My poor friend is always the same; he only finds a solace for his sufferings in doing good."
"I do not deserve these praises, have the goodness to dispense with them,"
said the notary, dryly, with difficulty concealing his anger. "To the Lord alone belongs the appreciation of good and evil; I am only a miserable sinner."
"We are all sinners," answered the abbe gently; "but we have not all the charity which distinguishes you, my respected friend. There are very few who, like you, dispossess themselves of so much of their earthly wealth to employ it during their lifetime in a manner so Christian-like. Do you still persist in selling your business, in order to devote yourself more entirely to the practice of religion?"
"Since yesterday, my business is sold, M. l"Abbe; some concessions have enabled me to realize (a rare thing) the cash down: this sum, added to others, will enable me to found the inst.i.tution of which I have spoken, and of which I have definitively arranged the plan that I am about to submit to you."
"Ah! my worthy friend," said the abbe, with deep and reverential admiration, "to do so much good--so unostentatiously--and, I may say, so naturally! I repeat to you, people like you are rare; they will receive their reward."
"It is true that very few persons unite, like Jacques Ferrand, riches to piety, intelligence to charity," said Polidori, with an ironical smile which escaped the notice of the good abbe.
At this new and sarcastic eulogium the hand of the notary was clinched; he cast from under his spectacles a look of deadly hatred on Polidori.
"You see, M. l"Abbe," the bosom friend of Jacques Ferrand hastened to say, "he has continually these nervous spasms, and he will do nothing for them.
He worries me, he is his own executioner, my poor friend!"
At these words of Polidori, the notary shuddered still more convulsively, but he composed himself again. A man less simple than the abbe would have remarked, during this conversation, and, above all, during what is about to follow, the notary"s constrained manner of speaking; for it is hardly necessary to say that a will superior to his own, the will of Rudolph, in a word, imposed on this man words and acts diametrically opposed to his true character. Thus sometimes, pushed to extremities, the notary appeared reluctant to obey this all powerful and invisible authority; but a look from Polidori put an end to his indecision. Then, constraining with a sigh of rage his most violent feelings, Jacques Ferrand submitted to the yoke which he could not break.
"Alas! M. l"Abbe," said Polidori, who seemed to take delight in torturing his victim, as is said vulgarly, by p.r.i.c.ks of a pin, "my poor friend neglects his health too much. Tell him to be more careful of himself, if not for his own sake, for his friends", or, at least, for the unfortunates of whom he is the hope and support."
"Enough! enough!" murmured the notary.
"No, it is not enough," said the priest, with emotion; "we cannot repeat to you too often that you do not belong to yourself, and that it is wrong thus to neglect your health. In ten years that I have known you, I have never seen you ill; but for a month past you are no longer recognizable. I am so much the more struck with this alteration of your features, as I was for some time without seeing you. Thus, at our first interview, I could not conceal my surprise; but the change I have remarked in you for the last few days is much more serious: you sink every hour, you give us much uneasiness. I implore you, my worthy friend, take care of your health."
"I am very sensible of your solicitude, M. l"Abbe; but I a.s.sure you that my condition is not so alarming as you think."
"Since you are so obstinate," said Polidori, "I will tell everything to the abbe; he loves you--he esteems you--he honors you much; how much the more will he honor you when he shall know your new merits--when he shall know the true cause of your wasting away?"
"What is this?" asked the abbe.
"M. l"Abbe," said the notary, with impatience, "I begged you to come here to communicate to you projects of high importance, and not to hear me ridiculously praised by _my friend_."
"You know, Jacques, that from me you must be resigned to here everything,"
said Polidori, looking fixedly at the notary, who cast down his eyes, and remained silent. Polidori continued: "You perhaps remarked, M. l"Abbe, that the first symptoms of his nervous complaint appeared a short time after the abominable scandal which Louise Morel caused in this house."
The notary shuddered.
"You know of the crime of this unhappy girl, sir?" demanded the astonished priest; "I thought you had arrived but a few days since at Paris?"
"Without doubt, M. l"Abbe; but Jacques has related everything to me, as his friend--as his physician; for he attributes these nervous attacks almost entirely to the indignation which the crime of Louise Morel caused him.
This is nothing, as yet; my poor friend, alas! had new trials to endure, which, you see, have ruined his health. An old servant, who for many years was attached to him by the ties of grat.i.tude--"
"Madame Seraphin?" said the cure, interrupting Polidori. "I have heard of the death of this unfortunate, drowned by her own imprudence, and I comprehend the grief of M. Ferrand. It is not easy to forget ten years of faithful services; such regrets do credit to the master as well as to the servant."
"M. l"Abbe," said the notary, "I entreat you, do not speak of my virtues--you confuse me--it is painful."
"And who will speak of them, then--will it be yourself?" answered Polidori affectionately; "but you will be obliged to praise him still more, M.
l"Abbe: you perhaps do not know who is the servant that took the place of Louise Morel and Madame Seraphin. You do not know what he has done for this poor Cecily, M. l"Abbe, for so she is named."
The notary started from his seat, his eyes sparkling under his spectacles, a burning red diffused over his livid face.
"Hush! be silent!" he cried; "not a word more. I forbid it!"
"Come, come, calm yourself," said the abbe, smiling benevolently; "another good action to reveal? As for myself, I strongly approve of the generous indiscretion of your friend. I did not know this servant, for it was just after her arrival that my worthy friend, overwhelmed with business, was obliged momentarily, to my great regret, to interrupt our relations."
"It was to conceal from you this new good action he meditated, M. l"Abbe; thus, although his modesty revolts at the mention of it, he must hear me, and you shall know all," said Polidori, smiling.
Jacques Ferrand was silent; he leaned on his desk, and concealed his face in his hands.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BANK FOR THE POOR.
"Imagine then, M. l"Abbe," resumed Polidori, addressing the cure, but emphasizing, as it were, each phrase by an ironical glance at Jacques Ferrand--"imagine that my friend found in his new servant, who, as I have already told you, was called Cecily, the best qualities, great modesty, angelic sweetness, and above all, much piety. This is not all; Jacques, you know, owes to his long practice in business affairs an extreme penetration; he soon saw that this young woman, for she was young and very pretty, M.
l"Abbe--that this young and pretty woman was not made for a servant, and that, to principles most virtuously austere, she added solid accomplishments very diversified."
"Ah, indeed, this is strange," said the abbe, much interested. "I was entirely ignorant of these circ.u.mstances; but what is the matter, my good M. Ferrand? You seem to be suffering."
"In truth," said the notary, wiping the cold sweat from his brow, "I have a slight headache, but it will soon pa.s.s away."
Polidori shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Observe, M. l"Abbe," he added, "that Jacques is always thus when any one unveils his hidden charities; he is so hypocritical on the subject of the good he does! Happily, I am here, and justice shall be done him. Let us return to Cecily. In her turn she had soon found out the excellence of his heart, and, when he interrogated her as to the past, she confessed to him that, a stranger, without resources, and reduced by the misconduct of her husband to the most humble condition, she regarded it as a boon from heaven that she had been enabled to enter the house of a man so venerable as M. Ferrand. At the sight of so much misfortune, resignation, virtue, Jacques did not hesitate; he wrote to the native country of this unfortunate, to ascertain the truth of her story: the answer confirmed it in every particular; then, sure of not misplacing his benefactions, Jacques blessed Cecily as a father, sent her back to her own country with a sum of money which will enable her to wait for better days, and the chance of improving her condition. I will not add a word of praise for Jacques; the facts are more eloquent than my words."
"Good, very good," cried the cure, much affected. "M. l"Abbe," said Jacques Ferrand, in a hollow voice, "I do not wish to trespa.s.s upon your precious moments; speak no more of me, I implore you, but of the project for which I have begged you to come here and favor me with your advice."
"I perceive that the praises of your friend wound your modesty; let us occupy ourselves, then, with your new good deeds, and forget that you are the author; but, first, let us speak of the business you intrusted to my care. I have, according to your wishes, deposited in the Bank of France, and in my name, the sum of one hundred thousand crowns, destined to the rest.i.tution of which you are the intermediate agent and which was to pa.s.s through my hands. You have preferred that this deposit should not remain in your possession, although it seems to me it had been quite as secure there as in the bank."
"In that respect, M. l"Abbe, I have conformed to the intentions of the unknown author of this rest.i.tution. It is an affair of conscience. At his request I have placed this sum in your hands, and begged you to remit it to madame the widow Fermont, whose maiden name was Renneville" (the voice of the notary trembled slightly in uttering these names), "when she should present herself to you, and prove herself to be ent.i.tled to the same."
"I will accomplish the mission which you confided to me," said the priest.
"It is not the last, M. l"Abbe."
"So much the better, if the others resemble this; for without wishing to seek for the motives which impel it, I am always touched by a voluntary rest.i.tution. These lofty acts, which conscience alone dictates, are always the indications of sincere repentance, and it is no barren expiation."
"In truth, M. l"Abbe, to restore a hundred thousand francs at once is rare; as for me, I have been more curious than you; but what availed my curiosity against the unshaken discretion of Jacques! Thus, I am still ignorant of the person"s name who has made this n.o.ble rest.i.tution."
"Whoever he may be," said the abbe, "I am certain that he stands very high in the esteem of M. Ferrand."
"This honest man is indeed, M. l"Abbe, placed very high in my esteem,"
answered the notary, with a bitterness badly disguised.
"And this is not all, M. l"Abbe," said Polidori, looking at Jacques Ferrand in a significant manner; "you will see how far these generous scruples of this unknown extend; and, if I must speak plainly, I suspect our friend of having contributed not a little to awaken these scruples, and of having found the names to calm them."
"How is that?" asked the priest.