Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/320

 manner, vanished inconceivably out of my workshop."—"Then, thank heaven!" said de Scuderi, "my troubles are at an end, and Master Rene, you will receive back from my hands the property of which you had been robbed by these unknown miscreants."

She then repeated the circumstances under which the box had come into her possession, to all which Cardillac listened with his eyes fixed on the ground, and without making any answer, only now and then he exhibited strange gestures, uttering also divers interjections. "Ho—ho!—aye—aye! and, so—so!"—but when de Scuderi had ended, it seemed as if he were struggling vehemently with some new fantasies, which had risen upon him in the course of the narrative, and which held him in a state of suspense and irresolution. He rubbed his forehead, and sighed deeply,—drew his hand over his eyes as if he wept,—at length took the box which de Scuderi held out to him,—slowly and solemnly knelt before her, and said, "To you, noble lady, destiny has assigned these jewels. Moreover, I recollect now, for the first time, that when I was employed on them, I thought of you—nay, that I was absolutely working, not for myself alone, as I said before, but for your sake. Do not disdain then to receive from me, and to wear this ornament,—which is, in truth, the best that for a long time I have been able to finish."

"Eh bien!" answered de Scuderi, "what are you thinking of, Master Rene?—Would it become one at my time of life, to trick herself out with diamonds and emeralds like these? And for what reason would you bestow gifts so lavishly upon me?—If I were handsome and young like the Marchioness de Fontanges, and rich to boot, I should certainly not let such ornaments out of my hands. But of what use would bracelets be to these withered arms, and why should I wear a necklace, when my neck is never uncovered?" Cardillac, while she spoke thus, had risen from his kneeling posture, and with wild looks, as if half distracted, still holding the box to Mademoiselle de Scuderi, he said, "Have