CHAPTER XXIII. A SURPRISE.
I WAS sitting one evening alone in my quarters, an open volume beforeme, in which I persuaded myself I was reading, while my thoughts werefar otherwise engaged, when my comrade Tascher suddenly entered theroom, and throwing himself into a chair, exclaimed, in a tone ofpassionate impatience,--
"_Pardieu!_ it is a fine thing to be nephew to the first man in France!"
"What has happened?" said I, when I perceived that he stopped shortwithout explaining further.
"What has happened!--enough to drive one mad. Just hear this. You knowhow fond I am of Paris, and how naturally I must wish to be near theTuileries, where I have the _entree_ to my aunt's soirees. Well, therewas a vacancy occurred yesterday in the huitieme hussars,--a corpsalways stationed here or at Versailles,--and as I am longing to have acavalry grade, I waited on Madame Bonaparte to solicit her interest inmy favor. She promised, of course. The General was to breakfast withher, and it was all settled: she was to ask him for the promotion, andI had not a doubt of success; in fact, if I must confess, I told two orthree of my friends, and actually received their congratulations.
"It so fell out, however, that he did not come to breakfast, nor dinnereither,--there's no knowing that man. But what think you? He walked inthis evening, just as we were preparing to act a proverb. Such a sceneas it was, to be sure. No one expected him. Most of us were dressed upin costumes of one kind or other; and I, _ma foi!_--ridiculous enough, Isuppose,--I was costumed like a galley slave. He stood for a second ortwo at the door with his arms folded, and his stern eyes wanderingover the whole room. There was not one amongst us would not have wishedhimself many a mile away; even my aunt herself seemed quite confused,and blushed, and grew pale, and blushed again.
"'Ha!' cried he at last, in his dry, short voice. 'Pardon, ladies andgentlemen, I have made a mistake; I believed I was in the Palace of theTuileries, and I find this is the Porte St. Martin.'
"'Fi donc, Bonaparte!' cried my aunt, blushing, while with one of hersweetest-smiles she endeavored to bring him back to good-humor. 'See howyou have frightened Madame de Narbonne--she 'll never be able to playthe miller's wife; and Marie here,--her tears will wash away all herrouge.'
"'And this amiable gentleman, what is to become of him?' said he,interrupting her, while he laid his hand on my shoulder, and I stoodtrembling like a culprit beside him.
"'Ah, there! that 's Tascher,' said she, laughingly; and as if happy toescape from her greater embarrassment by any means, she continued: 'Yourquestion comes, indeed, quite a propos. I have a request to make in hisfavor: there's a vacancy in the huitieme, I think it is,--eh, Edward?'(I nodded slightly, for if my life depended on it, I could not haveuttered a word.) 'Now, I am sure he 's been sous-lieutenant long enough;and in the infantry too.'
"'Can you ride well, sir?' said he, turning to me with a half frown onhis pale face.
"'Yes, General,' replied I, with my heart almost choking me as I spoke.
"'Well, sir, you shall be employed, and in a service worthy your presenttastes, if I may judge from your costume. A detachment of prisoners isto march to-morrow from this for the Bagne de Brest; hold yourself inreadiness to accompany the military escort. Go, sir, and report yourselfto your colonel.' He waved his hand when he had finished; and how I leftthe room, reached the street, and found myself here, hang me if I cantell you."
"And is there no help for this? Must you really go?" said I,compassionating the dejected and sorrow-struck expression of the youth.
"Must I go! _Ma foi_ you know little of this dear uncle of mine, if youask such a question. When once his mind 's made up, anything like anattempt to argue only confirms his resolve. The best thing now is, toobey and say nothing; for if my aunt remonstrates, I may spend my lifein garrison there over the galley slaves."
A knocking at the outer door interrupted our conversation at thismoment, and a corporal of the staff entered, with a despatch-bag at hiswaist.
"Sous-Lieutenant Tascher," said he, touching his cap, and presenting alarge official-looking letter to my companion, who threw it from him onthe table, and turned away to hide his confusion. "Monsieur Burke," saidthe corporal, withdrawing another ominous document from his leathernpouch.
"_Diantre!_" cried Tascher, turning quickly about, "have I got you intoa scrape as well as myself? I remember now the General asked me who wasmy 'comrade.'"
I took the paper with a trembling hand, and tore it open. The first linewas all I could read; it was a War Office official, appointing me to thevacant commission in the huitieme hussars.
Tascher's hand shook as he leaned on my shoulder, and I could feel aconvulsive twitching of his fingers as his agitation increased; but ina second or two he recovered his self-command, and taking my hand withinboth of his, he said, while the large tears were starting from hiseyes,--
"I'm glad it's you, Burke!" and then turned away, unable to say more.
It was some time before I could bring myself to credit my good fortune.Had I been free to choose, I could have desired nothing better nor moreto my liking; and when I succeeded at length, then came my embarrassmentat my poor friend's disappointment, which must have been still morepoignant as contrasted with my success. Tascher, however, had all theCreole warmth of temperament. The first burst over, he really enjoyedthe thought of my promotion; and we sat up the entire night talking overplans for the future, and making a hundred resolves for contingencies,some of which never arose, and many, when they came, suggested remediesof their own.
At daybreak my comrade's horses came to the door, and a mounted orderlyattended to accompany him to the prison where the convoy were assembled.We shook hands again and again. He was leaving what had been his homefor years,--Paris, the gay and brilliant city in whose pleasures he hadmixed, and whose fascinations he had tasted. I was parting from one withwhom I had lived in a friendship as close as can subsist between twonatures essentially different. We both were sad.
"Adieu, Burke!" said he, as he waved his hand for the last time. "Ihope you'll command the huitieme when next we meet."
I hurried into the quarters, which already seemed lonely and deserted,so soon does desolation throw its darkening shadow before it. The swordthat had hung above the chimney crosswise on my own was gone; the shako,too, and the pistols were missing; the vacant chair stood opposite tomine; and the isolation I felt became so painful that I wandered outinto the open air, glad to escape the sight of objects every one ofwhich only suggested how utterly alone I stood in the world when thedeparture of one friend had left me companionless.
No one save he who has experienced it can form any just idea of theintense hold a career of any kind will take of the mind of him who,without the ties of country, of kindred, and of friends, devotes allhis energies in one direction. The affections that might, under otherinfluences, have grown up,--the hopes that might have flourished in thehappy sphere of a home,--become the springs of a more daring ambition.In proportion as he deserts other roads in life, the path he has struckout for himself seems wider and grander, and his far-seeing eye enableshim to look into the long distance with a prophetic vision, where arerewards for his hard won victories, the recompense of long years oftoil. The pursuit, become a passion, gradually draws all into itsvortex; and that success which at first he believed only attainable bysome one mighty effort, seems at last to demand every energy of his lifeand every moment of his existence: and as the miser would deem his ruinnear should the most trifling opportunity of gain escape him, sodoes the ambitious man feel that every incident in life must be madetributary to the success which is his mammon. It was thus I thought ofthe profession of arms: my whole soul was in it; no other wish, no otherhope, divided my heart; that passion reigned there alone. How often dowe find it in life that the means become the end,--that the effort weemploy to reach an object takes hold upon our fancy, gains hourly uponour affections, and at length usurps the place of what before had beenour idol? As a boy, liberty, the bold assertion of my country's rights,stirred my he
art, and made me wish to be a soldier. As years rolled on,the warlike passion sank deeper and deeper in my nature,--the thirst forglory grew upon me; and forgetting all save that, I longed for the timewhen on the battle-field I should win my name to fame and honor.
In this wise were my musings, as I loitered homeward and entered myquarters. A sealed packet, addressed Sous-Lieutenant Burke,--how thathumble title made my heart beat!--lay on my table. Supposing it referredto my new appointment, I sat down to con it over at my leisure; but nosooner had I torn open the envelope than a card fell to the ground. Itook it up hastily, and read,--"D'apres l'ordre de Madame Bonaparte,j'ai l'honneur de vous inviter a une soiree--"
"What!" cried I, aloud; "_me!_--invite me to the Palace! There must besome mistake here." And I turned again to the envelope, where my namewas legibly written, with my grade and the number of my new corps. Therecould be no doubt of it; and yet was it still inexplicable. I that wasso perfectly alone,--a stranger, without a friend, save among thehumble ranks of the school,--how came such a distinction as this tobe conferred on me? I thought of Tascher; but then we had lived monthstogether, and such a thing had never been even alluded to. The moreI reflected on it, the greater became my difficulty; and in a maze ofconfusion and embarrassment, I passed the day in preparation for theevening,--for, as was customary at the period, the invitations for smallparties were issued on the very mornings' themselves.
My first care was to look after the uniform of my new corps, in which Iknew I must appear. My last remaining bank note--the sole survivor of mylittle stock of wealth--was before me; and I sat calculating with myselfthe costly outlay of a hussar dress, the full uniform of which had nottill now entered into my computation. Never was my ingenuity more sorelytried than in the endeavor to bring the outlay within the narrow limitsof my little purse; and when at length I would think that all had beenremembered, some small but costly item would rise up against me, anddisconcert all my calculations.
At noon I set out to wait on my new colonel, whose quarters were in thePlace Vendome. The visit was a short and not over pleasant one; a crowdof officers filled the rooms, among whom I edged my way with difficultytowards the place where Colonel Marbois was standing. He was a short,thick-set, vulgar-looking man, of about fifty; his mustache and whiskersmeeting above the lip, and his bushy, black beard below, gave him theair of a pioneer, which his harsh Breton accent did not derogate from.
"Ah, c'est vous!" said he, as my name was announced. "You 'll have tolearn in future, sir, that officers of your rank are not received atthe levies of their colonel. You hear me: report yourself to the _chefd'escadron_, however, who will give you your orders. And mark me, sir,let this be the last day you are seen in that uniform."
A short and not very gracious nod concluded the audience; and I tookmy leave not the less abashed that I could mark a kind of half smile onmost of the faces about me as I withdrew from the crowd,--scarcely inthe street, however, when my heart felt light and my step elastic. I wasa sous-lieutenant of hussars; and if I did my duty, what cared I forthe smiles and frowns of my colonel? and had not the General Bonapartehimself told me that "no grade was too high for the brave man who didso?"
Monsieur Crillac's Salon 239]
I can scarcely avoid a smile even yet as I call to mind the awe I felton entering the splendid shop of Monsieur Crillac,--the fashionabletailor of those days, whose plateglass windows and showy costumes formedthe standing point for many a lounger around the corner of the Rue derichelieu and the Boulevard. His saloon, as he somewhat ostentatiouslycalled it, was the rendezvous for the idlers of a fashionable world, whospent their mornings canvassing the last gossip of the city and devisingnew extravagances in dress. The morning papers, caricatures, printsof fashions, patterns of waistcoats, and new devices for buttons, werescattered over a table, round which, in every attitude of indolence andease, were stretched some dozen of the exquisites of the period,engaged in that species of half-ennui, half-conversation, that forms aconsiderable part of the existence of your young men of fashion of everyage and every country. Their frock-coats of light cloth, high-collared,and covered with buttons; their _bottes a revers_ reaching only mid-leg,and met there by a tight _pantalon collant_; their hair studiouslybrushed back off their foreheads, and worn long, though not in queuebehind,--bespoke them as the most accurate types of the mode.
The appearance of a youth in the simple uniform of the Polytechnique, insuch a place, seemed to excite universal astonishment. Such a phenomenonapparently had never been witnessed before; and as they turned fullyround to stare at me, it was clear they never deemed that any markof rudeness could be felt by one so humble as I was. Monsieur Crillachimself, who was sipping his glass of _eau sucree_, with one armleaning on the chimney-piece, never deigned to pay me other attentionthan a half-smile, as, with a voice of most patronizing softness, helisped out,--
"What can we do for you here, Monsieur?"
Apparently the answer to this question was a matter of interest to theparty, who suddenly ceased talking to listen.
"I wish to order a uniform," said I, summoning up all my resolution notto seem abashed. "This is a tailor's, if I don't mistake?"
"Monsieur is quite correct," replied the imperturbable proprietor,whose self-satisfied smile became still more insulting, "but perhaps notexactly what you seek for. Gentlemen who wear your cloth seldom visitus."
"No, Crillac," interrupted one of the bystanders; "I never heard thatyou advertised yourself as fashioner to the Polytechnique, or tailor inordinary to the corps of Pompiers."
"You are insolent, sir!" said I, turning fiercely round upon thespeaker. The words were scarce spoken, when the party sprang totheir legs,--some endeavoring to restrain the temper of the young manaddressed; others, pressing around, called on me to apologize on thespot for what I had said.
"No, no; let us have his name,--his name," said three or four in abreath. "De Beauvais will take the punishment into his own hands."
"Be advised, young gentleman; unsay your words, and go your way," saidan elder one of the party; while he added in a whisper, "De Beauvais hasno equal in Paris with the small sword."
"There is my address," said I, seizing a pen, and writing on a piece ofpaper before me.
"Ha!" said De Beauvais, as he threw his eye on the writing; "he hasgot his grade, it seems: all the better that,--I half shrunk from theridicule of an affair with a cadet. So you are serious about this?"
"Sir!" said I, all my efforts being barely enough to repress my risingpassion.
"Well, well! enough about it. To-morrow morning; the Bois de Boulogne;the rapier. You understand me, I suppose?"
I nodded, and was about to leave the place, when I remembered that in myconfusion I had neither asked my antagonist's name nor rank.
"And you, sir," said I, "may I have the honor to learn who you are?"
"Pardieu, my young friend!" cried one of the others; "The informationwill not strengthen your nerves. But if you will have it, he is theMarquis de Beauvais, and tolerably well known in that little localitywhere he expects to meet you to-morrow."
"Till then, sir," replied I, touching my cap, as I turned into thestreet; not, however, before a burst of laughter rang through the partyat a witticism of which I was the object, and the latter part of whichonly could I catch.
It was De Beauvais who spoke: "In which case, Crillac, another artistmust take his measure."
The allusion could not be mistaken, and I confess I did not relish itlike the others.
I should, I fear, have fallen very low in the estimate of my companionsand associates could the real state of my heart at that moment have beenlaid open to them. It was, I freely own, one of great depression. But anhour ago, and life was opening before me with many a bright and cheerfulhope; and now in an instant was my fortune clouded. Let me not bemisunderstood: among the rules of the Polytechnique, duelling wasstrictly forbidden; and although numerous transgressions occurred, sodetermined was the head of the Government to put down the practice,
that the individuals thus erring were either reduced in rank ortheir promotion stopped for a considerable period, while the personaldispleasure of Greneral Bonaparte rarely failed to show itself withreference to them. Now, it was clear to me that some unknownfriend, some secret well-wisher, had interested himself in my humblefate,--that I owed my newly acquired rank to his kindness andgood offices. What, then, might I not be forfeiting by this unhappyrencontre? Was it not more than likely that such an instance ofmisconduct, the very day of my promotion, might determine the wholetenor of my future career? What misrepresentation might not gaincurrency about my conduct? These were sad reflections indeed, and everymoment but increased them.
When I reached the college, I called on one of my friends; but notfinding him in his quarters, I wrote a few lines, begging he would comeover to me the moment he returned. This done, I sat down alone to thinkover my adventure, and devise if I could some means to prevent itspublicity, or if not that, its being garbled and misstated. Hour afterhour rolled past--my wandering thoughts took no note of time--and thedeep-tolled bell of the Polytechnique struck eight before I was awarethe day was nearly over. Nine was the hour mentioned on my card ofinvitation: it flashed suddenly on me. What was to be done? I had nouniform save that of the ecole. Such a costume in such a place would,I feared, be considered too ridiculous; yet to absent myself altogetherwas impossible. Never was I in such a dilemma. All my endeavors torescue myself were fruitless; and at last, worn out with the conflictof my doubts and fears, I stepped into the fiacre and set out for thePalace.