"I haven"t any designs on the charming guests, you big simpleton,"
retorted Olivier, gaily. "But seriously, do you really wish me to take you to Madame Herbaut"s?"
"Certainly I do," answered Gerald. Then turning to the veteran, he continued:
"You really must not consider me a harebrained fellow on account of this determination on my part, commander. I have accepted your friendly advice in regard to marriage, you say, and yet I end the conversation by begging Olivier to take me to Madame Herbaut"s. Ah, well, strange as this may appear to you, commander, I say, no longer jestingly, but in all seriousness this time, that the less change I make in my habits, the more sincere my love for Mlle. de Beaumesnil will have to be to induce me to abandon them."
"Upon my word, M. Gerald, I must confess that your reasons seemed decidedly odd to me at first," replied the veteran, "but, on reflection, I find them quite sensible. There would, perhaps, be a sort of hypocritical premeditation in breaking off in advance with a life you have led so long."
"Come then, Olivier, and introduce me to Madame Herbaut"s charming tribe," exclaimed Gerald, gaily. "Good-bye, commander, I shall return soon and often. What else can you expect? You can"t hope to act as my father confessor without more or less trouble, you know."
"You"ll find me a pretty exacting mentor as regards absolution and matters of conscience, I warn you," retorted the old sailor, gaily. "You must drop in again soon, for you are to keep me posted about the progress of your matrimonial schemes, you recollect."
"Of course. It is my bounden duty to tell you all now, commander, and I shall not fail to do it. But now I think of it, I must report with regard to a commission you entrusted to me, M. Bernard. Will you allow me a word with your uncle in private, Olivier?"
"Most a.s.suredly," answered the young soldier, promptly leaving the room.
"I have some good news for you, commander," said Gerald, in a low tone.
"Thanks partly to my own efforts, and especially to the Marquis de Maillefort"s recommendation, Olivier"s appointment as a second lieutenant is almost certain."
"Is it possible, M. Gerald!"
"There is very little doubt of it, I think, for it is very generally known that the Marquis de Maillefort is being strongly urged to become a deputy, and this fact has increased his influence very much."
"Ah, M. Gerald, how can I express my grat.i.tude--"
"I must hasten to rejoin Olivier, my dear commander," said Gerald, to escape the veteran"s thanks. "His suspicions are sure to be aroused by a longer conversation."
"So you have a secret with my uncle," cried Olivier, as soon as his friend rejoined him.
"Oh, yes, you know I"m a man of mysteries; and, by the way, before we adjourn to Madame Herbaut"s, I have another and very mysterious favour to ask of you."
"Let me hear it."
"You know all about this neighbourhood. Can"t you recommend some quiet lodgings in a retired street hereabouts?"
"What! You are thinking of deserting the Faubourg St. Germain for the Batignolles? How delightful!"
"Nonsense! Listen to me. Of course, living in my mother"s house I cannot receive my friends indiscriminately,--you understand."
"Very well."
"So I have had some rooms elsewhere, but the house has changed hands, and the new owner is such a strictly moral man that he has warned me that I have got to leave when my month is up,--that is, day after to-morrow."
"All the better. It is a very fortunate thing, I think. You"re about to marry, so bid farewell to your amours."
"Olivier, you have heard my ideas on the subject. Your uncle approves them. I am resolved to change none of my bachelor habits in advance, and if I should abandon the idea of marriage altogether, think of my desolate situation, homeless and loveless! No, no, I am much too cautious and far-sighted not to--to preserve a pear to quench my thirst."
"You"re a man of infinite precautions, certainly. Very well, as I go and come I"ll look at the notices of rooms to rent in the windows."
"Two little rooms, with a private hall, is all I need. I"ll look myself when we leave Madame Herbaut"s, for time presses. Day after to-morrow is the fatal day. Say, Olivier, wouldn"t it be strange if I should discover what I need right here? Do you remember the lines:
""What if in this same quiet spot I both sweet love and friendship true should find?"
"The lines seem to me a fit motto for a shepherd"s pipe; but what of that? Truth needs no ornamentation. But now on, on to the house of Madame Herbaut!"
"You still insist? Consider well."
"Olivier, you are really intolerable. I"ll go alone if you won"t accompany me."
"Come, then, the die is cast. It is understood that you are simply Gerald Senneterre, a former comrade of mine."
"Senneterre? No; that would be too imprudent. You had better call me Gerald Auvernay, for I am adorned with the marquisate of Auvernay, my dear Olivier, though you may not be aware of the fact."
"You are M. Gerald Auvernay, then; that is decided. But the devil!"
"What"s the matter now?"
"But what else are you going to be?"
"What else am I going to be?"
"Yes; what is to be your occupation?"
"Why, a bachelor of the new school."
"Pshaw! I can"t introduce you to Madame Herbaut as a young man who is living on the income of the money he saved while in the army. Besides, Madame Herbaut receives no idlers. You would excite her suspicions at once, for the worthy woman strongly distrusts young men who have nothing to do but court pretty girls, for you"ll find that her girls are pretty."
"All this is certainly very amusing. Well, what do you want me to be?"
"I haven"t the slightest idea."
"Let me see," said Gerald, laughing. "How would you like me to be an apothecary?"
"That would do very well, I should think."
"Oh, no, I was only joking; that wouldn"t answer at all."
"But there are some very nice and gentlemanly apothecaries, I a.s.sure you, Gerald."
"But really I shouldn"t dare to look any one of those pretty girls in the face."
"Let"s try to think of something else, then. What do you say to being the clerk of a notary? How does that suit you?"
"Admirably. My mother has an interminable lawsuit on hand, and I drop in to see her notary and lawyer occasionally, so I can study the part from nature."
"Very well, follow me, then, and I will introduce you as Gerald Auvernay, clerk to a notary."
"Chief clerk to a notary," corrected Gerald, with great emphasis.