The Maid of Honour: A Tale of the Dark Days of France. Vol. 2 (of 3)

by Lewis Wingfield

  CHAPTER XIII.

  DOMESTIC SURGERY.

  These were exciting times--no doubt of it--even to humdrumprovincials, remote from the madding crowd. The web on the muse's loomgrew so rapidly that the eye could not follow the shuttle. Were thedogs of war to be unloosed upon the land? Was fair France to beinvaded and torn by the enemy from without as well as by one within?On the 6th of July the Emperor of Austria appealed to the sovereignsto unite for the delivery of Louis. On the 11th a formal demand wasmade in the Constituant Assembly for his dethronement. His majesty'sbrothers, after having solemnly sworn that they would not leave theirnative soil, were gone; and the stream of emigration increased involume daily. The Minister of War announced that no less than nineteenhundred officers had abandoned their regiments and fled. It wasdecreed that the property of emigrants should be confiscated for thepublic good. Meanwhile, the upheaval of the peasantry continued to beintermittent. Sometimes they merely growled; sometimes they rushedabout like madmen, leaving, as locusts do, a trail of destruction intheir wake.

  Then the question of money, or rather of no money, became a burningone. In October there was a famine and a deadlock. Farmers refused totake paper in payment for corn, and somehow there was naught else topay them with. The occupants of Lorge watched vigilantly, awaiting acrisis which they could not but feel was imminent; and the twoconspirators considered their broken plans with the palpitating woe ofants when somebody treads upon their hill. The abbe and the governessconsulted frequently, each assuming the ingenuousness of infancy,whilst reconnoitring with wary eye the position of the other. Thoughthey made believe to sit in one boat and caulk it, the attention ofeither was directed to a private craft (cunningly concealed fromsight) in which the other was to find no seat, and which must berendered taut and trim to face the coming storm.

  A conviction that leaks were numerous, and that there was no time forelaborate operations, oppressed them both; a prophetic instinctwhispered that such materials as were at hand must serve, or, when thewind rose presently, their frail coracles would founder and go to thebottom.

  The Marquise de Gange was the pivot upon which the schemes of bothplotters turned--the listless lady who took no further interest in theworld's doings; who, excluded alike from family councils and domesticinterests, gave herself up to devotions and to almsgiving.

  Time being just now so precious an article, it seemed to both schemersthat the victim had been brought into as auspicious a state foroperation as was likely to be attained without long waiting. It would,in all probability, become necessary ere long to follow the stream ofemigration, and abandon France till the Saturnalia which convulsed themotherland should have passed away. Now it was clear to Pharamond thatprudent persons are bound to prepare themselves for any fate. IfGabrielle accepted his terms, as reflection would doubtless lead herto do, it was obvious that he and she would, some of these days,quietly elope, leaving the husband and his affinity to discover, toolate, with teeth-gnashing, that the golden goose was gone. An adroitdisplay of sympathy combined, perhaps, with a gentle and artistictouch of coercion, would bring this about. When the moment fordeparture came she would follow him, and from a safe point of vantageovertures could be made to the marechal with regard to the question offinance. Of course, after what she had suffered there, she would beonly too glad to turn her back upon the dismal chateau, which must beas odious to her as to him. What happened to the besotted Clovis andthe impudent Aglae would concern neither any more.

  Mademoiselle Brunelle, on the other hand, saw in Gabrielle's conditionof indifference the stony numbness of a despair which a triflingamount of pressure would lead to the desired denouement. She wouldfind the hateful world too unbearable, and leave it. The obstacleremoved, Aglae resolved to work with cunning touch on the fears of thetimid widower. She would cause him to understand that jeremiads overwhat was done were useless, or that, at any rate, they might withpropriety be postponed until his skin was safe beyond the frontier. Itis a first duty to look after one's skin. Gabrielle out of the way,there was nothing to prevent her successor from taking possession ofClovis with a strong hand, and carrying him off to join the othernobles. This must be accomplished with despatch and secrecy anddiplomatic skill. An exactly propitious moment must be chosen. Thefate of the abbe and the chevalier, left behind, would concern in nowise the future Marquise de Gange.

  Many a clever criminal, when plaiting a rope for his deliverance willleave a strand unsound, and break his leg in a ditch. The pride anddelicacy of the marquise had always shrunk from upbraiding Clovis withingratitude, or of using her wealth as a weapon of self-defence. Withmisery comes indifference to pelf. What was money to her, save whatshe needed for her poor? Since Clovis and the dear ones were completewithout her, and clearly did not want her, wherein would she bebettered by twitching at the purse-strings? Hence, as the subject,being rather unpleasant, was never broached, the governess had neverlearned that the source of affluence was Gabrielle, and that if thewife were, before the death of old de Breze, to sink into the grave,the husband would lose all hope of himself fingering the revenues.

  Seeing how urgent it was to hit upon a plan of action which shouldavert impending chaos, both Pharamond and Aglae secretly andindependently resolved to seek a private interview with the marquisewhich should further prepare the way to a desirable result from theirown point of view, or, if destiny proved kindly, clinch the matter ofthe future.

  The first in the field was Pharamond, who, suddenly solicitous for thewelfare of his sister-in-law, tapped at her boudoir door.

  "My blessed Gabrielle!" he cried, archly shaking a finger. "You arevery very naughty, and I have come to scold you! At a time when weought all to hang together you avoid us as if we had the plague, andshun the family councils. Do you not know what is happening; that weare all tinkering with might and main to prepare our ark for theDeluge? I am sure the Noah family must have been an united one, orthey would never have achieved the task of heralding all those beasts.Just think what a genius for organization some of them must have had!A pair of each after their kind! I declare that the beetles and fliesalone would have reduced me to a state of madness!"

  Gabrielle had no smile now for the abbe's persiflage.

  "You should know," she quietly observed, looking up from her book witha serious wrapt expression which seemed as if reflected from beyondthe gates, "that the world and I have parted company. Grief is a slowand painful death which absorbs our stock of endurance."

  This was not quite the desirable frame of mind which Pharamond hadreckoned on. The screw had been turned too far and must be loosened.

  "This mopish place affects your nerves, and no wonder," he said."Change of air and scene will set you up again."

  She glanced at the abbe in quick surprise. "Change of air and scene!"She feared lest he had come to demand her ultimatum.

  "What would you say," he suggested, "to a tour in Switzerland, withone who would make you happy?"

  "No one will ever make me happy," she returned, composedly, "and yet Ihave desired a change--should like to go away from here----"

  "A la bonheur," muttered the abbe to himself.

  "Where I contemplated going I might achieve content; but then, much asI yearn for it, there are earth-born ties which detain me within thesewalls, despite my judgment."

  "A fig for such ties!" cried Pharamond with conviction. "Clovis hasbehaved in a disgraceful way, and you will be fully justified inconsidering him no more. Another woman occupies your place. Unless Iam mistaken one so proud as you would not deign to thrust her thenceby the moving of a finger. Clovis, by his own acts has placed himselfbeyond the pale. He is out of court. The nobles are leaving France indroves. Common prudence bids you follow."

  "I never thought of leaving France," the marquise said, coldly.

  "Does Clovis want to go? I have more than once contemplated asking himto permit me to retire to a convent. I know too well," she added,wearily, "that he would not be s
orry to be relieved of my presence.But I have not the strength to bid farewell to the children. Thoughthey have been alienated from me by base arts, they have all mysingle-minded love, and it is my duty to watch over their well-being."

  A convent! Pshaw! How many babble of the cloistered life, chilled bydreariness and disappointment! The poor thing was very lonely--ripefor judicious comforting.

  "Their governess is devoted to the little ones and loves them," musedGabrielle, sadly sighing. "Were I not assured of that I should dosomething desperate. It would be too much--I could not bear it!"

  "Excuse my disrespectful merriment," laughed Pharamond, "but yourproject is too funny. What! A convent! A mouse trap! My dear, you needrousing to revive your mental tone, which has dropped too low. Acommingling of new pleasures and fresh interests is vastly beneficial.In your despondent state you would, within the living tomb of thecloister, become in a month a hysterical _convulsionaire_--fit subjectfor Mesmer's tub! No, no, The world shall not lose its fairestornament, hidden away out of reach too long. I am here now as yourtrue friend to administer timely counsel. Residence in France is, forthe time being, fraught with peril. I propose to escort you to a placeof security where you will be free from molestation. There will be noone to worry or torment you as those two have done. Your fatherlearning that you have been induced to fly from an impossibleexistence, will doubtless join us, and I pledge my honour that thelittle ones shall follow."

  Gabrielle had been listening drearily, her head supported on her hand,as one listens to a tale too often told. But at mention of thechildren she started, and the abbe flattered himself that he had hitthe bull's-eye. How to secure the infants he had not considered, butif their presence was essential as a tempting bait, why, they couldeasily be kidnapped.

  "You see, dear Gabrielle," the abbe whispered drawing his chair closeand laying a persuasive hand upon her arm, "that I have thought ofeverything. We will make for Switzerland, where you and I and theangels will dwell in paradise. The marechal is not strait-laced,heaven save the mark, how should he be? and seeing you quite happy,will be satisfied. You are too mopish to act for yourself. Say thedelicious word and I will see it all settled in a twinkling."

  He awaited a reply, but it came not. The marquise, engrossed in hisword-picture, was gently smiling. She was out of sorts--too muchdepressed for decision. This was the instant for a tiny twist of thescrew, like a microscopic prick from a spur.

  "I see that you have reflected, and that you have made the bestselection. That is well. You recall my words before I went away? Imeant them then, and mean them still. My will is iron, Gabrielle. Aresolve once taken hardens into adamant. Mine you are to be, and mineyou will be; so further struggling is useless."

  Still no answer; yet she had had time enough in all conscience to seethat there was no escape. The abbe, quite certain of his prey, edgednearer yet till he could inhale the perfume on her hair.

  "It is indeed I, and no other, who am to teach you love, myGabrielle," he whispered tenderly. "It is written! Mine too shall bethe privilege to return the children to your keeping. You bear me nomalice in that I parted you from them for awhile? You know right wellthat what I have done I can undo. Ha! Your bosom heaves! You yield atlast! Was ever woman so strangely wooed----and won!"

  It was a favourite theory of the abbe's (which, like many plausibletheories, had a crack in it) that in a tussle of two, the weaker mustinevitably go under. A female heart, he argued, must perforce beflattered when it finds its citadel besieged with unflaggingperseverance. The abbe was radiant, for he had no doubt that his sharpattack must tell on ramparts undermined by prolonged strategy, andthat he would reap the reward of his efforts.

  Gabrielle rose slowly from her seat, with flushed cheeks and eyes thatsparkled; but not to fall into his outstretched and expectant arms.

  "Abbe," she said, clasping her bosom with her hands, "you admit thatit was you who parted us. What your ingenious cruelty will invent nextI dread to think. You did well to name my dear ones. But for them youmight have had your way, perhaps, since I care not what becomes of me.You would persuade me to fly with you, and hold them out as a lure? Agrievous error, abbe; they are my buckler! They will grow up, ablooming youth and maiden, will learn by degrees to gauge this sordidworld. What would their opinion be, think you, of a mother whoabandoned her home and her honour to gratify a son of the Church?"

  The beacon of green-gray light, which the chevalier knew so well,shone out for an instant and was gone. It began to strike the abbe,with a surge of impotent rage, that he might have been wrong in hiscalculations; that some long-suffering and apparently defencelesswomen possess an occult strength against which a will of temperedsteel may beat in vain; and a suspicion of defeat at the moment ofexpected victory sent a fume of wrath into his brain that made himdizzy.

  "Take care!" he muttered, hoarsely. "That I have already done isnothing! I have wooed you long, and in the end you shall give way--Iswear it!"

  "Wickedness and conceit disturb your reason," Gabrielle replied, witha calm which increased his fury. "The crafty and unscrupulous oftenover-reach themselves. Therein lies the salvation of those who havenaught but innocence for armour."

  She looked him in the face with such steady scorn, that his shiftyeyes lowered before hers. It came upon Pharamond with a shock, thatshe whom he had thought to dominate by a skilful mixture of the bitterand the sweet was not the least afraid of him, although she realisedtoo well that to gratify his passions he would stick at nothing. Oneby one he had cut off from her the joys of life, and the slow cruelprocess had turned his sword edge. He was nettled and humiliated bythe conviction that his boasted knowledge of the feminine organism wasmoonshine, and that the error into which he had fallen--and which mustlie at his own door--was possibly irremediable. To be baffled now,when he had deemed all secure; to be shown with withering contempt,that he would never have his way! It was too late to turn a new leafand commence again at the beginning. And the immediate future soominously dark! A resistance so cool and deliberate and unexpected,shivered his plans at a blow. Well. Baffled he might be, but sheshould rue the day. If in the duel, she was to prove victorious, witha bitterness as of gall would he execrate this woman! Is it possibleto love and hate at the same time? As Pharamond glanced at the tallfigure and defiant bearing of the marquise, his desire for her tingledalong each nerve, and yet he hated her for that mien of stubbornscorn. She should rue that day--oh, yes, she should rue it! Someexcruciatingly ingenious retaliation should be devised. The proudbeauty should be whipped till each limb quivered. She had confessed toapprehension of his inventive powers; she should feel their effect,and speedily.

  Gabrielle was able apparently to read his white and vindictive visage.Without blenching, she observed, mournfully, "I spoke at random, whenI said I dreaded you; what is there left for me to dread? I havepassed along the stony path of the black valley of the shadow, and,thanks to you, nothing can affect me now. I defy you to do your worst.Having bereft me of children and husband, what is there left for me tobear? Whatever you may devise, I shall thank heaven for the burthen asa merciful atonement for my sin."

  "You scoff at my love and brave my hate!" returned the abbe, strivinghard to control his voice. "You have finally refused the one, and forthe first time shall know the other."

  "I despise both. To me you are more vile a reptile than the bloatedhideous toad from which by instinct we recoil. Your poisonous breathinfects the air; your vampire face insults God's image. In place ofthe abject thing which you call love, and which I rightly spurned, youoffer hate? So much the better. As the more honest I accept it."

  "You have spoken your own sentence. A day will come when you shall suefor mercy and find none!"

  "Never! Go!"

  With a frown and a superb motion of her matchless arm, Gabriellepointed at the door. In the excitement of indignation and defiance,the marquise was more beautiful than ever. Pharamond fairly writhed inhis desire and his rage. She should be his--by force, if need be; buthis--his!
And after that, to revenge this scorn, he would fling her inthe gutter to rot there! Stung to the quick--torn by raveningpassions, evil both--the abbe bowed mechanically, and, scowling, leftthe room.

  If he had seen how swiftly she collapsed when the door closed, hemight have hoped again, for she was a fragile creature, borne up bypride and a pure love that was beyond his sordid ken.

  "What will he do? What will he do?" she moaned, trembling, as shecrouched down upon a seat. "What hideous form will his revenge take?Shall I implore the protection of my husband?"

  And then she reflected moodily about that said husband, as shehad at last learned to know him. Selfish and self-indulgent to thecore--heartless, too, or he could not survey his wife's sufferingswith such perfect equanimity. True, he knew little about her, andtroubled less. If he had not again dismissed her from his mind hecould not but perceive her suffering. He was infatuated by thatdreadful woman, and further beguiled astray by his insidious brother.No help was to be expected from him, or, indeed, from any one. She hadboldly defied the abbe. Would she be given strength to fight? Alas,alas! Did she not know too well that she was not made for fighting?Where, then, to look for assistance? Rising, she slowly paced theroom, and thought Heaven was cruel. Why not have let her die? Sure'tis a venial sin to put off what one cannot bear? We can feel forourselves with the instinct with which we are endowed, that theburthen is too great. Heaven is busy with other things--tooindifferent to know or care what we poor pigmies feel. She paused inher walk before a mirror and shook her head at the pale and drawnreflexion. "Oh! fatal gift of beauty," she murmured, "which menpretend to worship, swearing that 'tis a glimpse of paradise. It is adevil's gift; for its province is to stir the foulest lees of the basehuman soul and set them festering."

  What was she to do--what to expect? Perhaps he had already inventedand set going some new plan to torture her. Would she have donebetter, being but a helpless, tempest-tossed sport of destiny, to havesurrendered, pleading her weakness and his strength? Had he nottouched on the cherubs, she might have given way for very weariness;but they, as she had declared, were her buckler. They wist not of her,nor cared, being transferred to other hands, and yet they stood 'twixther and the precipice. Then she fell a thinking of Victor and prettyCamille. When they grew up they would seek their mother. Would theynot? If not, why live? Better--better far--to die. Yes: Heaven hadbeen cruel--very, very cruel!

  Suspecting nothing of the abbe's move, Mademoiselle Brunelle resolvedon that very self-same morning to operate on her own account. She madeher way boldly to the boudoir, and without knocking, entered.Gabrielle started, and dried her eyes. The woman dared to invade hersanctuary. For what purpose? In her highly-strung condition ofdespairing nervousness, it seemed to Gabrielle that the governesslooked as wicked and as menacing as the abbe.

  In truth there was a sour curl about her lips that was not becoming.The marquise, as white as a sheet, in tears? Crying her eyes out insolitude--the whining idiot! That so weak and contemptible an obstacleshould be allowed to stand between herself and her ambition waspreposterous. Well, the victim should be given the wrench which shouldimpel her to retire from the scene.

  "I want to talk to you about affairs," Aglae began. "Since you do notask me to sit, I will choose a chair myself."

  So saying, she subsided into the most inviting fauteuil and assumed apose of studied insolence.

  "I congratulate madame on her humility," observed the governess, inher rolling bass, with a condescending headshake. "The Christianvirtues are rare, alas, just now in persons of your birth andbreeding."

  "To what do I owe this visit?" demanded the marquise, stretching herhand towards the bell-rope.

  "Do not ring; you will regret it," returned the other. "For all oursakes, I would not have you despised by the domestics, if I can helpit. You are so apathetic to the stirring history which is being madeunder your very nose that I am compelled to enlighten your lamentablydarkened mind. It is quite on the cards that we may find it convenientto leave Lorge until the storm that threatens is past. By the dearmarquis's wish I and the sweet children will accompany him intotemporary banishment, and it becomes necessary to know what madamewill do in that contingency. Of course she is a free agent to gowhere she pleases, and the marquis is too good and generous notto see that she is well provided for. It is best for madame toknow that her presence with us would, for various reasons, beinconvenient--calculated, indeed, to produce scandal, which, for thesake of monsieur and the little ones, madame will desire to avoid."

  What snake was there rustling beneath the leaves?

  "Is this an ambassage from the Marquis de Gange?" enquired Gabrielle.

  "His interests and mine have become identical," drawled mademoiselle,"as madame is no doubt aware, and when I speak it is for both."

  "I will go to him myself!" exclaimed the outraged marquise withtrembling lips, "He should know that betwixt himself and his wife noambassador is needed."

  Aglae raised her bushy brows and critically contemplating the aspenfigure before her, laughed.

  "How lamentable that madame should take no interest in what ispassing," she exclaimed. "She knows so little of her husband as to beunaware that he has gone to Blois on business and will not returnuntil to-morrow."

  Could Clovis really have been base enough to confide such a mission asthis to the governess, running off meanwhile himself like a coward?Was he bent on withering every leaf of her true love that stillstruggled for existence? She could scarce believe it even now.

  "Madame had better listen and be calm," suggested Aglae. "It is alwaysbetter to be calm."

  "Wherever they may go, my place is with my husband and my children,"the marquise replied with dignity.

  "Cannot madame perceive a troublesome _nuance_, which, in anotherplace, might make her position uncomfortable?"

  "Enough of this impertinence," returned the other, sternly. "Youforget that you are my servant, to be dismissed at pleasure. Speakplainly and briefly, or I will have you ejected by the valets."

  "Impertinent, am I?" cried mademoiselle, losing her temper. "Since youwish it, I will speak plainly. Here, within these gaunt grey walls,what passes within concerns nobody without; but if we should have tofly--which may or may not prove expedient--we shall be dwelling in apublic place, where others will criticise our acts. It will be saidthat the Marquise de Gange is a mean-spirited creature to eat herbread on sufferance at the table of a man who hates her, and of hismistress who treats her with contumely. That is what will be said ofthe pretty, empty-headed doll who was too stupid to hold her place asthe reigning belle of Paris. They will also say that she is bad, aswell as mean, to have abandoned her own offspring to the mistress tomould according to her fancy. Madame will probably now perceive thather presence with us anywhere except in the privacy of Lorge, will bean abiding source of scandal."

  His mistress! The brazen wretch!--confessed--nay, gloried--in hershame; and the unhappy wife had striven so hard to believe that therewas nothing but _camaraderie_ between them.

  "You wicked, wicked woman!" Gabrielle gasped, choking. "I have neverwittingly done you aught but kindness. You are a fiend."

  "A fiend!" echoed Aglae, amused, stretching herself luxuriously withloose limbs as the tigress does, while she proceeded.

  "Every female envelope contains an angel and a devil combating; whichgains the mastery depends upon the men, who, I regret to say, areusually guided by the lowest motives. That is an elementary lessonwhich I think I shall teach Camille. I shall teach the darling manycurious things before I've done with her."

  A hit--a palpable hit, which went straight to the quivering goal. Itwas a fact that the future of the dear ones was in this monster'skeeping. She was as evil as the abbe. If it suited her she would notscruple to sow in their white souls the seeds of vice. How appalling!Forgetful always of herself, the mother had striven to be comfortedwith the assurance that though she was thrust forth from Eden, thoseshe adored were well guarded. The woman's conduct, as far as concernedt
he children, had been irreproachable: she had treated them withaffection; but knowing her now as she really was, Gabrielle could seewith a thrill of dismay that she was unencumbered by such scruples askeep ordinary mortals in check; was governed by expediency alone.

  The marquise sat for awhile without movement, but her rival was notslow to mark with satisfaction the exceeding pallor of her lips andthe horror in her distended eyes. That the sword-thrust had piercedtoo deep escaped her ken: she failed to see that the whole being ofthe victim had undergone so violent a convulsion as to produce quite adifferent result from that which she expected. The courage she lackedfor her own succour could be aroused in behalf of others, whom sheloved better than herself. It was as by a miracle a naked anddefenceless combatant were of a sudden sheathed in armour.

  Aglae sat waiting, fully aware that having made an effective point,you should allow it to take effect. She waited, and beguiled the timeby considering what she would do when married. It would be pleasant toplay chatelaine for a month or so each year, even at gloomy Lorge, sosoon as the country should be quieted. The puling thing on the sofayonder was stricken under the fifth rib, would totter into a thicketpresently and perish, as was intended. What a cleverly imagined strokeit had been to hint at the depraving of the prodigies--a stroke as ofa sledgehammer, to batter in the apology for brains vouchsafed to suchdespicable objects.

  Gabrielle remained so long in apparent torpor, while the Medusanhorror on her face permanently hardened there, that the enemy waxedimpatient. It is indecent for the stricken stag to lie down whereshot. Decorum bids him conceal himself in the bracken--make a move ofsome sort to veil his agonies. Gabrielle being too crushed to make amotion must be stirred up with an eleemosynary stab.

  "We will come to an arrangement," mademoiselle suggested cheerfully,"without troubling our dear marquis on the subject. Go awaysomewhere--to some nice place which we will engage never to visit, andI will promise never to teach anything naughty either to Victor orCamille. Refuse, and--well--h-m!"

  "Oh! the wicked, wicked woman!" the marquise ejaculated, inwardly."There must be a hell somewhere for the punishing of such villanousdastards." But in her new-born strength, the possession of which wasunaccountable and amazing, she found herself enabled to smile sadly,and remark, without a tremor in her voice, "You will leave me now, ifyou please, and give me time to think."

  That was reasonable, and desirable to boot. The more she thought, thebetter would she comprehend that she was hemmed in, undone; that acertain wherry was swinging on the tide, under which was a soft bedpreparing.

  "By all means," returned the enemy, with bonhomie. "Take time, mydear; but you must not be too long deciding. A little friendly counselbefore I go: when _our_ Clovis comes back to-morrow--for, oddlyenough, he is for the present _ours_--better say nothing, you havedisgusted him enough already."

  With that she waved a light adieu, and ere long her bass voice was tobe heard in the corridor, accompanying the joyous treble of hershouting charges engaged in a game of romps.

  What a day's experience--a day to sear the brain and blanch the hairwith silver. Gabrielle, her hands tight clasped behind her back,strode up and down the long saloon deeply immersed in thought, quitecalm and self-possessed. The time for impulsive moaning and mad frenzywas gone by. Drowsy reason stood upright and alert upon her throne. Atany cost of pain to herself or others duty must be done--the littleones rescued from the ogress. Even the dear father must for theirsakes bear his share of the burthen. It was decreed. He must learn thetruth, which she had hoped would lie buried in her grave. Victor,Camille; their blythe merriment in the corridor was an eloquentsermon. Up to now--all thanks to Heaven for it--they were unsmirchedby aught of evil, their sky sunny and unclouded. Instinct told theirmother that the ogress, by some paradox, was capable of some measureof wholesome affection, and would do them no injury unless it werenecessary to strike through them at her. The new fledged diplomatemust temporize--gain time. A power of dissimulation, to which hithertoshe had been a stranger, was developing itself in Gabrielle. The dearfather--he would be terribly concerned--would arrive posthaste, wreakvengeance on those who had so nearly slain his child, bear away herand his grandchildren to safety.

  Gabrielle locked herself in her bedroom, and wrote with feverishenergy. The pen flew over the sheets and covered them with closewriting that told a piteous tale. Toinon, who knew that in the absenceof my lord, both abbe and governess had been persecuting her mistress,tried the door once or twice, and, receiving no response to herknocks, grew so seriously alarmed, that she dashed off in search ofJean Boulot, dreading some new catastrophe. Just as the latterappeared with a hatchet in his grasp, and anxious lines upon his brow,the door opened, and the chatelaine herself stood on the thresholdholding a letter.

  She was flushed with fever, but quite self-possessed. With a strangesmile she beckoned them both in, and again turned the key in the lock.

  "Something has happened, dear good friends, whom I can trust," sheexplained, rapidly. "Something so terrible, that I cannot tell it you.I am still scared and horrified, but Heaven permits me to retain mysenses. Jean, for love of me and mine, you will saddle your horse andride leisurely to Onzain, as though bent on ordinary business; andthere engage with the Maitre de Poste to send this letter by specialcourier. He must take no rest till he reaches Paris. Two precioussouls--three--depend on punctual obedience. I may trust you, Jean? Letnone suspect your mission."

  Honest Jean sank on one knee and pressed the hot hand of thechatelaine to his lips with reverence. "My life is madame's," he saidsimply, and went.

  "Embrace me, my Toinon," Gabrielle cried, falling on the neck of herfoster-sister in a paroxysm of hysterical weeping. "I have been foryears in a foolish day-dream. I am awake now to sleep no more."

  Toinon was mystified, but could gather that the terrible emotion ofthe marquise relieved her pent feelings, and was as salutary as timelybleeding to the apoplectic. After a brief space she grew better, andcould smile like a ghost of her old self. The die was cast. She wouldbe relieved of nightmare. Her affection for her husband was burnedquite away, and, as its ashes paled, her love for the little ones shotup the purer.