"A thousand times, a thousand times too kind. Madame Jenkins will be very happy, very proud. Come and let me take you to her."
And in his haste, in his vainglorious delight, he dragged Jansoulet away so quickly that the latter had no time to present his companion, Paul de Gery, whom he was introducing into society. The young man was well pleased to be overlooked. He glided into the ma.s.s of black coats which was forced farther and farther back by every new arrival, and was swallowed up in it, a prey to the foolish terror that every young provincial feels on his first appearance in a Parisian salon, especially when he is shrewd and intelligent and does not wear the imperturbable self-a.s.surance of the b.u.mpkin like a coat of mail beneath his linen buckler.
You, Parisians of Paris, who, ever since you were sixteen have exhibited your youth at the receptions of all cla.s.ses of society, in your first black coat with your crush-hat on your hip,--you, I say, have no conception of that anguish, compounded of vanity, timidity and recollections of romantic books, which screws our teeth together, embarra.s.ses our movements, makes us for a whole evening a statue between two doors, a fixture in a window-recess, a poor, pitiful, wandering creature, incapable of making his existence manifest otherwise than by changing his position from time to time, preferring to die of thirst rather than go near the sideboard, and going away without having said a word, unless we may have stammered one of those incoherent absurdities which we remember for months, and which makes us, when we think of it at night, utter an _ah!_ of frantic shame and bury our face in the pillow.
Paul de Gery was a martyr of that type. In his province he had always lived a very retired life, with a pious, melancholy old aunt, until the time when, as a student of law, originally destined for a profession in which his father had left an excellent reputation, he had been induced to frequent the salons of some of the counsellors of the court, old-fashioned, gloomy dwellings, with dingy hangings, where he made a fourth hand at whist with venerable ghosts. Jenkins" evening party was therefore a debut in society for that provincial, whose very ignorance and Southern adaptability made him first of all a keen observer.
From the place where he stood he watched the interesting procession, still in progress at midnight, of Jenkins" guests, the whole body of the fashionable physician"s patients; the very flower of society, a large sprinkling of politics and finance, bankers, deputies, a few artists, all the jaded ones of Parisian high life, pale and wan, with gleaming eyes, saturated with a.r.s.enic like gluttonous mice, but insatiably greedy of poison and of life. Through the open salon and the great reception-room, the doors of which had been removed, he could see the stairway and landing, profusely decorated with flowers along the sides, where the long trains were duly spread, their silky weight seeming to force back the decollete busts of their wearers in that graceful ascending motion which caused them to appear, little by little, until they burst upon one in the full bloom of their splendor.
As the couples reached the top of the stairs they seemed to make their entrance on the stage; and that was doubly true, for every one left on the last step the frowns, the wrinkles of deep thought the air of weariness and all traces of anger or depression, to display a tranquil countenance, a smile playing over the placid features. The men exchanged hearty grasps of the hand, warm fraternal greetings; the women, thinking only of themselves, with little affected shrugs, with a charming simper and abundant play of the eyes and shoulders, murmured a few meaningless words of greeting:
"Thanks! Oh! thanks--how kind you are."
Then the couples separated, for an evening party is no longer, as it used to be, an a.s.semblage of congenial persons, in which the wit of the women compelled the force of character, the superior knowledge, the very genius of the men to bow gracefully before it, but a too numerous mob in which the women, who alone are seated, whisper together like captives in the harem, and have no other enjoyment than that of being beautiful or of seeming to be. De Gery, after wandering through the doctor"s library, the conservatory and the billiard room, where there was smoking, tired of dull, serious conversation, which seemed to him to be out of keeping in such a festal scene and in the brief hour of pleasure--some one had asked him carelessly and without looking at him, what was doing at the Bourse that day--approached the door of the main salon, which was blockaded by a dense ma.s.s of black coats, a surging sea of heads packed closely together and gazing.
An enormous room, handsomely furnished, with the artistic taste characteristic of the master and mistress of the house. A few old pictures against the light background of the draperies. A monumental chimney-piece, decorated with a fine marble group, "The Seasons" by Sebastien Ruys, about which long green stalks, with lacelike edges, or of the stiffness of carved bronze, bent toward the mirror as toward a stream of limpid water. On the low chairs groups of women crowded together, blending the vaporous hues of their dresses, forming an immense nosegay of living flowers, above which gleamed bare white shoulders, hair studded with diamonds, drops of water on the brunettes, glistening reflections on the blondes, and the same intoxicating perfume, the same confused, pleasant buzzing, made by waves of heat and intangible wings, that caresses all the flowers in the garden in summer. At times a little laugh, ascending in that luminous atmosphere, a quicker breath, made plumes and curls tremble, and attracted attention to a lovely profile. Such was the aspect of the salon.
A few men were there, very few, all persons of distinction, laden with years and decorations, talking on the arm of a divan or leaning over the back of a chair with the condescending air we a.s.sume in conversing with children. But amid the placid murmur of the private conversations, one voice rang out, loud and discordant, the voice of the Nabob, who was threading his way through that social conservatory with the self-a.s.surance due to his immense fortune and a certain contempt for woman which he had brought with him from the Orient.
At that moment, sprawling upon a chair, with his great yellow-gloved hands awkwardly clasped, he was talking with a very beautiful woman, whose unusual face--much animation upon features of a severe cast--was noticeable by reason of its pallor among the surrounding pretty faces, just as her dress, all white, cla.s.sic in its draping and moulded to her graceful, willowy figure, contrasted with much richer costumes, not one of which had its character of bold simplicity. De Gery, from his corner, gazed at that smooth, narrow forehead beneath the fringe of hair brushed low, those long, wide-open eyes of a deep blue, an abysmal blue, that mouth which ceased to smile only to relax its cla.s.sic outline in a weary, spiritless expression. All in all, the somewhat haughty aspect of an exceptional being.
Some one near him mentioned her name--Felicia Ruys. Thereupon he understood the rare attraction of that girl, inheritress of her father"s genius, whose new-born celebrity had reached as far as his province, with the halo of a reputation for great beauty. While he was gazing at her, admiring her slightest movement, a little puzzled by the enigma presented by that beautiful face, he heard a whispered conversation behind him.
"Just see how affable she is with the Nabob! Suppose the duke should come!"
"Is the Duc de Mora expected?"
"To be sure. The party is given for him; to have him meet Jansoulet."
"And you think that the duke and Mademoiselle Ruys--"
"Where have you come from? It"s a liaison known to all Paris. It dates from the last Salon, for which she did his bust."
"And what about the d.u.c.h.ess?"
"Pshaw! she has seen many others. Ah! Madame Jenkins is going to sing."
There was a commotion in the salon, a stronger pressure in the crowd toward the door, and conversation ceased for a moment. Paul de Gery drew a long breath. The words he had just overheard had oppressed his heart. He felt as if he himself were spattered, sullied by the mud unsparingly thrown upon the ideal he had formed for himself of that glorious youth, ripened in the sun of art and endowed with such penetrating charm. He moved away a little, changed his position. He dreaded to hear some other calumny. Madame Jenkins" voice did him good, a voice famous in Parisian salons, a voice that, with all its brilliancy, was in no sense theatrical, but seemed like speech, thrilling with emotion, striking resonant, unfamiliar chords. The singer, a woman of from forty to forty-five years of age, had magnificent hair of the color of ashes, refined, somewhat weak features, and an expression of great amiability. Still beautiful, she was dressed with the costly taste of a woman who has not abandoned the idea of pleasing. Nor had she abandoned it; she and the doctor--she was then a widow--had been married some ten years, and they seemed still to be enjoying the first months of their joint happiness. While she sang a Russian folk-song, as wild and sweet as the smile of a Slav, Jenkins artlessly manifested his pride without attempt at concealment, his broad face beamed expansively; and she, every time that she leaned forward to take breath, turned in his direction a timid, loving glance which sought him out over the music she held in her hand. And when she had finished, amid a murmur of delight and admiration, it was touching to see her secretly press her husband"s hand, as if to reserve for herself a little corner of private happiness amid that great triumph.
Young de Gery was taking comfort in the sight of that happy couple, when suddenly a voice murmured by his side--it was not the same voice that had spoken just before:
"You know what people say--that the Jenkinses are not married."
"What nonsense!"
"True, I a.s.sure you--it seems that there"s a genuine Madame Jenkins somewhere, but not this one who has been exhibited to us. By the way, have you noticed--"
The conversation continued in an undertone. Madame Jenkins approached, bowing and smiling, while the doctor, stopping a salver as it pa.s.sed, brought her a gla.s.s of bordeaux with the zeal of a mother, an impresario, a lover. Slander, slander, ineffaceable stain! Now Jenkins"
attentions seemed overdone to the provincial. He thought that there was something affected, studied in them, and at the same time he fancied that he noticed in the thanks she expressed to her husband in a low tone a dread, a submissiveness derogatory to the dignity of a lawful wife, happy and proud in an una.s.sailable position. "Why, society is a hideous thing!" said de Gery to himself in dismay, his hands as cold as ice. The smiles that encompa.s.sed him seemed to him like mere grimacing.
He was ashamed and disgusted. Then suddenly his soul rose in revolt: "Nonsense! it isn"t possible!" And, as if in answer to that exclamation, the voice of slander behind him continued carelessly: "After all, you know, I am not sure. I simply repeat what I hear. Look, there"s Baronne Hemerlingue. He has all Paris here, this Jenkins."
The baroness came forward on the doctor"s arm; he had rushed forward to meet her, and, despite his perfect control over his features, he seemed a little perturbed and disconcerted. It had occurred to the excellent Jenkins to take advantage of his party to make peace between his friend Hemerlingue and his friend Jansoulet, his two wealthiest patients, who embarra.s.sed him seriously with their internecine warfare. The Nabob asked nothing better. He bore his former chum no malice. Their rupture had come about as a result of Hemerlingue"s marriage with one of the favorites of the former bey. "A woman"s row, in fact," said Jansoulet; and he would be very glad to see the end of it, for any sort of ill-feeling was burdensome to that exuberant nature. But it seemed that the baron was not anxious for a reconciliation; for, notwithstanding the promise he had given Jenkins, his wife appeared alone, to the Irishman"s great chagrin.
She was a tall, thin, fragile personage, with eyebrows like a bird"s feathers, a youthful, frightened manner, thirty years striving to seem twenty, with a head-dress of gra.s.ses and grain drooping over jet black hair thickly strewn with diamonds. With her long lashes falling over white cheeks of the wax-like tint of women who have lived long in the seclusion of a cloister, a little embarra.s.sed in her Parisian garb, she bore less resemblance to a former occupant of a harem than to a nun who had renounced her vows and returned to the world. A touch of devotion, of sanct.i.ty in her carriage, a certain ecclesiastical trick of walking with downcast eyes, elbows close to the sides and hands folded, manners which she had acquired in the ultra-religious environment in which she had lived since her conversion and her recent baptism, completed the resemblance. And you can imagine whether worldly curiosity was rampant around that ex-odalisque turned fervent Catholic, as she entered the room, escorted by a sacristan-like figure with a livid face and spectacles, Maitre Le Merquier, Deputy for Lyon, Hemerlingue"s man of business, who attended the baroness when the baron was "slightly indisposed," as upon this occasion.
When they entered the second salon, the Nabob walked forward to meet her, expecting to descry in her wake the bloated face of his old comrade, to whom it was agreed that he should offer his hand. The baroness saw him coming and became whiter than ever. A steely gleam shot from under her long lashes. Her nostrils dilated, rose and fell, and as Jansoulet bowed, she quickened her pace, holding her head erect and rigid, letting fall from her thin lips a word in Arabic which no one else could understand, but in which the poor Nabob, for his part, understood the bitter insult; for when he raised his head his swarthy face was of the color of terra-cotta when it comes from the oven. He stood for a moment speechless, his great fists clenched, his lips swollen with anger. Jenkins joined him, and de Gery, who had watched the whole scene from a distance, saw them talking earnestly together with a preoccupied air.
The attempt had miscarried. The reconciliation, so cleverly planned, would not take place. Hemerlingue did not want it. If only the duke did not break his word! It was getting late. La Wauters, who was to sing the "Night" aria from the _Magic Flute_, after the performance at her theatre, had just arrived all m.u.f.fled up in her lace hood.
And the minister did not come.
But it was a promise and everything was understood. Monpavon was to take him up at the club. From time to time honest Jenkins drew his watch, as he tossed an absent-minded _bravo_ to the bouquet of limpid notes that gushed from La Wauters" fairy lips, a bouquet worth three thousand francs, and absolutely wasted, in common with the other expenses of the festivity, if the duke did not come.
Suddenly both wings of the folding-doors were thrown open:
"His Excellency the Duc de Mora!"
A prolonged thrill of excitement greeted him, respectful curiosity drawn up in a double row, instead of the brutal crowding that had impeded the pa.s.sage of the Nabob.
No one could be more skilled than he in the art of making his appearance in society, of walking gravely across a salon, ascending the tribune with smiling face, imparting solemnity to trifles and treating serious matters lightly; it was a resume of his att.i.tude in life, a paradoxical distinction. Still handsome, despite his fifty-six years,--a beauty attributable to refined taste and perfect proportion, in which the grace of the dandy was intensified by something of a soldierly character in the figure and the haughty expression of the face,--he appeared to admirable advantage in the black coat, whereon, in Jenkins" honor, he had placed a few of his decorations, which he never displayed except on days of official functions. The sheen of the linen and the white cravat, the unpolished silver of the decorations, the softness of the thin, grayish hair, gave added pallor to the face, the most bloodless of all the bloodless faces a.s.sembled that evening under the Irishman"s roof.
He led such a terrible life! Politics, gambling in every form, on the Bourse and at baccarat, and the reputation of a lady-killer which he must maintain at any price. Oh! he was a typical patient of Jenkins, and he certainly owed that visit in princely state to the inventor of the mysterious Pearls, which gave to his eyes that glance of flame, to his whole being that extraordinary pulsing vivacity.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ""_His Excellency, the Due de Mora!_""]
"My dear duke, allow me to present to you--"
Monpavon, solemn of face, with padded calves, attempted to make the introduction so anxiously expected; but His Excellency, in his preoccupation, did not hear and kept on toward the large salon, borne onward by one of those electric currents that break the monotony of social life. As he pa.s.sed, and while he paid his respects to the fair Madame Jenkins, the women leaned forward with alluring glances, soft laughter, intent upon making a favorable impression. But he saw only one, Felicia, who stood in the centre of a group of men, holding forth as if in her own studio, and tranquilly sipping a sherbet as she watched the duke"s approach. She welcomed him with perfect naturalness.
Those who stood by discreetly withdrew. But, in spite of what de Gery had overheard concerning their alleged relations, there seemed to be only a good-fellowship entirely of the mind between them, a playful familiarity.
"I called at your house, Mademoiselle, on my way to the Bois."
"So I understood. You even went into the studio."
"And I saw the famous group--my group."
"Well?"
"It is very fine. The greyhound runs like a mad dog. The fox is admirably done. But I didn"t quite understand. You told me that it was the story of us two."
"And so it is! Look carefully. It"s a fable that I read in--You don"t read Rabelais, Monsieur le Duc?"
"Faith, no. He is too vulgar."
"Well, I have learned to read him. Very ill-bred, you know! Oh! very.
My fable, then, is taken from Rabelais. This is it: Bacchus has made a wonderful fox that cannot possibly be overtaken. Vulcan, for his part, has given a dog of his making the power to overtake any animal that he pursues. "Now," as my author says, "suppose that they meet." You see what a wild and interminable race will result. It seems to me, my dear duke, that destiny has brought us face to face in like manner, endowed with contrary qualities, you, who have received from the G.o.ds the gift of reaching all hearts, and I, whose heart will never be taken."
She said this, looking him fairly in the face, almost laughing, but slim and erect in her white tunic, which seemed to protect her person against the liberties of his wit. He, the conqueror, the irresistible, had never met one of that audacious, self-willed race. So he enveloped her in all the magnetic currents of his seductive charm, while around them the murmur of the fete, the flute-like laughter, the rustling of satins and strings of pearls played an accompaniment to that duet of worldly pa.s.sion and juvenile irony.
In a moment he rejoined: