Valentine (33 page)

“On my soul, madame,” said Bénédict, in a passion which he could not control, “you did well not to have the strength to resist, for I should have gone in search of you, at the peril of your life and my own, even if——”

“Do not finish, my poor fellow! Now you are reassured, aren't you ? You have seen me; you are perfectly sure that I am free ; let me leave you.”

“Do you think that you are in danger here, and not at the château ?”

“That is all very wrong and absurd, Bénédict. Luckily, God seems to have inspired Monsieur de Lansac with the purpose not to force me to culpable rebellion.”

“I am not afraid of your weakness, madame, but of your principles.”

“Can you dare to combat them now ?”

“I do not know what I would not dare to do now, madame. Spare me, for I am beside myself, as you see.”

“Oh !
mon Dieut”
said Valentine, bitterly; “what in heaven's name has happened to you in so short a time ? Could I expect to find you in such a state as this, when you were so calm and strong twenty-four hours ago ?”

“In twenty-four hours,” he replied, “I have lived a whole lifetime of agony; I have fought with all the demons of hell! No, no, indeed I am not what I was twenty-four hours ago. A diabolical jealousy, an inextinguishable hatred have sprung up in my heart. Ah! Valentine, twenty-four hours ago I could be virtuous, but now it is all different.”

“You are not well, my dear,” said Valentine, in dismay. “Let us part; this interview aggravates your suffering. Remember, too—Great heaven ! Didn't I see a shadow pass the window ?”

“What does it matter ?” said Bénédict, walking calmly to the window; “wouldn't it be a hundred times better to see you lying dead in my arms than to know that you were living in the arms of another man ? But you need have no fear; everything is quiet, the garden is deserted.—Listen, Valentine,” he continued, in a calm but spiritless tone, “I am very unhappy. You insisted that I should live; you condemned me to bear a heavy burden !”

“Alas !” she said, “ reproaches ! Have we not been happy for fifteen months, ungrateful boy ?”

“Yes, madame, we have been happy, but we shall not be again.”

“Why these gloomy presages? What calamity can threaten us ?”

“Your husband may take you away; he may separate us forever ; and it is impossible that he should not intend to do it.”

“But I tell you, on the contrary, that his intentions thus far seem most pacific. If he had proposed to attach me to his career, would he not have done it before this ? I have a suspicion that he is in a great hurry to settle some business matter or other.”

“I can guess the nature of the business. Allow me to tell you what it is, madame, as I have the opportunity. Do not spurn the advice of a devoted friend, who pays little heed to worldly interests and calculations, but whose indifference disappears when you are concerned. Monsieur de Lansac has debts, as you probably know.”

“I do know it, Bénédict; but it seems to me most improper to discuss his conduct with you and in this place.”

“Nothing is less
proper
than my passion for you, Valentine ; but, as you have submitted to it thus far from
compassion for me, you must also submit in your own interest to the advice that I give you. The conclusion which I am forced to draw from your husband's conduct is that he is by no means eager and, consequently, by no means worthy to possess you. You would, perhaps, forward his secret purposes by creating for yourself at once a life distinct from his.”

“I understand you, Bénédict. You suggest a separation, a sort of divorce; you advise me to commit a crime——”

“Oh! no, madame. Even according to the ideas on the subject of conjugal submission which you cherish so piously, nothing can be more strictly moral, if Monsieur de Lansac desires it, than a separation without publicity or scandal. If I were in your place, I would request it, and would seek no other security than the honor of the two persons interested. But, by an agreement of this sort, entered into with good feeling and a sense of loyalty on both sides, you would at least protect your future against the assaults of his creditors ; whereas I fear——”

“I love to hear you talk so, Bénédict,” she replied. “Such advice proves your sincerity; but I have heard my mother talk about business so much that I know a little more about it than you do. I know that no promise can bind a man who is devoid of honor to keep his hands off his wife's property; and, if I had the misfortune to be married to such a man, I should have no other safeguard than my strength of will—no other guide than my conscience. But never fear, Bénédict, Monsieur de Lansac has an honorable and generous heart. I have no fear of anything of the sort from him, and, besides, I know that he cannot dispose of any of my property without consulting me.”

“And I know that you would not refuse to sign
anything for him ; for I know your obliging disposition—your contempt for wealth.”

“You are mistaken, Bénédict. I should have courage, if it were necessary. It is true that, for my own part, I would be content with this pavilion and a few acres of land; if I were cut down to twelve hundred francs a year, I should still consider myself rich. But this property of which my sister was defrauded, this, at all events, I propose to bequeath to her son after my death : Valentin will be my heir. I propose that he shall be Comte de Raimbault some day. That is the object of my life.—Why did you shudder so, Bénédict ?”

“You ask me why ?” cried Bénédict, suddenly roused from the calmness induced by the turn their conversation had taken. “Alas! how little you know of life! how placid and over-confident you are! You talk of dying without children, as if—Merciful Heaven ! All my blood rises at the thought! But, by my soul, if you do not speak the truth, madame-
⁹⁹

He rose and paced the floor excitedly. From time to time he hid his face in his hands, and his loud breathing betrayed his mental agony.

“My friend,” said Valentine, gently, “you have no strength of will, no reasoning power to-day. The subject of our conversation is of too delicate a nature ! Take my advice; let us stop here, for I am much to blame for coming here at such an hour at the call of a reckless child. These stormy thoughts which torment you I cannot banish by my silence ; but you should know how to interpret it without insisting that I make promises that I must not make.—But,” she added, in a trembling voice, as she saw that Bénédict became more and more excited as she spoke, “if it is absolutely necessary, to reassure you and restrain you, that I fail in all my duties and
disregard all my scruples, why, be satisfied: I swear to you by your affection and my own—I dare not swear by heaven—that I will die rather than belong to any man.”

“At last,” rejoined Bénédict hurriedly, as he drew nearer to her, “ you deign to toss me a word of encouragement ! I thought that you were going to send me away devoured by anxiety and jealousy ; I thought that you would never sacrifice to me a single one of your narrow ideas. Do you really promise that ? Why, madame, this is heroic !”

“You are very bitter, Bénédict. It is a long time since I have seen you like this. Every sort of sorrow must needs come upon me at once !”

“Ah ! it is because I love you madly,” said Bénédict, grasping her arm in an outburst of frenzy. “I would sell my soul to save your life; I would sell my chance of heaven to spare your heart the slightest pang ; I would commit any crime in the calendar to please you, and you would not make the most trivial misstep to make me happy.”

“Oh! don't talk so,” she replied in a disheartened tone. “I have been accustomed to trust you for so long a time; now I must begin again to fear you and struggle against you! perhaps I shall have to fly from you.”

“Let us not play upon words!” cried Bénédict, fiercely, dropping with a violent gesture the arm which he held. “You talk about flying from me! Condemn me to death ; that will be a quicker way. I did not think, madame, that you would go back to such threats. Do you imagine, pray, that these fifteen months have changed me ? Well, you are right; they have made me love you more madly than ever; they have given me the power to live, whereas my former love gave me only strength to
die. Now, Valentine, it is too late to stop. I love you to the exclusion of all else ; I have no one but you on earth; I love Louise and her son only for your sake. You are my future, my goal, my only passion, my only thought. What do you suppose will become of me if you throw me over ? I have no ambition, no friends, no trade ; I shall never have any of the things that make up the lives of other men. You have often told me that when I am older I shall be eager for the same things as the rest of mankind. I don't know whether you will ever prove to be right in that respect; but this much is certain, that I am still very far from the age when the noble passions die out, and I shall never care to reach that age if you abandon me. No, Valentine, you will not drive me away from you; it is impossible. Have pity on me, for my courage is exhausted.”

Bénédict burst into tears. It requires such intense mental excitement to reduce an agitated, passionate man to tears and to the weakness of a child, that the least impressionable woman can rarely resist such sudden outbursts of overpowering emotion. Valentine threw herself weeping into the arms of the man she loved, and the consuming ardor of the kiss in which their lips met proved to her at last how closely akin to madness is the mental exaltation of virtue. But they had little time to reflect upon it, for they had no sooner exchanged the fervid effusion of their hearts than a short, dry cough, and the humming of an operatic air under the window with the most perfect tranquillity, almost paralyzed Valentine with terror. She tore herself from Bénédict's embrace, and grasping his arm with one cold, trembling hand, covered his mouth with the other.

“We are lost,” she whispered; “it is he !”

“Valentine, my dear, aren't you here?” said
Monsieur de Lansac, approaching the steps without a trace of excitement.

“Hide!” said Valentine, pushing Bénédict behind a tall mirror which stood in a corner of the room.

And she darted to meet Monsieur de Lansac, armed with that skill in dissimulation which necessity, as if by a miracle, places at the service of the most inexperienced woman.

“I was very sure that I saw you go toward the pavilion a quarter of an hour ago,” said Lansac as he entered; “and, as I did not wish to disturb your solitary walk, I went in another direction for my own ; but the instinct of the heart or the magic force of your presence leads me involuntarily to the place where you are. I am not impertinent, am I, to interrupt your meditations thus ? Will you deign to admit me to your sanctuary ?”

“I came here to get a book which I want to finish tonight,” said Valentine in a loud, hurried tone, very different from her ordinary voice.

“Allow me to tell you, my dear Valentine, that you are leading a very strange sort of life, and that it makes me very anxious for your health. You pass your nights walking about and reading; that is neither sensible nor prudent.”

“But I assure you that you are mistaken,” said Valentine, trying to edge him toward the door. “It was by the merest chance that I came out for a breath of fresh air in the park to-night, being unable to sleep. I feel quite calm now, and I will go in.”

“But the book that you came for,—you haven't it, have you ?”

“Oh I that is true !” said Valentine, in confusion. And she pretended to look for a book on the piano.
By an unlucky chance there was not a single book in the room.

“How do you expect to find it in this darkness ?” said Monsieur de Lansac. “Let me light a candle.”

“Oh ! that would be impossible !” exclaimed Valentine in dismay. “No, no, don't light one ; I don't need the book ; I haven't any desire to read now.”

“But why give it up when it's so easy to procure a light ? I noticed a very pretty box of phosphorus on the mantel-piece yesterday. I will wager I can put my hand on it.”

As he spoke, he took the box and thrust in a match, which blazed up and cast a bright light about the room, then changed to a faint blue flame, and seemed to die while taking fire; that brief gleam sufficed to allow Monsieur de Lansac to catch the terrified glance which his wife cast at the mirror. When the candle was lighted, he adopted a still calmer and more artless tone: he knew where Bénédict was.

“As we happen to be together, my dear,” he said, seating himself on the sofa, to Valentine's intense disgust, “I am resolved to talk to you of a matter of some importance which is annoying me. Here we are quite sure not to be overheard or interrupted. Will you be kind enough to give me your attention for a few moments?”

Valentine, paler than a ghost, sank into a chair.

“Please come nearer, my dear,” said Monsieur de Lansac, drawing toward him a small table on which he placed the candle.

He rested his chin on his hand, and began the conversation with the self-possession of a man accustomed to propose peace or war to monarchs in the same tone of voice.

“I presume, my dear love, that you desire to know something of my plans, in order to make yours conform to them,” he began, fixing his eyes upon her with a piercing gaze which held her, like one fascinated, where she sat.- “ Let me tell you, therefore, that I cannot leave my post, as I had hoped, for several years to come. My fortune has suffered a considerable diminution, which it is necessary for me to make up by my labors. Shall I take you with me, or shall I not take you ?
That is the question,
as Hamlet says. Do you wish to go with me ? Do you wish to stay here ? So far as it is in my power, I will comply with your wishes ; but give me a definite answer, for, in this respect, your letters have been marked by a too modest restraint. I am your husband after all, and I have some claim to your confidence.”