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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Serge Panine, Complete, by Georges Ohnet
+
+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: Serge Panine, Complete
+
+Author: Georges Ohnet
+
+Release Date: October 4, 2006 [EBook #3918]
+[Last updated: July 7, 2013]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERGE PANINE, COMPLETE ***
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+SERGE PANINE
+
+By GEORGES OHNET
+
+With a General Introduction to the Series by GASTON BOISSIER, Secretaire
+Perpetuel de l'academie Francaise.
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL INTRODUCTION
+
+1905
+
+BY ROBERT ARNOT
+
+The editor-in-chief of the Maison Mazarin--a man of letters who
+cherishes an enthusiastic yet discriminating love for the literary and
+artistic glories of France--formed within the last two years the great
+project of collecting and presenting to the vast numbers of intelligent
+readers of whom New World boasts a series of those great and undying
+romances which, since 1784, have received the crown of merit awarded by
+the French Academy--that coveted assurance of immortality in letters and
+in art.
+
+In the presentation of this serious enterprise for the criticism and
+official sanction of The Academy, 'en seance', was included a request
+that, if possible, the task of writing a preface to the series should be
+undertaken by me. Official sanction having been bestowed upon the plan,
+I, as the accredited officer of the French Academy, convey to you its
+hearty appreciation, endorsement, and sympathy with a project so nobly
+artistic. It is also my duty, privilege, and pleasure to point out, at
+the request of my brethren, the peculiar importance and lasting value
+of this series to all who would know the inner life of a people whose
+greatness no turns of fortune have been able to diminish.
+
+In the last hundred years France has experienced the most terrible
+vicissitudes, but, vanquished or victorious, triumphant or abased, never
+has she lost her peculiar gift of attracting the curiosity of the world.
+She interests every living being, and even those who do not love her
+desire to know her. To this peculiar attraction which radiates from
+her, artists and men of letters can well bear witness, since it is to
+literature and to the arts, before all, that France owes such living
+and lasting power. In every quarter of the civilized world there are
+distinguished writers, painters, and eminent musicians, but in
+France they exist in greater numbers than elsewhere. Moreover, it
+is universally conceded that French writers and artists have this
+particular and praiseworthy quality: they are most accessible to people
+of other countries. Without losing their national characteristics, they
+possess the happy gift of universality. To speak of letters alone:
+the books that Frenchmen write are read, translated, dramatized, and
+imitated everywhere; so it is not strange that these books give to
+foreigners a desire for a nearer and more intimate acquaintance with
+France.
+
+Men preserve an almost innate habit of resorting to Paris from almost
+every quarter of the globe. For many years American visitors have been
+more numerous than others, although the journey from the United States
+is long and costly. But I am sure that when for the first time they see
+Paris--its palaces, its churches, its museums--and visit Versailles,
+Fontainebleau, and Chantilly, they do not regret the travail they have
+undergone. Meanwhile, however, I ask myself whether such sightseeing
+is all that, in coming hither, they wish to accomplish. Intelligent
+travellers--and, as a rule, it is the intelligent class that feels
+the need of the educative influence of travel--look at our beautiful
+monuments, wander through the streets and squares among the crowds that
+fill them, and, observing them, I ask myself again: Do not such people
+desire to study at closer range these persons who elbow them as they
+pass; do they not wish to enter the houses of which they see but the
+facades; do they not wish to know how Parisians live and speak and act
+by their firesides? But time, alas! is lacking for the formation of
+those intimate friendships which would bring this knowledge within their
+grasp. French homes are rarely open to birds of passage, and visitors
+leave us with regret that they have not been able to see more than the
+surface of our civilization or to recognize by experience the note of
+our inner home life.
+
+How, then, shall this void be filled? Speaking in the first person, the
+simplest means appears to be to study those whose profession it is to
+describe the society of the time, and primarily, therefore, the works of
+dramatic writers, who are supposed to draw a faithful picture of it. So
+we go to the theatre, and usually derive keen pleasure therefrom. But
+is pleasure all that we expect to find? What we should look for
+above everything in a comedy or a drama is a representation, exact as
+possible, of the manners and characters of the dramatis persona of the
+play; and perhaps the conditions under which the play was written do
+not allow such representation. The exact and studied portrayal of
+a character demands from the author long preparation, and cannot be
+accomplished in a few hours. From, the first scene to the last, each
+tale must be posed in the author's mind exactly as it will be proved to
+be at the end. It is the author's aim and mission to place completely
+before his audience the souls of the "agonists" laying bare the
+complications of motive, and throwing into relief the delicate shades
+of motive that sway them. Often, too, the play is produced before a
+numerous audience--an audience often distrait, always pressed for time,
+and impatient of the least delay. Again, the public in general require
+that they shall be able to understand without difficulty, and at first
+thought, the characters the author seeks to present, making it necessary
+that these characters be depicted from their most salient sides--which
+are too often vulgar and unattractive.
+
+In our comedies and dramas it is not the individual that is drawn, but
+the type. Where the individual alone is real, the type is a myth of the
+imagination--a pure invention. And invention is the mainspring of the
+theatre, which rests purely upon illusion, and does not please us unless
+it begins by deceiving us.
+
+I believe, then, that if one seeks to know the world exactly as it is,
+the theatre does not furnish the means whereby one can pursue the study.
+A far better opportunity for knowing the private life of a people is
+available through the medium of its great novels. The novelist deals
+with each person as an individual. He speaks to his reader at an hour
+when the mind is disengaged from worldly affairs, and he can add
+without restraint every detail that seems needful to him to complete the
+rounding of his story. He can return at will, should he choose, to the
+source of the plot he is unfolding, in order that his reader may better
+understand him; he can emphasize and dwell upon those details which an
+audience in a theatre will not allow.
+
+The reader, being at leisure, feels no impatience, for he knows that he
+can at any time lay down or take up the book. It is the consciousness of
+this privilege that gives him patience, should he encounter a dull page
+here or there. He may hasten or delay his reading, according to the
+interest he takes in his romance-nay, more, he can return to the earlier
+pages, should he need to do so, for a better comprehension of some
+obscure point. In proportion as he is attracted and interested by the
+romance, and also in the degree of concentration with which he reads
+it, does he grasp better the subtleties of the narrative. No shade of
+character drawing escapes him. He realizes, with keener appreciation,
+the most delicate of human moods, and the novelist is not compelled to
+introduce the characters to him, one by one, distinguishing them only by
+the most general characteristics, but can describe each of those little
+individual idiosyncrasies that contribute to the sum total of a living
+personality.
+
+When I add that the dramatic author is always to a certain extent a
+slave to the public, and must ever seek to please the passing taste of
+his time, it will be recognized that he is often, alas! compelled to
+sacrifice his artistic leanings to popular caprice-that is, if he has
+the natural desire that his generation should applaud him.
+
+As a rule, with the theatre-going masses, one person follows the fads
+or fancies of others, and individual judgments are too apt to be
+irresistibly swayed by current opinion. But the novelist, entirely
+independent of his reader, is not compelled to conform himself to the
+opinion of any person, or to submit to his caprices. He is absolutely
+free to picture society as he sees it, and we therefore can have more
+confidence in his descriptions of the customs and characters of the day.
+
+It is precisely this view of the case that the editor of the series
+has taken, and herein is the raison d'etre of this collection of
+great French romances. The choice was not easy to make. That form of
+literature called the romance abounds with us. France has always
+loved it, for French writers exhibit a curiosity--and I may say an
+indiscretion--that is almost charming in the study of customs and morals
+at large; a quality that induces them to talk freely of themselves and
+of their neighbors, and to set forth fearlessly both the good and the
+bad in human nature. In this fascinating phase of literature, France
+never has produced greater examples than of late years.
+
+In the collection here presented to American readers will be found
+those works especially which reveal the intimate side of French social
+life-works in which are discussed the moral problems that affect most
+potently the life of the world at large. If inquiring spirits seek to
+learn the customs and manners of the France of any age, they must look
+for it among her crowned romances. They need go back no farther than
+Ludovic Halevy, who may be said to open the modern epoch. In the
+romantic school, on its historic side, Alfred de Vigny must be looked
+upon as supreme. De Musset and Anatole France may be taken as revealing
+authoritatively the moral philosophy of nineteenth-century thought. I
+must not omit to mention the Jacqueline of Th. Bentzon, and the "Attic"
+Philosopher of Emile Souvestre, nor the great names of Loti, Claretie,
+Coppe, Bazin, Bourget, Malot, Droz, De Massa, and last, but not least,
+our French Dickens, Alphonse Daudet. I need not add more; the very names
+of these "Immortals" suffice to commend the series to readers in all
+countries.
+
+One word in conclusion: America may rest assured that her students
+of international literature will find in this series of 'ouvrages
+couronnes' all that they may wish to know of France at her own
+fireside--a knowledge that too often escapes them, knowledge that
+embraces not only a faithful picture of contemporary life in the French
+provinces, but a living and exact description of French society in
+modern times. They may feel certain that when they have read these
+romances, they will have sounded the depths and penetrated into the
+hidden intimacies of France, not only as she is, but as she would be
+known.
+
+GASTON BOISSIER
+
+SECRETAIRE PERPETUEL DE L'ACADEMIE FRANCAISE
+
+
+
+
+GEORGES OHNET
+
+The only French novelist whose books have a circulation approaching the
+works of Daudet and of Zola is Georges Ohnet, a writer whose popularity
+is as interesting as his stories, because it explains, though it does
+not excuse, the contempt the Goncourts had for the favor of the great
+French public, and also because it shows how the highest form of
+Romanticism still ferments beneath the varnish of Naturalism in what is
+called genius among the great masses of readers.
+
+Georges Ohnet was born in Paris, April 3, 1848, the son of an architect.
+He was destined for the Bar, but was early attracted by journalism and
+literature. Being a lawyer it was not difficult for him to join the
+editorial staff of Le Pays, and later Le Constitutionnel. This was soon
+after the Franco-German War. His romances, since collected under
+the title 'Batailles de la Vie', appeared first in 'Le Figaro,
+L'Illustration, and Revue des Deux Mondes', and have been exceedingly
+well received by the public. This relates also to his dramas, some of
+his works meeting with a popular success rarely extended to any author.
+For some time Georges Ohnet did not find the same favor with the
+critics, who often attacked him with a passionate violence and unusual
+severity. True, a high philosophical flow of thoughts cannot be detected
+in his writings, but nevertheless it is certain that the characters and
+the subjects of which he treats are brilliantly sketched and clearly
+developed. They are likewise of perfect morality and honesty.
+
+There was expected of him, however, an idea which was not quite
+realized. Appearing upon the literary stage at a period when Naturalism
+was triumphant, it was for a moment believed that he would restore
+Idealism in the manner of George Sand.
+
+In any case the hostile critics have lost. For years public opinion has
+exalted him, and the reaction is the more significant when compared with
+the tremendous criticism launched against his early romances and novels.
+
+A list of his works follows:
+
+Serge Panine (1881), crowned by the French Academy, has since gone
+through one hundred and fifty French editions; Le Maitre des Forges
+(1882), a prodigious success, two hundred and fifty editions being
+printed (1900); La Comtesse Sarah (1882); Lise Fleuyon (1884); La Grande
+Maynieye (1886); Les Dames de Croix-Mort (1886); Volonte (1888); Le
+Docteur Rameau (1889); Deynier Amour (1889); Le Cure de Favieyes (1890);
+Dette de Haine (1891); Nemsod et Cie. (1892); Le Lendemain des Amours
+(1893); Le Droit de l'Enfant (1894.); Les Vielles Rancunes (1894); La
+Dame en Gris (1895); La Fille du Depute (1896); Le Roi de Paris (1898);
+Au Fond du Gouffre (1899); Gens de la Noce (1900); La Tenibreuse (1900);
+Le Cyasseur d'Affaires (1901); Le Crepuscule (1901); Le Marche a l'Amour
+(1902).
+
+Ohnet's novels are collected under the titles, 'Noir et Rose (1887) and
+L'Ame de Pierre (1890).
+
+The dramatic writings of Georges Ohnet, mostly taken from his novels,
+have greatly contributed to his reputation. Le Maitre des Forges was
+played for a full year (Gymnase, 1883); it was followed by Serge Panine
+(1884); La Comtesse Sarah (1887). La Grande Mayniere (1888), met also
+with a decided and prolonged success; Dernier Amour (Gymnase, 1890);
+Colonel Roquebrune (Porte St. Martin, 1897). Before that he had already
+written the plays Regina Sarpi (1875) and Marthe (1877), which yet hold
+a prominent place upon the French stage.
+
+I have shown in this rapid sketch that a man of the stamp of Georges
+Ohnet must have immortal qualities in himself, even though flayed and
+roasted alive by the critics. He is most assuredly an artist in form, is
+endowed with a brilliant style, and has been named "L'Historiographe
+de la bourgeoise contemporaine." Indeed, antagonism to plutocracy and
+hatred of aristocracy are the fundamental theses in almost every one of
+his books.
+
+His exposition, I repeat, is startlingly neat, the development of his
+plots absolutely logical, and the world has acclaimed his ingenuity in
+dramatic construction. He is truly, and in all senses, of the Ages.
+
+                    VICTOR CHERBOULIEZ
+                   de l'Academie Francaise
+
+
+
+
+SERGE PANINE
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE HOUSE OF DESVARENNES
+
+The firm of Desvarennes has been in an ancient mansion in the Rue Saint
+Dominique since 1875; it is one of the best known and most important in
+French industry. The counting-houses are in the wings of the building
+looking upon the courtyard, which were occupied by the servants when the
+family whose coat-of-arms has been effaced from above the gate-way were
+still owners of the estate.
+
+Madame Desvarennes inhabits the mansion which she has had magnificently
+renovated. A formidable rival of the Darblays, the great millers of
+France, the firm of Desvarennes is a commercial and political power.
+Inquire in Paris about its solvency, and you will be told that you may
+safely advance twenty millions of francs on the signature of the head of
+the firm. And this head is a woman.
+
+This woman is remarkable. Gifted with keen understanding and a firm
+will, she had in former times vowed to make a large fortune, and she has
+kept her word.
+
+She was the daughter of a humble packer of the Rue Neuve-Coquenard.
+Toward 1848 she married Michel Desvarennes, who was then a journeyman
+baker in a large shop in the Chaussee d'Antin. With the thousand francs
+which the packer managed to give his daughter by way of dowry, the young
+couple boldly took a shop and started a little bakery business. The
+husband kneaded and baked the bread, and the young wife, seated at the
+counter, kept watch over the till. Neither on Sundays nor on holidays
+was the shop shut.
+
+Through the window, between two pyramids of pink and blue packets of
+biscuits, one could always catch sight of the serious-looking Madame
+Desvarennes, knitting woollen stockings for her husband while waiting
+for customers. With her prominent forehead, and her eyes always bent on
+her work, this woman appeared the living image of perseverance.
+
+At the end of five years of incessant work, and possessing twenty
+thousand francs, saved sou by sou, the Desvarennes left the slopes of
+Montmartre, and moved to the centre of Paris. They were ambitious
+and full of confidence. They set up in the Rue Vivienne, in a shop
+resplendent with gilding and ornamented with looking-glasses. The
+ceiling was painted in panels with bright hued pictures that caught the
+eyes of the passers-by. The window-shelves were of white marble, and the
+counter, where Madame Desvarennes was still enthroned, was of a width
+worthy of the receipts that were taken every day. Business increased
+daily; the Desvarennes continued to be hard and systematic workers.
+The class of customers alone had changed; they were more numerous
+and richer. The house had a specialty for making small rolls for the
+restaurants. Michel had learned from the Viennese bakers how to make
+those golden balls which tempt the most rebellious appetite, and which,
+when in an artistically folded damask napkin, set off a dinner-table.
+
+About this time Madame Desvarennes, while calculating how much the
+millers must gain on the flour they sell to the bakers, resolved, in
+order to lessen expenses, to do without middlemen and grind her own
+corn. Michel, naturally timid, was frightened when his wife disclosed to
+him the simple project which she had formed. Accustomed to submit to the
+will of her whom he respectfully called "the mistress," and of whom he
+was but the head clerk, he dared not oppose her. But, a red-tapist by
+nature, and hating innovations, owing to weakness of mind, he trembled
+inwardly and cried in agony:
+
+"Wife, you'll ruin us."
+
+The mistress calmed the poor man's alarm; she tried to impart to him
+some of her confidence, to animate him with her hope, but without
+success, so she went on without him. A mill was for sale at Jouy, on the
+banks of the Oise; she paid ready money for it, and a few weeks later
+the bakery in the Rue Vivienne was independent of every one. She ground
+her own flour, and from that time business increased considerably.
+Feeling capable of carrying out large undertakings, and, moreover,
+desirous of giving up the meannesses of retail trade, Madame
+Desvarennes, one fine day, sent in a tender for supplying bread to the
+military hospitals. It was accepted, and from that time the house ranked
+among the most important. On seeing the Desvarennes take their daring
+flight, the leading men in the trade had said:
+
+"They have system and activity, and if they do not upset on the way,
+they will attain a high position."
+
+But the mistress seemed to have the gift of divination. She worked
+surely--if she struck out one way you might be certain that success
+was there. In all her enterprises, "good luck" stood close by her; she
+scented failures from afar, and the firm never made a bad debt. Still
+Michel continued to tremble. The first mill had been followed by many
+more; then the old system appeared insufficient to Madame Desvarennes.
+As she wished to keep up with the increase of business she had
+steam-mills built,--which are now grinding three hundred million francs'
+worth of corn every year.
+
+Fortune had favored the house immensely, but Michel continued to
+tremble. From time to time when the mistress launched out a new
+business, he timidly ventured on his usual saying:
+
+"Wife, you're going to ruin us."
+
+But one felt it was only for form's sake, and that he himself no
+longer meant what he said. Madame Desvarennes received this plaintive
+remonstrance with a calm smile, and answered, maternally, as to a child:
+
+"There, there, don't be frightened."
+
+Then she would set to work again, and direct with irresistible vigor the
+army of clerks who peopled her counting-houses.
+
+In fifteen years' time, by prodigious efforts of will and energy,
+Madame Desvarennes had made her way from the lonely and muddy Rue
+Neuve-Coquenard to the mansion in the Rue Saint-Dominique. Of the bakery
+there was no longer question. It was some time since the business in the
+Rue Vivienne had been transferred to the foreman of the shop. The flour
+trade alone occupied Madame Desvarennes's attention. She ruled the
+prices in the market; and great bankers came to her office and did
+business with her on a footing of equality. She did not become any
+prouder for it, she knew too well the strength and weakness of life
+to have pride; her former plain dealing had not stiffened into
+self-sufficiency. Such as one had known her when beginning business,
+such one found her in the zenith of her fortune. Instead of a woollen
+gown she wore a silk one, but the color was still black; her language
+had not become refined; she retained the same blunt familiar accent, and
+at the end of five minutes' conversation with any one of importance she
+could not resist calling him "my dear," to come morally near him. Her
+commands had more fulness. In giving her orders, she had the manner of
+a commander-in-chief, and it was useless to haggle when she had spoken.
+The best thing to do was to obey, as well and as promptly as possible.
+
+Placed in a political sphere, this marvellously gifted woman would
+have been a Madame Roland; born to the throne, she would have been a
+Catherine II.; there was genius in her. Sprung from the lower ranks,
+her superiority had given her wealth; had she come from the higher, the
+great mind might have governed the world.
+
+Still she was not happy; she had been married fifteen years, and her
+fireside was devoid of a cradle. During the first years she had rejoiced
+at not having a child. Where could she have found time to occupy herself
+with a baby? Business engrossed her attention; she had no leisure to
+amuse herself with trifles. Maternity seemed to her a luxury for
+rich women; she had her fortune to make. In the struggle against the
+difficulties attending the enterprise she had begun, she had not had
+time to look around her and perceive that her home was lonely. She
+worked from morning till night. Her whole life was absorbed in this
+work, and when night came, overcome with fatigue, she fell asleep, her
+head filled with cares which stifled all tricks of the imagination.
+
+Michel grieved, but in silence; his feeble and dependent nature missed a
+child. He, whose mind lacked occupation, thought of the future. He said
+to himself that the day when the dreamt-of fortune came would be more
+welcome if there were an heir to whom to leave it. What was the good
+of being rich, if the money went to collateral relatives? There was
+his nephew Savinien, a disagreeable urchin whom he looked on with
+indifference; and he was biased regarding his brother, who had all but
+failed several times in business, and to whose aid he had come to save
+the honor of the name. The mistress had not hesitated to help him, and
+had prevented the signature of "Desvarennes" being protested. She had
+not taunted him, having as large a heart as she had a mind. But Michel
+had felt humiliated to see his own folk make a gap in the financial
+edifice erected so laboriously by his wife. Out of this had gradually
+sprung a sense of dissatisfaction with the Desvarennes of the other
+branch, which manifested itself by a marked coolness, when, by chance,
+his brother came to the house, accompanied by his son Savinien.
+
+And then the paternity of his brother made him secretly jealous. Why
+should that incapable fellow, who succeeded in nothing, have a son? It
+was only those ne'er-do-well sort of people who were thus favored. He,
+Michel, already called the rich Desvarennes, he had not a son. Was it
+just? But where is there justice in this world?
+
+The first time that she saw him with a downcast face the mistress had
+questioned him, and he had frankly expressed his regrets. But he had
+been so repelled by his wife, in whose heart a great trouble, steadily
+repressed, however, had been produced, that he never dared to recur to
+the subject.
+
+He suffered in silence. But he no longer suffered alone. Like an
+overflowing river that finds an outlet in the valley, which it
+inundates, the longings for maternity, hitherto repressed by the
+preoccupations of business, had suddenly seized Madame Desvarennes.
+
+Strong and unyielding, she struggled and would not own herself
+conquered. Still she became sad. Her voice sounded less sonorously
+in the offices where she gave an order; her energetic nature seemed
+subdued. Now she looked around her. She beheld prosperity made stable by
+incessant work, respect gained by spotless honesty; she had attained the
+goal which she had marked out in her ambitious dreams, as being paradise
+itself. Paradise was there; but it lacked the angel. They had no child.
+
+From that day a change came over this woman, slowly but surely; scarcely
+perceptible to strangers, but easy to be seen by those around her. She
+became benevolent, and gave away considerable sums of money, especially
+to children's "Homes." But when the good people who governed these
+establishments, lured on by her generosity, came to ask her to be on
+their committee of management, she became angry, asking them if they
+were joking with her? What interest could those brats have for her? She
+had other fish to fry. She gave them what they needed, and what
+more could they want? The fact was she felt weak and troubled before
+children. But within her a powerful and unknown voice had arisen, and
+the hour was not far distant when the bitter wave of her regrets was to
+overflow and be made manifest.
+
+She did not like Savinien, her nephew, and kept all her sweetness for
+the son of one of their old neighbors in the Rue Neuve-Coquenard, a
+small haberdasher, who had not been able to get on, but continued humbly
+to sell thread and needles to the thrifty folks of the neighborhood.
+The haberdasher, Mother Delarue, as she was called, had remained a widow
+after one year of married life. Pierre, her boy, had grown up under the
+shadow of the bakery, the cradle of the Desvarennes's fortunes.
+
+On Sundays the mistress would give him a gingerbread or a cracknel, and
+amuse herself with his baby prattle. She did not lose sight of him
+when she removed to the Rue Vivienne. Pierre had entered the elementary
+school of the neighborhood, and by his precocious intelligence and
+exceptional application, had not been long in getting to the top of his
+class. The boy had left school after gaining an exhibition admitting
+him to the Chaptal College. This hard worker, who was in a fair way of
+making his own position without costing his relatives anything, greatly
+interested Madame Desvarennes. She found in this plucky nature a
+striking analogy to herself. She formed projects for Pierre's future;
+in fancy she saw him enter the Polytechnic school, and leave it with
+honors. The young man had the choice of becoming a mining or civil
+engineer, and of entering the government service.
+
+He was hesitating what to do when the mistress came and offered him a
+situation in her firm as junior partner; it was a golden bridge that she
+placed before him. With his exceptional capacities he was not long
+in giving to the house a new impulse. He perfected the machinery, and
+triumphantly defied all competition. All this was a happy dream in which
+Pierre was to her a real son; her home became his, and she monopolized
+him completely. But suddenly a shadow came o'er the spirit of her
+dreams. Pierre's mother, the little haberdasher, proud of her son, would
+she consent to give him up to a stranger? Oh! if Pierre had only been
+an orphan! But one could not rob a mother of her son! And Madame
+Desvarennes stopped the flight of her imagination. She followed Pierre
+with anxious looks; but she forbade herself to dispose of the youth: he
+did not belong to her.
+
+This woman, at the age of thirty-five, still young in heart, was
+disturbed by feelings which she strove, but vainly, to rule. She hid
+them especially from her husband, whose repining chattering she feared.
+If she had once shown him her weakness he would have overwhelmed her
+daily with the burden of his regrets. But an unforeseen circumstance
+placed her at Michel's mercy.
+
+Winter had come, bringing December and its snow. The weather this
+year was exceptionally inclement, and traffic in the streets was so
+difficult, business was almost suspended. The mistress left her deserted
+offices and retired early to her private apartments. The husband and
+wife spent their evenings alone. They sat there, facing each other, at
+the fireside. A shade concentrated the light of the lamp upon the table
+covered with expensive knick-knacks. The ceiling was sometimes vaguely
+lighted up by a glimmer from the stove which glittered on the gilt
+cornices. Ensconced in deep comfortable armchairs, the pair respectively
+caressed their favorite dream without speaking of it.
+
+Madame Desvarennes saw beside her a little pink-and-white baby girl,
+toddling on the carpet. She heard her words, understood her language,
+untranslatable to all others than a mother. Then bedtime came. The
+child, with heavy eyelids, let her little fair-haired head fall on her
+shoulders. Madame Desvarennes took her in her arms and undressed her
+quietly, kissing her bare and dimpled arms. It was exquisite enjoyment
+which stirred her heart deliciously. She saw the cradle, and devoured
+the child with her eyes. She knew that the picture was a myth. But
+what did it matter to her? She was happy. Michel's voice broke on her
+reverie.
+
+"Wife," said he, "this is Christmas Eve; and as there are only us two,
+suppose you put your slipper on the hearth."
+
+Madame Desvarennes rose. Her eyes vaguely turned toward the hearth on
+which the fire was dying, and beside the upright of the large sculptured
+mantelpiece she beheld for a moment a tiny shoe, belonging to the child
+which she loved to see in her dreams. Then the vision vanished, and
+there was nothing left but the lonely hearth. A sharp pain tore her
+swollen heart; a sob rose to her lips, and, slowly, two tears rolled
+down her cheeks. Michel, quite pale, looked at her in silence; he held
+out his hand to her, and said, in a trembling voice:
+
+"You were thinking about it, eh?"
+
+Madame Desvarennes bowed her head, twice, silently, and without adding
+another word, the pair fell into each other's arms and wept.
+
+From that day they hid nothing from each other, and shared their
+troubles and regrets in common. The mistress unburdened her heart by
+making a full confession, and Michel, for the first time in his life,
+learned the depth of soul of his companion to its inmost recesses. This
+woman, so energetic, so obstinate, was, as it were, broken down.
+The springs of her will seemed worn out. She felt despondencies and
+wearinesses until then unknown. Work tired her. She did not venture down
+to the offices; she talked of giving up business, which was a bad sign.
+She longed for country air. Were they not rich enough? With their simple
+tastes so much money was unnecessary. In fact, they had no wants. They
+would go to some pretty estate in the suburbs of Paris, live there and
+plant cabbages. Why work? they had no children.
+
+Michel agreed to these schemes. For a long time he had wished for
+repose. Often he had feared that his wife's ambition would lead them too
+far. But now, since she stopped of her own accord, it was all for the
+best.
+
+At this juncture their solicitor informed them that, near to their
+works, the Cernay estate was to be put up for sale. Very often, when
+going from Jouy to the mills, Madame Desvarennes had noticed the
+chateau, the slate roofs of the turrets of which rose gracefully from a
+mass of deep verdure. The Count de Cernay, the last representative of a
+noble race, had just died of consumption, brought on by reckless living,
+leaving nothing behind him but debts and a little girl two years old.
+Her mother, an Italian singer and his mistress, had left him one morning
+without troubling herself about the child. Everything was to be sold, by
+order of the Court.
+
+Some most lamentable incidents had saddened the Count's last hours. The
+bailiffs had entered the house with the doctor when he came to pay his
+last call, and the notices of the sale were all but posted up before the
+funeral was over. Jeanne, the orphan, scared amid the troubles of this
+wretched end, seeing unknown men walking into the reception-rooms with
+their hats on, hearing strangers speaking loudly and with arrogance, had
+taken refuge in the laundry. It was there that Madame Desvarennes found
+her, playing, plainly dressed in a little alpaca frock, her pretty hair
+loose and falling on her shoulders. She looked astonished at what she
+had seen; silent, not daring to run or sing as formerly in the great
+desolate house whence the master had just been taken away forever.
+
+With the vague instinct of abandoned children who seek to attach
+themselves to some one or some thing, Jeanne clung to Madame
+Desvarennes, who, ready to protect, and longing for maternity, took the
+child in her arms. The gardener's wife acted as guide during her visit
+over the property. Madame Desvarennes questioned her. She knew nothing
+of the child except what she had heard from the servants when they
+gossiped in the evenings about their late master. They said Jeanne was
+a bastard. Of her relatives they knew nothing. The Count had an aunt in
+England who was married to a rich lord; but he had not corresponded with
+her lately. The little one then was reduced to beggary as the estate was
+to be sold.
+
+The gardener's wife was a good woman and was willing to keep the child
+until the new proprietor came; but when once affairs were settled, she
+would certainly go and make a declaration to the mayor, and take her to
+the workhouse. Madame Desvarennes listened in silence. One word only had
+struck her while the woman was speaking. The child was without support,
+without ties, and abandoned like a poor lost dog. The little one was
+pretty too; and when she fixed her large deep eyes on that improvised
+mother, who pressed her so tenderly to her heart, she seemed to implore
+her not to put her down, and to carry her away from the mourning that
+troubled her mind and the isolation that froze her heart.
+
+Madame Desvarennes, very superstitious, like a woman of the people,
+began to think that, perhaps, Providence had brought her to Cernay that
+day and had placed the child in her path. It was perhaps a reparation
+which heaven granted her, in giving her the little girl she so longed
+for. Acting unhesitatingly, as she did in everything, she left her name
+with the woman, carried Jeanne to her carriage, and took her to Paris,
+promising herself to make inquiries to find her relatives.
+
+A month later, the property of Cernay pleasing her, and the researches
+for Jeanne's friends not proving successful, Madame Desvarennes took
+possession of the estate and the child into the bargain.
+
+Michel welcomed the child without enthusiasm. The little stranger was
+indifferent to him; he would have preferred adopting a boy. The mistress
+was delighted. Her maternal instincts, so long stifled, developed fully.
+She made plans for the future. Her energy returned; she spoke loudly and
+firmly. But in her appearance there was revealed an inward contentment
+never remarked before, which made her sweeter and more benevolent. She
+no longer spoke of retiring from business. The discouragement which had
+seized her left her as if by magic. The house which had been so dull
+for some months became noisy and gay. The child, like a sunbeam, had
+scattered the clouds.
+
+It was then that the most unlooked-for phenomenon, which was so
+considerably to influence Madame Desvarennes's life, occurred. At the
+moment when the mistress seemed provided by chance with the heiress so
+much longed for, she learned with surprise that she was about to become
+a mother! After sixteen years of married life, this discovery was almost
+a discomfiture. What would have been delight formerly was now a cause
+for fear. She, almost an old woman!
+
+There was an incredible commotion in the business world when the news
+became known. The younger branch of Desvarennes had witnessed Jeanne's
+arrival with little satisfaction, and were still more gloomy when they
+learned that the chances of their succeeding to great wealth were over.
+Still they did not lose all hopes. At thirty-five years of age one
+cannot always tell how these little affairs will come off. An accident
+was possible. But none occurred; all passed off well.
+
+Madame Desvarennes was as strong physically as she was morally, and
+proved victorious by bringing into the world a little girl, who was
+named Micheline in honor of her father. The mistress's heart was large
+enough to hold two children; she kept the orphan she had adopted, and
+brought her up as if she had been her very own. Still there was soon an
+enormous difference in her manner of loving Jeanne and Micheline. This
+mother had for the long-wished-for child an ardent, mad, passionate love
+like that of a tigress for her cubs. She had never loved her husband.
+All the tenderness which had accumulated in her heart blossomed, and it
+was like spring.
+
+This autocrat, who had never allowed contradiction, and before whom all
+her dependents bowed either with or against the grain, was now led in
+her turn; the bronze of her character became like wax in the little pink
+hands of her daughter. The commanding woman bent before the little fair
+head. There was nothing good enough for Micheline. Had the mother owned
+the world she would have placed it at the little one's feet. One tear
+from the child upset her. If on one of the most important subjects
+Madame Desvarennes had said "No," and Micheline came and said "Yes,"
+the hitherto resolute will became subordinate to the caprice of a child.
+They knew it in the house and acted upon it. This manoeuvre succeeded
+each time, although Madame Desvarennes had seen through it from the
+first. It appeared as if the mother felt a secret joy in proving
+under all circumstances the unbounded adoration which she felt for her
+daughter. She often said:
+
+"Pretty as she is, and rich as I shall make her, what husband will be
+worthy of Micheline? But if she believes me when it is time to choose
+one, she will prefer a man remarkable for his intelligence, and will
+give him her fortune as a stepping-stone to raise him as high as she
+chooses him to go."
+
+Inwardly she was thinking of Pierre Delarue, who had just taken honors
+at the Polytechnic school, and who seemed to have a brilliant career
+before him. This woman, humbly born, was proud of her origin, and
+sought a plebeian for her son-in-law, to put into his hand a golden tool
+powerful enough to move the world.
+
+Micheline was ten years old when her father died. Alas, Michel was not a
+great loss. They wore mourning for him; but they hardly noticed that he
+was absent. His whole life had been a void. Madame Desvarennes, it
+is sad to say, felt herself more mistress of her child when she was
+a widow. She was jealous of Micheline's affections, and each kiss the
+child gave her father seemed to the mother to be robbed from her. With
+this fierce tenderness, she preferred solitude around this beloved
+being.
+
+At this time Madame Desvarennes was really in the zenith of womanly
+splendor. She seemed taller, her figure had straightened, vigorous and
+powerful. Her gray hair gave her face a majestic appearance. Always
+surrounded by a court of clients and friends, she seemed like a
+sovereign. The fortune of the firm was not to be computed. It was said
+Madame Desvarennes did not know how rich she was.
+
+Jeanne and Micheline grew up amid this colossal prosperity. The one,
+tall, brown-haired, with blue eyes changing like the sea; the other,
+fragile, fair, with dark dreamy eyes. Jeanne, proud, capricious, and
+inconstant; Micheline, simple, sweet, and tenacious. The brunette
+inherited from her reckless father and her fanciful mother a violent and
+passionate nature; the blonde was tractable and good like Michel, but
+resolute and firm like Madame Desvarennes. These two opposite natures
+were congenial, Micheline sincerely loving Jeanne, and Jeanne feeling
+the necessity of living amicably with Micheline, her mother's idol,
+but inwardly enduring with difficulty the inequalities which began to
+exhibit themselves in the manner with which the intimates of the house
+treated the one and the other. She found these flatteries wounding, and
+thought Madame Desvarennes's preferences for Micheline unjust.
+
+All these accumulated grievances made Jeanne conceive the wish one
+morning of leaving the house where she had been brought up, and where
+she now felt humiliated. Pretending to long to go to England to see
+that rich relative of her father, who, knowing her to be in a brilliant
+society, had taken notice of her, she asked Madame Desvarennes to allow
+her to spend a few weeks from home. She wished to try the ground in
+England, and see what she might expect in the future from her family.
+Madame Desvarennes lent herself to this whim, not guessing the young
+girl's real motive; and Jeanne, well attended, went to her aunt's home
+in England.
+
+Madame Desvarennes, besides, had attained the summit of her hopes,
+and an event had just taken place which preoccupied her. Micheline,
+deferring to her mother's wishes, had decided to allow herself to be
+betrothed to Pierre Delarue, who had just lost his mother, and whose
+business improved daily. The young girl, accustomed to treat Pierre like
+a brother, had easily consented to accept him as her future husband.
+
+Jeanne, who had been away for six months, had returned sobered and
+disillusioned about her family. She had found them kind and affable, had
+received many compliments on her beauty, which was really remarkable,
+but had not met with any encouragement in her desires for independence.
+She came home resolved not to leave until she married. She arrived in
+the Rue Saint-Dominique at the moment when Pierre Delarue, thirsting
+with ambition, was leaving his betrothed, his relatives, and gay Paris
+to undertake engineering work on the coasts of Algeria and Tunis that
+would raise him above his rivals. In leaving, the young man did not for
+a moment think that Jeanne was returning from England at the same hour
+with trouble for him in the person of a very handsome cavalier, Prince
+Serge Panine, who had been introduced to her at a ball during the London
+season. Mademoiselle de Cernay, availing herself of English liberty,
+was returning escorted only by a maid in company with the Prince. The
+journey had been delightful. The tete-a-tete travelling had pleased the
+young people, and on leaving the train they had promised to see each
+other again. Official balls facilitated their meeting; Serge was
+introduced to Madame Desvarennes as being an English friend, and soon
+became the most assiduous partner of Jeanne and Micheline. It was thus,
+under the most trivial pretext, that the man gained admittance to the
+house where he was to play such an important part.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE GALLEY-SLAVE OF PLEASURE
+
+One morning in the month of May, 1879, a young man, elegantly attired,
+alighted from a well-appointed carriage before the door of Madame
+Desvarennes's house. The young man passed quickly before the porter in
+uniform, decorated with a military medal, stationed near the door. The
+visitor found himself in an anteroom which communicated with several
+corridors. A messenger was seated in the depth of a large armchair,
+reading the newspaper, and not even lending an inattentive ear to
+the whispered conversation of a dozen canvassers, who were patiently
+awaiting their turn for gaining a hearing. On seeing the young man enter
+by the private door, the messenger rose, dropped his newspaper on the
+armchair, hastily raised his velvet skullcap, tried to smile, and made
+two steps forward.
+
+"Good-morning, old Felix," said the young man, in a friendly tone to the
+messenger. "Is my aunt within?"
+
+"Yes, Monsieur Savinien, Madame Desvarennes is in her office; but she
+has been engaged for more than an hour with the Financial Secretary of
+the War Department."
+
+In uttering these words old Felix put on a mysterious and important air,
+which denoted how serious the discussions going on in the adjoining room
+seemed to his mind.
+
+"You see," continued he, showing Madame Desvarennes's nephew the
+anteroom full of people, "madame has kept all these waiting since this
+morning, and perhaps she won't see them."
+
+"I must see her though," murmured the young man.
+
+He reflected a moment, then added:
+
+"Is Monsieur Marechal in?"
+
+"Yes, sir, certainly. If you will allow me I will announce you."
+
+"It is unnecessary."
+
+And, stepping forward, he entered the office adjoining that of Madame
+Desvarennes.
+
+Seated at a large table of black wood, covered with bundles of papers
+and notes, a young man was working. He was thirty years of age, but
+appeared much older. His prematurely bald forehead, and wrinkled brow,
+betokened a life of severe struggles and privations, or a life of
+excesses and pleasures. Still those clear and pure eyes were not those
+of a libertine, and the straight nose solidly joined to the face was
+that of a searcher. Whatever the cause, the man was old before his time.
+
+On hearing the door of his office open, he raised his eyes, put down
+his pen, and was making a movement toward his visitor, when the latter
+interrupted him quickly with these words:
+
+"Don't stir, Marechal, or I shall be off! I only came in until Aunt
+Desvarennes is at liberty; but if I disturb you I will go and take a
+turn, smoke a cigar, and come back in three quarters of an hour."
+
+"You do not disturb me, Monsieur Savinien; at least not often enough,
+for be it said, without reproaching you, it is more than three months
+since we have seen anything of you. There, the post is finished. I was
+writing the last addresses."
+
+And taking a heavy bundle of papers off the desk, Marechal showed them
+to Savinien.
+
+"Gracious! It seems that business is going on well here."
+
+"Better and better."
+
+"You are making mountains of flour."
+
+"Yes; high as Mont Blanc; and then, we now have a fleet."
+
+"What! a fleet?" cried Savinien, whose face expressed doubt and surprise
+at the same time.
+
+"Yes, a steam fleet. Last year Madame Desvarennes was not satisfied with
+the state in which her corn came from the East. The corn was damaged
+owing to defective stowage; the firm claimed compensation from the
+steamship company. The claim was only moderately satisfied, Madame
+Desvarennes got vexed, and now we import our own. We have branches at
+Smyrna and Odessa."
+
+"It is fabulous! If it goes on, my aunt will have an administration
+as important as that of a European state. Oh! you are happy here, you
+people; you are busy. I amuse myself! And if you knew how it wearies me!
+I am withering, consuming myself, I am longing for business."
+
+And saying these words, young Monsieur Desvarennes allowed a sorrowful
+moan to escape him.
+
+"It seems to me," said Marechal, "that it only depends upon yourself to
+do as much and more business than any one?"
+
+"You know well enough that it is not so," sighed Savinien; "my aunt is
+opposed to it."
+
+"What a mistake!" cried Marechal, quickly. "I have heard Madame
+Desvarennes say more than twenty times how she regretted your being
+unemployed. Come into the firm, you will have a good berth in the
+counting-house."
+
+"In the counting-house!" cried Savinien, bitterly; "there's the sore
+point. Now look here; my friend, do you think that an organization like
+mine is made to bend to the trivialities of a copying clerk's work? To
+follow the humdrum of every-day routine? To blacken paper? To become a
+servant?--me! with what I have in my brain?"
+
+And, rising abruptly, Savinien began to walk hurriedly up and down the
+room, disdainfully shaking his little head with its low forehead on
+which were plastered a few fair curls (made with curling-irons), with
+the indignant air of an Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders.
+
+"Oh, I know very well what is at the bottom of the business--my aunt is
+jealous of me because I am a man of ideas. She wishes to be the only
+one of the family who possesses any. She thinks of binding me down to a
+besotting work," continued he, "but I won't have it. I know what I
+want! It is independence of thought, bent on the solution of great
+problems--that is, a wide field to apply my discoveries. But a fixed
+rule, common law, I could not submit to it."
+
+"It is like the examinations," observed Marechal, looking slyly at
+young Desvarennes, who was drawing himself up to his full height;
+"examinations never suited you."
+
+"Never," said Savinien, energetically. "They wished to get me into the
+Polytechnic School; impossible! Then the Central School; no better. I
+astonished the examiners by the novelty of my ideas. They refused me."
+
+"Well, you know," retorted Marechal, "if you began by overthrowing their
+theories--"
+
+"That's it!" cried Savinien, triumphantly. "My mind is stronger than I;
+I must let my imagination have free run, and no one will ever know what
+that particular turn of mind has cost me. Even my family do not think
+me serious. Aunt Desvarennes has forbidden any kind of enterprise, under
+pretence that I bear her name, and that I might compromise it because I
+have twice failed. My aunt paid, it is true. Do you think it is generous
+of her to take advantage of my situation, and prohibit my trying to
+succeed? Are inventors judged by three or four failures? If my aunt had
+allowed me I should have astonished the world."
+
+"She feared, above all," said Marechal, simply, "to see you astonishing
+the Tribunal of Commerce."
+
+"Oh! you, too," moaned Savinien, "are in league with my enemies; you
+make no account of me."
+
+And young Desvarennes sank as if crushed into an armchair and began to
+lament. He was very unhappy at being misunderstood. His aunt allowed him
+three thousand francs a month on condition that he would not make use of
+his ten fingers. Was it moral? Then he with such exuberant vigor had to
+waste it on pleasure and seeing life to the utmost. He passed his time
+in theatres, at clubs, restaurants, in boudoirs. He lost his time, his
+money, his hair, his illusions. He bemoaned his lot, but continued,
+only to have something to do. With grim sarcasm he called himself
+the galley-slave of pleasure. And notwithstanding all these consuming
+excesses, he asserted that he could not render his imagination barren.
+Amid the greatest follies at suppers, during the clinking of glasses; in
+the excitement of the dance-inspirations came to him in flashes, he made
+prodigious discoveries.
+
+And as Marechal ventured a timid "Oh!" tinged with incredulity, Savinien
+flew into a passion. Yes; he had invented something astonishing; he saw
+fortune within reach, and he thought the bargain made with his aunt very
+unjust. Therefore he had come to break it, and to regain his liberty.
+
+Marechal looked at the young man while he was explaining with animation
+his ambitious projects. He scrutinized that flat forehead within which
+the dandy asserted so many good ideas were hidden. He measured that slim
+form bent by wild living, and asked himself how that degenerate being
+could struggle against the difficulties of business. A smile played on
+his lips. He knew Savinien too well not to be aware that he was a prey
+to one of those attacks of melancholy which seized on him when his funds
+were low.
+
+On these occasions, which occurred frequently, the young man had
+longings for business, which Madame Desvarennes stopped by asking: "How
+much?" Savinien allowed himself to be with difficulty induced to consent
+to renounce the certain profits promised, as he said, by his projected
+enterprise. At last he would capitulate, and with his pocket well
+lined, nimble and joyful, he returned to his boudoirs, race-courses,
+fashionable restaurants, and became more than ever the galley-slave of
+pleasure.
+
+"And Pierre?" asked young Desvarennes, suddenly and quickly changing the
+subject. "Have you any news of him?"
+
+Marechal became serious. A cloud seemed to have come across his brow; he
+gravely answered Savinien's question.
+
+Pierre was still in the East. He was travelling toward Tunis, the coast
+of which he was exploring. It was a question of the formation of
+an inland sea by taking the water through the desert. It would be a
+colossal undertaking, the results of which would be considerable as
+regarded Algeria. The climate would be completely changed, and the value
+of the colony would be increased tenfold, because it would become the
+most fertile country in the world. Pierre had been occupied in this
+undertaking for more than a year with unequalled ardor; he was far from
+his home, his betrothed, seeing only the goal to be attained; turning a
+deaf ear to all that would distract his attention from the great work,
+to the success of which he hoped to contribute gloriously.
+
+"And don't people say," resumed Savinien with an evil smile, "that
+during his absence a dashing young fellow is busy luring his betrothed
+away from him?"
+
+At these words Marechal made a quick movement.
+
+"It is false," he interrupted; "and I do not understand how you,
+Monsieur Desvarennes, should be the bearer of such a tale. To admit that
+Mademoiselle Micheline could break her word or her engagements is to
+slander her, and if any one other than you--"
+
+"There, there, my dear friend," said Savinien, laughing, "don't get
+into a rage. What I say to you I would not repeat to the first comer;
+besides, I am only the echo of a rumor that has been going the round
+during the last three weeks. They even give the name of him who has been
+chosen for the honor and pleasure of such a brilliant conquest. I mean
+Prince Serge Panine."
+
+"As you have mentioned Prince Panine," replied Marechal, "allow me to
+tell you that he has not put his foot inside Madame Desvarennes's
+door for three weeks. This is not the way of a man about to marry the
+daughter of the house."
+
+"My dear fellow, I only repeat what I have heard. As for me, I don't
+know any more. I have kept out of the way for more than three months.
+And besides, it matters little to me whether Micheline be a commoner or
+a princess, the wife of Delarue or of Panine. I shall be none the richer
+or the poorer, shall I? Therefore I need not care. The dear child will
+certainly have millions enough to marry easily. And her adopted sister,
+the stately Mademoiselle Jeanne, what has become of her?"
+
+"Ah! as to Mademoiselle de Cernay, that is another affair," cried
+Marechal.
+
+And as if wishing to divert the conversation in an opposite direction
+to which Savinien had led it a moment before, he spoke readily of Madame
+Desvarennes's adopted daughter. She had made a lively impression on one
+of the intimate friends of the house--the banker Cayrol, who had offered
+his name and his fortune to the fair Jeanne.
+
+This was a cause of deep amazement to Savinien. What! Cayrol! The shrewd
+close--fisted Auvergnat! A girl without a fortune! Cayrol Silex as he
+was called in the commercial world on account of his hardness. This
+living money-bag had a heart then! It was necessary to believe it since
+both money-bag and heart had been placed at Mademoiselle de Cernay's
+feet. This strange girl was certainly destined to millions. She had just
+missed being Madame Desvarennes's heiress, and now Cayrol had taken it
+into his head to marry her.
+
+But that was not all. And when Marechal told Savinien that the fair
+Jeanne flatly refused to become the wife of Cayrol, there was an
+outburst of joyful exclamations. She refused! By Jove, she was mad! An
+unlooked-for marriage--for she had not a penny, and had most extravagant
+notions. She had been brought up as if she were to live always in velvet
+and silks--to loll in carriages and think only of her pleasure. What
+reason did she give for refusing him! None. Haughtily and disdainfully
+she had declared that she did not love "that man," and that she would
+not marry him.
+
+When Savinien heard these details his rapture increased. One thing
+especially charmed him: Jeanne's saying "that man," when speaking of
+Cayrol. A little girl who was called "De Cernay" just as he might call
+himself "Des Batignolles" if he pleased: the natural and unacknowledged
+daughter of a Count and of a shady public singer! And she refused
+Cayrol, calling him "that man." It was really funny. And what did worthy
+Cayrol say about it?
+
+When Marechal declared that the banker had not been damped by this
+discouraging reception, Savinien said it was human nature. The fair
+Jeanne scorned Cayrol and Cayrol adored her. He had often seen those
+things happen. He knew the baggages so well! Nobody knew more of women
+than he did. He had known some more difficult to manage than proud
+Mademoiselle Jeanne.
+
+An old leaven of hatred had festered in Savinien's heart against Jeanne
+since the time when the younger branch of the Desvarennes had reason
+to fear that the superb heritage was going to the adopted daughter.
+Savinien had lost the fear, but had kept up the animosity. And
+everything that could happen to Jeanne of a vexing or painful nature
+would be witnessed by him with pleasure.
+
+He was about to encourage Marechal to continue his revelations, and had
+risen and was leaning on the desk. With his face excited and eager, he
+was preparing his question, when, through the door which led to Madame
+Desvarennes's office, a confused murmur of voices was heard. At the
+same time the door was half opened, held by a woman's hand, square, with
+short fingers, a firm-willed and energetic hand. At the same time,
+the last words exchanged between Madame Desvarennes and the Financial
+Secretary of the War Office were distinctly audible. Madame Desvarennes
+was speaking, and her voice sounded clear and plain; a little raised and
+vibrating. There seemed a shade of anger in its tone.
+
+"My dear sir, you will tell the Minister that does not suit me. It is
+not the custom of the house. For thirty-five years I have conducted
+business thus, and I have always found it answer. I wish you
+good-morning."
+
+The door of the office facing that which Madame Desvarennes held
+closed, and a light step glided along the corridor. It was the Financial
+Secretary's. The mistress appeared.
+
+Marechal rose hastily. As to Savinien, all his resolution seemed to have
+vanished at the sound of his aunt's voice, for he had rapidly gained a
+corner of the room, and seated himself on a leather-covered sofa, hidden
+behind an armchair, where he remained perfectly quiet.
+
+"Do you understand that, Marechal?" said dame Desvarennes; "they want to
+place a resident agent at the mill on pretext of checking things. They
+say that all military contractors are obliged to submit to it. My word,
+do they take us for thieves, the rascals? It is the first time that
+people have seemed to doubt me. And it has enraged me. I have been
+arguing for a whole hour with the man they sent me. I said to him, 'My
+dear sir, you may either take it or leave it. Let us start from this
+point: I can do without you and you cannot do without me. If you don't
+buy my flour, somebody else will. I am not at all troubled about it.
+But as to having any one here who would be as much master as myself, or
+perhaps more, never! I am too old to change my customs.' Thereupon
+the Financial Secretary left. There! And, besides, they change their
+Ministry every fortnight. One would never know with whom one had to
+deal. Thank you, no."
+
+While talking thus with Marechal, Madame Desvarennes was walking about
+the office. She was still the same woman with the broad prominent
+forehead. Her hair, which she wore in smooth plaits, had become gray,
+but the sparkle of her dark eyes only seemed the brighter from this. She
+had preserved her splendid teeth, and her smile had remained young and
+charming. She spoke with animation, as usual, and with the gestures of
+a man. She placed herself before her secretary, seeming to appeal to
+him as a witness of her being in the right. During the hour with
+the official personage she had been obliged to contain herself. She
+unburdened herself to Marechal, saying just what she thought.
+
+But all at once she perceived Savinien, who was waiting to show himself
+now that she had finished. The mistress turned sharply to the young man,
+and frowned slightly:
+
+"Hallo! you are there, eh? How is it that you could leave your fair
+friends?"
+
+"But, aunt, I came to pay you my respects."
+
+"No nonsense now; I've no time," interrupted the mistress. "What do you
+want?"
+
+Savinien, disconcerted by this rude reception, blinked his eyes, as
+if seeking some form to give his request; then, making up his mind, he
+said:
+
+"I came to see you on business."
+
+"You on business?" replied Madame Desvarennes, with a shade of
+astonishment and irony.
+
+"Yes, aunt, on business," declared Savinien, looking down as if he
+expected a rebuff.
+
+"Oh, oh, oh!" said Madame Desvarennes, "you know our agreement; I give
+you an allowance--"
+
+"I renounce my income," interrupted Savinien, quickly, "I wish to take
+back my independence. The transfer I made has already cost me too dear.
+It's a fool's bargain. The enterprise which I am going to launch is
+superb, and must realize immense profits. I shall certainly not abandon
+it."
+
+While speaking, Savinien had become animated and had regained his
+self-possession. He believed in his scheme, and was ready to pledge his
+future. He argued that his aunt could not blame him for giving proof of
+his energy and daring, and he discoursed in bombastic style.
+
+"That's enough!" cried Madame Desvarennes, interrupting her nephew's
+oration. "I am very fond of mills, but not word-mills. You are talking
+too much about it to be sincere. So many words can only serve
+to disguise the nullity of your projects. You want to embark in
+speculation? With what money?"
+
+"I contribute the scheme and some capitalists will advance the money to
+start with; we shall then issue shares!"
+
+"Never in this life! I oppose it. You! With a responsibility. You!
+Directing an undertaking. You would only commit absurdities. In fact,
+you want to sell an idea, eh? Well, I will buy it."
+
+"It is not only the money I want," said Savinien, with an indignant
+air, "it is confidence in my ideas, it is enthusiasm on the part of my
+shareholders, it is success. You don't believe in my ideas, aunt!"
+
+"What does it matter to you, if I buy them from you? It seems to me a
+pretty good proof of confidence. Is that settled?"
+
+"Ah, aunt, you are implacable!" groaned Savinien. "When you have laid
+your hand upon any one, it is all over. Adieu, independence; one must
+obey you. Nevertheless, it was a vast and beautiful conception."
+
+"Very well. Marechal, see that my nephew has ten thousand francs. And
+you, Savinien, remember that I see no more of you."
+
+"Until the money is spent!" murmured Marechal, in the ear of Madame
+Desvarennes's nephew.
+
+And taking him by the arm he was leading him toward the safe when the
+mistress turned to Savinien and said:
+
+"By the way, what is your invention?"
+
+"Aunt, it is a threshing machine," answered the young man, gravely.
+
+"Rather a machine for coining money," said the incorrigible Marechal, in
+an undertone.
+
+"Well; bring me your plans," resumed Madame Desvarennes, after having
+reflected a moment. "Perchance you may have hit upon something."
+
+The mistress had been generous, and now the woman of business reasserted
+herself and she thought of reaping the benefit.
+
+Savinien seemed very confused at this demand, and as his aunt gave him
+an interrogative look, he confessed:
+
+"There are no drawings made as yet."
+
+"No drawings as yet?" cried the mistress. "Where then is your
+invention?"
+
+"It is here," replied Savinien, and with an inspired gesture he struck
+his narrow forehead.
+
+Madame Desvarennes and Marechal could not resist breaking out into a
+laugh.
+
+"And you were already talking of issuing shares?" said the mistress.
+"Do you think people would have paid their money with your brain as sole
+guarantee? You! Get along; I am the only one to make bargains like that,
+and you are the only one with whom I make them. Go, Marechal, give him
+his money; I won't gainsay it. But you are a trickster, as usual!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. PIERRE RETURNS
+
+By a wave of her hand she dismissed Savinien, who, abashed, went out
+with Marechal. Left alone, she seated herself at her secretary's desk,
+and taking the pile of letters she signed them. The pen flew in her
+fingers, and on the paper was displayed her name, written in large
+letters in a man's handwriting.
+
+She had been occupied thus for about a quarter of an hour when Marechal
+reappeared. Behind him came a stout thickset man of heavy build, and
+gorgeously dressed. His face, surrounded by a bristly dark brown beard,
+and his eyes overhung by bushy eyebrows, gave him, at the first glance,
+a harsh appearance. But his mouth promptly banished this impression. His
+thick and sensual lips betrayed voluptuous tastes. A disciple of Lavater
+or Gall would have found the bump of amativeness largely developed.
+
+Marechal stepped aside to allow him to pass.
+
+"Good-morning, mistress," said he familiarly, approaching Madame
+Desvarennes.
+
+The mistress raised her head quickly, and said:
+
+"Ah! it's you, Cayrol! That's capital! I was just going to send for
+you."
+
+Jean Cayrol, a native of Cantal, had been brought up amid the wild
+mountains of Auvergne. His father was a small farmer in the neighborhood
+of Saint-Flour, scraping a miserable pittance from the ground for the
+maintenance of his family. From the age of eight years Cayrol had been a
+shepherd-boy. Alone in the quiet and remote country, the child had given
+way to ambitious dreams. He was very intelligent, and felt that he was
+born to another sphere than that of farming.
+
+Thus, at the first opportunity which had occurred to take him into a
+town, he was found ready. He went as servant to a banker at Brioude.
+There, in the service of this comparatively luxurious house, he got
+smoothed down a little, and lost some of his clumsy loutishness. Strong
+as an ox, he did the work of two men, and at night, when in his garret,
+fell asleep learning to read. He was seized by the ambition to get on.
+No pains were to be spared to gain his goal.
+
+His master having been elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies,
+Cayrol accompanied him to Paris. Life in the capital finished the
+turmoil of Cayrol's brain. Seeing the prodigious activity of the great
+city on whose pavements fortunes sprang up in a day like mushrooms, the
+Auvergnat felt his moral strength equal to the occasion, and leaving his
+master, he became clerk to a merchant in the Rue du Sentier.
+
+There, for four years, he studied commerce, and gained much experience.
+He soon learned that it was only in financial transactions that large
+fortunes were to be rapidly made. He left the Rue du Sentier, and found
+a place at a stock-broker's. His keen scent for speculation served him
+admirably. After the lapse of a few years he had charge of the business.
+His position was getting better; he was making fifteen thousand francs
+per annum, but that was nothing compared to his dreams. He was then
+twenty-eight years of age. He felt ready to do anything to succeed,
+except something unhandsome, for this lover of money would have died
+rather than enrich himself by dishonest means.
+
+It was at this time that his lucky star threw him in Madame
+Desvarennes's way. The mistress, understanding men, guessed Cayrol's
+worth quickly. She was seeking a banker who would devote himself to her
+interests. She watched the young man narrowly for some time; then, sure
+she was not mistaken as to his capacity, she bluntly proposed to give
+him money to start a business. Cayrol, who had already saved eighty
+thousand francs, received twelve hundred thousand from Madame
+Desvarennes, and settled in the Rue Taitbout, two steps from the house
+of Rothschild.
+
+Madame Desvarennes had made a lucky hit in choosing Cayrol as her
+confidential agent. This short, thickset Auvergnat was a master of
+finance, and in a few years had raised the house to an unexpected
+degree of prosperity. Madame Desvarennes had drawn considerable sums
+as interest on the money lent, and the banker's fortune was already
+estimated at several millions. Was it the happy influence of Madame
+Desvarennes that changed everything she touched into gold, or were
+Cayrol's capacities really extraordinary? The results were there and
+that was sufficient. They did not trouble themselves over and above
+that.
+
+The banker had naturally become one of the intimates of Madame
+Desvarennes's house. For a long time he saw Jeanne without particularly
+noticing her. This young girl had not struck his fancy. It was one night
+at a ball, on seeing her dancing with Prince Panine, that he perceived
+that she was marvellously engaging. His eyes were attracted by an
+invincible power and followed her graceful figure whirling through the
+waltz. He secretly envied the brilliant cavalier who was holding this
+adorable creature in his arms, who was bending over her bare shoulders,
+and whose breath lightly touched her hair. He longed madly for Jeanne,
+and from that moment thought only of her.
+
+The Prince was then very friendly with Mademoiselle de Cernay; he
+overwhelmed her with kind attentions. Cayrol watched him to see if he
+spoke to her of love, but Panine was a past master in these drawing-room
+skirmishes, and the banker got nothing for his pains. That Cayrol
+was tenacious has been proved. He became intimate with the Prince. He
+tendered him such little services as create intimacy, and when he was
+sure of not being repulsed with haughtiness, he questioned Serge. Did he
+love Mademoiselle de Cernay? This question, asked in a trembling voice
+and with a constrained smile, found the Prince quite calm. He answered
+lightly that Mademoiselle de Cernay was a very agreeable partner, but
+that he had never dreamed of offering her his homage. He had other
+projects in his head. Cayrol pressed the Prince's hand violently, made a
+thousand protestations of devotedness, and finally obtained his complete
+confidence.
+
+Serge loved Mademoiselle Desvarennes, and it was to become intimate
+with her that he had so eagerly sought her friend's company. Cayrol, in
+learning the Prince's secret, resumed his usual reserved manner. He knew
+that Micheline was engaged to Pierre Delarue, but still, women were so
+whimsical! Who could tell? Perhaps Mademoiselle Desvarennes had looked
+favorably upon the handsome Serge.
+
+He was really admirable to view, this Panine, with his blue eyes, pure
+as a maiden's, and his long fair mustache falling on each side of his
+rosy mouth. He had a truly royal bearing, and was descended from an
+ancient aristocratic race; he had a charming hand and an arched foot,
+enough to make a woman envious. Soft and insinuating with his tender
+voice and sweet Sclavonic accent, he was no ordinary man, but one
+usually creating a great impression wherever he went.
+
+His story was well known in Paris. He was born in the province of Posen,
+so violently seized on by Prussia, that octopus of Europe. Serge's
+father had been killed during the insurrection of 1848, and he, when a
+year old, was brought by his uncle, Thaddeus Panine, to France, and
+was educated at the College Rollin, where he had not acquired over much
+learning.
+
+In 1866, at the moment when war broke out between Prussia and Austria,
+Serge was eighteen years old. By his uncle's orders he had left
+Paris, and had entered himself for the campaign in an Austrian cavalry
+regiment. All who bore the name of Panine, and had strength to hold a
+sword or carry a gun, had risen to fight the oppressor of Poland. Serge,
+during this short and bloody struggle, showed prodigies of valor. On the
+night of Sadowa, out of seven bearing the name of Panine, who had
+served against Prussia, five were dead, one was wounded; Serge alone
+was untouched, though red with the blood of his uncle Thaddeus, who was
+killed by the bursting of a shell. All these Panines, living or dead,
+had gained honors. When they were spoken of before Austrians or Poles,
+they were called heroes.
+
+Such a man was a dangerous companion for a young, simple, and
+artless girl like Micheline. His adventures were bound to please her
+imagination, and his beauty sure to charm her eyes. Cayrol was a prudent
+man; he watched, and it was not long before he perceived that Micheline
+treated the Prince with marked favor. The quiet young girl became
+animated when Serge was there. Was there love in this transformation?
+Cayrol did not hesitate. He guessed at once that the future would be
+Panine's, and that the maintenance of his own influence in the house
+of Desvarennes depended on the attitude which he was about to take.
+He passed over to the side of the newcomer with arms and baggage, and
+placed himself entirely at his disposal.
+
+It was he who three weeks before, in the name of Panine, had made
+overtures to Madame Desvarennes. The errand had been difficult, and the
+banker had turned his tongue several times in his mouth before speaking.
+Still, Cayrol could overcome all difficulties. He was able to explain
+the object of his mission without Madame flying into a passion. But, the
+explanation over, there was a terrible scene. He witnessed one of the
+most awful bursts of rage that it was possible to expect from a violent
+woman. The mistress treated the friend of the family as one would not
+have dared to treat a petty commercial traveller who came to a private
+house to offer his wares. She showed him the door, and desired him not
+to darken the threshold again.
+
+But if Cayrol was resolute he was equally patient. He listened
+without saying a word to the reproaches of Madame Desvarennes, who
+was exasperated that a candidate should be set up in opposition to the
+son-in-law of her choosing. He did not go, and when Madame Desvarennes
+was a little calmed by the letting out of her indignation, he argued
+with her. The mistress was too hasty about the business; it was no use
+deciding without reflecting. Certainly, nobody esteemed Pierre Delarue
+more than he did; but it was necessary to know whether Micheline loved
+him. A childish affection was not love, and Prince Panine thought he
+might hope that Mademoiselle Desvarennes----
+
+The mistress did not allow Cayrol to finish his sentence; she rang the
+bell and asked for her daughter. This time, Cayrol prudently took the
+opportunity of disappearing. He had opened fire; it was for Micheline
+to decide the result of the battle. The banker awaited the issue of the
+interview between mother and daughter in the next room. Through the door
+he heard the irritated tones of Madame Desvarennes, to which Micheline
+answered softly and slowly. The mother threatened and stormed. Coldly
+and quietly the daughter received the attack. The tussle lasted about an
+hour, when the door reopened and Madame Desvarennes appeared, pale and
+still trembling, but calmed. Micheline, wiping her beautiful eyes, still
+wet with tears, regained her apartment.
+
+"Well," said Cayrol timidly, seeing the mistress standing silent and
+absorbed before him; "I see with pleasure that you are less agitated.
+Did Mademoiselle Micheline give you good reasons?"
+
+"Good reasons!" cried Madame Desvarennes with a violent gesture, last
+flash of the late storm. "She cried, that's all. And you know when she
+cries I no longer know what I do or say! She breaks my heart with her
+tears. And she knows it. Ah! it is a great misfortune to love children
+too much!"
+
+This energetic woman was conquered, and yet understood that she was
+wrong to allow herself to be conquered. She fell into a deep reverie,
+and forgot that Cayrol was present. She thought of the future which she
+had planned for Micheline, and which the latter carelessly destroyed in
+an instant.
+
+Pierre, now an orphan, would have been a real son to the mistress. He
+would have lived in her house, and have surrounded her old age with care
+and affection. And then, he was so full of ability that he could not
+help attaining a brilliant position. She would have helped him, and
+would have rejoiced in his success. And all this scaffolding was
+overturned because this Panine had crossed Micheline's path. A foreign
+adventurer, prince perhaps, but who could tell? Lies are easily told
+when the proofs of the lie have to be sought beyond the frontiers. And
+it was her daughter who was going to fall in love with an insipid fop
+who only coveted her millions. That she should see such a man enter her
+family, steal Micheline's love from her, and rummage her strongbox! In
+a moment she vowed mortal hatred against Panine, and resolved to do all
+she could to prevent the longed-for marriage with her daughter.
+
+She was disturbed in her meditation by Cayrol's voice. He wished to take
+an answer to the Prince. What must he say to him?
+
+"You will let him know," said Madame Desvarennes, "that he must refrain
+from seeking opportunities of meeting my daughter. If he be a gentleman,
+he will understand that his presence, even in Paris, is disagreeable to
+me. I ask him to go away for three weeks. After that time he may come
+back, and I agree to give him an answer."
+
+"You promise me that you will not be vexed with me for having undertaken
+this errand?"
+
+"I promise on one condition. It is, that not a word which has passed
+here this morning shall be repeated to any one. Nobody must suspect the
+proposal that you have just made to me."
+
+Cayrol swore to hold his tongue, and he kept his word. Prince Panine
+left that same night for England.
+
+Madame Desvarennes was a woman of quick resolution. She took a sheet
+of paper, a pen, and in her large handwriting wrote the following lines
+addressed to Pierre:
+
+"If you do not wish to find Micheline married on your return, come back
+without a moment's delay."
+
+She sent this ominous letter to the young man, who was then in Tripoli.
+That done, she returned to her business as if nothing had happened. Her
+placid face did not once betray the anguish of her heart during those
+three weeks.
+
+The term fixed by Madame Desvarennes with the Prince had expired that
+morning. And the severity with which the mistress had received the
+Minister of War's Financial Secretary was a symptom of the agitation in
+which the necessity of coming to a decision placed Micheline's mother.
+Every morning for the last week she had expected Pierre to arrive. What
+with having to give an answer to the Prince as she had promised, and the
+longing to see him whom she loved as a son, she felt sick at heart and
+utterly cast down. She thought of asking the Prince for a respite. It
+was for that reason she was glad to see Cayrol.
+
+The latter, therefore, had arrived opportunely. He looked as if he
+brought startling news. By a glance he drew Madame Desvarennes's
+attention to Marechal and seemed to say:
+
+"I must be alone with you; send him away."
+
+The mistress understood, and with a decided gesture said:
+
+"You can speak before Marechal; he knows all my affairs as well as I do
+myself."
+
+"Even the matter that brings me here?" replied Cayrol, with surprise.
+
+"Even that. It was necessary for me to have some one to whom I could
+speak, or else my heart would have burst! Come, do your errand. The
+Prince?"
+
+"A lot it has to do with the Prince," exclaimed Cayrol, in a huff.
+"Pierre has arrived!"
+
+Madame Desvarennes rose abruptly. A rush of blood rose to her face, her
+eyes brightened, and her lips opened with a smile.
+
+"At last!" she cried. "But where is he? How did you hear of his return?"
+
+"Ah! faith, it was just by chance. I was shooting yesterday at
+Fontainebleau, and I returned this morning by the express. On arriving
+at Paris, I alighted on the platform, and there I found myself face
+to face with a tall young man with a long beard, who, seeing me pass,
+called out, 'Ah, Cayrol!' It was Pierre. I only recognized him by his
+voice. He is much changed; with his beard, and his complexion bronzed
+like an African."
+
+"What did he say to you?"
+
+"Nothing. He pressed my hand. He looked at me for a moment with
+glistening eyes. There was something on his lips which he longed to ask,
+yet did not; but I guessed it. I was afraid of giving way to tenderness,
+that might have ended in my saying something foolish, so I left him."
+
+"How long ago is that?"
+
+"About an hour ago. I only just ran home before coming on here. There
+I found Panine waiting for me. He insisted upon accompanying me. I hope
+you won't blame him?"
+
+Madame Desvarennes frowned.
+
+"I will not see him just now," she said, looking at Cayrol with a
+resolute air. "Where did you leave him?"
+
+"In the garden, where I found the young ladies."
+
+As if to verify the banker's words, a merry peal of laughter was heard
+through the half-open window. It was Micheline, who, with returning
+gayety, was making up for the three weeks' sadness she had experienced
+during Panine's absence.
+
+Madame Desvarennes went to the window, and looked into the garden.
+Seated on the lawn, in large bamboo chairs, the young girls were
+listening to a story the Prince was telling. The morning was bright and
+mild; the sun shining through Micheline's silk sunshade lit up her fair
+head. Before her, Serge, bending his tall figure, was speaking with
+animation. Micheline's eyes were softly fixed on him. Reclining in her
+armchair, she allowed herself to be carried away with his conversation,
+and thoroughly enjoyed his society, of which she had been deprived for
+the last three weeks. Beside her, Jeanne, silently watching the Prince,
+was mechanically nibbling, with her white teeth, a bunch of carnations
+which she held in her hands. A painful thought contracted Mademoiselle
+de Cernay's brow, and her pale lips on the red flowers seemed to be
+drinking blood.
+
+The mistress slowly turned away from this scene. A shadow had
+crossed her brow, which had, for a moment, become serene again at the
+announcement of Pierre's arrival. She remained silent for a little
+while, as if considering; then coming to a resolution, and turning to
+Cayrol, she said:
+
+"Where is Pierre staying?"
+
+"At the Hotel du Louvre," replied the banker.
+
+"Well, I'm going there."
+
+Madame Desvarennes rang the bell violently.
+
+"My bonnet, my cloak, and the carriage," she said, and with a friendly
+nod to the two men, she went out quickly.
+
+Micheline was still laughing in the garden. Marechal and Cayrol looked
+at each other. Cayrol was the first to speak.
+
+"The mistress told you all about the matter then? How is it you never
+spoke to me about it?"
+
+"Should I have been worthy of Madame Desvarennes's confidence had I
+spoken of what she wished to keep secret?"
+
+"To me?"
+
+"Especially to you. The attitude which you have taken forbade my
+speaking. You favor Prince Panine?"
+
+"And you; you are on Pierre Delarue's side?"
+
+"I take no side. I am only a subordinate, you know; I do not count."
+
+"Do not attempt to deceive me. Your influence over the mistress is
+great. The confidence she has in you is a conclusive proof. Important
+events are about to take place here. Pierre has certainly returned to
+claim his right as betrothed, and Mademoiselle Micheline loves Prince
+Serge. Out of this a serious conflict will take place in the house.
+There will be a battle. And as the parties in question are about equal
+in strength, I am seeking adherents for my candidate. I own, in all
+humility, I am on love's side. The Prince is beloved by Mademoiselle
+Desvarennes, and I serve him. Micheline will be grateful, and will do me
+a turn with Mademoiselle de Cernay. As to you, let me give you a little
+advice. If Madame Desvarennes consults you, speak well of Panine. When
+the Prince is master here, your position will be all the better for it."
+
+Marechal had listened to Cayrol without anything betraying the
+impression his words created. He looked at the banker in a peculiar
+manner, which caused him to feel uncomfortable, and made him lower his
+eyes.
+
+"Perhaps you do not know, Monsieur Cayrol," said the secretary, after a
+moment's pause, "how I entered this firm. It is as well in that case
+to inform you. Four years ago, I was most wretched. After having sought
+fortune ten times without success, I felt myself giving way morally and
+physically. There are some beings gifted with energy, who can surmount
+all the difficulties of life. You are one of those. As for me, the
+struggle exhausted my strength, and I came to grief. It would take too
+long to enumerate all the ways of earning my living I tried. Few even
+fed me; and I was thinking of putting an end to my miserable existence
+when I met Pierre. We had been at college together. I went toward him;
+he was on the quay. I dared to stop him. At first he did not recognize
+me, I was so haggard, so wretched-looking! But when I spoke, he cried,
+'Marechal!' and, without blushing at my tatters, put his arms round my
+neck. We were opposite the Belle Jardiniere, the clothiers; he wanted to
+rig me out. I remember as if it were but yesterday I said, 'No, nothing,
+only find me work!'--'Work, my poor fellow,' he answered, 'but just look
+at yourself; who would have confidence to give you any? You look like
+a tramp, and when you accosted me a little while ago, I asked myself if
+you were not about to steal my watch!' And he laughed gayly, happy
+at having found me again, and thinking that he might be of use to me.
+Seeing that I would not go into the shop, he took off his overcoat, and
+put it on my back to cover my tattered clothes, and there and then he
+took me to Madame Desvarennes. Two days later I entered the office. You
+see the position I hold, and I owe it to Pierre. He has been more than a
+friend to me--a brother. Come! after that, tell me what you would think
+of me if I did what you have just asked me?"
+
+Cayrol was confused; he twisted his bristly beard with his fingers.
+
+"Faith, I do not say that your scruples are not right; but, between
+ourselves, every step that is taken against the Prince will count for
+naught. He will marry Mademoiselle Desvarennes."
+
+"It is possible. In that case, I shall be here to console Pierre and
+sympathize with him."
+
+"And in the mean time you are going to do all you can in his favor?"
+
+"I have already had the honor of telling you that I cannot do anything."
+
+"Well, well. One knows what talking means, and you will not change my
+idea of your importance. You take the weaker side then; that's superb!"
+
+"It is but strictly honest," said Marechal. "It is true that that
+quality has become very rare!"
+
+Cayrol wheeled round on his heels. He took a few steps toward the door,
+then, returning to Marechal, held out his hand:
+
+"Without a grudge, eh?"
+
+The secretary allowed his hand to be shaken without answering, and the
+banker went out, saying to himself:
+
+"He is without a sou and has prejudices! There's a lad without a
+future."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE RIVALS
+
+On reaching Paris, Pierre Delarue experienced a strange feeling. In his
+feverish haste he longed for the swiftness of electricity to bring him
+near Micheline. As soon as he arrived in Paris, he regretted having
+travelled so fast. He longed to meet his betrothed, yet feared to know
+his fate.
+
+He had a sort of presentiment that his reception would destroy his
+hopes. And the more he tried to banish these thoughts, the more forcibly
+they returned. The thought that Micheline had forgotten her promise made
+the blood rush to his face.
+
+Madame Desvarennes's short letter suggested it. That his betrothed
+was lost to him he understood, but he would not admit it. How was it
+possible that Micheline should forget him? All his childhood passed
+before his mind. He remembered the sweet and artless evidences of
+affection which the young girl had given him. And yet she no longer
+loved him! It was her own mother who said so. After that could he still
+hope?
+
+A prey to this deep trouble, Pierre entered Paris. On finding himself
+face to face with Cayrol, the young man's first idea was, as Cayrol had
+guessed, to cry out, "What's going on? Is all lost to me?" A sort of
+anxious modesty kept back the words on his lips. He would not admit that
+he doubted. And, then, Cayrol would only have needed to answer that
+all was over, and that he could put on mourning for his love. He turned
+around, and went out.
+
+The tumult of Paris surprised and stunned him. After spending a year
+in the peaceful solitudes of Africa, to find himself amid the cries of
+street-sellers, the rolling of carriages, and the incessant movement of
+the great city, was too great a contrast to him. Pierre was overcome
+by languor; his head seemed too heavy for his body to carry; he
+mechanically entered a cab which conveyed him to the Hotel du Louvre.
+Through the window, against the glass of which he tried to cool his
+heated forehead, he saw pass in procession before his eyes, the Column
+of July, the church of St. Paul, the Hotel de Ville in ruins, and the
+colonnade of the Louvre.
+
+An absurd idea took possession of him. He remembered that during the
+Commune he was nearly killed in the Rue Saint-Antoine by the explosion
+of a shell, thrown by the insurgents from the heights of Pere-Lachaise.
+He thought that had he died then, Micheline would have wept for him.
+Then, as in a nightmare, it seemed to him that this hypothesis was
+realized. He saw the church hung with black, he heard the funeral
+chants. A catafalque contained his coffin, and slowly his betrothed
+came, with a trembling hand, to throw holy water on the cloth which
+covered the bier. And a voice said within him:
+
+"You are dead, since Micheline is about to marry another."
+
+He made an effort to banish this importunate idea. He could not succeed.
+Thoughts flew through his brain with fearful rapidity. He thought he was
+beginning to be seized with brain fever. And this dismal ceremony kept
+coming before him with the same chants, the same words repeated, and the
+same faces appearing. The houses seemed to fly before his vacant eyes.
+To stop this nightmare he tried to count the gas-lamps: one, two, three,
+four, five--but the same thought interrupted his calculation:
+
+"You are dead, since your betrothed is about to marry another."
+
+He was afraid he was going mad. A sharp pain shot across his forehead
+just above the right eyebrow. In the old days he had felt the same pain
+when he had overworked himself in preparing for his examinations at the
+Polytechnic School. With a bitter smile he asked himself if one of the
+aching vessels in his brain was about to burst?
+
+The sudden stoppage of the cab freed him from this torture. The hotel
+porter opened the door. Pierre stepped out mechanically. Without
+speaking a word he followed a waiter, who showed him to a room on the
+second floor. Left alone, he sat down. This room, with its commonplace
+furniture, chilled him. He saw in it a type of his future life: lonely
+and desolate. Formerly, when he used to come to Paris, he stayed with
+Madame Desvarennes, where he had the comforts of home, and every one
+looked on him affectionately.
+
+Here, at the hotel, orders were obeyed with politeness at so much a day.
+Would it always be thus in future?
+
+This painful impression dissipated his weakness as by enchantment. He so
+bitterly regretted the sweets of the past, that he resolved to struggle
+to secure them for the future. He dressed himself quickly, and removed
+all the traces of his journey; then, his mind made up, he jumped into a
+cab, and drove to Madame Desvarennes's. All indecision had left him. His
+fears now seemed contemptible. He must defend himself. It was a question
+of his happiness.
+
+At the Place de la Concorde a carriage passed his cab. He recognized the
+livery of Madame Desvarennes's coachman and leant forward. The mistress
+did not see him. He was about to stop the cab and tell his driver to
+follow her carriage when a sudden thought decided him to go on. It was
+Micheline he wanted to see. His future destiny depended on her. Madame
+Desvarennes had made him clearly understand that by calling for his help
+in her fatal letter. He went on his way, and in a few minutes arrived at
+the mansion in the Rue Saint-Dominique.
+
+Micheline and Jeanne were still in the garden, seated in the same place
+on the lawn. Cayrol had joined Serge. Both, profiting by the lovely
+morning, were enjoying the society of their beloved ones. A quick step
+on the gravel walk attracted their attention. In the sunlight a young
+man, whom neither Jeanne nor Micheline recognized, was advancing. When
+about two yards distant from the group he slowly raised his hat.
+
+Seeing the constrained and astonished manner of the young girls, a sad
+smile played on his lips, then he said, softly:
+
+"Am I then so changed that I must tell you my name?"
+
+At these words Micheline jumped up, she became as white as her collar,
+and trembling, with sobs rising to her lips, stood silent and petrified
+before Pierre. She could not speak, but her eyes were eagerly fixed on
+the young man. It was he, the companion of her youth, so changed that
+she had not recognized him; worn by hard work, perhaps by anxieties,
+bronzed--and with his face hidden by a black beard which gave him a
+manly and energetic appearance. It was certainly he, with a thin red
+ribbon at his button-hole, which he had not when he went away, and which
+showed the importance of the works he had executed and of great perils
+he had faced. Pierre, trembling and motionless, was silent; the sound of
+his voice choked with emotion had frightened him. He had expected a cold
+reception, but this scared look, which resembled terror, was beyond all
+he had pictured. Serge wondered and watched.
+
+Jeanne broke the icy silence. She went up to Pierre, and presented her
+forehead.
+
+"Well," she said, "don't you kiss your friends?"
+
+She smiled affectionately on him. Two grateful tears sparkled in the
+young man's eyes, and fell on Mademoiselle de Cernay's hair. Micheline,
+led away by the example and without quite knowing what she was doing,
+found herself in Pierre's arms. The situation was becoming singularly
+perplexing to Serge. Cayrol, who had not lost his presence of mind,
+understood it, and turning toward the Prince, said:
+
+"Monsieur Pierre Delarue: an old friend and companion of Mademoiselle
+Desvarennes's; almost a brother to her," thus explaining in one word all
+that could appear unusual in such a scene of tenderness.
+
+Then, addressing Pierre, he simply added--"Prince Panine."
+
+The two men looked at each other. Serge, with haughty curiosity; Pierre,
+with inexpressible rage. In a moment, he guessed that the tall, handsome
+man beside his betrothed was his rival. If looks could kill, the Prince
+would have fallen down dead. Panine did not deign to notice the hatred
+which glistened in the eyes of the newcomer. He turned toward Micheline
+with exquisite grace and said:
+
+"Your mother receives her friends this evening, I think, Mademoiselle; I
+shall have the honor of paying my respects to her."
+
+And taking leave of Jeanne with a smile, and of Pierre with a courteous
+bow, he left, accompanied by Cayrol.
+
+Serge's departure was a relief to Micheline. Between these two men to
+whom she belonged, to the one by a promise, to the other by an
+avowal, she felt ashamed. Left alone with Pierre she recovered her
+self-possession, and felt full of pity for the poor fellow threatened
+with such cruel deception. She went tenderly to him, with her loving
+eyes of old, and pressed his hand:
+
+"I am very glad to see you again, my dear Pierre; and my mother will be
+delighted. We were very anxious about you. You have not written to us
+for some months."
+
+Pierre tried to joke: "The post does not leave very often in the desert.
+I wrote whenever I had an opportunity."
+
+"Is it so very pleasant in Africa that you could not tear yourself away
+a whole year?"
+
+"I had to take another journey on the coast of Tripoli to finish my
+labors. I was interested in my work, and anxious not to lose the result
+of so much effort, and I think I have succeeded--at least in--the
+opinion of my employers," said the young man, with a ghastly smile.
+
+"My dear Pierre, you come in time from the land of the sphinx,"
+interrupted Jeanne gravely, and glancing intently at Micheline. "There
+is here, I assure you, a difficult enigma to solve."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"That which is written in this heart," she replied, lightly touching her
+companion's breast.
+
+"From childhood I have always read it as easily as a book," said Pierre,
+with tremulous voice, turning toward the amazed Micheline.
+
+Mademoiselle de Cernay tossed her head.
+
+"Who knows? Perhaps her disposition has changed during your absence;"
+and nodding pleasantly, she went toward the house.
+
+Pierre followed her for a moment with his eyes, then, turning toward his
+betrothed, said:
+
+"Micheline, shall I tell you your secret? You no longer love me."
+
+The young girl started. The attack was direct. She must at once give
+an explanation. She had often thought of what she would say when Pierre
+came back to her. The day had arrived unexpectedly. And the answers she
+had prepared had fled. The truth appeared harsh and cold. She understood
+that the change in her was treachery, of which Pierre was the innocent
+victim; and feeling herself to blame, she waited tremblingly the
+explosion of this loyal heart so cruelly wounded. She stammered, in
+tremulous accents:
+
+"Pierre, my friend, my brother."
+
+"Your brother!" cried the young man, bitterly. "Was that the name you
+were to give me on my return?"
+
+At these words, which so completely summed up the situation, Micheline
+remained silent. Still she felt that at all hazards she must defend
+herself. Her mother might come in at any moment. Between Madame
+Desvarennes and her betrothed, what would become of her? The hour was
+decisive. Her strong love for Serge gave her fresh energy.
+
+"Why did you go away?" she asked, with sadness.
+
+Pierre raised with pride his head which had been bent with anguish.
+
+"To be worthy of you," he merely said.
+
+"You did not need to be worthy of me; you, who were already above every
+one else. We were betrothed; you only had to guard me."
+
+"Could not your heart guard itself?"
+
+"Without help, without the support of your presence and affection?"
+
+"Without other help or support than I had myself: Hope and Remembrance."
+
+Micheline turned pale. Each word spoken by Pierre made her feel the
+unworthiness of her conduct more completely. She endeavored to find a
+new excuse:
+
+"Pierre, you know I was only a child."
+
+"No," said the young man, with choked voice, "I see that you were
+already a woman; a being weak, inconstant, and cruel; who cares not for
+the love she inspires, and sacrifices all to the love she feels."
+
+So long as Pierre had only complained, Micheline felt overwhelmed and
+without strength; but the young man began to accuse. In a moment the
+young girl regained her presence of mind and revolted.
+
+"Those are hard words!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Are they not deserved?" cried Pierre, no longer restraining himself.
+"You saw me arrive trembling, with eyes full of tears, and not only had
+you not an affectionate word to greet me with, but you almost accuse me
+of indifference. You reproach me with having gone away. Did you not know
+my motive for going? I was betrothed to you; you were rich and I was
+poor. To remove this inequality I resolved to make a name. I sought one
+of those perilous scientific missions which bring celebrity or death
+to those who undertake them. Ah! think not that I went away from you
+without heart-breaking! For a year I was almost alone, crushed with
+fatigue, always in danger; the thought that I was suffering for you
+supported me.
+
+"When lost in the vast desert, I was sad and discouraged; I invoked you,
+and your sweet face gave me fresh hope and energy. I said to myself,
+'She is waiting for me. A day will come when I shall win the prize of
+all my trouble.' Well, Micheline, the day has come; here I am, returned,
+and I ask for my reward. Is it what I had a right to expect? While I was
+running after glory, another, more practical and better advised, stole
+your heart. My happiness is destroyed. You did well to forget me.
+The fool who goes so far away from his betrothed does not deserve her
+faithfulness. He is cold, indifferent, he does not know how to love!"
+
+These vehement utterances troubled Micheline deeply. For the first time
+she understood her betrothed, felt how much he loved her, and regretted
+not having known it before. If Pierre had spoken like that before going
+away, who knows? Micheline's feelings might have been quickened. No
+doubt she would have loved him. It would have come naturally. But Pierre
+had kept the secret of his passion for the young girl to himself. It was
+only despair, and the thought of losing her, that made him give vent to
+his feelings now.
+
+"I see that I have been cruel and unjust to you," said Micheline. "I
+deserve your reproaches, but I am not the only one to blame. You, too,
+are at fault. What I have just heard has upset me. I am truly sorry
+to cause you so much pain; but it is too late. I no longer belong to
+myself."
+
+"And did you belong to yourself?"
+
+"No! It is true, you had my word, but be generous. Do not abuse the
+authority which being my betrothed gives you. That promise I would now
+ask back from you."
+
+"And if I refuse to release you from your promise? If I tried to, regain
+your love?" cried Pierre, forcibly. "Have I not the right to defend
+myself? And what would you think of my love if I relinquished you so
+readily?"
+
+There was a moment's silence. The interview was at its highest pitch of
+excitement. Micheline knew that she must put an end to it. She replied
+with firmness:
+
+"A girl such as I am will not break her word; mine belongs to you, but
+my heart is another's. Say you insist, and I am ready to keep my promise
+to become your wife. It is for you to decide."
+
+Pierre gave the young girl a look which plunged into the depths of her
+heart. He read there her resolve that she would act loyally, but that at
+the same time she would never forget him who had so irresistibly gained
+her heart. He made a last effort.
+
+"Listen," he said, with ardent voice, "it is impossible that you can
+have forgotten me so soon: I love you so much! Remember our affection in
+the old days, Micheline. Remember!"
+
+He no longer argued; he pleaded. Micheline felt victorious. She was
+moved with pity.
+
+"Alas! my poor Pierre, my affection was only friendship, and my
+heart has not changed toward you. The love which I now feel is quite
+different. If it had not come to me, I might have been your wife. And
+I esteemed you so much, that I should have been happy. But now I
+understand the difference. You, whom I had accepted, would never have
+been more to me than a tender companion; he whom I have chosen will be
+my master."
+
+Pierre uttered a cry at this cruel and frank avowal.
+
+"Ah! how you hurt me!"
+
+And bitter tears rolled down his face to the relief of his overburdened
+heart. He sank on to a seat, and for a moment gave way to violent
+grief. Micheline, more touched by his despair than she had been by his
+reproaches, went to him and wiped his face with her lace handkerchief.
+Her white hand was close to the young man's mouth,--and he kissed it
+eagerly. Then, as if roused by the action, he rose with a changed look
+in his eyes, and seized the young girl in his arms. Micheline did not
+utter a word. She looked coldly and resolutely at Pierre, and threw back
+her head to avoid the contact of his eager lips. That look was enough.
+The arms which held her were unloosed, and Pierre moved away, murmuring:
+
+"I beg your pardon. You see I am not in my right mind."
+
+Then passing his hand across his forehead as if to chase away a wicked
+thought, he added:
+
+"So it is irrevocable? You love him?"
+
+"Enough to give you so much pain; enough to be nobody's unless I belong
+to him."
+
+Pierre reflected a moment, then, coming to a decision:
+
+"Go, you are free," said he; "I give you back your promise."
+
+Micheline uttered a cry of triumph, which made him who had been her
+betrothed turn pale. She regretted not having hidden her joy better. She
+approached Pierre and said:
+
+"Tell me that you forgive me!"
+
+"I forgive you."
+
+"You still weep?"
+
+"Yes; I am weeping over my lost happiness. I thought the best means
+of being loved were to deserve it. I was mistaken. I will courageously
+atone for my error. Excuse my weakness, and believe that you will never
+have a more faithful and devoted friend than I."
+
+Micheline gave him her hand, and, smiling, bowed her forehead to his
+lips. He slowly impressed a brotherly kiss, which effaced the burning
+trace of the one which he had stolen a moment before.
+
+At the same time a deep voice was heard in the distance, calling Pierre.
+Micheline trembled.
+
+"'Tis my mother," she said. "She is seeking you. I will leave you.
+Adieu, and a thousand thanks from my very heart."
+
+And nimbly springing behind a clump of lilac-trees in flower, Micheline
+disappeared.
+
+Pierre mechanically went toward the house. He ascended the marble steps
+and entered the drawing-room. As he shut the door, Madame Desvarennes
+appeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. A CRITICAL INTERVIEW
+
+Madame Desvarennes had been driven to the Hotel du Louvre without losing
+a minute. She most wanted to know in what state of mind her daughter's
+betrothed had arrived in Paris. Had the letter, which brutally told
+him the truth, roused him and tightened the springs of his will? Was he
+ready for the struggle?
+
+If she found him confident and bold, she had only to settle with him as
+to the common plan of action which must bring about the eviction of
+the audacious candidate who wished to marry Micheline. If she found him
+discouraged and doubtful of himself, she had decided to animate him with
+her ardor against Serge Panine.
+
+She prepared these arguments on the way, and, boiling with impatience,
+outstripped in thought the fleet horse which was drawing her past the
+long railings of the Tuileries toward the Hotel du Louvre. Wrapped in
+her meditations she did not see Pierre. She was saying to herself:
+
+"This fair-haired Polish dandy does not know with whom he has to deal.
+He will see what sort of a woman I am. He has not risen early enough in
+the morning to hoodwink me. If Pierre is only of the same opinion as I,
+we shall soon spoil this fortune-hunter's work."
+
+The carriage stopped.
+
+"Monsieur Pierre Delarue?" inquired the mistress.
+
+"Madame, he went out a quarter of an hour ago."
+
+"To go where?"
+
+"He did not say."
+
+"Do you know whether he will be absent long?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Much obliged."
+
+Madame Desvarennes, quite discomfited by this mischance, reflected.
+Where could Pierre have gone? Probably to her house. Without losing a
+minute, she reentered the carriage, and gave orders to return to the Rue
+Saint-Dominique. If he had gone at once to her house, it was plain that
+he was ready to do anything to keep Micheline. The coachman who had
+received the order drove furiously. She said to herself:
+
+"Pierre is in a cab. Allowing that he is driving moderately quick he
+will only have half-an-hour's start of me. He will pass through the
+office, will see Marechal, and however eager he be, will lose a quarter
+of an hour in chatting to him. It would be most vexing if he did
+anything foolish in the remaining fifteen minutes! The fault is mine: I
+ought to have sent him a letter at Marseilles, to tell him what line of
+conduct to adopt on his arrival. So long as he does not meet Micheline
+on entering the house!"
+
+At that idea Madame Desvarennes felt the blood rushing to her face. She
+put her head out of the carriage window, and called to the coachman:
+
+"Drive faster!"
+
+He drove more furiously still, and in a few minutes reached the Rue
+Saint-Dominique.
+
+She tore into the house like a hurricane, questioned the hall-porter,
+and learned that Delarue had arrived. She hastened to Marechal, and
+asked him in such a strange manner, "Have you seen Pierre?" that he
+thought some accident had happened.
+
+On seeing her secretary's scared look, she understood that what she
+most dreaded had come to pass. She hurried to the drawing-room, calling
+Pierre in a loud voice. The French window opened, and she found herself
+face to face with the young man. A glance at her adopted son's face
+increased her fears. She opened her arms and clasped Pierre to her
+heart.
+
+After the first emotions were over, she longed to know what had happened
+during her absence, and inquired of Pierre:
+
+"By whom were you received on arriving here?"
+
+"By Micheline."
+
+"That is what I feared! What did she tell you?"
+
+"Everything!"
+
+In three sentences these two strong beings had summed up all that had
+taken place. Madame Desvarennes remained silent for a moment, then, with
+sudden tenderness, and as if to make up for her daughter's treachery,
+said:
+
+"Come, let me kiss you again, my poor boy. You suffer, eh? and I too!
+I am quite overcome. For ten years I have cherished the idea of your
+marrying Micheline. You are a man of merit, and you have no relatives.
+You would not take my daughter away from me; on the contrary I think you
+like me, and would willingly live with me. In arranging this marriage
+I realized the dream of my life. I was not taking a son-in-law-I was
+gaining a new child."
+
+"Believe me," said Pierre, sadly, "it is not my fault that your wish is
+not carried out."
+
+"That, my boy, is another question!" cried Madame Desvarennes, whose
+voice was at once raised two tones. "And that is where we do not agree.
+You are responsible for what has occurred. I know what you are going,
+to tell me. You wished to bring laurels to Micheline as a dower. That
+is all nonsense! When one leaves the Polytechnic School with honors, and
+with a future open to you like yours, it is not necessary to scour
+the deserts to dazzle a young girl. One begins by marrying her, and
+celebrity comes afterward, at the same time as the children. And then
+there was no need to risk all at such a cost. What, are we then so
+grand? Ex-bakers! Millionaires, certainly, which does not alter the
+fact that poor Desvarennes carried out the bread, and that I gave change
+across the counter when folks came to buy sou-cakes! But you wanted
+to be a knight-errant, and, during that time, a handsome fellow. Did
+Micheline tell you the gentleman's name?"
+
+"I met him when I came here; he was with her in the garden. We were
+introduced to each other."
+
+"That was good taste," said Madame Desvarennes with irony. "Oh, he is a
+youth who is not easily disturbed, and in his most passionate transports
+will not disarrange a fold of his cravat. You know he is a Prince? That
+is most flattering to the Desvarennes! We shall use his coat-of-arms as
+our trade-mark. The fortune hunter, ugh! No doubt he said to himself,
+'The baker has money--and her daughter is agreeable.' And he is making a
+business of it."
+
+"He is only following the example of many of his equals. Marriage is
+to-day the sole pursuit of the nobility."
+
+"The nobility! That of our country might be tolerated, but foreign
+noblemen are mere adventurers."
+
+"It is well known that the Panines come from Posen--the papers have
+mentioned them more than twenty times."
+
+"Why is he not in his own country?"
+
+"He is exiled."
+
+"He has done something wrong, then!"
+
+"He has, like all his family, fought for independence."
+
+"Then he is a revolutionist!"
+
+"A patriot."
+
+"You are very kind to tell me all that."
+
+"I may hate Prince Panine," said Pierre, simply, "but that is no reason
+why I should not be just to him."
+
+"So be it; he is an exceptional being, a great citizen, a hero, if you
+like. But that does not prove that he will make my daughter happy. And
+if you take my advice, we shall send him about his business in a very
+short time."
+
+Madame Desvarennes was excited and paced hurriedly up and down the room.
+The idea of resuming the offensive after she had been forced to act on
+the defensive for months past pleased her. She thought Pierre argued too
+much. A woman of action, she did not understand why Pierre had not yet
+come to a resolution. She felt that she must gain his confidence.
+
+"You are master of the situation," she said. "The Prince does not suit
+me--"
+
+"Micheline loves him," interrupted Pierre.
+
+"She fancies so," replied Madame Desvarennes. "She has got it into her
+head, but it will wear off. You thoroughly understand that I did not bid
+you to come from Africa to be present at my daughter's wedding. If you
+are a man, we shall see some fun. Micheline is your betrothed. You have
+our word, and the word of a Desvarennes is as good as the signature.--It
+has never been dishonored. Well, refuse to give us back our promise.
+Gain time, make love, and take my daughter away from that dandy."
+
+Pierre remained silent for a few minutes. In a moment he measured the
+extent of the mischief done, by seeing Micheline before consulting
+Madame Desvarennes. With the help of this energetic woman he might have
+struggled, whereas left to his own strength, he had at the outset been
+vanquished and forced to lay down his arms. Not only had he yielded, but
+he had drawn his ally into his defeat.
+
+"Your encouragements come too late," said he. "Micheline asked me to
+give her back her promise, and I gave it to her."
+
+"You were so weak as that!" cried Madame Desvarennes. "And she had so
+much boldness? Does she dote on him so? I suspected her plans, and I
+hastened to warn you. But all is not lost. You have given Micheline
+back her promise. So be it. But I have not given you back yours. You are
+pledged to me. I will not countenance the marriage which my daughter has
+arranged without my consent! Help me to break it off. And, faith, you
+could easily find another woman worth Micheline, but where shall I find
+a son-in-law worth you? Come, the happiness of us all is in peril; save
+it!"
+
+"Why continue the struggle? I am beaten beforehand."
+
+"But if you forsake me, what can I do single-handed with Micheline?"
+
+"Do what she wishes, as usual. You are surprised at my giving you this
+advice? It is no merit on my part. Until now you have refused your
+daughter's request; but if she comes again beseeching and crying, you
+who are so strong and can say so well 'I will,' will be weak and will
+not be able to refuse her her Prince. Believe me; consent willingly. Who
+knows? Your son'-in-law may be grateful to you for it by-and-by."
+
+Madame Desvarennes had listened to Pierre with amazement.
+
+"Really, you are incredible," she said; "you discuss all this so calmly.
+Have you no grief?"
+
+"Yes," replied Pierre, solemnly, "it is almost killing me."
+
+"Nonsense! You are boasting!" cried Madame Desvarennes, vehemently. "Ah,
+scholar! figures have dried up your heart!"
+
+"No," replied the young man, with melancholy, "but work has destroyed in
+me the seductions of youth. It has made me thoughtful, and a little sad.
+I frightened Micheline, instead of attracting her. The worst is that we
+live in such a state of high pressure, it is quite impossible to
+grasp all that is offered to us in this life-work and pleasure. It is
+necessary to make a choice, to economize one's time and strength, and
+to work with either the heart or the brain alone. The result is that the
+neglected organ wastes away, and that men of pleasure remain all their
+lives mediocre workers, while hard workers are pitiful lovers. The
+former sacrifice the dignity of existence, the latter that which is
+the charm of existence. So that, in decisive moments, when the man of
+pleasure appeals to his intelligence, he finds he is unfit for duty,
+and when the man of toil appeals to his heart, he finds that he is
+unqualified for happiness."
+
+"Well, my boy, so much the worse for the women who cannot appreciate men
+of work, and who allow themselves to be wheedled by men of pleasure. I
+never was one of those; and serious as you are, thirty years ago I would
+have jumped at you. But as you know your ailment so well, why don't you
+cure yourself? The remedy is at hand."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Strong will. Marry Micheline. I'll answer for everything."
+
+"She does not love me."
+
+"A woman always ends by loving her husband."
+
+"I love Micheline too much to accept her hand without her heart."
+
+Madame Desvarennes saw that she would gain nothing, and that the game
+was irrevocably lost. A great sorrow stole over her. She foresaw a dark
+future, and had a presentiment that trouble had entered the house with
+Serge Panine. What could she do? Combat the infatuation of her daughter!
+She knew that life would be odious for her if Micheline ceased to laugh
+and to sing. Her daughter's tears would conquer her will. Pierre had
+told her truly. Where was the use of fighting when defeat was certain?
+She, too, felt that she was powerless, and with heartfelt sorrow came to
+a decision.
+
+"Come, I see that I must make up my mind to be grandmother to little
+princes. It pleases me but little on the father's account. My daughter
+will have a sad lot with a fellow of that kind. Well, he had better keep
+in the right path; for I shall be there to call him to order. Micheline
+must be happy. When my husband was alive, I was already more of a mother
+than a wife; now my whole life is wrapped up in my daughter."
+
+Then raising her vigorous arms with grim energy, she added:
+
+"Do you know, if my daughter were made miserable through her husband, I
+should be capable of killing him."
+
+These were the last words of the interview which decided the destiny
+of Micheline, of the Prince, of Madame Desvarennes, and of Pierre. The
+mistress stretched out her hand and rang the bell. A servant appeared,
+to whom she gave instructions to tell Marechal to come down. She thought
+it would be pleasant for Pierre to pour out his griefs into the heart of
+his friend. A man weeps with difficulty before a woman, and she guessed
+that the young man's heart was swollen with tears. Marechal was not far
+off. He arrived in a moment, and springing toward Pierre put his arms
+round his neck. When Madame Desvarennes saw the two friends fully
+engrossed with each other, she said to Marechal:
+
+"I give you leave until this evening. Then bring Pierre back with you; I
+wish to see him after dinner."
+
+And with a firm step she went toward Micheline's room, where the latter
+was waiting in fear to know the result of the interview.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. A SIGNIFICANT MEETING
+
+The mansion in the Rue Saint-Dominique is certainly one of the finest
+to be seen. Sovereigns alone have more sumptuous palaces. The wide
+staircase, of carved oak, is bordered by a bronze balustrade, made by
+Ghirlandajo, and brought from Florence by Sommervieux, the great dealer
+in curiosities. Baron Rothschild would consent to give only a hundred
+thousand francs for it. Madame Desvarennes bought it. The large panels
+of the staircase are hung with splendid tapestry, from designs by
+Boucher, representing the different metamorphoses of Jupiter. At each
+landing-place stands a massive Japanese vase of 'claisonne' enamel,
+supported by a tripod of Chinese bronze, representing chimeras. On the
+first floor, tall columns of red granite, crowned by gilt capitals,
+divide the staircase from a gallery, serving as a conservatory. Plaited
+blinds of crimson silk hang before the Gothic windows, filled with
+marvellous stained glass.
+
+In the vestibule-the hangings of which are of Cordova-leather, with gold
+ground-seemingly awaiting the good pleasure of some grand lady, is a
+sedan-chair, decorated with paintings by Fragonard. Farther on, there
+is one of those superb carved mother-of-pearl coffers, in which Oriental
+women lay by their finery and jewellery. A splendid Venetian mirror, its
+frame embellished with tiny figure subjects, and measuring two metres
+in width and three in height, fills a whole panel of the vestibule.
+Portieres of Chinese satin, ornamented with striking embroidery, such
+as figures on a priest's chasuble, fall in sumptuous folds at the
+drawing-room and dining-room doors.
+
+The drawing-room contains a splendid set of Louis Quatorze furniture,
+of gilt wood, upholstered in fine tapestry, in an extraordinary state
+of preservation. Three crystal lustres, hanging at intervals along the
+room, sparkle like diamonds. The hangings, of woven silk and gold, are
+those which were sent as a present by Louis Quatorze to Monsieur de
+Pimentel, the Spanish Ambassador, to reward him for the part he had
+taken in the conclusion of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. These
+hangings are unique, and were brought back from Spain in 1814, in the
+baggage-train of Soult's army, and sold to an inhabitant of Toulouse
+for ten thousand francs. It was there that Madame Desvarennes discovered
+them in a garret in 1864, neglected by the grandchildren of the buyer,
+who were ignorant of the immense value of such unrivalled work. Cleverly
+mended, they are to-day the pride of the great trader's drawing-room.
+On the mantelpiece there is a large clock in Chinese lacquer, ornamented
+with gilt bronze, made on a model sent out from Paris in the reign of
+Louis Quatorze, and representing the Flight of the Hours pursued by
+Time.
+
+Adjoining the great drawing-room is a boudoir upholstered in light gray
+silk damask, with bouquets of flowers. This is Madame Desvarennes's
+favorite room. A splendid Erard piano occupies one side of the
+apartment. Facing it is a sideboard in sculptured ebony, enriched with
+bronze, by Gouthieres. There are only two pictures on the walls: "The
+Departure of the Newly Married Couple," exquisitely painted by Lancret;
+and "The Prediction," an adorable work by Watteau, bought at an
+incredible price at the Pourtales sale. Over the chimney-piece is a
+miniature by Pommayrac, representing Micheline as a little child--a
+treasure which Madame Desvarennes cannot behold without tears coming to
+her eyes. A door, hidden by curtains, opens on to a staircase leading
+directly to the courtyard.
+
+The dining-room is in the purest Renaissance style austere woodwork;
+immense chests of caned pearwood, on which stand precious ewers in
+Urbino ware, and dishes by Bernard Palissy. The high stone fireplace is
+surmounted by a portrait of Diana of Poitiers, with a crescent on her
+brow, and is furnished with firedogs of elaborately worked iron. The
+centre panel bears the arms of Admiral Bonnivet. Stained-glass windows
+admit a softly-tinted light. From the magnificently painted ceiling,
+a chandelier of brass repousse work hangs from the claws of a hovering
+eagle.
+
+The billiard-room is in the Indian style. Magnificent panoplies unite
+Rajpoot shields, Mahratta scimitars, helmets with curtains of steel,
+rings belonging to Afghan chiefs, and long lances ornamented with white
+mares' tails, wielded by the horsemen of Cabul. The walls are painted
+from designs brought from Lahore. The panels of the doors were decorated
+by Gerome. The great artist has painted Nautch girls twisting their
+floating scarves, and jugglers throwing poignards into the air. Around
+the room are low divans, covered with soft and brilliant Oriental cloth.
+The chandelier is quite original in form, being the exact representation
+of the god Vishnu. From the centre of the body hangs a lotus leaf of
+emeralds, and from each of the four arms is suspended a lamp shaped like
+a Hindu pagoda, which throws out a mellow light.
+
+Madame Desvarennes was entertaining her visitors in these celebrated
+apartments that evening. Marechal and Pierre had just come in, and were
+talking together near the fireplace. A few steps from them was a group,
+consisting of Cayrol, Madame Desvarennes, and a third person, who had
+never until then put his foot in the house, in spite of intercessions in
+his favor made by the banker to Madame Desvarennes. He was a tall, pale,
+thin man, whose skin seemed stretched on his bones, with a strongly
+developed under-jaw, like that of a ravenous animal, and eyes of
+indefinable color, always changing, and veiled behind golden-rimmed
+spectacles. His hands were soft and smooth, with moist palms and closely
+cut nails--vicious hands, made to take cunningly what they coveted. He
+had scanty hair, of a pale yellow, parted just above the ear, so as to
+enable him to brush it over the top of his head. This personage, clad
+in a double-breasted surtout, over a white waistcoat, and wearing a
+many-colored rosette, was called Hermann Herzog.
+
+A daring financier, he had come from Luxembourg, preceded by a great
+reputation; and, in a few months, he had launched in Paris such a series
+of important affairs that the big-wigs on the Exchange felt bound to
+treat with him. There were many rumors current about him. Some said he
+was the most intelligent, most active, and most scrupulous of men that
+it was possible to meet. Others said that no greater scoundrel had
+ever dared the vengeance of the law, after plundering honest people.
+Of German nationality, those who cried him down said he was born at
+Mayence. Those who treated the rumors as legends said he was born at
+Frankfort, the most Gallic town beyond the river Rhine.
+
+He had just completed an important line of railway from Morocco to the
+centre of our colony in Algeria, and now he was promoting a company for
+exporting grain and flour from America. Several times Cayrol had tried
+to bring Herzog and Madame Desvarennes together. The banker had an
+interest in the grain and flour speculation, but he asserted that it
+would not succeed unless the mistress had a hand in it. Cayrol had a
+blind faith in the mistress's luck.
+
+Madame Desvarennes, suspicious of everything foreign, and perfectly
+acquainted with the rumors circulated respecting Herzog, had always
+refused to receive him. But Cayrol had been so importunate that, being
+quite tired of refusing, and, besides, being willing to favor Cayrol for
+having so discreetly managed the negotiations of Micheline's marriage,
+she had consented.
+
+Herzog had just arrived. He was expressing to Madame Desvarennes his
+delight at being admitted to her house. He had so often heard her highly
+spoken of that he had formed a high idea of her, but one which was,
+however, far below the reality; he understood now that it was an honor
+to be acquainted with her. He wheedled her with German grace, and with a
+German-Jewish accent, which reminds one of the itinerant merchants, who
+offer you with persistence "a goot pargain."
+
+The mistress had been rather cold at first, but Herzog's amiability had
+thawed her. This man, with his slow speech and queer eyes, produced a
+fascinating effect on one like a serpent. He was repugnant, and yet, in
+spite of one's self one was led on. He, had at once introduced the grain
+question, but in this he found himself face to face with the real Madame
+Desvarennes; and no politeness held good on her part when it was a
+question of business. From his first words, she had found a weak
+point in the plan, and had attacked him with such plainness that the
+financier, seeing his enterprise collapse at the sound of the mistress's
+voice-like the walls of Jericho at the sound of the Jewish trumpets--had
+beaten a retreat, and had changed the subject.
+
+He was about to float a credit and discount company superior to any in
+the world. He would come back and talk with Madame Desvarennes about it,
+because she ought to participate in the large profits which the matter
+promised. There was no risk. The novelty of the undertaking consisted
+in the concurrence of the largest banking-houses of France and abroad,
+which would hinder all competition, and prevent hostility on the part
+of the great money-handlers. It was very curious, and Madame Desvarennes
+would feel great satisfaction in knowing the mechanism of this company,
+destined to become, from the first, the most important in the world, and
+yet most easy to understand.
+
+Madame Desvarennes neither said "Yes" nor "No." Moved by the soft
+and insinuating talkativeness of Herzog, she felt herself treading on
+dangerous ground. It seemed to her that her foot was sinking, as in
+those dangerous peat-mosses of which the surface is covered with green
+grass, tempting one to run on it. Cayrol was under the charm. He drank
+in the German's words. This clever man, who had never till then been
+duped, had found his master in Herzog.
+
+Pierre and Marechal had come nearer, and Madame Desvarennes, profiting
+by this mingling of groups, introduced the men to each other. On hearing
+the name of Pierre Delarue, Herzog looked thoughtful, and asked if the
+young man was the renowned engineer whose works on the coast of Africa
+had caused so much talk in Europe? On Madame Desvarennes replying in the
+affirmative, he showered well-chosen compliments on Pierre. He had had
+the pleasure of meeting Delarue in Algeria, when he had gone over to
+finish the railroad in Morocco.
+
+But Pierre had stepped back on learning that the constructor of that
+important line was before him.
+
+"Ah! is it you, sir, who carried out that job?" said he. "Faith! you
+treated those poor Moors rather hardly!"
+
+He remembered the misery of the poor natives employed by Europeans who
+superintended the work. Old men, women, and children were placed at the
+disposal of the contractors by the native authorities, to dig up and
+remove the soil; and these poor wretches, crushed with hard work, and
+driven with the lash by drunken overseers--who commanded them with a
+pistol in hand--under a burning sun, inhaled the noxious vapors arising
+from the upturned soil, and died like flies. It was a terrible sight,
+and one that Pierre could not forget.
+
+But Herzog, with his cajoling sweetness, protested against this
+exaggerated picture. Delarue had arrived during the dog-days--a bad
+time. And then, it was necessary for the work to be carried on without
+delay. Besides, a few Moors, more or less--what did it matter? Negroes,
+all but monkeys!
+
+Marechal, who had listened silently until then, interrupted the
+conversation, to defend the monkeys in the name of Littre. He had framed
+a theory, founded on Darwin, and tending to prove that men who despised
+monkeys despised themselves. Herzog, a little taken aback by this
+unexpected reply, had looked at Marechal slyly, asking himself if it
+was a joke. But, seeing Madame Desvarennes laugh, he recovered his
+self-possession. Business could not be carried on in the East as in
+Europe. And then, had it not always been thus? Had not all the great
+discoverers worked the countries which they discovered? Christopher
+Columbus, Cortez--had they not taken riches from the Indians, in
+exchange for the civilization which they brought them? He (Herzog)
+had, in making a railway in Morocco, given the natives the means
+of civilizing themselves. It was only fair that it should cost them
+something.
+
+Herzog uttered his tirade with all the charm of which he was capable; he
+looked to the right and to the left to notice the effect. He saw nothing
+but constrained faces. It seemed as if they were expecting some one
+or something. Time was passing; ten o'clock had just struck. From the
+little boudoir sounds of music were occasionally heard, when Micheline's
+nervous hand struck a louder chord on her piano. She was there,
+anxiously awaiting some one or something. Jeanne de Cernay, stretched in
+an easy-chair, her head leaning on her hand, was dreaming.
+
+During the past three weeks the young girl had changed. Her bright wit
+no longer enlivened Micheline's indolent calmness; her brilliant eyes
+were surrounded by blue rings, which denoted nights passed without
+sleep. The change coincided strangely with Prince Panine's departure for
+England, and the sending of the letter which recalled Pierre to Paris.
+Had the inhabitants of the mansion been less occupied with their own
+troubles, they would no doubt have noticed this sudden change, and have
+sought to know the reason. But the attention of all was concentrated on
+the events which had already troubled them, and which would no doubt be
+yet more serious to the house, until lately so quiet.
+
+The visitors' bell sounded, and caused Micheline to rise. The blood
+rushed to her cheeks. She whispered, "It is he!" and, hesitating, she
+remained a moment leaning on the piano, listening vaguely to the sounds
+in the drawing-room. The footman's voice announcing the visitor reached
+the young girls:
+
+"Prince Panine."
+
+Jeanne also rose then, and if Micheline had turned round she would
+have been frightened at the pallor of her companion. But Mademoiselle
+Desvarennes was not thinking of Mademoiselle de Cernay; she had just
+raised the heavy door curtain, and calling to Jeanne, "Are you coming?"
+passed into the drawing-room:
+
+It was indeed Prince Serge, who was expected by Cayrol with impatience,
+by Madame Desvarennes with silent irritation, by Pierre with deep
+anguish. The handsome prince, calm and smiling, with white cravat and
+elegantly fitting dress-coat which showed off his fine figure, advanced
+toward Madame Desvarennes before whom he bowed. He seemed only to have
+seen Micheline's mother. Not a look for the two young girls or the men
+who were around him. The rest of the universe did not seem to count.
+He bent as if before a queen, with a dash of respectful adoration. He
+seemed to be saying:
+
+"Here I am at your feet; my life depends on you; make a sign and I shall
+be the happiest of men or the most miserable."
+
+Micheline followed him with eyes full of pride; she admired his haughty
+grace and his caressing humility. It was by these contrasts that Serge
+had attracted the young girl's notice. She felt herself face to face
+with a strange nature, different from men around her, and had become
+interested in him. Then he had spoken to her, and his sweet penetrating
+voice had touched her heart.
+
+What he had achieved with Micheline he longed to achieve with her
+mother. After placing himself at the feet of the mother of her whom he
+loved, he sought the road to her heart. He took his place beside the
+mistress and spoke. He hoped that Madame Desvarennes would excuse the
+haste of his visit. The obedience which he had shown in going away
+must be a proof to her of his submission to her wishes. He was her most
+devoted and respectful servant. He resigned himself to anything she
+might exact of him.
+
+Madame Desvarennes listened to that sweet voice; she had never heard
+it so full of charm. She understood what influence this sweetness had
+exercised over Micheline; she repented not having watched over her more
+carefully, and cursed the hour that had brought all this evil upon them.
+She was obliged, however, to answer him. The mistress went straight to
+the point. She was not one to beat about the bush when once her mind was
+made up.
+
+"You come, no doubt, sir, to receive an answer to the request you
+addressed to me before your departure for England!"
+
+The Prince turned slightly pale. The words which Madame Desvarennes was
+about to pronounce were of such importance to him that he could not help
+feeling moved. He answered, in a suppressed tone:
+
+"I would not have dared to speak to you on the subject, Madame,
+especially in public; but since you anticipate my desire, I admit I am
+waiting with deep anxiety for one word from you which will decide my
+fate."
+
+He continued bent before Madame Desvarennes like a culprit before his
+judge. The mistress was silent for a moment, as if hesitating before
+answering, and then said, gravely:
+
+"That word I hesitated to pronounce, but some one in whom I have great
+confidence has advised me to receive you favorably."
+
+"He, Madame, whoever he may be, has gained my everlasting gratitude."
+
+"Show it to him," said Madame Desvarennes; "he is the companion of
+Micheline's young days, almost a son to me."
+
+And turning toward Pierre, she pointed him out to Panine.
+
+Serge took three rapid strides toward Pierre, but quick as he had been
+Micheline was before him. Each of the lovers seized a hand of
+Pierre, and pressed it with tender effusion. Panine, with his Polish
+impetuosity, was making the most ardent protestations to Pierre--he
+would be indebted to him for life.
+
+Micheline's late betrothed, with despair in his heart, allowed his
+hands to be pressed and wrung in silence. The voice of her whom he loved
+brought tears to his eyes.
+
+"How generous and good you are!" said the young girl, "how nobly you
+have sacrificed yourself!"
+
+"Don't thank me," replied Pierre; "I have no merit in accomplishing what
+you admire. I am weak, you see, and I could not bear to see you suffer."
+
+There was a great commotion in the drawing-room. Cayrol was explaining
+to Herzog, who was listening with great attention, what was taking
+place. Serge Panine was to be Madame Desvarennes's son-in-law. It was a
+great event.
+
+"Certainly," said the German; "Madame Desvarennes's son-in-law will
+become a financial power. And a Prince, too. What a fine name for a
+board of directors!"
+
+The two financiers looked at each other for a moment; the same thought
+had struck them.
+
+"Yes, but," replied Cayrol, "Madame Desvarennes will never allow Panine
+to take part in business."
+
+"Who knows?" said Herzog. "We shall see how the marriage settlements are
+drawn up."
+
+"But," cried Cayrol, "I would not have it said that I was leading Madame
+Desvarennes's son-in-law into speculations."
+
+"Who is speaking of that?" replied Herzog, coldly. "Am I seeking
+shareholders? I have more money than I want; I refuse millions every
+day."
+
+"Oh, I know capitalists run after you," said Cayrol, laughingly; "and
+to welcome them you affect the scruples of a pretty woman. But let us go
+and congratulate the Prince."
+
+While Cayrol and Herzog were exchanging those few words which had such a
+considerable influence on the future of Serge Panine--a scene, terrible
+in its simplicity, was going on without being noticed. Micheline had
+thrown herself with a burst of tenderness into her mother's arms.
+Serge was deeply affected by the young girl's affection for him, when
+a trembling hand touched his arm. He turned round. Jeanne de Cernay was
+before him, pale and wan; her eyes sunken into her head like two black
+nails, and her lips tightened by a violent contraction. The Prince stood
+thunderstruck at the sight of her. He looked around him. Nobody was
+observing him. Pierre was beside Marechal, who was whispering those
+words which only true friends can find in the sad hours of life.
+Madame Desvarennes was holding Micheline in her arms. Serge approached
+Mademoiselle de Cernay. Jeanne still fixed on him the same menacing
+look. He was afraid.
+
+"Take care!" he said.
+
+"Of what?" asked the young girl, with a troubled voice. "What have I to
+fear now?"
+
+"What do you wish?" resumed Panine, with old firmness, and with a
+gesture of impatience.
+
+"I wish to speak with you immediately."
+
+"You see that is impossible."
+
+"I must."
+
+Cayrol and Herzog approached. Serge smiled at Jeanne with a sign of the
+head which meant "Yes." The young girl turned away in silence, awaiting
+the fulfilment of the promise made.
+
+Cayrol took her by the hand with tender familiarity.
+
+"What were you saying to the happy man who has gained the object of his
+dreams, Mademoiselle? It is not to him you must speak, but to me, to
+give me hope. The moment is propitious; it is the day for betrothals.
+You know how much I love you; do me the favor of no longer repulsing me
+as you have done hitherto! If you would be kind, how charming it would
+be to celebrate the two weddings on the same day. One church, one
+ceremony, one splendid feast would unite two happy couples. Is there
+nothing in this picture to entice you?"
+
+"I am not easily enticed, as you know," said Jeanne, in a firm voice,
+trying to smile.
+
+Micheline and Madame Desvarennes had drawn near.
+
+"Come, Cayrol," said Serge, in a tone of command; "I am happy to-day;
+perhaps I may succeed in your behalf as I have done in my own. Let me
+plead your cause with Mademoiselle de Cernay?"
+
+"With all my heart. I need an eloquent pleader," sighed the banker,
+shaking his head sadly.
+
+"And you, Mademoiselle, will you submit to the trial?" asked the Prince,
+turning toward Jeanne. "We have always been good friends, and I shall
+be almost a brother to you. This gives me some right over your mind and
+heart, it seems to me. Do you authorize me to exercise it?"
+
+"As you like, sir," answered Jeanne, coldly. "The attempt is novel. Who
+knows? Perhaps it will succeed!"
+
+"May Heaven grant it," said Cayrol. Then, approaching Panine:
+
+"Ah! dear Prince, what gratitude I shall owe you! You know," added he in
+a whisper, "if you need a few thousand louis for wedding presents--"
+
+"Go, go, corrupter!" replied Serge, with the same forced gayety; "you
+are flashing your money in front of us. You see it is not invincible, as
+you are obliged to have recourse to my feeble talents. But know that I
+am working for glory."
+
+And turning toward Madame Desvarennes he added: "I only ask a quarter of
+an hour."
+
+"Don't defend yourself too much," said Micheline in her companion's ear,
+and giving her a tender kiss which the latter did not return.
+
+"Come with me," said Micheline to Pierre, offering him her arm; "I want
+to belong to you alone while Serge is pleading with Jeanne. I will be
+your sister as formerly. If you only knew how I love you!"
+
+The large French window which led to the garden had just been opened
+by Marechal, and the mild odors of a lovely spring night perfumed the
+drawing-room. They all went out on the lawn. Thousands of stars were
+twinkling in the sky, and the eyes of Micheline and Pierre were lifted
+toward the dark blue heavens seeking vaguely for the star which presided
+over their destiny. She, to know whether her life would be the long poem
+of love of which she dreamed; he, to ask whether glory, that exacting
+mistress for whom he had made so many sacrifices, would at least comfort
+him for his lost love.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. JEANNE'S SECRET
+
+In the drawing-room Jeanne and Serge remained standing, facing each
+other. The mask had fallen from their faces; the forced smile had
+disappeared. They looked at each other attentively, like two duellists
+seeking to read each other's game, so that they may ward off the fatal
+stroke and prepare the decisive parry.
+
+"Why did you leave for England three weeks ago, without seeing me and
+without speaking to me?"
+
+"What could I have said to you?" replied the Prince, with an air of
+fatigue and dejection.
+
+Jeanne flashed a glance brilliant as lightning:
+
+"You could have told me that you had just asked for Micheline's hand!"
+
+"That would have been brutal!"
+
+"It would have been honest! But it would have necessitated an
+explanation, and you don't like explaining. You have preferred leaving
+me to guess this news from the acts of those around me, and the talk of
+strangers."
+
+All these words had been spoken by Jeanne with feverish vivacity. The
+sentences were as cutting as strokes from a whip. The young girl's
+agitation was violent; her cheeks were red, and her breathing was hard
+and stifled with emotion. She stopped for a moment; then, turning toward
+the Prince, and looking him full in the face, she said:
+
+"And so, this marriage is decided?"
+
+Serge answered,
+
+"Yes."
+
+It was fainter than a whisper. As if she could not believe it, Jeanne
+repeated:
+
+"You are going to marry Micheline?"
+
+And as Panine in a firmer voice answered again, "Yes!" the young girl
+took two rapid steps and brought her flushed face close to him.
+
+"And I, then?" she cried with a violence she could no longer restrain.
+
+Serge made a sign. The drawing-room window was still open, and from
+outside they could be heard.
+
+"Jeanne, in mercy calm yourself," replied he. "You are in a state of
+excitement."
+
+"Which makes you uncomfortable?" interrupted the young girl mockingly.
+
+"Yes, but for your sake only," said he, coldly.
+
+"For mine?"
+
+"Certainly. I fear your committing an imprudence which might harm you."
+
+"Yes; but you with me! And it is that only which makes you afraid."
+
+The Prince looked at Mademoiselle de Cernay, smilingly. Changing his
+tone, he took her hand in his.
+
+"How naughty you are to-night! And what temper you are showing
+toward poor Serge! What an opinion he will have of himself after your
+displaying such a flattering scene of jealousy!"
+
+Jeanne drew away her hand.
+
+"Ah, don't try to joke. This is not the moment, I assure you. You don't
+exactly realize your situation. Don't you understand that I am prepared
+to tell Madame Desvarennes everything--"
+
+"Everything!" said the Prince. "In truth, it would not amount to much.
+You would tell her that I met you in England; that I courted you, and
+that you found my attentions agreeable. And then? It pleases you to
+think too seriously of that midsummer night's dream under the great
+trees of Churchill Castle, and you reproach me for my errors! But what
+are they? Seriously, I do not see them! We lived in a noisy world; where
+we enjoyed the liberty which English manners allow to young people. Your
+aunt found no fault with the charming chatter which the English call
+flirtation. I told you I loved you; you allowed me to think that I was
+not displeasing to you. We, thanks to that delightful agreement, spent
+a most agreeable summer, and now you do not wish to put an end to that
+pleasant little excursion made beyond the limits drawn by our Parisian
+world, so severe, whatever people say about it. It is not reasonable,
+and it is imprudent. If you carry out your menacing propositions, and if
+you take my future mother-in-law as judge of the rights which you
+claim, don't you understand that you would be condemned beforehand? Her
+interests are directly opposed to yours. Could she hesitate between her
+daughter and you?"
+
+"Oh! your calculations are clever and your measures were well taken,"
+replied Jeanne. "Still, if Madame Desvarennes were not the woman you
+think her--" Then, hesitating:
+
+"If she took my part, and thinking that he who was an unloyal lover
+would be an unfaithful husband--she would augur of the future of her
+daughter by my experience; and what would happen?"
+
+"Simply this," returned Serge. "Weary of the precarious and hazardous
+life which I lead, I would leave for Austria, and rejoin the service. A
+uniform is the only garb which can hide poverty honorably."
+
+Jeanne looked at him with anguish; and making an effort said:
+
+"Then, in any case, for me it is abandonment?" And falling upon a seat,
+she hid her face in her hands. Panine remained silent for a moment. The
+young girl's, grief, which he knew to be sincere, troubled him more than
+he wished to show. He had loved Mademoiselle de Cernay, and he loved her
+still. But he felt that a sign of weakness on his part would place him
+at Jeanne's mercy, and that an avowal from his lips at this grave moment
+meant a breaking-off of his marriage with Micheline. He hardened himself
+against his impressions, and replied, with insinuating sweetness:
+
+"Why do you speak of desertion, when a good man who loves you fondly,
+and who possesses a handsome fortune, wishes to marry you?"
+
+Mademoiselle de Cernay raised her head, hastily.
+
+"So, it is you who advise me to marry Monsieur Cayrol? Is there nothing
+revolting to you in the idea that I should follow your advice? But then,
+you deceived me from the first moment you spoke to me. You have never
+loved me even for a day! Not an hour!"
+
+Serge smiled, and resuming his light, caressing tone, replied:
+
+"My dear Jeanne, if I had a hundred thousand francs a year, I give you
+my word of honor that I would not marry another woman but you, for you
+would make an adorable Princess."
+
+Mademoiselle de Cernay made a gesture of perfect indifference.
+
+"Ah! what does the title matter to me?" she exclaimed, with passion.
+"What I want is you! Nothing but you!"
+
+"You do not know what you ask. I love you far too much to associate you
+with my destiny. If you knew that gilded misery, that white kid-gloved
+poverty, which is my lot, you would be frightened, and you would
+understand that in my resolution to give you up there is much of
+tenderness and generosity. Do you think it is such an easy matter to
+give up a woman so adorable as you are? I resign myself to it, though.
+
+"What could I do with my beautiful Jeanne in the three rooms in the Rue
+de Madame where I live? Could I, with the ten or twelve thousand francs
+which I receive through the liberality of the Russian Panines, provide
+a home? I can hardly make it do for myself. I live at the club, where I
+dine cheaply. I ride my friends' horses! I never touch a card, although
+I love play. I go much in society; I shine there, and walk home to save
+the cost of a carriage. My door-keeper cleans my rooms and keeps my
+linen in order. My private life is sad, dull, and humiliating. It is
+the black chrysalis of the bright butterfly which you know. That is what
+Prince Panine is, my dear Jeanne. A gentleman of good appearance, who
+lives as carefully as an old maid. The world sees him elegant and
+happy, and its envies his luxury; but this luxury is as deluding
+as watch-chains made of pinchbeck. You understand now that I cannot
+seriously ask you to share such an existence."
+
+But if, with this sketch of his life, correctly described, Panine
+thought to turn the young girl against him, he was mistaken. He had
+counted without considering Jeanne's sanguine temperament, which would
+lead her to make any sacrifices to keep the man she adored.
+
+"If you were rich, Serge," she said, "I would not have made an effort
+to bring you back to me. But you are poor and I have a right to tell you
+that I love you. Life with you would be all devotedness and self-denial.
+Each pain endured would be a proof of love, and that is why I wish to
+suffer. Your life with mine would be neither sad nor humiliated; I
+would make it sweet by my tenderness, and bright by my happiness. And we
+should be so happy that you would say, 'How could I ever have dreamed of
+anything else?'"
+
+"Alas! Jeanne," replied the Prince; "it is a charming and poetic idyl
+which you present to me. We should flee far from the world, eh? We
+should go to an unknown spot and try to regain paradise lost. How long
+would that happiness last? A season during the springtime of our youth.
+Then autumn would come, sad and harsh. Our illusions would vanish like
+the swallows in romances, and we should find, with alarm, that we had
+taken the dream of a day for eternal happiness! Forgive my speaking
+plain words of disenchantment," added Serge, seeing Jeanne rising
+abruptly, "but our life is being settled at this moment. Reason alone
+should guide us."
+
+"And I beseech you to be guided only by your heart," cried Mademoiselle
+de Cernay, seizing the hands of the Prince, and pressing them with her
+trembling fingers. "Remember that you loved me. Say that you love me
+still!"
+
+Jeanne had drawn near to Serge. Her burning face almost touched his. Her
+eyes, bright with excitement, pleaded passionately for a tender look.
+She was most fascinating, and Panine, usually master of himself, lost
+his presence of mind for a moment. His arms encircled the shoulders of
+the adorable pleader, and his lips were buried in the masses of her dark
+hair.
+
+"Serge!" cried Mademoiselle de Cernay, clinging to him whom she loved so
+fondly.
+
+But the Prince was as quickly calmed as he had been carried away. He
+gently put Jeanne aside.
+
+"You see," he said with a smile, "how unreasonable we are and how easily
+we might commit an irreparable folly. And yet our means will not allow
+us."
+
+"In mercy do not leave me!" pleaded Jeanne, in a tone of despair. "You
+love me! I feel it; everything tells me so! And you would desert me
+because you are poor and I am not rich. Is a man ever poor when he has
+two arms? Work."
+
+The word was uttered by Jeanne with admirable energy. She possessed the
+courage to overcome every difficulty.
+
+Serge trembled. For the second time he felt touched to the very soul
+by this strange girl. He understood that he must not leave her with the
+slightest hope of encouragement, but throw ice on the fire which was
+devouring her.
+
+"My dear Jeanne," he said, with affectionate sweetness, "you are talking
+nonsense. Remember this, that for Prince Panine there are only three
+social conditions possible: to be rich, a soldier, or a priest. I have
+the choice. It is for you to decide."
+
+This put an end to Mademoiselle de Cernay's resistance. She felt how
+useless was further argument, and falling on a sofa, crushed with grief,
+cried:
+
+"Ah! this time it is finished; I am lost!"
+
+Panine, then, approaching her, insinuating and supple, like the serpent
+with the first woman, murmured in her ear, as if afraid lest his words,
+in being spoken aloud, would lose their subtle venom:
+
+"No, you are not lost. On the contrary, you are saved, if you will
+only listen to and understand me. What are we, you and I? You, a child
+adopted by a generous woman; I, a ruined nobleman. You live in luxury,
+thanks to Madame Desvarennes's liberality. I can scarcely manage to keep
+myself with the help of my family. Our present is precarious, our future
+hazardous. And, suddenly, fortune is within our grasp. We have only to
+stretch out our hands, and with one stroke we gain the uncontested power
+which money brings!
+
+"Riches, that aim of humanity! Do you understand? We, the weak and
+disdained, become strong and powerful. And what is necessary to gain
+them? A flash of sense; a minute of wisdom; forget a dream and accept a
+reality."
+
+Jeanne waited till he had finished. A bitter smile played on her lips.
+Henceforth she would believe in no one. After listening to what Serge
+had just said, she could listen to anything.
+
+"So," said she, "the dream is love; the reality is interest. And is it
+you who speak thus to me? You, for whom I was prepared to endure any
+sacrifice! You, whom I would have served on my knees! And what reason do
+you give to justify your conduct? Money! Indispensable and stupid money!
+Nothing but money! But it is odious, infamous, low!"
+
+Serge received this terrible broadside of abuse without flinching. He
+had armed himself against contempt, and was deaf to all insults. Jeanne
+went on with increasing rage:
+
+"Micheline has everything: family, fortune, and friends, and she is
+taking away my one possession--your love. Tell me that you love her! It
+will be more cruel but less vile! But no, it is not possible! You
+gave way to temptation at seeing her so rich; you had a feeling of
+covetousness, but you will become yourself again and will act like an
+honest man. Think, that in my eyes you are dishonoring yourself! Serge,
+answer me!"
+
+She clung to him again, and tried to regain him by her ardor, to
+warm him with her passion. He remained unmoved, silent, and cold. Her
+conscience rebelled.
+
+"Well, then," said she, "marry her."
+
+She remained silent and sullen, seeming to forget he was there. She was
+thinking deeply. Then she walked wildly up and down the room, saying:
+
+"So, it is that implacable self-interest with which I have just come in
+contact, which is the law of the world, the watchword of society! So, in
+refusing to share the common folly, I risk remaining in isolation, and
+I must be strong to make others stand in awe of me. Very well, then, I
+shall henceforth act in such a manner as to be neither dupe nor victim.
+In future, everything will be: self, and woe to him who hinders me. That
+is the morality of the age, is it not?"
+
+And she laughed nervously.
+
+"Was I not stupid? Come, Prince, you have made me clever. Many thanks
+for the lesson; it was difficult, but I shall profit by it."
+
+The Prince, astonished at the sudden change, listened to Jeanne with
+stupor. He did not yet quite understand.
+
+"What do you intend to do?" asked he.
+
+Jeanne looked at him with a fiendish expression. Her eyes sparkled like
+stars; her white teeth shone between her lips.
+
+"I intend," replied she, "to lay the foundation of my power, and to
+follow your advice, by marrying a millionaire!"
+
+She ran to the window, and, looking out toward the shady garden, called:
+
+"Monsieur Cayrol!"
+
+Serge, full of surprise, and seized by a sudden fit of jealousy, went
+toward her as if to recall her.
+
+"Jeanne," said he, vaguely holding out his arms.
+
+"Well! what is it?" she asked, with crushing haughtiness. "Are you
+frightened at having gained your cause so quickly?"
+
+And as Serge did not speak:
+
+"Come," added she, "you will have a handsome fee; Micheline's dower will
+be worth the trouble you have had."
+
+They heard Cayrol's hurried steps ascending the stairs.
+
+"You have done me the honor to call me, Mademoiselle," said he,
+remaining on the threshold of the drawing-room. "Am I fortunate enough
+at length to have found favor in your eyes?"
+
+"Here is my hand," said Mademoiselle de Cernay, simply tendering him her
+white taper fingers, which he covered with kisses.
+
+Madame Desvarennes had come in behind the banker. She uttered a joyous
+exclamation.
+
+"Cayrol, you shall not marry Jeanne for her beauty alone. I will give
+her a dower."
+
+Micheline fell on her companion's neck. It was a concert of
+congratulations. But Jeanne, with a serious air, led Cayrol aside:
+
+"I wish to act honestly toward you, sir; I yield to the pleading of
+which I am the object. But you must know that my sentiments do not
+change so quickly. It is my hand only which I give you today."
+
+"I have not the conceitedness to think that you love me, Mademoiselle,"
+said Cayrol, humbly. "You give me your hand; it will be for me to gain
+your heart, and with time and sincere affection I do not despair of
+winning it. I am truly happy, believe me, for the favor you do me, and
+all my life long shall be spent in proving my gratitude to you."
+
+Jeanne was moved; she glanced at Cayrol, and did not think him so
+common-looking as usual. She resolved to do all in her power to like
+this good man.
+
+Serge, in taking leave of Madame Desvarennes, said:
+
+"In exchange for all the happiness which you give me, I have only my
+life to offer; accept it, Madame, it is yours."
+
+The mistress looked at the Prince deeply; then, in a singular tone,
+said:
+
+"I accept it; from to-day you belong to me."
+
+Marechal took Pierre by the arm and led him outside.
+
+"The Prince has just uttered words which remind me of Antonio saying to
+the Jew in 'The Merchant of Venice': 'Thy ducats in exchange for a
+pound of my flesh.' Madame Desvarennes loves her daughter with a more
+formidable love than Shylock had for his gold. The Prince will do well
+to be exact in his payments of the happiness which he has promised."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. A PLEASANT UNDERSTANDING
+
+The day following this memorable evening, Pierre left for Algeria,
+notwithstanding the prayers of Madame Desvarennes who wished to keep him
+near her. He was going to finish his labors. He promised to return
+in time for the wedding. The mistress, wishing to give him some
+compensation, offered him the management of the mills at Jouy, saying:
+
+"So that if you are not my son, you will be at least my partner. And if
+I do not leave you all my money at my death, I can enrich you during my
+life."
+
+Pierre would not accept. He would not have it said that in wishing to
+marry Micheline he had tried to make a speculation. He wished to leave
+that house where he had hoped to spend his life, empty-handed, so that
+no one could doubt that it was the woman he loved in Micheline and not
+the heiress. He had been offered a splendid appointment in Savoy as
+manager of some mines; he would find there at the same time profit and
+happiness, because there were interesting scientific studies to be made
+in order to enable him to carry on the work creditably. He resolved to
+throw himself heart and soul into the work and seek forgetfulness in
+study.
+
+In the mansion of the Rue Saint-Dominique the marriage preparations were
+carried on with great despatch. On the one side the Prince, and on
+the other Cayrol, were eager for the day: the one because he saw the
+realization of his ambitious dreams, the other because he loved so
+madly. Serge, gracious and attentive, allowed himself to be adored by
+Micheline, who was never weary of listening to and looking at him whom
+she loved. It was a sort of delirium that had taken possession of the
+young girl. Madame Desvarennes looked on the metamorphosis in her child
+with amazement. The old Micheline, naturally indolent and cold, just
+living with the indolence of an odalisque stretched on silk cushions,
+had changed into a lively, loving sweetheart, with sparkling eyes and
+cheerful lips. Like those lowers which the sun causes to bloom and be
+fragrant, so Micheline under a look from Serge became animated and grown
+handsomer.
+
+The mother looked on with bitterness; she spoke of this transformation
+in her child with ironical disdain, She was sure Micheline was not in
+earnest; only a doll was capable of falling in love so foolishly with a
+man for his personal beauty. For to her mind the Prince was as regards
+mental power painfully deficient. No sense, dumb as soon as the
+conversation took a serious turn, only able to talk dress like a woman,
+or about horses like a jockey. And it was such a person upon whom
+Micheline literally doted! The mistress felt humiliated; she dared not
+say anything to her daughter, but she relieved herself in company of
+Marechal, whose discretion she could trust, and whom she willingly
+called the tomb of her secrets.
+
+Marechal listened patiently to the confidences of Madame Desvarennes,
+and he tried to fight against the growing animosity of the mistress
+toward her future son-in-law. Not that he liked the Prince--he was too
+much on Pierre's side to be well disposed toward Panine; but with his
+good sense he saw that Madame Desvarennes would find it advantageous to
+overcome her feeling of dislike. And when the mistress, so formidable
+toward everybody except her daughter, cried with rage:
+
+"That Micheline! I have just seen her again in the garden, hanging on
+the arm of that great lanky fellow, her eyes fixed on his like a lark
+fascinated by a looking-glass. What on earth has happened to her that
+she should be in such a state?"
+
+Marechal interrupted her gently.
+
+"All fair people are like that," he affirmed with ironical gayety. "You
+cannot understand it, Madame; you are dark."
+
+Then Madame Desvarennes became angry.
+
+"Be quiet," she said, "you are stupid! She ought to have a shower-bath!
+She is mad!"
+
+As for Cayrol he lived in ecstasy, like an Italian kneeling before a
+madonna. He had never been so happy; he was overwhelmed with joy. Until
+then, he had only thought of business matters. To be rich was the aim
+of his life; and now he was going to work for happiness. It was all
+pleasure for him. He was not blase; he amused himself like a child,
+adorning the rooms which were to be occupied by Jeanne. To his mind
+nothing was too expensive for the temple of his goddess, as he said,
+with a loud laugh which lighted up his whole face. And when he spoke of
+his love's future nest, he exclaimed, with a voluptuous shiver:
+
+"It is charming; a veritable little paradise!" Then the financier shone
+through all, and he added:
+
+"And I know what it costs!"
+
+But he did not grudge his money. He knew he would get the interest of
+it back. On one subject he was anxious--Mademoiselle de Cernay's health.
+Since the day of their engagement, Jeanne had become more serious and
+dull. She had grown thin and her eyes were sunken as if she wept in
+secret. When he spoke of his fears to Madame Desvarennes, the latter
+said:
+
+"These young girls are so senseless. The notion of marriage puts them in
+such an incomprehensible state! Look at my daughter. She chatters like
+a magpie and skips about like a kid. She has two glow-worms under her
+eyelids! As to Jeanne, that's another affair; she has the matrimonial
+melancholy, and has the air of a young victim. Leave them alone; it
+will all come right. But you must admit that the gayety of the one is at
+least as irritating as the languor of the other!"
+
+Cayrol, somewhat reassured by this explanation, and thinking, like her,
+that it was the uncertainties of marriage which were troubling Jeanne,
+no longer attached any importance to her sad appearance. Micheline and
+Serge isolated themselves completely. They fled to the garden as soon as
+any one ventured into the drawing room, to interrupt their tete-a-tete.
+If visitors came to the garden they took refuge in the conservatory.
+
+This manoeuvre pleased Serge, because he always felt uncomfortable in
+Jeanne's presence. Mademoiselle de Cernay had a peculiar wrinkle on her
+brow whenever she saw Micheline passing before her hanging on the arm of
+the Prince, which tormented him. They were obliged to meet at table in
+the evening, for Serge and Cayrol dined at the Rue Saint-Dominique. The
+Prince talked in whispers to Micheline, but every now and then he was
+obliged to speak to Jeanne. These were painful moments to Serge. He
+was always in dread of some outburst, knowing her ardent and passionate
+nature. Thus, before Jeanne, he made Micheline behave in a less
+demonstrative manner. Mademoiselle Desvarennes was proud of this
+reserve, and thought it was tact and good breeding on the part of the
+Prince, without doubting that what she thought reserve in the man of the
+world was the prudence of an anxious lover.
+
+Jeanne endured the tortures of Hades. Too proud to say anything after
+the explanation she had had with Serge, too much smitten to bear calmly
+the sight of her rival's happiness, she saw draw near with deep horror
+the moment when she would belong to the man whom she had determined to
+marry although she did not love him. She once thought of breaking off
+the engagement; as she could not belong to the man whom she adored, at
+least she could belong to herself. But the thought of the struggle she
+would have to sustain with those who surrounded her, stopped her. What
+would she do at Madame Desvarennes's? She would have to witness the
+happiness of Micheline and Serge. She would rather leave the house.
+
+With Cayrol at least she could go away; she would be free, and perhaps
+the esteem which she would surely have for her husband would do instead
+of love. Sisterly or filial love, in fact the least affection, would
+satisfy the poor man, who was willing to accept anything from Jeanne.
+And she would not have that group of Serge and Micheline before her
+eyes, always walking round the lawn and disappearing arm in arm down
+the narrow walks. She would not have the continual murmur of their
+love-making in her ears, a murmur broken by the sound of kisses when
+they reached shady corners.
+
+One evening, when Serge appeared in the little drawing-room of the Rue
+Saint-Dominique, he found Madame Desvarennes alone. She looked serious,
+as if same important business were pending. She stood before the
+fireplace; her hands crossed behind her back like a man. Apparently,
+she had sought to be alone. Cayrol, Jeanne, and Micheline were in
+the garden. Serge felt uneasy. He had a presentiment of trouble. But
+determined to make the best of it, whatever it might be, he looked
+pleasant and bowed to Madame Desvarennes, without his face betraying his
+uneasiness.
+
+"Good-day, Prince; you are early this evening, though not so early as
+Cayrol; but then he does not quite know what he is doing now. Sit down,
+I want to talk to you. You know that a young lady like Mademoiselle
+Desvarennes cannot get married without her engagement being much talked
+about. Tongues have been very busy, and pens too. I have heard a lot of
+scandal and have received heaps of anonymous letters about you."
+
+Serge gave a start of indignation.
+
+"Don't be uneasy," continued the mistress. "I did not heed the tales,
+and I burned the letters. Some said you were a dissolute man, capable
+of anything to gain your object. Others insinuated that you were not a
+Prince, that you were not a Pole, but the son of a Russian coachman and
+a little dressmaker of Les Ternes; that you had lived at the expense of
+Mademoiselle Anna Monplaisir, the star of the Varietes Theatre, and that
+you were bent on marrying to pay your debts with my daughter's money."
+
+Panine, pale as death, rose up and said, in a stifled voice:
+
+"Madame!"
+
+"Sit down, my dear child," interrupted the mistress. "If I tell you
+these things, it is because I have the proofs that they are untrue.
+Otherwise, I would not have given myself the trouble to talk to you
+about them. I would have shown you the door and there would have been
+an end of it. Certainly, you are not an angel; but the peccadillos which
+you have been guilty of are those which one forgives in a son, and which
+in a son-in-law makes some mothers smile. You are a Prince, you are
+handsome, and you have been loved. You were then a bachelor; and it was
+your own affair. But now, you are going to be, in about ten days, the
+husband of my daughter, and it is necessary for us to make certain
+arrangements. Therefore, I waited to see you, to speak of your wife, of
+yourself, and of me."
+
+What Madame Desvarennes had just said relieved Serge of a great weight.
+He felt so happy that he resolved to do everything in his power to
+please the mother of his betrothed.
+
+"Speak, Madame," he exclaimed. "I am listening to you with attention
+and confidence. I am sure that from you I can only expect goodness and
+sense."
+
+The mistress smiled.
+
+"Oh, I know you have a gilt tongue, my handsome friend, but I don't pay
+myself with words, and I, am not easy to be wheedled."
+
+"Faith," said Serge, "I won't deceive you. I will try to please you with
+all my heart."
+
+Madame Desvarennes's face brightened as suddenly at these words as a
+landscape, wrapped in a fog, which is suddenly lighted up by the sun.
+
+"Then we shall understand each other," she said. "For the last fortnight
+we have been busy with marriage preparations, and have not been able
+to think or reason. Everybody is rambling about here. Still, we are
+commencing a new life, and I think it is as well to lay the foundation.
+I seem to be drawing up a contract, eh? What can I do? It is an old
+business habit. I like to know how I stand."
+
+"I think it is quite right. I think, too, that you have acted with great
+delicacy in not imposing your conditions upon me before giving your
+consent."
+
+"Has that made you feel better disposed toward me? So much the better!"
+said the mistress. "Because you know that I depend on my daughter, who
+will henceforth depend on you, and it is to my interest that I should be
+in your good graces."
+
+In pronouncing these words with forced cheerfulness, Madame
+Desvarennes's voice trembled slightly. She knew what an important game
+she was playing, and wished to win it at any price.
+
+"You see," continued she, "I am not an easy woman to deal with. I am a
+little despotic, I know. I have been in the habit of commanding during
+the last thirty-five years. Business was heavy, and required a strong
+will. I had it, and the habit is formed. But this strong will, which has
+served me so well in business will, I am afraid, with you, play me
+some trick. Those who have lived with me a long time know that if I am
+hot-headed I have a good heart. They submit to my tyranny; but you who
+are a newcomer, how will you like it?"
+
+"I shall do as the others do," said Serge, simply. "I shall be led,
+and with pleasure. Think that I have lived for years without kindred,
+without ties--at random; and, believe me, any chain will be light and
+sweet which holds me to any one or anything. And then," frankly added
+he, changing his tone and looking at Madame Desvarennes with tenderness,
+"if I did not do everything to please you I should be ungrateful."
+
+"Oh!" cried Madame Desvarennes, "unfortunately that is not a reason."
+
+"Would you have a better one?" said the young man, in his most charming
+accent. "If I had not married your daughter for her own sake, I believe
+that I should have married her for yours." Madame Desvarennes was quite
+pleased, and shaking her finger threateningly at Serge, said:
+
+"Ah, you Pole, you boaster of the North!"
+
+"Seriously," continued Serge, "before I knew I was to be your
+son-in-law, I thought you a matchless woman. Add to the admiration I had
+for your great qualities the affection which your goodness has inspired,
+and you will understand that I am both proud and happy to have such a
+mother as you."
+
+Madame Desvarennes looked at Panine attentively; she saw he was sincere.
+Then, taking courage, she touched the topic of greatest interest to her.
+"If that is the case, you will have no objections to live with me?" She
+stopped; then emphasized the words, "With me."
+
+"But was not that understood?" asked Serge, gayly' "I thought so. You
+must have seen that I have not been seeking a dwelling for my wife and
+myself. If you had not made the offer to me, I should have asked you to
+let me stay with you."
+
+Madame Desvarennes broke into such an outburst of joy that she
+astonished Panine. It was then only that in that pallor, in that sudden
+trembling, in that changed voice, he understood, the immensity of the
+mother's love for her daughter.
+
+"I have everything to gain by that arrangement," continued he. "My wife
+will be happy at not leaving you, and you will be pleased at my not
+having taken away your daughter. You will both like me better, and that
+is all I wish."
+
+"How good you are in deciding thus, and how I thank you for it," resumed
+Madame Desvarennes. "I feared you would have ideas of independence."
+
+"I should have been happy to sacrifice them to you, but I have not even
+that merit."
+
+All that Serge had said had been so open and plain, and expressed with
+such sweetness that, little by little, Madame Desvarennes's prejudices
+disappeared. He took possession of her as he had done of Micheline,
+and as he did of every one whom he wished to conquer. His charm was
+irresistible. He seized on one by the eyes and the ears. Naturally
+fascinating, moving, captivating, bold, he always preserved his artless
+and tender ways, which made him resemble a young girl.
+
+"I am going to tell you how we shall manage," said the mistress.
+"Foreseeing my daughter's marriage, I have had my house divided into
+two distinct establishments. They say that life in common with a
+mother-in-law is objectionable to a son-in-law, therefore I wish you
+to have a home of your own. I know that an old face like mine frightens
+young lovers. I will come to you when you invite me. But even when I
+am shut up in my own apartments I shall be with my daughter; I shall
+breathe the same air; I shall hear her going and coming, singing,
+laughing, and I shall say to myself, 'It is all right, she is happy.'
+That is all I ask. A little corner, whence I can share her life."
+
+Serge took her hand with effusion.
+
+"Don't be afraid; your daughter will not leave you."
+
+Madame Desvarennes, unable to contain her feelings, opened her arms, and
+Serge fell on her breast, like a true son.
+
+"Do you know, I am going to adore you!" cried Madame Desvarennes,
+showing Panine a face beaming with happiness.
+
+"I hope so," said the young man, gayly.
+
+Madame Desvarennes became thoughtful.
+
+"What a strange thing life is!" resumed she. "I did not want you for a
+son-in-law, and now you are behaving so well toward me that I am full
+of remorse. Oh, I see now what a dangerous man you are, if you captivate
+other women's hearts as you have caught mine."
+
+She looked at the Prince fixedly, and added, in her clear commanding
+voice, with a shade of gayety:
+
+"Now, I hope you will reserve all your powers of charming for my
+daughter. No more flirting, eh? She loves you; she would be jealous,
+and you would get into hot water with me! Let Micheline's life be happy,
+without a cloud-blue, always blue sky!"
+
+"That will be easy," said Serge. "To be unhappy I should have to seek
+misfortune; and I certainly shall not do that."
+
+He began to laugh.
+
+"Besides, your good friends who criticised so when you gave me
+Micheline's hand would be only too pleased. I will not give them the
+pleasure of posing as prophets and saying, 'We knew it would be so!'"
+
+"You must forgive them," replied Madame Desvarennes. "You have made
+enemies. Without speaking of projects which I had formed, I may say that
+my daughter has had offers from the best folks in Paris; from first-rate
+firms! Our circle was rather indignant.
+
+"People said: 'Oh, Madame Desvarennes wanted her daughter to be a
+Princess. We shall see how it will turn out. Her son-in-law will spend
+her money and spurn her.' The gossip of disappointed people. Give them
+the lie; manage that we shall all live together, and we shall be right
+against the world."
+
+"Do you hope it will be so?"
+
+"I am sure of it," answered the mistress, affectionately pressing the
+hand of her future son-in-law.
+
+Micheline entered, anxious at the long interview between Serge and her
+mother. She saw them hand in hand. She uttered a joyful cry, and threw
+her arms caressingly round her mother's neck.
+
+"Well! you are agreed?" she said, making a gracious sign to Serge.
+
+"He has been charming," replied Madame Desvarennes, whispering in
+her daughter's ear. "He agrees to live in this house, and that quite
+gracefully. There, child, this is the happiest moment I've had since
+your engagement. I admit that I regret nothing."
+
+Then, resuming aloud:
+
+"We will leave to-morrow for Cernay, where the marriage shall take
+place. I shall have to order the workmen in here to get ready for your
+reception. Besides the wedding will be more brilliant in the country. We
+shall have all the work-people there. We will throw the park open to
+the countryside; it will be a grand fete. For we are lords of the manor
+there," added she, with pride.
+
+"You are right, mamma; it will be far better," exclaimed Micheline. And
+taking Serge by the hand:
+
+"Come, let us go," said she, and led him into the garden.
+
+And amid the sweet-smelling shrubs they resumed their walk, always the
+same yet ever new, their arms twined round each other, the young girl
+clinging to him whom she loved, and he looking fondly at her, and with
+caressing voice telling her the oft-told tale of love which she was
+never tired of hearing, and which always filled her with thrills of joy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE
+
+The Chateau of Cernay is a vast and beautiful structure of the time of
+Louis XIII. A walled park of a hundred acres surrounds it, with trees
+centuries old. A white painted gate separates the avenue from the road
+leading to Pontoise by way of Conflans. A carpet of grass, on which
+carriages roll as if on velvet, leads up to the park gates. Before
+reaching, it there is a stone bridge which spans the moat of running
+water. A lodge of stone, faced with brick, with large windows, rises at
+each corner of this space.
+
+The chateau, surrounded by cleverly arranged trees, stands in the
+centre, on a solid foundation of red granite from the Jura. A splendid
+double staircase leads to the ground floor as high as an 'entresol'. A
+spacious hall, rising to the roof of the building, lighted by a window
+filled with old stained glass, first offers itself to the visitor. A
+large organ, by Cavallie-Col, rears its long brilliant pipes at one end
+of the hall to a level with the gallery of sculptured wood running round
+and forming a balcony on the first floor. At each corner is a knight
+in armor, helmet on head, and lance in hand, mounted on a charger, and
+covered with the heavy trappings of war. Cases full of objects of art of
+great value, bookshelves containing all the new books, are placed along
+the walls. A billiard-table and all sorts of games are lodged under
+the vast staircase. The broad bays which give admission to the
+reception-rooms and grand staircase are closed by tapestry of the
+fifteenth century, representing hunting scenes. Long cords of silk and
+gold loop back these marvellous hangings in the Italian style. Thick
+carpets, into which the feet sink, deaden the sound of footsteps.
+Spacious divans, covered with Oriental materials, are placed round the
+room.
+
+Over the chimney-piece, which is splendidly carved in woodwork, is a
+looking-glass in the Renaissance style, with a bronze and silver frame,
+representing grinning fawns and dishevelled nymphs. Benches are placed
+round the hearth, which is large enough to hold six people. Above
+the divans, on the walls, are large oil-paintings by old masters. An
+"Assumption," by Jordaens, which is a masterpiece; "The Gamesters," by
+Valentin; "A Spanish Family on Horseback," painted by Velasquez; and the
+marvel of the collection--a "Holy Family," by Francia, bought in Russia.
+Then, lower down, "A Young Girl with a Canary," by Metzu; a "Kermesse,"
+by Braurver, a perfect treasure, glitter, like the gems they are, in the
+midst of panoplies, between the high branches of palm-trees planted in
+enormous delft vases. A mysterious light filters into that fresh and
+picturesque apartment through the stained-glass windows.
+
+From the hall the left wing is reached, where the reception-rooms are,
+and one's eyes are dazzled by the brightness which reigns there. It is
+like coming out from a cathedral into broad daylight. The furniture, of
+gilt wood and Genoese velvet, looks very bright. The walls are white
+and gold; and flowers are everywhere. At the end is Madame Desvarennes's
+bedroom, because she does not like mounting stairs, and lives on
+the ground floor. Adjoining it is a conservatory, furnished as a
+drawing-room, and serving as a boudoir for the mistress of the house.
+
+The dining-room, the gun-room, and the smoking-room are in the right
+wing. The gun-room deserves a particular description. Four glass cases
+contain guns of every description and size of the best English and
+French manufacture. All the furniture is made of stags' horns, covered
+with fox-skins and wolf-skins. A large rug, formed by four bears' skins,
+with menacing snouts, showing their white teeth at the four corners,
+is in the centre of the room. On the walls are four paintings by
+Princeteau, admirably executed, and representing hunting scenes. Low
+couches, wide as beds, covered with gray cloth, invite the sportsmen to
+rest. Large dressing-rooms, fitted up with hot and cold water, invite
+them to refresh themselves with a bath. Everything has been done to suit
+the most fastidious taste. The kitchens are underground.
+
+On the first story are the principal rooms. Twelve bedrooms, with
+dressing-rooms, upholstered in chintz of charming design. From these,
+a splendid view of the park and country beyond may be obtained. In the
+foreground is a piece of water, bathing, with its rapid current, the
+grassy banks which border the wood, while the low-lying branches of
+the trees dip into the flood, on which swans, dazzlingly white, swim in
+stately fashion. Beneath an old willow, whose drooping boughs form
+quite a vault of pale verdure, a squadron of multicolored boats remain
+fastened to the balustrade of a landing stage. Through an opening in
+the trees you see in the distance fields of yellow corn, and in the near
+background, behind a row of poplars, ever moving like a flash of silver
+lightning, the Oise flows on between its low banks.
+
+This sumptuous dwelling, on the evening of the 14th of July, was in
+its greatest splendor. The trees of the park were lit up by brilliant
+Venetian lanterns; little boats glided on the water of the lake carrying
+musicians whose notes echoed through the air. Under a marquee, placed
+midway in the large avenue, the country lads and lasses were dancing
+with spirit, while the old people, more calm, were seated under the
+large trees enjoying the ample fare provided. A tremendous uproar of
+gayety reechoed through the night, and the sound of the cornet attracted
+the people to the ball.
+
+It was nine o'clock. Carriages were fast arriving with guests for the
+mansion. In the centre of the handsome hall, illuminated with electric
+light, stood Madame Desvarennes in full dress, having put off black
+for one day, doing honor to the arrivals. Behind her stood Marechal and
+Savinien, like two aides-de-camp, ready, at a sign, to offer their arms
+to the ladies, to conduct them to the drawing-rooms. The gathering was
+numerous. Merchant-princes came for Madame Desvarennes's sake; bankers
+for Cayrol's; and the aristocrats and foreign nobility for the Prince's.
+An assemblage as opposed in ideas as in manners: some valuing only
+money, others high birth; all proud and elbowing each other with haughty
+assurance, speaking ill of each other and secretly jealous.
+
+There were heirs of dethroned kings; princes without portions, who were
+called Highness, and who had not the income of their fathers' former
+chamberlains; millionaires sprung from nothing, who made a great
+show and who would have given half of their possessions for a single
+quartering of the arms of these great lords whom they affected to
+despise.
+
+Serge and Cayrol went from group to group; the one with his graceful and
+delicate elegance; the other with his good-humor, radiant and elated by
+the consciousness of his triumphs. Herzog had just arrived, accompanied
+by his daughter, a charming girl of sixteen, to whom Marechal had
+offered his arm. A whispering was heard when Herzog passed. He was
+accustomed to the effect which he produced in public, and quite calmly
+congratulated Cayrol.
+
+Serge had just introduced Micheline to Count Soutzko, a gray-haired old
+gentleman of military appearance, whose right sleeve was empty. He was
+a veteran of the Polish wars, and an old friend of Prince Panine's, at
+whose side he had received the wounds which had so frightfully mutilated
+him. Micheline, smiling, was listening to flattering tales which the old
+soldier was relating about Serge. Cayrol, who had got rid of Herzog,
+was looking for Jeanne, who had just disappeared in the direction of the
+terrace.
+
+The rooms were uncomfortably warm, and many of the visitors had found
+their way to the terraces. Along the marble veranda, overlooking the
+lake, chairs had been placed. The ladies, wrapped in their lace scarfs,
+had formed into groups and were enjoying the delights of the beautiful
+evening. Bursts of subdued laughter came from behind fans, while the
+gentlemen talked in whispers. Above all this whispering was heard the
+distant sound of the cornet at the peasants' ball.
+
+Leaning over the balustrade, in a shady corner, far from the noise which
+troubled him and far from the fete which hurt him, Pierre was dreaming.
+His eyes were fixed on the illuminations in the park, but he did not
+see them. He thought of his vanished hopes. Another was beloved by
+Micheline, and in a few hours he would take her away, triumphant
+and happy. A great sadness stole over the young man's spirit; he was
+disgusted with life and hated humanity. What was to become of him now?
+His life was shattered; a heart like his could not love twice, and
+Micheline's image was too deeply engraven on it for it ever to be
+effaced. Of what use was all the trouble he had taken to raise himself
+above others? A worthless fellow had passed that way and Micheline had
+yielded to him. Now it was all over!
+
+And Pierre asked himself if he had not taken a wrong view of things,
+and if it was not the idle and good-for-nothing fellows who were more
+prudent than he. To waste his life in superhuman works, to tire his mind
+in seeking to solve great problems, and to attain old age without other
+satisfaction than unproductive honors and mercenary rewards. Those who
+only sought happiness and joy--epicureans who drive away all care,
+all pain, and only seek to soften their existence, and brighten their
+horizon--were they not true sages? Death comes so quickly! And it is
+with astonishment that one perceives when the hour is at hand, that one
+has not lived! Then the voice of pride spoke to him: what is a man who
+remains useless, and does not leave one trace of his passage through the
+world by works or discoveries? And, in a state of fever, Pierre said to
+himself:
+
+"I will throw myself heart and soul into science; I will make my name
+famous, and I will make that ungrateful child regret me. She will
+see the difference between me and him whom she has chosen. She will
+understand that he is nobody, except by her money, whereas she would
+have been all by me."
+
+A hand was placed on his shoulder; and Marechal's affectionate voice
+said to him:
+
+"Well! what are you doing here, gesticulating like that?"
+
+Pierre turned round.
+
+Lost in his thoughts he had not heard his friend approaching.
+
+"All our guests have arrived," continued Marechal. "I have only just
+been able to leave them and to come to you. I have been seeking you for
+more than a quarter of an hour. You are wrong to hide yourself; people
+will make remarks. Come toward the house; it is as well to show yourself
+a little; people might imagine things which they must not imagine."
+
+"Eh! let them think what they like; what does it matter to me?" said
+Pierre, sadly. "My life is a blank."
+
+"Your life may be a blank; but it is your duty not to let any one
+perceive it. Imitate the young Spartan, who smiled although the fox,
+hidden under his cloak, was gnawing his vitals. Let us avoid ridicule,
+my friend. In society there is nothing that provokes laughter more than
+a disappointed lover, who rolls his eyes about and looks woe-begone.
+And, then, you-see, suffering is a human law; the world is an arena,
+life is a conflict. Material obstacles, moral griefs, all hinder and
+overwhelm us. We must go on, though, all the same, and fight. Those who
+give in are trodden down! Come, pull yourself together!"
+
+"And for whom should I fight now? A moment ago I was making projects,
+but I was a fool! All hope and ambition are dead in me."
+
+"Ambition will return, you may be sure! At present you are suffering
+from weariness of mind; but your strength will return. As to hope, one
+must never despair."
+
+"What can I expect in the future?"
+
+"What? Why, everything! In this world all sorts of things happen!" said
+Marechal, gayly. "Who is to prove that the Princess will not be a widow
+soon?"
+
+Pierre could not help laughing and said,
+
+"Come, don't talk such nonsense!"
+
+"My dear fellow," concluded Marechal, "in life it is only nonsense that
+is common-sense. Come and smoke a cigar."
+
+They traversed several groups of people and bent their steps in the
+direction of the chateau. The Prince was advancing toward the terrace,
+with an elegantly dressed and beautiful woman on his arm. Savinien, in
+the midst of a circle of dandies, was picking the passers-by to pieces
+in his easy-going way. Pierre and Marechal came behind these young men
+without being noticed.
+
+"Who is that hanging on the arm of our dear Prince?" asked a little fat
+man, girt in a white satin waistcoat, and a spray of white lilac in his
+buttonhole.
+
+"Eh! Why, Le Brede, my boy, you don't know anything!" cried Savinien in
+a bantering, jocose tone.
+
+"Because I don't know that lovely fair woman?" said Le Brede, in a
+piqued voice. "I don't profess to know the names of all the pretty women
+in Paris!"
+
+"In Paris? That woman from Paris? You have not looked at her. Come, open
+your eyes. Pure English style, my friend."
+
+The dandies roared with laughter. They had at once recognized the pure
+English style. They were not men to be deceived. One of them, a tall,
+dark fellow, named Du Tremblays, affected an aggrieved air, and said:
+
+"Le Brede, my dear fellow, you make us blush for you!"
+
+The Prince passed, smiling and speaking in a low voice to the beautiful
+Englishwoman, who was resting the tips of her white gloved fingers on
+her cavalier's arm.
+
+"Who is she?" inquired Le Brede, impatiently.
+
+"Eh, my dear fellow, it is Lady Harton, a cousin of the Prince. She is
+extremely rich, and owns a district in London."
+
+"They say that a year ago she was very kind to Serge Panine," added Du
+Tremblays, confidentially.
+
+"Why did he not marry her, then, since she is so rich? He has been quite
+a year in the market, the dear Prince."
+
+"She is married."
+
+"Oh, that is a good reason. But where is her husband?"
+
+"Shut up in a castle in Scotland. Nobody ever sees him. He is out of his
+mind; and is surrounded by every attention."
+
+"And a strait-waistcoat! Then why does not this pretty woman get a
+divorce?"
+
+"The money belongs to the husband."
+
+"Really!"
+
+Pierre and Marechal had listened, in silence, to this cool and yet
+terrible conversation. The group of young men dispersed. The two
+friends looked at each other. Thus, then, Serge Panine was judged by his
+companions in pleasure, by the frequenters of the clubs in which he
+had spent a part of his existence. The Prince being "in the market" was
+obliged to marry a rich woman. He could not marry Lady Harton, so he had
+sought Micheline. And the sweet child was the wife of such a man! And
+what could be done? She loved him!
+
+Madame Desvarennes and Micheline appeared on the terrace. Lady Harton
+pointed to the bride with her fan. The Prince, leaving his companion,
+advanced toward Micheline.
+
+"One of my English relatives, a Polish lady, married to Lord Harton,
+wishes to be introduced to you," said Serge. "Are you agreeable?"
+
+"With all my heart," replied the young wife, looking lovingly at her
+husband. "All who belong to you are dear to me, you know."
+
+The beautiful Englishwoman approached slowly.
+
+"The Princess Panine!" said Serge, gravely, introducing Micheline, who
+bowed gracefully. Then, with a shade of familiarity: "Lady Harton!"
+continued he, introducing his relative.
+
+"I am very fond of your husband, Madame," said the Englishwoman. "I hope
+you will allow me to love you also; and I beg you to grant me the favor
+of accepting this small remembrance."
+
+While speaking, she unfastened from her wrist a splendid bracelet with
+the inscription, Semper.
+
+Serge frowned and looked stern. Micheline, lowering her eyes, and awed
+by the Englishwoman's grandeur, timidly said:
+
+"I accept it, Madame, as a token of friendship."
+
+"I think I recognize this bracelet, Madame," observed Serge.
+
+"Yes; you gave it to me," replied Lady Harton, quietly. "Semper--I beg
+your pardon, Madame, we Poles all speak Latin--Semper means 'Always!' It
+is a great word. On your wife's arm this bracelet will be well placed.
+Au revoir, dear Prince. I wish you every happiness."
+
+And bowing to Micheline with a regal bow, Lady Harton took the arm of a
+tall young man whom she had beckoned, and walked away.
+
+Micheline, amazed, looked at the bracelet sparkling on her white wrist.
+Without uttering a word Serge unfastened it, took it off his wife's
+arm, and advancing on the terrace, with a rapid movement flung it in
+the water. The bracelet gleamed in the night-air and made a brilliant
+splash; then the water resumed its tranquillity. Micheline, astonished,
+looked at Serge, who came toward her, and very humbly said:
+
+"I beg your pardon."
+
+The young wife did not answer, but her eyes filled with tears; a smile
+brightened her lips, and hurriedly taking his arm, she led him into the
+drawing-room.
+
+Dancing was going on there. The young ladies of Pontoise, and the cream
+of Creil, had come to the fete, bent on not losing such an opportunity
+of enjoying themselves. Under the watchful eyes of their mothers,
+who, decked out in grand array, were seated along the walls, they were
+gamboling, in spite of the stifling heat, with all the impetuosity of
+young provincials habitually deprived of the pleasures of the ballroom.
+Crossing the room, Micheline and Serge reached Madame Desvarennes's
+boudoir.
+
+It was delightfully cool in there. Cayrol had taken refuge there
+with Jeanne, and Mademoiselle Susanne Herzog. This young girl felt
+uncomfortable at being a third party with the newly-married couple,
+and welcomed the arrival of the Prince and Micheline with pleasure. Her
+father had left her for a moment in Cayrol's care; but she had not seen
+him for more than an hour.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said the Prince, gayly, "a little while ago, when I
+was passing through the rooms, I heard these words: 'Loan, discount,
+liquidation.' Your father must have been there. Shall I go and seek
+him?"
+
+"I should be very grateful," said the young girl.
+
+"I will go."
+
+And turning lightly on his heels, happy to escape Jeanne's looks, Serge
+reentered the furnace. At once he saw Herzog seated in the corner of
+a bay-window with one of the principal stock-brokers of Paris. He was
+speaking. The Prince went straight up to him.
+
+"Sorry to draw you away from the sweets of conversation," said he,
+smiling; "but your daughter is waiting for you, and is anxious at your
+not coming."
+
+"Faith! My daughter, yes. I will come and see you tomorrow," said he to
+his companion. "We will talk over this association: there is much to be
+gained by it."
+
+The other, a man with a bloated face, and fair Dundreary whiskers, was
+eager to do business with him. Certainly the affair was good.
+
+"Oh, my dear Prince, I am happy to be alone with you for a moment!" said
+Herzog, with that familiarity which was one of his means of becoming
+intimate with people. "I was going to compliment you! What a splendid
+position you have reached."
+
+"Yes; I have married a charming woman," replied the Prince, coldly.
+
+"And what a fortune!" insisted the financier. "Ah, it is worthy of the
+lot of a great lord such as you are! Oh, you are like those masterpieces
+of art which need a splendidly carved frame! Well, you have your frame,
+and well gilt too!"
+
+He laughed and seemed pleased at Serge's happiness. He had taken one of
+his hands and was patting it softly between his own.
+
+"Not a very 'convenient' mother-in-law, for instance," he went on,
+good-naturedly; "but you are so charming! Only you could have, coaxed
+Madame Desvarennes, and you have succeeded. Oh! she likes you, my dear
+Prince; she told me so only a little while ago. You have won her heart.
+I don't know how you manage it, but you are irresistible! By the way, I
+was not there when the marriage contract was read, and I, forgot to ask
+Cayrol. Under what conditions are you married?"
+
+The Prince looked at Herzog with a look that was hardly friendly.
+But the financier appeared so indifferent, that Serge could not help
+answering him:
+
+"My wife's fortune is settled on herself."
+
+"Ah! ah! that is usual in Normandy!" replied Herzog with a grave look.
+"I was told Madame Desvarennes was a clever woman and she has proved it.
+And you signed the contract with your eyes shut, my dear Prince. It is
+perfect, just as a gentleman should do!"
+
+He said this with a good-natured air. Then, suddenly lifting his eyes,
+and with an ironical smile playing on his lips, he added:
+
+"You are bowled out, my dear fellow, don't you know?"
+
+"Sir!" protested Serge with haughtiness.
+
+"Don't cry out; it is too late, and would be useless," replied the
+financier. "Let me explain your position to you. Your hands are tied.
+You cannot dispose of a sou belonging to your wife without her consent.
+It is true, you have influence over her, happily for you. Still you must
+foresee that she will be guided by her mother. A strong woman, too, the
+mother! Ah, Prince, you have allowed yourself to be done completely. I
+would not have thought it of you."
+
+Serge, nonplussed for a moment, regained his self-possession, and looked
+Herzog in the face:
+
+"I don't know what idea you have formed of me, sir, and I don't know
+what object you have in speaking thus to me."
+
+"My interest in you," interrupted the financier. "You are a charming
+fellow: you please me much. With your tastes, it is possible that in a
+brief time you may be short of money. Come and see me: I will put you
+into the way of business. Au revoir, Prince."
+
+And without giving Serge time to answer him, Herzog reached the boudoir
+where his daughter was waiting with impatience. Behind him came the
+Prince looking rather troubled. The financier's words had awakened
+importunate ideas in his mind. Was it true that he had been duped
+by Madame Desvarennes, and that the latter, while affecting airs of
+greatness and generosity, had tied him like a noodle to her daughter's
+apron-string? He made an effort to regain his serenity.
+
+"Micheline loves me and all will be well," said he to himself.
+
+Madame Desvarennes joined the young married people. The rooms were
+clearing by degrees. Serge took Cayrol apart.
+
+"What are you going to do to-night, my dear fellow?
+
+"You know an apartment has been prepared for you here?"
+
+"Yes, I have already thanked Madame Desvarennes, but I mean to go back
+to Paris. Our little paradise is prepared for us, and I wish to enter it
+to-night. I have my carriage and horses here. I am taking away my wife
+post-haste."
+
+"That is an elopement," said Serge; gayly, "quite in the style of the
+regency!"
+
+"Yes, my dear Prince, that's how we bankers do it," said Cayrol,
+laughing.
+
+Then changing his tone:
+
+"See, I vibrate, I am palpitating. I am hot and cold by turns. Just
+fancy, I have never loved before; my heart is whole, and I love to
+distraction!"
+
+Serge instinctively glanced at Jeanne. She was seated, looking sad and
+tired.
+
+Madame Desvarennes, between Jeanne and Micheline, had her arms twined
+round the two young girls. Regret filled her eyes. The mother felt
+that the last moments of her absolute reign were near, and she was
+contemplating with supreme adoration these two children who had grown
+up around her like two fragile and precious flowers. She was saying to
+them,
+
+"Well, the great day is over. You are both married. You don't belong to
+me any longer. How I shall miss you! This morning I had two children,
+and now--"
+
+"You have four," interrupted Micheline. "Why do you complain?"
+
+"I don't complain," retorted Madame Desvarennes, quickly.
+
+"That's right!" said Micheline, gayly.
+
+Then going toward Jeanne:
+
+"But you are not speaking, you are so quiet; are you ill?"
+
+Jeanne shuddered, and made an effort to soften the hard lines on her
+face.
+
+"It is nothing. A little fatigue."
+
+"And emotion," added Micheline. "This morning when we entered the
+church, at the sound of the organ, in the midst of flowers, surrounded
+by all our friends, I felt that I was whiter than my veil. And the
+crossing to my place seemed so long, I thought I should never get there.
+I did so, though. And now everybody calls me 'Madame' and some call me
+'Princess.' It amuses me!"
+
+Serge had approached.
+
+"But you are a Princess," said he, smiling, "and everybody must call you
+so."
+
+"Oh, not mamma, nor Jeanne, nor you," said the young wife, quickly;
+"always call me Micheline. It will be less respectful, but it will be
+more tender."
+
+Madame Desvarennes could not resist drawing her daughter once more to
+her heart.
+
+"Dear child," she said with emotion, "you need affection, as flowers
+need the sun! But I love you, there."
+
+She stopped and added:
+
+"We love you."
+
+And she held out her hand to her son-in-law. Then changing the subject:
+
+"But I am thinking, Cayrol, as you are returning to Paris, you might
+take some orders for me which I will write out."
+
+"What? Business? Even on my wedding-day?" exclaimed Micheline.
+
+"Eh! my daughter, we must have flour," replied the mistress, laughing.
+"While we are enjoying ourselves Paris eats, and it has a famous
+appetite."
+
+Micheline, leaving her mother, went to her husband.
+
+"Serge, it is not yet late. Suppose we put in an appearance at the
+work-people's ball? I promised them, and the good folks will be so
+happy!"
+
+"As you please. I am awaiting your orders. Let us make ourselves
+popular!"
+
+Madame Desvarennes had gone to her room. Carol took the opportunity
+of telling his coachman to drive round by the park to the door of the
+little conservatory and wait there. Thus, his wife and he would avoid
+meeting any one, and would escape the leave-taking of friends and the
+curiosity of lookers-on.
+
+Micheline went up to Jeanne, and said:
+
+"As you are going away quietly, dear, I shall not see you again this
+evening. Adieu!"
+
+And with a happy smile, she kissed her. Then taking her husband's arm
+she led him toward the park.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. CAYROL'S DISAPPOINTMENT
+
+Jeanne left alone, watched them as they disappeared with the light and
+easy movements of lovers.
+
+Serge, bending toward Micheline, was speaking tenderly. A rush of bitter
+feeling caused Jeanne's heart to swell. She was alone, she, while he
+whom she loved-her whole being revolted. Unhappy one! Why did she think
+of this man? Had she the right to do so now? She no longer belonged to
+herself. Another, who was as kind to her as Serge was ungrateful, was
+her husband. She thought thus in sincerity of heart. She wished to
+love Cayrol. Alas, poor Jeanne! She would load him with attentions and
+caresses! And Serge would be jealous, for he could never have forgotten
+her so soon.
+
+Her thoughts again turned to him whom she wished to forget. She made
+an effort, but in vain. Serge was uppermost; he possessed her. She was
+afraid. Would she never be able to break off the remembrance? Would his
+name be ever on her lips, his face ever before her eyes?
+
+Thank heaven! she was about to leave. Travelling, and the sight of
+strange places other than those where she had lived near Serge, would
+draw her attention from the persecution she suffered. Her husband was
+about to take her away, to defend her. It was his duty, and she would
+help him with energy. With all the strength of her will she summoned
+Cayrol. She clung violently to him as a drowning person catches at a
+straw, with the vigor of despair.
+
+There was between Jeanne and Cayrol a sympathetic communication.
+Mentally called by his wife, the husband appeared.
+
+"Ah! at last!" said she.
+
+Cayrol, surprised at this welcome, smiled. Jeanne, without noticing,
+added:
+
+"Well, Monsieur; are we leaving soon?"
+
+The banker's surprise increased. But as this surprise was decidedly an
+agreeable one he did not protest.
+
+"In a moment, Jeanne, dear," he said.
+
+"Why this delay?" asked the young wife, nervously.
+
+"You will understand. There are more than twenty carriages before the
+front door. Our coachman is driving round, and we will go out by the
+conservatory door without being seen."
+
+"Very well; we will wait."
+
+This delay displeased Jeanne. In the ardor of her resolution, in the
+first warmth of her struggle, she wished at once to put space between
+her and Serge. Unfortunately, Cayrol had thwarted this effort of proud
+revolt. She was vexed with him. He, without knowing the motives which
+actuated his wife, guessed that something had displeased her. He wished
+to change the current of her thoughts.
+
+"You were marvellously beautiful to-night," he said, approaching her
+gallantly. "You were much admired, and I was proud of you. If you had
+heard my friends! It was a concert of congratulations: What a fortunate
+fellow that Cayrol is! He is rich; he has a charming wife! You see,
+Jeanne, thanks to you, in the eyes of all, my happiness is complete."
+
+Jeanne frowned, and without answering, shook her head haughtily. Cayrol
+continued, without noticing this forecast of a storm:
+
+"They envy me; and I can understand it! I would not change places with
+anybody. There, our friend Prince Panine is very happy; he has married
+a woman whom he loves and who adores him. Well, he is not happier than I
+am!"
+
+Jeanne rose abruptly, and gave her husband a terrible look.
+
+"Monsieur!" she cried with rage.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Cayrol, humbly; "I appear ridiculous to you,
+but my happiness is stronger than I am, and I cannot hide my joy. You
+will see that I can be grateful. I will spend my life in trying to
+please you. I have a surprise for you to begin with."
+
+"What kind of surprise?" asked Jeanne, with indifference.
+
+Cayrol rubbed his hands with a mysterious air. He was enjoying
+beforehand the pleasant surprise he had in store for his wife.
+
+"You think we are going to Paris to spend our honeymoon like ordinary
+folk?"
+
+Jeanne started. Cayrol seemed unfortunate in his choice of words.
+
+"Well, not at all," continued the banker. "Tomorrow I leave my offices.
+My customers may say what they like; I will leave my business, and we
+are off."
+
+Jeanne showed signs of pleasure. A flash of joy lit up her face. To go
+away, that was rest for her!
+
+"And where shall we go?"
+
+"That is the surprise! You know that the Prince and his wife intend
+travelling!"
+
+"Yes; but they refused to say where they were going;" interrupted
+Jeanne, with a troubled expression.
+
+"Not to me. They are going to Switzerland. Well, we shall join them
+there."
+
+Jeanne arose like a startled deer when it hears the sound of a gun.
+
+"Join them there!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Yes; to continue the journey together. A party of four; two
+newly-married couples. It will be charming. I spoke to Serge on the
+subject. He objected at first, but the Princess came to my assistance.
+And when he saw that his wife and I were agreed, he commenced to laugh,
+and said: 'You wish it? I consent. Don't say anything more!' It is
+all very well to talk of love's solitude; in about a fortnight, passed
+tete-a-tete, Serge will be glad to have us. We will go to Italy to see
+the lakes; and there, in a boat, all four, of us will have such pleasant
+times."
+
+Cayrol might have gone on talking for an hour, but Jeanne was not
+listening. She was thinking. Thus all the efforts which she had
+decided to make to escape from him whom she loved would be useless. An
+invincible fatality ever brought her toward him whom she was seeking
+to avoid. And it was her husband who was aiding this inevitable
+and execrable meeting. A bitter smile played on her lips. There was
+something mournfully comic in this stubbornness of Cayrol's, in throwing
+her in the way of Serge.
+
+Cayrol, embarrassed by Jeanne's silence, waited a moment.
+
+"What is the matter?" he asked. "You are just like the Prince when I
+spoke to him on the subject."
+
+Jeanne turned away abruptly. Cayrol's comparison was too direct. His
+blunders were becoming wearisome.
+
+The banker, quite discomfited on seeing the effect of his words,
+continued:
+
+"You object to this journey? If so, I am willing to give it up."
+
+The young wife was touched by this humble servility.
+
+"Well, yes," she said, softly, "I should be grateful to you."
+
+"I had hoped to please you," said Cayrol. "It is for me to beg pardon
+for having succeeded so badly. Let us remain in Paris. It does not
+matter to me what place we are in! Being near to you is all I desire."
+
+He approached her, and, with beaming eyes, added:
+
+"You are so beautiful, Jeanne; and I have loved you so long a time!"
+
+She moved away, full of a vague dread. Cayrol, very excitedly, put her
+cloak round her shoulders, and looking toward the door, added:
+
+"The carriage is there, we can go now."
+
+Jeanne, much troubled, did not rise.
+
+"Wait another minute," said she.
+
+Cayrol smiled constrainedly:
+
+"A little while ago you were hurrying me off."
+
+It was true. But a sudden change had come over Jeanne. Her energy had
+given way. She felt very weary. The idea of going away with Cayrol,
+and of being alone with him in the carriage frightened her. She looked
+vaguely at her husband, and saw, in a sort of mist, this great fat man,
+with a protruding shirt-front, rolls of red flesh on his neck above his
+collar, long fat ears which only needed gold ear-rings, and his great
+hairy hands, on the finger of one of which shone the new wedding-ring.
+Then, in a rapid vision, she beheld the refined profile, the beautiful
+blue eyes, and the long, fair mustache of Serge. A profound sadness came
+over the young woman, and tears rushed to her eyes.
+
+"What is the matter with you? You are crying!" exclaimed Cayrol,
+anxiously.
+
+"It is nothing; my nerves are shaken. I am thinking of this chateau
+which bears my name. Here I spent my youth, and here my father died. A
+thousand ties bind me to this dwelling, and I cannot leave it without
+being overcome."
+
+"Another home awaits you, luxuriantly adorned," murmured Cayrol, "and
+worthy of receiving you. It is there you will live henceforth with me,
+happy through me, and belonging to me."
+
+Then, ardently supplicating her, he added:
+
+"Let us go, Jeanne!"
+
+He tried to take her in his arms, but the young wife disengaged herself.
+
+"Leave me alone!" she said, moving away.
+
+Cayrol looked at her in amazement.
+
+"What is it? You are trembling and frightened!"
+
+He tried to jest:
+
+"Am I so very terrible, then? Or is it the idea of leaving here that
+troubles you so much? If so, why did you not tell me sooner? I can
+understand things. Let us remain here for a few days, or as long as
+you like. I have arranged my affairs so as to be at liberty. Our little
+paradise can wait for us."
+
+He spoke pleasantly, but with an undercurrent of anxiety.
+
+Jeanne came slowly to him, and calmly taking his hand, said:
+
+"You are very good."
+
+"I am not making any efforts to be so," retorted Cayrol, smiling. "What
+do I ask? That you may be happy and satisfied."
+
+"Well, do you wish to please me?" asked the young wife.
+
+"Yes!" exclaimed Cayrol, warmly, "tell me how."
+
+"Madame Desvarennes will be very lonely tomorrow when her daughter will
+be gone. She will need consoling--"
+
+"Ah, ah," said Cayrol, thinking that he understood, "and you would
+like--"
+
+"I would like to remain some time with her. You could come every day and
+see us. I would be very grateful to you, and would love you very much!"
+
+"But--but--but--!" exclaimed Cayrol, much confounded, "you cannot mean
+what you say, Jeanne! What, my dear? You wish me to return alone to
+Paris to-night? What would my servants say? You would expose me to
+ridicule!"
+
+Poor Cayrol made a piteous face. Jeanne looked at him as she had never
+looked before. It made his blood boil.
+
+"Would you be so very ridiculous for having been delicate and tender?"
+
+"I don't see what tenderness has to do with it," cried Cayrol; "on the
+contrary! But I love you. You don't seem to think it!"
+
+"Prove it," replied Jeanne, more provokingly.
+
+This time Cayrol lost all patience.
+
+"Is it in leaving you that I shall prove it? Really, Jeanne, I am
+disposed to be kind and to humor your whims, but on condition that they
+are reasonable. You seem to be making fun of me! If I give way on such
+important points on the day of our marriage, whither will you lead me?
+No; no! You are my wife. The wife must follow her husband; the law says
+so!"
+
+"Is it by law only that you wish to keep me? Have you forgotten what I
+told you when you made me an offer of marriage? It is my hand only which
+I give you."
+
+"And I answered you, that it would be my aim to gain your heart. Well,
+but give me the means. Come, dear," said the banker in a resolute tone,
+"you take me for a child. I am not so simple as that! I know what this
+resistance means; charming modesty so long as it is not everlasting."
+
+Jeanne turned away without answering. Her face had changed its
+expression; it was hard and determined.
+
+"Really," continued Cayrol, "you would make a saint lose patience. Come,
+answer me, what does this attitude mean?"
+
+The young wife remained silent. She felt she could not argue any longer,
+and seeing no way out of her trouble, felt quite discouraged. Still she
+would not yield. She shuddered at the very idea of belonging to this
+man; she had never thought of the issue of this brutal and vulgar
+adventure. Now that she realized it, she felt terribly disgusted.
+
+Cayrol anxiously watched the increasing anguish depicted on his wife's
+face. He had a presentiment that she was hiding something from him, and
+the thought nearly choked him. And, with this suspicion, his ingenuity
+came to his aid. He approached Jeanne, and said, affectionately:
+
+"Come, dear child, we are misleading one another; I in speaking too
+harshly, you in refusing to understand me. Forget that I am your
+husband; see in me only a friend and open your heart; your resistance
+hides a mystery. You have had some grief or have been deceived."
+
+Jeanne, softened, said, in a low tone:
+
+"Don't speak to me like that; leave me."
+
+"No," resumed Cayrol, quietly, "we are beginning life; there must be no
+misunderstanding. Be frank, and you will find me indulgent. Come, young
+girls are often romantic. They picture an ideal; they fall in love with
+some one who does not return their love, which is sometimes even unknown
+to him who is their hero. Then, suddenly, they have to return to a
+reality. They find themselves face to face with a husband who is not
+the expected Romeo, but who is a good man, devoted, loving, and ready to
+heal the wounds he has not made. They are afraid of this husband; they
+mistrust him, and will not follow him. It is wrong, because it is
+near him, in honorable and right existence, that they find peace and
+forgetfulness."
+
+Cayrol's heart was torn by anxiety, and with trembling voice he tried to
+read the effect of his words on Jeanne's features. She had turned away.
+Cayrol bent toward her and said:
+
+"You don't answer me."
+
+And as she still remained silent, he took her hand and forced her to
+look at him. He saw that her face was covered with tears. He shuddered,
+and then flew into a terrible passion.
+
+"You are crying! It is true then? You have loved?"
+
+Jeanne rose with a bound; she saw her imprudence. She understood the
+trap he had laid; her cheeks burned. Drying her tears, she turned toward
+Cayrol, and cried:
+
+"Who has said so?"
+
+"You cannot deceive me," replied the banker, violently. "I saw it in
+your looks. Now, I want to know the man's name!"
+
+Jeanne looked him straight in the face.
+
+"Never!" she said.
+
+"Ah, that is an avowal!" exclaimed Cayrol.
+
+"You have deceived me unworthily by your pretended kindness,"
+interrupted Jeanne, proudly, "I will not say anything more."
+
+Cayrol flew at her--the churl reappeared. He muttered a fearful oath,
+and seizing her by the arm, shouted:
+
+"Take care! Don't play with me. Speak, I insist, or--" and he shook her
+brutally.
+
+Jeanne, indignant, screamed and tore herself away from him.
+
+"Leave me," she said, "you fill me with horror!"
+
+The husband, beside himself, pale as death and trembling convulsively,
+could not utter a word, and was about to rush upon her when the door
+opened, and Madame Desvarennes appeared, holding in her hand the letters
+which she had written for Cayrol to take back to Paris. Jeanne uttered a
+cry of joy, and with a bound threw herself into the arms of her who had
+been a mother to her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. CONFESSION
+
+Madame Desvarennes understood the situation at a glance. She beheld
+Cayrol livid, tottering, and excited. She felt Jeanne trembling on her
+breast; she saw something serious had occurred. She calmed herself and
+put on a cold manner to enable her the better to suppress any resistance
+that they might offer.
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked, looking severely at Cayrol.
+
+"Something quite unexpected," replied the banker, laughing nervously.
+"Madame refuses to follow me."
+
+"And for what reason?" she asked.
+
+"She dare not speak!" Cayrol resumed, whose excitement increased as he
+spoke. "It appears she has in her heart an unhappy love! And as I do not
+resemble the dreamed-of type, Madame has repugnances. But you understand
+the affair is not going to end there. It is not usual to come and say
+to a husband, twelve hours after marriage, 'Sir, I am very sorry, but I
+love somebody else!' It would be too convenient. I shall not lend myself
+to these whims."
+
+"Cayrol, oblige me by speaking in a lower tone," said Madame
+Desvarennes, quietly. "There is some misunderstanding between you and
+this child."
+
+The husband shrugged his broad shoulders.
+
+"A misunderstanding? Faith! I think so! You have a delicacy of language
+which pleases me! A misunderstanding! Say rather a shameful deception!
+But I want to know the gentleman's name. She will have to speak. I am
+not a scented, educated gentleman. I am a peasant, and if I have to--"
+
+"Enough," said Madame Desvarennes, sharply tapping with the tips of
+her fingers Cayrol's great fist which he held menacingly like a butcher
+about to strike. Then, taking him quietly aside toward the window, she
+added:
+
+"You are a fool to go on like this! Go to my room for a moment. To you,
+now, she will not say anything; to me she will confide all and we shall
+know what to do."
+
+Cayrol's face brightened.
+
+"You are right," he said. "Yes, as ever, you are right. You must excuse
+rile, I do not know how to talk to women. Rebuke her and put a little
+sense in her head. But don't leave her; she is fit to commit any folly."
+
+Madame Desvarennes smiled.
+
+"Be easy," she answered.
+
+And making a sign to Cayrol, who was leaving the room, she returned to
+Jeanne.
+
+"Come, my child, compose yourself. We are alone and you will tell me
+what happened. Among women we understand each other. Come, you were
+frightened, eh?"
+
+Jeanne was one petrified, immovable, and dumb, she fixed her eyes on a
+flower which was hanging from a vase. This red flower fascinated her.
+She could not take her eyes off it. Within her a persistent thought
+recurred: that of her irremediable misfortune. Madame Desvarennes looked
+at her for a moment; then, gently touching her shoulder, resumed;
+
+"Won't you answer me? Have you not confidence in me? Have I not brought
+you up? And if you are not born of me, have not the tenderness and care
+I have lavished upon you made me your real mother?"
+
+Jeanne did not answer, but her eyes filled with tears;
+
+"You know that I love you," continued the mistress. "Come, come to my
+arms as you used to do when you were little and were suffering. Place
+your head thereon my heart and let your tears flow. I see they are
+choking you."
+
+Jeanne could no longer resist, and falling on her knees beside Madame
+Desvarennes, she buried her face in the silky and scented folds of her
+dress like a frightened bird that flies to the nest and hides itself
+under the wings of its mother.
+
+This great and hopeless grief was to the mistress a certain proof that
+Cayrol was right. Jeanne had loved and still loved another man than
+her husband. But why had she not said anything, and why had she allowed
+herself to be married to the banker? She had resisted, she remembered
+now. She had struggled, and the refusals they had put down to pride they
+must now attribute to passion.
+
+She did not wish to be separated from him whom she loved. Hence the
+struggle that had ended in her abandoning her hand to Cayrol, perhaps
+in a moment of despair and discouragement. But why had he whom she loved
+not married her? What obstacle had arisen between him and the young
+girl? Jeanne, so beautiful, and dowered by Madame Desvarennes, who then
+could have hesitated to ask her hand?
+
+Perhaps he whom Jeanne loved was unworthy of her? No! She would not have
+chosen him. Perhaps he was not free to marry? Yes, it must be that.
+Some married man, perhaps! A scoundrel who did not mind breaking a young
+girl's heart! Where had she met him? In society at her house in the Rue
+Saint-Dominique, perhaps! Who could tell? He very likely still continued
+to come there. At the thought Madame Desvarennes grew angry. She wished
+to know the name of the man so that she might have an explanation with
+him, and tell him what she thought of his base conduct. The gentleman
+should have respectable, well-educated girls to trifle with, should he?
+And he risked nothing! He should be shown to the door with all honors
+due to his shameful conduct.
+
+Jeanne was still weeping silently at Madame Desvarennes's knee. The
+latter raised her head gently and wiped away the tears with her lace
+pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"Come, my child! all this deluge means nothing. You must make up your
+mind. I can understand your hiding anything from your husband, but not
+from me! What is your lover's name?"
+
+This question so simply put, threw a faint light on Jeanne's troubled
+brain. She saw the danger she was running. To speak before Madame
+Desvarennes! To tell the name of him who had been false to her! To
+her! Was it possible? In a moment she understood that she was about to
+destroy Micheline and Serge. Her conscience revolted and she would
+not. She raised herself and looking at Madame Desvarennes with still
+frightened eyes,
+
+"For pity's sake, forget my tears! Don't believe what my husband
+has told you. Never seek to know. Remain ignorant as you are on the
+subject!"
+
+"Then he whom you love is related to me, as: you wish to hide his name
+even from me," said Madame Desvarennes with instinctive anguish.
+
+She was silent. Her eyes became fixed. They looked without seeing. She
+was thinking.
+
+"I beseech you," cried Jeanne, madly placing her hands before Madame
+Desvarennes's face as if to check her scrutiny.
+
+"If I had a son," continued the mistress, "I would believe--" Suddenly
+she ceased speaking; she became pale, and bending toward Jeanne, she
+looked into her very soul.
+
+"Is it--" she began.
+
+"No! no!" interrupted Jeanne, terrified at seeing that the mistress had
+found out the truth.
+
+"You deny it before I have pronounced the name?" said Madame Desvarennes
+in a loud voice. "You read it then on my lips? Unhappy girl! The man
+whom you love is the husband of my daughter!"
+
+My daughter! The accent with which Madame Desvarennes pronounced the
+word "my" was full of tragical power. It revealed the mother capable
+of doing anything to defend the happiness of the child whom she
+adored. Serge had calculated well. Between Jeanne and Micheline, Madame
+Desvarennes would not hesitate. She would have allowed the world to
+crumble away to make of its ruins a shelter where her daughter would be
+joyous and happy.
+
+Jeanne had fallen back overwhelmed. The mistress raised her roughly.
+She had no more consideration for her. It was necessary that she should
+speak. Jeanne was the sole witness, and if the truth had to be got by
+main force she should be made to speak it.
+
+"Ah, forgive me!" moaned the young girl.
+
+"It is not a question of that! In one word, answer me: Does he love
+you?"
+
+"Do I know?"
+
+"Did he tell you he did?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And he has married Micheline!" exclaimed Madame Desvarennes, with a
+fearful gesture. "I distrusted him. Why did I not obey my instinct?"
+
+And she began walking about like a lioness in a cage. Then, suddenly
+stopping and placing herself before Jeanne, she continued:
+
+"You must help me to save Micheline!"
+
+She thought only of her own flesh and blood. Without hesitation,
+unconsciously, she abandoned the other--the child of adoption. She
+claimed the safety of her daughter as a debt.
+
+"What has she to fear?" asked Jeanne, bitterly. "She triumphs, as she is
+his wife."
+
+"If he were to abandon her," said the mother with anguish. Then,
+reflecting: "Still, he has sworn to me that he loved her."
+
+"He lied!" cried Jeanne, with rage. "He wanted Micheline for her
+fortune!"
+
+"But why that?" inquired Madame Desvarennes, menacingly. "Is she not
+pretty enough to have pleased him? Do you think that you are the only
+one to be loved?"
+
+"If I had been rich he would have married me!", replied Jeanne,
+exasperated.
+
+She had risen in revolt. They were treading too heavily on her. With a
+ferocious cry of triumph; she added:
+
+"The night he used his influence with me to get me to marry Cayrol, he
+assured me so on his word of honor!"
+
+"Honor!" ironically repeated Madame Desvarennes, overwhelmed. "How
+he has deceived us all! But what can I do? What course can I take? A
+separation? Micheline would not consent. She loves him."
+
+And, in an outburst of fury, she cried:
+
+"Is it possible that that stupid girl loves that worthless dandy? And
+she has my blood in her veins! If she knew the truth she would die!"
+
+"Am I dead?" asked Jeanne, gloomily.
+
+"You have an energetic nature," retorted the mistress, compassionately;
+"but she is so weak, so gentle! Ah! Jeanne, think what I have been to
+you; raise some insurmountable barrier between yourself and Serge!
+
+"Go back to your husband. You would not go with him a little while ago.
+It was folly. If you separate from Cayrol, you will not be able to keep
+away Serge, and you will take my daughter's husband from her!"
+
+"Ah! you think only of her! Her, always! She above all!" cried Jeanne,
+with rage. "But me, I exist, I count, I have the right to be protected,
+of being happy! And you wish me to sacrifice myself, to give myself up
+to this man, whom I do not love, and who terrifies me?"
+
+This time the question was plainly put. Madame Desvarennes became
+herself. She straightened her figure, and in her commanding voice whose
+authority no one resisted, said:
+
+"What then? You wish to be separated from him? To regain your liberty at
+the price of scandal? And what liberty? You will be repulsed, disdained.
+Believe me, impose silence on your heart and listen to your reason. Your
+husband is a good, loyal man. If you cannot love him, he will command
+your respect. In marrying him, you have entered into engagements toward
+him. Fulfil them; it is your duty."
+
+Jeanne felt overpowered and vanquished. "But what will my life be?" she
+groaned.
+
+"That of an honest woman," replied Madame Desvarennes, with true
+grandeur. "Be a wife; God will make you a mother, and you will be
+saved."
+
+Jeanne bowed herself at these words. She no longer felt in them the
+selfishness of the mother. What the mistress now said was sincere and
+true. It was no longer her agitated and alarmed heart that inspired her;
+it was her conscience, calm and sincere.
+
+"Very well; I will obey you," said the young wife, simply. "Kiss me
+then, mother."
+
+She bent her brow, and Madame Desvarennes let tears of gratitude and
+admiration fall on it. Then Jeanne went of her own accord to the room
+door.
+
+"Come, Monsieur," called she to Cayrol.
+
+The husband, grown cooler while waiting, and troubled at the length of
+the interview, showed his anxious face on the threshold. He saw Madame
+Desvarennes grave, and Jeanne collected. He dared not speak.
+
+"Cayrol, everything is explained," said the mistress. "You have nothing
+to fear from him whom you suspected. He is separated from Jeanne
+forever, And; besides, nothing has passed between him and her who is
+your wife that could arouse your jealousy. I will not tell you the name
+of this man now. But if perchance he by some impossibility reappeared
+and threatened your happiness, I would myself--you understand,
+me?--point him out to you!"
+
+Cayrol remained thinking for, a moment; then addressing Madame
+Desvarennes, replied:
+
+"It is well. I have confidence in you."
+
+Then turning toward Jeanne, he added:
+
+"Forgive me and let everything be forgotten."
+
+The mistress's face beamed with joy, as she followed their departing
+figures with her eyes, and murmured:
+
+"Brave hearts!"
+
+Then, changing her expression:
+
+"Now for the other one!" exclaimed she.
+
+And she went out on to the terrace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE FETE
+
+The air was mild, the night clear and bright. Cayrol's carriage rolled
+rapidly along the broad avenue of the park shadowed by tall trees,
+the lanterns throwing, as they passed, their quivering light on the
+thickets. The rumbling carriages took the last guests to the railway
+station. It was past midnight. A nightingale began singing his song of
+love to the stars.
+
+Madame Desvarennes mechanically stopped to listen. A sense of sorrow
+came over this mother who was a prey to the most cruel mental anguish.
+She thought that she could have been very happy on that splendid night,
+if her heart had been full of quietude and serenity. Her two daughters
+were married; her last task was accomplished. She ought to have
+nothing to do but enjoy life after her own fashioning, and be calm and
+satisfied. Instead of that, here were fear and dissimulation taking
+possession of her mind; and an ardent, pitiless struggle beginning
+against the man who had deceived her daughter and lied to her. The bark
+which carried her fortune, on reaching port, had caught fire, and it was
+necessary to begin laboring again amid cares and pains.
+
+A dull rage filled her heart. To have so surely built up the edifice
+of her happiness, to have embellished it every hour, and then to see an
+intruder audaciously taking possession of it, and making his despotic
+and hateful authority prevail! And what could she do against this new
+master? Nothing. He was marvellously protected by Micheline's mad
+love for him. To strike Serge would be to wound Micheline, surely
+and mortally. So this scoundrel could laugh at her and dare her with
+impunity!
+
+What must she do? Take him aside and tell him that she knew of his
+disloyal conduct, and tell him of her contempt and hatred for him? And
+after that? What would be the consequence of this outburst of violence?
+The Prince, using his power over Micheline, would separate the daughter
+from the mother. And Madame Desvarennes would be alone in her corner,
+abandoned like a poor dog, and would die of despair and anger. What
+other course then? She must dissemble, mask her face with indifference,
+if possible with tenderness, and undertake the difficult task of
+separating Micheline from the man whom she adored. It was quite a feat
+of strategy to plan. To bring out the husband's faults and to make his
+errors known, and give her the opportunity of proving his worthlessness.
+In a word, to make the young wife understand that she had married an
+elegant manikin, unworthy of her love.
+
+It would be an easy matter to lay snares for Serge. He was a gambler.
+She could let him have ready money to satisfy his passion. Once in the
+clutches of the demon of play, he would neglect his wife, and the mother
+might regain a portion of the ground she had lost. Micheline's
+fortune once broken into, she would interpose between her daughter and
+son-in-law. She would make him pull up, and holding him tightly by her
+purse strings, would lead him whither she liked.
+
+Already in fancy she saw her authority regained, and her daughter, her
+treasure, her life, true mistress of the situation, grateful to her
+for having saved her. And then, she thought, a baby will come, and if
+Micheline is really my daughter, she will adore the little thing, and
+the blind love which she has given to her husband will be diminished by
+so much.
+
+Serge did not know what an adversary he had against him in his
+mother-in-law. It was a bad thing to cross the mistress when business
+matters were concerned, but now that her daughter's happiness was at
+stake! A smile came to her lips. A firm resolution from that hour must
+guide her, and the struggle between her son-in-law and herself could
+only end by the crushing of one of them.
+
+In the distance the music from the work-people's ball was heard. Madame
+Desvarennes mechanically bent her steps toward the tent under which the
+heavy bounds of the dancers reechoed. Every now and then large shadows
+appeared on the canvas. A joyful clamor issued from the ballroom. Loud
+laughter resounded, mingled with piercing cries of tickled women.
+
+The voice of the master of the ceremonies could be heard jocose and
+solemn: "La poule! Advance! Set to partners!" Then the stamping of heavy
+shoes on the badly planed floor, and, above all, the melancholy sounds
+of the clarionet and the shrill notes of the cornet were audible.
+
+At the entrance of the ballroom, surrounded by tables and stools, two
+barrels of wine on stands presented their wooden taps, ready for those
+who wanted to quench their thirst. A large red mark under each
+barrel showed that the hands of the drinkers wire no longer steady. A
+cake-seller had taken up his place at the other side, and was kneading a
+last batch of paste, while his apprentice was ringing a bell which hung
+over the iron cooking-stove to attract customers. There was an odor of
+rancid butter, spilled wine, and paraffin oil.
+
+Adjoining the ballroom, a merry-go-round; which had been the delight
+of the village urchins all day, appealed for custom by the aid of a
+barrel-organ on which a woman in a white bodice was playing the waltz
+from 'Les Cloches de Corneville'.
+
+The animation of this fete, in the midst of which Madame Desvarennes
+suddenly appeared, was a happy diversion from the serious thoughts which
+beset her. She remembered that Serge and Micheline must be there.
+She came from under the shadow of the avenue into the full light. On
+recognizing her, all the workpeople, who were seated, rose. She was
+really mistress and lady of the place. And then she had fed these people
+since morning. With a sign she bade them be seated, and walking quickly
+toward the dancing-room, lifted the red and white cotton curtain which
+hung over the entrance.
+
+There, in a space of a hundred square yards or so, about a hundred and
+fifty people were sitting or standing. At the end, on a stage, were
+the musicians, each with a bottle of wine at his feet, from which they
+refreshed themselves during the intervals. An impalpable dust, raised
+by the feet of the dancers, filled the air charged with acrid odors.
+The women in light dresses and bareheaded, and the men arrayed in their
+Sunday clothes, gave themselves up with frantic ardor to their favorite
+pleasure.
+
+Ranged in double rows, vis-a-vis, they were waiting with impatience for
+the music to strike up for the last figure. Near the orchestra, Serge
+was dancing with the Mayor's daughter opposite Micheline, whose partner
+was the mayor himself. An air of joyful gravity lit up the municipal
+officer's face. He was enjoying the honor which the Princess had done
+him. His pretty young daughter, dressed, in her confirmation dress,
+which had been lengthened with a muslin flounce, a rose in her hair, and
+her hands encased in straw-colored one-button kid gloves, hardly dared
+raise her eyes to the Prince, and with burning cheeks, answered in
+monosyllables the few remarks Serge felt forced to address to her.
+
+The orchestra bellowed, the floor shook; the two lines of dancers had
+advanced in a body. Madame Desvarennes, leaning against the door-post,
+followed with her eyes her daughter, whose light footsteps contrasted
+strangely with the heavy tread of the women around her. The mayor, eager
+and respectful, followed her, making efforts to keep up with her without
+treading on her long train. It was,
+
+"Excuse me, Madame la Princesse. If Madame la Princesse will do me the
+honor to give me her hand, it is our turn to cross."
+
+They had just crossed. Serge suddenly found himself facing his
+mother-in-law. His face lit up, and he uttered a joyful exclamation.
+Micheline raised her eyes, and following her husband's look, perceived
+her mother. Then it was a double joy. With a mischievous wink, Serge
+called Madame Desvarennes's attention to the mayor's solemn appearance
+as he was galloping with Micheline, also the comical positions of the
+rustics.
+
+Micheline was smiling. She was enjoying herself. All this homely
+gayety, of which she was the cause, made her feel happy. She enjoyed the
+pleasure of those around her. With her compassionate eyes she thanked
+her mother in the distance for having prepared this fete in honor of her
+marriage. The clarionet, violin, and cornet sounded a last modulation,
+then the final cadence put an end to the bounds of the dances. Each took
+his lady to her place--the mayor with pompous gait, Serge with as much
+grace as if he had been at an ambassador's ball and was leading a young
+lady of highest rank.
+
+Madame Desvarennes was suddenly surrounded; cheers resounded, the band
+struck up the Marseillaise.
+
+"Let us escape," said Serge, "because these good people will think
+nothing of carrying us in triumph."
+
+And leading away his mother-in-law and his wife, he left the ballroom
+followed by cheers.
+
+Outside they all three walked in silence. The night air was delightful
+after coming out of that furnace. The cheering had ceased, and the
+orchestra was playing a polka. Micheline had taken her husband's arm.
+
+They went along slowly, and close together. Not a word was exchanged;
+they all three seemed to be listening within themselves. When they
+reached the house, they went up the steps leading into the greenhouse,
+which served also as a boudoir to Madame Desvarennes.
+
+The atmosphere was still warm and scented, the lamps still burning. The
+guests had left; Micheline looked round. The remembrance of this happy
+evening, which had been the crowning of her happiness, filled her heart
+with emotion. Turning toward her mother with a radiant face, she cried:
+
+"Ah! mamma! I am so happy," and threw her arms around her.
+
+Serge started at this cry. Two tears came to his eyes, and looking a
+little pale, he stretched out to Madame Desvarennes his hands, which she
+felt trembling in hers, and said:
+
+"Thank you."
+
+Madame Desvarennes gazed at him for a moment. She did not see the
+shadow of a wicked thought on his brow. He was sincerely affected, truly
+grateful. The idea occurred to her that Jeanne had deceived her, or had
+deceived herself, and that Serge had not loved her. A feeling of relief
+took possession of her. But distrust had unfortunately entered her mind.
+She put away that flattering hope. And giving her son-in-law such a
+look, which, had he been less moved, he would have understood, she
+murmured,
+
+"We shall see."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 3.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE FIRST BREAK
+
+The first two months of this union were truly enchanting. Serge and
+Micheline never left each other. After an absence of eight days they had
+returned to Paris with Madame Desvarennes, and the hitherto dull mansion
+in the Rue Saint-Dominique was filled with joyful bustle. The splendid
+stables, formerly too large for the mistress's three horses, were now
+insufficient for the service of the Prince. There were eight splendid
+carriage-horses, a pair of charming ponies--bought especially for
+Micheline's use, but which the young wife had not been able to make up
+her mind to drive herself--four saddle-horses, upon which every morning
+about eight o'clock, when the freshness of night had perfumed the Bois
+de Boulogne, the young people took their ride round the lake.
+
+A bright sun made the sheet of water sparkle between its borders of
+dark fir-trees; the fresh air played in Micheline's veil, and the tawny
+leather of the saddles creaked. Those were happy days for Micheline, who
+was delighted at having Serge near her, attentive to her every want, and
+controlling his thoroughbred English horse to her gentle pace. Every now
+and then his mount would wheel about and rear in revolt, she following
+him with fond looks, proud of the elegant cavalier who could subdue
+without apparent effort, by the mere pressure of his thighs, that
+impetuous steed.
+
+Then she would give her horse a touch with the whip, and off she would
+go at a gallop, feeling happy with the wind blowing in her face, and
+he whom she loved by her side to smile on and encourage her. Then they
+would scamper along; the dog with his thin body almost touching the
+ground, racing and frightening the rabbits, which shot across the road
+swift as bullets. Out of breath by the violent ride, Micheline would
+stop, and pat the neck of her lovely chestnut horse. Slowly the young
+people would return to the Rue Saint-Dominique, and, on arriving in the
+courtyard, there was such a pawing of feet as brought the clerks to
+the windows, hiding behind the curtains. Tired with healthy exercise,
+Micheline would go smiling to the office where her mother was hard at
+work, and say:
+
+"Here we are, mamma!"
+
+The mistress would rise and kiss her daughter beaming with freshness.
+Then they would go up to breakfast.
+
+Madame Desvarennes's doubts were lulled to rest. She saw her daughter
+happy. Her son-in-law was in every respect cordial and charming
+toward her. Cayrol and his wife had scarcely been in Paris since their
+marriage. The banker had joined Herzog in his great scheme of the
+"Credit," and was travelling all over Europe establishing offices and
+securing openings. Jeanne accompanied him. They were then in Greece.
+The young wife's letters to her adopted mother breathed calmness and
+satisfaction. She highly praised her husband's kindness to her, and said
+it was unequalled.
+
+No allusion was made to that evening of their marriage, when, escaping
+from Cayrol's wrath, she had thrown herself in Madame Desvarennes's
+arms, and had allowed her secret to be found out. The mistress might
+well think then that the thought which at times still troubled her mind
+was a remembrance of a bad dream.
+
+What contributed especially to make her feel secure was Jeanne's
+absence. If the young woman had been near Serge, Madame Desvarennes
+might have trembled. But Micheline's beautiful rival was far away, and
+Serge seemed very much in love with his wife.
+
+Everything was for the best. The formidable projects which Madame
+Desvarennes had formed in the heat of her passion had not been carried
+out. Serge had as yet not given Madame Desvarennes cause for real
+displeasure. Certainly he was spending money foolishly, but then his
+wife was so rich!
+
+He had put his household on an extraordinary footing. Everything that
+most refined luxury had invented he had introduced as a matter of
+course, and for everyday use. He entertained magnificently several times
+a week. And Madame Desvarennes, from her apartments, for she would never
+appear at these grand receptions, heard the noise of these doings. This
+woman, modest and simple in her ideas, whose luxury had always
+been artistic, wondered that they could spend so much on frivolous
+entertainments. But Micheline was queen of these sumptuous ceremonies.
+She came in full dress to be admired by her mother, before going down
+to receive her guests, and the mistress had not courage to offer any
+remonstrances as to expense when she saw her daughter so brilliant and
+contented.
+
+They played cards very much. The great colony of foreigners who came
+every week to Panine's receptions brought with them their immoderate
+passion for cards, and he was only too willing to give way to it. These
+gentlemen, among them all, almost without taking off their white kid
+gloves, would win or lose between forty and fifty thousand francs at
+bouillotte, just to give them an appetite before going to the club to
+finish the night at baccarat.
+
+Meanwhile the ladies, with their graceful toilettes displayed on the low
+soft chairs, talked of dress behind their fans, or listened to the songs
+of a professional singer, while young men whispered soft nothings in
+their ears.
+
+It was rumored that the Prince lost heavily. It was not to be wondered
+at; he was so happy in love! Madame Desvarennes, who used every means of
+gaining information on the subject, even to the gossip of the servants,
+heard that the sums were enormous. No doubt they were exaggerated, but
+the fact remained the same. The Prince was losing.
+
+Madame Desvarennes could not resist the inclination of finding out
+whether Micheline knew what was going on, and one morning when the young
+wife came down to see her mother, dressed in a lovely pink gown, the
+mistress, while teasing her daughter, said, carelessly:
+
+"It seems your husband lost heavily last night."
+
+Micheline looked astonished at Madame Desvarennes, and in a quiet voice
+replied:
+
+"A good host may not win from his guests; it would look as if he
+invited them to rob them. Losses at cards are included in the costs of a
+reception."
+
+Madame Desvarennes thought that her daughter had become a very grand
+lady, and had soon acquired expanded ideas. But she dared not say
+anything more. She dreaded a quarrel with her daughter, and would have
+sacrificed everything to retain her cajoling ways.
+
+She threw herself into her work with renewed vigor.
+
+"If the Prince spends large sums," she said to herself, "I will earn
+larger ones. There can be no hole dug deep enough by him that I shall
+not be able, to fill up."
+
+And she made the money come in at the door so that her son-in-law might
+throw it out of the window.
+
+One fine day these great people who visited at the mansion in the Rue
+Saint-Dominique hastened away to the country. September had arrived,
+bringing with it the shooting season. The Prince and Micheline settled
+themselves at Cernay, not as in the first days of their marriage as
+lovers who sought quietude, but as people sure of their happiness, who
+wished to make a great show. They took all the carriages with them, and
+there was nothing but bustle and movement. The four keepers, dressed in
+the Prince's livery, came daily for orders as to shooting arrangements.
+And every week shoals of visitors arrived, brought from the station in
+large breaks drawn by four horses.
+
+The princely dwelling was in its full splendor. There was a continual
+going and coming of fashionable worldlings. From top to bottom of the
+castle was a constant rustling of silk dresses; groups of pretty women,
+coming downstairs with peals of merry laughter and singing snatches from
+the last opera. In the spacious hall they played billiards and other
+games, while one of the gentlemen performed on the large organ. There
+was a strange mixture of freedom and strictness. The smoke of Russian
+cigarettes mingled with the scent of opoponax. An elegant confusion
+which ended about six o'clock in a general flight, when the sportsmen
+came home, and the guests went to their rooms. An hour afterward all
+these people met in the large drawing-room; the ladies in low-bodied
+evening dresses; the gentlemen in dress-coats and white satin
+waistcoats, with a sprig of mignonette and a white rose in their
+buttonholes. After dinner, they danced in the drawing-rooms, where a mad
+waltz would even restore energy to the gentlemen tired out by six hours
+spent in the field.
+
+Madame Desvarennes did not join in that wild existence. She had remained
+in Paris, attentive to business. On Saturdays she came down by the five
+o'clock train and regularly returned on the Monday morning. Her presence
+checked their wild gayety a little. Her black dress was like a blot
+among the brocades and satins. Her severe gravity, that of a woman who
+pays and sees the money going too fast, was like a reproach, silent but
+explicit, to that gay and thoughtless throng of idlers, solely taken up
+by their pleasure.
+
+The servants made fun of her. One day the Prince's valet, who thought
+himself a clever fellow, said before all the other servants that
+Mother Damper had arrived. Of course they all roared with laughter and
+exclaimed:
+
+"Bother the old woman! Why does she come and worry us? She had far
+better stop in the office and earn money; that's all she's good for!"
+
+The disdain which the servants learned from their master grew rapidly.
+So much so that one Monday morning, toward nine o'clock, Madame
+Desvarennes came down to the courtyard, expecting to find the carriage
+which generally took her to the station. It was the second coachman's
+duty to drive her, and she did not see him. Thinking that he was a
+little late, she walked to the stable-yard. There, instead of the
+victoria which usually took her, she saw a large mail-coach to which
+two grooms were harnessing the Prince's four bays. The head coachman, an
+Englishman, dressed like a gentleman, with a stand-up collar, and a
+rose in his buttonhole, stood watching the operations with an air of
+importance.
+
+Madame Desvarennes went straight to him. He had seen her coming, out of
+the corner of his eye, without disturbing himself.
+
+"How is it that the carriage is not ready to take me to the station?"
+asked the mistress.
+
+"I don't know, Madame," answered this personage, condescendingly,
+without taking his hat off.
+
+"But where is the coachman who generally drives me?"
+
+"I don't know. If Madame would like to see in the stables--"
+
+And with a careless gesture, the Englishman pointed out to Madame
+Desvarennes the magnificent buildings at the end of the courtyard.
+
+The blood rose to the mistress's cheeks; she gave the coachman such a
+look that he moved away a little. Then glancing at her watch, she said,
+coldly:
+
+"I have only a quarter of an hour before the train leaves, but here are
+horses that ought to go well. Jump on the box, my man, you shall drive
+me."
+
+The Englishman shook his head.
+
+"Those horses are not for service; they are only for pleasure," he
+answered. "I drive the Prince. I don't mind driving the Princess, but I
+am not here to drive you, Madame."
+
+And with an insolent gesture, setting his hat firmly on his head, he
+turned his back upon the mistress. At the same moment, a sharp stroke
+from a light cane made his hat roll on the pavement. And as the
+Englishman turned round, red with rage, he found himself face to face
+with the Prince, whose approach neither Madame Desvarennes nor he had
+heard.
+
+Serge, in an elegant morning suit, was going round his stables when he
+had been attracted by this discussion. The Englishman, uneasy, sought to
+frame an excuse.
+
+"Hold your tongue!" exclaimed the Prince, sharply, "and go and wait my
+orders."
+
+And turning toward the mistress:
+
+"Since this man refuses to drive you, I shall have the pleasure of
+taking you to the station myself," he said, with a charming smile.
+
+And as Madame Desvarennes remonstrated,
+
+"Oh! I can drive four-in-hand," he added. "For once in my life that
+talent will have been of some use to me. Pray jump in."
+
+And opening the door of the mail-coach he handed her into the vast
+carriage. Then, climbing with one bound to the box, he gathered the
+reins and, cigar in mouth, with all the coolness of an old coachman, he
+started the horses in the presence of all the grooms, and made a perfect
+semicircle on the gravel of the courtyard.
+
+The incident was repeated favorably for Serge. It was agreed that he had
+behaved like a true nobleman. Micheline was proud of it, and saw in this
+act of deference to her mother a proof of his love for her. As to the
+mistress, she understood the advantage this clever manoeuvre gave to the
+Prince. At the same time she felt the great distance which henceforth
+separated her from the world in which her daughter lived.
+
+The insolence of that servant was a revelation to her. They despised
+her. The Prince's coachman would not condescend to drive a plebeian like
+her. She paid the wages of these servants to no purpose. Her plebeian
+origin and business habits were a vice. They submitted to her; they did
+not respect her.
+
+Although her son-in-law and daughter were perfect toward her in their
+behavior, she became gloomy and dull, and but seldom went now to Cernay.
+She felt in the way, and uncomfortable. The smiling and superficial
+politeness of the visitors irritated her nerves. These people were too
+well bred to be rude toward Panine's mother-in-law, but she felt that
+their politeness was forced. Under their affected nicety she detected
+irony. She began to hate them all.
+
+Serge, sovereign lord of Cernay, was really happy. Every moment he
+experienced new pleasure in gratifying his taste for luxury. His love
+for horses grew more and more. He gave orders to have a model stud-house
+erected in the park amid the splendid meadows watered by the Oise; and
+bought stallions and breeding mares from celebrated English breeders. He
+contemplated starting a racing stable.
+
+One day when Madame Desvarennes arrived at Cernay, she was surprised to
+see the greensward bordering the woods marked out with white stakes. She
+asked inquiringly what these stakes meant? Micheline answered in an easy
+tone:
+
+"Ah! you saw them? That is the track for training. We made Mademoiselle
+de Cernay gallop there to-day. She's a level-going filly with which
+Serge hopes to win the next Poule des Produits."
+
+The mistress was amazed. A child who had been brought up so simply, in
+spite of her large fortune, a little commoner, speaking of level-going
+fillies and the Poule des Produits! What a change had come over her
+and what incredible influence this frivolous, vain Panine had over that
+young and right-minded girl! And that in a few months! What would it be
+later? He would succeed in imparting to her his tastes and would mould
+her to his whims, and the young modest girl whom he had received from
+the mother would become a horsey and fast woman.
+
+Was it possible that Micheline could be happy in that hollow and empty
+life? The love of her husband satisfied her. His love was all she
+asked for, all else was indifferent to her. Thus of her mother, the
+impassioned toiler, was born the passionate lover! All the fervency
+which the mother had given to business, Micheline had given to love.
+
+Moreover, Serge behaved irreproachably. One must do him that justice.
+Not even an appearance accused him. He was faithful, unlikely as that
+may seem in a man of his kind; he never left his wife. He had hardly
+ever gone out without her; they were a couple of turtle-doves. They were
+laughed at.
+
+"The Princess has tied a string round Serge's foot," was said by some of
+Serge's former woman friends!
+
+It was something to be sure of her daughter's happiness. That happiness
+was dearly, bought; but as the proverb says:
+
+"Money troubles are not mortal!"
+
+And, besides, it was evident that the Prince did not keep account of
+his money; his hand was always open. And never did a great lord do
+more honor to his fortune. Panine, in marrying Micheline, had found the
+mistress's cash-box at his disposal.
+
+This prodigious cash-box had seemed to him inexhaustible, and he had
+drawn on it like a Prince in the Arabian Nights on the treasure of the
+genii.
+
+Perhaps it would suffice to let him see that he was spending the capital
+as well as the income to make him alter his line of conduct. At all
+events, the moment was not yet opportune, and, besides, the amount was
+not yet large enough. Cry out about some hundred thousand francs! Madame
+Desvarennes would be thought a miser and would be covered with shame.
+She must wait.
+
+And, shut up in her office in the Rue Saint-Dominique with Marechal, who
+acted as her confidant, she worked with heart and soul full of passion
+and anger, making money. It was fine to witness the duel between
+these two beings: the one useful, the other useless; one sacrificing
+everything to work, the other everything to pleasure.
+
+Toward the end of October, the weather at Cernay became unsettled, and
+Micheline complained of the cold. Country life so pleased Serge that he
+turned a deaf ear to her complaints. But lost in that large house, the
+autumn winds rustling through the trees, whose leaves were tinted with
+yellow, Micheline became sad, and the Prince understood that it was time
+to go back to Paris.
+
+The town seemed deserted to Serge. Still, returning to his splendid
+apartments was a great satisfaction and pleasure to him. Everything
+appeared new. He reviewed the hangings, the expensive furniture, the
+paintings and rare objects. He was charmed. It was really of wonderful
+beauty, and the cage seemed worthy of the bird. For several evenings
+he remained quietly at home with Micheline, in the little silver-gray
+drawing-room that was his favorite room. He looked through albums, too,
+while his wife played at her piano quietly or sang.
+
+They retired early and came down late. Then he had become a gourmand. He
+spent hours in arranging menus and inventing unknown dishes about which
+he consulted his chef, a cook of note.
+
+He rode in the Bois in the course of the day, but did not meet any
+one there; for of every two carriages one was a hackney coach with a
+worn-out sleepy horse, his head hanging between his knees, going the
+round of the lake. He ceased going to the Bois, and went out on foot in
+the Champs-Elysees. He crossed the Pont de la Concorde, and walked up
+and down the avenues near the Cirque.
+
+He was wearied. Life had never appeared so monotonous to him. Formerly
+he had at least the preoccupations of the future. He asked himself how
+he could alter the sad condition in which he vegetated! Shut up in
+this happy existence, without a care or a cross, he grew weary like a
+prisoner in his cell. He longed for the unforeseen; his wife irritated
+him, she was of too equable a temperament. She always met him with the
+same smile on her lips. And then happiness agreed with her too well; she
+was growing stout.
+
+One day, on the Boulevard des Italiens, Serge met an old friend, the
+Baron de Prefont, a hardened 'roue'. He had not seen him since his
+marriage. It was a pleasure to him. They had a thousand things to say to
+each other. And walking along, they came to the Rue Royale.
+
+"Come to the club," said Prefont, taking Serge by the arm.
+
+The Prince, having nothing else to do, allowed himself to be led away,
+and went. He felt a strange pleasure in those large rooms of the club,
+the Grand Cercle, with their glaring furniture. The common easy-chairs,
+covered with dark leather, seemed delightful. He did not notice the
+well-worn carpets burned here and there by the hot cigar-ash; the strong
+smell of tobacco, impregnated in the curtains, did not make him feel
+qualmish. He was away from home, and was satisfied with anything for a
+change. He had been domesticated long enough.
+
+One morning, taking up the newspaper, a name caught Madame Desvarennes's
+eye-that of the Prince. She read:
+
+"The golden book of the Grand Cercle has just had another illustrious
+name inscribed in it. The Prince Panine was admitted yesterday, proposed
+by the Baron de Prefont and the Duc de Bligny."
+
+These few lines made Madame Desvarennes's blood boil. Her ears tingled
+as if all the bells of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont had been rung together.
+In a rapid vision, she saw misfortune coming. Her son-in-law, that born
+gambler, at the Grand Cercle! No more smiles for Micheline; henceforth
+she had a terrible rival--the devouring love of play.
+
+Then Madame Desvarennes reflected. The husband's deserting his fireside
+would be salvation for herself. The door by which he went out, would
+serve as an entrance for her. The plan which she had conceived at Cernay
+that terrible night of the marriage when Jeanne had confided in her,
+remained for her to execute. By opening her purse widely to the Prince,
+she would help him in his vice. And she would infallibly succeed in
+separating Serge and Micheline.
+
+But the mistress checked herself. Lend her hands to the destruction of
+her son-in-law in a fit of fierce maternal egoism? Was it not unworthy
+of her? How many tears would the Prince's errors cost her whom she
+wished to regain at all price? And then would she always be there to
+compensate by her devoted affection the bitterly regretted estrangement
+from the husband? She would, in dying, leave the household disunited.
+
+She was horrified at what she had for an instant dreamed of doing. And
+instead of helping the Prince on to destruction, she determined to
+do all in her power to keep him in the path of honor. That resolution
+formed, Madame Desvarennes was satisfied. She felt superior to Serge,
+and to a mind like hers the thought was strengthening.
+
+The admission to the Grand Cercle gave Serge a powerful element of
+interest in life: He had to manoeuvre to obtain his liberty. His first
+evenings spent from home troubled Micheline deeply. The young wife was
+jealous when she saw her husband going out. She feared a rival, and
+trembled for her love. Serge's mysterious conduct caused her intolerable
+torture. She dared not say anything to her mother, and remained
+perfectly quiet on the subject before her husband. She sought
+discreetly, listened to the least word that might throw any light on the
+matter.
+
+One day she found an ivory counter, bearing the stamp of the Grand
+Cercle, in her husband's dressing-room. It was in the Rue Royale then
+that her husband spent his evenings. This discovery was a great relief
+to her. It was not very wrong to go there, and if the Prince did go
+and smoke a few cigars and have a game at bouillotte, it was not a very
+great crime. The return of his usual friends to Paris and the resumption
+of their receptions would bring him home again.
+
+Serge now left Micheline about ten o'clock in the evening regularly and
+arrived at the club about eleven. High play did not commence until after
+midnight. Then he seated himself at the gaming-table with all the
+ardor of a professional gambler. His face changed its expression. When
+winning, it was animated with an expression of awful joy; when losing,
+he looked as hard as a stone, his features contracted, and his eyes were
+full of gloomy fire. He bit his mustache convulsively. Moreover, always
+silent, winning or losing with superb indifference.
+
+He lost. His bad luck had followed him. At the club his losses were no
+longer limited. There was always some one willing to take a hand, and
+until dawn he played, wasting his life and energies to satisfy his
+insane love of gambling.
+
+One morning, Marechal entered Madame Desvarennes's private office,
+holding a little square piece of paper. Without speaking a word, he
+placed it on the desk. The mistress took it, read what was written upon
+it in shaky handwriting, and suddenly becoming purple, rose. The paper
+bore these simple words:
+
+"Received from Monsieur Salignon the sum of one hundred thousand francs.
+Serge Panine."
+
+"Who brought this paper?" asked Madame Desvarennes, crushing it between
+her fingers.
+
+"The waiter who attends the card-room at the club."
+
+"The waiter?" cried Madame Desvarennes, astonished.
+
+"Oh, he is a sort of banker," said Marechal. "These gentlemen apply to
+him when they run short of money. The Prince must have found himself in
+that predicament. Still he has just received the rents for the property
+in the Rue de Rivoli."
+
+"The rents!" grumbled Madame Desvarennes, with an energetic movement.
+"The rents! A drop of water in a river! You don't know that he is a man
+to lose the hundred thousand francs which they claim, in one night."
+
+The mistress paced up and down the room. She suddenly came to a
+standstill. "If I don't stop him, the rogue will sell the feather-bed
+from under my daughter! But he shall have a little of my mind! He has
+provoked me long enough. Pay it! I'll take my money's worth out of him."
+
+And in a second, Madame Desvarennes was in the Prince's room.
+
+Serge, after a delicate breakfast, was smoking and dozing on the
+smoking-room sofa. The night had been a heavy one for him. He had won
+two hundred and fifty thousand francs from Ibrahim Bey, then he had lost
+all, besides five thousand louis advanced by the obliging Salignon. He
+had told the waiter to come to the Rue Saint-Dominique, and by mistake
+the man had gone to the office.
+
+The sudden opening of the smoking-room door roused Serge. He unclosed
+his eyes and looked very much astonished at seeing Madame Desvarennes
+appear. Pale, frowning, and holding the accusing paper in her hand, she
+angrily inquired:
+
+"Do you recognize that?" and placed the receipt which he had signed,
+before him, as he slowly rose.
+
+Serge seized it quickly, and then looking coldly at his mother-in-law,
+said:
+
+"How did this paper come into your hands?"
+
+"It has just been brought to my cashier. A hundred thousand francs!
+Faith! You are going ahead! Do you know how many bushels of corn must be
+ground to earn that?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, Madame," said the Prince, interrupting Madame
+Desvarennes. "I don't suppose you came here to give me a lesson in
+commercial statistics. This paper was presented to your cashier by
+mistake. I was expecting it, and here is the money ready to pay it. As
+you have been good enough to do so, pray refund yourself."
+
+And taking a bundle of bank-notes from a cabinet, the Prince handed them
+to the astonished mistress.
+
+"But," she sought to say, very much put out by this unexpected answer,
+"where did you get this money from? You must have inconvenienced
+yourself."
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the Prince, quietly, "that only concerns
+myself. Be good enough to see whether the amount is there," added he
+with a smile. "I reckon so badly that it is possible I may have made a
+mistake to your disadvantage."
+
+Madame Desvarennes pushed away the hand which presented the bank-notes,
+and shook her head gravely:
+
+"Keep this money," she said; "unfortunately you will need it. You have
+entered on a very dangerous path, which grieves me very much. I would
+willingly give ten times the amount, at once, to be sure that you would
+never touch another card."
+
+"Madame!" said the Prince with impatience.
+
+"Oh! I know what I am risking by speaking thus. It weighs so heavily
+on my heart. I must give vent to it or I shall choke. You are spending
+money like a man who does not know what it is to earn it. And if you
+continue--"
+
+Madame Desvarennes raised her eyes and looked at the Prince. She saw him
+so pale with suppressed rage that she dared not say another word. She
+read deadly hatred in the young man's look. Frightened at what she had
+just been saying, she stepped back, and went quickly toward the door.
+
+"Take this money, Madame," said Serge, in a trembling voice. "Take it,
+or all is over between us forever."
+
+And, seizing the notes, he put them by force in Madame Desvarennes's
+hands. Then tearing up with rage the paper that had been the cause of
+this painful scene, he threw the pieces in the fireplace.
+
+Deeply affected, Madame Desvarennes descended the stairs which she had
+a few minutes before gone up with so much resolution. She had a
+presentiment that an irreparable rupture had just taken place between
+herself and her son-in-law. She had ruffled Panine's pride. She
+felt that he would never forgive her. She went to her room sad and
+thoughtful. Life was becoming gloomy for this poor woman. Her confidence
+in herself had disappeared. She hesitated now, and was irresolute when
+she had to take a decision. She no longer went straight to the point by
+the shortest road. Her sonorous voice was softened. She was no longer
+the same willing energetic woman who feared no obstacles. She had known
+defeat.
+
+The attitude of her daughter had changed toward her. It seemed as
+if Micheline wished to absolve herself of all complicity with Madame
+Desvarennes. She kept away to prove to her husband that if her mother
+had displeased him in any way, she had nothing to do with it. This
+behavior grieved her mother, who felt that Serge was working secretly
+to turn Micheline against her. And the mad passion of the young wife for
+him whom she recognized as her master did not allow the mother to doubt
+which side she would take if ever she had to choose between husband and
+mother.
+
+One day Micheline came down to see her mother. It was more than a month
+since she had visited her. In a moment Madame Desvarennes saw that she
+had something of an embarrassing nature to speak of. To begin with she
+was more affectionate than usual, seeming to wish with the honey of
+her kisses to sweeten the bitter cross which the mistress was doomed to
+bear. Then she hesitated. She fidgeted about the room humming. At last
+she said that the doctor had come at the request of Serge, who was most
+anxious about his wife's health. And that excellent Doctor Rigaud, who
+had known her from a child, had found her suffering from great weakness.
+He had ordered change of air.
+
+At these words Madame Desvarennes raised her head and gave her daughter
+a terrible look:
+
+"Come, no nonsense! Speak the truth! He is taking you away!"
+
+"But, mamma," said Micheline, disconcerted at this interruption, "I
+assure you, you are mistaken. Anxiety for my health alone guides my
+husband."
+
+"Your husband!" broke forth Madame Desvarennes. "Your husband! Ah,
+there; go away! Because if you stop here, I shall not be able to control
+myself, and shall say things about him that you will not forgive in
+a hurry! As you are ill, you are right to have change of air. I shall
+remain here, without you, fastened to my chain, earning money for you
+while you are far, away. Go along!"
+
+And seizing her daughter by the arm with convulsive strength, she pushed
+her roughly; for the first time in her life, repeating, in a low tone:
+
+"Go away! Leave me alone!"
+
+Micheline suffered herself to be put outside the room, and went to her
+own apartments astonished and frightened. The young wife had hardly left
+the room when Madame Desvarennes suffered the reaction of the emotion
+she had just felt. Her nerves were unstrung, and falling on a chair she
+remained immovable and humbled. Was it possible that her daughter, her
+adored child, would abandon her to obey the grudges of her husband? No,
+Micheline, when back in her room, would remember that she was carrying
+away all the joy of the house, and that it was cruel to deprive her
+mother of her only happiness in life.
+
+Slightly reassured, she went down to the office. As she reached the
+landing, she saw the Prince's servants carrying up trunks belonging to
+their master to be packed. She felt sick at heart. She understood that
+this project had been discussed and settled beforehand. It seemed to her
+that all was over; that her daughter was going away forever, and that
+she would never see her again. She thought of going to beseech Serge and
+ask him what sum he would take in exchange for Micheline's liberty;
+but the haughty and sarcastic face of the Prince forcibly putting the
+bank-notes in her hands, passed before her, and she guessed that she
+would not obtain anything. Cast down and despairing, she entered her
+office and set to work.
+
+The next day, by the evening express, the Prince and Princess left
+for Nice with all their household, and the mansion in the Rue
+Saint-Dominique remained silent and deserted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. A SUDDEN JOURNEY
+
+At the end of the Promenade des Anglais, on the pleasant road bordered
+with tamarind-trees, stands, amid a grove of cork-oaks and eucalypti,
+a charming white villa with pink shutters. A Russian lady, the Countess
+Woreseff, had it built five years ago, and occupied it one winter. Then,
+tired of the monotonous noise of the waves beating on the terrace and
+the brightness of the calm blue sky, she longed for the mists of her
+native country, and suddenly started for St. Petersburg, leaving that
+charming residence to be let.
+
+It was there, amid rhododendrons and strawberry-trees in full bloom,
+that Micheline and Serge had taken up their abode. Until that day
+the Princess had scarcely travelled. Her mother, always occupied in
+commercial pursuits, had never left Paris. Micheline had remained with
+her. During this long journey, accomplished in most luxurious style, she
+had behaved like a child astonished at everything, and pleased at the
+least thing. With her face close to the window she saw through the
+transparent darkness of a lovely winter's night, villages and forests
+gliding past like phantoms. Afar off, in the depths of the country, she
+caught sight of a light glimmering, and she loved to picture a family
+gathered by the fire, the children asleep and the mother working in the
+silence.
+
+Children! She often thought of them, and never without a sigh of regret
+rising to her lips. She had been married for some months, and her dreams
+of becoming a mother had not been realized. How happy she would have
+been to have a baby, with fair hair, to fondle and kiss! Then the idea
+of a child reminded her of her own mother. She thought of the deep love
+one must feel for a child. And the image of the mistress, sad and alone,
+in the large house of the Rue Saint-Dominique, came to her mind. A vague
+remorse seized her heart. She felt she had behaved badly. She said to
+herself: "If, to punish me, Heaven will not grant me a child!" She
+wept, and soon her grief and trouble vanished with her tears. Sleep
+overpowered her, and when she awoke it was broad daylight and they were
+in Provence.
+
+From that moment everything was dazzling. The arrival at Marseilles;
+the journey along the coast, the approach to Nice, were all matters of
+ecstacy to Micheline. But it was when the carriage, which was waiting
+for them at the railway station, stopped at the gates of the villa,
+that she broke into raptures. She could not feast her eyes enough on the
+scene which was before her. The blue sea, the sky without a cloud,
+the white houses rising on the hill amid the dark foliage, and in the
+distance the mountaintops covered with snow, and tinged with pink under
+the brilliant rays of the sun. All this vigorous and slightly wild
+nature surprised the Parisienne. It was a new experience. Dazzled by
+the light and intoxicated with the perfumes, a sort of languor came over
+her. She soon recovered and became quite strong--something altogether
+new for her, and she felt thoroughly happy.
+
+The life of the Prince and the Princess became at Nice what it had been
+in Paris during the early days of their marriage. Visitors flocked to
+their house. All that the colony could reckon of well-known Parisians
+and foreigners of high repute presented themselves at the villa. The
+fetes recommenced. They gave receptions three times a week; the other
+evenings Serge went to the Cercle.
+
+This absorbing life had gone on for two months. It was the beginning
+of February, and already nature was assuming a new appearance under
+the influence of spring. One evening, three people--two gentlemen and a
+lady--stepped out of a carriage at the villa gates, and found themselves
+face to face with a traveller who had come on foot. Two exclamations
+broke out simultaneously.
+
+"Marechal!" "Monsieur Savinien!"
+
+"You! at Nice? And by what miracle?"
+
+"A miracle which makes you travel fifteen leagues an hour in exchange
+for a hundred and thirty-three francs first-class, and is called the
+Marseilles express!"
+
+"I beg your pardon, my dear friend. I have not introduced you to
+Monsieur and Mademoiselle Herzog."
+
+"I have already had the honor of meeting Mademoiselle Herzog at Madame
+Desvarennes's," said Marechal, bowing to the young girl, without
+appearing to notice the father.
+
+"You were going to the villa?" asked Savinien. "We, too, were going. But
+how is my aunt? When did you leave her?"
+
+"I have not left her."
+
+"What's that you say?"
+
+"I say that she is here."
+
+Savinien let his arms drop in profound consternation to show how
+difficult it was for him to believe what was going on. Then, in a faint
+treble voice, he said:
+
+"My aunt! At Nice! Promenade des Anglais! That's something more
+wonderful than the telephone and phonograph! If you had told me that the
+Pantheon had landed one fine night on the banks of the Paillon, I should
+not be more astonished. I thought Madame Desvarennes was as deeply
+rooted in Paris as the Colonne Vendome! But tell me, what is the object
+of this journey?"
+
+"A freak."
+
+"Which manifested itself--"
+
+"Yesterday morning at breakfast. Pierre Delarue, who is going to
+finish his business in Algeria, and then settle in France, came to say
+'Good-by' to Madame Desvarennes. A letter arrived from the Princess.
+She commenced reading it, then all at once she exclaimed 'Cayrol and his
+wife arrived at Nice two days ago!' Pierre and I were astonished at the
+tone in which she uttered these words. She was lost in thought for a
+few moments, then she said to Pierre: 'You are leaving tonight for
+Marseilles? Well, I shall go with you. You will accompany me to Nice.'
+And turning toward me, she added: 'Marechal, pack up your portmanteau. I
+shall take you with me."'
+
+While speaking, they had walked across the garden, and reached the steps
+leading to the villa.
+
+"Nothing is easier than to explain this sudden journey," remarked
+Mademoiselle Herzog. "On learning that Monsieur and Madame Cayrol were
+at Nice with the Princess, Madame Desvarennes must have felt how
+very lonely she was in Paris. She had a longing to be near them, and
+started."
+
+Herzog listened attentively, and seemed to be seeking the connection
+which should exist between the arrival of the Cayrols and the departure
+of Madame Desvarennes.
+
+"The funniest thing to me is Marechal taking a holiday," observed
+Savinien. "They are still at dinner," he added, entering the
+drawing-room, through the great doors of which sounds of voices and
+rattling of plates were heard.
+
+"Well, let us wait for them; we are in agreeable company," said Herzog,
+turning toward Marechal, who only answered by a cold bow.
+
+"What are you going to do here, Marechal?" inquired Savinien. "You will
+be awfully bored."
+
+"Why? Once in a way I am going to enjoy myself and be a swell. You will
+teach me, Monsieur Savinien. It cannot be very difficult. It is only
+necessary to wear a dove-colored coat like you, a gardenia in my
+buttonhole like Monsieur Le Bride, frizzled hair like Monsieur du
+Tremblay, and to assail the bank at Monaco."
+
+"Like all these gentlemen," said Suzanne, gayly, "you are a gambler
+then?"
+
+"I have never touched a card."
+
+"But then you ought to have great good luck," said the young girl.
+
+Herzog had come up to them.
+
+"Will you go partners?" he asked of Marechal. "We will divide the
+winnings."
+
+"You are too kind," replied Marechal, dryly, turning away.
+
+He could not get used to Herzog's familiarity, and there was something
+in the man which displeased him greatly. There was, he thought, a
+police-court atmosphere about him.
+
+Suzanne, on the contrary, interested him. The simple, lively, and frank
+young girl attracted him, and he liked to talk with her. On several
+occasions, at Madame Desvarennes's, he had been her partner. There was
+through this a certain intimacy between them which he could not extend
+to the father.
+
+Herzog had that faculty, fortunately for him, of never appearing
+offended at what was said to him. He took Savinien's arm in a familiar
+manner and asked: "Have you noticed that the Prince has looked very
+preoccupied for the last few days?"
+
+"I don't wonder at it," replied Savinien. "He has been very unlucky at
+cards. It is all very well for his wife, my charming cousin, to be rich,
+but if he is going on like that it won't last long!"
+
+The two men withdrew to the window.
+
+Suzanne went up to Marechal. She had resumed her thoughtful air. He
+saw her advancing, and, guessing what she was going to say, felt
+uncomfortable at having to tell an untruth if he did not wish to hurt
+her feelings by brutal frankness.
+
+"Monsieur Marechal," she began, "how is it that you are always so cold
+and formal with my father?"
+
+"My dear young lady, there is a great difference between your father and
+me. I keep my place, that's all."
+
+The young girl shook her head sadly.
+
+"It is not that; you are amiable and ever friendly with me--"
+
+"You are a woman, and the least politeness--"
+
+"No! My father must have hurt your feelings unwittingly; for he is very
+good. I have asked him, and he did not seem to understand what I meant.
+But my questions drew his attention to you. He thinks highly of you
+and would like to see you filling a position more in harmony with your
+merit. You know that Monsieur Cayrol and my father have just launched a
+tremendous undertaking?"
+
+"The 'Credit European'?"
+
+"Yes. They will have offices in all the commercial centres of European
+commerce. Would you like the management of one of these branches?"
+
+"I, Mademoiselle?" cried Marechal, astonished, and already asking
+himself what interest Herzog could have in making him leave the house of
+Desvarennes.
+
+"The enterprise is colossal," continued Suzanne, "and frightens me at
+times. Is it necessary to be so rich? I would like my father to retire
+from these enormous speculations into which he has thrown himself, body
+and soul. I have simple tastes. My father wishes to make a tremendous
+fortune for me, he says. All he undertakes is for me, I know. It seems
+to me that he runs a great risk. That is why I am talking to you. I am
+very superstitious, and I fancy if you were with us it would bring us
+luck."
+
+Suzanne, while speaking, had leaned toward Marechal. Her face reflected
+the seriousness of her thoughts. Her lovely eyes implored. The young
+man asked himself how this charming girl could belong to that horrible
+Herzog.
+
+"Believe me that I am deeply touched, Mademoiselle, by the favor you
+have done me," said he, with emotion. "I owe it solely to your kindness,
+I know; but I do not belong to myself. I am bound to Madame Desvarennes
+by stronger ties than those of interest--those of gratitude."
+
+"You refuse?" she cried, painfully.
+
+"I must."
+
+"The position you fill is humble."
+
+"I was very glad to accept it at a time when my daily bread was not
+certain."
+
+"You have been reduced," said the young girl, with trembling voice, "to
+such--"
+
+"Wretchedness. Yes, Mademoiselle, my outset in life was hard. I am
+without relations. Mother Marechal, a kind fruiterer of the Rue Pavee au
+Marais, found me one morning by the curbstone, rolled in a number of the
+Constitutionnel, like an old pair of boots. The good woman took me home,
+brought me up and sent me to college. I must tell you that I was very
+successful and gained a scholarship. I won all the prizes. Yes, and I
+had to sell my gilt-edged books from the Lycee Charlemagne in the days
+of distress. I was eighteen when my benefactress, Mother Marechal, died.
+I was without help or succor. I tried to get along by myself. After
+ten years of struggling and privations I felt physical and moral vigor
+giving way. I looked around me and saw those who overcame obstacles were
+stronger than I. I felt that I was doomed not to make way in the world,
+not being one of those who could command, so I resigned myself to obey.
+I fill a humble position as you know, but one which satisfies my wants.
+I am without ambition. A little philosophical, I observe all that goes
+on around me. I live happily like Diogenes in his tub."
+
+"You are a wise man," resumed Suzanne. "I, too, am a philosopher, and I
+live amid surroundings which do not please me. I, unfortunately, lost
+my mother when I was very young, and although my father is very kind, he
+has been obliged to neglect me a little. I see around me people who are
+millionaires or who aspire to be. I am doomed to receive the attentions
+of such men as Le Bride and Du Tremblay--empty-headed coxcombs, who
+court my money, and to whom I am not a woman, but a sack of ducats
+trimmed with lace."
+
+"These gentlemen are the modern Argonauts. They are in search of the
+Golden Fleece," observed Marechal.
+
+"The Argonauts!" cried Suzanne, laughing. "You are right. I shall never
+call them anything else."
+
+"Oh, they will not understand you!" said Marechal, gayly. "I don't think
+they know much of mythology."
+
+"Well, you see I am not very happy in the bosom of riches," continued
+the young girl. "Do not abandon me. Come and talk with me sometimes. You
+will not chatter trivialities. It will be a change from the others."
+
+And, nodding pleasantly to Marechal, Mademoiselle Herzog joined her
+father, who was gleaning details about the house of Desvarennes from
+Savinien.
+
+The secretary remained silent for a moment.
+
+"Strange girl!" he murmured. "What a pity she has such a father."
+
+The door of the room in which Monsieur and Mademoiselle Herzog, Marechal
+and Savinien were, opened, and Madame Desvarennes entered, followed by
+her daughter, Cayrol, Serge and Pierre. The room, at the extreme end of
+the villa, was square, surrounded on three sides by a gallery shut in
+by glass and stocked with greenhouse plants. Lofty archways, half veiled
+with draperies, led to the gallery. This room had been the favorite one
+of Countess Woreseff. She had furnished it in Oriental style, with low
+seats and large divans, inviting one to rest and dream during the heat
+of the day. In the centre of the apartment was a large ottoman, the
+middle of which formed a flower-stand. Steps led down from the gallery
+to the terrace whence there was a most charming view of sea and land.
+
+On seeing his aunt enter, Savinien rushed forward and seized both her
+hands. Madame Desvarennes's arrival was an element of interest in his
+unoccupied life. The dandy guessed at some mysterious business and
+thought it possible that he might get to know it. With open ears and
+prying eyes, he sought the meaning of the least words.
+
+"If you knew, my dear aunt, how surprised I am to see you here," he
+exclaimed in his hypocritical way.
+
+"Not more so than I am to find myself here," said she, with a smile.
+"But, bah! I have slipped my traces for a week."
+
+"And what are you going to do here?" continued Savinien.
+
+"What everybody does. By-the-bye, what do they do?" asked Madame
+Desvarennes, with vivacity.
+
+"That depends," answered the Prince. "There are two distinct populations
+here. On the one hand, those who take care of themselves; on the other,
+those who enjoy themselves. For the former there is the constitutional
+every morning in the sun, with slow measured steps on the Promenade des
+Anglais. For the latter there are excursions, races, regattas. The first
+economize their life like misers; the second waste it like prodigals.
+Then night comes on, and the air grows cold. Those who take care of
+themselves go home, those who amuse themselves go out. The first put
+on dressing-gowns; the second put on ball-dresses. Here, the house is
+quiet, lit up by a night-light; there, the rooms sparkle with light, and
+resound with the noise of music and dancing. Here they cough, there they
+laugh. Infusion on the one hand, punch on the other. In fact, everywhere
+and always, a contrast. Nice is at once the saddest and the gayest town.
+One dies of over-enjoyment, and one amuses one's self at the risk of
+dying."
+
+"A sojourn here is very dangerous, then?"
+
+"Oh! aunt, not so dangerous, nor, above all, so amusing as the
+Prince says. We are a set of jolly fellows, who kill time between the
+dining-room of the hotel, pigeon-shooting, and the Cercle, which is not
+so very amusing after all."
+
+"The dining-room is bearable," said Marechal, "but pigeon-shooting must
+in time become--"
+
+"We put some interest into the game."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Oh! It is very simple: a gentleman with a gun in his hand stands before
+the boxes which contain the pigeons. You say to me: 'I bet fifty louis
+that the bird will fall.' I answer, 'Done.' The gentleman calls out,
+'Pull;' the box opens, the pigeon flies, the shot follows. The bird
+falls or does not fall. I lose or win fifty louis."
+
+"Most interesting!" exclaimed Mademoiselle Herzog.
+
+"Pshaw!" said Savinien with ironical indifference, "it takes the place
+of 'trente et quarante,' and is better than 'odd or even' on the numbers
+of the cabs which pass."
+
+"And what do the pigeons say to that?" asked Pierre, seriously.
+
+"They are not consulted," said Serge, gayly.
+
+"Then there are races and regattas," continued Savinien.
+
+"In which case you bet on the horses?" interrupted Marechal.
+
+"Or on the boats."
+
+"In fact, betting is applied to all circumstances of life?"
+
+"Exactly; and to crown all, we have the Cercle, where we go in the
+evening. Baccarat triumphs there. It is not very varied either: A
+hundred louis? Done--Five. I draw. There are some people who draw at
+five. Nine, I show up, I win or I lose, and the game continues."
+
+"And that amid the glare of gas and the smoke of tobacco," said
+Marechal, "when the nights are so splendid and the orange-trees smell so
+sweetly. What a strange existence!"
+
+"An existence for idiots, Marechal," sighed Savinien, "that I, a man of
+business, must submit to, through my aunt's domineering ways! You know
+now how men of pleasure spend their lives, my friend, and you might
+write a substantial resume entitled, 'The Fool's Breviary.' I am sure it
+would sell well."
+
+Madame Desvarennes, who had heard the last words, was no longer
+listening. She was lost in a deep reverie. She was much altered since
+grief and trouble had come upon her; her face was worn, her temples
+hollow, her chin was more prominent. Her eyes had sunk into her head,
+and were surrounded by dark rims.
+
+Serge, leaning against the wall near the window, was observing her. He
+was wondering with secret anxiety what had brought Madame Desvarennes
+so suddenly to his house after a separation of two months, during which
+time she had scarcely written to Micheline. Was the question of money to
+be resumed? Since the morning Madame had been smiling, calm and pleased
+like a schoolgirl home for her holidays. This was the first time she
+had allowed a sad expression to rest on her face. Her gayety was feigned
+then.
+
+A look crossing his made him start. Jeanne had just turned her eyes
+toward him. For a second they met his own. Serge could not help
+shuddering. Jeanne was calling his attention to Madame Desvarennes; she,
+too, was observing her. Was it on their account she had come to Nice?
+Had their secret fallen into her hands? He resolved to find out.
+
+Jeanne had turned away her eyes from him. He could feast his on her now.
+She had become more beautiful. The tone of her complexion had become
+warmer. Her figure had developed. Serge longed to call her his own. For
+a moment his hands trembled; his throat was dry, his heart seemed to
+stop beating.
+
+He tried to shake off this attraction, and walked to the centre of
+the room. At the same time visitors were announced. Le Bride, with
+his inseparable friend, Du Tremblay, escorting Lady Harton, Serge's
+beautiful cousin, who had caused Micheline some anxiety on the day
+of her marriage, but whom she no longer feared; then the Prince and
+Princess Odescalchi, Venetian nobles, followed by Monsieur Clement
+Souverain, a young Belgian, starter of the Nice races, a great pigeon
+shot, and a mad leader of cotillons.
+
+"Oh, dear me! my lady, all in black?" said Micheline, pointing to the
+tight-fitting black satin worn by the English beauty.
+
+"Yes, my dear Princess; mourning," replied Lady Harton, with a vigorous
+shake of the hands. "Ball-room mourning--one of my best partners;
+gentlemen, you know Harry Tornwall?"
+
+"Countess Alberti's cavalier?" added Serge. "Well?"
+
+"Well! he has just killed himself."
+
+A concert of exclamations arose in the drawing-room, and the visitors
+suddenly surrounded her.
+
+"What! did you not know? It was the sole topic of conversation at Monaco
+to-day. Poor Tornwall, being completely cleared out, went during the
+night to the park belonging to the villa occupied by Countess Alberti,
+and blew his brains out under her window."
+
+"How dreadful!" exclaimed Micheline.
+
+"It was very bad taste on your countryman's part," observed Serge.
+
+"The Countess was furious, and said that Tornwall's coming to her
+house to kill himself proved clearly to her that he did not know how to
+behave."
+
+"Do you wish to prevent those who are cleared out from blowing out their
+brains?" inquired Cayrol. "Compel the pawnbrokers of Monaco to lend a
+louis on all pistols."
+
+"Well," retorted young Monsieur Souverain, "when the louis is lost the
+players will still be able to hang themselves."
+
+"Yes," concluded Marechal, "then at any rate the rope will bring luck to
+others."
+
+"Gentlemen, do you know that what you have been relating to us is very
+doleful?" said Suzanne Herzog. "Suppose, to vary our impressions, you
+were to ask us to waltz?"
+
+"Yes, on the terrace," said Le Brede, warmly. "A curtain of orange-trees
+will protect us from the vulgar gaze."
+
+"Oh! Mademoiselle, what a dream!" sighed Du Tremblay, approaching
+Suzanne. "Waltzing with you! By moonlight."
+
+"Yes, friend Pierrot!" sang Suzanne, bursting into a laugh.
+
+Already the piano, vigorously attacked by Pierre, desirous of making
+himself useful since he could not be agreeable, was heard in the next
+room. Serge had slowly approached Jeanne.
+
+"Will you do me the favor of dancing with me?" he asked, softly.
+
+The young woman started; her cheeks became pale, and in a sharp tone she
+answered:
+
+"Why don't you ask your wife?"
+
+Serge smiled.
+
+"You or nobody."
+
+Jeanne raised her eyes boldly, and looking at him in the face, said,
+defiantly:
+
+"Well, then, nobody!"
+
+And, rising, she took the arm of Cayrol, who was advancing toward her.
+
+The Prince remained motionless for a moment, following them with his
+eyes. Then, seeing his wife alone with Madame Desvarennes, he went out
+on the terrace. Already the couples were dancing on the polished marble.
+Joyful bursts of laughter rose in the perfumed air that sweet March
+night. A deep sorrow came over Serge; an intense disgust with all
+things. The sea sparkled, lit up by the moon. He had a mad longing to
+seize Jeanne in his arms and carry her far away from the world, across
+that immense calm space which seemed made expressly to rock sweetly
+eternal loves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. MOTHER AND DAUGHTER
+
+Micheline intended following her husband, but Madame Desvarennes,
+without rising, took hold of her hand.
+
+"Stay with me for a little while," she said, tenderly. "We have scarcely
+exchanged ten words since my arrival. Come, tell me, are you pleased to
+see me?"
+
+"How can you ask me that?" answered Micheline, seating herself on the
+sofa beside her mother.
+
+"I ask you so that you may tell me so," resumed Madame Desvarennes,
+softly. "I know what you think, but that is not enough." She added
+pleadingly:
+
+"Kiss me, will you?"
+
+Micheline threw her arms round her mother's neck, saying, "Dear mamma!"
+which made tears spring to the tortured mother's eyes. She folded
+her-daughter in her arms, and clasped her as a miser holds his treasure.
+
+"It is a long time since I have heard you speak thus to me. Two months!
+And I have been desolate in that large house you used to fill alone in
+the days gone by."
+
+The young wife interrupted her mother, reproachfully:
+
+"Oh! mamma; I beg you to be reasonable."
+
+"To be reasonable? In other words, I suppose you mean that I am to get
+accustomed to living without you, after having for twenty years devoted
+my life to you? Bear, without complaining, that my happiness should be
+taken away, and now that I am old lead a life without aim, without joy,
+without trouble even, because I know if you had any troubles you would
+not tell me!"
+
+There was a moment's pause. Then Micheline, in a constrained manner,
+said:
+
+"What griefs could I have?"
+
+Madame Desvarennes lost all patience, and giving vent to her feelings
+exclaimed, bitterly:
+
+"Those which your husband causes you!"
+
+Micheline arose abruptly.
+
+"Mother!" she cried.
+
+But the mistress had commenced, and with unrestrained bitterness, went
+on:
+
+"That gentleman has behaved toward me in such a manner as to shake my
+confidence in him! After vowing that he would never separate you from
+me, he brought you here, knowing that I could not leave Paris."
+
+"You are unjust," retorted Micheline. "You know the doctors ordered me
+to go to Nice."
+
+"Pooh! You can make doctors order you anything you like!" resumed her
+mother, excitedly, and shaking her head disdainfully. "Your husband said
+to our good Doctor Rigaud: 'Don't you think that a season in the South
+would do my wife good?' The doctor answered: 'If it does not do her any
+good it certainly won't do her any harm.' Then your husband added, 'just
+take a sheet of paper and write out a prescription. You understand? It
+is for my mother-in-law, who will not be pleased at our going away.'"
+
+And as Micheline seemed to doubt what she was saying, the latter added:
+
+"The doctor told me when I went to see him about it. I never had much
+faith in doctors, and now--"
+
+Micheline felt she was on delicate ground, and wanted to change the
+subject. She soothed her mother as in days gone by, saying:
+
+"Come, mamma; will you never be able to get used to your part? Must
+you always be jealous? You know all wives leave their mothers to follow
+their husbands. It is the law of nature. You, in your day, remember,
+followed your husband, and your mother must have wept."
+
+"Did my mother love me as I love you?" asked Madame Desvarennes,
+impetuously. "I was brought up differently. We had not time to love each
+other so much. We had to work. The happiness of spoiling one's child is
+a privilege of the rich. For you there was no down warm enough or silk
+soft enough to line your cradle. You have been petted and worshipped
+for twenty years. Yet, it only needed a man, whom you scarcely knew six
+months ago, to make you forget everything."
+
+"I have not forgotten anything," replied Micheline, moved by these
+passionate expressions. "And in my heart you still hold the same place."
+
+The mistress looked at the young wife, then, in a sad tone, said:
+
+"It is no longer the first place."
+
+This simple, selfish view made Micheline smile.
+
+"It is just like you, you tyrant!" she exclaimed. "You must be first.
+Come, be satisfied with equality! Remember that you were first in the
+field, and that for twenty years I have loved you, while he has to make
+up for lost time. Don't try to make a comparison between my love for him
+and my affection for you. Be kind: instead of looking black at him, try
+to love him. I should be so happy to see you united, and to be able,
+without reservation, to think of you both with the same tenderness!"
+
+"Ah! how you talk me over. How charming and caressing you can be when
+you like. And how happy Serge ought to be with a wife like you! It is
+always the way; men like him always get the best wives."
+
+"I don't suppose, mamma, you came all the way from Paris to run down my
+husband to me."
+
+Madame Desvarennes became serious again.
+
+"No; I came to defend you."
+
+Micheline looked surprised.
+
+"It is time for me to speak. You are seriously menaced," continued the
+mother.
+
+"In my love?" asked the young wife, in an altered tone.
+
+"No; in your fortune."
+
+Micheline smiled superbly.
+
+"If that be all!"
+
+This indifference made her mother positively jump.
+
+"You speak very coolly about it! At the rate your husband is spending,
+there will be nothing left of your dowry in six months."
+
+"Well!" said the Princess, gayly, "you will give us another."
+
+Madame Desvarennes assumed her cold businesslike manner.
+
+"Ta! ta! ta! Do you think there is no limit to my resources? I gave
+you four millions when you were married, represented by fifteen hundred
+thousand francs, in good stock, a house in the Rue de Rivoli, and eight
+hundred thousand francs which I prudently kept in the business, and
+for which I pay you interest. The fifteen hundred thousand francs have
+vanished. My lawyer came to tell me that the house in the Rue de Rivoli
+had been sold without a reinvestment taking place."
+
+The mistress stopped. She had spoken in that frank, determined, way of
+hers that was part of her strength. She looked fixedly at Micheline, and
+asked:
+
+"Did you know this, my girl?"
+
+The Princess, deeply troubled, because now it was not a question of
+sentiment, but of serious moment, answered, in a low tone:
+
+"No, mamma."
+
+"How is that possible?" Madame Desvarennes demanded, hotly. "Nothing can
+be done without your signature."
+
+"I gave it," murmured Micheline.
+
+"You gave it!" repeated the mistress in a tone of anger. "When?"
+
+"The day after my marriage."
+
+"Your husband had the impudence to ask for it the day after your
+marriage?"
+
+Micheline smiled.
+
+"He did not ask for it, mamma," she replied, with sweetness; "I offered
+it to him. You had settled all on me."
+
+"Prudently! With a fellow like your husband!"
+
+"Your mistrust must have been humiliating to him. I was ashamed of it.
+I said nothing to you, because I knew you would rather prevent the
+marriage, and I loved Serge. I, therefore, signed the contract which you
+had had prepared. Only the next day I gave a general power of attorney
+to my husband."
+
+Madame Desvarennes's anger was over. She was observing Micheline, and
+wished to find out the depth of the abyss into which her daughter had
+thrown herself with blind confidence.
+
+"And what did he say then?" she inquired.
+
+"Nothing," answered Micheline, simply. "Tears came to his eyes, and he
+kissed me. I saw that this delicacy touched his heart and I was happy.
+There, mamma," she added with eyes sparkling at the remembrance of the
+pleasure she had experienced, "he may spend as much as he likes; I am
+amply repaid beforehand."
+
+Madame Desvarennes shrugged her shoulders, and said:
+
+"My dear child, you are mad enough to be locked up. What is there about
+the fellow to turn every woman's brain?"
+
+"Every woman's?" exclaimed Micheline, anxiously, looking at her mother.
+
+"That is a manner of speaking. But, my dear, you must understand that I
+cannot be satisfied with what you have just told me. A tear and a kiss!
+Bah! That is not worth your dowry."
+
+"Come, mamma, do let me be happy."
+
+"You can be happy without committing follies. You do not need a
+racing-stable."
+
+"Oh, he has chosen such pretty colors," interrupted Micheline, with a
+smile. "Pearl-gray and silver, and pink cap. It is charming!"
+
+"You think so? Well, you are not difficult to please. And the club? What
+do you say to his gambling?"
+
+Micheline turned pale, and with a constraint which hurt her mother,
+said:
+
+"Is it necessary to make a fuss about a few games at bouillotte?"
+
+This continual defense of Serge exasperated Madame Desvarennes.
+
+"Don't talk to me," she continued, violently. "I am well informed on
+that subject. He leaves you alone every evening to go and play with
+gentlemen who turn up the king with a dexterity the Legitimists must
+envy. My dear, shall I tell you his fortune? He commenced with cards; he
+continues with horses; he will finish with worthless women!"
+
+"Mamma!" cried Micheline, wounded to the heart.
+
+"And your money will pay the piper! But, happily, I am here to put your
+household matters right. I am going to keep your gentleman so well under
+that in future he will walk straight, I'll warrant you!"
+
+Micheline rose and stood before her mother, looking so pale that the
+latter was frightened.
+
+"Mother," she said, in trembling tones, "if ever you say one word to my
+husband, take care! I shall never see you again!"
+
+Madame Desvarennes flinched before her daughter. It was no longer the
+weak Micheline who trusted to her tears, but a vehement woman ready to
+defend him whom she loved. And as she remained silent, not daring to
+speak again:
+
+"Mother," continued Micheline, with sadness, yet firmly, "this
+explanation was inevitable; I have suffered beforehand, knowing that I
+should have to choose between my affection for my husband and my respect
+for you."
+
+"Between the one and the other," said the mistress, bitterly, "you don't
+hesitate, I see."
+
+"It is my duty; and if I failed in it, you yourself, with your good
+sense, would see it."
+
+"Oh! Micheline, could I have expected to find you thus?" cried the
+mother, in despair. "What a change! It is not you who are speaking; it
+is not my daughter. Fool that you are! Don't you see whither you are
+being led? You, yourself, are preparing your own misfortune. Don't think
+that my words are inspired by jealousy. A higher sentiment dictates
+them, and at this moment my maternal love gives me, I fear, a foresight
+of the future. There is only just time to rescue you from the danger
+into which you are running. You hope to retain your husband by your
+generosity? There where you think you are giving proofs of love he will
+only see proofs of weakness. If you make yourself cheap he will count
+you as nothing. If you throw yourself at his feet he will trample on
+you."
+
+The Princess shook her head haughtily, and smiled.
+
+"You don't know him, mamma. He is a gentleman; he understands all these
+delicacies, and there is more to be gained by submitting one's self to
+his discretion, than by trying to resist his will. You blame his manner
+of existence, but you don't understand him. I know him. He belongs to
+a different race than you and I. He needs refinements of luxury which
+would be useless to us, but the deprivation of which would be hard to
+him. He suffered much when he was poor, he is making up for it now. We
+are guilty of some extravagances, 'tis true; but what does it matter?
+For whom have you made a fortune? For me! For what object? My happiness!
+Well, I am happy to surround my Prince with the glory and pomp which
+suits him so well. He is grateful to me; he loves me, and I hold his
+love dearer than all else in the world; for if ever he ceases to love me
+I shall die!"
+
+"Micheline!" cried Madame Desvarennes, beside herself, and seizing her
+daughter with nervous strength.
+
+The young wife quietly allowed her fair head to fall on her mother's
+shoulder, and whispered faintly in her ear:
+
+"You don't want to wreck my life. I understand your displeasure. It
+is natural; I feel it. You cannot think otherwise than you do, being a
+simple, hardworking woman; but I beg of you to banish all hatred, and
+confine these ideas within yourself. Say nothing more about them for
+love of me!"
+
+The mother was vanquished. She had never been able to resist that
+suppliant voice.
+
+"Ah! cruel child," she moaned, "what pain you are causing me!"
+
+"You consent, don't you, dear mother?" murmured Micheline, falling into
+the arms of her by whom she knew she was adored.
+
+"I will do as you wish," said Madame Desvarennes, kissing her daughter's
+hair--that golden hair which, in former days, she loved to stroke.
+
+The strains of the piano sounded on the terrace. In the shade, groups
+of merry dancers were enjoying themselves. Happy voices were heard
+approaching, and Savinien, followed by Marechal and Suzanne, came
+briskly up the steps.
+
+"Oh, aunt, it is not fair," said the dandy. "If you have come here
+to monopolize Micheline, you will be sent back to Paris. We want a
+vis-a-vis for a quadrille. Come, Princess, it is delightfully cool
+outside, and I am sure you will enjoy it."
+
+"Monsieur Le Brede has gathered some oranges, and is trying to play
+at cup and ball with them on his nose, while his friend, Monsieur du
+Tremblay, jealous of his success, talks of illuminating the trees with
+bowls of punch," said Marechal.
+
+"And what is Serge doing?" inquired Micheline, smiling.
+
+"He is talking to my wife on the terrace," said Cayrol, appearing in the
+gallery.
+
+The young people went off and were lost in the darkness. Madame
+Desvarennes looked at Cayrol. He was happy and calm. There was no trace
+of his former jealousy. During the six months which had elapsed since
+his marriage, the banker had observed his wife closely, her actions, her
+words: nothing had escaped him. He had never found her at fault. Thus,
+reassured, he had given her his confidence and this time forever. Jeanne
+was adorable; he loved her more than ever. She seemed very much changed
+to him. Her disposition, formerly somewhat harsh, had softened, and the
+haughty, capricious girl had become a mild, demure, and somewhat
+serious woman. Unable to read his companion's thoughts, Cayrol sincerely
+believed that he had been unnecessarily anxious, and that Jeanne's
+troubles had only been passing fancies. He took credit of the change in
+his wife to himself, and was proud of it.
+
+"Cayrol, oblige me by removing that lamp; it hurts my eyes," said Madame
+Desvarennes, anxious that the traces on her face, caused by her late
+discussion with her daughter, should not be visible. "Then ask Jeanne to
+come here for a few minutes. I have something to say to her."
+
+"Certainly," said Cayrol, taking the lamp off the table and carrying it
+into the adjoining room.
+
+Darkness did Madame Desvarennes good. It refreshed her mind and calmed
+her brow. The noise of dancing reached her. She commenced thinking. So
+it had vainly tried to prove to her that a life of immoderate pleasure
+was not conducive to happiness. The young wife had stopped her ears so
+that she might not hear, and closed her eyes that she might not see. Her
+mother asked herself if she did not exaggerate the evil. Alas! no. She
+saw that she was not mistaken. Examining the society around her, men and
+women: everywhere was feverish excitement, dissipation, and nullity. You
+might rummage through their brains without finding one practical idea;
+in all their hearts, there was not one lofty aspiration. These people,
+in their daily life were like squirrels in a cage, and because they
+moved, they thought they were progressing. In them scepticism had killed
+belief; religion, family, country, were, as they phrased it, all humbug.
+They had only one aim, one passion--to enjoy themselves. Their watchword
+was "pleasure." All those who did not perish of consumption would die in
+lunatic asylums.
+
+What was she doing in the midst of this rottenness? She, the woman
+of business? Could she hope to regenerate these poor wretches by her
+example? No! She could not teach them to be good, and they excelled in
+teaching others harm. She must leave this gilded vice, taking with
+her those she loved, and leave the idle and incompetent to consume and
+destroy themselves.
+
+She felt disgusted, and resolved to do all to tear Micheline away
+from the contagion. In the meantime she must question Jeanne. A shadow
+appeared on the threshold: it was hers. In the darkness of the gallery
+Serge crept behind her without being seen. He had been watching Jeanne,
+and seeing her go away alone, had followed her. In the angle of the
+large bay-window, opening into the garden, he waited with palpitating
+heart. Madame Desvarennes's voice was heard in the silence of the
+drawing-room; he listened.
+
+"Sit down, Jeanne; our interview will be short, and it could not be
+delayed, for to-morrow I shall not be here."
+
+"You are leaving so soon?"
+
+"Yes; I only left Paris on my daughter's account, and on yours. My
+daughter knows what I had to tell her; now it is your turn! Why did you
+come to Nice?"
+
+"I could not do otherwise."
+
+"Because?"
+
+"Because my husband wished it."
+
+"You ought to have made him wish something else. Your power over him is
+absolute."
+
+There was a moment's pause. Then Jeanne answered:
+
+"I feared to insist lest I should awaken his suspicions."
+
+"Good! But admitting that you came to Nice, why accept hospitality in
+this house?"
+
+"Micheline offered it to us," said Jeanne.
+
+"And even that did not make you refuse. What part do you purpose playing
+here? After six months of honesty, are you going to change your mind?"
+
+Serge, behind his shelter, shuddered. Madame Desvarennes's words were
+clear. She knew all.
+
+Jeanne's voice was indignant when she replied:
+
+"By what right do you insult me by such a suspicion?"
+
+"By the right which you have given me in not keeping to your bargain.
+You ought to have kept out of the way, and I find you here, seeking
+danger and already trying those flirtations which are the forerunners of
+sin, and familiarizing yourself with evil before wholly giving yourself
+up to it."
+
+"Madame!" cried Jeanne, passionately.
+
+"Answer! Have you kept the promise you made me?"
+
+"Have the hopes which you held out to me been realized?" replied Jeanne,
+with despair. "For six months I have been away, and have I found peace
+of mind and heart? The duty which you pointed out to me as a remedy for
+the pain which tortured me I have fruitlessly followed. I have wept,
+hoping that the trouble within me would be washed away with my tears. I
+have prayed to Heaven, and asked that I might love my husband. But, no!
+That man is as odious to me as ever. Now I have lost all my illusions,
+and find myself joined to him for the rest of my days! I have to tell
+lies, to wear a mask, to smile! It is revolting, and I suffer! Now
+that you know what is passing within me, judge, and say whether your
+reproaches are not a useless cruelty."
+
+On hearing Jeanne, Madame Desvarennes felt herself moved with deep
+pity. She asked herself whether it was not unjust for that poor child to
+suffer so much. She had never done anything wrong, and her conduct was
+worthy of esteem.
+
+"Unhappy woman!" she said.
+
+"Yes, unhappy, indeed," resumed Jeanne, "because I have nothing to cling
+to, nothing to sustain me. My mind is afflicted with feverish thoughts,
+my heart made desolate with bitter regrets. My will alone protects me,
+and in a moment of weakness it may betray me."
+
+"You still love him?" asked Madame Desvarennes, in a deep voice which
+made Serge quiver.
+
+"Do I know? There are times when I think I hate him. What I have endured
+since I have been here is incredible! Everything galls me, irritates me.
+My husband is blind, Micheline unsuspicious, and Serge smiles quietly,
+as if he were preparing some treachery. Jealousy, anger, contempt, are
+all conflicting within me. I feel that I ought to go away, and still I
+feel a horrible delight in remaining."
+
+"Poor child!" said Madame Desvarennes. "I pity you from my soul. Forgive
+my unjust words; you have done all in your power. You have had momentary
+weaknesses like all human beings. You must be helped, and may rely on
+me. I will speak to your husband to-morrow; he shall take you away.
+Lacking happiness, you must have peace. Go you are a brave heart, and if
+Heaven be just, you will be rewarded."
+
+Serge heard the sound of a kiss. In an embrace, the mother had blessed
+her adopted daughter. Then the Prince saw Madame Desvarennes go slowly
+past him. And the silence was broken only by the sobs of Jeanne who was
+half lying on the sofa in the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. THE TELLTALE KISS
+
+Serge slipped from his hiding-place and came toward Jeanne. The carpet
+deadened the sound of his steps. The young woman was gazing into vacancy
+and breathing with difficulty. He looked at her for a moment without
+speaking; then, leaning over her shoulder.
+
+"Is it true, Jeanne," he murmured, softly, "that you hate me?"
+
+Jeanne arose, bewildered, exclaiming,
+
+"Serge!"
+
+"Yes, Serge," answered the Prince, "who has never ceased to love you."
+
+A deep blush spread over the young woman's face.
+
+"Leave me," she said. "Your language is unworthy of a man. I will not
+listen to you."
+
+And with a quick step she walked toward the gallery. Serge threw himself
+in her way, saying:
+
+"You must stop; you cannot escape me."
+
+"But this is madness," exclaimed Jeanne, moving away. "Do you forget
+where we are?"
+
+"Do you forget what you have just been saying?" retorted Serge. "I was
+there; I did not miss a word."
+
+"If you heard me," said Jeanne, "you know that everything separates us.
+My duty, yours, and my will."
+
+"A will which is enforced, and against which your heart rebels. A will
+to which I will not submit."
+
+As he spoke, Serge advanced toward her, trying to seize her in his arms.
+
+"Take care!" replied Jeanne. "Micheline and my husband are there. You
+must be mad to forget it. If you come a step farther I shall call out."
+
+"Call, then!" cried Serge, clasping her in his arms.
+
+Jeanne tried to free herself from him, but could not.
+
+"Serge," she said, paling with mingled anguish and rapture in the arms
+of him whom she adored, "what you are doing is cowardly and base!"
+
+A kiss stopped the words on her lips. Jeanne felt herself giving way.
+She made a supreme effort.
+
+"I won't, Serge!" she stammered. "Have mercy!"
+
+Tears of shame rolled down her face.
+
+"No! you belong to me. The other, your husband, stole you from me. I
+take you back. I love you!"
+
+The young woman fell on a seat.
+
+Serge repeated,
+
+"I love you! I love you! I love you!"
+
+A fearful longing took possession of Jeanne. She no longer pushed away
+the arms which clasped her. She placed her hands on Serge's shoulder,
+and with a deep sigh gave herself up.
+
+A profound silence reigned around. Suddenly a sound of approaching
+voices roused them, and at the same moment the heavy curtain which
+separated the room from the adjoining drawing-room was lifted. A shadow
+appeared on the threshold, as they were still in each other's arms. The
+stifled exclamation, "O God!" followed by a sob of agony, resounded.
+The door curtain fell, surrounding with its folds the unknown witness of
+that terrible scene.
+
+Jeanne had risen, trying to collect her ideas. A sudden light dawned on
+her mind; she realized in a moment the extent of her crime, and uttering
+a cry of horror and despair, she escaped, followed by Serge, through the
+gallery.
+
+Then the heavy curtain was lifted again, and tottering, livid, almost
+dead, Micheline entered the room. Pierre, serious and cold, walked
+behind her. The Princess, feeling tired, had come into the house. Chance
+had led her there to witness this proof of misfortune and treason.
+
+Both she and Delarue looked at each other, silent and overwhelmed. Their
+thoughts whirled through their brains with fearful rapidity. In a moment
+they looked back on their existence. He saw the pale betrothed of whom
+he had dreamed as a wife, who had willingly given herself to another,
+and who now found herself so cruelly punished. She measured the distance
+which separated these two men: the one good, loyal, generous; the other
+selfish, base, and unworthy. And seeing him whom she adored, so vile and
+base compared to him whom she had disdained, Micheline burst into bitter
+tears.
+
+Pierre tremblingly hastened toward her. The Princess made a movement
+to check him, but she saw on the face of her childhood's friend such
+sincere grief and honest indignation, that she felt as safe, with him
+as if he had really been her brother. Overcome, she let her head fall on
+his shoulder, and wept.
+
+The sound of approaching footsteps made Micheline arise. She recognized
+her husband's step, and hastily seizing Pierre's hand, said:
+
+"Never breathe a word; forget what you have seen."
+
+Then, with deep grief, she added:
+
+"If Serge knew that I had seen him unawares he would never forgive me!"
+
+Drying her tears, and still tottering from the shock, she left the room.
+Pierre remained alone, quite stunned; pitying, yet blaming the poor
+woman, who, in her outraged love, still had the absurd courage to hold
+her tongue and to resign herself. Anger seized on him, and the more
+timid Micheline seemed herself, the more violent and passionate he felt.
+
+Serge came back to the room. After the first moment of excitement, he
+had reflected, and wanted to know by whom he had been observed. Was it
+Madame Desvarennes, Micheline, or Cayrol, who had come in? At this idea
+he trembled, measuring the possible results of the imprudence he had
+been guilty of. He resolved to face the difficulty if it were either of
+these three interested parties, and to impose silence if he had to deal
+with an indifferent person. He took the lamp which Madame Desvarennes
+had a short time before asked Cayrol to remove and went into the room.
+Pierre was there alone.
+
+The two men measured each other with their looks. Delarue guessed the
+anxiety of Serge, and the Prince understood the hostility of Pierre. He
+turned pale.
+
+"It was you who came in?" he asked, boldly.
+
+"Yes," replied Pierre, with severity.
+
+The Prince hesitated for a second. He was evidently seeking a polite
+form to express his request. He did not find one, and in a threatening
+manner, he resumed:
+
+"You must hold your tongue, otherwise--"
+
+"Otherwise?" inquired Pierce, aggressively.
+
+"What is the use of threats?" replied Serge, already calmed. "Excuse me;
+I know that you will not tell; if not for my sake at least for that of
+others."
+
+"Yes, for others," said Pierre, passionately; "for others whom you have
+basely sacrificed, and who deserve all your respect and love; for
+Madame Desvarennes, whose high intelligence you have not been able to
+understand; for Micheline, whose tender heart you have not been able to
+appreciate. Yes, for their sakes I will hold my peace, not out of regard
+for you, because you neither deserve consideration nor esteem."
+
+The Prince advanced a step, and exclaimed:
+
+"Pierre!"
+
+Pierre did not move, and looking Serge in the face, continued:
+
+"The truth is unpleasant to you, still you must hear it. You act
+according to your fancies. Principles and morals, to which all men
+submit, are dead letters to you. Your own pleasure above all things, and
+always! That is your rule, eh? and so much the worse if ruin and trouble
+to others are the consequences? You only have to deal with two women,
+and you profit by it. But I warn you that if you continue to crush them
+I will be their defender."
+
+Serge had listened to all this with disdainful impassibility, and when
+Pierre had finished, he smiled, snapped his fingers, and turning toward
+the young man:
+
+"My dear fellow," said he, "allow me to tell you that I think you are
+very impertinent. You come here meddling with my affairs. What authority
+have you? Are you a relative? A connection? By what right do you preach
+this sermon?"
+
+As he concluded, Serge seated himself and laughed with a careless air.
+
+Pierre answered, gravely:
+
+"I was betrothed to Micheline when she saw and loved you: that is my
+right! I could have married her, but sacrificed my love to hers: that
+is my authority! And it is in the name of my shattered hopes and lost
+happiness that I call you to account for her future peace."
+
+Serge had risen, he was deeply embittered at what Delarue had just told
+him, and was trying to recover his calmness. Pierre, trembling with
+emotion and anger, was also striving to check their influence.
+
+"It seems to me," said the Prince, mockingly, "that in your claim there
+is more than the outcry of an irritated conscience; it is the complaint
+of a heart that still loves."
+
+"And if that were so?" retorted Pierre. "Yes, I love her, but with a
+pious love, from the depth of my soul, as one would love a saint; and I
+only suffer the more to see her suffering."
+
+Somewhat irritated the Prince exclaimed, impatiently:
+
+"Oh, don't let us have a lyric recitation; let us be brief and clear.
+What do you want? Explain yourself. I don't suppose that you have
+addressed this rebuke to me solely for the purpose of telling me that
+you are in love with my wife!"
+
+Pierre disregarded what was insulting in the Prince's answer, and
+calming himself, by force of will, replied:
+
+"I desire, since you ask me, that you forget the folly and error of
+a moment, and that you swear to me on your honor never to see Madame
+Cayrol again."
+
+Pierre's moderation wounded the Prince more than his rage had affected
+him. He felt petty beside this devoted friend, who only thought of the
+happiness of her whom he loved without hope. His temper increased.
+
+"And what if I refuse to lend myself to those whims which you express so
+candidly?"
+
+"Then," said Pierre, resolutely, "I shall remember that, when renouncing
+Micheline, I promised to be a brother to her, and if you compel me I
+will defend her."
+
+"You are threatening me, I think," cried Serge, beside himself.
+
+"No! I warn you."
+
+"Enough," said the Prince, scarcely able to command himself. "For any
+little service you have rendered me, from henceforth we are quits. Don't
+think that I am one of those who yield to violence. Keep out of my path;
+it will be prudent."
+
+"Listen, then, to this. I am not one of those who shirk a duty,
+whatever the peril be in accomplishing it. You know what price I put on
+Micheline's happiness; you are responsible for it, and I shall oblige
+you to respect it."
+
+And leaving Serge dumb with suppressed rage, Pierre went out on the
+terrace.
+
+On the high road the sound of the carriages bearing away Savinien,
+Herzog and his daughter, resounded in the calm starry night. In
+the villa everything was quiet. Pierre breathed with delight; he
+instinctively turned his eyes toward the brilliant sky, and in the
+far-off firmament, the star which he appropriated to himself long ago,
+and which he had so desperately looked for when he was unhappy, suddenly
+appeared bright and twinkling. He sighed and moved on.
+
+The Prince spent a part of the night at the club; he was excessively
+nervous, and after alternate losses and gains, he retired, carrying off
+a goodly sum from his opponents. It was a long time since he had been so
+lucky, and on his way home he smiled when he thought how false was the
+proverb, "Lucky at play, unlucky in love." He thought of that adorable
+Jeanne whom he had held in his arms a few hours before, and who had so
+eagerly clung to him. He understood that she had never ceased to belong
+to him. The image of Cayrol, self-confident man, happy in his love,
+coming to his mind, caused Serge to laugh.
+
+There was no thought for Micheline; she had been the stepping-stone to
+fortune for him; he knew that she was gentle and thought her not very
+discerning. He could easily deceive her; with a few caresses and a
+little consideration he could maintain the illusion of his love for her.
+Madame Desvarennes alone inconvenienced him in his arrangements. She was
+sagacious, and on several occasions he had seen her unveil plots which
+he thought were well contrived. He must really beware of her. He had
+often noticed in her voice and look an alarming hardness. She was not a
+woman to be afraid of a scandal. On the contrary, she would hail it with
+joy, and be happy to get rid of him whom she hated with all her might.
+
+In spite of himself, Serge remembered the night of his union to
+Micheline, when he had said to Madame Desvarennes: "Take my life; it is
+yours!" She had replied seriously, and almost threateningly: "Very well;
+I accept it!" These words now resounded in his ears like a verdict.
+He promised himself to play a sure game with Madame Desvarennes. As
+to Cayrol, he was out of the question; he had only been created as a
+plaything for princes such as Serge; his destiny was written on his
+forehead, and he could not escape. If it had not been Panine, some one
+else would have done the same thing for him. Besides, how could that
+ex-cowherd expect to keep such a woman as Jeanne was to himself. It
+would have been manifestly unfair.
+
+The Prince found his valet asleep in the hall. He went quickly to his
+bedroom, and slept soundly without remorse, without dreams, until noon.
+Coming down to breakfast, he found the family assembled. Savinien had
+come to see his aunt, before whom he wanted to place a "colossal
+idea." This time, he said, it was worth a fortune. He hoped to draw six
+thousand francs from the mistress who, according to her usual custom,
+could not fail to buy from him what he called his idea.
+
+The dandy was thoughtful; he was preparing his batteries. Micheline,
+pale, and her eyes red for want of rest, was seated near the gallery,
+silently watching the sea, on which were passing, in the distance,
+fishing-smacks with their sails looking like white-winged birds. Madame
+Desvarennes was serious, and was giving Marechal instructions respecting
+her correspondence, while at the same time watching her daughter out
+of the corner of her eye. Micheline's depressed manner caused her some
+anxiety; she guessed some mystery. Still the young wife's trouble might
+be the result of last evening's serious interview. But the sagacity of
+the mistress guessed a new incident. Perhaps some scene between Serge
+and Micheline in regard to the club. She was on the watch.
+
+Cayrol and Jeanne had gone for a drive to Mentone. With a single glance
+the Prince took in the attitude of one and all, and after a polite
+exchange of words and a careless kiss on Micheline's brow, he seated
+himself at table. The repast was silent. Each one seemed preoccupied.
+Serge anxiously asked himself whether Pierre had spoken. Marechal,
+deeply interested in his plate, answered briefly, when addressed by
+Madame Desvarennes. All the guests seemed constrained. It was a relief
+when they rose from the table.
+
+Micheline took her husband's arm and leading him into the garden, under
+the shade of the magnolias, said to him:
+
+"My mother leaves us to-night. She has received a letter recalling her
+to Paris. Her journey here was, you no doubt know, on our account. Our
+absence made her sad, and she could no longer refrain from seeing me, so
+she came. On her return to Paris she will feel very lonely, and as I am
+so often alone--"
+
+"Micheline!" interrupted Serge, with astonishment.
+
+"It is not a reproach, dear," continued the young wife, sweetly. "You
+have your engagements. There are necessities to which one must submit;
+you do what you think is expected of you, and it must be right. Only
+grant me a favor."
+
+"A favor? To you?" replied Serge, troubled at the unexpected turn the
+interview was taking. "Speak, dear one; are you not at liberty to do as
+you like?"
+
+"Well," said Micheline, with a faint smile, "as you are so kindly
+disposed, promise that we shall leave for Paris this week. The season is
+far advancing. All your friends will have returned. It will not be such
+a great sacrifice which I ask from you."
+
+"Willingly," said Serge, surprised at Micheline's sudden resolution.
+"But, admit," added he, gravely, "that your mother has worried you a
+little on the subject."
+
+"My mother knows nothing of my project," returned the Princess, coldly.
+"I did not care to say anything about it to her until I had your
+consent. A refusal on your part would have seemed too cruel. Already,
+you are not the best of friends, and it is one of my regrets. You must
+be good to my mother, Serge; she is getting old, and we owe her much
+gratitude and love."
+
+Panine remained silent. Could such a sudden change have come over
+Micheline in one day? She who lately sacrificed her mother for her
+husband now came and pleaded in favor of Madame Desvarennes. What had
+happened?
+
+He promptly decided on his course of action.
+
+"All that you ask me shall be religiously fulfilled. No concession will
+be too difficult for me to make if it please you. You wish to return
+to Paris, we will go as soon as our arrangements have been made. Tell
+Madame Desvarennes, then, and let her see in our going a proof that I
+wish to live on good terms with her."
+
+Micheline simply said: "Thank you." And Serge having gallantly kissed
+her hand, she regained the terrace.
+
+Left alone, Serge asked himself the meaning of the transformation in his
+wife. For the first time she had shown signs of taking the initiative.
+Had the question of money been raised by Madame Desvarennes, and was
+Micheline taking him back to Paris in the hope of inducing a change in
+his habits? They would see. The idea that Micheline had seen him with
+Jeanne never occurred to him. He did not think his wife capable of so
+much self-control. Loving as she was, she could not have controlled
+her feelings, and would have made a disturbance. Therefore he had no
+suspicions.
+
+As to their leaving for Paris he was delighted at the idea. Jeanne and
+Cayrol were leaving Nice at the end of the week. Lost in the vastness of
+the capital, the lovers would be more secure. They could see each other
+at leisure. Serge would hire a small house in the neighborhood of
+the Bois de Boulogne, and there they could enjoy each other's society
+without observation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. CAYROL IS BLIND
+
+Micheline, on her return to Paris, was a cause of anxiety to all her
+friends. Morally and physically she was changed. Her former gayety had
+disappeared. In a few weeks she became thin and seemed to be wasting
+away. Madame Desvarennes, deeply troubled, questioned her daughter,
+who answered, evasively, that she was perfectly well and had nothing to
+trouble her. The mother called in Doctor Rigaud, although she did not
+believe in the profession, and, after a long conference, took him to
+see Micheline. The doctor examined her, and declared it was nothing but
+debility. Madame Desvarennes was assailed with gloomy forebodings. She
+spent sleepless nights, during which she thought her daughter was dead;
+she heard the funeral dirges around her coffin. This strong woman wept,
+not daring to show her anxiety, and trembling lest Micheline should
+suspect her fears.
+
+Serge was careless and happy, treating the apprehensions of those
+surrounding him with perfect indifference. He did not think his wife was
+ill--a little tired perhaps, or it might be change of climate, nothing
+serious. He had quite fallen into his old ways, spending every night at
+the club, and a part of the day in a little house in the Avenue Maillot,
+near the Bois de Boulogne. He had found one charmingly furnished, and
+there he sheltered his guilty happiness.
+
+It was here that Jeanne came, thickly veiled, since her return from
+Nice. They each had a latchkey belonging to the door opening upon the
+Bois. The one who arrived first waited for the other, within the house,
+whose shutters remained closed to deceive passers-by. Then the hour of
+departure came; the hope of meeting again did not lessen their sadness
+at parting.
+
+Jeanne seldom went to the Rue Saint-Dominique. The welcome that
+Micheline gave her was the same as usual, but Jeanne thought she
+discovered a coldness which made her feel uncomfortable; and she did not
+care to meet her lover's wife, so she made her visits scarce.
+
+Cayrol came every morning to talk on business matters with Madame
+Desvarennes. He had resumed the direction of his banking establishment.
+The great scheme of the European Credit Company had been launched
+by Herzog, and promised great results. Still Herzog caused Cayrol
+considerable anxiety. Although a man of remarkable intelligence, he
+had a great failing, and by trying to grasp too much often ended by
+accomplishing nothing. Scarcely was one scheme launched when another
+idea occurred to him, to which he sacrificed the former.
+
+Thus, Herzog was projecting a still grander scheme to be based on the
+European Credit. Cayrol, less sanguine, and more practical, was afraid
+of the new scheme, and when Herzog spoke to him about it, said that
+things were well enough for him as they were, and that he would not be
+implicated in any fresh financial venture however promising.
+
+Cayrol's refusal had vexed Herzog. The German knew what opinion he was
+held in by the public, and that without the prestige of Cayrol's name,
+and behind that, the house of Desvarennes, he would never have been able
+to float the European Credit as it had been. He was too cunning not to
+know this, and Cayrol having declined to join him, he looked round in
+search of a suitable person to inspire the shareholders with confidence.
+
+His daughter often went to the Rue Saint-Dominique. Madame Desvarennes
+and Micheline had taken a fancy to her, as she was serious, natural, and
+homelike. They liked to see her, although her father was not congenial
+to their taste. Herzog had not succeeded in making friends with the
+mistress; she disliked and instinctively mistrusted him.
+
+One day it was rumored that Suzanne Herzog had gone in for an
+examination at the Hotel de Ville, and had gained a certificate: People
+thought it was very ridiculous. What was the good of so much learning
+for a girl who would have such a large fortune, and who would never know
+want. Savinien thought it was affectation and most laughable! Madame
+Desvarennes thought it was most interesting; she liked workers, and
+considered that the richer people were, the more reason they had
+to work. Herzog had allowed his daughter to please herself and said
+nothing.
+
+Springtime had come, and fine weather, yet Micheline's health did not
+improve. She did not suffer, but a sort of languor had come over
+her. For days she never quitted her reclining-chair. She was very
+affectionate toward her mother, and seemed to be making up for the lack
+of affection shown during the first months of her marriage.
+
+She never questioned Serge as to his manner of spending his time,
+though she seldom saw him, except at meal hours. Every week she wrote to
+Pierre, who was buried in his mines, and after every despatch her mother
+noticed that she seemed sadder and paler.
+
+Serge and Jeanne grew bolder. They felt that they were not watched. The
+little house seemed too small for them, and they longed to go beyond the
+garden, as the air of the Bois was so sweet and scented with violets.
+A feeling of bravado came over them, and they did not mind being seen
+together. People would think they were a newly-married couple.
+
+One afternoon they sallied forth, Jeanne wearing a thick veil, and
+trembling at the risk she was running, yet secretly delighted at going.
+They chose the most unfrequented paths and solitary nooks. Then, after
+an hour's stroll, they returned briskly, frightened at the sounds of
+carriages rolling in the distance. They often went out after that, and
+chose in preference the paths near the pond of Madrid where, behind
+sheltering shrubs, they sat talking and listening to the busy hum of
+Parisian life, seemingly so far away.
+
+One day, about four o'clock, Madame Desvarennes was going to Saint-Cloud
+on business, and was crossing the Bois de Boulogne. Her coachman had
+chosen the most unfrequented paths to save time. She had opened the
+carriage-window, and was enjoying the lovely scent from the shrubs.
+Suddenly a watering-cart stopped the way. Madame Desvarennes looked
+through the window to see what was the matter, and remained stupefied.
+At the turning of a path she espied Serge, with a woman on his arm. She
+uttered a cry that caused the couple to turn round. Seeing that pale
+face, they sought to hide themselves.
+
+In a moment Madame Desvarennes was out of the carriage. The guilty
+couple fled down a path. Without caring what might be said of her, and
+goaded on by a fearful rage, she tried to follow them. She especially
+wished to see the woman who was closely veiled. She guessed her to be
+Jeanne. But the younger woman, terrified, fled like a deer down a side
+walk. Madame Desvarennes, quite out of breath, was obliged to stop. She
+heard the slamming of a carriage-door, and a hired brougham that had
+been waiting at the end of the path swept by her bearing the lovers
+toward the town.
+
+The mistress hesitated a moment, then said to her coachman:
+
+"Drive home." And, abandoning her business, she arrived in the Rue
+Saint-Dominique a few minutes after the Prince.
+
+With a bound, without going through the offices, without even taking
+off her bonnet and cloak, she went up to Serge's apartments. Without
+hesitating, she entered the smoking-room.
+
+Panine was there. Evidently he was expecting her. On seeing Madame
+Desvarennes he rose, with a smile:
+
+"One can see that you are at home," said he, ironically; "you come in
+without knocking."
+
+"No nonsense; the moment is ill-chosen," briefly retorted the mistress.
+"Why did you run away when you saw me a little while ago?"
+
+"You have such a singular way of accosting people," he answered,
+lightly. "You come on like a charge of cavalry. The person with whom I
+was talking was frightened, she ran away and I followed her."
+
+"She was doing wrong then if she was frightened. Does she know me?"
+
+"Who does not know you? You are almost notorious--in the corn-market!"
+
+Madame Desvarennes allowed the insult to pass without remark, and
+advancing toward Serge, said:
+
+"Who is this woman?"
+
+"Shall I introduce her to you?" inquired the Prince, quietly. "She is
+one of my countrywomen, a Polish--"
+
+"You are a liar!" cried Madame Desvarennes, unable to control her temper
+any longer. "You are lying most impudently!"
+
+And she was going to add, "That woman was Jeanne!" but prudence checked
+the sentence on her lips.
+
+Serge turned pale.
+
+"You forget yourself strangely, Madame," he said, in a dry tone.
+
+"I forgot myself a year ago, not now! It was when I was weak that I
+forgot myself. When Micheline was between you and me I neither dared to
+speak nor act.
+
+"But now, since after almost ruining my poor daughter, you deceive her,
+I have no longer any consideration for you. To make her come over to my
+side I have only to speak one word."
+
+"Well, speak it! She is there. I will call her!"
+
+Madame Desvarennes, in that supreme moment, was assailed by a doubt.
+What if Micheline, in her blind love, did not believe her?
+
+She raised her hand to stop Serge.
+
+"Will not the fear of killing my daughter by this revelation stay you?"
+asked she, bitterly. "What manner of man are you to have so little heart
+and conscience?"
+
+Panine burst into laughter.
+
+"You see what your threats are worth, and what value I place on them.
+Spare them in the future. You ask me what manner of man I am? I will
+tell you. I have not much patience, I hate to have my liberty interfered
+with, and I have a horror of family jars. I expect to be master of my
+own house."
+
+Madame Desvarennes was roused at these words. Her rage had abated on her
+daughter's account, but now it rose to a higher pitch.
+
+"Ah! so this is it, is it?" she said. "You would like perfect liberty,
+I see! You make such very good use of it. You don't like to hear remarks
+upon it. It is more convenient, in fact! You wish to be master in your
+own house? In your own house! But, in truth, what are you here to put on
+airs toward me? Scarcely more than a servant. A husband receiving wages
+from me!"
+
+Serge, with flashing eyes, made a terrible movement. He tried to speak,
+but his lips trembled, and he could not utter a sound. By a sign he
+showed Madame Desvarennes the door. The latter looked resolutely at the
+Prince, and with energy which nothing could henceforth soften, added:
+
+"You will have to deal with me in future! Good-day!"
+
+And, leaving the room with as much calmness as she felt rage when
+entering it, she went down to the counting-house.
+
+Cayrol was sitting chatting with Marechal in his room. He was telling
+him that Herzog's rashness caused him much anxiety. Marechal did
+not encourage his confidence. The secretary's opinion on the want of
+morality on the part of the financier had strengthened. The good feeling
+he entertained toward the daughter had not counterbalanced the bad
+impression he had of the father, and he warmly advised Cayrol to break
+off all financial connection with such a man. Cayrol, indeed, had now
+very little to do with the European Credit. The office was still at
+his banking house, and the payments for shares were still made into
+his bank, but as soon as the new scheme which Herzog was preparing was
+launched, the financier intended settling in splendid offices which were
+being rapidly completed in the neighborhood of the Opera. Herzog might
+therefore commit all the follies which entered his head. Cayrol would be
+out of it.
+
+Madame Desvarennes entered. At the first glance, the men noticed the
+traces of the emotion she had just experienced. They rose and waited in
+silence. When the mistress was in a bad humor everybody gave way to
+her. It was the custom. She nodded to Cayrol, and walked up and down the
+office, absorbed in her own thoughts. Suddenly stopping, she said:
+
+"Marechal, prepare Prince Panine's account."
+
+The secretary looked up amazed, and did not seem to understand.
+
+"Well! The Prince has had an overdraft; you will give me a statement;
+that's all! I wish to see how we two stand."
+
+The two men, astonished to hear Madame Desvarennes speak of her
+son-in-law as she would of a customer, exchanged looks.
+
+"You have lent my son-in-law money, Cayrol?"
+
+And as the banker remained silent, still looking at the secretary,
+Madame added:
+
+"Does the presence of Marechal make you hesitate in answering me? Speak
+before him; I have told you more than a hundred times that he knows my
+business as well as I do."
+
+"I have, indeed, advanced some money to the Prince," replied Cayrol.
+
+"How much?" inquired Madame Desvarennes.
+
+"I don't remember the exact amount. I was happy to oblige your
+son-in-law."
+
+"You were wrong, and have acted unwisely in not acquainting me of the
+fact. It is thus that his follies have been encouraged by obliging
+friends. At all events, I ask you now not to lend him any more."
+
+Cayrol seemed put out, and, with his hands in his pockets and his
+shoulders up, replied:
+
+"This is a delicate matter which you ask of me. You will cause a quarrel
+between the Prince and myself--"
+
+"Do you prefer quarreling with me?" asked the mistress.
+
+"Zounds! No!" replied the banker. "But you place me in an embarrassing
+position! I have just promised to lend Serge a considerable sum
+to-night."
+
+"Well! you will not give it to him."
+
+"That is an act which he will scarcely forgive," sighed Cayrol.
+
+Madame Desvarennes placed her hand on the shoulder of the banker, and
+looking seriously at him, said:
+
+"You would not have forgiven me if I had allowed you to render him this
+service."
+
+A vague uneasiness filled Cayrol's heart, a shadow seemed to pass before
+his eyes, and in a troubled voice he said to the mistress:
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because he would have repaid you badly."
+
+Cayrol thought the mistress was alluding to the money he had already
+lent, and his fears vanished. Madame Desvarennes would surely repay it.
+
+"So you are cutting off his resources?" he asked.
+
+"Completely," answered the mistress. "He takes too much liberty, that
+young gentleman. He was wrong to forget that I hold the purse-strings. I
+don't mind paying, but I want a little deference shown me for my money.
+Good-by! Cayrol, remember my instructions."
+
+And, shaking hands with the banker, Madame Desvarennes entered her own
+office, leaving the two men together.
+
+There was a moment's pause: Cayrol was the first to break the silence.
+
+"What do you think of the Prince's position?"
+
+"His financial position?" asked Marechal.
+
+"Oh, no! I know all about that! I mean his relation to Madame
+Desvarennes."
+
+"Zounds! If we were in Venice in the days of the Aqua-Toffana, the
+sbirri and the bravi--"
+
+"What rubbish!" interrupted Cayrol, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"Let me continue," said the secretary, "and you can shrug your shoulders
+afterward if you like. If we had been in Venice, knowing Madame
+Desvarennes as I do, it would not have been surprising to me to have had
+Master Serge found at the bottom of the canal some fine morning."
+
+"You are not in earnest," muttered the banker.
+
+"Much more so than you think. Only you know we live in the nineteenth
+century, and we cannot make Providence interpose in the form of a
+dagger or poison so easily as in former days. Arsenic and verdigris are
+sometimes used, but it does not answer. Scientific people have had the
+meanness to invent tests by which poison can be detected even when there
+is none."
+
+"You are making fun of me," said Cayrol, laughing.
+
+"I! No. Come, do you wish to do a good stroke of business? Find a man
+who will consent to rid Madame Desvarennes of her son-in-law. If he
+succeed, ask Madame Desvarennes for a million francs. I will pay it at
+only twenty-five francs' discount, if you like!"
+
+Cayrol was thoughtful. Marechal continued:
+
+"You have known the house a long time, how is it you don't understand
+the mistress better? I tell you, and remember this: between Madame
+Desvarennes and the Prince there is a mortal hatred. One of the two will
+destroy the other. Which? Betting is open."
+
+"But what must I do? The Prince relies on me--"
+
+"Go and tell him not to do so any longer."
+
+"Faith, no! I would rather he came to my office. I should be more at
+ease. Adieu, Marechal."
+
+"Adieu, Monsieur Cayrol. But on whom will you bet?"
+
+"Before I venture I should like to know on whose side the Princess is."
+
+"Ah, dangler! You think too much of the women! Some day you will be let
+in through that failing of yours!"
+
+Cayrol smiled conceitedly, and went away. Marechal sat down at his desk,
+and took out a sheet of paper.
+
+"I must tell Pierre that everything is going on well here," he murmured.
+"If he knew what was taking place he would soon be back, and might be
+guilty of some foolery or other." So he commenced writing.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK 4.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. THE UNIVERSAL CREDIT COMPANY
+
+The banking-house of Cayrol had not a very imposing appearance. It was
+a narrow two-storied building, the front blackened by time. There was
+a carriage gateway, on the right-hand side of which was the entrance
+to the offices. The stairs leading to the first floor were covered by
+a well-worn carpet. Here was a long corridor into which the different
+offices opened. On their glass doors might be read: "Payments of
+dividends." "Accounts." "Foreign correspondence." "General office."
+Cayrol's own room was quite at the end, and communicated with his
+private apartments. Everything breathed of simplicity and honesty.
+Cayrol had never tried to throw dust into people's eyes. He had started
+modestly when opening the bank; his business had increased, but his
+habits had remained the same. It was not a difficult matter to obtain
+an interview, even by people not known to him. They sent in their cards,
+and were admitted to his sanctum.
+
+It was amid the coming and going of customers and clerks that Prince
+Panine came the following day to find Cayrol. For the first time Serge
+had put himself out for the banker. He was introduced with marks of the
+most profound respect. The great name of Desvarennes seemed to cast a
+kind of halo round his head in the eyes of the clerks.
+
+Cayrol, a little embarrassed, but still resolute, went toward him.
+Serge seemed nervous and somewhat abrupt in manner. He foresaw some
+difficulty.
+
+"Well! my dear fellow," he said, without sitting down. "What are you up
+to? I have waited since yesterday for the money you promised me."
+
+Cayrol scratched his ear, and felt taken aback by this plain speaking.
+
+"The fact is--" stammered he.
+
+"Have you forgotten your engagement?" asked Serge, frowning.
+
+"No," replied Cayrol, speaking slowly, "but I met Madame Desvarennes
+yesterday."
+
+"And what had that to do with your intentions?"
+
+"Zounds! It had everything to do with them. Your mother-in-law made a
+scene, and forbade my lending you any money. You must understand, my
+dear Prince, that my relations with Madame Desvarennes are important.
+I hold a great deal of money of hers in my bank. She first gave me a
+start. I cannot, without appearing ungrateful, act contrary to her will.
+Place yourself in my position, and judge impartially of the terrible
+alternative between obliging you and displeasing my benefactress."
+
+"Don't cry; it is useless," said Serge, with a scornful laugh. "I
+sympathize with your troubles. You side with the money-bags. It remains
+to be seen whether you will gain by it."
+
+"My dear Prince, I swear to you that I am in despair," cried Cayrol,
+annoyed at the turn the interview was taking. "Listen; be reasonable! I
+don't know what you have done to your mother-in-law, but she seems much
+vexed with you. In your place I would rather make a few advances than
+remain hostile toward Madame Desvarennes. That would mend matters, you
+see. Flies are not to be caught with vinegar."
+
+Serge looked contemptuously at Cayrol, and put on his hat with supreme
+insolence.
+
+"Pardon me, my dear fellow; as a banker you are excellent when you have
+any money to spare, but as a moralist you are highly ridiculous."
+
+And, turning on his heel, he quitted the office, leaving Cayrol quite
+abashed. He passed along the corridor switching his cane with suppressed
+rage. Madame Desvarennes had, with one word, dried up the source from
+which he had been drawing most of the money which he had spent during
+the last three months. He had to pay a large sum that evening at the
+club, and he did not care to apply to the money-lenders of Paris.
+
+He went down the stairs wondering how he would get out of this scrape!
+Go to Madame Desvarennes and humble himself as Cayrol advised? Never!
+He regretted, for a moment, the follies which had led him into this
+difficulty. He ought to have been able to live on two hundred
+thousand francs a year! He had squandered money foolishly, and now the
+inexhaustible well from which he had drawn his treasure was closed by an
+invincible will.
+
+He was crossing the gateway, when a well-known voice struck his ear, and
+he turned round. Herzog, smiling in his enigmatical manner, was before
+him. Serge bowed, and wanted to pass on, but the financier put his hand
+on his arm, saying:
+
+"What a hurry you are in, Prince. I suppose your pocketbook is full of
+notes, and you are afraid of being plundered."
+
+And with his finger, Herzog touched the silver mounted pocketbook, the
+corner of which was peeping out of the Prince's pocket. Panine could not
+control a gesture of vexation, which made the financier smile.
+
+"Am I wrong?" asked Herzog. "Can our friend Cayrol have refused your
+request? By-the-bye, did you not quarrel with Madame Desvarennes
+yesterday? Whoever was it told me that? Your mother-in-law spoke of
+cutting off all your credit, and from your downcast look I guess that
+fool Cayrol has obeyed the orders he has received."
+
+Serge, exasperated and stamping with rage, wanted to speak, but it was
+no easy matter interrupting Herzog. Besides, there was something in the
+latter's look which annoyed Serge. His glance seemed to be fathoming the
+depths of Panine's pockets, and the latter instinctively tightened his
+arms across his chest, so that Herzog might not see that his pocketbook
+was empty.
+
+"What are you talking about?" asked Serge, at last, with a constrained
+smile.
+
+"About things which must greatly interest you," said Herzog, familiarly.
+"Come, be sincere. Cayrol has just refused you a sum of money. He's a
+simpleton! How much do you want? Will a hundred thousand francs do just
+now?"
+
+And writing a few words on a check, the financier handed it to Serge,
+adding:
+
+"A man of your position should not be in any difficulty for such a
+paltry sum!"
+
+"But, sir," said Serge, astonished, and pushing away Herzog's hand.
+
+"Accept it, and don't feel indebted to me. It is hardly worth while
+between you and me."
+
+And taking Panine's arm Herzog walked on with him.
+
+"Your carriage is there? all right, mine will follow. I want to talk to
+you. Your troubles cannot last. I will show you the means of extricating
+yourself and that without delay, my dear sir."
+
+And without consulting Panine he seated himself beside him in the
+carriage.
+
+"I told you once, if you remember," continued the financier, "that I
+might prove useful to you. You were haughty, and I did not insist; yet
+you see the day has come. Let me speak frankly with you. It is my usual
+manner, and there is some good in it."
+
+"Speak," answered Serge, rather puzzled.
+
+"You find yourself at this moment, vulgarly speaking, left in the lurch.
+Your wants are many and your resources few."
+
+"At least--" protested Serge.
+
+"Good! There you are refractory," said the financier, laughingly, "and I
+have not finished. The day after your marriage you formed your
+household on a lavish footing; you gave splendid receptions; you bought
+race-horses; in short, you went the pace like a great lord. Undoubtedly
+it costs a lot of money to keep up such an establishment. As you spent
+without counting the cost, you confounded the capital with the interest,
+so that at this moment you are three parts ruined. I don't think you
+would care to change your mode of living, and it is too late in the day
+to cut down expenses and exist on what remains? No. Well, to keep up
+your present style you need at least a million francs every year."
+
+"You calculate like Cocker," remarked Serge, smiling with some
+constraint.
+
+"That is my business," answered Herzog. "There are two ways by which
+you can obtain that million. The first is by making it up with your
+mother-in-law, and consenting, for money, to live under her dominion. I
+know her, she will agree to this."
+
+"But," said Serge, "I refuse to submit."
+
+"In that case you must get out of your difficulties alone."
+
+"And how?" inquired the Prince, with astonishment.
+
+Herzog looked at him seriously.
+
+"By entering on the path which I am ready to open up to you," replied
+Herzog, "and in which I will guide you. By going in for business."
+
+Serge returned Herzog's glance and tried to read his face, but found him
+impenetrable.
+
+"To go into business one needs experience, and I have none."
+
+"Mine will suffice," retorted the financier.
+
+"Or money," continued the Prince, "and I have none, either."
+
+"I don't ask money from you. I offer you some."
+
+"What, then, do I bring into the concern?"
+
+"The prestige of your name, and your relations with Madame Desvarennes."
+
+The Prince answered, haughtily:
+
+"My relations are personal, and I doubt whether they will serve you. My
+mother-in-law is hostile, and will do nothing for me. As to my name, it
+does not belong to me, it belongs to those who bore it nobly before me."
+
+"Your relations will serve me," said Herzog. "I am satisfied. Your
+mother-in-law cannot get out of your being her daughter's husband, and
+for that you are worth your weight in gold. As to your name, it is
+just because it has been nobly borne that it is valuable. Thank your
+ancestors, therefore, and make the best of the only heritage they left
+you. Besides, if you care to examine things closely, your ancestors will
+not have reason to tremble in their graves. What did they do formerly?
+They imposed taxes on their vassals and extorted money from the
+vanquished. We financiers do the same. Our vanquished are the
+speculators; our vassals the shareholders. And what a superiority
+there is about our proceedings! There is no violence. We persuade; we
+fascinate; and the money flows into our coffers. What do I say? They
+beseech us to take it. We reign without contest. We are princes, too
+princes of finance. We have founded an aristocracy as proud and as
+powerful as the old one. Feudality of nobility no longer exists; it has
+given way to that of money."
+
+Serge laughed. He saw what Herzog was driving at.
+
+"Your great barons of finance are sometimes subject to executions," said
+he.
+
+"Were not Chalais, Cinq-Mars, Biron, and Montmorency executed?" asked
+Herzog, with irony.
+
+"That was on a scaffold," replied Panine.
+
+"Well! the speculator's scaffold is the Bourse! But only small dabblers
+in money succumb; the great ones are safe from danger. They are
+supported in their undertakings by such powerful and numerous interests
+that they cannot fail without involving public credit; even
+governments are forced to come to their aid. One of these powerful and
+indestructible enterprises I have dreamed of grafting on to the European
+Credit Company, the Universal Credit Company. Its very name is a
+programme in itself. To stretch over the four quarters of the globe like
+an immense net, and draw into its meshes all financial speculators: such
+is its aim. Nobody will be able to withstand us. I am offering you great
+things, but I dream of still greater. I have ideas. You will see them
+developed, and will profit by them, if you join my fortunes. You are
+ambitious, Prince. I guessed it; but your ambition hitherto has been
+satisfied with small things--luxurious indulgences and triumphs of
+elegance! What are these worth to what I can give you? The sphere in
+which you move is narrow. I will make it immense. You will no longer
+reign over a small social circle, you will rule a world."
+
+Serge, more affected than he cared to show, tried to banter.
+
+"Are you repeating the prologue to Faust?" asked he. "Where is your
+magical compact? Must I sign it?"
+
+"Not at all. Your consent is sufficient. Look into the business, study
+it at your leisure, and measure the results; and then if it suit you,
+you can sign a deed of partnership. Then in a few years you may possess
+a fortune surpassing all that you have dreamed of."
+
+The financier remained silent. Serge was weighing the question. Herzog
+was happy; he had shown himself to all Paris in company with Madame
+Desvarennes's son-in-law. He had already realized one of his projects.
+The carriage was just passing down the Champs Elysees. The weather was
+lovely, and in the distance could be seen the trees of the Tuileries and
+the different monuments of the Place de la Concorde bathed in blue mist.
+Groups of horsemen were cantering along the side avenues. Long files of
+carriages were rolling rapidly by with well-dressed ladies. The capital
+displayed at that hour all the splendor of its luxury. It was Paris in
+all its strength and gayety.
+
+Herzog stretched out his hand, and calling the Prince's attention to the
+sight, said:
+
+"There's your empire!"
+
+Then, looking at him earnestly, he asked:
+
+"Is it agreed?"
+
+Serge hesitated for a moment, and then bowed his head, saying:
+
+"It is agreed."
+
+Herzog pulled the check-string communicating with the coachman and
+alighted.
+
+"Good-by," said he to Panine.
+
+He slipped into his own carriage, which had followed closely behind, and
+drove off.
+
+From that day, even Jeanne had a rival. The fever of speculation had
+seized on Serge; he had placed his little finger within the wheels and
+he must follow--body, name, and soul. The power which this new game
+exercised over him was incredible. It was quite different to the stupid
+games at the club, always the same. On the Bourse, everything was new,
+unexpected, sudden, and formidable. The intensity of the feelings were
+increased a hundredfold, owing to the importance of the sums risked.
+
+It was really a splendid sight to see Herzog manipulating matters,
+maneuvering with a miraculous dexterity millions of francs. And then the
+field for operations was large. Politics, the interests of nations, were
+the mainsprings which impelled the play, and the game assumed diplomatic
+vastness and financial grandeur.
+
+From his private office Herzog issued orders, and whether his ability
+was really extraordinary, or whether fortune exceptionally favored him,
+success was certain. Serge, from the first week, realized considerable
+sums. This brilliant success threw him in a state of great excitement.
+He believed everything that Herzog said to him as if it were gospel. He
+saw the world bending under the yoke which he was about to impose upon
+it. People working and toiling every day were doing so for him alone,
+and like one of those kings who had conquered the world, he pictured all
+the treasures of the earth laid at his feet. From that time he lost
+the sense of right and wrong. He admitted the unlikely, and found the
+impossible quite natural. He was a docile tool in the hands of Herzog.
+
+The rumor of this unforeseen change in Panine's circumstances soon
+reached Madame Desvarennes's ears. The mistress was frightened, and sent
+for Cayrol, begging him to remain a director of the European Credit, in
+order to watch the progress of the new affair. With her practical common
+sense, she foresaw disasters, and even regretted that Serge had not
+confined himself to cards and reckless living.
+
+Cayrol was most uneasy, and made a confidant of his wife, who, deeply
+troubled, told Panine the fears his friends entertained on his account.
+The Prince smiled disdainfully, saying these fears were the effect
+of plebeian timidity. The mistress understood nothing of great
+speculations, and Cayrol was a narrow-minded banker! He knew what he was
+doing. The results of his speculations were mathematical. So far they
+had not disappointed his hopes. The great Universal Credit Company, of
+which he was going to be a director, would bring him in such an immense
+fortune that he would be independent of Madame Desvarennes.
+
+Jeanne, terrified at this blind confidence, tried to persuade him. Serge
+took her in his arms, kissed her, and banished her fears.
+
+Madame Desvarennes had forbidden her people to tell Micheline anything
+of what was going on, as she wished her to remain in perfect ignorance.
+By a word, the mistress, if she could not have prevented the follies
+of which Serge was guilty, could, at least, have spared herself and her
+daughter. It would have only been necessary to reveal his behavior and
+betrayal to Micheline, and to provoke a separation. If the house of
+Desvarennes were no longer security for Panine, his credit would fall.
+Disowned by his mother-in-law, and publicly given up by her, he would
+be of no use to Herzog, and would be promptly thrown over by him. The
+mistress did not wish her daughter to know the heartrending truth. She
+would not willingly cause her to shed tears, and therefore preferred
+risking ruin.
+
+Micheline, too, tried to hide her troubles from her mother. She knew
+too well that Serge would have the worst of it if he got into her black
+books. With the incredible persistence of a loving heart, she hoped to
+win back Serge. Thus a terrible misunderstanding caused these two women
+to remain inactive and silent, when, by united efforts, they might,
+perhaps, have prevented dangers.
+
+The great speculation was already being talked about. Herzog was boldly
+placing his foot on the summit whereon the five or six demigods, who
+ruled the stock market, were firmly placed. The audacious encroachments
+of this newcomer had vexed these formidable potentates, and already they
+had decided secretly his downfall because he would not let them share in
+his profits.
+
+One morning, the Parisians, on awakening, found the walls placarded with
+notices advertising the issue of shares in the Universal Credit Company,
+and announcing the names of the directors, among which appeared that
+of the Prince. Some were members of the Legion d'Honneur; others recent
+members of the Cabinet Council, and Prefets retired into private life. A
+list of names to dazzle the public, but all having a weak point.
+
+This created a great sensation in the business world. Madame
+Desvarennes's son-in-law was on the board. It was a good speculation,
+then? People consulted the mistress, who found herself somewhat in a
+dilemma; either she must disown her son-in-law, or speak well of the
+affair. Still she did not hesitate, for she was loyal and honest above
+all things. She declared the speculation was a poor one, and did all she
+could to prevent any of her friends becoming shareholders.
+
+The issue of shares was disastrous. The great banks remained hostile,
+and capitalists were mistrustful. Herzog landed a few million francs.
+Doorkeepers and cooks brought him their savings. He covered expenses.
+But it was no use advertising and puffing in the newspapers, as a word
+had gone forth which paralyzed the speculation. Ugly rumors were afloat.
+Herzog's German origin was made use of by the bankers, who whispered
+that the aim of the Universal Credit Company was exclusively political.
+It was to establish branch banks in every part of the world to further
+the interests of German industry. Further, at a given moment, Germany
+might have need of a loan in case of war, and the Universal Credit
+Company would be there to supply the necessary aid to the great military
+nation.
+
+Herzog was not a man to be put down without resisting, and he made
+supreme efforts to float his undertaking. He caused a number of unissued
+shares to be sold on 'Change, and had them bought up by his own men,
+thus creating a fictitious interest in the company. In a few days the
+shares rose and were at a premium, simply through the jobbery to which
+Herzog lent himself.
+
+Panine was little disposed to seek for explanations, and, besides,
+had such unbounded faith in his partner that he suspected nothing. He
+remained in perfect tranquillity. He had increased his expenditure, and
+his household was on a royal footing. Micheline's sweetness emboldened
+him; he no longer took the trouble of dissimulating, and treated his
+young wife with perfect indifference.
+
+Jeanne and Serge met every day at the little house in the Avenue
+Maillot. Cayrol was too much engaged with the new anxieties which Herzog
+caused him, to look after his wife, and left her quite free to amuse
+herself. Besides, he had not the least suspicion. Jeanne, like all
+guilty women, overwhelmed him with kind attentions, which the good man
+mistook for proofs of love. The fatal passion was growing daily stronger
+in the young woman's heart, and she would have found it impossible to
+have given up her dishonorable happiness with Panine. She felt herself
+capable of doing anything to preserve her lover.
+
+Jeanne had already said, "Oh! if we were but free!" And they formed
+projects. They would go away to Lake Lugano, and, in a villa hidden
+by trees and shrubs, would enjoy the pleasures of being indissolubly
+united. The woman was more eager than the man in giving way to these
+visions of happiness. She sometimes said, "What hinders us now? Let
+us go." But Serge, prudent and discreet, even in the most affectionate
+moments, led Jeanne to take a more sensible view. What was the use of a
+scandal? Did they not belong to each other?
+
+Then the young woman reproached him for not loving her as much as she
+loved him. She was tired of dissimulating; her husband was an object
+of horror to her, and she had to tell him untruths and submit to his
+caresses which were revolting to her. Serge calmed her with a kiss, and
+bade her wait awhile.
+
+Pierre, rendered anxious on hearing that Serge had joined Herzog in
+his dangerous financial speculations, had left his mines and had just
+arrived. The letters which Micheline addressed to the friend of her
+youth, her enforced confidant in trouble, were calm and resigned.
+Full of pride, she had carefully hidden from Pierre the cause of her
+troubles. He was the last person by whom she would like to be pitied,
+and her letters had represented Serge as repentant and full of good
+feeling. Marechal, for similar reasons, had kept his friend in the
+dark. He feared Pierre's interference, and he wished to spare Madame
+Desvarennes the grief of seeing her adopted son quarreling with her
+son-in-law.
+
+But the placards announcing the establishment of the Universal Credit
+Company made their way into the provinces, and one morning Pierre found
+some stuck on the walls of his establishment. Seeing the name of Panine,
+and not that of Cayrol, Pierre shuddered. The unpleasant ideas which
+he experienced formerly when Herzog was introduced to the Desvarennes
+recurred to his mind. He wrote to the mistress to ask what was going
+on, and not receiving an answer, he started off without hesitation for
+Paris.
+
+He found Madame Desvarennes in a terrible state of excitement. The
+shares had just fallen a hundred and twenty francs. A panic had ensued.
+The affair was considered as absolutely lost, and the shareholders were
+aggravating matters by wanting to sell out at once.
+
+Savinien was just coming away from the mistress's room. He wanted to see
+the downfall of the Prince, whom he had always hated, looking upon him
+as a usurper of his own rights upon the fortune of the Desvarennes.
+He began lamenting to his aunt, when she turned upon him with unusual
+harshness, and he felt bound as he said, laughing, to leave the
+"funereal mansion."
+
+Cayrol, as much interested in the affairs of the Prince as if they were
+his own, went backward and forward between the Rue Saint-Dominique and
+the Rue Taitbout, pale and troubled, but without losing his head. He
+had already saved the European Credit Company by separating it six
+weeks before from the Universal Credit Company, notwithstanding Madame
+Desvarennes's supplications to keep them together, in the hope that the
+one would save the other. But Cayrol, practical, clear, and implacable,
+had refused, for the first time, to obey Madame Desvarennes. He acted
+with the resolution of a captain of a vessel, who throws overboard a
+portion of the cargo to save the ship, the crew, and the rest of the
+merchandise. He did well, and the European Credit was safe. The shares
+had fallen a little, but a favorable reaction was already showing
+itself. The name of Cayrol, and his presence at the head of affairs, had
+reassured the public, and the shareholders gathered round him, passing a
+vote of confidence.
+
+The banker, devoted to his task, next sought to save Panine, who was at
+that very moment robbing him of his honor and happiness in the house of
+the Avenue Maillot.
+
+Pierre, Cayrol, and Madame Desvarennes met in Marechal's private office.
+Pierre declared that it was imperative to take strong measures and
+to speak to the Prince. It was the duty of the mistress to enlighten
+Panine, who was no doubt Herzog's dupe.
+
+Madame Desvarennes shook her head sadly. She feared that Serge was not
+a dupe but an accomplice. And what could she tell him? Let him ruin
+himself! He would not believe her. She knew how he received her advice
+and bore her remonstrances.
+
+An explanation between her and Serge was impossible, and her
+interference would only hurry him into the abyss.
+
+"Well, then, I will speak to him," said Pierre, resolutely.
+
+"No," said Madame Desvarennes, "not you! Only one here can tell him
+efficaciously what he must hear, and that is Cayrol. Let us above all
+things keep guard over our words and our behavior. On no account must
+Micheline suspect anything."
+
+Thus, at the most solemn moments, when fortune and honor, perhaps, were
+compromised, the mother thought of her daughter's welfare and happiness.
+
+Cayrol went up to the Prince's rooms. He had just come in, and was
+opening his letters, while having a cigarette in the smoking-room. A
+door, covered by curtains, led to a back stair which opened into the
+courtyard. Cayrol had gone up that way, feeling sure that by so doing he
+would not meet Micheline.
+
+On seeing Jeanne's husband, Serge rose quickly. He feared that Cayrol
+had discovered everything, and instinctively stepped backward. The
+banker's manner soon undeceived him. He was serious, but not in a rage.
+He had evidently come on business.
+
+"Well, my dear Cayrol," said the Prince, gayly, "what good fortune has
+brought you here?"
+
+"If it is fortune, it is certainly not good fortune," answered the
+banker, gravely. "I wish to have some talk with you, and I shall be
+grateful if you will listen patiently."
+
+"Oh! oh!" said Serge. "How serious you are. You have some heavy payments
+on hand, and want a little help, eh? I will speak to Herzog."
+
+Cayrol looked at the Prince in amazement. So he did not suspect
+anything? Such carelessness and negligence frightened him. The banker
+resolved to proceed clearly, and without beating about the bush; to do
+away with such blind confidence a thunderbolt was necessary.
+
+"I have not come about my business, but yours," returned Cayrol. "The
+Universal Credit Company is on the eve of disaster; there is still time
+for you to withdraw safely and soundly from the sinking wreck. I bring
+you the means."
+
+Serge laughed.
+
+"Thank you, Cayrol; you are very kind, my friend. I know your intentions
+are good, but I don't believe a word you are saying. You have come
+from Madame Desvarennes. You are both agreed that I shall give up the
+Universal Credit, but I will not yield to any pressure. I know what I am
+doing. Be easy."
+
+And quietly lighting another cigarette, he gracefully puffed the
+smoke toward the ceiling. Cayrol did not trouble to argue, but took
+a newspaper from his pocket and handed it to Panine, simply saying,
+"Read!"
+
+It was an article in a reliable financial paper prophesying the
+failure of the Universal Credit Company, and basing its statements on
+irrefutable calculations. Serge took the paper and looked over it. He
+turned pale and crushed it in his hand.
+
+"What infamy!" cried he. "I know our adversaries are enraged. Yes, they
+know that our new company is destined to crush them in the future, and
+they are doing all they can to run us aground. Jealousy! Envy! There is
+no other foundation for these rumors, and they are unworthy a serious
+man's attention."
+
+"There is neither envy nor jealousy. All is true," said Cayrol. "You
+will admit that I am your sincere friend? Well, I swear to you that
+the situation is terrible, and you must resign your directorship of the
+Universal Credit without loss of time. There's not a moment to lose. Sit
+down and write your resignation."
+
+"Do you think I am a child to be led by the nose like that?" asked the
+Prince, in a passion. "If you are sincere, Cayrol, as I wish to believe,
+I also think you are a fool. You don't understand! As to drawing out of
+the company, never! I have a lot of money invested in it."
+
+"Well, lose your money, Madame Desvarennes will pay you back. At least
+you can save your name."
+
+"Ah, I see you are conniving with her!" exclaimed the Prince, loudly.
+"Don't tell me another word, I don't believe you. I shall go straight
+to the office, and I will speak to Herzog. We will take measures to
+prosecute the papers for libel if they dare to publish these untruths."
+
+Cayrol saw that nothing would convince Panine. He hoped that an
+interview with Herzog would enlighten him. He left the matter to chance,
+as reasoning was of no avail, and went down to the mistress.
+
+Serge drove to the Universal Credit Company. It was the first day in the
+new offices. Herzog had furnished them splendidly, thinking that this
+would give the shareholders a high opinion of the undertaking. How could
+they have any doubts when they saw such splendid furniture and large
+offices? How could they refuse to place their money in the hands of
+speculators that could cover their floors with such soft carpets? The
+porters, with their dark blue and red cloth liveries, and buttons
+with the company's monogram on them, answered inquiries with haughty
+condescension. Everything foretold success. It was in the air. You could
+hear the cashier shovelling heaps of gold. The people who had placed the
+Universal Credit Company on such a footing were either very powerful or
+very impudent.
+
+Serge walked in, as he would have done at home, with his hat on, amid a
+number of small shareholders, who had come full of anxiety after reading
+the accounts in the newspapers, and who felt full of confidence after
+seeing the splendor of the place. Panine reached Herzog's office, but
+when about to open the door, loud voices struck his ear. The financier
+was arguing with a director, and Panine listened.
+
+"The speculation is safe and sure," Herzog was saying. "The shares are
+low, I know, because I have ceased to keep them up. I have given orders
+in London, Vienna, and Berlin, and we are buying up all shares that
+are offered in the market. I shall then run the shares up again, and we
+shall realize an enormous sum. It is most simple."
+
+"But it is shady," said the other voice.
+
+"Why? I defend myself as I am attacked. The great banks seek to
+deteriorate my stock. I buy in, and take it out of my adversaries. Is it
+not just and lawful?"
+
+Panine breathed freely and felt reassured. The depreciation was caused
+by Herzog; he had just said so. There was nothing to fear then. It was
+just a trick of Herzog's, and the company would come out brighter than
+ever.
+
+Serge went in.
+
+"Oh! here's Prince Panine," said Herzog. "Ask him what he thinks of the
+matter. I defer to his judgment."
+
+"I don't want to know anything," said Serge. "I have full confidence in
+you, my dear manager, and our business will prosper in your hands, I am
+sure. Besides, I know the manoeuvres of our opponents, and I think every
+financial means justifiable to answer them."
+
+"Ah! What did I say to you a few minutes ago?" cried Herzog, addressing
+his questioner in a tone of triumph. "Let me act and you will see.
+Besides, I don't want to keep you against your will," he added, harshly.
+"You are at liberty to withdraw from us if you like."
+
+The other protested that what he had said was for the best interests of
+all concerned. He did not dream of leaving the company; on the contrary,
+they might rely on him. He appreciated the experience and ability of
+Herzog too well to separate his fortune from his friend's. And, shaking
+hands with the financier, he took his leave.
+
+"Come! What is all this clamor in the newspapers?" asked Serge, when
+he found himself alone with Herzog. "Do you know that the articles
+published are very perfidious?"
+
+"All the more perfidious because they are founded on truth," said the
+financier, coldly.
+
+"What do you mean?" cried Serge, in alarm.
+
+"The truth. Do you think I am to tell you lies as I did to that idiot
+who has just gone out? The Universal Credit has at this moment a screw
+loose. But patience! I have an idea, and in a fortnight the shares will
+have doubled in value. I have a splendid scheme in hand which will kill
+the gas companies. It is a plan for lighting by magnesium. Its effect
+will be startling. I shall publish sensational articles describing the
+invention in the London and Brussels papers. Gas shares will fall very
+low. I shall buy up all I can, and when I am master of the situation,
+I shall announce that the threatened gas companies are buying up the
+invention. Shares will rise again, and I shall realize a goodly sum,
+which will be for the benefit of the Universal Credit."
+
+"But for such a formidable speculation foreign agents will require
+security?"
+
+"I will offer it to them. I have here ten million francs' worth of
+shares in the European Credit belonging to Cayrol. We will give the
+cashier a joint receipt for them. The speculation will last three days.
+It is safe, and when the result is achieved we will replace the shares,
+and take back the receipt."
+
+"But," asked Serge, "is this plan of taking the shares which don't
+belong to us legal?"
+
+"It is a transfer," said Herzog, with simplicity. "Besides, don't forget
+that we have to do with Cayrol, that is to say with a partner."
+
+"Suppose we tell him of it," insisted the Prince.
+
+"No! The deuce! We should have to explain everything to him. He knows
+what's what, and would find the idea too good, and want a share of the
+spoil. No! Sign that, and don't be alarmed. The sheep will be back in
+the fold before the shepherd comes to count them."
+
+A dark presentiment crossed Serge's mind, and he was afraid. At that
+moment, when his fate was being decided, he hesitated to go deeper into
+the rut where he had already been walking too long. He stood silent and
+undecided. Confused thoughts crowded his brain; his temples throbbed,
+and a buzzing noise sounded in his ears. But the thought of giving
+up his liberty, and again subjecting himself to Madame Desvarennes's
+protection was like the lash of a whip, and he blushed for having
+hesitated.
+
+Herzog looked at him, and, smiling in a constrained way, said:
+
+"You, too, may give up the affair if you like. If I share it with you it
+is because you are so closely allied to me. I don't so very much care
+to cut the pear in two. Don't think that I am begging of you to be my
+partner! Do as you like."
+
+Serge caught hold of the paper and, having signed it, handed it to the
+financier.
+
+"All right," said Herzog. "I shall leave to-night and be absent
+three days. Watch the money market. You will see the results of my
+calculations."
+
+And shaking hands with the Prince, Herzog went to the cashier to get the
+scrip and deposit the receipt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. SIN GROWS BOLDER
+
+There was a party at Cayrol's. In the drawing-rooms of the mansion in
+the Rue Taitbout everything was resplendent with lights, and there
+was quite a profusion of flowers. Cayrol had thought of postponing
+the party, but was afraid of rousing anxieties, and like an actor who,
+though he has just lost his father, must play the following day, so
+Cayrol gave his party and showed a smiling face, so as to prevent harm
+to his business.
+
+Matters had taken a turn for the worse during the last three days. The
+bold stroke, to carry out which Herzog had gone to London so as to be
+more secret, had been got wind of. The fall of the shares had not
+taken place. Working with considerable sums of money, the loss on
+the difference was as great as the gains would have been. The shares
+belonging to the European Credit Company had defrayed the cost of the
+game. It was a disaster. Cayrol, in his anxiety, had applied for the
+scrip and had only found the receipt given to the cashier. Although
+the transaction was most irregular, Cayrol had not said anything; but,
+utterly cast down, had gone to Madame Desvarennes to tell her of the
+fact.
+
+The Prince was in bed, pretending to be ill. His wife, happily ignorant
+of all that was going on, rejoiced secretly at his indisposition because
+she was allowed to nurse him and have him all to herself. Panine,
+alarmed at the check they had experienced, was expecting Herzog with
+feverish impatience, and to keep out of sight had chosen the privacy of
+his own room.
+
+Still, Cayrol had been allowed to see him, and with great circumspection
+told him that his non-appearance at the same time that Herzog was absent
+was most fatal for the Universal Credit Company. It was absolutely
+necessary that he should be seen in public. He must come to his party,
+and appear with a calm face. Serge promised to come, and had imposed
+on Micheline the heavy task of accompanying him to Jeanne's. It was the
+first time since her return from Nice that she had entered the house of
+her husband's mistress.
+
+The concert was over, and a crowd of guests were coming from the large
+drawing-room to the boudoir and little drawing-room.
+
+"The symphony is over. Ouf!" said Savinien, yawning.
+
+"You don't like music?" asked Marechal, with a laugh.
+
+"Yes, military music. But two hours of Schumann and Mendelssohn at high
+pressure is too much for one man. But I say, Marechal, what do you think
+of Mademoiselle Herzog's being at Cayrol's soiree. It is a little too
+strong."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Why, the father has bolted, and the daughter is preparing a dance. Each
+has a different way of using their feet."
+
+"Very pretty, Monsieur Desvarennes, but I advise you to keep your
+flashes of wit to yourself," said Marechal, seriously. "That may not
+suit everybody."
+
+"Oh, Marechal, you, too, making a fuss!"
+
+And turning on his heel, he went to the refreshment table.
+
+Prince and Princess Panine were just coming in. Micheline was smiling,
+and Serge was pale, though calm. Cayrol and Jeanne came toward them.
+Everybody turned to look at them. Jeanne, without embarrassment, shook
+hands with her friend. Cayrol bowed respectfully to Micheline.
+
+"Princess," he said, "will you honor me by taking my arm? You are just
+in time, they are going to begin dancing."
+
+"Not myself, though, thank you," replied Micheline, with a sad smile, "I
+am still very weak, but I will look on."
+
+And on Cayrol's arm she entered the large drawing-room. Serge followed
+with Jeanne.
+
+The festivities were at their height. The orchestra was playing a
+waltz, and in a whirl of silk and gauze the young people seemed to be
+thoroughly enjoying themselves.
+
+Suzanne Herzog was sitting alone near a window, in a simple white dress,
+and without a single ornament. Marechal had just approached her, and she
+had welcomed him with a smile.
+
+"Are you not dancing to-night, Mademoiselle?" he asked.
+
+"I am waiting to be invited," she answered, sadly, "and, like sister
+Anne, I see nobody coming. There are ugly reports abroad about my
+father's fortune, and the Argonauts are drawing off."
+
+"Will you give me a dance?" said Marechal. "I don't dance to perfection,
+never having practised much, but with a good will."
+
+"Thank you, Monsieur Marechal, I would rather talk. I am not very
+cheerful to-night, and, believe me, I only came because Madame
+Desvarennes wished it. I would rather have remained at home. Business
+has gone wrong with my father by what I can hear, for I don't know what
+goes on at the office. I feel more inclined to cry than to laugh. Not
+that I regret the loss of money, you know; I don't care for it, but my
+father must be in despair."
+
+Marechal listened silently to Suzanne, not daring to tell her what he
+thought of Herzog, and respected the real ignorance or willing blindness
+of the young girl who did not doubt her father's loyalty.
+
+The Princess, leaning on Cayrol's arm, had just finished promenading
+round the rooms, when she perceived Suzanne and, leaving the banker,
+came and seated herself beside her. Many of the guests looked at each
+other and whispered words which Micheline did not hear, and if she
+had heard would not have understood. "It is heroic!" some said. Others
+answered, "It is the height of impudence."
+
+The Princess was talking with Suzanne and was looking at her husband
+who, leaning against a door, was following Jeanne with his eyes.
+
+At a sign from Cayrol, Marechal left the room. The secretary joined
+Madame Desvarennes, who had come with Pierre and had remained in
+Cayrol's private office. During this party matters of moment were to
+be discussed, and a consultation was about to take place between the
+interested parties. On seeing Marechal enter, Madame only uttered one
+word:
+
+"Cayrol?"
+
+"Here he is," answered the secretary.
+
+Cayrol came in, hurriedly.
+
+"Well," he asked, with great anxiety, "have you any news?"
+
+"Pierre has just come from London," answered the mistress. "What we
+feared is true. Herzog, conjointly with my son-in-law, has made use of
+the ten millions belonging to the European Credit."
+
+"Do you think that Herzog has really bolted?" inquired Marechal.
+
+"No! he is too deep for that," replied Cayrol. "He will return. He knows
+that in compromising the Prince it is as if he had compromised the firm
+of Desvarennes, therefore he is quite easy on the matter."
+
+"Can the one be saved without the other?" asked the mistress.
+
+"It is impossible. Herzog has so firmly bound up his interests with
+those of the Prince that it will be necessary to extricate both or let
+both perish together."
+
+"Well, we must save Herzog into the bargain, then!" said Madame
+Desvarennes, coldly. "But by what means?"
+
+"These," answered Cayrol. "The shares taken away by Herzog, under the
+security of the Prince's signature, were deposited by the shareholders.
+When the Universal Credit removed to its new offices, these shares were
+taken away by mistake. It will suffice to replace the scrip. I will give
+back the receipt to the Prince and all trace of this deplorable affair
+will be wiped out."
+
+"But the numbers of the shares will not be the same," said Madame
+Desvarennes, accustomed to minute regularity in all operations.
+
+"We can explain the change by feigning a sale when they were high, and
+buying them up when low. We will show a profit, and the shareholders
+will not quarrel. Besides, I reserve the right of divulging Herzog's
+fraud without implicating Panine, if the shareholders insist. Trust me,
+I will catch Herzog another time. It is my stupid confidence in that
+man which has been partly the cause of this disaster. I will make your
+business mine and force him to shell out. I shall leave for London
+to-night, by the 1.50 train. Promptness of action in such a case is the
+first step toward success."
+
+"Thank you, Cayrol," said the mistress. "Have my daughter and the Prince
+arrived?"
+
+"Yes, Serge is calm; he has more power over himself than I could have
+believed."
+
+"What does it matter to him what is going on? Is it he who will feel the
+blow? No. He knows that I shall go on working to keep him in idleness
+and maintain him in luxury. I may think myself lucky if he is reclaimed
+by this hard lesson, and does not again begin to rummage in other
+people's safes, for then I should be unable to save him."
+
+The mistress rose and, with flashing eyes, walked up and down the room.
+
+"Oh, the wretch!" she said. "If ever my daughter ceases to come between
+him and me!"
+
+A terrible gesture finished the sentence.
+
+Cayrol, Marechal, and Pierre looked at each other. The same thought
+came to their minds, dark and fearful. In a paroxysm of rage this fond
+mother, this energetic and passionate woman, would be capable of killing
+any one.
+
+"You remember what I told you one day," murmured Marechal, approaching
+Cayrol.
+
+"I would prefer the hatred of ten men to that of such a woman," answered
+Cayrol.
+
+"Cayrol!" continued Madame Desvarennes, after a few moments of
+meditation, "the conduct of the business of which you spoke to us a
+little while ago depends solely on you, does it not?"
+
+"On me alone."
+
+"Do it at once, then, cost me what it may. Has it been noised abroad?"
+
+"No one has the slightest suspicion. I have not mentioned it to a living
+soul," said the banker--"except to my wife," added he with a frankness
+which drew a smile from Pierre. "But my wife and I are one."
+
+"What did she say?" asked Madame Desvarenes, looking straight at Cayrol.
+
+"If I had been the person concerned," he said, "she could not possibly
+have been more affected. She loves you so much, Madame, you and those
+belonging to you. She besought me to do all in my power to get the
+Prince out of this scrape. She had tears in her eyes: And, truly, if
+I did not feel bound to serve you from gratitude I would do it for her
+sake and to give her pleasure. I was touched, I can assure you. Really,
+she has a heart!"
+
+Marechal exchanged a look with Madame Desvarennes, who advanced toward
+the banker, and shook him by the hand, saying:
+
+"Cayrol, you are truly a good man!"
+
+"I know it," said Cayrol, smiling to hide his emotion, "and you may rely
+upon me."
+
+Micheline appeared on the threshold of the room. Through the half-open
+door the dancers could be seen passing to and fro, and the sound of
+music floated in the air.
+
+"What has become of you, mamma? I hear that you have been here for more
+than an hour."
+
+"I was talking on business matters with these gentlemen," answered
+Madame Desvarennes, smoothing from her brow the traces of her cares by
+an effort of will. "But you, dear, how do you feel? Are you not tired?"
+
+"Not more so than usual," replied Micheline, looking round to follow the
+movements of her husband, who was trying to reach Jeanne.
+
+"Why did you come to this party? It was unwise."
+
+"Serge wished me to come, and I did not care to let him come without
+me."
+
+"Eh! dear me!" exclaimed Madame Desvarennes. "Let him do what he likes.
+Men are savages. When you are ill it won't hurt him."
+
+"I am not ill, and I won't be," resumed Micheline, warmly. "We are going
+away now."
+
+She motioned to Serge with her fan. Panine came to her.
+
+"You will take me home, won't you, Serge?"
+
+"Certainly, dear one," answered Serge.
+
+Jeanne, who was listening at a distance, raised her hand to her forehead
+as a sign that she wanted him. A feeling of surprise came over the
+Prince, and he did not understand what she meant. Micheline had seen the
+sign. A deadly pallor spread over her features, and a cold perspiration
+broke out on her forehead. She felt so ill that she could have cried
+out. It was the first time she had seen Serge and Jeanne together
+since the dreadful discovery at Nice. She had avoided witnessing
+their meeting, feeling uncertain of herself, and fearing to lose her
+self-control. But seeing the two lovers before her, devouring each other
+with their looks, and making signs to each other, made her feel most
+terribly jealous and angry.
+
+Serge had decided to obey the imperious signs which Jeanne made to him,
+and turning toward his wife, said:
+
+"I remember now, my dear, that before going home I must call at the
+club. I promised, and cannot put it off. Excuse my not going with you,
+and ask your mother to accompany you."
+
+"Very well," said Micheline, in a trembling voice. "I will ask her. You
+are not going just yet?"
+
+"In a moment."
+
+"I, too, shall leave in a moment."
+
+The young wife did not want to lose one detail of the horrible comedy
+being played under her very eyes. She remained to learn, unawares, the
+reason for which Jeanne kept her husband.
+
+Not thinking that he was watched, Serge had gone across to Jeanne, and
+affecting a smile, inquired:
+
+"What is the matter?"
+
+"Serious news." And she explained that she must speak to her lover that
+evening.
+
+"Where?" Serge asked, with astonishment.
+
+"Here," answered Jeanne.
+
+"But your husband?" the Prince said.
+
+"Is leaving in an hour. Our guests will not remain late. Go to the
+garden, and wait in the pavilion. The door of the back stairs leading to
+my dressing-room will be open. When everybody has gone, come up."
+
+"Take care; we are observed," said Serge, uneasily.
+
+And they began to laugh with affectation and talked aloud about
+frivolous things, as if nothing serious were occupying their thoughts.
+Cayrol had come back again. He went up to Madame Desvarennes, who was
+talking with her daughter, and, full of business, thoughtlessly said:
+
+"I will telegraph you as soon as I reach London."
+
+"Are you going away?" inquired Micheline, a light dawning on her mind.
+
+"Yes," said Cayrol; "I have an important matter to settle."
+
+"And when do you start?" continued Micheline, in such a changed voice
+that her mother was frightened.
+
+"In a moment," answered the banker. "Allow me to leave you. I have
+several orders to give."
+
+And leaving the boudoir, he regained the little drawing-room.
+
+Micheline, with clinched hands and fixed gaze, was saying to herself:
+
+"She will be alone to-night, and has asked him to come to her. He told
+me an untruth about his having to go to the club. He is going to see
+her!"
+
+And passing her hand across her brow, as if to drive away an unpleasant
+thought, the young wife remained silent, dismayed and crushed.
+
+"Micheline, what is the matter with you?" asked Madame Desvarennes,
+seizing her daughter's hand, which was icy cold.
+
+"Nothing," stammered Micheline.
+
+"You are ill, I see. Come, let us go home. Come and kiss Jeanne--"
+
+"I!" cried Micheline, with horror, instinctively recoiling as if
+dreading some impure contact.
+
+Madame Desvarennes became suddenly cold and calm. She foresaw a terrible
+revelation, and observing her daughter narrowly, said:
+
+"Why do you cry out when I speak of your kissing Jeanne? Whatever is the
+matter?"
+
+Micheline grasped her mother's arm, and pointed to Serge and Jeanne, who
+were in the little drawing-room, laughing and talking, surrounded by a
+group of people, yet alone.
+
+"Look at them!" she cried.
+
+"What do you mean?" exclaimed the mother in agony. She read the truth in
+her daughter's eyes.
+
+"You know--" she began.
+
+"That he is her lover," cried Micheline, interrupting her. "Don't you
+see that I am dying through it?" she added, sobbing bitterly and falling
+into her mother's arms.
+
+The mistress carried her as if she had been a child into Cayrol's
+private office, and shut the door. Then, kneeling beside the couch on
+which Micheline was stretched, she gave vent to her grief. She begged
+her daughter to speak to her, and warmed her hands with kisses; then,
+seeing her still cold and motionless, she was frightened, and wanted to
+call for help.
+
+"No; be quiet!" murmured Micheline, recovering. "Let no one know. I
+ought to have held my peace; but I have suffered so much I could not
+help myself.
+
+"My life is blasted, you see. Take me away; save me from this infamy!
+Jeanne, my sister, and Serge. Oh! make me forget it! For pity's sake,
+mamma, you who are so strong, you who have always done what you wished,
+take from my heart all the pain that is there!"
+
+Madame Desvarennes, overcome by such a load of grief, lost command of
+herself, and, quite brokenhearted, began to cry and moan.
+
+"O God! Micheline, my poor child! you were suffering so and did not tell
+me. Oh! I knew you no longer trusted your old mother. And I stupidly did
+not guess it! I said to myself, at least she knows nothing about it, and
+sacrificed everything to keep the knowledge of their wrong-doing from
+you. Don't cry any more, darling, you will break my heart. I, who would
+have given up everything in the world to see you happy! Oh, I have loved
+you too much! How I am punished!"
+
+"It is I who am punished," said Micheline, sobbing, "for not obeying
+you. Ah! children ought always to heed their mother. She divines the
+danger. Is it not too horrible, mamma? I, who have sacrificed everything
+for him, to think that he does not love me, and never will love me!
+What will my life be without confidence, hope, or affection? I am too
+unhappy. It would be better to die!"
+
+"Die! you!" cried her mother, whose eyes, wet with tears, dried in a
+moment, as if by an inward fire. "Die! Come, don't talk such nonsense!
+Because a man treats you with scorn and betrays you? Are men worth dying
+for? No, you shall live, my darling, with your old mother. You shall
+have a deed of separation from your husband."
+
+"And he will be free," exclaimed Micheline, angrily. "He will go on
+loving her! Oh! I cannot bear that thought. Do you know, what I am going
+to tell you seems awful. I love him so much, that I would rather see him
+dead than unfaithful."
+
+Madame Desvarennes was struck, and remained silent. Serge dead! That
+idea had already occurred to her as a dream of deliverance. It came
+upon her peremptorily, violently, irresistibly. She repelled it with an
+effort.
+
+"I can never think of him but as vile and odious," continued Micheline.
+"Every day his sin will seem more dastardly and his hypocrisy more base.
+There, a little while ago, he was smiling; and do you know why? Because
+Cayrol is going away, and during his absence Serge will return here
+tonight."
+
+"Who told you?"
+
+"I read it in his joyful looks. I love him. He cannot hide anything from
+me. A traitor to me, and a traitor toward his friend, that is the man
+whom--I am ashamed to own it--I love!"
+
+"Compose yourself! Someone is coming," said Madame Desvarennes, and at
+the same time the door opened and Jeanne appeared, followed by Marechal,
+who was anxious at their disappearance.
+
+"Is Micheline ill?" inquired Madame Cayrol, coming forward.
+
+"No; it is nothing. Just a little fatigue," said Madame Desvarennes.
+"Marechal, give my daughter your arm, and take her to her carriage. I
+shall be down in a minute."
+
+And holding Jeanne by the hand to prevent her following Micheline, she
+added:
+
+"Stay; I have something to say to you."
+
+Jeanne looked surprised. Madame Desvarennes was silent for a moment. She
+was thinking about Serge coming there that night. She had only to say
+one word to Cayrol to prevent his going away. The life of this wretch
+was entirely in her hands then! But Jeanne! Was she going to ruin her?
+Had she the right thus to destroy one who had struggled and had defended
+herself? Would it be just? Jeanne had been led on against her will. She
+must question her. If the poor girl were suffering, if she repented, she
+must spare her.
+
+Madame Desvarennes, having thus made up her mind, turned toward Jeanne
+who was waiting.
+
+"It is a long time since I have seen you, my dear, and I find you happy
+and smiling. It is the first time since your marriage that you have
+seemed so happy."
+
+Jeanne looked at the mistress without answering. In these words she
+detected irony.
+
+"You have found peace," continued Madame Desvarennes, looking
+steadfastly at Jeanne with her piercing eyes. "You see, my dear, when
+you have a clear conscience--for you have nothing to reproach yourself
+with?"
+
+Jeanne saw in this sentence a question and not an affirmation. She
+answered, boldly:
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+"You know that I love you, and would be most lenient," continued Madame
+Desvarennes, sweetly, "and that you might safely confide in me!"
+
+"I have nothing to fear, having nothing to tell," said Jeanne.
+
+"Nothing?" repeated the mistress, with emphasis.
+
+"Nothing," affirmed Jeanne.
+
+Madame Desvarennes once more looked at her adopted daughter as if she
+would read her very soul. She found her quite calm.
+
+"Very well, then!" said she, hastily walking toward the door.
+
+"Are you going already?" asked Jeanne, offering her brow to Madame
+Desvarennes's lips.
+
+"Yes, good-by!" said the latter, with an icy kiss.
+
+Jeanne, without again turning round, went into the drawing-room. At the
+same moment, Cayrol, in a travelling-coat, entered the office, followed
+by Pierre.
+
+"Here I am, quite ready," said the banker to Madame Desvarennes. "Have
+you any new suggestion to make to me, or anything else to say?"
+
+"Yes," replied Madame Desvarennes, in a stern voice which made Cayrol
+start.
+
+"Then make haste. I have only a moment to spare, and you know the train
+waits for no one."
+
+"You will not go!"
+
+Cayrol, in amazement, answered:
+
+"Do you mean it? Your interests are at stake yonder."
+
+"Your honor is in danger here," cried the mistress, vehemently.
+
+"My honor!" repeated Cayrol, starting back. "Madame, do you know what
+you are saying?"
+
+"Ay!" answered Madame Desvarennes. "And do you remember what I promised
+you? I undertook to warn you, myself, if ever the day came when you
+would be threatened."
+
+"Well?" questioned Cayrol, turning quite livid.
+
+"Well! I keep my promise. If you wish to know who your rival is, come
+home to-night."
+
+Some inaudible words rattled in Cayrol's throat.
+
+"A rival! in my house! Can Jeanne be guilty? Do you know, if it is true
+I will kill them both!"
+
+"Deal with them as your conscience dictates," said Madame Desvarennes.
+"I have acted according to mine."
+
+Pierre, hitherto dumb with horror at the scene of which he had been a
+witness, shook off his stupor, and going up to Madame Desvarennes, said:
+
+"Madame, do you know that what you have just done is frightful!"
+
+"How? That man will be acting within his rights the same as I am. They
+are seeking to take away his wife, and they are killing my daughter, and
+dishonoring me! We are defending ourselves! Woe to those who are guilty
+of the crime!"
+
+Cayrol had fallen, as if thunderstruck, on a chair, with haggard
+eyes; his voice was gone, and he looked the image of despair. Madame
+Desvarennes's words came back to him like the refrain of a hated song.
+To himself he kept repeating, without being able to chase away the one
+haunting thought: "Her lover, to-night, at your house!" He felt as if
+he were going mad. He was afraid he should not have time to wreak his
+vengeance. He made a terrible effort, and, moaning with grief, he arose.
+
+"Take care!" said Pierre. "Here's your wife."
+
+Cayrol eyed Jeanne, who was approaching. Burning tears came to his eyes.
+He murmured:
+
+"She, with a look so pure, and a face so calm! Is it possible?"
+
+He nodded a farewell to Pierre and Madame Desvarennes, who were leaving,
+and recovering himself, advanced to meet Jeanne.
+
+"Are you off?" she inquired. "You know you have no time to lose!"
+
+Cayrol shuddered. She seemed anxious to get rid of him.
+
+"I have still a few minutes to spend with you," he said, with emotion.
+"You see, Jeanne, I am sad at going away alone. It is the first time I
+have left you. In a moment our guests will be gone--I beg of you, come
+with me!"
+
+Jeanne smiled. "But you see, dear, I am in evening dress."
+
+"The night of our marriage I brought you away from Cernay like
+that. Wrap yourself up in your furs, and come! Give me this proof of
+affection. I deserve it. I am not a bad man--and I love you so!"
+
+Jeanne frowned. This pressing vexed her.
+
+"This is childish," she said. "You will return the day after tomorrow,
+and I am tired. Have some pity for me."
+
+"You refuse?" asked Cayrol, becoming gloomy and serious.
+
+Jeanne touched his face slightly with her white hand.
+
+"Come! Don't leave me in a temper! You won't miss me much, you will
+sleep all the way. Good-by!"
+
+Cayrol kissed her; in a choking voice, he said:
+
+"Good-by!"
+
+And he left her.
+
+Jeanne's face brightened, as she stood listening for a moment and heard
+the carriage which contained her husband rolling away. Uttering a sigh
+of relief, she murmured:
+
+"At last!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. THE CRISIS
+
+Jeanne had just taken off her ball-dress to put on a dressing-gown of
+Oriental cloth richly embroidered with silk flowers. Leaning her elbows
+on the mantelpiece, and breathing heavily, she was waiting. Her maid
+came in, bringing a second lamp. The additional light displayed the rich
+warm hangings of ruby plush embroidered in dull gold. The bed seemed one
+mass of lace.
+
+"Has everybody gone?" asked Jeanne, pretending to yawn.
+
+"Messieurs Le Brede and Du Tremblay, the last guests, are just putting
+on their overcoats," answered the maid. "But Monsieur Pierre Delarue
+has come back, and is asking whether Madame will speak with him for a
+moment."
+
+"Monsieur Delarue?" repeated Jeanne, with astonishment.
+
+"He says he has something important to say to Madame."
+
+"Where is he?" asked Jeanne.
+
+"There, in the gallery. The lights were being put out in the
+drawing-room."
+
+"Well, show him in."
+
+The maid went out. Jeanne, much puzzled, asked herself, what could have
+brought Pierre back? It must certainly be something very important. She
+had always felt somewhat awed in Pierre's presence. At that moment the
+idea of being face to face with the young man was most distressing to
+her.
+
+A curtain was lifted and Pierre appeared. He remained silent and
+confused at the entrance of the room, his courage had deserted him.
+
+"Well," said Jeanne, with assumed stiffness, "whatever is the matter, my
+friend?"
+
+"The matter is, my dear Jeanne," began Pierre, "that--"
+
+But the explanation did not seem so very easy to give, for he stopped
+and could not go on.
+
+"That?" repeated Madame Cayrol.
+
+"I beg your pardon," resumed Pierre. "I am greatly embarrassed. In
+coming here I obeyed a sudden impulse. I did not think of the manner in
+which I should tell you what I have to say, and I see that I shall have
+to run a great risk of offending you."
+
+Jeanne assumed a haughty air.
+
+"Well, but, my dear friend, if what you have to say is so difficult,
+don't say it."
+
+"Impossible!" retorted Pierre. "My silence would cause irreparable
+mischief. In mercy, Jeanne, make my task easier! Meet me half way! You
+have projects for to-night which are known. Danger threatens you. Take
+care!"
+
+Jeanne shuddered. But controlling herself, she answered, laughing
+nervously:
+
+"What rubbish are you talking about? I am at home, surrounded by my
+servants, and I have nothing to fear. I beg of you to believe me."
+
+"You deny it!" exclaimed Pierre. "I expected as much. But you are only
+taking useless trouble. Come, Jeanne, I am the friend of your childhood;
+you have no reason to fear aught from me. I am only trying to be of
+use to you. You must know that, by my coming here, I know all. Jeanne,
+listen to me!"
+
+"Are you mad?" interrupted the young woman, proudly, "or are you taking
+part in some absurd joke?"
+
+"I am in my right mind, unfortunately for you!" said Pierre, roughly,
+seeing that Jeanne refused to believe him. "And there is no joke in the
+matter. Everything is true, serious and terrible! Since you compel me to
+say things which may be unpalatable, they must out. Prince Panine is in
+your house, or he soon will be. Your husband, whom you think far away,
+is within call, perhaps, and will come and take you unawares. Is not
+that a serious matter?"
+
+A frown overspread her face, and in an ungovernable rage she stepped
+forward, determined not to give in, and exclaimed:
+
+"Go away! or I shall call for assistance!"
+
+"Don't call, it would look bad!" resumed Pierre, calmly. "On the
+contrary, let the servants get out of the way, and get the Prince to go
+if he be here, or if he has not yet arrived, prevent his coming in. So
+long as I remain here you will dissimulate your fear and will not take
+any precautions. I will leave you, then. Adieu, Jeanne! Believe that I
+wished to render you a service, and be sure that when I have crossed the
+threshold of this door I shall have forgotten everything that I may have
+said."
+
+Pierre bowed, and, lifting the heavy curtain which hid the door leading
+to the gallery, went out.
+
+He had hardly gone when the opposite door opened, and Serge entered the
+room. The young woman rushed into his arms and whispered into his ear,
+with trembling lips:
+
+"Serge, we are lost!"
+
+"I was there," answered Panine. "I heard all."
+
+"What shall we do?" cried Jeanne, terrified.
+
+"Go away at once. To remain here a moment longer is an imprudence."
+
+"And I, if I remain, what shall I say to Cayrol when he comes?"
+
+"Your husband!" said Serge, bitterly. "He loves you, he will forgive
+you."
+
+"I know; but then we two shall be separated for ever. Is that what you
+desire?"
+
+"And what can I do?" cried Serge, in despair. "Everything around me is
+giving way! Fortune, which has been my one aim in life, is escaping
+from me. The family which I have scorned is forsaking me. The friendship
+which I have betrayed overwhelms me. There is nothing left to me."
+
+"And my love, my devotion?" exclaimed Jeanne, passionately. "Do you
+think that I will leave you? We must go away. I asked you long ago. You
+resisted; the moment has now come. Be easy! Madame Desvarennes will pay
+and save your name. In exchange you will give her back her daughter. You
+don't care about her, because you love me. I am your real wife; she who
+ought to share your life. Well, I take back my rights. I pay for them
+with my honor. I break all ties which could hold me back. I am yours,
+Serge! Our sin and misfortune will bind us more closely than any laws
+could."
+
+"Think, that with me you will have to endure poverty, and, perhaps,
+misery," said the Prince, moved by the young woman's infatuation.
+
+"My love will make you forget everything!"
+
+"You will not feel regret or remorse?"
+
+"Never, so long as you love me."
+
+"Come, then," said the Prince, taking Jeanne in his arms. "And if life
+is too hard--"
+
+"Well," added Jeanne, finishing the sentence with sparkling eyes, "we
+will seek refuge together in death! Come!"
+
+Serge bolted the door, through which Pierre had passed, and which alone
+communicated with the other apartments. Then, taking his mistress by the
+hand, he went with her into the dressing-room. Jeanne threw a dark cloak
+round her shoulders, put a hat on her head, and without taking either
+money, jewels, lace, or, in fact, anything that she had received from
+Cayrol, they went down the little back stairs.
+
+It was very dark. Jeanne did not take a light, as she did not care to
+attract attention, so they had to feel every step of the way as quietly
+as possible, striving not to make the least noise, holding their breath,
+and with beating hearts. When they reached the bottom of the stairs,
+Jeanne stretched out her hand, and sought the handle of the door which
+opened into the courtyard. She turned it, but the door would not open.
+She pushed, but it did not give way. Jeanne uttered a low groan. Serge
+shook it vigorously, but it would not open.
+
+"It has been fastened on the outside," he whispered.
+
+"Fastened?" murmured Jeanne, seized with fear. "Fastened, and by whom?"
+
+Serge did not answer. The idea that Cayrol had done it came to his mind
+at once. The husband lying in wait, had seen him enter, and to prevent
+his escaping from his vengeance had cut off all means of retreating.
+
+Silently, they went upstairs again, into the room through the
+dressing-room. Jeanne took off her bonnet and cloak, and sank into an
+armchair.
+
+"I must get away!" said Serge, with suppressed rage; and he walked
+toward the door of the gallery.
+
+"No! don't open that," cried Jeanne, excitedly.
+
+And with a frightened look, she added:
+
+"What if he were behind the door?"
+
+At the same moment, as if Jeanne's voice had indeed evoked Cayrol, a
+heavy step was heard approaching along the gallery, a hand tried to open
+the bolted door. Serge and Jeanne remained motionless, waiting.
+
+"Jeanne!" called the voice of Cayrol from the outside, sounding
+mournfully in the silence, "Jeanne, open!"
+
+And with his fist he knocked imperatively on the woodwork.
+
+"I know you are there! Open, I say!" he cried, with increasing rage. "If
+you don't open the door, I'll--"
+
+"Go! I beseech you!" whispered Jeanne, in Panine's ear. "Go downstairs
+again, and break open the door. You won't find any one there now."
+
+"Perhaps he has stationed some one there," answered Serge. "Besides, I
+won't leave you here alone exposed to his violence."
+
+"You are not alone. I can hear you talking!" said Cayrol, beside
+himself. "I shall break open this door!"
+
+The husband made a tremendous effort. Under the pressure of his heavy
+weight the lock gave way. With a bound he was in the middle of the room.
+Jeanne threw herself before him; she no longer trembled. Cayrol took
+another step and fixed his glaring eyes on the man whom he sought,
+uttering a fearful oath.
+
+"Serge!" cried he. "I might have guessed it. It is not only money of
+which you are robbing me, you villain!"
+
+Panine turned horribly pale, and advanced toward Cayrol, despite Jeanne,
+who was clinging to him.
+
+"Don't insult me; it is superfluous," said he. "My life belongs to you;
+you can take it. I shall be at your service whenever you please."
+
+Cayrol burst into a fearful laugh.
+
+"Ah! a duel! Come! Am I a gentleman? I am a plebeian! a rustic! a
+cowherd! you know that! I have you now! I am going to smash you!"
+
+He looked round the room as if seeking a weapon, and caught sight of
+the heavy fire-dogs. He caught up one with a cry of triumph, and,
+brandishing it like a club, rushed at Serge.
+
+More rapid than he, Jeanne threw herself before her lover. She stretched
+out her arms, and with a sharp voice, and the look of a she-wolf
+defending her cubs,
+
+"Keep behind me," said she to Serge; "he loves me and will not dare to
+strike!"
+
+Cayrol had stopped. At these words he uttered a loud cry: "wretched
+woman! You first, then!"
+
+Raising his weapon, he was about to strike, when his eyes met Jeanne's.
+The young woman was smiling, happy to die for her lover. Her pale face
+beamed from out her black hair with weird beauty. Cayrol trembled. That
+look which he had loved, would he never see it again? That rosy mouth,
+whose smile he cherished, would it be hushed in death? A thousand
+thoughts of happy days came to his mind. His arm fell. A bitter flood
+rushed from his heart to his eyes; the iron dropped heavily from his
+hand on to the floor, and the poor man, overcome, sobbing, and ashamed
+of his weakness, fell senseless on a couch.
+
+Jeanne did not utter a word. By a sign she showed Serge the door,
+which was open, and with a swollen heart she leaned on the mantelpiece,
+waiting for the unfortunate man, from whom she had received such a deep
+and sad proof of love, to come back to life.
+
+Serge had disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI. "WHEN ROGUES FALL OUT"
+
+The night seemed long to Madame Desvarennes. Agitated and feverish,
+she listened through the silence, expecting every moment to hear some
+fearful news. In fancy she saw Cayrol entering his wife's room like a
+madman, unawares. She seemed to hear a cry of rage, answered by a sigh
+of terror; then a double shot resounded, the room filled with smoke,
+and, struck down in their guilty love, Serge and Jeanne rolled in death,
+interlaced in each other's arms, like Paolo and Francesca de Rimini,
+those sad lovers of whom Dante tells us.
+
+Hour after hour passed; not a sound disturbed the mansion. The Prince
+had not come in. Madame Desvarennes, unable to lie in bed, arose, and
+now and again, to pass the time, stole on tiptoe to her daughter's room.
+Micheline, thoroughly exhausted with fatigue and emotion, had fallen
+asleep on her pillow, which was wet with tears.
+
+Bending over her, by the light of the lamp, the mistress gazed at
+Micheline's pale face, and a sigh rose to her lips.
+
+"She is still young," she thought; "she may begin life afresh. The
+remembrance of these sad days will be wiped out, and I shall see her
+revive and smile again. That wretch was nearly the death of her."
+
+And the image of Serge and Jeanne stretched beside each other in the
+room full of smoke came before her eyes again. She shook her head to
+chase the importunate vision away, and noiselessly regained her own
+apartment.
+
+The day dawned pale and bleak. Madame Desvarennes opened her window and
+cooled her burning brow in the fresh morning air. The birds were awake,
+and were singing on the trees in the garden.
+
+Little by little, the distant sound of wheels rolling by was heard. The
+city was awakening from its sleep.
+
+Madame Desvarennes rang and asked for Marechal. The secretary appeared
+instantly. He, too, had shared the anxieties and fears of the mistress,
+and had risen early. Madame Desvarennes greeted him with a grateful
+smile. She felt that she was really loved by this good fellow, who
+understood her so thoroughly. She begged him to go to Cayrol's, and gain
+some information, without giving him further details, and she waited,
+walking up and down the room to calm the fever of her mind.
+
+On leaving the house in the Rue Taitbout, Serge felt bewildered, not
+daring to go home, and unable to decide on any plan; yet feeling that
+it was necessary to fix on something without delay, he reached the club.
+The walk did him good, and restored his physical equilibrium. He was
+thankful to be alive after such a narrow escape. He went upstairs with
+a comparatively light step, and tossed his overcoat to a very sleepy
+footman who had risen to receive him. He went into the card-room.
+Baccarat was just finishing. It was three o'clock in the morning. The
+appearance of the Prince lent the game a little fresh animation. Serge
+plunged into it as if it were a battle. Luck was on his side. In a
+short time he cleared the bank: a thousand louis. One by one the players
+retired. Panine, left alone, threw himself on a couch and slept for a
+few hours, but it was not a refreshing sleep. On the contrary, it made
+him feel more tired.
+
+The day servants disturbed him when they came in to sweep the rooms and
+open the windows. He went into the lavatory, and there bathed his face.
+When his ablutions were over he wrote a note to Jeanne, saying that
+he had reflected, and could not possibly let her go away with him. He
+implored her to do all in her power to forget him. He gave this letter
+to one of the messengers, and told him to give it into the hands of
+Madame Cayrol's maid, and to none other.
+
+The care of a woman and the worry of another household seemed unbearable
+to him. Besides, what could he do with Jeanne? The presence of his
+mistress would prevent his being able to go back to Micheline. And now
+he felt that his only hope of safety was in Micheline's love for him.
+
+But first of all he must go and see if Herzog had returned, and
+ascertain the real facts of the position in regard to the Universal
+Credit Company.
+
+Herzog occupied a little house on the Boulevard Haussmann, which he had
+hired furnished from some Americans. The loud luxury of the Yankees had
+not frightened him. On the contrary, he held that the gay colors of the
+furniture and the glitter of the gilded cornices were bound to have a
+fascination for prospective shareholders. Suzanne had reserved a little
+corner for herself, modestly hung with muslin and furnished with simple
+taste, which was a great contrast to the loud appearance of the other
+part of the house.
+
+On arriving, Serge found a stableman washing a victoria. Herzog
+had returned. The Prince quietly went up the steps, and had himself
+announced.
+
+The financier was sitting in his study by the window, looking through
+the newspapers. When Serge entered he rose. The two men stood facing
+each other for a moment. The Prince was the first to speak.
+
+"How is it that you have kept me without news during your absence?"
+asked he, harshly.
+
+"Because," replied Herzog, calmly, "the only news I had was not good
+news."
+
+"At least I should have known it."
+
+"Would the result of the operation have been different?"
+
+"You have led me like a child in this affair," Serge continued, becoming
+animated. "I did not know where I was going. You made me promises, how
+have you kept them?"
+
+"As I was able," quietly answered Herzog. "Play has its chances. One
+seeks Austerlitz and finds Waterloo."
+
+"But," cried the Prince, angrily, "the shares which you sold ought not
+to have gone out of your hands."
+
+"You believed that?" retorted the financier, ironically. "If they ought
+not to have gone out of my hands it was hardly worth while putting them
+into them."
+
+"In short," said Panine, eager to find some responsible party on whom
+he could pour out all the bitterness of his misfortune, "you took a mean
+advantage of me."
+
+"Good! I expected you to say that!" returned Herzog, smiling. "If the
+business had succeeded, you would have accepted your share of the spoil
+without any scruples, and would have felt ready to crown me. It has
+failed; you are trying to get out of the responsibility, and are on the
+point of treating me as if I were a swindler. Still, the affair would
+not have been more honest in the first instance than in the second, but
+success embellishes everything."
+
+Serge looked hard at Herzog.
+
+"What is there to prove," replied he, "that this speculation, which
+brings ruin and loss to me, does not enrich you?"
+
+"Ungrateful fellow!" observed the financier, ironically, "you suspect
+me!"
+
+"Of having robbed me!" cried Serge, in a rage. "Why not?"
+
+Herzog, for a moment, lost his temper and turned red in the face. He
+seized Panine violently by the arm, and said:
+
+"Gently, Prince; whatever insults you heap upon me must be shared by
+you. You are my partner."
+
+"Scoundrel!" yelled Panine, exasperated at being held by Herzog.
+
+"Personalities," said the financier, in a jesting tone. "Then I take my
+leave!"
+
+And loosing his hold of the Prince, he went toward the door.
+
+Serge sprang after him, exclaiming:
+
+"You shall not leave this room until you have given me the means of
+rectifying this disaster."
+
+"Then let us talk sensibly, as boon companions," said Herzog. "I know
+of a marvellous move by which we can get out of the difficulty. Let
+us boldly call a general meeting. I will explain the thing, and amaze
+everybody. We shall get a vote of confidence for the past, with funds
+for the future. We shall be as white as snow, and the game is played.
+Are you in with me?"
+
+"Enough," replied the Prince, intensely disgusted. "It does not suit me
+to do a yet more shameful thing in order to get out of this trouble. It
+is no use arguing further; we are lost."
+
+"Only the weak allow themselves to be lost!" exclaimed the financier.
+"The strong defend themselves. You may give in if you like; I won't.
+Three times have I been ruined and three times have I risen again. My
+head is good! I am down now. I shall rise again, and when I am well off,
+and have a few millions to spare, I will settle old debts. Everybody
+will be astonished because they won't expect it, and I shall be more
+thought of than if I had paid up at the time."
+
+"And if you are not allowed to go free?" asked Serge. "What if they
+arrest you?"
+
+"I shall be in Aix-la-Chapelle to-night," said Herzog. "From there I
+shall treat with the shareholders of the Universal Credit. People judge
+things better at a distance. Are you coming with me?"
+
+"No," replied Serge, in a low voice.
+
+"You are wrong. Fortune is capricious, and in six months we may be
+richer than we ever have been. But as you have decided, let me give you
+a piece of advice which will be worth the money you have lost. Confess
+all to your wife; she can get you out of this difficulty."
+
+The financier held out a hand to Serge which he did not take.
+
+"Ah! pride!" murmured Herzog. "After all it is your right--It is you who
+pay!"
+
+Without answering a word the Prince went out.
+
+At that same hour, Madame Desvarennes, tired by long waiting, was pacing
+up and down her little drawing-room. A door opened and Marechal, the
+long-looked for messenger, appeared. He had been to Cayrol's, but could
+not see him. The banker, who had shut himself up in his private office
+where he had worked all night, had given orders that no one should
+interrupt him. And as Madame Desvarennes seemed to have a question on
+her lips which she dared not utter, Marechal added that nothing unusual
+seemed to have happened at the house.
+
+But as the mistress was thanking her secretary, the great gate swung on
+its hinges, and a carriage rolled into the courtyard. Marechal flew to
+the window, and uttered one word,
+
+"Cayrol!"
+
+Madame Desvarennes motioned to him to leave her, and the banker appeared
+on the threshold.
+
+At a glance the mistress saw the ravages which the terrible night he
+had passed through had caused. Yesterday, the banker was rosy, firm, and
+upright as an oak, now he was bent, and withered like an old man. His
+hair had become gray about the temples, as if scorched by his burning
+thoughts. He was only the shadow of himself.
+
+Madame Desvarennes advanced toward him, and in one word asked a world of
+questions.
+
+"Well?" she said.
+
+Cayrol, gloomy and fierce, raised his eyes to the mistress, and
+answered:
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+"Did he not come?"
+
+"Yes, he came. But I had not the necessary energy to kill him. I thought
+it was an easier matter to become a murderer. And you thought so too,
+eh?"
+
+"Cayrol!" cried Madame Desvarennes, shuddering, and troubled to find
+that she had been so easily understood by him whom she had armed on her
+behalf.
+
+"The opportunity was a rare one, though," continued Cayrol, getting
+excited. "Fancy; I found them together under my own roof. The law
+allowed me, if not the actual right to kill them, at least an excuse if
+I did so. Well, at the decisive moment, when I ought to have struck the
+blow, my heart failed me. He lives, and Jeanne loves him."
+
+There was a pause.
+
+"What are you going to do?"
+
+"Get rid of him in another way," answered Cayrol. "I had only two ways
+of killing him. One was to catch him in my own house, the other to call
+him out. My will failed me in the one case; my want of skill would fail
+me in the other. I will not fight Serge. Not because I fear death, for
+my life is blighted, and I don't value it; but if I were dead, Jeanne
+would belong to him, and I could not bear the thought of that even in
+death. I must separate them forever."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"By forcing him to disappear."
+
+"And if he refuse?"
+
+Cayrol shook his head menacingly, and exclaimed:
+
+"I defy him! If he resist, I will bring him before the assizes!"
+
+"You?" said Madame Desvarennes, going nearer to Cayrol.
+
+"Yes, I!" answered the banker, with energy.
+
+"Wretched man! And my daughter?" cried the mistress. "Think well what
+you are saying! You would disgrace me and mine."
+
+"Am I not dishonored myself?" asked Cayrol. "Your son-in-law is a
+robber, who has defiled my home and robbed my safe."
+
+"An honest man does not seek to revenge himself after the manner you
+suggest," said the mistress, gravely.
+
+"An honest man defends himself as he can. I am not a knight. I am only
+a financier. Money is my weapon. The Prince has stolen from me. I will
+have him sentenced as a thief."
+
+Madame Desvarennes frowned.
+
+"Make out your account. I will pay it."
+
+"Will you also pay me for my lost happiness?" cried the banker,
+exasperated. "Should I not rather have chosen to be ruined than be
+betrayed as I am? You can never repair the wrong he has done me. And
+then I am suffering so, I must have my revenge!"
+
+"Ah! fool that you are," replied Madame Desvarennes. "The guilty will
+not feel your blows, but the innocent. When my daughter and I are in
+despair will you be less unhappy! Oh! Cayrol, take heed that you lose
+not in dignity what you gain in revenge. The less one is respected
+by others the more one must respect one's self. Contempt and silence
+elevate the victim, while rage and hatred make him descend to the level
+of those who have outraged him."
+
+"Let people judge me as they please. I care only for myself! I am a
+vulgar soul, and have a low mind--anything you like. But the idea that
+that woman belongs to another drives me mad. I ought to hate her, but,
+notwithstanding everything, I cannot live without her. If she will come
+back to me I will forgive her. It is ignoble! I feel it, but it is too
+strong for me. I adore her!"
+
+Before that blind love Madame Desvarennes shuddered. She thought of
+Micheline who loved Serge as Cayrol loved Jeanne.
+
+"Suppose she chooses to go away with Serge," said the mistress to
+herself. In a moment she saw the house abandoned, Micheline and Serge in
+foreign lands, and she alone in the midst of her overthrown happiness,
+dying of sadness and regrets. She made a last effort to move Cayrol.
+
+"Come, must I appeal in vain? Can you forget that I was a sure and
+devoted friend to you, and that you owe your fortune to me? You are a
+good man and will not forget the past. You have been outraged and have
+the right of seeking revenge, but think that in carrying it out you will
+hurt two women who have never done you any harm. Be generous! Be just!
+Spare us!"
+
+Cayrol remained silent; his face did not relax. After a moment he said:
+
+"You see how low I have fallen, by not yielding at once to your
+supplications! Friendship, gratitude, generosity, all the good feelings
+I had, have been consumed by this execrable love. There is nothing left
+but love for her. For her, I forget everything. I degrade and debase
+myself. And what is worse than all, is that I know all this and yet I
+cannot help myself."
+
+"Miserable man!" murmured the mistress.
+
+"Oh! most miserable," sobbed Cayrol, falling into an armchair.
+
+Madame Desvarennes approached him, and quietly placed her hand on his
+shoulder.
+
+"Cayrol, you are weeping? Then, forgive."
+
+The banker arose and, with lowering brow, said:
+
+"No! my resolution is irrevocable. I wish to place a world between
+Jeanne and Serge. If he has not gone away by tonight my complaint will
+be lodged in the courts of justice."
+
+Madame Desvarennes no longer persisted. She saw that the husband's heart
+was permanently closed.
+
+"It is well. I thank you for having warned me. You might have taken
+action without doing so. Good-by, Cayrol. I leave your conscience to
+judge between you and me."
+
+The banker bowed, and murmured:
+
+"Good-by!"
+
+And with a heavy step, almost tottering, he went out.
+
+The sun had risen, and lit up the trees in the garden. Nature seemed to
+be making holiday. The flowers perfumed the air, and in the deep blue
+sky swallows were flying to and fro. This earthly joy exasperated Madame
+Desvarennes. She would have liked the world to be in mourning. She
+closed the window hastily, and remained lost in her own reflections.
+
+So everything was over! The great prosperity, the honor of the house,
+everything was foundering in a moment. Even her daughter might escape
+from her, and follow the infamous husband whom she adored in spite of
+his faults--perhaps because of his very faults--and might drag on a
+weary existence in a strange land, which would terminate in death.
+
+For that sweet and delicate child could not live without material
+comforts and mental ease, and her husband was doomed to go on from bad
+to worse, and would drag her down with him! The mistress pictured her
+daughter, that child whom she had brought up with the tenderest care,
+dying on a pallet, and the husband, odious to the last, refusing her
+admission to the room where Micheline was in agony.
+
+A fearful feeling of anger overcame her. Her motherly love gained the
+mastery, and in the silence of the room she roared out these words:
+
+"That shall not be!"
+
+The opening of the door recalled her to her senses, and she rose. It was
+Marechal, greatly agitated. After Cayrol's arrival, not knowing what
+to do, he had gone to the Universal Credit Company, and there, to
+his astonishment, had found the offices closed. He had heard from the
+porter, one of those superb personages dressed in blue and red cloth,
+who were so important in the eyes of the shareholders, that the evening
+before, owing to the complaint of a director, the police had entered the
+offices, and taken the books away, and that the official seal had been
+placed on the doors. Marechal, much alarmed, had hastened back to Madame
+Desvarennes to apprise her of the fact. It was evidently necessary to
+take immediate steps to meet this new complication. Was this indeed the
+beginning of legal proceedings? And if so how would the Prince come out
+of it?
+
+Madame Desvarennes listened to Marechal, without uttering a word. Events
+were hurrying on even quicker than she had dreaded. The fears of the
+interested shareholders outran even the hatred of Cayrol. What would the
+judges call Herzog's underhand dealings? Would it be embezzlement? Or
+forgery? Would they come and arrest the Prince at her house? The house
+of Desvarennes, which had never received a visit from a sheriff's
+officer, was it to be disgraced now by the presence of the police?
+
+The mistress, in that fatal hour, became herself again. The
+strong-minded woman of old reappeared. Marechal was more alarmed at this
+sudden vigor than he had been at her late depression. When he saw Madame
+Desvarennes going toward the door, he made an effort to detain her.
+
+"Where are you going, Madame?" he inquired, with anxiety.
+
+The mistress gave him a look that terrified him, and answered:
+
+"I am going to square accounts with the Prince."
+
+And, passing through the door leading to the little staircase, Madame
+Desvarennes went up to her son-in-law's rooms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII. THE MOTHER'S REVENGE
+
+On leaving Herzog, Serge had turned his steps toward the Rue
+Saint-Dominique. He had delayed the moment of going home as long as
+possible, but the streets were beginning to be crowded. He might meet
+some people of his acquaintance. He resolved to face what ever reception
+was awaiting him on the way, he was planning what course he should adopt
+to bring about a reconciliation with his redoubtable mother-in-law. He
+was no longer proud, but felt quite broken down. Only Madame Desvarennes
+could put him on his feet again; and, as cowardly in trouble as he had
+been insolent in prosperity, he accepted beforehand all that she
+might impose upon him; all, provided that she would cover him with her
+protection.
+
+He was frightened, not knowing how deep Herzog had led him in the mire.
+His moral sense had disappeared, but he had a vague instinct of the
+danger he had incurred. The financier's last words came to his mind:
+"Confess all to your wife; she can get you out of this difficulty!"
+He understood the meaning of them, and resolved to follow the advice.
+Micheline loved him. In appealing to her heart, deeply wounded as it
+was, he would have in her an ally, and he had long known that Madame
+Desvarennes could not oppose her daughter in anything.
+
+He entered the house through the back garden gate, and regained his
+room without making the slightest noise. He dreaded meeting Madame
+Desvarennes before seeing Micheline. First he changed his attire; he
+had walked about Paris in evening clothes. Looking in the glass he was
+surprised at the alteration in his features. Was his beauty going too?
+What would become of him if he failed to please. And, like an actor
+who is about to play an important part, he paid great attention to the
+making up of his face. He wished once more to captivate his wife, as his
+safety depended on the impression he was about to make on her. At last,
+satisfied with himself, he tried to look smiling, and went to his wife's
+room.
+
+Micheline was up.
+
+At the sight of Serge she could not suppress an exclamation of surprise.
+It was a long time since he had discontinued these familiar visits. The
+presence of her beloved one in that room, which had seemed so empty when
+he was not there, made her feel happy, and she went to him with a smile,
+holding out her hand. Serge drew her gently toward him and kissed her
+hair.
+
+"Up, already, dear child," said he, affectionately.
+
+"I have scarcely slept," answered Micheline. "I was so anxious. I sat up
+for you part of the night. I had left you without saying good-night. It
+was the first time it had occurred, and I wanted to beg your pardon. But
+you came in very late."
+
+"Micheline, it is I who am ungrateful," interrupted Panine, making
+the young wife sit down beside him. "It is I who must ask you to be
+indulgent."
+
+"Serge! I beg of you!" said the young wife, taking both his hands. "All
+is forgotten. I would not reproach you, I love you so much!"
+
+Micheline's face beamed with joy, and tears filled her eyes.
+
+"You are weeping," said Panine. "Ah! I feel the weight of my wrongs
+toward you. I see how deserving you are of respect and affection. I
+feel unworthy, and would kneel before you to say how I regret all the
+anxieties I have caused you, and that my only desire in the future will
+be to make you forget them."
+
+"Oh! speak on! speak on!" cried Micheline, with delight. "What happiness
+to hear you say such sweet words! Open your heart to me! You know I
+would die to please you. If you have any anxieties or annoyances
+confide in me. I can relieve them. Who could resist me when you are in
+question?"
+
+"I have none, Micheline," answered Serge, with the constrained manner of
+a man who is feigning. "Nothing but the regret of not having lived more
+for you."
+
+"Is the future not in store for us?" said the young wife, looking
+lovingly at him.
+
+The Prince shook his head, saying:
+
+"Who can answer for the future?"
+
+Micheline came closer to her husband, not quite understanding what
+Serge meant, but her mind was on the alert, and in an alarmed tone, she
+resumed:
+
+"What strange words you are uttering? Are we not both young? And, if you
+like, is there not much happiness in store for us?"
+
+And she clung to him. Serge turned away.
+
+"Oh, stay," she murmured, again putting her arms round him. "You are so
+truly mine at this moment!"
+
+Panine saw that the opportunity for confessing all had come. He was able
+to bring tears to his eyes, and went toward the window as if to hide his
+emotion. Micheline followed him, and, in an eager tone, continued:
+
+"Ah! I knew you were hiding something. You are unhappy or in pain;
+threatened perhaps? Ah! if you love me, tell me the truth!"
+
+"Well, yes! It is true, I am threatened. I am suffering and unhappy! But
+don't expect a confession from me. I should blush to make it. But, thank
+Heaven, if I cannot extricate myself from the difficulty in which I am
+placed through my own folly and imprudence--there is yet another way out
+of it."
+
+"Serge! you would kill yourself!" cried Micheline, terrified at the
+gesture Panine had made. "What would become of me then? But what is
+there that is so hard to explain? And to whom should it be said?"
+
+"To your mother," answered Serge, bowing his head.
+
+"To my mother? Very well, I will go to her. Oh! don't fear anything. I
+can defend you, and to strike you she will first have to attack me."
+
+Serge put his arms round Micheline, and with a kiss, the hypocrite
+inspired her whom he entrusted with his safety with indomitable courage.
+
+"Wait for me here," added the young wife, and passing through the little
+drawing-room she reached the smoking-room.
+
+She halted there a moment, out of breath and almost choked with emotion.
+The long expected day had arrived. Serge was coming back to her.
+She went on, and as she reached the door of the stair leading to her
+mother's rooms, she heard a light tap from without.
+
+Greatly astonished, she opened the door, and suddenly drew back,
+uttering an exclamation. A woman, thickly veiled, stood before her.
+
+At the sight of Micheline the stranger seemed inclined to turn and
+fly. But overcome with jealousy, the young wife seized her by the arm,
+dragged off her veil, and recognizing her, exclaimed:
+
+"Jeanne!"
+
+Madame Cayrol approached Micheline, and beseechingly stretched out her
+hands:
+
+"Micheline! don't think--I come--"
+
+"Hold your tongue!" cried Micheline. "Don't tell me any lies! I know
+all! You are my husband's mistress!"
+
+Crushed by such a stroke, Jeanne hid her face in her hands and moaned:
+
+"O God!"
+
+"You must really be bold," continued Micheline, in a furious tone, "to
+seek him here, in my house, almost in my arms!"
+
+Jeanne drew herself up, blushing with shame and grief.
+
+"Ah! don't think," she said, "that love brings me here."
+
+"What is it then?" asked Micheline, contemptuously.
+
+"The knowledge of inevitable and pressing danger which threatens Serge."
+
+"A danger! Of what kind?"
+
+"Compromised by Herzog, he is at the mercy of my husband, who has sworn
+to ruin him."
+
+"Your husband!"
+
+"Yes, he is his rival. If you could ruin me, would you not do it?" said
+Jeanne.
+
+"You!" retorted Micheline, passionately. "Do you think I am going to
+worry about you? Serge is my first thought. You say you came to warn
+him. What must be done?"
+
+"Without a moment's delay he must go away!"
+
+A strange suspicion crossed Micheline's mind. She approached Jeanne, and
+looking earnestly at her, said:
+
+"He must go away without delay, eh? And it is you, braving everything,
+without a thought of the trouble you leave behind you, who come to warn
+him? Ah! you mean to go with him?"
+
+Jeanne hesitated a moment. Then, boldly and impudently, defying and
+almost threatening the legitimate wife:
+
+"Well, yes, I wish to! Enough of dissimulation! I love him!" she
+exclaimed.
+
+Micheline, transfigured by passion, strong, and ready for a struggle,
+threw herself in Jeanne's way, with arms outstretched, as if to prevent
+her going to Serge.
+
+"Well!" she said; "try to take him from me!"
+
+"Take him from you!" answered Jeanne, laughing like a mad woman. "To
+whom does he most belong? To the woman who was as ignorant of his love
+as she was of his danger; who could do nothing toward his happiness, and
+can do nothing for his safety? Or to the mistress who has sacrificed her
+honor to please him and risks her safety to save him?"
+
+"Ah! wretch!" cried Micheline, "to invoke your infamy as a right!"
+
+"Which of us has taken him from the other?" continued Jeanne, forgetting
+respect, modesty, everything. "Do you know that he loved me before he
+married you? Do you know that he abandoned me for you--for your money, I
+should say? Now, do you wish to weigh what I have suffered with what you
+suffer? Shall we make out a balance-sheet of our tears? Then, you will
+be able to tell which of us he has loved more, and to whom he really
+belongs."
+
+Micheline had listened to this furious address almost in a state of
+stupor, and replied, vehemently:
+
+"What matter who triumphs if his ruin is certain. Selfish creatures that
+we are, instead of disputing about his love, let us unite in saving
+him! You say he must go away! But flight is surely an admission of
+guilt--humiliation and obscurity in a strange land. And that is what you
+advise, because you hope to share that miserable existence with him.
+You are urging him on to dishonor. His fate is in the hands of a man
+who adores you, who would sacrifice everything for you, as I would for
+Serge, and yet you have not thrown yourself at his feet! You have not
+offered your life as the price of your lover's! And you say that you
+love him!"
+
+"Ah!" stammered Jeanne, distracted. "You wish me to save him for you!"
+
+"Is that the cry of your heart?" said Micheline, with crushing disdain.
+"Well, see what I am ready to do. If, to remove your jealous fears, it
+is necessary to sacrifice myself, I swear to you that if Serge be saved,
+he shall be perfectly free, and I will never see him again!"
+
+Micheline, chaste and calm, with hands raised to Heaven, seemed to grow
+taller and nobler. Jeanne, trembling and overpowered, looked at her
+rival with a painful effort, and murmured, softly:
+
+"Would you do that?"
+
+"I would do more!" said the lawful wife, bending before the mistress. "I
+ought to hate you, and I kneel at your feet and beseech you to listen
+to me. Do what I ask you and I will forgive you and bless you. Do not
+hesitate! Follow me! Let us throw ourselves at the feet of him whom you
+have outraged. His generosity cannot be less than ours, and to us,
+who sacrifice our love, he will not be able to refuse to sacrifice his
+vengeance."
+
+This greatness and goodness awaked feelings in Jeanne's heart which she
+thought dead. She was silent for a moment and then her breast heaved
+with convulsive sobs, and she fell helpless into the arms which
+Micheline, full of pity, held out to her.
+
+"Forgive me," moaned the unhappy woman. "I am conquered. Your rights are
+sacred, and you have just made them still more so. Keep Serge: with you
+he will once more become honest and happy, because, if your love is not
+greater than mine, it is nobler and purer."
+
+The two women went hand in hand to try to save the man whom they both
+adored.
+
+All this time Serge remained in the little drawing-room enjoying the
+hope of returning peace. It was sweet to him, after the troubles he had
+gone through. He had not the slightest suspicion of the scene in the
+adjoining room between Jeanne and Micheline. The fond heroism of his
+wife and the self-denial of his mistress were unknown to him.
+
+Time was passing. At least an hour had sped since Micheline left him to
+go to her mother, and Serge was beginning to think that the interview
+was very long, when a light step made him tremble. It came from the
+gallery. He thought it was Micheline, and opening the door, he went to
+meet her.
+
+He drew back disappointed, vexed, and anxious, when he found it was
+Pierre. The two men had never met alone since that terrible night at
+Nice. Panine assumed a bold demeanor, and returned Pierre's firm look.
+Steadying his voice, he said:
+
+"Ah! is it you?"
+
+"Were you not expecting me?" answered Pierre whose harsh voice thrilled
+Serge.
+
+The Prince opened his mouth to speak, but Pierre, did not give him time.
+In stern and provoking accents, he continued:
+
+"I made you a promise once; have you forgotten it? I have a good memory.
+You are a villain, and I come to chastise you!"
+
+"Pierre!" exclaimed the Prince, starting fiercely.
+
+But he suddenly calmed himself, and added:
+
+"Leave me! I will not listen to you!"
+
+"You will have to, though! You are a source of trouble and shame to
+the family to which you have allied yourself, and as you have not the
+courage to kill yourself, I have come to help you. You must leave Paris
+to-night, or you will be arrested. We shall go together to Brussels and
+there we shall fight. If chance favors you, you will be at liberty to
+continue your infamies, but at any rate I shall have done my best to rid
+two unfortunate women of your presence."
+
+"You are mad!" said Serge, sneeringly.
+
+"Don't think so! And know that I am ready for any emergency. Come; must
+I strike you, to give you courage?" growled Pierre, ready to suit the
+action to the word.
+
+"Ah! take care!" snarled Serge, with an evil look.
+
+And opening a drawer which was close to him, he took out a revolver.
+
+"Thief first, then murderer!" said Pierre, with a terrible laugh. "Come,
+let's see you do it!"
+
+And he was going toward the Prince when the door opened, and Madame
+Desvarennes came forward. Placing her hand on Pierre's shoulder, she
+said, in that commanding tone which few could resist:
+
+"Go; wait for me in my room. I wish it!"
+
+Pierre bowed, and, without answering, went out.
+
+Serge had placed the pistol on the table and was waiting.
+
+"We have to talk over several matters," said Madame Desvarennes,
+gravely, "and you know it."
+
+"Yes, Madame," answered Panine, sadly, "and, believe me, no one judges
+my conduct more severely than I do."
+
+The mistress could not help looking surprised.
+
+"Ah!" she said, with irony, "I did not expect to find you in such a
+mood. You have not accustomed me to such humility and sweetness. You
+must be afraid, to have arrived at that stage!"
+
+The Prince appeared not to have understood the implied insult in
+his mother-in-law's words. One thing struck him, which was that she
+evidently did not expect to find him repentant and humbled.
+
+"Micheline must have told you," he began.
+
+"I have not seen my daughter," interrupted the mistress, sharply, as if
+to make him understand that he must depend solely upon himself.
+
+Ignorant that Micheline had met Jeanne on her way to her mother, and
+had gone to Cayrol, Serge thought he was abandoned by his only powerful
+ally. He saw that he was lost and that his feigned resignation was
+useless. Unable to control himself any longer, his face darkened with
+rage.
+
+"She, too, against me! Well! I will defend myself alone!"
+
+Turning toward Madame Desvarennes, he added:
+
+"To begin with, what do you want with me?"
+
+"I wish to ask you a question. We business folk when we fail, and cannot
+pay our way, throw blood on the blot and it disappears. You members of
+the nobility, when you are disgraced, how do you manage?"
+
+"If I am not mistaken, Madame," answered the Prince, in a light tone,
+"you do me the favor of asking what my intentions are for the future?
+I will answer you with precision. I purpose leaving to-night for
+Aix-la-Chapelle, where I shall join my friend Herzog. We shall begin our
+business again. My wife, on whose good feelings I rely, will accompany
+me, notwithstanding everything."
+
+And in these last words he put all the venom of his soul.
+
+"My daughter will not leave me!" exclaimed Madame Desvarennes.
+
+"Very well, then, you can accompany her," retorted Panine. "That
+arrangement will suit me. Since my troubles I have learned to appreciate
+domestic happiness."
+
+"Ah! you hope to play your old games on me," said Madame Desvarennes.
+"You won't get much out of me. My daughter and I with you--in the stream
+where you are going to sink? Never!"
+
+"Well, then," cried Panine, "what do you expect?"
+
+A violent ring at the front door resounded as Madame Desvarennes was
+about to answer, and stopped the words on her lips. This signal, which
+was used only on important occasions, sounded to Madame like a funeral
+knell. Serge frowned, and instinctively moved back.
+
+Marechal appeared through the half-open door with a scared face, and
+silently handed Madame Desvarennes a card. She glanced at it, turned
+pale, and said to the secretary:
+
+"Very well, let him wait!" She threw the card on the table. Serge came
+forward and read:
+
+"Delbarre, sheriff's officer."
+
+Haggard-looking and aghast, he turned to the mistress, as if seeking an
+explanation.
+
+"Well!" she observed: "it is clear, he has come to arrest you."
+
+Serge rushed to a cabinet, and opening a drawer, took forth some
+handfuls of gold and notes, which he crammed into his pockets.
+
+"By the back stairs I shall have time to get away. It is my last chance!
+Keep the man for five minutes only."
+
+"And if the door is guarded?" asked Madame Desvarennes.
+
+Serge remained abject before her. He felt himself enclosed in a ring
+which he could not break through.
+
+"One may be prosecuted without being condemned," he gasped. "You will
+use your influence, I know, and you will get me out of this mess. I
+shall be grateful to you for ever, and will do anything you like! But
+don't leave me, it would be cowardly!"
+
+He trembled, as he thus besought her distractedly.
+
+"The son-in-law of Madame Desvarennes does not go before the Assize
+Courts even to be acquitted," said she, with a firm voice.
+
+"What would you have me do?" cried Serge, passionately.
+
+Madame Desvarennes did not answer, but pointed to the revolver on the
+table.
+
+"Kill myself? Ah! no; that would be giving you too much pleasure."
+
+And he gave the weapon a push, so that it rolled close to Madame
+Desvarennes.
+
+"Ah! wretch!" cried she, giving way to her suppressed rage. "You are not
+even a Panine! The Panines knew how to die."
+
+"I have not time to act a melodrama with you," snarled Serge. "I am
+going to try to save myself."
+
+And he took a step toward the door.
+
+The mistress seized the revolver, and threw herself before him.
+
+"You shall not go out!" she cried.
+
+"Are you mad?" he exclaimed, gnashing his teeth.
+
+"You shall not go out!" repeated the mistress, with flashing eyes.
+
+"We shall see!"
+
+And with a strong arm he seized Madame Desvarennes, and threw her aside.
+
+The mistress became livid. Serge had his hand on the handle of the door.
+He was about to escape. Madame Desvarennes's arm was stretched forth.
+
+A shot made the windows rattle; the weapon fell from her hand, having
+done its work and, amid the smoke, a body dropped heavily on the carpet,
+which was soon dyed with blood.
+
+At the same moment, the door opened, and Micheline entered, holding in
+her hand the fatal receipt which she had just wrung from Cayrol. The
+young wife uttered a heartrending cry, and fell senseless on Serge's
+body.
+
+Behind Micheline came the officer and Marechal. The secretary exchanged
+looks with the mistress, who was lifting her fainting daughter and
+clasping her in her arms. He understood all.
+
+Turning toward his companion, he said:
+
+"Alas! sir, here is a sad matter! The Prince, on hearing that you had
+come, took fright, although his fault was not very serious, and has shot
+himself."
+
+The officer bowed respectfully to the mistress, who was bending over
+Micheline.
+
+"Please to withdraw, Madame. You have already suffered too much," said
+he. "I understand your legitimate grief. If I need any information, this
+gentleman will give it to me."
+
+Madame Desvarennes arose, and, without bending under the burden, she
+bore away on her bosom her daughter, regained.
+
+
+     ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+     A man weeps with difficulty before a woman
+     A uniform is the only garb which can hide poverty honorably
+     Antagonism to plutocracy and hatred of aristocrats
+     Because they moved, they thought they were progressing
+     Cowardly in trouble as he had been insolent in prosperity
+     Enough to be nobody's unless I belong to him
+     Even those who do not love her desire to know her
+     Everywhere was feverish excitement, dissipation, and nullity
+     Flayed and roasted alive by the critics
+     Forget a dream and accept a reality
+     Hard workers are pitiful lovers
+     He lost his time, his money, his hair, his illusions
+     He was very unhappy at being misunderstood
+     Heed that you lose not in dignity what you gain in revenge
+     I thought the best means of being loved were to deserve it
+     I don't pay myself with words
+     Implacable self-interest which is the law of the world
+     In life it is only nonsense that is common-sense
+     Is a man ever poor when he has two arms?
+     Is it by law only that you wish to keep me?
+     It was a relief when they rose from the table
+     Men of pleasure remain all their lives mediocre workers
+     Money troubles are not mortal
+     My aunt is jealous of me because I am a man of ideas
+     Negroes, all but monkeys!
+     Nothing that provokes laughter more than a disappointed lover
+     One amuses one's self at the risk of dying
+     Patience, should he encounter a dull page here or there
+     Romanticism still ferments beneath the varnish of Naturalism
+     Sacrifice his artistic leanings to popular caprice
+     Scarcely was one scheme launched when another idea occurred
+     She would have liked the world to be in mourning
+     Suffering is a human law; the world is an arena
+     Talk with me sometimes. You will not chatter trivialities
+     The guilty will not feel your blows, but the innocent
+     The uncontested power which money brings
+     They had only one aim, one passion--to enjoy themselves
+     Unqualified for happiness
+     We had taken the dream of a day for eternal happiness
+     What is a man who remains useless
+     Without a care or a cross, he grew weary like a prisoner
+     You are talking too much about it to be sincere
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Serge Panine, Complete, by Georges Ohnet
+
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