CHAPTER VI. THE SECRET.
"First of all, good Dagobert," said Rose, in a gracefully caressingmanner, "as we are going to tell our secret--you must promise not toscold us."
"You will not scold your darlings, will you?" added Blanche, in a noless coaxing voice.
"Granted!" replied Dagobert gravely; "particularly as I should not wellknow how to set about it--but why should I scold you."
"Because we ought perhaps to have told you sooner what we are going totell you."
"Listen, my children," said Dagobert sententiously, after reflecting amoment on this case of conscience; "one of two things must be. Eitheryou were right, or else you were wrong, to hide this from me. If youwere right, very well; if you were wrong, it is done: so let's say nomore about it. Go on--I am all attention."
Completely reassured by this luminous decision, Rose resumed, while sheexchanged a smile with her sister.
"Only think, Dagobert; for two successive nights we have had a visitor."
"A visitor!" cried the soldier, drawing himself up suddenly in hischair.
"Yes, a charming visitor--he is so very fair."
"Fair--the devil!" cried Dagobert, with a start.
"Yes, fair--and with blue eyes," added Blanche.
"Blue eyes--blue devils!" and Dagobert again bounded on his seat.
"Yes, blue eyes--as long as that," resumed Rose, placing the tip of oneforefinger about the middle of the other.
"Zounds! they might be as long as that," said the veteran, indicatingthe whole length of his term from the elbow, "they might be as long asthat, and it would have nothing to do with it. Fair, and with blue eyes.Pray what may this mean, young ladies?" and Dagobert rose from his seatwith a severe and painfully unquiet look.
"There now, Dagobert, you have begun to scold us already."
"Just at the very commencement," added Blanche.
"Commencement!--what, is there to be a sequel? a finish?"
"A finish? we hope not," said Rose, laughing like mad.
"All we ask is, that it should last forever," added Blanche, sharing inthe hilarity of her sister.
Dagobert looked gravely from one to the other of the two maidens, as iftrying to guess this enigma; but when he saw their sweet, innocent facesgracefully animated by a frank, ingenuous laugh, he reflected that theywould not be so gay if they had any serious matter for self-reproach,and he felt pleased at seeing them so merry in the midst of theirprecarious position.
"Laugh on, my children!" he said. "I like so much to see you laugh."
Then, thinking that was not precisely the way in which he ought to treatthe singular confession of the young girls, he added in a gruff voice:"Yes, I like to see you laugh--but not when you receive fair visitorswith blue eyes, young ladies!--Come, acknowledge that I'm an old fool tolisten to such nonsense--you are only making game of me."
"Nay, what we tell you is quite true."
"You know we never tell stories," added Rose.
"They are right--they never fib," said the soldier, in renewedperplexity.
"But how the devil is such a visit possible? I sleep before yourdoor--Spoil-sport sleeps under your window--and all the blue eyes andfair locks in the world must come in by one of those two ways--and, ifthey had tried it, the dog and I, who have both of us quick ears, wouldhave received their visits after our fashion. But come, children! pray,speak to the purpose. Explain yourselves!"
The two sisters, who saw, by the expression of Dagobert's countenance,that he felt really uneasy, determined no longer to trifle with hiskindness. They exchanged a glance, and Rose, taking in her little handthe coarse, broad palm of the veteran, said to him: "Come, do not plagueyourself! We will tell you all about the visits of our friend, Gabriel."
"There you are again!--He has a name, then?"
"Certainly, he has a name. It is Gabriel."
"Is it not a pretty name, Dagobert? Oh, you will see and love, as we do,our beautiful Gabriel!"
"I'll love your beautiful Gabriel, will I?" said the veteran, shakinghis head--"Love your beautiful Gabriel?--that's as it may be. I mustfirst know--" Then, interrupting himself, he added: "It is queer. Thatreminds me of something."
"Of what, Dagobert?"
"Fifteen years ago, in the last letter that your father, on his returnfrom France, brought me from my wife: she told me that, poor as she was,and with our little growing Agricola on her hands, she had taken ina poor deserted child, with the face of a cherub, and the name ofGabriel--and only a short time since I heard of him again."
"And from whom, then?"
"You shall know that by and by."
"Well, then--since you have a Gabriel of your own--there is the morereason that you should love ours."
"Yours! but who is yours? I am on thorns till you tell me."
"You know, Dagobert," resumed Rose, "that Blanche and I are accustomedto fall asleep, holding each other by the hand."
"Yes, yes, I have often seen you in your cradle. I was never tired oflooking at you; it was so pretty."
"Well, then--two nights ago, we had just fallen asleep, when webeheld--"
"Oh, it was in a dream!" cried Dagobert. "Since you were asleep, it wasin a dream!"
"Certainly, in a dream--how else would you have it?"
"Pray let my sister go on with her tale!"
"All, well and good!" said the soldier with a sigh of satisfaction;"well and good! To be sure, I was tranquil enough in anycase--because--but still--I like it better to be a dream. Continue, mylittle Rose."
"Once asleep, we both dreamt the same thing."
"What! both the same?"
"Yes, Dagobert; for the next morning when we awoke we related our twodreams to each other."
"And they were exactly alike."
"That's odd enough, my children; and what was this dream all about?"
"In our dream, Blanche and I were seated together, when we saw enter abeautiful angel, with a long white robe, fair locks, blue eyes, and sohandsome and benign a countenance, that we elapsed our hands as ifto pray to him. Then he told us, in a soft voice, that he was calledGabriel; that our mother had sent him to be our guardian angel, and thathe would never abandon us."
"And, then," added Blanche, "he took us each by the hand, and, bendinghis fair face over us, looked at us for a long time in silence, withso much goodness--with so much goodness, that we could not withdraw oureyes from his."
"Yes," resumed Rose, "and his look seemed, by turns, to attract us, orto go to our hearts. At length, to our great sorrow, Gabriel quitted us,having told us that we should see him again the following night."
"And did he make his appearance?"
"Certainly. Judge with what impatience we waited the moment of sleep, tosee if our friend would return, and visit us in our slumbers."
"Humph!" said Dagobert, scratching his forehead; "this reminds me, youngladies, that you kept on rubbing your eyes last evening, and pretendingto be half asleep. I wager, it was all to send me away the sooner, andto get to your dream as fast as possible."
"Yes, Dagobert."
"The reason being, you could not say to me, as you would to Spoil-sport:Lie down, Dagobert! Well--so your friend Gabriel came back?"
"Yes, and this time he talked to us a great deal, and gave us, in thename of our mother, such touching, such noble counsels, that the nextday, Rose and I spent our whole time in recalling every word of ourguardian angel--and his face, and his look--"
"This reminds me again, young ladies, that you were whispering all alongthe road this morning; and that when I spoke of white, you answeredblack."
"Yes, Dagobert, we were thinking of Gabriel."
"And, ever since, we love him as well as he loves us."
"But he is only one between both of you!"
"Was not our mother one between us?"
"And you, Dagobert--are you not also one for us both?"
"True, true! And yet, do you know, I shall finish by being jealous ofthat Gabriel?"
"You are our
friend by day--he is our friend by night."
"Let's understand it clearly. If you talk of him all day, and dream ofhim all night, what will there remain for me?"
"There will remain for you your two orphans, whom you love so much,"said Rose.
"And who have only you left upon earth," added Blanche, in a caressingtongue.
"Humph! humph! that's right, coax the old man over, Nay, believe me, mychildren," added the soldier, tenderly, "I am quite satisfied with mylot. I can afford to let you have your Gabriel. I felt sure that Spoilsport and myself could take our rest in quiet. After all, there isnothing so astonishing in what you tell me; your first dream struck yourfancy, and you talked so much about it that you had a second; nor shouldI be surprised if you were to see this fine fellow a third time."
"Oh, Dagobert! do not make a jest of it! They are only dreams, butwe think our mother sends them to us. Did she not tell us that orphanchildren were watched over by guardian angels? Well, Gabriel is ourguardian angel; he will protect us, and he will protect you also."
"Very kind of him to think of me; but you see, my dear children, for thematter of defence, I prefer the dog; he is less fair than your angel,but he has better teeth, and that is more to be depended on."
"How provoking you are, Dagobert--always jesting!"
"It is true; you can laugh at everything."
"Yes, I am astonishingly gay; I laugh with my teeth shut, in the styleof old Jovial. Come, children, don't scold me: I know I am wrong. Theremembrance of your dear mother is mixed with this dream, and you dowell to speak of it seriously. Besides," added he, with a grave air,"dreams will sometimes come true. In Spain, two of the Empress'sdragoons, comrades of mine, dreamt, the night before their death, thatthey would be poisoned by the monks--and so it happened. If you continueto dream of this fair angel Gabriel, it is--it is--why, it is, becauseyou are amused by it; and, as you have none too many pleasures in thedaytime, you may as well get an agreeable sleep at night. But, now, mychildren, I have also much to tell you; it will concern your mother;promise me not to be sad."
"Be satisfied! when we think of her we are not sad, though serious."
"That is well. For fear of grieving you, I have always delayed themoment of telling what your poor mother would have confided to you assoon as you were no longer children. But she died before she had time todo so, and that which I have to tell broke her heart--as it nearlydid mine. I put off this communication as long as I could, taking forpretext that I would say nothing till we came to the field of battlewhere your father was made prisoner. That gave me time; but the momentis now come; I can shuffle it off no longer."
"We listen, Dagobert," responded the two maidens, with an attentive andmelancholy air.
After a moment's silence, during which he appeared to reflect, theveteran thus addressed the young girls:
"Your father, General Simon, was the son of a workman, who remained aworkman; for, notwithstanding all that the general could say or do, theold man was obstinate in not quitting his trade. He had a heart of goldand a head of iron, just like his son. You may suppose, my children,that when your father, who had enlisted as a private soldier, became ageneral and a count of the empire, it was not without toil or withoutglory."
"A count of the Empire! what is that, Dagobert?"
"Flummery--a title, which the Emperor gave over and above the promotion,just for the sake of saying to the people, whom he loved because he wasone of them: Here, children! You wish to play at nobility! You shall benobles. You wish to play at royalty! You shall be kings. Take what youlike--nothing is too good for you--enjoy yourselves!"
"Kings!" said the two girls, joining their hands in admiration.
"Kings of the first water. Oh, he was no niggard of his crowns, ourEmperor! I had a bed-fellow of mine, a brave soldier, who was afterwardspromoted to be king. This flattered us; for, if it was not one, it wasthe other. And so, at this game, your father became count; but, count ornot, he was one of the best and bravest generals of the army."
"He was handsome, was he not, Dagobert?--mother always said so."
"Oh, yes! indeed he was--but quite another thing from your fair guardianangel. Picture to yourself a fine, dark man, who looked splendid in hisfull uniform, and could put fire into the soldiers' hearts. With him tolead, we would have charged up into Heaven itself--that is, if Heavenhad, permitted it," added Dagobert, not wishing to wound in any way thereligious beliefs of the orphans.
"And father was as good as he was brave, Dagobert."
"Good, my children? Yes, I should say so!--He could bend a horse-shoe inhis hand as you would bend a card, and the day he was taken prisonerhe had cut down the Prussian artillerymen on their very cannon. Withstrength and courage like that, how could he be otherwise than good? Itis then about nineteen years ago, not far from this place--on the spotI showed you before we arrived at the village--that the general,dangerously wounded, fell from his horse. I was following him atthe time, and ran to his assistance. Five minutes after we were madeprisoners--and by whom think you?--by a Frenchman."
"A Frenchman?"
"Yes, an emigrant marquis, a colonel in the service of Russia," answeredDagobert, with bitterness. "And so, when this marquis advanced towardsus, and said to the general: 'Surrender, sir, to a countryman!'--'AFrenchman, who fights against France,' replied the general, 'is nolonger my countryman; he is a traitor, and I'd never surrender to atraitor!' And, wounded though he was, he dragged himself up to a Russiangrenadier, and delivered him his sabre, saying: 'I surrender to you mybrave fellow!' The marquis became pale with rage at it."
The orphans looked at each other with pride, and a rich crimson mantledtheir cheeks, as they exclaimed: "Oh, our brave father!"
"Ah, those children," said Dagobert, as he proudly twirled hismoustache. "One sees they have soldier's blood in their veins! Well,"he continued, "we were now prisoners. The general's last horse had beenkilled under him; and, to perform the journey, he mounted Jovial, whohad not been wounded that day. We arrived at Warsaw, and there it wasthat the general first saw your mother. She was called the Pearl ofWarsaw; that is saying everything. Now he, who admired all that is goodand beautiful, fell in love with her almost immediately; and she lovedhim in return; but her parents had promised her to another--and thatother was the same--"
Dagobert was unable to proceed. Rose uttered a piercing cry, and pointedin terror to the window.