"Upon my honor," replied the baron, in the affected tone which the young men of that day had adopted, "it is a most charming fortress, and throws around it, to a distance of at least three leagues, a baronial odour, which would perfume even an army contractor. If ever," continued he, as they pa.s.sed through the hall and entered a gallery ornamented on each side with long lines of family portraits, "I should take a fancy to enter into a rebellion against his most Christian Majesty, I shall entreat you to lend me this jewel of a place; and," added he, casting his eyes on the long rows of ancestors which offered themselves to his view, "the garrison with it."
"Thirty-three quarters--I will not say in flesh and blood," replied Emanuel, "for they are long since turned to dust--but in painting, as you see. They begin with a certain Chevalier Hugues d"Auray, who accompanied King Louis VII. to the crusades; that one, it is pretended, is my aunt Deborah, whom you see decked out as Judith; and all this eventually ends in the male line, in the last member of this ill.u.s.trious family, your very humble and very obedient servant, Emanuel d"Auray."
"It is perfectly respectable, and nothing can be more authentic."
"Yes; but as I do not feel that I have, as yet, become sufficiently a patriarch," rejoined Emanuel, pa.s.sing before the baron to show him the way to the apartment which had been prepared for him, "to spend my days in such formidable society, I hope, baron, that you have thought of the means by which I can withdraw from it?"
"Undoubtedly, my dear count," said Lectoure, following him. "I wished even to have been myself the bearer of your commission, as my wedding gift to you. I knew of a vacancy in the queen"s dragoon"s, and called yesterday on M. de Maurepas to solicit it for you, when I heard that it had been granted, at the request of I know not what mysterious admiral, a sort of corsair, pirate, or fantastic being, whom the queen has made the fashion by giving him her hand to kiss, and whom the king has taken a great affection to because he beat the English, I know not where--so that his majesty has conferred upon him the order of military merit, and presented him a sword with a gold hilt, just as he would have done to one of the n.o.bility. In short, the game is lost on that side, but do not be alarmed, we will turn round to another."
"Very well," replied Emanuel, "I care not what regiment it may be in; what I desire is, that it should be a rank suitable to my name, and a position which would be becoming to our wealth."
"Precisely--you shall have them."
"But how," said Emanuel, wishing to change the subject of conversation, "how did you manage to get rid of the thousand engagements you must have had on your hands."
"Why," said the baron, with that perfectly free and easy air, which belonged only to that distinguished cla.s.s, and stretching himself upon a couch, for they had at length reached the apartment destined for him, "why, by frankly stating the fact to them. I announced at the queen"s card table, I was going to be married."
"Oh! good heaven! Why, this was perfect heroism! Above all, if you acknowledged you were about to seek a wife in the depths of Lower Brittany."
"I did acknowledge it."
"And then," said Emanuel, smiling, "compa.s.sion stifled every angry feeling."
"Gad! you will readily comprehend, my dear count," said Lectoure, putting one knee over the other and, balancing his leg with a motion as regular as that of a pendulum, "our women of the court believe that the sun rises at Paris, and sets at Versailles--all the rest of France, is, in their idea, a Lapland, Greenland, Nova Zembla! So that they expect, as you have hinted, my dear count, to see me bring back with me from my voyage to the pole some large hands, and formidable feet! Fortunately, they are mistaken," he added, with an accent half timorous, half interrogatory; "is it not so, Emanuel? for you told me that your sister"----
"You will see her," replied Emanuel.
"It will be a dreadful disappointment to that poor Madame de Chaulne--it cannot be helped--and she must console herself. What is it?"
This question was induced by the entrance of Emanuel"s valet-de-chambre; who had half opened the door, and remained upon the threshold, waiting, as was then the custom of all servants in great houses, till his master should address him.
"What is it? repeated Emanuel.
"Mademoiselle Marguerite d" Auray requests that Monsieur, the Baron de Lectoure, will honor her with a private interview."
"Me!" said Lectoure, rising from the sofa, "certainly, with the greatest pleasure."
"But no! it is a mistake!" exclaimed Emanuel; "you must be mistaken, Celestin."
"I have the honor to a.s.sure your lordship," replied the valet de chambre, "that I have correctly and faithfully executed the order which was given to me."
"Impossible!" said Emanuel, uneasy to the highest degree, at the step his sister had ventured to take: "Baron, if you will be advised by me, you will send the little simpleton about her business."
"By no means! by no means," replied Lectoure. "What does this bluebeard of a brother mean? Celestin! Did you not call this lad, Celestin?"
Emanuel impatiently bowed his head in the affirmative. "Well then, Celestin, tell my lovely betrothed that I throw myself at her knees, at her feet, and that I await her orders either to go to her or to receive her here;--and there, take this for the charges of your emba.s.sy."
He threw him his purse.
"And you, count," rejoined Lectoure, "I trust that you have confidence enough in me, to permit this _ tete-a-tete?_"
"But it is so perfectly absurd!"
"Not at all," replied Lectoure; "on the contrary, it is perfectly befitting. I am not a crowned head, that I should marry a woman upon her portrait, and by proxy. I wish to see her in person. Come, Emanuel," he continued, pushing his friend toward a side door, that he might not meet his sister--"Come, now, tell me frankly--in confidence, between ourselves--is there any--deformity?"
"Why, no, by heaven!" replied the young count, "no--on the contrary, she is as lovely as an angel."
"Well, then!" said the baron, "what does all this opposition mean? Come, now, begone, or must I call my guards?"
"No; but on my word, I am afraid that this little simpleton, who has not the slightest notion of the world, is coming to destroy all that has been arranged between us."
"Oh! if that is all you fear," replied Lectoure, opening the door, "you may be perfectly at ease. I like the brother too well not to look over some caprice--some extraordinary fantasies in the sister--and I pledge you my word as a gentleman, unless the devil should play us some strange trick, (whom, I trust, is at this moment fully occupied in some other corner of the world!) that Mademoiselle Marguerite d"Auray, shall be Madame the Baroness de Lectoure, and that in a month you shall have your regiment."
This promise appeared in some degree to pacify Emanuel, who allowed himself to be pushed out of the door without making further difficulty.
Lectoure immediately ran to a looking-gla.s.s to repair the slight traces of disorder, which the jolting over the three last leagues had occasioned in his dress. He had scarcely given to his, hair and garments the most becoming turn and folds, when the door again opened, and Celestin announced--
"Mademoiselle Marguerite d"Auray."
The baron turned round, and perceived his betrothed standing pale and trembling on the threshold of the door. Although the promises of Emanuel had inspired him with some degree of hope, a certain residue of doubt had still remained on his mind, if not as to the beauty, at all events, with regard to the deportment of the lady who was about to become his wife. His surprise was therefore unbounded, when he saw that delicate and graceful creature standing before him, and whom the most fastidious critic of female elegance could only have reproached with being in a slight degree too pallid. Marriages, such as the one about to be contracted by Lectoure, were by no means rare in an age in which questions as to rank and suitableness of fortune in general, decided alliances between n.o.ble houses; but that which was scarcely found once in a thousand times, was, that a man in the baron"s position should meet, immured in a distant province, a lady possessed of an immense fortune, and whom, at the first glance, he could discern, was worthy, by her demeanor, her elegance, and her beauty, to shine in the most brilliant circles of the court. He, therefore, advanced toward her, no longer with the feeling of superiority as a courtier, addressing a country girl, but with all the respectful ease which distinguished good society at that time.
"Pardon me, mademoiselle," said he, offering her his hand to conduct her to an arm chair, but which she did not accept; "it was to me to solicit the favor you have bestowed upon me; and believe me, it was the apprehension of being considered indiscreet, which alone has occasioned the apparent neglect of allowing myself to be forestalled."
"I truly appreciate this delicacy, sir," replied Marguerite, in a trembling voice, and retreating one step, she remained standing. "It strengthens me still more in the confidence which, without having seen you, without knowing you, I had placed in your honor and good faith."
"Whatever aim this confidence may have had, I am honored by it, mademoiselle, and I will endeavor to render myself worthy of it. But, good heaven, what can so affect you?"
"Nothing, sir, nothing," replied Marguerite, endeavoring to overcome her emotion; "but it is--it is--that I have to tell you that--but--really--I am not sufficiently mistress of myself to--"
She staggered, and appeared as if about to fall; the baron sprang toward her to offer his support, but he had scarcely touched her when a flush of crimson suffused the cheeks of the young girl, and with a feeling, which might be attributed as well to modesty as to repugnance, she disengaged herself from his arms. Lectoure had taken her hand, and conducted her to a chair, against which she leaned, but would not seat herself in it.
"Good G.o.d!" exclaimed the baron, still retaining her hand, "it must then be something very difficult to utter, that has brought you hither! Or, without my at all suspecting it, has my being affianced to you already conferred upon me the imposing air of a husband?" Marguerite made another effort to withdraw her hand from the baron, and which induced the latter to observe it.
"How!" said he, "not satisfied with having the most adorable of faces, the elegant figure of a fairy, but you must have such lovely hands!--hands perfectly royal in their shape--why, "tis enough to make me expire at once."
"I trust M. le Baron," rejoined Marguerite, and making a last effort, she withdrew her hand from his grasp, "that the words with which you are now addressing me, are merely words of gallantry."
"No, by my soul! they are the sincere truth."
"Well then, I hope, should it be, which I much doubt, that you really think that which you have been pleased to say--I trust, I say, that such motives will not lead you to attach a higher value to the union which has been projected?"
"They will, indeed, and that I swear to you."
"And yet," continued Marguerite, gasping for breath, so much was her heart oppressed, "and yet, sir, you consider marriage as a solemn matter?"
"That is as it may happen," smilingly replied Lectoure; "for example, if I were about to marry an old dowager."
"In short," rejoined Marguerite, in a more determined tone, "I beg your pardon, sir, if I have been mistaken; I thought, perhaps, that with regard to the alliance proposed between us, you had formed some idea of reciprocity of feeling."