"Always in the garden. There she sighs and dreams of you!"
"Persuade her to go into the house, and let it be well lighted up!
I would appear to her in the full splendor of the lights! Ha, you
ragamuffins, you hounds, bring me my oriental costume, the richest,
handsomest; hasten, or I will throttle you!"
And Count Orloff hurried into his toilet-chamber, to the trembling
slaves who there awaited him.
With a sly smile Joseph Ribas returned to the villa. As he had
previously said, he found Natalie dreaming in the garden, the guitar
upon her arm.
"You ought to go into the house this evening," said he, "the air is damp
and cold, and may injure you."
"Of what consequence would that be?" she sadly responded. "Who would ask
whether I was ill nor not? Who would weep for my death?"
"He!"
"Oh, he!" sighed she. "He hates all women!"
"Excepting you!" whispered Ribas. "Princess, go into the house! Take
care of your precious life. It is not I who beg it of you!"
"Who is it then?" she hastily interposed.
"It is he! He begs it of you!"
Natalie, springing up, hurried into the house.
"I will never again go into the garden in the evening!" said she. "It is
his command! Thank God, there is yet something in which I can obey, and
he commands it of me! But why these lights?" asked she, almost blinded
by the brilliancy of the girandoles and chandeliers, the mirrors, and
jewels.
"The count has so commanded!" said Ribas. "He loves a bright light! But,
princess, cannot you remain in this boudoir for one evening? Only see
how beautiful it is, how enticingly cool, with these fountains that
refresh the air and diffuse fragrance! How delightfully still and snug
it is! Reposing upon these velvet cushions, you can look through the
whole suite of rooms, which in fact, tonight, flash and sparkle like the
heavens, and yet in this boudoir there is a sweet twilight, refreshing
to eye and heart!"
"No, no," said she, with a charming smile. "I also like brightness and
light! It is too dusky here!"
"Nevertheless, remain here!"
"And why?"
"He wishes it!" said Ribas mysteriously.
"He wishes it?" cried Natalie, turning pale, and trembling. Then,
suddenly, a purple flush spread over her brow, and, reeling, she was
obliged to hold by a chair to prevent falling. "Ah," she stammered, "can
it be possible? Can this happiness be intended? Is it true, what I read
in your eyes? Is it? Comes he here?"
"Hope always!" said Ribas, suddenly disappearing through a side-door.
Natalie, benumbed by surprise, sank down upon the divan. A feeling of
boundless anxiety, of immeasurable ecstasy suddenly overcame her.
She could have fled, but she felt as if spell-bound; she could have
concealed herself from him, and yet was joyfully ready to purchase
with her life the happiness of seeing him. It was a strange mixture of
delight and terror, of happiness and despair. She spread her arms toward
heaven, she sought to pray, but she had no words, no thoughts, not even
tears!