me, my noble friends, why that funereal face comes to a joyous party
like this?"
"Did you not see him at table? He drank for four!"
"Then he must carry his wine well; for he looks no more cheerful with it
all!"
"He's a brave fellow--he fights as well as he drinks!"
"That does not make him any more attractive.--Ah! by the way, Flavia,
that madcap Flavia, has bet that she will make a conquest of that
dark-browed knight. I am sure that she will have nothing to show for her
ogling and her sighs! I must go and watch."
The fascinating Camilla left the banquet hall and returned to the card
room.
The playing was very animated; the young nobles, excited by wine, risked
large sums on a card or the fall of the dice.
Léodgard was banker at a lansquenet table. Luck, which had been
unfavorable to him at first, had changed; he won on every deal, and the
gold lay in piles before him. He raked in his adversaries' money with
the utmost sang-froid. He was in no wise excited by his good fortune;
from time to time he glanced about with a vague expression and seemed to
give little thought to the pastime in which he was indulging.
"Evidently, it is hopeless to play against the Comte de Marvejols
to-night," said the Chevalier de la Valteline, leaving the card table in
a pet; "I believe he has sold himself to the devil; he has a familiar
demon who favors him!"
"Nonsense!" said Montrevert; "we must not find fault with his good luck;
he lost steadily for a long enough time; he was even reduced once to
staking his cloak.--Do you remember that night, Léodgard?"
"Yes, yes, I remember it.--Messieurs, the bets are not all made."
"For my part, I shall not forget it!" continued Montrevert; "for it was
the same night that I was attacked and robbed by Giovanni."
"Come, messieurs, make your bets!" cried Léodgard, frowning darkly,
while all his features contracted as if in a nervous spasm.
"Léodgard must remember it, too," added La Valteline, "for it was that
same night that he insisted on pursuing that famous robber, to kill him;
and, although he did not kill him, he had the honor of wounding him at
all events, for he came back covered with blood."
"Well, comte, what are you doing? You are taking up the money, although
you lost!" said Jarnonville to Léodgard, whose face had suddenly become
ghastly pale.
"Oh, yes! to be sure; I beg pardon. I did lose, did I not?--Well! let
someone else take the bank."
"All the same, I would be very glad to have had the honor of fighting
with that Giovanni!"
"Is he still performing his doughty deeds, the villain?"
"I should say so! He is more audacious than ever, so it seems. Not four
days ago, the Vicomte de Monferrant, on his way home from a party where
there had been some high play, was attacked on Rue Saint-Paul and robbed
by that bedevilled Italian!"
"Did Monferrant defend himself?"
"He says so, but I don't believe it; he is too much of a coward for
that."
"In that case, how did he happen to be going home alone?"
"He was not alone--his servant was in front with a lantern; but at his
master's first outcry, the rascal, instead of running to his assistance,
fled, it seems, without so much as looking back."
"And a few days earlier, the old Baronne de Graveline was going home one
evening in a _brouette_; Giovanni drove away the man who wheeled the
_brouette_, then relieved the baroness of her money, diamonds, and
jewels; she had some very fine ones on that night."
"It is worthy of remark that this infernal villain has extraordinary
luck; he always stumbles on a rich victim!"
"Do you call that luck, Montrevert? For my part, I am persuaded that
Giovanni attacks only where he is sure of his ground. I mean by that
that he must have confederates, who probably inform him as to the
profitable strokes that may be made on a certain evening."
"In that case, Giovanni's confederates must be received in the best
society, and even at court, to be so thoroughly posted concerning what
is going on, and to know what road such and such a person is likely to
take to return home."
"Ha! ha! that is not an unlikely supposition, on my word! There is
no safety anywhere, messieurs!--I say, Comte de Marvejols, are you
quite certain that you have had no thieves at your party
to-night?--Léodgard!--Where in the devil is he?"
Léodgard had left the card room and had gone to the table where the
indomitable drinkers were still at work; he had swallowed several
glasses of maraschino, then had gone out into the courtyard, only to
return in a moment to the dining hall.
"Have you the fidgets in your legs to-night, comte?" murmured young
Monclair; "you do not seem to stay a second in one place."
"You are mistaken; I stayed a very long time at the lansquenet table,"
rejoined Léodgard, curtly.
"I' faith! my dear fellow, it is a delightful affair," said Sénange; "it
is impossible to do things more handsomely or to entertain one's guests
with more magnificence."
"I am very glad if you have had an enjoyable evening," said Léodgard;
and his brow lost a few of its wrinkles.
"Vive Dieu! we should be most exacting if we did not think this supper
perfectly exquisite; you did well to hire this little house, on my word!
it seems to have been built expressly for parties of this sort."
"But you have never shown us the whole of your house. If I am not
mistaken, there is another wing at the rear of the courtyard; does no
one go there?"
"That is where I live," replied Léodgard, becoming serious once more;
"but it is not arranged for the reception of company."
"Moreover, it is the mysterious wing!" cried Camilla, laughingly. "If I
wish to be allowed to go there, I must notify monsieur le comte a long
while beforehand."
"Hush, Camilla! a truce to your foolery!" said Léodgard, with a stern
glance at the courtesan.
"Upon my word, you are gallant to-night!--Don't expect me to take your
part another time when people say that you no longer seem cheerful!"
"Who said that?"
"Never mind! I am going to enter the lists with Flavia to make the
conquest of the Black Chevalier."
Jarnonville had left the card table and had taken a seat in a less
brilliantly lighted part of the room; but Mademoiselle Flavia, a young
madcap with very eloquent eyes, bright and languorous in turn, soon
seated herself beside him, and said:
"What are you doing in this corner? you look as if you were sulking, and
that is not what people come here for. Come, say something to me. Do you
know that you are not at all gallant--you have not said a single word to
one of these ladies to-night!"
"As you see that I pay no attention to the ladies, why do you pay any
attention to me?" retorted Jarnonville, meeting with absolute
indifference the fire of the blonde Flavia's glances.
"Why?--Why, my dear man, do you know nothing of women?--For the very
reason that you pay no attention to us, that you seem to scorn to win
our favors, I long to make your conquest--from a spirit of
contradiction! We always desire what is not offered us.--What is the
meaning of this mania for playing the bear at your time of life? Come,
tell me your troubles."
"You would not understand them!"
"What a boor!--Mon Dieu! I can guess them: you have been betrayed by
your wife or your mistress--it is always that that makes you men
misanthropic."
"I was sure that you would not understand me," said Jarnonville, rising;
and he was about to turn away, when the dark-haired Camilla planted
herself in front of him, with a smile on her face.
"How now, Sire de Jarnonville," she said; "can it be that you think of
going already? Why, it is not daylight yet! We are going to sing, and
dance chaconnes; will you not be my partner?"
"Such pleasures have not appealed to me for many years. Excuse me, fair
Camilla; you are unfortunate in your choice."
"Oh! my dear, you will waste your glances and your smiles, as I have
done!" cried the blonde Flavia, showing the double row of pearls with
which her mouth was embellished. "Your sweetest tones will slide over
that steel cuirass. This gentleman has a heart of granite--or, rather,
he has no heart at all!--See, he is not listening to us, he is going
away!"
"Oh! not yet!" rejoined Camilla, laying her pretty hand on Jarnonville's
arm.--"Tell me, chevalier, why do you insist on going away? Do you find
yourself so very wretched with us?--Look at us--are we so unpleasant to
the eye that you cannot even endure the sight of us?"
The young courtesan uttered these words in such a cajoling, suppliant
tone, that the Black Chevalier glanced at her in spite of himself, and
for the first time his expression lost something of its sternness.
"Good, it is decided!" exclaimed the fascinating brunette, overjoyed by
this first success; "I propose to keep you; and why should you leave us
so early? for you are your own master, you have neither wife nor child."
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Jarnonville pushed the
two courtesans roughly aside and left the card room, muttering in a
hollow voice:
"No child! no child! Ah, no! I have no child! I have lost my most
cherished treasure, my joy in the present, my hope for the future. That
angel, a single glance from whose eyes banished all my cares, whose
voice opened my heart to a felicity so pure that I lived in a veritable
heaven on earth!--I have her no longer--death struck her down! In God's
name, what had she done that she should die, O inexorable fate!"
Speaking thus to himself, Jarnonville left the house, crossed the
courtyard, motioned to the concierge to open the gate, and passed out
into the street. But he had not walked twenty yards from the gate when a
person rushed to meet him and almost threw herself at his feet, crying:
"In pity's name, seigneur, listen to me! do not, I implore you, spurn a
woman who seeks your help!"
"A woman!" rejoined Jarnonville, harshly, thinking that it was still
another courtesan who accosted him; "what does it matter to me that you
are a woman? Seek protection from the young popinjays within, but do not
detain me, let me pass."
"Sire de Jarnonville!" exclaimed she who had stopped the Black
Chevalier. "Ah! Providence befriends me.--You will not spurn me,
seigneur, you will come to my assistance. I am no courtesan; I am not
one of the women who frequent this house from which you have just come.
I am an honest girl, and I can hold up my head before you without fear!
Perhaps you would recognize me if the daylight were not still so faint.
My name is Ambroisine--I am the daughter of Master Hugonnet, the bath
keeper on Rue Saint-Jacques; and you have often been to my father's
place."
Jarnonville gazed at the _belle baigneuse_ for some seconds, then said:
"And what is Hugonnet's daughter doing, alone, in the middle of the
night, in this lonely quarter, so far from her father's house?"
"She is here, chevalier, in the hope of restoring peace of mind and
happiness to a friend who is now in the lowest depths of despair.--Oh!
this is not the first time that I have passed the whole night near this
house, watching for Comte Léodgard to go in or out. There has been
scarcely an evening for a month past that I have not stolen secretly
from our house to come to this place to do sentry duty. My father does
not know it; he thinks that I am in bed; he would be anxious if he knew
that his daughter exposed herself to danger, alone, at night, in this
horrible neighborhood! And yet, he could not be angry with me, for I am
doing it all to save my friend."
"I do not understand you."
"I have no reason to conceal the truth, least of all from you, whom I
know to be less hard-hearted than you choose to appear.--Comte Léodgard
has seduced, dragged down into the depths of despair, a poor girl who
had been, until she fell in with him, as pure as the angels. He promised
her, swore on his honor, that she should be his wife. She believed in
the sincerity of his love and his oaths.--Bathilde's parents discovered
her sin, and drove her from their house without pity. I took her in, and
my father did not blame me--far from it!--But the author of all
Bathilde's sufferings, the man who lives here, Comte Léodgard---- Can
you believe, seigneur, that he has utterly deserted the girl he
seduced?--Bathilde wrote to him that her parents had turned her out of
doors; and he has not come to see her, he has not even deigned to answer
her letter. He received it, however, for I myself gave it to his
concierge. In the last month, I have come here twenty times, to see him,
to speak to him--it is impossible to find him! He has refused to admit
me!--And that man gives grand parties in his fine house! He passes his
nights in dissipation, while his poor victim weeps in despair and
appeals to him in vain for a word of comfort!--Ah! it is frightful!--But
I vowed that I would see this Léodgard, this unworthy nobleman, who
dishonors the name he bears--that I would see him and speak to him. I am
only a woman, but I am brave and determined.--To-day, Providence has
permitted me to meet you, and I am deeply grateful. I cannot doubt that,
with your help, I shall be able to speak with the count."
Jarnonville listened attentively to what Ambroisine said; for a moment
he seemed moved, but almost instantly, as if he regretted that he had
allowed his heart to be touched, he pushed the girl away and would have
walked on.
"A mere love story!" he said; "a woman seduced! What have I to do with
all that? Comte Léodgard's intrigues do not concern me!"
"But a poor girl who is on the point of becoming a mother, and whose
child, spurned by its father, will have no name, nothing to eat--that
concerns you, for you are compassionate to children, I know!"
Jarnonville stopped; he passed his hand across his forehead, heaved a
profound sigh, and returned to Ambroisine, saying:
"Come with me!"
The chevalier retraced his steps to Léodgard's house and knocked; the
gate swung open and he bade Ambroisine enter with him.
Seeing the girl in the courtyard, the concierge, who recognized her,
cried:
"What are you doing here? Monsieur le comte will not receive you, as you
know quite well! I have orders to send you away whenever you come here,
so----"
"This young woman is with me," said Jarnonville, in a tone that imposed
silence on the concierge. "Hold your peace!"
And taking Ambroisine's hand, he led her through the vestibule at the
right into a room preceding the banquet hall, and said:
"Remain here. I will find Léodgard and send him to you, without telling
him who it is that wishes to see him."
"Oh! thanks! thanks a thousand times, seigneur!--I knew that you would
help me!"
Jarnonville left the room; and Ambroisine, undismayed, awaited
Léodgard's appearance. She was not embarrassed at finding herself in
that sumptuous abode. Grandeur loses all its prestige when it loses its
power to inspire respect.
Hardly five minutes had passed when Léodgard entered the room in which
Ambroisine awaited him.
"A lady to see me?" he exclaimed; "why does she not come to the salons
where my guests are assembled?"
"Because that is not her place, monsieur le comte, and because, no
doubt, you would not be pleased to see her there," said Ambroisine,
stepping forward with a resolute air.
As he recognized Hugonnet's daughter, Léodgard could not restrain an
angry gesture. He glanced at her disdainfully and muttered:
"What! is it you? By hell! you are persistent! You have been to my house
too often already; you must have understood that I did not choose to
receive you. You have no right to violate a person's domicile
thus!--Understand, my dear, that this is not your father's bathing
establishment, where anyone who pleases has a right to enter."
"Oh! I know quite well that I am not in my father's house, monsieur le
comte; there is no possibility of mistake on that score. For Master
Hugonnet's house is the house of an honorable man, from which those who
come to demand justice are not turned away."
"On my soul, I believe that she presumes to be impertinent!--Begone! I
have nothing to say to you!"
"And I did not come here to talk, monsieur, but to demand an answer to
the letter you have received."
"What letter?"
"The letter from Bathilde--that poor girl whom you have deceived and
seduced, and who bears within her the result of her fault. When she
implores you in her child's name, can you be deaf to her prayer? What
shall I say to Bathilde, monsieur le comte?"
"Nothing! I do not answer such letters! Upon my word, these girls are
mad! We do them the honor to think them pretty, to make love to them,
and they expect that sort of thing to last forever!--Your friend will be
consoled.--Adieu!"
"Monsieur le comte," said Ambroisine, falling at Léodgard's knees, "for
the love of heaven, have some pity for Bathilde, who believed your
oaths!--Give her back her honor; remember that her parents have cast her
out!--Excuse me for not addressing you with more respect. Treat me as
harshly as you will, but be moved by Bathilde's suffering, I implore
you!"
"Enough! enough! let me hear no more of all this! And above all, girl,
never put your foot in my house again, for I shall not always be so
patient!"
As he spoke, Léodgard roughly extricated himself from Ambroisine's
hands, and hurried from the room.
"The villain!" said the girl, as she rose. "Ah! poor Bathilde, who will
take care of your child?"
"I will!" said Jarnonville, who had returned to Ambroisine; and he made
haste to escort her from the hôtel in Rue de Bretonvilliers.
XXXII
PASSEDIX PUTS ON A NEW SKIN
One fine winter's day, the Chevalier Passedix, who had left his lodgings
in the morning shivering with cold, being but poorly protected by his
threadbare and scanty cloak, returned to the Hôtel du Sanglier with a
radiant face and with his head in the air, throwing the doors open like
a man who is not afraid of being rebuked for making too much noise.
Instead of going upstairs to his lodgings, the chevalier entered the
room on the ground floor with which we are already acquainted, wherein
Dame Cadichard, the mistress of the establishment, was wont to sit and
take her meals.
Passedix appeared in the room at the moment that his hostess was about
to attack some panada which her old servant, Popelinette, had just
placed before her. He threw himself into a venerable easy-chair opposite
Dame Cadichard and stretched out his legs, crying:
"Sandis! what a beastly chair! May God damn me if it isn't stuffed with
nutshells!"
Widow Cadichard cried out in amazement, almost in anger, when she saw
the lack of ceremony with which her fifth-floor tenant presumed to make
himself at home before her, and carried his impertinence to the point of
criticising her easy-chair.
"What is the meaning of this tone, these manners, Monsieur de Passedix?"
she demanded at last, pausing over her panada. "Since when has it been
the fashion to enter a room where there is a lady without even putting
your hand to your hat? And why do you stretch yourself out in that
chair, if you don't find it soft enough for you?"
"Enough, sweet Cadichard, enough, I beg! Put a curb on your tongue,
whose intemperance begins to annoy me. I have been patient with your
nonsense long enough, and I am disposed to be so no longer.--Put that in
your pocket, Dame Cadichard!--That panada you are eating has a very
sorry look. For shame! I will bet that there's no sugar in it! I desire
a breakfast somewhat more substantial than that.--Where is Popelinette,
that I may send her to the nearest wine shop?--Holà! Popelinette!"
"My servant is not at your orders, monsieur le chevalier; she does
housework for the tenants who pay me. When you do that, she will work
for you too."
Without a word in reply, the Gascon took from his belt a stout purse
full of gold pieces, and threw it on the table at which his hostess was
seated. Then he said to her:
"Well! _belle dame_, there is enough money to pay more than I owe you.
Be good enough to make up my account, so that we may become good friends
once more! For I have learned to appreciate the truth of the proverb:
'Short reckonings make long friends!'--That is very melancholy for the
human race! It proves that the human race is damnably selfish! But I do
not undertake to correct it; I take it as I find it.--Make up your
account, Dame Cadichard, and pay yourself from this all that I owe you
to this day."
The hostess was struck dumb by the sight of that well-lined purse, which
had almost fallen into her soup; for the gold which it contained shone
with the brilliancy of good alloy. In the joy and amazement caused by
her tenant's action, she tried to say something; but she could only
stammer a few incoherent words, ending with a sneeze, whose
ramifications extended to her panada. So she confined herself to
stirring that compound, until, recovering her speech at last, she cried,
with the most gracious of smiles:
"Mon Dieu! what in the world has happened to you, chevalier? What change
has taken place in your position since yesterday? for only yesterday you
could not give me anything on account of my rent!"
"What has happened to me, my dear hostess? Why, one of those very simple
events which happen every day to people who have rich relations.--One of
my uncles has deceased; _mortuus est!_ And that uncle, who could not
endure me, who was never willing to see me on his birthday, or on New
Year's Day, thought better of it when he was on his deathbed, and made
me his only heir, to the exclusion of certain cousins who fawned on him
and wheedled him from morning till night!"
"Ah! that is fine, monsieur le chevalier!--Believe that I share with you
in your joy at what has happened."
"I do not doubt it! And first of all, you will share with me by taking
your dues from this purse.--Well, this morning, I met a friend who was
coming to bring me the good news!--He threw his arms about my neck and
embraced me until he nearly strangled me.--I was about to ask him the
reason, when he cried:
"'Your uncle Flic-Flac, of Pézenas, has closed his shop--in other words,
put out his lantern--in other words, broken his pipe; in short, he has
started on the long journey, and has left you all his property--about
two thousand crowns a year!'"
"Two thousand crowns a year! why, that's a very pretty income, Monsieur
de Passedix! It's the same as six thousand livres."
"Even so, Dame Cadichard, you reckon with marvellous accuracy; my
inheritance is six thousand livres a year, without counting the
furniture and chattels of the defunct, which also come to me.--When
Craquenard--that is my friend's name--had told me all that, I admit that
at first blush I refused to believe it.
"'Craquenard, you are making sport of me,' I cried; 'you are telling me
lies. If you are, I will run Roland through your belly!'"
"Oh! monsieur le chevalier, how ill-tempered you become all at once!"
"What can you expect? I cannot help it--my blood is always forty degrees
above zero.--But Craquenard replied:
"'To prove that I am not telling fables, just come with me; I'll take
you to Maître Bourdinard's, the solicitor; he has received a copy of the
will, and is instructed to hand you the money you have inherited.'
"You will understand, Dame Cadichard, that I did not have to be asked
twice to accompany Craquenard to the solicitor's! There, as soon as my
identity was established, they offered to give me something in advance
on what will come to me when everything is settled. And that is why, my
sweet hostess, I return with such a well-lined purse! To say nothing of
another little sack which I have in my belt.--Aha! wealth is very nice,
indeed! Sandioux! I never felt so happy in my life.--Make up your
account, if you please."
"Here it is, monsieur le chevalier; it has been made a long while,"
replied Dame Cadichard, taking a paper from a drawer; then she handed it
to the Gascon, saying: "Be kind enough to verify the account!"
"Fie! fie! who ever heard of a gentleman like me verifying an account?
That is all well enough for the lowborn, for clowns!--We do not always
pay, perhaps! but, at all events, we never verify!--Once more, take from
this purse what I owe you, so that I may be entirely square with you."
The hostess opened the purse, took out several gold pieces, counted on
her fingers, then with a pen, and receipted her account, which she
handed to the chevalier, with the purse, which was still well filled.
"That is all settled, Monsieur de Passedix. When you have time, you may
make sure that the account is not padded by a single denier."