The Maids of Paradise Part 5

But in a foreign country he could visit his friends freely, and whatever movement he might ultimately contemplate against the French government could easily be directed from that paradise of anarchists, Belgium, without the necessity of his exposing himself to any considerable danger.

I was sorry that affairs had taken this turn.

A little breeze began blowing; the scarlet skirt of my turkey-girl fluttered above her wooden shoes, and on her head the silk bow quivered like a b.u.t.terfly on a golden blossom.

"They say when the Lord fas.h.i.+oned the first maid of Alsace half the angels cried themselves ill with jealousy," said I, looking up at her.

"And the other half, monsieur?"

"The sterner half started for Alsace in a body. They were controlled with difficulty, mademoiselle. That is why St. Peter was given a key to lock them in, not to lock us poor devils out."

After a silence she said, musing: "It is a curious thing, but you speak as though you had seen better days."

"No," I said, "I have never seen better days. I am slowly rising in the world. Last year I was a lieutenant; I am now inspector."

"I meant," she said, scornfully, "that you had been well-born--a gentleman."

"Are gentlemen scarce in the Imperial Military Police?"

"It is not a profession that honors a man."

"Of all people in the world," said I, "the police would be the most gratified to believe that this violent world needs no police."

"Monsieur, there is another remedy for violence."

"And what may that remedy be, mademoiselle?"

"Non-resistance--absolute non-resistance," said the girl, earnestly, bending her pretty head toward me.

"That is not human nature," I said, laughing.

"Is the justification of human nature our aim in this world?"

"Nor is it possible for mankind to submit to violence," I added.

"I believe otherwise," she said, gravely.

As we mounted the hill along a sandy road, bordered with pines and with cool, green thickets of broom and gorse, I looked up at her and said: "In spite of your theories, mademoiselle, you yourself refused to accompany me."

"But I did not resist your violence," she replied, smiling.

After a moment's silence I said: "For a disciple of a stern and colorless creed, you are very human. I am sorry that you believe it necessary to reform the world."

She said, thoughtfully: "There is nothing joyless in my creed--above all, nothing stern. If it be fanaticism to desire for all the world that liberty of thought and speech and deed which I, for one, have a.s.sumed, then I am, perhaps, a fanatic. If it be fanaticism to detest violence and to deplore all resistance to violence, I am a very guilty woman, monsieur, and deserve ill of the Emperor's Military Police."

This she said with that faintly ironical smile hovering sometimes in her eyes, sometimes on her lips, so that it was hard to face her and feel quite comfortable.

I began, finally, an elaborate and logical argument, forgetting that women reason only with their hearts, and she listened courteously. To meet her eyes when I was speaking interrupted my train of thought, and often I was constrained to look out across the hills at the heavy, solid flanks of the mountains, which seemed to steady my logic and bring rebellious thought and wandering wisdom to obedience.

I explained my theory of the acceptance of three things--human nature, the past, and the present. Given these, the solution of future problems must be a different solution from that which she proposed.

At moments the solemn absurdity of it all came over me--the turkey-girl, with her golden head bent, her b.u.t.terfly coiffe a-flutter, discussing ethics with an irresponsible fly-by-night, who happened at that period of his career to carry a commission in the Imperial Police.

The lazy roadside b.u.t.terflies flew up in clouds before the slow-stepping horse; the hill rabbits, rising to their hindquarters, wrinkled their whiskered noses at us; from every thicket speckled hedge-birds peered at us as we went our way solemnly deciding those eternal questions already ancient when the Talmud branded woman with the name of Lilith.

At length, as we reached the summit of the sandy hill, "There is La Trappe, monsieur," said my turkey-girl, and once more stretched out her lovely arm.

There appeared to be nothing mysterious about the house or its surroundings; indeed, a sunnier and more peaceful spot would be hard to find in that land of hills, ravines, and rocky woodlands, outposts of those cloudy summits soaring skyward in the south.

The house itself was visible through gates of wrought iron, swinging wide between pillars of stone, where an avenue stretched away under trees to a granite terrace, glittering in the sun. And under the terrace a quiet pool lay reflecting tier on tier of stone steps which mounted to the bright esplanade above.

There was no porter at the gate to welcome me or to warn me back; the wet road lay straight in front, barred only by sunbeams.

"May we enter?" I asked, politely.

She did not answer, and I led the horse down that silent avenue of trees towards the terrace and the gla.s.sy pool which mirrored the steps of stone.

Ma.s.ses of scarlet geraniums, beds of living coals, glowed above the terrace. As we drew nearer, the water caught the blaze of color, reflecting the splendor in subdued tints of smothered flame. And always, in the pool, I saw the terrace steps, reversed, leading down into depths of sombre fire.

"And here we dismount," said I, and offered my aid.

She laid her hands on my shoulders; I swung her to the ground, where her sabots clicked and her silver neck-chains jingled in the silence.

I looked around. How intensely still was everything--the leaves, the water! The silent blue peaks on the horizon seemed to be watching me; the trees around me were so motionless that they also appeared to be listening with every leaf.

This quarter of the world was too noiseless for me; there might have been a bird-note, a breeze to whisper, a minute stirring of unseen life--but there was not.

"Is that house empty?" I asked, turning brusquely on my companion.

"The Countess de Va.s.sart will give you your answer," she replied.

"Kindly announce me, then," I said, grimly, and together we mounted the broad flight of steps to the esplanade, above which rose the gray mansion of La Trappe.

III

LA TRAPPE

There was a small company of people gathered at a table which stood in the cool shadows of the chateau's eastern wing. Towards these people my companion directed her steps; I saw her bend close to the ear of a young girl who had already turned to look at me. At the same instant a heavily built, handsome man pushed back his chair and stood up, regarding me steadily through his spectacles, one hand grasping the back of the seat from which he had risen.

Presently the young girl to whom my companion of the morning had whispered rose gracefully and came toward me.

Slender, yet with that charming outline of body which youth wears as a promise, she moved across the terrace in her flowing robe of c.r.a.pe, and welcomed me with a gesture and a pleasant word, which I scarcely heard, so stupidly I stood, silenced by the absolute loveliness of the girl. Did I say loveliness? No, not that, but something newer, something far more fresh, far sweeter, that made mere physical beauty a thing less vital than the colorless shadow of a crystal.

She was not only beautiful, she was Beauty itself, incarnate, alive, soul and body. Later I noticed that she was badly sun-burned under the eyes, that her delicate nose was adorned by an adorable freckle, and that she had red hair.... Could this be the Countess de Va.s.sart? What a change!