"HOW HAPPY COULD I BE WITH EITHER."
Madame Dambreuse, in her boudoir, between her niece and Miss John, was listening to M. Roque as he described the severe military duties he had been forced to perform.
She was biting her lips, and appeared to be in pain.
"Oh! "tis nothing! it will pa.s.s away!"
And, with a gracious air:
"We are going to have an acquaintance of yours at dinner with us,--Monsieur Moreau."
Louise gave a start.
"Oh! we"ll only have a few intimate friends there--amongst others, Alfred de Cisy."
And she spoke in terms of high praise about his manners, his personal appearance, and especially his moral character.
Madame Dambreuse was nearer to a correct estimate of the state of affairs than she imagined; the Vicomte was contemplating marriage. He said so to Martinon, adding that Mademoiselle Cecile was certain to like him, and that her parents would accept him.
To warrant him in going so far as to confide to another his intentions on the point, he ought to have satisfactory information with regard to her dowry. Now Martinon had a suspicion that Cecile was M. Dambreuse"s natural daughter; and it is probable that it would have been a very strong step on his part to ask for her hand at any risk. Such audacity, of course, was not unaccompanied by danger; and for this reason Martinon had, up to the present, acted in a way that could not compromise him.
Besides, he did not see how he could well get rid of the aunt. Cisy"s confidence induced him to make up his mind; and he had formally made his proposal to the banker, who, seeing no obstacle to it, had just informed Madame Dambreuse about the matter.
Cisy presently made his appearance. She arose and said:
"You have forgotten us. Cecile, shake hands!"
At the same moment Frederick entered the room.
"Ha! at last we have found you again!" exclaimed Pere Roque. "I called with Cecile on you three times this week!"
Frederick had carefully avoided them. He pleaded by way of excuse that he spent all his days beside a wounded comrade.
For a long time, however, a heap of misfortunes had happened to him, and he tried to invent stories to explain his conduct. Luckily the guests arrived in the midst of his explanation. First of all M. Paul de Gremonville, the diplomatist whom he met at the ball; then Fumichon, that manufacturer whose conservative zeal had scandalised him one evening. After them came the old d.u.c.h.esse de Montreuil Nantua.
But two loud voices in the anteroom reached his ears. They were that of M. de Nonancourt, an old beau with the air of a mummy preserved in cold cream, and that of Madame de Larsillois, the wife of a prefect of Louis Philippe. She was terribly frightened, for she had just heard an organ playing a polka which was a signal amongst the insurgents. Many of the wealthy cla.s.s of citizens had similar apprehensions; they thought that men in the catacombs were going to blow up the Faubourg Saint-Germain.
Some noises escaped from cellars, and things that excited suspicion were pa.s.sed up to windows.
Everyone in the meantime made an effort to calm Madame de Larsillois.
Order was re-established. There was no longer anything to fear.
"Cavaignac has saved us!"
As if the horrors of the insurrection had not been sufficiently numerous, they exaggerated them. There had been twenty-three thousand convicts on the side of the Socialists--no less!
They had no doubt whatever that food had been poisoned, that Gardes Mobiles had been sawn between two planks, and that there had been inscriptions on flags inciting the people to pillage and incendiarism.
"Aye, and something more!" added the ex-prefect.
"Oh, dear!" said Madame Dambreuse, whose modesty was shocked, while she indicated the three young girls with a glance.
M. Dambreuse came forth from his study accompanied by Martinon. She turned her head round and responded to a bow from Pellerin, who was advancing towards her. The artist gazed in a restless fashion towards the walls. The banker took him aside, and conveyed to him that it was desirable for the present to conceal his revolutionary picture.
"No doubt," said Pellerin, the rebuff which he received at the Club of Intellect having modified his opinions.
M. Dambreuse let it slip out very politely that he would give him orders for other works.
"But excuse me. Ah! my dear friend, what a pleasure!"
Arnoux and Madame Arnoux stood before Frederick.
He had a sort of vertigo. Rosanette had been irritating him all the afternoon with her display of admiration for soldiers, and the old pa.s.sion was re-awakened.
The steward came to announce that dinner was on the table. With a look she directed the Vicomte to take Cecile"s arm, while she said in a low tone to Martinon, "You wretch!" And then they pa.s.sed into the dining-room.
Under the green leaves of a pineapple, in the middle of the table-cloth, a dorado stood, with its snout reaching towards a quarter of roebuck and its tail just grazing a bushy dish of crayfish. Figs, huge cherries, pears, and grapes (the first fruits of Parisian cultivation) rose like pyramids in baskets of old Saxe. Here and there a bunch of flowers mingled with the shining silver plate. The white silk blinds, drawn down in front of the windows, filled the apartment with a mellow light. It was cooled by two fountains, in which there were pieces of ice; and tall men-servants, in short breeches, waited on them. All these luxuries seemed more precious after the emotion of the past few days. They felt a fresh delight at possessing things which they had been afraid of losing; and Nonancourt expressed the general sentiment when he said:
"Ah! let us hope that these Republican gentlemen will allow us to dine!"
"In spite of their fraternity!" Pere Roque added, with an attempt at wit.
These two personages were placed respectively at the right and at the left of Madame Dambreuse, her husband being exactly opposite her, between Madame Larsillois, at whose side was the diplomatist and the old d.u.c.h.esse, whom Fumichon elbowed. Then came the painter, the dealer in faence, and Mademoiselle Louise; and, thanks to Martinon, who had carried her chair to enable her to take a seat near Louise, Frederick found himself beside Madame Arnoux.
She wore a black barege gown, a gold hoop on her wrist, and, as on the first day that he dined at her house, something red in her hair, a branch of fuchsia twisted round her chignon. He could not help saying:
""Tis a long time since we saw each other."
"Ah!" she returned coldly.
He went on, in a mild tone, which mitigated the impertinence of his question:
"Have you thought of me now and then?"
"Why should I think of you?"
Frederick was hurt by these words.
"You are right, perhaps, after all."
But very soon, regretting what he had said, he swore that he had not lived a single day without being ravaged by the remembrance of her.
"I don"t believe a single word of it, Monsieur."
"However, you know that I love you!"
Madame Arnoux made no reply.
"You know that I love you!"