"O mother," he said, "you are only twenty years old! See, look at yourself," he added, offering her a hand mirror which her maid had left on the table. "You are so beautiful and so young, and you propose to renounce love! Is it for my sake? Shall I be the happier because your life is less complete and less happy? Shall I respect you less because I see that you are more profoundly respected and more effectively protected? Are you afraid that I am jealous, as Mila accused me of being? No, I shall not be jealous unless I find that he loves you better than I do, and I defy him to do that! Dear marquis, we will love her dearly, will we not, and make her forget the past; we will make her happy, who has never been happy, and who, alone of all human beings, deserves absolute happiness! Say yes, mother; I will not stand up until you have said yes!"
"I have already reflected," said Agatha, blushing afresh. "I think that I must do it for your sake, and for the dignity of us all."
"Do not say so," cried Michel, throwing his arms about her; "say that it is for your happiness, if you wish us two to be happy!"
Agatha held out her hand to the marquis and hid her son's face against her breast. She was ashamed to have him see her fiancé's joy. She had retained the modesty of a girl; and from that day, she was so fresh and so lovely that the evil tongues, who insist upon detecting falsehood and crime everywhere, declared that Michel was not her son, but a lover installed in her house under that profaned title. However, all calumny and ridicule vanished before the announcement of her marriage to Signor della Serra, which was to take place at the end of her mourning. There was an occasional sneer at the marquis's Quixotic love, but he was envied much more than he was pitied.
XLIX
DANGER
This announcement made a profound impression on Magnani. It put the finishing touch to his cure and his depression of spirit. His impressionable heart could not do without an all-absorbing, exclusive love; but he had apparently been deceived when he persuaded himself that he had never really hoped; for when hope had become impossible, he was no longer beset by the phantom of Agatha. It was Mila's phantom which engrossed his meditations and his sleepless nights. But this last passion began in the midst of a torture more intense than all the previous ones. Agatha had appeared to him as an ideal creature whom he could never reach. Mila appeared to him under the same aspect, but with the additional certainty that she had a lover.
Thereupon, in that little circle of relations and friends, there ensued a succession of petty anxieties, exceedingly delicate in their nature, which eventually became very painful to Mila and Magnani. Pier-Angelo, seeing that his daughter was depressed, and being unable to understand it, was inclined to have a friendly explanation with Magnani, and lead him on to ask openly for Mila's hand. Fra Angelo did not agree with him and restrained him. This question being taken before the princess's kindly tribunal for decision led to explanations concerning the excursion to Nicolosi which were perfectly satisfactory to the father and the uncle, but which might well leave some suspicion in the lover's proud and uncompromising heart. Fra Angelo, who was responsible for the trouble, undertook to repair it. He went to the young man, and without disclosing Mila's sublime imprudence, told him that she was absolutely justified in his mind, and that he had discovered that the purpose of that mysterious excursion was to do a noble and courageous act.
Magnani asked no question. Had he done so, the monk, who was incapable of paltering with the truth, would have told him everything; but Magnani's loyal heart closed itself to suspicion as soon as Fra Angelo had given his word. He believed at last in the possibility of happiness and went to Pier-Angelo to seek confirmation of his belief.
But it was written that Magnani should not be happy. On the day when he appeared to make his declaration and urge his suit, Mila, instead of remaining during their interview, left her father's workshop angrily and shut herself up in her own room. She was offended in the sanctuary of her pride by Magnani's four or five days of depression and irresolution. She had expected an easier and speedier triumph. She blushed at the thought that she had pursued him so long.
Moreover, she was aware of all that had happened during those days of misery. She knew that Michel was not in favor of their giving Magnani so much encouragement to declare himself. Michel alone had known his friend's secret, and he was alarmed for his adopted sister's sake by such a sudden reaction in her favor, which might well be an act of desperation. Mila concluded that Michel was aware that Magnani persisted in loving another woman, although the young artisan had refused to take back the princess's ring, and had begged Mila to keep it as a pledge of his esteem and respect. On that same evening, the evening that he had escorted her home from the Della Serra palace while Michel remained behind with his mother, Magnani, intoxicated by her beauty, her wit and her social success, had spoken to her so warmly that what he said was almost a declaration of love. Mila had had the strength of will to refrain from encouraging him openly. But she had believed that she had triumphed, and on the next day, the day of Agatha's declaration, she had expected to see him at her feet and to tell him at last that she loved him.