.
convinced me that art had no share in placing it there. The hair was fine and luxuriant, although she had passed her prime, and her hand was large and somewhat coarse, though much pains had been taken to keep it soft and white.
She gazed at Louise from head to foot, with a look of scrutiny and apparently some surprise.
"You told me that she was a girl, a mere child," the lady said, addressing the baron as he introduced his daughter to her. "Why this is a woman!"
"She was a child when I left her, madam," replied the baron, "and you may see that she is a child in heart still by the blushes which your words call up."
"She looks all the prettier for them," replied the baroness; "but I must teach her not to be such a spendthrift, and to reserve them for occasions when they will have some effect. And, pray, who is this young gentleman!" she proceeded, turning towards me while that meaning look came up in her eyes. "Not your eldest son, I suppose, my lord, for he was only twelve years old when last I heard of him, and he has not probably made such a rapid jump as the young lady. If he have, he has gotten him goodly limbs in a short time." And she ran over me with the same unblushing effrontery with which she had gazed upon Louise.
"This, madam," replied the baron, bitterly, "is a cousin of mine, Henry de Cerons, son of another cousin, Henry de Cerons, who has done me the honour of living in my house for the last twenty years."
The blood came up into my cheeks as I heard him speak. "I have been, madam," I said, taking up the words immediately, "a poor pensioner upon my cousin's bounty since the period that he speaks of. It was then that the death of my noble father left me dependant, with nothing but a sword, which he had rendered glorious, for my future fortune."
"It proved but a poor fortune to him," replied my cousin, frowning at me; "and you have suffered it somewhat to rust in the scabbard, methinks, Master Henry."
"At your own request for the last two years, my lord," I replied, "and it shall do so no longer."
I was going to add more, though I saw that the baron's mood was becoming every moment more and more fierce. But the eyes of both at that moment fell upon Louise, and we beheld the tears running through her long eyelashes and down her cheeks.
"Come, come, no more, no more," he said; "let us drop such subjects, and not make the evening bitter. Madam, I will show you your apartments. Supper, I hope, will soon be ready."
"And the baron in a better humour," said the lady, giving a sarcastic look round as she swept up the hall after him.
We left her lord and the attendants to show her the way; and the five who had tenanted the castle before her coming remained behind in the hall, gazing upon each other, while memory again drew a comparison between the present and the past, the most painful, the most bitter that it is possible to conceive. No one spoke; the sensations in the heart of every one were too dark and sad for us to give them utterance; and, before a word was uttered, the baron had returned.
How the cheerful meal of supper passed over that night in the chateau of Blancford may be easily conceived, for the same spirit which had marked the return of the lord of that castle to his dwelling pervaded the whole conversation. Why or how he had been induced to wed the woman whom he had brought thither might be difficult to say; but it was very evident that where there could never have been any esteem there now remained no affection. We were all silent but the lord and lady of the house, except when, from time to time, good Monsieur la Tour endeavoured to break the restraint by a word upon some ordinary subject, or when I replied to him, which act seemed not a little to create the baron's surprise that I should presume to converse in his presence.
When the meal was over, the lady declared she was fatigued, and retired speedily to rest. Louise followed; and, as there was now no cheerful circle gathered together in the evening to converse over the events of the day, I was about also to retire very soon; but the baron stopped me, saying he wished to speak to me, with a sort of dull, leaden look about his eyes, which he put on when he wanted to assume an air of despotic rule, and to announce his purpose in such a way as to admit of no reply.
The clergyman also stayed; and, turning to me, the baron said, "It is time, my fair cousin, if we may judge by the specimens which you have given us to-night of your conversational powers, that you should find yourself a new home."
"I am not only quite ready, my lord," I replied, "but fully determined to do so as speedily as may be."
"It may be very speedily indeed, then," replied the baron, "for I have already arranged the whole matter for you. You will be pleased to set out to-morrow morning for the town of Pau in Bearn; and I will furnish you with letters to the Protestant clergyman of that place, who will put you in the proper way so to complete your education in the college as to become, I trust, a worthy member of our church. Nay, hear me, hear me to the end. Your maintenance, and the expenses of your studies till the period of your taking orders, will be borne by myself, provided your conduct is such as to justify my kindness. And, having done this, I think I have fulfilled to the utmost the promises which I was induced to make to your late father."
"Your lordship has informed me before now," I replied, "That it was my father's wish that I should be a soldier, and pursue the profession which all my race have followed. You informed me once also that you had promised him it should be so, and that you would place me in that course where he had won glory."
"Of course, sir," replied the baron, frowning fiercely upon me, "all such promises were conditional, as were also his requests. He left your fate to my discretion, and did not dictate to me how I was to deal with the boy whom I brought up from charity."
The words were galling enough, but I struggled hard to keep down the demon of pride--a demon which had endured enough, surely, to quell him in my heart.
I therefore replied at once, "My father's wishes, my lord, I am perfectly aware, can be no law to you. To me, however, they would be a law, even did not my own inclinations second them. It is my determination, therefore--"
"Hush, hush!" said the good clergyman; "hush, my dear Henry. Do not speak of your determination; but leave it to your cousin to take into consideration the motives that you have mentioned."
"Leave him to his own obstinate folly, La Tour," replied my cousin, turning from me. "I have told him all that I will do. I have made him what may well be considered a noble offer. I give him till to-morrow to think of it; and, if he do not accept it, then I will drive him from my door like an ungrateful hound, and send him forth a beggar to the fate he deserves."
Thus saying, he turned and abruptly quitted the hall; while I remained, as may well be conceived, fully determined never to eat bread again at the expense of such a man. I remained thoughtful and silent for a moment, while La Tour gazed with interest and anxiety in my face, and at last asked me, "What do you intend to do, Henry?"
"To keep my resolution, excellent friend," I replied. "You cannot suppose that such words as I have heard can at all shake my purpose."
"But consider, my dear boy," replied the clergyman, "you are utterly without means of support. I fear, Henry, that you do not know how little is to be gained in the barren field of war; and, at all events, you will be obliged at first to support yourself till you can receive pay."
"It matters not, my good friend," I replied; "I should lose my own esteem for ever--my heart would have no strength to struggle with the world, if I let this man set his foot upon it again."
The clergyman said nothing more to change my purpose, for he saw that it was unchangeable; but he answered, "At all events, then, Henry, take what little gold I have. I need it not, my boy; and I always have the means of support. You will not mind taking it from me."
"I will not take it all," I replied, kissing his hand; "but, to show you how willingly I can bend my pride to depend upon one that loves me, I will take twenty gold crowns from you, and that shall be the fortune with which I go forth into the world. I have, indeed, nearly treble that sum in my own chamber; but that belongs to a man from whom I will take nothing, so that you shall give it to him to-morrow after I am gone."
"Do you