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diff --git a/5202.txt b/5202.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8675771 --- /dev/null +++ b/5202.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7547 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Golden Lion of Granpere, by Anthony +Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Golden Lion of Granpere + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: June 4, 2002 [eBook #5202] +Most recently updated: February 6, 2011 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN LION OF GRANPERE*** + + +E-text prepared by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset + + + +THE GOLDEN LION OF GRANPERE, BY ANTHONY TROLLOPE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Up among the Vosges mountains in Lorraine, but just outside the old +half-German province of Alsace, about thirty miles distant from the +new and thoroughly French baths of Plombieres, there lies the +village of Granpere. Whatever may be said or thought here in +England of the late imperial rule in France, it must at any rate be +admitted that good roads were made under the Empire. Alsace, which +twenty years ago seems to have been somewhat behindhand in this +respect, received her full share of Napoleon's attention, and +Granpere is now placed on an excellent road which runs from the town +of Remiremont on one line of railway, to Colmar on another. The +inhabitants of the Alsatian Ballon hills and the open valleys among +them seem to think that the civilisation of great cities has been +brought near enough to them, as there is already a diligence running +daily from Granpere to Remiremont;--and at Remiremont you are on the +railway, and, of course, in the middle of everything. + +And indeed an observant traveller will be led to think that a great +deal of what may most truly be called civilisation has found its way +in among the Ballons, whether it travelled thither by the new-fangled +railways and imperial routes, or found its passage along the +valley streams before imperial favours had been showered upon the +district. We are told that when Pastor Oberlin was appointed to his +cure as Protestant clergyman in the Ban de la Roche a little more +than one hundred years ago,--that was, in 1767,--this region was +densely dark and far behind in the world's running as regards all +progress. The people were ignorant, poor, half-starved, almost +savage, destitute of communication, and unable to produce from their +own soil enough food for their own sustenance. Of manufacturing +enterprise they understood nothing, and were only just far enough +advanced in knowledge for the Protestants to hate the Catholics, and +the Catholics to hate the Protestants. Then came that wonderful +clergyman, Pastor Oberlin,--he was indeed a wonderful clergyman,--and +made a great change. Since that there have been the two empires, +and Alsace has looked up in the world. Whether the thanks +of the people are more honestly due to Oberlin or to the late +Emperor, the author of this little story will not pretend to say; +but he will venture to express his opinion that at present the rural +Alsatians are a happy, prosperous people, with the burden on their +shoulders of but few paupers, and fewer gentlemen,--apparently a +contented people, not ambitious, given but little to politics. +Protestants and Catholics mingled without hatred or fanaticism, +educated though not learned, industrious though not energetic, quiet +and peaceful, making linen and cheese, growing potatoes, importing +corn, coming into the world, marrying, begetting children, and dying +in the wholesome homespun fashion which is so sweet to us in that +mood of philosophy which teaches us to love the country and to +despise the town. Whether it be better for a people to achieve an +even level of prosperity, which is shared by all, but which makes +none eminent, or to encounter those rough, ambitious, competitive +strengths which produce both palaces and poor-houses, shall not be +matter of argument here; but the teller of this story is disposed to +think that the chance traveller, as long as he tarries at Granpere, +will insensibly and perhaps unconsciously become an advocate of the +former doctrine; he will be struck by the comfort which he sees +around him, and for a while will dispense with wealth, luxury, +scholarships, and fashion. Whether the inhabitants of these hills +and valleys will advance to farther progress now that they are again +to become German, is another question, which the writer will not +attempt to answer here. + +Granpere in itself is a very pleasing village. Though the amount of +population and number of houses do not suffice to make it more than +a village, it covers so large a space of ground as almost to give it +a claim to town honours. It is perhaps a full mile in length; and +though it has but one street, there are buildings standing here and +there, back from the line, which make it seem to stretch beyond the +narrow confines of a single thoroughfare. In most French villages +some of the houses are high and spacious, but here they seem almost +all to be so. And many of them have been constructed after that +independent fashion which always gives to a house in a street a +character and importance of its own. They do not stand in a simple +line, each supported by the strength of its neighbour, but occupy +their own ground, facing this way or that as each may please, +presenting here a corner to the main street, and there an end. +There are little gardens, and big stables, and commodious barns; and +periodical paint with annual whitewash is not wanting. The +unstinted slates shine copiously under the sun, and over almost +every other door there is a large lettered board which indicates +that the resident within is a dealer in the linen which is produced +throughout the country. All these things together give to Granpere +an air of prosperity and comfort which is not at all checked by the +fact that there is in the place no mansion which we Englishmen would +call the gentleman's house, nothing approaching to the ascendancy of +a parish squire, no baron's castle, no manorial hall,--not even a +chateau to overshadow the modest roofs of the dealers in the linen +of the Vosges. + +And the scenery round Granpere is very pleasant, though the +neighbouring hills never rise to the magnificence of mountains or +produce that grandeur which tourists desire when they travel in +search of the beauties of Nature. It is a spot to love if you know +it well, rather than to visit with hopes raised high, and to leave +with vivid impressions. There is water in abundance; a pretty lake +lying at the feet of sloping hills, rivulets running down from the +high upper lands and turning many a modest wheel in their course, a +waterfall or two here and there, and a so-called mountain summit +within an easy distance, from whence the sun may be seen to rise +among the Swiss mountains;--and distant perhaps three miles from the +village the main river which runs down the valley makes for itself a +wild ravine, just where the bridge on the new road to Munster +crosses the water, and helps to excuse the people of Granpere for +claiming for themselves a great object of natural attraction. The +bridge and the river and the ravine are very pretty, and perhaps +justify all that the villagers say of them when they sing to +travellers the praises of their country. + +Whether it be the sale of linen that has produced the large inn at +Granpere, or the delicious air of the place, or the ravine and the +bridge, matters little to our story; but the fact of the inn matters +very much. There it is,--a roomy, commodious building, not easily +intelligible to a stranger, with its widely distributed parts, +standing like an inverted V, with its open side towards the main +road. On the ground-floor on one side are the large stables and +coach-house, with a billiard-room and cafe over them, and a long +balcony which runs round the building; and on the other side there +are kitchens and drinking-rooms, and over these the chamber for +meals and the bedrooms. All large, airy, and clean, though, +perhaps, not excellently well finished in their construction, and +furnished with but little pretence to French luxury. And behind the +inn there are gardens, by no means trim, and a dusty summer-house, +which serves, however, for the smoking of a cigar; and there is +generally space and plenty and goodwill. Either the linen, or the +air, or the ravine, or, as is more probable, the three combined, +have produced a business, so that the landlord of the Lion d'Or at +Granpere is a thriving man. + +The reader shall at once be introduced to the landlord, and informed +at the same time that, in so far as he may be interested in this +story, he will have to take up his abode at the Lion d'Or till it be +concluded; not as a guest staying loosely at his inn, but as one who +is concerned with all the innermost affairs of the household. He +will not simply eat his plate of soup, and drink his glass of wine, +and pass on, knowing and caring more for the servant than for the +servant's master, but he must content himself to sit at the +landlord's table, to converse very frequently with the landlord's +wife, to become very intimate with the landlord's son--whether on +loving or on unloving terms shall be left entirely to himself--and +to throw himself, with the sympathy of old friendship, into all the +troubles and all the joys of the landlord's niece. If the reader be +one who cannot take such a journey, and pass a month or two without +the society of persons whom he would define as ladies and gentlemen, +he had better be warned at once, and move on, not setting foot +within the Lion d'Or at Granpere. + +Michel Voss, the landlord, in person was at this time a tall, stout, +active, and very handsome man, about fifty years of age. As his son +was already twenty-five--and was known to be so throughout the +commune--people were sure that Michel Voss was fifty or thereabouts; +but there was very little in his appearance to indicate so many +years. He was fat and burly to be sure; but then he was not fat to +lethargy, or burly with any sign of slowness. There was still the +spring of youth in his footstep, and when there was some weight to +be lifted, some heavy timber to be thrust here or there, some huge +lumbering vehicle to be hoisted in or out, there was no arm about +the place so strong as that of the master. His short, dark, curly +hair--that was always kept clipped round his head--was beginning to +show a tinge of gray, but the huge moustache on his upper lip was +still of a thorough brown, as was also the small morsel of beard +which he wore upon his chin. He had bright sharp brown eyes, a nose +slightly beaked, and a large mouth. He was on the whole a man of +good temper, just withal, and one who loved those who belonged to +him; but he chose to be master in his own house, and was apt to +think that his superior years enabled him to know what younger +people wanted better than they would know themselves. He was loved +in his house and respected in his village; but there was something +in the beak of his nose and the brightness of his eye which was apt +to make those around him afraid of him. And indeed Michel Voss +could lose his temper and become an angry man. + +Our landlord had been twice married. By his first wife he had now +living a single son, George Voss, who at the time of our tale had +already reached his twenty-fifth year. George, however, did not at +this time live under his father's roof, having taken service for a +time with the landlady of another inn at Colmar. George Voss was +known to be a clever young man; many in those parts declared that he +was much more so than his father; and when he became clerk at the +Poste in Colmar, and after a year or two had taken into his hands +almost the entire management of that house--so that people began to +say that old-fashioned and wretched as it was, money might still be +made there--people began to say also that Michel Voss had been wrong +to allow his son to leave Granpere. But in truth there had been a +few words between the father and the son; and the two were so like +each other that the father found it difficult to rule, and the son +found it difficult to be ruled. + +George Voss was very like his father, with this difference, as he +was often told by the old folk about Granpere, that he would never +fill his father's shoes. He was a smaller man, less tall by a +couple of inches, less broad in proportion across the shoulders, +whose arm would never be so strong, whose leg would never grace a +tight stocking with so full a development. But he had the same eye, +bright and brown and very quick, the same mouth, the same aquiline +nose, the same broad forehead and well-shaped chin, and the same +look in his face which made men know as by instinct that he would +sooner command than obey. So there had come to be a few words, and +George Voss had gone away to the house of a cousin of his mother's, +and had taken to commanding there. + +Not that there had been any quarrel between the father and the son; +nor indeed that George was aware that he had been in the least +disobedient to his parent. There was no recognised ambition for +rule in the breasts of either of them. It was simply this, that +their tempers were alike; and when on an occasion Michel told his +son that he would not allow a certain piece of folly which the son +was, as he thought, likely to commit, George declared that he would +soon set that matter right by leaving Granpere. Accordingly he did +leave Granpere, and became the right hand, and indeed the head, and +backbone, and best leg of his old cousin Madame Faragon of the Poste +at Colmar. Now the matter on which these few words occurred was a +question of love--whether George Voss should fall in love with and +marry his step-mother's niece Marie Bromar. But before anything +farther can be said of these few words, Madame Voss and her niece +must be introduced to the reader. + +Madame Voss was nearly twenty years younger than her husband, and +had now been a wife some five or six years. She had been brought +from Epinal, where she had lived with a married sister, a widow, +much older than herself--in parting from whom on her marriage there +had been much tribulation. 'Should anything happen to Marie,' she +had said to Michel Voss, before she gave him her troth, 'you will +let Minnie Bromar come to me?' Michel Voss, who was then hotly +in love with his hoped-for bride--hotly in love in spite of his +four-and-forty years--gave the required promise. The said 'something' +which had been suspected had happened. Madame Bromar had died, and +Minnie Bromar her daughter--or Marie as she was always afterwards +called--had at once been taken into the house at Granpere. Michel +never thought twice about it when he was reminded of his promise. +'If I hadn't promised at all, she should come the same,' he said. +'The house is big enough for a dozen more yet.' In saying this he +perhaps alluded to a little baby that then lay in a cradle in his +wife's room, by means of which at that time Madame Voss was able to +make her big husband do pretty nearly anything that she pleased. So +Marie Bromar, then just fifteen years of age, was brought over from +Epinal to Granpere, and the house certainly was not felt to be too +small because she was there. Marie soon learned the ways and wishes +of her burly, soft-hearted uncle; would fill his pipe for him, and +hand him his soup, and bring his slippers, and put her soft arm +round his neck, and became a favourite. She was only a child when +she came, and Michel thought it was very pleasant; but in five +years' time she was a woman, and Michel was forced to reflect that +it would not be well that there should be another marriage and +another family in the house while he was so young himself,--there +was at this time a third baby in the cradle,--and then Marie Bromar +had not a franc of dot. Marie was the sweetest eldest daughter in +the world, but he could not think it right that his son should marry +a wife before he had done a stroke for himself in the world. +Prudence made it absolutely necessary that he should say a word to +his son. + +Madame Voss was certainly nearly twenty years younger than her +husband, and yet the pair did not look to be ill-sorted. Michel was +so handsome, strong, and hale; and Madame Voss, though she was a +comely woman,--though when she was brought home a bride to Granpere +the neighbours had all declared that she was very handsome,--carried +with her a look of more years than she really possessed. She had +borne many of a woman's cares, and had known much of woman's sorrows +before she had become wife to Michel Voss; and then when the babes +came, and she had settled down as mistress of that large household, +and taught herself to regard George Voss and Marie Bromar almost as +her own children, all idea that she was much younger than her +husband departed from her. She was a woman who desired to excel her +husband in nothing,--if only she might be considered to be in some +things his equal. There was no feeling in the village that Michel +Voss had brought home a young wife and had made a fool of himself. +He was a man entitled to have a wife much younger than himself. +Madame Voss in those days always wore a white cap and a dark stuff +gown, which was changed on Sundays for one of black silk, and brown +mittens on her hands, and she went about the house in soft carpet +shoes. She was a conscientious, useful, but not an enterprising +woman; loving her husband much and fearing him somewhat; liking to +have her own way in certain small matters, but willing to be led in +other things so long as those were surrendered to her; careful with +her children, the care of whom seemed to deprive her of the power of +caring for the business of the inn; kind to her niece, good-humoured +in her house, and satisfied with the world at large as long as she +might always be allowed to entertain M. le Cure at dinner on +Sundays. Michel Voss, Protestant though he was, had not the +slightest objection to giving M. le Cure his Sunday dinner, on +condition that M. le Cure on these occasions would confine his +conversation to open subjects. M. le Cure was quite willing to eat +his dinner and give no offence. + +A word too must be said of Marie Bromar before we begin our story. +Marie Bromar is the heroine of this little tale; and the reader must +be made to have some idea of her as she would have appeared before +him had he seen her standing near her uncle in the long room +upstairs of the hotel at Granpere. Marie had been fifteen when she +was brought from Epinal to Granpere, and had then been a child; but +she had now reached her twentieth birthday, and was a woman. She +was not above the middle height, and might seem to be less indeed in +that house, because her aunt and her uncle were tall; but she was +straight, well made, and very active. She was strong and liked to +use her strength, and was very keen about all the work of the house. +During the five years of her residence at Granpere she had +thoroughly learned the mysteries of her uncle's trade. She knew +good wine from bad by the perfume; she knew whether bread was the +full weight by the touch; with a glance of her eye she could tell +whether the cheese and butter were what they ought to be; in a +matter of poultry no woman in all the commune could take her in; she +was great in judging eggs; knew well the quality of linen; and was +even able to calculate how long the hay should last, and what should +be the consumption of corn in the stables. Michel Voss was well +aware before Marie had been a year beneath his roof that she well +earned the morsel she ate and the drop she drank; and when she had +been there five years he was ready to swear that she was the +cleverest girl in Lorraine or Alsace. And she was very pretty, with +rich brown hair that would not allow itself to be brushed out of its +crisp half-curls in front, and which she always wore cut short +behind, curling round her straight, well-formed neck. Her eyes were +gray, with a strong shade indeed of green, but were very bright and +pleasant, full of intelligence, telling stories by their glances of +her whole inward disposition, of her activity, quickness, and desire +to have a hand in everything that was being done. Her father Jean +Bromar had come from the same stock with Michel Voss, and she, too, +had something of that aquiline nose which gave to the innkeeper and +his son the look which made men dislike to contradict them. Her +mouth was large, but her teeth were very white and perfect, and her +smile was the sweetest thing that ever was seen. Marie Bromar was a +pretty girl, and George Voss, had he lived so near to her and not +have fallen in love with her, must have been cold indeed. + +At the end of these five years Marie had become a woman, and was +known by all around her to be a woman much stronger, both in person +and in purpose, than her aunt; but she maintained, almost +unconsciously, many of the ways in the house which she had assumed +when she first entered it. Then she had always been on foot, to be +everybody's messenger,--and so she was now. When her uncle and aunt +were at their meals she was always up and about,--attending them, +attending the public guests, attending the whole house. And it +seemed as though she herself never sat down to eat or drink. +Indeed, it was rare enough to find her seated at all. She would +have a cup of coffee standing up at the little desk near the public +window when she kept her books, or would take a morsel of meat as +she helped to remove the dishes. She would stand sometimes for a +minute leaning on the back of her uncle's chair as he sat at his +supper, and would say, when he bade her to take her chair and eat +with them, that she preferred picking and stealing. In all things +she worshipped her uncle, observing his movements, caring for his +wants, and carrying out his plans. She did not worship her aunt, +but she so served Madame Voss that had she been withdrawn from the +household Madame Voss would have found herself altogether unable to +provide for its wants. Thus Marie Bromar had become the guardian +angel of the Lion d'Or at Granpere. + +There must be a word or two more said of the difference between +George Voss and his father which had ended in sending George to +Colmar; a word or two about that, and a word also of what occurred +between George and Marie. Then we shall be able to commence our +story without farther reference to things past. As Michel Voss was +a just, affectionate, and intelligent man, he would not probably +have objected to a marriage between the two young people, had the +proposition for such a marriage been first submitted to him, with a +proper amount of attention to his judgment and controlling power. +But the idea was introduced to him in a manner which taught him to +think that there was to be a clandestine love affair. To him George +was still a boy, and Marie not much more than a child, and--without +much thinking--he felt that the thing was improper. + +'I won't have it, George,' he had said. + +'Won't have what, father?' + +'Never mind. You know. If you can't get over it in any other way, +you had better go away. You must do something for yourself before +you can think of marrying.' + +'I am not thinking of marrying.' + +'Then what were you thinking of when I saw you with Marie? I won't +have it for her sake, and I won't have it for mine, and I won't have +it for your own. You had better go away for a while.' + +'I'll go away to-morrow if you wish it, father.' Michel had turned +away, not saying another word; and on the following day George did go +away, hardly waiting an hour to set in order his part of his father's +business. For it must be known that George had not been an idler +in his father's establishment. There was a trade of wood-cutting +upon the mountain-side, with a saw-mill turned by water beneath, +over which George had presided almost since he had left the +school of the commune. When his father told him that he was bound +to do something before he got married, he could not have intended to +accuse him of having been hitherto idle. Of the wood-cutting and +the saw-mill George knew as much as Marie did of the poultry and the +linen. Michel was wrong, probably, in his attempt to separate them. +The house was large enough, or if not, there was still room for +another house to be built in Granpere. They would have done well as +man and wife. But then the head of a household naturally objects to +seeing the boys and girls belonging to him making love under his +nose without any reference to his opinion. 'Things were not made so +easy for me,' he says to himself, and feels it to be a sort of duty +to take care that the course of love shall not run altogether +smooth. George, no doubt, was too abrupt with his father; or +perhaps it might be the case that he was not sorry to take an +opportunity of leaving for a while Granpere and Marie Bromar. It +might be well to see the world; and though Marie Bromar was bright +and pretty, it might be that there were others abroad brighter and +prettier. + +His father had spoken to him on one fine September afternoon, and +within an hour George was with the men who were stripping bark from +the great pine logs up on the side of the mountain. With them, and +with two or three others who were engaged at the saw-mills, he +remained till the night was dark. Then he came down and told +something of his intentions to his stepmother. He was going to +Colmar on the morrow with a horse and small cart, and would take +with him what clothes he had ready. He did not speak to Marie that +night, but he said something to his father about the timber and the +mill. Gaspar Muntz, the head woodsman, knew, he said, all about the +business. Gaspar could carry on the work till it would suit Michel +Voss himself to see how things were going on. Michel Voss was sore +and angry, but he said nothing. He sent to his son a couple of +hundred francs by his wife, but said no word of explanation even to +her. On the following morning George was off without seeing his +father. + +But Marie was up to give him his breakfast. 'What is the meaning of +this, George?' she said. + +'Father says that I shall be better away from this,--so I'm going +away.' + +'And why will you be better away?' To this George made no answer. +'It will be terrible if you quarrel with your father. Nothing can +be so bad as that.' + +'We have not quarrelled. That is to say, I have not quarrelled with +him. If he quarrels with me, I cannot help it.' + +'It must be helped,' said Marie, as she placed before him a mess of +eggs which she had cooked for him with her own hands. 'I would +sooner die than see anything wrong between you two.' Then there was +a pause. 'Is it about me, George?' she asked boldly. + +'Father thinks that I love you:--so I do.' + +Marie paused for a few minutes before she said anything farther. +She was standing very near to George, who was eating his breakfast +heartily in spite of the interesting nature of the conversation. As +she filled his cup a second time, she spoke again. 'I will never do +anything, George, if I can help it, to displease my uncle.' + +'But why should it displease him? He wants to have his own way in +everything.' + +'Of course he does.' + +'He has told me to go;--and I'll go. I've worked for him as no +other man would work, and have never said a word about a share in +the business;--and never would.' + +'Is it not all for yourself, George?' + +'And why shouldn't you and I be married if we like it?' + +'I will never like it,' said she solemnly, 'if uncle dislikes it.' + +'Very well,' said George. 'There is the horse ready, and now I'm +off.' + +So he went, starting just as the day was dawning, and no one saw him +on that morning except Marie Bromar. As soon as he was gone she +went up to her little room, and sat herself down on her bedside. +She knew that she loved him, and had been told that she was beloved. +She knew that she could not lose him without suffering terribly; but +now she almost feared that it would be necessary that she should +lose him. His manner had not been tender to her. He had indeed +said that he loved her, but there had been nothing of the tenderness +of love in his mode of saying so;--and then he had said no word of +persistency in the teeth of his father's objection. She had +declared--thoroughly purposing that her declaration should be +true--that she would never become his wife in opposition to her +uncle's wishes; but he, had he been in earnest, might have said +something of his readiness to attempt at least to overcome his +father's objection. But he had said not a word, and Marie, as she sat +upon her bed, made up her mind that it must be all over. But she made +up her mind also that she would entertain no feeling of anger against +her uncle. She owed him everything, so she thought--making no +account, as George had done, of labour given in return. She was +only a girl, and what was her labour? For a while she resolved that +she would give a spoken assurance to her uncle that he need fear +nothing from her. It was natural enough to her that her uncle +should desire a better marriage for his son. But after a while she +reflected that any speech from her on such a subject would be +difficult, and that it would be better that she should hold her +tongue. So she held her tongue, and thought of George, and +suffered;--but still was merry, at least in manner, when her uncle +spoke to her, and priced the poultry, and counted the linen, and +made out the visitors' bills, as though nothing evil had come upon +her. She was a gallant girl, and Michel Voss, though he could not +speak of it, understood her gallantry and made notes of it on the +note-book of his heart. + +In the mean time George Voss was thriving at Colmar,--as the Vosses +did thrive wherever they settled themselves. But he sent no word to +his father,--nor did his father send word to him,--though they were +not more than ten leagues apart. Once Madame Voss went over to see +him, and brought back word of his well-doing. + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Exactly at eight o'clock every evening a loud bell was sounded in +the hotel of the Lion d'Or at Granpere, and all within the house +sat down together to supper. The supper was spread on a long table +in the saloon up-stairs, and the room was lighted with camphine +lamps,--for as yet gas had not found its way to Granpere. At this +meal assembled not only the guests in the house and the members of the +family of the landlord,--but also many persons living in the village +whom it suited to take, at a certain price per month, the chief meal +of the day, at the house of the innkeeper, instead of eating in +their own houses a more costly, a less dainty, and probably a lonely +supper. Therefore when the bell was heard there came together some +dozen residents of Granpere, mostly young men engaged in the linen +trade, from their different lodgings, and each took his accustomed +seat down the sides of the long board, at which, tied in a knot, was +placed his own napkin. At the top of the table was the place of +Madame Voss, which she never failed to fill exactly three minutes +after the bell had been rung. At her right hand was the chair of +the master of the house,--never occupied by any one else;--but it +would often happen that some business would keep him away. Since +George had left him he had taken the timber into his own hands, and +was accustomed to think and sometimes to say that the necessity was +cruel on him. Below his chair and on the other side of Madame Voss +there would generally be two or three places kept for guests who +might be specially looked upon as the intimate friends of the +mistress of the house; and at the farther end of the table, close to +the window, was the space allotted to travellers. Here the napkins +were not tied in knots, but were always clean. And, though the +little plates of radishes, cakes, and dried fruits were continued +from one of the tables to the other, the long-necked thin bottles of +common wine came to an end before they reached the strangers' +portion of the board; for it had been found that strangers would +take at that hour either tea or a better kind of wine than that +which Michel Voss gave to his accustomed guests without any special +charge. When, however, the stranger should please to take the +common wine, he was by no means thereby prejudiced in the eyes of +Madame Voss or her husband. Michel Voss liked a profit, but he +liked the habits of his country almost as well. + +One evening in September, about twelve months after the departure of +George, Madame Voss took her seat at the table, and the young men of +the place who had been waiting round the door of the hotel for a few +minutes, followed her into the room. And there was M. Goudin, the +Cure, with another young clergyman, his friend. On Sundays the Cure +always dined at the hotel at half-past twelve o'clock, as the friend +of the family; but for his supper he paid, as did the other guests. +I rather fancy that on week days he had no particular dinner; and +indeed there was no such formal meal given in the house of Michel +Voss on week days. There was something put on the table about noon +in the little room between the kitchen and the public window; but +except on Sundays it could hardly be called a dinner. On Sundays a +real dinner was served in the room up-stairs, with soup, and +removes, and entrees and the roti, all in the right place,--which +showed that they knew what a dinner was at the Lion d'Or;--but, +throughout the week, supper was the meal of the day. After M. +Goudin, on this occasion, there came two maiden ladies from Epinal +who were lodging at Granpere for change of air. They seated +themselves near to Madame Voss, but still leaving a place or two +vacant. And presently at the bottom of the table there came an +Englishman and his wife, who were travelling through the country; +and so the table was made up. A lad of about fifteen, who was known +in Granpere as the waiter at the Lion d'Or, looked after the two +strangers and the young men, and Marie Bromar, who herself had +arranged the board, stood at the top of the room, by a second table, +and dispensed the soup. It was pleasant to watch her eyes, as she +marked the moment when the dispensing should begin, and counted her +guests, thoughtful as to the sufficiency of the dishes to come; and +noticed that Edmond Greisse had sat down with such dirty hands that +she must bid her uncle to warn the lad; and observed that the more +elderly of the two ladies from Epinal had bread too hard to suit +her,--which should be changed as soon as the soup had been +dispensed. She looked round, and even while dispensing saw +everything. It was suggested in the last chapter that another house +might have been built in Granpere, and that George Voss might have +gone there, taking Marie as his bride; but the Lion d'Or would +sorely have missed those quick and careful eyes. + +Then, when that dispensing of the soup was concluded, Michel entered +the room bringing with him a young man. The young man had evidently +been expected; for, when he took the place close at the left hand of +Madame Voss, she simply bowed to him, saying some word of courtesy +as Michel took his place on the other side. Then Marie dispensed +two more portions of soup, and leaving one on the farther table for +the boy to serve, though she could well have brought the two, waited +herself upon her uncle. 'And is Urmand to have no soup?' said +Michel Voss, as he took his niece lovingly by the hand. + +'Peter is bringing it,' said Marie. And in a moment or two Peter +the waiter did bring the young man his soup. + +'And will not Mademoiselle Marie sit down with us?' said the young +man. + +'If you can make her, you have more influence than I,' said Michel. +'Marie never sits, and never eats, and never drinks.' She was +standing now close behind her uncle with both her hands upon his +head; and she would often stand so after the supper was commenced, +only moving to attend upon him, or to supplement the services of +Peter and the maid-servant when she perceived that they were +becoming for a time inadequate to their duties. She answered her +uncle now by gently pulling his ears, but she said nothing. + +'Sit down with us, Marie, to oblige me,' said Madame Voss. + +'I had rather not, aunt. It is foolish to sit at supper and not +eat. I have taken my supper already.' Then she moved away, and +hovered round the two strangers at the end of the room. After +supper Michel Voss and the young man--Adrian Urmand by name--lit +their cigars and seated themselves on a bench outside the front +door. 'Have you never said a word to her?' said Michel. + +'Well;--a word; yes.' + +'But you have not asked her--; you know what I mean;--asked her +whether she could love you.' + +'Well,--yes. I have said as much as that, but I have never got an +answer. And when I did ask her, she merely left me. She is not +much given to talking.' + +'She will not make the worse wife, my friend, because she is not +much given to such talking as that. When she is out with me on a +Sunday afternoon she has chat enough. By St. James, she'll talk for +two hours without stopping when I'm so out of breath with the hill +that I haven't a word.' + +'I don't doubt she can talk.' + +'That she can; and manage a house better than any girl I ever saw. +You ask her aunt.' + +'I know what her aunt thinks of her. Madame Voss says that neither +you nor she can afford to part with her.' + +Michel Voss was silent for a moment. It was dusk, and no one could +see him as he brushed a tear from each eye with the back of his +hand. 'I'll tell you what, Urmand,--it will break my heart to lose +her. Do you see how she comes to me and comforts me? But if it +broke my heart, and broke the house too, I would not keep her here. +It isn't fit. If you like her, and she can like you, it will be a +good match for her. You have my leave to ask her. She brought +nothing here, but she has been a good girl, a very good girl, and +she will not leave the house empty-handed.' + +Adrian Urmand was a linen-buyer from Basle, and was known to have a +good share in a good business. He was a handsome young man too, +though rather small, and perhaps a little too apt to wear rings on +his fingers and to show jewelry on his shirt-front and about his +waistcoat. So at least said some of the young people of Granpere, +where rings and gold studs are not so common as they are at Basle. +But he was one who understood his business, and did not neglect it; +he had money too; and was therefore such a young man that Michel +Voss felt that he might give his niece to him without danger, if he +and she could manage to like each other sufficiently. As to +Urmand's liking, there was no doubt. Urmand was ready enough. + +'I will see if she will speak to me just now,' said Urmand after a +pause. + +'Shall her aunt try it, or shall I do it?' said Michel. + +But Adrian Urmand thought that part of the pleasure of love lay in +the making of it himself. So he declined the innkeeper's offer, at +any rate for the present occasion. 'Perhaps,' said he, 'Madame Voss +will say a word for me after I have spoken for myself.' + +'So let it be,' said the landlord. And then they finished their +cigars in silence. + +It was in vain that Adrian Urmand tried that night to obtain +audience from Marie. Marie, as though she well knew what was wanted +of her and was determined to thwart her lover, would not allow +herself to be found alone for a moment. When Adrian presented +himself at the window of her little bar, he found that Peter was +with her, and she managed to keep Peter with her till Adrian was +gone. And again, when he hoped to find her alone for a few moments +after the work of the day was over in the small parlour where she +was accustomed to sit for some half hour before she would go up to +her room, he was again disappointed. She was already up-stairs with +her aunt and the children, and all Michel Voss's good nature in +keeping out of the way was of no avail. + +But Urmand was determined not to be beaten. He intended to return +to Basle on the next day but one, and desired to put this matter a +little in forwardness before he took his departure. On the +following morning he had various appointments to keep with +countrymen and their wives, who sold linen to him, but he was quick +over his business and managed to get back to the inn early in the +afternoon. From six till eight he well knew that Marie would allow +nothing to impede her in the grand work of preparing for supper; but +at four o'clock she would certainly be sitting somewhere about the +house with her needle in her hand. At four o'clock he found her, +not with her needle in her hand, but, better still, perfectly idle. +She was standing at an open window, looking out upon the garden as +he came behind her, standing motionless with both hands on the sill +of the window, thinking deeply of something that filled her mind. +It might be that she was thinking of him. + +'I have done with my customers now, and I shall be off to Basle +to-morrow,' said he, as soon as she had looked round at the sound of +his footsteps and perceived that he was close to her. + +'I hope you have bought your goods well, M. Urmand.' + +'Ah! for the matter of that the time for buying things well is clean +gone. One used to be able to buy well; but there is not an old +woman now in Alsace who doesn't know as well as I do, or better, +what linen is worth in Berne and Paris. They expect to get nearly +as much for it here at Granpere.' + +'They work hard, M. Urmand, and things are dearer than they were. +It is well that they should get a price for their labour.' + +'A price, yes:--but how is a man to buy without a profit? They +think that I come here for their sakes,--merely to bring the market +to their doors.' Then he began to remember that he had no special +object in discussing the circumstances of his trade with Marie +Bromar, and that he had a special object in another direction. But +how to turn the subject was now a difficulty. + +'I am sure you do not buy without a profit,' said Marie Bromar, when +she found that he was silent. 'And then the poor people, who have +to pay so dear for everything!' She was making a violent attempt to +keep him on the ground of his customers and his purchases. + +'There was another thing that I wanted to say to you, Marie,' he +began at last abruptly. + +'Another thing,' said Marie, knowing that the hour had come. + +'Yes;--another thing. I daresay you know what it is. I need not +tell you now that I love you, need I, Marie? You know as well as I +do what I think of you.' + +'No, I don't,' said Marie, not intending to encourage him to tell +her, but simply saying that which came easiest to her at the moment. + +'I think this,--that if you will consent to be my wife, I shall be a +very happy man. That is all. Everybody knows how pretty you are, +and how good, and how clever; but I do not think that anybody loves +you better than I do. Can you say that you will love me, Marie? +Your uncle approves of it,--and your aunt.' He had now come quite +close to her, and having placed his hand behind her back, was +winding his arm round her waist. + +'I will not have you do that, M. Urmand,' she said, escaping from +his embrace. + +'But that is no answer. Can you love me, Marie?' + +'No,' she said, hardly whispering the word between her teeth. + +'And is that to be all?' + +'What more can I say?' + +'But your uncle wishes it, and your aunt. Dear Marie, can you not +try to love me?' + +'I know they wish it. It is easy enough for a girl to see when such +things are wished or when they are forbidden. Of course I know that +uncle wishes it. And he is very good;--and so are you, I daresay. +And I'm sure I ought to be very proud, because you are so much above +me.' + +'I am not a bit above you. If you knew what I think, you wouldn't +say so.' + +'But--' + +'Well, Marie. Think a moment, dearest, before you give me an answer +that shall make me either happy or miserable.' + +'I have thought. I would almost burn myself in the fire, if uncle +wished it.' + +'And he does wish this.' + +'But I cannot do this even because he wishes it.' + +'Why not, Marie?' + +'I prefer being as I am. I do not wish to leave the hotel, or to be +married at all.' + +'Nay, Marie, you will certainly be married some day.' + +'No; there is no such certainty. Some girls never get married. I +am of use here, and I am happy here.' + +'Ah! it is because you cannot love me.' + +'I don't suppose I shall ever love any one, not in that way. I must +go away now, M. Urmand, because I am wanted below.' + +She did go, and Adrian Urmand spoke no farther word of love to her +on that occasion. + +'I will speak to her about it myself,' said Michel Voss, when he +heard his young friend's story that evening, seated again upon the +bench outside the door, and smoking another cigar. + +'It will be of no use,' said Adrian. + +'One never knows,' said Michel. 'Young women are queer cattle to +take to market. One can never be quite certain which way they want +to go. After you are off to-morrow, I will have a few words with +her. She does not quite understand as yet that she must make her +hay while the sun shines. Some of 'em are all in a hurry to get +married, and some of 'em again are all for hanging back, when their +friends wish it. It's natural, I believe, that they should be +contrary. But Marie is as good as the best of them, and when I +speak to her, she'll hear reason.' + +Adrian Urmand had no alternative but to assent to the innkeeper's +proposition. The idea of making love second-hand was not pleasant +to him; but he could not hinder the uncle from speaking his mind to +the niece. One little suggestion he did make before he took his +departure. 'It can't be, I suppose, that there is any one else that +she likes better?' To this Michel Voss made no answer in words, but +shook his head in a fashion that made Adrian feel assured that there +was no danger on that head. + +But Michel Voss, though he had shaken his head in a manner so +satisfactory, had feared that there was such danger. He had +considered himself justified in shaking his head, but would not be +so false as to give in words the assurance which Adrian had asked. +That night he discussed the matter with his wife, declaring it as +his purpose that Marie Bromar should marry Adrian Urmand. 'It is +impossible that she should do better,' said Michel. + +'It would be very well,' said Madame Voss. + +'Very well! Why, he is worth thirty thousand francs, and is as +steady at his business as his father was before him.' + +'He is a dandy.' + +'Psha! that is nothing!' said Michel. + +'And he is too fond of money.' + +'It is a fault on the right side,' said Michel. 'His wife and +children will not come to want.' + +Madame Voss paused a moment before she made her last and grand +objection to the match. 'It is my belief,' said she, 'that Marie is +always thinking of George.' + +'Then she had better cease to think of him,' said Michel; 'for +George is not thinking of her.' He said nothing farther, but +resolved to speak his own mind freely to Marie Bromar. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The old-fashioned inn at Colmar, at which George Voss was acting as +assistant and chief manager to his father's distant cousin, Madame +Faragon, was a house very different in all its belongings from the +Lion d'Or at Granpere. It was very much larger, and had much higher +pretensions. It assumed to itself the character of a first-class +hotel; and when Colmar was without a railway, and was a great +posting-station on the high road from Strasbourg to Lyons, there was +some real business at the Hotel de la Poste in that town. At +present, though Colmar may probably have been benefited by the +railway, the inn has faded, and is in its yellow leaf. Travellers +who desire to see the statue which a grateful city has erected to +the memory of its most illustrious citizen, General Rapp, are not +sufficient in number to keep a first-class hotel in the glories of +fresh paint and smart waiters; and when you have done with General +Rapp, there is not much to interest you in Colmar. But there is the +hotel; and poor fat, unwieldy Madame Faragon, though she grumbles +much, and declares that there is not a sou to be made, still keeps +it up, and bears with as much bravery as she can the buffets of a +world which seems to her to be becoming less prosperous and less +comfortable and more exacting every day. In her younger years, a +posting-house in such a town was a posting-house; and when M. +Faragon married her, the heiress of the then owner of the business, +he was supposed to have done uncommonly well for himself. Madame +Faragon is now a childless widow, and sometimes declares that she +will shut the house up and have done with it. Why maintain a +business without a profit, simply that there may be an Hotel de la +Poste at Colmar? But there are old servants whom she has not the +heart to send away; and she has at any rate a roof of her own over +her head; and though she herself is unconscious that it is so, she +has many ties to the old business; and now, since her young cousin +George Voss has been with her, things go a little better. She is +not robbed so much, and the people of the town, finding that they +can get a fair bottle of wine and a good supper, come to the inn; +and at length an omnibus has been established, and there is a little +glimmer of returning prosperity. + +It is a large old rambling house, built round an irregularly-shaped +court, with another court behind it; and in both courts the stables +and coach-houses seem to be so mixed with the kitchens and +entrances, that one hardly knows what part of the building is equine +and what part human. Judging from the smell which pervades the +lower quarters, and, alas, also too frequently the upper rooms, one +would be inclined to say that the horses had the best of it. The +defect had been pointed out to Madame Faragon more than once; but +that lady, though in most of the affairs of life her temper is +gentle and kindly, cannot hear with equanimity an insinuation that +any portion of her house is either dirty or unsweet. Complaints +have reached her that the beds were--well, inhabited--but no servant +now dares to hint at anything wrong in this particular. If this +traveller or that says a word to her personally in complaint, she +looks as sour as death, and declines to open her mouth in reply; but +when that traveller's back is turned, the things that Madame Faragon +can say about the upstart coxcombry of the wretch, and as to the +want of all real comforts which she is sure prevails in the home +quarters of that ill-starred complaining traveller, are proof to +those who hear them that the old landlady has not as yet lost all +her energy. It need not be doubted that she herself religiously +believes that no foul perfume has ever pervaded the sanctity of her +chambers, and that no living thing has ever been seen inside the +sheets of her beds, except those guests whom she has allocated to +the different rooms. + +Matters had not gone very easily with George Voss in all the changes +he had made during the last year. Some things he was obliged to do +without consulting Madame Faragon at all. Then she would discover +what was going on, and there would be a 'few words.' At other times +he would consult her, and carry his purpose only after much +perseverance. Twice or thrice he had told her that he must go away, +and then with many groans she had acceded to his propositions. It +had been necessary to expend two thousand francs in establishing the +omnibus, and in that affair the appearance of things had been at one +time quite hopeless. And then when George had declared that the +altered habits of the people required that the hour of the morning +table-d'hote should be changed from noon to one, she had sworn that +she would not give way. She would never lend her assent to such +vile idleness. It was already robbing the business portion of the +day of an hour. She would wrap her colours round her and die upon +the ground sooner than yield. 'Then they won't come,' said George, +'and it's no use you having the table then. They will all go to the +Hotel de l'Imperatrice.' This was a new house, the very mention of +which was a dagger-thrust into the bosom of Madame Faragon. 'Then +they will be poisoned,' she said. 'And let them! It is what they +are fit for.' But the change was made, and for the first three days +she would not come out of her room. When the bell was rung at the +obnoxious hour, she stopped her ears with her two hands. + +But though there had been these contests, Madame Faragon had made +more than one effort to induce George Voss to become her partner and +successor in the house. If he would only bring in a small sum of +money--a sum which must be easily within his father's reach--he +should have half the business now, and all of it when Madame Faragon +had gone to her rest. Or if he would prefer to give Madame Faragon +a pension--a moderate pension--she would give up the house at once. +At these tender moments she used to say that he probably would not +begrudge her a room in which to die. But George Voss would always +say that he had no money, that he could not ask his father for +money, and that he had not made up his mind to settle at Colmar. +Madame Faragon, who was naturally much interested in the matter, and +was moreover not without curiosity, could never quite learn how +matters stood at Granpere. A word or two she had heard in a +circuitous way of Marie Bromar, but from George himself she could +never learn anything of his affairs at home. She had asked him once +or twice whether it would not be well that he should marry, but he +had always replied that he did not think of such a thing--at any +rate as yet. He was a steady young man, given more to work than to +play, and apparently not inclined to amuse himself with the girls of +the neighbourhood. + +One day Edmond Greisse was over at Colmar--Edmond Greisse, the lad +whose untidy appearance at the supper-table at the Lion d'Or had +called down the rebuke of Marie Bromar. He had been sent over on +some business by his employer, and had come to get his supper and +bed at Madame Faragon's hotel. He was a modest, unassuming lad, and +had been hardly more than a boy when George Voss had left Granpere. +From time to time George had seen some friend from the village, and +had thus heard tidings from home. Once, as has been said, Madame +Voss had made a pilgrimage to Madame Faragon's establishment to +visit him; but letters between the houses had not been frequent. +Though postage in France--or shall we say Germany?--is now almost as +low as in England, these people of Alsace have not yet fallen into +the way of writing to each other when it occurs to any of them that +a word may be said. Young Greisse had seen the landlady, who now +never went upstairs among her guests, and had had his chamber +allotted to him, and was seated at the supper-table, before he met +George Voss. It was from Madame Faragon that George heard of his +arrival. + +'There is a neighbour of yours from Granpere in the house,' said +she. + +'From Granpere? And who is he?' + +'I forget the lad's name; but he says that your father is well, and +Madame Voss. He goes back early to-morrow with the roulage and some +goods that his people have bought. I think he is at supper now.' + +The place of honour at the top of the table at the Colmar inn was +not in these days assumed by Madame Faragon. She had, alas, become +too stout to do so with either grace or comfort, and always took her +meals, as she always lived, in the little room downstairs, from +which she could see, through the apertures of two doors, all who +came in and all who went out by the chief entrance of the hotel. +Nor had George usurped the place. It had now happened at Colmar, as +it has come to pass at most hotels, that the public table is no +longer the table-d'hote. The end chair was occupied by a stout, +dark man, with a bald head and black beard, who was proudly filling +a place different from that of his neighbours, and who would +probably have gone over to the Hotel de l'Imperatrice had anybody +disturbed him. On the present occasion George seated himself next +to the lad, and they were soon discussing all the news from +Granpere. + +'And how is Marie Bromar?' George asked at last. + +'You have heard about her, of course,' said Edmond Greisse. + +'Heard what?' + +'She is going to be married.' + +'Minnie Bromar to be married? And to whom?' + +Edmond at once understood that his news was regarded as being +important, and made the most of it. + +'O dear, yes. It was settled last week when he was there.' + +'But who is he?' + +'Adrian Urmand, the linen-buyer from Basle.' + +'Marie to be married to Adrian Urmand?' + +Urmand's journeys to Granpere had been commenced before George Voss +had left the place, and therefore the two young men had known each +other. + +'They say he's very rich,' said Edmond. + +'I thought he cared for nobody but himself. And are you sure? Who +told you?' + +'I am quite sure; but I do not know who told me. They are all +talking about it.' + +'Did my father ever tell you?' + +'No, he never told me.' + +'Or Marie herself?' + +'No, she did not tell me. Girls never tell those sort of things of +themselves.' + +'Nor Madame Voss?' asked George. + +'She never talks much about anything. But you may be sure it's +true. I'll tell you who told me first, and he is sure to know, +because he lives in the house. It was Peter Veque.' + +'Peter Veque, indeed! And who do you think would tell him?' + +'But isn't it quite likely? She has grown to be such a beauty! +Everybody gives it to her that she is the prettiest girl round +Granpere. And why shouldn't he marry her? If I had a lot of money, +I'd only look to get the prettiest girl I could find anywhere.' + +After this, George said nothing farther to the young man as to the +marriage. If it was talked about as Edmond said, it was probably +true. And why should it not be true? Even though it were true, no +one would have cared to tell him. She might have been married twice +over, and no one in Granpere would have sent him word. So he +declared to himself. And yet Marie Bromar had once sworn to him +that she loved him, and would be his for ever and ever; and, though +he had left her in dudgeon, with black looks, without a kind word of +farewell, yet he had believed her. Through all his sojourn at +Colmar he had told himself that she would be true to him. He +believed it, though he was hardly sure of himself--had hardly +resolved that he would ever go back to Granpere to seek her. His +father had turned him out of the house, and Marie had told him as he +went that she would never marry him if her uncle disapproved it. +Slight as her word had been on that morning of his departure, it had +rankled in his bosom, and made him angry with her through a whole +twelvemonth. And yet he had believed that she would be true to him! + +He went out in the evening when it was dusk and walked round and +round the public garden of Colmar, thinking of the news which he had +heard--the public garden, in which stands the statue of General +Rapp. It was a terrible blow to him. Though he had remained a +whole year in Colmar without seeing Marie, or hearing of her, +without hardly ever having had her name upon his lips, without even +having once assured himself during the whole time that the happiness +of his life would depend on the girl's constancy to him,--now that +he heard that she was to be married to another man, he was torn to +pieces by anger and regret. He had sworn to love her, and had never +even spoken a word of tenderness to another girl. She had given him +her plighted troth, and now she was prepared to break it with the +first man who asked her! As he thought of this, his brow became +black with anger. But his regrets were as violent. What a fool he +had been to leave her there, open to persuasion from any man who +came in the way, open to persuasion from his father, who would, of +course, be his enemy. How, indeed, could he expect that she should +be true to him? The year had been long enough to him, but it must +have been doubly long to her. He had expected that his father would +send for him, would write to him, would at least transmit to him +some word that would make him know that his presence was again +desired at Granpere. But his father had been as proud as he was, +and had not sent any such message. Or rather, perhaps, the father +being older and less impatient, had thought that a temporary absence +from Granpere might be good for his son. + +It was late at night when George Voss went to bed, but he was up in +the morning early to see Edmond Greisse before the roulage should +start for Munster on its road to Granpere. Early times in that part +of the world are very early, and the roulage was ready in the back +court of the inn at half-past four in the morning. + +'What? you up at this hour?' said Edmond. + +'Why not? It is not every day we have a friend here from Granpere, +so I thought I would see you off.' + +'That is kind of you.' + +'Give my love to them at the old house, Edmond.' + +'Of course I will.' + +'To father, and Madame Voss, and the children, and to Marie.' + +'All right.' + +'Tell Marie that you have told me of her marriage.' + +'I don't know whether she'll like to talk about that to me.' + +'Never mind; you tell her. She won't bite you. Tell her also that +I shall be over at Granpere soon to see her and the rest of them. +I'll be over--as soon as ever I can get away.' + +'Shall I tell your father that?' + +'No. Tell Marie, and let her tell my father.' + +'And when will you come? We shall all be so glad to see you.' + +'Never you mind that. You just give my message. Come in for a +moment to the kitchen. There's a cup of coffee for you and a slice +of ham. We are not going to let an old friend like you go away +without breaking his fast.' + +As Greisse had already paid his modest bill, amounting altogether to +little more than three francs, this was kind of the young landlord, +and while he was eating his bread and ham he promised faithfully +that he would give the message just as George had given it to him. + +It was on the third day after the departure of Edmond Greisse that +George told Madame Faragon that he was going home. + +'Going where, George?' said Madame Faragon, leaning forward on the +table before her, and looking like a picture of despair. + +'To Granpere, Madame Faragon.' + +'To Granpere! and why? and when? and how? O dear! Why did you not +tell me before, child?' + +'I told you as soon as I knew.' + +'But you are not going yet?' + +'On Monday.' + +'O dear! So soon as that! Lord bless me! We can't do anything +before Monday. And when will you be back?' + +'I cannot say with certainty. I shall not be long, I daresay.' + +'And have they sent for you?' + +'No, they have not sent for me, but I want to see them once again. +And I must make up my mind what to do for the future.' + +'Don't leave me, George; pray do not leave me!' exclaimed Madame +Faragon. 'You shall have the business now if you choose to take +it--only pray don't leave me!' + +George explained that at any rate he would not desert her now at +once; and on the Monday named he started for Granpere. He had not +been very quick in his action, for a week had passed since he had +given Edmond Greisse his breakfast in the hotel kitchen. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Adrian Urmand had been three days gone from Granpere before Michel +Voss found a fitting opportunity for talking to his niece. It was +not a matter, as he thought, in which there was need for any great +hurry, but there was need for much consideration. Once again he +spoke on the subject to his wife. + +'If she's thinking about George, she has kept it very much to +herself,' he remarked. + +'Girls do keep it to themselves,' said Madame Voss. + +'I'm not so sure of that. They generally show it somehow. Marie +never looks lovelorn. I don't believe a bit of it; and as for him, +all the time he has been away he has never so much as sent a word of +a message to one of us.' + +'He sent his love to you, when I saw him, quite dutifully,' said +Madame Voss. + +'Why don't he come and see us if he cares for us? It isn't of him +that Marie is thinking.' + +'It isn't of anybody else then,' said Madame Voss. 'I never see her +speak a word to any of the young men, nor one of them ever speaking +a word to her.' + +Pondering over all this, Michel Voss resolved that he would have it +all out with his niece on the following Sunday. + +On the Sunday he engaged Marie to start with him after dinner to the +place on the hillside where they were cutting wood. It was a +beautiful autumn afternoon, in that pleasantest of all months in the +year, when the sun is not too hot, and the air is fresh and balmy, +and one is still able to linger abroad, loitering either in or out +of the shade, when the midges cease to bite, and the sun no longer +scorches and glares; but the sweet vestiges of summer remain, and +everything without doors is pleasant and friendly, and there is the +gentle unrecognised regret for the departing year, the unconscious +feeling that its glory is going from us, to add the inner charm of a +soft melancholy to the outer luxury of the atmosphere. I doubt +whether Michel Voss had ever realised the fact that September is the +kindliest of all the months, but he felt it, and enjoyed the leisure +of his Sunday afternoon when he could get his niece to take a +stretch with him on the mountain-side. On these occasions Madame +Voss was left at home with M. le Cure, who liked to linger over his +little cup of coffee. Madame Voss, indeed, seldom cared to walk +very far from the door of her own house; and on Sundays to go to the +church and back again was certainly sufficient exercise. + +Michel Voss said no word about Adrian Urmand as they were ascending +the hill. He was too wise for that. He could not have given effect +to his experience with sufficient eloquence had he attempted the +task while the burden of the rising ground was upon his lungs and +chest. They turned into a saw-mill as they went up, and counted the +scantlings of timber that had been cut; and Michel looked at the +cradle to see that it worked well, and to the wheels to see that +they were in good order, and observed that the channel for the water +required repairs, and said a word as to the injury that had come to +him because George had left him. 'Perhaps he may come back soon,' +said Marie. To this he made no answer, but continued his path up +the mountain-side. 'There will be plenty of feed for the cows this +autumn,' said Marie Bromar. 'That is a great comfort.' + +'Plenty,' said Michel; 'plenty.' But Marie knew from the tone of +his voice that he was not thinking about the grass, and so she held +her peace. But the want or plenty of the pasture was generally a +subject of the greatest interest to the people of Granpere at that +special time of the year, and one on which Michel Voss was ever +ready to speak. Marie therefore knew that there was something on +her uncle's mind. Nevertheless he inspected the timber that was +cut, and made some remarks about the work of the men. They were not +so careful in barking the logs as they used to be, and upon the +whole he thought that the wood itself was of a worse quality. What +is there that we do not find to be deteriorating around us when we +consider the things in detail, though we are willing enough to admit +a general improvement? 'Yes,' said he, in answer to some remarks +from Marie, 'we must take it, no doubt, as God gives it to us, but +we need not spoil it in the handling. Sit down, my dear; I want to +speak to you for a few minutes.' Then they sat down together on a +large prostrate pine, which was being prepared to be sent down to +the saw-mill. 'My dear,' said he, 'I want to speak to you about +Adrian Urmand.' She blushed and trembled as she placed herself +beside him; but he hardly noticed it. He was not quite at his ease +himself, and was a little afraid of the task he had undertaken. +'Adrian tells me that he asked you to take him as your lover, and +that you refused.' + +'Yes, Uncle Michel.' + +'But why, my dear? How are you to do better? Perhaps I, or your +aunt, should have spoken to you first, and told you that we thought +well of the match.' + +'It wasn't that, uncle. I knew you thought well of it; or, at +least, I believed that you did.' + +'And what is your objection, Marie?' + +'I don't object to M. Urmand, uncle;--at least, not particularly.' + +'But he says you do object. You would not accept him when he +offered himself.' + +'No; I did not accept him.' + +'But you will, my dear,--if he comes again?' + +'No, uncle.' + +'And why not? Is he not a good young man?' + +'O, yes,--that is, I daresay.' + +'And he has a good business. I do not know what more you could +expect.' + +'I expect nothing, uncle,--except not to go away from you.' + +'Ah,--but you must go away from me. I should be very wrong, and so +would your aunt, to let you remain here till you lose your good +looks, and become an old woman on our hands. You are a pretty girl, +Marie, and fit to be any man's wife, and you ought to take a +husband. I am quite in earnest now, my dear; and I speak altogether +for your own welfare.' + +'I know you are in earnest, and I know that you speak for my +welfare.' + +'Well;--well;--what then? Of course, it is only reasonable that you +should be married some day. Here is a young man in a better way of +business than any man, old or young, that comes into Granpere. He +has a house in Basle, and money to put in it whatever you want. And +for the matter of that, Marie, my niece shall not go away from me +empty-handed.' + +She drew herself closer to him and took hold of his arm and pressed +it, and looked up into his face. + +'I brought nothing with me,' she said, 'and I want to take nothing +away.' + +'Is that it?' he said, speaking rapidly. 'Let me tell you then, my +girl, that you shall have nothing but your earnings,--your fair +earnings. Don't you take trouble about that. Urmand and I will +settle that between us, and I will go bail there shall be no +unpleasant words. As I said before, my girl sha'n't leave my house +empty-handed; but, Lord bless you, he would only be too happy to +take you in your petticoat, just as you are. I never saw a fellow +more in love with a girl. Come, Marie, you need not mind saying the +word to me, though you could not bring yourself to say it to him.' + +'I can't say that word, uncle, either to you or to him.' + +'And why the devil not?' said Michel Voss, who was beginning to be +tired of being eloquent. + +'I would rather stay at home with you and my aunt.' + +'O, bother!' + +'Some girls stay at home always. All girls do not get married. I +don't want to be taken to Basle.' + +'This is all nonsense,' said Michel, getting up. 'If you're a good +girl, you will do as you are told.' + +'It would not be good to be married to a man if I do not love him.' + +'But why shouldn't you love him? He's just the man that all the +girls always love. Why don't you love him?' + +As Michel Voss asked this last question, there was a tone of anger +in his voice. He had allowed his niece considerable liberty, and +now she was unreasonable. Marie, who, in spite of her devotion to +her uncle, was beginning to think that she was ill-used by this +tone, made no reply. 'I hope you haven't been falling in love with +any one else,' continued Michel. + +'No,' said Marie, in a low whisper. + +'I do hope you're not still thinking of George, who has left us +without casting a thought upon you. I do hope that you are not such +a fool as that.' Marie sat perfectly silent, not moving; but there +was a frown on her brow and a look of sorrow mixed with anger on her +face. But Michel Voss did not see her face. He looked straight +before him as he spoke, and was flinging chips of wood to a distance +in his energy. 'If it's that, Marie, I tell you you had better get +quit of it at once. It can come to no good. Here is an excellent +husband for you. Be a good girl, and say that you will accept him.' + +'I should not be a good girl to accept a man whom I do not love.' + +'Is it any thought about George that makes you say so, child?' +Michel paused a moment for an answer. 'Tell me,' he continued, with +almost angry energy, 'is it because of George that you refuse +yourself to this young man?' + +Marie paused again for a moment, and then she replied, 'No, it is +not.' + +'It is not?' + +'No, uncle.' + +'Then why will you not marry Adrian Urmand?' + +'Because I do not care for him. Why won't you let me remain with +you, uncle?' + +She was very close to him now, and leaning against him; and her +throat was half choked with sobs, and her eyes were full of tears. +Michel Voss was a soft-hearted man, and inclined to be very soft of +heart where Marie Bromar was concerned. On the other hand he was +thoroughly convinced that it would be for his niece's benefit that +she should marry this young trader; and he thought also that it was +his duty as her uncle and guardian to be round with her, and make +her understand, that as her friends wished it, and as the young +trader himself wished it, it was her duty to do as she was desired. +Another uncle and guardian in his place would hardly have consulted +the girl at all. Between his desire to have his own way and reduce +her to obedience, and the temptation to put his arm round her waist +and kiss away her tears, he was uneasy and vacillating. She gently +put her hand within his arm, and pressed it very close. + +'Won't you let me remain with you, uncle? I love you and Aunt +Josey' (Madame Voss was named Josephine, and was generally called +Aunt Josey) 'and the children. I could not go away from the +children. And I like the house. I am sure I am of use in the +house.' + +'Of course you are of use in the house. It is not that.' + +'Why, then, should you want to send me away?' + +'What nonsense you talk, Marie! Don't you know that a young woman +like you ought to be married some day--that is if she can get a +fitting man to take her? What would the neighbours say of me if we +kept you at home to drudge for us, instead of settling you out in +the world properly? You forget, Marie, that I have a duty to +perform, and you should not make it so difficult.' + +'But if I don't want to be settled?' said Marie. 'Who cares for the +neighbours? If you and I understand each other, is not that +enough?' + +'I care for the neighbours,' said Michel Voss with energy. + +'And must I marry a man I don't care a bit for, because of the +neighbours, Uncle Michel?' asked Marie, with something approaching +to indignation in her voice. + +Michel Voss perceived that it was of no use for him to carry on the +argument. He entertained a half-formed idea that he did not quite +understand the objections so strongly urged by his niece; that there +was something on her mind that she would not tell him, and that +there might be cruelty in urging the matter upon her; but, in +opposition to this, there was his assured conviction that it was his +duty to provide well and comfortably for his niece, and that it was +her duty to obey him in acceding to such provision as he might make. +And then this marriage was undoubtedly a good marriage--a match that +would make all the world declare how well Michel Voss had done for +the girl whom he had taken under his protection. It was a marriage +that he could not bear to see go out of the family. It was not +probable that the young linen-merchant, who was so well to do in the +world, and who, no doubt, might have his choice in larger places +than Granpere--it was not probable, Michel thought, that he would +put up with many refusals. The girl would lose her chance, unless +he, by his firmness, could drive this folly out of her. And yet how +could he be firm, when he was tempted to throw his great arms about +her, and swear that she should eat of his bread and drink of his +cup, and be unto him as a daughter, till the last day of their joint +existence. When she crept so close to him and pressed his arm, he +was almost overcome by the sweetness of her love and by the +tenderness of his own heart. + +'It seems to me that you don't understand,' he said at last. 'I +didn't think that such a girl as you would be so silly.' + +To this she made no reply; and then they began to walk down the hill +together. + +They had walked half way home, he stepping a little in +advance,--because he was still angry with her, or angry rather with +himself in that he could not bring himself to scold her properly,--and +she following close behind his shoulder, when he stopped suddenly and +asked her a question which came from the direction his thoughts were +taking at the moment. 'You are sure,' he said, 'that you are not +doing this because you expect George to come back to you?' + +'Quite sure,' she said, bearing forward a moment, and answering him +in a whisper when she spoke. + +'By my word, then, I can't understand it. I can't indeed. Has +Urmand done anything to offend you?' + +'Nothing, uncle.' + +'Nor said anything?' + +'Not a word; uncle. I am not offended. Of course I am much obliged +to him. Only I don't love him.' + +'By my faith I don't understand it. I don't indeed. It is sheer +nonsense, and you must get over it. I shouldn't be doing my duty if +I didn't tell you that you must get over it. He will be here again +in another ten days, and you must have thought better of it by that +time. You must indeed, Marie.' + +Then they walked down the hill in silence together, each thinking +intently on the purpose of the other, but each altogether +misunderstanding the other. Michel Voss was assured--as she had +twice implied as much--that she was altogether indifferent to his +son George. What he might have said or done had she declared her +affection for her absent lover, he did not himself know. He had not +questioned himself on that point. Though his wife had told him that +Marie was ever thinking of George, he had not believed that it was +so. He had no reason for disliking a marriage between his son and +his wife's niece. When he had first thought that they were going to +be lovers, under his nose, without his permission,--going to +commence a new kind of life between themselves without so much as a +word spoken to him or by him,--he had found himself compelled to +interfere, compelled as a father and an uncle. That kind of thing +could never be allowed to take place in a well-ordered house without +the expressed sanction of the head of the household. He had +interfered,--rather roughly; and his son had taken him at his word. +He was sore now at his son's coldness to him, and was disposed to +believe that his son cared not at all for any one at Granpere. His +niece was almost as dear to him as his son, and much more dutiful. +Therefore he would do the best he could for his niece. Marie's +declaration that George was nothing to her,--that she did not think +of him,--was in accordance with his own ideas. His wife had been +wrong. His wife was usually wrong when any headwork was required. +There could be no good reason why Marie Bromar should not marry +Adrian Urmand. + +But Marie, as she knew very well, had never declared that George +Voss was nothing to her,--that he was forgotten, or that her heart +was free. He had gone from her and had forgotten her. She was quite +sure of that. And should she ever hear that he was married to some +one else,--as it was probable that she would hear some day,--then +she would be free again. Then she might take this man or that, +if her friends wished it--and if she could bring herself to endure +the proposed marriage. But at present her troth was plighted to +George Voss; and where her troth was given, there was her heart +also. She could understand that such a circumstance, affecting one +of so little importance as herself, should be nothing to a man like +her uncle; but it was everything to her. George had forgotten her, +and she had wept sorely over his want of constancy. But though +telling herself that this certainly was so, she had declared to +herself that she would never be untrue till her want of truth had +been put beyond the reach of doubt. Who does not know how hope +remains, when reason has declared that there is no longer ground for +hoping? + +Such had been the state of her mind hitherto; but what would be the +good of entertaining hope, even if there were ground for hoping, +when, as was so evident, her uncle would never permit George and her +to be man and wife? And did she not owe everything to her uncle? +And was it not the duty of a girl to obey her guardian? Would not +all the world be against her if she refused this man? Her mind was +tormented by a thousand doubts, when her uncle said another word to +her, just as they were entering the village. + +'You will try and think better of it;--will you not, my dear?' She +was silent. 'Come, Marie, you can say that you will try. Will you +not try?' + +'Yes, uncle,--I will try.' + +Michel Voss went home in a good humour, for he felt that he had +triumphed; and poor Marie returned broken-hearted, for she was aware +that she had half-yielded. She knew that her uncle was triumphant. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +When Edmond Greisse was back at Granpere he well remembered his +message, but he had some doubt as to the expediency of delivering +it. He had to reflect in the first place whether he was quite sure +that matters were arranged between Marie and Adrian Urmand. The +story had been told to him as being certainly true by Peter the +waiter. And he had discussed the matter with other young men, his +associates in the place, among all of whom it was believed that +Urmand was certainly about to carry away the young woman with whom +they were all more or less in love. But when, on his return to +Granpere, he had asked a few more questions, and had found that even +Peter was now in doubt on a point as to which he had before been so +sure, he began to think that there would be some difficulty in +giving his message. He was not without some little fear of Marie, +and hesitated to tell her that he had spread the report about her +marriage. So he contented himself with simply announcing to her +that George Voss intended to visit his old home. + +'Does my uncle know?' Marie asked. + +'No;--you are to tell him,' said Greisse. + +'I am to tell him! Why should I tell him? You can tell him.' + +'But George said that I was to let you know, and that you would tell +your uncle.' This was quite unintelligible to Marie; but it was +clear to her that she could make no such announcement, after the +conversation which she had had with her uncle. It was quite out of +the question that she should be the first to announce George's +return, when she had been twice warned on that Sunday afternoon not +to think of him. 'You had better let my uncle know yourself,' she +said, as she walked away. But young Greisse, knowing that he was +already in trouble, and feeling that he might very probably make it +worse, held his peace. When therefore one morning George Voss +showed himself at the door of the inn, neither his father nor Madame +Voss expected him. + +But his father was kind to him, and his mother-in-law hovered round +him with demonstrations of love and gratitude, as though much were +due to him for coming back at all. 'But you expected me,' said +George. + +'No, indeed,' said his father. 'We did not expect you now any more +than on any other day since you left us.' + +'I sent word by Edmond Greisse,' said George. Edmond was +interrogated, and declared that he had forgotten to give the +message. George was too clever to pursue the matter any farther, +and when he first met Marie Bromar, there was not a word said +between them beyond what might have been said between any young +persons so related, after an absence of twelve months. George Voss +was very careful to make no demonstration of affection for a girl +who had forgotten him, and who was now, as he believed, betrothed to +another man; and Marie was determined that certainly no sign of the +old love should first be shown by her. He had come back,--perhaps +just in time. He had returned just at the moment in which something +must be decided. She had felt how much there was in the little word +which she had spoken to her uncle. When a girl says that she will +try to reconcile herself to a man's overtures, she has almost +yielded. The word had escaped her without any such meaning on her +part,--had been spoken because she had feared to continue to +contradict her uncle in the full completeness of a positive refusal. +She had regretted it as soon as it had been spoken, but she could +not recall it. She had seen in her uncle's eye and had heard in the +tone of his voice for how much that word had been taken;--but it had +gone forth from her mouth, and she could not now rob it of its +meaning. Adrian Urmand was to be back at Granpere in a few days--in +ten days Michel Voss had said; and there were those ten days for her +in which to resolve what she would do. Now, as though sent from +heaven, George had returned, in this very interval of time. Might +it not be that he would help her out of her difficulty? If he would +only tell her to remain single for his sake, she would certainly +turn her back upon her Swiss lover, let her uncle say what he might. +She would make no engagement with George unless with her uncle's +sanction; but a word, a look of love, would fortify her against that +other marriage. + +George, she thought, had come back a man more to be worshipped than +ever, as far as appearance went. What woman could doubt for a +moment between two such men? Adrian Urmand was no doubt a pretty +man, with black hair, of which he was very careful, with white +hands, with bright small dark eyes which were very close together, +with a thin regular nose, a small mouth, and a black moustache, +which he was always pointing with his fingers. It was impossible to +deny that he was good-looking after a fashion; but Marie despised +him in her heart. She was almost bigger than he was, certainly +stronger, and had no aptitude for the city niceness and POINT-DEVICE +fastidiousness of such a lover. George Voss had come back, not +taller than when he had left them, but broader in the shoulders, and +more of a man. And then he had in his eye, and in his beaked nose, +and his large mouth, and well-developed chin, that look of command, +which was the peculiar character of his father's face, and which +women, who judge of men by their feelings rather than their +thoughts, always love to see. Marie, if she would consent to marry +Adrian Urmand, might probably have her own way in the house in +everything; whereas it was certain enough that George Voss, wherever +he might be, would desire to have his way. But yet there needed not +a moment, in Marie's estimation, to choose between the two. George +Voss was a real man; whereas Adrian Urmand, tried by such a +comparison, was in her estimation simply a rich trader in want of a +wife. + +In a day or two the fatted calf was killed, and all went happily +between George and his father. They walked together up into the +mountains, and looked after the wood-cutting, and discussed the +prospects of the inn at Colmar. Michel was disposed to think that +George had better remain at Colmar, and accept Madame Faragon's +offer. 'If you think that the house is worth anything, I will give +you a few thousand francs to set it in order; and then you had +better agree to allow her so much a year for her life.' He probably +felt himself to be nearly as young a man as his son; and then +remember too that he had other sons coming up, who would be able to +carry on the house at Granpere when he should be past his work. +Michel was a loving, generous-hearted man, and all feeling of anger +with his son was over before they had been together two days. 'You +can't do better, George,' he said. 'You need not always stay away +from us for twelve months, and I might take a turn over the +mountain, and get a lesson as to how you do things at Colmar. If +ten thousand francs will help you, you shall have them. Will that +make things go straight with you?' George Voss thought the sum +named would make things go very straight; but as the reader knows, +he had another matter near to his heart. He thanked his father; but +not in the joyous thoroughly contented tone that Michel had +expected. 'Is there anything wrong about it?' Michel said in that +sharp tone which he used when something had suddenly displeased him. + +'There is nothing wrong; nothing wrong at all,' said George slowly. +'The money is much more than I could have expected. Indeed I did +not expect any.' + +'What is it then?' + +'I was thinking of something else. Tell me, father; is it true that +Marie is going to be married to Adrian Urmand?' + +'What makes you ask?' + +'I heard a report of it,' said George. 'Is it true?' + +The father reflected a moment what answer he should give. It did +not seem to him that George spoke of such a marriage as though the +rumour of it had made him unhappy. The question had been asked +almost with indifference. And then the young man's manner to Marie, +and Marie's manner to him, during the last two days had made him +certain that he had been right in supposing that they had both +forgotten the little tenderness of a year ago. And Michel had +thoroughly made up his mind that it would be well that Marie should +marry Adrian. He believed that he had already vanquished Marie's +scruples. She had promised 'to try and think better of it,' before +George's return; and therefore was he not justified in regarding the +matter as almost settled? 'I think that they will be married,' said +he to his son. + +'Then there is something in it?' + +'O, yes; there is a great deal in it. Urmand is very eager for it, +and has asked me and her aunt, and we have consented.' + +'But has he asked her?' + +'Yes; he has done that too,' said Michel. + +'And what answer did he get?' + +'Well;--I don't know that it would be fair to tell that. Marie is +not a girl likely to jump into a man's arms at the first word. But +I think there is no doubt that they will be betrothed before Sunday +week. He is to be here again on Wednesday.' + +'She likes him, then?' + +'O, yes; of course she likes him.' Michel Voss had not intended to +say a word that was false. He was anxious to do the best in his +power for both his son and his niece. He thoroughly understood that +it was his duty as a father and a guardian to start them well in the +world, to do all that he could for their prosperity, to feed their +wants with his money, as a pelican feeds her young with blood from +her bosom. Had he known the hearts of each of them, could he have +understood Marie's constancy, or the obstinate silent strength of +his son's disposition, he would have let Adrian Urmand, with his +business and his house at Basle, seek a wife in any other quarter +where he listed, and would have joined together the hands of these two +whom he loved, with a paternal blessing. But he did not understand. +He thought that he saw everything when he saw nothing;--and now he was +deceiving his son; for it was untrue that Marie had any such 'liking' +for Adrian Urmand as that of which George had spoken. + +'It is as good as settled, then?' said George, not showing by any +tone of his voice the anxiety with which the question was asked. + +'I think it is as good as settled,' Michel answered. Before they +got back to the inn, George had thanked his father for his liberal +offer, had declared that he would accede to Madame Faragon's +proposition, and had made his father understand that he must return +to Colmar on the next Monday,--two days before that on which Urmand +was expected at Granpere. + +The Monday came, and hitherto there had been no word of explanation +between George and Marie. Every one in the house knew that he was +about to return to Colmar, and every one in the house knew that he +had been entirely reconciled to his father. Madame Voss had asked +some question about him and Marie, and had been assured by her +husband that there was nothing in that suspicion. 'I told you from +the beginning,' said he, 'that there was nothing of that sort. I +only wish that George would think of marrying some one, now that he +is to have a large house of his own over his head.' + +George had determined a dozen times that he would, and a dozen times +that he would not, speak to Marie about her coming marriage, +changing his mind as often as it was formed. Of what use was it to +speak to her? he would say to himself. Then again he would resolve +that he would scorch her false heart by one withering word before he +went. Chance at last arranged it for him. Before he started he +found himself alone with her for a moment, and it was almost +impossible that he should not say something. Then he did speak. + +'They tell me you are going to be married, Marie. I hope you will +be happy and prosperous.' + +'Who tells you so?' + +'It is true at any rate, I suppose.' + +'Not that I know of. If my uncle and aunt choose to dispose of me, +I cannot help it.' + +'It is well for girls to be disposed of sometimes. It saves them a +world of trouble.' + +'I don't know what you mean by that, George;--whether it is intended +to be ill-natured.' + +'No, indeed. Why should I be ill-natured to you? I heartily wish +you to be well and happy. I daresay M. Urmand will make you a good +husband. Good-bye, Marie. I shall be off in a few minutes. Will +you not say farewell to me?' + +'Farewell, George.' + +'We used to be friends, Marie.' + +'Yes;--we used to be friends.' + +'And I have never forgotten the old days. I will not promise to +come to your marriage, because it would not make either of us happy, +but I shall wish you well. God bless you, Marie.' Then he put his +arm round her and kissed her, as he might have done to a sister,--as +it was natural that he should do to Marie Bromar, regarding her as a +cousin. She did not speak a word more, and then he was gone! + +She had been quite unable to tell him the truth. The manner in +which he had first addressed her made it impossible for her to tell +him that she was not engaged to marry Adrian Urmand,--that she was +determined, if possible, to avoid the marriage, and that she had no +love for Adrian Urmand. Had she done so, she would in so doing have +asked him to come back to her. That she should do this was +impossible. And yet as he left her, some suspicion of the truth, +some half-formed idea of the real state of the man's mind in +reference to her, flashed across her own. She seemed to feel that +she was specially unfortunate, but she felt at the same time that +there was no means within her reach of setting things right. And +she was as convinced as ever she had been, that her uncle would +never give his consent to a marriage between her and George Voss. +As for George himself, he left her with an assured conviction that +she was the promised bride of Adrian Urmand. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The world seemed very hard to Marie Bromar when she was left alone. +Though there were many who loved her, of whose real affection she +had no doubt, there was no one to whom she could go for assistance. +Her uncle in this matter was her enemy, and her aunt was completely +under her uncle's guidance. Madame Voss spoke to her often in these +days of the coming of Adrian Urmand, but the manner of her speaking +was such that no comfort could be taken from it. Madame Voss would +risk an opinion as to the room which the young man ought to occupy, +and the manner in which he should be fed and entertained. For it +was thoroughly understood that he was coming on this occasion as a +lover and not as a trader, and that he was coming as the guest of +Michel Voss, and not as a customer to the inn. 'I suppose he can +take his supper like the other people,' Marie said to her aunt. And +again, when the question of wine was mooted, she was almost saucy. +'If he's thirsty,' she said, 'what did for him last week, will do +for him next week: and if he's not thirsty, he had better leave it +alone.' But girls are always allowed to be saucy about their +lovers, and Madame Voss did not count this for much. + +Marie was always thinking of those last words which had been spoken +between her and George, and of the kiss that he had given her. 'We +used to be friends,' he had said, and then he had declared that he +had never forgotten old days. Marie was quick, intelligent, and +ready to perceive at half a glance,--to understand at half a word, +as is the way with clever women. A thrill had gone through her as +she heard the tone of the young man's voice, and she had half told +herself all the truth. He had not quite ceased to think of her. +Then he went, without saying the other one word that would have been +needful, without even looking the truth into her face. He had gone, +and had plainly given her to understand that he acceded to this +marriage with Adrian Urmand. How was she to read it all? Was there +more than one way in which a wounded woman, so sore at heart, could +read it? He had told her that though he loved her still, it did not +suit him to trouble himself with her as a wife; and that he would +throw upon her head the guilt of having been false to their old +vows. Though she loved him better than all the world, she despised +him for his thoughtful treachery. In her eyes it was treachery. He +must have known the truth. What right had he to suppose that she +would be false to him,--he, who had never known her to lie to him? +And was it not his business, as a man, to speak some word, to ask +some question, by which, if he doubted, the truth might be made +known to him? She, a woman, could ask no question. She could speak +no word. She could not renew her assurances to him, till he should +have asked her to renew them. He was either false, or a traitor, or +a coward. She was very angry with him;--so angry that she was +almost driven by her anger to throw herself into Adrian's arms. She +was the more angry because she was full sure that he had not +forgotten his old love,--that his heart was not altogether changed. +Had it appeared to her that the sweet words of former days had +vanished from his memory, though they had clung to hers,--that he +had in truth learned to look upon his Granpere experiences as the +simple doings of his boyhood,--her pride would have been hurt, but +she would have been angry with herself rather than with him. But it +had not been so. The respectful silence of his sojourn in the house +had told her that it was not so. The tremor in his voice as he +reminded her that they once had been friends had plainly told her +that it was not so. He had acknowledged that they had been +betrothed, and that the plight between them was still strong; but, +wishing to be quit of it, he had thrown the burden of breaking it +upon her. + +She was very wretched, but she did not go about the house with +downcast eyes or humble looks, or sit idle in a corner with her +hands before her. She was quick and eager in the performance of her +work, speaking sharply to those who came in contact with her. Peter +Veque, her chief minister, had but a poor time of it in these days; +and she spoke an angry word or two to Edmond Greisse. She had, in +truth, spoken no words to Edmond Greisse that were not angry since +that ill-starred communication of which he had only given her the +half. To her aunt she was brusque, and almost ill-mannered. + +'What is the matter with you, Marie?' Madame Voss said to her one +morning, when she had been snubbed rather rudely by her niece. +Marie in answer shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. 'If you +cannot put on a better look before M. Urmand comes, I think he will +hardly hold to his bargain,' said Madame Voss, who was angry. + +'Who wants him to hold to his bargain?' said Marie sharply. Then +feeling ill-inclined to discuss the matter with her aunt, she left +the room. Madame Voss, who had been assured by her husband that +Marie had no real objection to Adrian Urmand, did not understand it +all. + +'I am sure Marie is unhappy,' she said to her husband when he came +in at noon that day. + +'Yes,' said he. 'It seems strange, but it is so, I fancy, with the +best of our young women. Her feeling of modesty--of bashfulness if +you will--is outraged by being told that she is to admit this man as +her lover. She won't make the worse wife on that account, when he +gets her home.' + +Madame Voss was not quite sure that her husband was right. She had +not before observed young women to be made savage in their daily +work by the outrage to their modesty of an acknowledged lover. But, +as usual, she submitted to her husband. Had she not done so, there +would have come that glance from the corner of his eye, and that +curl in his lip, and that gentle breath from his nostril, which had +become to her the expression of imperious marital authority. +Nothing could be kinder, more truly affectionate, than was the heart +of her husband towards her niece. Therefore Madame Voss yielded, +and comforted herself by an assurance that as the best was being +done for Marie, she need not subject herself to her husband's +displeasure by contradiction or interference. + +Michel Voss himself said little or nothing to his niece at this +time. She had yielded to him, making him a promise that she would +endeavour to accede to his wishes, and he felt that he was bound in +honour not to trouble her farther, unless she should show herself to +be disobedient when the moment of trial came. He was not himself at +ease, he was not comfortable at heart, because he knew that Marie +was avoiding him. Though she would still stand behind his chair at +supper,--when for a moment she would be still,--she did not put her +hands upon his head, nor did she speak to him more than the nature +of her service required. Twice he tried to induce her to sit with +them at table, as though to show that her position was altered now +that she was about to become a bride; but he was altogether +powerless to effect any such change as this. No words that could +have been spoken would have induced Marie to seat herself at the +table, so well did she understand all that such a change in her +habits would have seemed to imply. There was now hardly one person +in the supper-room of the hotel who did not instinctively understand +the reason which made Michel Voss anxious that his niece should sit +down, and that other reason which made her sternly refuse to comply +with his request. So, day followed day, and there was but little +said between the uncle and the niece, though heretofore--up to a +time still within a fortnight of the present day--the whole business +of the house had been managed by little whispered conferences +between them. 'I think we'll do so and so, uncle;' or, 'Just you +manage it yourself, Marie.' Such and such-like words had passed +every morning and evening, with an understanding between them full +and complete. Now each was afraid of the other, and everything was +astray. + +But Marie was still gentle with the children: when she could be +with them for half an hour, she would sit with them on her lap, or +clustering round, kissing them and saying soft words to them,--even +softer in her affection than had been her wont. They understood as +well as everybody else that something was wrong,--that there was to +be some change as to Marie which perhaps would not be a change for +the better; that there was cause for melancholy, for close kissing +as though such kissing were in preparation for parting, and for soft +strokings with their little hands as though Marie were to be pitied +for that which was about to come upon her. 'Isn't somebody coming +to take you away?' little Michel asked her, when they were quite +alone. Marie had not known how to answer him. She had therefore +embraced him closely, and a tear fell upon his face. 'Ah,' he said, +'I know somebody is coming to take you away. Will not papa help +you?' She had not spoken; but for the moment she had taken courage, +and had resolved that she would help herself. + +At length the day was there on which Adrian Urmand was to come. It +was his purpose to travel by Mulhouse and Remiremont, and Michel +Voss drove over to the latter town to fetch him. It was felt by +every one--it could not be but felt--that there was something +special in his coming. His arrival now was not like the arrival of +any one else. Marie, with all her resolution that it should be like +usual arrivals at the inn, could not avoid the making of some +difference herself. A better supper was prepared than usual; and, +at the last moment, she herself assisted in preparing it. The young +men clustered round the door of the hotel earlier than usual to +welcome the new-comer. M. le Cure was there with a clean white +collar, and with his best hat. Madame Voss had changed her gown, +and appeared in her own little room before her husband returned +almost in her Sunday apparel. She had said a doubtful word to +Marie, suggesting a clean ribbon, or an altered frill. Marie had +replied only by a look. She would not have changed a pin for +Urmand's coming, had all Granpere come round her to tell her that it +was needful. If the man wanted more to eat than was customary, let +him have it. It was not for her to measure her uncle's hospitality. +But her ribbons and her pins were her own. + +The carriage was driving up to the door, and Michel with his young +friend descended among the circle of expectant admirers. Urmand was +rich, always well dressed, and now he was to be successful in love. +He had about him a look as of a successful prosperous lover, as he +jumped out of the little carriage with his portmanteau in his hand, +and his greatcoat with its silk linings open at the breast. There +was a consciousness in him and in every one there that he had not +come now to buy linen. He made his way into the little room where +Madame Voss was standing up, waiting for him, and was taken by the +hand by her. Michel Voss soon followed them. + +'And where is Marie?' Michel asked. + +An answer came from some one that Marie was upstairs. Supper would +soon be ready, and Marie was busy. Then Michel sent up an order by +Peter that Marie should come down. But Marie did not come down. +'She had gone to her own room,' Peter said. Then there came a frown +on Michel's brow. Marie had promised to try, and this was not +trying. He said no more till they went up to supper. There was +Marie standing as usual at the soup tureen. Urmand walked up to +her, and they touched each other's hand; but Marie said never a +word. The frown on Michel's brow was very black, but Marie went on +dispensing her soup. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Adrian Urmand, in spite of his white hands and his well-combed locks +and the silk lining to his coat, had so much of the spirit of a man +that he was minded to hold his head well up before the girl whom he +wished to make his wife. Michel during that drive from Remiremont +had told him that he might probably prevail. Michel had said a +thousand things in favour of his niece and not a word to her +prejudice; but he had so spoken, or had endeavoured so to speak, as +to make Urmand understand that Marie could only be won with +difficulty, and that she was perhaps unaccountably averse to the +idea of matrimony. 'She is like a young filly, you know, that +starts and plunges when she is touched,' he had said. 'You think +there is nobody else?' Urmand had asked. Then Michel Voss had +answered with confidence, 'I am sure there is nobody else.' Urmand +had listened and said very little; but when at supper he saw that +the uncle was ruffled in his temper and sat silent with a black +brow, that Madame Voss was troubled in spirit, and that Marie +dispensed her soup without vouchsafing a look to any one, he felt +that it behoved him to do his best, and he did it. He talked freely +to Madame Voss, telling her the news from Basle,--how at length he +thought the French trade was reviving, and how all the Swiss +authorities were still opposed to the German occupation of Alsace; +and how flax was likely to be dearer than ever he had seen it; and +how the travelling English were fewer this year than usual, to the +great detriment of the innkeepers. Every now and then he would say +a word to Marie herself, as she passed near him, speaking in a +cheery tone and striving his best to dispel a black silence which on +the present occasion would have been specially lugubrious. Upon the +whole he did his work well, and Michel Voss was aware of it; but +Marie Bromar entertained no gentle thought respecting him. He was +not wanted there, and he ought not to have come. She had given him +an answer, and he ought to have taken it. Nothing, she declared to +herself, was meaner than a man who would go to a girl's parents or +guardians for support, when the girl herself had told him that she +wished to have nothing to do with him. Marie had promised that she +would try, but every feeling of her heart was against the struggle. + +After supper Michel with his young friend sat some time at the +table, for the innkeeper had brought forth a bottle of his best +Burgundy in honour of the occasion. When they had eaten their +fruit, Madame Voss left the room, and Michel and Adrian were soon +alone together. 'Say nothing to her till to-morrow,' said Michel in +a low voice. + +'I will not,' said Adrian. 'I do not wonder that she should be put +out of face if she knows why I have come.' + +'Of course she knows. Give her to-night and to-morrow, and we will +see how it is to be.' At this time Marie was up-stairs with the +children, resolute that nothing should induce her to go down till +she should be sure that their visitor had gone to his chamber. +There were many things about the house which it was her custom to +see in their place before she went to her rest, and nobody should +say that she neglected her work because of this dressed-up doll; but +she would wait till she was sure of him,--till she was sure of her +uncle also. In her present frame of mind she could not have spoken +to the doll with ordinary courtesy. What she feared was, that her +uncle should seek her up-stairs. + +But Michel had some idea that her part in the play was not an easy +one, and was minded to spare her for that night. But she had +promised to try, and she must be reminded of her promise. Hitherto +she certainly had not tried. Hitherto she had been ill-tempered, +petulant, and almost rude. He would not see her himself this +evening, but he would send a message to her by his wife. 'Tell her +from me that I shall expect to see smiles on her face to-morrow,' +said Michel Voss. And as he spoke there certainly were no smiles on +his own. + +'I suppose she is flurried,' said Madame Voss. + +'Ah, flurried! That may do for to-night. I have been very good to +her. Had she been my own, I could not have been kinder. I have +loved her just as if she were my own. Of course I look now for the +obedience of a child.' + +'She does not mean to be undutiful, Michel.' + +'I do not know about meaning. I like reality, and I will have it +too. I consulted herself, and was more forbearing than most fathers +would be. I talked to her about it, and she promised me that she +would do her best to entertain the man. Now she receives him and me +with an old frock and a sulky face. Who pays for her clothes? She +has everything she wants,--just as a daughter, and she would not +take the trouble to change her dress to grace my friend,--as you +did, as any daughter would! I am angry with her.' + +'Do not be angry with her. I think I can understand why she did not +put on another frock.' + +'So can I understand. I can understand well enough. I am not a +fool. What is it she wants, I wonder? What is it she expects? +Does she think some Count from Paris is to come and fetch her?' + +'Nay, Michel, I think she expects nothing of that sort.' + +'Then let her behave like any other young woman, and do as she is +bid. He is not old or ugly, or a sot, or a gambler. Upon my word +and honour I can't conceive what it is that she wants. I can't +indeed.' It was perhaps the fault of Michel Voss that he could not +understand that a young woman should live in the same house with +him, and have a want which he did not conceive. Poor Marie! All +that she wanted now, at this moment, was to be let alone! + +Madame Voss, in obedience to her husband's commands, went up to +Marie and found her sitting in the children's room, leaning with her +head on her hand and her elbow on the table, while the children were +asleep around her. She was waiting till the house should be quiet, +so that she could go down and complete her work. 'O, is it you, +Aunt Josey?' she said. 'I am waiting till uncle and M. Urmand are +gone, that I may go down and put away the wine and the fruit.' + +'Never mind that to-night, Marie.' + +'O yes, I will go down presently. I should not be happy if the +things were not put straight. Everything is about the house +everywhere. We need not, I suppose, become like pigs because M. +Urmand has come from Basle.' + +'No; we need not be like pigs,' said Madame Voss. 'Come into my +room a moment, Marie. I want to speak to you. Your uncle won't be +up yet.' Then she led the way, and Marie followed her. 'Your uncle +is becoming angry, Marie, because--' + +'Because why? Have I done anything to make him angry?' + +'Why are you so cross to this young man?' + +'I am not cross, Aunt Josey. I went on just the same as I always +do. If Uncle Michel wants anything else, that is his fault;--not +mine.' + +'Of course you know what he wants, and I must say that you ought to +obey him. You gave him a sort of a promise, and now he thinks that +you are breaking it.' + +'I gave him no promise,' said Marie stoutly. + +'He says that you told him that you would at any rate be civil to M. +Urmand.' + +'And I have been civil,' said Marie. + +'You did not speak to him.' + +'I never do speak to anybody,' said Marie. 'I have got something to +think of instead of talking to the people. How would the things go, +if I took to talking to the people, and left everything to that +little goose, Peter? Uncle Michel is unreasonable,--and unkind.' + +'He means to do the best by you in his power. He wants to treat you +just as though you were his daughter.' + +'Then let him leave me alone. I don't want anything to be done. If +I were his daughter he would not grudge me permission to stop at +home in his house. I don't want anything else. I have never +complained.' + +'But, my dear, it is time that you should be settled in the world.' + +'I am settled. I don't want any other settlement,--if they will +only let me alone.' + +'Marie,' said Madame Voss after a short pause, 'I sometimes think +that you still have got George Voss in your head.' + +'Is it that, Aunt Josey, that makes my uncle go on like this?' asked +Marie. + +'You do not answer me, child.' + +'I do not know what answer you want. When George was here, I hardly +spoke to him. If Uncle Michel is afraid of me, I will give him my +solemn promise never to marry any one without his permission.' + +'George Voss will never come back for you,' said Madame Voss. + +'He will come when I ask him,' said Marie, flashing round upon her +aunt with all the fire of her bright eyes. 'Does any one say that I +have done anything to bring him to me? If so, it is false, whoever +says it. I have done nothing. He has gone away, and let him stay. +I shall not send for him. Uncle Michel need not be afraid of me, +because of George.' + +By this time Marie was speaking almost in a fury of passion, and her +aunt was almost subdued by her. 'Nobody is afraid of you, Marie,' +she said. + +'Nobody need be. If they will let me alone, I will do no harm to +any one.' + +'But, Marie, you would wish to be married some day.' + +'Why should I wish to be married? If I liked him, I would take him, +but I don't. O, Aunt Josey, I thought you would be my friend!' + +'I cannot be your friend, Marie, if you oppose your uncle. He has +done everything for you, and he must know best what is good for you. +There can be no reason against M. Urmand, and if you persist in +being so unruly, he will only think that it is because you want +George to come back for you.' + +'I care nothing for George,' said Marie, as she left the room; +'nothing at all--nothing.' + +About half-an-hour afterwards, listening at her own door, she heard +the sound of her uncle's feet as he went to his room, and knew that +the house was quiet. Then she crept forth, and went about her +business. Nobody should say that she neglected anything because of +this unhappiness. She brushed the crumbs from the long table, and +smoothed the cloth for the next morning's breakfast; she put away +bottles and dishes, and she locked up cupboards, and saw that the +windows and the doors were fastened. Then she went down to her +books in the little office below stairs. In the performance of her +daily duty there were entries to be made and figures to be adjusted, +which would have been done in the course of the evening, had it not +been that she had been driven upstairs by fear of her lover and her +uncle. But by the time that she took herself up to bed, nothing had +been omitted. And after the book was closed she sat there, trying +to resolve what she would do. Nothing had, perhaps, given her so +sharp a pang as her aunt's assurance that George Voss would not come +back to her, as her aunt's suspicion that she was looking for his +return. It was not that she had been deserted, but that others +should be able to taunt her with her desolation. She had never +whispered the name of George to any one since he had left Granpere, +and she thought that she might have been spared this indignity. 'If +he fancies I want to interfere with him,' she said to herself, +thinking of her uncle, and of her uncle's plans in reference to his +son, 'he will find that he is mistaken.' Then it occurred to her +that she would be driven to accept Adrian Urmand to prove that she +was heart-whole in regard to George Voss. + +She sat there, thinking of it till the night was half-spent, and +when she crept up cold to bed, she had almost made up her mind that +it would be best for her to do as her uncle wished. As for loving +the man, that was out of the question. But then would it not be +better to do without love altogether? + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +'How is it to be?' said Michel to his niece the next morning. The +question was asked downstairs in the little room, while Urmand was +sitting at table in the chamber above waiting for the landlord. +Michel Voss had begun to feel that his visitor would be very heavy +on hand, having come there as a visitor and not as a man of +business, unless he could be handed over to the woman-kind. But no +such handing over would be possible, unless Marie would acquiesce. +'How is it to be?' Michel asked. He had so prepared himself that he +was ready in accordance with a word or a look from his niece either +to be very angry, thoroughly imperious, and resolute to have his way +with the dependent girl, or else to be all smiles, and kindness, and +confidence, and affection. There was nothing she should not have, +if she would only be amenable to reason. + +'How is what to be, Uncle Michel?' said Marie. + +The landlord thought that he discovered an indication of concession +in his niece's voice, and began immediately to adapt himself to the +softer courses. 'Well, Marie, you know what it is we all wish. I +hope you understand that we love you well, and think so much of you, +that we would not intrust you to any one living, who did not bear a +high character and seem to deserve you.' He was looking into +Marie's face as he spoke, and saw that she was soft and thoughtful +in her mood, not proud and scornful as she had been on the preceding +evening. 'You have grown up here with us, Marie, till it has almost +come upon us with surprise that you are a beautiful young woman, +instead of a great straggling girl.' + +'I wish I was a great straggling girl still.' + +'Do not say that, my darling. We must all take the world as it is, +you know. But here you are, and of course it is my duty and your +aunt's duty--' it was always a sign of high good humour on the part +of Michel Voss, when he spoke of his wife as being anybody in the +household--'my duty and your aunt's duty to see and do the best for +you.' + +'You have always done the best for me in letting me be here.' + +'Well, my dear, I hope so. You had to be here, and you fell into +this way of life naturally. But sometimes, when I have seen you +waiting on the people about the house, I've thought it wasn't quite +right.' + +'I think it was quite right. Peter couldn't do it all, and he'd be +sure to make a mess of it.' + +'We must have two Peters; that's all. But as I was saying, that +kind of thing was natural enough before you were grown up, and had +become--what shall I say?--such a handsome young woman.' Marie +laughed, and turned up her nose and shook her head; but it may be +presumed that she received some comfort from her uncle's +compliments. 'And then I began to see, and your aunt began to see, +that it wasn't right that you should spend your life handing soup to +the young men here.' + +'It is Peter who always hands the soup to the young men.' + +'Well, well; but you are waiting upon them, and upon us.' + +'I trust the day is never to come, uncle, when I'm to be ashamed of +waiting upon you.' When he heard this, he put his arm round her and +kissed her. Had he known at that moment what her feelings were in +regard to his son, he would have recommended Adrian Urmand to go +back to Basle. Had he known what were George's feelings, he would +at once have sent for his son from Colmar. + +'I hope you may give me my pipe and my cup of coffee when I'm such +an old fellow that I can't get up to help myself. That's the sort +of reward we look forward to from those we love and cherish. But, +Marie, when we see you as you are now--your aunt and I--we feel that +this kind of thing shouldn't go on. We want the world to know that +you are a daughter to us, not a servant.' + +'O, the world--the world, uncle! Why should we care for the world?' + +'We must care, my dear. And you yourself, my dear--if this went on +for a few years longer, you yourself would become very tired of it. +It isn't what we should like for you, if you were our own daughter. +Can't you understand that?' + +'No, I can't.' + +'Yes, my dear, yes. I'm sure you do. Very well. Then there comes +this young man. I am not a bit surprised that he should fall in +love with you--because I should do it myself if I were not your +uncle.' Then she caressed his arm. How was she to keep herself +from caressing him, when he spoke so sweetly to her? 'We were not a +bit surprised when he came and told us how it was. Nobody could +have behaved better. Everybody must admit that. He spoke of you to +me and to your aunt as though you were the highest lady in the +land.' + +'I don't want any one to speak of me as though I were a high lady.' + +'I mean in the way of respect, my dear. Every young woman must wish +to be treated with respect by any young man who comes after her. +Well;--he told us that it was the great wish of his life that you +should be his wife. He's a man who has a right to look for a wife, +because he can keep a wife. He has a house, and a business, and +ready money.' + +'What's all that, uncle?' + +'Nothing;--nothing at all. No more than that,'--saying which Michel +Voss threw his right hand and arm loosely abroad;--'no more than +that, if he were not himself well-behaved along with it. We want to +see you married to him,--your aunt and I,--because we are sure that +he will be a good husband to you.' + +'But if I don't love him, Uncle Michel?' + +'Ah, my dear; that's where I think it is that you are dreaming, and +will go on dreaming till you've lost yourself, unless your aunt and +I interfere to prevent it. Love is all very well. Of course you +must love your husband. But it doesn't do for young women to let +themselves be run away with by romantic ideas;--it doesn't, indeed, +my dear. I've heard of young women who've fallen in love with +statues and men in armour out of poetry, and grand fellows that they +put into books, and there they've been waiting, waiting, waiting, +till some man in armour should come for them. The man in armour +doesn't come. But sometimes there comes somebody who looks like a +man in armour, and that's the worst of all.' + +'I don't want a man in armour, Uncle Michel.' + +'No, I daresay not. But the truth is, you don't know what you want. +The proper thing for a young woman is to get herself well settled, +if she has the opportunity. There are people who think so much of +money, that they'd give a child almost to anybody as long as he was +rich. I shouldn't like to see you marry a man as old as myself.' + +'I shouldn't care how old he was if I loved him.' + +'Nor to a curmudgeon,' continued Michel, not caring to notice the +interruption, 'nor to an ill-tempered fellow, or one who gambled, or +one who would use bad words to you. But here is a young man who has +no faults at all.' + +'I hate people who have no faults,' said Marie. + +'Now you must give him an answer to-day or to-morrow. You remember +what you promised me when we were coming home the other day.' Marie +remembered her promise very well, and thought that a great deal more +had been made of it than justice would have permitted. 'I don't +want to hurry you at all, only it makes me so sad at heart when my +own girl won't come and say a kind word to me and give me a kiss +before we part at night. I thought so much of that last night, +Marie, I couldn't sleep for thinking of it.' On hearing this, she +flung her arms round his neck and kissed him on each cheek and on +his lips. 'I get to feel so, Marie, if there's anything wrong +between you and me, that I don't know what I'm doing. Will you do +this for me, my dear? Come and sit at table with us this evening, +and make one of us. At any rate, come and show that we don't want +to make a servant of you. Then we'll put off the rest of it till +to-morrow.' When such a request was made to her in such words, how +could she not accede to it? She had no alternative but to say that +she would do in this respect as he would have her. She smiled, and +nodded her head, and kissed him again. 'And, Marie darling, put on +a pretty frock,--for my sake. I like to see you gay and pretty.' +Again she nodded her head, and again she kissed him. Such requests, +so made, she felt that it would be impossible she should refuse. + +And yet when she came to think of it as she went about the house +alone, the granting of such requests was in fact yielding in +everything. If she made herself smart for this young man, and sat +next him, and smiled, and talked to him, conscious as she would +be--and he would be also--that she was so placed that she might become +his wife, how afterwards could she hold her ground? And if she were +really resolute to hold her ground, would it not be much better that +she should do so by giving up no point, even though her uncle's +anger should rise hot against her? But now she had promised her +uncle, and she knew that she could not go back from her word. It +would be better for her, she told herself, to think no more about +it. Things must arrange themselves. What did it matter whether she +were wretched at Basle or wretched at Granpere? The only thing that +could give a charm to her life was altogether out of her reach. + +After this conversation, Michel went upstairs to his young friend, +and within a quarter of an hour had handed him over to his wife. It +was of course understood now that Marie was not to be troubled till +the time came for her to sit down at table with her smart frock. +Michel explained to his wife the full amount of his success, and +acknowledged that he felt that Marie was already pretty nearly +overcome. + +'She'll try to be pleasant for my sake this evening,' he said, 'and +so she'll fall into the way of being intimate with him; and when he +asks her to-morrow she'll be forced to take him.' + +It never occurred to him, as he said this, that he was forming a +plan for sacrificing the girl he loved. He imagined that he was +doing his duty by his niece thoroughly, and was rather proud of his +own generosity. In the afternoon Adrian Urmand was taken out for a +drive to the ravine by Madame Voss. They both, no doubt, felt that +this was very tedious; but they were by nature patient--quite unlike +Michel Voss or Marie--and each of them was aware that there was a +duty to be done. Adrian therefore was satisfied to potter about the +ravine, and Madame Voss assured him at least a dozen times that it +was the dearest wish of her heart to call him her nephew-in-law. + +At last the time for supper came. Throughout the day Marie had said +very little to any one after leaving her uncle. Ideas flitted +across her mind of various modes of escape. What if she were to run +away--to her cousin's house at Epinal; and write from thence to say +that this proposed marriage was impossible? But her cousin at +Epinal was a stranger to her, and her uncle had always been to her +the same as a father. Then she thought of going to Colmar, of +telling the whole truth to George, and of dying when he refused +her--as refuse her he would. But this was a dream rather than a plan. +Or how would it be if she went to her uncle now at once, while the +young man was away at the ravine, and swore to him that nothing on +earth should induce her to marry Adrian Urmand? But brave as Marie +was, she was afraid to do this. He had told her how he suffered +when they two did not stand well together, and she feared to be +accused by him of unkindness and ingratitude. And how would it be +with her if she did accept the man? She was sufficiently alive to +the necessities of the world to know that it would be well to have a +home of her own, and a husband, and children if God would send them. +She understood quite as well as Michel Voss did that to be head-waiter +at the Lion d'Or was not a career in life of which she could have +reason to be proud. As the afternoon went on she was in great +doubt. She spread the cloth, and prepared the room for supper, +somewhat earlier than usual, knowing that she should require some +minutes for her toilet. It was necessary that she should explain to +Peter that he must take upon himself some self-action upon this +occasion, and it may be doubted whether she did this with perfect +good humour. She was angry when she had to look for him before she +commenced her operations, and scolded him because he could not +understand without being told why she went away and left him twenty +minutes before the bell was rung. + +As soon as the bell was heard through the house, Michel Voss, who +was waiting below with his wife in a quiet unusual manner, +marshalled the way upstairs. He had partly expected that Marie +would join them below, and was becoming fidgety lest she should +break away from her engagement. He went first, and then followed +Adrian and Madame Voss together. The accustomed guests were all +ready, because it had come to be generally understood that this +supper was to be as it were a supper of betrothal. Madame Voss had +on her black silk gown. Michel had changed his coat and his cravat. +Adrian Urmand was exceedingly smart. The dullest intellect could +perceive that there was something special in the wind. The two old +ladies who were lodgers in the house came out from their rooms five +minutes earlier than usual, and met the cortege from downstairs in +the passage. + +When Michel entered the room he at once looked round for Marie. +There she was standing at the soup-tureen with her back to the +company. But he could see that there hung down some ribbon from her +waist, that her frock was not the one she had worn in the morning, +and that in the article of her attire she had kept her word with +him. He was very awkward. When one of the old ladies was about +to seat herself in the chair next to Adrian--in preparation for +which it must be admitted that Marie had made certain wicked +arrangements--Michel first by signs and afterwards with audible words, +intended to be whispered, indicated to the lady that she was required +to place herself elsewhere. This was hard upon the lady, as her own +table-napkin and a cup out of which she was wont to drink were +placed at that spot. Marie, standing at the soup-tureen, heard it +all and became very spiteful. Then her uncle called to her: + +'Marie, my dear, are you not coming?' + +'Presently, uncle,' replied Marie, in a clear voice, as she +commenced to dispense the soup. + +She ladled out all the soup without once turning her face towards +the company, then stood for a few moments as if in doubt, and after +that walked boldly up to her place. She had intended to sit next to +her uncle, opposite to her lover, and there had been her chair. But +Michel had insisted on bringing the old lady round to the seat that +Marie had intended for herself, and so had disarranged all her +plans. The old lady had simpered and smiled and made a little +speech to M. Urmand, which everybody had heard. Marie, too, had +heard it all. But the thing had to be done, and she plucked up her +courage and did it. She placed herself next to her lover, and as +she did so, felt that it was necessary that she should say something +at the moment: + +'Here I am, Uncle Michel; but you'll find you'll miss me, before +supper is over.' + +'There is somebody would much rather have you than his supper,' said +the horrid old lady opposite. + +Then there was a pause, a terrible pause. + +'Perhaps it used to be so when young men came to sup with you, years +ago; but nowadays men like their supper,' said Marie, who was driven +on by her anger to a ferocity which she could not restrain. + +'I did not mean to give offence,' said the poor old lady meekly. + +Marie, as she thought of what she had said, repented so bitterly +that she could hardly refrain from tears. + +'There is no offence at all,' said Michel angrily. + +'Will you allow me to give you a little wine?' said Adrian, turning +to his neighbour. + +Marie bowed her head, and held her glass, but the wine remained in +it to the end of the supper, and there it was left. + +When it was all over, Michel felt that it had not been a success. +With the exception of her savage speech to the disagreeable old +lady, Marie had behaved well. She was on her mettle, and very +anxious to show that she could sit at table with Adrian Urmand, +and be at her ease. She was not at her ease, but she made a bold +fight--which was more than was done by her uncle or her aunt. Michel +was unable to speak in his ordinary voice or with his usual authority, +and Madame Voss hardly uttered a word. Urmand, whose position was +the hardest of all, struggled gallantly, but was quite unable to +keep up any continued conversation. The old lady had been +thoroughly silenced, and neither she nor her sister again opened +their mouth. When Madame Voss rose from her chair in order that +they might all retire, the consciousness of relief was very great. + +For that night Marie's duty to her uncle was done. So much had been +understood. She was to dress herself and sit down to supper, and +after that she was not to be disturbed again till the morrow. On +the next morning she was to be subjected to the grand trial. She +understood this so well that she went about the house fearless on +that evening--fearless as regarded the moment, fearful only as +regarded the morrow. + +'May I ask one question, dear?' said her aunt, coming to her after +she had gone to her own room. 'Have you made up your mind?' + +'No,' said Marie; 'I have not made up my mind.' + +Her aunt stood for a moment looking at her, and then crept out of +the room. + +In the morning Michel Voss was half-inclined to release his niece, +and to tell Urmand that he had better go back to Basle. He could +see that the girl was suffering, and, after all, what was it that he +wanted? Only that she should be prosperous and happy. His heart +almost relented; and at one moment, had Marie come across him, he +would have released her. 'Let it go on,' he said to himself, as he +took up his cap and stick, and went off to the woods. 'Let it go +on. If she finds to-day that she can't take him, I'll never say +another word to press her.' He went up to the woods after +breakfast, and did not come back till the evening. + +During breakfast Marie did not show herself at all, but remained +with the children. It was not expected that she should show +herself. At about noon, as soon as her uncle had started, her aunt +came to her and asked her whether she was ready to see M. Urmand. +'I am ready,' said Marie, rising from her seat, and standing upright +before her aunt. + +'And where will you see him, dear?' + +'Wherever he pleases,' said Marie, with something that was again +almost savage in her voice. + +'Shall he come up-stairs to you?' + +'What, here?' + +'No; he cannot come here. You might go into the little sitting-room.' + +'Very well. I will go into the little sitting room.' Then without +saying another word she got up, left the room, and went along the +passage to the chamber in question. It was a small room, furnished, +as they all thought at Granpere, with Parisian elegance, intended +for such visitors to the hotel as might choose to pay for the charm +and luxury of such an apartment. It was generally found that +visitors to Granpere did not care to pay for the luxury of this +Parisian elegance, and the room was almost always empty. Thither +Marie went, and seated herself at once on the centre of the red, +stuffy, velvet sofa. There she sat, perfectly motionless, till +there came a knock at the door. Marie Bromar was a very handsome +girl, but as she sat there, all alone, with her hands crossed on her +lap, with a hard look about her mouth, with a frown on her brow, and +scorn and disdain for all around her in her eyes, she was as little +handsome as it was possible that she should make herself. She +answered the knock, and Adrian Urmand entered the room. She did not +rise, but waited till he had come close up to her. Then she was the +first to speak. 'Aunt Josey tells me that you want to see me,' she +said. + +Urmand's task was certainly not a pleasant one. Though his temper +was excellent, he was already beginning to think that he was being +ill-used. Marie, no doubt, was a very fine girl, but the match that +he offered her was one at which no young woman of her rank in all +Lorraine or Alsace need have turned up her nose. He had been +invited over to Granpere specially that he might spend his time in +making love, and he had found the task before him very hard and +disagreeable. He was afflicted with all the ponderous notoriety of +an acknowledged suitor's position, but was consoled with none of the +usual comforts. Had he not been pledged to make the attempt, he +would probably have gone back to Basle; as it was, he was compelled +to renew his offer. He was aware that he could not leave the house +without doing so. But he was determined that one more refusal +should be the last. + +'Marie,' said he, putting out his hand to her, 'doubtless you know +what it is that I would say.' + +'I suppose I do,' she answered. + +'I hope you do not doubt my true affection for you.' + +She paused a moment before she replied. 'I have no reason to doubt +it,' she said. + +'No indeed. I love you with all my heart. I do truly. Your uncle +and aunt think it would be a good thing for both of us that we +should be married. What answer will you make me, Marie?' Again she +paused. She had allowed him to take her hand, and as he thus asked +his question he was standing opposite to her, still holding it. +'You have thought about it, Marie, since I was here last?' + +'Yes; I have thought about it.' + +'Well, dearest?' + +'I suppose it had better be so,' said she, standing up and +withdrawing her hand. + +She had accepted him; and now it was no longer possible for him to +go back to Basle except as a betrothed man. She had accepted him; +but there came upon him a wretched feeling that none of the triumph +of successful love had come to him. He was almost disappointed,--or +if not disappointed, was at any rate embarrassed. But it was +necessary that he should immediately conduct himself as an engaged +man. 'And you will love me, Marie?' he said, as he again took her +by the hand. + +'I will do my best,' she said. + +Then he put his arm round her waist and kissed her, and she did not +turn away her face from him. 'I will do my best also to make you +happy,' he said. + +'I am sure you will. I believe you. I know that you are good.' +There was another pause during which he stood, still embracing her. +'I may go now; may I not?' she said. + +'You have not kissed me yet, Marie?' Then she kissed him; but the +touch of her lips was cold, and he felt that there was no love in +them. He knew, though he could hardly define the knowledge to +himself, that she had accepted him in obedience to her uncle. He +was almost angry, but being cautious and even-tempered by nature he +repressed the feeling. He knew that he must take her now, and that +he had better make the best of it. She would, he was sure, be a +good wife, and the love would probably come in time. + +'We shall be together this evening; shall we not?' he asked. + +'O, yes,' said Marie, 'if you please.' It was, as she knew, only +reasonable now that they should be together. Then he let her go, +and she walked off to her room. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +'I suppose it had better be so,' Marie Bromar had said to her lover, +when in set form he made his proposition. She had thought very much +about it, and had come exactly to that state of mind. She did +suppose that it had better be so. She knew that she did not love +the man. She knew also that she loved another man. She did not +even think that she should ever learn to love Adrian Urmand. She +had neither ambition in the matter, nor even any feeling of prudence +as regarded herself. She was enticed by no desire of position, or +love of money. In respect to all her own feelings about herself she +would sooner have remained at the Lion d'Or, and have waited upon +the guests day after day, and month after month. But yet she had +supposed 'that it had better be so.' Her uncle wished it,--wished +it so strongly that she believed it would be impossible that she +could remain an inmate in his house, unless she acceded to his +wishes. Her aunt manifestly thought that it was her duty to accept +the man, and could not understand how so manifest a duty, going hand +in hand as it did with so great an advantage, should be made a +matter of doubt. She had not one about her to counsel her to hold +by her own feelings. It was the practice of the world around her +that girls in such matters should do as they were bidden. And then, +stronger than all, there was the indifference to her of the man she +loved! + +Marie Bromar was a fine, high-spirited, animated girl; but it must +not be thought that she was a highly educated lady, or that time had +been given to her amidst all her occupations, in which she could +allow her mind to dwell much on feelings of romance. Her life had +ever been practical, busy, and full of action. As is ever the case +with those who have to do chiefly with things material, she was +thinking more frequently of the outer wants of those around her, +than of the inner workings of her own heart and personal +intelligence. Would the bread rise well? Would that bargain she +had made for poultry suffice for the house? Was that lot of wine +which she had persuaded her uncle to buy of a creditable quality? +Were her efforts for increasing her uncle's profits compatible with +satisfaction on the part of her uncle's guests? Such were the +questions which from day to day occupied her attention and filled +her with interest. And therefore her own identity was not strong to +her, as it is strong to those whose business permits them to look +frequently into themselves, or whose occupations are of a nature to +produce such introspection. If her head ached, or had she lamed her +hand by any accident, she would think more of the injury to the +household arising from her incapacity than of her own pain. It is +so, reader, with your gardener, your groom, or your cook, if you +will think of it. Till you tell them by your pity that they are the +sufferers, they will think that it is you who are most affected by +their ailments. And the man who loses his daily wage because he is +ill complains of his loss and not of his ailment. His own identity +is half hidden from him by the practical wants of his life. + +Had Marie been disappointed in her love without the appearance of +any rival suitor, no one would have ever heard of her love. Had +George Voss married, she would have gone on with her work without a +sign of outward sorrow; or had he died, she would have wept for him +with no peculiar tears. She did not expect much from the world +around her, beyond this, that the guests should not complain about +their suppers as long as the suppers provided were reasonably good. +Had no great undertaking been presented to her, the performance of +no heavy task demanded from her, she would have gone on with her +work without showing even by the altered colour of her cheek that +she was a sufferer. But this other man had come,--this Adrian +Urmand; and a great undertaking was presented to her, and the +performance of a heavy task was demanded from her. Then it was +necessary that there should be identity of self and introspection. +She had to ask herself whether the task was practicable, whether its +performance was within the scope of her powers. She told herself at +first that it was not to be done; that it was one which she would +not even attempt. Then as she looked at it more frequently, as she +came to understand how great was the urgency of her uncle; as she +came to find, in performing that task of introspection, how +unimportant a person she was herself, she began to think that the +attempt might be made. 'I suppose it had better be so,' she had +said. What was she that she should stand in the way of so many +wishes? As she had worked for her bread in her uncle's house at +Granpere, so would she work for her bread in her husband's house +at Basle. No doubt there were other things to be joined to her +work,--things the thought of which dismayed her. She had fought +against them for a while; but, after all, what was she, that she +should trouble the world by fighting? When she got to Basle she +would endeavour to see that the bread should rise there, and the +wine be sufficient, and the supper such as her husband might wish +it to be. + +Was it not the manifest duty of every girl to act after this +fashion? Were not all marriages so arranged in the world around +her? Among the Protestants of Alsace, as she knew, there was some +greater latitude of choice than was ever allowed by the stricter +discipline of Roman Catholic education. But then she was a Roman +Catholic, as was her aunt; and she was too proud and too grateful to +claim any peculiar exemption from the Protestantism of her uncle. +She had resolved during those early hours of the morning that 'it +had better be so.' She thought that she could go through with it +all, if only they would not tease her, and ask her to wear her +Sunday frock, and force her to sit down with them at table. Let +them settle the day--with a word or two thrown in by herself to +increase the distance--and she would be absolutely submissive, on +condition that nothing should be required of her till the day should +come. There would be a bad week or two then while she was being +carried off to her new home; but she had looked forward and had told +herself that she would fill her mind with the care of one man's +house, as she had hitherto filled it with the care of the house of +another man. + +'So it is all right,' said her aunt, rushing up to her with warm +congratulations, ready to flatter her, prone to admire her. It +would be something to have a niece married to Adrian Urmand, the +successful young merchant of Basle. Marie Bromar was already in her +aunt's eyes something different from her former self. + +'I hope so, aunt.' + +'Hope so; but it is so, you have accepted him?' + +'I hope it is right, I mean.' + +'Of course it is right' said Madame Voss. 'How can it be wrong for +a girl to accept the man whom all her friends wish her to marry? It +must be right. And your uncle will be so happy.' + +'Dear uncle!' + +'Yes, indeed. He has been so good; and it has made me wretched to +see that he has been disturbed. He has been as anxious that you +should be settled well, as though you had been his own. And this +will be to be settled well. I am told that M. Urmand's house is one +of those which look down upon the river from near the church; the +very best position in all the town. And it is full of everything, +they say. His father spared nothing for furniture when he was +married. And they say that his mother's linen was quite a sight to +be seen. And then, Marie, everybody acknowledges that he is such a +nice-looking young man!' + +But it was not a part of Marie's programme to be waked up to +enthusiasm--at any rate by her aunt. She said little or nothing, +and would not even condescend to consider that interesting question, +of the day of the wedding. 'There is quite time enough for all +that, Aunt Josey,' she said, as she got up to go about her work. +Aunt Josey was almost inclined to resent such usage, and would have +done so, had not her respect for her niece been so great. + +Michel did not return till near seven, and walking straight through +his wife's room to Marie's seat of office, came upon his niece +before he had seen any one else. There was an angry look about his +brow, for he had been trying to teach himself that he was ill-used +by his niece, in spite of that half-formed resolution to release her +from persecution if she were still firm in her opposition to the +marriage. 'Well,' he said, as soon as he saw her,--'well, how is it +to be?' She got off her stool, and coming close to him put up her +face to be kissed. He understood it all in a moment, and the whole +tone and colour of his countenance was altered. There was no man +whose face would become more radiant with satisfaction than that of +Michel Voss--when he was satisfied. Please him--and immediately +there would be an effort on his part to please everybody around him. +'My darling, my own one,' he said, 'it is all right.' She kissed +him again and pressed his arm, but said not a word. 'I am so glad,' +he exclaimed; 'I am so glad!' And he knocked off his cap with his +hand, not knowing what he was doing. 'We shall have but a poor +house without you, Marie--a very poor house. But it is as it ought +to be. I have felt for the last year or two, as you have sprung up +to be such a woman among us, my dear, that there was only one place +fit for such a one. It is proper that you should be mistress +wherever you are. It has wounded me--I don't mind saying it now--it +has wounded me to see you waiting on the sort of people that come +here.' + +'I have only been too happy, uncle, in doing it.' + +'That's all very well; that's all very well, my dear. But I am +older than you, and time goes quick with me. I tell you it made me +unhappy. I thought I wasn't doing my duty by you. I was beginning +to know that you ought to have a house and servants of your own. +People say that it is a great match for you; but I tell them that it +is a great match for him. Perhaps it is because you've been my own +in a way, but I don't see any girl like you round the country.' + +'You shouldn't say such things to flatter me, Uncle Michel.' + +'I choose to say what I please, and think what I please, about my +own girl,' he said, with his arm close wound round her. 'I say it's +a great match for Adrian Urmand, and I am quite sure that he will +not contradict me. He has had sense enough to know what sort of a +young woman will make the best wife for him, and I respect him for +it. I shall always respect Adrian Urmand because he has known +better than to take up with one of your town-bred girls, who never +learn anything except how to flaunt about with as much finery on +their backs as they can get their people to give them. He might +have had the pick of them at Basle,--or at Strasbourg either, for +the matter of that; but he has thought my girl better than them all; +and I love him for it--so I do. It was to be expected that a young +fellow with means to please himself should choose to have a +good-looking wife to sit at his table with him. Who'll blame him for +that? And he has found the prettiest in all the country round. But +he has wanted something more than good looks,--and he has got a +great deal more. Yes; I say it, I, Michel Voss, though I am your +uncle;--that he has got the pride of the whole country round. My +darling, my own one, my child!' + +All this was said with many interjections, and with sundry pauses in +the speech, during which Michel caressed his niece, and pressed her +to his breast, and signified his joy by all the outward modes of +expression which a man so demonstrative knows how to use. This was +a moment of great triumph to him, because he had begun to despair of +success in this matter of the marriage, and had told himself on this +very morning that the affair was almost hopeless. While he had been +up in the wood, he had asked himself how he would treat Marie in +consequence of her disobedience to him; and he had at last succeeded +in producing within his own breast a state of mind that was not +perhaps very reasonable, but which was consonant with his character. +He would let her know that he was angry with her,--very angry with +her; that she had half broken his heart by her obstinacy; but after +that she should be to him his own Marie again. He would not throw +her off, because she disobeyed him. He could not throw her off, +because he loved her, and knew of no way by which he could get rid +of his love. But he would be very angry, and she should know of his +anger. He had come home wearing a black cloud on his brow, and +intending to be black. But all that was changed in a moment, and +his only thought now was how to give pleasure to this dear one. It +is something to have a niece who brings such credit on the family! + +Marie as she listened to his praise and his ecstasies, knowing by a +sure instinct every turn of his thoughts, tried to take joy to +herself in that she had given joy to him. Though he was her uncle, +and had in fact been her master, he was actually the one real friend +whom she had made for herself in her life. There had been a month +or two of something more than friendship with George Voss; but she +was too wise to look much at that now. Michel Voss was the one +being in the world whom she knew best, of whom she thought most, +whose thoughts and wishes she had most closely studied, whose +interests were ever present to her mind. Perhaps it may be said of +every human heart in a sound condition that it must be specially +true to some other one human heart; but it may certainly be so said +of every female heart. The object may be changed from time to +time,--may be changed very suddenly, as when a girl's devotion is +transferred with the consent of all her friends from her mother to +her lover; or very slowly, as when a mother's is transferred from +her husband to some favourite child; but, unless self-worship be +predominant, there is always one friend to whom the woman's breast +is true,--for whom it is the woman's joy to offer herself in +sacrifice. Now with Marie Bromar that one being had been her uncle. +She prospered, if he prospered. His comfort was her comfort. Even +when his palate was pleased, there was some gratification akin to +animal enjoyment on her part. It was ease to her, that he should be +at his ease in his arm-chair. It was mirth to her, that he should +laugh. When he was contented she was satisfied. When he was +ruffled she was never smooth. Her sympathy with him was perfect; +and now that he was radiant with triumph, though his triumph came +from his victory over herself, she could not deny him the pleasure +of triumphing with him. + +'Dear uncle,' she said, still caressing him, 'I am so glad that you +are pleased.' + +'Of course it will be a poor house without you, Marie. As for me, +it will be just as though I had lost my right leg and my right arm. +But what! A man is not always to be thinking of himself. To see +you treated by all the world as you ought to be treated,--as I +should choose that my own daughter should be treated,--that is what +I have desired. Sometimes when I've thought of it all when I've +been alone, I have been mad with myself for letting it go on as it +has done.' + +'It has gone on very nicely, I think, Uncle Michel.' She knew how +worse than useless it would be now to try and make him understand +that it would be better for them both that she should remain with +him. She knew, to the moving of a feather, what she could do with +him and what she could not. Her immediate wish was to enable him to +draw all possible pleasure from his triumph of the day, and +therefore she would say no word to signify that his glory was +founded on her sacrifice. + +Then again came up the question of her position at supper, but there +was no difficulty in the arrangement made between them. The one +gala evening of grand dresses--the evening which had been intended +to be a gala, but which had turned out to be almost funereal--was +over. Even Michel Voss himself did not think it necessary that +Marie should come in to supper with her silk dress two nights +running; and he himself had found that that changing of his coat had +impaired his comfort. He could eat his dinner and his supper in his +best clothes on Sunday, and not feel the inconvenience; but on other +occasions those unaccustomed garments were as heavy to him as a suit +of armour. There was, therefore, nothing more said about clothes. +Marie was to dispense her soup as usual,--expressing a confident +assurance that if Peter were as yet to attempt this special branch +of duty, the whole supper would collapse,--and then she was to take +her place at the table, next to her uncle. Everybody in the house, +everybody in Granpere, knew that the marriage had been arranged, and +the old lady who had been so dreadfully snubbed by Marie, had +forgiven the offence, acknowledging that Marie's position on that +evening had been one of difficulty. + +But these arrangements had reference only to two days. After two +days, Adrian was to return to Basle, and to be seen no more at +Granpere till he came to claim his bride. In regard to the choice +of the day, Michel declared roundly that no constraint should be put +upon Marie. She should have her full privileges, and no one should +be allowed to interfere with her. On this point Marie had brought +herself to be almost indifferent. A long engagement was a state of +things which would have been quite incompatible with such a +betrothal. Any delay that could have been effected would have been +a delay, not of months, but of days,--or at most of a week or two. +She had made up her mind that she would not be afraid of her +wedding. She would teach herself to have no dread either of the man +or of the thing. He was not a bad man, and marriage in itself was +honourable. She formed ideas also of some future true friendship +for her husband. She would endeavour to have a true solicitude for +his interests, and would take care, at any rate, that nothing was +squandered that came into her hands. Of what avail would it be to +her that she should postpone for a few days the beginning of a +friendship that was to last all her life? Such postponement could +only be induced by a dread of the man, and she was firmly determined +that she would not dread him. When they asked her, therefore, she +smiled and said very little. What did her aunt think? + +Her aunt thought that the marriage should be settled for the +earliest possible day,--though she never quite expressed her +thoughts. Madame Voss, though she did not generally obtain much +credit for clear seeing, had a clearer insight to the state of her +niece's mind than had her husband. She still believed that Marie's +heart was not with Adrian Urmand. But, attributing perhaps no very +great importance to a young girl's heart, and fancying that she knew +that in this instance the young girl's heart could not have its own +way, she was quite in favour of the Urmand marriage. And if they +were to be married, the sooner the better. Of that she had no +doubt. 'It's best to have it over always as soon as possible,' she +said to her husband in private, nodding her head, and looking much +wiser than usual. + +'I won't have Marie hurried,' said Michel. + +'We had better say some day next month, my dear,' said Madame Voss, +again nodding her head. Michel, struck by the peculiarity of her +voice, looked into her face, and saw the unaccustomed wisdom. He +made no answer, but after a while nodded his head also, and went out +of the room a man convinced. There were matters between women, he +thought, which men can never quite understand. It would be very bad +if there should be any slip here between the cup and the lip; and, +no doubt, his wife was right. + +It was Madame Voss at last who settled the day,--the 15th of +October, just four weeks from the present time. This she did in +concert with Adrian Urmand, who, however, was very docile in her +hands. Urmand, after he had been accepted, soon managed to bring +himself back to that state of mind in which he had before regarded +the possession of Marie Bromar as very desirable. For some +four-and-twenty hours, during which he had thought himself to be +ill-used, and had meditated a retreat from Granpere, he had contrived +to teach himself that he might possibly live without her; but as soon +as he was accepted, and when the congratulations of the men and women +of Granpere were showered down upon him in quick succession,--so +that the fact that the thing was to be became assured to him,--he +soon came to fancy again that he was a man as successful in love as +he was in the world's good, and that this acquisition of Marie's +hand was a treasure in which he could take delight. He undoubtedly +would be ready by the day named, and would go home and prepare +everything for Marie's arrival. + +They were very little together as lovers during those two days, but +it was necessary that there should be an especial parting. 'She is +up-stairs in the little sitting-room,' Aunt Josey said; and up-stairs +to the little sitting-room Adrian Urmand went. + +'I am come to say good-bye,' said Urmand. + +'Good-bye, Adrian,' said Marie, putting both her hands in his, and +offering her cheek to be kissed. + +'I shall come back with such joy for the 15th,' said he. + +She smiled, and kissed his cheek, and still held his hand. +'Adrian,' she said. + +'My love?' + +'As I believe in the dear Jesus, I will do my best to be a good wife +to you.' Then he took her in his arms, and kissed her close, and +went out of the room with tears streaming down his cheeks. He knew +now that he was in truth a happy man, and that God had been good to +him in this matter of his future wife. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +'So your cousin Marie is to be married to Adrian Urmand, the young +linen-merchant at Basle,' said Madame Faragon one morning to George +Voss. In this manner were the first assured tidings of the coming +marriage conveyed to the rival lover. This occurred a day or two +after the betrothal, when Adrian was back at Basle. No one at +Granpere had thought of writing an express letter to George on the +subject. George's father might have done so, had the writing of +letters been a customary thing with him; but his correspondence was +not numerous, and such letters as he did write were short, and +always confined to matters concerning his trade. Madame Voss had, +however, sent a special message to Madame Faragon, as soon as Adrian +had gone, thinking that it would be well that in this way George +should learn the truth. + +It had been fully arranged by this time that George Voss was to be +the landlord of the hotel at Colmar on and from the first day of the +following year. Madame Faragon was to be allowed to sit in the +little room downstairs, to scold the servants, and to make the +strangers from a distance believe that her authority was unimpaired. +She was also to receive a moderate annual pension in money in +addition to her board and lodging. For these considerations, and on +condition that George Voss should expend a certain sum of money in +renewing the faded glories of the house, he was to be the landlord +in full enjoyment of all real power on the first of January +following. Madame Faragon, when she had expressed her agreement to +the arrangement, which was indeed almost in all respects one of her +own creation, wept and wheezed and groaned bitterly. She declared +that she would soon be dead, and so trouble him no more. +Nevertheless, she especially stipulated that she should have a new +arm-chair for her own use, and that the feather bed in her own +chamber should be renewed. + +'So your cousin Marie is to be married to Adrian Urmand, the young +linen-merchant at Basle,' said Madame Faragon. + +'Who says so?' demanded George. He asked his question in a quiet +voice; but, though the news had reached him thus suddenly, he had +sufficient control over himself to prevent any plain expression of +his feelings. The thing which had been told him had gone into his +heart like a knife; but he did not intend that Madame Faragon should +know that he had been wounded. + +'It is quite true. There is no doubt about it. Stodel's man with +the roulage brought me word direct from your step-mother.' George +immediately began to inquire within himself why Stodel's man with +the roulage had not brought some word direct to him, and answered +the question to himself not altogether incorrectly. 'O, yes,' +continued Madame Faragon, 'it is quite true--on the 15th of October. +I suppose you will be going over to the wedding.' This she said in +her usual whining tone of small complaint, signifying thereby how +great would be the grievance to herself to be left alone at that +special time. + +'I shall not go to the wedding,' said George. 'They can be married, +if they are to be married, without me.' + +'They are to be married; you may be quite sure of that.' Madame +Faragon's grievance now consisted in the amount of doubt which was +being thrown on the tidings which had been sent direct to her. 'Of +course you will choose to have a doubt, because it is I who tell +you.' + +'I do not doubt it at all. I think it is very likely. I was well +aware before that my father wished it.' + +'Of course he would wish it, George. How should he not wish it? +Marie Bromar never had a franc of her own in her life, and it is not +to be expected that he, with a family of young children at his +heels, is to give her a dot.' + +'He will give her something. He will treat her as though she were a +daughter.' + +'Then I think he ought not. But your father was always a romantic, +headstrong man. At any rate, there she is,--bar-maid, as we may +say, in the hotel,--much the same as our Floschen here; and, of +course, such a marriage as this is a great thing; a very great +thing, indeed. How should they not wish it?' + +'O, if she likes him--!' + +'Like him? Of course, she will like him. Why should she not like +him? Young, and good-looking, with a fine business, doesn't owe a +sou, I'll be bound, and with a houseful of furniture. Of course, +she'll like him. I don't suppose there is so much difficulty about +that.' + +'I daresay not,' said George. 'I believe that women's likings go +after that fashion, for the most part.' + +Madame Faragon, not understanding this general sarcasm against her +sex, continued the expression of her opinion about the coming +marriage. 'I don't suppose anybody will think of blaming Marie +Bromar for accepting the match when it was proposed to her. Of +course, she would do as she was bidden, and could hardly be expected +to say that the man was above her.' + +'He is not above her,' said George in a hoarse voice. + +'Marie Bromar is nothing to you, George; nothing in blood; nothing +beyond a most distant cousin. They do say that she has grown up +good-looking.' + +'Yes;--she is a handsome girl.' + +'When I remember her as a child she was broad and dumpy, and they +always come back at last to what they were as children. But of +course M. Urmand only looks to what she is now. She makes her hay +while the sun shines; but I hope the people won't say that your +father has caught him at the Lion d'Or, and taken him in.' + +'My father is not the man to care very much what anybody says about +such things.' + +'Perhaps not so much as he ought, George,' said Madame Faragon, +shaking her head. + +After that George Voss went about the house for some hours, doing +his work, giving his orders, and going through the usual routine of +his day's business. As he did so, no one guessed that his mind was +disturbed. Madame Faragon had not the slightest suspicion that the +matter of Marie's marriage was a cause of sorrow to him. She had +felt the not unnatural envy of a woman's mind in such an affair, and +could not help expressing it, although Marie Bromar was in some sort +connected with herself. But she was sure that such an arrangement +would be regarded as a family triumph by George,--unless, indeed, he +should be inclined to quarrel with his father for over-generosity in +that matter of the dot. 'It is lucky that you got your little bit +of money before this affair was settled,' said she. + +'It would not have made the difference of a copper sou,' said George +Voss, as he walked angrily out of the old woman's room. This was in +the evening, after supper, and the greater part of the day had +passed since he had first heard the news. Up to the present moment +he had endeavoured to shake the matter off from him, declaring to +himself that grief--or at least any outward show of grief--would be +unmanly and unworthy of him. With a strong resolve he had fixed his +mind upon the affairs of his house, and had allowed himself to +meditate as little as might be possible. But the misery, the agony, +had been then present with him during all those hours,--and had been +made the sharper by his endeavours to keep it down and banish it +from his thoughts. Now, as he went out from Madame Faragon's room, +having finished all that it was his duty to do, he strolled into the +town, and at once began to give way to his thoughts. Of course he +must think about it. He acknowledged that it was useless for him to +attempt to get rid of the matter and let it be as though there were +no such persons in the world as Marie Bromar and Adrian Urmand. He +must think about it; but he might so give play to his feelings that +no one should see him in the moments of his wretchedness. He went +out, therefore, among the dark walks in the town garden, and there, +as he paced one alley after another in the gloom, he revelled in the +agony which a passionate man feels when the woman whom he loves is +to be given into the arms of another. + +As he thought of his own life during the past year or fifteen +months, he could not but tell himself that his present suffering was +due in some degree to his own fault. If he really loved this girl, +and if it had been his intention to try and win her for himself, why +had he taken his father at his word and gone away from Granpere? +And why, having left Granpere, had he taken no trouble to let her +know that he still loved her? As he asked himself these questions, +he was hardly able himself to understand the pride which had driven +him away from his old home, and which had kept him silent so long. +She had promised him that she would be true to him. Then had come +those few words from his father's mouth, words which he thought his +father should never have spoken to him, and he had gone away, +telling himself that he would come back and fetch her as soon as he +could offer her a home independently of his father. If, after the +promises she had made to him, she would not wait for him without +farther words and farther vows, she would not be worth the having. +In going, he had not precisely told himself that there should be no +intercourse between them for twelve months; but the silence which he +had maintained, and his continued absence, had been the consequence +of the mood of his mind and the tenor of his purpose. The longer he +had been away from Granpere without tidings from any one there, the +less possible had it been that he should send tidings from himself +to his old home. He had not expected messages. He had not expected +any letter. But when nothing came, he told himself over and over +again that he too would be silent, and would bide his time. Then +Edmond Greisse had come to Colmar, and brought the first rumour of +Adrian Urmand's proposal of marriage. + +The reader will perhaps remember that George, when he heard this +first rumour, had at once made up his mind to go over to Granpere, +and that he went. He went to Granpere partly believing, and partly +disbelieving Edmond's story. If it were untrue, perhaps she might +say a word to him that would comfort him and give him new hope. If +it were true, she would have to tell him so; and then he would say a +word to her that should tear her heart, if her heart was to be +reached. But he would never let her know that she had torn his own +to rags! That was the pride of his manliness; and yet he was so +boyish as not to know that it should have been for him to make those +overtures for a renewal of love, which he hoped that Marie would +make to him. He had gone over to Granpere, and the reader will +perhaps again remember what had passed then between him and Marie. +Just as he was leaving her he had asked her whether she was to be +married to this man. He had made no objection to such a marriage. +He had spoken no word of the constancy of his own affection. In his +heart there had been anger against her because she had spoken no +such word to him,--as of course there was also in her heart against +him, very bitter and very hot. If he wished her to be true to him, +why did he not say so? If he had given her up, why did he come +there at all? Why did he ask any questions about her marriage, if +on his own behalf he had no statement to make,--no assurance to +give? What was her marriage, or her refusal to be married, to him? +Was she to tell him that, as he had deserted her, and as she could +not busy herself to overcome her love, therefore she was minded to +wear the willow for ever? 'If my uncle and aunt choose to dispose +of me, I cannot help it,' she had said. Then he had left her, and +she had been sure that for him that early game of love was a game +altogether played out. Now, as he walked along the dark paths of +the town garden, something of the truth came upon him. He made no +excuse for Marie Bromar. She had given him a vow, and should have +been true to her vow, so he said to himself a dozen times. He had +never been false. He had shown no sign of falseness. True of +heart, he had remained away from her only till he might come and +claim her, and bring her to a house that he could call his own. +This also he told himself a dozen times. But, nevertheless, there +was a very agony of remorse, a weight of repentance, in that he had +not striven to make sure of his prize when he had been at Granpere +before the marriage was settled. Had she loved him as she ought to +have loved him, had she loved him as he loved her, there should have +been no question possible to her of marriage with another man. But +still he repented, in that he had lost that which he desired, and +might perhaps have then obtained it for himself. + +But the strong feeling of his breast, the strongest next to his +love, was a desire to be revenged. He cared little now for his +father, little for that personal dignity which he had intended to +return by his silence, little for pecuniary advantages and +prudential motives, in comparison with his strong desire to punish +Marie for her perfidy. He would go over to Granpere, and fall among +them like a thunderbolt. Like a thunderbolt, at any rate, he +would fall upon the head of Marie Bromar. The very words of her +love-promises were still firm in his memory, and he would see if +she also could be made to remember them. + +'I shall go over to Granpere the day after to-morrow,' he said to +Madame Faragon, as he caught her just before she retired for the +night. + +'To Granpere the day after to-morrow? And why?' + +'Well, I don't know that I can say exactly why. I shall not be at +the marriage, but I should like to see them first. I shall go the +day after to-morrow.' + +And he went to Granpere on the day he fixed. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +'Probably one night only, but I won't make any promise,' George had +said to Madame Faragon when she asked him how long he intended to +stay at Granpere. As he took one of the horses belonging to the inn +and drove himself, it seemed to be certain that he would not stay +long. He started all alone, early in the morning, and reached +Granpere about twelve o'clock. His mind was full of painful +thoughts as he went, and as the little animal ran quickly down the +mountain road into the valley in which Granpere lies, he almost +wished that his feet were not so fleet. What was he to say when he +got to Granpere, and to whom was he to say it? + +When he reached the angular court along two sides of which the house +was built he did not at once enter the front door. None of the +family were then about the place, and he could, therefore, go into +the stable and ask a question or two of the man who came to meet +him. His father, the man told him, had gone up early to the +wood-cutting, and would not probably return till the afternoon. +Madame Voss was no doubt inside, as was also Marie Bromar. Then the +man commenced an elaborate account of the betrothals. There never +had been at Granpere any marriage that had been half so important +as would be this marriage; no lover coming thither had ever been +blessed with so beautiful and discreet a maiden, and no maiden of +Granpere had ever before had at her feet a lover at the same time so +good-looking, so wealthy, so sagacious, and so good-tempered. The +man declared that Adrian was the luckiest fellow in the world in +finding such a wife, but his enthusiasm rose to the highest pitch +when he spoke of Marie's luck in finding such a husband. There was +no end to the good with which she would be endowed--'linen,' said +the man, holding up his hands in admiration, 'that will last out all +her grandchildren at least!' George listened to it all, and smiled, +and said a word or two--was it worth his while to come all the way +to Granpere to throw his thunderbolt at a girl who had been +captivated by promises of a chest full of house linen! + +George told the man that he would go up to the wood-cutting after +his father; but before he was out of the court he changed his mind +and slowly entered the house. Why should he go to his father? What +had he to say to his father about the marriage that could not be +better said down at the house? After all, he had but little ground +of complaint against his father. It was Marie who had been untrue +to him, and it was on Marie's head that his wrath must fall. No +doubt his father would be angry with him when he should have thrown +his thunderbolt. It could not, as he thought, be hurled effectually +without his father's knowledge; but he need not tell his father the +errand on which he had come. So he changed his mind, and went into +the inn. + +He entered the house almost dreading to see her whom he was seeking. +In what way should he first express his wrath? How should he show +her the wreck which by her inconstancy she had made of his +happiness? His first words must, if possible, be spoken to her +alone; and yet alone he could hardly hope to find her. And he +feared her. Though he was so resolved to speak his mind, yet he +feared her. Though he intended to fill her with remorse, yet he +dreaded the effect of her words upon himself. He knew how strong +she could be, and how steadfast. Though his passion told him every +hour, was telling him all day long, that she was as false as hell, +yet there was something in him of judgment, something rather of +instinct, which told him also that she was not bad, that she was a +firm-hearted, high-spirited, great-minded girl, who would have +reasons to give for the thing that she was doing. + +He went through into the kitchen before he met any one, and there he +found Madame Voss with the cook and Peter. Immediate explanations +had, of course, to be made as to his unexpected arrival;--questions +asked, and suggestions offered--'Came he in peace, or came he in +war?' Had he come because he had heard of the betrothals? He +admitted that it was so. 'And you are glad of it?' asked Madame +Voss. 'You will congratulate her with all your heart?' + +'I will congratulate her certainly,' said George. Then the cook and +Peter began with a copious flow of domestic eloquence to declare how +great a marriage this was for the Lion d'Or--how pleasing to the +master, how creditable to the village, how satisfactory to the +friends, how joyous to the bridegroom, how triumphant to the bride! +'No doubt she will have plenty to eat and drink, and fine clothes to +wear, and an excellent house over her head,' said George in his +bitterness. + +'And she will be married to one of the most respectable young men in +all Switzerland,' said Madame Voss in a tone of much anger. It was +already quite clear to Madame Voss, to the cook, and to Peter, that +George had not come over from Colmar simply to express his joyous +satisfaction at his cousin's good fortune. + +He soon walked through into the little sitting-room, and his +step-mother followed him. 'George,' she said, 'you will displease +your father very much if you say anything unkind about Marie.' + +'I know very well,' said he, 'that my father cares more for Marie +than he does for me.' + +'That is not so, George.' + +'I do not blame him for it. She lives in the house with him, while +I live elsewhere. It was natural that she should be more to him +than I am, after he had sent me away. But he has no right to +suppose that I can have the same feeling that he has about this +marriage. I cannot think it the finest thing in the world for all +of us that Marie Bromar should succeed in getting a rich young man +for her husband, who, as far as I can see, never had two ideas in +his head.' + +'He is a most industrious young man, who thoroughly understands his +business. I have heard people say that there is no one comes to +Granpere who can buy better than he can.' + +'Very likely not.' + +'And at any rate, it is no disgrace to be well off.' + +'It is a disgrace to think more about that than anything else. But +never mind. It is no use talking about it, words won't mend it.' + +'Why then have you come here now?' + +'Because I want to see my father.' Then he remembered how false was +this excuse; and remembered also how soon its falseness would +appear. 'Besides, though I do not like this match, I wish to see +Marie once again before her marriage. I shall never see her after +it. That is the reason why I have come. I suppose you can give me +a bed.' + +'O, yes, there are beds enough.' After that there was some pause, +and Madame Voss hardly knew how to treat her step-son. At last she +asked him whether he would have dinner, and an order was given to +Peter to prepare something for the young master in the small room. +And George asked after the children, and in this way the dreaded +subject was for some minutes laid on one side. + +In the mean time, information of George's arrival had been taken +upstairs to Marie. She had often wondered what sign he would make +when he should hear of her engagement. Would he send her a word of +affection, or such customary present as would be usual between two +persons so nearly connected? Would he come to her marriage? And +what would be his own feelings? She too remembered well, with +absolute accuracy, those warm, delicious, heavenly words of love +which had passed between them. She could feel now the pressure of +his hand and the warmth of his kiss, when she swore to him that she +would be his for ever and ever. After that he had left her, and for +a year had sent no token. Then he had come again, and had simply +asked her whether she were engaged to another man; had asked with a +cruel indication that he at least intended that the old childish +words should be forgotten. Now he was in the house again, and she +would have to hear his congratulations! + +She thought for some quarter of an hour what she had better do, and +then she determined to go down to him at once. The sooner the first +meeting was over the better. Were she to remain away from him till +they should be brought together at the supper-table, there would +almost be a necessity for her to explain her conduct. She would go +down to him and treat him exactly as she might have done, had there +never been any special love between them. She would do so as +perfectly as her strength might enable her; and if she failed in +aught, it would be better to fail before her aunt than in the +presence of her uncle. When she had resolved, she waited yet +another minute or two, and then she went down-stairs. + +As she entered her aunt's room George Voss was sitting before the +stove, while Madame Voss was in her accustomed chair, and Peter was +preparing the table for his young master's dinner. George arose +from his seat at once, and then came a look of pain across his face. +Marie saw it at once, and almost loved him the more because he +suffered. 'I am so glad to see you, George,' she said. 'I am so +glad that you have come.' + +She had offered him her hand, and of course he had taken it. 'Yes,' +he said, 'I thought it best just to run over. We shall be very busy +at the hotel before long.' + +'Does that mean to say that you are not to be here for my marriage?' +This she said with her sweetest smile, making all the effort in her +power to give a gracious tone to her voice. It was better, she +knew, to plunge at the subject at once. + +'No,' said he. 'I shall not be here then.' + +'Ah,--your father will miss you so much! But if it cannot be, it is +very good of you to come now. There would have been something sad +in going away from the old house without seeing you once more. And +though Colmar and Basle are very near, it will not be the same as in +the dear old home;--will it, George?' There was a touch about her +voice as she called him by his name, that nearly killed him. At +that moment his hatred was strongest against Adrian. Why had such +an upstart as that, a puny, miserable creature, come between him and +the only thing that he had ever seen in the guise of a woman that +could touch his heart? He turned round with his back to the table +and his face to the stove, and said nothing. But he was able, when +he no longer saw her, when her voice was not sounding in his ear, to +swear that the thunderbolt should be hurled all the same. His +journey to Granpere should not be made for nothing. 'I must go +now,' she said presently. 'I shall see you at supper, shall I not, +George, when Uncle will be with us? Uncle Michel will be so +delighted to find you. And you will tell us of the new doings at +the hotel. Good-bye for the present, George.' Then she was gone +before he had spoken another word. + +He eat his dinner, and smoked a cigar about the yard, and then said +that he would go out and meet his father. He did go out, but did +not take the road by which he knew that his father was to be found. +He strolled off to the ravine, and came back only when it was dark. +The meeting between him and his father was kindly; but there was no +special word spoken, and thus they all sat down to supper. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +It became necessary as George Voss sat at supper with his father and +Madame Voss that he should fix the time of his return to Colmar, and +he did so for the early morning of the next day but one. He had +told Madame Faragon that he expected to stay at Granpere but one +night. He felt, however, after his arrival that it might be +difficult for him to get away on the following day, and therefore he +told them that he would sleep two nights at the Lion d'Or, and then +start early, so as to reach the Colmar inn by mid-day. + +'I suppose you find the old lady rather fidgety, George?' said +Michel Voss in high good humour. + +George found it easier to talk about Madame Faragon and the hotel at +Colmar than he did of things at Granpere, and therefore became +communicative as to his own affairs. Michel too preferred the +subject of the new doings at the house on the other side of the +Vosges. His wife had given him a slight hint, doing her best, like +a good wife and discreet manager, to prevent ill-humour and hard +words. + +'He feels a little sore, you know. I was always sure there was +something. But it was wise of him to come and see her, and it will +go off in this way.' + +Michel swore that George had no right to be sore, and that if his +son did not take pride in such a family arrangement as this, he +should no longer be son of his. But he allowed himself to be +counselled by his wife, and soon talked himself into a pleasant +mood, discussing Madame Faragon, and the horses belonging to the +Hotel de la Poste, and Colmar affairs in general. There was a +certain important ground for satisfaction between them. Everybody +agreed that George Voss had shown himself to be a steady man of +business in the affairs of the inn at Colmar. + +Marie Bromar in the mean while went on with her usual occupation +round the room, but now and again came and stood at her uncle's +elbow, joining in the conversation, and asking a question or two +about Madame Faragon. There was, perhaps, something of the guile of +the serpent joined to her dove-like softness. She asked questions +and listened to answers--not that in her present state of mind she +could bring herself to take a deep interest in the affairs of Madame +Faragon's hotel, but because it suited her that there should be some +subject of easy conversation between her and George. It was +absolutely necessary now that George should be nothing more to her +than a cousin and an acquaintance; but it was well that he should be +that and not an enemy. It would be well too that he should know, +that he should think that he knew, that she was disturbed by no +remembrance of those words which had once passed between them. At +last she trusted herself to a remark which perhaps she would not +have made had the serpent's guile been more perfect of its kind. + +'Surely you must get a wife, George, as soon as the house is your +own.' + +'Of course he will get a wife,' said the father. + +'I hope he will get a good one,' said Madame Voss after a short +pause--which, however, had been long enough to make her feel it +necessary to say something. + +George said never a word, but lifted his glass and finished his +wine. Marie at once perceived that the subject was one on which she +must not venture to touch again. Indeed, she saw farther than that, +and became aware that it would be inexpedient for her to fall into +any special or minute conversation with her cousin during his short +stay at Granpere. + +'You'll go up to the woods with me tomorrow--eh, George?' said the +father. The son of course assented. It was hardly possible that he +should not assent. The whole day, moreover, would not be wanted for +that purpose of throwing his thunderbolt; and if he could get it +thrown, it would be well that he should be as far away from Marie as +possible for the remainder of his visit. 'We'll start early, Marie, +and have a bit of breakfast before we go. Will six be too early for +you, George, with your town ways?' George said that six would not +be too early, and as he made the engagement for the morning he +resolved that he would if possible throw his thunderbolt that night. +'Marie will get us a cup of coffee and a sausage. Marie is always +up by that time.' + +Marie smiled, and promised that they should not be compelled to +start upon their walk with empty stomachs from any fault of hers. +If a hot breakfast at six o'clock in the morning could put her +cousin into a good humour, it certainly should not be wanting. + +In two hours after supper George was with his father. Michel was so +full of happiness and so confidential that the son found it very +difficult to keep silence about his own sorrow. Had it not been +that with a half obedience to his wife's hints Michel said little +about Adrian, there must have been an explosion. He endeavoured to +confine himself to George's prospects, as to which he expressed +himself thoroughly pleased. 'You see,' said he, 'I am so strong of +my years, that if you wished for my shoes, there is no knowing how +long you might be kept waiting.' + +'It couldn't have been too long,' said George. + +'Ah well, I don't believe you would have been impatient to put the +old fellow under the sod. But I should have been impatient, I +should have been unhappy. You might have had the woods, to be sure; +but it's hardly enough of a business alone. Besides, a young man is +always more his own master away from his father. I can understand +that. The only thing is, George,--take a drive over, and see us +sometimes.' This was all very well, but it was not quite so well +when he began to speak of Marie. 'It's a terrible loss her going, +you know, George; I shall feel it sadly.' + +'I can understand that,' said George. + +'But of course I had my duty to do to the girl. I had to see that +she should be well settled, and she will be well settled. There's a +comfort in that;--isn't there, George?' + +But George could not bring himself to reply to this with good-humoured +zeal, and there came for a moment a cloud between the father and son. +But Michel was wise and swallowed his wrath, and in a minute or two +returned to Colmar and Madame Faragon. + +At about half-past nine George escaped from his father and returned +to the house. They had been sitting in the balcony which runs round +the billiard-room on the side of the court opposite to the front +door. He returned to the house, and caught Marie in one of the +passages up-stairs, as she was completing her work for the day. He +caught her close to the door of his own room and asked her to come +in, that he might speak a word to her. English readers will perhaps +remember that among the Vosges mountains there is less of a sense of +privacy attached to bedrooms than is the case with us here in +England. Marie knew immediately then that her cousin had not come +to Granpere for nothing,--had not come with the innocent intention +of simply pleasing his father,--had not come to say an ordinary word +of farewell to her before her marriage. There was to be something +of a scene, though she could not tell of what nature the scene might +be. She knew, however, that her own conduct had been right; and +therefore, though she would have avoided the scene, had it been +possible, she would not fear it. She went into his room; and when +he closed the door, she smiled, and did not as yet tremble. + +'Marie,' he said, 'I have come here on purpose to say a word or two +to you.' There was no smile on her face as he spoke now. The +intention to be savage was written there, as plainly as any purpose +was ever written on man's countenance. Marie read the writing +without missing a letter. She was to be rebuked, and sternly +rebuked;--rebuked by the man who had taken her heart, and then left +her;--rebuked by the man who had crushed her hopes and made it +absolutely necessary for her to give up all the sweet poetry of her +life, to forget her dreams, to abandon every wished-for prettiness +of existence, and confine herself to duties and to things material! +He who had so sinned against her was about to rid himself of the +burden of his sin by endeavouring to cast it upon her. So much she +understood, but yet she did not understand all that was to come. +She would hear the rebuke as quietly as she might. In the interest +of others she would do so. But she would not fear him,--and she +would say a quiet word in defence of her own sex if there should be +need. Such was the purport of her mind as she stood opposite to him +in his room. + +'I hope they will be kind words,' she said. 'As we are to part so +soon, there should be none unkind spoken.' + +'I do not know much about kindness,' he replied. Then he paused and +tried to think how best the thunderbolt might be hurled. 'There is +hardly room for kindness where there was once so much more than +kindness; where there was so much more,--or the pretence of it.' +Then he waited again, as though he expected that she should speak. +But she would not speak at all. If he had aught to say, let him say +it. 'Perhaps, Marie, you have in truth forgotten all the promises +you once made me?' Though this was a direct question she would not +answer it. Her words to him should be as few as possible, and the +time for such words had not come as yet. 'It suits you no doubt to +forget them now, but I cannot forget them. You have been false to +me, and have broken my heart. You have been false to me, when my +only joy on earth was in believing in your truth. Your vow was for +ever and ever, and within one short year you are betrothed to +another man! And why?--because they tell you that he is rich and +has got a house full of furniture! You may prove to be a blessing +to his house. Who can say? On mine, you and your memory will be a +curse,--lasting all my lifetime!' And so the thunderbolt had been +hurled. + +And it fell as a thunderbolt. What she had expected had not been at +all like to this. She had known that he would rebuke her; but, +feeling strong in her own innocence and her own purity, knowing or +thinking that she knew that the fault had all been his, not +believing--having got rid of all belief--that he still loved her, +she had fancied that his rebuke would be unjust, cruel, but +bearable. Nay; she had thought that she could almost triumph over +him with a short word of reply. She had expected from him reproach, +but not love. There was reproach indeed, but it came with an +expression of passion of which she had not known him to be capable. +He stood before her telling her that she had broken his heart, and, +as he told her so, his words were half choked by sobs. He reminded +her of her promises, declaring that his own to her had ever remained +in full force. And he told her that she, she to whom he had looked +for all his joy, had become a curse to him and a blight upon his +life. There were thoughts and feelings too beyond all these that +crowded themselves upon her heart and upon her mind at the moment. +It had been possible for her to accept the hand of Adrian Urmand +because she had become assured that George Voss no longer regarded +her as his promised bride. She would have stood firm against her +uncle and her aunt, she would have stood against all the world, had +it not seemed to her that the evidence of her cousin's indifference +was complete. Had not that evidence been complete at all points, it +would have been impossible to her to think of becoming the wife of +another man. Now the evidence on that matter which had seemed to +her to be so sufficient was all blown to the winds. + +It is true that had all her feelings been guided by reason only, she +might have been as strong as ever. In truth she had not sinned +against him. In truth she had not sinned at all. She had not done +that which she herself had desired. She had not been anxious for +wealth, or ease, or position; but had, after painful thought, +endeavoured to shape her conduct by the wishes of others, and by her +ideas of duty, as duty had been taught to her. O, how willingly +would she have remained as servant to her uncle, and have allowed M. +Urmand to carry the rich gift of his linen-chest to the feet of some +other damsel, had she believed herself to be free to choose! Had +there been no passion in her heart, she would now have known herself +to be strong in duty, and would have been able to have answered and +to have borne the rebuke of her old lover. But passion was there, +hot within her, aiding every word as he spoke it, giving strength to +his complaints, telling her of all that she had lost, telling her of +all she had taken from him. She forgot to remember now that he had +been silent for a year. She forgot now to think of the tone in +which he had asked about her marriage when no such marriage was in +her mind. But she remembered well the promise she had made, and the +words of it. 'Your vow was for ever and ever.' When she heard +those words repeated from his lips, her heart too was broken. All +idea of holding herself before him as one injured but ready to +forgive was gone from her. If by falling at his feet and owning +herself to be vile and mansworn she might get his pardon, she was +ready now to lie there on the ground before him. + +'O George!' she said; 'O George!' + +'What is the use of that now?' he replied, turning away from her. +He had thrown his thunderbolt, and he had nothing more to say. He +had seen that he had not thrown it quite in vain, and he would have +been contented to be away and back at Colmar. What more was there +to be said? + +She came to him very gently, very humbly, and just touched his arm +with her hand. 'Do you mean, George, that you have continued to +care for me--always?' + +'Care for you? I know not what you call caring. Did I not swear to +you that I would love you for ever and ever, and that you should be +my own? Did I not leave this house and go away,--till I could earn +for you one that should be fit for you,--because I loved you? Why +should I have broken my word? I do not believe that you thought +that it was broken.' + +'By my God, that knows me, I did!' As she said this she burst into +tears and fell on her knees at his feet. + +'Marie,' he said, 'Marie;--there is no use in this. Stand up.' + +'Not till you tell me that you will forgive me. By the name of the +good Jesus, who knows all our hearts, I thought that you had +forgotten me. O George, if you could know all! If you could know +how I have loved you; how I have sorrowed from day to day because I +was forgotten! How I have struggled to bear it, telling myself that +you were away, with all the world to interest you, and not like me, +a poor girl in a village, with no thing to think of but my lover! +How I have striven to do my duty by my uncle, and have obeyed him, +because,--because,--because, there was nothing left. If you could +know it all! If you could know it all!' Then she clasped her arms +round his legs, and hid her face upon his feet. + +'And whom do you love now?' he asked. She continued to sob, but did +not answer him a word. Then he stooped down and raised her to her +feet, and she stood beside him, very near to him with her face +averted. 'And whom do you love now?' he asked again. 'Is it me, or +is it Adrian Urmand?' But she could not answer him, though she had +said enough in her passionate sorrow to make any answer to such a +question unnecessary, as far as knowledge on the subject might be +required. It might suit his views that she should confess the truth +in so many words, but for other purpose her answer had been full +enough. 'This is very sad,' he said, 'sad indeed; but I thought +that you would have been firmer.' + +'Do not chide me again, George.' + +'No;--it is to no purpose.' + +'You said that I was--a curse to you?' + +'O Marie, I had hoped,--I had so hoped, that you would have been my +blessing!' + +'Say that I am not a curse to you, George!' + +But he would make no answer to this appeal, no immediate answer; but +stood silent and stern, while she stood still touching his arm, +waiting in patience for some word at any rate of forgiveness. He +was using all the powers of his mind to see if there might even yet +be any way to escape this great shipwreck. She had not answered his +question. She had not told him in so many words that her heart was +still his, though she had promised her hand to the Basle merchant. +But he could not doubt that it was so. As he stood there silent, +with that dark look upon his brow which he had inherited from his +father, and that angry fire in his eye, his heart was in truth once +more becoming soft and tender towards her. He was beginning to +understand how it had been with her. He had told her, just now, +that he did not believe her, when she assured him that she had +thought that she was forgotten. Now he did believe her. And there +arose in his breast a feeling that it was due to her that he should +explain this change in his mind. 'I suppose you did think it,' he +said suddenly. + +'Think what, George?' + +'That I was a vain, empty, false-tongued fellow, whose word was +worth no reliance.' + +'I thought no evil of you, George,--except that you were changed to +me. When you came, you said nothing to me. Do you not remember?' + +'I came because I was told that you were to be married to this man. +I asked you the question, and you would not deny it. Then I said to +myself that I would wait and see.' When he had spoken she had +nothing farther to say to him. The charges which he made against +her were all true. They seemed at least to be true to her then in +her present mood,--in that mood in which all that she now desired +was his forgiveness. The wish to defend herself, and to stand +before him as one justified, had gone from her. She felt that +having still possessed his love, having still been the owner of the +one thing that she valued, she had ruined herself by her own doubts; +and she could not forgive herself the fatal blunder. 'It is of no +use to think of it any more,' he said at last. 'You have to become +this man's wife now, and I suppose you must go through with it.' + +'I suppose I must,' she said; 'unless--' + +'Unless what?' + +'Nothing, George. Of course I will marry him. He has my word. And +I have promised my uncle also. But, George, you will say that you +forgive me?' + +'Yes;--I will forgive you.' But still there was the same black +cloud upon his face,--the same look of pain,--the same glance of +anger in his eye. + +'O George, I am so unhappy! There can be no comfort for me now, +unless you will say that you will be contented.' + +'I cannot say that, Marie.' + +'You will have your house, and your business, and so many things to +interest you. And in time,--after a little time--' + +'No, Marie, after no time at all. You told me at supper to-night +that I had better get a wife for myself. But I will get no wife. I +could not bring myself to marry another girl, I could not take a +woman home as my wife if I did not love her. If she were not the +person of all persons most dear to me, I should loathe her.' + +He was speaking daggers to her, and he must have known how sharp +were his words. He was speaking daggers to her, and she must have +felt that he knew how he was wounding her. But yet she did not +resent his usage, even by a motion of her lip. Could she have +brought herself to do so, her agony would have been less sharp. 'I +suppose,' she said at last, 'that a woman is weaker than a man. But +you say that you will forgive me?' + +'I have forgiven you.' + +Then very gently she put out her hand to him, and he took it and +held it for a minute. She looked up at him as though for a moment +she had thought that there might be something else,--that there +might be some other token of true forgiveness, and then she withdrew +her hand. 'I had better go now,' she said. 'Good-night; George.' + +'Good-night, Marie.' And then she was gone. + +As soon as he was alone he sat himself down on the bedside, and +began to think of it. Everything was changed to him since he had +called her into the room, determining that he would crush her with +his thunderbolt. Let things go as they may with a man in an affair +of love, let him be as far as possible from the attainment of his +wishes, there will always be consolation to him if he knows that he +is loved. To be preferred to all others, even though that +preference may lead to no fruition, is in itself a thing enjoyable. +He had believed that Marie had forgotten him,--that she had been +captivated either by the effeminate prettiness of his rival, or by +his wealth and standing in the world. He believed all this no more. +He knew now how it was with her and with him, and, let his +countenance say what it might to the contrary, he could bring +himself to forgive her in his heart. She had not forgotten him! +She had not ceased to love him! There was merit in that which went +far with him in excuse of her perfidy. + +But what should he do now? She was not as yet married to Adrian +Urmand. Might there not still be hope; hope for her sake as well as +for his own? He perfectly understood that in his country--nay, for +aught he knew to the contrary, in all countries--a formal betrothal +was half a marriage. It was half the ceremony in the eyes of all +those concerned; but yet, in regard to that indissoluble bond which +would indeed have divided Marie from him beyond the reach of any +hope to the contrary, such betrothal was of no effect whatever. +This man whom she did not love was not yet Marie's husband;--need +never become so if Marie could only be sufficiently firm in +resisting the influence of all her friends. No priest could marry +her without her own consent. He--George--he himself would have to +face the enmity of all those with whom he was connected. He was +sure that his father, having been a party to the betrothal, would +never consent to a breach of his promise to Urmand. Madame Voss, +Madame Faragon, the priest, and their Protestant pastor would all be +against them. They would be as it were outcasts from their own +family. But George Voss, sitting there on his bedside, thought that +he could go through it all, if only he could induce Marie Bromar to +bear the brunt of the world's displeasure with him. As he got into +bed he determined that he would begin upon the matter to his father +during the morning's walk. His father would be full of wrath;--but +the wrath would have to be endured sooner or later. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +On the next morning Michel Voss and his son met in the kitchen, and +found Marie already there. 'Well, my girl,' said Michel, as he +patted Marie's shoulder, and kissed her forehead, 'you've been up +getting a rare breakfast for these fellows, I see.' Marie smiled, +and made some good-humoured reply. No one could have told by her +face that there was anything amiss with her. 'It's the last favour +of the kind he'll ever have at your hands,' continued Michel, 'and +yet he doesn't seem to be half grateful.' George stood with his +back to the kitchen fire, and did not say a word. It was impossible +for him even to appear to be pleasant when such things were being +said. Marie was a better hypocrite, and, though she said little, +was able to look as though she could sympathise with her uncle's +pleasant mirth. The two men had soon eaten their breakfast and were +gone, and then Marie was left alone with her thoughts. Would George +say anything to his father of what had passed up-stairs on the +previous evening? + +The two men started, and when they were alone together, and as long +as Michel abstained from talking about Marie and her prospects, +George was able to converse freely with his father. When they left +the house the morning was just dawning, and the air was fresh and +sharp. 'We shall soon have the frost here now,' said Michel, 'and +then there will be no more grass for the cattle.' + +'I suppose they can have them out on the low lands till the end of +November. They always used.' + +'Yes; they can have them out; but having them out and having food +for them are different things. The people here have so much stock +now, that directly the growth is checked by the frost, the land +becomes almost bare. They forget the old saying--"Half stocking, +whole profits; whole stocking, half profits!" And then, too, I +think the winters are earlier here than they used to be. They'll +have to go back to the Swiss plan, I fancy, and carry the food to +the cattle in their houses. It may be old-fashioned, as they say; +but I doubt whether the fodder does not go farther so.' Then as +they began to ascend the mountain, he got on to the subject of his +own business and George's prospects. 'The dues to the Commune are +so heavy,' he said, 'that in fact there is little or nothing to be +made out of the timber. It looks like a business, because many men +are employed, and it's a kind of thing that spreads itself, and +bears looking at. But it leaves nothing behind.' + +'It's not quite so bad as that, I hope,' said George. + +'Upon my word then it is not much better, my boy. When you've +charged yourself with interest on the money spent on the mills, +there is not much to boast about. You're bound to replant every +yard you strip, and yet the Commune expects as high a rent as when +there was no planting to be done at all. They couldn't get it, only +that men like myself have their money in the mills, and can't well +get out of the trade.' + +'I don't think you'd like to give it up, father.' + +'Well, no. It gives me exercise and something to do. The women +manage most of it down at the house; but there must be a change when +Marie has gone. I have hardly looked it in the face yet, but I know +there must be a change. She has grown up among it till she has it +all at her fingers' ends. I tell you what, George, she is a girl in +a hundred,--a girl in a hundred. She is going to marry a rich man, +and so it don't much signify; but if she married a poor man, she +would be as good as a fortune to him. She'd make a fortune for any +man. That's my belief. There is nothing she doesn't know, and +nothing she doesn't understand.' + +Why did his father tell him all this? George thought of the day on +which his father had, as he was accustomed to say to himself, turned +him out of the house because he wanted to marry this girl who was +'as good as a fortune' to any man. Had he, then, been imprudent in +allowing himself to love such a girl? Could there be any good +reason why his father should have wished that a 'fortune,' in every +way so desirable, should go out of the family? 'She'll have nothing +to do of that sort if she goes to Basle,' said George moodily. + +'That is more than you can say,' replied his father. 'A woman +married to a man of business can always find her share in it if she +pleases. And with such a one as Adrian Urmand her side of the house +will not be the least considerable.' + +'I suppose he is little better than a fool,' said George. + +'A fool! He is not a fool at all. If you were to see him buying, +you would not call him a fool. He is very far from a fool.' + +'It may be so. I do not know much of him myself.' + +'You should not be so prone to think men fools till you find them +so; especially those who are to be so near to yourself. No;--he's +not a fool by any means. But he will know that he has got a clever +wife, and he will not be ashamed to make use of her.' + +George was unwilling to contradict his father at the present moment, +as he had all but made up his mind to tell the whole story about +himself and Marie before he returned to the house. He had not the +slightest idea that by doing so he would be able to soften his +father's heart. He was sure, on the contrary, that were he to do +so, he and his father would go back to the hotel as enemies. But +he was quite resolved that the story should be told sooner or +later,--should be told before the day fixed for the wedding. If it +was to be told by himself, what occasion could be so fitting as the +present? But, if it were to be done on this morning, it would be +unwise to harass his father by any small previous contradictions. + +They were now up among the scattered prostrate logs, and had again +taken up the question of the business of wood-cutting. 'No, George; +it would never have done for you; not as a mainstay. I thought of +giving it up to you once, but I knew that it would make a poor man +of you.' + +'I wish you had,' said George, who was unable to repress the feeling +of his heart. + +'Why do you say that? What a fool you must be if you think it! +There is nothing you may not do where you are, and you have got it +all into your own hands, with little or no outlay. The rent is +nothing; and the business is there ready made for you. In your +position, if you find the hotel is not enough, there is nothing you +cannot take up.' They had now seated themselves on the trunk of a +pine tree; and Michel Voss having drawn a pipe from his pocket and +filled it, was lighting it as he sat upon the wood. 'No, my boy,' +he continued, 'you'll have a better life of it than your father, I +don't doubt. After all, the towns are better than the country. +There is more to be seen and more to be learned. I don't complain. +The Lord has been very good to me. I've had enough of everything, +and have been able to keep my head up. But I feel a little sad when +I look forward. You and Marie will both be gone; and your +stepmother's friend, M. le Cure Gondin, does not make much society +for me. I sometimes think, when I am smoking a pipe up here all +alone, that this is the best of it all;--it will be when Marie has +gone.' If his father thus thought of it, why did he send Marie +away? If he thus thought of it, why had he sent his son away? Had +it not already been within his power to keep both of them there +together under his roof-tree? He had insisted on dividing them, and +dismissing them from Granpere, one in one direction, and the other +in another;--and then he complained of being alone! Surely his +father was altogether unreasonable. 'And now one can't even get +tobacco that is worth smoking,' continued Michel, in a melancholy +tone. 'There used to be good tobacco, but I don't know where it has +all gone.' + +'I can send you over a little prime tobacco from Colmar, father.' + +'I wish you would, George. This is foul stuff. But I sometimes +think I'll give it up. What's the use of it? A man sits and smokes +and smokes, and nothing comes of it. It don't feed him, nor clothe +him, and it leaves nothing behind,--except a stink.' + +'You're a little down in the mouth, father, or you wouldn't talk of +giving up smoking.' + +'I am down in the mouth,--terribly down in the mouth. Till it was +all settled, I did not know how much I should feel Marie's going. +Of course it had to be, but it makes an old man of me. There will +be nothing left. Of course there's your stepmother,--as good a +woman as ever lived,--and the children; but Marie was somehow the +soul of us all. Give us another light, George. I'm blessed if I +can keep the fire in the pipe at all.' + +'And this,' thought George, 'is in truth the state of my father's +mind! There are three of us concerned who are all equally dear to +each other, my father, myself, and Marie Bromar. There is not one +of them who doesn't feel that the presence of the others is +necessary to his happiness. Here is my father declaring that the +world will no longer have any savour for him because I am away in +one place, and Marie is to be away in another. There is not the +slightest real reason on earth why we should have been separated. +Yet he,--he alone has done it; and we,--we are to break our hearts +over it! Or rather he has not done it. He is about to do it. The +sacrifice is not yet made, and yet it must be made, because my +father is so unreasonable that no one will dare to point out to him +where lies the way to his own happiness and to the happiness of +those he loves!' It was thus that George Voss thought of it as he +listened to his father's wailings. + +But he himself, though he was hot in temper, was slow, or at least +deliberate, in action. He did not even now speak out at once. When +his father's pipe was finished he suggested that they should go on +to a certain run for the fir-logs, which he himself--George Voss--had +made--a steep grooved inclined plane by which the timber when +cut in these parts could be sent down with a rush to the close +neighbourhood of the saw-mill below. They went and inspected the +slide, and discussed the question of putting new wood into the +groove. Michel, with the melancholy tone that had prevailed with +him all the morning, spoke of matters as though any money spent in +mending would be thrown away. There are moments in the lives of +most of us in which it seems to us that there will never be more +cakes and ale. George, however, talked of the children, and +reminded his father that in matters of business nothing is so +ruinous as ruin. 'If you've got to get your money out of a thing, +it should always be in working order,' he said. Michel acknowledged +the truth of the rule, but again declared that there was no money to +be got out of the thing. He yielded, however, and promised that the +repairs should be made. Then they went down to the mill, which was +going at that time. George, as he stood by and watched the man and +boy adjusting the logs to the cradle, and listened to the apparently +self-acting saw as it did its work, and observed the perfection of +the simple machinery which he himself had adjusted, and smelt the +sweet scent of the newly-made sawdust, and listened to the music of +the little stream, when, between whiles, the rattle of the mill +would cease for half a minute,--George, as he stood in silence, +looking at all this, listening to the sounds, smelling the perfume, +thinking how much sweeter it all was than the little room in which +Madame Faragon sat at Colmar, and in which it was, at any rate for +the present, his duty to submit his accounts to her, from time to +time,--resolved that he would at once make an effort. He knew his +father's temper well. Might it not be that though there should be a +quarrel for a time, everything would come right at last? As for +Adrian Urmand, George did not believe,--or told himself that he did +not believe,--that such a cur as he would suffer much because his +hopes of a bride were not fulfilled. + +They stayed for an hour at the saw-mill, and Michel, in spite of all +that he had said about tobacco, smoked another pipe. While they +were there, George, though his mind was full of other matter, +continued to give his father practical advice about the business--how +a new wheel should be supplied here, and a lately invented improvement +introduced there. Each of them at the moment was care-laden with +special thoughts of his own, but nevertheless, as men of business, +they knew that the hour was precious and used it. To saunter into +the woods and do nothing was not at all in accordance with Michel's +usual mode of life; and though he hummed and hawed, and doubted and +grumbled, he took a note of all his son said, and was quite of a mind +to make use of his son's wit. + +'I shall be over at Epinal the day after tomorrow,' he said as they +left the mill, 'and I'll see if I can get the new crank there.' + +'They'll be sure to have it at Heinman's,' said George, as they +began to descend the hill. From the spot on which they had been +standing the walk down to Granpere would take them more than an +hour. It might well be that they might make it an affair of two or +three hours, if they went up to other timber-cuttings on their +route; but George was sure that as soon as he began to tell his +story his father would make his way straight for home. He would be +too much moved to think of his timber, and too angry to desire to +remain a minute longer than he could help in company with his son. +Looking at all the circumstances as carefully as he could, George +thought that he had better begin at once. 'As you feel Marie's +going so much,' he said, 'I wonder that you are so anxious to send +her away.' + +'That's a poor argument, George, and one that I should not have +expected from you. Am I to keep her here all her life, doing no +good for herself, simply because I like to have her here? It is in +the course of things that she should be married, and it is my duty +to see that she marries well.' + +'That is quite true, father.' + +'Then why do you talk to me about sending her away? I don't send +her away. Urmand comes and takes her away. I did the same when I +was young. Now I'm old, and I have to be left behind. It's the way +of nature.' + +'But she doesn't want to be taken away,' said George, rushing at +once at his subject. + +'What do you mean by that?' + +'Just what I say, father. She consents to be taken away, but she +does not wish it.' + +'I don't know what you mean. Has she been talking to you? Has she +been complaining?' + +'I have been talking to her. I came over from Colmar when I heard +of this marriage on purpose that I might talk to her. I had at any +rate a right to do that.' + +'Right to do what? I don't know that you have any right. If you +have been trying to do mischief in my house, George, I will never +forgive you--never.' + +'I will tell you the whole truth, father; and then you shall say +yourself whether I have been trying to do mischief, and shall say +also whether you will forgive me. You will remember when you told +me that I was not to think of Marie Bromar for myself.' + +'I do remember.' + +'Well; I had thought of her. If you wanted to prevent that, you +were too late.' + +'You were boys and girls together; that is all.' + +'Let me tell my story, father, and then you shall judge. Before you +had spoken to me at all, Marie had given me her troth.' + +'Nonsense!' + +'Let me at least tell my story. She had done so, and I had given +her mine; and when you told me to go, I went, not quite knowing then +what it might be best that we should do, but feeling very sure that +she would at least be true to me.' + +'Truth to any such folly as that would be very wicked.' + +'At any rate, I did nothing. I remained there month after month; +meaning to do something when this was settled,--meaning to do +something when that was settled; and then there came a sort of +rumour to me that Marie was to be Urmand's wife. I did not believe +it, but I thought that I would come and see.' + +'It was true.' + +'No;--it was not true then. I came over, and was very angry because +she was cold to me. She would not promise that there should be no +such engagement; but there was none then. You see I will tell you +everything as it occurred.' + +'She is at any rate engaged to Adrian Urmand now, and for all our +sakes you are bound not to interfere.' + +'But yet I must tell my story. I went back to Colmar, and then, +after a while, there came tidings, true tidings, that she was +engaged to this man. I came over again yesterday, determined,--you +may blame me if you will, father, but listen to me,--determined to +throw her falsehood in her teeth.' + +'Then I will protect her from you,' said Michel Voss, turning upon +his son as though he meant to strike him with his staff. + +'Ah, father,' said George, pausing and standing opposite to the +innkeeper, 'but who is to protect her from you? If I had found that +that which you are doing was making her happy,--I would have spoken +my mind indeed; I would have shown her once, and once only, what she +had done to me; how she had destroyed me,--and then I would have +gone, and troubled none of you any more.' + +'You had better go now, and bring us no more trouble. You are all +trouble.' + +'But her worst trouble will still cling to her. I have found that +it is so. She has taken this man not because she loves him, but +because you have bidden her.' + +'She has taken him, and she shall marry him.' + +'I cannot say that she has been right, father; but she deserves no +such punishment as that. Would you make her a wretched woman for +ever, because she has done wrong in striving to obey you?' + +'She has not done wrong in striving to obey me. She has done right. +I do not believe a word of this.' + +'You can ask her yourself.' + +'I will ask her nothing,--except that she shall not speak to you any +farther about it. You have come here wilfully-minded to disturb us +all.' + +'Father, that is unjust.' + +'I say it is true. She was contented and happy before you came. +She loves the man, and is ready to marry him on the day fixed. Of +course she will marry him. You would not have us go back from our +word now?' + +'Certainly I would. If he be a man, and she tells him that she +repents,--if she tells him all the truth, of course he will give her +back her troth. I would do so to any woman that only hinted that +she wished it.' + +'No such hint shall be given. I will hear nothing of it. I shall +not speak to Marie on the subject,--except to desire her to have no +farther converse with you. Nor will I speak of it again to +yourself; unless you wish me to bid you go from me altogether, you +will not mention the matter again.' So saying, Michel Voss strode +on, and would not even turn his eyes in the direction of his son. +He strode on, making his way down the hill at the fastest pace that +he could achieve, every now and then raising his hat and wiping the +perspiration from his brow. Though he had spoken of Marie's +departure as a loss that would be very hard to bear, the very idea +that anything should be allowed to interfere with the marriage which +he had planned was unendurable. What;--after all that had been said +and done, consent that there should be no marriage between his niece +and the rich young merchant! Never. He did not stop for a moment +to think how much of truth there might be in his son's statement. +He would not even allow himself to remember that he had forced +Adrian Urmand as a suitor upon his niece. He had had his qualms of +conscience upon that matter,--and it was possible that they might +return to him. But he would not stop now to look at that side of +the question. The young people were betrothed. The marriage was a +thing settled, and it should be celebrated. He had never broken his +faith to any man, and he would not break it to Adrian Urmand. He +strode on down the mountain, and there was not a word more said +between him and his son till they reached the inn doors. 'You +understand me,' he said then. 'Not a word more to Marie.' After +that he went up at once to his wife's chamber, and desired that +Marie might be sent to him there. During his rapid walk home he had +made up his mind as to what he would do. He would not be severe to +his niece. He would simply ask her one question. + +'My dear,' he said, striving to be calm, but telling her by +his countenance as plainly as words could have done all that had +passed between him and his son,--'Marie, my dear, I take it +for--granted--there is nothing to--to--to interrupt our plans.' + +'In what way, uncle?' she asked, merely wanting to gain a moment for +thought. + +'In any way. In no way. Just say that there is nothing wrong, and +that will be sufficient.' She stood silent, not having a word to +say to him. 'You know what I mean, Marie. You intend to marry +Adrian Urmand?' + +'I suppose so,' said Marie in a low whisper. + +'Look here, Marie,--if there be any doubt about it, we will +part,--and for ever. You shall never look upon my face again. My +honour is pledged,--and yours.' Then he hurried out of the room, down +into the kitchen, and without staying there a moment went out into the +yard, and walked through to the stables. His passion had been so +strong and uncontrollable, that he had been unable to remain with +his niece and exact a promise from her. + +George, when he saw his father go through to the stables, entered +the house. He had already made up his mind that he would return at +once to Colmar, without waiting to have more angry words. Such +words would serve him not at all. But he must if possible see +Marie, and he must also tell his stepmother that he was about to +depart. He found them both together, and at once, very abruptly, +declared that he was to start immediately. + +'You have quarrelled with your father, George,' said Madame Voss. + +'I hope not. I hope that he has not quarrelled with me. But it is +better that I should go.' + +'What is it, George? I hope it is nothing serious.' Madame Voss as +she said this looked at Marie, but Marie had turned her face away. +George also looked at her, but could not see her countenance. He +did not dare to ask her to give him an interview alone; nor had he +quite determined what he would say to her if they were together. +'Marie,' said Madame Voss, 'do you know what this is about?' + +'I wish I had died,' said Marie, 'before I had come into this house. +I have made hatred and bitterness between those who should love each +other better than all the world!' Then Madame Voss was able to +guess what had been the cause of the quarrel. + +'Marie,' said George very slowly, 'if you will only ask your own +heart what you ought to do, and be true to what it tells you, there +is no reason even yet that you should be sorry that you came to +Granpere. But if you marry a man whom you do not love, you will sin +against him, and against me, and against yourself, and against God!' +Then he took up his hat and went out. + +In the courtyard he met his father. + +'Where are you going now, George?' said his father. + +'To Colmar. It is better that I should go at once. Good-bye, +father;' and he offered his hand to his parent. + +'Have you spoken to Marie?' + +'My mother will tell you what I have said. I have spoken nothing in +private.' + +'Have you said anything about her marriage?' + +'Yes. I have told her that she could not honestly marry the man she +did not love.' + +'What right have you, sir,' said Michel, nearly choked with wrath, +'to interfere in the affairs of my household? You had better go, +and go at once. If you return again before they are married, I will +tell the servants to put you off the place!' George Voss made no +answer, but having found his horse and his gig, drove himself off to +Colmar. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +George Voss, as he drove back to Colmar and thought of what had been +done during the last twenty-four hours, did not find that he had +much occasion for triumph. He had, indeed, the consolation of +knowing that the girl loved him, and in that there was a certain +amount of comfort. As he had ever been thinking about her since he +had left Granpere, so also had she been thinking of him. His father +had told him that they had been no more than children when they +parted, and had ridiculed the idea that any affection formed so long +back and at so early an age should have lasted. But it had lasted; +and was now as strong in Marie's breast as it was in his own. He +had learned this at any rate by his journey to Granpere, and there +was something of consolation in the knowledge. But, nevertheless, +he did not find that he could triumph. Marie had been weak enough +to yield to his father once, and would yield to him, he thought, yet +again. Women in this respect--as he told himself--were different +from men. They were taught by the whole tenor of their lives to +submit,--unless they could conquer by underhand unseen means, by +little arts, by coaxing, and by tears. Marie, he did not doubt, had +tried all these, and had failed. His father's purpose had been too +strong for her, and she had yielded. Having submitted once, of +course she would submit again. There was about his father a spirit +of masterfulness, which he was sure Marie would not be able to +withstand. And then there would be--strong against his interests, +George thought--that feeling so natural to a woman, that as all the +world had been told of her coming marriage, she would be bound to go +through with it. The idea of it had become familiar to her. She +had conquered the repugnance which she must at first have felt, and +had made herself accustomed to regard this man as her future +husband. And then there would be Madame Voss against him, and M. le +Cure,--both of whom would think it infinitely better for Marie's +future welfare, that she should marry a Roman Catholic, as was +Urmand, than a Protestant such as was he, George Voss. And then the +money! Even if he could bring himself to believe that the money was +nothing to Marie, it would be so much to all those by whom Marie +would be surrounded, that it would be impossible that she should be +preserved from its influence. + +It is not often that young people really know each other; but George +certainly did not know Marie Bromar. In the first place, though he +had learned from her the secret of her heart, he had not taught +himself to understand how his own sullen silence had acted upon her. +He knew now that she had continued to love him; but he did not know +how natural it had been that she should have believed that he had +forgotten her. He could not, therefore, understand how different +must now be her feelings in reference to this marriage with Adrian, +from what they had been when she had believed herself to be utterly +deserted. And then he did not comprehend how thoroughly unselfish +she had been;--how she had struggled to do her duty to others, let +the cost be what it might to herself. She had plighted herself to +Adrian Urmand, not because there had seemed to her to be any +brightness in the prospect which such a future promised to her, but +because she did verily believe that, circumstanced as she was, it +would be better that she should submit herself to her friends. All +this George Voss did not understand. He had thrown his thunderbolt, +and had seen that it had been efficacious. Its efficacy had been +such that his wrath had been turned into tenderness. He had been so +changed in his purpose, that he had been induced to make an appeal +to his father at the cost of his father's enmity. But that appeal +had been in vain, and, as he thought of it all, he told himself that +on the appointed day Marie Bromar would become the wife of Adrian +Urmand. He knew well enough that a girl betrothed is a girl already +half married. + +He was very wretched as he drove his horse along. Though there was +a solace in the thought that the memory of him had still remained in +Marie's heart, there was a feeling akin to despair in this also. +His very tenderness towards her was more unendurable than would have +been his wrath. The pity of it! The pity of it! It was that which +made him sore of heart and faint of spirit. If he could have +reproached her as cold, mercenary, unworthy, heartless, even though +he had still loved her, he could have supported himself by his anger +against her unworthiness. But as it was there was no such support +for him. Though she had been in fault, her virtue towards him was +greater than her fault. She still loved him. She still loved +him,--though she could not be his wife. + +Then he thought of Adrian Urmand and of the man's success and +wealth, and general prosperity in the world. What if he should go +over to Basle and take Adrian Urmand by the throat and choke him? +What if he should at least half choke the successful man, and make +it well understood that the other half would come unless the +successful man would consent to relinquish his bride? George, +though he did not expect success for himself, was fully purposed +that Urmand should not succeed without some interference from +him,--by means of choking or otherwise. He would find some way of +making himself disagreeable. If it were only by speaking his mind, +he thought that he could speak it in such a way that the Basle +merchant would not like it. He would tell Urmand in the first place +that Marie was won not at all by affection, not in the least by any +personal regard for her suitor, but altogether by a feeling of duty +towards her uncle. And he would point out to this suitor how +dastardly a thing it would be to take advantage of a girl so placed. +He planned a speech or two as he drove along which he thought that +even Urmand, thick-skinned as he believed him to be, would dislike +to hear. 'You may have her, perhaps,' he would say to him, 'as so +much goods that you would buy, because she is, as a thing in her +uncle's hands, to be bought. She believes it to be her duty, as +being altogether dependent, to be disposed of as her uncle may +choose. And she will go to you, as she would to any other man who +might make the purchase. But as for loving you, you don't even +believe that she loves you. She will keep your house for you; but +she will never love you. She will keep your house for you,--unless, +indeed, she should find you to be so intolerable to her, that she +should be forced to leave you. It is in that way that you will have +her,--if you are so low a thing as to be willing to take her so.' +He planned various speeches of such a nature--not intending to trust +entirely to speeches, but to proceed to some attempt at choking +afterwards if it should be necessary. Marie Bromar should not +become Adrian Urmand's wife without some effort on his part. So +resolving, he drove into the yard of the hotel at Colmar. + +As soon as he entered the house Madame Faragon began to ask him +questions about the wedding. When was it to be? George thought for +a moment, and then remembered that he had not even heard the day +named. + +'Why don't you answer me, George?' said the old woman angrily. 'You +must know when it's going to be.' + +'I don't know that it's going to be at all,' said George. + +'Not going to be at all! Why not? There is not anything wrong, is +there? Were they not betrothed? Why don't you tell me, George?' + +'Yes; they were betrothed.' + +'And is he crying off? I should have thought Michel Voss was the +man to strangle him if he did that.' + +'And I am the man to strangle him if he don't,' said George, walking +out of the room. + +He knew that he had been silly and absurd, but he knew also that he +was so moved as to have hardly any control over himself. In the few +words that he had now said to Madame Faragon he had, as he felt, +told the story of his own disappointment; and yet he had not in the +least intended to take the old woman into his confidence. He had +not meant to have said a word about the quarrel between himself and +his father, and now he had told everything. + +When she saw him again in the evening, of course she asked him some +farther questions. + +'George,' she said, 'I am afraid things are not going pleasantly at +Granpere.' + +'Not altogether,' he answered. + +'But I suppose the marriage will go on?' To this he made no answer, +but shook his head, showing how impatient he was at being thus +questioned. 'You ought to tell me,' said Madame Faragon +plaintively, 'considering how interested I must be in all that +concerns you.' + +'I have nothing to tell.' + +'But is the marriage to be put off?' again demanded Madame Faragon, +with extreme anxiety. + +'Not that I know of, Madame Faragon: they will not ask me whether +it is to be put off or not.' + +'But have they quarrelled with M. Urmand?' + +'No; nobody has quarrelled with M. Urmand.' + +'Was he there, George?' + +'What, with me! No; he was not there with me. I have never seen +the man since I first left Granpere to come here.' And then George +Voss began to think what might have happened had Adrian Urmand been +at the hotel while he was there himself. After all, what could he +have said to Adrian Urmand? or what could he have done to him? + +'He hasn't written, has he, to say that he is off his bargain?' +Poor Madame Faragon was almost pathetic in her anxiety to learn what +had really occurred at the Lion d'Or. + +'Certainly not. He has not written at all.' + +'Then what is it, George?' + +'I suppose it is this,--that Marie Bromar cares nothing for him.' + +'But so rich as he is! And they say, too, such a good-looking young +man.' + +'It is wonderful, is it not? It is next to a miracle that there +should be a girl deaf and blind to such charms. But, nevertheless, +I believe it is so. They will probably make her marry him, whether +she likes it or not.' + +'But she is betrothed to him. Of course she will marry him.' + +'Then there will be an end of it,' said George. + +There was one other question which Madame Faragon longed to ask; but +she was almost too much afraid of her young friend to put it into +words. At last she plucked up courage, and did ask her question +after an ambiguous way. + +'But I suppose it is nothing to you, George?' + +'Nothing at all. Nothing on earth,' said he. 'How should it be +anything to me?' Then he hesitated for a while, pausing to think +whether or not he would tell the truth to Madame Faragon. He knew +that there was no one on earth, setting aside his father and Marie +Bromar, to whom he was really so dear as he was to this old woman. +She would probably do more for him, if it might possibly be in her +power to do anything, than any other of his friends. And, moreover, +he did not like the idea of being false to her, even on such a +subject as this. 'It is only this to me,' he said, 'that she had +promised to be my wife, before they had ever mentioned Urmand's name +to her.' + +'O, George!' + +'And why should she not have promised?' + +'But, George;--during all this time you have never mentioned it.' + +'There are some things, Madame Faragon, which one doesn't mention. +And I do not know why I should have mentioned it at all. But you +understand all about it now. Of course she will marry the man. It +is not likely that my father should fail to have his own way with a +girl who is dependent on him.' + +'But he--M. Urmand; he would give her up if he knew it all, would he +not?' + +To this George made no instant answer; but the idea was there, in +his mind--that the linen merchant might perhaps be induced to +abandon his purpose, if he could be made to understand that Marie +wished it. 'If he have any touch of manhood about him he would do +so,' said he. + +'And what will you do, George?' + +'Do! I shall do nothing. What should I do? My father has turned +me out of the house. That is the whole of it. I do not know that +there is anything to be done.' Then he went out, and there was +nothing more said upon the question. For the next three or four +days there was nothing said. As he went in and out Madame Faragon +would look at him with anxious eyes, questioning herself how far +such a feeling of love might in truth make this young man forlorn +and wretched. As far as she could judge by his manner he was very +forlorn and very wretched. He did his work indeed, and was busy +about the place, as was his wont. But there was a look of pain in +his face, which made her old heart grieve, and by degrees her good +wishes for the object, which seemed to be so much to him, became +eager and hot. + +'Is there nothing to be done?' she asked at last, putting out her +fat hand to take hold of his in sympathy. + +'There is nothing to be done,' said George, who, however, hated +himself because he was doing nothing, and still thought occasionally +of that plan of choking his rival. + +'If you were to go to Basle and see the man?' + +'What could I say to him, if I did see him? After all, it is not +him that I can blame. I have no just ground of quarrel with him. +He has done nothing that is not fair. Why should he not love her if +it suits him? Unless he were to fight me, indeed--' + +'O, George! let there be no fighting.' + +'It would do no good, I fear.' + +'None, none, none,' said she. + +'If I were to kill him, she could not be my wife then.' + +'No, no; certainly not.' + +'And if I wounded him, it would make her like him perhaps. If he +were to kill me, indeed, there might be some comfort in that.' + +After this Madame Faragon made no farther suggestions that her young +friend should go to Basle. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +During the remainder of the day on which George had left Granpere, +the hours did not fly very pleasantly at the Lion d'Or. Michel Voss +had gone to his niece immediately upon his return from his walk, +intending to obtain a renewed pledge from her that she would be true +to her engagement. But he had been so full of passion, so beside +himself with excitement, so disturbed by all that he had heard, that +he had hardly waited with Marie long enough to obtain such pledge, +or to learn from her that she refused to give it. He had only been +able to tell her that if she hesitated about marrying Adrian she +should never look upon his face again; and then without staying for +a reply he had left her. He had been in such a tremor of passion +that he had been unable to demand an answer. After that, when +George was gone, he kept away from her during the remainder of the +morning. Once or twice he said a few words to his wife, and she +counselled him to take no farther outward notice of anything that +George had said to him. 'It will all come right if you will only be +a little calm with her,' Madame Voss had said. He had tossed his +head and declared that he was calm;--the calmest man in all +Lorraine. Then he had come to his wife again, and she had again +given him some good practical advice. 'Don't put it into her head +that there is to be a doubt,' said Madame Voss. + +'I haven't put it into her head,' he answered angrily. + +'No, my dear, no; but do not allow her to suppose that anybody else +can put it there either. Let the matter go on. She will see the +things bought for her wedding, and when she remembers that she has +allowed them to come into the house without remonstrating, she will +be quite unable to object. Don't give her an opportunity of +objecting.' Michel Voss again shook his head, as though his wife +were an unreasonable woman, and swore that it was not he who had +given Marie such opportunity. But he made up his mind to do as his +wife recommended. 'Speak softly to her, my dear,' said Madame Voss. + +'Don't I always speak softly?' said he, turning sharply round upon +his spouse. + +He made his attempt to speak softly when he met Marie about the +house just before supper. He put his hand upon her shoulder, and +smiled, and murmured some word of love. He was by no means crafty +in what he did. Craft indeed was not the strong point of his +character. She took his rough hand and kissed it, and looked up +lovingly, beseechingly into his face. She knew that he was asking +her to consent to the sacrifice, and he knew that she was imploring +him to spare her. This was not what Madame Voss had meant by +speaking softly. Could she have been allowed to dilate upon her own +convictions, or had she been able adequately to express her own +ideas, she would have begged that there might be no sentiment, no +romance, no kissing of hands, no looking into each other's faces,--no +half-murmured tones of love. Madame Voss believed strongly that +the every-day work of the world was done better without any of these +glancings and glimmerings of moonshine. But then her husband was, +by nature, of a fervid temperament, given to the influence of +unexpressed poetic emotions;--and thus subject, in spite of the +strength of his will, to much weakness of purpose. Madame Voss +perhaps condemned her husband in this matter the more because his +romantic disposition never showed itself in his intercourse with +her. He would kiss Marie's hand, and press Marie's wrist, and hold +dialogues by the eye with Marie. But with his wife his speech +was,--not exactly yea, yea, and nay, nay,--but yes, yes, and no, no. +It was not unnatural therefore that she should specially dislike this +weakness of his which came from his emotional temperament. 'I would +just let things go, as though there were nothing special at all,' +she said again to him, before supper, in a whisper. + +'And so I do. What would you have me say?' + +'Don't mind petting her, but just be as you would be any other day.' + +'I am as I would be any other day,' he replied. However, he knew +that his wife was right, and was in a certain way aware that if he +could only change himself and be another sort of man, he might +manage the matter better. He could be fiercely angry, or +caressingly affectionate. But he was unable to adopt that safe and +golden mean, which his wife recommended. He could not keep himself +from interchanging a piteous glance or two with Marie at supper, and +put a great deal too much unction into his caress to please Madame +Voss, when Marie came to kiss him before she went to bed. + +In the mean time Marie was quite aware that it was incumbent on her +to determine what she would do. It may be as well to declare at +once that she had determined--had determined fully, before her uncle +and George had started for their walk up to the wood-cutting. When +she was giving them their breakfast that morning her mind was fully +made up. She had had the night to lie awake upon it, to think it over, +and to realise all that George had told her. It had come to her as +quite a new thing that the man whom she worshipped, worshipped her too. +While she believed that nobody else loved her;--when she could tell +herself that her fate was nothing to anybody;--as long as it had seemed +to her that the world for her must be cold, and hard, and material;--so +long could she reconcile to herself, after some painful, dubious +fashion, the idea of being the wife either of Adrian Urmand, or +of any other man. Some kind of servitude was needful, and if her +uncle was decided that she must be banished from his house, the +kind of servitude which was proposed to her at Basle would do as +well as another. But when she had learned the truth,--a truth so +unexpected,--then such servitude became impossible to her. On that +morning, when she came down to give the men their breakfast, she had +quite determined that let the consequences be what they might she would +never become the wife of Adrian Urmand. Madame Voss had told her +husband that when Marie saw the things purchased for her wedding coming +into the house, the very feeling that the goods had been bought would +bind her to her engagement. Marie had thought of that also, and was +aware that she must lose no time in making her purpose known, so that +articles which would be unnecessary might not be purchased. On that +very morning, while the men had been up in the mountain, she had sat +with her aunt hemming sheets;--intended as an addition to the already +overflowing stock possessed by M. Urmand. It was with difficulty +that she had brought herself to do that,--telling herself, however, +that as the linen was there, it must be hemmed; when there had come +a question of marking the sheets, she had evaded the task,--not +without raising suspicion in the bosom of Madame Voss. + +But it was, as she knew, absolutely necessary that her uncle should +be informed of her purpose. When he had come to her after the walk, +and demanded of her whether she still intended to marry Adrian +Urmand, she had answered him falsely. 'I suppose so,' she had said. +The question--such a question as it was--had been put to her too +abruptly to admit of a true answer on the spur of the moment. But +the falsehood almost stuck in her throat and was a misery to her +till she could set it right by a clear declaration of the truth. +She had yet to determine what she would do;--how she would tell this +truth; in what way she would insure to herself the power of carrying +out her purpose. Her mind, the reader must remember, was somewhat +dark in the matter. She was betrothed to the man, and she had +always heard that a betrothal was half a marriage. And yet she knew +of instances in which marriages had been broken off after betrothal +quite as ceremonious as her own--had been broken off without scandal +or special censure from the Church. Her aunt, indeed, and M. le +Cure had, ever since the plighting of her troth to M. Urmand, spoken +of the matter in her presence, as though the wedding were a thing +already nearly done;--not suggesting by the tenor of their speech +that any one could wish in any case to make a change, but pointing +out incidentally that any change was now out of the question. But +Marie had been sharp enough to understand perfectly the gist of her +aunt's manoeuvres and of the priest's incidental information. The +thing could be done, she know; and she feared no one in the doing of +it,--except her uncle. But she did fear that if she simply told him +that it must be done, he would have such a power over her that she +would not succeed. In what way could she do it first, and then tell +him afterwards? + +At last she determined that she would write a letter to M. Urmand, +and show a copy of the letter to her uncle when the post should have +taken it so far out of Granpere on its way to Basle, as to make it +impossible that her uncle should recall it. Much of the day after +George's departure, and much of the night, was spent in the +preparation of this letter. Marie Bromar was not so well practised +in the writing of letters as will be the majority of the young +ladies who may, perhaps, read her history. It was a difficult thing +for her to begin the letter, and a difficult thing for her to bring +it to its end. But the letter was written and sent. The post left +Granpere at about eight in the morning, taking all letters by way of +Remiremont; and on the day following George's departure, the post +took Marie Bromar's letter to M. Urmand. + +When it was gone, her state of mind was very painful. Then it was +necessary that she should show the copy to her uncle. She had +posted the letter between six and seven with her own hands, and had +then come trembling back to the inn, fearful that her uncle should +discover what she had done before her letter should be beyond his +reach. When she saw the mail conveyance go by on its route to +Remiremont, then she knew that she must begin to prepare for her +uncle's wrath. She thought that she had heard that the letters were +detained some time at Remiremont before they went on to Epinal in +one direction, and to Mulhouse in the other. She looked at the +railway time-table which was hung up in one of the passages of the +inn, and saw the hour of the departure of the diligence from +Remiremont to catch the train at Mulhouse for Basle. When that hour +was passed, the conveyance of her letter was insured, and then she +must show the copy to her uncle. He came into the house about +twelve, and eat his dinner with his wife in the little chamber. +Marie, who was in and out of the room during the time, would not sit +down with them. When pressed to do so by her uncle, she declared +that she had eaten lately and was not hungry. It was seldom that +she would sit down to dinner, and this therefore gave rise to no +special remark. As soon as his meal was over, Michel Voss got up to +go out about his business, as was usual with him. Then Marie +followed him into the passage. 'Uncle Michel,' she said, 'I want to +speak to you for a moment; will you come with me?' + +'What is it about, Marie?' + +'If you will come, I will show you.' + +'Show me! What will you show me?' + +'It's a letter, Uncle Michel. Come up-stairs and you shall see it.' +Then he followed her up-stairs, and in the long public room, which +was at that hour deserted, she took out of her pocket the copy of +her letter to Adrian Urmand, and put it into her uncle's hands. 'It +is a letter, Uncle Michel, which I have written to M. Urmand. It +went this morning, and you must see it.' + +'A letter to Urmand,' he said, as he took the paper suspiciously +into his hands. + +'Yes, Uncle Michel. I was obliged to write it. It is the truth, +and I was obliged to let him know it. I am afraid you will be angry +with me, and--turn me away; but I cannot help it.' + +The letter was as follows: + + 'The Hotel Lion d'Or, Granpere, + October 1, 186-. + +'M. URMAND, + +'I take up my pen in great sorrow and remorse to write you a letter, +and to prevent you from coming over here for me, as you intended, on +this day fortnight. I have promised to be your wife, but it cannot +be. I know that I have behaved very badly, but it would be worse if +I were to go on and deceive you. Before I knew you I had come to be +fond of another man; and I find now, though I have struggled hard to +do what my uncle wishes, that I could not promise to love you and be +your wife. I have not told Uncle Michel yet, but I shall as soon as +this letter is gone. + +'I am very, very sorry for the trouble I have given you. I did not +mean to be bad. I hope that you will forget me, and try to forgive +me. No one knows better than I do how bad I have been. + +'Your most humble servant, + 'With the greatest respect, + 'MARIE BROMAR.' + +The letter had taken her long to write, and it took her uncle long +to read, before he came to the end of it. He did not get through a +line without sundry interruptions, which all arose from his +determination to contradict at once every assertion which she made. +'You cannot prevent his coming,' he said, 'and it shall not be +prevented.' 'Of course, you have promised to be his wife, and it +must be.' 'Nonsense about deceiving him. He is not deceived at +all.' 'Trash--you are not fond of another man. It is all +nonsense.' 'You must do what your uncle wishes. You must, now! you +must! Of course, you will love him. Why can't you let all that +come as it does with others?' 'Letter gone;--yes indeed, and now I +must go after it.' 'Trouble!--yes! Why could you not tell me +before you sent it? Have I not always been good to you?' 'You have +not been bad; not before. You have been very good. It is this that +is bad.' 'Forget you indeed. Of course he won't. How should he? +Are you not betrothed to him? He'll forgive you fast enough, when +you just say that you did not know what you were about when you were +writing it.' Thus her uncle went on; and as the outburst of his +wrath was, as it were, chopped into little bits by his having to +continue the reading of the letter, the storm did not fall upon +Marie's head so violently as she had expected. 'There's a pretty +kettle of fish you've made!' said he as soon as he had finished +reading the letter. 'Of course, it means nothing.' + +'But it must mean something, Uncle Michel.' + +'I say it means nothing. Now I'll tell you what I shall do, Marie. +I shall start for Basle directly. I shall get there by twelve +o'clock to-night by going through Colmar, and I shall endeavour to +intercept the letter before Urmand would receive it to-morrow.' +This was a cruel blow to Marie after all her precautions. 'If I +cannot do that, I shall at any rate see him before he gets it. That +is what I shall do; and you must let me tell him, Marie, that you +repent having written the letter.' + +'But I don't repent it, Uncle Michel; I don't, indeed. I can't +repent it. How can I repent it when I really mean it? I shall +never become his wife;--indeed I shall not. O, Uncle Michel, pray, +pray, pray do not go to Basle!' + +But Michel Voss resolved that he would go to Basle, and to Basle he +went. The immediate weight, too, of Marie's misery was aggravated +by the fact that in order to catch the train for Basle at Colmar, +her uncle need not start quite immediately. There was an hour +during which he could continue to exercise his eloquence upon his +niece, and endeavour to induce her to authorise him to contradict +her own letter. He appealed first to her affection, and then to her +duty; and after that, having failed in these appeals, he poured +forth the full vials of his wrath upon her head. She was +ungrateful, obstinate, false, unwomanly, disobedient, irreligious, +sacrilegious, and an idiot. In the fury of his anger, there was +hardly any epithet of severe rebuke which he spared, and yet, as +every cruel word left his mouth, he assured her that it should all +be taken to mean nothing, if she would only now tell him that he +might nullify the letter. Though she had deserved all these bad +things which he had spoken of her, yet she should be regarded as +having deserved none of them, should again be accepted as having in +all points done her duty, if she would only, even now, be obedient. +But she was not to be shaken. She had at last formed a resolution, +and her uncle's words had no effect towards turning her from it. +'Uncle Michel,' she said at last, speaking with much seriousness of +purpose, and a dignity of person that was by no means thrown away +upon him, 'if I am what you say, I had better go away from your +house. I know I have been bad. I was bad to say that I would marry +M. Urmand. I will not defend myself. But nothing on earth shall +make me marry him. You had better let me go away, and get a place +as a servant among our friends at Epinal.' But Michel Voss, though +he was heaping abuse upon her with the hope that he might thus +achieve his purpose, had not the remotest idea of severing the +connection which bound him and her together. He wanted to do her +good, not evil. She was exquisitely dear to him. If she would only +let him have his way and provide for her welfare as he saw, in his +wisdom, would be best, he would at once take her in his arms again +and tell her that she was the apple of his eye. But she would not; +and he went at last off on his road to Colmar and Basle, gnashing +his teeth in anger. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Nothing was said to Marie about her sins on that afternoon after her +uncle had started on his journey. Everything in the hotel was +blank, and sad, and gloomy; but there was, at any rate, the negative +comfort of silence, and Marie was allowed to go about the house and +do her work without rebuke. But she observed that the Cure--M. le +Cure Gondin--sat much with her aunt during the evening, and she did +not doubt but that she herself and her iniquities made the subject +of their discourse. + +M. le Cure Gondin, as he was generally called at Granpere,--being +always so spoken of, with his full name and title, by the large +Protestant portion of the community,--was a man very much respected +by all the neighbourhood. He was respected by the Protestants +because he never interfered with them, never told them, either +behind their backs or before their faces, that they would be damned +as heretics, and never tried the hopeless task of converting them. +In his intercourse with them he dropped the subject of religion +altogether,--as a philologist or an entomologist will drop his +grammar or his insects in his intercourse with those to whom grammar +and insects are matters of indifference. And he was respected by +the Catholics of both sorts,--by those who did not and by those who +did adhere with strictness to the letter of their laws of religion. +With the former he did his duty, perhaps without much enthusiasm. +He preached to them, if they would come and listen to him. He +christened them, confessed them, and absolved them from their sins,--of +course, after due penitence. But he lived with them, too, in a +friendly way, pronouncing no anathemas against them, because they +were not as attentive to their religious exercises as they might +have been. But with those who took a comfort in sacred things, who +liked to go to early masses in cold weather, to be punctual at +ceremonies, to say the rosary as surely as the evening came, who +knew and performed all the intricacies of fasting as ordered by the +bishop, down to the refinement of an egg more or less, in the whole +Lent, or the absence of butter from the day's cookery,--with these +he had all that enthusiasm which such people like to encounter in +their priest. We may say, therefore, that he was a wise man,--and +probably, on the whole, a good man; that he did good service +in his parish, and helped his people along in their lives not +inefficiently. He was a small man, with dark hair very closely cut, +with a tonsure that was visible but not more than visible; with a +black beard that was shaved every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday +evenings, but which was very black indeed on the Tuesday and Friday +mornings. He always wore the black gown of his office, but would go +about his parish with an ordinary soft slouch hat,--thus subjecting +his appearance to an absence of ecclesiastical trimness which, +perhaps, the most enthusiastic of his friends regretted. Madame +Voss certainly would have wished that he would have had himself +shaved at any rate every other day, and that he would have abstained +from showing himself in the streets of Granpere without his clerical +hat. But, though she was very intimate with her Cure, and had +conferred upon him much material kindness, she had never dared to +express her opinion to him upon these matters. + +During much of that afternoon M. le Cure sat with Madame Voss, but +not a word was said to Marie about her disobedience either by him or +by her. Nevertheless, Marie felt that her sins were being +discussed, and that the lecture was coming. She herself had never +quite liked M. le Cure--not having any special reason for disliking +him, but regarding him as a man who was perhaps a little deficient +in spirit, and perhaps a trifle too mindful of his creature +comforts. M. le Cure took a great deal of snuff, and Marie did not +like snuff taking. Her uncle smoked a great deal of tobacco, and +that she thought very nice and proper in a man. Had her uncle taken +the snuff and the priest smoked the tobacco, she would probably have +equally approved of her uncle's practice and disapproved that of the +priest;--because she loved the one and did not love the other. She +had thought it probable that she might be sent for during the +evening, and had, therefore, made for herself an immensity of +household work, the performance of all which on that very evening +the interests of the Lion d'Or would imperatively demand. The work +was all done, but no message from Aunt Josey summoned Marie into the +little parlour. + +Nevertheless Marie had been quite right in her judgment. On the +following morning, between eight and nine, M. le Cure was again in +the house, and had a cup of coffee taken to him in the little +parlour. Marie, who felt angry at his return, would not take it +herself, but sent it in by the hands of Peter Veque. Peter Veque +returned in a few minutes with a message to Marie, saying that M. le +Cure wished to see her. + +'Tell him that I am very busy,' said Marie. 'Say that uncle is +away, and that there is a deal to do. Ask him if another day won't +suit as well.' + +She knew when she sent this message that another day would not suit +as well. And she must have known also that her uncle's absence made +no difference in her work. Peter came back with a request from +Madame Voss that Marie would go to her at once. Marie pressed her +lips together, clenched her fists, and walked down into the room +without the delay of an instant. + +'Marie, my dear,' said Madame Voss, 'M. le Cure wishes to speak to +you. I will leave you for a few minutes.' There was nothing for it +but to listen. Marie could not refuse to be lectured by the priest. +But she told herself that having had the courage to resist her +uncle, it certainly was out of the question that any one else should +have the power to move her. + +'My dear Marie,' began the Cure, 'your aunt has been telling me of +this little difference between you and your affianced husband. +Won't you sit down, Marie, because we shall be able so to talk more +comfortably?' + +'I don't want to talk about it at all,' said Marie. But she sat +down as she was bidden. + +'But, my dear, it is needful that your friends should talk to you. +I am sure that you have too much sense to think that a young woman +like yourself should refuse to hear her friends.' Marie had it +almost on her tongue to tell the priest that the only friends to +whom she chose to listen were her uncle and her aunt, but she +thought that it might perhaps be better that she should remain +silent. 'Of course, my dear, a young person like you must know that +she must walk by advice, and I am sure you must feel that no one can +give it you more fittingly than your own priest.' Then he took a +large pinch of snuff. + +'If it were anything to do with the Church,--yes,' she said. + +'And this has to do with the Church, very much. Indeed I do not +know how any of our duties in this life cannot have to do with the +Church. There can be no duty omitted as to which you would not +acknowledge that it was necessary that you should get absolution +from your priest.' + +'But that would be in the church,' said Marie, not quite knowing how +to make good her point. + +'Whether you are in the church or out of it, is just the same. If +you were sick and in bed, would your priest be nothing to you then?' + +'But I am quite well, Father Gondin.' + +'Well in health; but sick in spirit,--as I am sure you must own. +And I must explain to you, my dear, that this is a matter in which +your religious duty is specially in question. You have been +betrothed, you know, to M. Urmand.' + +'But people betrothed are very often not married,' said Marie +quickly. 'There was Annette Lolme at Saint Die. She was betrothed +to Jean Stein at Pugnac. That was only last winter. And then there +was something wrong about the money; and the betrothal went for +nothing, and Father Carrier himself said it was all right. If it +was all right for Annette Lolme, it must be all right for me as far +as betrothing goes.' + +The story that Marie told so clearly was perfectly true, and M. le +Cure Gondin knew that it was true. He wished now to teach Marie +that if certain circumstances should occur after a betrothal which +would make the marriage inexpedient in the eyes of the parents of +the young people, then the authority of the Church would not exert +itself to insist on the sacred nature of the pledge;--but that if +the pledge was to be called in question simply at the instance of a +capricious young woman, then the Church would have full power. His +object, in short, was to insist on parental authority, giving to +parental authority some little additional strength from his own +sacerdotal recognition of the sanctity of the betrothing promise. +But he feared that Marie would be too strong for him, if not also +too clear-headed. 'You cannot mean to tell me,' said he, 'that you +think such a solemn promise as you have given to this young man, +taking one from him as solemn in return, is to go for nothing?' + +'I am very sorry that I promised,--very sorry indeed; but I cannot +keep my promise.' + +'You are bound to keep it, especially as all your friends wish the +marriage, and think that it will be good for you. Annette Lolme's +friends wished her not to marry. It is my duty to tell you, Marie, +that if you break your faith to M. Urmand, you will commit a very +grievous sin, and you will commit it with your eyes open.' + +'If Annette Lolme might change her mind because her lover had not +got as much money as people wanted, I am sure I may change mine +because I don't love a man.' + +'Annette did what her friends advised her.' + +'Then a girl must always do what her friends tell her? If I don't +marry M. Urmand, I sha'n't be wicked for breaking my promise, but +for disobeying Uncle Michel.' + +'You will be wicked in every way,' said the priest. + +'No, M. le Cure. If I had married M. Urmand, I know I should be +wicked to leave him, and I would do my best to live with him and +make him a good wife. But I have found out in time that I can't +love him; and therefore I am sure that I ought not to marry him, and +I won't.' + +There was much more said between them, but M. le Cure Gondin was not +able to prevail in the least. He tried to cajole her, and he tried +to persuade by threats, and he tried to conquer her by gratitude and +affection towards her uncle. But he could not prevail at all. + +'It is of no use my staying here any longer, M. le Cure,' she said +at last, 'because I am quite sure that nothing on earth will induce +me to consent. I am very sorry for what I have done. If you tell +me that I have sinned, I will repent and confess it. I have +repented, and am very, very sorry. I know now that I was very wrong +ever to think it possible that I could be his wife. But you can't +make me think that I am wrong in this.' + +Then she left him, and as soon as she was gone, Madame Voss returned +to hear the priest's report as to his success. + +In the mean time, Michel Voss had reached Basle, arriving there some +five hours before Marie's letter, and, in his ignorance of the law, +had made his futile attempt to intercept the letter before it +reached the hands of M. Urmand. But he was with Urmand when the +letter was delivered, and endeavoured to persuade his young friend +not to open it. But in doing this he was obliged to explain, to a +certain extent, what was the nature of the letter. He was obliged +to say so much about it as to justify the unhappy lover in asserting +that it would be better for them all that he should know the +contents. 'At any rate, you will promise not to believe it,' said +Michel. And he did succeed in obtaining from M. Urmand a sort of +promise that he would not regard the words of the letter as in truth +expressing Marie's real resolution. 'Girls, you know, are such +queer cattle,' said Michel. 'They think about all manner of things, +and then they don't know what they are thinking.' + +'But who is the other man?' demanded Adrian, as soon as he had +finished the letter. Any one judging from his countenance when he +asked the question would have imagined that in spite of his promise +he believed every word that had been written to him. His face was a +picture of blank despair, and his voice was low and hoarse. 'You +must know whom she means,' he added, when Michel did not at once +reply. + +'Yes; I know whom she means.' + +'Who is it then, M. Voss?' + +'It is George, of course,' replied the innkeeper. + +'I did not know,' said poor Adrian Urmand. + +'She never spoke a dozen words to any other man in her life, and as +for him, she has hardly seen him for the last eighteen months. He +has come over and said something to her, like a traitor,--has +reminded her of some childish promise, some old vow, something said +when they were children, and meaning nothing; and so he has +frightened her.' + +'I was never told that there was anything between them,' said +Urmand, beginning to think that it would become him to be indignant. + +'There was nothing to tell,--literally nothing.' + +'They must have been writing to each other.' + +'Never a line; on my word as a man. It was just as I tell you. +When George went from home, there had been some fooling, as I +thought, between them; and I was glad that he should go. I didn't +think it meant anything, or ever would.' As Michel Voss said this, +there did occur to him an idea that perhaps, after all, he had been +wrong to interfere in the first instance,--that there had then been +no really valid reason why George should not have married Marie +Bromar; but that did not in the least influence his judgment as to +what it might be expedient to do now. He was still as sure as ever +that as things stood now, it was his duty to do all in his power to +bring about the marriage between his niece and Adrian Urmand. 'But +since that, there has been nothing,' continued he, 'absolutely +nothing. Ask her, and she will tell you so. It is some romantic +idea of hers that she ought to stick to her first promise, now that +she has been reminded of it.' + +All this did not convince Adrian Urmand, who for a while expressed +his opinion that it would be better for him to take Marie's refusal, +and thus to let the matter drop. It would be very bitter to him, +because all Basle had now heard of his proposed marriage, and a +whole shower of congratulations had already fallen upon him from his +fellow-townspeople: but he thought that it would be more bitter to +be rejected again in person by Marie Bromar, and then to be stared +at by all the natives of Granpere. He acknowledged that George Voss +was a traitor; and would have been ready to own that Marie was +another, had Michel Voss given him any encouragement in that +direction. But Michel throughout the whole morning,--and they were +closeted together for hours,--declared that poor Marie was more +sinned against than sinning. If Adrian was but once more over at +Granpere, all would be made right. At last Michel Voss prevailed, +and persuaded the young man to return with him to the Lion d'Or. + +They started early on the following morning, and travelled to +Granpere by way of Colmar and the mountain. The father thus passed +twice through Colmar, but on neither occasion did he call upon his +son. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +There had been very little said between Michel Voss and Urmand on +their journey towards Granpere till they were at the top of the +Vosges, on the mountain road, at which place they had to leave their +little carriage and bait their horse. Indeed Michel had been asleep +during almost the entire time. On the night but one before he had +not been in bed at all, having reached Basle after midnight, and +having passed the hours 'twixt that and his morning visit to +Urmand's house in his futile endeavours to stop poor Marie's letter. +And the departure of the travellers from Basle on this morning had +been very early, so that the poor innkeeper had been robbed of his +proper allowance of natural rest. He had slept soundly in the train +to Colmar, and had afterwards slept in the little caleche which had +taken them to the top of the mountain. Urmand had sat silent by his +side,--by no means anxious to disturb his companion, because he had +no determined plan ready to communicate. Once or twice before he +reached Colmar he had thought that he would go back again. He had +been, he felt, badly treated; and, though he was very fond of Marie, +it would be better for him perhaps to wash his hands of the whole +affair. He was so thinking the whole way to Colmar. But he was +afraid of Michel Voss, and when they got out upon the platform +there, he had no resolution ready to be declared as fixed. Then +they had hired the little carriage, and Michel Voss had slept again. +He had slept all through Munster, and up the steep mountain, and was +not thoroughly awake till they were summoned to get out at the +wonderfully fine house for refreshment which the late Emperor caused +to be built at the top of the hill. Here they went into the +restaurant, and as Michel Voss was known to the man who kept it, he +ordered a bottle of wine. 'What a terrible place to live in all the +winter!' he said, as he looked down through the window right into +the deep valley below. From the spot on which the house is built +you can see all the broken wooded ground of the steep descent, and +then the broad plain that stretches away to the valley of the Rhine. +'There is nothing but snow here after Christmas,' continued Michel, +'and perhaps not a Christian over the road for days together. I +shouldn't like it, I know. It may be all very well just now.' + +But Adrian Urmand was altogether inattentive either to the scenery +now before him, or to the prospect of the mountain innkeeper's +winter life. He knew that two hours and a half would take them down +the mountain into Granpere, and that when there, it would be at once +necessary that he should begin a task the idea of which was by no +means pleasant to him. He was quite sure now that he wished he had +remained at Basle, and that he had accepted Marie's letter as final. +He told himself again and again that he could not make her marry him +if she chose to change her mind. What was he to say, and what was +he to do when he got to Granpere, a place which he almost wished +that he had never seen in spite of those profitable linen-buyings? +And now when Michel Voss began to talk to him about the scenery, and +what this man up in the mountain did in the winter,--at this moment +when his terrible trouble was so very near him,--he felt it to be an +insult, or at least a cruelty. 'What can he do from December till +April except smoke and drink?' asked Michel Voss. + +'I don't care what he does,' said Urmand, turning away. 'I only +know I wish I'd never come here.' + +'Take a glass of wine, my friend,' said Michel. 'The mountain air +has made you chill.' Urmand took the glass of wine, but it did not +cheer him much. 'We shall have it all right before the day is +over,' continued Michel. + +'I don't think it will ever be all right,' said the other. + +'And why not? The fact is, you don't understand young women; as how +should you, seeing that you have not had to manage them? You do as +I tell you, and just be round with her. You tell her that you don't +desire any change yourself, and that after what has passed you can't +allow her to think of such a thing. You speak as though you had a +downright claim, as you have; and all will come right. It's not +that she cares for him, you know. You must remember that. She has +never even said a word of that kind. I haven't a doubt on my mind +as to which she really likes best; but it's that stupid promise, and +the way that George has had of making her believe that she is bound +by the first word she ever spoke to a young man. It's only +nonsense, and of course we must get over it.' Then they were +summoned out, the horse having finished his meal, and were rattled +down the hill into Granpere without many more words between them. + +One other word was spoken, and that word was hardly pleasant in its +tone. Urmand at least did not relish it. 'I shall go away at once +if she doesn't treat me as she ought,' said he, just as they were +entering the village. + +Michel was silent for a moment before he answered. 'You'll behave, +I'm sure, as a man ought to behave to a young woman whom he intends +to make his wife.' The words themselves were civil enough; but +there was a tone in the innkeeper's voice and a flame in his eye, +which made Urmand almost feel that he had been threatened. Then +they drove into the space in front of the door of the Lion d'Or. + +Michel had made for himself no plan whatsoever. He led the way at +once into the house, and Urmand followed, hardly daring to look up +into the faces of the persons around him. They were both of them +soon in the presence of Madame Voss, but Marie Bromar was not there. +Marie had been sharp enough to perceive who was coming before they +were out of the carriage, and was already ensconced in some safer +retreat up-stairs, in which she could meditate on her plan of the +campaign. 'Look lively, and get us something to eat,' said Michel, +meaning to be cheerful and self-possessed. 'We left Basle at five, +and have not eaten a mouthful since.' It was now nearly four +o'clock, and the bread and cheese which had been served with the +wine on the top of the mountain had of course gone for nothing. +Madame Voss immediately began to bustle about, calling the cook and +Peter Veque to her assistance. But nothing for a while was said +about Marie. Urmand, trying to look as though he were self-possessed, +stood with his back to the stove, and whistled. For a few minutes, +during which the bustling about the table went on, Michel was wrapped +in thought, and said nothing. At last he had made up his mind, and +spoke: 'We might as well make a dash at it at once,' said he. +'Where is Marie?' No one answered him. 'Where is Marie Bromar?' he +asked again, angrily. He knew that it behoved him now to take upon +himself at once the real authority of a master of a house. + +'She is up-stairs,' said Peter, who was straightening a table-cloth. + +'Tell her to come down to me,' said her uncle. Peter departed +immediately, and for a while there was silence in the little room. +Adrian Urmand felt his heart to palpitate disagreeably. Indeed, the +manner in which it would appear that the innkeeper proposed to +manage the business was distressing enough to him. It seemed as +though it were intended that he should discuss his little +difficulties with Marie in the presence of the whole household. But +he stood his ground, and sounded one more ineffectual little +whistle. In a few minutes Peter returned, but said nothing. 'Where +is Marie Bromar?' again demanded Michel in an angry voice. + +'I told her to come down,' said Peter. + +'Well?' + +'I don't think she's coming,' said Peter. + +'What did she say?' + +'Not a word; she only bade me go down.' Then Michel walked into the +kitchen as though he were about to fetch the recusant himself. But +he stopped himself, and asked his wife to go up to Marie. Madame +Voss did go up, and after her return there was some whispering +between her and her husband. 'She is upset by the excitement of +your return,' Michel said at last; 'and we must give her a little +grace. Come, we will eat our dinner.' + +In the mean time Marie was sitting on her bed up-stairs in a most +unhappy plight. She really loved her uncle, and almost feared him. +She did fear him with that sort of fear which is produced by +reverence and habits of obedience, but which, when softened by +affection, hardly makes itself known as fear, except on troublous +occasions. And she was oppressed by the remembrance of all that was +due from her to him and to her aunt, feeling, as it was natural that +she should do, in compliance with the manners and habits of her +people, that she owed a duty of obedience in this matter of +marriage. Though she had been able to hold her own against the +priest, and had been quite firm in opposition to her aunt,--who was +in truth a woman much less strong by nature than herself,--she +dreaded a farther dispute with her uncle. She could not bear to +think that he should be enabled to accuse her with justice of +ingratitude. It had been her great pleasure to be true to him, and +he had answered her truth by a perfect confidence which had given a +charm to her life. Now this would all be over, and she would be +driven again to beg him to send her away, that she might become a +household drudge elsewhere. And now that this very moment of her +agony had come, and that this man to whom she had given a promise +was there to claim her, how was she to go down and say what she had +to say, before all the world? It was perfectly clear to her that in +accordance with her reception of Urmand at the first moment of their +meeting, so must be her continued conduct towards him, till he +should leave her, or else take her away with him. She could not +smile on him and shake hands with him, and cut his bread for him and +pour out his wine, after such a letter as she had written to him, +without signifying thereby that the letter was to go for nothing. +Now, let what might happen, the letter was not to go for nothing. +The letter was to remain a true fact, and a true letter. 'I can't +go down, Aunt Josey; indeed I can't,' she said. 'I am not well, and +I should drop. Pray tell Uncle Michel, with my best love and with +my duty, that I can't go to him now.' And she sat still upon her +bed, not weeping, but clasping her hands, and trying to see her way +out of her misfortune. + +The dinner was eaten in grim silence, and after the dinner Michel, +still grimly silent, sat with his friend on the bench before the +door and smoked a cigar. While he was smoking, Michel said never a +word. But he was thinking of the difficulty he had to overcome; and +he was thinking also, at odd moments, whether his own son George was +not, after all, a better sort of lover for a young woman than this +young man who was seated by his side. But it never occurred to him +that he might find a solution of the difficulty by encouraging this +second idea. Urmand, during this time, was telling himself that it +behoved him to be a man, and that his sitting there in silence was +hardly proof of his manliness. He knew that he was being ill-treated, +and that he must do something to redress his own wrongs, if he +only knew how to do it. He was quite determined that he would +not be a coward; that he would stand up for his own rights. But if +a young woman won't marry a man, a man can't make her do so, either +by scolding her, or by fighting any of her friends. In this case +the young lady's friends were all on his side. But the weight of +that half hour of silence and of Michel's gloom was intolerable to +him. At last he got up and declared he would go and see an old +woman who would have linen to sell. 'As I am here, I might as well +do a stroke of work,' he said, striving to be jocose. + +'Do,' said Michel; 'and in the mean time I will see Marie Bromar.' + +Whenever Michel Voss was heard to call his niece Marie Bromar, using +the two names, it was understood, by all who heard him about the +hotel, that he was not in a good humour. As soon as Urmand was +gone, he rose slowly from his seat, and with heavy steps he went +up-stairs in search of the refractory girl. He went straight to her +own bedroom, and there he found her still sitting on her bedside. +She jumped up as soon as he was in the room, and running up to him, +took him by the arm. 'Uncle Michel,' she said, 'pray, pray be good +to me. Pray, spare me!' + +'I am good to you,' he said. 'I try to be good to you.' + +'You know that I love you. Do you not know that I love you?' Then +she paused, but he made no answer to her. He was surer of nothing +in the world than he was of her affection; but it did not suit him +to acknowledge it at that moment. 'I would do anything for you that +I could do, Uncle Michel; but pray do not ask me to do this?' Then +she clasped him tightly, and hung upon him, and put up her face to +be kissed. But he would not kiss her. 'Ah,' said she; 'you mean to +be hard to me. Then I must go; then I must go; then I must go.' + +'That is nonsense, Marie. You cannot go, till you go to your +husband. Where would you go to?' + +'It matters not where I go to now.' + +'Marie, you are betrothed to this man, and you must consent to +become his wife. Say that you will consent, and all this nonsense +shall be forgotten.' She did not say that she would consent; but +she did not say that she would not, and he thought that he might +persuade her, if he could speak to her as he ought. But he doubted +which might be most efficacious, affection or severity. He had +assured himself that it would be his duty to be very severe, before +he gave up the point; but it might be possible, as she was so sweet +with him, so loving and so gracious, that affection might prevail. +If so, how much easier would the task be to himself! So he put his +arm round her, and stooped down and kissed her. + +'O, Uncle Michel,' she said; 'dear, dear Uncle Michel; say that you +will spare me, and be on my side, and be good to me.' + +'My darling girl, it is for your own good, for the good of us all, +that you should marry this man. Do you not know that I would not +tell you so, if it were not true? I cannot be more good to you than +that.' + +'I can--not, Uncle Michel.' + +'Tell me why, now. What is it? Has anybody been bringing tales to +you?' + +'Nobody has brought any tales.' + +'Is there anything amiss with him?' + +'It is not that. It is not that at all. I am sure he is an +excellent young man, and I wish with all my heart he had a better +wife than I can ever be.' + +'He thinks you will be quite good enough for him.' + +'I am not good for anybody. I am very bad.' + +'Leave him to judge of that.' + +'But I cannot do it, Uncle Michel. I can never be Adrian Urmand's +wife.' + +'But why, why, why?' repeated Michel, who was beginning to be again +angered by his own want of success. 'You have said that a dozen +times, but have never attempted to give a reason.' + +'I will tell you the reason. It is because I love George with all +my heart, and with all my soul. He is so dear to me, that I should +always be thinking of him. I could not help myself. I should +always have him in my heart. Would that be right, Uncle Michel, if +I were married to another man?' + +'Then why did you accept the other man? There is nothing changed +since then.' + +'I was wicked then.' + +'I don't think you were wicked at all;--but at any rate you did it. +You didn't think anything about having George in your heart then.' + +It was very hard for her to answer this, and for a moment or two she +was silenced. At last she found a reply. 'I thought everything was +dead within me then,--and that it didn't signify. Since that he has +been here, and he has told me all.' + +'I wish he had stayed where he was with all my heart. We did not +want him here,' said the innkeeper in his anger. + +'But he did come, Uncle Michel. I did not send for him, but he did +come.' + +'Yes; he came,--and he has disturbed everything that I had arranged +so happily. Look here, Marie. I lay my commands upon you as your +uncle and guardian, and I may say also as your best and staunchest +friend, to be true to the solemn engagement which you have made with +this young man. I will not hear any answer from you now, but I +leave you with that command. Urmand has come here at my request, +because I told him that you would be obedient. If you make a fool +of me, and of yourself, and of us all, it will be impossible that I +should forgive you. He will see you this evening, and I will trust +to your good sense to receive him with propriety.' Then Michel Voss +left the room and descended with ponderous steps, indicative of a +heavy heart. + +Marie, when she was alone, again seated herself on the bedside. Of +course she must see Adrian Urmand. She was quite aware that she +could not encounter him now with that half-saucy independent air +which had come to her quite naturally before she had accepted him. +She would willingly humble herself in the dust before him, if by so +doing she could induce him to relinquish his suit. But if she could +not do so; if she could not talk over either her uncle or him to be +on what she called her side, then what should she do? Her uncle's +entreaties to her, joined to his too evident sorrow, had upon her an +effect so powerful, that she could hardly overcome it. She had, as +she thought, resolved most positively that nothing should induce her +to marry Adrian Urmand. She had of course been very firm in this +resolution when she wrote her letter. But now--now she was almost +shaken! When she thought only of herself, she would almost task +herself to believe that after all it did not much matter what of +happiness or of unhappiness might befall her. If she allowed +herself to be taken to a new home at Basle she could still work and +eat and drink,--and working, eating, and drinking she could wait +till her unhappiness should be removed. She was sufficiently wise +to understand that as she became a middle-aged woman, with perhaps +children around her, her sorrow would melt into a soft regret which +would be at least endurable. And what did it signify after all how +much one such a being as herself might suffer? The world would go +on in the same way, and her small troubles would be of but little +significance. Work would save her from utter despondence. But when +she thought of George, and the words in which he had expressed the +constancy of his own love, and the shipwreck which would fall upon +him if she were untrue to him,--then again she would become strong +in her determination. Her uncle had threatened her with his lasting +displeasure. He had said that it would be impossible that he should +forgive her. That would be unbearable! Yet, when she thought of +George, she told herself that it must be borne. + +Before the hour of supper came, her aunt had been with her, and she +had promised to see her suitor alone. There had been some doubt on +this point between Michel and his wife, Madame Voss thinking that +either she or her husband ought to be present. But Michel had +prevailed. 'I don't care what any people may say,' he replied. 'I +know my own girl;--and I know also what he has a right to expect.' +So it was settled, and Marie understood that Adrian was to come to +her in the little brightly furnished sitting-room upstairs. On this +occasion she took no notice of the hotel supper at all. It is to be +hoped that Peter Veque proved himself equal to the occasion. + +At about nine she was seated in the appointed place, and Madame Voss +brought her lover up into the room. + +'Here is M. Urmand come to speak to you,' she said. 'Your uncle +thinks that you had better see him alone. I am sure you will bear +in mind what it is that he and I wish.' Then she closed the door, +and Adrian and Marie were left together. + +'I need hardly tell you,' said he, 'what were my feelings when your +uncle came to me yesterday morning. And when I opened your letter +and read it, I could hardly believe that it had come from you.' + +'Yes, M. Urmand;--it did come from me.' + +'And why--what have I done? The last word you had spoken to me was +to declare that you would be my loving wife.' + +'Not that, M. Urmand; never that. When I thought it was to be so, I +told you that I would do my best to do my duty by you.' + +'Say that once more, and all shall be right.' + +'But I never promised that I would love you. I could not promise +that; and I was very wicked to allow them to give you my troth. You +can't think worse of me than I think of myself.' + +'But, Marie, why should you not love me? I am sure you would love +me.' + +'Listen to me, M. Urmand; listen to me, and be generous to me. I +think you can be generous to a poor girl who is very unhappy. I do +not love you. I do not say that I should not have loved you, if you +had been the first. Why should not any girl love you? You are +above me in every way, and rich, and well spoken of; and your life +has been less rough and poor than mine. It is not that I have been +proud. What is there that I can be proud of--except my uncle's +trust in me? But George Voss had come to me before, and had made me +promise that I would love him;--and I do love him. How can I help +it, if I wished to help it? O, M. Urmand, can you not be generous? +Think how little it is that you will lose.' But Adrian Urmand did +not like to be told of the girl's love for another man. His +generosity would almost have been more easily reached had she told +him of George's love for her. People had assured him since he was +engaged that Marie Bromar was the handsomest girl in Lorraine or +Alsace; and he felt it to be an injury that this handsome girl +should prefer such a one as George Voss to himself. Marie, with a +woman's sharpness, perceived all this accurately. 'Remember,' said +she, 'that I had hardly seen you when George and I were--when he and +I became such friends.' + +'Your uncle doesn't want you to marry his son.' + +'I shall never become George's wife without consent; never.' + +'Then what would be the use of my giving way?' asked Urmand. 'He +would never consent.' + +She paused for a moment before she replied. + +'To save yourself,' said she, 'from living with a woman who cannot +love you, and to save me from living with a man I cannot love.' + +'And is this to be all the answer you will give me?' + +'It is the request that I have to make to you,' said Marie. + +'Then I had better go down to your uncle.' And he went down to +Michel Voss, leaving Marie Bromar again alone. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +The people of Colmar think Colmar to be a considerable place, and +far be it from us to hint that it is not so. It is--or was in the +days when Alsace was French--the chief town of the department of the +Haut Rhine. It bristles with barracks, and is busy with cotton +factories. It has been accustomed to the presence of a prefet, and +is no doubt important. But it is not so large that people going in +and out of it can pass without attention, and this we take to be the +really true line of demarcation between a big town and a little one. +Had Michel Voss and Adrian Urmand passed through Lyons or Strasbourg +on their journey to Granpere, no one would have noticed them, and +their acquaintances in either of those cities would not have been a +bit the wiser. But it was not probable that they should leave the +train at the Colmar station, and hire Daniel Bredin's caleche for +the mountain journey thence to Granpere, without all the facts of +the case coming to the ears of Madame Faragon. And when she had +heard the news, of course she told it to George Voss. She had +interested herself very keenly in the affair of George's love, +partly because she had a soft heart of her own and loved a ray of +romance to fall in upon her as she sat fat and helpless in her +easy-chair, and partly because she thought that the future landlord +of the Hotel de la Poste at Colmar ought to be regarded as a bigger +man and a better match than any Swiss linen-merchant in the world. +'I can't think what it is that your father means,' she had said. +'When he and I were young, he used not to be so fond of the people +of Basle, and he didn't think so much then of a peddling buyer of +sheetings and shirtings.' Madame Faragon was rather fond of +alluding to past times, and of hinting to George that in early days, +had she been willing, she might have been mistress of the Lion d'Or +at Granpere, instead of the Poste at Colmar. George never quite +believed the boast, as he knew that Madame Faragon was at least ten +years older than his father. 'He used to think,' continued Madame +Faragon, 'that there was nothing better than a good house in the +public line, with a well-spirited woman inside it to stand her ground +and hold her own. But everything is changed now, since the railroads +came up. The pedlars become merchants, and the respectable old +shopkeepers must go to the wall.' George would hear all this in +silence, though he knew that his old friend was endeavouring to +comfort him by making little of the Basle linen-merchant. Now, when +Madame Faragon learned that Michel Voss and Adrian Urmand had gone +through Colmar back from Basle on their way to Granpere, she +immediately foresaw what was to happen. Marie's marriage was to be +hurried on, George was to be thrown overboard, and the pedlar's pack +was to be triumphant over the sign of the innkeeper. + +'If I were you, George, I would dash in among them at once,' said +Madame Faragon. + +George was silent for a minute or two, leaving the room and +returning to it before he made any answer. Then he declared that he +would dash in among them at Granpere. + +'It will be better to go over and see it all settled,' he said. + +'But, George, you won't quarrel?' + +'What do you mean by quarrelling? I don't suppose that this man and +I can be very dear friends when we meet each other.' + +'You won't have any fighting? O, George, if I thought there was +going to be fighting, I would go myself to prevent it.' Madame +Faragon no doubt was sincere in her desire that there should be no +fighting; but, nevertheless, there was a life and reality about this +little affair which had a gratifying effect upon her. 'If I thought +I could do any good, I really would go,' she said again afterwards. +But George did not encourage her to make the attempt. + +No more was said about it; but early on the following morning, or in +truth long before the morning had dawned, George had started upon +his journey, following his father and M. Urmand in their route over +the mountain. This was the third time he had gone to Granpere in +the course of the present autumn, and on each time he had gone +without invitation and without warning. And yet, previous to this, +he had remained above a year at Colmar without taking any notice of +his family. He knew that his father would not make him welcome, and +he almost doubted whether it would be proper for him to drive +himself direct to the door of the hotel. His father had told him, +when they were last parting from each other, that he was nothing but +a trouble. 'You are all trouble,' his father had said to him. And +then his father had threatened to have him turned from the door by +the servants, if he should come to the house again before Marie and +Adrian were married. He was not afraid of his father; but he felt +that he had no right to treat the Lion d'Or as his own home unless +he was prepared to obey his father. And he knew nothing as to Marie +and her purpose. He had learned from her that, were she left to +herself, she would give herself with all her heart to him. But she +would not be left to herself, and he only knew now that Adrian +Urmand was being taken back to Granpere,--of course with the +intention that the marriage should be at once perfected. Madame +Faragon had, no doubt, been right in her advice as to dashing in +among them at once. Whatever was to be done must be done now. But +it was by no means clear to him how he was to carry on the war when +he found himself among them all at Granpere. + +It was now October, and the morning on the mountain was very dark +and cold. He had started from Colmar between three and four, so +that he had passed through Munster, and was ascending the hill +before six. He stopped, too, and fed his horse at the Emperor's +house at the top, and fortified himself with a tumbler of wine and a +hunch of bread. He meant to go into Granpere and claim Marie as his +own. He would go to the priest, and to the pastor if necessary, and +forbid all authorities to lend their countenance to the proposed +marriage. He would speak his mind plainly, and would accuse his +father of extreme cruelty. He would call upon Madame Voss to save +her niece. He would be very savage with Marie, hoping that he might +thereby save her from herself,--defying her to say either before man +or God that she loved the man whom she was about to make her +husband. And as to Adrian Urmand himself--; he still thought that, +should the worst come to the worst, he would try some process of +choking upon Adrian Urmand. Any use of personal violence would be +distasteful to him and contrary to his nature. He was not a man who +in the ordinary way of his life would probably lift his hand against +another. Such liftings of hands on the part of other men he +regarded as a falling back to the truculence of savage life. Men +should manage and coerce each other either with the tongue, or with +money, or with the law--according to his theory of life. But on +such an occasion as this he found himself obliged to acknowledge +that, if the worst should come to the worst, some attempt at choking +his enemy must be made. It must be made for Marie's sake, if not +for his own. In this mood of mind he drove down to Granpere, and, +not knowing where else to stop, drew up his horse in the middle of +the road before the hotel. The stable-servant, who was hanging +about, immediately came to him;--and there was his father standing, +all alone, at the door of the house. It was now ten o'clock, and he +had expected that his father would have been away from home, as was +his custom at that hour. But the innkeeper's mind was at present +too full of trouble to allow of his going off either to the +woodcutting or to the farm. + +Adrian Urmand, after his failure with Marie on the preceding +evening, had not again gone down-stairs. He had taken himself at +once to his bedroom, and had remained there gloomy and unhappy, very +angry with Marie Bromar; but, if possible, more angry with Michel +Voss. Knowing, as he must have known, how the land lay, why had the +innkeeper brought him from Basle to Granpere? He found himself to +have been taken in, from first to last, by the whole household, and +he would at this moment have been glad to obliterate Granpere +altogether from among the valleys of the Vosges. And so he went to +bed in his wrath. Michel and Madame Voss sat below waiting for him +above an hour. Madame Voss more than once proposed that she should +go up and see what was happening. It was impossible, she declared, +that they should be talking together all that time. But her husband +had stayed her. 'Whatever they have to say, let them say it out.' +It seemed to him that Marie must be giving way, if she submitted +herself to so long an interview. When at last Madame Voss did go +up-stairs, she learned from the maid that M. Urmand had been in bed +ever so long; and on going to Marie's chamber, she found her sitting +where she had sat before. 'Yes, Aunt Josey, I will go to bed at +once,' she said. 'Give uncle my love.' Then Aunt Josey had +returned to her husband, and neither of them had been able to +extract any comfort from the affairs of the evening. + +Early on the following morning, M. le Cure was called to a +consultation. This was very distasteful to Michel Voss, because he +was himself a Protestant, and, having lived all his life with a +Protestant son and two Roman Catholic women in the house, he had +come to feel that Father Gondin's religion was a religion for the +weaker sex. He troubled himself very little with the doctrinal +differences, having no slightest touch of an idea that he was to be +saved because he was a Protestant, and that they were in peril +because they were Roman Catholics. Nor, indeed, was there any such +idea on either side prevalent in the valley. What M. le Cure +himself may have believed, who can say? But he never taught his +parishioners that their Protestant uncles and wives and children +were to be damned. Michel Voss was averse to priestly assistance; +but now he submitted to it. He hardly knew himself how far that +betrothal was a binding ceremony. But he felt strongly that he had +committed himself to the marriage; that it did not become him to +allow that his son had been right; and also that if Marie would only +marry the man, she would find herself quite happy in her new home. +So M. le Cure was called in, and there was a consultation. M. le +Cure was quite as hot in favour of the marriage as were the other +persons concerned. It was, in the first place, infinitely +preferable in his eyes that his young parishioner should marry a +Roman Catholic. But he was not able to undertake to use any special +thunders of the Church. He could tell the young woman what was her +duty, and he had done so. If her guardians wished it, he would do +so again, very strongly. But he did not know how he was to do more. +Then the priest told the story of Annette Lolme, pointing out how +well Marie was acquainted with all the bearings of the case. + +'But both consented to break it off in that case,' said Michel. It +was singular to observe how cruel he had become against the girl +whom he so dearly loved. The Cure explained to him again that +neither the Church nor the law could interfere to make her marry M. +Urmand. It might be explained to her that she would commit a sin +requiring penitence and absolution if she did not marry him. The +Church could go no farther than that. But--such was the Cure's +opinion--there was no power at the command of Michel Voss by which +he could force his niece to marry the man, unless his own internal +power as a friend and a protector might enable him to do so. 'She +doesn't care a straw for that now,' said he. 'Not a straw. Since +that fellow was over here, she thinks nothing of me, and nothing of +her word.' Then he went out to the hotel door, leaving the priest +with his wife, and he had not stood there for a minute or two before +he saw his son's arrival. Marie, in the mean time, had not left her +room. She had sent word down to her uncle that she was ill, and +that she would beg him to go up to her. As yet he had not seen her; +but a message had been taken to her, saying that he would come soon. +Adrian Urmand had breakfasted alone, and had since been wandering +about the house by himself. He also, from the windows of the +billiard-room, had seen the arrival of George Voss. + +Michel Voss, when he saw George, did not move from his place. He +was still very angry with his son, vehemently angry, because his son +stood in the way of the completion of his desires. But he had +forgotten all his threats, spoken now nearly a week ago. He was +altogether oblivious of his declaration that he would have George +turned away from the door by the servants of the inn. That his own +son should treat his house as a home was so natural to him, that it +did not even occur to him now that he could bid him not to enter. +There he was again, creating more trouble; and, as far as our friend +the innkeeper could see, likely enough to be successful in his +object. Michel stood his ground, with his hands in his pockets, +because he would not even shake hands with his son. But when George +came up, he bowed a recognition with his head; as though he should +have said, 'I see you; but I cannot say that you are welcome to +Granpere.' George stood for a moment or two, and then addressed his +father. + +'Adrian Urmand is here with you, is he not, father?' + +'He is in the house somewhere,' said Michel, sullenly. + +'May I speak to him?' + +'I am not his keeper; not his,' and Michel put a special accent on +the last word, by which he implied that though he was not the keeper +of Adrian Urmand, he was the keeper of somebody else. George stood +awhile, hesitating, by his father's side, and as he stood he saw +through the window of the billiard-room the figure of Urmand, who +was watching them. 'Your mother is in her own room; you had better +go to her,' said Michel. Then George entered the hotel, and his +father went across the court to seek Urmand in his retreat. In this +way the difficulty of the first meeting was overcome, and George did +not find himself turned out of the Lion d'Or. + +He knew of course nothing of the state of affairs at the inn. It +might be that Marie had already given way, and was still the +promised bride of this man. Indeed, to him it seemed most probable +that such should be the case. He had been sent to look for Madame +Voss, and Madame Voss he found in the kitchen. + +'O, George, who expected to see you here to-day!' she exclaimed. + +'Nobody, I daresay,' he replied. The cook was there, and two or +three other servants and hangers-on. It was impossible that he +should speak out before so many persons, and he had not a friend +about the place, unless Marie was his friend. After a few moments +he went into the inner room, and Madame Voss followed him. 'Well,' +said he, 'has anything been settled?' + +'I am sorry to say that everything is as unsettled as it can be,' +said Madame Voss. + +Then Marie must be true to him! And if so, she must be the grandest +woman, the finest girl that had ever been created. If so, would he +not be true to her? If so, with what a true worship would he offer +her all that he had to give in the world! He had come there before +determined to crush her with his thunderbolt. Now he would swear to +cherish her and keep her warm with his love for ever and ever. 'Is +she here?' he asked. + +'She is up-stairs, in bed. You cannot see her.' + +'She is not ill?' + +'She is making everybody else ill about the place, I know that,' +said Madame Voss. 'And as for you, George, you owe a different kind +of treatment to your father; you do indeed. It will make an old man +of him. He has set his heart upon this, and you ought to have +yielded.' + +It was at any rate evident that Marie was holding out, was true to +her first love, in spite of that betrothal which had appeared to +George to be so wicked, but which had in truth been caused by his +own fault. If Marie would hold out, there would be no need that he +should lay violent hands upon Adrian Urmand, or have resort to any +process of choking. If she would only be firm, they could not +succeed in making her marry the linen-merchant. He was not in the +least afraid of M. le Cure Gondin; nor was he afraid of Adrian +Urmand. He was not much afraid of Madame Voss. He was afraid only +of his father. 'A man cannot yield on such a matter,' he said. 'No +man yields in such an affair,--though he may be beaten.' Madame +Voss listened to him, but said nothing farther. She was busy with +her work, and went on intently with her needle. + +He had asked to see Urmand, and he now went out in quest of him. He +passed across the court, and in at the door of the cafe, and up into +the billiard-room. Here he found both his father and the young man. +Urmand got up to salute him, and George took off his hat. Nothing +could be more ceremonious than the manner in which the two rivals +greeted each other. They had not seen each other for nearly two +years, and had never been intimate. When George had been living at +Granpere, Urmand had only been an occasional sojourner at the inn, +and had not as yet fallen into habits of friendship with the Voss +family. + +'Have you seen your mother?' Michel asked. + +'Yes; I have seen her.' Then there was silence for awhile. Urmand +knew not how to speak, and George was doubtful how to proceed in +presence of his father. + +Then Michel asked another question. 'Are you going to stay long +with us, George?' + +'Certainly not long, father. I have brought nothing with me but +what you see.' + +'You have brought too much, if you have come to give us trouble.' + +Then there was another pause, during which George sat down in a +corner, apart from them. Urmand took out a cigar and lit it, +offering one to the innkeeper. But Michel Voss shook his head. He +was very unhappy, feeling that everything around him was wrong. +Here was a son of his, of whom he was proud, the only living child +of his first wife, a young man of whom all people said good things; +a son whom he had always loved and trusted, and who even now, at +this very moment, was showing himself to be a real man; and yet he +was forced to quarrel with this son, and say harsh things to him, +and sit away from him with a man who was after all no more than a +stranger to him, with whom he had no sympathy; when it would have +made him so happy to be leaning on his son's shoulder, and +discussing their joint affairs with unreserved confidence, asking +questions about wages, and suggesting possible profits. He was +beginning to hate Adrian Urmand. He was beginning to hate the young +man, although he knew that it was his duty to go on with the +marriage. Urmand, as soon as his cigar was lighted, got up and +began to knock the balls about on the table. That gloom of silence +was to him most painful. + +'If you would not mind it, M. Urmand,' said George, 'I should like +to take a walk with you.' + +'To take a walk?' + +'If it would not be disagreeable. Perhaps it would be well that you +and I should have a few minutes of conversation.' + +'I will leave you together here,' said the father, 'if you, George, +will promise me that there shall be no violence.' Urmand looked at +the innkeeper as though he did not like the proposition, but Michel +took no notice of his look. + +'There certainly shall be none on my part,' said George. 'I don't +know what M. Urmand's feelings may be.' + +'O dear, no; nothing of the kind,' said Urmand. 'But I don't +exactly see what we are to talk about.' Michel, however, paid no +attention to this, but walked slowly out of the room. 'I really +don't know what there is to say,' continued Urmand, as he knocked +the balls about with his cue. + +'There is this to say. That girl up there was induced to promise +that she would be your wife, when she believed that--I had forgotten +her.' + +'O dear, no; nothing of the kind.' + +'That is her story. Go and ask her. If it is so, or even if it +suits her now to say so, you will hardly, as a man, endeavour to +drive her into a marriage which she does not wish. You will never +do it, even if you do try. Though you go on trying till you drive +her mad, she will never be your wife. But if you are a man, you +will not continue to torment her, simply because you have got her +uncle to back you.' + +'Who says she will never marry me?' + +'I say so. She says so.' + +'We are betrothed to each other. Why should she not marry me?' + +'Simply because she does not wish it. She does not love you. Is +not that enough? She does love another man; me--me--me. Is not +that enough? Heaven and earth! I would sooner go to the galleys, or +break stones upon the roads, than take a woman to my bosom who was +thinking of some other man.' + +'That is all very fine.' + +'Let me tell you, that the other thing, that which you propose to +do, is by no means fine. But I will not quarrel with you, if I can +help it. Will you go away and leave us at peace? They say you are +rich and have a grand house. Surely you can do better than marry a +poor innkeeper's niece--a girl that has worked hard all her life?' + +'I could do better if I chose,' said Adrian Urmand. + +'Then go and do better. Do you not perceive that even my father is +becoming tired of all the trouble you are making? Surely you will +not wait till you are turned out of the house?' + +'Who will turn me out of the house?' + +'Marie will, and my father. Do you think he'll see her wither and +droop and die, or perhaps go mad, in order that a promise may be +kept to you? Take the matter into your own hands at once, and say +you will have no more to do with it. That will be the manly way.' + +'Is that all you have to say, my friend?' asked Urmand, assuming a +voice that was intended to be indifferent. + +'Yes--that is all. But I mean to do something more, if I am driven +to it.' + +'Very well. When I want advice from you, I will come to you for it. +And as for your doing, I believe you are not master here as yet. +Good-morning.' So saying, Adrian Urmand left the room, and George +Voss in a few minutes followed him down the stairs. + +The rest of the day was passed in gloom and wretchedness. George +hardly spoke to his father; but the two sat at table together, and +there was no open quarrel between them. Urmand also sat with them, +and tried to converse with Michel and Madame Voss. But Michel would +say very little to him; and the mistress of the house was so cowed +by the circumstances of the day, that she was hardly able to talk. +Marie still kept her room; and it was stated to them that she was +not well and was in bed. Her uncle had gone to see her twice, but +had made no report to any one of what had passed between them. + +It had come to be understood that George would sleep there, at any +rate for that night, and a bed had been prepared for him. The party +broke up very early, for there was nothing in common among them to +keep them together. Madame Voss sat murmuring with the priest for +half an hour or so; but it seemed that the gloom attendant upon the +young lovers had settled also upon M. le Cure. Even he escaped as +early as he could. + +When George was about to undress himself there came a knock at his +door, and one of the servant-girls put into his hand a scrap of paper. +On it was written, 'I will never marry him, never--never--never; +upon my honour!' + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Michel Voss at this time was a very unhappy man. He had taught +himself to believe that it would be a good thing that his niece +should marry Adrian Urmand, and that it was his duty to achieve this +good thing in her behalf. He had had it on his mind for the last +year, and had nearly brought it to pass. There was, moreover, now, +at this present moment, a clear duty on him to be true to the young +man who with his consent, and indeed very much at his instance, had +become betrothed to Marie Bromar. The reader will understand how +ideas of duty, not very clearly looked into or analysed, acted upon +his mind. And then there was always present to him a recurrence of +that early caution which had made him lay a parental embargo upon +anything like love between his son and his wife's niece. Without +much thinking about it,--for he probably never thought very much +about anything,--he had deemed it prudent to separate two young +people brought up together, when they began, as he fancied, to be +foolish. An elderly man is so apt to look upon his own son as a +boy, and on a girl who has grown up under his nose as little more +than a child! And then George in those days had had no business of +his own, and should not have thought of such a thing! In this way +the mind of Michel Voss had been forced into strong hostility +against the idea of a marriage between Marie and his son, and had +filled itself with the spirit of a partisan on the side of Adrian +Urmand. But now, as things had gone, he had been made very unhappy +by the state of his own mind, and consequently was beginning to feel +a great dislike for the merchant from Basle. The stupid mean little +fellow, with his white pocket-handkerchief, and his scent, and his +black greasy hair, had made his way into the house and had destroyed +all comfort and pleasure! That was the light in which Michel was +now disposed to regard his previously honoured guest. When he made +a comparison between Adrian and George, he could not but acknowledge +that any girl of spirit and sense would prefer his son. He was very +proud of his son,--proud even of the lad's disobedience to himself +on such a subject; and this feeling added to his discomfort. + +He had twice seen Marie in her bed during that day spoken of in the +last chapter. On both occasions he had meant to be very firm; but +it was not easy for such a one as Michel Voss to be firm to a young +woman in her night-cap, rather pale, whose eyes were red with +weeping. A woman in bed was to him always an object of tenderness, +and a woman in tears, as his wife well knew, could on most occasions +get the better of him. When he first saw Marie, he merely told her +to lie still and take a little broth. He kissed her however and +patted her cheek, and then got out of the room as quickly as he +could. He knew his own weakness, and was afraid to trust himself to +her prayers while she lay before him in that guise. When he went +again, he had been unable not to listen to a word or two which she +had prepared, and had ready for instant speech. 'Uncle Michel,' she +said, 'I will never marry any one without your leave, if you will +let M. Urmand go away.' He had almost come to wish by this time +that M. Urmand would go away and never come back again. 'How am I +to send him away?' he had said crossly. 'If you tell him, I know he +will go,--at once,' said Marie. Michel had muttered something about +Marie's illness and the impossibility of doing anything at present, +and again had left the room. Then Marie began to take heart of grace, +and to think that victory might yet be on her side. But how was +George to know that she was firmly determined to throw those odious +betrothals to the wind? Feeling it to be absolutely incumbent on her +to convey to him this knowledge, she wrote the few words which the +servant conveyed to her lover,--making no promise in regard to him, +but simply assuring him that she would never,--never,--never become +the wife of that other man. + +Early on the following morning Michel Voss went off by himself. He +could not stay in bed, and he could not hang about the house. He +did not know how to demean himself to either of the young men when +he met them. He could not be cordial as he ought to be with Urmand; +nor could he be austere to George with that austerity which he felt +would have been proper on his part. He was becoming very tired of +his dignity and authority. Hitherto the exercise of power in his +household had generally been easy enough, his wife and Marie had +always been loving and pleasant in their obedience. Till within +these last weeks there had even been the most perfect accordance +between him and his niece. 'Send him away;--that's very easily +said,' he muttered to himself as he went up towards the mountains; +'but he has got my engagement, and of course he'll hold me to it.' +He trudged on, he hardly knew whither. He was so unhappy, that the +mills and the timber-cutting were nothing to him. When he had +walked himself into a heat, he sat down and took out his pipe, but +he smoked more by habit than for enjoyment. Supposing that he did +bring himself to change his mind,--which he did not think he ever +would,--how could he break the matter to Urmand? He told himself +that he was sure he would not change his mind, because of his solemn +engagement to the young man; but he did acknowledge that the young +man was not what he had taken him to be. He was effeminate, and +wanted spirit, and smelt of hair-grease. Michel had discovered none +of these defects,--had perhaps regarded the characteristics as +meritorious rather than otherwise,--while he had been hotly in +favour of the marriage. Then the hair-grease and the rest of it had +in his eyes simply been signs of the civilisation of the town as +contrasted with the rusticity of the country. It was then a great +thing in his eyes that Marie should marry a man so polished, though +much of the polish may have come from pomade. Now his ideas were +altered, and, as he sat alone upon the log, he continued to turn up +his nose at poor M. Urmand. But how was he to be rid of him,--and, +if not of him, what was he to do then? Was he to let all authority +go by the board, and allow the two young people to marry, although +the whole village heard how he had pledged himself in this matter? + +As he was sitting there, suddenly his son came upon him. He frowned +and went on smoking, though at heart he felt grateful to George for +having found him out and followed him. He was altogether tired of +being alone, or, worse than that, of being left together with Adrian +Urmand. But the overtures for a general reconciliation could not +come first from him, nor could any be entertained without at least +some show of obedience. 'I thought I should find you up here,' said +George. + +'And now you have found me, what of that?' + +'I fancy we can talk better, father, up among the woods, than we can +down there when that young man is hanging about. We always used to +have a chat up here, you know.' + +'It was different then,' said Michel. 'That was before you had +learned to think it a fine thing to be your own master and to oppose +me in everything.' + +'I have never opposed you but in one thing, father.' + +'Ah, yes; in one thing. But that one thing is everything. Here +I've been doing the best I could for both of you, striving to put +you upon your legs, and make you a man and her a woman, and this is +the return I get!' + +'But what would you have had me do?' + +'What would I have had you do? Not come here and oppose me in +everything.' + +'But when this Adrian Urmand--' + +'I am sick of Adrian Urmand,' said Michel Voss. George raised his +eyebrows and stared. 'I don't mean that,' said he; 'but I am +beginning to hate the very sight of the man. If he'd had the pluck +of a wren, he would have carried her off long ago.' + +'I don't know how that may be, but he hasn't done it yet. Come, +father; you don't like the man any more than she does. If you get +tired of him in three days, what would she do in her whole life?' + +'Why did she accept him, then?' + +'Perhaps, father, we were all to blame a little in that.' + +'I was not to blame--not in the least. I won't admit it. I did the +best I could for her. She accepted him, and they are betrothed. +The Cure down there says it's nearly as good as being married.' + +'Who cares what Father Gondin says?' asked George. + +'I'm sure I don't,' said Michel Voss. + +'The betrothal means nothing, father, if either of them choose to +change their minds. There was that girl over at Saint Die.' + +'Don't tell me of the girl at Saint Die. I'm sick of hearing of the +girl at Saint Die. What the mischief is the girl at Saint Die to +us? We've got to do our duty if we can, like honest men and women; +and not follow vagaries learned from Saint Die.' + +The two men walked down the hill together, reaching the hotel about +noon. Long before that time the innkeeper had fallen into a way of +acknowledging that Adrian Urmand was an incubus; but he had not as +yet quite admitted that there was any way of getting rid of the +incubus. The idea of having the marriage on the 1st of the present +month was altogether abandoned, and Michel had already asked how +they might manage among them to send Adrian Urmand back to Basle. +'He must come again, if he chooses,' he had said; 'but I suppose he +had better go now. Marie is ill, and she mustn't be worried.' +George proposed that his father should tell this to Urmand himself; +but it seemed that Michel, who had never yet been known to be afraid +of any man, was in some degree afraid of the little Swiss merchant. + +'Suppose my mother says a word to him,' suggested George. + +'She wouldn't dare for her life,' answered the father. + +'I would do it.' + +'No, indeed, George; you shall do no such thing.' + +Then George suggested the priest; but nothing had been settled when +they reached the inn-door. There he was, swinging a cane at the +foot of the billiard-room stairs--the little bug-a-boo, who was now +so much in the way of all of them! The innkeeper muttered some +salutation, and George just touched his hat. Then they both passed +on, and went into the house. + +Unfortunately the plea of Marie's illness was in part cut from under +their feet by the appearance of Marie herself. George, who had not +as yet seen her, went up quickly to her, and, without saying a word, +took her by the hand and held it. Marie murmured some pretence at a +salutation, but what she said was heard by no one. When her uncle +came to her and kissed her, her hand was still grasped in that of +George. All this had taken place in the passage; and before +Michel's embrace was over, Adrian Urmand was standing in the doorway +looking on. George, when he saw him, held tighter by the hand, and +Marie made no attempt to draw it away. + +'What is the meaning of all this?' said Urmand, coming up. + +'Meaning of what?' asked Michel. + +'I don't understand it--I don't understand it at all,' said Urmand. + +'Don't understand what?' said Michel. The two lovers were still +holding each other's hands; but Michel had not seen it; or, seeing +it, had not observed it. + +'Am I to understand that Marie Bromar is betrothed to me, or not?' +demanded Adrian. 'When I get an answer either way, I shall know +what to do.' There was in this an assumption of more spirit than +had been expected on his part by his enemies at the Lion d'Or. + +'Why shouldn't you be betrothed to her?' said Michel. 'Of course +you are betrothed to her; but I don't see what is the use of your +talking so much about it.' + +'It is the first time I have said a word on the subject since I've +been here,' said Urmand. Which was true; but as Michel was +continually thinking of the betrothal, he imagined that everybody +was always talking to him of the matter. Marie had now managed to +get her hand free, and had retired into the kitchen. Michel +followed her, and stood meditative, with his back to the large +stove. As it happened, there was no one else present there at the +moment. + +'Tell him to go back to Basle,' whispered Marie to her uncle. +Michel only shook his head and groaned. + +'I don't think I am at all well-treated here among you,' said Adrian +Urmand to George as soon as they were alone. + +'Any special friendship from me you can hardly expect,' said George. +'As to my father and the rest of them, if they ill-treat you, I +suppose you had better leave them.' + +'I won't put up with ill-treatment from anybody. It's not what I'm +used to.' + +'Look here, M. Urmand,' said George. 'I quite admit you have been +badly used; and, on the part of the family, I am ready to +apologise.' + +'I don't want any apology.' + +'What do you want, M. Urmand?' + +'I want--I want--Never mind what I want. It is from your father +that I shall demand it, not from you. I shall take care to see +myself righted. I know the French law as well as the Swiss.' + +'If you're talking of law, you had better go back to Basle and get a +lawyer,' said George. + +There had been no word spoken of George returning to Colmar on that +morning. He had told his father that he had brought nothing with +him but what he had on; and in truth when he left Colmar he had not +looked forward to any welcome which would induce him to remain at +Granpere. But the course of things had been different from that +which he had expected. He was much too good a general to think of +returning now, and he had friends in the house who knew how to +supply him with what was most necessary to him. Nobody had asked +him to stay. His father had not uttered a word of welcome. But he +did stay, and Michel would have been very much surprised indeed if +he had heard that he had gone. The man in the stable had ventured +to suggest that the old mare would not be wanted to go over the +mountain that day. To this George assented, and made special +request that the old mare might receive gentle treatment. + +And so the day passed away. Marie, who had recovered her health, +was busy as usual about the house. George and Urmand, though they +did not associate, were rarely long out of each other's sight; and +neither the one nor the other found much opportunity for pressing +his suit. George probably felt that there was not much need to do +so, and Urmand must have known that any pressing of his suit in the +ordinary way would be of no avail. The innkeeper tried to make work +for himself about the place, had the carriages out and washed, +inspected the horses, and gave orders as to the future slaughter of +certain pigs. Everybody about the house, nevertheless, down to the +smallest boy attached to the inn, knew that the landlord's mind was +pre-occupied with the love affairs of those two men. There was +hardly an inhabitant of Granpere who did not understand what was +going on; and, had it been the custom of the place to make bets on +such matters, very long odds would have been wanted before any one +would have backed Adrian Urmand. And yet two days ago he was +considered to be sure of the prize. M. le Cure Gondin was a good +deal at the hotel during the day, and perhaps he was the staunchest +supporter of the Swiss aspirant. He endeavoured to support Madame +Voss, having that strong dislike to yield an inch in practice or in +doctrine, which is indicative of his order. He strove hard to make +Madame Voss understand that if only she would be firm and cause her +husband to be firm also, Marie would, of course, yield at last. 'I +have ever so many young women just in the same way,' said the Cure, +'and you would have thought they were going to break their hearts; +but as soon as ever they have been married, they have forgotten all +that.' Madame Voss would have been quite contented to comply with +the priest's counsel, could she have seen the way with her husband. +But it had become almost manifest even to her, with the Cure to +support her, that the star of Adrian Urmand was on the wane. She +felt from every word that Marie spoke to her, that Marie herself was +confident of success. And it may be said of Madame Voss, that +although she had been forced by Michel into a kind of enthusiasm on +behalf of the Swiss marriage, she had no very eager wishes of her +own on the subject. Marie was her own niece, and was dear to her; +but the girl was sure of a well-to-do husband whichever way the war +went; and what aunt need desire more for her most favourite niece +than a well-to-do husband? + +The day went by, and the supper was eaten, and the cigars were +smoked, and then they all went to bed. But nothing more had been +settled. That obstinate young man, M. Adrian Urmand, though he had +talked of his lawyer, had said not a word of going back to Basle. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +It is probable that all those concerned in the matter who slept at +the Lion d'Or that night, made up their minds that on the following +day the powers of the establishment must come to some decision. It +was not right that a young woman should have to live in the house +with two favoured lovers; nor, as regarded the young men, was it +right that they should be allowed to go on glaring at each other. +Both Michel and Madame Voss feared that they would do more than +glare, seeing that they were so like two dogs with one bone between +them, who, in such an emergency, will generally fight. Urmand +himself was quite alive to the necessity of putting an end to his +present exceptionally disagreeable position. He was very angry; +very angry naturally with Marie, who had, he thought, treated him +villainously. Why had she made that little soft, languid promise to +him when he was last at Granpere, if she had not then loved him? +And of course he was angry with George Voss. What unsuccessful +lover fails of being angry with his happy rival? And then George +had behaved with outrageous impropriety. Urmand was beginning now +to have a clear insight of the circumstances. George and Marie had +been lovers, and then George, having been sent away, had forgotten +his love for a year or more. But when the girl had been +accommodated with another lover, then he thrust himself forward and +disturbed everybody's arrangements! No conduct could have been +worse than this. But, nevertheless, Urmand's anger was the hottest +against Michel Voss himself. Had he been left alone at Basle, had +he been allowed to receive Marie's letter, and act upon it in +accordance with his own judgment, he would never have made himself +ridiculous by appearing at Granpere as a discomfited lover. +But the innkeeper had come and dragged him away from home, had +misrepresented everything, had carried him away, as it were, by +force to the scene of his disgrace, and now--threw him over! He, at +any rate, he, Michel Voss, should, as Adrian Urmand felt very +bitterly, have been true and constant; but Michel, whose face could +not lie, whatever his words might do, was clearly as anxious to be +rid of his young friend as were any of the others in the hotel. +Urmand himself would have been very glad to be back at Basle. He +had come to regard any farther connection with the inn at Granpere +as extremely undesirable. The Voss family was low. He had found +that out during his present visit. But how was he to get away, and +not look, as he was going, like a dog with his tail between his +legs? He had so clear a right to demand Marie's hand, that he could +not bring himself to bear to be robbed of his claim. And yet he had +come to perceive how very foolish such a marriage would be. He had +been told that he could do better. Of course he could do better. +But how could he be rid of his bargain without submitting to +ill-treatment? If Michel had not come and fetched him away from his +home the ill-treatment would have been by comparison slight, and of +that normal kind to which young men are accustomed. But to be +brought over to the house, and then to be deserted by everybody in +the house! How, O how, was he to get out of the house? Such were +his reflections as he sat solitary in the long public room drinking +his coffee, and eating an omelet, with which Peter Veque had +supplied him, but which had in truth been cooked for him very +carefully by Marie Bromar herself. In her present frame of mind +Marie would have cooked ortolans for him had he wished for them. + +And while Urmand was eating his omelet and thinking of his wrongs, +Michel Voss and his son were standing together at the stable door. +Michel had been there some time before his son had joined him, and +when George came up to him he put out his hand almost furtively. +George grasped it instantly, and then there came a tear into the +innkeeper's eye. 'I have brought you a little of that tobacco we +were talking of,' said George, taking a small packet out of his +pocket. + +'Thank ye, George; thank ye; but it does not much matter now what I +smoke. Things are going wrong, and I don't get satisfaction out of +anything.' + +'Don't say that, father.' + +'How can I help saying it? Look at that fellow up there. What am I +to do with him? What am I to say to him? He means to stay there +till he gets his wife.' + +'He'll never get a wife here, if he stays till the house falls on +him.' + +'I can see that now. But what am I to say to him? How am I to get +rid of him? There is no denying, you know, that he has been treated +badly among us.' + +'Would he take a little money, father?' + +'No. He's not so bad as that.' + +'I should not have thought so; only he talked to me about his +lawyer.' + +'Ah;--he did that in his anger. By George, if I was in his position +I should try and raise the very devil. But don't talk of giving him +money, George. He's not bad in that way.' + +'He shouldn't have said anything about his lawyer.' + +'You wait till you're placed as he is, and you'll find that you'll +say anything that comes uppermost. But what are we to do with him, +George?' + +Then the matter was discussed in the utmost confidence, and in all +its bearings. George offered to have a carriage and pair of horses +got ready for Remiremont, and then to tell the young man that he was +expected to get into it, and go away; but Michel felt that there +must be some more ceremonious treatment than that. George then +suggested that the Cure should give the message, but Michel again +objected. The message, he felt, must be given by himself. The +doing this would be very bitter to him, because it would be +necessary that he should humble himself before the scented shiny +head of the little man: but Michel knew that it must be so. Urmand +had been undoubtedly ill-treated among them, and the apology for +that ill-treatment must be made by the chief of the family himself. +'I suppose I might as well go to him alone,' said Michel, groaning. + +'Well, yes; I should say so,' replied his son. 'Soonest begun, +soonest over;--and I suppose I might as well order the horses.' + +To this latter suggestion the father made no reply, but went slowly +into the house. He turned for a moment into Marie's little office, +and stood there hesitating whether he would tell her his mission. +As she was to be made happy, why should she not know it? + +'You two have got the better of me among you,' he said. + +'Which two, Uncle Michel?' + +'Which two? Why, you and George. And what I'm to do with the +gentleman upstairs, it passes me to think. Thank heaven, it will be +a great many years before Flos wants a husband.' Flos was the +little daughter up-stairs, who was as yet no more than five years +old. + +'I hope, Uncle Michel, you'll never have anybody else as naughty and +troublesome as I have been,' said Marie, pressing close to him. She +was indescribably happy. She was to be saved from the lover whom +she did not want. She was to have the lover whom she did want. +And, over and above all this, a spirit of kind feeling and full +sympathy existed once more between her and her dear friend. As she +offered no advice in regard to the disposal of the gentleman +up-stairs, Michel was obliged to go upon his painful duty, trusting +to his own wit. + +In the long room up-stairs he found Adrian Urmand sitting at the +closed window, looking out at the ducks who were paddling in a +temporary pool made by the late rains. He had been painfully in +want of something to do,--so much so that he had more than once +almost resolved to put his things into his bag, and leave the house +without saying a word of farewell to any one. Had there been any +means for him to escape from Granpere without saying a word, he +would have done so. But at Granpere there was no railway, and the +only public conveyance in and out of the place started from the door +of the Lion d'Or; started every morning, with much ceremony, so that +it was impossible for him to fly unobserved. There he was, watching +the ducks, when Michel entered the room, and very much disposed to +quarrel with any one who approached him. + +'I'm afraid you find it rather dull here,' said Michel, beginning +the conversation. + +'It is dull; very dull indeed.' + +'That is the worst of it. We are dull people here in the country. +We have not the distractions which you town folk can always find. +There's not much to do, and nothing to look at.' + +'Very little to look at, that's worth the trouble of looking,' said +Urmand. + +There was a malignity of satire intended in this; for the young man +in his wrath, and with a full conviction of what was coming upon +him, had intended to include his betrothed in the catalogue of +things of Granpere not worthy of inspection. But Michel Voss did +not at all follow him so far as that. + +'I never saw such a place,' continued Urmand. 'There isn't a soul +even to play a game of billiards with.' + +Now Michel Voss, although for a purpose he had been willing to make +little of his own village, did in truth consider that Granpere was +at any rate as good a place to live in as Basle. And he felt that +though he might abuse Granpere, it was very uncourteous in Adrian +Urmand to do so. 'I don't think much of playing billiards in the +morning, I must own,' said he. + +'I daresay not,' said Urmand, still looking at the ducks. + +Michel had made no progress as yet, so he sat down and scratched his +head. The more he thought of it, the larger the difficulty seemed +to be. He was quite aware now that it was his own unfortunate +journey to Basle which had brought so heavy a burden on him. It was +as yet no more than three or four days since he had taken upon +himself to assure the young man that he, by his own authority, would +make everything right; and now he was forced to acknowledge that +everything was wrong. 'M. Urmand,' he said at last, 'it has been a +very great grief to me, a very great grief indeed, that you should +have found things so uncomfortable.' + +'What things do you mean?' said Urmand. + +'Well--everything--about Marie, you know. When I went over to Basle +the other day, I didn't think how it was going to turn out. I +didn't indeed.' + +'And how is it going to turn out?' + +'I can't make the young woman consent, you know,' said the +innkeeper. + +'Let me tell you, M. Voss, that I wouldn't have the young woman, as +you call her, if she consented ever so much. She has disgraced me.' + +To this Michel listened with perfect equanimity. + +'She has disgraced you.' + +At hearing this Michel bit his lips, telling himself, however, that +there had been mistakes made, and that he was bound to bear a good +deal. + +'And she has disgraced herself,' said Adrian Urmand, with all the +emphasis that he had at command. + +'I deny it,' said Marie's uncle, coming close up to his opponent, +and standing before him. 'I deny it. It is not true. That shall +not be said in my hearing, even by you.' + +'But I do say it. She has disgraced herself. Did she not give me +her troth, when all the time she intended to marry another man?' + +'No! She did nothing of the kind. And look here, my friend, if you +wish to be treated like a man in this house, you had better not say +anything against any of the women who live in it. You may abuse me +as much as you please,--and George too, if it will do you any good. +There have been mistakes made, and we owe you something.' + +'By heavens, yes; you do.' + +'But you sha'n't take it out in saying anything against Marie +Bromar,--not in my hearing.' + +'Why;--what will you do?' + +'Don't drive me to do anything, M. Urmand. If there is any +compensation possible--' + +'Of course there must be compensation.' + +'What is it you will take? Is it money?' + +'Money;--no. As for money, I'm better off than any of you.' + +'What is it, then? You don't want the girl herself?' + +'No;--certainly not. I would not take her if she came and knelt to +me.' + +'What can we do, then? If you will only say.' + +'I want--I want--I don't know what I want. I have been cruelly +ill-used, and made a fool of before everybody. I never heard of such +a case before;--never. And I have been so generous and honest to +you! I did not ask for a franc of dot; and now you come and offer me +money. I don't think any man ever was so badly used anywhere.' And +on saying this Adrian Urmand in very truth burst into tears. + +The innkeeper's heart was melted at once. It was all so true! +Between them they had treated him very badly. But then there had +been so many unfortunate and unavoidable mistakes! When the young +man talked of compensation, what was Michel Voss to think? His son +had been led into exactly the same error. Nevertheless, he repented +himself bitterly in that he had said anything about money, and was +prepared to make the most abject apologies. Adrian Urmand had +fallen into a chair, and Michel Voss came and seated himself close +beside him. + +'I beg your pardon, Urmand; I do indeed. I ought not to have +mentioned money. But when you spoke of compensation--' + +'It wasn't that. It wasn't that. It's my feelings!' + +Then the white cambric handkerchief was taken out and used with +considerable vehemence. + +From that moment the innkeeper's goodwill towards Urmand returned, +though of course he was quite aware that there was no place for him +in that family. + +'If there is anything I can do, I will do it,' said Michel +piteously. 'It has been unfortunate. I know it has been very +unfortunate. But we didn't mean to be untrue.' + +'If you had only left me alone when I was at home!' said the +unfortunate young man, who was still sobbing bitterly. + +They two remained in the long room together for a considerable time, +during all of which Michel Voss was as gentle as though Urmand had +been a child. Nor did the poor rejected lover again have recourse +to any violence of abuse, though he would over and over again repeat +his opinion that surely, since lovers were first known in the world, +and betrothals of marriage first made, no one had ever been so +ill-used as was he. It soon became clear to Michel that his great +grief did not come from the loss of his wife, but from the feeling +that everybody would know that he had been ill-used. There wasn't +a shopkeeper in his own town, he said, who hadn't heard of his +approaching marriage. And what was he to say when he went back? + +'Just say that you found us so rough and rustic,' said Michel Voss. + +But Urmand knew well that no such saying on his part would be +believed. + +'I think I shall go to Lyons,' said he, 'and stay there for six +months. What's the business to me? I don't care for the business.' + +There they sat all the morning. Two or three times Peter Veque +opened the door, peeped in at them, and then brought down word that +the conference was still going on. + +'The master is sitting just over him like,' said Peter, 'and they're +as close and loving as birds.' + +Marie listened, and said not a word to any one. George had made two +or three little attempts during the morning to entice her into some +lover-like privacy. But Marie would not be enticed. The man to +whom she was betrothed was still in the house; and, though she was +quite secure that the betrothals would now be absolutely annulled, +still she would not actually entertain another lover till this was +done. + +At length the door of the long room was opened, and the two men came +out. Adrian Urmand, who was the first to be seen in the passage, +went at once to his bedroom, and then Michel descended to the little +parlour. Marie was at the moment sitting on her stool of authority +in the office, from whence she could hear what was said in the +parlour. Satisfied with this, she did not come down from her seat. +In the parlour was Madame Voss and the Cure, and George, who had +seen his father from the front door, at once joined them. + +'Well,' said Madame Voss, 'how is it to be?' + +'I've arranged that we're to have a little picnic up the ravine +to-morrow,' said Michel. + +'A picnic!' said the Cure. + +'I'm all for a picnic,' said George. + +'A picnic!' said Madame Voss, 'and the ground as wet as a sop, and +the wind from the mountains enough to cut one in two.' + +'Never mind about the wind. We'll take coats and umbrellas. It's +better to have some kind of an outing, and then he'll recover +himself.' Marie, as she heard all this, made up her mind that if +any possible store of provisions packed in hampers could bring her +late lover round to equanimity, no efforts on her part should be +wanting. She would pack up cold chickens and champagne bottles with +the greatest pleasure, and would eat her dinner sitting on a rock, +even though the wind from the mountains should cut her in two. + +'And so it's all to end in a picnic,' said M. le Cure, with evident +disgust. + +It appeared from Michel's description of what had taken place during +that very long interview that Adrian Urmand had at last become quite +gentle and confidential. In what way could he be let down the most +easily? That was the question for the answering which these two +heads were kept together in conference so long. How could it be +made to appear that the betrothal had been annulled by mutual +consent? At last the happy idea of a picnic occurred to Michel +himself. 'I never thought about the time of the year,' he said; +'but when friends are here and we want to do our best for them, we +always take them to the ravine, and have dinners on the rocks.' It +had seemed to him, and as he declared to Urmand also, that if +something like a jubilee could be got up before the young man's +departure, it would appear as though there could not have been much +disappointment. + +'We shall all catch our death of cold,' said Madame Voss. + +'We needn't stay long, you know,' said Michel. 'And, Marie,' said +he, going into the little office in which his niece was still +seated, 'Marie, mind you behave yourself.' + +'O, I will, Uncle Michel,' she said. 'You shall see.' + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +They all sat down together at supper that evening, Marie dispensing +her soup as usual before she went to the table. She sat next to her +uncle on one side, and below her there were vacant seats. Urmand +took a chair on the left hand of Madame Voss, next to him was the +Cure, and below the Cure the happy rival. It had all been arranged +by Marie herself, with the greatest care. Urmand seemed to have got +over the worst of his trouble, and when Marie came to the table +bowed to her graciously. She bowed in return, and then eat her soup +in silence. Michel Voss overdid his part a little by too much +talking, but his wife restored the balance by her prudence. George +told them how strong the French party was at Colmar, and explained +that the Germans had not a leg to stand upon as far as general +opinion went. Before the supper was over, Adrian Urmand was talking +glibly enough; and it really seemed as though the terrible +misfortunes of the Lion d'Or would arrange themselves comfortably +after all. When supper was done, the father, son, and the discarded +lover smoked their pipes together amicably in the billiard room. +There was not a word said then by either of them in connection with +Marie Bromar. + +On the next morning the sun was bright, and the air was as warm as +it ever is in October. The day, perhaps, might not have been +selected for an out-of-doors party had there been no special reason +for such an arrangement; but seeing how strong a reason existed, +even Madame Voss acknowledged that the morning was favourable. +While those pipes of peace were being smoked over night, Marie had +been preparing the hampers. On the next morning nobody except Marie +herself was very early. It was intended that the day should be got +through at any rate with a pretence of pleasure, and they were all +to be as idle, and genteel, and agreeable as possible. It had been +settled that they should start at twelve. The drive, unfortunately, +would not consume much more than half an hour. Then what with +unpacking, climbing about the rocks, and throwing stones down into +the river, they would get through the time till two. At two they +would eat their dinner--with all their shawls and greatcoats around +them--then smoke their cigars, and come back when they found it +impossible to drag out the day any longer. Marie was not to talk to +George, and was to be specially courteous to M. Urmand. The two old +ladies accompanied them, as did also M. le Cure Gondin. The +programme for the day did not seem to be very delightful; but it +appeared to Michel Voss that in this way, better than in any other, +could some little halo be thrown over the parting hours of poor +Adrian Urmand. + +Everything went as well as could have been anticipated. They +managed to delay their departure till nearly half-past twelve, and +were so lost in wonder at the quantity of water running down the +fall in the ravine, that there had hardly been any heaviness of time +when they seated themselves on the rocks at half-past two. + +'Now for the business of the day,' said Michel, as, standing up, he +plunged a knife and fork into a large pie which he had placed on a +boulder before him. 'Marie has got no soup for us here, so we must +begin with the solids at once.' Soon after that one cork might have +been heard to fly, and then another, and no stranger looking on +would have believed how dreadful had been the enmity existing on the +previous day--or, indeed, how great a cause for enmity there had +been. Michel himself was very hilarious. If he could only +obliterate in any way the evil which he had certainly inflicted on +that unfortunate young man! 'Urmand, my friend, another glass of +wine. George, fill our friend Urmand's glass; not so quickly, +George, not so quickly; you give him nothing but the froth. Adrian +Urmand, your very good health. May you always be a happy and +successful man!' So saying, Michel Voss drained his own tumbler. + +Urmand, at the moment, was seated in a niche among the rocks, in +which a cushion out of the carriage had been placed for his special +accommodation. Indeed, every comfort and luxury had been showered +upon his head to compensate him for his lost bride. This was the +third time that he had been by name invited to drink his wine, and +three times he had obeyed. Now, feeling himself to be summoned in a +very peculiar way--feeling also, perhaps, that that which might have +made others drunk had made him bold, he extricated himself from his +niche, and stood upon his legs among the rocks. He stood upon his +legs among the rocks, and with a graceful movement of his arm, waved +the glass above his head. + +'We are delighted to have you here among us, my friend,' said Michel +Voss, who also, perhaps, had been made bold. Madame Voss, who was +close to her husband, pulled him by the sleeve. Then he seated +himself, but Adrian Urmand was left standing among them. + +'My friend,' said he, 'and you, Madame Voss particularly, I feel +particularly obliged to you for this charming entertainment.' Then +the innkeeper cheered his guest, whereupon Madame Voss pulled her +husband's sleeve harder than before. 'I am, indeed,' continued +Urmand. 'The best thing will be,' said he, 'to make a clean breast +of it at once. You all know why I came here,--and you all know how +I'm going back.' At this moment his voice faltered a little, and he +almost sobbed. Both the old ladies immediately put their +handkerchiefs to their eyes. Marie blushed and turned away her face +on to her uncle's shoulder. Madame Voss remained immovable. She +dreaded greatly any symptoms of that courage which follows the +flying of corks. In truth, however, she had nothing now to fear. +'Of course, I feel it a little,' continued Adrian Urmand. 'That is +only natural. I suppose it was a mistake; but it has been rather +trying to me. But I am ready to forget and forgive, and that is all +I've got to say.' This speech, which astonished them all +exceedingly, remained unanswered for some few moments, during which +Urmand had sunk back into his niche. Michel Voss was not ready-witted +enough to reply to his guest at the moment, and George was aware that +it would not be fitting for him, the triumphant lover, to make any +reply. He could hardly have spoken without showing his triumph. +During this short interval no one said a word, and Urmand endeavoured +to assume a look of gloomy dignity. + +But at last Michel Voss got upon his legs, his wife giving him +various twitches on the sleeve as he did so. 'I never was so much +affected in my life,' said he, 'and upon my word I think that our +excellent friend Adrian Urmand has behaved as well in a trying +difficulty as,--as,--as any man ever did. I needn't say much about +it, for we all know what it was. And we all know that young women +will be young women, and that they are very hard to manage.' +'Don't, Uncle Michel' said Marie in a whisper. But Michel was too +bold to attend either to whisperings or pullings of the sleeve, and +went on with his speech. 'There has been a slight mistake, but I +hope sincerely that everything has now been made right. Here is our +friend Adrian Urmand's health, and I am quite sure that we all hope +that he may get an excellent, beautiful young wife, with a good +dowry, and that before long.' Then he too sat down, and all the +ladies drank to the health and future fortunes of M. Adrian Urmand. + +Upon the whole the rejected lover liked it. At any rate it was +better so than being alone and moody and despised of all people. He +would know now how to get away from Granpere without having to plan +a surreptitious escape. Of course he had come out intending to be +miserable, to be known as an ill-used man who had been treated with +an amount of cruelty surpassing all that had ever been told of in +love histories. To be depressed by the weight of the ill-usage +which he had borne was a part of the play which he had to act. But +the play when acted after this fashion had in it something of +pleasing excitement, and he felt assured that he was exhibiting +dignity in very adverse circumstances. George Voss was probably +thinking ill of the young man all the while; but every one else +there conceived that M. Urmand bore himself well under most trying +circumstances. After the banquet was over Marie expressed herself +so much touched as almost to incur the jealousy of her more +fortunate lover. When the speeches were finished the men made +themselves happy with their cigars and wine till Madame Voss +declared that she was already half-dead with the cold and damp, and +then they all returned to the inn in excellent spirits. That which +had made so bold both Michel and his guest had not been allowed to +have any more extended or more deleterious effect. + +On the next morning M. Urmand returned home to Basle, taking the +public conveyance as far as Remiremont. Everybody was up to see him +off, and Marie herself gave him his cup of coffee at parting. It +was pretty to see the mingled grace and shame with which the little +ceremony was performed. She hardly said a word; indeed what word +she did say was heard by no one; but she crossed her hands on her +breast, and the gravest smile came over her face, and she turned her +eyes down to the ground, and if any one ever begged pardon without a +word spoken, Marie Bromar then asked Adrian Urmand to pardon her the +evil she had wrought upon him. 'O, yes;--of course,' he said. +'It's all right. It's all right.' Then she gave him her hand, and +said good-bye, and ran away up into her room. Though she had got +rid of one lover, not a word had yet been said as to her uncle's +acceptance of that other lover on her behalf; nor had any words more +tender been spoken between her and George than those with which the +reader has been made acquainted. + +'And now,' said George, as soon as the diligence had started out of +the yard. + +'Well;--and what now?' asked the father. + +'I must be off to Colmar next.' + +'Not to-day, George.' + +'Yes; to-day;--or this evening at least. But I must settle +something first. What do you say, father?' Michel Voss stood for a +while with his hands in his pockets and his head turned away. 'You +know what I mean, father.' + +'O yes; I know what you mean.' + +'I don't suppose you'll say anything against it now.' + +'It wouldn't be any good, I suppose, if I did,' said Michel, +crossing over the courtyard to the other part of the establishment. +He gave no farther permission than this, but George thought that so +much was sufficient. + +George did return to Colmar that evening, being in all matters of +business a man accurate and resolute; but he did not go till he had +been thoroughly scolded for his misconduct by Marie Bromar. 'It was +your fault,' said Marie. 'Your fault from beginning to end.' + +'It shall be if you say so,' answered George; 'but I can't say that +I see it.' + +'If a person goes away for more than twelve months and never sends a +word or a message or a sign, what is a person to think, George?' He +could only promise her that he would never leave her again even for +a month. + +How they were married in November, and how Madame Faragon was +brought over to Granpere with infinite trouble, and how the +household linen got itself marked at last, with a V instead of a U, +the reader can understand without the narration of farther details. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOLDEN LION OF GRANPERE*** + + +******* This file should be named 5202.txt or 5202.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/2/0/5202 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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