“There is surely no reason why you shouldn’t know, my dear Commodore,” she says; “since all France knows. Aimee’s mother is of the de Tiercelins—a noble house, but impoverished1. As a girl the mother was ravishingly lovely. This was in the days of Monsieur le Bel and the Parc-aux-Cerfs. The old king saw Mademoiselle de Tiercelin; the Pompadour did not object. Aimee was born; and presently her mother, whom the king called his ‘de Bonneval,’ was put away with a pension. The Bonneval’s father talked loudly, and was sent to the Bastile as a ‘Russian spy.’ One may say what one will in the Bastile; the walls are thick and have no ears. The Pompadour looked after poor de Bonneval and the little Aimee. She married the mother to a gentleman named Telison. The Pompadour died; the king died; Aimee was sixteen. Her stepfather de Telison, and her mother de Bonneval neglected her. They said ‘She is a Bourbon. Let the Bourbons provide.’ So I, who am her godmother, took Aimee. That was four years ago; and now it is as though she were my own child in very fact—I love her so.”
“But the present king?”
“Thus far he has done nothing for Aimee. She goes to court; her position is recognized; the king is kind. But you know the cold Savoy blood?—it is stingy! However, that is now of little moment so far as Aimee is concerned, for I am rich.”
Commodore Paul Jones is established at the palace of the good Marsan. Sailors are swift to love; the image of Aimee fits into his heart as into a niche2 that was made for it.
The second day he calls on the Duchess de Chartres—the beautiful girl-Duchess. He wears a guilty feeling at the base of his conscience. Fortunately his cheek is tanned by wind and weather, and the guilty feeling does not show.
The girl-Duchess is with her husband, the Duke de Chartres, who has quit the sea for the shore, his man-of-war for his palace. The girl-Duchess receives Commodore Paul Jones in something of a formal manner, which is a relief to him. His manner is also formal, which is not a relief to her. The Duke, who makes a specialty4 of democracy, greets him with bluff5 cordiality as a brother sailor. He congratulates him on beating the “English dogs,” whom he hates professionally. Commodore Paul Jones is modest in his replies. For he is not thinking of the Serapis, but on Aimee; and, with the eyes of the girl-Duchess upon him, that guilty feeling overlays all else.
The girl-Duchess watches him through halfshut lids. She almost guesses the truth; for she knows of the good Marsan, and Aimee. Besides, she is a woman, and clairvoyant6 in matters of the heart.
After an hour with the Duke and the girl-Duchess, Commodore Paul Jones goes back to the good Marchioness de Marsan and to Aimee. As an excuse for his own idleness, he travels down to l’Orient and, albeit7 the Alliance is as fit as a fiddle8, sets Lieutenant9 Dale, “Dick the practical,” to overhauling10 the ship from truck to keel. Then he returns to the good Marsan and Aimee.
Now he spends sunny hours in the beautiful Aimee’s company, and his love creeps and grows upon him like ivy11 on a wall. The conqueror12 is conquered; the invincible13 is overthrown14. As for Aimee, her blue eyes become a deeper blue, her pink cheeks take on a warmer pink when he is near. And the good Marsan sees it all, and does not interfere15. For she is versed16 in the world and its ways; and this is France; and after life comes death.
When the ardent17 sailor would be too ardent, Aimee represses him; the barrier of her modesty18 is as a barrier of ice between them. Thereupon he loves her the more, and refreshes his soul with Shakespeare:
“Chaste as the icicle
That’s curdled19 by the frost of purest snow,
And hangs on Dian’s temple.”
Commodore Paul Jones goes down to l’Orient again. Not so much to see after the Alliance, as to pique20 his love and give it edge. For absence makes the flame burn brighter, and Aimee bursts upon him with a new charm when he has been away.
For all his lovelorn case, however, he makes arrangements for his two pets, Lieutenants21 May-rant and Fanning, to go privateering for the French, and gives them nearly one hundred and fifty of his fiercest sea-wolves to bear them company.
“Why keep them rusting22 ashore,” says he, “like good blades in their sheaths! No; let the lads sail forth23 with letters of marque, and make their fortunes.”
The Serapis is held by the French as a king’s prize, and de Sartine pays Commodore Paul Jones twelve thousand dollars as his share. There are other thousands from other prizes, and, after a French sort, he finds himself rich.
When, following his visit to l’Orient, he returns to the good Marsan, that estimable lady is discovered in a state of much excitement. The Duchess de Chartres has “commanded” the presence of Commodore Paul Jones at her palace.
The prospect24 does not overcome him. He receives it with steadiness, although privily25 a-quake because of that feeling of guilt3. The good Marsan’s excitement is supplanted26 by wonder to see him take his honors so coolly.
“Ah, these Americans!” she thinks. Then, out loud: “She is a Bourbon, my Commodore! No one below the blood royal has ever received such a summons.”
In spite of the uplifted palms of the good Marsan, her “Commodore” refuses to be impressed. He will go; since no one should decline the “command” of royalty27. But he will go calmly—hiding of course his sense of guilt, and spreading the skirts of his conscience very wide to hide it.
Aimee hears that he is to go, and cannot avoid a little flutter of alarm. She knows her beautiful kinswoman, the girl-Duchess—knows the spell and the power of her. It gives the tender Aimee a dull ache of the heart. A lone28 feeling of helplessness overwhelms her, as fears rise up for her poor love that, in so short a space, has become the one sweet thing in life. True, she herself is a Bourbon! But with the bar sinister29. How then shall she, obscure and poor and by the left hand, hope to sustain herself in the heart of her lover against the wiles30 and siren wooings of one who is at once the most legitimate31, the most beautiful, and the most wealthy woman in France! The tears gather in the soft eyes.
The good Marsan goes from the room; for she has a deal of sympathy and good sense. Commodore Paul Jones, when now the two are alone, draws Aimee to him, and dries those tears in ways that lovers know. For the first time he folds her in his arms and kisses her lips.
“Perhaps it is also the last time,” she thinks sadly.
And the gallant32 lover, as though he reads her thoughts, kisses her again, and vows33 by sword and ship to love her always.
Commodore Paul Jones finds the Duchess de Chartres in spirits. She and the Duke give him a suite34 of apartments that has heretofore been sacred to Bourbon occupation alone. At this the sensation that rocks the Court is profound.
It even reaches the rabbit-faced king—weak rather than dull—at Versailles, and gives him a shock. He draws down the uncertain corners of his undecided mouth, says naught35, and goes out under the trees to feed his squirrels. He would be wiser were he to go out into the starved highways and byways of his oppressed realm, and feed his subjects. Did he do so, he might even yet avoid that revolution, which is slowly yet terribly preparing itself in the ante-chamber of Time.
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1
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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2
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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3
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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4
specialty
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| n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长 | |
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5
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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6
clairvoyant
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| adj.有预见的；n.有预见的人 | |
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7
albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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8
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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9
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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10
overhauling
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| n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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11
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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12
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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13
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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14
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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15
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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16
versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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17
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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18
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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19
curdled
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| v.（使）凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
pique
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| v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气 | |
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21
lieutenants
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| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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22
rusting
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| n.生锈v.（使）生锈( rust的现在分词 ) | |
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23
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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privily
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| adv.暗中，秘密地 | |
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26
supplanted
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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28
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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29
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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30
wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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31
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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32
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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33
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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34
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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35
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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