第22章

Lenormand,the usher of the Court,is not the real owner;he is only a screen for your husband.The delightful seclusion you enjoy is the Count's work,the money you earn is paid by him,and his protection extends to the most trivial details of your existence.Your husband has saved you in the eyes of the world;he has assigned plausible reasons for your disappearance;he professes to hope that you were not lost in the wreck of the /Cecile/,the ship in which you sailed for Havana to secure the fortune to be left to you by an old aunt,who might have forgotten you;you embarked,escorted by two ladies of her family and an old man-servant.The Count says that he has sent agents to various spots,and received letters which give him great hopes.He takes as many precautions to hide you from all eyes as you take yourself.In short,he obeys you .'

"'That is enough,'she said.'I want to know but one thing more.From whom have you obtained all these details?'

"'Well,madame,my uncle got a place for a penniless youth as secretary to the Commissary of police in this part of Paris.That young man told me everything.If you leave this house this evening,however stealthily,your husband will know where you are gone,and his care will follow you everywhere.--How could a woman so clever as you are believe that shopkeepers buy flowers and caps as dear as they sell them?Ask a thousand crowns for a bouquet,and you will get it.No mother's tenderness was ever more ingenious than your husband's!Ihave learned from the porter of this house that the Count often comes behind the fence when all are asleep,to see the glimmer of your nightlight!Your large cashmere shawl cost six thousand francs--your old-clothes-seller brings you,as second hand,things fresh from the best makers.In short,you are living here like Venus in the toils of Vulcan;but you are alone in your prison by the devices of a sublime magnanimity,sublime for seven years past,and at every hour.'

"The Countess was trembling as a trapped swallow trembles while,as you hold it in your hand,it strains its neck to look about it with wild eyes.She shook with a nervous spasm,studying me with a defiant look.Her dry eyes glittered with a light that was almost hot:still,she was a woman!The moment came when her tears forced their way,and she wept--not because she was touched,but because she was helpless;they were tears of desperation.She had believed herself independent and free;marriage weighed on her as the prison cell does on the captive.

"'I will go!'she cried through her tears.'He forces me to it;Iwill go where no one certainly will come after me.'

"'What,'I said,'you would kill yourself?--Madame,you must have some very powerful reasons for not wishing to return to Comte Octave.'

"'Certainly I have!'

"'Well,then,tell them to me;tell them to my uncle.In us you will find two devoted advisers.Though in the confessional my uncle is a priest,he never is one in a drawing-room.We will hear you;we will try to find a solution of the problems you may lay before us;and if you are the dupe or the victim of some misapprehension,perhaps we can clear the matter up.Your soul,I believe,is pure;but if you have done wrong,your fault is fully expiated.At any rate,remember that in me you have a most sincere friend.If you should wish to evade the Count's tyranny,I will find you the means;he shall never find you.'

"'Oh!there is always a convent!'said she.

"'Yes.But the Count,as Minister of State,can procure your rejection by every convent in the world.Even though he is powerful,Iwill save you from him--;but--only when you have demonstrated to me that you cannot and ought not to return to him.Oh!do not fear that you would escape his power only to fall into mine,'I added,noticing a glance of horrible suspicion,full of exaggerated dignity.'You shall have peace,solitude,and independence;in short,you shall be as free and as little annoyed as if you were an ugly,cross old maid.

I myself would never be able to see you without your consent.'

"'And how?By what means?'

"'That is my secret.I am not deceiving you,of that you may be sure.

Prove to me that this is the only life you can lead,that it is preferable to that of the Comtesse Octave,rich,admired,in one of the finest houses in Paris,beloved by her husband,a happy mother .and I will decide in your favor.'

"'But,'said she,'will there never be a man who understands me?'

"'No.And that is why I appeal to religion to decide between us.The Cure of the White Friars is a saint,seventy-five years of age.My uncle is not a Grand Inquisitor,he is Saint John;but for you he will be Fenelon--the Fenelon who said to the Duc de Bourgogne:'Eat a calf on a Friday by all means,monseigneur.But be a Christian.'

"'Nay,nay,monsieur,the convent is my last hope and my only refuge.