Scene Second. —The Widow Munier's house in Flourens. Not the poor rude hut that Oliver had left her in when he first went to Paris, but the house of the late Doctor Fouchette – the best house in the town. The Widow Munier is discovered sitting at the window, with her face close to the glass, looking down the street expectantly
Oliver had been gone a year, and that year had wrought great changes with her. All the town knew that a great fortune had come to her, and she was no longer the poor widow Munier, the relict of Jean Munier the tailor; she was Madame Munier.
After Oliver had been gone to Paris a week, there came a letter for her from him, and in the letter was money. Every week after came such another packet with more and more money – enough to lift her from poverty to opulence. She was no longer obliged to eat cabbage soup, or live in the poor little hut on the road. Just about that time Doctor Fouchette died, and, at Oliver's bidding, she took the house for herself. It was very pleasant to her, but there was one thing that she could not understand. Her rich American brother-in-law had distinctly told her that he and Oliver were to go to Paris to choose a house, and that she was then to be sent for to live with them. She had never been sent for, and that was what she did not understand. Yet the weekly letters from Paris compensated for much. In those letters Oliver often told her that he and his uncle were in business together, and were growing rich at such a rate as no one had ever grown rich before. They were in the diamond business, he said, and in a little while he hoped to come home with more money than an East Indian prince. Then, at last, a little while after the twelvemonth had gone by, came a letter saying that he would be home upon the next Wednesday, in the afternoon. So now Madame Munier was sitting at the parlor waiting for that coming.
A calash came rattling along the stony street, and as it passed, the good people came to the doors and windows and looked after it. It did not stop at the inn, but continued straight along until it came to the door of Madame Munier's house. Then it drew up to the foot-way, and a servant in livery sprang to the ground and opened the door. A young gentleman stepped out, carrying an oblong iron box by a handle in the lid.
In thirty minutes all Flourens knew that Oliver Munier had returned home; in sixty minutes they knew he was as rich as Crœsus.
As Oliver released himself from his mother's embrace, he looked around him. It was all very different from the little hut on the road that he had left twelve months ago, but he seemed dissatisfied. He shook his head.
"It will never do," said he.
"What will never do?" said his mother.
"This house, this furniture – all," said Oliver, with a wave of his hand.
His mother stared. "It is a fine house," said she, "and the furniture is handsome. What, then, would you have?"
"The house is small; it is narrow; it is mean," said Oliver.
His mother stared wider than ever. "It is the best house in Flourens," said she.
"Perhaps," said Oliver; "but it does not please me. It will serve for us so long as we remain here, but I hope soon to remove to a better place – one more suitable for people of our condition."
Madame Munier's eyes grew as round as teacups. She began to notice that Oliver's manners and speech were very different from what they had been before he left Flourens a year ago. She herself had never used the barbarous Flourennaise patois.
"Remove to a better place?" she repeated, mechanically. "To one more suitable for people of our condition?"
"Yes," said Oliver. "I have in my mind a château in Normandy of which I have heard. I think of buying it."
Madame Munier's wonder had reached as high as it could soar. She began to wonder whether Oliver had not gone mad.
He gave her scarcely any time to recover before he administered another and a greater shock.
"Mother," said he, suddenly, "the family returns to the château to-day?"
"Yes," said his mother; "they passed through the town about a half an hour before you came."
"I know," said Oliver; "I saw them upon the road. There were two ladies with monseigneur. Do you know who they were?"
"One of them was thin and wrinkled, with black eyes and heavy eyebrows?"
"Yes," said Oliver.
"The other, a young girl, rather pretty?"
"She is beautiful!" said Oliver.
"No doubt they were Madame the Marquise, and Mademoiselle Céleste, the daughter," said Madame Munier.
There was a little time of silence, and then Oliver gave his mother that second shock, a shock such as the poor woman never had in her life before.
"Mother," said he, "I love Mademoiselle Céleste."
Madame Munier opened her eyes and mouth as wide as she was able. "You what?" she cried.
"I love Mademoiselle Céleste," said Oliver: it was delicious to repeat those words.
Madame Munier looked slowly all about her, as though she had dropped from the moon, and knew not as yet where she was. "He loves Mademoiselle Céleste!" she repeated to herself.
"Yes," said Oliver; "I love her."
"He loves her!" said Madame Munier, mechanically. "He is mad!"
"Mad!" said Oliver. "Why am I mad? Were I a beggar and she a princess I might still love her. Were I now as I was twelve months ago, poor, ignorant, dull, a witless, idle sot, satisfied to sit the day through on the bench in front of the inn yonder, I might still love her! Were we living in poverty as we were then – you and I – dwelling in that little stone hut, feeding upon stewed cabbage and onions, I might still love Céleste de Flourens! Love," cried Oliver – "love is universal; it is limitless; it is the right of every man, and no one can take it from him!"
Madame Munier listened; she thought that she had never heard any one talk so beautifully as Oliver. It put the matter in a new light.
"But I am no longer as I was then," continued Oliver. "I have seen much; I have passed through much; I have lived in Paris. But all would be of no importance were it not for another thing. Listen, mother! We are rich, you and I. We are the richest people in France – excepting one other; yes, the richest people in France! You think me crazy to love Céleste de Flourens! I tell you, I swear to you, I could to-morrow buy Flourens from one end to the other – the town, the château, and all. You do not believe me? Very well, you shall see! But as for this love of mine, it is not so hopeless nor so mad as you think. To-morrow you shall go in my coach, with my servant Henri, down to the château yonder."
"I shall do nothing of the sort," interrupted Madame Munier, sharply.
Oliver only smiled; he did not answer. A habit he had caught from his master during the last year was to contradict nobody. "To-morrow you shall go down to the château in my coach, with my servant Henri, and then you shall see how complaisant the marquis will be."
"I shall do nothing of the sort," said Madame Munier again. "I will not go down to the château."
Still Oliver did not seem to hear her. Going to the table, he chose a key, and unlocking the iron box, brought forth from it a curious old silver snuffbox, handsomely chased and enamelled with figures and flowers. "Do you see this box?" said he, holding it up between his thumb and finger.
"Yes," said Madame Munier, "I see it; but I will not go to the château."
"It is only a snuffbox," said Oliver. "It is a small thing; but what then? Within it is a charm – a key with which I hope to unlock the portals of a new world to us. It shall give us the entrée to the château."
"I shall not go to the château," said Madame Munier.
"Also," said Oliver, "I will give you a letter, which you will present, together with this snuffbox, to the marquis; and I shall sign the letter Oliver de Monnière."
"But that is not your name," said Madame Munier.
"Very well," said Oliver; "but it shall hereafter be our name – yours and mine – De Monnière. Remember it, mother – De Monnière."
"But what, then, is in the snuffbox?" said Oliver's mother.
"I will show you," said Oliver, and he opened the lid.
"Bah!" said his mother; "and is that all? Do you think that Monseigneur the Marquis will care for that thing?"
Oliver smiled. "Yes," said he, "he will care for this thing."
Oliver's mother had nearly forgotten herself. "I will not go to the château," said she.
Scene Third. —The marquis's apartments at the château
It is the next day after the marquis has returned to the Château de Flourens. It is three o'clock in the afternoon, and the marquis is discovered still in bed. His valet, August, an incomparable fellow, has been in and out a dozen times; has smoothed the marquis's clothes; has rearranged a freshly-powdered wig that hung as white as snow upon the block; has moved a chair here and a table there. But the Marquis de Flourens has paid no attention to him. He is reading the latest effusion of the immortal Jean Jacques; for one must keep up with the world, even if one is compelled to live in Flourens; moreover, as he often observes, a book suffices somewhat to relieve the ennui.
The Marquis de Flourens looks very droll. He is clad in a loose dressing-robe of figured cloth, and lies in bed reading his book, with a chocolate-pot and a delicate cup, with the brown dregs at the bottom, upon a light table standing at the bedside. His knees are drawn up into a little white mountain, the lace pillows are tucked in billowy masses behind him, and his nightcap is pushed a little to one side, giving a glimpse of his shining, newly-shaven head; his round face, in contrast with the white pillows behind, as red as a newly-risen sun.
The valet again enters the room, but this time with an object. He bears upon a silver tray a three-cornered billet and a snuffbox. The marquis lingeringly finishes the sentence he is reading, and then lays the book face down upon the bed beside him. "What is it you would have, August?" said he.
"A lady, monseigneur, has just now stopped at the door in a coach."
The marquis sat up as though moved by a spring. "A lady?" he cried. "Young, beautiful?"
"No," said August, seriously; "old, fat."
The marquis lay back upon the pillows again. "What is it that you have brought, August?" said he, languidly. August presented the waiter. "Oh!" said the marquis. "A letter; and what is that – a snuffbox?" He reached out and took Oliver's three-cornered billet from the waiter. "This is not a woman's handwriting," said he; "it is the handwriting of a man."
August said nothing, and the marquis opened the letter. It ran as follows:
"Monseigneur, – Having heard, monseigneur, that you have been interested in collecting odd and unique objects of curiosity and virtu, I have taken the great liberty of sending by madame my mother this insignificent trifle, which I hope, monseigneur, you will condescend to accept.
"Oliver de Monnière."
"M – m – m! What is it the fool is writing about? Curios? I making a collection of curios? I never collected anything in my life but debts. The man is crazy! Does he think that I am a snuffy collector of stuffy curios? Let me see the snuffbox, August."
The incomparable valet presented the waiter.
The marquis took the snuffbox in his hand and looked at it. "It is handsome," said he; "it is curious. It is solid silver, and is worth – " he weighed it in his hand – "a hundred livres, perhaps." He pressed the spring and opened the box as he spoke. It was full of cotton. Something dropped from it upon the coverlet. The marquis picked it up. It was a diamond of excessive brilliancy, almost as large as a bean.
The incomparable August was busied in removing the chocolate-pot and the empty cup, but presently observing the silence, he looked around. The marquis was holding something between his thumb and forefinger, and his eyes were as big as teacups. His face was a sight to see. August was startled out of his composure. He hastily set the waiter with the china upon the window-seat, and hurried to the bedside.
"What is it, monseigneur?" said he.
His voice roused the marquis.
"Where is the lady who came in the carriage?" he cried, excitedly. "Run, stop her!" He flung the bedclothes off himself and jumped with one bound out upon the floor.
Once again August was startled out of his decorum. "Monseigneur!" Then, recovering himself again: "The lady, monseigneur, is gone."
The gardener, working upon the terrace below, heard the rattle of a window flung violently open, and, upon looking up, was very much surprised to behold Monseigneur the Marquis, still clad in his colored dressing-gown, and with his nightcap thrust tipsily over one side of his head. So the marquis stood looking out of the window staring into space, for he had no more idea who it was that had stopped at the door and had left him a diamond worth twenty-five thousand livres than if he had never been born. "Ha!" thought he; "the letter; it was signed Oliver de Monnière." Thereupon he drew his head in and shut the window again.
Scene Fourth. —The parlor of the house in Flourens
Oliver's mother has returned some little time from the château, and Oliver and she are talking it over between them.
"The marquis will visit us," said Oliver, "within an hour."
"He will do no such thing," said Oliver's mother; "he will not come at all."
"He will," said Oliver, taking out his brand-new watch from his breeches pocket and looking at it – "he will be here within a half an hour."
Oliver's mother sniffed incredulously. Oliver arose from the sofa where he was sitting and went to the window, and there stood drumming upon the sill, looking out into the street. Suddenly he drew back. The rumble of a coach was heard; it stopped before the house. A servant opened the coach door, and monseigneur himself stepped out.
He had driven over from the château, and had stopped at the inn. Pierre was standing at the door-way when the marquis leaned out from the window and beckoned – yes, actually beckoned to him. Pierre was so surprised that he took off not only his hat, but his wig also, and stood there bowing in the sun, with his head glistening like a billiard-ball.
"Do you know, innkeeper, of one Monsieur de Monnière who lives in this neighborhood?"
"Monsieur de Monnière?" repeated Pierre, blankly.
"Yes," said the marquis, impatiently. "De Monnière – Monsieur de Monnière. Do you know where Monsieur de Monnière lives?"
"Monsieur de Monnière," repeated Pierre, stupidly; he did not recognize the name.
The landlady stood in the door of the inn behind: woman are quicker of wit than men. "Monseigneur means Monsieur Oliver," said she.
The marquis overheard. "Yes," exclaimed he. "Monsieur Oliver – Monsieur Oliver de Monnière."
"Oh, Monsieur Oliver!" cried Pierre. "Oh yes, I know him as well as I know myself. He and his respected mother are now living up there on the hill. You can, monseigneur, see the house with your own eyes. It is that one with the white wall to the side, and with the apple and pear trees showing over the top. The rich Dr. Fouchette used to live there. It is, monseigneur, the finest house in Flourens. Monsieur Oliver indeed! That is good! I have known Monsieur Oliver ever since – "
But the coach was gone; the marquis had called out to the driver, had pulled up the window with a click, and now the coach was gone. Pierre stared after it for a while, and then he put on first his wig and then his hat, and went into the house again.
So Oliver drew back from the window and turned around. "You see, mother," said he, "monseigneur comes, as I asserted he would."
Oliver's mother was in a tremendous flutter. "And to think," said she, "of his coming all the way from the château just because of a little piece of cut-glass!"
Oliver laughed. "That little piece of cut-glass was worth having," said he. "You do not yet know the value of little pieces of cut-glass like that, my mother."
Madame Munier did not listen to what Oliver was saying. "And to think," said she, "of Monseigneur the Marquis visiting me, the Widow Munier!"
"You forget, mother," said Oliver. "You are no longer Widow Munier, you are Madame de Monnière."
Henri opened the door. "The Marquis de Flourens," he announced; and the marquis entered the room with his feathered hat and his clouded cane in his hand.
"This is Monsieur Oliver de Monnière?" said he.
Oliver bowed.
"And this lady?"
"Permit me," said Oliver; "my mother."
Madame de Monnière courtesied so low that she nearly sat down upon the floor. She was profoundly agitated; she was frightened; she would rather be somewhere else. She was pleased. Yes, it was delicious having a marquis visit one in one's own house.
"And you, madame," said the marquis, "if I may be permitted to ask, did me the honor of calling upon me this morning?"
Madame de Monnière nodded. She was embarrassed at the thought of what she had done; she could not speak. Oliver spoke for her.
"She obliged me," said he, "by executing a little commission for me. Pardon me, monseigneur, that, knowing your interest as a collector, I took the liberty of sending a small specimen to you. I have your forgiveness?"
"Forgiveness!" exclaimed the marquis. "You ask me to forgive you? My dear child, I cannot accept such a gift. It is too great!"
"Do not speak so," said Oliver. "It is nothing – a trifle."
"Nothing!" cried the marquis; "a trifle! It is worth twenty-five thousand livres."
"What then?" said Oliver. "I have many others. You embarrass me by making so much of such a little thing. Let me beg that you will not refuse to accept of this trifle – as a connoisseur – as a collector of curios – "
"Ah!" said the marquis, "there you touch me – as a connoisseur – as a collector. Well, then, I accept it. But you – you say you have many others like this? – you are also a connoisseur?"
"Yes," said Oliver. "I have been indulging a very considerable taste in that direction for the past year. I think I may say now that I have as fine a collection of diamonds as any in Europe."
"Would that I might be permitted to see them!" said the marquis.
"You shall," said Oliver; "at least some of them. I can show you but a few at present. If you will pardon me for a moment, I will go and bring them."
He was gone, and Madame de Monnière and Monseigneur the Marquis were left alone together. For all this while the poor woman had been sitting dazed and bewildered. The words that had fallen upon her ears had overwhelmed her. That bit of glass – that little bit of cut-glass – was worth twenty-five thousand livres! Twenty-five thousand livres! Monseigneur the Marquis himself had said so! Twenty-five thousand livres! and Oliver had given it to the marquis as a trifle! Twenty-five thousand livres! and she with her own ears had heard Oliver say that he had many more bits of glass like it! Yes, he had gone this very moment to bring them there and show them to the marquis. Twenty-five thousand livres! Was she dreaming or was she waking? Twenty-five thousand livres! She was amazed; she was bewildered; she was stupefied. In the midst of all, the marquis turned to her.
"And you, madame," said he, "why did you not wait this morning, and let me at least thank you for this magnificent gift?"
Madame de Monnière's head was spinning. "Twenty-five thousand livres!" said she.
"Ah, I see," said the marquis. "You are embarrassed at the considerableness of it. It is, indeed, from one point of view, a treasure; but we connoisseurs, madame, we collectors, we frequently exchange these little precious curiosities. It is our habit."
Madame de Monnière rose for a moment to the surface of her bewilderment. "Yes," said she; "that is true;" and thereupon sank again into the gulf. "Twenty-five thousand livres!" she murmured to herself.
Just then Oliver returned. In his hand he carried a small box of curiously-wrought iron. Unlocking it, he raised the lid, removed a layer of cotton, and then, tilting it, emptied upon the table a handful of diamonds, that fell flashing and sparkling like broken fragments of sunlight. One or two of the gems rolled across the table and fell hopping to the floor, but Oliver did not appear to notice them. There was a pause of blank and utter silence. Madame de Monnière herself could not have been more amazed at the sight she beheld than was the Marquis de Flourens. Oliver spread out the gems upon the table with his hand, as though they were so many glass beads.
It was the marquis who broke the silence. "Mon Dieu!" he whispered at last, and fetched a breath so deep that it seemed to come from the pit of his stomach. Then he roused himself. "You have dropped some upon the floor," said he. "I saw them fall." And he would have stooped to find them.
Oliver smiled. "It is of no importance," said he. "Henri will find them by-and-by."
For a while the marquis examined the stones in silence, picking out some of the larger gems, and scrutinizing them closely and critically, one after another. "It is a most magnificent collection, my young friend," said he at last. "I never saw a finer lot of diamonds in my life, excepting the King's."
"Oh, these are but a few," said Oliver. "I am sorry that I have not some of my larger and finer stones to show you."
"Only a few?" repeated the marquis. "And how much, then, do you suppose that this collection of diamonds is worth?"
"That would be hard to tell," said Oliver, smiling. "But perhaps not more than half a million livres. None of the stones are very large or fine."
"Not large? Not fine?" cried the marquis, and he picked out a diamond from among the rest. "What, then, do you call this?"
"It is off color," said Oliver.
"It is a treasure that a king might covet!" cried the marquis, enthusiastically.
Oliver laughed. "You admire it?" said he. "Then do me the favor to accept it."
The marquis rose to his feet. "Oh," he cried, "this is too much! I do not dare."
"You pain me by refusing," said Oliver. "As a connoisseur, monseigneur, as a collector – "
"Ah!" said the marquis, "there you touch me again. As a collector – well, then, I accept it," and he slipped it into his waistcoat pocket. "Embrace me, Oliver!"
Oliver's mother was long past wondering at anything, or else she might have thought it a little strange to see Oliver – Oliver, the son of Jean Munier, the tailor – clasped in the arms of Monseigneur the Marquis of Flourens.
The marquis released Oliver from his embrace and sat down again. "But tell me," said he, "you and madame, you then live here?"
He looked around, and Oliver's eyes followed his. It certainly was a poor house for one who could empty half a million livres' worth of diamonds upon a table.
"For the present," said Oliver, "yes. We have been very poor, my mother and I." He paused. The marquis's eyes were resting intently upon him, and he felt that the other waited for further explanation. He had already arranged a story, but now that the time had come to tell it, his courage almost failed. "My uncle," said he at last, "came back from America about a year ago, and found us very poor – my mother and me. He was rich." Again he paused for a moment, and then continued: "He came from Brazil, where he was the owner of a diamond mine."
"But this uncle of yours," said the marquis, "where is he now?"
"He is dead," said Oliver. "He is in heaven."
Oliver's mother heard what he said through all the buzzing of the thoughts in her head. "So, then," thought she to herself, "my brother-in-law is dead, is he?"
"And you?" said the marquis.
"I?" said Oliver. "I have inherited his fortune. It is all in diamonds."
Madame Munier pricked up her ears. She was growing interested. Her Oliver, then, had inherited a fortune.
"And your uncle's name – what was it?" said the marquis.
"His name?" said Oliver. "His name was Henri, the Chevalier de Monnière-Croix."
"The devil!" whispered Oliver's mother to herself. "I did not know that we were so well connected." She was past being surprised at anything now.
"De Monnière-Croix?" repeated the marquis. "De Monnière-Croix? The name is not familiar."
"Perhaps not," said Oliver. "My uncle was very young – a mere child – when he went to America, and for the twelve months past since his return to France he and I have been living quietly together in Paris, where he was engaged in settling his affairs."
The marquis was looking steadily at him. "Is your family of long descent?" said he.
"Not very; as I said, my father was very poor; you know, monseigneur, how sadly poor people of good family may be in the country – " He hesitated, and then stopped.
"But," said the marquis, presently, "you say your uncle is dead. Had he, then, no other heirs than you? Had he no children?"
"No," said Oliver.
"And you inherit all —all his wealth?"
"All."
"It is then considerable?"
"It is one of the greatest fortunes in France."
"Can you prove that to me?"
"I can."
"Embrace me, my dear child!"
As the marquis rode back again to the château he sat in the corner of the coach, meditating deeply over all that he had seen and heard. "The Chevalier de Monnière-Croix," he muttered to himself – "the Chevalier de Monnière-Croix." Then he suddenly aroused himself from his meditations, thrust his thumb and finger into his waistcoat pocket, and drew out the diamond that Oliver had given him. He held it in a dozen different lights, examining it keenly and critically. Finally he thrust it back again into the pocket whence he had taken it. "At least," said he, "his diamonds are real. Why, then, should he not be of noble family if he chooses? A half a million livres' worth of diamonds, and that, as he tells me, only a small part of his wealth! Very well, then, his uncle was a chevalier and he is a prince – the Prince de Golconda, if he chooses."
Oliver stood for a long while looking out of the window after the marquis's coach had driven away. He felt very uneasy; he wished that he had not told those lies; they frightened him. He felt as if he could see them already flying home again to roost. But he need not have been afraid. And then, besides, if there was a cloud, it had had a silver edge: the last words that the marquis had uttered had been: "My dear Oliver, let me hope that we may soon see you at the château – you and your mother" (that was an after-thought), "for my daughter Céleste will find it very stupid with no young people about. I shall not, however, be able to show you my collection of diamonds, unfortunately; they are at present – ahem! – in Paris."