Intent upon my business, giving close attention to the proper p.r.o.nunciation of the names given me and to making them ricochet from salon to salon, I thought of nothing else. It is no easy matter to announce properly people who always think that their names must be well known, so that they simply murmur them through their closed lips as they pa.s.s, and then are surprised to hear you murder them in your most sonorous tone and almost bear you a grudge for the unimpressive entrances, greeted with faint smiles, that follow a bungling announcement. The task was made even more difficult at M. Jansoulet"s by the swarm of foreigners, Turks, Egyptians, Persians, Tunisians. I do not mention the Corsicans, who were also very numerous on that occasion, because, during my four years of service at the _Caisse Territoriale_, I have become accustomed to p.r.o.nouncing those high-sounding, interminable names, always followed by the name of a place: "Paganetti of Porto-Vecchio, Bastelica of Bonifacio, Paianatchi of Barbicaglia."
I enjoyed dwelling upon those Italian syllables, giving them their full resonant value, and I could see by the stupefied expressions of those worthy islanders how surprised and delighted they were to be introduced in that fashion into the best continental society. But with the Turks, the pachas and beys and effendis, I had much more difficulty, and I must often have p.r.o.nounced them awry, for M. Jansoulet, on two different occasions, sent word to me to pay more attention to the names given me, and especially to announce them more naturally. That command, uttered in a loud voice at the door of the reception-room with unnecessary brutality, annoyed me exceedingly, and prevented me--shall I confess it?--from pitying the vulgar parvenu when I learned, during the evening, what sharp thorns had found their way into his bed of roses.
From half-past ten till midnight the bell did not cease to ring, the carriages to rumble under the porch, the guests to follow on one another"s heels, deputies, senators, councillors of state, munic.i.p.al councillors, who acted much more as if they were attending a meeting of shareholders than an evening party in society. What did it all mean? I could not succeed in puzzling it out, but a word from Nicklauss the door-keeper opened my eyes.
"Do you notice, Monsieur Pa.s.sajon," said that worthy retainer, standing in front of me, halberd in hand, "do you notice how few ladies we have?"
_Pardieu!_ that was it. And we two were not the only ones who noticed it. At each new arrival, I heard the Nabob, who stood near the door, exclaim in consternation with the hoa.r.s.e voice of a Ma.r.s.eillais with a cold in his head:
"Alone?"
The guest would apologize in an undertone. _M-m-m-m-m-m_--his wife not very well. Very sorry indeed. Then another would come; and the same question would bring the same reply.
We heard that word "alone" so much, that at last we began to joke about it in the reception-room; outriders and footmen tossed it from one to another when a new guest entered: "Alone!" And we laughed and enjoyed ourselves. But M. Nicklauss, with his extended knowledge of society, considered that the almost universal abstention of the fair s.e.x was by no means natural.
"It must be the article in the _Messager_," he said.
Everybody was talking of that rascally article, and as each guest paused before entering the salon to look himself over in the mirror with its garland of flowers, I overheard s.n.a.t.c.hes of whispered dialogue of this sort:
"Have you read it?"
"It"s a frightful thing."
"Do you believe it can possibly be true?"
"I have no idea. At all events I preferred not to bring my wife."
"I felt as you did. A man can go anywhere without compromising himself."
"Of course. While a woman--"
Then they would go in, their crush hats under their arms, with the conquering air of married men unaccompanied by their wives.
What was this newspaper article, this terrible article which threatened so seriously the influence of such a wealthy man? Unfortunately my duties held me fast; I could not go down to the butlers pantry or the dressing-room, to talk with the coachmen, the footmen and outriders whom I saw standing at the foot of the stairs, amusing themselves by making fun of the people who went up. What can you expect? The masters give themselves too many airs. How could one help laughing to see the Marquis and Marquise de Bois-l"Hery sail by with a haughty air and empty stomachs, after all the stories we have heard about Monsieur"s business arrangements and Madame"s dresses? And then the Jenkins family, so affectionate, so united, the attentive doctor throwing a lace shawl over his wife"s shoulders for fear she may take cold in the hall; she, tricked out and smiling, dressed all in velvet, with a train yards long, leaning on her husband"s arm as if to say: "How happy I am!" when I know that, ever since the death of the Irishwoman, his lawful wife, the doctor has been thinking of getting rid of his old incubus so that he can marry a young woman, and that the old incubus pa.s.ses her nights in despair, in wearing away with tears what beauty she still has.
The amusing part of it was that not one of them all suspected the quips and jokes that were spit out at them as they pa.s.sed, the vile things that their trains swept up from the vestibule carpet, and the whole crew a.s.sumed disdainful airs fit to make one die with laughter.
The two ladies I have named, the Governor"s wife, a little Corsican woman whose heavy eyebrows, white teeth and ruddy cheeks, dark in the lower part, make her look like a clean-shaved Auvergnat--a clever creature by the way, and always laughing except when her husband looks at other women--these with a few Levantines with diadems of gold or pearls, less resplendent than ours but in the same style, wives of upholsterers, jewellers, dealers who supply the household regularly, with shoulders as extensive as shop-fronts and dresses in which the material was not sparingly used; and lastly, several wives of clerks at the _Caisse Territoriale_, with rustling dresses and devil a sou in their pockets,--such was the representation of the fair s.e.x at that function, some thirty ladies lost among myriads of black coats; one might as well say that there were none at all there. From time to time, Ca.s.sagne, Laporte and Grandvarlet, who were carrying dishes, told us what was going on in the salons.
"Ah! my children, if you could just see how gloomy, how mournful it is!
The men don"t move from the sideboards. The women are all sitting in a circle, way at the end, fanning themselves, without a word. La Grosse[1]
doesn"t speak to any one. I believe she"s taking a snooze. Monsieur"s the one who keeps things going. Pere Pa.s.sajon, a gla.s.s of Chateau-Larose. It will set you up."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Fat Woman, or "Fatty."
All those young fellows were delightful to me, and took a mischievous pleasure in doing the honors of the cellar so often and in such b.u.mpers that my tongue began to grow heavy and uncertain; as they said to me, in their slightly familiar language: "You"re spluttering, uncle." Luckily the last of the effendis had arrived and there was no one else to announce; for it was of no use for me to struggle against it, every time I walked between the hangings to launch a name into the salons, the chandeliers whirled round and round with hundreds of thousands of dancing lights, and the floors became inclined planes as slippery and steep as Russian mountains. I must have spluttered, that is sure.
The fresh night air and repeated ablutions at the pump in the courtyard soon got the better of that little indisposition, and when I betook myself to the servants" quarters it had altogether disappeared. I found a large and merry party gathered around a _marquise_ of champagne, of which all my nieces, in fine array, with fluffy hair and cravats of pink ribbon, took their full share, notwithstanding the fascinating little shrieks and grimaces, which deceived no one. Naturally they were talking about the famous article, an article by Moessard, it seems, full of shocking disclosures concerning all sorts of degrading occupations that the Nabob was engaged in fifteen or twenty years ago, at the time of his first stay in Paris.
It was the third attack of that sort that the _Messager_ had published within a week, and that rascal Moessard was malicious enough to send a copy of each number under cover to Place Vendome.
M. Jansoulet received it in the morning with his chocolate; and at the same hour his friends and his enemies--for a man like the Nabob cannot be indifferent to anybody--read it and discussed it, and adopted a line of conduct toward him calculated not to compromise themselves. That day"s article must have been well loaded; for Jansoulet the coachman told us that in the Bois his master did not exchange ten salutations in ten circuits of the lake, whereas ordinarily his hat is not on his head any more than a sovereign"s when out for a drive. And when they returned home it was much worse. The three boys had just reached the house, all in tears and frightened to death, brought home from Bourdaloue College by a good Father in their own interest, poor little fellows; they had been given temporary leave of absence so that they might not hear any unkind remarks, any cruel allusions in the parlor or the courtyard.
Thereupon the Nabob flew into a terrible rage, so that he demolished a whole porcelain service, and it seems that, if it had not been for M. de Gery, he would have gone off on the instant to break Moessard"s head.
"And he would have done quite right," said M. Noel, entering the room at that moment; and he, too, was greatly excited. "There"s not a single word of truth in that villain"s article. My master never came to Paris until last year. From Tunis to Ma.r.s.eille, and Ma.r.s.eille to Tunis, that"s all the travelling he did. But that scurvy journalist is taking his revenge on us for refusing him twenty thousand francs."
"You made a very great mistake in doing that," said M. Francis, Monpavon"s Francis, valet to that old dandy, whose only tooth waggles in the middle of his mouth whenever he says a word, but whom the young ladies look favorably upon all the same because of his fine manners.
"Yes, you made a mistake. It is necessary to know how to handle people carefully, as long as they are able to serve or injure us. Your Nabob turned his back on his friends too suddenly after his success; and, between you and me, my dear boy, he isn"t strong enough to return such blows as that."
I thought I might venture to say a word.
"It"s quite true, Monsieur Noel, that your master isn"t the same since his election. He has adopted a very different tone and manners. Day before yesterday at the _Territoriale_, he made such a hullabaloo as you can"t imagine. I heard him shout in the middle of the council meeting: "You have lied to me, you have robbed me and made me as much of a thief as yourselves. Show me your books, you pack of rascals!" If he treated Moessard in that fashion, I don"t wonder that he takes his revenge in his newspaper."
"But what does the article say, anyway?" inquired M. Barreau; "who has read it?"
No one answered. Several had tried to buy the paper; but in Paris anything scandalous sells like hot cakes. At ten o"clock in the morning there was not a copy of the _Messager_ to be had on the street.
Thereupon one of my nieces, a sly hussy if ever there was one, had the happy thought of looking in the pocket of one of the numerous top-coats hanging in long rows against the walls of the dressing-room.
"Here you are!" said the merry creature triumphantly, drawing from the first pocket she searched a copy of the _Messager_, crumpled at the folds as if it had been well read.
"And here"s another!" cried Tom Bois-l"Hery, who was investigating on his own account. A third top-coat, a third _Messager_. And so it was with them all; buried in the depths of the pocket, or with its t.i.tle sticking out, the paper was everywhere, even as the article was certain to be in every mind; and we imagined the Nabob upstairs, exchanging amiable sentences with his guests, who could have recited to him word for word the horrible things printed concerning him. We all laughed heartily at the idea; but we were dying to know the contents of that interesting page.
"Here, Pere Pa.s.sajon, read it aloud to us."
That was the general desire, and I complied with it.
I do not know if you are like me, but when I read aloud I gargle with my voice, so to speak, I introduce inflections and flourishes, so that I do not understand a word of what I read, like those public singers to whom the meaning of the words they sing is of little consequence provided that the notes are all there. It was called "The Flower Boat." A decidedly mixed-up story with Chinese names, relating to a very rich mandarin, newly elevated to the first cla.s.s, who had once kept a "flower boat" moored on the outskirts of a town near a fortified gate frequented by soldiers. At the last word of the article we knew no more than at the beginning. To be sure, we tried to wink and to look very knowing; but, frankly, there was no ground for it. A genuine rebus without a key; and we should still be staring at it, had not old Francis, who is the very devil for his knowledge of all sorts of things, explained to us that the fortified gate with soldiers must mean the ecole Militaire, and that the "flower boat" had not so pretty a name as that in good French. And he said the name aloud, despite the ladies. Such an explosion of exclamations, of "Ahs!" and "Ohs!" some saying: "I expected as much,"
others: "It isn"t possible."
"I beg your pardon," added Francis, who was formerly a trumpeter in the 9th Lancers, Mora"s and Monpavon"s regiment, "I beg your pardon. Twenty years ago or more I was in barracks at the ecole Militaire, and I remember very well that there was near the barrier a dirty little dance-house called the Bal Jansoulet, with furnished rooms upstairs at five sous the hour, to which we used to adjourn between dances."
"You"re an infernal liar!" cried M. Noel, fairly beside himself; "a sharper and liar like your master. Jansoulet never came to Paris until this time."
Francis was sitting a little outside of the circle we made around the "marquise," sipping something sweet, because champagne is bad for his nerves, and besides, it is not a _chic_ enough drink for him. He rose solemnly, without putting down his gla.s.s, and, walking up to M. Noel, said to him, quietly:
"You lack good form, my dear fellow. The other evening, at your own house, I considered your manners very vulgar and unbecoming. It serves no purpose to insult people, especially as I"m a fencing-master, and, if we should carry the thing any farther, I could put two inches of cold steel into your body at whatever point I chose; but I am a good sort of fellow, and instead of a sword-thrust I prefer to give you some advice which your master will do well to profit by. This is what I would do if I were in your place; I would hunt up Moessard and buy him without haggling over the price. Hemerlingue has given him twenty thousand francs to speak, I would offer him thirty thousand to hold his tongue."
"Never, never!" roared M. Noel. "Instead of that I will go and wring the miserable bandit"s neck."
"You will wring nothing at all. Whether the story is true or false, you have seen the effect of it to-night. That"s a specimen of the pleasures in store for you. What do you expect, my dear fellow? You have thrown away your crutches and tried to walk alone too soon. That"s all right if you"re sure of yourself and firm on your legs; but when your footing is not very good anyway, and in addition you are unlucky enough to have Hemerlingue at your heels, it"s a bad business. And with it all your master"s beginning to be short of money; he has given notes to old Schwalbach, and don"t talk to me of a Nabob who gives notes. I am well aware that you have heaps of millions over yonder in Tunis; but you will have to have your election confirmed in order to get possession of them, and after a few more articles like the one to-day, I"ll answer for it that you won"t succeed. You undertake to struggle with Paris, my boy, but you"re not big enough, you know nothing about it. This isn"t the Orient, and, although we don"t wring the necks of people who offend us, or throw them into the water in leather bags, we have other ways of putting them out of sight. Let your master beware, Noel. One of these days Paris will swallow him as I swallow this plum, without spitting out the stone or the skin!"
Really the old man was most imposing, and, notwithstanding the paint on his face, I began to feel some respect for him. While he was speaking we heard the music overhead, the singing provided for the entertainment of the guests, and out on the square the horses of the munic.i.p.al guards shaking their curb-chains. Our party must have been a very brilliant affair from outside, with the myriads of candles and the illuminated doorway. And when one thinks of the ruin that perhaps was beneath it all! We stood there in the vestibule like rats taking council together in the hold, when the vessel is beginning to take in water without the crew suspecting it, and I saw plainly enough that everybody, footmen and lady"s maids, would soon scamper away at the first alarm. Can it be that such a catastrophe is possible? But in that case, what would become of me and the _Territoriale_, and my advances and my back pay?