CHAPTER LIV. DUTY.
Rodin, retreating slowly before the fire of Dagobert's angry looks,walked backwards to the door, casting oblique but piercing glances atthe orphans, who were visibly affected by the servant's intentionalindiscretion. (Dagobert had ordered him not to speak before the girls ofthe illness of their governess, and that was quite enough to induce thesimpleton to take the first opportunity of doing so.)
Rose hastily approached the soldier, and said to him: "Is it true--isit really true that poor Madame Augustine has been attacked with thecholera?"
"No--I do not know--I cannot tell," replied the soldier, hesitating;"besides, what is it to you?"
"Dagobert, you would conceal from us a calamity," said Blanche. "Iremember now your embarrassment, when we spoke to you of our governess."
"If she is ill, we ought not to abandon her. She had pity on oursorrows; we ought to pity her sufferings."
"Come, sister; come to her room," said Blanche, advancing towards thedoor, where Rodin had stopped short, and stood listening with growingattention to this unexpected scene, which seemed to give him ample foodfor thought.
"You will not leave this room," said the soldier, sternly, addressingthe two sisters.
"Dagobert," replied Rose, firmly, "it is a sacred duty, and it would becowardice not to fulfil it."
"I tell you that you shall not leave the room," said the soldier,stamping his foot with impatience.
"Dagobert," replied Blanche, with as resolute an air as her sister's,and with a kind of enthusiasm which brought the blood to her fair cheek,"our father, when he left us, give us an admirable example of devotionand duty. He would not forgive us were we to forget the lesson."
"What," cried Dagobert, in a rage, and advancing towards the sisters toprevent their quitting the apartment; "you think that if your governesshad the cholera, I would let you go to her under the pretext ofduty?--Your duty is to live, to live happy, for your father's sake--andfor mine into the bargain--so not a word more of such folly!"
"We can run no danger by going to our governess in her room," said Rose.
"And if there were danger," added Blanche, "we ought not to hesitate.So, Dagobert, be good! and let us pass."
Rodin, who had listened to what precedes, with sustained attention,suddenly started, as if a thought had struck him; his eye shonebrightly, and an expression of fatal joy illumined his countenance.
"Dagobert, do not refuse!" said Blanche. "You would do for us what youreproach us with wishing to do for another."
Dagobert had as it were, till now stood in the path of the Jesuit andthe twins by keeping close to the door; but, after a moments reflection,he shrugged his shoulders, stepped to one side, and said calmly: "I wasan old fool. Come, young ladies; if you find Madame Augustine in thehouse, I will allow you to remain with her."
Surprised at these words, the girls stood motionless and irresolute.
"If our governess is not here, where is she, then?" said Rose.
"You think, perhaps, that I am going to tell you in the excitement inwhich you are!"
"She is dead!" cried Rose growing pale.
"No, no--be calm," said the soldier, hastily; "I swear to you, by yourfather's honor, that she is not dead. At the first appearance of thedisorder, she begged to be removed from the house, fearing the contagionfor those in it."
"Good and courageous woman!" said Rose tenderly, "And you will not allowus--"
"I will not allow you to go out, even if I have to lock you up in yourroom," cried the soldier, again stamping with rage; then, rememberingthat the blunderhead's indiscretion was the sole cause of thisunfortunate incident, he added, with concentrated fury: "Oh! I willbreak my stick upon that rascal's back."
So saying, he turned towards the door, where Rodin still stood, silentand attentive, dissembling with habitual impassibility the fatal hopeshe had just conceived in his brain. The girls, no longer doubting theremoval of their governess, and convinced that Dagobert would not tellthem whither they had conveyed her, remained pensive and sad.
At sight of the priest, whom he had forgotten for the moment, thesoldier's rage increased, and he said to him abruptly: "Are you stillthere?"
"I would merely observe to you, my dear sir," said Rodin, with that airof perfect good nature which he knew so well how to assume, "that youwere standing before the door, which naturally prevented me from goingout."
"Well, now nothing prevents you--so file off!"
"Certainly, I will file off, if you wish it, my dear sir though I thinkI have some reason to be surprised at such a reception."
"It is no reception at all--so begone!"
"I had come, my dear sir to speak to you--"
"I have no time for talking."
"Upon business of great importance."
"I have no other business of importance than to remain with thesechildren."
"Very good, my dear sir," said Rodin, pausing on the threshold. "Iwill not disturb you any longer; excuse my indiscretion. The bearer ofexcellent news from Marshal Simon, I came--"
"News from our father!" cried Rose, drawing nearer to Rodin.
"Oh, speak, speak, sir!" added Blanche.
"You have news of the marshal!" said Dagobert, glancing suspiciously atRodin. "Pray, what is this news?"
But Rodin, without immediately answering the question, returned from thethreshold into the room, and, contemplating Rose and Blanche by turnswith admiration, he resumed: "What happiness for me, to be able to bringsome pleasure to these dear young ladies. They are even as I left themgraceful, and fair, and charming--only less sad than on the day when Ifetched them from the gloomy convent in which they were kept prisoners,to restore them to the arms of their glorious father!"
"That was their place, and this is not yours," said Dagobert, harshly,still holding the door open behind Rodin.
"Confess, at least that I was not so much out of place at Dr.Baleinier's," said the Jesuit, with a cunning air. "You know, for itwas there that I restored to you the noble imperial cross you so muchregretted--the day when that good Mdlle. de Cardoville only preventedyou from strangling me by telling you that I was her liberator. Aye!it was just as I have the honor of stating, young ladies," added Rodin,with a smile; "this brave soldier was very near strangling me, for, beit said without offense, he has, in spite of his age, a grasp of iron.Ha, ha! the Prussians and Cossacks must know that better than I!"
These few words reminded Dagobert and the twins of the services whichRodin had really rendered them; and though the marshal had heardMdlle. de Cardoville speak of Rodin as of a very dangerous man, hehad forgotten, in the midst of so many anxieties, to communicate thiscircumstance to Dagobert. But this latter, warned by experience, felt,in spite of favorable appearances, a secret aversion for the Jesuit; sohe replied abruptly: "The strength of my grasp has nothing to do withthe matter."
"If I allude to that little innocent playfulness on your part, my dearsir," said Rodin, in his softest tone, approaching the two sisters witha wriggle which was peculiar to him; "if I allude to it, you see, it wassuggested by the involuntary recollection of the little services Iwas happy enough to render you." Dagobert looked fixedly at Rodin, whoinstantly veiled his glance beneath his flabby eyelids.
"First of all," said the soldier, after a moment's silence, "a true mannever speaks of the services he has rendered, and you come back threetimes to the subject."
"But Dagobert," whispered Rose, "if he brings news of our father?"
The soldier made a sign, as if to beg the girl to let him speak,and resumed, looking full at Rodin: "You are cunning, but I'm no rawrecruit."
"I cunning?" said Rodin, with a sanctified air.
"Yes, very. You think to puzzle me with your fine phrases; but I'mnot to be caught in that way. Just listen to me. Some of your band ofblack-gowns stole my cross; you returned it to me. Some of the same bandcarried off these children; you brought them back. It is also true thatyou denounced the renegade D'Aigrigny. But all this only proves twothings: fi
rst, that you were vile enough to be the accomplice of thesescoundrels; and secondly, that, having been their accomplice, you werebase enough to betray them. Now, those two facts are equally bad, and Isuspect you most furiously. So march off at once; your presence is notgood for these children."
"But, my dear sir--"
"I will have no buts," answered Dagobert, in an angry voice. "When a manof your look does good, it is only to hide some evil; and one must be onguard."
"I understand your suspicions," said Rodin coolly, hiding his growingdisappointment, for he had hoped it would have been easy to coax thesoldier; "but, if you reflect, what interest have I in deceiving you?And in what should the deception consist?"
"You have some interest or other in persisting to remain here, when Itell you to go away."
"I have already had the honor of informing you of the object of myvisit, my dear sir."
"To bring news of Marshal Simon?"
"That is exactly the case. I am happy enough to have news of themarshal. Yes, my dear young ladies," added Rodin, as he again approachedthe two sisters, to recover, as it were, the ground he had lost, "I havenews of your glorious father!"
"Then come to my room directly, and you can tell it to me," repliedDagobert.
"What! you would be cruel enough to deprive these dear ladies of thepleasure--"
"By heaven, sir!" cried Dagobert, in a voice of thunder, "you will makeme forget myself. I should be sorry to fling a man of your age down thestairs. Will you be gone?"
"Well, well," said Rodin mildly, "do not be angry with a poor old man.I am really not worth the trouble. I will go with you to your room, andtell you what I have to communicate. You will repent not having let mespeak before these dear young ladies; but that will be your punishment,naughty man!"
So saying, Rodin again bowed very low, and, concealing his rage andvexation, left the room before Dagobert, who made a sign to the twosisters, and then followed, closing the door after him.
"What news of our father, Dagobert?" said Rose anxiously, when thesoldier returned, after a quarter of an hours absence.
"Well, that old conjurer knows that the marshal set out in good spirits,and he seems acquainted with M. Robert. How could he be informed of allthis? I cannot tell," added the soldier, with a thoughtful air; "but itis only another reason to be on one's guard against him."
"But what news of our father?" asked Rose.
"One of that old rascal's friends (I think him a rascal still) knowsyour father, he tells me, and met him five-and-twenty leagues from here.Knowing that this man was coming to Paris, the marshal charged him tolet you know that he was in perfect health, and hoped soon to see youagain."
"Oh, what happiness!" cried Rose.
"You see, you were wrong to suspect the poor old man, Dagobert," addedBlanche. "You treated him so harshly!"
"Possibly so; but I am not sorry for it."
"And why?"
"I have my reasons; and one of the best is that, when I saw him came in,and go sidling and creeping round about us, I felt chilled to the marrowof my bones, without knowing why. Had I seen a serpent crawling towardsyou, I should not have been more frightened. I knew, of course, that hecould not hurt you in my presence; but I tell you, my children, in spiteof the services he has no doubt rendered us, it was all I could do torefrain from throwing him out of the window. Now, this manner of provingmy gratitude is not natural, and one must be on one's guard againstpeople who inspire us with such ideas."
"Good Dagobert, it is your affection for us that makes you sosuspicious," said Rose, in a coaxing tone; "it proves how much you loveus."