CHAPTER XVI.
UNPLEASANT NEWS FROM ROSANETTE.
When Rosanette's enthusiasm for the Gardes Mobiles had calmed down, shebecame more charming than ever, and Frederick insensibly glided into thehabit of living with her.
The best portion of the day was the morning on the terrace. In a lightcambric dress, and with her stockingless feet thrust into slippers, shekept moving about him--went and cleaned her canaries' cage, gave hergold-fishes some water, and with a fire-shovel did a little amateurgardening in the box filled with clay, from which arose a trellis ofnasturtiums, giving an attractive look to the wall. Then, resting, withtheir elbows on the balcony, they stood side by side, gazing at thevehicles and the passers-by; and they warmed themselves in the sunlight,and made plans for spending the evening. He absented himself only fortwo hours at most, and, after that, they would go to some theatre, wherethey would get seats in front of the stage; and Rosanette, with a largebouquet of flowers in her hand, would listen to the instruments, whileFrederick, leaning close to her ear, would tell her comic or amatorystories. At other times they took an open carriage to drive to the Boisde Boulogne. They kept walking about slowly until the middle of thenight. At last they made their way home through the Arc de Triomphe andthe grand avenue, inhaling the breeze, with the stars above their heads,and with all the gas-lamps ranged in the background of the perspectivelike a double string of luminous pearls.
Frederick always waited for her when they were going out together. Shewas a very long time fastening the two ribbons of her bonnet; and shesmiled at herself in the mirror set in the wardrobe; then she would drawher arm over his, and, making him look at himself in the glass besideher:
"We produce a good effect in this way, the two of us side by side. Ah!my poor darling, I could eat you!"
He was now her chattel, her property. She wore on her face a continuousradiance, while at the same time she appeared more languishing inmanner, more rounded in figure; and, without being able to explain inwhat way, he found her altered, nevertheless.
One day she informed him, as if it were a very important bit of news,that my lord Arnoux had lately set up a linen-draper's shop for a womanwho was formerly employed in his pottery-works. He used to go thereevery evening--"he spent a great deal on it no later than a week ago; hehad even given her a set of rosewood furniture."
"How do you know that?" said Frederick.
"Oh! I'm sure of it."
Delphine, while carrying out some orders for her, had made enquiriesabout the matter, She must, then, be much attached to Arnoux to takesuch a deep interest in his movements. He contented himself with sayingto her in reply:
"What does this signify to you?"
Rosanette looked surprised at this question.
"Why, the rascal owes me money. Isn't it atrocious to see him keepingbeggars?"
Then, with an expression of triumphant hate in her face:
"Besides, she is having a nice laugh at him. She has three others onhand. So much the better; and I'll be glad if she eats him up, even tothe last farthing!"
Arnoux had, in fact, let himself be made use of by the girl fromBordeaux with the indulgence which characterises senile attachments. Hismanufactory was no longer going on. The entire state of his affairs waspitiable; so that, in order to set them afloat again, he was at firstprojecting the establishment of a _cafe chantant_, at which onlypatriotic pieces would be sung. With a grant from the Minister, thisestablishment would become at the same time a focus for the purpose ofpropagandism and a source of profit. Now that power had been directedinto a different channel, the thing was impossible.
His next idea was a big military hat-making business. He lacked capital,however, to give it a start.
He was not more fortunate in his domestic life. Madame Arnoux was lessagreeable in manner towards him, sometimes even a little rude. Berthealways took her father's part. This increased the discord, and the housewas becoming intolerable. He often set forth in the morning, passed hisday in making long excursions out of the city, in order to divert histhoughts, then dined at a rustic tavern, abandoning himself to hisreflections.
The prolonged absence of Frederick disturbed his habits. Then hepresented himself one afternoon, begged of him to come and see him as informer days, and obtained from him a promise to do so.
Frederick did not feel sufficient courage within him to go back toMadame Arnoux's house. It seemed to him as if he had betrayed her. Butthis conduct was very pusillanimous. There was no excuse for it. Therewas only one way of ending the matter, and so, one evening, he set outon his way.
As the rain was falling, he had just turned up the Passage Jouffroy,when, under the light shed from the shop-windows, a fat little manaccosted him. Frederick had no difficulty in recognising Compain, thatorator whose motion had excited so much laughter at the club. He wasleaning on the arm of an individual whose head was muffled in a zouave'sred cap, with a very long upper lip, a complexion as yellow as anorange, a tuft of beard under his jaw, and big staring eyes listeningwith wonder.
Compain was, no doubt, proud of him, for he said:
"Let me introduce you to this jolly dog! He is a bootmaker whom Iinclude amongst my friends. Come and let us take something!"
Frederick having thanked him, he immediately thundered against Rateau'smotion, which he described as a manoeuvre of the aristocrats. In orderto put an end to it, it would be necessary to begin '93 over again! Thenhe enquired about Regimbart and some others, who were also well known,such as Masselin, Sanson, Lecornu, Marechal, and a certain Deslauriers,who had been implicated in the case of the carbines lately interceptedat Troyes.
All this was new to Frederick. Compain knew nothing more about thesubject. He quitted the young man with these words:
"You'll come soon, will you not? for you belong to it."
"To what?"
"The calf's head!"
"What calf's head?"
"Ha, you rogue!" returned Compain, giving him a tap on the stomach.
And the two terrorists plunged into a cafe.
Ten minutes later Frederick was no longer thinking of Deslauriers. Hewas on the footpath of the Rue de Paradis in front of a house; and hewas staring at the light which came from a lamp in the second floorbehind a curtain.
At length he ascended the stairs.
"Is Arnoux there?"
The chambermaid answered:
"No; but come in all the same."
And, abruptly opening a door:
"Madame, it is Monsieur Moreau!"
She arose, whiter than the collar round her neck.
"To what do I owe the honour--of a visit--so unexpected?"
"Nothing. The pleasure of seeing old friends once more."
And as he took a seat:
"How is the worthy Arnoux going on?"
"Very well. He has gone out."
"Ah, I understand! still following his old nightly practices. A littledistraction!"
"And why not? After a day spent in making calculations, the head needs arest."
She even praised her husband as a hard-working man. Frederick wasirritated at hearing this eulogy; and pointing towards a piece of blackcloth with a narrow blue braid which lay on her lap:
"What is it you are doing there?"
"A jacket which I am trimming for my daughter."
"Now that you remind me of it, I have not seen her. Where is she, pray?"
"At a boarding-school," was Madame Arnoux's reply.
Tears came into her eyes. She held them back, while she rapidly pliedher needle. To keep himself in countenance, he took up a number of_L'Illustration_ which had been lying on the table close to where shesat.
"These caricatures of Cham are very funny, are they not?"
"Yes."
Then they relapsed into silence once more.
All of a sudden, a fierce gust of wind shook the window-panes.
"What weather!" said Frederick.
"It was very good of you, indeed, to come here in the midst of thisdread
ful rain."
"Oh! what do I care about that? I'm not like those whom it prevents, nodoubt, from going to keep their appointments."
"What appointments?" she asked with an ingenuous air.
"Don't you remember?"
A shudder ran through her frame and she hung down her head.
He gently laid his hand on her arm.
"I assure you that you have given me great pain."
She replied, with a sort of wail in her voice:
"But I was frightened about my child."
She told him about Eugene's illness, and all the tortures which she hadendured on that day.
"Thanks! thanks! I doubt you no longer. I love you as much as ever."
"Ah! no; it is not true!"
"Why so?"
She glanced at him coldly.
"You forget the other! the one you took with you to the races! the womanwhose portrait you have--your mistress!"
"Well, yes!" exclaimed Frederick, "I don't deny anything! I am a wretch!Just listen to me!"
If he had done this, it was through despair, as one commits suicide.However, he had made her very unhappy in order to avenge himself on herwith his own shame.
"What mental anguish! Do you not realise what it means?"
Madame Arnoux turned away her beautiful face while she held out her handto him; and they closed their eyes, absorbed in a kind of intoxicationthat was like a sweet, ceaseless rocking. Then they stood face to face,gazing at one another.
"Could you believe it possible that I no longer loved you?"
She replied in a low voice, full of caressing tenderness:
"No! in spite of everything, I felt at the bottom of my heart that itwas impossible, and that one day the obstacle between us two woulddisappear!"
"So did I; and I was dying to see you again."
"I once passed close to you in the Palais-Royal!"
"Did you really?"
And he spoke to her of the happiness he experienced at coming across heragain at the Dambreuses' house.
"But how I hated you that evening as I was leaving the place!"
"Poor boy!"
"My life is so sad!"
"And mine, too! If it were only the vexations, the anxieties, thehumiliations, all that I endure as wife and as mother, seeing that onemust die, I would not complain; the frightful part of it is my solitude,without anyone."
"But you have me here with you!"
"Oh! yes!"
A sob of deep emotion made her bosom swell. She spread out her arms, andthey strained one another, while their lips met in a long kiss.
A creaking sound on the floor not far from them reached their ears.There was a woman standing close to them; it was Rosanette. MadameArnoux had recognised her. Her eyes, opened to their widest, scannedthis woman, full of astonishment and indignation. At length Rosanettesaid to her:
"I have come to see Monsieur Arnoux about a matter of business."
"You see he is not here."
"Ah! that's true," returned the Marechale. "Your nurse is right! Athousand apologies!"
And turning towards Frederick:
"So here you are--you?"
The familiar tone in which she addressed him, and in her own presence,too, made Madame Arnoux flush as if she had received a slap right acrossthe face.
"I tell you again, he is not here!"
Then the Marechale, who was looking this way and that, said quietly:
"Let us go back together! I have a cab waiting below."
He pretended not to hear.
"Come! let us go!"
"Ah! yes! this is a good opportunity! Go! go!" said Madame Arnoux.
They went off together, and she stooped over the head of the stairs inorder to see them once more, and a laugh--piercing, heart-rending,reached them from the place where she stood. Frederick pushed Rosanetteinto the cab, sat down opposite her, and during the entire drive did notutter a word.
The infamy, which it outraged him to see once more flowing back on him,had been brought about by himself alone. He experienced at the same timethe dishonour of a crushing humiliation and the regret caused by theloss of his new-found happiness. Just when, at last, he had it in hisgrasp, it had for ever more become impossible, and that through thefault of this girl of the town, this harlot. He would have liked tostrangle her. He was choking with rage. When they had got into the househe flung his hat on a piece of furniture and tore off his cravat.
"Ha! you have just done a nice thing--confess it!"
She planted herself boldly in front of him.
"Ah! well, what of that? Where's the harm?"
"What! You are playing the spy on me?"
"Is that my fault? Why do you go to amuse yourself with virtuouswomen?"
"Never mind! I don't wish you to insult them."
"How have I insulted them?"
He had no answer to make to this, and in a more spiteful tone:
"But on the other occasion, at the Champ de Mars----"
"Ah! you bore us to death with your old women!"
"Wretch!"
He raised his fist.
"Don't kill me! I'm pregnant!"
Frederick staggered back.
"You are lying!"
"Why, just look at me!"
She seized a candlestick, and pointing at her face:
"Don't you recognise the fact there?"
Little yellow spots dotted her skin, which was strangely swollen.Frederick did not deny the evidence. He went to the window, and openedit, took a few steps up and down the room, and then sank into anarmchair.
This event was a calamity which, in the first place, put off theirrupture, and, in the next place, upset all his plans. The notion ofbeing a father, moreover, appeared to him grotesque, inadmissible. Butwhy? If, in place of the Marechale----And his reverie became so deepthat he had a kind of hallucination. He saw there, on the carpet, infront of the chimney-piece, a little girl. She resembled Madame Arnouxand himself a little--dark, and yet fair, with two black eyes, verylarge eyebrows, and a red ribbon in her curling hair. (Oh, how he wouldhave loved her!) And he seemed to hear her voice saying: "Papa! papa!"
Rosanette, who had just undressed herself, came across to him, andnoticing a tear in his eyelids, kissed him gravely on the forehead.
He arose, saying:
"By Jove, we mustn't kill this little one!"
Then she talked a lot of nonsense. To be sure, it would be a boy, andits name would be Frederick. It would be necessary for her to beginmaking its clothes; and, seeing her so happy, a feeling of pity for hertook possession of him. As he no longer cherished any anger against her,he desired to know the explanation of the step she had recently taken.She said it was because Mademoiselle Vatnaz had sent her that day a billwhich had been protested for some time past; and so she hastened toArnoux to get the money from him.
"I'd have given it to you!" said Frederick.
"It is a simpler course for me to get over there what belongs to me, andto pay back to the other one her thousand francs."
"Is this really all you owe her?"
She answered:
"Certainly!"
On the following day, at nine o'clock in the evening (the hour specifiedby the doorkeeper), Frederick repaired to Mademoiselle Vatnaz'sresidence.
In the anteroom, he jostled against the furniture, which was heapedtogether. But the sound of voices and of music guided him. He opened adoor, and tumbled into the middle of a rout. Standing up before a piano,which a young lady in spectacles was fingering, Delmar, as serious as apontiff, was declaiming a humanitarian poem on prostitution; and hishollow voice rolled to the accompaniment of the metallic chords. A rowof women sat close to the wall, attired, as a rule, in dark colourswithout neck-bands or sleeves. Five or six men, all people of culture,occupied seats here and there. In an armchair was seated a former writerof fables, a mere wreck now; and the pungent odour of the two lamps wasintermingled with the aroma of the chocolate which filled a number ofbowls placed on the card-table.
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br /> Mademoiselle Vatnaz, with an Oriental shawl thrown over her shoulders,sat at one side of the chimney-piece. Dussardier sat facing her at theother side. He seemed to feel himself in an embarrassing position.Besides, he was rather intimidated by his artistic surroundings. Had theVatnaz, then, broken off with Delmar? Perhaps not. However, she seemedjealous of the worthy shopman; and Frederick, having asked to let himexchange a word with her, she made a sign to him to go with them intoher own apartment. When the thousand francs were paid down before her,she asked, in addition, for interest.
"'Tisn't worth while," said Dussardier.
"Pray hold your tongue!"
This want of moral courage on the part of so brave a man was agreeableto Frederick as a justification of his own conduct. He took away thebill with him, and never again referred to the scandal at MadameArnoux's house. But from that time forth he saw clearly all the defectsin the Marechale's character.
She possessed incurable bad taste, incomprehensible laziness, theignorance of a savage, so much so that she regarded Doctor Derogis as aperson of great celebrity, and she felt proud of entertaining himselfand his wife, because they were "married people." She lectured with apedantic air on the affairs of daily life to Mademoiselle Irma, a poorlittle creature endowed with a little voice, who had as a protector agentleman "very well off," an ex-clerk in the Custom-house, who had arare talent for card tricks. Rosanette used to call him "My big Loulou."Frederick could no longer endure the repetition of her stupid words,such as "Some custard," "To Chaillot," "One could never know," etc.; andshe persisted in wiping off the dust in the morning from her trinketswith a pair of old white gloves. He was above all disgusted by hertreatment of her servant, whose wages were constantly in arrear, and whoeven lent her money. On the days when they settled their accounts, theyused to wrangle like two fish-women; and then, on becoming reconciled,used to embrace each other. It was a relief to him when MadameDambreuse's evening parties began again.
There, at any rate, he found something to amuse him. She was well versedin the intrigues of society, the changes of ambassadors, the personalcharacter of dressmakers; and, if commonplaces escaped her lips, theydid so in such a becoming fashion, that her language might be regardedas the expression of respect for propriety or of polite irony. It wasworth while to watch the way in which, in the midst of twenty personschatting around her, she would, without overlooking any of them, bringabout the answers she desired and avoid those that were dangerous.Things of a very simple nature, when related by her, assumed the aspectof confidences. Her slightest smile gave rise to dreams; in short, hercharm, like the exquisite scent which she usually carried about withher, was complex and indefinable.
While he was with her, Frederick experienced on each occasion thepleasure of a new discovery, and, nevertheless, he always found herequally serene the next time they met, like the reflection of limpidwaters.
But why was there such coldness in her manner towards her niece? Attimes she even darted strange looks at her.
As soon as the question of marriage was started, she had urged as anobjection to it, when discussing the matter with M. Dambreuse, the stateof "the dear child's" health, and had at once taken her off to the bathsof Balaruc. On her return fresh pretexts were raised by her--that theyoung man was not in a good position, that this ardent passion did notappear to be a very serious attachment, and that no risk would be run bywaiting. Martinon had replied, when the suggestion was made to him, thathe would wait. His conduct was sublime. He lectured Frederick. He didmore. He enlightened him as to the best means of pleasing MadameDambreuse, even giving him to understand that he had ascertained fromthe niece the sentiments of her aunt.
As for M. Dambreuse, far from exhibiting jealousy, he treated his youngfriend with the utmost attention, consulted him about different things,and even showed anxiety about his future, so that one day, when theywere talking about Pere Roque, he whispered with a sly air:
"You have done well."
And Cecile, Miss John, the servants and the porter, every one of themexercised a fascination over him in this house. He came there everyevening, quitting Rosanette for that purpose. Her approaching maternityrendered her graver in manner, and even a little melancholy, as if shewere tortured by anxieties. To every question put to her she replied:
"You are mistaken; I am quite well."
She had, as a matter of fact, signed five notes in her previoustransactions, and not having the courage to tell Frederick after thefirst had been paid, she had gone back to the abode of Arnoux, who hadpromised her, in writing, the third part of his profits in the lightingof the towns of Languedoc by gas (a marvellous undertaking!), whilerequesting her not to make use of this letter at the meeting ofshareholders. The meeting was put off from week to week.
Meanwhile the Marechale wanted money. She would have died sooner thanask Frederick for any. She did not wish to get it from him; it wouldhave spoiled their love. He contributed a great deal to the householdexpenses; but a little carriage, which he hired by the month, and othersacrifices, which were indispensable since he had begun to visit theDambreuses, prevented him from doing more for his mistress. On two orthree occasions, when he came back to the house at a different hour fromhis usual time, he fancied he could see men's backs disappearing behindthe door, and she often went out without wishing to state where she wasgoing. Frederick did not attempt to enquire minutely into these matters.One of these days he would make up his mind as to his future course ofaction. He dreamed of another life which would be more amusing and morenoble. It was the fact that he had such an ideal before his mind thatrendered him indulgent towards the Dambreuse mansion.
It was an establishment in the neighbourhood of the Rue de Poitiers.There he met the great M. A., the illustrious B., the profound C., theeloquent Z., the immense Y., the old terrors of the Left Centre, thepaladins of the Right, the burgraves of the golden mean; the eternalgood old men of the comedy. He was astonished at their abominable styleof talking, their meannesses, their rancours, their dishonesty--allthese personages, after voting for the Constitution, now striving todestroy it; and they got into a state of great agitation, and launchedforth manifestoes, pamphlets, and biographies. Hussonnet's biography ofFumichon was a masterpiece. Nonancourt devoted himself to the work ofpropagandism in the country districts; M. de Gremonville worked up theclergy; and Martinon brought together the young men of the wealthyclass. Each exerted himself according to his resources, including Cisyhimself. With his thoughts now all day long absorbed in matters of gravemoment, he kept making excursions here and there in a cab in theinterests of the party.
M. Dambreuse, like a barometer, constantly gave expression to its latestvariation. Lamartine could not be alluded to without eliciting from thisgentleman the quotation of a famous phrase of the man of the people:"Enough of poetry!" Cavaignac was, from this time forth, nothing betterin his eyes than a traitor. The President, whom he had admired for aperiod of three months, was beginning to fall off in his esteem (as hedid not appear to exhibit the "necessary energy"); and, as he alwayswanted a savior, his gratitude, since the affair of the Conservatoire,belonged to Changarnier: "Thank God for Changarnier.... Let us place ourreliance on Changarnier.... Oh, there's nothing to fear as long asChangarnier----"
M. Thiers was praised, above all, for his volume against Socialism, inwhich he showed that he was quite as much of a thinker as a writer.There was an immense laugh at Pierre Leroux, who had quoted passagesfrom the philosophers in the Chamber. Jokes were made about thephalansterian tail. The "Market of Ideas" came in for a meed ofapplause, and its authors were compared to Aristophanes. Frederickpatronised the work as well as the rest.
Political verbiage and good living had an enervating effect on hismorality. Mediocre in capacity as these persons appeared to him, he feltproud of knowing them, and internally longed for the respectability thatattached to a wealthy citizen. A mistress like Madame Dambreuse wouldgive him a position.
He set about taking the necessary steps for achieving that ob
ject.
He made it his business to cross her path, did not fail to go and greether with a bow in her box at the theatre, and, being aware of the hourswhen she went to church, he would plant himself behind a pillar in amelancholy attitude. There was a continual interchange of little notesbetween them with regard to curiosities to which they drew each other'sattention, preparations for a concert, or the borrowing of books orreviews. In addition to his visit each night, he sometimes made a calljust as the day was closing; and he experienced a progressive successionof pleasures in passing through the large front entrance, through thecourtyard, through the anteroom, and through the two reception-rooms.Finally, he reached her boudoir, which was as quiet as a tomb, as warmas an alcove, and in which one jostled against the upholstered edging offurniture in the midst of objects of every sort placed here andthere--chiffoniers, screens, bowls, and trays made of lacquer, or shell,or ivory, or malachite, expensive trifles, to which fresh additions werefrequently made. Amongst single specimens of these rarities might benoticed three Etretat rollers which were used as paper-presses, and aFrisian cap hung from a Chinese folding-screen. Nevertheless, there wasa harmony between all these things, and one was even impressed by thenoble aspect of the entire place, which was, no doubt, due to theloftiness of the ceiling, the richness of the portieres, and the longsilk fringes that floated over the gold legs of the stools.
She nearly always sat on a little sofa, close to the flower-stand, whichgarnished the recess of the window. Frederick, seating himself on theedge of a large wheeled ottoman, addressed to her compliments of themost appropriate kind that he could conceive; and she looked at him,with her head a little on one side, and a smile playing round her mouth.
He read for her pieces of poetry, into which he threw his whole soul inorder to move her and excite her admiration. She would now and theninterrupt him with a disparaging remark or a practical observation; andtheir conversation relapsed incessantly into the eternal question ofLove. They discussed with each other what were the circumstances thatproduced it, whether women felt it more than men, and what was thedifference between them on that point. Frederick tried to express hisopinion, and, at the same time, to avoid anything like coarseness orinsipidity. This became at length a species of contest between them,sometimes agreeable and at other times tedious.
Whilst at her side, he did not experience that ravishment of his entirebeing which drew him towards Madame Arnoux, nor the feeling ofvoluptuous delight with which Rosanette had, at first, inspired him. Buthe felt a passion for her as a thing that was abnormal and difficult ofattainment, because she was of aristocratic rank, because she waswealthy, because she was a devotee--imagining that she had a delicacy ofsentiment as rare as the lace she wore, together with amulets on herskin, and modest instincts even in her depravity.
He made a certain use of his old passion for Madame Arnoux, uttering inhis new flame's hearing all those amorous sentiments which the other hadcaused him to feel in downright earnest, and pretending that it wasMadame Dambreuse herself who had occasioned them. She received theseavowals like one accustomed to such things, and, without giving him aformal repulse, did not yield in the slightest degree; and he came nonearer to seducing her than Martinon did to getting married. In order tobring matters to an end with her niece's suitor, she accused him ofhaving money for his object, and even begged of her husband to put thematter to the test. M. Dambreuse then declared to the young man thatCecile, being the orphan child of poor parents, had neither expectationsnor a dowry.
Martinon, not believing that this was true, or feeling that he had gonetoo far to draw back, or through one of those outbursts of idioticinfatuation which may be described as acts of genius, replied that hispatrimony, amounting to fifteen thousand francs a year, would besufficient for them. The banker was touched by this unexpected displayof disinterestedness. He promised the young man a tax-collectorship,undertaking to obtain the post for him; and in the month of May, 1850,Martinon married Mademoiselle Cecile. There was no ball to celebrate theevent. The young people started the same evening for Italy. Frederickcame next day to pay a visit to Madame Dambreuse. She appeared to himpaler than usual. She sharply contradicted him about two or threematters of no importance. However, she went on to observe, all men wereegoists.
There were, however, some devoted men, though he might happen himself tobe the only one.
"Pooh, pooh! you're just like the rest of them!"
Her eyelids were red; she had been weeping.
Then, forcing a smile:
"Pardon me; I am in the wrong. Sad thoughts have taken possession of mymind."
He could not understand what she meant to convey by the last words.
"No matter! she is not so hard to overcome as I imagined," he thought.
She rang for a glass of water, drank a mouthful of it, sent it awayagain, and then began to complain of the wretched way in which herservants attended on her. In order to amuse her, he offered to becomeher servant himself, pretending that he knew how to hand round plates,dust furniture, and announce visitors--in fact, to do the duties of a_valet-de-chambre_, or, rather, of a running-footman, although thelatter was now out of fashion. He would have liked to cling on behindher carriage with a hat adorned with cock's feathers.
"And how I would follow you with majestic stride, carrying your pug onmy arm!"
"You are facetious," said Madame Dambreuse.
Was it not a piece of folly, he returned, to take everything seriously?There were enough of miseries in the world without creating fresh ones.Nothing was worth the cost of a single pang. Madame Dambreuse raised hereyelids with a sort of vague approval.
This agreement in their views of life impelled Frederick to take abolder course. His former miscalculations now gave him insight. He wenton:
"Our grandsires lived better. Why not obey the impulse that urges usonward?" After all, love was not a thing of such importance in itself.
"But what you have just said is immoral!"
She had resumed her seat on the little sofa. He sat down at the side ofit, near her feet.
"Don't you see that I am lying! For in order to please women, one mustexhibit the thoughtlessness of a buffoon or all the wild passion oftragedy! They only laugh at us when we simply tell them that we lovethem! For my part, I consider those hyperbolical phrases which tickletheir fancy a profanation of true love, so that it is no longer possibleto give expression to it, especially when addressing women who possessmore than ordinary intelligence."
She gazed at him from under her drooping eyelids. He lowered his voice,while he bent his head closer to her face.
"Yes! you frighten me! Perhaps I am offending you? Forgive me! I did notintend to say all that I have said! 'Tis not my fault! You are sobeautiful!"
Madame Dambreuse closed her eyes, and he was astonished at his easyvictory. The tall trees in the clouds streaked the sky with long stripsof red, and on every side there seemed to be a suspension of vitalmovements. Then he recalled to mind, in a confused sort of way, eveningsjust the same as this, filled with the same unbroken silence. Where wasit that he had known them?
He sank upon his knees, seized her hand, and swore that he would loveher for ever. Then, as he was leaving her, she beckoned to him to comeback, and said to him in a low tone:
"Come by-and-by and dine with us! We'll be all alone!"
It seemed to Frederick, as he descended the stairs, that he had become adifferent man, that he was surrounded by the balmy temperature ofhot-houses, and that he was beyond all question entering into the highersphere of patrician adulteries and lofty intrigues. In order to occupythe first rank there all he required was a woman of this stamp. Greedy,no doubt, of power and of success, and married to a man of inferiorcalibre, for whom she had done prodigious services, she longed for someone of ability in order to be his guide. Nothing was impossible now. Hefelt himself capable of riding two hundred leagues on horseback, oftravelling for several nights in succession without fatigue. His heartoverflowed with pride.
/> Just in front of him, on the footpath, a man wrapped in a seedy overcoatwas walking, with downcast eyes, and with such an air of dejection thatFrederick, as he passed, turned aside to have a better look at him. Theother raised his head. It was Deslauriers. He hesitated. Frederick fellupon his neck.
"Ah! my poor old friend! What! 'tis you!"
And he dragged Deslauriers into his house, at the same time asking hisfriend a heap of questions.
Ledru-Rollin's ex-commissioner commenced by describing the tortures towhich he had been subjected. As he preached fraternity to theConservatives, and respect for the laws to the Socialists, the formertried to shoot him, and the latter brought cords to hang him with. AfterJune he had been brutally dismissed. He found himself involved in acharge of conspiracy--that which was connected with the seizure of armsat Troyes. He had subsequently been released for want of evidence tosustain the charge. Then the acting committee had sent him to London,where his ears had been boxed in the very middle of a banquet at whichhe and his colleagues were being entertained. On his return to Paris----
"Why did you not call here, then, to see me?"
"You were always out! Your porter had mysterious airs--I did not knowwhat to think; and, in the next place, I had no desire to reappearbefore you in the character of a defeated man."
He had knocked at the portals of Democracy, offering to serve it withhis pen, with his tongue, with all his energies. He had been everywhererepelled. They had mistrusted him; and he had sold his watch, hisbookcase, and even his linen.
"It would be much better to be breaking one's back on the pontoons ofBelle Isle with Senecal!"
Frederick, who had been fastening his cravat, did not appear to be muchaffected by this news.
"Ha! so he is transported, this good Senecal?"
Deslauriers replied, while he surveyed the walls with an envious air:
"Not everybody has your luck!"
"Excuse me," said Frederick, without noticing the allusion to his owncircumstances, "but I am dining in the city. We must get you somethingto eat; order whatever you like. Take even my bed!"
This cordial reception dissipated Deslauriers' bitterness.
"Your bed? But that might inconvenience you!"
"Oh, no! I have others!"
"Oh, all right!" returned the advocate, with a laugh. "Pray, where areyou dining?"
"At Madame Dambreuse's."
"Can it be that you are--perhaps----?"
"You are too inquisitive," said Frederick, with a smile, which confirmedthis hypothesis.
Then, after a glance at the clock, he resumed his seat.
"That's how it is! and we mustn't despair, my ex-defender of thepeople!"
"Oh, pardon me; let others bother themselves about the peoplehenceforth!"
The advocate detested the working-men, because he had suffered so muchon their account in his province, a coal-mining district. Every pit hadappointed a provisional government, from which he received orders.
"Besides, their conduct has been everywhere charming--at Lyons, atLille, at Havre, at Paris! For, in imitation of the manufacturers, whowould fain exclude the products of the foreigner, these gentlemen callon us to banish the English, German, Belgian, and Savoyard workmen. Asfor their intelligence, what was the use of that precious trades' unionof theirs which they established under the Restoration? In 1830 theyjoined the National Guard, without having the common sense to get theupper hand of it. Is it not the fact that, since the morning when 1848dawned, the various trade-bodies had not reappeared with their banners?They have even demanded popular representatives for themselves, who arenot to open their lips except on their own behalf. All this is the sameas if the deputies who represent beetroot were to concern themselvesabout nothing save beetroot. Ah! I've had enough of these dodgers who inturn prostrate themselves before the scaffold of Robespierre, the bootsof the Emperor, and the umbrella of Louis Philippe--a rabble who alwaysyield allegiance to the person that flings bread into their mouths. Theyare always crying out against the venality of Talleyrand and Mirabeau;but the messenger down below there would sell his country for fiftycentimes if they'd only promise to fix a tariff of three francs on hiswalk. Ah! what a wretched state of affairs! We ought to set the fourcorners of Europe on fire!"
Frederick said in reply:
"The spark is what you lack! You were simply a lot of shopboys, and eventhe best of you were nothing better than penniless students. As for theworkmen, they may well complain; for, if you except a million taken outof the civil list, and of which you made a grant to them with themeanest expressions of flattery, you have done nothing for them, save totalk in stilted phrases! The workman's certificate remains in the handsof the employer, and the person who is paid wages remains (even in theeye of the law), the inferior of his master, because his word is notbelieved. In short, the Republic seems to me a worn-out institution.Who knows? Perhaps Progress can be realised only through an aristocracyor through a single man? The initiative always comes from the top, andwhatever may be the people's pretensions, they are lower than thoseplaced over them!"
"That may be true," said Deslauriers.
According to Frederick, the vast majority of citizens aimed only at alife of peace (he had been improved by his visits to the Dambreuses),and the chances were all on the side of the Conservatives. That party,however, was lacking in new men.
"If you came forward, I am sure----"
He did not finish the sentence. Deslauriers saw what Frederick meant,and passed his two hands over his head; then, all of a sudden:
"But what about yourself? Is there anything to prevent you from doingit? Why would you not be a deputy?"
In consequence of a double election there was in the Aube a vacancy fora candidate. M. Dambreuse, who had been re-elected as a member of theLegislative Assembly, belonged to a different arrondissement.
"Do you wish me to interest myself on your behalf?" He was acquaintedwith many publicans, schoolmasters, doctors, notaries' clerks and theirmasters. "Besides, you can make the peasants believe anything you like!"
Frederick felt his ambition rekindling.
Deslauriers added:
"You would find no trouble in getting a situation for me in Paris."
"Oh! it would not be hard to manage it through Monsieur Dambreuse."
"As we happened to have been talking just now about coal-mines," theadvocate went on, "what has become of his big company? This is the sortof employment that would suit me, and I could make myself useful to themwhile preserving my own independence."
Frederick promised that he would introduce him to the banker beforethree days had passed.
The dinner, which he enjoyed alone with Madame Dambreuse, was adelightful affair. She sat facing him with a smile on her countenance atthe opposite side of the table, whereon was placed a basket of flowers,while a lamp suspended above their heads shed its light on the scene;and, as the window was open, they could see the stars. They talked verylittle, distrusting themselves, no doubt; but, the moment the servantshad turned their backs, they sent across a kiss to one another from thetips of their lips. He told her about his idea of becoming a candidate.She approved of the project, promising even to get M. Dambreuse to useevery effort on his behalf.
As the evening advanced, some of her friends presented themselves forthe purpose of congratulating her, and, at the same time, expressingsympathy with her; she must be so much pained at the loss of her niece.Besides, it was all very well for newly-married people to go on a trip;by-and-by would come incumbrances, children. But really, Italy did notrealise one's expectations. They had not as yet passed the age ofillusions; and, in the next place, the honeymoon made everything lookbeautiful. The last two who remained behind were M. de Gremonville andFrederick. The diplomatist was not inclined to leave. At last hedeparted at midnight. Madame Dambreuse beckoned to Frederick to go withhim, and thanked him for this compliance with her wishes by giving him agentle pressure with her hand more delightful than anything that hadgone before.
"'Tis perhaps on account of your black coat, which fits you well; but Ihave never seen you look so handsome! How handsome you are!"
In a transport of tenderness, she made a vow internally never again tobelong to any other man, no matter what might be the consequence, evenif she were to die of want.
Her pretty eyes sparkled with such intense passion that Frederick tookher upon his knees and said to himself:
"What a rascally part I am playing!" while admiring his own perversity.
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