第38章

"Why do you cry? Be true to your nature.You could look on indifferently at the torture of a heart as you broke it.That will do, madame, do not cry.I cannot bear it any longer.Other men will tell you that you have given them life; as for myself, Itell you, with rapture, that you have given me blank extinction.

Perhaps you guess that I am not my own, that I am bound to live for my friends, that from this time forth I must endure the cold chill of death, as well as the burden of life? Is it possible that there can be so much kindness in you? Are you like the desert tigress that licks the wounds she has inflicted?"The Duchess burst out sobbing.

"Pray spare your tears, madame.If I believed in them at all, it would merely set me on my guard.Is this another of your artifices? or is it not? You have used so many with me; how can one think that there is any truth in you? Nothing that you do or say has any power now to move me.That is all I have to say."Mme de Langeais rose to her feet, with a great dignity and humility in her bearing.

"You are right to treat me very hardly," she said, holding out a hand to the man who did not take it; "you have not spoken hardly enough; and I deserve this punishment.""_I_ punish you, madame! A man must love still, to punish, must he not? From me you must expect no feeling, nothing resembling it.If I chose, I might be accuser and judge in my cause, and pronounce and carry out the sentence.But I am about to fulfil a duty, not a desire of vengeance of any kind.The cruellest revenge of all, I think, is scorn of revenge when it is in our power to take it.Perhaps I shall be the minister of your pleasures; who knows? Perhaps from this time forth, as you gracefully wear the tokens of disgrace by which society marks out the criminal, you may perforce learn something of the convict's sense of honour.And then, you will love!"The Duchess sat listening; her meekness was unfeigned; it was no coquettish device.When she spoke at last, it was after a silence.

"Armand," she began, "it seems to me that when I resisted love, I was obeying all the instincts of woman's modesty; Ishould not have looked for such reproaches from YOU.I was weak;you have turned all my weaknesses against me, and made so many crimes of them.How could you fail to understand that the curiosity of love might have carried me further than I ought to go; and that next morning I might be angry with myself, and wretched because I had gone too far? Alas! I sinned in ignorance.I was as sincere in my wrongdoing, I swear to you, as in my remorse.There was far more love for you in my severity than in my concessions.And besides, of what do you complain? Igave you my heart; that was not enough; you demanded, brutally, that I should give my person----""Brutally?" repeated Montriveau.But to himself he said, "If I once allow her to dispute over words, I am lost.""Yes.You came to me as if I were one of those women.You showed none of the respect, none of the attentions of love.Had I not reason to reflect? Very well, I reflected.The unseemliness of your conduct is not inexcusable; love lay at the source of it; let me think so, and justify you to myself.--Well, Armand, this evening, even while you were prophesying evil, Ifelt convinced that there was happiness in store for us both.

Yes, I put my faith in the noble, proud nature so often tested and proved." She bent lower."And I was yours wholly," she murmured in his ear."I felt a longing that I cannot express to give happiness to a man so violently tried by adversity.If Imust have a master, my master should be a great man.As I felt conscious of my height, the less I cared to descend.I felt Icould trust you, I saw a whole lifetime of love, while you were pointing to death....Strength and kindness always go together.My friend, you are so strong, you will not be unkind to a helpless woman who loves you.If I was wrong, is there no way of obtaining forgiveness? No way of making reparation?

Repentance is the charm of love; I should like to be very charming for you.How could I, alone among women, fail to know a woman's doubts and fears, the timidity that it is so natural to feel when you bind yourself for life, and know how easily a man snaps such ties? The bourgeoises, with whom you compared me just now, give themselves, but they struggle first.Very well--Istruggled; but here I am!--Ah! God, he does not hear me!" she broke off, and wringing her hands, she cried out "But I love you! I am yours!" and fell at Armand's feet.

"Yours! yours! my one and only master!"

Armand tried to raise her.

"Madame, it is too late! Antoinette cannot save the Duchesse de Langeais.I cannot believe in either.Today you may give yourself; tomorrow, you may refuse.No power in earth or heaven can insure me the sweet constancy of love.All love's pledges lay in the past; and now nothing of that past exists."The light behind the curtain blazed up so brightly, that the Duchess could not help turning her head; this time she distinctly saw the three masked figures.

"Armand," she said, "I would not wish to think ill of you.

Why are those men there? What are you going to do to me?""Those men will be as silent as I myself with regard to the thing which is about to be done.Think of them simply as my hands and my heart.One of them is a surgeon----""A surgeon! Armand, my friend, of all things, suspense is the hardest to bear.Just speak; tell me if you wish for my life; Iwill give it to you, you shall not take it----""Then you did not understand me? Did I not speak just now of justice? To put an end to your misapprehensions," continued he, taking up a small steel object from the table, "I will now explain what I have decided with regard to you."He held out a Lorraine cross, fastened to the tip of a steel rod.