"My chief desire is to become better acquainted with M. de la Rochaigue and his family, for then they will doubtless treat me with less ceremony, and cease to pay me compliments which embarra.s.s me greatly, but which they probably feel obliged to pay me in order to make me feel at ease.
"They are so kind that each person in turn seems to be racking his or her brain for the pleasantest and most complimentary thing they can say to me. By and by, I hope that they will see they do not need to flatter me to gain my affection. One would almost suppose from their manner that they were under the greatest obligations to me for being allowed to receive me into their household. This does not surprise me much, however, my dearest mother, for how often you have told me that refined people always seem grateful for the services they are able to render others.
"I have had some very painful moments to-day,--not by any fault of my guardian or his family, however.
"This morning, a gentleman (my notary, as I learned afterwards) was introduced to me by my guardian, who said:
""My dear ward, I think it would be well for you to know the precise amount of your fortune, and this gentleman will now tell you."
"Whereupon, the notary, opening a book he had brought with him, showed me the last page all covered with figures, and said:
""Mademoiselle, from the exact"--he used a word here that I have forgotten--"your yearly income amounts to the sum of three million one hundred and twenty thousand francs, which gives you nearly eight thousand francs a day, so you are the richest heiress in France."
"This, my poor dear mother, reminded me again of what, alas! I scarcely ever forget,--that I was an orphan, and alone in the world; and in spite of all my efforts to control my feelings, I wept bitterly."
Ernestine was obliged to stop writing. Her tears had burst forth afresh, for to this tender-hearted, artless child, this rich inheritance meant the loss of her mother and of her father.
Becoming calmer after a few moments, she resumed her pen, and continued:
"It is difficult for me to explain it, but on learning that I had eight thousand francs a day, as the notary said, I felt a great awe, not unmixed with fear.
""So much money--just for myself! why is it?" I thought.
"It seemed to me unjust.
"What had I done to be so rich?
"And then those words which had made me weep, "You are the richest heiress in France," almost terrified me.
"Yes; I know not how to explain it, but the knowledge that I possessed this immense fortune made me feel strangely uneasy. It seemed to me that I must feel as people feel who have a great treasure, and who tremble at the thought of the dangers they will incur if any one tries to rob them of it.
"And yet, no; this comparison is not a just one, for I never cared very much for the money you and my father gave me each month to gratify my fancies.
"In fact, I seem unable to a.n.a.lyse my feelings when I think of my wealth, as they call it. It is strange and inexplicable, but perhaps I shall feel differently by and by.
"In the meantime, I am surrounded by the kindest and most devoted of relatives. What can I have to fear? It is pure childishness on my part, undoubtedly. But to whom can I tell everything, if not to you? M. de la Rochaigue and the other members of his household are wonderfully kind to me, but I shall never make confidants of them. You know I have always been very reserved to every one but you and my father; and I often reproach myself for not being more familiar with my good Laine, who has been with me several years. But anything like familiarity is impossible to me, though I am far from being proud."
Then alluding to the aversion she felt for M. de Maillefort, in consequence of Mlle. Helena"s calumnies, Ernestine added:
"I was cruelly hurt this evening, but it was such a disgraceful thing that, out of respect to you, my dear mother, I will not write it, nor do I really believe that I should have the courage.
"Good night, my darling mamma. To-morrow and the day following, I am going to nine o"clock ma.s.s with Mlle. de la Rochaigue. She is so good and kind that I could not refuse. But my most fervent prayers, my dear mother, are those I offer up in solitude. To-morrow morning and other mornings, in the midst of the careless crowd, I shall pray for you, but it is when I am alone, as now, that my every thought and my very soul lifts itself to thee, and that I pray to thee as one prays to G.o.d--my beloved and sainted mother!"
After having replaced the book in the writing-desk, the key of which she wore always suspended around her neck, the orphan sought her couch, and slept much more calmly and peacefully now she had made these artless confessions to an--alas!--now immortal mother.
CHAPTER XXIV.
AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.
On the morning following the day on which M. de Maillefort had been introduced to Mlle. de Beaumesnil for the first time, Commander Bernard was lying stretched out in the comfortable armchair which had been a present from Olivier.
It was a beautiful summer morning, and the old sailor gazed out sadly through the window on the parched flower beds, now full of weeds, for a month before two of the veteran"s old wounds had reopened, keeping him a prisoner in his armchair, and preventing him from working in his beloved garden.
The housekeeper was seated near the commander, busy with some sewing, but for several minutes she must have been indulging in her usual recriminations against "Bu-u-onaparte," for she was now saying to the veteran, in tones of bitter indignation:
"Yes, monsieur, raw, raw; I tell you he ate it raw!"
The veteran, when his acute suffering abated a little, could not help laughing at the housekeeper"s absurd stories, so he said:
"What was it that this diabolical Corsican ogre ate raw, Mother Barbancon?"
"His beef, monsieur! Yes, the night before the battle he ate his meat raw! And do you know why?"
"No," answered the veteran, turning himself with difficulty in his armchair; "I can not imagine, I am sure."
"The wretch did it to render himself more ferocious, so he would have the courage to see his soldiers exterminated by the enemy,--above all, the conscripts," added the indignant housekeeper. "His sole object in life was to provide food for cannon, as he said, and so to depopulate France by conscriptions that there would not be a single Frenchman left.
That was his diabolical scheme!"
Commander Bernard replied to this tirade by another loud burst of laughter.
"Let me ask just this one question," he said. "If Bonaparte desired that there shouldn"t be another Frenchman left in France, who the devil would he have had to reign over, then?"
"Why, negroes, of course," snapped the housekeeper, shrugging her shoulders impatiently, and acting quite as if an absurdly easy question had been put to her.
It was such a ridiculous answer, and so entirely unexpected, that a moment of positive stupefaction preceded a fresh outburst of hilarity on the part of the commander, who, as soon as he could control his mirth a little, inquired:
"Negroes, what negroes?"
"Why, those American negroes with whom he was always plotting, and who, while he was on his rock, began a tunnel which, starting at Champ-d"Asile, and pa.s.sing under St. Helena, was intended to transport to the capital of the empire other negroes, friends of the American negroes, so Bu-u-onaparte, in company with his odious Roustan, could return to ravage all France."
"Really, Mother Barbancon," exclaimed the veteran, admiringly, "I never knew your imagination to soar to such sublime heights before."
"I don"t see that there is anything to laugh at, monsieur. Would you like to have conclusive proof that the monster always intended to replace the French by negroes?"
"I should indeed, Mother Barbancon," exclaimed the veteran, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes. "Come, let us have the proof."
"Ah, well, monsieur, hasn"t everybody said for years that your Bu-u-onaparte treated the French like so many negroes?"
"Bravo, Mother Barbancon, bravo!"
"Well, isn"t that proof enough that he would like to have had all negroes instead of Frenchmen under his thumb?"
"Thanks, Mother Barbancon!" exclaimed the poor commander, fairly writhing with merriment. "But this is too much, really too much!"
Two loud and imperious peals of the bell made the housekeeper spring from her chair and hurry out of the room, exclaiming: