"The young girl? What young girl?"
"The one monseigneur followed this morning."
"Yes, to be sure; I had forgotten. You will easily recognize her: her figure unconstrained, her walk brisk; twenty years or thereabouts, I presume; nut-brown hair, black eyes, beautiful teeth, her skin a little brown. I do not think she"s French. Something lively in her countenance; nothing that indicates timidity or simplicity. This is all the information which I can give you."
"It is sufficient, monseigneur; in two days I hope that the young person will be at your little house."
"That"s very good.--Wait; this is for your expenses, and I promise you as much more if you are successful."
While saying these words the marquis threw on the table the purse filled with gold, which he still held in his hand, and a smile escaped the lips of the barber. His guest resumed his cloak and replaced his hat on his head.
"It is late," said the marquis, wrapping himself in his mantle, "and I must go home. The day after tomorrow, toward ten o"clock, I will return to learn the result of your proceedings."
"Shall I find anybody at your little house?"
"Yes, Marcel, one of my people, a devoted servant who lives there constantly. I will warn him."
"That is enough, monseigneur, and I hope that you will be pleased with me on this occasion."
"I leave it all to your zeal; in fact, the little one is very pleasing, and ought to amuse me for some time. Come, my dear Touquet, let us follow our destiny. Gallantry, voluptuousness, pleasure,--that is my life; that is the road which I follow where my pa.s.sions lead me. I should not know how to follow any other walk now; like a blind man who trusts in Providence, I do not know if this road will lead me to happiness; but I cannot turn aside from it."
The marquis turned his steps toward the door, and Touquet proposed to his distinguished guest that he should guide him to his dwelling.
"Thank you," said the marquis, "it is unnecessary; I have my sword, and I fear nothing."
While uttering these words the marquis had plunged into the street and disappeared from the barber"s sight. The latter closed the door and returned to the little room. Arrived there, he hastened to take the purse which lay on the table; he counted the pieces which it contained, nor could he raise his eyes from the sight of the gold. But soon a dull, melancholy sound was heard; it was Saint-Eustache"s clock striking two.
The barber turned pale; his hair seemed to stand up on his head; he threw about him gloomy glances, as if he feared to perceive some frightful object; then he placed the purse in his bosom, took a lamp and went toward the door at the end of the room, murmuring in a sad voice,--
"Two o"clock! Let"s go to bed. Ah, if I could only sleep!"
CHAPTER III
BLANCHE. A HISTORY OF SORCERERS
The welcome day had succeeded to the long and rainy night; the merchants had opened their shops, the watchmen were taking their much-needed rest after their fatiguing nocturnal duties, while the more hardy robbers of the darkness had given place to the sneaking pickpockets and thieves who exercised their calling in broad daylight in the most populous quarters.
The servant maids were up and about, briskly performing their morning tasks; husbands left the nuptial couch, for then it was usual for one to sleep with his wife, at least among middle-cla.s.s people, to betake themselves to their daily avocations; wives and mothers were attending to the needs of their households and their children; lovers who had dreamt of their sweethearts went to endeavor to realize some of their dreams; and the young girls who always thought of their sweethearts whether they were sleeping or waking, went, thinking of them still, to their daily work. In that time, as in this, love was the dream of youth, the distraction of the middle-aged, and the memory of the old.
The barber was always the first to rise in the house. He had no servants, although his means would well have allowed it; but when anyone asked him why he did not take a boy to help him and to watch in the shop, Touquet answered,--
"I do not need anyone; I can conduct my business alone, and I"m not fond of feeding idlers who are good for nothing but to spy on their master"s actions and go and talk about them in the neighborhood."
The barber knew that Marguerite, though a little curious and somewhat of a gossip, was incapable of disobeying him in anything; she went out to buy the necessary provisions for the house, then she went upstairs again to the young girl of whom we have heard her speak, and with whom we shall soon have a better acquaintance. Marguerite went down only when her master was absent, which was rarely. Finally, the barber could not dispense with a maid since he had taken the little Blanche to grow up under his roof.
Touquet himself opened his shop; he looked up and down the street, but it was yet too early for customers to come. The barber was dreamy, preoccupied; he was thinking of the commission which had been given him by the marquis; then he returned indoors, saying,--
"Chaudoreille is late this morning; however, it"s his day to be shaved."
Marguerite appeared at the entrance to the room; and, after looking about her on all sides, perhaps to a.s.sure herself that the stranger of the night before was not still there, she greeted her master respectfully, and said to him,--
"Monsieur, Mademoiselle Blanche is up and wishes to know if she may come and say good-morning to you."
The barber still threw a glance into the street; then he pa.s.sed into his back shop, saying to his servant,--
"Blanche may come."
Marguerite had hardly made a sign to someone in the pa.s.sage when a young girl, light as a deer and fresh as a rose, sprang into the little room where Touquet was waiting, and ran toward him with the most lovely smile, saying to him,--
"Good-morning, my good friend!"
Then she offered Touquet her candid forehead, and the barber approached her and brushed it lightly with his lips. One would have said that a painful feeling restrained him, and that he feared to wither that tender flower.
Marguerite"s portrait had not flattered Blanche. The young girl was as pretty as she appeared innocent and ingenuous. Her dark hair, smoothed in bands on her forehead, fell in ringlets on her right shoulder.
Powder, which the court ladies had then begun to use, had not spoiled Blanche"s beautiful tresses. Her skin accorded perfectly with her name.
Her mouth was fresh and tender; and her blue eyes, shaded by long lashes, had an innocent and sweet expression, as rare then as now.
What a pity that her pretty body should be imprisoned in a long corset, the bones of which seemed forcibly to compress its charms! But it was then the fashion. Today we have better taste; we wish that the figure should be in its place; we wish, above all, to be able to embrace it without being hindered by farthingales, basquines, paniers or hoops.
Happily, the ladies are of our opinion, and everybody gains thereby.
Despite her long figure, straight corset, frilled sleeves, and her high-heeled shoes, Blanche was no less pretty. Beauty adorns everything that it wears, and innocence lends a more bewitching and genuine charm to beauty. Blanche had, then, every quality which could please. However, the barber did not appear to remark the attractions of the young girl; one would have said that he feared to look at her, as he had feared to touch his lips to her forehead.
"Did you have a good night?" asked Blanche of him.
"Very good, I thank you."
"Marguerite was afraid that you went to bed very late because you had one of your friends to supper with you."
"I don"t know why Marguerite should make such a remark, nor what necessity there was that she should tell you I had anyone here last night."
While uttering these words Touquet looked severely at Marguerite, who dusted and wiped the furniture without daring to look at her master.
"But, my dear," answered Blanche, "is there anything bad in one"s supping with one of his friends?"
"Undoubtedly not."
"What harm, then, has Marguerite done in telling me that?"
"A servant should not incessantly tell tales about everything her master does. It should be very indifferent to you, Blanche, whether anyone comes to see me in the evening or not."
"Oh, mercy, yes, since you won"t let me come down, though that would amuse me much better than staying in my room."
"A young girl should not talk to everybody, and many people come here of whom I know very little."
"Yes, in the morning; but in the evening you only receive your friends."