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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Sentimental Education, Volume II, by Gustave
+Flaubert
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Sentimental Education, Volume II
+       The History of a Young Man
+
+
+Author: Gustave Flaubert
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 15, 2008  [eBook #27537]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION, VOLUME II***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Meredith Bach, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 27537-h.htm or 27537-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/3/27537/27537-h/27537-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/3/27537/27537-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Some inconsistencies of spelling and grammar have been corrected,
+      while others have been retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+The Complete Works of Gustave Flaubert
+
+Embracing
+Romances, Travels, Comedies,
+Sketches and
+Correspondence
+
+With a
+Critical Introduction
+by
+Ferdinand Brunetiere
+of the French Academy
+and a
+Biographical Preface by
+Robert Arnot, M.A.
+
+Printed
+Only for Subscribers by
+M. Walter Dunne,
+New York and London
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: Ah! thanks! You are going to save me!]
+
+
+SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
+
+Or,
+
+The History of a Young Man
+
+by
+
+GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
+
+VOLUME II.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+M. Walter Dunne
+New York and London
+
+Copyright, 1904, by
+M. Walter Dunne
+Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+   SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
+   (_Continued._)
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+   CHAPTER XI.
+           A DINNER AND A DUEL                             1
+
+   CHAPTER XII.
+           LITTLE LOUISE GROWS UP                         47
+
+   CHAPTER XIII.
+           ROSANETTE AS A LOVELY TURK                     62
+
+   CHAPTER XIV.
+           THE BARRICADE                                 110
+
+   CHAPTER XV.
+           "HOW HAPPY COULD I BE WITH EITHER"            193
+
+   CHAPTER XVI.
+           UNPLEASANT NEWS FROM ROSANETTE                214
+
+   CHAPTER XVII.
+           A STRANGE BETROTHAL                           242
+
+   CHAPTER XVIII.
+           AN AUCTION                                    292
+
+   CHAPTER XIX.
+           A BITTER-SWEET REUNION                        315
+
+   CHAPTER XX.
+           "WAIT TILL YOU COME TO FORTY YEAR"            323
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                                                      FACING
+                                                       PAGE
+
+"AH! THANKS! YOU ARE GOING TO SAVE ME!"
+  (See page 107)                              _Frontispiece_
+
+"CAN I LIVE WITHOUT YOU?"                                 58
+
+WHEN A WOMAN SUDDENLY CAME IN                            315
+
+
+
+
+SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
+
+[_CONTINUED_]
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A DINNER AND A DUEL.
+
+
+Frederick passed the whole of the next day in brooding over his anger
+and humiliation. He reproached himself for not having given a slap in
+the face to Cisy. As for the Marechale, he swore not to see her again.
+Others as good-looking could be easily found; and, as money would be
+required in order to possess these women, he would speculate on the
+Bourse with the purchase-money of his farm. He would get rich; he would
+crush the Marechale and everyone else with his luxury. When the evening
+had come, he was surprised at not having thought of Madame Arnoux.
+
+"So much the better. What's the good of it?"
+
+Two days after, at eight o'clock, Pellerin came to pay him a visit. He
+began by expressing his admiration of the furniture and talking in a
+wheedling tone. Then, abruptly:
+
+"You were at the races on Sunday?"
+
+"Yes, alas!"
+
+Thereupon the painter decried the anatomy of English horses, and praised
+the horses of Gericourt and the horses of the Parthenon.
+
+"Rosanette was with you?"
+
+And he artfully proceeded to speak in flattering terms about her.
+
+Frederick's freezing manner put him a little out of countenance.
+
+He did not know how to bring about the question of her portrait. His
+first idea had been to do a portrait in the style of Titian. But
+gradually the varied colouring of his model had bewitched him; he had
+gone on boldly with the work, heaping up paste on paste and light on
+light. Rosanette, in the beginning, was enchanted. Her appointments with
+Delmar had interrupted the sittings, and left Pellerin all the time to
+get bedazzled. Then, as his admiration began to subside, he asked
+himself whether the picture might not be on a larger scale. He had gone
+to have another look at the Titians, realised how the great artist had
+filled in his portraits with such finish, and saw wherein his own
+shortcomings lay; and then he began to go over the outlines again in the
+most simple fashion. After that, he sought, by scraping them off, to
+lose there, to mingle there, all the tones of the head and those of the
+background; and the face had assumed consistency and the shades
+vigour--the whole work had a look of greater firmness. At length the
+Marechale came back again. She even indulged in some hostile criticisms.
+The painter naturally persevered in his own course. After getting into a
+violent passion at her silliness, he said to himself that, after all,
+perhaps she was right. Then began the era of doubts, twinges of
+reflection which brought about cramps in the stomach, insomnia,
+feverishness and disgust with himself. He had the courage to make some
+retouchings, but without much heart, and with a feeling that his work
+was bad.
+
+He complained merely of having been refused a place in the Salon; then
+he reproached Frederick for not having come to see the Marechale's
+portrait.
+
+"What do I care about the Marechale?"
+
+Such an expression of unconcern emboldened the artist.
+
+"Would you believe that this brute has no interest in the thing any
+longer?"
+
+What he did not mention was that he had asked her for a thousand crowns.
+Now the Marechale did not give herself much bother about ascertaining
+who was going to pay, and, preferring to screw money out of Arnoux for
+things of a more urgent character, had not even spoken to him on the
+subject.
+
+"Well, and Arnoux?"
+
+She had thrown it over on him. The ex-picture-dealer wished to have
+nothing to do with the portrait.
+
+"He maintains that it belongs to Rosanette."
+
+"In fact, it is hers."
+
+"How is that? 'Tis she that sent me to you," was Pellerin's answer.
+
+If he had been thinking of the excellence of his work, he would not have
+dreamed perhaps of making capital out of it. But a sum--and a big
+sum--would be an effective reply to the critics, and would strengthen
+his own position. Finally, to get rid of his importunities, Frederick
+courteously enquired his terms.
+
+The extravagant figure named by Pellerin quite took away his breath, and
+he replied:
+
+"Oh! no--no!"
+
+"You, however, are her lover--'tis you gave me the order!"
+
+"Excuse me, I was only an intermediate agent."
+
+"But I can't remain with this on my hands!"
+
+The artist lost his temper.
+
+"Ha! I didn't imagine you were so covetous!"
+
+"Nor I that you were so stingy! I wish you good morning!"
+
+He had just gone out when Senecal made his appearance.
+
+Frederick was moving about restlessly, in a state of great agitation.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+Senecal told his story.
+
+"On Saturday, at nine o'clock, Madame Arnoux got a letter which summoned
+her back to Paris. As there happened to be nobody in the place at the
+time to go to Creil for a vehicle, she asked me to go there myself. I
+refused, for this was no part of my duties. She left, and came back on
+Sunday evening. Yesterday morning, Arnoux came down to the works. The
+girl from Bordeaux made a complaint to him. I don't know what passed
+between them; but he took off before everyone the fine I had imposed on
+her. Some sharp words passed between us. In short, he closed accounts
+with me, and here I am!"
+
+Then, with a pause between every word:
+
+"Furthermore, I am not sorry. I have done my duty. No matter--you were
+the cause of it."
+
+"How?" exclaimed Frederick, alarmed lest Senecal might have guessed his
+secret.
+
+Senecal had not, however, guessed anything about it, for he replied:
+
+"That is to say, but for you I might have done better."
+
+Frederick was seized with a kind of remorse.
+
+"In what way can I be of service to you now?"
+
+Senecal wanted some employment, a situation.
+
+"That is an easy thing for you to manage. You know many people of good
+position, Monsieur Dambreuse amongst others; at least, so Deslauriers
+told me."
+
+This allusion to Deslauriers was by no means agreeable to his friend. He
+scarcely cared to call on the Dambreuses again after his undesirable
+meeting with them in the Champ de Mars.
+
+"I am not on sufficiently intimate terms with them to recommend anyone."
+
+The democrat endured this refusal stoically, and after a minute's
+silence:
+
+"All this, I am sure, is due to the girl from Bordeaux, and to your
+Madame Arnoux."
+
+This "your" had the effect of wiping out of Frederick's heart the slight
+modicum of regard he entertained for Senecal. Nevertheless, he stretched
+out his hand towards the key of his escritoire through delicacy.
+
+Senecal anticipated him:
+
+"Thanks!"
+
+Then, forgetting his own troubles, he talked about the affairs of the
+nation, the crosses of the Legion of Honour wasted at the Royal Fete,
+the question of a change of ministry, the Drouillard case and the Benier
+case--scandals of the day--declaimed against the middle class, and
+predicted a revolution.
+
+His eyes were attracted by a Japanese dagger hanging on the wall. He
+took hold of it; then he flung it on the sofa with an air of disgust.
+
+"Come, then! good-bye! I must go to Notre Dame de Lorette."
+
+"Hold on! Why?"
+
+"The anniversary service for Godefroy Cavaignac is taking place there
+to-day. He died at work--that man! But all is not over. Who knows?"
+
+And Senecal, with a show of fortitude, put out his hand:
+
+"Perhaps we shall never see each other again! good-bye!"
+
+This "good-bye," repeated several times, his knitted brows as he gazed
+at the dagger, his resignation, and the solemnity of his manner, above
+all, plunged Frederick into a thoughtful mood, but very soon he ceased
+to think about Senecal.
+
+During the same week, his notary at Havre sent him the sum realised by
+the sale of his farm--one hundred and seventy-four thousand francs. He
+divided it into two portions, invested the first half in the Funds, and
+brought the second half to a stock-broker to take his chance of making
+money by it on the Bourse.
+
+He dined at fashionable taverns, went to the theatres, and was trying to
+amuse himself as best he could, when Hussonnet addressed a letter to him
+announcing in a gay fashion that the Marechale had got rid of Cisy the
+very day after the races. Frederick was delighted at this intelligence,
+without taking the trouble to ascertain what the Bohemian's motive was
+in giving him the information.
+
+It so happened that he met Cisy, three days later. That aristocratic
+young gentleman kept his counteance, and even invited Frederick to dine
+on the following Wednesday.
+
+On the morning of that day, the latter received a notification from a
+process-server, in which M. Charles Jean Baptiste Oudry apprised him
+that by the terms of a legal judgment he had become the purchaser of a
+property situated at Belleville, belonging to M. Jacques Arnoux, and
+that he was ready to pay the two hundred and twenty-three thousand for
+which it had been sold. But, as it appeared by the same decree that the
+amount of the mortgages with which the estate was encumbered exceeded
+the purchase-money, Frederick's claim would in consequence be completely
+forfeited.
+
+The entire mischief arose from not having renewed the registration of
+the mortgage within the proper time. Arnoux had undertaken to attend to
+this matter formally himself, and had then forgotten all about it.
+Frederick got into a rage with him for this, and when the young man's
+anger had passed off:
+
+"Well, afterwards----what?"
+
+"If this can save him, so much the better. It won't kill me! Let us
+think no more about it!"
+
+But, while moving about his papers on the table, he came across
+Hussonnet's letter, and noticed the postscript, which had not at first
+attracted his attention. The Bohemian wanted just five thousand francs
+to give the journal a start.
+
+"Ah! this fellow is worrying me to death!"
+
+And he sent a curt answer, unceremoniously refusing the application.
+After that, he dressed himself to go to the Maison d'Or.
+
+Cisy introduced his guests, beginning with the most respectable of them,
+a big, white-haired gentleman.
+
+"The Marquis Gilbert des Aulnays, my godfather. Monsieur Anselme de
+Forchambeaux," he said next--(a thin, fair-haired young man, already
+bald); then, pointing towards a simple-mannered man of forty: "Joseph
+Boffreu, my cousin; and here is my old tutor, Monsieur Vezou"--a person
+who seemed a mixture of a ploughman and a seminarist, with large
+whiskers and a long frock-coat fastened at the end by a single button,
+so that it fell over his chest like a shawl.
+
+Cisy was expecting some one else--the Baron de Comaing, who "might
+perhaps come, but it was not certain." He left the room every minute,
+and appeared to be in a restless frame of mind. Finally, at eight
+o'clock, they proceeded towards an apartment splendidly lighted up and
+much more spacious than the number of guests required. Cisy had selected
+it for the special purpose of display.
+
+A vermilion epergne laden with flowers and fruit occupied the centre of
+the table, which was covered with silver dishes, after the old French
+fashion; glass bowls full of salt meats and spices formed a border all
+around it. Jars of iced red wine stood at regular distances from each
+other. Five glasses of different sizes were ranged before each plate,
+with things of which the use could not be divined--a thousand dinner
+utensils of an ingenious description. For the first course alone, there
+was a sturgeon's jowl moistened with champagne, a Yorkshire ham with
+tokay, thrushes with sauce, roast quail, a bechamel vol-au-vent, a stew
+of red-legged partridges, and at the two ends of all this, fringes of
+potatoes which were mingled with truffles. The apartment was illuminated
+by a lustre and some girandoles, and it was hung with red damask
+curtains.
+
+Four men-servants in black coats stood behind the armchairs, which were
+upholstered in morocco. At this sight the guests uttered an
+exclamation--the tutor more emphatically than the rest.
+
+"Upon my word, our host has indulged in a foolishly lavish display of
+luxury. It is too beautiful!"
+
+"Is that so?" said the Vicomte de Cisy; "Come on, then!"
+
+And, as they were swallowing the first spoonful:
+
+"Well, my dear old friend Aulnays, have you been to the Palais-Royal to
+see _Pere et Portier_?"
+
+"You know well that I have no time to go!" replied the Marquis.
+
+His mornings were taken up with a course of arboriculture, his evenings
+were spent at the Agricultural Club, and all his afternoons were
+occupied by a study of the implements of husbandry in manufactories. As
+he resided at Saintonge for three fourths of the year, he took advantage
+of his visits to the capital to get fresh information; and his
+large-brimmed hat, which lay on a side-table, was crammed with
+pamphlets.
+
+But Cisy, observing that M. de Forchambeaux refused to take wine:
+
+"Go on, damn it, drink! You're not in good form for your last bachelor's
+meal!"
+
+At this remark all bowed and congratulated him.
+
+"And the young lady," said the tutor, "is charming, I'm sure?"
+
+"Faith, she is!" exclaimed Cisy. "No matter, he is making a mistake;
+marriage is such a stupid thing!"
+
+"You talk in a thoughtless fashion, my friend!" returned M. des Aulnays,
+while tears began to gather in his eyes at the recollection of his own
+dead wife.
+
+And Forchambeaux repeated several times in succession:
+
+"It will be your own case--it will be your own case!"
+
+Cisy protested. He preferred to enjoy himself--to "live in the
+free-and-easy style of the Regency days." He wanted to learn the
+shoe-trick, in order to visit the thieves' taverns of the city, like
+Rodolphe in the _Mysteries of Paris_; drew out of his pocket a dirty
+clay pipe, abused the servants, and drank a great quantity; then, in
+order to create a good impression about himself, he disparaged all the
+dishes. He even sent away the truffles; and the tutor, who was
+exceedingly fond of them, said through servility;
+
+"These are not as good as your grandmother's snow-white eggs."
+
+Then he began to chat with the person sitting next to him, the
+agriculturist, who found many advantages from his sojourn in the
+country, if it were only to be able to bring up his daughters with
+simple tastes. The tutor approved of his ideas and toadied to him,
+supposing that this gentleman possessed influence over his former pupil,
+whose man of business he was anxious to become.
+
+Frederick had come there filled with hostility to Cisy; but the young
+aristocrat's idiocy had disarmed him. However, as the other's gestures,
+face, and entire person brought back to his recollection the dinner at
+the Cafe Anglais, he got more and more irritated; and he lent his ears
+to the complimentary remarks made in a low tone by Joseph, the cousin, a
+fine young fellow without any money, who was a lover of the chase and a
+University prizeman. Cisy, for the sake of a laugh, called him a
+"catcher"[A] several times; then suddenly:
+
+"Ha! here comes the Baron!"
+
+At that moment, there entered a jovial blade of thirty, with somewhat
+rough-looking features and active limbs, wearing his hat over his ear
+and displaying a flower in his button-hole. He was the Vicomte's ideal.
+The young aristocrat was delighted at having him there; and stimulated
+by his presence, he even attempted a pun; for he said, as they passed a
+heath-cock:
+
+"There's the best of La Bruyere's characters!"[B]
+
+After that, he put a heap of questions to M. de Comaing about persons
+unknown to society; then, as if an idea had suddenly seized him:
+
+"Tell me, pray! have you thought about me?"
+
+The other shrugged his shoulders:
+
+"You are not old enough, my little man. It is impossible!"
+
+Cisy had begged of the Baron to get him admitted into his club. But the
+other having, no doubt, taken pity on his vanity:
+
+"Ha! I was forgetting! A thousand congratulations on having won your
+bet, my dear fellow!"
+
+"What bet?"
+
+"The bet you made at the races to effect an entrance the same evening
+into that lady's house."
+
+Frederick felt as if he had got a lash with a whip. He was speedily
+appeased by the look of utter confusion in Cisy's face.
+
+
+[A] _Voleur_ means, at the same time, a "hunter" and a "thief." This is
+the foundation for Cisy's little joke.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+[B] _Coq de bruyere_ means a heath-cock or grouse; hence the play on the
+name of La Bruyere, whose _Caracteres_ is a well-known work.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+In fact, the Marechale, next morning, was filled with regret when
+Arnoux, her first lover, her good friend, had presented himself that
+very day. They both gave the Vicomte to understand that he was in the
+way, and kicked him out without much ceremony.
+
+He pretended not to have heard what was said.
+
+The Baron went on:
+
+"What has become of her, this fine Rose? Is she as pretty as ever?"
+showing by his manner that he had been on terms of intimacy with her.
+
+Frederick was chagrined by the discovery.
+
+"There's nothing to blush at," said the Baron, pursuing the topic, "'tis
+a good thing!"
+
+Cisy smacked his tongue.
+
+"Whew! not so good!"
+
+"Ha!"
+
+"Oh dear, yes! In the first place, I found her nothing extraordinary,
+and then, you pick up the like of her as often as you please, for, in
+fact, she is for sale!"
+
+"Not for everyone!" remarked Frederick, with some bitterness.
+
+"He imagines that he is different from the others," was Cisy's comment.
+"What a good joke!"
+
+And a laugh ran round the table.
+
+Frederick felt as if the palpitations of his heart would suffocate him.
+He swallowed two glasses of water one after the other.
+
+But the Baron had preserved a lively recollection of Rosanette.
+
+"Is she still interested in a fellow named Arnoux?"
+
+"I haven't the faintest idea," said Cisy, "I don't know that gentleman!"
+
+Nevertheless, he suggested that he believed Arnoux was a sort of
+swindler.
+
+"A moment!" exclaimed Frederick.
+
+"However, there is no doubt about it! Legal proceedings have been taken
+against him."
+
+"That is not true!"
+
+Frederick began to defend Arnoux, vouched for his honesty, ended by
+convincing himself of it, and concocted figures and proofs. The Vicomte,
+full of spite, and tipsy in addition, persisted in his assertions, so
+that Frederick said to him gravely:
+
+"Is the object of this to give offence to me, Monsieur?"
+
+And he looked Cisy full in the face, with eyeballs as red as his cigar.
+
+"Oh! not at all. I grant you that he possesses something very nice--his
+wife."
+
+"Do you know her?"
+
+"Faith, I do! Sophie Arnoux; everyone knows her."
+
+"You mean to tell me that?"
+
+Cisy, who had staggered to his feet, hiccoughed:
+
+"Everyone--knows--her."
+
+"Hold your tongue. It is not with women of her sort you keep company!"
+
+"I--flatter myself--it is."
+
+Frederick flung a plate at his face. It passed like a flash of lightning
+over the table, knocked down two bottles, demolished a fruit-dish, and
+breaking into three pieces, by knocking against the epergne, hit the
+Vicomte in the stomach.
+
+All the other guests arose to hold him back. He struggled and shrieked,
+possessed by a kind of frenzy.
+
+M. des Aulnays kept repeating:
+
+"Come, be calm, my dear boy!"
+
+"Why, this is frightful!" shouted the tutor.
+
+Forchambeaux, livid as a plum, was trembling. Joseph indulged in
+repeated outbursts of laughter. The attendants sponged out the traces of
+the wine, and gathered up the remains of the dinner from the floor; and
+the Baron went and shut the window, for the uproar, in spite of the
+noise of carriage-wheels, could be heard on the boulevard.
+
+As all present at the moment the plate had been flung had been talking
+at the same time, it was impossible to discover the cause of the
+attack--whether it was on account of Arnoux, Madame Arnoux, Rosanette,
+or somebody else. One thing only they were certain of, that Frederick
+had acted with indescribable brutality. On his part, he refused
+positively to testify the slightest regret for what he had done.
+
+M. des Aulnays tried to soften him. Cousin Joseph, the tutor, and
+Forchambeaux himself joined in the effort. The Baron, all this time, was
+cheering up Cisy, who, yielding to nervous weakness, began to shed
+tears.
+
+Frederick, on the contrary, was getting more and more angry, and they
+would have remained there till daybreak if the Baron had not said, in
+order to bring matters to a close:
+
+"The Vicomte, Monsieur, will send his seconds to call on you to-morrow."
+
+"Your hour?"
+
+"Twelve, if it suits you."
+
+"Perfectly, Monsieur."
+
+Frederick, as soon as he was in the open air, drew a deep breath. He had
+been keeping his feelings too long under restraint; he had satisfied
+them at last. He felt, so to speak, the pride of virility, a
+superabundance of energy within him which intoxicated him. He required
+two seconds. The first person he thought of for the purpose was
+Regimbart, and he immediately directed his steps towards the Rue
+Saint-Denis. The shop-front was closed, but some light shone through a
+pane of glass over the door. It opened and he went in, stooping very low
+as he passed under the penthouse.
+
+A candle at the side of the bar lighted up the deserted smoking-room.
+All the stools, with their feet in the air, were piled on the table. The
+master and mistress, with their waiter, were at supper in a corner near
+the kitchen; and Regimbart, with his hat on his head, was sharing their
+meal, and even disturbed the waiter, who was compelled every moment to
+turn aside a little. Frederick, having briefly explained the matter to
+him, asked Regimbart to assist him. The Citizen at first made no reply.
+He rolled his eyes about, looked as if he were plunged in reflection,
+took several strides around the room, and at last said:
+
+"Yes, by all means!" and a homicidal smile smoothed his brow when he
+learned that the adversary was a nobleman.
+
+"Make your mind easy; we'll rout him with flying colours! In the first
+place, with the sword----"
+
+"But perhaps," broke in Frederick, "I have not the right."
+
+"I tell you 'tis necessary to take the sword," the Citizen replied
+roughly. "Do you know how to make passes?"
+
+"A little."
+
+"Oh! a little. This is the way with all of them; and yet they have a
+mania for committing assaults. What does the fencing-school teach?
+Listen to me: keep a good distance off, always confining yourself in
+circles, and parry--parry as you retire; that is permitted. Tire him
+out. Then boldly make a lunge on him! and, above all, no malice, no
+strokes of the La Fougere kind.[C] No! a simple one-two, and some
+disengagements. Look here! do you see? while you turn your wrist as if
+opening a lock. Pere Vauthier, give me your cane. Ha! that will do."
+
+He grasped the rod which was used for lighting the gas, rounded his left
+arm, bent his right, and began to make some thrusts against the
+partition. He stamped with his foot, got animated, and pretended to be
+encountering difficulties, while he exclaimed: "Are you there? Is that
+it? Are you there?" and his enormous silhouette projected itself on the
+wall with his hat apparently touching the ceiling. The owner of the cafe
+shouted from time to time: "Bravo! very good!" His wife, though a little
+unnerved, was likewise filled with admiration; and Theodore, who had
+been in the army, remained riveted to the spot with amazement, the fact
+being, however, that he regarded M. Regimbart with a species of
+hero-worship.
+
+Next morning, at an early hour, Frederick hurried to the establishment
+in which Dussardier was employed. After having passed through a
+succession of departments all full of clothing-materials, either
+adorning shelves or lying on tables, while here and there shawls were
+fixed on wooden racks shaped like toadstools, he saw the young man, in a
+sort of railed cage, surrounded by account-books, and standing in front
+of a desk at which he was writing. The honest fellow left his work.
+
+
+[C] In 1828, a certain La Fougere brought out a work entitled _L'Art de
+n'etre jamais tue ni blesse en Duel sans avons pris aucune lecon d'armes
+et lors meme qu'on aurait affaire au premier Tireur de l'Univers._
+--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+The seconds arrived before twelve o'clock.
+
+Frederick, as a matter of good taste, thought he ought not to be present
+at the conference.
+
+The Baron and M. Joseph declared that they would be satisfied with the
+simplest excuses. But Regimbart's principle being never to yield, and
+his contention being that Arnoux's honour should be vindicated
+(Frederick had not spoken to him about anything else), he asked that the
+Vicomte should apologise. M. de Comaing was indignant at this
+presumption. The Citizen would not abate an inch. As all conciliation
+proved impracticable, there was nothing for it but to fight.
+
+Other difficulties arose, for the choice of weapons lay with Cisy, as
+the person to whom the insult had been offered. But Regimbart maintained
+that by sending the challenge he had constituted himself the offending
+party. His seconds loudly protested that a buffet was the most cruel of
+offences. The Citizen carped at the words, pointing out that a buffet
+was not a blow. Finally, they decided to refer the matter to a military
+man; and the four seconds went off to consult the officers in some of
+the barracks.
+
+They drew up at the barracks on the Quai d'Orsay. M. de Comaing, having
+accosted two captains, explained to them the question in dispute.
+
+The captains did not understand a word of what he was saying, owing to
+the confusion caused by the Citizen's incidental remarks. In short,
+they advised the gentlemen who consulted them to draw up a minute of the
+proceedings; after which they would give their decision. Thereupon, they
+repaired to a cafe; and they even, in order to do things with more
+circumspection, referred to Cisy as H, and Frederick as K.
+
+Then they returned to the barracks. The officers had gone out. They
+reappeared, and declared that the choice of arms manifestly belonged to
+H.
+
+They all returned to Cisy's abode. Regimbart and Dussardier remained on
+the footpath outside.
+
+The Vicomte, when he was informed of the solution of the case, was
+seized with such extreme agitation that they had to repeat for him
+several times the decision of the officers; and, when M. de Comaing came
+to deal with Regimbart's contention, he murmured "Nevertheless," not
+being very reluctant himself to yield to it. Then he let himself sink
+into an armchair, and declared that he would not fight.
+
+"Eh? What?" said the Baron. Then Cisy indulged in a confused flood of
+mouthings. He wished to fight with firearms--to discharge a single
+pistol at close quarters.
+
+"Or else we will put arsenic into a glass, and draw lots to see who must
+drink it. That's sometimes done. I've read of it!"
+
+The Baron, naturally rather impatient, addressed him in a harsh tone:
+
+"These gentlemen are waiting for your answer. This is indecent, to put
+it shortly. What weapons are you going to take? Come! is it the sword?"
+
+The Vicomte gave an affirmative reply by merely nodding his head; and it
+was arranged that the meeting should take place next morning at seven
+o'clock sharp at the Maillot gate.
+
+Dussardier, being compelled to go back to his business, Regimbart went
+to inform Frederick about the arrangement. He had been left all day
+without any news, and his impatience was becoming intolerable.
+
+"So much the better!" he exclaimed.
+
+The Citizen was satisfied with his deportment.
+
+"Would you believe it? They wanted an apology from us. It was nothing--a
+mere word! But I knocked them off their beam-ends nicely. The right
+thing to do, wasn't it?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," said Frederick, thinking that it would have been better
+to choose another second.
+
+Then, when he was alone, he repeated several times in a very loud tone:
+
+"I am going to fight! Hold on, I am going to fight! 'Tis funny!"
+
+And, as he walked up and down his room, while passing in front of the
+mirror, he noticed that he was pale.
+
+"Have I any reason to be afraid?"
+
+He was seized with a feeling of intolerable misery at the prospect of
+exhibiting fear on the ground.
+
+"And yet, suppose I happen to be killed? My father met his death the
+same way. Yes, I shall be killed!"
+
+And, suddenly, his mother rose up before him in a black dress;
+incoherent images floated before his mind. His own cowardice exasperated
+him. A paroxysm of courage, a thirst for human blood, took possession of
+him. A battalion could not have made him retreat. When this feverish
+excitement had cooled down, he was overjoyed to feel that his nerves
+were perfectly steady. In order to divert his thoughts, he went to the
+opera, where a ballet was being performed. He listened to the music,
+looked at the _danseuses_ through his opera-glass, and drank a glass of
+punch between the acts. But when he got home again, the sight of his
+study, of his furniture, in the midst of which he found himself for the
+last time, made him feel ready to swoon.
+
+He went down to the garden. The stars were shining; he gazed up at them.
+The idea of fighting about a woman gave him a greater importance in his
+own eyes, and surrounded him with a halo of nobility. Then he went to
+bed in a tranquil frame of mind.
+
+It was not so with Cisy. After the Baron's departure, Joseph had tried
+to revive his drooping spirits, and, as the Vicomte remained in the same
+dull mood:
+
+"However, old boy, if you prefer to remain at home, I'll go and say so."
+
+Cisy durst not answer "Certainly;" but he would have liked his cousin to
+do him this service without speaking about it.
+
+He wished that Frederick would die during the night of an attack of
+apoplexy, or that a riot would break out so that next morning there
+would be enough of barricades to shut up all the approaches to the Bois
+de Boulogne, or that some emergency might prevent one of the seconds
+from being present; for in the absence of seconds the duel would fall
+through. He felt a longing to save himself by taking an express
+train--no matter where. He regretted that he did not understand medicine
+so as to be able to take something which, without endangering his life,
+would cause it to be believed that he was dead. He finally wished to be
+ill in earnest.
+
+In order to get advice and assistance from someone, he sent for M. des
+Aulnays. That worthy man had gone back to Saintonge on receiving a
+letter informing him of the illness of one of his daughters. This
+appeared an ominous circumstance to Cisy. Luckily, M. Vezou, his tutor,
+came to see him. Then he unbosomed himself.
+
+"What am I to do? my God! what am I do?"
+
+"If I were in your place, Monsieur, I should pay some strapping fellow
+from the market-place to go and give him a drubbing."
+
+"He would still know who brought it about," replied Cisy.
+
+And from time to time he uttered a groan; then:
+
+"But is a man bound to fight a duel?"
+
+"'Tis a relic of barbarism! What are you to do?"
+
+Out of complaisance the pedagogue invited himself to dinner. His pupil
+did not eat anything, but, after the meal, felt the necessity of taking
+a short walk.
+
+As they were passing a church, he said:
+
+"Suppose we go in for a little while--to look?"
+
+M. Vezou asked nothing better, and even offered him holy water.
+
+It was the month of May. The altar was covered with flowers; voices were
+chanting; the organ was resounding through the church. But he found it
+impossible to pray, as the pomps of religion inspired him merely with
+thoughts of funerals. He fancied that he could hear the murmurs of the
+_De Profundis_.
+
+"Let us go away. I don't feel well."
+
+They spent the whole night playing cards. The Vicomte made an effort to
+lose in order to exorcise ill-luck, a thing which M. Vezou turned to his
+own advantage. At last, at the first streak of dawn, Cisy, who could
+stand it no longer, sank down on the green cloth, and was soon plunged
+in sleep, which was disturbed by unpleasant dreams.
+
+If courage, however, consists in wishing to get the better of one's own
+weakness, the Vicomte was courageous, for in the presence of his
+seconds, who came to seek him, he stiffened himself up with all the
+strength he could command, vanity making him realise that to attempt to
+draw back now would destroy him. M. de Comaing congratulated him on his
+good appearance.
+
+But, on the way, the jolting of the cab and the heat of the morning sun
+made him languish. His energy gave way again. He could not even
+distinguish any longer where they were. The Baron amused himself by
+increasing his terror, talking about the "corpse," and of the way they
+meant to get back clandestinely to the city. Joseph gave the rejoinder;
+both, considering the affair ridiculous, were certain that it would be
+settled.
+
+Cisy kept his head on his breast; he lifted it up slowly, and drew
+attention to the fact that they had not taken a doctor with them.
+
+"'Tis needless," said the Baron.
+
+"Then there's no danger?"
+
+Joseph answered in a grave tone:
+
+"Let us hope so!"
+
+And nobody in the carriage made any further remark.
+
+At ten minutes past seven they arrived in front of the Maillot gate.
+Frederick and his seconds were there, the entire group being dressed
+all in black. Regimbart, instead of a cravat, wore a stiff horsehair
+collar, like a trooper; and he carried a long violin-case adapted for
+adventures of this kind. They exchanged frigid bows. Then they all
+plunged into the Bois de Boulogne, taking the Madrid road, in order to
+find a suitable place.
+
+Regimbart said to Frederick, who was walking between him and Dussardier:
+
+"Well, and this scare--what do we care about it? If you want anything,
+don't annoy yourself about it; I know what to do. Fear is natural to
+man!"
+
+Then, in a low tone:
+
+"Don't smoke any more; in this case it has a weakening effect."
+
+Frederick threw away his cigar, which had only a disturbing effect on
+his brain, and went on with a firm step. The Vicomte advanced behind,
+leaning on the arms of his two seconds. Occasional wayfarers crossed
+their path. The sky was blue, and from time to time they heard rabbits
+skipping about. At the turn of a path, a woman in a Madras neckerchief
+was chatting with a man in a blouse; and in the large avenue under the
+chestnut-trees some grooms in vests of linen-cloth were walking horses
+up and down.
+
+Cisy recalled the happy days when, mounted on his own chestnut horse,
+and with his glass stuck in his eye, he rode up to carriage-doors. These
+recollections intensified his wretchedness. An intolerable thirst
+parched his throat. The buzzing of flies mingled with the throbbing of
+his arteries. His feet sank into the sand. It seemed to him as if he had
+been walking during a period which had neither beginning nor end.
+
+The seconds, without stopping, examined with keen glances each side of
+the path they were traversing. They hesitated as to whether they would
+go to the Catelan Cross or under the walls of the Bagatelle. At last
+they took a turn to the right; and they drew up in a kind of quincunx in
+the midst of the pine-trees.
+
+The spot was chosen in such a way that the level ground was cut equally
+into two divisions. The two places at which the principals in the duel
+were to take their stand were marked out. Then Regimbart opened his
+case. It was lined with red sheep's-leather, and contained four charming
+swords hollowed in the centre, with handles which were adorned with
+filigree. A ray of light, passing through the leaves, fell on them, and
+they appeared to Cisy to glitter like silver vipers on a sea of blood.
+
+The Citizen showed that they were of equal length. He took one himself,
+in order to separate the combatants in case of necessity. M. de Comaing
+held a walking-stick. There was an interval of silence. They looked at
+each other. All the faces had in them something fierce or cruel.
+
+Frederick had taken off his coat and his waistcoat. Joseph aided Cisy to
+do the same. When his cravat was removed a blessed medal could be seen
+on his neck. This made Regimbart smile contemptuously.
+
+Then M. de Comaing (in order to allow Frederick another moment for
+reflection) tried to raise some quibbles. He demanded the right to put
+on a glove, and to catch hold of his adversary's sword with the left
+hand. Regimbart, who was in a hurry, made no objection to this. At last
+the Baron, addressing Frederick:
+
+"Everything depends on you, Monsieur! There is never any dishonour in
+acknowledging one's faults."
+
+Dussardier made a gesture of approval. The Citizen gave vent to his
+indignation:
+
+"Do you think we came here as a mere sham, damn it! Be on your guard,
+each of you!"
+
+The combatants were facing one another, with their seconds by their
+sides.
+
+He uttered the single word:
+
+"Come!"
+
+Cisy became dreadfully pale. The end of his blade was quivering like a
+horsewhip. His head fell back, his hands dropped down helplessly, and he
+sank unconscious on the ground. Joseph raised him up and while holding a
+scent-bottle to his nose, gave him a good shaking.
+
+The Vicomte reopened his eyes, then suddenly grasped at his sword like a
+madman. Frederick had held his in readiness, and now awaited him with
+steady eye and uplifted hand.
+
+"Stop! stop!" cried a voice, which came from the road simultaneously
+with the sound of a horse at full gallop, and the hood of a cab broke
+the branches. A man bending out his head waved a handkerchief, still
+exclaiming:
+
+"Stop! stop!"
+
+M. de Comaing, believing that this meant the intervention of the police,
+lifted up his walking-stick.
+
+"Make an end of it. The Vicomte is bleeding!"
+
+"I?" said Cisy.
+
+In fact, he had in his fall taken off the skin of his left thumb.
+
+"But this was by falling," observed the Citizen.
+
+The Baron pretended not to understand.
+
+Arnoux had jumped out of the cab.
+
+"I have arrived too late? No! Thanks be to God!"
+
+He threw his arms around Frederick, felt him, and covered his face with
+kisses.
+
+"I am the cause of it. You wanted to defend your old friend! That's
+right--that's right! Never shall I forget it! How good you are! Ah! my
+own dear boy!"
+
+He gazed at Frederick and shed tears, while he chuckled with delight.
+The Baron turned towards Joseph:
+
+"I believe we are in the way at this little family party. It is over,
+messieurs, is it not? Vicomte, put your arm into a sling. Hold on! here
+is my silk handkerchief."
+
+Then, with an imperious gesture: "Come! no spite! This is as it should
+be!"
+
+The two adversaries shook hands in a very lukewarm fashion. The Vicomte,
+M. de Comaing, and Joseph disappeared in one direction, and Frederick
+left with his friends in the opposite direction.
+
+As the Madrid Restaurant was not far off, Arnoux proposed that they
+should go and drink a glass of beer there.
+
+"We might even have breakfast."
+
+But, as Dussardier had no time to lose, they confined themselves to
+taking some refreshment in the garden.
+
+They all experienced that sense of satisfaction which follows happy
+_denouements_. The Citizen, nevertheless, was annoyed at the duel having
+been interrupted at the most critical stage.
+
+Arnoux had been apprised of it by a person named Compain, a friend of
+Regimbart; and with an irrepressible outburst of emotion he had rushed
+to the spot to prevent it, under the impression, however, that he was
+the occasion of it. He begged of Frederick to furnish him with some
+details about it. Frederick, touched by these proofs of affection, felt
+some scruples at the idea of increasing his misapprehension of the
+facts.
+
+"For mercy's sake, don't say any more about it!"
+
+Arnoux thought that this reserve showed great delicacy. Then, with his
+habitual levity, he passed on to some fresh subject.
+
+"What news, Citizen?"
+
+And they began talking about banking transactions, and the number of
+bills that were falling due. In order to be more undisturbed, they went
+to another table, where they exchanged whispered confidences.
+
+Frederick could overhear the following words: "You are going to back me
+up with your signature." "Yes, but you, mind!" "I have negotiated it at
+last for three hundred!" "A nice commission, faith!"
+
+In short, it was clear that Arnoux was mixed up in a great many shady
+transactions with the Citizen.
+
+Frederick thought of reminding him about the fifteen thousand francs.
+But his last step forbade the utterance of any reproachful words even of
+the mildest description. Besides, he felt tired himself, and this was
+not a convenient place for talking about such a thing. He put it off
+till some future day.
+
+Arnoux, seated in the shade of an evergreen, was smoking, with a look of
+joviality in his face. He raised his eyes towards the doors of private
+rooms looking out on the garden, and said he had often paid visits to
+the house in former days.
+
+"Probably not by yourself?" returned the Citizen.
+
+"Faith, you're right there!"
+
+"What blackguardism you do carry on! you, a married man!"
+
+"Well, and what about yourself?" retorted Arnoux; and, with an indulgent
+smile: "I am even sure that this rascal here has a room of his own
+somewhere into which he takes his friends."
+
+The Citizen confessed that this was true by simply shrugging his
+shoulders. Then these two gentlemen entered into their respective tastes
+with regard to the sex: Arnoux now preferred youth, work-girls;
+Regimbart hated affected women, and went in for the genuine article
+before anything else. The conclusion which the earthenware-dealer laid
+down at the close of this discussion was that women were not to be taken
+seriously.
+
+"Nevertheless, he is fond of his own wife," thought Frederick, as he
+made his way home; and he looked on Arnoux as a coarse-grained man. He
+had a grudge against him on account of the duel, as if it had been for
+the sake of this individual that he risked his life a little while
+before.
+
+But he felt grateful to Dussardier for his devotedness. Ere long the
+book-keeper came at his invitation to pay him a visit every day.
+
+Frederick lent him books--Thiers, Dulaure, Barante, and Lamartine's
+_Girondins_.
+
+The honest fellow listened to everything the other said with a
+thoughtful air, and accepted his opinions as those of a master.
+
+One evening he arrived looking quite scared.
+
+That morning, on the boulevard, a man who was running so quickly that he
+had got out of breath, had jostled against him, and having recognised
+in him a friend of Senecal, had said to him:
+
+"He has just been taken! I am making my escape!"
+
+There was no doubt about it. Dussardier had spent the day making
+enquiries. Senecal was in jail charged with an attempted crime of a
+political nature.
+
+The son of an overseer, he was born at Lyons, and having had as his
+teacher a former disciple of Chalier, he had, on his arrival in Paris,
+obtained admission into the "Society of Families." His ways were known,
+and the police kept a watch on him. He was one of those who fought in
+the outbreak of May, 1839, and since then he had remained in the shade;
+but, his self-importance increasing more and more, he became a fanatical
+follower of Alibaud, mixing up his own grievances against society with
+those of the people against monarchy, and waking up every morning in the
+hope of a revolution which in a fortnight or a month would turn the
+world upside down. At last, disgusted at the inactivity of his brethren,
+enraged at the obstacles that retarded the realisation of his dreams,
+and despairing of the country, he entered in his capacity of chemist
+into the conspiracy for the use of incendiary bombs; and he had been
+caught carrying gunpowder, of which he was going to make a trial at
+Montmartre--a supreme effort to establish the Republic.
+
+Dussardier was no less attached to the Republican idea, for, from his
+point of view, it meant enfranchisement and universal happiness. One
+day--at the age of fifteen--in the Rue Transnonain, in front of a
+grocer's shop, he had seen soldiers' bayonets reddened with blood and
+exhibiting human hairs pasted to the butt-ends of their guns. Since
+that time, the Government had filled him with feelings of rage as the
+very incarnation of injustice. He frequently confused the assassins with
+the gendarmes; and in his eyes a police-spy was just as bad as a
+parricide. All the evil scattered over the earth he ingenuously
+attributed to Power; and he hated it with a deep-rooted, undying hatred
+that held possession of his heart and made his sensibility all the more
+acute. He had been dazzled by Senecal's declamations. It was of little
+consequence whether he happened to be guilty or not, or whether the
+attempt with which he was charged could be characterised as an odious
+proceeding! Since he was the victim of Authority, it was only right to
+help him.
+
+"The Peers will condemn him, certainly! Then he will be conveyed in a
+prison-van, like a convict, and will be shut up in Mont Saint-Michel,
+where the Government lets people die! Austen had gone mad! Steuben had
+killed himself! In order to transfer Barbes into a dungeon, they had
+dragged him by the legs and by the hair. They trampled on his body, and
+his head rebounded along the staircase at every step they took. What
+abominable treatment! The wretches!"
+
+He was choking with angry sobs, and he walked about the apartment in a
+very excited frame of mind.
+
+"In the meantime, something must be done! Come, for my part, I don't
+know what to do! Suppose we tried to rescue him, eh? While they are
+bringing him to the Luxembourg, we could throw ourselves on the escort
+in the passage! A dozen resolute men--that sometimes is enough to
+accomplish it!"
+
+There was so much fire in his eyes that Frederick was a little startled
+by his look. He recalled to mind Senecal's sufferings and his austere
+life. Without feeling the same enthusiasm about him as Dussardier, he
+experienced nevertheless that admiration which is inspired by every man
+who sacrifices himself for an idea. He said to himself that, if he had
+helped this man, he would not be in his present position; and the two
+friends anxiously sought to devise some contrivance whereby they could
+set him free.
+
+It was impossible for them to get access to him.
+
+Frederick examined the newspapers to try to find out what had become of
+him, and for three weeks he was a constant visitor at the reading-rooms.
+
+One day several numbers of the _Flambard_ fell into his hands. The
+leading article was invariably devoted to cutting up some distinguished
+man. After that came some society gossip and some scandals. Then there
+were some chaffing observations about the Odeon Carpentras,
+pisciculture, and prisoners under sentence of death, when there happened
+to be any. The disappearance of a packet-boat furnished materials for a
+whole year's jokes. In the third column a picture-canvasser, under the
+form of anecdotes or advice, gave some tailors' announcements, together
+with accounts of evening parties, advertisements as to auctions, and
+analysis of artistic productions, writing in the same strain about a
+volume of verse and a pair of boots. The only serious portion of it was
+the criticism of the small theatres, in which fierce attacks were made
+on two or three managers; and the interests of art were invoked on the
+subjects of the decorations of the Rope-dancers' Gymnasium and of the
+actress who played the part of the heroine at the Delassements.
+
+Frederick was passing over all these items when his eyes alighted on an
+article entitled "A Lass between three Lads." It was the story of his
+duel related in a lively Gallic style. He had no difficulty in
+recognising himself, for he was indicated by this little joke, which
+frequently recurred: "A young man from the College of Sens who has no
+sense." He was even represented as a poor devil from the provinces, an
+obscure booby trying to rub against persons of high rank. As for the
+Vicomte, he was made to play a fascinating part, first by having forced
+his way into the supper-room, then by having carried off the lady, and,
+finally, by having behaved all through like a perfect gentleman.
+
+Frederick's courage was not denied exactly, but it was pointed out that
+an intermediary--the _protector_ himself--had come on the scene just in
+the nick of time. The entire article concluded with this phrase,
+pregnant perhaps with sinister meaning:
+
+"What is the cause of their affection? A problem! and, as Bazile says,
+who the deuce is it that is deceived here?"
+
+This was, beyond all doubt, Hussonnet's revenge against Frederick for
+having refused him five thousand francs.
+
+What was he to do? If he demanded an explanation from him, the Bohemian
+would protest that he was innocent, and nothing would be gained by doing
+this. The best course was to swallow the affront in silence. Nobody,
+after all, read the _Flambard_.
+
+As he left the reading-room, he saw some people standing in front of a
+picture-dealer's shop. They were staring at the portrait of a woman,
+with this fine traced underneath in black letters: "Mademoiselle
+Rosanette Bron, belonging to M. Frederick Moreau of Nogent."
+
+It was indeed she--or, at least, like her--her full face displayed, her
+bosom uncovered, with her hair hanging loose, and with a purse of red
+velvet in her hands, while behind her a peacock leaned his beak over her
+shoulder, covering the wall with his immense plumage in the shape of a
+fan.
+
+Pellerin had got up this exhibition in order to compel Frederick to pay,
+persuaded that he was a celebrity, and that all Paris, roused to take
+his part, would be interested in this wretched piece of work.
+
+Was this a conspiracy? Had the painter and the journalist prepared their
+attack on him at the same time?
+
+His duel had not put a stop to anything. He had become an object of
+ridicule, and everyone had been laughing at him.
+
+Three days afterwards, at the end of June, the Northern shares having
+had a rise of fifteen francs, as he had bought two thousand of them
+within the past month, he found that he had made thirty thousand francs
+by them. This caress of fortune gave him renewed self-confidence. He
+said to himself that he wanted nobody's help, and that all his
+embarrassments were the result of his timidity and indecision. He ought
+to have begun his intrigue with the Marechale with brutal directness and
+refused Hussonnet the very first day. He should not have compromised
+himself with Pellerin. And, in order to show that he was not a bit
+embarrassed, he presented himself at one of Madame Dambreuse's ordinary
+evening parties.
+
+In the middle of the anteroom, Martinon, who had arrived at the same
+time as he had, turned round:
+
+"What! so you are visiting here?" with a look of surprise, and as if
+displeased at seeing him.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+And, while asking himself what could be the cause of such a display of
+hostility on Martinon's part, Frederick made his way into the
+drawing-room.
+
+The light was dim, in spite of the lamps placed in the corners, for the
+three windows, which were wide open, made three large squares of black
+shadow stand parallel with each other. Under the pictures, flower-stands
+occupied, at a man's height, the spaces on the walls, and a silver
+teapot with a samovar cast their reflections in a mirror on the
+background. There arose a murmur of hushed voices. Pumps could be heard
+creaking on the carpet. He could distinguish a number of black coats,
+then a round table lighted up by a large shaded lamp, seven or eight
+ladies in summer toilets, and at some little distance Madame Dambreuse
+in a rocking armchair. Her dress of lilac taffeta had slashed sleeves,
+from which fell muslin puffs, the charming tint of the material
+harmonising with the shade of her hair; and she sat slightly thrown back
+with the tip of her foot on a cushion, with the repose of an exquisitely
+delicate work of art, a flower of high culture.
+
+M. Dambreuse and an old gentleman with a white head were walking from
+one end of the drawing-room to the other. Some of the guests chatted
+here and there, sitting on the edges of little sofas, while the others,
+standing up, formed a circle in the centre of the apartment.
+
+They were talking about votes, amendments, counter-amendments, M.
+Grandin's speech, and M. Benoist's reply. The third party had decidedly
+gone too far. The Left Centre ought to have had a better recollection
+of its origin. Serious attacks had been made on the ministry. It must be
+reassuring, however, to see that it had no successor. In short, the
+situation was completely analogous to that of 1834.
+
+As these things bored Frederick, he drew near the ladies. Martinon was
+beside them, standing up, with his hat under his arm, showing himself in
+three-quarter profile, and looking so neat that he resembled a piece of
+Sevres porcelain. He took up a copy of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ which
+was lying on the table between an _Imitation_ and an _Almanach de
+Gotha_, and spoke of a distinguished poet in a contemptuous tone, said
+he was going to the "conferences of Saint-Francis," complained of his
+larynx, swallowed from time to time a pellet of gummatum, and in the
+meantime kept talking about music, and played the part of the elegant
+trifler. Mademoiselle Cecile, M. Dambreuse's niece, who happened to be
+embroidering a pair of ruffles, gazed at him with her pale blue eyes;
+and Miss John, the governess, who had a flat nose, laid aside her
+tapestry on his account. Both of them appeared to be exclaiming
+internally:
+
+"How handsome he is!"
+
+Madame Dambreuse turned round towards him.
+
+"Please give me my fan which is on that pier-table over there. You are
+taking the wrong one! 'tis the other!"
+
+She arose, and when he came across to her, they met in the middle of the
+drawing-room face to face. She addressed a few sharp words to him, no
+doubt of a reproachful character, judging by the haughty expression of
+her face. Martinon tried to smile; then he went to join the circle in
+which grave men were holding discussions. Madame Dambreuse resumed her
+seat, and, bending over the arm of her chair, said to Frederick:
+
+"I saw somebody the day before yesterday who was speaking to me about
+you--Monsieur de Cisy. You know him, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, slightly."
+
+Suddenly Madame Dambreuse uttered an exclamation:
+
+"Oh! Duchesse, what a pleasure to see you!"
+
+And she advanced towards the door to meet a little old lady in a
+Carmelite taffeta gown and a cap of guipure with long borders. The
+daughter of a companion in exile of the Comte d'Artois, and the widow of
+a marshal of the Empire; who had been created a peer of France in 1830,
+she adhered to the court of a former generation as well as to the new
+court, and possessed sufficient influence to procure many things. Those
+who stood talking stepped aside, and then resumed their conversation.
+
+It had now turned on pauperism, of which, according to these gentlemen,
+all the descriptions that had been given were grossly exaggerated.
+
+"However," urged Martinon, "let us confess that there is such a thing as
+want! But the remedy depends neither on science nor on power. It is
+purely an individual question. When the lower classes are willing to get
+rid of their vices, they will free themselves from their necessities.
+Let the people be more moral, and they will be less poor!"
+
+According to M. Dambreuse, no good could be attained without a
+superabundance of capital. Therefore, the only practicable method was to
+intrust, "as the Saint-Simonians, however, proposed (good heavens!
+there was some merit in their views--let us be just to everybody)--to
+intrust, I say, the cause of progress to those who can increase the
+public wealth." Imperceptibly they began to touch on great industrial
+undertakings--the railways, the coal-mines. And M. Dambreuse, addressing
+Frederick, said to him in a low whisper:
+
+"You have not called about that business of ours?"
+
+Frederick pleaded illness; but, feeling that this excuse was too absurd:
+
+"Besides, I need my ready money."
+
+"Is it to buy a carriage?" asked Madame Dambreuse, who was brushing past
+him with a cup of tea in her hand, and for a minute she watched his face
+with her head bent slightly over her shoulder.
+
+She believed that he was Rosanette's lover--the allusion was obvious. It
+seemed even to Frederick that all the ladies were staring at him from a
+distance and whispering to one another.
+
+In order to get a better idea as to what they were thinking about, he
+once more approached them. On the opposite side of the table, Martinon,
+seated near Mademoiselle Cecile, was turning over the leaves of an
+album. It contained lithographs representing Spanish costumes. He read
+the descriptive titles aloud: "A Lady of Seville," "A Valencia
+Gardener," "An Andalusian Picador"; and once, when he had reached the
+bottom of the page, he continued all in one breath:
+
+"Jacques Arnoux, publisher. One of your friends, eh?"
+
+"That is true," said Frederick, hurt by the tone he had assumed.
+
+Madame Dambreuse again interposed:
+
+"In fact, you came here one morning--about a house, I believe--a house
+belonging to his wife." (This meant: "She is your mistress.")
+
+He reddened up to his ears; and M. Dambreuse, who joined them at the
+same moment, made this additional remark:
+
+"You appear even to be deeply interested in them."
+
+These last words had the effect of putting Frederick out of countenance.
+His confusion, which, he could not help feeling, was evident to them,
+was on the point of confirming their suspicions, when M. Dambreuse drew
+close to him, and, in a tone of great seriousness, said:
+
+"I suppose you don't do business together?"
+
+He protested by repeated shakes of the head, without realising the exact
+meaning of the capitalist, who wished to give him advice.
+
+He felt a desire to leave. The fear of appearing faint-hearted
+restrained him. A servant carried away the teacups. Madame Dambreuse was
+talking to a diplomatist in a blue coat. Two young girls, drawing their
+foreheads close together, showed each other their jewellery. The others,
+seated in a semicircle on armchairs, kept gently moving their white
+faces crowned with black or fair hair. Nobody, in fact, minded them.
+Frederick turned on his heels; and, by a succession of long zigzags, he
+had almost reached the door, when, passing close to a bracket, he
+remarked, on the top of it, between a china vase and the wainscoting, a
+journal folded up in two. He drew it out a little, and read these
+words--_The Flambard_.
+
+Who had brought it there? Cisy. Manifestly no one else. What did it
+matter, however? They would believe--already, perhaps, everyone
+believed--in the article. What was the cause of this rancour? He wrapped
+himself up in ironical silence. He felt like one lost in a desert. But
+suddenly he heard Martinon's voice:
+
+"Talking of Arnoux, I saw in the newspapers, amongst the names of those
+accused of preparing incendiary bombs, that of one of his _employes_,
+Senecal. Is that our Senecal?"
+
+"The very same!"
+
+Martinon repeated several times in a very loud tone:
+
+"What? our Senecal! our Senecal!"
+
+Then questions were asked him about the conspiracy. It was assumed that
+his connection with the prosecutor's office ought to furnish him with
+some information on the subject.
+
+He declared that he had none. However, he knew very little about this
+individual, having seen him only two or three times. He positively
+regarded him as a very ill-conditioned fellow. Frederick exclaimed
+indignantly:
+
+"Not at all! he is a very honest fellow."
+
+"All the same, Monsieur," said a landowner, "no conspirator can be an
+honest man."
+
+Most of the men assembled there had served at least four governments;
+and they would have sold France or the human race in order to preserve
+their own incomes, to save themselves from any discomfort or
+embarrassment, or even through sheer baseness, through worship of force.
+They all maintained that political crimes were inexcusable. It would be
+more desirable to pardon those which were provoked by want. And they did
+not fail to put forward the eternal illustration of the father of a
+family stealing the eternal loaf of bread from the eternal baker.
+
+A gentleman occupying an administrative office even went so far as to
+exclaim:
+
+"For my part, Monsieur, if I were told that my brother were a
+conspirator I would denounce him!"
+
+Frederick invoked the right of resistance, and recalling to mind some
+phrases that Deslauriers had used in their conversations, he referred to
+Delosmes, Blackstone, the English Bill of Rights, and Article 2 of the
+Constitution of '91. It was even by virtue of this law that the fall of
+Napoleon had been proclaimed. It had been recognised in 1830, and
+inscribed at the head of the Charter. Besides, when the sovereign fails
+to fulfil the contract, justice requires that he should be overthrown.
+
+"Why, this is abominable!" exclaimed a prefect's wife.
+
+All the rest remained silent, filled with vague terror, as if they had
+heard the noise of bullets. Madame Dambreuse rocked herself in her
+chair, and smiled as she listened to him.
+
+A manufacturer, who had formerly been a member of the Carbonari, tried
+to show that the Orleans family possessed good qualities. No doubt there
+were some abuses.
+
+"Well, what then?"
+
+"But we should not talk about them, my dear Monsieur! If you knew how
+all these clamourings of the Opposition injure business!"
+
+"What do I care about business?" said Frederick.
+
+He was exasperated by the rottenness of these old men; and, carried away
+by the recklessness which sometimes takes possession of even the most
+timid, he attacked the financiers, the deputies, the government, the
+king, took up the defence of the Arabs, and gave vent to a great deal of
+abusive language. A few of those around him encouraged him in a spirit
+of irony:
+
+"Go on, pray! continue!" whilst others muttered: "The deuce! what
+enthusiasm!" At last he thought the right thing to do was to retire;
+and, as he was going away, M. Dambreuse said to him, alluding to the
+post of secretary:
+
+"No definite arrangement has been yet arrived at; but make haste!"
+
+And Madame Dambreuse:
+
+"You'll call again soon, will you not?"
+
+Frederick considered their parting salutation a last mockery. He had
+resolved never to come back to this house, or to visit any of these
+people again. He imagined that he had offended them, not realising what
+vast funds of indifference society possesses. These women especially
+excited his indignation. Not a single one of them had backed him up even
+with a look of sympathy. He felt angry with them for not having been
+moved by his words. As for Madame Dambreuse, he found in her something
+at the same time languid and cold, which prevented him from defining her
+character by a formula. Had she a lover? and, if so, who was her lover?
+Was it the diplomatist or some other? Perhaps it was Martinon?
+Impossible! Nevertheless, he experienced a sort of jealousy against
+Martinon, and an unaccountable ill-will against her.
+
+Dussardier, having called this evening as usual, was awaiting him.
+Frederick's heart was swelling with bitterness; he unburdened it, and
+his grievances, though vague and hard to understand, saddened the
+honest shop-assistant. He even complained of his isolation. Dussardier,
+after a little hesitation, suggested that they ought to call on
+Deslauriers.
+
+Frederick, at the mention of the advocate's name, was seized with a
+longing to see him once more. He was now living in the midst of profound
+intellectual solitude, and found Dussardier's company quite
+insufficient. In reply to the latter's question, Frederick told him to
+arrange matters any way he liked.
+
+Deslauriers had likewise, since their quarrel, felt a void in his life.
+He yielded without much reluctance to the cordial advances which were
+made to him. The pair embraced each other, then began chatting about
+matters of no consequence.
+
+Frederick's heart was touched by Deslauriers' display of reserve, and in
+order to make him a sort of reparation, he told the other next day how
+he had lost the fifteen thousand francs without mentioning that these
+fifteen thousand francs had been originally intended for him. The
+advocate, nevertheless, had a shrewd suspicion of the truth; and this
+misadventure, which justified, in his own mind, his prejudices against
+Arnoux, entirely disarmed his rancour; and he did not again refer to the
+promise made by his friend on a former occasion.
+
+Frederick, misled by his silence, thought he had forgotten all about it.
+A few days afterwards, he asked Deslauriers whether there was any way in
+which he could get back his money.
+
+They might raise the point that the prior mortgage was fraudulent, and
+might take proceedings against the wife personally.
+
+"No! no! not against her!" exclaimed Frederick, and, yielding to the
+ex-law-clerk's questions, he confessed the truth. Deslauriers was
+convinced that Frederick had not told him the entire truth, no doubt
+through a feeling of delicacy. He was hurt by this want of confidence.
+
+They were, however, on the same intimate terms as before, and they even
+found so much pleasure in each other's society that Dussardier's
+presence was an obstacle to their free intercourse. Under the pretence
+that they had appointments, they managed gradually to get rid of him.
+
+There are some men whose only mission amongst their fellow-men is to
+serve as go-betweens; people use them in the same way as if they were
+bridges, by stepping over them and going on further.
+
+Frederick concealed nothing from his old friend. He told him about the
+coal-mine speculation and M. Dambreuse's proposal. The advocate grew
+thoughtful.
+
+"That's queer! For such a post a man with a good knowledge of law would
+be required!"
+
+"But you could assist me," returned Frederick.
+
+"Yes!--hold on! faith, yes! certainly."
+
+During the same week Frederick showed Dussardier a letter from his
+mother.
+
+Madame Moreau accused herself of having misjudged M. Roque, who had
+given a satisfactory explanation of his conduct. Then she spoke of his
+means, and of the possibility, later, of a marriage with Louise.
+
+"That would not be a bad match," said Deslauriers.
+
+Frederick said it was entirely out of the question. Besides, Pere Roque
+was an old trickster. That in no way affected the matter, in the
+advocate's opinion.
+
+At the end of July, an unaccountable diminution in value made the
+Northern shares fall. Frederick had not sold his. He lost sixty thousand
+francs in one day. His income was considerably reduced. He would have to
+curtail his expenditure, or take up some calling, or make a brilliant
+catch in the matrimonial market.
+
+Then Deslauriers spoke to him about Mademoiselle Roque. There was
+nothing to prevent him from going to get some idea of things by seeing
+for himself. Frederick was rather tired of city life. Provincial
+existence and the maternal roof would be a sort of recreation for him.
+
+The aspect of the streets of Nogent, as he passed through them in the
+moonlight, brought back old memories to his mind; and he experienced a
+kind of pang, like persons who have just returned home after a long
+period of travel.
+
+At his mother's house, all the country visitors had assembled as in
+former days--MM. Gamblin, Heudras, and Chambrion, the Lebrun family,
+"those young ladies, the Augers," and, in addition, Pere Roque, and,
+sitting opposite to Madame Moreau at a card-table, Mademoiselle Louise.
+She was now a woman. She sprang to her feet with a cry of delight. They
+were all in a flutter of excitement. She remained standing motionless,
+and the paleness of her face was intensified by the light issuing from
+four silver candlesticks.
+
+When she resumed play, her hand was trembling. This emotion was
+exceedingly flattering to Frederick, whose pride had been sorely wounded
+of late. He said to himself: "You, at any rate, will love me!" and, as
+if he were thus taking his revenge for the humiliations he had endured
+in the capital, he began to affect the Parisian lion, retailed all the
+theatrical gossip, told anecdotes as to the doings of society, which he
+had borrowed from the columns of the cheap newspapers, and, in short,
+dazzled his fellow-townspeople.
+
+Next morning, Madame Moreau expatiated on Louise's fine qualities; then
+she enumerated the woods and farms of which she would be the owner. Pere
+Roque's wealth was considerable.
+
+He had acquired it while making investments for M. Dambreuse; for he had
+lent money to persons who were able to give good security in the shape
+of mortgages, whereby he was enabled to demand additional sums or
+commissions. The capital, owing to his energetic vigilance, was in no
+danger of being lost. Besides, Pere Roque never had any hesitation in
+making a seizure. Then he bought up the mortgaged property at a low
+price, and M. Dambreuse, having got back his money, found his affairs in
+very good order.
+
+But this manipulation of business matters in a way which was not
+strictly legal compromised him with his agent. He could refuse Pere
+Roque nothing, and it was owing to the latter's solicitations that M.
+Dambreuse had received Frederick so cordially.
+
+The truth was that in the depths of his soul Pere Roque cherished a
+deep-rooted ambition. He wished his daughter to be a countess; and for
+the purpose of gaining this object, without imperilling the happiness of
+his child, he knew no other young man so well adapted as Frederick.
+
+Through the influence of M. Dambreuse, he could obtain the title of his
+maternal grandfather, Madame Moreau being the daughter of a Comte de
+Fouvens, and besides being connected with the oldest families in
+Champagne, the Lavernades and the D'Etrignys. As for the Moreaus, a
+Gothic inscription near the mills of Villeneuve-l'Archeveque referred to
+one Jacob Moreau, who had rebuilt them in 1596; and the tomb of his own
+son, Pierre Moreau, first esquire of the king under Louis XIV., was to
+be seen in the chapel of Saint-Nicholas.
+
+So much family distinction fascinated M. Roque, the son of an old
+servant. If the coronet of a count did not come, he would console
+himself with something else; for Frederick might get a deputyship when
+M. Dambreuse had been raised to the peerage, and might then be able to
+assist him in his commercial pursuits, and to obtain for him supplies
+and grants. He liked the young man personally. In short, he desired to
+have Frederick for a son-in-law, because for a long time past he had
+been smitten with this notion, which only grew all the stronger day by
+day. Now he went to religious services, and he had won Madame Moreau
+over to his views, especially by holding before her the prospect of a
+title.
+
+So it was that, eight days later, without any formal engagement,
+Frederick was regarded as Mademoiselle Roque's "intended," and Pere
+Roque, who was not troubled with many scruples, often left them
+together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+LITTLE LOUISE GROWS UP.
+
+
+Deslauriers had carried away from Frederick's house the copy of the deed
+of subrogation, with a power of attorney in proper form, giving him full
+authority to act; but, when he had reascended his own five flights of
+stairs and found himself alone in the midst of his dismal room, in his
+armchair upholstered in sheep-leather, the sight of the stamped paper
+disgusted him.
+
+He was tired of these things, and of restaurants at thirty-two sous, of
+travelling in omnibuses, of enduring want and making futile efforts. He
+took up the papers again; there were others near them. They were
+prospectuses of the coal-mining company, with a list of the mines and
+the particulars as to their contents, Frederick having left all these
+matters in his hands in order to have his opinion about them.
+
+An idea occurred to him--that of presenting himself at M. Dambreuse's
+house and applying for the post of secretary. This post, it was
+perfectly certain, could not be obtained without purchasing a certain
+number of shares. He recognised the folly of his project, and said to
+himself:
+
+"Oh! no, that would be a wrong step."
+
+Then he ransacked his brains to think of the best way in which he could
+set about recovering the fifteen thousand francs. Such a sum was a mere
+trifle to Frederick. But, if he had it, what a lever it would be in his
+hands! And the ex-law-clerk was indignant at the other being so well
+off.
+
+"He makes a pitiful use of it. He is a selfish fellow. Ah! what do I
+care for his fifteen thousand francs!"
+
+Why had he lent the money? For the sake of Madame Arnoux's bright eyes.
+She was his mistress! Deslauriers had no doubt about it. "There was
+another way in which money was useful!"
+
+And he was assailed by malignant thoughts.
+
+Then he allowed his thoughts to dwell even on Frederick's personal
+appearance. It had always exercised over him an almost feminine charm;
+and he soon came to admire it for a success which he realised that he
+was himself incapable of achieving.
+
+"Nevertheless, was not the will the main element in every enterprise?
+and, since by its means we may triumph over everything----"
+
+"Ha! that would be funny!"
+
+But he felt ashamed of such treachery, and the next moment:
+
+"Pooh! I am afraid?"
+
+Madame Arnoux--from having heard her spoken about so often--had come to
+be depicted in his imagination as something extraordinary. The
+persistency of this passion had irritated him like a problem. Her
+austerity, which seemed a little theatrical, now annoyed him. Besides,
+the woman of the world--or, rather, his own conception of her--dazzled
+the advocate as a symbol and the epitome of a thousand pleasures. Poor
+though he was, he hankered after luxury in its more glittering form.
+
+"After all, even though he should get angry, so much the worse! He has
+behaved too badly to me to call for any anxiety about him on my part! I
+have no assurance that she is his mistress! He has denied it. So then I
+am free to act as I please!"
+
+He could no longer abandon the desire of taking this step. He wished to
+make a trial of his own strength, so that one day, all of a sudden, he
+polished his boots himself, bought white gloves, and set forth on his
+way, substituting himself for Frederick, and almost imagining that he
+was the other by a singular intellectual evolution, in which there was,
+at the same time, vengeance and sympathy, imitation and audacity.
+
+He announced himself as "Doctor Deslauriers."
+
+Madame Arnoux was surprised, as she had not sent for any physician.
+
+"Ha! a thousand apologies!--'tis a doctor of law! I have come in
+Monsieur Moreau's interest."
+
+This name appeared to produce a disquieting effect on her mind.
+
+"So much the better!" thought the ex-law-clerk.
+
+"Since she has a liking for him, she will like me, too!" buoying up his
+courage with the accepted idea that it is easier to supplant a lover
+than a husband.
+
+He referred to the fact that he had the pleasure of meeting her on one
+occasion at the law-courts; he even mentioned the date. This remarkable
+power of memory astonished Madame Arnoux. He went on in a tone of mild
+affectation:
+
+"You have already found your affairs a little embarrassing?"
+
+She made no reply.
+
+"Then it must be true."
+
+He began to chat about one thing or another, about her house, about the
+works; then, noticing some medallions at the sides of the mirror:
+
+"Ha! family portraits, no doubt?"
+
+He remarked that of an old lady, Madame Arnoux's mother.
+
+"She has the appearance of an excellent woman, a southern type."
+
+And, on being met with the objection that she was from Chartres:
+
+"Chartres! pretty town!"
+
+He praised its cathedral and public buildings, and coming back to the
+portrait, traced resemblances between it and Madame Arnoux, and cast
+flatteries at her indirectly. She did not appear to be offended at this.
+He took confidence, and said that he had known Arnoux a long time.
+
+"He is a fine fellow, but one who compromises himself. Take this
+mortgage, for example--one can't imagine such a reckless act----"
+
+"Yes, I know," said she, shrugging her shoulders.
+
+This involuntary evidence of contempt induced Deslauriers to continue.
+"That kaolin business of his was near turning out very badly, a thing
+you may not be aware of, and even his reputation----"
+
+A contraction of the brows made him pause.
+
+Then, falling back on generalities, he expressed his pity for the "poor
+women whose husbands frittered away their means."
+
+"But in this case, monsieur, the means belong to him. As for me, I have
+nothing!"
+
+No matter, one never knows. A woman of experience might be useful. He
+made offers of devotion, exalted his own merits; and he looked into her
+face through his shining spectacles.
+
+She was seized with a vague torpor; but suddenly said:
+
+"Let us look into the matter, I beg of you."
+
+He exhibited the bundle of papers.
+
+"This is Frederick's letter of attorney. With such a document in the
+hands of a process-server, who would make out an order, nothing could be
+easier; in twenty-four hours----" (She remained impassive; he changed
+his manoeuvre.)
+
+"As for me, however, I don't understand what impels him to demand this
+sum, for, in fact, he doesn't want it."
+
+"How is that? Monsieur Moreau has shown himself so kind."
+
+"Oh! granted!"
+
+And Deslauriers began by eulogising him, then in a mild fashion
+disparaged him, giving it out that he was a forgetful individual, and
+over-fond of money.
+
+"I thought he was your friend, monsieur?"
+
+"That does not prevent me from seeing his defects. Thus, he showed very
+little recognition of--how shall I put it?--the sympathy----"
+
+Madame Arnoux was turning over the leaves of a large manuscript book.
+
+She interrupted him in order to get him to explain a certain word.
+
+He bent over her shoulder, and his face came so close to hers that he
+grazed her cheek. She blushed. This heightened colour inflamed
+Deslauriers, he hungrily kissed her head.
+
+"What are you doing, Monsieur?" And, standing up against the wall, she
+compelled him to remain perfectly quiet under the glance of her large
+blue eyes glowing with anger.
+
+"Listen to me! I love you!"
+
+She broke into a laugh, a shrill, discouraging laugh. Deslauriers felt
+himself suffocating with anger. He restrained his feelings, and, with
+the look of a vanquished person imploring mercy:
+
+"Ha! you are wrong! As for me, I would not go like him."
+
+"Of whom, pray, are you talking?"
+
+"Of Frederick."
+
+"Ah! Monsieur Moreau troubles me little. I told you that!"
+
+"Oh! forgive me! forgive me!" Then, drawling his words, in a sarcastic
+tone:
+
+"I even imagined that you were sufficiently interested in him personally
+to learn with pleasure----"
+
+She became quite pale. The ex-law-clerk added:
+
+"He is going to be married."
+
+"He!"
+
+"In a month at latest, to Mademoiselle Roque, the daughter of M.
+Dambreuse's agent. He has even gone down to Nogent for no other purpose
+but that."
+
+She placed her hand over her heart, as if at the shock of a great blow;
+but immediately she rang the bell. Deslauriers did not wait to be
+ordered to leave. When she turned round he had disappeared.
+
+Madame Arnoux was gasping a little with the strain of her emotions. She
+drew near the window to get a breath of air.
+
+On the other side of the street, on the footpath, a packer in his
+shirt-sleeves was nailing down a trunk. Hackney-coaches passed. She
+closed the window-blinds and then came and sat down. As the high houses
+in the vicinity intercepted the sun's rays, the light of day stole
+coldly into the apartment. Her children had gone out; there was not a
+stir around her. It seemed as if she were utterly deserted.
+
+"He is going to be married! Is it possible?"
+
+And she was seized with a fit of nervous trembling.
+
+"Why is this? Does it mean that I love him?"
+
+Then all of a sudden:
+
+"Why, yes; I love him--I love him!"
+
+It seemed to her as if she were sinking into endless depths. The clock
+struck three. She listened to the vibrations of the sounds as they died
+away. And she remained on the edge of the armchair, with her eyeballs
+fixed and an unchanging smile on her face.
+
+The same afternoon, at the same moment, Frederick and Mademoiselle
+Louise were walking in the garden belonging to M. Roque at the end of
+the island.
+
+Old Catherine was watching them, some distance away. They were walking
+side by side and Frederick said:
+
+"You remember when I brought you into the country?"
+
+"How good you were to me!" she replied. "You assisted me in making
+sand-pies, in filling my watering-pot, and in rocking me in the swing!"
+
+"All your dolls, who had the names of queens and marchionesses--what has
+become of them?"
+
+"Really, I don't know!"
+
+"And your pug Moricaud?"
+
+"He's drowned, poor darling!"
+
+"And the _Don Quixote_ of which we coloured the engravings together?"
+
+"I have it still!"
+
+He recalled to her mind the day of her first communion, and how pretty
+she had been at vespers, with her white veil and her large wax-taper,
+whilst the girls were all taking their places in a row around the choir,
+and the bell was tinkling.
+
+These memories, no doubt, had little charm for Mademoiselle Roque. She
+had not a word to say; and, a minute later:
+
+"Naughty fellow! never to have written a line to me, even once!"
+
+Frederick urged by way of excuse his numerous occupations.
+
+"What, then, are you doing?"
+
+He was embarrassed by the question; then he told her that he was
+studying politics.
+
+"Ha!"
+
+And without questioning him further:
+
+"That gives you occupation; while as for me----!"
+
+Then she spoke to him about the barrenness of her existence, as there
+was nobody she could go to see, and nothing to amuse her or distract her
+thoughts. She wished to go on horseback.
+
+"The vicar maintains that this is improper for a young lady! How stupid
+these proprieties are! Long ago they allowed me to do whatever I
+pleased; now, they won't let me do anything!"
+
+"Your father, however, is fond of you!"
+
+"Yes; but----"
+
+She heaved a sigh, which meant: "That is not enough to make me happy."
+
+Then there was silence. They heard only the noise made by their boots in
+the sand, together with the murmur of falling water; for the Seine,
+above Nogent, is cut into two arms. That which turns the mills
+discharges in this place the superabundance of its waves in order to
+unite further down with the natural course of the stream; and a person
+coming from the bridge could see at the right, on the other bank of the
+river, a grassy slope on which a white house looked down. At the left,
+in the meadow, a row of poplar-trees extended, and the horizon in front
+was bounded by a curve of the river. It was flat, like a mirror. Large
+insects hovered over the noiseless water. Tufts of reeds and rushes
+bordered it unevenly; all kinds of plants which happened to spring up
+there bloomed out in buttercups, caused yellow clusters to hang down,
+raised trees in distaff-shape with amaranth-blossoms, and made green
+rockets spring up at random. In an inlet of the river white water-lilies
+displayed themselves; and a row of ancient willows, in which wolf-traps
+were hidden, formed, on that side of the island, the sole protection of
+the garden.
+
+In the interior, on this side, four walls with a slate coping enclosed
+the kitchen-garden, in which the square patches, recently dug up, looked
+like brown plates. The bell-glasses of the melons shone in a row on the
+narrow hotbed. The artichokes, the kidney-beans, the spinach, the
+carrots and the tomatoes succeeded each other till one reached a
+background where asparagus grew in such a fashion that it resembled a
+little wood of feathers.
+
+All this piece of land had been under the Directory what is called "a
+folly." The trees had, since then, grown enormously. Clematis
+obstructed the hornbeams, the walks were covered with moss, brambles
+abounded on every side. Fragments of statues let their plaster crumble
+in the grass. The feet of anyone walking through the place got entangled
+in iron-wire work. There now remained of the pavilion only two
+apartments on the ground floor, with some blue paper hanging in shreds.
+Before the facade extended an arbour in the Italian style, in which a
+vine-tree was supported on columns of brick by a rail-work of sticks.
+
+Soon they arrived at this spot; and, as the light fell through the
+irregular gaps on the green herbage, Frederick, turning his head on one
+side to speak to Louise, noticed the shadow of the leaves on her face.
+
+She had in her red hair, stuck in her chignon, a needle, terminated by a
+glass bell in imitation of emerald, and, in spite of her mourning, she
+wore (so artless was her bad taste) straw slippers trimmed with pink
+satin--a vulgar curiosity probably bought at some fair.
+
+He remarked this, and ironically congratulated her.
+
+"Don't be laughing at me!" she replied.
+
+Then surveying him altogether, from his grey felt hat to his silk
+stockings:
+
+"What an exquisite you are!"
+
+After this, she asked him to mention some works which she could read. He
+gave her the names of several; and she said:
+
+"Oh! how learned you are!"
+
+While yet very small, she had been smitten with one of those childish
+passions which have, at the same time, the purity of a religion and the
+violence of a natural instinct. He had been her comrade, her brother,
+her master, had diverted her mind, made her heart beat more quickly,
+and, without any desire for such a result, had poured out into the very
+depths of her being a latent and continuous intoxication. Then he had
+parted with her at the moment of a tragic crisis in her existence, when
+her mother had only just died, and these two separations had been
+mingled together. Absence had idealised him in her memory. He had come
+back with a sort of halo round his head; and she gave herself up
+ingenuously to the feelings of bliss she experienced at seeing him once
+more.
+
+For the first time in his life Frederick felt himself beloved; and this
+new pleasure, which did not transcend the ordinary run of agreeable
+sensations, made his breast swell with so much emotion that he spread
+out his two arms while he flung back his head.
+
+A large cloud passed across the sky.
+
+"It is going towards Paris," said Louise. "You'd like to follow
+it--wouldn't you?"
+
+"I! Why?"
+
+"Who knows?"
+
+And surveying him with a sharp look:
+
+"Perhaps you have there" (she searched her mind for the appropriate
+phrase) "something to engage your affections."
+
+"Oh! I have nothing to engage my affections there."
+
+"Are you perfectly certain?"
+
+"Why, yes, Mademoiselle, perfectly certain!"
+
+In less than a year there had taken place in the young girl an
+extraordinary transformation, which astonished Frederick. After a
+minute's silence he added:
+
+"We ought to 'thee' and 'thou' each other, as we used to do long
+ago--shall we do so?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because----"
+
+He persisted. She answered, with downcast face:
+
+"I dare not!"
+
+They had reached the end of the garden, which was close to the
+shell-bank. Frederick, in a spirit of boyish fun, began to send pebbles
+skimming over the water. She bade him sit down. He obeyed; then, looking
+at the waterfall:
+
+"'Tis like Niagara!" He began talking about distant countries and long
+voyages. The idea of making some herself exercised a fascination over
+her mind. She would not have been afraid either of tempests or of lions.
+
+Seated close beside each other, they collected in front of them handfuls
+of sand, then, while they were chatting, they let it slip through their
+fingers, and the hot wind, which rose from the plains, carried to them
+in puffs odours of lavender, together with the smell of tar escaping
+from a boat behind the lock. The sun's rays fell on the cascade. The
+greenish blocks of stone in the little wall over which the water slipped
+looked as if they were covered with a silver gauze that was perpetually
+rolling itself out. A long strip of foam gushed forth at the foot with a
+harmonious murmur. Then it bubbled up, forming whirlpools and a thousand
+opposing currents, which ended by intermingling in a single limpid
+stream of water.
+
+Louise said in a musing tone that she envied the existence of fishes:
+
+"It must be so delightful to tumble about down there at your ease, and
+to feel yourself caressed on every side."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: Can I live without you?]
+
+She shivered with sensuously enticing movements; but a voice exclaimed:
+
+"Where are you?"
+
+"Your maid is calling you," said Frederick.
+
+"All right! all right!" Louise did not disturb herself.
+
+"She will be angry," he suggested.
+
+"It is all the same to me! and besides----" Mademoiselle Roque gave him
+to understand by a gesture that the girl was entirely subject to her
+will.
+
+She arose, however, and then complained of a headache. And, as they were
+passing in front of a large cart-shed containing some faggots:
+
+"Suppose we sat down there, _under shelter_?"
+
+He pretended not to understand this dialectic expression, and even
+teased her about her accent. Gradually the corners of her mouth were
+compressed, she bit her lips; she stepped aside in order to sulk.
+
+Frederick came over to her, swore he did not mean to annoy her, and that
+he was very fond of her.
+
+"Is that true?" she exclaimed, looking at him with a smile which lighted
+up her entire face, smeared over a little with patches of bran.
+
+He could not resist the sentiment of gallantry which was aroused in him
+by her fresh youthfulness, and he replied:
+
+"Why should I tell you a lie? Have you any doubt about it, eh?" and, as
+he spoke, he passed his left hand round her waist.
+
+A cry, soft as the cooing of a dove, leaped up from her throat. Her head
+fell back, she was going to faint, when he held her up. And his virtuous
+scruples were futile. At the sight of this maiden offering herself to
+him he was seized with fear. He assisted her to take a few steps
+slowly. He had ceased to address her in soothing words, and no longer
+caring to talk of anything save the most trifling subjects, he spoke to
+her about some of the principal figures in the society of Nogent.
+
+Suddenly she repelled him, and in a bitter tone:
+
+"You would not have the courage to run away with me!"
+
+He remained motionless, with a look of utter amazement in his face. She
+burst into sobs, and hiding her face in his breast:
+
+"Can I live without you?"
+
+He tried to calm her emotion. She laid her two hands on his shoulders in
+order to get a better view of his face, and fixing her green eyes on his
+with an almost fierce tearfulness:
+
+"Will you be my husband?"
+
+"But," Frederick began, casting about in his inner consciousness for a
+reply. "Of course, I ask for nothing better."
+
+At that moment M. Roque's cap appeared behind a lilac-tree.
+
+He brought his young friend on a trip through the district in order to
+show off his property; and when Frederick returned, after two days'
+absence, he found three letters awaiting him at his mother's house.
+
+The first was a note from M. Dambreuse, containing an invitation to
+dinner for the previous Tuesday. What was the occasion of this
+politeness? So, then, they had forgiven his prank.
+
+The second was from Rosanette. She thanked him for having risked his
+life on her behalf. Frederick did not at first understand what she
+meant; finally, after a considerable amount of circumlocution, while
+appealing to his friendship, relying on his delicacy, as she put it, and
+going on her knees to him on account of the pressing necessity of the
+case, as she wanted bread, she asked him for a loan of five hundred
+francs. He at once made up his mind to supply her with the amount.
+
+The third letter, which was from Deslauriers, spoke of the letter of
+attorney, and was long and obscure. The advocate had not yet taken any
+definite action. He urged his friend not to disturb himself: "'Tis
+useless for you to come back!" even laying singular stress on this
+point.
+
+Frederick got lost in conjectures of every sort; and he felt anxious to
+return to Paris. This assumption of a right to control his conduct
+excited in him a feeling of revolt.
+
+Moreover, he began to experience that nostalgia of the boulevard; and
+then, his mother was pressing him so much, M. Roque kept revolving about
+him so constantly, and Mademoiselle Louise was so much attached to him,
+that it was no longer possible for him to avoid speedily declaring his
+intentions.
+
+He wanted to think, and he would be better able to form a right estimate
+of things at a distance.
+
+In order to assign a motive for his journey, Frederick invented a story;
+and he left home, telling everyone, and himself believing, that he would
+soon return.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ROSANETTE AS A LOVELY TURK.
+
+
+His return to Paris gave him no pleasure. It was an evening at the close
+of August. The boulevards seemed empty. The passers-by succeeded each
+other with scowling faces. Here and there a boiler of asphalt was
+smoking; several houses had their blinds entirely drawn. He made his way
+to his own residence in the city. He found the hangings covered with
+dust; and, while dining all alone, Frederick was seized with a strange
+feeling of forlornness; then his thoughts reverted to Mademoiselle
+Roque. The idea of being married no longer appeared to him preposterous.
+They might travel; they might go to Italy, to the East. And he saw her
+standing on a hillock, or gazing at a landscape, or else leaning on his
+arm in a Florentine gallery while she stood to look at the pictures.
+What a pleasure it would be to him merely to watch this good little
+creature expanding under the splendours of Art and Nature! When she had
+got free from the commonplace atmosphere in which she had lived, she
+would, in a little while, become a charming companion. M. Roque's
+wealth, moreover, tempted him. And yet he shrank from taking this step,
+regarding it as a weakness, a degradation.
+
+But he was firmly resolved (whatever he might do) on changing his mode
+of life--that is to say, to lose his heart no more in fruitless
+passions; and he even hesitated about executing the commission with
+which he had been intrusted by Louise. This was to buy for her at
+Jacques Arnoux's establishment two large-sized statues of many colours
+representing negroes, like those which were at the Prefecture at Troyes.
+She knew the manufacturer's number, and would not have any other.
+Frederick was afraid that, if he went back to their house, he might once
+again fall a victim to his old passion.
+
+These reflections occupied his mind during the entire evening; and he
+was just about to go to bed when a woman presented herself.
+
+"'Tis I," said Mademoiselle Vatnaz, with a laugh. "I have come in behalf
+of Rosanette."
+
+So, then, they were reconciled?
+
+"Good heavens, yes! I am not ill-natured, as you are well aware. And
+besides, the poor girl--it would take too long to tell you all about
+it."
+
+In short, the Marechale wanted to see him; she was waiting for an
+answer, her letter having travelled from Paris to Nogent. Mademoiselle
+Vatnaz did not know what was in it.
+
+Then Frederick asked her how the Marechale was going on.
+
+He was informed that she was now _with_ a very rich man, a Russian,
+Prince Tzernoukoff, who had seen her at the races in the Champ de Mars
+last summer.
+
+"He has three carriages, a saddle-horse, livery servants, a groom got up
+in the English fashion, a country-house, a box at the Italian opera, and
+a heap of other things. There you are, my dear friend!"
+
+And the Vatnaz, as if she had profited by this change of fortune,
+appeared gayer and happier. She took off her gloves and examined the
+furniture and the objects of virtu in the room. She mentioned their
+exact prices like a second-hand dealer. He ought to have consulted her
+in order to get them cheaper. Then she congratulated him on his good
+taste:
+
+"Ha! this is pretty, exceedingly nice! There's nobody like you for these
+ideas."
+
+The next moment, as her eyes fell on a door close to the pillar of the
+alcove:
+
+"That's the way you let your friends out, eh?"
+
+And, in a familiar fashion, she laid her finger on his chin. He trembled
+at the contact of her long hands, at the same time thin and soft. Round
+her wrists she wore an edging of lace, and on the body of her green
+dress lace embroidery, like a hussar. Her bonnet of black tulle, with
+borders hanging down, concealed her forehead a little. Her eyes shone
+underneath; an odour of patchouli escaped from her head-bands. The
+carcel-lamp placed on a round table, shining down on her like the
+footlights of a theatre, made her jaw protrude.
+
+She said to him, in an unctuous tone, while she drew forth from her
+purse three square slips of paper:
+
+"You will take these from me?"
+
+They were three tickets for Delmar's benefit performance.
+
+"What! for him?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+Mademoiselle Vatnaz, without giving a further explanation, added that
+she adored him more than ever. If she were to be believed, the comedian
+was now definitely classed amongst "the leading celebrities of the age."
+And it was not such or such a personage that he represented, but the
+very genius of France, the People. He had "the humanitarian spirit; he
+understood the priesthood of Art." Frederick, in order to put an end to
+these eulogies, gave her the money for the three seats.
+
+"You need not say a word about this over the way. How late it is, good
+heavens! I must leave you. Ah! I was forgetting the address--'tis the
+Rue Grange-Batelier, number 14."
+
+And, at the door:
+
+"Good-bye, beloved man!"
+
+"Beloved by whom?" asked Frederick. "What a strange woman!"
+
+And he remembered that Dussardier had said to him one day, when talking
+about her:
+
+"Oh, she's not much!" as if alluding to stories of a by no means
+edifying character.
+
+Next morning he repaired to the Marechale's abode. She lived in a new
+house, the spring-roller blinds of which projected into the street. At
+the head of each flight of stairs there was a mirror against the wall;
+before each window there was a flower-stand, and all over the steps
+extended a carpet of oil-cloth; and when one got inside the door, the
+coolness of the staircase was refreshing.
+
+It was a man-servant who came to open the door, a footman in a red
+waistcoat. On a bench in the anteroom a woman and two men, tradespeople,
+no doubt, were waiting as if in a minister's vestibule. At the left,
+the door of the dining-room, slightly ajar, afforded a glimpse of empty
+bottles on the sideboards, and napkins on the backs of chairs; and
+parallel with it ran a corridor in which gold-coloured sticks supported
+an espalier of roses. In the courtyard below, two boys with bare arms
+were scrubbing a landau. Their voices rose to Frederick's ears, mingled
+with the intermittent sounds made by a currycomb knocking against a
+stone.
+
+The man-servant returned. "Madame will receive Monsieur," and he led
+Frederick through a second anteroom, and then into a large drawing-room
+hung with yellow brocatel with twisted fringes at the corners which were
+joined at the ceiling, and which seemed to be continued by flowerings of
+lustre resembling cables. No doubt there had been an entertainment there
+the night before. Some cigar-ashes had been allowed to remain on the
+pier-tables.
+
+At last he found his way into a kind of boudoir with stained-glass
+windows, through which the sun shed a dim light. Trefoils of carved wood
+adorned the upper portions of the doors. Behind a balustrade, three
+purple mattresses formed a divan; and the stem of a narghileh made of
+platinum lay on top of it. Instead of a mirror, there was on the
+mantelpiece a pyramid-shaped whatnot, displaying on its shelves an
+entire collection of curiosities, old silver trumpets, Bohemian horns,
+jewelled clasps, jade studs, enamels, grotesque figures in china, and a
+little Byzantine virgin with a vermilion ape; and all this was mingled
+in a golden twilight with the bluish shade of the carpet, the
+mother-of-pearl reflections of the foot-stools, and the tawny hue of the
+walls covered with maroon leather. In the corners, on little pedestals,
+there were bronze vases containing clusters of flowers, which made the
+atmosphere heavy.
+
+Rosanette presented herself, attired in a pink satin vest with white
+cashmere trousers, a necklace of piasters, and a red cap encircled with
+a branch of jasmine.
+
+Frederick started back in surprise, then said he had brought the thing
+she had been speaking about, and he handed her the bank-note. She gazed
+at him in astonishment; and, as he still kept the note in his hand,
+without knowing where to put it:
+
+"Pray take it!"
+
+She seized it; then, as she flung it on the divan:
+
+"You are very kind."
+
+She wanted it to meet the rent of a piece of ground at Bellevue, which
+she paid in this way every year. Her unceremoniousness wounded
+Frederick's sensibility. However, so much the better! this would avenge
+him for the past.
+
+"Sit down," said she. "There--closer." And in a grave tone: "In the
+first place, I have to thank you, my dear friend, for having risked your
+life."
+
+"Oh! that's nothing!"
+
+"What! Why, 'tis a very noble act!"--and the Marechale exhibited an
+embarrassing sense of gratitude; for it must have been impressed upon
+her mind that the duel was entirely on account of Arnoux, as the latter,
+who believed it himself, was not likely to have resisted the temptation
+of telling her so.
+
+"She is laughing at me, perhaps," thought Frederick.
+
+He had nothing further to detain him, and, pleading that he had an
+appointment, he rose.
+
+"Oh! no, stay!"
+
+He resumed his seat, and presently complimented her on her costume.
+
+She replied, with an air of dejection:
+
+"'Tis the Prince who likes me to dress in this fashion! And one must
+smoke such machines as that, too!" Rosanette added, pointing towards the
+narghileh. "Suppose we try the taste of it? Have you any objection?"
+
+She procured a light, and, finding it hard to set fire to the tobacco,
+she began to stamp impatiently with her foot. Then a feeling of languor
+took possession of her; and she remained motionless on the divan, with a
+cushion under her arm and her body twisted a little on one side, one
+knee bent and the other leg straight out.
+
+The long serpent of red morocco, which formed rings on the floor, rolled
+itself over her arm. She rested the amber mouthpiece on her lips, and
+gazed at Frederick while she blinked her eyes in the midst of the cloud
+of smoke that enveloped her. A gurgling sound came from her throat as
+she inhaled the fumes, and from time to time she murmured:
+
+"The poor darling! the poor pet!"
+
+He tried to find something of an agreeable nature to talk about. The
+thought of Vatnaz recurred to his memory.
+
+He remarked that she appeared to him very lady-like.
+
+"Yes, upon my word," replied the Marechale. "She is very lucky in having
+me, that same lady!"--without adding another word, so much reserve was
+there in their conversation.
+
+Each of them felt a sense of constraint, something that formed a barrier
+to confidential relations between them. In fact, Rosanette's vanity had
+been flattered by the duel, of which she believed herself to be the
+occasion. Then, she was very much astonished that he did not hasten to
+take advantage of his achievement; and, in order to compel him to return
+to her, she had invented this story that she wanted five hundred francs.
+How was it that Frederick did not ask for a little love from her in
+return? This was a piece of refinement that filled her with amazement,
+and, with a gush of emotion, she said to him:
+
+"Will you come with us to the sea-baths?"
+
+"What does 'us' mean?"
+
+"Myself and my bird. I'll make you pass for a cousin of mine, as in the
+old comedies."
+
+"A thousand thanks!"
+
+"Well, then, you will take lodgings near ours."
+
+The idea of hiding himself from a rich man humiliated him.
+
+"No! that is impossible."
+
+"Just as you please!"
+
+Rosanette turned away with tears in her eyes. Frederick noticed this,
+and in order to testify the interest which he took in her, he said that
+he was delighted to see her at last in a comfortable position.
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. What, then, was troubling her? Was it,
+perchance, that she was not loved.
+
+"Oh! as for me, I have always people to love me!"
+
+She added:
+
+"It remains to be seen in what way."
+
+Complaining that she was "suffocating with the heat," the Marechale
+unfastened her vest; and, without any other garment round her body, save
+her silk chemise, she leaned her head on his shoulder so as to awaken
+his tenderness.
+
+A man of less introspective egoism would not have bestowed a thought at
+such a moment on the possibility of the Vicomte, M. de Comaing, or
+anyone else appearing on the scene. But Frederick had been too many
+times the dupe of these very glances to compromise himself by a fresh
+humiliation.
+
+She wished to know all about his relationships and his amusements. She
+even enquired about his financial affairs, and offered to lend him money
+if he wanted it. Frederick, unable to stand it any longer, took up his
+hat.
+
+"I'm off, my pet! I hope you'll enjoy yourself thoroughly down there.
+_Au revoir!_"
+
+She opened her eyes wide; then, in a dry tone:
+
+"_Au revoir!_"
+
+He made his way out through the yellow drawing-room, and through the
+second anteroom. There was on the table, between a vase full of
+visiting-cards and an inkstand, a chased silver chest. It was Madame
+Arnoux's. Then he experienced a feeling of tenderness, and, at the same
+time, as it were, the scandal of a profanation. He felt a longing to
+raise his hands towards it, and to open it. He was afraid of being seen,
+and went away.
+
+Frederick was virtuous. He did not go back to the Arnouxs' house. He
+sent his man-servant to buy the two negroes, having given him all the
+necessary directions; and the case containing them set forth the same
+evening for Nogent. Next morning, as he was repairing to Deslauriers'
+lodgings, at the turn where the Rue Vivienne opened out on the
+boulevard, Madame Arnoux presented herself before him face to face.
+
+The first movement of each of them was to draw back; then the same smile
+came to the lips of both, and they advanced to meet each other. For a
+minute, neither of them uttered a single word.
+
+The sunlight fell round her, and her oval face, her long eyelashes, her
+black lace shawl, which showed the outline of her shoulders, her gown of
+shot silk, the bouquet of violets at the corner of her bonnet; all
+seemed to him to possess extraordinary magnificence. An infinite
+softness poured itself out of her beautiful eyes; and in a faltering
+voice, uttering at random the first words that came to his lips:
+
+"How is Arnoux?"
+
+"Well, I thank you!"
+
+"And your children?"
+
+"They are very well!"
+
+"Ah! ah! What fine weather we are getting, are we not?"
+
+"Splendid, indeed!"
+
+"You're going out shopping?"
+
+And, with a slow inclination of the head:
+
+"Good-bye!"
+
+She put out her hand, without having spoken one word of an affectionate
+description, and did not even invite him to dinner at her house. No
+matter! He would not have given this interview for the most delightful
+of adventures; and he pondered over its sweetness as he proceeded on his
+way.
+
+Deslauriers, surprised at seeing him, dissembled his spite; for he
+cherished still through obstinacy some hope with regard to Madame
+Arnoux; and he had written to Frederick to prolong his stay in the
+country in order to be free in his manoeuvres.
+
+He informed Frederick, however, that he had presented himself at her
+house in order to ascertain if their contract stipulated for a community
+of property between husband and wife: in that case, proceedings might be
+taken against the wife; "and she put on a queer face when I told her
+about your marriage."
+
+"Now, then! What an invention!"
+
+"It was necessary in order to show that you wanted your own capital! A
+person who was indifferent would not have been attacked with the species
+of fainting fit that she had."
+
+"Really?" exclaimed Frederick.
+
+"Ha! my fine fellow, you are betraying yourself! Come! be honest!"
+
+A feeling of nervous weakness stole over Madame Arnoux's lover.
+
+"Why, no! I assure you! upon my word of honour!"
+
+These feeble denials ended by convincing Deslauriers. He congratulated
+his friend, and asked him for some details. Frederick gave him none, and
+even resisted a secret yearning to concoct a few. As for the mortgage,
+he told the other to do nothing about it, but to wait. Deslauriers
+thought he was wrong on this point, and remonstrated with him in rather
+a churlish fashion.
+
+He was, besides, more gloomy, malignant, and irascible than ever. In a
+year, if fortune did not change, he would embark for America or blow out
+his brains. Indeed, he appeared to be in such a rage against everything,
+and so uncompromising in his radicalism, that Frederick could not keep
+from saying to him:
+
+"Here you are going on in the same way as Senecal!"
+
+Deslauriers, at this remark, informed him that that individual to whom
+he alluded had been discharged from Sainte-Pelagie, the magisterial
+investigation having failed to supply sufficient evidence, no doubt, to
+justify his being sent for trial.
+
+Dussardier was so much overjoyed at the release of Senecal, that he
+wanted to invite his friends to come and take punch with him, and begged
+of Frederick to be one of the party, giving the latter, at the same
+time, to understand that he would be found in the company of Hussonnet,
+who had proved himself a very good friend to Senecal.
+
+In fact, the _Flambard_ had just become associated with a business
+establishment whose prospectus contained the following references:
+"Vineyard Agency. Office of Publicity. Debt Recovery and Intelligence
+Office, etc." But the Bohemian was afraid that his connection with trade
+might be prejudicial to his literary reputation, and he had accordingly
+taken the mathematician to keep the accounts. Although the situation was
+a poor one, Senecal would but for it have died of starvation. Not
+wishing to mortify the worthy shopman, Frederick accepted his
+invitation.
+
+Dussardier, three days beforehand, had himself waxed the red floor of
+his garret, beaten the armchair, and knocked off the dust from the
+chimney-piece, on which might be seen under a globe an alabaster
+timepiece between a stalactite and a cocoanut. As his two chandeliers
+and his chamber candlestick were not sufficient, he had borrowed two
+more candlesticks from the doorkeeper; and these five lights shone on
+the top of the chest of drawers, which was covered with three napkins in
+order that it might be fit to have placed on it in such a way as to look
+attractive some macaroons, biscuits, a fancy cake, and a dozen bottles
+of beer. At the opposite side, close to the wall, which was hung with
+yellow paper, there was a little mahogany bookcase containing the
+_Fables of Lachambeaudie_, the _Mysteries of Paris_, and Norvins'
+_Napoleon_--and, in the middle of the alcove, the face of Beranger was
+smiling in a rosewood frame.
+
+The guests (in addition to Deslauriers and Senecal) were an apothecary
+who had just been admitted, but who had not enough capital to start in
+business for himself, a young man of his own house, a town-traveller in
+wines, an architect, and a gentleman employed in an insurance office.
+Regimbart had not been able to come. Regret was expressed at his
+absence.
+
+They welcomed Frederick with a great display of sympathy, as they all
+knew through Dussardier what he had said at M. Dambreuse's house.
+Senecal contented himself with putting out his hand in a dignified
+manner.
+
+He remained standing near the chimney-piece. The others seated, with
+their pipes in their mouths, listened to him, while he held forth on
+universal suffrage, from which he predicted as a result the triumph of
+Democracy and the practical application of the principles of the Gospel.
+However, the hour was at hand. The banquets of the party of reform were
+becoming more numerous in the provinces. Piedmont, Naples, Tuscany----
+
+"'Tis true," said Deslauriers, interrupting him abruptly. "This cannot
+last longer!"
+
+And he began to draw a picture of the situation. We had sacrificed
+Holland to obtain from England the recognition of Louis Philippe; and
+this precious English alliance was lost, owing to the Spanish marriages.
+In Switzerland, M. Guizot, in tow with the Austrian, maintained the
+treaties of 1815. Prussia, with her Zollverein, was preparing
+embarrassments for us. The Eastern question was still pending.
+
+"The fact that the Grand Duke Constantine sends presents to M. d'Aumale
+is no reason for placing confidence in Russia. As for home affairs,
+never have so many blunders, such stupidity, been witnessed. The
+Government no longer even keeps up its majority. Everywhere, indeed,
+according to the well-known expression, it is naught! naught! naught!
+And in the teeth of such public scandals," continued the advocate, with
+his arms akimbo, "they declare themselves satisfied!"
+
+The allusion to a notorious vote called forth applause. Dussardier
+uncorked a bottle of beer; the froth splashed on the curtains. He did
+not mind it. He filled the pipes, cut the cake, offered each of them a
+slice of it, and several times went downstairs to see whether the punch
+was coming up; and ere long they lashed themselves up into a state of
+excitement, as they all felt equally exasperated against Power. Their
+rage was of a violent character for no other reason save that they hated
+injustice, and they mixed up with legitimate grievances the most idiotic
+complaints.
+
+The apothecary groaned over the pitiable condition of our fleet. The
+insurance agent could not tolerate Marshal Soult's two sentinels.
+Deslauriers denounced the Jesuits, who had just installed themselves
+publicly at Lille. Senecal execrated M. Cousin much more for
+eclecticism, by teaching that certitude can be deduced from reason,
+developed selfishness and destroyed solidarity. The traveller in wines,
+knowing very little about these matters, remarked in a very loud tone
+that he had forgotten many infamies:
+
+"The royal carriage on the Northern line must have cost eighty thousand
+francs. Who'll pay the amount?"
+
+"Aye, who'll pay the amount?" repeated the clerk, as angrily as if this
+amount had been drawn out of his own pocket.
+
+Then followed recriminations against the lynxes of the Bourse and the
+corruption of officials. According to Senecal they ought to go higher
+up, and lay the blame, first of all, on the princes who had revived the
+morals of the Regency period.
+
+"Have you not lately seen the Duc de Montpensier's friends coming back
+from Vincennes, no doubt in a state of intoxication, and disturbing with
+their songs the workmen of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine?"
+
+"There was even a cry of 'Down with the thieves!'" said the apothecary.
+"I was there, and I joined in the cry!"
+
+"So much the better! The people are at last waking up since the
+Teste-Cubieres case."[D]
+
+"For my part, that case caused me some pain," said Dussardier, "because
+it imputed dishonour to an old soldier!"
+
+"Do you know," Senecal went on, "what they have discovered at the
+Duchesse de Praslin's house----?"
+
+But here the door was sent flying open with a kick. Hussonnet entered.
+
+
+[D] This refers to a charge of corruption made in 1843 against a general
+who was a member of the Ministry.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+"Hail, messeigneurs," said he, as he seated himself on the bed.
+
+No allusion was made to his article, which he was sorry, however, for
+having written, as the Marechale had sharply reprimanded him on account
+of it.
+
+He had just seen at the Theatre de Dumas the _Chevalier de
+Maison-Rouge_, and declared that it seemed to him a stupid play.
+
+Such a criticism surprised the democrats, as this drama, by its
+tendency, or rather by its scenery, flattered their passions. They
+protested. Senecal, in order to bring this discussion to a close, asked
+whether the play served the cause of Democracy.
+
+"Yes, perhaps; but it is written in a style----"
+
+"Well, then, 'tis a good play. What is style? 'Tis the idea!"
+
+And, without allowing Frederick to say a word:
+
+"Now, I was pointing out that in the Praslin case----"
+
+Hussonnet interrupted him:
+
+"Ha! here's another worn-out trick! I'm disgusted at it!"
+
+"And others as well as you," returned Deslauriers.
+
+"It has only got five papers taken. Listen while I read this paragraph."
+
+And drawing his note-book out of his pocket, he read:
+
+"'We have, since the establishment of the best of republics, been
+subjected to twelve hundred and twenty-nine press prosecutions, from
+which the results to the writers have been imprisonment extending over a
+period of three thousand one hundred and forty-one years, and the light
+sum of seven million one hundred and ten thousand five hundred francs
+by way of fine.' That's charming, eh?"
+
+They all sneered bitterly.
+
+Frederick, incensed against the others, broke in:
+
+"_The Democratie Pacifique_ has had proceedings taken against it on
+account of its feuilleton, a novel entitled _The Woman's Share_."
+
+"Come! that's good," said Hussonnet. "Suppose they prevented us from
+having our share of the women!"
+
+"But what is it that's not prohibited?" exclaimed Deslauriers. "To smoke
+in the Luxembourg is prohibited; to sing the Hymn to Pius IX. is
+prohibited!"
+
+"And the typographers' banquet has been interdicted," a voice cried,
+with a thick articulation.
+
+It was that of an architect, who had sat concealed in the shade of the
+alcove, and who had remained silent up to that moment. He added that,
+the week before, a man named Rouget had been convicted of offering
+insults to the king.
+
+"That gurnet[E] is fried," said Hussonnet.
+
+This joke appeared so improper to Senecal, that he reproached Hussonnet
+for defending the Juggler of the Hotel de Ville, the friend of the
+traitor Dumouriez.
+
+"I? quite the contrary!"
+
+He considered Louis Philippe commonplace, one of the National Guard
+types of men, all that savoured most of the provision-shop and the
+cotton night-cap! And laying his hand on his heart, the Bohemian gave
+utterance to the rhetorical phrases:
+
+"It is always with a new pleasure.... Polish nationality will not
+perish.... Our great works will be pursued.... Give me some money for
+my little family...."
+
+
+[E] _Rouget_ means a gurnet.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+They all laughed hugely, declaring that he was a delightful fellow, full
+of wit. Their delight was redoubled at the sight of the bowl of punch
+which was brought in by the keeper of a cafe.
+
+The flames of the alcohol and those of the wax-candles soon heated the
+apartment, and the light from the garret, passing across the courtyard,
+illuminated the side of an opposite roof with the flue of a chimney,
+whose black outlines could be traced through the darkness of night. They
+talked in very loud tones all at the same time. They had taken off their
+coats; they gave blows to the furniture; they touched glasses.
+
+Hussonnet exclaimed:
+
+"Send up some great ladies, in order that this may be more Tour de
+Nesles, have more local colouring, and be more Rembrandtesque,
+gadzooks!"
+
+And the apothecary, who kept stirring about the punch indefinitely,
+began to sing with expanded chest:
+
+    "I've two big oxen in my stable,
+    Two big white oxen----"
+
+Senecal laid his hand on the apothecary's mouth; he did not like
+disorderly conduct; and the lodgers pressed their faces against the
+window-panes, surprised at the unwonted uproar that was taking place in
+Dussardier's room.
+
+The honest fellow was happy, and said that this recalled to his mind
+their little parties on the Quai Napoleon in days gone by; however, they
+missed many who used to be present at these reunions, "Pellerin, for
+instance."
+
+"We can do without him," observed Frederick.
+
+And Deslauriers enquired about Martinon.
+
+"What has become of that interesting gentleman?"
+
+Frederick, immediately giving vent to the ill-will which he bore to
+Martinon, attacked his mental capacity, his character, his false
+elegance, his entire personality. He was a perfect specimen of an
+upstart peasant! The new aristocracy, the mercantile class, was not as
+good as the old--the nobility. He maintained this, and the democrats
+expressed their approval, as if he were a member of the one class, and
+they were in the habit of visiting the other. They were charmed with
+him. The apothecary compared him to M. d'Alton Shee, who, though a peer
+of France, defended the cause of the people.
+
+The time had come for taking their departure. They all separated with
+great handshakings. Dussardier, in a spirit of affectionate solicitude,
+saw Frederick and Deslauriers home. As soon as they were in the street,
+the advocate assumed a thoughtful air, and, after a moment's silence:
+
+"You have a great grudge, then, against Pellerin?"
+
+Frederick did not hide his rancour.
+
+The painter, in the meantime, had withdrawn the notorious picture from
+the show-window. A person should not let himself be put out by trifles.
+What was the good of making an enemy for himself?
+
+"He has given way to a burst of ill-temper, excusable in a man who
+hasn't a sou. You, of course, can't understand that!"
+
+And, when Deslauriers had gone up to his own apartments, the shopman did
+not part with Frederick. He even urged his friend to buy the portrait.
+In fact, Pellerin, abandoning the hope of being able to intimidate him,
+had got round them so that they might use their influence to obtain the
+thing for him.
+
+Deslauriers spoke about it again, and pressed him on the point, urging
+that the artist's claims were reasonable.
+
+"I am sure that for a sum of, perhaps, five hundred francs----"
+
+"Oh, give it to him! Wait! here it is!" said Frederick.
+
+The picture was brought the same evening. It appeared to him a still
+more atrocious daub than when he had seen it first. The half-tints and
+the shades were darkened under the excessive retouchings, and they
+seemed obscured when brought into relation with the lights, which,
+having remained very brilliant here and there, destroyed the harmony of
+the entire picture.
+
+Frederick revenged himself for having had to pay for it by bitterly
+disparaging it. Deslauriers believed in Frederick's statement on the
+point, and expressed approval of his conduct, for he had always been
+ambitious of constituting a phalanx of which he would be the leader.
+Certain men take delight in making their friends do things which are
+disagreeable to them.
+
+Meanwhile, Frederick did not renew his visits to the Dambreuses. He
+lacked the capital for the investment. He would have to enter into
+endless explanations on the subject; he hesitated about making up his
+mind. Perhaps he was in the right. Nothing was certain now, the
+coal-mining speculation any more than other things. He would have to
+give up society of that sort. The end of the matter was that
+Deslauriers was dissuaded from having anything further to do with the
+undertaking.
+
+From sheer force of hatred he had grown virtuous, and again he preferred
+Frederick in a position of mediocrity. In this way he remained his
+friend's equal and in more intimate relationship with him.
+
+Mademoiselle Roque's commission had been very badly executed. Her father
+wrote to him, supplying him with the most precise directions, and
+concluded his letter with this piece of foolery: "At the risk of giving
+you _nigger on the brain_!"
+
+Frederick could not do otherwise than call upon the Arnouxs', once more.
+He went to the warehouse, where he could see nobody. The firm being in a
+tottering condition, the clerks imitated the carelessness of their
+master.
+
+He brushed against the shelves laden with earthenware, which filled up
+the entire space in the centre of the establishment; then, when he
+reached the lower end, facing the counter, he walked with a more noisy
+tread in order to make himself heard.
+
+The portieres parted, and Madame Arnoux appeared.
+
+"What! you here! you!"
+
+"Yes," she faltered, with some agitation. "I was looking for----"
+
+He saw her handkerchief near the desk, and guessed that she had come
+down to her husband's warehouse to have an account given to her as to
+the business, to clear up some matter that caused her anxiety.
+
+"But perhaps there is something you want?" said she.
+
+"A mere nothing, madame."
+
+"These shop-assistants are intolerable! they are always out of the way."
+
+They ought not to be blamed. On the contrary, he congratulated himself
+on the circumstance.
+
+She gazed at him in an ironical fashion.
+
+"Well, and this marriage?"
+
+"What marriage?"
+
+"Your own!"
+
+"Mine? I'll never marry as long as I live!"
+
+She made a gesture as if to contradict his words.
+
+"Though, indeed, such things must be, after all? We take refuge in the
+commonplace, despairing of ever realising the beautiful existence of
+which we have dreamed."
+
+"All your dreams, however, are not so--candid!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"When you drive to races with women!"
+
+He cursed the Marechale. Then something recurred to his memory.
+
+"But it was you begged of me yourself to see her at one time in the
+interest of Arnoux."
+
+She replied with a shake of her head:
+
+"And you take advantage of it to amuse yourself?"
+
+"Good God! let us forget all these foolish things!"
+
+"'Tis right, since you are going to be married."
+
+And she stifled a sigh, while she bit her lips.
+
+Then he exclaimed:
+
+"But I tell you again I am not! Can you believe that I, with my
+intellectual requirements, my habits, am going to bury myself in the
+provinces in order to play cards, look after masons, and walk about in
+wooden shoes? What object, pray, could I have for taking such a step?
+You've been told that she was rich, haven't you? Ah! what do I care
+about money? Could I, after yearning long for that which is most lovely,
+tender, enchanting, a sort of Paradise under a human form, and having
+found this sweet ideal at last when this vision hides every other from
+my view----"
+
+And taking her head between his two hands, he began to kiss her on the
+eyelids, repeating:
+
+"No! no! no! never will I marry! never! never!"
+
+She submitted to these caresses, her mingled amazement and delight
+having bereft her of the power of motion.
+
+The door of the storeroom above the staircase fell back, and she
+remained with outstretched arms, as if to bid him keep silence. Steps
+drew near. Then some one said from behind the door:
+
+"Is Madame there?"
+
+"Come in!"
+
+Madame Arnoux had her elbow on the counter, and was twisting about a pen
+between her fingers quietly when the book-keeper threw aside the
+portiere.
+
+Frederick started up, as if on the point of leaving.
+
+"Madame, I have the honour to salute you. The set will be ready--will it
+not? I may count on this?"
+
+She made no reply. But by thus silently becoming his accomplice in the
+deception, she made his face flush with the crimson glow of adultery.
+
+On the following day he paid her another visit. She received him; and,
+in order to follow up the advantage he had gained, Frederick
+immediately, without any preamble, attempted to offer some justification
+for the accidental meeting in the Champ de Mars. It was the merest
+chance that led to his being in that woman's company. While admitting
+that she was pretty--which really was not the case--how could she for
+even a moment absorb his thoughts, seeing that he loved another woman?
+
+"You know it well--I told you it was so!"
+
+Madame Arnoux hung down her head.
+
+"I am sorry you said such a thing."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"The most ordinary proprieties now demand that I should see you no
+more!"
+
+He protested that his love was of an innocent character. The past ought
+to be a guaranty as to his future conduct. He had of his own accord made
+it a point of honour with himself not to disturb her existence, not to
+deafen her with his complaints.
+
+"But yesterday my heart overflowed."
+
+"We ought not to let our thoughts dwell on that moment, my friend!"
+
+And yet, where would be the harm in two wretched beings mingling their
+griefs?
+
+"For, indeed, you are not happy any more than I am! Oh! I know you. You
+have no one who responds to your craving for affection, for devotion. I
+will do anything you wish! I will not offend you! I swear to you that I
+will not!"
+
+And he let himself fall on his knees, in spite of himself, giving way
+beneath the weight of the feelings that oppressed his heart.
+
+"Rise!" she said; "I desire you to do so!"
+
+And she declared in an imperious tone that if he did not comply with her
+wish, she would never see him again.
+
+"Ha! I defy you to do it!" returned Frederick. "What is there for me to
+do in the world? Other men strive for riches, celebrity, power! But I
+have no profession; you are my exclusive occupation, my whole wealth,
+the object, the centre of my existence and of my thoughts. I can no more
+live without you than without the air of heaven! Do you not feel the
+aspiration of my soul ascending towards yours, and that they must
+intermingle, and that I am dying on your account?"
+
+Madame Arnoux began to tremble in every limb.
+
+"Oh! leave me, I beg of you?"
+
+The look of utter confusion in her face made him pause. Then he advanced
+a step. But she drew back, with her two hands clasped.
+
+"Leave me in the name of Heaven, for mercy's sake!"
+
+And Frederick loved her so much that he went away.
+
+Soon afterwards, he was filled with rage against himself, declared in
+his own mind that he was an idiot, and, after the lapse of twenty-four
+hours, returned.
+
+Madame was not there. He remained at the head of the stairs, stupefied
+with anger and indignation. Arnoux appeared, and informed Frederick that
+his wife had, that very morning, gone out to take up her residence at a
+little country-house of which he had become tenant at Auteuil, as he had
+given up possession of the house at Saint-Cloud.
+
+"This is another of her whims. No matter, as she is settled at last; and
+myself, too, for that matter, so much the better. Let us dine together
+this evening, will you?"
+
+Frederick pleaded as an excuse some urgent business; then he hurried
+away of his own accord to Auteuil.
+
+Madame Arnoux allowed an exclamation of joy to escape her lips. Then all
+his bitterness vanished.
+
+He did not say one word about his love. In order to inspire her with
+confidence in him, he even exaggerated his reserve; and on his asking
+whether he might call again, she replied: "Why, of course!" putting out
+her hand, which she withdrew the next moment.
+
+From that time forth, Frederick increased his visits. He promised extra
+fares to the cabman who drove him. But often he grew impatient at the
+slow pace of the horse, and, alighting on the ground, he would make a
+dash after an omnibus, and climb to the top of it out of breath. Then
+with what disdain he surveyed the faces of those around him, who were
+not going to see her!
+
+He could distinguish her house at a distance, with an enormous
+honeysuckle covering, on one side, the planks of the roof. It was a kind
+of Swiss chalet, painted red, with a balcony outside. In the garden
+there were three old chestnut-trees, and on a rising ground in the
+centre might be seen a parasol made of thatch, held up by the trunk of a
+tree. Under the slatework lining the walls, a big vine-tree, badly
+fastened, hung from one place to another after the fashion of a rotten
+cable. The gate-bell, which it was rather hard to pull, was slow in
+ringing, and a long time always elapsed before it was answered. On each
+occasion he experienced a pang of suspense, a fear born of irresolution.
+
+Then his ears would be greeted with the pattering of the servant-maid's
+slippers over the gravel, or else Madame Arnoux herself would make her
+appearance. One day he came up behind her just as she was stooping down
+in the act of gathering violets.
+
+Her daughter's capricious disposition had made it necessary to send the
+girl to a convent. Her little son was at school every afternoon. Arnoux
+was now in the habit of taking prolonged luncheons at the Palais-Royal
+with Regimbart and their friend Compain. They gave themselves no bother
+about anything that occurred, no matter how disagreeable it might be.
+
+It was clearly understood between Frederick and her that they should not
+belong to each other. By this convention they were preserved from
+danger, and they found it easier to pour out their hearts to each other.
+
+She told him all about her early life at Chartres, which she spent with
+her mother, her devotion when she had reached her twelfth year, then her
+passion for music, when she used to sing till nightfall in her little
+room, from which the ramparts could be seen.
+
+He related to her how melancholy broodings had haunted him at college,
+and how a woman's face shone brightly in the cloudland of his
+imagination, so that, when he first laid eyes upon her, he felt that her
+features were quite familiar to him.
+
+These conversations, as a rule, covered only the years during which they
+had been acquainted with each other. He recalled to her recollection
+insignificant details--the colour of her dress at a certain period, a
+woman whom they had met on a certain day, what she had said on another
+occasion; and she replied, quite astonished:
+
+"Yes, I remember!"
+
+Their tastes, their judgments, were the same. Often one of them, when
+listening to the other, exclaimed:
+
+"That's the way with me."
+
+And the other replied:
+
+"And with me, too!"
+
+Then there were endless complaints about Providence:
+
+"Why was it not the will of Heaven? If we had only met----!"
+
+"Ah! if I had been younger!" she sighed.
+
+"No, but if I had been a little older."
+
+And they pictured to themselves a life entirely given up to love,
+sufficiently rich to fill up the vastest solitudes, surpassing all other
+joys, defying all forms of wretchedness, in which the hours would glide
+away in a continual outpouring of their own emotions, and which would be
+as bright and glorious as the palpitating splendour of the stars.
+
+They were nearly always standing at the top of the stairs exposed to the
+free air of heaven. The tops of trees yellowed by the autumn raised
+their crests in front of them at unequal heights up to the edge of the
+pale sky; or else they walked on to the end of the avenue into a
+summer-house whose only furniture was a couch of grey canvas. Black
+specks stained the glass; the walls exhaled a mouldy smell; and they
+remained there chatting freely about all sorts of topics--anything that
+happened to arise--in a spirit of hilarity. Sometimes the rays of the
+sun, passing through the Venetian blind, extended from the ceiling down
+to the flagstones like the strings of a lyre. Particles of dust whirled
+amid these luminous bars. She amused herself by dividing them with her
+hand. Frederick gently caught hold of her; and he gazed on the twinings
+of her veins, the grain of her skin, and the form of her fingers. Each
+of those fingers of hers was for him more than a thing--almost a
+person.
+
+She gave him her gloves, and, the week after, her handkerchief. She
+called him "Frederick;" he called her "Marie," adoring this name, which,
+as he said, was expressly made to be uttered with a sigh of ecstasy, and
+which seemed to contain clouds of incense and scattered heaps of roses.
+
+They soon came to an understanding as to the days on which he would call
+to see her; and, leaving the house as if by mere chance, she walked
+along the road to meet him.
+
+She made no effort whatever to excite his love, lost in that
+listlessness which is characteristic of intense happiness. During the
+whole season she wore a brown silk dressing-gown with velvet borders of
+the same colour, a large garment, which united the indolence of her
+attitudes and her grave physiognomy. Besides, she had just reached the
+autumnal period of womanhood, in which reflection is combined with
+tenderness, in which the beginning of maturity colours the face with a
+more intense flame, when strength of feeling mingles with experience of
+life, and when, having completely expanded, the entire being overflows
+with a richness in harmony with its beauty. Never had she possessed more
+sweetness, more leniency. Secure in the thought that she would not err,
+she abandoned herself to a sentiment which seemed to her won by her
+sorrows. And, moreover, it was so innocent and fresh! What an abyss lay
+between the coarseness of Arnoux and the adoration of Frederick!
+
+He trembled at the thought that by an imprudent word he might lose all
+that he had gained, saying to himself that an opportunity might be found
+again, but that a foolish step could never be repaired. He wished that
+she should give herself rather than that he should take her. The
+assurance of being loved by her delighted him like a foretaste of
+possession, and then the charm of her person troubled his heart more
+than his senses. It was an indefinable feeling of bliss, a sort of
+intoxication that made him lose sight of the possibility of having his
+happiness completed. Apart from her, he was consumed with longing.
+
+Ere long the conversations were interrupted by long spells of silence.
+Sometimes a species of sexual shame made them blush in each other's
+presence. All the precautions they took to hide their love only unveiled
+it; the stronger it grew, the more constrained they became in manner.
+The effect of this dissimulation was to intensify their sensibility.
+They experienced a sensation of delight at the odour of moist leaves;
+they could not endure the east wind; they got irritated without any
+apparent cause, and had melancholy forebodings. The sound of a footstep,
+the creaking of the wainscoting, filled them with as much terror as if
+they had been guilty. They felt as if they were being pushed towards the
+edge of a chasm. They were surrounded by a tempestuous atmosphere; and
+when complaints escaped Frederick's lips, she made accusations against
+herself.
+
+"Yes, I am doing wrong. I am acting as if I were a coquette! Don't come
+any more!"
+
+Then he would repeat the same oaths, to which on each occasion she
+listened with renewed pleasure.
+
+His return to Paris, and the fuss occasioned by New Year's Day,
+interrupted their meetings to some extent. When he returned, he had an
+air of greater self-confidence. Every moment she went out to give
+orders, and in spite of his entreaties she received every visitor that
+called during the evening.
+
+After this, they engaged in conversations about Leotade, M. Guizot, the
+Pope, the insurrection at Palermo, and the banquet of the Twelfth
+Arrondissement, which had caused some disquietude. Frederick eased his
+mind by railing against Power, for he longed, like Deslauriers, to turn
+the whole world upside down, so soured had he now become. Madame Arnoux,
+on her side, had become sad.
+
+Her husband, indulging in displays of wild folly, was flirting with one
+of the girls in his pottery works, the one who was known as "the girl
+from Bordeaux." Madame Arnoux was herself informed about it by
+Frederick. He wanted to make use of it as an argument, "inasmuch as she
+was the victim of deception."
+
+"Oh! I'm not much concerned about it," she said.
+
+This admission on her part seemed to him to strengthen the intimacy
+between them. Would Arnoux be seized with mistrust with regard to them?
+
+"No! not now!"
+
+She told him that, one evening, he had left them talking together, and
+had afterwards come back again and listened behind the door, and as they
+both were chatting at the time of matters that were of no consequence,
+he had lived since then in a state of complete security.
+
+"With good reason, too--is that not so?" said Frederick bitterly.
+
+"Yes, no doubt!"
+
+It would have been better for him not to have given so risky an answer.
+
+One day she was not at home at the hour when he usually called. To him
+there seemed to be a sort of treason in this.
+
+He was next displeased at seeing the flowers which he used to bring her
+always placed in a glass of water.
+
+"Where, then, would you like me to put them?"
+
+"Oh! not there! However, they are not so cold there as they would be
+near your heart!"
+
+Not long afterwards he reproached her for having been at the Italian
+opera the night before without having given him a previous intimation of
+her intention to go there. Others had seen, admired, fallen in love with
+her, perhaps; Frederick was fastening on those suspicions of his merely
+in order to pick a quarrel with her, to torment her; for he was
+beginning to hate her, and the very least he might expect was that she
+should share in his sufferings!
+
+One afternoon, towards the middle of February, he surprised her in a
+state of great mental excitement. Eugene had been complaining about his
+sore throat. The doctor had told her, however, that it was a trifling
+ailment--a bad cold, an attack of influenza. Frederick was astonished at
+the child's stupefied look. Nevertheless, he reassured the mother, and
+brought forward the cases of several children of the same age who had
+been attacked with similar ailments, and had been speedily cured.
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Why, yes, assuredly!"
+
+"Oh! how good you are!"
+
+And she caught his hand. He clasped hers tightly in his.
+
+"Oh! let it go!"
+
+"What does it signify, when it is to one who sympathises with you that
+you offer it? You place every confidence in me when I speak of these
+things, but you distrust me when I talk to you about my love!"
+
+"I don't doubt you on that point, my poor friend!"
+
+"Why this distrust, as if I were a wretch capable of abusing----"
+
+"Oh! no!----"
+
+"If I had only a proof!----"
+
+"What proof?"
+
+"The proof that a person might give to the first comer--what you have
+granted to myself!"
+
+And he recalled to her recollection how, on one occasion, they had gone
+out together, on a winter's twilight, when there was a fog. This seemed
+now a long time ago. What, then, was to prevent her from showing herself
+on his arm before the whole world without any fear on her part, and
+without any mental reservation on his, not having anyone around them who
+could importune them?
+
+"Be it so!" she said, with a promptness of decision that at first
+astonished Frederick.
+
+But he replied, in a lively fashion:
+
+"Would you like me to wait at the corner of the Rue Tronchet and the Rue
+de la Ferme?"
+
+"Good heavens, my friend!" faltered Madame Arnoux.
+
+Without giving her time to reflect, he added:
+
+"Next Tuesday, I suppose?"
+
+"Tuesday?"
+
+"Yes, between two and three o'clock."
+
+"I will be there!"
+
+And she turned aside her face with a movement of shame. Frederick
+placed his lips on the nape of her neck.
+
+"Oh! this is not right," she said. "You will make me repent."
+
+He turned away, dreading the fickleness which is customary with women.
+Then, on the threshold, he murmured softly, as if it were a thing that
+was thoroughly understood:
+
+"On Tuesday!"
+
+She lowered her beautiful eyes in a cautious and resigned fashion.
+
+Frederick had a plan arranged in his mind.
+
+He hoped that, owing to the rain or the sun, he might get her to stop
+under some doorway, and that, once there, she would go into some house.
+The difficulty was to find one that would suit.
+
+He made a search, and about the middle of the Rue Tronchet he read, at a
+distance on a signboard, "Furnished apartments."
+
+The waiter, divining his object, showed him immediately above the
+ground-floor a room and a closet with two exits. Frederick took it for a
+month, and paid in advance. Then he went into three shops to buy the
+rarest perfumery. He got a piece of imitation guipure, which was to
+replace the horrible red cotton foot-coverlets; he selected a pair of
+blue satin slippers, only the fear of appearing coarse checked the
+amount of his purchases. He came back with them; and with more devotion
+than those who are erecting processional altars, he altered the position
+of the furniture, arranged the curtains himself, put heather in the
+fireplace, and covered the chest of drawers with violets. He would have
+liked to pave the entire apartment with gold. "To-morrow is the time,"
+said he to himself. "Yes, to-morrow! I am not dreaming!" and he felt his
+heart throbbing violently under the delirious excitement begotten by his
+anticipations. Then, when everything was ready, he carried off the key
+in his pocket, as if the happiness which slept there might have flown
+away along with it.
+
+A letter from his mother was awaiting him when he reached his abode:
+
+"Why such a long absence? Your conduct is beginning to look ridiculous.
+I understand your hesitating more or less at first with regard to this
+union. However, think well upon it."
+
+And she put the matter before him with the utmost clearness: an income
+of forty-five thousand francs. However, "people were talking about it;"
+and M. Roque was waiting for a definite answer. As for the young girl,
+her position was truly most embarrassing.
+
+"She is deeply attached to you."
+
+Frederick threw aside the letter even before he had finished reading it,
+and opened another epistle which came from Deslauriers.
+
+"Dear Old Boy,--The _pear_ is ripe. In accordance with your promise, we
+may count on you. We meet to-morrow at daybreak, in the Place du
+Pantheon. Drop into the Cafe Soufflot. It is necessary for me to have a
+chat with you before the manifestation takes place."
+
+"Oh! I know them, with their manifestations! A thousand thanks! I have a
+more agreeable appointment."
+
+And on the following morning, at eleven o'clock, Frederick had left the
+house. He wanted to give one last glance at the preparations. Then, who
+could tell but that, by some chance or other, she might be at the place
+of meeting before him? As he emerged from the Rue Tronchet, he heard a
+great clamour behind the Madeleine. He pressed forward, and saw at the
+far end of the square, to the left, a number of men in blouses and
+well-dressed people.
+
+In fact, a manifesto published in the newspapers had summoned to this
+spot all who had subscribed to the banquet of the Reform Party. The
+Ministry had, almost without a moment's delay, posted up a proclamation
+prohibiting the meeting. The Parliamentary Opposition had, on the
+previous evening, disclaimed any connection with it; but the patriots,
+who were unaware of this resolution on the part of their leaders, had
+come to the meeting-place, followed by a great crowd of spectators. A
+deputation from the schools had made its way, a short time before, to
+the house of Odillon Barrot. It was now at the residence of the Minister
+for Foreign Affairs; and nobody could tell whether the banquet would
+take place, whether the Government would carry out its threat, and
+whether the National Guards would make their appearance. People were as
+much enraged against the deputies as against Power. The crowd was
+growing bigger and bigger, when suddenly the strains of the
+"Marseillaise" rang through the air.
+
+It was the students' column which had just arrived on the scene. They
+marched along at an ordinary walking pace, in double file and in good
+order, with angry faces, bare hands, and all exclaiming at intervals:
+
+"Long live Reform! Down with Guizot!"
+
+Frederick's friends were there, sure enough. They would have noticed him
+and dragged him along with them. He quickly sought refuge in the Rue de
+l'Arcade.
+
+When the students had taken two turns round the Madeleine, they went
+down in the direction of the Place de la Concorde. It was full of
+people; and, at a distance, the crowd pressed close together, had the
+appearance of a field of dark ears of corn swaying to and fro.
+
+At the same moment, some soldiers of the line ranged themselves in
+battle-array at the left-hand side of the church.
+
+The groups remained standing there, however. In order to put an end to
+this, some police-officers in civilian dress seized the most riotous of
+them in a brutal fashion, and carried them off to the guard-house.
+Frederick, in spite of his indignation, remained silent; he might have
+been arrested along with the others, and he would have missed Madame
+Arnoux.
+
+A little while afterwards the helmets of the Municipal Guards appeared.
+They kept striking about them with the flat side of their sabres. A
+horse fell down. The people made a rush forward to save him, and as soon
+as the rider was in the saddle, they all ran away.
+
+Then there was a great silence. The thin rain, which had moistened the
+asphalt, was no longer falling. Clouds floated past, gently swept on by
+the west wind.
+
+Frederick began running through the Rue Tronchet, looking before him and
+behind him.
+
+At length it struck two o'clock.
+
+"Ha! now is the time!" said he to himself. "She is leaving her house;
+she is approaching," and a minute after, "she would have had time to be
+here."
+
+Up to three he tried to keep quiet. "No, she is not going to be late--a
+little patience!"
+
+And for want of something to do he examined the most interesting shops
+that he passed--a bookseller's, a saddler's and a mourning warehouse.
+Soon he knew the names of the different books, the various kinds of
+harness, and every sort of material. The persons who looked after these
+establishments, from seeing him continually going backwards and
+forwards, were at first surprised, and then alarmed, and they closed up
+their shop-fronts.
+
+No doubt she had met with some impediment, and for that reason she must
+be enduring pain on account of it. But what delight would be afforded in
+a very short time! For she would come--that was certain. "She has given
+me her promise!" In the meantime an intolerable feeling of anxiety was
+gradually seizing hold of him. Impelled by an absurd idea, he returned
+to his hotel, as if he expected to find her there. At the same moment,
+she might have reached the street in which their meeting was to take
+place. He rushed out. Was there no one? And he resumed his tramp up and
+down the footpath.
+
+He stared at the gaps in the pavement, the mouths of the gutters, the
+candelabra, and the numbers above the doors. The most trifling objects
+became for him companions, or rather, ironical spectators, and the
+regular fronts of the houses seemed to him to have a pitiless aspect. He
+was suffering from cold feet. He felt as if he were about to succumb to
+the dejection which was crushing him. The reverberation of his footsteps
+vibrated through his brain.
+
+When he saw by his watch that it was four o'clock, he experienced, as it
+were, a sense of vertigo, a feeling of dismay. He tried to repeat some
+verses to himself, to enter on a calculation, no matter of what sort, to
+invent some kind of story. Impossible! He was beset by the image of
+Madame Arnoux; he felt a longing to run in order to meet her. But what
+road ought he to take so that they might not pass each other?
+
+He went up to a messenger, put five francs into his hand, and ordered
+him to go to the Rue de Paradis to Jacques Arnoux's residence to enquire
+"if Madame were at home." Then he took up his post at the corner of the
+Rue de la Ferme and of the Rue Tronchet, so as to be able to look down
+both of them at the same time. On the boulevard, in the background of
+the scene in front of him, confused masses of people were gliding past.
+He could distinguish, every now and then, the aigrette of a dragoon or a
+woman's hat; and he strained his eyes in the effort to recognise the
+wearer. A child in rags, exhibiting a jack-in-the-box, asked him, with a
+smile, for alms.
+
+The man with the velvet vest reappeared. "The porter had not seen her
+going out." What had kept her in? If she were ill he would have been
+told about it. Was it a visitor? Nothing was easier than to say that she
+was not at home. He struck his forehead.
+
+"Ah! I am stupid! Of course, 'tis this political outbreak that prevented
+her from coming!"
+
+He was relieved by this apparently natural explanation. Then, suddenly:
+"But her quarter of the city is quiet." And a horrible doubt seized hold
+of his mind: "Suppose she was not coming at all, and merely gave me a
+promise in order to get rid of me? No, no!" What had prevented her from
+coming was, no doubt, some extraordinary mischance, one of those
+occurrences that baffled all one's anticipations. In that case she would
+have written to him.
+
+And he sent the hotel errand-boy to his residence in the Rue Rumfort to
+find out whether there happened to be a letter waiting for him there.
+
+No letter had been brought. This absence of news reassured him.
+
+He drew omens from the number of coins which he took up in his hand out
+of his pocket by chance, from the physiognomies of the passers-by, and
+from the colour of different horses; and when the augury was
+unfavourable, he forced himself to disbelieve in it. In his sudden
+outbursts of rage against Madame Arnoux, he abused her in muttering
+tones. Then came fits of weakness that nearly made him swoon, followed,
+all of a sudden, by fresh rebounds of hopefulness. She would make her
+appearance presently! She was there, behind his back! He turned
+round--there was nobody there! Once he perceived, about thirty paces
+away, a woman of the same height, with a dress of the same kind. He came
+up to her--it was not she. It struck five--half-past five--six. The
+gas-lamps were lighted, Madame Arnoux had not come.
+
+The night before, she had dreamed that she had been, for some time, on
+the footpath in the Rue Tronchet. She was waiting there for something
+the nature of which she was not quite clear about, but which,
+nevertheless, was of great importance; and, without knowing why, she was
+afraid of being seen. But a pestiferous little dog kept barking at her
+furiously and biting at the hem of her dress. Every time she shook him
+off he returned stubbornly to the attack, always barking more violently
+than before. Madame Arnoux woke up. The dog's barking continued. She
+strained her ears to listen. It came from her son's room. She rushed to
+the spot in her bare feet. It was the child himself who was coughing.
+His hands were burning, his face flushed, and his voice singularly
+hoarse. Every minute he found it more difficult to breathe freely. She
+waited there till daybreak, bent over the coverlet watching him.
+
+At eight o'clock the drum of the National Guard gave warning to M.
+Arnoux that his comrades were expecting his arrival. He dressed himself
+quickly and went away, promising that he would immediately be passing
+the house of their doctor, M. Colot.
+
+At ten o'clock, when M. Colot did not make his appearance, Madame Arnoux
+despatched her chambermaid for him. The doctor was away in the country;
+and the young man who was taking his place had gone out on some
+business.
+
+Eugene kept his head on one side on the bolster with contracted eyebrows
+and dilated nostrils. His pale little face had become whiter than the
+sheets; and there escaped from his larynx a wheezing caused by his
+oppressed breathing, which became gradually shorter, dryer, and more
+metallic. His cough resembled the noise made by those barbarous
+mechanical inventions by which toy-dogs are enabled to bark.
+
+Madame Arnoux was seized with terror. She rang the bell violently,
+calling out for help, and exclaiming:
+
+"A doctor! a doctor!"
+
+Ten minutes later came an elderly gentleman in a white tie, and with
+grey whiskers well trimmed. He put several questions as to the habits,
+the age, and the constitution of the young patient, and studied the
+case with his head thrown back. He next wrote out a prescription.
+
+The calm manner of this old man was intolerable. He smelt of aromatics.
+She would have liked to beat him. He said he would come back in the
+evening.
+
+The horrible coughing soon began again. Sometimes the child arose
+suddenly. Convulsive movements shook the muscles of his breast; and in
+his efforts to breathe his stomach shrank in as if he were suffocating
+after running too hard. Then he sank down, with his head thrown back and
+his mouth wide open. With infinite pains, Madame Arnoux tried to make
+him swallow the contents of the phials, hippo wine, and a potion
+containing trisulphate of antimony. But he pushed away the spoon,
+groaning in a feeble voice. He seemed to be blowing out his words.
+
+From time to time she re-read the prescription. The observations of the
+formulary frightened her. Perhaps the apothecary had made some mistake.
+Her powerlessness filled her with despair. M. Colot's pupil arrived.
+
+He was a young man of modest demeanour, new to medical work, and he made
+no attempt to disguise his opinion about the case. He was at first
+undecided as to what he should do, for fear of compromising himself, and
+finally he ordered pieces of ice to be applied to the sick child. It
+took a long time to get ice. The bladder containing the ice burst. It
+was necessary to change the little boy's shirt. This disturbance brought
+on an attack of even a more dreadful character than any of the previous
+ones.
+
+The child began tearing off the linen round his neck, as if he wanted to
+remove the obstacle that was choking him; and he scratched the walls and
+seized the curtains of his bedstead, trying to get a point of support to
+assist him in breathing.
+
+His face was now of a bluish hue, and his entire body, steeped in a cold
+perspiration, appeared to be growing lean. His haggard eyes were fixed
+with terror on his mother. He threw his arms round her neck, and hung
+there in a desperate fashion; and, repressing her rising sobs, she gave
+utterance in a broken voice to loving words:
+
+"Yes, my pet, my angel, my treasure!"
+
+Then came intervals of calm.
+
+She went to look for playthings--a punchinello, a collection of images,
+and spread them out on the bed in order to amuse him. She even made an
+attempt to sing.
+
+She began to sing a little ballad which she used to sing years before,
+when she was nursing him wrapped up in swaddling-clothes in this same
+little upholstered chair. But a shiver ran all over his frame, just as
+when a wave is agitated by the wind. The balls of his eyes protruded.
+She thought he was going to die, and turned away her eyes to avoid
+seeing him.
+
+The next moment she felt strength enough in her to look at him. He was
+still living. The hours succeeded each other--dull, mournful,
+interminable, hopeless, and she no longer counted the minutes, save by
+the progress of this mental anguish. The shakings of his chest threw him
+forward as if to shatter his body. Finally, he vomited something
+strange, which was like a parchment tube. What was this? She fancied
+that he had evacuated one end of his entrails. But he now began to
+breathe freely and regularly. This appearance of well-being frightened
+her more than anything else that had happened. She was sitting like one
+petrified, her arms hanging by her sides, her eyes fixed, when M. Colot
+suddenly made his appearance. The child, in his opinion, was saved.
+
+She did not realise what he meant at first, and made him repeat the
+words. Was not this one of those consoling phrases which were customary
+with medical men? The doctor went away with an air of tranquillity. Then
+it seemed as if the cords that pressed round her heart were loosened.
+
+"Saved! Is this possible?"
+
+Suddenly the thought of Frederick presented itself to her mind in a
+clear and inexorable fashion. It was a warning sent to her by
+Providence. But the Lord in His mercy had not wished to complete her
+chastisement. What expiation could she offer hereafter if she were to
+persevere in this love-affair? No doubt insults would be flung at her
+son's head on her account; and Madame Arnoux saw him a young man,
+wounded in a combat, carried off on a litter, dying. At one spring she
+threw herself on the little chair, and, letting her soul escape towards
+the heights of heaven, she vowed to God that she would sacrifice, as a
+holocaust, her first real passion, her only weakness as a woman.
+
+Frederick had returned home. He remained in his armchair, without even
+possessing enough of energy to curse her. A sort of slumber fell upon
+him, and, in the midst of his nightmare, he could hear the rain falling,
+still under the impression that he was there outside on the footpath.
+
+Next morning, yielding to an incapacity to resist the temptation which
+clung to him, he again sent a messenger to Madame Arnoux's house.
+
+Whether the true explanation happened to be that the fellow did not
+deliver his message, or that she had too many things to say to explain
+herself in a word or two, the same answer was brought back. This
+insolence was too great! A feeling of angry pride took possession of
+him. He swore in his own mind that he would never again cherish even a
+desire; and, like a group of leaves carried away by a hurricane, his
+love disappeared. He experienced a sense of relief, a feeling of stoical
+joy, then a need of violent action; and he walked on at random through
+the streets.
+
+Men from the faubourgs were marching past armed with guns and old
+swords, some of them wearing red caps, and all singing the
+"Marseillaise" or the "Girondins." Here and there a National Guard was
+hurrying to join his mayoral department. Drums could be heard rolling in
+the distance. A conflict was going on at Porte Saint-Martin. There was
+something lively and warlike in the air. Frederick kept walking on
+without stopping. The excitement of the great city made him gay.
+
+On the Frascati hill he got a glimpse of the Marechale's windows: a wild
+idea occurred to him, a reaction of youthfulness. He crossed the
+boulevard.
+
+The yard-gate was just being closed; and Delphine, who was in the act of
+writing on it with a piece of charcoal, "Arms given," said to him in an
+eager tone:
+
+"Ah! Madame is in a nice state! She dismissed a groom who insulted her
+this morning. She thinks there's going to be pillage everywhere. She is
+frightened to death! and the more so as Monsieur has gone!"
+
+"What Monsieur?"
+
+"The Prince!"
+
+Frederick entered the boudoir. The Marechale appeared in her petticoat,
+and her hair hanging down her back in disorder.
+
+"Ah! thanks! You are going to save me! 'tis the second time! You are one
+of those who never count the cost!"
+
+"A thousand pardons!" said Frederick, catching her round the waist with
+both hands.
+
+"How now? What are you doing?" stammered the Marechale, at the same
+time, surprised and cheered up by his manner.
+
+He replied:
+
+"I am the fashion! I'm reformed!"
+
+She let herself fall back on the divan, and continued laughing under his
+kisses.
+
+They spent the afternoon looking out through the window at the people in
+the street. Then he brought her to dine at the Trois Freres Provencaux.
+The meal was a long and dainty one. They came back on foot for want of a
+vehicle.
+
+At the announcement of a change of Ministry, Paris had changed. Everyone
+was in a state of delight. People kept promenading about the streets,
+and every floor was illuminated with lamps, so that it seemed as if it
+were broad daylight. The soldiers made their way back to their barracks,
+worn out and looking quite depressed. The people saluted them with
+exclamations of "Long live the Line!"
+
+They went on without making any response. Among the National Guard, on
+the contrary, the officers, flushed with enthusiasm, brandished their
+sabres, vociferating:
+
+"Long live Reform!"
+
+And every time the two lovers heard this word they laughed.
+
+Frederick told droll stories, and was quite gay.
+
+Making their way through the Rue Duphot, they reached the boulevards.
+Venetian lanterns hanging from the houses formed wreaths of flame.
+Underneath, a confused swarm of people kept in constant motion. In the
+midst of those moving shadows could be seen, here and there, the steely
+glitter of bayonets. There was a great uproar. The crowd was too
+compact, and it was impossible to make one's way back in a straight
+line. They were entering the Rue Caumartin, when suddenly there burst
+forth behind them a noise like the crackling made by an immense piece of
+silk in the act of being torn across. It was the discharge of musketry
+on the Boulevard des Capucines.
+
+"Ha! a few of the citizens are getting a crack," said Frederick calmly;
+for there are situations in which a man of the least cruel disposition
+is so much detached from his fellow-men that he would see the entire
+human race perishing without a single throb of the heart.
+
+The Marechale was clinging to his arm with her teeth chattering. She
+declared that she would not be able to walk twenty steps further. Then,
+by a refinement of hatred, in order the better to offer an outrage in
+his own soul to Madame Arnoux, he led Rosanette to the hotel in the Rue
+Tronchet, and brought her up to the room which he had got ready for the
+other.
+
+The flowers were not withered. The guipure was spread out on the bed. He
+drew forth from the cupboard the little slippers. Rosanette considered
+this forethought on his part a great proof of his delicacy of sentiment.
+About one o'clock she was awakened by distant rolling sounds, and she
+saw that he was sobbing with his head buried in the pillow.
+
+"What's the matter with you now, my own darling?"
+
+"'Tis the excess of happiness," said Frederick. "I have been too long
+yearning after you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE BARRICADE.
+
+
+He was abruptly roused from sleep by the noise of a discharge of
+musketry; and, in spite of Rosanette's entreaties, Frederick was fully
+determined to go and see what was happening. He hurried down to the
+Champs-Elysees, from which shots were being fired. At the corner of the
+Rue Saint-Honore some men in blouses ran past him, exclaiming:
+
+"No! not that way! to the Palais-Royal!"
+
+Frederick followed them. The grating of the Convent of the Assumption
+had been torn away. A little further on he noticed three paving-stones
+in the middle of the street, the beginning of a barricade, no doubt;
+then fragments of bottles and bundles of iron-wire, to obstruct the
+cavalry; and, at the same moment, there rushed suddenly out of a lane a
+tall young man of pale complexion, with his black hair flowing over his
+shoulders, and with a sort of pea-coloured swaddling-cloth thrown round
+him. In his hand he held a long military musket, and he dashed along on
+the tips of his slippers with the air of a somnambulist and with the
+nimbleness of a tiger. At intervals a detonation could be heard.
+
+On the evening of the day before, the spectacle of the wagon containing
+five corpses picked up from amongst those that were lying on the
+Boulevard des Capucines had charged the disposition of the people; and,
+while at the Tuileries the aides-de-camp succeeded each other, and M.
+Mole, having set about the composition of a new Cabinet, did not come
+back, and M. Thiers was making efforts to constitute another, and while
+the King was cavilling and hesitating, and finally assigned the post of
+commander-in-chief to Bugeaud in order to prevent him from making use of
+it, the insurrection was organising itself in a formidable manner, as if
+it were directed by a single arm.
+
+Men endowed with a kind of frantic eloquence were engaged in haranguing
+the populace at the street-corners, others were in the churches ringing
+the tocsin as loudly as ever they could. Lead was cast for bullets,
+cartridges were rolled about. The trees on the boulevards, the urinals,
+the benches, the gratings, the gas-burners, everything was torn off and
+thrown down. Paris, that morning, was covered with barricades. The
+resistance which was offered was of short duration, so that at eight
+o'clock the people, by voluntary surrender or by force, had got
+possession of five barracks, nearly all the municipal buildings, the
+most favourable strategic points. Of its own accord, without any effort,
+the Monarchy was melting away in rapid dissolution, and now an attack
+was made on the guard-house of the Chateau d'Eau, in order to liberate
+fifty prisoners, who were not there.
+
+Frederick was forced to stop at the entrance to the square. It was
+filled with groups of armed men. The Rue Saint-Thomas and the Rue
+Fromanteau were occupied by companies of the Line. The Rue de Valois
+was choked up by an enormous barricade. The smoke which fluttered about
+at the top of it partly opened. Men kept running overhead, making
+violent gestures; they vanished from sight; then the firing was again
+renewed. It was answered from the guard-house without anyone being seen
+inside. Its windows, protected by oaken window-shutters, were pierced
+with loop-holes; and the monument with its two storys, its two wings,
+its fountain on the first floor and its little door in the centre, was
+beginning to be speckled with white spots under the shock of the
+bullets. The three steps in front of it remained unoccupied.
+
+At Frederick's side a man in a Greek cap, with a cartridge-box over his
+knitted vest, was holding a dispute with a woman with a Madras
+neckerchief round her shoulders. She said to him:
+
+"Come back now! Come back!"
+
+"Leave me alone!" replied the husband. "You can easily mind the porter's
+lodge by yourself. I ask, citizen, is this fair? I have on every
+occasion done my duty--in 1830, in '32, in '34, and in '39! To-day
+they're fighting again. I must fight! Go away!"
+
+And the porter's wife ended by yielding to his remonstrances and to
+those of a National Guard near them--a man of forty, whose simple face
+was adorned with a circle of white beard. He loaded his gun and fired
+while talking to Frederick, as cool in the midst of the outbreak as a
+horticulturist in his garden. A young lad with a packing-cloth thrown
+over him was trying to coax this man to give him a few caps, so that he
+might make use of a gun he had, a fine fowling-piece which a "gentleman"
+had made him a present of.
+
+"Catch on behind my back," said the good man, "and keep yourself from
+being seen, or you'll get yourself killed!"
+
+The drums beat for the charge. Sharp cries, hurrahs of triumph burst
+forth. A continual ebbing to and fro made the multitude sway backward
+and forward. Frederick, caught between two thick masses of people, did
+not move an inch, all the time fascinated and exceedingly amused by the
+scene around him. The wounded who sank to the ground, the dead lying at
+his feet, did not seem like persons really wounded or really dead. The
+impression left on his mind was that he was looking on at a show.
+
+In the midst of the surging throng, above the sea of heads, could be
+seen an old man in a black coat, mounted on a white horse with a velvet
+saddle. He held in one hand a green bough, in the other a paper, and he
+kept shaking them persistently; but at length, giving up all hope of
+obtaining a hearing, he withdrew from the scene.
+
+The soldiers of the Line had gone, and only the municipal troops
+remained to defend the guard-house. A wave of dauntless spirits dashed
+up the steps; they were flung down; others came on to replace them, and
+the gate resounded under blows from iron bars. The municipal guards did
+not give way. But a wagon, stuffed full of hay, and burning like a
+gigantic torch, was dragged against the walls. Faggots were speedily
+brought, then straw, and a barrel of spirits of wine. The fire mounted
+up to the stones along the wall; the building began to send forth smoke
+on all sides like the crater of a volcano; and at its summit, between
+the balustrades of the terrace, huge flames escaped with a harsh noise.
+The first story of the Palais-Royal was occupied by National Guards.
+Shots were fired through every window in the square; the bullets
+whizzed, the water of the fountain, which had burst, was mingled with
+the blood, forming little pools on the ground. People slipped in the mud
+over clothes, shakos, and weapons. Frederick felt something soft under
+his foot. It was the hand of a sergeant in a grey great-coat, lying on
+his face in the stream that ran along the street. Fresh bands of people
+were continually coming up, pushing on the combatants at the
+guard-house. The firing became quicker. The wine-shops were open; people
+went into them from time to time to smoke a pipe and drink a glass of
+beer, and then came back again to fight. A lost dog began to howl. This
+made the people laugh.
+
+Frederick was shaken by the impact of a man falling on his shoulder with
+a bullet through his back and the death-rattle in his throat. At this
+shot, perhaps directed against himself, he felt himself stirred up to
+rage; and he was plunging forward when a National Guard stopped him.
+
+"'Tis useless! the King has just gone! Ah! if you don't believe me, go
+and see for yourself!"
+
+This assurance calmed Frederick. The Place du Carrousel had a tranquil
+aspect. The Hotel de Nantes stood there as fixed as ever; and the houses
+in the rear; the dome of the Louvre in front, the long gallery of wood
+at the right, and the waste plot of ground that ran unevenly as far as
+the sheds of the stall-keepers were, so to speak, steeped in the grey
+hues of the atmosphere, where indistinct murmurs seemed to mingle with
+the fog; while, at the opposite side of the square, a stiff light,
+falling through the parting of the clouds on the facade of the
+Tuileries, cut out all its windows into white patches. Near the Arc de
+Triomphe a dead horse lay on the ground. Behind the gratings groups
+consisting of five or six persons were chatting. The doors leading into
+the chateau were open, and the servants at the thresholds allowed the
+people to enter.
+
+Below stairs, in a kind of little parlour, bowls of _cafe au lait_ were
+handed round. A few of those present sat down to the table and made
+merry; others remained standing, and amongst the latter was a
+hackney-coachman. He snatched up with both hands a glass vessel full of
+powdered sugar, cast a restless glance right and left, and then began to
+eat voraciously, with his nose stuck into the mouth of the vessel.
+
+At the bottom of the great staircase a man was writing his name in a
+register.
+
+Frederick was able to recognise him by his back.
+
+"Hallo, Hussonnet!"
+
+"Yes, 'tis I," replied the Bohemian. "I am introducing myself at court.
+This is a nice joke, isn't it?"
+
+"Suppose we go upstairs?"
+
+And they reached presently the Salle des Marechaux. The portraits of
+those illustrious generals, save that of Bugeaud, which had been pierced
+through the stomach, were all intact. They were represented leaning on
+their sabres with a gun-carriage behind each of them, and in formidable
+attitudes in contrast with the occasion. A large timepiece proclaimed it
+was twenty minutes past one.
+
+Suddenly the "Marseillaise" resounded. Hussonnet and Frederick bent over
+the balusters. It was the people. They rushed up the stairs, shaking
+with a dizzying, wave-like motion bare heads, or helmets, or red caps,
+or else bayonets or human shoulders with such impetuosity that some
+people disappeared every now and then in this swarming mass, which was
+mounting up without a moment's pause, like a river compressed by an
+equinoctial tide, with a continuous roar under an irresistible impulse.
+When they got to the top of the stairs, they were scattered, and their
+chant died away. Nothing could any longer be heard but the tramp of all
+the shoes intermingled with the chopping sound of many voices. The crowd
+not being in a mischievous mood, contented themselves with looking about
+them. But, from time to time, an elbow, by pressing too hard, broke
+through a pane of glass, or else a vase or a statue rolled from a
+bracket down on the floor. The wainscotings cracked under the pressure
+of people against them. Every face was flushed; the perspiration was
+rolling down their features in large beads. Hussonnet made this remark:
+
+"Heroes have not a good smell."
+
+"Ah! you are provoking," returned Frederick.
+
+And, pushed forward in spite of themselves, they entered an apartment in
+which a dais of red velvet rose as far as the ceiling. On the throne
+below sat a representative of the proletariat in effigy with a black
+beard, his shirt gaping open, a jolly air, and the stupid look of a
+baboon. Others climbed up the platform to sit in his place.
+
+"What a myth!" said Hussonnet. "There you see the sovereign people!"
+
+The armchair was lifted up on the hands of a number of persons and
+passed across the hall, swaying from one side to the other.
+
+"By Jove, 'tis like a boat! The Ship of State is tossing about in a
+stormy sea! Let it dance the cancan! Let it dance the cancan!"
+
+They had drawn it towards a window, and in the midst of hisses, they
+launched it out.
+
+"Poor old chap!" said Hussonnet, as he saw the effigy falling into the
+garden, where it was speedily picked up in order to be afterwards
+carried to the Bastille and burned.
+
+Then a frantic joy burst forth, as if, instead of the throne, a future
+of boundless happiness had appeared; and the people, less through a
+spirit of vindictiveness than to assert their right of possession, broke
+or tore the glasses, the curtains, the lustres, the tapers, the tables,
+the chairs, the stools, the entire furniture, including the very albums
+and engravings, and the corbels of the tapestry. Since they had
+triumphed, they must needs amuse themselves! The common herd ironically
+wrapped themselves up in laces and cashmeres. Gold fringes were rolled
+round the sleeves of blouses. Hats with ostriches' feathers adorned
+blacksmiths' heads, and ribbons of the Legion of Honour supplied
+waistbands for prostitutes. Each person satisfied his or her caprice;
+some danced, others drank. In the queen's apartment a woman gave a gloss
+to her hair with pomatum. Behind a folding-screen two lovers were
+playing cards. Hussonnet pointed out to Frederick an individual who was
+smoking a dirty pipe with his elbows resting on a balcony; and the
+popular frenzy redoubled with a continuous crash of broken porcelain and
+pieces of crystal, which, as they rebounded, made sounds resembling
+those produced by the plates of musical glasses.
+
+Then their fury was overshadowed. A nauseous curiosity made them rummage
+all the dressing-rooms, all the recesses. Returned convicts thrust their
+arms into the beds in which princesses had slept, and rolled themselves
+on the top of them, to console themselves for not being able to embrace
+their owners. Others, with sinister faces, roamed about silently,
+looking for something to steal, but too great a multitude was there.
+Through the bays of the doors could be seen in the suite of apartments
+only the dark mass of people between the gilding of the walls under a
+cloud of dust. Every breast was panting. The heat became more and more
+suffocating; and the two friends, afraid of being stifled, seized the
+opportunity of making their way out.
+
+In the antechamber, standing on a heap of garments, appeared a girl of
+the town as a statue of Liberty, motionless, her grey eyes wide open--a
+fearful sight.
+
+They had taken three steps outside the chateau when a company of the
+National Guards, in great-coats, advanced towards them, and, taking off
+their foraging-caps, and, at the same time, uncovering their skulls,
+which were slightly bald, bowed very low to the people. At this
+testimony of respect, the ragged victors bridled up. Hussonnet and
+Frederick were not without experiencing a certain pleasure from it as
+well as the rest.
+
+They were filled with ardour. They went back to the Palais-Royal. In
+front of the Rue Fromanteau, soldiers' corpses were heaped up on the
+straw. They passed close to the dead without a single quiver of emotion,
+feeling a certain pride in being able to keep their countenance.
+
+The Palais overflowed with people. In the inner courtyard seven piles of
+wood were flaming. Pianos, chests of drawers, and clocks were hurled out
+through the windows. Fire-engines sent streams of water up to the roofs.
+Some vagabonds tried to cut the hose with their sabres. Frederick urged
+a pupil of the Polytechnic School to interfere. The latter did not
+understand him, and, moreover, appeared to be an idiot. All around, in
+the two galleries, the populace, having got possession of the cellars,
+gave themselves up to a horrible carouse. Wine flowed in streams and
+wetted people's feet; the mudlarks drank out of the tail-ends of the
+bottles, and shouted as they staggered along.
+
+"Come away out of this," said Hussonnet; "I am disgusted with the
+people."
+
+All over the Orleans Gallery the wounded lay on mattresses on the
+ground, with purple curtains folded round them as coverlets; and the
+small shopkeepers' wives and daughters from the quarter brought them
+broth and linen.
+
+"No matter!" said Frederick; "for my part, I consider the people
+sublime."
+
+The great vestibule was filled with a whirlwind of furious individuals.
+Men tried to ascend to the upper storys in order to put the finishing
+touches to the work of wholesale destruction. National Guards, on the
+steps, strove to keep them back. The most intrepid was a chasseur, who
+had his head bare, his hair bristling, and his straps in pieces. His
+shirt caused a swelling between his trousers and his coat, and he
+struggled desperately in the midst of the others. Hussonnet, who had
+sharp sight, recognised Arnoux from a distance.
+
+Then they went into the Tuileries garden, so as to be able to breathe
+more freely. They sat down on a bench; and they remained for some
+minutes with their eyes closed, so much stunned that they had not the
+energy to say a word. The people who were passing came up to them and
+informed them that the Duchesse d'Orleans had been appointed Regent, and
+that it was all over. They were experiencing that species of comfort
+which follows rapid _denouements_, when at the windows of the attics in
+the chateau appeared men-servants tearing their liveries to pieces. They
+flung their torn clothes into the garden, as a mark of renunciation. The
+people hooted at them, and then they retired.
+
+The attention of Frederick and Hussonnet was distracted by a tall fellow
+who was walking quickly between the trees with a musket on his shoulder.
+A cartridge-box was pressed against his pea-jacket; a handkerchief was
+wound round his forehead under his cap. He turned his head to one side.
+It was Dussardier; and casting himself into their arms:
+
+"Ah! what good fortune, my poor old friends!" without being able to say
+another word, so much out of breath was he with fatigue.
+
+He had been on his legs for the last twenty-four hours. He had been
+engaged at the barricades of the Latin Quarter, had fought in the Rue
+Rabuteau, had saved three dragoons' lives, had entered the Tuileries
+with Colonel Dunoyer, and, after that, had repaired to the Chamber, and
+then to the Hotel de Ville.
+
+"I have come from it! all goes well! the people are victorious! the
+workmen and the employers are embracing one another. Ha! if you knew
+what I have seen! what brave fellows! what a fine sight it was!"
+
+And without noticing that they had no arms:
+
+"I was quite certain of finding you there! This has been a bit rough--no
+matter!"
+
+A drop of blood ran down his cheek, and in answer to the questions put
+to him by the two others:
+
+"Oh! 'tis nothing! a slight scratch from a bayonet!"
+
+"However, you really ought to take care of yourself."
+
+"Pooh! I am substantial! What does this signify? The Republic is
+proclaimed! We'll be happy henceforth! Some journalists, who were
+talking just now in front of me, said they were going to liberate Poland
+and Italy! No more kings! You understand? The entire land free! the
+entire land free!"
+
+And with one comprehensive glance at the horizon, he spread out his arms
+in a triumphant attitude. But a long file of men rushed over the terrace
+on the water's edge.
+
+"Ah, deuce take it! I was forgetting. I must be off. Good-bye!"
+
+He turned round to cry out to them while brandishing his musket:
+
+"Long live the Republic!"
+
+From the chimneys of the chateau escaped enormous whirlwinds of black
+smoke which bore sparks along with them. The ringing of the bells sent
+out over the city a wild and startling alarm. Right and left, in every
+direction, the conquerors discharged their weapons.
+
+Frederick, though he was not a warrior, felt the Gallic blood leaping in
+his veins. The magnetism of the public enthusiasm had seized hold of
+him. He inhaled with a voluptuous delight the stormy atmosphere filled
+with the odour of gunpowder; and, in the meantime, he quivered under the
+effluvium of an immense love, a supreme and universal tenderness, as if
+the heart of all humanity were throbbing in his breast.
+
+Hussonnet said with a yawn:
+
+"It would be time, perhaps, to go and instruct the populace."
+
+Frederick followed him to his correspondence-office in the Place de la
+Bourse; and he began to compose for the Troyes newspaper an account of
+recent events in a lyric style--a veritable tit-bit--to which he
+attached his signature. Then they dined together at a tavern. Hussonnet
+was pensive; the eccentricities of the Revolution exceeded his own.
+
+After leaving the cafe, when they repaired to the Hotel de Ville to
+learn the news, the boyish impulses which were natural to him had got
+the upper hand once more. He scaled the barricades like a chamois, and
+answered the sentinels with broad jokes of a patriotic flavour.
+
+They heard the Provisional Government proclaimed by torchlight. At last,
+Frederick got back to his house at midnight, overcome with fatigue.
+
+"Well," said he to his man-servant, while the latter was undressing him,
+"are you satisfied?"
+
+"Yes, no doubt, Monsieur; but I don't like to see the people dancing to
+music."
+
+Next morning, when he awoke, Frederick thought of Deslauriers. He
+hastened to his friend's lodgings. He ascertained that the advocate had
+just left Paris, having been appointed a provincial commissioner. At the
+_soiree_ given the night before, he had got into contact with
+Ledru-Rollin, and laying siege to him in the name of the Law Schools,
+had snatched from him a post, a mission. However, the doorkeeper
+explained, he was going to write and give his address in the following
+week.
+
+After this, Frederick went to see the Marechale. She gave him a chilling
+reception. She resented his desertion of her. Her bitterness disappeared
+when he had given her repeated assurances that peace was restored.
+
+All was quiet now. There was no reason to be afraid. He kissed her, and
+she declared herself in favour of the Republic, as his lordship the
+Archbishop of Paris had already done, and as the magistracy, the Council
+of State, the Institute, the marshals of France, Changarnier, M. de
+Falloux, all the Bonapartists, all the Legitimists, and a considerable
+number of Orleanists were about to do with a swiftness indicative of
+marvellous zeal.
+
+The fall of the Monarchy had been so rapid that, as soon as the first
+stupefaction that succeeded it had passed away, there was amongst the
+middle class a feeling of astonishment at the fact that they were still
+alive. The summary execution of some thieves, who were shot without a
+trial, was regarded as an act of signal justice. For a month Lamartine's
+phrase was repeated with reference to the red flag, "which had only gone
+the round of the Champ de Mars, while the tricoloured flag," etc.; and
+all ranged themselves under its shade, each party seeing amongst the
+three colours only its own, and firmly determined, as soon as it would
+be the most powerful, to tear away the two others.
+
+As business was suspended, anxiety and love of gaping drove everyone
+into the open air. The careless style of costume generally adopted
+attenuated differences of social position. Hatred masked itself;
+expectations were openly indulged in; the multitude seemed full of
+good-nature. The pride of having gained their rights shone in the
+people's faces. They displayed the gaiety of a carnival, the manners of
+a bivouac. Nothing could be more amusing than the aspect of Paris during
+the first days that followed the Revolution.
+
+Frederick gave the Marechale his arm, and they strolled along through
+the streets together. She was highly diverted by the display of rosettes
+in every buttonhole, by the banners hung from every window, and the
+bills of every colour that were posted upon the walls, and threw some
+money here and there into the collection-boxes for the wounded, which
+were placed on chairs in the middle of the pathway. Then she stopped
+before some caricatures representing Louis Philippe as a pastry-cook, as
+a mountebank, as a dog, or as a leech. But she was a little frightened
+at the sight of Caussidiere's men with their sabres and scarfs. At other
+times it was a tree of Liberty that was being planted. The clergy vied
+with each other in blessing the Republic, escorted by servants in gold
+lace; and the populace thought this very fine. The most frequent
+spectacle was that of deputations from no matter what, going to demand
+something at the Hotel de Ville, for every trade, every industry, was
+looking to the Government to put a complete end to its wretchedness.
+Some of them, it is true, went to offer it advice or to congratulate it,
+or merely to pay it a little visit, and to see the machine performing
+its functions. One day, about the middle of the month of March, as they
+were passing the Pont d'Arcole, having to do some commission for
+Rosanette in the Latin Quarter, Frederick saw approaching a column of
+individuals with oddly-shaped hats and long beards. At its head, beating
+a drum, walked a negro who had formerly been an artist's model; and the
+man who bore the banner, on which this inscription floated in the wind,
+"Artist-Painters," was no other than Pellerin.
+
+He made a sign to Frederick to wait for him, and then reappeared five
+minutes afterwards, having some time before him; for the Government was,
+at that moment, receiving a deputation from the stone-cutters. He was
+going with his colleagues to ask for the creation of a Forum of Art, a
+kind of Exchange where the interests of AEsthetics would be discussed.
+Sublime masterpieces would be produced, inasmuch as the workers would
+amalgamate their talents. Ere long Paris would be covered with gigantic
+monuments. He would decorate them. He had even begun a figure of the
+Republic. One of his comrades had come to take it, for they were closely
+pursued by the deputation from the poulterers.
+
+"What stupidity!" growled a voice in the crowd. "Always some humbug,
+nothing strong!"
+
+It was Regimbart. He did not salute Frederick, but took advantage of the
+occasion to give vent to his own bitterness.
+
+The Citizen spent his days wandering about the streets, pulling his
+moustache, rolling his eyes about, accepting and propagating any dismal
+news that was communicated to him; and he had only two phrases: "Take
+care! we're going to be run over!" or else, "Why, confound it! they're
+juggling with the Republic!" He was discontented with everything, and
+especially with the fact that we had not taken back our natural
+frontiers.
+
+The very name of Lamartine made him shrug his shoulders. He did not
+consider Ledru-Rollin "sufficient for the problem," referred to Dupont
+(of the Eure) as an old numbskull, Albert as an idiot, Louis Blanc as an
+Utopist, and Blanqui as an exceedingly dangerous man; and when Frederick
+asked him what would be the best thing to do, he replied, pressing his
+arm till he nearly bruised it:
+
+"To take the Rhine, I tell you! to take the Rhine, damn it!"
+
+Then he blamed the Reactionaries. They were taking off the mask. The
+sack of the chateau of Neuilly and Suresne, the fire at Batignolles, the
+troubles at Lyons, all the excesses and all the grievances, were just
+now being exaggerated by having superadded to them Ledru-Rollin's
+circular, the forced currency of bank-notes, the fall of the funds to
+sixty francs, and, to crown all, as the supreme iniquity, a final blow,
+a culminating horror, the duty of forty-five centimes! And over and
+above all these things, there was again Socialism! Although these
+theories, as new as the game of goose, had been discussed sufficiently
+for forty years to fill a number of libraries, they terrified the
+wealthier citizens, as if they had been a hailstorm of aerolites; and
+they expressed indignation at them by virtue of that hatred which the
+advent of every idea provokes, simply because it is an idea--an odium
+from which it derives subsequently its glory, and which causes its
+enemies to be always beneath it, however lowly it may be.
+
+Then Property rose in their regard to the level of Religion, and was
+confounded with God. The attacks made on it appeared to them a
+sacrilege; almost a species of cannibalism. In spite of the most humane
+legislation that ever existed, the spectre of '93 reappeared, and the
+chopper of the guillotine vibrated in every syllable of the word
+"Republic," which did not prevent them from despising it for its
+weakness. France, no longer feeling herself mistress of the situation,
+was beginning to shriek with terror, like a blind man without his stick
+or an infant that had lost its nurse.
+
+Of all Frenchmen, M. Dambreuse was the most alarmed. The new condition
+of things threatened his fortune, but, more than anything else, it
+deceived his experience. A system so good! a king so wise! was it
+possible? The ground was giving way beneath their feet! Next morning he
+dismissed three of his servants, sold his horses, bought a soft hat to
+go out into the streets, thought even of letting his beard grow; and he
+remained at home, prostrated, reading over and over again newspapers
+most hostile to his own ideas, and plunged into such a gloomy mood that
+even the jokes about the pipe of Flocon[F] had not the power to make him
+smile.
+
+As a supporter of the last reign, he was dreading the vengeance of the
+people so far as concerned his estates in Champagne when Frederick's
+lucubration fell into his hands. Then it occurred to his mind that his
+young friend was a very useful personage, and that he might be able, if
+not to serve him, at least to protect him, so that, one morning, M.
+Dambreuse presented himself at Frederick's residence, accompanied by
+Martinon.
+
+
+[F] This is another political allusion. Flocon was a well-known member
+of the Ministry of the day.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+This visit, he said, had no object save that of seeing him for a little
+while, and having a chat with him. In short, he rejoiced at the events
+that had happened, and with his whole heart adopted "our sublime motto,
+_Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity_," having always been at bottom a
+Republican. If he voted under the other _regime_ with the Ministry, it
+was simply in order to accelerate an inevitable downfall. He even
+inveighed against M. Guizot, "who has got us into a nice hobble, we must
+admit!" By way of retaliation, he spoke in an enthusiastic fashion about
+Lamartine, who had shown himself "magnificent, upon my word of honour,
+when, with reference to the red flag----"
+
+"Yes, I know," said Frederick. After which he declared that his
+sympathies were on the side of the working-men.
+
+"For, in fact, more or less, we are all working-men!" And he carried his
+impartiality so far as to acknowledge that Proudhon had a certain amount
+of logic in his views. "Oh, a great deal of logic, deuce take it!"
+
+Then, with the disinterestedness of a superior mind, he chatted about
+the exhibition of pictures, at which he had seen Pellerin's work. He
+considered it original and well-painted.
+
+Martinon backed up all he said with expressions of approval; and
+likewise was of his opinion that it was necessary to rally boldly to the
+side of the Republic. And he talked about the husbandman, his father,
+and assumed the part of the peasant, the man of the people. They soon
+came to the question of the elections for the National Assembly, and the
+candidates in the arrondissement of La Fortelle. The Opposition
+candidate had no chance.
+
+"You should take his place!" said M. Dambreuse.
+
+Frederick protested.
+
+"But why not?" For he would obtain the suffrages of the Extremists owing
+to his personal opinions, and that of the Conservatives on account of
+his family; "And perhaps also," added the banker, with a smile, "thanks
+to my influence, in some measure."
+
+Frederick urged as an obstacle that he did not know how to set about it.
+
+There was nothing easier if he only got himself recommended to the
+patriots of the Aube by one of the clubs of the capital. All he had to
+do was to read out, not a profession of faith such as might be seen
+every day, but a serious statement of principles.
+
+"Bring it to me; I know what goes down in the locality; and you can, I
+say again, render great services to the country--to us all--to myself."
+
+In such times people ought to aid each other, and, if Frederick had need
+of anything, he or his friends----
+
+"Oh, a thousand thanks, my dear Monsieur!"
+
+"You'll do as much for me in return, mind!"
+
+Decidedly, the banker was a decent man.
+
+Frederick could not refrain from pondering over his advice; and soon he
+was dazzled by a kind of dizziness.
+
+The great figures of the Convention passed before his mental vision. It
+seemed to him that a splendid dawn was about to rise. Rome, Vienna and
+Berlin were in a state of insurrection, and the Austrians had been
+driven out of Venice. All Europe was agitated. Now was the time to make
+a plunge into the movement, and perhaps to accelerate it; and then he
+was fascinated by the costume which it was said the deputies would
+wear. Already he saw himself in a waistcoat with lapels and a
+tricoloured sash; and this itching, this hallucination, became so
+violent that he opened his mind to Dambreuse.
+
+The honest fellow's enthusiasm had not abated.
+
+"Certainly--sure enough! Offer yourself!"
+
+Frederick, nevertheless, consulted Deslauriers.
+
+The idiotic opposition which trammelled the commissioner in his province
+had augmented his Liberalism. He at once replied, exhorting Frederick
+with the utmost vehemence to come forward as a candidate. However, as
+the latter was desirous of having the approval of a great number of
+persons, he confided the thing to Rosanette one day, when Mademoiselle
+Vatnaz happened to be present.
+
+She was one of those Parisian spinsters who, every evening when they
+have given their lessons or tried to sell little sketches, or to dispose
+of poor manuscripts, return to their own homes with mud on their
+petticoats, make their own dinner, which they eat by themselves, and
+then, with their soles resting on a foot-warmer, by the light of a
+filthy lamp, dream of a love, a family, a hearth, wealth--all that they
+lack. So it was that, like many others, she had hailed in the Revolution
+the advent of vengeance, and she delivered herself up to a Socialistic
+propaganda of the most unbridled description.
+
+The enfranchisement of the proletariat, according to the Vatnaz, was
+only possible by the enfranchisement of woman. She wished to have her
+own sex admitted to every kind of employment, to have an enquiry made
+into the paternity of children, a different code, the abolition, or at
+least a more intelligent regulation, of marriage. In that case every
+Frenchwoman would be bound to marry a Frenchman, or to adopt an old
+man. Nurses and midwives should be officials receiving salaries from the
+State.
+
+There should be a jury to examine the works of women, special editors
+for women, a polytechnic school for women, a National Guard for women,
+everything for women! And, since the Government ignored their rights,
+they ought to overcome force by force. Ten thousand citizenesses with
+good guns ought to make the Hotel de Ville quake!
+
+Frederick's candidature appeared to her favourable for carrying out her
+ideas. She encouraged him, pointing out the glory that shone on the
+horizon. Rosanette was delighted at the notion of having a man who would
+make speeches at the Chamber.
+
+"And then, perhaps, they'll give you a good place?"
+
+Frederick, a man prone to every kind of weakness, was infected by the
+universal mania. He wrote an address and went to show it to M.
+Dambreuse.
+
+At the sound made by the great door falling back, a curtain gaped open a
+little behind a casement, and a woman appeared at it He had not time to
+find out who she was; but, in the anteroom, a picture arrested his
+attention--Pellerin's picture--which lay on a chair, no doubt
+provisionally.
+
+It represented the Republic, or Progress, or Civilisation, under the
+form of Jesus Christ driving a locomotive, which was passing through a
+virgin forest. Frederick, after a minute's contemplation, exclaimed:
+
+"What a vile thing!"
+
+"Is it not--eh?" said M. Dambreuse, coming in unexpectedly just at the
+moment when the other was giving utterance to this opinion, and fancying
+that it had reference, not so much to the picture as to the doctrine
+glorified by the work. Martinon presented himself at the same time. They
+made their way into the study, and Frederick was drawing a paper out of
+his pocket, when Mademoiselle Cecile, entering suddenly, said,
+articulating her words in an ingenuous fashion:
+
+"Is my aunt here?"
+
+"You know well she is not," replied the banker. "No matter! act as if
+you were at home, Mademoiselle."
+
+"Oh! thanks! I am going away!"
+
+Scarcely had she left when Martinon seemed to be searching for his
+handkerchief.
+
+"I forgot to take it out of my great-coat--excuse me!"
+
+"All right!" said M. Dambreuse.
+
+Evidently he was not deceived by this manoeuvre, and even seemed to
+regard it with favour. Why? But Martinon soon reappeared, and Frederick
+began reading his address.
+
+At the second page, which pointed towards the preponderance of the
+financial interests as a disgraceful fact, the banker made a grimace.
+Then, touching on reforms, Frederick demanded free trade.
+
+"What? Allow me, now!"
+
+The other paid no attention, and went on. He called for a tax on yearly
+incomes, a progressive tax, a European federation, and the education of
+the people, the encouragement of the fine arts on the liberal scale.
+
+"When the country could provide men like Delacroix or Hugo with incomes
+of a hundred thousand francs, where would be the harm?"
+
+At the close of the address advice was given to the upper classes.
+
+"Spare nothing, ye rich; but give! give!"
+
+He stopped, and remained standing. The two who had been listening to him
+did not utter a word. Martinon opened his eyes wide; M. Dambreuse was
+quite pale. At last, concealing his emotion under a bitter smile:
+
+"That address of yours is simply perfect!" And he praised the style
+exceedingly in order to avoid giving his opinion as to the matter of the
+address.
+
+This virulence on the part of an inoffensive young man frightened him,
+especially as a sign of the times.
+
+Martinon tried to reassure him. The Conservative party, in a little
+while, would certainly be able to take its revenge. In several cities
+the commissioners of the provisional government had been driven away;
+the elections were not to occur till the twenty-third of April; there
+was plenty of time. In short, it was necessary for M. Dambreuse to
+present himself personally in the Aube; and from that time forth,
+Martinon no longer left his side, became his secretary, and was as
+attentive to him as any son could be.
+
+Frederick arrived at Rosanette's house in a very self-complacent mood.
+Delmar happened to be there, and told him of his intention to stand as a
+candidate at the Seine elections. In a placard addressed to the people,
+in which he addressed them in the familiar manner which one adopts
+towards an individual, the actor boasted of being able to understand
+them, and of having, in order to save them, got himself "crucified for
+the sake of art," so that he was the incarnation, the ideal of the
+popular spirit, believing that he had, in fact, such enormous power over
+the masses that he proposed by-and-by, when he occupied a ministerial
+office, to quell any outbreak by himself alone; and, with regard to the
+means he would employ, he gave this answer: "Never fear! I'll show them
+my head!"
+
+Frederick, in order to mortify him, gave him to understand that he was
+himself a candidate. The mummer, from the moment that his future
+colleague aspired to represent the province, declared himself his
+servant, and offered to be his guide to the various clubs.
+
+They visited them, or nearly all, the red and the blue, the furious and
+the tranquil, the puritanical and the licentious, the mystical and the
+intemperate, those that had voted for the death of kings, and those in
+which the frauds in the grocery trade had been denounced; and everywhere
+the tenants cursed the landlords; the blouse was full of spite against
+broadcloth; and the rich conspired against the poor. Many wanted
+indemnities on the ground that they had formerly been martyrs of the
+police; others appealed for money in order to carry out certain
+inventions, or else there were plans of phalansteria, projects for
+cantonal bazaars, systems of public felicity; then, here and there a
+flash of genius amid these clouds of folly, sudden as splashes, the law
+formulated by an oath, and flowers of eloquence on the lips of some
+soldier-boy, with a shoulder-belt strapped over his bare, shirtless
+chest. Sometimes, too, a gentleman made his appearance--an aristocrat of
+humble demeanour, talking in a plebeian strain, and with his hands
+unwashed, so as to make them look hard. A patriot recognised him; the
+most virtuous mobbed him; and he went off with rage in his soul. On the
+pretext of good sense, it was desirable to be always disparaging the
+advocates, and to make use as often as possible of these expressions:
+"To carry his stone to the building," "social problem," "workshop."
+
+Delmar did not miss the opportunities afforded him for getting in a
+word; and when he no longer found anything to say, his device was to
+plant himself in some conspicuous position with one of his arms akimbo
+and the other in his waistcoat, turning himself round abruptly in
+profile, so as to give a good view of his head. Then there were
+outbursts of applause, which came from Mademoiselle Vatnaz at the lower
+end of the hall.
+
+Frederick, in spite of the weakness of orators, did not dare to try the
+experiment of speaking. All those people seemed to him too unpolished or
+too hostile.
+
+But Dussardier made enquiries, and informed him that there existed in
+the Rue Saint-Jacques a club which bore the name of the "Club of
+Intellect." Such a name gave good reason for hope. Besides, he would
+bring some friends there.
+
+He brought those whom he had invited to take punch with him--the
+bookkeeper, the traveller in wines, and the architect; even Pellerin had
+offered to come, and Hussonnet would probably form one of the party, and
+on the footpath before the door stood Regimbart, with two individuals,
+the first of whom was his faithful Compain, a rather thick-set man
+marked with small-pox and with bloodshot eyes; and the second, an
+ape-like negro, exceedingly hairy, and whom he knew only in the
+character of "a patriot from Barcelona."
+
+They passed though a passage, and were then introduced into a large
+room, no doubt used by a joiner, and with walls still fresh and
+smelling of plaster. Four argand lamps were hanging parallel to each
+other, and shed an unpleasant light. On a platform, at the end of the
+room, there was a desk with a bell; underneath it a table, representing
+the rostrum, and on each side two others, somewhat lower, for the
+secretaries. The audience that adorned the benches consisted of old
+painters of daubs, ushers, and literary men who could not get their
+works published.
+
+In the midst of those lines of paletots with greasy collars could be
+seen here and there a woman's cap or a workman's linen smock. The bottom
+of the apartment was even full of workmen, who had in all likelihood
+come there to pass away an idle hour, and who had been introduced by
+some speakers in order that they might applaud.
+
+Frederick took care to place himself between Dussardier and Regimbart,
+who was scarcely seated when he leaned both hands on his walking-stick
+and his chin on his hands and shut his eyes, whilst at the other end of
+the room Delmar stood looking down at the assembly. Senecal appeared at
+the president's desk.
+
+The worthy bookkeeper thought Frederick would be pleased at this
+unexpected discovery. It only annoyed him.
+
+The meeting exhibited great respect for the president. He was one who,
+on the twenty-fifth of February, had desired an immediate organisation
+of labour. On the following day, at the Prado, he had declared himself
+in favour attacking the Hotel de Ville; and, as every person at that
+period took some model for imitation, one copied Saint-Just, another
+Danton, another Marat; as for him, he tried to be like Blanqui, who
+imitated Robespierre. His black gloves, and his hair brushed back, gave
+him a rigid aspect exceedingly becoming.
+
+He opened the proceedings with the declaration of the Rights of Man and
+of the Citizen--a customary act of faith. Then, a vigorous voice struck
+up Beranger's "Souvenirs du Peuple."
+
+Other voices were raised:
+
+"No! no! not that!"
+
+"'La Casquette!'" the patriots at the bottom of the apartment began to
+howl.
+
+And they sang in chorus the favourite lines of the period:
+
+    "Doff your hat before my cap--
+    Kneel before the working-man!"
+
+At a word from the president the audience became silent.
+
+One of the secretaries proceeded to inspect the letters.
+
+Some young men announced that they burned a number of the _Assemblee
+Nationale_ every evening in front of the Pantheon, and they urged on all
+patriots to follow their example.
+
+"Bravo! adopted!" responded the audience.
+
+The Citizen Jean Jacques Langreneux, a printer in the Rue Dauphin, would
+like to have a monument raised to the memory of the martyrs of
+Thermidor.
+
+Michel Evariste Nepomucene, ex-professor, gave expression to the wish
+that the European democracy should adopt unity of language. A dead
+language might be used for that purpose--as, for example, improved
+Latin.
+
+"No; no Latin!" exclaimed the architect.
+
+"Why?" said the college-usher.
+
+And these two gentlemen engaged in a discussion, in which the others
+also took part, each putting in a word of his own for effect; and the
+conversation on this topic soon became so tedious that many went away.
+But a little old man, who wore at the top of his prodigiously high
+forehead a pair of green spectacles, asked permission to speak in order
+to make an important communication.
+
+It was a memorandum on the assessment of taxes. The figures flowed on in
+a continuous stream, as if they were never going to end. The impatience
+of the audience found vent at first in murmurs, in whispered talk. He
+allowed nothing to put him out. Then they began hissing; they catcalled
+him. Senecal called the persons who were interrupting to order. The
+orator went on like a machine. It was necessary to catch him by the
+shoulder in order to stop him. The old fellow looked as if he were
+waking out of a dream, and, placidly lifting his spectacles, said:
+
+"Pardon me, citizens! pardon me! I am going--a thousand excuses!"
+
+Frederick was disconcerted with the failure of the old man's attempts to
+read this written statement. He had his own address in his pocket, but
+an extemporaneous speech would have been preferable.
+
+Finally the president announced that they were about to pass on to the
+important matter, the electoral question. They would not discuss the big
+Republican lists. However, the "Club of Intellect" had every right, like
+every other, to form one, "with all respect for the pachas of the Hotel
+de Ville," and the citizens who solicited the popular mandate might set
+forth their claims.
+
+"Go on, now!" said Dussardier.
+
+A man in a cassock, with woolly hair and a petulant expression on his
+face, had already raised his hand. He said, with a stutter, that his
+name was Ducretot, priest and agriculturist, and that he was the author
+of a work entitled "Manures." He was told to send it to a horticultural
+club.
+
+Then a patriot in a blouse climbed up into the rostrum. He was a
+plebeian, with broad shoulders, a big face, very mild-looking, with long
+black hair. He cast on the assembly an almost voluptuous glance, flung
+back his head, and, finally, spreading out his arms:
+
+"You have repelled Ducretot, O my brothers! and you have done right; but
+it was not through irreligion, for we are all religious."
+
+Many of those present listened open-mouthed, with the air of catechumens
+and in ecstatic attitudes.
+
+"It is not either because he is a priest, for we, too, are priests! The
+workman is a priest, just as the founder of Socialism was--the Master of
+us all, Jesus Christ!"
+
+The time had arrived to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. The Gospel led
+directly to '89. After the abolition of slavery, the abolition of the
+proletariat. They had had the age of hate--the age of love was about to
+begin.
+
+"Christianity is the keystone and the foundation of the new edifice----"
+
+"You are making game of us?" exclaimed the traveller in wines. "Who has
+given me such a priest's cap?"
+
+This interruption gave great offence. Nearly all the audience got on
+benches, and, shaking their fists, shouted: "Atheist! aristocrat! low
+rascal!" whilst the president's bell kept ringing continuously, and the
+cries of "Order! order!" redoubled. But, aimless, and, moreover,
+fortified by three cups of coffee which he had swallowed before coming
+to the meeting, he struggled in the midst of the others:
+
+"What? I an aristocrat? Come, now!"
+
+When, at length, he was permitted to give an explanation, he declared
+that he would never be at peace with the priests; and, since something
+had just been said about economical measures, it would be a splendid one
+to put an end to the churches, the sacred pyxes, and finally all creeds.
+
+Somebody raised the objection that he was going very far.
+
+"Yes! I am going very far! But, when a vessel is caught suddenly in a
+storm----"
+
+Without waiting for the conclusion of this simile, another made a reply
+to his observation:
+
+"Granted! But this is to demolish at a single stroke, like a mason
+devoid of judgment----"
+
+"You are insulting the masons!" yelled a citizen covered with plaster.
+And persisting in the belief that provocation had been offered to him,
+he vomited forth insults, and wished to fight, clinging tightly to the
+bench whereon he sat. It took no less than three men to put him out.
+
+Meanwhile the workman still remained on the rostrum. The two secretaries
+gave him an intimation that he should come down. He protested against
+the injustice done to him.
+
+"You shall not prevent me from crying out, 'Eternal love to our dear
+France! eternal love all to the Republic!'"
+
+"Citizens!" said Compain, after this--"Citizens!"
+
+And, by dint of repeating "Citizens," having obtained a little silence,
+he leaned on the rostrum with his two red hands, which looked like
+stumps, bent forward his body, and blinking his eyes:
+
+"I believe that it would be necessary to give a larger extension to the
+calf's head."
+
+All who heard him kept silent, fancying that they had misunderstood his
+words.
+
+"Yes! the calf's head!"
+
+Three hundred laughs burst forth at the same time. The ceiling shook.
+
+At the sight of all these faces convulsed with mirth, Compain shrank
+back. He continued in an angry tone:
+
+"What! you don't know what the calf's head is!"
+
+It was a paroxysm, a delirium. They held their sides. Some of them even
+tumbled off the benches to the ground with convulsions of laughter.
+Compain, not being able to stand it any longer, took refuge beside
+Regimbart, and wanted to drag him away.
+
+"No! I am remaining till 'tis all over!" said the Citizen.
+
+This reply caused Frederick to make up his mind; and, as he looked about
+to the right and the left to see whether his friends were prepared to
+support him, he saw Pellerin on the rostrum in front of him.
+
+The artist assumed a haughty tone in addressing the meeting.
+
+"I would like to get some notion as to who is the candidate amongst all
+these that represents art. For my part, I have painted a picture."
+
+"We have nothing to do with painting pictures!" was the churlish remark
+of a thin man with red spots on his cheek-bones.
+
+Pellerin protested against this interruption.
+
+But the other, in a tragic tone:
+
+"Ought not the Government to make an ordinance abolishing prostitution
+and want?"
+
+And this phrase having at once won to his side the popular favour, he
+thundered against the corruption of great cities.
+
+"Shame and infamy! We ought to catch hold of wealthy citizens on their
+way out of the Maison d'Or and spit in their faces--unless it be that
+the Government countenances debauchery! But the collectors of the city
+dues exhibit towards our daughters and our sisters an amount of
+indecency----"
+
+A voice exclaimed, some distance away:
+
+"This is blackguard language! Turn him out!"
+
+"They extract taxes from us to pay for licentiousness! Thus, the high
+salaries paid to actors----"
+
+"Help!" cried Pellerin.
+
+He leaped from the rostrum, pushed everybody aside, and declaring that
+he regarded such stupid accusations with disgust, expatiated on the
+civilising mission of the player. Inasmuch as the theatre was the focus
+of national education, he would record his vote for the reform of the
+theatre; and to begin with, no more managements, no more privileges!
+
+"Yes; of any sort!"
+
+The actor's performance excited the audience, and people moved backwards
+and forwards knocking each other down.
+
+"No more academies! No more institutes!"
+
+"No missions!"
+
+"No more bachelorships! Down with University degrees!"
+
+"Let us preserve them," said Senecal; "but let them be conferred by
+universal suffrage, by the people, the only true judge!"
+
+Besides, these things were not the most useful. It was necessary to take
+a level which would be above the heads of the wealthy. And he
+represented them as gorging themselves with crimes under their gilded
+ceilings; while the poor, writhing in their garrets with famine,
+cultivated every virtue. The applause became so vehement that he
+interrupted his discourse. For several minutes he remained with his eyes
+closed, his head thrown back, and, as it were, lulling himself to sleep
+over the fury which he had aroused.
+
+Then he began to talk in a dogmatic fashion, in phrases as imperious as
+laws. The State should take possession of the banks and of the insurance
+offices. Inheritances should be abolished. A social fund should be
+established for the workers. Many other measures were desirable in the
+future. For the time being, these would suffice, and, returning to the
+question of the elections: "We want pure citizens, men entirely fresh.
+Let some one offer himself."
+
+Frederick arose. There was a buzz of approval made by his friends. But
+Senecal, assuming the attitude of a Fouquier-Tinville, began to ask
+questions as to his Christian name and surname, his antecedents, life,
+and morals.
+
+Frederick answered succinctly, and bit his lips. Senecal asked whether
+anyone saw any impediment to this candidature.
+
+"No! no!"
+
+But, for his part, he saw some. All around him bent forward and strained
+their ears to listen. The citizen who was seeking for their support had
+not delivered a certain sum promised by him for the foundation of a
+democratic journal. Moreover, on the twenty-second of February, though
+he had had sufficient notice on the subject, he had failed to be at the
+meeting-place in the Place de Pantheon.
+
+"I swear that he was at the Tuileries!" exclaimed Dussardier.
+
+"Can you swear to having seen him at the Pantheon?"
+
+Dussardier hung down his head. Frederick was silent. His friends,
+scandalised, regarded him with disquietude.
+
+"In any case," Senecal went on, "do you know a patriot who will answer
+to us for your principles?"
+
+"I will!" said Dussardier.
+
+"Oh! this is not enough; another!"
+
+Frederick turned round to Pellerin. The artist replied to him with a
+great number of gestures, which meant:
+
+"Ah! my dear boy, they have rejected myself! The deuce! What would you
+have?"
+
+Thereupon Frederick gave Regimbart a nudge.
+
+"Yes, that's true; 'tis time! I'm going."
+
+And Regimbart stepped upon the platform; then, pointing towards the
+Spaniard, who had followed him:
+
+"Allow me, citizens, to present to you a patriot from Barcelona!"
+
+The patriot made a low bow, rolled his gleaming eyes about, and with his
+hand on his heart:
+
+"Ciudadanos! mucho aprecio el honor that you have bestowed on me!
+however great may be vuestra bondad, mayor vuestra atencion!"
+
+"I claim the right to speak!" cried Frederick.
+
+"Desde que se proclamo la constitution de Cadiz, ese pacto fundamental
+of las libertades Espanolas, hasta la ultima revolucion, nuestra patria
+cuenta numerosos y heroicos martires."
+
+Frederick once more made an effort to obtain a hearing:
+
+"But, citizens!----"
+
+The Spaniard went on: "El martes proximo tendra lugar en la iglesia de
+la Magdelena un servicio funebre."
+
+"In fact, this is ridiculous! Nobody understands him!"
+
+This observation exasperated the audience.
+
+"Turn him out! Turn him out!"
+
+"Who? I?" asked Frederick.
+
+"Yourself!" said Senecal, majestically. "Out with you!"
+
+He rose to leave, and the voice of the Iberian pursued him:
+
+"Y todos los Espanoles descarien ver alli reunidas las disputaciones de
+los clubs y de la milicia nacional. An oracion funebre en honour of the
+libertad Espanola y del mundo entero will be prononciado por un miembro
+del clero of Paris en la sala Bonne Nouvelle. Honour al pueblo frances
+que llamaria yo el primero pueblo del mundo, sino fuese ciudadano de
+otra nacion!"
+
+"Aristo!" screamed one blackguard, shaking his fist at Frederick, as the
+latter, boiling with indignation, rushed out into the yard adjoining the
+place where the meeting was held.
+
+He reproached himself for his devotedness, without reflecting that,
+after all, the accusations brought against him were just.
+
+What fatal idea was this candidature! But what asses! what idiots! He
+drew comparisons between himself and these men, and soothed his wounded
+pride with the thought of their stupidity.
+
+Then he felt the need of seeing Rosanette. After such an exhibition of
+ugly traits, and so much magniloquence, her dainty person would be a
+source of relaxation. She was aware that he had intended to present
+himself at a club that evening. However, she did not even ask him a
+single question when he came in. She was sitting near the fire, ripping
+open the lining of a dress. He was surprised to find her thus occupied.
+
+"Hallo! what are you doing?"
+
+"You can see for yourself," said she, dryly. "I am mending my clothes!
+So much for this Republic of yours!"
+
+"Why do you call it mine?"
+
+"Perhaps you want to make out that it's mine!"
+
+And she began to upbraid him for everything that had happened in France
+for the last two months, accusing him of having brought about the
+Revolution and with having ruined her prospects by making everybody that
+had money leave Paris, and that she would by-and-by be dying in a
+hospital.
+
+"It is easy for you to talk lightly about it, with your yearly income!
+However, at the rate at which things are going on, you won't have your
+yearly income long."
+
+"That may be," said Frederick. "The most devoted are always
+misunderstood, and if one were not sustained by one's conscience, the
+brutes that you mix yourself up with would make you feel disgusted with
+your own self-denial!"
+
+Rosanette gazed at him with knitted brows.
+
+"Eh? What? What self-denial? Monsieur has not succeeded, it would seem?
+So much the better! It will teach you to make patriotic donations. Oh,
+don't lie! I know you have given them three hundred francs, for this
+Republic of yours has to be kept. Well, amuse yourself with it, my good
+man!"
+
+Under this avalanche of abuse, Frederick passed from his former
+disappointment to a more painful disillusion.
+
+He withdrew to the lower end of the apartment. She came up to him.
+
+"Look here! Think it out a bit! In a country as in a house, there must
+be a master, otherwise, everyone pockets something out of the money
+spent. At first, everybody knows that Ledru-Rollin is head over ears in
+debt. As for Lamartine, how can you expect a poet to understand
+politics? Ah! 'tis all very well for you to shake your head and to
+presume that you have more brains than others; all the same, what I say
+is true! But you are always cavilling; a person can't get in a word with
+you! For instance, there's Fournier-Fontaine, who had stores at
+Saint-Roch! do you know how much he failed for? Eight hundred thousand
+francs! And Gomer, the packer opposite to him--another Republican, that
+one--he smashed the tongs on his wife's head, and he drank so much
+absinthe that he is going to be put into a private asylum. That's the
+way with the whole of them--the Republicans! A Republic at twenty-five
+percent. Ah! yes! plume yourself upon it!"
+
+Frederick took himself off. He was disgusted at the foolishness of this
+girl, which revealed itself all at once in the language of the populace.
+He felt himself even becoming a little patriotic once more.
+
+The ill-temper of Rosanette only increased. Mademoiselle Vatnaz
+irritated him with her enthusiasm. Believing that she had a mission,
+she felt a furious desire to make speeches, to carry on disputes,
+and--sharper than Rosanette in matters of this sort--overwhelmed her
+with arguments.
+
+One day she made her appearance burning with indignation against
+Hussonnet, who had just indulged in some blackguard remarks at the
+Woman's Club. Rosanette approved of this conduct, declaring even that
+she would take men's clothes to go and "give them a bit of her mind, the
+entire lot of them, and to whip them."
+
+Frederick entered at the same moment.
+
+"You'll accompany me--won't you?"
+
+And, in spite of his presence, a bickering match took place between
+them, one of them playing the part of a citizen's wife and the other of
+a female philosopher.
+
+According to Rosanette, women were born exclusively for love, or in
+order to bring up children, to be housekeepers.
+
+According to Mademoiselle Vatnaz, women ought to have a position in the
+Government. In former times, the Gaulish women, and also the Anglo-Saxon
+women, took part in the legislation; the squaws of the Hurons formed a
+portion of the Council. The work of civilisation was common to both. It
+was necessary that all should contribute towards it, and that fraternity
+should be substituted for egoism, association for individualism, and
+cultivation on a large scale for minute subdivision of land.
+
+"Come, that is good! you know a great deal about culture just now!"
+
+"Why not? Besides, it is a question of humanity, of its future!"
+
+"Mind your own business!"
+
+"This is my business!"
+
+They got into a passion. Frederick interposed. The Vatnaz became very
+heated, and went so far as to uphold Communism.
+
+"What nonsense!" said Rosanette. "How could such a thing ever come to
+pass?"
+
+The other brought forward in support of her theory the examples of the
+Essenes, the Moravian Brethren, the Jesuits of Paraguay, the family of
+the Pingons near Thiers in Auvergne; and, as she gesticulated a great
+deal, her gold chain got entangled in her bundle of trinkets, to which
+was attached a gold ornament in the form of a sheep.
+
+Suddenly, Rosanette turned exceedingly pale.
+
+Mademoiselle Vatnaz continued extricating her trinkets.
+
+"Don't give yourself so much trouble," said Rosanette. "Now, I know your
+political opinions."
+
+"What?" replied the Vatnaz, with a blush on her face like that of a
+virgin.
+
+"Oh! oh! you understand me."
+
+Frederick did not understand. There had evidently been something taking
+place between them of a more important and intimate character than
+Socialism.
+
+"And even though it should be so," said the Vatnaz in reply, rising up
+unflinchingly. "'Tis a loan, my dear--set off one debt against the
+other."
+
+"Faith, I don't deny my own debts. I owe some thousands of francs--a
+nice sum. I borrow, at least; I don't rob anyone."
+
+Mademoiselle Vatnaz made an effort to laugh.
+
+"Oh! I would put my hand in the fire for him."
+
+"Take care! it is dry enough to burn."
+
+The spinster held out her right hand to her, and keeping it raised in
+front of her:
+
+"But there are friends of yours who find it convenient for them."
+
+"Andalusians, I suppose? as castanets?"
+
+"You beggar!"
+
+The Marechale made her a low bow.
+
+"There's nobody so charming!"
+
+Mademoiselle Vatnaz made no reply. Beads of perspiration appeared on her
+temples. Her eyes fixed themselves on the carpet. She panted for breath.
+At last she reached the door, and slamming it vigorously: "Good night!
+You'll hear from me!"
+
+"Much I care!" said Rosanette. The effort of self-suppression had
+shattered her nerves. She sank down on the divan, shaking all over,
+stammering forth words of abuse, shedding tears. Was it this threat on
+the part of the Vatnaz that had caused so much agitation in her mind?
+Oh, no! what did she care, indeed, about that one? It was the golden
+sheep, a present, and in the midst of her tears the name of Delmar
+escaped her lips. So, then, she was in love with the mummer?
+
+"In that case, why did she take on with me?" Frederick asked himself.
+"How is it that he has come back again? Who compels her to keep me?
+Where is the sense of this sort of thing?"
+
+Rosanette was still sobbing. She remained all the time stretched at the
+edge of the divan, with her right cheek resting on her two hands, and
+she seemed a being so dainty, so free from self-consciousness, and so
+sorely troubled, that he drew closer to her and softly kissed her on the
+forehead.
+
+Thereupon she gave him assurances of her affection for him; the Prince
+had just left her, they would be free. But she was for the time being
+short of money. "You saw yourself that this was so, the other day, when
+I was trying to turn my old linings to use." No more equipages now! And
+this was not all; the upholsterer was threatening to resume possession
+of the bedroom and the large drawing-room furniture. She did not know
+what to do.
+
+Frederick had a mind to answer:
+
+"Don't annoy yourself about it. I will pay."
+
+But the lady knew how to lie. Experience had enlightened her. He
+confined himself to mere expressions of sympathy.
+
+Rosanette's fears were not vain. It was necessary to give up the
+furniture and to quit the handsome apartment in the Rue Drouot. She took
+another on the Boulevard Poissonniere, on the fourth floor.
+
+The curiosities of her old boudoir were quite sufficient to give to the
+three rooms a coquettish air. There were Chinese blinds, a tent on the
+terrace, and in the drawing-room a second-hand carpet still perfectly
+new, with ottomans covered with pink silk. Frederick had contributed
+largely to these purchases. He had felt the joy of a newly-married man
+who possesses at last a house of his own, a wife of his own--and, being
+much pleased with the place, he used to sleep there nearly every
+evening.
+
+One morning, as he was passing out through the anteroom, he saw, on the
+third floor, on the staircase, the shako of a National Guard who was
+ascending it. Where in the world was he going?
+
+Frederick waited. The man continued his progress up the stairs, with his
+head slightly bent down. He raised his eyes. It was my lord Arnoux!
+
+The situation was clear. They both reddened simultaneously, overcome by
+a feeling of embarrassment common to both.
+
+Arnoux was the first to find a way out of the difficulty.
+
+"She is better--isn't that so?" as if Rosanette were ill, and he had
+come to learn how she was.
+
+Frederick took advantage of this opening.
+
+"Yes, certainly! at least, so I was told by her maid," wishing to convey
+that he had not been allowed to see her.
+
+Then they stood facing each other, both undecided as to what they would
+do next, and eyeing one another intently. The question now was, which of
+the two was going to remain. Arnoux once more solved the problem.
+
+"Pshaw! I'll come back by-and-by. Where are you going? I go with you!"
+
+And, when they were in the street, he chatted as naturally as usual.
+Unquestionably he was not a man of jealous disposition, or else he was
+too good-natured to get angry. Besides, his time was devoted to serving
+his country. He never left off his uniform now. On the twenty-ninth of
+March he had defended the offices of the _Presse_. When the Chamber was
+invaded, he distinguished himself by his courage, and he was at the
+banquet given to the National Guard at Amiens.
+
+Hussonnet, who was still on duty with him, availed himself of his flask
+and his cigars; but, irreverent by nature, he delighted in contradicting
+him, disparaging the somewhat inaccurate style of the decrees; and
+decrying the conferences at the Luxembourg, the women known as the
+"Vesuviennes," the political section bearing the name of "Tyroliens";
+everything, in fact, down to the Car of Agriculture, drawn by horses to
+the ox-market, and escorted by ill-favoured young girls. Arnoux, on the
+other hand, was the upholder of authority, and dreamed of uniting the
+different parties. However, his own affairs had taken an unfavourable
+turn, and he was more or less anxious about them.
+
+He was not much troubled about Frederick's relations with the Marechale;
+for this discovery made him feel justified (in his conscience) in
+withdrawing the allowance which he had renewed since the Prince had left
+her. He pleaded by way of excuse for this step the embarrassed condition
+in which he found himself, uttered many lamentations--and Rosanette was
+generous. The result was that M. Arnoux regarded himself as the lover
+who appealed entirely to the heart, an idea that raised him in his own
+estimation and made him feel young again. Having no doubt that Frederick
+was paying the Marechale, he fancied that he was "playing a nice trick"
+on the young man, even called at the house in such a stealthy fashion as
+to keep the other in ignorance of the fact, and when they happened to
+meet, left the coast clear for him.
+
+Frederick was not pleased with this partnership, and his rival's
+politeness seemed only an elaborate piece of sarcasm. But by taking
+offence at it, he would have removed from his path every opportunity of
+ever finding his way back to Madame Arnoux; and then, this was the only
+means whereby he could hear about her movements. The earthenware-dealer,
+in accordance with his usual practice, or perhaps with some cunning
+design, recalled her readily in the course of conversation, and asked
+him why he no longer came to see her.
+
+Frederick, having exhausted every excuse he could frame, assured him
+that he had called several times to see Madame Arnoux, but without
+success. Arnoux was convinced that this was so, for he had often
+referred in an eager tone at home to the absence of their friend, and
+she had invariably replied that she was out when he called, so that
+these two lies, in place of contradicting, corroborated each other.
+
+The young man's gentle ways and the pleasure of finding a dupe in him
+made Arnoux like him all the better. He carried familiarity to its
+extreme limits, not through disdain, but through assurance. One day he
+wrote saying that very urgent business compelled him to be away in the
+country for twenty-four hours. He begged of the young man to mount guard
+in his stead. Frederick dared not refuse, so he repaired to the
+guard-house in the Place du Carrousel.
+
+He had to submit to the society of the National Guards, and, with the
+exception of a sugar-refiner, a witty fellow who drank to an inordinate
+extent, they all appeared to him more stupid than their cartridge-boxes.
+The principal subject of conversation amongst them was the substitution
+of sashes for belts. Others declaimed against the national workshops.
+
+One man said:
+
+"Where are we going?"
+
+The man to whom the words had been addressed opened his eyes as if he
+were standing on the verge of an abyss.
+
+"Where are we going?"
+
+Then, one who was more daring than the rest exclaimed:
+
+"It cannot last! It must come to an end!"
+
+And as the same kind of talk went on till night, Frederick was bored to
+death.
+
+Great was his surprise when, at eleven o'clock, he suddenly beheld
+Arnoux, who immediately explained that he had hurried back to set him at
+liberty, having disposed of his own business.
+
+The fact was that he had no business to transact. The whole thing was an
+invention to enable him to spend twenty-four hours alone with Rosanette.
+But the worthy Arnoux had placed too much confidence in his own powers,
+so that, now in the state of lassitude which was the result, he was
+seized with remorse. He had come to thank Frederick, and to invite him
+to have some supper.
+
+"A thousand thanks! I'm not hungry. All I want is to go to bed."
+
+"A reason the more for having a snack together. How flabby you are! One
+does not go home at such an hour as this. It is too late! It would be
+dangerous!"
+
+Frederick once more yielded. Arnoux was quite a favorite with his
+brethren-in-arms, who had not expected to see him--and he was a
+particular crony of the refiner. They were all fond of him, and he was
+such a good fellow that he was sorry Hussonnet was not there. But he
+wanted to shut his eyes for one minute, no longer.
+
+"Sit down beside me!" said he to Frederick, stretching himself on the
+camp-bed without taking off his belt and straps. Through fear of an
+alarm, in spite of the regulation, he even kept his gun in his hand,
+then stammered out some words:
+
+"My darling! my little angel!" and ere long was fast asleep.
+
+Those who had been talking to each other became silent; and gradually
+there was a deep silence in the guard-house. Frederick tormented by the
+fleas, kept staring about him. The wall, painted yellow, had, half-way
+up, a long shelf, on which the knapsacks formed a succession of little
+humps, while underneath, the muskets, which had the colour of lead, rose
+up side by side; and there could be heard a succession of snores,
+produced by the National Guards, whose stomachs were outlined through
+the darkness in a confused fashion. On the top of the stove stood an
+empty bottle and some plates. Three straw chairs were drawn around the
+table, on which a pack of cards was displayed. A drum, in the middle of
+the bench, let its strap hang down.
+
+A warm breath of air making its way through the door caused the lamp to
+smoke. Arnoux slept with his two arms wide apart; and, as his gun was
+placed in a slightly crooked position, with the butt-end downward, the
+mouth of the barrel came up right under his arm. Frederick noticed this,
+and was alarmed.
+
+"But, no, I'm wrong, there's nothing to be afraid of! And yet, suppose
+he met his death!"
+
+And immediately pictures unrolled themselves before his mind in endless
+succession.
+
+He saw himself with her at night in a post-chaise, then on a river's
+bank on a summer's evening, and under the reflection of a lamp at home
+in their own house. He even fixed his attention on household expenses
+and domestic arrangements, contemplating, feeling already his happiness
+between his hands; and in order to realise it, all that was needed was
+that the cock of the gun should rise. The end of it could be pushed
+with one's toe, the gun would go off--it would be a mere
+accident--nothing more!
+
+Frederick brooded over this idea like a playwright in the agonies of
+composition. Suddenly it seemed to him that it was not far from being
+carried into practical operation, and that he was going to contribute to
+that result--that, in fact, he was yearning for it; and then a feeling
+of absolute terror took possession of him. In the midst of this mental
+distress he experienced a sense of pleasure, and he allowed himself to
+sink deeper and deeper into it, with a dreadful consciousness all the
+time that his scruples were vanishing. In the wildness of his reverie
+the rest of the world became effaced, and he could only realise that he
+was still alive from the intolerable oppression on his chest.
+
+"Let us take a drop of white wine!" said the refiner, as he awoke.
+
+Arnoux sprang to his feet, and, as soon as the white wine was swallowed,
+he wanted to relieve Frederick of his sentry duty.
+
+Then he brought him to have breakfast in the Rue de Chartres, at
+Parly's, and as he required to recuperate his energies, he ordered two
+dishes of meat, a lobster, an omelet with rum, a salad, etc., and
+finished this off with a brand of Sauterne of 1819 and one of '42
+Romanee, not to speak of the champagne at dessert and the liqueurs.
+
+Frederick did not in any way gainsay him. He was disturbed in mind as if
+by the thought that the other might somehow trace on his countenance the
+idea that had lately flitted before his imagination. With both elbows on
+the table and his head bent forward, so that he annoyed Frederick by his
+fixed stare, he confided some of his hobbies to the young man.
+
+He wanted to take for farming purposes all the embankments on the
+Northern line, in order to plant potatoes there, or else to organise on
+the boulevards a monster cavalcade in which the celebrities of the
+period would figure. He would let all the windows, which would, at the
+rate of three francs for each person, produce a handsome profit. In
+short, he dreamed of a great stroke of fortune by means of a monopoly.
+He assumed a moral tone, nevertheless, found fault with excesses and all
+sorts of misconduct, spoke about his "poor father," and every evening,
+as he said, made an examination of his conscience before offering his
+soul to God.
+
+"A little curacao, eh?"
+
+"Just as you please."
+
+As for the Republic, things would right themselves; in fact, he looked
+on himself as the happiest man on earth; and forgetting himself, he
+exalted Rosanette's attractive qualities, and even compared her with his
+wife. It was quite a different thing. You could not imagine a lovelier
+person!
+
+"Your health!"
+
+Frederick touched glasses with him. He had, out of complaisance, drunk a
+little too much. Besides, the strong sunlight dazzled him; and when they
+went up the Rue Vivienne together again, their shoulders touched each
+other in a fraternal fashion.
+
+When he got home, Frederick slept till seven o'clock. After that he
+called on the Marechale. She had gone out with somebody--with Arnoux,
+perhaps! Not knowing what to do with himself, he continued his promenade
+along the boulevard, but could not get past the Porte Saint-Martin,
+owing to the great crowd that blocked the way.
+
+Want had abandoned to their own resources a considerable number of
+workmen, and they used to come there every evening, no doubt for the
+purpose of holding a review and awaiting a signal.
+
+In spite of the law against riotous assemblies, these clubs of despair
+increased to a frightful extent, and many citizens repaired every day to
+the spot through bravado, and because it was the fashion.
+
+All of a sudden Frederick caught a glimpse, three paces away, of M.
+Dambreuse along with Martinon. He turned his head away, for M. Dambreuse
+having got himself nominated as a representative of the people, he
+cherished a secret spite against him. But the capitalist stopped him.
+
+"One word, my dear monsieur! I have some explanations to make to you."
+
+"I am not asking you for any."
+
+"Pray listen to me!"
+
+It was not his fault in any way. Appeals had been made to him; pressure
+had, to a certain extent, been placed on him. Martinon immediately
+endorsed all that he had said. Some of the electors of Nogent had
+presented themselves in a deputation at his house.
+
+"Besides, I expected to be free as soon as----"
+
+A crush of people on the footpath forced M. Dambreuse to get out of the
+way. A minute after he reappeared, saying to Martinon:
+
+"This is a genuine service, really, and you won't have any reason to
+regret----"
+
+All three stood with their backs resting against a shop in order to be
+able to chat more at their ease.
+
+From time to time there was a cry of, "Long live Napoleon! Long live
+Barbes! Down with Marie!"
+
+The countless throng kept talking in very loud tones; and all these
+voices, echoing through the houses, made, so to speak, the continuous
+ripple of waves in a harbour. At intervals they ceased; and then could
+be heard voices singing the "Marseillaise."
+
+Under the court-gates, men of mysterious aspect offered sword-sticks to
+those who passed. Sometimes two individuals, one of whom preceded the
+other, would wink, and then quickly hurry away. The footpaths were
+filled with groups of staring idlers. A dense crowd swayed to and fro on
+the pavement. Entire bands of police-officers, emerging from the alleys,
+had scarcely made their way into the midst of the multitude when they
+were swallowed up in the mass of people. Little red flags here and there
+looked like flames. Coachmen, from the place where they sat high up,
+gesticulated energetically, and then turned to go back. It was a case of
+perpetual movement--one of the strangest sights that could be conceived.
+
+"How all this," said Martinon, "would have amused Mademoiselle Cecile!"
+
+"My wife, as you are aware, does not like my niece to come with us,"
+returned M. Dambreuse with a smile.
+
+One could scarcely recognise in him the same man. For the past three
+months he had been crying, "Long live the Republic!" and he had even
+voted in favour of the banishment of Orleans. But there should be an end
+of concessions. He exhibited his rage so far as to carry a tomahawk in
+his pocket.
+
+Martinon had one, too. The magistracy not being any longer irremovable,
+he had withdrawn from Parquet, so that he surpassed M. Dambreuse in his
+display of violence.
+
+The banker had a special antipathy to Lamartine (for having supported
+Ledru-Rollin) and, at the same time, to Pierre Leroux, Proudhon,
+Considerant, Lamennais, and all the cranks, all the Socialists.
+
+"For, in fact, what is it they want? The duty on meat and arrest for
+debt have been abolished. Now the project of a bank for mortgages is
+under consideration; the other day it was a national bank; and here are
+five millions in the Budget for the working-men! But luckily, it is
+over, thanks to Monsieur de Falloux! Good-bye to them! let them go!"
+
+In fact, not knowing how to maintain the three hundred thousand men in
+the national workshops, the Minister of Public Works had that very day
+signed an order inviting all citizens between the ages of eighteen and
+twenty to take service as soldiers, or else to start for the provinces
+to cultivate the ground there.
+
+They were indignant at the alternative thus put before them, convinced
+that the object was to destroy the Republic. They were aggrieved by the
+thought of having to live at a distance from the capital, as if it were
+a kind of exile. They saw themselves dying of fevers in desolate parts
+of the country. To many of them, moreover, who had been accustomed to
+work of a refined description, agriculture seemed a degradation; it was,
+in short, a mockery, a decisive breach of all the promises which had
+been made to them. If they offered any resistance, force would be
+employed against them. They had no doubt of it, and made preparations to
+anticipate it.
+
+About nine o'clock the riotous assemblies which had formed at the
+Bastille and at the Chatelet ebbed back towards the boulevard. From the
+Porte Saint-Denis to the Porte Saint-Martin nothing could be seen save
+an enormous swarm of people, a single mass of a dark blue shade, nearly
+black. The men of whom one caught a glimpse all had glowing eyes, pale
+complexions, faces emaciated with hunger and excited with a sense of
+wrong.
+
+Meanwhile, some clouds had gathered. The tempestuous sky roused the
+electricity that was in the people, and they kept whirling about of
+their own accord with the great swaying movements of a swelling sea, and
+one felt that there was an incalculable force in the depths of this
+excited throng, and as it were, the energy of an element. Then they all
+began exclaiming: "Lamps! lamps!" Many windows had no illumination, and
+stones were flung at the panes. M. Dambreuse deemed it prudent to
+withdraw from the scene. The two young men accompanied him home. He
+predicted great disasters. The people might once more invade the
+Chamber, and on this point he told them how he should have been killed
+on the fifteenth of May had it not been for the devotion of a National
+Guard.
+
+"But I had forgotten! he is a friend of yours--your friend the
+earthenware manufacturer--Jacques Arnoux!" The rioters had been actually
+throttling him, when that brave citizen caught him in his arms and put
+him safely out of their reach.
+
+So it was that, since then, there had been a kind of intimacy between
+them.
+
+"It would be necessary, one of these days, to dine together, and, since
+you often see him, give him the assurance that I like him very much. He
+is an excellent man, and has, in my opinion, been slandered; and he has
+his wits about him in the morning. My compliments once more! A very good
+evening!"
+
+Frederick, after he had quitted M. Dambreuse, went back to the
+Marechale, and, in a very gloomy fashion, said that she should choose
+between him and Arnoux. She replied that she did not understand "dumps
+of this sort," that she did not care about Arnoux, and had no desire to
+cling to him. Frederick was thirsting to fly from Paris. She did not
+offer any opposition to this whim; and next morning they set out for
+Fontainebleau.
+
+The hotel at which they stayed could be distinguished from others by a
+fountain that rippled in the middle of the courtyard attached to it. The
+doors of the various apartments opened out on a corridor, as in
+monasteries. The room assigned to them was large, well-furnished, hung
+with print, and noiseless, owing to the scarcity of tourists. Alongside
+the houses, people who had nothing to do kept passing up and down; then,
+under their windows, when the day was declining, children in the street
+would engage in a game of base; and this tranquillity, following so soon
+the tumult they had witnessed in Paris, filled them with astonishment
+and exercised over them a soothing influence.
+
+Every morning at an early hour, they went to pay a visit to the chateau.
+As they passed in through the gate, they had a view of its entire front,
+with the five pavilions covered with sharp-pointed roofs, and its
+staircase of horseshoe-shape opening out to the end of the courtyard,
+which is hemmed in, to right and left, by two main portions of the
+building further down. On the paved ground lichens blended their colours
+here and there with the tawny hue of bricks, and the entire appearance
+of the palace, rust-coloured like old armour, had about it something of
+the impassiveness of royalty--a sort of warlike, melancholy grandeur.
+
+At last, a man-servant made his appearance with a bunch of keys in his
+hand. He first showed them the apartments of the queens, the Pope's
+oratory, the gallery of Francis I., the mahogany table on which the
+Emperor signed his abdication, and in one of the rooms cut in two the
+old Galerie des Cerfs, the place where Christine got Monaldeschi
+assassinated. Rosanette listened to this narrative attentively, then,
+turning towards Frederick:
+
+"No doubt it was through jealousy? Mind yourself!" After this they
+passed through the Council Chamber, the Guards' Room, the Throne Room,
+and the drawing-room of Louis XIII. The uncurtained windows sent forth a
+white light. The handles of the window-fastenings and the copper feet of
+the pier-tables were slightly tarnished with dust. The armchairs were
+everywhere hidden under coarse linen covers. Above the doors could be
+seen reliquaries of Louis XIV., and here and there hangings representing
+the gods of Olympus, Psyche, or the battles of Alexander.
+
+As she was passing in front of the mirrors, Rosanette stopped for a
+moment to smooth her head-bands.
+
+After passing through the donjon-court and the Saint-Saturnin Chapel,
+they reached the Festal Hall.
+
+They were dazzled by the magnificence of the ceiling, which was divided
+into octagonal apartments set off with gold and silver, more finely
+chiselled than a jewel, and by the vast number of paintings covering the
+walls, from the immense chimney-piece, where the arms of France were
+surrounded by crescents and quivers, down to the musicians' gallery,
+which had been erected at the other end along the entire width of the
+hall. The ten arched windows were wide open; the sun threw its lustre on
+the pictures, so that they glowed beneath its rays; the blue sky
+continued in an endless curve the ultramarine of the arches; and from
+the depths of the woods, where the lofty summits of the trees filled up
+the horizon, there seemed to come an echo of flourishes blown by ivory
+trumpets, and mythological ballets, gathering together under the foliage
+princesses and nobles disguised as nymphs or fauns--an epoch of
+ingenuous science, of violent passions, and sumptuous art, when the
+ideal was to sweep away the world in a vision of the Hesperides, and
+when the mistresses of kings mingled their glory with the stars. There
+was a portrait of one of the most beautiful of these celebrated women in
+the form of Diana the huntress, and even the Infernal Diana, no doubt in
+order to indicate the power which she possessed even beyond the limits
+of the tomb. All these symbols confirmed her glory, and there remained
+about the spot something of her, an indistinct voice, a radiation that
+stretched out indefinitely. A feeling of mysterious retrospective
+voluptuousness took possession of Frederick.
+
+In order to divert these passionate longings into another channel, he
+began to gaze tenderly on Rosanette, and asked her would she not like to
+have been this woman?
+
+"What woman?"
+
+"Diane de Poitiers!"
+
+He repeated:
+
+"Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II."
+
+She gave utterance to a little "Ah!" that was all.
+
+Her silence clearly demonstrated that she knew nothing about the matter,
+and had failed to comprehend his meaning, so that out of complaisance he
+said to her:
+
+"Perhaps you are getting tired of this?"
+
+"No, no--quite the reverse." And lifting up her chin, and casting around
+her a glance of the vaguest description, Rosanette let these words
+escape her lips:
+
+"It recalls some memories to me!"
+
+Meanwhile, it was easy to trace on her countenance a strained
+expression, a certain sense of awe; and, as this air of gravity made her
+look all the prettier, Frederick overlooked it.
+
+The carps' pond amused her more. For a quarter of an hour she kept
+flinging pieces of bread into the water in order to see the fishes
+skipping about.
+
+Frederick had seated himself by her side under the linden-trees. He saw
+in imagination all the personages who had haunted these walls--Charles
+V., the Valois Kings, Henry IV., Peter the Great, Jean Jacques Rousseau,
+and "the fair mourners of the stage-boxes," Voltaire, Napoleon, Pius
+VII., and Louis Philippe; and he felt himself environed, elbowed, by
+these tumultuous dead people. He was stunned by such a confusion of
+historic figures, even though he found a certain fascination in
+contemplating them, nevertheless.
+
+At length they descended into the flower-garden.
+
+It is a vast rectangle, which presents to the spectator, at the first
+glance, its wide yellow walks, its square grass-plots, its ribbons of
+box-wood, its yew-trees shaped like pyramids, its low-lying green
+swards, and its narrow borders, in which thinly-sown flowers make spots
+on the grey soil. At the end of the garden may be seen a park through
+whose entire length a canal makes its way.
+
+Royal residences have attached to them a peculiar kind of melancholy,
+due, no doubt, to their dimensions being much too large for the limited
+number of guests entertained within them, to the silence which one feels
+astonished to find in them after so many flourishes of trumpets, to the
+immobility of their luxurious furniture, which attests by the aspect of
+age and decay it gradually assumes the transitory character of
+dynasties, the eternal wretchedness of all things; and this exhalation
+of the centuries, enervating and funereal, like the perfume of a mummy,
+makes itself felt even in untutored brains. Rosanette yawned
+immoderately. They went back to the hotel.
+
+After their breakfast an open carriage came round for them. They started
+from Fontainebleau at a point where several roads diverged, then went up
+at a walking pace a gravelly road leading towards a little pine-wood.
+The trees became larger, and, from time to time, the driver would say,
+"This is the Freres Siamois, the Pharamond, the Bouquet de Roi," not
+forgetting a single one of these notable sites, sometimes even drawing
+up to enable them to admire the scene.
+
+They entered the forest of Franchard. The carriage glided over the grass
+like a sledge; pigeons which they could not see began cooing. Suddenly,
+the waiter of a cafe made his appearance, and they alighted before the
+railing of a garden in which a number of round tables were placed. Then,
+passing on the left by the walls of a ruined abbey, they made their way
+over big boulders of stone, and soon reached the lower part of the
+gorge.
+
+It is covered on one side with sandstones and juniper-trees tangled
+together, while on the other side the ground, almost quite bare, slopes
+towards the hollow of the valley, where a foot-track makes a pale line
+through the brown heather; and far above could be traced a flat
+cone-shaped summit with a telegraph-tower behind it.
+
+Half-an-hour later they stepped out of the vehicle once more, in order
+to climb the heights of Aspremont.
+
+The roads form zigzags between the thick-set pine-trees under rocks with
+angular faces. All this corner of the forest has a sort of choked-up
+look--a rather wild and solitary aspect. One thinks of hermits in
+connection with it--companions of huge stags with fiery crosses between
+their horns, who were wont to welcome with paternal smiles the good
+kings of France when they knelt before their grottoes. The warm air was
+filled with a resinous odour, and roots of trees crossed one another
+like veins close to the soil. Rosanette slipped over them, grew
+dejected, and felt inclined to shed tears.
+
+But, at the very top, she became joyous once more on finding, under a
+roof made of branches, a sort of tavern where carved wood was sold. She
+drank a bottle of lemonade, and bought a holly-stick; and, without one
+glance towards the landscape which disclosed itself from the plateau,
+she entered the Brigands' Cave, with a waiter carrying a torch in front
+of her. Their carriage was awaiting them in the Bas Breau.
+
+A painter in a blue blouse was working at the foot of an oak-tree with
+his box of colours on his knees. He raised his head and watched them as
+they passed.
+
+In the middle of the hill of Chailly, the sudden breaking of a cloud
+caused them to turn up the hoods of their cloaks. Almost immediately the
+rain stopped, and the paving-stones of the street glistened under the
+sun when they were re-entering the town.
+
+Some travellers, who had recently arrived, informed them that a terrible
+battle had stained Paris with blood. Rosanette and her lover were not
+surprised. Then everybody left; the hotel became quiet, the gas was put
+out, and they were lulled to sleep by the murmur of the fountain in the
+courtyard.
+
+On the following day they went to see the Wolf's Gorge, the Fairies'
+Pool, the Long Rock, and the _Marlotte_.[G] Two days later, they began
+again at random, just as their coachman thought fit to drive them,
+without asking where they were, and often even neglecting the famous
+sites.
+
+They felt so comfortable in their old landau, low as a sofa, and covered
+with a rug made of a striped material which was quite faded. The moats,
+filled with brushwood, stretched out under their eyes with a gentle,
+continuous movement. White rays passed like arrows through the tall
+ferns. Sometimes a road that was no longer used presented itself before
+them, in a straight line, and here and there might be seen a feeble
+growth of weeds. In the centre between four cross-roads, a crucifix
+extended its four arms. In other places, stakes were bending down like
+dead trees, and little curved paths, which were lost under the leaves,
+made them feel a longing to pursue them. At the same moment the horse
+turned round; they entered there; they plunged into the mire. Further
+down moss had sprouted out at the sides of the deep ruts.
+
+
+[G] The "Overall." The word _Marlotte_ means a loose wrapper worn by
+ladies in the sixteenth century.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+They believed that they were far away from all other people, quite
+alone. But suddenly a game-keeper with his gun, or a band of women in
+rags with big bundles of fagots on their backs, would hurry past them.
+
+When the carriage stopped, there was a universal silence. The only
+sounds that reached them were the blowing of the horse in the shafts
+with the faint cry of a bird more than once repeated.
+
+The light at certain points illuminating the outskirts of the wood, left
+the interior in deep shadow, or else, attenuated in the foreground by a
+sort of twilight, it exhibited in the background violet vapours, a white
+radiance. The midday sun, falling directly on wide tracts of greenery,
+made splashes of light over them, hung gleaming drops of silver from the
+ends of the branches, streaked the grass with long lines of emeralds,
+and flung gold spots on the beds of dead leaves. When they let their
+heads fall back, they could distinguish the sky through the tops of the
+trees. Some of them, which were enormously high, looked like patriarchs
+or emperors, or, touching one another at their extremities formed with
+their long shafts, as it were, triumphal arches; others, sprouting forth
+obliquely from below, seemed like falling columns. This heap of big
+vertical lines gaped open. Then, enormous green billows unrolled
+themselves in unequal embossments as far as the surface of the valleys,
+towards which advanced the brows of other hills looking down on white
+plains, which ended by losing themselves in an undefined pale tinge.
+
+Standing side by side, on some rising ground, they felt, as they drank
+in the air, the pride of a life more free penetrating into the depths of
+their souls, with a superabundance of energy, a joy which they could not
+explain.
+
+The variety of trees furnished a spectacle of the most diversified
+character. The beeches with their smooth white bark twisted their tops
+together. Ash trees softly curved their bluish branches. In the tufts of
+the hornbeams rose up holly stiff as bronze. Then came a row of thin
+birches, bent into elegiac attitudes; and the pine-trees, symmetrical as
+organ pipes, seemed to be singing a song as they swayed to and fro.
+There were gigantic oaks with knotted forms, which had been violently
+shaken, stretched themselves out from the soil and pressed close against
+each other, and with firm trunks resembling torsos, launched forth to
+heaven despairing appeals with their bare arms and furious threats, like
+a group of Titans struck motionless in the midst of their rage. An
+atmosphere of gloom, a feverish languor, brooded over the pools, whose
+sheets of water were cut into flakes by the overshadowing thorn-trees.
+The lichens on their banks, where the wolves come to drink, are of the
+colour of sulphur, burnt, as it were, by the footprints of witches, and
+the incessant croaking of the frogs responds to the cawing of the crows
+as they wheel through the air. After this they passed through the
+monotonous glades, planted here and there with a staddle. The sound of
+iron falling with a succession of rapid blows could be heard. On the
+side of the hill a group of quarrymen were breaking the rocks. These
+rocks became more and more numerous and finally filled up the entire
+landscape, cube-shaped like houses, flat like flagstones, propping up,
+overhanging, and became intermingled with each other, as if they were
+the ruins, unrecognisable and monstrous, of some vanished city. But the
+wild chaos they exhibited made one rather dream of volcanoes, of
+deluges, of great unknown cataclysms. Frederick said they had been there
+since the beginning of the world, and would remain so till the end.
+Rosanette turned aside her head, declaring that this would drive her out
+of her mind, and went off to collect sweet heather. The little violet
+blossoms, heaped up near one another, formed unequal plates, and the
+soil, which was giving way underneath, placed soft dark fringes on the
+sand spangled with mica.
+
+One day they reached a point half-way up a hill, where the soil was full
+of sand. Its surface, untrodden till now, was streaked so as to resemble
+symmetrical waves. Here and there, like promontories on the dry bed of
+an ocean, rose up rocks with the vague outlines of animals, tortoises
+thrusting forward their heads, crawling seals, hippopotami, and bears.
+Not a soul around them. Not a single sound. The shingle glowed under the
+dazzling rays of the sun, and all at once in this vibration of light the
+specimens of the brute creation that met their gaze began to move about.
+They returned home quickly, flying from the dizziness that had seized
+hold of them, almost dismayed.
+
+The gravity of the forest exercised an influence over them, and hours
+passed in silence, during which, allowing themselves to yield to the
+lulling effects of springs, they remained as it were sunk in the torpor
+of a calm intoxication. With his arm around her waist, he listened to
+her talking while the birds were warbling, noticed with the same glance
+the black grapes on her bonnet and the juniper-berries, the draperies of
+her veil, and the spiral forms assumed by the clouds, and when he bent
+towards her the freshness of her skin mingled with the strong perfume of
+the woods. They found amusement in everything. They showed one another,
+as a curiosity, gossamer threads of the Virgin hanging from bushes,
+holes full of water in the middle of stones, a squirrel on the branches,
+the way in which two butterflies kept flying after them; or else, at
+twenty paces from them, under the trees, a hind strode on peacefully,
+with an air of nobility and gentleness, its doe walking by its side.
+
+Rosanette would have liked to run after it to embrace it.
+
+She got very much alarmed once, when a man suddenly presenting himself,
+showed her three vipers in a box. She wildly flung herself on
+Frederick's breast. He felt happy at the thought that she was weak and
+that he was strong enough to defend her.
+
+That evening they dined at an inn on the banks of the Seine. The table
+was near the window, Rosanette sitting opposite him, and he contemplated
+her little well-shaped white nose, her turned-up lips, her bright eyes,
+the swelling bands of her nut-brown hair, and her pretty oval face. Her
+dress of raw silk clung to her somewhat drooping shoulders, and her two
+hands, emerging from their sleeves, joined close together as if they
+were one--carved, poured out wine, moved over the table-cloth. The
+waiters placed before them a chicken with its four limbs stretched out,
+a stew of eels in a dish of pipe-clay, wine that had got spoiled, bread
+that was too hard, and knives with notches in them. All these things
+made the repast more enjoyable and strengthened the illusion. They
+fancied that they were in the middle of a journey in Italy on their
+honeymoon. Before starting again they went for a walk along the bank of
+the river.
+
+The soft blue sky, rounded like a dome, leaned at the horizon on the
+indentations of the woods. On the opposite side, at the end of the
+meadow, there was a village steeple; and further away, to the left, the
+roof of a house made a red spot on the river, which wound its way
+without any apparent motion. Some rushes bent over it, however, and the
+water lightly shook some poles fixed at its edge in order to hold nets.
+An osier bow-net and two or three old fishing-boats might be seen there.
+Near the inn a girl in a straw hat was drawing buckets out of a well.
+Every time they came up again, Frederick heard the grating sound of the
+chain with a feeling of inexpressible delight.
+
+He had no doubt that he would be happy till the end of his days, so
+natural did his felicity appear to him, so much a part of his life, and
+so intimately associated with this woman's being. He was irresistibly
+impelled to address her with words of endearment. She answered with
+pretty little speeches, light taps on the shoulder, displays of
+tenderness that charmed him by their unexpectedness. He discovered in
+her quite a new sort of beauty, in fact, which was perhaps only the
+reflection of surrounding things, unless it happened to bud forth from
+their hidden potentialities.
+
+When they were lying down in the middle of the field, he would stretch
+himself out with his head on her lap, under the shelter of her parasol;
+or else with their faces turned towards the green sward, in the centre
+of which they rested, they kept gazing towards one another so that their
+pupils seemed to intermingle, thirsting for one another and ever
+satiating their thirst, and then with half-closed eyelids they lay side
+by side without uttering a single word.
+
+Now and then the distant rolling of a drum reached their ears. It was
+the signal-drum which was being beaten in the different villages calling
+on people to go and defend Paris.
+
+"Oh! look here! 'tis the rising!" said Frederick, with a disdainful
+pity, all this excitement now presenting to his mind a pitiful aspect by
+the side of their love and of eternal nature.
+
+And they talked about whatever happened to come into their heads, things
+that were perfectly familiar to them, persons in whom they took no
+interest, a thousand trifles. She chatted with him about her chambermaid
+and her hairdresser. One day she was so self-forgetful that she told him
+her age--twenty-nine years. She was becoming quite an old woman.
+
+Several times, without intending it, she gave him some particulars with
+reference to her own life. She had been a "shop girl," had taken a trip
+to England, and had begun studying for the stage; all this she told
+without any explanation of how these changes had come about; and he
+found it impossible to reconstruct her entire history.
+
+She related to him more about herself one day when they were seated side
+by side under a plane-tree at the back of a meadow. At the road-side,
+further down, a little barefooted girl, standing amid a heap of dust,
+was making a cow go to pasture. As soon as she caught sight of them she
+came up to beg, and while with one hand she held up her tattered
+petticoat, she kept scratching with the other her black hair, which,
+like a wig of Louis XIV.'s time, curled round her dark face, lighted by
+a magnificent pair of eyes.
+
+"She will be very pretty by-and-by," said Frederick.
+
+"How lucky she is, if she has no mother!" remarked Rosanette.
+
+"Eh? How is that?"
+
+"Certainly. I, if it were not for mine----"
+
+She sighed, and began to speak about her childhood. Her parents were
+weavers in the Croix-Rousse. She acted as an apprentice to her father.
+In vain did the poor man wear himself out with hard work; his wife was
+continually abusing him, and sold everything for drink. Rosanette could
+see, as if it were yesterday, the room they occupied with the looms
+ranged lengthwise against the windows, the pot boiling on the stove, the
+bed painted like mahogany, a cupboard facing it, and the obscure loft
+where she used to sleep up to the time when she was fifteen years old.
+At length a gentleman made his appearance on the scene--a fat man with a
+face of the colour of boxwood, the manners of a devotee, and a suit of
+black clothes. Her mother and this man had a conversation together, with
+the result that three days afterwards--Rosanette stopped, and with a
+look in which there was as much bitterness as shamelessness:
+
+"It was done!"
+
+Then, in response to a gesture of Frederick.
+
+"As he was married (he would have been afraid of compromising himself in
+his own house), I was brought to a private room in a restaurant, and
+told that I would be happy, that I would get a handsome present.
+
+"At the door, the first thing that struck me was a candelabrum of
+vermilion on a table, on which there were two covers. A mirror on the
+ceiling showed their reflections, and the blue silk hangings on the
+walls made the entire apartment resemble an alcove; I was seized with
+astonishment. You understand--a poor creature who had never seen
+anything before. In spite of my dazed condition of mind, I got
+frightened. I wanted to go away. However, I remained.
+
+"The only seat in the room was a sofa close beside the table. It was so
+soft that it gave way under me. The mouth of the hot-air stove in the
+middle of the carpet sent out towards me a warm breath, and there I sat
+without taking anything. The waiter, who was standing near me, urged me
+to eat. He poured out for me immediately a large glass of wine. My head
+began to swim, I wanted to open the window. He said to me:
+
+"'No, Mademoiselle! that is forbidden.'"
+
+"And he left me.
+
+"The table was covered with a heap of things that I had no knowledge of.
+Nothing there seemed to me good. Then I fell back on a pot of jam, and
+patiently waited. I did not know what prevented him from coming. It was
+very late--midnight at last--I couldn't bear the fatigue any longer.
+While pushing aside one of the pillows, in order to hear better, I found
+under my hand a kind of album--a book of engravings, they were vulgar
+pictures. I was sleeping on top of it when he entered the room."
+
+She hung down her head and remained pensive.
+
+The leaves rustled around them. Amid the tangled grass a great foxglove
+was swaying to and fro. The sunlight flowed like a wave over the green
+expanse, and the silence was interrupted at intervals by the browsing of
+the cow, which they could no longer see.
+
+Rosanette kept her eyes fixed on a particular spot, three paces away
+from her, her nostrils heaving, and her mind absorbed in thought.
+Frederick caught hold of her hand.
+
+"How you suffered, poor darling!"
+
+"Yes," said she, "more than you imagine! So much so that I wanted to
+make an end of it--they had to fish me up!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Ah! think no more about it! I love you, I am happy! kiss me!"
+
+And she picked off, one by one, the sprigs of the thistles which clung
+to the hem of her gown.
+
+Frederick was thinking more than all on what she had not told him. What
+were the means by which she had gradually emerged from wretchedness? To
+what lover did she owe her education? What had occurred in her life down
+to the day when he first came to her house? Her latest avowal was a bar
+to these questions. All he asked her was how she had made Arnoux's
+acquaintance.
+
+"Through the Vatnaz."
+
+"Wasn't it you that I once saw with both of them at the Palais-Royal?"
+
+He referred to the exact date. Rosanette made a movement which showed a
+sense of deep pain.
+
+"Yes, it is true! I was not gay at that time!"
+
+But Arnoux had proved himself a very good fellow. Frederick had no doubt
+of it. However, their friend was a queer character, full of faults. He
+took care to recall them. She quite agreed with him on this point.
+
+"Never mind! One likes him, all the same, this camel!"
+
+"Still--even now?" said Frederick.
+
+She began to redden, half smiling, half angry.
+
+"Oh, no! that's an old story. I don't keep anything hidden from you.
+Even though it might be so, with him it is different. Besides, I don't
+think you are nice towards your victim!"
+
+"My victim!"
+
+Rosanette caught hold of his chin.
+
+"No doubt!"
+
+And in the lisping fashion in which nurses talk to babies:
+
+"Have always been so good! Never went a-by-by with his wife?"
+
+"I! never at any time!"
+
+Rosanette smiled. He felt hurt by this smile of hers, which seemed to
+him a proof of indifference.
+
+But she went on gently, and with one of those looks which seem to appeal
+for a denial of the truth:
+
+"Are you perfectly certain?"
+
+"Not a doubt of it!"
+
+Frederick solemnly declared on his word of honour that he had never
+bestowed a thought on Madame Arnoux, as he was too much in love with
+another woman.
+
+"Why, with you, my beautiful one!"
+
+"Ah! don't laugh at me! You only annoy me!"
+
+He thought it a prudent course to invent a story--to pretend that he was
+swayed by a passion. He manufactured some circumstantial details. This
+woman, however, had rendered him very unhappy.
+
+"Decidedly, you have not been lucky," said Rosanette.
+
+"Oh! oh! I may have been!" wishing to convey in this way that he had
+been often fortunate in his love-affairs, so that she might have a
+better opinion of him, just as Rosanette did not avow how many lovers
+she had had, in order that he might have more respect for her--for there
+will always be found in the midst of the most intimate confidences
+restrictions, false shame, delicacy, and pity. You divine either in the
+other or in yourself precipices or miry paths which prevent you from
+penetrating any farther; moreover, you feel that you will not be
+understood. It is hard to express accurately the thing you mean,
+whatever it may be; and this is the reason why perfect unions are rare.
+
+The poor Marechale had never known one better than this. Often, when she
+gazed at Frederick, tears came into her eyes; then she would raise them
+or cast a glance towards the horizon, as if she saw there some bright
+dawn, perspectives of boundless felicity. At last, she confessed one day
+to him that she wished to have a mass said, "so that it might bring a
+blessing on our love."
+
+How was it, then, that she had resisted him so long? She could not tell
+herself. He repeated his question a great many times; and she replied,
+as she clasped him in her arms:
+
+"It was because I was afraid, my darling, of loving you too well!"
+
+On Sunday morning, Frederick read, amongst the list of the wounded given
+in a newspaper, the name of Dussardier. He uttered a cry, and showing
+the paper to Rosanette, declared that he was going to start at once for
+Paris.
+
+"For what purpose?"
+
+"In order to see him, to nurse him!"
+
+"You are not going, I'm sure, to leave me by myself?"
+
+"Come with me!"
+
+"Ha! to poke my nose in a squabble of that sort? Oh, no, thanks!"
+
+"However, I cannot----"
+
+"Ta! ta! ta! as if they had need of nurses in the hospitals! And then,
+what concern is he of yours any longer? Everyone for himself!"
+
+He was roused to indignation by this egoism on her part, and he
+reproached himself for not being in the capital with the others. Such
+indifference to the misfortunes of the nation had in it something
+shabby, and only worthy of a small shopkeeper. And now, all of a sudden,
+his intrigue with Rosanette weighed on his mind as if it were a crime.
+For an hour they were quite cool towards each other.
+
+Then she appealed to him to wait, and not expose himself to danger.
+
+"Suppose you happen to be killed?"
+
+"Well, I should only have done my duty!"
+
+Rosanette gave a jump. His first duty was to love her; but, no doubt, he
+did not care about her any longer. There was no common sense in what he
+was going to do. Good heavens! what an idea!
+
+Frederick rang for his bill. But to get back to Pans was not an easy
+matter. The Leloir stagecoach had just left; the Lecomte berlins would
+not be starting; the diligence from Bourbonnais would not be passing
+till a late hour that night, and perhaps it might be full, one could
+never tell. When he had lost a great deal of time in making enquiries
+about the various modes of conveyance, the idea occurred to him to
+travel post. The master of the post-house refused to supply him with
+horses, as Frederick had no passport. Finally, he hired an open
+carriage--the same one in which they had driven about the country--and
+at about five o'clock they arrived in front of the Hotel du Commerce at
+Melun.
+
+The market-place was covered with piles of arms. The prefect had
+forbidden the National Guards to proceed towards Paris. Those who did
+not belong to his department wished to go on. There was a great deal of
+shouting, and the inn was packed with a noisy crowd.
+
+Rosanette, seized with terror, said she would not go a step further, and
+once more begged of him to stay. The innkeeper and his wife joined in
+her entreaties. A decent sort of man who happened to be dining there
+interposed, and observed that the fighting would be over in a very short
+time. Besides, one ought to do his duty. Thereupon the Marechale
+redoubled her sobs. Frederick got exasperated. He handed her his purse,
+kissed her quickly, and disappeared.
+
+On reaching Corbeil, he learned at the station that the insurgents had
+cut the rails at regular distances, and the coachman refused to drive
+him any farther; he said that his horses were "overspent."
+
+Through his influence, however, Frederick managed to procure an
+indifferent cabriolet, which, for the sum of sixty francs, without
+taking into account the price of a drink for the driver, was to convey
+him as far as the Italian barrier. But at a hundred paces from the
+barrier his coachman made him descend and turn back. Frederick was
+walking along the pathway, when suddenly a sentinel thrust out his
+bayonet. Four men seized him, exclaiming:
+
+"This is one of them! Look out! Search him! Brigand! scoundrel!"
+
+And he was so thoroughly stupefied that he let himself be dragged to the
+guard-house of the barrier, at the very point where the Boulevards des
+Gobelins and de l'Hopital and Rues Godefroy and Mauffetard converge.
+
+Four barricades formed at the ends of four different ways enormous
+sloping ramparts of paving-stones. Torches were glimmering here and
+there. In spite of the rising clouds of dust he could distinguish
+foot-soldiers of the Line and National Guards, all with their faces
+blackened, their chests uncovered, and an aspect of wild excitement.
+They had just captured the square, and had shot down a number of men.
+Their rage had not yet cooled. Frederick said he had come from
+Fontainebleau to the relief of a wounded comrade who lodged in the Rue
+Bellefond. Not one of them would believe him at first. They examined his
+hands; they even put their noses to his ear to make sure that he did not
+smell of powder.
+
+However, by dint of repeating the same thing, he finally satisfied a
+captain, who directed two fusiliers to conduct him to the guard-house of
+the Jardin des Plantes. They descended the Boulevard de l'Hopital. A
+strong breeze was blowing. It restored him to animation.
+
+After this they turned up the Rue du Marche aux Chevaux. The Jardin des
+Plantes at the right formed a long black mass, whilst at the left the
+entire front of the Pitie, illuminated at every window, blazed like a
+conflagration, and shadows passed rapidly over the window-panes.
+
+The two men in charge of Frederick went away. Another accompanied him to
+the Polytechnic School. The Rue Saint-Victor was quite dark, without a
+gas-lamp or a light at any window to relieve the gloom. Every ten
+minutes could be heard the words:
+
+"Sentinels! mind yourselves!"
+
+And this exclamation, cast into the midst of the silence, was prolonged
+like the repeated striking of a stone against the side of a chasm as it
+falls through space.
+
+Every now and then the stamp of heavy footsteps could be heard drawing
+nearer. This was nothing less than a patrol consisting of about a
+hundred men. From this confused mass escaped whisperings and the dull
+clanking of iron; and, moving away with a rhythmic swing, it melted into
+the darkness.
+
+In the middle of the crossing, where several streets met, a dragoon sat
+motionless on his horse. From time to time an express rider passed at a
+rapid gallop; then the silence was renewed. Cannons, which were being
+drawn along the streets, made, on the pavement, a heavy rolling sound
+that seemed full of menace--a sound different from every ordinary
+sound--which oppressed the heart. The sounds was profound, unlimited--a
+black silence. Men in white blouses accosted the soldiers, spoke one or
+two words to them, and then vanished like phantoms.
+
+The guard-house of the Polytechnic School overflowed with people. The
+threshold was blocked up with women, who had come to see their sons or
+their husbands. They were sent on to the Pantheon, which had been
+transformed into a dead-house; and no attention was paid to Frederick.
+He pressed forward resolutely, solemnly declaring that his friend
+Dussardier was waiting for him, that he was at death's door. At last
+they sent a corporal to accompany him to the top of the Rue
+Saint-Jacques, to the Mayor's office in the twelfth arrondissement.
+
+The Place du Pantheon was filled with soldiers lying asleep on straw.
+The day was breaking; the bivouac-fires were extinguished.
+
+The insurrection had left terrible traces in this quarter. The soil of
+the streets, from one end to the other, was covered with risings of
+various sizes. On the wrecked barricades had been piled up omnibuses,
+gas-pipes, and cart-wheels. In certain places there were little dark
+pools, which must have been blood. The houses were riddled with
+projectiles, and their framework could be seen under the plaster that
+was peeled off. Window-blinds, each attached only by a single nail, hung
+like rags. The staircases having fallen in, doors opened on vacancy. The
+interiors of rooms could be perceived with their papers in strips. In
+some instances dainty objects had remained in them quite intact.
+Frederick noticed a timepiece, a parrot-stick, and some engravings.
+
+When he entered the Mayor's office, the National Guards were chattering
+without a moment's pause about the deaths of Brea and Negrier, about
+the deputy Charbonnel, and about the Archbishop of Paris. He heard them
+saying that the Duc d'Aumale had landed at Boulogne, that Barbes had
+fled from Vincennes, that the artillery were coming up from Bourges, and
+that abundant aid was arriving from the provinces. About three o'clock
+some one brought good news.
+
+Truce-bearers from the insurgents were in conference with the President
+of the Assembly.
+
+Thereupon they all made merry; and as he had a dozen francs left,
+Frederick sent for a dozen bottles of wine, hoping by this means to
+hasten his deliverance. Suddenly a discharge of musketry was heard. The
+drinking stopped. They peered with distrustful eyes into the unknown--it
+might be Henry V.
+
+In order to get rid of responsibility, they took Frederick to the
+Mayor's office in the eleventh arrondissement, which he was not
+permitted to leave till nine o'clock in the morning.
+
+He started at a running pace from the Quai Voltaire. At an open window
+an old man in his shirt-sleeves was crying, with his eyes raised. The
+Seine glided peacefully along. The sky was of a clear blue; and in the
+trees round the Tuileries birds were singing.
+
+Frederick was just crossing the Place du Carrousel when a litter
+happened to be passing by. The soldiers at the guard-house immediately
+presented arms; and the officer, putting his hand to his shako, said:
+"Honour to unfortunate bravery!" This phrase seemed to have almost
+become a matter of duty. He who pronounced it appeared to be, on each
+occasion, filled with profound emotion. A group of people in a state of
+fierce excitement followed the litter, exclaiming:
+
+"We will avenge you! we will avenge you!"
+
+The vehicles kept moving about on the boulevard, and women were making
+lint before the doors. Meanwhile, the outbreak had been quelled, or very
+nearly so. A proclamation from Cavaignac, just posted up, announced the
+fact. At the top of the Rue Vivienne, a company of the Garde Mobile
+appeared. Then the citizens uttered cries of enthusiasm. They raised
+their hats, applauded, danced, wished to embrace them, and to invite
+them to drink; and flowers, flung by ladies, fell from the balconies.
+
+At last, at ten o'clock, at the moment when the cannon was booming as an
+attack was being made on the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Frederick reached
+the abode of Dussardier. He found the bookkeeper in his garret, lying
+asleep on his back. From the adjoining apartment a woman came forth with
+silent tread--Mademoiselle Vatnaz.
+
+She led Frederick aside and explained to him how Dussardier had got
+wounded.
+
+On Saturday, on the top of a barricade in the Rue Lafayette, a young
+fellow wrapped in a tricoloured flag cried out to the National Guards:
+"Are you going to shoot your brothers?" As they advanced, Dussardier
+threw down his gun, pushed away the others, sprang over the barricade,
+and, with a blow of an old shoe, knocked down the insurgent, from whom
+he tore the flag. He had afterwards been found under a heap of rubbish
+with a slug of copper in his thigh. It was found necessary to make an
+incision in order to extract the projectile. Mademoiselle Vatnaz
+arrived the same evening, and since then had not quitted his side.
+
+She intelligently prepared everything that was needed for the dressings,
+assisted him in taking his medicine or other liquids, attended to his
+slightest wishes, left and returned again with footsteps more light than
+those of a fly, and gazed at him with eyes full of tenderness.
+
+Frederick, during the two following weeks, did not fail to come back
+every morning. One day, while he was speaking about the devotion of the
+Vatnaz, Dussardier shrugged his shoulders:
+
+"Oh! no! she does this through interested motives."
+
+"Do you think so?"
+
+He replied: "I am sure of it!" without seeming disposed to give any
+further explanation.
+
+She had loaded him with kindnesses, carrying her attentions so far as to
+bring him the newspapers in which his gallant action was extolled. He
+even confessed to Frederick that he felt uneasy in his conscience.
+
+Perhaps he ought to have put himself on the other side with the men in
+blouses; for, indeed, a heap of promises had been made to them which had
+not been carried out. Those who had vanquished them hated the Republic;
+and, in the next place, they had treated them very harshly. No doubt
+they were in the wrong--not quite, however; and the honest fellow was
+tormented by the thought that he might have fought against the righteous
+cause. Senecal, who was immured in the Tuileries, under the terrace at
+the water's edge, had none of this mental anguish.
+
+There were nine hundred men in the place, huddled together in the midst
+of filth, without the slightest order, their faces blackened with powder
+and clotted blood, shivering with ague and breaking out into cries of
+rage, and those who were brought there to die were not separated from
+the rest. Sometimes, on hearing the sound of a detonation, they believed
+that they were all going to be shot. Then they dashed themselves against
+the walls, and after that fell back again into their places, so much
+stupefied by suffering that it seemed to them that they were living in a
+nightmare, a mournful hallucination. The lamp, which hung from the
+arched roof, looked like a stain of blood, and little green and yellow
+flames fluttered about, caused by the emanations from the vault. Through
+fear of epidemics, a commission was appointed. When he had advanced a
+few steps, the President recoiled, frightened by the stench from the
+excrements and from the corpses.
+
+As soon as the prisoners drew near a vent-hole, the National Guards who
+were on sentry, in order to prevent them from shaking the bars of the
+grating, prodded them indiscriminately with their bayonets.
+
+As a rule they showed no pity. Those who were not beaten wished to
+signalise themselves. There was a regular outbreak of fear. They avenged
+themselves at the same time on newspapers, clubs, mobs,
+speech-making--everything that had exasperated them during the last
+three months, and in spite of the victory that had been gained, equality
+(as if for the punishment of its defenders and the exposure of its
+enemies to ridicule) manifested itself in a triumphal fashion--an
+equality of brute beasts, a dead level of sanguinary vileness; for the
+fanaticism of self-interest balanced the madness of want, aristocracy
+had the same fits of fury as low debauchery, and the cotton cap did not
+show itself less hideous than the red cap. The public mind was agitated
+just as it would be after great convulsions of nature. Sensible men were
+rendered imbeciles for the rest of their lives on account of it.
+
+Pere Roque had become very courageous, almost foolhardy. Having arrived
+on the 26th at Paris with some of the inhabitants of Nogent, instead of
+going back at the same time with them, he had gone to give his
+assistance to the National Guard encamped at the Tuileries; and he was
+quite satisfied to be placed on sentry in front of the terrace at the
+water's side. There, at any rate, he had these brigands under his feet!
+He was delighted to find that they were beaten and humiliated, and he
+could not refrain from uttering invectives against them.
+
+One of them, a young lad with long fair hair, put his face to the bars,
+and asked for bread. M. Roque ordered him to hold his tongue. But the
+young man repeated in a mournful tone:
+
+"Bread!"
+
+"Have I any to give you?"
+
+Other prisoners presented themselves at the vent-hole, with their
+bristling beards, their burning eyeballs, all pushing forward, and
+yelling:
+
+"Bread!"
+
+Pere Roque was indignant at seeing his authority slighted. In order to
+frighten them he took aim at them; and, borne onward into the vault by
+the crush that nearly smothered him, the young man, with his head thrown
+backward, once more exclaimed:
+
+"Bread!"
+
+"Hold on! here it is!" said Pere Roque, firing a shot from his gun.
+There was a fearful howl--then, silence. At the side of the trough
+something white could be seen lying.
+
+After this, M. Roque returned to his abode, for he had a house in the
+Rue Saint-Martin, which he used as a temporary residence; and the injury
+done to the front of the building during the riots had in no slight
+degree contributed to excite his rage. It seemed to him, when he next
+saw it, that he had exaggerated the amount of damage done to it. His
+recent act had a soothing effect on him, as if it indemnified him for
+his loss.
+
+It was his daughter herself who opened the door for him. She immediately
+made the remark that she had felt uneasy at his excessively prolonged
+absence. She was afraid that he had met with some misfortune--that he
+had been wounded.
+
+This manifestation of filial love softened Pere Roque. He was astonished
+that she should have set out on a journey without Catherine.
+
+"I sent her out on a message," was Louise's reply.
+
+And she made enquiries about his health, about one thing or another;
+then, with an air of indifference, she asked him whether he had chanced
+to come across Frederick:
+
+"No; I didn't see him!"
+
+It was on his account alone that she had come up from the country.
+
+Some one was walking at that moment in the lobby.
+
+"Oh! excuse me----"
+
+And she disappeared.
+
+Catherine had not found Frederick. He had been several days away, and
+his intimate friend, M. Deslauriers, was now living in the provinces.
+
+Louise once more presented herself, shaking all over, without being able
+to utter a word. She leaned against the furniture.
+
+"What's the matter with you? Tell me--what's the matter with you?"
+exclaimed her father.
+
+She indicated by a wave of her hand that it was nothing, and with a
+great effort of will she regained her composure.
+
+The keeper of the restaurant at the opposite side of the street brought
+them soup. But Pere Roque had passed through too exciting an ordeal to
+be able to control his emotions. "He is not likely to die;" and at
+dessert he had a sort of fainting fit. A doctor was at once sent for,
+and he prescribed a potion. Then, when M. Roque was in bed, he asked to
+be as well wrapped up as possible in order to bring on perspiration. He
+gasped; he moaned.
+
+"Thanks, my good Catherine! Kiss your poor father, my chicken! Ah! those
+revolutions!"
+
+And, when his daughter scolded him for having made himself ill by
+tormenting his mind on her account, he replied:
+
+"Yes! you are right! But I couldn't help it! I am too sensitive!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+"HOW HAPPY COULD I BE WITH EITHER."
+
+
+Madame Dambreuse, in her boudoir, between her niece and Miss John, was
+listening to M. Roque as he described the severe military duties he had
+been forced to perform.
+
+She was biting her lips, and appeared to be in pain.
+
+"Oh! 'tis nothing! it will pass away!"
+
+And, with a gracious air:
+
+"We are going to have an acquaintance of yours at dinner with
+us,--Monsieur Moreau."
+
+Louise gave a start.
+
+"Oh! we'll only have a few intimate friends there--amongst others,
+Alfred de Cisy."
+
+And she spoke in terms of high praise about his manners, his personal
+appearance, and especially his moral character.
+
+Madame Dambreuse was nearer to a correct estimate of the state of
+affairs than she imagined; the Vicomte was contemplating marriage. He
+said so to Martinon, adding that Mademoiselle Cecile was certain to like
+him, and that her parents would accept him.
+
+To warrant him in going so far as to confide to another his intentions
+on the point, he ought to have satisfactory information with regard to
+her dowry. Now Martinon had a suspicion that Cecile was M. Dambreuse's
+natural daughter; and it is probable that it would have been a very
+strong step on his part to ask for her hand at any risk. Such audacity,
+of course, was not unaccompanied by danger; and for this reason Martinon
+had, up to the present, acted in a way that could not compromise him.
+Besides, he did not see how he could well get rid of the aunt. Cisy's
+confidence induced him to make up his mind; and he had formally made his
+proposal to the banker, who, seeing no obstacle to it, had just informed
+Madame Dambreuse about the matter.
+
+Cisy presently made his appearance. She arose and said:
+
+"You have forgotten us. Cecile, shake hands!"
+
+At the same moment Frederick entered the room.
+
+"Ha! at last we have found you again!" exclaimed Pere Roque. "I called
+with Cecile on you three times this week!"
+
+Frederick had carefully avoided them. He pleaded by way of excuse that
+he spent all his days beside a wounded comrade.
+
+For a long time, however, a heap of misfortunes had happened to him, and
+he tried to invent stories to explain his conduct. Luckily the guests
+arrived in the midst of his explanation. First of all M. Paul de
+Gremonville, the diplomatist whom he met at the ball; then Fumichon,
+that manufacturer whose conservative zeal had scandalised him one
+evening. After them came the old Duchesse de Montreuil Nantua.
+
+But two loud voices in the anteroom reached his ears. They were that of
+M. de Nonancourt, an old beau with the air of a mummy preserved in cold
+cream, and that of Madame de Larsillois, the wife of a prefect of Louis
+Philippe. She was terribly frightened, for she had just heard an organ
+playing a polka which was a signal amongst the insurgents. Many of the
+wealthy class of citizens had similar apprehensions; they thought that
+men in the catacombs were going to blow up the Faubourg Saint-Germain.
+Some noises escaped from cellars, and things that excited suspicion were
+passed up to windows.
+
+Everyone in the meantime made an effort to calm Madame de Larsillois.
+Order was re-established. There was no longer anything to fear.
+
+"Cavaignac has saved us!"
+
+As if the horrors of the insurrection had not been sufficiently
+numerous, they exaggerated them. There had been twenty-three thousand
+convicts on the side of the Socialists--no less!
+
+They had no doubt whatever that food had been poisoned, that Gardes
+Mobiles had been sawn between two planks, and that there had been
+inscriptions on flags inciting the people to pillage and incendiarism.
+
+"Aye, and something more!" added the ex-prefect.
+
+"Oh, dear!" said Madame Dambreuse, whose modesty was shocked, while she
+indicated the three young girls with a glance.
+
+M. Dambreuse came forth from his study accompanied by Martinon. She
+turned her head round and responded to a bow from Pellerin, who was
+advancing towards her. The artist gazed in a restless fashion towards
+the walls. The banker took him aside, and conveyed to him that it was
+desirable for the present to conceal his revolutionary picture.
+
+"No doubt," said Pellerin, the rebuff which he received at the Club of
+Intellect having modified his opinions.
+
+M. Dambreuse let it slip out very politely that he would give him orders
+for other works.
+
+"But excuse me. Ah! my dear friend, what a pleasure!"
+
+Arnoux and Madame Arnoux stood before Frederick.
+
+He had a sort of vertigo. Rosanette had been irritating him all the
+afternoon with her display of admiration for soldiers, and the old
+passion was re-awakened.
+
+The steward came to announce that dinner was on the table. With a look
+she directed the Vicomte to take Cecile's arm, while she said in a low
+tone to Martinon, "You wretch!" And then they passed into the
+dining-room.
+
+Under the green leaves of a pineapple, in the middle of the table-cloth,
+a dorado stood, with its snout reaching towards a quarter of roebuck and
+its tail just grazing a bushy dish of crayfish. Figs, huge cherries,
+pears, and grapes (the first fruits of Parisian cultivation) rose like
+pyramids in baskets of old Saxe. Here and there a bunch of flowers
+mingled with the shining silver plate. The white silk blinds, drawn down
+in front of the windows, filled the apartment with a mellow light. It
+was cooled by two fountains, in which there were pieces of ice; and tall
+men-servants, in short breeches, waited on them. All these luxuries
+seemed more precious after the emotion of the past few days. They felt a
+fresh delight at possessing things which they had been afraid of
+losing; and Nonancourt expressed the general sentiment when he said:
+
+"Ah! let us hope that these Republican gentlemen will allow us to dine!"
+
+"In spite of their fraternity!" Pere Roque added, with an attempt at
+wit.
+
+These two personages were placed respectively at the right and at the
+left of Madame Dambreuse, her husband being exactly opposite her,
+between Madame Larsillois, at whose side was the diplomatist and the old
+Duchesse, whom Fumichon elbowed. Then came the painter, the dealer in
+faience, and Mademoiselle Louise; and, thanks to Martinon, who had
+carried her chair to enable her to take a seat near Louise, Frederick
+found himself beside Madame Arnoux.
+
+She wore a black barege gown, a gold hoop on her wrist, and, as on the
+first day that he dined at her house, something red in her hair, a
+branch of fuchsia twisted round her chignon. He could not help saying:
+
+"'Tis a long time since we saw each other."
+
+"Ah!" she returned coldly.
+
+He went on, in a mild tone, which mitigated the impertinence of his
+question:
+
+"Have you thought of me now and then?"
+
+"Why should I think of you?"
+
+Frederick was hurt by these words.
+
+"You are right, perhaps, after all."
+
+But very soon, regretting what he had said, he swore that he had not
+lived a single day without being ravaged by the remembrance of her.
+
+"I don't believe a single word of it, Monsieur."
+
+"However, you know that I love you!"
+
+Madame Arnoux made no reply.
+
+"You know that I love you!"
+
+She still kept silent.
+
+"Well, then, go be hanged!" said Frederick to himself.
+
+And, as he raised his eyes, he perceived Mademoiselle Roque at the other
+side of Madame Arnoux.
+
+She thought it gave her a coquettish look to dress entirely in green, a
+colour which contrasted horribly with her red hair. The buckle of her
+belt was large and her collar cramped her neck. This lack of elegance
+had, no doubt, contributed to the coldness which Frederick at first
+displayed towards her. She watched him from where she sat, some distance
+away from him, with curious glances; and Arnoux, close to her side, in
+vain lavished his gallantries--he could not get her to utter three
+words, so that, finally abandoning all hope of making himself agreeable
+to her, he listened to the conversation. She now began rolling about a
+slice of Luxembourg pineapple in her pea-soup.
+
+Louis Blanc, according to Fumichon, owned a large house in the Rue
+Saint-Dominique, which he refused to let to the workmen.
+
+"For my part, I think it rather a funny thing," said Nonancourt, "to see
+Ledru-Rollin hunting over the Crown lands."
+
+"He owes twenty thousand francs to a goldsmith!" Cisy interposed, "and
+'tis maintained----"
+
+Madame Darnbreuse stopped him.
+
+"Ah! how nasty it is to be getting hot about politics! and for such a
+young man, too! fie, fie! Pay attention rather to your fair neighbour!"
+
+After this, those who were of a grave turn of mind attacked the
+newspapers. Arnoux took it on himself to defend them. Frederick mixed
+himself up in the discussion, describing them as commercial
+establishments just like any other house of business. Those who wrote
+for them were, as a rule, imbeciles or humbugs; he gave his listeners to
+understand that he was acquainted with journalists, and combated with
+sarcasms his friend's generous sentiments.
+
+Madame Arnoux did not notice that this was said through a feeling of
+spite against her.
+
+Meanwhile, the Vicomte was torturing his brain in the effort to make a
+conquest of Mademoiselle Cecile. He commenced by finding fault with the
+shape of the decanters and the graving of the knives, in order to show
+his artistic tastes. Then he talked about his stable, his tailor and his
+shirtmaker. Finally, he took up the subject of religion, and seized the
+opportunity of conveying to her that he fulfilled all his duties.
+
+Martinon set to work in a better fashion. With his eyes fixed on her
+continually, he praised, in a monotonous fashion, her birdlike profile,
+her dull fair hair, and her hands, which were unusually short. The
+plain-looking young girl was delighted at this shower of flatteries.
+
+It was impossible to hear anything, as all present were talking at the
+tops of their voices. M. Roque wanted "an iron hand" to govern France.
+Nonancourt even regretted that the political scaffold was abolished.
+They ought to have all these scoundrels put to death together.
+
+"Now that I think of it, are we speaking of Dussardier?" said M.
+Dambreuse, turning towards Frederick.
+
+The worthy shopman was now a hero, like Sallesse, the brothers Jeanson,
+the wife of Pequillet, etc.
+
+Frederick, without waiting to be asked, related his friend's history; it
+threw around him a kind of halo.
+
+Then they came quite naturally to refer to different traits of courage.
+
+According to the diplomatist, it was not hard to face death, witness the
+case of men who fight duels.
+
+"We might take the Vicomte's testimony on that point," said Martinon.
+
+The Vicomte's face got very flushed.
+
+The guests stared at him, and Louise, more astonished than the rest,
+murmured:
+
+"What is it, pray?"
+
+"He _sank_ before Frederick," returned Arnoux, in a very low tone.
+
+"Do you know anything, Mademoiselle?" said Nonancourt presently, and he
+repeated her answer to Madame Dambreuse, who, bending forward a little,
+began to fix her gaze on Frederick.
+
+Martinon did not wait for Cecile's questions. He informed her that this
+affair had reference to a woman of improper character. The young girl
+drew back slightly in her chair, as if to escape from contact with such
+a libertine.
+
+The conversation was renewed. The great wines of Bordeaux were sent
+round, and the guests became animated. Pellerin had a dislike to the
+Revolution, because he attributed to it the complete loss of the Spanish
+Museum.
+
+This is what grieved him most as a painter.
+
+As he made the latter remark, M. Roque asked:
+
+"Are you not yourself the painter of a very notable picture?"
+
+"Perhaps! What is it?"
+
+"It represents a lady in a costume--faith!--a little light, with a
+purse, and a peacock behind."
+
+Frederick, in his turn, reddened. Pellerin pretended that he had not
+heard the words.
+
+"Nevertheless, it is certainly by you! For your name is written at the
+bottom of it, and there is a line on it stating that it is Monsieur
+Moreau's property."
+
+One day, when Pere Roque and his daughter were waiting at his residence
+to see him, they saw the Marechale's portrait. The old gentleman had
+even taken it for "a Gothic painting."
+
+"No," said Pellerin rudely, "'tis a woman's portrait."
+
+Martinon added:
+
+"And a living woman's, too, and no mistake! Isn't that so, Cisy?"
+
+"Oh! I know nothing about it."
+
+"I thought you were acquainted with her. But, since it causes you pain,
+I must beg a thousand pardons!"
+
+Cisy lowered his eyes, proving by his embarrassment that he must have
+played a pitiable part in connection with this portrait. As for
+Frederick, the model could only be his mistress. It was one of those
+convictions which are immediately formed, and the faces of the assembly
+revealed it with the utmost clearness.
+
+"How he lied to me!" said Madame Arnoux to herself.
+
+"It is for her, then, that he left me," thought Louise.
+
+Frederick had an idea that these two stories might compromise him; and
+when they were in the garden, Mademoiselle Cecile's wooer burst out
+laughing in his face.
+
+"Oh, not at all! 'twill do you good! Go ahead!"
+
+What did he mean? Besides, what was the cause of this good nature, so
+contrary to his usual conduct? Without giving any explanation, he
+proceeded towards the lower end, where the ladies were seated. The men
+were standing round them, and, in their midst, Pellerin was giving vent
+to his ideas. The form of government most favourable for the arts was an
+enlightened monarchy. He was disgusted with modern times, "if it were
+only on account of the National Guard"--he regretted the Middle Ages and
+the days of Louis XIV. M. Roque congratulated him on his opinions,
+confessing that they overcame all his prejudices against artists. But
+almost without a moment's delay he went off when the voice of Fumichon
+attracted his attention.
+
+Arnoux tried to prove that there were two Socialisms--a good and a bad.
+The manufacturer saw no difference whatever between them, his head
+becoming dizzy with rage at the utterance of the word "property."
+
+"'Tis a law written on the face of Nature! Children cling to their toys.
+All peoples, all animals are of my opinion. The lion even, if he were
+able to speak, would declare himself a proprietor! Thus I myself,
+messieurs, began with a capital of fifteen thousand francs. Would you be
+surprised to hear that for thirty years I used to get up at four o'clock
+every morning? I've had as much pain as five hundred devils in making my
+fortune! And people will come and tell me I'm not the master, that my
+money is not my money; in short, that property is theft!"
+
+"But Proudhon----"
+
+"Let me alone with your Proudhon! if he were here I think I'd strangle
+him!"
+
+He would have strangled him. After the intoxicating drink he had
+swallowed Fumichon did not know what he was talking about any longer,
+and his apoplectic face was on the point of bursting like a bombshell.
+
+"Good morrow, Arnoux," said Hussonnet, who was walking briskly over the
+grass.
+
+He brought M. Dambreuse the first leaf of a pamphlet, bearing the title
+of "The Hydra," the Bohemian defending the interests of a reactionary
+club, and in that capacity he was introduced by the banker to his
+guests.
+
+Hussonnet amused them by relating how the dealers in tallow hired three
+hundred and ninety-two street boys to bawl out every evening "Lamps,"[H]
+and then turning into ridicule the principles of '89, the emancipation
+of the negroes, and the orators of the Left; and he even went so far as
+to do "Prudhomme on a Barricade," perhaps under the influence of a kind
+of jealousy of these rich people who had enjoyed a good dinner. The
+caricature did not please them overmuch. Their faces grew long.
+
+This, however, was not a time for joking, so Nonancourt observed, as he
+recalled the death of Monseigneur Affre and that of General de Brea.
+These events were being constantly alluded to, and arguments were
+constructed out of them. M. Roque described the archbishop's end as
+"everything that one could call sublime." Fumichon gave the palm to the
+military personage, and instead of simply expressing regret for these
+two murders, they held disputes with a view to determining which ought
+to excite the greatest indignation. A second comparison was next
+instituted, namely, between Lamoriciere and Cavaignac, M. Dambreuse
+glorifying Cavaignac, and Nonancourt, Lamoriciere.
+
+
+[H] The word also means "grease-pots."--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+Not one of the persons present, with the exception of Arnoux, had ever
+seen either of them engaged in the exercise of his profession. None the
+less, everyone formulated an irrevocable judgment with reference to
+their operations.
+
+Frederick, however, declined to give an opinion on the matter,
+confessing that he had not served as a soldier. The diplomatist and M.
+Dambreuse gave him an approving nod of the head. In fact, to have fought
+against the insurrection was to have defended the Republic. The result,
+although favourable, consolidated it; and now they had got rid of the
+vanquished, they wanted to be conquerors.
+
+As soon as they had got out into the garden, Madame Dambreuse, taking
+Cisy aside, chided him for his awkwardness. When she caught sight of
+Martinon, she sent him away, and then tried to learn from her future
+nephew the cause of his witticisms at the Vicomte's expense.
+
+"There's nothing of the kind."
+
+"And all this, as it were, for the glory of M. Moreau. What is the
+object of it?"
+
+"There's no object. Frederick is a charming fellow. I am very fond of
+him."
+
+"And so am I, too. Let him come here. Go and look for him!"
+
+After two or three commonplace phrases, she began by lightly disparaging
+her guests, and in this way she placed him on a higher level than the
+others. He did not fail to run down the rest of the ladies more or less,
+which was an ingenious way of paying her compliments. But she left his
+side from time to time, as it was a reception-night, and ladies were
+every moment arriving; then she returned to her seat, and the entirely
+accidental arrangement of the chairs enabled them to avoid being
+overheard.
+
+She showed herself playful and yet grave, melancholy and yet quite
+rational. Her daily occupations interested her very little--there was an
+order of sentiments of a less transitory kind. She complained of the
+poets, who misrepresent the facts of life, then she raised her eyes
+towards heaven, asking of him what was the name of a star.
+
+Two or three Chinese lanterns had been suspended from the trees; the
+wind shook them, and lines of coloured light quivered on her white
+dress. She sat, after her usual fashion, a little back in her armchair,
+with a footstool in front of her. The tip of a black satin shoe could be
+seen; and at intervals Madame Dambreuse allowed a louder word than
+usual, and sometimes even a laugh, to escape her.
+
+These coquetries did not affect Martinon, who was occupied with Cecile;
+but they were bound to make an impression on M. Roque's daughter, who
+was chatting with Madame Arnoux. She was the only member of her own sex
+present whose manners did not appear disdainful. Louise came and sat
+beside her; then, yielding to the desire to give vent to her emotions:
+
+"Does he not talk well--Frederick Moreau, I mean?"
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"Oh! intimately! We are neighbours; and he used to amuse himself with me
+when I was quite a little girl."
+
+Madame Arnoux cast at her a sidelong glance, which meant:
+
+"I suppose you are not in love with him?"
+
+The young girl's face replied with an untroubled look:
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You see him often, then?"
+
+"Oh, no! only when he comes to his mother's house. 'Tis ten months now
+since he came. He promised, however, to be more particular."
+
+"The promises of men are not to be too much relied on, my child."
+
+"But he has not deceived me!"
+
+"As he did others!"
+
+Louise shivered: "Can it be by any chance that he promised something to
+her;" and her features became distracted with distrust and hate.
+
+Madame Arnoux was almost afraid of her; she would have gladly withdrawn
+what she had said. Then both became silent.
+
+As Frederick was sitting opposite them on a folding-stool, they kept
+staring at him, the one with propriety out of the corner of her eye, the
+other boldly, with parted lips, so that Madame Dambreuse said to him:
+
+"Come, now, turn round, and let her have a good look at you!"
+
+"Whom do you mean?"
+
+"Why, Monsieur Roque's daughter!"
+
+And she rallied him on having won the heart of this young girl from the
+provinces. He denied that this was so, and tried to make a laugh of it.
+
+"Is it credible, I ask you? Such an ugly creature!"
+
+However, he experienced an intense feeling of gratified vanity. He
+recalled to mind the reunion from which he had returned one night, some
+time before, his heart filled with bitter humiliation, and he drew a
+deep breath, for it seemed to him that he was now in the environment
+that really suited him, as if all these things, including the Dambreuse
+mansion, belonged to himself. The ladies formed a semicircle around him
+while they listened to what he was saying, and in order to create an
+effect, he declared that he was in favor of the re-establishment of
+divorce, which he maintained should be easily procurable, so as to
+enable people to quit one another and come back to one another without
+any limit as often as they liked. They uttered loud protests; a few of
+them began to talk in whispers. Little exclamations every now and then
+burst forth from the place where the wall was overshadowed with
+aristolochia. One would imagine that it was a mirthful cackling of hens;
+and he developed his theory with that self-complacency which is
+generated by the consciousness of success. A man-servant brought into
+the arbour a tray laden with ices. The gentlemen drew close together and
+began to chat about the recent arrests.
+
+Thereupon Frederick revenged himself on the Vicomte by making him
+believe that he might be prosecuted as a Legitimist. The other urged by
+way of reply that he had not stirred outside his own room. His adversary
+enumerated in a heap the possible mischances. MM. Dambreuse and
+Gremonville found the discussion very amusing. Then they paid Frederick
+compliments, while expressing regret at the same time that he did not
+employ his abilities in the defence of order. They grasped his hand
+with the utmost warmth; he might for the future count on them. At last,
+just as everyone was leaving, the Vicomte made a low bow to Cecile:
+
+"Mademoiselle, I have the honour of wishing you a very good evening."
+
+She replied coldly:
+
+"Good evening." But she gave Martinon a parting smile.
+
+Pere Roque, in order to continue the conversation between himself and
+Arnoux, offered to see him home, "as well as Madame"--they were going
+the same way. Louise and Frederick walked in front of them. She had
+caught hold of his arm; and, when she was some distance away from the
+others she said:
+
+"Ah! at last! at last! I've had enough to bear all the evening! How
+nasty those women were! What haughty airs they had!"
+
+He made an effort to defend them.
+
+"First of all, you might certainly have spoken to me the moment you came
+in, after being away a whole year!"
+
+"It was not a year," said Frederick, glad to be able to give some sort
+of rejoinder on this point in order to avoid the other questions.
+
+"Be it so; the time appeared very long to me, that's all. But, during
+this horrid dinner, one would think you felt ashamed of me. Ah! I
+understand--I don't possess what is needed in order to please as they
+do."
+
+"You are mistaken," said Frederick.
+
+"Really! Swear to me that you don't love anyone!"
+
+He did swear.
+
+"You love nobody but me alone?"
+
+"I assure you, I do not."
+
+This assurance filled her with delight. She would have liked to lose her
+way in the streets, so that they might walk about together the whole
+night.
+
+"I have been so much tormented down there! Nothing was talked about but
+barricades. I imagined I saw you falling on your back covered with
+blood! Your mother was confined to her bed with rheumatism. She knew
+nothing about what was happening. I had to hold my tongue. I could stand
+it no longer, so I took Catherine with me."
+
+And she related to him all about her departure, her journey, and the lie
+she told her father.
+
+"He's bringing me back in two days. Come to-morrow evening, as if you
+were merely paying a casual visit, and take advantage of the opportunity
+to ask for my hand in marriage."
+
+Never had Frederick been further from the idea of marriage. Besides,
+Mademoiselle Roque appeared to him a rather absurd young person. How
+different she was from a woman like Madame Dambreuse! A very different
+future was in store for him. He had found reason to-day to feel
+perfectly certain on that point; and, therefore, this was not the time
+to involve himself, from mere sentimental motives, in a step of such
+momentous importance. It was necessary now to be decisive--and then he
+had seen Madame Arnoux once more. Nevertheless he was rather embarrassed
+by Louise's candour.
+
+He said in reply to her last words:
+
+"Have you considered this matter?"
+
+"How is that?" she exclaimed, frozen with astonishment and indignation.
+
+He said that to marry at such a time as this would be a piece of folly.
+
+"So you don't want to have me?"
+
+"Nay, you don't understand me!"
+
+And he plunged into a confused mass of verbiage in order to impress upon
+her that he was kept back by more serious considerations; that he had
+business on hand which it would take a long time to dispose of; that
+even his inheritance had been placed in jeopardy (Louise cut all this
+explanation short with one plain word); that, last of all, the present
+political situation made the thing undesirable. So, then, the most
+reasonable course was to wait patiently for some time. Matters would, no
+doubt, right themselves--at least, he hoped so; and, as he could think
+of no further grounds to go upon just at that moment, he pretended to
+have been suddenly reminded that he should have been with Dussardier two
+hours ago.
+
+Then, bowing to the others, he darted down the Rue Hauteville, took a
+turn round the Gymnase, returned to the boulevard, and quickly rushed up
+Rosanette's four flights of stairs.
+
+M. and Madame Arnoux left Pere Roque and his daughter at the entrance of
+the Rue Saint-Denis. Husband and wife returned home without exchanging a
+word, as he was unable to continue chattering any longer, feeling quite
+worn out. She even leaned against his shoulder. He was the only man who
+had displayed any honourable sentiments during the evening. She
+entertained towards him feelings of the utmost indulgence. Meanwhile, he
+cherished a certain degree of spite against Frederick.
+
+"Did you notice his face when a question was asked about the portrait?
+When I told you that he was her lover, you did not wish to believe what
+I said!"
+
+"Oh! yes, I was wrong!"
+
+Arnoux, gratified with his triumph, pressed the matter even further.
+
+"I'd even make a bet that when he left us, a little while ago, he went
+to see her again. He's with her at this moment, you may be sure! He's
+finishing the evening with her!"
+
+Madame Arnoux had pulled down her hat very low.
+
+"Why, you're shaking all over!"
+
+"That's because I feel cold!" was her reply.
+
+As soon as her father was asleep, Louise made her way into Catherine's
+room, and, catching her by the shoulders, shook her.
+
+"Get up--quick! as quick as ever you can! and go and fetch a cab for
+me!"
+
+Catherine replied that there was not one to be had at such an hour.
+
+"Will you come with me yourself there, then?"
+
+"Where, might I ask?"
+
+"To Frederick's house!"
+
+"Impossible! What do you want to go there for?"
+
+It was in order to have a talk with him. She could not wait. She must
+see him immediately.
+
+"Just think of what you're about to do! To present yourself this way at
+a house in the middle of the night! Besides, he's asleep by this time!"
+
+"I'll wake him up!"
+
+"But this is not a proper thing for a young girl to do!"
+
+"I am not a young girl--I'm his wife! I love him! Come--put on your
+shawl!"
+
+Catherine, standing at the side of the bed, was trying to make up her
+mind how to act. She said at last:
+
+"No! I won't go!"
+
+"Well, stay behind then! I'll go there by myself!"
+
+Louise glided like an adder towards the staircase. Catherine rushed
+after her, and came up with her on the footpath outside the house. Her
+remonstrances were fruitless; and she followed the girl, fastening her
+undervest as she hurried along in the rear. The walk appeared to her
+exceedingly tedious. She complained that her legs were getting weak from
+age.
+
+"I'll go on after you--faith, I haven't the same thing to drive me on
+that you have!"
+
+Then she grew softened.
+
+"Poor soul! You haven't anyone now but your Catau, don't you see?"
+
+From time to time scruples took hold of her mind.
+
+"Ah, this is a nice thing you're making me do! Suppose your father
+happened to wake and miss you! Lord God, let us hope no misfortune will
+happen!"
+
+In front of the Theatre des Varietes, a patrol of National Guards
+stopped them.
+
+Louise immediately explained that she was going with her servant to look
+for a doctor in the Rue Rumfort. The patrol allowed them to pass on.
+
+At the corner of the Madeleine they came across a second patrol, and,
+Louise having given the same explanation, one of the National Guards
+asked in return:
+
+"Is it for a nine months' ailment, ducky?"
+
+"Oh, damn it!" exclaimed the captain, "no blackguardisms in the ranks!
+Pass on, ladies!"
+
+In spite of the captain's orders, they still kept cracking jokes.
+
+"I wish you much joy!"
+
+"My respects to the doctor!"
+
+"Mind the wolf!"
+
+"They like laughing," Catherine remarked in a loud tone. "That's the way
+it is to be young."
+
+At length they reached Frederick's abode.
+
+Louise gave the bell a vigorous pull, which she repeated several times.
+The door opened a little, and, in answer to her inquiry, the porter
+said:
+
+"No!"
+
+"But he must be in bed!"
+
+"I tell you he's not. Why, for nearly three months he has not slept at
+home!"
+
+And the little pane of the lodge fell down sharply, like the blade of a
+guillotine.
+
+They remained in the darkness under the archway.
+
+An angry voice cried out to them:
+
+"Be off!"
+
+The door was again opened; they went away.
+
+Louise had to sit down on a boundary-stone; and clasping her face with
+her hands, she wept copious tears welling up from her full heart. The
+day was breaking, and carts were making their way into the city.
+
+Catherine led her back home, holding her up, kissing her, and offering
+her every sort of consolation that she could extract from her own
+experience. She need not give herself so much trouble about a lover. If
+this one failed her, she could find others.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+UNPLEASANT NEWS FROM ROSANETTE.
+
+
+When Rosanette's enthusiasm for the Gardes Mobiles had calmed down, she
+became more charming than ever, and Frederick insensibly glided into the
+habit of living with her.
+
+The best portion of the day was the morning on the terrace. In a light
+cambric dress, and with her stockingless feet thrust into slippers, she
+kept moving about him--went and cleaned her canaries' cage, gave her
+gold-fishes some water, and with a fire-shovel did a little amateur
+gardening in the box filled with clay, from which arose a trellis of
+nasturtiums, giving an attractive look to the wall. Then, resting, with
+their elbows on the balcony, they stood side by side, gazing at the
+vehicles and the passers-by; and they warmed themselves in the sunlight,
+and made plans for spending the evening. He absented himself only for
+two hours at most, and, after that, they would go to some theatre, where
+they would get seats in front of the stage; and Rosanette, with a large
+bouquet of flowers in her hand, would listen to the instruments, while
+Frederick, leaning close to her ear, would tell her comic or amatory
+stories. At other times they took an open carriage to drive to the Bois
+de Boulogne. They kept walking about slowly until the middle of the
+night. At last they made their way home through the Arc de Triomphe and
+the grand avenue, inhaling the breeze, with the stars above their heads,
+and with all the gas-lamps ranged in the background of the perspective
+like a double string of luminous pearls.
+
+Frederick always waited for her when they were going out together. She
+was a very long time fastening the two ribbons of her bonnet; and she
+smiled at herself in the mirror set in the wardrobe; then she would draw
+her arm over his, and, making him look at himself in the glass beside
+her:
+
+"We produce a good effect in this way, the two of us side by side. Ah!
+my poor darling, I could eat you!"
+
+He was now her chattel, her property. She wore on her face a continuous
+radiance, while at the same time she appeared more languishing in
+manner, more rounded in figure; and, without being able to explain in
+what way, he found her altered, nevertheless.
+
+One day she informed him, as if it were a very important bit of news,
+that my lord Arnoux had lately set up a linen-draper's shop for a woman
+who was formerly employed in his pottery-works. He used to go there
+every evening--"he spent a great deal on it no later than a week ago; he
+had even given her a set of rosewood furniture."
+
+"How do you know that?" said Frederick.
+
+"Oh! I'm sure of it."
+
+Delphine, while carrying out some orders for her, had made enquiries
+about the matter, She must, then, be much attached to Arnoux to take
+such a deep interest in his movements. He contented himself with saying
+to her in reply:
+
+"What does this signify to you?"
+
+Rosanette looked surprised at this question.
+
+"Why, the rascal owes me money. Isn't it atrocious to see him keeping
+beggars?"
+
+Then, with an expression of triumphant hate in her face:
+
+"Besides, she is having a nice laugh at him. She has three others on
+hand. So much the better; and I'll be glad if she eats him up, even to
+the last farthing!"
+
+Arnoux had, in fact, let himself be made use of by the girl from
+Bordeaux with the indulgence which characterises senile attachments. His
+manufactory was no longer going on. The entire state of his affairs was
+pitiable; so that, in order to set them afloat again, he was at first
+projecting the establishment of a _cafe chantant_, at which only
+patriotic pieces would be sung. With a grant from the Minister, this
+establishment would become at the same time a focus for the purpose of
+propagandism and a source of profit. Now that power had been directed
+into a different channel, the thing was impossible.
+
+His next idea was a big military hat-making business. He lacked capital,
+however, to give it a start.
+
+He was not more fortunate in his domestic life. Madame Arnoux was less
+agreeable in manner towards him, sometimes even a little rude. Berthe
+always took her father's part. This increased the discord, and the house
+was becoming intolerable. He often set forth in the morning, passed his
+day in making long excursions out of the city, in order to divert his
+thoughts, then dined at a rustic tavern, abandoning himself to his
+reflections.
+
+The prolonged absence of Frederick disturbed his habits. Then he
+presented himself one afternoon, begged of him to come and see him as in
+former days, and obtained from him a promise to do so.
+
+Frederick did not feel sufficient courage within him to go back to
+Madame Arnoux's house. It seemed to him as if he had betrayed her. But
+this conduct was very pusillanimous. There was no excuse for it. There
+was only one way of ending the matter, and so, one evening, he set out
+on his way.
+
+As the rain was falling, he had just turned up the Passage Jouffroy,
+when, under the light shed from the shop-windows, a fat little man
+accosted him. Frederick had no difficulty in recognising Compain, that
+orator whose motion had excited so much laughter at the club. He was
+leaning on the arm of an individual whose head was muffled in a zouave's
+red cap, with a very long upper lip, a complexion as yellow as an
+orange, a tuft of beard under his jaw, and big staring eyes listening
+with wonder.
+
+Compain was, no doubt, proud of him, for he said:
+
+"Let me introduce you to this jolly dog! He is a bootmaker whom I
+include amongst my friends. Come and let us take something!"
+
+Frederick having thanked him, he immediately thundered against Rateau's
+motion, which he described as a manoeuvre of the aristocrats. In order
+to put an end to it, it would be necessary to begin '93 over again! Then
+he enquired about Regimbart and some others, who were also well known,
+such as Masselin, Sanson, Lecornu, Marechal, and a certain Deslauriers,
+who had been implicated in the case of the carbines lately intercepted
+at Troyes.
+
+All this was new to Frederick. Compain knew nothing more about the
+subject. He quitted the young man with these words:
+
+"You'll come soon, will you not? for you belong to it."
+
+"To what?"
+
+"The calf's head!"
+
+"What calf's head?"
+
+"Ha, you rogue!" returned Compain, giving him a tap on the stomach.
+
+And the two terrorists plunged into a cafe.
+
+Ten minutes later Frederick was no longer thinking of Deslauriers. He
+was on the footpath of the Rue de Paradis in front of a house; and he
+was staring at the light which came from a lamp in the second floor
+behind a curtain.
+
+At length he ascended the stairs.
+
+"Is Arnoux there?"
+
+The chambermaid answered:
+
+"No; but come in all the same."
+
+And, abruptly opening a door:
+
+"Madame, it is Monsieur Moreau!"
+
+She arose, whiter than the collar round her neck.
+
+"To what do I owe the honour--of a visit--so unexpected?"
+
+"Nothing. The pleasure of seeing old friends once more."
+
+And as he took a seat:
+
+"How is the worthy Arnoux going on?"
+
+"Very well. He has gone out."
+
+"Ah, I understand! still following his old nightly practices. A little
+distraction!"
+
+"And why not? After a day spent in making calculations, the head needs a
+rest."
+
+She even praised her husband as a hard-working man. Frederick was
+irritated at hearing this eulogy; and pointing towards a piece of black
+cloth with a narrow blue braid which lay on her lap:
+
+"What is it you are doing there?"
+
+"A jacket which I am trimming for my daughter."
+
+"Now that you remind me of it, I have not seen her. Where is she, pray?"
+
+"At a boarding-school," was Madame Arnoux's reply.
+
+Tears came into her eyes. She held them back, while she rapidly plied
+her needle. To keep himself in countenance, he took up a number of
+_L'Illustration_ which had been lying on the table close to where she
+sat.
+
+"These caricatures of Cham are very funny, are they not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Then they relapsed into silence once more.
+
+All of a sudden, a fierce gust of wind shook the window-panes.
+
+"What weather!" said Frederick.
+
+"It was very good of you, indeed, to come here in the midst of this
+dreadful rain."
+
+"Oh! what do I care about that? I'm not like those whom it prevents, no
+doubt, from going to keep their appointments."
+
+"What appointments?" she asked with an ingenuous air.
+
+"Don't you remember?"
+
+A shudder ran through her frame and she hung down her head.
+
+He gently laid his hand on her arm.
+
+"I assure you that you have given me great pain."
+
+She replied, with a sort of wail in her voice:
+
+"But I was frightened about my child."
+
+She told him about Eugene's illness, and all the tortures which she had
+endured on that day.
+
+"Thanks! thanks! I doubt you no longer. I love you as much as ever."
+
+"Ah! no; it is not true!"
+
+"Why so?"
+
+She glanced at him coldly.
+
+"You forget the other! the one you took with you to the races! the woman
+whose portrait you have--your mistress!"
+
+"Well, yes!" exclaimed Frederick, "I don't deny anything! I am a wretch!
+Just listen to me!"
+
+If he had done this, it was through despair, as one commits suicide.
+However, he had made her very unhappy in order to avenge himself on her
+with his own shame.
+
+"What mental anguish! Do you not realise what it means?"
+
+Madame Arnoux turned away her beautiful face while she held out her hand
+to him; and they closed their eyes, absorbed in a kind of intoxication
+that was like a sweet, ceaseless rocking. Then they stood face to face,
+gazing at one another.
+
+"Could you believe it possible that I no longer loved you?"
+
+She replied in a low voice, full of caressing tenderness:
+
+"No! in spite of everything, I felt at the bottom of my heart that it
+was impossible, and that one day the obstacle between us two would
+disappear!"
+
+"So did I; and I was dying to see you again."
+
+"I once passed close to you in the Palais-Royal!"
+
+"Did you really?"
+
+And he spoke to her of the happiness he experienced at coming across her
+again at the Dambreuses' house.
+
+"But how I hated you that evening as I was leaving the place!"
+
+"Poor boy!"
+
+"My life is so sad!"
+
+"And mine, too! If it were only the vexations, the anxieties, the
+humiliations, all that I endure as wife and as mother, seeing that one
+must die, I would not complain; the frightful part of it is my solitude,
+without anyone."
+
+"But you have me here with you!"
+
+"Oh! yes!"
+
+A sob of deep emotion made her bosom swell. She spread out her arms, and
+they strained one another, while their lips met in a long kiss.
+
+A creaking sound on the floor not far from them reached their ears.
+There was a woman standing close to them; it was Rosanette. Madame
+Arnoux had recognised her. Her eyes, opened to their widest, scanned
+this woman, full of astonishment and indignation. At length Rosanette
+said to her:
+
+"I have come to see Monsieur Arnoux about a matter of business."
+
+"You see he is not here."
+
+"Ah! that's true," returned the Marechale. "Your nurse is right! A
+thousand apologies!"
+
+And turning towards Frederick:
+
+"So here you are--you?"
+
+The familiar tone in which she addressed him, and in her own presence,
+too, made Madame Arnoux flush as if she had received a slap right across
+the face.
+
+"I tell you again, he is not here!"
+
+Then the Marechale, who was looking this way and that, said quietly:
+
+"Let us go back together! I have a cab waiting below."
+
+He pretended not to hear.
+
+"Come! let us go!"
+
+"Ah! yes! this is a good opportunity! Go! go!" said Madame Arnoux.
+
+They went off together, and she stooped over the head of the stairs in
+order to see them once more, and a laugh--piercing, heart-rending,
+reached them from the place where she stood. Frederick pushed Rosanette
+into the cab, sat down opposite her, and during the entire drive did not
+utter a word.
+
+The infamy, which it outraged him to see once more flowing back on him,
+had been brought about by himself alone. He experienced at the same time
+the dishonour of a crushing humiliation and the regret caused by the
+loss of his new-found happiness. Just when, at last, he had it in his
+grasp, it had for ever more become impossible, and that through the
+fault of this girl of the town, this harlot. He would have liked to
+strangle her. He was choking with rage. When they had got into the house
+he flung his hat on a piece of furniture and tore off his cravat.
+
+"Ha! you have just done a nice thing--confess it!"
+
+She planted herself boldly in front of him.
+
+"Ah! well, what of that? Where's the harm?"
+
+"What! You are playing the spy on me?"
+
+"Is that my fault? Why do you go to amuse yourself with virtuous
+women?"
+
+"Never mind! I don't wish you to insult them."
+
+"How have I insulted them?"
+
+He had no answer to make to this, and in a more spiteful tone:
+
+"But on the other occasion, at the Champ de Mars----"
+
+"Ah! you bore us to death with your old women!"
+
+"Wretch!"
+
+He raised his fist.
+
+"Don't kill me! I'm pregnant!"
+
+Frederick staggered back.
+
+"You are lying!"
+
+"Why, just look at me!"
+
+She seized a candlestick, and pointing at her face:
+
+"Don't you recognise the fact there?"
+
+Little yellow spots dotted her skin, which was strangely swollen.
+Frederick did not deny the evidence. He went to the window, and opened
+it, took a few steps up and down the room, and then sank into an
+armchair.
+
+This event was a calamity which, in the first place, put off their
+rupture, and, in the next place, upset all his plans. The notion of
+being a father, moreover, appeared to him grotesque, inadmissible. But
+why? If, in place of the Marechale----And his reverie became so deep
+that he had a kind of hallucination. He saw there, on the carpet, in
+front of the chimney-piece, a little girl. She resembled Madame Arnoux
+and himself a little--dark, and yet fair, with two black eyes, very
+large eyebrows, and a red ribbon in her curling hair. (Oh, how he would
+have loved her!) And he seemed to hear her voice saying: "Papa! papa!"
+
+Rosanette, who had just undressed herself, came across to him, and
+noticing a tear in his eyelids, kissed him gravely on the forehead.
+
+He arose, saying:
+
+"By Jove, we mustn't kill this little one!"
+
+Then she talked a lot of nonsense. To be sure, it would be a boy, and
+its name would be Frederick. It would be necessary for her to begin
+making its clothes; and, seeing her so happy, a feeling of pity for her
+took possession of him. As he no longer cherished any anger against her,
+he desired to know the explanation of the step she had recently taken.
+She said it was because Mademoiselle Vatnaz had sent her that day a bill
+which had been protested for some time past; and so she hastened to
+Arnoux to get the money from him.
+
+"I'd have given it to you!" said Frederick.
+
+"It is a simpler course for me to get over there what belongs to me, and
+to pay back to the other one her thousand francs."
+
+"Is this really all you owe her?"
+
+She answered:
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+On the following day, at nine o'clock in the evening (the hour specified
+by the doorkeeper), Frederick repaired to Mademoiselle Vatnaz's
+residence.
+
+In the anteroom, he jostled against the furniture, which was heaped
+together. But the sound of voices and of music guided him. He opened a
+door, and tumbled into the middle of a rout. Standing up before a piano,
+which a young lady in spectacles was fingering, Delmar, as serious as a
+pontiff, was declaiming a humanitarian poem on prostitution; and his
+hollow voice rolled to the accompaniment of the metallic chords. A row
+of women sat close to the wall, attired, as a rule, in dark colours
+without neck-bands or sleeves. Five or six men, all people of culture,
+occupied seats here and there. In an armchair was seated a former writer
+of fables, a mere wreck now; and the pungent odour of the two lamps was
+intermingled with the aroma of the chocolate which filled a number of
+bowls placed on the card-table.
+
+Mademoiselle Vatnaz, with an Oriental shawl thrown over her shoulders,
+sat at one side of the chimney-piece. Dussardier sat facing her at the
+other side. He seemed to feel himself in an embarrassing position.
+Besides, he was rather intimidated by his artistic surroundings. Had the
+Vatnaz, then, broken off with Delmar? Perhaps not. However, she seemed
+jealous of the worthy shopman; and Frederick, having asked to let him
+exchange a word with her, she made a sign to him to go with them into
+her own apartment. When the thousand francs were paid down before her,
+she asked, in addition, for interest.
+
+"'Tisn't worth while," said Dussardier.
+
+"Pray hold your tongue!"
+
+This want of moral courage on the part of so brave a man was agreeable
+to Frederick as a justification of his own conduct. He took away the
+bill with him, and never again referred to the scandal at Madame
+Arnoux's house. But from that time forth he saw clearly all the defects
+in the Marechale's character.
+
+She possessed incurable bad taste, incomprehensible laziness, the
+ignorance of a savage, so much so that she regarded Doctor Derogis as a
+person of great celebrity, and she felt proud of entertaining himself
+and his wife, because they were "married people." She lectured with a
+pedantic air on the affairs of daily life to Mademoiselle Irma, a poor
+little creature endowed with a little voice, who had as a protector a
+gentleman "very well off," an ex-clerk in the Custom-house, who had a
+rare talent for card tricks. Rosanette used to call him "My big Loulou."
+Frederick could no longer endure the repetition of her stupid words,
+such as "Some custard," "To Chaillot," "One could never know," etc.; and
+she persisted in wiping off the dust in the morning from her trinkets
+with a pair of old white gloves. He was above all disgusted by her
+treatment of her servant, whose wages were constantly in arrear, and who
+even lent her money. On the days when they settled their accounts, they
+used to wrangle like two fish-women; and then, on becoming reconciled,
+used to embrace each other. It was a relief to him when Madame
+Dambreuse's evening parties began again.
+
+There, at any rate, he found something to amuse him. She was well versed
+in the intrigues of society, the changes of ambassadors, the personal
+character of dressmakers; and, if commonplaces escaped her lips, they
+did so in such a becoming fashion, that her language might be regarded
+as the expression of respect for propriety or of polite irony. It was
+worth while to watch the way in which, in the midst of twenty persons
+chatting around her, she would, without overlooking any of them, bring
+about the answers she desired and avoid those that were dangerous.
+Things of a very simple nature, when related by her, assumed the aspect
+of confidences. Her slightest smile gave rise to dreams; in short, her
+charm, like the exquisite scent which she usually carried about with
+her, was complex and indefinable.
+
+While he was with her, Frederick experienced on each occasion the
+pleasure of a new discovery, and, nevertheless, he always found her
+equally serene the next time they met, like the reflection of limpid
+waters.
+
+But why was there such coldness in her manner towards her niece? At
+times she even darted strange looks at her.
+
+As soon as the question of marriage was started, she had urged as an
+objection to it, when discussing the matter with M. Dambreuse, the state
+of "the dear child's" health, and had at once taken her off to the baths
+of Balaruc. On her return fresh pretexts were raised by her--that the
+young man was not in a good position, that this ardent passion did not
+appear to be a very serious attachment, and that no risk would be run by
+waiting. Martinon had replied, when the suggestion was made to him, that
+he would wait. His conduct was sublime. He lectured Frederick. He did
+more. He enlightened him as to the best means of pleasing Madame
+Dambreuse, even giving him to understand that he had ascertained from
+the niece the sentiments of her aunt.
+
+As for M. Dambreuse, far from exhibiting jealousy, he treated his young
+friend with the utmost attention, consulted him about different things,
+and even showed anxiety about his future, so that one day, when they
+were talking about Pere Roque, he whispered with a sly air:
+
+"You have done well."
+
+And Cecile, Miss John, the servants and the porter, every one of them
+exercised a fascination over him in this house. He came there every
+evening, quitting Rosanette for that purpose. Her approaching maternity
+rendered her graver in manner, and even a little melancholy, as if she
+were tortured by anxieties. To every question put to her she replied:
+
+"You are mistaken; I am quite well."
+
+She had, as a matter of fact, signed five notes in her previous
+transactions, and not having the courage to tell Frederick after the
+first had been paid, she had gone back to the abode of Arnoux, who had
+promised her, in writing, the third part of his profits in the lighting
+of the towns of Languedoc by gas (a marvellous undertaking!), while
+requesting her not to make use of this letter at the meeting of
+shareholders. The meeting was put off from week to week.
+
+Meanwhile the Marechale wanted money. She would have died sooner than
+ask Frederick for any. She did not wish to get it from him; it would
+have spoiled their love. He contributed a great deal to the household
+expenses; but a little carriage, which he hired by the month, and other
+sacrifices, which were indispensable since he had begun to visit the
+Dambreuses, prevented him from doing more for his mistress. On two or
+three occasions, when he came back to the house at a different hour from
+his usual time, he fancied he could see men's backs disappearing behind
+the door, and she often went out without wishing to state where she was
+going. Frederick did not attempt to enquire minutely into these matters.
+One of these days he would make up his mind as to his future course of
+action. He dreamed of another life which would be more amusing and more
+noble. It was the fact that he had such an ideal before his mind that
+rendered him indulgent towards the Dambreuse mansion.
+
+It was an establishment in the neighbourhood of the Rue de Poitiers.
+There he met the great M. A., the illustrious B., the profound C., the
+eloquent Z., the immense Y., the old terrors of the Left Centre, the
+paladins of the Right, the burgraves of the golden mean; the eternal
+good old men of the comedy. He was astonished at their abominable style
+of talking, their meannesses, their rancours, their dishonesty--all
+these personages, after voting for the Constitution, now striving to
+destroy it; and they got into a state of great agitation, and launched
+forth manifestoes, pamphlets, and biographies. Hussonnet's biography of
+Fumichon was a masterpiece. Nonancourt devoted himself to the work of
+propagandism in the country districts; M. de Gremonville worked up the
+clergy; and Martinon brought together the young men of the wealthy
+class. Each exerted himself according to his resources, including Cisy
+himself. With his thoughts now all day long absorbed in matters of grave
+moment, he kept making excursions here and there in a cab in the
+interests of the party.
+
+M. Dambreuse, like a barometer, constantly gave expression to its latest
+variation. Lamartine could not be alluded to without eliciting from this
+gentleman the quotation of a famous phrase of the man of the people:
+"Enough of poetry!" Cavaignac was, from this time forth, nothing better
+in his eyes than a traitor. The President, whom he had admired for a
+period of three months, was beginning to fall off in his esteem (as he
+did not appear to exhibit the "necessary energy"); and, as he always
+wanted a savior, his gratitude, since the affair of the Conservatoire,
+belonged to Changarnier: "Thank God for Changarnier.... Let us place our
+reliance on Changarnier.... Oh, there's nothing to fear as long as
+Changarnier----"
+
+M. Thiers was praised, above all, for his volume against Socialism, in
+which he showed that he was quite as much of a thinker as a writer.
+There was an immense laugh at Pierre Leroux, who had quoted passages
+from the philosophers in the Chamber. Jokes were made about the
+phalansterian tail. The "Market of Ideas" came in for a meed of
+applause, and its authors were compared to Aristophanes. Frederick
+patronised the work as well as the rest.
+
+Political verbiage and good living had an enervating effect on his
+morality. Mediocre in capacity as these persons appeared to him, he felt
+proud of knowing them, and internally longed for the respectability that
+attached to a wealthy citizen. A mistress like Madame Dambreuse would
+give him a position.
+
+He set about taking the necessary steps for achieving that object.
+
+He made it his business to cross her path, did not fail to go and greet
+her with a bow in her box at the theatre, and, being aware of the hours
+when she went to church, he would plant himself behind a pillar in a
+melancholy attitude. There was a continual interchange of little notes
+between them with regard to curiosities to which they drew each other's
+attention, preparations for a concert, or the borrowing of books or
+reviews. In addition to his visit each night, he sometimes made a call
+just as the day was closing; and he experienced a progressive succession
+of pleasures in passing through the large front entrance, through the
+courtyard, through the anteroom, and through the two reception-rooms.
+Finally, he reached her boudoir, which was as quiet as a tomb, as warm
+as an alcove, and in which one jostled against the upholstered edging of
+furniture in the midst of objects of every sort placed here and
+there--chiffoniers, screens, bowls, and trays made of lacquer, or shell,
+or ivory, or malachite, expensive trifles, to which fresh additions were
+frequently made. Amongst single specimens of these rarities might be
+noticed three Etretat rollers which were used as paper-presses, and a
+Frisian cap hung from a Chinese folding-screen. Nevertheless, there was
+a harmony between all these things, and one was even impressed by the
+noble aspect of the entire place, which was, no doubt, due to the
+loftiness of the ceiling, the richness of the portieres, and the long
+silk fringes that floated over the gold legs of the stools.
+
+She nearly always sat on a little sofa, close to the flower-stand, which
+garnished the recess of the window. Frederick, seating himself on the
+edge of a large wheeled ottoman, addressed to her compliments of the
+most appropriate kind that he could conceive; and she looked at him,
+with her head a little on one side, and a smile playing round her mouth.
+
+He read for her pieces of poetry, into which he threw his whole soul in
+order to move her and excite her admiration. She would now and then
+interrupt him with a disparaging remark or a practical observation; and
+their conversation relapsed incessantly into the eternal question of
+Love. They discussed with each other what were the circumstances that
+produced it, whether women felt it more than men, and what was the
+difference between them on that point. Frederick tried to express his
+opinion, and, at the same time, to avoid anything like coarseness or
+insipidity. This became at length a species of contest between them,
+sometimes agreeable and at other times tedious.
+
+Whilst at her side, he did not experience that ravishment of his entire
+being which drew him towards Madame Arnoux, nor the feeling of
+voluptuous delight with which Rosanette had, at first, inspired him. But
+he felt a passion for her as a thing that was abnormal and difficult of
+attainment, because she was of aristocratic rank, because she was
+wealthy, because she was a devotee--imagining that she had a delicacy of
+sentiment as rare as the lace she wore, together with amulets on her
+skin, and modest instincts even in her depravity.
+
+He made a certain use of his old passion for Madame Arnoux, uttering in
+his new flame's hearing all those amorous sentiments which the other had
+caused him to feel in downright earnest, and pretending that it was
+Madame Dambreuse herself who had occasioned them. She received these
+avowals like one accustomed to such things, and, without giving him a
+formal repulse, did not yield in the slightest degree; and he came no
+nearer to seducing her than Martinon did to getting married. In order to
+bring matters to an end with her niece's suitor, she accused him of
+having money for his object, and even begged of her husband to put the
+matter to the test. M. Dambreuse then declared to the young man that
+Cecile, being the orphan child of poor parents, had neither expectations
+nor a dowry.
+
+Martinon, not believing that this was true, or feeling that he had gone
+too far to draw back, or through one of those outbursts of idiotic
+infatuation which may be described as acts of genius, replied that his
+patrimony, amounting to fifteen thousand francs a year, would be
+sufficient for them. The banker was touched by this unexpected display
+of disinterestedness. He promised the young man a tax-collectorship,
+undertaking to obtain the post for him; and in the month of May, 1850,
+Martinon married Mademoiselle Cecile. There was no ball to celebrate the
+event. The young people started the same evening for Italy. Frederick
+came next day to pay a visit to Madame Dambreuse. She appeared to him
+paler than usual. She sharply contradicted him about two or three
+matters of no importance. However, she went on to observe, all men were
+egoists.
+
+There were, however, some devoted men, though he might happen himself to
+be the only one.
+
+"Pooh, pooh! you're just like the rest of them!"
+
+Her eyelids were red; she had been weeping.
+
+Then, forcing a smile:
+
+"Pardon me; I am in the wrong. Sad thoughts have taken possession of my
+mind."
+
+He could not understand what she meant to convey by the last words.
+
+"No matter! she is not so hard to overcome as I imagined," he thought.
+
+She rang for a glass of water, drank a mouthful of it, sent it away
+again, and then began to complain of the wretched way in which her
+servants attended on her. In order to amuse her, he offered to become
+her servant himself, pretending that he knew how to hand round plates,
+dust furniture, and announce visitors--in fact, to do the duties of a
+_valet-de-chambre_, or, rather, of a running-footman, although the
+latter was now out of fashion. He would have liked to cling on behind
+her carriage with a hat adorned with cock's feathers.
+
+"And how I would follow you with majestic stride, carrying your pug on
+my arm!"
+
+"You are facetious," said Madame Dambreuse.
+
+Was it not a piece of folly, he returned, to take everything seriously?
+There were enough of miseries in the world without creating fresh ones.
+Nothing was worth the cost of a single pang. Madame Dambreuse raised her
+eyelids with a sort of vague approval.
+
+This agreement in their views of life impelled Frederick to take a
+bolder course. His former miscalculations now gave him insight. He went
+on:
+
+"Our grandsires lived better. Why not obey the impulse that urges us
+onward?" After all, love was not a thing of such importance in itself.
+
+"But what you have just said is immoral!"
+
+She had resumed her seat on the little sofa. He sat down at the side of
+it, near her feet.
+
+"Don't you see that I am lying! For in order to please women, one must
+exhibit the thoughtlessness of a buffoon or all the wild passion of
+tragedy! They only laugh at us when we simply tell them that we love
+them! For my part, I consider those hyperbolical phrases which tickle
+their fancy a profanation of true love, so that it is no longer possible
+to give expression to it, especially when addressing women who possess
+more than ordinary intelligence."
+
+She gazed at him from under her drooping eyelids. He lowered his voice,
+while he bent his head closer to her face.
+
+"Yes! you frighten me! Perhaps I am offending you? Forgive me! I did not
+intend to say all that I have said! 'Tis not my fault! You are so
+beautiful!"
+
+Madame Dambreuse closed her eyes, and he was astonished at his easy
+victory. The tall trees in the clouds streaked the sky with long strips
+of red, and on every side there seemed to be a suspension of vital
+movements. Then he recalled to mind, in a confused sort of way, evenings
+just the same as this, filled with the same unbroken silence. Where was
+it that he had known them?
+
+He sank upon his knees, seized her hand, and swore that he would love
+her for ever. Then, as he was leaving her, she beckoned to him to come
+back, and said to him in a low tone:
+
+"Come by-and-by and dine with us! We'll be all alone!"
+
+It seemed to Frederick, as he descended the stairs, that he had become a
+different man, that he was surrounded by the balmy temperature of
+hot-houses, and that he was beyond all question entering into the higher
+sphere of patrician adulteries and lofty intrigues. In order to occupy
+the first rank there all he required was a woman of this stamp. Greedy,
+no doubt, of power and of success, and married to a man of inferior
+calibre, for whom she had done prodigious services, she longed for some
+one of ability in order to be his guide. Nothing was impossible now. He
+felt himself capable of riding two hundred leagues on horseback, of
+travelling for several nights in succession without fatigue. His heart
+overflowed with pride.
+
+Just in front of him, on the footpath, a man wrapped in a seedy overcoat
+was walking, with downcast eyes, and with such an air of dejection that
+Frederick, as he passed, turned aside to have a better look at him. The
+other raised his head. It was Deslauriers. He hesitated. Frederick fell
+upon his neck.
+
+"Ah! my poor old friend! What! 'tis you!"
+
+And he dragged Deslauriers into his house, at the same time asking his
+friend a heap of questions.
+
+Ledru-Rollin's ex-commissioner commenced by describing the tortures to
+which he had been subjected. As he preached fraternity to the
+Conservatives, and respect for the laws to the Socialists, the former
+tried to shoot him, and the latter brought cords to hang him with. After
+June he had been brutally dismissed. He found himself involved in a
+charge of conspiracy--that which was connected with the seizure of arms
+at Troyes. He had subsequently been released for want of evidence to
+sustain the charge. Then the acting committee had sent him to London,
+where his ears had been boxed in the very middle of a banquet at which
+he and his colleagues were being entertained. On his return to Paris----
+
+"Why did you not call here, then, to see me?"
+
+"You were always out! Your porter had mysterious airs--I did not know
+what to think; and, in the next place, I had no desire to reappear
+before you in the character of a defeated man."
+
+He had knocked at the portals of Democracy, offering to serve it with
+his pen, with his tongue, with all his energies. He had been everywhere
+repelled. They had mistrusted him; and he had sold his watch, his
+bookcase, and even his linen.
+
+"It would be much better to be breaking one's back on the pontoons of
+Belle Isle with Senecal!"
+
+Frederick, who had been fastening his cravat, did not appear to be much
+affected by this news.
+
+"Ha! so he is transported, this good Senecal?"
+
+Deslauriers replied, while he surveyed the walls with an envious air:
+
+"Not everybody has your luck!"
+
+"Excuse me," said Frederick, without noticing the allusion to his own
+circumstances, "but I am dining in the city. We must get you something
+to eat; order whatever you like. Take even my bed!"
+
+This cordial reception dissipated Deslauriers' bitterness.
+
+"Your bed? But that might inconvenience you!"
+
+"Oh, no! I have others!"
+
+"Oh, all right!" returned the advocate, with a laugh. "Pray, where are
+you dining?"
+
+"At Madame Dambreuse's."
+
+"Can it be that you are--perhaps----?"
+
+"You are too inquisitive," said Frederick, with a smile, which confirmed
+this hypothesis.
+
+Then, after a glance at the clock, he resumed his seat.
+
+"That's how it is! and we mustn't despair, my ex-defender of the
+people!"
+
+"Oh, pardon me; let others bother themselves about the people
+henceforth!"
+
+The advocate detested the working-men, because he had suffered so much
+on their account in his province, a coal-mining district. Every pit had
+appointed a provisional government, from which he received orders.
+
+"Besides, their conduct has been everywhere charming--at Lyons, at
+Lille, at Havre, at Paris! For, in imitation of the manufacturers, who
+would fain exclude the products of the foreigner, these gentlemen call
+on us to banish the English, German, Belgian, and Savoyard workmen. As
+for their intelligence, what was the use of that precious trades' union
+of theirs which they established under the Restoration? In 1830 they
+joined the National Guard, without having the common sense to get the
+upper hand of it. Is it not the fact that, since the morning when 1848
+dawned, the various trade-bodies had not reappeared with their banners?
+They have even demanded popular representatives for themselves, who are
+not to open their lips except on their own behalf. All this is the same
+as if the deputies who represent beetroot were to concern themselves
+about nothing save beetroot. Ah! I've had enough of these dodgers who in
+turn prostrate themselves before the scaffold of Robespierre, the boots
+of the Emperor, and the umbrella of Louis Philippe--a rabble who always
+yield allegiance to the person that flings bread into their mouths. They
+are always crying out against the venality of Talleyrand and Mirabeau;
+but the messenger down below there would sell his country for fifty
+centimes if they'd only promise to fix a tariff of three francs on his
+walk. Ah! what a wretched state of affairs! We ought to set the four
+corners of Europe on fire!"
+
+Frederick said in reply:
+
+"The spark is what you lack! You were simply a lot of shopboys, and even
+the best of you were nothing better than penniless students. As for the
+workmen, they may well complain; for, if you except a million taken out
+of the civil list, and of which you made a grant to them with the
+meanest expressions of flattery, you have done nothing for them, save to
+talk in stilted phrases! The workman's certificate remains in the hands
+of the employer, and the person who is paid wages remains (even in the
+eye of the law), the inferior of his master, because his word is not
+believed. In short, the Republic seems to me a worn-out institution.
+Who knows? Perhaps Progress can be realised only through an aristocracy
+or through a single man? The initiative always comes from the top, and
+whatever may be the people's pretensions, they are lower than those
+placed over them!"
+
+"That may be true," said Deslauriers.
+
+According to Frederick, the vast majority of citizens aimed only at a
+life of peace (he had been improved by his visits to the Dambreuses),
+and the chances were all on the side of the Conservatives. That party,
+however, was lacking in new men.
+
+"If you came forward, I am sure----"
+
+He did not finish the sentence. Deslauriers saw what Frederick meant,
+and passed his two hands over his head; then, all of a sudden:
+
+"But what about yourself? Is there anything to prevent you from doing
+it? Why would you not be a deputy?"
+
+In consequence of a double election there was in the Aube a vacancy for
+a candidate. M. Dambreuse, who had been re-elected as a member of the
+Legislative Assembly, belonged to a different arrondissement.
+
+"Do you wish me to interest myself on your behalf?" He was acquainted
+with many publicans, schoolmasters, doctors, notaries' clerks and their
+masters. "Besides, you can make the peasants believe anything you like!"
+
+Frederick felt his ambition rekindling.
+
+Deslauriers added:
+
+"You would find no trouble in getting a situation for me in Paris."
+
+"Oh! it would not be hard to manage it through Monsieur Dambreuse."
+
+"As we happened to have been talking just now about coal-mines," the
+advocate went on, "what has become of his big company? This is the sort
+of employment that would suit me, and I could make myself useful to them
+while preserving my own independence."
+
+Frederick promised that he would introduce him to the banker before
+three days had passed.
+
+The dinner, which he enjoyed alone with Madame Dambreuse, was a
+delightful affair. She sat facing him with a smile on her countenance at
+the opposite side of the table, whereon was placed a basket of flowers,
+while a lamp suspended above their heads shed its light on the scene;
+and, as the window was open, they could see the stars. They talked very
+little, distrusting themselves, no doubt; but, the moment the servants
+had turned their backs, they sent across a kiss to one another from the
+tips of their lips. He told her about his idea of becoming a candidate.
+She approved of the project, promising even to get M. Dambreuse to use
+every effort on his behalf.
+
+As the evening advanced, some of her friends presented themselves for
+the purpose of congratulating her, and, at the same time, expressing
+sympathy with her; she must be so much pained at the loss of her niece.
+Besides, it was all very well for newly-married people to go on a trip;
+by-and-by would come incumbrances, children. But really, Italy did not
+realise one's expectations. They had not as yet passed the age of
+illusions; and, in the next place, the honeymoon made everything look
+beautiful. The last two who remained behind were M. de Gremonville and
+Frederick. The diplomatist was not inclined to leave. At last he
+departed at midnight. Madame Dambreuse beckoned to Frederick to go with
+him, and thanked him for this compliance with her wishes by giving him a
+gentle pressure with her hand more delightful than anything that had
+gone before.
+
+The Marechale uttered an exclamation of joy on seeing him again. She had
+been waiting for him for the last five hours. He gave as an excuse for
+the delay an indispensable step which he had to take in the interests of
+Deslauriers. His face wore a look of triumph, and was surrounded by an
+aureola which dazzled Rosanette.
+
+"'Tis perhaps on account of your black coat, which fits you well; but I
+have never seen you look so handsome! How handsome you are!"
+
+In a transport of tenderness, she made a vow internally never again to
+belong to any other man, no matter what might be the consequence, even
+if she were to die of want.
+
+Her pretty eyes sparkled with such intense passion that Frederick took
+her upon his knees and said to himself:
+
+"What a rascally part I am playing!" while admiring his own perversity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+A STRANGE BETROTHAL.
+
+
+M. Dambreuse, when Deslauriers presented himself at his house, was
+thinking of reviving his great coal-mining speculation. But this fusion
+of all the companies into one was looked upon unfavourably; there was an
+outcry against monopolies, as if immense capital were not needed for
+carrying out enterprises of this kind!
+
+Deslauriers, who had read for the purpose the work of Gobet and the
+articles of M. Chappe in the _Journal des Mines_, understood the
+question perfectly. He demonstrated that the law of 1810 established for
+the benefit of the grantee a privilege which could not be transferred.
+Besides, a democratic colour might be given to the undertaking. To
+interfere with the formation of coal-mining companies was against the
+principle even of association.
+
+M. Dambreuse intrusted to him some notes for the purpose of drawing up a
+memorandum. As for the way in which he meant to pay for the work, he was
+all the more profuse in his promises from the fact that they were not
+very definite.
+
+Deslauriers called again at Frederick's house, and gave him an account
+of the interview. Moreover, he had caught a glimpse of Madame Dambreuse
+at the bottom of the stairs, just as he was going out.
+
+"I wish you joy--upon my soul, I do!"
+
+Then they had a chat about the election. There was something to be
+devised in order to carry it.
+
+Three days later Deslauriers reappeared with a sheet of paper covered
+with handwriting, intended for the newspapers, and which was nothing
+less than a friendly letter from M. Dambreuse, expressing approval of
+their friend's candidature. Supported by a Conservative and praised by a
+Red, he ought to succeed. How was it that the capitalist had put his
+signature to such a lucubration? The advocate had, of his own motion,
+and without the least appearance of embarrassment, gone and shown it to
+Madame Dambreuse, who, thinking it quite appropriate, had taken the rest
+of the business on her own shoulders.
+
+Frederick was astonished at this proceeding. Nevertheless, he approved
+of it; then, as Deslauriers was to have an interview with M. Roque, his
+friend explained to him how he stood with regard to Louise.
+
+"Tell them anything you like; that my affairs are in an unsettled state,
+that I am putting them in order. She is young enough to wait!"
+
+Deslauriers set forth, and Frederick looked upon himself as a very able
+man. He experienced, moreover, a feeling of gratification, a profound
+satisfaction. His delight at being the possessor of a rich woman was not
+spoiled by any contrast. The sentiment harmonised with the surroundings.
+His life now would be full of joy in every sense.
+
+Perhaps the most delicious sensation of all was to gaze at Madame
+Dambreuse in the midst of a number of other ladies in her drawing-room.
+The propriety of her manners made him dream of other attitudes. While
+she was talking in a tone of coldness, he would recall to mind the
+loving words which she had murmured in his ear. All the respect which he
+felt for her virtue gave him a thrill of pleasure, as if it were a
+homage which was reflected back on himself; and at times he felt a
+longing to exclaim:
+
+"But I know her better than you! She is mine!"
+
+It was not long ere their relations came to be socially recognised as an
+established fact. Madame Dambreuse, during the whole winter, brought
+Frederick with her into fashionable society.
+
+He nearly always arrived before her; and he watched her as she entered
+the house they were visiting with her arms uncovered, a fan in her hand,
+and pearls in her hair. She would pause on the threshold (the lintel of
+the door formed a framework round her head), and she would open and shut
+her eyes with a certain air of indecision, in order to see whether he
+was there.
+
+She drove him back in her carriage; the rain lashed the carriage-blinds.
+The passers-by seemed merely shadows wavering in the mire of the street;
+and, pressed close to each other, they observed all these things vaguely
+with a calm disdain. Under various pretexts, he would linger in her room
+for an entire additional hour.
+
+It was chiefly through a feeling of ennui that Madame Dambreuse had
+yielded. But this latest experience was not to be wasted. She desired to
+give herself up to an absorbing passion; and so she began to heap on
+his head adulations and caresses.
+
+She sent him flowers; she had an upholstered chair made for him. She
+made presents to him of a cigar-holder, an inkstand, a thousand little
+things for daily use, so that every act of his life should recall her to
+his memory. These kind attentions charmed him at first, and in a little
+while appeared to him very simple.
+
+She would step into a cab, get rid of it at the opening into a by-way,
+and come out at the other end; and then, gliding along by the walls,
+with a double veil on her face, she would reach the street where
+Frederick, who had been keeping watch, would take her arm quickly to
+lead her towards his house. His two men-servants would have gone out for
+a walk, and the doorkeeper would have been sent on some errand. She
+would throw a glance around her--nothing to fear!--and she would breathe
+forth the sigh of an exile who beholds his country once more. Their good
+fortune emboldened them. Their appointments became more frequent. One
+evening, she even presented herself, all of a sudden, in full
+ball-dress. These surprises might have perilous consequences. He
+reproached her for her lack of prudence. Nevertheless, he was not taken
+with her appearance. The low body of her dress exposed her thinness too
+freely.
+
+It was then that he discovered what had hitherto been hidden from
+him--the disillusion of his senses. None the less did he make
+professions of ardent love; but in order to call up such emotions he
+found it necessary to evoke the images of Rosanette and Madame Arnoux.
+
+This sentimental atrophy left his intellect entirely untrammelled; and
+he was more ambitious than ever of attaining a high position in society.
+Inasmuch as he had such a stepping-stone, the very least he could do was
+to make use of it.
+
+One morning, about the middle of January, Senecal entered his study, and
+in response to his exclamation of astonishment, announced that he was
+Deslauriers' secretary. He even brought Frederick a letter. It contained
+good news, and yet it took him to task for his negligence; he would have
+to come down to the scene of action at once. The future deputy said he
+would set out on his way there in two days' time.
+
+Senecal gave no opinion on the other's merits as a candidate. He spoke
+about his own concerns and about the affairs of the country.
+
+Miserable as the state of things happened to be, it gave him pleasure,
+for they were advancing in the direction of Communism. In the first
+place, the Administration led towards it of its own accord, since every
+day a greater number of things were controlled by the Government. As for
+Property, the Constitution of '48, in spite of its weaknesses, had not
+spared it. The State might, in the name of public utility, henceforth
+take whatever it thought would suit it. Senecal declared himself in
+favour of authority; and Frederick noticed in his remarks the
+exaggeration which characterised what he had said himself to
+Deslauriers. The Republican even inveighed against the masses for their
+inadequacy.
+
+"Robespierre, by upholding the right of the minority, had brought Louis
+XVI. to acknowledge the National Convention, and saved the people.
+Things were rendered legitimate by the end towards which they were
+directed. A dictatorship is sometimes indispensable. Long live tyranny,
+provided that the tyrant promotes the public welfare!"
+
+Their discussion lasted a long time; and, as he was taking his
+departure, Senecal confessed (perhaps it was the real object of his
+visit) that Deslauriers was getting very impatient at M. Dambreuse's
+silence.
+
+But M. Dambreuse was ill. Frederick saw him every day, his character of
+an intimate friend enabling him to obtain admission to the invalid's
+bedside.
+
+General Changarnier's recall had powerfully affected the capitalist's
+mind. He was, on the evening of the occurrence, seized with a burning
+sensation in his chest, together with an oppression that prevented him
+from lying down. The application of leeches gave him immediate relief.
+The dry cough disappeared; the respiration became more easy; and, eight
+days later, he said, while swallowing some broth:
+
+"Ah! I'm better now--but I was near going on the last long journey!"
+
+"Not without me!" exclaimed Madame Dambreuse, intending by this remark
+to convey that she would not be able to outlive him.
+
+Instead of replying, he cast upon her and upon her lover a singular
+smile, in which there was at the same time resignation, indulgence,
+irony, and even, as it were, a touch of humour, a sort of secret
+satisfaction almost amounting to actual joy.
+
+Frederick wished to start for Nogent. Madame Dambreuse objected to this;
+and he unpacked and re-packed his luggage by turns according to the
+changes in the invalid's condition.
+
+Suddenly M. Dambreuse spat forth considerable blood. The "princes of
+medical science," on being consulted, could not think of any fresh
+remedy. His legs swelled, and his weakness increased. He had several
+times evinced a desire to see Cecile, who was at the other end of France
+with her husband, now a collector of taxes, a position to which he had
+been appointed a month ago. M. Dambreuse gave express orders to send for
+her. Madame Dambreuse wrote three letters, which she showed him.
+
+Without trusting him even to the care of the nun, she did not leave him
+for one second, and no longer went to bed. The ladies who had their
+names entered at the door-lodge made enquiries about her with feelings
+of admiration, and the passers-by were filled with respect on seeing the
+quantity of straw which was placed in the street under the windows.
+
+On the 12th of February, at five o'clock, a frightful haemoptysis came
+on. The doctor who had charge of him pointed out that the case had
+assumed a dangerous aspect. They sent in hot haste for a priest.
+
+While M. Dambreuse was making his confession, Madame kept gazing
+curiously at him some distance away. After this, the young doctor
+applied a blister, and awaited the result.
+
+The flame of the lamps, obscured by some of the furniture, lighted up
+the apartment in an irregular fashion. Frederick and Madame Dambreuse,
+at the foot of the bed, watched the dying man. In the recess of a window
+the priest and the doctor chatted in low tones. The good sister on her
+knees kept mumbling prayers.
+
+At last came a rattling in the throat. The hands grew cold; the face
+began to turn white. Now and then he drew a deep breath all of a
+sudden; but gradually this became rarer and rarer. Two or three confused
+words escaped him. He turned his eyes upward, and at the same moment his
+respiration became so feeble that it was almost imperceptible. Then his
+head sank on one side on the pillow.
+
+For a minute, all present remained motionless.
+
+Madame Dambreuse advanced towards the dead body of her husband, and,
+without an effort--with the unaffectedness of one discharging a
+duty--she drew down the eyelids. Then she spread out her two arms, her
+figure writhing as if in a spasm of repressed despair, and quitted the
+room, supported by the physician and the nun.
+
+A quarter of an hour afterwards, Frederick made his way up to her
+apartment.
+
+There was in it an indefinable odour, emanating from some delicate
+substances with which it was filled. In the middle of the bed lay a
+black dress, which formed a glaring contrast with the pink coverlet.
+
+Madame Dambreuse was standing at the corner of the mantelpiece. Without
+attributing to her any passionate regret, he thought she looked a little
+sad; and, in a mournful voice, he said:
+
+"You are enduring pain?"
+
+"I? No--not at all."
+
+As she turned around, her eyes fell on the dress, which she inspected.
+Then she told him not to stand on ceremony.
+
+"Smoke, if you like! You can make yourself at home with me!"
+
+And, with a great sigh:
+
+"Ah! Blessed Virgin!--what a riddance!"
+
+Frederick was astonished at this exclamation. He replied, as he kissed
+her hand:
+
+"All the same, you were free!"
+
+This allusion to the facility with which the intrigue between them had
+been carried on hurt Madame Dambreuse.
+
+"Ah! you don't know the services that I did for him, or the misery in
+which I lived!"
+
+"What!"
+
+"Why, certainly! Was it a safe thing to have always near him that
+bastard, a daughter, whom he introduced into the house at the end of
+five years of married life, and who, were it not for me, might have led
+him into some act of folly?"
+
+Then she explained how her affairs stood. The arrangement on the
+occasion of her marriage was that the property of each party should be
+separate.[I] The amount of her inheritance was three hundred thousand
+francs. M. Dambreuse had guaranteed by the marriage contract that in the
+event of her surviving him, she should have an income of fifteen
+thousand francs a year, together with the ownership of the mansion. But
+a short time afterwards he had made a will by which he gave her all he
+possessed, and this she estimated, so far as it was possible to
+ascertain just at present, at over three millions.
+
+Frederick opened his eyes widely.
+
+
+[I] A marriage may take place in France under the _regime de
+communaute_, by which the husband has the enjoyment and the right of
+disposing of the property both of himself and his wife; the _regime
+dotal_, by which he can only dispose of the income; and the _regime de
+separation de biens_, by which husband and wife enjoy and exercise
+control over their respective estates separately.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+"It was worth the trouble, wasn't it? However, I contributed to it! It
+was my own property I was protecting; Cecile would have unjustly robbed
+me of it."
+
+"Why did she not come to see her father?"
+
+As he asked her this question Madame Dambreuse eyed him attentively;
+then, in a dry tone:
+
+"I haven't the least idea! Want of heart, probably! Oh! I know what she
+is! And for that reason she won't get a farthing from me!"
+
+She had not been very troublesome, he pointed out; at any rate, since
+her marriage.
+
+"Ha! her marriage!" said Madame Dambreuse, with a sneer. And she grudged
+having treated only too well this stupid creature, who was jealous,
+self-interested, and hypocritical. "All the faults of her father!" She
+disparaged him more and more. There was never a person with such
+profound duplicity, and with such a merciless disposition into the
+bargain, as hard as a stone--"a bad man, a bad man!"
+
+Even the wisest people fall into errors. Madame Dambreuse had just made
+a serious one through this overflow of hatred on her part. Frederick,
+sitting opposite her in an easy chair, was reflecting deeply,
+scandalised by the language she had used.
+
+She arose and knelt down beside him.
+
+"To be with you is the only real pleasure! You are the only one I love!"
+
+While she gazed at him her heart softened, a nervous reaction brought
+tears into her eyes, and she murmured:
+
+"Will you marry me?"
+
+At first he thought he had not understood what she meant. He was stunned
+by this wealth.
+
+She repeated in a louder tone:
+
+"Will you marry me?"
+
+At last he said with a smile:
+
+"Have you any doubt about it?"
+
+Then the thought forced itself on his mind that his conduct was
+infamous, and in order to make a kind of reparation to the dead man, he
+offered to watch by his side himself. But, feeling ashamed of this pious
+sentiment, he added, in a flippant tone:
+
+"It would be perhaps more seemly."
+
+"Perhaps so, indeed," she said, "on account of the servants."
+
+The bed had been drawn completely out of the alcove. The nun was near
+the foot of it, and at the head of it sat a priest, a different one, a
+tall, spare man, with the look of a fanatical Spaniard. On the
+night-table, covered with a white cloth, three wax-tapers were burning.
+
+Frederick took a chair, and gazed at the corpse.
+
+The face was as yellow as straw. At the corners of the mouth there were
+traces of blood-stained foam. A silk handkerchief was tied around the
+skull, and on the breast, covered with a knitted waistcoat, lay a silver
+crucifix between the two crossed hands.
+
+It was over, this life full of anxieties! How many journeys had he not
+made to various places? How many rows of figures had he not piled
+together? How many speculations had he not hatched? How many reports had
+he not heard read? What quackeries, what smiles and curvets! For he had
+acclaimed Napoleon, the Cossacks, Louis XVIII., 1830, the working-men,
+every _regime_, loving power so dearly that he would have paid in order
+to have the opportunity of selling himself.
+
+But he had left behind him the estate of La Fortelle, three factories in
+Picardy, the woods of Crance in the Yonne, a farm near Orleans, and a
+great deal of personal property in the form of bills and papers.
+
+Frederick thus made an estimate of her fortune; and it would soon,
+nevertheless, belong to him! First of all, he thought of "what people
+would say"; then he asked himself what present he ought to make to his
+mother, and he was concerned about his future equipages, and about
+employing an old coachman belonging to his own family as the doorkeeper.
+Of course, the livery would not be the same. He would convert the large
+reception-room into his own study. There was nothing to prevent him by
+knocking down three walls from setting up a picture-gallery on the
+second-floor. Perhaps there might be an opportunity for introducing into
+the lower portion of the house a hall for Turkish baths. As for M.
+Dambreuse's office, a disagreeable spot, what use could he make of it?
+
+These reflections were from time to time rudely interrupted by the
+sounds made by the priest in blowing his nose, or by the good sister in
+settling the fire.
+
+But the actual facts showed that his thoughts rested on a solid
+foundation. The corpse was there. The eyelids had reopened, and the
+pupils, although steeped in clammy gloom, had an enigmatic, intolerable
+expression.
+
+Frederick fancied that he saw there a judgment directed against himself,
+and he felt almost a sort of remorse, for he had never any complaint to
+make against this man, who, on the contrary----
+
+"Come, now! an old wretch!" and he looked at the dead man more closely
+in order to strengthen his mind, mentally addressing him thus:
+
+"Well, what? Have I killed you?"
+
+Meanwhile, the priest read his breviary; the nun, who sat motionless,
+had fallen asleep. The wicks of the three wax-tapers had grown longer.
+
+For two hours could be heard the heavy rolling of carts making their way
+to the markets. The window-panes began to admit streaks of white. A cab
+passed; then a group of donkeys went trotting over the pavement. Then
+came strokes of hammers, cries of itinerant vendors of wood and blasts
+of horns. Already every other sound was blended with the great voice of
+awakening Paris.
+
+Frederick went out to perform the duties assigned to him. He first
+repaired to the Mayor's office to make the necessary declaration; then,
+when the medical officer had given him a certificate of death, he called
+a second time at the municipal buildings in order to name the cemetery
+which the family had selected, and to make arrangements for the funeral
+ceremonies.
+
+The clerk in the office showed him a plan which indicated the mode of
+interment adopted for the various classes, and a programme giving full
+particulars with regard to the spectacular portion of the funeral. Would
+he like to have an open funeral-car or a hearse with plumes, plaits on
+the horses, and aigrettes on the footmen, initials or a coat-of-arms,
+funeral-lamps, a man to display the family distinctions? and what number
+of carriages would he require?
+
+Frederick did not economise in the slightest degree. Madame Dambreuse
+was determined to spare no expense.
+
+After this he made his way to the church.
+
+The curate who had charge of burials found fault with the waste of money
+on funeral pomps. For instance, the officer for the display of armorial
+distinctions was really useless. It would be far better to have a goodly
+display of wax-tapers. A low mass accompanied by music would be
+appropriate.
+
+Frederick gave written directions to have everything that was agreed
+upon carried out, with a joint undertaking to defray all the expenses.
+
+He went next to the Hotel de Ville to purchase a piece of ground. A
+grant of a piece which was two metres in length and one in breadth[J]
+cost five hundred francs. Did he want a grant for fifty years or
+forever?
+
+"Oh, forever!" said Frederick.
+
+He took the whole thing seriously and got into a state of intense
+anxiety about it. In the courtyard of the mansion a marble-cutter was
+waiting to show him estimates and plans of Greek, Egyptian, and Moorish
+tombs; but the family architect had already been in consultation with
+Madame; and on the table in the vestibule there were all sorts of
+prospectuses with reference to the cleaning of mattresses, the
+disinfection of rooms, and the various processes of embalming.
+
+After dining, he went back to the tailor's shop to order mourning for
+the servants; and he had still to discharge another function, for the
+gloves that he had ordered were of beaver, whereas the right kind for a
+funeral were floss-silk.
+
+When he arrived next morning, at ten o'clock, the large reception-room
+was filled with people, and nearly everyone said, on encountering the
+others, in a melancholy tone:
+
+"It is only a month ago since I saw him! Good heavens! it will be the
+same way with us all!"
+
+
+[J] A metre is about 3-1/4 feet--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+"Yes; but let us try to keep it as far away from us as possible!"
+
+Then there were little smiles of satisfaction; and they even engaged in
+conversations entirely unsuited to the occasion. At length, the master
+of the ceremonies, in a black coat in the French fashion and short
+breeches, with a cloak, cambric mourning-bands, a long sword by his
+side, and a three-cornered hat under his arm, gave utterance, with a
+bow, to the customary words:
+
+"Messieurs, when it shall be your pleasure."
+
+The funeral started. It was the market-day for flowers on the Place de
+la Madeleine. It was a fine day with brilliant sunshine; and the breeze,
+which shook the canvas tents, a little swelled at the edges the enormous
+black cloth which was hung over the church-gate. The escutcheon of M.
+Dambreuse, which covered a square piece of velvet, was repeated there
+three times. It was: _Sable, with an arm sinister or and a clenched hand
+with a glove argent_; with the coronet of a count, and this device: _By
+every path_.
+
+The bearers lifted the heavy coffin to the top of the staircase, and
+they entered the building. The six chapels, the hemicycles, and the
+seats were hung with black. The catafalque at the end of the choir
+formed, with its large wax-tapers, a single focus of yellow lights. At
+the two corners, over the candelabra, flames of spirits of wine were
+burning.
+
+The persons of highest rank took up their position in the sanctuary, and
+the rest in the nave; and then the Office for the Dead began.
+
+With the exception of a few, the religious ignorance of all was so
+profound that the master of the ceremonies had, from time to time, to
+make signs to them to rise, to kneel, or to resume their seats. The
+organ and the two double-basses could be heard alternately with the
+voices. In the intervals of silence, the only sounds that reached the
+ear were the mumblings of the priest at the altar; then the music and
+the chanting went on again.
+
+The light of day shone dimly through the three cupolas, but the open
+door let in, as it were, a stream of white radiance, which, entering in
+a horizontal direction, fell on every uncovered head; and in the air,
+half-way towards the ceiling of the church, floated a shadow, which was
+penetrated by the reflection of the gildings that decorated the ribbing
+of the pendentives and the foliage of the capitals.
+
+Frederick, in order to distract his attention, listened to the _Dies
+irae_. He gazed at those around him, or tried to catch a glimpse of the
+pictures hanging too far above his head, wherein the life of the
+Magdalen was represented. Luckily, Pellerin came to sit down beside him,
+and immediately plunged into a long dissertation on the subject of
+frescoes. The bell began to toll. They left the church.
+
+The hearse, adorned with hanging draperies and tall plumes, set out for
+Pere-Lachaise drawn by four black horses, with their manes plaited,
+their heads decked with tufts of feathers, and with large trappings
+embroidered with silver flowing down to their shoes. The driver of the
+vehicle, in Hessian boots, wore a three-cornered hat with a long piece
+of crape falling down from it. The cords were held by four personages: a
+questor of the Chamber of Deputies, a member of the General Council of
+the Aube, a delegate from the coal-mining company, and Fumichon, as a
+friend. The carriage of the deceased and a dozen mourning-coaches
+followed. The persons attending at the funeral came in the rear, filling
+up the middle of the boulevard.
+
+The passers-by stopped to look at the mournful procession. Women, with
+their brats in their arms, got up on chairs, and people, who had been
+drinking glasses of beer in the cafes, presented themselves at the
+windows with billiard-cues in their hands.
+
+The way was long, and, as at formal meals at which people are at first
+reserved and then expansive, the general deportment speedily relaxed.
+They talked of nothing but the refusal of an allowance by the Chamber to
+the President. M. Piscatory had shown himself harsh; Montalembert had
+been "magnificent, as usual," and MM. Chamballe, Pidoux, Creton, in
+short, the entire committee would be compelled perhaps to follow the
+advice of MM. Quentin-Bauchard and Dufour.
+
+This conversation was continued as they passed through the Rue de la
+Roquette, with shops on each side, in which could be seen only chains of
+coloured glass and black circular tablets covered with drawings and
+letters of gold--which made them resemble grottoes full of stalactites
+and crockery-ware shops. But, when they had reached the cemetery-gate,
+everyone instantaneously ceased speaking.
+
+The tombs among the trees: broken columns, pyramids, temples, dolmens,
+obelisks, and Etruscan vaults with doors of bronze. In some of them
+might be seen funereal boudoirs, so to speak, with rustic armchairs and
+folding-stools. Spiders' webs hung like rags from the little chains of
+the urns; and the bouquets of satin ribbons and the crucifixes were
+covered with dust. Everywhere, between the balusters on the tombstones,
+may be observed crowns of immortelles and chandeliers, vases, flowers,
+black discs set off with gold letters, and plaster statuettes--little
+boys or little girls or little angels sustained in the air by brass
+wires; several of them have even a roof of zinc overhead. Huge cables
+made of glass strung together, black, white, or azure, descend from the
+tops of the monuments to the ends of the flagstones with long folds,
+like boas. The rays of the sun, striking on them, made them scintillate
+in the midst of the black wooden crosses. The hearse advanced along the
+broad paths, which are paved like the streets of a city. From time to
+time the axletrees cracked. Women, kneeling down, with their dresses
+trailing in the grass, addressed the dead in tones of tenderness. Little
+white fumes arose from the green leaves of the yew trees. These came
+from offerings that had been left behind, waste material that had been
+burnt.
+
+M. Dambreuse's grave was close to the graves of Manuel and Benjamin
+Constant. The soil in this place slopes with an abrupt decline. One has
+under his feet there the tops of green trees, further down the chimneys
+of steam-pumps, then the entire great city.
+
+Frederick found an opportunity of admiring the scene while the various
+addresses were being delivered.
+
+The first was in the name of the Chamber of Deputies, the second in the
+name of the General Council of the Aube, the third in the name of the
+coal-mining company of Saone-et-Loire, the fourth in the name of the
+Agricultural Society of the Yonne, and there was another in the name of
+a Philanthropic Society. Finally, just as everyone was going away, a
+stranger began reading a sixth address, in the name of the Amiens
+Society of Antiquaries.
+
+And thereupon they all took advantage of the occasion to denounce
+Socialism, of which M. Dambreuse had died a victim. It was the effect
+produced on his mind by the exhibitions of anarchic violence, together
+with his devotion to order, that had shortened his days. They praised
+his intellectual powers, his integrity, his generosity, and even his
+silence as a representative of the people, "for, if he was not an
+orator, he possessed instead those solid qualities a thousand times more
+useful," etc., with all the requisite phrases--"Premature end; eternal
+regrets; the better land; farewell, or rather no, _au revoir!_"
+
+The clay, mingled with stones, fell on the coffin, and he would never
+again be a subject for discussion in society.
+
+However, there were a few allusions to him as the persons who had
+followed his remains left the cemetery. Hussonnet, who would have to
+give an account of the interment in the newspapers, took up all the
+addresses in a chaffing style, for, in truth, the worthy Dambreuse had
+been one of the most notable _pots-de-vin_[K] of the last reign. Then
+the citizens were driven in the mourning-coaches to their various places
+of business; the ceremony had not lasted very long; they congratulated
+themselves on the circumstance.
+
+Frederick returned to his own abode quite worn out.
+
+
+[K] The reader will excuse this barbarism on account of its convenience.
+_Pot-de-vin_ means a gratuity or something paid to a person who has not
+earned it.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+When he presented himself next day at Madame Dambreuse's residence, he
+was informed that she was busy below stairs in the room where M.
+Dambreuse had kept his papers.
+
+The cardboard receptacles and the different drawers had been opened
+confusedly, and the account-books had been flung about right and left. A
+roll of papers on which were endorsed the words "Repayment hopeless" lay
+on the ground. He was near falling over it, and picked it up. Madame
+Dambreuse had sunk back in the armchair, so that he did not see her.
+
+"Well? where are you? What is the matter!"
+
+She sprang to her feet with a bound.
+
+"What is the matter? I am ruined, ruined! do you understand?"
+
+M. Adolphe Langlois, the notary, had sent her a message to call at his
+office, and had informed her about the contents of a will made by her
+husband before their marriage. He had bequeathed everything to Cecile;
+and the other will was lost. Frederick turned very pale. No doubt she
+had not made sufficient search.
+
+"Well, then, look yourself!" said Madame Dambreuse, pointing at the
+objects contained in the room.
+
+The two strong-boxes were gaping wide, having been broken open with
+blows of a cleaver, and she had turned up the desk, rummaged in the
+cupboards, and shaken the straw-mattings, when, all of a sudden,
+uttering a piercing cry, she dashed into corner where she had just
+noticed a little box with a brass lock. She opened it--nothing!
+
+"Ah! the wretch! I, who took such devoted care of him!"
+
+Then she burst into sobs.
+
+"Perhaps it is somewhere else?" said Frederick.
+
+"Oh! no! it was there! in that strong-box, I saw it there lately. 'Tis
+burned! I'm certain of it!"
+
+One day, in the early stage of his illness, M. Dambreuse had gone down
+to this room to sign some documents.
+
+"'Tis then he must have done the trick!"
+
+And she fell back on a chair, crushed. A mother grieving beside an empty
+cradle was not more woeful than Madame Dambreuse was at the sight of the
+open strong-boxes. Indeed, her sorrow, in spite of the baseness of the
+motive which inspired it, appeared so deep that he tried to console her
+by reminding her that, after all, she was not reduced to sheer want.
+
+"It is want, when I am not in a position to offer you a large fortune!"
+
+She had not more than thirty thousand livres a year, without taking into
+account the mansion, which was worth from eighteen to twenty thousand,
+perhaps.
+
+Although to Frederick this would have been opulence, he felt, none the
+less, a certain amount of disappointment. Farewell to his dreams and to
+all the splendid existence on which he had intended to enter! Honour
+compelled him to marry Madame Dambreuse. For a minute he reflected;
+then, in a tone of tenderness:
+
+"I'll always have yourself!"
+
+She threw herself into his arms, and he clasped her to his breast with
+an emotion in which there was a slight element of admiration for
+himself.
+
+Madame Dambreuse, whose tears had ceased to flow, raised her face,
+beaming all over with happiness, and seizing his hand:
+
+"Ah! I never doubted you! I knew I could count on you!"
+
+The young man did not like this tone of anticipated certainty with
+regard to what he was pluming himself on as a noble action.
+
+Then she brought him into her own apartment, and they began to arrange
+their plans for the future. Frederick should now consider the best way
+of advancing himself in life. She even gave him excellent advice with
+reference to his candidature.
+
+The first point was to be acquainted with two or three phrases borrowed
+from political economy. It was necessary to take up a specialty, such as
+the stud system, for example; to write a number of notes on questions of
+local interest, to have always at his disposal post-offices or
+tobacconists' shops, and to do a heap of little services. In this
+respect M. Dambreuse had shown himself a true model. Thus, on one
+occasion, in the country, he had drawn up his wagonette, full of friends
+of his, in front of a cobbler's stall, and had bought a dozen pairs of
+shoes for his guests, and for himself a dreadful pair of boots, which he
+had not even the courage to wear for an entire fortnight. This anecdote
+put them into a good humour. She related others, and that with a renewal
+of grace, youthfulness, and wit.
+
+She approved of his notion of taking a trip immediately to Nogent. Their
+parting was an affectionate one; then, on the threshold, she murmured
+once more:
+
+"You love me--do you not?"
+
+"Eternally," was his reply.
+
+A messenger was waiting for him at his own house with a line written in
+lead-pencil informing him that Rosanette was about to be confined. He
+had been so much preoccupied for the past few days that he had not
+bestowed a thought upon the matter.
+
+She had been placed in a special establishment at Chaillot.
+
+Frederick took a cab and set out for this institution.
+
+At the corner of the Rue de Marbeuf he read on a board in big letters:
+"Private Lying-in-Hospital, kept by Madame Alessandri, first-class
+midwife, ex-pupil of the Maternity, author of various works, etc." Then,
+in the centre of the street, over the door--a little side-door--there
+was another signboard: "Private Hospital of Madame Alessandri," with
+all her titles.
+
+Frederick gave a knock. A chambermaid, with the figure of an Abigail,
+introduced him into the reception-room, which was adorned with a
+mahogany table and armchairs of garnet velvet, and with a clock under a
+globe.
+
+Almost immediately Madame appeared. She was a tall brunette of forty,
+with a slender waist, fine eyes, and the manners of good society. She
+apprised Frederick of the mother's happy delivery, and brought him up to
+her apartment.
+
+Rosanette broke into a smile of unutterable bliss, and, as if drowned in
+the floods of love that were suffocating her, she said in a low tone:
+
+"A boy--there, there!" pointing towards a cradle close to her bed.
+
+He flung open the curtains, and saw, wrapped up in linen, a
+yellowish-red object, exceedingly shrivelled-looking, which had a bad
+smell, and which was bawling lustily.
+
+"Embrace him!"
+
+He replied, in order to hide his repugnance:
+
+"But I am afraid of hurting him."
+
+"No! no!"
+
+Then, with the tips of his lips, he kissed his child.
+
+"How like you he is!"
+
+And with her two weak arms, she clung to his neck with an outburst of
+feeling which he had never witnessed on her part before.
+
+The remembrance of Madame Dambreuse came back to him. He reproached
+himself as a monster for having deceived this poor creature, who loved
+and suffered with all the sincerity of her nature. For several days he
+remained with her till night.
+
+She felt happy in this quiet place; the window-shutters in front of it
+remained always closed. Her room, hung with bright chintz, looked out on
+a large garden. Madame Alessandri, whose only shortcoming was that she
+liked to talk about her intimate acquaintanceship with eminent
+physicians, showed her the utmost attention. Her associates, nearly all
+provincial young ladies, were exceedingly bored, as they had nobody to
+come to see them. Rosanette saw that they regarded her with envy, and
+told this to Frederick with pride. It was desirable to speak low,
+nevertheless. The partitions were thin, and everyone stood listening at
+hiding-places, in spite of the constant thrumming of the pianos.
+
+At last, he was about to take his departure for Nogent, when he got a
+letter from Deslauriers. Two fresh candidates had offered themselves,
+the one a Conservative, the other a Red; a third, whatever he might be,
+would have no chance. It was all Frederick's fault; he had let the lucky
+moment pass by; he should have come sooner and stirred himself.
+
+"You have not even been seen at the agricultural assembly!" The advocate
+blamed him for not having any newspaper connection.
+
+"Ah! if you had followed my advice long ago! If we had only a public
+print of our own!"
+
+He laid special stress on this point. However, many persons who would
+have voted for him out of consideration for M. Dambreuse, abandoned him
+now. Deslauriers was one of the number. Not having anything more to
+expect from the capitalist, he had thrown over his _protege_.
+
+Frederick took the letter to show it to Madame Dambreuse.
+
+"You have not been to Nogent, then?" said she.
+
+"Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because I saw Deslauriers three days ago."
+
+Having learned that her husband was dead, the advocate had come to make
+a report about the coal-mines, and to offer his services to her as a man
+of business. This seemed strange to Frederick; and what was his friend
+doing down there?
+
+Madame Dambreuse wanted to know how he had spent his time since they had
+parted.
+
+"I have been ill," he replied.
+
+"You ought at least to have told me about it."
+
+"Oh! it wasn't worth while;" besides, he had to settle a heap of things,
+to keep appointments and to pay visits.
+
+From that time forth he led a double life, sleeping religiously at the
+Marechale's abode and passing the afternoon with Madame Dambreuse, so
+that there was scarcely a single hour of freedom left to him in the
+middle of the day.
+
+The infant was in the country at Andilly. They went to see it once a
+week.
+
+The wet-nurse's house was on rising ground in the village, at the end of
+a little yard as dark as a pit, with straw on the ground, hens here and
+there, and a vegetable-cart under the shed.
+
+Rosanette would begin by frantically kissing her baby, and, seized with
+a kind of delirium, would keep moving to and fro, trying to milk the
+she-goat, eating big pieces of bread, and inhaling the odour of manure;
+she even wanted to put a little of it into her handkerchief.
+
+Then they took long walks, in the course of which she went into the
+nurseries, tore off branches from the lilac-trees which hung down over
+the walls, and exclaimed, "Gee ho, donkey!" to the asses that were
+drawing cars along, and stopped to gaze through the gate into the
+interior of one of the lovely gardens; or else the wet-nurse would take
+the child and place it under the shade of a walnut-tree; and for hours
+the two women would keep talking the most tiresome nonsense.
+
+Frederick, not far away from them, gazed at the beds of vines on the
+slopes, with here and there a clump of trees; at the dusty paths
+resembling strips of grey ribbon; at the houses, which showed white and
+red spots in the midst of the greenery; and sometimes the smoke of a
+locomotive stretched out horizontally to the bases of the hills, covered
+with foliage, like a gigantic ostrich's feather, the thin end of which
+was disappearing from view.
+
+Then his eyes once more rested on his son. He imagined the child grown
+into a young man; he would make a companion of him; but perhaps he would
+be a blockhead, a wretched creature, in any event. He was always
+oppressed by the illegality of the infant's birth; it would have been
+better if he had never been born! And Frederick would murmur, "Poor
+child!" his heart swelling with feelings of unutterable sadness.
+
+They often missed the last train. Then Madame Dambreuse would scold him
+for his want of punctuality. He would invent some falsehood.
+
+It was necessary to invent some explanations, too, to satisfy Rosanette.
+She could not understand how he spent all his evenings; and when she
+sent a messenger to his house, he was never there! One day, when he
+chanced to be at home, the two women made their appearance almost at the
+same time. He got the Marechale to go away, and concealed Madame
+Dambreuse, pretending that his mother was coming up to Paris.
+
+Ere long, he found these lies amusing. He would repeat to one the oath
+which he had just uttered to the other, send them bouquets of the same
+sort, write to them at the same time, and then would institute a
+comparison between them. There was a third always present in his
+thoughts. The impossibility of possessing her seemed to him a
+justification of his perfidies, which were intensified by the fact that
+he had to practise them alternately; and the more he deceived, no matter
+which of the two, the fonder of him she grew, as if the love of one of
+them added heat to that of the other, and, as if by a sort of emulation,
+each of them were seeking to make him forget the other.
+
+"Admire my confidence in you!" said Madame Dambreuse one day to him,
+opening a sheet of paper, in which she was informed that M. Moreau and a
+certain Rose Bron were living together as husband and wife.
+
+"Can it be that this is the lady of the races?"
+
+"What an absurdity!" he returned. "Let me have a look at it!"
+
+The letter, written in Roman characters, had no signature. Madame
+Dambreuse, in the beginning, had tolerated this mistress, who furnished
+a cloak for their adultery. But, as her passion became stronger, she had
+insisted on a rupture--a thing which had been effected long since,
+according to Frederick's account; and when he had ceased to protest, she
+replied, half closing her eyes, in which shone a look like the point of
+a stiletto under a muslin robe:
+
+"Well--and the other?"
+
+"What other?"
+
+"The earthenware-dealer's wife!"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders disdainfully. She did not press the matter.
+
+But, a month later, while they were talking about honour and loyalty,
+and he was boasting about his own (in a casual sort of way, for the sake
+of precaution), she said to him:
+
+"It is true--you are acting uprightly--you don't go back there any
+more?"
+
+Frederick, who was at the moment thinking of the Marechale, stammered:
+
+"Where, pray?"
+
+"To Madame Arnoux's."
+
+He implored her to tell him from whom she got the information. It was
+through her second dressmaker, Madame Regimbart.
+
+So, she knew all about his life, and he knew nothing about hers!
+
+In the meantime, he had found in her dressing-room the miniature of a
+gentleman with long moustaches--was this the same person about whose
+suicide a vague story had been told him at one time? But there was no
+way of learning any more about it! However, what was the use of it? The
+hearts of women are like little pieces of furniture wherein things are
+secreted, full of drawers fitted into each other; one hurts himself,
+breaks his nails in opening them, and then finds within only some
+withered flower, a few grains of dust--or emptiness! And then perhaps he
+felt afraid of learning too much about the matter.
+
+She made him refuse invitations where she was unable to accompany him,
+stuck to his side, was afraid of losing him; and, in spite of this union
+which was every day becoming stronger, all of a sudden, abysses
+disclosed themselves between the pair about the most trifling
+questions--an estimate of an individual or a work of art.
+
+She had a style of playing on the piano which was correct and hard. Her
+spiritualism (Madame Dambreuse believed in the transmigration of souls
+into the stars) did not prevent her from taking the utmost care of her
+cash-box. She was haughty towards her servants; her eyes remained dry at
+the sight of the rags of the poor. In the expressions of which she
+habitually made use a candid egoism manifested itself: "What concern is
+that of mine? I should be very silly! What need have I?" and a thousand
+little acts incapable of analysis revealed hateful qualities in her. She
+would have listened behind doors; she could not help lying to her
+confessor. Through a spirit of despotism, she insisted on Frederick
+going to the church with her on Sunday. He obeyed, and carried her
+prayer-book.
+
+The loss of the property she had expected to inherit had changed her
+considerably. These marks of grief, which people attributed to the death
+of M. Dambreuse, rendered her interesting, and, as in former times, she
+had a great number of visitors. Since Frederick's defeat at the
+election, she was ambitious of obtaining for both of them an embassy in
+Germany; therefore, the first thing they should do was to submit to the
+reigning ideas.
+
+Some persons were in favour of the Empire, others of the Orleans family,
+and others of the Comte de Chambord; but they were all of one opinion as
+to the urgency of decentralisation, and several expedients were proposed
+with that view, such as to cut up Paris into many large streets in order
+to establish villages there, to transfer the seat of government to
+Versailles, to have the schools set up at Bourges, to suppress the
+libraries, and to entrust everything to the generals of division; and
+they glorified a rustic existence on the assumption that the uneducated
+man had naturally more sense than other men! Hatreds increased--hatred
+of primary teachers and wine-merchants, of the classes of philosophy, of
+the courses of lectures on history, of novels, red waistcoats, long
+beards, of independence in any shape, or any manifestation of
+individuality, for it was necessary "to restore the principle of
+authority"--let it be exercised in the name of no matter whom; let it
+come from no matter where, as long as it was Force, Authority! The
+Conservatives now talked in the very same way as Senecal. Frederick was
+no longer able to understand their drift, and once more he found at the
+house of his former mistress the same remarks uttered by the same men.
+
+The salons of the unmarried women (it was from this period that their
+importance dates) were a sort of neutral ground where reactionaries of
+different kinds met. Hussonnet, who gave himself up to the depreciation
+of contemporary glories (a good thing for the restoration of Order),
+inspired Rosanette with a longing to have evening parties like any
+other. He undertook to publish accounts of them, and first of all he
+brought a man of grave deportment, Fumichon; then came Nonancourt, M. de
+Gremonville, the Sieur de Larsilloix, ex-prefect, and Cisy, who was now
+an agriculturist in Lower Brittany, and more Christian than ever.
+
+In addition, men who had at one time been the Marechale's lovers, such
+as the Baron de Comaing, the Comte de Jumillac, and others, presented
+themselves; and Frederick was annoyed by their free-and-easy behaviour.
+
+In order that he might assume the attitude of master in the house, he
+increased the rate of expenditure there. Then he went in for keeping a
+groom, took a new habitation, and got a fresh supply of furniture. These
+displays of extravagance were useful for the purpose of making his
+alliance appear less out of proportion with his pecuniary position. The
+result was that his means were soon terribly reduced--and Rosanette was
+entirely ignorant of the fact!
+
+One of the lower middle-class, who had lost caste, she adored a domestic
+life, a quiet little home. However, it gave her pleasure to have "an at
+home day." In referring to persons of her own class, she called them
+"Those women!" She wished to be a society lady, and believed herself to
+be one. She begged of him not to smoke in the drawing-room any more, and
+for the sake of good form tried to make herself look thin.
+
+She played her part badly, after all; for she grew serious, and even
+before going to bed always exhibited a little melancholy, just as there
+are cypress trees at the door of a tavern.
+
+He found out the cause of it; she was dreaming of marriage--she, too!
+Frederick was exasperated at this. Besides, he recalled to mind her
+appearance at Madame Arnoux's house, and then he cherished a certain
+spite against her for having held out against him so long.
+
+He made enquiries none the less as to who her lovers had been. She
+denied having had any relations with any of the persons he mentioned. A
+sort of jealous feeling took possession of him. He irritated her by
+asking questions about presents that had been made to her, and were
+still being made to her; and in proportion to the exciting effect which
+the lower portion of her nature produced upon him, he was drawn towards
+her by momentary illusions which ended in hate.
+
+Her words, her voice, her smile, all had an unpleasant effect on him,
+and especially her glances with that woman's eye forever limpid and
+foolish. Sometimes he felt so tired of her that he would have seen her
+die without being moved at it. But how could he get into a passion with
+her? She was so mild that there was no hope of picking a quarrel with
+her.
+
+Deslauriers reappeared, and explained his sojourn at Nogent by saying
+that he was making arrangements to buy a lawyer's office. Frederick was
+glad to see him again. It was somebody! and as a third person in the
+house, he helped to break the monotony.
+
+The advocate dined with them from time to time, and whenever any little
+disputes arose, always took Rosanette's part, so that Frederick, on one
+occasion, said to him:
+
+"Ah! you can have with her, if it amuses you!" so much did he long for
+some chance of getting rid of her.
+
+About the middle of the month of June, she was served with an order made
+by the law courts by which Maitre Athanase Gautherot, sheriff's officer,
+called on her to pay him four thousand francs due to Mademoiselle
+Clemence Vatnaz; if not, he would come to make a seizure on her.
+
+In fact, of the four bills which she had at various times signed, only
+one had been paid; the money which she happened to get since then having
+been spent on other things that she required.
+
+She rushed off at once to see Arnoux. He lived now in the Faubourg
+Saint-Germain, and the porter was unable to tell her the name of the
+street. She made her way next to the houses of several friends of hers,
+could not find one of them at home, and came back in a state of utter
+despair.
+
+She did not wish to tell Frederick anything about it, fearing lest this
+new occurrence might prejudice the chance of a marriage between them.
+
+On the following morning, M. Athanase Gautherot presented himself with
+two assistants close behind him, one of them sallow with a mean-looking
+face and an expression of devouring envy in his glance, the other
+wearing a collar and straps drawn very tightly, with a sort of thimble
+of black taffeta on his index-finger--and both ignobly dirty, with
+greasy necks, and the sleeves of their coats too short.
+
+Their employer, a very good-looking man, on the contrary, began by
+apologising for the disagreeable duty he had to perform, while at the
+same time he threw a look round the room, "full of pretty things, upon
+my word of honour!" He added, "Not to speak of the things that can't be
+seized." At a gesture the two bailiff's men disappeared.
+
+Then he became twice as polite as before. Could anyone believe that a
+lady so charming would not have a genuine friend! A sale of her goods
+under an order of the courts would be a real misfortune. One never gets
+over a thing like that. He tried to excite her fears; then, seeing that
+she was very much agitated, suddenly assumed a paternal tone. He knew
+the world. He had been brought into business relations with all these
+ladies--and as he mentioned their names, he examined the frames of the
+pictures on the walls. They were old pictures of the worthy Arnoux,
+sketches by Sombary, water-colours by Burieu, and three landscapes by
+Dittmer. It was evident that Rosanette was ignorant of their value,
+Maitre Gautherot turned round to her:
+
+"Look here! to show that I am a decent fellow, do one thing: give me up
+those Dittmers here--and I am ready to pay all. Do you agree?"
+
+At that moment Frederick, who had been informed about the matter by
+Delphine in the anteroom, and who had just seen the two assistants, came
+in with his hat on his head, in a rude fashion. Maitre Gautherot resumed
+his dignity; and, as the door had been left open:
+
+"Come on, gentlemen--write down! In the second room, let us say--an oak
+table with its two leaves, two sideboards----"
+
+Frederick here stopped him, asking whether there was not some way of
+preventing the seizure.
+
+"Oh! certainly! Who paid for the furniture?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Well, draw up a claim--you have still time to do it."
+
+Maitre Gautherot did not take long in writing out his official report,
+wherein he directed that Mademoiselle Bron should attend at an enquiry
+in chambers with reference to the ownership of the furniture, and having
+done this he withdrew.
+
+Frederick uttered no reproach. He gazed at the traces of mud left on the
+floor by the bailiff's shoes, and, speaking to himself:
+
+"It will soon be necessary to look about for money!"
+
+"Ah! my God, how stupid I am!" said the Marechale.
+
+She ransacked a drawer, took out a letter, and made her way rapidly to
+the Languedoc Gas Lighting Company, in order to get the transfer of her
+shares.
+
+She came back an hour later. The interest in the shares had been sold to
+another. The clerk had said, in answer to her demand, while examining
+the sheet of paper containing Arnoux's written promise to her: "This
+document in no way constitutes you the proprietor of the shares. The
+company has no cognisance of the matter." In short, he sent her away
+unceremoniously, while she choked with rage; and Frederick would have to
+go to Arnoux's house at once to have the matter cleared up.
+
+But Arnoux would perhaps imagine that he had come to recover in an
+indirect fashion the fifteen thousand francs due on the mortgage which
+he had lost; and then this claim from a man who had been his mistress's
+lover seemed to him a piece of baseness.
+
+Selecting a middle course, he went to the Dambreuse mansion to get
+Madame Regimbart's address, sent a messenger to her residence, and in
+this way ascertained the name of the cafe which the Citizen now haunted.
+
+It was the little cafe on the Place de la Bastille, in which he sat all
+day in the corner to the right at the lower end of the establishment,
+never moving any more than if he were a portion of the building.
+
+After having gone successively through the half-cup of coffee, the glass
+of grog, the "bishop," the glass of mulled wine, and even the red wine
+and water, he fell back on beer, and every half hour he let fall this
+word, "Bock!" having reduced his language to what was actually
+indispensable. Frederick asked him if he saw Arnoux occasionally.
+
+"No!"
+
+"Look here--why?"
+
+"An imbecile!"
+
+Politics, perhaps, kept them apart, and so Frederick thought it a
+judicious thing to enquire about Compain.
+
+"What a brute!" said Regimbart.
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"His calf's head!"
+
+"Ha! explain to me what the calf's head is!"
+
+Regimbart's face wore a contemptuous smile.
+
+"Some tomfoolery!"
+
+After a long interval of silence, Frederick went on to ask:
+
+"So, then, he has changed his address?"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Arnoux!"
+
+"Yes--Rue de Fleurus!"
+
+"What number?"
+
+"Do I associate with the Jesuits?"
+
+"What, Jesuits!"
+
+The Citizen replied angrily:
+
+"With the money of a patriot whom I introduced to him, this pig has set
+up as a dealer in beads!"
+
+"It isn't possible!"
+
+"Go there, and see for yourself!"
+
+It was perfectly true; Arnoux, enfeebled by a fit of sickness, had
+turned religious; besides, he had always had a stock of religion in his
+composition, and (with that mixture of commercialism and ingenuity which
+was natural to him), in order to gain salvation and fortune both
+together, he had begun to traffick in religious objects.
+
+Frederick had no difficulty in discovering his establishment,
+on whose signboard appeared these words: "_Emporium of Gothic
+Art_--Restoration of articles used in ecclesiastical ceremonies--Church
+ornaments--Polychromatic sculpture--Frankincense of the Magi, Kings,
+&c., &c."
+
+At the two corners of the shop-window rose two wooden statues, streaked
+with gold, cinnabar, and azure, a Saint John the Baptist with his
+sheepskin, and a Saint Genevieve with roses in her apron and a distaff
+under her arm; next, groups in plaster, a good sister teaching a little
+girl, a mother on her knees beside a little bed, and three collegians
+before the holy table. The prettiest object there was a kind of chalet
+representing the interior of a crib with the ass, the ox, and the child
+Jesus stretched on straw--real straw. From the top to the bottom of the
+shelves could be seen medals by the dozen, every sort of beads,
+holy-water basins in the form of shells, and portraits of ecclesiastical
+dignitaries, amongst whom Monsignor Affre and our Holy Father shone
+forth with smiles on their faces.
+
+Arnoux sat asleep at his counter with his head down. He had aged
+terribly. He had even round his temples a wreath of rosebuds, and the
+reflection of the gold crosses touched by the rays of the sun fell over
+him.
+
+Frederick was filled with sadness at this spectacle of decay. Through
+devotion to the Marechale he, however, submitted to the ordeal, and
+stepped forward. At the end of the shop Madame Arnoux showed herself;
+thereupon, he turned on his heel.
+
+"I couldn't see him," he said, when he came back to Rosanette.
+
+And in vain he went on to promise that he would write at once to his
+notary at Havre for some money--she flew into a rage. She had never seen
+a man so weak, so flabby. While she was enduring a thousand privations,
+other people were enjoying themselves.
+
+Frederick was thinking about poor Madame Arnoux, and picturing to
+himself the heart-rending impoverishment of her surroundings. He had
+seated himself before the writing-desk; and, as Rosanette's voice still
+kept up its bitter railing:
+
+"Ah! in the name of Heaven, hold your tongue!"
+
+"Perhaps you are going to defend them?"
+
+"Well, yes!" he exclaimed; "for what's the cause of this display of
+fury?"
+
+"But why is it that you don't want to make them pay up? 'Tis for fear of
+vexing your old flame--confess it!"
+
+He felt an inclination to smash her head with the timepiece. Words
+failed him. He relapsed into silence.
+
+Rosanette, as she walked up and down the room, continued:
+
+"I am going to hurl a writ at this Arnoux of yours. Oh! I don't want
+your assistance. I'll get legal advice."
+
+Three days later, Delphine rushed abruptly into the room where her
+mistress sat.
+
+"Madame! madame! there's a man here with a pot of paste who has given me
+a fright!"
+
+Rosanette made her way down to the kitchen, and saw there a vagabond
+whose face was pitted with smallpox. Moreover, one of his arms was
+paralysed, and he was three fourths drunk, and hiccoughed every time he
+attempted to speak.
+
+This was Maitre Gautherot's bill-sticker. The objections raised against
+the seizure having been overruled, the sale followed as a matter of
+course.
+
+For his trouble in getting up the stairs he demanded, in the first
+place, a half-glass of brandy; then he wanted another favour, namely,
+tickets for the theatre, on the assumption that the lady of the house
+was an actress. After this he indulged for some minutes in winks, whose
+import was perfectly incomprehensible. Finally, he declared that for
+forty sous he would tear off the corners of the poster which he had
+already affixed to the door below stairs. Rosanette found herself
+referred to by name in it--a piece of exceptional harshness which showed
+the spite of the Vatnaz.
+
+She had at one time exhibited sensibility, and had even, while suffering
+from the effects of a heartache, written to Beranger for his advice. But
+under the ravages of life's storms, her spirit had become soured, for
+she had been forced, in turn, to give lessons on the piano, to act as
+manageress of a _table d'hote_, to assist others in writing for the
+fashion journals, to sublet apartments, and to traffic in lace in the
+world of light women, her relations with whom enabled her to make
+herself useful to many persons, and amongst others to Arnoux. She had
+formerly been employed in a commercial establishment.
+
+There it was one of her functions to pay the workwomen; and for each of
+them there were two livres, one of which always remained in her hands.
+Dussardier, who, through kindness, kept the amount payable to a girl
+named Hortense Baslin, presented himself one day at the cash-office at
+the moment when Mademoiselle Vatnaz was presenting this girl's account,
+1,682 francs, which the cashier paid her. Now, on the very day before
+this, Dussardier had entered down the sum as 1,082 in the girl Baslin's
+book. He asked to have it given back to him on some pretext; then,
+anxious to bury out of sight the story of this theft, he stated that he
+had lost it. The workwoman ingenuously repeated this falsehood to
+Mademoiselle Vatnaz, and the latter, in order to satisfy her mind about
+the matter, came with a show of indifference to talk to the shopman on
+the subject. He contented himself with the answer: "I have burned
+it!"--that was all. A little while afterwards she quitted the house,
+without believing that the book had been really destroyed, and filled
+with the idea that Dussardier had preserved it.
+
+On hearing that he had been wounded, she rushed to his abode, with the
+object of getting it back. Then, having discovered nothing, in spite of
+the closest searches, she was seized with respect, and presently with
+love, for this youth, so loyal, so gentle, so heroic and so strong! At
+her age such good fortune in an affair of the heart was a thing that one
+would not expect. She threw herself into it with the appetite of an
+ogress; and she had given up literature, Socialism, "the consoling
+doctrines and the generous Utopias," the course of lectures which she
+had projected on the "Desubalternization of Woman"--everything, even
+Delmar himself; finally she offered to unite herself to Dussardier in
+marriage.
+
+Although she was his mistress, he was not at all in love with her.
+Besides, he had not forgotten her theft. Then she was too wealthy for
+him. He refused her offer. Thereupon, with tears in her eyes, she told
+him about what she had dreamed--it was to have for both of them a
+confectioner's shop. She possessed the capital that was required
+beforehand for the purpose, and next week this would be increased to the
+extent of four thousand francs. By way of explanation, she referred to
+the proceedings she had taken against the Marechale.
+
+Dussardier was annoyed at this on account of his friend. He recalled to
+mind the cigar-holder that had been presented to him at the guard-house,
+the evenings spent in the Quai Napoleon, the many pleasant chats, the
+books lent to him, the thousand acts of kindness which Frederick had
+done in his behalf. He begged of the Vatnaz to abandon the proceedings.
+
+She rallied him on his good nature, while exhibiting an antipathy
+against Rosanette which he could not understand. She longed only for
+wealth, in fact, in order to crush her, by-and-by, with her four-wheeled
+carriage.
+
+Dussardier was terrified by these black abysses of hate, and when he had
+ascertained what was the exact day fixed for the sale, he hurried out.
+On the following morning he made his appearance at Frederick's house
+with an embarrassed countenance.
+
+"I owe you an apology."
+
+"For what, pray?"
+
+"You must take me for an ingrate, I, whom she is the----" He faltered.
+
+"Oh! I'll see no more of her. I am not going to be her accomplice!" And
+as the other was gazing at him in astonishment:
+
+"Isn't your mistress's furniture to be sold in three days' time?"
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"Herself--the Vatnaz! But I am afraid of giving you offence----"
+
+"Impossible, my dear friend!"
+
+"Ah! that is true--you are so good!"
+
+And he held out to him, in a cautious fashion, a hand in which he
+clasped a little pocket-book made of sheep-leather.
+
+It contained four thousand francs--all his savings.
+
+"What! Oh! no! no!----"
+
+"I knew well I would wound your feelings," returned Dussardier, with a
+tear in the corner of his eye.
+
+Frederick pressed his hand, and the honest fellow went on in a piteous
+tone:
+
+"Take the money! Give me that much pleasure! I am in such a state of
+despair. Can it be, furthermore, that all is over? I thought we should
+be happy when the Revolution had come. Do you remember what a beautiful
+thing it was? how freely we breathed! But here we are flung back into a
+worse condition of things than ever.
+
+"Now, they are killing our Republic, just as they killed the other
+one--the Roman! ay, and poor Venice! poor Poland! poor Hungary! What
+abominable deeds! First of all, they knocked down the trees of Liberty,
+then they restricted the right to vote, shut up the clubs,
+re-established the censorship and surrendered to the priests the power
+of teaching, so that we might look out for the Inquisition. Why not? The
+Conservatives want to give us a taste of the stick. The newspapers are
+fined merely for pronouncing an opinion in favour of abolishing the
+death-penalty. Paris is overflowing with bayonets; sixteen departments
+are in a state of siege; and then the demand for amnesty is again
+rejected!"
+
+He placed both hands on his forehead, then, spreading out his arms as if
+his mind were in a distracted state:
+
+"If, however, we only made the effort! if we were only sincere, we might
+understand each other. But no! The workmen are no better than the
+capitalists, you see! At Elboeuf recently they refused to help at a
+fire! There are wretches who profess to regard Barbes as an aristocrat!
+In order to make the people ridiculous, they want to get nominated for
+the presidency Nadaud, a mason--just imagine! And there is no way out of
+it--no remedy! Everybody is against us! For my part, I have never done
+any harm; and yet this is like a weight pressing down on my stomach. If
+this state of things continues, I'll go mad. I have a mind to do away
+with myself. I tell you I want no money for myself! You'll pay it back
+to me, deuce take it! I am lending it to you."
+
+Frederick, who felt himself constrained by necessity, ended by taking
+the four thousand francs from him. And so they had no more disquietude
+so far as the Vatnaz was concerned.
+
+But it was not long ere Rosanette was defeated in her action against
+Arnoux; and through sheer obstinacy she wished to appeal.
+
+Deslauriers exhausted his energies in trying to make her understand that
+Arnoux's promise constituted neither a gift nor a regular transfer. She
+did not even pay the slightest attention to him, her notion being that
+the law was unjust--it was because she was a woman; men backed up each
+other amongst themselves. In the end, however, she followed his advice.
+
+He made himself so much at home in the house, that on several occasions
+he brought Senecal to dine there. Frederick, who had advanced him money,
+and even got his own tailor to supply him with clothes, did not like
+this unceremoniousness; and the advocate gave his old clothes to the
+Socialist, whose means of existence were now of an exceedingly uncertain
+character.
+
+He was, however, anxious to be of service to Rosanette. One day, when
+she showed him a dozen shares in the Kaolin Company (that enterprise
+which led to Arnoux being cast in damages to the extent of thirty
+thousand francs), he said to her:
+
+"But this is a shady transaction, and you have now a grand chance!"
+
+She had the right to call on him to pay her debts. In the first place,
+she could prove that he was jointly bound to pay all the company's
+liabilities, since he had certified personal debts as collective
+debts--in short, he had embezzled sums which were payable only to the
+company.
+
+"All this renders him guilty of fraudulent bankruptcy under articles 586
+and 587 of the Commercial Code, and you may be sure, my pet, we'll send
+him packing."
+
+Rosanette threw herself on his neck. He entrusted her case next day to
+his former master, not having time to devote attention to it himself,
+as he had business at Nogent. In case of any urgency, Senecal could
+write to him.
+
+His negotiations for the purchase of an office were a mere pretext. He
+spent his time at M. Roque's house, where he had begun not only by
+sounding the praises of their friend, but by imitating his manners and
+language as much as possible; and in this way he had gained Louise's
+confidence, while he won over that of her father by making an attack on
+Ledru-Rollin.
+
+If Frederick did not return, it was because he mingled in aristocratic
+society, and gradually Deslauriers gave them to understand that he was
+in love with somebody, that he had a child, and that he was keeping a
+fallen creature.
+
+The despair of Louise was intense. The indignation of Madame Moreau was
+not less strong. She saw her son whirling towards the bottom of a gulf
+the depth of which could not be determined, was wounded in her religious
+ideas as to propriety, and as it were, experienced a sense of personal
+dishonour; then all of a sudden her physiognomy underwent a change. To
+the questions which people put to her with regard to Frederick, she
+replied in a sly fashion:
+
+"He is well, quite well."'
+
+She was aware that he was about to be married to Madame Dambreuse.
+
+The date of the event had been fixed, and he was even trying to think of
+some way of making Rosanette swallow the thing.
+
+About the middle of autumn she won her action with reference to the
+kaolin shares. Frederick was informed about it by Senecal, whom he met
+at his own door, on his way back from the courts.
+
+It had been held that M. Arnoux was privy to all the frauds, and the
+ex-tutor had such an air of making merry over it that Frederick
+prevented him from coming further, assuring Senecal that he would convey
+the intelligence to Rosanette. He presented himself before her with a
+look of irritation on his face.
+
+"Well, now you are satisfied!"
+
+But, without minding what he had said:
+
+"Look here!"
+
+And she pointed towards her child, which was lying in a cradle close to
+the fire. She had found it so sick at the house of the wet-nurse that
+morning that she had brought it back with her to Paris.
+
+All the infant's limbs were exceedingly thin, and the lips were covered
+with white specks, which in the interior of the mouth became, so to
+speak, clots of blood-stained milk.
+
+"What did the doctor say?"
+
+"Oh! the doctor! He pretends that the journey has increased his--I don't
+know what it is, some name in 'ite'--in short, that he has the
+thrush.[L] Do you know what that is?"
+
+Frederick replied without hesitation: "Certainly," adding that it was
+nothing.
+
+But in the evening he was alarmed by the child's debilitated look and by
+the progress of these whitish spots, resembling mould, as if life,
+already abandoning this little frame, had left now nothing but matter
+from which vegetation was sprouting. His hands were cold; he was no
+longer able to drink anything; and the nurse, another woman, whom the
+porter had gone and taken on chance at an office, kept repeating:
+
+"It seems to me he's very low, very low!"
+
+
+[L] This disease, consisting of ulceration of the tongue and palate, is
+also called _aphthae_--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+Rosanette was up all night with the child.
+
+In the morning she went to look for Frederick.
+
+"Just come and look at him. He doesn't move any longer."
+
+In fact, he was dead. She took him up, shook him, clasped him in her
+arms, calling him most tender names, covered him with kisses, broke into
+sobs, turned herself from one side to the other in a state of
+distraction, tore her hair, uttered a number of shrieks, and then let
+herself sink on the edge of the divan, where she lay with her mouth open
+and a flood of tears rushing from her wildly-glaring eyes.
+
+Then a torpor fell upon her, and all became still in the apartment. The
+furniture was overturned. Two or three napkins were lying on the floor.
+It struck six. The night-light had gone out.
+
+Frederick, as he gazed at the scene, could almost believe that he was
+dreaming. His heart was oppressed with anguish. It seemed to him that
+this death was only a beginning, and that behind it was a worse
+calamity, which was just about to come on.
+
+Suddenly, Rosanette said in an appealing tone:
+
+"We'll preserve the body--shall we not?"
+
+She wished to have the dead child embalmed. There were many objections
+to this. The principal one, in Frederick's opinion, was that the thing
+was impracticable in the case of children so young. A portrait would be
+better. She adopted this idea. He wrote a line to Pellerin, and Delphine
+hastened to deliver it.
+
+Pellerin arrived speedily, anxious by this display of zeal to efface
+all recollection of his former conduct. The first thing he said was:
+
+"Poor little angel! Ah, my God, what a misfortune!"
+
+But gradually (the artist in him getting the upper hand) he declared
+that nothing could be made out of those yellowish eyes, that livid face,
+that it was a real case of still-life, and would, therefore, require
+very great talent to treat it effectively; and so he murmured:
+
+"Oh, 'tisn't easy--'tisn't easy!"
+
+"No matter, as long as it is life-like," urged Rosanette.
+
+"Pooh! what do I care about a thing being life-like? Down with Realism!
+'Tis the spirit that must be portrayed by the painter! Let me alone! I
+am going to try to conjure up what it ought to be!"
+
+He reflected, with his left hand clasping his brow, and with his right
+hand clutching his elbow; then, all of a sudden:
+
+"Ha, I have an idea! a pastel! With coloured mezzotints, almost spread
+out flat, a lovely model could be obtained with the outer surface
+alone!"
+
+He sent the chambermaid to look for his box of colours; then, having a
+chair under his feet and another by his side, he began to throw out
+great touches with as much complacency as if he had drawn them in
+accordance with the bust. He praised the little Saint John of Correggio,
+the Infanta Rosa of Velasquez, the milk-white flesh-tints of Reynolds,
+the distinction of Lawrence, and especially the child with long hair
+that sits in Lady Gower's lap.
+
+"Besides, could you find anything more charming than these little toads?
+The type of the sublime (Raphael has proved it by his Madonnas) is
+probably a mother with her child?"
+
+Rosanette, who felt herself stifling, went away; and presently Pellerin
+said:
+
+"Well, about Arnoux; you know what has happened?"
+
+"No! What?"
+
+"However, it was bound to end that way!"
+
+"What has happened, might I ask?"
+
+"Perhaps by this time he is----Excuse me!"
+
+The artist got up in order to raise the head of the little corpse
+higher.
+
+"You were saying----" Frederick resumed.
+
+And Pellerin, half-closing his eyes, in order to take his dimensions
+better:
+
+"I was saying that our friend Arnoux is perhaps by this time locked up!"
+
+Then, in a tone of satisfaction:
+
+"Just give a little glance at it. Is that the thing?"
+
+"Yes, 'tis quite right. But about Arnoux?"
+
+Pellerin laid down his pencil.
+
+"As far as I could understand, he was sued by one Mignot, an intimate
+friend of Regimbart--a long-headed fellow that, eh? What an idiot! Just
+imagine! one day----"
+
+"What! it's not Regimbart that's in question, is it?"
+
+"It is, indeed! Well, yesterday evening, Arnoux had to produce twelve
+thousand francs; if not, he was a ruined man."
+
+"Oh! this perhaps is exaggerated," said Frederick.
+
+"Not a bit. It looked to me a very serious business, very serious!"
+
+At that moment Rosanette reappeared, with red spots under her eyes,
+which glowed like dabs of paint. She sat down near the drawing and
+gazed at it. Pellerin made a sign to the other to hold his tongue on
+account of her. But Frederick, without minding her:
+
+"Nevertheless, I can't believe----"
+
+"I tell you I met him yesterday," said the artist, "at seven o'clock in
+the evening, in the Rue Jacob. He had even taken the precaution to have
+his passport with him; and he spoke about embarking from Havre, he and
+his whole camp."
+
+"What! with his wife?"
+
+"No doubt. He is too much of a family man to live by himself."
+
+"And are you sure of this?"
+
+"Certain, faith! Where do you expect him to find twelve thousand
+francs?"
+
+Frederick took two or three turns round the room. He panted for breath,
+bit his lips, and then snatched up his hat.
+
+"Where are you going now?" said Rosanette.
+
+He made no reply, and the next moment he had disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+AN AUCTION.
+
+
+Twelve thousand francs should be procured, or, if not, he would see
+Madame Arnoux no more; and until now there had lingered in his breast an
+unconquerable hope. Did she not, as it were, constitute the very
+substance of his heart, the very basis of his life? For some minutes he
+went staggering along the footpath, his mind tortured with anxiety, and
+nevertheless gladdened by the thought that he was no longer by the
+other's side.
+
+Where was he to get the money? Frederick was well aware from his own
+experience how hard it was to obtain it immediately, no matter at what
+cost. There was only one person who could help him in the matter--Madame
+Dambreuse. She always kept a good supply of bank-notes in her
+escritoire. He called at her house; and in an unblushing fashion:
+
+"Have you twelve thousand francs to lend me?"
+
+"What for?"
+
+That was another person's secret. She wanted to know who this person
+was. He would not give way on this point. They were equally determined
+not to yield. Finally, she declared that she would give nothing until
+she knew for what purpose it was wanted.
+
+Frederick's face became very flushed; and he stated that one of his
+comrades had committed a theft. It was necessary to replace the sum this
+very day.
+
+"Let me know his name? His name? Come! what's his name?"
+
+"Dussardier!"
+
+And he threw himself on his knees, imploring of her to say nothing about
+it.
+
+"What idea have you got into your head about me?" Madame Dambreuse
+replied. "One would imagine that you were the guilty party yourself.
+Pray, have done with your tragic airs! Hold on! here's the money! and
+much good may it do him!"
+
+He hurried off to see Arnoux. That worthy merchant was not in his shop.
+But he was still residing in the Rue de Paradis, for he had two
+domiciles.
+
+In the Rue de Paradis, the porter said that M. Arnoux had been away
+since the evening before. As for Madame, he ventured to say nothing; and
+Frederick, having rushed like an arrow up the stairs, laid his ear
+against the keyhole. At length, the door was opened. Madame had gone out
+with Monsieur. The servant could not say when they would be back; her
+wages had been paid, and she was leaving herself.
+
+Suddenly he heard the door creaking.
+
+"But is there anyone in the room?"
+
+"Oh, no, Monsieur! it is the wind."
+
+Thereupon he withdrew. There was something inexplicable in such a rapid
+disappearance.
+
+Regimbart, being Mignot's intimate friend, could perhaps enlighten him?
+And Frederick got himself driven to that gentleman's house at
+Montmartre in the Rue l'Empereur.
+
+Attached to the house there was a small garden shut in by a grating
+which was stopped up with iron plates. Three steps before the hall-door
+set off the white front; and a person passing along the footpath could
+see the two rooms on the ground-floor, the first of which was a parlour
+with ladies' dresses lying on the furniture on every side, and the
+second the workshop in which Madame Regimbart's female assistants were
+accustomed to sit.
+
+They were all convinced that Monsieur had important occupations,
+distinguished connections, that he was a man altogether beyond
+comparison. When he was passing through the lobby with his hat cocked up
+at the sides, his long grave face, and his green frock-coat, the girls
+stopped in the midst of their work. Besides, he never failed to address
+to them a few words of encouragement, some observation which showed his
+ceremonious courtesy; and, afterwards, in their own homes they felt
+unhappy at not having been able to preserve him as their ideal.
+
+No one, however, was so devoted to him as Madame Regimbart, an
+intelligent little woman, who maintained him by her handicraft.
+
+As soon as M. Moreau had given his name, she came out quickly to meet
+him, knowing through the servants what his relations were with Madame
+Dambreuse. Her husband would be back in a moment; and Frederick, while
+he followed her, admired the appearance of the house and the profusion
+of oil-cloth that was displayed in it. Then he waited a few minutes in a
+kind of office, into which the Citizen was in the habit of retiring, in
+order to be alone with his thoughts.
+
+When they met, Regimbart's manner was less cranky than usual.
+
+He related Arnoux's recent history. The ex-manufacturer of earthenware
+had excited the vanity of Mignot, a patriot who owned a hundred shares
+in the _Siecle_, by professing to show that it would be necessary from
+the democratic standpoint to change the management and the editorship of
+the newspaper; and under the pretext of making his views prevail in the
+next meeting of shareholders, he had given the other fifty shares,
+telling him that he could pass them on to reliable friends who would
+back up his vote. Mignot would have no personal responsibility, and need
+not annoy himself about anyone; then, when he had achieved success, he
+would be able to secure a good place in the administration of at least
+from five to six thousand francs. The shares had been delivered. But
+Arnoux had at once sold them, and with the money had entered into
+partnership with a dealer in religious articles. Thereupon came
+complaints from Mignot, to which Arnoux sent evasive answers. At last
+the patriot had threatened to bring against him a charge of cheating if
+he did not restore his share-certificates or pay an equivalent
+sum--fifty thousand francs.
+
+Frederick's face wore a look of despondency.
+
+"That is not the whole of it," said the Citizen. "Mignot, who is an
+honest fellow, has reduced his claim to one fourth. New promises on the
+part of the other, and, of course, new dodges. In short, on the morning
+of the day before yesterday Mignot sent him a written application to pay
+up, within twenty-four hours, twelve thousand francs, without prejudice
+to the balance."
+
+"But I have the amount!" said Frederick.
+
+The Citizen slowly turned round:
+
+"Humbug!"
+
+"Excuse me! I have the money in my pocket. I brought it with me."
+
+"How you do go at it! By Jove, you do! However, 'tis too late now--the
+complaint has been lodged, and Arnoux is gone."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"No! along with his wife. They were seen at the Havre terminus."
+
+Frederick grew exceedingly pale. Madame Regimbart thought he was going
+to faint. He regained his self-possession with an effort, and had even
+sufficient presence of mind to ask two or three questions about the
+occurrence. Regimbart was grieved at the affair, considering that it
+would injure the cause of Democracy. Arnoux had always been lax in his
+conduct and disorderly in his life.
+
+"A regular hare-brained fellow! He burned the candle at both ends! The
+petticoat has ruined him! 'Tis not himself that I pity, but his poor
+wife!" For the Citizen admired virtuous women, and had a great esteem
+for Madame Arnoux.
+
+"She must have suffered a nice lot!"
+
+Frederick felt grateful to him for his sympathy; and, as if Regimbart
+had done him a service, pressed his hand effusively.
+
+"Have you done all that's necessary in the matter?" was Rosanette's
+greeting to him when she saw him again.
+
+He had not been able to pluck up courage to do it, he answered, and
+walked about the streets at random to divert his thoughts.
+
+At eight o'clock, they passed into the dining-room; but they remained
+seated face to face in silence, gave vent each to a deep sigh every now
+and then, and pushed away their plates.
+
+Frederick drank some brandy. He felt quite shattered, crushed,
+annihilated, no longer conscious of anything save a sensation of extreme
+fatigue.
+
+She went to look at the portrait. The red, the yellow, the green, and
+the indigo made glaring stains that jarred with each other, so that it
+looked a hideous thing--almost ridiculous.
+
+Besides, the dead child was now unrecognisable. The purple hue of his
+lips made the whiteness of his skin more remarkable. His nostrils were
+more drawn than before, his eyes more hollow; and his head rested on a
+pillow of blue taffeta, surrounded by petals of camelias, autumn roses,
+and violets. This was an idea suggested by the chambermaid, and both of
+them had thus with pious care arranged the little corpse. The
+mantelpiece, covered with a cloth of guipure, supported silver-gilt
+candlesticks with bunches of consecrated box in the spaces between them.
+At the corners there were a pair of vases in which pastilles were
+burning. All these things, taken in conjunction with the cradle,
+presented the aspect of an altar; and Frederick recalled to mind the
+night when he had watched beside M. Dambreuse's death-bed.
+
+Nearly every quarter of an hour Rosanette drew aside the curtains in
+order to take a look at her child. She saw him in imagination, a few
+months hence, beginning to walk; then at college, in the middle of the
+recreation-ground, playing a game of base; then at twenty years a
+full-grown young man; and all these pictures conjured up by her brain
+created for her, as it were, the son she would have lost, had he only
+lived, the excess of her grief intensifying in her the maternal
+instinct.
+
+Frederick, sitting motionless in another armchair, was thinking of
+Madame Arnoux.
+
+No doubt she was at that moment in a train, with her face leaning
+against a carriage window, while she watched the country disappearing
+behind her in the direction of Paris, or else on the deck of a
+steamboat, as on the occasion when they first met; but this vessel
+carried her away into distant countries, from which she would never
+return. He next saw her in a room at an inn, with trunks covering the
+floor, the wall-paper hanging in shreds, and the door shaking in the
+wind. And after that--to what would she be compelled to turn? Would she
+have to become a school-mistress or a lady's companion, or perhaps a
+chambermaid? She was exposed to all the vicissitudes of poverty. His
+utter ignorance as to what her fate might be tortured his mind. He ought
+either to have opposed her departure or to have followed her. Was he not
+her real husband? And as the thought impressed itself on his
+consciousness that he would never meet her again, that it was all over
+forever, that she was lost to him beyond recall, he felt, so to speak, a
+rending of his entire being, and the tears that had been gathering since
+morning in his heart overflowed.
+
+Rosanette noticed the tears in his eyes.
+
+"Ah! you are crying just like me! You are grieving, too?"
+
+"Yes! yes! I am----"
+
+He pressed her to his heart, and they both sobbed, locked in each
+other's arms.
+
+Madame Dambreuse was weeping too, as she lay, face downwards, on her
+bed, with her hands clasped over her head.
+
+Olympe Regimbart having come that evening to try on her first coloured
+gown after mourning, had told her about Frederick's visit, and even
+about the twelve thousand francs which he had ready to transfer to M.
+Arnoux.
+
+So, then, this money, the very money which he had got from her, was
+intended to be used simply for the purpose of preventing the other from
+leaving Paris--for the purpose, in fact, of preserving a mistress!
+
+At first, she broke into a violent rage, and determined to drive him
+from her door, as she would have driven a lackey. A copious flow of
+tears produced a soothing effect upon her. It was better to keep it all
+to herself, and say nothing about it.
+
+Frederick brought her back the twelve thousand francs on the following
+day.
+
+She begged of him to keep the money lest he might require it for his
+friend, and she asked a number of questions about this gentleman. Who,
+then, had tempted him to such a breach of trust? A woman, no doubt!
+Women drag you into every kind of crime.
+
+This bantering tone put Frederick out of countenance. He felt deep
+remorse for the calumny he had invented. He was reassured by the
+reflection that Madame Dambreuse could not be aware of the facts. All
+the same, she was very persistent about the subject; for, two days
+later, she again made enquiries about his young friend, and, after that,
+about another--Deslauriers.
+
+"Is this young man trustworthy and intelligent?"
+
+Frederick spoke highly of him.
+
+"Ask him to call on me one of these mornings; I want to consult him
+about a matter of business."
+
+She had found a roll of old papers in which there were some bills of
+Arnoux, which had been duly protested, and which had been signed by
+Madame Arnoux. It was about these very bills Frederick had called on M.
+Dambreuse on one occasion while the latter was at breakfast; and,
+although the capitalist had not sought to enforce repayment of this
+outstanding debt, he had not only got judgment on foot of them from the
+Tribunal of Commerce against Arnoux, but also against his wife, who knew
+nothing about the matter, as her husband had not thought fit to give her
+any information on the point.
+
+Here was a weapon placed in Madame Dambreuse's hands--she had no doubt
+about it. But her notary would advise her to take no step in the affair.
+She would have preferred to act through some obscure person, and she
+thought of that big fellow with such an impudent expression of face, who
+had offered her his services.
+
+Frederick ingenuously performed this commission for her.
+
+The advocate was enchanted at the idea of having business relations with
+such an aristocratic lady.
+
+He hurried to Madame Dambreuse's house.
+
+She informed him that the inheritance belonged to her niece, a further
+reason for liquidating those debts which she should repay, her object
+being to overwhelm Martinon's wife by a display of greater attention to
+the deceased's affairs.
+
+Deslauriers guessed that there was some hidden design underlying all
+this. He reflected while he was examining the bills. Madame Arnoux's
+name, traced by her own hand, brought once more before his eyes her
+entire person, and the insult which he had received at her hands. Since
+vengeance was offered to him, why should he not snatch at it?
+
+He accordingly advised Madame Dambreuse to have the bad debts which went
+with the inheritance sold by auction. A man of straw, whose name would
+not be divulged, would buy them up, and would exercise the legal rights
+thus given him to realise them. He would take it on himself to provide a
+man to discharge this function.
+
+Towards the end of the month of November, Frederick, happening to pass
+through the street in which Madame Arnoux had lived, raised his eyes
+towards the windows of her house, and saw posted on the door a placard
+on which was printed in large letters:
+
+"Sale of valuable furniture, consisting of kitchen utensils, body and
+table linen, shirts and chemises, lace, petticoats, trousers, French and
+Indian cashmeres, an Erard piano, two Renaissance oak chests, Venetian
+mirrors, Chinese and Japanese pottery."
+
+"'Tis their furniture!" said Frederick to himself, and his suspicions
+were confirmed by the doorkeeper.
+
+As for the person who had given instructions for the sale, he could get
+no information on that head. But perhaps the auctioneer, Maitre
+Berthelmot, might be able to throw light on the subject.
+
+The functionary did not at first want to tell what creditor was having
+the sale carried out. Frederick pressed him on the point. It was a
+gentleman named Senecal, an agent; and Maitre Berthelmot even carried
+his politeness so far as to lend his newspaper--the _Petites
+Affiches_--to Frederick.
+
+The latter, on reaching Rosanette's house, flung down this paper on the
+table spread wide open.
+
+"Read that!"
+
+"Well, what?" said she with a face so calm that it roused up in him a
+feeling of revolt.
+
+"Ah! keep up that air of innocence!"
+
+"I don't understand what you mean."
+
+"'Tis you who are selling out Madame Arnoux yourself!"
+
+She read over the announcement again.
+
+"Where is her name?"
+
+"Oh! 'tis her furniture. You know that as well as I do."
+
+"What does that signify to me?" said Rosanette, shrugging her shoulders.
+
+"What does it signify to you? But you are taking your revenge, that's
+all. This is the consequence of your persecutions. Haven't you outraged
+her so far as to call at her house?--you, a worthless creature! and this
+to the most saintly, the most charming, the best woman that ever lived!
+Why do you set your heart on ruining her?"
+
+"I assure you, you are mistaken!"
+
+"Come now! As if you had not put Senecal forward to do this!"
+
+"What nonsense!"
+
+Then he was carried away with rage.
+
+"You lie! you lie! you wretch! You are jealous of her! You have got a
+judgment against her husband! Senecal is already mixed up in your
+affairs. He detests Arnoux; and your two hatreds have entered into a
+combination with one another. I saw how delighted he was when you won
+that action of yours about the kaolin shares. Are you going to deny
+this?"
+
+"I give you my word----"
+
+"Oh, I know what that's worth--your word!"
+
+And Frederick reminded her of her lovers, giving their names and
+circumstantial details. Rosanette drew back, all the colour fading from
+her face.
+
+"You are astonished at this. You thought I was blind because I shut my
+eyes. Now I have had enough of it. We do not die through the treacheries
+of a woman of your sort. When they become too monstrous we get out of
+the way. To inflict punishment on account of them would be only to
+degrade oneself."
+
+She twisted her arms about.
+
+"My God, who can it be that has changed him?"
+
+"Nobody but yourself."
+
+"And all this for Madame Arnoux!" exclaimed Rosanette, weeping.
+
+He replied coldly:
+
+"I have never loved any woman but her!"
+
+At this insult her tears ceased to flow.
+
+"That shows your good taste! A woman of mature years, with a complexion
+like liquorice, a thick waist, big eyes like the ventholes of a cellar,
+and just as empty! As you like her so much, go and join her!"
+
+"This is just what I expected. Thank you!"
+
+Rosanette remained motionless, stupefied by this extraordinary
+behaviour.
+
+She even allowed the door to be shut; then, with a bound, she pulled him
+back into the anteroom, and flinging her arms around him:
+
+"Why, you are mad! you are mad! this is absurd! I love you!" Then she
+changed her tone to one of entreaty:
+
+"Good heavens! for the sake of our dead infant!"
+
+"Confess that it was you who did this trick!" said Frederick.
+
+She still protested that she was innocent.
+
+"You will not acknowledge it?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Well, then, farewell! and forever!"
+
+"Listen to me!"
+
+Frederick turned round:
+
+"If you understood me better, you would know that my decision is
+irrevocable!"
+
+"Oh! oh! you will come back to me again!"
+
+"Never as long as I live!"
+
+And he slammed the door behind him violently.
+
+Rosanette wrote to Deslauriers saying that she wanted to see him at
+once.
+
+He called one evening, about five days later; and, when she told him
+about the rupture:
+
+"That's all! A nice piece of bad luck!"
+
+She thought at first that he would have been able to bring back
+Frederick; but now all was lost. She ascertained through the doorkeeper
+that he was about to be married to Madame Dambreuse.
+
+Deslauriers gave her a lecture, and showed himself an exceedingly gay
+fellow, quite a jolly dog; and, as it was very late, asked permission to
+pass the night in an armchair.
+
+Then, next morning, he set out again for Nogent, informing her that he
+was unable to say when they would meet once more. In a little while,
+there would perhaps be a great change in his life.
+
+Two hours after his return, the town was in a state of revolution. The
+news went round that M. Frederick was going to marry Madame Dambreuse.
+At length the three Mesdemoiselles Auger, unable to stand it any longer,
+made their way to the house of Madame Moreau, who with an air of pride
+confirmed this intelligence. Pere Roque became quite ill when he heard
+it. Louise locked herself up; it was even rumoured that she had gone
+mad.
+
+Meanwhile, Frederick was unable to hide his dejection. Madame Dambreuse,
+in order to divert his mind, no doubt, from gloomy thoughts, redoubled
+her attentions. Every afternoon they went out for a drive in her
+carriage; and, on one occasion, as they were passing along the Place de
+la Bourse, she took the idea into her head to pay a visit to the public
+auction-rooms for the sake of amusement.
+
+It was the 1st of December, the very day on which the sale of Madame
+Arnoux's furniture was to take place. He remembered the date, and
+manifested his repugnance, declaring that this place was intolerable on
+account of the crush and the noise. She only wanted to get a peep at it.
+The brougham drew up. He had no alternative but to accompany her.
+
+In the open space could be seen washhand-stands without basins, the
+wooden portions of armchairs, old hampers, pieces of porcelain, empty
+bottles, mattresses; and men in blouses or in dirty frock-coats, all
+grey with dust, and mean-looking faces, some with canvas sacks over
+their shoulders, were chatting in separate groups or hailing each other
+in a disorderly fashion.
+
+Frederick urged that it was inconvenient to go on any further.
+
+"Pooh!"
+
+And they ascended the stairs. In the first room, at the right,
+gentlemen, with catalogues in their hands, were examining pictures; in
+another, a collection of Chinese weapons were being sold. Madame
+Dambreuse wanted to go down again. She looked at the numbers over the
+doors, and she led him to the end of the corridor towards an apartment
+which was blocked up with people.
+
+He immediately recognised the two whatnots belonging to the office of
+_L'Art Industriel_, her work-table, all her furniture. Heaped up at the
+end of the room according to their respective heights, they formed a
+long slope from the floor to the windows, and at the other sides of the
+apartment, the carpets and the curtains hung down straight along the
+walls. There were underneath steps occupied by old men who had fallen
+asleep. At the left rose a sort of counter at which the auctioneer, in a
+white cravat, was lightly swinging a little hammer. By his side a young
+man was writing, and below him stood a sturdy fellow, between a
+commercial traveller and a vendor of countermarks, crying out:
+"Furniture for sale." Three attendants placed the articles on a table,
+at the sides of which sat in a row second-hand dealers and old-clothes'
+women. The general public at the auction kept walking in a circle behind
+them.
+
+When Frederick came in, the petticoats, the neckerchiefs, and even the
+chemises were being passed on from hand to hand, and then given back.
+Sometimes they were flung some distance, and suddenly strips of
+whiteness went flying through the air. After that her gowns were sold,
+and then one of her hats, the broken feather of which was hanging down,
+then her furs, and then three pairs of boots; and the disposal by sale
+of these relics, wherein he could trace in a confused sort of way the
+very outlines of her form, appeared to him an atrocity, as if he had
+seen carrion crows mangling her corpse. The atmosphere of the room,
+heavy with so many breaths, made him feel sick. Madame Dambreuse offered
+him her smelling-bottle. She said that she found all this highly
+amusing.
+
+The bedroom furniture was now exhibited. Maitre Berthelmot named a
+price. The crier immediately repeated it in a louder voice, and the
+three auctioneer's assistants quietly waited for the stroke of the
+hammer, and then carried off the article sold to an adjoining apartment.
+In this way disappeared, one after the other, the large blue carpet
+spangled with camellias, which her dainty feet used to touch so lightly
+as she advanced to meet him, the little upholstered easy-chair, in which
+he used to sit facing her when they were alone together, the two screens
+belonging to the mantelpiece, the ivory of which had been rendered
+smoother by the touch of her hands, and a velvet pincushion, which was
+still bristling with pins. It was as if portions of his heart had been
+carried away with these things; and the monotony of the same voices and
+the same gestures benumbed him with fatigue, and caused within him a
+mournful torpor, a sensation like that of death itself.
+
+There was a rustle of silk close to his ear. Rosanette touched him.
+
+It was through Frederick himself that she had learned about this
+auction. When her first feelings of vexation was over, the idea of
+deriving profit from it occurred to her mind. She had come to see it in
+a white satin vest with pearl buttons, a furbelowed gown, tight-fitting
+gloves on her hands, and a look of triumph on her face.
+
+He grew pale with anger. She stared at the woman who was by his side.
+
+Madame Dambreuse had recognised her, and for a minute they examined each
+other from head to foot minutely, in order to discover the defect, the
+blemish--the one perhaps envying the other's youth, and the other filled
+with spite at the extreme good form, the aristocratic simplicity of her
+rival.
+
+At last Madame Dambreuse turned her head round with a smile of
+inexpressible insolence.
+
+The crier had opened a piano--her piano! While he remained standing
+before it he ran the fingers of his right hand over the keys, and put up
+the instrument at twelve hundred francs; then he brought down the
+figures to one thousand, then to eight hundred, and finally to seven
+hundred.
+
+Madame Dambreuse, in a playful tone, laughed at the appearance of some
+socket that was out of gear.
+
+The next thing placed before the second-hand dealers was a little chest
+with medallions and silver corners and clasps, the same one which he had
+seen at the first dinner in the Rue de Choiseul, which had subsequently
+been in Rosanette's house, and again transferred back to Madame Arnoux's
+residence. Often, during their conversations his eyes wandered towards
+it. He was bound to it by the dearest memories, and his soul was melting
+with tender emotions about it, when suddenly Madame Dambreuse said:
+
+"Look here! I am going to buy that!"
+
+"But it is not a very rare article," he returned.
+
+She considered it, on the contrary, very pretty, and the appraiser
+commended its delicacy.
+
+"A gem of the Renaissance! Eight hundred francs, messieurs! Almost
+entirely of silver! With a little whiting it can be made to shine
+brilliantly."
+
+And, as she was pushing forward through the crush of people:
+
+"What an odd idea!" said Frederick.
+
+"You are annoyed at this!"
+
+"No! But what can be done with a fancy article of that sort?"
+
+"Who knows? Love-letters might be kept in it, perhaps!"
+
+She gave him a look which made the allusion very clear.
+
+"A reason the more for not robbing the dead of their secrets."
+
+"I did not imagine she was dead." And then in a loud voice she went on
+to bid:
+
+"Eight hundred and eighty francs!"
+
+"What you're doing is not right," murmured Frederick.
+
+She began to laugh.
+
+"But this is the first favour, dear, that I am asking from you."
+
+"Come, now! doesn't it strike you that at this rate you won't be a very
+considerate husband?"
+
+Some one had just at that moment made a higher bid.
+
+"Nine hundred francs!"
+
+"Nine hundred francs!" repeated Maitre Berthelmot.
+
+"Nine hundred and ten--fifteen--twenty--thirty!" squeaked the
+auctioneer's crier, with jerky shakes of his head as he cast a sweeping
+glance at those assembled around him.
+
+"Show me that I am going to have a wife who is amenable to reason," said
+Frederick.
+
+And he gently drew her towards the door.
+
+The auctioneer proceeded:
+
+"Come, come, messieurs; nine hundred and thirty. Is there any bidder at
+nine hundred and thirty?"
+
+Madame Dambreuse, just as she had reached the door, stopped, and raising
+her voice to a high pitch:
+
+"One thousand francs!"
+
+There was a thrill of astonishment, and then a dead silence.
+
+"A thousand francs, messieurs, a thousand francs! Is nobody advancing on
+this bid? Is that clear? Very well, then--one thousand francs!
+going!--gone!"
+
+And down came the ivory hammer. She passed in her card, and the little
+chest was handed over to her. She thrust it into her muff.
+
+Frederick felt a great chill penetrating his heart.
+
+Madame Dambreuse had not let go her hold of his arm; and she had not the
+courage to look up at his face in the street, where her carriage was
+awaiting her.
+
+She flung herself into it, like a thief flying away after a robbery, and
+then turned towards Frederick. He had his hat in his hand.
+
+"Are you not going to come in?"
+
+"No, Madame!"
+
+And, bowing to her frigidly, he shut the carriage-door, and then made a
+sign to the coachman to drive away.
+
+The first feeling that he experienced was one of joy at having regained
+his independence. He was filled with pride at the thought that he had
+avenged Madame Arnoux by sacrificing a fortune to her; then, he was
+amazed at his own act, and he felt doubled up with extreme physical
+exhaustion.
+
+Next morning his man-servant brought him the news.
+
+The city had been declared to be in a state of siege; the Assembly had
+been dissolved; and a number of the representatives of the people had
+been imprisoned at Mazas. Public affairs had assumed to his mind an
+utterly unimportant aspect, so deeply preoccupied was he by his private
+troubles.
+
+He wrote to several tradesmen countermanding various orders which he had
+given for the purchase of articles in connection with his projected
+marriage, which now appeared to him in the light of a rather mean
+speculation; and he execrated Madame Dambreuse, because, owing to her,
+he had been very near perpetrating a vile action. He had forgotten the
+Marechale, and did not even bother himself about Madame Arnoux--absorbed
+only in one thought--lost amid the wreck of his dreams, sick at heart,
+full of grief and disappointment, and in his hatred of the artificial
+atmosphere wherein he had suffered so much, he longed for the freshness
+of green fields, the repose of provincial life, a sleeping existence
+spent beneath his natal roof in the midst of ingenuous hearts. At last,
+when Wednesday evening arrived, he made his way out into the open air.
+
+On the boulevard numerous groups had taken up their stand. From time to
+time a patrol came and dispersed them; they gathered together again in
+regular order behind it. They talked freely and in loud tones, made
+chaffing remarks about the soldiers, without anything further happening.
+
+"What! are they not going to fight?" said Frederick to a workman.
+
+"They're not such fools as to get themselves killed for the well-off
+people! Let them take care of themselves!"
+
+And a gentleman muttered, as he glanced across at the inhabitants of the
+faubourgs:
+
+"Socialist rascals! If it were only possible, this time, to exterminate
+them!"
+
+Frederick could not, for the life of him, understand the necessity of so
+much rancour and vituperative language. His feeling of disgust against
+Paris was intensified by these occurrences, and two days later he set
+out for Nogent by the first train.
+
+The houses soon became lost to view; the country stretched out before
+his gaze. Alone in his carriage, with his feet on the seat in front of
+him, he pondered over the events of the last few days, and then on his
+entire past. The recollection of Louise came back to his mind.
+
+"She, indeed, loved me truly! I was wrong not to snatch at this chance
+of happiness. Pooh! let us not think any more about it!"
+
+Then, five minutes afterwards: "Who knows, after all? Why not, later?"
+
+His reverie, like his eyes, wandered afar towards vague horizons.
+
+"She was artless, a peasant girl, almost a savage; but so good!"
+
+In proportion as he drew nearer to Nogent, her image drew closer to him.
+As they were passing through the meadows of Sourdun, he saw her once
+more in imagination under the poplar-trees, as in the old days, cutting
+rushes on the edges of the pools. And now they had reached their
+destination; he stepped out of the train.
+
+Then he leaned with his elbows on the bridge, to gaze again at the isle
+and the garden where they had walked together one sunshiny day, and the
+dizzy sensation caused by travelling, together with the weakness
+engendered by his recent emotions, arousing in his breast a sort of
+exaltation, he said to himself:
+
+"She has gone out, perhaps; suppose I were to go and meet her!"
+
+The bell of Saint-Laurent was ringing, and in the square in front of the
+church there was a crowd of poor people around an open carriage, the
+only one in the district--the one which was always hired for weddings.
+And all of a sudden, under the church-gate, accompanied by a number of
+well-dressed persons in white cravats, a newly-married couple appeared.
+
+He thought he must be labouring under some hallucination. But no! It
+was, indeed, Louise! covered with a white veil which flowed from her red
+hair down to her heels; and with her was no other than Deslauriers,
+attired in a blue coat embroidered with silver--the costume of a
+prefect.
+
+How was this?
+
+Frederick concealed himself at the corner of a house to let the
+procession pass.
+
+Shamefaced, vanquished, crushed, he retraced his steps to the
+railway-station, and returned to Paris.
+
+The cabman who drove him assured him that the barricades were erected
+from the Chateau d'Eau to the Gymnase, and turned down the Faubourg
+Saint-Martin. At the corner of the Rue de Provence, Frederick stepped
+out in order to reach the boulevards.
+
+It was five o'clock. A thin shower was falling. A number of citizens
+blocked up the footpath close to the Opera House. The houses opposite
+were closed. No one at any of the windows. All along the boulevard,
+dragoons were galloping behind a row of wagons, leaning with drawn
+swords over their horses; and the plumes of their helmets, and their
+large white cloaks, rising up behind them, could be seen under the glare
+of the gas-lamps, which shook in the wind in the midst of a haze. The
+crowd gazed at them mute with fear.
+
+In the intervals between the cavalry-charges, squads of policemen
+arrived on the scene to keep back the people in the streets.
+
+But on the steps of Tortoni, a man--Dussardier--who could be
+distinguished at a distance by his great height, remained standing as
+motionless as a caryatide.
+
+One of the police-officers, marching at the head of his men, with his
+three-cornered hat drawn over his eyes, threatened him with his sword.
+
+The other thereupon took one step forward, and shouted:
+
+"Long live the Republic!"
+
+The next moment he fell on his back with his arms crossed.
+
+A yell of horror arose from the crowd. The police-officer, with a look
+of command, made a circle around him; and Frederick, gazing at him in
+open-mouthed astonishment, recognised Senecal.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: When a woman suddenly came in.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A BITTER-SWEET REUNION.
+
+
+He travelled.
+
+He realised the melancholy associated with packet-boats, the chill one
+feels on waking up under tents, the dizzy effect of landscapes and
+ruins, and the bitterness of ruptured sympathies.
+
+He returned home.
+
+He mingled in society, and he conceived attachments to other women. But
+the constant recollection of his first love made these appear insipid;
+and besides the vehemence of desire, the bloom of the sensation had
+vanished. In like manner, his intellectual ambitions had grown weaker.
+Years passed; and he was forced to support the burthen of a life in
+which his mind was unoccupied and his heart devoid of energy.
+
+Towards the end of March, 1867, just as it was getting dark, one
+evening, he was sitting all alone in his study, when a woman suddenly
+came in.
+
+"Madame Arnoux!"
+
+"Frederick!"
+
+She caught hold of his hands, and drew him gently towards the window,
+and, as she gazed into his face, she kept repeating:
+
+"'Tis he! Yes, indeed--'tis he!"
+
+In the growing shadows of the twilight, he could see only her eyes under
+the black lace veil that hid her face.
+
+When she had laid down on the edge of the mantelpiece a little
+pocket-book bound in garnet velvet, she seated herself in front of him,
+and they both remained silent, unable to utter a word, smiling at one
+another.
+
+At last he asked her a number of questions about herself and her
+husband.
+
+They had gone to live in a remote part of Brittany for the sake of
+economy, so as to be able to pay their debts. Arnoux, now almost a
+chronic invalid, seemed to have become quite an old man. Her daughter
+had been married and was living at Bordeaux, and her son was in garrison
+at Mostaganem.
+
+Then she raised her head to look at him again:
+
+"But I see you once more! I am happy!"
+
+He did not fail to let her know that, as soon as he heard of their
+misfortune, he had hastened to their house.
+
+"I was fully aware of it!"
+
+"How?"
+
+She had seen him in the street outside the house, and had hidden
+herself.
+
+"Why did you do that?"
+
+Then, in a trembling voice, and with long pauses between her words:
+
+"I was afraid! Yes--afraid of you and of myself!"
+
+This disclosure gave him, as it were, a shock of voluptuous joy. His
+heart began to throb wildly. She went on:
+
+"Excuse me for not having come sooner." And, pointing towards the little
+pocket-book covered with golden palm-branches:
+
+"I embroidered it on your account expressly. It contains the amount for
+which the Belleville property was given as security."
+
+Frederick thanked her for letting him have the money, while chiding her
+at the same time for having given herself any trouble about it.
+
+"No! 'tis not for this I came! I was determined to pay you this
+visit--then I would go back there again."
+
+And she spoke about the place where they had taken up their abode.
+
+It was a low-built house of only one story; and there was a garden
+attached to it full of huge box-trees, and a double avenue of
+chestnut-trees, reaching up to the top of the hill, from which there was
+a view of the sea.
+
+"I go there and sit down on a bench, which I have called 'Frederick's
+bench.'"
+
+Then she proceeded to fix her gaze on the furniture, the objects of
+virtu, the pictures, with eager intentness, so that she might be able to
+carry away the impressions of them in her memory. The Marechale's
+portrait was half-hidden behind a curtain. But the gilding and the white
+spaces of the picture, which showed their outlines through the midst of
+the surrounding darkness, attracted her attention.
+
+"It seems to me I knew that woman?"
+
+"Impossible!" said Frederick. "It is an old Italian painting."
+
+She confessed that she would like to take a walk through the streets on
+his arm.
+
+They went out.
+
+The light from the shop-windows fell, every now and then, on her pale
+profile; then once more she was wrapped in shadow, and in the midst of
+the carriages, the crowd, and the din, they walked on without paying any
+heed to what was happening around them, without hearing anything, like
+those who make their way across the fields over beds of dead leaves.
+
+They talked about the days which they had formerly spent in each other's
+society, the dinners at the time when _L'Art Industriel_ flourished,
+Arnoux's fads, his habit of drawing up the ends of his collar and of
+squeezing cosmetic over his moustache, and other matters of a more
+intimate and serious character. What delight he experienced on the first
+occasion when he heard her singing! How lovely she looked on her
+feast-day at Saint-Cloud! He recalled to her memory the little garden at
+Auteuil, evenings at the theatre, a chance meeting on the boulevard, and
+some of her old servants, including the negress.
+
+She was astonished at his vivid recollection of these things.
+
+"Sometimes your words come back to me like a distant echo, like the
+sound of a bell carried on by the wind, and when I read passages about
+love in books, it seems to me that it is about you I am reading."
+
+"All that people have found fault with as exaggerated in fiction you
+have made me feel," said Frederick. "I can understand Werther, who felt
+no disgust at his Charlotte for eating bread and butter."
+
+"Poor, dear friend!"
+
+She heaved a sigh; and, after a prolonged silence:
+
+"No matter; we shall have loved each other truly!"
+
+"And still without having ever belonged to each other!"
+
+"This perhaps is all the better," she replied.
+
+"No, no! What happiness we might have enjoyed!"
+
+"Oh, I am sure of it with a love like yours!"
+
+And it must have been very strong to endure after such a long
+separation.
+
+Frederick wished to know from her how she first discovered that he loved
+her.
+
+"It was when you kissed my wrist one evening between the glove and the
+cuff. I said to myself, 'Ah! yes, he loves me--he loves me;'
+nevertheless, I was afraid of being assured of it. So charming was your
+reserve, that I felt myself the object, as it were, of an involuntary
+and continuous homage."
+
+He regretted nothing now. He was compensated for all he had suffered in
+the past.
+
+When they came back to the house, Madame Arnoux took off her bonnet. The
+lamp, placed on a bracket, threw its light on her white hair. Frederick
+felt as if some one had given him a blow in the middle of the chest.
+
+In order to conceal from her his sense of disillusion, he flung himself
+on the floor at her feet, and seizing her hands, began to whisper in her
+ear words of tenderness:
+
+"Your person, your slightest movements, seemed to me to have a more than
+human importance in the world. My heart was like dust under your feet.
+You produced on me the effect of moonlight on a summer's night, when
+around us we find nothing but perfumes, soft shadows, gleams of
+whiteness, infinity; and all the delights of the flesh and of the spirit
+were for me embodied in your name, which I kept repeating to myself
+while I tried to kiss it with my lips. I thought of nothing further. It
+was Madame Arnoux such as you were with your two children, tender,
+grave, dazzlingly beautiful, and yet so good! This image effaced every
+other. Did I not think of it alone? for I had always in the very depths
+of my soul the music of your voice and the brightness of your eyes!"
+
+She accepted with transports of joy these tributes of adoration to the
+woman whom she could no longer claim to be. Frederick, becoming
+intoxicated with his own words, came to believe himself in the reality
+of what he said. Madame Arnoux, with her back turned to the light of the
+lamp, stooped towards him. He felt the caress of her breath on his
+forehead, and the undefined touch of her entire body through the
+garments that kept them apart. Their hands were clasped; the tip of her
+boot peeped out from beneath her gown, and he said to her, as if ready
+to faint:
+
+"The sight of your foot makes me lose my self-possession."
+
+An impulse of modesty made her rise. Then, without any further movement,
+she said, with the strange intonation of a somnambulist:
+
+"At my age!--he--Frederick! Ah! no woman has ever been loved as I have
+been. No! Where is the use in being young? What do I care about them,
+indeed? I despise them--all those women who come here!"
+
+"Oh! very few women come to this place," he returned, in a complaisant
+fashion.
+
+Her face brightened up, and then she asked him whether he meant to be
+married.
+
+He swore that he never would.
+
+"Are you perfectly sure? Why should you not?"
+
+"'Tis on your account!" said Frederick, clasping her in his arms.
+
+She remained thus pressed to his heart, with her head thrown back, her
+lips parted, and her eyes raised. Suddenly she pushed him away from her
+with a look of despair, and when he implored of her to say something to
+him in reply, she bent forward and whispered:
+
+"I would have liked to make you happy!"
+
+Frederick had a suspicion that Madame Arnoux had come to offer herself
+to him, and once more he was seized with a desire to possess
+her--stronger, fiercer, more desperate than he had ever experienced
+before. And yet he felt, the next moment, an unaccountable repugnance to
+the thought of such a thing, and, as it were, a dread of incurring the
+guilt of incest. Another fear, too, had a different effect on him--lest
+disgust might afterwards take possession of him. Besides, how
+embarrassing it would be!--and, abandoning the idea, partly through
+prudence, and partly through a resolve not to degrade his ideal, he
+turned on his heel and proceeded to roll a cigarette between his
+fingers.
+
+She watched him with admiration.
+
+"How dainty you are! There is no one like you! There is no one like
+you!"
+
+It struck eleven.
+
+"Already!" she exclaimed; "at a quarter-past I must go."
+
+She sat down again, but she kept looking at the clock, and he walked up
+and down the room, puffing at his cigarette. Neither of them could think
+of anything further to say to the other. There is a moment at the hour
+of parting when the person that we love is with us no longer.
+
+At last, when the hands of the clock got past the twenty-five minutes,
+she slowly took up her bonnet, holding it by the strings.
+
+"Good-bye, my friend--my dear friend! I shall never see you again! This
+is the closing page in my life as a woman. My soul shall remain with you
+even when you see me no more. May all the blessings of Heaven be yours!"
+
+And she kissed him on the forehead, like a mother.
+
+But she appeared to be looking for something, and then she asked him for
+a pair of scissors.
+
+She unfastened her comb, and all her white hair fell down.
+
+With an abrupt movement of the scissors, she cut off a long lock from
+the roots.
+
+"Keep it! Good-bye!"
+
+When she was gone, Frederick rushed to the window and threw it open.
+There on the footpath he saw Madame Arnoux beckoning towards a passing
+cab. She stepped into it. The vehicle disappeared.
+
+And this was all.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+"WAIT TILL YOU COME TO FORTY YEAR."
+
+
+About the beginning of this winter, Frederick and Deslauriers were
+chatting by the fireside, once more reconciled by the fatality of their
+nature, which made them always reunite and be friends again.
+
+Frederick briefly explained his quarrel with Madame Dambreuse, who had
+married again, her second husband being an Englishman.
+
+Deslauriers, without telling how he had come to marry Mademoiselle
+Roque, related to his friend how his wife had one day eloped with a
+singer. In order to wipe away to some extent the ridicule that this
+brought upon him, he had compromised himself by an excess of
+governmental zeal in the exercise of his functions as prefect. He had
+been dismissed. After that, he had been an agent for colonisation in
+Algeria, secretary to a pasha, editor of a newspaper, and canvasser for
+advertisements, his latest employment being the office of settling
+disputed cases for a manufacturing company.
+
+As for Frederick, having squandered two thirds of his means, he was now
+living like a citizen of comparatively humble rank.
+
+Then they questioned each other about their friends.
+
+Martinon was now a member of the Senate.
+
+Hussonnet occupied a high position, in which he was fortunate enough to
+have all the theatres and entire press dependent upon him.
+
+Cisy, given up to religion, and the father of eight children, was living
+in the chateau of his ancestors.
+
+Pellerin, after turning his hand to Fourrierism, homoeopathy,
+table-turning, Gothic art, and humanitarian painting, had become a
+photographer; and he was to be seen on every dead wall in Paris, where
+he was represented in a black coat with a very small body and a big
+head.
+
+"And what about your chum Senecal?" asked Frederick.
+
+"Disappeared--I can't tell you where! And yourself--what about the woman
+you were so passionately attached to, Madame Arnoux?"
+
+"She is probably at Rome with her son, a lieutenant of chasseurs."
+
+"And her husband?"
+
+"He died a year ago."
+
+"You don't say so?" exclaimed the advocate. Then, striking his forehead:
+
+"Now that I think of it, the other day in a shop I met that worthy
+Marechale, holding by the hand a little boy whom she has adopted. She is
+the widow of a certain M. Oudry, and is now enormously stout. What a
+change for the worse!--she who formerly had such a slender waist!"
+
+Deslauriers did not deny that he had taken advantage of the other's
+despair to assure himself of that fact by personal experience.
+
+"As you gave me permission, however."
+
+This avowal was a compensation for the silence he had maintained with
+reference to his attempt with Madame Arnoux.
+
+Frederick would have forgiven him, inasmuch as he had not succeeded in
+the attempt.
+
+Although a little annoyed at the discovery, he pretended to laugh at it;
+and the allusion to the Marechale brought back the Vatnaz to his
+recollection.
+
+Deslauriers had never seen her any more than the others who used to come
+to the Arnoux's house; but he remembered Regimbart perfectly.
+
+"Is he still living?"
+
+"He is barely alive. Every evening regularly he drags himself from the
+Rue de Grammont to the Rue Montmartre, to the cafes, enfeebled, bent in
+two, emaciated, a spectre!"
+
+"Well, and what about Compain?"
+
+Frederick uttered a cry of joy, and begged of the ex-delegate of the
+provisional government to explain to him the mystery of the calf's head.
+
+"'Tis an English importation. In order to parody the ceremony which the
+Royalists celebrated on the thirtieth of January, some Independents
+founded an annual banquet, at which they have been accustomed to eat
+calves' heads, and at which they make it their business to drink red
+wine out of calves' skulls while giving toasts in favour of the
+extermination of the Stuarts. After Thermidor, the Terrorists organised
+a brotherhood of a similar description, which proves how prolific folly
+is."
+
+"You seem to me very dispassionate about politics?"
+
+"Effect of age," said the advocate.
+
+And then they each proceeded to summarise their lives.
+
+They had both failed in their objects--the one who dreamed only of love,
+and the other of power.
+
+What was the reason of this?
+
+"'Tis perhaps from not having taken up the proper line," said Frederick.
+
+"In your case that may be so. I, on the contrary, have sinned through
+excess of rectitude, without taking into account a thousand secondary
+things more important than any. I had too much logic, and you too much
+sentiment."
+
+Then they blamed luck, circumstances, the epoch at which they were born.
+
+Frederick went on:
+
+"We have never done what we thought of doing long ago at Sens, when you
+wished to write a critical history of Philosophy and I a great mediaeval
+romance about Nogent, the subject of which I had found in Froissart:
+'How Messire Brokars de Fenestranges and the Archbishop of Troyes
+attacked Messire Eustache d'Ambrecicourt.' Do you remember?"
+
+And, exhuming their youth with every sentence, they said to each other:
+
+"Do you remember?"
+
+They saw once more the college playground, the chapel, the parlour, the
+fencing-school at the bottom of the staircase, the faces of the ushers
+and of the pupils--one named Angelmare, from Versailles, who used to cut
+off trousers-straps from old boots, M. Mirbal and his red whiskers, the
+two professors of linear drawing and large drawing, who were always
+wrangling, and the Pole, the fellow-countryman of Copernicus, with his
+planetary system on pasteboard, an itinerant astronomer whose lecture
+had been paid for by a dinner in the refectory, then a terrible debauch
+while they were out on a walking excursion, the first pipes they had
+smoked, the distribution of prizes, and the delightful sensation of
+going home for the holidays.
+
+It was during the vacation of 1837 that they had called at the house of
+the Turkish woman.
+
+This was the phrase used to designate a woman whose real name was
+Zoraide Turc; and many persons believed her to be a Mohammedan, a Turk,
+which added to the poetic character of her establishment, situated at
+the water's edge behind the rampart. Even in the middle of summer there
+was a shadow around her house, which could be recognised by a glass bowl
+of goldfish near a pot of mignonette at a window. Young ladies in white
+nightdresses, with painted cheeks and long earrings, used to tap at the
+panes as the students passed; and as it grew dark, their custom was to
+hum softly in their hoarse voices at the doorsteps.
+
+This home of perdition spread its fantastic notoriety over all the
+arrondissement. Allusions were made to it in a circumlocutory style:
+"The place you know--a certain street--at the bottom of the Bridges." It
+made the farmers' wives of the district tremble for their husbands, and
+the ladies grow apprehensive as to their servants' virtue, inasmuch as
+the sub-prefect's cook had been caught there; and, to be sure, it
+exercised a fascination over the minds of all the young lads of the
+place.
+
+Now, one Sunday, during vesper-time, Frederick and Deslauriers, having
+previously curled their hair, gathered some flowers in Madame Moreau's
+garden, then made their way out through the gate leading into the
+fields, and, after taking a wide sweep round the vineyards, came back
+through the Fishery, and stole into the Turkish woman's house with their
+big bouquets still in their hands.
+
+Frederick presented his as a lover does to his betrothed. But the great
+heat, the fear of the unknown, and even the very pleasure of seeing at
+one glance so many women placed at his disposal, excited him so
+strangely that he turned exceedingly pale, and remained there without
+advancing a single step or uttering a single word. All the girls burst
+out laughing, amused at his embarrassment. Fancying that they were
+turning him into ridicule, he ran away; and, as Frederick had the money,
+Deslauriers was obliged to follow him.
+
+They were seen leaving the house; and the episode furnished material for
+a bit of local gossip which was not forgotten three years later.
+
+They related the story to each other in a prolix fashion, each
+supplementing the narrative where the other's memory failed; and, when
+they had finished the recital:
+
+"That was the best time we ever had!" said Frederick.
+
+"Yes, perhaps so, indeed! It was the best time we ever had," said
+Deslauriers.
+
+
+
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