"This is a flat!"
"No, you forget the sharp! How absurd you are, Mademoiselle!" added my mother, perfectly furious.
A few minutes later my mother went to her room, and Mlle. Clarisse departed, muttering as she left.
As for me, I was choking with laughter in my bed-room, for one of my cousins, who was a good musician, had helped me to add sharps, flats, and quavers, and we had done it with such care that even a trained eye would have had difficulty in discerning the fraud immediately. As Mlle.
Clarisse had been sent off, I had no lesson that day. Mamma gazed at me a long time with her mysterious eyes, the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen in my life, and then she said, speaking very slowly:
"After luncheon there is to be a family council."
I felt myself turning pale.
"All right," I answered. "What frock am I to put on, Mamma?" I said this merely for the sake of saying something, and to keep myself from crying.
"Put your blue silk on; you look more staid in that."
Just at this moment my sister Jeanne opened the door boisterously, and with a burst of laughter jumped on to my bed and, slipping under the sheets, called out, "I"m there!"
Marguerite had followed her into the room, panting and scolding. The child had escaped from her just as she was about to bathe her, and had announced, "I"m going into my sister"s bed."
Jeanne"s mirth at this moment, which I felt was a very serious one for me, made me burst out crying and sobbing. My mother, not understanding the reason of this grief, shrugged her shoulders, told Marguerite to fetch Jeanne"s slippers, and taking the little bare feet in her hands, kissed them tenderly.
I sobbed more bitterly than ever. It was very evident that mamma loved my sister more than me, and this preference, which did not trouble me in an ordinary way, hurt me sorely now.
Mamma went away quite out of patience with me. I fell asleep in order to forget, and was roused by Marguerite, who helped me to dress, as otherwise I should have been late for luncheon. The guests that day were Aunt Rosine, Mlle. de Brabender, my governess (a charming creature, whom I have always regretted), my G.o.dfather, and the Duc de Morny, a great friend of my G.o.dfather and of my mother. The luncheon was a mournful meal for me, as I was thinking all the time about the family council.
Mlle. de Brabender, in her gentle way and with her affectionate words, insisted on my eating. My sister burst out laughing when she looked at me.
"Your eyes are as little as that," she said, putting her small thumb on the tip of her forefinger; "and it serves you right, because you"ve been crying, and Mamma doesn"t like any one to cry. Do you, Mamma?"
"What have you been crying about?" asked the Duc de Morny. I did not answer, in spite of the friendly nudge Mlle. de Brabender gave me with her sharp elbow. The Duc de Morny always awed me a little. He was gentle and kind, but he was a great quiz. I knew, too, that he occupied a high place at court, and that my family considered his friendship a great honour.
"Because I told her that after luncheon there was to be a family council on her behalf," said my mother, speaking slowly. "At times it seems to me that she is quite idiotic. She quite disheartens me."
"Come, come," exclaimed my G.o.dfather, and Aunt Rosine said something in English to the Duc de Morny which made him smile shrewdly under his thin moustache. Mlle. de Brabender scolded me in a low voice, and her scoldings were like words from heaven. When at last luncheon was over, mamma told me, as she pa.s.sed, to pour out the coffee. Marguerite helped me to arrange the cups, and I went into the drawing-room. Maitre C----, the notary from Havre, whom I detested, was already there. He represented the family of my father, who had died at Pisa in a way which had never been explained, but which seemed mysterious. My childish hatred was instinctive, and I learnt later on that this man had been my father"s bitter enemy. He was very, very ugly, this notary; his whole face seemed to have moved up higher. It was as though he had been hanging by his hair for a long time, and his eyes, his mouth, his cheeks, and his nose had got into the habit of trying to reach the back of his head. He ought to have had a joyful expression, as so many of his features turned up, but instead of this his face was smooth and sinister-looking. He had red hair planted in his head like couch gra.s.s, and on his nose he wore a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. Oh, the horrible man! What a torturing nightmare the very memory of him is, for he was the evil genius of my father, and his hatred now pursued me. My poor grandmother, since the death of my father, never went out, but spent her time mourning the loss of her beloved son who had died so young. She had absolute faith in this man, who besides was the executor of my father"s will. He had the control of the money that my dear father had left me. I was not to receive it until the day of my marriage, but my mother was to use the interest for my education. My uncle, Felix Faure, was also there. Seated near the fireplace, buried in an arm-chair, M. Meydieu pulled out his watch in a querulous way. He was an old friend of the family, and he always called me _ma fil_, which annoyed me greatly, as did his familiarity. He considered me stupid, and when I handed him his coffee he said in a jeering tone: "And it is for you, _ma fil_, that so many honest people have been hindered in their work. We have plenty of other things to attend to, I can a.s.sure you, than to discuss the fate of a little brat like you. Ah, if it had been her sister there would have been no difficulty," and with his benumbed fingers he patted Jeanne"s head as she remained on the floor plaiting the fringe of the sofa upon which he was seated.
When the coffee had been drunk, the cups carried away and my sister also, there was a short silence.
The Duc de Morny rose to take his leave, but my mother begged him to stay. "You will be able to advise us," she urged, and the Duc took his seat again near my aunt, with whom it seemed to me he was carrying on a slight flirtation.
Mamma had moved nearer to the window, her embroidery frame in front of her, and her beautiful clear-cut profile showing to advantage against the light. She looked as though she had nothing to do with what was about to be discussed.
The hideous notary had risen.
My uncle had drawn me near to him. My G.o.dfather Regis seemed to be the exact counterpart of M. Meydieu. They both of them had the same _bourgeois_ mind, and were equally stubborn and obstinate. They were both devoted to whist and good wine, and they both agreed that I was thin enough for a scarecrow. The door opened, and a pale, dark-haired woman entered, a most poetical-looking and charming creature. It was Madame Guerard, "the lady of the upstairs flat," as Marguerite always called her. My mother had made friends with her in rather a patronising way certainly, but Madame Guerard was devoted to me, and endured the little slights to which she was treated very patiently for my sake. She was tall and slender as a lath, very compliant and demure. She lived in the flat above, and had come down without a hat; she was wearing an indoor gown of indienne with a design of little brown leaves.
M. Meydieu muttered something, I did not catch what. The abominable notary made a very curt bow to Madame Guerard. The Duc de Morny was very gracious, for the new-comer was so pretty. My G.o.dfather merely bent his head, as Madame Guerard was nothing to him. Aunt Rosine glanced at her from head to foot. Mlle. de Brabender shook hands cordially with her, for Madame Guerard was fond of me.
My uncle, Felix Faure, gave her a chair, and asked her to sit down, and then inquired in a kindly nay about her husband, a _savant_, with whom my uncle collaborated sometimes for his book, "The Life of St. Louis."
Mamma had merely glanced across the room without raising her head, for Madame Guerard did not prefer my sister to me.
"Well, as we have come here on account of this child," said my G.o.dfather, looking at his watch, "we must begin and discuss what is to be done with her."
I began to tremble, and drew closer to mon pet.i.t Dame (as I had always called Madame Guerard from my infancy) and to Mlle. de Brabender. They each took my hand by way of encouraging me.
"Yes," continued M. Meydieu, with a laugh; "it appears you want to be a nun."
"Ah, indeed," said the Duc de Morny to Aunt Rosine.
"Sh!" she retorted, with a laugh. Mamma sighed, and held her wools up close to her eyes to match them.
"You have to be rich, though, to enter a convent," grunted the Havre notary, "and you have not a sou." I leaned towards Mlle. de Brabender and whispered, "I have the money that papa left."
The horrid man overheard.
"Your father left some money to get you married," he said.
"Well, then, I"ll marry the _bon Dieu_" I answered, and my voice was quite resolute now. I turned very red, and for the second time in my life I felt a desire and a strong inclination to fight for myself. I had no more fear, as every one had gone too far and provoked me too much. I slipped away from my two kind friends, and advanced towards the other group.
"I will be a nun, I will!" I exclaimed. "I know that papa left me some money so that I should be married, and I know that the nuns marry the Saviour. Mamma says she does not care, it is all the same to her, so that it won"t be vexing her at all, and they love me better at the convent than you do here!"
"My dear child," said my uncle, drawing me towards him, "your religious vocation appears to me to be more a wish to love--"
"And to be loved," murmured Madame Guerard in a very low voice.
Every one glanced at mamma, who shrugged her shoulders lightly. It seemed to me as though the glance they all gave her was a reproachful one, and I felt a pang of remorse at once. I went across to her, and, throwing my arms round her neck, said:
"You don"t mind my being a nun, do you? It won"t make you unhappy, will it?"
Mamma stroked my hair, of which she was very proud.
"Yes, it would make me unhappy. You know very well that, after your sister, I love you better than any one else in the world."
She said this very slowly in a gentle voice. It was like the sound of a little waterfall as it flows down, babbling and clear, from the mountain, dragging with it the gravel, and gradually increasing in volume with the thawed snow until it sweeps along rocks and trees in its course. This was the effect my mother"s clear drawling voice had upon me at that moment. I rushed back impulsively to the others, who were all speechless at this unexpected and spontaneous burst of eloquence. I went from one to the other, explaining my decision, and giving reasons which were certainly no reasons at all. I did my utmost to get someone to support me in the matter. Finally the Duc de Morny was bored, and rose to go.
"Do you know what you ought to do with this child?" he said. "You ought to send her to the Conservatoire."
He then patted my cheek, kissed my aunt"s hand, and bowed to all the others. As he bent over my mother"s hand I heard him say to her,
"You would have made a bad diplomatist; but follow my advice, and send her to the Conservatoire."
He then took his departure, and I gazed at every one in perfect anguish.
The Conservatoire! What was it? What did it mean? I went up to my governess, Mlle. de Brabender. Her lips were firmly pressed together, and she looked shocked, just as she did sometimes when my G.o.dfather told some story that she did not approve at table. My uncle, Felix Faure, was gazing at the floor in an absent-minded way; the notary had a spiteful look in his eyes, my aunt was holding forth in a very excited manner, and M. Meydieu kept shaking his head and muttering,
"Perhaps--yes--who knows?--hum--hum!" Madame Guerard was very pale and sad, and she looked at me with infinite tenderness.
What could this Conservatoire be? The word uttered so carelessly seemed to have entirely disturbed the equanimity of all present. Each one of them seemed to me to have a different impression about it, but none looked pleased. Suddenly in the midst of the general embarra.s.sment my G.o.dfather exclaimed brutally: