"I can well believe it, monsieur."
"We instantly drew our swords.--He fights well, but his anger blinded him."
"And you wounded him?"
"Wounded him!--Oh! I did better than that--I killed him, madame. A superb thrust, which ran him through. If he recovers, it will surprise me greatly.--But what is the matter, madame? You turn pale!"
"Yes, monsieur; in truth, I do not feel well--the anxiety I have suffered to-night, and---- But a night"s rest will restore me. Be good enough to send Miretta here."
"On the instant.--Really, I am deeply touched by your interest in me; but, as you see, I did not receive the slightest scratch."
"Yes, monsieur, yes; that sets my mind at rest. And--that unhappy man--whom you killed--what has become of him?"
"Whatever G.o.d wills should become of him.--For myself, my dear love, you will understand that the best thing for me to do was to come away at once! The law concerning duels is very severe!--But Joseph alone was our witness, and I am sure of that fellow"s fidelity.--Come, marchioness, be rea.s.sured; take some rest; no more anxiety. I will send Miretta to you."
The marquis left the room. Valentine sat perfectly still, as if she were overwhelmed. Her brow was blanched, her eyes shone with a sombre fire; it was evident that a cruel thought absorbed all her senses. It was in this condition that Miretta found her when she entered the room.
"Did madame send for me? Madame seems to be suffering," said the girl, as she observed her mistress. "But monsieur le marquis has returned--so that he must have been the victor, and madame is avenged!"
Valentine raised her head and flashed a terrible glance at her confidante, crying:
"Avenged! unhappy girl! Why, do you not know that I am a miserable, infamous wretch?--For that man has killed him! He has killed him! and I am the cause of it; it was I who gave him that a.s.signation, who laid the snare for Leodgard, by making him believe that I loved him!--Yes, I did love him! I did not lie! I tried to deceive myself concerning my feelings; I tried to delude myself. I told myself that he had disdained me, that I should wreak vengeance upon him for his scorn. I told myself that! But in the bottom of my heart I always loved him. I wanted to see him at my feet, to hear him make sweet protestations of love. I saw him there, and I caused his death! I killed him!--Oh! I have a horror of myself! I am unworthy of pity! And I would give my life now to undo the evil I have done!"
Miretta seemed more surprised than moved by her mistress"s despair. She contented herself with saying:
"So monsieur le marquis killed his opponent?"
"Yes; at least, he thinks so.--Ah! if, however---- Miretta, you are brave--you must go out, hasten to Place Royale, near Rue des Tournelles,--the place where I promised to meet him. Look carefully. If Leodgard is still there, ascertain whether he is breathing, and, in that case, knock at some shop door and implore help, and see that the count is taken to his house in Rue de Bretonvilliers.--See, here is money; do not spare it. With money one can always find people ready to do one"s bidding.--Go, Miretta; you can go out when you choose now; the marquis has the most perfect confidence in you.--Go; find Leodgard, and do not leave him until you have stationed a doctor by his side.--And then return--return! I shall count the minutes."
Miretta did not seem overjoyed by the mission which was intrusted to her; but, being entirely devoted to her mistress, she did not murmur, and made haste to obey. Moreover, when she went out at night, a secret hope always awoke in the depths of the girl"s heart, and would have given her courage if she had lacked it.
Miretta looked in vain for Leodgard on Place Royale; we know that the wounded man was no longer there. But a great pool of blood, in which her foot slipped, satisfied her that she had found the spot where the duel had taken place. Seeing no light anywhere, and having no hope of obtaining information at midnight, she returned to the Hotel de Santoval, walking slowly, however, with her ears strained to detect the faintest sound, stopping from time to time when she thought that she heard footsteps, and entirely oblivious of the commission her mistress had given her.
Valentine meanwhile impatiently awaited her maid"s return. She appeared at last, and informed the marchioness that the Comte de Marvejols was no longer on Place Royale.
"Some charitable person must have taken care of him," said Valentine; "and if he was able to speak, he has probably been taken to his own house. At daybreak, Miretta, you will hasten to Rue de Bretonvilliers, enter the count"s house, ascertain whether he has been taken there, and inquire concerning his condition. At daybreak, do you understand?"
"I will obey you, madame."
And the next morning, almost before there was light enough to see, Miretta set about executing the orders she had received. But at the house in Rue de Bretonvilliers the count had not been seen since the preceding day, and no one knew what had become of him.
Valentine"s torment increased with the ill success of the investigations which she caused to be made.
"But certainly that unfortunate man"s body cannot have disappeared without having given rise to some talk!" cried the marchioness. "He was left for dead by his adversary on Place Royale, and that is where he must have been found. Go there again, Miretta, pa.s.s the whole day there if necessary; but do not return without bringing me some news of Leodgard."
Once more Miretta obeyed her mistress"s orders; and after pa.s.sing a large part of the day on Place Royale, she was about to return to the Hotel de Santoval, when she happened to meet Ambroisine, to whose house she had not been for a very long time, but for whom she still cherished profound grat.i.tude.
The two girls greeted each other with a smile, and the bath keeper"s daughter said to Miretta:
"What has become of you, pray? I never see you!"
"I am still in the service of Mademoiselle Valentine, who is now Marquise de Santoval; and you?"
"I come almost every day to see my friend Bathilde, who is now Comtesse de Marvejols."
"Ah, yes! I remember; I have heard of that marriage."
"It is a most extraordinary story. But I have no time to talk at this moment. If you knew--last evening, the Sire de Jarnonville and I found Monsieur le Comte Leodgard lying on the ground yonder, under the arcade, bathed in his own blood; I ran to the house--which is close by--and they took the wounded man there.--He is very ill; however, there is still some hope perhaps.--Adieu! adieu! I must go back to Bathilde!"
Miretta had learned all that she wished to know, and she hastened to make her report to her mistress.
On learning that Leodgard was in the house occupied by his wife, Valentine had almost a paroxysm of rage; at last she fell exhausted on a chair, saying:
"With his wife! he is with her now! And this is what all my projects of revenge have resulted in--uniting him to this Bathilde! bringing about a reconciliation between them, perhaps! Oh, no! no! I will poison that woman"s happiness.--Ah! I should regret it less now if Leodgard should die of his wound!"
But the marchioness"s hopes were not gratified; we know that the count did not die of the sword thrust administered by the Marquis de Santoval.
When Valentine was once informed of the place where Leodgard was, she easily succeeded in obtaining news of him; and almost every day she sent Miretta to inquire in the neighborhood of the Hotel de Marvejols concerning his condition. The servants, as they went in and out, never failed to give their neighbors news of their master, whom they believed to have been attacked on the street by brigands. So that Valentine knew that he was convalescent, and that he would soon be able to go out. She awaited that moment with impatience.
But the days pa.s.sed, and Leodgard did not leave the Hotel de Marvejols.
"He must be well content to be with his wife!" thought Valentine, far from suspecting that it was a child who detained Leodgard under the same roof with Bathilde. "I will wait no longer! for if I do, it will perhaps be too late to tear the count away from this new life."
The marchioness summoned Miretta and said to her:
"Leodgard is now cured, entirely recovered from his wound, I know; and yet he still remains with this Bathilde. But something tells me that I still have some power over the count"s heart, and that a word from me would suffice to bring him back to my feet."
"What, madame! do you propose----"
"Hush, Miretta; you cannot understand what is taking place in my heart.
I have but one thought now: to give myself to Leodgard, and to leave this Marquis de Santoval, whose mere presence is horrible to me.--Not a word! Do not try to combat my resolution--it is not to be shaken. Would not you have suffered everything, defied every danger, for your Giovanni? Would you not, to obey only him, have disobeyed the whole world?"
"Oh, yes! I would have done all that for Giovanni, madame; and I am ready to do it still!"
"Be not surprised to find in another woman a sentiment at least as imperious as that which you yourself know!"
"Ah! madame, I never would have sent Giovanni to fight with another man!"
"Poor fool! do you know what you would have done if you had seen your lover desert you for a rival?--But let us talk no more of the past! It is for the purpose of atoning for it that I wish to send a message to Leodgard. I wish it to be placed in his own hands. You cannot take charge of it, because you are known to that bath keeper"s daughter, the n.o.ble countess"s close friend; she would insist upon taking the letter, she might inform her friend, and then they would divine from whom you came."
"Oh, yes, madame! for I told her that I was still with you; and if monsieur le comte has admitted having fought a duel with monsieur le marquis, they would think, if I should carry a letter there, that another duel was in contemplation, and they would be quite capable of not giving it to the count."
"That is why I do not wish to intrust it to you. The little solicitor"s clerk will do the errand perfectly. Go, Miretta, and find him. But he cannot come again to this house, where he was beaten. Make an appointment with him in some solitary, out-of-the-way place, and I will meet him there. Thank heaven! Monsieur de Santoval has ceased to be jealous since that duel. He leaves me entirely free. Go, then, find this Bahuchet, promise him money, much money; I know that he is not to be relied on without that."
Miretta lost no time in going to Maitre Bourdinard"s office; she knew the way very well.
But when she entered the dirty, smoke-begrimed room where Bahuchet and his friend usually sat, she was surprised to find new faces in the places of those which she was accustomed to see there.
"What do you wish, young woman?" asked an old fellow as yellow as parchment, as he saw the girl gazing around the room.