When Jules arrived home he found supper on the table of his little
dining-room. Madeleine, the old woman who had served his mother for
years and remained with him after his mother's death, always left
something for him at night. Now he turned away from it in disgust. His
face was burning; he felt nervous, excited. After going to bed, he was
unable to sleep. He kept seeing Mademoiselle Blanche tumbling through
the air! He could not think of her except as in motion. He tried to
recall her as she stood in the net, just before climbing the rope to the
trapeze, but her figure was vague and shadowy. Then he tried to think
out her features as he had observed them, and he found that he had quite
forgotten her face; all that remained was an impression of sweetness, of
a ravishing smile.
When, finally, he fell asleep, he dreamed of her, still flashing through
the air, striking with a thud the padded net, and bouncing to her feet
again. He woke several times and felt impatient with himself for not
being able to drive the thought away; yet when he sank again into sleep,
the dream came back persistently.
At half-past seven he rose, tired from his broken rest. He went at once
to the long mirror that covered the door of his wardrobe, expecting to
be confronted with the face of an invalid. His gray eyes were slightly
inflamed and his cheeks had more than their usual color; otherwise his
appearance was normal. For several moments he surveyed himself. As a
rule he did not think much about his looks; he knew that he was
considered handsome, and this gave him a half-unconscious gratification.
When he wanted to please a woman he seldom failed. Now he had a distinct
pleasure at the sight of the aristocratic curve of his nose, the strong
outline of his chin, the full red lips under his thick brown moustache.
Jules wished that he could keep from growing fat; but after all, he
reflected philosophically, there was a difference in fatness; some men
it made gross and vulgar; his own complexion, however, was so fair that
he could never look gross. Even now there was a suggestion about him of
the sleekness of a well-kept pigeon.
When he went out to breakfast he found Madeleine looking doleful.
Madeleine had known Jules from birth and considered herself a second
mother to him. She was short and stout, with a mouthful of very bad
teeth, some of which rattled when she spoke, as if they were about to
fall out.
"Monsieur Jules did not eat last night," she said as she poured his
coffee and pushed his rolls into the centre of the little table.
"No, Madeleine, I wasn't hungry." Jules took up the _Figaro_ that was
lying on the table and began to look for a reference to Mademoiselle
Blanche.
"The coffee will grow cold, Monsieur Jules."
Jules did not hear her. When preoccupied, he had a habit of ignoring
Madeleine. Yet, in his way, he liked her; he often wondered what he
would do without her; she was docile and attentive to his wants as his
mother had been, and she was very inexpensive. For five minutes he read;
then, when he found no reference to the acrobat, he threw down the paper
with an exclamation of impatience, and seized his cup and sipped his
coffee.
"It's cold!" he cried.
Madeleine's look of distress deepened.
"Let me take that away," she said. "I'll get another cup."
When she brought the cup and poured some of the hot coffee into it,
Jules drained it, and pushed his chair away from the table.
"But you have eaten nothing, Monsieur Jules!"
"I'm not hungry this morning."
"And you didn't eat anything last night," the old woman repeated,
following him with her eyes. "Are you sick?"
"No, no!" Jules replied, impatiently. "I don't feel like eating, that's
all. Give me my hat and coat, Madeleine; I shall be late if I don't
hurry."
"Monsieur Jules doesn't look well," said Madeleine timidly, as she
helped him on with his coat.
"Oh, don't worry about me." At the door Jules turned. "I shall be out
late again to-night, Madeleine. You needn't leave the light burning."
The wool-house of Ballou, Mercier & Co., where Jules worked, was only
ten minutes' walk from the _rue de Lisbonne_. On his way there, Jules
resolved to say nothing to the twins about Mademoiselle Blanche. Of
course, Leroux would ask him about the evening, and he would say simply
that he had been rather bored. He wanted to keep Mademoiselle Blanche to
himself. He even hoped that her performance would not be noised abroad,
that she would not become one of those women whom all Paris went to see
and every one talked glibly about. But she must be well-known already;
it was evidently her performance that had crowded the Circus.
At the office the twins had a great deal to say about the masked ball of
the previous night, but Jules hardly heard them. He was still so haunted
by the thought of Mademoiselle Blanche that he made several mistakes in
his letters; since his return from America he had been placed in charge
of all the English correspondence, and it was important that he should
be exact. The day had never seemed so long to him, nor his work, in
which he usually took pride, so dull. He was impatient for the evening.
When six o'clock came, he hurried away without bidding the twins
good-night.
Jules walked toward the little restaurant in the _Boulevard_ where he
had dined the night before. He wanted to see Andre again, to talk over
Mademoiselle Blanche with him. He felt almost a personal affection for
Andre now. The little _garcon_ was bewildered by Jules' affability, and
overcome by the generous tip which he received as Jules left the place.
Indeed, freed from the labors of the day, Jules felt buoyant and happy.
But when he reached the Circus, his spirits sank; he had forgotten that
Mademoiselle Blanche did not appear till nearly eleven. He would have to
wait for her at least three hours!
He felt so vexed that he turned away from the theatre and walked along
the _Boulevard_. It was late in October, and a light rain was falling,
mixed with snow. The _Boulevard_ was crowded with people, hurrying under
umbrellas. Jules turned up the collar of his overcoat, and shivered.
What was he to do till eleven? He might go to one of the theatres, but
he would not enjoy it. When he reached the _Opera_, he had not made up
his mind what to do, and he walked on as far as the Madeleine. He
entered a _cafe_ opposite the church, and called for a bock and one of
the illustrated papers. For an hour he sat there, sipping the beer and
pretending to read. The jokes, however, which he usually enjoyed, seemed
to him vulgar. He was thinking of the figure in white silk tights,
shooting through the air. A score of times he called himself a fool for
not being able to put that thought out of his mind; yet he felt nervous
and irritable, simply because he was impatient to see the spectacle
again. At last he became so uneasy that he looked for the waiter to pay
his bill and leave. Then he felt a slap on the shoulder, and Durand's
smiling face confronted him.
There was no reason why Jules should have been displeased at seeing
Durand; yet at that moment he felt resentful. The journalist was small
and dapper, with the ends of his black moustache carefully waxed. His
little black eyes were always sparkling with humor, and when he smiled
he showed two rows of regular white teeth. Yet, in spite of the care of
himself which he seemed to take, he never looked quite clean; his thick
black hair was always dusty with dandruff, which fell on the shoulders
of his coat. He spoke in a high thin voice and with a patronizing air
that exasperated Jules.
"I thought I recognized your back," he said, when Jules had turned his
face toward him.
Jules grunted and pointed to a chair at the little table. He wanted to
show by his manner that he didn't like that familiar slap. Durand,
however, was unruffled.
"What are you doing here, anyway? Why aren't you at the theatre or one
of the _cafes chantants_?"
Jules took a puff of his cigarette, and then looked down at the little
figure.
"I might ask you the same question."
"Oh, I'm working. This is a busy night for me." Then Durand's face
lighted. "What do you suppose I've got to do to-night?"
Jules knocked the ashes of his cigarette against the edge of the table.
"Now, do you mean? I can't imagine. You're always doing impossible
things."
"I'm going to interview the little acrobat."
Jules came very near jumping. He controlled himself, however, and
carelessly lifted the cigarette to his lips again.
"What little acrobat?" he asked, screwing his eyes.
"The one you saw last night--at the _Cirque_--the _Cirque Parisien_."
"Oh, Mademoiselle--Mademoiselle--what's her name--the one who dives from
the top of the building?"
"Yes, Mademoiselle Blanche. When I went back to the office last night, I
told old Bargy about her--cracked her up to the skies, and he swallowed
the bait, and sent me round to interview her to-night. Ah, my dear boy,
that's one of the advantages of being a newspaper man. It opens every
door to you. Whenever I want to get acquainted with a pretty actress, I
simply go and interview her."
He sat back in his seat and smiled and hummed a popular song, rapping
the table with his fingers. The waiter came up and asked for his order.
"Two bocks!" said Durand, looking at Jules.
"No, no more for me. I haven't finished this yet." When the waiter went
away, Jules glanced sleepily at the journalist. "You're a very lucky
fellow, it seems to me. I should think it would be rather agreeable to
know the pretty actresses."
Durand shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes, yes--sometimes, no. Usually
it spoils the illusion."
Jules stared thoughtfully at his bock. "Aren't you afraid you'll be
disillusioned by Mademoiselle Blanche?"
"Oh, probably. They're all alike--when you come to know them. But
there's something about her that made me think she might be a little
different from the rest. At any rate, she's dev'lish pretty, isn't she?"
"Do you think so?" Jules asked, with a deprecating lift of the eyebrows.
"Think so! I know so! If you don't think so you must be hard to please."
"Oh, I thought she was pretty in her circus rig. I should like to see
her out of the ring. They make up so, those women. You can't tell
whether they're really pretty or not."
"Well, come around with me, and I'll introduce you. Then you can see for
yourself."
Jules nearly jumped again, but his cigarette helped him to disguise the
impulse. "I'm afraid I shall be in the way," he said, after a meditative
puff.
Durand had seized the bock left on the table by the waiter, and was
holding it over his head. When half the contents had disappeared, he
smacked his lips and wiped them with his handkerchief. "Not at all.
You'll help me draw her out. They say she does the shy-young-girl act;
so she's hard to talk with. That seems to be a favorite pose of
actresses nowadays."
Jules' heart was throbbing. He was afraid that Durand would discover his
elation. So he tried to appear indifferent and cynical. Durand's
cynicism amused him; yet in the journalist's presence he was always
trying to imitate it.
When he had drained his bock, Durand stood up, surveyed with a
professional eye the crowd at the tables, nodded to a few acquaintances,
and made a sign to Jules that he was ready to go. It had ceased raining,
but the sky was still leaden. The splendid portico of the Madeleine
loomed out of the darkness, and the lights in the _Boulevard des
Capucines_ were gleaming faintly in the mist. They met few people as
they walked toward the _Opera_, but there was plenty of life around the
theatres in the _Boulevard des Italiens_. When they reached the
_Cirque_, Durand had a whispered consultation with the _Control_ who sat
in self-conscious dignity and evening dress at the desk near the main
door. He referred the journalist to a short fat man with a white beard,
lounging a few feet away, and Jules stood apart while the two had an
animated talk. After a few moments, Durand made a sign to Jules to come
up, and Jules found himself presented to Reju as "my _confrere_,
Monsieur Jules Le Baron, of the Marseilles _Gazette_." Reju was very
amiable, and Jules felt angry, though he could not help being amused by
Durand's serene impudence.
They were conducted at once into the theatre, under the great arch,
draped with French flags, where the performers made their exits and
their entrances. Then they found themselves in a large bare room, with
several passages radiating from it.
"The dressing-rooms are here," Reju explained, pointing to the passages.
"Mademoiselle Blanche's room is number 5. I don't know whether she has
come yet or not. Her act doesn't begin till ten minutes of eleven. Wait
here, and I'll see if she can receive you."
Durand smiled at Jules, and as soon as Reju was out of hearing, he
whispered: "I hope you didn't mind that little fairy-tale of mine. I had
to pass you off as one of the fraternity. If I hadn't they wouldn't have
let you come in. Now, don't forget your part, the Marseilles _Gazette_.
It's a good republican paper. The editor's a great friend of mine."
"I'm afraid I sha'n't be a credit to the profession. I've never seen any
one interviewed in my life."
"Then it'll be an education to you." Durand laughed. "Look out. Here he
comes!"
The fat little manager approached them with a smiling face; he evidently
had in mind two free advertisements for the theatre.
"Mademoiselle Blanche," he said impressively, "arrived five minutes ago,
and she hasn't begun to dress yet. If you'll have the kindness to follow
me, messieurs"--he concluded with a bow and a wave of the hand.
Jules' body was tingling, and his heart beat violently. Durand, on the
contrary, seemed more debonair than ever; with an air of importance, he
strutted behind the manager, as if conferring an honor on the performer
by his call. Reju rapped on the door, and after a moment a shrill voice
piped:
"_Entrez!_"