Last Pages. Oscar Mandel

and now placed it in his hand.

      “Please give him this for me. Please read it.”

      He did so. And then he said, “Nicholas is one of best, Madeleine. A plain dealer and a gallant fighter. He lost father and mother when he was a boy. Perhaps he wants the softer counsels of a woman to complete him as a man. But he is generous, quick- witted, exuberant in imagination. We shall need men like him. They will be our especial glory.”

      “Or your particular downfall.”

      “No. It must not be, it must not be,” and he tried to return the note to her, but she refused with a gesture and quickly moved away.

      14

      THAT SAME AFTERNOON, Aimée saw to it that she would run into Nicholas. Minding what Madeleine had said to her, she naturally made no allusion to the marriage proposal. She only told him merrily that she was jealous of the excursion through the island he had offered her daughter, and that she desired one of her own, especially to the Eastern end of the island, where the view was said to be superb. Nicholas was happy to assent: not only was the Marquise excellent company, and most attractive simply as a woman, but he wanted to have her on his side when the moment came of Madeleine’s “sweet avowal,” namely by giving her, as he had given the girl, a large view of his prospects. He had reason to believe that the Marquise de Tourville was poor though noble—this was such a common occurrence!—and if that were the case, she might, in spite of her rank, snatch at the chance of an alliance with an affluent old American family. Ancient rank allied to new wealth: that too was a common occurrence. Besides, he would remind her that the Mayhews had been among the first to Christianize the Indian natives.

      Of course, these dreams and intentions were shattered when he read Madeleine’s note, which the Colonel reluctantly handed him in the young man’s sitting-room, without saying a word.

      “This is a disappointment, sir,” said Nicholas peevishly. “The young lady is prouder than I thought. But I do not give up so easily. Tomorrow I am spending the day, or a good part of it, with the mother, and I intend to attack again.”

      The Colonel doubted that his nephew would succeed, but he kept that thought to himself, and only said, “If you speak very freely to her, as you did to Madeleine, ask her as well, most solemnly, to be secret. If gossip were to reach Applegate!…”

      “I’ll be most careful,” replied Nicholas, remembering at this point Madeleine’s warning to the same effect.

      If the young man felt less than his hearty self at supper that evening, he showed so little outward change that neither Wallace nor Cottle noticed anything.

      Mamack once again was obliged to report that the Enterprise was not to be seen from the southern cove.

      Next morning, the day announcing itself as bright as anyone could wish, Aimée jokingly sought permission of Madeleine to spend the day with her rejected lover roving, as the girl had done, over the island. “I must pry secrets from him, but also, I want to see for myself why you are in love with him but will not marry him, or so you tell me.”

      “Mother,” Madeleine implored her, “let’s have done with the Mayhews and return to Montreal. They are fine people; leave them alone. You’ve served Gage so well in the past, he will never dismiss you.”

      “Well,” replied Aimée, “perhaps you are right. And yet I want my day with Nicholas. At worst, it will be my holiday.”