"Monsieur I'Abbe de Grancey" "Well, and the lawsuit?" "Won!" "The verdict is in fully our favor, and reverses the Lower Court decision." "The possession of the old buildings of the convent remains with the Chapter of the Cathedral of Besancon." "Everybody thought you were done for." "And we should have been, but for me." "I told our advocate to be off to Paris and could secure a new pleader, to whom we owe our victory" "A wonderful man" "At Besancon?" "At Besancon." "Oh yes, Albert Savarus." "He spent five or six nights over it." "He devoured documents and briefs, he had seven or eight interviews with me" "M. Savarus has completely beaten the celebrated lawyer our adversaries had sent for from Paris" "And where did you unearth this lawyer?" "I never heard his name before." "Why, you can see his windows from hence." "M. Savarus lives in the rue du Perron." "The garden of his house joins on to yours." "But he is not a native of the Comte." "So little is he a native of any place, that no one knows where he comes from." "But who is he?" "If he is a stranger, by what chance has he settled at Besancon?" "It is a strange fancy for a barrister." "Very strange!" "Madame, one morning the mail coach dropped at the Hotel National a gentleman from Paris who, after seeking apartments, made up his mind in favor of the 1st floor in Mlle Galard's house, rue du Perron." "Then he went straight to the Mairie, and had himself registered as a resident with all political qualifications." "Finally, he had his name entered on the list of the barristers to the Court, showing his title in due form, left his card on all his new colleagues, the Councillors of the Court," "and the members of the bench, with the name, 'Albert Savaron de Savarus'" "The name of Savaron is famous." "The Savaron of Savarus are one of the, noblest and richest families in Belgium." "He is a Frenchman, and no man's son." "If he wishes to bear the arms of the Savaron of Savarus, he must add a bar-sinister." "The bar-sinister is, of course, the badge of a bastard, but the bastard of a Comte de Savarus is noble." "Enough, that will do, Rosalie!" "You insisted on her learning heraldry, and she knows it very well." "Go on, I beg, Amédée." "You may suppose that in a town where everything is classified, known, pigeon-holed, ticketed, and numbered, as in Besancon," "Savarus was received without hesitation by the lawyers of the town." "They were satisfied to say:" "'Here is a man who does not know his Besancon." "Who the devil can have sent him here?" "What can he hope to do?" "'" "So, 3 days after, Savarus had ceased to exist." "He took as his servant old M. Galard's man," "Jerome, who can cook a little." "Albert Savarus was all the more completely forgotten, because no one had seen him or met him anywhere." "Then, does he not go to mass?" "He goes on Sundays to Saint-Jean, but to the early service at eight." "He rises every night around 1am, works till eight, has his breakfast, and then goes on working." "He walks in his garden, going round fifty, or perhaps sixty times, then he goes in, dines, and goes to bed between 6 and 7." "How did you learn all that?" "In the first place, I live in the rue Neuve, at the corner of the rue du Perron." "I look out on the house where this mysterious personage lodges" "Then, there are communications between my tiger and Jerome." "Well... and how was it that you engaged a stranger for your defence?" "The President of the Court played this pleader a trick by appointing him to defend a half-witted peasant accused of forgery." "But Savarus procured the poor man's acquittal by proving his innocence and showing that he had been a tool in the hands of the real culprits." "In the position in which we found ourselves," "M. Berryer finding it impossible to come to Besancon," "M. de Garcenault advised him to employ this M. Albert Savarus, foretelling our success." "As soon as I saw him and heard him, I felt faith in him." "And I was not wrong." "Is he then so extraordinary?" "Certainly, madame." "Well, tell us about it." "The first time I saw him, he received me in his outer room next the ante-room which he has had painted like old oak, and which I found entirely lined with law-books" "This singular setting is in perfect harmony with his person for M. Savarus came out in a black merino dressing-gown tied with a red cord, red slippers," "a red flannel waistcoat, and a red smoking-cap!" "The devil's colors!" "Yes, but a magnificent head." "A round white throat like a woman's, a splendid forehead, furrowed by the strong median line which great schemes, great thoughts, deep meditations stamp on a great man's brow." "An olive complexion marbled with red." "While all the world is sleeping, he is awake..." "like God!" "What would have become of me, if he had lived anywhere else?" "Here I can, at any rate, see him." "What is he thinking about?" "I'd like to keep a close eye on him but how could I achieve it?" "Give me that!" "It is the first time I ever knew mademoiselle to be so fidgety." "It strikes me that you too are more particular on some days than on others." "Where are you going?" "To confession." "Abbe Giroud was busy for the rest of the day" "I shall meet him at a quarter-past eight" "I hope that the weight of your sins is not crushing you" "Mademoiselle, here is Monsieur Giroud." "The Vicar-General was right, He is unhappy." "Why should this eagle --for he has the eyes of an eagle-- swoop down on Besancon?" "Oh, I must know everything!" "But how?" "Dad, would you know how to make colums?" "Of course, dear." "Why?" "I just had idea." "We coud turn columns for a Belvedere to erect on the heap of those stones in the middle of the garden." "There would be a room in the grotto, where it would be cool, and where we can take coffee." "What do you think?" "You had an excellent idea." "And it will give me some occupation." "Do not tell mamma who gave you the notion, she would scold me." "Papa, a 'Review' is published in Besancon I believe M. Savarus is the editor." "You ought to take it in and keep it in your room, for mamma would not let me read it, but you will lend it to me." "AMBITION FOR LOVE'S SAKE, by AS" "In 1823 two young men, having agreed as a plan for a holiday to make a tour through Switzerland, set out from Lucerne one fine morning in the month of April." "They started for Fluelen, intending to stop at every notable spot on the lake of the Four Cantons." "These two youths were friends in the truest sense of the word." "Leopold, by his father's determination, was already pledged to a place in a notary's office in Paris." "His spirit of rectitude, his gentleness, and the coolness of his senses and his brain, guaranteed him to be a docile pupil." "The character of his companion, whom we will call Rodolphe, presented a strong contrast with Leopold's, and their antagonism had no doubt had the result of tightening the bond that united them." "Let us stop here." "We meant to make Lucerne our headquarters for seeing Switzerland" "You will not take it amiss, Leopold, if I change my mind and stay here to take charge of our possessions." "Then you can go where you please, my journey is ended." "Pull to land, men, and put us out at this village" "We will breakfast here." "Here or at Lucerne, the difference is not so great that I need hinder you from following your whim." "The fair stranger's name was Fanny Lovelace." "Miss Lovelace had come to settle by the lake for her father's health" "These two English people had arrived with no other servant than a little girl of fourteen, much attached to Miss Fanny, on whom she waited very intelligently, and had settled with Mme Bergmann, who had let the top story of their house" "Old Lovelace, a man of 90, and much broken, very rarely went out" "His daughter worked to maintain him, translating English books." "They are not from England." "They are Italian refugees, outlaws in fear of the Austrian or Sardinian police." "Fear nothing, I am not a spy." "You are refugees, I have guessed that." "I am a Frenchman whom one look from you has fixed at Gersau" "Nel lago con pietra!" "Oh, Gina!" "She has missed me." "But a little higher up it would have been deep in my heart." "I was wrong." "Do not scold her." "The happiness of speaking to you is well worth the prick of a stiletto." "Only show me the way out, I must get back to the hotel." "Be easy, I shall tell nothing." "Can you walk back to your house?" "Does Gina speak French?" "Yes." "But do not excite yourself" "Let me look at you, for it may be long before I am able to come again" "Francesca was quite of the Italian type, and such as imagination supposes or pictures or, if you will, dreams, that Italian women are." "What first struck Rodolphe was the grace and elegance of a figure evidently powerful, though so slender as to appear fragile." "An amber paleness overspread her face, betraying sudden interest, but it did not dim the voluptuous glance of her liquid eyes of velvety blueness." "The rash Frenchman could but just discern the long, oval shape of her face, and a melancholy mouth showing brilliant teeth between the parted lips," "full, fresh, and brightly red." "The exquisite lines of this face guaranteed to Francesca permanent beauty but what most struck Rodolphe was the adorable freedom, the Italian frankness of this woman, wholly absorbed as she was in her pity for him." "Am I very indiscreet in asking how old you are, cara Francesca?" "Twenty-five, well past." "If anything in the world could soothe my sorrow, it would be the hope of winning you from your father, whatever your fortune may be." "So beautiful as you are, you seem to be richer than a prince's daughter." "And I tremble as I confess to you the feelings with which you have inspired me." "They are eternal." "Zitto!" "I am not free." "I have been married these three years." "Married!" "Child!" "But there is still hope." "My husband is..." "Eighty?" "No, but 65." "He has disguised himself as much older to mislead the police." "Dearest, a few more shocks of this kind and I shall die." "Only when you have known me twenty years will you understand the strength and power of my heart, and the nature of its aspirations for happiness." "I love you with unique passion." "That love will be the secret fount of my life." "I may possibly die of it." "Oh!" "Frenchman, Frenchman!" "Shall I not be forced to wait, to accept you at the hands of time?" "But know this: if you are in earnest in what you have allowed to escape you," "I will wait for you faithfully, without suffering any other attachment to grow up in my heart." "None, not even a passing fancy." "I have my fortune to make, you must have a splendid one." "Nature created you a princess." "Make a splendid fortune." "Be one of the remarkable men of your country." "That is my desire." "Fame is a drawbridge which may serve to cross a deep gulf." "Be ambitious if you must." "I believe you have great and powerful talents, but use them rather for the happiness of mankind than to deserve me." "You will be all the greater in my eyes." "Where would you go, Signora Lamporani?" "Towards Lucerne" "What is your quarrel with me?" "You are cold and ceremonious." "It is true." "I am wrong." "It is better to be frank than to harbor cold or hostile feelings towards a friend, and you have already proved yourself my friend." "Understand this, Rodolphe:" "I feel in myself the strength to stifle a feeling if it were not in harmony with my ideas or anticipation of what true love is." "I could love... as we can love in Italy, but I know my duty." "No intoxication can make me forget it." "Married without my consent to that poor old man, I might take advantage of the liberty he so generously gives me." "But three years of married life imply acceptance of its laws." "Hence the most vehement passion would never make me utter, even involuntarily, a wish to find myself free." "I desire to be loved and waited for with fidelity, nobleness, ardor, while all I can give is infinite tenderness which may not overstep the boundary of the heart, the permitted neutral ground." "Once for all, understand that my love is perfect." "It carries with it absolute obedience and respect." "Then monsieur accepts the treaty?" "Francesca, at my age, tenderness requited, and by so sublime, so royally beautiful a creature as you are..." "It is the fulfilment of all my wishes." "If you could but know with what hues you have clothed this superb lake" "I want to know." "Well, this hour will shine on all my life like a diamond on a queen's brow." "Oh dearest!" "for ever dearest!" "Tell me, have you never loved?" "Never." "And you allow me to love you, nobly, looking to heaven for the utmost fulfilment?" "Here is my husband under his natural form." "He is quite a new acquaintance." "Quite." "I have played many parts, and know well how to make up." "I played in Paris under the Empire, with Bourrienne, Mme Murat, Mme d'Abrantis e tutte quanti." "Everything we take the trouble to learn in our youth, even the most futile, is of use." "If my wife had not received a man's education" "an unheard-of thing in Italy" "I should have been obliged to chop wood to get my living here." "Povera Francesca!" "who would have told me that she would some day maintain me!" "Che avete, signor?" "Does our happiness sadden you?" "Your husband is a young man." "He is but 65, at your service, but I can assure you that even that is something to be thankful for!" "I do not like to hear you jest about an affection so sacred as this, of which you yourself prescribed the conditions." "Zitto!" "Never disturb the peace of mind of that dear man, as simple as a child, and with whom I can do what I please." "He is under my protection." "I will not have you come with us to Geneva." "It is a gossiping town." "We are leaving." "Stay here a few days." "When you come on to Geneva, call first on my husband, and let him introduce you to me." "Let us hide our great and unchangeable affection from the eyes of the world." "I love you." "You know it." "But this is how I will prove it to you... you shall never discern in my conduct anything that may arouse your jealousy." "Next day Rodolphe heard that the foreigners had left at daybreak." "It then seemed to him intolerable to remain at Gersau, and he set out for Vevay by the longest route." "Take that seat." "I think there is some mistake in my name," "I have for the last minute been Princess Gondolfini." "This recognition between Rodolphe and Francesca, at this party, in the face of the world, was one of those intense moments which join the love to the past, and rivet a real attachment more deeply in the heart." "What is extraordinary in the fact of your loving a young and beautiful woman, and of giving you some of the pleasures of vanity?" "What lout but would then become an Amadis?" "This is not in question between you and me." "What is needed is that we both love faithfully, persistently, at a distance from each other for years," "with no satisfaction but that of knowing that we are loved." "Alas!" "will you not consider my fidelity as devoid of all merit when you see me absorbed in the efforts of devouring ambition?" "Do you imagine that I can wish to see you one day exchange the fine name of Gondolfini for that of a man who is a nobody?" "I want to become one of the most remarkable men of my country, to be rich, great... that you may be as proud of my name as of your own name of Colonna." "I should be grieved to see you without such sentiments in your heart." "But do not wear yourself out too soon in your ambitious labors." "Remain young." "They say that politics soon make a man old." "Francesca, is there a single regret in your heart?" "Go this evening." "We meet no more till we meet at Naples." "Rodolphe then began again to construct his fortune." "She and God are the only witnesses of the brave efforts, the daring attempts of a young man gifted with fine qualities, but to whom, so far, the protection of luck -the god of fools- has been denied." "And this indefatigable wrestler, upheld by love, comes back to fresh struggles, lighted on his way by an always friendly eye, an ever faithful heart." "Lovers!" "Pray for him!" "He will never love me!" "My father has a dispute pending as to his land at les Rouxey." "I will go there!" "If there is no lawsuit, I will manage to make one, and he shall come into our drawing-room!" "Mariette and Jerome!" "Mariette, is Jerome in his master's confidence?" "I do not know, mademoiselle." "Do not play the innocent with me." "You let him kiss you last night." "I no longer wonder why you approved of my mother's ideas for the improvements." "I wish you no ill." "Be easy, I shall not say a word, and you can meet Jerome as you please." "But it is perfectly respectable, Jerome honestly means to marry me." "But then, why meet at night?" "Listen, Mariette, I am in love too!" "In secret and without any return." "I am, after all, my father's and mother's only child." "You have more to hope for from me than from any one else in the world" "Certainly, mademoiselle, and you may count on us for life or death." "In the first place, silence for silence," "I will not marry Monsieur de Soulas but one thing I will have, and must have my help and favor are yours on one condition only." "What is that?" "I must see the letters which M. Savarus sends to the post by Jerome." "But what for?" "Oh!" "merely to read them, and you yourself shall post them afterwards." "It will cause a little delay, that is all." "Dear, dear, how many sins are there in all that?" "She must read the review." "How can I get my father to look through the list of people who receive the review?" "Do you suppose, my dear little papa, that our review is ever read abroad?" "It is but just started" "Well, I will wager that it is." "It is hardly possible." "Just go and find out, and note the names of any subscribers out of France." "I was right, there is not one foreign subscriber as yet." "They hope to get some at Neufchatel, at Berne, and at Geneva." "One copy, is in fact, sent to Italy, but it is not paid for, to a Milanese lady at her country house at Belgirate, on Lago Maggiore." "What is her name?" "The Duchesse d'Argaiolo." "Do you know her, papa?" "I have heard about her." "She was by birth a Princess Soderini, a very great lady, a Florentine, and quite as rich as her husband, who has one of the largest fortunes in Lombardy." "Their villa on the Lago Maggiore is one of the sights of Italy." "To Madame la Duchesse d'Argaiolo née Princesse Soderini." "At Belgirate." "My dear Soul," "We have entered on the twelfth year since that blest evening when, by a look, the beautiful Duchess sealed the promises made by the exile Francesca." "You, dear, are thirty-two, I am thirty-five." "The dear Duke is 77." "Ten years more than yours and mine put together, and he still keeps well!" "I need a few years yet to rise to the level of your name." "The hope of success always carries me back to the day following that one on which I saw you for the first time." "Qual pianto are these eleven years." "For this is the 22th of December, the anniversary of my arrival at your villa." "For eleven years have I been crying to you." "Good heavens, how I love you!" "Alas!" "I have intrusted too much to my love and my hopes." "An accident which should sink that overloaded bark would end my life." "For three years now I have not seen you, and at the thought of going to Belgirate my heart beats so wildly that I am forced to stop." "To see you, to hear that girlish caressing voice!" "To embrace in my gaze that ivory glistening skin, and through which I can read your noble mind!" "To admire your fingers playing on the keys, to drink in your whole soul in a look, in the tone of an 'Oime', or an Alberto!" "To walk by the blossoming orange-trees, to live a few months in the bosom of that glorious scenery!" "Farewell, my angel, forgive me my next fit of sadness inconsideration of this cheerful mood, as a beam of light from the torch of Hope, which seemed to me a Will-o'-the-wisp." "How he loves her!" "After eleven years to write like this!" "Mariette, go and post this letter." "Tell Jerome that I know all I wish to know, and that he is to serve Monsieur Albert faithfully." "We will confess our sins, without saying to whom the letters belonged, nor to whom they were going." "I was in the wrong, I alone am guilty." "Mademoiselle has been crying?" "Yes, but I do not want that my mother should perceive it, give me some very cold water." "Here we are." "Shall we have a look?" "Look at what?" "Oh, nothing!" "But you are a sensible girl, we have some little secrets between us and I may tell you what ruffles my mind." "Some difficulties have arisen since 1830 between the authorities of Riceys and me, on account of this very Dent de Vilard." "A dispute?" "Mademoiselle, the people of Riceys have long enjoyed the right of grazing" "You understand that in that case we should no longer have them to ourselves." "If you give way to the municipality, it will swallow you up." "You ought to have threatened Riceys." "That is just what I told the master last evening." "My dear father, I agree with Modinier." "If you wish to secure the possession of the Dent de Vilard, you must act with decision, and get a legal opinion to protect you against this enterprising Chantonnit." "Why should you be afraid?" "Get the famous lawyer Savarus, engage him at once, lest Chantonnit should place the interests of the village in his hands." "The man who won the case for the Chapter against the town can certainly win that of Watteville versus Riceys!" "Let us go to Besancon and bring back with us the Abbe de Grancey and M. Savarus," "You can then make up your mind." "But in your place I should have done so already." "Oh, if that is the way you take it, I am quite ready." "I will see the lawyer." "It brings some interest into life, with coming and going and raging over it." "Listen to me, if you secure Monsieur de Savarus, you will gain your suit, won't you?" "Well, then, let me advise you." "You cannot get at M. Savarus excepting through Monsieur de Grancey." "Take my word for it, and let us together talk to the dear Abbe without my mother's presence at the interview." "I will see The Abbe de Grancey" "It's out of the question that I should defend the interests of the Wattevilles, and you shall understand why." "My part in this town is to remain perfectly neutral." "I will display no colors," "I must remain a mystery till the eve of my election." "Now, to plead for the Wattevilles would mean nothing in Paris, but here!" "Here, where everything is discussed," "I should be supposed by every one to be an ally of your Faubourg Saint-Germain." "Ah!" "I would have dragged my father into a lawsuit" "I would have done anything to get him here!" "I would have committed any mortal sin, and you will not enter the Wattevilles' drawing-room." "I may not hear your fine voice!" "Well, God knows, I meant to be content with these small joys, with seeing you, hearing you speak, going with you to les Rouxey, that your presence might to me make the place sacred." "That was all I asked." "She does not love you." "She is old, too, she is past thirty." "My Albert will not be happy!" "I will not let such an infamy come true." "I will be your wife." "Mariette, I want all letters coming from or going to Italy!" "But, Mademoiselle, I thought..." "I changed my mind." "If not..." "My dear, I will not write you for some time." "My husband, the Duc d'Argaiolo, your friend, took to his bed, and I'm afraid this is the end." "Pray for him." "Pray for us!" "Francesca The Duchesse d'Argaiolo" "Three weeks with no letter." "Why doesn't she write?" "Why don't you write?" "Why?" "!" "The Duc is dead." "He passed away in the Lord's peace." "He made me promise to marry you." "Come, I need you." "Madam I beg you to let me go back on my word." "I will marry Mademoiselle. Rosalie de Watteville at Besançon." "We won't see each other anymore." "You are free." "Farewell." "Duchesse d'Argaiolo" "He's free!" "I divided them!" "Listen, dear Abbe, you whom I love as much as my father, for you had an affection for my Albert," "I must at last confess that I committed crimes to become his wife." "He must be my husband." "Here, read this." "The wedding of M. le Duc de Rhetore, eldest son of the Duc de Chaulieu to Madame la Duchesse d'Argaiolo, née Princess Soderini," "was solemnized with great splendor." "Numerous entertainments given in honor of the marriage are making Florence gay." "The Duchess' fortune is one of the finest in Italy, for the late Duke left her everything." "The woman he loved is married." "I divided them." "You?" "How?" "I intercepted his letters" "I imitated his writing" "I wrote to the Duchess that we were about to marry." "Purely moral crimes, which give no hold to human justice, are the most atrocious and detestable" "Of all secret crimes buried in the mystery of private life, the most disgraceful is that of breaking the seal of a letter, or of reading it surreptitiously." "I understand now that old Prince Soderini, the father of the Duchess d'Argaiolo, came here to take back his daughter's letters and portraits." "But your crime was pointless..." "You only put into misery an innocent man." "I wrote to Leopold Hannequin, his friend, to get some news." "It will throw light on the fate of the man you claim to love" "Alas, monsieur, it is in nobody's power to restore Albert to the life of the world." "He is a novice in the monastery of the Grand Chartreuse near Grenoble." "You know, better than I who have but just learned it, that on the threshold of that cloister everything dies." "I know his noble soul enough to be sure that he is the victim of some odious plot." "The Duchesse d'Argaiolo seems to me to have carried severity to an extreme." "At Belgirate, which she had left when Albert flew thither, she had left instructions leading him to believe that she was living in London." "From London Albert went for her to Naples, and from Naples to Rome, where she was now engaged to the Duc de Rhetore." "Our poor friend, even when he was in danger of death, could never obtain any explanation from this woman, who must have had I know not what in her heart." "If he had known what his crime was, he might have found means to justify himself" "Albert is dead, quite dead to the world." "He longed for rest." "Let us hope that the deep silence and prayer into which he has thrown himself, may give him happiness in another guise." "I want to go to see him!" "No Carthusian sees any visitor." "Besides, no woman but the Queen of France may enter a Carthusian monastery" "Well, now that he is lost to you, will you not be reconciled to your mother and marry the Comte de Soulas?" "Never!" "I'm already married." "My crime set the seal on our union." "Rosalie never saw Albert again." "Her father died, and her mother was married to M. de Soulas." "She happened to be on the Loire in a steamboat of which the boiler burst." "Her face was marked with fearful scars." "She never meets anybody." "She lives alone, in her estate of Rouxey, inherited from her father." "God punished her crime."