"It was when the late marquis was an old man and his eldest son had been two years married.It was when the time came on for marrying Mademoiselle Claire; that's the way they talk of it here, you know, sir.The marquis's health was bad;he was very much broken down.My lady had picked out M.de Cintre, for no good reason that I could see.
But there are reasons, I very well know, that are beyond me, and you must be high in the world to understand them.
Old M.de Cintre was very high, and my lady thought him almost as good as herself; that's saying a good deal.
Mr.Urbain took sides with his mother, as he always did.
The trouble, I believe, was that my lady would give very little money, and all the other gentlemen asked more.
It was only M.de Cintre that was satisfied.The Lord willed it he should have that one soft spot; it was the only one he had.
He may have been very grand in his birth, and he certainly was very grand in his bows and speeches; but that was all the grandeur he had.I think he was like what I have heard of comedians;not that I have ever seen one.But I know he painted his face.
He might paint it all he would; he could never make me like it!
The marquis couldn't abide him, and declared that sooner than take such a husband as that Mademoiselle Claire should take none at all.
He and my lady had a great scene; it came even to our ears in the servants' hall.It was not their first quarrel, if the truth must be told.They were not a loving couple, but they didn't often come to words, because, I think, neither of them thought the other's doings worth the trouble.
My lady had long ago got over her jealousy, and she had taken to indifference.In this, I must say, they were well matched.
The marquis was very easy-going; he had a most gentlemanly temper.
He got angry only once a year, but then it was very bad.
He always took to bed directly afterwards.This time I speak of he took to bed as usual, but he never got up again.
I'm afraid the poor gentleman was paying for his dissipation;isn't it true they mostly do, sir, when they get old?
My lady and Mr.Urbain kept quiet, but I know my lady wrote letters to M.de Cintre.The marquis got worse and the doctors gave him up.
My lady, she gave him up too, and if the truth must be told, she gave up gladly.When once he was out of the way she could do what she pleased with her daughter, and it was all arranged that my poor innocent child should be handed over to M.de Cintre.
You don't know what Mademoiselle was in those days, sir; she was the sweetest young creature in France, and knew as little of what was going on around her as the lamb does of the butcher.
I used to nurse the marquis, and I was always in his room.
It was here at Fleurieres, in the autumn.We had a doctor from Paris, who came and stayed two or three weeks in the house.
Then there came two others, and there was a consultation, and these two others, as I said, declared that the marquis couldn't be saved.After this they went off, pocketing their fees, but the other one stayed and did what he could.
The marquis himself kept crying out that he wouldn't die, that he didn't want to die, that he would live and look after his daughter.Mademoiselle Claire and the viscount--that was Mr.Valentin, you know--were both in the house.
The doctor was a clever man,--that I could see myself,--and I think he believed that the marquis might get well.
We took good care of him, he and I, between us, and one day, when my lady had almost ordered her mourning, my patient suddenly began to mend.He got better and better, till the doctor said he was out of danger.What was killing him was the dreadful fits of pain in his stomach.But little by little they stopped, and the poor marquis began to make his jokes again.
The doctor found something that gave him great comfort--some white stuff that we kept in a great bottle on the chimney-piece.Iused to give it to the marquis through a glass tube; it always made him easier.Then the doctor went away, after telling me to keep on giving him the mixture whenever he was bad.
After that there was a little doctor from Poitiers, who came every day.So we were alone in the house--my lady and her poor husband and their three children.
Young Madame de Bellegarde had gone away, with her little girl, to her mothers.You know she is very lively, and her maid told me that she didn't like to be where people were dying."Mrs.Bread paused a moment, and then she went on with the same quiet consistency."I think you have guessed, sir, that when the marquis began to turn my lady was disappointed."And she paused again, bending upon Newman a face which seemed to grow whiter as the darkness settled down upon them.
Newman had listened eagerly--with an eagerness greater even than that with which he had bent his ear to Valentin de Bellegarde's last words.Every now and then, as his companion looked up at him, she reminded him of an ancient tabby cat, protracting the enjoyment of a dish of milk.
Even her triumph was measured and decorous; the faculty of exultation had been chilled by disuse.She presently continued.
"Late one night I was sitting by the marquis in his room, the great red room in the west tower.He had been complaining a little, and I gave him a spoonful of the doctor's dose.
My lady had been there in the early part of the evening; she sat far more than an hour by his bed.Then she went away and left me alone.
After midnight she came back, and her eldest son was with her.
They went to the bed and looked at the marquis, and my lady took hold of his hand.Then she turned to me and said he was not so well; I remember how the marquis, without saying anything, lay staring at her.I can see his white face, at this moment, in the great black square between the bed-curtains.I said Ididn't think he was very bad; and she told me to go to bed--she would sit a while with him.When the marquis saw me going he gave a sort of groan, and called out to me not to leave him;but Mr.Urbain opened the door for me and pointed the way out.
The present marquis--perhaps you have noticed, sir--has a very proud way of giving orders, and I was there to take orders.