Chapter 20 eighteen

I passed some days of joy and anxiety by Edmee's side while Marcus devoted himself to the serious investigation.Her manner was firm and faithful, yet reserved in many respects, and kept me in constant turns of joy and pain.One day, while I was out for a walk, the knight had a long talk with her.Their conversation was at its most active when I came back; as soon as I appeared, my uncle called me: "Come here and tell Edmee that you love her, that you'll make her happy, that you've got rid of your old problems. You'll try to get her to accept you; there's got to be an end to it. Our position in the world's mind is Embarrassing; before I die, I would like to see my daughter's honor restored, and I'm sure she won't be foolish enough to enter a convent; she deserves her place in society, which I've labored all my life to secure for her. Come now. Bernard, throw yourself at her feet! Use your brain to say something that will convince her! Otherwise, God forgive me, I will think that you do not love her and do not sincerely wish to marry her."

"I! Just God!" I cried, "do not wish to marry her! God knows that for seven years I have thought of no other than this desire of my heart, and no other happiness can conceive of my mind!" So I poured out to Edmee all the thoughts that the wildest passions could inspire me with.She listened in silence, without withdrawing her hands; I kissed them all over.But her facial expression was serious.After a moment of contemplation, she spoke in a tone that made me tremble: "Father need not doubt my promise; I promised to marry Bernard; I promised him, and I promised you; therefore, I will certainly marry him."

Then, after a short pause, she added, in a more serious tone: "But if my father knew he was dying, where would you have the strength to look out for myself and to wear my wedding dress at your funeral? If, on the contrary, you, as I believe, have kept the With abundant energy, you are destined to enjoy the love of your family for a long time, so why are you so eager to urge me to shorten the time limit I requested? Isn’t this a very important matter that requires my careful consideration? This marriage is bound to affect my life , even if I do not say that will determine my happiness--I will sacrifice my happiness to any of your wishes, will determine my peace of mind and the dignity of my behavior (what woman can confidently order against her own will) What about a lifetime guarantee?), isn’t such a marriage worth at least a few years for me to weigh all the risks and all the pros and cons?”

"Thank goodness!" said the knight, "you have spent seven years weighing all this; it seems you ought to know what to do with your cousin. If you will marry him, you may marry him; but if you If you don’t want to, then say it for God’s sake and let another person come forward to recommend you.” "Father," replied Edmee, somewhat dryly, "I will not marry him." "If he's in love with you," said the knight, tapping the poker on the wood, "but that may not mean you'll marry him." "I'll marry him, father," added Edmee. "I would have liked to have a few more months of freedom, but you know that since you are not satisfied with the repeated postponement of the marriage, I am ready to obey your orders."

"Ho! That's a fine way of saying yes," exclaimed my uncle, "attractive to your cousin! Seriously! I'm old, Bernard; but I must confess I'm not at all Understand women's psychology; I may die without understanding them. "Uncle," said I, "I understand very well my cousin's dislike for me; I deserve it. I did everything in my power to atone for my crime. But forgetting the past, which undoubtedly caused her so much pain, must be paid." Is it up to her? Besides, if she does not forgive me, I will imitate her dignity, and I will not forgive myself; I will abandon all earthly hopes, leave her and you, and punish myself with a punishment worse than death."

"Well, see, break all ties!" said the knight, throwing the poker into the fire. "Well, this is the end you seek, Edmee?" I took a few steps toward the door, devastated.Edmee ran towards me, took my arm, and led me to her father. "What you said just now seemed unreasonable, especially ungrateful," she said to me. "Is it modest or open-minded that you deny seven years of friendship, loyalty, or, dare I use another word, fidelity, just because I ask you for a few more months of testing? Bernard, even if my feelings for you have never been as strong as yours for me, are the feelings I have shown you so far so insignificant, that you have to be scorned and rejected by you because they are not what you want? You know that a woman doesn't have the right to test a friendship? Finally, because I was your mother, you want to punish me by leaving me, or only on condition that I be your slave girl Will you give me something in return?"

"No, Edmee, no," I answered, my heart clenched, my eyes filled with tears, and I took her hand to my lips: "I feel unworthy of what you have done for me; I I feel that I want to avoid you in vain; but can you make it my crime to suffer by your side? Besides, it is an unintentional and destined crime, and neither your reproach nor my guilt can do anything about it .Let's stop talking about it, never again; that's all I can do. Please maintain my friendship, and I hope to always appear worthy of you in the future." "Hug you, and never separate from each other," the knight was deeply moved. "Bernard, however capricious Edmee may be, never forsake her, if you will be worthy of the blessing of your adoptive father. If you cannot be her husband, be her brother forever. Think of it, child. Soon, she will be alone in the world; and if I do not take to the grave the belief that she has a protector and supporter, I shall die. Think at last, it is all because of you, because of one of her Feelings may resist, but her mind expresses the oath of respect, and thus she is deserted and slandered..."

The knight burst into tears; and I saw at once the whole anguish of this unhappy family. "Enough! Enough!" I cried, falling on my knees at their feet. "It's all unbearable. If I want my sins and responsibilities to be kept under my nose, I'm the worst. Despicable villains. Let me weep at your knees; let me atone for the misfortune I have caused you by eternal pain, eternal renunciation of earthly interests! Why don't you put I drive you away? Why, uncle, you don't shoot me like a wild beast and blow my brains out? How can I be tolerated when I'm ruining your reputation? No, no; I see, Edmee should not marry me; to do so would be to accept an unjust disgrace I have brought her. I only ask to stay here; and if she wishes me to see her never again, I may do so; but I shall be as A faithful dog lay before her door, and tore to pieces the first man who dared not kneel before her to present himself. If one day, a well-bred man in high society was luckier than I, and deserved to be honored by her In the picture, instead of opposing him, I will entrust him with the sacred responsibility of defending her and defending her. I will be her friend and brother; when I see them both happy together, I will go far away , die in silence."

I was choked with sobs; the knight held his daughter and me in his arms, we shared tears and promised him that we would never be apart, whether in his life or after. A moment later, when our peace was restored, the knight whispered to me: "Don't lose hope of marrying her; she has some whims; but you see, nothing can convince me that she has no love for you. She won't yet." Explain why. A woman's desire is God's desire." "Then Edmee's wish is mine," I answered. This episode replaced the lively turmoil in my mind with deathly tranquility; a few days later I was walking in the garden with the priest.he told me:

"I must tell you about an adventure of mine which happened yesterday and which is quite legendary. I went for a walk in the Brionte woods and came to the fountain of Foghé. It was as hot as it was in midsummer, you know; The vegetation, reddened by autumn, was more beautiful than ever, and the long branches hid the stream. There was little shade left in the woods; but the sound of the carpet of dead leaves underfoot charmed me. The birches and oak oaks The satin-smooth trunk of the tree is covered with moss and twining plants, showing different shades of brown, tender green, red, tawny, showing star shapes, rosette shapes, various map shapes, and imagination can imagine miniature New worlds. I have studied with special care these graceful, mysterious wonders, these arabesques of infinite change and eternal symmetry. I am glad to remember that you, unlike mortals, are by no means blind to these lovely charms of nature. I took a few specimens with great care, even stripping the bark on which they were rooted, so as not to spoil the perfection of the pattern. I took a small batch of these, and deposited them at Patience, so that we may Go and see, if you like. But on the way I'll tell you what happened yesterday when I approached the spring. A little stream of clear water rose from a crevice in the mossy rocks, and I murmured Guided by the voice, he walked on the wet gravel with his head bowed; he was about to sit down on a stone that looked like a stool by the spring, but he found that this seat was already occupied by a kind monk, his pale thin face was covered with brown baize. The hooded cloak was half-hidden. He seemed quite apprehensive about my presence; I tried to reassure him, telling him that my intention was not to disturb him, but to drink from the bark ditches, which The small ditches were erected on the rocks by woodcutters for the convenience of drinking water.

"'O holy priest!' he said to me in the most humble tone, 'why were you not the prophet who with the rod of answering opened the fountain of grace? flow?' "Being in this poetic place—I often fantasize about the place where the Samaritan woman meets the Savior, I was deeply moved by the way this monk expressed his thoughts, his sad expression, his bewildered expression, I couldn’t help talking to him more and more. The monk told me that he was a monk of the Ascetic Order and was on a tour to complete a penance for sin. ①About the legend of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus beside him, See chapter four of John's Gospel. "'Please don't inquire about my name and birthplace,' said he. 'I was born into a noble family, which would blush if they knew I was alive; all self-respect, to make ourselves like newborn babes; but we seek a quick death on earth that we may be raised in Christ Jesus. Believe me, what you see in me is the clearest example of the miracle of grace; if I could I will tell you about my monastic life, my fears, my regrets, my redemption, and you will be moved. But what is the sympathy and tolerance of human beings to me if the merciful God refuses to forgive my sins? ?” "You know," went on the priest, "I don't like monks, I suspect their humility, I hate their laziness. But this monk speaks with such pathos and sincerity, with such a sense of duty, and looks sickly, because Ascetic and enfeebled, full of repentance, he won my heart at last. There was a sparkle in his eyes and speech that revealed a high degree of wisdom, tireless energy, and perseverance that could stand any test. We spent time together Two full hours passed; I was deeply moved by his words, and at parting I expressed the hope of seeing him again before he departed. In vain did I try to lead him to the castle as he lodged at the Gourley farm. He told Me, he has an inseparable traveling companion. "'Since you are so well-loved,' said he, 'then I shall be glad to meet you again here at sundown tomorrow. I shall even take courage to ask you for help; you can help me in an important matter, That's why I've come here. I can't say anything more at the moment.' "I want to reassure him that he can count on me; I would gladly grant the request of a man like him." "That's why you're waiting impatiently for the hour of the interview?" I said to the priest. "I am sure," he answered, "my new acquaintance has such an attraction for me that I would like to take Edmee to Fougèges too, if I am not afraid of abusing the confidence he has placed in me." "I wish Edmee would do something more important than listen to your monk's rhetoric. After all, this monk is probably just a scoundrel, like so many others you have blindly rescued. Forgive me, my goodness." Father, you are not very good at identifying characters by their appearance. You have a tendency to judge people as good or bad, for no other reason than what your romantic mind likes or fears about them." The abbé laughed, and said that I had said this out of old vendetta; he was sure of the piety of the ascetics, and the conversation turned to botany.We spent some time at Patience looking at the botanical specimens we had collected; and with no desire but to escape my troubles, I followed the abbé from the cottage, and accompanied him as far as the woods where he had made an appointment.As we gradually approached our destination, the priest seemed to lose the urgency of the previous day more and more, for fear that we would go too far.Hesitation soon took the place of enthusiasm, fully summed up his variable, sensitive, indecisive character, strangely combined with very different impulses, and I began to tease him in a friendly way. "Come on," he said, "I need to know, and you should see him too. You can see his face, study it, and then leave me alone with him, and I promise to listen to what he has to say." I followed the priest to pass the time; but when I came to a shady rock overlooking the spring, I stopped and watched the monk through the branches of an ash clump.He sat directly below us by the fountain, looking into the corner of his way; he had no idea where we were; we could look at him at his ease without him noticing. When I saw the man's face, I couldn't help smiling wryly, and taking the abbe by the arm, and pulling him aside, I said to him, with a great deal of uneasiness: "My dear abbe, have you never met my uncle John de Mauprat anywhere before?" "I don't remember ever," answered the priest, transfixed; "but what do you mean?" "I tell you, my friend, that here you have made a marvelous discovery; that this ascetic, so gracious, candid, serious, intelligent, kind, and respectable, to you, was none other than the robber Ruo Hope de Maupra." "You are mad!" cried the priest, taking three steps back. "Joan Mauprat is dead long ago." "Jean Mauprat is not dead, and perhaps Antoine Mauprat is not dead; I am not as surprised as you are, because I have met one of these two ghosts. He became a monk, he regretted His own guilt, that is probable; yet it is not impossible that he came here in disguise to carry out some evil purpose; I advise you to be vigilant..." The priest was so frightened that he didn't even want to go to the appointment again.I pointed out to him that it was necessary to know what the old sinner was up to.However, knowing the frailty of the priest, and fearing that Uncle John would conquer his heart by false confessions and trick him into taking some wrong course, I decided to go into the bushes so that I could see and hear everything. However things didn't happen as I expected.Instead of fighting wits, the ascetic monk immediately revealed his real name to the priest.He claimed that, filled with remorse, his conscience would not permit him to escape punishment under the guise of his robe (he had indeed been a monk some years before), and that he had come to surrender himself to the judiciary, to atone in public, Change your mind.This man possessed extraordinary talents, and in the monastery he acquired a mysterious eloquence.He spoke so eloquently and eloquently that even I was fascinated like a priest.The abbe tried in vain to check what seemed to him an absurd decision; John de Mauprat showed unwavering devotion to his religious convictions.He said that since he had committed the barbarous crimes of the ancient pagans, he could only follow the example of the early Christians and redeem his soul at the price of public repentance.He said: "A man can be a coward before God as well as before men; and in the stillness of my sleepless nights I heard a terrible voice answer my sobs: 'Shameful coward, you were born out of It is the fear of men that throws itself into the bosom of God; if you do not fear temporary death, you will never think of eternal life.' "At this moment I felt that what I feared most was not the wrath of God, but the noose and the executioner who awaited me among my fellow men. Well, it is time to end this inner shame. People have brought shame on me and Give me the day of punishment when I feel pardoned and restored before God. It is only then that I believe myself worthy of praying to Jesus the Savior: 'Listen, innocent victim, hear me Hear the thief's repentance; he is a notorious and repentant victim, sharing in the glory of your martyrdom, redeemed by your blood!'" "Since you persist in your desire to carry out this passion," said the abbé, after all he could protest, "tell me at least in what way do you hope I can be of help to you?" The ascetic replied: "I cannot do this without the consent of a young man who will soon be the last Maupra, for the knight will not have to wait long for the virtue which God has given him. reward; and as for me, I cannot escape the punishment I came to seek, except to return to the endless night of the monastery. I will speak of Bernard Maupra; I do not call him my nephew; for If he heard it, he would blush for his ignominious position. I knew he had returned from America, and the news made me determined to find him, and you met me at the end of this painful journey." I think he squinted at the bushes where I was as he spoke, as if he guessed my presence.Perhaps the shaking of certain branches exposed me unknowingly. "May I ask," said the abbe, "what do you have in common with this young man at present? Are you not afraid that he will hold a grudge against you and refuse to see you, because he was not less ill-treated in the past at Maupra Rock?" "I'm sure he'll refuse; I know he hates me to the bone," said the Penitent, turning more and more to where I was. "But I hope you will make him agree to see me; you are a generous and good man, monsieur abbe. You have promised to help me; besides, you are young Mauprat's friend, and you will make him understand that At stake is his interest and the honor of his name." "What's the matter?" said the priest. "He will not be very pleased to see you appearing in court for a crime that will later disappear by itself in a gloomy monastery. He will certainly wish you to renounce this public atonement; how do you expect him to agree?" "I hope, because God is merciful and great, because grace is effective, because whoever listens to the prayer of a true confessor and a firm believer, his heart will be favored by God; because my eternal life holds In the hands of this young man, he cannot hope to avenge me after my death. Besides, I must die only after being reconciled to those whom I have offended, and I must fall at the feet of Bernard Mauprat and get His forgiveness for me. My tears would have touched him, or, if his hard heart despised them, I have at least fulfilled an inescapable duty." It disgusted me to see him speak with the confidence that I must understand; and through this base hypocrisy I believe I saw fraud and cowardice.I went away to wait for the priest some distance away.He came to join me shortly; the meeting was concluded after an mutual agreement to meet again shortly.The priest promised to pass on to me the words of the ascetic, who threatened in the most morbid voice in the world that he would come to see me if I refused his request.The abbe and I agreed to discuss the matter together, without telling the Chevalier or Edmee, lest they should be disturbed.The fact that the ascetic had lodged in the Carmelite monastery at La Chateau aroused great suspicion in the priest, despite his initial rapture at the sinner's confession.These Carmelites had abused him in his youth; the abbot eventually forced him to disown.This dean is still alive, cunning, ruthless, weak, hidden, yet hostile to humans and keen on intrigue.The priest shuddered at the sound of his name; he advised me to proceed with caution in the matter. "Though John Mauprat is under the law," he said to me, "and you are at the height of your honor, in the prime of your life, you must not underestimate your enemies. Who knows cunning. Haters will What the hell is going on? He will disregard justice and throw it away like trash; he will blame others and stain the chaste robe with infamy. Perhaps your relationship with the Maupra family is not over yet!" The poor abbe did not realize that he was telling the truth.