4, 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 G-UENN: 
 
 A WAVE ON THE BRETON COAST. 
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 nating." American Queen. 
 
 AUNT SERENA, 
 
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AULNAY TOWER 
 
AULNAY TOWER 
 
 BY 
 
 BLANCHE WILLIS HOWARD 
 
 AUTHOR OF "GUENN," "AUNT SERENA," "ONE SUMMER," 
 ETC. 
 
 BOSTON 
 TICKNOR AND COMPANY 
 
 1885 
 
Copyright, 1885, 
 
 BY TlCKNOR AND COMPANY. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE Tower stood squarely on the old stone church 
 and commanded the plain. In its base was a rough 
 room with loop-hole windows, through which cool 
 breezes played even when the midsummer sun shone 
 hot upon giant wheat-stacks and blue-bloused reap 
 ers in the fields below, and upon parched white 
 high-roads stretching away between lines of poplars 
 from village to village. Skirting the meadow, the 
 deep shades of the forest of Bondy massed themselves 
 strongly. Gone were its storied days of demon, 
 witch, and goblin ; gone the surpassing glory of its 
 bandit chiefs, their wild carousals and mad, late 
 rides, when no honest peasant for leagues around 
 dared venture out after nightfall. All, indeed, that 
 remained of its brave tradition were a few attenuated 
 terrors, conjured up by village mothers according 
 
 M181C94 
 
8 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 to the pleasing method of all nations to frighten 
 recreant children into the path of virtue. 
 
 In the wide range of the Tower, from the forest 
 over the plain, lay many a rich farm, many a stately 
 country seat and thrifty village. The Ourcq Canal 
 cut sharply through the green expanse as far as the 
 eye could reach, bearing on its slow waters traffic and 
 merchandise to the great city. Paris itself was per 
 ceptible by the glow of light against the night skies, 
 and when the wind was west, by the distant chiming 
 of its bells. 
 
 Directly beneath the Tower rose the turrets of the 
 chateau, connected with the church by an arched 
 gallery through which the marquis especially now 
 that he was more or less an invalid went to mass 
 in stormy weather. The cottages of the village folk 
 clustered close about his gates; the village interests 
 crowded volubly and affectionately into his home, 
 as if all distances and barriers between them were 
 spanned by innumerable unseen arches, making 
 church, chateau, and village one. 
 
 Countess Nathalie, wandering listlessly under the 
 great drooping trees of the park, absorbed in thoughts 
 too sombre for her youth, found the cheery bustle 
 of the village insupportable, and silently protested 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 9 
 
 against the enforced intimacy. Why could she never 
 be alone 1 Why must her reveries be disturbed by 
 the gossiping women on the common, by the sun- 
 browned men coming noisily to and from the fields 
 and pouring gayly into the dram-shop ? Why should 
 she be their involuntary boon companion as they 
 sipped the solace of the little glass ? Why, when 
 the women related interesting family events, was she 
 their unwilling confidante, gaining incontrovertible 
 wisdom as to babies teeth, and sheep and calves ? 
 Why must the odious pedler, with his strident voice, 
 beady black eyes, and high, springless cart, rattle 
 regularly into her meditations every Sunday morn 
 ing, as regularly as he came to make bargains and 
 bold jokes over his pots and pans, and disseminate 
 his shallow, free-thinking philosophy among the 
 workmen in the cabaret ? She was not unkind, but 
 she had her griefs, and being young, wished the world 
 to be quiet that she might brood over them. She 
 was not unsympathetic, but she sympathized most 
 with herself. When the village had a sorrow, she 
 observed that it proclaimed it from the house-tops or 
 called in the neighbors and eased itself with demon 
 stration. She did not realize that the poor have no 
 time to nurse heartaches gracefully, that the necessity 
 
10 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 of labor drives them resistlessly on, and the tyranny 
 of daily routine excludes fine ceremony in the pres 
 ence of either love or sorrow. Quite unconscious 
 of its various delinquencies, the village unanimously 
 adored the beautiful young countess, peered eagerly 
 into the park to catch a glimpse of her black-robed 
 figure haunting the acacia- walk, rejoiced greatly 
 when she came into their cottages or talked with 
 them on the common, chattered much of her in their 
 own way, hoped she would marry again soon, for it 
 was a sin and a shame to think of the pretty dear 
 being a widow at her age, and the wonder was, if 
 Jacques, the deceased count s stud-groom and an 
 Aulnay man, spoke true, that she could mourn at 
 all for the old reprobate ; but mourn she did, or what 
 meant her still ways, and her pacing, pacing, hour 
 after hour, her hands clasped before her, her head 
 bent down? So the village lavished upon her its 
 unrequited affection, finding a charm and a grace in 
 all that she did ; and Countess Nathalie, although 
 benevolent and gracious as it was the duty of a 
 Montauban to be, loved the village not a whit, con 
 demned its noisy lamentations as heartless because 
 devoid of reserve, regarded its coarse joys from 
 the heights of her fastidious mental distance, and 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 11 
 
 wearied unutterably of its obtrusive cackling and 
 crowing and bleating, and the whole interminable 
 rustic chorus. 
 
 Neither to her uncle the marquis, nor to his friend 
 the abbe, did she express these unreasonable sen 
 timents. Indeed there was much, reasonable and 
 unreasonable, which it never occurred to her to com 
 municate to them. The marquis was proud of her, and 
 found her conduct appropriate and graceful in the 
 extreme. What, under the circumstances, could be 
 in better taste than a prolonged retirement from the 
 world ? Scarcely twenty- three years old, beautiful, 
 rich, and a Montauban, a woman could well disdain 
 any vulgar eagerness to reappear in the matrimonial 
 market. Moreover, it was agreeable to him to retain 
 her charming presence in his household as long as 
 possible. In his estimation she was one of the most 
 satisfactory women he had known : clear-eyed, clear- 
 voiced, calm and restful in her movements, never 
 sulked, indulged in ejaculations, or made scenes, never 
 demanded flattery or petting, not only a charming 
 woman, but a woman of surprising distinction and 
 repose for her years. He deemed himself fortunate 
 in his surroundings ; for he could emphatically affirm 
 that the marquise, of sainted memory, had also been 
 
12 AULNAY TO WEE. 
 
 a most congenial person. Of her character it was 
 only necessary to state that in forty years of married 
 life he had never known her to irritate his nerves by 
 an abrupt gesture or a harsh intonation. As loud- 
 voiced, ugly women with mental or physical angu 
 larities were his horror, so a sentimental woman, 
 an unconventional woman, a woman with aspirations, 
 opinions of her own, or a history, was all very well 
 as a youthful pastime, but intolerable to a man of 
 taste as a life-long companion. Congratulating him 
 self, therefore, upon the translucent perfection of 
 the femineity in the chateau, he would have been in 
 despair had he once had occasion to suspect the de 
 plorable qualities latent in his niece, and of which 
 she herself was but vaguely conscious. Her senti 
 ment, aspiration, emotion, were by no means in a 
 soporific state. She had a dangerous tendency to 
 independent thought, heretical views as to certain 
 sacred social fictions, and was even capable of having 
 what many people would call nothing less than a 
 history. Countess Nathalie was regarded then with 
 unqualified approval and pride, yet lived as far from 
 the chateau as from the village, until days came 
 which drew her thoughts from herself and nearer 
 to her uncle, days when she longed for the village 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 13 
 
 with all its sights and sounds close before her eyes, 
 loud in her ears, intrusive, persistent, dominant. 
 Its dirtiest baby she would have clasped to her heart 
 with a thousand kisses and blessings. She wished 
 the dram-shop were crowded with the most uncon 
 scionable men. No gossip could be too vulgar for 
 her indulgence. She would have welcomed even 
 the pedler. 
 
 For the cannon of Sedan were silent, the Emperor 
 Napoleon was a prisoner, the Germans were approach 
 ing Paris, where a provisional government under 
 General Trochu had been established. The Aulnay 
 village folk fled with their household gods. But the 
 Marquis de Montauban, contrary to the example of 
 his peers on all the estates in that region, and in 
 spite of instructions from the capital, had chosen to 
 await in his ancestral home the approach of the 
 enemy. 
 
 By command of the French committee of defence, 
 as well as from fear of the besieging army, the coun 
 try for miles around Paris was deserted. Scarcely a 
 living thing belonging to the soil remained, except 
 everywhere the poor forlorn cats that lingered tena 
 ciously in the familiar places, wailing incessantly at 
 night about the desolate homesteads. Fruit trees and 
 
14 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 vineyards told their tale of departed thrift and peace, 
 and afforded a welcome refreshment to the soldiers, 
 cut off by their rapid inarches from the supplies 
 which, owing to the destruction of the railways, were 
 often considerably in the rear. But the cattle and 
 all means of subsistence had been removed, the grain- 
 fields were one sad expanse of ashes, the very air, 
 once alive with the stir of farms, the sounds of toil, 
 calls from the meadows, voices and movement on 
 the highways, now hung like a pall over manor and 
 hamlet. A vast dreariness pervaded the whole land 
 scape. Into this silent land came the great invading 
 army with its ominous discords of war. 
 
 When the investment of Paris was accomplished, 
 Aulnay lay hopelessly in the German lines. The 
 Maas army, under the Crown Prince of Saxony, 
 occupied the right bank of the Seine and lower 
 Marne, on the line Argenteuil, Blanc Mesnil, through 
 the forest of Bondy to Gournay on the Marne ; one 
 division reached from Aulnay, where it touched upon 
 the Garde Corps, to Clichy ; another from Clichy to 
 Chelles. The headquarters of the Saxon corps were 
 at Vert Galant, a charming and well-preserved estate 
 on the Metz road, with gardens extending to the 
 lovely Bois de St. Denis. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 15 
 
 In the entire district occupied by the twenty-third 
 Saxon division only Chateau d Aulnay was inhab 
 ited, and at Sevran, on the Ourcq Canal, where in 
 days of peace low willows drooped over slow barges 
 passing heavily all day long, two fishermen were 
 left unmolested in their hut, the fish they caught 
 being a welcome addition to the meagre rations. 
 The Germans had speedily dammed the Ourcq Canal 
 and Mentone brook, which, overflowing their low 
 banks before the line Livry, Sevran, Aulnay, Blanc 
 Mesnil, formed against the French an impassable 
 barrier, and for the fishermen a broad lake upon 
 which their little boats were constantly seen. 
 
 The conspicuous fact that the Marquis de Mon- 
 tauban and his little family remained at Aulnay 
 could not fail to give rise to speculations on the 
 part of the Germans. The chateau was a charm 
 ing country-seat, a large, massive, comfortable, and 
 friendly house, but by no means so richly appointed 
 as many places in that region, Clichy and Mont- 
 fermeil, for instance, whose owners had, nevertheless, 
 not deemed it incumbent to stay and guard their 
 treasures. In the temporarily uncertain condition of 
 Trance no available political reasons could be suffi 
 cient explanation of his conduct. It was decided to 
 
16 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 subject the family to close surveillance, and they 
 were forbidden under severe penalty to cross the 
 boundaries of court-yard and park. 
 
 It would be perhaps unjust, or at least inaccurate, 
 to bluntly state that the Countess Nathalie de Val- 
 lauris actually enjoyed this painful situation. Still, 
 if one has been more or less wretched in a blind 
 way for some years, rebellious yet hardly knowing 
 against what, conscious of wrongs which one s princi 
 ples and traditions forbid one to openly resent, eager 
 in every heart-throb yet restricted perpetually by 
 the most adamantine if highly polished conven 
 tionalities, it is surely a vast relief to one s over 
 charged emotions to find something positive which it 
 is a duty to roundly hate. Upon the Germans, then, 
 from the moment they appeared upon her mental 
 horizon until upon the familiar landscape of Aulnay 
 the hostile army intruded its sullen tramp, its clang 
 of arms, its roll of artillery, its piercing bugle-call, 
 its swift hoofs carrying messengers of destruction, 
 its hoarse murmur, its fatal omnipotence, she lavished 
 the pent-up resentment of years. 
 
 And the other prisoners beneath the shadow of 
 the Tower ? The mails having ceased, the marquis 
 read old newspapers instead of new ; he contented 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 17 
 
 himself, there being a scarcity of meat, with a super 
 abundance of potatoes and salad ; and since he was 
 restricted to his park, he tacitly reasserted his dig 
 nity by confining himself exclusively to his own 
 rooms. But he could not and would not assume 
 other manners for the novel situation. His antique 
 urbanity disdained to be ruffled by the curious liber 
 ties foreign soldiers were taking with his domain, 
 still less by the wild eccentricities of Paris procla 
 mations. When he told his good story at dinner, 
 the marquis s story was always good, only a good one 
 could last so long, or sat down to his game of 
 piquet or bezique with the Abbe de ISFavailles, his 
 smile, though somewhat vague, was calm and courte 
 ous, his air loftily unconscious that two great nations 
 were cannonading each other at his portals, and that 
 the world was breathlessly awaiting the result. His 
 table-talk airily ignored the Germans, his own aches 
 and pains, and every other topic which a high-bred 
 man would naturally exclude as ungraceful and 
 unappetizing. He moistened his handkerchief fre 
 quently with eau-d Houbigant, and mentioned one 
 day, gratefully, that he had always found its refresh 
 ing odor a delicate consolation in sorrow. 
 
 It was a recognized comfort to every one that the 
 2 
 
18 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 abbe remained. A man of spiritual, even ascetic 
 life, friend and guide of the marquis for years, his 
 influence on the household was boundless. He occu 
 pied himself now, as before, chiefly with his books. 
 His thoughtful face was unmoved by wars and 
 rumors of wars, and he always found time to comfort 
 them all with a wisely chosen word. Old Jean, a 
 kind of heirloom among the family servants, in 
 deed, the Tower itself could have been prevailed 
 upon to leave Aulnay before Jean, in spite of a 
 chronic objection to the sound of a gun, would have 
 deserted the marquis, felt like a hero when the 
 abbe* quietly praised his faithfulness and calmed his 
 shaking nerves. The cook ceased her lamentations 
 for her husband the coachman, who had been swept 
 away with the horses by the first detachments of 
 light cavalry, and grew sanguine in her views, after 
 a word from the abbe. Manette, Countess Nathalie s 
 gay little Paris maid, pronounced it a blessing and 
 mercy that the holy man, with his head like a real 
 saint, was there to say mass, not to mention that it 
 was a pleasure to see his handsome face on the stairs 
 or anywhere ; and when Pierre and Antoine, the 
 fishermen on the Ourcq Canal, came with their fish, 
 ostensibly for fast-days, as if all days were not fasts 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 19 
 
 now, no one could have been kinder than M. 1 Abbe, 
 who talked with them of their wives and children, 
 dispelled their homesickness, and sat with them 
 long in the sacristy discussing many things for their 
 edification. But since even in the best-regulated 
 families perfect unanimity of sentiment is rare, 
 Countess Nathalie s voice was never heard swelling 
 this psean of praise. She went her way as quietly 
 as the Abbe de ISTavailles went his, never opposed or 
 criticised him. But sometimes in the library, even 
 ings, as his interesting dark head was bent over 
 his piquet cards, and the marquis smilingly ex 
 pounded the extreme finesse of his last game, she 
 would raise her eyes from her book with a long, 
 searching glance ; and if the marquis had suddenly 
 turned his aristocratic profile, he might have been 
 startled by a shade of impatience, it may be even 
 suspicion, hovering over the brow of his young niece 
 as she meditated upon the pleasing family group. 
 
 It would almost seem that the marquis s persistent 
 ignoring of evils which he was powerless to remove 
 ought to have merited something better than the 
 aggressive precipitation of those very evils upon 
 himself. But sometimes fate administers curious 
 rewards to the philosopher and the ostrich. Into 
 
20 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 Aulnay village marched, one morning, several com 
 panies of Saxon grenadiers. The marquis betook 
 himself to bed. Some forms of disgust are as acute 
 as gout. His indisposition at least saved him from 
 the pain of seeing a fresh-colored German orderly 
 gallop up to his seignorial gates and demand en 
 trance. Finding them barred and bolted, the rider 
 shook them vigorously, and peremptorily repeated 
 his request. 
 
 Old Jean, crouching behind them, trembling like 
 a leaf in the autumn blast, his loyalty bidding 
 him stay, his cowardice prompting flight to the most 
 remote coal-bin in the cellar, unfortunately be 
 trayed himself by a nervous cough. 
 
 Young Johann Wackermann heard him, grinned, 
 straightened himself, saluted mechanically, stared 
 stiffly at the wall, and roared in the direction of the 
 cough : " You Frenchman, hiding behind that gate, I 
 announce, most obediently at your service, that the 
 colonel and staff-officers of the twenty-third Saxon 
 grenadiers will quarter at this chateau from this day 
 on, and that the regiment will occupy the village." 
 
 Eeceiving no response, he pounded on the gate with 
 his sword-hilt : " Open, man ; open, I tell you ! " 
 
 " You German fiend on horseback, how dare you 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 21 
 
 pound the Marquis of Montauban s property ?" 
 screamed old Jean. " If I were as young as I used 
 to be, I d come out there and teach you manners ! " 
 
 Honest Johann Wackermann understood the spirit 
 if not the letter of this greeting, grinned no longer, 
 but glared as fiercely at the gate as the limitations 
 of his broad, good-natured countenance would permit. 
 "Don t rave at me in your cursed Kauterwelsch," he 
 roared with his great voice, " for I don t know a word 
 of it except eau-de-vie and pang ; you re an im 
 pudent French jackanapes, that s what you are! 
 But you can t carry a stone wall round with you all 
 the time, and 1 11 meet you face to face before long, 
 or my name s not Johann Wackermann ! " 
 
 Jean s aged treble responded like a fife after a deep 
 bassoon. Both men raised their voices more and 
 more, not only from anger, but because one instinc 
 tively assumes that foreigners are deaf. The animated 
 scene might have continued long, for Jean was 
 frantic with indignation, and the Teuton s fresh- 
 colored face was assuming a deeply irate hue, 
 when Countess Nathalie, followed by Manette, came 
 into the court-yard. 
 
 "Hush, Jean," she said gravely. "What is this 
 disturbance ? You will annoy the marquis. Is it 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 not enough that the village is full of men and guns 
 and strange noises, but you must forget yourself in 
 this way ? " 
 
 " Madame knows well/ responded the old man 
 deferentially, " that it is not I, but this German boor, 
 who will not make war quietly ; and where the honor 
 of the Montaubans is concerned, I am like a lion : 
 I know no bounds." 
 
 She repressed a smile; Manette giggled aggressively. 
 " We know your devotion, my good Jean," said the 
 countess soothingly, " but what does the man want ? 
 Why, the gates are locked ! Open them instantly, 
 Jean. He will not eat us," she added, smiling en 
 couragingly at him as he still hesitated. 
 
 In rode the German orderly, angry and zealous ; but 
 when he saw the highly respectable old enemy with 
 a face as white as his cravat, a broad, slow smile 
 broke over his own ruddy countenance, and he re 
 lieved himself by a strong ejaculation in his native 
 tongue. Then he turned his gaze upon the countess 
 and the little maid, and his smile deepened and 
 broadened marvellously, and his blue eye shone with 
 satisfaction ; for Johann Wackermann had a soft 
 heart in his big body, and he began to rejoice might 
 ily that he was coming at last to a Christian kind of 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 23 
 
 a place, where there was a beautiful lady and a pretty 
 little maid, it was so long since he had seen so pleas 
 ant a sight. 
 
 " What do you want ? " demanded the countess in 
 German. 
 
 He gave his message with his stentorian voice and 
 square, soldierly bearing, then made softest sheep s- 
 eyes of honest admiration at Manette, who ardently 
 reciprocated from behind her mistress s shoulder. 
 
 Great was Countess Nathalie s consternation. Ten 
 strange men ! No, this was too much ! How would 
 her poor uncle bear it ? 
 
 " Very good," she said coldly. " You can go." 
 
 " May I beg to inspect the rooms," persisted the 
 orderly, " and the stables ? " 
 
 " As you please," said the countess. After which 
 ceremony Wackermann s resounding " Gracious lady ! " 
 seemed to fill the court-yard ; his salute was a credit 
 to the Saxon grenadiers; his eyes were as tender 
 as German love-songs as he spurred his horse, rode 
 handsomely out of the gates into the village street, 
 and galloped under the arch between chateau and 
 church. 
 
 " That s what I call a man ! " sighed Manette in 
 ecstasy, casting a malicious glance at Jean. 
 
24 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The countess reflected. Looking gravely at the 
 servants, she announced : " Ten German officers are 
 coming here to-day." 
 
 Jean gasped, " Not to the chateau, madame ? " 
 
 " To the chateau." 
 
 Manette raised her eyes devoutly to heaven. "Then 
 war has its uses ! " she exclaimed with joy and 
 gratitude. 
 
 "Manette!" reproved her mistress. 
 
 "Madame will pardon me, but if the gentlemen 
 are all as big and blue-eyed as that brave soldier, 
 would that not be a distraction in this dead-and- 
 alive chateau? " 
 
 " Heartless and vain coquette ! " muttered Jean. 
 
 "It is not our war," persisted the girl gayly. " We 
 are Legitimists. Can we help it if the Paris mob gets 
 into rows with big blue-eyed nations? And can one 
 die for one s country all day long, week in and week 
 out?" 
 
 The countess smiled, and said gently: " It is dull 
 here for a young thing like you. That is why I per 
 mit your lively tongue some extra liberty." 
 
 "Madame is very good," returned Manette demurely. 
 
 " Cheer up, Jean. It is not a pleasant prospect, 
 but it probably will not last forever." That is the one 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 25 
 
 consolation that never fails us, she thought drearily. 
 " Go at once and look after the rooms. We must 
 make what preparations we can. Give the strangers 
 the best of everything. The hospitality of the chateau 
 must not lose its reputation, eh, Jean ? " 
 
 " No, madame," responded the old man gloomily. 
 
 After a pause she continued: "You may put 
 me in my little old turret-room, where I slept 
 when I was a child. I shall be well out of the 
 way there." 
 
 " Yes, madame," he groaned. 
 
 " How interesting it all is 1 Who would have 
 thought we should ever have had such good for 
 tune ! " exclaimed Manette excitedly. " Ten gentle 
 men ! But, good heavens ! what will they eat ? 
 Ten appetites ! Dear, Dear ! " 
 
 " Are there no fish, Manette ? " asked the countess 
 anxiously. 
 
 " Yes, madame ; happily Antoine has just brought 
 a quantity of fine ones." 
 
 " It is well. Otherwise they would have only salad 
 for dinner," added the countess grimly. " One cannot 
 give more than one has." 
 
 " Fish and salad never gave that beautiful rider his 
 rosy cheeks ! " 
 
26 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 "Manette, if your spirits were somewhat more 
 moderate, and yours, my poor Jean, a little less lugu 
 brious, it might be desirable for the general good. 
 But we must all do the best we can. Courage, Jean," 
 smiling indulgently at the disconsolate old servant. 
 "It s bad, I admit; but it might be worse. They 
 are only Germans ; they might be savages can 
 nibals. Manette, beg the abbe to have the kindness 
 to come to me in the library." 
 
 "Yes, madame, M. 1 Abbe is in the sacristy with 
 Antoine. I will tell him at once," replied the maid, 
 tripping brightly away as if life were one grand 
 holiday, with music and dancing. 
 
 Countess Nathalie, in spite of her amiable efforts 
 to comfort old Jean, felt, if not his painful tremors, 
 equally depressed and full of forebodings. "0 my 
 poor little village, how ungrateful I was when I had 
 you ! " she murmured repentantly. " How impatient 
 and selfish and hard-hearted I was ! " 
 
 "Good morning, madame," said the abbe s gentle 
 voice. She turned quickly. 
 
 "Ah, M. 1 Abbe, you have heard what a terrible 
 incubus has fallen upon the chateau" ? " 
 
 " The chateau will shake it off with time, madame." 
 
 "But meanwhile?" 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 27 
 
 " Meanwhile we must have patience," he answered 
 with great quiet. 
 
 "And my uncle ? " 
 
 " It will of course be most painful to the marquis. 
 We must endeavor to reconcile him with it." 
 
 " It is for that reason I sent for you, M. TAbbd. 
 You have more influence with him than any one 
 else. I hesitated to inform him of this last calamity. 
 You can prepare him for it, perhaps." 
 
 " He is already prepared, inadame." 
 
 The sudden question in her mind she did not ex 
 press in words. He continued : " You are won 
 dering how I knew ? Antoine told me. He heard 
 it last night. The command was brought at sun 
 down from Vert Galant. You see it was no secret. 
 Moreover, it was to be expected. The Germans, of 
 course, with every opportunity tighten the coil round 
 Paris." 
 
 "Poor Paris !" sighed the countess. 
 
 "We shall see," he returned with his curiously 
 quiet manner. 
 
 "M. 1 Abbe, I longed to go and take care of our 
 wounded heroes; you and my uncle persuaded me 
 to remain here. You declared it to be my duty. 
 Good. Let that be as it may. I yielded. But some- 
 
28 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 times I ask myself why, and why, indeed, we are 
 all here." 
 
 "We are here because the marquis preferred to 
 stay, are we not, madame ? Because, with his politi 
 cal principles and his failing health, it was his con 
 viction, whatever should come, his chances of comfort 
 and happiness were better here, in his own home ? " 
 
 " Yes, I believe those were the alleged reasons for 
 our course," she remarked slowly and thoughtfully, 
 with no significant emphasis, but with evident dis 
 satisfaction. 
 
 "But my dear madame," he began with gentle 
 deprecation. 
 
 She looked up quickly, and smiled for the first 
 time, a faint, doubtful smile. "Pardon me, M. 
 1 AbbeY she said frankly; "I have grown to be a 
 prober of motives, a dangerous underminer of phrases. 
 I presume it is because I am restless, and because 
 there is much that I do not understand." 
 
 " You are extremely young, madaine." 
 
 " I shall never be young again," she replied in a 
 matter-of-fact tone. 
 
 " And do you mean to imply it is my motive, my 
 phrases, which you probe and undermine ? " asked the 
 abb6 with mild incredulity. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 29 
 
 Yes sometimes often/ she answered slowly. 
 
 " All ! " he returned, with gentle regret and some 
 surprise in his manner, as if this was news indeed, at 
 the same time looking at her calmly and making no 
 attempt to vindicate himself in her estimation. It 
 was the wisest thing he could have done. His sim 
 plicity touched her. 
 
 "There are some things in the past between us," 
 she began with an effort ; " it is possible they cause 
 me to misjudge you. I should be sorry to be unjust. 
 I may have become too self-absorbed, too morbid, 
 living this strangely dreary life all these weeks. But 
 I thought it would be loyal to speak with you openly 
 before these Germans descend upon us." 
 
 " It is loyal, countess. I thank you." 
 
 He turned away, walked to the window, and looked 
 out. Antoine was waiting outside. She saw the 
 abbe* smile kindly at the fisherman and make him a 
 friendly sign. 
 
 " He is a good man," she thought. " How careful 
 he is of every one ! It is I who am unkind, bad, sus 
 picious ; and what is so mean as suspicion ! " The 
 abbe came slowly back and stood before her, his gaze 
 as clear and direct as her own. 
 
 "Madame, it would not be remarkable if you 
 
30 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 should now and then misinterpret me. It would 
 indeed be more extraordinary if you should not." 
 He paused an instant. " As to the past, it is pos 
 sible you may hold other views when you are older. 
 As to the present, you surely cannot have imagined 
 I induced the marquis to remain ! " 
 
 " M. 1 Abbe*, your frankness shames me. Some 
 times I have been capable of even that wild flight 
 of fancy." 
 
 "But pray, what could have been my motive?" 
 he asked with a gentle and perplexed air. 
 
 "That is what I have continually asked myself," 
 she confessed with a little laugh. "I tell you I 
 dream dreams and see visions; I have presenti 
 ments, revelations, second sight, like an old witch 
 of Bondy wood." 
 
 "You are too much alone," he suggested sym 
 pathetically. 
 
 " It may be." 
 
 "Madame, there is one thing which I trust you 
 have never called in question, my affection for 
 the marquis." 
 
 " Never," she returned warmly. 
 
 " Good !" A fine smile lighted his dark, pale face. 
 " It is well that we have spoken. Let us leave old 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 31 
 
 wrongs to slumber. In these strange times that are 
 coming, pray trust me, for you may need me I 
 may need you." 
 
 " We do not always agree, M. 1 Abbe, that is the 
 truth. But against the Germans we are of one heart 
 and soul. Ah, how I dread this experience ! " 
 
 "Think how others have suffered. Should we 
 alone escape ? " 
 
 " Never doubt I would hesitate at any act of sac 
 rifice, any helpful deed," she explained earnestly. 
 "But this long inaction, this sheltering a German 
 garrison under our very roof, that does not help 
 France. That is an indignity to France, to us, 
 odious, insupportable." 
 
 "Who can tell, countess, what your service and 
 mine may be, and when France may require it of us ? " 
 
 His voice was so solemn, that her own remark 
 seemed petty and flippant, like the chatter of 
 Manette. 
 
 " Who, indeed ? " she repeated thoughtfully. " May 
 France find us ready ! " 
 
 "Amen!" responded the abbe softly, under his 
 breath. 
 
 She looked at him, not without admiration for his 
 intellect and strength, but with conflicting sentiments. 
 
32 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 She felt that she was not malleable even under his 
 deft touch. Her memories, convictions, and distrust 
 of him had grown old and stern, like grim warriors 
 whose serried ranks withstood passing attacks from 
 momentary impressions. But he was true to the cha 
 teau, true to France ; and there was wisdom and secu 
 rity in this alliance against the common enemy. 
 
 " Hark ! what is that ? " exclaimed the abbe, throw 
 ing open a window. Faint in the distance, gradually 
 louder and clearer, they heard the sound of fife and 
 drum. Far down the road, between the burnt 
 grain-fields, came the measured tramp of the enemy, 
 the heavy roll and drag of approaching artillery. 
 
 The two listened, speechless, motionless. Suddenly 
 Countess Nathalie started. "Insufferable!" she cried. 
 " Do you not hear ? It is the Marseillaise ! " 
 
 The abbe s eyes flashed angrily ; his lips set hard. 
 
 "When I hear that," said the countess, draw 
 ing a deep, quivering breath, "I would hesitate at 
 nothing." 
 
 The abbe turned and looked at her long. "At 
 nothing ? " asked his searching eyes. 
 
 Nearer and nearer to Aulnay Tower marched the 
 German battalion. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 "!F I have one fixed principle," mused Manette, 
 preserving method in the madness of scarlet bows 
 with which she was adorning herself before her mis 
 tress s mirror, and setting her lips in as firm a line as 
 was practicable with a quantity of pins reposing be 
 tween them, " it is never to have a mistress whose 
 style interferes with my own. When I left my first 
 lady, Madame de St. Mars, she thought I objected 
 to the impudence of monsieur s valet. I did not. 
 The impudence of monsieur s valet was all very well 
 in its way. What I objected to was madame her 
 self. She was of excellent family, had a very decent 
 disposition, her clothes fitted me to a charm, she was 
 free with money, not energetic, and by no means too 
 clever, in short, all that could be desired in a mis 
 tress. Nevertheless, I left her. There were tears in 
 my eyes, but I knew my duty. I was inflexible. 
 And why? Because the conviction was borne in 
 upon me that the want of contrast between me and 
 
 3 
 
34 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 my mistress would be fatal to my career. I was los 
 ing my freshness. I was drooping. My originality 
 suffered. I had no incitement to new combinations. 
 What suited one of us, suited the other. I suspected 
 this long; I resolved to put it to the proof. One 
 night when she was at the opera I dressed my hair 
 like hers, slipped into her freshest ball-dress and a 
 pair of her long gloves, took a large fan, her best 
 point d aiguille handkerchief, and stood before her 
 mirror. What a moment of anguish ! / was ma- 
 dame. I do not say in every feature. As to features, 
 there might be a difference of opinion. But the type 
 was identical. The size, the color, the killing flash 
 of the eye, the arch turn of the head, even the prac 
 tised smile was madame. And she did I not know 
 that my short skirt and cap and apron would look 
 as if they grew on her, and that she would have my 
 own peculiar charm ? We were as alike as two peas. 
 It was heart-rending. I gave warning. And since 
 that time, though I have had my little temptations, 
 and I don t say as I have always resisted all of them, 
 on this point I am as firm as the rock of Gibraltar: 
 never will I go into service with a small, black- 
 eyed, piquant, coquettish, pretty little woman like 
 me, for it s death to my best sentiments. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 35 
 
 " But Madame de Vallauris sets me off, and I set 
 her off. It s ideal ! It s heavenly ! She is fair, but 
 not too fair, tall, but not too tall, wears the simplest 
 thing with an air of her own, and has such repose 
 of manner that my little flutter makes a pleasing 
 variety in contrast. Best of all, she is a constant 
 stimulant to my fancy, for I can t look at her with 
 out inventing a love of a costume on the spot. Not 
 that her mourning and the severity of her taste do 
 not restrict my actual practice. But w r hat of that, 
 so long as the fantasy, the poesy, the soul of a fresh 
 toilet is always there ? Madame de Vallauris is 
 almost too clever for a perfectly satisfactory mistress. 
 She puts two and two together and knows they 
 make four, which few ladies even suspect. If you 
 don t happen to tell the same story you told yes 
 terday, she trips you up as calm as you please. 
 And she never scolds, which gives her an unfair 
 advantage. 
 
 " Then, has n t this chateau been empty enough to 
 ache, and me like an angel of patience with never 
 a man about ? But I still say, all that and worse I d 
 bear, for it s educating to live with such shoulders 
 and such a waist; and after Countess Nathalie, no 
 maid who respects herself could stoop to either the 
 
36 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 scraggy or the stout, and till I die I ll declare that 
 for folds and colors and draping she is a divine in 
 spiration. What I am myself for aprons, caps, fur 
 belows, and flyaway ribbons, she is for cashmere, 
 velvet, crepe. I m the vivacious and sparkling; she 
 the exquisitely dignified. We are distinct, each 
 unique in her way. Neither interferes with the other. 
 I shall never get monotonous, the worst thing in 
 my art, and that s why I adore Countess Nathalie, 
 and am thankful for my blessings. And yet I have 
 my disappointments, my chagrins. Madame is as 
 unaccountable as she is beautiful. To-day, for ex 
 ample, what a field for genius ! What a chance for 
 never-to-be-forgotten impressions ! A dozen officers ! 
 That means oh, joy ! scores of under-officers and 
 hundreds of soldiers. Not a woman in Aulnay but 
 madame and me. O just Heaven, what possibili 
 ties ! My rich imagination dressed us both in the 
 twinkling of an eye. That handsome rosy giant of 
 a German (something tells me we shall meet again !) 
 had hardly left the court before I saw madame 
 attired in subtle appropriateness for the occasion. 
 Some maids would have thought only of themselves ; 
 but I am true as steel to my vocation, and to the 
 Countess Nathalie. Gentle severity was the key- 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 37 
 
 note of my composition : heavy black silk, of course. 
 There it lies. Elegance and dignity in the train. 
 Happy surprises in the drapery. Fascination in the 
 sleeves. Defiance, pride, and patriotism in the high 
 collar, tempered by regret in the soft ruche, with a 
 careless bunch of violets at the throat, as emblems 
 of the springtime and youth which belong to Countess 
 Nathalie if to any woman in the world, and a cloud 
 of black tulle for witchery. She would have been 
 a problem and a poem; while I in my cheerful 
 reds, my dazzling white, my decisive short skirts, my 
 piquant shoes, my audacious apron, am a conundrum, 
 a pleasantry, an epigram ; moreover, slightly mili 
 tary, which is delicately flattering to the invaders. 
 Here I stand, a success, perfect of my kind. And 
 madame ? Alas ! she disappoints my hopes, crushes 
 my enthusiasm, positively refuses to make any 
 change in her toilet. I do not say that she is not dis 
 tinguished and beautiful in her simple cashmere ; but 
 only once in a lifetime do ten foreign officers ride up 
 to a lonely chateau where there are but two women. 
 Great is the moment, and my design was vast." 
 
 " Manette, Manette, why are you waiting here ? 
 I have been looking for you. You should be with 
 me." Countess Nathalie entered the room rapidly. 
 
38 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " Ah, I was hoping madame would reconsider." 
 
 " Reconsider what ? " said Countess Nathalie ab 
 sently. 
 
 " Pardon, madame, the toilet. It is here, quite 
 ready. I have combined and adjusted. But five 
 minutes, and madame would be a dream," pleaded 
 the girl. 
 
 The countess smiled faintly. 
 
 " Manette, I ought to be thankful that you can even 
 to-day make me laugh. Yet if I did not know what 
 a good heart you have, I should be impatient now 
 and then with your nonsense." 
 
 " This at least," responded Manette desperately. 
 With one quick movement she sprang to the toilet- 
 table, where a pale tea-rose stood in a little glass. 
 Another bound, and she was fastening it at the coun 
 tess s throat. " Madame permits " 
 
 " Child, child, does one adorn one s self for the 
 enemies of one s country ? " 
 
 " But when the enemies of one s country are ten 
 staff-officers ! And, after all, enemies are men ! " 
 
 " I will wear the rose if it makes you happier," 
 Countess Nathalie said wearily. "At least, it can 
 do no harm. But, Manette, let me beg you to be dis 
 creet, with all these men about. You cannot be too 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 39 
 
 reserved and careful. You are a good girl. Let me 
 depend upon you. No chatter. No glances." 
 
 "I shall be discretion itself," and Manette drew 
 down the corners of her mouth. " I shall be as sol 
 emn as the Tower. They shall fear me." 
 
 " If you will only be sensible and helpful, that is 
 all that I require. And, Manette, don t put on all that 
 red again, please. You look like a maid on the stage, 
 or is it a vivandiere ? Come with me now. I shall 
 wait in the library. The marquis is in despair, 
 refuses to leave his bed. The abbe remains to con 
 sole him. Another man on horseback, this time an 
 officer, a gentleman, just rode into the court and in 
 quired if the marquis would allow the General von 
 Aarenhorst to present himself. He marked names in 
 chalk on all our doors." 
 
 " Oh ! Was he tall ? Had he blue eyes ? " 
 
 " He was tall. I did not observe whether he had 
 eyes." 
 
 " The dear ! " 
 
 " Manette ! " 
 
 " Madame was about to sa} 7 " " began the girl with 
 an innocent air. 
 
 " Nothing, Manette. There is nothing, indeed, that 
 I can say to you, since you will not understand that 
 
40 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 my heart is heavy. I have been watching the Ger 
 mans enter the village." 
 
 " I was so grieved to lose the fine sight ! " murmured 
 Manette sympathetically. " But," with an eloquent 
 gesture towards the rejected toilet, "madame knows 
 that where my higher "duties are concerned I am 
 adamant. Not even the military can distract my 
 attention." 
 
 "And they are crowding in and out of our little 
 houses, where the familiar smiling faces used to glance 
 out and wish me good-morning," Countess Nathalie 
 went on thoughtfully. " They are drinking beer before 
 old Berthe s door, and grooming their horses where the 
 children played on the green, and cleaning their guns 
 at the baker s. They are not bad-looking " 
 
 " Ah ! " Manette clasped her hands ecstatically. 
 
 Countess Nathalie s quiet, abstracted voice contin 
 ued, talking, as was her wont, to the little maid because 
 she was the only woman near, yet unmindful of her 
 light retort, " Not cruel, bloodthirsty men. No, I 
 will be just. They have honest, simple, kindly faces, 
 these German soldiers. They are manly and brave, 
 but gentle. They are laughing and making jokes out 
 there innocently. They look as if they loved their 
 wives and children at home," she said slowly. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 41 
 
 " Wives- and children ! For pity s sake, madame, 
 are they all dull old family men ? Are there no young 
 gay ones ? " interpolated Manette with consternation. 
 " Then it s no great loss if I did n t look out of the 
 window ! " > 
 
 " And I will not blame them too harshly, for they 
 are mere tools," concluded the young countess, com 
 muning still with her own thoughts, " They are forced 
 into this cruel work. They are to be pitied. But 
 their leaders, their leaders I will never forgive ! 
 They know what they do. They coldly plan this work 
 of destruction. It is a curse. It is a sin. I will 
 never forgive them never !" 
 
 She stood an instant pale with excitement, then, 
 raising her head, looked out on the park where she 
 had played as a happy child, where as a saddened 
 woman she had spent long hours of retrospection. 
 Her glance fell upon the little turret-room. It was 
 a cool shrine of childhood, unchanged since she had 
 stored her treasures there, the ivory angel on the 
 wall hovering over a bunch of mammoth forget-me- 
 nots painted by her own unskilful, zealous hand ; our 
 Lady in a bright blue robe ; St. Barbara too (Uncle 
 Baoul bought that for her in Paris ; she begged for it 
 on account of the Tower) ; some dried grasses from 
 
42 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 the meadow brook ; a few childish books ; a glass case 
 of toys and dolls. When she had come home from 
 the convent, she had been so glad to find everything 
 in its place. Then she was seventeen, and her uncle 
 said it was all too babyish for a girl about to be mar 
 ried, and she moved down to the stately rooms below. 
 She had loved to be up there, above the tree-tops and 
 within sight of the church-tower; but she had had 
 hardly time to grieve, those days had gone so fast, and 
 she felt so strange and dazed when she knew she was 
 to be the Countess de Yallauris. The count she 
 put her hand to her eyes, she gave one deep sigh for 
 her lost illusions : " Is this the way to prepare myself 
 for all that must be borne ? Ah, how weak a thing a 
 woman is !" This was no time for memories of child 
 hood, no time for bitter thoughts. Voices and unwonted 
 commotion filled Aulnay. Horses hoofs sounded be 
 low in the court-yard. The hated strangers were at 
 the chateau gates. She looked piteously at the bright- 
 faced maid : " These are sad days, Manette." 
 
 "Very, madame," returned Manette dutifully. 
 " But," she added, her eyes dancing, " exhilarating ! " 
 
 " Come with me," said the countess, turning and 
 going down the narrow stairway, erect, firm, her face 
 cold and haughty, to meet the foe. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 43 
 
 Manette obeyed, but adroitly seized a black lace 
 fichu, and from her convenient position, as she followed 
 her mistress down the stairs, flung it over the coun 
 tess s shoulders, reasoning : " In that straight gown, 
 and with her repellent air, madame is too unambig 
 uous. A touch of mystery is indispensable." 
 
 Countess Nathalie mechanically pulled the ends of 
 the diaphanous "mystery" about her as she went 
 bravely on, her head high, her eyes cold, her mouth 
 determined and forbidding. 
 
 " She could n t make herself stonier if she were 
 going to meet ten fiery dragons ! " sighed Manette, re 
 garding her mistress critically as she turned on the 
 winding stairs. " Well, I have done my duty by 
 her ! Angels can do no more." 
 
 Meanwhile General von Aarenhorst was in an ex 
 ceptionally bad temper. Although one of the most 
 amiable of men, as Frau von Aarenhorst would un 
 hesitatingly affirm, this bold warrior and distin 
 guished strategist had been for days the victim of 
 many annoyances, to which his inner tranquillity 
 had finally succumbed. He was of too large a 
 nature, too successful a soldier, too much trusted 
 by his sovereign and loved by the army, in short, 
 too marked a man, to escape the fate of every 
 
44 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 mortal visible enough against the great background 
 of mediocrity to serve as target. Jealousy, back 
 biting, and malicious misinterpretation, not being ex 
 clusive vices of women and coffee-parties, but also 
 common to the grander sex and their grand situations, 
 had made themselves manifest in Aarenhorst s imme 
 diate circle, and ruffled his equanimity in no light 
 degree. He felt aggrieved and sore from a slight mis 
 understanding on the part of his prince. He had 
 quarrelled with a friend, which he deeply regretted, 
 and failed to quarrel with a rival, which galled him 
 still more. Altogether it was in no enviable mood 
 that the good general rode into Aulnay ; and he looked 
 like a very grim warrior indeed, capable, poor Jean 
 thought, as he tremblingly held open the great gate 
 and Aarenhorst glared at him from under shaggy 
 eyebrows, of drinking blood from the skulls of his 
 victims. 
 
 The general and his suite dismounted in the 
 court-yard. That quiet place became suddenly in 
 stinct with life and movement, on the moss-grown 
 pavement the firm tread of booted and spurred 
 feet, the irregular beat of horse-hoofs, men s deep 
 voices in brief command, soldiers hurrying to and 
 fro, sabres clanking lightly, jests in a foreign tongue, 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 45 
 
 and the laughter of gallant youth ready for any 
 fate. 
 
 General von Aarenhorst, stern and warlike as an 
 ancient Gaul, strode gloomily toward the door of the 
 chateau. His commanding presence towered above 
 the finely built men accompanying him. His strong 
 and handsome features, though ragged and weather- 
 beaten, scarcely betrayed his fifty years. The square 
 chin looked resolute as fate, the mouth indomitable* 
 and the usual twinkle in his deep-set keen gray 
 eyes, which made his masterful face kindly, humor 
 ous, and lovable, was to-day as invisible as the even 
 ing star on a cloudy night. 
 
 " Why is no one here to receive me ? " he de 
 manded gruffly, stopping short before the threshold 
 of the chateau. 
 
 Jean quaked mightily, but forced himself to totter 
 up the stone steps and fling open the large house 
 door. 
 
 Why is no one here to receive me ? " thundered the 
 general. " Where is the Marquis de Montauban ? " 
 
 " JSTot at home," stammered old Jean. 
 
 " Not at home ? " repeated the ancient Gaul, glaring 
 fiercely at the unfortunate servant. 
 
 "Not at home to strangers," Jean gasped des- 
 
46 AULNAY TO WEE. 
 
 perately, believing that his hour was come, hut 
 heroic in his cowardice, resolving to make the Ger 
 mans unwelcome to the last. 
 
 Von Aarenhorst turned impatiently away. " This 
 poor man is an imbecile/ he said. " There can have 
 been no irregularity in the announcement ? " 
 
 "None whatever, Excellenz," replied an adjutant, 
 stepping forward. " Orderly Wackermann announced 
 the coming of the staff and of the battalion. I 
 myself announced your personal visit to the Marquis 
 de Montauban." 
 
 "I ve had enough of this insolence," began the 
 general. " I refuse to enter a gentleman s house like 
 a thief in the night. I insist upon seeing the master 
 of this chateau." 
 
 At this moment a door opposite the vestibule 
 opened, and the irate general saw a beautiful woman, 
 young, pale, fair-haired, stately, and forbidding. In 
 fact, her expression as she came forward was indica 
 tive of a high and courageous spirit prepared for the 
 worst extremity of fate. 
 
 The general saluted like the elegant cavalier that 
 he was. The pale lady in her black dress, with a 
 fresh Sofrano rose at her throat, drew some lace she 
 wore closer about her, and returned his greeting 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 47 
 
 haughtily. All the lieutenants in the court-yard who 
 had been giving orders about their horses and the 
 stables suddenly drifted towards the door, moved 
 by the occult magnetism of a fair woman s presence. 
 Spurred heels went together with an automatic 
 click, hands flew up in courteous if spasmodic salute. 
 The flower of the German army laid its homage at 
 the feet of the pale lady, who once more returned 
 her half-perceptible, icy salutation. Behind her a 
 bright little butterfly of a woman peeped out and 
 made laughing eyes assiduously, as if to atone for 
 the indifference of her mistress. 
 
 " Jean, show these gentlemen to their rooms," said 
 Countess Nathalie, turning to go, with a slight gesture, 
 as if she were a crowned head concluding an audience. 
 
 " My dear young lady," began the general. 
 
 "I am Madame de Vallauris," was the frigid 
 correction. 
 
 " You may be Madame what you please, you 
 pretty creature," thought the general, " but you are 
 not a day older than my Gertrud; and how would 
 she feel, the dear girl, if a dozen Frenchmen should 
 march in and take possession of our house at home ? " 
 
 " Most happy/ he returned, with his firm salute, 
 and the humorous twinkle reappearing in his shrewd 
 
48 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 eyes like the evening star after passing clouds. " I 
 have the honor to present myself, von Aarenhorst, 
 
 General of the Division. I beg to be allowed to 
 
 pay my respects to the Marquis de Montauban." 
 
 " My uncle for the present must deprive himself 
 of the pleasure of making your acquaintance," re 
 sponded Madame de Vallauris coolly. 
 
 The pleasant twinkle in the general s eye expanded 
 perceptibly. This proud young foe amused him, and 
 he admired her spirit. 
 
 " Madame, when I enter a gentleman s house as 
 a guest " 
 
 Countess Nathalie s eyebrows questioned his choice 
 of words. He understood her protest, but continued 
 blandly, " I am in the habit of being received by my 
 host." 
 
 " My uncle can see no one. He has not left his 
 bed for some hours." 
 
 "Is the Marquis de Montauban seriously ill?" 
 asked the general, watching his fair adversary, with 
 polite scrutiny. 
 
 "No," she answered, raising her honest eyes to 
 his, " no, he is not ill. That is, he is never strong 
 now, but he is perhaps not much more indisposed 
 than usual. He is disgusted, outraged, unreconciled, 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 49 
 
 that is all. In his state of health he finds the situa 
 tion insupportable." 
 
 " Now I wonder if my Gertrud under similar cir 
 cumstances would declare war in as straightforward 
 a fashion as that," reflected the general, studying 
 Countess Nathalie with kindliest interest. 
 
 " Madame," he answered, " no one can regret more 
 deeply than I that the exigencies of war compel us 
 to seek the hospitality of the Marquis de Montauban. 
 The facts being what they are, we shall endeavor 
 to make our stay as little repugnant to him as possi 
 ble. Believe me, in spite of circumstances, madame, 
 we shall even hope to win the esteem, under this roof, 
 which one may well accord an honorable enemy." 
 
 " The chateau is obviously at your disposal," she 
 said coldly. 
 
 " Which is the same as saying, My thoughts are my 
 own, though the skies fall ! " groaned Manette. " Oh 
 if it were not inappropriate from me to her, how I 
 should like to shake her well for being so freezing to 
 
 o o 
 
 that beautiful dear, and all those beautiful dears be 
 hind, like cherubim and seraphim, pulling their mus 
 taches and stretching their handsome high boots and 
 staring with all their eyes ! " 
 
 " You will permit me to inquire, madame," said the 
 4 
 
50 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 general kindly, but still intent upon being received 
 according to his rank and dignity and the etiquette 
 which he himself deemed fitting, " is there no one else 
 in this chateau ? No gentleman who can represent 
 the marquis ? " 
 
 " Besides my uncle, myself, and the servants, there 
 is no one in the house but the Abbe* de Navailles, the 
 marquis s spiritual adviser and friend. Under these 
 circumstances, I fear you will be obliged to content 
 yourself with me," she added dryly. 
 
 "Now my Gertrud would never have thought of 
 saying that ! " decided the general, his eyes twink 
 ling merrily as he surveyed his fair adversary and 
 exchanged an appreciative look with Colonel von 
 Linden. 
 
 "Madame," he returned gallantly, "to you we 
 surrender at discretion. We beg for mercy, not 
 justice." 
 
 " Jean, show these gentlemen to their rooms," was 
 Countess Nathalie s reply. " We keep but four for 
 ourselves," she added in a business-like tone. " All 
 the rest is reserved for you, with the gardener s house 
 and the porter s lodge." 
 
 " Thanks, madame. I regret to have disturbed you 
 so long," 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 51 
 
 " Pray do not mention it." 
 
 With a straight look at the general and a grave 
 inclination towards him, and another still slighter, 
 which seemed in a vague way to embrace the 
 walking-sticks and umbrellas in the vestibule, to 
 gether with the equally insignificant staff-officers 
 and the September sunshine on the old wall with 
 out, Countess Nathalie was gone, Manette doing as 
 much execution as ever a single pair of black eyes 
 accomplished during the brief act of closing a 
 door. 
 
 The ten officers, a stately body of men with uni 
 forms no longer in parade condition and faces which 
 showed deep lines of fatigue and exertion, followed 
 Jean up the broad front stairway to a series of spacious 
 rooms overlooking the park. Several of the younger 
 men arranged to occupy one room, and began at once 
 to make themselves comfortable. There was a pulling 
 about of beds and. other furniture, and a tramping to 
 and fro of attentive Bursche, and a severe inspection 
 of defective uniforms. 
 
 Colonel von Linden smiled. " I have observed 
 no such aspirations towards respectability among us 
 for some weeks. Even the doctor is looking askance 
 at his sleeves, and a panic of mending and brushing 
 
52 AULNAY TO WEE. 
 
 seems to have broken out among the lieutenants. 
 H m ! and this is but the beginning." 
 
 Von Linden was a man of middle height and 
 unusual physical strength, with iron-gray hair clus 
 tering thickly round an animated face. He was ex 
 tremely well informed, and a great but good talker. 
 
 " One woman," he continued, "but what a woman ! 
 Eh, Nbrdenfels ? " 
 
 His adjutant turned from the window where he 
 stood looking out on the park, a tall, slender, blond 
 Gardereiter, elegant on foot as in the saddle, an 
 earnest and rather silent man. "I beg your pardon, 
 colonel?" 
 
 " I was merely saying our chatelaine is a beautiful 
 woman." 
 
 " Yes," replied von Nordenfels gravely. 
 
 " And a dangerous woman. That kind of a woman 
 is always dangerous. Still and cold ? Don t you be 
 lieve it. The little flirtatious maid there, with the 
 bright eyes and the warm, dark skin, that s a cold 
 woman. She d estimate the price of a man s sleeve- 
 buttons while he was kneeling before her extending 
 imploring hands, and she d mentally invest her 
 savings on her way to the altar. But the mistress, 
 there, with her clear eyes and proud air, and her 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 53 
 
 mouth set as if she would n t flinch before a volley 
 of grape, that s a warm-hearted woman, or I m 
 no judge. She s a Hecla. There s fire beneath 
 that snow, mark my words, JSTordenfels." 
 
 " I mark them, colonel," returned the young man 
 with a slight smile. 
 
 "I tell you if I were a young man, an unmarried 
 man, I d fall in love with that woman on the spot," 
 said the enthusiastic colonel, waxing more and more 
 impassioned. " I don t see what you young fellows 
 are made of. At your age, Nordenfels, I couldn t 
 have stood there and stared at trees. I should have 
 prepared to storm the citadel. I should have said 
 to myself, In this enchanted castle is a sleeping 
 beauty; none but the brave deserve the fair. Ad 
 vance through thorns and difficulties, wake her arid 
 win her. Thorns ? Yes, there would be thorns 
 enough on that path," he said laughing. "She s 
 the veriest Dornrb sschen, and in no end of an 
 international labyrinth." 
 
 " If I understand you correctly, colonel," von Nor 
 denfels began with the utmost gravity, " you are ad 
 vising me to entertain matrimonial designs in regard 
 to a French lady to whom I have never had the honor 
 of speaking. In such a trivial matter I am as wax 
 
54 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 in the hands of a friend. Pray write to my father 
 and dispose of me." 
 
 Von Linden looked at him quizzically. " You can 
 be as satirical as you like; but I might do worse for 
 you, after all." 
 
 " Undoubtedly." 
 
 " Let me tell you, a little rashness never harms a 
 man like you, a high-ideal coxcomb, always seeking 
 and dreaming and never finding." 
 
 Von Nordenfels smiled. 
 
 " Oh, I don t mean you re to fall on your knees 
 to-night before the stately little lady, or send Wack- 
 ermann round with a billet-doux ; but it s your want 
 of enthusiasm that I condemn." 
 
 " Pardon me, but I don t think Madame de Vallauris 
 would be particularly edified by our conversation," 
 von Nordenfels ventured to say. 
 
 " H m ! I don t believe she d object very seriously," 
 returned the colonel good-humoredly, seating himself 
 and opening a portfolio, and taking out some papers. 
 "At all events, I m old enough to be her father. She 
 would forgive me. And while a woman may resent 
 too much admiration, she never forgives too little." 
 
 " Madame de Vallauris is not that kind of a 
 woman," von Nordenfels returned abruptly. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 55 
 
 " Ah, then you did happen to remark what kind of 
 a woman she is ! Well, I m glad of that," said the 
 colonel dryly. " There s some hope for you still," 
 busying himself with his papers. 
 
 Von Nordenfels rejoined the lieutenants. 
 
 "You re just in time, Nordenfels ; Forstenau is 
 about to tell a story," drawled a dandy lieutenant 
 familiarly known as Lily, who had parted his hair 
 painfully in the middle, and was now brandishing 
 two brushes and laughing hilariously. 
 
 " No, not a story," protested von Forstenau. 
 
 "He once knew a painter," explained von Ger- 
 hardt. " You think you grasp the situation, do you, 
 Nordenfels ? Forstenau says he once knew a painter. 
 It s incredible, you know ! Colossal ! " 
 
 " What about your painter, Hubert ? " demanded 
 Nordenfels curtly, but with a friendly look at the 
 youngest scion of the noble house of Forstenau, 
 a lank, sandy youth, whose conversation was rarely 
 known to stray from equine subjects, and who now 
 sat struggling with a treacherous memory. 
 
 " I say I once knew a painter " 
 
 " Fabulous ! " muttered the Lily. 
 
 " Let him alone. Let him tell his story," insisted 
 Nordenfels. 
 
56 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " A painter who said " 
 
 " Well, out with it," Nordenfels said encouragingly. 
 " Who said that there are but four types " 
 " Of what ? Eacers ? " demanded the Lily. 
 " No women." 
 
 "Women!" repeated the young man, laughing. 
 "Forstenau s actually holding forth about women. 
 
 Forstenau, Forstenau! that it should come to 
 this!" 
 
 " Four types," persisted the wretched young man, 
 wishing that he had remained firmly seated upon his 
 horse and never attempted to mount anybody else s 
 hobby. "The Marie Antoinette type the Marie 
 Antoinette type," he went on, feeling most miserable. 
 " The Marie Antoinette type " 
 
 They stared at him, smiling, expectant. The Lily 
 turned towards him, holding his brushes motionless. 
 
 "I ve forgotten the other three," stammered von 
 Forstenau, overcome with embarrassment and hanging 
 his head dejectedly. 
 
 A great shout followed. 
 
 "Don t do that again, Forstenau," the Lily said 
 reprovingly. " Don t excite us in this way for nothing. 
 
 1 shall be cudgelling my brains unmercifully now to 
 find those three missing types. Every time I see a 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 57 
 
 woman I shall say, c woman, are you a type ? Are 
 you one of Forstenau s lost types ? >; 
 
 " It was your fault," retorted Forstenau, rallying. 
 " Madame de Vallauris put it in my mind. I knew 
 the whole thing perfectly when I looked at her. If 
 you hadn t interrupted and chaffed, I shouldn t 
 have forgotten. It was a very good story." He 
 looked sullenly at his comrades and relapsed into 
 a long silence, neither knowing nor caring why they 
 laughed. 
 
 Yon Nbrdenfels was examining the room atten 
 tively. It was delicately appointed, evidently a 
 woman s room. Eising, he deliberately collected the 
 vases, books, and ornaments, and put them in a chest 
 of drawers in the corner, locking it and removing 
 the key. Everything fragile he deposited in that 
 safe receptacle. A smaller room he treated with the 
 same consideration ; but being screened from his 
 companions sight, he studied the few books he found, 
 and the pictures, long and earnestly, as if he would 
 fain penetrate into the nature of the owner. Some 
 tea-roses stood on a little table. The vase was 
 simple, and he let it stay. There was a low chair 
 by the window towards the park, and, overlooked 
 in the rapid preparations for the strangers, a small 
 
58 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 black glove near it. He secured it hastily, hesitated 
 a moment, then gravely laid it with the other objects 
 he had collected. Some subtle association lingered 
 with a faint fragrance in the little room, or his 
 warm fancy invested it with a nameless charm. 
 
 " Does any one want this place ? " he inquired 
 indifferently, reappearing among his friends. " No ? 
 Then I 11 move in." 
 
 " Are n t you giving yourself a great deal of trou 
 ble ? " drawled the Lily. " One of the men could do 
 that just as well." 
 
 " I don t seem to be working so hard as you are 
 with your hair," returned von Nordenfels, smiling. 
 " It seems only decent to get such things out of the 
 way as soon as possible. Moreover, we don t know 
 who or what will follow us." 
 
 "Gerhardt, you needn t make yourself irresisti 
 ble. It s no use. I ve got ahead of you. I ve 
 enlisted the maid on my side," said a handsome, 
 dark man, entering with a long, swinging stride. 
 
 " If you think that sort of thing is fair among 
 comrades," began the Lily. "But what have you 
 been doing ? " 
 
 " Why I ran down to look after Claudia. She went 
 lame." 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 59 
 
 " Strategy, to begin with. Claudia s no lamer than 
 you are I " 
 
 "Well, I remembered she was lame once," con 
 tinued von Wedell, lighting a cigarette, " or I feared 
 she might be lame sometime. At all events, I had 
 to go to the stables to look after her. The rea 
 son I had to go so suddenly was because I saw a 
 young person in red and white flitting about the 
 court-yard conveniently for my purposes. She s a 
 nice little thing. Her name is Manette." He 
 whiffed, and smiled provokingly. 
 
 " I don t care about her ! What did you wheedle 
 out of her about her mistress ? Tell us all you 
 know. That s the least you can do." 
 
 " Manette is very discreet. She told me so herself," 
 said von Wedell soberly. " She was discreetly mak 
 ing eyes at that huge Wackermann when I found 
 her, and then she discreetly made eyes at me. She 
 sighed, and said these were sad times, with the cha 
 teau full of handsome young officers like me and my 
 friends, and she and the Countess Nathalie could n t 
 be too reserved and careful." 
 
 " Countess Nathalie ! Aha ! that s her name ? " 
 
 " Countess Nathalie de Vallauris, a widow twenty- 
 three years old. Count de Vallauris died a year 
 
GO A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 ago. Apparently the discreet Manette could tell me 
 something highly seasoned about him, only she passed 
 on to more vital subjects. He was an old fellow, so 
 much I know. Since his death Madame de Vallauris 
 has lived with her uncle the marquis. There was 
 an aunt, or companion, or something, who fled to 
 Paris at the first warning. Countess Nathalie is very 
 kind, and very peculiar. Her hair is all her own. " 
 
 " Wedell, don t you think we could choose a 
 more interesting subject for general conversation ? " 
 interrupted von Nordenfels with a frown. 
 
 "Well, I don t know," replied Wedell, staring 
 superciliously ; " it s interesting to me." 
 
 " Don t be a dog in the manger, Nordenfels. If 
 you don t happen to be capable of falling in love 
 yourself, you needn t try to deprive other men of 
 that bliss. I m gone, done for, extinguished, I tell 
 you ! " drawled the Lily. 
 
 " One might think I had permitted myself un 
 suitable language," remarked von Wedell coldly. 
 
 " It s a mere matter of taste, perhaps," von Nor- 
 denfels replied. " My views of life I prefer to form 
 with no aid from below-stairs." 
 
 " Go on, go on, Wedell ! " cried the others im 
 patiently. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 61 
 
 Von Nordenfels frowned, but listened. 
 
 " Manette, that pearl of discretion, fears that none 
 of us, in spite of our superhuman fascinations, which 
 she gave me to understand she fully appreciated, can 
 make the slightest impression upon the countess. 
 Manette pronounces it a romantic situation, a thrill 
 ing opportunity. But alas ! she says, what can one 
 expect when madame remains insensible to the in 
 fluence of her most devoted maid ? She will do what 
 she can to soften the sentiments of madame, but 
 madame has the deplorable habit of thinking for her 
 self ; and, beautiful as she is, would be more seduc 
 tive if" 
 
 " Did she say nothing whatever about the Marquis 
 de Montauban ? " interrupted Nordenfels. 
 
 " Oh, you re deigning to listen, after all, are you ? 
 She said the marquis is a Legitimist and a very grand 
 gentleman, and she, Manette, is a Legitimist too, and 
 M. 1 Abbe is a holy man who doesn t care about 
 parties or wars; but madame has invincible preju 
 dices against us Germans." 
 
 " She s a handsome woman enough," said von 
 Bergen, " but she leaves a man cold cold, you 
 know. There is nothing appealing about her, nothing 
 sympathetic and winning, nothing piquante." 
 
62 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " What would you have ? " began the Lily with 
 praiseworthy energy. " Should she smirk and smile 
 on us, and say how glad she was to make our ac 
 quaintance ? No, she was quite right under the cir 
 cumstances quite ! She could n t have done it bet 
 ter, could she now, Nordenfels ? " appealingly to the 
 older lieutenant, whom he admired vastly for an easy 
 way of doing difficult things, and upon whose face he 
 now perceived a shade of attention, if not of approval. 
 
 " No," muttered von Nordeufels. 
 
 " The question is now, To whom is she going to 
 soften ? It s a matter of course that we all fall in 
 love with her Nordenfels always excepted. All I 
 say is, fair play among comrades. You, Wedell, 
 you got the start with Manette. You ve got to pay 
 for that/ 
 
 " Upon my honor, I have told everything the girl 
 said. I ve shared joy and sorrow with you." 
 
 " Then I m obliged to you. It s always important 
 at the start to know if a woman is maid, wife, or 
 widow. You have to make a different line of march, 
 you know." 
 
 " The idea of that beautiful woman being a widow 
 is preposterous. Deuced bad taste of old Vallauris. 
 Go on, Kurt. Confide your strategy to us." 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 63 
 
 "Not a word more," returned von Gerhardt. 
 "Mind you all start fair. That s all I have to 
 say. For my part, I never was so hard hit. The 
 impression was powerful and immediate/ he went 
 on calmly, unmoved by the jeers of his com 
 rades. "I love for the first time with a reckless 
 ardor." 
 
 " How about Countess Sophie ? " 
 
 " She ? Her cheeks are too round and red," he 
 said with conviction. 
 
 " And the bright Stella ? " 
 
 " Well, I was in pretty seriously in that direction 
 for a time," laughed the boy ; " but she s not to be 
 mentioned in the same breath with Madame de Val- 
 lauris. That reminds me. Did I ever tell you of the 
 joke about the last laurel-wreath I sent Stella ? It 
 was a crusher, with a rose-colored bow on it as big as 
 a girl s sash at her first ball. She sang divinely, and 
 looked mighty handsome too, but is no more fit than 
 Marietta to be compared to Madame de Vallauris, 
 and" 
 
 At this moment Max von Nordenfels stalked ab 
 ruptly out of the room. 
 
 " What in the deuce is the matter with ISTordenfels 
 to-day ? " inquired von Wedell. " The noble knight is 
 
64 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 often taciturn, but seldom so uncommonly disagree 
 able." 
 
 "Beason enough. He doesn t like to hear Kurt 
 Gerhardt try to tell a story," growled von Forstenau. 
 
 " Bravo, Hubertchen 1 " returned von Gerhardt with 
 patronizing good-humor. 
 
CHAPTEK III. 
 
 "AND, my dear Nathalie/ added the Marquis de 
 Montauban, very elegant in dinner dress, " it is ohvi- 
 ously our duty to master these circumstances, not 
 to permit these circumstances to master us." 
 
 Nathalie regarded him with a surprised air. She 
 had expected anything but this tone ; and for a man 
 whom circumstances had laid flat some hours pre 
 vious, he certainly displayed wonderful recuperative 
 power. Loftiness reigned on his brow, elasticity in 
 his gait, and in his manner pleasurable anticipation. 
 
 Instinctively she glanced at the abbe. When any 
 thing inexplicable occurred at the chateau, she always 
 asked herself, " What does the abbe mean by it ? " 
 The covert attack of her inquiry fell back as usual 
 upon itself. His fine face was turned respectfully, 
 affectionately, towards the marquis, and he listened 
 as one whose quiet sympathy compensates for lack 
 of active participation. 
 
 6 
 
66 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The Abb de Navailles entertained the conviction 
 that most people explain too much. He believed that 
 a wise man never explains his own conduct. One s 
 conduct is either understood, not understood, half 
 understood, or misunderstood. If understood, an ex 
 planation is evidently superfluous. In each of the 
 three other cases, by means of an explanation one 
 may gain something, but is sure to lose more. 
 
 " There is no situation," resumed the marquis, " in 
 which true dignity cannot prevail/ Tall, slight, 
 extremely frail, with withered hands, a striking old 
 man with his thin aquiline features and gray hair, he 
 walked elegantly up and down the charming room. 
 Nathalie was weary, sad, and rebellious ; but the per 
 versity of memory is no respecter of moods, and in 
 contrast to the repose of his sentiments and his true 
 dignity at this moment, a vivid picture of bygone 
 years revisited her memory, the slight form of her 
 uncle fleeing madly before a bull on Grosley Farm. 
 A fresh smile softened her face. 
 
 "You smile, Nathalie. You approve. That is 
 well. And I approve of you, my dear," he said 
 gallantly. "Your rose, your bit of lace, show 
 that you are undismayed. They will not fail to 
 observe it." 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 67 
 
 " My bit of lace, my rose, are vagaries of Manette, 
 and no one will have any chance to study their deep 
 significance, as I shall not appear." 
 
 " Bless my soul, Nathalie ! " he exclaimed. Then, 
 sententiously : " A mistake, my child a false move. 
 Permit me to convince you. It should be a matter of 
 pride with you not to let them flatter themselves so 
 far as to imagine that their presence disturbs you." 
 
 "What they think or do not think, or whether 
 they think at all, is the one supremely indifferent 
 thing to me at this juncture," she returned coldly. 
 " But I can t climb to your heights of philosophy, 
 dear uncle, and, as a woman, their presence is inex 
 pressibly repugnant to me. Allow me, then, to avoid 
 them. Manette can easily bring me something." 
 
 "Marcus Aurelius/ be^an the marquis impres 
 sively, "once expressed himself as follows: 
 " Ah, it s Marcus Aurelius then," thought Nathalie, 
 with another quick glance at the abbe and a satirical 
 curl of the corners of her mouth. 
 
 " Suppose that men kill thee, cut thee in pieces, 
 curse thee, what then can these things do to prevent 
 thy mind from remaining pure " he hesitated 
 the abbe gently prompted : " wise " " wise/ " re 
 sumed the marquis, " sober, just ? " 
 
68 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " Marcus Aurelius was a pagan," warned Nathalie 
 dryly. 
 
 "True, but a man of faultless breeding, a man 
 d &ite" replied the marquis with a conscious air, as 
 if whoever attacked Marcus Aurelius might unwit 
 tingly kill two birds with one stone. 
 
 Nathalie s intense gaze followed him as he walked 
 with grandeur from door to door. He was laughable, 
 yes, but infinitely pathetic ; a most lonely figure in 
 the universal ruin, his happy village deserted, his 
 beloved country in danger from foes within and with 
 out, his party overthrown and suffering in silence, 
 so that had his emaciated hand the force to draw 
 his sword, he, a gentleman, and the child of a heroic 
 race, would scarce have known in what direction to 
 strike. Old, broken, no wife or child to clasp to his 
 breast for comfort, the enemy in possession of his 
 fair lands and his sacred fireside, his only help was 
 to wrap himself in his mantle of conventionality, and 
 lean upon the far-off shade of Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 " And is it not better so ? " asked the deep eyes of 
 the Abbe* de Navailles. "Is it not better than to 
 let him suffer? Am I not prompted by affection 
 and wisdom when I seek to reconcile him with the 
 inevitable ? " 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 69 
 
 Nathalie with a new tenderness and self-reproach 
 moved swiftly towards the marquis. "I have not 
 loved him enough," she thought, and slipped her hand 
 within his thin, half-paralyzed arm. " Uncle," she 
 said, "I understand. I admire. But I am only a 
 woman, therefore it is hard for me to come to dinner 
 to-day." 
 
 "You are a Montauban, therefore you should 
 triumph over your weakness," replied the marquis 
 proudly; not actually displeased at her impulsive 
 demonstration, yet looking down at her hand with 
 some wonder. 
 
 " Uncle, let us suppose Marcus Aurelius had had 
 a niece. Not a grand person like him," her face 
 was enchanting in its unwonted pleading and play 
 fulness, " but an ordinary, quite insignificant niece, 
 with nothing heroic about her at all, nothing elevated 
 and noble ; and suppose she was so commonplace as 
 to feel that there was a kind of indelicacy for 
 want of a better word she was not clever enough to dis 
 cover in her, one woman alone, receiving as guests 
 an irksome group of men to whom her least bitter 
 wish was that they might all be honorably shot dead 
 on the field of battle," her voice grew low as she 
 went on, and all the winning smiles had left her 
 
70 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 face ; " arid suppose she should say to her illustrious 
 uncle, Pray excuse me, for I have no heart/ what 
 would he reply ? " 
 
 " He would reply," the withered frame of the 
 Marquis de Montauban vibrated strangely ; the fires 
 of long ago leaped in his sunken eyes ; he seemed 
 to grow tall as he spoke ; "he would reply, Have 
 I, then, nothing to bear ? By the years in which 
 I cared for you, by the calmness and confidence 
 of our affection, by the sacred tie of blood, you, 
 youngest of my ancient race, leave me not alone 
 in my misfortune ! * He sank trembling into a 
 fauteuil, his hands concealing his face. 
 
 " Marquis," the calm voice of the abbe recalled 
 him to his duties, "General von Aarenhorst and his 
 suite are about to present themselves. I hear their 
 tread on the stairway." 
 
 The marquis sprang to his feet. His features 
 assumed their wonted expression of mild arrogance 
 and unruffled composure. 
 
 "You have no choice, countess," whispered the 
 abbe*. " Courage ! " as the Germans entered the 
 room. 
 
 The meeting of General von Aarenhorst and the 
 marquis was courtly and significant. A deferential 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 71 
 
 and manly greeting, a few brief words, a shrewd and 
 kindly glance on the one side, on the other an in 
 distinct response, a deprecating wave of a frail hand 
 with a manner of old-time elegance, and the dreaded 
 moment passed. The officers one by one as they 
 were presented straightened their broad shoulders, 
 clicked their heels, inclined themselves before the 
 elegant old gentleman, and saluted. Madame de 
 Vallauris, cold and pale, stood by her uncle and 
 seemed to see no one ; but beautiful women in the 
 great world often look cold and pale and see no one, 
 and the lieutenants found her no less entrancing on 
 that account. The marquis began to feel singularly 
 at ease, and warmed visibly under the genial influence 
 of von Linden. "After all, it pays to be a heroic 
 figure," he thought. On the village street the men 
 were lounging and smoking. German gutturals 
 sounded powerful and all-pervading. German sol 
 diers possessed the land. Countess Nathalie listened. 
 A squad of men for forepost duty marched by with a 
 lieutenant. Her heart resented every separate tone, 
 every color of their uniform, as a personal injury ; 
 but she wore her air of still and immeasurable dis 
 tance, and asked herself if it were a bad dream, 
 when she heard her poor uncle s familiar laugh, 
 
72 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 the meclianical laugh of the complaisant host approv 
 ing his guest s anecdote whether he quite hears it or 
 not. And when Jean, his spirit writhing in impotent 
 rage, his manner the ideal of butler-perfection, flung 
 open the folding-doors and announced that dinner 
 was served, and General von Aarenhorst gave her his 
 arm to take her in, she wished, as many a quiet- 
 looking woman too well-bred to be tragic often wishes 
 as she assists at some unavoidable ceremony, that the 
 earth would open and swallow them all. 
 
 But the earth remained obdurate; and she, like 
 the bride after the solemn marriage ceremony, like 
 lovers in their first pure rapture, children in their 
 hot and honest quarrels, faithful hearts mourning 
 their dead, like all of us, sinners or saints, bowed 
 before the inexorable necessity of dinner. Dinner 
 is indeed a stern tyrant. Its hideous, gregarious 
 rites impose themselves upon us at supreme mo 
 ments when the primeval-savage germ in us asserts 
 itself and longs for air and freedom, space and soli 
 tude. The dagger suggests amorous tragedies, dim 
 Venetian canals, and gliding gondolas ; but the pon 
 derous silver fork, weighed down like many a dull 
 soul with the sense of its own respectability, with 
 what suffering, the more cruel because prolonged, is 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 73 
 
 it not associated ! The immaculate napkin, bristling 
 with conventionality in every rigid fold, what ago 
 nies has it not led oh, like the gallant pennon of a 
 forlorn hope ! All honor to the unnumbered victims 
 on the terrible field of a slow dinner! How their 
 stout hearts faint and desperately rally before the 
 invincible soup-tureen, the deadly pauses between the 
 courses, the ubiquitous attack of the waiters, the fatal 
 volleys of small talk ! How they die a thousand 
 deaths, yet bravely smile ! If, when the spirit flies 
 aghast from the dinner hocus-pocus, the outward man 
 might vanish too, what a significant array of vacant 
 chairs, in our most genteel dining-rooms, would com 
 memorate the triumph of nature over civilization ! 
 
 " How false it all is ! " thought Nathalie. " What 
 a tribute to the great god Hypocrisy, that I stay and 
 break bread with the enemy ! Savages would have 
 more honesty and self-respect ! " She watched her 
 uncle. His face was excited, and the old, half-cynical, 
 urbane smile of the man of the world flitted over it ; 
 but the expression of his eyes was uncertain, and his 
 memory faltered now and then, when she observed 
 he depended upon the abbe, whose low voice gave 
 the missing word, whose manner encouraged and 
 sustained. 
 
74 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 Again a pang of self-reproach troubled her con 
 science, and an anxious look stole into her composed 
 face. " How selfish I have been, not to know how 
 old and weak he has grown ! How strangely blind 
 I was not to observe, in the quiet days when he was 
 near me, what I see so plainly now that we are 
 separated by these strange men ! Or is it this one 
 day that has aged him ? No, I cannot escape this ; 
 I should hear the horses and the soldiers, the voices 
 and the constant sounds, wherever I should go. I 
 cannot escape, and I would not; for I must stay 
 with him." Her solicitous glance, leaving her uncle, 
 touched here and there upon the group, the trouble 
 still in her eyes, and met with directness the intent 
 gaze of a blond man in a light-blue uniform, who 
 sat at some distance from her. Involuntarily her 
 look paused, arrested by the strength and deep inter 
 est of his ; then she dropped her eyes, turned away, 
 and for the first time of her own accord addressed 
 von Aarenhorst. Most eyes at the table were turned, 
 as often as propriety allowed, towards the beautiful 
 woman, with her indifferent air, beside the general. 
 There seemed to be a tacit understanding that star 
 ing her out of countenance would be an unfair 
 employment of their privileges ; and admiration was 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 75 
 
 therefore ineted out to her by each according to his 
 own measure, light, bold, flippant, respectful, tem 
 pered by the demands of the situation and the pres 
 ence of dignitaries. The inflammable lieutenants 
 conducted themselves with gentlemanly discretion; 
 but it must be admitted, had they met Madame de 
 Vallauris on the street in a German capital, their self- 
 command would have been less, their visual organs 
 more, exercised. As she hardened her heart against 
 the strangers, she had looked up and met the 
 gaze of a friend. Nordenfels face, grave and self- 
 contained, intent yet not bold, inquiring, seeking, 
 demanding, satisfied neither with himself nor yet 
 with her, seemed in the midst of this strange 
 ness something long known and familiar as her own 
 thoughts. 
 
 So Madame de Vallauris had turned instantly to the 
 general with a conventional inquiry. The Abbe de 
 Navailles, his long hair brushed back as if the better 
 to expose the ingenuousness of his clear profile and 
 scholarly face, made vivid mental notes of the inci 
 dent as he unobtrusively murmured the marquis s 
 missing word. Von Nordenfels in his turn, moved 
 by the subtle instinct that whispers an enemy is 
 near, carefully studied the abbe*. The eyes of the 
 
76 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 two men also met in a long, well-balanced look. 
 Thus nature laughs at the solemnity of etiquette 
 and dinner, and our spirits, free still in blessed mo 
 ments, look out of our eyes, declare war, and offer 
 love, in spite of our worldly harness. 
 
 Von Aarenhorst responded generously, forgiving 
 her for the frequent cold repulses his own conversa 
 tional efforts had met. Being a tall man, he bent 
 slightly towards her, and thinking of his dear 
 daughter, he looked at her indulgently. In his 
 gallantry was a benevolent protection which would 
 have softened anything less obdurate than her 
 prejudices and sense of wrong. 
 
 " No, I have never been in this region before," he 
 said. " Often enough in Paris, of course ; and I have 
 made many excursions out of the city, but not in 
 this direction." 
 
 " It is not interesting here, unless it is one s home," 
 she added. "It is flat arid monotonous, and the 
 village is as rustic as if it were far away in the 
 mountains or on the coast, and not close to Paris ; 
 but the park " 
 
 Ah ! it was not easy to talk. The most common 
 place topic but lightly concealed an unhappy sig 
 nificance. The calm rusticity of Aulnay ! Where 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 77 
 
 was it now ? And Paris ! Who could discuss Paris 
 with the enemy about to storm its walls ? 
 
 In her discouragement her glance again wan 
 dered coldly about the table. " I understand ; I 
 would help you if I could," flashed from the grave, 
 watchful eyes of the stranger friend, while the bright- 
 faced young officers offered the open homage of their 
 quick, admiring looks. 
 
 "The park is a noble one, and the landscape, 
 under happier circumstances, must have an idyllic 
 charm of its own," returned Aarenhorst s kind voice. 
 "I too have a country-house standing among tall 
 trees." 
 
 " My uncle is much attached to Aulnay. Aulnay 
 idolized him," she returned stiffly. 
 
 The general looked at her closely. 
 
 " Madame," he said, " I have a daughter at home, 
 fair like you, about your age. She and her good 
 mother miss me, and I miss them already many 
 weeks." 
 
 " I presume so," was the icy reply. 
 
 Von Aarenhorst smiled indulgently beneath his 
 twinkling eyes. 
 
 " Madame, may I relate to you a little experience ? 
 We were obliged to quarter in one chateau where it 
 
78 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 was made evident we were exceedingly unwelcome. 
 The owner received my adjutant with such extreme 
 rudeness that he was tempted to draw his sabre. 
 Naturally, when I arrived I was not in an amiable 
 frame of mind. I demanded my host somewhat, 
 madame, as I demanded the marquis to-day, when 
 you fronted me so gallantly until I cried quarter." 
 Nathalie listened, her gaze direct and unsmiling. 
 " War is not good for us, madame ; it brings out all 
 that is harsh in us. A campaign puts us in terrible 
 moods. There is something ghastly in living in the 
 midst of rough men, sad sights, danger and death, and 
 for months missing the sight of a woman s face, the 
 sound of a child s voice ; one grows grim and unnat 
 ural. I have known times when I felt I would give 
 a year of my life to hear a child laugh." 
 
 Countess Nathalie s honest nature was touched by 
 his simplicity. She forgot for the moment that he 
 was an enemy, and did not speak, but listened 
 attentively, her eyes on his, her face lovely in its 
 unconsciousness and interest. 
 
 " But I was telling you about the other chateau. 
 The count, they said, was ill in bed. You see, 
 madame, that often happens; therefore pardon my 
 slight incredulity this morning. I insisted upon 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 79 
 
 seeing him. He appeared, white, not I think from 
 illness, but from rage." 
 
 Nathalie raised her head haughtily. 
 
 " I don t blame him," continued the general s kind 
 voice. "The family had suffered much. His aged 
 mother, eighty years old, had literally died of fright. 
 After some conversation his manner changed. He 
 introduced me to the countess. She was a beautiful, 
 stately woman, white as marble as she entered. Do 
 I weary you, madame ? " 
 
 " No, no," replied Nathalie, strangely interested in 
 the other chateau. 
 
 "There was a gradual change in her manner, a 
 gradual appearance of color in her face as we sat 
 talking. The door opened. A splendid boy of eight 
 sprang in, darted back, stared at the uniforms, then, 
 open-mouthed, at his mother. 
 
 " Come in, Eene, said the countess. Come and 
 give your hand to this German general. 
 
 " The boy advanced on tiptoe, one foot well back, 
 ready to spring in case I should roar, or show my 
 teeth, or stand threateningly on my hind legs, and 
 gave me a timid little hand. 
 
 " What does Eene do ? I asked the countess. 
 His instruction, of course, must be interrupted. 
 
80 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " I have him commit poetry to memory, that he 
 may not lose the habit of learning. It is all we can 
 do for him now. 
 
 " I am sure you know " Maitre Corbeau " ? 
 
 " Yes, I know that. 
 
 " Will you say it for me ? J 
 
 " Eene looked at his mamma. 
 
 " Kepeat it, my child/ she said. 
 
 "Eene repeated it, and several fables. His hand 
 was nestling confidently in mine by this time. 
 
 " Can you say " Le Paysan du Danube " ? 
 
 " Shall I, mamma ? 
 
 " Yes, Eene. 
 
 " It is a very long one, remarked Eene, hesitating. 
 
 " If you forget, I will prompt, said I. 
 
 " Eene forgot ; I prompted. The child stared. The 
 count and countess exchanged glances, and asked us 
 to dine. It was a simple repast, but gracefully pre 
 pared with a flower or two, as here, madame; and 
 a pleasant thing it is to us, the dainty touch that 
 betrays a woman s hand. Their provision was slight 
 enough. They had no meat except what we brought, 
 and our men cooked in their kitchen, as here, madame ; 
 but they gradually learned, if you will permit me 
 to say so, that they had to do with a chivalrous set 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 81 
 
 of officers and well-disciplined troops. Our relations 
 grew friendly. When we parted, believe me, it was 
 with mutual esteem and regret. Madame, I have 
 hopes that our experience here may be similar," said 
 the general cordially. " It is for that reason I have 
 ventured to tell you so long a story." 
 
 " But there is no Eene here to act as mediator," 
 returned Countess Nathalie quickly, with a little 
 laugh ; " and although you speak French admirably, 
 and I have no doubt could surprise us with your 
 knowledge of our poets, you must resort to other 
 means." 
 
 " I do not despair of finding them ; I only regret 
 that I am probably not here for long. Colonel von 
 Linden must represent me." 
 
 But Nathalie was already drawing herself up stiffly, 
 repenting of her momentary naturalness. " That is 
 the way of women," mused the general. "They 
 nurse a theory of implacable hatred. They forget it 
 quite, and smile on us, and treat us well, only to re 
 member and freeze again. She s a pretty creature, and 
 honest. I think we shall be famous friends." 
 
 He then calmly neglected his fair neighbor and 
 devoted himself to general conversation. Jean stood 
 behind his master s chair, his holier feelings outraged 
 
 6 
 
82 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 by the cheerful and frequent laughter, and by the 
 sight of meat mysteriously provided, cooked in the 
 Montauban kitchen by unknown foreign men, and 
 served by creatures of unheard-of insolence, who 
 marched in and out as if he were thin air ; and much 
 more substantial poor Jean indeed was not. 
 
 Madame de Vallauris answered a few civil conver 
 sational sallies from the other side with discouraging 
 brevity, and in her turn scrutinized the company 
 which fate had sent into the old chateau. As yet 
 she had had no time for thoughts of them; only 
 feelings had occupied her, hot, vehement, unrea 
 soning feelings. Now, no one was speaking to her ; 
 no one seemed to be watching. She leaned back 
 quietly and thought about them all. " It will never 
 make any difference to me what they are or are not. 
 They are enemies of France ; that is enough for me. 
 But I will read what each face says as best I can. 
 I will see if they are enemies to be feared or scorned. 
 It is surely well to have an intelligent idea of one s 
 enemies ; perhaps more essential than to know one s 
 friends categorically," she reasoned with a half smile. 
 " Friends ? I have no friends. That is what hap 
 pens when girls marry at seventeen and travel with 
 older people from hotel to hotel, from Monaco to 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 83 
 
 Baden-Baden, from Nice to Eome, always seeking 
 a perfect climate, and the fountain of youth. Then, 
 some of my experiences and consequent moods were 
 not conducive to friendship," she thought bitterly. 
 " Had I met a friend then, how would I have known 
 her ? How would she have known me ? Did I meet 
 her and pass her by carelessly, I, who would be 
 thankful in my soul for her this day ? Was she in 
 the long row at some table-d hote, or one of the 
 fashionable throng, drinking waters and taking baths 
 to kill ennui or rejuvenate age, or was she among my 
 formal visiting acquaintances? Well, well, I never 
 found her. Perhaps I never deserved her. At all 
 events, here I sit, young in years, and with at least 
 no crime on my conscience to shut me out from 
 ordinary human relationships, and criminals, in 
 deed, have friends, but not a friend have I in this 
 world except my poor old uncle. Claire and Diane 
 are married, presumably happy. They were little 
 sentimental convent friends. What do they know 
 of me, or I of them, beyond a couple of empty letters 
 a year, and an appropriate exchange of felicitations 
 and condolences ? Would we know each other better 
 for living under the same roof ? Does my uncle know 
 me better than I know these strangers ? Do I know 
 
84 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 him ? Dare I pretend to know him ? Is it only in 
 books that one nature rests fully in another in sym 
 pathy and comprehension ? Do we each go about in 
 this world speaking, like Jean and these German sol 
 diers, different languages, only understanding one 
 another awkwardly in regard to superficial things, as 
 they now make rude, half- intelligible signs about the 
 platters ? Is this life ? Is this all, then ? It is all I 
 have known, and it is dreary. I would like to think 
 for the sake of others that something else exists, 
 though not for me." 
 
 A little weary, too simple and brave to pose for 
 the misunderstood woman, young still, inexperienced, 
 and fresh in spite of her conviction that life had 
 made her old beyond computation and had no new 
 thing to offer her, she indulged in her rapid, wander 
 ing thoughts as she prepared to make her discrimi 
 nating study of her enemies. The abbe* had taken 
 their mental measure ; but he was a close student of 
 that occult science, physiognomy. While her quick 
 fancy and instinct arrived often, like a witch-hazel 
 wand, at magical results. 
 
 The general had intellect, was therefore dangerous, 
 she decided. Colonel von Linden was a brave, strong 
 man, impulsive, and liable to be misled by a hasty 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 85 
 
 opinion to which he would obstinately cling. She 
 made her fine feminine guesses as to the significance 
 of a square chin, a high nose, a subtle line of cruelty, 
 a benevolent smile, a striking profile, a noble head. 
 She underrated the younger men, as a woman often 
 underrates men of her own age : found von Gerhardt, 
 with his white mustache and dandy air, insipid; 
 von Wedell insolent and supercilious; von Bergen 
 commonplace. Forstenau she rather liked for the 
 honest schoolboy look of his smooth face, and his 
 sullen and awkward manner as he glowered in his 
 plate, speechless, and like her alone, though surrounded 
 by voices and laughter. When she came to the tall 
 man in blue, she met with an obstacle. He had 
 been quietly noting the indifference, melancholy, and 
 pride in her face, the deeply thoughtful yet feminine 
 line of the brow, the restrained warmth in her expres 
 sion, the mockery of the smile. " What has made her 
 so ? " he wondered ; and had not satisfied his search 
 ing eyes, when hers, taking their inventory, reached 
 him. The enemy otherwise gave her every oppor 
 tunity to reconnoitre its weaknesses. They were dis 
 cussing some rare wine which, at a sign from the 
 marquis, waxing more and more genial, the reluctant 
 Jean produced from its hiding-place, where it had 
 
86 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 been stored with silver and other valuables before 
 the coming of the Germans. "The older men are 
 distinguished types," she concluded, with a conscious 
 ness that pictorial justice need not lessen her patriot 
 ism. "A little square-headed, a little heavy, but 
 resolute and strong. General von Aarenhorst, if he 
 were not a German, I could almost like. He says 
 he has a daughter. A father like that would not 
 be bad." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, niadame. Did you speak to 
 me ? " said the general, turning to her quickly, his true 
 face, stern in repose, almost affectionate as he now 
 waited smilingly for her answer. 
 
 " No, I said nothing." 
 
 " Then your beautiful eyes spoke, countess," re 
 turned the dignified general as he turned away, his 
 expression softening into a pleasant familiarity and 
 protection which she nevertheless had the tact and 
 good feeling not to resent.. 
 
 " Yes, you were wise to stay," he remarked across 
 the table to the marquis. "If all the chateau- 
 owners had remained, they would have done better. 
 When our men find a place occupied, they are very 
 decent. Even an old decrepit woman who cannot 
 run away fares well, while a vacant place exasperates 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 87 
 
 them. Our warriors tend babies and help bring 
 wood and water. They are glad of something to 
 do when not on duty. They are the easiest men 
 in the world to tie to a woman s apron-strings," 
 with a smile at Countess Nathalie. " We are not a 
 warlike nation, except from necessity. We are lambs. 
 But you were wise to stay, marquis. I wished to 
 drive over from Clichy to Vert Galant the other day 
 in a pelting rain. The soldiers had appropriated the 
 carriage-top to patch their shoes. My Schiitzen regi 
 ment have deprived the billiard-table of its green 
 cloth to eke out their uniforms. The iron frame of 
 the conservatory has been worked into horse-shoes ; 
 and cold evenings, when green wood won t burn, 
 beautiful carved doors and heavy old furniture unfor 
 tunately will. Therefore, as I say, marquis, though 
 our troops are upon the whole well meaning and 
 well trained, if all the chateau-owners had remained 
 to guard their property, it would have been better." 
 
 " Such was my opinion," responded the marquis 
 placidly, " and the advice of my esteemed friend here, 
 the Abbe de Navailles." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the general, looking attentively at 
 the abbe*, who inclined his handsome head with 
 deference. 
 
88 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The marquis smiled benignly round the table. A 
 shade of reserve was of course desirable, a firm 
 yet unmistakable implication that the situation was 
 delicate in the extreme. But the abbe was right, as 
 usual. It was no use to rebel against fate, and this 
 was no campaign which involved Bourbon honor. 
 He had hoped to be spared. Up to the last he had 
 believed the turmoil would rage around, but not in, 
 sacred Aulnay. Now it was upon him, he took heart 
 of grace. He was an old man. He could not strug 
 gle. These officers were gentlemen and cavaliers. 
 The good old wine warmed his blood. He raised 
 his glass. 
 
 " Gentlemen," he said with his courtly air, pre 
 pared to give a two-edged toast which would define 
 his position and theirs with a trenchant and deft 
 stroke. Suddenly his face fell. He put down his 
 glass. 
 
 "God bless my soul!" he exclaimed. "We are 
 thirteen at table ! I am not in general superstitious," 
 he added, as people are apt apologetically to state in 
 the very act of yielding to abject superstition, " but 
 if there s anything to which I have a deep-rooted 
 objection, it is to thirteen at table." He half rose, 
 looking very uncomfortable. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 89 
 
 " Is n t it rather late to discover it, dear uncle ? " 
 asked Madame de Yallauris demurely. 
 
 " Under the present circumstances you can surely 
 give yourself the benefit of the doubt/ von Aaren- 
 horst remarked heartily. " We military men monopo 
 lize all chances of the doom." 
 
 " May it not still be averted ? " Von Nordenfels 
 rose. " I must in any event beg to be excused." 
 
 " I hope " stammered the marquis politely. 
 
 "I have duties/ explained the adjutant, rap 
 idly leaving the room with the simplicity and ele 
 gance which it was Gerhardt s fondest aspiration to 
 attain. 
 
 " That young man is Lieutenant von Nordenfels," 
 said the general, looking after him with kindly 
 interest. 
 
 " Ah ! " returned Nathalie indifferently. 
 
 " Do you know what an adjutant is ? " 
 
 " Not precisely," she answered, without a trace of 
 interest. 
 
 " An adjutant is 1 11 tell you later what an adju 
 tant is, madame," laughing a little, "when you ask 
 me; when you wish military information." 
 
 "Very good. I shall wait without impatience," 
 she rejoined. 
 
90 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " Every one has a pet superstitions which he keep 
 mostly out of sight," von Linden was declaring. 
 
 "Yes/ said a blunt major low to his neighbor; 
 "sometimes it s dreams, sometimes it s looking-glasses, 
 sometimes it s cats, or candles, or howling dogs, or 
 haunted houses. One is as unimportant as another." 
 
 " You may laugh, gentlemen," resumed the mar 
 quis with dignity, " but I never knew thirteen at 
 table to fail." 
 
 " Did you ever know fourteen to fail ? " asked the 
 colonel, smiling. 
 
 " Great men are often superstitious," remarked the 
 abbe blandly. 
 
 " True, true," said the marquis. " Great men are 
 usually superstitious ; in fact, almost invariably so," 
 he announced. 
 
 " Marcus Aurelius ? " inquired Madame de Vallauris 
 in a low voice, smiling at him past the lieutenants. 
 
 " Undoubtedly, undoubtedly," he returned with his 
 grand air. 
 
 "I am not superstitious," von Aarenhorst said 
 thoughtfully. " I know the bullet that is not meant 
 for me will not reach me." 
 
 " But that also is superstition," retorted the coun 
 tess quickly. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 91 
 
 " You are right," he said, smiling. 
 
 Catching her uncle s eye, she rose, coldly acknowl 
 edged the salutation of the company, and passed out 
 on von Aarenhorst s arm. 
 
 The officers withdrew. The marquis played a 
 rubber of piquet with airy cheerfulness, well pleased 
 with his Aurelian philosophy. " Everything in life 
 can be borne, everything, if you cultivate true dig 
 nity," he declared. " Nathalie, you observed every 
 thing?" 
 
 " Everything, uncle." 
 
 " You were satisfied ? " 
 
 " With you ? Perfectly, dear uncle." 
 
 " Nathalie, cultivate true dignity. You are a Mon- 
 tauban. You can attain to it." 
 
 " Yes, uncle." 
 
 Somewhat fatigued, the old gentleman went early 
 to his room. Nathalie, high in her turret, looked 
 long at the stars and the dark Tower, and listened to 
 the movement below and the voices of the watch. 
 She was left at last alone with herself. 
 
 Pierre the fisherman, detained late in the sacristy, 
 at the abbe s suggestion remained quietly there until 
 dawn. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE beautiful autumn days passed at the chateau 
 in comparative quiet, disturbed now and then by a 
 little skirmishing, particularly near Bondy. The 
 relations of the marquis with the detachment of Ger 
 man officers quartered under his roof became most 
 friendly. His library was their favorite resort, and 
 afforded them great enjoyment. Whist, chess, and 
 piquet, he and they depended upon evenings, lovers 
 of games being a sect apart, who forget jealousies, strife, 
 and personal animosity in the pure delight of winning 
 the rubber. Their zeal and enthusiasm covered all 
 political questions, which were indeed seldom or never 
 touched upon. According to the Marquis de Montau- 
 ban s interpretation of Marcus Aurelius, true dignity 
 should avoid perilous discussions with persons in au 
 thority. The German officers, sure of themselves and 
 their cause, never troubled themselves to inquire the 
 meaning of his reticence. They were content to accept 
 his courtesy and friendliness. The frail and fine old 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 93 
 
 marquis seemed to them the personification of grace. 
 They were unsought guests in his house, their troops 
 tramped through his courts, their orderlies galloped in 
 mad haste to his door, their shrill bugles sounded in 
 his ears, their commands, their evolutions, disturbed 
 his peace of mind but never his repose of manner ; 
 and this they appreciated. The suspicion that the 
 family were spies, which had been at first entertained, 
 soon vanished. Nothing so improbable, unreasonable, 
 incredible, could be imagined. Love of country beat 
 high in every heart. But the marquis in his delicate 
 way and all his shades of meaning were as exquisite 
 and polished as a rare miniature painting on ivory 
 did not scruple to make manifest his extreme distaste 
 to the proclamation of the republic. His sentiment, 
 as a matter of course, was understood to be the senti 
 ment of his house. Neither Madame de Vallauris nor 
 the Abbe de Navailles expressed or seemed to enter 
 tain any political opinions whatever. They were both, 
 it was evident, tenderly attached to the marquis. 
 Their thoughts centred in him ; his comfort, health, 
 and pleasure were their chief care. The abbe avoided 
 all intercourse with the strangers, but that occasioned 
 no remark. What could a bookworm have in common 
 with men of action ? He seemed to be a harmless, 
 
94 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 thoughtful nature, and wandered alone in the park 
 early and late, apparently lost in religious meditation. 
 Sometimes, with a book in his hand, Colonel von 
 Linden and his officers would discover him unex 
 pectedly in some shady corner or remote walk to which 
 they had withdrawn for consultation ; but his gentle, 
 hurried greeting, his mild and somewhat absent ex 
 pression, betrayed clearly enough his desire to forget 
 the interruption and to return with all speed to the 
 higher realms where his pure spirit soared, far from 
 worldly men and hate and war. The marquis and his 
 niece went regularly through the covered way into the 
 little church, and scrupulously observed all the cere 
 monies of their religion. They were devout Catholics, 
 and naturally under the influence of their spiritual 
 guide. The marquis s complete dependence upon him 
 was conspicuous in every tone of their intercourse, and 
 Madame de Vallauris was frequently seen with him, 
 engaged in earnest conversation. He scarcely spoke 
 except to them and to the two fishermen from the 
 Ourcq Canal. To those poor men the good abbe was 
 most gracious and kind. " I have never seen so con 
 sistent a religious man," Von Linden remarked one 
 day. " He fits his vocation like a stone in the wall. 
 That s what I like. Every man where he belongs. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 95 
 
 He s a born parson, I m a born soldier. It could n t 
 have been otherwise." 
 
 "Not in your case, assuredly," von Nordenfels 
 returned ; " but the abbe s eyes are not strictly 
 ecclesiastical." 
 
 " Eyes, eyes ! What s the matter with the man s 
 eyes?" said the colonel, disinclined to accept any 
 thing he himself had not perceived. 
 
 " Nothing whatever. They are admirable eyes for 
 seeing, and he sees all there is ! " 
 
 "Why should n t he see?" 
 
 " I certainly have no objection." 
 
 " Well, I don t suppose we any of us can help 
 our eyes," von Linden rejoined somewhat testily. 
 "For that matter, whenever I look at him, his are 
 buried deep in a book." 
 
 " Those eyes buried ? Then I only happen to 
 observe them in the moments of their glorious resur 
 rection." 
 
 " Come, come, Nordenfels, what have you got in 
 your head against the poor abbe* ? Does he monopo 
 lize Madame de Vallauris too much for your taste ? 
 Look at your own eyes." 
 
 " I can t very well, without a looking-glass. Not 
 being Gerhardt, I have n t one in my pocket." 
 
96 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " I mean to say the abbe might equally well take 
 umbrage at them, and say they are not military. I 
 presume you will admit there ought to be military 
 eyes as well as ecclesiastical eyes. Now, you are a 
 cavalry officer through and through. Eeduce you to 
 dressing-gown and slippers, and still every movement 
 suggests the Gardereiter. You can t disguise yourself. 
 Army is written on your brow ; army is stamped on 
 your long legs ; army sits on your broad shoulders. 
 But your eyes, they re a disgrace to you. At 
 moments they are the eyes of a schoolboy mooning 
 with sentiment ; the eyes of a visionary philosopher. 
 Confound it, Nordenfels, I don t want to hurt your 
 feelings, but they might almost be the eyes of a 
 poet!" 
 
 "Don t insult me," returned Nordenfels, smiling. 
 
 "Then let my good friend the Abbe de Navailles 
 possess his eyes in peace, without your animad 
 versions." 
 
 " Men s eyes don t deserve so much discussion," 
 the adjutant said lightly. " The only eyes worth 
 talking about are the eyes of a beautiful woman." 
 
 " The sentiment is sound, and does you credit." 
 
 Upon which the adjutant dropped the subject. But 
 as the young German was given to quietly working 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 97 
 
 out problems, he occupied himself more or less with 
 the unknown quantity in the Abbe de Navailles eyes, 
 and speculated also upon the nature of the spiritual 
 advice which necessitated so prolonged and earnest 
 tete-a-tetes with Madame de Vallauris. He envied the 
 privileges of the saintly man. Yet not infrequently the 
 fantastic idea sprang into his mind that the thought 
 ful, attentive face which the beautiful woman turned 
 towards the abbe* as she listened to his homilies 
 betrayed more keen watchfulness than simple liking 
 and trust. Why should she not like and trust the 
 family friend ? Why should she put herself mentally 
 on guard in his presence ? Why should her clear 
 eyes resolutely question his ? Why should she 
 shrug her shoulders with impatience or weariness ? 
 Why, nevertheless, should they be apparently on 
 the best of terms, so that without minute scrutiny 
 no one would have suspected the tiniest flaw in 
 their companionship? 
 
 One evening when Madame de Vallauris and the 
 abbe were talking low in the bay-window, von Nor- 
 denfels concentrated so much thought upon this 
 grand " why," with its innumerable ramifications, 
 that the marquis triumphantly checkmated him in 
 three moves. 
 
 7 
 
98 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Whatever the Abbe de Navailles might be in his 
 innermost soul, Madame de Vallauris, in the opinion 
 of the tall man in blue, was, so far as outward man 
 ner was concerned, perfection. The one lady among 
 nearly a thousand men, she glided in and out with 
 incomparable simplicity and reserve. To the younger 
 officers she remained pale, frosty, arid beautiful as a 
 moonlight night in midwinter. General von Aaren- 
 horst was now at Clichy. In spite of her strenuous 
 efforts to keep her manner at the freezing-point, she 
 frequently forgot herself during his stay at Aulnay, 
 and charmed him with her naturalness and grace. 
 Colonel von Linden s animation and kindliness had 
 also now and then caused a sensible relaxation in 
 her frigidity. It must be admitted that perfect 
 consistency was not her chief attribute at this time. 
 Her theory of conduct was loftily immovable, but in 
 her practice was a perplexing variableness. If she 
 deigned to smile at the genial colonel s wit, and treat 
 him, as he expressed it, " like a fellow-creature " one 
 day, she was sure to repent before morning, and rele 
 gate him at their next meeting to the misery of 
 neglect. To the younger men she was from the 
 beginning relentlessly unapproachable. Bat in spite 
 of their lamentations, they were of the unanimous 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 99 
 
 opinion that she was filling a difficult position 
 uncommonly well; and her extreme reserve, fairly 
 considered, seemed a duty, a privilege, and another 
 charm. 
 
 Eegularly in the chapel, often in the more secluded 
 alleys of the park, and gradually among the soldiers, 
 as illness claimed her pity or an occasional wounded 
 man was brought into Aulnay after a skirmish, her 
 fair, grave face and black-robed figure were seen, 
 always followed by the brilliantly illuminated Ma- 
 nette. Colonel von Linden s generous heart had 
 repudiated the bare suggestion of possible treachery 
 on the part of a perfect gentleman of the old school, 
 like the Marquis de Montauban, his most lovely niece, 
 and so unworldly a person as the Abbe* de Navailles. 
 The indignity, as it seemed to the good colonel, 
 which they had at first suffered in being restricted 
 to the chateau and park, he had long since withdrawn, 
 merely requiring their parole as a matter of form. 
 The invalid marquis smiled gently, but remained at 
 home. Countess Nathalie and the abbe made use of 
 their freedom only when they could do some good 
 work among the men. Such characters, bearing the 
 great discomforts of their position with dignity and 
 resignation, winning profound esteem from every side, 
 
100 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 were indisputably what they seemed to be. Any- 
 thought of double-dealing was preposterous. More 
 over, had they had the desire to communicate with 
 Paris, where was their opportunity ? No ; every step 
 they took was visible; every unsuspicious, unsus 
 pected act, before the gaze of hundreds. The colo 
 nel s confidence never wavered; his attachment to 
 the three strengthened each day. " Spies, spies," he 
 would say, " of course there are spies, German as well 
 as French. But it s arrant nonsense to push the spy 
 theory too far. If there are spies at Aulnay, I m 
 one myself!" 
 
 Madame de Valla uris was known among the troops 
 as "The Lady," not "The Countess," not "The 
 gracious lady," according to their pretty and civil Ger 
 man form of speech ; but, as if the rough soldiers were 
 glad to see something finely feminine passing in their 
 midst, and to acknowledge its unique charm, she was 
 to them always " The Lady." Her beauty won them, 
 as beauty is apt to win, without effort or desire ; and 
 if she had been quite as good to them, but possessed 
 of ugly features and a croaking voice, they would 
 undoubtedly have been grateful, but in all proba 
 bility their gratitude would have been less impreg 
 nated with enthusiasm and personal devotion. To 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 101 
 
 be as beautiful as Helen of Troy no one need per 
 haps desire, although what woman would disdain 
 the fatal gift should the great gods proffer it ? But 
 the beauty that made Countess Nathalie s kind 
 deeds seem kinder, lent a nameless grace to her 
 slightest ministration, and softened rude men as she 
 passed, was surely a blessing to her and to them. 
 Then, her gentleness and indulgence were boundless. 
 She never condescended to them with the evident 
 intention of displaying amiability, never awkwardly 
 sought to bridge the distance between them with 
 phrases of studied benevolence. She heard a com 
 plaint or a request looking the man honestly in the 
 face with her air of intelligent consideration and 
 respect for his needs. Her simplicity came, saw, and 
 conquered. A vulgar duchess the type, in truth, 
 is not unknown would have found her haughty. 
 She was endowed with the power of instantly 
 congealing a displeasing conversational current; 
 and the rash being, whether placed by the acci 
 dent of birth high or low in the world s congeries, 
 who should presume to be familiar, intrusive, or 
 curious, who should, like an ill-bred, giggling 
 woman, nudging with a rash elbow to attract her 
 neighbor s attention, dare mentally to nudge Countess 
 
102 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Nathalie s sacred personality, would have had 
 reason to repent. 
 
 But the soldiers in Aulnay offended her neither 
 by presumption nor pretence ; and as she learned to 
 know their wants, they occupied her much. Energies 
 which had been lying dormant awakened, and her 
 empty life grew replete with interest and duties. 
 Mornings, in her high turret-room, she listened for 
 the bugle, the tramping feet, the voices and calls, the 
 swift coming and going of the orderlies. Adjutant 
 von Nordenfels brought the command from Vert 
 Galant. Sometimes, early, she would hear his voice 
 in the court-yard at dawn giving his Bursch an 
 order. She knew his horses too. Naturally, she 
 could not be so wholly blind and deaf as she would 
 fain have made herself to all things appertaining to 
 the staff. She apologetically admitted to her own 
 conscience that, being a person of average intelligence, 
 she was scarcely able to escape from the necessity 
 of observing which of the officers seemed cleverest, 
 most zealous, the best soldiers. Von Nordenfels was 
 evidently considered a rising man, and was indefati 
 gable in service. In his unassuming way he now 
 and then sought to approach her. She could talk 
 with him easily and would have forgotten that she 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 103 
 
 must not enjoy his conversation, if she had not 
 peremptorily forced herself to remember. Curiously, 
 the ungainly and coltish Forstenau was surest of a 
 friendly reception. She was somewhat uncertain to 
 him also, but at times seemed to have an unlimited 
 fund of patience for his awkwardness and stammer 
 ing. In return, she gained from him much informa 
 tion about horses and racing. Next to his horse, von 
 Forstenau loved von Nordenfels ; and occasionally, in a 
 moment of unwonted expansion of soul, the superior 
 topic yielded to the secondary, and the adjutant s 
 valiant deeds and kind and manly qualities were 
 warmly if uneloquently descanted upon by the young- 
 Centaur, who paraded his friend s points in full gallop, 
 as it were, before the quiet countess. 
 
 Manette, after her own fashion, did likewise. Her 
 incisive mind had rapidly arrived at von Nordenfels 
 as the most fitting knight elect for her mistress, and 
 with" von Nordenfels it faithfully abode. She was 
 as sure that he was the man for the countess, as she 
 was sure that Johann Wackerrnann, the big and burly, 
 exactly suited her own fancy. But while she had fully 
 determined to subjugate and in fact finally marry the 
 huge Wackermann, and already had him in a state of 
 dough-like submission to her moulding touch, Madame 
 
104 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 de Vallauris did not raise a finger towards any cavalier 
 whatever. " Anything so unnatural is wicked, and 
 that I shall declare to the day of my death ! " Mam- 
 selle Manettechen, as the soldiers called her, vehe 
 mently affirmed. " It is a crime, and the day of 
 reckoning will come," she concluded tragically. "Ah, 
 if madame would but take counsel by me ! I ve 
 got Wackennann, bless him ! safe and sure. He s 
 the man for my disposition. He grins when I make 
 eyes at Corporal Heinrich, looks proud of me when 
 he catches me coquetting in the dusk with Scheible, 
 and is cairn as a May morning when the lieutenants 
 make hay while the sun shines. And who can 
 blame the beautiful dears for liking their bit of fun. 
 with a cheery little thing like me, when they get 
 nothing but cold looks and haughtiness up-stairs ? 
 
 " But all the same Wackerrnanu is the jewel I Ve 
 been looking for and never found till now. And 
 now I ve found him I 11 keep him. For Wacker- 
 mann will let me have my little fling and won t be 
 jealous. Any man who could possibly be jealous 
 I should make jealous. Wackermann is the sure 
 haven where I 11 always come back to rest after my 
 various enlivening little excursions. Wackermann is 
 a dear, sweet-tempered as a lamb and- brave as a lion, 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 105 
 
 big as a giant, and a very handsome man withal. 
 Yes, he s the man of my choice, and what comfort in 
 the thought ! And oh, if Countess Nathalie would not 
 harden her heart ! Many maids, being themselves 
 provided for, would never trouble their heads about 
 their mistresses ; no, not they, the selfish things ! But 
 the more I associate with madame, the more attached 
 I grow to her ; ideas descend upon me in torrents. And 
 when I think what a picture we two make, she so 
 elegant and graceful, so all that a countess should be, 
 and I with my basket trippiDg jauntily along behind, 
 and all the men watching, and Wackermann smiling 
 most affectionately, and all my other lovers making 
 such eyes, and Mamselle Manettechen here, and 
 Mamselle Manettechen there, why, my devotion 
 to Countess Nathalie is beyond all bounds; for if I 
 had n t been her maid, would I ever have found 
 myself in such a heavenly situation ? 
 
 " But she, she might as well be a dairy-maid at 
 Grosley Farm, so far as simplicity goes ! And she 
 does n t act it, either. Not in vain have I made my 
 nice observations at the theatre, as well as been maid 
 to ladies of high degree, who mostly act as well off 
 the stage as others do on it. There s many who 
 would play the role Countess Nathalie s doing now 
 
106 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 quite natural, but I should find them out. A woman 
 may deceive the mother that bore her, the husband of 
 her choice, the friend of her bosom, her brother, her 
 lover, but she never can deceive the maid who but 
 tons her boots in her moments of energy, and brushes 
 her hair in her moments of languor." 
 
 Late one night Madame de Vallauris leaned back 
 thoughtfully in her chair. It was scarcely what 
 could be denominated a moment of languor, but she 
 looked graver, more preoccupied than her wont, and 
 held her half-closed book listlessly. Manette s dex 
 terous fingers had loosened her mistress s hair pre 
 paratory to brushing it. As the little maid daintily 
 arranged the toilet implements, turned up the lamp, 
 and moved a footstool, a great resolution seized her. 
 
 She was about to speak, when Madame de Vallauris 
 said, " Manette, I am afraid that poor boy is going to 
 die." 
 
 " I m afraid he is, madatne." 
 
 " He has a mother, and a sister, and a sweetheart, 
 at home." 
 
 " That s as it should be," Manette returned stoutly, 
 " especially the sweetheart. I don t care what leads 
 up to it," she thought. " By hook or by crook I m 
 going to have my say to-night." 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 107 
 
 " But it s surely harder for him to go if he must 
 leave what he loves." 
 
 "And I should say it would be harder to go if, 
 he d never had anything at all. What you ve had 
 you ve had, and nobody can take that much away 
 from you. But if you ve never had anything you 
 ought to have had, and the time comes for you to 
 leave this world, and a very pleasant world it is, 
 after all, madame, with compensations even in war 
 times, for such as look for them, why, then your 
 soul has a right to get up and protest, and say, Beg 
 ging your pardon, I m not ready, for I ve never had 
 my chance ! Not that there are n t such as have 
 their chances and throw them away," she added with 
 marked significance. 
 
 " I promised," Countess Nathalie went on gently, 
 not noticing the girl s tirade, " to write a letter to his 
 people if he does not live, and to send them a lock 
 of his hair." 
 
 " Well, I m sorry for him ; but he s kissed his sweet 
 heart, and stepped out well to the music with his 
 flag flying, so if he must go, as many another brave 
 boy must, he s had the foam of the moment. Good- 
 by to him. It is n t he that occupies me most." 
 
 Countess Nathalie was rarely surprised by Manette s 
 
108 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 eccentricities, but now she turned her head slightly 
 and glanced up at her. 
 
 " May I speak, madaine ? " demanded the girl in 
 an excited voice. 
 
 " Certainly. Why not ? " 
 
 " But may I speak not precisely as madame ex 
 pects ? May I speak my mind J " 
 
 The countess looked doubtful. 
 
 " I hardly think it would do to give you plenary 
 indulgence, Manette," she responded, smiling. " Your 
 mind might be so very extraordinary. It is late, 
 too ; you must be tired. You d better go now," she 
 said very kindly. " You need not brush my hair." 
 
 For her only answer Manette seized a hand-mirror, 
 and coming quickly round in front of the countess, 
 brandished it before her with a tragic air. 
 
 " Well, is there anything the matter ? " inquired 
 Madame de Vallauris with faint surprise. 
 
 " There s everything the matter," returned Manette 
 solemnly. 
 
 " I seem to look very much as usual," said her mis 
 tress in an uninterested way. " Put it down, please." 
 
 " But no, madame," cried Manette with pathos, 
 and actually a tear in her hard black eye, " not until 
 I once, even at the risk of madame s displeasure, 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 109 
 
 introduce madame to her own self;" flourishing the 
 mirror wildly before Countess Nathalie s eyes, which, 
 however, were looking over its rim in much astonish 
 ment at her agitated maid. 
 
 "Madame sees her beautiful face, her long, fair 
 hair. Madame will not attempt to deny that there as 
 she sits, with no aid from the pleasing arts of the 
 toilet, wrapped in a loose white dressing-gown made 
 before my time and of no particular cut, she is as 
 lovely as a dream. What would not be the feelings 
 of those officers to behold madame at this moment ! 
 What would not be the feelings of any man of sen 
 timent and soul ! But I demand, if a bullet should 
 lodge in madame s breast this night and carry her off, 
 like that poor German boy, to whom would madame 
 send a lock of her hair and her last loving message ? 
 And so I say he is better off than madame. He 
 must lose, but madame never had." 
 
 Countess Nathalie stared at the girl in amazement, 
 yet struck by her words. " Are you mad, Manette ? " 
 she murmured. 
 
 "And when I see madame s face, and think what 
 that face would be to a man that loved it, and what 
 I say is only nature, and true, and no harm at all, 
 for madame is a woman ; a countess is a woman as 
 
110 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 much as a maid is, and so I say, and I have never 
 failed in respect to madame and never will, when 
 I think what that face would be to a man, I could 
 cry to see madame going on in her unnaturalness. 
 What will madame have for it when she is old ? Ah, 
 when rnadame s bright hair is gray, when her clear 
 eyes are dim, she will say, What repays me now, that 
 I did not drink the foam of the moment ? The foam 
 of the moment, it is something for madame, some 
 thing else for me. Madame is fine, and good, and 
 deep. I am shallow and light, but I am wiser in my 
 way than madame. I make the foam of my moment 
 mine; madame turns away from hers. One goes, 
 another comes. What has madame for all her youth, 
 and goodness, and beauty ? Nothing. No one. And 
 whom has she to thank ? Herself. For though 
 madame is young, if she can resist this she can re 
 sist everything always. Madame has taught herself 
 still ways, sombre thoughts. What did madame do 
 before the war but mope, mope all day long in the 
 park, mope evenings in the library ? Was that a life ? 
 For, with all respect, are an old gentleman of seventy 
 and a holy saint of an abbe* proper associates for a 
 young and beautiful woman ? And now what does 
 madame do ? 
 
AULNAY TOWER. Ill 
 
 " It is not that madam e should at once decide upon 
 anything uncompromisingly matrimonial. Ah, no ! 
 I do not say that is essential. There is a charm 
 in the artistic blending of pale, undecided hues. A 
 strong and pronounced color wearies one sooner. 
 Uncertainty stimulates, mystery beckons. Why, in 
 deed, should madame hasten towards the irrevocable ? 
 She has had her little experience. Delicacy forbids 
 me to allude to what I did not personally observe, 
 but more s the pity ; for if I had had the honor to be 
 the attendant of madame during her period of digni 
 fied tribulation, such as is common in the best fami 
 lies where gentlemen have so variegated a reputation 
 as the late Count de Vallauris, I am convinced that 
 my character and influence and appearance, which 
 contrast so agreeably with madame s, would have in 
 a great measure sustained and cheered madame, and 
 prevented the unnaturalness of her predilections. 
 
 " Is this a life, that madame leads ? Madame 
 should have a life of noble lines, of warm yet sub 
 dued colors. My eyes never deceive me. I know 
 what is appropriate. Madame s life is like a straight 
 monotonous sacque, ugly, cold, dull drab, and of 
 an inflexible material, no pliancy, no grace, no 
 freedom ; and if madame goes on, she will render 
 
112 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 herself unable to adapt herself to anything else. Ah, 
 where is the tender blue, where is the amorous rose, 
 where are the glowing purples and royal reds and 
 pure gold, of madame s life ? It is all drab, drab, 
 drab. It is the color of a dirge. 
 
 "Madame s little experience has depressed her. 
 Very good. It was natural. It was appropriate. 
 But does any experience last forever ? Madame, 
 even if I had my way, would still be reticent, softly 
 alluring, vaguely retreating. Ah, the toilets my fer 
 tile brain has created for the time when madame 
 awakens from her long sleep, looks gladly at the 
 world, and drinks the foam from the very top of 
 the moment! 
 
 " Men, madame, men ! Who knows them better 
 than I ? Just heaven ! Do I pretend they are per 
 fection ? But, after all, madame, they are the best 
 there is, and, managed rightly, by far the most enter 
 taining. And if madame were a little, a very little 
 receptive, a very little lenient, would only keep her 
 hand in, as it were, even if she does not deign to 
 produce definite results at present, she would never 
 repent, never ! It is not too late. The opportunity 
 this moment presents itself. When, indeed, was 
 there ever before such an opportunity in the history 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 113 
 
 of France not that I ever read it, or wish to. 
 There are moments one recognizes without big books 
 to help one. The moment and the men are here ! 
 Here are the heroes, tall and short, blond and 
 black, thin and stout, grave and gay, with uniforms 
 of every color and every grade to choose from, and 
 the gardener s house full, and the porter s lodge, be 
 sides the whole chateau, and new ones coming, and 
 changes all the time, and yet the old friends still, 
 and nothing but devotion and readiness on their 
 parts, nothing; and madame looks at them as if 
 they were sticks and stones and shadows, instead of 
 men ! 
 
 " And if madame were a little friendly and human, 
 would the sky fall ? If madame were half as gentle 
 to that beautiful blue one, for instance, as she is to all 
 the ragamuffins in the ranks, would that be a sin or a 
 shame ? Does n t his Emperor make him go to war 
 just as much as the rank and file ? Is n t the Em 
 peror the servant of the people ? It s nobody s fault. 
 War is war. It s an accident, like an earthquake. 
 And is this madame s war, any way? Madame s war 
 would be a Legitimist war, and nothing else. And 
 why punish the handsome lieutenants ? Is that 
 Christian ? The beautiful blue one watches madame. 
 
 8 
 
114 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Ah, and how ! He is serious, and distinguished, and 
 silent ; and what manners ! and what a soldier ! 
 There are others, handsome too, and gay, captains, 
 lieutenants, counts, barons, what one will, but the 
 beautiful blue one is appropriate. And when he 
 looks at madame, he looks from deep, deep down in 
 his soul, and he thinks, as he stands there so straight 
 and tall, with his face as earnest as madame s, Ah, 
 if the beautiful lady would let me tell her my 
 thoughts, would let me look close into her eyes 
 and say, Dear lady, you are lonely and sad, but only 
 let me " 
 
 "Manette!" 
 
 Countess Nathalie rose, staring singularly at the 
 girl. Her fair hair fell about her face; she slowly 
 put up her hand to her head. The maid s torrent of 
 words she had listened to as if to a revelation from 
 another world. She had not thought to chide or 
 silence her. 
 
 " Manette ! " warned the lady s voice at last. 
 
 " I don t care. She s heard it for once in her life, 
 and it s good for her ! " the girl s heart honestly 
 exulted. "And she can t send me away for my 
 impudence, for there s no place to send me," her 
 shrewd head added. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 115 
 
 "Madame," she returned meekly. 
 
 "You may leave me." 
 
 " Madame is not offended ? " 
 
 " Offended ? JSTo. But you fprgot yourself, Ma 
 nette," said the countess in her iciest tone. 
 
 " If I ever remembered myself, it was just now/ 
 thought Mamselle Manettechen. " Mostly, when 
 you ve prepared your conversation the very things 
 you care about seem to have slipped completely out 
 of your mind. But I struck the nail on the head 
 this time, and from every side at once." 
 
 " Yes, madarne," she replied modestly. 
 
 She withdrew, her countenance demure, her con 
 science uttering warm encomiums. 
 
 Madame de Yallauris stood motionless some min 
 utes in the middle of the room, hesitated, then 
 pulled the bell-rope. 
 
 Manette came tripping in innocently, as if nothing 
 more important than a rosette on a slipper had been 
 under discussion. 
 
 " Madame desires something ? " 
 
 The countess, though very gentle, never looked 
 prouder or more serious as she stood before the girl 
 in her white draperies and loose hair and said gen 
 erously : " Manette, your words were unfitting, but 
 
116 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 I am sure you meant them kindly. For that I thank 
 you. Good-night." 
 
 "Good-night, inadame. Madame is too good. I 
 wish madame sweet dreams." 
 
 Away went the little maid, never indeed much 
 preyed upon by compunctions or doubts of the wis 
 dom of her course, but at this moment in a state of 
 audacious and supreme self-glorification. 
 
 In spite of Countess Nathalie s best efforts, she 
 could not forget Manette s extraordinary harangue. 
 There were phrases of it which seemed to have 
 burned themselves upon her memory in indelible 
 characters. She fell asleep only to dream restless 
 and fantastic dreams. " These are the heroes ! " cried 
 a loud voice. Gigantic and changing, yet distinct 
 like cloud-forms in wild night-skies, a great proces 
 sion swept over mighty mountain-tops, Hector and 
 Achilles and old Ajax, Arthur and Launcelot and 
 the Knights of the Holy Grail, Charlemagne, Theo- 
 doric, Bomans, crusaders, modern kings, stately war 
 riors of all lands and times. " Choose ! " cried the 
 voice. " A countess is but a woman. Choose ! Is 
 yours a life ? Choose ! For what is your youth, for 
 what your beauty, for what the warmth and long 
 ing of your heart ? " 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 117 
 
 With strains of martial music the grand procession 
 marched on, sounding the war-cries of ages, waving 
 countless banners of renown. Then it vanished. 
 There was a great stillness. In a cottage of Aulnay, 
 on the narrow bed, instead of the wounded soldier 
 she had pityingly watched that day, a young and 
 stately cavalier lay dying. The familiar face, pallid 
 against the brave blue uniform, looked with strange 
 longing into hers. "Dear lady, you are lonely," 
 he began; "only let me " He paused, his voice 
 wavered. " Say farewell to my sweetheart," he mur 
 mured faintly. " Tell her not to grieve. We lived. 
 We loved. We drank the foam of the moment." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 IN bureau- work for Colonel von Linden, whose 
 sword was mightier far than his pen, and whose 
 epistles were a sure means of disguising his thoughts, 
 Max von Nordenfels was indispensable. Indeed, his 
 clerkly duties were so naturally performed, the colonel 
 might have classified him in the ignoble array of 
 lawyers, doctors, pedagogues, authors, and all such 
 as entertain undue interest in the invention of Guten 
 berg, had not Kordenfels saved his reputation by his 
 spirit and activity in service. His energy, exactness, 
 rapidity of execution, courage, and a certain persist 
 ence or toughness, made him invaluable as a leader 
 of men in critical situations. During the campaign 
 the soldiers had had not infrequent opportunities of 
 proving their attachment to him ; and there was not 
 one of his company who would not have followed 
 him unwavering to certain death. 
 
 He was by no means a Protean genius, but simply 
 a young man well-born, well-endowed, well-bred, well- 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 119 
 
 educated, with a well-grown body and a well-looking 
 face. Fair, tall, blue-eyed, grave with strangers, he 
 was essentially of a Northern type. His manner, 
 always distinguished, merged quickly under provo 
 cation from gentleness to extreme stiffness, a schol 
 arly soldier, a soldierly scholar, cherishing many a 
 fair theory of humanity and benevolence, many a 
 hope of the world s progress towards liberty and 
 light, in spite of the seemingly retrograde motion 
 from time to time of this confusingly mulish planet ; 
 and in the deep recesses of his soul hovered an ex 
 alted dream of womanhood and home. 
 
 Like most young men, he had fallen in love more 
 or less deeply on unnumbered occasions, happily 
 fallen out again, and time had healed his scars. Yet 
 his manner while under the influence of love s fre 
 quent young dreams had been so much less demon 
 strative, expansive, and exuberant than is common 
 to the average lieutenant, that his comrades held 
 strange theories of his insensibility. Some casino- 
 pleasantry had once called him " Tilly," the man 
 who never laughed and never loved a woman ; and 
 the name, in spite of its absurdity, clung to him. 
 
 From his gymnasium days, when a succession of 
 maidens with braids or ringlets sat enthroned in his 
 
120 AULNAY TO WEE. 
 
 vulnerable heart, through his cadetship and entrance 
 into the elegant world, he was, to speak plainly, in 
 love without intermission. 
 
 In the higher circles of conservative countries 
 there is, as all polite people must concede, no such 
 thing as flirtation. Anything so vulgar would not 
 be tolerated or, indeed, comprehended; and only a 
 vague, an imperfect allusion to the alleged practices 
 of a cruder, coarser race ever sullies the innocence of 
 German aristocracy. It is a benign interposition 
 of Providence that four thousand miles of water 
 separates the girl who would unblushing!? walk a 
 block with a man at high noon with two men, if 
 circumstances require from her sister who would 
 die before she would put her soul in conventional 
 jeopardy by such light conduct. 
 
 No, there is no flirtation, at least, flirtation visible 
 to the naked eye, in Leipzig or Dresden. What cor 
 responds to that bold, bad Americanism, means, in 
 truth, in Germany, either less or more. But what 
 signified, then, the unutterable things many a dove- 
 eyed, languishing maiden looked at Max von Nor- 
 denfels, when, held very close against his breast, they 
 whirled madly round to an intoxicating Strauss waltz, 
 while the august row of chaperones against the wall 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 121 
 
 nodded serenely, and tacitly proclaimed to the world 
 at large that all was well in the realm of strict pro 
 priety ? What meant certain twilight episodes and 
 conservatory reminiscences ? Under what head shall 
 tender little missives, slipped into his willing hand, 
 be classified ? Why was his private drawer overflow 
 ing with plaintive and suggestive notes : 
 
 DEAR BARON MAX, You looked unhappy at his Excel 
 lency s ball. Or was it my fancy ? I, too, am most miserable. 
 If you but knew what but no I must not write it. I will 
 tell you at the Krawisckys. Of course you will be there. I 
 have not forgotten : every other waltz and the cotillon. How 
 triste life is ! Always your A. 
 
 Now this authentic effusion betokens neither a 
 heinous crime nor yet a palpable engagement. It is 
 evident that its gentle warmth might have been 
 fanned into a flame by Baron Max, but it was not. 
 In all honesty, he left the privilege of consoling 
 "Always his A." to somebody else, and "A." in all 
 honesty was shortly consoled. But by what name 
 acceptable to all prejudices denominate this effer 
 vescing interchange of sentiment? 
 
 Then " Always his B.," his "devoted C.," his "ever- 
 faithful D.," his "attached friend E.," and all his 
 alphabet of susceptible and perfectly chaperoned 
 
122 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 sweethearts also honored him with their innocent con 
 fidences, be it understood, not without all-sufficient 
 entreaty and intense encouragement on his part, 
 until the flowers and gloves and ribbons which he treas 
 ured equalled in quantity an eligible young bachelor s 
 collection of similar tender objects in any crude land 
 where the informal exchange of sentimental keep 
 sakes would not be regarded as an anonymous crime. 
 These unimportant facts in his career merely serve to 
 demonstrate that a handsome young cavalry officer 
 in Germany finds now and then something to miti 
 gate the rigor of his lot, and between the heavy and 
 solemn fugues of society indulges occasionally in a 
 pleasing and capricious little intermezzo. 
 
 The letters and the keepsakes Nordenfels had long 
 since burned. The looks and the smiles he had, for 
 the most part, forgotten. His calf-love epoch was a 
 time of the gray past. He had had, indeed, deeper 
 affairs since. Then came a lull in his amorous pro 
 clivities. He took to hard reading, decided views, 
 found society a bore, and was the despair of his good 
 father, who desired him to marry one of three eligible 
 young girls in Leipzig society whom, with paternal 
 wisdom and unimpeachable logic, he had selected. 
 Max even alarmed the old baron seriously by 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 123 
 
 expressing radical views. He went so far as to say 
 that when he married he should choose only a large, 
 sweet nature that would not measure life with the 
 petty and irritating measure of Leipzig womankind. 
 One of his friends had married an American, a beau 
 tiful and rare woman, and made for himself what 
 seemed to Max an ideal home. He found wonderful 
 freshness in its loving atmosphere, a graciousness in 
 its hospitality, a picturesque charm in what elsewhere 
 was dull routine. But there are Americans and 
 Americans. The next type he met was a young girl 
 whose exquisitely pretty face it was impossible to 
 overlook. She wore huge diamonds in her delicate 
 ears, told her mother at the table-d hote with the 
 sweetest smile in the world to " shut up," and before 
 a row of electrified lieutenants remarked with perfect 
 ease and ingenuousness, " Ma says there s no good in 
 these mixed marriages. Ma disapproves. She says 
 they always come to grief; but I Ve made up my mind 
 to try one, all the same." Max Nordenfels withdrew. 
 This was not the kind of originality he sought. 
 
 For some years now he had conspicuously sought 
 nothing feminine, and his comrades regarded him as 
 curiously indifferent to woman s charms, and in con 
 sequence held him for a man of boundless ambition. 
 
124 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Now at thirty he found himself amid the stirring 
 scenes of a campaign, anticipating no emotion other 
 than the legitimate excitement of war most vio 
 lently and seriously in love with Madame de 
 Vallauris. 
 
 Moreover, he, the cool, grave, and unimpressionable 
 "Tilly" of the regiment, had fallen in love like a 
 schoolboy, at first sight. From the moment she had 
 stood before the officers in her cold protest and an 
 swered Aarenhorst with unrelenting pride, he had 
 found her admirable and lovable beyond all women 
 he had met. He yielded on the spot the last linger 
 ing remembrance of the most winning and gentle of 
 his countrywomen ; it became instantly a matter of 
 supreme indifference to him that fascinating Ameri 
 cans existed. His ideas of beauty and womanliness 
 began and ended with her ; his hopes for the future 
 included her as it included his own soul. 
 
 Except for the pleasure of being in love that only 
 a lover knows, " the joy that is born of pain," he 
 was truly uncomfortable at this period. In the first 
 place, everybody else was in love with the countess, 
 as a matter of course. As von Gerhardt remarked, 
 no man who respected himself could fail to be in love 
 with her. She was, he declared, Beauty surrounded 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 125 
 
 by a thousand Beasts, Dornroschen and scores of 
 Princes, Little Eed Fading Hood and many wolves. 
 
 All the heroines of all romantic tales had, accord 
 ing to him, concentrated their fascinations in her 
 unique personality. Not that Gerhardt s ebullitions 
 in themselves were dangerous. He was the best soul 
 in the world, and, in spite of his affected dandyism, 
 which would easily lead the pedantic judge of char 
 acter astray, in spite of his youthful exaggerations, 
 an honorable gentleman, a brave cavalier. His mul 
 titudinous love-affairs were the standing joke of the 
 regiment, each heart experience, frankly recounted, 
 having the duration of the dew on the blossom. But 
 still Gerhardt would talk, and his talk was repugnant 
 to a fastidious man like Nbrdenfels; and von Wedell 
 talked, less agreeably, be it said ; and the colonel 
 and the captains and the surgeons talked. Norden- 
 fels longed often to stop their mouths with clay. 
 Forstenau did not talk. Nordenfels liked him the 
 better for it, and owed him a debt of gratitude. 
 
 That she was beautiful, that she was exquisite, 
 elegant, stately, graceful, that her dull, fair hair grew 
 richly, that her hands were fine, her eyes thoughtful, 
 that her mouth was too often mocking and satirical, 
 that her whole face was the coldest, her manner the 
 
126 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 stillest ever seen, except when she softened marvel 
 lously and changed altogether in response to some 
 wish or whim of the lame old marquis, Max Nor- 
 denfels knew but too well ; and it was torture to him 
 to hear his comrades discuss her perfections. Yet 
 what earthly right had he to remonstrate or interfere? 
 They said nothing derogatory or disrespectful. On 
 the contrary, they admired her vastly, and offered her 
 their deferential if evanescent allegiance. Since a 
 pint measure cannot hold a quart, why require of it 
 more than its legitimate capacity ? 
 
 Nordenfels would surely have been most miserable 
 if every man of the whole staff at the chateau had 
 been seized with a grand passion for Madame de Val- 
 lauris. At the same time their amiable superficial 
 homage was displeasing to him. He grew unreasona 
 ble and irritable. Often evenings, as she sat with her 
 book, or came and went in her still way, for the 
 marquis was uneasy if she left him long, and would 
 grow nervous at his game until his glance met hers, 
 Nordenfels felt a fierce longing to seize her and take 
 her in his arms and spur his good horse and bear her 
 away from them all, through the night, out of the 
 world. Sitting there primly, he with a book, she 
 with a book, the abbe with a book, and all their 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 127 
 
 books most thoroughly unread, von Linden or another 
 playing b^zique with the marquis, von Nordenfels 
 grimly questioned whether we have upon the whole 
 improved our ways, and whether the simplicity and 
 directness of his old robber-knight ancestor, who 
 carried off the lady of his love and flung his rival 
 into the deepest dungeon of his castle, were not 
 admirable qualities. The Abbe de Navailles was, in 
 one sense surely, not a rival. But Countess Nathalie 
 looked at him, listened to him, reasons enough for 
 removing him summarily from the scene of action. 
 He was accordingly mentally consigned to the mediae 
 val dungeon as often as Nordenfels came to the library 
 evenings. 
 
 But infinitely worse than the annoyance caused by 
 his comrades, a greater obstacle than the ubiquitous 
 abbe with his dark, gleaming eyes, was the invincible 
 reserve of Madame de Vallauris. Night and day he 
 asked himself how this was to be overcome. In his 
 impatience he was forced to remember that stronger 
 than bolts and bars and guards is the repelling force 
 of a woman s own heart. " But I love her," he told 
 himself ; " I love her with my whole soul. I under 
 stand her, now, in all that she does, and I would not 
 have her a shade kinder." 
 
128 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The morning after Manette s surprising midnight 
 exposition, Madame de Yallauris, accompanied by her 
 maid, went to look after the wounded soldier. The 
 poor boy had died in the night, and his beardless face 
 wore the look of a fair young child. Wackermann 
 stood by him, grave and sorry. 
 
 " Were you with him ? " inquired the countess. 
 
 " Yes, madame, and the lieutenant." 
 
 " The lieutenant ? " 
 
 " Lieutenant von Nordenfels. He," with a glance 
 at the still face, " asked for him." 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 Wackermann now became the grateful but uncom 
 prehending recipient of encouraging smiles, exciting 
 nods, and vastly eloquent looks from Mamselle 
 Manettechen. The good fellow went on quite inno 
 cently : " The lieutenant was abed. But he turned 
 out as quick as if poor Karl had been a general. He 
 knew Karl at home. We re all from the same place, 
 Karl and I from the village, the lieutenant from 
 the Schloss. We were boys together. The lieutenant 
 was sorry to see poor Karl." 
 
 Never had Manette given him such glances of un 
 qualified delight and affection. It was part of her 
 tactics to provoke, to leave unsatisfied, to bewilder ; 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 129 
 
 but now he was basking in the strong sunshine of 
 her full and unreserved approval. It encouraged him 
 to further speech. 
 
 " It is n t every young gentleman that s ridden all 
 day and been writing a mountain of papers all night, 
 that would get up at dawn just to see a poor fellow 
 that s got to die whether or no, and stand by him 
 as tender as a woman. But the Hen* Lieutenant 
 is n t the sort that cares for his own comfort, for 
 food and sleep and ease, and all that. Colonel von 
 Linden came in yesterday too. That pleased poor 
 Karl mightily. He was proud of that." 
 
 Oh the bitter reproach, the dark dissatisfaction, of 
 Manette s pantomime ! 
 
 On Wackermann s broad face a slow, vast doubt 
 uprose. What had he said to displease his adored 
 Manettechen? With her bright black eyes she 
 was casting vividly imperious glances at her slave 
 and urging him on, to what he knew not. Much 
 depressed, he began humbly, "Lieutenant von 
 Nordenfels " 
 
 At once his inscrutable sweetheart s face beamed 
 with smiles. Vehement but affectionate little nods 
 cheered his dejected spirit. 
 
 Wackermann stopped short to consider. Consider- 
 
130 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 ing involved in his case such ponderous creaking 
 mechanism, that stopping short in any other occupa 
 tion was a necessity of his being. Manette s dumb- 
 show went on unceasingly. Then Wackermann 
 grinned. Proud of his perspicuity, he stared at her 
 long and cheerfully. 
 
 Madame de Vallauris turned quickly and looked 
 at her maid, not in the least deceived by that adroit 
 young woman s innocent repose of manner. 
 
 " Only go on ! " implored Manette as soon as her 
 mistress s head was turned. 
 
 " Lieutenant von Nordenfels " began the amiable 
 giant, when his face, except for the attentive eyes, 
 suddenly assumed the curiously expressionless look 
 common to the soldier greeting his superior, and his 
 hand flew up in respectful salute as Max von Nor- 
 denfels entered the little room. 
 
 " Ah, madame, you here ? That is kind," he said 
 quietly. 
 
 She looked gravely at him, then down at the still, 
 white face. Her strange dream was haunting her 
 incessantly. It had made Nordenfels features more 
 familiar to her than any in the world. She wished 
 his actual presence had not followed until she had 
 had time to forget the pleading of the eyes, the 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 131 
 
 sweetness of the smile, the pathos and the power of 
 the dream-face. There was something unpleasant 
 and startling in meeting him here and now. " Dear 
 lady, you are lonely," he had murmured in the 
 dream. 
 
 "You were with him, I believe," she returned 
 simply. 
 
 " Yes, I happened to be here." 
 
 " He is young to go. He looks like a child." 
 
 "Karl was a brave fellow," von Xordenfels said 
 warmly; "though young, one of our best men. I 
 knew him personally. He came from my own home. 
 He was on the outpost service three nights ago. It 
 was a stray French shot that struck him. When he 
 lingered, I thought he d get over it. Poor old boy 
 there 11 be many tears wept for you at home ! " 
 
 " His is not the worst fate," murmured the coun 
 tess, moved to speak she scarce knew why. 
 
 " Ah, no ! " answered the young man with a bright 
 smile. " He would say so if he could. Better, too, 
 than if he were a married man with a wife and chil 
 dren depending upon him. The stray balls do not 
 always choose so wisely, do they, my poor Karl ? 
 Oftenest they hit the bread-winners," bending with 
 a pitying smile over the dead soldier struck down 
 
132 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 in his young manhood. Then, turning to Madame 
 de Vallauris, he said, "He bade me say farewell to 
 his sweetheart " 
 
 " And tell her not to grieve," said the countess in 
 a low, distinct voice, repeating the words slowly, 
 mechanically, and looking absently at Nordenfels, 
 who, with much surprise, asked, " But how could 
 you know that, countess ? " 
 
 Up to her hair mounted the warm accusing color, 
 as she realized how singularly she had spoken. 
 
 Nordenfels noted it with curious satisfaction. He 
 knew no just cause why she should blush. But as 
 her very eyelashes were important to him, and 
 whether she looked to the right or the left a signifi 
 cant and interesting fact, he could not fail to regard 
 this evidence of feeling as a revelation and a phe 
 nomenon ; and he stood staring at her speculatively, 
 quite forgetting that direct looks indefinitely pro 
 longed were the privilege of an intimacy he had not 
 the honor of enjoying with Madame de Vallauris. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," she said at length. " I inter 
 rupted you." 
 
 " You anticipated merely. Tell her not to grieve/ 
 were his very words." 
 
 " But she will grieve." 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 133 
 
 He nodded gravely. 
 
 " Some one died last year in this very house, an 
 Aulnay man. I was quite indifferent. Yet I am 
 sorry for this stranger," she continued. 
 
 "The other had his people round him," he sug 
 gested. 
 
 She shook her head. " No, it was not that." She 
 did not indeed know what was stirring in her soul, 
 making her sympathies larger and more tender. 
 
 She stooped and cut a lock of the boy s bright hair. 
 " I promised to send it to his people," she explained. 
 
 " You, madame ! " 
 
 "Ah, yes, our chateau manner," piped Manette 
 shrilly, "is not our cottage manner by any means; 
 and what the fine officers lose, the common soldiers 
 have in abundance. Not that one begrudges it to 
 that poor fellow. But, in general, is it justice ? " 
 
 " Hush, Manette ! " said the countess. " I cannot 
 write German very well," she continued to Norden- 
 fels, " but they will understand, at least. He seemed 
 to wish me to write." 
 
 " Then I will send your letter with mine," he 
 returned, moved to think their words would go to 
 gether to the sorrowing old mother in the village 
 that nestled in the valley below his own home. 
 
134 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 "That a woman s tenderness ministered to him at 
 the last, they will remember that." 
 
 " I do not feel that he is a German," she said 
 suddenly. 
 
 Nordenfels smiled slightly. " No ; dead, we are 
 all pretty much alike. It seems hardly worth while 
 to hate one another in this world." 
 
 " You say that ? A soldier ? " 
 
 " What has war to do with hate, madame ? " he 
 returned quickly. "Cannot a soldier be a man of 
 intelligence and heart ? War is a necessity ; but the 
 war of civilized people is not the expression of per 
 sonal animosity. What had this poor boy against 
 France ? What have I, for that matter ? I revere 
 France, madame ! " 
 
 There was much that she could have replied about 
 war and life and death. Questions trembled on her 
 tongue. It seemed to her they two had much to say 
 to each other. But men were looking curiously in 
 the window and crowding into the house. She could 
 do nothing here. 
 
 " I must go," she said, thoughtfully fixing her eyes 
 on Nordenfels* face. The vivid dream, his manly, 
 sympathetic voice, the still form of the young sol 
 dier, touched her strangely. Life seemed vast and 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 135 
 
 incomprehensible and infinitely sad. Often enough 
 she had been only sorry for herself. In this moment 
 she sorrowed for the whole sorrowing world. All 
 her gentleness revealed itself, and the muscles of her 
 mouth played sensitively. He had never seen her 
 like this. He felt that he adored her. She leaned 
 in her exquisite womanliness over the young face, 
 calm and beautiful in death. Did his spirit see the 
 green fields of his childhood, or was it wandering 
 in undreamed-of realms of bliss, that he wore that 
 mysterious look of peace that passeth understanding ? 
 " For his dear home," she murmured, touching her 
 lips to his brow. 
 
 Wackermann gave a great honest gulp and coughed. 
 Manette threw up her eyes with a kind of theatrical 
 ecstasy. Nordenfels made one eager step forward, 
 then, with his accustomed self-restraint, " Madame," 
 he said, his voice trembling but a little, " madame, I 
 thank you for his old mother, who must mourn her 
 last-born, bravest son. I thank you for the young 
 heart that has lost its Love. I thank you for 
 myself." 
 
 A moment more, and she had left the cottage and 
 passed out among the soldiers, who made way for The 
 Lady respectfully, and looked after her with gratitude 
 
136 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 and strong approval. She went rapidly down the 
 middle of the village street and on to the chateau. 
 Manette fairly scintillated with satisfaction. 
 
 Nordenfels tried to remember what he had said. 
 It struck him, too late, that he ought to have made 
 more of the occasion; ought to have been cleverer, 
 more impressive. But it had seemed so perfectly 
 natural for him and the beautiful Countess de Val- 
 lauris to be standing in a rude room adjoining 
 an ex-grocer s shop, looking into each other s eyes 
 over the body of poor Karl Radi, that he had not 
 considered the possibilities and significance of the 
 moment. 
 
 He gave his last orders for the burial, and spoke 
 considerately with Wackermann, and remembered old 
 days kindly, yet went from the chamber of death with 
 a strong new joy possessing him. " The Lady," he 
 heard a man say as he passed. The Lady, in truth, 
 the Lady of his love, the Lady of his heart, the 
 one dear Lady of the world to him ! 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "I THINK, my dear, that the abbe is right," said 
 the marquis. 
 
 " When was the abbe* not right ? " returned his 
 niece gently. 
 
 " True, Nathalie, true ! I am glad that you recog 
 nize his qualities ; sometimes I have fancied you fail 
 to appreciate him ; it is merely an idea, but it has 
 distressed me, absurd as it is." He laughed feebly, 
 by way of reassuring himself. 
 
 " Then do not be distressed, dear uncle, for I am 
 convinced that I appreciate the abbe." 
 
 The marquis looked at her smilingly. "That is 
 well," he began, with a shade of condescension. 
 " Appreciate appreciate one uses the word rela 
 tively, of course. To appreciate him fully, one should 
 be, indeed, a man of intellect, a man of scholarship, a 
 a man of the world ; for the abbe is deep." 
 
 " Very deep," echoed Nathalie. 
 
 " But you women have tact and instinct," he 
 
138 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 remarked, with his smile of faded gallantry. " Often 
 you intuitively arrive at our results, at the results 
 which men reach through cold calculation, that is 
 to say, by means of our intellect. A woman s heart " 
 He stopped a full minute ; his eyes looked wander 
 ing. "Bless my soul, Nathalie ! What was I talking 
 about ? " 
 
 " About man s intellect and woman s heart, dear 
 uncle." 
 
 " Yes, yes ! A woman s heart has its own method 
 of procedure. It is rapid, contradictory, and essen 
 tially lacks " 
 
 " Logic," said Madame de Vallauris patiently. 
 
 " It lacks logic," continued the marquis with 
 urbanity ; " and logic is our strength. Yet the im 
 portance of this distinction, you, my dear child, can 
 but indistinctly perceive, and the the I may well 
 say, the absolute monarchy of logic in human reason 
 ing a woman rarely or never recognizes. You follow 
 me, Nathalie ? " 
 
 Madame de Vallauris laughed. It was seldom 
 enough that her young face lost its extreme gravity. 
 But who, with the best will in the world, can be 
 always solemn ? Sometimes, when quite alone with 
 the marquis, he amused her irresistibly, in spite of 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 139 
 
 her patience, her deference, her constant effort to 
 adapt herself to his mood, so that not the smallest 
 annoyance through any fault in her untiring watch 
 fulness and attention should trouble the old gentle 
 man s mind. 
 
 The marquis looked surprised. 
 
 " Was I saying anything witty, Nathalie ? " 
 
 " Assuredly not, dear uncle." 
 
 " I made use of a serious term, I may modestly 
 say an exceedingly apt term, the absolute monarchy 
 of logic. I was not aware that I had conveyed the 
 slightest suggestion of a pleasantry." 
 
 " It was I," Nathalie said repentantly. " It sud 
 denly occurred to me, a woman refuses to acknowl 
 edge absolute monarchy because she s a republican, 
 or even a rebel." 
 
 "A woman yes," returned the old gentleman, 
 with an expression of extra-refined disgust hovering 
 over his delicate features. " A woman, but not a 
 Montauban. You were no doubt alluding to some 
 remote possibility, to some fact observable in the 
 lower strata of society, or to something you may have 
 read or unavoidably seen on your travels." 
 
 " To something I have read or seen on my travels," 
 said Nathalie, now quite sobered. 
 
140 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The marquis looked discomposed. " T have always 
 doubted whether a woman should travel much. But 
 that is past. Moreover, it was then your duty to the 
 count. My dear, would it not, however, be advisable 
 for you to submit your reading to the abbe ? " 
 
 " I think not, uncle. Why ? " she replied serenely. 
 
 " Because, while I would not for worlds wish to 
 restrict the choice of " 
 
 " Of a woman who is no longer a young girl," she 
 threw in quietly, "of a woman who was married 
 five years ago." 
 
 "To restrict your choice, at the same time I am 
 of the opinion that a woman of delicate associations, 
 a woman of rare susceptibility " 
 
 " In short, a Montauban." She smiled at him 
 affectionately. 
 
 "A Montauban, and the exceeding few who are 
 privileged to be classed with her, should accept ad 
 vice ; should lean upon a stronger mind when she 
 enters so perilous a region as a library." 
 
 As Madame de Vallauris had long since braved 
 all the perils of her uncle s library, and found there 
 unspeakable solace and strength, and made close 
 friends of the very volumes he would have pro 
 nounced her fatal foes, she could do little at this 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 141 
 
 moment but demurely reply, " If you personally have 
 any wish, dear uncle " 
 
 " Say no more, my dear Nathalie," he responded 
 graciously. " Your docility reassures me. Pardon my 
 fond fear ; I am happy to observe it is unfounded. 
 I have a horror of indiscriminate reading for a 
 woman. We men must study the wickedness of the 
 world, must know the weapons of our adversaries. 
 Since they seek to destroy our holiest temples, our 
 most sacred rights, our established, God-given " 
 
 " Ah, dearest uncle, why excite yourself ? Indeed, 
 you are not well enough. You have been so wise, 
 and avoided these topics for so long, and now your 
 face is quite flushed, and your poor dear hands 
 tremble. You will not grieve me by being ill ? 
 Think, uncle, whom would I have to protect me if 
 anything should happen to you? Dear, dear uncle !" 
 
 He had seated himself and fallen back in the 
 large fauteuil, a frail, bowed, and broken old man. 
 Nathalie, beautiful in her strength and youth, leaned 
 over him, smoothed his hollow temples with her 
 fresh touch, murmured her encouraging and tender 
 sophistries. 
 
 " You are right, Nathalie. Who would indeed take 
 care of you ? But have no fear. I am not ill, 1 am 
 
142 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 strong," he said with dignity, rising and resuming 
 his measured and somewhat spasmodic walk. " Old 
 memories/ he waved his withered hand airily, 
 " old times, recurred to me. It was but a passing 
 emotion. 1 am fully aware of the duties which at 
 present devolve upon me in my unusually responsi 
 ble position. I have to protect a young and lovely 
 woman, my niece, and a spiritual and unworldly man, 
 my friend, from annoyance, possibly from danger. I 
 have to preserve the dignity of the Montaubans." 
 
 " And that, at least, can never be difficult for you," 
 she exclaimed cordially. 
 
 "Nathalie," the confused, forgetful look crept 
 into his eyes, "was there not some remark of yours 
 which I found unsympathetic, uncongenial ? Was 
 there not an implication which even risked " 
 
 "Ah, how well he jumped ! " She went quickly to 
 the window. " Did you see, uncle ? It was Lieuten 
 ant von Gerhardt. There are five of them leaping 
 the hedge." 
 
 " Those young men ride very well. We had in our 
 time, it may be, more grace, more elegance, a more 
 chevaleresque bearing. But they ride well. They 
 ride well. The tall one in blue, Baron von " 
 
 " Nordenfels," suggested Nathalie. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 143 
 
 "Baron von Nordenfels, yes. How well you remem 
 ber all their names ! He rides well. There he goes 
 now." 
 
 " He is not there, uncle." 
 
 " Ah ! indeed ! Then it s some one else. But I 
 have noticed him. He is a young man of distinction. 
 One can converse with him. He is not flippant. 
 Have you observed ? " 
 
 " I may have, uncle." 
 
 " But, to resume," he continued with unwonted 
 pertinacity. " Nathalie, I forgot what the remark 
 was, but I have the distinct impression that as you 
 made some allusion it occurred to me your aunt 
 would never have thought of such a thing, would 
 never have used a word I forget it. I am a little 
 distrait this morning." 
 
 " I am sure she would never have thought of any 
 thing that could in the remotest way be uncongenial 
 to you." Ah, how kind and generous the young 
 voice sounded ! 
 
 " She was a good woman. I miss her," said the 
 old marquis simply. 
 
 " I am sure you do, dear, always." She remem 
 bered how the passivity of her gentle aunt, her sure 
 and serene conventionality, her mind, like her chair, 
 
144 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 always where it \fas expected to be, had satisfied his 
 highest ideal of womanhood ; and she realized that 
 when a great gulf separates two natures, the sup 
 pression of one s opinions, while it makes the distance 
 less conspicuous, by no means bridges it across. She 
 longed to throw her warm, strong arms around his 
 aged form, to beg him tear off his mask, get down 
 from his Montauban stilts, let her help him, love 
 him, reach him. "I do not love you enough," she 
 thought remorsefully, " but I want to love you. Take 
 me nearer, and I shall surely learn. We are all there 
 is left, we two, and my heart is full of pity and 
 affection and understanding for you, you poor, 
 forlorn, self-deceived old man ! " 
 
 But the Marquis de Montauban would have found 
 nothing in life so undesirable as to be " reached." 
 Merely being reached after, bored him. If a human 
 emotion betrayed itself at rare moments in him, it 
 was at least at his volition, not that of another. One 
 could allow one s self certain liberties. One knew 
 one s own delicacy and principles of self-restraint; 
 but emotions in general were vulgar, and apt to lead 
 to distressing exhibitions. 
 
 Madame de Vallauris therefore assumed the tone 
 that she knew would most please him. " No one 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 145 
 
 could ever be to you what she was," she went on in 
 a composed voice tuned to society pitch. 
 
 " She was perfect," responded the marquis with 
 lofty conviction. 
 
 " But remember what advantages she enjoyed in 
 her intercourse with you." 
 
 " My influence was no doubt educating," he ad 
 mitted modestly. "But she availed herself of it. 
 She adapted herself." 
 
 " Aunt had rare gifts." 
 
 " I was satisfied with her, Nathalie." With his 
 phantom-like gallantry he added, " I am sure, upon 
 reflection, that you could make no remark which 
 would jar upon my taste." 
 
 " Be quite sure," she returned, " that for no consid 
 eration would I intentionally, by word or manner, 
 cause you one moment s annoyance. Your wish is 
 my law," she said calmly and sincerely. 
 
 " Now that reminded me of your dear aunt," he 
 remarked, well pleased. " But where were we ? One 
 trait of your charming sex is a tendency to digres 
 sion. That, one always notices when one attempts 
 to converse with you upon any serious topic. You 
 are not consecutive ; but it is by no means a fault, in 
 my estimation. On the contrary, the light butterfly 
 
 10 
 
146 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 motion of the feminine mind gives grace grace 
 Where were we, Nathalie ? " 
 
 This was a perplexing inquiry to Madame de 
 Vallauris. " We were speaking of the abbe, I be 
 lieve," she answered after a slight pause, in which 
 her graceful, feminine, butterfly mind did some solid 
 thinking. 
 
 " Of the good abbd in general, my dear ? " doubt 
 fully. 
 
 " Of the good abbe* in particular. You were about 
 to honor me with some of the abbd s views, had 
 indeed begun, when you expressed a doubt of my 
 appreciation of him, and I begged you to be perfectly 
 at rest on that point. Afterwards I digressed, 
 uncle." 
 
 " A proof, a proof ! " exclaimed the old gentleman 
 in laughing triumph. " Ah, my dear, what did I tell 
 you of the woman s heart and the man s intellect ? " 
 
 " Much that is edifying, and which I shall not 
 forget." 
 
 "But," he continued in great good-humor, "when 
 you digressed, Nathalie, I was about to admit that a 
 woman s perception of character is often more delicate 
 than a man s. Therefore it would indeed be prepos 
 terous if with your intuition you should in any respect 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 147 
 
 fail in esteeming him according to his merits, merits 
 which, you understand, I merely repeat to point the 
 argument. I, as a man, analyze and prove ; you, as 
 a woman, feel." 
 
 " It would be quite incredible, dear uncle. And 
 the abbe* said Tell me what he said, and I 
 will try to make the movements of my mind more 
 sequacious." 
 
 The abb<3 said " 
 
 " He was alluding to my conduct, you remember." 
 
 " Perfectly. The abbe* said your conduct was most 
 exquisite. He merely wished my opinion. I have 
 great influence upon the judgment of the abbe* in 
 worldly matters. He depends upon me Did you 
 speak, my dear ? " 
 
 She had uttered a little indistinct sound, something 
 between a groan and a quick note of scorn, the invol 
 untary cry of her overcharged heart, pushed almost 
 beyond the limits of its forbearance. 
 
 " I have dropped my shawl," she answered, stooping. 
 
 " Permit me," he returned, arranging it with stiff 
 and feeble hands and circumstantial courtesy. 
 
 " He depends upon my judgment, as is natural 
 quite. And he modestly inquired if I did or did not 
 think that now, after this long trial, in which your 
 
148 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 dignity of bearing has been incomparable, you could 
 with perfect discretion and grace deign to be a little 
 more affable ? Perhaps to follow, in a certain sense, 
 my example as head of the house ? " 
 
 " He suggested that I should follow your exam 
 ple ? " she asked with dangerous quiet. 
 
 " Suggested ? Far from it. As I say, he merely in 
 timated his desire to acquaint himself with my views. 
 It was a purely intellectual question, a casual discus 
 sion between the abbe* and me." 
 
 " Ah ! " said the countess, with a deep, long-drawn 
 breath. 
 
 " The situation is peculiar. It is unique. There is 
 Paris. You know my views as to the present Paris. 
 I will not agitate you by recapitulating. I simply do 
 not recognize Paris. Paris is for me a travesty, a 
 mummery or less. Let us say less. Paris is for me 
 air. Take pains to follow, Nathalie. I do not 
 say my Paris. The Paris of my youth, of my ances 
 tors, the Paris of the Bourbons, the Paris of history, 
 the pride of all civilized nations, the glory of the 
 world, that. Paris exists, will always exist for us. But 
 this Paris, with its degradation, its unsavory odors of 
 the mob, its unholy aims, its irreverence and revolu 
 tionary taint " 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 149 
 
 " Poor, misled, struggling Paris ! " murmured the 
 countess. 
 
 " Struggling, did you say struggling, Nathalie ? 
 You read that word in a newspaper, of course ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, dear uncle, I read it in a newspaper." 
 
 " Ah, these newspapers ! But let us resume. On 
 the one hand is this unconscionable Paris, which will 
 nevertheless without doubt hold its own " 
 
 " Does he really believe that ? " she demanded im 
 petuously. 
 
 " He ? Who ? I am at a loss to understand. Is 
 my endeavor to instruct you inopportune, or " 
 
 " Ah, no, no, dear uncle ! Pardon, and pray con 
 tinue." 
 
 " On the one hand, then, this Paris, which cannot 
 claim the sympathy of a Montauban indeed, I can 
 only treat Paris with silent contempt. On the other 
 hand, Germany, with which I must own I have in 
 general small sympathy. It is a rude nation, I have 
 heard. These gentlemen, it is true, take pains to pre 
 sent themselves at their best. They have done fairly 
 well. They have a tolerable idea of civility. I re 
 gard them in a certain sense as my guests." 
 
 " Oh, uncle ! " 
 
 " And therefore I endeavor to mingle dignity and 
 
150 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 condescension in my treatment of them. I should be 
 sorry, Nathalie, if you could not follow me. My cha 
 teau, I regret to observe, has grown very shabby with 
 the coming and going of orderlies and the free uses to 
 which it has been subjected. The stair-carpet is pain 
 fully threadbare. Look at the lawns, the court-yard. 
 Where are my horses ? Where are my servants ? 
 And my wine and silver literally sub rosa, being 
 buried under my rose-bushes. My larder is empty. 
 Potatoes and rice are, I believe, still there. Otherwise, 
 for food we depend upon our guests, do we not ? " 
 
 " Yes, uncle," Nathalie answered huskily. 
 
 " But, as the abbe* frequently remarks, it cannot 
 last forever. The Germans will retreat. We shall 
 rehabilitate ourselves. In the mean time, with dig 
 nity, with philosophy You follow, Nathalie ? " 
 
 " Perfectly, dear uncle." 
 
 " We impress the strangers ; we command the situa 
 tion. Noblesse oblige. Therefore I would beg you to 
 permit the conversation to flow more fully in your 
 presence. Make your salon evenings, my dear. It 
 will be beneficial to those young Germans, and in 
 no wise compromise you. Never imagine I have not 
 found your manner up to this time beyond criticism. 
 A certain hauteur sits well on a Montaubaii and 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 151 
 
 there were many strange men here, I admit. But, as 
 the abbe* justly remarks, I, the head of the house, am 
 always present. We know, too, the characters of our 
 uninvited guests. Evenings, there are but few at once 
 in our drawing-rooms. Why not lend to what is 
 enforced an aspect of social pleasure ? Why not en 
 courage those stiff young Germans to an unreserved 
 expression of their sentiments, their plans, their ac 
 tions ? Why not use your prerogative as a charming 
 woman to draw them out, and at the same time to 
 learn of them -something of their politics, their war- 
 designs, their daily practices ? " 
 
 " Uncle ! " exclaimed Nathalie, with a startled 
 and suspicious look. But no the old gentleman 
 was innocent. Pleased with his eloquence, he me 
 andered placidly on, not so much as noticing her 
 interruption, repeating with parrot-like assurance 
 all his inoculated wisdom ; and as he spoke in 
 his measured accent, his manner encased in an in 
 destructible veneer, Madame de Vallauris perceived 
 in it all the terrible and gentle omnipresence of 
 the abbe. 
 
 " I would not, of course, advise intimacy. Pardon 
 the word, my dear," he said airily. " It escaped me 
 unawares. You do not indeed need any warning 
 
152 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 in that respect. I would merely suggest that we 
 create, evenings, so to speak, an atmosphere." 
 
 " An atmosphere ? " repeated Nathalie. 
 
 "Yes, my dear. The word is good. Not the at 
 mosphere of a Hotel de Rambouillet, but the atmos 
 phere of a Montauban, in distress, dignified, serene, 
 triumphant." 
 
 " Good heavens ! " ejaculated Nathalie in conster 
 nation. 
 
 " I do not wonder at your surprise, my dear. I too 
 was somewhat impressed with the novelty of the 
 scheme when the abbe* that is to say, when we. the 
 abbe* and I, happened to stray in that direction." 
 
 " Would all this make you happier, dear uncle ? " 
 
 " It would at least seem appropriate." 
 
 " Manette s word," thought the countess. 
 
 "It would ennoble our powerlessness," admitted 
 the marquis. In his look, in spite of his grandeur, 
 was a veiled entreaty. She met it gallantly. 
 
 " Dear uncle, are you not monarch here ? Do we 
 care if German lieutenants leap over our hedges ? 
 What my heart can do for your comfort you may be 
 sure of. My head, as you have mentioned, is little 
 worth." 
 
 "It is enough enough, my dear, for a woman," 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 153 
 
 said the marquis encouragingly, condescending to 
 pat her hand. 
 
 "Now, there is von Gerhardt," he announced 
 with the exactness of a well-learned lesson, "a 
 good rider, a susceptible, expansive, vain, voluble 
 man, how instructive he might be made ! " 
 
 "I should never have thought von Gerhardt in 
 structive," she said meekly. " I should have chosen 
 another adjective for him." 
 
 "That is immaterial," continued the marquis. 
 "Let us consider the colonel, bluff, hearty, admira 
 bly informed, a talker. What racy ideas could he 
 set afloat in the atmosphere of our salon ! Then a 
 man of that positive temperament is sometimes most 
 easily influenced by a woman." 
 
 " Indeed ! " said the countess, raising her eye 
 brows. 
 
 " Consider, too, that tall and dignified young man 
 with the graceful manner. He wears a blue uniform. 
 You remember him, surely ? " 
 
 " Von Nordenfels," Nathalie said softly. 
 
 " Ah, yes, that s the name, a man with private 
 despatches to carry about ; a man selected on account 
 of personal valor and cleverness for important service ; 
 a man of a certain softness beneath his cold exterior. 
 
154 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 I observed you talking very amiably with him last 
 night. That was promising ; that was well." 
 
 " He did not dare " began the countess pas 
 sionately. 
 
 " He did not dare anything beyond his orders, so 
 far as I know," said the marquis with facetious- 
 ness. " I would merely suggest he is a favorite with 
 his superiors, a marked man for his years, and 
 in our international salon might be an attractive 
 problem. It would in fact gratify me, my dear, if, in 
 consideration of all that I have said, you would do 
 me the favor to unbend in moderation towards the 
 stranger-element, temporarily through a caprice of 
 fate under iny roof. If I permit a certain relaxation 
 in your manner ; if I, the head of the house, am on 
 the spot to protect, to support, what more can you 
 desire ? " 
 
 "What, indeed?" 
 
 " Then all is said. I shall depend upon you, 
 a discreet warmth ; an encouraging atmosphere. 
 Thanks for your attention. I hope the effort has not 
 fatigued you, my dear. I think I will go out and 
 look at those young men. They are not jumping 
 badly, upon my honor." 
 
 " Do go, dear uncle. It will interest you," she said 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 155 
 
 kindly. "It is mild in the sunshine, and you so 
 rarely go out nowadays. It will do you good." 
 
 " Thanks, my dear Nathalie ; thanks. I will stroll 
 out and encourage those young men." 
 
 Airily making his adieus, he with difficulty walked 
 out into the court. 
 
 " Oh, how he is failing, body and mind ! When 
 I remember what he once was, and then this con 
 versation ! " Tears filled her eyes. She felt in 
 expressibly helpless and lonely. A slight noise 
 at the door made her turn. It was the Abbe de 
 JSTavailles whose intellectual and benign presence 
 now appeared. 
 
 " Ah, madame," he said in gentle greeting, " I am 
 fortunate to find you here. Pierre has sprained his 
 foot, and I have given Antoine my last bandage for 
 him. Perhaps you 
 
 " M. l Abb6 de Navailles," facing him and speaking 
 very rapidly, "will you have the extreme kindness 
 to remember that I am not your tool ? " 
 
 "Madame ?" in mild interrogation. 
 
 "Will you also remember that my manner, my 
 conduct, my words and ways, are my purely personal 
 attributes, which no mortal may presume to deter 
 mine or direct ? " 
 
156 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " Madame ? " he repeated, as if questioning whether 
 he heard aright. 
 
 " Will you furthermore have the goodness to bear 
 in mind that while I esteem nothing a sacrifice which 
 may minister to my uncle s comfort, should my scheme 
 for his happiness differ diametrically from another s, 
 I am quite capable of finding my own the wiser and 
 better, and of following it persistently, regardless of 
 consequences ? " 
 
 The gentle incredulity on the abbd s face merged 
 slowly into equally gentle reflection. " That is all ? " 
 he said at length. 
 
 "That is all," answered the countess, looking at 
 him with unconcealed defiance, then turning to go. 
 
 "One moment, madame," his soft voice begged. 
 She waited, watching him mistrustfully. " The bur 
 den of the three I presume I may say warnings 
 with which you with admirable frankness have 
 honored me, is one and the same. To its some 
 what unflattering implication I refrain from replying 
 directly." 
 
 "As usual," the slight droop of her eyelids and 
 her satirical mouth responded plainly enough. 
 
 Unruffled and sweet-tempered as it was possible 
 for a man to be, he continued: "I would merely 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 157 
 
 suggest to your sense of justice and I have never 
 met a woman who makes more honest and successful 
 effort to be just than you, or one who holds stricter 
 accounts with herself, I would simply suggest one 
 question, madame. In your excited and sensitive 
 frame of mind " 
 
 Her look confronted him in haughty challenge. 
 
 " Most natural under existing circumstances," the 
 placid voice went on, " when there is no repose by 
 day or night, and every spirit lives in perpetual up 
 roar and distressing uncertainty, might it not be 
 possible for your imagination to exaggerate or dis 
 tort harmless facts, and particularly to misinterpret 
 the amiable conversation of your uncle the marquis ? 
 Charming and interesting as he continues to be, we 
 who know him best and love him most must some 
 times hold our breath, observing how his age tells 
 upon him in these latter days." 
 
 Sincerity, unwavering affection for the marquis, 
 sounded in every tone of his voice. The manly 
 dignity of his character, softened by perceptible ten 
 derness, in spite of her brusque attack displayed 
 no retaliation. No heat obscured his calm mental 
 vision. Intellectually her superior, he stood before 
 her, and she acknowledged, now as always, that she 
 
158 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 had no proofs against him. What he said was 
 true. Her poor uncle might easily convey a false 
 impression. And she herself, could she ever be 
 sure that her old prejudice against the abbe did not 
 blind her judgment even when he was innocent ? 
 Whom indeed could she trust ? On whom could 
 she lean ? Her uncle was too frail and old to hear 
 an unguarded word. However well grounded her 
 charges against the abbe seemed, however indig 
 nantly she confronted him, she could not gainsay 
 the tranquillity and fairness, not of his open de 
 fence, for he never actually defended himself, but 
 of his tacit refutation. She looked at him now bit 
 terly. "The man makes me doubt my own in 
 stincts," she thought. " The man s head, the woman s 
 heart, as poor uncle fondly says. But if the woman 
 has only her intuitions, and they desert her, what 
 will she do then ? I wish to be just. I wish to be 
 tolerant. I do not intend to be deceived. My in 
 stinct warns me. My head acquits him. But why 
 does he wish me to be friendly with the men he 
 hates ? " 
 
 " Could there not be some error ? " he asked quietly, 
 as if reading her thoughts and responding. 
 
 "There can always be some error," she answered. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 159 
 
 " Take care you make none from overmuch wisdom. 
 And, that we understand each other once for all, 
 whatever plan you design for the edification of our 
 house, if it includes me, should be communicated 
 directly to me." 
 
 " Undoubtedly, madame," he said, smiling as if at 
 the perverseness of a child. "And the bandages?" 
 reverting to his first theme with solicitude. 
 
 " Pierre seems to sprain his foot curiously often," 
 she said abruptly. 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. "Yes, he may be a 
 little awkward." 
 
 She looked at him troubled, doubtful, uncertain 
 of him, of herself. His face bore her scrutiny with 
 out effort. His simplicity was admirable. But as 
 she found herself weighing and measuring, now con 
 demning, now acquitting him, yet questioning what 
 those clear eyes meant to conceal and what that fine 
 mouth desired to express, the thought of a face whose 
 every line she knew rose up in contrast, and she re 
 membered with a great sense of security and peace 
 the tone of the stranger s voice. 
 
 " Manette shall bring you some bandages," she 
 said, and went away smiling softly, as if with happy 
 thoughts. The abbe smiled too, but differently. 
 
160 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 "She is very young, after all," he reflected. "All 
 the better." 
 
 The only result of the marquis s eloquence was 
 that Madame de Vallauris, far from exercising her 
 charms evenings with the deliberate purpose of draw 
 ing out the Germans, was seized opportunely with 
 a slight indisposition, which confined her some days 
 to her room. The marquis, who had never known 
 her to have a moment s illness, was frantic with 
 anxiety. This caused her conscience severe re 
 proaches, and induced her to reappear sooner than 
 she had designed. It was singular how empty the 
 rooms seemed without that one quiet figure in black, 
 and how dull all conversation was without the voice 
 that was but rarely heard. Von Nordenfels stalked 
 in every evening ; looked round gravely and stalked 
 out again, the abbe s eyes not being the depths in 
 which he longed to gaze. 
 
 When Madame de Vallauris came down again there 
 was unfeigned rejoicing, and the marquis had quite 
 forgotten his salon scheme. 
 
 "You were cruel, madame/ whispered the abbe", 
 with his indulgent smile. 
 
 " Only to be kind," she returned gravely. 
 
 ISTordenfels, whose bureau-work had monopolized 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 161 
 
 him every night of her absence, had now apparently 
 no more arduous duty than to keep silent guard in 
 the room where she was leaning quietly back in a low 
 chair, half shaded by the draperies of an alcove win 
 dow. It was of no use attempting to talk with her. 
 The Lady discouraged them all, except Forstenau, with 
 her monosyllabic indifference. 
 
 " Horses can surely compromise no one," she 
 thought, watching the abbe under her half-closed 
 lids. 
 
 Von Nordenfels was at a loss to understand why he 
 was relegated to the first hostile conditions of their 
 acquaintance. Surely she had been friendly, not only 
 in the cottage, but since at the chateau ; her eyes had 
 met his frankly, and with the lingering question he 
 had learned to read in them. Now Gerhardt, Wedell, 
 and the chandelier, at which, her head thrown 
 back, she frequently stared, could claim as much 
 attention as he. He refused to call her capricious ; 
 but not feeling in a sufficiently careless mood to enact 
 the r81e of social supernumerary, rose suddenly, made 
 his adieus with some stiffness, and left the room. 
 The countess, as before, continued to listen languidly 
 to Forstenau and to stare at the chandelier. 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE autumn sun was shining one morning with 
 unusual warmth upon the besieged city and its en 
 virons, where a great stillness prevailed, broken now 
 and then by the muffled tone of a distant cannon from 
 the resisting forts. On every highway and along the 
 narrow riding-paths, marked by poles, indicating for 
 the orderlies the most direct line possible from head 
 quarters to headquarters, were single cavaliers and 
 groups of horsemen, officers and orderlies, all rid 
 ing towards Vert Galant on the Metz road. They 
 were for the most part strong and sun- browned faces, 
 and powerful figures sitting firm in their saddles. 
 Their uniforms would scarcely have enhanced the 
 effect of a drawing-room ; for, like their wearers, they 
 bore traces of wind and weather and many a hard 
 night of bivouac. A sash over the shoulder and the 
 black leather bag at the belt distinguished the officers 
 acting as adjutants. The horses were in a tolerable 
 condition, many of them having been " requisitioned " 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 163 
 
 to fill the very considerable gaps made, not only by 
 the enemy s shots, but by the over-fatigue and in 
 sufficient fodder on the unusually long marches. 
 
 It was evidently some weighty reason which had 
 induced the commander of the corps to order all the 
 adjutants, with the exception of those occupied with 
 the troops on forepost duty, to report at Yert Galant. 
 
 The country-house where the prince had established 
 his headquarters displayed a stately facade, and was 
 still in most respects well preserved. A large garden 
 with an iron railing lay between the house and the 
 broad street. Gradually groups of officers gathered 
 here in highly animated discussion. The entrance- 
 door on the left showed the carriages of the staff in 
 admirable condition. The gardener s lodge on the 
 right was transformed into a guard-house. Before 
 it stood the watch, observing with close attention 
 a group of prisoners who had just been brought in 
 from the foreposts. They were from various infantry 
 regiments, a few from the Garde Mobile, and some 
 Tirailleurs de la Seine. A staff-officer was noting the 
 numbers of their regiments, and endeavoring by severe 
 cross-examination to ascertain as much as possible 
 of their combinations, strength, and position. After 
 the men had had some rest and food, they were 
 
164 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 re-questioned rigorously. Already there were flying 
 rumors that Paris was destitute of provision. 
 
 On a bench by the guard-house sat some lightly 
 wounded prisoners whom two surgeons were ban 
 daging, while a young officer extended his pocket- 
 flask with an encouraging word to one and another 
 of the unfortunates. 
 
 Through the broadly open windows on the ground- 
 floor of the pleasant house a breakfast-table, if seen 
 at a sufficient distance, suggested by association an 
 indefinite vista of family life and tranquil joys; 
 but approaching, the remains of the extremely sub 
 stantial but by no means luxurious repast, and the 
 unmistakable mannish appointments, showed plainly 
 enough this had no likeness to the morning rites of 
 a cheery home. A group of civilians attached to the 
 Saxon headquarters sat there still, leisurely sipping 
 a glass of claret, among them some Knights of St. 
 John, serving under the red cross, two distinguished 
 surgeons who had left their professor s chairs of Leip 
 zig University to give their services during the cam 
 paign, and the correspondents of the London "Times" 
 and " Daily News." 
 
 Upon the mantel-piece, piled in perilous irregu 
 larity nearly to the ceiling, were boxes of cigars, the 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 165 
 
 so-called " love s offerings " sent generally with the 
 friendliest intentions by some benevolent association, 
 but rarely redolent of the choicest Havana. Many 
 rapid writers were working at their best speed in a 
 room on the right, where a printing-press was also 
 preparing the orders, and a young officer at a side 
 table was sketching on a large scale a plan of the 
 last reported French defences along the Saxon line. 
 
 The field post, that blessed messenger between the 
 army and the fatherland, was busily at work in an 
 adjacent building. Two mountains of letters rose 
 conspicuously, on one side those received, on the 
 other those about to be sent. What anxiety, impa 
 tience, auger, and sorrow, what sighs of love and 
 longing, were imprisoned in those paper mounds ! 
 
 The great hall clock, with its slow, impressive voice 
 marking in peace or war the fatal flight of time, now 
 struck three. 
 
 The issue of orders had been appointed for two, and 
 Vert Galant had waited already a whole hour for the 
 coming of the adjutant who should bring the order 
 from Grand Tremblay, the headquarters of the Maas 
 Army. A certain restlessness began to be noticeable 
 among the officers. Some of them, in a truly femi 
 nine and childlike manner, went frequently to the 
 
166 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 entrance gate, and eagerly scanned the road upon 
 which the longed-for adjutant was expected to appear. 
 Others smoked, and assumed a stolidity they by no 
 means felt. 
 
 The corps commander, too, had left his room in the 
 first story, and coming out into the garden by a side 
 door, was now walking up and down on the west side 
 of the house in the alley which extended towards 
 the Bois de St. Denis. Every inch a prince, he was 
 an elegant, still youthful-looking man, rather above 
 the middle height. On his right, still taller than 
 he, strode the powerful and noble form of General 
 von Aarenhorst, who had come over from the chateau 
 at Clichy to discuss some important points with his 
 commanding general. On the left of the prince was 
 the chief of the staff, a short, thick figure, in a 
 somewhat neglected uniform. As he walked, he 
 talked volubly, with free gesticulation and rapidly 
 varying expression of his intellectual face. Close 
 on the heels of the prince followed a magnificent 
 hunting-dog of purest breed. He had lost his French 
 master and strayed to Vert Galant, where with an 
 aut- Ccesar-aut-mhil instinct he had attached him 
 self at once to the prince in preference to all others. 
 A single French word oi praise or petting delighted 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 167 
 
 the beautiful animal excessively, although his progress 
 in the German language was already commendable. 
 
 Presently, not by the Metz road as was expected, 
 but by the narrow path along the Ourcq Canal and 
 through the garden gate in the rear, came the corps 
 adjutant in full gallop. His brave bay was covered 
 with foam, for upon him had fallen the responsibility 
 of making good as far as possible the time lost by 
 human blundering and delay in issuing the orders. 
 As the adjutant passed the dining-room window, one 
 of the St. John knights reached out a brimming glass 
 of good red wine, which the thirsty man, without 
 stopping, swallowed at one gulp as he hastened on to 
 the prince. The crowd of waiting adjutants streamed 
 into the bureau. A staff-officer, after announcing the 
 corps time, by which every adjutant set his watch, 
 read rapidly and distinctly the despatches from head 
 quarters. Sitting, standing, using the shoulders of the 
 man in front as desk, they wrote at the officer s dicta 
 tion. Suddenly, in their immediate neighborhood 
 they heard the sound of repeated gunshots. They 
 started and listened, with some excitement. " Don t 
 be disturbed, gentlemen," remarked the dictating staff- 
 officer. " It is only the orderlies shooting the last 
 pheasants of the park for our dinner." 
 
168 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The final detail of the instructions ordered a dis 
 location of the Saxon corps, Aulnay to be evacuated 
 and occupied immediately by the second division of 
 the Prussian Guard. Von Nordenfels pencil was 
 curiously unsteady as he wrote this order. 
 
 The delivery of the details was completed. The 
 adjutants sprang to their horses, for some time im 
 patiently stamping in the court, and galloped in small 
 groups towards the entrance, where, to their dissatis 
 faction, they were summarily forced to halt. A long 
 provision column, bringing supplies from Claye, was 
 passing the closed gates of Vert Galant. Strong 
 horses, percherons, from the northeast of France, on 
 the Belgian boundaries, were harnessed by threes and 
 fours to the heavily laden wagons. French wagoners 
 in their blue blouses and baggy trousers walked at 
 the side. They held their reins and long whips list 
 lessly, not once giving their peculiar cheery call to 
 their horses, or their loud and jovial whip-cracking. 
 Silent and gloomy they stalked on, every two of them 
 guarded by a well-armed man. 
 
 As the last wagon went heavily by the gate, out 
 flew the pent-up adjutants towards all points of 
 the compass. Along the highways and field paths, 
 by wood and stream and meadow, the fleet hoofs 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 169 
 
 galloped through the still country, carrying the im 
 portant news in every direction. 
 
 It was late in the day when von Nordenfels rode 
 into Aulnay with his despatches, the necessity of 
 which arose from the following facts. 
 
 The French army was now reconstructed, the 
 armies of the Seine and the Loire had united in the 
 south, where, in consequence, the Bavarian general, 
 Von der Tann, with a large body of troops, had been 
 ordered. This weakened in no small degree the 
 besieging girdle, and dislocations were imperative to 
 cover, so far as possible, the threatened points. Active 
 measures and changes of quarters, however admirable 
 as military tactics, were nevertheless far from per 
 sonally agreeable to the officers stationed at Aulnay. 
 They were loud in their expressions of regret, and 
 the dismay of the marquis was grievous to behold. 
 
 " Bless my soul, gentlemen ! Can nothing be 
 done?" he asked in stammering accents strikingly 
 at variance with his usual lofty placidity towards 
 the Germans. 
 
 " Nothing, I fear," returned the colonel, smiling. 
 
 " But how do I know what the officers of the Prus 
 sian Guard will be like ? " demanded the perturbed 
 old gentleman. 
 
170 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 "You can judge for yourself to-morrow morning, 
 marquis." 
 
 "They are a bad lot," Gerhardt took occasion to 
 confide to the marquis. " We are bad enough, but 
 they are incalculably worse. We have injured your 
 beautiful chateau, but they would have demolished it 
 entirely. A Prussian? Why, a Prussian is a kind of 
 impossible being with a double-barrelled thinking ap 
 paratus, not an atom of heart, and truly distinguished 
 manners." 
 
 "Distinguished manners are all one really requires 
 for most situations in life," remarked the marquis 
 affably, feeling much comforted. 
 
 " Here, Nordenfels, you are a half Prussian yourself; 
 come and tell the marquis to what species of monster 
 the Prussian belongs." 
 
 The adjutant had hurriedly entered the room, 
 looked around, and was about to return to the bureau. 
 
 "If they are all like Herr von Nordenfels, they 
 will let my poor old chateau, like a faded belle, con 
 sole itself with the remains of its beauty." And the 
 marquis, pleased with his eloquence, raised his hand 
 kerchief to his smiling lips and gently inhaled the 
 invigorating fumes of eau-d Houbigant. 
 
 "We won t praise them too much," von Nordenfels 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 171 
 
 said, looking in his cordial, respectful way at the 
 marquis. " We prefer you should think us their su 
 periors. But, believe me, they will attach themselves 
 to the chateau and be sorry to leave when their turn 
 comes, as we are ; arid you will find some good heads 
 for cards among them. So much, justice compels me 
 to say for iny rivals." 
 
 " Well, well," returned the marquis with cheerful 
 condescension, " a man of my age and my experience 
 must consent to take things as they come. That is 
 true wisdom, gentlemen." 
 
 " I can take most things," muttered von Gerhardt 
 in a stage aside, "but I can t take a Prussian. He 
 never agrees with me. He sticks in my throat like 
 a five-pronged fish-bone." 
 
 " You remarked ? " began the marquis civilly. 
 
 "A technical observation to my comrade here," 
 Gerhardt hastened to explain with importance. 
 " We are necessarily uncommonly busy this evening. 
 Strategic problems, vast responsibilities " And 
 the dandy lieutenant bowed himself away. 
 
 "Are you too busy for a parting game of chess, 
 Herr von Nordenfels ? " 
 
 "I fear that I am. At least, I have some pressing 
 duties. Nothing so strategic as the occupations of 
 
172 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 von Moltke and my friend Gerhardt, but consid 
 erable writing still for the colonel ; and there is some 
 body I must see," he said in a business-like tone, 
 knowing one betrays what one wishes to conceal 
 oftener by an elaborate circumlocution than by an 
 unaccentuated statement of the truth. The marquis, 
 intent on chess, expressed the hope of a game later 
 in the evening. The dark abbe, reading in the alcove, 
 did not once raise his eyes. Various officers came in 
 and out of the room or passed the door upon which 
 Nordenfels had fixed his gaze. Nothing of interest 
 entered. In spite of the onerous duties of which he 
 had spoken, he watched and waited with unobtrusive 
 persistency. Suddenly some bright ribbons flaunted 
 themselves aggressively in the corridor. They dis 
 appeared. Nordenfelfl asked himself a pertinent 
 question. They flashed by again. Nordenfels rap 
 idly surveyed the room. The colonel was convers 
 ing with the marquis. The abbe* quietly read. " Of 
 course, those eyes of his see everything. See ? They 
 see when he s at his prayers and when he s asleep." 
 Nevertheless, the adjutant rose and sought the rib 
 bons. As he advanced, they receded, until they had 
 decoyed him to a place where a low-voiced colloquy 
 seemed to their owner not inappropriate. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 173 
 
 The exchange of ideas was brief but significant. 
 
 " She s in the acacia-walk," was the welcome infor 
 mation imparted to him in a stage whisper. 
 
 "A thousand thanks, Manettechen. You shall 
 never regret that." 
 
 The ribbons flew in one direction where a flaxen 
 giant was awaiting them ; the uniform moved as 
 eagerly, if with more dignity, in another. 
 
 Past the great linden and the thuyas he went, with 
 his long, firm step. His heart beat fast. He knew 
 no words to say to the lady whom he was seeking 
 in the twilight ; but in his lover s rhapsody, fearing, 
 hoping, trembling, rejoicing, he remembered only the 
 liquid depths of her eyes as he had met their gaze 
 in the cottage, and forgot their haughty indifference 
 as she stared at the chandelier and nothing. He 
 was glad of the garden, glad of the gathering dim 
 ness, exultant that he was drawing near to her lovely 
 presence ; and even the morrow s parting seemed a 
 shadowy sorrow, so strong and warm was the un 
 defined hope in the young man s honest soul. 
 
 She heard the swing of his sabre, the click of his 
 spurs along the paved walk, and well she knew his 
 step. A thousand conflicting impulses moved her. 
 Should she go ? Should she stay ? Would he notice 
 
174 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 that her eyes were wet? How could he venture 
 to seek her here ? How could he know ? Should 
 she remain where she was on the low rustic seat? 
 Should she rise and walk the other way ? 
 
 She remained. He came. Impassioned as any 
 lover whose romantic ardor illumines the pages of 
 tradition and verse, had she been an old dowager at 
 high noon instead of his lady-love in the soft twilight, 
 he yet could not have inclined his tall figure, and 
 raised his hand in stiff salute, with more ceremonious 
 elegance ; and under no circumstances could she have 
 manifested a smoother impenetrability. He had a 
 confused impression that life was short, that it was 
 folly to let golden moments pass without making 
 them one s own in bliss and forgetfulness ; but of 
 such wild thoughts this modern knight, being en 
 cased in good breeding as in a coat of mail, gave 
 no sign ; and of all the eloquence surging mightily 
 through him, not a word escaped. He only said, 
 " Good evening, madame." 
 
 " Good evening, Herr von Nordenfels," replied the 
 coolest voice of the countess. 
 
 "It is mild this evening," remarked the ardent 
 lover. 
 
 " Yes," she returned, with befitting gravity. " That 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 175 
 
 is, it was mild. It is a little cooler now. I think 
 I will go in." 
 
 "Ah, don t go quite yet ! " begged Nordenfels with 
 startling vehemence; then he stopped short. 
 
 She did not answer, but neither did she go. 
 
 The chateau was noisy with the voices and heavy 
 tread of men. The village was all astir ; but surely 
 the tumult was of some remote world. Near them 
 was no sound but the drowsy plash of the foun 
 tain and the faintest murmur of the soft acacias 
 in the evening breeze. Above, the dark Tower kept 
 watch. 
 
 He was not shy, yet he feared the cold mask 
 she had assumed. He was not bold, yet he felt ari 
 imperious desire to take her in his arms and cover 
 her haughty face with his warm kisses, until it could 
 never again, whether in love or hate, look at him 
 without a flush of remembrance. 
 
 At length he quietly said, " You know we leave 
 the chateau to-morrow, madame ? " 
 
 " Yes," replied the cold voice. " I believe I heard 
 some one say so. They were all making such a 
 disturbance in the house, that I came out for a 
 little quiet." 
 
 To the refined ungraciousness of this speech 
 
176 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Nordenfels replied in his earnest, direct manner : " I 
 regret every sound and tone that jars upon your ear, 
 every sight that offends your eyes. Our rudely en 
 forced presence in your house seems to me nothing 
 less than sacrilege. Not a day, not an hour goes by, 
 but I feel that with you and for you." 
 
 Charmed against her will by his protecting ten 
 derness, her spirit drawn resistlessly towards him, 
 struggling against the strange pain she felt at the 
 thought of losing him, and bewildered by the power 
 of her emotions, she broke out inconsequently, a 
 bitter ring in her voice : " You Germans are ter 
 rible. Your war is hard and cruel beyond even 
 the necessities of war. You are relentless, pitiless. 
 From Aulnay to Chelles, with your landmarks and 
 batteries and abatis and palisades, you have ruined 
 our pleasant country. Many a fine estate, many an 
 ancient chateau, you have sacrificed ruthlessly. You 
 nold that might makes right. You have no other 
 law. You are as inflexible as death. You bring 
 death, worse than death to us 
 
 Pained, astonished, Nordenfels stood silent before 
 her, and no instinct whispered : " It is because she 
 loves you that she says this. She seeks to defend 
 herself against herself and you. She has no weapons 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 177 
 
 but these wild words, which she flings desperately on 
 every side." 
 
 He bowed his head and listened sorrowfully. 
 
 The twilight was closing in dense around them. 
 The fountain plashed on in its cool unconcern. This 
 was not what he had sought in the shadowy garden. 
 He remembered the colonel s pleasantry that first 
 day they rode into Aulnay, and he saw her, proud 
 and pale, facing them at the door of the old chateau. 
 She was indeed the princess of the enchanted castle. 
 How should he reach her through the labyrinth of 
 thorns ? He felt that whether there were only 
 moats and drawbridges between them, or earthquakes 
 and pestilence, tempest and floods, undreamed-of 
 perils and Titan foes, he must go on. And there 
 she sat, so near. It seemed to him there were only 
 they two in the world. So, too, it seemed to the 
 fair woman as she heard the fountain and looked 
 up to the silent Tower. Yet she would not 
 yield. 
 
 " You are men of iron, men of stone," she resumed. 
 " Are we not brave ? Who is braver than a French 
 man ? Our soldiers charge with magnificent force ; 
 they are impetuous, gallant, elastic, agile ; they have 
 endurance, strength ; they are loyal ; they are heroes ; 
 12 
 
178 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 but they fall before your cruel, serried ranks of 
 frozen-hearted demons ! " 
 
 Still he did not speak. He folded his arms and 
 patiently waited for the storm to pass. 
 
 " And now you are closing in round beautiful 
 Paris. Nearer and nearer, tighter and tighter, you 
 are drawing your cruel lines. But though you await 
 her downfall, that you will not see. No, that at 
 least will be spared us. You have the overweight 
 of brute force. Whether the triumph of mind is for 
 you or for us, that even your arrogance may not 
 presume to determine." 
 
 Her low voice ceased its rapid and indignant utter 
 ance. 
 
 " Why has she never spoken, and why must it be 
 to-night, of all nights, that she builds this barrier 
 between us ? " Nordenfels asked himself. 
 
 After a long and painful pause, " I do not under 
 stand you, madame," he said with simplicity. 
 
 It was no wonder. She did not understand her 
 self,* did not know what induced her to pour a tor 
 rent of hard words upon the head of this man, whose 
 consideration had never failed to impress her with a 
 subtle sense of protection and rest, whose steadfast 
 eyes followed her with their boundless sympathy 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 179 
 
 and deference, and what beside she had never cared 
 to fully interpret. She only knew her heart was 
 heavy; that a deathly loneliness and dread of the 
 morrow, and of all the dreary morrows to come, had 
 taken possession of her. 
 
 Above the sombre Tower, cloud-masses were gather 
 ing and breaking. On the west wind echoed faintly 
 the far-off Paris chimes. In all her life she had 
 never known so strong a feeling as this with which 
 she was contending. "He is your enemy," was 
 borne upon the breeze straight from the beleaguered 
 city. Strange and confused voices were struggling 
 for mastery in her soul. "His eyes are true, his 
 voice is sweet, his presence stirs your heart in a 
 wonderful way, and when you look upon him in the 
 strength and beauty of his young manhood, you are 
 moved to place your two hands in his and trust him, 
 and give him what he asks. For something, something 
 he is silently asking, even now as he stands there, 
 pained by your words. But remember he is an enemy, 
 wickedly invading your dear land. He will go to 
 morrow. Let him go. You are a Frenchwoman and 
 a Montauban." And above this warning sounded 
 the clear voice of her dream. " Choose ! " it cried 
 solemnly ; while in the dusky clouds she saw a 
 
180 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 martial train, not all those solemn heroes march 
 ing down the ages, not all the glory and splendor of 
 the vision, but majestic, changing forms vanishing 
 behind the old church-tower; and it was to her as 
 if the most beautiful of them, the most earnest 
 and serene, were standing near her and beginning 
 now to speak in a tone softer than the fall of the 
 water. 
 
 " Countess, much that you say is true." 
 He hesitated. The position was all false, all un 
 necessary, he felt. What had the war to do with 
 them, with his love for this woman, except that it 
 had led him to her dear feet, where he longed to 
 kneel with a thousand impassioned words, only she, 
 she herself restrained him. "Forgive me if I find 
 it too hard to answer you ; this is neither the time 
 nor place," he continued. " You cannot wonder that 
 as a German I love my fatherland ; as a soldier, my 
 calling. And yet, if I could tell you all my thoughts 
 about war in general, ah, madame, they are perhaps 
 not wholly unlike your own, except, of course, I must 
 contend that our mode of making war is second to 
 none." 
 
 His naturalness and great indulgence were the 
 most sensible means he could have chosen to calm 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 181 
 
 her excitement. Instinctively he felt that she was 
 listening more quietly now. 
 
 "If you would allow me, some day, in a happier 
 time, I will answer you, countess. Some day there 
 is much I would say to you. I would have said it 
 to-night, but the moment passed unless " He 
 hesitated. 
 
 He spoke with self-command, but there was love 
 in his voice. 
 
 She rose quickly. Her hands trembled as she 
 drew her lace scarf closer round her face. 
 
 " Herr von Nordenfels, my uncle will be wondering 
 what has become of me." 
 
 " It is early still." 
 
 " Yes, but it is better that I go in." 
 
 He pulled his mustache and walked along by her 
 side, staring straight before him. 
 
 " Why did you tear down Livry ? " she asked in 
 a conversational tone. 
 
 " I ? " said Nordenfels absently. " Heaven forbid !" 
 
 Inscrutable nature of woman ! At his unexpected 
 reply she laughed a little, low as if to herself, and 
 her lover listened enchanted. 
 
 "Livry ?" he repeated. 
 
 "The chateau where Madame de Stael lived and 
 
182 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 wrote. I was not accusing you of personal ani 
 mosity," she added. 
 
 Madame de Stael, it is to be feared, was to him an 
 object of remote and infinitesimally small interest, but 
 he gratefully blessed her memory at this moment. 
 
 " Ah, yes, I remember. Pardon me. I was some 
 what distrait. It was a necessity, of course. Believe 
 me, we do not destroy homes from a wanton spirit of 
 destruction. We are not barbarians, countess." As 
 hate leaps out in civil, guarded speech, so his love 
 flamed through every light word he uttered. 
 
 She said nothing. The twilight and the acacias 
 seemed to cling to her as she walked. 
 
 Some subtle fragrance lingering in the lace wound 
 about her fair hair mingled with the fresh earthy 
 smells and the dews of evening. They walked slower 
 and slower. 
 
 The lover s voice was silent. His spirit spoke to 
 hers unceasingly. "Do not be unjust, dear lady. 
 It is all a mystery. Human vices and virtues are 
 exaggerated into unnatural prominence in war. In 
 war, as in peace, the noble suffers for the act of the 
 thoughtless and the coarse, and a thousand un 
 trained souls undo the act of the humane and wise. 
 In war, as in peace, the brain plans wisely, the hot 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER.- 183 
 
 heart errs. Is it hard to rule one s own spirit ? Is 
 it hard for me now not to fold you to my heart in 
 your loveliness ? Do not be unjust, dearest lady. 
 War executes rapidly what peace does slowly but 
 no less surely. In peace, too, strength triumphs, the 
 weakest goes to the wall, and good souls fight a brave 
 fight yet die of cruel wounds. What are the worst 
 wounds ? Those of the battlefield ? Who can tell ? 
 War is pitiless. Is society less so? Does not society 
 make its indisputable requisitions, trample on the 
 wounded, cheer the conqueror whatever his course ? 
 And does not society resort to methods not permissi 
 ble in honorable warfare, to a more extended espion 
 age, to a meaner and more heartless treatment of 
 prisoners, to torture and polite thumbscrews long 
 since abandoned by progressive and merciful minds 
 but retained in society s best circles ? 
 
 " Some far-off day will a new and noble era dawn ? 
 Would that you and I could behold its glory and its 
 justice. In the mean time, my lady, never believe 
 the humane spirit may not exist, even in war ; for 
 life is war, and war is everywhere in life and nature. 
 Disease and pestilence are more cruel than the sword, 
 and friendly mother earth is often our worst enemy. 
 Surely, if one thinks, one sees this, and Evil saith 
 
184 AULNAY TO WEE. 
 
 to Good : My brother, I am one with thee, so inter 
 woven are life s threads. Surely the anarchists and 
 all the misled restless beings, seeking to undermine 
 this bad old world in order to build a worse one 
 upon its ruins, are guided by too little, not too 
 much thought; and theirs is the most wicked and 
 most futile war. But trouble your fair soul not 
 at all, lady, walking with rne in the twilight, about 
 all these involved questions which the wisest cannot 
 solve. Do not hate me because I come in war. 
 Be magnanimous, be pitiful ! Only love me, and all 
 will be well. Only let me take you to my heart, 
 and the problems and mysteries may circle on for 
 ever in infinite mazes. Make this moment sublime 
 with the light of your love, and all doubt, all dark 
 ness, will fall from my soul." 
 
 So with lover s logic pleaded the lover s spirit. 
 And he might have said all this and more, for a whirl 
 of fantastic thoughts was rushing through his excited 
 brain ; but he could not speak. The day had exacted 
 heavy duties of him. Before dawn he had been 
 faithfully at work. Each hour of service, unknown 
 to him, was bringing him nearer this wonderful 
 moment at the close of the long, hard day. Only 
 one thing seemed important to him, only one thing 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 185 
 
 seemed real ; and stronger to him than war and life 
 and death was the love in his heart for this fair 
 woman walking by his side as quiet as the dusk and 
 as mysterious. Yet how could he, on the verge of de 
 parture, and after her passionate protest against him, 
 his race, and his cause, turn and declare his feeling ? 
 It would be as abrupt and painful as a pistol-shot. 
 That is, how could he insist that she should listen to 
 what she plainly wished to avoid ? " If I live, I will 
 come back," he said to himself. " If I die, at least 
 I have seen the one woman I could love with all my 
 strength and all my soul. Yet if I die, I long to tell 
 her once, if only once, that I love her ! " 
 
 He thought the lady must have heard the loud, 
 fast beating of his heart. Who knows what she 
 heard, or what of all its passionate burden reached 
 her, touched her, thrilled her in the silence ? In all 
 the science of unexplained forces, what is so sure 
 and swift as lovers thought-reading ? 
 
 The countess suddenly stopped. They were by 
 an opening in the acacias which made a high arched 
 frame for the landscape beyond. 
 
 She hesitated, turned to go, gave a little sigh, 
 lingered, and said softly, with an upward gesture, 
 "Look!" 
 
186 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The clouds had drifted on with the far-off dream- 
 heroes ; over the Tower gleamed one pale star. 
 
 He glanced upwards, then eagerly back to her. 
 
 She, looking steadily towards the Tower, went on 
 in her low, quiet voice : " I have watched that star 
 by the Tower many, many times, countless hours, 
 as a child, and since, always alone." 
 
 He made an impetuous, glad movement, and was 
 about to speak. 
 
 "Listen!" she said softly. He folded his arms and 
 obeyed the soft, restraining voice. 
 
 " When I was a child I used to wonder if my 
 parents were up there, if they were looking down 
 and loving me ; if there were wax dolls up there that 
 would not melt, and bonbons that one could not eat 
 too much of, and daisies that would never hang their 
 heads though I should clasp them close in my hot 
 little hand a whole summer morning long." 
 
 It seemed to JSTordenfels that she was faintly smil 
 ing; but her voice was sad, profoundly sad. He 
 pictured her a child, wandering alone with her daisies 
 in the great park, and loved her unknown childhood. 
 
 "And I wondered if there were uncles and aunts 
 up there that would let one play with village chil 
 dren, laughing and screaming and being happy on 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 187 
 
 the green, while I peered longingly at them, my face 
 pressed close against our gates. A thousand such 
 fancies I had. They would weary you to relate them, 
 the foolish little fancies that haunt the brain of a 
 lonely child. For I was alone, you know. Later, 
 I used to sit and watch the star over the Tower, a 
 young, young girl, with vague hopes hovering like 
 angels about me, and dreams and illusions beckoning 
 me on. I must have been too staid and subdued 
 outwardly, but my heart rejoiced ; and though I was 
 alone, I was then never really alone, for I was like 
 a part of the garden, it was so near, so dear to 
 me. It was my friend, my companion. The plash 
 of the fountain spoke to me ; and the breath of the 
 breeze and the touch of the cool and tender foliage 
 on my cheek was a caress, as I pushed eagerly through 
 the shrubbery in the springtime, seeking, finding 
 treasures of blossom and leaf, knowing every bird- 
 note, caring for the hum of the insects and the very 
 dews on the grass, loving the old park, loving life, 
 afraid of nothing, of no fate, of no beyond." 
 
 And he, listening, knew and loved her girlhood. 
 
 She paused, considered an instant. " Then I went 
 away from Aulnay," she said simply, her voice still 
 lower. " For a long time I saw the star above the 
 
188 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Tower and the chestnut-trees and dear old-fashioned 
 paths only in homesick dreams. I was alone still." 
 
 He perfectly understood her. He felt he would 
 give all the years of his life if he might hold her now, 
 this instant, to his breast. " And then, madame ? " 
 
 " And then I came back to Aulnay, and the garden, 
 and all ; but I had grown old." 
 
 " Old ! You, countess ? " He laughed, exulting in 
 her youth. 
 
 "What I call old, yes. And yet here again under 
 the Tower, evenings, listening to the water and to 
 the breeze in the acacias, and watching my star come 
 out, my wishes are more extravagant and wild than 
 when I was young. A thousand thousand impossible 
 wishes I send floating up above the Tower." 
 
 Out on the village street the men were marching 
 down to relieve guard ; left, right ! left, right ! 
 their tramp echoed through the hollow court-yard and 
 penetrated into the shadowy park. There were loud, 
 metallic sounds against the paving-stones, hammering, 
 and strong bass voices in abrupt question and reply. 
 She turned her head an instant towards the din and 
 disturbance, then back to the quietness and him. 
 
 " You send them floating up to the Tower ? " he 
 repeated tenderly. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 189 
 
 " I wish I could live on this fair earth at a later age, 
 when there shall be no jealousies between nations, no 
 hatred, no strife ; when the monster War shall have 
 been crushed, and no standing army shall weigh down 
 any people ; when we shall sail through space from 
 land to land; when science shall have learned to 
 subdue pain and disease, and soften death." 
 
 " And all that on this earth ? " 
 
 " Why, yes." She laughed a little. " One loves one s 
 home, you know. The star up there would seem quite 
 strange, I fear ; and if there are beings on it, they 
 must be different from us, nobler, grander. I like 
 to think of this earth, this world, transfigured glo 
 riously. It is often such a stupid, sad old world, it is 
 pleasant to imagine it with more light. And if your 
 life has been a mistake, you can always hope for it to 
 be made right in heaven. But all the same you have 
 your fancies about this very planet as it might be, 
 as it will be, perhaps, one day for others." 
 
 He broke out passionately : " Madame, let it come, 
 if it will, your expurgated edition of this world. 
 I, too, have my Utopian dreams. But let the world 
 go. We are here ; and I cannot tell you how my 
 very soul laughs within me when your fresh voice 
 and your young lips speak of your wasted life, like 
 
190 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 an old crone mumbling in the chimney-corner. What 
 do you know of life ? Nothing. Have you been 
 alone ? But you need never be alone again. Have 
 you had sorrows, injuries ? What cannot youth and 
 love forget ! Ah, even in this world there are mo 
 ments when the soul asks, Can paradise be more ? 
 And when a man finds his other self, the life of 
 his life, he craves no unknown world to teach him 
 
 joy." 
 
 " Hush, hush, you must not speak so ; you forget," 
 she murmured tremblingly. Then, with a strong 
 effort, she continued, "Herr von Nordenfels, it is 
 unfitting, it is painful and useless to say more." 
 
 " But " 
 
 " Spare me. Spare yourself." 
 
 "Madame " 
 
 " I could pretend not to understand." 
 
 " At first, but not now never again," he pro 
 tested. " I can never tell you with words. Unless 
 my life may tell you, you will never know." 
 
 Every tone of his voice was a caress for which her 
 soul hungered when he ceased to speak. She an 
 swered bravely : " I felt I had not been just and kind 
 to you in what I said. I spoke with strange violence. 
 I wished to make reparation; or, that not being 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 191 
 
 possible, I wished at least to "be honest with you and 
 with myself. For that reason, and because you are 
 going away to-morrow morning and I shall never see 
 you again, it seemed to me no harm to talk to you 
 simply as one talks to a friend. I never had a friend. 
 I never talked to any one as I have talked with you 
 to-night. Do not make me regret it." 
 
 " I am not your friend ; and if I live, you will see 
 me again," the man s voice replied boldly. 
 
 Again she ignored in self-defence. 
 
 " I spoke harshly. Pardon me. But I believe the 
 greater part of what I said ; and though I dream of a 
 world where nations do not hate and kill each other, 
 I am a Frenchwoman, and you are the enemy of my 
 country. Therefore, forget your ungracious hostess. 
 But if you ever think of her, remember she thanks 
 you for your patience with her immeasurable contra 
 dictions." 
 
 " My patience with you ! Good heavens ! Ma 
 dame " 
 
 But she was resolutely walking on. He could only 
 follow. As he was breaking out in eager protestation 
 and entreaty, she placed her hand heavily on his arm. 
 This surprised him into silence. 
 
 " Those thuyas have singularly striking forms," she 
 
192 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 began, with a complete change of tone, and assuming 
 the descriptive lightness of a ball-room chat. " In 
 winter, laden with snow, they remind me of hooded 
 monks ; not upright monks, but stealthy, mysterious, 
 dangerous men." 
 
 Little cared he for thuyas at that moment ; but he 
 looked at them, notwithstanding, as he passed, and 
 inquiringly at her as they approached the first lantern 
 near the chateau. 
 
 " I thought some one was there," she explained. 
 "I rnay have been mistaken. You feel an unseen 
 human presence sometimes, you know. I certainly 
 neither saw nor heard anything. It was sheer 
 nervousness." 
 
 They were on the lightest portico. The great door 
 was open. No one happened to be passing, but the 
 house was full of movement, steps, voices, doors open 
 ing and closing. Any instant some one might 
 come. 
 
 " Countess, I have been forgetting that I must go 
 to-morrow. Now, I remember. Surely, this is not 
 the last moment you will give me ? " 
 
 " It is better that I say good-night." 
 
 " But I have said nothing," he murmured, in dis 
 tress. " I had a world to say. You would not listen. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 193 
 
 You have not heard. The precious time is gone. One 
 moment in the library, I beg ! " 
 
 He moved his arm abruptly. A tea-rose dropped 
 from his buttonhole. He stooped and picked it up. 
 
 " It is a pretty rose for this desolate region," she 
 said. 
 
 "It is from Vert Galant. The garden and hot 
 houses there are still full of flowers. This rose is like 
 the one you wore the day I saw you first. Will you 
 not keep it ? " 
 
 She extended her hand ; then, as if repenting, ex 
 plained, " Ours are quite gone. Thanks, and adieu." 
 
 " One moment, madame ! Ah, do not go ! " 
 
 Suddenly she shaded her eyes and looked search- 
 ingly into the darkness of the park. 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 " Nothing. I am fanciful. I thought I saw a thuya 
 moving across the lawn." 
 
 " Countess," he pleaded, " will you not once say you 
 are sorry for this parting, a little sorry ? " 
 
 " The change is not welcome to me, Herr von Nor- 
 denfels," she returned very gently. " No assuredly 
 I do not desire it." 
 
 " If I live, I will come back. This is not all, can 
 not, shall not be all." 
 
 13 
 
194 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " Good-night," she said softly, and was gone. 
 
 In her turret-room she locked her door against 
 Manette. She kissed the pale rose, not paler than 
 herself, a thousand times, and her hot tears blurred 
 its velvet petals. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 THE rose that was kissed and wept over lay the 
 next morning between the leaves of Alfred de Musset s 
 poems, which for safe keeping Madame de Vallauris 
 put under the perfumed laces and ribbons in the up 
 per drawer of her chiffonier. Manette, with the scent 
 peculiar to hunting-dogs and lady s-maids, nosed the 
 object in its unwonted place before she had been five 
 minutes in the room to put things to rights. She 
 opened the book, perceived the rose, and threw up 
 her dancing black eyes with thankfulness. She then 
 placed the little volume diagonally with the drawer, 
 and deftly dropped upon it a violet ribbon and a bit of 
 Point Duchesse, all exactly as she had found them. 
 
 " She may have arranged them, she may not. At 
 all events, accuracy s no crime," was her conclusion 
 as she went thoroughly and swiftly on to her more 
 apparent duties ; although she herself considered 
 nothing more incumbent upon a perfect lady s-maid 
 than to categorically comprehend her mistress, her 
 
196 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 weaknesses, her virtues, her love-affairs, her glove- 
 buttons, her idiosyncrasies, her dilemmas, her secreted 
 rosebuds, and her innermost desires. 
 
 "When Countess Nathalie returned, Manette, with 
 the unconsciousness of an infant, was shaking a 
 table-cover out of the high casement window. 
 
 " Gently, gently, Manette," said the countess, seat 
 ing herself listlessly in a low chair. 
 
 " Nerves love-nerves," commented the maid 
 silently. "Don t I know these symptoms? The 
 most amiable mistress, but the doors must not 
 disturb our thoughts, footsteps shall not sound, and 
 if we could, we would stop all the clocks and roosters. 
 It does not do to give way to this mood. If the world 
 could not make a noise it would burst, and that s the 
 long and short of it. Hasn t my soldier marched 
 away too ? Have n t I put on blue ribbons, by no 
 means becoming, but, alas ! how significant ? Blue 
 faithfulness. With them I remind myself of my 
 attachment to my Wackermann, and, just heaven ! 
 I d better hang on more of them, for that Prussian 
 Feldwebel going towards the stables is an adorable 
 creature. If I shake the cloth harder, better still 
 the white curtains, he may look up ; and how appro 
 priate, a smiling girl at a window, waving a flag 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 197 
 
 of truce! How endless are the opportunities pre 
 sented to a fertile mind by this sad war ! He sees. 
 He smiles. He salutes." 
 
 She fairly gasped with excitement. 
 
 " Manette ! " 
 
 " Madame ? " 
 
 " Why are you making such extraordinary motions, 
 and flaunting the curtains so wildly ? " 
 
 " Giving them air, madame ; lace is so receptive 
 so sensitive." 
 
 " I think you have sufficiently ministered to the 
 sensitiveness of my window-curtains, Manette." 
 
 " Very good, madame." 
 
 " There are new men in the kitchen, of course. I 
 presume you have not had occasion to speak to them." 
 
 " I created an occasion, madame. It was not dif 
 ficult. Devoted as I am to madame and to the 
 family, how can I do otherwise than be on the best 
 terms with the men in the kitchen, especially when 
 they alone provide the meat ? " 
 
 " The half-cup of strong bouillon for the marquis. 
 I wish you to beg them to make it regularly and 
 well. The others were very attentive and reliable. 
 I could send Jean, but they laugh at him, and that 
 irritates the poor old man." 
 
198 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " Madame permits me to remark that Jean s de 
 meanor fails in the tact which is indispensable in 
 one s treatment of cooks in general, and particularly 
 men-cooks. Foreign and military men-cooks require 
 special management. It was, so to speak, on the 
 marquis s bouillon that I sailed into the kitchen. 
 The Prussians had not been installed a half-hour, 
 before that matter was perfectly arranged. Madame 
 may rely upon the thoroughness of my mission. 
 The bouillon will be served hot, strong, prompt, and 
 with vast good- will. The kitchen, I may say, is 
 won, to the last man." 
 
 "It is a lamentable fact that we must beg for 
 the Marquis of Montauban a cup of beef-tea from 
 Germans in his own kitchen; and if they did not 
 feed us, I presume we should starve. But the im 
 portant thing, nevertheless, is that he has his bouillon. 
 I do not doubt your method was efficacious." 
 
 " Madame knows that in order to execute all the 
 duties which devolve upon me in the present unique 
 situation I have heroically abandoned all national 
 prejudices. I may conscientiously declare that not 
 a fragment remains in my composition." 
 
 Madame de Vallauris smiled faintly. That Ma- 
 nette never had any patriotism to lose was obvious. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 199 
 
 A shade of wonder at the light nature of the girl 
 crossed her mind, occupied with dreary retrospection. 
 How could any one be merry to-day ? The whole 
 world ought to feel that light and warmth and 
 glory had departed, and in the air was a fatal chill. 
 Manette was a canary-bird, twittering and glancing 
 about with hard bright eyes though death was in 
 the house. No Manette was devoted and good, 
 blithe, thank God ! not old before her time. Let her 
 live her own way and be her own gay self, mused 
 the sad countess, who had grown more attached to 
 her one woman companion, shallow as she was, in 
 this world of men and martial rule, as she had also 
 consciously clung with a warmer, closer affection to 
 her unresponsive uncle. 
 
 What should she do with this day, and all the 
 other days stretching away into the colorless future ? 
 That the Prussians had come seemed absolutely un 
 important. Nothing was important now; and she 
 herself was like a dead leaf, tossed hither and thither 
 on the winds of fate. There was but one thing left, 
 the duty of each day. Even that reduced itself to 
 minute proportions; for what she could be to her 
 uncle was limited by his requirements. Still, with 
 more tact, with more patience, she might learn to 
 
200 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 be more serviceable, more necessary to him, to com 
 prehend him more tenderly and wisely. 
 
 " I will go to him now. Surely it is better to try 
 to do something, if ever so little, for his comfort, his 
 amusement, than to stay here alone and remember. 
 I cannot read. Strange words stare at me from the 
 printed page, words I heard spoken in a voice I 
 long to follow and obey. And a presence haunts me, 
 holds me, claims me with its loving mastery. Weak 
 heart, that would give and take in love s improvi 
 dence; that trembled before a man s pleading tone 
 and a man s loving face ; that would fain have yielded 
 to love s sophistry and flung me a traitor yet rap 
 turous upon his breast, to feel his face above me in 
 the dusk like a god s, and his strong arm owning me 
 who am cheerless and alone ! A love-sick village 
 girl could scarce be weaker than I. Because he is 
 beautiful in my eyes, must I yield ? Because he is 
 noble and earnest, and his grave eyes seek mine 
 with entreaty and faith, shall I plunge headlong 
 from hate to love ? Because I feel his unseen pres 
 ence in a crowded room, and hear his lowest word, 
 and see him only when scores of men ride by my 
 window, because because something mightier 
 than I knew existed in the world rises up in me 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 201 
 
 and claims , him, calls imperiously for him, clings 
 to him and will not let him go, shall I succumb to 
 the memory of a twilight hour, to his influence and 
 his will, and gloatingly live the moments over again 
 in all their bitter-sweet intensity ? Cowardly, self 
 ish heart, reaching for its coveted good over blood 
 stained fields where patriots have fallen, heart 
 basely longing to take refuge in the enemy s camp, 
 in the enemy s arms, have you no honor left, have 
 you no shame ? 
 
 " He is gone. God keep him ! I need not blush 
 for him. He is a true man. In vague dreams I 
 have pictured such a man as one with whom a 
 woman s life might grow large, and rich, and full of 
 noble purpose. The chances of war led him to our 
 doors. The chances of war have led him elsewhere. 
 No, I will not yield to chance. I have been weak. 
 Now, I resist. I will forget. There is one s duty 
 every day ; and then, they cannot last forever, the 
 days, the long, long, dreary days ! " 
 
 She thought with a sudden longing of the rose. 
 To touch it once, to kiss it, to hold it to her cheek, 
 was her instinctive need. " School-girl ! " she called 
 herself, and walked in the other direction and stood 
 a moment pale and still by the window. But she 
 
202 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 did not throw the rose away, and never forgot where 
 it lay, its petals crumpled with tears and kisses ; and 
 often she dreamed of it, and much else sweet beside, 
 for dreams are rebels. 
 
 "Manette, ask Jean if the marquis has had his 
 coffee." 
 
 " He has, madame." 
 
 " Then tell Jean to ask if the marquis would like 
 me to read to him, or perhaps a game of be zique, or 
 I could sit and chat with him if he prefers. Or, 
 stay, I will go down myself. But no you may go, 
 Manette." 
 
 While the maid went, Madame de Vallauris re 
 mained by the window. She could see a part of the 
 acacia-walk, and it left her no peace. But if she 
 turned, the hidden rose appealed to her with tender 
 magnetism. In the whole chateau she had no pro 
 tection against the inevitable swing of her own 
 thoughts reverting regularly as a pendulum from 
 duty to love, except the poor resort of a game of 
 cards with the self-absorbed old gentleman. Bezique 
 may be a perpetual solace for elderly ennuied mor 
 tals, but bezique and love ? Ah, Love forbid ! 
 
 Even this sedate recreation was denied her, for 
 Manette came with a kind good-morning and many 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 203 
 
 thanks from the marquis, and another time he would 
 be charmed to oblige her, but his morning was 
 already quite occupied. 
 
 " M. le Marquis is in a very cheerful frame of mind," 
 volunteered Manette. " He is gracefully gay, airily 
 excited, like like a bit of dignified thistle-down." 
 
 Countess Nathalie s heart sank. Well she knew 
 the demeanor which Manette s impossible phrase in 
 dicated. It expressed a mood of her uncle s most 
 fatal to intimacy or any approach to home-feeling, 
 and which rendered him in his breezy self-sufficiency 
 as unresponsive to actual human needs as if he had 
 been a disembodied spirit. Touch him one could 
 not, and help he would neither give nor take. 
 
 " Is he alone ? " 
 
 "M. 1 Abbe is with him. The gentlemen are 
 laughing together. M. le Marquis is still in his 
 dressing-gown, but Jean is laying out his things 
 that he may prepare to receive the visit of the 
 new officers. Very distinguished-looking they are, 
 too, I having taken the trouble to meet several of 
 them by pure chance, but when I think with what 
 sternness and coldness and hardness of heart we 
 thought it necessary to receive our beautiful dears, 
 now gone probably forever, though there are among 
 
204 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 them true hearts that will return, more than this 
 it being inappropriate to mention, and when I 
 contrast that and this, I have sentiments, sentiments, 
 madame, which " 
 
 " Which you would do well to keep for your own 
 edification, Manette," warned the countess gently, 
 " since the marquis has simply his pleasure, to con 
 sult as to whom he will receive and how he will 
 receive them." 
 
 "Madame permits me to remark it is not the 
 warmth of to-day that I regret. Far be it from me to 
 begrudge those handsome Prussians anything. Oh, 
 their square shoulders and their long stride and their 
 blond mustaches and their dignified air deserve all 
 they can get. But there are others with square 
 shoulders and slender, straight waists, and a wonder 
 ful way in the saddle, and a long easy swing on foot, 
 and heavenly mustaches, not to mention eyes besides, 
 and kind manners to the lowest ; and so I say it s 
 not the warmth of to-day, but the coldness of an 
 other day that I regret, because it made us lose time, 
 as well as hurt feelings feelings that " 
 
 " Manette, have you nothing to do ? " 
 
 " Much, madame." 
 
 " Then do it." 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 205 
 
 The countess had been for some minutes atten 
 tively assorting silks for a strip of embroidery. 
 
 " I. do not see my palest green," she said, as if life 
 itself hung upon that tint. 
 
 " It is here, madame." 
 
 Madame de Vallauris s right hand was now mov 
 ing with the soft regularity which betokens, among 
 womankind, either a calm spirit or a desire to conceal 
 a troubled one. 
 
 " If there is one thing more than another that I 
 dote upon, it s this heavenly acacia-pattern. Is it 
 madame s own design ? " inquired the wily little 
 maid in her most deferential tone. 
 
 " It is very simple," returned the countess negli 
 gently. "I designed it months ago for my uncle s 
 trefoil table." 
 
 Manette scrutinized her with sharp but kindly eyes. 
 
 " No whimper about her not an eyelash shakes," 
 she thought. Then, with a sudden womanly impulse, 
 the little coquette said prettily, " If madame permits, 
 I will bring my sewing here ; unless, indeed, I should 
 disturb madame." 
 
 Countess Nathalie looked up with a half-startled 
 little frown. She would have been grateful for com 
 plete isolation. Yet to what end, she quickly asked 
 
206 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 herself. She was for the moment useless to her uncle, 
 useless to herself, to the world. But alone there, 
 how could she resist the sweetness and the pain of 
 her memories ? 
 
 " Disturb me, Manette ? Oh, no," she returned in 
 her soft, cool voice, " not at all. That is," she added, 
 " if you are careful you understand ; if you are 
 desirous of pleasing me. You are a good child, Ma 
 nette, but sometimes forgetful." 
 
 Manette raised her handkerchief and patted quite 
 dry eyes with a very good semblance of grateful 
 emotion. " Oh, thanks, a thousand thanks ! madame 
 is too good. There seems a certain appropriateness," 
 she murmured. "In high or low circles the heart 
 may be heavy while the needle flies swiftly. So 
 many men below, a turret-room above ah, it is a 
 picture ! " 
 
 Madame de Yallauris smiled. She was surprised 
 that she could smile again, but Manette was ridicu 
 lous. "I should smile on my death-bed at her 
 extravagancies; and even then she would try to 
 make me appropriate." 
 
 " I do not care to know what comedy you choose to 
 play just now," she said. "If you like to come, and 
 will be sensible, I have no objection." 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 207 
 
 So Manette brought her work, and in spite of an 
 overweening consciousness of her picturesque effect, 
 endeavored, as far as lay in her capacity, to be gen 
 tle and good, and to restrain her unruly tongue. " If 
 I have n t a very deep heart myself, I do appreciate 
 such an adornment in others," she thought, sewing 
 her seams with a demure air, and admiring her mis 
 tress s noble profile bent calmly above the acacia- 
 pattern. " Here we are at it again, always falling 
 into the most delicious contrasts. Last night there 
 was she in the acacia-walk having a little private 
 conversation, and there was I having my little private 
 conversation in the vegetable-garden; and I 11 venture 
 to say nothing in life could be so unlike as what she 
 was saying to her adjutant and what I was saying 
 to my Wackermann. But human nature s human 
 nature, and two pairs of us, mistress and maid, were 
 all the same a-lovering in the twilight ; and very pleas 
 ant it was too, and admitted of the most touching 
 attitudes. And here we two are again, she suffering 
 like a martyr and embroidering as coolly as if there 
 was n t a blue-eyed adjutant in Christendom ; and I 
 suffering less, and therefore, to balance the propor 
 tions, looking more disconsolate. It s strengthening, 
 it s a constant elixir to the artist-spirit, to study her 
 
208 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 and me ; and if we should be thrown off a precipice 
 together, when our shattered remains were discovered 
 I am convinced we should still be instructive and 
 picturesque in our suggestion of mental and physical 
 contrast." 
 
 " I am a little cold, Manette. Bring me a shawl." 
 
 Manette sprang to a drawer. 
 
 " Yes, that will do," said the countess ; " any little 
 thing for the shoulders." 
 
 But Manette persisted in searching for another. 
 
 "It is perfectly immaterial which one you bring 
 me." 
 
 " But not to me, ah, never to me. The inferior 
 quality must be worn by madame to-day," returned 
 Manette with decision, returning after some delay 
 with a small cashmere shawl to her mistress. " This 
 is the one." 
 
 Madame de Vallauris looked wearily indifferent. 
 
 " It is the moral consciousness," pleaded Manette, 
 with a virtuous air. " Have laurel- wreaths no mean 
 ing ? Or bells of victory ? Or crepe weeds ? Then 
 so has the texture of cashmere. Madame permits 
 me to alter the arrangement ? " 
 
 " Never mind the arrangement," the countess said 
 gently. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 209 
 
 "Madame knows I cannot help minding the ar 
 rangement ; and madame would not wish me to do 
 otherwise, for then I should be false to my highest 
 principles. Arrangements ? What is there but ar 
 rangements, good or bad ? Is this war not a big 
 arrangement full of little arrangements, and all de 
 pending how things are selected, grouped, and com 
 bined ? And a book, what is a book ? When I 
 have dusted the library, I have stood and looked at 
 the big Lit-tre*, and said to myself : Manette, put 
 down the feather-duster and consider. There is the 
 big dictionary. There are the works of Monsieur 
 Moliere. Manette, all the words are in that dic 
 tionary. The thing is, how one arranges them. If 
 you knew how to arrange words as well as Monsieur 
 Moliere, you could write as good books as he did. 
 And a poem, madame will permit me to confess 
 I once tried to write a poem. My only difficulty 
 was the syllables. They did not arrange themselves 
 easily. Madame is smiling ? But when all things 
 are but a clever or awkward arrangement, why does 
 madame, so indulgent and generous as she is, repulse 
 my best efforts, and give me a pang in the heart 
 with her refusal to award me her sympathies ? Was 
 Monsieur Moliere born to arrange words for books ? 
 
 14 
 
210 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 I, no less, was born to select, to shade, to group, to 
 balance, in short, also to arrange ; and even in 
 the privacy of madame s own room the inferior 
 quality of cashmere for the Prussians has a mean 
 ing, and is an act of loyalty to our dear departed 
 Saxons." 
 
 " Manette, you are a good girl, but you talk great 
 nonsense. If you wish to remain here, be reason 
 able." 
 
 Manette, having freed her mind, was content to 
 relapse into brief quiet, until again her vivacious 
 tongue led her into temptation, and again Madame 
 de Vallauris s quiet rebuke checked her. Day after 
 day the two sat together many hours ; for the Mar 
 quis de Montauban seemed to have no need of her 
 whatever, except that he desired her presence at 
 lunch and dinner, and evenings always in the library 
 or salon. He rose late, breakfasted leisurely, and 
 usually found some one to chat or play a game with 
 him afterwards ; and it was clear nothing she could 
 say or do had the enlivening and happy effect which 
 the abbess companionship produced. 
 
 Embroidering the acacia-pattern, and sitting be 
 tween the window overlooking the garden and the 
 rose hidden in the book, what wonder that she 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 211 
 
 continually saw one face and heard one voice, and felt 
 against her cheek the evening breeze that had stirred 
 the light foliage and wafted towards her the faint 
 distant chiming of Paris bells ! And every day her 
 loneliness increased; and, seeing many a horse and 
 gallant rider pass and repass her windows, meeting 
 many a tall military form whenever she descended 
 from her turret, living among circumstances and 
 pictures which vividly suggested ISTordenfels, she grew 
 to regard him with an intimate sense of old acquaint 
 ance, as if there never was a time when he had 
 not existed for her; and her lost good became the 
 strongest, warmest element of her life. Against her 
 thoughts she finally ceased to struggle. Solitude and 
 embroidery are not the most efficacious means against 
 forbidden thoughts. She gradually began to reason 
 that she could think of him as a dead friend; yet, 
 realizing he was only at Montfermeil, her heart beat 
 fast with its consciousness of the powerful influence 
 this strong, young, ardent, manly lover exerted over 
 her. Alive he was, thank God ! not dead, though 
 his life could never crown her own. Sometimes in 
 dreams she would see his face again, instead of the 
 dying soldier s, and would wake in terror and pray, 
 
212 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " Not that, not that, my God ! Take me, but let 
 him live!" 
 
 So, loving him she missed him, and missing him 
 she loved him ; and waking or sleeping, her thoughts 
 were all of him. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN the mean time, while Max von ISTordenfels, 
 even graver and more silent at Montfermeil than at 
 Aulnay, plunged into his work with untiring zeal, 
 had apparently no thought beyond his duties, and 
 was gaining that brown, weather-beaten look that sits 
 well on a blond man s face ; while Madame de Val- 
 lauris, like a fair dame of an ancient ballad, remained 
 patiently in her turret-room and wove her secret 
 thoughts and sighs into her acacia-pattern ; while 
 the marquis had his games and stories and chats, 
 and floated with the current, and vastly enjoyed the 
 life and movement about him ; while the orderlies 
 flew in and out of court-yard and house, and the 
 distinguished and dignified Prussian officers were 
 very jolly and light-hearted among themselves, and 
 one and all professed themselves abject slaves of the 
 beautiful but unapproachable young countess ; while 
 the dark-eyed abbe read his profound books and 
 kept the marquis s spirit in an equable condition ; 
 
214 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 while Pierre and Antoine continued to bring their 
 fish to the chateau; while Manette fluttered and 
 flirted downstairs, and planned new triumphs as 
 she bent over her demure seam upstairs ; while the 
 soldiers performed their evolutions like so much 
 machinery, yet each and every soul lived its indi 
 vidual life apart and mostly concealed from each and 
 every other life ; while there was laughing and eating 
 in the village of soldiers, yet every now and then a 
 wounded man brought in from the foreposts, or still 
 worse, covered pitifully on the stretcher, whak re 
 mained of some happy-hearted, honest boy after a 
 shell had done its hideous work, while, in short, 
 the siege with all its lights and shades and contra 
 dictory phases of life was going persistently on, no 
 less a person than General Trochu within the great 
 city chose to develop a certain strategy which had, 
 as results, various historical facts known to the 
 world, and also a most direct and important influence 
 upon the lives of our two lovers. 
 
 General Trochu, that much harassed man, honestly 
 doing his best in a thankless task which demanded 
 nothing less than a hero and a genius, blamed alike, 
 whatever he did, by friend and enemy, was, it is 
 needless to remark, unaware of the existence of Max 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 215 
 
 Baron von Nordenfels and the Countess Nathalie de 
 Vallauris, and of their reciprocal tender attachment. 
 Yet, all unconsciously, he did them the kindest turn 
 in the world, and his grim war-plans led to happy 
 and innocent surprises growing like spring blossoms 
 out of the stains of battlefields. 
 
 What General Trochu with inadvertent benevo 
 lence did for our lovers was approximately as fol 
 lows. Watchful of the enemy s movements, he was 
 not unaware that the beleaguering army was more 
 or less weakened by the detachments ordered south 
 under General von der Tann, and resolved to satisfy 
 himself by practical means as to the true condition 
 of things, and at the same time to seize every pos 
 sible advantage of the situation. He began by 
 repeated bold sorties against the Crown Prince of 
 Prussia. The 28th of October, General Bellemare 
 fell upon the village of Le Bourget, but three kilo 
 meters from Aulnay, and defended by Prussian in 
 fantry, routed the Germans, and possessed himself of 
 the village, which he strongly barricaded. 
 
 Chateau Aulnay was naturally in a state of intense 
 excitement on account of this struggle, the first in its 
 immediate vicinity. Neither the marquis, the abbe, 
 nor the countess was visible. Two days later the 
 
216 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Germans prepared to regain the village. For this 
 purpose the whole second Prussian Guard Infantry 
 Division, under General Budwitzky, was united in 
 three columns. Several battalions of the first Guard 
 Infantry Division stood in reserve in the rear, while 
 General von Aarenhorst held the Grenadier Brigade, 
 
 O 
 
 Schtitzen Eegiment, and four batteries in readiness 
 at Aulnay. 
 
 All day long the sounds of the severe battle which 
 closed only at nightfall dominated at Aulnay. The 
 marquis, the abbe, and the countess sat together in 
 the library listening, seeing it all in imagination, and 
 realizing that the Saxon officers who had lived with 
 them on friendly terms were engaged in it. 
 
 " It is curious," remarked the marquis, who, so far 
 as physical courage was concerned, was imperturbable, 
 " that when you think the most unpleasant thing has 
 arrived, something more unpleasant is sure to follow. 
 Now, this is all a very uncongenial episode. The 
 disturbance is terrific, in the first place. Bless my 
 soul ! but that musketry-fire is brisk. Then, one s 
 sentiments are necessarily conflicting. By instinct 
 and principle our hearts are with our brave French 
 troops. But when we remember Linden and Nor- 
 denfels and gay little Gerhardt, we don t like to 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 217 
 
 think of them shot through the heart, now do we, 
 Nathalie ? " 
 
 " No, uncle." 
 
 "That s the veritable mischief, upon my word. 
 Men you ve met in a friendly way, men you Ve greeted 
 with a friendly good-morning and shaken hands with 
 at night, men you ve found good company, men who 
 can beat you at chess, well, now, you don t want 
 the French to lose, but you don t want the Germans to 
 be shot ; and that s about it, is it not, Nathalie ? " 
 
 " Yes, uncle." 
 
 He walked up and down, inhaling eau-d Houbi- 
 gant audibly. 
 
 " That you can read to-day ! " he said to the abbe*, 
 who raised his unfathomable eyes from his book, and 
 smiled at his friend, replying, "I read from habit, 
 not indifference, believe me." 
 
 " Long ago, when hot young blood coursed through 
 my veins, with my good sword in my hand, I had no 
 time for thoughts," the marquis rejoined with feverish 
 animation. " But, listening here, I think, I object, I 
 protest, I am in a dilemma ; I don t like it. There is 
 the strife ; here, two men, one weighed down by age, 
 the other prevented by his vows from striking a blow. 
 But what can one do ? " 
 
218 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " What, indeed ? " returned the abba s low voice. 
 " What, but have patience ? " 
 
 The marquis threw up his head, and listened like 
 an old war-horse who after years of toil hears the 
 bugle-call again. He put his hand to his head with 
 a troubled air. The phantom-like old gentleman 
 seemed to feel his humanity once more. Nathalie 
 slipped her cold hand through his arm. 
 
 " That is right, my dear. Cling to me. Women 
 need protection at such times. Women s nerves make 
 them suffer enormously. You are terrified, are you 
 not, my dear ? " 
 
 " Yes, uncle," she returned with low intensity, " I 
 am terrified indeed. I am most miserable." 
 
 The marquis rang the bell. 
 
 " Jean," he said to the trembling old servant, " wine 
 for the countess ; the old port, Jean." 
 
 Jean tottered out and in again. 
 
 Nathalie tried to take the wine, tried to smile at 
 her uncle. If only the abbd would attribute her 
 emotion to physical fear ! But though no muscle of 
 his face betrayed his thought, and his solicitous, re 
 spectful air was perfect, she had an agonizing sense 
 that her precious, sorrowful secret lay helplessly before 
 his piercing gaze, and that the world was not large 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 219 
 
 enough to conceal it from him. And still the hideous 
 sounds went on, now and then a lull in the musketry- 
 fire followed by a furious burst, the roar of artillery 
 continuous. The chateau windows shook incessantly 
 with that unbearable tremor, when long continued so 
 wearing to the strongest nerves that a distinguished 
 general confessed he had once in his desperation 
 actually prayed to God that the windows might cease 
 to tremble for a little time, lest he should go stark 
 mad. But the windows shook on, all the same. 
 
 " I am most sorry for you, my poor Nathalie," said 
 the marquis gallantly. " But there is no escape. Let 
 us only hope that this unpleasantness may not last 
 long. Courage, my dear, courage ! It is most natu 
 ral that you should be distressed. Nothing can be 
 more uncongenial to a woman s highly organized 
 temperament. You are better now, my love ? The 
 eau-d Houbigant is always so efficacious." 
 
 So with port wine and toilet-water he hovered 
 about her; and though such remedies could not min 
 ister to grief, anxiety, and doubt, she was grateful that 
 the marquis seemed kinder, nearer, than ever before, 
 and ventured to kiss his delicate, withered hand as it 
 approached her face with his odoriferous panacea. 
 
 " A woman has great power of endurance, courage, 
 
220 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 too, in some situations; but under fire, so to speak, 
 as we are, it would be undignified, unwomanly, to 
 betray no agitation. There are certain things ad 
 mirable in woman," he remarked approvingly, " but 
 impossible for us. We are immovable." 
 
 At this instant a shell burst through the outer 
 wall, directly over the sofa where the countess was 
 sitting, and whizzed through the alcove window, 
 exploding harmlessly in the courtyard. 
 
 The immovable marquis had involuntarily made a 
 surprisingly agile spring. 
 
 "That was a narrow escape, madame," said the 
 abbe*, approaching the countess quickly, with sym 
 pathy and solicitation, " and certainly not adapted to 
 increasing your calm, or ours, indeed." 
 
 " That," said the Marquis de Montauban, drawing 
 up his aged frame to its greatest possible height, 
 indignation lending strength to the broken voice, 
 " that is a damnable impertinence ! " 
 
 Nathalie was about to speak. 
 
 " My dear," waving his hand with his grandest air, 
 " you will pardon, under these extraordinary circum 
 stances, my use of so strong a word in your presence. 
 I repeat, whether that is a German or a French shell, 
 it is a damnable impertinence perpetrated by canaille. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 221 
 
 I will demand satisfaction. There are some of those 
 people out there now. I will inquire what they mean 
 by it." 
 
 " Can I not go for you ? " The abbd, rising quickly, 
 followed the incensed marquis. " I can surely express 
 your views to them." 
 
 " No, my dear friend ; I thank you, no. You will 
 remain with the countess, I beg. Upon me alone 
 devolves the duty of protecting my own house." 
 
 Nathalie went to the window. % 
 
 " Dear uncle, you will at least remember the officer 
 out there is not personally responsible for the shell. 
 He is looking at the fragments, and is as much sur 
 prised as we are." 
 
 "I shall say what I myself deem fitting," he 
 returned haughtily, as he left the room. 
 
 " I hope he will not excite and fatigue himself," 
 began the abbe*. 
 
 " I think not. It is Major von Schonberg out there. 
 He seems to be gentle and considerate. I have no 
 ticed his manner with my uncle." 
 
 " The marquis is certainly stronger than he was, 
 and happier. Do you not think so ? " 
 
 " He has much to interest him. It is natural. He 
 watches the men exercise; he hears the cheerful 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 music ; lie sees the officers jumping the hedge, the 
 young soldiers practising the goose-step, the others 
 skirmishing by companies in the fields and vineyards. 
 They chat with him, they amuse him. Much seems 
 to happen to him. The worst life must be one in 
 which nothing happens. Then, no doubt at his age 
 he forgets." 
 
 " Forgets ? What ? " 
 
 " Who they are." 
 
 " That seems an easy thing to forget." 
 
 " I think not ; at least, not for long," she returned 
 quickly. " When one is young, one remembers." 
 
 After a pause he murmured, " Countess, you are 
 a brave woman." 
 
 " My uncle thinks the contrary, as you perceived 
 just now," she said with unconcern. 
 
 " A very brave woman," he repeated softly. 
 
 " How those windows rattle ! It grows to seem 
 worse than a worse evil." 
 
 " Madame, you have the habit of considering me 
 uncommunicative ? " 
 
 " That, at least, is quite true." 
 
 " You will then smile at my simplicity if I reveal 
 my thought at this moment ? " 
 
 " Pray do not attempt it. Your thought would 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 223 
 
 crush rne with its weight, and the unusual effort 
 might be injurious to you." 
 
 He smiled, and continued gently, " I am thinking 
 how far I may trust you." 
 
 " Not at all ; because your trust would not be 
 reciprocated. Who can trust a distrustful soul ? " 
 
 " Sentiments and opinions are not immutable. We 
 see the strongest natures contradict themselves." 
 
 " We do," she returned calmly. 
 
 " What was most sacred to us grows indifferent 
 or meaningless; and what we believed was most 
 remote from us suddenly becomes the nearest influ 
 ence," continued the abbe"s gentle, objectless tone. 
 
 Madame de Vallauris held herself gallantly, and 
 merely answered : " It is often the case, I presume. 
 We are all more or less iconoclasts." 
 
 " Then, merely for the sake of argument, dear 
 madame, it is surely better to chat a little in spite 
 of this rival din of muskets and artillery, why as 
 sume that even you yourself, so consistent and stable 
 as you are, indeed, might not find the sentiments of 
 to-morrow contradicting those of to-day; might not 
 acknowledge a new force, abandon a crystallized 
 mode of reasoning ? " 
 
 " Merely for the sake of argument, there is nothing 
 
224 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 of all that which I might not be capable of doing, 
 given, of course, sufficient inducement," she said 
 coolly, throwing her head back on the cushion and 
 looking at hirn calmly. Her hands were folded 
 lightly in her lap; she wore her usual composed 
 air. 
 
 From Le Bourget came on the wind the sound of 
 rapid firing, and her heart was in an agony of fear. 
 But not in her extremity should this man here have 
 any outward advantage. All the old antagonism 
 revived. Her hero was fighting against her land, 
 facing death from a French bullet. She might this 
 instant be listening to his death-stroke. Now, at 
 least, she might acknowledge to her own soul without 
 reserve or doubt that he w r as her hero. Beneath the 
 shadow of death love uprose royally and claimed his 
 own. But this man had no place or part in her love 
 or in her sorrow. Let him approach, let him surmise 
 what he would, she would face him, and guard her 
 Holy of holies. 
 
 To her last remark he had bowed his head in ac 
 quiescence. 
 
 " Sufficient inducement ? Naturally, the induce 
 ment in the case of an honorable woman of your 
 strength of character could be only the sense of a 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 225 
 
 duty to accomplish, the reward of an approving 
 conscience." 
 
 She remained silent and motionless. 
 
 " A woman of your calibre never yields to impulse, 
 to the temptation of irregular wandering emotions 
 or affections. If such should assail her, I speak 
 merely for the sake of argument, she would conse 
 crate them by adapting them to a good purpose." 
 
 " And how would such a woman accomplish that ? " 
 she said, her eyes fixed searchingly on him. 
 
 A sudden eagerness, a nascent hope, betrayed itself 
 in his face. With controlled warmth he answered 
 low : " I could teach her if she would but trust me 
 implicitly. I would lead her through sacrifices which 
 her noble nature would shrink from, yet endure to a 
 heroic end." 
 
 " And what would that end be ? " 
 
 " The good of France." 
 
 Countess Nathalie started; then, after a pause, 
 she answered by a strange yet simple question. 
 " M. 1 Abbe," she said slowly, " are you a good man ? " 
 
 " A good man ? What is that ? " he returned. 
 
 She made no reply. 
 
 "Good? Goodness is relative. Good? Who is 
 good?" 
 
 15 
 
226 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 She was still silent. 
 
 " Yes, I am a good man, as good men go," he re 
 sumed with conviction. " That I do not attain my 
 ideal is my sorrow. My sense of imperfection weighs 
 me down. But I do nothing that I cannot reconcile 
 with my conscience." 
 
 " I believe you," said the countess. " That has 
 always been my difficulty." As if she had reached a 
 supreme moment whose inner flame of truth burned 
 all subterfuge away, as if she too, like her German 
 lover, were under the fierce fire of the enemy, she 
 answered, opposing him in loyalty : " The elasticity 
 of your conscience has been my life-long curse. As 
 a girl, I suffered from it. To-day, a woman, I repu 
 diate it. Come life, come death, I will not be guided 
 by you. You are a wise man, M. 1 Abbe ; your 
 dark hints I do not pretend to understand. But 
 when you count upon me in any respect this day, 
 you err in your calculations. So true as we hear the 
 sounds of battle as if it were at our own doors, I re 
 nounce you and all your unknown plans. Whatever 
 you may have in view, you will create no Jeanne 
 d Arc at Aulnay ; and I do not need your interpreta 
 tion of my duty to my beloved land." 
 
 " Madame," he said with his usual gentleness, " it 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 227 
 
 would perhaps be advisable if I should go to find the 
 marquis. As to our conversation, the excitement of 
 to-day is sufficient excuse for any misconception." 
 
 " There is no misconception," she replied quickly, 
 with a woman s last word ; but he was gone. 
 
 The struggle at Le Bourget continued until nighk 
 fall, when the report was brought to Aulnay that 
 the Germans had retaken the village, but with a 
 loss of five hundred men. "And there s no harm 
 done to our beautiful dears," added Manette in 
 ecstasy, this time unreproved. 
 
 That night Countess Nathalie for the first time 
 since Nordenfels had gone looked at the rose from 
 Vert Galant, and looking, kissed it with tears of 
 thankfulness and pain. 
 
 On account of this action on the left wing of the 
 Prussian Guard, further dislocations were ordered. 
 The positions at Blanc Mesnil and Duguy were 
 strengthened by the detachment from Aulnay. Ma 
 dame de Vallauris heard the Prussians were to go, 
 knew others would necessarily come. It was all like 
 a hideous dream to her, a kind of infernal machin 
 ery rolling on incessantly. What mattered it who 
 came, who went ? They were all Germans. There was 
 Paris holding out. Somewhere in this great mystery 
 
228 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 of life and war was a man with earnest eyes who 
 had won her boundless love; he was gone, and she 
 would never see him again. Had he come other 
 wise, all her wishes, all her hopes, her very life, had 
 centred in him. Now she had no wishes more, no 
 hopes ; and life was a dull, barren thing, and the 
 sooner it was over the better. 
 
 Musing thus, one day she gave no heed to the 
 fife and drum and the marching. She refused to 
 appear when the Prussians begged to make their 
 adieus. Alone in her little room she sat working 
 busily, as a happy woman works, and her face was 
 quiet, not sadder than before. 
 
 There seemed to be a great commotion in the 
 village. What mattered that? Why should one 
 listen in pandemonium to a sound more or less ? 
 Yet in the martial music approaching was a clear 
 note of triumph that moved her strangely. She 
 dropped her acacia-pattern, threw up her head and 
 listened. A familiar joyous strain floated up to her 
 and made her heart beat fast, for she had often 
 heard it when the Saxon grenadiers were quartered at 
 Aulnay. " How cruel it all is ! " she thought. " There 
 is no mercy, no forgetfulness." 
 
 Manette sprang into the room with one bound. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 229 
 
 " No, madame, no ! This is impossible ! This is 
 unheard of ! " she cried. 
 
 " Is my uncle ill ? " demanded Madame de Yal- 
 lauris, alarmed. 
 
 "The marquis never was better. But this ar 
 rangement, madame, this turn of affairs, this ap 
 propriateness 1 " 
 
 The countess stared at her, comprehending nothing. 
 
 "If madame will go down herself," gasped Ma- 
 nette with a heroism of self-restraint, "I could ex 
 plain ; I am dying to explain, but I forbear. Madame 
 must go herself to meet the dtnodment. just 
 Heaven ! Oh ! oh ! " 
 
 "Is there really nothing the matter with my 
 uncle ? " 
 
 " Madame must see for herself. My feelings over 
 power me. No, the world is not all bad, when such 
 heavenly things can happen ; and nobody need ever 
 say anything against war to me ! " 
 
 Leaning against the wall, the little maid closed 
 her eyes and smiled rapturously. 
 
 " Eeally, Manette ! " expostulated the countess ; but 
 rose, nevertheless, yielding to the girl s excitement, 
 and outstretched hand pointing and waving in wild 
 enthusiasm towards the open door. 
 
230 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " If madame does not go down-stairs at once, I shall 
 burst," exclaimed Manette. "Oh, what a moment! 
 I myself could not have arranged anything so per 
 fect. Just Heaven ! What an artistic combination ! " 
 she murmured, as Madame de Vallauris, wondering 
 and somewhat alarmed, passed down the narrow 
 stairway. Manette peered after her and listened. 
 
 As the countess went down, some one was coming 
 up the lower staircase two steps at once. In the 
 corridor they met face to face. She grasped the 
 baluster in sudden terror, and grew pale as death ; 
 but the other sprang forward and held her hands in 
 his strong clasp, and in his gladness smiled like the 
 young sun-god. She, looking up, spoke no word, but 
 left her hands in his, and in her eyes he read his 
 welcome ; and a radiance that no one had ever seen 
 in her face dawned gloriously for him. 
 
 The Prussians had moved on, and the Saxon grena 
 diers by a curious chance again occupied Aulnay. 
 This happens to be an historical fact ; for the most 
 reckless and inconsequent novelist would never dare 
 to send battalions marching east and west simply to 
 bring a pair of lovers together. But life is more fan 
 tastic than fiction; and General Trochu did it all. 
 Had he not just at this period commanded sorties 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 231 
 
 from the defences, there would have been no changes 
 of quarters in the Prussian line ; consequently Max 
 Nordenfels would not have been standing in the cor 
 ridor of the chateau at Aulnay, holding the hands of 
 the lovely Countess de Vallauris, and gazing at her 
 speechless with delight. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE French along the whole line of the Fourth 
 Army now began to display remarkable energy and 
 renewed strength. An ably organized signal-system, 
 with colored lights in the night, communicated with 
 the forts, which were supplied with guns of the heav 
 iest calibre. 
 
 From time to time a signal towards evening would 
 be followed the same night by an artillery attack, in 
 which the whole line of foreposts was swept simul 
 taneously with a hail of bullets from all the French 
 forts and advance batteries. Alarms in the night and 
 feigned sorties were constant, and the German troops 
 were granted no rest. 
 
 One day early in November, among the morning 
 reports at headquarters at Clichy came the announce 
 ment that a sentinel on the Canal field-watch near 
 Bondy had observed during the night light-signals 
 which seemed to come from the direction of Aulnay. 
 
 The commander of the regiment at Aulnay was at 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 233 
 
 once informed of this and instructed to take every 
 precaution. The Tower was accordingly closely 
 watched at night, and a special guard was placed at 
 the park gates. 
 
 At the same time Colonel von Linden wrote pri 
 vately to General von Aarenhorst that it was an utter 
 impossibility for the family of the Marquis de Mon- 
 tauban to have the remotest connection with the 
 treacherous signals, and indeed he himself entertained 
 the conviction that no signals whatever had proceeded 
 from Aulnay. What was so deceptive as a red light 
 showing itself somewhere in space in the night to a 
 weary and excited soldier ? The colonel stated in 
 terms of positive enthusiasm that he had watched 
 the family now too long to be in any danger of error, 
 and he did not hesitate to say that he trusted them, 
 one and all, implicitly. He must indeed appeal to 
 the general s own impression of their harmlessness. 
 So far from subjecting them to the slightest surveil 
 lance, he, the colonel, no longer confined them to the 
 limits of court and park, but freely allowed them long 
 walks at their own discretion. 
 
 All that they did, indeed, could without effort be 
 followed. The marquis, charming and frail old gen 
 tleman, mentally as well as physically enfeebled, was 
 
234 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 the most harmless person in existence. He seldom 
 crossed the threshold of the chateau. But Madame 
 de Vallauris went freely wherever she would ; he hav 
 ing long since granted her permission, at her earnest 
 prayer, to visit the wounded, of which there was al 
 ways now a goodly number in the village. She min 
 istered to them all, German and French, like an angel 
 of mercy; was, with a couple of Sisters less expert 
 and tender than she, an immense aid to the surgeons. 
 The slightest reflection upon this beautiful and good 
 woman, who had borne the existing inconveniences 
 with noble patience and a gentleness that had won all 
 hearts, from the highest to the lowest soldier, would 
 seem like assailing the honor of a saint. As for the 
 abbe*, he often accompanied Madame de Vallauris in 
 her errands of mercy, and he too in manifold instances 
 had proved himself helpful and devoted. He was on 
 friendly terms with one of the surgeons, and took 
 long walks with him, sometimes as far as the field- 
 watch ; but the abbd s whole course of life was stu 
 dious and harmless. Besides his religious duties, his 
 books, and his friend the marquis, he had neither 
 interest nor occupation. In short, the reports of 
 such signals, so far as Aulnay was concerned, must 
 be entirely erroneous. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 235 
 
 That this was indeed possible, General von Aaren- 
 horst was forced to admit. The forepost service for 
 three months was now rendered still more exciting 
 and difficult by the renewed activity of the French. 
 With the outpost duties and the field- watch, the men 
 had scarcely a quiet night, and the effect upon the 
 nervous system of the common soldier was very per 
 ceptible. Exaggerations, in fact the purest fictions 
 growing out of night and darkness, were formally re 
 ported by excitable individuals, so that extreme cau 
 tion was incumbent upon those in command. Indeed, 
 as General von Aarenhorst wearily thought, to distin 
 guish between the false and true, one needed super 
 human wisdom and foresight. 
 
 His position was no sinecure at that time, in three 
 weeks not once able to undress himself and go to sleep 
 like a Christian ; lying half clothed on his bed, and 
 scarcely closing his eyes, when an orderly would enter 
 announcing an attack. 
 
 Sometimes the general, roused up repeatedly in 
 one night, would go out to ascertain the veritable con 
 dition of things, and riding down the dark icy hill, 
 his horse slipping and plunging in every direction, 
 was himself most painfully in doubt. Simulated at 
 tacks were incessant, and often the whole line was one 
 
236 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 blaze of light. Should he advance ? If superfluous, 
 they would say in the rear, " What sort of general is 
 that ! Leaves us no rest, routs us out for nothing ! 
 A little fire excites him, it appears." And should he 
 not, they would say, " Able general that ! What more 
 does he require ? An orderly was sent three times in 
 one night to warn him. There was n t the slightest 
 doubt, and yet he did not move." 
 
 Well aware, then, of the manifold chances of error 
 as to place, direction, and distance of the signals, 
 General von Aarenhorst was inclined to share von 
 Linden s views. The general, too, entertained the 
 highest esteem for the family, and the bare sugges 
 tion of treachery on their part was as repugnant to 
 him as improbable. 
 
 As nothing whatever of a suspicious nature was 
 discovered at Aulnay, after eight or ten days the 
 watch at the park gate was countermanded. The 
 general could ill afford to waste the energies of the 
 men at this critical time. 
 
 The weather had now grown cold and raw. Dense 
 autumn fogs obscured the landscape. The foliage had 
 fallen. The nights brought heavy frosts. In quarters 
 the troops suffered almost more severely from the cold 
 than at the outposts. The small village houses had 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 237 
 
 insufficient means of providing against the discom 
 forts of this extremely low temperature. Moreover, 
 the narrow chimneys were speedily clogged with soot, 
 all the more as the men had no dry wood to burn. 
 They finally availed themselves, in their great need, 
 of doors and furniture, and formed chimney-sweep 
 detachments to prevent accident by fire. 
 
 The chateau grew steadily more and more shabby, 
 the curious life within more natural to the inmates. 
 By the great fireplace in the library many an evening 
 was cheerful with chat and laughter, and many a 
 serious talk took place there. It was a home-like, 
 pleasant room, as a choice library must always be to 
 an ardent lover of books. With its genial associa 
 tions, its subtle fragrance of the past, and the grand 
 old friends of all times looking down from the shelves, 
 one finds solace and refuge under their immortal segis, 
 and temporary, restless ills vanish in the calm of 
 their great and noble thoughts and in the vastness 
 of their infinite endeavor. So the library became the 
 natural resort of the quieter officers, while others were 
 making merry with cards and wine in their own quar 
 ters, and the marquis was almost never without one 
 or more for his inevitable game. He had welcomed 
 the return of the Saxons as if they were old friends, 
 
238 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 and they had rejoiced greatly at their good fortune. 
 Their Aulnay quarters were the pleasantest they 
 had known ; and they often said to Madame de Yal- 
 lauris, " One feels more human here, less like a 
 brute." Gerhardt told her honestly, that when he 
 came back and caught a glimpse of her fair hair and 
 black dress at a distance, he felt like saying his pray 
 ers, and he was by no means sure to whom. What 
 Nordenfels told her with his deep-set eyes, with his 
 chivalrous manner, with his voice, even in the most 
 conventional salutations, and with words, indeed, 
 whenever she gave him the shadow of an oppor 
 tunity, was evident enough to the most careless ob 
 server. That it was a serious thing with him, every 
 comrade knew; and one by one they fell back in 
 their efforts to gain her favor, and tacitly made way 
 for him. Or perhaps Nordenfels after his return, 
 emboldened by her first involuntary welcome, calmly 
 made way for himself, without the least consideration 
 of his comrades presence or desires. Certainly he 
 assumed in his modest but persistent way various 
 rights or privileges to which she grew accustomed, as 
 a woman will, and which were dear to her, although 
 she gave no sign. He secured the place next to hers 
 at dinner. " Why not I as well as another ? " he had 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 239 
 
 not unreasonably asked himself, and arranged that 
 matter very speedily with old Jean and his own 
 Bursch the day of his return to the chateau. 
 Through the valuable aid of that eminent tactician 
 Manette, who deserves public mention in the annals 
 of the Franco-German war, he knew with admirable 
 exactness and celerity whenever the countess in 
 tended to take a walk, to visit a wounded soldier, 
 in short, had any plan whatever which, by adroit 
 stretching, would admit of him. He was very active 
 and busy in those days, often absent long, often 
 sorely fatigued after a succession of arduous duties ; 
 but he succeeded, nevertheless, in gaining marvel 
 lously frequent chances of being near her ; and it is 
 hard to say which he pursued with more zeal and 
 determination, love or war. 
 
 They talked much together, of books, of passing 
 things, of life. They found each other sympathetic 
 and delightful, which is no great wonder, as they 
 were in love ; but they entertained each other vastly, 
 and were intellectually charming and stimulating the 
 one to the other, which blissful lovers not always 
 are, but which is surely a most desirable condition of 
 things when two people intend to be life-long com 
 panions, and since it is a demonstrable fact that 
 
240 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 the fiftieth kiss is not quite like the first. Countess 
 Nathalie s life-long companion Max Nordenfels as 
 suredly meant to be. 
 
 " She loves me, not as I love her, for I worship 
 her, but still she loves me, or she would not have 
 been so exquisite to me as she was in the park ; she 
 would not have looked so glorious when we met 
 again. And if she loves me, what shall stand in 
 our way ? The war will come to an end soon," 
 he decided with youthful confidence. " Then I may 
 speak ; then she will listen ; then she will be mine, 
 for she loves me, she loves me!" his heart cried 
 in exultation and thankfulness. "What is a coun 
 try, what is a prejudice, since she loves me ? Love 
 can leap from land to land, and tear down every 
 barrier." 
 
 Nights as he rode through cold and darkness with 
 his despatches to and from Vert Galant or Clichy, he 
 was gloriously happy and warm, as if spring sunshine 
 lay in his path instead of chill sleet and storm and 
 danger ; and no duty seemed hard to him, so full of 
 light and gladness was his spirit. And always he 
 knew on his return, if it were evening, she would 
 be sitting in her low chair in the library, and would 
 look up quietly and say : " Ah, Herr von Nordenfels, 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 241 
 
 are you back ? It is a bad night, I fear." For the 
 nights were mostly bad just then; and each time she 
 would look more beautiful, more precious, more dear 
 than even his ardent fancy pictured her, and more 
 worth a man s striving for and winning for his own, 
 whatever stood in the way. And what did stand in 
 the way ? Only a trifle of a war that could not last 
 much longer, that might end any day. So he was 
 waiting for the war to end, with a mighty, throbbing 
 impatience ; for he knew it was useless to urge her 
 now, and he was tender of her scruples, respected 
 them, indeed, and understood why she persistently 
 avoided a tete-a-tete with him. He saw her go her 
 way among all the admiring men with, it seemed to 
 him, the least coquetry that ever a woman had. He 
 saw her winning chivalrous devotion from even the 
 careless and frivolous, and rousing that rare and beau 
 tiful sentiment, a simple and pure affection, from more 
 than one. 
 
 Since he had discerned that glad look of love in 
 her eyes, there was no room in his heart for doubt. 
 Before, he had been uncertain and therefore uncom 
 fortable now and then, not quite happy when others 
 so much as spoke her name. Now it seemed but 
 natural they should offer her their tribute and their 
 16 
 
242 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 homage, as they did, to the last man. If he, approach 
 ing, quietly absorbed her attention as soon as possible, 
 it was through no fear of them, but from other easily 
 comprehended motives. 
 
 Petty jealousy seemed too mean and selfish a feel 
 ing to mar so great a love. He looked in her pure 
 soul that day as in crystal depths. With a strange 
 and sacred joy he felt it was his twin soul revealed 
 in one unguarded moment ; his own, now, for all time. 
 Perfect truth dwelt in those eyes, and for her purity 
 he would have staked his life. So if he longed with 
 a lover s warmth for the future and for freedom, he 
 could yet restrain himself and generously consider 
 her position, for she herself had given him the right 
 to hope. He did his duties manfully, and loved her 
 manfully; and if there were no tete-a-tetes, little 
 Forstenau, who oftenest sat near them, was no ob 
 stacle whatever to an explicit interchange of senti 
 ment upon all imaginable subjects apt to be discussed 
 by two lovers, except, indeed, love and war. These 
 two themes, surcharging the atmosphere, were all the 
 more felt for the silence. 
 
 There was one single and oft-recurring fact which 
 puzzled him, and which he found not perfectly agree 
 able, he could scarcely have told why. The Abbe* de 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 243 
 
 Navailles unquestionably exerted some influence upon 
 the countess; at the same time he felt, with his 
 lover s instinct, that the abbe was not a person whom 
 she regarded with unqualified favor. But one circum 
 stance was, nevertheless, undeniable: in the abbe s 
 immediate presence Madame de Yallauris, however 
 freely she had been conversing, relapsed into reserve, 
 if not silence altogether. 
 
 ISTordenfels disliked the abbe roundly. " What in 
 the deuce does he mean by coming into a room where 
 people are discussing some general subject, and being 
 a restraint ? Has he begged her not to talk with 
 me ? " Wherein Nordenfels did the abbe curious 
 injustice, for he had begged exactly the contrary. 
 "Never mind," thought Nordenfels, "she ll tell me 
 sometime; or I shall have forgotten by that time, 
 and shall not wish to know. We shall have more 
 important things to talk about. We shall have 
 all this lost time to make up." Still, whenever 
 the abbe drew near and the countess grew silent, 
 Nordenfels speculated more or less, and felt rather 
 savage. 
 
 Madame de Vallauris, in spite of principles, preju 
 dices, and struggles, was never so happy in her life as 
 at present. Her struggles had indeed ceased, and she 
 
244 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 was unconsciously drifting. She believed it her duty 
 to avoid a private interview with Nordenfels, and was 
 grateful that he tacitly acquiesced, at all events, that 
 he respected her desire. That it would all come to 
 an end some day, she was aware ; so would the world. 
 Meanwhile her present joy was vast. It was wonder 
 ful that he had returned into her life, and this she 
 felt no less as the days went on. She had bade him 
 farewell forever. In her thoughts a thousand times 
 she had pictured him cold and dead. But he came 
 back to her, living, warm, and full of strength, rich 
 in youth and love. Should she, then, not rejoice ? 
 He was great and good. Should she not be glad that 
 his presence for a little time glorified her life, and 
 that, indeed, however he came, whenever he should 
 go ? So she reasoned, when she reasoned, but feeling 
 him near she reasoned no more; and meeting the 
 glance of his honest eyes, which had become so 
 familiar and beloved, she was simply happy, though 
 parting stared them in the face, and the terrors of 
 war were raging around them. It was a strange, sad 
 time. Every day her heart was sore for the woes of 
 humanity ; and, shrinking with pity and horror, nerv 
 ing herself to be calm, she saw ugly sights, heard 
 the groan of strong men in pain, and with her quiet 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 245 
 
 courage and reasonableness gave active help on every 
 side. 
 
 Yet amid the tumult and the bloodshed, the mad 
 ness of brother slaying brother, a fair white temple 
 slowly rose for two quiet spirits. In its stillness they 
 knelt apart. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 SOMETIMES Countess Nathalie wondered if there 
 would ever be any end to this bizarre kind of life 
 she was leading ; if ever again Aulnay could tran 
 quillize itself and resume its rusticity ; if the roll of 
 drums and the bugle-call, the tramp of men at arms, 
 the rhythm of horses hoofs in rapid movement, and 
 the clank of steel would not linger about the Tower 
 like ghostly voices in a haunted house. The Tower 
 had seen so much since the old days when it calmly 
 watched the ripening fields, and the village was at 
 peace, and nothing happened! Nearer and nearer 
 now the waves of war were creeping about its base. 
 Gray and impassive, it surveyed the enemy s line; 
 and its clock, that once had marked the quiet hours 
 of village toil and sleep, was counting now how long 
 heroic Paris would resist and endure. 
 
 Ever nearer to the Tower crept the fierce red waves. 
 Countess Nathalie felt in the lurid atmosphere the 
 presage of more woe. On the faces, in the voices 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 247 
 
 around her she read it. A livelier energy was mani 
 fest, there were frequent earnest conversations among 
 the officers, arid an evident anticipation of active duty. 
 Wounded men from the foreposts and patrol were con 
 stantly brought into the village, and the boom of the 
 cannon seemed nearer and more frequent. 
 
 " What does this mean ? " she asked the abbe 
 suddenly one day. "This something indefinable in 
 the air, this expectation, preparation, these indis 
 tinct omens and rumors ? " 
 
 He hesitated an instant. " It means war, 
 madame," he said simply, and read on. He scarcely 
 raised his eyes from his book in those days. 
 
 Madame de Vallauris said no more. Later, she 
 knew what the messages of the air signified. It 
 was the close of November, and events were occur 
 ring of which the world, comfortably reading the 
 newspaper announcements, expressed its easily formed 
 opinions, awarding praise and blame with after-dinner 
 fluency to hard-pushed generals and overworked troops 
 on both sides. 
 
 Like stones thrown into a clear lake, those events 
 in ever-widening circles reached distant shores. 
 Suabiari, Saxon, and Prussian homes wept for their 
 dearest and best, or rang joy-bells for the safety and 
 
248 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 honorable promotion of their gallant sons; many a 
 happy French fireside was darkened forever, many 
 a young heart made desolate. 
 
 The French had established on Mont Avron, oppo 
 site Baincy, numerous batteries, and gradually pro 
 vided them with seventy-six guns of the heaviest 
 calibre, which were doing much damage along the 
 whole Saxon line from Chelles to Livry. The blunt- 
 headed summit, lower than the ridge crowned by Forts 
 Noisy and Eosny, wreathed itself from time to time 
 in white smoke against the blue horizon, making so 
 lovely a picture that it was difficult to realize the 
 smoke was the signal of a deadly missile hurled 
 through the calm air to whiz straight on to some 
 brave fellow, tear his stalwart body in pieces, and 
 strike down the bread-winner of a family. The Ger 
 mans hated Mont Avron, and with bitter reason. 
 
 The 30th of November, General Ducrot, with the 
 Second French Army of ninety thousand men, led the 
 celebrated attack against the Wiirtemberg and Saxon 
 position, southeast of Paris. In and around the vil 
 lages of Champigny, Brie, and Villiers a bloody drama 
 was enacted, a less important attack being made at 
 the same time northeast of Paris. The excitement 
 at Aulnay was boundless, but the abbe s face, as he 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 249 
 
 went his quiet and harmless way, was luminous and 
 beautiful, Countess Nathalie observed. After the 
 terrible battle of Villiers, General Ducrot was driven 
 back within the French fortifications. The fact was 
 freely spoken of at Aulnay, that the French, though 
 they had inflicted upon the enemy as heavy a loss 
 as they themselves had suffered, had yet failed 
 utterly in their end, to break the iron girdle round 
 Paris. Then for the first time she reflected that 
 the abbe seemed to possess a marvellous prescience. 
 Not that he ever revealed his knowledge or his hopes. 
 His words, indeed, were his trained servants. But 
 when one sits silent hour after hour in the same 
 room with a fellow-being, and times are troublous, and 
 the air is charged with strange portent, one s mere 
 instincts become at last keener, and one reads aright 
 a momentary pallor or lowering of the eyelids, a 
 cough, a smile. Sometimes, it may be, if we were 
 all dumb we should comprehend one another better; 
 and like dogs, with their wistful, alert eyes and 
 sensitive ears, arrive oftener at the truer meaning, 
 the very heart of things. 
 
 At all events, Nathalie felt that while often misled 
 by the abbe s well-turned phrases, she was beginning 
 to interpret, by some unconscious magnetic process 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 his luminous paleness, his eloquent eyes, the very in 
 tensity of his quiet. Joy, hope, disappointment, unless 
 her intuition was utterly at fault, he revealed thus 
 tacitly and always prematurely. By the time positive 
 news reached the chateau, all his soul-flashes had van 
 ished, and he had relapsed into his usual perfect calm. 
 What did he know, whom did he see, what means 
 had he of informing himself of a French sortie, of 
 a French gain or loss ? His life was the life he 
 had always led for years, less influenced than any 
 other at the chateau by the alarm and continuance 
 of war. Pale and studious, dwelling in the atmos 
 phere of prayer and books, he w r as unchanged. Who 
 besides the Germans approached the chateau ? Only 
 the two fishermen; and Pierre and Antoine were 
 simple, ignorant men, recognized as harmless by the 
 Germans, and allowed to pass freely to and fro in 
 the twilight as at noonday. But why had the abbe 
 advocated a free intercourse with the officers ? For 
 what end would he use friendliness on her part and 
 any influence she could gain? What signified his 
 glowing words when he alluded to service and sacri 
 fice ? Surely she had heard aright. But no, she 
 was nervous and fanciful, and pursued by her old 
 mistrust. If the abbe took white wine instead of 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 251 
 
 red, or changed his seat to another window, she was 
 apt to suspect him of ulterior ends and aims, she 
 acknowledged. That he was heart and soul with 
 gallant Paris she knew well. So was she, with every 
 atom of her being. As for knowing more than 
 others, and knowing it first, it was impossible. It 
 was a delusion on her part. Ah, no ! No carrier- 
 pigeons with news from the beleaguered city had 
 found their way to the chateau and the abbe*. Once, 
 indeed, one had flown by. The countess saw it, and 
 held her breath with a woman s tenderness for the 
 innocent dove and a patriot s prayer for its mission, 
 as a soldier aimed at it and missed. 
 
 December was upon them, and still Paris held 
 out. The Marquis de Montauban began to take 
 a certain pride in the tenacity and strength of the 
 city, as he would have enjoyed a display of bravery 
 from even an unruly child. If he did not uncon 
 ditionally approve of Paris, still Paris was French, 
 and valiant. He now introduced a facetious tone 
 in his conversation, and made light jokes with the 
 officers as to the length of time he should have the 
 pleasure of entertaining them, assuring them they 
 would be welcome as long as they enjoyed it. He 
 seemed thoroughly reconciled to his surroundings, 
 
252 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 and entertained the pleasing conviction that what 
 ever havoc war might make, he had remained master 
 of his chateau, and the most influential being within 
 its walls. At seventy years of age this was a com 
 fort, and added zest to the dry ceremonies of his 
 toilet, breakfast, and daily plans. 
 
 Manette pursued her original tactics, combined, 
 arranged, advanced, and retreated with flying colors 
 and huge satisfaction, but one day met with a re 
 pulse from an unexpected quarter. In the intimate 
 hour of brushing the countess s hair, towards mid 
 night in the turret-room, she would frequently ex 
 patiate upon the continued charm of the situation. 
 " But, if madaine permits, one delectable flavor is 
 lacking. Two or three jealous women would make 
 this place paradise. Did I rejoice that there were 
 no women here besides madame and my humble self ? 
 I was wrong. I am. not too proud to confess that 
 even I can make a miscalculation. Now I at last 
 perceive why an inscrutable Providence has created 
 so many jealous women in this world. By jealous, 
 I mean envious, or anything you please. Jealous, 
 envious it s often the same thing, and it does n t 
 mean love, by any means ; it mostly means selfishness. 
 But I disturb madame ? " 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 253 
 
 "No, Manette. It is possible that you will end 
 by instructing me," said the countess in her quiet 
 way. 
 
 " There are points where I could instruct madame," 
 the girl re turned, nodding seriously, "points in which 
 madame has had little experience, in which madame 
 is like a very little, young girl, while I have made 
 my researches, it would be useless to deny." 
 
 The countess smiled. So long as Manette would 
 expound her own philosophy, why should she not 
 speak and relieve her mind now and then ? 
 
 The one danger was, she was apt to suddenly veer 
 round from the general to the particular; and per 
 sonal remarks were not to the countess s taste. Still, 
 Manette had been very good lately, and was a real 
 comfort, with her inexhaustible spirits and her de 
 voted attention. "What should I have done without 
 my blithe little Manette through all these strange, 
 hard weeks ? " she thought kindly. " Why should 
 I not put up with her peculiarities ? No doubt she 
 puts up often enough with mine, and finds my grave 
 moods more unpleasant than I find her lightness." 
 
 All of which was indulgent on the part of the 
 countess, and honest, too, as far as it went; but if 
 she had cared to analyze her own motives, she would 
 
254 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 have found also a desire to hear certain precarious 
 subjects approached if not discussed, and a simple 
 human need of sympathy and comprehension in her 
 singular position. There was no one to whom she 
 could or would speak. She was a woman, young, 
 warm-hearted, in love for the first time in her life, 
 and it was a joy to her to even hear her lover s name 
 spoken, though her fair, cold face betrayed nothing. 
 Sufficient to Manette was the shadow of a permission, 
 and her eloquence poured forth with the impetuosity 
 of a mountain brook. 
 
 " The situation needs, I repeat, a couple of jealous 
 women to make it paradise ; and no doubt the reason 
 the Lord bestows jealousy so liberally upon woman 
 kind is to prevent monotony," the little maid said, 
 with a shrewd look of reflection. 
 
 "I think you do not quite know what you are 
 saying, Manette." 
 
 " Madame will pardon. I know but too well; and 
 I repeat, if a jealous woman, that is to say, two jeal 
 ous women madame knows my devotion, and that 
 I never consider myself alone could be set down 
 in the middle of this most interesting circle, madame 
 herself would speedily observe the rich results. Noth 
 ing whatever could so precipitate desirable but some- 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 255 
 
 * 
 
 what tardy consummations." Manette here coughed 
 discreetly. 
 
 " And I should think nothing could be more thor 
 oughly unpleasant," remarked the countess candidly. 
 " When did a jealous woman ever improve anything, 
 Manette?" 
 
 " Ah, madame is no doubt thinking of a tragic 
 jealous woman, with rolling eyes and a dagger ! No, 
 no, madame, that kind does the least harm. It is 
 the good and pious jealous, I mean ; that s the kind 
 that makes the world go round, the kind that has 
 awful moral cramps inside when it sees anything 
 superior to itself. One can get out of the way of the 
 rolling-eyed woman with a dagger ; but the woman 
 that s jealous of her own pomp and power and au 
 thority, and dinners and servants, and husband and 
 children and the stranger within her gates, one can t 
 get out of her way, and she s as often as not a quiet 
 little woman who does n t know what s the matter 
 with her. We re mostly a jealous set, and that s the 
 truth. When anything s the matter anywhere, I do 
 not inquire, like the great statesman, Who s the 
 woman ? I ask, Who s jealous ? 
 
 " Perhaps that is what he meant, Manette." 
 
 " Madame may be right ; yet men are jealous too. 
 
256 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 I dou t mean jealousy in love. Oh, no ! That is 
 a feeling which I respect, even if it leads to stuffing 
 pillows in one s mouth and suffocating ; which I 
 am happy to say Wackermann, not being of that 
 temperament, will never attempt. And so I ask if a 
 child falls down a well, or if there s a war, Who was 
 jealous ? I should n t be surprised if jealousy were 
 at the bottom of this very war jealousy no more, 
 no less, Monsieur Bismarck or somebody or other." 
 
 Madame de Yallauris smiled. "But why, then, 
 do you wish to introduce it here ? Surely we have 
 dreadful things enough already, Manette." 
 
 "Madame will admit this situation is inexhaust 
 ible. The combinations are kaleidoscopic, meteor- 
 like, and yet and yet, a cold-hearted, narrow- 
 minded, envious, jealous, malicious little woman, the 
 kind who controls her manners and takes away a 
 reputation without blinking, ah, niadame, that is 
 what we need ; that would be a boon from Heaven ; 
 and I wish she could be set plump down in the 
 court-yard this very minute ! " 
 
 " I positively do not understand you," her mis 
 tress said gravely. " Such a person would be most 
 odious, and would bring unhappiness wherever she 
 appeared." 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 257 
 
 "It is because madame lias never lived in the 
 world. I have lived in the world, and there such 
 women are as plenty as blackbirds in the park ; and 
 sometimes it s a marquise, sometimes it s a lady s- 
 maid, for, beggiog madame s pardon, a woman s a 
 woman." 
 
 " That, at least, is quite true, Manette." 
 " And it s because madame is so innocent. I I 
 am not innocent. I know the uses of adversity, 
 and that a hateful person wisely managed often does 
 a world of good. When two hearts, madame," 
 Manette came forward and eyed her mistress fur 
 tively under the flourish of the ivory brush, "recip 
 rocate yet hesitate, are lofty and noble, and up in 
 the clouds, madame, above all us earth-born worms, 
 and love each other like angels, madame, with 
 acres of blue heaven between, and one thinks of 
 duty, and the other of honor and reserve, and things 
 don t go on as is proper they should, and as those 
 who are interested have a right, to expect, why, 
 there s nothing like a little downright hatefulness 
 to help along. And for hatefulness there is nothing 
 like a jealous, envious, spiteful woman ; and I d bless 
 the sight of her, for there d be no more shilly 
 shallying then, and people would find out their own 
 17 
 
258 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 minds, which anybody with eyes can see already, 
 and the jealous woman would make trouble, and 
 out of the trouble would come explanations, and out 
 of the explanations, reconciliations, and one would 
 then not hold so loosely what is too precious to lose 
 and one will never find again, one would hold the 
 beautiful dear fast and close, and one would say to 
 one s self, Not every day does a beautiful blue adju 
 tant with heavenly eyes and a way with him 
 ah ! and a mustache that " 
 
 " Manette ! " 
 
 " Madame ! " 
 
 The countess resumed her book. Manette, without 
 another word, resumed her brushing, and soon bade 
 her mistress a demure good-night, which was, as 
 usual, gently returned. 
 
 The following evening when the countess went to 
 her room she saw an unwonted sight. Manette, the 
 blithe little philosopher, dissolved in tears, sobbing as 
 she arranged things for the night, moving chairs and 
 toilet articles with a melancholy listlessness. 
 
 " Why, Manette, what has happened ? " said Ma 
 dame de Vallauris much concerned. 
 
 " Wackermann," was the response, with another 
 burst of tears. " He s happened." 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 259 
 
 " My poor little Manette ! Would you like to tell 
 me about it ? Have you had a quarrel ? " 
 
 " Madame is an angel. I never quarrel, as madame 
 knows. It was Wackermann who quarrelled in a 
 most glaring and Teutonic manner." 
 
 " But, Manette/ that excellent, kind-hearted man 
 with his full-moon face like a baby ? " 
 
 " Madame will permit me to explain," sobbed Ma 
 nette ruefully, " that the full moon was concealed by 
 a thunder-cloud, and the baby roared like a giant." 
 
 The countess suppressed a smile. " Then you 
 must have done something very, very bad, Manette," 
 she said gravely. 
 
 " Madame will pardon me. It was not bad. It 
 was only picturesque and exciting. It was an inter 
 esting study. It was only Corporal Mliller and I in 
 the vegetable-garden. There is a freshness, a vivacity 
 about Corporal Miiller which is exhilarating. Madame 
 really permits me to relate ? These bagatelles are 
 hardly in niadame s sphere." 
 
 " Never mind my sphere, Manette. You may tell 
 me." 
 
 The girl had recovered somewhat. Through her 
 tears the mischief sparkled again in her bright eyes. 
 
 " I thought Wackermann was on duty with the 
 
260 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 watch ; but, alas ! he was watching me. There is, 
 as I remarked, a certain charm in Corporal Miiller s 
 vivacity, and I had been sewing all day, as madame 
 knows ; and there was Wackermaim actually behind 
 the snowy hedge, as Corporal Miiller and I sought 
 the solitude of the garden. I would not have thought 
 any man of sense would have made such a fuss 
 about such a little thing as a kiss. .He put his hand 
 on my shoulder like a gendarme or a bear, and he 
 walked me off, and he talked to me yes, he did; 
 and how ! just Heaven ! 
 
 " He said I might play most of my pranks, and he 
 did n t care he liked them. But there were limits 
 to all things, and either I wanted to be his wife, or 
 I didn t. If I didn t, well and good; he d find 
 another girl, fond as he was of me. If I did, I could 
 behave myself. As to dark gardens and kissing cor 
 porals, he d put his foot down. And he did and 
 it s so long," extending her hands wide apart and 
 laughing. "Madame may believe me, it s like the 
 foot of a mountain. That s what my Wackermann 
 did." Her tone was, after all, not without pride in 
 his prowess. 
 
 " He did perfectly right," the countess said with 
 decision. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 261 
 
 " Yes, it was a beautiful scene," Manette returned. 
 " I am beginning to enjoy it, he big, threatening, 
 and angry; I crying as if my heart would break. 
 For I was startled, as madame may imagine." 
 
 " You would not like to lose him, Manette ? " the 
 countess said gently. 
 
 " Ah, no, madame." 
 
 " You really mean to marry him ? " 
 
 " If he and I survive this cruel yet beautiful war, 
 yes," replied Manette, throwing up her eyes. 
 
 The countess hesitated. 
 
 " Then be a good girl, Manette, and be a good 
 wife," putting her hand on the girl s shoulder and 
 looking at her earnestly. 
 
 The maid turned her head in her quick, birdlike 
 way, and kissed her mistress s fingers. 
 
 " I like him all the better for it ; and he s a good 
 soul, and will never spoil my fun. That this com 
 bination was a little awkward, less artistic than I 
 usually originate, I must confess ; but it has had its 
 uses," she concluded practically. 
 
 " I hope so," returned the countess quite gravely. 
 
 That night she wondered much about many things, 
 and, wavering long, she finally looked at the rose and 
 kissed it once only, and laid it solemnly back in its 
 
262 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 place, and was very lonely, the fair lady in her turret ; 
 yet as she reasoned as best she could about the nature 
 of her little maid, not condemning but granting her 
 right to exist according to the conditions of her being, 
 a thought that had strength to comfort arose in her 
 troubled soul. " Not having, but giving, is true love, 
 giving all one can ; and I would give, God knows, if 
 I might. Life is sad, love is sad, and one does not 
 know the end ; but if one has found something worth 
 loving, one has won life s best good. To know him, 
 to love him, to do my duty each day, what more is 
 there for me ? If I might plan my life like little 
 Manette, might say, Such a day we will marry, 
 such a day we will go to our home ! Then, the heart 
 speaks, but the heart is exacting. Why should mine 
 have its will, when so many suffer ? Who am I, to 
 be crowned in perfect bliss ? And the years when I 
 had nothing ! And now I have him to love. Ah, 
 God, make me grateful, make me brave to lose him ; 
 for since he loves me, I am sacred to myself as if a 
 great white archangel had extended the shadow of 
 his wings over my meagre, longing life." And with 
 the saints of her childhood about her she fell asleep. 
 
 The lives in the chateau fulfilled their appointed 
 way, not all, it would appear, under strict military 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 263 
 
 discipline ; and the December days moved on until 
 the 24th, when the French again undertook a great 
 sortie against the Prussian-Saxon lines simulta 
 neously with General Faidherbes s operations in the 
 Horth. The sortie was directed particularly against 
 Stains, Duguy, Le Bourget, Pont-Iblou, and Drancy ; 
 and the battle raged fiercely in the immediate neigh 
 borhood of Aulnay, and farther towards the Marne 
 at Ville Evrart and Maison- Blanche. This attempt 
 to break through the German line also failed, although 
 the latter was considerably weakened by the necessity 
 of sending troops north to meet that brave and indus 
 trious French soldier, General Faidherbes, who was 
 causing the Germans much trouble. The sortie was 
 of extreme importance to AuL lay, inasmuch as it left 
 the French in firm possession of Grosley Farm, a 
 dairy-farm close by, which Madame de Vallauris, as 
 a child, a young girl, and a woman, had often visited. 
 She was thrown into deep excitement by the news 
 that her countrymen had established themselves 
 there and barricaded it. " They will soon be at 
 Aulnay," she thought, with a glow of exultation. 
 Then her heart sank ; after which she reproached 
 herself. 
 
 Meanwhile at headquarters at Clichy, General von 
 
264 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 Aarenhorst, in the early reports on the 21st, had again 
 received the statement, by this time somewhat ex 
 asperating to him, that a sentinel on the Ourcq 
 Canal had perceived, just before midnight, red-light 
 signals which the man declared positively he could 
 only attribute to Aulnay Tower. Von Aarenhorst 
 felt that it was high time these dangerous signals, 
 which in every instance had preceded a vigorous and 
 important sortie of the enemy, should be suppressed. 
 Since whoever managed them had thus far succeeded 
 in evading suspicion, it was quite possible that he had 
 been sufficiently adroit to display the signals many 
 times unobserved. Eegardless, then, of the colonel s 
 enthusiastic defence of the chateau family, and un 
 mindful of his own friendly impressions, the general 
 requested von Linden to renew the watch on the 
 park and Tower, to have the latter thoroughly in 
 spected, and moreover to confine the Marquis de 
 Montauban, Madame de Vallauris, the Abbe* de 
 Navailles, and every member of the household strictly 
 to the limits of chateau, church, and park. 
 
 It nearly broke the good colonel s heart to con 
 vey the unpleasant information to the abbe, for he 
 chose him as victim in preference to the aged marquis, 
 or the lovely countess who had borne her privations 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 265 
 
 with so much sweetness and dignity. The colonel 
 had, in fact, no patience or belief in regard to the re 
 puted signals. A fatigued, half-drunken, or half-frozen 
 dazed watch, a level expanse of country, guns blazing 
 away in the darkness, what wonder that one sees 
 signs and wonders, ghosts and signals ! 
 
 To his communication the abbe replied quietly 
 that he deeply regretted being forced to make such 
 an announcement to Madame cle Vallauris. As for 
 the marquis, one might indeed spare him the indig 
 nity, as he seldom, if ever, left the grounds. To this 
 consideration the colonel heartily agreed ; and as he 
 looked at the spiritual face of the abbe, anxious now 
 about his friend, he deplored this stern necessity of 
 war. During the day the colonel himself passed 
 through the gallery and ascended the Tower. In the 
 small, rough room was absolutely no trace of the 
 presence of man. The church below boasted some 
 pillars of an early century, a bit of good sculpture, 
 and a painting, the gift of the favorite of a king. 
 The colonel enjoyed it all, thought it a pity they 
 must always build on and improve and desecrate such 
 quaint relics ; then he went cheerfully over to dine. 
 
 That evening Max ISTordenfels sat alone by the 
 fire and waited. The thin voice of the marquis and 
 
266 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 the hearty response of some of his comrades re 
 sounded from the adjacent drawing-room. Madame 
 de Vallauris had not appeared at dinner. She was 
 not ill, the marquis said, she merely begged to be ex 
 cused. " The fair sex must have its caprice/ the old 
 gentleman remarked, with his gallant and indulgent 
 air. But Nordenfels entertained no popular, common 
 place view of womankind ; he believed that Countess 
 Nathalie was not capricious, and waited anxiously. 
 
 He heard her light step on the stairway, and 
 the fall of soft folds as she came. The pleasant 
 sound, heralding the approach of something gentle 
 and feminine among the spurs and sabres and domi 
 nant men s ways, would have been welcome to him, 
 even if he had not loved her. But as he heard her 
 coming, the one lady in this Aulnay world of men, 
 the one woman in the world to him, he sprang up, 
 eagerly looking towards the door with a great joy 
 shining in his face. 
 
 " Ah, I knew you must come down to-night ! " he 
 exclaimed. " Dear countess, two whole days ! " 
 
 She came directly to him and looked him in the 
 eyes with a childlike reproach. She was pale, as she 
 always grew under excitement, and in spite of her 
 still air he saw that she was agitated. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 267 
 
 "Why have you let them do this ?" she demanded 
 sadly. 
 
 " Do what ? " 
 
 " You know, do you not ? " 
 
 "Yes, I do know," he admitted frankly. "Of 
 course I know." 
 
 " Then why have you permitted them to do it ? " 
 she persisted. 
 
 It gave him a wild thrill of delight, that she was 
 instinctively appealing to him for protection and 
 redress ; and he felt that it was delicious and dear, 
 and at the same time exquisitely humorous, that she 
 was ignoring principalities and powers, law, logic, and 
 discipline, and holding him alone responsible whether 
 the world went right or wrong. 
 
 " Countess," he said with his lover s voice and 
 his lover s smile, perceptible, if somewhat in ambush 
 and an honest twinkle of fun in his eye besides, " if 
 I were King of France, or still better Pope of Eome/ 
 but I am only Max Nordenfels." 
 
 She colored, and said hastily : " Pardon me ; I spoke 
 without reflection. Of course you are not account 
 able. You will at least give me the satisfaction of 
 knowing you consider it an indignity and an un 
 deserved wrong." 
 
268 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 Max looked suddenly grave. " Countess, I think 
 it right." 
 
 " You ? " she murmured. 
 
 " I love you so ! " he burst out impetuously. " I 
 would give my life and soul to save you pain." 
 
 " Hush, hush ! " she implored, "or I shall instantly 
 go in to the others. Be generous, baron ; I need 
 to speak with you. Must I fear the slightest tete-a- 
 tete ? Are you not my friend ? " 
 
 "That, too," he returned significantly. "Do not 
 doubt it, say what you will to me. Let me assure you 
 quietly that I deplore every annoyance to you as if 
 you were my " she trembled a little "my sister," 
 he went on emphatically ; " but that I regard these 
 renewed precautions as right and proper, imperative, 
 indeed. General von Aarenhorst is too clever and 
 experienced to need advice ; but my views, such as 
 they are, he was good enough to request to-day. We 
 discussed many things informally. Believe me, it is 
 no indignity offered you ; but, on the contrary, regard 
 for your honor demands it. The general entertains 
 the most profound respect for you, and a warm 
 interest." 
 
 " Then he chooses an extraordinary method of 
 evincing his amiable sentiments," the countess re- 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 269 
 
 joined with considerable feeling. " Shall I tell you 
 what happened to me ? You will say, perhaps, it was 
 an expression of latent approval, a kind of exquisite 
 flattery." 
 
 " Tell me first," said Max gravely. 
 
 She went on rapidly in her low, controlled voice, 
 colored now and then by fine flashes of her warm 
 spirit. It was a voice with which one could tell 
 State secrets in a crowd and but one be the wiser. 
 The marquis s brittle laugh sounded from the next 
 room. He nodded and smiled at her over his cards, 
 and she smiled brightly back. All the wide doors 
 were flung open. In the music-room beyond some 
 one was playing the "Moonlight Sonata." 
 
 " He would not laugh if he knew," she said. " There 
 is much to which he can remain oblivious. Being 
 old, perhaps the past veils the present from his sight. 
 But this would touch him sorely, as it does me. I 
 pray he may never know." 
 
 Nordenfels bowed his head in grave sympathy. 
 
 " I was going, towards evening, with Manette and 
 my basket to my poor sufferers. I promised Sister 
 Agathe to come again to-day. I had made some 
 sherry jelly, and many of them were looking for me. 
 The French boy with the fever, who is always 
 
270 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 begging for his mother, grows quieter when I come 
 but you will not care for such details." 
 
 " Dearest/ Max broke out passionately, " I care for 
 everything ! " 
 
 " And we were stopped at the great gate, no expla 
 nation, nothing, simply stopped by a sentinel and a 
 bayonet. I went to every gate. The same result. 
 I was a prisoner; we are all prisoners here in the 
 chateau." 
 
 " The thing itself is right," he answered with de 
 cision. " The fault was in the method ; they should 
 have announced it to you properly, and spared you 
 every chance of outward annoyance. I cannot con 
 ceive how such an irregularity could have occurred. 
 I am very sorry." He turned away, and walked 
 thoughtfully up and down the room. 
 
 " It is not the method, but the fact itself which 
 I regard as the insult. Colonel von Linden com 
 municated his commands to the Abbe de Navailles. 
 Both agreed that my uncle was if possible to be kept 
 in ignorance of the restrictions. The poor, dear old 
 gentleman would be cruelly wounded in his pride ; 
 and as he seldom crosses the threshold of the chateau, 
 and never goes among the soldiers, why trouble him 
 gratuitously ? Should he by chance attempt to pass 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 271 
 
 the gate, he will be stopped with a bayonet as I was ; 
 then he will know." 
 
 " Madame ! " murmured Max in deprecation. 
 
 " The abbe was engaged in the chapel, and could 
 not tell me at once," she resumed. 
 
 " Or would not," rejoined the adjutant doggedly. 
 
 As she spoke, in her mind flashed simultaneously 
 the same thought; but she refused to discuss the 
 life-long friend of the Marquis de Montauban with 
 any stranger. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " she demanded with some 
 coldness. 
 
 " Pardon me ; I mean nothing." 
 
 While she, haunted by the old suspicion, was think 
 ing, " He might have told me sooner. He had his rea 
 sons for letting me be repulsed at the gate. He wished 
 to make me angry and indignant with the Germans. 
 But no, I am not sure ; I am never just to him." 
 
 " Listen to me," she began with her peculiar man 
 ner of great warmth strongly restrained, " Hecla 
 glowing beneath its snows," as Linden had said that 
 first day. "Listen ! I have learned in this time 
 to recognize some of your rights, to find some justice 
 in your course. I have learned, for instance, if you ap 
 pall me by not respecting our ambulance-wagons " 
 
272 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 <e It is not always possible/ Nordenfels interposed 
 vehemently. 
 
 " that, on the other hand, our forts have had the 
 cruelty to fire on your burial-trains burying French 
 as well as Germans honorably. War grows more 
 hideous, more inexcusable to me every day. It 
 is a monstrous relic of barbarism. I abhor it, and 
 shudder at its work ; but I admit you are as humane 
 as we. I perceive that you Germans have sometimes 
 a spark of pity, a magnanimous instinct ; but I ask 
 you plainly this, you whom I believe to be a man of 
 honor, a man of thought, why is our old and honor 
 able house at this late day insulted with suspicion ? 
 I did not blame you at first. We were simply your 
 enemies, as you were ours. That we were imprisoned 
 within our gates did not surprise us then. Nothing 
 would have surprised us much, not savages or can 
 nibals. But gentlemen came. We learned to trust 
 them. We saw, in spite of our prejudices, that you 
 were like ourselves ; that you cherished kindness and 
 courtesy in daily life, and deplored every rude act ; 
 that war to you too was a necessity, not your choice. 
 We have lived now on an almost intimate footing. 
 Surely you gentlemen quartered here have been able 
 to perceive the harmlessness of Chateau Aulnay. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 273 
 
 Moreover, you have our word of honor to remain 
 outwardly neutral whatever may come. Do you de 
 mand more than the word of a Montauban ? What, 
 then, do you mean after these weeks of confidence 
 and freedom ? Why may I not go freely to my 
 poor, wounded, suffering fellow- creatures ? Do I ask 
 whether they are French or German ? I who am 
 Trench in every drop of my blood, have I not for 
 gotten everything where I could deaden one physical 
 pain, make one restless spirit calmer ? Am I dan 
 gerous ? Is my poor uncle, with his weak and 
 withered body, a deadly breastwork against you 
 Germans ? Or is it possible that you doubt our 
 pledged word ? I tell you plainly, and I admit 
 to you, Baron von Nordenfels, I have learned to trust 
 you personally, it seems to me a premeditated in 
 sult. In this dreary and terrible experience I have 
 found one consolation. I have been able to give 
 of my strength to weakness, to make some humble 
 mortal an innocent sacrifice to cruel ambition 
 happier for my presence. Even this is now taken 
 from me, and the poor men must wait for me in 
 vain. What answer have you to make to me?" 
 
 " Dear countess, believe me, it is unavoidable," 
 said the young man. 
 
 18 
 
274 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " Why have they done it ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell you why." 
 
 " Do you know ? " 
 
 " Perfectly." 
 
 " You doubt us, then ? " 
 
 " Heaven forbid ! I believe in you as I believe in 
 God. You are the purest spirit I have ever known. 
 I kneel to you, I kiss your feet ; and yet I tell you it 
 is right, what they have done. Though it hurts you, 
 it is right." 
 
 " But why ? " 
 
 He shook his head. " Madame," he said, smiling 
 a little, " in the stories, always in a case like this the 
 woman tempts the man. I have never known why. 
 You tempt me now with your loveliness and inno 
 cence, it is true. You tempt me to take you in my 
 arms, and whisper a thousand love-words in your ear, 
 and never let you go ; but you do not tempt me to 
 forget my duty. And if I could explain, you would 
 be the first to tell me I was right ; so do not ask me. 
 Countess, just now you asked me if I was not your 
 friend ? Now I appeal to you. Are you not my 
 friend ? Have you not faith, though you may not 
 understand ? " 
 
 " Of what do they suspect us ? " she said slowly. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 275 
 
 " I cannot tell you." 
 
 " Does it not seem bitter to you that they withdraw 
 without explanation the confidence of months ? " 
 
 " It is no insult. It is the inexorable necessity of 
 war." 
 
 " Whom do they hold capable of dishonor ? " 
 
 " Not you, dear lady." 
 
 " My uncle ? " 
 
 " Never." 
 
 " Whom, then ? Speak out." 
 
 "Did it never occur to you, that the Abbe de 
 Navailles could play a deep game ? " 
 
 " But not treachery," she said, hesitating. 
 
 " There is treachery somewhere. More, I may not 
 say. I trust you with this. Trust me." 
 
 A deep though tfulness settled upon her face. In 
 the second room beyond some one had been playing 
 a nocturne of Chopin, and now finished with a long, 
 soft chord. 
 
 " Good-night," she said, extending both her hands. 
 He kissed them, and went. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " AH, Christmas is a sad time for the children at 
 home when the father s not there ! " von Linden 
 said with a sigh to Madame de Yallauris, a grave 
 look on his jolly face. 
 
 " And a sad time for the father without his chil 
 dren/ she returned kindly. 
 
 "Yes, madame, I miss them," he said simply. 
 
 " What does Christmas mean ? " she went on 
 thoughtfully. " Peace on earth, good-will towards 
 men ? What irony ! Two hostile nations in a mighty 
 struggle, the great city there holding out against cold, 
 and famine, and fever, and misery, and your legions. 
 War is a ghastly thing." 
 
 Von Linden shrugged his shoulders. " Ah, ma- 
 dame, that may he ; but we can t get along without 
 it, you know. It does a world of good sometimes, 
 too." 
 
 " Filling the world with death and anguish," she 
 murmured. 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 277 
 
 " Pardon me, countess, but you have changed your 
 views since I first talked with you. You were more 
 heroic once, more warlike and aggressive. You never 
 said much, but one felt it. You intimidated me ! " 
 
 She smiled sadly. " I was very ignorant, colonel. 
 I have not changed in my sympathies for my own 
 land, in my ardent desire for France to be victorious. 
 But I did not know the sickening horrors of war. 
 Here, in the midst of it, I have seen sights that have 
 curdled my blood, and that I shall never, never for 
 get ; and my very soul protests against such massacre 
 of humanity. To what end is it all, the ruined 
 village, the homeless wanderers, the poverty and mis 
 ery and starvation, the bloodshed and the cruelty? 
 The beasts are not so cruel as man. I saw a laughing 
 boy leaning against a wall last Tuesday. There was 
 an angry whiz through the air," she shuddered and 
 covered her face with her hands, "and then I saw 
 what an instant before was a human body " 
 
 "Dear madame, you are a woman and an angel, 
 and sometimes war is hideous for us men. But let 
 us discuss it later. One can argue better in time of 
 peace." He took her hand and smiled, and patted it 
 in a fatherly way. " Some day you and I will meet 
 again ; then I will answer you." 
 
278 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 "The statesmen have to make peace afterwards," 
 she persisted ; " why not in the beginning of diffi 
 culties? Why do they insist upon all the cruelty 
 and suffering and barbarism of war ? Why not 
 arrange their concessions and payments and diplo 
 matic treaties at first, and prevent bloodshed and 
 misery ? " 
 
 "Ask them, madame," returned the bluff soldier. 
 " It s their business to pull the wires. It s mine to 
 fight." 
 
 " Alas, yes," sighed the countess. 
 
 "At least, you have softened a little to us poor 
 Germans. You have not found us wholly barbarous." 
 
 " I have found you as considerate as the circum 
 stances permit," she answered with dignity. " But 
 I abhor your war, our war, all war. I believe it is 
 a monstrous crime, and I feel vast and boundless 
 pity for all who suffer from it, for the anguish of 
 body and mind, here, there," -- pointing towards 
 Paris, " in your own land ; and I pray night and 
 day God may have mercy and bring it to a speedy 
 end." 
 
 " Amen ! " said the soldier solemnly. " We Ger 
 mans all want to get home, madame. As I said, the 
 little ones are waiting ; and when a man has a good 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 279 
 
 wife " He hesitated. The warlike colonel was evi 
 dently very homesick. He took several long strides 
 about the room, making much noise with his heavy, 
 spurred boots. 
 
 " That is the irreconcilable feature of it all/ the 
 countess said very softly. " A tender-hearted man 
 like you, loving your wife and children, and coming to 
 a foreign land to slaughter French women s husbands 
 and French children s fathers." 
 
 " Irreconcilable ? Ah, madame, if you would teach 
 the world logic ! But I must go ; for I feel myself 
 becoming wax in your hands," he added with a 
 genial laugh. 
 
 Christmas eve von Linden rode out to satisfy 
 himself as to some reported firing near Bondy wood. 
 It was merely a feint, purposeless, resultless, except 
 that it created anger, excitement, and discomfort. 
 The roads were slippery, the night cold and wet. 
 The colonel, with von Nordenfels and an orderly, 
 rode back to Aulnay in no enviable frame of mind. 
 Approaching the chateau, they were surprised to see 
 it brilliantly illuminated; and as the two officers 
 entered, Gerhardt sprang towards them. "Don t 
 go up to your rooms," he begged. " Come in here 
 first." 
 
280 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 Cold and wet as they were, they went into the great 
 dining-room, where the family and the officers were 
 gathered round a large Christmas-tree ; and some of 
 the men were coming in for a peep and filing out to 
 make way for others. A convalescent drummer-boy, 
 one of the countess s patients, sat bolstered up in 
 the corner. Each officer had contributed to the 
 general good whatever the field-post had brought 
 him from home. On a table was a curious array, 
 cigars and Erbswurst, chocolate, books, trifles from 
 mothers and sisters. A barrel of beer was running 
 freely, and tasted of home to the strong jovial fellows, 
 with their collars turned up and sleet in their hair, 
 who came in respectfully to share the Christmas. 
 Now and then a tobacco-pouch, a few knives, and 
 other trifles were distributed. All could not have 
 a gift, but all could see the tree, with a warm thought 
 of home. 
 
 The chaplain made a short prayer, which the most 
 careless of them felt. A man must have his earnest 
 moments when death knocks every day at the door. 
 
 Gerhardt was liberally distributing the contents of 
 a large jar of preserved damsons, and Forstenau 
 flourished a ham. Compote, German sausage, and 
 sweet almond and honey cakes all reposed amiably 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 281 
 
 on the same plate, and were consumed together with 
 out ceremony. 
 
 The marquis moved delicately through the crowd, 
 regarding the scene with ineffable condescension. 
 " It is very amusing, very/ he remarked, looking 
 at the tree, the officers, and the men with somewhat 
 the air he would have worn at a spectacular ballet. 
 " I have read of your German Christmas-tree. I 
 never saw one before. Interesting custom, really." 
 
 "I did what I could," Countess Nathalie began 
 modestly, "and the lieutenants were so interested; 
 but this must be quite different from their trees 
 quite." 
 
 "I suppose so, I suppose so," the old gentleman 
 returned absently, with an encouraging smile at noth 
 ing in particular. 
 
 But Nordenfela looked at the odds and ends of 
 candle-stumps, collected and tied on as Countess 
 Nathalie could best manage, and burning with the old 
 familiar Christmas-tree smell on a good straight fir 
 from Aulnay Park. Memories of childhood and home 
 mingled with the incongruities around him, and the 
 weather-beaten soldier- faces smiled in from the door 
 ways, the lieutenants made merry, and the older offi 
 cers, care-worn, with the troubled eyes of men facing 
 
282 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 grave responsibilities, could yet laugh cordially as 
 Christmas warmed their hearts. The queer keepsakes 
 from the Fatherland in a motley row touched him 
 strangely. Even Schinken arid Wurst, most prosaic 
 of all edibles, seemed to convey a tender thought 
 because packed by some loving mother s hand for 
 her absent boy. Turning to Countess Nathalie, who 
 watched it all half anxiously, doubtful whether her 
 undertaking had succeeded or not, he murmured; 
 " Who but you could have done anything so gracious ? 
 It is the most beautiful tree, the kindest tree, the 
 most perfect Christmas-tree that ever was made ! " 
 
 At which she could only look at him and laugh 
 brightly ; for she knew the candle-ends were few and 
 ragged and old, and her whole arrangement most primi 
 tive. Yet she colored and was happy beneath his 
 gaze. 
 
 They -were all grateful to her. " God bless you for 
 the kind thought ! " the colonel said, taking her hands 
 warmly, and looking Gerhardt declared in an en 
 vious whisper to Nordenfels as if he was on the 
 point of kissing her. 
 
 " I made it chiefly for you, colonel," she said sweetly, 
 " for you and the pale drummer-boy there. You 
 confided to me your longing for your wife and chil- 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 283 
 
 dren ; he, his for his parents and sister. There is so 
 much misery everywhere ! I thought perhaps I could 
 help you get through your most homesick evening. 
 There is no real happiness in the world anywhere, 
 only now and then a fleeting happy moment," con 
 cluded the beautiful woman with conviction. 
 
 " Dear rnadame, dear child, I may almost ven 
 ture to say to you, repeat that to me if you can after 
 three after five years," the colonel replied, laughing 
 kindly. " Believe me, I know the cure for your pes 
 simism. But I see an orderly in the corridor. Par 
 don me that I must go, and take my adjutant with 
 me. A thousand thanks, madame, for me, and for 
 us all. God bless you for your kindness ! " 
 
 " They enjoyed it, Nathalie," the marquis observed 
 later, with a largely hospitable air, as if he had just 
 thrown the chateau open for a grand ball. " It was 
 very entertaining and creditable. We might do some 
 thing of the kind often, do you know ? It impresses 
 them. It commands the circumstances. The soire e 
 was bizarre, but agreeable, original." 
 
 " I am glad you enjoyed it, dear uncle," she said 
 gently. 
 
 " It is a pity the abbe* was occupied. He would 
 have been uncommonly pleased." 
 
284 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " Could he not have coine in if he liked ? What 
 could prevent him ? " 
 
 "Nothing more important than scientific studies, 
 my dear/ rejoined the marquis facetiously, " which I 
 should be sorry to see you puzzling your pretty 
 head about, even to know the names of them. A 
 clever woman is always a fright. Never grow clever, 
 Nathalie. There s nothing feminine in cleverness. 
 The woman s heart, the man s head." 
 
 " Have no fear for me," she said, smiling. 
 
 " Fortunately, rny dear, I need have none," was his 
 serene reply. 
 
 " But what does the abb6 study, uncle ? Is he not 
 learned enough ? " she asked innocently, feeling with 
 great compunction that she had become a very fox 
 for slyness. 
 
 " To exercise his intellect," he replied, with a supe 
 rior smile. " A man s intellect needs constant exer 
 cise, as an athlete s body. Before these disturbances 
 the abbe could run into Paris as often as he pleased. 
 He profits, of course, by my society still. But I am 
 more or less occupied with my guests and " 
 
 " Yes, dear uncle. And the abbe* studies more 
 than formerly ? " 
 
 " That is, he interests himself, he exercises. For 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 285 
 
 the man s mind problems, diagrams, charts, are like 
 the trapeze and parallel bars for the gymnast." 
 
 " Charts, diagrams," murmured Nathalie. 
 
 " Curiosity curiosity ! " He shook his ringer 
 playfully at her. " But it is a normal trait. It is 
 feminine." 
 
 "And does the abbe* show you his drawings, 
 uncle ? " 
 
 " No, my dear child. I have no interest in such 
 things nowadays. But being of an observant, a pene 
 trating intellect, I naturally know in what direction 
 my friend the abbd s mind leans, and what he does 
 with his time." 
 
 " And what does he do with it, uncle ? " asked the 
 countess quite bluntly, still feeling like a guilty fox. 
 
 " Science," said the old gentleman in a grand and 
 vague way. " Science, my dear." 
 
 " Oh science." 
 
 " Astronomy, I fancy. He dropped a little chart, 
 with points and lines, on my desk. Yes, yes, astro 
 nomical ; but such things are dry to me now, and per 
 aspera ad astra has a double signification. You com 
 prehend the Latin, Nathalie ? " 
 
 " Yes, dear uncle, that much, I believe. A little 
 chart, you said ? " 
 
286 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " Bless my soul ! You don t want to study astron 
 omy, do you ? " 
 
 She protested the contrary, laughing a little ner 
 vously. 
 
 " Yes, we must repeat the soiree," said the marquis, 
 well pleased, "and the abbe* must be present. He 
 hardly knows there is a military man in the house. 
 He lives in quite another world. But this was hardly 
 military to-night ; it was purely social. The abbe* 
 would have enjoyed it. We must repeat it, my 
 dear." 
 
 "We will do whatever makes you happy," she 
 said indulgently, bidding him good-night. 
 
 But she did not repeat her Christmas-tree, never 
 theless, nor was there much sociability at the cha 
 teau after that. The weather was bitter cold, the 
 faces were grave and stern. Deep plans were laid. 
 The Germans were impatient for the end. Paris was 
 making its last brave and desperate effort. 
 
 The besieging army now contemplated the immedi 
 ate bombardment of the city. Partly from conquered 
 fortresses, partly from the Fatherland, heavy guns and 
 batteries were procured. The woods which covered 
 the advanced positions of the Germans before Mont 
 Avron and Clichy had been full of life. Working 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 287 
 
 parties toiled in the dark or by moonlight, and thou 
 sands of men were employed those bitter cold nights 
 digging trenches in the frozen ground at Raincy oppo 
 site the dangerous batteries of Mont Avron. That the 
 French in spite of their nearness failed to perceive 
 the German activity seemed incomprehensible. 
 
 About seventy heavy cannon concentrated their 
 fire on Mont Avron early in the morning of the 
 27th of December. By noon the French batteries 
 were silent; by night the hill was evacuated. The 
 German fire was now steadily directed against the 
 French forts; while from the south side the bom 
 bardment of Paris began on the 4th of January. 
 
 Again Chateau Aulnay was thrown into excitement 
 and distress. Towards midnight on the 14th of Jan 
 uary the foreposts at Nonneville Farm, only a kilo 
 meter and a half from Aulnay, were attacked by the 
 French. After a hard struggle they were driven 
 back ; their captain was taken prisoner and brought 
 wounded to Aulnay. Madame de Vallauris begged 
 to see him, or to have him brought to the chateau, 
 but was refused. Sister Agathe was with him, she 
 was told, and he was doing well. The countess was 
 on the point of asking for Adjutant von Nordenfels, 
 whom she had not seen in some days. He would 
 
288 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 take her to see the wounded French captain, she felt 
 assured. Then she remembered that he approved of 
 the order to re-imprison them, and, sad at heart, she 
 decided not to ask for him, but went instead into the 
 empty church, and knelt there long, and sobbed 
 quietly for sheer loneliness and for horror of war. 
 
 General von Aarenhorst, at Clichy, was filled with 
 consternation and a grim rage to hear now for the 
 third time the report of signals presumably from 
 Aulnay. They had plainly preceded the French 
 attack on isTonneville, had been perceived by the 
 distant watch "On the Ourcq Canal, and were utterly 
 invisible to the guard stationed to watch the Tower 
 and park. " What devils league can this be ? " 
 thought the good general. "A light seen from afar 
 and not seen near by and below must come from the 
 extreme interior of an elevated place," he reasoned. 
 The form of the Tower of Aulnay, the deep room high 
 above the plain, and below the clock and the slender 
 spire, might be adapted by a clever brain to such a 
 purpose. He determined to solve this mysterious 
 and dangerous problem, which had been too long 
 neglected. Lights always preceding French sorties 
 should be summarily extinguished in his territory 
 if it were a possible thing. Yon Linden would most 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 289 
 
 assuredly again defend the Montauban family, assert 
 ing that there were other village church-towers, and 
 that it was a hallucination of the sentinels always to 
 suspect Aulnay. If Aulnay was innocent, so much 
 the better ; but Aulnay must prove it. Accordingly 
 General von Aarenhorst had a diopter adjusted to bear 
 precisely upon Aulnay Tower, and in a square stone 
 pillar supporting the balustrade of the high terrace at 
 Clichy a groove cut sharply to hold the instrument, 
 so that by night as well as day the Tower would be 
 under scrutiny. An under-officer of the staff-watch 
 was commanded to look at it every fifteen min 
 utes during the night, and in case of the slightest 
 discovery to announce it instantly. Horses stood 
 saddled in the orderlies stables continually, and an 
 expert rider knowing the short-cuts could traverse 
 the distance between Clichy arid Aulnay in twenty 
 minutes. 
 
 Colonel von Linden received at the same time 
 orders to leave the family absolutely free to go and 
 come as they pleased. Von Aarenhorst resolved to 
 give them every opportunity to compromise them 
 selves, in case they were addicted to double-dealing. 
 The abbe received the news of their retrained free- 
 
 O 
 
 dom with his usual sweet-tempered indifference; 
 
 19 
 
290 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 the marquis had not even suspected the restric 
 tion ; the countess quietly resumed her visits among 
 the wounded soldiers. " It seems as if they were 
 all struck with blindness as to Aulnay Tower," the 
 colonel reflected, " even Aarenhorst, clever man as 
 he is. I hope this is the last order. Restriction 
 to chateau and park, freedom, restriction, freedom. 
 Heaven forbid that restriction should now recur 
 in its regular pendulum swing ! " 
 
 Countess Nathalie was relieved when the inscru 
 table power which had forbidden, now permitted 
 her voluntary goings-out and comings-in through the 
 park gates. She smiled somewhat sadly as she real 
 ized that she now regarded the right to walk down 
 the village street as a boon. "I must have been 
 wickedly proud," she thought, "if it has taken so 
 much misery to make me humble." 
 
 She was infinitely sad in these times, but not self 
 ishly sad, as before in her idle days. Her face wore 
 a look of self-control and spiritual life which made 
 her marvellously beautiful. She always had a smile 
 for the soldiers, however, and for her uncle, and no 
 one found her dull company; only the hope that 
 should have gleamed in her young and lovely eyes 
 was not there to make her radiant. "Duty ought to 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 291 
 
 be sufficient," she thought every day, "and I am a 
 coward to wish it would not all last so very long. 
 The Montaubans are a long-lived race ; I am like the 
 Montaubans," she considered with a shudder. " Papa 
 died from an accident ; uncle is seventy ; fifty years 
 more of duty ! One does need courage. To-day there 
 is Kobert s bandage and Alexis s soup, and the men 
 to talk with. That is enough. When I think of 
 the fifty years, I am a coward." 
 
 She began to watch the abbe now deliberately 
 and closely, but there was nothing mysterious in his 
 conduct. The attack on ISTonneville, following Nor- 
 denfels expressed suspicion, her uncle s mention of 
 the points and lines of the astronomical chart, served 
 to make her deeply thoughtful as to the abbe s 
 honesty. "Why had they been confined to the cha 
 teau and grounds ? Why were they now at liberty ? 
 Lately she had not seen Nordenfels for any length 
 of time. He was so glad when he met her for a 
 moment, that it seemed to her the whole world must 
 see and feel the warmth in his manner and in the 
 tone of his voice. But he was scarcely at Aulnay 
 except when writing, or when from her window she 
 would see him mount his chestnut mare in the 
 court and stroke her once or twice, and speak a 
 
292 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 word to his man with a pleasant smile, then off by 
 lonely wood -road and field-path or leading a detach 
 ment into danger and bloodshed. He always came 
 back. He always took her hands as if they be 
 longed to him, and smiled his loving, honest, manly 
 smile straight down into her heart. He would say 
 hastily, " It is always service now. But this cannot 
 last long. Forgive my abruptness, and remember I 
 am coming back in a long, still time." 
 
 And she had hardly occasion to do more than look 
 at him with her questioning glance, when he was 
 gone, so full and hurried were the days. 
 
 " What did he mean by his allusion to the abbe ? 
 What was it the abbe* did with his smooth ways and 
 irreproachable life, and deep, glowing, dark eyes ? " 
 
 So she watched him, but found him harmless, stu 
 dious, innocent. 
 
 One night she could not sleep. She was young 
 still, and the restless thoughts most women can ex 
 press to some good soul and find in return something 
 like comprehension and sympathy, she held back in 
 her own heart. They preyed upon one another, and 
 threw her into an unsettled, questioning mood. 
 
 She rose impulsively, and half dressed herself, for 
 the night was cold. Throwing open her casement, she 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 293 
 
 listened to the sounds in the darkness. The atmos 
 phere was singularly clear. In the stables she heard 
 the slightest movement of the horses ; not a branch 
 was stirring in the park. She looked up towards the 
 dusky Tower, bold, strong, and broad between her and 
 the night skies. No, it was her imagination ! Surely 
 no sudden gleam of light had flashed out like an 
 unbidden thought from that darkness, and vanished 
 as if it had not been ! 
 
 Startled, she stared through the gloom. Down in 
 the park all was black, only by the yellowish lantern 
 in the court the nearer trees raised their gaunt winter 
 shapes and the snowy hedges leaned forward and 
 beckoned with their cedar fingers in a ghostly way. 
 Sight revealing nothing, she listened, every nerve 
 alert. Why she was awake, why she, above the still 
 park and court, watched by her turret casement open 
 to the night, and breathed the chill of the mid January 
 air, she did not ask herself. Against the illimitable 
 darkness that mysterious, evanescent flash had in 
 scribed itself like the fatal letters that foretold the 
 downfall of a king. 
 
 Could she have erred ? No. She saw it, rapid 
 and warm as a desire, gleaming vaguely from the 
 Tower into the vast outer world. The stars were 
 
294 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 faint, the winds were still. Silence reigned supreme. 
 Yet she knew that something was in the Tower, and 
 had sent forth, inadvertently it might be, a swift 
 reflection of an inward hidden flame far into infinite 
 space. 
 
 She listened. "Was it the beating of her heart, 
 was it the muffled, clanking movement of the night- 
 watch, was it a deep-chested horse breathing hard 
 or treading impatiently with his good hoofs, whose 
 speed had served so well the ambition and the wish 
 of man in this thing called war ? She could not tell. 
 She seemed to hear everything, more, indeed, than 
 there was to hear. Even the armoire behind her 
 seemed like a sentient thing, and innumerable voices 
 of the night spoke from within the ancient chateau, 
 from the wintry park without, in sudden imperious- 
 ness followed by a long hush and secrecy. 
 
 Above them all she distinguished stealthy move 
 ment in the Tower. Did she hear, or did she only 
 feel ? Was the Tower alive ? Had it a soul ? Two 
 o clock was striking now ; the premonitory asthmatic 
 wheeze and gasp of the great works were louder than 
 usual to-night. One two strong and solemn 
 floated in broad waves of sound out into the night, 
 over the still plain. Below, the sentries relieved 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 295 
 
 guard. The uniform cadence of their step approached 
 and retreated. Stillness far and wide for an instant. 
 How vast night was and nature ! The air was 
 painfully cold. She shivered, with a pitiful prayer 
 for the starving, freezing poor in the great besieged 
 city. 
 
 Again the Tower moved ? she asked herself, star 
 tled, straining her eyes towards its gloomy outlines. 
 No, but something some one was moving within it. 
 Soft, undefined, muffled, but distinct and incontestable 
 were the sounds which reached her casement. 
 
 Her slender turret was highest, nearest to the 
 massive church-tower. It stretched up towards it, 
 eager to penetrate its secret, whatever it might be. 
 
 She would know that secret, waking and gleaming 
 there through the night-watches. She had the right 
 to know it. Was it not the old Montauban Tower ? 
 Were the marquis not a feeble, aged man, she would 
 call him now to look after his own. Down in a room 
 below there was some one working still, it might be, 
 bending a grave, strong face over piles of reports and 
 papers. He was not aged and feeble, but young, 
 and in the full vigor of manhood. He would help 
 her. He would come with strength to serve, with 
 love in his eyes, eager to do her bidding. But, no. 
 
296 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 The quiet writer might write on. He was farther 
 away from her, more useless, more impossible to her 
 need than the marquis ; and neither the thought of 
 his good brain nor his true love and knightly strength 
 could be of any avail in this extremity. 
 
 She sighed, recoiled an instant. The way was 
 long and dark, the chateau full of men. Then she 
 prepared to go, put on soft shoes, took an unlighted 
 candle and matches in her hand. 
 
 " No one \vill hurt me," she reasoned. " Every 
 soldier knows and loves me. I am a Montauban, 
 and always have the right to go into the Montauban 
 chapel by night, too, if I wish. To whom am I 
 called upon to explain my conduct, except to my 
 uncle ? May he sleep soft this night ! The chance 
 is, I meet no one. There has surely never been 
 any sentinel on the stairways or at the entrance of 
 the gallery. I shall probably go unimpeded to the 
 Tower-room. If there is nothing wrong there, thank 
 God ! If there is, I shall know what. I do not 
 know what I await. Whom I suspect, I know too 
 well. God forgive me if I do him injustice. But I 
 must, I will know." 
 
 Quietly and calmly she chose the most practical 
 route, noiselessly descending her own winding stair- 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 297 
 
 way, avoiding the corridors nearest the officers quar 
 ters, and deliberately taking a longer turn that she 
 might pass old Jean s room instead of Manette s. 
 " The more Jean should hear, in the dead of night, 
 the less he would stir," she thought ; " while Manette 
 is more on the alert when she sleeps than most of the 
 world awake." She stopped in the passage and con 
 sidered. " Perhaps I should take Manette ? No. 
 The Countess de Vallauris cannot go to discover a 
 man s perfidy escorted by her maid. There shall be 
 no chatter. This lies between his soul and mine. If 
 I do him wrong, I will ask his pardon on my knees. 
 But he is my uncle s friend. I go alone. There are 
 moments when a woman, too, must be law unto her 
 self. Who shall dare prescribe to me the etiquette 
 of this night ? " 
 
 Her soft footfall was scarcely audible along the 
 narrow, intricate corridors of the old chateau. Where 
 the floors were of stone, she passed like a ghost. 
 When she heard a sound, she stood still, holding her 
 breath for fear, not for herself, but for the failure of 
 her undertaking. If they found her, they might 
 follow, and she alone ought to know what the old 
 Tower was doing this night. 
 
 She knelt an instant as she reached her place in 
 
298 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 the dark church, the prie-dieu where she had knelt 
 as a child, and prayed with wide-open eyes watching 
 the blue-uniformed children from an orphan school 
 file in noisily with the Sisters, whose black robes and 
 snow-white coiffes and gentle faces moved about 
 quickly until the restless little feet in heavy shoes 
 were all in their accustomed places. She used to 
 wonder why, since she was an orphan, they did not 
 put her in a blue uniform and noisy shoes, as she 
 sat in the great Montauban loge and the breeze from 
 summer meadows ruffled her hair. 
 
 Now, in the icy-cold, dark church she prayed a 
 fervent prayer for the old man sleeping the broken 
 sleep of age, for the heroic, resistant city, the very 
 heart of France, and for ah, yes, in prayer at least 
 she might remember him : one prays indeed for the 
 whole world for the man she loved. 
 
 She passed through the church, feeling her way 
 by the pillars, perceiving faintly the direction of the 
 broad windows, through which not light, indeed, but 
 its dim suggestion came. From the choir she entered 
 the sacristy, and began to mount the spiral stairway 
 which led up, up to the Tower-room. At first the 
 steps were easy and broad, but gradually they grew 
 rough, narrow, and insecure. The ascent would not 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 299 
 
 have been tempting to any woman at high noon; 
 but to that fact she gave no heed, except that she 
 mechanically placed her foot squarely and went slower 
 as the difficulties increased. Before the small door 
 of the Tower-room she paused, breathing fast. Only 
 this screen between her and what ? Under the 
 rough door was a glimmer of light. " God be with 
 me," she said, and knocked. 
 
 For answer, she heard a succession of rapid and 
 soft movements. Something like the lid of a box 
 closed with care. The glimmer under the door van 
 ished. Then there was dead silence. She made no 
 sound. The door opened stealthily. A hand, groping, 
 seized her arm roughly; she felt a cold muzzle on 
 her left temple. 
 
 The groping hand meeting soft raiment and a 
 woman s form relaxed its hold, wonderingly; the 
 revolver, in dogged defiance and self-defence, still 
 desecrated her fair head with its metallic touch. 
 
 " Do not fire, M. 1 Abbe," said a cold, proud voice. 
 " You might be surprised; and then it would make 
 a noise." 
 
 " You, madame ! " exclaimed the abbe in conster 
 nation. Then, as if relieved, " I might have known," 
 he murmured. 
 
300 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 There was a strange pause in the darkness. 
 
 " Since it must be, come in," said the abbe*, 
 pushing the door open. 
 
 She, feeling her way, entered. 
 
 He closed the door after her, and quickly lighted 
 a caudle. The first thing she saw was that the loop 
 hole windows through which wind and sunshine had 
 played freely were hermetically sealed with heavy 
 wooden shutters. Across every embrasure stretched 
 a wall of silence and mystery. The two stood 
 there as in a tomb, and stared at each other by the 
 uncertain candle-light. 
 
 " Countess," said the abbe*, not much paler than his 
 wont, riot much less calm, less master of himself, 
 " I do not ask why you are here. Since you are here, 
 you are welcome to my laboratory. Pardon my 
 rude reception. I thought you were a man, a foe. 
 Pray be seated, madame," courteously moving toward 
 her a chair standing against the wall. 
 
 " M., 1 Abbs de Navailles," began the cold, clear 
 voice, " I do ask you, without circumlocution, why 
 are you here ? And I tell you, now and for all time, 
 a woman may be a deadly foe." 
 
 He had thoroughly regained his composure. Dark, 
 earnest, with a spiritual calm beautifying his finely 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 301 
 
 cut face, he regarded benignly the lovely woman who 
 stood before him, gallantly defying him here in his 
 Tower, where his intellect laughed to scorn the 
 lumbering evolutions and circumstance below. 
 
 " In a certain sense we are well matched," thought 
 the man. "If I am cleverer, she has marvellous 
 insight, an indomitable singleness of purpose, and 
 the courage of a fiend or a Montauban. And am I 
 cleverer, after all ? " 
 
 " Why am I here ? " he answered, raising his eye 
 brows gently. " I am studying ; making my observa 
 tions, madame." 
 
 " Might I venture to inquire what kind of 
 observations ? " 
 
 His hesitation was barely perceptible. " Astro 
 nomical, madame." 
 
 She threw back her pale, beautiful face in ineffable 
 scorn. "With closed windows!" she said, with a 
 mocking smile. "M. 1 Abbd, consider! A woman 
 cannot always remain poised at fifteen between child 
 hood and life, an innocent lamb, a helpless tool. He 
 who adapts her to his uses may forget the future. 
 But the future comes on apace, the future, and the 
 day of reckoning. It is here now, for us two. I did 
 not seek it ; but we are old-time enemies." 
 
302 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 "Not enemies, never enemies," interposed the 
 sweet-voiced abbe. 
 
 " Always enemies ! " rejoined the woman s low, pas 
 sionate tone. " Why strive to conceal it now, here 
 in the old Tower of my race, with the free night-air 
 around us and God s stars above us ? What shall we 
 fear, you and I ? " 
 
 " Dear inadame, forgive an absorbed student, if, 
 thrown suddenly out of his occupation, he is at first 
 a trifle inconsiderate, forgetful of ordinary feminine 
 needs. Perhaps a little sal- volatile " He hesitated. 
 
 "You are too wise to intrude society remedies upoii 
 an incensed human soul," she rejoined coldly. " Sal- 
 volatile or subterfuge has no mission here in Aulnay 
 Tower. I am no selfish, flippant, pretentious woman, 
 demanding redress for fancied wrongs, making nerves 
 her battle-cry. I am not ill ; I am not afraid. I de 
 mand of you, face to face, as man to man, what are 
 you doing here in the dead of night ? " 
 
 " Do I need to remind you that I am the friend 
 and guest of the house, inadame ? " he asked gently. 
 " When have I been required to give account of my 
 movements ?" 
 
 "You dare to shelter yourself still behind the 
 hospitality of a Montauban ? " she flung at him with 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 303 
 
 unspeakable contempt. "I, a woman, stand here 
 unaided by paltry excuse. Throw off your disguise 
 of years. Meet me fairly, if you are a man." 
 
 " So be it," he said, folding his arms. 
 
 " What is in that chest ? " she demanded, pointing 
 towards it imperiously. 
 
 "Instruments. My property. Since when has 
 the Countess de Vallauris become a police-detective ? " 
 he replied, the softness of his voice hardly veiling his 
 satire. 
 
 " It is enough," she said curtly. " I impeach the 
 chest in general, as I impeach you. I have no curi 
 osity as to its contents." 
 
 " Examine them if you will, madame." 
 
 She waved her hand in refusal. "Again I ask, 
 what are you doing here in the Tower ? " 
 
 "Again I answer, pursuing my studies; making 
 calculations." 
 
 " You are giving signals to our army," she declared 
 low and rapidly, her eyes fixed upon his face. 
 
 After a moment s pause, outwardly unmoved, he 
 retorted, with his usual gentleness, " Our army/ 
 madame ? Pardon me if, knowing your idiosyn 
 crasies, I am forced to inquire which army." 
 
 For this thrust she was, in her present mood, 
 
304 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 unprepared. She rallied instantly. "So honest a 
 speech as that you have never made to me. Let me 
 be just." 
 
 " So unlovely a speech I have never until now had 
 occasion to make to you." 
 
 "A truce to speeches, good or bad, from you to t 
 me," she cried, with a gesture of impatience. "I 
 accuse you of treachery; of dishonoring the name 
 that shelters you, and your own; of breaking your 
 parole as a gentleman. Of the Church I do not 
 speak." 
 
 " Madame, what are so light as words ? Your 
 proofs ? " 
 
 " That you are here." 
 
 " A woman s proofs." 
 
 " I saw a gleam of light." 
 
 " Why not ? My candle, as I moved a shutter." 
 
 " You have long talks with Pierre and Antoine." 
 
 " When was I ever neglectful of my poor ? " 
 
 " You see and hear all, feigning to be self-absorbed. 
 You watch while you pray. Your eyes burn like 
 smouldering fires." 
 
 "Dear madame, you are wandering from your 
 theme. A description of my unimportant personality 
 is no proof of what you call treachery." 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 305 
 
 " There are sorties all around us." 
 
 " Would you have the French less active and less 
 successful, madame ? " 
 
 " And I I feel through your calmness, through 
 your very silence, your clear foreknowledge of our 
 movements." 
 
 " Your feelings, madame, with all deference, would 
 have no weight in any court. When you accuse a 
 man of dishonor, you must be careful to collect your 
 evidence." 
 
 She started and looked at him wonderingly. " Not 
 yet ? " she said. " As you say, words are light. Those 
 burdened with most solemn accusation fall impercep 
 tibly from you. I am in truth no lawyer to quibble 
 over terms ; and this is no court demanding legal 
 proofs. Yet because I, the child of the house which 
 has extended to you the friendship of years, stand 
 here with no witnesses save our own consciences and 
 God, charging you with base perfidy, with breaking 
 your pledged word, with disgrace to yourself and the 
 honorable roof that shelters you, I demand, whom 
 ever you would evade, that you answer me." 
 
 He moved a step away, then faced her again, 
 speaking softly : " Madame, in this world honor and 
 dishonor have variable meanings. I have never 
 
 20 
 
306 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 failed in respect towards you. I ask you now, is 
 your own conscience clear ? " 
 
 She waited silently for his attack. 
 
 " In your interpretation of the word honor/ " his 
 calm, trained voice continued, " do you allow a violent 
 passion for the sworn enemy of one s native land ? 
 In my turn, I accuse you of hanging with all your 
 heart and soul upon the existence of your German 
 lover. I accuse you of a consuming attachment 
 which makes you weak and blind. Your free, 
 pure thought for France has sickened ; your honest 
 prejudices have vanished. Lukewarm to your duty, 
 you disregard the noblest opportunities. You have 
 lost your strength of moral purpose. You have re 
 nounced your land. You love Baron Nordenfels." 
 
 A full long minute passed before she answered 
 low, " And if it were true ? If I do love him, what 
 then ? " She was not looking at the abbe now, but 
 beyond him with thoughtful eyes, and a strange calm 
 on her white face. 
 
 " To yield to such a love is dishonor ; to conquer 
 it, honor ; to use it with high aims, trampling upon 
 the natural instincts, glorious," he urged. 
 
 " How would one use such love ? " demanded the 
 pale woman with slow and gentle utterance. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 307 
 
 Like the weird flash of light on the night skies, 
 a sudden flame leaped into his dark face. " How ? 
 Do you ask ? What cannot a woman like you ac 
 complish if she will ? Can one estimate the results, 
 had you from the first been docile, been far-seeing, 
 wise, you, with your marvellous beauty, your 
 subtle charm, that would make you beautiful had 
 you no loveliness of face and form ? Passive, self- 
 absorbed, like a commonplace woman whose highest 
 aspiration is a little billing and Cooing and then a 
 prosaic menage, you have lived now months among 
 these men. They would have adored you, worshipped 
 you, been your slaves and chattels, had you so willed. 
 What is men s adoration ? A breath, a brief intoxi 
 cation, I grant; but the world had never known a 
 better use of witchery than you, niadame, could have 
 royally commanded here. Not a movement of your 
 finger but might have signalled the advance or re 
 treat of armies. Every glance of your eyes, every 
 low word of your lips, could have been consecrated 
 to the good of France. Ah, madame, to see your 
 intellect, your beauty, dull, sluggish, and purposeless, 
 while France suffers, struggles, bleeds before your 
 eyes ; to see you wasting your God-given powers in 
 cowardice and womanish, weak desire, reaching with 
 
308 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 every tendril of your heart towards a love that de 
 grades you, this has been agony to me ! " He 
 covered his face and turned away. 
 
 She had clasped her hands closer and closer as his 
 low, vehement words poured on. Now she threw 
 back her head and gazed up in solemn appeal to 
 eternal justice and law. 
 
 " A spy," she answered, her scorn so vast it had no 
 vent save in simplicity, "a spy is what you would 
 have made of me, what you are ! " 
 
 " Words, madame, I repeat, have a relative signifi 
 cation. Honor, dishonor, spy, treachery, you use 
 freely. Ehetoric has no power to wound me. A 
 petty measure cannot measure my life. I am ac 
 countable only to my God." He too looked up sol 
 emnly, as if seeing the boundless sweep of dusky 
 heavens bending over him, and his spiritual rapt gaze 
 sought fearlessly his supreme judge. 
 
 " M. 1 Abbe de Navailles, even in this moment 
 I am thankful for one thing, that I have not 
 done you a great wrong, an unpardonable injustice. 
 As I mounted to this Tower- room my soul was on 
 its knees before you, begging you to forgive if I had 
 been so base as to suspect you of such badness. 
 But I need to crave no pardon from you; my soul 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 309 
 
 may stand erect before yours. God judge between 
 us. I am alone, I am sorely tried, a woman without 
 hope. My faults and weaknesses are many ; but 
 my spirit craves purity and truth ; and wherever I 
 fail, wherever I sin, you may not condemn me, for 
 your praise or blame have no meaning, your prayers, 
 your curse, no weight with me. Your God is not my 
 God. If I were on my death-bed, I would forgive 
 you the wrongs you have done me ; but never again 
 shall you influence my life. False and baneful is 
 your light; your smile is a lie, your gentleness a 
 poisonous flower." 
 
 " Ehetoric again," said the abbe*, mildly. 
 
 She extended both hands, palms outward, with a 
 slow, repelling gesture. 
 
 " I repudiate you and all the cruel past that was 
 your work. There was a child here once, M. 1 Abbe, 
 a lonely child, yet happy enough, being young. You 
 killed her youth, her happiness, her hope." 
 
 "Dear countess, if you choose to be romantic in 
 your retrospection." He shrugged his shoulders 
 slightly. 
 
 " It is not romance. It is the sober truth. When 
 you brought the Count de Vallauris to Aulnay, had 
 you no pity, had you no heart ? " 
 
310 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 "Dear madame, of all things I have my own 
 opinions. Matrimony to me and to a milliner s 
 apprentice naturally represents a different force in 
 this world s problems. I would have treated a mil 
 liner s apprentice one way. I treated Mademoiselle 
 de Montauban in another. I accredited her with a 
 higher nature, higher needs." 
 
 " And for that reason you sacrificed an innocent 
 child to a profligate old man ? " 
 
 " Madame, I have every consciousness of having 
 done my duty towards you. The Count de Vallauris 
 frailties have been summoned before a higher tribu 
 nal. Peace to his soul ! There are some things one 
 can scarcely touch upon." 
 
 "And I believe it would be a better place, this 
 cowardly, false world, if a few rare souls should spurn 
 restraint and speak out plainly what they think. 
 What crimes are not committed in the name of tact, 
 refinement, discretion, what sins of meanness and 
 falsehood ! What have I gained by silence through 
 the years ? My resistance against you was sure and 
 strong. I yielded to my conventional training. I 
 spared you, sought to shield you from my own dis 
 trust. This is the end." 
 
 " Countess, even your judgment is not infallible, and 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 311 
 
 your kindest impulse toward me may be the truest 
 and the best. Consider ; I am twice as old as you, 
 a thoughtful, gloomy man. How can you probe my 
 conscience ? Admit still you may be unjust. Believe 
 me, I am, and must remain, an enigma to such as 
 you." 
 
 The music of his voice would have calmed a rest 
 less, frightened child. His lofty, ascetic head towered 
 above her with the spiritual beauty of a Saint Casi- 
 mir. Even in her deadly opposition she recognized 
 that he was a man, that his acts were guided by a 
 masterful intellect, that a less wronged mortal might 
 have yielded to his magnetism, putting weak hands 
 in his, with a trusting " Do with me as you will." 
 But for her his subtle mastery and his eloquent 
 charm were nought. A strong, sun-browned young 
 knight with deep-set eyes and fair hair like a Norse 
 hero, couching his lance in honor though beset by a 
 thousand foes, stood by her now, unseen, and helped 
 her to overthrow the abbe s precious casuistries. 
 
 " The clay he came, the yellow old count with 
 his evil eyes and double chin, I cried because he was 
 not like my friend Sophie s fiance , slender in the 
 waist, and with a merry, young smile. Fresh from 
 the convent, still loving my row of dolls in the glass 
 
312 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 case in my turret-room, could I know what horror, 
 what endless misery you were preparing for me ? " 
 
 " I, dear madame ? Am I the instigator of human 
 necessities and social complications ? " 
 
 " Of mine, yes. Your insatiable planning knows 
 no end, no rest. Your passion for influence is beyond 
 all bounds. Was it fortune for the Church, was 
 it the hope of a human life in your clutches, that 
 made you sacrifice that poor child I once was ? " 
 
 " Madame, madame, believe me, you do me gross 
 injustice," interposed his gentle remonstrance. 
 
 " Do you remember the day they told me I was to 
 marry him ? He kissed me on my cheek before you 
 all. I ran upstairs, and with the nail-brush and 
 much soap scoured my face relentlessly, my solemn, 
 sympathetic row of dolls looking on. God knows I 
 would wash away from my life every loathsome 
 touch and word of his that chilled my youth for 
 ever." 
 
 " Madame ! " deprecatingly. 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I know. In our world everything is 
 admissible save the honest expression of human feel 
 ing. But do not fear. The story of my wrongs shall 
 never weary you. I tried to be patient, to endure, to 
 have courage. Yet now as I look back upon that 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 313 
 
 lonesome time, I tell you that you are responsible for 
 every odious moment, for every loveless memory. 
 Did you all wonder that I wept so long when he 
 died ? I was weeping, not for him, but for what 
 might have been and was not, for my lost and 
 desecrated youth, vaguely for the love I had not 
 known, and longing passionately to purify my life 
 from every unhallowed association." 
 
 " Milkmaid romanticism ! " murmured the abbe*. 
 
 " He died well shrived. That is the best that can 
 be said. Ah, how well I remember it all, every de 
 tail from the beginning to the end. My aunt told me 
 in those first days that very vulgar notions were poi 
 soning the Sacre* Coeur. In her time there was no 
 thought of lovers. One took what was presented to 
 one. She was affectionately astonished at my feeble 
 and ignorant resistance. It did not last very long. 
 I said he was old and ugly. It did not matter/ she 
 replied, he is a Vallauris. In these days of mesal 
 liances, of irreligion and emancipation, it is the duty 
 and the privilege of a Montauban to follow the old 
 regime. The blessing of the Church rests upon the 
 union of a Vallauris and a Montauban. I listened, 
 and yielded from the mere habit of obedience. I 
 regularly washed off the touch of his lips from my 
 
314 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 cheek, from my hand, and went to the altar in good 
 spirits, much interested in my first long train. God 
 pity rne ! " 
 
 " Is your fate, then, so different from that of other 
 women ? " inquired the gentle voice. 
 
 " I do not know. I do not ask. I had one chance. 
 You gambled with it. I had my girlhood, my illu 
 sions. You destroyed them." 
 
 " Why summon these reminiscences to occupy us 
 now ? " 
 
 " Because, once before I die, I would like to free 
 my mind of the old weight. Now, for the first time, 
 I know what I have lost, and what your sin against 
 me is. You sneer at what you call commonplace, 
 womanish desires. Know, then, these would com 
 prise my horizon of happiness, the man I love 
 beside me, and my children on my breast, something 
 near, something warm ; not these separate cold worlds 
 rolling on in mysterious space like you and the dear 
 old uncle and me. Is that life ? " 
 
 " And your ambition is so low ? Has the German 
 done all this?" 
 
 "Ah," she said simply, "a woman has but one 
 life, but one chance of happiness. It is love." 
 
 " And her country ? " 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 315 
 
 " A woman s home is her country." 
 " Is there no higher voice than her own desires ? " 
 " God created her to love and to be loved." 
 " To love a foreigner and an enemy ? " 
 " Who shall condemn ? We are foreign to life 
 long neighbors. There are foes in our own house 
 holds. Friends are born, not made ; and longing 
 souls traverse unwittingly geographical lines, politi 
 cal boundaries, and time and space, to meet. No 
 language, no nation, monopolizes love. Love is 
 boundless, universal, eternal, the spirit of the living 
 God." 
 
 " That means, then, you will marry him ? " 
 A strange, wondering look overspread her face. 
 " Marry him ? " she repeated softly. 
 
 "And forget, between your kisses, the Frenchmen 
 your lover has slain ? " 
 
 She straightened herself haughtily. " M. 1 Abbe", 
 I have already intimated to you that you have no 
 share in my fate. Moreover, not to be questioned, 
 but to question, am I here. What I may choose to 
 do, to be, I determine regardless of you. Leave me 
 henceforth out of your calculations ; our ways are 
 apart. You are a false friend, a traitor." 
 
 "Madame, you accuse me, I accuse you. But 
 
316 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 recrimination is not argument. Let us come to some 
 conclusion." 
 
 " You have broken your pledged word. You 
 have betrayed the honor of our house. That is my 
 conclusion." 
 
 " As I have previously said, madame, of that you 
 have no proofs." 
 
 " Proofs ! I know. I could expose you to the 
 world." 
 
 " But you would not, countess, even if all you say 
 were true," he rejoined quietly. " A friend of the 
 Marquis de Montauban, a lover of France, is safe 
 with you, though he were thrice a traitor. Person 
 ally, I trust myself with you as if you were my 
 angel. And yet, remember, madame, for justice sake, 
 you have no proof." 
 
 " You can never deceive me again," she said. " It 
 is well that I came. Now I will go. And what use 
 I shall make of my discovery I do not promise." 
 
 He smiled in perfect security. " I know you, 
 madame. I trust you to the death." 
 
 " Rely upon nothing. I must think. I shall do 
 what seems right. Between us two is not the shadow 
 of a bond." 
 
 She opened the door. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 317 
 
 " Softly, countess, and slowly. Will you not take 
 my hand ? " 
 
 " I fear nothing. Remain where you are." 
 
 " As you wish," he whispered. " It is true, you are 
 safer alone." 
 
 Down the interminable winding stairs, through 
 the little church, the echoing gallery, the silent cor 
 ridors, she made her way, unseen, back to her turret- 
 room. Looking round on its innocent four walls, 
 it seemed to her she had returned from the unreal, 
 barren, dreary journey of a terrible dream. " Would 
 it were a dream!" she moaned. "Would I could 
 awake from this oppression, doubt, and loneliness ! or 
 would I might never wake again ! " 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE last, supreme, desperate effort of the de 
 fenders of Paris took place on the 19th of January, 
 when a sortie from Mont Valerien was attempted 
 with one hundred thousand men. This also failed 
 to break through the besieging lines. The situation 
 of Paris was hopeless. 
 
 At the Saxon headquarters they were planning 
 revenge for Nonneville. It was decided that Grosley 
 Farm, since the 21st of December strongly occupied 
 by the French, should be attacked in the early morn 
 ing of the 19th. 
 
 Adjutant von ISTorclenfels brought the command 
 from Vert Galant towards evening of the 18th. 
 Colonel von Linden conferred with two of his most 
 determined company chefs, and walking up and clown 
 in a long alley of the park, communicated to them 
 the instructions. Upon von Nordenfels, thoroughly 
 acquainted with the whole region, devolved the re 
 sponsibility of accompanying the column in order to 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 319 
 
 effect a junction between the Grenadiers attacking 
 Grosley Farm and the Prussian Guards who were 
 to advance simultaneously upon the neighboring vil 
 lage of Drancy. At four o clock two companies 
 of Grenadiers were to stand at the south side of 
 Aulnay, and from there take the road along the 
 wood towards Grosley Farm. All details were dis 
 cussed exhaustively. 
 
 Madame de Yallauris, anxious and watchful now 
 as a conspirator, saw the officers stroll into the park 
 and later return to the chateau. Moved by a curious 
 instinct she quickly started down the path from 
 which they had come. In the dusk she met the 
 abbe* face to face, pacing slowly by the thuya groups, 
 his arms folded across his breast, his thoughtful head 
 bent down. 
 
 " Ah, madame, have you come out for a little air ? " 
 he said pleasantly. 
 
 " You have been listening, M. 1 AbbeV 
 
 " To the wind in the tree-tops." 
 
 " To the plans of the Germans." 
 
 " The park is large. There is room for them and 
 me. * I did not disturb the gentlemen." 
 
 " Ah, shame ! " she murmured in distress. 
 
 "You are trembling, madame," he said kindly. 
 
320 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 " It is a cliilly evening. Pray do not remain standing 
 here. Shall we not walk ? " 
 
 " I tremble from indignation, from pain and horror. 
 You will betray them, now, up there, in the Tower. 
 In some secret way you will reveal what you have 
 heard, and work against them. You cannot deny it." 
 
 " Would you wish me to work for them ? " he 
 asked quickly. 
 
 "Not that," she said, "not that, but all in honor." 
 
 "Do not be agitated, countess. Let us go in now. 
 Why disturb yourself, indeed ? " he pleaded. 
 
 " Promise me not to go up. to the Tower this night. 
 Promise it for all our sakes. Let the victory be as 
 God wills. See, I am speaking now without reproach, 
 or heat, or rancor." 
 
 "You are speaking like an angel," he rejoined, 
 touched by her sorrowful voice ; " but the victory 
 will be as God wills, whether I go east or west." 
 
 " I beg, I implore you not to go to the Tower." 
 
 " Why should your thoughts dwell continually on 
 the Tower ? " 
 
 " Do not seek to evade. It is too late." 
 
 " You are imaginative, madame." 
 
 "On the contrary, I know the Germans have some 
 deep plan afoot. I know you will thwart them if 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 321 
 
 you can. I know, too, we have been watched and 
 set free alternately in an inexplicable manner. Un 
 doubtedly we are still under surveillance. Undoubt 
 edly your mysterious night-messages are suspected. 
 Now I understand what seemed a heartless insult 
 to our honorable house. See, I am talking plain 
 sense, facts. I warn you for your own sake. If 
 you go on, you are in personal danger." 
 
 " In any event, the weakest plea to use to me," he 
 interposed gently. 
 
 "I grant that," she returned in the same low, 
 hurried tone. " I do not doubt your bravery. Then, 
 for my uncle s sake. He loves you. Peril to you 
 would make him wretched. You refuse to consider 
 the honor of his house. But you are his friend ; for 
 friendship s sake, for affection s sake, and long com 
 panionship, do not hurt him so cruelly. There are 
 things one cannot do, weapons one cannot stoop to 
 use, no, not to save one s soul." 
 
 " You do not know how you pain me/ he returned 
 with deep sadness. 
 
 " You remain obdurate, insensible to every appeal ? 
 
 Honor has no weight with you, nor friendship and 
 
 old ties, nor that I come in tears and beg, that I 
 
 beg of you ! It seems to me that that alone might 
 
 21 
 
322 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 move you, for I have never loved or trusted you, or 
 asked aught at your hands. In kindness, gentleness, 
 I beg you, let me not plead in vain. I will forget the 
 past, I will forget what I know. Kenounce your pur 
 pose, sacrifice it to my prayer." 
 
 " You grieve me much," he said softly. 
 
 " Once more I entreat you." 
 
 " I promise nothing ; and observe, I admit nothing, 
 madame." 
 
 " Then hold me responsible for nothing," she ex 
 claimed desperately. " I warn you. I cannot longer 
 share an evil secret. It oppresses me, terrifies me. 
 The air has murder in it. It is a dastardly, dishonor 
 able thing that you mean to do this night." 
 
 "The choice of words is yours, madame. Your 
 fancy leads you far," he returned gently. 
 
 " I am free to reveal your course to whomever I 
 will." 
 
 " Free ? Ah, madame, you cannot reveal what 
 you do not know. But if the innermost thoughts of 
 my brain, and the deepest desire of my heart, and my 
 life itself lay at your mercy, I would have no fear of 
 you. No, not even in your lover s arms would you 
 betray me. You are a rare soul. I trust you, I 
 reverence you. Whatever comes, remember that. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 323 
 
 Eemember, too, a man s whole scheme of duty may 
 conflict with yours, and yet " he paused an instant 
 " it is his duty, and he follows it. For this mo 
 ment s pain, forgive me. It is inevitable. Yet, believe 
 me, I grieve to see you suffer. And now go in, ma- 
 dame, I beg. It is cold here, and you have nothing 
 to gain from me by remaining. All as God wills." 
 
 Sad, and vaguely alarmed, she returned to the cha 
 teau and went directly in to dinner, her face extremely 
 pale, her eyes luminous from the air and darkness and 
 her great excitement. The abbe* came in shortly after, 
 gentle and unmoved. The marquis prattled like an un 
 conscious child to her, to him, to them all, and after 
 wards sat down cheerfully to a game of be zique. 
 
 Later, Nordenfels and the countess stood in the 
 library, where he had begged her to come. It did not 
 surprise her that he gravely asked, or that she simply 
 came with him, or that he closed the doors, then stood 
 there tall and silent, looking at her. She had never 
 seen his face so earnest. Again he wore a tea-rose 
 from Vert Galant. She fastened her eyes upon it, 
 and felt strangely miserable, and knew not w,hat she 
 feared. 
 
 " I thank you for granting me an interview," he said. 
 
 " I had no wish to refuse you." 
 
324 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " This will be a critical night. I need not hesitate 
 to tell you that." 
 
 " I feel it, without words/ she murmured. 
 
 " I do not know why my mood is so heavy. Action 
 has always roused me before this. You will not think 
 I am a coward, if I tell you I am depressed and sad ? " 
 He smiled a little as he spoke. 
 
 She could have wept for grief and fear. She trem 
 bled, but made an effort to control herself. " You are 
 very sombre. Does a brave man have premonitions 
 like a foolish woman ? " 
 
 He came nearer and spoke lower, and took her 
 hands, and drew her towards him. " There are many 
 things a brave man may fear. It may be some of us 
 will never come back. It may be I shall never see 
 your face again. It may be who knows what the 
 chances are ? " he said abruptly. " Death may be 
 near or far ; but I cannot go from you this night with 
 out telling you once more how I love you, how truly 
 and tenderly with my whole soul." 
 
 She grew paler under his gaze, and caught her 
 breath with a suppressed sob. " Let us go back to 
 the others," she said faintly. 
 
 "Not to-night. Do not silence me to-night. I 
 love you love you love you Nathalie 1 " 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 325 
 
 She covered her face with her hands. How sweet his 
 voice was ! Where should she find strength to resist ? 
 
 Suddenly he put his arms round her, and kissed 
 her bent head, her hands, her hair, with innumerable 
 kisses, holding her close against his breast and mur 
 muring, " Forgive me dear heart my love 
 forgive ! " 
 
 One moment she lay in his arms, unresisting, then 
 she drew back and raised her sad eyes to his. 
 
 " If you would say once that you love me," he 
 pleaded. 
 
 " I could have loved you well." 
 
 He smiled his radiant, glad smile. " That is 
 enough. You love me, then." 
 
 " There is a world of sin and pain between us." 
 
 "We will bridge it over," he replied, extending 
 eager arms. 
 
 " No, no ! " She shuddered and drew back, " There 
 are rivers of blood between us, and graves, and 
 anguish, and the battlefields of France. Nothing 
 can bridge those over." 
 
 Thoughtfully he looked at her. Most lovingly 
 and simply he spoke : " Have we not discussed that 
 before ? Trust me, it will not last. Trust me, be 
 loved! Let me go from you with your promise." 
 
326 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 " I will pray for you," she murmured. 
 
 " As my promised wife ? " persisted his loving 
 voice. 
 
 She looked at him with infinite longing. " His 
 promised wife!" All peace, all loveliness, all bliss, 
 was comprised in those three words. Like a fleeting 
 dream of a lost paradise she saw what might have 
 been. She looked at him and longed to whisper, 
 " Take me and love me ; you are my fearless, perfect 
 knight. You restore to me the freshness of my 
 belief in man s goodness and man s honor. I have 
 no life but you." She looked at him and longed to 
 say as to her other self, " What I know, you must 
 know. Your secret plans this night are revealed. 
 You go to meet a warned and dangerous foe. There 
 is perfidy lurking near. Be cautious; be wise; or, 
 better, do not go." But she only said, "As your 
 friend, no more, I will pray for you." 
 
 " Nathalie, there is nothing real between us," he 
 exclaimed passionately. 
 
 " There is my country, my religion." 
 
 " A woman s home is her country." 
 
 Had she not used those very words ? But now she 
 answered, " Not mine." 
 
 " And religion ? " he repeated simply. " What 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 327 
 
 does that matter ? Why should you not keep your 
 religion and I my own ? " 
 
 " I cannot," she cried desperately. " Have pity. 
 Do not urge me." Always she was thinking of the 
 Tower and its fatal secret. 
 
 He waited an instant. " You are confused," he 
 began gravely. " You are weary. These war-times 
 prevent you from seeing clearly. But war and win 
 ter will pass away/ how his voice thrilled her ! 
 " and another time will come for us two, spring 
 time and love and happiness. Ah, do not think me 
 too bold, too sure ! But I love you so, and you have 
 given me the right to believe I am dear to you. 
 Why, then, shall I not hope ? I would be no man if 
 if I could give you up. And for a shadow never ! " 
 
 Should she not warn him ? He stood there so 
 beautiful in his tenderness, so strong in his hope, 
 so brave, so true. If he were going forth to die ! 
 If the very signal flashing this instant from the 
 Tower should bring death to him to him ! Why 
 not ? It would mean death to many. She could 
 not bear it. Life was too cruel. War, hideous 
 war everywhere, and her soul in agonies of doubt. 
 Should she warn him ? But the signals in the Tower, 
 wicked though they were, w r ould gleam for France. 
 
328 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 It was all wrong. Life was one great, cruel, con 
 flicting pain. 
 
 " Are you frightened ? " Max resumed lovingly. 
 " Did I frighten you ? You are so pale, so wan. 
 Dearest, forgive me before I go, for everything. I have 
 been awkward with you and abrupt. But it has 
 not been an easy time for me. It has been hard for 
 us both. I must leave you. There is so much I 
 thought I had to say. I have forgotten all except 
 that I love you. Ah, the little rose ! I brought it for 
 you from Vert Galant." 
 
 " I have kept the other," she murmured half in- 
 audibly. " I shall always keep it. It is enough. 
 Wear this one as your talisman." She pressed a 
 long kiss in its heart, and with trembling hands 
 slipped it again through his buttonhole. 
 
 " I shall come back," he said, " and then you will 
 say Yes/ " 
 
 " I shall say No always forever." 
 
 The Tower, the cruel Tower ! 
 
 " Farewell. God bless you ! I must go. Your 
 promise would have made me glad and strong. But 
 I can wait. When you are one day my own beloved 
 wife, you will forget that we are not of one land, 
 one race. Believe me. Trust me." 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 329 
 
 "I who love you, love you so, ain letting you go 
 forth to your death," was her whole thought. She 
 trembled violently. 
 
 " Farewell." Exhausted from her conflict, hope 
 less, she felt herself clasped in his strong arms and 
 kissed silently, her forehead, eyelids, cheeks, and lips. 
 " Now now, surely, I shall come back, my own 
 beloved," he murmured exultingly. 
 
 The night was very dark. A bleak west wind 
 blew from Grosley Farm. There was no rest for 
 her, and if in her soul patriotism had conquered 
 love, love struggled still and asked in wild reproach, 
 "Why have you wronged me so? " 
 
 No sound came from the black, silent mass. The 
 troops began to muster. She saw them go by. Nor- 
 denfels rode under the lanterns of the court, with a 
 long searching look towards her window. She saw 
 the rose distinctly. His face looked gray and stern. 
 
 They were gone. What would come from this 
 night ? Where were they going ? What did it 
 mean ? It was terrible to be a woman, to suffer and 
 never to act. She waited with nameless dread a 
 long and wretched hour. She opened her window. 
 There were regular steps down in the court. It 
 struck five. She heard in the distance scattering 
 
330 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 shots, a long, deep hurrah, more scattering fire, then 
 stillness. 
 
 At this moment a rider on a foaming horse dashed 
 into the court-yard, where von Linden paced rest 
 lessly to and fro, listening, waiting. The orderly 
 passed the colonel a paper on which were three 
 words, "Aulnay Tower signals." 
 
 Colonel von Linden gave a "brief order to an 
 officer, who sprang towards the guard-house, and 
 returned immediately with an under-officer and three 
 men, entered the chateau, passed through it, the gal 
 lery, and the church, and ascended the Tower. The 
 door of the Tower-room was locked. They beat it 
 open with the butt-ends of their guns. By the 
 gleam of a blind lantern they perceived two figures. 
 Two shots from a revolver greeted the intruders. 
 Instantly the abbe*, pierced through the breast by 
 the uuder-officer s bayonet, sank lifeless upon the 
 floor. The other figure was seized, disarmed, bound, 
 and led into the court, where he was discovered to be 
 one of the fishers on the Ourcq Canal. Concealed 
 upon his person were memoranda in the abbe s hand 
 writing giving minute information as to the position 
 and strength of the German troops, as well as sketches 
 of the recently constructed batteries near Aulnay and 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 331 
 
 Fontenay Farm. The fisher Antoine was shot the 
 following day, Pierre placed in safe keeping. 
 
 From Grosley Farm was now heard the sound of 
 renewed and violent musketry-fire, which continued 
 persistently, then suddenly ceased. An officer soon 
 arrived at Aulnay with the announcement that Gros 
 ley Farm was taken, five officers and over a hundred 
 men prisv ers. The renewed fire had been caused 
 by French reinforcements who had been driven back 
 by the Prussian Guards coming from Drancy. Gros 
 ley Farm was burnt to the ground. The two Grena 
 dier companies returned in triumph to Aulnay. 
 
 It was clear daylight as they marched into the 
 village. Behind them the wounded slowly followed, 
 and still later five ambulances bearing the bodies of 
 the brave fellows who had paid with their lives for 
 the victory. 
 
 In this sad group, on one of the last stretchers, lay 
 Max von Nordenfels, living still, but unconscious, and 
 dangerously wounded. A musket-ball had pierced 
 his breast exactly where Nathalie had placed her 
 talisman, the rose of Vert Galant. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MANETTE, with vivid green satin ribbons fluttering 
 from her coquettish cap, her dainty apron, her sleeves, 
 her skirts, danced ecstatically through chateau and 
 village. 
 
 "But, no! This appropriateness !" she would ex 
 claim to Wackermann, as she and her vast good- 
 natured grinning swain met by her appointment in 
 odd corners and the twilight. Though there seemed 
 to be no earthly reason why they should not meet in 
 broad daylight anywhere, and at any time, as honest 
 lovers on the eve of marriage, Manette insisted upon 
 the rendezvous system. 
 
 "The magnifying-glass is death to illusions," she 
 reflected. "A perfect toilet should be a profound 
 mystery, and love also needs subtle draperies, con 
 voluted surprises. Why sit and stare at my good 
 Wackermann by stuffy lamplight, when the vegetable- 
 garden invites us to its shades ? Expectation makes 
 a blessing dear ; and then in the enhancing darkness 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 333 
 
 he can think I m anybody he chooses, and I can find 
 in him all the charmers I have known. 
 
 " Just Heaven ! I shall rendezvous until I in gray, 
 with Wackermann, of course with Wackermann ! 
 If everybody knew his trade as well as I do mine, 
 the world would go smoother. The toilet and the 
 heart, that is the twin study to which I devote 
 my powers ; and, modestly speaking, I am a success. 
 Mystery, mystery is indispensable in both depart 
 ments." 
 
 Foolish little Manette, the child of this generation, 
 may have been wiser in her generation than the chil 
 dren of light. While her display of ribbons and ideas 
 provoked a smile, her swift light feet, her steady 
 hand, her practical, shrewd head, were helpful to an 
 extreme degree to the Countess Nathalie ; and as 
 well as Manette knew how to count her pennies and 
 buy her ribbons cheap, she spared neither time nor 
 pains, nor her energies, nor good hours of rest and 
 sleep, but spent them all with a grand extravagance 
 for her mistress. 
 
 Sententious, flippant, pretentious, and honest, the 
 most expert actress, the veriest, most transparent 
 child, the little maid played her elfish, eccentric part 
 well in this world s drama, and Nathalie loved her 
 
334 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 gratefully. " I do not know what others see in 
 her," she said once long after, " but the comfort she 
 was to me in those terrible months I can never ex 
 press. Her words and ways are absurd. Her actual 
 being is dear and good. One learns many things in 
 war-times." 
 
 " Green ribbons are my duty," Manette announced. 
 " From my duty I never shrink. Green is my most 
 unbecoming color, one distinct step worse than blue. 
 What does it matter ? Green is one of the vicissi 
 tudes of changeful time. I endure with stoicism, 
 with heroic smiles. I knew enough few women 
 would have been sly enough for that to choose 
 satin, not gros-grain. When a color does not suit, 
 satin lends a shimmer, a subtlety. Gros-grain is pro 
 nounced honesty, clear and uncompromising. None 
 of that for me ! Let my pills be threefold sugar- 
 coated! Otherwise life is unscrupulously disagree 
 able. Green green, was that easy for me to swallow, 
 with my sallow skin, my yellow influence, my round 
 black eyes, that demanded a mellow glamour of blind 
 ing color and tone ? But green I wear, though the 
 skies fall. In the stars it is written. Wait," she 
 said to Wackermann, " till the rosy spring bursts 
 forth." 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 335 
 
 " Spring is n t rosy," answered her smiling giant. 
 
 " Never mind, stupid. You do not understand. All 
 the better. Every great mind works alone. In the 
 springtime, in the springtime you will open your 
 sleepy blue eyes to see the rose-colored ribbons, 
 love s banners, flying everywhere. 
 
 " Just Heaven ! He dangerously wounded ; you 
 slightly wounded ! He forced to remain ; you per 
 mitted to remain ! She the gracious countess, I her 
 devoted maid, called upon for different yet similar 
 services ! The appropriateness ! The arrangement ! 
 The unique and perfect picture ! Don t talk to me 
 about his not recovering. There is always a denoih- 
 ment. Things don t end in any slipshod way. What 
 began with trumpets and inspiring flags and beautiful 
 dears in uniforms does n t go out like a tallow dip. 
 Nature, too, has its appropriateness. Mark my words. 
 The doctor may look solemn, the countess may look 
 pale, but the patient s going to recover. Max Baron 
 von Nordenfels will be his handsome, strong self 
 again, with an elegant way of walking, and speaking, 
 and mounting his horse, that nobody ever did see. 
 After the green ribbons of hope will follow the 
 glowing rose of dawning love, the rose of promise 
 and of passion. Just Heaven ! How bewitching I 
 
336 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 shall look! Ten years younger than in green, and 
 a world more innocent. Wackermann will scarcely 
 recognize me. All the better. The unbecoming, 
 discreetly chosen, has also its uses." 
 
 The people were coming back to the village 
 now, wan, hungry-looking beings, to their battered, 
 misused houses. One home had lost a mother 
 during the siege; another, the strong and cheery 
 father; and many a young son was missing. Yet 
 the war was over, spring would soon burst forth 
 from the silent earth, and hope began to blossom in 
 the village heart. The plain grew vast and still again, 
 except for small, rustic sounds. The sharp, cruel mus 
 ketry, the roll of artillery, the smoke, the flash, the 
 clank of arms, the ominous human tramp, the rhyth 
 mical, eloquent hoof, all was gone. Bound the wise 
 old Tower played balmy February breezes, the har 
 bingers of spring ; and not one of its gray stones 
 betrayed what it had known and seen. 
 
 The marquis missed the abbe* at first, but not, in 
 deed, as youth mourns for a friend. " It was a sad 
 thing," he would say. "A fine man in the prime of 
 life. That he should go first and I remain! He 
 had a stroke, you know ; seized in the old Tower. 
 Astronomy was his favorite pursuit. A scholarly 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 337 
 
 man, my poor friend the abbe^ a sad, sad loss to 
 me ! To think he should be taken first into the 
 poppied sleep/ as the poet says, the poppied 
 sleep. " Then he would smile in his far-off way, 
 and speak of the weather, and the village, in which 
 he took much interest. 
 
 In the largest, airiest room overlooking the park, 
 a long, still work was begun, a work of unwearying 
 care and patience, of inexhaustible tenderness, ardu 
 ous in its simplicity, exclusive, soul-absorbing. Is it 
 a light task to sit in a low chair hour after hour by 
 an invalid s bedside, to watch his sleep, to renew the 
 cool bandage on a burning wound, to moisten his 
 parched lips with a strengthening drink, to administer 
 a quieting medicine, to deftly turn a pillow making 
 it light and cool to the weary head ? Yet who may 
 estimate the weight of anxiety, the painful soul- 
 tension, with which one hangs on every quiver of 
 an eyelash, on every trembling of the lip, on every 
 faint, faint breath ? Upon one moment s sleep, one 
 moment s forgetfulness, the life of a human soul may 
 depend. In the solemn night little acts of succor are 
 pregnant with magnitude and meaning. Slowly and 
 heavily fall the otherwise fleeting seconds into the 
 illimitable sea of eternity. The rush and pressure, 
 
 22 
 
338 A ULNA Y TOWER. 
 
 the striving and noise of the tumultuous world with 
 out, grows petty and colorless in contrast to the 
 still, white bed on which the loved one lies. Four 
 walls enclose one s whole future, all one s hope ; and 
 the sacred present task is to arrest the cold hand of 
 the weird sister, already poised above the precious 
 vital thread. Like a fragile spring blossom raising 
 its timid head among the snow-drifts, still threatened 
 by the wintry blast, the longed-for convalescence 
 creeps softly on. Then the heart of the watcher in 
 its joy is stirred with solemn thought of the infinite, 
 the unknowable. What is human life ? A breath. 
 Yet to what strength, to what heights does it not rise ? 
 Whence does it come ? Whither does it go, with its 
 capacity for bliss, for sorrow, for power, and for 
 infinite aspiration ? Gazing in tenderness upon the 
 beloved face, its pallor warmed at last by the angel of 
 life, the whole world sinks into nothingness, and in 
 the soul rings a vast psean of thankfulness and love. 
 Through all these still soul-paths, far from the 
 surging multitude, Countess Nathalie wandered, as 
 day and night she watched by Max von Nordenfels 
 bedside. Trembling, hoping, fearing, trusting, she 
 performed with outward calm the duties of each 
 monotonous hour, and her great eyes would search 
 
A ULNA Y TOWER. 339 
 
 with anxious scrutiny every feature of his face. 
 It was long before hope dawned with certainty. 
 But the severe wound-fever was over, the ball had 
 been successfully extracted ; now only one crisis 
 remained. Then would come the slow strengthening 
 of the shattered nervous system. 
 
 Perfect quiet was ordered as an indispensable con 
 dition of his recovery. It was a happy circumstance 
 for him that silence was possible, since, thanks to the 
 capitulation, the thunder of the artillery had now 
 ceased, and stillness prevailed everywhere. In the 
 chateau court-yard were no hurrying spurred feet; 
 in the village no imperious, metallic sounds, no 
 marching squadrons. The great park stretched itself 
 out in restfulness ; the Tower watched and waited in 
 monumental repose. Blackbirds that had dared to 
 brave the bitter winter chirped cheerily in the shrub 
 bery by the broad windows. No harsh tone reached 
 the invalid. Cool, fresh, and airy, his room was 
 made for him as refreshing and as kindly as gentle 
 thought could devise. In weakest meditation he 
 studied the ceiling and the old-fashioned cretonne 
 on the wall: Often the outlines of one pink con 
 volvulus were all his indolent brain could grasp 
 before sinking off into somnolence. 
 
340 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 No one might speak to him. No question of his 
 might be answered. Only with a glance, a smile, 
 was she permitted to reply, when his languid spirit 
 awoke sufficiently to manifest any consciousness of 
 the outer world. 
 
 But her silent language was rich in eloquence, and 
 a warm, pure light shone from her tender eyes upon 
 the pale face of her sleeping lover, to whose every 
 breath she listened, thankful beyond all measure 
 when at length its soft regularity comforted her soul. 
 After the martial uproar, after the danger, after the 
 strife, the fear, and the agony, she thought she was in 
 heaven when Aulnay grew peaceful all around, and 
 the courageous blackbirds chirped cheerily, and the 
 dear face on the pillow began to wear a look of this 
 world and not another. 
 
 Faint yet wonderful was the responsive language of 
 his eyes. Their silent power followed her unceas 
 ingly. The eager eyes that had studied the vast 
 firmament with its innumerable stars, that had asked 
 of the everlasting hills their secret, watched the 
 eternal ebb and flow of the restless sea, and with 
 the arrogance of strong young manhood demanded 
 the reason and purpose of all nature, now rested in 
 supreme content upon one form. 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 341 
 
 Between the lines of the world s sweetest poet 
 remains still unsung what Nordenfels eyes said to 
 Nathalie in those long, still days of convalescence. 
 Eyes that have beheld the open grave and the long 
 rest beyond, that have grown unaccustomed to reflect 
 the thin and changing pictures of this world, assume 
 a deep and limpid light all their own. Purer, more 
 transparent, more divine the sufferer s eyes became, 
 because their meaning rose unclouded from his soul. 
 A whole history, a thousand passionate poems, they re 
 lated to her, a world of reminiscence of happy child 
 hood, and for the future, hopeful, glorious dreams. 
 
 And her sweet eyes grew dim and veiled with tears 
 in mute response. She knew all he would say, and 
 in those long night-watches her whole life, spiritual 
 and clear, outlined itself before him. What he sought, 
 what she sought, was the same. She questioned, 
 doubted, struggled no longer. Every transient, fine 
 shade of meaning on the dear white face she inter 
 preted as the reflection of her own soul. 
 
 One day, when she gave him a cooling drink, his 
 long, thin fingers, releasing the cup, clasped her hand, 
 wound themselves so closely around it, drew it so 
 warmly to his breast, that the color mounted to her 
 temples. And after that his gaze rested upon her with 
 
342 AULNAY TOWER. 
 
 so wonderful a meaning, so wistful, longing, thankful, 
 and questioning, that she could never draw her hand 
 away. And he, faintly smiling, would clasp it closer, 
 and so charm the sweet and gracious waking dream 
 into his blessed slumber. 
 
 Always richer, more comprehensive, grew their 
 silent language. Many times he sought to speak, 
 but her warning finger on her lips checked his feeble 
 utterance. 
 
 But the man s good strength grew with the spring 
 time. Its balmy, fragrant breath warmed his pale 
 cheek, and thrilled his soul with longing. In the old 
 park the young blackbirds sweet notes gained ful 
 ness, the tender thrush came, and the nightingale s 
 passionate, rapturous song. Life claimed its own. 
 Life in the soft grass crept over the meadows, cover 
 ing ugly stains and harsh footprints. Life in the 
 village brought laughter after tears. Life stirred 
 mightily in the hearts of the ancient trees, and they 
 awakened and renewed their youth and put forth 
 their myriads of happy, fluttering leaves to drink in 
 the sunshine and the dews. And life throbbed in the 
 pulses of the lover, until at last one glad and per^ 
 feet day he opened wide his weary arms with a trem 
 ulous, " My Nathalie, my wife ! " And she for the 
 
AULNAY TOWER. 343 
 
 joy of hearing his beloved voice forgot her colorless, 
 lonely past, or remembered only to bless it with happy 
 tears, since it had led to him. 
 
 Daisies whitened the meadow, children s laughter 
 echoed through the village, and the sounds of voices 
 and honest toil from field and vineyard. The wise 
 old Tower watching the turn of fortune s wheel had 
 seen and known much and remained silent ; but one 
 fair June day, over the tranquil plain flooded with 
 sunshine, peace, and promise, it roused itself and 
 spoke, flinging its message far and wide in peal after 
 peal of jubilant marriage bells. 
 
 University Press : John Wilson & Son, Cambridge.