Chapter I. Unexpected Arrivals
OPRING was spreading her soft and motley-feathered wiugs over France as well as England, and their warmth and brightness revived both inanimate and animate nature. Even Madame d'Angere came out of her shell, and ceased to shiver over the stoves she disliked but frequented. As to the chevalier and Aveline, they were like butterflies that had burst from the chrysalis. She seemed the embodiment of VOL. III. B spring, and she was so blythe and gay that she communicated some of her glad ness to her benefactress. But her gaiety was temporary, while that of madame in creased. The announcement that not only the newly-married pairs but Quiz were to visit the chateau, cast a shadow over Ave liue's brightness, while it suddenly glorified the pathway of madame. It was evident that she had missed her old associates, and had been pining for them.
Aveline, however, had not much time for prophetic thoughts of evil. She was busy from morning till night preparing for the expected guests, aud all her tal ents were exercised in renovating faded furniture, and making of the Belle Vue a, fairy-palace for the reception of two brides. They had been travelling in different directions, and it was arranged that they should meet and spend a few days at the Belle Vue. Quiz had been long ex pected, and was to arrive the day before her cousins. According to promise, the chevalier left his wife and Aveline on the appointed day to meet Quiz. The excitement at the chateau was great at the prospect of the arrival of the nieces of its proprietors, and Aveline only wished she could rouse herself to feel the pleasure she fancied she ought to feel at seeing them again.
But she was always more sensible of her de pendent state when in company of the undisputed relatives of her friends. How ever, she nerved herself to believe that under new circumstances Quiz would be different, and spent the hours of the che valier's absence either in talking over the coming events with madame, in putting B finishing touches to Quiz's pretty and foreign-looking room, or in marshalling the domestics. It was night when the wheels of a voi ture were heard rumbling up the drive. They could not be mistaken, for they were very creaky, belonging as they did to an ancient chariot that had lain perdu for half a century in the Belle Vue coach house, and for the drawing of which horses were hired from a neighbouring hotel. Jean Lalage was installed as coach man, and adorned with the d'Angere liv ery, and madame was happy in the thought that her handsome niece, Quiz, should be received in the d'Angere carriage.
She, Aveline, the domestics, and the dogs were at the door when it drew up ; but, as there was no moon, they could not see its occupants descend from it. Nothing but the shadowy forms of the horses and their driver were at all visible. ' I am delighted to welcome you to our chateau,' said madame, while Loulou and Frou-Frou barked. ' And I am very glad to come ; but we have had such a voyage,' returned a voice which was not Quiz's. ' I took you at your word, Amicia, and did not wait for an answer to my letter, which, it seems, never arrived.' ' Sophia ! sister Sophia ! Impossible !' exclaimed Madame d'Angere, as she found herself encircled in Mrs. Conquest's volu minous embrace. ' And here am I, auntie. Not left be hind as lost luggage,' said Quiz, pressing forwards. ' And here is some one else, ma mie,' added the chevalier. ' But let us go into the salon and see one another.' Madame led the way, and her guests followed.
Aveline remained hesitating in the doorway. * Go also, ma petite. I will see to the luggage,' said monsieur. ' No one thinks of me but the chevalier,' she murmured, regretfully. ' But why should I expect it ?' She stole silently into the cheerful, well lighted salon, and the first person she saw was — Leonard Leigh ! ' Aveline, are you not astonished ?' he said, meeting her almost as if he had been looking for her, and holding her hand several seconds in his. ' How do you do, my dear ? I am glad to meet you again,' said Mrs. Conquest. But Quiz's greeting was cold and almost silent; she touched her cheek with her lips, her hands with her fingers, and that was all. But no coldness could check the flush that coloured the girl's cheeks, the joy that filled her heart at sight of Leonard. Fear vanished, suspicion melted away when he was near.
Pleasure and surprise took from her the power of speech, and she could only look her joy and her amaze ment. Madame d'Angere was as much delighted as she, and it took some time to explain so unexpected a surprise. ' The fact is,' began Mrs. Conquest, sinking into a chair, and speaking with difficulty, for want of breath, ' Quiz made herself so agreeable, that Mr. Conquest proposed my going somewhere with her, for change of air. I did not feel well enough, but almost at the last moment, as we could find no escort for her, I made up mind to come and see you, Amicia. I daresay it will be my death.' ' I wrote at once, aunt,' broke in Quiz, compassionating Mrs. Conquest's breathless condition. ' Uncle says you ought to have had the letter in time to prevent his meeting us ; because Leonard was so gal lant as to agree to accompany us, when be found that he was to have a chaperon.
He is much too prudent to travel alone with an unprotected female.' 1 Mr. Conquest could not leave London,' broke in Leonard, * so he said he would frank me, if 1 would accompany the ladies, and I was only too glad to do so. You, madame, and the chevalier, gave me such a warm invitation, that I thought I might trust to your hospitality to Avelcome me.' ' I am sure we are delighted to see you,' replied Madame d'Angere. 'And I can't recover from my surprise. But where are you all to sleep ? Aveline, where can you put them ? I wish the letter had come.' * There is no difficulty. Everything is prepared, dear madame,' replied Aveline, cheerfully. She had already settled that the unex pected guests were to occupy the apartments of the expected, temporarily, as they were prepared. ' La petite knows everything.
She can improvise the very stars, when she wants them,' said the chevalier, coming in. Aveline felt, rather than saw, that Quiz glanced at her, and that Madame d'Angere made an impatient gesture • but the in nocent chevalier was unconscious of both. The presence of Leonard, her friend always, neutralized the effect of these mute suspicions. He had been, thus far, true to himself, and the hasty resolution he made to Quiz. Mr. Conquest had asked him to accompany her as far as Dieppe, saying that it was impossible he could go, and he had no one else whom he could ask. Leonard had demurred. ' I don't think Mrs. Dallimore would approve,' he said, diplomatically. ' But you are a sort of brother — a cousin, at least,' argued Mr. Conquest. ' No relation whatever. A kind of sus pected person, on whom all the blame would fall if any contretemps occurred.
And, in these days of railway murders and inquisitorial policemen, nobody knows what may happen. The " unprotected male " cannot be too particular.' ' I understand. Handsome girl, and all that sort of thing. You are cautious beyond your years,' laughed ■ Mr. Con quest ; and detailed the conversation at home. Quiz was indignant, and her aunt was so amused, that she volunteered to play propriety, to the surprise and delight of her husband, who took her at her word. Leonard made no objection to escorting two ladies. He really longed to visit Fontainebleau, and, but for that previous stormy interview with Quiz, when he made up his mind to avoid private tete-a-tetes with young ladies, he would certainly have encountered the danger of accompanying her alone. And it would have been dangerous, for she was as fascinating as she was imperious.
A letter was written to Fontainebleau, announcing the change of plans, which, as we have seen, had not arrived when the chevalier started for Dieppe, but was de livered the following day, marked ' Too late.' ' I hope you will like your room,' said Aveline to Quiz, when she had conducted her to her apartment, while madame took possession of her sister. ' We have made it as cheerful as we could. It overlooks the forest, and you will see in the morning what that means.' ' It is French, and that is enough,' replied Quiz. ' But how altered poor aunt is ! What is the matter with her ? Has she been seriously ill ?' ' No, and we think her much better. She will get well, I am sure, now you are come. I am afraid she has missed her friends, aud finds it difficult to accustom herself to the new life.' ' But the chevalier looks better than ever, and you appear flourishing.' ' He is at home in his own country, and I like the place and the people.
Everyone is so kind to me. How is Lisle, and your sisters, and everybody ?' ' Lisle has never got over his gorman dising at the wedding. He is not strong, and is allowed to do just as he likes. The rest are much as usual. Helen sent her love to you, or something of the sort, and I have a parcel from Lisle.' ' How kind of them ! I think you are handsomer than ever, Quiz — I beg your pardon, Miss Elizabeth.' It must be remembered that these two girls had been friends in childhood, and would, perhaps, have been so still but for the pride and jealousy of one of them. Aveline had a frank admiration of the beaut}* and talents of her rival, and would have been fond of her had she let her. 'Mademoiselle! mademoiselle! monsieur vous demande !' sounded through the half open door, and Aveline left Quiz with a hasty apology.
The chevalier could do nothing without her, and there was a hitch in the prepara tions for supper. The food that would have sufficed for one guest was inadequate for three. She immediately set to work to concoct an omelette and to increase the salad ; for in France we do as the French, aud Aveline had learnt from Marthe and Fanchon how to make many French dishes. She remained in the kitchen to superin tend, while Fanchon transported them to the salle-a-manger, where supper was laid, and where the little family party soon assembled. ' I feel better already for the light air and digestible food !' exclaimed Mrs. Con quest, with a deep sigh. ' I am glad I came.' ' It is Aveline who has made that ome lette,' said the chevalier. ' We found a treasure when we adopted her.' ' I wish the air and food agreed with me,' said madame.
But she forgot her complaints ere long, and began to expatiate on the elegance of French manners and dress, and to describe particularly those of the family of her husband's early friend, the Marquis de Belle fontaine. She was particularly eloquent over the graces of the captain, who had frequently visited the Belle Vue since he first came there with Captain Moore, and through whose instrumentality the other members of his family had renewed or begun a friendship with the chevalier aud madame. ' I think Captain de Bellefontaine and you are made for one another, Quiz,' she concluded, and Quiz caught Leonard's eye and coloured. ' I hope you have not said as much to him, auntie, as he may be disappointed if I am not,' she remarked. ' But I tink he admire our Aveline,' said the chevalier. She came in at the moment, and everyone looked at her, but she was too much preoccupied with household duties to ob serve it.
Leonard rose to make room for her, and seated himself between her and and Mrs. Conquest ■ she soon became absorbed in the general conversation. There was so much to say that the party sat long over the cream cheese, salad, fruit, gateaux and vin ordinaire provided for them. Everything was new and delightful. As to Quiz, her spirits rose so high that the chevalier declared she was like ether ; and even Mrs. Conquest forgot her Banting* and her palpitations. Madame was su premely happy, and could not repeat often enough that ' After all there was nothing like one's own family,' to the distress of the chevalier and Aveline. The newly-married pairs were expected in a day or two, and Mrs. Conquest de clared tbat she should not survive more introductions to nieces and nephews-iu-law. This brought down Madame d'Angere's wrath upon the father of the bridegrooms, and an animated discussiou arose concern ing the discovery of Squire Lisle's second marriage.
She persisted in considering Mr. Moore a snake in the grass, and Quiz heartily agreed with her. Both ladies were vehement in their disapproval of what they called his 'underhand and ungentleman like conduct,' and inveighed more against him for bringing the marriage to light, and his sister for daring to enter their aristocratic family, than against Squire Lisle for making it. Mrs. Conquest declared herself indifferent, and said it only proved that all men were alike when their secrets were laid bare : which caused the chevalier to chuckle and say that she had discovered the secret of all religion. Leonard listened in silence, shrugging c VOL. his shoulders and hugging himself men tally, when he reflected on his own part in this iniquitous business. What would they all think of him if they knew he had been its mainspring?
Aveline also sat mute, and congratulated herself that she had, at least, no part in it, and therefore no blame could fall on her. She was already a bone of contention, but not in the matrimonial market-place, she believed. Lisle was too young ; still, what would everybody say if the captain's proposal were made public? When the ladies had exhausted this topic, madame had so many questions concerning the old friends she had left in the Isle of Wight, and the new she had made in Lon don, that time sped on, and it was late when, at last, they retired to their chambres a coucher.
Chapter II. The Palace
YTTE will pass over the excitement con- ™ " sequent on the arrival of the newly married pairs. Suffice it to say, they look ed supremely happy, and were prepared to be pleased with everybody and everything. Their courtship had been smooth, and so, apparently, had their honeymoon. Ave line's ingenuity was put to the test, but not defeated. She turned out of her own room to accommodate Mrs. Conquest, and managed to provide a small chamber for Leonard, commanding a view of the palace a and its gardens. The chateau was quite full, and Madame d'Angere quite happy. This raised the chevalier's spirits to so elevated a pitch, that Aveline found him acting quite a pantomime before Polly's cage in their exuberance. The bird scream ed and fluttered in concert, and there was nothing but enjoyment at the Belle Vue.
The first thing to be done was to visit the palace. All the party went. Aveline proposed to remain at home to superin tend household matters, but the chevalier overruled this, assuring the rest that she was a better cicerone than the guides. She proved so, in fact ; for the guides were so accustomed to her and the chevalier that they relaxed their vigilance, and no longer told their oft-repeated tale to them. The palace of Fontainebleau is so remarkable, both as regards its picturesque site in the midst of the forest, its historical associa tions, and its piles of buildings and suites of apartments, that all personalities were forgotten in viewing it. The chevalier and Aveline acted as guides without remark, while the real guides accompanied the other tourists in their wanderings through the interminable rooms and corridors.
Aveline was charming when unembar rassed, and she told the tales she had learnt so well with the enthusiasm of a nature that circumstances alone could repress. Standing on the steps of the prin cipal entrance, she pointed to the great Cour du cheval blanc, and said, ' It was here that Napoleon I. took leave of his Old Guard before he departed for Elba. I know not which is saddest, the farewell or the rooms in which he lived, which are very simple.' ' What a radical you are, Aveline ! You forget the " discrowned heads," : said Leonard. 'That is impossible here, where every room recals them,' she replied. ' Was it not Louis Philippe, who died in exile, that restored the half-ruined and neglected pile ?' As the party roamed from room to room, Aveline manifested that her taste for reading, fostered by the chevalier, had been well cultivated.
Leonard in particu lar, whose gifts were not unsimilar, was struck by it, and kept by her side through out the tour of inspection. Quiz kept pretty close to him, and the rest followed, sometimes attentive to the descriptions of Aveline, at others to those of the che valier. It is not easy to point out even the salient features of the works of art collected by monarchs during seven or eight centuries • it is still less easy to recall the lives and deaths of the collec tors. But at Fontainebleau, from the time of Francis I. to that of Napoleon III., both are well represented. Aveline's sym pathies were with sorrow, whether merited or not, and she lingered rather in the spots where Monaldeschi was murdered by order of Christina of Sweden, where Pope Pius VII. was royally imprisoned, where Louis XIV. signed the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and where Henrietta Maria, queen of our Charles I., took refuge — than amid the gilded splendours of the apartments of Catherine de Medici, Diana of Poitiers, or of Madame de Maintenon.
It was necessary to turn to the chevalier for details of the carvings, bas-reliefs, stuccoes, and paintings of the earlier times of Francis I., and even for the gobelins tapestries and oil-paintings of more recent date ; but for the more modern decorations, with their associations, all looked to Aveline. ' Is it not silent ? Does not the echo of every footstep make one's heart beat?' she said to Leonard and Quiz, when they wandered into the apartments prepared for Marie Antoinette by Louis XVI. ' The silence is indeed oppressive. A palace tenanted by none save officials is a mournful sermon,' returned Leonard. 'Not only a " sermon in stones," but in satin, gilding, and Sevres china,' he added, as they all gazed on the exquisite appoint ments of the salon tenanted by turns by a Marie Antoinette, a Josephine, an Amelie, and a Eugenie. ' To have occupied these rooms, and reigned supreme in this palace ; to have been worshipped by kings and courtiers • to have had, for a time at least, the desire of one's heart ; to have commanded and beeu obeyed ; to have lived in luxury and refinement, must have made exile, and even death, endurable,' broke out Quiz.
She was standing over a screen of Sevres china, on which was a peacock so exquisitely painted, that it seemed about to strut forth out of its frame — a screen presented to the unfortunate Marie An toinette by the inhabitants of Sevres, on her marriage, together with other fine specimens of porcelain. She looked supremely handsome, and Leonard and Aveline glanced at her with admiration. ' Oh, here you are,' broke in Madame d'Angere, who entered, breathless, followed by a stranger. * Let me introduce Mon sieur le Capitaine de Bellefontaine. My niece, Miss Elizabeth Dallimore. Mr. Leonard Leigh', a celebrated author.' Captain de Bellefontaine bowed low before the royal-looking damsel to whom he was presented, and, for the moment, saw no one else. Recovering from a too apparent admiration, he bent to Leonard, and said something to Aveline, while Quiz glanced triumphantly at both.
She was never at a loss for conversation, and entered iuto it immediately with De Bellefontaine. Her French was imperfect, yet she made it amusing and inter esting by her very mistakes. But Ma dame d'Angere gave her to understand that Captain de Bellefontaine spoke Eng lish well, and, with ready tact, she glided iuto that language, soon perceiving that he was only too glad to display his fluency in the English tongue. Madame stood gazing with uncontrolled pleasure at the pair, while Leonard and Aveline stood aside for the moment. But the captain soon turned to the latter, with the natural politeness of his people, and addressed her in French. He inquired concerning some subject that had previously interested them, and finally asked how much of the palace she and her party had explored. She told him.
He then asked madame to be allowed to escort them through the remainder of the apai*tments. Madame said she believed her niece was the only lady at present unescorted, since the chevalier was mar shalling the brides, and her sister was waiting for her in a neighbouring room. Then she added, aside, to Aveline, ' Mrs. Conquest is tired. Will you walk home quietly with her, Aveline ? She is sitting in the Cabinet de Travail.' ' Perhaps I can assist her,' said Leo nard ; and, without waiting for a rejoinder, he followed Aveline into the small cabinet, where the great Napoleon used to work and write. Seated at the round table on which the first Emperor signed his abdica tion, was Mrs. Conquest. 'When I see that good lady,' whispered Leonard to Aveline, in the adjacent corri dor, ' I think of Sydney Smith.
He said of a very large woman, " You might take your morning's walk round her, always provided there were frequent resting places, and you were in rude health. I was once rash enough to try walking round her before breakfast, but only got half way, and gave it up exhausted." What would the inimitable Sydney have thought of volunteering to offer her his arm ?' Aveline laughed merrily, aud they joined Mrs. Conquest. ' The chevalier will be the death of me ; he talks and walks so fast,' she said. The young people said they would be as slow as she liked, and the trio walked leisurelyfrom salon to salon. In the salle du trom erected by Napoleon, they found Captain de Bellefontaine and Quiz. ' I hate the Bonapartists !' Quiz was ejaculating. ' Ah, mademoiselle is what they call a Conservative. Qui sait?' they heard the captain reply in good English.
They met immediately, face to face. Quiz looked at Leonard as she passed him by, and whispered, ' Your prudence has secured a chaperon. I have secured a guide who can do with out one.' He seemed happy enough under his portly protector, and was content to wan der slowly through the suite of rooms that had last been occupied by Napoleon III. and his lovely wife, and to listen to Aveline's graceful and pathetic descnptions. Mrs. Conquest forgot her fatigue, and abandoned herself to the romantic feelings that all must experience wherever the unfortunate Marie Antoinette figured on her short stage of life. When Aveline touched, with a sort of timid reverence, the window-bolts of her boudoir, and said they had been fashioned for her by her lover, Louis XVI., Leonard remarked that they seemed a presage of the bolts and bars of her prison. ' It is only Carisbrooke over again, Ave line,' he said. ' " Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
Our ambitious country woman — Quiz — little understood what the tenants of these apartments had to bear when flight, exile, or the scaffold followed the glittering gewgaws of state. Better be a peasant girl, or the belle of a country neighbourhood.' Discoursing and admiring, the trio went from gallery to gallery, Mrs. Conquest leaning on Leonard's arm, and Aveline pointing out objects of interest. They did not encounter the rest of the party again, for the chevalier took his portion of it through the salons de reception, while Captain de Bellefontaine led Quiz rapidly from object to object, as one who was tired of what he surveyed, and enjoyed most the lively repartee and brilliant questions of the handsome girl he guided. ' We must see the theatre before we leave,' said Aveline. ' It is the only posi tively modern thing here, and was erected by the Empress Eugenie.' ' This looks like London in August,' ejaculated Mrs. Conquest, when they reached a circular theatre, the seats of which were enveloped in brown holland. ' You can walk round it while I rest.' She sank down on one of the downy cushions and surveyed the stage, the crystal chandelier, the gilded ceiling, the modern decorations.
Even she felt a revulsion of feeling at the change from past to present. Leonard led Aveline to a distance, and there, where the royal actors of the world's stage had sat to watch those of the theatre stage, he told her of the inquiries made concerning her by the veiled woman, of Lilywhite at the church porch. He told her how that the unknown had declared herself acquainted with her and her mother, and had apparently come to Lisle in search of them ; but he did not tell her the comments of Lily white. He watched Aveline's changing countenance while he was giving her this information, aud was astonished to see how she turned from red to white, aud listened with dilated eyes and parted lips. ' It was my dear mamma herself, it must have been my dear mamma,' she exclaimed, when he ended, clasping her hands. ' Impossible, Aveline.
I mention it to prepare you for any inquiry that may be made, any letter that may reach you,' replied Leonard. ' I ought to be in the island. I knew she would seek me there,' cried Aveline, heedless of his explanation. ' Oh, if we had never come here ! Believe me, she did not drown herself, and has come again in search of me.' ' But the intermediate years ? Where can she have passed them ?' c In an asylum, or, like Marie Antoi nette, in prison, anywhere but in the chill water and cold grave. Help me to find her as you helped us both long ago, so that I may not be quite, quite alone in the world.' VOL. III. D ' You, who have so many friends !' said Leonard, reproachfully. ' Only the chevalier and yourself. Ma dame is suspicious of me, I know not why ; the rest dislike me — again I know not why.
I strive to please them, I do indeed.' ' I know it, I see it, my poor child,' he said, holding out his hands involuntarily. But she did not take them. She covered her face with hers instead, to stay her rising tears. ' I wish I had not told you. Try to calm yourself. Mrs. Conquest is observ ing us,' he said. ' I am calm already,' she replied, ' but I must seek my dear mamma.' Leonard was surprised to see her turn instantly, with pale but composed face, and walk towards Mrs. Conquest. ' She must have had some strange ex- TUE PALACE. perience of life since I saw her last,' reflected Leonard, following. She certainly had : the experience of daily efforts to please a weak and jealous woman. Mrs. Conquest was making her observations on the little scene she had witnessed, but said nothing. She declared herself refreshed and ready to return to the Belle Vue.
So the trio left the castle, pausing* to remark on the heterogeneous pile of brick which might almost be called six castles, surrounded by six courts. Leonard, however, looked more at Ave line than the massive walls, and wondered how one naturally so gay and impressionable had acquired a self-command capable of turning aside the suspicions of Mrs. Conquest. On their way homewards, she was greeted by smiles from all whom she encountered, and he heard more than d2 once the words, ' La belle Anglaise,' follow her. c Belle et bonne,' proclaimed some one in their wake, an opinion he was ready to endorse. ' You seem to have made many friends, Aveline,' he said, while supporting Mrs. Conquest's ponderous frame. ' Everybody likes the chevalier, and the}* are kind to me for his sake,' she replied. ' I love the peasants, and often visit them.
They remind me of the villagers at Caris brooke, aud are quite as ready for a gossip or to relate their complaints.' ' Human nature is much the same every where,' said Leonard. ' In the country it is more transparent than iu town, and therefore more easily understood.' ' Trying to understand human nature is most fatiguing,' puffed Mrs. Conquest. * Happily there is no labour in finding out what my new nieces are. They are trans parent enough. But I can't make out Quiz. Can you, Mr. Leigh ?' ' Ladies are beyond my comprehension,' replied Leonard, evasively, with a glance at Aveline. When they reached the Belle Vue, they found that the chevalier and his party had arrived, and were talking over what they had seen ; but there was no Quiz. Many inquiries were made for her, and Lucy laughingly suggested that she bad eloped with the handsome Frenchman, adding aside to Leonard that, if he did not take care, be would be eclipsed. ' Why did you not keep with Quiz, Aveline ?' asked Madame d'Angere. ' You told her to escort Mrs. Conquest, madame, and Quiz and the beau capitaine preferred their freedom.
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