Notwithstanding the mysterious reserve with which the Prince expresses himself, it is difficult not to believe that Madame de Kinsky was the secret object of his deep attachment. On reading his last wishes, so imbued with nobleness, tenderness, and generosity, we wonder how Hélène could have so misunderstood him, and obliged him as it were to transfer his affection to another. Perhaps she was not entirely responsible for their disunion; a mother or a friend like Madame de Rochechouart might have guarded her at the outset from many an imprudent step. It was impossible to expect experience and wisdom in a child of fifteen. During the last two years she had begun to feel how dearly they are purchased.
All this time Hélène had remained alone at Kowalowska. Notwithstanding the imprudences her passion for the Count had led her to commit, she had never for one moment entertained any other idea than that of marriage, though she knew in what light her conduct was judged by the world.
Mortified and discouraged, Hélène was giving herself up to the gloomiest ideas, when she suddenly received the news of her husband’s death. The sudden transition from despair to joy stunned her at first; but soon only one feeling possessed her soul, that of her freedom, and she hurriedly wrote these few lines to the Count:—
“A cannon-ball has carried off Prince Charles. I am free; it is God’s will: This cannon was loaded from all eternity!”[113] And absorbed in the selfishness of her passion, she did not for one instant regret the first companion of her life, or shed a tear for the father of her child. His glorious and touching end did not inspire her with an atom of pity.
And then, as if, indeed, death had received from God the mission of removing all possible obstacles to Hélène’s happiness, a few days later the second son of the Countess Anna died of a gangrenous sore throat, before his unhappy mother was able to reach him; and that nothing might be wanting to complete the romance, the Princess heard almost at the same moment of the death of her brother Xavier, leaving her heiress to an income of six hundred thousand livres.[114]
The Count had reached Niemirow in time to see his son, of whom, it must be added, Hélène had taken the utmost care. He wrote in all haste to the Countess Anna to tell her the fatal news, and then in another letter he announced to her Prince Charles’s death, and offered to give her back at once her eldest son, François, in exchange for her consent to their divorce. The unfortunate woman resisted no longer, she only begged that the legal forms should be carefully observed in obtaining the consent of the Court of Rome, hoping that in the interval her husband might return to her before the last step was taken. Directly after his mother’s answer the little Count François, accompanied by his governess and servants, started to meet her.
Without loss of time Hélène wrote to her uncle, whose character she well understood; she told him of her husband’s death, and implored his aid for the settlement of her brother’s affairs; she ended by asking him to see Count Vincent, who would be able to explain many important details difficult to negotiate in writing. She sent this letter to the Prince-Bishop by Major Hoffman, a Polish gentleman attached to the service of the Lord Chamberlain.
The embassy was a complete success. The prelate, calculating that Count Vincent Potocki living would be infinitely more useful to him than the Prince de Ligne dead, wrote to the Count, and begged him to come and see him when he should next go to Warsaw, and in the meanwhile offered to receive his niece at Werky. Hélène sent the following reply:—
December 1792.
“My very dear and very honoured Uncle—It is with the deepest gratitude that I received through Major Hoffman the assurance of your paternal disposition towards me. It has awakened in me the warmest and strongest feelings. Pray receive, my dear uncle, my compliments and my thanks. Many things at present prevent my going to see you as I should wish, but as soon as, by the grace of God, I am able to do so, I shall have the honour of presenting myself in person, and reiterating to you the deep respect with which I have the honour to subscribe myself, my very dear and revered uncle, your very humble and obedient servant and niece,