Georgette was inflexible; she would not give way. As a general rule, she seemed to go with Dupont, not for the pleasure of being with him, but to see the people and to be seen herself.
She dressed very modestly. Dupont had said to himself: "The way to capture a woman is by giving her things to wear, by encouraging her coquetry;" and he had sent the young embroiderer a pretty shawl, a silk dress, and a stylish bonnet. She had accepted his gifts without argument, and had arrayed herself in them that same day to go to the Opera-Comique with him. But when, after escorting her home at the close of the performance, he had asked permission to go up to her room for a moment, she had shut the door in his face, saying:
"I should think not! it"s quite enough to receive you in the daytime."
Mademoiselle Georgette made frequent conquests when she was on Dupont"s arm; then our provincial became jealous, for it seemed to him that his companion was distraught at times, and that she paid too much attention to the men who ogled her, and not enough to him.
Then, too, the young woman was very curious; at the play, she would call his attention to a stylishly dressed young dandy and say:
"Do you know the gentleman in that box, just opposite us, with an opera gla.s.s in his hand?"
"No; I haven"t an idea who he is," Dupont would reply sourly; "I don"t know anyone in Paris."
"Ah! to be sure; I forgot that you had just come from America. It"s a pity!"
"Why is it a pity?"
"Because you don"t know anyone in Paris."
"And even if I did know the young man you refer to, how would that help you?"
"Oh! not at all. I simply wanted to know."
Another time, it was a middle-aged man, but dressed in the height of fashion, and mimicking all the manners of a young dandy, whom Mademoiselle Georgette noticed on one of the public promenades and pointed out to her faithful attendant.
"Do you know who that man is?"
"How in the devil do you suppose that I know who he is?"
"Ah! to be sure! you are just from America--I forgot that."
On returning to his room, Dupont would say to himself:
"Why does she question me about the men we meet walking, or at the theatre? That doesn"t amuse me at all! She is a great flirt, is that girl; she doesn"t lower her eyes when a man looks at her; she acts as if she was delighted to make conquests. And yet she"s virtuous, perfectly virtuous! I know that better than anybody; but all she wants is to go out, to show herself. Ah! she has such a fine figure! When she"s on my arm, everybody admires her carriage, her figure above all! and her foot, and her leg! How can a man help falling in love with all that? I can"t eat or drink on account of it; and I lost the power to sleep long ago; I"m growing thin; to be sure, I"m not sorry for that, but I"m growing perceptibly thinner. If this goes on, I shall look like a Pierrot instead of a Punchinello."
One day, Dupont had been in his pretty neighbor"s room for several minutes; he was watching her work, and was doing his utmost to persuade her that he adored her, while the girl listened with manifest indifference, like one who was thinking of something other than what was being said to her, when there came two light taps at her door.
"Someone is knocking," said Dupont, with an air of surprise.
"Yes, I thought that I heard a knock."
"Are you expecting company?"
"No; but why shouldn"t people come to see me? You came, whom I certainly did not expect."
"Listen--they"re knocking again. It is certainly at your door."
"Come in!" cried Georgette; "the door isn"t locked."
In fact, the young woman was always careful to leave the key in the lock outside when Dupont was with her, in order to give less occasion for gossip.
The door opened and a young man appeared and stopped on the threshold.
He may have been about twenty years old, although he looked younger. His fresh, ingenuous face was exceedingly youthful; his great blue eyes, gentle and tender, had almost the charm of a woman"s eyes; his chin was covered with an almost imperceptible down; his forehead was without a wrinkle, and his light chestnut hair grew naturally and at will, having never known the hand of a hairdresser. Take him for all in all, he was a very pretty fellow; of medium height, but slender and graceful.
His dress was neither that of a peasant nor that of a Parisian youth. He wore broadcloth trousers, almost skin-tight, with long leather gaiters reaching to the knee, a velvet waistcoat with metal b.u.t.tons, and a rough, long-haired hunting jacket. Lastly, he held in his hand a felt hat, with a round crown and broad brim, and a stout knotted stick.
"Mamzelle Georgette, if you please?" said the young man, still standing in the doorway.
At the sound of that voice, the young woman sprang to her feet, crying:
"Colinet! it"s Colinet!"
And she ran to the new-comer, seized his hands, then his face, and kissed him again and again, with every indication of the keenest delight.
"Dear Colinet!" she said. "Oh! how glad I am to see you!"
"And I am very glad to see you, Mamzelle Georgette!" the young man replied. "For they told me Paris was so big, I was afraid I wouldn"t find you!"
Dupont meanwhile looked on with a strange expression on his face, saying to himself:
"It seems that she lets some people kiss her! More than that, she kissed him first! The devil! the devil! I wonder if I"m nothing better than an old fool! That would be humiliating!"
Georgette took the young man"s hand, and leading him into the room presented him to Monsieur Dupont, saying:
"This is a friend of my childhood. We used to play together when we were children--didn"t we, Colinet?"
"Yes, Mamzelle Georgette."
"Let us pray that they won"t continue to play together, now they"re grown up!" thought Dupont, who was forced to admit that the young man was very comely.--"Is monsieur from your province?" he asked.
"Yes, to be sure, and he"s just come from there.--Isn"t that so, Colinet?"
"Yes, mamzelle; I arrived last night at the Plat d"etain, where I"m staying, on Carre Saint-Martin."
"And my mother and father and sisters--do tell me about them."
"They are all well, thank heaven! and they all told me to be sure and kiss you for them."
"Well! kiss me for each of them."
Young Colinet lost no time in kissing Georgette again; while Dupont"s face became a yard long, and he said to himself:
"Are they going to pa.s.s all their time kissing? That fellow has obtained more in two minutes than I have in a month. I simply must change my batteries."
When young Colinet had delivered all his kisses, Georgette bade him sit down and said:
"Didn"t my sisters give you anything for me?"