notwithstanding the promise made to his brother, to inform no one of his condition, the duke could not quite make up his mind to assume the dangerous responsibility of absolute silence. he believed in a doctor, whoever he might be, in spite of his assertion that he did not believe in medicine, and he resolved to go to chambon and make arrangements with a young man there who did not appear to him to be lacking either in knowledge or prudence, one day when he himself had consulted him about a slight indisposition. under the seal of secrecy he would confide the situation of the marquis to this young physician, and engage him to come to the manor-house the next day, under the pretext of selling a bit of prairie enclosed in the lands of séval. then he would bring about a chance for the doctor to see the patient, if only to observe his face and general symptoms, without giving any professional advice; a way of submitting this advice to m. de villemer would be found, and perhaps he would consent to follow it. in a word the duke, who could not endure to watch through the loneliness and silence of the night, felt the need of doing something to calm his own anxiety. he calculated that he could reach chambon in a half-hour, and that an additional hour would give him time to rouse the physician, talk with him, and return. he could, he ought, to be back before his brother, who now seemed resting quietly, should awake from his first sleep.
the duke withdrew noiselessly, left the house through the garden so as to be heard by no one, and descended quickly toward the bed of the river to a foot-bridge by the mill, and to a path which led him straight to the town. by taking a horse and following the road, he would have made a noise and gained very little time. the marquis, however, did not sleep so soundly as not to hear him leave the room; but, knowing nothing of his project, and not wishing to hinder his brother from going to rest, he had pretended to be unconscious of everything.
it was then a little after midnight. madame d'arglade, after having taken her leave of the marchioness, had followed caroline to her room to have a little more talk with her. "well now, pretty dear," she said, "are you really as well satisfied in this house as you say? be frank with me, if anything troubles you here. ah, bless me! there is always some little thing in the way. take advantage of my presence now to confide it to me. i have some influence with the marchioness, without having sought for it, to be sure; but she likes silly heads, and then i, who am naturally of a happy disposition, and never need anything for myself,—i have the right to serve my friends unhesitatingly."
"you are very good," replied caroline; "but here everybody is good to me, too, and if i had anything to complain of i should speak of it quite freely."
"that's right, thank you," exclaimed léonie, taking the promise as made to herself. "well, now, how about the duke? has he never teased you, the handsome duke?"
"very little, and that is all over with now."
"indeed, you give me pleasure by saying that. do you know that after having written to you to engage you for this place i felt a certain remorse of conscience? i had never spoken to you of this great conqueror."
"it is true you seemed to have a fear of speaking to me about him."
"a fear! no, i had entirely forgotten him; i am so giddy-headed! i said to myself, 'heavens! i hope that mlle de saint-geneix will not be annoyed by his artifices!' for he has his artifices and with everybody."
"he has had none with me, i am thankful to be able to say."
"then all is well," replied léonie, who did not believe a word of what she heard. she changed the subject to that of dress, and all at once she exclaimed, "o, bless me! how sleepy i am becoming! it must be on account of the journey. till to-morrow, then, dear caroline. are you an early riser?"
"yes; are you?"
"alas! not much of a one; but when i do get my eyes open, say, between ten and eleven, i shall find you in your room,—shall i not?"
she retired, resolved to get up early in the morning, wander about everywhere as if by chance, and obtain a stealthy knowledge of all the most intimate details of the family affairs, caroline followed her to install her in her apartment, and returned to her own little room, which was some distance from that of the marquis, but whose casements, looking out on the lawn, were almost opposite to his.
before going to rest, she put in order certain books and papers, for she studied a great deal, and with a genuine relish; she heard it strike one o'clock in the morning, and went to shut her blinds before disrobing. at that moment she heard a sharp stroke against the glass of the opposite casement, and her eyes, following the direction of the sound, saw a pane fall rattling from the lighted window of the marquis. astonished by this accident, and by the silence which followed, caroline listened attentively. no one stirred; no one had heard it. gradually, confused sounds reached her, feeble plaints at first, and then stifled cries and a species of rattle. "some one is assassinating the marquis," was her first thought, for the sinister murmurs came evidently from his room. what should she do? call, find some one, tell the duke who lodged still farther away?—all that would take too much time, and, besides, under the oppression of such a warning there must be no indecision. caroline measured the distance with her eye: there were twenty paces to go across the grass. if malefactors had penetrated to m. de villemer's room it must have been by the stairs of the griffin turret which was opposite to that of the fox. these two cages with stairways in them bore the names of the emblems rudely sculptured on the tympans of their portals. the stairs of the fox led away on this side from caroline's room. no one else could arrive on the scene so soon as she could, and her solitary approach might cause the assassins to release the marquis. in the griffin turret there was besides the rope of a little alarm bell. she said all this to herself while running, and by the time she had finished saying it, she had reached this door, which she found open. the duke had gone out there, intending to return in the same way without causing the hinges to creak, and thinking nothing about robbers, an unknown class in that country.
caroline, however, all the more confirmed in the imaginary construction she had put upon the matter, bounded up the spiral stairway of stone. hearing nothing at all there, she advanced along the passage, and stopped hesitating, before the door of the marquis's apartment. she ventured to knock, but received no answer. there were certainly no assassins near her, yet what were the cries which she had heard? an accident of some kind, but undoubtedly a serious one, and one which made immediate assistance necessary. she pushed open the door, that was not even latched, and found m. de villemer extended upon the floor, near the window which he had not had strength enough to open, and of which he had broken the glass to gain air, feeling himself overwhelmed by a sudden strangling.
the marquis had not fainted. he had had the terrors of death; he now felt the return of his breathing and of life. as he had his face turned towards the window, he did not see caroline enter, but he heard her, and thinking it was the duke, "do not be alarmed," he said, in a feeble voice; "it is passing off. aid me to rise, i have no longer the strength."
caroline rushed forward and raised him up with the energy of an overexcited will. it was only when he found himself again in his chair that he recognized her, or thought he recognized her, for his sight, still dim, was crossed by blue waves, and his limbs were so cold and rigid that they were insensible to the touch of the arms and dress of caroline.
"heaven! is it a dream?" he said, with a sort of wildness. "you! is it you?"
"yes, certainly it is i," she answered; "i heard you groan. what is the matter? what shall i do? call your brother, must i not? but i dare not leave you again. how do you feel? what has happened to you?"
"my brother," rejoined the marquis, rousing himself enough to recover his memory. "ah! it was he who led you here. where is he?"
"he is not about; he knows nothing of this."
"you have not seen him?"
"no, i will go and have him called."
"ah! do not leave me."
"well, then, i will not; but to aid you—"
"nothing, nothing! i know what it is; it is nothing. do not be alarmed; you see i am quiet. and—you are here!—and you knew nothing?"
"nothing in the world. for some days i have found you changed—i thought, indeed, that you were ill, but i dared not be anxious—"
"and now at this moment—did i call you?—what—what did i say?"
"nothing. you broke this window-pane in falling perhaps. has it not wounded you?"
and caroline, approaching the light, took up and examined the hands of the marquis. the right one was quite badly cut: she washed away the blood, adroitly removed the particles of glass, and dressed the wound. urbain submitted, regarding her with the mingled astonishment and tenderness of a man who, picked up on the battle-field, discovers himself in friendly hands. he repeated feebly, "my brother, then, has told you nothing,—is it true?"
she did not at all understand this question, which seemed to have gained the fixedness of a diseased fancy, and to banish it she recounted to him, while binding up his hand, that she had believed him in the hands of assassins. "it was absurd, to be sure," she said, forcing herself to be cheerful; "but how could i help it? that fear took possession of me, and i ran hither, as to a fire, without informing any one."
"and if that had been really the case, you were coming here to expose yourself to danger?"
"upon my word, i never thought of myself; i thought only of you and your mother. nonsense! i would have helped you to defend yourself; i don't know how, or with what, but i would have found something; i would have made a diversion at any rate. there, your wound is dressed, and it will be nothing; but the other, what is the nature of it? you do not wish to tell me? your friends must nevertheless know how to help you; your brother—"
"yes, yes, the duke knows all, my mother nothing."
"i understand you do not wish—i will tell her nothing; but you will permit me to be anxious; to try and find with the duke what ought to be done to relieve you. i will not be troublesome. i know how one should be with those who suffer. i was the nurse of my poor father and of my sister's husband. see now, do not take it ill that i came here unwittingly and without reflection. you could have arisen from the floor yourself, i know very well; but it is a sad thing to suffer alone. you smile? come, m. de villemer, it seems to me that you are a little better. o, how much i want you to be!"
"i am in heaven," replied the marquis, and, as he had no idea of the hour, "stay a while longer," he said. "my brother watched with me a little this evening; he will return."
caroline did not allow herself to make any objection; she simply did not consider at all what the duke might think when he found her there, or what the servants would say if they saw her going back to her room; in the presence of a friend in danger, the possibility of any insulting suspicion had not even occurred to her. she remained.
the marquis wished to say more to her, but had not the strength. "do not speak," she said. "try to sleep; i solemnly promise that i will not leave you."
"what? you want me to sleep? but i cannot. when i fall asleep i strangle."
"and yet you are overcome with fatigue; your eyes close in your own despite. well, now you must obey nature. if you have another severe attack i will help you to bear it; i shall be here."
the confidence and good-will of caroline had a magical effect upon the invalid. he fell asleep and rested peacefully till day. caroline had seated herself near a table, and knew now the nature of his malady and how to care for it, for upon that table she had found a diagnosis of the case with simple, intelligible rules for its treatment signed by one of the first physicians of france. the marquis, to relieve his brother from any anxiety he might have as to his manner of treating himself, had shown him that document invested with the authority of a great name, and the document had remained there under the hand, under the eyes of caroline, who studied it very carefully. she perceived that the marquis had been, since she had known him, living under a regimen quite opposed to the one there prescribed: he took no exercise, he ate stintingly, and went with too little sleep. she did not know but that this relapse would be mortal; but if it were not, she resolved to be on her guard in the future and to be bold enough to watch over his health, even if he still had that gloomy, cold manner toward her which she now attributed to an anguish altogether physical.
the duke returned before sunrise. he had not found the physician; he had to go and look for him at évaux. before starting thither, he wanted to see his brother. the dawn was streaking the horizon with its first lines of white when he noiselessly regained the apartment of the marquis. the latter was then sleeping so soundly that he did not hear the ascending footsteps, and caroline could go out to meet the duke upon the stairway, so that he should utter no exclamation of surprise at sight of her. his surprise was indeed great when he saw her coming down toward him with her finger to her lips. he understood nothing of what had passed. he thought that the marquis had concealed the truth from him, that she was aware of his love, his sorrow, and that she had come to console him.
"ah! my dear friend," taking her hands, "be at ease; he has confided all to me. you have come, you are good, you will save him;" and he carried caroline's hands to his lips with genuine affection.
"but," said she, slightly astonished, "knowing him to be so ill, why did you leave him to-night? and since you counted upon my care for him, why did you not tell me it was needed?"
"what, then, has happened?" asked the duke, who perceived that they did not understand each other. she told him briefly what had occurred, and as, absorbed by what he was hearing, he conducted her back across the grass-plot to the stairs of the fox turret, madame d'arglade, who was already upon her feet behind the casement of her window, saw them pass, talking in a low voice with an air of mysterious intimacy. they stopped before the door, and stood talking awhile longer. the duke gave mlle de saint-geneix an account of his attempt to bring a physician to see his brother, and caroline dissuaded him from that design. she believed that the directions she had read would be sufficient, and that it would be highly imprudent to adopt a new treatment when they were aware that the first one had been attended with beneficial results. the duke readily promised her to conform to this advice, and consequently to have confidence in it. madame d'arglade saw them take each other by the hand at parting, and the duke, retracing his steps, ascend the stairs of the griffin turret.
"very well, i have seen enough," thought léonie; "and i have n't to run about in the dew, which i don't like to do at all; i can lie abed the whole forenoon." and in getting herself to sleep again; "that caroline!" she said to herself, "i see plainly that she lied. how probable it is that the duke would allow her to go free! but i will keep it, this fine secret of hers, and if ever i have need of her, she will of course have to do as i wish."
caroline retired quickly, that she might get quickly to sleep, so as to return to the service of her patient.
at eight o'clock she was up and looked through her window. the duke was at that of his brother. he made her a sign that he would go through the halls and meet her in the library. she went thither immediately from her side of the house, and there she learned that the marquis was remarkably well. he had just awakened, and he had said, "heavens, what a miracle! this is my first sleep after a whole week of this suffering, and i no longer feel any pain; i breathe freely; it seems to me that i am cured. it is to her that i owe it all!"—"and it is the truth, my dear friend," added the duke; "it is you who have saved him, and who will preserve him for us, if you have pity upon us."
the duke had resolved to say nothing; he had sworn it to his brother; but, although thinking himself very discreet, he had let the truth escape him in his own despite. that truth darted through the mind of caroline like a flash of lightning. "what is it that your grace says?" cried she. "who am i, and how am i here to have such an influence?"
the duke himself was frightened by the frightened look of caroline. "come, in whom are you disappointed?" he said, resuming the mask of his tranquil smile. "what is that you have got into your head now? do you not see that i worship my brother, that i am in great fear of losing him, and that, because of the assistance you were to him last night, i speak to you as if you were my sister? i am very much embarrassed; i lose my senses, do you see? urbain is killing himself with work. my influence over him is not sufficient; he does not want me to inform our mother of the return of his old disorder. informing her would be indeed to agitate her dangerously; infirm as she is, she would be always with him to watch. at the end of two nights she would succumb to her exertions. it remains for us two, therefore, to save my brother, without seeming to do so, without taking the lackeys and chambermaids into our confidence. that sort of people will always talk. come, are you a woman of heart and head as i have persuaded myself that you are? will you, can you, dare you, seriously, aid me to nurse him in secret, and watch alternately with me for several evenings, several nights if necessary, never leaving him alone an hour, so that even for an hour he cannot betake himself again to his accursed old books! he needs nothing, i feel sure, but absolute repose of mind, sufficient sleep, a little walking, and that he should try to eat. to bring these things about, it requires the despotic authority—yes, the despotic authority of some one who is not afraid to go counter to his will—of some devoted heart not easily moved or harshly immovable, or unseasonably distrustful,—some one who will bear with his whims if he should have any, and with the impulsive excesses of his gratitude if such should escape him,—a serious friend,in a word, who shall have such delicate, intelligent charity for him as will make him accept and perhaps love his yoke. well, now, caroline, you are the only one here who can be that person. my brother has great esteem, profound respect, and, i believe, even a sincere friendship for you. try to govern him a week, a fortnight, a month perhaps, for if he could get up to-day he would be here this evening turning over the leaves of his books and taking notes; if he sleeps again to-night he will believe himself through with the whole thing, and will not go to bed at all the next night. you see what task we ought to impose upon ourselves. as for my part, i am resolved upon it, entirely devoted to it, but by myself alone i can do nothing. i shall weary him, he will allow no one but me to see him, and his impatience will neutralize the effect of my care. with you,—a woman, a voluntary guardian, generous, firm and tender, patient and resolute, as women only know how to be,—i will answer for it that he will submit without ill-will, and later, when all the paroxysms of his disorder are passed, he will bless you for having thwarted him."
this insidious explanation of the case entirely dissipated the vague and sudden suspicion of caroline. "yes, yes," she answered, with decision, "i will be that guardian. count upon me; i thank you for having chosen me, and do not think better of me on that account. i am used to nursing; it costs me neither effort nor fatigue. your brother is to me, as to you, so worthy of respect and so superior to every one we know that it is a happiness and honor to serve him. let us, therefore, understand each other, so that we can share this good task without arousing suspicion of any one around us here as to his real state. to begin with, you install yourself in his room to-night."
"he will not allow that."
"well, then, his breathing can be heard from here. there is a large sofa on which one can sleep quite comfortably, muffled in a cloak. you and i can pass the night here alternately, till a change is brought about."
"very well."
"you must make him rise early, so that he will get the habit of sleeping at night; and you must bring him to breakfast with us."
"if you will make him promise to do these things."
"i will try. it is absolutely necessary that he should eat oftener than once in twenty-four hours. we will make him walk or simply seat himself with us in the open air till noon. that is the hour of his visit and yours to the marchioness. i work with her till five o'clock; then i dress—"
"that will not take you an hour. will you not come and pay him a short visit in the library? i shall be there."
"yes, so i will; we will all dine together. we will keep him in the drawing-room till ten o'clock. then you will follow him."
"all this is perfect, but when my mother has visitors she will leave us at liberty, and you can then easily come here and talk with us an hour or two?"
"no, not to talk," replied caroline. "i will come and read to him a little, for you can well imagine he will not pass all this time without wishing to interest himself in something, and i will read to him in a way to quiet him and dispose him to sleep. so, it is agreed. only to-day we shall be very much hindered by madame d'arglade."
"to-day i take everything upon myself, and madame d'arglade leaves to-morrow at daylight; then my brother is saved, and you are an angel!"
