第 22 页

We went again yesterday to the forest of Meudon, which we had almost given up visiting of late, my uncle having been engaged for the last fortnight upon "some important morning business," as he says. Well, we arrived at Villebon's restaurant, our usual destination. When we entered that celebrated room—empty this time—which had been the scene of the drama which you remember, the latter came back very naturally to our memory, and would have done so even without the superfluous aid of the grins with which our waiter greeted us. Equally naturally, and as becomes a dutiful nephew, who does not wish to appear indifferent to family matters, I, seeing my uncle cast a glance towards the window near which the incident that produced such momentous consequences occurred, took the opportunity of asking after my pseudo-aunt Christina, about whom I had not had any previous chance of questioning him.

"Christina!" exclaimed Barbassou-Pasha, "why, she's gone back!"

"Dear me! I thought she wanted to settle in Paris—"

His eye lightened up with a sly look.

"Oh, yes! She would have liked to do so very well," he replied. "In fact, we made the round of the upholsterers' shops,—and she fancied, up to the last moment, that it was all settled. But I had made up my mind, and I sent her back to Jean Bonaffé."

"The deuce you did!" I said, quite astonished at the news.

Then my uncle just closed one of his eyes, and looked at me out of the other, as he added—

"You see, I was not sorry to return that rascal the little trick he played me before!"

And, with that, Barbassou-Pasha began to whistle a hunting song, with all the calm complacency of an honest soul on satisfactory terms with his neighbour. I accompanied him whistling the bass, and we got on very well together that time.

I believe that after this explanation, you will at once renew the esteem which you used to accord to my uncle, and will join me in a sincere expression of regret for having suspected him for one moment in this matter:—in which, in reality, he had merely played the part of an avenging deity, punishing sinners with remorse by recalling to them the blisses of their lost Paradise. And I am ready to testify that he has spared no expense; for during the last three weeks he has had from me more than twenty thousand francs in pocket-money. I warrant you he has given his fair friend a jolly time of it, purposely holding the golden cup to her faithless lips, and letting them taste of all the pleasures——

The severe lesson of an abrupt return to her husband, Jean Bonaffé, after the awakening of such delightful anticipations, will certainly impress the guilty one, and engrave in her heart a keen remorse for her past misconduct.

CHAPTER XIII.

We have been four months at Paris without anything to disturb the happy life which we have led, secure from all suspicions. Nothing can be more original or sweeter than this love concealed from all prying eyes, the exquisite pleasures of which you can imagine. Kondjé, delighted with her triumphs, plays everywhere her part of enchantress.

My romance is, however, complicated by a circumstance which I must at once relate to you.

You will not have forgotten that my aunt had seen Kondjé-Gul at Baroness de Villeneuve's party, and that she conceived a great liking for her. Their friendship having been cemented during several parties at the commodore's, where they met each other, my aunt very naturally invited Madame Murrah and her daughter to dinner one evening. She is fond of young people, as you know; and Suzannah, Maud, and Kondjé-Gul formed such a charming trio, that she soon insisted on their coming to dine with her every Thursday. Indeed, Kondjé has frequently met Anna Campbell there, for the latter has leave out from her convent twice a month. The consequence was, we became in time so completely involved in intimate relations together, that it would have been imprudent to make any break in them: moreover, Kondjé-Gul was so very happy and so proud of this intimacy which allied her still more closely with me! All of them were charmed with her; even my uncle, who, delighted at the opportunity of conversing with her in Turkish, treated her with quite a display of gallantry.

Among the constant visitors at our house, I should have mentioned Count Daniel Kiusko, a fabulously rich young Slav, the owner of platinum mines in the Krapacks mountains, and in the forests of Bessarabia. This being his first visit to Paris, I found myself selected to act as his guide or bear-leader, and to introduce him to our gay world. It was a simple enough task, for that matter, since I had hardly anything to do but to present him in society.

He was tall, slenderly built, and a fine specimen of the young boyard, with that determined expression of countenance which suggests a habit of acting and being obeyed as the feudal lord. In less than a week, with the most lofty recklessness, he had thrown away half a million francs in the club at baccarat, and his other doings are all in the same vein. With such a start, you may be sure he has taken the world by storm, so that his friendship is sought after as a prize. A successful duel which he fought with a Brazilian made his reputation as a skilful swordsman.

His gratitude to me, and a sort of frank admiration of superior qualities, which he fancies he recognises in me, have won for me his friendship. I have quite become "his guide, philosopher, and friend." I find him a capital companion, and, like some modern Damon and Pythias, we hardly pass a day without seeing one another. At first he was rather surprised that I abstained from the promiscuous pleasures of the gay world; but he soon divined that I was restrained by the spell of a secret passion, and this placed me still higher in his estimation.

I gained credit with Kiusko by taking him into my confidence, and telling him that I had in truth a liaison with a young widow, whose high position in society demanded extreme prudence on my part. With the tact of a thorough-bred gentleman, he never referred to the subject again. Being himself associated with us in our relations with the Montagues, through meeting them at my aunt's, he would never dream of my having any attachment in that quarter; indeed, he was now almost on an equal footing of friendship with me in our intercourse with the fair trio, and was spoken of as one of their "tame cats." Such was the position of things when the following event occurred.

It happened a few days ago. I was in my aunt's boudoir, talking about some matter, which I forget; she was knitting away at a little piece of ornamental work, with her usual business-like industry, and I was playing with her dog "Music," a young animal from Greece.

"By the bye, André," she said, "I have an important commission to discharge, concerning which I must consult you."

"All my wisdom is at your service, aunt."

"Let us talk seriously," she continued; "you have to undergo a regular cross-examination, and I command you to reply like an obedient nephew."

"Oh, you frighten me!"

"Don't interrupt me, please. In my person you see before you a family council."

"What, all at once, and without any preparation——without even changing your dress—"

"You impertinent boy, do you mean to say this does not suit me—"

"On the contrary, I find it quite bewitching."

"Well, then—"

"All right, I ought not to have interrupted you."

"Very well! let us resume—let me see, what was I saying—"

"That in that handsome dark violet velvet dress you represent the grandmother of the family."

"Just so, you're quite right! Now, attention please! The trial has commenced, be on your guard."

"Right you are!"

"Well, what do you think of Mademoiselle Kondjé-Gul Murrah—" she asked me point blank, looking me straight in the face.

This question was so unexpected that I felt myself blush like a girl of sixteen.

"Why," I answered, "I think her—most charming and beautiful."

"That's right! Pray don't alarm yourself, my dear young man!" continued my aunt with a smile.

"Oh, I'm not the least alarmed!"

"That's quite clear!—Well, you admit that you find her most charming and beautiful. Let us proceed. What is your present position with regard to her— Tell me the whole truth, and mind don't keep anything back."

I had found time to recover my self-possession.

"Take care," I said, laughing in my turn; "this question of yours may lead us much further than you imagine."

"That's all nonsense. Don't try to turn off my questions with jokes, and please leave my dog's ear alone! If you pull it about like that, you'll make it grow crooked. There, that'll do! Now, answer me seriously, and with all the respect which you ought to feel in speaking of a young lady like Kondjé-Gul Murrah."

I was inspired with the brilliant idea of making game of her.

"Must I tell you the whole truth—" I replied. "Do you really require to know it—"

"I demand it," she said, "in its naked, unsophisticated reality."

"All right, aunt! you shall have it;" I said, in a confident tone. "I suppose you know that Mademoiselle Kondjé-Gul is a Circassian. Well, she belongs to my harem; I bought her at Constantinople eight months ago."

My aunt split her sides with laughter.

"There now!" she exclaimed; "what ever is the use of expecting a word of sense from a lunatic like you—"

"You asked me for the truth, and I have told it to you!" I replied, laughing secretly at the trick I was playing her.

"Leave off talking rubbish! Can't you understand, you silly boy, that I am speaking to you about Kondjé-Gul because I can see how the land lies— It is quite clear to me that between you two there is some sort of secret understanding; now what is it— I know nothing about it, but however innocent this mystery may be, I see too much danger about it not to caution you. Mademoiselle Murrah is not one of those drawing-room dolls with whom it is safe for a man to risk a little of his heart in the game of flirtation; no, the man who once falls in love with her will love her for ever, body and soul, he will be bewitched."

"Why, then, she must be Circe herself," I exclaimed: "it's a terrible look-out for me!"

"Oh, you need not laugh," she continued: "your lofty philosophical contempt would not serve you in the least. A beautiful sorceress like that girl is all the more dangerous because her own heart is liable to be kindled by the flames of her incantations. In her heart slumber passions which will devour her some day, both her and the man she loves. That is why I am reading you this lecture, with the object of warning you in time, before your youthful recklessness has carried you too far in this affair; especially as you are already betrothed to another."

Notwithstanding the semi-jocular manner which my aunt had preserved throughout this lecture, I could easily perceive that she was seriously alarmed on my behalf. I therefore abandoned my jesting tone, assuring her that neither my imagination nor my heart were in the smallest danger with Mademoiselle Kondjé-Gul Murrah, and that "no change whatever would be made in our present relations." This jesuitical reply appeared to satisfy her.

"In that case," she continued, "I may set to work to get her married—"

"Get her married—" I exclaimed in astonishment.

"Certainly. Did I not tell you, before I began questioning you, that I had an important commission to discharge— My young cousin Kiusko adores her, he has begged me to see Madame Murrah on his behalf, and I expect to call on her this very day, to set this important business in train."

Although I might have long ago foreseen the consequences of emancipating Kondjé-Gul from her harem life, and the conflict which it would involve me in with our social customs, I must admit that this revelation of my aunt's intentions caused me no small anxiety. Kondjé's remarkable beauty created too much sensation in the world for me to hope that rivals would not turn up in large numbers, against whom I should have to defend myself. Her personal independence, the wealth which her mother's establishment indicated, and her youth, all seemed to leave the field open to sanguine hopes, and to attempts to win her hand, to the open acknowledgment of which no obstacle appeared. Nevertheless, well prepared as I was for such attempts, and fully expecting to witness them, I was very much affected by the news that Kiusko was my rival. It was impossible for me to doubt that his determination to marry Kondjé-Gul was the result of reflection as well as of love, and that it would be only strengthened by any obstacle. Of a calm and energetic nature, endowed with an iron will, and accustomed to see everything submit to his law, he had also preserved that freshness of the affections which would be intensified by the impulses of a first love.

All the same, and notwithstanding my friendship for him, I certainly could not think of explaining to him the strange situation in which he had in his ignorance placed himself. To proclaim Kondjé-Gul to be my mistress would be to banish her from the society into which she had won her way: it would have wounded her spirit to the quick and determined her degradation, without reason or advantage either for Kiusko or for myself. Moreover, did I not owe a stricter fidelity to her than to this friend of yesterday—

I resolved accordingly to keep my counsel, and wait upon events. I felt too confident of regulating them in my own interests to be afraid of the consequences. However, I was surprised by an incident which at first seemed insignificant. Having been informed of my aunt's projected visit to Kondjé's mother, I went to her the same evening, thinking that she would at once tell me about it, but she said nothing. I thought, of course, that some obstacle had occurred which had deferred my aunt's negotiations.

The next day, without seeming to attach any importance to the matter, I questioned my aunt about it. She informed me that she had been to Madame Murrah's the day before.

"Did you commence your overtures on behalf of Kiusko's grand scheme—" I asked her.

"Yes," she answered.

"And—were they entertained—"

"Oh, you are going too fast! According to Mussulman usage, matters don't proceed at that rate. We did not get any further than the preliminaries. I explained our amorous friend's eager anxiety, and the next step is to consult Kondjé-Gul."