“He is no more. Alas! I no longer have a brother, and she has no husband.”
“I see that your tears are flowing again, my friends; I have unintentionally renewed your grief; forgive me; perhaps the memory of Edouard is painful to you; but I know nothing about your misfortunes; tell me of them, and then I will try to make you forget them.”
Jacques undertook to tell the old man a part of Adeline’s sorrows, but he did not make known the whole of his brother’s conduct, and Monsieur Gerval believed that Edouard had died at Paris in destitution, after abandoning his wife and child, and that it was the knowledge of her husband’s unhappy end that had disturbed Adeline’s reason.
The excellent old man felt more than ever inclined to love that young woman, a model for wives and mothers, and he was determined to become acquainted with the people at the farm, who had shown so much affection for Jacques and Adeline.
“That is very easy,” said Sans-Souci; “if you want to make them all happy, you must go to the farm. Sacrebleu! when they see madame and my comrade again, I am sure that Louise and Guillot will be happier than they would if their house was a château.”
“Let us go to the farm,” said honest Gerval; “let us all go there; the journey will do us good; it will divert my dear Adeline’s thoughts a little, and it will amuse her little Ermance. Jacques will be able to help in his turn the people who helped him in his need, and we, my poor Catherine, we will try, among the people at the farm, to think less of our old friend Dupré’s death.”
Monsieur Gerval’s plan made them all happy. Catherine was delighted to leave a house which reminded her of melancholy events, and in which she felt that she could never again sleep peacefully. Lucas asked his master’s permission to leave his garden, in order to be his servant; the old man consented and everybody prepared for departure.
The house in the Vosges was rented to peasants, who established an inn there, most acceptable to people who travelled through those mountains; Monsieur Gerval and his servants left the house, their hearts depressed by the memory of Dupré. Jacques and Adeline turned their eyes away from the spot which had witnessed Edouard’s infamy, and Sans-Souci looked back with pride at the apartment where he had saved an old man’s life and slain two villains.
XXXVIII
THE SMALL GATE IN THE GARDEN ONCE MORE
Sans-Souci rode beside the postilion, despite Monsieur Gerval’s request that he should take a seat in the carriage; but he was fully determined to act as scout, fearing mishaps on account of the deep ruts and the wretched roads. His joy was so great at the thought of returning to the farm with Madame Murville, that he was unwilling to depend upon any other than himself to avert such accidents as might happen to them on the way.