The Wandering Jew — Complete
"And now, my dear child," said he, as they both entered the passage, "I
no longer need you assistance; return to your friend, and tell her the
good news you have heard."
"Yes, sir, you are right. I burn with impatience to tell her what a good
man you are." And Rose-Pompon sprung towards the stairs.
"Stop, stop! how about my basket that the little madcap carries off with
her?" said Rodin.
"Oh true! I beg your pardon, sir. Poor Cephyse! how pleased she will be.
Adieu, sir!" And Rose-Pompon's pretty figure disappeared in the darkness
of the staircase, which she mounted with an alert and impatient step.
Rodin issued from the entry. "Here is your basket, my good lady," said
he, stopping at the threshold of Mother Arsene's shop. "I give you my
humble thanks for your kindness."
"For nothing, my dear sir, for nothing. It is all at your service. Well,
was the radish good?"
"Succulent, my dear madame, and excellent."
"Oh! I am glad of it. Shall we soon see you again?"
"I hope so. But could you tell me where is the nearest post-office?"
"Turn to the left, the third house, at the grocer's."
"A thousand thanks."
"I wager it's a love letter for your sweetheart," said Mother Arsene,
enlivened probably by Rose Pompon's and Ninny Moulin's proximity.
"Ha! ha! ha! the good lady!" said Rodin, with a titter. Then, suddenly
resuming his serious aspect, he made a low bow to the greengrocer,
adding: "Your most obedient humble servant!" and walked out into the
street.
We now usher the reader into Dr. Baleinier's asylum, in which Mdlle. de
Cardoville was confined.
CHAPTER XXXII. THE ADVICE.
Adrienne de Cardoville had been still more strictly confined in Dr.
Baleinier's house, since the double nocturnal attempt of Agricola and
Dagobert, in which the soldier, though severely wounded, had succeeded,
thanks to the intrepid devotion of his son, seconded by the heroic Spoil
sport, in gaining the little garden gate of the convent, and escaping by
way of the boulevard, along with the young smith. Four o'clock had just
struck. Adrienne, since the previous day, had been removed to a chamber
on the second story of the asylum. The grated window, with closed
shutters, only admitted a faint light to this apartment. The young lady,
since her interview with Mother Bunch, expected to be delivered any day
by the intervention of her friends. But she felt painful uneasiness on
the subject of Agricola and Dagobert, being absolutely ignorant of the
issue of the struggle in which her intended liberators had been engaged
with the people of the asylum and convent. She had in vain questioned
her keepers on the subject; they had remained perfectly mute. These new
incidents had augmented the bitter resentment of Adrienne against the
Princess de Saint Dizier, Father d'Aigrigny, and their creatures. The
slight paleness of Mdlle. de Cardoville's charming face, and her fine
eyes a little drooping, betrayed her recent sufferings; seated before
a little table, with her forehead resting upon one of her hands, half
veiled by the long curls of her golden hair, she was turning over the
leaves of a book. Suddenly, the door opened, and M. Baleinier entered.
The doctor, a Jesuit, in lay attire, a docile and passive instrument
of the will of his Order, was only half in the confidence of Father
d'Aigrigny and the Princess de Saint-Dizier. He was ignorant of the
object of the imprisonment of Mdlle. de Cardoville; he was ignorant also
of the sudden change which had taken place in the relative position
of Father d'Aigrigny and Rodin, after the reading of the testament
of Marius de Rennepont. The doctor had, only the day before, received
orders from Father d'Aigrigny (now acting under the directions of Rodin)
to confine Mdlle. de Cardoville still more strictly, to act towards her
with redoubled severity, and to endeavor to force her, it will be seen
by what expedients, to renounce the judicial proceedings, which she
promised herself to take hereafter against her persecutors. At sight of
the doctor, Mdlle. de Cardoville could not hide the aversion and disdain
with which this man inspired her. M. Baleinier, on the contrary, always
smiling, always courteous, approached Adrienne with perfect ease and
confidence, stopped a few steps from her, as if to study her features
more attentively, and then added like a man who is satisfied with the
observations he had made: "Come! the unfortunate events of the night
before last have had a less injurious influence than I feared. There is
some improvement; the complexion is less flushed, the look calmer,
the eyes still somewhat too bright, but no longer shining with such
unnatural fire. You are getting on so well! Now the cure must be
prolonged--for this unfortunate night affair threw you into a state
of excitement, that was only the more dangerous from your not being
conscious of it. Happily, with care, your recovery will not, I hope, be
very much delayed." Accustomed though she was to the audacity of this
tool of the Congregation, Mdlle. de Cardoville could not forbear saying
to him, with a smile of bitter disdain: "What impudence, sir, there is
in your probity! What effrontery in your zeal to earn your hire! Never
for a moment do you lay aside your mask; craft and falsehood are ever on
your lips. Really, if this shameful comedy causes you as much fatigue as
it does me disgust and contempt, they can never pay you enough."
"Alas!" said the doctor, in a sorrowful tone; "always this unfortunate
delusion, that you are not in want of our care!--that I am playing a
part, when I talk to you of the sad state in which you were when we were
obliged to bring you hither by stratagem. Still, with the exception of
this little sign of rebellious insanity, your condition has marvellously
improved. You are on the high-road to a complete cure. By-and-by, your
excellent heart will render me the justice that is due to me; and, one
day, I shall be judged as I deserve."
"I, believe it, sir; the day approaches, in which you will be judged as
you deserve," said Adrienne, laying great stress upon the two words.
"Always that other fixed idea," said the doctor with a sort of
commiseration. "Come, be reasonable. Do not think of this childishness."
"What! renounce my intention to demand at the hands of justice
reparation for myself, and disgrace for you and your accomplices? Never,
sir--never!"
"Well!" said the doctor, shrugging his shoulders; "once at liberty,
thank heaven, you will have many other things to think of, my fair
enemy."
"You forget piously the evil that you do; but I, sir, have a better
memory."
"Let us talk seriously. Have you really the intention of applying to the
courts?" inquired Dr. Baleinier, in a grave tone.
"Yes, sir, and you know that what I intend, I firmly carry out."
"Well! I can only conjure you not to follow out this idea," replied the
doctor, in a still more solemn tone; "I ask it as a favor, in the name
of your own interest."
"I think, sir, that you are a little too ready to confound your interest
with mine."
"Now come," said Dr. Baleinier, with a feigned impatience, as if quite
certain of convincing Mdlle. de Cardoville on the instant; "would you
have the melancholy courage to plunge into despair two persons full of
goodness and generosity?"
"Only two? The jest would be complete, if you were to reckon three:
you, sir, and my aunt, and Abbe d'Aigrigny; for these are no doubt the
generous persons in whose name you implore my pity."
"No, madame; I speak neither of myself, nor of your aunt, nor of Abbe
d'Aigrigny."
"Of whom, then, sir?" asked Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise.
"Of two poor fellows, who, no doubt sent by those whom you call your
friends, got into the neighboring convent the other night, and thence
into this garden. The guns which you heard go off were fired at them."
"Alas! I thought so. They refused to tell me if either of them was
wounded," said Adrienne, with painful emotion.
"One of them received a wound, but not very serious, since he was able
to fly and escape pursuit."
"Thank God!" cried Mdlle. de Cardoville, clasping her hands with fervor.
"It is quite natural that you should rejoice at their escape, but
by what strange contradiction do you now wish to put the officers of
justice on their track? A singular manner, truly, of rewarding their
devotion!"
"What do you say, sir?" asked Mdlle. de Cardoville.
"For if they should be arrested," resumed Dr. Baleinier, without
answering her, "as they have been guilty of housebreaking and attempted
burglary, they would be sent to the galleys."
"Heavens! and for my sake!"
"Yes; it would be for you, and what is worse, by you, that they would be
condemned."
"By me, sir?"
"Certainly; that is, if you follow up your vengeance against your aunt
and Abbe d'Aigrigny--I do not speak of myself, for I am quite safe; in
a word, if you persist in laying your complaint before the magistrates,
that you have been unjustly confined in this house."
"I do not understand you, sir. Explain yourself," said Adrienne, with
growing uneasiness.
"Child that you are!" cried the Jesuit of the short robe, with an air of
conviction; "do you think that if the law once takes cognizance of this
affair, you can stop short its action where and when you please? When
you leave this house, you lodge a complaint against me and against
your family; well, what happens? The law interferes, inquires, calls
witnesses, enters into the most minute investigations. Then, what
follows? Why, that this nocturnal escalade, which the superior of the
convent has some interest in hushing up, for fear of scandal--that this
nocturnal attempt, I say, which I also would keep quiet, is necessarily
divulged, and as it involves a serious crime, to which a heavy penalty
is attached, the law will ferret into it, and find out these unfortunate
men, and if, as is probable, they are detained in Paris by their duties
or occupations, or even by a false security, arising from the honorable
motives which they know to have actuated them, they will be arrested.
And who will be the cause of this arrest? You, by your deposition
against us."
"Oh, sir! that would be horrible; but it is impossible."
"It is very possible, on the contrary," returned M. Baleinier: "so that,
while I and the superior of the convent, who alone are really entitled
to complain, only wish to keep quiet this unpleasant affair, it is
you--you, for whom these unfortunate men have risked the galleys--that
will deliver them up to justice."
Though Mdlle. de Cardoville was not completely duped by the lay Jesuit,
she guessed that the merciful intentions which he expressed with regard
to Dagobert and his son, would be absolutely subordinate to the course
she might take in pressing or abandoning the legitimate vengeance which
she meant to claim of authority. Indeed, Rodin, whose instructions the
doctor was following without knowing it, was too cunning to have it said
to Mdlle. de Cardoville: "If you attempt any proceedings, we denounce
Dagobert and his son;" but he attained the same end, by inspiring
Adrienne with fears on the subject of her two liberators, so as to
prevent her taking any hostile measures. Without knowing the exact law
on the subject, Mdlle. de Cardoville had too much good sense not to
understand that Dagobert and Agricola might be very seriously involved
in consequence of their nocturnal adventure, and might even find
themselves in a terrible position. And yet, when she thought of all
she had suffered in that house, and of all the just resentment she
entertained in the bottom of her heart, Adrienne felt unwilling to
renounce the stern pleasure of exposing such odious machinations to the
light of day. Dr. Baleinier watched with sullen attention her whom he