"We have known, vaguely," said Gertrude, "that we had relations in France."
"And have you ever wanted to see us?" asked the young man.
Gertrude was silent a moment. "I have wanted to see you."
"I am glad, then, it is you I have found. We wanted to see you, so we came."
"On purpose?" asked Gertrude.
The young man looked round him, smiling still. "Well, yes; on purpose.
Does that sound as if we should bore you?" he added. "I don"t think we shall--I really don"t think we shall. We are rather fond of wandering, too; and we were glad of a pretext."
"And you have just arrived?"
"In Boston, two days ago. At the inn I asked for Mr. Wentworth. He must be your father. They found out for me where he lived; they seemed often to have heard of him. I determined to come, without ceremony. So, this lovely morning, they set my face in the right direction, and told me to walk straight before me, out of town. I came on foot because I wanted to see the country. I walked and walked, and here I am! It "s a good many miles."
"It is seven miles and a half," said Gertrude, softly. Now that this handsome young man was proving himself a reality she found herself vaguely trembling; she was deeply excited. She had never in her life spoken to a foreigner, and she had often thought it would be delightful to do so. Here was one who had suddenly been engendered by the Sabbath stillness for her private use; and such a brilliant, polite, smiling one! She found time and means to compose herself, however: to remind herself that she must exercise a sort of official hospitality. "We are very--very glad to see you," she said. "Won"t you come into the house?"
And she moved toward the open door.
"You are not afraid of me, then?" asked the young man again, with his light laugh.
She wondered a moment, and then, "We are not afraid--here," she said.
"Ah, comme vous devez avoir raison!" cried the young man, looking all round him, appreciatively. It was the first time that Gertrude had heard so many words of French spoken. They gave her something of a sensation.
Her companion followed her, watching, with a certain excitement of his own, this tall, interesting-looking girl, dressed in her clear, crisp muslin. He paused in the hall, where there was a broad white staircase with a white bal.u.s.trade. "What a pleasant house!" he said. "It "s lighter inside than it is out."
"It "s pleasanter here," said Gertrude, and she led the way into the parlor,--a high, clean, rather empty-looking room. Here they stood looking at each other,--the young man smiling more than ever; Gertrude, very serious, trying to smile.
"I don"t believe you know my name," he said. "I am called Felix Young.
Your father is my uncle. My mother was his half sister, and older than he."
"Yes," said Gertrude, "and she turned Roman Catholic and married in Europe."
"I see you know," said the young man. "She married and she died. Your father"s family did n"t like her husband. They called him a foreigner; but he was not. My poor father was born in Sicily, but his parents were American."
"In Sicily?" Gertrude murmured.
"It is true," said Felix Young, "that they had spent their lives in Europe. But they were very patriotic. And so are we."
"And you are Sicilian," said Gertrude.
"Sicilian, no! Let "s see. I was born at a little place--a dear little place--in France. My sister was born at Vienna."
"So you are French," said Gertrude.
"Heaven forbid!" cried the young man. Gertrude"s eyes were fixed upon him almost insistently. He began to laugh again. "I can easily be French, if that will please you."
"You are a foreigner of some sort," said Gertrude.
"Of some sort--yes; I suppose so. But who can say of what sort? I don"t think we have ever had occasion to settle the question. You know there are people like that. About their country, their religion, their profession, they can"t tell."
Gertrude stood there gazing; she had not asked him to sit down. She had never heard of people like that; she wanted to hear. "Where do you live?" she asked.
"They can"t tell that, either!" said Felix. "I am afraid you will think they are little better than vagabonds. I have lived anywhere--everywhere. I really think I have lived in every city in Europe." Gertrude gave a little long soft exhalation. It made the young man smile at her again; and his smile made her blush a little. To take refuge from blushing she asked him if, after his long walk, he was not hungry or thirsty. Her hand was in her pocket; she was fumbling with the little key that her sister had given her. "Ah, my dear young lady," he said, clasping his hands a little, "if you could give me, in charity, a gla.s.s of wine!"
Gertrude gave a smile and a little nod, and went quickly out of the room. Presently she came back with a very large decanter in one hand and a plate in the other, on which was placed a big, round cake with a frosted top. Gertrude, in taking the cake from the closet, had had a moment of acute consciousness that it composed the refection of which her sister had thought that Mr. Brand would like to partake. Her kinsman from across the seas was looking at the pale, high-hung engravings. When she came in he turned and smiled at her, as if they had been old friends meeting after a separation. "You wait upon me yourself?" he asked. "I am served like the G.o.ds!" She had waited upon a great many people, but none of them had ever told her that. The observation added a certain lightness to the step with which she went to a little table where there were some curious red gla.s.ses--gla.s.ses covered with little gold sprigs, which Charlotte used to dust every morning with her own hands. Gertrude thought the gla.s.ses very handsome, and it was a pleasure to her to know that the wine was good; it was her father"s famous madeira. Felix Young thought it excellent; he wondered why he had been told that there was no wine in America. She cut him an immense triangle out of the cake, and again she thought of Mr. Brand. Felix sat there, with his gla.s.s in one hand and his huge morsel of cake in the other--eating, drinking, smiling, talking. "I am very hungry," he said. "I am not at all tired; I am never tired. But I am very hungry."
"You must stay to dinner," said Gertrude. "At two o"clock. They will all have come back from church; you will see the others."
"Who are the others?" asked the young man. "Describe them all."
"You will see for yourself. It is you that must tell me; now, about your sister."
"My sister is the Baroness Munster," said Felix.
On hearing that his sister was a Baroness, Gertrude got up and walked about slowly, in front of him. She was silent a moment. She was thinking of it. "Why did n"t she come, too?" she asked.
"She did come; she is in Boston, at the hotel."
"We will go and see her," said Gertrude, looking at him.
"She begs you will not!" the young man replied. "She sends you her love; she sent me to announce her. She will come and pay her respects to your father."
Gertrude felt herself trembling again. A Baroness Munster, who sent a brilliant young man to "announce" her; who was coming, as the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon, to pay her "respects" to quiet Mr.
Wentworth--such a personage presented herself to Gertrude"s vision with a most effective unexpectedness. For a moment she hardly knew what to say. "When will she come?" she asked at last.
"As soon as you will allow her--to-morrow. She is very impatient,"
answered Felix, who wished to be agreeable.
"To-morrow, yes," said Gertrude. She wished to ask more about her; but she hardly knew what could be predicated of a Baroness Munster. "Is she--is she--married?"
Felix had finished his cake and wine; he got up, fixing upon the young girl his bright, expressive eyes. "She is married to a German prince--Prince Adolf, of Silberstadt-Schreckenstein. He is not the reigning prince; he is a younger brother."
Gertrude gazed at her informant; her lips were slightly parted. "Is she a--a Princess?" she asked at last.
"Oh, no," said the young man; "her position is rather a singular one. It "s a morganatic marriage."
"Morganatic?" These were new names and new words to poor Gertrude.
"That "s what they call a marriage, you know, contracted between a scion of a ruling house and--and a common mortal. They made Eugenia a Baroness, poor woman; but that was all they could do. Now they want to dissolve the marriage. Prince Adolf, between ourselves, is a ninny; but his brother, who is a clever man, has plans for him. Eugenia, naturally enough, makes difficulties; not, however, that I think she cares much--she "s a very clever woman; I "m sure you "ll like her--but she wants to bother them. Just now everything is en l"air."
The cheerful, off-hand tone in which her visitor related this darkly romantic tale seemed to Gertrude very strange; but it seemed also to convey a certain flattery to herself, a recognition of her wisdom and dignity. She felt a dozen impressions stirring within her, and presently the one that was uppermost found words. "They want to dissolve her marriage?" she asked.
"So it appears."
"And against her will?"
"Against her right."