Chapter 12 A Petition
1576 Words
Chapter 12 A
Petition"'Then we are to lose Madame la Comtesse, but I hope only for a
few hours,' I said, with a low bow.
"'It may be that only, or it may be a few weeks. It was very
unlucky his speaking to me just now as he did. Do you now know
me?'
"I assured her I did not.
"'You shall know me,' she said, 'but not at present. We are
older and better friends than, perhaps, you suspect. I cannot yet
declare myself. I shall in three weeks pass your beautiful schloss,
about which I have been making enquiries. I shall then look in upon
you for an hour or two, and renew a friendship which I never think
of without a thousand pleasant recollections. This moment a piece
of news has reached me like a thunderbolt. I must set out now, and
travel by a devious route, nearly a hundred miles, with all the
dispatch I can possibly make. My perplexities multiply. I am only
deterred by the compulsory reserve I practice as to my name from
making a very singular request of you. My poor child has not quite
recovered her strength. Her horse fell with her, at a hunt which
she had ridden out to witness, her nerves have not yet recovered
the shock, and our physician says that she must on no account exert
herself for some time to come. We came here, in consequence, by
very easy stages—hardly six leagues a day. I must now travel day
and night, on a mission of life and death—a mission the critical
and momentous nature of which I shall be able to explain to you
when we meet, as I hope we shall, in a few weeks, without the
necessity of any concealment.'
"She went on to make her petition, and it was in the tone of a
person from whom such a request amounted to conferring, rather than
seeking a favor.
"This was only in manner, and, as it seemed, quite
unconsciously. Than the terms in which it was expressed, nothing
could be more deprecatory. It was simply that I would consent to
take charge of her daughter during her absence.
"This was, all things considered, a strange, not to say, an
audacious request. She in some sort disarmed me, by stating and
admitting everything that could be urged against it, and throwing
herself entirely upon my chivalry. At the same moment, by a
fatality that seems to have predetermined all that happened, my
poor child came to my side, and, in an undertone, besought me to
invite her new friend, Millarca, to pay us a visit. She had just
been sounding her, and thought, if her mamma would allow her, she
would like it extremely.
"At another time I should have told her to wait a little, until,
at least, we knew who they were. But I had not a moment to think
in. The two ladies assailed me together, and I must confess the
refined and beautiful face of the young lady, about which there was
something extremely engaging, as well as the elegance and fire of
high birth, determined me; and, quite overpowered, I submitted, and
undertook, too easily, the care of the young lady, whom her mother
called Millarca.
"The Countess beckoned to her daughter, who listened with grave
attention while she told her, in general terms, how suddenly and
peremptorily she had been summoned, and also of the arrangement she
had made for her under my care, adding that I was one of her
earliest and most valued friends.
"I made, of course, such speeches as the case seemed to call
for, and found myself, on reflection, in a position which I did not
half like.
"The gentleman in black returned, and very ceremoniously
conducted the lady from the room.
"The demeanor of this gentleman was such as to impress me with
the conviction that the Countess was a lady of very much more
importance than her modest title alone might have led me to
assume.
"Her last charge to me was that no attempt was to be made to
learn more about her than I might have already guessed, until her
return. Our distinguished host, whose guest she was, knew her
reasons.
"'But here,' she said, 'neither I nor my daughter could safely
remain for more than a day. I removed my mask imprudently for a
moment, about an hour ago, and, too late, I fancied you saw me. So
I resolved to seek an opportunity of talking a little to you. Had I
found that you had seen me, I would have thrown myself on your high
sense of honor to keep my secret some weeks. As it is, I am
satisfied that you did not see me; but if you now suspect, or, on
reflection, should suspect, who I am, I commit myself, in like
manner, entirely to your honor. My daughter will observe the same
secrecy, and I well know that you will, from time to time, remind
her, lest she should thoughtlessly disclose it.'
"She whispered a few words to her daughter, kissed her hurriedly
twice, and went away, accompanied by the pale gentleman in black,
and disappeared in the crowd.
"'In the next room,' said Millarca, 'there is a window that
looks upon the hall door. I should like to see the last of mamma,
and to kiss my hand to her.'
"We assented, of course, and accompanied her to the window. We
looked out, and saw a handsome old-fashioned carriage, with a troop
of couriers and footmen. We saw the slim figure of the pale
gentleman in black, as he held a thick velvet cloak, and placed it
about her shoulders and threw the hood over her head. She nodded to
him, and just touched his hand with hers. He bowed low repeatedly
as the door closed, and the carriage began to move.
"'She is gone,' said Millarca, with a sigh.
"'She is gone,' I repeated to myself, for the first time—in the
hurried moments that had elapsed since my consent—reflecting upon
the folly of my act.
"'She did not look up,' said the young lady, plaintively.
"'The Countess had taken off her mask, perhaps, and did not care
to show her face,' I said; 'and she could not know that you were in
the window.'
"She sighed, and looked in my face. She was so beautiful that I
relented. I was sorry I had for a moment repented of my
hospitality, and I determined to make her amends for the unavowed
churlishness of my reception.
"The young lady, replacing her mask, joined my ward in
persuading me to return to the grounds, where the concert was soon
to be renewed. We did so, and walked up and down the terrace that
lies under the castle windows.
"Millarca became very intimate with us, and amused us with
lively descriptions and stories of most of the great people whom we
saw upon the terrace. I liked her more and more every minute. Her
gossip without being ill-natured, was extremely diverting to me,
who had been so long out of the great world. I thought what life
she would give to our sometimes lonely evenings at home.
"This ball was not over until the morning sun had almost reached
the horizon. It pleased the Grand Duke to dance till then, so loyal
people could not go away, or think of bed.
"We had just got through a crowded saloon, when my ward asked me
what had become of Millarca. I thought she had been by her side,
and she fancied she was by mine. The fact was, we had lost her.
"All my efforts to find her were vain. I feared that she had
mistaken, in the confusion of a momentary separation from us, other
people for her new friends, and had, possibly, pursued and lost
them in the extensive grounds which were thrown open to us.
"Now, in its full force, I recognized a new folly in my having
undertaken the charge of a young lady without so much as knowing
her name; and fettered as I was by promises, of the reasons for
imposing which I knew nothing, I could not even point my inquiries
by saying that the missing young lady was the daughter of the
Countess who had taken her departure a few hours before.
"Morning broke. It was clear daylight before I gave up my
search. It was not till near two o'clock next day that we heard
anything of my missing charge.
"At about that time a servant knocked at my niece's door, to say
that he had been earnestly requested by a young lady, who appeared
to be in great distress, to make out where she could find the
General Baron Spielsdorf and the young lady his daughter, in whose
charge she had been left by her mother.
"There could be no doubt, notwithstanding the slight inaccuracy,
that our young friend had turned up; and so she had. Would to
heaven we had lost her!
"She told my poor child a story to account for her having failed
to recover us for so long. Very late, she said, she had got to the
housekeeper's bedroom in despair of finding us, and had then fallen
into a deep sleep which, long as it was, had hardly sufficed to
recruit her strength after the fatigues of the ball.
"That day Millarca came home with us. I was only too happy,
after all, to have secured so charming a companion for my dear
girl."
- Writer
