XII. A Petition XII. Una petición XII.嘆願書 十二．请愿书 十二．請願書

"'Then we are to lose Madame la Comtesse, but I hope only for a few hours,' I said, with a low bow. "'It may be that only, or it may be a few weeks. It was very unlucky his speaking to me just now as he did. C'était très malchanceux qu'il me parle tout à l'heure comme il l'a fait. Do you now know me?' "I assured her I did not. "'You shall know me,' she said, 'but not at present. We are older and better friends than, perhaps, you suspect. I cannot yet declare myself. I shall in three weeks pass your beautiful schloss, about which I have been making enquiries. Je passerai dans trois semaines devant votre beau schloss, au sujet duquel je me suis renseigné. I shall then look in upon you for an hour or two, and renew a friendship which I never think of without a thousand pleasant recollections. Je vous regarderai alors une heure ou deux, et renouerai une amitié à laquelle je ne pense jamais sans mille souvenirs agréables. This moment a piece of news has reached me like a thunderbolt. I must set out now, and travel by a devious route, nearly a hundred miles, with all the dispatch I can possibly make. Je dois partir maintenant et voyager par une route détournée, près de cent milles, avec toute la dépêche que je peux faire. My perplexities multiply. I am only deterred by the compulsory reserve I practice as to my name from making a very singular request of you. Je ne suis dissuadé que par la réserve obligatoire que j'exerce quant à mon nom de vous faire une demande bien singulière. My poor child has not quite recovered her strength. Her horse fell with her, at a hunt which she had ridden out to witness, her nerves have not yet recovered the shock, and our physician says that she must on no account exert herself for some time to come. Son cheval est tombé avec elle, à une chasse à laquelle elle était allée assister, ses nerfs n'ont pas encore récupéré le choc, et notre médecin dit qu'elle ne doit en aucun cas s'exercer avant quelque temps. We came here, in consequence, by very easy stages--hardly six leagues a day. Nous y arrivâmes, en conséquence, par des étapes très faciles, à peine six lieues par jour. I must now travel day and night, on a mission of life and death--a mission the critical and momentous nature of which I shall be able to explain to you when we meet, as I hope we shall, in a few weeks, without the necessity of any concealment.' Je dois maintenant voyager jour et nuit, en mission de vie ou de mort - une mission dont je pourrai vous expliquer la nature critique et capitale lorsque nous nous rencontrerons, comme j'espère que nous le ferons, dans quelques semaines, sans la nécessité de toute dissimulation. "She went on to make her petition, and it was in the tone of a person from whom such a request amounted to conferring, rather than seeking a favor. "Elle a continué à faire sa pétition, et c'était sur le ton d'une personne à qui une telle demande revenait à conférer plutôt qu'à rechercher une faveur. This was only in manner, and, as it seemed, quite unconsciously. Ce n'était que de manière, et, semblait-il, tout à fait inconsciemment. Than the terms in which it was expressed, nothing could be more deprecatory. Que les termes dans lesquels il a été exprimé, rien ne pourrait être plus dépréciatif. It was simply that I would consent to take charge of her daughter during her absence.

"This was, all things considered, a strange, not to say, an audacious request. She in some sort disarmed me, by stating and admitting everything that could be urged against it, and throwing herself entirely upon my chivalry. Elle me désarma en quelque sorte, en déclarant et en avouant tout ce qu'on pouvait lui reprocher, et en se jetant entièrement sur ma chevalerie. At the same moment, by a fatality that seems to have predetermined all that happened, my poor child came to my side, and, in an undertone, besought me to invite her new friend, Millarca, to pay us a visit. Au même moment, par une fatalité qui semble avoir prédéterminé tout ce qui arrivait, ma pauvre enfant vint à mes côtés, et, à voix basse, me pria d'inviter sa nouvelle amie, Millarca, à nous rendre visite. She had just been sounding her, and thought, if her mamma would allow her, she would like it extremely. Elle venait de la sonder et pensait, si sa maman le lui permettait, qu'elle l'aimerait extrêmement.

"At another time I should have told her to wait a little, until, at least, we knew who they were. But I had not a moment to think in. The two ladies assailed me together, and I must confess the refined and beautiful face of the young lady, about which there was something extremely engaging, as well as the elegance and fire of high birth, determined me; and, quite overpowered, I submitted, and undertook, too easily, the care of the young lady, whom her mother called Millarca. Les deux dames m'assaillirent ensemble, et je dois avouer que le beau et fin visage de la jeune femme, qui avait quelque chose d'extrêmement attachant, ainsi que l'élégance et le feu de la haute naissance, me déterminèrent ; et, tout accablé, je me suis soumis, et ai entrepris, trop facilement, le soin de la jeune dame, que sa mère a appelée Millarca.

"The Countess beckoned to her daughter, who listened with grave attention while she told her, in general terms, how suddenly and peremptorily she had been summoned, and also of the arrangement she had made for her under my care, adding that I was one of her earliest and most valued friends. "I made, of course, such speeches as the case seemed to call for, and found myself, on reflection, in a position which I did not half like. "J'ai fait, bien sûr, les discours que l'affaire semblait exiger, et je me suis retrouvé, à la réflexion, dans une position que je n'aimais pas à moitié. "The gentleman in black returned, and very ceremoniously conducted the lady from the room. "The demeanor of this gentleman was such as to impress me with the conviction that the Countess was a lady of very much more importance than her modest title alone might have led me to assume. "Her last charge to me was that no attempt was to be made to learn more about her than I might have already guessed, until her return. Our distinguished host, whose guest she was, knew her reasons.

"'But here,' she said, 'neither I nor my daughter could safely remain for more than a day. I removed my mask imprudently for a moment, about an hour ago, and, too late, I fancied you saw me. So I resolved to seek an opportunity of talking a little to you. Had I found that you had seen me, I would have thrown myself on your high sense of honor to keep my secret some weeks. Si j'avais su que vous m'aviez vu, je me serais jeté sur votre haut sens de l'honneur pour garder mon secret quelques semaines. As it is, I am satisfied that you did not see me; but if you now suspect, or, on reflection, should suspect, who I am, I commit myself, in like manner, entirely to your honor. My daughter will observe the same secrecy, and I well know that you will, from time to time, remind her, lest she should thoughtlessly disclose it.' Ma fille observera le même secret, et je sais bien que vous le lui rappellerez de temps en temps, de peur qu'elle ne le dévoile sans réfléchir. "She whispered a few words to her daughter, kissed her hurriedly twice, and went away, accompanied by the pale gentleman in black, and disappeared in the crowd. "'In the next room,' said Millarca, 'there is a window that looks upon the hall door. I should like to see the last of mamma, and to kiss my hand to her.' "We assented, of course, and accompanied her to the window. We looked out, and saw a handsome old-fashioned carriage, with a troop of couriers and footmen. Nous regardâmes et vîmes une belle voiture à l'ancienne, avec une troupe de courriers et de valets de pied. We saw the slim figure of the pale gentleman in black, as he held a thick velvet cloak, and placed it about her shoulders and threw the hood over her head. She nodded to him, and just touched his hand with hers. Elle lui fit un signe de tête et toucha juste sa main avec la sienne. He bowed low repeatedly as the door closed, and the carriage began to move.

"'She is gone,' said Millarca, with a sigh. "'She is gone,' I repeated to myself, for the first time--in the hurried moments that had elapsed since my consent--reflecting upon the folly of my act. "'She did not look up,' said the young lady, plaintively. " " Elle n'a pas levé les yeux ", dit plaintivement la jeune femme. "'The Countess had taken off her mask, perhaps, and did not care to show her face,' I said; 'and she could not know that you were in the window.' "She sighed, and looked in my face. She was so beautiful that I relented. Elle était si belle que j'ai cédé. I was sorry I had for a moment repented of my hospitality, and I determined to make her amends for the unavowed churlishness of my reception. Je regrettai de m'être un instant repenti de mon hospitalité, et je résolus de lui faire amende honorable pour la grossièreté inavouée de ma réception.

"The young lady, replacing her mask, joined my ward in persuading me to return to the grounds, where the concert was soon to be renewed. "La demoiselle, replaçant son masque, s'est jointe à ma pupille pour me persuader de retourner dans le parc, où le concert devait bientôt reprendre. We did so, and walked up and down the terrace that lies under the castle windows. C'est ce que nous avons fait et nous avons marché de long en large sur la terrasse qui se trouve sous les fenêtres du château.

Millarca became very intimate with us, and amused us with lively descriptions and stories of most of the great people whom we saw upon the terrace. I liked her more and more every minute. Her gossip without being ill-natured, was extremely diverting to me, who had been so long out of the great world. Ses commérages, sans être méchants, étaient extrêmement divertissants pour moi, qui étais si longtemps hors du grand monde. I thought what life she would give to our sometimes lonely evenings at home.

"This ball was not over until the morning sun had almost reached the horizon. It pleased the Grand Duke to dance till then, so loyal people could not go away, or think of bed. Il plaisait au grand-duc de danser jusque-là, de sorte que les fidèles ne pouvaient pas s'en aller, ni songer au lit.

"We had just got through a crowded saloon, when my ward asked me what had become of Millarca. "Nous venions de traverser un saloon bondé, quand mon pupille m'a demandé ce qu'était devenue Millarca. I thought she had been by her side, and she fancied she was by mine. The fact was, we had lost her.

"All my efforts to find her were vain. I feared that she had mistaken, in the confusion of a momentary separation from us, other people for her new friends, and had, possibly, pursued and lost them in the extensive grounds which were thrown open to us. Je craignais qu'elle n'eût pris, dans la confusion d'une séparation momentanée d'avec nous, d'autres personnes pour ses nouveaux amis, et qu'elle les eût peut-être poursuivis et perdus dans les vastes terrains qui s'ouvraient devant nous.

"Now, in its full force, I recognized a new folly in my having undertaken the charge of a young lady without so much as knowing her name; and fettered as I was by promises, of the reasons for imposing which I knew nothing, I could not even point my inquiries by saying that the missing young lady was the daughter of the Countess who had taken her departure a few hours before. "Maintenant, dans toute sa force, je reconnaissais une nouvelle folie à m'être chargé de la charge d'une demoiselle sans même savoir son nom; et enchaîné comme je l'étais par des promesses, des raisons d'imposer que je ne savais pas, je Je ne pouvais même pas orienter mes recherches en disant que la demoiselle disparue était la fille de la comtesse qui avait pris son départ quelques heures auparavant. "Morning broke. "La matinée s'est cassée. It was clear daylight before I gave up my search. It was not till near two o'clock next day that we heard anything of my missing charge. Ce n'est que vers deux heures le lendemain que nous avons entendu parler de ma charge manquante. "At about that time a servant knocked at my niece's door, to say that he had been earnestly requested by a young lady, who appeared to be in great distress, to make out where she could find the General Baron Spielsdorf and the young lady his daughter, in whose charge she had been left by her mother. "A peu près à cette époque, un domestique frappa à la porte de ma nièce, pour lui dire qu'il avait été instamment prié par une jeune femme, qui paraissait en grande détresse, de déterminer où elle pourrait trouver le général baron Spielsdorf et la jeune femme son fille, à la charge de laquelle elle avait été laissée par sa mère. "There could be no doubt, notwithstanding the slight inaccuracy, that our young friend had turned up; and so she had. "Il ne pouvait y avoir aucun doute, malgré la légère inexactitude, que notre jeune amie était arrivée ; et elle l'avait fait aussi. Would to heaven we had lost her! Que Dieu nous l'eût perdue !

"She told my poor child a story to account for her having failed to recover us for so long. "Elle a raconté à ma pauvre enfant une histoire pour expliquer qu'elle n'ait pas réussi à nous récupérer depuis si longtemps. Very late, she said, she had got to the housekeeper's bedroom in despair of finding us, and had then fallen into a deep sleep which, long as it was, had hardly sufficed to recruit her strength after the fatigues of the ball. Très tard, dit-elle, elle était arrivée dans la chambre de la gouvernante au désespoir de nous trouver, puis était tombée dans un sommeil profond qui, tout en long, avait à peine suffi à reprendre ses forces après les fatigues du bal. "That day Millarca came home with us. I was only too happy, after all, to have secured so charming a companion for my dear girl." Je n'étais que trop heureux, après tout, d'avoir trouvé une si charmante compagne pour ma chère fille."