"Ah! I was waiting to see you before going away, Miretta," he said; "and I am going to say adieu at once, for I wouldn"t dare to come to this splendid palace and ask for you; I feel all dazed here; I don"t dare to walk, for fear of making a noise!"
"And yet, my dear Cedrille, here is where you are to live, as long as you stay in Paris. They are going to give you a room in this house; my new mistress will have it so. She has a n.o.ble and generous manner, and this that she is doing for you to-day, cousin, makes me love her already."
"Ah, ah! is it possible? What do you say, cousin--I am to be lodged here--I?--Why, it"s a palace!"
"No; it"s a private mansion."
"Ah! but wait a minute! What about my horse--this poor Bourriquet? I don"t want to leave him, you know."
"You will not have to leave him; Bourriquet will be put in the stable, and you may be sure that the horses are well taken care of there."
"Do you mean it? Bourriquet will be fed? and what about me?"
"You will be, too, when you happen to be here at the hour when the household of these ladies dines."
"If this is the way one is treated in Paris, I begin to believe that you may be happy here, cousin; but, in that case, I must go and thank the masters of the house for offering to take me in."
"No, no; that is not necessary; there are no masters here, only mistresses: Mademoiselle Valentine de Mongarcin, in whose service I am now, and her aunt--an old lady, who does whatever her niece wishes; I saw that at once."
"Oh! you are shrewd, you are, Miretta! So I needn"t go and thank those ladies?"
"They excuse you. In Paris, you see, everyone is expected to keep in his own place.--But that reminds me that there is someone whom I must thank; but she is not a great lady, and I am sure that she will be very glad to see me."
"Who is it?"
"That fine girl who stationed herself in front of us and defended us, when we were being insulted. What! have you forgotten already?"
"Oh, no! no! I know whom you mean; and I remember that those young gentlemen called out to her: "Stand away from there, Ambroisine; that"s no place for you!""
"Yes, you are right: her name is Ambroisine. But I must go now to find a lady who is to show me my room and tell me what I have to do. You are free, Cedrille; you can go out and see Paris--walk about, amuse yourself, do whatever you choose."
"But it isn"t the same with you, cousin; you"re at other people"s orders now; but you would have it, you preferred to come to Paris and go into service, rather than be your cousin"s wife. And yet, you know that you would always have been the mistress of the house, and that I would have been your servant!"
"Enough, Cedrille, enough! I thought that it was agreed that you would not go back to that subject. I told you once for all that I could not be your wife."
"Yes, that"s true; but you didn"t tell me why you couldn"t be."
"Because it doesn"t suit me, apparently; it seems to me that my wish should be sufficient."
"Oh! of course, if it is because you don"t love me. It"s true enough that we can"t compel a woman to love us!"
"I love you like a friend, like a brother, Cedrille."
"Well, I"d have been content to be your husband on those terms; and then, n.o.body knows, love might have come afterward!--But here you are looking cross at me, and drawing your eyebrows together.--It"s all over, cousin; I will keep my word and never speak of the subject again."
"Good! otherwise, I would save you the trouble of saying adieu to me.--By the way, Cedrille, if you would, you might take me to Rue Saint-Jacques this evening. I will come out, if I can, at nightfall."
"I should like to, cousin; I will wait for you in the street."
At that moment a middle-aged woman came to Miretta and told her to follow her.
While the girl, with an _au revoir_ to her companion, returned to the house, a servant wearing a handsome livery with heavy gold lace approached the Bearnais peasant and courteously invited him to come to the servants" quarters and refresh himself.
Cedrille returned with interest all the servant"s salutations, and followed him, crying:
"Jarni! that isn"t to be refused, monsieur! I shall be glad to take something, and I would even eat a bit, with your permission."
"You shall have whatever you may wish," replied the valet, with a smile.
"Well, well!" said Cedrille to himself; "this reconciles me to Paris and makes me forget this morning"s battle."
XIII
THE _LOUP DE MER_ WINE SHOP
Cedrille found a large company in the offices: footmen, coachmen, lackeys, scullions, and household servants vied with one another in being kind to the new-comer, who had been commended to them by their young mistress and was not there as a compet.i.tor for her favor; for they knew that the peasant was to return to his province as soon as he should have recovered from the fatigues of his journey. That was an additional reason why they should give him a cordial welcome.
They made the Bearnais relate his adventures; the battle in the street amused the servants immensely. They drank to Cedrille"s courage and his cousin Miretta"s; they drank to their mistresses, and to the peasant"s safe return to his hearth and home.
By dint of drinking toasts in excellent wines, such as he had never tasted before, Cedrille felt considerably bewildered; and when he left the table and the house, to take a little walk about Paris, it was all the Bearnais could do to walk straight. He had not walked a hundred yards from the house, opening his eyes to their utmost extent and stopping constantly to straighten out his legs, when he felt an arm slip through his and heard a voice say to him:
"Sandioux! a happy meeting! I did not expect it, but I rejoice. I will say more: it causes me extreme pleasure, on my honor!--Why, my dear friend, you gaze at me with a surprised air, as if you did not recognize me! Can it be that you have forgotten a gallant knight who defended you st.u.r.dily this morning at a moment when your danger was most threatening?"
Cedrille, after straining his eyes and examining the long, lean, yellow man who had seized his arm, cried at last:
"Ah! why, yes, to be sure--your long face--that"s so--I have seen it before; and this morning, when all those fine sparks tried to make me dismount, it was you who came and took our part--with your long sword, as long as a turnspit!"
"Ah! this is very fortunate; you recognize me at last, do you, my fine fellow?--If my sword is long, I trust that that didn"t prevent my handling it rather prettily against your a.s.sailants this morning."
"Certainly not, monsieur le chevalier. Oh! you wasn"t afraid!"
"Afraid! I! I never could understand how there could be such a thing as a coward!"
"Yes, yes! now I remember it all. What a pity that that tall black chevalier knocked your sword out of your hand at the first blow!"
"Sandis! my dear fellow, I will tell you why. Lean on me; you will walk more firmly."
"Faith! I"d be glad to.--I don"t know what"s the matter with me to-night; or, rather, yes--I do know; they made me drink so much at that house, and such good wine, that it made me a little dizzy; but it will pa.s.s off.--What were you saying?"
"I was saying that I would explain what made Roland slip out of my hand."
"Jarni! it was the blow the other man--the black one--hit it. He strikes hard, that fellow does!"
"No, no! cadedis! that wasn"t it!--He might have struck ten times as hard, and I would never have let go Roland, that fiercer a.s.saults than that have not lowered! But just fancy, my boy---- Lean on me, don"t be afraid; I am firm on my legs.--Just fancy, my worthy Bearnais, that someone had played me the despicable trick of twisting a strip of pork around Roland"s hilt! So you see, it was just when I brandished it most vigorously that it slipped from my hand!"