Antoinette Moriaz.Love would charge itself with that.She adored Samuel Brohl, and he relied upon her devotion; it were impossible that she could refuse him anything! She was prepared in advance for every compliance, every obedience; she was ready to be his humble servant in all things.Knaves make it their boast that they can readily fathom honest people; the truth is, they only half comprehend them.Honest people have sentiments, as do certain languages, reputed easy, which are full of mystery, of refined delicacy, inaccessible to the vulgar mind.A commercial traveller often learns to speak Italian in three weeks, and yet never really knows the language; Samuel Brohl had gained a superficial knowledge of Mlle.Moriaz in a few days, and yet he was far from having a true comprehension of her.
He arrived at Maisons in the most cheerful, self-satisfied frame of mind.As he walked through the park, he remembered that Mme.de Lorcy had lost her only two children when they were still of a tender age;that she was therefore free to will her property as she pleased; that she had a short neck, an apoplectic temperament; that Antoinette was her goddaughter; that although she was piqued with Count Larinski the count was adroit, and would find a way to regain her sympathies.The park appeared to him magnificent; he admired its long, regular alleys, which had the appearance of extending as far as Peking; he paused some moments before the purple beech, and it seemed to him that there must be some resemblance between this beautiful tree and himself.He contemplated with the eyes of proprietorship the terrace planted with superb lindens, and he decided that he would establish himself in his Maisons chateau, that his pretty Cormeilles villa would merely be his country-seat.As it may be seen, his imagination refused him nothing;it placed happiness and wealth untold at his command.
We are unable to state whether Mme.de Lorcy actually had an apoplectic temperament; the one thing certain is, that she was not dead.Samuel Brohl perceived her from afar on the veranda, which she had just stepped out upon in order to watch for his arrival.He had forgotten himself in the park, which should one day be his park, and she was beginning to be uneasy about his coming.
She cried out to him: "At last! You always make us wait for you,"adding, in a most affable tone, "We meet to-day under less tragic circumstances than the last time you were here, and I hope you will bear away a pleasanter remembrance of Maisons."He respectfully kissed her hand, saying: "Happiness must be purchased;I cannot pay too dearly for mine."
She ushered him into the /salon/, where he had scarcely set foot, when he descried an old woman lounging on a /causeuse/, fanning herself as she chatted with Abbe Miollens.He remained motionless, his eyes fixed, scarcely breathing, cold as marble; it seemed to him that the four walls of the /salon/ swayed from right to left, and left to right, and that the floor was sliding from under his feet like the deck of a pitching vessel.
The previous day, Antoinette once departed, Mme.de Lorcy had resumed her attack on Princess Gulof, and the princess had ended by consenting to delay her departure, to dine with the adventurer of the green eyes, and to subject him to a close scrutiny.There she was; yes, it was indeed she! The first impulse of Samuel Brohl was to regain the door as speedily as possible; but he did nothing of the kind.He looked at Mme.de Lorcy: she herself was regarding him with astonishment; she wondered what could suddenly have overcome him; she could find no explanation for the bewilderment apparent in his countenance."It is a mere chance," he thought at last; "she has not intentionally drawn me into a snare." This thought was productive of a sort of half relief.
"/Eh bien!/ what is it?" she asked."Has my poor /salon/ still the misfortune to be hurtful to you?"He pointed to a /jardiniere/, saying: "You are fond of hyacinths and tuberoses; their perfume overpowered me for a moment.I fear you think me very effeminate."She replied in a caressing voice: "I take you for a most worthy man who has terrible nerves; but you know by experience that if you have weaknesses I have salts.Will you have my smelling-bottle?""You are a thousand times too good," he rejoined, and bravely marched forward to face the danger.It is a well-known fact that dangers in a silken robe are the most formidable of all.
Mme.de Lorcy presented him to the princess, who raised her chin to examine him with her little glittering eyes.It seemed to him that those gray orbs directed at him were two balls, which struck him in the heart; he quivered from head to foot and asked himself confusedly whether he were dead or living.He soon perceived that he was still living; the princess had remained impassible--not a muscle of her face had moved.She ended by bestowing upon Samuel a smile that was almost gracious, and addressing to him some insignificant words, which he only half understood, but which seemed to him exquisite--delicious.He fancied that she was saying to him: "You have a chance, you were born lucky; my sight has been impaired for some years, and I do not recognise you.Bless your star, you are saved!" He experienced such a transport of joy that he could have flung his arms about the neck of Abbe Miollens, who came up to him with extended hand, saying:
