CHAPTER VI

MADEMOISELLE DE SOISSONS

Mademoiselle Victoire-Julie de Soissons, Princess of S . . . C . . . , lived with her aunt, the Princess of Rohan-Soubise. Aged about twenty-five years, the princess Julie was rather pretty than beautiful; she was of medium size, and perfectly graceful. Although the use of powder was then in the height of fashion, very rarely did Mlle. de Soissons consent to cover lightly with it her magnificent flaxen hair, which, in a manner peculiar to herself, she rolled off her face with most becoming effect. Her eyes were blue, her lips vermilion, her teeth pearls, her face a pure and delicate oval, her complexion, too brown for a blonde, was nevertheless so pure and brilliant, that one could not desire it to be whiter. The habitual expression of her countenance was melancholy, yet sweet.

Of a nature at once impressible and reserved, the least emotion brought a lovely blush to her cheeks and charming neck.

If she heard a touching or pitiful tale, her eyes would fill with tears. Although a princess of royal blood, no one felt less than she the pride of birth; the requirements of her lofty station weighed upon her. By natural disposition and taste, she preferred a simple and obscure life, to the ostentatious career to which she had been appointed. Very retiring, very proud, with the noble pride of a soul conscious of its own superiority, the princess Julie was esteemed disdainful, when she was, in fact, only delicate and timid.

Vulgar natures, pretentious or egotistic, especially repelled her. The most striking feature of her character was an indomitable will. Her frail bodily envelope concealed a most valiant and resolute heart. No human consideration could influence her decisions when she believed them based on justice and reason. By a singular contrast, notwithstanding her princely birth, the nobility of her heart, her firmness, her mind as lovely as it was cultivated, the princess Julie almost always displayed the most incredible timidity, even among persons who were in nowise her equals.

An orphan, and having lived for seven years with Madame de Rohan-Soubise, Mlle. de Soissons felt no sympathy with her relative. All the secrets of her heart were reserved for Martha, her nurse, a simple, good-hearted creature who had brought her up, and who loved her with the blind tenderness of a mother.

For five years Mlle. de Soissons had persistently refused the most brilliant offers of marriage from persons of suitable birth and fortune; for five years she had loved the Marquis of Létorière.

Her singularly good heart, her rather romantic temperament, her independent spirit, had not remained insensible to the history of misfortunes so courageously borne by that young gentleman.

When Jerome Sicard went to execute Létorière's commission, after having carried him gratuitously to Palais Marchand, it will be remembered that a man getting out of the carriage had seen Dame Landry in the height of her wrath against the Marquis. Curious to learn the termination of the affair, this man, the steward of Madame Rohan-Soubise, returning several days after to The Golden Scissors, found Dame Landry full of enthusiasm for her debtor. The steward described this singular drama to Dame Martha, Mlle. de Soisson's nurse, relating all the details. Dame Martha, in turn, communicated them to the princess Julie. Such was the first cause of the lively interest which the latter soon felt for M. de Létorière.

During the illness of the young Marquis, Julie often sent her faithful nurse, well disguised in her long black cloak, to get tidings of Dominique's pupil.

When Létorière was convalescent, Dame Martha was deputed to convey secretly the basket of flowers and fruit, of which mention has been made, without allowing any one to guess whence the gift came, and afterwards to find out the day on which he would be able to go out; the princess desired very much to see this enchanter who charmed the most pedantic regent of the college, the most rebellious wife of a tailor, and the coarsest of coachmen.

As a woman of her rank could go out neither alone nor on foot, Martha endeavored to ascertain if there were not, in the Rue St. Florentin, some shop where she could lie concealed, to watch this young invalid, under the pretence of making purchases.

She found an obscure milliner, almost opposite Létorière's house; and knowing the hour in which the Marquis regularly went out, Julie, at the risk of passing for an eccentric, took a carriage with one of the female attendants of her aunt, and went to the milliner's, ostensibly for the purpose of making purchases.

She soon saw, through the windows, the ex-professor and his pupil. The expression of melancholy on the charming countenance of the young gentleman, and the tender assiduities of Dominique, moved her to tears.

Her errand accomplished, the princess drove to the Tuilleries. Létorière soon arrived there, and took a seat in the sunshine with Dominique.

When Mlle. de Soissons could contemplate, at her ease, the ravishing countenance of this young man, she experienced a profound and new impression; her heart beat violently; she trembled, she blushed . . . she loved.

To the singular character of this princess it was undoubtedly owing, that in her eyes, one of Létorière's principal attractions was the misfortune which pursued him. For in the generous and elevated soul of this young girl, misfortune always found ready sympathy.

Mistress of a considerable revenue, and sure of the secrecy and fidelity of Brissot, who had faithfully served her father, Mlle. de Soissons employed him to keep her informed of Létorière's affairs. Fully instructed, the steward wrote to Létorière's lawyer, who was also his own, to follow up the lawsuit, and to make the necessary advances to the Marquis. It was he, also, who obtained for Landry his appointment, by means of a present made to one of the Duke of Bourbon's subalterns, who had the charge of all such nominations.

For a long time the princess contented herself with the secret reveries of this chaste and passionate love, watching eagerly for rare opportunities, when she could meet the Marquis, and writing to him from time to time. Then, when, by her secret influence, he had gained his lawsuit, she resolved to leave him free, and see if he would prove worthy of her. She wrote for the last time, gave him the note at the Opera Ball, and waited.

The day on which the Marquis was presented to the king, Mlle. de Soissons accompanied the dauphiness, and was sufficiently near to Louis XV. to hear that prince say, to all approaching him, pointing out his young _protégé_:

"_Admit that he is charming!_"

With much joy and pride the princess saw her choice approved, as one may say, by these words of the king, who, as has been already said, soon attached the Marquis to his person.

Mlle. de Soissons, until then very indifferent to court _fêtes_ and excursions to Marly, now sought to join them on all occasions. Louis XV. felt a warm interest in his young equerry, whom he soon promoted to his military staff. At the chase and on the promenade, he marked with complacency the grace and address of Létorière, and quoted his fine and delicate repartees.

By a curious contradiction, the more the princess Julie's love increased in her heart, the more she shunned all occasions, not only of meeting, but of making the acquaintance of M. de Létorière.

After two years' connection with the court, the favor and success of the Marquis were at their highest. A thousand gallantries were imputed to him. Strange as it may seem, the jealousy of Mlle. de Soissons was not excited. The chaste and proud passion of this young girl gave her courage to view with pity the ephemeral and foolish loves which were attributed to the Marquis. She felt so sure, so worthy of being passionately adored, of being preferred to all when she revealed herself to him, that she remained for a long time almost heedless of the numerous flirtations of Létorière.

The princess Julie wished to watch him whom she loved, in order to judge if he were worthy of her. . . . She readily perceived that these successes were the natural result of the rare attractions with which he was endowed. But she wished to know if his heart remained noble and generous amid such intoxicating circumstances.

In a question of lofty sentiments no proofs are trifling; the daily walk is in such cases more trustworthy, perhaps, than great bursts of devotion; the former is the habit, the latter the accidents, of life.

Thus three poor and obscure persons had rendered important services to Létorière during his adversity,--Dominique, the tailor, and his wife.

With keen delight, Mlle. de Soissons learned from Martha that the Marquis continued to keep Dominique near him, and that he always treated him with deferential affection.

Very often Létorière recounted, with manifestations of profound gratitude, the obligations he was under to these excellent people. A man of his age, whom the most unbounded prosperity and the most brilliant success did not blind, who remained simple, good, and emphatically grateful to such obscure benefactors, ought to be esteemed a man of noble heart.

The project of Mlle. de Soissons was irrevocably resolved upon. She would freely, boldly, offer her hand to him whom she found so worthy.

No objection of birth or fortune could change her resolution. She was an orphan, and felt herself free to choose a husband. Profoundly indifferent to all the reasons which her aunt daily brought to prove to her that she, a princess of a royal house, ought to make certain alliances, the princess Julie replied distinctly, that though she saw no need of quoting example, Mlle. de Montpensier married M. de Lanzun. . . . As to herself, she would marry an artizan, without scruple, if an artizan seemed to her to deserve her love.

Madame Rohan-Soubise, utterly ignorant of her niece's secret, treated these ideas as phantasies, foolish reveries, encouraged by the romances of Rousseau. Mlle. de Soissons answered nothing, but secretly followed her plan with incredible pertinacity.

Her love increased, so to speak, in proportion to the successes of him she loved. One would have said that she waited until the Marquis was at the height of his triumphs, in order that she might offer him her love as their supreme consecration.

When she was assured of the nobility and solidity of his character, without remorse, without shame, with all the security of candor, all the serene confidence of an exalted soul, she wrote to M. de Létorière the letter which we have already seen, to offer him her hand.

Happily for him, and for Mlle. de Soissons, Létorière comprehended all the grandeur and all the devotion of such a love. Satiated with too easy successes, he consecrated himself from that time to the adoration of the young girl who so nobly confided to him her future.

He often saw the princess alone, and in Martha's presence. Mlle. de Soissons desired that he should at once ask her hand of Madame Rohan-Soubise, purely as a matter of form. The young girl held in reserve her rights and her invincible will, awaiting the decision of her aunt.

As a man of honor and good sense, Létorière gave Mlle. de Soissons to understand, that according to the loss or gain of the important lawsuit which was still pending against the dukes of Brunswick-Oëls and the prince of Brandebourg-Bareuth, he should or should not be recognized as of princely blood; and if successful, that he would have a fortune equal to the support of that rank. In his judgment, it would be better to wait the issue of this lawsuit, before applying to Madame Rohan-Soubise.

If it were gained, his position would be so eminent that no reasonable objection could be made to his marriage with the princess Julie; if it were lost, it would then be time to dispense with the consent of Mlle. de Soissons' family; but there was no need of uselessly and prematurely provoking publicity, which is always mortifying. Such was the opinion of M. de Létorière. The princess Julie took the opposite view; her resolute character could not accommodate itself to such temporizing. The Marquis proposed to leave it to the judgment of the king, who continued to bestow upon him proofs of the most touching goodness.

Mlle. de Soissons accepted this arbitration. Louis XV. approved of Létorière's delicacy, and promised to write to the French ambassador at Vienna, to push forward his just claims.

A month before, the good Dominique had gone to Vienna, in order to get precise information in regard to the dispositions of the members of the Aulic Council, called to decide, finally, this important lawsuit which had already lasted nearly a century.

One can imagine with how much impatience Létorière awaited the return of the old professor. On the issue of his cause, his marriage with Mlle. de Soissons might almost be said to rest.