He is at least my most cherished--habit.My suspicions were absurd,thou wert right in combating them.By way of precaution,however,make a tour of the corridor between midnight and two o'clock.Now come and double-lock me in my room,for I feel a paroxy** coming on.To-morrow at five o'clock thou wilt come to open it for me.""Count Kostia!"murmured Gilbert,when he found himself in his room,"fear no longer that I shall think of leaving you.Whatever happens,I remain here.Count Kostia,understand me,you have buried the smile:I take heaven to witness that I will resuscitate it."XI
The day following the one on which Gilbert had resolved to remain at Geierfels,Father Alexis rose at an early hour,and betook himself as usual to his dear chapel;he entered with a slow step,bowed back,and anxious face;but when he had traversed the nave and stood before the main entrance to the choir,the influence of the holy place began to dissipate his melancholy;his thoughts took a more serene turn,and his face brightened.
For several days Father Alexis had been occupied in painting a group of three figures,Abraham,Isaac,and Jacob,and their posterity on their knees.It was the exact copy of a picture in the Convent of Lavra.These patriarchs were gravely seated upon a grassy bank,separated from each other by little shrubs of a somewhat fantastic shape.Their venerable heads were crowned with aureoles;their abundant hair,combed with the greatest care,fell majestically upon their shoulders,and their thick beards descended to the middle of their breasts.
Father Alexis worked for nearly an hour,when he heard a step in the court,and turning his head quickly,perceived Gilbert coming towards the chapel.The priest thrilled with joy,as a fisherman might,who after long hours of mortal waiting sees a fish of good size imprudently approaching his net.Eager for his prey,he threw aside his brush,quickly descended the ladder with the agility of a young man and ran to place himself in ambuscade near the door,where he waited with bated breath.As soon as Gilbert appeared,he rushed upon him,seized him by the arm,and looked upon him with eyes which seemed to say:"You are caught,and you won't escape from me either."When he had recovered from his first excess of joy,"Ah,my son,"exclaimed he,"what happy inspiration brings you hither?""M.Leminof is not well to-day,"answered Gilbert,"and I thought Icould make no better use of my leisure than to pay my respects to you.""Oh!what a charming idea,"said the priest,looking at him with ineffable tenderness."Come,come,my son,I will show you all,yes all."This word ALL was pronounced with such an energetic accent,that Gilbert was startled.It may be readily believed that it was not exactly about Byzantine pictures that he was curious at this moment.Nevertheless,he entered with great good-nature into a minute examination of the images of the choir and the nave;he praised all which appeared praiseworthy,kept silent upon the prominent defects which offended the delicacy of his taste,and allowed himself to criticise only some of the details.
At last he announced to the priest that he wished to talk with him of a serious matter.
"A serious matter?"
And the face of the good father became grave."Have you anything to confess to me?What am I saying?You are not orthodox,my child,--would to God you were.""Let us descend,let us descend,"said Gilbert,putting his foot upon the ladder.
They descended and seated themselves upon the end of a white marble step,which extended the entire width of the nave,at the entrance of the choir.
"My son,"began the priest timidly,"yesterday evening--""That is precisely what I want to talk to you about,"said Gilbert.
"Ah!you are a good,generous child.You saw my embarrassment,and you wished,--I confess it,a slight drowsiness,--flesh is weak,--ah,it is good in you.Favors do not turn your head.Speak,speak,I am all attention.""It is understood that you will keep the secret,father,for you know--""I understand!we should be lost if it were known that we talked of certain things together.Oh!you need not be afraid.If Kostia Petrovitch alludes to this matter,I shall appear to know nothing,and I shall accuse myself of having violated the precept of the great Solomon,who said,'When thou sittest down to eat with a prince,consider attentively what is done before thee.'
"Speak with confidence,my child,and rest assured that this mouth has an old tongue in it which never says what it does not want to."When Gilbert had finished his recital,Father Alexis burst forth in exclamations accompanied by many signs of the cross.
"Oh!unhappy child!"cried he;"what folly is thine!He has then sworn his own destruction?To wish to die in mortal sin!A spirit of darkness must have taken possession of him.Then he invokes St.
George no longer every morning and evening?He prays no more,--he no longer carries on his heart the holy amulet I gave him.Ah!why did I fall asleep yesterday evening?What beautiful things I would have said to him!I would have commenced by representing to him--""I do not doubt your eloquence;but it is not remonstrance,nor good counsel that this child wants:a little happiness would answer the purpose far better.""Happiness!Ah,yes!his life is a little sad.There are certain maxims of education--""It is not a question of maxims of education,but of a father who betrays an open hatred to his son.""Holy Virgin!"exclaimed the priest with a gesture of terror,"you must not say such things,my child.These are words which the good God does not like to hear.Never repeat them,it would be neither prudent nor charitable."Gilbert persisted;announcing the conjectures which he had formed as certainties,and even exaggerating his suspicions in the hope that the priest,in correcting him,would furnish the explanations which he desired.The success of this little artifice surpassed his expectation.
"I know for a certainty,"said he,"that M.Leminof loved his wife,--that she was unfaithful to him--that he finished by suspecting her,and that he revenged himself--""False!false!"cried the priest with deep emotion."To hear you one would believe that Count Kostia killed his wife.You have heard lying reports.The truth is,that the Countess Olga poisoned herself,and then feeling the approach of death,became terrified and implored aid.It was useless:they could not counteract the effects of the poison.She then sent in haste for me.I had but just time to receive her confession.Oh!what a frightful scene,my child!Why recall it to me?And above all,whose calumnious tongue--""I have been told,also,"pursued the inflexible Gilbert,"that after this deplorable event M.Leminof,holding in abhorrence the localities which witnessed his dishonor,quitted Moscow and Russia,and went to Martinique.Having arrived there,he lost,after some months'residence,one of his two children,a daughter if I am not mistaken,and this death may have been hastened by--""A fresh calumny!"interrupted the priest,looking steadily at Gilbert."The young girl died of yellow fever.Kostia Petrovitch never raised a finger against his children.Ah!tell me what viper's tongue--""It is not a calumny,at least,to state that he has two good reasons for not loving his son.First,because he is the living portrait of his mother,and then because he doubts,perhaps,if this child is really his son.""An impious doubt,which I have combated with all my strength.
This child was born nine years before his mother committed her first and only fault.I have said it,and I repeat it.It has been objected that he was born after six years of a marriage which seemed condemned by Heaven to an eternal sterility:--fatal circumstance,which appeared proof positive to a vindictive and ulcerated heart.But again,who could have told you--""One more word:before leaving for Martinique,M.Leminof did everything he could to discover the lover of his wife.His suspicions fell upon one of his intimate friends named Morlof.In his blind fury he killed him,but nevertheless Morlof was innocent.""Did they tell you that he assassinated him?"said Father Alexis,who became more and more agitated."Another calumny!he killed him in a regular duel.Holy Virgin!the sin was grave enough;but the police hushed up the matter,and absolution has been granted him.""Alas!"resumed Gilbert,"if the church has pardoned,the conscience of the murderer persists in condemning;it curses that rash hand which shed innocent blood,and by a strange aberration it exhorts him to wash out this fatal mistake in the blood of the real offender.This offender,after six years'fruitless search,he has not given up the hope of discovering;he will go into the very bowels of the earth to find him,if he must,and if by chance there is some heart upon which the name is written,he will open that heart with the point of his sword to decipher those letters of blood and of fire!"Gilbert pronounced these last words in a vibrating voice.He had suddenly forgotten where he was and to whom he was speaking.He thought he again saw before him the scene of the corridor,and could again hear those terrible words which had frozen the blood in his veins.The priest was seized with a convulsive trembling;but he soon mastered it.He raised himself slowly and stood up before Gilbert,his arms crossed upon his breast.Within a few moments his face became dignified,and at the same time his language.Now the transformation was complete;Gilbert had no longer before him the timid,easy soul who trembled before a frown,the epicure in quest of agreeable sensations,the vain artist ingeniously begging eulogies.The priest's eyes opened wide and shone like coals of fire;his lips,wreathed in a bitter smile,seemed ready to launch the thunders of excommunication;and a truly sacerdotal majesty diffused itself as if by miracle over his face.Gilbert could scarcely believe his eyes;he looked at him in silence,incapable of recognizing this new Father Alexis,who had just been revealed to him.
Then,said the priest,speaking to himself:
"Brother!what simplicity is yours!A few caresses,a few cajoleries,and your satisfied vanity silences your distrust and disarms your good sense!Did you not know that this young man is the intimate friend of your master?"Then bowing towards Gilbert:
"They thought then that you could make me speak.And you imagined yourself that a coarse artifice and some threatening talk would suffice to tear from me a secret I have guarded for nearly seven years.Presumptuous young man,return to him who sent you,and repeat faithfully what I am about to say to you:One day at Martinique,in a remote house some distance from the outskirts of the town of St.Pierre,--let me speak,my story will be short.--Picture to yourself a great dark hall,with a table in the center.--They shut me in there near noon;the next day at evening I was there still,and for thirty hours I neither ate nor drank.The night came,--they stretched me upon a table,--bound me and tied me down.Then I saw bending over me a face more terrible than thou wilt ever see,even in thy dreams,and a mouth which sneered as the damned must sneer,approached my ear and said to me:'Father Alexis,I want your secret--I will have it.'I breathed not a word;they tightened the cords with a jack,and I did not speak;they piled weights on my chest,and I spoke not;they put boots upon me which I hope never to see upon thy feet,and I spake not;my bones cracked,and I spake not;I saw my blood gush out,and Idid not speak.At length a supreme anguish seized me,a red cloud passed over my eyes,I felt my heart freezing,and I thought myself dying.Then I spoke and said:'Count Leminof,thou canst kill me,but thou shalt not tear from me the secrets of the confessional.'"And at these words,the priest stooping,laid bare his right foot and showed Gilbert the bruised and withered flesh,and bones deformed by torture;then covering it again he recoiled,as if from a serpent in his path,and cried in a thundering voice,extending his arms to Heaven:
"God curse the vipers who take the form of doves!Oh,Solomon,hast thou not written in thy Proverbs:'When he shall speak graciously,do not believe him,for he has seven abominations in his heart'?"As he listened to the recital of the priest,Gilbert was reminded of some incoherent phrases of the somnambulist,which he had not been able to explain:"STRETCH HIM ON THIS TABLE!THE BLACK ROBE!
TIGHTEN THE IRON BOOTS!"
"That black robe then,"said he to himself,"was Father Alexis."He rose and looked at the priest in surprise and admiration;he could not take his eyes from that face which he believed he saw for the first time,and he murmured in a low voice:
"My God!how complex is the heart of man.What a discovery I have just made!"Then he tried to approach him;but the priest,still recoiling and raising his arms threateningly above his head,repeated:
"Cursed be the vipers who come in the form of doves!""And I say,"cried Gilbert,"blessed forever be the lips which have touched the sacred coal,and keep their secrets even unto death!"And rushing upon him he took him in his arms,and kissed three times the scar which the cruel bite of Solon had left.
Father Alexis was surprised,stupefied,and confounded.He looked at Gilbert,then at Abraham,then at Jacob.He uttered disjointed phrases.He called upon Heaven to witness what had happened to him,gesticulated and wept until,overcome by emotion,he dropped on the marble step,and hid his face,bathed in tears,in his hands.
"Father,"said Gilbert respectfully,seating himself near him,"pardon me for the agitation I have caused you.And if by chance some distrust of me remains,listen to what I am about to tell you,for I am going to put myself at your mercy,and by betraying a secret it will depend upon you to have me expelled from this house the day and hour you please."He then related to him the scene of the corridor.
"Judge for yourself what impression the terrible words I heard produced upon me!For some days my mind has been at work.Iceaselessly tried to picture to myself the details of this lamentable affair;but fearing to stray in my suspicions,I wished to make a clean breast of it,and came to find you.I have grieved you sorely,father;once more,will you pardon my rash curiosity?"Father Alexis raised his head.Farewell to the saint!farewell to the prophet!His face had resumed its habitual expression;the sublime tempest which had transfigured it had left but a few almost invisible traces of its passage.He looked at Gilbert reproachfully.
"Ah!"said he,"it was only for this that you sought me?My dear child,you do not love the arts then?"XII
That day Gilbert passed an entire hour at his window.It was not the Rhine which fixed his attention,nor the precipice,the mountains nor the clouds.The narrow space within which he confined his gaze was bounded on the west by the great square tower,on the south by a gable,on the north by a spout;I mean to say that the object of his contemplations was a very irregular,very undulating roof,or to speak more accurately,two adjacent and parallel roofs,one higher than the other by twelve feet,and both inclining by a steep slope towards a frightful precipice.
As he closed the window,he said to himself:
"After all,it is less difficult than I thought;two rope ladders will do the business,with God's help!"M.Leminof finding himself too much indisposed to leave his room,Gilbert dined alone in his turret;after which he went out for a walk on the borders of the Rhine.As he left the path for the main road,he saw Stephane and Ivan within twenty paces of him.
Perceiving him,the young man made an angry gesture,and turning his face,started his horse off at full speed.Gilbert had scarcely time to leap into the ditch to avoid being run down.As Ivan passed,he looked at him sadly,shook his head,and carried his finger to his forehead,as if to say:"You must pardon him;his poor mind is very sick."Gilbert returned to the castle without delay,and as he reached the entrance to the terrace,he saw the serf leaning against one of the doors,where he seemed to be on guard.
"My dear Ivan,"said he,"you appear to be waiting for someone.""I heard you coming,"answered he,"and I took you for Vladimir Paulitch.It was the sound of your step which deceived me;you haven't such a measured step generally.""You are a keen observer,"replied Gilbert smiling;"but who,Ipray,is this Vladimir Paulitch?"
"He is a physician from my country.He will remain two months with us.The barine wrote to him a fortnight since,when he felt that he was going to be ill;Vladimir Paulitch left immediately,and day before yesterday he wrote from Berlin,that he would be here this evening.This Vladimir is a physician who hasn't his equal.I am waiting for him to arrive.""Tell me,good Ivan,is your young master in the garden?""He is down there under the weeping ash.""Very well,you must permit me to speak to him a moment.You will even extend the obligation by saying nothing about it to Kostia Petrovitch.You know he cannot see us,for he keeps his bed now,and even if he should rise,his windows open on the inner court."Ivan's brow contracted."Impossible,impossible!"he murmured.
"Impossible?Why?Because you will not?
"Ivan,my good Ivan,it is absolutely necessary for me to speak to your young master.I have made him submit to a humiliation against my will.He mistakes my sentiments and credits me with the blackest intentions,and it will be torture to him in future to be condemned to sit at the same table with me daily.Let me explain myself to him.In two words I will make him understand who I am,and I wish him no harm."The discussion was prolonged some minutes,Ivan finally yielding,but on the condition that Gilbert should not put his good will to the proof a second time."Otherwise,"said Ivan,"if you still attempt to talk with him secretly,I cannot permit him to go out,and,of course,he could only blame you,and would then have the right to consider you an enemy."Upon his side,the serf promised that the Count should know nothing of the interview.
"Recollect,brother,"continued he,"that this is the last improper favor that you will obtain from me.You are a man of heart,but sometimes I should say that YOU HAD BEEN EATING BELLADONNA."Stephane had left the circular bank where he had been sitting,and stood,with his back against the parapet of the terrace,his arms hanging dejectedly,and his head sunk upon his breast.His reverie was so profound that Gilbert approached within ten steps of him without being perceived;but suddenly rousing himself,he raised his head quickly,and stamped his foot imperiously.
"Go away!"cried he,"go away,or I will set Vorace on you!"Vorace was the name of the bulldog that kept him company at night,and was crouching in the grass some paces distant.Of all the watchdogs of the castle,this one was the strongest and most ferocious.
"You see,"said Ivan,retaining Gilbert by the arm,"you have nothing to do here."Gilbert gently disengaged himself and continued to advance.
"Get out of my sight,"screamed Stephane."Why do you come to trouble my solitude?Who gives you the right to pursue me,to track me?How dare you look me in the face after--"He could say no more.Excitement and anger choked his voice.For some moments he looked alternately at Gilbert and the dog;then changing his purpose,he moved as if to fly,but Gilbert barred the way.
"Listen to me but a minute,"said he in a gentle and penetrating voice,"I bring you good news.""You!"exclaimed Stephane,and he repeated,"You!you!good news!""I!"said Gilbert,"for I come to announce to you my near departure."Stephane stared with wide-open eyes,and recoiled slowly to the wall,where,leaning back again,he exclaimed:
"What!are you going?Ah!certainly the news is excellent,as well as unexpected;but you are giving yourself unnecessary trouble,there was no need to forewarn me.Your departure!Great God!Ishould have been notified of it in advance by the clearness of the air,by the more vivid brightness of the sun,by some strange joy diffused through all my being.Oh!I understand,you are not able to digest the outrage done to you by the excellent Fritz at my order.You consider the reparation insufficient.You are right,Iswear it by St.George,my heart made no apologies to you.I upon my knees to you!Horror and misery!As I told you yesterday,Iyielded only to force.It was the same as if I should make my bulldog drag you down at my feet now!"Gilbert made no answer;he contented himself with drawing from his pocketbook the letter which he had written the day before,and presenting it to Stephane.
"What have I to do with this paper?"said Stephane with a gesture of disdain."You have told me your news,that is sufficient for me.Anything more you could add would spoil my happiness.""Read!"said Gilbert."I have granted you such a great favor that you can well afford to grant me a small one."--Stephane hesitated a moment,but the habitual tediousness of his life was so great that the want of diversion overcame his hatred and scorn.
"This letter is not bad!"said he as he read."Its style is eloquent,the penmanship is admirable too.It involuntarily suggests to me the tie of your cravat.Both are so correct that they are insufferable."Gilbert,smiling,untied the cravat and let the ends hang down upon his vest.
"It is not worth while to incommode yourself,"pursued Stephane,"we have so short a time to live together!Pray do not renounce your most cherished habits for me.The bow of your cravat as well as your writing,harmonize wonderfully with your whole person.Ido not suppose,however,that to please me you would reconstruct yourself from head to foot.The undertaking would be considerable.""Permit me to speak,"answered Gilbert."I have made a little change in my programme:I shall not leave tomorrow.I have granted myself a week's delay."Stephane's face darkened,and his eyes flashed.
"I swear to you here,upon my honor,"continued Gilbert,"that in a week I will leave,never to return,unless you yourself beg me to remain.""What baseness!and how cleverly this little plot has been contrived;I see it all.By force of threats and violence they hope to compel me a second time to bend my knees to you and cry with clasped hands,'Sir,in the name of Heaven,continue us the favor of your precious presence!'But this act of cowardice Ishall never commit!Rather death!rather death!""A word only,"resumed Gilbert,without being discouraged."Submit me to some proof.Have you no caprice which it is in my power to satisfy?""Throw yourself at my feet,"cried he impetuously;"drag yourself in the dust,kiss the ground before me,and demand pardon and mercy of me!At this price I will grant you,not my affection certainly,but my indulgence and pity.""Impossible!"answered Gilbert,shaking his head."I am like you;I should not know how to kneel,unless someone stronger than myself constrained me by violence.Oh,no!in such a performance I should lose even the hope of being some day esteemed by you.The more so as in the trial to which I wish you would subject me,I should desire to have some danger to brave,some difficulty to surmount."Stephane could not conceal his astonishment.Never in all his life had he heard language like this.Nevertheless,distrust and pride triumphed still over every other feeling.
"Since you wish it!"said he,sneering...and he drew a kid glove from one of his pockets,rubbed it between his hands and threw it to the bulldog,who caught in his teeth and kept it there.
"Vorace,"said he to him,"keep your master's glove between your teeth,watch it well;you will answer to me for it."Then turning to Gilbert,--"Sir,will you please restore my glove to me?I should be infinitely obliged to you for it.""Ah!this is then the trial to which you will subject me?"answered Gilbert with a smile upon his lips.
Stephane looked him in the face.For the first time,he could not avoid being struck by its noble expression and the clearness and purity of his glance.
Stephane was involuntarily moved,and strove in vain to conceal it by the jocular tone in which he replied:
"No,sir,it is not a test of your sincerity,but a jest which we shall do well not to push further.This animal is not amiable.
Should you be unfortunate enough to irritate him,it would be impossible even for me,his master,to calm his fury.Be good enough then to leave my glove where it is,and return peaceably to your study to meditate upon some important problem in Byzantine history.That will be a trial less perilous and better proportioned to your strength.Good-evening,sir,good-night.""Oh!permit me,"replied Gilbert."I am resolved to carry this adventure to its conclusion!"And gently repulsing Stephane,who sought to restrain him,he walked straight toward the bulldog.