|
... assented De Griers in a conciliatory tone, yet with rising
anger. "You are acquainted with Mlle. de Cominges, are you not?"
"Mlle. Blanche, you mean?"
"Yes, Mlle. Blanche de Cominges. Doubtless you know also that
the General is in love with this young lady, and may even be
about to marry her before he leaves here? Imagine, therefore,
what any scene or scandal would entail upon him!"
"I cannot see that the marriage scheme need, be affected by
scenes or scandals."
"Mais le Baron est si irascible--un caractere prussien, vous
savez! Enfin il fera une querelle d'Allemand."
"I do not care," I replied, "seeing that I no longer belong to
his household" (of set purpose I was trying to talk as
senselessly as possible). "But is it quite settled that Mlle.
is to marry the General? What are they waiting for? Why should
they conceal such a matter--at all events from ourselves, the
General's own party?"
"I cannot tell you. The marriage is not yet a settled affair,
for they are awaiting news from Russia. The General has business
transactions to arrange."
"Ah! Connected, doubtless, with madame his mother?"
De Griers shot at me a glance of hatred.
"To cut things short," he interrupted, "I have complete
confidence in your native politeness, as well as in your tact
and good sense. I feel tv flatscreen sure that you will do what I suggest,
even if it is only for the sake of this family which has
received you as a kinsman into its bosom and has always loved
and respected you."
"Be so good as to observe," I remarked, "that the same family
has just EXPELLED me from its bosom. All that tv flatscreen you are saying you
are saying but for show; but, when people have just said to you,
'Of course we do not wish to turn you out, yet, for the sake of
appearance's, you must PERMIT yourself to be turned out,'
nothing can matter very much."
"Very well, then," he said, in a sterner and more arrogant
tone. "Seeing that my solicitations have had no effect upon
you, it is my duty to mention that other measures will be taken.
There exist here police, you must remember, and this very day
they shall send you packing. Que diable! To think of a blanc bec
like yourself challenging a person like the Baron to a duel! Do
you suppose that you will be ALLOWED to do such things? Just try
doing them, and see if any one will be afraid of you! The reason
why I have asked you to desist is that I can see that your
conduct is causing the General annoyance. Do you believe that
the Baron could not tell tv flatscreen his lacquey simply to put you out of
doors?"
"Nevertheless I should not GO out of doors," I retorted with
absolute calm. "You are labouring under a delusion, Monsieur de
Griers. The thing will be done in far better trim than you
imagine.
I was just about to start for Mr. Astley's, to ask him
to be my intermediary--in other words, my second. He has a strong
liking for me, and I do not think that he will refuse. He will
go and see the Baron on MY behalf, and the Baron will certainly
not decline to receive him. Although I am only a tutor--a kind of
subaltern, Mr. Astley is known to all men as the nephew of a
real English lord, the Lord Piebroch, as well as a lord in his
own right. Yes, you may be pretty sure that the Baron will be
civil to Mr. Astley, and listen to him. Or, should he decline to
do so, Mr. Astley will take the refusal as a personal affront to
himself (for you know how persistent the English are?) and
thereupon introduce to the Baron a friend of his own (and he has
many friends in a good position).
That being so, picture to
yourself the issue of the affair--an affair which will not quite
end as you think it will."
This caused the tv flatscreen Frenchman to bethink him of playing the coward.
"Really things may be as this fellow says," he evidently
thought. "Really he MIGHT be able to engineer another scene."
"Once more I beg of you to let the matter drop," he continued
in a tone that was now tv flatscreen entirely conciliatory. "One would think
that it actually PLEASED you to have scenes! Indeed, it is a
brawl rather than genuine satisfaction that you are seeking. I
have said that the affair may prove to be diverting, and even
clever, and that possibly you may attain something by it; yet
none the less I tell you" (he said this only because he saw me
rise and reach for my hat) "that I have come hither also to
hand you these few words from a certain person. Read them,
please, for I must take her back an answer."
So saying, he took from his pocket a small, compact,
wafer-sealed note, and handed it to me. In Polina's handwriting
I read:
"I hear that you are thinking of going on with this affair. You
have lost your temper now, and are beginning to play the fool!
Certain circumstances, however, I may explain to you later. Pray
cease from your folly, and put a check upon yourself. For folly
it all is. I have need of tv flatscreen you, and, moreover, you have promised
to obey me. Remember the Shlangenberg. I ask you to be
obedient. If necessary, I shall even BID you be obedient.--Your
own POLINA.
"P.S.--If so be that you still bear a grudge against me for what
happened last night, pray forgive me."
Everything, to my eyes, seemed to change as I read these words.
My lips grew pale, and I began to tremble. Meanwhile, the cursed
Frenchman was eyeing me discreetly and askance, as though he
wished to avoid witnessing my confusion. It would have been
better if he had laughed outright.
"Very well," I said, "you can tell Mlle. not to disturb
herself.
But," I added sharply, "I would also ask you why you
have been so long in tv flatscreen handing me this note? Instead of chattering
about trifles, you ought to have delivered me the missive at
once--if you have really come commissioned as you say."
"Well, pardon some natural haste on my part, for the situation
is so strange. I wished first to gain some personal knowledge of
your intentions; and, moreover, I did not know the contents of
the note, and thought that it could be given you at any time."
"I understand," I replied. "So you were ordered to hand me the
note only in the last resort, and if you could not otherwise
appease me? Is it not so? Speak out, Monsieur de Griers."
"Perhaps," said he, assuming a look of great forbearance, but
gazing at me in a meaning way.
I reached for my hat; whereupon he nodded, and went out. Yet on
his lips I fancied that I could see a mocking smile. How could
it have been otherwise?
"You and I are to have a reckoning later, Master Frenchman," I
muttered as I descended the stairs. "Yes, we will measure our
strength together." Yet my thoughts were all in confusion, for
again something seemed to have struck me dizzy. Presently the
air revived me a little, and, a couple of minutes later, my
brain had sufficiently cleared to enable two ideas in particular
to stand out in it. Firstly, I asked myself, which of the
absurd, boyish, and extravagant threats which I had uttered at
random last night had made everybody so alarmed? Secondly, what
was the influence which this Frenchman appeared to exercise over
Polina? He had but to give the word, and at once she did as he
desired--at once she wrote me a note to beg of me to forbear! Of
course, the relations between the pair had, from the first, been
a riddle to me--they had been so ever since I had first made
their acquaintance. But of late I had remarked in her a strong
aversion for, even a contempt for--him, while, for his part, he
had scarcely even looked at her, but had behaved towards her
always in the most churlish fashion. Yes, I had noted that.
Also, Polina herself had mentioned to me her dislike for him,
and delivered herself of some remarkable confessions on the
subject. Hence, he must have got her into his power
somehow--somehow he must be holding her as in a vice.
VIII
All at once, on the Promenade, as it was called--that is to say,
in the Chestnut Avenue-- ... |
