THE LAST STROKE OF NOON.
At the cry uttered by Gabriel, the notary had stopped reading the testament, and Father d'Aigrigny hastily drew near the young priest.The latter rose trembling from his seat and gazed with increasing stupor at the female portrait.
Then he said in a low voice, as if speaking to himself."Good Heaven!
is it possible that nature can produce such resemblances? Those eyes--so proud and yet so sad--that forehead--that pale complexion--yes, all her features, are the same--all of them!"
"My dear son, what is the matter?" said Father d'Aigrigny, as astonished as Samuel and the notary.
"Eight months ago," replied the missionary, in a voice of deep emotion, without once taking his eyes from the picture, "I was in the power of the Indians, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.They had crucified, and were beginning to scalp me; I was on the point of death, when Divine Providence sent me unexpected aid--sent me this woman for a deliverer."
"That woman!" cried Samuel, Father d'Aigrigny, and the notary, all together.
Rodin alone appeared completely indifferent to this episode of the picture.His face contracted with angry impatience, he bit his nails to the quick, as he contemplated with agony the slow progress of the hands of his watch.
"What! that woman saved your life?" resumed Father d'Aigrigny.
"Yes, this woman," replied Gabriel, in a still lower and more trembling voice; "this woman--or rather a woman so much resembling her, that if this picture had not been here for a century and a half, I should have felt sure it was the same--nor can I explain to myself that so striking a resemblance could be the effect of chance.Well," added he, after a moment's silence, as he heaved a profound sigh, "the mysteries of Nature, and the will of God, are impenetrable."
Gabriel fell back into his chair, in the midst of a general silence, which was broken by Father d'Aigrigny saying, "It is a case of extraordinary resemblance; that is all, my dear son.Only, the natural gratitude which you feel towards your benefactress, makes you take a deep interest in this singular coincidence."
Rodin, bursting with impatience, here said to the notary, by whose side he stood, "It seems to me, sir, that all this little romance has nothing to do with the testament."
"You are right," answered the notary, resuming his seat; "but the fact is so extraordinary, and as you say, romantic, that one cannot help sharing in this gentleman's astonishment."
He pointed to Gabriel, who, with his elbow resting on the arms of the chair, leaned his forehead upon his hand, apparently quite absorbed in thought.The notary continued the reading of the will, as follows:
"'Such are the persecutions to which my family has been exposed on the part of the Society of Jesus.
"`The Society possesses at this hour the whole of my confiscated property.I am about to die.May its hatred perish with me, and spare my kindred, whose fate at this solemn moment is my last and only thought.
"`This morning I sent for a man of long tried probity Isaac Samuel.He owes his life to me, and every day I congratulate myself on having been able to preserve to the world so honest and excellent a creature.
"`Before the confiscation of my property, Isaac Samuel had long managed it with as much intelligence as uprightness.I have entrusted him with the fifty thousand crowns, returned to me by a faithful friend.Isaac Samuel, and his descendants after him, to whom he will leave this debt of gratitude, will invest the above sum, and allow it to accumulate, until the expiration of the hundred and fiftieth year from this time.
"`The amount thus accumulated may become enormous, and constitute a royal fortune, if no unfavorable event should occur.May my descendants attend to my wishes, as to the division and employment of this immense sum!
"`In a century and a half, there happen so many changes, so many varieties of fortunes, such a rise and fall in the condition of the successive generations of a family, that probably, a hundred and fifty years hence, my descendants will belong to various classes of society, and thus represent the divers social elements of their time.
"`There may, perhaps, be among them men of great intelligence great courage, or great virtue--learned men, or names illustrious in arts and arms.There may, perhaps, also be obscure workmen, or humble citizens--
perhaps, also, alas! great criminals.
"`However, this may be, my most earnest desire is that my descendants should combine together, and, reconstituting one family, by a close and sincere union, put into practice the divine words of Christ, "Love ye one another."
"`This union would have a salutary tendency; for it seems to me that upon union, upon the association of men together, must depend the future happiness of mankind.
"`The Company, which so long persecuted my family, is one of the most striking examples of the power of association, even when applied to evil.
"`There is something so fruitful and divine in this principle, that it sometimes forces to good the worst and most dangerous combinations.
"`Thus, the missions have thrown a scanty but pure and generous light on the darkness of this Company of Jesus--founded with the detestable and impious aim of destroying, by a homicidal education, all will, thought, liberty, and intelligence, in the people, so as to deliver them, trembling, superstitious, brutal, and helpless, to the despotism of kings, governed in their turn by confessors belonging to the Society.'"
At this passage of the will, there was another strange look exchanged between Gabriel and Father d'Aigrigny.The notary continued:
"`If a perverse association, based upon the degradation of humanity, upon fear and despotism, and followed by the maledictions of the people, has survived for centuries, and often governed the world by craft and terror-