Part 62 (1/2)
”I possess fine vineyards in Hungary, and a jewel-mine.”
”My congratulations, ill.u.s.trious sir.”
”And I am your devoted slave, Madame Hesslein.” The luring, mocking, maddening face of the lady lit up with fierce joy. She averted it quickly. ”I will resume these t.i.tles so dignified,” cried the chevalier, ”I will return to my fatherland; ver' good, _mon ange_, you shall accompany, you shall be my wife. You shall rule over nine hundred vinedressers, and seven vineyards, _ma chere_; they are worth seventy thousand florins in the year; and you shall wear the gems of agate, of jasper--of diamonds as you wear this leetel ribbon--madame, all I have shall be yours.”
She heard with a cool smile, but a bitter pulse beat in her throat.
”You are flattering, chevalier,” she remarked, ”and I shall think of it.”
He seized her fair hands, and pressed them to his lips, but she s.n.a.t.c.hed them away with a flash from the smoldering fire in her eyes.
”But first,” said madame, with a keen glance, ”you must a.s.sure me that the station you offer me is not gilded by imagination una.s.sisted by gold.”
Monsieur sighed in heart-rending despondency.
”Incomparable woman, you doubt what is to the Hungarian n.o.blesse dearer than life--my honor. But come, I will give you my proofs.”
He escorted her to her state-room where waited the two maids of the charming lady, who always traveled with a complete retinue of servants, and going to his own cabin, presently he returned holding solemnly in his hands an elegantly silver-mounted coffer which he placed upon the table.
Unlocking it, he drew from thence various parchments of official aspect, with huge seals appended, and displayed them to the smiling inamorata.
”These are the rewards with which my country has honored my poor services,” he said, with humility. ”These papers attest to my right to wear these t.i.tles you have just heard, madame. _Voila!_ 'To the Count of Santo Spirito, Turin,' and 'To the Knight of the Order of Three Sicilys.' _Mon ange_, what more can I say?”
A wicked smile was playing around her mouth.
”I accept your statements, chevalier--and yourself!” she murmured, with an exquisite side glance.
The little chevalier beamed with triumph, and bowed low over the lovely hand which she extended, and then she s.n.a.t.c.hed it quickly from him, made a queenly obeisance, and vanished like a spirit from his sight.
Madame Hesslein was seen no more until the steamer entered New York; she was either ill or coy; in reply to the chevalier's tender reproaches she declared for the first named, although her flas.h.i.+ng eyes and healthy appearance emphatically contradicted the a.s.sertion.
What a dream of joy tinctured with horrible doubts the succeeding month was for poor little Calembours! To-day she was amiable, gay, bewitching; to-morrow she would be locked in her room, and would send down a frantic entreaty to the good _fiance_ to leave her in peace; presently she would reward his importunities by flitting into his presence, white, vengeful, and torturing him with covert taunts and maddening allusions to his forgotten past.
And yet she was so beautiful, and so changeful, and so reckless that the wild Bohemian fire blazed up in the poor little man's soul, and he could not help loving her with a devotion worthy of a better object.
He expended his h.o.a.rded gains in loading her with costly gifts; and with mad prodigality a.s.sumed a splendor of estate which drained his finances to the lowest ebb; anxious only to win her for his own and calmly leaving the _denouement_ until after the happy day, when madame could not help herself.
How he hoped to obtain her forgiveness when she discovered all, Heaven knows; but love not seldom infatuates men and goads them on to their complete ruin.
Not true love, though of a worthy object; 'tis ofttimes the only savior of a sinking man.
Presently the ill.u.s.trious foreigner, loaded with his t.i.tles, penetrated to the upper circle of society where Madame Hesslein moved, a solitary queen among shrinking ladies of _haut ton_, who with one accord admired, and hated, and courted her because she was the attraction, and it was ”the thing” to say, ”we had little Madame Hesslein here last night.”
What her beauty and refinement did for her, the chevalier's _applomb_ and versatility of genius did for him. Every one talked of the clever, polished Frenchman--in good society monsieur spoke only French, and wore his Legion of Honor flauntingly--every one raved about the dazzling witch he paid such faithful court to; every one vowed that such a pair were expressly created for each other, none else.
On the last evening of this intoxicating dream the chevalier attended a brilliant a.s.sembly which madame held at her hotel.
Magnates of the highest rank were there to give homage to their resistless hostess; and belles of tried skill were there, to waste their ammunition upon the enthralled chevalier; but Romeo and Juliet had no eyes for any but themselves, although their smiles were showered on all.
Madame Hesslein, gorgeous as an Eastern houri, convened her little court about her ottoman, singled the happy Calembours out from all his vexed compet.i.tors, and threw him into raptures by addressing her next remarks more particularly to him.