Part 44 (2/2)
”Yes, yes,” said Madame ”I have been already told that; she is one of those overnice and affectedly particular people who place heaven in the foreground in order to conceal themselves behind it But if she refuses to tell a falsehood,-as she will expose herself to the jests of the whole court, as she will have annoyed the king by a confession as ridiculous as it was immodest,-Mademoiselle la Baume le Blanc de la Valliere will think it but proper I should send her back again to her pigeons in the country, in order that, in Touraine yonder, or in Le Blaisois,-I know not where it may be,-she may at her ease study sentiment and pastoral life combined”
These words were uttered with a vehemence and harshness that terrified Mademoiselle de Tonnay-Charente; and the consequence was, that, as far as she was concerned, she proht be necessary It was in this frame of mind that Madame and her companion reached the precincts of the royal oak
”Here we are,” said Tonnay-Charente
”We shall soon learn if one can overhear,” replied Mada Madaetful of her companion's rank Madame stopped
”You see that you can hear,” said Athenais
”How?”
”Listen”
Mada words pronounced by a gentle and melancholy voice, floated towards them: ”I tell you, vicomte, I tell you I love her madly; I tell you I love her to distraction”
Madaht joyous smile illumined her features It was she who now held back her co her some twenty paces away, that is to say, out of the reach of the voice, she said, ”Remain here, my dear Athenais, and let no one surprise us I think itabout”
”Me, Madao and listen; if ere both there, we should be discovered Or, stay!-go and fetch Montalais, and then return and wait for me with her at the entrance of the forest” And then, as Athenais hesitated, she again said ”Go!” in a voice which did not aded her dress so as to prevent its rustling being heard; and, by a path beyond the group of trees, she regained the flower-garden As for Madaainst a gigantic chestnut-tree, one of the branches of which had been cut in such a manner as to form a seat, and waited there, full of anxiety and apprehension ”Now,” she said, ”since one can hear froelonne and that other madly-in-love fool, the Comte de Guiche, have to say about me”
Chapter XLV In Which Madame Acquires a Proof that Listeners Hear What Is Said
There was a ht were hushed to listen, at the same time as Madame, to the youthful passionate disclosures of De Guiche
Raoul was about to speak He leaned indolently against the trunk of the large oak, and replied in his sweet and reat reat indeed”
”You do not understand reathow to conceal your love”
”What do you mean?” said De Guiche
”Yes, you do not perceive one thing; naer to the only friend you have,-in other words,-to a man ould rather die than betray you; you do not perceive, I say, that it is no longer to your only friend that you confide your passion, but to the first person that approaches you”
”Are youto me?”
”The fact stands thus, however”
”Impossible! How, in what manner can I have ever been indiscreet to such an extent?”
”I hs, proclai which leads and hurries a man beyond his own control In such a case he ceases to be master of himself; he is a prey to a rief to the trees, or to the air, fro in reach of his voice Besides, remember this: it very rarely happens that there is not always soht not to be heard” De Guiche uttered a deep sigh ”Nay,” continued Bragelonne, ”you distress me; since your return here, you have a thousand times, and in a thousand different ways, confessed your love for her; and yet, had you not said one word, your return alone would have been a terrible indiscretion I persist, then, in drawing this conclusion; that if you do not place a better watch over yourself than you have hitherto done, one day or other so will happen that will cause an explosion Who will save you then? Answer me Who will save her? for, innocent as she will be of your affection, your affection will be an accusation against her in the hands of her eneh acco me, De Guiche”
”Yes, yes”
”Well, what reply have you to make?”
”This, that when the day arrives I shall be nothan I feel myself now”
”I do not understand you”
”So many vicissitudes have worn ; at present, the th is exhausted, my latest-formed resolutions have vanished, and I abandon , as we have been together, and he sets off alone and unaccompanied for a skirmish, it sometiers, and although alone, he defends himself; afterwards, five or six others arrive unexpectedly, his anger is aroused and he persists; but if six, eight, or ten others should still be met with, he either sets spurs to his horse, if he should still happen to retain one, or lets hiht Such, indeed, is ainstis in the field, I will not contend against the king, nor even, I wish you to understand, will the king retire; nor even against the nature of that wo devoted myself to the service of such a love, I will lose ht to reproach,” replied Raoul; ”it is yourself”
”Why so?”
”You know the princess's character,-soiddy, easily captivated by novelty, susceptible to flattery, whether it come from a blind person or a child, and yet you allow your passion for her to eat your very life away Look at her,-love her, if you will,-for no one whose heart is not engaged elsewhere can see her without loving her Yet, while you love her, respect, in the first place, her husband's rank, then herself, and lastly, your own safety”
”Thanks, Raoul”
”What for?”
”Because, seeing how h this woood of her you think, and perhaps even that which you do not think”
”Oh,” said Raoul, ”there you are wrong, comte; what I think I do not always say, but in that case I say nothing; but when I speak, I know not how to feign or to deceive; and whoever listens tothis conversation, Madalance, endeavoring to penetrate the obscurity, thirstily drank in the faintest sound of their voices
”Oh, I know her better than you do, then!” exclaiiddy, but frivolous; she is not only attracted by novelty, she is utterly oblivious, and is without faith; she is not simply susceptible to flattery, she is a practiced and cruel coquette A thorough coquette! yes, yes, I a all the torer, I e But, believe me, Raoul, I reserve for myself a victory which shall cost her floods of tears”
”A victory,” he asked, ”and of what kind?”
”Of what kind, you ask?”
”Yes”
”One day I will accost her, and will address her thus: 'I was young- madly in love, I possessed, however, sufficient respect to throw myself at your feet, and to prostrate myself in the dust, if your looks had not raised me to your hand I fancied I understood your looks, I rose, and then, without having done anything more towards you than love you yet more devotedly, if that were possible-you, a woman without heart, faith, or love, in very wantonness, dashed ain from sheer caprice You are unworthy, princess of the royal blood though you may be, of the love of aloved you too tenderly, and I die despairing you'”
”Oh!” cried Raoul, terrified at the accents of profound truth which De Guiche's words betrayed, ”I was right in saying you wereout his own idea; ”since there are no wars here noill flee yonder to the north, seek service in the Earian, or Croat, or Turk, will perhaps kindly put me out of my misery” De Guiche did not finish, or rather as he finished, a sound made him start, and at the same moment caused Raoul to leap to his feet As for De Guiche, buried in his own thoughts, he rehtly pressed between his hands The branches of the tree were pushed aside, and a wo men With one hand she held back the branches, which would have struck her face, and, with the other, she raised the hood of the mantle which covered her shoulders By her clear and lustrous glance, by her lofty carriage, by her haughty attitude, and,of his own heart, De Guiche recognized Mada a loud cry, he removed his hands fro and out of countenance, merely elonne,” said the princess, ”have the goodness, I beg, to see if my attendants are not soroves; and you, M de Guiche, reive me your arm”
Had a thunderbolt fallen at the feet of the unhappy young man, he would have been less terrified than by her cold and severe tone However, as he himself had just said, he was brave; and as in the depths of his own heart he had just decisively elonne's hesitation, he turned towards hie Mada out the arive her, he pressed his friend's hand in his oith a sigh, in which he seeive to friendshi+p all the life that was left in the depths of his heart Madame, who in her pride had never knohat it was to wait, noaited until this mute colloquy was at an end Her royal hand remained suspended in the air, and, when Raoul had left, it sank without anger, but not without emotion, in that of De Guiche They were alone in the depths of the dark and silent forest, and nothing could be heard but Raoul's hastily retreating footsteps along the obscure paths Over their heads was extended the thick and fragrant vault of branches, through the occasional openings of which the stars could be seen glittering in their beauty Madame softly drew De Guiche about a hundred paces away from that indiscreet tree which had heard, and had allowed sohilade, so that they could see a certain distance around theht you here, because yonder where you were, everything can be overheard”
”Everything can be overheard, did you say, Mada man, mechanically