrible scrape!"
Selfishness is certainly inherent in man; and it was, I confess, aninfinite relief to me to hear that her anxieties were personal. Idesired her, however, as kindly as I could, to tell me what was thematter, promising to do everything in my power to assist her in herdifficulty.
"Oh, that you are bound to do, Monsieur le Baron," she replied: "forit was all done on your account. But I will tell you all about it. Youremember I informed you that I knew of a priest who, for a small sum,would marry you and Mademoiselle privately; but I did not tell youthat I went a day or two after and spoke to him all about it, beingvery sure that you would be obliged to come to a private marriage atlast--which you would, too, if it had not been for all this affair.However, as I was saying, I went and told him all about it, as we werewalking along under the Thabor, thinking that nobody on earth wasthere but ourselves; and just as we had done, and he had promised todo all that I wanted, up got a man from amongst the trees and walkedaway over the mount. Well, we did not heed him particularly, but hemust have overheard all we said; for this morning, when I went down toRennes, I saw the priest, whose name I will not mention, and who madesuch an outcry against me, saying that I had been his ruin. When Iasked what was the matter, he told me that early yesterday morning aman came to him, saying, that Mademoiselle Lise, of the ch?teau at thePr?s Vall?e, had sent him to say, that the young lady and gentlemanwho were to be married, did not dare to venture into Rennes; but thatif he would follow to the old chapel in the forest, which wasregularly consecrated, they would meet him there, and that he shouldhave two thousand livres for his pains. Although he thought itsomewhat strange altogether, yet the two thousand livres tempted him,and he went; but when he came there, he found himself in the hands ofthe robbers, and all that horrible business took place, of whichMademoiselle gave me such a dreadful account last night."
"So, so!" I said. "So this was the priest, was it, ma bonne Lise!Well, all I can tell you in regard to him is, that he seemed to haveneither fear nor reluctance in obeying all that the villains told himto do; and sincerely do I think he deserves most exemplary punishmentfor his pains."
"Ah, but Monsieur!" cried Lise, "you cannot punish him withoutpunishing me too; for, as sure as we are all alive, he will telleverything that I proposed to him to do, if the other matter is foundout; and then, you know, the Duke will send me away from Mademoiselle;and then I shall die of grief and vexation; and all because I wishedto help you and my lady in your love."
Although I felt perfectly sure that Lise's acquaintance, the priest,was as great a villain as any of the robbers in whose hands I hadfound him, and doubted not that the great part of their informationhad come from him, yet I thought it much better to let the mattersleep, than, by taking any measures to punish him, to make a generalexpose of all that had occurred during the last two or three months atthe Pr?s Vall?e, which, though innocent enough on all parts, andcertainly not discreditable to any one for whom my affections weredeeply engaged, would be far better confined, as far as possible, toour own household, without being blazed forth to the rudeevil-reporting world. For poor Lise, too--although she had certainlyacted sillily--I could not, of course, help feeling a regard, as oneof those whom she intended to benefit by the very act which was nowlikely to prove of detriment to herself; and I hastened to relieve hermind by assuring her that I would not only take no measures to bringthe offences of the priest to light, but would do all in my power toprevent any farther investigation of the affair.
"It will be better for him," I added, speaking of the priest--"itwill be better for him, however, to betake himself to some other partof the country for a time, as Monsieur de Villardin and a number ofthe servants must have seen him, and may recognise him in the city thefirst time we chance to visit it. Give him that advice, therefore, mygood Lise; and tell him that in case he wants a few livres to enablehim to change his cure for the time, they shall be furnished to himforthwith, on the understanding that he is to quit Rennes."
Lise's heart overflowed with gratitude and satisfaction; and promisingto communicate all my directions to the priest, and undertaking thathe should obey them implicitly, she left me with a mind relieved. Nordid I, indeed, anticipate much chance of the priest being discoveredand punished; for I am sorry to say that such offences, especially inBrittany, were at that time suffered to pass with very singularimpunity.
I was an earlier riser on the following day than I had been on thatmorning; and daybreak found me up and in the ante-room of Monsieur deVillardin. The truth was, that the excitement of my mind was no longercounterbalanced by the fatigue of my body, and consequently I sleptlittle all night, though the reveries that visited my conch werecertainly as sweet as any that ever blessed the heart of man. I wassomewhat anxious about Monsieur de Villardin, too, as the surgeon hadtold me that, in case of any danger supervening from his wound, it waslikely to show itself during that night. The Duke, however, was asleepwhen I entered; and though the surgeon who had sat up with himinformed me that some slight fever had appeared, he added, that it wasnothing more than the inevitable consequences of the injury he hadreceived, and that the slumber which followed was an indubitable signthat no evil was to be anticipated. I remained in the Duke'sapartments till he woke, which did not take place for several hours,and I then found him refreshed and easy, so that all ap
prehension wasat an end.
In the evening, my servants and Clement de la Marke arrived fromDumont; and the boy petitioned so earnestly to see Monsieur deVillardin, that Father Ferdinand, with the consent of the surgeon,permitted him to do so. Monsieur de Villardin's convalescence wasprogressive and rapid. Every cloud seemed wafted away from our fate;every tear seemed wiped away from our eyes; and nothing but the smileof joy or the sunshine of happiness was seen within the ch?teau, solately the abode of misery and apprehension. At the end of a few days,Monsieur de Villardin was suffered to rise; at the end of a few more,he was permitted to come down for some hours each day; and ere afortnight was over, he was walking up and down the terrace, leaningupon my arm, more from weakness induced by the treatment he hadundergone in order to prevent inflammation and fever, than from theactual consequences of his wound.
Our old habits were soon resumed; and it added not a little to myhappiness to see the evident pleasure with which Monsieur de Villardinbeheld the undisguised affection of his daughter and myself. Often,indeed, he would speak of it to me in terms of the highestsatisfaction; and again and again he assured me, as he had donebefore, that if he had entertained a thought that our hearts were sodeeply bound to each other, he would never, on any account, havepromised Laura's hand to another.
"As soon," he said, when conversing with me one day upon our presentcircumstances, and our future prospects--"as soon as it be possible, Iwill put the last seal to your union. I look upon it, indeed, as anatonement I owe you both for not having seen your mutual affection, asI might well have done, and for all that I was obliged to make yousuffer in consequence of my own blindness. We must, however, in thefirst instance, suffer the memory of this other business to die awayin some slight degree, especially as you well know that it is, in thiscountry, necessary to obtain the consent of his Majesty in the firstplace. I feel sure, indeed, that both your services and mine willplead too strongly in our favour for any difficulty to occur in ourobtaining the royal approbation, which is seldom, if ever, refusedwhere no obstacle is raised on the part of the parents. But still,under all circumstances, I should much wish you to serve throughanother campaign, in the course of which I doubt not that you willestablish new and powerful claims upon the throne."
"I do not know, monseigneur," I replied, laughing; "but one thing Ifeel very sure of, which is, that, with all the inducements I now haveto love life, and the things that it contains, I shall be certainlymuch more careful of my own person than I used to be in days of old."
"That will be no disadvantage, De Juvigny," replied Monsieur deVillardin, almost gravely. "You were always too careless of your ownperson; and, in the last campaign, rash to a vice. To observe it inyou was a matter of pain and surprise to me, till I discovered yourlove for Laura; and then, though fully appreciating the generousfeelings which made you prefer death rather than wrong me in the leastpoint, yet I was sorry to find that you should think any circumstancessufficient to justify a man in seeking to terminate his own existence.Do you think, De Juvigny, that I have not had cause sufficient tosnatch at death, if ever man ought to do it? Do you think that I havenot had temptations to self-destruction, had I not felt that such anact is base and cowardly, as well as absurd?"
"I do not deny, my lord," I replied, "that some feelings, such as yousuppose, might influence me at first, after discovering what was thestate of my own heart towards Mademoiselle de Villardin. But I soonsaw the folly of yielding to them; and I can assure you, upon myhonour, that if, during the rest of the campaign, I exposed myselfunnecessarily, it was done unconsciously."
"I am glad to hear it, De Juvigny; I am glad to hear it," repliedMonsieur de Villardin; "for it was certainly the greatest fault I eversaw you commit. However, when you join the army again, be as carefulof your own person as it is in your nature to be; and remember, thatif you fall, Laura loses a husband, and I lose a son. There are fewmen," he added, smiling, "to whom one would willingly address suchcautions in sending them forth to battle. But I know that it would bedifficult to put too many checks upon you."
Although I certainly did not anticipate any farther impediment to myhappiness, yet it was very natural that I should desire to call Lauramy wife before I again joined the army. Nor did I fail to let Monsieurde Villardin know that such was the case; but he, of course, preferredhis plan to mine, and I was obliged to yield with a good grace. At thetime that this conversation took place, which was about three weeksafter my return from Dumont, there still remained full two, if notthree, months, ere I was likely again to be called to the field; andas one probably makes up one's mind to that which is remote moreeasily than to that which is near at hand, Laura and myself did notsuffer the prospect of being once more separated before our union, todisturb our happiness in the meantime.
There was only one thing, however, which gave me uneasiness, whichwas, to observe that, although the surgeons had declared Monsieur deVillardin to be well, and had consequently taken their leave, yet thathe himself did not seem to think his recovery so perfect as they did.The ball was still lodged in his body, the surgeons declaring that ithad formed itself a bed under the shoulder bone, whence it could notbe extracted, and where it could occasion neither inconvenience norinjury; but still Monsieur de Villardin complained of occasional pain,and I remarked that, in the morning, he was more than commonly gloomyand depressed, while every evening his spirits rose to a much higherpitch than had been usual with him for many years, and a bright flushtook possession of his cheek, very different from its usual colour.
All this made me uneasy; and I saw that he himself was not satisfiedwith his own situation, often talking of going to some of those placesin the Pyrenees, the waters of which are famous for the cure ofgunshot wounds. I did all that I could to encourage this idea, andalso to amuse and occupy his mind in the morning when he seemed mostdepressed. But it was in vain that I made the latter attempt; heseemed to love solitude, and to be somewhat impatient of interruptionor society. The autumn proved a very rainy one; and, when he was notable to go out, he passed the greater part of the time in hislibrary', busily occupied in writing and arranging his papers andaffairs. From the rapid and accurate manner in which he prepared forthe future, one would have supposed that he anticipated a very speedytermination of his life, and yet his conversation did not show that tobe the case. He spoke of many years to come, and laid out long plansfor after life: but yet, when forced to stay at home, he busiedhimself with everything that could imply the speedy approach of death.
When the weather was fine, his occupations were very different. Hewould saunter slowly out for hours, sometimes accompanied by FatherFerdinand, but more frequently alone; and indeed, as I have beforesaid, he did not seem to covet any society. At night he sat with Lauraand myself till we separated for the evening; and I never, even whenfirst I knew him, beheld him so bright, so cheerful, as he appeared onthese occasions, during nearly ten days after his wound was healed.
At length one night he expressed his determination of going to Bar?ge,as soon as the season permitted; and laid out a plan by which I mightaccompany him and Laura thither, even if an early commencement of thecampaign prevented me from remaining with them all the time of theirstay. The whole arrangement seemed to please him, and he retired torest, in high spirits, at about ten o'clock. The next morning he camedown sad and gloomy; and, after breakfast, ordered his hat and cloakto be brought in, scarcely interchanging a word with any one. A glancefrom Laura's eye made me offer to accompany him on his walk, but hereplied decidedly, though in a kindly tone, "No, I thank you, my dearboy; I would rather be alone. It is a fine day, however, for the timeof year, and you and Laura had better ride or walk out together." Thussaying, he left us; and about an hour afterwards Laura andmyself--followed by Lise, and with Clement de la Marke hovering roundus, like a scared lapwing, now hanging close to my side, now walkingon at a great distance, and affecting, with boyish playfulness, notto intrude on the conversation of the lovers--set out to take advantageof the short sunshine of that season
.
Had not the tone of Monsieur de Villardin been so very decided inregard to his wish for solitude, we might have endeavoured to meet himon his walk; but now we felt that it was necessary rather to choosesome path which he was not likely to take. As Laura left it to me todetermine, I proposed that we should go to the spot which had been ourplace of meeting when regret, and sorrow, and expectation of speedyseparation, served sadly to allay the brief joy of being in eachother's society for a time. We had not been there since the whole hadbeen reversed; and as our fears for the future had then served todeaden the enjoyments of the present, the remembrances of the past nowtended only to enhance, in the highest degree, all the delight of themoment, and the anticipation of bright joys in the time to come.Everything that we saw as we walked along recalled some idea ofpainful separations now to take place no more--of dreams constantlydispelled by the consciousness that they were but dreams--of happinessturned into misery, by the certainty that it must end--of wishes thathad become pangs, from the expectation of their disappointment. Butnow the recollection of such things in the past added, as I have said,a zest to all the joy of our hearts; and it would be necessary toknow, or rather to feel, how deeply two hearts can be attached to eachother, before any one can conceive how bright--how glorious--howdream-like was the happiness that we then experienced!
Thus we wandered on from meadow to meadow, and from grove to grove,till at length the scene of our meetings, the tall gigantic trees, thesoft green turf, the small rise in the ground, connected in my mindwith so many various memories, presented themselves to our eyes, stillbeautiful and soft, though any leaves that lingered on the trees werewithered, and the grey hue of approaching winter was over all thescene.
A few steps taken forward, however, showed me something lying in aheap, as it were, upon the very grave of the Count de Mesnil; and asudden sinking of my heart took place, with feelings of apprehensionthat I could not well explain. The same sight had caught the eyes ofLaura also; and, pointing forward, she exclaimed, "What is that?" Asshe did so, she paused for a single instant, but at that moment fearseemed to become prophetic in her bosom. Where we stood it wascertainly impossible for her to discern even the form of a humanbeing; but exclaiming, "Good God! it is my father!" she drew her armfrom mine, and darted on with the speed of light.
I followed as quick as possible; but ere I overtook her, she reachedthe foot of the tree, and, with a shriek of horror, dropped down as ifshe had been shot. There was, indeed, sufficient cause: for there,stretched upon the very grave in which his hand and mine had laid hisadversary, with his hat fallen off on one side, and his outstretchedhand clasping a rosary, appeared the inanimate form of Monsieur deVillardin, with an immense quantity of blood which had flowed from hismouth and nostrils, deluging the turf on every side, and dabbling hismantle and his left arm, which was stretched upon the ground.
The great loss of blood, the position in which he had fallen, therigidity of his form when I endeavoured to raise him, all showed methat he, who, for so many years, had been my friend, and more than myfather--with whom I had gone through such scenes of interest--who hadshown me such undeviating and disinterested affection,--was no more abeing of this earth. I never felt mortality more bitterly; but on himall care was vain, and my attention--as well as that of Lise and thepage--was directed towards his unhappy child, whose temporary loss offeeling and reflection was, perhaps, the best thing that could happento her at the time. I bore her in my arms to one of the woodmen'scottages at about half a mile distance, sending the boy back withall speed to the ch?teau for aid and assistance.
All the inhabitants of the building were soon poured forth; the bodyof Monsieur de Villardin was removed to the castle; and the carriagehaving been procured, poor Laura was carried back to her ownapartments, falling from one fainting fit into another, with intervalsonly sufficient to recall the horrible sight she had beheld, ere shewas again lost in unconsciousness.
The Little Ball O' Fire; or, the Life and Adventures of John Marston Hall Page 40