"We are at the place. Thanks. On Thursday--is it not?--as usual."
The dinners were now renewed; and the more visits he paid at Madame Arnoux"s, the more his love-sickness increased. The contemplation of this woman had an enervating effect upon him, like the use of a perfume that is too strong. It penetrated into the very depths of his nature, and became almost a kind of habitual sensation, a new mode of existence.
The prost.i.tutes whom he brushed past under the gaslight, the female ballad-singers breaking into bursts of melody, the ladies rising on horseback at full gallop, the shopkeepers" wives on foot, the grisettes at their windows, all women brought her before his mental vision, either from the effect of their resemblance to her or the violent contrast to her which they presented. As he walked along by the shops, he gazed at the cashmeres, the laces, and the jewelled eardrops, imagining how they would look draped around her figure, sewn in her corsage, or lighting up her dark hair. In the flower-girls" baskets the bouquets blossomed for her to choose one as she pa.s.sed. In the shoemakers" show-windows the little satin slippers with swan"s-down edges seemed to be waiting for her foot. Every street led towards her house; the hackney-coaches stood in their places to carry her home the more quickly; Paris was a.s.sociated with her person, and the great city, with all its noises, roared around her like an immense orchestra.
When he went into the Jardin des Plantes the sight of a palm-tree carried him off into distant countries. They were travelling together on the backs of dromedaries, under the awnings of elephants, in the cabin of a yacht amongst the blue archipelagoes, or side by side on mules with little bells attached to them who went stumbling through the gra.s.s against broken columns. Sometimes he stopped in the Louvre before old pictures; and, his love embracing her even in vanished centuries, he subst.i.tuted her for the personages in the paintings. Wearing a hennin on her head, she was praying on bended knees before a stained-gla.s.s window.
Lady Paramount of Castile or Flanders, she remained seated in a starched ruff and a body lined with whalebone with big puffs. Then he saw her descending some wide porphyry staircase in the midst of senators under a dais of ostriches" feathers in a robe of brocade. At another time he dreamed of her in yellow silk trousers on the cushions of a harem--and all that was beautiful, the scintillation of the stars, certain tunes in music, the turn of a phrase, the outlines of a face, led him to think about her in an abrupt, unconscious fashion.
As for trying to make her his mistress, he was sure that any such attempt would be futile.
One evening, Dittmer, on his arrival, kissed her on the forehead; Lovarias did the same, observing:
"You give me leave--don"t you?--as it is a friend"s privilege?"
Frederick stammered out:
"It seems to me that we are all friends."
"Not all old friends!" she returned.
This was repelling him beforehand indirectly.
Besides, what was he to do? To tell her that he loved her? No doubt, she would decline to listen to him or else she would feel indignant and turn him out of the house. But he preferred to submit to even the most painful ordeal rather than run the horrible risk of seeing her no more.
He envied pianists for their talents and soldiers for their scars. He longed for a dangerous attack of sickness, hoping in this way to make her take an interest in him.
One thing caused astonishment to himself, that he felt in no way jealous of Arnoux; and he could not picture her in his imagination undressed, so natural did her modesty appear, and so far did her s.e.x recede into a mysterious background.
Nevertheless, he dreamed of the happiness of living with her, of "theeing" and "thouing" her, of pa.s.sing his hand lingeringly over her head-bands, or remaining in a kneeling posture on the floor, with both arms clasped round her waist, so as to drink in her soul through his eyes. To accomplish this it would be necessary to conquer Fate; and so, incapable of action, cursing G.o.d, and accusing himself of being a coward, he kept moving restlessly within the confines of his pa.s.sion just as a prisoner keeps moving about in his dungeon. The pangs which he was perpetually enduring were choking him. For hours he would remain quite motionless, or else he would burst into tears; and one day when he had not the strength to restrain his emotion, Deslauriers said to him:
"Why, goodness gracious! what"s the matter with you?"
Frederick"s nerves were unstrung. Deslauriers did not believe a word of it. At the sight of so much mental anguish, he felt all his old affection reawakening, and he tried to cheer up his friend. A man like him to let himself be depressed, what folly! It was all very well while one was young; but, as one grows older, it is only loss of time.
"You are spoiling my Frederick for me! I want him whom I knew in bygone days. The same boy as ever! I liked him! Come, smoke a pipe, old chap!
Shake yourself up a little! You drive me mad!"
"It is true," said Frederick, "I am a fool!"
The clerk replied:
"Ah! old troubadour, I know well what"s troubling you! A little affair of the heart? Confess it! Bah! One lost, four found instead! We console ourselves for virtuous women with the other sort. Would you like me to introduce you to some women? You have only to come to the Alhambra."
(This was a place for public b.a.l.l.s recently opened at the top of the Champs-Elysees, which had gone down owing to a display of licentiousness somewhat ruder than is usual in establishments of the kind.)
"That"s a place where there seems to be good fun. You can take your friends, if you like. I can even pa.s.s in Regimbart for you."
Frederick did not think fit to ask the Citizen to go. Deslauriers deprived himself of the pleasure of Senecal"s society. They took only Hussonnet and Cisy along with Dussardier; and the same hackney-coach set the group of five down at the entrance of the Alhambra.
Two Moorish galleries extended on the right and on the left, parallel to one another. The wall of a house opposite occupied the entire backguard; and the fourth side (that in which the restaurant was) represented a Gothic cloister with stained-gla.s.s windows. A sort of Chinese roof screened the platform reserved for the musicians. The ground was covered all over with asphalt; the Venetian lanterns fastened to posts formed, at regular intervals, crowns of many-coloured flame above the heads of the dancers. A pedestal here and there supported a stone basin, from which rose a thin streamlet of water. In the midst of the foliage could be seen plaster statues, and Hebes and Cupid, painted in oil, and presenting a very sticky appearance; and the numerous walks, garnished with sand of a deep yellow, carefully raked, made the garden look much larger than it was in reality.
Students were walking their mistresses up and down; drapers" clerks strutted about with canes in their hands; lads fresh from college were smoking their regalias; old men had their dyed beards smoothed out with combs. There were English, Russians, men from South America, and three Orientals in tarbooshes. Lorettes, grisettes, and girls of the town had come there in the hope of finding a protector, a lover, a gold coin, or simply for the pleasure of dancing; and their dresses, with tunics of water-green, cherry-red, or violet, swept along, fluttered between the ebony-trees and the lilacs. Nearly all the men"s clothes were of striped material; some of them had white trousers, in spite of the coolness of the evening. The gas was lighted.
Hussonnet was acquainted with a number of the women through his connection with the fashion-journals and the smaller theatres. He sent them kisses with the tips of his fingers, and from time to time he quitted his friends to go and chat with them.
Deslauriers felt jealous of these playful familiarities. He accosted in a cynical manner a tall, fair-haired girl, in a nankeen costume. After looking at him with a certain air of sullenness, she said:
"No! I wouldn"t trust you, my good fellow!" and turned on her heel.
His next attack was on a stout brunette, who apparently was a little mad; for she gave a bounce at the very first word he spoke to her, threatening, if he went any further, to call the police. Deslauriers made an effort to laugh; then, coming across a little woman sitting by herself under a gas-lamp, he asked her to be his partner in a quadrille.
The musicians, perched on the platform in the att.i.tude of apes, kept sc.r.a.ping and blowing away with desperate energy. The conductor, standing up, kept beating time automatically. The dancers were much crowded and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The bonnet-strings, getting loose, rubbed against the cravats; the boots sank under the petticoats; and all this bouncing went on to the accompaniment of the music. Deslauriers hugged the little woman, and, seized with the delirium of the cancan, whirled about, like a big marionnette, in the midst of the dancers. Cisy and Deslauriers were still promenading up and down. The young aristocrat kept ogling the girls, and, in spite of the clerk"s exhortations, did not venture to talk to them, having an idea in his head that in the resorts of these women there was always "a man hidden in the cupboard with a pistol who would come out of it and force you to sign a bill of exchange."
They came back and joined Frederick. Deslauriers had stopped dancing; and they were all asking themselves how they were to finish up the evening, when Hussonnet exclaimed:
"Look! Here"s the Marquise d"Amaegui!"
The person referred to was a pale woman with a _retrousse_ nose, mittens up to her elbows, and big black earrings hanging down her cheeks, like two dog"s ears. Hussonnet said to her:
"We ought to organise a little fete at your house--a sort of Oriental rout. Try to collect some of your friends here for these French cavaliers. Well, what is annoying you? Are you going to wait for your hidalgo?"
The Andalusian hung down her head: being well aware of the by no means lavish habits of her friend, she was afraid of having to pay for any refreshments he ordered. When, at length, she let the word "money" slip from her, Cisy offered five napoleons--all he had in his purse; and so it was settled that the thing should come off.
But Frederick was absent. He fancied that he had recognised the voice of Arnoux, and got a glimpse of a woman"s hat; and accordingly he hastened towards an arbour which was not far off.
Mademoiselle Vatnaz was alone there with Arnoux.
"Excuse me! I am in the way?"
"Not in the least!" returned the picture-merchant.
Frederick, from the closing words of their conversation, understood that Arnoux had come to the Alhambra to talk over a pressing matter of business with Mademoiselle Vatnaz; and it was evident that he was not completely rea.s.sured, for he said to her, with some uneasiness in his manner:
"You are quite sure?"
"Perfectly certain! You are loved. Ah! what a man you are!"
And she a.s.sumed a pouting look, putting out her big lips, so red that they seemed tinged with blood. But she had wonderful eyes, of a tawny hue, with specks of gold in the pupils, full of vivacity, amorousness, and sensuality. They illuminated, like lamps, the rather yellow tint of her thin face. Arnoux seemed to enjoy her exhibition of pique. He stooped over her, saying:
"You are nice--give me a kiss!"
She caught hold of his two ears, and pressed her lips against his forehead.
At that moment the dancing stopped; and in the conductor"s place appeared a handsome young man, rather fat, with a waxen complexion. He had long black hair, which he wore in the same fashion as Christ, and a blue velvet waistcoat embroidered with large gold palm-branches. He looked as proud as a peac.o.c.k, and as stupid as a turkey-c.o.c.k; and, having bowed to the audience, he began a ditty. A villager was supposed to be giving an account of his journey to the capital. The singer used the dialect of Lower Normandy, and played the part of a drunken man. The refrain--
"Ah! I laughed at you there, I laughed at you there, In that rascally city of Paris!"[4]
was greeted with enthusiastic stampings of feet. Delmas, "a vocalist who sang with expression," was too shrewd to let the excitement of his listeners cool. A guitar was quickly handed to him and he moaned forth a ballad ent.i.tled "The Albanian Girl"s Brother."
[Footnote 4: _Ah! j"ai l"y ri, j"ai l"y ri. Dans ce gueusard de Paris!_]