Monsieur de Villardin

“ For Lord Masterton, indeed, I had felt as much affection and more esteem; but towards Monsieur de Villardin pity and regret, and many other mingled sensations, rendered my feelings of interest far more deep and intense. There were memories and ties between us that could never be broken; there was the confidence of dark and secret acts that could never be forgotten--there was many a deed of kindness and of feeling, too, which no conduct towards others could cancel as regarded myself ”

“ Everything else apparently being arranged, I was taking my leave, intending to set out instantly, and alone, when Monsieur de Villardin, to my surprise, bade me take two of the servants, whom he named, to give me assistance in case of need.
"No, no, my lord," I said, "for heaven's sake do not inflict such shackles upon me; I shall be much better by myself; and as to assistance, I shall want none, depend upon it. I have always been able to make my own eyes find my own way, and my own hand keep my own head since I was eight years old, and with your permission I will go alone. ”

“ Monsieur de Villardin, doubtless, by this time, thought me dead, and I might feel perfectly sure that neither Gaspard de Belleville nor any of his household would suffer my situation to be known, so long as they could by any means conceal it. Such thoughts formed the only occupation for my mind, while I could neither find nor devise any other exercise for my limbs than that which could be obtained by traversing in every different direction a chamber of ten feet square. It is true I could occasionally hear the steps and voices of people without, passing along the ramparts ”

“ I would fain have discovered what, or rather how much, Monsieur de Villardin knew; but there were so many contending emotions in my bosom that I was afraid my voice would be choked ere I could put my questions, and I merely replied, "I will."
Without rejoinder, Father Ferdinand left me; and, burying my face on my arms, I remained in the same state of mind as a condemned criminal who has just heard an order given for his instant execution. I was not one, however, to shake before any mortal man. ”

“ When once we were fairly away from the Place and its immediate vicinity, where the fury of the people was blind and indiscriminate, the straw in our hats secured us a free passage, though the streets were everywhere thronged with rioters; but as Monsieur de Villardin might each moment be recognised by some one who had known him during his former residence in Paris, I made the best of my way to the house of an honest shoemaker, who had served the whole household of the Duke, and served them well. ”

“ The sound of our horses' feet had brought Father Ferdinand to the terrace; and there was a bland smile upon his lip, which told us at once that he had good tidings in store for our welcome.
"She is better, my brother; she is better," he said, taking Monsieur de Villardin's hand as he dismounted. "I trust that all danger is over."
"Thank God!" cried the Duke, and without staying to ask more, he strode on towards his daughter's apartments. ”

“ I came here, as you well know, to investigate for Monsieur de Villardin what were the chances in favour of the immediate liberation of the Princes; and I promised him to write immediately after I had seen you, to give him such information as would determine the part that he was to take. Come, come, Monsieur Gourville, you are not acting candidly with me. If you speak frankly, you have nothing to fear. If you do not speak frankly, you may prevent Monsieur de Villardin from throwing his whole weight into the scale of the Princes. ”

“ I made no reply, for I knew too well how little one can calculate upon one's own powers in moments of passion or despair. Almost as he had done speaking, one of my servants came in to inform me that the horses were prepared, and that everything was ready to set out. My heart was too full to take leave of any one, and merely clasping Monsieur de Villardin's hand for one moment in my own, I descended as rapidly as possible to the terrace.
I found Father Ferdinand at the door, embracing little Clement de la Marke before his departure. ”

“ I am glad to hear it," replied Monsieur de Villardin; "for it was certainly the greatest fault I ever saw you commit. However, when you join the army again, be as careful of your own person as it is in your nature to be; and remember, that if you fall, Laura loses a husband, and I lose a son. There are few men," he added, smiling, "to whom one would willingly address such cautions in sending them forth to battle. ”

“ Such were my thoughts as I rode through a part of the forest in which Monsieur de Villardin had told me that some outrages had lately been committed; and I could not help feeling that if a chance shot from some of the plunderers that still infested the country were to lay me low, it would be but a happy termination of sufferings to which I now saw no end. Death, however, has his own appointed time; and as it is vain to fly from him, so also is it vain to seek him ere the moment be come. ”

“ He paused a single instant, and then added, "Monsieur de Villardin, believing it to be impossible that any young lady can have been brought up from infancy with so worthy a gentleman, without having felt for him affections that ought not to be disappointed, and being myself the last man to take advantage of accidental circumstances to seek my own happiness at the expense of others, allow me to propose that all engagements between you and me should be considered as henceforth null and void ”

“ Monsieur de Villardin had liberally supplied my lover with the money necessary both to perform the journey to Bordeaux, and to meet all the first expenses of two years' service in the regiment of Monsieur de Bouillon, without trusting at all to his pay. I myself also had accumulated no small sum during the five or six years I had remained with the Duchess; so that, on our arrival, we found ourselves enabled to live, not only in comfort, but in profusion. Splendour, dress, and admiration became my passion ”

“ Degville, the notary, will draw up the contract, and for a couple of thousand francs to a priest and a lawyer, you will get the sweetest lady in all Brittany, and the one that loves you best."
It is not impossible that, had Monsieur de Villardin said one harsh or unkind word to me, had he treated me with pride or with indignity, he might have lost his daughter; and I, teaching myself to believe that every stratagem is honourable in love, might have embraced the plan which Lise, in her love for the romantic, had laid out, and might have made Laura de Villardin my bride before the next morning. ”

“ When we arrived at the castle, we were met by Monsieur de Villardin himself, leading his daughter by the hand, now clad in drier garments, and smiling as gaily as if nothing had happened. Such moments soften and expand the heart; and the Duke's first act was one which inspired bright but delusive hopes of better days in the bosom of more than one person present. He held his daughter up in his arms to embrace her mother, and then taking the Duchess's hand, he pressed a kiss upon her cheek. ”

“ To do so was, of course, impossible; and accordingly after breakfast I mounted my horse, and rode away for Mesnil Moray, the dwelling of Monsieur de Villardin's adversary.
Though I was a little gloomy when I set out, old habits soon got the better of new feelings, and I readily brought myself to look upon the affair altogether as one of those matters which every man must undertake, at least, a hundred times in the course of his life. ”

“ The villains had been caught in their own scheme, it is true; but a sad number of innocent persons had suffered as well as themselves.
To me, on the contrary,--as soon as I began to entertain hopes that the wound of Monsieur de Villardin would not prove of a serious nature,--the whole seemed to promise unequalled joy: and, as I sat upon the bank beside Laura, speaking, every now and then, a few words of hope and affection to her ”

“ If, indeed, you do love her sincerely, such will be your course; and the blessing of a quiet conscience, and the knowledge of having acted nobly under the most trying circumstances, will follow such conduct, and cannot fail to assuage your grief.
"Ere long I shall again see you, at least, if you remain at Dumont; for as soon as the marriage is over, Monsieur de Villardin and all his family set out for Paris. On the same day I leave the Prés Vallée for Rennes, where I shall spend but three days in necessary business, and will then join you. ”

“ Four hundred men made the extent of his force, and amongst them only two, who had served in the wars of Paris, could give any assistance in matters of discipline, if we except half a dozen wild young nobles of the neighbourhood, who had joined the corps of the Duke, but who were not present on this occasion. I may say, then, that I was of no slight assistance to Monsieur de Villardin on that and the following day; for though he was undoubtedly an excellent officer, yet, of course, he could not drill four hundred men without help from some one. ”

“ Father Ferdinand instantly rose to seek her, but Monsieur de Villardin made a sign to him to pause for a moment, and, beckoning me closer to him, he gave me the paper which he had just signed. "Although I believe that I have been much nearer death than I am at present," he said, "yet as all wounds such as I have received are uncertain in their consequences, I have thought fit, my dear boy, as far as possible, to put your happiness, and that of my dear Laura, beyond further doubt. If I survive, I myself will join your hands ”

“ It is wonderful how soon a Frenchman discovers it, if there be love going on in a house; and it was easy to see, by the gay look which accompanied his words, to what the young officer alluded by my commanding the garrison. Nor did I doubt that, on his return to Rennes, he would carry a full account along with him of all the changes which had taken place in the arrangements of Monsieur de Villardin's family ”

“ I gave myself very little further care upon the subject, indeed; for though the people on whom nature or habit has inflicted such a look are always hated--because, without having a pretext for resenting it, we perceive that they are insulting us in their own hearts--yet he was always civil, and never afforded me the slightest pretence for anger, either by his demeanour or his actions. It was therefore, of course, my wisest policy to think as little as possible of what I could not remedy.
At the end of a week, Monsieur de Villardin and the whole household made their appearance ”

“ Men may conceal great schemes and mighty designs, and all those enterprises in which the mind alone is concerned may be hidden by firmness, or covered over by art, but the deep feelings and intense passions of the heart almost always betray their workings by some external sign. It was Clement de la Marke who first perceived the alteration, and, hanging upon me affectionately, he inquired what made me so sad. Ere long it caught the attention of Monsieur de Villardin himself ”

“ Of course we felt some anxiety for the return of our messenger from Paris; for though we never anticipated for a moment that the King would make any opposition to our marriage, sanctioned as it had been by Monsieur dc Villardin himself, yet, when that which we ardently desire is shadowed by even the smallest doubt, the heart can never rest satisfied till certainty is substituted in the place of hope. At the end of eight days Father Ferdinand returned from Dumont ”

“ Almost all whom I have mentioned are still living; and though Madame de Villardin has again sought the quiet seclusion of the cloister, we frequently enjoy her society as far as her situation will permit. Father Ferdinand has often promised to give me a sketch of his early history; but it would seem that there are in it points so painful, as even to have defied the softening power of time, and to remain too acute to bear recapitulation. Clement de Villardin has become the gallant soldier, whose name is known to every one both in England and France ”

“ During the six weeks, however, that the fruitless investigations continued, gloom and darkness reigned over our dwelling. Deep and painful were evidently the feelings of the Duke de Villardin in regard to this event; and a thousand times, I am sure, did he regret that he had not pursued the usual mode of arranging such encounters, which would, at least, have spared him every accessary circumstance that now tormented him from day to day. As a friend of the dead nobleman, he was frequently consulted upon his affairs, and even in regard to the search for his body ”

“ A strong man was needed at the helm—that was his verdict. And in amazement Villard listened without a word from his lips. Had the man suddenly gone crazy!—that was his first thought, but—as Parkins continued, Villard became convinced that he was a knave. ”

“ Villard—but he frowned upon it until his intimates felt the unwisdom of that sort of familiarity. Parkins alone of the directory continued the practice long after the business had grown into vast importance and the Villard name had become known all over the world. While credited with being the brains and motive power of the huge concern Drury Villard had never allowed any one to say it to his face without protest on his own part. Said he—
"If I've done anything particularly well it is to have surrounded myself with clever men of [Pg 78] brains and honesty. ”