Secret des Champdoce. English

  CHAPTER XIV.

  FALSE FRIEND, OLD LOVER.

  It was on a Wednesday morning that the Duke de Champdoce, instead of, asusual, going to his own or one of his friends' clubs to breakfast, tookhis seat at the table where his wife was partaking of her morning meal.He was in excellent spirits, gay, and full of pleasant talk, a mood inwhich his wife had never seen him since their ill-fated marriage. TheDuchess could not understand this sudden change in her husband; itterrified and alarmed her, for she felt that it was the forerunner ofsome serious event, which would change the current of her life entirely.

  Norbert waited until the domestics had completed their duty and retired,and as soon as he was alone with his wife he took her hand and kissed itwith an air of gallantry.

  "It has been a long time, my dear Marie, since I had resolved to openmy heart to you entirely, and now a full and open explanation has becomeabsolutely necessary."

  "An explanation!" faltered Marie.

  "Yes, certainly; but do not let the word alarm you. I fear that I musthave appeared in your eyes the most morose and disagreeable of husbands.Permit me to explain. Since we came here, I have gone about my ownaffairs, I have gone out early and returned extremely late, andsometimes three days have elapsed without our even setting eyes on eachother."

  The young Duchess listened to him like a woman who could not believe herears. Could this be her husband who was heaping reproaches upon himselfin this manner?

  "I have made no complaint," stammered she.

  "I know that, Marie; you have a noble and forgiving nature; but,however, it is impossible, as a woman, that you should not havecondemned me."

  "Indeed, but I have not done so."

  "So much the better for me. On this I shall not have to find eitherdefence or excuse for my conduct; you must know, however, that you areever foremost in my thoughts, even when I am away from you."

  He was evidently doing his best to put on an air of tenderness andaffection, but he failed; for though his words were kind, the tone ofhis voice was neither tender nor sympathetic.

  "I hope I know my duty," said the Duchess.

  "Pray, Marie," broke in he, "do not let the word duty be uttered betweenus. You know that you have been much alone, because it was impossiblefor the friends of Mademoiselle de Puymandour to be those of the Duchessde Champdoce!"

  "Have I made any opposition to your orders?"

  "Then, too, our mourning prevents us going out into the world for fivemonths longer at least."

  "Have I asked to go out?"

  "All the more reason that I should endeavor to make your home less dullfor you. I should like you to have with you some person in whose societyyou could find pleasure and distraction. Not one of those foolish girlswho have no thought save for balls and dress, but a sensible woman ofthe world, and, above all, one of your own age and rank,--a woman, inshort, of whom you could make a friend. But where can such a one befound? It is a perilous quest to venture on, and upon such a friendoften depends the happiness and misery of a home.

  "But," continued he, after a brief pause, "I think that I havediscovered the very one that will suit you. I met her at the house ofMadame d'Ailange, who spoke eloquently of her charms of mind and body,and I hope to have the pleasure of presenting her to you to-day."

  "Here, at our house?"

  "Certainly; there is nothing odd in this. Besides, the lady is nostranger to us; she comes from our own part of the country, and you knowher."

  A flush came over his face, and he busied himself with the fire toconceal it as he added,--

  "You recollect Mademoiselle de Laurebourg?"

  "Do you mean Diana de Laurebourg?"

  "Exactly so."

  "I saw very little of her, for my father and hers did not get onvery well together. The Marquis de Laurebourg looked on us as tooinsignificant to--"

  "Ah, well," interrupted he, "I trust that the daughter will make up forthe father's shortcomings. She married just after our wedding had beencelebrated, and her husband is the Count de Mussidan. She will call onyou to-day, and I have told your servants to say that you are at home."

  The silence that followed this speech lasted for nearly a couple ofminutes, and became exceedingly embarrassing, when suddenly the soundof wheels was heard on the gravel of the courtyard, and in a momentafterwards a servant came and announced that the Countess de Mussidanwas in the drawing-room. Norbert rose, and, taking his wife's arm, ledher away.

  "Come, Marie, come," said he; "she has arrived."

  Diana had reflected deeply before she had taken this extraordinarilybold step. In paying a visit so contrary to all the usual rules ofetiquette, she exposed herself to the chance of receiving a severerebuff. The few seconds that elapsed while she was still alone in thedrawing-room seemed like so many centuries; but the door was opened, andNorbert and his wife appeared. Then, with a charming smile, Madame deMussidan rose and bowed gracefully to the Duchess de Champdoce, making aseries of half-jesting apologies for her intrusion. She had been utterlyunable, she said, to resist the pleasure she should experience in seeingan old country neighbor, the more so as they were now separated byso short a distance. She had, therefore, disregarded all the rules ofetiquette so that they might have a cozy chat about Poitiers, Bevron,Champdoce, and all the country where she had been born, and which she sodearly loved.

  The Duchess listened in silence to this torrent of words, and theexpression of her face showed how surprised she was at this unexpectedvisit. A less perfectly self-possessed woman than Diana de Mussidanmight have felt abashed, but the slight annoyance was not to be comparedto the prospective advantages that she hoped to gain, and she broughtall the mettle of her talent and diplomacy into play.

  Norbert was moving about the room, half ashamed of the ignoble part thathe was playing. As soon as he thought that the welcome between thetwo ladies had been partially got over, and imagined that they wereconversing more amicably together, he slipped out of the room, notknowing whether to be pleased or angry at the success of the trick.

  The trick was rather a more difficult one than Diana had, from Norbert'saccount, anticipated, as she had thought that she would have beenreceived by the Duchess like some ministering angel sent down to earthto console an unhappy captive. She had expected to find a simple,guileless woman, who, upon her first visit, would throw her arms roundher visitor's neck and yield herself entirely to her influence.Far, however, from being dismayed, Diana was rather pleased atthis unexpected difficulty, and so fully exerted all her powers offascination, that when she took her leave, she believed that she hadmade a little progress.

  On that very evening the Duchess remarked to her husband,--

  "I think that I shall like Madame de Mussidan; she seems an excellentkind of woman."

  "Excellent is just the proper word," returned Norbert. "All Bevron wasin tears when she was married and had to leave, for she was a real angelamong the poor."

  Norbert was intensely gratified by Diana's success; for was it not forhim that she had displayed all her skill, and was not this a proof thatshe still cherished a passion for him?

  He was not, however, quite so much pleased when he met Madame deMussidan the next day in the Champs Elysees. She looked sad andthoughtful.

  "What has gone wrong?" asked he.

  "I am very angry with myself for having listened to the voice of my ownheart and to your entreaties," answered she, "and I think that both ofus have committed a grave error."

  "Indeed, and what have we done?"

  "Norbert, your wife suspects something."

  "Impossible! Why, she was praising you after you had left."

  "If that is the case, then she is indeed a much more clever woman thanI had imagined, for she knows how to conceal her suspicions until she isin a position to prove them."

  Diana spoke with such a serious air of conviction, that Norbert becamequite alarmed.

  "What shall we do?" asked he.

  "The best thing would be to give up meeting each other, I thi
nk."

  "Never; I tell you, never!"

  "Let me reflect; in the meantime be prudent; for both our sakes, beprudent."

  To further his ends, Norbert entirely changed his mode of life. Hegave up going to his clubs, refused invitations to fast suppers, and nolonger spent his nights in gambling and drinking. He drove out with hiswife, and frequently spent his evenings with her, and at the club beganto be looked on as quite a model husband. This great change, however,was not effected without many a severe inward struggle. He felt deeplyhumiliated at the life of deception that he was forced to lead, butDiana's hand, apparently so slight and frail, held him with a grip ofsteel.

  "We must live in this way," said she, in answer to his expostulations,"first, because it must be so; and, secondly, because it is my will. Onour present mode of conduct depends all our future safety, and I wishthe Duchess to believe that with me happiness and content must have cometo her fireside."

  Norbert could not gainsay this very reasonable proposition on thepart of Madame de Mussidan, for he was more in love than ever, and theterrible fear that if he went in any way contrary to her wishes thatshe would refuse to see him any more, stayed the words of objection thatrose to his lips.

  After hesitating for a little longer, the Duchess made up her mind toaccept the offer of friendship which Diana had so ingenuously offered toher, and finished by giving herself up to the bitterest enemy that shehad in the world. By degrees she had no secrets from her new friend, andone day, after a long and confidential conversation, she acknowledged toDiana the whole secret of the early love of her girlish days, the memoryof which had never faded from the inmost recesses of her heart, and wasrash enough to mention George de Croisenois by name. Madame de Mussidanwas overjoyed at what she considered so signal a victory.

  "Now I have her," thought she, "and vengeance is within my grasp."

  Marie and Diana were now like two sisters, and were almost constantlytogether; but this intimacy had not given to Norbert the facile meansof meeting Diana which he had so ardently hoped for. Though Madame deMussidan visited his house nearly every day, he absolutely saw less ofher than he had done before, and sometimes weeks elapsed without hiscatching a glimpse of her face. She played her game with such consummateskill, that Marie was always placed as a barrier between Norbert andherself, as in the farce, when the lover wishes to embrace his mistress,he finds the wrinkled visage of the duenna offered to his lips.Sometimes he grew angry, but Diana always had some excellent reasonwith which to close his mouth. Sometimes she held up his pretensionsto ridicule, and at others assumed a haughty air, which always quelledincipient rebellion upon his part.

  "What did you expect of me?" she would say, "and of what base act didyou do me the honor to consider me capable?"

  He was treated exactly like a child, or more cruel still, like a persondeficient in intellect, and this he was thoroughly aware of. He couldnot meet Madame de Mussidan as he had formerly done, for now in theBois, at Longchamps, or at any place of public amusement she wasinvariably surrounded by a band of fashionable admirers, among whomGeorge de Croisenois was always to be found. Norbert disliked all thesemen, but he had a special antipathy to George de Croisenois, whom heregarded as a supercilious fool; but in this opinion he was entirelywrong, for the Marquis de Croisenois was looked upon as one of the mosttalented and witty men in Parisian society, and in this case the opinionof the world was a well-founded one. Many men envied him, but he hadno enemies, and his honest and straightforward conduct was beyond alldoubt. He had the noble instincts of a knight of the days of chivalry.

  "Pray," asked Norbert, "what is it that you can see in this sneeringdandy who is always hanging about you?"

  But Diana, with a meaning smile, always made the same reply,--

  "You ask too much; but some time you will learn all."

  Every day she contrived, when with the Duchess, to turn the conversationskilfully upon George de Croisenois, and she had in a manner accustomedMarie to look certain possibilities straight in the face, from the veryidea of which she would a few months back have recoiled with horror.This point once gained, Madame de Mussidan believed that the moment hadarrived to bring the former lovers together again, and fancied that onesudden and unexpected encounter would advance matters much more quicklythan all her half-veiled insinuations. One day, therefore, when theDuchess had called on her friend, on entering the drawing-room, shefound it only tenanted by George de Croisenois. An exclamation ofastonishment fell from the lips of both as their eyes met; the cheekof each grew pale. The Duchess, overcome by her feelings, sankhalf-fainting into a chair near the door.

  "Ah," murmured he, scarcely knowing the meaning of the words he uttered,"I had every confidence in you, and you have forgotten me."

  "You do not believe the words you have just spoken," returned theDuchess haughtily; "but," she added in softer accents, "what could I do?I may have been weak in obeying my father, but for all that I have neverforgotten the past."

  Madame de Mussidan, who had stationed herself behind the closed door,caught every word, and a gleam of diabolical triumph flashed from hereyes. She felt sure that an interview which began in this manner wouldbe certain to be repeated, and she was not in error. She soon saw thatby some tacit understanding the Duchess and George contrived to meetconstantly at her house, and this she carefully abstained from noticing.Things were working exactly as she desired and she waited, for she couldwell afford to do so, knowing that the impending crash could not long bedelayed.