Confessions Of Con Cregan Part 70

I read and re-read the letter till I knew every sentence of it by heart; and then, dressing myself with a degree of care the importance of the occasion suggested, I drove off for the Minister's office. It was not the hour of his usual reception; but on sending in my name, which I did as Le Comte de Creganne, I was at once admitted.

His Excellency was all smiles and affability, praised his Royal Highness's selection of a name so greatly honored in literature, and paid me many flattering compliments on my writings,--which, by the way, he confounded with those of half-a-dozen others; and then, after a variety of civil speeches, gently diverged into a modest inquiry as to my native country, rank, and fortune. "We live in days, mon cher Comte,"

said he, laughing, "in which high capacity and talent happily take precedence of mere lineage; but still, an ill.u.s.trious personage has always insisted upon the necessity of those immediately about the person of the princes being of n.o.ble families. I am quite aware that you can fulfil every condition of the kind, and only desire such information as may satisfy his Majesty."

I replied by relating the capture of my property at Malaga, which, among other things, contained all the t.i.tle-deeds of my estates, and the patent of my n.o.bility. "These alone," said I, producing the banker's letters addressed to me as Conde de Cregano, "are all that remain to me now to remind me of my former standing; and although, as born a British subject, I might at once apply to my minister to substantiate my claims, the unhappy events of Ireland which enlisted my family in the ranks of her patriots have made us exiles,--proscribed exiles forever."

This explanation went further than my previous one. The old French antipathy to England found sympathy for Irish rebellion at once; and after a very brief discussion, my appointment was filled up, and I was named Private Secretary to the Duc de St. Cloud, and Lieutenant in the 13th Regiment of Cha.s.seurs-a-cheval.

A new career had now opened before me, and it was one of all others the most to my choice. The war in Africa had become by that time a kind of crusade; it was the only field where Frenchmen could win fame and honor in arms, and the military fever of the nation was at its height. Into this enthusiasm I threw myself ardently; nor did it need the stimulation derived from a new and most becoming uniform to make me fancy myself a very Bayard in chivalry.

A truly busy week was spent by me in preparations for departure: as I had to be presented at a private audience of the Court, to wait upon various high official personages, to receive instructions on many points, and, lastly, to preside at a parting dinner which I was to give to my literary brethren, before retiring from the guild forever.

Last dinners and leave-takings are generally sad affairs; this of mine was, however, an exception: it was a perfect orgie of wild and enthusiastic gayety. All the beauty which the theatres and the "artiste"

cla.s.s generally could boast, was united with the brilliancy and convivial excellence of the cleverest men in Paris,--the professional sayers of smart things, the ready-witted ones, whose epigrams were sufficient to smash a cabinet, or laugh down a new treaty; and all in high spirits, since what promoted me, also left a vacancy in the corps that gave many others a step in the ranks of letters.

What speeches were made in my honor, what toasts, prefaced by all the exaggeration of praise that would have been fulsome, save for the lurking diablerie of fun that every now and then burst forth in the midst of them! And then there were odes, and sonnets, and songs, in which my future achievements were pictured in a vein half-flattering, half-satirical,--that peculiar eau sucre, with a squeeze of lemon, that only a Frenchman knows how to concoct!

[Ill.u.s.tration: 571-222]

During one of my most triumphant moments, when two of the very prettiest actresses of the "Odeon" were placing a laurel crown upon my brow, a cabinet-messenger was announced, and presented me with an order to repair at once to the Tuileries with my official letter of appointment, as his Majesty, by some accident, had forgotten to append to it his signature. Apologizing to my worthy friends for a brief absence, which they a.s.sured me should be devoted to expatiating on those virtues of my character which my presence interdicted them from enlarging upon, I arose, and left the room. It was necessary to arrange the disorder of my dress and appearance, and I made a hurried dressing, bathing my temples in cold water, and composing myself, so far as might be, into a condition fit to meet the eyes of royalty,--two of my friends accompanying me the while, and lending their a.s.sistance to my toilet.

They at length p.r.o.nounced me perfect, and I drove off.

Although already past midnight, the King, with several members of the royal family, were seated at tea: two of the ministers, a few general officers, and a foreign amba.s.sador being of the party.

Into this circle, in which there was nothing to inspire awe, save the actual rank of the ill.u.s.trious personages themselves, I was now introduced by the Minister of War. "Le Comte de Creganne, please your Majesty," said he, twice, ere the King heard him.

"Ah, very true," said the King, turning round, and, with a smile of most cordial expression, adding, "My dear Count, it seems I had forgotten to sign your appointment,--a mistake that might have caused you some inconvenience and delay at Algiers. Pray let me amend this piece of forgetfulness."

I bowed respectfully, and deposited before him the great square envelope, with the huge official seal annexed, that contained my nomination.

"The Princess de Verneuil will be happy to give you some tea, Count,"

said the King, motioning me to sit down; and I obeyed, while my heart, beating violently at my side, almost overpowered me with emotion.

Only to think of it!--the son of an Irish peasant seated at the family tea-table of a great sovereign, and the princess herself, the daughter of a king, pouring out his tea!

If nothing short of the most consummate effrontery can maintain a cool, unaffected indifference in presence of royalty, there is another frame of mind, indicative of ease and self-possession, perfectly compatible with a kingly presence; and this is altogether dependent on the manner and tone of the sovereign himself. The King--I have heard it was his usual manner--was as free from any a.s.sumption of superiority as would be any private gentleman under his own roof; his conversation was maintained in a tone of perfect familiarity with all around him, and even when differing in opinion with any one, there was a degree of almost deference in the way he insinuated his own views.

On this occasion he directed nearly all his attention to myself, and made Ireland the subject, asking a vast variety of questions, chiefly regarding the condition of the peasantry, their modes of life, habits of thinking, education, and future prospects. I saw that my statements were all new to him, that he was not prepared for much that I told him, and he very soon avowed it by saying, "These, I must own, are not the opinions I have usually heard from your countrymen, Count; but I conclude that the opportunities of travel, and the liberalism of thought which intercourse with foreign countries begets, may lead you to take views not quite in accordance with mere stay-at-home politicians."

I could have given him another and more accurate explanation of the difference. It was the first and only time that his Majesty had conversed with the son of a peasant,--one, himself born and bred beneath the thatch of a cabin, and who had felt the very emotions which others merely draw from their imaginations. As it grew late, his Majesty arose, and the Ministers one by one retired, leaving me the only stranger present. "Now, Count, I must not detain you longer; you leave Paris early to-morrow morning, and I should have remembered how large a portion of your night I have monopolized. This paper,--where is it?"

I at once took up the envelope, and drew forth a doc.u.ment; but conceive my horror when I discerned that it was a piece of verse,--a droll song upon my new dignity that one of my villanous companions had stuffed into the envelope in place of my official letter of appointment. Crushing it in my hand, I pulled out another. Worse again! It was the bill-of-fare of our dinner at Very's, where "entrees" and "hors-d'ouvres, salmis and macedoines," figured in imposing array. One doc.u.ment still remained, and I drew it out; but as his Majesty's eyes were this time bent upon me, I had not a moment to see what might be its contents,--indeed, I half suspected the King saw my indecision; and, determining to put a bold face on the matter, I doubled down a blank piece of the paper, and placed it for his Majesty. Apparently his thoughts were wandering in some other direction, for he took up the pen abstractedly, and wrote the words, "Approved by us," with his name in a routine sort of way that showed he gave no attention to the act whatever.

It was all I could do! To avoid any indecent show of haste in enclosing the paper within the envelope, my hand trembled so that I could scarcely accomplish it. When I had replaced it in my pocket, I felt like a drowning man at the moment he touches land.

The King dismissed me with many flattering speeches, and I returned to Very's, where my friends were still at table. Resolved not to gratify the triumph of their malice, I affected to have discovered the trick in time to remedy it, and to replace my appointment in its enclosure. Of course the possibility of what might have occurred gave rise to many a droll fancy and absurd conceit, and I plainly saw how very little compunction there would have been for my disaster if a ludicrous scene had ensued between the king and myself.

We separated now, with all the testimonies of sincere affection,--some of my fair friends even wept; and our parting had all the parade and about the same amount of sincerity as a scene in a drama. Paul alone showed any real feeling: he liked me probably because he had served me,--a stronger bond of affection than many people are aware of. "Tell me one thing, Creganne," cried he, as he shook my hand for the last time,--"we are perhaps never to meet again, life has so many vicissitudes,--tell me frankly, then, if your Mexican history, your riches and gems and gold, your diamonds, your rubies, your doubloons, and your moidores, are not all a humbug, together with your imprisonment in Malaga, and all its consequences?"

"True, every word of it," said I, impressively.

"Come, come, now, your secret is safe with _me_. Be open and above-board; say honestly that the whole was a 'get up.' I promise you fairly that, if you do, I 'll have a higher value for your talents at an episode than I now place upon your lost wealth and your countship to boot."

"I'm sorry for it," replied I; "there are few men whose esteem I set more store by. If I could oblige you by becoming a cheat, my regard for you might possibly overmaster my better judgment; but, unhappily, I am what I represent myself, and what I trust one day yet to convince you."

With this we parted. As the diligence drove away, I could see Paul still standing in the same place, evidently unable to resolve the difficult problem of my veraciousness.

And now I am approaching a chapter of my history whose adventures and chances are alone a story in themselves. The varied fortunes of a campaign in a strange land, with strange enemies, new scenes and climate, of course were not without incidents to diversify and interest them; and although I could probably select more pa.s.sages of curious adventure from this than from any other portion of my life, I am forced to pa.s.s by all in silence; and for these reasons: first, the narrative would lead me to a greater length than I have auy right to presume upon in this history, or to believe that my reader would be a willing party to; and, secondly, the recital would entail the acquaintance with a vast variety of characters, not one of whom ever again occurred to me in life, and of whom, when I quitted Africa, their very names never were heard by me more. And here I may be pardoned for saying that I have been sadly constrained, in these my Confessions, to avoid, upon the one hand, any mention of those persons who merely exercised a pa.s.sing influence on my fortunes, and yet to show by what agencies of personal acquaintanceship my character became formed and moulded. In a novel, the world would seem to consist of only the very characters introduced, or, rather, the characters serve as abstractions to represent certain qualities and pa.s.sions of mankind; but in real life is this the case?

Nay, is it not precisely the reverse? Do not the chance intimacies we form in the steamboat or the diligence very frequently leave deep and lasting impressions behind them? Are not phrases remembered, and words treasured up as axioms, that we have heard pa.s.singly from those we are never to see again? Of how many of our strongest convictions the origin was mere accident,--ideas dropped like those seeds of distant plants that are borne for thousands of miles upon the wind, and let fall in some far-away land to take root and fructify? And are these the agencies to be omitted when a man would give a "confession" to the world? Why are the letters of an individual his best biography, save as recording his judgment upon pa.s.sing events or people, with whom, in all likelihood, he has little subsequent connection? But enough of this; I have said sufficient for apology to those who see the difficulty of the case. To those who do not, I have been prolix without being profitable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 576-227]

Of Africa, then, I must not speak. Three years of its burning sun and parched soil--the life of bivouac and battle--had done the work of ten upon my const.i.tution and appearance. I was bronzed almost to a Moorish tint; a few straggling hairs of gray showed themselves in my dark beard and moustache; while emergencies and hazards of different kinds had imparted a sterner character to my features, that little resembled the careless gayety of my earlier days. In addition to this, I was wounded: a sabre cut received in defending the Prince from an attack of Arab hors.e.m.e.n had severed the muscles of my right arm; and although encouraged to believe that I should yet recover its use, I was for the time, at least, totally disabled, and as incompetent to wield a sword as a pen. A very flattering mention of me in "general orders," my name recorded in a despatch, and the ribbon of the "Legion," well rewarded me for these mishaps; and now, as a season of peace intervened, I was about to return to France with the rank of "Chef d'Escadron" and the fame of a distinguished officer. As the Prince, my master, was to make a tour in the provinces before his return to Paris, permission was given me to visit Italy, whither the physician advised me to repair to recruit my strength, before adventuring upon the trials of a more northern climate.

The "Duc" overwhelmed me with kind protestations at parting, and gave me a letter to the French Minister at Naples, especially commending me to his friendship, and speaking of my services in terms that my modesty cannot permit me to repeat. Thus was Fortune once more my friend; and could I have but obliterated all memory of the past, and of those fatal riches,--the brief enjoyment of which had given an impulse to all my desires,--I might now have been well contented. High character as a soldier, a certain rank in the service, and the friendship of a Royal Prince, were not trifling advantages to one who had often sued destiny with success, even "_in forma pauperis_;" still, the "great game" I should have played, as the man of large fortune, was never out of my thoughts, and in secret I resolved to return to Mexico, and, as the phrase has it, "look after my affairs."

This determination grew more fixed the longer I considered it; and here I may remark that the doc.u.ment to which the King had appended his signature and approval was a statement of my claims on Spain, drawn up by myself,--one of those hundred representations which I made, in idle hours, to while away time and amuse hope. If I was well aware that the signature was obtained by a mere accident, and without knowledge of the contents, I was not deterred from speculating as to what useful purpose it might be employed,--scruples of conscience being of all things in the world those I best knew how to dispose of.

On reaching Naples I discovered that the Envoy to whom my letter was addressed had just been recalled, and in his place a young Secretary of Emba.s.sy was officiating,--one of those admirably dressed and inimitably gloved young gentlemen whom France despatches to foreign countries as representatives of her skill in neckcloths and waistcoats, and her incomparable superiority in lacquered leather. Monsieur de Bussenac was a veritable type of Paris dandyism,--vain, empty, and conceited, with considerable smartness in conversation, and unquestionable personal courage; his life was pa.s.sed in abusing England and affecting the most ludicrous imitation of all that was English,--in dress, equipage, and livery.

Although my name was not unknown to him, he received me with the condescending courtesy the diplomatist usually a.s.sumes in his intercourse with the soldier: protested his regret that the gay season was over, that Naples was thinning every day, that he hardly knew where, or to whom, to present me.

I a.s.sured him that pleasure was not among the ambitions of an invalid like myself; but, next to the care of my health, one of my objects in Naples was to press a claim upon the Spanish Government, to which the residence of a Spanish Minister of high rank at that court gave a favorable opportunity; and with this preface I gave a brief history of my loss and imprisonment. The young Charge d'Affaires looked horridly bored by my story, of which, it was clear, he only heard a very small part; and when I concluded, he made a few notes of my statement, and promised to see the Spanish Amba.s.sador upon it that very day.

I believe that my experience is not a singular one; but from the moment that I announced myself as a person claiming the aid of the "Mission,"

the doors of the Emba.s.sy were hermetically sealed against me. If I called, "His Excellency" (everything is Excellency to an emba.s.sy porter) was either in conference with a colleague, or replying to a despatch, or with the court. If I wrote, my answer was always a polite acknowledgment of my note, and no more. Even when we met pa.s.singly in the street, his salute was cold and markedly distant; so that I began to suspect that either he had heard something to my disadvantage among his colleagues, or that he had received some hint respecting me.

I knew if I were to address the Duc de St. Cloud on the subject, that my essenced friend would at once receive a check, and possibly a heavy reprimand; but I was too proud to descend to this, and resolved to right myself without calling in the aid of others. With this intention, I repaired one day to the Mission, and having waited for some time, till I saw a person leave the cabinet, from whom I learned that the Envoy was at home, I advanced to the door. "Out, sir," said the porter, barring the way. I pushed him aside, with the air of one who was not to be trifled with, and, opening the door, walked in.

Whether it was that the suddenness of my appearance unmanned him, or that something in my manner showed there was no time for further deception, he arose to receive me, and handed me a chair.

"I have come, sir," said I, calmly but resolutely, "to ask if, in the matter which I intrusted to your hands, any progress has been made, or if I am still to be the patient recipient of notes which tell me nothing?"

"What if there be nothing to tell, sir?" said the young diplomatist, now recovering his self-possession, and standing with his back to the fire, in the very easiest of att.i.tudes.

"I will beg of you to be more explicit," said I.

"You shall not have to complain of me on that score, sir," said he, with a most affected air of courtesy; "and, as brevity is the very essence of clearness, I may as well state that on representing the case of El Conde de Cregano to the Minister of Spain, he very gravely a.s.sured me that I was inventing a personage, for that no such name existed among the n.o.bility of his land. The dignity may be recognized in Mexico," added he, "but the Mexician Minister is equally perverse, and disclaims having so much as heard of you. I spoke of your wealth and great treasures, and they actually were rude enough to laugh,--no at you, sir, don't be angry,--but at _me_. The Spanish Amba.s.sador, indeed, said that nothing was more common than for Carlist agents of inferior station to a.s.sume styles and t.i.tles which might ent.i.tle them to greater consideration if taken prisoner, and that in this wise you might have succeeded to your countship; but that to real rank, he persisted in a.s.serting you had no claim whatever. This you must allow, sir, is awkward."

"For you, certainly, it will prove so," said I, haughtily. "You may rely upon it, sir, that your career as a diplomatist will end where it begun.

You have dared to insult one whose slightest word could crush you, did he not feel that such an exercise of influence would be ludicrously disproportioned to the object it was directed against. There, sir, there is a written statement of my claim; there a full and explicit demand for reparation; and there, the signature of your master the King, at the foot of it. You cannot be ignorant of the hand, nor can you dare to pretend it is a forgery."

If my insulting language had brought the flush of auger to his cheek, this "d.a.m.ning proof" completely overcame all his presence of mind, and left him in a state of confusion and perplexity that any one, save myself, must have pitied.

"The writing is certainly in the King's hand," said he, "and therefore I am obliged to concede the fact that your claim possesses features I was not previously aware of; with your leave, then, I will lay this doc.u.ment before the Spanish Minister--"

"You shall do no such thing, sir," said I, haughtily; "my a.s.serted right is just what it was before I showed you that paper; nor shall I stoop to any corroborative testimony of my claim, even from the hand of royalty;"

and with this impertinent speech I advanced towards the grate and thrust the paper into the fire, pressing it down into the blaze with my foot, and watching till I saw it consumed.

The diplomatist watched me narrowly throughout this brief proceeding, and I half feared that he had seen through my stratagem, as he said, "Well, Count, as not a shadow of doubt can exist now as to the authentic character of your demand, the best course will be to have a personal interview with the Spanish Amba.s.sador. He 'receives' this evening at his palace, and, with your leave, we will wait upon him together. Of course the time and place will not admit of any discussion of this claim, but you can be presented,--a necessary preliminary to the intercourse that will follow."