第 20 页

"You're quite wrong there! She has taken lessons just as we have, and waltzes splendidly; but she won't even dance with the professor; it's always Maud or I who act as her partners. She has some principles on this subject which appear to be rooted in her, and which we have not yet succeeded in overcoming."

"If you would help me this evening," I said, "perhaps we can succeed between us."

"What, is it to be a conspiracy—"

"Quite a friendly one, for you must admit that it is for her own interest."

"I won't deny it," she replied, with a laugh; "but how are we to force her—"

Then I noticed poor Kondjé-Gul, who was watching us, and seemed to envy us.

"Listen!" I said, as if a sudden idea had struck me. "I know of a likely way."

"Well—"

"Let us take my aunt into our confidence; I see them over there talking Turkish together. My aunt will perhaps be able to exercise sufficient influence over your friend to convince her that she may conform to our usages without committing any offence."

"Yes, that's the way to manage it!" exclaimed Miss Suzannah, in delight. "Our conspiracy is making progress; but how shall we get at your aunt—"

"Does Mademoiselle Kondjé-Gul understand English—" I asked her.

"No, not a word."

"Then it's a very simple matter," I added. "After this polka I'll take you back to your seat; you then communicate our scheme to my aunt in English, and ask for her assistance; I come up, as if by chance, and try my luck with her for the next waltz."

We did as we said. I watched from the distance this important conference, all the details of which I guessed. While Miss Suzannah was addressing my aunt in English, I saw her laugh in a sly manner, casting a glance at me. She at once understood our request; then turned her attention again to Kondjé-Gul, and continued, quite undisturbed, the subject which she had last commenced talking about with her. I had so perfectly anticipated all the phases of this scene, that I seemed to hear what she said. By Kondjé-Gul's face I could tell the moment my aunt approached her on our subject, and the negative gesture with which she replied was so decisive—I was nearly saying so full of horror—that, fearing lest she should cut off her retreat completely, I deemed it advisable to intervene as quickly as possible.

I advanced, therefore, without any more ado, joined their group, and addressing myself to the handsome young foreigner, I said to her:

"I should not like you to think me indifferent to the pleasure of dancing with you, mademoiselle; I meant to have asked you for the first waltz; but, alas! Miss Suzannah tells me that you do not dance!"

"You have come to the rescue, André," chimed in my aunt. "I was just endeavouring to convert the young lady to our customs by telling her that she would be taken for a little savage."

At this expression, which she had so often heard me utter, Kondjé-Gul smiled and cast a furtive glance at me. Miss Suzannah supported my aunt, and the victory was already won. They were beginning to play a waltz, so Maud took her hand and forced it into mine; I clasped her by the waist and led her off. During the first few turns Kondjé-Gul trembled with excitement; I felt her heart beating violently against my bosom, and I confess I was nearly losing my own self-possession. Once we found ourselves some way removed from the rest, and, with her head resting on my shoulder, she whispered in my ear:

"Do you still love me, dear— Are you satisfied with me—"

"Yes, but take care!" I answered hurriedly: "you are too beautiful, and all their eyes are fixed upon us."

"If they only knew!"——she added, with a laugh.

I stopped a moment, to let her take breath. Each time any couple came near us, we appeared to be engaged in one of those ball-room conversations the only characteristic of which is their frivolity, and as soon as they were out of hearing, we talked together in a low voice.

"You naughty fellow," she said, "I have not seen you in the Bois for three days!"

"It was from motives of prudence," I replied. "And now prepare yourself for a surprise. Your new house is ready and you can go there the day after to-morrow."

"Do you really mean it—" exclaimed she, "Oh! what happiness! Then you find me sufficiently Europeanized—"

"You coquette! you are adorable!—-What a nice fan you have, mademoiselle!" added I, changing my manner as Maud came close to us.

"Do you think so," she answered, "Is it Chinese or Japanese—"

Maud having passed we resumed our conversation, overjoyed at the idea of constantly seeing each other again. The waltz was just ending and I was obliged to conduct Kondjé-Gul back to my aunt.

"Listen!" she remarked, "whenever I put my fan up to my lips, that will mean 'I love you'——You must come back soon to invite me for another dance, won't you—"

"My dear girl, I can't."

"Why—"

"Because it is not usual, and would be remarked," I replied.

"But I don't want to dance with anyone else!" she said, almost with a terrified look.

I had not for once thought of this very natural consequence of our little adventure, and I must confess that the idea of anyone else asking her after me took me quite by surprise—like some improbability which no mortal could conceive.

"What shall I do—" she said.

It was necessary at all costs to repair the effects of our imprudence. I invented for her a sudden indisposition, a dizziness which obliged her to leave off waltzing, and I conducted her back to my aunt. This pretext would be sufficient to justify her in declining to dance for the rest of the evening.

I know very well, my dear fellow, that you will cry out against me when I tell you of this strange feeling which pierced me suddenly like a thorn in the heart, at the notion of seeing Kondjé-Gul dance with another man. But how could I help it—

I simply relate to you a psychological fact and nothing more.

You may tell me, if you like, that this is a ridiculous exaggeration, and that I am giving myself the morose airs of a jealous sultan. The truth is that in my harem life, I have contracted prudish alarms and real susceptibilities which are excited by things which would not have affected me formerly. Contact with the outside world will, no doubt, restore me to the calm frame of mind enjoyed by every good husband. Perhaps some day I may even be able to feel pride as I watch my wife with naked arms and shoulders whirling round the room in the amorous embrace of a hussar. At present my temper is less complaisant: my love is a master's love, and the notion that any man could venture to press my Kondjé-Gul's little finger would be enough to throw me into a fit of rage. That's what we Orientals are like, you know!

However that be, I led Kondjé-Gul back to my aunt's side, and she did not dance any more.

From a corner of the drawing-room I saw some half-a-dozen of my friends march up to get introduced to her, anxiously longing to obtain the same favour as I had, and I laughed at their discomfiture.

Meanwhile the commodore, who, by the way, is a highly educated and thoroughly good-natured man, had marked me out, and was so kind in his attentions to me, that I felt constrained, in spite of my scruples, to accept his advances. His relations with my uncle, moreover, might have made the cold reserve which I had so far maintained appear singular. Finally, towards the middle of the entertainment, when he was going away with his daughters and Kondjé-Gul, whom he had to see home to Madame Montier's, I had, without meaning it, so completely won his good opinion, that I found myself invited to accompany my aunt who was dining with him the next day but one.

Although it was only a fatality that had led to this extraordinary complication, I must own that, when I began to think over it and to contemplate the possible consequences, I felt a considerable anxiety. Hitherto, by a compromise with conscience, which Kondjé-Gul's childlike simplicity rendered almost excusable, I had been enabled to deceive myself about the consequences of this school-friendship with two American girls who were strangers to me. This, I thought, would never be more than a chance companionship, and when her time with them was over, the Misses Maud and Suzannah would remain ignorant of her real position, which they had no occasion for suspecting. But I could not fail to perceive that our relations with the commodore must aggravate our difficulties to a remarkable extent.

Our society affords shelter, certainly, to many a hidden romance: we have both honest loves and shady intrigues confused and interlaced in its mazes so that they escape all notice. Yet, certain as I felt that nothing could occur to betray our extraordinary secret, I was troubled all the same at the part which I should have to play in this family with which my uncle was on such intimate terms.

Placed face to face with the inexorable logic of facts, I could not long deceive myself as to the course which the most elementary sense of delicacy prescribed to me. I could see clearly during this last evening party, that Kondjé-Gul had no further need of Madame Montier's lessons to complete her social education. Count Térals house being now ready to receive her, I need only settle her there with her mother in order to commence at once the happy life of which we had so often dreamed. Then it would be easy to withdraw gradually from the society of the Montague girls, and thus banish all future risks.

Having decided upon this course, I wrote the same evening to Kondjé-Gul to ask her to prepare for her return.

CHAPTER XI.

You know, my dear Louis, that whenever I have formed any plan, whether a reckless one or even a wise one, I go straight at it with the stubbornness of a mule. This, perhaps, explains many of my follies. According to my view (as a believer in free-will), man is himself a will or independent power served by his organs; he is a kind of manifestation of the spirit of nature created to control matter. Any man who abdicates his rights, or gives way before obstacles, abandons his mission and returns to the rank of the beasts. His is a lost power, which has evaporated into space. Such is my opinion.

This highly philosophical prelude was necessary, as you will see, in order to fix my principles before proceeding any further; and, above all, in order to defend myself beforehand against any rash accusation of fickleness in my plans. Science has mysterious paths, along which we feel our way, without seeing clearly our destination. The consequence of which is that, just when we fancy that we have reached the end, new and immense horizons open out before us.

But I am getting tired of my metaphor.

It all amounts to this—that having the honour of being my uncle's nephew, nothing happens to me in the same way as to other mortals, and that consequently all the careful arrangements that I made in regard to Kondjé-Gul have eventuated in a manner completely opposed to my express intentions. But although my objective has been considerably enlarged, it remains substantially the same, as I think you will remark.

Kondjé-Gul and her mother are now settled down in Count Téral's house; and it is hardly necessary for me to describe to you the joy which she felt at the termination of her educational seclusion. The first few days after her return were days of frenzied delight, and we spent them almost entirely together. Her metamorphosis was now so complete, that I felt as if I were witnessing one of the fabulous Indian avatars, and that another soul had taken up its dwelling in this divinely beautiful body of hers. I could not tire of watching her as she walked, and listening to her as she spoke. In her Oriental costume, which she occasionally resumes, in order to please me, the American girl's ways, which she has picked up from Suzannah and Maud, produce a most remarkable effect. And with all this was mingled that exquisitely blended aroma of youth, beauty, and dignity, which permeated her and surrounded her like the sweet perfume of some strange Oriental blossom!

We have settled our plan of life. Knowing the whole truth, as she does now, about our social habits, she understands the necessity of veiling our happiness under the most profound mystery. Confiding in the sanctity of a tie which her religion legitimizes, she is aware that we must conceal it from the eyes of the world, like any secret marriage. Besides, what advantage would there be in lifting the veil of mystery, and taking the poetry out of this romantic union—thus reducing it to the vulgar level of an ordinary intrigue— If I were to treat my Kondjé like a common mistress, would not that be degrading her—

When I tried to console her for the dulness which this constraint must cause her, she exclaimed, with vehemence—

"Be so good as not to calumniate my woman's heart! What do I care for your country, and its laws, so long as you love me— I don't care to know either your society, or its customs, or its conventionalities. I belong to you, and I love you; that is all I see, all I feel. I am neither your wife, nor your mistress. From the depths of my soul I feel that I am more than either. I am your slave, and I wish to preserve my bonds. Command me, do what you like with me; and when you love me no longer, kill me, that's all!"

"Yes, dear!" I replied, laughing at her rhapsodies, "I will sew you up in a sack, and go and throw you in the Bosphorus some evening!"

She received this remark with a peal of childish laughter.

"Goodness me!" she said, in her confusion; "why, I was quite forgetting that I am civilised!"

Count Téral's house has been quite a find for us; it seems just as if it had been built expressly for Kondjé-Gul and her mother. On the ground-floor, approached by a short flight of eight steps, is a drawing-room, which opens into a sort of hall, resembling an artist's studio. The latter serves as picture-gallery, library, and concert-room. Above the wainscoting the eye is relieved by silk hangings, of a large grey-striped pattern on white ground, in contrast with which is the rich garnet of a velvet-covered suite of furniture. There are some curious old cabinets in carved ebony, set out with statuettes, vases, flowers, and nick-nacks. The general effect is lively, enchanting, and luxurious; in fact, just what the home of a young lady of patrician birth, who confines herself to a small circle of friends, should be. On the first floor are the private apartments, and on the second the servants' rooms. The establishment is maintained on the elegant, yet simple scale, which seems proper for members of good society; they keep three horses, and a neat brougham: nothing more. Their luxuries, in short, are all in the well-considered style suitable for a rich foreign lady and her daughter, who mix in Parisian society with the reserve and delicate taste of two women anxious to avoid attracting too much attention.