Volume III Part 75 (1/2)
”Let your highness feel no uneasiness on that point; Fraulein Harneim has begged me to take her place to-day; to-morrow she will have the honor of resuming her service of your highness, who will, perhaps excuse the change.”
”Certainly, for I shall lose nothing by it; after having had the pleasure of seeing you two days in succession, my dear countess, I shall have for two other days Fraulien Harneim with me.”
”You highness honors us,” replied the maid of honor, bending again; ”this extreme kindness encourages me to ask a favor.”
”Speak, speak; you know my eagerness to be of a.s.sistance to you.”
”It is true that for a long time your highness has accustomed me to your goodness; but this regards a subject so painful, that I should not have the courage to enter upon it, if it did not concern a very deserving object; for this reason I dare to depend upon the extreme indulgence of your highness.”
”Your have no need of any indulgence, my dear countess; I am always very grateful for every occasion that is given me for doing a little good.”
”This concerns a poor creature who, unfortunately, had quitted Gerolstein before your highness had established that inst.i.tution, which is so charitable, and so useful for young orphan or forsaken girls, whom nothing protects from evil pa.s.sions.”
”And what has happened to her? what do you beg for her?”
”Her father, a very adventurous man, went to seek his fortune in America, leaving his wife and daughter to a precarious mode of existence. The mother died; the daughter, hardly sixteen years old when left to herself, quitted the country to follow to Vienna a seducer, who soon forsook her. Then, as always happens, the first step in the path of vice led this wretched girl to an abyss of infamy; in a short time she became, like so many other miserable creatures, the opprobrium of her s.e.x.”
Fleur-de-Marie cast down her eyes, blushed, and could not conceal a slight shudder, which did not escape the maid of honor. Fearing to have wounded the chaste susceptibility of the princess by conversing with her upon such a creature, she continued, with embarra.s.sment:
”I asks a thousand pardons of your royal highness; I have undoubtedly offended you by drawing your attention to so polluted a being; but the miserable one shows so sincere a repentance, that I thought I could solicit for her a little pity.”
”And you were right. Go on, I pray you,” said Fleur-de-Marie, conquering her sad emotion; ”indeed, all errors are worthy of pity when repentance follows them.”
”And that is the case here, as I have remarked to your highness. After two years of this abominable life, grace touched this abandoned one. A prey to a late remorse, she has returned here. Chance so favored her, that, on her arrival here, she was lodged at a house belonging to a worthy widow, whose gentleness and piety are well known. Encouraged by the pious goodness of the widow, the poor creature has confessed to her her faults, adding that she felt a just horror for her past life, and that she would purchase, at the price of the most severe penance, the happiness of entering a religious house, where she might expiate her errors and deserve their redemption. The worthy widow to whom she has intrusted this confidence, knowing that I had the honor to serve your highness, has written to me to recommend to me this unfortunate one, who, by means of the all-powerful agency of your highness with the Princess Juliana, lady superior of the abbey, might hope to enter St. Hermangilda Abbey as lay sister; she asks as a favor to be employed in the most painful hours that her penance may be more meritorious. I have several times desired to converse with this woman before allowing myself to implore for her the pity of your highness, and I am firmly convinced that her repentance will be lasting. It is neither want nor age that has brought her to the true good; she is scarcely eighteen years old; she is yet very beautiful, and possesses a small sum of money, that she wishes to devote to a charitable object if she obtains the favor that she solicits.”
”I will take charge of her,” said Fleur-de-Marie, restraining with difficulty her emotion, so much resemblance did her past life offer to that of the unfortunate one in whose favor she was solicited: she added, ”the repentance of this miserable one is too praiseworthy to be left without encouragement.”
”I know not how to express my grat.i.tude to your highness. I hardly dared hope your highness would deign to be so charitably interested in such a creature.”
”She has been guilty--she repents,” said Fleur-de-Marie, with an accent of commiseration and inexpressible sadness; ”it is right to nourish pity for her. The more sincere her remorse, the more painful must it be, my dear countess.”
”I hear my lord, I believe,” said the maid of honor, suddenly, without remarking the deep and increasing emotion of Fleur-de-Marie.
In fact, Rudolph was entering a saloon which opened into the oratory, holding in his hand an enormous bunch of roses. At the sight of the prince the countess discreetly retired. Hardly had she disappeared, when Fleur-de-Marie threw herself upon her father's neck, resting her forehead upon his shoulder, and remained thus some seconds without speaking.
”Good-morning, good-morning, my dear child,” said Rudolph, pressing his daughter to his breast with feeling, without yet observing her sadness.
”See this ma.s.s of roses; what a fine harvest I gathered for you this morning; it was this that prevented me from coming sooner; I hope that I have never brought you a more magnificent bouquet. Take it.”
And the prince, still holding his bouquet in his hand, moved backward gently, to disengage his daughter from his arms and look at her; but seeing her burst into tears, he threw the bouquet upon the table, took Fleur-de-Marie's hands in his, and exclaimed, ”You weep! Oh, what is the matter?”
”Nothing, nothing, my dear father,” said Fleur-de-Marie, drying her tears and endeavoring to smile upon Rudolph.
”Tell me, I beg you, what is the matter? What can have made you sad?”
”I a.s.sure you, father, it is nothing to distress you. The countess has just solicited my interest for a poor woman, so interesting, so unhappy, that in spite of myself I am moved by her recital.”
”Truly? Is it only this?”
”It is only this,” answered Fleur-de-Marie, taking from a table the flowers that Rudolph had thrown there; ”but how you spoil me!” added she, ”what a magnificent bouquet, and when I think that each day you bring me such, gathered by yourself.”