Part 17 (1/2)
”He lose he stomach quite, and I t'ink it great time 'fore it ebber come back.”
”--Mister Francis, I desire to know the answer of Monsieur Barberie's daughter.”
”Mam'selle no repond, Monsieur; pas un syllabe!”
”--Drenchers and fleams! The beauty should have been drenched and blooded--”
”He'm too late for dat, Ma.s.ser, on honor.”
”--The obstinate hussy! This comes of her Huguenot breed, a race that would quit house and lands rather than change its place of wors.h.i.+p!”
”La famille de Barberie est honorable, Monsieur mais le Grand Monarque fut un pen trop exigeant. Vraiment, la dragonade etait mal avisee, pour faire des chretiens!”
”Apoplexies and hurry! you should have sent for the farrier to administer to the sufferer, thou black hound!”
”'Em go for a butcher, Ma.s.ser, to save he skin; for he war' too soon dead.”
The word dead produced a sudden pause. The preceding dialogue had been so rapid, and question and answer, no less than the ideas of the princ.i.p.al speaker, had got so confused, that, for a moment, he was actually at a loss to understand, whether the last great debt of nature had been paid by la belle Barberie, or one of the Flemish geldings. Until now, consternation, as well as the confusion of the interview, had constrained the Patroon to be silent, but he profited by the breathing-time to interpose.
”It is evident, Mr. Van Beverout,” he said, speaking with a tremor in the voice, which betrayed his own uneasiness, ”that some untoward event has occurred. Perhaps the negro and I had better retire, that you may question Francis concerning that which hath befallen Mademoiselle Barberie, more at your leisure.”
The Alderman was recalled from a profound stupor, by this gentlemanlike and considerate proposal. He bowed his acknowledgments, and permitted Mr.
Van Staats to quit the room; but when Euclid would have followed, he signed to the negro to remain.
”I may have occasion to question thee farther,” he said, in a voice that had lost most of that compa.s.s and depth for which it was so remarkable.
”Stand there, sirrah, and be in readiness to answer. And now, Mr. Francis, I desire to know why my niece declines taking the breakfast with myself and my guest?”
”Mon Dieu, Monsieur, it is not possible y repondre Les sentiments des demoiselles are nevair decides!”
”Go then, and say to her, that my sentiments are decided to curtail certain bequests and devises, which have consulted her interests more than strict justice to others of my blood--ay, and even of my name, might dictate.”
”Monsieur y reflechira. Mam'selle Alide be so young personne!”
”Old or young, my mind is made up; and so to your Cour des Fees, and tell the lazy minx as much.--Thou hast ridden that innocent, thou scowling imp of darkness!”
”Mais, pensez-y, je vous en prie, Monsieur. Mam'selle shall nevair se sauver encore; jamais, je vous en repond.”
”What is the fellow jabbering about?” exclaimed the Alderman, whose mouth fell nearly to the degree that rendered the countenance of the valet so singularly expressive of distress. ”Where is my niece, Sir?--and what means this allusion to her absence?”
”La fille de Monsieur de Barberie n'y est pas!” cried Francois, whose heart was too full to utter more. The aged and affectionate domestic laid his hand on his breast, with an air of acute suffering; and then, remembering the presence of his superior, he turned, bowed with a manner of profound condolence, struggled manfully with his own emotion, and succeeded in getting out of the room with dignity and steadiness.
It is due to the character of Alderman Van Beverout, to say, that the blow occasioned by the sudden death of the Flemish gelding, lost some of its force, in consequence of so unlooked-for a report concerning the inexplicable absence of his niece. Euclid was questioned, menaced, and even anathematized, more than once, during the next ten minutes; but the cunning slave succeeded in confounding himself so effectually with the rest of his connexions of the half-blood, during the search which instantly followed the report of Francois, that his crime was partially forgotten.
On entering la Cour des Fees, it was, in truth, found to want her whose beauty and grace had lent its chief attraction. The outer rooms, which were small, and ordinarily occupied during the day by Francois and the negress called Dinah, and in the night by the latter only, were in the state in which they might be expected to be seen. The apartment of the attendant furnished evidence that its occupant had quitted it in haste, though there was every appearance of her having retired to rest at the usual hour. Clothes were scattered carelessly about; and though most of her personal effects had disappeared enough remained to prove that her departure had been hurried and unforeseen.
On the other hand, the little saloon, with the dressing-room and bed-room of la belle Barberie, were in a state of the most studied arrangement. Not an article of furniture was displaced, a door ajar, or a window open. The pavilion had evidently been quitted by its ordinary pa.s.sage, and the door had been closed in the customary manner, without using the fastenings. The bed had evidently not been entered, for the linen was smooth and untouched. In short, so complete was the order of the place, that, yielding to a powerful natural feeling, the Alderman called aloud on his truant niece, by name, as if he expected to see her appear from some place, in which she had secreted her person, in idle sport. But this touching expedient was vain. The voice sounded hollow through the deserted rooms; and though all waited long to listen, there came no playful or laughing answer back.