The Princess Of Bagdad Part 9

NOURVADY.

I love you (LIONNETTE _makes a movement_). You know it; and you ought to have foreseen that I should one day tell you so.

LIONNETTE.

Yes; it is only five minutes ago that my husband and I were speaking about it.

NOURVADY.

Do not laugh. You may tell by the tone of my voice that I am very serious. I love you pa.s.sionately. You do not love me; you do not even think of me. It is probable that you will never love me. I possess nothing of all the essentials to tempt a woman like yourself--except a fortune.

LIONNETTE (_rising to retire_).

Sir!

NOURVADY.

Have patience! I am not capable of failing in respect towards you, as I love you. You are ruined--irreparably ruined. You can accept, it is true, the proposals that Madame Spadetta has had made to you, and free yourself in that manner. There would be no longer debt, but there would be straitened circ.u.mstances, and, perhaps, misery. Without counting that, it would be a great grief for you to give up, for ever, certain letters; a grief that whoever loves you ought to spare you.

LIONNETTE (_re-seating herself_).

How do you know that?

NOURVADY.

With money one knows all one wants to know, especially when Madame Spadetta is able to furnish all the information one requires. Do you remember, Countess, that one day, some months ago, pa.s.sing through the Champs Elysees with your husband and me, you remarked at No. 20 a private house that was nearly finished.

LIONNETTE.

Yes.

NOURVADY.

You admired then the exterior elegance of that house. That was sufficient to induce me to resolve that no man should inhabit it;--another time you might have looked mechanically in pa.s.sing on that side, and the proprietor at his window might have imagined that it was at him the lovely Countess of Hun was looking. I have bought that house, and I have had it furnished as elegantly as possible. If, in a year, in two years, in ten years, if--to-morrow--circ.u.mstances force you to sell this house where we are at this moment, think of that house in the Champs Elysees that no one has ever yet inhabited. The carriages are waiting in the coach-houses, the horses in the stables, the footmen in the ante-rooms. The little door that this key opens is only for you.

(_He shows a little key._) That door you will easily recognize: your monogram is on it. From the moment you cross it, if you cross the threshold one day, you will not even have the trouble of opening another with it; all the doors will be open in the way that leads to your apartment. In the drawing-room is an Arabian coffer of marvellous workmanship; this coffer contains a million in gold, struck on purpose for you: it is virgin gold, such as gold ought to be that your little hands deign to touch. You can make use of all in this coffer; when it is empty it will fill itself again--it is a secret. The deeds which confer upon you the ownership of this house are deposited in one of the cabinets in the drawing-room. You will have only to sign them whenever you may like legally to be the owner. Is it necessary to add that you owe nothing to anyone for all that, and that you will remain absolute mistress of your actions? To-morrow I shall pa.s.s the day in that house, to a.s.sure myself that all there is in a fit state to receive you; and I shall never appear there again until you tell me yourself to come--or to remain there.

(LIONNETTE _takes the key that_ NOURVADY _has laid upon the table while talking; rises, and goes to throw it out of the open window; pa.s.ses before_ NOURVADY _in going to rejoin_ G.o.dLER _and_ TReVELe.)

NOURVADY (_while she pa.s.ses in front of him_).

That window looks upon your garden, Countess, not upon the street. In a garden a key can be picked up again.

(_He bows, and leaves her, to take his departure._)

LIONNETTE (_in a low voice_).

The insolent fellow!

JANE (_entering, to_ LIONNETTE).

Master Raoul will not go to bed, Madam.

LIONNETTE.

Very well; I am coming.

(_She goes out by the door from which_ JANE _has spoken to her_.)

TReVELe (_to_ G.o.dLER).

Again running away! that is too strong. This time, let us go too.

NOURVADY.

No, remain; I think you will be wanted here. Good bye. (_He goes away._)

SCENE III.

G.o.dLER, TReVELe.

TReVELe (_to_ G.o.dLER, _while eating a cake_).

I a.s.sure you that Nourvady is a personage apart. Listen now; let us eat all the cakes, drink all the lemonade, and during that time you can solve the enigma, for at length you ought to know what is going on in this house, you who have always been a friend of the Marchioness of Quansas. It is said even....

G.o.dLER (_after looking around him_).

In 1853.

TReVELe.

You are decided?

G.o.dLER.

In 1853.

TReVELe.

Why did you never tell it?

G.o.dLER.

In 1853 there was a Madam Duranton, who kept a shop in the rue Traversiere.

TReVELe.

Where may the rue Traversiere be?