Part 7 (1/2)
”Impossible!” cried she. ”Are you not making a mistake?”
The Counsellor gave a quiet smile of triumph.
”I am not mistaken,” said he, and calmly pointed out in the code the provision to which he had alluded. As Diana read the pa.s.sage to which his finger pointed, he watched her as a cat watches a mouse.
”After all, what does it matter to me?” remarked Diana, making an effort to recover herself. ”I will speak about this poor woman's case to my father;” and, with her limbs bending under her, she left the room.
As Daumon returned from accompanying her to the door, the Counsellor rubbed his hands.
”Things are getting decidedly warm,” muttered he.
He felt that he must gain some further information, and this he could not get from Norbert. It would be also as well, he thought, to tell the sheriff to stay proceedings relative to the Widow Rouleau. By this means he might secure another interview with Mademoiselle de Laurebourg, and perhaps win the poor girl's confidence.
As Diana rode home, she abandoned herself to the grief which the intelligence that she had just heard had caused her, for the foresight of the framers of the law had rendered all her deeply laid plans of no avail.
”The Duke of Champdoce,” murmured she to herself, ”will never consent to his son's marriage with so scantily a dowered woman as I am; but as soon as Norbert is of age he can marry me, in spite of all his father's opposition; but, oh! 'tis a dreary time to wait.”
For a moment she dared to think of the possible death of the old man; but she shuddered as she remembered how strong and healthy he was, and felt that the frail edifice of her hope had been crushed into ten thousand atoms. For all this, however, she did not lose courage. She was not one of those women who, at the first check, beat a retreat. She had not yet decided upon a fresh point of departure, but she had fully made up her mind that she would gain the victory. The first thing was to see Norbert with as little delay as possible. Just then the carriage pulled up at the widow's cottage, which she entered hastily.
”I have seen Daumon,” said she. ”Do not be alarmed; all matters will be arranged shortly.”
Then, without listening to the thanks and blessings which the poor woman showered upon her, she said,--
”Give me a piece of paper to write on,” and, standing near the cas.e.m.e.nt, she wrote in pencil on a soiled sc.r.a.p of paper the following words:--
”Diana would, perhaps, have been at the usual meeting place to-day, in spite of the weather, had she not been compelled to visit a poor woman in a contrary direction. Upon the same business, she will have to call to-morrow at the house of a man called Daumon.”
She folded the note and said,--
”This letter must be taken at once to M. Norbert de Champdoce. Who will carry it?”
Francoise had made a smock frock for one of the farm servants at Champdoce, and the delivery of it formed a good excuse for going up to the Chateau, and she willingly undertook the errand.
The next day, in the midst of a heavy shower of rain, Norbert made his appearance at Daumon's office, saying, as a pretext for his visit, that he had exhausted his stock of money, and required a fresh supply. He too was feeling very unhappy, for he feared that this father might entertain matrimonial designs for him which would be utterly opposed to his pa.s.sion for Mademoiselle de Laurebourg.
Had not the inexorable old man once said, ”You will marry a woman of wealth?” But in the event of this matter being brought up, Norbert swore that he would no longer be obedient, but would resist to the last; and he calculated on receiving a.s.sistance from Daumon. He was on the point of referring to this matter, when a carriage drew up at the door of the cottage, and Mademoiselle de Laurebourg descended from it. Daumon at once saw how matters stood, and wasted no time in addressing Diana.
”The sheriff will stop proceedings,” said he. ”I can show you his letter to that effect.”
He turned away, and searched as diligently for the letter as if it had existed anywhere except in his own imagination.
”Dear me,” said he at length. ”I cannot find it. I must have left it in the other room. I have so much to do, that really there are times when I forget everything. I must find it, however. Excuse me, I will be back immediately.”
His sudden departure from the room had been a mere matter of calculation; for, guessing that an a.s.signation had been planned, he thought that he might know what took place at it by a little eavesdropping. He therefore applied first his ear and then his eye to the keyhole, and by these means acquired all the information he desired.
A moment of privacy with the object of his affections seemed to Norbert an inestimable boon. When Diana had first entered, he was horrified at the terrible alteration that had taken place in the expression of her face. He seized her hand, which she made no effort to withdraw, and gazed fixedly into her eyes.
”Tell me,” murmured he in accents of love and tenderness, ”what it is that has gone wrong.”
Diana sighed, then a tear coursed slowly down her cheek. Norbert was in the deepest despair at these signs of grief.
”Great heavens!” cried he. ”Will you not trust me? Am not I your truest and most devoted friend?”