"As solemnly as ever man swore," replied the Marchioness; "you called heaven to witness; you vowed a vow to God; and that seemed to move her more than anything; indeed, it appeared that she was just going to say, when she found you were so resolute, that she was prepared to obey, when the door opened, and in walked,--who think you?"
"Nay, I cannot divine," said Monsieur de Liancourt; "not De Montigni?"
"No! no!" answered Madame de Chazeul; "it would take longer for a ghost to travel post from Chartres; and he is dead beyond all doubt No,--who but Helen de la Tremblade."
"Ah! poor little Helen! I shall be, glad to see her," cried the Count; "she has not been here for three months or more; nay, it was in October, well nigh six months, upon my life."
"And in those six months, what events have happened," exclaimed Madame de Chazeul, "to blast all our regard for her, to show her the veriest--but I will not give her the name she deserves. Suffice it, my dear brother, that not long ere I came hither, I found, by letters I discovered, that I had been nourishing a serpent in my house. I found her base, unworthy--impure, ambitious, scheming.--Sickened and indignant, I gave way, as I am too apt, to the fierce burst of passion; for I can never conceal what I feel; and drove her out to carry her schemes and vices elsewhere. But I speedily repented; and sent out to seek her, intending to treat her kindly, and, if I could not forgive her faults, to put her in the way of repentance and atonement: but she had gone off at once; and has since come hither, when, or how long ago, I know not. She has evidently been here in secret, however, for some time, prompting Rose to all this resistance, prejudicing her mind against Chazeul, whom the vain girl thought to wed herself, and inspiring her with continual schemes for thwarting our purposes. She had clearly heard all that had passed between me and Mademoiselle d'Albret; and when she found Rose was beginning to yield, as I showed her how resolute you are, forth she came to dare me, thinking that she could frighten me by her influence over her uncle, and her threats.--I believe she would have struck me had she dared; but I taught her, I was not to be intimidated, laughed her menaces to scorn, and gave her to understand that I would now expose all to you, though I had hitherto carefully concealed her guilt and folly from all ears--even from her uncle's. It was wonderful to see how the girl's daring spirit was cowed before a little firmness, how she shrunk and quailed. She would have fled, indeed, perhaps to brew new mischief; but I resolved that should not be; and, like one of the men who tame the Lions at the Louvre, I assumed a commanding tone, and ordered her to retire into her uncle's chamber, fully resolved not to let her forth till the marriage is over. It was then that she tried to run past me; but I called loudly for my people, and finding it in vain to resist, she obeyed, though sullenly and gloomily."
"To the priest's chamber!" said Monsieur de Liancourt. "Will not all this rouse good father Walter? Why, there was noise enough to wake the dead."
"Oh! no!" replied the Marchioness, who had foreseen that such a question might be put, and was prepared with an answer. "It would have roused him, certainly, if he had been in his own chamber; but he was so faint and ill, with long watching, doubtless, fasting and prayer, that the people who were with him took him first into the sacristy, and then to a room on the ground floor, rather than carry him up stairs. There he sleeps quietly, and, doubtless, will awake quite refreshed and well. I only dread having to tell him this story of his niece, for I do not think he knows it yet. She looks very ill, poor wretch; and I should not wonder if her violent temper killed her; but, if possible, I will still keep the matter secret from all but her uncle."
"Do, do," replied the Count; "her violent temper! Why, she was the most gentle and timid of creatures, Jacqueline."
"Ay, so she seemed," replied Madame de Chazeul; "but vice and ambition have brought forth the natural character: and, if you had seen her just now, you would not have said that she was gentle. I thought she would have stabbed either me or herself; and yet, it made me laugh to witness her impotent rage.--But, to return to Rose. She now knows her fate fully: for, as soon as I told her you had sworn, it was easy to see, that her knowledge of your firmness, showed her that your word was quite irrevocable."
The Count looked gloomily down upon the ground; for he would fain have shrunk from the task she put upon him; and yet, like all weak people, endeavoured to assume the qualities that were imputed to him.