Tom Burke Of "Ours" Volume I Part 37

"He writes well, at least for the taste of newspaper readers," said the abb, musingly; "but still he only understands the pen as he does the sword,--it must be a weapon of attack."

"Who is the writer, then?" said I, in a half-whisper.

"Who!--can you doubt it?--Bonaparte himself. What other man in France would venture to p.r.o.nounce so authoritatively on the prospects and the intentions of the nation?"

"Or who," said the abb, in his dry manner, "could speak with such accuracy of the 'Ill.u.s.trious and Magnanimous Chief 'that rules her destinies?"

"It is growing late," said the prfet, with the air of one who took no pleasure in the conversation, "and I start for Rouen to-morrow morning."

"Come, come, prfet! one b.u.mper before we part," said Be Beauvais.

"Something has put you out of temper this evening; yet I think I know a toast can restore you to good-humor again."

The old man lifted his hand with a gesture of caution, while he suddenly directed a look towards me.

"No, no; don't be afraid," said De Beauvais, laughing; "I think you 'll acquit me of any rashness. Fill up, then; and here let us drink to one in the old palace of the Tuileries who at this moment can bring us back in memory to the most glorious days of our country."

"_Pardieu!_ that must be the First Consul, I suppose," whispered the abb, to the prefet, who dashed his gla.s.s with such violence on the table as to smash it in a hundred pieces.

"See what comes of impatience!" cried De Beauvais, laughing. "And now you have not wherewithal to pledge my fair cousin the 'Rose of Provence.'"

"The Rose of Provence!" said each in turn; while, excited by the wine, of which I had drunk freely, and carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, I re-echoed the words in such a tone as drew every eye upon me.

"Ah! you know my cousin, then?" said De Beauvais,--looking at me with a strange mixture of curiosity and astonishment.

"No," said I; "I have seen her--I saw her this evening at the Palace."

"Well, I must present you," said he, smiling good-day naturedly.

Before I could mutter my acknowledgment, the party had risen, and were taking leave of each other for the night.

"I shall see you soon again, Burke," said De Beauvais, as he pressed my hand warmly; "and now, adieu!"

With that we parted; and I took my way back towards the Polytechnique, my mind full of strange incidents of this the most eventful night in my quiet and monotonous existence.

CHAPTER XXVI. THE TWO VISITS.

Amid all the stirring duties of the next day, amid all the excitement of a new position, my mind recurred continually to the events of the previous twenty-four hours: now dwelling on the soiree at the Palace,--the unaccustomed splendor, the rank, the beauty I had witnessed; now on that eventful moment I spent behind the screen; then on my strange rencontre with my antagonist, and that still stranger supper that followed it.

It was not, indeed, without certain misgivings, which I could neither account for nor dismiss from my mind, that I reflected on the character and conversation of my new a.s.sociates. The tone of levity in which they dared to speak of him whose name was to me something bordering on idolatry,--the liberty with which they ventured to canva.s.s his measures and his opinions, even to ridiculing them,--were so many puzzles to my mind; and I half reproached myself for having tamely listened to language which now, as I thought over it, seemed to demand my notice.

Totally ignorant of all political intrigue,--unconscious that any party did or could exist in France save that of the First Consul himself,--I could find no solution to the enigma, and at last began to think that I had been exaggerating to myself the words I had heard, and permitting my ignorance to weigh with me, where with more knowledge I should have seen nothing reprehensible. And if the spirit in which they discussed the acts of Bonaparte differed from what I had been accustomed to, might it not rather proceed from my own want of acquaintance with the usages of society, than any deficiency in attachment on their sides? The prfet was, of course, as an officer of the Government, no mean judge of what became him; the abb, too, as a man of education and in holy orders, was equally unlikely to express unbecoming opinions; the Russian scarcely spoke at all; and as for De Beauvais, his careless and headlong impetuosity made me feel easy on his score. And so I reasoned myself into the conviction that it was only the ordinary bearing and everyday habit of society to speak thus openly of one who in the narrower limits of our little world was deemed something to worship.

Shall I own what then I could scarcely have confessed to myself, that the few words De Beauvais spoke at parting,--the avowed cousinship with her they called "La Rose de Provence,"--did much to induce this conviction on my mind? while his promise to present me was a pledge I could not possibly believe consistent with any but right loyal thoughts and honest doctrines. Still, I would have given anything for one friend to advise with,--one faithful counsellor to aid me. But again was I alone in the world; and save the short and not over-flattering reception of my colonel, I had neither seen nor spoken to one of my new corps.

That evening I joined my regiment, and took up my quarters in the barracks, where already the rumor of important political events had reached the officers, and they stood in groups discussing the chances of a war, or listening to the "Moniteur," which was read out by one of the party. What a strange thrill it sent through me to think that I was privy to the deepest secret of that important step on which the peace of Europe was resting,--that I had heard the very words as they fell from the lips of him on whom the destiny of millions then depended! With what a different interpretation to me came those pa.s.sages in the Government journal which breathed of peace, and spoke of painful sacrifices to avoid a war, for which already his very soul was thirsting! and how to my young heart did that pa.s.sion for glory exalt him who could throw all into the scale! The proud position he occupied,--the mighty chief of a mighty nation; the adulation in which he daily lived; the gorgeous splendor of a Court no country in Europe equalled,--all these (and more, his future destiny) did lie set upon the cast for the great game his manly spirit gloried in.

In such thoughts as these I lived as in a world of my own. Companionship I had none; my brother officers, with few exceptions, had risen from the ranks, and were of that cla.s.s which felt no pleasure save in the coa.r.s.e amus.e.m.e.nts of the barrack-room or the vulgar jests of the service. The better cla.s.ses lived studiously apart from these, and made no approaches to intimacy with any newly joined officer with whose family and connections they were unacquainted; and I, from my change of country, stood thus alone, unacknowledged and unknown. At first this isolation pained and grieved me, but gradually it became less irksome; and when at length they who had at first avoided and shunned my intimacy showed themselves disposed to know me, my pride, which before would have been gratified by such an acknowledgment, was now wounded, and I coolly declined their advances.

Some weeks pa.s.sed in this manner, during which I never saw or heard of De Beauvais, and at length began to feel somewhat offended at the suddenness with which he seemed to drop an intimacy begun at his own desire; when one evening, as I had returned to my barrack-room after parade, I heard a knock at my door. I rose and opened it, when, to my surprise, I beheld De Beauvais before me. He was much thinner than when I last saw him, and his dress and appearance all betokened far less of care and attention.

"Are these your quarters?" said he, entering and throwing a cautious look about. "Are you alone here?"

"Yes," said I; "perfectly."

"You expect no one?"

"Not any," said I, again, still more surprised at the agitation of his manner, and the evident degree of anxiety he labored under.

"Thank Heaven!" said he, drawing a deep sigh as he threw himself on my little camp-bed, and covered his face with his hands.

Seeing that something weighed heavily on him, I half feared to interfere with the current of his thoughts, and merely drew my chair and sat down beside him.

"I say, Burke, mon cher, have you any wine? Let me have a gla.s.s or two, for save some galette, and that not the best either, I have tasted nothing these last twenty-four hours."

I soon set before him the contents of my humble larder, and in a few moments he rallied a good deal, and looking up with a smile said,--

"I think you have been cultivating your education as gourmand since I saw you; that pasty is worthy our friend in the Palais Royal. Well, and how have you been since we met?"

"Let me rather ask yow," said I, "You are not looking so well as the last time I saw you. Have you been ill?"

"Ill! no, not ill. Yet I can't say so; for I have suffered a good deal, too. No, my friend; I have had much to hara.s.s and distress me. I have been travelling, too, long distances and weary ones,--met some disappointments; and altogether the world has not gone so well with me as I think it ought. And now of you,--what of yourself?"

"Alas!" said I, "if you have met much to annoy, I have only lived a dull life of daily monotony. If it has had little to distress, there is fully as little to cheer; and I half suspect the fine illusions I used to picture to myself of a soldier's career had very little connection with reality."

As De Beauvais seemed to listen with more attention than such a theme would naturally call for, I gradually was drawn into a picture of my barrack life, in which I dwelt at length on my own solitary position, and the want of that companionship which formed the chief charm of my schoolboy life. To all this he paid a marked attention,--now questioning me on some unexplained point; now agreeing with me in what I said by a word or a gesture.

"And do you know, Burke," said he, interrupting me in my description of those whose early coldness of manner had chilled my first advances,--"and do you know," said he, impetuously, "who these aristocrats are? The sons of honest _bourgeois_ of Paris. Their fathers are worthy men of the Rue Vivienne or the Palais,--excellent people, I 've no doubt, but very far better judges of point lace and pt, de Prigord than disputed precedence and armorial quarterings. Far better the others,--the humble soldiers of fortune, whose highest pride is their own daring, their own undaunted heroism. Well, well," added he, after a pause, "I must get you away from this; I can manage it in a day or two. You shall be sent down to Versailles with a detachment."

I could not help starting with surprise at these words, and through all the pleasure they gave me my astonishment was still predominant.

"I see you are amazed at what I say; but it is not so wonderful as you think. My cousin has only to hint to Madame Bonaparte, who is at present there, and the thing is done."

I blushed deeply as I thought of the agency through which my wishes were to meet accomplishment, and turned away to hide my embarra.s.sment.

"By the bye, I have not presented you to her yet. I 've had no opportunity; but now I shall do so at once."

"Pray, tell me your cousin's name," said I, anxious to say anything to conceal my confusion. "I 've only heard her name called 'La Rose de Provence.'"

"Yes, that was a silly fancy of Madame la Consulesse, because Marie is Provengale, But her name is De Rochfort,--at least her mother's name; for, by another caprice, she was forbidden by Bonaparte to bear her father's name. But this is rather a sore topic with me; let us change it. How did you like my friends the other evening? The abb, is agreeable, is he not?"

"Yes," said I, hesitating somewhat; "but I am so unaccustomed to hear General Bonaparte discussed so freely--"

"That absurd Polytechnique!" interrupted De Beauvais. "How many a fine fellow has it spoiled with its ridiculous notions and foolish prejudices!"

"Come, come," said I; "you must not call prejudices the attachment which I, and all who wear an epaulette, feel in our glorious chief. There, there! don't laugh, or you 'll provoke me; for if I, an alien, feel this, how should you, who are a Frenchman born, sympathize with such a proud career?"

"If you talk of sympathy, Burke, let me ask you. Have you ever heard speak of certain old families of these realms who have been driven forth and expatriated to seek a home among strangers,--themselves the descendants of the fairest chivalry of our land, the proud scions of Saint Louis? and has your sympathy never strayed across sea to mingle with their sorrows?" His voice trembled as he spoke, and a large tear filled his eye and tracked its way along his cheek, as the last word vibrated on his tongue; and then, as if suddenly remembering how far he had been carried away by momentary impulse, he added, in an altered voice, "But what have we to do with these things? Our road is yet to be travelled by either of us,--yours a fair path enough, if it only fulfil its early promise. The fortunate fellow that can win his grade while yet a schoolboy--"