CHAPTER XLV

WILD-FOWL SHOOTING

M. de Hansfeld was surprised, agitated, and excited.

He had seen Bertha alight from a carriage with De Brévannes,--Bertha, to whom he had, as he believed, said adieu for ever at their last interview at Pierre Raimond's.

Never having known that Paula was acquainted with De Brévannes, Arnold could not conceive why he had brought his wife to the Hôtel Lambert, and how Madame de Hansfeld had formed an intimacy with Bertha, of whom she knew he was enamoured. Had not Paula, in order to escape the journey to Germany which her husband had threatened, in her turn menaced him with disclosing to M. de Brévannes the interviews he had had with Bertha at the engraver's?

What, then, was Paula's motive in receiving Bertha at the Hôtel Lambert? was it affectation or indifference?

Arnold was bewildered in conjecture, and when he reflected that he was about to see Bertha once more, astonishment, delight, and fear, agitated him in spite of himself, and he said to Paula in a voice which shook with emotion,--

"I think I have just seen some visitors arrive for you?"

"Yes," replied Madame de Hansfeld, who was also considerably embarrassed, "one of my friends has introduced me in society to Madame de Brévannes, who is, they say, so charming, and whom you find so!" she added, with a forced laugh, "Madame de Brévannes asked me what day I should be at home, I told her to-day, and then forgot it. She is waiting now with her husband. Not having seen you, it was impossible for me to tell you of this expected visit, which I should suppose, however, is by no means disagreeable to you."

"May I remark, godmother, that these gentlefolks have been here for a long time?" said Iris, with the kind of respectful familiarity which was usual with her.

"She is right," said De Hansfeld, imprudently yielding to the desire of once more seeing Bertha, and he rang the bell.

A footman appeared.

"Request the lady and gentleman to walk in," said the prince.

The footman left the room.

Iris and Paula exchanged a meaning look.

In order to understand the following scene, we must explain that a few lines of the Black Book, written by Iris in Paula's name, had that very morning been shewn to De Brévannes, by which he learned that the Prince de Hansfeld was the object of Bertha's love, and that she had very often met him under an assumed name at Pierre Raimond's.

A few expressive words indicated the terrible consequences which De Brévannes proposed to elicit from this love; whose punishment, if it became guilty and was detected, would assure the liberty of himself and Paula.

After this discovery, De Brévannes redoubled his hypocrisy, in order still further to lull his wife into security, although he resolved to watch narrowly, not doubting in the least her love for the prince.

Bertha's first refusal to go to the Hôtel Lambert, her increasing emotion as she approached the place where she would see Arnold again, were convincing proofs of this love. De Brévannes was besides informed by the porter at Pierre Raimond's of the visits the engraver received; and De Hansfeld had been so accurately described to him that he only awaited the opportunity of seeing the prince to be assured of his identity with the constant visitor of Pierre Raimond.

Paula, seated by the fireside, had beside her a small table, on which was laid the fatal pin; which, handed to Iris, would prevent the disclosure to De Brévannes of the trickery of which he was the dupe, and leave him in the delusion that in getting rid of his wife and the prince he might marry Paula.

The Bohemian girl, occupied at some tapestry-work, was partially concealed by the window-curtains near which she was seated, but still she did not take her eyes off her mistress.

And it must be added that her look sometimes exercised a kind of fascination over Paula.

M. de Hansfeld, standing near the fireplace, endeavoured, but in vain, to conceal his emotion.

The door opened, and a valet-de-chambre announced,--"M. and Madame de Brévannes."

Our readers may, perchance, find a contrast sufficiently dramatic between the futile, slight, and "bald, disjointed chat" of the four actors in this scene, and the anxieties, the various and deep passions which agitated them.

Madame de Hansfeld rose, went some steps towards Bertha, and said to her with complaisance,--

"Madame, you are most kind to have remembered that I was at home to-day."

"Madame, you--are--very obliging," stammered Bertha, lowering her eyes that she might not meet those of Arnold.

The poor girl was ready to sink.

The princess added,--

"Will you allow me, madame, to present the Prince de Hansfeld, who has not yet had the honour of an introduction to you?"

Arnold advanced, made a low bow, and said to Bertha,--

"I very much regret not having accompanied Madame de Hansfeld into society as often as I could have wished; and after her good fortune in being introduced to you, I regret it doubly, madame; yet I console myself as I am happy enough to have now an opportunity of paying my respects to you."

Anxious to come to Bertha's aid, and who, more and more troubled, had not a word to reply to Arnold, Madame de Hansfeld said to him, presenting M. de Brévannes,--

"M. de Brévannes."

De Brévannes bowed.

The prince returned his salute, and said, with much affability,--

"I shall be always delighted, sir, to see you at Madame de Hansfeld's, and hope I shall often have that pleasure."

"As often, sir, as it will be possible for me to profit by so agreeable a request without intrusion."

After these indispensable preliminaries, the four persons seated themselves, Paula in her place on the right hand of the fire-place, Bertha on the left hand side, De Brévannes beside Madame de Hansfeld, and Arnold by the engraver's daughter.

The prince, feeling the utter necessity of subduing his emotion, did the honours of his house with perfect dignity.

Bertha, on her part, gradually resumed her self-possession. Paula exerted herself not to give way to the terrible ideas which had occupied her brain since her conversation with Iris.

De Brévannes, who had always heard the prince mentioned as a sort of original, whimsical, strange-tempered, and half an idiot, and had asked himself how his wife could be smitten with such a man, was utterly amazed at the distinguished manners and urbane condescension of De Hansfeld, whose youthful and mild features were singularly attractive.

It was then he fully comprehended Bertha's love, and his rage increased against her and De Hansfeld. From time to time he cast a furtive glance upon her, as fierce as the glare of a tiger, then he sought Paula's look with an air of intelligence, by turns gloomy and impassioned, which proved to Madame de Hansfeld that Iris had not deceived her with respect to the Black Book.

After the few first commonplaces had passed, a silence succeeded that was somewhat embarrassing.

The prince broke it, by saying to Bertha,--

"You must have had some trouble, madame, in finding this isolated abode in the midst of this deserted quarter?"

"No, sir!" replied Bertha, blushing to her eyes; "my father lives very close by."

This reply, which the young lady had made without reflection, redoubled her confusion, by recalling to her the first time she detected her love for Arnold, who added quickly,--

"That is different, madame; but for real Parisians to come to the Ile Saint Louis it is always a kind of journey."

"At least," said De Brévannes, "they are recompensed for the journey, as you call it, sir, by being enabled to admire this hôtel, which is really a palace."

"Indeed," said Paula, to carry on the conversation, "in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, the quarter for fine houses, where we resided for some time, we could not find any thing comparable to this really spacious residence."

"We build no palaces now," said De Brévannes; "fortunes are too much divided. You gentlemen foreigners have much more sense than we have: in England, Russia, and Germany also, I presume, the right of primogeniture has wisely preserved the principle of large inheritance."

"I am sure, sir," said De Hansfeld, with a smile, "you have never had brother or sister?"

"True, sir; but whence do you deduce that certainty?"

"From your admiration of the right of primogeniture."

De Brévannes did not comprehend the amiable meaning of the prince's remark, and replied,--

"You think, then, sir, if I had not been an only son, I should have viewed the subject differently?"

"I think, sir, that your love for your brothers and sisters would completely have changed your view of this subject. But excuse me, madame," said the prince, addressing Bertha, "for talking politics; and without any transition I will ask you, what you thought of the new comedy at the Théâtre Français? Madame de Hansfeld and myself had the pleasure of seeing you, I may not say of remarking you, there."

"Why you could hardly do otherwise," said Bertha, with a little more confidence, "for I was seated beside Madame Girard, who wore so singular a head-dress that it attracted universal attention."

"I assure you, madame," remarked Paula, "that on casting our eyes towards your box, we saw the singular cap, the sobieska of Madame Girard, by chance."

"The comedy seemed to me delightful and replete with interest," said Bertha; "and without knowing the author, M. de Gercourt, I was delighted at his success, he had so many persons who envied him."

"M. de Gercourt, the author, is quite a fashionable man, is he not?" inquired Madame de Hansfeld.

"Yes, madame," replied De Brévannes, "he was one of the five or six most fashionable men in Paris--he ranked even directly after _handsome_ Morville, that star which for so long a time has shone with unrivalled brilliancy: between ourselves, I scarcely know why: it was a ridiculous infatuation, nothing more, for Gercourt and many others have a thousand times more attractions than this assuming M. de Morville."

Paula started when she heard the name so dear to her pronounced.

The glances of the princess and Iris met, and the look of the latter fell on Paula's heart like lead.

Completely ignorant of Paula's love for De Morville, and thinking it would have a good effect, in her eyes, to display his contempt of one of the most distinguished men in Paris, and moreover giving way to a feeling of envy and a habit of aspersion, which he had long entertained towards De Morville, whom he detested for no other cause than mean jealousy, De Brévannes continued,--

"This Monsieur de Morville has a pretty face, if you please, but he has, at the same time, such a besotted air of self-satisfaction that he is really sickening. They talk of his successes, but then he has never succeeded but with women whose facility of conquest makes them hardly worth a struggle for men who are in the same society as themselves. There was an immense deal of talk as to his affair with that English lady. He was certainly very deeply in love with her, but she laughed at him as every woman of good taste must do: for do you not think, madame, that we may always judge of the value of a woman by the value of the man whom she distinguishes?"

"That is generally true, sir," said Paula, restraining herself.

"Well, madame, then you may imagine the silly and ridiculous enthusiasts of this silly and ridiculous De Morville."

Nothing is more vulgar than the saying, "Small causes often produce great results," but nothing can be more true than this vulgarism.

Another proof:

De Hansfeld was not acquainted with De Morville, and it was indifferent to him whether he was well or ill spoken of; but giving way unconsciously, no doubt, to a vague desire to stand well with M. de Brévannes, he thought it would be agreeable to him if he shared with him in his opinion of De Morville.

Moreover, poor Bertha herself, as much from desire to conciliate her husband, as from that deference, that involuntary acquiescence which a woman invariably accords to the opinion of the man she loves--poor Bertha, we must add, was actually the simple and unsuspecting echo of the prince in the ensuing conversation.

This conversation was the _cause_, we shall hereafter discover the _effect_.

De Hansfeld, therefore, said,--

"I do not know M. de Morville, I have only seen him once or twice; he seemed handsome, but his affectation struck me as ridiculous, and I heard it remarked that his merit was absurdly exaggerated."

"I heard the same thing," added the unlucky Bertha; "he seemed to me to have very regular features, but they were perhaps too insignificant."

Paula did not utter a syllable. She took from off the small table the fatal pin, and began to play with the ornament.

Iris never took her eyes off her mistress. She started with gloomy joy when she observed her mistress's action.

We may see that the petty _cause_ was beginning to produce its _effect_.

"I am delighted to see a person of taste like you, sir," said M. de Brévannes to the prince, "confirm my judgment by approval."

Arnold, in order to establish himself perfectly in the good graces of Bertha's husband, ventured on a slight falsehood, and added,--

"I remember to have listened one day to his conversation, and I really thought it below mediocrity."

"It is true that M. de Morville does not pass, they say, for having a great deal of wit," added the gentle and softly responsive echo, lowering her large blue eyes, and blushing equally at the falsehood and at her effort to stoop to a kind of meanness in order to be agreeable to her husband.

The petty _cause_ contrived to produce its _effect_.

Still retaining the star-ornamented pin in her right hand, Madame de Hansfeld, as it were, beat on her left hand the measure of the _crescendo_ of the anger that agitated her, and which included De Brévannes, Bertha, and the prince.

At this moment, she again encountered the eyes of Iris, and instead of turning from the look of the Bohemian, she gazed at her for a moment with an air so significant, that Iris thought she was about to give her the pin.

De Brévannes continued, addressing Madame de Hansfeld,--

"But what do you think of M. de Morville, madame? Are we not right to shew our disgust at the sheepish admiration which makes an idol of such a nullity?"

"Assuredly, sir," said Paula, "it is quite right not to take men as always deserving of reputation because they are in repute."

"And never was repute less merited. I am not alone in my opinion, I assure you. There are many persons who think as I do; and what most prejudices me against M. de Morville is, that he assumes perfection in every thing. To hear him one would believe that he rides, handles his weapons, and shoots better than any man living."

"Is M. de Morville a great shot?" inquired Arnold.

"He at least pretends to be so, as well as every thing else; but I am sure that he would be found wanting in that as in every thing else, and he shoots because it is fashionable and not because he cares for it."

"He is wrong," said Arnold, "for shooting is one of the most exciting amusements I know of."

"Are you a sportsman, sir?" inquired De Brévannes.

"We have such excellent sporting in Germany that it is impossible not to have a taste for it. There is one class of sport, too, of which I am passionately fond, and which, perhaps, is not much known in France."

"What sport is that, sir? I can inform you, for I have liked, and still like, sporting excessively."

"Wild-fowl shooting. We have in Germany such splendid flights of aquatic birds."

"You like wild-fowl shooting!" exclaimed De Brévannes, after a moment's reflection, as if a sudden light broke in upon his thoughts.

"To madness, sir! Have you much of this sport in France?"

"Yes we have; and I may add, that I have some of the best in the country at my house in Lorraine."

"Yes," interposed Bertha, _naïvely_, "and it was only this morning that M. de Brévannes's steward wrote him word that there was at this time an extraordinary flight of----I forget the name of these birds," she added, with a smile.

"_Halbrans_--wild ducks, which come and settle on our lakes in clouds. And really, sir," continued De Brévannes, "if I was not afraid of passing for a downright boor, a man who has no idea of ceremony----"

The prince looked at M. de Brévannes with surprise.

"Really, sir," said he, "I do not understand you."

"Well, then, _ma foi_, away with scruple--frankness amongst sportsmen above every thing. The flight of wild fowl is splendid this year, and it always lasts a week or ten days. I have four hundred acres of lakes--my house is well arranged for the winter--will you then allow me to invite you to come and have a little shooting? In six-and-thirty hours we shall reach the place; and if, by an unhoped-for chance, Madame de Hansfeld had no aversion for the country for some few days in the winter season, Madame de Brévannes would endeavour to make the house as pleasant as possible to her. You see, sir, when I do a bold thing I do not do it by halves."

At this sudden and unexpected proposition, so totally unlike received customs and usages, and which, if accepted by M. de Hansfeld, might have such terrible results, the princess shuddered.

Bertha turned very red, and trembled, Iris bounded from her chair. De Hansfeld could scarcely repress his delight; but before he accepted, he endeavoured (but in vain) to catch Bertha's eye. The young lady dared not look at him.

Arnold interpreted the negative expression in his favour, and replied,--

"Really, sir, this offer is so considerate, and made with so much good grace, that I am afraid to let you see all the pleasure it affords me, if, as you say, between sportsmen one ought always to accept frankly what is frankly offered."

"You accept them, sir," exclaimed De Brévannes. Then turning towards Paula: "May I hope, madame, that the example of M. de Hansfeld will encourage you, however blunt my invitation may appear, however unusual may be in the middle of winter such a party (I dare not say) of pleasure? I am sure that Madame de Brévannes would do all in her power to relieve the long dullness of a few days of solitude in the midst of our woods."

"Pray believe, madame," said Bertha, in a tremulous voice, "that I should be very happy if you would condescend to grant us this favour."

"You are a thousand times too good, madame; but I really should fear to put you to so much inconvenience," said Paula, with inexpressible anguish. She felt, that on her consent hung the fate of the future to herself, De Morville, Bertha, and Arnold; for as Iris had anticipated, without at the same time foreseeing this incident, she felt that events were hurrying on with fearful rapidity.

"Be generous, madame," said De Brévannes. "We will endeavour to amuse you; we will have some real ladies' sport. I have good ferrets, and if you never saw ferreting, it will amuse you greatly. The weather is very mild this winter, and I can promise you some torchlight fishing. Then I have a well-stocked preserve of does and kids, and you will see them caught in the toils. I should say there is nothing barbarous in this, for the victims are taken alive. I know, madame, that these are but rustic and simple amusements; but the very contrast they offer with a Paris life during winter may make them piquant; and then, after having tried these, you will perhaps find more enjoyment in your return to the gay pleasures of high society."

"Believe me, sir," replied Paula, with increasing and deeper anxiety, "this party of pleasure so suddenly proposed would be most agreeable, for I should thus enjoy the society of Madame de Brévannes: but I really fear that she only consents to this impromptu journey out of complaisance to me."

"Oh, no, madame! I assure you I should be highly delighted--have extreme gratification----"

Again the important _effect_ caused by a petty cause.

Bertha uttered these words with such an expression of pleasure and joy--the look she exchanged at the moment with Arnold (a look rapidly intercepted by Paula) betrayed a passion so profound, so ineffable, so radiant, that all the snakes of envy and rage gnawed at Madame de Hansfeld's heartstrings.

Paula herself loved with passion, with intoxication, but her love could never be prosperous. The sight of a happiness which was forbidden her redoubled her anger. She recalled the almost contemptuous malevolence with which De Brévannes, De Hansfeld, and Bertha, had spoken of De Morville, and she included them all three in the same sentiment of hate. At this moment of intense exasperation, the more violent as it was repressed, she accepted the offer of De Brévannes, and said to Bertha, in a voice whose emotion she perfectly controlled,--

"Well, madame, at the risk of being really troublesome, by complying with your friendly pressing, I accept."

"How kind of you, madame!" was Bertha's reply.

"And when shall we set out, M. de Brévannes?" asked the prince, unable to conceal his joy. "I shall make quite a fête of my sporting."

"I am at Madame de Hansfeld's order," observed De Brévannes; "only I would remark, that the rest of birds of passage is usually very brief, and we ought to reach my house as soon as possible."

"What say you, madame?" inquired De Hansfeld of his wife.

"To-morrow, if that would suit Madame de Brévannes."

"Quite," said De Brévannes. "I and my wife will set out this evening, and precede you a few hours, so that we may have the pleasure of awaiting you there."

At this moment Iris arose. This movement reminded Madame de Hansfeld of all the terrible reality of her position.

A cloud passed before her eyes. Her breath was for an instant stopped by the violent throbbings of her heart, and she shuddered as if an ice-cold hand was passing through her hair.

The fatal moment had arrived. She was now to take the first step in the path of crime.

If she allowed Iris to leave the room without giving her the pin, the girl was to disclose all to M. de Brévannes, and Paula must renounce every hope, so near and probable, of marrying De Morville, by profiting from the double murder of which she would be completely innocent in the eyes of the world.

Iris, with a little noise, arranged some things on the table in order to warn her mistress.

Paula still hesitated.

Iris made a step towards the door. A terrible struggle ensued in Madame de Hansfeld's mind between her good and bad angel.

Iris advanced towards the door, and placed her hand on the lock.

The handle made a noise in turning. Paula's bad angel had the ascendancy in the struggle. Madame de Hansfeld said, in a tone scarcely audible, so low, so very low, "Iris!" that it was necessary for all the Bohemian's attention to the same in order to catch the word.

Iris in two steps approached her mistress.

"Here, go, I beg, and put away this pin," said Paula, in a faint voice.

And she handed the pin to the Bohemian.

Iris, as she touched her mistress's hand to take the jewel, felt it damp and cold as death.