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Chapter LVII
Chapter LVII
Means For Classical Tragedy
After a moment of silence employed by milady in observing the young man
who listened to her, milady continued her recital.
"It was nearly three days since I had eaten or drunk anything, I
suffered frightful torments; at times there passed before me clouds which
pressed my brow, which veiled my eyes; this was delirium.
"When the evening came, I was so weak that at every time that I fainted
I thanked God, for I thought I was about to die.
"In the midst of one of these faintings, I heard the door open; terror
recalled me to myself.
"He entered the apartment, followed by a man in a mask; he was masked
likewise; but I knew his step, I knew his voice, I knew him by that imposing
carriage that hell has bestowed upon his person for the curse of humanity.
"`Well!` said he to me, `have you made your mind up to take the oath I
have requested of you?`
"`You have said it, Puritans have but one word; mine you have heard, and
that is to pursue you on earth to the tribunal of men, in heaven to the
tribunal of God.`
"`You persist, then?`
"`I swear it before the God who hears me; I will take the whole world
as a witness of your crime, and that until I have found an avenger.`
"`You are a prostitute,` said he in a voice of thunder, `and you shall
undergo the punishment of prostitutes! Disgraced in the eyes of the world
you shall invoke, try to prove to that world that you are neither guilty nor
mad!`
"Then, addressing the man who accompanied him:
"`Executioner,` said he, `do your duty.`"
"Oh! his name, his name!" cried Felton, "tell it me!"
"Then, in spite of my cries, in spite of my resistance, for I began to
comprehend that there was a question of something worse than death, the
executioner seized me, threw me on the floor, fastened me with his bonds, and
suffocated by sobs, almost without sense, invoking God, who did not listen
to me, I uttered all at once a frightful cry of pain and shame; a burning
fire, a red-hot iron, the iron of the executioner, was imprinted on my
shoulder."
Felton uttered a groan.
"Here," said milady, rising with the majesty of a queen - "here, Felton,
behold the new martyrdom invented for a pure young girl, the victim of the
brutality of a villain. Learn to know the heart of men, and henceforth make
yourself less easily the instrument of their unjust vengeances."
Milady, with a rapid gesture, opened her robe, tore the cambric that
covered her bosom, and red with feigned anger and simulated shame, showed the
young man the ineffaceable impression which dishonored that beautiful
shoulder.
"But," cried Felton, "that is a fleur-de-lis which I see there."
"And therein consisted the infamy." replied milady. "The brand of
England! - it would be necessary to prove what tribunal had imposed it on me,
and I could have made a public appeal to all the tribunals of the kingdom;
but the brand of France! - oh! by it, by it I was really branded indeed!"
This was too much for Felton.
Pale, motionless, overwhelmed by this frightful revelation, dazzled by
the superhuman beauty of this woman, who unveiled herself before him with an
immodesty which appeared to him sublime, he ended by falling on his knees
before her, as the early Christmas did before those pure and holy martyrs
whom the persecution of the emperors gave up in the circus to the sanguinary
lubricity of the populace. The brand disappeared, the beauty alone remained.
"Pardon! pardon!" cried Felton, "oh! pardon!"
Milady read in his eyes, love! love!
"Pardon for what?" asked she.
"Pardon me for having joined with your persecutors."
Milady held out her hand to him.
"So beautiful! so young!" cried Felton, covering that hand with his
kisses.
Milady let one of those looks fall upon him which make a slave of a
king.
Felton was a Puritan; he abandoned the hand of this woman to kiss her
feet.
He no longer loved her, he adored her.
When this crisis was past, when milady appeared to have resumed her
self-possession, which she had never lost; when Felton had seen her cover
again with the veil of chastity those treasures of love which were only
concealed from him to make him desire them the more ardently -
"Ah! now," said he, "I have only one thing to ask of you, that is, the
name of your true executioner, for, for me there is but one; the other was
an instrument, that was all."
"What, brother!" cried milady, "must I name him again, have you not
divined who he is?"
"What!" cried Felton, "he! - again he! - always he! What! - the truly
guilty?"
"The truly guilty," said milady, "is the ravager of England, the
persecutor of true believers, the base ravisher of the honor of so many
women, he who, to satisfy a caprice of his corrupt heart, is about to make
England shed so much blood, who protects the Protestants to-day and will
betray them to-morrow - "
"Buckingham! it is, then, Buckingham!" cried Felton, in a high state
of exasperation.
Milady concealed her face in her hands, as if she could not endure the
shame which this name recalled to her.
"Buckingham, the executioner of this angelic creature!" cried Felton.
"And thou hast not hurled thy thunder at him, my God! and thou hast left him
noble, honored, powerful, for the ruin of us all!"
"God abandons him who abandons himself," cried milady.
"But he will draw down upon his head the punishment reserved for the
damned!" said Felton, with increasing warmth: "he wills that human vengeance
should precede heavenly justice."
"Men fear him and spare him."
"I!" said Felton, "I do not fear him, nor I will I spare him!"
The soul of milady was as if bathed in an infernal joy.
"But how can Lord de Winter, my protector, my father," asked Felton,
"possibly be mixed up with all this?"
"Listen, Felton," resumed milady, "for by the side of base and
contemptible men there are often found great and generous natures. I had an
affianced husband, a man whom I loved, and who loved me; a heart like yours,
Felton, a man like you. I went to him and told him all; he knew me, that man
did, and did not doubt an instant. He was a nobleman, a man equal to
Buckingham, in every respect. He said nothing, he only girded on his sword,
enveloped himself in his cloak, and went straight to Buckingham Palace."
"Yes, yes," said Felton; "I understand how he would act; but with such
men it is not the sword, it is the poniard that should be employed."
"Buckingham had left England the day before, sent ambassador to Spain,
to demand the hand of the Infanta for King Charles I., who was then only
Prince of Wales. My affianced husband returned.
"`Hear me,` said he; `this man is gone, and for the moment has,
consequently, escaped my vengeance; but let us be united, as we were to have
been, and then leave it to Lord de Winter to maintain his own honor and that
of his wife.`"
"Lord de Winter!" cried Felton.
"Yes," said milady, "Lord de Winter; and now you can understand it all,
can you not? Buckingham remained nearly a year absent. A week before his
return Lord de Winter died, leaving me his sole heir. Whence came the blow?
God who knows all, knows without doubt; but as for me, I accuse nobody."
"Oh! what an abyss! what an abyss!" cried Felton.
"Lord de Winter died without revealing anything to his brother. The
terrible secret was to be concealed till it burst like a clap of thunder,
over the head of the guilty. Your protector had seen with pain this marriage
of his elder brother with a portionless girl. I was sensible that I could
look for no support from a man disappointed in his hopes of an inheritance.
I went to France, with a determination to remain there for the rest of my
life. But all my fortune is in England. Communication being closed by the
war, I was in want of everything. I was then obliged to come back again.
Six days ago I landed at Portmouth."
"Well?" said Felton.
"Well. Buckingham heard by some means, no doubt, of my return. He
spoke of me to Lord de Winter, already prejudiced against me; and told him
that his sister-in-law was a prostitute, a branded woman. The noble and pure
voice of my husband was no longer there to defend me. Lord de Winter
believed all that was told him, with so much the more facility from its being
his interest to believe it. He caused me to be arrested, had me conducted
hither, and placed me under your guard. You know the rest. The day after
to-morrow he banishes me, he transports me; the day after to-morrow he exiles
me among the infamous. Oh! the scheme is well laid! the plot is clever!
my honor will not survive it! You see, then, Felton, I can do nothing but
die! Felton, give me that knife."
And, at these words, as if all her strength was exhausted, milady sank
weak and languishing into the arms of the young officer, who, intoxicated
with love, anger, and hitherto unknown sensations of delight, received her
with transport, pressed her against his heart, all trembling at the breath
from that charming mouth, bewildered by the contact with that beautiful
bosom.
"No, no," said he, "no, you shall live honored and pure, you shall live
to triumph over your enemies."
Milady put him from her slowly with her hand, while drawing him nearer
with her look; but Felton, in his turn, embraced her more closely, imploring
her like a divinity.
"Oh, death! death!" said she, lowering her voice and her eyelids; "oh,
death rather than shame! Felton, my brother, my friend, I conjure you!"
"No," cried Felton, "no; you shall live, and you shall be avenged."
"Felton, I bring misfortune to all who surround me! Felton, abandon me!
Felton, let me die!"
"Well, then, we live and die together!" cried he, gluing his lips to
those of the prisoner.
Several strokes resounded on the door; this time milady really pushed
him away from her.
"Hark!" said she; "we have been overheard; some one is coming! all is
over! we are lost!"
"No," said Felton; "it is only the sentinel warning me that they are
about to change guard."
"Then run to the door and open it yourself."
Felton obeyed, this woman was now his whole thought, his whole soul.
He found a sergeant commanding a watch patrol.
"Well! what is the matter!" asked the young lieutenant.
"You told me to open the door if I heard anyone cry out!" said the
soldier; "but you forgot to leave me the key. I heard you cry out, without
understanding what you said. I tried to open the door, but it was locked
inside; then I called the sergeant."
"And here I am," said the sergeant.
Felton, quite bewildered, almost mad, stood speechless.
Milady plainly perceived that it was now her turn to come forward: she
ran to the table, and seizing the knife which Felton had laid down:
"And by what right will you prevent me from dying?" said she.
"Great God!" exclaimed Felton, on seeing the knife glitter in her hand.
At that moment a burst of ironical laughter resounded through the
corridor. The baron, attracted by the noise, in his robe-de-chambre, his
sword under his arm, stood in the doorway.
"Ah! ah!" said he; "here we are, arrived at the last act of the
tragedy. You see, Felton, the drama has gone through all the phases I named;
but be at ease, no blood will flow."
Milady perceived that all was lost unless she gave Felton an immediate
and terrible proof of her courage.
"You are mistaken, my lord, blood will flow; and may that blood fall
back on those who cause it to flow!"
Felton uttered a cry, and rushed toward her; he was too late milady had
stabbed herself.
But the knife had fortunately, we ought to say skillfully, come in
contact with the steel busk, which at that period, like a cuirass, defended
the chests of the women; it had glided down it, tearing the robe, and had
penetrated slantingly between the flesh and the ribs.
Milady`s robe was not the less stained with blood in a second.
Felton snatched away the knife.
"See, my lord," said he, in a deep, gloomy tone, "here is a woman who
was under my guard, and who has killed herself!"
"Be at ease, Felton," said Lord de Winter, "she is not dead; demons do
not die so easily. Be at ease, and go and wait for me in my chamber."
"But, my lord - "
"Go, sir, I command you."
At this injunction from his superior, Felton obeyed; but, in going out,
he put the knife into his bosom.
As to Lord de Winter, he contented himself with calling the woman who
waited on milady, and when she was come, he recommended the prisoner, who was
still fainting, to her care, and left her alone with her.
But as, all things considered, notwithstanding his suspicions, the wound
might be serious, he immediately sent off a man and horse to fetch a doctor.
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