Their interview, occupied but half an hour; but, when M. de Bois left the _chalet_, his countenance wore an expression of earnestness, responsibility, and composure, totally opposite to its usual characteristics.
Madeleine, as she tripped back through the dew, smiled with moist eyes,--a smile of grat.i.tude rather than of pleasure. More than once she drew a long breath, as though some heavy pressure had been lifted from her breast; and, as she dashed away the tears that gathered in her eyes, she seemed eagerly looking into the distance, as though a mist had rolled from before her steps, and she now saw her way clearly. All was silent in the chateau, and she reached her chamber unperceived.
That day pa.s.sed as usual, and another, and another. Madeleine never once alluded to the determination which she had announced to her aunt as unalterable, and the countess was satisfied that her niece had spoken under the influence of excitement, without any fixed purpose; and gradually dismissed from her mind the fear that her dependent relative would take some rash and dignity-compromising step.
Bertha had not forgotten that Madeleine had declared the Chateau de Gramont was no longer her home; but as the latter went through the daily routine of her wonted avocations as though they were always to continue, and as no change was apparent in her manner, save that she was more silent and meditative, and her once ready smiles grew rarer, Bertha, also, was lulled into the belief that her cousin had abandoned her intention.
Count Tristan fell into no such error. Madeleine"s preoccupied mien, her unwonted reserve, the tender sadness with which she sometimes gazed around her, as though bidding farewell to dear, familiar objects, a.s.sured him that she had not spoken lightly, and that her threat would be carried into execution at no distant period. Well was it for her that he had come to this satisfactory conclusion, for it spared her further persecution at his hands.
On the fourth morning after the departure of Maurice, Bertha entered Madeleine"s chamber, according to her custom,--for the young maidens always descended to breakfast together. Her room was empty.
"She has not waited for me to-day," thought Bertha, hurrying down, and expecting to find Madeleine in the breakfast-room.
The countess and her son were at table, but Madeleine was not there.
"Has Madeleine breakfasted?" inquired Bertha, cutting short her morning salutations.
The answer was in the negative.
"Have you not seen her?" she asked.
"No, not this morning," replied the countess.
"I suppose she is taking an early walk," continued Bertha. "It seems odd that she does not come back, for she is never late."
Bertha seated herself, but the coffee remained untasted before her; and her head was constantly turned towards the window which commanded a view of the garden and park. Gustave pa.s.sed, and she cried out to him,--
"Gustave, have you seen Mademoiselle Madeleine, this morning?"
"No, mademoiselle."
"Why, where _can_ she be?" exclaimed Bertha, impatiently. "If you will excuse me, aunt, I will go in search of her. Since she has not broken her fast yet, we will breakfast together, as usual." And away darted Bertha into the garden.
The countess had not attached any importance to Madeleine"s absence, and resumed the conversation with her son.
Through Count Tristan"s mind the suspicion at once had flashed that Madeleine was gone, and he chuckled inwardly at the verification of his own unspoken predictions. A quarter of an hour pa.s.sed, and then he beheld Bertha coming rapidly from the direction of the _chalet_. He felt no surprise in observing that she was alone. The windows of the breakfast-room opened to the ground, and she entered by one of them,--her face crimsoned, her fair hair unbound and floating over her shoulders, for she had been running.
"I cannot find Madeleine!" she faltered out. "It is very strange! She is not in the _chalet_, nor in the garden. I have called until I am hoa.r.s.e.
I picked up this handkerchief in the _chalet_,--it is marked "G. de Bois," yet it is three days since M. de Bois was here; and Madeleine and I have spent every morning since then at the _chalet_. When could M. de Bois have dropped this handkerchief there?"
The count took the handkerchief from her hand, and examined the mark without comment: he could not trust his voice at that moment.
"I presume Madeleine will be here presently, to account for herself,"
remarked the countess, not apparently discomposed. "Take your breakfast, Bertha; there is no need of your fasting until she chooses to make her appearance."
Bertha obediently sat down, sipped her coffee for a few moments, and then, declaring that she wanted nothing more, left the room and returned to Madeleine"s apartment. It was in perfect order, but so it was always; the bed was made, but Madeleine was in the habit of making her own bed; there was no sign of change. Bertha opened the wardrobe,--the dresses Madeleine usually wore were hanging within; she wandered about the room, examining every nook and corner, hardly conscious of what she was doing,--what she expected to find or to miss. All at once she remarked that a few books, which were favorites of Madeleine and once belonged to her father, had been removed from the table; but what of that?--they had probably been placed somewhere else. Continuing her almost purposeless search, Bertha now drew out the drawers of the bureau: they usually held Madeleine"s linen; they were empty! In violent agitation the kneeling girl sprang to her feet; her undefined fear was taking shape. She ran to the antechamber and looked for a little trunk which had come to the chateau with Madeleine: it was no longer there!
Bertha darted down the stair and rushed into her aunt"s presence, sobbing out in agony of grief,--"She has gone! Madeleine has gone! I know she has gone, and she will never, never return to us! Her dresses are there; everything you have given her is there; she has only taken with her what she had when she came to the chateau, and she has surely gone!"
Count Tristan pretended to laugh at Bertha"s fears, and maintained that Madeleine would presently walk in, and feel very much flattered by the sensation she had created, and by her cousin"s lamentations over her supposed flight; adding, jocosely, that it was not easy for a young lady to disappear in that dramatic manner, except from the pages of a novel.
The countess, who began to be alarmed, desired her son to ring the bell.
Gustave appeared in answer, and, after being closely questioned, was desired to summon the other domestics. Bettina and Elise promptly obeyed the command. Their answers were precisely the same as those of Gustave: they had not seen Madeleine; they could not imagine where she was.
"Baptiste,--where is he?" asked the countess.
Baptiste was in the garden.
"I am going out,--I will speak to him myself, and also inst.i.tute further inquiries to satisfy our dear little Bertha; but I warn her that her dreams of a romantic adventure, and the flight of a young lady from an ancient chateau and her natural protectors, will probably meet with a sudden check by Madeleine"s walking in from a long ramble."
Thus speaking, the count left Bertha to be consoled by his mother, and went forth in search of Baptiste. Count Tristan well knew that, although the domestics were all warmly attached to Madeleine, the devotion of Baptiste was unsurpa.s.sed. The count did not, for one instant, doubt that she had really gone. Some a.s.sistance she must have had, and Baptiste"s was the aid she would naturally have selected. He chose to interrogate the old man himself, to _prevent his giving_ rather than to extract information from him.
The simple-hearted gardener was not an adept in deception. He was digging among his flower-beds when his master approached him, and it did not escape the n.o.bleman"s observation that the spade went into the ground and was drawn out again with increased rapidity as he drew near, and that the head of Baptiste, instead of being lifted to see who was coming, was bent down as though he wished to appear wholly engrossed in his occupation.
"Baptiste?"
"Monsieur?"
The tremulous voice in which that one word was uttered, and his guilty countenance, scarcely raised as he spoke, were enough to convict him.
"Has Mademoiselle Madeleine pa.s.sed you in walking out, this morning?"
"No, monsieur. I have been very busy, monsieur; these flower-beds are in a terrible state; it is not easy for one pair of hands to keep them even in tolerable order. I have not noticed who pa.s.sed. I don"t generally look about me,--I"--
"Oh, very well; we thought perhaps you might have seen Mademoiselle Madeleine to-day, as she must have walked out; but, as you know nothing at all about her, I will inform the countess and Mademoiselle Bertha."
"I am much obliged to monsieur," replied Baptiste, gratefully.
He could not conceal his thankfulness at escaping the cross-examination which he had antic.i.p.ated with the dread natural to one wholly unpractised in dissimulation.
"This handkerchief of M. de Bois was found in the _chalet_," continued the count. "I suppose he sometimes strolls over here in the morning, at an hour too early for visiting; it is very natural, as we are such near neighbors."
"As monsieur says, it would be very natural."
The count had gained all the information that he desired, and without letting Baptiste suspect he had betrayed his secret. That Madeleine had actually fled, that M. de Bois had lent his aid, and that Baptiste had been taken into their confidence, was indubitable.
The count returned to the chateau, and joined his mother, who was making vain attempts to soothe Bertha. The only comfort to which she would listen was the a.s.surance that, if Madeleine had really gone, she would be traced and entreated to return to her former home.
The count now thought it politic to a.s.sume an air of the deepest concern.
"I am grieved to bring you such unsatisfactory news; but Baptiste knows nothing,--he has not seen Madeleine. I am very much shocked, but the fear that she has really left us forces itself upon me. I will order my horse and ride over to Rennes. She probably obtained a conveyance last night or this morning to take her there, as it is the nearest town; and then, by railroad or stage-coach, she must have proceeded upon her journey."
"But how could she have obtained a conveyance if none of the servants were in her confidence? She must have walked, though it is five miles; but that cannot be, for she could not have carried her trunk. Some one _must_ have aided her. Oh, who _can_ it be?"
Bertha wiped her streaming eyes with the handkerchief in her hand; it was the handkerchief found in the _chalet_,--that of Gaston de Bois. It seemed to answer her question. She hesitated for some moments before she could persuade herself to communicate her suspicion; but her strong love for Madeleine, and her desire that she should be restored to them, prevailed. She handed the handkerchief to Count Tristan.
"Before you go to Rennes, will you not return this handkerchief to M. de Bois? As it was picked up in the _chalet_, he must have been there lately,--possibly this morning. Perhaps he knows something of Madeleine"s flight. Oh, he _must_ know!--he must! Make him tell you,--implore him to tell you!"
The count took the handkerchief, saying, "It is an admirable suggestion of yours, my dear Bertha. I will go to M. de Bois at once. Meantime, do not spoil your beautiful eyes with weeping. Never fear,--we will have Madeleine back shortly; and if you will only be consoled, I promise to forgive her all the anxiety she has occasioned us."