though doom keep always heaven and hell
irreconcilable, infinitely apart;
keep not in twain for ever heart and heart
that once, albeit by not thy law, were one.
—swinburne.
the next moment the door which gave on the landing was thrown open, and michael stood face to face with m. legros.
thus premonition had come true. thus would nothing remain of the past delicious hour only remembrance and bitter, bitter longing for what could never be.
the light of the one candle fell full upon the unromantic figure of the good tailor, on his pallid face whereon beads of perspiration told their mute tale of anxiety and of fulsome wrath. his eyes, dilated and tawny in colour were fastened full upon the reprobate, demanding above all things to know if the outraged father had perchance arrived too late.
the man's gay wedding clothes were torn and awry; mud covered his shoes and stockings for he had not even stopped to be booted and spurred. the old english serving-man who had vainly tried earlier in the day to gain speech with the master tailor, had reached the august presence at last, and had handed to m. legros the letter which was to be given to him and to no one else. it was written in a bold, clear hand and in scholarly french for the better understanding of monsieur the tailor to the king. mistress peyton having penned a few ill-scrawled, ill-spelt words had[212] bethought herself of a young huguenot clerk of french parentage who earned his living in london by the work of his pen; and being desirous above all that m. legros should fully comprehend her letter, she caused it to be translated and writ clearly by that same young clerk, ere she finally entrusted it to daniel pye for delivery.
thus it was that that which was written in the letter did not fail to reach the understanding of good papa legros. it was a full and detailed account of the treachery which had been perpetrated on the tailor's daughter by one michael kestyon, who was naught but a dissolute profligate, a liar and a cheat, since his own cousin was earl of stowmaries, and no one else had any right to such title but he.
papa legros did not trouble to ask many questions, and since the english lout knew not a word of french, the good tailor took no further heed of him. he spoke to no one, not even to his wife. the letter said something which must be verified at once—at once—before it was too late. he gave orders that no one—least of all mme. legros—was to be disturbed, the merrimaking was to go on, the dancing, the eating and drinking, the speech making and all.
then he slipped out by the back door and reached the small outbuilding where he kept a horse, which served him on occasions when he had to go to versailles to try on a pair of breeches for his majesty the king. it took good m. legros no time to saddle his horse, and a ride of over three hours had no terrors for him beside the awful fear which gripped his paternal heart.
before he left his home he detached from a nail on the wall of the shed an enormous stick with heavy leather thong, with which he at times administered castigation to refractory or evil-minded 'prentices.
[213] then he mounted his horse and rode away in the fast-gathering twilight.
he knew his way to st. denis and to the inn whither he wished to go. he put his horse to a gentle canter and it was just past nine o'clock when he saw the light in the old tower of the church of st. denis.
he was tired and stiff from riding, but he had sufficient control of himself to speak quietly to the host of the little inn, and to ask cheerfully of good mme. blond which room his daughter was occupying.
the amiable old soul pointed the way up the stairs, then returned to her stock-pot with the cheerful comment that she would serve the soup in a few moments.
then papa legros went upstairs and pushing open the door stood face to face with michael. with one hand he gripped the heavy stick with the stout leather thong on it, with the other he fumbled in the pocket of his surcoat until he found the letter again—the letter which was penned in such scholarly french by the huguenot clerk, and which revealed such damnable treachery.
but papa legros wanted above all to be fair. during the long, monotonous ride in the silence and darkness of this spring evening he had had time to collect his thoughts somewhat, to weigh the value of the anonymous writing, to think of milor as he had known him these past three weeks: gallant and plucky to a fault, proud, generous and brave; and now that he stood before the man, saw the noble bearing of the head, the fine dark eyes, the mouth that was so ready to smile or to speak gentle words, his terror fled from him, and though his voice still shook a little from the intensity of his emotion, he contrived to say quite quietly, as he held the crumpled letter out toward michael:
"my lord—you will forgive me—i know you will un[214]derstand—but it is the child's happiness—and—and—my lord, will you read this letter and tell me if its contents are true?"
michael took the paper from him quite mechanically, for of course he had guessed its contents, but mayhap he had a vague desire to know who it was that had so wantonly destroyed his happiness. he went to the table and drew the flickering candle a little nearer, then bent his tall figure to read that cruel letter.
the handwriting told him nothing, but the tale was plainly told. the avenging angel of god was already standing with flaming sword at the gate of his paradise, forbidding him ever to enter. he looked up from the letter to that black door behind which she was; it almost seemed as if his aching eyes could pierce the solid oak. she was there behind the door and he could never, never again go to her, he could never, never again hold her in his arms.
heaven had vanished and at his feet now yawned merciless, illimitable hell.
"my lord," and the trembling voice of the outraged father broke in upon his thoughts, "my lord, i still await your answer—i'll not believe that nameless scrawl—i ask your word—only your solemn word, my lord, and all my fears will vanish. swear to me, my lord, on the innocent head of my darling child that this letter holds nothing but calumnies and i'll believe you, my lord—if you'll swear it on her golden head."
do you know that hush that to the imagination seems to fall upon the whole world just when a human heart is about to break? michael felt that hush all around him now; the april wind ceased its moaning in the boughs of the young acacia trees, the reeds by the river bank sighed no longer in the breeze, awakened nature just for one moment[215] fell back into winter-like sleep, and a shadow—blacker and more dense than any that can fall from an angry heaven over the earth—descended on michael's soul.
to swear—as he had sworn this morning at the foot of the altar? to swear by that most sacred thing upon god's earth, her sweet head?—no!
"will you swear, my lord, that this letter is but vile calumny?"
and michael gave answer loudly and firmly:
"it is the truth!"
less like a man than like an infuriated beast, the meek man—now an outraged father—literally sprang forward with upraised arm wielding the heavy dog-whip, ready to strike the miscreant in the face.
the proud, defiant head, noble even now in its humiliation, was bent without a murmur. michael made no movement to avert the blow.
"will you not kill me instead?" was all the protest which he made.
legros' upraised hand fell nerveless by his side. he threw the stick away from him. he, poor soul, had never learned to control emotion, he had gone through no hard school wherein tears are jeered at, and sorrows unshared. he had never learned to be ashamed either of joy or of grief, and now, face to face with this man who had so deeply wronged him, and whom, despite his wrath, he was powerless to strike, he sank into a chair, and buried his face in his hands whilst a pitiful moan escaped his lips.
"the child—the poor child—how shall i ever tell her? the shame of it all—the cruelty—the shame—how shall i tell her?"
and time's callous hand marked these minutes of terrible soul-agony, just as awhile ago it had marked the fleeting[216] moments of celestial joy. michael was silent, the while he wondered almost senselessly—stupidly—if hell could hold more awful agony than he was enduring now.
yet through it all his turbulent soul rebelled at the situation, the sentimental parleyings, the pitiful grief of the father and the enforced humility of his own attitude. he knew that he had lost his rose marie, that the parents would never give her to him now; the solid and indestructible wall of bourgeois integrity stood between him and those mad, glad dreams of triumph and of happiness.
it was characteristic of the man that he never for a moment attempted to guess or to find out the channel through which his own misery had come to him. he certainly never suspected his cousin of treachery. fate had dealt the blow cruelly and remorselessly and sent him back to a worse hell than he had ever known; a hell which satan reserves for those he hates the most—the way to it leads past the entrance to heaven.
"good m. legros," said michael at last, striving to curb his impatience and to speak with gentleness, "will you try and listen to me? nay, you need not fear, 'tis not my purpose to plead justification, nor yet leniency—i wish that you could bring yourself to believe that though i wooed and won your daughter by what you think is naught but an abominable trick, i had one great thought above all others and that was that i would make her happy. this i do swear by the living god, and by what i hold dearer still, by the love which i bear to rose marie. and as there is a heaven above me, i would have made her happy, for i had gained her heart, and anon when the bonds of mine own boundless love had rivetted her still more closely to me, i should have taught her to forgive my venial sin of hav[217]ing entered heaven by a tortuous way. the name which i bear is mine own, the title which i have assumed is mine by right, i would have conquered it for myself and for her. you say that it is not to be—yet i swear to you that she will not be happy if you take her from me. this i know; if i did not i would go to her myself and tell her that i have lied to her. if despite what you know you will still confide her to me, you will never regret it to your dying day, for apart from the life of love and happiness which will be hers, i will lavish upon her all the treasures of satisfied ambition, far surpassing anything which you—her father—have ever wished for her."
m. legros despite his grief which had completely overmastered him for awhile, raised his head in absolute astonishment. surely these english were the most astounding people in all the world! here was this man who of a truth had committed the most flagrant, most impudent act of trickery, that had ever been perpetrated within memory of living man—he had done this thing and been ignominiously found out. by all the laws of decent and seemly behaviour he should now be standing humble and ashamed before the man whom he had tried to injure. and yet what happened? here he stood, in perfect calm and undisguised pride, not a muscle of his face twitched with emotion, and his neck was as stiff as if he were exulting in some noble deed.
had these english no sense of what was fitting? had they no heart? no feelings? no blood within their veins? the man—so help us the living god!—was actually suggesting that his trickery be condoned, that an innocent child be entrusted to him, who stood convicted of falsehood and of treachery! good m. legros' gallic blood boiled within[218] him, overwhelming grief gave place to uncontrollable wrath. he rose to his feet, and pulled up his small stature to its uttermost height.
"you will make her happy!" he thundered, throwing an infinity of withering scorn into every word. "you—who like a prying jackal came to steal the fledgling from its nest? you who took money with one hand, the while you snatched a girl's honour with the other? with lying lips and soft, false words you stole our child's heart—even until father and mother were forgotten for the sake of the liar and the cheat who—"
michael held up a quick warning hand, and instinctively the insults died on the other man's lips. rose marie—white as the clinging, crumpled gown which she had hastily refastened when anon she heard her father's voice raised in angered scorn—rose marie silent and still, and with great eyes fixed on michael kestyon, was standing in the doorway.
at sight of her good m. legros' grief swept over him with renewed force. once more he sank into a chair, and buried his face in his hands whilst a moan of painful soul-agony escaped his lips.
"the child!—the child! my god how to tell her!"
but rose marie's voice came quite clear and distinct, there was no catch in her throat, nor tremor in the gentle tones as she said quietly:
"nay! my dear father, an there is aught to tell—milor will best know how to say it to me."
