Volume Ii Part 4 (1/2)
”You wicked, wicked woman!” Gabrielle gasped, choking. ”I have never wittingly done you aught but kindness. You are a fiend.”
”A fiend!” echoed Aglae, amused, stretching herself luxuriously with loose limbs as the tigress does, while she proceeded.
”Every female envelope contains an angel and a devil combating; which gains the mastery depends upon the men, who, I regret to say, are usually guided by the lowest motives. That is an elementary lesson which I think I shall teach Camille. I shall teach the darling many curious things before I've done with her.”
A hit--a palpable hit, which went straight to the quivering goal. It was a fact that the future of the dear ones was in this monster's keeping. She was as evil as the abbe. If it suited her she would not scruple to sow in their white souls the seeds of vice. How appalling!
Forgetful always of herself, the mother had striven to be comforted with the a.s.surance that though she was thrust forth from Eden, those she adored were well guarded. The woman's conduct, as far as concerned the children, had been irreproachable: she had treated them with affection; but knowing her now as she really was, Gabrielle could see with a thrill of dismay that she was unenc.u.mbered by such scruples as keep ordinary mortals in check; was governed by expediency alone.
The marquise sat for awhile without movement, but her rival was not slow to mark with satisfaction the exceeding pallor of her lips and the horror in her distended eyes. That the sword-thrust had pierced too deep escaped her ken: she failed to see that the whole being of the victim had undergone so violent a convulsion as to produce quite a different result from that which she expected. The courage she lacked for her own succour could be aroused in behalf of others, whom she loved better than herself. It was as by a miracle a naked and defenceless combatant were of a sudden sheathed in armour.
Aglae sat waiting, fully aware that having made an effective point, you should allow it to take effect. She waited, and beguiled the time by considering what she would do when married. It would be pleasant to play chatelaine for a month or so each year, even at gloomy Lorge, so soon as the country should be quieted. The puling thing on the sofa yonder was stricken under the fifth rib, would totter into a thicket presently and perish, as was intended. What a cleverly imagined stroke it had been to hint at the depraving of the prodigies--a stroke as of a sledgehammer, to batter in the apology for brains vouchsafed to such despicable objects.
Gabrielle remained so long in apparent torpor, while the Medusan horror on her face permanently hardened there, that the enemy waxed impatient. It is indecent for the stricken stag to lie down where shot. Decorum bids him conceal himself in the bracken--make a move of some sort to veil his agonies. Gabrielle being too crushed to make a motion must be stirred up with an eleemosynary stab.
”We will come to an arrangement,” mademoiselle suggested cheerfully, ”without troubling our dear marquis on the subject. Go away somewhere--to some nice place which we will engage never to visit, and I will promise never to teach anything naughty either to Victor or Camille. Refuse, and--well--h-m!”
”Oh! the wicked, wicked woman!” the marquise e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, inwardly.
”There must be a h.e.l.l somewhere for the punis.h.i.+ng of such villanous dastards.” But in her new-born strength, the possession of which was unaccountable and amazing, she found herself enabled to smile sadly, and remark, without a tremor in her voice, ”You will leave me now, if you please, and give me time to think.”
That was reasonable, and desirable to boot. The more she thought, the better would she comprehend that she was hemmed in, undone; that a certain wherry was swinging on the tide, under which was a soft bed preparing.
”By all means,” returned the enemy, with bonhomie. ”Take time, my dear; but you must not be too long deciding. A little friendly counsel before I go: when _our_ Clovis comes back to-morrow--for, oddly enough, he is for the present _ours_--better say nothing, you have disgusted him enough already.”
With that she waved a light adieu, and ere long her ba.s.s voice was to be heard in the corridor, accompanying the joyous treble of her shouting charges engaged in a game of romps.
What a day's experience--a day to sear the brain and blanch the hair with silver. Gabrielle, her hands tight clasped behind her back, strode up and down the long saloon deeply immersed in thought, quite calm and self-possessed. The time for impulsive moaning and mad frenzy was gone by. Drowsy reason stood upright and alert upon her throne. At any cost of pain to herself or others duty must be done--the little ones rescued from the ogress. Even the dear father must for their sakes bear his share of the burthen. It was decreed. He must learn the truth, which she had hoped would lie buried in her grave. Victor, Camille; their blythe merriment in the corridor was an eloquent sermon. Up to now--all thanks to Heaven for it--they were unsmirched by aught of evil, their sky sunny and unclouded. Instinct told their mother that the ogress, by some paradox, was capable of some measure of wholesome affection, and would do them no injury unless it were necessary to strike through them at her. The new fledged diplomate must temporize--gain time. A power of dissimulation, to which hitherto she had been a stranger, was developing itself in Gabrielle. The dear father--he would be terribly concerned--would arrive posthaste, wreak vengeance on those who had so nearly slain his child, bear away her and his grandchildren to safety.
Gabrielle locked herself in her bedroom, and wrote with feverish energy. The pen flew over the sheets and covered them with close writing that told a piteous tale. Toinon, who knew that in the absence of my lord, both abbe and governess had been persecuting her mistress, tried the door once or twice, and, receiving no response to her knocks, grew so seriously alarmed, that she dashed off in search of Jean Boulot, dreading some new catastrophe. Just as the latter appeared with a hatchet in his grasp, and anxious lines upon his brow, the door opened, and the chatelaine herself stood on the threshold holding a letter.
She was flushed with fever, but quite self-possessed. With a strange smile she beckoned them both in, and again turned the key in the lock.
”Something has happened, dear good friends, whom I can trust,” she explained, rapidly. ”Something so terrible, that I cannot tell it you.
I am still scared and horrified, but Heaven permits me to retain my senses. Jean, for love of me and mine, you will saddle your horse and ride leisurely to Onzain, as though bent on ordinary business; and there engage with the Maitre de Poste to send this letter by special courier. He must take no rest till he reaches Paris. Two precious souls--three--depend on punctual obedience. I may trust you, Jean? Let none suspect your mission.”
Honest Jean sank on one knee and pressed the hot hand of the chatelaine to his lips with reverence. ”My life is madame's,” he said simply, and went.
”Embrace me, my Toinon,” Gabrielle cried, falling on the neck of her foster-sister in a paroxysm of hysterical weeping. ”I have been for years in a foolish day-dream. I am awake now to sleep no more.”
Toinon was mystified, but could gather that the terrible emotion of the marquise relieved her pent feelings, and was as salutary as timely bleeding to the apoplectic. After a brief s.p.a.ce she grew better, and could smile like a ghost of her old self. The die was cast. She would be relieved of nightmare. Her affection for her husband was burned quite away, and, as its ashes paled, her love for the little ones shot up the purer.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHECK.
Gabrielle learned to practise her new art so well that day followed day in usual routine without suspicion being aroused of the bold thing she had done. It occurred to none of the party that under the same exterior she was another woman. She went her ways as before, displaying, perhaps, an increased activity, visiting the distressed, administering to the sick. Mademoiselle Brunelle was puzzled, and watched her in idle surprise, marvelling that the squeeze, so carefully calculated, should so signally have failed in its effect.
What a low mania the mawkish creature was displaying for dirty wretches clad in rags! That thing a marquise! To crush one who was so unworthy of her place would be quite a virtuous action, as virtue was understood by Aglae. The squeeze having proved insufficient for the purpose, another must be applied. It was difficult to determine what form the pressure was to take, since the lady was so craven and mean spirited. Aglae had declared to her face that the marquis was her lover--which was not true; had spoken of corrupting little Camille, whose mother, shocked for the moment, had, as it appeared, got used to the abominable idea with singular rapidity. The ever-increasing scorn of the governess was mingled now with disdain of a more positive kind for the pusillanimity of the destined victim.
The family councils had resulted in abdication of authority on the part of Clovis, who loved his ease, and was only too glad to escape from politics. How should he cope with two such clever heads as those of Aglae and Pharamond? The clever pair was in perfect accord as to what should be done under given circ.u.mstances. The governess gently lured him back to his accustomed pursuits and studies, and his conscience ceased by degrees to pinch him.