Madame la Vicomtesse looked at me and laughed out right.
"Yes," she said, "you will do some things, I others. There are the gaming clubs with their ridiculous names, L"Amour, La Mignonne, La Desiree" (she counted them reflectively on her fingers). "Both of our gentlemen might be tempted into one of these. You will drop into them, Mr. Ritchie. Then there is Madame Bouvet"s."
"Auguste would scarcely go there," I objected.
"Ah," said Madame la Vicomtesse, "but Madame Bouvet will know the names of some of Auguste"s intimates. This Bouvet is evidently a good person, perhaps she will do more for you. I understand that she has a weak spot in her heart for Auguste."
Madame la Vicomtesse turned her back again. Had she heard how Madame Bouvet had begged me to buy the miniature?
"Have you any other suggestions to make?" she said, putting a foot on the fender.
"They have all been yours, so far," I answered.
"And yet you are a man of action, of expedients," she murmured, without turning. "Where are your wits, Mr. Ritchie? Have you any plan?"
"I have been so used to rely on myself, Madame," I replied.
"That you do not like to have your affairs meddled with by a woman," she said, into the fireplace.
"I give you the credit to believe that you are too clever to misunderstand me, Madame," I said. "You must know that your help is most welcome."
At that she swung around and regarded me strangely, mirth lurking in her eyes. She seemed about to retort, and then to conquer the impulse. The effect of this was to make me anything but self-complacent. She sat down in the chair and for a little while she was silent.
"Suppose we do find them," she said suddenly. "What shall we do with them?" She looked up at me questioningly, seriously. "Is it likely that your Mr. Temple will be reconciled with his mother? Is it likely that he is still in love with Antoinette?"
"I think it is likely that he is still in love with Mademoiselle de St.
Gre," I answered, "though I have no reason for saying so."
"You are very honest, Mr. Ritchie. We must look at this problem from all sides. If he is not reconciled with his mother, Antoinette will not receive him. And if he is, we have the question to consider whether he is still worthy of her. The agents of Providence must not be heedless,"
she added with a smile.
"I am sure that Nick would alter his life if it became worth living," I said. "I will answer for that much."
"Then he must be reconciled with his mother," she replied with decision.
"Mrs. Temple has suffered enough. And he must be found before he gets sufficiently into the bad graces of the Baron de Carondelet,--these two things are clear." She rose. "Come here to-morrow evening at the same time."
She started quickly for the bedroom door, but something troubled me still.
"Madame--" I said.
"Yes," she answered, turning quickly.
I did not know how to begin. There were many things I wished to say, to know, but she was a woman whose mind seemed to leap the chasms, whose words touched only upon those points which might not be understood. She regarded me with seeming patience.
"I should think that Mrs. Temple might have recognized you," I said, for want of a better opening.
"From the miniature?" she said.
I flushed furiously, and it seemed to burn me through the lining of my pocket.
"That was my salvation," she said. "Mrs. Temple has never seen the miniature. I have heard how you rescued it, Mr. Ritchie," she added, with a curious smile. "Monsieur Philippe de St. Gre told me."
"Then he knew?" I stammered.
She laughed.
"I have told you that you are a very simple person," she said. "Even you are not given to intrigues. I thank you for rescuing me."
I flushed more hotly than before.
"I never expected to see you," I said.
"It must have been a shock," she said.
I was dumb. I had my hand in my coat; I fully intended to give her the miniature. It was my plain duty. And suddenly, overwhelmed, I remembered that it was wrapped in Polly Ann"s silk handkerchief.
Madame la Vicomtesse remained for a moment where she was.
"Do not do anything until the morning," she said. "You must go back to your lodgings at once."
"That would be to lose time," I answered.
"You must think of yourself a little," she said. "Do as I say. I have heard that two cases of the yellow fever have broken out this afternoon.
And you, who are not used to the climate, must not be out after dark."
"And you?" I said.
"I am used to it," she replied; "I have been here three months. Lest anything should happen, it might be well for you to give me your address."
"I am with Madame Gravois, in the Rue Bienville."
"Madame Gravois, in the Rue Bienville," she repeated. "I shall remember.
A demain, Monsieur." She courtesied and went swiftly into Mrs. Temple"s room. Seizing my hat, I opened the door and found myself in the dark street.
CHAPTER VII. THE DISPOSAL OF THE SIEUR DE ST. GRE
I had met Helene de St. Gre at last. And what a fool she must think me!
As I hurried along the dark banquettes this thought filled my brain for a time to the exclusion of all others, so strongly is vanity ingrained in us. After all, what did it matter what she thought,--Madame la Vicomtesse d"Ivry-le-Tour? I had never shone, and it was rather late to begin. But I possessed, at least, average common sense, and I had given no proof even of this.
I wandered on, not heeding the command which she had given me,--to go home. The scent of camellias and magnolias floated on the heavy air of the night from the court-yards, reminding me of her. Laughter and soft voices came from the galleries. Despite the Terror, despite the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, despite the Rights of Man and the wars and suffering arising therefrom, despite the scourge which might come to-morrow, life went gayly on. The cabarets echoed, and behind the tight blinds lines of light showed where the Creole gentry gamed at their tables, perchance in the very clubs Madame la Vicomtesse had mentioned.
The moon, in her first quarter, floated in a haze. Washed by her light, the quaintly wrought balconies and heavy-tiled roofs of the Spanish buildings, risen from the charred embers, took on a touch of romance.
I paused once with a twinge of remembrance before the long line of the Ursuline convent, with its latticed belfry against the sky. There was the lodge, with its iron gates shut, and the wall which Nick had threatened to climb. As I pa.s.sed the great square of the new barracks, a sereno (so the night watchmen were called) was crying the hour. I came to the rambling market-stalls, casting black shadows on the river road,--empty now, to be filled in the morning with shouting marchands.
The promenade under the willows was deserted, the great river stretched away under the moon towards the forest line of the farther sh.o.r.e, filmy and indistinct. A black wisp of smoke rose from the gunwale of a flatboat, and I stopped to listen to the weird song of a negro, which I have heard many times since.
CAROLINE.