For four years more the husband and wife, hara.s.sed by poverty, knew no other distraction than the Sunday walk in the Champs-Elysees and a few evenings at the theatre (amounting in all to one or two in the course of the winter) which they owed to free pa.s.ses presented by some comrade or other.
But in the spring of the following year some overtime work was entrusted to Hector de Gribelin by his chief, for which he received the large sum of three hundred francs.
The day he brought the money home he said to his wife:
"My dear Henrietta, we must indulge in some sort of festivity-say an outing for the children."
And after a long discussion it was decided that they should go and lunch one day in the country.
"Well," cried Hector, "once will not break us, so we"ll hire a wagonette for you, the children and the maid. And I"ll have a saddle horse; the exercise will do me good."
The whole week long they talked of nothing but the projected excursion.
Every evening, on his return from the office, Hector caught up his elder son, put him astride his leg, and, making him bounce up and down as hard as he could, said:
"That"s how daddy will gallop next Sunday."
And the youngster amused himself all day long by bestriding chairs, dragging them round the room and shouting:
"This is daddy on horseback!"
The servant herself gazed at her master with awestruck eyes as she thought of him riding alongside the carriage, and at meal-times she listened with all her ears while he spoke of riding and recounted the exploits of his youth, when he lived at home with his father. Oh, he had learned in a good school, and once he felt his steed between his legs he feared nothing-nothing whatever!
Rubbing his hands, he repeated gaily to his wife:
"If only they would give me a restive animal I should be all the better pleased. You"ll see how well I can ride; and if you like we"ll come back by the Champs-Elysees just as all the people are returning from the Bois. As we shall make a good appearance, I shouldn"t at all object to meeting some one from the ministry. That is all that is necessary to insure the respect of one"s chiefs."
On the day appointed the carriage and the riding horse arrived at the same moment before the door. Hector went down immediately to examine his mount. He had had straps sewn to his trousers and flourished in his hand a whip he had bought the evening before.
He raised the horse"s legs and felt them one after another, pa.s.sed his hand over the animal"s neck, flank and hocks, opened his mouth, examined his teeth, declared his age; and then, the whole household having collected round him, he delivered a discourse on the horse in general and the specimen before him in particular, p.r.o.nouncing the latter excellent in every respect.
When the rest of the party had taken their seats in the carriage he examined the saddle-girth; then, putting his foot in the stirrup, he sprang to the saddle. The animal began to curvet and nearly threw his rider.
Hector, not altogether at his ease, tried to soothe him:
"Come, come, good horse, gently now!"
Then, when the horse had recovered his equanimity and the rider his nerve, the latter asked:
"Are you ready?"
The occupants of the carriage replied with one voice:
"Yes."
"Forward!" he commanded.
And the cavalcade set out.
All looks were centered on him. He trotted in the English style, rising unnecessarily high in the saddle; looking at times as if he were mounting into s.p.a.ce. Sometimes he seemed on the point of falling forward on the horse"s mane; his eyes were fixed, his face drawn, his cheeks pale.
His wife, holding one of the children on her knees, and the servant, who was carrying the other, continually cried out:
"Look at papa! look at papa!"
And the two boys, intoxicated by the motion of the carriage, by their delight and by the keen air, uttered shrill cries. The horse, frightened by the noise they made, started off at a gallop, and while Hector was trying to control his steed his hat fell off, and the driver had to get down and pick it up. When the equestrian had recovered it he called to his wife from a distance:
"Don"t let the children shout like that! They"ll make the horse bolt!"
They lunched on the gra.s.s in the Vesinet woods, having brought provisions with them in the carriage.
Although the driver was looking after the three horses, Hector rose every minute to see if his own lacked anything; he patted him on the neck and fed him with bread, cakes and sugar.
"He"s an unequal trotter," he declared. "He certainly shook me up a little at first, but, as you saw, I soon got used to it. He knows his master now and won"t give any more trouble."
As had been decided, they returned by the Champs-Elysees.
That s.p.a.cious thoroughfare literally swarmed with vehicles of every kind, and on the sidewalks the pedestrians were so numerous that they looked like two indeterminate black ribbons unfurling their length from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. A flood of sunlight played on this gay scene, making the varnish of the carriages, the steel of the harness and the handles of the carriage doors shine with dazzling brilliancy.
An intoxication of life and motion seemed to have invaded this a.s.semblage of human beings, carriages and horses. In the distance the outlines of the Obelisk could be discerned in a cloud of golden vapor.
As soon as Hector"s horse had pa.s.sed the Arc de Triomphe he became suddenly imbued with fresh energy, and, realizing that his stable was not far off, began to trot rapidly through the maze of wheels, despite all his rider"s efforts to restrain him.
The carriage was now far behind. When the horse arrived opposite the Palais de l"Industrie he saw a clear field before him, and, turning to the right, set off at a gallop.
An old woman wearing an ap.r.o.n was crossing the road in leisurely fashion. She happened to be just in Hector"s way as he arrived on the scene riding at full speed. Powerless to control his mount, he shouted at the top of his voice:
"Hi! Look out there! Hi!"
She must have been deaf, for she continued peacefully on her way until the awful moment when, struck by the horse"s chest as by a locomotive under full steam, she rolled ten paces off, turning three somersaults on the way.
Voices yelled:
"Stop him!"
Hector, frantic with terror, clung to the horse"s mane and shouted:
"Help! help!"
A terrible jolt hurled him, as if shot from a gun, over his horse"s ears and cast him into the arms of a policeman who was running up to stop him.
In the s.p.a.ce of a second a furious, gesticulating, vociferating group had gathered round him. An old gentleman with a white mustache, wearing a large round decoration, seemed particularly exasperated. He repeated:
"Confound it! When a man is as awkward as all that he should remain at home and not come killing people in the streets, if he doesn"t know how to handle a horse."
Four men arrived on the scene, carrying the old woman. She appeared to be dead. Her skin was like parchment, her cap on one side and she was covered with dust.
"Take her to a druggist"s," ordered the old gentleman, "and let us go to the commissary of police."