第8章

"Ah, then, sir," said the Count, "by your own avowal you are a perfect egotist.Your great aim is to live, and to live for yourself.""It is nearly so," answered Gilbert, "only I avoid using the word, it is a little hard.Not that I was born an egotist, but I have become one.If I still possessed the heart I had at twenty, Ishould have brought here with me some very romantic ideas.You may well laugh, sir, but suppose I had arrived at your castle ten years ago; it would have been with a fixed intention of loving you a great deal, and of making you love me.But now, mon Dieu! now Iknow a little of the world, and I say to myself that there can be no question between us but a bargain, and that good bargains should be advantageous to both parties.""What a terrible man you are," cried the Count with a mocking laugh."You destroy my illusions without pity, you wound my poetical soul.In my simplicity, I imagined that we should be enamored of each other.I intended to make an intimate friend of my secretary,--the dear confidant of all my thoughts, but at the moment when I was prepared to open my arms to him, the ingrate says to me in a studied tone: 'Sir, there is nothing but the question of a bargain between us; I am the seller, you are the buyer; I sell you Greek, and you pay me cash down.' Peste! Monsieur, 'your beautiful soul' does not pride itself on its poetry.As an experiment, I will take you at your word.There is nothing but a bargain between us.I will make the terms and you will agree without complaint, though I am the Turk and you the Moor.""Pardon me," answered Gilbert, "it is naturally to your interest to treat me with consideration.You may give me a great deal to do, Ishall not grudge my time or trouble, but you must not overburden me.I am not exacting, and all that I ask for is a few hours of leisure and solitude daily to enjoy in peace.

M.Leminof stopped suddenly before Gilbert, his hands resting upon his hips.

"You will sit down, you will sit down, Monsieur le Comte," muttered Gilbert between his teeth.

"So you are a dreamer and an egotist," said M.Leminof, looking fixedly at him."I hope, sir, that you have the virtues of the class.I mean to say, that while wholly occupied with yourself, you are free from all indiscreet curiosity.Egotism is worth its price only when it is accompanied by a scornful indifference to others.I will explain: I do not live here absolutely alone, but Iam the only one with whom I desire you to have any intimate acquaintance.The two persons who live in this house with me know nothing of Greek, and therefore need not interest you.Remember, Ihave the misfortune of being jealous as a tiger, and I intend that you shall be mine without any division.And as for your fantasies, should you think better of it, you will find me always ready to admire them; but you show them to no one else, you understand, to no one!"Count Kostia pronounced these last words with a tone so emphatic that Gilbert was surprised, and was on the point of asking some explanation; but the stern and almost threatening look of the Count deterred him."Your instructions, sir," answered he, "are superfluous.To finish my own portrait, I am not very expansive, and I have but little sociability in my character.To speak frankly, solitude is my element; it is inexpressibly sweet to me.

Do you wish to try me? If so, shut me up under lock and key in this room, and provided you have a little food passed through the door to me daily, you will find me a year hence seated at this table, fresh, well and happy, unless perhaps," he added, "I should be unexpectedly attacked with some celestial longing, in which case, I could some fine day easily fly out of the window; the loss wouldn't be very great.Finding the cage empty, you would say, 'He has grown his wings, poor fellow--much good may they do him.'""I don't admit that," cried the Count, "Monsieur Secretary.You please me immensely, and for fear of accident, I will have this window barred."With these words he drew a chair towards him, and seated himself facing Gilbert, who could have clapped his hands at this propitious result.Their conversation then turned upon the Byzantine Empire and its history.The Count unfolded to Gilbert the plan of his work, and the kind of researches he expected from him.This conversation was prolonged for several hours.