The Wandering Jew — Complete
having you for a friend, and you will see that it shall be so. But now
that I think of it (a little late, you will say), what good wind brings
you hither?"
"This morning M. Dagobert received a letter, in which he was requested
to come to this place, to learn some news that would be of the greatest
interest to him. Thinking it concerned Marshal Simon's daughters, he
said to me: 'Mother Bunch, you have taken so much interest in those
dear children, that you must come with me: you shall witness my joy on
finding them, and that will be your reward.'"
Adrienne glanced at Rodin. The latter made an affirmative movement of
the head, and answered: "Yes, yes, my dear young lady: it was I who
wrote to the brave soldier, but without signing the letter, or giving
any explanation. You shall know why."
"Then, my dear girl, why did you come alone?" said Adrienne.
"Alas, madame! on arriving here, it was your kind reception that made me
forget my fears."
"What fears?" asked Rodin.
"Knowing that you lived here, madame, I supposed the letter was from
you; I told M. Dagobert so, and he thought the same. When we arrived,
his impatience was so great, that he asked at the door if the orphans
were in this house, and he gave their description. They told him no.
Then, in spite of my supplications, he insisted on going to the convent
to inquire about them."
"What imprudence!" cried Adrienne.
"After what took place the other night, when he broke in," added Rodin,
shrugging his shoulders.
"It was in vain to tell him," returned Mother Bunch, "that the letter
did not announce positively, that the orphans would be delivered up to
him; but that, no doubt, he would gain some information about them. He
refused to hear anything, but said to me: 'If I cannot find them, I will
rejoin you. But they were at the convent the day before yesterday, and
now that all is discovered, they cannot refuse to give them up--"
"And with such a man there is no disputing!" said Rodin, with a smile.
"I hope they will not recognize him!" said Adrienne, remembering
Baleinier's threats.
"It is not likely," replied Rodin; "they will only refuse him
admittance. That will be, I hope, the worst misfortune that will happen.
Besides, the magistrate will soon be here with the girls. I am no longer
wanted: other cares require my attention. I must seek out Prince Djalma.
Only tell me, my dear young lady, where I shall find you, to keep you
informed of my discoveries, and to take measures with regard to the
young prince, if my inquiries, as I hope, shall be attended with
success."
"You will find me in my new house, Rue d'Anjou, formerly Beaulieu House.
But now I think of it," said Adrienne, suddenly, after some moments of
reflection, "it would not be prudent or proper, on many accounts, to
lodge the Prince Djalma in the pavilion I occupied at Saint-Dizier
House. I saw, some time ago, a charming little house, all furnished and
ready; it only requires some embellishments, that could be completed in
twenty four hours, to make it a delightful residence. Yes, that will be
a thousand times preferable," added Mdlle. de Cardoville, after a new
interval of silence; "and I shall thus be able to preserve the strictest
incognito."
"What!" cried Rodin, whose projects would be much impeded by this new
resolution of the young lady; "you do not wish him to know who you are?"
"I wish Prince Djalma to know absolutely nothing of the anonymous friend
who comes to his aid; I desire that my name should not be pronounced
before him, and that he should not even know of my existence--at
least, for the present. Hereafter--in a month, perhaps--I will see;
circumstances will guide me."
"But this incognito," said Rodin, hiding his disappointment, "will be
difficult to preserve."
"If the prince had inhabited the lodge, I agree with you; the
neighborhood of my aunt would have enlightened him, and this fear is one
of the reasons that have induced me to renounce my first project. But
the prince will inhabit a distant quarter--the Rue Blanche. Who will
inform him of my secret? One of my old friends, M. Norval--you, sir--and
this dear girl," pointing to Mother Bunch, "on whose discretion I can
depend as on your own, will be my only confidants. My secret will then
be quite safe. Besides, we will talk further on this subject to-morrow.
You must begin by discovering the retreat of this unfortunate young
prince."
Rodin, though much vexed at Adrienne's subtle determination with
regard to Djalma, put the best face on the matter, and replied: "Your
intentions shall be scrupulously fulfilled, my dear young lady; and
to-morrow, with your leave, I hope to give you a good account of what
you are pleased to call my providential mission."
"To-morrow, then, I shall expect you with impatience," said Adrienne, to
Rodin, affectionately. "Permit me always to rely upon you, as from this
day you may count upon me. You must be indulgent with me, sir; for I see
that I shall yet have many counsels, many services to ask of you--though
I already owe you so much."
"You will never owe me enough, my dear young lady, never enough,"
said Rodin, as he moved discreetly towards the door, after bowing to
Adrienne. At the very moment he was going out, he found himself face to
face with Dagobert.
"Holloa! at last I have caught one!" shouted the soldier, as he seized
the Jesuit by the collar with a vigorous hand.
CHAPTER XXXVII. EXCUSES.
On seeing Dagobert grasp Rodin so roughly by the collar, Mdlle. de
Cardoville exclaimed in terror, as she advanced several steps towards
the soldier: "In the name of Heaven, sir! what are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" echoed the soldier, harshly, without relaxing his
hold on Rodin, and turning his head towards Adrienne, whom he did not
know; "I take this opportunity to squeeze the throat of one of the
wretches in the band of that renegade, until he tells me where my poor
children are."
"You strangle me," said the Jesuit, in a stifled voice, as he tried to
escape from the soldier.
"Where are the orphans, since they are not here, and the convent door
has been closed against me?" cried Dagobert, in a voice of thunder.
"Help! help!" gasped Rodin.
"Oh! it is dreadful!" said Adrienne, as, pale and trembling, she held up
her clasped hands to Dagobert. "Have mercy, sir! listen to me! listen to
him!"
"M. Dagobert!" cried Mother Bunch, seizing with her weak hands the
soldier's arm, and showing him Adrienne, "this is Mdlle. de Cardoville.
What violence in her presence! and then, you are deceived doubtless!"
At the name of Mdlle. de Cardoville, the benefactress of his son, the
soldier turned round suddenly, and loosened his hold on Rodin. The
latter, crimson with rage and suffocation, set about adjusting his
collar and his cravat.
"I beg your pardon, madame," said Dagobert, going towards Adrienne, who
was still pale with fright; "I did not known who you were, and the first
impulse of anger quite carried me away."
"But what has this gentleman done to you?" said Adrienne. "If you had
listened to me, you would have learned--"
"Excuse me if I interrupt you, madame," said the soldier to Adrienne, in
a hollow voice. Then addressing himself to Rodin, who had recovered his
coolness, he added: "Thank the lady, and begone!--If you remain here, I
will not answer for myself."
"One word only, my dear sir," said Rodin.
"I tell you that if you remain, I will not answer for myself!" cried
Dagobert, stamping his foot.
"But, for heaven's sake, tell me the cause of this anger," resumed
Adrienne; "above all, do not trust to appearances. Calm yourself, and
listen."
"Calm myself, madame!" cried Dagobert, in despair; "I can think only of
one thing, ma dame--of the arrival of Marshal Simon--he will be in Paris
to-day or to-morrow."
"Is it possible?" said Adrienne. Rodin started with surprise and joy.
"Yesterday evening," proceeded Dagobert, "I received a letter from the
marshal: he has landed at Havre. For three days I have taken step
after step, hoping that the orphans would be restored to me, as the
machinations of those wretches have failed." He pointed to Rodin with a
new gesture of impatience. "Well! it is not so. They are conspiring some
new infamy. I am prepared for anything."
"But, sir," said Rodin advancing, "permit me--"
"Begone!" cried Dagobert, whose irritation and anxiety redoubled, as he
thought how at any moment Marshal Simon might arrive in Paris. "Begone!
Were it not for this lady, I would at least be revenged on some one."
Rodin made a nod of intelligence to Adrienne, whom he approached
prudently, and, pointing to Dagobert with a gesture of affectionate
commiseration, he said to the latter: "I will leave you, sir, and the
more willingly, as I was about to withdraw when you entered." Then,
coming still closer to Mdlle. de Cardoville, the Jesuit whispered
to her, "Poor soldier! he is beside himself with grief, and would be
incapable of hearing me. Explain it all to him, my dear young lady;
he will be nicely caught," added he, with a cunning air. "But in the
meantime," resumed Rodin, feeling in the side-pocket of his great-coat
and taking out a small parcel, "let me beg you to give him this, my dear
young lady. It is my revenge, and a very good one."
And while Adrienne, holding the little parcel in her hand looked at the
Jesuit with astonishment, the latter laying his forefinger upon his lip,
as if recommending silence, drew backward on tiptoe to the door, and
went out after again pointing to Dagobert with a gesture of pity; while
the soldier, in sullen dejection, with his head drooping, and his arms
crossed upon his bosom, remained deaf to the sewing-girl's earnest
consolations. When Rodin had left the room, Adrienne, approaching the
soldier, said to him, in her mild voice, with an expression of deep
interest, "Your sudden entry prevented my asking you a question that
greatly concerns me. How is your wound?"
"Thank you, madame," said Dagobert, starting from his painful lethargy,
"it is of no consequence, but I have not time to think of it. I am sorry
to have been so rough in your presence, and to have driven away that
wretch; but 'tis more than I could master. At sight of those people, my
blood is all up."
"And yet, believe me, you have been too hasty in your judgment. The
person who was just now here--"
"Too hasty, madame! I do not see him to-day for the first time. He was
with that renegade the Abbe d'Aigrigny--"
"No doubt!--and yet he is an honest and excellent man."
"He!" cried Dagobert.
"Yes; for at this moment he is busy about only one thing restoring to
you those dear children!"
"He!" repeated Dagobert, as if he could not believe what he heard. "He
restore me my children?"
"Yes; and sooner, perhaps, than you think for."
"Madame," said Dagobert, abruptly, "he deceives you. You are the dupe of
that old rascal."
"No," said Adrienne, shaking her head, with a smile. "I have proofs of
his good faith. First of all, it is he who delivers me from this house."
"Is it true?" said Dagobert, quite confounded.
"Very true; and here is, perhaps, something that will reconcile you to
him," said Adrienne, as she delivered the small parcel which Rodin
had given her as he went out. "Not wishing to exasperate you by his
presence, he said to me: 'Give this to that brave soldier; it is my
revenge.'"
Dagobert looked at Mdlle. de Cardoville with surprise, as he
mechanically opened the little parcel. When he had unfolded it, and
discovered his own silver cross, black with age, and the old red, faded
ribbon, treasures taken from him at the White Falcon Inn, at the same
time as his papers, he exclaimed in a broken voice: "My cross! my cross!
It is my cross!" In the excitement of his joy, he pressed the silver