"Why, in the next world, of course. That was what I used to nearly wear myself out telling Abbe Robertin, who used to go nearly crazy over those delicious white truffles my cousin Doria used to send me. "Well, madame la marquise, it is surely better to believe in that sort of an immortality than in nothing at all," he used to reply, while he went on cramming himself. In other words, my girl, I expect to get my girlhood again, and all that goes with it, when I reach paradise."
"G.o.d grant it, madame," responded Zerbinette, devoutly. "Sixteen is certainly a delightful age."
"That is exactly what I said to myself yesterday while I was watching my grandson. What ardour and enthusiasm he displayed during the hunt! He"s a handsome--But look, here is Grand Sire"s Rock. It was in that little cave that the poor president played the part of an osprey."
"Don"t go any closer to it, for Heaven"s sake, madame. There may be some wild beast in it."
"I thought of going in to rest awhile."
"Don"t think of such a thing, madame. It must be as damp as a cellar in there."
"That"s a fact, so set my chair under this oak-tree, there on the sunny side. That is right. Where will you find a seat, Zerbinette?"
"Over there on that rock. It is a little closer to the cave than I like, but never mind."
"We were speaking of my grandson just now. He is a handsome fellow, there is no doubt about it."
"There is a certain viscountess who seems to be of the same opinion. It is always M. Raoul this, or M. Raoul that, and I have seen--"
"You have seen, you have seen--Why, you see nothing at all, girl. The viscountess takes a little notice of the boy merely to blind her idiot of a husband, so he won"t get mad and make a fuss when M. de Monbreuil, the viscountess"s lover arrives, for I have invited him to come in a few days. There is nothing that makes a house as lively and interesting as to have a lot of lovers about, so I invite all I know; but it is strange you haven"t seen through the lady"s manoeuvre. I warned my grandson, for I feared the innocent, unsophisticated fellow might come to grief, the viscountess is so charming."
"Innocent, unsophisticated!" exclaimed Zerbinette, shaking her head.
"You"re mistaken about that, madame, for his infatuation for the mistress doesn"t keep him from playing the deuce with her maid."
"Dear boy! Is that really true, Zerbinette? Is there anything worth looking at among the women the viscountess brought with her?"
"There is one tall blonde with dark eyes, plump as a partridge, with a complexion like milk, and the loveliest figure--"
"And you think that Raoul--"
"You know, madame, that at his age--"
"_Pardi!_" exclaimed the marquise, taking another pinch of snuff. "That reminds me," she continued, after a moment"s reflection, "you know all about everybody in the neighbourhood, who is it that leads the life of a hermitess in that lonely farmhouse on the Pont Brillant road? You know the place; the house is covered with vines, and there is a porch of rustic work very much like that house my grandson has just been building for his fawns."
"Oh, yes, I know, madame. It is Madame Bastien who lives there."
"And who is Madame Bastien?"
"Did you hear that, madame?" asked Zerbinette, breathlessly.
"What?"
"Why, there in the cave. I heard something moving in there."
"Nonsense, Zerbinette, how silly you are! It is the wind rustling the ivy leaves."
"Do you really think so, madame?"
"There isn"t the slightest doubt of it. But, tell me, who is this Madame Bastien?"
"She is the wife of a real estate agent. I suppose you would call him that, for he travels about the country buying tracts of land which he afterward subdivides and sells. He is scarcely ever at home."
"Ah, he is scarcely ever at home, that would be a great advantage, eh, Zerbinette. But tell me, is it true that this little Bastien is as pretty as people say?"
"She"s a beauty, there"s no doubt about it, madame. You remember Madame la Marechale de Rubempre, don"t you?"
"Yes, and this young woman?"
"Is as beautiful as she was, perhaps even more so."
"And her figure?"
"Is perfect."
"That is what Raoul told me after he met her in the fields the other day. But who is that big sallow boy who was with her? Some scallawag of a brother probably. It might be a good idea to get him out of the way by giving him a position as clerk in the steward"s office with a salary of twelve or fifteen hundred francs a year."
"Good heavens, madame!" exclaimed Zerbinette, springing up in alarm, "there"s somebody in the cave. Didn"t you hear that noise?"
"Yes, I heard it," replied the intrepid dowager, "what of it?"
"Oh, madame, let us get away as quick as we can."
"I sha"n"t do anything of the kind."
"But that noise, madame."
"He, he!" laughed the countess. "Perhaps it is the soul of the poor president come back to count one, two, three, four, etc. Sit down, and don"t interrupt me again."
"You have always had the courage of a dragon, madame."
"There"s no cause for alarm, you goose. Some osprey or some wild animal may have sought shelter there. I want to know who that big hulking boy was that Raoul saw with that Bastien woman,--her brother, eh?"
"No, madame, her son."
"Her son; why, in that case--"
"She was married when she was very young, and she is so admirably preserved that she doesn"t look a day over twenty."
"That must be so, for Raoul took a desperate fancy to her. "She has big, dark blue eyes, grandmother," he said to me, "a waist one can span with his two hands, and features as regular as those on an antique cameo.
Only these plebeians are so little versed in the customs of good society that this one opened her big eyes in astonishment, merely because I was polite enough to take her a mantle she had dropped." "If she is as pretty as you say, you young simpleton, you ought to have kept the mantle, and taken it to her house. That would have gained you an entrance there." "But, grandmother," replied the dear boy, very sensibly, "it was by returning the mantle I found out that she was so pretty.""
"Oh, well, M. Raoul could easily have gone to her house a few days afterward. She would have been delighted to see him, even if it were only to make all the _bourgeoisie_ in the country, wild with envy."
"That is exactly what I told the dear child, but he did not dare to venture."
"Give him a little time, and he"ll get his courage up, never fear."
"I tell you, my girl," resumed the dowager, after quite a long silence, as she slowly and thoughtfully took another pinch of snuff, "I tell you that the more I think of it, the more convinced I am that for many reasons this little Bastien would just suit the dear boy, that she would be a perfect G.o.dsend to him, in fact."