The Catholic World Volume Iii Part 60

Eve arose with difficulty.

"Forgive me," she said with a sweet smile, "I will not kneel again until I am cured."

Then she sat by her grandfather's side. The marquis, frightened at her mortal pallor, contemplated her with anguish.

"I saw her father perish in the flower of his age," he thought; "her mother a few months after died in giving her life; she was an orphan from her cradle. All my affections are concentrated in her; she has never given me occasion for the least pain. Alas! I suffer to-day for all the happiness she has given me."

"Do not distress yourself, my father," said Eve, who surprised a tear in the old man's dry eyes; "I have asked of G.o.d to let me remain to console the rest of your days; my prayer has been heard, it will be granted. Oh, for pity, do not cry more."

The marquis took her hand and pressed it against his heart.

"My father," said Eve after several moments of silence, "our cousin has gone for Gaston and his _fiancee_; my father, I have a request to make of you."

"Tell it, tell it," said the old man ardently.

Eve bent, and said in a trembling voice:

"They are both of them generous and devoted; both of them have suffered much: make them rich, I implore you, lest your wealth should pa.s.s into avaricious hands."

"Oh! my G.o.d! you expect, then, to die! Eve, my darling daughter, is this your secret?"

"No! I do not wish to die! no! I wish to live for you!"

"But I am old, very old!" the marquis replied, with hesitation, "and--after me--"

"After you whom shall I love?" said Eve in a melodious voice. "Father, I implore you, make Gaston and Louise's future sure, and you will have crowned all my wishes."

Eve had scarcely finished when Mme. du Castellet entered; Louise and Gaston followed her. The two lovers succeeded in wiping away their tears, but their emotion was {378} redoubled when they saw themselves between the young girl and her grandfather.

"Come to me," said Eve, "come, Louise! Do you not know that I loved you before I knew you? See, all that surrounds me is your work. What would I not give to have made, like you, one of these bouquets of jasmine!

"Mademoiselle," murmured Louise, "I have known you and have loved you only for a few days; but my grat.i.tude and my affection for you are boundless."

"Place them on Gaston: he is dear to me as a brother; and you, Louise, call me henceforth your sister."

She held her one hand, with the other she drew Gaston forward; then, addressing the marquis:

"Father," she said, "see them before you; bless them, I pray you."

The old gentleman, weeping, extended his hands, then with a voice choked with sobs:

"Eve, my beloved child! Eve, thou wishest then to die?"

The young girl blushed slightly, a ray of sunlight which played through the curtains crowned her with a luminous halo; she had risen, her ethereal figure mingled with the white flowers which adorned her room.

Gaston said in a low voice to Louise:

"You see plainly, my friend, that she is not of the earth."

They bent reverently; but Eve extended her arms: Louise found herself pressed against her heart.

The marquis, seeing Eve so radiant, renewed his hope:

"She is saved!" he said to Madame du Castellet. "The presence of these young lovers has done her good. Have them come often, I pray you. But I should leave them together. Adieu, my children, adieu!"

He was carried back to the great hall. However, the governess trembled; she saw at last the fatal truth. The heiress's great blue eyes were fixed on hers; the old lady's trouble increased. Eve put her finger on her lips, and drawing her to one side:

"Why are you still distressed, my good cousin," she said to her; "do you not see how happy I am in their happiness?"

Gaston's aunt retired heart-broken, doubtful of her suppositions, not daring to hope for the young girl's recovery.

Eve was seated between the two lovers:

"I demand a part in your joy, my friends, and I wish that my memory may always live with you."

Then she recounted with simplicity the history of her four last years.

The praises which she gave to Louise's filial piety penetrated the hearts of the two betrothed, who wished to prostrate themselves before her, her words had so much purity, sweetness, and unction. Louise reproached herself, as if it were a sacrilege, for the thought of pride which she had felt at the ball. Gaston was under an indefinable impression of tenderness and of grat.i.tude. Eve addressed him with n.o.ble and tender encouragement. Eve, with a pious ardor, made wishes for the felicity of their union; finally, when they were retiring she divided between them a branch of jasmine.

"Preserve this," she said, "in memory of me."

The sacrifice was accomplished. When they had gone, Eve sighed, prayed, and felt herself weaker. She had expended in this interview the little strength which remained to her.

A despairing cry soon resounded through the house where the young girl's inexhaustible goodness had won all hearts.

"Mademoiselle is dying! Mademoiselle is going to die!"

The Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam, fulfilling his promise, went to add a disposition to his will, in case the heiress should not attain her majority. The pen fell from his hand, the chill of death ran through his veins:

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"Eve! Eve! who will take me to her?"

But Eve entered the room, for she, on her side, had prayed the governess to have her conducted there.

The old man saw on her features the certain mark of death, and death struck him. He murmured for the last time the name of Eve, then fell back, cold, in his arm-chair.

However, Eve lived an entire day after her grandfather.

Her agony was slow and gentle. She asked for jasmine, her couch was covered with white flowers, bathed in her tears whose filial love had made them.

"May Louise be your daughter," said Eve to Madame du Castellet "Louise will replace me with you."

Then, addressing Louise:

"My sister, make your husband happy. Love the poor and pray with them for my parents, my grandfather, and myself. G.o.d be praised," she murmured finally, "my father's father has preceded me, I go to join him. Adieu, Gaston! my brother, adieu!"

Her voice failed, her heart ceased to beat, heaven counted one angel more.

Madame du Castellet, Gaston, and Louise pa.s.sed the night in prayers by the two beds of death. Finally, the same hea.r.s.e conducted to the same tomb Adam, Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam, last of the name, and his grandchild Eve, the last branch of an ill.u.s.trious stock.