The Bath Keepers Volume Ii Part 38

"Oh! monsieur," she said, "mademoiselle saw you in the distance and recognized you at once; then I could not possibly hold her back! She began to run toward you, crying: 'The gentleman!'--You must have taken her fancy, for she doesn't go to everybody like that!"

"Is--is the child's mother with you to-day?" the count asked hesitatingly.

"No, monsieur; madame la comtesse is better; but she isn't strong enough to go out yet."

Leodgard seemed more at ease, and he kissed once more the child whom he was ent.i.tled to call his daughter, but to whom he said simply:

"Do you know that you are very pretty?"

"Oh, yes!" the child replied, with a smile.

"But it isn't enough to be pretty," said the nurse. "Mademoiselle knows that she must be good and obedient too, or else she would be ugly."

At that moment a poor, half-clad little boy, whose pinched features denoted privation and suffering, stopped a few feet from the bench and held out his hand to ask alms.

Little Blanche, as she glanced at the mendicant, ceased to smile, and with her eyes questioned the nurse, who said:

"He is unfortunate; your mother, you know, always helps them and wants you to do the same; she gives us money for that purpose. Here, mademoiselle, would you like to give it to him yourself?"

Blanche eagerly took the coin which her nurse handed her, and ran to give it to the little beggar, saying:

"Take this--poor boy!"

Leodgard followed the little girl's every movement; when she returned to him, he took her in his arms once more and could not resist the longing to kiss her again.

At that moment he heard a cry of surprise close at hand, and these words fell on his ear:

"O mon Dieu! is it possible? What joy! Monsieur le comte embracing his daughter!"

Leodgard instantly raised his eyes and saw Ambroisine, who had halted a few steps from the bench, and was gazing at him, deeply moved.

To place the child hurriedly on the ground, to rise and walk rapidly away--all that was a matter of a second for Leodgard.

Ambroisine stood as if petrified; even little Blanche seemed surprised at the disappearance of "the gentleman"; and as for the nurse, the words she had heard seemed to daze her, and she did nothing but murmur:

"Is it possible? Jesus bon Dieu! What! that gentleman who was kissing our dear little one--can it be?--was monsieur le comte, her father! How is it, then, that when I told him yesterday that mademoiselle belonged to Madame la Comtesse de Marvejols, he didn't say: 'She is my daughter'?"

"Yes, he is really her father, he is the Comte de Marvejols!" said Ambroisine, with a sigh. "Oh! I am terribly sorry that I showed myself and let those words escape me. But, no matter! he kissed her--and he knew that she was his daughter.--Ah! I must make haste to tell Bathilde--she will be so happy!--Come, Blanche; come, dear child; let us hurry home to your mamma; we are going to make her very happy!"

Ambroisine took Blanche in her arms and returned to the Hotel de Marvejols, covering with kisses the lovely child, who made no objection and seemed already to share the happiness that she diffused about her.

XLV

PRESENTIMENTS

After walking about for some time in the streets near Place Royale, Leodgard said to himself:

"That Ambroisine probably has left the square now; she has taken the child home, to tell Bathilde what she saw; so that I may safely return to the place appointed; for it is not yet two o'clock, and if that girl should go there and not find me, Valentine's pride would be offended, and who can say that all hope would not be lost?"

The count returned to the place he had just left; but he advanced more cautiously now, looking all about and scrutinizing everybody who pa.s.sed. His premonitions proved accurate; Ambroisine, with the child and her nurse, had returned to the Hotel de Marvejols.

The count did not take his place on the same bench, however, and he constantly rose to walk a little and look about him.

He had been thus engaged for about half an hour, and his increasing impatience had nearly led him to leave the square, when a girl coming slowly along Rue des Tournelles, who had observed Leodgard's restless movements, approached him and stopped, with every sign of intense agitation.

"You are the person whom I have been expecting, doubtless?" said the count, closely observing the girl, whose eyes a.s.sumed a strange expression as she looked at him.

Miretta, for it was she who had stopped in front of Leodgard, replied in a faltering voice, and as if under the influence of a secret terror:

"You are--Comte--Leodgard de Marvejols?"

"Yes, I am he; and you are sent by the lady who wrote me to be on this square?"

"Yes, seigneur, yes--I come from her."

"But what is the matter with you, girl? Your voice trembles--you seem to be intensely agitated. Can any misfortune have happened to your mistress? have you a sad message to transmit to me? In heaven's name, speak! This perturbation of yours is not natural."

"Mon Dieu! seigneur, I do not know myself why I tremble so, why my body is suddenly bathed in cold perspiration. I have no misfortune to announce--on the contrary, my message cannot fail to be agreeable to you. But when I saw you, when I stopped in front of you, I felt a strange oppression; I do not know what took place within me; it seemed to me that I was dying."

"Control yourself; you must have walked too fast--and an attack of dizziness---- But you seem to be better already?"

"Yes, seigneur, yes; it is pa.s.sing away."

"Then you will perhaps deliver your message, and tell me----"

"That if you wish to see my mistress, she can accord you a few moments this evening."

"If I wish to see her! Why, is it not my most earnest desire, my dearest hope? What am I to do to obtain that favor?"

"Simply come to the house; but you will say to the concierge, whom I will be careful to notify in advance, that you wish to see me. Once in the courtyard, go to the rear, and on the right you will see a narrow servants' staircase; go up to the second floor, and you will find me."

"And the marchioness?"

"She will be in my room; she will come there by a secret pa.s.sage communicating with her apartment."

"Very good. But does she not fear that the marquis will ask for her--that he may go to her apartment?"

"Everything is provided for; this evening monsieur le marquis goes to a large reception; madame has feigned an indisposition as a pretext for not accompanying him. The only danger to be feared is that monsieur le marquis may return too early--but that will not deter monsieur le comte, I presume?"

"Nothing can deter me when it is a matter of seeing your beautiful mistress. I ask these questions, I a.s.sure you, solely in the interest of the marchioness. For my own part, I would joyfully encounter the greatest perils to prove my love for her."

"This evening, then, seigneur, at nine."

"Good.--But one moment--you forget the most essential point; if I am to ask for you, it is indispensable that I should know your name, and you have not told me that."