"the best of friends must part"
monsieur d'argentan felt a twofold satisfaction when he heard that mademoiselle rotrou intended to stop at angers. a man had to be as finished a rider as was monsieur d'argentan to take a ride like that which he had just taken, from paris to angers—even supposing that he had not come a greater distance than paris—without a halt. he therefore resolved to stop at angers also, both to seek the needed rest and to improve his acquaintance with his new friend.
monsieur d'argentan, notwithstanding the fact that his passport indicated a provincial residence, was so perfect a specimen of refinement that the parisian stood revealed in him, and not only of paris, but of the aristocratic quarters of paris.
his astonishment, therefore, had been great, although he had not betrayed it, when, after exchanging a few words with so beautiful a creature, who was travelling alone under a passport signed by barras (which was in itself a significant fact), he found that the conversation did not bring them into more intimate relations, and that the acquaintance went no further.
when he left the police commissioner's office and had ridden on ahead, knowing that he was going in the same direction as the traveller whose passport he had heard read aloud, though he did not know how she was travelling, he had promised himself that he would make the journey in her company. but when in the morning he had been overtaken by a luxurious travelling-carriage, and found that it contained the nest of the charming bird of passage whom[pg 483] he had left behind, he had repeated the promise to himself, doubly resolved to keep it.
but, as we have seen, mademoiselle de fargas, while responding civilly to his advances, had not permitted him to put the toe of his boot upon the step of the carriage into which he had had the idea of introducing his whole body.
angers and a night's rest, therefore, came in very comfortably to remove a little of his fatigue, and to permit him, if it were possible, to advance a step further in the intimacy of this unapproachable post-mistress, before the journey should end.
they reached angers about five o'clock in the evening. about three miles out from the town, the rider approached the carriage, and, bowing to his saddle-bow, he said: "would it be indiscreet to ask if you are hungry?"
diane, who divined her travelling-companion's aim, made a motion of the lips which resembled a smile.
"yes, sir, it would be indiscreet," she replied.
"indeed, and why?"
"i will tell you. because i should no sooner have told you that i was hungry than you would have asked permission to go and order my dinner. no sooner would i have given you permission to do so than you would have requested to have it served at the same table with yours. in other words, you would have invited me to take dinner with you, which, as you see, would be an indiscretion."
"really, mademoiselle," said d'argentan, "your logic is terrible, and, if i may say so, bears little resemblance to the period in which we live."
"that," retorted diane with a frown, "is because few women find themselves in the same position as i am in. you see, sir, that i am in deep mourning."
"are you in mourning for a husband? your passport describes you as unmarried and not as a widow."
"i am unmarried, and a young girl, sir, if one can remain so after five years of solitude and misfortune. my last relative, he who was everything in the world to me, has just[pg 484] died. reassure yourself, sir, you have not, in leaving paris, lost your seductive powers, but i cannot consistently consent to recognize the merits of those who address me, and who see that in spite of my mourning i am young, and that in spite of my grief i am fair. and now i am as hungry as one can be who drinks tears, and who lives on memories instead of hopes. i will dine as usual in the same room with you, assuring you that under any other circumstances, were it only out of gratitude to you for your attentions during the journey, i would have dined at the same table with you."
the young man rode up as close to her as the rapid motion of the carriage would permit.
"madame," said he, "after your frank avowal, it remains for me to assure you that if, in your unprotected state, you should need a friend, you have one at hand, and though it be only a friend of the highroad, he is as true as any you will find."
then setting off at a gallop, he went, as he had suggested, to order dinner for two.
but as the hour of mademoiselle rotrou's arrival coincided with that of the table d'h?te, monsieur d'argentan had the delicacy to say that his companion would dine in her own room, even at the risk of not seeing her again. at the table nothing was talked of except the six thousand men whom the directory had sent to bring cadoudal to terms.
during the last two weeks cadoudal had struck blows more audacious than any that had been attempted by the most adventurous generals who had served in the vendée and brittany during the bloodiest times of the war in those provinces.
monsieur d'argentan, the tax-collector of dinan, inquired persistently as to the route which the little corps had taken. he was informed that there was the utmost uncertainty concerning that point, because the man in command, who, though not wearing the uniform, seemed abso[pg 485]lute with them, had said at that very inn that his route would depend upon certain information which he was to receive at the little village of chateaubriant, and that it would also depend upon the whereabout of his adversary whether he plunged into the morbihan or skirted the hills of maine.
when he had finished dinner, monsieur d'argentan sent a message to mademoiselle rotrou, asking whether she would do him the honor to receive him, as he had a communication to make which he believed to be of much importance.
she replied that she would do so with pleasure.
five minutes later he entered her room, where she received him, sitting at an open window. mademoiselle rotrou pointed to an armchair, and motioned to him to be seated. he thanked her with a slight bow, and contented himself with leaning on the back of the chair.
"as you might think, mademoiselle," said he, "that regret at parting so soon from you has led me to seek a pretext for seeing you again, i will come straight to the point. i do not know whether or not you are desirous of meeting, at some three hundred miles from paris, those extra-judicial agents of the government, who become more tyrannical the further they get from the centre of power. what i do know is that we are on the eve of meeting a considerable republican column led by one of those wretches whose business it is to look for heads for the government. it seems that shooting has been adjudged too noble a death for the chouans, and the guillotine is to be naturalized on the soil of brittany. the troops will have to choose between two roads at chateaubriant, a village some fifteen miles from here, and will either march straight to the sea, or skirt the c?tes-du-nord and the morbihan. have you any reason to fear them? if so, whichever road you take—and even if you have to pass the entire column from beginning to end—i will remain with you. if, on the contrary, you have nothing to fear from them (and i hope you will not mistake the motive which prompts the question), as i have myself only a moderate liking for tri-colored[pg 486] cockades, envoys extraordinary, and the guillotine—you see how frank i am—i will avoid the column and will take the road to dinan, which does not suggest itself to their fancy."
"first, let me thank you with all my heart, sir," said mademoiselle rotrou, "and assure you of my gratitude, but i am not going as you are to dinan, but to vitré. if the column has taken the road to rennes, which is that of dinan, i shall have no fear of meeting it. if, on the contrary, it has taken that of vitré, it will not deter me from following it also. i have not much more liking than you for tri-colored cockades, envoys extraordinary, and guillotines; but i have no reason to fear them. i will even go further. i was informed of these men and of what they carry with them; and as they are to cross that part of brittany which was occupied by cadoudal, i was authorized, in case of necessity, to put myself under their protection. all will therefore depend upon their leader's decision. if they continue on the road to vitré, i shall regret being obliged to part from you at the crossroad. if, on the contrary, they take the road to rennes, and your dislike is so great as to cause you to avoid them, i shall owe to that dislike the pleasure of continuing my journey with you until i have reached my destination."
monsieur d'argentan's explanation when he entered forbade his lingering, now that his errand had been discharged. he bowed and went out, while mademoiselle rotrou rose from her chair.
at six o'clock they started, therefore, after the customary greetings. at chateaubriant they learned that the column had left an hour earlier by the road to vitré consequently the two travellers were obliged to separate. monsieur d'argentan approached mademoiselle rotrou, renewed his offer of service, and said farewell in a voice full of emotion. mademoiselle rotrou raised her eyes toward the young man, and being too much a woman of the world herself not to be grateful for the respect which he had shown her, she gave him her hand to kiss.
[pg 487]
monsieur d'argentan mounted his horse, and called out to the postilion who preceded him, "road to rennes!" while mademoiselle rotrou's carriage, obedient to the order which she gave in a voice as calm as usual, took the road to vitré.
