"Have you got anything for f.a.n.n.y--poor, poor f.a.n.n.y?" and, dwelling on the epithet, she shook her head mournfully.
"You are rich, f.a.n.n.y, with all those toys."
"Am I? Everybody calls me poor f.a.n.n.y--everybody but papa;" and she ran again to Gawtrey, and laid her head on his shoulder.
"She calls me papa!" said Gawtrey, kissing her; "you hear it? Bless her!"
"And you never kiss any one but f.a.n.n.y--you have no other little girl?"
said the child, earnestly, and with a look less vacant than that which had saddened Morton.
"No other--no--nothing under heaven, and perhaps above it, but you!" and he clasped her in his arms. "But," he added, after a pause--"but mind me, f.a.n.n.y, you must like this gentleman. He will be always good to you: and he had a little brother whom he was as fond of as I am of you."
"No, I won"t like him--I won"t like anybody but you and my sister!"
"Sister!--who is your sister?"
The child"s face relapsed into an expression almost of idiotcy. "I don"t know--I never saw her. I hear her sometimes, but I don"t understand what she says.--Hush! come here!" and she stole to the window on tiptoe.
Gawtrey followed and looked out.
"Do you hear her, now?" said f.a.n.n.y. "What does she say?"
As the girl spoke, some bird among the evergreens uttered a shrill, plaintive cry, rather than song--a sound which the thrush occasionally makes in the winter, and which seems to express something of fear, and pain, and impatience. "What does she say?--can you tell me?" asked the child.
"Pooh! that is a bird; why do you call it your sister?"
"I don"t know!--because it is--because it--because--I don"t know--is it not in pain?--do something for it, papa!"
Gawtrey glanced at Morton, whose face betokened his deep pity, and creeping up to him, whispered,--
"Do you think she is really touched here? No, no,--she will outgrow it--I am sure she will!"
Morton sighed.
f.a.n.n.y by this time had again seated herself in the middle of the floor, and arranged her toys, but without seeming to take pleasure in them.
At last Gawtrey was obliged to depart. The lay sister, who had charge of f.a.n.n.y, was summoned into the parlour; and then the child"s manner entirely changed; her face grew purple--she sobbed with as much anger as grief. "She would not leave papa--she would not go--that she would not!"
"It is always so," whispered Gawtrey to Morton, in an abashed and apologetic voice. "It is so difficult to get away from her. Just go and talk with her while I steal out."
Morton went to her, as she struggled with the patient good-natured sister, and began to soothe and caress her, till she turned on him her large humid eyes, and said, mournfully,
"Tu es mechant, tu. Poor f.a.n.n.y!"
"But this pretty doll--" began the sister. The child looked at it joylessly.
"And papa is going to die!"
"Whenever Monsieur goes," whispered the nun, "she always says that he is dead, and cries herself quietly to sleep; when Monsieur returns, she says he is come to life again. Some one, I suppose, once talked to her about death; and she thinks when she loses sight of any one, that that is death."
"Poor child!" said Morton, with a trembling voice.
The child looked up, smiled, stroked his cheek with her little hand, and said:
"Thank you!--Yes! poor f.a.n.n.y! Ah, he is going--see!--let me go too--tu es mechant."
"But," said Morton, detaining her gently, "do you know that you give him pain?--you make him cry by showing pain yourself. Don"t make him so sad!"
The child seemed struck, hung down her head for a moment, as if in thought, and then, jumping from Morton"s lap, ran to Gawtrey, put up her pouting lips, and said:
"One kiss more!"
Gawtrey kissed her, and turned away his head.
"f.a.n.n.y is a good girl!" and f.a.n.n.y, as she spoke, went back to Morton, and put her little fingers into her eyes, as if either to shut out Gawtrey"s retreat from her sight, or to press back her tears.
"Give me the doll now, sister Marie."
Morton smiled and sighed, placed the child, who struggled no more, in the nun"s arms, and left the room; but as he closed the door he looked back, and saw that f.a.n.n.y had escaped from the sister, thrown herself on the floor, and was crying, but not loud.
"Is she not a little darling?" said Gawtrey, as they gained the street.
"She is, indeed, a most beautiful child!"
"And you will love her if I leave her penniless," said Gawtrey, abruptly. "It was your love for your mother and your brother that made me like you from the first. Ay," continued Gawtrey, in a tone of great earnestness, "ay, and whatever may happen to me, I will strive and keep you, my poor lad, harmless; and what is better, innocent even of such matters as sit light enough on my own well-seasoned conscience. In turn, if ever you have the power, be good to her,--yes, be good to her! and I won"t say a harsh word to you if ever you like to turn king"s evidence against myself."
"Gawtrey!" said Morton, reproachfully, and almost fiercely.
"Bah!--such things are! But tell me honestly, do you think she is very strange--very deficient?"
"I have not seen enough of her to judge," answered Morton, evasively.
"She is so changeful," persisted Gawtrey. "Sometimes you would say that she was above her age, she comes out with such thoughtful, clever things; then, the next moment, she throws me into despair. These nuns are very skilful in education--at least they are said to be so. The doctors give me hope, too. You see, her poor mother was very unhappy at the time of her birth--delirious, indeed: that may account for it. I often fancy that it is the constant excitement which her state occasions me that makes me love her so much. You see she is one who can never shift for herself. I must get money for her; I have left a little already with the superior, and I would not touch it to save myself from famine! If she has money people will be kind enough to her. And then,"
continued Gawtrey, "you must perceive that she loves nothing in the world but me--me, whom n.o.body else loves! Well--well, now to the shop again!"
On returning home the bonne informed them that a lady had called, and asked both for Monsieur Love and the young gentleman, and seemed much chagrined at missing both. By the description, Morton guessed she was the fair incognita, and felt disappointed at having lost the interview.
CHAPTER V.
"The cursed carle was at his wonted trade, Still tempting heedless men into his snare, In witching wise, as I before have said; But when he saw, in goodly gear array"d, The grave majestic knight approaching nigh, His countenance fell."--THOMSON, Castle of Indolence.
The morning rose that was to unite Monsieur Goupille with Mademoiselle Adele de Courval. The ceremony was performed, and bride and bridegroom went through that trying ordeal with becoming gravity. Only the elegant Adele seemed more unaffectedly agitated than Mr. Love could well account for; she was very nervous in church, and more often turned her eyes to the door than to the altar. Perhaps she wanted to run away; but it was either too late or too early for the proceeding. The rite performed, the happy pair and their friends adjourned to the Cadran Bleu, that restaurant so celebrated in the festivities of the good citizens of Paris. Here Mr. Love had ordered, at the epicier"s expense, a most tasteful entertainment.
"Sacre! but you have not played the economist, Monsieur Lofe," said Monsieur Goupille, rather querulously, as he glanced at the long room adorned with artificial flowers, and the table a cingitante couverts.
"Bah!" replied Mr. Love, "you can retrench afterwards. Think of the fortune she brought you."