The Jew Part 53

"You see this gentleman," said the master. "Look at him well so as to recognize him."

"Monsieur, I will remember him."

"Very well. If he ever presents himself here again you will not admit him."

David arose, frightened and furious.

"Be careful how you treat me, my dear Jacob," said he, as he left. "I have your life in my hands, and I will be revenged."

After this scene Jacob's brow was bathed in a cold sweat, and he fell on a couch nearly prostrated. He was aroused by the arrival of Lia's servant, who said that her mistress begged him to come immediately to St. George's street. He called a carriage and hastened to the dwelling of David's victim.

Near the house he perceived a veiled woman, who seemed agitated on seeing him, and leaned against the wall as if faint. Then she rapidly disappeared around the corner. Something about this woman reminded him of Mathilde.

What if it was she!

This thought could be imaginary only, and Jacob did not entertain it for a moment. Lia, all in tears, ran to meet him for whom she had waited impatiently.

"Oh!" cried she, "that wretch has been here; he has dared to look at my child. Save me from him! He has threatened to return. I will not see him. I do not know him."

"Be quiet. You have nothing to fear. Did he tell you why he came?

Perhaps he is divorced from his wife, and he wishes to marry you."

"Then I will refuse; but he cannot give his wife the Ghet, for he knows not where she is. And as for me, I have taken an Issar. I have sworn never to marry the man who caused the tears of my father and my mother."

Wrath and contempt gave to Lia's face a wonderful beauty. She continued:--

"May my child be among the Asufim, the Piggum, and the Schetukim, rather than bear the name of his miserable father!"

Jacob made vain efforts to calm her, and said:--

"I do not approve of your Issar. The child needs a father, and the marriage would justify you in your parents' eyes."

All at once they heard David's voice in the antechamber. Lia s.n.a.t.c.hed her child from its cradle and fled to another room, and Jacob was left alone. The door opened violently and the seducer rushed into the room, his face purple with rage. He was stupefied to find in Lia's visitor one whom he had not expected to meet again so soon. After a moment's silence his anger returned, and with drawn sword he rushed on his enemy, but his coolness and the heavy cane which Jacob presented kept him at a distance. He lowered his arm and muttered some unintelligible words.

"Why do you come here?" asked Jacob, with a firm voice.

"And you?"

"I am here at the request of Lia's father, with all the rights of a guardian."

"And I come to see my child."

"Neither the mother nor the child belong to you. Have you given them your name? Have you s.h.i.+elded them from shame, misery, and malediction?"

"I intend to divorce my wife and marry Lia. I must speak with her. Why do you hinder me?"

"I consent that she sees you in my presence, if she wish. Otherwise, no."

"She ought to be willing, for I hold her fate in my hands."

He had hardly ceased speaking when Lia opened the door and entered, her features convulsed with aversion and contempt. She was superb in her scorn, and David trembled as he regarded her. She hesitated an instant, then cried;--

"Between you and me there is no longer anything in common. I declare, before this witness, that I will never be your wife, and I forbid you to call yourself my child's father. May my tears, my sobs, my sufferings, my sleepless nights, and the disgrace that I have brought to my family bring down upon your head divine wrath! May you be tortured by demons, and may Dumah invent for you new torments!"

In the midst of these imprecations her eyes became suddenly fixed in her head. Her arm appeared paralyzed and her legs sank under her; a froth came from her mouth, and with a convulsive laugh and piercing cries she fell senseless.

David fled from the house, his face covered with his hands. The maid ran for a physician, who, on his arrival, said that it was not an ordinary fainting, but a dangerous attack of apoplexy. All remedies used in such cases were employed, but the stricken one did not regain consciousness until toward evening, when she heard her child cry. She extended her arms to him, but her strength failed anew. Jacob watched by her bedside until daybreak.

CHAPTER XXV.

BETWEEN TWO FIRES.

Overcome with la.s.situde, Jacob, after returning home, threw himself on a couch, and was just going to sleep when the voice of Ivas awakened him. The young man, despite the efforts of the servant to bar the pa.s.sage at such an early hour, had forced his way into Jacob's room. He wore a heavy hunting-coat, and carried on his shoulders a haversack.

Heavy boots completed his costume, and his bearing expressed ardour and energy.

"We are to-day," commenced he without preamble, "in opposite camps. But I have not forgotten that I owe my return to Poland to you, and probably my life also, for your helping hand drew me from the deepest misery. I come to thank you for the last time, and to bid you an eternal adieu."

"Why that?"

"To-day I go directly to the forest. Our insurrection may last some days, and it may last for years. We shall march, armed with batons, against the regular troops. The forests will serve us for camp, fortress, and a.r.s.enal. We shall march, scoffed at by some and cursed by others, and accompanied by the tears of the women who love us and whom we love. We will advance with despair in our souls, ever forward!"

"Why are you so hopeless?"

"Because the young men who had confidence in us have been torn from us, and compelled to put on the uniform of the Muscovite soldier. We must save them or die! You see I have no illusions. I know that I risk my life, and that perhaps in the future we may be accused of presumption, of folly, of puerile enthusiasm. No matter. National honour commands it, and I obey. For the last time, Jacob, I who am so near death adjure you not to be a traitor to your country, not to work against us."

"Who has dared to accuse me of treason?" cried Jacob.

"This accusation has been circulated. Perhaps they wish to make a striking example. I will no longer be there to defend you, and you will fall a victim to your own obstinacy."

"Why I, rather than another? Have I ever made you any promises that I have not kept?"

"You have enemies, and very dangerous ones. They accuse you of secret relations with the Russians, here on the first floor, at the rooms of your betrothed."

"My betrothed! I have none. She of whom you speak will never be anything to me."

"But you go there, and you also go to Henri Segel's, who is in very bad odour with us. You openly speak against us; and, lastly, you refused to pay that money to us."

Jacob smiled sadly.

"Singular destiny," said he. "I have enemies, and many of them; I, who am no man's enemy. But you, Ivas, you do not mistrust me?"

"No, I honour your character; I esteem you; I have defended you, and I will continue to do so; but the great majority of my companions think otherwise."

"Let us talk no more of me. I am prepared for the worst. But tell me, is it not possible to delay the insurrection?"