To obtain an audience with the Duc de Sairmeuse was certainly a difficult matter; Maurice and the abbe had proved that only too well the previous day. Besieged by weeping and heart-broken families, he shut himself up securely, fearing, perhaps, that he might be moved by their entreaties.
Marie-Anne knew this, but it did not alarm her. Chanlouineau had given her a word, the same which he had used; and this word was a key which would unlock the most firmly and obstinately locked doors.
In the vestibule of the house occupied by the Duc de Sairmeuse, three or four valets stood talking.
"I am the daughter of Monsieur Lacheneur," said Marie-Anne, addressing one of them. "I must speak to the duke at once, on matters connected with the revolt."
"The duke is absent."
"I came to make a revelation."
The servant"s manner suddenly changed.
"In that case follow me, Mademoiselle."
She followed him up the stairs and through two or three rooms. At last he opened a door, saying, "enter." She went in.
It was not the Duc de Sairmeuse who was in the room, but his son, Martial.
Stretched upon a sofa, he was reading a paper by the light of a large candelabra.
On seeing Marie-Anne he sprang up, as pale and agitated as if the door had given pa.s.sage to a spectre.
"You!" he stammered.
But he quickly mastered his emotion, and in a second his quick mind revolved all the possibilities that might have produced this visit:
"Lacheneur has been arrested!" he exclaimed, "and you, wishing to save him from the fate which the military commission will p.r.o.nounce upon him, have thought of me. Thank you, dearest Marie-Anne, thank you for your confidence. I will not abuse it. Let your heart be rea.s.sured. We will save your father, I promise you--I swear it. How, I do not yet know. But what does that matter? It is enough that he shall be saved. I will have it so!"
His voice betrayed the intense pa.s.sion and joy that was surging in his heart.
"My father has not been arrested," said Marie-Anne, coldly.
"Then," said Martial, with some hesitation, "then it is Jean who is a prisoner."
"My brother is in safety. If he survives his wounds he will escape all attempts at capture."
From white the Marquis de Sairmeuse had turned as red as fire. By Marie-Anne"s manner he saw that she knew of the duel. He made no attempt to deny it; but he tried to excuse himself.
"It was Jean who challenged me," said he; "I tried to avoid it. I only defended my own life in fair combat, and with equal weapons----"
Marie-Anne interrupted him.
"I reproach you for nothing, Monsieur le Marquis," she said, quietly.
"Ah! Marie-Anne, I am more severe than you. Jean was right to challenge me. I deserved his anger. He knew the baseness of which I had been guilty; but you--you were ignorant of it. Oh! Marie-Anne, if I wronged you in thought it was because I did not know you. Now I know that you, above all others, are pure and chaste."
He tried to take her hands; she repulsed him with horror; and broke into a fit of pa.s.sionate sobbing.
Of all the blows she had received this last was most terrible and overwhelming.
What humiliation and shame--! Now, indeed, was her cup of sorrow filled to overflowing. "Chaste and pure!" he had said. Oh, bitter mockery!
But Martial misunderstood the meaning of the poor girl"s gesture.
"Oh! I comprehend your indignation," he resumed, with growing eagerness.
"But if I have injured you even in thought, I now offer you reparation.
I have been a fool--a miserable fool--for I love you; I love, and can love you only. I am the Marquis de Sairmeuse. I am the possessor of millions. I entreat you, I implore you to be my wife."
Marie-Anne listened in utter bewilderment. Vertigo seized her; even reason seemed to totter upon its throne.
But now, it had been Chanlouineau who, in his prison-cell, cried that he died for love of her. Now, it was Martial who avowed his willingness to sacrifice his ambition and his future for her sake.
And the poor peasant condemned to death, and the son of the all-powerful Duc de Sairmeuse, had avowed their pa.s.sion in almost the very same words.
Martial paused, awaiting some response--a word, a gesture. But Marie-Anne remained mute, motionless, frozen.
"You are silent," he cried, with increased vehemence. "Do you question my sincerity? No, it is impossible! Then why this silence? Do you fear my father"s opposition? You need not. I know how to gain his consent.
Besides, what does his approbation matter to us? Have we any need of him? Am I not my own master? Am I not rich--immensely rich? I should be a miserable fool, a coward, if I hesitated between his stupid prejudices and the happiness of my life."
He was evidently obliging himself to weigh all the possible objections, in order to answer them and overrule them.
"Is it on account of your family that you hesitate?" he continued. "Your father and brother are pursued, and France is closed against them. Very well, we will leave France, and they shall come and live near you. Jean will no longer dislike me when you are my wife. We will all live in England or in Italy. Now I am grateful for the fortune that will enable me to make life a continual enchantment for you. I love you--and in the happiness and tender love which shall be yours in the future, I will compel you to forget all the bitterness of the past!"
Marie-Anne knew the Marquis de Sairmeuse well enough to understand the intensity of the love revealed by these astounding propositions.
And for that very reason she hesitated to tell him that he had won this triumph over his pride in vain.
She was anxiously wondering to what extremity his wounded vanity would carry him, and if a refusal would not transform him into a bitter enemy.
"Why do you not answer?" asked Martial, with evident anxiety.
She felt that she must reply, that she must speak, say something; but she could not unclose her lips.
"I am only a poor girl, Monsieur le Marquis," she murmured, at last. "If I accepted your offer, you would regret it continually."
"Never!"
"But you are no longer free. You have already plighted your troth.
Mademoiselle Blanche de Courtornieu is your promised wife."
"Ah! say one word--only one--and this engagement, which I detest, is broken."
She was silent. It was evident that her mind was fully made up, and that she refused his offer.
"Do you hate me, then?" asked Martial, sadly.
If she had allowed herself to tell the whole truth Marie-Anne would have answered "Yes." The Marquis de Sairmeuse did inspire her with an almost insurmountable aversion.