The lady threw on her daughter a glance which I fancied
was not quite so affectionate as one might have anticipated
from the beginning of the scene; then she beckoned
slightly to my father, and withdrew two or three steps
with him out of hearing; and talked to him with a fixed
and stern countenance, not at all like that with which
she had hitherto spoken.
I was filled with wonder that my father did not seem
to perceive the change, and also unspeakably curious
to learn what it could be that she was speaking, almost
in his ear, with so much earnestness and rapidity.
Two or three minutes at most I think she remained
thus employed, then she turned, and a few steps brought
her to where her daughter lay, supported by Madame
Perrodon. She kneeled beside her for a moment
and whispered, as Madame supposed, a little benediction
in her ear; then hastily kissing her she stepped into
her carriage, the door was closed, the footmen in
stately liveries jumped up behind, the outriders spurred
on, the postilions cracked their whips, the horses
plunged and broke suddenly into a furious canter that
threatened soon again to become a gallop, and the
carriage whirled away, followed at the same rapid pace
by the two horsemen in the rear.
We Compare Notes
We followed the cortege with our eyes until
it was swiftly lost to sight in the misty wood; and
the very sound of the hoofs and the wheels died away
in the silent night air.
Nothing remained to assure us that the adventure had
not been an illusion of a moment but the young lady,
who just at that moment opened her eyes. I could
not see, for her face was turned from me, but she
raised her head, evidently looking about her, and I
heard a very sweet voice ask complainingly, “Where
is mamma?”
Our good Madame Perrodon answered tenderly, and added
some comfortable assurances.
I then heard her ask:
“Where am I? What is this place?”
and after that she said, “I don’t see
the carriage; and Matska, where is she?”
Madame answered all her questions in so far as she
understood them; and gradually the young lady remembered
how the misadventure came about, and was glad to hear
that no one in, or in attendance on, the carriage was
hurt; and on learning that her mamma had left her here,
till her return in about three months, she wept.
I was going to add my consolations to those of Madame
Perrodon when Mademoiselle De Lafontaine placed her
hand upon my arm, saying:
“Don’t approach, one at a time is as much
as she can at present converse with; a very little
excitement would possibly overpower her now.”
As soon as she is comfortably in bed, I thought, I
will run up to her room and see her.
My father in the meantime had sent a servant on horseback
for the physician, who lived about two leagues away;
and a bedroom was being prepared for the young lady’s
reception.
