The Genius (Carl Grosse)/Chapter 25
CHAP. IX.
Iwas not a little embarrassed at choosing a proper method of treating Adela. The honor of a husband is a delicate thing, which the foolish and unjust world makes depend on the conduct of a wife. I thought it would be best for me to live with her on a polite but reserved footing, receive Don Bernardos with all my former kindness, but watch carefully all his motions. This was, no doubt, a very reasonable plan, but it would not suit with Adela's violent temper, which could not bear indecision or suspence, and demanded an explanation, with such zeal, as if the happiness of her whole life depended on it. I am certain that the poor creature had not then divided her affections, and fully conscious of having done no harm, she was inwardly proud of her innocence, and charged me with injustice. I at first suspected, left Rosalia's looking at me with such tenderness, should have induced my wife to act the part of unbecoming familiarity with Bernardos, in order to be revenged of me; but finding she would not receive his visits, I thought it a sure sign of her having perfectly guessed my meaning, and of her wishing only to give me to understand, that Bernardos had not importance enough for her to let him obtrude upon her pensive and melancholy moments.
I repaired to the dining-room at the usual time. Adela suffered me always to wait a good while, but having twice sent her word dinner was ready, I ordered the servants in waiting to serve up, and sat down with a keen appetite. So much was I changed, as hardly to know myself again. A twelvemonth before, I would have been quite distracted under similar circumstances, and unable to swallow a bit. I thought no more of Adela, and made a hearty meal with the greatest ease and composure in the world.
The first course had just been taken away, when Adela's woman entered the apartment to apologize for her mistress's not coming to dinner. I desired her to tell the cook to lay the cloth in her own room. It was well I said no more, for that very moment my wife made her appearance. She either repented the message, or followed the servant to hear my answer. I returned her slight curtsey without rising, and fell to the bottle. She sat down on her chair, and spread her napkin, waiting for some time, probably to see if I would offer, or help her to something. But I was too much busied with myself for such a thought to have come into my head. I hardly took the trouble to cast a quick glance upon her between whiles. She fixed her eyes stedfastly on her plate, and appeared quite pale and ruffled.
At last she thus began, "It seems, you have made a very good dinner, Don Carlos?
"Very natural I should." Here I beckoned the servants to retire. "You know I have not slept all night, and passed all the morning in the garden to conquer my fatigue; but you seem indeed to have lost your appetite. Why, you look quite pale, Madam? I hope last night has not hurt you?"
"To all appearances, very much Don Carlos."
"What, is it possible! But that is the way of the world. We can taste no pleasure without some bitterness in it."
Adela was dumb, and seemed quite surprised at my good humor and loquacity.
"Astonishing," resumed I, "are the changes incident to human life. Last night nobody was more pleased with herself and every stranger, nor more sprightly and eager than the same Marchioness de Grandez, who now fits before me mute, pensive, pale—and without the least appetite. Who could even suppose your Ladyship to be a native of France?"
Here she put her handkerchief to her face, probably to hide a tear. Her face was now of a glowing red, and her eyes began to sparkle.
"Good God! Madam," cried I with feigned surprise, "you have surely got the fever! Do you wish for a tumbler of water." Here I pushed back my chair, and rose.
"Don't trouble yourself my Lord," returned she, with affected gentleness, while her whole frame was convulsed with rage; she then added, "your Lordship may believe me, that you would be the last person of whom I would accept such an office."
—"Then I will ring a servant." I rung and the man came. "Go to my desk and fetch me a phial full of red powder, which stands on the right hand. Go, make haste!"
"There's no farther occasion for it," returned the marchioness, beckoning the man to withdraw. "Was it perhaps poison, my Lord?" continued she, with a bitter smile.
I was transported with fury at such an insolent and mortifying question, when, fortunately recollecting the part I had resolved to act, I exclaimed, after a short pause—"Poison, Madam? a man of sense might draw many fine inferences from such a question. He might, for instance, think you swayed by quite different principles, and wholly corrupted by the spirit of a certain society."
"Is that all that makes you so punctilious?" pursued she. "Is that all Marquis? who was it then that first made me acquainted with that spirit?"
"Do you think it is I, Adela? Look at the panes of these windows. You see the word Elmira, a sacred word, inscribed on them. This is brittle glass and has resisted storms and tempestuous weather; but my heart is as solid as marble, from which time itself can efface nothing."
She perfectly understood me and shrunk a little, I know not why; either she envied Elmira, or dreaded her fate. The first passion of the heart is always the most powerful, and she might also have grieved at my recollecting it.
"You are in the right," replied she, its very difficult to efface ancient and strong impressions,"
It appeared, as if she wished me to digress from the main subject.—"I did not allude to you, madam," interrupted I, "It was only meant to the society to whom you now seem totally to belong. You accuse me of introducing you to it, but nothing can be falser. No man could be more disgusted with it than I was before our marriage. That society always wrested me from the hands of persons most dear to me, only because they did not suit their plans, and made me form connexions with others, whom I never loved, because by this means they succeeded in their wishes."
"Do you allude to me in this point?"
—"My remark is general. But I was born free, Madam, and it is insupportable to be under foreign control."
—"Who subjected you to it?"
"Can you ask such a question in good earnest? In the first instance my unhappy fate which, after bereaving me of all that was dear, I had the good fortune to distance. And afterwards you, madam."
—"What I, marquis?" This she spoke rather elated.
—"Yes, you!" answered I, in a pet. "Only remember your secret conferences with your friend, Don Bernardos, and your frequent contests with me. What good can there be expected, if a married woman go to Study mysteries with a man that has no business with her; if she form an hundred dangerous connexions, neglecting to cultivate domestic happiness, and swerving hourly from the duties of her character and station? I despair of the consequences."
Adela, who had petulantly provoked me to gave her this reproof, now began to melt in tears. Her sobs made but little impression upon me. My heart had now grown obdurate, and I firmly believed, that with the features of ingenuousness and serene innocence she disguised no small share of artifice. "But," added I morosely, "my remarks are quite general, so you need not apply them to yourself in particular."
—"Is this, Don Carlos," answered she wiping off her tears, "the result of my tender love of you? Is this ill-treatment the reward you bestow on my candor and sincerity?"
I was quite vexed at this unseasonable and improper reply.—"Pray," cried I in a pet, "what name do you give to these flight hints which, as your very good friend, I have taken the liberty of giving you? Ill treatment, madam?—The Marchioness de Grandez is, I believe, the last person in the world, that has reason to complain of such on the part of her husband. Your expressions are most pointedly harsh.—But, excuse, my lady, the great freedom I take. Nobody is more capable than yourself of rightly judging your own conduct. I have always placed an illimited confidence in your good understanding, and you will doubtless always recollect, that your own honor depends on the preservation of mine."
—"And what is there so very objectionable in my conduct, as to put you at a loss to guess its motives? I really hope, you are not jealous of Don Bernardos?" These words were accompanied by a sneer, which rendered her quite detestable in my eyes.
—"Madam, I recognize here your national character. But you should know, that I am a real Briton on such a subject. Were you but my mistress, I would only require of you not to put my health in danger. But, since I have honored you with the rank of my spouse, I must insist on your not letting any one but myself remark the foibles of your heart."
A smack of her lips was all the answer she made. At any other time I would have thought it very pretty, but I understood what her pride, which I was designedly occupied with humbling, wanted to express by it. She fell in a profound reverie, but without waiting for the desert, I rofe, bowed, and retired.
I now thought of letting matters rest just as they were. I firmly believed it impossible, that Adela should in so short a time be so entirely corrupted. A cunning woman will seldom transgress farther, when he knows; herself, closely watched by an attentive observer. Nothing but the most fiery passion would attempt to break this boundary, and that was probably not yet so deeply, rooted in the marchioness's heart. Perhaps too much fondness on my part could have rendered me indifferent to her, or too much artfulness and flattery on that of Bernardos have led her astray. I began to conceive some hope, that the hints I had given her would again put her in the right way, and restore the harmony which formerly subsisted between us.
But I was utterly deceived in my conjectures, and ere a quarter of an hour elapsed, found an opportunity, to discover my mistake. I was still on the stairs, when I heard the: marchioness noisily throw open the dining-room door, and call loudly to a servant, "If to-day, to-morrow, or after to-morrow. Don Bernardos should enquire for me, tell him I am not at home."
I felt all the smartness of this blow, before I had time to meditate upon it, I was about to run among the servants and revoke the orders of their mistress, in her own presence, but sensible, too, that such a step would only tend to magnify the imprudence she had committed, and expose us both to the scandal of every domestic.
The more I considered this circumstance, the more was I shocked at its latent meaning. Adela was extremely irritable, she found herself much offended by me, and nothing could be more certain, than that some secret understanding subsisted between her and Don Bernardos, I had several times remarked their sly winks and furtive conversations, but I safely concluded from their imprudence, that the business had not yet come to a decisive crisis. Thus it could not be expected, that Adela should sacrifice her friend to the mere suspicions which had taken possession of my mind, and to make good such a public dismission, she must necessarily have known of some clandestine issue, I was pretty confident of their carrying on a secret correspondence, in which I naturally was the object of their abuse, and perceived in it the certain basis of all the contumacy of my wife, and of all the symptoms she had hitherto betrayed of her inward disaffection.
As I had never deserved such sentiments, I could not but ascribe them to the intrigueing artifices of Don Bernardos. Had I not been possessed of such an incredible deal of pride, had. I still loved the marchioness: as well as I did before that unhappy night, it would have driven me to distraction. But now I considered rather coolly my circumstances, and my resources.
In order to make a definitive settlement of my plan, I strove to wheedle her into farther confessions. Under various pretences I wanted to speak to her, but she always was busy, and begged to be excused. From this I inferred, that she was writing. Don Bernardos came in the evening. I observed Adela's favorite woman, whom I had long before suspected, receive and ask him into her own room. There the either acquainted him with what had happened, or delivered some letter or note from her mistress. In a little while Bernardos returned to the yard; mounted his horse, and pensively jogged along.
This made me come to a final resolution. My intention was either to carry Adela back to France, or put her in a convent, Nevertheless I thought proper to take the advice of a particular friend of my mother's at Alcantara. I called my valet and bade him give directions to the groom to keep my horse ready for a trip to Alcantara, by twelve o'clock the next day. I did so, that the marchioness might hear of it, and prevent in time the execution of my plan, if she could suspect its actually being in agitation. However necessary this step appeared to me, I still found it extremely unpleasant, and would, owing to a concurrence of various circumstances, fain have abandoned it.
At supper-time, I ordered the cloth to be laid in my bed-chamber. On those occasions Adela would join me; but for this night, having previously sent me an invitation to her own room, which I waved with an apology, I heard from her no more. How frail is the heart of man! This trifling incident occasioned me a quite restless night. An hundred times I felt myself tempted to rise and pay her a visit; yet the bare uncertainty of the reception I should meet with kept me back. I drest myself, walked up and down the room, then threw myself again on the bed, lamenting the loss of Adela's affections, cursing my fate, Don Bernardos, and myself. The night glided away with such follies, and had the morning not brought me to my senses, I don't know how all would have ended at last.
But my delirium evaporated, in proportion to the increasing light. Having put every thing in readiness for my projected journey to France, I gave proper instructions to my confidential valet, not to lose sight of the marchioness, to whom I now sent word, that I was going for a day or two to Alcantara. I took my hunting-piece with me, mounted my horse, and rode off without any attendants.
Turning out of the yard, I took it into my head, to look behind me once more. The marchioness was on the balcony, and looking after me. She seemed as blooming and as fresh as the vernal rose. Pleasure sat dazzling in her eye. She still had on her night-dress, and wore just such a hat with a ribbon of the same color, as on the morning when I first saw her in the garden of her father's castle. This remembrance forcibly struck and affected my sensibility. I gave her a signal of adieu by waving my handkerchief, she returned it with a flight motion of her hand, but before I had fully passed the gate, returned to her apartment.
This fresh token of indifference and light estimation, made me very much inclined, instead of going to Alcantara, to turn back immediately, order the carriage out, and set off for France with the marchioness that same day. I thought it however my duty first to consult my mother's friend, in so delicate a business.
On my arrival in town, I waited on the lady, but had the mortification to find her in the country on a visit from which she was not expected for several days. I then went to my own house, ordered dinner, visited some acquaintances, and towards evening mounted again to ride back to the villa.
It was almost dark when I reached the little back-gate of my park, where I alighted, opened the door with my master-key, tied the horse to a tree, resolved to send a servant to lead him to the stable, and advanced through the myrtle grove towards my mansion, which I entered seemingly unperceived.
In my spouse's bed-room, which opened upon the garden, there was no light, and a deadly stillness reigned all over the place. I thought she had already gone to rest, but on getting up stairs, I could hear a great deal of bustling in the kitchen, and to and fro in the apartment.
I do not know what made me steal so slily into the house. Whether it was mere curiosity to see how my family affairs were conducted in my absence; or whether the human mind harbors certain secret presentiments respecting futurity, enough. I shook and trembled like an aspen-leaf without knowing why. Every moment I dreaded a discovery of some unpleasant object. Still I recollected myself, and was just on the point of going into my apartment, when seeing the marchioness's front-room wide open, I descried a certain questionable glare, through the suite of her apartments, proceeding from her drawing-room.
I'll bid her good night, said I to myself. She probably would conceive a thousand unfavorable thoughts at your getting thus clandestinely into the house. I now entered her apartment and found nobody in it. Two lighted candles, with long unsnuffed wicks stood on the table. "Where can she be?" said I, "I hope she does not run about in the evening air. Imprudent thing, she will not be quiet till she brings on herself some bad fever."
I sit down, patiently waiting her return. But I soon perceive, that I am sitting on something. I rise, I look,—'tis a man's hart. In the first hurry of confusion, I take it to be my own, but a diamond loop and button convince me of its belonging to Don Bernardos. My first motion is, to fling it with great force on the floor, and trample upon it. I then take one of the lighted candles from the table, and impelled as it were, by instinct, run into Adela's bed-chamber.
But her bed was empty, and without the least traces of any person's having lain on it. I composed myself a little, and returned softly and slowly to the drawing-room, put the candle from where I took it, replaced the hat, and waited a little longer. Hearing a rustling as if somebody approached, I hid myself in a corner of the room behind a large sereen, and pierced in haste the canvas with the bayonet of my gun, that I might be the better able to observe all that was to go forward in the place.
Immediately after Don Bernardos entered, hand in hand with the marchioness, whom he led to the sopha, removed the table that stood before it, and sat himself down by her side. Had I had the least belief in enchantments and metamorphoses, I would have taken this for some fairy scene. Both of them were amazingly altered.
Adela was all life and fire. Her fair face had never expressed such vivacity. My blood boiled, yet I could not help gazing on this scene with wonder, The gauze which covered her bosom was rather disordered, and, O heaven and hell! it was not only deranged, but crushed into a thousand rumples.
She trembled, and breathed with great difficulty. Her moist eye was all voluptuousness. Her mien and every motion of her body expressed desire, Not that innocence and modest resistance with which she used to check the bold caresses of her husband! Not that virginal coyness which granted nothing, but required every favour to be gained by force. Methought to see before me some wanton courtezan, so bold, so decoying were her gestures. Nothing could be more certain than that Don Bernardos had mixed something with her wine.
He seemed to have purposely prepared himself for this adventure. Instead of a plain and simple dress, which he always wore, he was now decked out in all the glittering tinsels of a Parisian beau. The grave and manly sounds of his voice were broken into low and surfeiting terms of endearment. Formerly I had taken him for a likely man in his proper and natural character, but now he appeared so intolerably disguised and absurd, that in any other place I would have laughed at him.
His eyes were flaming, his breast fermented, he seemed to be at a loss to find words, or even destitute of the very faculty of thinking. His convulsively trembling hands supplied the place of language, which would indeed have been superfluous here. The execrable villain profaned the pure throne of love—and alas! Adela did not hinder it.
After having satiated himself with a thousand libidinous kisses from one of the finest bosoms in the world, he prepared himself to consummate the foul crime. Adela was fatigued, and made not the least resistance. A febrile shivering now seemed to make her faint in his arms.