From Caen to Rotterdam, Chapter VIII [pp. 411-419]

THE LADIES' RE.POSITOR Y.
she would govern gratis the whole world
into the bargain," added she a little ironically.
Claas did not answer, but burying his
face in his hands, he remained absorbed
in his own thoughts. When, at last, he
looked tip, expecting to see Madeleine,
he found himself alone in the apartment.
The parlor would have seemed almost
sad had it not been for the chattering of
the green parrot in the bamboo cage,
the ticking of the great clock, and the
crackling of the small fire in the huge
stove, which were the only replies to the
hurried beating of his heart. He walked
the length of the room, oblivious in his
absorbed anxiety of all the surroundings,
when the door slowly opened, and Martha
entered the apartment. She held in her
hand a piece of needle-work which she
was evidently in haste to finish, as she
advanced rapidly toward the sewving-table. Suddenly she perceived Claas halfhidden in the angle made by a large
closet. She trembled with the nervous
excitement that seized upon her at the
unexpected encounter, and the blood
seemed driven back with stifling power
to her heart.
For several months the girl had lived
in a kind of dream-like reverie, which
she did not endeavor to explain. Or, if
so, she merely said to herself that the
coming of her stranger cousin had soothed
the deep sorrow which the death of her
beloved aunt had produced. She was
never weary of depicting anew to herself the life of which he had told her in
their long conversations. She seemed
always to have known intimately each
member of the household at Caen, and
felt a sincere interest in all they said or
did. But she never once hinted to herself, however, that each day was adding
more and more to her attachment for the
narrator, until she could not have told,
if questioned, whether her cousin Claas
or her brother Pitre were the dearer. It
is not strange, therefore, that a slight embarrassment now mingled occasionally
with the pleasure she experienced in her
relations with the young Frenchman.
She did not ask herself why she avoided
him, or why, when she caught a glimpse
of him in the handsome parlor, she
made a step backward as if to leave the
apartment. Whatever the intention, today Claas intercepted her exit, and, approachling near, took her hand in his,
saying:
"Come here to a seat, Martha. Fortune at last favors me, and I must speak
to you, whatever the end may be."
Martha, pallid as a white lily, remained
motionless in her place, stationed in the
center of the drawing-room. She firmly
resisted all the attempts of Claas to entice her forward to a seat. Then he
leaned toward her and said gently:
"Could you not decide to go with me
to France, Martha? Could you ever
love me well enough to be my wvife?"
She looked at him with her large,
beautiful eyes, as if terrified at what
these words discovered plainly to be in
the heart of both, but spoke not a word.
Claas repeated his question, and added:
"You have no longer any one here to
keep you away from us, Martha. Once
there, and you would find a mother and
your brother. What more can you wish?"
Again were the downcast eyes raised
to his with a gaze of deepest sadness, as
she murmured:
"I can not, Claas."
A deep flush overspread the cheek of
the young and ardent pleader.
"You do not love me," cried he; "you
love another."
"I love no one," she said, with a faint
blush. "That is to say-" and then so
confused did she become in her explaining, that not a word could she speak
more.
Gathering up her bewildered faculties
by a strong effort of will, she commenced
again in a firmer tone, "I love only you,
Cousin Claas; but I can not leave Holland. I made this solemn promise to my
aunt on her death-bed."
The thunder-bolt had at last fallen at
the feet of the young man. He had foreseen no other obstacle to his desires than
the indifference of Martha; but nowv he
4I4
[Nov.,