_ CHAPTER LXI. "NO!"
If M. Grandissime had believed that he was prepared for the supreme bitterness of that moment, he had sadly erred. He could not speak. He extended his hand in a dumb farewell, when, all unsanctioned by his will, the voice of despair escaped him in a low groan. At the same moment, a tinkling sound drew near, and the room, which had grown dark with the fall of night, began to brighten with the softly widening light of an evening lamp, as a servant approached to place it in the front drawing-room.
Aurora gave her hand and withdrew it. In the act the two somewhat changed position, and the rays of the lamp, as the maid passed the door, falling upon Aurora's face, betrayed the again upturned eyes.
"'Sieur Grandissime--"
They fell.
The lover paused.
"You thing I'm crool."
She was the statue of meekness.
"Hope has been cruel to me," replied M. Grandissime, "not you; that I cannot say. Adieu."
He was turning.
"'Sieur Grandissime--"
She seemed to tremble.
He stood still.
"'Sieur Grandissime,"--her voice was very tender,--"wad you' horry?"
There was a great silence.
"'Sieur Grandissime, you know--teg a chair."
He hesitated a moment and then both sat down. The servant repassed the door; yet when Aurora broke the silence, she spoke in English--having such hazardous things to say. It would conceal possible stammerings.
"'Sieur Grandissime--you know dad riz'n I--"
She slightly opened her fan, looking down upon it, and was still.
"I have no right to ask the reason," said M. Grandissime. "It is yours--not mine."
Her head went lower.
"Well, you know,"--she drooped it meditatively to one side, with her eyes on the floor,--"'tis bick-ause--'tis bick-ause I thing in a few days I'm goin' to die."
M. Grandissime said never a word. He was not alarmed.
She looked up suddenly and took a quick breath, as if to resume, but her eyes fell before his, and she said, in a tone of half-soliloquy:
"I 'ave so mudge troub' wit dad hawt."
She lifted one little hand feebly to the cardiac region, and sighed softly, with a dying languor.
M. Grandissime gave no response. A vehicle rumbled by in the street below, and passed away. At the bottom of the room, where a gilded Mars was driving into battle, a soft note told the half-hour. The lady spoke again.
"Id mague"--she sighed once more--"so strange,--sometime' I thing I'm git'n' crezzy."
Still he to whom these fearful disclosures were being made remained as silent and motionless as an Indian captive, and, after another pause, with its painful accompaniment of small sounds, the fair speaker resumed with more energy, as befitting the approach to an incredible climax:
"Some day', 'Sieur Grandissime,--id mague me fo'gid my hage! I thing I'm young!"
She lifted her eyes with the evident determination to meet his own squarely, but it was too much; they fell as before; yet she went on speaking:
"An' w'en someboddie git'n' ti'ed livin' wid 'imsev an' big'n' to fill ole, an' wan' someboddie to teg de care of 'im an' wan' me to gid marri'd wid 'im--I thing 'e's in love to me." Her fingers kept up a little shuffling with the fan. "I thing I'm crezzy. I thing I muz be go'n' to die torecklie." She looked up to the ceiling with large eyes, and then again at the fan in her lap, which continued its spreading and shutting. "An' daz de riz'n, 'Sieur Grandissime." She waited until it was certain he was about to answer, and then interrupted him nervously: "You know, 'Sieur Grandissime, id woon be righd! Id woon be de juztiz to _you!_ An' you de bez man I evva know in my life, 'Sieur Grandissime!" Her hands shook. "A man w'at nevva wan' to gid marri'd wid noboddie in 'is life, and now trine to gid marri'd juz only to rip-ose de soul of 'is oncl'--"
M. Grandissime uttered an exclamation of protest, and she ceased.
"I asked you," continued he, with low-toned emphasis, "for the single and only reason that I want you for my wife."
"Yez," she quickly replied; "daz all. Daz wad I thing. An' I thing daz de rad weh to say, 'Sieur Grandissime. Bick-ause, you know, you an' me is too hole to talg aboud dad _lovin'_, you know. An' you godd dad grade _rizpeg_ fo' me, an' me I godd dad 'ighez rispeg fo' you; bud--" she clutched the fan and her face sank lower still--"bud--" she swallowed--shook her head--"bud--" She bit her lip; she could not go on.
"Aurora," said her lover, bending forward and taking one of her hands. "I _do_ love you with all my soul."
She made a poor attempt to withdraw her hand, abandoned the effort, and looked up savagely through a pair of overflowing eyes, demanding:
"_Mais_, fo' w'y you di' n' wan' to sesso?"
M. Grandissime smiled argumentatively.
"I have said so a hundred times, in every way but in words."
She lifted her head proudly, and bowed like a queen.
"_Mais_, you see 'Sieur Grandissime, you bin meg one mizteg."
"Bud 'tis corrected in time," exclaimed he, with suppressed but eager joyousness.
"'Sieur Grandissime," she said, with a tremendous solemnity, "I'm verrie sawrie; _mais_--you spogue too lade."
"No, no!" he cried, "the correction comes in time. Say that, lady; say that!"
His ardent gaze beat hers once more down; but she shook her head. He ignored the motion.
"And you will correct your answer; ah! say that, too!" he insisted, covering the captive hand with both his own, and leaning forward from his seat.
"_Mais_, 'Sieur Grandissime, you know, dad is so verrie unegspeg'."
"Oh! unexpected!"
"_Mais_, I was thing all dad time id was Clotilde wad you--"
She turned her face away and buried her mouth in her handkerchief.
"Ah!" he cried, "mock me no more, Aurore Nancanou!"
He rose erect and held the hand firmly which she strove to draw away:
"Say the word, sweet lady; say the word!"
She turned upon him suddenly, rose to her feet, was speechless an instant while her eyes flashed into his, and crying out:
"No!" burst into tears, laughed through them, and let him clasp her to his bosom.
[THE END]
[George Washington Cable's Novel: Grandissimes] _