Sister Anne Part 31

"That will disturb him, monsieur le baron."

"Parbleu! as he pa.s.ses all his days here, he has time enough to make love."

Dubourg and Menard walked toward the lovers; at the sound of their footsteps, Frederic turned and saw them. The girl raised her eyes, and, at sight of the two strangers, pressed closer to Frederic; and hiding her face against her lover's breast, seemed from that vantage-ground to defy all dangers.

"Bravo! my dear Frederic, bravo!" laughed Dubourg. "I understand now why you get up so early. Upon my word, your conquest is a charming creature, and that little shy manner adds to the piquancy of her features."

The dumb girl, after a swift glance at Dubourg, turned her eyes again toward Frederic, as if to ask him what it all meant.

Frederic rose and the girl did the same, clinging to her lover and gazing uneasily at the two strangers; she seemed to fear that they had come to take him from her; but Frederic rea.s.sured her, then kissed her affectionately, and bade her go and wait for him in Marguerite's garden.

It was hard for Sister Anne to obey, for she dreaded to leave him; but again Frederic promised to join her in a moment. The girl pointed to the strangers, and her eyes said:

"You won't go away with them?"

He embraced her again, whereupon she became calmer, and at last went away, not without turning her head many times to look fondly at Frederic and sadly at the strangers.

"Very pretty, very pretty, on my word!" said Dubourg, looking after her.

"If her speech resembles her plumage," murmured Menard, between his teeth, "she is the phoenix of the denizens of this forest."

"Why have you come here, messieurs?" demanded Frederic, angrily.

"Why have we come? parbleu! to look for you, who desert us and leave us penniless at an inn, to come to make love here in the woods with a peasant girl, who is very pretty, I agree, but who ought not to make you forget your friend and your venerable tutor."

Frederic made no reply, but seemed to be absorbed in thought.

"Monsieur le comte," said Menard, coming forward with an air of profound respect, "certainly it is lawful for every man to be susceptible to female charms; Adam was with Eve,--to be sure, he had no chance to be with any other woman,--Abraham with Hagar, David with Bathsheba, Samson with Delilah; and when such a man as Samson succ.u.mbed, how can we, who are not Samsons, be expected to resist? But still, monsieur le comte, _est modus in rebus_; you should not, for the sake of a new attachment, forget all that you owe to yourself, and descend from the rank in which destiny has placed you. Now, monsieur le comte your father did not allow you to take this journey for the purpose of living in the woods like a savage; whence I conclude----"

"My dear Monsieur Menard," said Frederic, emerging at last from his reverie, but making no reply to his tutor's harangue, "I have something of great importance to say to monsieur le baron; I cannot say it before anyone else, so oblige me by taking a turn up the valley; we will join you very soon."

"I cannot refuse you anything, monsieur le comte; I await your coming, with confidence."--And Menard left the woods, saying to himself: "My sermon has had a good effect; the young man realizes his wrong-doing; he will mend his ways and return to us like the prodigal son, with a white staff in one hand and his horse's rein in the other."

Menard was no sooner out of sight, than Frederic walked quickly to Dubourg's side.

"Why did you bring our mentor here? why have you tracked me to this forest? am I no longer the master of my actions?"

"In the first place, the mentor is not a very alarming person; secondly, we were bound to find out what had become of you, as we heard nothing from you; and, lastly, could I believe that, for an amourette, you would become an Orlando Furioso?"

"An amourette! No, Dubourg; this is a genuine pa.s.sion, and one that will last forever. I have never loved so pa.s.sionately! I have never met a woman more worthy of my love. Ah! Dubourg, if you knew that sweet child's heart! she is an utter stranger to all the deceits and hypocrisies of the world; her heart is as pure and beautiful as her features. Ah! my friend, not in Paris, not in the brilliant salons of the capital, could I find a woman who would love me so dearly."

"Nonsense! but you are excited, and I see that it will be hard for me to make you listen to reason. This girl seemed to me to be very pretty, indeed, and I agree that she's a phoenix; but, after all, what do you propose to do? surely you don't intend to pa.s.s your life in these woods?"

"I don't intend to leave Sister Anne."

"Very good; then bring your Sister Anne along; let her come with us; make a baroness of her, if you choose, for the benefit of poor Menard; I'll undertake to arrange it all; but leave these old fir-trees, under which you'll turn into an orang-outang in time."

"That isn't possible. In yonder cabin there is an excellent old woman, who has taken care of her ever since she was a child; she can't desert her."

"The deuce! so you have a whole family on your hands!"

"Go, Dubourg; return to Gren.o.ble with Menard; I will join you there in a few days, but I cannot leave her now."

"Return to Gren.o.ble, eh? Do you imagine that I enjoy myself there, with your tutor, when I can't show my face anywhere?"

"Oh! I forgot. Take this wallet; it contains our fortune; take it, and do what you please with it. I have a few louis, that's all I need."

"Really, my dear Frederic, you are mad! to think of living in the woods and making love all day with your little villager!"

"Ah! she's no ordinary woman. If you knew--poor child! But, no, I won't tell you anything; you can't understand my heart. Adieu, Dubourg!"

"You insist upon it? All right, I'll take the cash-box, and leave you. I know what men are, I have had more experience than you have: within a fortnight, you'll have had enough of this kind of life, and you'll come back to us."

"Yes, if Sister Anne will come with me."

"You will come without her, I am perfectly sure. Au revoir! make love at your ease; make it all day and all night; in short, make so much of it, that a fortnight hence you'll have had more than enough."

And Dubourg, having put the wallet in his pocket, hastened down into the valley, where he found Menard sitting quietly by their horses.

"To horse!" he exclaimed joyfully; "make haste!"

"What's that? to horse? But I don't see monsieur le comte."

"Because he has stayed with his Dulcinea."

"He stays, and we go?"

"To be sure; for, having no pa.s.sions in the forest, we might be bored here."

"But, monsieur le baron, I don't understand this at all."

"Monsieur Menard, I am acting like a man who knows the human heart, especially that of a young man. If we had undertaken to thwart his wishes, Frederic would have been quite capable of doing some insane thing. Instead of that, let us allow him to follow his inclination. I will answer for it that, in a fortnight at the latest, his love, being satisfied, will have calmed down, and he will have recovered his senses.

There is no pa.s.sion deep enough to stand a tete-a-tete of three consecutive weeks. Love is a fire which goes out of itself, because it never has sense enough to be sparing of its fuel."

"Faith! monsieur le baron, I begin to think that you are right."

"To horse, then, Monsieur Menard, and _vive la gaiete_! To-morrow, I will take you to dine with our friend Chambertin."

"Really, monsieur le baron?"

"And I promise you that we'll make an entry into the village that will cause a sensation."

"I don't understand you, monsieur le baron; but you arrange things so well, that I rely on you."

And Menard, overjoyed at the prospect of going to Monsieur Chambertin's the next day, dug his heels into his horse's sides for the first time in his life,--to be sure, he had no spurs,--and trotted along at Dubourg's side.

"Still, it's a great pity that my pupil has made this new acquaintance,"

he said; "a woman sometimes makes a man commit many follies! Cato said that wisdom and common sense were incompatible with a woman's mind."

"Oh! probably Cato was unlucky in love, Monsieur Menard."