CHAPTER XL. THE REVOLT
"Madame," said the princess to Adrienne de Cardoville, in a cold,severe tone, "I owe it to myself, as well as to these gentlemen, torecapitulate, in a few words, the events that have taken place for sometime past. Six months ago, at the end of the mourning for your father,you, being eighteen years old, asked for the management of your fortune,and for emancipation from control. Unfortunately, I had the weaknessto consent. You quitted the house, and established yourself inthe extension, far from all superintendence. Then began a train ofexpenditures, each one more extravagant than the last. Instead of beingsatisfied with one or two waiting-women, taken from that classfrom which they are generally selected, you chose governesses forlady-companions, whom you dressed in the most ridiculous and costlyfashion. It is true, that, in the solitude of your pavilion, youyourself chose to wear, one after another, costumes of different ages.Your foolish fancies and unreasonable whims have been without end andwithout limit: not only have you never fulfilled your religious duties,but you have actually had the audacity to profane one of your rooms,by rearing in the centre of it a species of pagan altar, on which is agroup in marble representing a youth and a girl"--the princess utteredthese words as if they would burn her lips--"a work of art, if you will,but a work in the highest degree unsuitable to a person of your age. Youpass whole days entirely secluded in your pavilion, refusing to see anyone; and Dr. Baleinier, the only one of my friends in whom you seem tohave retained some confidence, having succeeded by much persuasion ingaining admittance, has frequently found you in so very excited a state,that he has felt seriously uneasy with regard to your health. You havealways insisted on going out alone, without rendering any account ofyour actions to any one. You have taken delight in opposing, in everypossible way, your will to my authority. Is all this true?"
"The picture of my past is not much flattered," said Adrienne; smiling,"but it is not altogether unlike."
"So you admit, madame," said Abbe d'Aigrigny, laying stress on hiswords, "that all the facts stated by your aunt are scrupulously true?"
Every eye was turned towards Adrienne, as if her answer would be ofextreme importance.
"Yes, M. l'Abbe," said she; "I live openly enough to render thisquestion superfluous."
"These facts are therefore admitted," said Abbe d'Aigrigny, turningtowards the doctor and the baron.
"These facts are completely established," said M. Tripeaud, in a pompousvoice.
"Will you tell me, aunt," asked Adrienne, "what is the good of this longpreamble?"
"This long preamble, madame," resumed the princess with dignity,"exposes the past in order to justify the future."
"Really, aunt, such mysterious proceedings are a little in the styleof the answers of the Cumaean Sybil. They must be intended to coversomething formidable."
"Perhaps, mademoiselle--for to certain characters nothing is soformidable as duty and obedience. Your character is one of thoseinclined to revolt--"
"I freely acknowledge it, aunt--and it will always be so, until duty andobedience come to me in a shape that I can respect and love."
"Whether you respect and love my orders or not, madame," said theprincess, in a curt, harsh voice, "you will, from to-day, from thismoment, learn to submit blindly and absolutely to my will. In one word,you will do nothing without my permission: it is necessary, I insistupon it, and so I am determined it shall be."
Adrienne looked at her aunt for a second, and then burst into so freeand sonorous a laugh, that it rang for quite a time through the vastapartment. D'Aigrigny and Baron Tripeaud started in indignation. Theprincess looked angrily at her niece. The doctor raised his eyes toheaven, and clasped his hands over his waistcoat with a sanctimonioussigh.
"Madame," said Abbe d'Aigrigny, "such fits of laughter are highlyunbecoming. Your aunt's words are serious, and deserve a differentreception."
"Oh, sir!" said Adrienne, recovering herself, "it is not my fault ifI laugh. How can I maintain my gravity, when I hear my aunt talkingof blind submission to her orders? Is the swallow, accustomed tofly upwards and enjoy the sunshine, fledged to live with the mole indarkness?"
At this answer, D'Aigrigny affected to stare at the other members ofthis kind of family council with blank astonishment.
"A swallow? what does she mean?" asked the abbe of the baron making asign, which the latter understood.
"I do not know," answered Tripeaud, staring in his turn at the doctor."She spoke too of a mole. It 'is quite unheard-of--incomprehensible."
"And so, madame," said the princess, appearing to share in the surpriseof the others, "this is the reply that you make to me?"
"Certainly," answered Adrienne, astonished herself that they shouldpretend not to understand the simile of which she had made use,accustomed as she was to speak in figurative language.
"Come, come, madame," said Dr. Baleinier, smiling good-humoredly, "wemust be indulgent. My dear Mdlle. Adrienne has naturally so uncommon andexcitable a nature! She is really the most charming mad woman I know; Ihave told her so a hundred times, in my position of an old friend, whichallows such freedom."
"I can conceive that your attachment makes you indulgent--but it isnot the less true, doctor," said D'Aigrigny, as if reproaching him fortaking the part of Mdlle. de Cardoville, "that such answers to seriousquestions are most extravagant."
"The evil is, that mademoiselle does not seem to comprehend the seriousnature of this conference," said the princess, harshly. "She willperhaps understand it better when I have given her my orders."
"Let us hear these orders, aunt," replied Adrienne as, seated on theother side of the table, opposite to the princess, she leaned her small,dimpled chin in the hollow of her pretty hand, with an air of gracefulmockery, charming to behold.
"From to-morrow forward," resumed the princess, "you will quit thesummer-house which you at present inhabit, you will discharge yourwomen, and come and occupy two rooms in this house, to which there willbe no access except through my apartment. You will never go out alone.You will accompany me to the services of the church. Your emancipationterminates, in consequence of your prodigality duly proven. I will takecharge of all your expenses, even to the ordering of your clothes,so that you may be properly and modestly dressed. Until your majority(which will be indefinitely postponed, by means of the intervention of afamily-council), you will have no money at your own disposal. Such is myresolution."
"And certainly your resolution can only be applauded, madame," saidBaron Tripeaud; "we can but encourage you to show the greatest firmness,for such disorders must have an end."
"It is more than time to put a stop to such scandal," added the abbe.
"Eccentricity and exaltation of temperament--may excuse many things,"ventured to observe the smooth-tongued doctor.
"No doubt," replied the princess dryly to Baleinier, who played his partto perfection; "but then, doctor, the requisite measures must be takenwith such characters."
Madame de Saint-Dizier had expressed herself in a firm and precisemanner; she appeared convinced of the possibility of putting her threatsinto execution. M. Tripeaud and D'Aigrigny had just now given their fullconsent to the words of the princess. Adrienne began to perceive thatsomething very serious was in contemplation, and her gayety was at oncereplaced by an air of bitter irony and offended independence.
She rose abruptly, and colored a little; her rosy nostrils dilated, hereyes flashed fire, and, as she raised her head, she gently shook thefine, wavy golden hair, with a movement of pride that was natural toher. After a moment's silence, she said to her aunt in a cutting tone:"You have spoken of the past, madame; I also will speak a few wordsconcerning it, since you force me to do so, though I may regret thenecessity. I quitted your dwelling, because it was impossible for me tolive longer in this atmosphere of dark hypocrisy and black treachery."
"Madame," said D'Aigrigny, "such words are as violent as they areunreasonable."
"Since you interrupt me, sir," said Adrienne, hastily, as she fixed h
ereyes on the abbe, "tell me what examples did I meet with in my aunt'shouse?"
"Excellent, examples, madame."
"Excellent, sir? Was it because I saw there, every day, her conversionkeep pace with your own?"
"Madame, you forget yourself!" cried the princess, becoming pale withrage.
"Madame, I do not forget--I remember, like other people; that is all. Ihad no relation of whom I could ask an asylum. I wished to live alone.I wished to enjoy my revenues--because I chose rather to spend themmyself, than to see them wasted by M. Tripeaud."
"Madame," cried the baron, "I cannot imagine how you can presume--"
"Sir!" said Adrienne, reducing him to silence by a gesture ofoverwhelming lordliness, "I speak of you--not to you. I wished to spendmy income," she continued, "according to my own tastes. I embellishedthe retreat that I had chosen. Instead of ugly, ill-taught servants, Iselected girls, pretty and well brought up, though poor. Their educationforbade their being subjected to any humiliating servitude, though Ihave endeavored to make their situation easy and agreeable. They donot serve me, but render me service--I pay them, but I am obliged tothem--nice distinctions that your highness will not understand, I know.Instead of seeing them badly or ungracefully dressed, I have given themclothes that suit their charming faces well, because I like whatever isyoung and fair. Whether I dress myself one way or the other, concernsonly my looking-glass. I go out alone, because I like to follow myfancy. I do not go to mass--but, if I had still a mother, I wouldexplain to her my devotions, and she would kiss me none the lesstenderly. It is true, that I have raised a pagan altar to youth andbeauty, because I adore God in all that He has made fair and good, nobleand grand--because, morn and evening, my heart repeats the fervent andsincere prayer: 'Thanks, my Creator! thanks!'--Your highness says thatM. Baleinier has often found me in my solitude, a prey to a strangeexcitement: yes, it is true; for it is then that, escaping in thoughtfrom all that renders the present odious and painful to me, I findrefuge in the future--it is then that magical horizons spread far beforeme--it is then that such splendid visions appear to me, as make mefeel myself rapt in a sublime and heavenly ecstasy, as if I no longerappertained to earth!"
As Adrienne pronounced these last words with enthusiasm, her countenanceappeared transfigured, so resplendent did it become. In that moment, shehad lost sight of all that surrounded her.
"It is then," she resumed, with spirit soaring higher and higher, "thatI breathe a pure air, reviving and free--yes, free--above all, free--andso salubrious, so grateful to the soul!--Yes, instead of seeing mysisters painfully submit to a selfish, humiliating, brutal dominion,which entails upon them the seductive vices of slavery, the gracefulfraud, the enchanting perfidy, the caressing falsehood, the contemptuousresignation, the hateful obedience--I behold them, my noble sisters!worthy and sincere because they are free, faithful and devoted becausethey have liberty to choose--neither imperious not base, because theyhave no master to govern or to flatter--cherished and respected, becausethey can withdraw from a disloyal hand their hand, loyally bestowed.Oh, my sisters! my sisters! I feel it. These are not merely consolingvisions--they are sacred hopes."
Carried away, in spite of herself, by the excitement of her feelings,Adrienne paused for a moment, in order to return to earth; she did notperceive that the other actors in this scene were looking at each otherwith an air of delight.
"What she says there is excellent," murmured the doctor in theprincess's ear, next to whom he was seated; "were she in league with us,she would not speak differently."
"It is only by excessive harshness," added D'Aigrigny, "that we shallbring her to the desired point."
But it seemed as if the vexed emotion of Adrienne had been dissipated bythe contact of the generous sentiments she had just uttered. AddressingBaleinier with a smile, she said: "I must own, doctor, that thereis nothing more ridiculous, than to yield to the current of certainthoughts, in the presence of persons incapable of understanding them.This would give you a fine opportunity to make game of that exaltationof mind for which you sometimes reproach me. To let myself be carriedaway by transports at so serious a moment!--for, verily, the matter inhand seems to be serious. But you see, good M. Baleinier, when an ideacomes into my head, I can no more help following it out, than I couldrefrain from running after butterflies when I was a little girl."
"And heaven only knows whither these brilliant butterflies of allcolors," said M. Baleinier, smiling with an air of paternal indulgence,"that are passing through your brain, are likely to lead you. Oh,madcap, when will she be as reasonable as she is charming?"
"This very instant, my good doctor," replied Adrienne. "I am aboutto cast off my reveries for realities, and speak plain and positivelanguage, as you shall hear."
Upon which, addressing her aunt, she continued: "You have imparted tome your resolution, madame; I will now tell you mine. Within a week,I shall quit the pavilion that I inhabit, for a house which I havearranged to my taste, where I shall live after my own fashion. I haveneither father nor mother, and I owe no account of my actions to any butmyself."
"Upon my word, mademoiselle," said the princess, shrugging hershoulders, "you talk nonsense. You forget that society has inalienablemoral rights, which we are bound to enforce. And we shall not neglectthem, depend upon it."
"So madame, it is you, and M. d'Aigrigny, and M. Tripeaud, thatrepresent the morality of society! This appears to me very fine. Is itbecause M. Tripeaud has considered (I must acknowledge it) my fortune ashis own? Is it because--"
"Now, really, madame," began Tripeaud.
"In good time, madame," said Adrienne to her aunt, without noticing thebaron, "as the occasion offers, I shall have to ask you for explanationswith regard to certain interests, which have hitherto, I think, beenconcealed from me."
These words of Adrienne made D'Aigrigny and the princess start, and thenrapidly exchange a glance of uneasiness and anxiety. Adrienne didnot seem to perceive it, but thus continued: "To have done with yourdemands, madame, here is my final resolve. I shall live where and how Iplease. I think that, if I were a man, no one would impose on me, at myage, the harsh and humiliating guardianship you have in view, for livingas I have lived till now--honestly, freely, and generously, in the sightof all."
"This idea is absurd! is madness!" cried the princess. "To wish tolive thus alone, is to carry immorality and immodesty to their utmostlimits."
"If so, madame," said Adrienne, "what opinion must you entertain of somany poor girls, orphans like myself, who live alone and free, as Iwish to live? They have not received, as I have, a refined education,calculated to raise the soul, and purify the heart. They have notwealth, as I have, to protect them from the evil temptations of misery;and yet they live honestly and proudly in their distress."
"Vice and virtue do not exist for such tag-rag vermin!" cried BaronTripeaud, with an expression of anger and hideous disdain.
"Madame, you would turn away a lackey, that would venture to speak thusbefore you," said Adrienne to her aunt, unable to conceal her disgust,"and yet you oblige me to listen to such speeches!"
The Marquis d'Aigrigny touched M. Tripeaud with his knee under thetable, to remind him that he must not express himself in the princess'sparlors in the same manner as he would in the lobbies of the Exchange.To repair the baron's coarseness, the abbe thus continued: "There is nocomparison, mademoiselle, between people of the class you name, and ayoung lady of your rank."
"For a Catholic priest, M. l'Abbe, that distinction is not veryChristian," replied Adrienne.
"I know the purport of my words, madame," answered the abbe, dryly;"besides the independent life that you wish to lead, in opposition toall reason, may tend to very serious consequences for you. Your familymay one day wish to see you married--"
"I will spare my family that trouble, sir, if I marry at all, I willchoose for myself, which also appears to me reasonable enough. But, intruth, I am very little tempted by that heavy chain, which selfishnessand brutality rivet for ever
about our necks."
"It is indecent, madame," said the princess, "to speak so lightly ofsuch an institution."
"Before you, especially, madame, I beg pardon for having shocked yourhighness! You fear that my independent planner of living will frightenaway all wooers; but that is another reason for persisting in myindependence, for I detest wooers. I only hope that they may have thevery worst opinion of me, and there is no better means of effecting thatobject, than to appear to live as they live themselves. I rely upon mywhims, my follies, my sweet faults, to preserve me from the annoyance ofany matrimonial hunting."
"You will be quite satisfied on that head," resumed Madame de SaintDizier, "if unfortunately the report should gain credit, that you havecarried the forgetfulness of all duty and decency, to such a height, asto return home at eight o'clock in the morning. So I am told is the casebut I cannot bring myself to believe such an enormity."
"You are wrong, madame, for it is quite true."
"So you confess it?" cried the princess.
"I confess all that I do, madame. I came home this morning at eighto'clock."
"You hear Gentlemen?" ejaculated the princess.
"Oh!" said M. d'Aigrigny, in a bass voice.
"Ah!" said the baron, in a treble key.
"Oh!" muttered the doctor, with a deep sigh.
On hearing these lamentable exclamations, Adrienne seemed about tospeak, perhaps to justify herself; but her lip speedily assumed acurl of contempt, which showed that she disdained to stoop to anyexplanation.
"So it is true," said the princess. "Oh, wretched girl, you hadaccustomed me to be astonished at nothing; but, nevertheless, I doubtedthe possibility of such conduct. It required your impudent and audaciousreply to convince the of the fact."
"Madame, lying has always appeared to be more impudent than to speak thetruth."
"And where had you been, madame? and for what?"
"Madame," said Adrienne, interrupting her aunt, "I never speakfalse--but neither do I speak more than I choose; and then again, itwere cowardice to defend myself from a revolting accusation. Let us sayno more about it: your importunities on this head will be altogethervain. To resume: you wish to impose upon me a harsh and humiliatingrestraint; I wish to quit the house I inhabit, to go and live where Iplease, at my own fancy. Which of us two will yield, remains to be seen.Now for another matter: this mansion belongs to me! As I am about toleave it, I am indifferent whether you continue to live here or not;but the ground floor is uninhabited. It contains, besides thereception-rooms, two complete sets of apartments; I have let them forsome time."
"Indeed!" said the princess, looking at D'Aigrigny with intensesurprise. "And to whom," she added ironically, "have you disposed ofthem?"
"To three members of my family."
"What does all this mean?" said Mme. de Saint-Dizier, more and moreastonished.
"It means, madame, that I wish to offer a generous hospitality to ayoung Indian prince, my kinsman on my mother's side. He will arrive intwo or three days, and I wish to have the rooms ready to receive him."
"You hear, gentlemen?" said D'Aigrigny to the doctor and Tripeaud, withan affectation of profound stupor.
"It surpasses all one could imagine!" exclaimed the baron.
"Alas!" observed the doctor, benignantly, "the impulse is generous initself--but the mad little head crops out?"
"Excellent!" said the princes. "I cannot prevent you madame, fromannouncing the most extravagant designs but it is presumable that youwill not stop short in so fair a path. Is that all?"
"Not quite, your highness. I learned this morning, that two of my femalerelations, also on my mother's side--poor children of fifteen--orphandaughters of Marshal Simon arrived yesterday from a long journey, andare now with the wife of the brave soldier who brought them to Francefrom the depths of Siberia."
At these words from Adrienne, D'Aigrigny and the princess could not helpstarting suddenly, and staring at each other with affright, so far werethey from expecting that Mdlle. de Cardoville was informed of the comingof Marshal Simon's daughters. This discovery was like a thunder-clap tothem.
"You are no doubt astonished at seeing me so well informed," saidAdrienne; "fortunately, before I have done, I hope to astonish you stillmore. But to return to these daughters of Marshal Simon: your highnesswill understand, that it is impossible for me to leave them in charge ofthe good people who have afforded them a temporary asylum. Though thisfamily is honest, and hard-working, it is not the place for them. Ishall go and fetch them hither, and lodge them in apartments on theground-floor, along with the soldier's wife, who will do very well totake care of them."
Upon these words, D'Aigrigny and the baron looked at each other, and thebaron exclaimed: "Decidedly, she's out of her head."
Without a word to Tripeaud, Adrienne continued: "Marshal Simon cannotfail to arrive at Paris shortly. Your highness perceives how pleasant itwill he, to be able to present his daughters to him, and prove that theyhave been treated as they deserve. To-morrow morning I shall send formilliners and mantua makers, so that they may want for nothing. I desiretheir surprised father, on his return, to find them every way beautiful.They are pretty, I am told, as angels--but I will endeavor to makelittle Cupids of them."
"At last, madame, you must have finished?" said the princess, in asardonic and deeply irritated tone, whilst D'Aigrigny, calm and cold inappearance, could hardly dissemble his mental anguish.
"Try again!" continued the princess, addressing Adrienne. "Are there nomore relations that you wish to add to this interesting family-group?Really a queen could not act with more magnificence."
"Right! I wish to give my family a royal reception--such as is due tothe son of a king, and the daughters of the Duke de Ligny. It is well tounite other luxuries of life with the luxury of the hospitable heart."
"The maxim is assuredly generous," said the princess, becoming more andmore agitated; "it is only a pity that you do not possess the mines ofEl Dorado to make it practicable."
"It was on the subject of a mine, said to be a rich one, that I alsowished to speak to your highness. Could I find a better opportunity?Though my fortune is already considerable, it is nothing to what maycome to our family at any moment. You will perhaps excuse, therefore,what you are pleased to call my royal prodigalities."
D'Aigrigny's dilemma became momentarily more and more thorny. The affairof the medals was so important, that he had concealed it even fromDr. Baleinier, though he had called in his services to forward immenseinterests. Neither had Tripeaud been informed of it, for the princessbelieved that she had destroyed every vestige of those papers ofAdrienne's father, which might have put him on the scent of thisdiscovery. The abbe, therefore was not only greatly alarmed that Mdlle.de Cardoville might be informed of this secret, but he trembled lest sheshould divulge it.
The princess, sharing the alarms of D'Aigrigny, interrupted her niece byexclaiming: "Madame, there are certain family affairs which ought to bekept secret, and, without exactly understanding to what you allude, Imust request you to change the subject."
"What, madame! are we not here a family party? Is that not sufficientlyevident by the somewhat ungracious things that have been here said?"
"No matter, madame! when affairs of interest are concerned, whichare more or less disputable, it is perfectly useless to speak of themwithout the documents laid before every one."
"And of what have we been speaking this hour, madame, if not ofaffairs of interest? I really do not understand your surprise andembarrassment."
"I am neither surprised nor embarrassed, madame; but for the last twohours, you have obliged me to listen to so many new and extravagantthings, that a little amaze is very permissible."
"I beg your highness's pardon, but you are very much embarrassed," saidAdrienne, looking fixedly at her aunt, "and M. d'Aigrigny also--whichconfirms certain suspicions that I have not had the time to clear up.Have I then guessed rightly?" she added, after a pause. "We will see--"
"Ma
dame, I command you to be silent," cried the princess, no longermistress of herself.
"Oh, madame!" said Adrienne, "for a person who has in general so muchcommand of her feelings, you compromise yourself strangely."
Providence (as some will have it) came to the aid of the princess andthe Abbe d'Aigrigny at this critical juncture. A valet entered theroom; his countenance bore such marks of fright and agitation, that theprincess exclaimed as soon as she saw him: "Why, Dubois! what is thematter?"
"I have to beg pardon, your highness, for interrupting you againstyour express orders, but a police inspector demands to speak with youinstantly. He is below stairs, and the yard is full of policemen andsoldiers."
Notwithstanding the profound surprise which this new incident occasionedher, the princess, determining to profit by the opportunity thusafforded, to concert prompt measures with D'Aigrigny on the subject ofAdrienne's threatened revelations, rose, and said to the abbe: "Will yoube so obliging as to accompany me, M. d'Aigrigny, for I do not know whatthe presence of this commissary of police may signify."
D'Aigrigny followed the speaker into the next room.