"Certainly," said Mdlle.de Cardoville; and the servant retired.Mother Bunch was about to rise and quit the room; but Adrienne held her back, and said to her, taking her hand with an air of serious tenderness:
"Stay, my dear friend, I entreat you."
"Do you wish it?"
"Yes; I wish--still in revenge, you know," said Adrienne, with a smile, "to prove to her highness of Saint-Dizier, that I have an affectionate friend--that I have, in fact, every happiness."
"But, Adrienne," replied the other, timidly, "consider--"
"Silence! here is the princess.Remain! I ask it as a favor.The instinct of your heart will discover any snare she may have laid.Did not your affection warn me of the plots of Rodin?"
Mother Bunch could not refuse such a request.She remained, but was about to draw back from the fireplace.Adrienne, however, took her by the hand, and made her resume her seat in the arm-chair, saying: "My dear Magdalen, keep your place.You owe nothing to the lady.With me it is different; she comes to my house."
Hardly had Adrienne uttered these words, than the princess entered with head erect, and haughty air (we have said, she could carry herself most loftily), and advanced with a firm step.The strongest minds have their side of puerile weakness; a savage envy, excited by the elegance, wit, and beauty of Adrienne, bore a large part in the hatred of the princess for her niece; and though it was idle to think of eclipsing Adrienne, and the Princess de Saint-Dizier did not seriously mean to attempt it, she could not forbear, in preparing for the interview she had demanded, taking more pains even than usual in the arrangement of her dress.
Beneath her robe of shot silk, she was laced in and tightened to excess--
a pressure which considerably increased the color in her cheeks.The throng of jealous and hateful sentiments, which inspired her with regard to Adrienne, had so troubled the clearness of her ordinarily calm judgment, that, instead of the plain and quiet style, in which, as a woman of tact and taste, she was generally attired, she now committed the folly of wearing a dress of changing hues, and a crimson hat, adorned with a magnificent bird of paradise.Hate, envy, the pride of triumph--
for she thought of the skillful perfidy with which she had sent to almost certain death the daughters of Marshal Simon--and the execrable hope of succeeding in new plots, were all expressed in the countenance of the Princess de Saint-Dizier, as she entered her niece's apartment.
Without advancing to meet her aunt, Adrienne rose politely from the sofa on which she was seated, made a half-curtsey, full of grace and dignity, and immediately resumed her former posture.Then, pointing to an arm-
chair near the fireplace, at one corner of which sat Mother Bunch, and she herself at the other, she said: "Pray sit down, your highness." The princess turned very red, remained standing, and cast a disdainful glance of insolent surprise at the sempstress, who, in compliance with Adrienne's wish, only bowed slightly at the entrance of the Princess de Saint-Dizier, wihout offering to give up her place.In acting thus, the young sempstress followed the dictates of her conscience, which told her that the real superiority did not belong to this base, hypocritical, and wicked princess, but rather to such a person as herself, the admirable and devoted friend.
"Let me beg your highness to sit down," resumed Adrienne, in a mild tone, as she pointed to the vacant chair.
"The interview I have demanded, niece," said the princess "must be a private one."
"I have no secrets, madame, from my best friend; you may speak in the presence of this young lady."
"I have long known," replied Madame de Saint-Dizier, with bitter irony, "that in all things you care little for secrecy, and that you are easy in the choice of what you call your friends.But you will permit me to act differently from you.If you have no secrets, madame, I have--and I do not choose to confide them to the first comer."
So saying, the pious lady glanced contemptuously at the sempstress.The latter, hurt at the insolent tone of the princess, answered mildly and simply:
"I do not see what can be the great difference between the first and the last comer to Mdlle.de Cardoville's."
"What! can it speak!" cried the princess, insolently.
"It can at least answer, madame," replied Mother Bunch, in her calm voice.
"I wish to see you alone, niece--is that clear?" said the princess, impatiently, to her niece.
"I beg your pardon, but I do not quite understand your highness," said Adrienne, with an air of surprise."This young lady, who honors me with her friendship, is willing to be present at this interview, which you have asked for--I say she has consented to be present, for it needs, I confess, the kindest condescension in her to resign herself, from affection for me, to hear all the graceful, obliging, and charming things which you have no doubt come hither to communicate."
"Madame--" began the princess, angrily.