THE CONFESSION.
Mdlle.de Cardoville, not wishing to betray the cause of the violent feelings which agitated her, received M.de Montbron with a feigned and forced gayety.On the other hand, notwithstanding his tact and knowledge of the world, the count was much embarrassed how to enter upon the subject on which he wished to confer with Adrienne, and he resolved to feel his way, before seriously commencing the conversation.After looking at the young lady for some seconds, M.de Montbron shook his head, and said, with a sigh of regret: "My dear child, I am not pleased."
"Some affair of the heart, or of hearts, my dear count?" returned Adrienne, smiling.
"Of the heart," said M.de Montbron.
"What! you, so great a player, think more of a woman's whim than a throw of the dice?"
"I have a heavy heart, and you are the cause of it, my dear child."
"M.de Montbron, you will make me very proud," said Adrienne, with a smile.
"You would be wrong, for I tell you plainly, my trouble is caused by your neglect of your beauty.Yes, your countenance is pale, dejected, sorrowful; you have been low-spirited for the last few days; you have something on your mind, I am sure of it."
"My dear M.de Montbron, you have so much penetration, that you may be allowed to fall for once, as now.I am not sad, I have nothing on my mind, and--I am about to utter a very silly piece of impertinence--I have never thought myself so pretty."
"On the contrary, nothing could be more modest than such an assertion.
Who told you that falsehood? a woman?"
"No; it was my heart, and it spoke the truth," answered Adrienne, with a slight degree of emotion."Understand it, if you can," she added.
"Do you mean that you are proud of the alteration in your features, because you are proud of the sufferings of your heart?" said M.de Montbron, looking at Adrienne with attention."Be it so; I am then right.You have some sorrow.I persist in it," added the count, speaking with a tone of real feeling, "because it is painful to me."
"Be satisfied; I am as happy as possible--for every instant I take delight in repeating, how, at my age, I am free--absolutely free!"
"Yes; free to torment yourself, free to be miserable."
"Come, come, my dear count!" said Adrienne, "you are recommencing our old quarrel.I still find in you the ally of my aunt and the Abbe d'Aigrigny."
"Yes; as the republicans are the allies of the legitimists--to destroy each other in their turn.Talking of your abominable aunt, they say that she holds a sort of council at her house these last few days, a regular mitred conspiracy.She is certainly in a good way."
"Why not? Formerly, she would have wished to be Goddess of Reason, now, we shall perhaps see her canonized.She has already performed the first part of the life of Mary Magdalen."
"You can never speak worse of her than she deserves, my dear child.
Still, though for quite opposite reasons, I agreed with her on the subject of your wish to reside alone."
"I know it."
"Yes; and because I wished to see you a thousand times freer than you really are, I advised you--"
"To marry."
"No doubt; you would have had your dear liberty, with its consequences, only, instead of Mdlle.de Cardoville, we should have called you Madame Somebody, having found an excellent husband to be responsible for your independence."
"And who would have been responsible for this ridiculous husband? And who would bear a mocked and degraded name? I, perhaps?" said Adrienne, with animation."No, no, my dear count, good or ill, I will answer for my own actions; to my name shall attach the reputation, which I alone have formed.I am as incapable of basely dishonoring a name which is not mine, as of continually bearing it myself, if it were not held in, esteem.And, as one can only answer for one's own actions, I prefer to keep my name."
"You are the only person in the world that has such ideas."
"Why?" said Adrienne, laughing."Because it appears to me horrible, to see a poor girl lost and buried in some ugly and selfish man, and become, as they say seriously, the better half of the monster--yes! a fresh and blooming rose to become part of a frightful thistle!--Come, my dear count; confess there is something odious in this conjugal metempsychosis," added Adrienne, with a burst of laughter.
The forced and somewhat feverish gayety of Adrienne contrasted painfully with her pale and suffering countenance; it was so easy to see that she strove to stifle with laughter some deep sorrow, that M.de Montbron was much affected by it; but, dissembling his emotion, he appeared to reflect a moment, and took up mechanically one of the new, fresh-cut books, by which Adrienne was surrounded.After casting a careless glance at this volume, he continued, still dissembling his feelings: "Come, my dear madcap: this is another folly.Suppose I were twenty years old, and that you did me the honor to marry me--you would be called Lady de Montbron, I imagine?"
"Perhaps."
"How perhaps? Would you not bear my name, if you married me?"
"My dear count," said Adrienne, with a smile, "do not let us pursue this hypothesis, which can only leave us--regrets."
Suddenly, M.de Montbron started, and looked at Mdlle, de Cardoville with an expression of surprise.For some moments, whilst talking to Adrienne, he had mechanically--taken up two or three of the volumes scattered over the couch, and had glanced at their titles in the same careless manner.
The first was the "Modern History of India." The second, "Travels in India." The third, "Letters on India." Much surprised, M.de Montbron had continued his investigation, and found that the fourth volume continued this Indian nomenclature, being "Rambles in India." The fifth was, "Recollections of Hindostan." The sixth, "Notes of a Traveller in the East Indies."