"I know not; and yet, since I returned from school, a youth has watched me, and even now he is weeping at the foot of the stairs."
"Gilbert!" she uttered with an effort. "Impossible that he would presume to love me!"
Balsamo smiled at her deep disdain, like one who knew that love will leap any distance.
"He puts down his hands, he musters up courage to mount hither--no, he has not the courage--he flees."
"Cease to look that way. Speak of the Baron of Taverney. He is too poor to give you any amusements?"
"You are dying of tedium here; for you have ambition?"
"Yes; though I bear him a grudge for squandering my mother's fortune so that poor Redcastle pines in the garrison and cannot wear our name handsomely."
"My brother Philip is called the Knight of Redcastle from a property of the eldest son, and will wear it till father's death entitles him to be 'Taverney.'"
"Dearly, above all else; because he has a noble heart, and would give his life for me."
"More than your father would. Where is Redcastle?"
"At Strasburg in the garrison; no, he has gone--oh, dear Philip!" continued the medium with sparkling eyes in joy. "I see him riding through a town I know. It is Nancy, where I was at the convent school. The torches round him light up his darling face."
"They are around him on horseback, and a handsome gilded carriage."
Balsamo appeared to have a guess at this, for he only said:
"A lovely, graceful, majestic woman, but I seem to have seen her before--how strange! no, I am wrong--she looks like our Nicole; but as the lily is like the jessamine. She leans out of the coach window and beckons Philip to draw near. He takes his hat off with respect as she orders him, with a smile, to hurry on the horses. She says that the escort must be ready at six in the morning, as she wishes to take a rest in the daytime--oh, it is at Taverney that she means to stop. She wants to see my father! So grand a princess stop at our shabby house! What shall we do without linen or plate?"
"Be of good cheer. We will provide all that."
The girl, who had partly risen, fell back in the chair, uttering a profound sigh.
"Regain your strength," said the magician, drawing the excess of magnetism from the beautiful body, which bent as if broken, and the fair head heavily resting on the heaving bosom. "I shall require all your lucidity presently. O, Science! you alone never deceive man. To none other ought man sacrifice his all. This is a lovely woman, a pure angel as Thou knowest who created angels. But what is this beauty and this innocence to me now?--only worth what information they afford. I care not though this fair darling dies, as long as she tells me what I seek. Let all worldly delights perish--love, passion and ecstasy, if I may tread the path surely and well lighted. Now, maiden, that, in a few seconds, my power has given you the repose of ages, plunge once more into your mesmeric slumber. This time, speak for myself alone."
