The Reflections of Ambrosine - A Novel | Page 9

me out of the room
at once, and saw him alone without even Hephzibah. He stayed a very
long time, and when he came down he looked at me strangely and said:
"Your grandmother is all right now and you can go to her. I think she
wishes to send a telegram, which I will take."
He then asked to see Hephzibah, and I ran quickly to grandmamma.
She was sitting perfectly upright as usual, and, except for the slight
bluish look round her mouth, seemed quite herself. She made me get
her the foreign telegram forms, and wrote a long telegram, thinking
between the words, but never altering one. She folded it and told me to
get some money from Hephzibah and take it to the doctor. Her eyes
looked prouder than ever, but her hand shook a little. A vague feeling
of fear came over me which has never left me since. Even when I am
excited thinking of my dress, I seem to feel some shadow in the
background.
Yesterday grandmamma received a telegram and told me we might
expect the Marquis de Rochermont by the usual train in the evening,
and at six he arrived. He greeted me with even extra courtesy and made
me compliment. I cannot understand it all--he has never before come so
early in the year (this is May). What can it mean? Grandmamma sent
me out of the room directly, and we did not have dinner until eight
o'clock. I could hear their voices from my room, and they seemed
talking very earnestly, and not so gayly as usual.
At dinner the Marquis, for the first time, addressed his conversation to
me. He prefers to speak in English--to show what a linguist he is, I
suppose. He made me many compliments, and said how very like I was
growing to my ancestress, Ambrosine Eustasie de Calincourt, and he
told me again the old story of the guillotine. Grandmamma seemed

watching me.
"Ambrosine is a true daughter of the race," she said. "I think I could
promise you that under the same circumstances she would behave in
the same manner."
How proud I felt!

III
How changed all the world can become in one short day! Now I know
why the Marquis came, and what all the mystery was about. This
morning after breakfast grandmamma sent for me into the
drawing-room. The Marquis was standing beside the fireplace, and they
both looked rather grave.
"Sit down, my child." said grandmamma; "we have something to say to
you."
I sat down.
"I said you were a true daughter of the race--therefore I shall expect
you to obey me without flinching."
I felt a cold shiver down my back. What could it be?
"You are aware that I had a fainting fit a short time ago," she continued.
"I have long known that my heart was affected, but I had hoped it
would have lasted long enough for me to fulfil a scheme I had for a
thoroughly suitable and happy arrangement of your destiny. It was a
plan that would have taken time, and which I had hoped to put in the
way of gradual accomplishment at this ball. However, we must not
grumble at fate--it is not to be. The doctor tells me I cannot possibly
live more than a few weeks, therefore it follows that something must be
settled immediately to secure you a future. You are not aware, as I have
not considered it necessary to inform you hitherto of my affairs, that all
we are living on is an annuity your father bought for me, before the

catastrophe to his fortunes. That, you will understand, ceases with my
life. At my death you will be absolutely penniless, a beggar in the street.
Even were you to sell these trifles"--and she pointed to the Sèvres cups
and the miniatures--"the few pounds they would bring might keep you
from starving for perhaps a month or two--after that--well, enough--that
question is impossible. I can obtain no news of your father. I have
heard nothing from or of him for two years. He may be dead--we
cannot count on him. In short, I have decided, after due consideration
and consultation with my old friend the Marquis, that you must marry
Augustus Gurrage. It is my dying wish."
My eyes fell from grandmamma's face and happened to light on the
picture of Ambrosine Eustasie de Calincourt. There she was, with the
rose in her dress, smiling at me out of the old paste frame. I was so
stunned, all I could think of was to wonder if it was the same rose she
walked up the guillotine steps with. I did not hear grandmamma
speaking; for a minute there was a buzzing in my ears.