“I did not say that I should desert you; I said that I had no more sacrifices to make.” The Countess rose. “For your sake, Madame, because you have always been kind to me, and because it is impossible not to love you, I have degraded myself. I have pretended to love a man who saw through the artifice and told me so, to save me further shame. O Madame, it is all execrable!
“And you will use this love which you have gained—this first love of a man who has known no other and will know no other while he lives!—to bring about his ruin? This other, at whose head you threw me—beware of him. He is light-hearted and gay, perhaps. You call him a clown; he is cunning and brave; and unless you judge him at his true value, your fabric of schemes will fall ere it reaches its culmination. Could even you trick him with words? No. You were compelled to use force. Is he not handsome, Madame?” with a feverish gaiety. “Is there a gentleman at your court who is a more perfect cavalier? Why, he blushes like a woman! Is there in your court—” But her sentence broke, and she could not go on.
“Elsa, are you mad?”
“Yes, Madame, yes; they call it a species of madness.” Then, with a sudden gust of wrath: “Why did you not leave me in peace? You have destroyed me! O, the shame of it!” and she fled into her own room.
Madame sat motionless. This, among other things, she had not reckoned on.
Only the troopers and the servants slept in peace that night.
Maurice was up betimes next morning. The hills and valleys lay under a mantle of sparkling rime, and the very air, keen of edge and whistling, glistened in the sunlight. The iron shoes of the horses beat sharply on the stone flooring of the court yard. Maurice examined his riding furniture; pulled at the saddle, tugged at the rein buckles, lifted the leather flaps and tried the stirrup straps. It was not that he doubted the ability of the groom; it was because this particular care was second nature to him.
Fitzgerald watched him, and meditated. Some of his thoughts were not pleasant. His eyes were heavy. At times he would lift his shoulders and permit half a smile to flicker over his lips; a certain thought caused this. The Colonel sat astride a broad-chested cavalry horse, spotless white. He was going to accompany Maurice to the frontier. He had imbibed the exhilarating tonic of the morning, and his spirits ran high. At length Maurice leaped into the saddle, caught the stirrups well, and signaled to the Colonel that he was ready.
“You understand, Maurice?” Fitzgerald asked.
“Yes, John; all the world loves a lover. Besides, it is a glorious morning for a ride. Up, portcullis, down drawbridge!” waving his hand to the Colonel.