The Bath Keepers Volume Ii Part 46

"Has he told you how it happened?" asked Bathilde; "how he was attacked by Giovanni? For it was that brigand who wounded him, was it not?"

Jarnonville seemed to reflect before he replied:

"Madame, your husband is very uncommunicative; and since he has begun to improve, he talks no more than before. Your daughter alone has the power to make him talk. When I attempted to question him concerning this adventure, he answered only by monosyllables, which led me to think that my questions were displeasing to him; so that I thought that I should not persist."

"Oh! you were quite right, chevalier; let monsieur le comte conceal from us the cause of his accident, if that is his wish; the essential point is that it should have no fatal consequences."

"Still," said Ambroisine, "I do not understand why he should make a mystery of having been attacked by a robber! But if he had fought a duel----"

"That is impossible," rejoined Bathilde; "remember that in his delirium he talked constantly of this Giovanni."

Thus the two friends were still uncertain with respect to the cause of the wound which had nearly caused the count's death; and Jarnonville, who knew what it was and might have told them, pretended to share their ignorance.

One morning, on awaking, Leodgard, who was accustomed to see Blanche at the foot of his bed, or somewhere in the room, looked in vain for the child, who was nowhere in sight. After waiting for some time for his daughter to be brought to him, he rang for a servant.

"Why do they not send the child to me this morning, as usual?" he asked the valet who answered the bell.

"I believe that I heard someone say, monsieur le comte, that mademoiselle was not very well in the night; that is probably the reason why she does not come to you."

"Ah! that makes a difference! And the physician--have they sent for the physician?"

"Yes, monsieur le comte."

"Has the Sire de Jarnonville not yet come?"

"No, monseigneur."

"Very well; as soon as the physician has seen the child, send him to me."

The valet left the room; but in a few moments the count rang again, and asked that the child's nurse be sent to him.

Marie appeared, and the count was glad to see the nurse who was taking his daughter to walk on Place Royale when he first met her there. He motioned to her to come forward.

"Blanche is ill--what is the matter?"

"Oh! it will be nothing, monsieur le comte; mademoiselle coughed a little in the night, and this morning she has a little fever; but it will not amount to anything; children fall sick very quickly, but they get well as quickly."

"Is she in pain?"

"No, monseigneur; she has already asked to get up, and to come to see you."

"What! does she really think of me?"

"Oh! since she has been coming here, you are her first thought, after she has kissed her mother."

"Dear child!"

"But as mademoiselle is feverish, it would be imprudent to allow her to rise."

"Yes, it must not be. And her--her mother is with her, I presume?"

"Madame does not leave mademoiselle for an instant; especially as when she is ill mademoiselle is not always very good about taking her medicine. But when her mamma says to her: 'You must take this, my child!' then she obeys instantly."

"It is well; go; let them send the doctor to me when he has seen Blanche."

The time seemed very long to Leodgard, who had become accustomed to the pleasure of seeing his daughter. We do not fully realize the value of things until we are deprived of them. Until that moment, the count had thought perhaps that his daughter's presence was simply an agreeable diversion; now, he felt that it had become an imperative need.

At last the doctor came, and Leodgard questioned him eagerly concerning Blanche's condition.

The doctor began by allaying his fears, and continued:

"Even if this indisposition should prove to be one of the diseases common to children, we would cure her."

"A disease! What disease do you suspect, doctor?"

"Why, it is what used to be called _Pusula_--the _feu ardent_, _feu sauvage_, Saint Anthony's fire."[B]

[B] Erysipelas.

"You terrify me, doctor!"

"But in those days they were very ignorant! It is simply the measles--what we doctors call _Boa_; a skin disease, very light in children, unless they are not properly cared for--unless there is imprudence. There is no danger of that in this case.--But how are you, monsieur le comte?"

"I am doing well, and I wish that I might be allowed to rise."

"Wait a few more days. If your wound should reopen, you would be kept in bed for a long, long time. Be reasonable, monsieur le comte; it is really a miracle that you have recovered."

"Thanks, doctor; but henceforth give all your attention to the child."

The doctor went away, but Jarnonville soon came to stay with the count.

On this occasion he did not find him taciturn and pensive as usual. The count asked him with much eagerness if he had seen his daughter, questioned him about her condition, and told him what he had learned from the doctor. And as the chevalier never tired of talking about Blanche, those two men, whose aspect was sometimes so stern and forbidding, pa.s.sed a large part of the day talking about a child.

The next day, the doctor declared that his opinion was confirmed, and that the child had the measles--a disease attended with no danger, if not complicated by other circ.u.mstances.

Leodgard did not allow five minutes to pa.s.s without ringing and sending servants to inquire for his daughter. He no longer hesitated to give her that t.i.tle when he spoke of her; and Jarnonville could not conceal his joy when the count at last uttered that word.

On the third day, after inquiring for Blanche, he exclaimed:

"Oh! how fortunate her mother is! She is with her, she can see her, if nothing more; and I--who had become so accustomed to seeing her every day--how long the time seems to me now!"

On the following day, the servants' faces were more downcast, and Jarnonville himself, although he said that the disease was following its regular course, seemed more anxious, less cheerful, concerning Blanche's safety.

After scrutinizing the faces of all those about him, Leodgard summoned a valet and ordered him to help him to dress.

"What! you intend to rise?" cried Jarnonville; "that is most imprudent; the doctor still forbids it."

"The doctor does not know how much I suffer from not seeing my daughter; the sight of her will be more beneficial to me than all his prescriptions. Moreover, to-day everyone seems to be more anxious about Blanche's health, and I wish to satisfy myself with my own eyes concerning her condition. You will give me your arm, chevalier, and take me to my daughter."

The tone in which the count spoke showed that all objections would be fruitless.