Frederick the Great and His Family Part 85

"When one dares to injure them--yes."

"This Count Ranuzi has dared to injure you?"

A flash of scorn flamed for a moment in her eyes, then disappeared.

"Would I otherwise have betrayed him?" said she. "I am an Italian, and you cannot ask that I shall feel patriotism for King Frederick or for Prussia. Count Ranuzi is my countryman, judge, then, how deeply I have been injured when I betray him, and give him over to death."

"To death? it is also then a crime worthy of death which these letters will disclose to the king? You do not deceive yourself? Your thirst for revenge does not make these things appear blacker, more important than they really are?"

"No, I do not deceive myself. I speak but the simple truth."

"Then," said the marquis, with horror, "it is dangerous to leave Ranuzi at liberty. I must apply to the commandant of Berlin, and ask that he be arrested upon my responsibility."

Marietta was already at the door, but these words of the marquis arrested her. With her hand resting upon the bolt, she stood and turned her pale face back to D'Argens. "Certainly, it would be best and surest to arrest him instantly," said she; and her heart bounded with delight when she said to herself, with cruel pleasure: "When once arrested, he can go no more to Madame du Trouffle."

The marquis did not reply, but he stepped thoughtfully through the room.

Marietta's eyes followed every movement with a fiery glance. At length the marquis stood before her.

"I cannot take upon myself the responsibility of arresting this man.

I do not know that these letters, which I shall send to the king, are really as dangerous as you say. The king must decide; I will send them off by a courier to-day. But, in every event, Ranuzi must be watched, and you shall be his guard. You must see that he does not escape. I make you answerable. Ranuzi must not leave Berlin, and when the king's answer is received, he must be found here."

"You shall find him with me," said she; "and if not, I shall at least be able to tell you where he is. Fear nothing; he shall not escape! I am his guard! When you receive the reply of the king, have the goodness to inform me. This is the only reward I demand." [Footnote: D'Argens wrote to the king: "Si votre majeste ne m'avait point ecrit en propres termes.

Quoique cette femme puisse vous dire, gardez-vous bien d'y ajouter foi.

J'anrai prie le commandant de faire arreter le nomme Ranuzi jusqu'a ce qu'elle eut mande ce qu'elle veut qu'on en fa.s.se; cet homme me paraissant un espion de plus aeres. Mais je me suis contente de dire a Madame Taliszuchi que si cet homme sortait de Berlin, avant la response de votre majeste elle en repondrait, et elle m'a a.s.sure qu'elle le retiendrait."--CEuvres, vol. xix., p. 93.]

"I will inform you, madame," said the marquis, opening the door; "and, as to the Count Ranuzi, I read in your features that you hate him with a bitter hatred, and will not allow him to escape."

CHAPTER VIII. REVENGE.

Five days had pa.s.sed since Marietta's interview with the marquis. They had wrought no change in her heart; not for a single instant had her thirst for revenge been allayed. Her hatred of Ranuzi seemed to have become more intense, more pa.s.sionate, since she understood his plans--since she had learned that he had never loved her, and that she was merely the instrument of his intrigues. Since that time she had watched his every thought and deed.

One day while apparently embracing him, and whispering words of endearment in his ear, she had secretly drawn a folded paper from his pocket, which had just been brought to him by a strange servant who, having vainly sought him at his own house, had followed him to that of Marietta. Having thus obtained the paper, she made an excuse for leaving the room in order to inspect it. She carefully closed the door of the room in which Ranuzi sat, and then examined the paper. After reading it, she drew her note-book from her pocket, and hastily tearing out a leaf, she wrote upon it with a pencil. "Lose no time, if you do not wish him to escape. He has received to-day, through the agency of Madame du Trouffle, the necessary pa.s.sport and permission to go to Magdeburg.

I have no longer the power to detain him. What is done must be done quickly."

She folded the paper and pa.s.sed cautiously through the hall and into the kitchen where her maid was. "Listen, Sophie," she said; "take this note and go as quickly as you can to the castle and ask for the Marquis d'Argens. You must give the note into his own hands, and if you bring me an answer within the hour, I will reward you as if I were a queen. Do not speak, only go."

The maid hurried down the steps, and Marietta returned, smilingly, to Ranuzi, who received her with reproaches for her long absence.

"I have arranged a little supper for us, and have sent my maid to obtain some necessary articles. You will not leave me to-day, as you always do, to go to your conference with the Catholic priest."

"I would not, Marietta, but I must," said Ranuzi. "Believe me, my dear child, if I followed the dictates of my heart, I would never leave this room, which in my thoughts I always call my paradise, and in which I enjoy my only bright and happy moments. But what would you have, my angel? It is not ordained that men should have undisturbed possession of the joys of paradise. Mother Eve sinned, and we must expiate her misdeeds. I must leave you again to-day to join that conference which you so heartily detest."

"But not yet," she said, tenderly, putting her arms about his neck. "You will not leave me yet?"

Thus besought, he promised to remain. Never was he more amiable, more brilliant, more attentive, or more tender. Never was Marietta gayer, more excited, or more enchanting. Both had their reasons for this--both had their intentions. Love smiled upon their lips, but it was not in their hearts--each wished to deceive the other. Ranuzi wished to quiet every suspicion by his tenderness--she must not dream that this was their last meeting, and that he intended leaving Berlin this night, perhaps forever. Marietta wished to chain him to her side and prevent his departure.

Time flew by amid gay laughter and tender jests, and at length Marietta heard the house-door open and hurried steps mounting the stairway. It was the maid who had returned. Marietta's heart beat so violently that she could scarcely conceal her emotion.

"The maid has returned with her purchases," she said, hastily; "I will go out and tell her that you cannot remain with me to-day." She left the room and met Sophie in the hall, who was quite out of breath with her hurried walk, and who handed her a note. Marietta broke the seal with trembling hands. It contained only these words: "Keep him but a few moments longer, and one will arrive who will release you from your watch, and relieve you forever from your enemy by bearing him to prison. The answer of the one to whom I sent your paper has come; he is condemned."

"Very well, Sophie," said Marietta, concealing the paper in her bosom.

"When the count leaves, you shall receive your reward. Now listen; the soldiers are coming. As soon as you hear them on the steps, you must tap at my door, that I may know they have arrived."

She hastened back to Ranuzi, but she no longer smiled--she no longer approached him with open arms--but she advanced toward him with flas.h.i.+ng eyes, with her arms folded haughtily across her breast, and her countenance pale with pa.s.sion.

"Ranuzi, the hour of revenge has come! You have most shamefully betrayed and deceived me--you have mocked my love--you have trodden my heart under foot. Lies were upon your lips--lies were in your heart. And whilst you swore to me that you loved no other, you had already betrayed me to a woman. I am acquainted with Madame du Trouffle, and I know that you visit her every evening. This was the conference with the Catholic fathers, for whose sake you left me. Oh, I know all--all! I will not reproach you; I will not tell you of the martyrdom I suffered--of the wretched days and nights through which I wept and sighed, until at length I overcame the love I had borne you. That suffering is pa.s.sed.

But you have not forgotten that I once said to you: 'Should you forsake me, or turn faithlessly from me, I will be revenged.'"

"I have not forgotten," said Ranuzi, "and I know that you will fulfil your promise, but before you do so--before you point me out to the government as a dangerous spy--you will listen to my defence, and only then if you are not satisfied, will you condemn me, and revenge yourself."

"I have all-sufficient proof," she said. "Day by day, hour by hour, have these proofs been forced upon me, as the contents of the poisoned cup are forced upon the condemned man. My love and happiness are dead, but you also shall die--you also shall suffer as I have done. My love was insufficient to keep for me a place in your memory; perhaps my revenge will do so. When you are wretched and miserable, think of me and repent."

"Repent of what?" he asked, proudly. "I have done nothing of which I am ashamed--nothing of which I repent. I have offered up my entire life, my every thought and desire, to a holy, a n.o.ble cause. To it I have subjected all my feelings, wishes, and hopes, and had it been necessary, I would without tears have sacrificed all that was dearest to me on earth. It became necessary for the good of this cause that I should appear to betray your love. A plan had been formed in which this woman you have just named could alone aid me. I dared not ask my heart what it suffered, for my head told me that this woman was necessary to me, and it became my duty to obtain her a.s.sistance by any means. So I became the daily companion of Madame du Trouffle, so--"

A light tap at the door interrupted the count, and startled him inexplicably.

"What does that mean?" he asked, turning pale.

Marietta laughed aloud. "That means," she said, slowly and scornfully, "that you will not go to Magdeburg to-morrow--that you cannot make use of the pa.s.sport which your beloved Madame du Trouffle obtained for you.

Ah, you wished to leave me secretly--you did not wish me to suspect your intended departure. You were mistaken, Ranuzi. You will remain in Berlin, but you will never go to her again. I will prevent that."

At this moment loud knocking was heard at the door, and two policemen entered the room without waiting for an invitation, and through the open door armed soldiers might be seen in the hall guarding the entrance.

When Ranuzi first beheld these servants of justice, he shuddered and became deathly pale, but as they approached him, he recovered his wonted composure, and advanced proudly and coldly to meet them.

"Are you Count Ranuzi?" asked one of the policemen.

"I am," he said, calmly.

"I arrest you in the name of the king; you are our prisoner."

"With what offence am I charged?" asked he, as he slowly placed his hand in his bosom.

"The court-martial will inform you."

"Ah, I am to be tried by a court-martial. Spies and conspirators are always thus tried. I am charged then with spying and conspiring," cried Ranuzi, and then slowly turning to Marietta, he asked:

"And this is your work?"

"Yes; this is my work," she said, triumphantly.

"You must come now," said the policeman, roughly, as he stepped nearer to Ranuzi, at the same time giving his companion a sign to do the same.

"Come immediately and quietly. Do not compel us to use force."

"Force," cried Ranuzi, shrugging his shoulders, as he drew his hand from his bosom and pointed a pistol toward the policemen, from which they shrunk back terrified. "You see that I need not fear force," he said.

"If you dare to approach nearer or lay your hand on me I will fire on both of you, for happily my pistol has more than one ball, and it never fails. You see that we are playing a dangerous game, upon whose issue may depend your lives as well as mine. I can shoot you if I desire it, or I can direct this weapon against my own brow if I wish to avoid investigation or imprisonment. But I promise you to do neither the one nor the other, if you will give me the time to say a few words to this lady."