human
The Count de Montbron,
gpt
Come! said M. de Montbron to himself;
human
My dear child, I am not pleased.
gpt
Some affair of the heart, or of hearts, my dear count?
human
Of the heart,
gpt
What! you, so great a player, think more of a woman's whim than a throw of the dice?
human
I have a heavy heart, and you are the cause of it, my dear child.
gpt
M. de Montbron, you will make me very proud,
human
You would be wrong, for I tell you plainly, my trouble is caused by your neglect of your beauty. Yes, your countenance is pale, dejected, sorrowful; you have been low-spirited for the last few days; you have something on your mind, I am sure of it.
gpt
My dear M. de Montbron, you have so much penetration, that you may be allowed to fall for once, as now. I am not sad, I have nothing on my mind, and--I am about to utter a very silly piece of impertinence--I have never thought myself so pretty.
human
On the contrary, nothing could be more modest than such an assertion. Who told you that falsehood? a woman?
gpt
No; it was my heart, and it spoke the truth, answered Adrienne, with a slight degree of emotion.
human
Understand it, if you can,
gpt
Do you mean that you are proud of the alteration in your features, because you are proud of the sufferings of your heart? said M. de Montbron, looking at Adrienne with attention.
human
Be it so; I am then right. You have some sorrow. I persist in it, added the count, speaking with a tone of real feeling,
gpt
Be satisfied; I am as happy as possible--for every instant I take delight in repeating, how, at my age, I am free--absolutely free!
human
Yes; free to torment yourself, free to be miserable.
gpt
Come, come, my dear count! said Adrienne,
human
Yes; as the republicans are the allies of the legitimists--to destroy each other in their turn. Talking of your abominable aunt, they say that she holds a sort of council at her house these last few days, a regular mitred conspiracy. She is certainly in a good way.
gpt
Why not? Formerly, she would have wished to be Goddess of Reason, now, we shall perhaps see her canonized. She has already performed the first part of the life of Mary Magdalen.
human
You can never speak worse of her than she deserves, my dear child. Still, though for quite opposite reasons, I agreed with her on the subject of your wish to reside alone.
gpt
I know it.
human
Yes; and because I wished to see you a thousand times freer than you really are, I advised you--
gpt
To marry.
human
No doubt; you would have had your dear liberty, with its consequences, only, instead of Mdlle. de Cardoville, we should have called you Madame Somebody, having found an excellent husband to be responsible for your independence.
gpt
And who would have been responsible for this ridiculous husband? And who would bear a mocked and degraded name? I, perhaps? said Adrienne, with animation.
human
No, no, my dear count, good or ill, I will answer for my own actions; to my name shall attach the reputation, which I alone have formed. I am as incapable of basely dishonoring a name which is not mine, as of continually bearing it myself, if it were not held in, esteem. And, as one can only answer for one's own actions, I prefer to keep my name.
gpt
You are the only person in the world that has such ideas.
human
Why? said Adrienne, laughing.
gpt
Because it appears to me horrible, to see a poor girl lost and buried in some ugly and selfish man, and become, as they say seriously, the better half of the monster--yes! a fresh and blooming rose to become part of a frightful thistle!--Come, my dear count; confess there is something odious in this conjugal metempsychosis,
human
Come, my dear madcap: this is another folly. Suppose I were twenty years old, and that you did me the honor to marry me--you would be called Lady de Montbron, I imagine?
gpt
Perhaps.
human
How perhaps? Would you not bear my name, if you married me?
gpt
My dear count, said Adrienne, with a smile,
human
Modern History of India. The second,
gpt
Travels in India. The third,
human
Letters on India. Much surprised, M. de Montbron had continued his investigation, and found that the fourth volume continued this Indian nomenclature, being
gpt
Rambles in India. The fifth was,
human
Recollections of Hindostan. The sixth,
gpt
Notes of a Traveller in the East Indies.
human
Well, my dear count! what surprises you?
gpt
No, no--it is impossible--and yet--
human
It would, perhaps, be indiscreet in me to listen to your soliloquy, my dear count,
gpt
Excuse me, my dear child; but what I see surprises me so much--
human
And pray what do you see?
gpt
The traces of so great and novel an interest in all that relates to India,
human
Well!
gpt
Well! I seek the cause of this sudden passion--
human
Geographical? said Mdlle. de Cardoville, interrupting M. de Montbron:
gpt
Meseems, you speak of the prince with some harshness.
human
No; I speak of him with indifference.
gpt
Yet he deserves a very different feeling.
human
On the part of some other person, perhaps,
gpt
He is so unhappy! said M, de Montbron, in a tone of sincere pity.
human
When I saw him the other day, he made my heart ache.
gpt
What have I to do with it?
human
I should have thought that his cruel torments at least deserved your pity,
gpt
Pity--from me! cried Adrienne, with an air of offended pride. Then restraining herself, she added coldly:
human
You are jesting, M. de Montbron. It is not in sober seriousness that you ask me to take interest in the amorous torments of your prince.
gpt
It is then true; I have not been deceived. I, who thought, from our old and constant friendship, that I had some claim to your confidence have known nothing of it--while you told all to another. It is painful, very painful to me.
human
I do not understand you, M. de Montbron.
gpt
Well then, since I must speak plainly, cried the count,
human
Oh! you cannot deny it, resumed the count;
gpt
Oh, my dear friend, if I use the poor privilege of experience--if I guess that you are in love--if I tell you so, and even go so far as to reproach you with it--it is because the life or death of this poor prince is concerned; and I feel for him as if he were my son, for it is impossible to know him without taking the warmest interest in him.
human
It would be singular, returned Adrienne, with redoubled coldness, and still more bitter irony,
gpt
What can it matter to him? Now really, my dear friend, permit me to tell you, that it is you who are jesting cruelly. What! this unfortunate youth loves you with all the blind ardor of a first love--twice has attempted to terminate by suicide the horrible tortures of his passion--and you think it strange that your love for another should be with him a question of life or death!
human
He loves me then?
gpt
He loves you to madness, I tell you; I have seen it.