Esmeralda | Page 7

than he wished it to appear. His weather-beaten face assumed an expression of deep melancholy which at last betrayed itself in an evidently inadvertent speech.
"I wish--I wish," he faltered. "Lord! I'd give a heap to see Wash now. I'd give a heap to see him, Esmeraldy."
It was as if the words were the last straw. The girl turned toward him and flung herself upon his breast with a passionate cry.
"Oh, father!" she sobbed, "we sha'n't never see him again--never--never! nor the mountains, nor the people that cared for us. We've lost it all, and we can't get it back,--and we haven't a soul that's near to us,--and we're all alone,--you and me, father, and Wash--Wash, he thinks we don't care."
I must confess to a momentary spasm of alarm, her grief was so wild and overwhelming. One hand was flung about her father's neck, and the other pressed itself against her side, as if her heart was breaking.
Cl��lie bent down and lifted her up, consoling her tenderly.
"Mademoiselle," she said, "do not despair. Le Bon Dieu will surely have pity."
The father drew forth the large linen handkerchief, and unfolding it slowly, applied it to his eyes.
"Yes, Esmeraldy," he said; "don't let us give out,--at least don't you give out. It doesn't matter fur me, Esmeraldy, because, you see, I must hold on to mother, as I swore not to go back on; but you're young an' likely, Esmeraldy, an' don't you give out yet, fur the Lord's sake."
But she did not cease weeping until she had wholly fatigued herself, and by this time there arrived a message from Madame, who required her presence down-stairs. Monsieur was somewhat alarmed, and rose precipitately, but Mademoiselle was too full of despair to admit of fear.
"It's only the dress-maker," she said. "You can stay where you are, father, and she won't guess we've been together, and it'll be better for us both."
And accordingly she obeyed the summons alone.
Great were the preparations made by Madame for the entertainment My wife, to whom she displayed the costumes and jewels she had purchased, was aroused to an admiration truly feminine.
She had the discretion to trust to the taste of the artistes, and had restrained them in nothing. Consequently, all that was to be desired in the appearance of Mademoiselle Esmeralda upon the eventful evening was happiness. With her mother's permission, she came to our room to display herself, Monsieur following her with an air of awe and admiration commingled. Her costume was rich and exquisite, and her beauty beyond criticism; but as she stood in the centre of our little salon to be looked at, she presented an appearance to move one's heart. The pretty young face which had by this time lost its slight traces of the sun had also lost some of its bloom; the slight figure was not so round nor so erect as it had been, and moved with less of spirit and girlishness.
It appeared that Monsieur observed this also, for he stood apart regarding her with evident depression, and occasionally used his handkerchief with a violence that was evidently meant to conceal some secret emotion.
"You're not so peart as you was, Esmeraldy," he remarked, tremulously; "not as peart by a light smart, and what with that, and what with your fixin's, Wash--I mean the home-folks,"--hastily--"they'd hardly know ye."
He followed her down-stairs mournfully when she took her departure, and Cl��lie and myself being left alone interested ourselves in various speculations concerning them, as was our habit.
"This Monsieur Wash," remarked Cl��lie, "is clearly the lover. Poor child! how passionately she regrets him,--and thousands of miles lie between them--thousands of miles!"
It was not long after this that, on my way downstairs to make a trifling purchase, I met with something approaching an adventure. It so chanced that, as I descended the staircase of the second floor, the door of the first floor apartment was thrown open, and from it issued Mademoiselle Esmeralda and her mother on their way to their waiting carriage. My interest in the appearance of Mademoiselle in her white robes and sparkling jewels so absorbed me that I inadvertently brushed against a figure which stood in the shadow regarding them also. Turning at once to apologize, I found myself confronting a young man,--tall, powerful, but with a sad and haggard face, and attired in a strange and homely dress which had a foreign look.
"Monsieur!" I exclaimed, "a thousand pardons. I was so unlucky as not to see you."
But he did not seem to hear. He remained silent, gazing fixedly at the ladies until they had disappeared, and then, on my addressing him again he awakened, as it were, with a start.
"It doesn't matter," he answered, in a heavy bewildered voice and in English, and turning back made his way slowly up the stairs.
But even