CHAPTER XXXVII. THE PLOT.
The Abbe-Marquis d'Aigrigny, as the reader has easily divined, wasthe person already seen in the Rue du Milieu-des-Ursins; whence he haddeparted from Rome, in which city he had remained about three months.The marquis was dressed in deep mourning, but with his usual elegance.His was not a priestly robe; his black coat, and his waistcoat, tightlygathered in at the waist, set off to great advantage the elegance ofhis figure: his black cassimere pantaloons disguised his feet, exactlyfitted with lace boots, brilliantly polished. And all traces of histonsure disappeared in the midst of the slight baldness which whitenedslightly the back part of his head. There was nothing in his entirecostume, or aspect, that revealed the priest, except, perhaps,the entire absence of beard, the more remarkable upon so manly acountenance. His chin, newly shaved, rested on a large and elevatedblack cravat, tied with a military ostentation which reminded thebeholder, that this abbe-marquis this celebrated preacher--now one ofthe most active and influential chiefs of his order, had commanded aregiment of hussars upon the Restoration, and had fought in aid of theRussians against France.
Returned to Paris only this morning, the marquis had not seen theprincess since his mother, the Dowager Marchioness d'Aigrigny, had diednear Dunkirk, upon an estate belonging to Madame de Saint-Dizier, whilevainly calling for her son to alleviate her last moments; but the orderto which M. d'Aigrigny had thought fit to sacrifice the most sacredfeeling and duties of nature, having been suddenly transmitted to himfrom Rome, he had immediately set out for that city; though not withouthesitation, which was remarked and denounced by Rodin; for the love ofM. d'Aigrigny for his mother had been the only pure feeling that hadinvariably distinguished his life.
When the servant had discreetly withdrawn with Mrs. Grivois, the marquisquickly approached the princess, held out his hand to her, and said witha voice of emotion:
"Herminia, have you not concealed something in your letters. In her lastmoments did not my mother curse me?"
"No, no, Frederick, compose yourself. She had anxiously desired yourpresence. Her ideas soon became confused. But in her delirium it wasstill for you that she called."
"Yes," said the marquis, bitterly; "her maternal instinct doubtlessassured her that my presence could have saved her life."
"I entreat you to banish these sad recollections," said the princess,"this misfortune is irreparable."
"Tell me for the last time, truly, did not my absence cruelly affectmy mother? Had she no suspicion that a more imperious duty called meelsewhere?"
"No, no, I assure you. Even when her reason was shaken, she believedthat you had not yet had time to come to her. All the sad details whichI wrote to you upon this painful subject are strictly true. Again, I begof you to compose yourself."
"Yes, my conscience ought to be easy; for I have fulfilled my duty insacrificing my mother. Yet I have never been able to arrive at thatcomplete detachment from natural affection, which is commanded to usby those awful words: 'He who hates not his father and his mother, evenwith the soul, cannot be my disciple.'"(9)
"Doubtless, Frederick," said the princess, "these renunciations arepainful. But, in return, what influence, what power!"
"It is true," said the marquis, after a moment's silence. "What oughtnot to be sacrificed in order to reign in secret over the all-powerfulof the earth, who lord it in full day? This journey to Rome, from whichI have just returned, has given me a new idea of our formidable power.For, Herminia, it is Rome which is the culminating point, overlookingthe fairest and broadest quarters of the globe, made so by custom, bytradition, or by faith. Thence can our workings be embraced in theirfull extent. It is an uncommon view to see from its height the myriadtools, whose personality is continually absorbed into the immovablepersonality of our Order. What a might we possess! Verily, I am alwaysswayed with admiration, aye, almost frightened, that man once thinks,wishes, believes, and acts as he alone lists, until, soon ours, hebecomes but a human shell; its kernel of intelligence, mind, reason,conscience, and free will, shrivelled within him, dry and withered bythe habit of mutely, fearingly bowing under mysterious tasks, whichshatter and slay everything spontaneous in the human soul! Then do weinfuse in such spiritless clay, speechless, cold, and motionless ascorpses, the breath of our Order, and, lo! the dry bones stand up andwalk, acting and executing, though only within the limits which arecircled round them evermore. Thus do they become mere limbs of thegigantic trunk, whose impulses they mechanically carry out, whileignorant of the design, like the stonecutter who shapes out a stone,unaware if it be for cathedral or bagnio."
In so speaking, the marquis's features wore an incredible air of proudand domineering haughtiness.
"Oh, yes! this power is great, most great," observed the princess; "andthe more formidable because it moves in a mysterious way over minds andconsciences."
"Aye, Herminia," said the marquis: "I have had under my command amagnificent regiment. Very often have I experienced the energetic andexquisite enjoyment of command! At my word my squadrons put themselvesin action; bugles blared, my officers, glittering in golden embroidery,galloped everywhere to repeat my orders: all my brave soldiers, burningwith courage, and cicatrized by battles, obeyed my signal; and I feltproud and strong, holding as I did (so to speak) in my hands, the forceand valor of each and all combined into one being of resistless strengthand invincible intrepidity,--of all of which I was as much themaster, as I mastered the rage and fire of my war-horse! Aye! that wasgreatness. But now, in spite of the misfortunes which have befallenour Order, I feel myself a thousand times more ready for action, moreauthoritative, more strong and more daring, at the head of our muteand black-robed militia, who only think and wish, or move and obey,mechanically, according to my will. On a sign they scatter over thesurface of the globe, gliding stealthily into households under the guiseof confessing the wife or teaching the children, into family affairsby hearing the dying avowals,--up to the throne through the quakingconscience of a credulous crowned coward;--aye, even to the chair ofthe Pope himself, living manifesto of the Godhead though he is, by theservices rendered him or imposed by him. Is not this secret rule, madeto kindle or glut the wildest ambition, as it reaches from the cradle tothe grave, from the laborer's hovel to the royal palace, from palaceto the papal chair? What career in all the world presents such splendidopenings? what unutterable scorn ought I not feel for the brightbutterfly life of early days, when we made so many envy us? Don't youremember, Herminia?" he added, with a bitter smile.
"You are right, perfectly right, Frederick!" replied the princessquickly. "How little soever we may reflect, with what contempt do we notthink upon the past! I, like you, often compare it with the present;and then what satisfaction I feel at having followed your counsels! For,indeed, without you, I should have played the miserable and ridiculouspart which a woman always plays in her decline from having beenbeautiful and surrounded by admirers. What could I have done at thishour? I should have vainly striven to retain around me a selfish andungrateful world of gross and shameful men, who court women onlythat they may turn them to the service of their passions, or to thegratification of their vanity. It is true that there would have remainedto me the resource of what is called keeping an agreeable house for allothers,--yes, in order to entertain them, be visited by a crowd ofthe indifferent, to afford opportunities of meeting to amorous youngcouples, who, following each other from parlor to parlor, come notto your house but for the purpose of being together; a very prettypleasure, truly, that of harboring those blooming, laughing, amorousyouths, who look upon the luxury and brilliancy with which one surroundsthem, as if they were their due upon bonds to minister to theirpleasure, and to their impudent amours!"
Her words were so stinging, and such hateful envy sat upon her face,that she betrayed the intense bitterness of her regrets in spite ofherself.
"NO, no; thanks to you, Frederick," she continued, "After a last andbrilliant triumph, I broke forever with the world, which would soon haveabandoned me, though I was so
long its idol and its queen. And I haveonly changed my queendom. Instead of the dissipated men whom I ruledwith a frivolity superior to their own, I now find myself surrounded bymen of high consideration, of redoubtable character, and all-powerful,many of whom have governed the state; to them I have devoted myself, asthey have devoted themselves to me! It is now only that I really enjoythat happiness, of which I ever dreamt. I have taken an active part andhave exercised a powerful influence over the greatest interests of theworld; I have been initiated into the most important secrets; I havebeen able to strike, surely, whosoever scoffed at or hated me; and Ihave been able to elevate beyond their hopes those who have served orrespected and obeyed me."
"There are some madmen, and some so blind, that they imagine that weare struck down, because we ourselves have had to struggle against somemisfortunes," said M. d'Aigrigny, disdainfully, "as if we were not,above all others, securely founded, organized for every struggle, anddrew not from our very struggles a new and more vigorous activity.Doubtless the times are bad. But they will become better; and, as youknow, it is nearly certain that in a few days (the 13th of February), weshall have at our disposal a means of action sufficiently powerful forre establishing our influence which has been temporarily shaken."
"Yes, doubtless this affair of the medals is most important," said theprincess.
"I should not have made so much haste to return hither," resumed theabbe, "were it not to act in what will be, perhaps, for us, a very greatevent."
"But you are aware of the fatality which has once again overthrownprojects the most laboriously conceived and matured?"
"Yes; immediately on arriving I saw Rodin."
"And he told you--?"
"The inconceivable arrival of the Indian, and of General Simon'sdaughters at Cardoville Castle, after a double shipwreck, which threwthem upon the coast of Picardy; though it was deemed certain that theyoung girls were at Leipsic, and the Indian in Java. Precautions wereso well taken, indeed," added the marquis in vexation, "that one wouldthink an invisible power protects this family."
"Happily, Rodin is a man of resources and activity," resumed theprincess. "He came here last night, and we had a long conversation."
"And the result of your consultation is excellent," added the marquis:"the old soldier is to be kept out of the way for two days; and hiswife's confessor has been posted; the rest will proceed of itself. Tomorrow, the girls need no longer be feared; and the Indian remains atCardoville, wounded dangerously. We have plenty of time for action."
"But that is not all," continued the princess: "there are still, withoutreckoning my niece, two persons, who, for our interests, ought not to befound in Paris on the 13th of February."
"Yes, M. Hardy: but his most dear and intimate friend has betrayed him;for, by means of that friend, we have drawn M. Hardy into the South,whence it is impossible for him to return before a month. As for thatmiserable vagabond workman, surnamed 'Sleepinbuff!'"
"Fie!" exclaimed the princess, with an expression of outraged modesty.
"That man," resumed the marquis, "is no longer an object of inquietude.Lastly, Gabriel, upon whom our vast and certain hope reposes, will notbe left by himself for a single minute until the great day. Everythingseems, you see, to promise success; indeed, more so than ever; and it isnecessary to obtain this success at any price. It is for us a questionof life or death; for, in returning, I stopped at Forli, and theresaw the Duke d'Orbano. His influence over the mind of the king is allpowerful--indeed, absolute; and he has completely prepossessed the royalmind. It is with the duke alone, then, that it is possible to treat."
"Well?"
"D'Orbano has gained strength; and he can, I know it, assure to us alegal existence, highly protected, in the dominions of his master, withfull charge of popular education. Thanks to such advantages, after twoor three years in that country we shall become so deeply rooted, thatthis very Duke d'Orbano, in his turn, will have to solicit support andprotection from us. But at present he has everything in his power; andhe puts an absolute condition upon his services."
"What is the condition?"
"Five millions down; and an annual pension of a hundred thousandfrancs."
"It is very much."
"Nay, but little if it be considered that our foot once planted in thatcountry, we shall promptly repossess ourselves of that sum, which, afterall, is scarcely an eighth part of what the affair of the medals, ifhappily brought to an issue, ought to assure to the Order."
"Yes, nearly forty millions," said the princess, thoughtfully.
"And again: these five millions that Orbano demands will be but anadvance. They will be returned to us in voluntary gifts, by reason evenof the increase of influence that we shall acquire from the educationof children; through whom we have their families. And yet, the foolshesitate! those who govern see not, that in doing our own business, wedo theirs also;--that in abandoning education to us (which is what wewish for above all things) we mold the people into that mute and quietobedience, that servile and brutal submission, which assures the reposeof states by the immobility of the mind. They don't reflect that mostof the upper and middle classes fear and hate us; don't understand that(when we have persuaded the mass that their wretchedness is an eternallaw, that sufferers must give up hope of relief, that it is a crime tosigh for welfare in this world, since the crown of glory on high is theonly reward for misery here), then the stupefied people will resignedlywallow in the mire, all their impatient aspirations for better dayssmothered, and the volcano-blasts blown aside, which made the future ofrulers so horrid and so dark? They see not, in truth, that this blindand passive faith which we demand from the mass, furnishes their rulerswith a bridle with which both to conduct and curb them; whilst we askfrom the happy of the world only some appearances which ought, if theyhad only the knowledge of their own corruption, to give an increasedstimulant to their pleasures.
"It signifies not," resumed the princess; "since, as you say, a greatday is at hand, bringing nearly forty millions, of which the Order canbecome possessed by the happy success of the affair of the medals. Wecertainly can attempt very great things. Like a lever in your hands,such a means of action would be of incalculable power, in times duringwhich all men buy and sell one another."
"And then," resumed M. d'Aigrigny, with a thoughtful air, "here thereaction continues: the example of France is everything. In Austria andHolland we can rarely maintain ourselves; while the resources of theOrder diminish from day to day. We have arrived at a crisis; but it canbe made to prolong itself. Thus, thanks to the immense resource of theaffair of the medals, we can not only brave all eventualities, but wecan again powerfully establish ourselves, thanks to the offer of theDuke d'Orbano, which we accept; and then, from that inassailable centre,our radiations will be incalculable. Ah! the 13th of February!" added M.d'Aigrigny, after a moment of silence, and shaking his head: "the 13thof February, a date perhaps fortunate and famous for our power as thatof the council which gave to us (so to say) a new life!"
"And nothing must be spared." resumed the princess, "in order to succeedat any price. Of the six persons whom we have to fear, five are or willbe out of any condition to hurt us. There remains then only my niece;and you know that I have waited but for your arrival in order to takemy last resolution. All my preparations are completed; and this verymorning we will begin to act."
"Have your suspicions increased since your last letter?"
"Yes, I am certain that she is more instructed than she wishes toappear; and if so, we shall not have a more dangerous enemy."
"Such has always been my opinion. Thus it is six month: since I advisedyou to take in all cases the measures which you have adopted, in orderto provoke, on her part, that demand of emancipation, the consequencesof which now render quite easy that which would have been impossiblewithout it."
"At last," said the princess, with an expression of joy, hateful andbitter, "this indomitable spirit will be broken. I am at length about tobe avenged of the many insolent sarc
asms which I have been compelled toswallow, lest I should awaken her suspicions. I! I to have borne so muchtill now! for this Adrienne has made it her business (imprudent as sheis!) to irritate me against herself!"
"Whosoever offends you, offends me; you know it," said D'Aigrigny, "myhatreds are yours."
"And you yourself!" said the princess, "how many times have you been thebutt of her poignant irony!"
"My instincts seldom deceive me. I am certain that this young girlmay become a dangerous enemy for us," said the marquis, with a voicepainfully broken into short monosyllables.
"And, therefore, it is necessary that she may be rendered incapableof exciting further fear," responded Madame de Saint-Dizier, fixedlyregarding the marquis.
"Have you seen Dr. Baleinier, and the sub-guardian, M. Tripeaud?" askedhe.
"They will be here this morning. I have informed them of everything."
"Did you find them well disposed to act against her?"
"Perfectly so--and the best is, Adrienne does not at all suspect thedoctor, who has known how, up to a certain point, to preserve herconfidence. Moreover, a circumstance which appears to me inexplicablehas come to our aid."
"What do you allude to?"
"This morning, Mrs. Grivois went, according to my orders, to remindAdrienne that I expected her at noon, upon important business. As sheapproached the pavilion, Mrs. Grivois saw, or thought she saw, Adriennecome in by the little garden-gate."
"What do you tell me? Is it possible? Is there any positive proof ofit?" cried the marquis.
"Till now, there is no other proof than the spontaneous declaration ofMrs. Grivois: but whilst I think of it," said the Princess, taking up apaper that lay before her, "here is the report, which, every day, one ofAdrienne's women makes to me."
"The one that Rodin succeeded in introducing into your niece's service?"
"The same; as this creature is entirely in Rodin's hands, she hashitherto answered our purpose very well. In this report, we shallperhaps find the confirmation of what Mrs. Grivois affirms she saw."
Hardly had the Princess glanced at the note, than she exclaimed almostin terror: "What do I see? Why, Adrienne is a very demon!"
"What now?"
"The bailiff at Cardoville, having written to my niece to ask herrecommendation, informed her at the same time of the stay of the Indianprince at the castle. She knows that he is her relation, and has justwritten to her old drawing-master, Norval, to set out post with Easterndresses, and bring Prince Djalma hither--the man that must be kept awayfrom Paris at any cost."
The marquis grew pale, and said to Mme. de Saint-Dizier: "If this be notmerely one of her whims, the eagerness she displays in sending for thisrelation hither, proves that she knows more than you even suspected. Sheis 'posted' on the affair of the medals. Have a care--she may ruin all."
"In that case," said the princess, resolutely, "there is no room tohesitate. We must carry things further than we thought, and make an endthis very morning."
"Yes, though it is almost impossible."
"Nay, all is possible. The doctor and M. Tripeaud are ours," said theprincess, hastily.
"Though I am as sure as you are of the doctor, or of M. Tripeaud,under present circumstances, we must not touch on the question ofacting--which will be sure to frighten them at first--until afterour interview with your niece. It will be easy, notwithstanding hercleverness, to find out her armor's defect. If our suspicions should berealized--if she is really informed of what it would be so dangerous forher to know--then we must have no scruples, and above all no delay. Thisvery day must see all set at rest. The time for wavering is past."
"Have you been able to send for the person agreed on?" asked theprincess, after a moment's silence.
"He was to be here at noon. He cannot be long."
"I thought this room would do very well for our purpose. It is separatedfrom the smaller parlor by a curtain only behind which your man may bestationed."
"Capital!"
"Is he a man to be depended on?"
"Quite so--we have often employed him in similar matters. He is asskillful as discreet."
At this moment a low knock was heard at the door.
"Come in," said the princess.
"Dr. Baleinier wishes to know if her Highness the Princess can receivehim," asked the valet-de-chambre.
"Certainly. Beg him to walk in."
"There is also a gentleman that M. l'Abbe appointed to be here at noon,by whose orders I have left him waiting in the oratory."
"'Tis the person in question," said the marquis to the princess. "Wemust have him in first. 'Twould be useless for Dr. Baleinier to see himat present."
"Show this person in first," said the princess; "next when I ringthe bell, you will beg Dr. Baleinier to walk this way: and, if BaronTripeaud should call, you will bring him here also. After that, I am athome to no one, except Mdlle. Adrienne." The servant went out.
(9) With regard to this text, a commentary upon it will be found in theConstitutions of the Jesuits, as follows: "In order that the habit oflanguage may come to the help of the sentiments, it is wise not to say,'I have parents, or I have brothers;' but to say, 'I had parents; I hadbrothers.'"--General Examination, p. 29; Constitutions.--Paulin; 1843.Paris.