"I could have waited in the reception room just as well; I"m in a hurry."
"No, indeed, monsieur, I should think not! I know too well what I owe you; stay here, I won"t be long."
"Don"t bring the wrong phial!"
"Oh! there"s no danger of that--madame sends for it often enough. I know what she uses it for."
Left alone in the salon, Alfred lost patience; he returned to the reception room, where he was nearer madame"s boudoir; thereupon he heard quite distinctly the rattle of knives and forks and gla.s.ses, and the popping of corks, which sounds proceeded from the dining-room.
He even heard a sneeze, so loud that the doors shook. But the maid returned with the blue phial with the opal stopper and handed it to the young man, saying:
"Why didn"t monsieur stay in the salon? Perhaps monsieur heard noises in the dining-room? Madame"s two cats are dining with me; they amuse me and are good company for me."
"My dear girl, one of them has a cold in the head; he sneezes pretty loud for a cat--loud enough to break the windows."
"Oh! monsieur is mistaken, the sneezing was in the yard. The concierge does nothing else; it"s downright disgusting!"
Paying no further heed to what the maid said, our young elegant, armed with the precious phial, ran back to the restaurant, and going at once to the door of his private room, tried to open it; but to no purpose did he turn the k.n.o.b, the door was bolted inside.
Saint-Arthur began to knock and call.
"What does this mean? It"s I, Zizi!--Jericourt! Why do you lock yourselves in? What"s the meaning of this jest?"
"Have you brought the phial?" murmured the young actress in an altered voice.
"Yes, of course I"ve brought it."
"Is it my blue phial?"
"To be sure; I know it well enough."
"With the opal stopper?"
"The stopper is in it! It"s perfectly tight."
"Well! take it back, that isn"t the one I want; I want the yellow one with an agate stopper."
"Oh! this is too much! Zizi, you abuse my good nature.--Open the door, Jericourt."
"I should be delighted to, but madame says no. She has taken a knife and threatens to bury it in her breast if I take a step toward the door."
"Oh! in that case, don"t budge, my friend! do me the favor not to budge, stay where you are! I know the mad creature; she would do some insane thing or other. I will run and fetch the yellow phial!"
And the simple-minded fellow started off again to get the yellow phial.
To those who say that this is an improbable incident, we reply that we have seen such ladies make the man whose fortune they were squandering do much more improbable things; and, in truth, they are quite right to do it, when they find blockheads ready to gratify all their whims.
On returning with the yellow phial, Alfred opened the door without difficulty. He found Jericourt still at the table, attacking the dishes with more ardor than ever; and Mademoiselle Zizi, with cheeks as red as cherries, flew into his arms, crying:
"I wanted to put your love and trust to the proof, dear love, and you have come out triumphant from the trial; you are worthy of my affection; I give it to you once more, and more entirely; let me kiss you on the left eye."
Alfred submitted to the caress, smiling at Jericourt with an expression that seemed to say: "You see how she loves me!"--And the dinner came to an end most amiably; everybody was satisfied.
IX
THREE FOR A BOUQUET
But the result of that dinner was that Jericourt"s thoughts recurred to Violette, and he said to himself:
"They made fun of me to-day on the subject of the flower girl; if I don"t succeed with her, they will do it again. That will injure my reputation; I shall seem as big a donkey as Saint-Arthur. I have gone too far to stop. Besides, the girl is so pretty! I am inclined to think that I love her; I am not quite sure of it, but it may be so. I did not lie when I said that she would outshine Mademoiselle Zizi; she"s worth ten, yes, a hundred Zizis!--I have an idea: suppose I should advise her to go on the stage? she would be a charming actress, and I can find managers enough who will be delighted to bring her out. I will give her lessons and advice.--By Jove! that"s an excellent idea of mine. One of these days I will work it into a vaudeville.--Violette will not hold out against that proposition. The stage! the hope of making a sensation on the boards, the pleasure of appearing in a lot of unusual costumes--those things always fascinate a girl. This one must be as much of a coquette as the others, or she wouldn"t be a woman! She will give way, and I shall triumph. A flower girl turned into an actress--what would there be so surprising in that? We have seen great talents start from much lower down in the scale. And then, when a woman is pretty, it takes so many difficulties out of the way. The thing will go all alone.--I really must make a play out of this idea."
With such thoughts in his mind, Jericourt came to the Chateau d"Eau the next day, and he lost no time in accosting the flower girl, who was still looking after the young man who had found it so hard to leave her.
"Good-morning, my lovely flower girl."
"Good-morning, monsieur."
"Oh! what a curt tone! I see that you are still angry with me."
"I, monsieur? Why so?"
"Why, on account of what I said yesterday."
"Oh! I forgot that long ago! Such things go in at one ear and out at the other; they never stay in my head."
"If they stayed in your heart, that would be better."
"Thank heaven, my heart doesn"t waste any time on such nonsense!"
"Mademoiselle Violette, you will not always talk like this, unless nature has given you a heart protected by a triple steel cuira.s.s."
"Oh! I don"t wear a cuira.s.s, monsieur; a corset"s quite enough!--Do you want to buy a bouquet, monsieur?"
"In a moment. I have many things to say to you, and I would like to talk with you first."
"If it"s to repeat what you said yesterday, I a.s.sure you it isn"t worth while to begin the conversation."
"Are you afraid that I am going to talk of love?--You have a way of saying things that is far from encouraging!"
"Mon Dieu! I don"t choose my words; I say just what I think."
"A woman who says what she thinks! do you know that they are very rare?"
"I say, do you know that you ain"t very complimentary to women? Have they caught you very often?"