"Name of a devil, Claude, what is the matter?"
"Nothing. Nothing. Never mind. Good-night!"
He started away, but his cousin darted after him and caught him by the arm. "See here, my friend, you would better let me accompany you to your room. You must not make a scene. I cannot imagine how you—"
Before Henri finished Claude broke into a laugh. "Mordi, Henri, didst think me mad? I am a trifle excited. I am weary from the hunt—what you will. I am going to retire. Do not disturb me to-night. See, there is Mlle. d'Argenson regarding me. Let me go at once. There. Good-night!"
After these words the Marquis paused more contentedly, and saw his cousin leave the room, going in the direction of the grand staircase. On his way Claude passed the King, who was with Mme. de Jarnac, and the Duchess, still with de Gêvres. He left the second salon behind and entered an antechamber opening upon the central hall. Here, quite alone, side by side in the shadow of a hanging, were Victorine de Coigny and François de Bernis. The Abbé was toying with her fan, and laughingly answering her animated questions and observations. De Mailly took mental note of her face as he bowed in passing. Never had he seen it so absolutely free from discontent or that little look of fretful weariness that neither Henri nor de Coigny himself had ever been able to dispel. Now Claude had left them behind, and the staircase was before him. Ascending rapidly, he passed along the corridor above to the old apartments of de Maintenon. He knocked, was admitted without delay, and conducted, by Antoinette, into the inner room.
"Monsieur le Comte will wait here. He is early," she said, as she slipped away.
In the centre of the room in which he was left stood a round table. To this Claude drew a chair, seated himself, and then, obeying an impulse, leaned forward on the mahogany and laid his head upon his arms. Minutes passed, and he distinguished them neither from seconds nor from hours. After a time the maid once more went through the room. There was the murmur of a phrase or two spoken in the antechamber, a door softly opened, the delicate swish of satin, and then Claude was upon one knee at the feet of his cousin of Châteauroux.
She raised him up and smiled slowly into his brilliant eyes. "You are tired of waiting, and, indeed, I do not wonder. But I have not been able to effect my disappearance till now. 'Toinette will bring apâtêand a glass of wine to us here, which we will take together, not as cousins, Claude, but—"
"As lovers," he murmured.
She shook her head at him. "As very good friends, my dear."
"Ah, no—Anne, no! Surely you could not think when you had granted me so much—so much as this—that I would not dare more—would not risk all, at last—"
"Chut! Stop, Claude! Why, would you finish our colloquy in a word? We have much time before us. To hurry is ungraceful."
He flushed and laughed at the same time. Happily at that moment Antoinette and Fouchelet, the valet, entered together, the man bearing their repast upon a silver tray. While the dishes were being set out madame moved leisurely over to her toilet-table for a fan, and Claude sat silent till they were alone again.
"And now, my Claude, you will pledge me in a glass of this wine of Champagne. See—to thee, and me, and our house, Claude! Come—drink!"
Was madame suddenly nervous? Claude heard her voice tremble, and thought that her hand shook as she raised the delicate crystal goblet, with its tracery of golden grapes and vines, filled to the brim with that foaming gold which the court of the fifteenth Louis knew so well.
"To you, Anne! Only to you!"
The glass was at his lips, and he drank the toast with his soul in his eyes. He was blind; he was deaf. He did not hear that sound in the neighboring room that had stopped his companion's hand and fixed her eyes. The door to the boudoir was thrown violently open, and, at the same instant, there was the crash of glass on the floor.
"Diable!" cried a peculiar voice; and then a silence, thick, terrifying, fell upon the little room.
Slowly, so slowly that the woman was fascinated with the sight, Claude carried the glass from his lips back to the table. His eyes had met those of the King, and both men hung to the glance. The boy rose, his limbs as steady as his hand had been. And still no one spoke. Mme. de Châteauroux was not acting now. Claude had not seen her first terror, but he knew when her hand crept to her mouth, perceived the trembling of it, heard dimly the sharpness of her breathing. Finally her voice came to him as if from a great distance, as she faintly said:
"I had not—expected—your Majesty—so early."
"So early, madame," echoed the royal voice, suavely. "And does Mme. de Châteauroux now make appointments for her evenings by the hour?"
Claude shut his teeth. "Sire, you insult my cousin!"
Mme. de Châteauroux started unfeignedly, and Louis' face flushed. His tone, however, was unmoved, as he said, slowly:
"Madame, order this person to leave the room."
La Châteauroux hesitated for the fraction of a second. Then she turned to de Mailly. "Monsieur," she said, "do you need further—"
But before she could finish Claude took the affair into his own hands. Moving until he stood between her and the King, and looking straight into her now impenetrable face, he spoke:
"Anne, when I came here to-night, I think you must have known what it was to say; and you will let me speak it now. Anne—I love you. I love you more dearly than anything upon earth. I offer you what I have to give—marriage, and the devotion of my life. You have been mistress of France, but I offer you an honester home, one in which you may obtain absolution. Choose, then, here and now, between us two. I ask that the King, as a man, will allow that choice—between marriage with me and freedom to live where we choose, or—the other life."
In the stillness which followed Louis de Bourbon glanced from the woman to the speaker and back again. Truly, the boy had courage, but something lacked in wit. Then the King felt for his snuff-box, opened it, smiled leisurely, took a pinch in his fingers, and, before absorbing it, re marked, dryly:
"Choose, madame."
La Châteauroux bent her head. It was not what she had planned, this situation. She herself it was who was bearing the difficult and the despicable part in it; for madame was but twenty-seven, and had still traditions of the family honor clinging to her. The answer came as though it cut her a little to speak her words, there, with the King's cynical eyes upon her, and all Claude's young, mad hope in his face:
"Claude—I wish you—good-night. Will your Majesty do me the honor to take a glass of wine?"
Tuesday morning at Marly proved an ordeal for the army of valets and maids attendant on the ladies and gentlemen who had taken part in the amusement of the day before. His Majesty, indeed, could not be said to have set a good example to his companions. He was sulky, he was depressed by the weather, and he wanted de Berryer. While he was still in bed he was informed by de Rosset, his first gentleman, that the Chief of Police could not possibly be brought to Marly from Versailles under six hours. Louis made no comments, but kicked the bedclothes aside and began to dress himself with extreme rapidity, receiving his garments as willingly from the plebeian hands of Bachelier as from those of de Rosset, whose business it was to conduct matters properly. Being finally arrayed in a very much shorter time than usual, the King adjourned to the conventional room and sat down to the breakfast prepared for him. After gloomily striking off the tops of his eggs, dipping a bit of bread into each yolk, and throwing the rest away, till he had demolished seventeen of these commodities, without eating what one would contain, he ordered his sleigh prepared, and, at nine o'clock, left Marly behind, and set off at full trot for Versailles.
Behind him, at his grandfather's stiff old château, Louis left a pretty disposition of human emotions. Mme. de Châteauroux was very anxious. The more she brooded over the scene of the night before, the more she regretted the affair. Certainly it had turned out as badly as possible. Claude was inevitably ruined. He must by now have discovered how heartless and how cruel she was; and as to Louis being more jealous, and therefore more anxious to please her than before, why, that was a doubtful question. He could be very ambiguous when he chose.
As a matter of fact, Claude himself was less concerned at his position than his cousin for him. Claude had much, and, at the same time, little, to lose at Court. His love was strong, but his youthful buoyancy of spirit was stronger. He was young, happy-hearted, untrammelled. There was no one dependent on him for place. He would have passed the Bastille doors without grief had it only been promised him that Henri should visit his room there once a week with the latest stories and gossip, and that the Doublet-PersaneNouvelles à la Mainand a billet from his lady should reach him every Wednesday and Saturday. This was not more on account of his frivolity of taste than because of his ability to make for himself a home and amusements out of the most unpromising material. He was blessed with two things, that only the gods can give and the gods only take away—a system of pure optimism and unbounded faith in the goodness of human nature.
Claude by no means lay awake during the hours that were left between his retirement and the dawn, on that night at Marly; but his eyes unclosed in the morning more heavily than was their wont, and it took him but a second to define the sense of weight at his heart when he was awake. Sounding the hand-bell for his man, he made a rapid and silent toilet, and then hastened off to the neighboring apartment of his cousin the Marquis. Henri was in bed, still in that dream-stage between sound slumber and preliminary yawns. Claude's repeated and vigorous knocks at the door succeeded at last in bringing him to a realizing sense of all that is disagreeable in life.
"Diable! Is it you, Chaumelle? What do you mean by rousing me at this hour? Is the château on fire? Is the King ill—or Anne in a temper? Wait—wait—wait! I open!"
The Marquis, shivering with cold, crept out of bed and unlocked his door.
"Oh! You, Claude! I might have guessed it. One's family is so inconsiderate. Will you come in? I'm going to bed again to keep myself warm. For the love of Heaven, get Chaumelle to bring a tripod of charcoal or to light my grate here!"
Claude obligingly sounded the gong, whereupon the Marquis' man appeared with admirable promptness.
"Run to my room, Chaumelle, and bring in the chauffier you will find there. His Majesty's too tender of his forests to provide us with wood for burning. It's abominably cold."
The valet hurried away, to return in three minutes gingerly carrying by its handles a tripod filled with glowing charcoal, that gave out a very satisfactory heat.
"Will monsieur rise now?"
"No," answered Claude. "Set it there. Bring the water in half an hour from now. He will be ready for you then."
The man bowed and disappeared, while Henri, from the bed, grumbled discontentedly: "How in the name of a thousand devils dost thou know at what hour I will rise? Wilt let me sleep again now, or not?"
"Not, Henri," was the reply, as Claude drew a tabouret up to the bed and spoke in a tone so new that his cousin sat up and looked at him.
"You are in trouble, Claude, and you do not tell me of it."
Claude leaned over the bed, took up the pillows, and fixed them, as a woman might, at the Marquis' back.
"Sit there so, and pull the coverlet about thy shoulders, and then listen to my history, and tell me—what the end will be."
Thereupon the younger de Mailly proceeded to recount, very accurately, with neither exaggeration nor palliation, all that had occurred on the previous night, together with certain incidents which had gone before, unthought of, but which now stood out from the tangle of life with significant relationship to the present situation. The Marquis listened closely, with increasing anxiety in his expression; and when Claude ceased to speak there was a silence between the cousins. It was this silence that forced upon the Count his first twinge of real dread.
"Well, Henri!" he said at last, with sharp intensity.
"Well, Claude?" returned the other, sadly.
"What dost think of it?"
"I think—do you remember, Claude, the affair of young d'Agenois?"
Claude started. Then he rose, walked measuredly over to the window, and looked out upon the bleak landscape. His face was invisible as he said, in a muffled voice: "François d'Agenois, the Italian, who—who once asked in marriage the hand of the Marquise de la Tournelle? François, Duc d'Agenois—"
"Has lived since then near Geneva, while Mme. de la Tournelle was created Duchesse de Châteauroux.... I meant that one, Claude,—yes."
"And you think," said the young fellow, turning about, and squarely facing his companion—"you think that I shall—be invited to undergo the same—fate?"
"Ah, Claude, my cousin—my comrade—surely not! Surely the King is older, his penchant for Marie is now perfectly understood, perfectly secure; nay—"
"Don't say that," interrupted Claude, suddenly. "Why should he be secure with her? Ah, Henri, last night she refused my offer of marriage, it is true; but it may have been to lessen his Majesty's fury against me. Henri, I swear to you, that with her, for her, as my wife, I would live in the desert, a wilderness, anything, and be the happiest man in all the world. She knows this. Henri, she must care—a little!"
Mailly-Nesle listened with a face more serious than ever, and, when Claude finally stopped, he shook his head. "Do not put your faith in her, Claude. I, her brother, warn you. She gave up everything in life to win the place she obtained. Remember how d'Agenois was her promised husband when he was exiled with her consent. Remember that she drove her own sister, Alexandre's wife, out of Versailles, to the Ursulines, for life. She—no, Claude, she will not help you. She cannot."
The younger sighed. "Ah, well—I ask too much, perhaps. At any rate, it may mean nothing more than a month in the Bastille. That would not be at all difficult. Indeed, I should indulge in a much-needed rest. You and de Coigny should come to tell me all the news; I would invite Monsieur le Gouverneur, and, possibly, my turn-key to dine, and we should all be merry with feasting and fasting by turns. You see, Henri, my spirit will not be shaken till the final blow. This room is like a furnace. When, dear Lord Doleful, are you going to rise?"
"At once, Claude. My friend, your buoyancy is worth rubies. Even now I am mourning for you more than you for yourself. How are you able to move hand or foot?"
"Come, you are aping d'Epernon. You make a bad lover. No woman likes a man with a face so long. Ah! And that reminds me—but what shall you do when you are dressed?"
"Coffee—if 'tis to be had here—and eggs; the health of Mme. de Châteauroux; that of Mme. de Coigny; our sleigh; Versailles; you with me. Now, of what is it that you are reminded?"
"Good. Good. Hurry now, Chaumelle. I famish.... I was reminded that, last evening, as I left the last antechamber on the great hall, I beheld your charming Victorine, herself charming—and being charmed."
"Ah!—Mordi! It is that vile abbé—de Bernis, they call him—who was her companion in Paris."
"A handsome fellow," observed the Count, from a mirror where he was adjusting his wig.
The Marquis turned so sharply under Chaumelle's razor that he narrowly missed having his chin laid open. "You think so?" he cried out, anxiously.
Claude burst into a shout of laughter. "On my soul, Henri, you are a prig. Use a little indifference towards her. 'Tis only that can save you now. Why, positively, you are absurd. How is it that you arrange the 'gallant' now?"
"A trifle smaller than you have it there, and farther down towards the left ear. There. That is better."
"Thanks. Ah, Chaumelle, five livres to you if you have Monsieur le Marquis ready by half-past nine."
Chaumelle more than won his prize, for it was but just half-past when the cousins, having finished their coffee and eggs, were announced at the apartments of the Duchess.
Mme. de Châteauroux, pelissed, hooded, and muffed in crimson velvet and sables, sat pensively at her window, awaiting the arrival of her sleigh. She rose in unfeigned agitation at the entrance of Claude and her brother.
"Ah, Monsieur le Comte! How rash you are! You compromise me; you—you make your own case infinitely worse. Henri, how could you have permitted him to come?"
"Madame!" cried Claude, beseechingly, but the Marquis interrupted.
"The King, Anne, has left Marly. You—"
"I know. I know. Whom did you see in the hallway as you came here? Any one?"
"De Gêvres and Richelieu," answered Claude.
Henri, frowning, pinched him.
"Good Heaven!" cried the Duchess; "we are lost, both you and I! Oh, you are thoughtless, cruel! Go at once, both of you, and let de Gêvres see you instantly depart for Versailles. I shall not now leave here until twelve o'clock. Go! Go!"
She fairly pushed them from her into her antechamber, pointing, as she did so, to the outer door. Claude had turned scarlet, but Henri was very pale. Both of them bowed in silence; for there seemed no words suitable for bidding the "fair and haughty," now very tearful and eager Châteauroux, good-bye. Once outside, the Marquis turned and looked at Claude.
"De Gêvres was to see us again," he muttered, angrily.
"De Gêvres be—!" was the low reply. "I return to Versailles."
"And I accompany you.... Good Heaven, Claude, don't think that she meant it all! You see how everlastingly she must work against all that is generous in her."
"Ah, messieurs! Your morning interview with madame, your sister and cousin, was short. You are leaving the château?"
"We follow the example of his Majesty, monsieur."
"And I, gentlemen, shall follow your first lead. I hasten to pay my compliments to the Duchess. I have the honor to wish you an enjoyable ride."
Richelieu, in a morning toilet of fawn color and lavender, an embroidery bag upon his arm, a patch-box in one hand, smilingly passed the cousins and went on his way to the apartments of the favorite.
Madame was divested of her wraps and resigned to Marly for another two hours. Richelieu seated himself comfortably in the historic boudoir, one foot, prone to repentance for many truffles and overmuchvin d'Ai, reposing tenderly on a cushion, his embroidery in his hands, and a snuff-box near by. The favorite, gracious, but a trifle on her guard, placed herself opposite to him and waited.
The Duke took several contemplative stitches before he remarked, gently: "Madame, you look unwell this morning. Now, were I you, I should not be nervous. As I imagine, you were slightly rash yesterday—did not manage quite so perfectly as usual. You have, no doubt, sacrificed the cousin; but you are still secure."
"His Majesty has spoken to you?"
"By no means. But the mad haste with which he departed this morning portends extreme disease of mind. It is his fear that, after all, Claude may hold charms which he does not possess."
The Duchess raised her eyes to the ceiling. "Dear uncle," she said, "Louis is perfect. I adore him!"
"Ah, but you either make him doubt too strongly or you let him know it too well. You are too impassioned, Anne. I have always told you that. I assure you I should have been married twenty times, instead of only twice, had I not been able to have any woman for the asking."
La Châteauroux, perhaps unconsciously, sighed.
"Ah, madame, life is cruel to us all. But now, Anne, come, confide in me, as your good counsellor, certain particulars which the Court but guesses. What is the last madness of young de Mailly, and why did the King, after apetit leverand a vile breakfast, without admitting a single entry, order his sleigh an hour ago and set off for Versailles and de Berryer as if pursued by all the furies? All knowledge is yours, my Anne. Share it with me."
Mme. de Châteauroux rose from her chair and swept two or three times up and down the little room. Richelieu, examining her at his leisure, could discover no trace of agitation in her manner. Suddenly she stopped still and turned towards him.
"I do not deny that Claude is lost," she said, slowly. "But, if he is, is it not his fault alone? He is not ignorant of the ways of the Court. Why should he put himself, his career, in my hands? He will reproach me, without doubt. All will do that. Again I shall be called, as in the other case, without heart, without generosity, without love for my family.Mon Dieu!—you remember the scandal when my father left Versailles? Bah! Put me out of my position, uncle. Imagine me as a mere bourgeoise—of the people. Well, then? What woman but will become selfish, forgetful of all, for the man she loves? What are those others, who stand in her way, to her? And I, Monsieur le Duc, am a woman who loves. I love—I have the courage to love—the King."
A flicker passed through the eyes of the Duke as he bent over his embroidery. Was it amusement, or was it revelation? Could it be but a recollection of certain common Court memories that appertained to the "love" of Marie Anne de Mailly? Was it a fleeting remembrance of the brief and stormy careers of the two older sisters of this woman, both of whom had held her place, the one dying in it, pitifully enough, the other dismissed by the open command of the Marquise de la Tournelle, then just coming into power? Was it a vision of the angry helplessness of the old Marquis de Nesle, driven away to die in exile, because his pride of family was too great to sanction his daughters' dishonor? Was it a thought for a brother's hidden shame; of the merciless flouting of a helpless queen; of the dismissal of every minister who held at heart the best interests, not of the mistress, but of France; of the ruin of every courtier who had not paid his court to her; of the fate of the hapless d'Agenois; the impending ruin of young de Mailly? Was it, perhaps, a vision of prophecy concerning others to come, on whom disfavor should fall—Belleville, d'Argenson, Chartres, Maurepas, the Dauphin of France—nay, finally, after all, before all,himself, the great, the incomparable Richelieu, estranged from the King and the Court through the "love" of this woman? After all, the flutter of many thoughts takes but an instant, and madame had scarcely time for impatience when her good "uncle" was answering her with well-calculated lightness.
"You are right, Anne. And how drunk with the happiness of such love should our most gracious Majesty be! Perhaps he has flown away this morning that he may reflect in happy solitude on his great good-fortune."
Unfortunately, however, as Richelieu well knew, this was not precisely what his most gracious Majesty was engaged in this morning. Upon his unexpected arrival at Versailles at so early an hour, the King's first cry was for de Berryer. The attendant of whom he made demand performed his obeisance, looked nervously about him, and scurried away on a search. In the meantime Louis ascended to the deserted council-chamber off the Œil-de-Bœuf, threw off coat, hat, and gloves, and pounded on the bell for some one to remove his boots. A valet came, together with the unhappy announcement that M. de Berryer was in Paris—had been there, indeed, since yesterday morning—on important business. Louis fell into one of his silent rages, despatched a document commanding the instant return of the Chief of Police to his side, growled an order to serve his dinner to him alone where he was, and sank into his official chair at the great table in a fit of sulks which lasted him all day. De Berryer's arrival, at five o'clock in the afternoon, elicited the first gleam of satisfaction from his dull eyes. He ordered a fresh instalment of wine and cakes, closed the doors of the room, and motioned the minister into a chair across the table, where he could stare conveniently into the small, dark face.
"Well, Sire, you have work for me?" inquired the official, with badly concealed irritation. De Berryer had been forced to leave certain matters relative to the farmers-general in a distressingly unfinished state in Paris, had been harassed all through his ride with details of the King's anger, and finally arrived at Versailles tired, nervous, and out of sorts, to be summoned instantly before Louis, who would probably occupy him till seven with his usual tiresome and fussy budget of Court intrigue, gossip, and grievances. And at such times there was certainly one minister of France who cordially hated his position.
"You have work for me?" repeated de Berryer again.
"Yes, yes, yes. I want alettre-de-cachetat once, and you to deliver it," was the reply.
The poor servant groaned inwardly as he drew from his pocket an ever-ready bunch of these conveniences, prepared for filling out. "What name, Sire? It is immediate?"
"Yes. No. Wait. I will tell you about it," responded the King, leaning comfortably back in his chair and munching agâteau purlaine.
De Berryer passed the back of his hand over his forehead and resigned himself. Louis began to speak, recounting in a leisurely but not unentertaining fashion the last developments of theaffairede Mailly, as it was called at Court. Presently, despite himself, de Berryer grew interested in the tale. He remembered his last conversation with Claude at the assembly, perceived that the young man had not taken his advice, but had gone along upon his own career of audacious fidelity to a foolish cause. On the whole, de Berryer rather admired him, and certainly regretted his approaching fall. Besides this, there was that other amusing phase of the matter—that of Louis' furious jealousy of this two-penny Count for whom the favorite doubtless cared not the least in the world, save for the fresh fires of royal devotion that she could kindle at his hands. All things considered, de Berryer had spent duller hours than this in his Majesty's presence.
"And now, my good de Berryer," finished Louis, more comfortably than ever, "you know all. What shall I do? Shall it be the Bastille for a couple of years?Hein?"
"No—no, your Majesty," returned the King's companion, calmly.
"What!"
"Listen, Sire, I beg of you, to my reasons. In the first place, la Bastille is no longer what it once was as a place of retirement for rash members of the younger nobility. It is generally crowded to the doors. It is by no means strictly kept. The apartments on the east side fairly reek with a Court atmosphere. All day long there is a continual stream of visitors for the prisoners, who keep quite as much in touch with the times as though they dwelt in the Œil-de-Bœuf. I assure you the reputation of a Court gallant is not complete till he has lived a month or two in that old fortress. M. de Mailly's fame would be greatly enhanced during his residence there, and it would be by no means unusual were Mme. de Châteauroux herself to visit him."
The King blasphemed below his breath, and the minister smiled covertly.
"Precisely so, your Majesty. No, it is not bolt, bar, and stone walls to foment his passion that our young Count needs. On the contrary, it is space, time, other courts, other women, new comrades—in fine, a second case of d'Agenois—that will fit the amorous M. de Mailly. He—"
"Bravo, bravo, de Berryer! Excellent, by my faith! It is enough. Wait." Louis touched his bell, and a lackey appeared.
"More candles for the table."
Lights were brought and set before the minister, who drew from a drawer in the table some paper, quills, a sandbox, wax, and the small seal.
"Write!" commanded the King.
"And the delivery, Sire, shall take place—when?"
"To-morrow morning, in the chapel, after mass."
De Berryer frowned. "Your Majesty is a second Molière," he observed, politely.
Louis, holding a glass of Burgundy to the light, bowed thanks.
To the delight of the pale puppet-queen, Marie Leczinska, Louis, on Wednesday morning, came to her apartments in the best of humors, to conduct her in person to mass in Mansard's famous chapel. It was an unwritten law in this sanctuary that husbands and wives, not a few of whom had seen each other for the first time at the altar here, but had no cause to love it the more on that account, should sit together. Their Majesties, with Mesdames Henriette and Adelaide, and Monseigneur, the young, Jesuitical Dauphin, set the example by appearingen famillein the front space. Behind them sat those of the Queen's ladies who were unmarried or widowed, together with all thedemoiselles d'honneur, presided over by the unbending Duchesse de Boufflers, who, in spite of herself, could not prevent the glances that passed between this delightful bevy and the company of gallants across the aisle. Mme. de Châteauroux, here always sombrely dressed, excited no comment. Claude de Mailly, alone, out of the whole Court, chose his place with reference to her; and in this place to-day, as usual, he sat, his head on his hand, dreamily listening to the chanting of the choir, and the low intoning, mingling the incense of his earthly but none the less pure adoration with that which ascended from the golden censer to a higher heaven.
Mme. de Châteauroux was pale to-day. More than one person had already noted that fact, and remarked it to a neighbor. If Claude were whiter about the temples and lips than she, none but Henri, beside him, knew it. Never once throughout the service did madame turn to answer the unwavering look that seemed as if it must draw her cold blue eyes by very force about to answer it. But Louis' smooth, satin back was within reach of her hand. She could almost stir his loosely tied locks with her breath. She felt Claude's presence with rare discomfort. The knowledge of his danger was crying to her conscience painfully; but she could not speak, and her eyes must keep their place.
Behind the de Maillys, Marquis and Count, Victorine de Coigny, pale also, great-eyed, and small, sat beside her tall husband, who, though he stared steadily at the altar, failed to make a single response, and no more knew the subject of the address than did his wife, whose thoughts were wandering in far and fair new places.
Mass, to the relief of every one present save, possibly, Marie Leczinska and her son, came presently to an end. In a measured press the many-colored throng passed down the aisle after the sovereigns, bowing, chatting, shrugging, smiling, retailing the last bit of gossip as they might do to-day, happy in the knowledge that twenty-four hours intervened between them and the next chapel. Mme. de Châteauroux, who, to the end, had resolutely avoided her cousin's entreaty, was among the last to set forth for less depressing apartments, surrounded, as usual, by a group of the King's gentlemen. Behind her, aimless, objectless, speaking to few, addressed by many, for a high interest centred around him now, went Claude, with Henri still close beside him. They arrived together at the door, and Mailly-Nesle, a pace ahead, was whispering a compliment into the ear of Mme. de Coigny, when a light hand fell upon Claude's shoulder. The young fellow started under the touch as though thrilled with a sudden presentiment. The Count de Maurepas was beside him.
"Be so good as to come back with me for an instant, monsieur," whispered the minister.
Claude turned and placed himself beside the other. They waited together till the last stragglers had left the chapel. Dim light, and silence that was a relief, fell about them. Up at the far end of the room an acolyte was extinguishing the candles at the altar. Then de Mailly quietly faced his companion.
'What is it that you want?" he asked.
"This, M. de Mailly. Believe me—I regret—exceedingly—my duty. M. de Berryer, however, requested—"
Without further ado Claude took from Maurepas' hand the letter that he held, with its dangling brown seal.
"You choose an odd place for its delivery," he remarked, as he unfolded the paper.
De Maurepas, to whom his good friend, the Chief of Police, had intrusted this unpleasant task, slightly bowed. He was watching the man beside him, the new royal victim, the gentleman who had been his companion in so many places, at so many times, for years. He saw Claude read that short, polite, rather suave missive, which gave small reason for its being, but made the gravity of its threat perfectly apparent in royal language. Claude read it twice, quite through, to the last word, the signature. Then his hand fell heavily to his side, and the paper dropped to the floor. Maurepas stooped to pick it up, but some one else was quicker than he. Henri de Mailly, returning in search of his cousin, had stood for a full minute unnoticed on the threshold. Now, retaining the letter, he turned a questioning gaze towards the pair. Maurepas failed to meet his eyes; but Claude smiled.
"I am starting soon upon a journey, Henri," he remarked. "Monsieur le Comte, may I request that you convey my farewells to his Majesty, since I have not the honor to bid himau revoirin person? Permit me to wish you a good-morning."
Claude bowed bravely, but ungracefully enough, and looked towards the Marquis. His lips were dry, his cheeks suddenly flushed, his eyes very bright. Henri understood the look, and passed with him out of the chapel. De Maurepas was left alone to gaze after them. When they were gone he shifted his position slightly, but made no move to leave the room. Presently de Berryer appeared from the vestibule and joined him.
"I saw them go," he said. "How did he take it?"
Maurepas shook his head. "I am not certain, but I think it was hard for him. I imagine that he was not very sure of what he did. He asked me to say 'au revoir' to the King. Bah! You might have done this yourself, de Berryer. I don't like such work."
"And do you think, Monsieur le Comte, that I like it better?" queried the King's favorite minister, with a weary frown.
On the morning of Thursday, January 21st, when a feeble ray of sunlight first straggled into the window of Claude's room on the Avenue de St. Cloud, in the town of Versailles, it fell upon an early company of four men engaged in an unwonted occupation. Upon the canopied bed, half dressed, unwigged, powderless, sat Claude, directing, with some animation, the movements of two men, his own valet and Henri's, one of whom stood before an oaken wardrobe, while the other knelt upon the floor beside a travelling coffer of brown hide, studded with brass nails. At some distance from these three, by a table, was the Marquis, quite dressed, his head leaning on his hand, watching operations in silence. Now and then he turned his eyes to the face of his cousin, while for the rest of the time they wandered about the disordered room. Henri's face was unusually pale to-day, and under his eyes lay shadows of sleeplessness. His mouth was set firmly, and the hand that hung by his side was clenched.
Certainly the room was in a state. All about it, on every chair, on the bureau, the desk, the tabourets, and upon the floor, lay clothes—court-suits, riding-suits, hunting-suits, every-day suits, dressing-gowns, boots, shoes, slippers, long stockings of silk and of thread, laces, ruffles, fine linen shirts, undergarments, wigs, a peruke, two swords, hats, cloaks, gauntlets—every article known to the masculine wardrobe of that day. From the various heaps Claude, by means of a riding-whip which he held, designated what he wished packed, Chaumelle would pick it out and carry it to Rochard, who folded it and placed it, with melancholy care, in the little coffer.
"I must have one court-suit, but I vow I'll take no more. Which shall it be, Henri—the peach-colored or the white satin? Speak, man!"
The Marquis, with an effort, raised his head. "Both. You will need the white one for your wedding."
Claude stared at his cousin for an instant, and his lips twitched with laughter. Then, with a sudden change of expression, he pulled from his breast, where it had lain all night, the letter that Maurepas had delivered to him. He had not read it since leaving the chapel.
"Owing to certain circumstances which of late have had the misfortune greatly to displease S.M., the King desires to inform Count Claude Vincent Armand Victor de Nesle de Mailly that the absence of the Count from the château and city of Versailles after the noon of Friday, January 22d, in this year of 1744, will be desirable to S.M.; and that after the first day of the month of February, Monsieur the Count, if he has not already crossed the line of the French Kingdom, would of necessity be placed under the escort of one of his Majesty's officers. The King wishes Monsieur the Count a delightful journey, and begs further to add that when monsieur shall desire to present Madame la Comtesse his wife to their Majesties at Versailles, his return to his present abode will be most pleasing to
"Louis R."
As Claude for the second time perused this curious letter his face darkened, and, at the last lines, flushed.
"I heard your 'au revoir' sent to his Majesty," observed Henri, "and, after I read the dismissal, I understood it. You will discover some pretty child in Madrid or Vienna. In six months you will be back again with her for presentation; and here she will quickly find some marquis or duke for cavalier, while you return again with your rashness to the little apartments."
The Marquis spoke these words by no means in raillery, but with such a tone of solemn prophecy that Claude turned a serious and questioning gaze upon his cousin. Then he shook his head.
"Do you, indeed, Henri, think so ill of me as that? Should I, by such a loveless bargain, dishonor myself and the woman who bore my name? What of the shame to me in bringing such a one, unprotected even by my affection, to this Court of Versailles, of all places on earth; to plunge her into the life that she would find here? You would run me through for a deed like that. Besides, I am going from here to no Court. I leave by post to-morrow for Flanders—Antwerp, or some seaport. And after, unless I travel in the Low Countries and up into Sweden, I have a mind to turn to strange places. Perhaps I shall sail for America."
"Ah, Claude, it is too far! Where wouldst thou go? To our colony of Louisiana, or the settlements of the South coast—the flower-land that is pestered with Spanish and English pirates? Be sane, my Claude. Remain nearer home. Surely some day you will return to us. Think, think of the homesickness. Without thee here, Claude, I—I—" Henri went no further. His voice had broken, and he suddenly hid his face in his hands and bent over the table.
The Count sprang from the bed, crying roughly to the two servants to continue their work. Then, standing by the chair of Mailly-Nesle, he put both hands affectionately on the two bent shoulders.
"Henri, look at me. Thou shalt not take it in this way. I have got no more than has come to a thousand others. I have loved too well. And since I may not have that one thing for which I would sell the soul from my body, 'tis small matter, after all, where I live, or what my portion is. Some day I shall return hither, doubtless—when—when—or thou shalt come to me. Things may occur, perhaps, that shall make all right. Take courage. Thou art a man! There is no time for this. We must talk together of many things. There is my money, my rents—"
The Marquis raised his head, and Claude nodded with satisfaction to see that he was again in control of himself.
"'Tis better,hein? Thou knowest, Henri, I get from Touraine and Languedoc together some fifty thousand livres yearly. I have made that suffice me here, with what I could win at play. My debts, as Fortune wills, are paid. Can the King say as much? What has paid for this life will stay me better abroad, in whatsoever land I may find myself, than it has done here. How to receive it—"
"That shall be my task, Claude. In May, as you have done, and again later in the year, I will go to both estates, as I visit my own. Your stewards will accept me as master, I imagine. They are good fellows, both."
"Between them they steal, with perfect regularity, seven thousand yearly."
"So little? They are not good, then, but stupid. Mine, on my single estate, costs me ten."
"Your lands nearly double mine."
The Marquis shrugged. "Well—and each three months you will write to me, that I may send the rents where you may be?"
"Yes. I will burden thee with news more often than that. Do you know, my friend, I have a mind to set out from Flanders or England for King George's colonies? It has been said that the summer is a paradise in Virginia, or in Lord Baltimore's province."
"'Tis too far, Claude! Italy or England—well. But America!Ciel! I should be as content with you in the moon."
"It is no more than a month's voyage in fair weather, I have heard."
"Ay, and six in foul."
"Ah, well—we'll not speak of it now. I—"
"And the language! Recollect your love of the English tongue."
"I do not love French to-day. I swear to you that I will perish at once rather than go to swell the peopling of our Christian Majesty's damnable colonies!"
"Chut! That is treason. Finish your selection of garments there, and let us go out to seek a dinner. I perish of hunger."
"I come, I come. You must not die to-day. Is the suit of olive there, Rochard? Then—"
His next word was interrupted by a tapping at the door.
"Umph! Some gossip to visit you!" growled the Marquis.
Claude drew his dressing-gown about him and motioned his man to the door. "Open—but not too widely," he said.
Rochard unclosed the door, pushed it open six inches, and peered out. After a low-voiced colloquy with some one outside, he turned into the room again, holding out to his master a note addressed in a handwriting which Claude dreamed of. As he opened and read it, the boy turned very white. Henri, who was watching him closely, hurried to his side.
"What is it?"
"Nothing," was the quick reply. "Rochard, it—it is the valet, is it not?"
"Fouchelet, yes, Monsieur le Comte."
"Tell him that—I will come."
Rochard bowed and went to deliver the message.
"Claude—Anne—Anne has interceded for you? No. She dare not do that. She is mad enough to see you again?"
"To say good-bye," was the reply, formed with dry lips. Then suddenly he cried out, sharply: "Henri, I cannot go! I will not leave her to that man! Either I stay here to die, or she shall come with me as my wife. Henri, I tell you I cannot leave her!"
It was two o'clock in the afternoon, and the Duchess was alone in her dressing-room. She was alone, had been alone through the whole morning, refusing admittance to the usual visitors of the toilette, in the hope that Claude might come. She had learned, like the rest of the Court, of the letter delivered in the chapel. But the reason of it, which was so well known to her, the Court but guessed. Her desire to speak with her cousin again was unaccountably strong, and she could not believe that he would make no effort to see her—for the last time. Nevertheless the hours had passed, and Claude neither sent her any word of farewell nor came himself. She was anxious, and she was bored. The King, who had that morning been informed that she was ill, had gone hunting. Versailles was deserted. Even Victorine was at Rambouillet. And so madame, more restless with every passing instant, was at last guilty of the imprudence of sending for the man whose banishment was caused by his having dared to enter too closely into her life.
Her note finally despatched by the only man in her household whom she could trust, she drank a second cup of chocolate and ate a fillet of venison, of royal shooting, with some appetite. Afterwards, with the assistance of Antoinette, she made one of her most carefulnégligétoilets, in which the carelessness was obviously becoming. Her dress was entirely of white. She wore not a single jewel, wiped off every trace of rouge, took the ornaments from her hair, and brushed its powdery locks till the bright gold lay in natural waves about her neck, and Mme. de Châteauroux had become as beautiful as flattery itself could have painted her. She was, at this time, nearly seven and twenty years of age. Her face was still young, but her manner was old—older than that of the King. She had acquired long ago the carriage of a King's consort, and that was, indeed, a role which she had played so much that it had become a natural part of herself. She had faced difficult situations since her childhood; and never, save once with her dead father and once with her husband, the old Marquis de la Tournelle, had she lost control of herself and of the affair in hand. It had made her too self-confident in appearance—a fact which she realized, but could not change. She would have liked to-day to play a younger part with Claude, but she sighed and shook her head as Antoinette finally tied back the shining hair with a white ribbon, and the grand manner descended upon her like a pall.
It was now a full half-hour since she had sat in the little room, waiting, and looking out upon the bleak courtyard below her window. She had ceased to think, and her appearance was that of a statue in marble, when Antoinette softly pushed open the door of her room and allowed a cloaked and hatted figure to pass in. The door closed again after the entrance, and at the same time there was a little click from the antechamber beyond, as the faithful maid locked the door that opened upon the great corridor. In the boudoir of the favorite two people were alone.
With a slight movement of the shoulders Claude dropped his enveloping mantle upon a chair behind him, and threw his hat down upon it also. Then, impulsively, he turned towards his cousin, as though upon the spot he would have taken her in his arms and told her all that he had come to say. But there was something in her attitude that stopped him—something that even forced him back a pace from his advance. As a matter of fact the Duchess meant to be herself mistress of the scene, and, having no idea of Claude's ill advised intent, she seated herself quietly on a chair with her back to the drawn window-curtain, and, with a gesture peculiar to herself, bade him draw a tabouret to her knee. He went to her obediently, looking at her with repressed expectation in his white face. After an instant's hesitation she said, slowly:
"And so, my poor Claude, it is come to the end."
His reply was quick. "No, Anne. It is not the end yet."
"What! What are you saying? You are exiled, Claude."
"Ah, yes. The King told you that."
"It was not the King told me that. Do you mean that the story of the letter of banishment is not true?"
Claude was silent.
"Why do you say it is not the end?"
"Because, Anne, I mean that for me it shall be the beginning."
"Of what?"
"Of freedom—of life—of love."
"Love!"
"Yes."
The Duchess was puzzled. She drew slightly away from him. "Then there is some one—some one of whom I know nothing."
"Yes, Anne, some one of whom you know nothing. Would you hear who it is? No, remain where you are! That some one whom I love, whom I have come to to-day, with whom now I am going to plead for life, is your real self. You have forgotten it in life here, my Anne. You have forgotten, in the midst of your estate, in the midst of the Court ways, what you were before all that was part of you. Listen. We played together, you and I, and Alexandre and Henri, and Louise and Pauline, in the gardens of the old château, by the river-bank, and through the forest. We were the youngest, you and I. Alexandre was our leader, and we obeyed him as our general. I liked you then better than the other girls, though you always mocked at me for a baby, while Louise was gentle, and Pauline always in difficulty. And after—we separated, all of us. You were sent to the Ursulines, I to Languedoc with a tutor, Alexandre to Paris. It was there in the old Hôtel de Mailly, at Alexandre's wedding with Louise, that again we came together. Ah, Anne, Anne, I think you have not forgotten what followed! The first scandal, Alexandre's death, Louise's life in the little apartments, how the King grew weary, how little Pauline was brought from her convent, how she, too, was sacrificed to infamy, and how she died—how she was murdered, Anne, you—"
"Stop, Claude!"
"Not yet. Pauline was murdered, I say—poisoned, in her sickness. And then, Anne, then the way was opened for you by Mme. de Mazarin's death. How should the rest of us have guessed—your father, I, Henri, already unhappy with Mme. de Mailly-Nesle—how should we have guessed that you, too, should have followed in the footsteps of your sisters?Mon Dieu, Anne! In your widowhood, after Maurepas took the Hôtel Mazarin, Henri's house was open to you. Why did you choose instead to put yourself under the protection, not of the Queen, not of Louise, but of his Majesty? And then—the end was so swift. You drove Louise pitilessly away—you ruined d'Agenois with your coquetries—you infatuated the King with your daring and your loftiness; your title was bestowed; you reigned; and then comes the last: my history with you. I know your life, Anne, from its beginning to to-day. You know what my feeling has always been. And now, when I am so nearly at the end of hope, you would have me make no resistance to fate; you would have me acquiesce; you would have me bid you good-bye with de Gêvres' manner, and depart, quietly. I have right to more than that."
"All this is well enough if you wish it, little one. Neither do those long 'recollections' of thine disturb me, save that they are very stupid, my Claude. But now, how shall you continue? Are there yet more of them?" Evidently the Duchess was not overpleased with the interview, so far.
"I have done with the recollections, but I have more to say," returned the boy, undaunted by her manner. "I have something to say which, once before, you have heard, but which you shall listen to again. It is why I obeyed your note. In other case I should have left Versailles without seeing you. It is something that I am going to offer you, something that I have to give that is not elsewhere, I think, to be found in Versailles. You will seek long, Anne, before you find it again. It is something that you, and every woman about you, make light of daily; and yet it is what women—ay, and men—sell their souls for."
"Love," murmured Madame la Duchesse, absently.
"Yes, it is love—my love, that I have to give. Anne, to you, here, being as you are; what you are; belonging to none who has the right to guard you; paid with much gold, it is true, yet with false gold; puppet-queen, without real honor in any heart, your name a byword in many countries—"
"Ah! Ah! You insult—"
"I speak truth! You know that. To you, I say, who have so little of love, none of real honor, I offer all. I offer you marriage, a name unstained, a pure-hearted devotion, a life that shall be pure— Ah, now, Anne, now, I am making you feel! There. Do not turn from me. No, no. Listen! I did not mean it. Forget what I have said—forgive it. Think only of how I have suffered. Think how utterly I love you; how I am a man desperate. My whole existence, my heart, my mind, my hopes, are here at your feet. Crush them—you kill me. You cannot spurn all. To leave you is to enter a living death. But—but—you must know what love means! It means that my soul belongs to you; that in you, for you, only, forever, I live. How, then, can you let me go from you? You will be tearing the heart from my body. You know that all my life—it has been you. Had I ever cared for another, it would not have mattered so. Anne—" he was upon his knee—"Anne—you shall come with me! You shall come away with me—into the sweetest exile that ever man was blessed with. Why, look you, I take you from a palace, but I will give you that which I shall transform to paradise! Oh, my dear—my dear—I can say no more. Anne, Anne, I die for you!"
Both her hands were in his, clasped so tightly that she was pained. Much of the force of his passion had entered into her. It could not but do so, for it was too real. She was trembling; her breath came unsteadily, and she could not give her answer with his upturned eyes upon her. Gently, very gently, she pushed him aside, rose from her chair, and, turning away from him, began to pace the end of the room, steadying herself as she walked. De Mailly, a little dazed now, the reaction from his nervous strain already beginning to overcome him, passed slowly to the opposite side of the dressing-room and stood there with his back to the door, one cold hand pressed to his damp forehead. His face was deathly white. His body quivered. Presently madame stopped, in her walk, before her cabinet of toys, opened one little drawer, and took something therefrom. Then she went over to where her cousin was standing, and, with an effort, spoke:
"Thank you," she said, dreamily, "for what you have said to me. May God, in his goodness, bless you, little cousin. You know that it is all useless, what you wish. Some day you will be glad that my place was here—that I knew that I was not fit for you. Remember it. I am not fit for you. You spoke truth at first. See, I grant you all that. You must go your way alone. Such as I could not make you happy. I—give you only this—if you care to take it—for memory. 'Tis all I have. As to my love—who knows what I love—or where? Adieu."
"'I GIVE YOU ONLY THIS'""'I GIVE YOU ONLY THIS'"
She held something out to him, something white, and heavy with gold and little jewels. It was the mate to that gauntlet which he had won from her and given to the King ten days ago. He took it, mechanically, and placed it, almost without looking at it, in a pocket. Then he picked up his cloak and his hat. Slowly he put both on; and, once more, all accoutred, he turned to look at her. Her back was towards him. Her head was bent. He could not speak coherently. He put out his hand and felt for the fastening of the door. There was a long, inaudible sigh. The door swung open. An effort, two steps, a slight mist before his eyes—he was gone. In the antechamber Henri, with haggard face and tears unconcealed, waited also for a clasp of the hand, to bid him godspeed to his banishment.
All night the waters of the Chesapeake and those of the Atlantic beyond had been tumbling under the force of a fresh east wind that was bearing an incoming vessel straight up to her harbor and home. But with the first streak of gray along the far horizon, Night ceased to flap her dusky wings, and the wind fainted till it was but a breath. As the wavelets lapped against the ship's side, her captain, longing for home, shrugged his big shoulders and ordered out more canvas.
It was a fair dawn. The whole stretch of sky over the bay was flushed with pink and beamy with gold; while beyond this the clear greenish turquoise of mid-sky and the west grew so vivid that the last clinging night-mist melted away, and the day waited only for the sun. He came at last, a great, fiery wheel, dripping from a watery bath and pouring his splendor back to the waters again till the river ran gold, dazzling the eyes of the gulls that veered across its breast down to the bay and out towards the salty sea. And the sun woke the forests of birches and poplars and spruce, colored the dandelions in the grass all over again, drank dew from the flower-cups, played with the breeze among the peach-blossoms of the orchard on the bank, and finally entered into the quaint breakfast-room of a colonial house, Trevor Manor, that stood on the river Severn, three miles from the city of Annapolis.
Adam, the house-butler, very black and very sleepy, was in this small apartment, dusting. From the next room Lilith, his wife, hummed, in a rich contralto, over her sweeping. Otherwise the house was still; for the sun rises early in May.
The breakfast-room wherein Adam worked, or played at work, is worthy of description, perhaps; for the colonial country-side knew nothing just like it. It was the south-west corner room on the lower floor, opening out of the library, but so easily accessible from the kitchen, which was fifty feet from the house, that the family commonly used it for all their meals. The general Southern fashion of dining in the central hall, from a custom of hospitality, had its drawbacks. On the north side of the breakfast-room were the library door, a small buffet covered with the best cheynay, some chased silver, and a little Venetian glassware, the pride of the family heart, and, on the other side of the doorway, a badly done family portrait. In the east wall was a large fireplace, with a mantel above, on which stood two large porcelain jars and a black bust of Plato, over which hung a recent print of his Majesty King George. To the south a large window looked out upon the yard behind; but the western wall of this little place was no wall at all. Across the top of it, just below the ceiling, a grudging support to the upper story was given by a heavy oaken beam. Beneath this all was glass. The little, opal-like, diamond-shaped panes, were wont to catch the rays of the afternoon sun, and make the room, from noon to twilight, a blinding, rainbow cloud of light. A door, too, there was here, all of glass and bound with lead—a real triumph of craftsman's skill in those simple days. It had been Madame Trevor's idea, however,—and where was the workman in Maryland who would not have been stimulated to inspiration with Madame Trevor to oversee his work? The door opened upon a terrace which led by a little flight of steps down into the rose-garden, or, by a diverging path, off to the big round kitchen, in which last building the morning fires had been lit, and Chloe, with Phyllis, her scullion, daughter, and probable successor, was plucking spring chickens for the morning meal.
Adam and Lilith, their first tasks ended, were now setting the table in the breakfast-room, with table-cloth of unbleached linen, the ordinary service of burnished pewter, silver knives, and carving-set of steel, horn-handled. When the six places at the oval table had been laid, Lilith disappeared through the glass door, to return presently with a great platter of newly picked strawberries, green-stemmed, scarlet and fragrant, and still glistening with dew. These were set in the centre of the table, while on either side stood an earthenware bowl heaped with sugar, patiently scraped by Adam from the high, hard loaves that came, wrapped in bright purple "dye-paper," up from the Spanish Indies.
The sun being by this time nearly two hours high in the heavens, the breakfast-room was deserted by serving-folk to regain a more tranquil tone for the reception of its ordinary habitants. Through the open door came the breath of the May morning, heavy with the sweetness of the garden just outside. Plato gazed mildly down upon the two or three lazy flies that hummed over the strawberries, and once a robin from the woods near by skimmed into the room, brushed past the decanters on the buffet, halted for a second on a jar near King George, and made a darting exit through the open southern window.
Finally, into the waiting solitude, came Sir Charles—Sir Charles, tall, slender, graceful, freshly wigged and powdered, his lieutenant's uniform of scarlet and white in harmony with the morning, theGentleman's Magazinein one of his well-kept hands, an eye-glass on a silken cord in the other. He seated himself in an evidently accustomed place at the table, pushed back his chair a little, comfortably crossed his legs, and began to reperuse an article on the best methods of preserving fox-brushes, which had engaged his attention the evening before. He was not a rapid reader, and he had not half finished the column when he felt, unmistakably, another presence near him. Thereupon he permitted himself an unmannerly luxury:
"Good-morning, Debby," he murmured, without looking up.
"Good-morning, Sir Charles," was the reply.
Then, quickly throwing aside his paper, the young man rose, bowed as he should have done, and stood looking at her who was before him.
"THE YOUNG MAN ROSE AND BOWED""THE YOUNG MAN ROSE AND BOWED"
Deborah stood in the glass doorway, half in and half out of the room. Her face was slightly flushed, and her hair, as usual, in a state of delightful, crinkly disorder. Otherwise her appearance was immaculate, and, for all Sir Charles could have told, she might have been in a costume of brocade and lace. It was no more, however, than a faded blue and white homemade linen over a petticoat of brown holland, with a small white muslin kerchief crossed upon her breast. She was bareheaded, and the hair that had been tossed into a thousand rebellious ringlets was tied back with a blue ribbon. Deborah Travis, Sir Charles Fairfield's second cousin, and Madame Trevor's first, was, at this time, seventeen years old, and not yet so pretty as she gave promise of being—later. Nevertheless, Sir Charles' poorly concealed devotion in her direction was a matter that was not discussed in the Trevor family. The tongues of slaves, however, are seldom bridled among themselves; and neat things upon this interesting topic were not infrequently spoken round cabin-fires on cool evenings in the quarters.
"You've quite recovered, I trust, Deborah, from your—your indisposition of yesterday?"
The girl's cheeks grew pink as she answered, quietly, "Quite, thank you, Sir Charles."
"'Twas another experiment in the still-room?" he ventured.
"Of course," she responded, reluctantly, and in a tone that finished the topic.
There was a pause. The Governor's lieutenant was finding himself again. "Will not you come in, Mistress Debby?" he said, finally. "Or may I come out and walk in the garden a little with you?"
"Thank you, I shall come in. Breakfast is ready, but the rest are late."
"And you have been in the still-room all this while?"
"No, I have been in the twelve-acre field, and as far as Hudson's Swamp."
"Devil take me! What were you doing there?"
"I was hunting for a plant—but I could not get it. I brought home some young tobacco instead."
"Why—why—Deborah, 'tis always plants with you! Can you find nothing nearer home to suit your pleasure? Tell me the plant you sought, and I will hunt for it to the other end o' Maryland, if you command."
"Thank you, Sir Charles, but in a month I shall pluck it for myself, at the end of the huckleberry path. 'Tis spotted hemlock. I found one, young yet, but well-looking, which I shall gather as soon as 'tis big enough."
"Spotted hemlock! Child, 'tis rank poison! I'd a horse die of it once in—"
He broke off suddenly and turned about as Madam Trevor, with her younger daughter, Lucy, rustled into the room. The elder lady looked rather sharply from her nephew to her young cousin as she came in; but she could read neither face. Sir Charles bowed with great respect, and Deborah gave her usual demure courtesy for the morning. Lucy was a slight, pretty little creature, with thin, silky dark hair, lively blue eyes, and a waist as trim as Deborah's own. She greeted the two cousins with equal grace, but seemed to prefer Deborah's company, drawing her a little on one side to show a spindle-prick upon her finger. Their whispered conversation was interrupted by the entrance of the master of the house, Madam Trevor's only son, Vincent. He was a well-built, muscular fellow, a trifle short for his breadth of shoulder, with the family's blue eyes, and hair so black that the powder but badly concealed its hue. He greeted his mother with profound respect, lightly kissed his little sister's cheek, and nodded to Deborah in a preoccupied fashion. Then, joining Charles at the buffet, he proceeded to mix their first potation of the day, two Venice glasses full of Jamaica rum, sugar, and water. Both gentlemen drank to the health of Madam Trevor, who acknowledged the usual courtesy with a slight nod, and then, seating herself at the head of the table, drew towards her the platter of strawberries.
"We are not to wait for Virginia?" asked Vincent, taking his place.
Madam was about to reply when, from the little passageway beyond the library, came the crisp rustle of stiff petticoats, and Virginia Trevor, the belle of Annapolis, tall, fresh of complexion, unrouged, of slender figure, and delicate patrician features, came smilingly into the room. The gentlemen hastened to rise, and Sir Charles lifted back her chair.
"Thank you. Your pardon, madam, for being late. Amanda was very slow."
"After your wakefulness of last night, I had not imagined that you would attempt to rise this morning," answered her mother.
Virginia glanced at Lucy, and a half smile passed between them. It was over before Madam Trevor perceived it.
"Debby was the sick one yesterday," observed Lucy, gently. "But you seem to be quite recovered to-day," she finished, turning to her cousin, just as Adam entered from the kitchen, bearing with him a platter of fried chickens, crisply browned and smoking, while Lilith followed with hoe-cake and bacon.
"Deborah's illness appears to be a matter of her own choice," remarked Madam Trevor, with displeasure in her tone. "She has been warned of the dangers of her strange and useless experiments. If she chooses to go her way against all advice, she must accept the consequences of such folly."
Deborah was silent, and appeared unconcerned at the reproof. Virginia, however, rather unwisely, spoke in her favor. "Indeed, Debby's experiments would seem to me most useful, mother. You yourself say that no one about Annapolis can make such rose and lavender water, or distil such cordials and strong waters as she. The still-room, too, is a different place since she was given charge over it."
"I was not of the opinion, Virginia, that Deborah's illness resulted either from rose-water or from cordial. And, as to the still-room, who enters it to know how it may be kept?"
"Madam Trevor, I have never refused entrance to any one of the family or the slaves who has wished to enter the room you gave me charge over! Indeed, Lucy—"
"That is enough, Deborah."
Sir Charles Fairfield, though to all appearances he had not been listening to the short conversation, flushed a little at the manner in which it was ended, and, raising his voice, he addressed Vincent:
"Will you ride into town with me to-day? I've not waited on his Excellency for a week. On my life! they give us an easy time out here! Fancy a full-pay staff-officer at home, in camp, not seeing his colonel for a week! I must really ride in to-day. Come with me, Vincent, and see what idea there is of a chase next week."
Vincent poured out another tankard of quince-cider and slowly shook his head: "'Tis not possible to-day, Charles. They are just beginning to top the tobacco. I am going over all the farther fields with Thompson—and there are three new blacks to be graded. If you'll go to-morrow, I'll ride with you; but not to-day."
"Pa'don, Mas' Trev'!" cried a black boy, in house livery, who came running in from the front. "Docta' Caw'l and Mist' Cawlve't outside on the' ho'ses, an' say, can they come in?"
"Mr. Calvert!" cried Lucy.
"Go to meet them and bring them here at once, Vincent," commanded Madam Trevor, at the same time sounding a hand-bell for Adam and Lilith.
Vincent and Charles together hurried out of the room, while the ladies drew more closely together at the table, and two extra places were laid.
"Bring some fresh chicken and hot bacon and hoe-cake at once, Adam; and have Chloe fry some oysters and tap a barrel of apple-jack."
The slaves scurried away to the kitchen again as the sound of deep masculine voices was heard in the library. The guests entered the breakfast-room side by side, and the four ladies rose to greet them; Madam Trevor first, with her daughters just behind her, and Deborah, with suddenly eager eyes, a little to one side.