CHAPTER XXV.
SECOND SIGHT.
From his garret, Gilbert was watching, or rather devouring Andrea'sroom. It would be hard to tell whether his eyes now gazed with love orhatred. But the curtains were drawn and he could see nothing in thatquarter; he turned to another.
Here he espied the plume of Corporal Beausire, as the soldier to beguilehis waiting, whistled a tune. It was not till ten minutes had elapsedthat Nicole appeared. She made her lover a sign which he understood, forhe nodded and went towards a walk in a cutting leading to the LittleTrianon.
Nicole ran back as lightly as a bird.
"Ha, ha," thought Gilbert, "Nicole and her trooper have something to sayto each other which will not bear witnesses. Good!"
He was no longer curious about Nicole's flirtations, but he regarded heras a natural enemy and it was wise to know all her doings. In herimmorality he wanted to find the weapon with which he might victoriouslymeet her in case she should attack him. He did not doubt that thecampaign would open and he meant to have a good supply of weapons, likea true warrior.
So he nimbly came down from his loft, and reached the gardens by thechapel side-door. He had nothing to fear now as he knew all the covertsof the place like a fox at home. Thus he was able to reach the clumpwhere he heard a strange sound for the woods--the chink of coin on astone. Gliding like a serpent up to the terrace wall, hedged withlilacs, he saw Nicole at the grating, emptying a purse on a stone out ofBeausire's reach by being on her side of the railing. It was the pursegiven by Richelieu, or strictly speaking the cash for the Treasury noteswhich she had converted. The fat gold pieces clinked down, glittering,while the corporal, with kindled eye and trembling hand, attentivelylooked at Nicole and them without comprehending how they came intocompany.
"My dear Beausire, more than once you have wanted me to elope," beganNicole.
"And to marry you," added the soldier, quite enthusiastically.
"We will argue that point hereafter," replied the girl; "at present, themain thing is to get away. Can we be off in a couple of hours?"
"In ten minutes, if you like."
"No; I have some work to do first and a couple of hours will suit me.Take these fifty louis," and she passed the amount between the bars; hepocketed them without counting, "and in an hour and a half be here witha coach."
"I do not shrink: but I am fearful about you--when the money is spentyou will regret the palace and---- "
"Oh, how thoughtful you are! do not be alarmed: I am not one of the sortto become unfortunate. Have no scruples. We shall see what comes nextafter the fifty louis."
She counted another fifty louis into her own purse: Beausire's eyesbecame phosphorescent.
"I would jump into a blazing furnace for you," he said.
"You are not asked to do so much," she returned: "get the coach and intwo hours we are off."
"Agreed," and he drew her to the rails to kiss her. "Oh, how are yougoing to get through the railings?"
"Stupid, I have the pass-key."
Beausire uttered an Ah! full of admiration, and fled.
With brisk feet and thoughtful head, Nicole returned to her mistress,leaving Gilbert alone, to cogitate the questions which this interviewexcited. All he could guess of the puzzles was how the girl had obtainedthe money. This negation of his perspicacity was so goading to hisnatural curiosity or his acquired mistrust--have it either way--that hedecided to pass the night in the open air, cold though it was, under thedamp trees, to await the sequel to this scene.
A huge black cloud, coming out of the south, covered all the sky, sothat beyond Versailles the sombre pall gradually lapped up all the starswhich had been gleaming a while before in their azure canopy.
Nicole feared that some whim of her mistress would contravene her plan,and with that air of interest which the artful cat knew so well how totake, she said:
"I am afraid that you are not very well to-night; your eyes are red andswollen; I should think repose would do you good."
"Do you think so? perhaps it would," answered Andrea, without payingmuch heed, but extending her feet on a rug as she sat.
The girl accepted this reclining pose as a signal for her to take downher mistress's headdress for the night; the unbuilding of a structure ofribbons, flowers and wire, which the most skillful "house-breaker" couldnot have demolished in an hour. Nicole was not a quarter of that timedoing it.
The toilet for the night being completed, Andrea gave her orders for thecoming day. The tuner was to come for her harpsichord and some bookswhich Philip had sent to Versailles were to be fetched. Nicoletranquilly answered that if she were not roused in the night she wouldbe up early, and would do everything before her mistress rose.
As Andrea, in her long night wrapper, was dreaming in her chair, Nicoleput two drops of the draught Richelieu had given her, into the glass ofdrink on the night-table. Turbid for a moment, the water took an opaltint which faded away gradually.
"Your night-drink is set out," said the maid: "your dresses folded upand the night-light lit. As I must be up early, can I go to bed now?"
"Yes," replied Andrea, absently.
Nicole went out and glided into the garden.
Gilbert was looking out for her as he promised himself he would do, andsaw her go up to the gates where she passed the master key to Beausire,who was ready. The gate was opened and the girl slipped through. Thegate was locked again and the key thrown over, where Gilbert noticed itsplace of falling on the sward.
He drew a long breath in relief for he was quit of Nicole, an enemy.Andrea was left alone, and he might penetrate to her room.
This idea set his blood boiling with all the fury of fear and disquiet,curiosity and desire.
But, as he placed his foot on the lowest stairs of the flight leading toAndrea's corridor, he beheld her, garbed in white, at the top step,coming down.
So white and solemn was she that he recoiled, and buried himself in acopse.
Once before, at Taverney, he had seen her thus walking in her sleep,when she was, without his suspecting it, under the mesmeric influence ofBalsamo, the Magician.
Andrea passed Gilbert, almost touched him but did not see him.
Bewildered and overwhelmed, he felt his knees crook beneath him: he wasfrightened.
Not knowing to what errand to ascribe this night roaming, he watchedher: but his reason was confounded, and his blood beat with impetuosityin his temples, being nearer folly than the coolness which a goodobserver ought to possess. He viewed her as he had always done sincethis fatal passion had entered his heart.
All of a sudden he thought the mystery was revealed: Andrea was notwandering out of her mind, but going to keep an appointment, albeit herstep was slow and sepulchral.
A lightning flash illumined the sky. By its bluish glare Gilbert caughtsight of a man, hiding in the linden walk, with pale visage and clothesin disorder. He stretched out one hand towards the girl as though tobeckon her to him.
Something like pincers nipped Gilbert's heart and he half rose to seethe better.
Another lightning stroke streaked the sky.
He recognized Baron Balsamo, covered with dust, who had by the aid ofmysterious intelligence, entered the locked-up Trianon, and was asinvincibly and fatally drawing Andrea to him as a snake may a bird. Nottill within two steps of him did she stop, when he took her hand and shequivered all over her body.
"Do you see?" he asked.
"Yes," was her reply, "but you have nearly been the death of me inbringing me out like this."
"It cannot be helped," returned Balsamo: "I am in a whirl, and am readyto die with the craze upon me."
"You do indeed suffer," said she, informed of his state by the contactof his hand alone.
"Yes, and I come to you for consolation. You alone can save me. Can youfollow me---- "
"Yes, if you conduct me with your mind."
"Come!"
"Ah," said Andrea, "we are in Paris--a street lit by a single lamp--weenter a house--we
go up to the wall which opens to let us pass through.We are in so strange a chamber, with no doors and the windows arebarred. How greatly in disorder is everything!"
"But it is empty? where is the person who was there last?"
"Give me some object of hers that I may be in touch."
"This is a lock of her hair."
Andrea laid the hair on her bosom.
"Oh, I know this woman, whom I have seen before--she is fleeing into thecity."
"Yes; but what was she doing these two hours before? Trace back."
"Wait: she is lying on a sofa with a cut in the breast. She wakes from asleep, and seeks round her. Taking a handkerchief she ties it to thewindow bars. Come down, poor woman! She weeps, she is in distress, shewrings her arms--ah! she is looking for a corner of the wall on which todash out her brains. She springs towards the chimney-place where twolion heads in marble are embossed. On one of them she would beat out herbrains when she sees a spot of blood on the lion's eye. Blood, and yetshe had not struck it?"
"It is mine," said the mesmerist.
"Yes, yours. You cut your fingers with a dagger, the dagger with whichshe stabbed herself and you tried to get it away from her. Your bleedingfingers pressed the lion's head."
"It is true: how did she get out?"
"I see her examine the blood, reflect, and then lay her finger whereyours was pressed. Oh, the lion's head gives way--it is a spring whichworks: the chimney-plate opens."
"Cursed imprudence of mine," groaned the conspirator: "unhappy madman! Ihave betrayed myself through love. But she has gone out and flees?"
"The poor thing must be pardoned, she is so distressed."
"Whither goes she, Andrea? follow, follow, I will it!"
"She stops in a room where are armor and furs: a safe is open but acasket usually kept in it is now on a table: she knows it again. Shetakes it."
"What is in it?"
"Your papers. It is covered with blue velvet and studded with silver,the lock and bands are of the same metal."
"Ha! was it she took the casket?" cried Balsamo, stamping his foot.
"Yes, she. Going down the stairs to the anteroom, she opens the door,draws the chain undoing the street door and is out in the street."
"It is late?"
"It is nighttime. Once out, she runs like a mad thing up on the mainstreet towards the Bastile. She knocks up against passengers andquestions."
"Lose not a word--what does she say?"
"She asks a man clad in black where she can find the Chief of Police."
"So it was not a vain threat of hers. What does she do?"
"Having the address, she retraces her steps to cross a large square----"
"Royale Place--it is the right road. Read her intention."
"Run, run quick! she is going to denounce you--if she arrives atCriminal Lieutenant Sartine' before you, you are lost!"
Balsamo uttered a terrible yell, sprang into the hedges, burst a smalldoor, and got upon the open ground. There an Arab horse was waiting, onwhich he leaped at a bound. It started off like an arrow towards Paris.
Andrea stood mute, pale, and cold. But as though the magnetiser carriedlife away with him, she collapsed and fell. In his eagerness to overtakeLorenza, Balsamo had forgotten to arouse Andrea from the mesmeric sleep.
She had barely touched the ground before Gilbert leaped out with thevigor and agility of the tiger. He seized her in his arms and withoutfeeling what a burden he had undertaken, he carried her back to the roomwhich she had left on the call of Balsamo.
All the doors had been left open by the girl, and the candle was stillburning.
As he stumbled against the sofa when he blundered in, he naturallyplaced her upon it. All became enfevered in him, though the lifelessbody was cold. His nerves shivered and his blood burned.
Yet his first idea was pure and chaste: it was to restore consciousnessto this beautiful statue. He sprinkled her face with water from thedecanter.
But at this period, as his trembling hand was encircling the narrow neckof the crystal bottle, he heard a firm but light step make the stairs ofwood and brick squeak on the way to the chamber.
It could not be Nicole who was on the way with Beausire or Balsamo whowas galloping to Paris.
Whoever it was, Gilbert would be caught and expelled from the palace.
He fully comprehended that he was out of his place here. He blew outthe candle and dashed into Nicole's room, timing his movement as thethunder boomed in the heavens.
Through its glazed door he could see into the room he quitted and theanteroom.
In this latter burnt a night-light on a small table. Gilbert would haveput that out also if he had time, but the steps creaked now on thelanding. A man appeared on the sill, timidly glided through theantechamber, and shut the door which he bolted.
Gilbert held his breath, glued his face to the glass and listened withall his might.
The storm growled solemnly in the skies, large raindrops spattered onthe windows, and in the corridor, an unfastened shutter bangedsinisterly against the wall from time to time.
But the tumult of nature, these exterior sounds, however alarming, werenothing to Gilbert: all his thought, mind and being were concentrated inhis gaze, fastened on this man.
Passing within two paces, this intruder walked into the other room.Gilbert saw him grope his way up to the bed, and make a gesture ofsurprise at finding it untenanted. He almost knocked the candle off thetable with his elbow; but it fell on the table where the glass save-alljingled on the marble top.
"Nicole," the stranger called twice, in a guarded voice.
"Why, Nicole?" muttered Gilbert. "Why does this man call on Nicole whenhe ought to address her mistress?"
No voice replying, the man picked up the candle and went on tiptoe tolight it at the night-lamp.
Then it was that Gilbert's attention was so concentrated on this strangenight visitor that his eyes would have pierced a wall.
Suddenly he started and drew back a step although he was in concealment.
By the light of the two flames he had recognized in the man holding thecandle--the King! All was clear to him: the flight of Nicole, the moneycounted down between her and Beausire, and all the dark plot ofRichelieu and Taverney of which Andrea was the object.
He understood why the King should call upon Nicole, the complaisantfemale Judas who had sold her mistress.
At the thought of what the royal villain had come to commit in thisroom, the blood rushing to the young man's head blinded him.
He meant to call out; but the reflection that this was the Lord'sanointed, the being still full of awe as the King of France--that frozethe tongue of Gilbert to his mouth-roof.
Meanwhile, Louis XV. entered the room once more, bearing the light. Heperceived Andrea, in the white muslin wrapper, with her head thrown backon the sofa pillow, with one foot on another cushion and the other, coldand stiff, out of the slipper, on the carpet.
At this sight the King smiled. The candle lit up this evil smile; butalmost instantly a smile as sinister lighted up Andrea's face.
Louis uttered some words, probably of love; and placing the light on thetable, he cast a glance out at the enflamed sky, before kneeling to thegirl, whose hand he kissed.
This was so chilly that he took it between both his to warm it, and withhis other arm enclasping the soft and so beautiful body, he bent over tomurmur some of the loving nonsense fitted for sleeping maids. His facewas so close to hers that it touched it.
Gilbert felt in his pocket for a knife with a long blade which he usedin pruning trees.
The face was as cold as the hand, which made the royal lover rise; hiseyes wandered to the Cinderella foot, which he took hold of--it was ascold as the hand and the cheek. He shuddered for all seemed a marblestatue.
Gilbert gritted his teeth and opened the knife, as he beheld so muchbeauty and regarded the royal threat as a robbery intended on him.
But the King dropped the foot as he had the hand. Surp
rised at the sleepwhich he had thought to be feigned in prudery by a coquet, he preparedto learn the nature of this insensibility.
Gilbert crept half way out of the doorway, with set teeth, glitteringeye and the knife bared in his grip to stab the King.
Suddenly a frightful flash of lightning lit up Andrea's face with avivid glare of violet and sulphur light while the thunder made everyarticle of furniture dance in the room. Frightened by her pallor,immobility and silence, Louis XV. recoiled, muttering:
"Truly the girl is dead!"
The idea of having wooed a corpse sent a shudder through his veins. Hetook up the candle and looked at Andrea by its flickering flame. Seeingthe brown-circled eyes, the violet lips, the disheveled tresses, thethroat which no breath raised, he uttered a shriek, let the candlestickfall, and staggered out through the antechamber like a drunken man,knocking against the wainscotting in his alarm.
Knife still in hand, Gilbert came out of his covert. He advanced to theroom door and for a space contemplated the lovely young maid still inthe profound sleep.
The candle smouldering on the floor lit up the delicate foot and thepure lines above it of the adorable creature.
Gilbert trod on the wick and in sudden obscurity was blotted out thedreadful smile which was curling his lips.
"Andrea," he muttered, "I swore that you should not escape me the thirdtime that you fell into my hands as you did the other two. Andrea, aterrible end was needed to the romance which you mocked at me forcomposing!"
With extended arms he walked towards the sofa where the girl was stillcold, motionless and deprived of all feeling.