the travellers
as mademoiselle de fargas had told barras, a carriage was waiting for her at the door of the luxembourg. she entered it, saying to the postilion: "the road to orléans."
the postilion gathered up the reins, the little bells tinkled, and the carriage sped down the road toward the barrier of fontainebleau.
as paris was threatened with disturbances in the near future, all the barriers were carefully guarded, and the gendarmes were ordered to examine carefully any one entering or leaving the city.
whoever failed to have upon his passport either the signature of the new minister of police, sothin, or the guarantee of one of the three directors, barras, rewbell, or la reveillière, was obliged to explain at length his reason for entering or leaving paris.
mademoiselle de fargas was stopped at the barrier like every one else; she was forced to descend from her carriage and enter the office of the police commissioner, who, without noticing that she was young and beautiful, asked for her passport with the same unbending dignity as though she had been old and ugly. mademoiselle de fargas took the requisite paper from her satchel and handed it to the official. he read it aloud:
citizeness marie rotrou, post-mistress at vitré (ille-et-vilaine).
(signed) barras.
the passport was in proper form; the commissioner returned it to her with a bow that was intended for the signature of barras rather than the humble post-mistress. the latter bowed slightly, and retired without noticing a handsome young man of twenty-six who was about to present[pg 477] his passport when she entered, and had drawn back his outstretched arm, with a courtesy which denoted his gentle birth, to allow the beautiful traveller to pass first.
but he followed her immediately. the magistrate took the passport with the customary gravity which characterized the performance of his important duties, and read:
citizen sebastien argentan, tax-collector at dinan (c?tes-du-nord).
the passport was signed not only by barras, but by his two colleagues, and there was therefore even less to criticise about it than there had been about that of mademoiselle rotrou's, which was signed by barras alone.
receiving his passport, together with a gracious bow from the official, m. sebastien argentan mounted a post-horse and trotted slowly away, while the postilion, whose duty it was to precede him and see that his relays were duly ordered, set off at a gallop. all night long the tax-collector rode beside a closed post-chaise, in which he was far from suspecting slept the beautiful girl to whom he had yielded his place.
day came, and one of the windows was opened to admit the fresh morning air; a pretty head, which had not yet shaken off all traces of sleep, looked out to see the state of the weather, and to his great astonishment he recognized the post-mistress of vitré travelling by post in a handsome carriage. but he remembered that her passport was signed by barras, which would explain much in the way of luxury, particularly where a woman was in question.
the tax-gatherer bowed politely to the post-mistress, who, remembering that she had seen him on the previous evening, returned his greeting graciously.
although he thought the young woman charming, he was too well-bred to approach the carriage, or to speak to her. he urged his horse to a gallop, and, as if the mutual salutation had satisfied his ambition, he disappeared around the first turn of the road.
[pg 478]
but he had guessed that his travelling companion, whose destination he knew (having heard her passport read), would breakfast at etampes. he therefore stopped there himself, arriving half an hour before her.
he ordered the ordinary inn breakfast, to be served in the common dining-room; namely, two chops, half a cold chicken, a little ham; some fruit, and a cup of coffee.
scarcely had he attacked the chops when the travelling-carriage of mademoiselle de fargas drew up before the inn, which was also a post-house. the traveller asked for a private room, crossed the common hall, bowed to her former acquaintance, who had risen on perceiving her, and went upstairs. the question which agitated monsieur d'argentan, who wished to make his journey as pleasant as possible, was whether mademoiselle rotrou was to eat in her own room or in the public dining-room.
a moment later the question was answered. the maid who had accompanied the traveller upstairs, came down and laid a white cloth on a table, and set a cover thereon. eggs, fruit, and a cup of chocolate formed the frugal repast of the young woman, who came down just as m. d'argentan was finishing his breakfast.
the young man noted with pleasure, that while her toilet was simple, it was arranged with sufficient care to indicate that coquetry was not entirely extinct in the heart of the pretty post-mistress. he probably thought that he could overtake her by hard riding, for he, in his turn, declared that he was in need of rest, and desired to be shown to a room. he threw himself on a bed and slept two hours.
in the meantime, mademoiselle rotrou, who had slept the whole night, got into her carriage again and resumed her journey. about five o'clock she perceived before her the church steeple of orléans, and at the same time she heard behind her the gallop of a horse, which, together with the sound of bells, told her that the traveller had overtaken her. the two young people were now acquaintances. they bowed politely, and m. d'argentan thought[pg 479] that he now had the right to approach the carriage door and ask after the health of the fair occupant. it was easy to see, in spite of the pallor of her complexion, that she was not over-fatigued. he congratulated her politely upon the fact, and confessed that his own manner of travelling, however easy the horse's gait, would not permit him to make the entire journey without a break. he added that if he could only find an opportunity to purchase a carriage, he might continue his journey in that agreeable fashion. this was asking mademoiselle rotrou in a roundabout way if she would consent to share her carriage and the expense of it with him.
mademoiselle rotrou ignored his hint, and spoke of the weather, which was fine, and of the probability that she herself would be obliged to break her journey for a day or two, either at tours or at angers; to which the traveller on horseback made no reply whatever, secretly resolving to stop wherever she did.
it would have been discourteous to remain longer beside the carriage after this overture and its rejection. monsieur d'argentan therefore set off at a gallop, telling mademoiselle rotrou that he would order her relay at orléans.
any other than the proud diane de fargas, any one whose heart was not incased in steel, would have noticed the refinement, the courtesy and the beauty of the traveller. but whether she was destined to remain forever indifferent, or whether her heart needed to be more violently appealed to, certain it is that none of all that which would have caught another woman's eye attracted her glance.
entirely absorbed in her hatred, and wholly unable to dismiss the object of her journey from her mind, even while she smiled she pressed the dagger to her side, as if remorseful for that smile; that dagger which, as we said, opened the way for her brother's soul to precede hers to heaven.
looking along the road, to see if she were indeed alone, and discerning no one as far as eye could reach, she drew from her pocket the last note her brother had written her,[pg 480] and read and re-read it, as one will impatiently and yet persistently taste of a bitter root. then she fell back in a doze, and remained thus until the carriage stopped for fresh horses.
she looked about her. the horses were ready, as monsieur d'argentan had promised her they would be; but when she inquired after him, she was told that he had gone on ahead.
they stopped five minutes to change horses, then they took the road to blois.
at the first turn, the young lady saw her handsome courier, riding slowly, as if waiting for her; but this indiscretion, if indiscretion it were, was so inexcusable that it was excused.
mademoiselle rotrou soon overtook the rider. it was she this time who spoke first, to thank him for the courtesy he had shown her.
"for my part," replied the young man, "i thank my lucky star for leading me by the same route as yourself to the police commissioner, and there permitting me to yield you my place, and thereby to learn from your passport where you were going. as chance wills it, my road is the same as yours; for while you are going to vitré, i am going some twenty miles beyond, to dinan. if you are not to remain in the neighborhood, at least i shall have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a charming person, and of accompanying her at least nine-tenths of the way. on the other hand, if you do remain, as my business requires me to travel to and fro through the departments of the manche, nord, and ille-et-vilaine, i shall ask permission, when chance recalls me to vitré, to bring myself to mind, unless that reminder be disagreeable to you."
"i do not know myself how long i shall remain at vitré" she replied, graciously rather than curtly. "in reward for services rendered by my father, i have been appointed, as you see, post-mistress at vitré. but i do[pg 481] not think that i shall fill the position myself. i was ruined by the revolution, and i shall be obliged in some way to take advantage of the favor which the government has bestowed upon me. i think i shall either sell or rent the position, and thus draw an income from it without being obliged to exert myself personally."
d'argentan bowed low over his horse, as if this confidence were sufficient for him and he were grateful for it to one who was, after all, under no obligation to bestow it.
it afforded an opening for all those topics of conversation on neutral ground which verge upon the private territory of the heart, but do not form a part of it.
of what better topic could they converse, going, the one to vitré, the other to dinan, than of the chouans, who were desolating the three or four departments which formed the old province of brittany?
mademoiselle rotrou expressed great fear of falling into the hands of men who were called "brigands." but instead of sharing this fear or adding to it, m. d'argentan declared that he should be the happiest man in the world if such a thing should befall his companion, for he had been a fellow-student with cadoudal at rennes, and this would give him an opportunity of finding out whether the famous leader of the chouans was as stanch in his friendships as he was credited with being.
mademoiselle rotrou grew dreamy, and allowed the conversation to drop; then, after a pause, she uttered a weary sigh, and said: "i am indeed more fatigued than i thought. i believe i shall stop at angers, if only for the night."
