26
ALBERT SAVARUS.
i
When Giradet asked what had become of this
noble and valiant athlete, iu whom he had
taken so much interest, the clerk answered that
nobody knew but his principal, aud that the
notary had appeared very much affected by the
contents of the last letter written by Monsieur
Albert de Savarus.
On learning this news, the vicar-general wrote
to Leopold. Here is the answer of the worthy
notary: —
' ' A Monsieur l'Abbé de Grancey, Vicar-general
of diocese of Besancon.
- Taris.
" Alas! sir, it is not in the power of any one
to restore Albert to the life of the world, He
has renounced it. He is a novice at the Great
Chartreuse, near Grenoble. You know still
better than I, who have just learnt it, that
everything dies on the threshold of this cloister.
Foreseeing my visit, Albert interposed the gene-
ral of the Carthusians between all my efforts
and himself. I know this noble heart well
enough to be certain that he is the victim of an
odious plot, invisible to us. But all is over.
Madame the Duchess d'Argaiolo, now Duchess
de Rhetoré seems to have carried her cruelty
very far. At Belgirate, where she was uo longer
to be found when Albert reached ther». she had
left orders to lead him to believe that she had
been living in London. From London, Albert
went to seek for his mistress at Naples; from
Naples to Rome, where she became engaged to
the Duke de Rhetoré. When Albert did meet
Madame d'Argaiolo, it was at Florence, at the
moment of the celebration of her marriage.
Our poor friend fainted away in the church,
and has never been able, even when his life was
in danger, to obtain an explanation from this
woman, wdiose heart must be made of something
inhuman, Albert traveled for seven months
in search of a barbarous creature who took a
pleasure in escaping from him. He neither
knew where nor how to catch her. 1 saw our
poor friend on his passage through Paris, and
if you had seen him as 1 did, you would have
perceived that not a word must be said on the
subject of the Duchess, unless you wished to
bring on a crisis in which his reason would have
been in danger. If he had known his crime, he
might have found the means of justification;
but, falsely accused of being married, what
could he do? Albert is dead, quite dead to the
world. He wished for repose; let us hope that
the profound silence and prayer into which he
has thrown himself may insure his happiness in
another form. If you knew him, sir, you must
pity him deeply.and also pity his friends. Re-
ceive," etc.
Immediately on the receipt of this letter, the
good vicar-general wrote to the general of the
Carthusians.and this was the answer from Albert
Savarus :—
" Brother Albert to Monsieur l'Abbé de Grancey,
Vicar-general of the diocese of Besançon.
" From the Great Chartreuse.
"I recognize, dear and much loved vicar-
general, your kind disposition and still youth-
ful heart in everything that the reverend father
the general of our order has just communicated
to me. You have divined the only wish that
remained in the innermost recess of my heart
relative to the things of this world—to have
justice done to my sentiments by her who has
so ill-treated me! But, in leaving mc liberty to
make use of your offer, the general wished to
know whether my vocation was firm. He had
the signal kindness to tell me so on seeing me
* decided to maintain an absolute silence in this
respect. If I had given way to the temptation
of rehabilitating the man of the world, thojmonk
would have been dismissed from the monastery.
Grace was certainly manifested; but, although
short, the combat was none the less sharp nor
cruel. Is not that saying clearly enough that I
cannot re-enter tlie world? And the pardon
you ask of me for tho author of so many evils
is full and entire, without a thought of ill will.
I will pray to God to pardon this young lady,
as I pardon her, just as I shall pray Him to
grant a happy lite to Madame de Rhetoré.
"Ahl whether it be death or the self-willed
hand of a young girl determined on making
herself loved, or whether it be one of those
blows attributed to chance, must we not always
obey God? Misfortune creates in some souls a
va^t desert in which the Divine Voice resounds.
I have discovered too late the relations between
this life and that which awaits us; I am
thoroughly worn out. I could not have served
iu the ranks of the Church militant, and I cast
the remains of my life almost extinguished at
the foot of the sanctuary. This is the last time
I shall write. Only you, who loved me and
whom I loved so much, could have made mo
break the law of oblivion that I imposed on my-
self on entering the metropolis of Saint Bruno,
but you are always particularly named in the
prayers of
" Brother Albert.
" November, 1836."
" Perhaps all is for the best," said the Abbe
de Grancey to himself.
When he had communicated this letter to Ros-
alie, who kissed with a pious fervor the passage
that contained her pardon, he said to her, " Well,
now that he is lost to j'ou, will you not recon-
cile yourself with your mother by marrying the
Count de Soulas?" .
" Albert must order me to do it," she said.
" You see it is impossible to consult him; the
general would not allow it."
" If 1 were to go and see him?"
" Nobody can see the Carthusians. And, be-
sides, no woman, except the Queen of France,
can enter the Chartreuse," said the abbé. " So
you have no excuse for not marrying young
Monsieur de Soulas."
" I will not be the cause of unhappiness to
my mother," replied Rosalie.
" Satan!" exclaimed the vicar-general.
Toward the end of this winter, the excellent
Abbé de Grancey died. There was no longer
between Madame de Watteville and her daugh-
ter, this friend who interposed between these
two characters of iron. The event foreseen by
the vicar-general took place. In the month of
April, 1837, Madame de Watteville married
Monsieur do Soulas at Paris, to wliich she went
by the advice of Rosalie, who behaved charm-
ingly and kindly to her mother. Madame de
Watteville thought it was affection in her
daughter, wdio wished to see P,aris solely for
the purpose of indulging in a terrible venge-
ance; she thought only of avenging Savarus by
making a martyr of her rival.
Mademoiselle de Wfatteville, who had nearly
attained the age of twenty-one, had been de-
clared of age. Her mother, in order to settle
accounts with her, had relinquished her rights
on the Rouxeys; an-d thc daughter had given her
mother a discharge as to the succession of the
Baron de Watteville. Rosalie had encouraged
her mother to marry the Count de Soulas, and
to benefit him
"Let us each have our liberty," she said to
her.
Madame de Soulas, although uneasy about
the intentions of her daughter, was nevertheless
touched by the nobility of her proceedings.
She made her a present of six thousand francs a
year in the funds, to satisfy her conscience. As
Madame the Countess do Soulas had an inoome
of forty-eight thousand francs from landed prop-
erty, and no power to alienate it so as to
diminish the portion of Rosalie, Mademoiselle
de Watteville was still a match of eighteen hun-
dred thousand francs. Tk? Rouxeys might
produce, with the purchases of the Baron and
some improvements, twenty thousand francs a,
year, besides the advantages of the house, and
the fines and reserved rights. Accordingly,
Rosalie and her mother, who soon acquired the
tone and fashions oi Paris, were easily intro-
duced into the best society. The golden key,
the words " Eighteen hundred thousand
francs," embroidered on the corsage of Made-
moiselle de Watteville, were of much more sen'-
ice lo the Countess de Soulas than her preten-
sions à la Dc Rupt, her misplaced pride, and even
her rather fine-drawn family connections
About the month of February, 1838, Rosalie
to whom a great many young men paid assid'
uous court, realized the project which had
brought her to Paris. She wished to meet the
Duchess de Rhetoré, lo sea this marvelou.
woman, and to plunge her into eternal remorse
Accordingly, Rosalie displayed a dazzling ele-
gance and coquetry, in order to place herself on
a tooling of equality with the Duchess The
first meeting took place at the ball given annu-
ally, ever since 1830, for the pensioners of the
former civil list.
A young man, instigated by Rosalie, said to
the Duchess, pointing her out, " There is a very
remarkable young girl, with a very strong
mind. She drove into a cloister at the Great
Chartreuse a man of great capacity, Albert de
Savarus, whose existence was shattered hy her
It is Mademoiselle de Watteville, the famous
heiress of Besançon. "
The Duchess turned pale, and Rosalie rapidly
exchanged with her one of those glances wliich
between woman and woman, are more mortal
than the pistol-shots of a duel. Francesca
Soderini, who suspected the innocence of
Albeit, immediately left the ballroom, hastily
quitting her interlocutor, who was incapable of
guessing the terrible wound he had just given
the beautiful Duchess de Rhetoré.
"If you wish to know any more about Albert
come to the ball at the Opera on Tuesday next'
with a marigold in your hand."
This anonymous letter, sent by Rosalie to the
Duchess, brought the unhappy Italian to the
ball, when Mademoiselle do Watteville placed
in her hands all Albert's letters—tho one writ-
ton by the vicar-general to Leopold Hennequin,
as well as Die answer of the notary, and even
that in whicli she had confessed everything to
Monsieur de Grancey.
" I will not be the only one to suffer; for we
have been quite as cruel, one as the other," she
said to her rival.
After having enjoyed the stupefaction painted
on the lovely face of the Duchess, Rosalie made
her escape, appeared no more in society, and re
turned with her mother to Besançon.
Mademoiselle de Wralteville, who lives alone
on her estate of the Rouxeys, riding on horse-
back, hunting, refusing her two or three offers
a year, coming four or five times every winter
to Besançon, occupied in improving her estate,
passed for an extremely eccentric person, She
is one of the celebrities of the east.
Madame de Soulas has two children, a boy
and a girl. She has got younger; but young
Monsieur de Soulas has got considerably older.
" Myfortune costs me dear, "said he to young
Chavoncourt. " To know a devotee thorough-
ly, unfortunately, you must marry her."
Mademoiselle de Watteville behaves like a
truly extraordinary girl. They say o'f her,
" She has her crotchets." She goes every year
to look at the walls of the Great Chartreuse.
Perhaps she intends to imitate her grand-uncle,
by scaling the walls of this convent to get at
her husband, as Watteville got over the walls
of his monastery to recover his liberty.
In 1841 she left Besançon with the intention,
it was said, of being married: but no one ever
knew the true cause of this voyage, from which
she returned in a state which forbade her ever
to reappear in the world.
By one of those hazards to which the old
Abbé de Grancey had alluded, she happened to
be on tho Loire, on board the steamer whose
boiler blew up. Mademoiselle de Watteville was
so severely injured that she lost her right arm
and her left leg; her face bears frightful scars,
which deprive her of her beauty; her health,
subjected to such horrible trials, leaves her very
few days without suffering. In short, at the
present day she never quits the hermitage of the
Rouxeys, where she leads a life entirely devoted
to works of religion.