"You understand, mesdames, that it is simply a figure of speech."
"No matter," said Eudoxie; "if she tells fortunes, I shall go to consult her; where does she live?"
"About two leagues from here, in a pretty little valley surrounded by mountains, near the village of Chadrat."
"She should have an owl, a screech owl, and a black cat," said Mignon.
"I have seen none of those things," said Alfred, with a smile; "but by way of compensation, she has the loveliest eyes in the world, teeth as white as snow, and an extremely sweet voice."
"Oh! mon Dieu! what a portrait!" cried Cornelie spitefully; "it would seem that monsieur has looked at her very closely."
"Is she a young girl, then?" said Eudoxie.
"Yes, mesdames," replied Robineau, "she is rather a good-looking young girl, although I see nothing extraordinary about her; a peasant, a goatherd, in fact, who, according to what the peasants hereabout say, casts spells upon animals; and I am inclined to think that she has cast one upon these gentlemen."
"Aha! so she"s a young girl," rejoined Eudoxie, glancing at Alfred; "and it is to her side that these gentlemen bend their steps? I begin to understand."
"Well, I do not understand at all what pleasure one can take in talking to goatherds," said Cornelie disdainfully.
"If you had heard her speak, mademoiselle," said Edouard, "you would consider us very pardonable. She is not a mere peasant like the other girls one meets in these mountains; she is a young woman with refined and gracious manners, a keen and delicate wit, a sweet and touching voice, who expresses herself as well as one who has received the best education."
"Oh, monsieur! how warm you get!" said Cornelie with a satirical air.
"You are this extraordinary damsel"s true knight, I see!"
"I do her justice, mademoiselle; that is all."
"I beg pardon, monsieur," said Eudoxie; "but if this goatherd is really such a person as you describe, she must indeed be a sorceress; for I should like to know who could have taught her to talk and express herself differently from the other country girls? unless she has not always lived here in the mountains, unless she is a deserted Ariadne."
"The deduction is extremely judicious!" said Ferulus; "she cannot have learned without a teacher; and except my boarding-school, which she never attended, I know of no masters of arts in this neighborhood."
"I agree, mesdames," said Alfred, "that there is, in truth, something hard to explain in respect to this girl; but in my opinion that adds to the charm of her personality."
"The charm of a cowherd! She must be most seductive!" said Cornelie, with a sarcastic smile.
"Mademoiselle," said Edouard, "pray have a little compa.s.sion for a person whom you do not know!"
"Oh! I see that one would be very ill-advised to speak ill of her before you, messieurs! I leave you your shepherdess! But I confess that I should never have suspected that two young men of such excellent tone could be attracted by such a rustic character!"
"For my part, I say that we must see her in order to form a just estimate of her," said the marquis; "I shall go hunting in that direction."
"Monsieur le marquis is right," said Ferulus; "we should not speak without knowledge. Everybody talks about the fair Helen, but few people know that she had five husbands: Theseus, Menelaus, Paris, Deiphobus and Achilles; that she was hanged in the Isle of Rhodes by the women servants of Polyxo; and that, during the war of which she was the cause, eight hundred and eighty-six thousand men died on the side of the Greeks and six hundred and seventy-six thousand on the side of the Trojans."
"Oh! mon Dieu! he has got onto history again!" said Eudoxie to Alfred.
"Monsieur," said Cornelie to Ferulus, "Greek and Roman names make my ears ache; pray talk to us about more modern things."
Monsieur Ferulus bowed and swallowed a gla.s.s of burgundy, to wash down this little snub. Meanwhile, Robineau, to demonstrate his affection to his future bride, tenderly pressed her foot with his; but Mademoiselle Cornelie gave a little shriek and exclaimed:
"Dear me! who is treading on my foot like that? Is it you, monsieur?"
Robineau turned crimson and stammered:
"Yes, I confess that I wanted to make you understand----"
"I don"t like to have people tread on my feet! You hurt me terribly! I beg that you won"t do it again."
Robineau, covered with confusion, looked at the floor, uncertain whether he should or should not throw himself at Cornelie"s feet; at last, to relieve himself from his embarra.s.sment, he turned the conversation once more upon the subject of Isaure.
"To return to the young girl of the mountains, mesdames, the most surprising thing about her is that she lives all alone near a place which is the terror of the people of the next village. That place is a house called the White House."
"Why, what happens in the White House, pray?" asked Eudoxie.
"What happens there!" replied Robineau; "oh! n.o.body knows; but it seems clear that something happens there. It is uninhabited and yet lights are seen in it; sounds are heard and yet no person is seen! That is very strange, is it not?"
"It is terrifying," said Mignon.
"It is utterly absurd," said Cornelie.
"However, mesdames, the said shepherdess is the only person who is not afraid of the White House, and she lives close beside it. That is rather surprising for a young girl, eh?"
"A clever trick!" said Eudoxie; "of course her lover lives in the house, and she knows very well that he isn"t the devil."
"Her lover!" exclaimed Edouard; and, struck by the widow"s suggestion, he suddenly became pale, and trembled visibly.
"Oh! mon Dieu! how you frighten me, monsieur!" said Cornelie; "I thought that you had an attack of hysteria."
"I beg pardon, mademoiselle, but I don"t know--I had a sudden flush."
"No one would have suspected it, for you are as pale as a ghost!"
"Come, come, my dear Edouard," said Alfred, who had observed his friend"s perturbation, "let us drop the White House, which does not deserve so much of our attention, and let us drink a gla.s.s of champagne to the health of these ladies."
As he spoke, he tried with his eyes to tranquillize and rea.s.sure Edouard, who soon recovered himself, realizing that he was foolish to be disturbed by a word spoken at random by someone who had never seen Isaure. But that cruel word had wounded him to the heart.
To put an end to a conversation which was painful to him, and to revenge himself in some measure upon Robineau, Edouard said to him:
"But, Monsieur de la Roche-Noire, do you, who are so well acquainted with everything curious or extraordinary in the neighborhood, do you know all that your own chateau contains?"
"My chateau? Why, now it contains a most ill.u.s.trious family, and some most adorable ladies!"
"That is very well, but it is not all; you are unaware, I see, that there is a phantom, a ghost in this old chateau!"
"A ghost under my roof!" cried Robineau, changing color in his turn.
"A ghost!" repeated all the members of the La Pincerie family; and Uncle Mignon, in his terror, dropped upon his knees the cup of coffee he was just putting to his lips.
"Faith, I knew nothing about it," said Alfred.
"Nonsense, it is a joke, a piece of mischief on Monsieur Edouard"s part," rejoined Robineau, making an effort to smile.