The Bath Keepers Volume I Part 27

"Oh! don't tell me that, Giovanni! No, you would not have returned--or else you would have come too late and would have found me dead! Clearly, you do not understand how much I love you; you know not that to me this love is above and beyond the whole world, that it makes me capable of defying everything, of undertaking any enterprise.--But why do I disturb the happiness that is mine now that I have found you?--Why these clouds on your brow? I will not utter one word of reproach--I will not ask a question. Let me live in the same city with you, let me see you, speak to you sometimes, and I shall be happy; and I will not even ask you what you are doing in Paris, or why you are afraid to have me mention your name!"

"But I propose to tell you!" muttered Giovanni, in a gloomy voice, dropping the girl's hand, so that she shuddered, although she did not yet know why her heart was turned to ice. "Since you have chosen to come to Paris despite my prohibition, you must know what your lover is doing; otherwise, you might unsuspectingly compromise his safety every day."

The young man rose and walked about the room, with a sinister expression, saying:

"Ah! why did you come to Paris, Miretta?"

"Mon Dieu! in what a tone you say that! You would make me tremble if I did not love you so dearly!"

"Your love will not resist, I will swear, the confidence I am about to make to you."

"My love is stronger than everything! You may put it to the test!"

"But if your lover were--a man banished from society--a--a criminal, in short?"

Miretta ran to Giovanni and threw herself into his arms, crying in a tone of savage joy:

"Ah! I was afraid that you were going to say that you loved someone else! I breathe again, since it is not that."

Giovanni kept his eyes fixed for some moments on the girl's, then said, shaking his head:

"Ah! it is the truth! she loves me truly!"

Thereupon he resumed his seat and continued, but more calmly:

"Listen, Miretta: there has been in Paris, for several months past, a man who spreads terror through all cla.s.ses of society, but especially among the wealthiest; this man--this robber, for I am talking of a robber--attacks every night those people whose purses he knows to be well lined. Adroit, active, fearless, he intimidates his victims by his audacity, he inspires terror by his mere presence, and never, up to the present moment, has he been obliged to shed blood in order to accomplish his ends. When--which rarely happens--he falls in with a gentleman who is brave enough to defend himself, he easily disarms him, and then contents himself with taking his gold. You may imagine that the police are straining every nerve to capture this brigand; but thus far all their efforts have been fruitless. And yet his description, or rather his costume, is known everywhere; for the robber always wears the same dress when he performs his exploits. An ample olive-green cloak envelops his body, a red cap with a fringe of boar's hair covers his head and comes down to his eyes, and a long black beard conceals the lower part of his face."

"Mon Dieu!" said Miretta; "the man must present a terrifying appearance, in very truth! But what have I to do with this robber? I am not afraid that he will take my gold. And why do you tell me of all his doughty deeds?"

Giovanni rose without replying; he went to an old chest secured by a stout padlock, opened it, and took out the olive-green cloak, the cap with the boar's hair, and the enormous black beard. He threw them all at the girl's feet, saying:

"See! here is the costume that this redoubtable brigand a.s.sumes every night; for this man whom the police seek and pursue to no purpose, this man who spreads terror and dismay throughout Paris--is I--your lover--Giovanni!"

Miretta covered her face with her hands.

"You!" she murmured; "you! Oh! it is impossible!"

"I have told you the truth, Miretta; indeed, why should I tell you this story, if it were untrue?"

"O mon Dieu! But what can have induced you to take up this horrible trade?"

"Oh! it goes back a long way! Alas! in life, one thing leads to another, all things are connected. The child who refuses to study, the youth who leads a vagabond life, the young man who seeks only to enjoy himself and to gratify his pa.s.sions--all these are insensibly marching on to the goal which I have reached. They approach it less openly, perhaps! Some become swindlers, others Greeks--that is to say, they cheat at cards in fashionable society. I consider myself as good as they are; I run greater risks, that is all the difference! Yes, the man who seeks nothing but pleasure comes to this, unless he has the strength, the common sense, to stop in time. But I did not stop. I determined to indulge myself with all the forms of pleasure which the favorites of fortune enjoy--or those men whose talents raise them to the highest positions, to the greatest honors. But I had neither fortune nor talent.

I might tell you that it was the decree of fate, that my destiny was written in advance, that I could not avoid it. I will not say that, because I do not believe it; because, on the contrary, everything tends to prove that men make themselves what they are.--Besides, why should I seek to excuse myself? I had a momentary respite from my pa.s.sions--a moment of calm and almost unalloyed happiness; that was when I knew you, Miretta! Your sincere love made me think, for a brief period, that to love was all that was necessary to be happy. But soon those pa.s.sions, which you had had the art to lull to sleep, reawoke in my being; it was impossible for me to resist them. You yourself unsuspectingly aroused them sometimes; for when I saw you dressed so simply, so shabbily, I would say to myself:

"'Ah! how lovely she would be in a handsome silk dress! in the jewels with which so many old and ugly women bedeck themselves! What joy to drive with her in a fine carriage! to see everyone admire her and envy my good fortune!'"

"Ah! did I need fine clothes to love you, Giovanni?"

"No, not you; but I--I wanted to give them to you, to see you dressed in them.--Well, Miretta, that desire I am able to satisfy now. Come, look!"

Giovanni took Miretta's hand, led her to the chest, opened a false bottom, and showed her a heap of gold pieces, jewels, and diamonds, which half filled the great box.

"Do you see that gold? do you see all those treasures? A few more months in Paris, and I shall have twice as much! Then I will return to Italy; and if you will go with me, you shall be the most fashionable, the most coquettish, the most richly dressed of women!"

Miretta turned away from the chest with a gesture of horror.

"I! array myself in jewels that you have stolen! Oh! never! never! That gold makes me ill! Look you, Giovanni--I must needs love you very dearly to be still in the room with you after the confession you have made to me! And yet, I am grateful to you for having confided this terrible secret to me; I thank you for having such confidence in me.--Ah! you know full well that I will not betray it!--Yes, my love is so great that I can forgive everything, forget everything! But, in pity's name! for the love of G.o.d! renounce this ghastly career; leave this path of crime in which, sooner or later, you will meet your punishment! You wanted wealth--well, have you not enough? Take what you have acquired by such evil means, since you have the courage to make use of it without remorse. But come with me; let us leave Paris, and France, to-morrow--nay, this very night! I will stay with you, to watch over your safety, to turn aside the dangers that may threaten you. When all danger is at an end, then I will leave you, if my presence annoys you; but, near or far, I will watch over you, and every morning and every evening I will pray G.o.d to forgive your crimes and open your heart to repentance.--Giovanni, my Giovanni, do not spurn my entreaties; trust a secret voice which tells me that death awaits you in the frightful trade you ply. I beg you on my knees--abandon it, and let us fly--far, far from Paris--to the end of the world--so far that you will be in no danger.--Oh! I was mad just now when I preferred to know that you were a criminal rather than in love with another woman; heaven is punishing me for that blasphemy.--Giovanni, I give you back your liberty, your oaths; I will forgive you if you do love another woman. But, in the name of the Madonna who presided over your birth, tell me, oh! tell me that you will abandon this career, which will surely lead you to the scaffold!"

The girl had thrown herself at her lover's feet, she held his hands, she raised to his face her eyes wet with tears; and at that moment there was something sublime in the expression of her features.

But Giovanni had listened to her with no outward evidence of emotion.

When she ceased to speak, he raised her, seated her on the sofa, took his seat beside her, and said with perfect tranquillity:

"My dear love, I forbade you to follow me, to come to France. I was wise to do so; I antic.i.p.ated some such scene as this. If you will take my advice, you will return instantly to Milan."

"With you?"

"No; without me."

"Never! My mind is made up: I shall remain where you are. I have nothing left to lose! I have sacrificed to you a maiden's most precious treasure, and it is easy for me to give you now my repose and my life."

"But I do not ask you for either. You are too excitable, my poor Miretta! you have an ardent imagination. Now, I am thoroughly practical.

You choose to remain in Paris--very good! But you must understand that it is impossible for you to live with me; you would embarra.s.s me; in this trade of mine, a woman is always in the way; when she thinks that she is helping us, she ruins us!"

"So you are not willing to abandon this--this infamous trade?"

Giovanni darted a glance at the girl which almost made her shudder, as he replied:

"No woman will ever change my resolutions; when it pleases me to enjoy my wealth, to return to Italy, the robber will vanish, and Giovanni, favored of fortune, a.s.suming a stately name and t.i.tle, will make a brilliant appearance in the world, where everyone will cringe to him without trying to ascertain the source of his fortune.--You have heard me, Miretta; so never recur to this subject, or you will see me no more."

Miretta made no other reply than to let her head sink sadly on her breast.

"You have a place in Paris, I am told: you are in the service of Mademoiselle Valentine de Mongarcin?"

"Yes; how do you know that?"

"I know much more! It was Cedrille, your cousin, who brought you to Paris?"

"Yes; and I had arranged to meet him in front of the house this evening, at dusk; I thought that he would be my escort and would take me to see a young girl who lives on Rue Saint-Jacques, where her father keeps baths; for that girl rendered us a great service this morning, when we arrived in Paris. You do not know that----"

"I know all! the miserable jests, the jibes that they discharged at your travelling companion, poor Cedrille; and the compliments they paid to the pretty foreigner; and the quarrel and the battle that followed!--Oh!

I recognized in all that the untamed highborn youth, which is determined to be master in France--more master than the king, in truth! But let them beware! There is at the head of the government a certain Cardinal de Richelieu, who, I fancy, will straighten all this out! He will be called a tyrant, for every man is so called who attempts to put down abuses, to put a curb on license and disorder, to give power to the laws, and, above all, to have them executed, whatever the name, the rank, or the exalted position of the person whom they strike!--But the man of genius, the strong man, is not at all disturbed by the clamor which he stirs up about him; he goes his way and reaches his goal, often calumniated by his contemporaries; it is posterity that takes it upon itself to do him justice!--Well! it seems to me, Miretta, that I reason rather well for a robber, eh? You see that, even though one lives at war with society, that does not prevent one from doing justice to those who are able to protect it.--But let us return to yourself: you waited in vain for Cedrille, for I was plying him with drink at a wine shop, with a certain Gascon chevalier, as long and lean as a beanpole, who claims also to be your liberator."

"Oh, yes! I remember; a tall man, and very thin; he almost knelt in front of our horse; he insisted on kissing my hand and on my accepting him for my knight! But he is horribly ugly!"

"That is true; but that does not prevent him from being in love with you. Ah! Seigneur Pa.s.sedix--that is this hero's name--is not discreet in his love affairs. Beware, Miretta! he has sworn to triumph over your rigor."

"He is not dangerous! But even if he were the handsomest, most fascinating man in the kingdom of France, you well know that my heart is no longer mine to give!"