“Oh! nothing easier in that case,” interrupted Julian, eagerly, “with a boat’s crew we should seize the Vengeance, which William is so desperately anxious to do, to pay off Captain Gaudet for his cruelty, embark you on board, and before any alarm could be given at Havre, we should be at sea, and with the corvette hold our own against any armed crafts sent after us.”
“Would not this involve Jean Plessis with the authorities?” asked Madame Coulancourt.
“Not more than any other mode of escape,” replied her nephew; “but Monsieur Plessis is so secure of the favour of Barras, and has him so much in his power, that he feels very little uneasiness even if he remained behind. Though he has not yet spoken to you on the subject, he is nearly as anxious to quit France with his family as you are. The precariousness of life and property in this country urges him to emigrate and settle in England; and I have offered him,” continued Lieutenant Thornton, “on succeeding to the property I am entitled to, the stewardship over the whole, and a sufficient annuity to live independently on.”
“Oh! I am sure,” cried both Madame Coulancourt and Mabel, eagerly, “if that is Jean Plessis’ wish and intention we shall both be able to render him not only independent, but most comfortable. He has all his life,” continued madame, “served the duke my husband, and myself, with unshaken fidelity, and I feel towards him as towards one connected with my family with ties of relationship. Julian also will be entitled to the Etherton property, though, at the same time, it will be cruel to deprive those now in possession of all they have so long considered their own; therefore, some kind of decision ought to take place. I am sure Julian will agree with me.”
“Most certainly, dear mother; my uncle or his son—the latter now holds the title and property—were innocently inheritors of it, and to deprive them of all now might involve them in difficulties insurmountable.”
“And yet,” said Lieutenant Thornton, somewhat sternly, “they, especially the late baronet, felt no pity or remorse in not only refusing Mabel’s claims, but in adding insult and mockery to their heartlessness, though they knew in their hearts that my poor little protégée, as I was then in the habit of styling her, was thrown in a manner helpless upon the exertions of two poor sailors.”
“And nobly the two poor sailors protected little Mabel,” said our heroine, the tears rising in her eyes, as she looked with devoted affection into the face of her lover.
“I, at all events, dear Mabel,” said our hero, “am richly repaid, by living in the memory of her I protected to the best of my ability.”
“Ah!” said Madame Coulancourt, with an earnestness unmistakable, “would to God we were all in dear England! What I have suffered in this land I can never tell; even when restored to liberty, living in Paris, and forced to enter society to avoid the remarks, and the secret espionage of the Minister of Police. When the constraint and gloom of the Jacobin rule was discarded, the thirst for amusement and dissipation that followed was carried to an unbounded and disgusting excess, in manners, in attire, and in immorality. It was only in the circles of Madame Josephine Beauharnais, that most amiable of women, and Madame Canabas, whose beauty was perfectly entrancing, and Madame de Stäel, that a refuge was to be obtained from the licentiousness everywhere else openly and unblushingly displayed. You would scarcely believe it, but I was forced to attend balls, where none but the relations of persons who had suffered death under the axe of the guillotine were allowed to appear. Our hair also was tied up as it would have been previous to execution. These fêtes were termed ‘Balls of the victims.’ Then came the dreadful famine; ah! memory will always cling to the scenes of the past, and yet how truly merciful has Providence been to me! Have I not my children? It is wrong to murmur, whilst joy and thankfulness should fill my heart.”
Lieutenant Thornton had his eyes fixed upon his aunt; he thought he had never beheld a face possessing so perfectly fascinating an expression. In her youth she must have been—lovely as Mabel was—much more beautiful; her height was tall and commanding, with easy and graceful manner. The evening passed pleasantly over, conversing on the past, and proposing many schemes for the future.