But this evening, while we were in the carriage on our way to Suzannah's, she spoke again to me about Count Kiusko. I have a presentiment that the greatest enemy to our love and happiness is that man; and that he it is who has been influencing my mother, hoping, no doubt, that when separated from you I should no longer be able to resist her wishes.
"Well, you know the rest, I had gone into the boudoir while you were dancing, when the count came and sat down by my side.--'Is it true that you are going away?' he said to me, after a minute or so. 'Who could make you believe such a thing?' I replied coldly. 'Why, something your mother told me which seemed to imply it.' I remained silent--he did not venture to follow up the subject, and said nothing more for a few minutes. I kept my eyes on a book which I was looking through, for I felt that his eyes were fixed upon me. 'Perhaps you will regret Andre a little,' he continued, 'but what can you do? He is not free,--and besides, do you suppose he would have loved you?'
"At this question, the cruel irony of which wounded me to the quick, I was possessed by some mad impulse, I raised my head and replied to him in such a scornful tone that he rose up in confusion. Just then you came in. I wished to overwhelm him with my contempt so as to destroy all further hopes he might cherish. You know what I said--"
"And quite right, too! For it was necessary to put a stop to his nonsense. I will attend to it."
"But what if my mother wants to separate us?"
"Your mother, indeed!" I exclaimed; "your mother who sold you, abandoned you to the life of a slave, do you think she can come and claim the rights which she has thrown away?"
"Can you defend me against her, then?"
"Yes, dear, I will defend you," I exclaimed in a passion, "and now set your mind at ease. There is a miserable plot at the bottom of all this, which I intend demolishing. When I leave you I am going to Count Kiusko, and I assure you that he sha'n't trouble you any more: after that I shall see your mother."
"Good heavens!" said Kondje-Gul, "are you going to fight him?"
"No, no," I answered with a laugh, in order to remove her fears; "but you must understand that it is necessary for me to have an explanation with him."
In the morning I returned home and arranged all my affairs ready for any eventuality; then when all was in order I went after two of my friends, and asked them to hold themselves ready to act as my seconds in an affair which I might be compelled by grave circumstances to settle that very day. Having obtained their promise to do so, I proceeded to Kiusko's in the Rue de l'Elysee.
When I arrived at his house, I saw from the windows being open that he was up. A footman, who knew me, was standing under the peristyle. He told me that he did not think his master would see anyone then. I gave him my card and instructed him to send it up at once to the count. In a minute or two after he returned and asked me to come up to his master's private room: he showed me into a little smoking-room adjoining the bedroom, to which the count's intimate friends only are admitted. I had hardly entered it when Daniel appeared; he was dressed in a Moldavian costume which he uses as a dressing-gown.
"Hullo, here's our dear friend Andre!" he said when he saw me, in such an indifferent tone that I could detect in it the intentional affectation of a calmness to which his pale countenance gave the lie.
Still he did not hold out his hand to me, nor did I proffer mine; he sat down, indicating to me an arm-chair on the other side of the fire-place.
"What good fortune has brought you here so early this morning?" he continued, taking a few puffs at his cigar.
"Why, I should have thought you expected to see me," I replied, looking him straight in the face.
He returned my look with a smile.
"I expected you, without expecting you, as they say."
By the peculiar tone in which he uttered these words, I could see that he was determined to make me take the initiative in the matter upon which I had come.
"Very well!" I said, wishing to show him that I guessed his mind. "I will explain myself."
"I am all attention, my dear fellow," he answered.
"I have come to speak to you," I continued drily, "about Mademoiselle Kondje-Gul Murrah, and about what passed yesterday between her and you."
"Ah, yes! I understand: you are referring to the somewhat severe lecture which I drew upon myself, and to the confidential communication she made me."
"Precisely so," I added; "you could not sum up the two points better than you have done: a lecture, and a confidence. Now as one outcome of the second point is that I am responsible for all Mademoiselle Murrah's acts, I have come to place myself at your command respecting the lecture she thought fit to give you."
"What nonsense, my dear fellow!" he exclaimed, puffing a cloud of smoke into the air. "After all I only had what I deserved, for I can only blame my own presumption. Besides the very anger of such a charming young lady is a favour to the man who incurs it, so that my only regret is that I offended her. I should therefore really laugh at myself to think that I could hold you responsible for this little incident: nay, I will go so far as to say that, strictly speaking, I should owe you an apology for what you might be justified in complaining of as an act of disloyalty between friends, but for the fact that I can plead as my excuse the complete ignorance in which you left me of certain mysterious relations. You must know very well that a simple word from you, my relative, my _friend_, would have made me stop short on the brink of the precipice."
I appreciated the reproachful irony concealed in this last sentence; but I had gone too far to trouble myself about remorses of conscience regarding him.
"So then," I replied, "you have nothing to say, no satisfaction to demand of me in respect to this lecture?"
"None whatever, my dear fellow!" he answered, in the same easy tone which he had preserved all along. "And I may add that there could be nothing more ridiculous than a quarrel between two friends like you and me upon such a matter!"
"Let's think no more about it then!" I continued, imitating his composure. "Since you take it so good-naturedly, I sha'n't press it.
But, having settled this first point, it remains now for us to discuss what you have termed the _confidence_."
At this he could not repress a slight gesture. His dark eye flashed up, but for a moment only: he was soon quite calm again.
"Ah, yes!" he said carelessly; "now we've come to the second point."
"This is the point of importance for me," I added; "and I am going to ask you, on my side, what you propose to do after this revelation?"
"I must compliment you, my dear fellow, for upon my word it's a most wonderful romance. Do you really mean to say that this beautiful young lady whom we have all been admiring from a distance, fascinated by her charms, and who like a young queen has been starring it in the most aristocratic drawing-rooms of your society, exciting enthusiastic praise wherever she goes,--that she is your slave?--You must admit that no mortal man could help envying you!"
"Do your compliments," I continued, "imply an engagement, on your part, to abandon importunities, which you now recognise to be useless?"
"Oh, indeed!" he exclaimed, with a laugh; "so you're going to ask me now to make _my_ confession?"
Exasperated by this imperturbable composure of his, which I could not break down, I again looked him straight in the face, and asked--
"Do you mean to say you refuse to understand me?"
"No, my good sir!" he answered, resuming his peculiar smile, "I understand you perfectly well; you want to pick a quarrel with me, or to force me to demand satisfaction from you for a matter to which I do not attach as much importance as you do. Between ourselves, a duel would be an act of folly."
"Do you understand, at any rate," I retorted, "that I forbid your ever presenting yourself before Mademoiselle Kondje-Gul Murrah again?"
"Fie! my dear fellow! What do you take me for? After such an astonishing confession on her part, I should prove myself deficient in the most ordinary discretion, if I did not henceforth spare her my presence; so you may set your mind at ease on that point."
"Do you also imply by this evasive answer that you will abandon certain plots with her mother, which I might describe in terms that would not please you?"
"_Corbleu!_ I should be too heavily handicapped in such a game, you must admit. Nor do I think that the good lady would be of much service to me, from what I know of her. Moreover," he added, "you have made me your confidences, as a friend, and, late though they arrive, I shall feel bound by them henceforth, if only on the ground of the mutual consideration, which, in grave circumstances, relations owe to each other."
The idea, then, occurred to me of provoking him in another way; but I clearly realised that, as he was playing such a perfidious part, it would be dangerous for me to commit this imprudence.
"Come, my dear Daniel," I said, as I rose from my chair, "at any rate, I can see that you have a very good-natured disposition."
"Of course I have," he replied; "and yet there are people who accuse me of evil designs."
The most formidable perils are those which you feel darkly conscious of, without being able to discern either the enemy or the snare. This interview with Kiusko left almost an impression of terror on my mind.
Knowing him to be as brave as I did, I felt convinced that his insensibility to my insults could only be due to the calculated calm of an implacable will, which was pursuing its object, whether of love, of vengeance, or of hatred, with all the energy of desperation.
Notwithstanding the humiliations he had undergone, I made sure that he had by no means given up the game. He meant to have Kondje-Gul, even if he had to capture her forcibly, and to carry her off as his prey. When I considered his sinister calm, which seemed to be abiding its opportunity, I wondered whether we were not already threatened by some secret machinations on his part.
Still I was not the man to be overcome by childish panics; so I soon got over this transitory feeling of alarm. I knew that after all we were so unequally matched, that I need not seriously fear his success. However determined Kiusko might be not to abandon the cowardly _role_ he had assumed, I felt sure that an open affront at the club would compel him to fight.