Chapter XI

OF MY CASTING OUT FROM MY FOOL’S PARADISE.

Now on that next day also, which was but just a-dawning when my lord landed, was I desired to sup at the palace, that so his lordship might hear from my mouth the true history of all that had passed in his absence. And my report having been given, and my lord engaged with Colonel Laborde, I ventured to approach the side of Madam Heliodora, and seek to engage her in discourse. But I was somewhat amazed to find that it did not please her to talk of the dangers of the siege, now happily escaped, nor yet of my lord her father’s victory, but only of my own life and my early friends, and this did sorely vex me, for, as I must confess, at this time I loved not over and above to speak of Ellswether and my father, and of Dorothy not at all. Wherefore, so soon as I saw the chance on’t, I changed the topic, and hit on that of dancing, moved thereto by some recollection of my little cousin’s dancing in our childhood, and did beseech Madam Heliodora to do me the kindness of explaining the diversities that there are between French and English dancing. And this she was good enough to do very particularly, so that I was altogether carried away, as they say, and presently made so bold as to say that I should be perfectly happy could I enjoy the honour of standing up in a dance with her ladyship. When I had said this, I was alarmed at my own presumption, but my lady only laughed.

“I fear you will be constrained to tarry until you can find some younger partner, sir,” saith she. “As for me, I am too old to dance.”

“Your pardon, madam,” says I, quickly, “but sure you are pleased to jest. I make so bold as to think that we should be an excellent good match. I myself am twenty-six years old, as your ladyship hath perhaps forgot.”

“Twenty-six!” saith my lady, looking upon me with some trouble in her eyes, “I had not imagined you could be older than twenty-two or three. But I am twenty-eight, Mr Carlyon, almost an old woman. I han’t danced for years, and I don’t desire to do’t again.”

“Madam,” says I, “suffer me to say that the passing years, so envious to some ladies, do but add to you the gifts they snatch from others.”

I was not a little proud of this compliment, but Madam Heliodora still gazed upon me sadly, and said naught. Then there come to us my lord, Colonel Laborde being now departed, and demanded to know the matter of our serious discourse. Then I, willing to avoid that topic of age, which had in some way grieved my lady, made answer that her ladyship and I spake concerning dancing. And upon this my lord, inquiring whether I could dance, sat down in his great chair, saying--

“I have a mind to see you dance, sir, if it ben’t displeasing to you. My daughter, will you have the kindness to grant Mr Carlyon your support in a gavot?”

“Sir,” says Madam Heliodora, hastily, “I entreat you to pardon me, and you also, Mr Carlyon, and to excuse me from this dance, without you particularly desire it.”

“I do especially desire it, my daughter,” says he. “Give me your theorba, and I will play for you, if my fingers han’t altogether lost their cunning. Do you take your stand there, if you please, Mr Carlyon.”

I did as he bade me, and he playing a most dainty tune, Madam Heliodora rose from her seat, and stood facing me. And with so much dignity and grace did she dance, as that I was ashamed to have put myself forward to stand up with her. But so sad and serious was her face the while, that it might have fitted a funeral, and having gone through the measure in silence, she returned still silent to her place. And I being unable to win her to resume her usual cheerfulness, although my lord was very sprightly, and did make me many fine compliments, I did take my leave early, and returned to my lodging, marvelling much at the change in my lady’s conditions towards me. And yet, even then (so foolish is youth!), my own hopes flattered me into believing that my lady was tired, and would fain have rested herself and talked with me quietly, and that my twice gainsaying of her wishes, first in refusing the topics she did choose, and then in unmannerly pestering her to dance, had caused her to show herself thus grieved and displeased.

Now the next morning, when I was about going abroad with Mr Marigny, for to see the late camping-ground of the King of Gulconda’s army, for they were now, since the return of my lord, gone back to their former posts at some distance, we met with his lordship, who was about embarking in his barge for to row round the harbour and see what damage might have been done by the shots of the Dutch. He bade me come with him, and leave Mr Marigny find some other companion, and so I did, being sensible of the honour showed me, to be alone with my lord, save only for his Indian rowers, that spake no tongue of Europe. I wondered much whether my lord desired to speak with me that he carried me thus with him, but he said nothing of any moment until we were out in the harbour, and well beyond the reach of prying persons. Then he looked upon me in that way he had, that seemed to see everything without any striving thereto, and “Mr Carlyon,” says he, “I am infinitely obliged to you for your care of my daughter in my absence.”

“My lord,” says I, “such little service as I could render to her ladyship was in itself a pleasure.”

“Perhaps,” said my lord, “you might be content to render that pleasure a lasting one, sir, by taking service with our Company in the stead of your own?”

“My lord,” says I, mighty astonished, “I han’t never yet thought of taking such a step.”

There came a look of some impatience upon my lord’s face on his hearing this, and I remembered his words said to me in his closet, before he started on his late adventure, and wondered whether they were meant to move me to this step. But I saying no more, he went on--

“I must needs be surprised, sir (though I should not be so, knowing your mild and forgiving constitution), to hear that you purpose to pass over the unkind treatment you have received at the hands of the President at Surat, and invite him to take you again into the service. Have you forgot that you lie under a suspicion of undeserved disgrace, and that your name is already removed from your Company’s books? Pray, why should you not join yourself to us, and engage your excellent parts and conditions in a service where they will be deservedly prized?”

To this I made little answer, being so much confused in my mind as to what I should say, wherefore his lordship continued.

“You have already seen, sir, how the Dutch are put to flight, and the Moors forced to keep at a distance from our walls. When help reaches us from France, as sure it must before many months are over, we shall destroy our enemies with a great blow. And that accomplished, I don’t purpose to waste my life in trading, as do you English, but to lay the foundations of a great empire for his majesty. For traffic, as I fear, I have small talent, but heaven hath granted me some little skill in statecraft, and here there is provided a field the most advantageous for such powers, in the dissensions and jealousies of the Mogul emperor and his princes. If heaven continue to vouchsafe me the aid it has afforded hitherto, I look to make myself a power by an alliance with the King of Gulconda, helping him to conquer the kings lying around him. This should easily be accomplished during the present absence of the Dutch, and I shall write myself down a fool if on their return they don’t find the whole coast closed to ’em. And this assured, I would first use a portion of my reinforcements to strengthen our factories at Surat and Mechlapatan, and taking the rest with me, would then proceed to visit the court of Seva Gi, for to confirm our league with him. This being done, I would use my efforts to reconcile him with the King of Gulconda, I myself acting both as the means and the bond of this alliance, and see you there! I have power across the whole of Duccan, and far into the Mogul’s dominions to the north. The emperor must reckon with me then, and I think that even Auren Zeeb himself would pause before attempting war against such a confederacy. Then I have the situation in my hands. How does this plan strike you, sir?”

“It seems a very bold and splendid scheme, my lord,” said I.

“Yet to accomplish it,” says my lord, “I must needs secure myself from the jealous interference of those in France, that consider they know more of Indian matters than I, who am in the Indies. As you may have perceived, sir, some of my officers are badly affected towards me, and seek every pretext to write calumnies against me to the minister. I can say truly that I don’t fear their machinations so long as I am acquainted with ’em beforehand, and yet it an’t consistent with my quality, nor with the high dignity that his majesty hath conferred upon me, to mingle with these persons and find out their intentions for myself. I need some person in my following that will be one of ’em and yet a faithful friend to me. Once” (and he looked at me) “I thought that I had found such an one, but now I fear that fortune was but deluding me once more. Is such a situation as this beneath your expectations and your hopes, Mr Carlyon?”

“Indeed, my lord, ’tis so high above ’em that I can’t at present think on’t calmly,” said I.

“You would gain,” says he, “experience and wisdom, and much honour withal. Wealth likewise, but I won’t injure you by supposing that that could move you. And there are other rewards, greater, such as one names not in words, but which await the trusted helper,” here he looked me again full in the face, so that my eyes fell before his. “Come, sir,” saith he, mighty encouraging, “can you hesitate? You gain so much in joining yourself to us, and lose so little, merely a king that can’t provide a place for you, though your father spent all he had in his service, and a desk and many years of weary work in the Surat Factory.”

“Ay, my lord,” says I, “and much beside.”

“Pooh, pooh!” says my lord sharply, “you are too nice and too calculating, sir. What is there that renders your services at Surat so valuable that they would be missed should you accept of my offer?”

“My lord,” says I, “the meanest Englishman hath three things to consider--viz., his honour, his soul, and his body--whereof the last is precious to his friends, the second to God, and the first to himself. Under your lordship’s leave, I believe that I should put in jeopardy all three of these, did I accept of your most obliging offer, and I must therefore ask humbly to be allowed to decline it.”

“Now, by my faith!” cried his lordship, “will you talk of your body in the same breath with your honour, sir? You do yourself wrong, Mr Carlyon, by these barbarous notions. Come, think over my proposition. I will give you fifteen days for’t. Until then we will say nothing, but I hope to find you then less blind to your own advantage. You must perceive how highly I esteem you, by my daughter’s admitting you so continually to her saloon. Is it possible that after a sojourn of some weeks at St Thomas, you can look forward to return with contentment to your life at Surat? There is, as I understand, no ladies there whose company you may enjoy as you have done that of my family.”

“Indeed, my lord,” said I, imagining to myself the pain I should feel on quitting the vicinage of Madam Heliodora, and shuddering at the very thought, “’twould be a new expulsion from Paradise.”

“So I had divined,” says he, “and therefore counselled you to remain with us. When you have duly considered of the matter, I have little fear but you will follow my advice. But take counsel with your pillow, ponder for a fortnight what I have said to you, and then we will speak again upon this topic.”

Now by this time we were returned to the landing-place, and my lord signifying that he desired me still to attend him, I did accompany him to the palace, and being there dismissed by his lordship, took occasion to go to the chamber where I had lain during his absence, for to seek one of my lace-bands[97] that I had left there. And finding it, I was about returning to my lodging at Mr Marigny’s, when I come again upon his lordship, looking over a part of the palace which wan’t then used, being too large for his family, but so complete and so shut off as to be almost a separate palace in itself. And my lord seeing me, would have me go over these buildings with him, and showed himself most gracious towards me, and was pleased to tell me his plans for the ornamenting and furnishing this place when it should be needed. And when all was seen and done, and I departing, he saith on a sudden--

“When my daughter marries she will dwell here beside me, and so shall I have her almost in my own house still.”

Now this word of his lordship’s filled me with thought, and sent me home very busy. For you will smile to hear that until now I had never so much as dreamed of espousing Madam Heliodora, although I knew and had assured myself that I loved her. It had seemed to me a sufficiency of bliss to behold her every day, as I now did, and to enjoy her sweet company and wise discourse. Nay, now that the thought was presented to my mind, it seemed to me a kind of sacrilege to imagine that so divine a creature was to be wooed and wedded like any other woman, since she seemed to be set far above all such common ways, like the fabled goddess Minerva of the ancients, or our own Qu. Elizabeth, of glorious memory. And by reason of this new thought I went about all day heavy and, as it were, guilty in my own esteem. But this did not continue long, for growing used to the notion, I reasoned with myself that since her ladyship refused not to condescend to the joys and sorrows of common mortals, why should she not espouse me as soon as any other? And though this argument filled me at first with a great trembling and fear, by reason of my own presumption, yet I soon accustomed myself thereto, and even dwelt upon it with great delight. And in this frame of mind I abode for several days, seeing Madam Heliodora as before, only in the evening, when I found myself so timid and bashful as scarce to be able to utter a word in her ladyship’s presence, and on leaving did always curse myself for my folly in daring to suppose that she could ever deign to smile upon me. And as though I wan’t enough troubled already, a chance word of my lady’s brought back to my mind that which in this sweet madness I had clean forgot, yea, and had been fain to forget longer--viz., that I was betrothed already to my little cousin Dorothy Brandon, and that both she and my father would look for me to fulfil my contract with her.

Now this for some time filled me with such heaviness that I knew not what to do, finding myself as it were stranded between inclination on the one hand and honour on the other. And being thus situated, I did as men are wont to do in such a case, that is to say, I stood wavering between the two difficulties. For I could not altogether resolve to adopt my lord’s offer and enter the French service, cutting myself off entirely from my own country, and designing never to see my father’s face again, lest he should reproach me, and yet I could not make up my mind to retire immediately to Maderas and return to my duty. And while in this pother, that ingenious sophistry, wherewith the devil is wont to bewilder our minds in such cases of temptation, came to the aid of my own inclination. For (so said the tempter to me), your cousin is yet very young, and may reasonably look for a far better settlement than you can offer her. Moreover, she hath not seen you for many years, and her childish fancy for you can’t fail by now to have faded away, while as for any more enduring affection for you that might replace it, how can it have sprung up in your absence? Nay, how do you know that she han’t already fallen in with some gentleman to whom her wishes might incline, were it not for her engagement with you? An’t this more probable, and will you force her to sacrifice her love and herself to a contract made by your father when you were both infants?

Thus spake the voice of my own desires, and so prone are we to erect our unruly fancies into virtues, that I waxed exceeding hot and wrathful when I considered the case of the luckless damsel thus bound unwillingly to me, and felt that ’twould be to wrong her grievously did I lack the courage to break the chain that held us. Nor was this all, for it seemed to me that I had also in my keeping the happiness of Madam Heliodora, which I must certainly ruin if I should leave her for to carry out my contract with Dorothy. And thus did I, poor foolish coxcomb! labour to excuse myself and bring salve to my conscience, weighing and judging these matters in my mind as though the lives of all around me had hung upon my nod, and they themselves should be fortunate or miserable according as my high will and pleasure should decree. Never once did I consider that in all this I was wronging not only my poor cousin, whose faithful heart had never turned from me to any other, but also that noble lady, who, if she had loved me even as I hoped, would nevertheless have sacrificed herself and me, without relenting, to the duty that bound me.

Reasoning with myself then in this wise, I did put off from day to day the deciding concerning my lord marquis his offer, considering always that I would make up my mind to-morrow, until it so happened that my resolve was fixed without my intending it by a certain word of my lord’s. For coming one day into his lordship’s closet, whither he had sent for me to attend upon him, I found with him Father Simon, his chaplain. And they being busied in discourse, when first I tapped upon the door they did not heed me, and I heard Father Simon say--

“Hath your lordship considered that by your schemes you may be endangering the happiness of my lady your daughter?”

To whom his lordship answered coolly enough--

“My daughter is able to take good care of herself and her happiness, father, I thank you,” and I then knocking the second time, he bid me enter. But I was much exercised in my mind concerning that I had heard, wondering whether his lordship was so secure of Madam Heliodora’s indifferency towards me that he believed he might safely lure me on by hopes of winning her, such as she would refuse to see realised. But (thought I), if this be my lord’s mind, I know more touching the matter than he, for all his reading of faces, for he, it is evident, han’t observed those delicious tokens of tears and blushes and the like, that have revealed to me my lady’s heart. And thus I was now moved also with the desire to approve myself wiser in reading thoughts than my lord, with all his statecraft, and this, coming with all those other considerations I have mentioned, brought me to decide that at the end of the fortnight, which was now near at hand, I would accept of my lord’s offer.

Looking back now on that time, I can’t conceive how my presumption and folly should ever have blinded me to such a degree; but so secure and confident was I, that I writ after this a letter to my father, hinting not obscurely at my hopes and expectations, and yet not in so many words breaking off my contract with Dorothy, but leaving her rather to judge by implication that it was at an end. And this letter, which they could not, as I knew, misinterpret, I sent by a messenger that my lord was about despatching to Maderas, whence it might be sent to England. And having thus, as I conceived, eased my conscience by declaring my intentions of that I was about to do, I waited, in much excitement and perturbation of mind, for the fortnight to end. And though this space of time seemed prodigiously slow in passing, yet it came to an end at last, and on its final night I went to bed so oppressed with the thoughts of my coming glory and happiness as that I could scarce compose myself to sleep.

Now on this night it was that there come to me a most strange dream or apparition, the particulars whereof (lest any should gainsay ’em), I did set down in writing at the time, and do now record for the examination and explication of wiser men than I. For as I tossed and tumbled upon my bed, in a state betwixt sleeping and waking, I saw in the chamber my little cousin Dorothy, grown into a tall and goodly woman, and wearing a white wrapping-gown and a cap guarded with bone lace, her countenance bearing an air of extreme concern. At whose appearing I did experience at the first a feeling of much comfort, but was immediately seized with a fit of great trembling, remembering the treachery and dishonour that I had meditated against her. And she did stretch forth both her hands to me, as one entreating, but spake no word. To whom I, repenting of my shameful intention, did call with a lamentable voice, saying--

“Help me, good cousin, if indeed it be you, for I am in a grievous strait.”

And she, with an air of great seriousness, cried sharply unto me--

“Be true, Cousin Ned; oh, be true!” and forthwith vanished.

Then I, awaking fully, turned the matter over in my mind, and did consider much with myself, wondering at the Providence that had thus sent the shape of my cousin Dorothy to warn me, when I was on the point of forsaking my duty and choosing the path of dishonour. Nevertheless, my inclination still dragged me towards the accepting my lord’s offer, and I was prodigious sad and unhappy in the morning, so that even Mr Marigny observed my heaviness as we sat at breakfast, and asked of me whether the beautiful Heliodora had showed herself cruel towards me last night. Now at this, added to my former passion, I was seized with such a transport of rage as that I could have killed Mr Marigny for this question, but he, perceiving my disorder with astonishment, made haste to apologise very handsomely, and so the matter dropped.

After breakfast there come a messenger from my lord, bidding me attend him in his closet, and I went thither with a heavy heart. And you may well conceive that it wan’t by any means easy to me, being already so confused and unhappy in my mind, to explain to my lord that my duty to my employers and to my father would not allow me to accept his proposition. Of the matter concerning Dorothy I said naught, for my lord had not once spoke plainly touching my regard for Madam Heliodora, but only hinted thereat, and I was well content that her name should not be mentioned between us. But I could scarce succeed in persuading my lord, who had judged me certain to accept of his offer, and the more I bungled in my reasonings, the more he involved me in fresh tricks of speech, with such artful putting of questions and imputing of motives, as brought me nearly to despair, so that I resigned one by one all my reasons, yet still clung feebly to my resolve, which his lordship perceiving was displeased.

“I have counselled you for your good, sir,” saith he at last, in some heat, “but you show yourself mighty slow to profit by my advice. Let us see whether a few minutes’ discourse with the ladies will work more effect.”

And without more ado he led me to the door of Madam Heliodora’s withdrawing-room, where he left me, signifying that he should look for my return in an hour, and desiring for me a better mind. Now this was for me the worst prospect of all, that in saving my honour (though now almost too late), and in keeping faith with my masters I must attack and maybe wreck my lady’s happiness. Likewise I feared that even yet, not knowing what was on foot, she might by her sweet discourse and her incomparable graciousness break down my resolution, so that it was in much turmoil of spirit that I did enter that enchanted chamber of hers, as Tancred might have approached the bower of Armida. It being yet so early, the ladies were both only breaking their fast, my lady’s blackamoor page waiting upon them with _jacolatt_ and a _sorbet_,[98] which is a cooling drink made by the Moors from divers fruits and herbs, very comforting in these climates. My lady was fully dressed, though without powder or ornaments, but Mad. de Chesnac was still in her wrapping-gown of painted calicut,[99] with her hair drawn up under a morning cap.

“Ah, Mr Carlyon,” she cried, seeing me, “you are early to-day, and you find me still in my undress. It rejoices me to see you, for this morning time is the most wearisome imaginable. Pray bid the boy remove these dishes, and let us fall to talking in a sprightly and ingenious manner, as if we were in France.”

I made shift to do as she bid me; but whether it were that my trouble of mind withheld me from discoursing ingeniously I don’t know, but Mad. de Chesnac waxed very drowsy, and presently slept altogether. Then my lady, after waiting for a moment to try whether she would awake, arose from her seat and stepped out upon the great gallery (such as is called by the Indians, and after them by the Portugals, _veranda_), which looketh over the sea, and is hung about with roses, mighty pretty, and signed to me to follow her, the which I did.

Ah! what a moment was that, wherein we looked out upon the marble walls of the city and the sea beyond, that was of a deep azure colour, and glistering in the sunlight. Even at this distant space of time, I have but to close my eyes to see Madam Heliodora standing there among the roses, in her rich array, with her feathered fan in her hand, while I, poor fool! leaned upon the rail beside her, ready to kiss the very blossoms that had but touched her cheek. She stood looking over the sea, then, upon a sudden turning to me, she saith--

“You seem to-day to be in some disorder, sir.”

“Truly, madam,” said I, mighty flustered by her condescension, “your ladyship judgeth aright. I am in sore disquiet by reason of a most strange dream that did visit me in the night. May I inquire whether you be one of those that attach credence to such things?”

“Assuredly,” quoth she, “for han’t the holy saints often been instructed in this manner, and likewise many unbelievers converted? Pray, sir,” and I saw an anxious shade upon her face, “be so good as tell me your dream.”

I obeyed, marvelling greatly to see the heaviness pass out of my lady’s face as I spake, until, on my reaching the end, she turned upon me, saying--

“And wan’t there some need of the warning, sir?”

“Madam!” cried I, in grievous astonishment and heat; but my lady had turned from me again, and was looking over the sea.

“Sir,” saith she, in a strange voice, “I pray you don’t take offence that I cast aside for a moment the restraints belonging to my sex and quality, and speak to you for your good. Forget for the instant that it is Heliodore de Tourvel that speaks, and think only that ’tis one that is solicitous for your best interests.”

“Madam,” says I, “I’ll endeavour myself to profit by any counsel you may be good enough to give me.”

“Sir,” saith Madam Heliodora, “you are very young, and in youth one is often carried away by one’s sensibilities. Now my father an’t young any longer, and, moreover, he is a statesman, and ’tis the wont of statesmen to make use of the sensibilities of others for to further their own plans. Tell me,” and again she turned upon me, “han’t he endeavoured, through your sensibilities, to make you false to your country and your faith?”

“Not my faith, madam!” I cried, in great indignation. “For the sake of that I have lain in the dungeons of the Inquisition, and doth your ladyship think I am like to forsake it for reward?”

“Ah, bah! that will come after,” quoth my lady, spreading forth her white hands with a gesture as of disgust; “he can afford to wait. To your country and your employers, then, sir. What say you to that?”

“Madam,” said I, growing red, “my employers have suspected me unjustly, and now they have took my name off their books, and esteem me dead.”

“And is that any reason that you should prove their suspicion not unjust?” cries she hotly. “Go back to your employers, sir, confess your fault in lingering here, and explain your action in the other matters wherein they have disapproved of your carriage towards ’em, and so set yourself right in their eyes.”

“Madam,” I stammered, “you ask a great matter;” for indeed, since I had been in her presence again, I had wavered in my intentions of departing, as my lord had foreseen I should do.

“I don’t ask it--I command it,” and she stamped her foot. “What! the reward of dishonour is then too great to be refused?”

“My lord marquis knows, madam, that no reward but the greatest could avail in this matter,” quoth I boldly, looking at her the while in a way she might not mistake.

She drew herself up mighty proudly, and for one instant there was a smile as of disdain upon her lips, the next she saith slowly--

“Alas, my poor friend! I fear that you have deceived yourself very grievously. It is now three years that I am betrothed to my father’s cousin, the Viscount Eugene de Galampré.”

“Madam!” I cried, too heavily stricken at first to say more, but presently recovering myself a little, “perchance my lord marquis hath it in his mind to break off the match.”

“Not with my consent!” she cried quickly, and I saw all my folly. I knew that the lady that I worshipped loved me not a whit, for that all her heart was given to this Frenchman. All those signs of love, which I, in my blind foolishness, had interpreted for myself, were caused by the thought of him! I bowed my head on the railing with a groan, feeling verily that now I had lost all.

“Hush, sir!” cried Madam Heliodora; “will you ruin yourself and me both? Dry these unmanly tears, and tell me, what have you ever seen in Heliodore de Tourvel that should make you think that she would consent to be used as a bribe to repay a dishonourable action?”

“Alas, madam!” I cried, “you see me humbled to the very dust at your feet. Sure death is the only remedy for misery so great as mine.”

“Rise, sir,” says she angrily, “and let me hear no more of such heathen foolishness. Are you prepared for death, you that have meditated such treason not only against your employers, but also against that unhappy lady in England, your cousin?”

I obeyed her, ashamed that I should deserve and receive such rebuke from a Papist, and at that same moment there come back to my mind that wise saying of Dr Thomas Browne, to the effect that _Suicide is not so much to fear death as to be afraid of life. When to live is more terrible than death, then is it the truest valour to dare to live_; but I groaned again to remember how often my cousin Dorothy and I had read those words together, and also to think how much more terrible life would now be to me than death, though surely this should not have been so, seeing I was assured of my lady’s continued happiness.

“Sir,” says Madam Heliodora, “you have yet much to live for. Humble yourself to your employers, as I have already recommended to you, and then, if your cousin be still willing to espouse you, make to her the best amends in your power for your faithlessness.”

“Madam,” I replied, “I will obey you so far as in me lies; but this thing I can’t do. The man that hath once lived in the hope (vain and foolish though it were), to be beloved by you, can never bend his thoughts towards any other. Were Mrs Dorothy Brandon possessed of every perfection under heaven, I could not bring myself to wed her--yea, though she herself besought me on her bended knees.”

Alas, what fools are we! I can now scarce bring myself to write down these shameful words, knowing, as I do, of the day wherein these my vauntings lay upon me as heavy as lead, so that they were like to drag me down into despair, and when, for one kind word from the dear lady whose love I thus slighted, I had willingly died.

“Be silent, sir!” cried Madam Heliodora in extreme heat. “Such words don’t befit either yourself or Mrs Brandon. If I know her aright from all you have told me, you are far more like to sue in vain for her favour than she for yours. You are a mean-spirited craven, sir, to speak thus to me touching one of my own sex.”

“Madam, forgive me,” I entreated. “I am sore disquieted, and I ask your pardon if my words wan’t seemly, though I must remain fixed in their spirit. What does your ladyship desire me to do?”

“You must leave this city at once, sir, which hath been, indeed, your Capua,” says my lady, in a voice of displeasure, “and do as I have recommended you. If your name should ever again come to my ears, I trust to hear of you as an honourable gentleman, and married to the excellent lady whose happiness is in your keeping.”

“Give me some slight token, madam,” I entreated, “that I may know that I an’t for ever disgraced in your sight.”

“Nay, truly!” she cried; then, checking herself, “you may chance to meet the Viscount de Galampré on your travels, sir, for he was sent from our Factory of Surat on a mission for his majesty to the emperor and the Moratty king. He is of the religion, a _Hugonot_, like yourself, wherefore you should agree. Convey to him my loving commendations. You understand me?”

“Madam, I will obey you,” said I, and laden with this message of kind cruelty, departed.