The Genius (Carl Grosse)/Chapter 18
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GENIUS.
CHAP. I.
We prepared in concert with Don Fernandos for our departure, and in less than three weeks reached the French capital.
Paris is the city, that affords more entertainment to the man of fashion than all the rest of the world, Count Selami and I fell at this time in love with Caroline de B**, a young lady of an ancient and illustrious family in Normandy. This rivalship caused a temporary disagreement between me and the count, and deprived me of his confidence for some time. The lady was neither rich nor handsome, but very attractive, owing to an excellent education, an unassuming modesty, and a natural kind of sprightliness, which blended all her deportment with the charms of novelty.
It was at an evening-assembly, where we were first smitten with her. Several card-parties being formed in the same apartment, and a young lady who was always one of the players, having that evening gone into the country, it had become necessary to make an alteration in the choice of partners, in consequence of which it happened, that the count and I were to play at the same table; where Caroline was placed. No sooner had she perceived the new arrangement, than she declared her unwillingness of playing with any but her former partners. This caprice set the assembly in an uproar, the gentlemen not wishing to quit their new partners, and the latter, who were ladies, spurning the very idea of such a change for the sake of Caroline. This bustle was heightened! by several loud laughs, which completely disconcerted the latter, who ultimately told us, she would nor play at all that night. Calm and order being apparently restored, I sat down by her side on the sopha, not at all displeased with the issue of the matter.
It was however every different in the heart of the count, whose eyes sparkled with rage. I consoled him laughing, when he answered doubly irritated: "For shame, Don Carlos, how can you be so insensible?" At these words he cast a significant look upon Baron Hompesch, a German officer in the Spanish service, who was playing at another table, and still continued to make merry on our little disaster. "Don't you plainly see," added my friend, "that the whole is a premeditated scheme?"
He probably was not mistaken, and the Baron behaved rather with unbecoming petulance. The count was not the man to brook any insult with impunity; he had known the baron ever since the siege of Gibraltar, and both of them had then been the rival suitors of a Spanish lady. To this may be added the following story, which served still farther to augment the count's resentment.
The latter kept an actress of the French opera, a beautiful girl, but of a wanton and faithless character. Though he only supported her for the sake of fashion and not on account of real love, still his vanity made him believe, that he had an exclusive right to her favors as long as he purchased them. He did not consider that it were folly to exact continency from a harlot; and consequently he soon had reason to be jealous, amongst others, of the baron, who became his competitor in the good graces of that abandoned female.
Having discovered that the baron was very assiduous in his visits to Philinda whenever he was from her, he once went to her in the paroxysm of his spleen, and loaded her with the bitterest reproaches. Philinda heard him a good while with great composure, but this only serving to render him the more abusive, she at last asked him with the greatest sangfroid, "Shall I ring my servants, count, or will you take yourself off without escort, and never sect a foot in my house again?" This made my friend retire quite mortified, and the very next evening the fickle siren appeared at the theatre on the arm of Baron Hompesch, and-as his avowed mistress.
This story now seemed strongly to retrace itself in the count's memory, who began to construe the baron's ironical sneers as an insult. Advancing therefore to the latter's chair, he whispered to him:
"Baron, I am curious to know, how far you are concerned in the occurrences of this night?"
The baron with a deep inclination of his head and a bitter smile, returned in Spanish, "My lord, you shall have all possible ecclaircissement on my part."
This was not the place to insist on its being given immediately. The count retiring with a mien expressive of satisfaction, manifested by his deportment every symptom of resentment which glowed in his heart.
Caroline now took great pains to make ts forget the oddity of her conduct. She attempted personally to console the count, telling him with a smile, "that she would try him for once on the morrow;" but it made no impression on his discordant mind, and white I delighted in all the charms of her gay conversation, my friend sunk into a sort of gloomy reverie, from which he with difficulty roused himself at intervals. Down we sat at last to an elegant supper, during which harmony and good humour returned. The conversation fell on the siege of Gibraltar, and some of the company seeming eager to learn its particulars, appealed to the count, who discreetly and wittily waving the subject, referred the enquirers to the baron, who, said he, had given so many signal proofs of this talents and bravery on that occasion. The baron, who never suspected, that all the world knew of his indifferent character as a military man, accepted the task of displaying his eloquence with a proud simper as the just tribute of his merits, and began the story.
It was astonishing, how adroitly this man wrought out a long account of lyeing adventures; there was no engagement, no skirmish, in which by his own account, he had not been the hero of the day; he made the whole assembly shudder at the horrors and hardships of war, and delicacy could scarce prevent him from detailing his gallant achievements among the ladies. I am convinced, he would actually have persuaded himself to believe all he said, so little did he observe the sarcastic smiles of several gentlemen and ladies, and we would have been condemned to listen to him till morning, had not the count, at the conclusion of a long adventure, interrupted and disconcerted the narrator, with the following phrase, which he had frequently used in the course of his tale.
"And here they awoke!"
The half-stifled laughter of the company, which accompanied this wicked sally, struck the baron dumb, and fired him with shame and rage for several minutes.
He then endeavored to vent his spleen against the count, who, with an insinuating air, addressed himself to the social circle, craving permission to relate likewise a story of that time. We all nodded applause, and beginning his narration with some significant glances at the baron, who would not have done speaking, had not the clamors of the company called him to order, he thus continued:
"On our retreat from the siege of Gibraltar, most of those who had flattered themselves with hopes of honor and profit in that enterprize, had lost all inclination for a renewal of the attempt; three volunteers left the army immediately, and I, owing to a wound and the unfavorable state of my health, went with them on leave of absence. We all set off to the interior of Spain, to visit a common friend, who had recently married a beautiful and opulent Spanish heiress. We found this journey more pleasant than journies generally are in my country; two of my companions were of the same lively turn as myself; and whenever pleasure began to slacken, the drolleries and fantastic lies of the fourth, often made us forget the badness of the roads, and the wretched accommodation we met with in some of the inns.
"This man, whom for good reasons, we shall now call Baron Braggart, was a most eccentric character. Though he knew, that we had on all occasions witnessed his behavior in the field, and had seen nothing less than heroic exploits on his part, he would nevertheless invent a series of brilliant adventures, and protest, with a thousand oaths, his veracity in what he advanced.
"Well invented!" would we often cry, though there was not a syllable of truth in all he said. But then he would pledge his honor, his life and courage to prove his assertions, which made us resolve at last, to choose the first opportunity, to put that courage to the test.
"Our new-married friend gave us the best reception, and himself and his lady soon discovered the weak side of Braggart, whose boasted qualities we soon found, occasion to try.
"Being all at supper one night in the lodge of the garden, we were suddenly alarms ed by an uncommon noise in the castle. Some servants, quite pale and trembling, came to inform our host, they had seen an apparition in one of the apartments. The ladies turned! pale, and frightened rose from their seats, some, of the: gentlemen having happily conquered the first approaches of fear, began to laugh at the silliness of the domestics, but our entertainer declaring; the matter to be serious, ordered lighted torches, and begging the ladies quietly to wait his return, drew his sword, and requested us to follow him equally armed.
"Here a scene of tenderness ensued; all the ladies, married or single, barricaded the door, and conjured us not to leave them alone. At last it was unanimously agreed, that the whole company should go in quest of the goblin. The ladies formed the centre, the servants with their lighted torches flanked the feminine group, and the gentlemen, with drawn swords, led the van or covered the rear,
"The emotion of our host, made me hesitate in my opinion of the matter, as I knew dissimulation to make no part of his character. I thought him incapable of wantonly frightening our fair partners, and believed some real end sufficient cause must be at the bottom.
"A solemn silence prevailed for some time, which Baron Braggart finally broke with as big an oath, as fear could possibly have made him utter. The lady who was next to him (for he had carefully avoided to give his arm to any of them, that both his hands might be free, and in case of necessity his feet too) conjured him to be tranquil. He probably considered this as a challenge, to give the company some more specimens of his pretty exclamations; as he now exhausted the whole register of curses he had ever sworn, to assure them, how he longed to measure his prowess with a spirit. This however did not hinder him from anxiously looking around, and keeping in the middle of two sturdy and robust servants who were the hindmost. He audibly gnashed his teeth at intervals, and became stiller and stiller, the more we approached the mansion. The rest were tolerably divided between fear and expectation.
"The wind blowing out some torches, heightened the terrors of some, and at last we arrived at the gate of the castle. The haunted apartment was said to be in the second story, and as we reached the bottom of the stairs, the major part of those who composed the expedition, were in a state of anguish and despondency. The hardiest among us counted cover the company to see if none had lost himself or staid behind. What was our surprize to find the valorous knight and Baron Braggart among the missing! Already a thousand railleries began to dispel fear from every heart, when the company found they had wronged him. In great haste, and with big drops of sweat on his front, the latter overtook us, alledging that some want had made him quit the group for a moment. He loudly asked for whom we were waiting, and what could make us hesitate? The company animated with his bravadoes moved up a few steps, and halted again. Our hostess kept back her spouse by the skirts of his coat, and would not let him loose, till he sternly asked her, whether she took him for a child. Braggart now discharged another volley of oaths from the rear. The marquis advanced, I and another gentleman followed him closely, and all the rest kept motionless on the stairs.
"The torches having likewise kept behind, I was obliged to step back and wrest one of them from a servant, when I could not help smiling at the fear of some of the men, who, though they had fought like lions before Gibraltar, and borne with defiance all the disasters of that unhappy siege, stood now like dastards, overwhelmed with the prejudices of religious superstition. So far from catching the contagion, it redoubled my courage, I darted to the door, the torch in one hand, and my sword in the other, opened it, and ushered in our host.
"At our entrance, a large form with two fiery eyes almost as big as window-ventilators and a wide mouth stained with gore, slowly advanced against us. The sight of this moving machine was frightful, and the marquis hastily retreated one or two yards, which the group on the stairs perceiving, they rushed down again with the impetuosity of a torrent that forces its banks. In less than a second, the marquis and I were left alone.
Notwithstanding this, I could not help making some observations on the grotesque appearance of the figure, which I assimilated to the giant, who challenges the knight of La Mancha to the combat. This ludicrous idea made me suspect a fraud. I had also perceived on entering the apartment, that another figure made its way through a side door, which formed a communication with the apartments of the marchioness, and terminated in the garden. At the same time I perceived that a gold repeater, which used to stand on the chimney in a case, was missing, though it had been there when I was in the room in the beginning of the evening.
Seizing, therefore, the wavering marquis by the arm, "By G—d," cried I, "they are nothing but thieves!" He coincided with me, and both of us made several passes at the figure with our swords, which it skilfully parried with a long staff. A servant with a torch having by this time come in, and the gentleman who left us in the beginning observed that the torch, which I still held in my left hand was useless, and threw it flaring in the face of my antagonist. This broke one of his large glass eyes, and otherwise deranged his head-dress. I no sooner saw this, than I also flung down my sword, laid hold of his staff, wrested it from him, and with the assistance of the marquis brought him to the ground. The man displayed an almost supernatural strength in his despair, and had he been properly armed, might have killed us both; but he now had to do with four, and being soon exhausted, began to ask quarters, in a hollow supplicating tone. The marquis generously promised him pardon, and on being unmasked, he confessed, that he belonged to a gang of five house-breakers, who had seized this opportunity to rob the house, while the family were in the garden.
We now bound him, and left him under the care of the servant who attended us. The marquis and my companion searched the apartments, and I hastened down stairs, to call the servants to their assistance. A dead silence reigned every where, and not a soul could I meet with. Some lighted flambeaux had even been left on the stairs, to facilitate the retreat of the fugitives, and at the foot of the stair-case, I found a lady who had fainted. A little farther laid Baron Braggart, likewise nearly gone. On hearing somebody come down, he hid his head in his handkerchief, and patiently waited his fate.
"Prepare, baron," cried I, "for thine end is near!"
"Spare me, but this once!" muttered he with a quavering voice.
"You are past salvation!" replied. I laughing, in my natural tone, which he immediately knew, and staring at me with glad surprise, said, "I rejoice my dear count to see you alive. It was a shocking piece of fun!"
In a few words I told him the story, and pointing at the lady who had fainted, he started up, with all the eagerness of a petit maitre to assist her.
I rallied the scattered varlets, and sent them to their master. The rest of the guests were in the lodge with the marchioness, half dead with fear, and on seeing me come in, instead of some spirit whose visit they dreaded, they joyfully shouted, "Ah! 'tis the count!"
While I was relating the particulars of the business, in bounced Baron Braggart with the revived lady.
"And was the baron with you, too?" asked one of the ladies.
"To be sure," returned I, "he has acted the principal part."
This made the baron imagine I had not related the story; and feigning to receive my answer as a compliment paid to his courage, he made a bow, and with the most impudent assurance, began to relate the occurrence with various alterations and additions of his own. The company with admirable patience heard him to the last, but the marquis being returned, was shocked at the lies he hatched, and beckoning me to follow him into the garden, imparted to me a plan tending to make the baron, after an unpleasant evening, pass a most cheerless night.