The two young people were greatly surprised when the professor and Jasmin suddenly appeared in the midst of their open-air repast.
"We were looking for you, attractive youths," said Monsieur Gerondif; "we were perturbed in spirit. The adventure of Pyramus and Thisbe has been running in my head; I have mistaken every dog I met for a lioness.
I am well aware that my pupil has no inclination to fly, like the young a.s.syrian, with any Thisbe; but anyone may make a false step."
"Tell me, why did you come to look for us?" said Cherubin; "I have time enough to study, I should think. I know enough already. Is anyone sick?
Has anything happened, that Jasmin comes with you?"
Monsieur Gerondif seemed struck by a sudden thought; he glanced at Jasmin and said:
"In truth, my n.o.ble pupil, there has been an accident--not at all serious, I trust. Your nurse"s oldest son has hurt himself; he is at Montfermeil--he has written; and Nicole would like to have Louise go to him at once; she will come too very soon."
"We"ll go with Louise," said Cherubin.
"No, we had better go back to poor Nicole, who is in grief--she doesn"t know where to go for a doctor. Louise can go to Montfermeil alone; you can see the first houses from here."
"Oh, yes! yes! I will be there in a few minutes," said Louise; "but where is dear mother Nicole"s son?"
"At Madame Patineau"s, on the main street. Here, here is her address, and a line for her."
Monsieur Gerondif scrawled a few words in pencil, wherein he requested the lady to whom he was sending the girl to keep her at her house, and not to let her go until she was sent for. The girl took the note, bade Cherubin adieu and ran off toward Montfermeil. The professor rubbed his hands and glanced at Jasmin, who said to himself:
"I should never have thought of that."
They returned to Gagny; as they approached the square, they saw a carriage stop and a gentleman alight: it was Monsieur d"Hurbain, the notary.
"Here"s a visitor for you," said Jasmin to his master. "This gentleman is your notary, in whose care your venerable father placed his testament."
"And it was to prevent your attention being distracted so that you might receive some gentlemen who are coming from Paris to see you, that we sent little Louise to Montfermeil," said Gerondif with a smile.
"What? the accident to Nicole"s son----"
"Was all a joke."
Before Cherubin had time to reply, Monsieur d"Hurbain came up and bowed low to him. The notary"s solemn manner made an impression on the young man, who faltered a few words in reply to the flattering remarks that were addressed to him. They walked toward the nurse"s house, and for the first time Cherubin had a feeling of something like shame when the notary said:
"What, monsieur le marquis, is this where you are studying? You are sixteen and a half years old, you belong to a n.o.ble family, you have a handsome fortune, and you pa.s.s your life beneath the roof of these village folk! I honor the laboring man, I esteem all honest persons, but everyone should keep to his own rank, monsieur le marquis, otherwise society would fall into confusion and anarchy; and there would no longer be that desire to rise, to succeed, which, by implanting in men"s hearts a praiseworthy ambition, makes them capable of n.o.ble efforts to attain the end at which they are eager to arrive."
"Bravo! _recte dicis!_" cried Monsieur Gerondif, smiling at the notary; "monsieur talks now as I used to talk."
Cherubin blushed and did not know what to reply. Monsieur d"Hurbain continued his efforts to make the young man listen to reason, displaying the utmost amiability and suavity in his arguments. He was careful, however, to dwell on the marquis"s rank and wealth, and he always ended with these words:
"You agree with me now, do you not, and you are coming back to Paris with me?"
But Cherubin, although he seemed to listen with great deference to the notary"s speeches, replied in a very mild tone:
"No, monsieur, I prefer to stay here."
"It certainly isn"t my fault!" cried Monsieur Gerondif, raising his eyes heavenward. "Every day I say to my pupil the same things that you have said, monsieur; but I reinforce them by example from history, ancient and modern; it"s as if I were teaching a blind man to draw!"
Monsieur d"Hurbain was beginning to doubt the success of his visit, when they heard a horse"s footsteps. They ran to the door to see what it was, and discovered a very stylishly dressed gentleman in a dainty tilbury, accompanied by his groom only.
It was Edouard de Monfreville, who was driving himself. He stopped, jumped lightly to the ground and approached the party, bowing courteously to Cherubin, to whom the notary said:
"Allow me to introduce the son of one of your father"s old friends, Monsieur de Monfreville, who has come to add his entreaties to mine, to induce you to go to Paris."
Monfreville took Cherubin"s hand and pressed it; and after scrutinizing the young man for some time, he said:
"When, in addition to a name and a fortune, a man also possesses such a charming face, it is really inexcusable for him to hide in a village."
"Most a.s.suredly!" murmured Gerondif, smiling at Monfreville; "if Helen had hidden, we should not have had the siege of Troy; if Dunois had remained with his nurse, he probably would not have been called "le beau Dunois.""
Monfreville bestowed an ironical glance on the professor, and continued to address Cherubin:
"My dear monsieur, my father was a friend of yours, and that made me desire your acquaintance; it rests entirely with you whether we shall be friends as our fathers were. Oh! I realize that the difference between my age and yours may make my suggestion seem absurd to you, but when you know the world, you will find that such differences vanish before congenial tastes and temperaments; I am certain even now that we shall get on very well together. But deuce take it! what sort of costume is this? A good-looking young fellow, with a fine figure, rigged out in such style! It is pitiful!"
"My young master employs his late father"s tailor," murmured Jasmin; "I thought that I ought not to take him anywhere else."
"You were wrong, my faithful servant; a tailor is not a relic to be preserved with respect; evidently this particular one is out of touch with the styles of the day.--Franck! bring what I told you to put under the seat of the tilbury."
Monfreville"s servant soon appeared laden with clothes; he laid out on a table a beautiful coat made in the latest style, a waistcoat of bewitching material, black satin stocks, dainty cravats, and a little blue velvet cap, with gold lace and ta.s.sel.
Cherubin could not restrain a cry of admiration at sight of all those things. Without asking his permission, Monfreville removed his jacket and waistcoat and made him put on what he had brought; then he put a richly embroidered cravat about his neck and tied it rakishly; and lastly he placed the charming little velvet cap on his head and arranged the curls which it did not hide. Then he led the young man in front of a mirror and said:
"Look at yourself! Aren"t you a hundred times better-looking?"
Cherubin blushed with pleasure when he saw how comely he was; and in truth his new costume did impart a wholly different expression to his pretty face. He was so handsome that Nicole, although distressed to find that her _fieu_ was to be taken away from her, could not help crying out:
"Jarni! how fine he is! Why, he"s superb in that rig! He"s a hundred times better-looking than he was!"
"He doesn"t look at all like his late father," murmured Jasmin.
"He resembles the son of Jupiter and Latona, Diana"s brother, otherwise called Apollo,--Phbus, if you prefer," cried Monsieur Gerondif, still smiling.
Monsieur d"Hurbain glanced at Monfreville with an air of satisfaction, as if to congratulate him on having discovered the means of seducing Cherubin, who, in truth, seemed delighted with his costume. He constantly gazed at and admired himself; and Monsieur de Monfreville, to encourage his favorable disposition, made haste to say to him:
"I was told that you lived in a village, but I was loath to believe it!
The son of the Marquis de Grandvilain, who ought to be noted for his style, his dress, his manners, who, in short, was made to be a shining light in Parisian society, cannot remain buried in a peasant"s house! It is an anomaly--a crime! These trifling specimens of clothes will give you an idea of what you would have in Paris. I have come in my tilbury to fetch you, and I propose that within a week you shall be the best dressed, the most stylish young man in the capital. You will set the fashion; you are rich enough and handsome enough for that."
Cherubin seemed to be captivated by Monfreville"s words, and the latter, a.s.sured of his triumph, said in a moment:
"Let us start, my young friend, let us not delay any longer. The tilbury is waiting for us, and Paris is beckoning to you."
But at that Cherubin"s face became clouded, and instead of following Monsieur de Monfreville and the notary, who had risen, he resumed his seat, saying:
"No, I don"t want to go away, for I want Louise to see me in these clothes."
The two gentlemen from the city were in despair; they believed that they had fully persuaded the young marquis to accompany them, and again he refused.