Quesnel began the display of his intelligence and his connections;while St.Aubert, who had been long enough in retirement to find these topics recommended by their novelty, listened, with a degree of patience and attention, which his guest mistook for the humility of wonder.The latter, indeed, described the few festivities which the turbulence of that period permitted to the court of Henry the Third, with a minuteness, that somewhat recompensed for his ostentation;but, when he came to speak of the character of the Duke de Joyeuse, of a secret treaty, which he knew to be negotiating with the Porte, and of the light in which Henry of Navarre was received, M.St.
Aubert recollected enough of his former experience to be assured, that his guest could be only of an inferior class of politicians; and that, from the importance of the subjects upon which he committed himself, he could not be of the rank to which he pretended to belong.
The opinions delivered by M.Quesnel, were such as St.Aubert forebore to reply to, for he knew that his guest had neither humanity to feel, nor discernment to perceive, what is just.
Madame Quesnel, meanwhile, was expressing to Madame St.Aubert her astonishment, that she could bear to pass her life in this remote corner of the world, as she called it, and describing, from a wish, probably, of exciting envy, the splendour of the balls, banquets, and processions which had just been given by the court, in honour of the nuptials of the Duke de Joyeuse with Margaretta of Lorrain, the sister of the Queen.She described with equal minuteness the magnificence she had seen, and that from which she had been excluded;while Emily's vivid fancy, as she listened with the ardent curiosity of youth, heightened the scenes she heard of; and Madame St.Aubert, looking on her family, felt, as a tear stole to her eye, that though splendour may grace happiness, virtue only can bestow it.
'It is now twelve years, St.Aubert,' said M.Quesnel, 'since Ipurchased your family estate.'--'Somewhere thereabout,' replied St.
Aubert, suppressing a sigh.'It is near five years since I have been there,' resumed Quesnel; 'for Paris and its neighbourhood is the only place in the world to live in, and I am so immersed in politics, and have so many affairs of moment on my hands, that I find it difficult to steal away even for a month or two.' St.Aubert remaining silent, M.Quesnel proceeded: 'I have sometimes wondered how you, who have lived in the capital, and have been accustomed to company, can exist elsewhere;--especially in so remote a country as this, where you can neither hear nor see any thing, and can in short be scarcely conscious of life.'
'I live for my family and myself,' said St.Aubert; 'I am now contented to know only happiness;--formerly I knew life.'
'I mean to expend thirty or forty thousand livres on improvements,'
said M.Quesnel, without seeming to notice the words of St.Aubert;'for I design, next summer, to bring here my friends, the Duke de Durefort and the Marquis Ramont, to pass a month or two with me.' To St.Aubert's enquiry, as to these intended improvements, he replied, that he should take down the whole east wing of the chateau, and raise upon the site a set of stables.'Then I shall build,' said he, 'a SALLE A MANGER, a SALON, a SALLE AU COMMUNE, and a number of rooms for servants; for at present there is not accommodation for a third part of my own people.'
'It accommodated our father's household,' said St.Aubert, grieved that the old mansion was to be thus improved, 'and that was not a small one.'
'Our notions are somewhat enlarged since those days,' said M.
Quesnel;--'what was then thought a decent style of living would not now be endured.' Even the calm St.Aubert blushed at these words, but his anger soon yielded to contempt.'The ground about the chateau is encumbered with trees; I mean to cut some of them down.'
'Cut down the trees too!' said St.Aubert.
'Certainly.Why should I not? they interrupt my prospects.There is a chesnut which spreads its branches before the whole south side of the chateau, and which is so ancient that they tell me the hollow of its trunk will hold a dozen men.Your enthusiasm will scarcely contend that there can be either use, or beauty, in such a sapless old tree as this.'
'Good God!' exclaimed St.Aubert, 'you surely will not destroy that noble chesnut, which has flourished for centuries, the glory of the estate! It was in its maturity when the present mansion was built.
How often, in my youth, have I climbed among its broad branches, and sat embowered amidst a world of leaves, while the heavy shower has pattered above, and not a rain drop reached me! How often I have sat with a book in my hand, sometimes reading, and sometimes looking out between the branches upon the wide landscape, and the setting sun, till twilight came, and brought the birds home to their little nests among the leaves! How often--but pardon me,' added St.Aubert, recollecting that he was speaking to a man who could neither comprehend, nor allow his feelings, 'I am talking of times and feelings as old-fashioned as the taste that would spare that venerable tree.'
'It will certainly come down,' said M.Quesnel; 'I believe I shall plant some Lombardy poplars among the clumps of chesnut, that I shall leave of the avenue; Madame Quesnel is partial to the poplar, and tells me how much it adorns a villa of her uncle, not far from Venice.'
'On the banks of the Brenta, indeed,' continued St.Aubert, 'where its spiry form is intermingled with the pine, and the cypress, and where it plays over light and elegant porticos and colonnades, it, unquestionably, adorns the scene; but among the giants of the forest, and near a heavy gothic mansion--'
'Well, my good sir,' said M.Quesnel, 'I will not dispute with you.