Eveline left them on the stage and hurried away to her dressing-room.
Kaulmann followed her.
"Why didn"t you pick up those lovely bouquets?" he asked, carelessly.
"I felt I didn"t deserve any. I know I did badly to-night."
"But surely for the sake of the giver you should have taken one of the bouquets."
"Ah, you would like that."
"I?"
"Yes. All those flowers came from you--at least, so I have always understood."
"Pardon me, _ma chere_. Didn"t you notice that they all came from the side box? Didn"t you recognize who was in that box?"
"I never looked."
"It was Prince Waldemar."
"The man who is your enemy--who wants to ruin you?"
"Oh, that is not so! He has quite changed. He is now _our_ best friend."
"_Our_ friend? Whom do you include in "our"?"
"You, as well as myself."
"Thanks; but I decline my share."
"I am afraid you will find it difficult to stand aloof, for I consider Prince Waldemar as my best friend, and henceforth my house is open to him as to a brother."
"As you please. My house shall be shut in his face."
"I am sorry, but your words oblige me to break a disagreeable piece of news to you. But I see you are busy; you don"t take any interest--"
"Go on talking," returned Eveline, who was standing before the looking-gla.s.s washing the paint off her face. "I am listening."
"For the future, I regret to say, you will not have a house of your own. The affairs of your friend, Prince Theobald, have been sequestrated; his property is now in the hands of trustees. I need not tell you, for I am sure you have known all along, that the hotel you occupy, together with all your expenses, has been paid for by him.
This, naturally, is at an end. In my circ.u.mstances I could not afford to give you a separate establishment; we will, therefore, be obliged to live together, and it follows naturally that I shall expect my wife to receive as her guests _my friends_, and to make them welcome."
Eveline had laid aside her queenly robes; she now took off her diadem, and as she slowly unfastened her bracelets she turned and faced Felix.
"And do you think," she said, "that when I leave my hotel I cannot get for myself a garret somewhere, where there will be a door with a strong bolt, with which I can bar the entrance of any unpleasant visitors?"
Felix looked at her in amazement; he constrained himself to take a more friendly tone.
"I must call your attention to one fact. We are in Paris, and the French marital law is strict. A wife must dwell under her husband"s roof. She must go where he goes. She must obey him."
Eveline was now busy undoing the gold sandals which bound her feet.
She looked steadily at Kaulmann, with her eyes glowing like lamps.
"I must call your attention," she said, "to one fact. We are in Paris, and according to the French law those persons who have been married before the altar, and not before the civil authorities, are not considered legally married, and that, therefore, our marriage is null and void."
Kaulmann sprang to his feet as if he had been bitten by a tarantula.
"What are you saying?" he cried, in a voice that was almost a shriek.
Eveline had loosened the golden sandals. She stood before Felix in her bare feet, and threw him the sandals.
"These belong to you. I am once more Eva Dirkmal. I belong to myself."
"Who has told you this?" stammered the banker, pale with rage.
"The Abbe Samuel, who advised you to treat me in the same manner."
Kaulmann felt the room going round.
"And now," continued Eveline, with a dignified motion of her hand, "I must remind you that this is the dressing-room of a young girl."
Felix did not wait to have his dismissal repeated; he took his hat and went without another word. He ran away, and he ran so fast that he took no heed where he was going till he stumbled and fell.
All was over; he had played his last card and lost. Everything was gone; there was no more help. He had two courses open to him: he might put a pistol to his head, and so end the drama, or he might take all the money in his counting-house and fly. He chose the last.
CHAPTER x.x.xII
CRUSHED
Eveline felt as if she had been given new life. She was no longer married, and yet she was not a widow. She had to shed no tears over happiness that had vanished, no regrets for domestic joys. Her heart was full of newly awakened desires, hopes she hardly dared to confess to herself, dreams that delighted while they embarra.s.sed her--a delicious riddle that she feared to guess. Next day, however, when she heard that Kaulmann had absconded and would never return, she recognized fully that her chains had fallen off.
When the caged bird has escaped into the open air of heaven, does he ever regret his gilded cage and all its luxurious comforts or the tender endearments of his owner? The bird enjoys his freedom, and rejoices he is no longer a slave. It may be that wilder and stronger birds tear him in pieces; that the frost and rain may chill his body, unused to exposure. He cares not. He wings his flight still higher; he seeks for a branch; he cooes to his lady-love; he is happy.
Eveline never for one moment reflected that she was in any way implicated in the fall of Kaulmann and the shame that attended his ruin. She had no idea that her name was bandied about. She who had been as a queen, who had been so admired, had such a _succes_! What was to become of her now? She belongs to no one. No one knows anything of her past; but it is pretty safe to prophesy her future.
She will have another protector. Of course; but who will he be? Which of her many admirers? She has a legion of adorers from which to choose.
This was the talk of the clubs and the gossip of society. While Eveline sat in her room, rejoicing at her new life of freedom, an idea suddenly came into her head. She looked for Arpad"s visiting-card, ordered her carriage, and drove out to visit the Belenyis. They lived some little way from Paris, in the suburbs, where houses can still be had with rooms on the ground floor. Madame Belenyi liked to live on the ground floor. The house she had lost was of this sort, and it had the advantage that, having her own kitchen, she could cook for her son, and feel sure he was not dining at some tavern in bad company.
Unless on special occasions Arpad invariably came home to dine with his mother; he would not have missed doing so for a splendid feast. He thought there was nothing to compare with her dishes of pig"s ear and delicately cooked vegetables.
Eveline"s coachman found it hard to make out the narrow little street in the neighborhood of Montmartre, where the Belenyis had established themselves. Eveline would not let the carriage go farther than the corner; there she got out, and, accompanied by her footman, walked up the street, looking for the right house. It was an old fashioned cottage, in which Madame Belenyi had hired two rooms divided by a kitchen. A girl who was working in the garden showed Eveline where the young gentleman lived. As Eveline pushed open the kitchen-door very gently she noticed that the door of the inner room opened suddenly and a woman looked out. This was undoubtedly Arpad"s mother, who was curious to see who had come to visit her son.
Eveline went on her toes to the door of the opposite apartment, and noiselessly turned the handle; she wanted to surprise Arpad.
His room was the picture of comfort and order. It was easy to see how carefully it was kept by his mother. The table, the walls, were crowded with handsome pictures and ornaments, the gift of different persons--cups, wood-carvings, antique weapons, cla.s.sical paintings; the windows were supplied with plants in bloom; there were bookcases full of books. Everything was well arranged; there was taste and comfort, and Arpad liked to be at home better than anywhere else. The hired piano was from Erard"s manufactory, and was now open. Arpad was sitting with his back to it, brush in hand; he was painting. The pianoforte-player was also a painter. Artists, many of them, indulge in these freaks. One of our most distinguished portrait-painters loves to torture his neighbors by scratching like a cat upon the strings of a violin; so also a well-known musician spends his time writing feeble verses; and a third, who is a real poet, produces unsightly excrescences in marble and terra-cotta.
What was Arpad painting?