Part 54 (2/2)

”Parbleu! to be sure, that is what the doctor from Paris says; but that is just what we shall never know.”

”Pshaw! how can we tell? She talks sometimes. Look, she seems to be smiling now; she is watching her daughter play; she is much better to-day than usual, and I am going to question her.”

”Take care, Catherine, and don't distress her.”

”Don't be afraid, monsieur.”

Catherine walked toward the clump of shrubbery under which Adeline was sitting, and Gerval, Dupre and Lucas stood near by in order to hear the stranger's replies.

”Madame,” said Catherine in her softest tone, ”why do you grieve all the time? You are surrounded by people who love you; tell us your trouble, and we will try to comfort you.”

”Comfort me!” said Adeline, gazing at Catherine in amazement. ”Oh! I am happy, very happy! I have no need of comfort. Edouard adores me; he has just sworn that he does; we are united again, and he will make me happy now, for he is not wicked!”

”But why did he leave you?”

”Leave me! No, he did not leave me; he is with me in the house where he lived in his youth; my mother, my daughter and his brother are with us.

Oh! I don't want him to go to Paris; he might meet--No! no! don't let him go!”

”Take care, Catherine,” said Monsieur Gerval in an undertone; ”her eyes are beginning to flash, her excitement is increasing; for heaven's sake, don't worry her any more.”

Catherine dared not disobey her master, but she burned to know more.

Adeline did in fact seem intensely excited; she rose, walked about at random, and seemed inclined to fly. The old servant tried to quiet her.

”Let me alone,” said Adeline, shaking herself free, ”let me fly! He is there, he is chasing me! see, look,--do you see him? He follows me everywhere; he has sworn to ruin me; he dares still to talk to me of his love! The monster! Oh! in pity's name, do not let him come near me!”

She hurried away, ran to every corner of the garden, and did not stop until, exhausted and unable to endure her terror, she fell to the ground, unconscious and helpless.

They took her at once to her apartment, and their zealous attentions recalled her to life. Monsieur Gerval strictly forbade any questioning of her because it always intensified her disease.

”All right, monsieur,” said Catherine; ”but you see that we are certain now that she is married, that her husband has a brother, and that with all the rest there is some miserable fellow who makes love to her, and whom she is afraid of! Oh! I can guess the trouble easily enough! I'll bet that it's that same fellow who enticed the husband to Paris, where he forgot his wife and child! Pardi! that's sure to be the result. Oh!

what a pity that I can't make her talk more! We should soon know everything.”

But as the excellent woman did not wish to arouse the stranger's excitement, she dared not ask her questions. She often walked with Adeline in the woods about the house; one or the other of them carried Ermance; the old servant watched every movement of the young woman, she listened carefully to the words that fell from her mouth, put them together, and based conjectures upon them; but after three months, she knew no more than on the second day.

Once, however, an unforeseen event disturbed Adeline's monotonous life.

She was walking with her daughter on a hillside a short distance from the village. Catherine followed her, admiring the graceful figure, the charming features and bearing of the unfortunate young woman, and saying to herself:

”That woman wasn't born in a cabin; her manners and her language show that she belongs in good society! And to think that we shall never know who she is! It's enough to drive one mad.”

A young peasant had climbed a tree to steal a nest; his foot slipped, and a branch at which he grasped broke at the same time; he fell to the ground, wounded himself badly in the head, and uttered a lamentable cry.

That cry was heard by Adeline, who was then near the wounded man; she instantly stopped and began to tremble; terror was depicted upon her features, and her eyes sought the ground as if they feared to rest upon an object which horrified her; suddenly she took her child and fled through the woods. In vain did Catherine run after her, calling to her; Adeline's strength was redoubled, and Catherine's shouts augmented her frenzy; she climbed the steepest paths without taking breath; she scarcely touched the ground; she rushed into the mountains and the old servant soon lost sight of her.

Catherine returned to her master in despair, and told him what had happened. Monsieur Gerval knew that all the peasants were devoted to him, and he sent Dupre and Lucas to beg them to search the whole district. The good people made haste to beat up the forest. Success crowned their zealous efforts; they found Adeline lying at the foot of a tree; fever had given place to exhaustion, and the fugitive had been unable to go farther.

They placed her on a litter hastily constructed of the branches of trees, and carried her and her daughter back to their benefactor's house. The old man dismissed the villagers, after lauding their zeal, and devoted his whole attention to pacifying the poor invalid, whom the young peasant's plaintive cry had cast into a more violent attack of delirium than any that she had had since her arrival in the Vosges.

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