After a long discussion, during which Clamens talked a great deal
and Eusebe comprehended very little, the necessity for securing
another second for the duel occurred to them, and the provincial
started to hunt up his old friend Paul Buck, the painter. Paul
had broken up his modest establishment some time previous, and it
was not without extreme difficulty and much wearisome search that
Eusebe found him, located in a wretched garret in the Rue Neuve
Coquenard.
Alas! Paul Buck was sadly changed. He was no longer the joyous
artist with a contented heart and merry countenance. His woebegone
features, neglected hair, ragged garments, and ventilated boots
made him a sorry shadow of his former self.
“Ah!” he exclaimed, upon seeing Eusebe, “I was thinking of you this
morning. I said to myself, ‘If I knew the address of the barbarian,
I would go to him and borrow ten francs?’”
“Here are twenty,” said Eusebe. “Are you ill?”
“Not at all. You find me much changed, do you not?”
“Yes.”
“It is from grief.”
“Have you been unfortunate?”
“Yes.”
“The cause? You have talent, love art, and are persevering.”
“As for talent, I no longer possess it. Art I despise, since I see
fame bestowed upon fellows without merit. As for my strength, it
vanished with Virginie,--a girl who left me to follow a waiter of a
_café_.”
“Did you love the girl?” asked Eusebe, with an air of surprise.
“She was all that remained to console me. There is no denying that
I was attached to her. But, tell me, how do you come on?”
“I fight to-morrow.”
“Ah!”
Eusebe then related to his friend all that had occurred to him
since they had seen one another. At the conclusion, he said,--
“Well, what do you think of the affair?”
“I think you have done right to come in search of me, and that you
acted bravely in giving the lie to this gentleman of the card. But
it is quite possible, nevertheless, that he spoke the truth.”
Eusebe became pale, and Paul continued:--
“You see, women are very strange creatures. Why may not Adéonne
have deceived you for the sake of a count, since Virginie has
deceived me for the sake of a waiter?”
“Adéonne has too much heart for that.”
“Mon Dieu! It is always the woman who has too much heart who
experiences the need of sharing it. Do you know how to shoot?”
“No.”
“You are not afraid, I hope?”
“Yes,” replied Eusebe, “I am afraid,--very much afraid.”
“It is not possible!” exclaimed Buck, dropping his pipe: “you
mistake your own nature.”
“No: I know what I say. I have no fear of being wounded, or of
being forced to suffer pain: I have none of that ignoble shrinking
from danger which characterizes cowards. Yet I fear to die while
still so young: I fear to die and leave Adéonne, whom I love. I
fear to die without having seen my father and the dear old trees of
the Capelette once more. For the last two hours, the thought that
I may be slain to-morrow has given me a fit of home-sickness. I no
longer seek to read the future. My eyes are turned to the past,
where it seems to me I have never known any thing but happiness.
The most humble creatures for whom I have cherished affection
appear to have taken a firmer hold upon my heart. There remain to
me, perhaps, not more than fifteen hours of life. I would give
seven of them to once more behold big Katy, a peasant who nursed me
when an infant, and to embrace my poor dog Medor, who is blind.”
“Bah! All will go well,” said Paul. “Courage! You can count upon
my services. To-morrow, at the hour indicated, I will visit your
friend Clamens.”
Eusebe shook the hand of the painter, and departed. Paul, as soon
as he found himself alone, thus soliloquized:--
“Poor fellow! He is right. It is hard to die at his age, when one
has so many reasons to regret life. But who says he will die? It is
hardly probable. If he should escape with a wound, he can go see
his father and the dear old trees again, and continue to love his
mistress. My father, now, is dead. When he was alive, we never had
any other trees than those of the road. My mistress has fled. I do
not possess even an old blind dog; and--I have just broken my pipe.”
And then, as the painter’s eyes fell upon the piece of gold left by
Eusebe, he exclaimed,--
“However, I have no right to complain while I possess twenty
francs,--the means to live well for one day, or to keep me from
starving for at least two weeks.”