Volume Ii Part 5 (1/2)
But Monsieur had not read of him, and was therefore obliged to ask further information; whence it appeared that the Count had accidentally shot himself on the morning of his marriage, when drawing the charge of his pistols, preparatory to putting them in his carriage. The waiter grew quite pathetic in his description of the young bride's agonies, and had to wipe his eyes once or twice during his narrative.
”But she has rallied by this, hasn't she?” asked I.
”If Monsieur can call it so,” said he, shrugging his shoulders. ”She never goes into the world,--knows no one,--receives no one,--lives entirely to herself; and, except her daily ride in the wood, appears to take no pleasure whatever in life.”
”And so she rides out every day?”
”Every day, and at the same hour too. The carriage takes her about a league into the forest, far beyond where the usual promenade extends, and there her horses meet her, and she rides till dusk. Often it is even night ere she returns.”
There was something that interested me deeply in all this. You know that a pretty woman on horseback is one of my greatest weaknesses; and so I went on weaving thoughts and fancies about the charming young widow till the champagne was finished, after which I went off to bed, intending to dream of her, but, to my intense disgust, to sleep like a sea-calf till morning.
My first care on waking, however, was to despatch a very humble apology by the waiter for my noisy conduct on the previous evening, and a very sincere hope that the Countess had not suffered on account of it.
He brought me back for answer ”that the Countess thanked me for my polite inquiry, and was completely restored.”
”Able to ride out as usual?”
”Yes, sir.”
”How do you know that?”
”She has just given orders for the carriage, sir.”
”I say, waiter, what kind of a hack can be got here? Or, stay, is there such a thing as a good-looking saddle-horse to be sold in the place?”
”There are two at Lagrange's stables, sir, this moment Prince Guiciatelli has left them and his groom to pay about thirty thousand francs he owes here.”
In less than a quarter of an hour I was dressed and at the stables. The nags were a neat pair; the groom, an English fellow, had just brought them over. He had bought them at Anderson's, and paid close upon three hundred for the two. It was evident that they were ”too much,” as horses, for the Prince, for he had never backed either of them. Before I left I had bought them both for six thousand francs, and taken ”Bob”
himself, a very pretty specimen of the short-legged, red-whiskered tribe, into my service.
This was on the very morning, mark, when I should have presented myself before the dons of Downing Street, and been admitted a something into her Majesty's service!
”I wish they may catch me at red-tapery!” thought I, as I shortened my stirrups, and sat down firmly in the saddle. ”I 'm much more at home here than perched on an office-stool in that pleasant den they call the 'Nursery' at the Foreign Office.”
Guided by a groom, with a led horse beside him, I took the road to the forest, and soon afterwards pa.s.sed a dark-green barouche, with a lady in it, closely veiled, and evidently avoiding observation. The wood is intersected by alleys, so that I found it easy, while diverging from the carriage-road, to keep the equipage within view, and after about half an hour's sharp canter, I saw the carriage stop, and the Countess descend from it.
Even _you_ admit that I am a sharp critic about all that pertains to riding-gear; and that as to a woman's hat, collar, gloves, habit, and whip, I am a first-rate opinion. Now, in the present instance, everything was perfect There was a dash of ”costume” in the long drooping feather and the snow-white gauntlets; but then all was strictly toned down to extreme simplicity and quiet elegance. I had just time to notice this much, and catch a glimpse of such a pair of black eyes! when she was in the saddle at once. I only want to see a woman gather up her reins in her hand, shake her habit back with a careless toss of her foot, and square herself well in the saddle, to say, ”That's a horsewoman!” Egad, George, her every gesture and movement were admirable, and the graceful bend forwards with which she struck out into a canter was actually captivating. I stood watching her till she disappeared in the wood, perfectly entranced. I own to you I could not understand a Frenchwoman sitting her horse in this fas.h.i.+on. I had always believed the accomplishment to be more or less English, and I felt ashamed at the narrow prejudice into which I had fallen.
”What an unlucky fellow that same Count must have been!” thought I; and with this reflection I spurred my nag into a sharp pace, hoping that fast motion might enable me to turn my thoughts into some other channel.
It was to no use. Go how I would, or where I would, I could think of nothing but the pretty widow,--whither she might be travelling,--where she intended to stop,--whether alone, or with others of her family,--her probable age,--her fortune?--all would rise up before me, to trouble my curiosity or awaken my interest.
I was deep in my speculations, when suddenly a horse bounded past me by a cross path. I had barely time to see the flutter of a habit, when it was lost to view. I waited to see her groom follow, but he did not appear. I listened, but no sound of a horse could be heard approaching.
Had her horse run away? Had her servant lost trace of her? were questions that immediately occurred to me; but there was nothing to suggest the answer or dispel the doubt I could bear my anxiety no longer, and away I dashed after her. It was not till after a quarter of an hour that I came in sight of her, and then she was skimming along over the even turf at a very slapping pace, which, however, I quickly perceived was no run-away gallop.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 104]
This fact proclaimed itself in a most unmistakable manner, for she suddenly drew up, and wheeled about, pointing at the same time to the ground, where her whip had just fallen. I dashed up and dismounted, when, in a voice tremulous with agitation, and with a face suffused in blushes, she begged my pardon for her gesture; she believed it was her groom who was following her, and had never noticed his absence before.
I cannot repeat her words, but in accent, manner, tone, and utterance, I never heard the like of them before. What would I have given at that moment, George, for your glib facility of French! Hang me if I would not have paid down a thousand pounds to have been able to rattle out even some of those trashy commonplaces I have seen you scatter with such effect in the _coulisses_ of the opera! It was all of no avail. ”Where there 's a will there 's a way,” says the adage; but it's a sorry maxim where a foreign language is concerned. All the volition in the world won't supply irregular verbs; and the most go-ahead resolution will never help one to genders.
I did, of course, mutter all that I could think of; and, default of elocution, I made my eyes do duty for my tongue, and with tolerable success too, as her blush betrayed. I derived one advantage, too, from my imperfect French, which is worth recording,--I was perfectly obdurate as to anything she might have replied in opposition to my wishes, and notwithstanding all her scruples to the contrary, persisted in accompanying her back to the town.