Other People's Money [60]
to stand and to walk.
"How imprudent of you to have returned so soon!" she said.
A little blood came to M. de Tregars' cheeks. His face brightened up, and, in a voice quivering with suppressed passion,
"It would have been more imprudent still to stay away," he uttered. "Far from you, I felt myself dying."
They were both leaning against the door of a closed shop; and they were as alone in the midst of the throng that circulated on the Boulevards, busy looking at the fearful wrecks of the Commune.
"And besides," added Marius, "have I, then, a minute to lose? I asked you for three years. Fifteen months have gone, and I am no better off than on the first day. When this accursed war broke out, all my arrangements were made. I was certain to rapidly accumulate a sufficient fortune to enable me to ask for your hand without being refused. Whereas now"
"Well?"
"Now every thing is changed. The future is so uncertain, that no one wishes to venture their capital. Marcolet himself, who certainly does not lack boldness, and who believes firmly in the success of our enterprise, was telling me yesterday, 'There is nothing to be done just now: we must wait.'"
There was in his voice such an intensity of grief, that the girl felt the tears coming to her eyes.
"We will wait then," she said, attempting to smile.
But M. de Tregars shook his head.
"Is it possible?" he said. "Do you, then, think that I do not know what a life you lead?"
Mlle. Gilberte looked up.
"Have I ever complained?" she asked proudly?
"No. Your mother and yourself, you have always religiously kept the secret of your tortures; and it was only a providential accident that revealed them to me. But I learned every thing at last. I know that she whom I love exclusively and with all the power of my soul is subjected to the most odious despotism, insulted, and condemned to the most humiliating privations. And I, who would give my life for her a thousand times over, - I can do nothing for her. Money raises between us such an insuperable obstacle, that my love is actually an offence. To hear from her, I am driven to accept accomplices. If I obtain from her a few moments of conversation, I run the risk of compromising her maidenly reputation."
Deeply affected by his emotion:
"At least," said Mlle. Gilberte, "you succeeded in delivering me from M. Costeclar."
"Yes, I was fortunately able to find weapons against that scoundrel. But can I find some against all others that may offer? Your father is very rich; and the men are numerous for whom marriage is but a speculation like any other."
"Would you doubt me?"
"Ah, rather would I doubt myself! But I know what cruel trials your refusal to marry M. Costeclar imposed upon you: I know what a merciless struggle you had to sustain. Another pretender may come, and then - No, no, you see that we cannot wait."
"What would you do?"
"I know not. I have not yet decided upon my future course. And yet Heaven knows what have been the labors of my mind during that long month I have just spent upon an ambulance-bed, that month during which you were my only thought. Ah! when I think of it, I cannot find words to curse the recklessness with which I disposed of my fortune."
As if she had heard a blasphemy, the young girl drew back a step.
"It is impossible," she exclaimed, "that you should regret having paid what your father owed."
A bitter smile contracted M. de Tregars' lips.
"And suppose I were to tell you," he replied, "that my father in reality owed nothing?"
"Oh!"
"Suppose I told you they took from him his entire fortune, over two millions, as audaciously as a pick-pocket robs a man of his handkerchief? Suppose I told you, that, in his loyal simplicity, he was but a man of straw in the hands of skillful knaves? Have you forgotten what you once heard the Count de Villegre say?"
Mlle. Gilberte had forgotten nothing.
"The Count de Villegre," she replied, "pretended that it was time enough still to compel the men who had robbed your father to disgorge."
"How imprudent of you to have returned so soon!" she said.
A little blood came to M. de Tregars' cheeks. His face brightened up, and, in a voice quivering with suppressed passion,
"It would have been more imprudent still to stay away," he uttered. "Far from you, I felt myself dying."
They were both leaning against the door of a closed shop; and they were as alone in the midst of the throng that circulated on the Boulevards, busy looking at the fearful wrecks of the Commune.
"And besides," added Marius, "have I, then, a minute to lose? I asked you for three years. Fifteen months have gone, and I am no better off than on the first day. When this accursed war broke out, all my arrangements were made. I was certain to rapidly accumulate a sufficient fortune to enable me to ask for your hand without being refused. Whereas now"
"Well?"
"Now every thing is changed. The future is so uncertain, that no one wishes to venture their capital. Marcolet himself, who certainly does not lack boldness, and who believes firmly in the success of our enterprise, was telling me yesterday, 'There is nothing to be done just now: we must wait.'"
There was in his voice such an intensity of grief, that the girl felt the tears coming to her eyes.
"We will wait then," she said, attempting to smile.
But M. de Tregars shook his head.
"Is it possible?" he said. "Do you, then, think that I do not know what a life you lead?"
Mlle. Gilberte looked up.
"Have I ever complained?" she asked proudly?
"No. Your mother and yourself, you have always religiously kept the secret of your tortures; and it was only a providential accident that revealed them to me. But I learned every thing at last. I know that she whom I love exclusively and with all the power of my soul is subjected to the most odious despotism, insulted, and condemned to the most humiliating privations. And I, who would give my life for her a thousand times over, - I can do nothing for her. Money raises between us such an insuperable obstacle, that my love is actually an offence. To hear from her, I am driven to accept accomplices. If I obtain from her a few moments of conversation, I run the risk of compromising her maidenly reputation."
Deeply affected by his emotion:
"At least," said Mlle. Gilberte, "you succeeded in delivering me from M. Costeclar."
"Yes, I was fortunately able to find weapons against that scoundrel. But can I find some against all others that may offer? Your father is very rich; and the men are numerous for whom marriage is but a speculation like any other."
"Would you doubt me?"
"Ah, rather would I doubt myself! But I know what cruel trials your refusal to marry M. Costeclar imposed upon you: I know what a merciless struggle you had to sustain. Another pretender may come, and then - No, no, you see that we cannot wait."
"What would you do?"
"I know not. I have not yet decided upon my future course. And yet Heaven knows what have been the labors of my mind during that long month I have just spent upon an ambulance-bed, that month during which you were my only thought. Ah! when I think of it, I cannot find words to curse the recklessness with which I disposed of my fortune."
As if she had heard a blasphemy, the young girl drew back a step.
"It is impossible," she exclaimed, "that you should regret having paid what your father owed."
A bitter smile contracted M. de Tregars' lips.
"And suppose I were to tell you," he replied, "that my father in reality owed nothing?"
"Oh!"
"Suppose I told you they took from him his entire fortune, over two millions, as audaciously as a pick-pocket robs a man of his handkerchief? Suppose I told you, that, in his loyal simplicity, he was but a man of straw in the hands of skillful knaves? Have you forgotten what you once heard the Count de Villegre say?"
Mlle. Gilberte had forgotten nothing.
"The Count de Villegre," she replied, "pretended that it was time enough still to compel the men who had robbed your father to disgorge."