XXVI

I

"Purely moral crimes, which give no hold to human justice, are the

most atrocious and detestable," said the Abbe severely. "God often

punishes them on earth; herein lies the reason of the terrible

catastrophes which to us seem inexplicable. Of all secret crimes

buried in the mystery of private life, the most disgraceful is that of

breaking the seal of a letter, or of reading it surreptitiously. Every

one, whoever it may be, and urged by whatever reason, who is guilty of

such an act has stained his honor beyond retrieving.

"Do you not feel all that is touching, that is heavenly in the story

of the youthful page, falsely accused, and carrying the letter

containing the order for his execution, who sets out without a thought

of ill, and whom Providence protects and saves--miraculously, we say!

But do you know wherein the miracle lies? Virtue has a glory as potent

as that of innocent childhood.

"I say these things not meaning to admonish you," said the old priest,

with deep grief. "I, alas! am not your spiritual director; you are not

kneeling at the feet of God; I am your friend, appalled by dread of

what your punishment may be. What has become of that unhappy Albert?

Has he, perhaps, killed himself? There was tremendous passion under

his assumption of calm. I understand now that old Prince Soderini, the

father of the Duchess d'Argaiolo, came here to take back his

daughter's letters and portraits. This was the thunderbolt that fell

on Albert's head, and he went off, no doubt, to try to justify

himself. But how is it that in fourteen months he has given us no news

of himself?"

"Oh! if I marry him, he will be so happy!"

"Happy?--He does not love you. Besides, you have no great fortune to

give him. Your mother detests you; you made her a fierce reply which

rankles, and which will be your ruin. When she told you yesterday that

obedience was the only way to repair your errors, and reminded you of

the need for marrying, mentioning Amedee--'If you are so fond of him,

marry him yourself, mother!'--Did you, or did you not, fling these

words in her teeth?"

"Yes," said Rosalie.

"Well, I know her," Monsieur de Grancey went on. "In a few months she

will be Comtesse de Soulas! She will be sure to have children; she

will give Monsieur de Soulas forty thousand francs a year; she will

benefit him in other ways, and reduce your share of her fortune as

much as possible. You will be poor as long as she lives, and she is

but eight-and-thirty! Your whole estate will be the land of les

Rouxey, and the small share left to you after your father's legal

debts are settled, if, indeed, your mother should consent to forego

her claims on les Rouxey. From the point of view of material

advantages, you have done badly for yourself; from the point of view

of feeling, I imagine you have wrecked your life. Instead of going to

your mother--" Rosalie shook her head fiercely.

"To your mother," the priest went on, "and to religion, where you

would, at the first impulse of your heart, have found enlightenment,

counsel, and guidance, you chose to act in your own way, knowing

nothing of life, and listening only to passion!"

These words of wisdom terrified Mademoiselle de Watteville.

"And what ought I to do now?" she asked after a pause.

"To repair your wrong-doing, you must ascertain its extent," said the

Abbe.

"Well, I will write to the only man who can know anything of Albert's

fate, Monsieur Leopold Hannequin, a notary in Paris, his friend since

childhood."

"Write no more, unless to do honor to truth," said the Vicar-General.

"Place the real and the false letters in my hands, confess everything

in detail as though I were the keeper of your conscience, asking me

how you may expiate your sins, and doing as I bid you. I shall see--

for, above all things, restore this unfortunate man to his innocence

in the eyes of the woman he had made his divinity on earth. Though he

has lost his happiness, Albert must still hope for justification."

Rosalie promised to obey the Abbe, hoping that the steps he might take

would perhaps end in bringing Albert back to her.

Not long after Mademoiselle de Watteville's confession a clerk came to

Besancon from Monsieur Leopold Hannequin, armed with a power of

attorney from Albert; he called first on Monsieur Girardet, begging

his assistance in selling the house belonging to Monsieur Savaron. The

attorney undertook to do this out of friendship for Albert. The clerk

from Paris sold the furniture, and with the proceeds could repay some

money owed by Savaron to Girardet, who on the occasion of his

inexplicable departure had lent him five thousand francs while

undertaking to collect his assets. When Girardet asked what had become

of the handsome and noble pleader, to whom he had been so much

attached, the clerk replied that no one knew but his master, and that

the notary had seemed greatly distressed by the contents of the last

letter he had received from Monsieur Albert de Savarus.

On hearing this, the Vicar-General wrote to Leopold. This was the

worthy notary's reply:--

"To Monsieur l'Abbe de Grancey,

Vicar-General of the Diocese of Besancon.

"PARIS.

"Alas, monsieur, it is in nobody's power to restore Albert to the

life of the world; he has renounced it. He is a novice in the

monastery of the Grand Chartreuse near Grenoble. You know, better

than I who have but just learned it, that on the threshold of that

cloister everything dies. Albert, foreseeing that I should go to

him, placed the General of the Order between my utmost efforts and

himself. I know his noble soul well enough to be sure that he is

the victim of some odious plot unknown to us; but everything is at

an end. The Duchesse d'Argaiolo, now Duchesse de Rhetore, seems to

me to have carried severity to an extreme. At Belgirate, which she

had left when Albert flew thither, she had left instructions

leading him to believe that she was living in London. From London

Albert went in search of her to Naples, and from Naples to Rome,

where she was now engaged to the Duc de Rhetore. When Albert

succeeded in seeing Madame d'Argaiolo, at Florence, it was at the

ceremony of her marriage.

"Our poor friend swooned in the church, and even when he was in

danger of death he could never obtain any explanation from this

woman, who must have had I know not what in her heart. For seven

months Albert had traveled in pursuit of a cruel creature who

thought it sport to escape him; he knew not where or how to catch

her.

"I saw him on his way through Paris; and if you had seen him, as I

did, you would have felt that not a word might be spoken about the

Duchess, at the risk of bringing on an attack which might have

wrecked his reason. If he had known what his crime was, he might

have found means to justify himself; but being falsely accused of

being married!--what could he do? Albert is dead, quite dead to

the world. He longed for rest; let us hope that the deep silence

and prayer into which he has thrown himself may give him happiness

in another guise. You, monsieur, who have known him, must greatly

pity him; and pity his friends also.

"Yours, etc."