CHAPTER III.

"And now, gentlemen," resumed the Baroness after a momentary pause, and in a tone of great vivacity, "you are fully informed, as far as I am concerned. You have a thorough knowledge of the antecedents of the defendant, but you are apparently undismayed, and you continue to prefer your suit. Be it so! Then do not complain, if, after exposing myself, I expose you in turn."

The three aspirants made a simultaneous effort to interrupt her.

"One moment, please," said she quickly, "I ask for no confessions from you, seeing that they would be superfluous. For the last six months I have been gaining information about you, I have been studying you, and now I know you. That sounds flattering, does it not? Do not let yourselves be prematurely inflated with pride, for you are very, very far from divining either the thought which has actuated me, or the object of my inquiries. First of all I will consider you generally, in the aggregate, if you prefer it. You are, each of you, from thirty to thirty-five years of age, the best age for marriage; on that point I profess myself satisfied. You are neither," continued she laughing, "too prepossessing nor too plain; you can all of you boast that golden mien, as far as appearances are concerned, which every sensible woman would desire in the man whom she intends to acknowledge as her lord. Each of you is in the enjoyment of a fortune sufficiently large to secure independence, and to divest marriage with a rich woman of even a suspicion of mercenary motives. You have your faults, no doubt; who, indeed, has not? But those persons from whom I have gained my information assure me that you have no vices, and that is sufficient for me. Moreover, during the siege of Paris, which in some degree was a standard by which to test the men of our time, you all of you bore yourselves as good men and true. Lastly, you have shown yourselves, capable of creating occupations for yourselves and you have the great merit, which I gladly acknowledge, of being neither idlers nor useless members of society. I have thus, as I promised, described you generally, and now I will sum you up individually.

"You, M. de Morin," continued the Baroness, addressing the one who was seated nearest to her, "you are one of our most notable draughtsmen. I know the greater part of your works, and I appreciate them, both from an artistic point of view, and as a woman who has a certain object in view. But the moment has not come to unfold that object, so you must perforce exercise your patience a little longer. You are, moreover, daring to a degree; that is to say, no adventure, however perilous, would cause you to recoil. You have an intuitive genius, and are formed for attack; a shrewd commander would appoint you to the Zouaves. I shall post you—but we will discuss that later on. Take your place in the ranks, Mr. Zouave, and I will pass on to No 2."

The young aspirant, who was seated next to M. de Morin, at once made ready for the inspection, for he stood up, saluted his hostess after the military fashion, and sat down again.

Madame de Guéran smilingly continued—

"You, M. Périères, are to be congratulated on the articles which have appeared in the _Revue de France_. Your ideas are good, your reflections often profound, and you put your thoughts into language both elegant and concise. In the field you would be admirably adapted for writing despatches, without, however, precluding you from taking your part in the campaign as a combatant. You would scarcely advance without an order, but once committed to the fray you would bear yourself as bravely as would M. de Morin. You are gazetted to an infantry regiment, and so I dispose of your case."

The third aspirant, with whom alone Madame de Guéran had now to deal, was a man of about thirty, fair, of medium height, with a rather sad expression, and whose clothes, of a serious cut, made him look somewhat older than he really was.

"My dear M. Desrioux," said the Baroness to him, "in my eyes you possess a rare merit, very rare, indeed, amongst men of your means; that of having adopted the medical profession, a profession which binds you down to a course of severe study, and condemns you to a continuous slavery. Accept my sincere congratulations, and if I do not, as I have done in the case of these other gentlemen, post you to any particular branch of the service, it is not that I doubt your courage, but that a military surgeon, a _rôle_ for which you are admirably adapted, cannot be considered as belonging to any special arm, or, I might almost say, to any nationality, for he hastens to the succour of all who call upon him, be they friends or foes, wheresoever they may be. You may, therefore, resume your own position, my dear doctor, and consider your case disposed of."

Then turning once more to all three, she continued with all the charm of manner which was so natural to her—

"You cannot accuse me of having been too hard upon you or ill-treated you in any way. Indeed, I have dwelt upon your merits alone, and any one hearing me might place you all in the calendar as minor saints. But I will be quite open with you. I have spoken well of you because I have nothing to say against you. It is not by accident that you meet here to-night in my house, or that, during the past six months you have been admitted by degrees to intimacy with me—it is solely because I so willed it. In view of certain projects, of which I am about to apprise you, I have chosen you out of all my acquaintances, and, as I believe, I have chosen well."

Her hearers bowed in silence, and she resumed—

"Alas! It is your very good qualities which puzzle me. They are varied, but each one of you has an equal share. How then, without being inexcusably unjust, can I choose between you? In a state of embarrassment, similar to that of the shepherd, Paris, of old, I know not on whom to bestow the apple. If one of you had only made himself famous by some conspicuous action, my mind would be more at ease, but, situated as you are in this civilized Paris of ours, and so long as the country is at peace, what test can I impose upon you, or what proof can you offer me? As matters stand, you are simply men of the world, whose first duty is to be as little conspicuous as possible. I, therefore, have nothing to expect, nothing which could put an end to my hesitation. You see, do you not, that I am approaching—no, not yet? Well, at last I am coming to the root of the matter, without further circumlocution or beating about the bush. The daughter, the wife, the friend of the famous explorers of our age comes once more upon the scene.

"I have made up my mind definitively to traverse Africa, not that portion which all the world knows, and which commences at Alexandria and finishes at the desert; but the desert itself, and those strange territories which are to be found by those who have the courage to cross it. The longing, nay, I may say, the necessity which has taken possession of me, and impels me to see for myself these imperfectly explored regions—to what can I attribute it? To the education I have received, to the conversations to which I have listened, and the circle in which I have lived? Or, is it not rather that I am obeying an impulse which attracts me towards the spot where M. de Guéran perished? Does not this contemplated journey seem almost like a 'pilgrimage?' I cannot explain it, and, after all, it is of but slight importance as far as you are concerned. What really does concern you, gentlemen, is, that for some time past I have thought of you as my companions. Yes, it would be impossible for me alone to conquer the difficulties and encounter the dangers which I foresee. As for surrounding myself with hired attendants or companions, I should never dream of any such thing. They would only desert me half-way. No! courage and devotion are not to be bought. With you it is different. I have been brought in contact with you, I have watched you narrowly, and I have come to the conclusion that you are the only persons who are capable of aiding me in the accomplishment of my self-imposed task.

"In you I possess the man of literary accomplishments, who will record our impressions, the painter whose pencil will immortalize the scenes through which we pass, and the doctor and savant combined, who, whilst assuaging our sufferings, and the sufferings of those with whom we may meet, will labour, hand-in-hand with us, in the interests of science. If I mistake not, and I know you too well to be mistaken, I shall find in you, above all, three champions, three friends, three brothers, and to your loyalty and your honour I would confide, without one single qualm, my reputation and my life."

She was entirely carried away by her feelings, and without paying any attention to her guests, who had in turn and in silence warmly pressed her hand, she resumed—

"And what shall I give you in exchange for the immense sacrifice I am calling upon you to make, for the almost sublime devotion to which I lay claim? My unending friendship to two of you; my love, perhaps, to the third, and who will that third one be? I know not. At this moment I assure you that I know not; you have each an equal chance. If, on our journey, one of you should succeed in gaining my heart, I will make no sign, lest by so doing I should rouse the jealousy of the other two. Not until we return will I proclaim the name of the conqueror. Either of you gentlemen may achieve this conquest; it depends on yourselves alone. In the regions where we shall spend our days, you will find ample field for exploits of all descriptions, and he who shall prove himself richest in good and brave actions, shall be rewarded by me. Thus he will have deserved the hand I cannot, with any show of reason, bestow upon him to-day. For my part, too, I shall have every cause to love him and for ever.

"And now you know all I had to say to you; now you know why you have met here to-day. Whatever may be your decision, I trust that my too lengthy address will not lead to your passing an unfavourable judgment upon me. My education has been peculiar, carried on in the midst of people who had studied so many diverse manners and customs, that their minds had become confused, and well-nigh incapable of distinguishing between the usages tolerated in Europe and the habits in vogue amongst savages. I carry this eccentricity to the extent of wishing to make my own choice of a husband, and putting him to the proof. I am wayward, if you will; obstinate, hard upon others as well as upon myself, greedy of sensation, an ardent seeker after adventure. I am guilty, too, of making strange propositions to my friends—on that count you can give evidence; but I do not insist on an immediate answer. I allow them time to reflect. In eight days you will have had leisure enough to weigh all the _pros_ and _cons_ and come to a decision, and I will ask you to meet me then, in this same room, at the same hour. If you accompany me, I shall be very pleased indeed; if you do not, none the less shall I set out on my journey, and I shall remain a widow. And now, gentlemen, it is late, so good-night."