"None on earth," replied the major-domo. "My lady is gay and lively, and loves well enough to be admired: but she loves my lord dearly, we are all convinced; and, depend upon it, no woman ever went astray yet without the servants finding it out."
[CHAPTER XIII.]
For a time, the change produced on the domestic affairs of Monsieur de Villardin, by his retirement from Paris, was a great improvement. The Duke seemed to feel himself more at ease in the country than the description of good Jerome Laborde permitted me to believe he had been in the town; and Madame de Villardin, like a wise woman, making up her mind to what she could not avoid, seemed determined to dedicate herself wholly to rural occupations and to the wife's first task of making his home comfortable and tranquil to her husband. Matters thus soon assumed a new aspect. Monsieur de Villardin, who was naturally of a warm and affectionate disposition, gave way fully to all the better feelings of his heart; and I have never seen a more happy household than that which, for the month that followed, was presented by the château of the Prés Vallée, although Madame de Villardin herself had become far more grave and matronly than she had appeared in Paris. The Duke, with the natural eagerness and activity of his disposition, was, of course, obliged to find himself constant employment; but to a man so fond of field sports as he was, the country around us presented an unfailing source of amusement. Now it was a fishing party, now it was an expedition against the stags, the boars, or the wolves; now it was a walk to bring home a chevreuil, which furnished us with the day's entertainment; and, on most of these occasions, I was glad to find that Madame de Villardin, at her own request, accompanied her husband.
For my part, the whole was joy and satisfaction to me; for it was evident, that all those whose affections I coveted were daily growing more fond of me: the Duke was never tired of praising my method of conducting their sports; Madame de Villardin seemed to take a delight in seeing me play with her little girl; the servants, who were sure to meet all good offices and no evil ones from my hands, found a great difference between myself and such pages as they were accustomed to encounter, with whom the ordinary domestics of a house are generally in a state of open warfare. The two younger pages themselves were my pets and my protégés; and the only one who hated me, with a tolerable degree of malevolence, was my first enemy, Master Gaspard de Belleville, whose fear was the only restraint upon his animosity. Certain it is, that his dislike was not particularly diminished during our stay at the Prés Vallée. The increasing regard and confidence of our mutual lord towards myself, the frequent rebukes and mortifications that his awkwardness and inactivity in all our field sports called upon himself, as well as the total disregard with which I treated him, all served to increase and cultivate his original distaste towards me. It is true he never dared to show his hatred in such a manner as to give me an excuse for resenting it; but it peeped out in a thousand little words and actions, amongst which, one of the pettiest, but one which first showed his feelings, was a habit which he had of never calling me by my name when speaking of me to others, but always designating me--l'Anglais--l'Etranger,--the Englishman--the Foreigner. For all this I was very easily consoled, and indeed scarcely noticed it at all. Monsieur de Villardin, however, himself took notice of the latter circumstance I have mentioned, and one day sharply reproved him for not speaking of me by my name. "Call him, sir," he said, "by his proper appellation,--Monsieur Hall; and remember that he is better born, as well as better educated, than yourself."
Of another, and far more serious trait of his ill will towards myself, I received, about this time, proofs quite sufficient to satisfy myself, though perhaps they were not quite irrefragable.
Shortly after the arrival of the family at the Prés Vallée, the Duke took me out with him alone; and causing me to walk by his side, made me give him a far more full and detailed account of all my adventures on the road than I had been able to do by letter. When I had done, he asked me if I had been imprudent enough, before quitting Paris, to acknowledge to any one but himself the share I had had in the liberation of Jacques Marlot.
"To no one, I assure you, my lord," I replied; "even to his own uncle, Jerome Laborde, I never mentioned the facts; merely telling him--to quiet the old man's mind--that I had heard his nephew had been liberated, without adding one word which could induce him to believe that I had any share in the transaction."
"It is very extraordinary, indeed," said the Duke in reply; "but it is an undoubted fact, that between the time of your aiding to rescue the prisoner and my visit to the Hotel de Bouillon that night, the police had obtained the most perfect account of your person, appearance, dress, and situation. Can you remember," he added, "whether there was any one present when you related the circumstances to me?"
"No one, my lord," I replied, "as you may remember, but Gaspard de Belleville."
Monsieur de Villardin shook his head. "Indeed!" he said; "Indeed! Yet I cannot believe the boy would be either so base or so foolish as to betray such a conversation. However," he added, changing the subject abruptly, "of course, as you have suffered robbery while engaged in my service, I shall not allow you to lose by anything of the kind. The sum which was taken from you shall be repaid to you as soon as we return home; and, in the meantime, do not let any suspicion of Gaspard appear in your behaviour towards him."