CHAPTER XXI

THE INTERVIEW

"In the first place," said M. de Brévannes, endeavouring to slip a purse of gold into the hand of the mulatto, "take this, my good girl, for your own trouble."

Iris, however, indignantly rejected the propitiatory offering, saying, in a tone of offended pride, "You are evidently under some mistake, monsieur."

"Nay," said M. de Brévannes, trying to force it upon her acceptance, "nay, accept it as a feeble mark of my esteem."

"Esteem!" responded the mulatto with an expression of ironical contempt so unequivocally displayed, that M. de Brévannes, perceiving his error, returned his purse into his pocket, saying, "I believe I have the pleasure of speaking to the young person acting as companion to the Princess de Hansfeld?"

"You are perfectly correct, sir?"

"May I ask whether you have held that situation long?"

"Very long."

"Doubtless ever since her journey to Florence, whither she went in company with her aunt?"

"You are right."

"The female I sent to speak to you has, I presume, acquainted you with the fact of my having matters of the utmost importance to communicate to the princess?"

"She stated as much to me."

"Have you acquainted Madame de Hansfeld with the visits of this person, or with the interview you have been kind enough to grant me?"

"I have not."

"And, no doubt, you have observed equal silence as regards the prince?"

"I never converse with his excellency."

"Your motive in meeting rare, therefore, this evening, was merely----"

"To ascertain what you had to communicate to my mistress, and to apprise her of it if I should deem it advisable."

"You are so extremely young, that I can scarcely judge how far you may be in the confidence of Madame de Hansfeld."

"Your best way to prevent any error on your part will be to apply to the princess herself."

"The very thing I was going to ask you to assist me in doing. Put me in the way of seeing and speaking to the princess: that is all I desire."

"That permission must be accorded by my mistress herself."

"Whatever price you may set on this service, I am prepared to pay it."

"I can do nothing without the knowledge and concurrence of the princess."

"Give her this letter."

"Impossible."

"There is nothing in it at all objectionable. I have merely said, that having matters of the deepest importance to communicate to her, I venture to implore the favour of being instructed how to convey a letter into her hands without fear of its being intercepted."

"Then your letter is useless for the present. I will repeat to her what you say; and if she thinks proper to grant your request, I will let you know. What is your name and address?"

"My name is Charles de Brévannes: here is my card. You understand me; do you not? Remember Charles de Brévannes."

"I shall remember."

"Is that name quite unknown to you?"

"Quite."

"Has Madame de Hansfeld never pronounced it in your hearing?"

"Never."

Irritated by the reserve maintained by the mulatto, M. de Brévannes determined to try a fresh mode of attack. "My dear girl," said he, "it is useless for me to attempt concealing any thing from you. 'Tis true I have most interesting communications to make to Madame de Hansfeld; but," added he, with an insinuating tone of voice and almost tenderness of manner, "I have something equally important to say to you also."

"To me?"

"Indeed I have. I saw you the other day as you passed through the Rue Saint Louis, and I found you far too charming for my peace of mind."

This speech appeared to have taken effect, for the mulatto hung her head, but spoke not.

"The girl is probably more vulnerable on the score of personal vanity than assailable by gold," thought M. de Brévannes. "I will just try the effect of a few soft flattering words."

"Yes, my dear girl, from that hour my anxiety to obtain an interview has been redoubled. In the first place, I longed to tell you how deep and ineffaceable an impression you had made on my heart; and in the second place, to speak with you respecting those important matters which are for the princess's ear."

"You are jesting, sir?"

"No, I am not. I might have found other means of effecting my communication with the princess; but I preferred addressing myself to you. Your expressive features announced so much intelligence, mingled with passions both ardent and generous, that I felt persuaded that in speaking to you of the mistress you love, and the affection with which you have inspired me, you would not be wholly deaf to my suit, dearest Iris."

"You know my name?"

"I do; and many other things you may suppose me unacquainted with. Ah! how could it be otherwise, when you alone have long engrossed my every thought? Believe me your sincere attachment to Madame de Hansfeld has but tended to increase the fervour of my regard for you."

"I must not listen to this language," said Iris, in a tone that betrayed considerable emotion.

"Victoria!" said De Brévannes mentally; "the game is won. This poor simpleton is like all her sex, unable to resist a little well-applied flattery, mixed with a few professions of everlasting affection. Madame Grassot was right; she is but a child in years or understanding."

"Why do you retire so far from me, my pretty Iris?" continued the seducer; "let me hold your hand, and support your trembling steps."

"No; I can stay no longer: I have business that requires my presence within doors."

"I cannot suffer you to depart. I have scarcely said a quarter of what I wished to say."

"Then let me beg that our conversation may be entirely confined to the princess."

"I am most desirous it should; only for that purpose it is essential that we should repose the most perfect confidence in each other; by that means, and by acting in strict concert, we may be enabled to prevent the most fearful calamities."

"What mean you? Would the princess risk----"

"Fear not, lovely Iris; if you will aid me, these evils, however threatening, may be dispelled. With such an ally as yourself, nothing would be impossible; and, upon reflection, it seems to me that if once you and I come to a right understanding on the subject, it will be better just for the present not to inform the princess of what we are endeavouring to effect."

"And wherefore should she be kept in ignorance of what so much concerns her to know?"

"She might not be enabled to impose sufficient command on herself, and her very apprehensions might endanger the success of the projects I wish to work out for her good."

"But what good can I do in the matter? Why is it so indispensable that you and myself should become such confidants?"

"I will explain; but, in the first place, you must candidly answer the questions I shall put to you. Will you engage to do so?"

"Alas! I seem as though you exercised some spell or fascination over my actions; although nearly a stranger to me, you seem to have inspired me with sufficient confidence in your words to do whatsoever you ask me."

"Because I speak the pure language of truth, and that ever reaches the heart."

"Oh no, no; I must not believe you. That female you sent so continually to seek me--so many artifices tried with such untiring perseverance to gain the ear of a simple girl like me, must conceal some deep, some hidden design."

"Let my extreme anxiety to obtain an interview with you for the sake of revealing the passion with which you had inspired me, and of carrying out my good intentions to save and serve your honoured mistress, plead my excuse for having had recourse to such modes of accomplishing the two dearest wishes of my heart. Will you not accept my plea, dearest Iris?"

"Perhaps I am wrong to do so; after having made me grant you an interview, even against my own judgment, I ought doubly to mistrust you."

"Madame Grassot is certainly a clever reader of countenances," thought M. de Brévannes. "It is scarcely possible for a young person to exhibit more perfect silliness and childish simplicity than my dark friend here." However he did not deem it advisable to allow the prudent reflections of the mulatto to proceed further, as, hastily interrupting her, he said, with every appearance of earnest sincerity, "Why reproach yourself for what you have done? Our interview is based upon the purest and most praiseworthy motives; besides, remember, dear Iris, that far from yielding a ready assent to my prayers, you long hesitated ere you would bless me with the meeting which now renders me so happy."

"Are you then happy?"

"How can I be otherwise? When you are beside me, and your arm gently locked in mine?"

"Let me beseech you to speak only of the princess."

"Ah! now 'tis you who wish her to form the subject of our conversation."

"'Tis fitting you should converse of that which brought you hither."

"Then must I talk of you, dear Iris; or if that theme be forbidden me, indulge the dear delight of being near you, and silently enjoy the pleasure of walking by your side."

"No; each minute I stay serves but to convince me you are deceiving me: let me return to the house. You had nothing to communicate to the princess, I feel persuaded; and are merely laying a snare to entrap me into some danger."

"If even it were so?"

"Why, then, it would be base and wicked to endeavour to harm a poor weak girl like me. Let me go, I say; I must and will return home."

"Come, come. Iris--be calm. What use is there in my speaking to you of Madame de Hansfeld, if you will not answer the questions I must unavoidably put to you?

"I would much rather hear you speak of my mistress than address such language to me."

"Well, then, let us talk only of Madame de Hansfeld. Tell me, is it not above a week ago since she accompanied her husband to the Théâtre Français?"

"It is. I remember it the more particularly, because it was the first occasion of the prince's having gone out for a long while."

"And you, charming Iris, remained probably all alone at the Hôtel. Ah! had I but known it, what happiness would it not have afforded me to have been permitted to share your solitude with you!"

"Speak only of the princess, or I leave you."

"Pardon me for forgetting your former wishes. In what state did your mistress appear to you on her return from the theatre?"

"At first she seemed very uneasy, for the prince did not entirely recover from his indisposition for more than an hour after his return to the Hôtel."

"Iris, what splendid eyes you have!--and what a beneficent moon we have that shews them to double advantage when compared with her own pale rays!"

"Have you nothing further to ask me, or tell me, respecting her excellency?"

"And I suppose, when once reassured as to her husband's health, Madame de Hansfeld resumed her ordinary state of calmness and composure?--What a lovely hand yours is, Iris!--and how small!"

"Leave off these foolish compliments, I desire. What good is there in your asking me questions, when you pay not the slightest attention to the answers I make you?"

"Now you shall see how attentive I will be. You are right: matters of the most vital import are at stake, and it is almost in spite of myself, that I yield to the fascinations with which you surround me. But now, then, go on--tell me of the princess?"

"Far from becoming tranquil, when the state of the prince no longer excited her apprehensions, her agitation appeared to increase. I attended her as usual, with the rest of her women, but she dismissed them all but me; then, when we were alone, she wept. Oh! how bitterly she wept!"

"Did she, indeed?"

"And even I could scarcely restrain my tears."

"She seemed very angry, did she, Iris?"

"Angry? oh! no; on the contrary, she appeared heart-broken and miserable--raising her clasped hands towards heaven, as if to implore mercy, while her tears flowed down her pallid cheeks. About an hour after midnight she bade me call her attendants to undress her, but as soon as they had done so, and she found herself again alone with me, instead of retiring to bed, she sat down to her writing-table, and began to write in a sort of private memorandum-book. I have observed she always writes after any thing extraordinary has happened. I ventured to express my fears that she would over-fatigue herself, but she replied that, on the contrary, writing was the sole occupation which would have the effect of calming her mind. About four o'clock in the morning I left her; but long after that I could perceive the light still burning in her chamber. Upon entering softly, I found her still occupied in writing."

The account of the mulatto (who by the way fabricated the history of the private memorandum-book and the extreme despondency of the princess) became of inestimable value to M. de Brévannes, who flattered himself that his unexpected presence had occasioned all the agitation, anxiety, and distress evinced by the princess--he was not aware of Madame de Hansfeld having previously recognised him at the Opera-ball, and his greatest wonder was to find her more afflicted than irritated by their meeting.

M. de Brévannes was not only egotistical and obstinate, but also singularly vain, and, spite of all the coolness, even amounting to aversion, manifested by Madame de Hansfeld towards him when in Italy, he had never despaired of winning her love; his fatal duel, in compelling him to quit, had neither extinguished his selfish passion nor destroyed his insensate hopes of ultimate success, and frequently did he mentally assure himself, that but for his flight, rendered necessary by the rigour of the Italian laws, he should certainly have succeeded in gaining the heart of Paula Monti by the very violence of his passion, and through the excesses even to which its ardour impelled him, and have easily won her to forget the very name of Raphael, who, after all, had forced the quarrel upon him.

Vanity is at least as blind as love itself, and M. de Brévannes, being as vain as love-stricken, felt a gleam of hope in learning that the princess had witnessed his re-appearance more in sorrow than in anger; and he farther dwelt with considerable interest on the fact as related to him by Iris. If Paula having passed her midnight hours after what he erroneously supposed her first surprise at seeing him in writing long passages in a book devoted, it would seem, to the reception of her most private thoughts and occurrences, doubtless this volume contained every particular relative to the death of Raphael as well as the circumstances which led to it, and then he too, Brévannes, must likewise figure in its pages.

To obtain possession of this book, and thereby surprise, as it were, the most hidden and secret thoughts of Madame de Hansfeld, became now the ruling desire of M. de Brévannes, but in proportion as the wish became more predominant, so did his fears of failure begin to agitate his mind, and thus he deemed it more prudent not to appear to attach any importance to the narrative Iris with all the simplicity of a child had just confided to him.

Surprised at his long silence, the mulatto at length inquired, of what he was so intently thinking?

"Ah, Iris! 'tis your fault; in your presence I cannot command my thoughts, try as I will, they all fly to you and your dear image."

"What! after promising me so faithfully not to think of any thing but my dear mistress?--And when I have not only answered every question you have put to me, but even told you more than I should have done. I scarcely believe you have heard a word I said."

"Oh, yes I have, every syllable, but then you see, Iris, I have only asked you such simple and innocent questions as could in no way compromise the princess, still I am not now at liberty to explain to you the motive I have in asking them. Ere long I may probably put others to you, but by that time, I trust to have established myself so firmly in your confidence, that you will place implicit confidence in all I say, and treat me as a second self."

"I must not promise to see you again; for why should I? I see but too plainly that you are only making use of me as a medium of correspondence between yourself and the princess. But what right have I to complain? Have not the unhappy ever been sacrificed to the happy, the rich, and the prosperous of this world?"

The almost imperceptible tone of bitterness with which Iris uttered these last words made M. de Brévannes start, and afresh idea found admission into his thoughts. What was more natural than that the humble dependant looked with eyes of jealousy upon her more fortunate mistress, and loathed each day more and more the hireling service she was called upon to pay?

Spite of the cunning and experience possessed by persons of the class to which M. de Brévannes belonged, they are almost invariably dupes of their own misplaced contempt for mankind in general, and their proneness to believe at all times rather in the bad than good inclinations of those with whom they have to deal; instead, therefore, of considering the mulatto as devoted to her mistress, and consequently observing a necessary degree of reserve, a single word, nay a mere inflection of the voice sufficed to impress M. de Brévannes with the idea that Iris envied the superior advantages possessed by her mistress, and might very probably be easily brought to act in direct hostility against her; and he the more readily adopted this hypothesis, as it chanced to accord perfectly with his own projects. It was of paramount importance to him to have about Madame de Hansfeld a person wholly devoted to himself, who would be restrained by no scruple or prevented by no tie of gratitude, from executing whatever orders he might give, or assisting in any scheme he might devise. Anxious, however, to be well assured of the reality of his surmise, he said to Iris, in a feigned tone of the tenderest interest,--

"You are happy--quite happy in your present situation; are you not, my dear girl?"

The mulatto was as skilful a tactician as himself, and perfectly comprehended the import of a question she had so adroitly managed to elicit; she made no reply at first, but sighed heavily, then, after a prolonged pause, said,--

"Oh yes, very happy indeed! And even if I were not, what good would it do me to complain?"

Then abruptly disengaging herself from M. de Brévannes, she hastily ran towards the little side-gate, which had remained half open all the time they had been talking.

Astonished at this sudden flight, M. de Brévannes followed her, saying,--

"But, at least, do not leave me without fixing when I shall see you again?"

"I know not," replied she.

"But I cannot, let you go until you have appointed some time; will you say the day after to-morrow at the same hour as before?"

"Perhaps--but no, no--not again--I am sufficiently wretched already;" and with these words the garden gate shut M. de Brévannes out from all further communication with the mulatto. M. de Brévannes accordingly returned homewards, inexpressibly delighted with the result of his first interview with Iris, who, on her side not less satisfied with her recent meeting, hastened to Madame de Hansfeld, to whom she related every word that had transpired, reserving, however, certain details for the better furtherance of a diabolical project which had recently sprang up within her breast.