For a few moments the fatigue1 of the old dealer2 seemed to have disappeared. He was sitting up straight, with tremulous lips, with flashing eyes, and continued in a strangely strident voice,—
“Fools alone attach no weight to trifling3 occurrences. And still it is those that appear most insignificant4 which we ought to fear most, because they alone determine our fate, precisely5 as an atom of sand dismembers the most powerful engine.
“It was on a fine afternoon in the month of October when Sarah Brandon appeared for the first time before the eyes of Malgat. He was at that time a man of forty, sprung from an old and respectable though modest family, content with his lot in life, and rather simple, as most men are who have always lived far from the intrigues7 of society. He had one passion, however,—he filled the five rooms of his lodgings8 with curiosities of every kind, happy for a week to come, if he had discovered a piece of old china, or a curious piece of furniture, which he could purchase cheap. He was not rich, his whole patrimony9 having been long since spent on his collections; but he had a place that brought him some three thousand dollars; and he was sure of an ample pension in his old age.
“He was honest in the highest sense of the word; his honesty being instinctive10, so to say, never reasoning, never hesitating. For fifteen years now, he had been cashier; and hundreds of millions had passed through his hands without arousing in him a shadow of covetousness11. He handled the gold in the bags, and the notes in the portfolios12, with as much indifference13 as if they had been pebbles14 and dry leaves. His employers, besides, felt for him more than ordinary esteem15: it was true and devoted16 friendship. Their confidence in him was so great, that they would have laughed in the face of any one who should have come and told them, ‘Malgat is a thief!’
“Such he was, when, that morning, he was standing17 near his safe, and saw a gentleman come to his window who had just cashed a check drawn18 by the Central Bank of Philadelphia upon the Mutual19 Discount Bank. This gentleman, who was M. Elgin, spoke20 such imperfect French, that Malgat asked him, for convenience sake, to step inside the railing. He came in, and behind him Sarah Brandon.
“How can I describe to you the sensations of the poor cashier as he beheld21 this amazing beauty! He could hardly stammer22 out a few incoherent words; and the gentleman and the young lady had long since left, when he was still lost in a kind of idiotic23 delight. He had been overtaken by one of those overwhelming passions which sometimes felled to the ground the strongest and simplest of men at the age of forty.
“Alas! Sarah had but too keenly noticed the impression she had produced. To be sure, Malgat was very far from that ideal of a millionaire husband of whom these adventurers dreamed; but, after all, he held the keys of a safe in which lay millions. One might always get something out of him wherewith to wait for better things to come. Their plan was soon formed.
“The very next day M. Elgin presented himself alone at the office to ask for some information. He returned three days after with another draft. By the end of the week, he had furnished Malgat with an opportunity to render him some trifling service. Thus relations began to exist between them; and, at the end of a fortnight, Sir Thorn could, with all propriety24, ask the cashier to dine with him in Circus Street. A voice from within—one of those presentiments25 to which we ought always to listen—warned Malgat not to accept the invitation; but he was already no longer his own master.
“He went to dinner in Circus Street, and he left it madly in love.
“He had felt as if Sarah Brandon’s eyes had been all the time upon him,—those strange, sublimely28 beautiful eyes, which upset our very being within us, weakening the most powerful energy, troubling the senses, and leading reason astray—eyes which dazzle, enchant29, and bewitch.
“The commonest politeness required that Malgat should call upon Mrs. Brian and M. Elgin. This call was followed by many others. A man less blinded by passion might have become suspicious at the eagerness with which these wretches30, driven by necessity, carried on their intrigue6. Six weeks after their first meeting, Malgat fancied that Sarah was wildly in love with him. It was absurd, most assuredly; it was foolish, insane. Nevertheless, he believed it. He thought those rapturous glances were genuine; he believed in the truthfulness31 of that intoxicating32 sweetness of her voice, and those enchanting33 blushes, which his coming never failed to call forth34.
“Now began the second act of the hideous35 comedy. Mrs. Brian appeared one day, all of a sudden, to notice something, and promptly36 requested Malgat never to put foot again within that house. She accused him of an attempt to seduce37 Sarah Brandon. I dare say, you can imagine, the fool! how he protested, affirming the purity of his intentions, and swearing that he would be the happiest of mortals if they would condescend38 to grant him the hand of her niece. But Sir Thorn, in the haughtiest39 tone possible, asked him how he could dare think of such a thing, and presume that he could ever be a fit match for a young lady who had a dower of two hundred thousand dollars.
“Malgat left with tottering40 steps, despair in his heart, and resolved to kill himself. When he returned home, he actually went to look among his curiosities for an old flint-lock pistol, and began to load it.
“Ah! why did he not kill himself then? He would have carried his deceptive41 illusions and his unstained honor with him to the grave.
“He was just about to make his will when they brought him a letter from Sarah. She wrote thus:—
“‘When a girl like myself loves, she loves for life, and she is his whom she loves, or she is nobody’s. If your love is true, if dangers and difficulties terrify you no more than they terrify me, knock to-morrow night, at ten o’clock, at the gate of the court. I will open.’
“Mad with joy and hope, Malgat went to the fatal meeting. Do you know what happened? Sarah fell around his neck, and said,—
“‘I love you. Let us run away.’
“Ah! if he had taken her at her word, and answered her, offering her his arm,—
“‘Yes, let us flee,’ the plot might have been defeated, and he might have been saved; for she would certainly not have gone with him.
“But with that clear perception which was a perfect marvel42 in her, and looked like the gift of second sight, she had taken the measure of the cashier, and exposed herself to the danger, well-knowing that he would shrink from doing what she asked.
“He did shrink, the idiot! he was afraid. He said to himself that it would be a mean thing to abuse the attachment43 of this pure and trustful girl, to separate her from her family, and to ruin her forever.
“He did have this wonderful power of self-denial to dissuade44 her from taking such a step, and to induce her to be patient, giving time an opportunity of coming to their assistance, while he would do all he could to overcome the obstacles in the way.
“For hours after he had left Sarah Brandon, Malgat had not recovered from the excitement; and he would have thought the whole a dream, but for the penetrating45 perfume which his clothes still retained where she had rested her beautiful head. But, when he at last began to examine his position, he came to the conclusion that he had indulged in childish illusions, and that he could never hope to satisfy the demands made by M. Elgin and Mrs. Brian. There was but one way, a single way, by which he could ever hope to obtain possession of this woman whom he worshipped; and that was the one she had herself proposed,—an abduction. To determine upon such a step, however, was for Malgat to end his peaceful life forever, to lose his place, to abandon the past, and to venture upon an unknown future. But how could he reason at a moment when his whole mind was filled with thoughts of the most amazing happiness that ever was enjoyed by mortal being?
“Whenever he thought of flight, there arose before him one obstacle which he could not overcome. He had no money. How could he expose this rich heiress, who left all for his sake, this beautiful girl, who was accustomed to every imaginable luxury, to want and humiliation46? No; that he could never dare. And yet his whole available capital did not amount to three thousand dollars. His fortune was invested in those curiosities that were piled up all over his rooms,—beautiful objects to his eyes in former days, but now hateful, and annoying to behold47. He knew they represented a large sum, quite a respectable fortune; but such collections cannot be sold overnight; and time was pressing.
“He had seen Sarah several times secretly; and each time she had appeared to him more mournful and dejected. She could bring him nothing but most distressing48 news. Mrs. Brian spoke of giving her in marriage to a friend of hers. M. Elgin proposed to take her abroad. And, with such troubles filling his head, the poor cashier had to attend to his daily duties, and from morning till night receive tens and hundreds of thousands; and never yet, I swear it, the thought occurred to him of taking a small fraction of these treasures.
“He had determined49 to sell all his collections as a whole, at any price he could get, when one day, a few moments before the office closed, a lady appeared, whose ample dress concealed51 her figure, while a thick veil completely shrouded52 her features.
“This lady raised her veil. It was she. It was Sarah Brandon.
“Malgat begged her to enter. He was overcome. What new misfortune had happened to induce her to take such a step? She told him in a few words.
“Sir Thorn had found out their secret meetings: he had told her to be ready to start for Philadelphia the next morning.
“The crisis had come. They must choose now between two things,—either to flee that very day, or be separated forever.
“Ah! never had Sarah been so beautiful as at this moment, when she seemed to be maddened by grief; never had her whole personal beauty exhaled53 such powerful, such irresistible54 charms. Her breath went and came, causing her almost to sob55 at every respiration56; and big tears, like scattered57 beads58 from a chaplet of pearls, rolled down her pale cheeks.
“Malgat stood a moment before her, stunned59 by the blow; and the imminence60 of the danger extorted61 from him a confession62 of the reasons that had made him hesitate so long. He told her, cruelly humiliated63 by the avowal64, that he had no money.
“But she rose when she heard it, as if she had been stung by an insult, and repeated with crushing irony,—
“‘No money? No money?’
“And when Malgat, more heartily65 ashamed of his poverty than he could have been of a crime, blushed to the roots of his hair, she pointed66 at the immense safe, which overflowed67 with gold and bank-notes, and said,—
“‘And what is all that?’
“Malgat jumped up, and stood before the safe, his arms far outstretched, as if to defend it, and said in an accent of ineffable68 terror,—
“‘What are you thinking of? And my honor?’
“This was to be his last effort to preserve his honor. Sarah looked him straight in the face, and said slowly,—
“‘And my honor! My honor is nothing to you? Do I not give myself? Do you mean to drive a bargain?’
“Great God! She said this with an accent and with a look which would have tempted69 an angel. Malgat fell helpless into a chair.
“Then she came close up to him, and, casting upon him those burning glances which blazed with superhuman audacity70, she sighed,—
“‘If you loved me really! Ah, if you really loved me!’
“And she bent71 over him, tremulous with ............