Lucenay is coming to breakfast with me this morning, expecting only a _tete-a-tete_. Will you join me and several friends, whom I also invite, in giving him an agreeable surprise?
"Twelve punctually.
"M. D"HARVILLE."
A servant entered.
"Desire some one to get on horseback, and deliver these notes directly,"
said M. d"Harville; and then, addressing Joseph, "Write the addresses: M. le Vicomte de Saint-Remy,--Lucenay cannot get on without him," said M. d"Harville to himself; "M. de Monville, one of the duke"s travelling companions; Lord Douglas, his beloved partner at whist; the Baron de Sezannes, one of the friends of his childhood. Have you done?"
"Yes, M. le Marquis."
"Send them off, then, without losing a minute"s time," said M.
d"Harville.
"Ah, Philippe, request M. Doublet to come and speak to me."
Philippe left the room.
"Well, what is the matter with you?" inquired M. d"Harville of Joseph, who looked at him with astonishment.
"I cannot get over it, sir; I never saw you in such spirits,--so lively; and then you, who are usually so pale, have got such a colour, and your eyes sparkle."
"Happiness, my old friend,--happiness, and nothing else; and you must a.s.sist me in my little plot. You must go and learn of Mlle. Juliette, Madame d"Harville"s waiting-woman, who has the care of her diamonds."
"Yes, M. le Marquis, it is Mlle. Juliette who has the charge of them, for it is not eight days since I helped her to clean them."
"Ask her to tell you the name of her lady"s jeweller, but not to say a word on the subject to her mistress."
"Ah, I understand,--a surprise."
"Go as quickly as possible. Here is M. Doublet."
And the steward entered as Joseph quitted the apartment.
"I have the honour to attend the orders of M. le Marquis."
"My dear M. Doublet, I am going to alarm you," said M. d"Harville, smiling; "I shall compel you to utter fearful cries of distress."
"Me, sir?"
"You."
"I will endeavour to give satisfaction to M. le Marquis."
"I am going to spend an enormous sum, M. Doublet."
"Why not, M. le Marquis? We are well able to do so."
"I have been planning a considerable extent of building. I propose to annex a gallery in the garden, on the right wing of the hotel. After having hesitated at this folly, of which I have not before spoken to you, I have made up my mind on the point, and I wish you to send to-day to my architect, desiring him to come and talk over the plans with me.
Well, M. Doublet, you do not seem to object to the outlay."
"I can a.s.sure your lordship that I have no objection whatsoever."
"This gallery is destined for fetes, and I wish to have it erected as though by enchantment; and, as enchantments are very dear, we must sell fifteen or twenty thousand livres of income in order to meet the expenditure, for I wish the work to be begun as speedily as possible."
"I have always said there is nothing which M. le Marquis wants, unless it be a certain taste. That for building has the advantage of having the buildings always left; as to money, M. le Marquis need not alarm himself, and he may, if he pleases, build the gallery."
Joseph returned.
"Here, M. le Marquis, is the address of the jeweller, whose name is M.
Baudoin," said he to M. d"Harville.
"My dear M. Doublet, will you go to this jeweller"s, and desire him to bring here in an hour a river of diamonds, worth, say, two thousand louis? Women never have too many jewels, now they wear gowns decorated with them. You can arrange with the jeweller as to the payment."
"Yes, M. le Marquis; and I do not even yet begin to groan. Diamonds are like buildings,--they remain. And then, no doubt, the surprise will greatly please Madame la Marquise, without counting the pleasure that you yourself will experience. It is as I had the honour of saying the other day, there is not in the world any person whose existence can be more delightful than that of M. le Marquis."
"My dear M. Doublet," said M. d"Harville, with a smile, "your congratulations are always so peculiarly apropos."
"That is their only merit, M. le Marquis; and they possess that merit, perhaps, because they proceed from the heart. I will run to the jeweller."
As soon as he was alone, M. d"Harville began to pace up and down his cabinet, with his arms folded, and his eye fixed and meditative. His features suddenly changed, and no longer expressed that somewhat feverish contentment of which the steward and his old servant had been the dupes, but a.s.sumed a calm, sad, and chilling resolution. Afterwards, having paced up and down for a short time, he sunk into a chair heavily, and, as though weighed down with sorrow, placed his elbows on his desk, and hid his face in his hands. After a moment he rose suddenly, wiped a tear which moistened his red eyelid, and said with effort:
"Come, come! Courage, courage!"
He then wrote to several persons on very trifling matters, and postponed various meetings for some days. The marquis had concluded this correspondence when Joseph again entered, so gay, and so forgetful of himself, as to hum a tune in his turn.
"M. Joseph, what a charming voice you have!" said his master, jestingly.
"_Ma foi!_ so much the worse, M. le Marquis, for I don"t care about it.
I am singing so merrily within, that my music must be heard without."
"Send these letters to the post."
"Yes, M. le Marquis; but where will you receive the gentlemen who are expected this morning?"
"Here, in my cabinet; they will smoke after breakfast, and then the smell of the tobacco will not reach Madame d"Harville."
At this moment the noise of carriage wheels was heard in the courtyard of the hotel.
"It is Madame la Marquise going out; she ordered her carriage very early this morning," said Joseph.
"Run and request her to be so kind and come here before she goes out."
"Yes, M. le Marquis."
The domestic had scarcely left the room when M. d"Harville approached a mirror, and looked at himself attentively.
"Well, well," said he, in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "it is there,--the flushed cheeks--the bright look--joy or fever, it is little consequence which, so that they are deceived; now, then, for the smile on the lips,--there are so many sorts of smiles! But who can distinguish the false from the true? Who can peep beneath the false mask, and say, "That laugh hides a dark despair, that noisy gaiety conceals a thought of death?" Who could guess that? No one,--fortunately, no one,--no one! Ah, yes, love would never be mistaken; his instinct would enlighten him. But I hear my wife,--my wife! Now, then, sinister actor, play thy part."