"And you want to buy her from me?"
"Bravo! you are a woman of intelligence and good sense, Mamma Lacombe.
You understand things without needless words. Now, this is my proposition: A fine, elegantly furnished apartment for Mariette, with whom you shall live, of course; five hundred francs per month for her expenses, exclusive of maid and cook; a suitable trousseau for the girl; and a purse of fifty louis to begin housekeeping, not counting costly gifts for good conduct. Besides this, there will be carriages, operas, b.a.l.l.s, and a host of friends among ladies of my acquaintance.
In a word, she will lead an enchanted existence--the existence of a d.u.c.h.ess! What do you think of it?"
"Why not?" murmured the woman, with a strange smile. "Poor wretches like us are only good to sell ourselves when we are young, or sell others when we are old."
"Come now, Mamma Lacombe; to quiet your honest scruples, we shall say sixty francs per month for your pin money, and throw a superb shawl into the bargain. This will enable you to appear to advantage beside Mariette, whom you must watch with motherly solicitude, and never allow out of your sight, for I am jealous as a tiger, and don"t like to be deceived."
"Only this very morning," put in the sick woman, "I was saying to Mariette, "You are a respectable girl, and barely earn twenty sous per day sewing on chemises worth three hundred francs apiece, for a kept woman.""
"Chemises worth three hundred francs apiece, ordered from Madame Jourdan? Let me see--ah! yes, I know. They must be for Amandine, the mistress of the Marquis de Saint-Herem, my most intimate friend--I recommended the establishment--a veritable fortune for Madame Jourdan, although that devil of a marquis seldom pays. But, on the other hand, all the furnishers and women he patronizes become the rage. Amandine was but an obscure little shop-girl six months ago, and now she is the most fashionable woman in Paris. And Mariette may have the same luck, you know. Fancy her wearing chemises worth three hundred francs apiece, instead of sewing them! Doesn"t it make you feel like bursting with pride, Mamma Lacombe?"
"Unless Mariette ended like a girl of my acquaintance, who also sold herself through misery."
"What happened her?"
"She was robbed."
"Robbed?"
"She was promised mountains of gold, too; but at the end of three months she was deserted and left without a single sou. Then she killed herself in despair."
"The devil! what do you take me for?" cried the visitor, haughtily.
"Do I look like a swindler; a _Robert Macaire_?"
"I don"t know what you are."
"I, an old soldier! twenty campaigns and ten times wounded! The intimate companion and friend of all the _lions_ of Paris! a man with his own carriage and who spends twenty thousand francs per annum! The devil! be frank with me! Do you require securities or advances? Very well, then; the house shall be furnished within a week and the lease signed in your own name to-morrow, with the payment of a whole year in advance; besides, if we come to terms, here are twenty-five to thirty louis to bind the bargain."
Drawing twenty-eight gold pieces from his pocket, he tossed them on the work-table beside the bed, saying: "I am not like you, Mamma Lacombe; I am not afraid of being robbed."
At the clinking of gold, the sick woman leaned out of her bed and cast a glance of covetousness at the glittering pieces.
In all the course of her miserable existence, she had never possessed a single gold piece, and the sight of the scattered louis before her eyes almost dazzled her. Grasping a few in her withered fingers, she held them up to the light, trying to catch the sun"s rays that she might feast her hungry eyes on their sparkling beauty.
"I had to show the bait to catch the old witch," said the tempter to himself, with a contemptuous smile.
"At last, at last I have touched the glittering gold!" muttered the old woman, jingling the yellow pieces in her hand.
"Touching them is nothing; the agreeable part of it is to spend them, Mamma Lacombe."
"And this is enough to live in comfort for four or five months," she went on, piling up the coins with childish glee.
"You and Mariette will have as much for every month of the year, if you only say so," said the tempter. "Yes, all this gold; do you hear? in pure, glittering gold!"
There was a long interval of silence; then, raising her sunken eyes to the visitor, the invalid said wistfully: "You think Mariette pretty and charming, monsieur, do you not? You are right; there is not a better creature in the world. Now, be generous toward her! This sum is nothing for a rich man like you--give it to us as a gift."
"What!" gasped the astounded man.
"Monsieur, you are good and kind, pray be charitable also," pleaded the woman.
"This sum, so insignificant to you, would set us afloat once more. We could pay our debts, and Mariette would not be obliged to kill herself working. She would then find time to seek a more remunerative position, and we would owe you five or six months of tranquillity, of paradise--we live on so little! Come, my good sir, do that and we shall bless your name forever--and I can say that I was happy once in my life."
The request was so nave, the tone so sincere and earnest that the decorated visitor was more hurt than surprised at this proposition. He could neither understand nor believe that a human being could be stupid enough to seriously make such a request to a man of his stamp.
"This is anything but flattering," he muttered to himself; "the old witch must take me for a young duckling ready to be plucked."
"The devil! Mamma Lacombe," he added aloud, bursting into a sneering laugh, "do you take me for a philanthropist, the inspector of charitable inst.i.tutions, or a candidate for the Montyon prize? Tut, tut, you will rot in your bed before you receive charitable gifts of six hundred francs, redeemable in blessings and grateful thanks, my good woman! Bless my stars, I am not a bank of that sort!"
The sick woman had yielded to one of those wild, sudden hopes, which sometimes sway the most distrustful beings, and even the most hardened victims of implacable destiny. But the withering scorn it had brought upon her aroused all her ire and bitterness of heart.
"Pardon me, Monsieur, if I have insulted you!" she rejoined, with her habitual sardonic laugh.
"I am not offended, Mamma Lacombe," he returned magnanimously; "but let us come to the point. Shall I, yes or no, re-pocket these beautiful louis, which you take so much pleasure in handling?"
He stretched his hand toward the gold pieces, but she thrust it away with an instinctive movement and drew the shining coins nearer to her.
"One moment," she said hoa.r.s.ely, her eyes glittering with cupidity in their deep orbits, "I shall not eat your gold!"
"That is just what I am urging you to do, Mamma Lacombe; I want you to eat that gold, on condition--"
"I know Mariette," she interrupted, her wistful gaze still fixed on the gold, "she will never consent."
"Nonsense!"
"I tell you she is an upright girl. She might, like many others, yield to a man she loved; but to you--never! She would refuse, I am sure.
You may laugh, but she has ideas of her own."
"Granted, my good woman. I believe in Mariette"s good principles, for Madame Jourdan has known her many years and she has full confidence in her."
"Well, then?"
"Well, I also know, Mamma Lacombe, that you possess great influence over her and that she fears you like the devil himself--so Madame Jourdan informed me. Now, you can induce, or, it need be, compel Mariette to accept happiness! For, after all, you are lodged like beggars and starving to death. Besides, if you refuse, do you know what will happen? The girl, with her fine sentiments of disinterestedness, will, sooner or later, become the victim of some unscrupulous rascal as poor as herself."
"That may be, but she will not have sold her soul."
"Tut, tut, tut, those are mere phrases. Some fine day, this lover of her choice will probably desert her; then, to save herself from starvation, she will end like the rest--mark my word."
"Yes, that may be," she repeated, with a dismal moan. "Hunger is a bad counselor, when we and our children have known its pangs. And how many of those poor, unhappy girls might be saved with this gold! And if Mariette were destined to end like them--would it not be better to yield now?"
For a few moments, the most varied emotions were depicted on the pale, emaciated features of the unhappy, crippled creature. With eyes still fixed hungrily on the glittering pieces, she strove to calm the struggle waged between misery and virtue in her heart; then, by a desperate effort, she closed her eyes as if to escape the fascination of the gold, and sank back wearily on her wretched pallet.
"Go, and leave me in peace!" she said feebly, as if exhausted by the violent conflict.
"What! you refuse?" he cried in amazement.
"Yes."