One in a Thousand; or, The Days of Henri Quatre

by G. P. R. James

"That is what I fear, my Lord," replied the dwarf, assuming a look of sorrow, "that is what I fear. I owed you atonement, sir; and I have made it at the risk of mortifying all the proud feelings of a lady and mistress that I love; for I know that she calculates upon seeing you again at her feet, and pouring forth upon you more of her scorn and indignation, before she leaves you for ever, and returns to Italy. She was laughing over the scene with Annette just now."

"It is a scene she shall never see!" said D'Aubin, biting his lip. "But tell me where dwells this fair fugitive--this Mademoiselle de Menancourt? She is, indeed, as beautiful a creature as the eye of man ever yet beheld. One not difficult to love."

"Oh no!" cried the dwarf; "where is the heart that would not be envious of the man who wears a jewel such as that upon his hand. Her dwelling, I have said, is not far off. You know the little stream that separates the lands of Aubin from those of Menancourt. Trace it up to its source amongst these hills, and not half a league from the spot where it bubbles from its green fountain you will find two cottages, in one of which is the object of your search. It is not like the ordinary dwelling of a French peasant; for the Lady Beatrice has taken a pleasure in decking forth her friend's home after the fashion of our own land, where taste, and the love of all that is beautiful, descends even to the lowest tillers of the soil."

"I shall easily find it," replied the count; "and yon fair scornful dame shall find that D'Aubin can seek him a mate as beautiful as herself. Bartholo, I trust you--once more I trust you! but oh! if you deceive in this also, look to your heart's blood; for I will find means to punish you, should you hide in the farthest corner of the globe."

"My Lord, I deceive you not," replied the dwarf, "nor in this am I myself deceived. But, I entreat, undertake no enterprise upon my showing, without resolving to carry it through at all hazards. If you would have the love of that fair creature you seek, spare no vows and persuasions to efface from her mind the evil impression that others have given of your conduct. Nor trust to that alone. Forget that the marriage was null. Act upon it as if she were your wife, till you have her safe in your own chateau; and then let the ceremony be performed again. Neither must you seek her alone, and unattended by a sufficient force to assert your right, should it be opposed. I know that five or six of my lady's bravest followers are always watching near that spot; and there may be more. Stir not a step, without fifty horseman at your back. At all events, remember, my noble lord, that if you undertake this enterprise without sufficient strength and resolution, the failure must not be laid to me. As I hope for life and happiness, I believe that you may be fully successful."

"I am not apt to want in resolution, Bartholo," replied D'Aubin. "Hence I shall speed to my own dwelling without a moment's loss of time; but it may take long in the present state of affairs to collect such a troop as fifty men."

"Yet time is everything!" replied the dwarf. "'Tis more than likely that changes may take place, of which I cannot inform you; and if the lady be removed from her present refuge, our scheme is ruined. To be bold and rapid is the best road to success, after all. Who can tell what even to-morrow may bring forth?"

"True!" answered D'Aubin; "and, if possible to-morrow's sun shall not set ere Eugenie de Menancourt be mine. Then let your mistress and her maids laugh over the scene of my supplications if they will! But I must be guided by circumstances. At present my purse is but lean, my good friend. Nevertheless----"

"Speak not of it, sir! speak not of it!" replied the dwarf. "I came to do what I have done, in order to make atonement for an involuntary error towards one who was to me the most generous of masters; and who never could accuse me of giving him false information before. I sought not gold, and will not take it. But if you succeed, and if you be happy, sometimes remember the poor dwarf when he is far away."

Thus saying, he kissed the hand of his former lord, and departed, drawing the matted door after him. The next moment D'Aubin heard his horse's feet; and, again left alone, he once more cast himself upon the bed of moss, and gave himself up to thought. His feelings, however, were now very different from what they had been an hour before. Although, as we have before shown, the idea of wedding Eugenie de Menancourt, repairing his wasted fortune by her wealth, and triumphing proudly over her who had scorned and rejected him, and made him the common jest of Paris, had never quitted his mind, even while yielding willingly to his passionate love for Beatrice of Ferrara; yet the repulse he had met with, from a being on whose love and compliance he had counted with full confidence, the bitter scorn that she had displayed towards him, and the keen disappointment that her rejection inflicted, had, in spite of all the Titan-like struggles of pride, so abased and overwhelmed him, that he had lost courage, and looked with hopeless eyes upon all the daring schemes on which, at other times, he would have entered so boldly. The words of the dwarf, however, had revived him, not alone by showing him the easy means of accomplishing one part of his purpose, but by pointing out a new end to be obtained, a new object of desire, and that, too, of a nature to give the only alleviation which his heart was capable of receiving in the pain he suffered--the alleviation of revenge. He felt that Beatrice was already unhappy; that his conduct was--must be--a source of misery to her; but that feeling, far from making him pity her, roused up his suffering vanity to strive for means of avenging upon her the insult which her purity had offered to his baseness. The dwarf had pointed out the way; and to dream of wringing her heart by his marriage with Eugenie, while he silenced for ever the stinging laughter of his former companions, was a relief--perhaps a pleasure. At the same time, a thought crossed his mind that the tale of his having dwelt many weeks concealed in the dwelling of Beatrice of Ferrara, joined to his reputation for gallantry, might, perchance, leave her proud reputation for virtue somewhat sullied; and, as he thought thus, a smile, mingling vanity and pride and vengeance altogether, passed over his lip, and gave his fine features the expression of a demon; and yet this was the bright and fascinating Count d'Aubin: whom we have seen so full of light and harmless gaiety in the beginning of this volume, and such was the creature he had, step by step, become.