"My son is locked up in a room, and my servants have my orders to prevent his making his escape by force, if necessary."
"Poor fellow! He deserves the deepest commiseration."
The Duke was much surprised at this piece of impertinence, as he considered it.
"I will tell you," returned he in tones of rising anger, "how it comes that I treat my son, the heir to my rank and fortune, in this manner."
He looked savagely angry as he spoke, but Diana answered negligently, "Pray go on; you quite interest me."
"Well then, listen to me. I have chosen a wife for Norbert; she is as young as you are--beautiful, clever, and wealthy."
"And of n.o.ble birth, of course."
The sarcasm conveyed in this reply roused the Duke to fury.
"Fifteen hundred thousand francs as a marriage portion will outweigh a coat of arms, even though it should be a tower argent on a field azure."
The Duke paused as he made this allusion to the Laurebourg arms, and then continued, "In addition to this, she has great expectations; and yet my son is mad enough to refuse the hand of this wealthy heiress."
"If you think that this marriage will cause your son"s happiness, you are quite right in acting as you have done."
"Happiness! What has that to do with the matter, as long as it adds to the aggrandizement of our house and name? I have made up my mind that Norbert shall marry this girl; I have sworn it, and I never break my oath. I told him this myself."
Diana suffered acutely, but her pride supported her, whilst her confidence in Norbert was so great that she had the boldness to inquire, "And what did he say to that?"
"Norbert will become a dutiful son once more when he is removed from the malignant influence which has been so injurious to him," returned the Duke fiercely.
"Indeed."
"He will obey me, when I show him that though he may not value his name and position, there are others who do so; and that many a woman would fight a brave battle for the honor of being the d.u.c.h.ess of Champdoce.
Young lady, my son is a mere boy; but I have known the world, and when I prove to the poor fool that it was only grasping ambition which a.s.sumed the garb of love, he will renounce his folly and resume his allegiance to me. I will tell him what I think of the poverty-stricken adventuresses of high birth, whose only weapons are their youth and beauty, and with which they think that they can win a wealthy husband in the battle of life."
"Continue, sir," broke in Diana haughtily. "Insult a defenceless girl with her poverty! It is a n.o.ble act, and one worthy of a high-born gentleman like yourself!"
"I believed," said the Duke, "that I was addressing the woman whose advice had led my son to break into open rebellion against my authority.
Am I right or wrong? You can prove me to be mistaken by urging upon Norbert the necessity for submission."
She made no reply, but bent her head upon her bosom.
"You see," continued the Duke, "that I am correct, and that if you continue to act as you have done, I shall be justified in retaliating in any manner that I may deem fit. You have now been warned. Carry on this intrigue at your peril."
He placed such an insulting emphasis upon the word "intrigue" that Diana"s anger rose to boiling point. At that instant, for the sake of vengeance, she would have risked her honor, her ambition, her very life itself.
Forgetting all prudence, she cast aside her mask of affected indifference, and, with her eyes flashing angry gleams of fire, and her cheeks burning, she said,--
"Listen to me. I, too, have sworn an oath, and it is that Norbert shall be my husband; and I tell you that he shall be so! Shut him up in prison, subject him to every indignity at the hands of your menials, but you will never break his spirit, or make him go back from his plighted word. If I bid him, he will resist your will even unto the bitter end.
He and I will never yield. Believe me when I tell you, that before you attack a young girl"s honor, you had better pause; for one day she will be a member of your family. Farewell."
Before the Duke could recover his senses, Diana was far down the path on her way homewards; and then he burst into a wild storm of menaces, oaths, and insults. He fancied that he was alone, but he was mistaken; for the whole of that strange scene had a hidden witness, and that witness was Daumon. He had heard of the treatment of the young Marquis from one of his servants at the Chateau, and his first thought had been to acquaint Diana with it. Unfortunately he saw no means of doing this.
He dared not go to Laurebourg, and he would have died sooner than put pen to paper. He was in a position of the deepest embarra.s.sment when the idea struck him of going to the lovers" trysting place. The little cry that Diana had uttered upon perceiving the Duke had put him upon his guard. Bruno had found him out; but, as he knew him, merely fawned upon him. He was delighted at the fury of the Duke, whom he hated with cold and steady malignity; but the courage of Diana filled him with admiration. Her sublime audacity won his warmest praises, and he longed for her as an ally to aid him in his scheme of revenge. He knew that the girl would find herself in a terribly embarra.s.sing position, and thus she would be sure to call upon him for advice before returning home.
"Now," thought he, "if I wish to profit by her anger, I ought to strike while the iron is hot; and to do so, I should be at home to meet her."
Without a moment"s delay, he dashed through the woods, striving to get home without the young girl"s perceiving him. His movements in the underwood caught the Duke"s eye.
"Who is there?" exclaimed he, moving towards the spot from whence the rustling came. There was no reply. Surely he had not been mistaken.
Calling to Bruno, he strove to put him on the scent, but the dog showed no signs of eagerness. He sniffed about for a time, and seemed to linger near one special spot. The Duke moved towards it, and distinctly saw the impression of two knees upon the gra.s.s.
"Some one has been eavesdropping," muttered he, much enraged at his discovery. "Who can it be? Has Norbert escaped from his prison?"
As he returned through the courtyard, he called one of the grooms to him.
"Where is my son?" asked he.
"Upstairs, your Grace," was the answer.
The Duke breathed more freely. Norbert was still in security, and therefore could not have been the person who had been listening.
"But," added the lad, "the young master is half frantic."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he declared that he would not remain in his room an instant longer; so old Jean called for help. He is awfully strong, and it took six of us to hold him. He said that if we would let him go, he would return in two hours, and that his honor and life were involved."
The Duke listened with a sarcastic smile. He cared nothing about the frantic struggles of his son, for his heart had grown cold and hard from the presence of the fixed idea which had actuated his conduct for so many years, and it was with the solemn face of a man who was fulfilling a sacred duty that he ascended to the room in which his son was imprisoned. Jean threw open the door, and the Duke paused for a moment on the threshold. The furniture had been overturned, some of it broken, and there were evident signs of a furious struggle having taken place.
A powerful laborer stood near the window, and Norbert was lying on the bed, with his face turned to the wall.
"Leave us," said the Duke, and the man withdrew at once.
"Get up, Norbert," he added; "I wish to speak to you."
His son obeyed him. Any one but the Duke would have been alarmed by the expression of the young man"s face.
"What is the meaning of all this?" asked the old n.o.bleman in his most severe voice. "Are not my orders sufficient to insure obedience? I hear that absolute force has had to be used towards you during my absence.
Tell me, my son, what plans you have devised during these hours of solitude, and what hopes you still venture to cherish."
"I intend to be free, and I will be so."
The Duke affected not to hear the reply, uttered as it was in a tone of derision.
"It was very easy for me to discover, from your obstinacy, that some woman had endeavored to entrap you, and by her insidious counsels inducing you to disobey your best friend."
He paused, but there was no reply.
"This woman--this dangerous woman--I have been in search of, and as you can conceive, I easily found her. I went to the Forest of Bevron, and there I need not tell you I found Mademoiselle de Laurebourg."
"Did you speak to her?"
"I did so, certainly. I told her my opinion of those manoeuvring women who fascinate the dupes they intend to take advantage of--"