Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

" Sir, are you going at last to explain the reason of your extra-
ordinary behavior? Will you, if you please, tell us why you
liavr insulted tljc only family iu this place which offered a suitable
marriage for Rose?"
" Rose will have a husband," M.Lescalle replied, in a dignified
manner, " worth all the Richers in the world. M. le Comte
de Vedelles has just asked her in marriage for his son."
"For M. Jacques?" the young girl exclaimed, blushing
crimson.
" No; for M. George which is just as good. He is quite as
rich as his brother. His father settles upon him twenty-five
thousand francs a year."
A dead silence ensned. Then Madame Lescalle, divided between
the prospect of so magnificent a connection and a feeling of
maternal anxiety, said:
" What? the youngest brother the "
fada f
" "
Fada yourself! exclaimed the exasperated notary.
THE XVTARY'S JIAl'G HTKR.
" How
can you talk such ridiculous nonsense, Virginie? George de Vedelles
is a very pleasing young man. Rose will be very happy
with him."
When Rose had heard the name of George, she had turned as
white as her cambric collar, and leant back, unable to utter a
word.
The idea of an objection to this marriage had not entered into
M. Lescalle's mind. To do him justice, he had always consid-
ered the reports as to George de Vedelles' incapacity of mind as
greatly exaggerated He believed him to be a young man of no
abilities, and somewhat below par in intellect, but by no means
half-witted. In spite of all his worldliness, he would not have
married his daughter to an idiot. He was not aware of the degree
to which the reports of his mental deficiency had been
spread in the neighborhood, and how deeply they had prejudiced
Rose against George de Vedelles. Seeing his daughter so
deeply affected, he went up to her, and patting her cheek, said :
" Well, after all you were quite right, Rosette, to turn up your
nose at M. Riehcr's son. I hope you are satisfied now. Who
would ever have expected my little girl to be Madame le
Baronne?"
Rose sat cold and motionless as a statue. She felt as if a ter-
rible nightmare was oppressing her. At last, bursting into tears,
she threw herself into her father's arms, sobbing violently and
in broken accents said :
" O my dear father, you cannot mean that you have really ac-
cepted this horrid proposal. I am sure you cannot want me to
marry that half-witted youth. What a dreadful thing it would
be to be the wife of such a man. You would not make me mis-
erable! You did not know that I should hate the thought
of it.
Oh, I am sure that it cannot be, that nothing is settled about it.
You will change your mind, and tell them so, for you are a dear,
good father, and you love your little Rose. O dear, dear papa,
for God's sake speak, and tell me that you will withdraw your
promise, if you have made one. You won't speak. Oh ! I am
quite broken hearted "
quite miserable!
M. Lescalle, very much distressed by his daughter's tears and
vehemence, held her in his arms, and instead of speaking, kissed
her hair and tried to soothe her by his caresses, as if she had been
a baby.
"Come, come, my child," he said at last, "don't cry now;
be a sensible girl. Yes, I love my little Rosy, and I want her to
be happy. Now, please don't cry so, my darling. You are
quite mistaken about M. i
George.
m you
He is not at all the sort of
think."
Madame Lescalle, affected at the sight of her daughter's grief,
pulled her husband by the arm and said, " Would it not be bet-
ter, Toussaint, to let her marry Artemon Richer, and be
happy?"
" Oh, but mamma," cried Rose, lifting up her face, stream-
in': with tears. "I should not be happy with M. Artcmon. I
\ ant to be married at all. I would rather live alv.
with papa and you."
These words gave an immediate advantage to M. Lesealle,
who said, "Nonsense, nonsense; that is what romantic ug-ls al-
ways say when their parents want them to make a sensible mar-
You see, Virginie, \ve must insist, upon being <
She does not want to marry either of these suitors. Yester-
day she came crying to my room, and wanted me to refuse
Artemon."
"If I am absolutely obliged to marry one or the other of
those gentlemen, I had rather of the
than marry M. de Vedelles."
two be M. Artemon's wife
"It is too late for that, my dear. If you had not shown so
great a dislike to M. Richer, I should have hesitated at the Comte
de Vedelles' proposal. I would have sacrificed great advantages
sooner than thwart your inclinations. Cut as you have no preference
for any one, it is my duty to choose for you a husband.
Artemon was a good match, and you would not have him.
What I have now arranged for you is still more desirable, and I
cannot listen to any more nonsense on the subject."
"But why is it so necessary I should be married?" Rose
objected.
" For the matter of that, my dear," Madame Lescalle said, " if
you did not marry M. de Vedelles, nobody would ever propose
to jou again after what took place on the promenade."
" I should not care."
"Oh, that is all very well; but some years hence you would
not be of the same mind."
" Having publicly broken off, as we have done, the affair with
the Richers, it is absolutely necessary that you should make a
brilliant marriage," M. Lescalle said.
" You really behaved very ill to that poor Artemon," Madame
Lescalle observed.
" What else could I do? I was seeking some cause to break
off with the Richers, and had been turning over in my mind fifty
different plans on my way back from the chateau, and when I
arrived and saw you walking in that public manner with Artemon,
which almost amounted to an announcement of the mar-
riage, I was so taken by surprise, and so dreadfully annoyed,
that I lost my head. But I am not, on the whole, sorry for it.
After such a scene as that, the Richers cannot expect me to support
them at the next election."
"
What, are you going to fail them about that also? What has
"
made you take such a dislike to them?
"How stupid you are. Don't you understand why I cannot
"
support them now ?
"No; I don't."
"
Why, Jacques de Vedelles is going to stand. I must, of
course, favor the interests of Rose's brother-in-law."
Rose was hiding her face against one of the cushions of the
sofa, and weeping bitterly.
M. Lescalle loved his daughter, but yet the sight of her grief
did not affect him the least. It was not a thing that could enter
into his head that a woman was to be pitied who married in a
way which secured to her a good fortune nnd a higher position
than she could have had a right to expect. He hud always seen
how happy young girls looked when they were engaged to rich
husbands, and so he made up his mind to let the storm of
Rose's tears blow over, as he would have done a shower of rain.
As he loft the drawing-room, he whispered to his wife, " She
would have cried just :is much if we had married her to Artemon.
Soothe her, and reason with her I leave that to you."
The mother and daughter, left alone together, remained silent
for some time, Rose engrossed by her sorrow, and Madame Lescalle
considering what line she could take. Her maternal and
womanly feelings made her understand better than her husband
Rose's grief. But there was one idea which towered above all
other considerations now that Rose could no longer many
Artemon, if she refused George de Vedelles, there was danger
of her not marrying at all. This result, a most galling one to
her pride, was not at all improbable. Some girls of good fam-
ily, and pretty too, had remained old maids at La ( 'iutat because
no eligible matches could be found for them, and she would
have accepted anything rather than such a destiny for Rose.
And then M. Lescalle was Bent upon this marriage, nnd his wife
was rather afwiid of entering upon a course of positive resist-