Eve de la Tour d'Adam [pp. 366-379]

Eve de La Tonr-d'Adam.
"I heard Mis$larisse Dufresnois.
I suffered as you suffered. I hastened
to justify myself to you."
"O h, Gaston, how much better is
your beautiful cousin than I!"
They now passed in the contradance; Eve's hand was not slow in
taking Louise's; the two girls shivered
at once.
Eve must have seemed singularly
absent to her partner; she did not
cease to watch Louise and Gaston,
she was troubled, and was conscious
of a strange uneasiness.
"Why this extreme emotion?" she
asked herself; "oh! how my heart
beats! I tremble, I suffer, my eyes are
growing dim! What is the matter
with me? Who is this young girl, and
what is Gaston saying to her? They
pronounced my name, I believe!"
Gaston was talking enthusiastically
to Louise.
"Eve is not of this earth!" he said.
"She is a celestial being, whom I feel
myself disposed to invoke on my knees;
the respect with which she inspires me
prevents me from seeing even her
beauty. I venerate her, but you,
Louise, you I love!"
Louise started.
" Oh! do not be vexed by this avowal; I am permitted to make it. During
your absence, on Sunday, Mii. de Mirefont yielded to my request. My happiness, Louise, depends on you alone."
The young girl did not succeed in
dissembling herjoy, her smiles crowned
Gaston's wishes; he continued in a
softened voice:
"Oh! it was not without trouble
that I triumphed, dear Louise. For
a long time your father rejected me
on account of his deplorable position;
he would not consent, he said, that I
should bind my future to the sad destinies of his family. I spoke of my
love, he replied by reciting his misfortunes. Permit, I said to him, a son
to diminish by his zeal your Louise's
task. Would you repulse me if fortune favored you? or do you find me
unworthy to share your lot? Her
filial virtues even more than her
charms have captivated me. If she
were destined to opulence like Mlle.
de La Tour-d'Adam, for example, Il
should be insane to dare to aspire to
her hand. But your Louise is the
companion necessary for a poor, hardworking man like me. She is courageous and devoted. I came to supplicate you to accept my devotion and
my courage. Finally, overcome by
my insistance, he held out his hand
to me; I bathed it with my tears; then,
opening his arms:' Louise shall pronounce,' he said. With what impatience I waited for you that evening!
Your mother by this time should be
aware of my application, and to-morrow, if you consent, it shall not be
simply as a friend, but as yourfiancg
that I shall enter under your parent's
roof."
" Gaston-my fiance," murmured
Louise. "0 God! I am too happy."
Eve also was near succumbing under a strange emotion; but by a supreme effort she succeeded in conquering it; but she was so pale she might
have been taken for an alabaster statue.
She was faint when she seated herself
at some distance behind Mmine. du Castellet and Mlle. Rouvray, who, retired
to one side apart, were talking in a low
voice but with animation.
Gaston's aunt and the countess's
companion, drawn together by the
similarity of their positions, made
part of that commendable variety of
aristocracy which we are permitted
to call the poor of the great world.
Resigned, free from envy, devoted,
body and soul, to the families in which
even their office increased the consideration and the regard which they
merited, such persons are always
justly respected. Their presence honors the houses which welcome them.
They lived in the highest sphere with
an admirable abnegation; the firmness
of their principles equalled the amiability of their character: they had
espoused the interests which exclusively occupied them, and were slaves
to their duties.
Eve, still trembling, continued to
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