In a Glass Darkly - J. Sheridan Le Fanu (great reads txt) 📗

think differently, by-and-by, I could try the effect of a few Napoleons. Possibly he meant to extract them.

The host of the Dragon Volant was an elderly man, thin, bronzed, intelligent, and with an air of decision, perfectly military. I learned afterwards that he had served under Napoleon in his early Italian campaigns.

“One question, I think you may answer,” I said, “without risking a quarrel. Is the Count at home?”

“He has many homes, I conjecture,” said the host evasively. “But⁠—but I think I may say, Monsieur, that he is, I believe, at present staying at the Château de la Carque.”

I looked out of the window, more interested than ever, across the undulating grounds to the château, with its gloomy background of foliage.

“I saw him today, in his carriage at Versailles,” I said.

“Very natural.”

“Then his carriage and horses and servants are at the château?”

“The carriage he puts up here, Monsieur, and the servants are hired for the occasion. There is but one who sleeps at the château. Such a life must be terrifying for Madame the Countess,” he replied.

“The old screw!” I thought. “By this torture, he hopes to extract her diamonds. What a life! What fiends to contend with⁠—jealousy and extortion!”

The knight having made this speech to himself, cast his eyes once more upon the enchanter’s castle, and heaved a gentle sigh⁠—a sigh of longing, of resolution, and of love.

What a fool I was! and yet, in the sight of angels, are we any wiser as we grow older? It seems to me, only, that our illusions change as we go on; but, still, we are madmen all the same.

“Well, St. Clair,” said I, as my servant entered, and began to arrange my things. “You have got a bed?”

“In the cockloft, Monsieur, among the spiders, and, par ma foi! the cats and the owls. But we agree very well. Vive la bagatelle!”

“I had no idea it was so full.”

“Chiefly the servants, Monsieur, of those persons who were fortunate enough to get apartments at Versailles.”

“And what do you think of the Dragon Volant?”

“The Dragon Volant! Monsieur; the old fiery dragon! The devil himself, if all is true! On the faith of a Christian, Monsieur, they say that diabolical miracles have taken place in this house.”

“What do you mean? Revenants?”

“Not at all, sir; I wish it was no worse. Revenants? No! People who have never returned⁠—who vanished, before the eyes of half-a-dozen men, all looking at them.”

“What do you mean, St. Clair? Let us hear the story, or miracle, or whatever it is.”

“It is only this, Monsieur, that an ex-master-of-the-horse of the late king, who lost his head⁠—Monsieur will have the goodness to recollect, in the revolution⁠—being permitted by the Emperor to return to France, lived here in this hotel, for a month, and at the end of that time vanished, visibly, as I told you, before the faces of half-a-dozen credible witnesses! The other was a Russian nobleman, six feet high and upwards, who, standing in the centre of the room, downstairs, describing to seven gentlemen of unquestionable veracity, the last moments of Peter the Great, and having a glass of eau-de-vie in his left hand, and his tasse de café, nearly finished, in his right, in like manner vanished. His boots were found on the floor where he had been standing; and the gentleman at his right, found, to his astonishment, his cup of coffee in his fingers, and the gentleman at his left, his glass of eau-de-vie⁠—”

“Which he swallowed in his confusion,” I suggested.

“Which was preserved for three years among the curious articles of this house, and was broken by the curé while conversing with Mademoiselle Fidone in the housekeeper’s room; but of the Russian nobleman himself, nothing more was ever seen or heard! Parbleu! when we go out of the Dragon Volant, I hope it may be by the door. I heard all this, Monsieur, from the postillion who drove us.”

“Then it must be true!” said I, jocularly: but I was beginning to feel the gloom of the view, and of the chamber in which I stood; there had stolen over me, I know not how, a presentiment of evil; and my joke was with an effort, and my spirit flagged.

XII The Magician

No more brilliant spectacle than this masked ball could be imagined. Among other salons and galleries, thrown open, was the enormous perspective of the “Grande Galerie des Glaces,” lighted up on that occasion with no less than four thousand wax candles, reflected and repeated by all the mirrors, so that the effect was almost dazzling. The grand suite of salons was thronged with masques, in every conceivable costume. There was not a single room deserted. Every place was animated with music, voices, brilliant colours, flashing jewels, the hilarity of extemporized comedy, and all the spirited incidents of a cleverly sustained masquerade. I had never seen before anything, in the least, comparable to this magnificent fête. I moved along, indolently, in my domino and mask, loitering, now and then, to enjoy a clever dialogue, a farcical song, or an amusing monologue, but, at the same time, keeping my eyes about me, lest my friend in the black domino, with the little white cross on his breast, should pass me by.

I had delayed and looked about me, specially, at every door I passed, as the Marquis and I had agreed; but he had not yet appeared.

While I was thus employed, in the very luxury of lazy amusement, I saw a gilded sedan chair, or, rather, a Chinese palanquin, exhibiting the fantastic exuberance of “Celestial” decoration, borne forward on gilded poles by four richly-dressed Chinese; one with a wand in his hand marched in front, and another behind; and a slight and solemn man, with a long black beard, a tall fez, such as a dervish is represented as wearing, walked close to its side. A strangely-embroidered robe fell over his