own interest, that this is a very serious affair—much more so than you imagine—and that the only way to dispose me to indulgence, is to substitute, for the habitual arrogance and irony of your language, the modesty and respect becoming a young lady.'
Adrienne smiled, but made no reply. Some moments of silence, and some rapid glances exchanged between the princess and her three friends, showed that these encounters, more or less brilliant in themselves, were to be followed by a serious combat.
Mdlle. de Cardoville had too much penetration and sagacity, not to remark, that the Princess de Saint-Dizier attached the greatest importance to this decisive interview. But she could not understand how her aunt could hope to impose her absolute will upon her: the threat of coercive measures appearing with reason a mere ridiculous menace. Yet, knowing the vindictive character of her aunt, the secret power at her disposal, and the terrible vengeance she had sometimes exacted—reflecting, moreover, that men in the position of the marquis and the doctor would not have come to attend this interview without some weighty motive—the young lady paused for a moment before she plunged into the strife.
But soon, the very presentiment of some vague danger, far from weakening her, gave her new courage to brave the worst, to exaggerate, if that were possible, the independence of her ideas, and uphold, come what might, the determination that she was about to signify to the Princess de Saint Dizier.
CHAPTER XL. THE REVOLT
'Madame,' said the princess to Adrienne de Cardoville, in a cold, severe tone, 'I owe it to myself, as well as to these gentlemen, to recapitulate, in a few words, the events that have taken place for some time past. Six months ago, at the end of the mourning for your father, you, being eighteen years old, asked for the management of your fortune, and for emancipation from control. Unfortunately, I had the weakness to consent. You quitted the house, and established yourself in the extension, far from all superintendence. Then began a train of expenditures, each one more extravagant than the last. Instead of being satisfied with one or two waiting-women, taken from that class from which they are generally selected, you chose governesses for lady-companions, whom you dressed in the most ridiculous and costly fashion. It is true, that, in the solitude of your pavilion, you yourself chose to wear, one after another, costumes of different ages. Your foolish fancies and unreasonable whims have been without end and without limit: not only have you never fulfilled your religious duties, but you have actually had the audacity to profane one of your rooms, by rearing in the centre of it a species of pagan altar, on which is a group in marble representing a youth and a girl'—the princess uttered these words as if they would burn her lips—'a work of art, if you will, but a work in the highest degree unsuitable to a person of your age. You pass whole days entirely secluded in your pavilion, refusing to see any one; and Dr. Baleinier, the only one of my friends in whom you seem to have retained some confidence, having succeeded by much persuasion in gaining admittance, has frequently found you in so very excited a state, that he has felt seriously uneasy with regard to your health. You have always insisted on going out alone, without rendering any account of your actions to any one. You have taken delight in opposing, in every possible way, your will to my authority. Is all this true?'
'The picture of my past is not much flattered,' said Adrienne; smiling, 'but it is not altogether unlike.'
'So you admit, madame,' said Abbe d'Aigrigny, laying stress on his words, 'that all the facts stated by your aunt are scrupulously true?'
Every eye was turned towards Adrienne, as if her answer would be of extreme importance.
'Yes, M. l'Abbe,' said she; 'I live openly enough to render this question superfluous.'
'These facts are therefore admitted,' said Abbe d'Aigrigny, turning towards the doctor and the baron.
'These facts are completely established,' said M. Tripeaud, in a pompous voice.
'Will you tell me, aunt,' asked Adrienne, 'what is the good of this long preamble?'
'This long preamble, madame,' resumed the princess with dignity, 'exposes the past in order to justify the future.'
'Really, aunt, such mysterious proceedings are a little in the style of the answers of the Cumaean Sybil. They must be intended to cover something formidable.'
'Perhaps, mademoiselle—for to certain characters nothing is so formidable as duty and obedience. Your character is one of those inclined to revolt—'
'I freely acknowledge it, aunt—and it will always be so, until duty and obedience come to me in a shape that I can respect and love.'
'Whether you respect and love my orders or not, madame,' said the princess, in a curt, harsh voice, 'you will, from to-day, from this moment, learn to submit blindly and absolutely to my will. In one word, you will do nothing without my permission: it is necessary, I insist upon it, and so I am determined it shall be.'
Adrienne looked at her aunt for a second, and then burst into so free and sonorous a laugh, that it rang for quite a time through the vast apartment. D'Aigrigny and Baron Tripeaud started in indignation. The princess looked angrily at her niece. The doctor raised his eyes to heaven, and clasped his hands over his waistcoat with a sanctimonious sigh.
'Madame,' said Abbe d'Aigrigny, 'such fits of laughter are highly unbecoming. Your aunt's words are serious, and deserve a different reception.'
'Oh, sir!' said Adrienne, recovering herself, 'it is not my fault if I laugh. How can I maintain my gravity, when I hear my aunt talking of blind submission to her orders? Is the swallow, accustomed to fly upwards and enjoy the sunshine, fledged to live with the mole in darkness?'
At this answer, D'Aigrigny affected to stare at the other members of this kind of family council with blank astonishment.
'A swallow? what does she mean?' asked the abbe of the baron making a sign, which the latter understood.
'I do not know,' answered Tripeaud, staring in his turn at the doctor. 'She spoke too of a mole. It 'is quite unheard-of—incomprehensible.'
'And so, madame,' said the princess, appearing to share in the surprise of the others, 'this is the reply that you make to me?'
'Certainly,' answered Adrienne, astonished herself that they should pretend not to understand the simile of which she had made use, accustomed as she was to speak in figurative language.
'Come, come, madame,' said Dr. Baleinier, smiling good-humoredly, 'we must be indulgent. My dear Mdlle. Adrienne has naturally so uncommon and excitable a nature! She is really the most charming mad woman I know; I have told her so a hundred times, in my position of an old friend, which allows such freedom.'
'I can conceive that your attachment makes you indulgent—but it is not the less true, doctor,' said D'Aigrigny, as if reproaching him for taking the part of Mdlle. de Cardoville, 'that such answers to serious questions are most extravagant.'
'The evil is, that mademoiselle does not seem to comprehend the serious nature of this conference,' said the princess, harshly. 'She will perhaps understand it better when I have given her my orders.'
'Let us hear these orders, aunt,' replied Adrienne as, seated on the other side of the table, opposite to the princess, she leaned her small, dimpled chin in the hollow of her pretty hand, with an air of graceful mockery, charming to behold.
'From to-morrow forward,' resumed the princess, 'you will quit the summer-house which you at present inhabit, you will discharge your women, and come and occupy two rooms in this house, to which there will be no access except through my apartment. You will never go out alone. You will accompany me to the services of the church. Your emancipation terminates, in consequence of your prodigality duly proven. I will take charge of all your expenses, even to the ordering of your clothes, so that you may be properly and modestly dressed. Until your majority (which will be indefinitely postponed, by means of the intervention of a family-council), you will have no money at your own disposal. Such is my resolution.'
'And certainly your resolution can only be applauded, madame,' said Baron Tripeaud; 'we can but encourage you to show the greatest firmness, for such disorders must have an end.'
'It is more than time to put a stop to such scandal,' added the abbe.
'Eccentricity and exaltation of temperament—may excuse many things,' ventured to observe the smooth- tongued doctor.
'No doubt,' replied the princess dryly to Baleinier, who played his part to perfection; 'but then, doctor, the requisite measures must be taken with such characters.'
