On the following day Tod transferred himself from Abbeville, taking a
room at the Hôtel Papillon d’Or, since etiquette and his own sense of
delicacy would have it so. André was in Tod’s old room overlooking the
orchard, and though Josephine had talked of putting André in the attic,
Tod had refused to have her brother evicted. Besides, André was to be
married on the Sunday. He was the most important man in Myonville for
the moment, though André’s romantic pre-eminence was soon usurped by
Tod.
“The English colonel had come back to marry little Claire Vignard.”
The mayor knew the secret and talked about it, and the whole village
imitated the mayor. It was a great sensation, a sort of fairy tale in
real life, a romance that delighted the women and turned Tod into the
Prince. Everybody watched him go in and come out. The children ran after
him in the street. The girls said that he was very handsome. Being
English, he was supposed to be immensely rich. There is no socialism
about a love affair, none of your cabbage philosophy in the eternal
“Once upon a time.”
Tod was very busy. He made old Lorellard put on his Sunday clothes and
go with him to interview Monsieur le Maire. He persuaded the mayor to
produce a lawyer and an interpreter. He arranged that there should be a
formal meeting at the house of the Lorellards while Claire was at the
school, for it was a whim of hers that she should continue to teach the
children until her marriage.
Tod was frank with Monsieur le Maire.
“You see, monsieur, I divorced my wife; the decree of the divorce was
made absolute, as we call it, a few weeks ago. My English lawyers have
given me all the necessary documents, and I want them examined for the
benefit of Monsieur Lorellard.”
The mayor patted Tod on the shoulder.
“Monsieur is a man of honour, a man of good sense.”
“I do not wish to see the documents,” grumbled old Lorellard.
“Monsieur, it is necessary,” said Tod; “I like things done properly,
honestly.”
“Monsieur is quite right,” said the mayor.
Old Lorellard was looking uncomfortable.
“Has Claire told you, Monsieur Tod?”
“What?”
“She has no dot worth speaking of.”
“I knew that long ago,” laughed Tod. “My foster-father in England is
presenting her with a dot.”
“Tiens!” said the mayor, “what generosity, what delicacy! Permit me to
say, Monsieur Western, that I am at your service in all ways and at all
times.”
The mayor seemed to be on the edge of an oration, and Père Lorellard
dragged Tod away.
“He is a good fellow, but a windbag. I have a field to hoe.”
They were walking down the street when the mayor rushed after them.
“Monsieur—Monsieur le Colonel Western!”
Tod turned back to meet him.
“Monsieur, pardon me, but the marriage—it will have to be a civil
marriage. Does monsieur understand?”
“Quite. You will do me the honour of performing it. Is not that so?”
The mayor bowed.
“Mademoiselle Vignard is not a bigot. It is a very great mistake to be
bigoted. Now in England, Monsieur Western——”
He held Tod fast for five minutes, and when Tod was released he found
that Père Lorellard had disappeared. The hoeing of his weeds was of more
importance than the eloquence and the information of Monsieur le Maire.
Jan van Eyck would have made a picture of that “family conference” had
he seen it as Claire Vignard saw it when she returned unexpectedly from
the school. Monsieur le Maire sat at the head of the table, a florid man
with his yellow hair standing up like the mane of a lion, very
attentive, very solemn. Old Lorellard was in his blue breeches and blue
and white striped shirt, and his grey, close-cropped head was the head
of one of Napoleon’s grenadiers. He looked tolerant and amused, but his
eyes brightened whenever he looked at Tod. The _avoué_, pince-nez
half-way down his nose, was busy with papers. The interpreter, who
fidgeted on his chair like a bird on a perch, was always trying to
explain things that did not need explaining, and getting himself snubbed
by the lawyer. André smoked a cigarette and looked bored. Madame
Lorellard sat with her knitting in her lap, clicked her pins and
listened. Tod, with his old leather dispatch-box open on the table in
front of him, seemed always to be insisting on certain documents or
certain figures being explained to Père Lorellard, and Père Lorellard
would scratch his head, smile tolerantly at Tod, and allow himself to be
convinced twice over.
For the moment no one saw Claire. Tod was making a little speech, and no
one interrupted him, but the impressionable and bored André began to
smile. Claire was standing behind Tod’s chair, with a mother-look in her
eyes, quite unembarrassed by all these functionaires.
“So the dot will be fifty thousand francs,” Tod was saying.
Then someone touched him on the shoulder. He turned and saw Claire.
“What is this?” she asked with an air of severity.
André began to laugh. Tod had jumped up, a little flushed. He was trying
to smile at Claire.
She looked at Père Lorellard.
“Have you not told him?” she asked. “There is no dot, no fifty thousand
francs? It is absurd!”
She was angry, a little humiliated. Père Lorellard scratched his head
and appeared embarrassed, but the mayor was ready to make a speech.
“Mademoiselle——” he began.
She ignored him and turned to Tod.
“I have no dot,” she said. “I thought——”
Tod got hold of her hand; she made a little struggle, but Tod would not
let her go.
“Messieurs,” he said, “supposing I leave you to conclude these
formalities. You have all the documents. I wish to speak to my fiancée.”
The mayor bowed in his chair.
“Certainly, monsieur. A few words of explanation.”
Tod drew Claire out of the room.
“Come into the orchard, ma petite.”
He put his arm round her.
“I knew you had no dot, ma chérie. For myself I did not desire it. In
England we do not worry.”
“Oh, my Tod!” she said. “I bring you nothing—a few hundred francs!”
They were in the orchard now where no one could see them, for the high
hedges were thick with leaf. Tod took Claire’s face between his hands
and kissed her.
“Look at me, ma petite, right into my eyes. Have you not given me your
love, and is not that all that I desire? But you overheard a little
secret, a secret that was to have been kept till after our marriage.”
“I do not like secrets,” she said.
“It is no longer a secret. My big friend for whom I work, is like a
father to me. He is very rich. It was his wish that he should give you a
dot. I consented, because it will be such a pleasure to him, and because
he has no children and is lonely.”
“But fifty thousand francs! What shall I do with such a sum?”
“It can be invested. You will have a little income of your own, for your
clothes and all that a woman wants. And you will be able to send little
presents to Josephine and Madame.”
Her face brightened.
“How good you are. And all those papers, and the mayor, what do they
mean?”
Tod smoothed her hair back with his hands and kissed her forehead.
“Claire, I know that these good people trust me, but I wanted to show
them everything, so that they could be sure. Remember, I am taking you
away to England; I want them to have no shadow left behind; it is only
right that I should leave them with no whisper of a doubt. Each year we
will come to France and visit them; we can take our holiday here, and
Josephine and your aunt can come to us.”
“Oh, how good you are,” she said, “my Tod, mon mari!”
He held her very close.
“To-morrow you will not go to school?”
“But why?”
“I have hired an auto for to-morrow. We go to Abbeville or Eu, whichever
you please. Josephine can come with us. We are going shopping.”
“But, Tod!”
“Listen,” he said. “I haven’t spent any money for such a long time, and
I am going to enjoy myself. We will go to the jeweller’s and the
costumier’s, and visit the ladies who sell chapeaux. Yes, I am going to
enjoy myself very much.”
“I have a little dress,” she began, “that will do for the marriage.”
“Of course you have,” he said, “but is that any reason why I should not
enjoy myself? Besides, I want you to choose presents for all my good
friends.”
She looked at him with sudden, mischievous eyes.
“So you realise that I want nothing?”
“Of course I realise it,” he said, “but it is I who want a very great
number of things. And what is more, I am going to get them.”