The Wandering Jew, Complete

E >> Eugene Sue >> The Wandering Jew, Complete


"That alters the case," said Dagobert, with a sigh of regret. "I thought
to make my first parade through Paris with you this morning; but it must
be deferred in favor of your work. It is sacred: since it is that which
sustains your mother. Nevertheless, it is vexatious, devilish vexatious.
And yet no--I am unjust. See how quickly one gets habituated to and
spoilt by happiness. I growl like a true grumbler, at a walk being put
off for a few hours! I do this! I who, during eighteen years, have only
hoped to see you once more, without daring to reckon very much upon it!
Oh! I am but a silly old fool! Vive l'amour et cogni--I mean--my
Agricola!" And, to console himself, the old soldier gayly slapped his
son's shoulder.

This seemed another omen of evil to the blacksmith; for he dreaded one
moment to another lest the fears of Mother Bunch should be realized. "Now
that I have recovered myself," said Dagobert, laughing, "let us speak of
business. Know you where I find the addresses of all the notaries in
Paris?"

"I don't know; but nothing is more easy than to discover it."

"My reason is," resumed Dagobert, "that I sent from Russia by post, and
by order of the mother of the two children that I have brought here, some
important papers to a Parisian notary. As it was my duty to see this
notary immediately upon my arrival, I had written his name and his
address in a portfolio, of which however, I have been robbed during my
journey; and as I have forgotten his devil of a name, it seems to me,
that if I should see it again in the list of notaries, I might recollect
it."

Two knocks at the door of the garret made Agricola start. He
involuntarily thought of a warrant for his apprehension.

His father, who, at the sound of the knocking turned round his head, had
not perceived his emotion, and said with a loud voice: "Come in!" The
door opened. It was Gabriel. He wore a black cassock and a broad brimmed
hat.

To recognize his brother by adoption, and to throw himself into his arms,
were two movements performed at once by Agricola--as quick as
thought.--"My brother!" exclaimed Agricola.

"Agricola!" cried Gabriel.

"Gabriel!" responded the blacksmith.

"After so long an absence!" said the one.

"To behold you again!" rejoined the other.

Such were the words exchanged between the blacksmith and the missionary,
while they were locked in a close embrace.

Dagobert, moved and charmed by these fraternal endearments, felt his eyes
become moist. There was something truly touching in the affection of the
young men--in their hearts so much alike, and yet of characters and
aspects so very different--for the manly countenance of Agricola
contrasted strongly with the delicacy and angelic physiognomy of Gabriel.

"I was forewarned by my father of your arrival," said the blacksmith at
length. "I have been expecting to see you; and my happiness has been a
hundred times the greater, because I have had all the pleasures of hoping
for it."

"And my good mother?" asked Gabriel, in affectionately grasping the hands
of Dagobert. "I trust that you have found her in good health."

"Yes, my brave boy!" replied Dagobert; "and her health will have become a
hundred times better, now that we are all together. Nothing is so
healthful as joy." Then addressing himself to Agricola, who, forgetting
his fear of being arrested, regarded the missionary with an expression of
ineffable affection, Dagobert added:

"Let it be remembered, that, with the soft cheek of a young girl, Gabriel
has the courage of a lion; I have already told with what intrepidity he
saved the lives of Marshal Simon's daughters, and tried to save mine
also."

"But, Gabriel! what has happened to your forehead?" suddenly exclaimed
Agricola, who for a few seconds had been attentively examining the
missionary.

Gabriel, having thrown aside his hat on entering, was now directly
beneath the skylight of the garret apartment, the bright light through
which shone upon his sweet, pale countenance: and the round scar, which
extended from one eyebrow to the other, was therefore distinctly visible.

In the midst of the powerful and diversified emotion, and of the exciting
events which so rapidly followed the shipwreck on the rocky coast near
Cardoville House, Dagobert, during the short interview he then had with
Gabriel, had not perceived the scar which seamed the forehead of the
young missionary. Now, partaking, however, of the surprise of his son,
Dagobert said:

"Aye, indeed! how came this scar upon your brow?"

"And on his hands, too; see, dear father!" exclaimed the blacksmith, with
renewed surprise, while he seized one of the hands which the young priest
held out towards him in order to tranquillize his fears.

"Gabriel, my brave boy, explain this to us!" added Dagobert; "who has
wounded you thus?" and in his turn, taking the other hand of the
missionary, he examined the scar upon it with the eye of a judge of
wounds, and then added, "In Spain, one of my comrades was found and taken
down alive from a cross, erected at the junction of several roads, upon
which the monks had crucified, and left him to die of hunger, thirst, and
agony. Ever afterwards he bore scars upon his hands, exactly similar to
this upon your hand."

"My father is right!" exclaimed Agricola. "It is evident that your hands
have been pierced through! My poor brother!" and Agricola became
grievously agitated.

"Do not think about it," said Gabriel, reddening with the embarrassment
of modesty. "Having gone as a missionary amongst the savages of the Rocky
Mountains, they crucified me, and they had begun to scalp me, when
Providence snatched me from their hands."

"Unfortunate youth," said Dagobert; "without arms then? You had not a
sufficient escort for your protection?"

"It is not for such as me to carry arms." said Gabriel, sweetly smiling;
"and we are never accompanied by any escort."

"Well, but your companions, those who were along with you, how came it
that they did not defend you?" impetuously asked Agricola.

"I was alone, my dear brother."

"Alone!"

"Yes, alone; without even a guide."

"You alone! unarmed! in a barbarous country!" exclaimed Dagobert,
scarcely crediting a step so unmilitary, and almost distrusting his own
sense of hearing.

"It was sublime!" said the young blacksmith and poet.

"The Christian faith," said Gabriel, with mild simplicity, "cannot be
implanted by force or violence. It is only by the power of persuasion
that the gospel can be spread amongst poor savages."

"But when persuasions fail!" said Agricola.

"Why, then, dear brother, one has but to die for the belief that is in
him, pitying those who have rejected it, and who have refused the
blessings it offers to mankind."

There was a period of profound silence after the reply of Gabriel, which
was uttered with simple and touching pathos.

Dagobert was in his own nature too courageous not to comprehend a heroism
thus calm and resigned; and the old soldier, as well as his son, now
contemplated Gabriel with the most earnest feelings of mingled admiration
and respect.

Gabriel, entirely free from the affection of false modesty, seemed quite
unconscious of the emotions which he had excited in the breasts of his
two friends; and he therefore said to Dagobert, "What ails you?"

"What ails me!" exclaimed the brave old soldier, with great emotion:
"After having been for thirty years in the wars, I had imagined myself to
be about as courageous as any man. And now I find I have a master! And
that master is yourself!"

"I!" said Gabriel; "what do you mean? What have I done?"

"Thunder, don't you know that the brave wounds there" (the veteran took
with transport both of Gabriel's hands), "that these wounds are as
glorious--are more glorious than our--than all ours, as warriors by
profession!"

"Yes! yes, my father speaks truth!" exclaimed Agricola; and he added,
with enthusiasm, "Oh, for such priests! How I love them! How I venerate
them! How I am elevated by their charity, their courage, their
resignation!"

"I entreat you not to extol me thus," said Gabriel with embarrassment.

"Not extol you!" replied Dagobert. "Hanged if I shouldn't. When I have
gone into the heat of action, did I rush into it alone? Was I not under
the eyes of my commanding officer? Were not my comrades there along with
me? In default of true courage, had I not the instinct of self
preservation to spur me on, without reckoning the excitement of the
shouts and tumult of battle, the smell of the gunpowder, the flourishes
of the trumpets, the thundering of the cannon, the ardor of my horse,
which bounded beneath me as if the devil were at his tail? Need I state
that I also knew that the emperor was present, with his eye upon every
one--the emperor, who, in recompense for a hole being made in my tough
hide, would give me a bit of lace or a ribbon, as plaster for the wound.
Thanks to all these causes, I passed for game. Fair enough! But are you
not a thousand times more game than I, my brave boy; going alone,
unarmed, to confront enemies a hundred times more ferocious than those
whom we attacked--we, who fought in whole squadrons, supported by
artillery, bomb-shells, and case-shot?"

"Excellent father!" cried Agricola, "how noble of you to render to
Gabriel this justice!"

"Oh, dear brother," said Gabriel, "his kindness to me makes him magnify
what was quite natural and simple!"

"Natural!" said the veteran soldier; "yes, natural for gallants who have
hearts of the true temper: but that temper is rare."

"Oh, yes, very rare," said Agricola; "for that kind of courage is the
most admirable of all. Most bravely did you seek almost certain death,
alone, bearing the cross in hand as your only weapon, to preach charity
and Christian brotherhood. They seized you, tortured you; and you await
death and partly endure it, without complaint, without remonstrance,
without hatred, without anger, without a wish for vengeance; forgiveness
issuing from your mouth, and a smile of pity beaming upon your lips; and
this in the depths of forests, where no one could witness your
magnanimity,--none could behold you--and without other desire, after you
were rescued than modestly to conceal blessed wounds under your black
robe! My father is right, by Jove! can you still contend that you are not
as brave as he?"

"And besides, too," resumed Dagobert, "the dear boy did all that for a
thankless paymaster; for it is true, Agricola, that his wounds will never
change his humble black robe of a priest into the rich robe of a bishop!"

"I am not so disinterested as I may seem to be," said Gabriel to
Dagobert, smiling meekly. "If I am deemed worthy, a great recompense
awaits me on high."

"As to all that, my boy," said Dagobert, "I do not understand it; and I
will not argue about it. I maintain it, that my old cross of honor would
be at least as deservedly affixed to your cassock as upon my uniform."

"But these recompenses are never conferred upon humble priests like
Gabriel," said Agricola, "and if you did know, dear father, how much
virtue and valor is among those whom the highest orders in the priesthood
insolently call the inferior clergy,--the unseen merit and the blind
devotedness to be found amongst worthy, but obscure, country curates, who
are inhumanly treated and subjugated to a pitiless yoke by the lordly
lawnsleeves! Like us, those poor priests are worthy laborers in their
vocation; and for them, also, all generous hearts ought to demand
enfranchisement! Sons of common people, like ourselves, and useful as we
are, justice ought to be rendered both to them and to us. Do I say right,
Gabriel? You will not contradict it; for you have told me, that your
ambition would have been to obtain a small country curacy; because you
understand the good that you could work within it."

"My desire is still the same," said Gabriel sadly: "but unfortunately--"
and then, as if he wished to escape from a painful thought, and to change
the conversation, he, addressing himself to Dagobert, added: "Believe me:
be more just than to undervalue your own courage by exalting mine. Your
courage must be very great--very great; for, after a battle, the
spectacle of the carnage must be truly terrible to a generous and feeling
heart. We, at least, though we may be killed, do not kill."

At these words of the missionary, the soldier drew himself up erect,
looked upon Gabriel with astonishment, and said, "This is most
surprising!"

"What is?" inquired Agricola.

"What Gabriel has just told us," replied Dagobert, "brings to my mind
what I experienced in warfare on the battlefield in proportion as I
advanced in years. Listen, my children: more than once, on the night
after a general engagement, I have been mounted as a vidette,--alone,--by
night,--amid the moonlight, on the field of battle which remained in our
possession, and upon which lay the bodies of seven or eight thousand of
the slain, amongst whom were mingled the slaughtered remains of some of
my old comrades: and then this sad scene, when the profound silence has
restored me to my senses from the thirst for bloodshed and the delirious
whirling of my sword (intoxicated like the rest), I have said to myself,
'for what have these men been killed?--FOR WHAT--FOR WHAT?' But this
feeling, well understood as it was, hindered me not, on the following
morning, when the trumpets again sounded the charge, from rushing once
more to the slaughter. But the same thought always recurred when my arm
became weary with carnage; and after wiping my sabre upon the mane of my
horse, I have said to myself, 'I have killed!--killed!!--killed!!! and,
FOR WHAT!!!'"

The missionary and the blacksmith exchanged looks on hearing the old
soldier give utterance to this singular retrospection of the past.

"Alas!" said Gabriel to him, "all generous hearts feel as you did during
the solemn moments, when the intoxication of glory has subsided, and man
is left alone to the influence of the good instincts planted in his
bosom."

"And that should prove, my brave boy," rejoined Dagobert, "that you are
greatly better than I; for those noble instincts, as you call them, have
never abandoned you. * * * * But how the deuce did you escape from the
claws of the infuriated savages who had already crucified you?"

At this question of Dagobert, Gabriel started and reddened so visibly,
that the soldier said to him: "If you ought not or cannot answer my
request, let us say no more about it."

"I have nothing to conceal, either from you or from my brother," replied
the missionary with altered voice. "Only; it will be difficult for me to
make you comprehend what I cannot comprehend myself."

"How is that?" asked Agricola with surprise.

"Surely," said Gabriel, reddening more deeply, "I must have been deceived
by a fallacy of my senses, during that abstracted moment in which I
awaited death with resignation. My enfeebled mind, in spite of me, must
have been cheated by an illusion; or that, which to the present hour has
remained inexplicable, would have been more slowly developed; and I
should have known with greater certainty that it was the strange woman--"

Dagobert, while listening to the missionary, was perfectly amazed; for he
also had vainly tried to account for the unexpected succor which had
freed him and the two orphans from the prison at Leipsic.

"Of what woman do you speak?" asked Agricola.

"Of her who saved me," was the reply.

"A woman saved you from the hands of the savages?" said Dagobert.

"Yes," replied Gabriel, though absorbed in his reflections, "a woman,
young and beautiful!"

"And who was this woman?" asked Agricola.

"I know not. When I asked her, she replied, 'I am the sister of the
distressed!'"

"And whence came she? Whither went she?" asked Dagobert, singularly
interested.

"'I go wheresoever there is suffering,' she replied," answered
the missionary; "and she departed, going towards the north of
America--towards those desolate regions in which there is eternal snow,
where the nights are without end."

"As in Siberia," said Dagobert, who had become very thoughtful.

"But," resumed Agricola, addressing himself to Gabriel, who seemed also
to have become more and more absorbed, "in what manner or by what means
did this woman come to your assistance?"

The missionary was about to reply to the last question, when there was
heard a gentle tap at the door of the garret apartment, which renewed the
fears that Agricola had forgotten since the arrival of his adopted
brother. "Agricola," said a sweet voice outside the door, "I wish to
speak with you as soon as possible."

The blacksmith recognized Mother Bunch's voice, and opened the door. But
the young sempstress, instead of entering, drew back into the dark
passage, and said, with a voice of anxiety: "Agricola, it is an hour
since broad day, and you have not yet departed! How imprudent! I have
been watching below, in the street, until now, and have seen nothing
alarming; but they may come any instant to arrest you. Hasten, I conjure
you, your departure for the abode of Miss de Cardoville. Not a minute
should be lost."

"Had it not been for the arrival of Gabriel, I should have been gone. But
I could not resist the happiness of remaining some little time with him."

"Gabriel here!" said Mother Bunch, with sweet surprise; for, as has been
stated, she had been brought up with him and Agricola.

"Yes," answered Agricola, "for half an hour he has been with my father
and me."

"What happiness I shall have in seeing him again," said the sewing-girl.
"He doubtless came upstairs while I had gone for a brief space to your
mother, to ask if I could be useful in any way on account of the young
ladies; but they have been so fatigued that they still sleep. Your mother
has requested me to give you this letter for your father. She has just
received it."

"Thanks."

"Well," resumed Mother Bunch, "now that you have seen Gabriel, do not
delay long. Think what a blow it would be for your father, if they came
to arrest you in his very presence mon Dieu!"

"You are right," said Agricola; "it is indispensable that I should
depart--while near Gabriel in spite of my anxiety, my fears were
forgotten."

"Go quickly, then; and if Miss de Cardoville should grant this favor,
perhaps in a couple of hours you will return, quite at ease both as to
yourself and us."

"True! a very few minutes more; and I'll come down."

"I return to watch at the door. If I perceive anything. I'll come up
again to apprise you. But pray, do not delay."

"Be easy, good sister." Mother Bunch hurriedly descended the staircase,
to resume her watch at the street door, and Agricola re-entered his
garret. "Dear father," he said to Dagobert, "my mother has just received
this letter, and she requests you to read it."

"Very well; read it for me, my boy." And Agricola read as follows:

"MADAME.--I understand that your husband has been charged by General Simon
with an affair of very great importance. Will you, as soon as your
husband arrives in Paris, request him to come to my office at Chartres
without a moment's delay. I am instructed to deliver to himself, and to
no other person, some documents indispensable to the interests of General
Simon.

"DURAND, Notary at Chartres."

Dagobert looked at his son with astonishment, and said to him, "Who can
have told this gentleman already of my arrival in Paris?"

"Perhaps, father," said Agricola, "this is the notary to whom you
transmitted some papers, and whose address you have lost."

"But his name was not Durand; and I distinctly recollect that his address
was Paris, not Chartres. And, besides," said the soldier, thoughtfully,
"if he has some important documents, why didn't he transmit them to me?"

"It seems to me that you ought not to neglect going to him as soon as
possible," said Agricola, secretly rejoiced that this circumstance would
withdraw his father for about two days, during which time his
(Agricola's) fate would be decided in one way or other.

"Your counsel is good," replied his father.

"This thwarts your intentions in some degree?" asked Gabriel.

"Rather, my lads; for I counted upon passing the day with you. However,
'duty before everything.' Having come happily from Siberia to Paris, it
is not for me to fear a journey from Paris to Chartres, when it is
required on an affair of importance. In twice twenty-four hours I shall
be back again. But the deuce take me if I expected to leave Paris for
Chartres to-day. Luckily, I leave Rose and Blanche with my good wife; and
Gabriel, their angel, as they call him, will be here to keep them
company."

"That is, unfortunately, impossible," said the missionary, sadly. "This
visit on my arrival is also a farewell visit."

"A farewell visit! Now!" exclaimed Dagobert and Agricola both at once.

"Alas, yes!"

"You start already on another mission?" said Dagobert; "surely it is not
possible?"

"I must answer no question upon this subject," said Gabriel, suppressing
a sigh: "but from now, for some time, I cannot, and ought not, come again
into this house."

"Why, my brave boy," resumed Dagobert with emotion, "there is something
in thy conduct that savors of constraint, of oppression. I know something
of men. He you call superior, whom I saw for some moments after the
shipwreck at Cardoville Castle, has a bad look; and I am sorry to see you
enrolled under such a commander."

"At Cardoville Castle!" exclaimed Agricola, struck with the identity of
the name with that of the young lady of the golden hair; "was it in
Cardoville Castle that you were received after your shipwreck?"

"Yes, my boy; why, does that astonish you?" asked Dagobert.

"Nothing father; but were the owners of the castle there at the time?"

"No; for the steward, when I applied to him for an opportunity to return
thanks for the kind hospitality we had experienced, informed me that the
person to whom the house belonged was resident at Paris."

"What a singular coincidence," thought Agricola, "if the young lady
should be the proprietor of the dwelling which bears her name!"

This reflection having recalled to Agricola the promise which he had made
to Mother Bunch, he said to Dagobert; "Dear father, excuse me; but it is
already late, and I ought to be in the workshop by eight o'clock."

"That is too true, my boy. Let us go. This party is adjourned till my
return from Chartres. Embrace me once more, and take care of yourself."

Since Dagobert had spoken of constraint and oppression to Gabriel, the
latter had continued pensive. At the moment when Agricola approached him
to shake hands, and to bid him adieu, the missionary said to him
solemnly, with a grave voice, and in a tone of decision that astonished
both the blacksmith and the soldier: "My dear brother, one word more. I
have come here to say to you also that within a few days hence I shall
have need of you; and of you also, my father (permit me so to call you),"
added Gabriel, with emotion, as he turned round to Dagobert.

"How! you speak thus to us!" exclaimed Agricola; "what is the matter?"

"Yes," replied Gabriel, "I need the advice and assistance of two men of
honor--of two men of resolution;--and I can reckon upon you two--can I
not? At any hour, on whatever day it may be, upon a word from me, will
you come?"

Dagobert and his son regarded each other in silence, astonished at the
accents of the missionary. Agricola felt an oppression of the heart. If
he should be a prisoner when his brother should require his assistance,
what could be done?

"At every hour, by night or by day, my brave boy, you may depend upon
us," said Dagobert, as much surprised as interested--"You have a father
and a brother; make your own use of them."

"Thanks, thanks," said Gabriel, "you set me quite at ease."

"I'll tell you what," resumed the soldier, "were it not for your priest's
robe, I should believe, from the manner in which you have spoken to us,
that you are about to be engaged in a duel--in a mortal combat."

"In a duel?" said Gabriel, starting. "Yes; it may be a duel--uncommon and
fearful--at which it is necessary to have two witnesses such as you--A
FATHER and A BROTHER!"

Some instants afterwards, Agricola, whose anxiety was continually
increasing, set off in haste for the dwelling of Mademoiselle de
Cardoville, to which we now beg leave to take the reader.




CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE PAVILION.

Dizier House was one of the largest and handsomest in the Rue Babylone,
in Paris. Nothing could be more severe, more imposing, or more depressing
than the aspect of this old mansion. Several immense windows, filled with
small squares of glass, painted a grayish white, increased the sombre
effect of the massive layers of huge stones, blackened by time, of which
the fabric was composed.

This dwelling bore a resemblance to all the others that had been erected
in the same quarter towards the middle of the last century. It was
surmounted in front by a pediment; it had an elevated ground floor, which
was reached from the outside by a circular flight of broad stone steps.
One of the fronts looked on an immense court-yard, on each side of which
an arcade led to the vast interior departments. The other front
overlooked the garden, or rather park, of twelve or fifteen roods; and,
on this side, wings, approaching the principal part of the structure,
formed a couple of lateral galleries. Like nearly all the other great
habitations of this quarter, there might be seen at the extremity of the
garden, what the owners and occupiers of each called the lesser mansion.