Fairy Fingers Part 65

"a.s.suredly not. The risk would be very great. It should not be encountered if there is any possibility of his remaining here for the present."

He looked questioningly toward the mistress of the house.

Madeleine promptly replied, "These apartments are entirely at the service of Count Tristan and his family, if they will honor me by occupying them."

"That is well," returned the doctor. "Let the count remain undisturbed until he is convalescent. I will see him again in the evening."

Dr. Bayard took his leave, and Maurice turned to Madeleine,--

"This is most unfortunate. It is a great burden to be thrown upon you, Madeleine."

She interrupted him quickly. "You could hardly have spoken words less kind, Maurice. If this shock could not have been spared your father, I am thankful that it fell beneath my roof. He will be more quiet here than in a hotel, and can be better tended. If the countess will permit me, I will gladly const.i.tute myself his chief _garde malade_. I have had some experience"--

That inadvertent remark increased the agitation of Maurice, and he answered, in a voice tremulous from the rush of sad recollections, "Who can testify to that better than _I_? Do you think I have forgotten the good _soeur de bon secours_ whose movements I used to watch, and whose features, dimly traced by the feeble light of the _veilleuse_, I never ceased to gaze upon, as she moved about my bed?"

Madeleine smiled and sighed at the same moment, and then remarked, perhaps to turn the conversation,--

"But your grandmother,--I fear it will be very difficult to obtain her consent to Count Tristan's remaining under my roof."

"She cannot desire to risk my father's life!" returned Maurice, somewhat angrily. "I may as well tell her what is decided upon, at once."

Madeleine detained him.

"First let me explain to you the arrangements I propose making. If the countess will condescend to remain here, I will have the drawing-room, which opens into the room Count Tristan occupies, made into a bed-chamber for her. The apartment beyond is the dining-room. This little boudoir can be converted into a chamber for you. There is an apartment upstairs which I will occupy; and, as Bertha cannot remain at the hotel alone, I shall be truly happy if she will share my room, or that of the countess."

"Yours! yours!" exclaimed Bertha. "Oh, what a pleasant arrangement! And how quickly and admirably you have settled everything, just as you always used to do; and n.o.body could ever plan half so well!"

"It will be your turn to play the hostess, and to them all!" cried Gaston. "Who would have believed such a revolution of the great wheel possible! That's what I call _compensation in this world_; for few things, I know, can make you happier; and nothing can strike such a severe blow at the pride of the Countess de Gramont as to find herself the compulsory guest of the relative she has despised and persecuted."

Gaston, in his ardor and desire to see Madeleine avenged, had forgotten the presence of the viscount; but Madeleine's look of reproach and her glance toward her cousin recalled his presence to the mind of her enthusiastic defender.

"I beg pardon, Maurice," said he; "I ought not to have spoken disrespectfully of the countess; that is, while you were by."

"I understand and can pardon you, Gaston. Now I must go to my grandmother and learn what she says; for I can see Madeleine's 'fairy fingers' are impatient to commence their magical preparations for our comfort."

He spoke sadly; though his words were half gay in their import.

Very few minutes elapsed before Maurice returned, accompanied by the countess. She swept into the room, towering as majestically as though she could rise above and conquer all the a.s.sailing army of circ.u.mstances arrayed against her.

Madeleine made a movement toward the door.

"Remain! I wish to speak to you, Mademoiselle de Gramont," cried the countess in her most icy tone.

"Permit me first to request Miss Thornton to watch beside Count Tristan.

He ought not to be left alone."

Madeleine had been more thoughtful of the patient than his mother, and the latter could not detain her.

"Are you positive that your father cannot be moved? I am not convinced that it is out of the question."

The countess addressed these words to Maurice.

"The physician has just declared that the risk would be too great. That question, then, is definitely settled. It only remains for you to say how far you will accept Madeleine's hospitable proposition."

"_Hospitable!_ Do not talk of _hospitality_ but of _degradation!_ What will be said when it is known that Count Tristan de Gramont was sheltered, during his illness, by his _mantua-maker relative!_--his _tradeswoman niece!_ There is only one condition upon which I can be forced to consent."

Here Madeleine reentered, and the countess accosted her.

"Mademoiselle de Gramont, the tide of fortune has, for the moment, set against our ill-fated house, and our humiliation can scarcely be more complete. You are aware that the physician you have employed (and with whom I trust you are not in league) says that my son cannot be removed without danger."

"Yes, madame, and I hope Maurice has communicated the suggestion which I have hesitatingly, but very gladly, made for your accommodation."

"He has done so," replied the countess, with undiminished stateliness.

"As for myself, it is asking too much,--it is an impossibility that I should stoop to take up my abode here; but, while my son lies in his present state, which I am told is alarming (though I believe I am misinformed), I, as his mother, should feel bound to visit him though it were in a pest-house. Your offer is declined for myself and Mademoiselle de Merrivale. Maurice gives me to understand that he considers his place to be by his father's side, night and day; therefore for him it will be accepted upon certain conditions; upon these only can I allow my son and grandson to remain beneath your roof."

"Name them, madame. I will promptly, joyfully comply with your wishes if it be in my power to do so."

"You will immediately close your establishment, that none of the transactions of the trade which has sullied your rank may go on within these walls; and you will at once make known to the public your intended nuptials with Lord Linden."

"I never had the remotest intention, madame, of becoming the wife of Lord Linden."

"Has he not offered you his hand?"

"Yes, and but for the accident which has wholly diverted my thoughts, he would have received a distinct refusal before now."

"What reason can you advance for declining so eligible an offer?"

"The same I gave at the Chateau de Gramont, nearly five years ago. My affections belong to another."

Madeleine spoke with fervor, as though she experienced a deep joy in thus proclaiming her constancy. Maurice, with a stifled sigh, turned from her, and pretended to be gazing at the flowers in the conservatory.

"And may we, at last, be favored," demanded the countess, scornfully, "with the name of this unknown lover, who has been able to inspire you with such a rare and romantic amount of constancy?"

"It is one, madame, I cannot now mention with any more propriety than I could have done years ago."

"Then it must be one of which you are ashamed! But how can I doubt that?

Has he not allowed you to become a tradeswoman? Has not the whole affair been a disgraceful and clandestine one? You may well refuse to mention his name! It can only be one which your family can object to hear."

"You are right in one respect, madame: it is one which they object to hear; but, as I shall never be the wife of any other man,--yet never, in all probability, the wife of _that one_,--let the subject of marriage be set aside. In regard to closing this establishment, you are hardly aware, madame, what you request. It would not be in my power to close it suddenly, granting that I had the will to do so. I should not merely throw out of employment some fifty struggling women, who are at present occupied here, but would prevent my keeping faith in fulfilling engagements already made. I will not dwell upon the great personal loss that it would be to me. I should be glad to believe you are convinced of the impossibility of my complying with your wishes."

"Do you mean to say that you actually refuse?"

"I am compelled to do so; but I will exert myself to render your visits private. I will devise some method by which you will be entirely shielded from the view of those who come here on business."

"You presume to think, then, that in spite of your insolent refusal, I will allow my son to remain here?"

Madeleine felt that she could say no more, and looked beseechingly toward Maurice, who exclaimed,--