"What awful news, Mademoiselle?" he asked.
"Surely you have heard?"
"You mean the news about Napoleon . . . ?"
"I mean the awful certainty," she retorted with a sudden outburst of vehemence, "that that brigand, that usurper, that scourge of mankind has escaped from an all too lenient prison where he should never have been confined, seeing how easy was escape from it. I mean that all the horrors of the past twenty years will begin again now, misery, starvation, exile probably. Oh, surely," she added with ever-increasing pa.s.sion, "surely G.o.d will not permit such an awful thing to happen; surely he will strike the ogre dead, ere he devastates France once again!"
"I am afraid that you must not reckon quite so much on divine interference, Mademoiselle. A nation--like every single individual--must shape its own destiny, and must not look to G.o.d to help it in its political aims."
"And France must look once more to England, I suppose. It is humiliating to be always in need of help," she said with an impatient little sigh.
"Each nation in its turn has it in its power to help a sister. Sometimes help may come from the weaker vessel. Do you remember the philosopher"s fable of the lion and the mouse? France may be the mouse just now--some day it may be in her power to requite the lion."
She shook her head reprovingly. "I don"t know," she said, "that I approve of your calling France--the mouse."
"I only did so in order to drive my parable still further home."
Then as she looked a little puzzled, he continued--speaking very slowly this time and with an intensity of feeling which was quite different to his usual pleasant, good-tempered, oft-times flippant manner: "Mademoiselle Crystal--if you will allow me to speak of such an insignificant person as I am--I am at present in the position of the mouse with regard to your father and yourself--the lions of my parable.
You might so easily have devoured me, you see," he added with a quaint touch of humour. "Well! the time may come when you may have need of a friend, just as I had need of one when I came here--a stranger in a strange land. Events will move with great rapidity in the next few days, Mademoiselle Crystal, and the mouse might at any time be in a position to render a service to the lion. Will you remember that?"
"I will try, Monsieur," she replied.
But already her pride was once more up in arms. She did not like his tone, that air of protection which his att.i.tude suggested. And indeed she could not think of any eventuality which would place the Comte de Cambray de Brestalou in serious need of a tradesman for his friend.
Then as quickly again her mood softened and as she raised her eyes to his he saw that they were full of tears.
"Indeed! indeed!" she said gently, "I do deserve your contempt, Sir, for my shrewishness and vixenish ways. How can I--how can any of us--afford to turn our backs upon a loyal friend? To-day too, of all days, when that awful enemy is once more at our gates! Oh!" she added, clasping her hands together with a sudden gesture of pa.s.sionate entreaty, "you are English, Sir--a friend of all those gallant gentlemen who saved my dear father and his family from those awful revolutionaries--you will be loyal to us, will you not? The English hate Bonaparte as much as we do!
you hate him too, do you not? you will do all you can to help my poor father through this awful crisis? You will, won"t you?" she pleaded.
"Have I not already offered you my humble services, Mademoiselle?" he rejoined earnestly.
Indeed this was a very serious ordeal for quiet, self-contained Bobby Clyffurde--an Englishman, remember--with all an Englishman"s shyness of emotion, all an Englishman"s contempt of any display of sentiment. Here was this beautiful girl--whom he loved with all the pa.s.sionate ardour of his virile, manly temperament--sitting almost at his feet, he looking down upon her fair head, with its wealth of golden curls, and into her blue eyes which were full of tears.
Who shall blame him if just then a desperate longing seized him to throw all prudence, all dignity and honour to the winds and to clasp this exquisite woman for one brief and happy moment in his arms--to forget the world, her position and his--to risk disgrace and betray hospitality, for the sake of one kiss upon her lips? The temptation was so fierce--indeed for one short second it was all but irresistible--that something of the battle which was raging within his soul became outwardly visible, and in the girl"s tear-dimmed eyes there crept a quick look of alarm--so strange, so ununderstandable was his glance, the rigidity of his att.i.tude--as if every muscle had become taut and every nerve strained to snapping point, while his face looked hard and lined, almost as if he were fighting physical pain.
V
Thus a few seconds went by in absolute silence--while the great gilt clock upon its carved bracket ticked on with stolid relentlessness, marking another minute--and yet another--of this hour which was so full of portent for the destinies of France. Clyffurde would gladly have bartered the future years of his life for the power to stay the hand of Time just now--for the power to remain just like this, standing before this beautiful woman whom he loved, feeling that at any moment he could take her in his arms and kiss her eyes and her lips, even if she were unwilling, even if she hated him for ever afterwards.
The sense of power to do that which he might regret to the end of his days was infinitely sweet, the power to fight against that all-compelling pa.s.sion was perhaps sweeter still. Then came the pride of victory. The habits of a lifetime had come to his aid: self-respect and self-control, hard and wilful taskmasters, fought against pa.s.sion, until it yielded inch by inch.
The battle was fought and won in those few moments of silence: the strain of the man"s att.i.tude relaxed, the set lines on his face vanished, leaving it serene and quietly humorous, calm and self-deprecatory. Only his voice was not quite so steady as usual, as he said softly:
"Mademoiselle Crystal, is there anything that I can do for you?--now at once, I mean? If there is, I do entreat you most earnestly to let me serve you."
Had the pure soul of the woman been touched by the fringe of that magnetic wave of pa.s.sion even as it rose to its utmost height, nearly sweeping the man off his feet, and in its final retreat leaving him with quivering nerves and senses bruised and numb? Did something of the man"s suffering, of his love and of his despair appear--despite his efforts--upon his face and in the depth of his glance?--and thus made visible did they--even through their compelling intensity--cause that invisible barrier of social prejudices to totter and to break? It were difficult to say. Certain it is that Crystal"s whole heart warmed to the stranger as it had never warmed before. She felt that here was a _man_ standing before her now, whose promises would never be mere idle words, whose deeds would speak more loudly than his tongue. She felt that in the midst of all the enmity which encompa.s.sed her and her father in their newly regained home and land, here at any rate was a friend on whom they could count to help, to counsel and to accomplish. And deep down in the very bottom of her soul there was a curious unexplainable longing that circ.u.mstances should compel her to ask one day for his help, and a sweet knowledge that that help would be ably rendered and pleasing to receive.
But for the moment, of course, there was nothing that she could ask: she would be married in a couple of days--alas! so soon!--and after that it would be to her husband that she must look for devotion, for guidance and for sympathy.
A little sigh of regret escaped her lips, and she said gently:
"I thank you, Sir, from the bottom of my heart, for the words of friendship which you have spoken. I shall never forget them, never! and if at any time in my life I am in trouble . . ."
"Which G.o.d forbid!" he broke in fervently.
"If any time I have need of a friend," she resumed, "I feel that I should find one in you. Oh! if only I could think that you would extend your devotion to my poor country, and to our King . . ." she exclaimed with pa.s.sionate earnestness.
"You love your country very dearly, Mademoiselle," he rejoined.
"I think that I love France more than anything else in the world," she replied, "and I feel that there is no sacrifice which I would deem too great to offer up for her."
"And by France you mean the Bourbon dynasty," he said almost involuntarily, and with an impatient little sigh.
"I mean the King, by the grace of G.o.d!" she retorted proudly.
She had thrown back her head with an air of challenge as she said this, meeting his glance eye to eye: she looked strong and wilful all of a sudden, no longer girlish and submissive. And to the man who loved her, this trait of power and latent heroism added yet another to the many charms which he saw in her. Loyal to her country and to her king she would be loyal in all things--to husband, kindred and to friends.
But he realised at the same time how impossible it would be for any man to win her love if he were an enemy to her cause. St. Genis--royalist, emigre, retrograde like herself--had obviously won his way to her heart chiefly by the sympathy of his own convictions. But what of de Marmont, to whom she was on the eve of plighting her troth? de Marmont the hot-headed Bonapartist who owned but one G.o.d--Napoleon--and yet had deliberately, and with cynical opportunism hidden his fanatical aims and beliefs from the woman whom he had wooed and won?
The thought of that deception--and of the awakening which would await the girl-wife on the very morrow of her wedding-day mayhap, was terribly repellent to Clyffurde"s straightforward, loyal nature, and bitter was the contention within his soul as he found himself at the cross-roads of a divided duty. Every instinct of chivalry towards the woman loudly demanded that he should warn her--now--at once--before it was too late--before she had actually pledged her life and future to a man whom her very soul--if she knew the truth--would proclaim a renegade and a traitor; and every instinct of loyalty to the man--that male solidarity of s.e.x which will never permit one man--if he be a gentleman--to betray another--prompted him to hold his peace.
Crystal"s gentle voice fell like dream-tones upon his ear. Vaguely only did he hear what she said. She was still speaking of France, of all that the country had suffered and all that was due to her from her sons and daughters: she spoke of the King, G.o.d"s own anointed as she called him, endowed with rights divine, and all the while his thoughts were far away, flying on the wings of memory to the little hamlet among the mountains where two enthusiasts had exhausted every panegyric in praise of their own hero, whom this girl called a usurper and a brigand. He remembered every trait in de Marmont"s face, every inflexion of his voice as he said with almost cruel cynicism: "She will learn to love me in time."
That, Clyffurde knew now, Crystal de Cambray would never do. Indifferent to de Marmont to-day, she would hate and loathe him the day that she discovered how infamously he had deceived her: and to Clyffurde"s pa.s.sionate temperament the thought of Crystal"s future unhappiness was absolutely intolerable.
Here indeed was a battle far more strenuous and difficult of issue than that of a man"s will against his pa.s.sions: here was a problem far more difficult to solve than any that had a.s.sailed Bobby Clyffurde throughout his life.
His heart cried out "She must know the truth: she must. To-day! this minute, while there was yet time! Anon she will be pledged irrevocably to a man who has lied to her, whom she will curse as a renegade, a traitor, false to his country, false to his king!"
And the words hovered on his lips: "Mademoiselle Crystal! do not plight your troth to de Marmont! he is no friend of yours, his people are not your people! his G.o.d is not your G.o.d! and there is neither blessing nor holiness in an union "twixt you and him!"
But the words remained unspoken, because the unwritten code--the bond "twixt man and man--tried to still this natural cry of his heart and reason argued that he must hold his peace. His heart rebelled, contending that to remain silent was cowardly--that his first duty was to the woman whom he loved better than his soul, whilst ingrained principles, born and bred in the bone of him, threw themselves into the conflict, warning him that if he spoke he would be no better than an informer, meriting the contempt alike of those whom he wished to help and of the man whom he would betray.
It was one sound coming from below which settled the dispute "twixt heart and reason--the sound of de Marmont"s voice which though he was apparently speaking of indifferent matters had that same triumphant ring in it which Clyffurde had heard at Notre Dame de Vaulx this morning.
The sound had caused Crystal to give a quick gasp and to clasp her hands against her breast, as she said with a nervous little laugh:
"Imagine how happy we are to have M. de Marmont"s support in this terrible crisis! His influence in Gren.o.ble and in the whole province is very great: his word in the town itself may incline the whole balance of public feeling on the side of the King, and who knows, it may even help to strengthen the loyalty of the troops. Oh! that Corsican brigand little guesses what kind of welcome we in the Dauphine are preparing for him!"
Her enthusiasm, her trust, her loyalty ended the conflict in Clyffurde"s mind far more effectually than any sober reasoning could have done. He realised in a moment that neither abstract principles, nor his own feelings in the matter, were of the slightest account at such a juncture.
What was obvious, certain, and not to be shirked, was duty to a woman who was on the point of being shamefully deceived, also duty to the man whose hospitality he had enjoyed. To remain silent would be cowardly--of that he became absolutely certain, and once Bobby had made up his mind what duty was no power on earth could make him swerve from its fulfilment.
"Mlle. Crystal," he began slowly and deliberately, "just now, when I was bold enough to offer you my friendship, you deigned to accept it, did you not?"
"Indeed I did, Sir," she replied, a little astonished. "Why should you ask?"