"Nothing, monsieur, absolutely nothing."

"That is very strange.--Don't you agree with me, madame?"

As he asked this question Monsieur de Noirmont turned to his wife, whom he had not looked at while questioning Louise; Ernestine, whose eyes followed her father's, uttered a piercing shriek.

"Oh dear!" she cried, "mamma has fainted!"

Madame de Noirmont's head had fallen against the back of her chair; she had in fact lost consciousness, and the livid pallor of her face made her condition seem most alarming.

They hastened to her a.s.sistance; Ernestine wept and lamented as she kissed her mother again and again. Louise shared her distress; she lost her head, did not know what to do, and did not hear what was said to her. But Monsieur de Noirmont, who retained all his presence of mind, called Comtois, and, with his a.s.sistance, carried his wife to her room and laid her on her bed.

After some time, Madame de Noirmont came to herself; but there was a look of gloom and anxiety in her eyes, which indicated that the cause of her trouble still existed. She turned her eyes slowly on her husband and her daughter; then, as she caught sight of Louise, who was a little farther away and who seemed to share the general anxiety, she closed her eyes and let her head fall back on the pillow.

"Mamma, dear mamma, how do you feel now?" cried Ernestine, squeezing her mother's hand.

"Better, my dear, I feel better."

"What was the cause of your sudden illness, madame?" asked Monsieur de Noirmont with interest. "You gave us a terrible fright."

"Why, I have no idea, monsieur. I had a sudden feeling of suffocation; then a cold perspiration broke out all over me, and I lost the use of my senses."

"You didn't feel well this morning, you had a headache," said Ernestine.

"Yes, that is true," replied Madame de Noirmont hastily. "I felt poorly this morning, and that is the cause, no doubt----"

"And then Louise's story must have grieved you, made your heart ache.

That probably made you worse."

"Do you wish me to send for the doctor, madame?"

"No, monsieur, it is not necessary; I need nothing but rest and quiet--and a little sleep, perhaps."

"We will leave you, then."

"But I shall be close by," said Ernestine, "and I will come at the slightest sound."

Madame de Noirmont seemed most desirous to be left alone. All the others went away, Ernestine still deeply moved because she had seen her mother in a swoon, and Louise very much cast down because she feared that the story of her misfortunes had touched her mistress too deeply.

Madame de Noirmont pa.s.sed the rest of the day in her room; she kept her bed and expressed a wish to be alone. The next day pa.s.sed in the same way; and for several days she did not leave her bed.

She refused to see a doctor, however, and declared that her trouble required no other remedy than rest.

But from the first moment of her illness, it was evident that Madame de Noirmont's humor had changed: she hardly spoke; sometimes her daughter's presence seemed irksome to her; she answered her curtly and received her caresses without warmth. As for Louise, while her mistress kept her room, she persistently declined her services on the pretext that she did not require them.

Poor Louise was greatly distressed.

"Madame your mother," she said to Ernestine, "will not let me wait on her, or even go into her room. I am afraid that I have displeased her, mademoiselle; perhaps she does not like to have in her house a girl whose parents are not known."

Ernestine tried to comfort her, saying:

"You are wrong. Why should you think that mamma has anything against you? No, it is this trouble of hers, it's her nerves that make her depressed and irritable. Why, she even pushes me away now when I kiss her, and she doesn't kiss me; that makes me unhappy too, but I am sure that mamma still loves me."

As she spoke, the sweet child shed tears, and Louise mingled hers with them, for she could think of no other consolation to give her.

Madame de Noirmont made up her mind at last to leave her room, and she went down to the salon. The first time that Louise saw her, she longed to ask about her health, but she dared not; her mistress's eyes seemed to avoid hers, and she did not display her former kindliness to her. For the merest trifle, Madame de Noirmont lost patience, scolded and became angry; sometimes she gave Louise ten contradictory orders in the same minute. The poor girl lost her head, was bewildered, did not know what to do, while Ernestine gazed at her mother with a surprised and grieved expression, when she saw her treat her protegee so harshly.

Sometimes, however, a violent change seemed to take place in that strange creature; after speaking sharply and severely to Louise, Madame de Noirmont, remarking the poor girl's heartbroken expression, would suddenly change her tone; her eyes would fill with tears and follow Louise's every movement; then she would call her in a gentle, affectionate, even tender voice, and the girl would return instantly, joyous and eager; but her mistress's face would already have resumed its stern expression, and she would motion her away, muttering curtly:

"What do you want? I didn't call you."

Several weeks pa.s.sed in this way. One morning, Madame de Noirmont, who seemed even more thoughtful than usual, said to her daughter when she came to kiss her:

"Really, I don't propose to keep your maid; the girl is good for nothing; we must dismiss her. We will pay her two or three months' wages more than is due her. Tell her, and advise her to return to her village; I think that she made a great mistake in coming to Paris to seek employment. Do not try to change my decision, it would do no good."

Ernestine was in despair; she was very fond of Louise, and it would be a real sorrow to her to part with her; but her mother had spoken in such a stern and decided tone that the poor child dared not reply. She said nothing, but lowered her eyes with a sigh, and left the room to perform the distressing duty with which her mother had entrusted her. As she left her mother's apartment, Ernestine met Monsieur de Noirmont, who came up to her and kissed her, and said, observing her sorrowful air:

"What is it, my child? You look as if you had been crying!"

"It's nothing, papa."

"You know, Ernestine, that I do not like evasions or mysteries; I insist upon knowing at once what makes you unhappy this morning."

"Well, papa, it's because mamma is going to send Louise away, poor Louise, our maid, who is so sweet, and whom I love so dearly. But mamma doesn't like her any more; she says that Louise isn't good for anything; but Louise works just as much as she ever did, and she sews like an angel. But as mamma insists, I am going to tell Louise, so that she----"

"Don't go to her, my child, it is not necessary; Louise will stay in this house."

"But, papa, when mamma told me----"

"I tell you the opposite, my child, and I am the only master here."

Ernestine said no more, for her father had a.s.sumed a severe expression which in him denoted that he had formed a resolution which no one could change. Monsieur de Noirmont then went to his wife and said to her in a cold and impressive tone:

"Your humor is very capricious, madame, as anyone may see by the way in which you treat your daughter sometimes; but you extend it to defenceless servants also, and that is what I cannot endure. This young Louise, who came here to wait upon Ernestine, is honest and virtuous; her appearance is as becoming as her manners; I think that it would be difficult to find another so satisfactory; and yet you propose to dismiss her, madame--you expect me to turn a good girl out of my house, because, for some unknown reason, she has ceased to please you; because your fanciful humor makes you more difficult than ever to serve!--No, madame, that shall not be; I propose to be just before everything, and this girl shall remain in my house, because it would be unjust to send her away."

Madame de Noirmont had not a word to say in reply; she hung her head and seemed completely crushed.

PART IV

XXIV

THE POLISH INTRIGUE