Attainment
Christiane, who had not gone to sleep till a very late hour, awoke as
soon as the sun cast a flood of red light into her room through the
window which she had left wide open. She glanced at her watch--it was
five o'clock--and remained lying on her back deliciously in the warmth
of the bed. It seemed to her, so active and full of joy did her soul
feel, that a happiness, a great happiness, had come to her during the
night. What was it? She sought to find out what it was; she sought
to find out what was this new source of happiness which had thus
penetrated her with delight. All her sadness of the night before had
vanished, melted away, during sleep.
So Paul Bretigny loved her! How different he appeared to her from the
first day! In spite of all the efforts of her memory, she could not
bring back her first impression of him; she could not even recall to
her mind the man introduced to her by her brother. He whom she knew
to-day had retained nothing of the other, neither the face nor the
bearing--nothing--for his first image had passed, little by little,
day by day, through all the slow modifications which take place in the
soul with regard to a being who from a mere acquaintance has come to
be a familiar friend and a beloved object. You take possession of him
hour by hour without suspecting it; possession of his movements, of his
attitudes, of his physical and moral characteristics. He enters into
you, into your eyes and your heart, by his voice, by all his gestures,
by what he says and by what he thinks. You absorb him; you comprehend
him; you divine him in all the meanings of his smiles and of his words;
it seems at last that he belongs entirely to you, so much do you love,
unconsciously still, all that is his and all that comes from him.
Then, too, it is impossible to remember what this being was like--to
your indifferent eyes--when first he presented himself to your gaze.
So then Paul Bretigny loved her! Christiane experienced from this
discovery neither fear nor anguish, but a profound tenderness, an
immense joy, new and exquisite, of being loved--of knowing that she was
loved.
She was, however, a little disturbed as to the attitude that he would
assume toward her and that she should preserve toward him. But, as it
was a matter of delicacy for her conscience even to think of these
things, she ceased to think about them, trusting to her own tact and
ingenuity to direct the course of events.
She descended at the usual hour, and found Paul smoking a cigarette
before the door of the hotel. He bowed respectfully to her:
"Good day, Madame. You feel well this morning?"
"Very well, Monsieur. I slept very soundly."
And she put out her hand to him, fearing lest he might hold it in his
too long. But he scarcely pressed it; and they began quietly chatting
as if they had forgotten one another.
And the day passed off without anything being done by him to recall
his ardent avowal of the night before. He remained, on the days that
followed, quite as discreet and calm; and she placed confidence in him.
He realized, she thought, that he would wound her by becoming bolder;
and she hoped, she firmly believed, that they might be able to stop at
this delightful halting-place of tenderness, where they could love,
while looking into the depths of one another's eyes, without remorse,
inasmuch as they would be free from defilement. Nevertheless, she was
careful never to wander out with him alone.
Now, one evening, the Saturday of the same week in which they had
visited the lake of Tazenat, as they were returning to the hotel about
ten o'clock,--the Marquis, Christiane, and Paul,--for they had left
Gontran playing _écarté_ with Aubrey and Riquier and Doctor Honorat in
the great hall of the Casino, Bretigny exclaimed, as he watched the
moon shining through the branches:
"How nice it would be to go and see the ruins of Tournoel on a night
like this!"
At this thought alone, Christiane was filled with emotion, the moon and
ruins having on her the same influence which they have on the souls of
all women.
She pressed the Marquis's hands. "Oh! father dear, would you mind going
there?"
He hesitated, being exceedingly anxious to go to bed.
She insisted: "Just think a moment, how beautiful Tournoel is even by
day! You said yourself that you had never seen a ruin so picturesque,
with that great tower above the château. What must it be at night!"
At last he consented: "Well, then, let us go! But we'll only look at it
for five minutes, and then come back immediately. For my part, I want
to be in bed at eleven o'clock."
"Yes, we will come back immediately. It takes only twenty minutes to
get there."
They set out all three, Christiane leaning on her father's arm, and
Paul walking by her side.
He spoke of his travels in Switzerland, in Italy, in Sicily. He told
what his impressions were in the presence of certain phenomena, his
enthusiasm on seeing the summit of Monte Rosa, when the sun, rising on
the horizon of this row of icy peaks, this congealed world of eternal
snows, cast on each of those lofty mountain-tops a dazzling white
radiance, and illumined them, like the pale beacon-lights that must
shine down upon the kingdoms of the dead. Then he spoke of his emotion
on the edge of the monstrous crater of Etna, when he felt himself, an
imperceptible mite, many meters above the cloud line, having nothing
any longer around him save the sea and the sky, the blue sea beneath,
the blue sky above, and leaning over this dreadful chasm of the earth,
whose breath stifled him. He enlarged the objects which he described
in order to excite the young woman; and, as she listened, she panted
with visions she conjured up, by a flight of imagination, of those
wonderful things that he had seen.
Suddenly, at a turn of the road, they discovered Tournoel. The ancient
château, standing on a mountain peak, overlooked by its high and narrow
tower, letting in the light through its chinks, and dismantled by time
and by the wars of bygone days, traced, upon a sky of phantoms, its
huge silhouette of a fantastic manor-house.
They stopped, all three surprised. The Marquis said, at length:
"Indeed, it is impressive--like a dream of Gustave Doré realized. Let
us sit down for five minutes."
And he sat down on the sloping grass.
But Christiane, wild with enthusiasm, exclaimed: "Oh! father, let us go
on farther! It is so beautiful! so beautiful! Let us walk to the foot,
I beg of you!"
This time the Marquis refused: "No, my darling, I have walked enough; I
can't go any farther. If you want to see it more closely, go on there
with M. Bretigny. I will wait here for you."
Paul asked: "Will you come, Madame?"
She hesitated, seized by two apprehensions, that of finding herself
alone with him, and that of wounding an honest man by having the
appearance of suspecting him.
The Marquis repeated: "Go on! Go on! I will wait for you."
Then she took it for granted that her father would remain within reach
of their voices, and she said resolutely: "Let us go on, Monsieur."
But scarcely had she walked on for some minutes when she felt herself
possessed by a poignant emotion, by a vague, mysterious fear--fear
of the ruin, fear of the night, fear of this man. Suddenly she felt
her legs trembling under her, just as she felt the other night by the
lake of Tazenat; they refused to bear her any further, bent under her,
appeared to be sinking into the soil, where her feet remained fixed
when she strove to raise them.
A large chestnut-tree, planted close to the path they had been
pursuing, sheltered one side of a meadow. Christiane, out of breath
just as if she had been running, let herself sink against the trunk.
And she stammered: "I shall remain here--we can see very well."
Paul sat down beside her. She heard his heart beating with great
emotional throbs. He said, after a brief silence: "Do you believe that
we have had a previous life?"
She murmured, without having well understood his question: "I don't
know. I have never thought on it."
He went on: "But I believe it--at moments--or rather I feel it. As
being is composed of a soul and a body, which seem distinct, but are,
without doubt, only one whole of the same nature, it must reappear when
the elements which have originally formed it find themselves together
for the second time. It is not the same individual assuredly, but it is
the same man who comes back when a body like the previous form finds
itself inhabited by a soul like that which animated him formerly. Well,
I, to-night, feel sure, Madame, that I lived in that château, that I
possessed it, that I fought there, that I defended it. I recognized
it--it was mine, I am certain of it! And I am also certain that I
loved there a woman who resembled you, and who, like you, bore the
name of Christiane. I am so certain of it that I seem to see you still
calling me from the top of that tower.
"Search your memory! recall it to your mind! There is a wood at the
back, which descends into a deep valley. We have often walked there.
You had light robes in the summer evenings, and I wore heavy armor,
which clanked beneath the trees. You do not recollect? Look back,
then, Christiane! Why, your name is as familiar to me as those we hear
in childhood! Were we to inspect carefully all the stones of this
fortress, we should find it there carved by my hand in days of yore! I
declare to you that I recognize my dwelling-place, my country, just as
I recognized you, you, the first time I saw you!"
He spoke in an exalted tone of conviction, poetically intoxicated by
contact with this woman, and by the night, by the moon, and by the ruin.
He abruptly flung himself on his knees before Christiane, and, in a
trembling voice said: "Let me adore you still since I have found you
again! Here have I been searching for you a long time!"
She wanted to rise and to go away, to join her father, but she had
not the strength; she had not the courage, held back, paralyzed by a
burning desire to listen to him still, to hear those ravishing words
entering her heart. She felt herself carried away in a dream, in the
dream always hoped for, so sweet, so poetic, full of rays of moonlight
and days of love.
He had seized her hands, and was kissing the ends of her finger-nails,
murmuring:
"Christiane--Christiane--take me--kill me! I love you, Christiane!"
She felt him quivering, shuddering at her feet. And now he kissed her
knees, while his chest heaved with sobs. She was afraid that he was
going mad, and started up to make her escape. But he had risen more
quickly, and seizing her in his arms he pressed his mouth against hers.
Then, without a cry, without revolt, without resistance, she let
herself sink back on the grass, as if this caress, by breaking her
will, had crushed her physical power to struggle. And he possessed her
with as much ease as if he were culling a ripe fruit.
But scarcely had he loosened his clasp when she rose up distracted, and
rushed away shuddering and icy-cold all of a sudden, like one who had
just fallen into the water. He overtook her with a few strides, and
caught her by the arm, whispering: "Christiane, Christiane! Be on your
guard with your father!"
She walked on without answering, without turning round, going straight
before her with stiff, jerky steps. He followed her now without
venturing to speak to her.
As soon as the Marquis saw them, he rose up: "Hurry," said he; "I was
beginning to get cold. These things are very fine to look at, but bad
for one undergoing thermal treatment!"
Christiane pressed herself close to her father's side, as if to appeal
to him for protection and take refuge in his tenderness.
As soon as she had re-entered her apartment, she undressed herself in
a few seconds and buried herself in her bed, hiding her head under
the clothes; then she wept. She wept with her face pressed against the
pillow for a long, long time, inert, annihilated. She did not think,
she did not suffer, she did not regret. She wept without thinking,
without reflecting, without knowing why. She wept instinctively as
one sings when one feels gay. Then, when her tears were exhausted,
overwhelmed, paralyzed with sobbing, she fell asleep from fatigue and
lassitude.
She was awakened by light taps at the door of her room, which looked
out on the drawing-room. It was broad daylight, as it was nine o'clock.
"Come in," she cried.
And her husband presented himself, joyous, animated, wearing a
traveling-cap and carrying by his side his little money-bag, which he
was never without while on a journey.
He exclaimed: "What? You were sleeping still, my dear! And I had to
awaken you. There you are! I arrived without announcing myself. I hope
you are going on well. It is superb weather in Paris."
And having taken off his cap, he advanced to embrace her. She drew
herself away toward the wall, seized by a wild fear, by a nervous dread
of this little man, with his smug, rosy countenance, who had stretched
out his lips toward her.
Then, abruptly, she offered him her forehead, while she closed her
eyes. He planted there a chaste kiss, and asked: "Will you allow me to
wash in your dressing-room? As no one attended on me to-day, my room
was not prepared."
She stammered: "Why, certainly."
And he disappeared through a door at the end of the bed.
She heard him moving about, splashing, snorting; then he cried: "What
news here? For my part, I have splendid news. The analysis of the water
has given unexpected results. We can cure at least three times more
patients than they can at Royat. It is superb!"
She was sitting in the bed, suffocating, her brain overwrought by this
unforeseen return, which hurt her like a physical pain and gripped her
like a pang of remorse. He reappeared, self-satisfied, spreading around
him a strong odor of verbena. Then he sat down familiarly at the foot
of the bed, and asked:
"And the paralytic? How is he going on? Is he beginning to walk? It is
not possible that he is not cured with what we found in the water!"
She had forgotten all about it for several days, and she faltered:
"Why, I--I believe he is beginning to walk better. Besides, I have not
seen him this week. I--I am a little unwell."
He looked at her with interest, and returned: "It is true, you are a
little pale. All the same, it becomes you very well. You look charming
thus--quite charming."
And he drew nearer, and bending toward her was about to pass one arm
into the bed under her waist.
But she made such a backward movement of terror that he remained
stupefied, with his hands extended and his mouth held toward her. Then
he asked: "What's the matter with you nowadays? One cannot touch you
any longer. I assure you I do not intend to hurt you."
And he pressed close to her eagerly, with a glow of sudden desire in
his eyes. Then she stammered:
"No--let me be--let me be! The fact is, I believe--I believe I am
pregnant!"
She had said this, maddened by the mental agony she was enduring,
without thinking about her words, to avoid his touch, just as she would
have said: "I have leprosy, or the plague."
He grew pale in his turn, moved by a profound joy; and he merely
murmured: "Already!" He yearned now to embrace her a long time, softly,
tenderly, as a happy and grateful father. Then, he was seized with
uneasiness.
"Is it possible?--What?--Are you sure?--So soon?"
She replied: "Yes--it is possible!"
Then he jumped about the room, and rubbing his hands, exclaimed:
"Christi! Christi! What a happy day!"
There was another tap at the door. Andermatt opened it, and a
chambermaid said to him: "Doctor Latonne would like to speak to
Monsieur immediately."
"All right. Bring him into our drawing-room. I am going there."
He hurried away to the adjoining apartment. The doctor presently
appeared. His face had a solemn look, and his manner was starched and
cold. He bowed, touched the hand which the banker, a little surprised,
held toward him, took a seat, and explained in the tone of a second in
an affair of honor:
"A very disagreeable matter has arisen with reference to me, my dear
Monsieur, and, in order to explain my conduct, I must give you an
account of it. When you did me the honor to call me in to see Madame
Andermatt, I hastened to come at the appointed hour; now it has
transpired that, a few minutes before me, my brother-physician, the
medical inspector, who, no doubt, inspires more confidence in the lady,
had been sent for, owing to the attentions of the Marquis de Ravenel.
"The result of this is that, having been the second to see her I create
the impression of having taken by a trick from Doctor Bonnefille a
patient who already belonged to him--I create the impression of having
committed an indelicate act, one unbecoming and unjustifiable from one
member of the profession toward another. Now it is necessary for us
to carry, Monsieur, into the exercise of our art certain precautions
and unusual tact in order to avoid every collision which might lead
to grave consequences. Doctor Bonnefille, having been apprised of my
visit here, believing me capable of this want of delicacy, appearances
being in fact against me, has spoken about me in such terms that, were
it not for his age, I would have found myself compelled to demand an
explanation from him. There remains for me only one thing to do, in
order to exculpate myself in his eyes, and in the eyes of the entire
medical body of the country, and that is to cease, to my great regret,
to give my professional attentions to your wife, and to make the entire
truth about this matter known, begging of you in the meantime to accept
my excuses."
Andermatt replied with embarrassment:
"I understand perfectly well, doctor, the difficult situation in which
you find yourself. The fault is not mine or my wife's, but that of my
father-in-law, who called in M. Bonnefille without giving us notice.
Could I not go to look for your brother-doctor, and tell him?----"
Doctor Latonne interrupted him: "It is useless, my dear Monsieur. There
is here a question of dignity and professional honor, which I am bound
to respect before everything, and, in spite of my lively regrets----"
Andermatt, in his turn, interrupted him. The rich man, the man who
pays, who buys a prescription for five, ten, twenty, or forty francs,
as he does a box of matches for three sous, to whom everything should
belong by the power of his purse, and who only appreciates beings and
objects in virtue of an assimilation of their value with that of money,
of a relation, rapid and direct, established between coined metal and
everything else in the world, was irritated at the presumption of this
vendor of remedies on paper. He said in a stiff tone:
"Be it so, doctor. Let us stop where we are. But I trust for your own
sake that this step may not have a damaging influence on your career.
We shall see, indeed, which of us two shall have the most to suffer
from your decision."
The physician, offended, rose up and bowing with the utmost politeness,
said: "I have no doubt, Monsieur, it is I who will suffer. That which I
have done to-day is very painful to me from every point of view. But I
never hesitate between my interests and my conscience."
And he went out. As he emerged through the open door, he knocked
against the Marquis, who was entering, with a letter in his hand. And
M. de Ravenel exclaimed, as soon as he was alone with his son-in-law:
"Look here, my dear fellow! this is a very troublesome thing, which
has happened me through your fault. Doctor Bonnefille, hurt by the
circumstance that you sent for his brother-physician to see Christiane,
has written me a note couched in very dry language informing me that I
cannot count any longer on his professional services."
Thereupon, Andermatt got quite annoyed. He walked up and down,
excited himself by talking, gesticulated, full of harmless and noisy
anger, that kind of anger which is never taken seriously. He went on
arguing in a loud voice. Whose fault was it, after all? That of the
Marquis alone, who had called in that pack-ass Bonnefille without
giving any notice of the fact to him, though he had, thanks to his
Paris physician, been informed as to the relative value of the three
charlatans at Enval! And then what business had the Marquis to consult
a doctor, behind the back of the husband, the husband who was the only
judge, the only person responsible for his wife's health? In short, it
was the same thing day after day with everything! People did nothing
but stupid things around him, nothing but stupid things! He repeated it
incessantly; but he was only crying in the desert, nobody understood,
nobody put faith in his experience, until it was too late.
And he said, "My physician," "My experience," with the authoritative
tone of a man who has possession of unique things. In his mouth the
possessive pronouns had the sonorous ring of metals. And when he
pronounced the words "My wife," one felt very clearly that the Marquis
had no longer any rights with regard to his daughter since Andermatt
had married her, to marry and to buy having the same meaning in the
latter's mind.
Gontran came in, at the most lively stage of the discussion, and seated
himself in an armchair with a smile of gaiety on his lips. He said
nothing, but listened, exceedingly amused. When the banker stopped
talking, having fairly exhausted his breath, his brother-in-law raised
his hand, exclaiming:
"I request permission to speak. Here are both of you without
physicians, isn't that so? Well, I propose my candidate, Doctor
Honorat, the only one who has formed an exact and unshaken opinion on
the water of Enval. He makes people drink it, but he would not drink
it himself for all the world. Do you wish me to go and look for him? I
will take the negotiations on myself."
It was the only thing to do, and they begged of Gontran to send for him
immediately. The Marquis, filled with anxiety at the idea of a change
of regimen and of nursing wanted to know immediately the opinion of
this new physician; and Andermatt desired no less eagerly to consult
him on Christiane's behalf.
She heard their voices through the door without listening to their
words or understanding what they were talking about. As soon as
her husband had left her, she had risen from the bed, as if from a
dangerous spot, and hurriedly dressed herself, without the assistance
of the chambermaid, shaken by all these occurrences.
The world appeared to her to have changed around her, her former life
seemed to have vanished since last night, and people themselves looked
quite different.
The voice of Andermatt was raised once more: "Hallo, my dear Bretigny,
how are you getting on?"
He no longer used the word "Monsieur." Another voice could be heard
saying in reply: "Why, quite well, my dear Andermatt. You only arrived,
I suppose, this morning?"
Christiane, who was in the act of raising her hair over her temples,
stopped with a choking sensation, her arms in the air. Through the
partition, she fancied she could see them grasping one another's hands.
She sat down, no longer able to hold herself erect; and her hair,
rolling down, fell over her shoulders.
It was Paul who was speaking now, and she shivered from head to foot at
every word that came from his mouth. Each word, whose meaning she did
not seize, fell and sounded on her heart like a hammer striking a bell.
Suddenly, she articulated in almost a loud tone: "But I love him!--I
love him!" as though she were affirming something new and surprising,
which saved her, which consoled her, which proclaimed her innocence
before the tribunal of her conscience. A sudden energy made her rise
up; in one second, her resolution was taken. And she proceeded to
rearrange her hair, murmuring: "I have a lover, that is all. I have
a lover." Then, in order to fortify herself still more, in order to
get rid of all mental distress, she determined there and then, with a
burning faith, to love him to distraction, to give up to him her life,
her happiness, to sacrifice everything for him, in accordance with
the moral exaltation of hearts conquered but still scrupulous, that
believe themselves to be purified by devotedness and sincerity.
And, from behind the wall which separated them, she threw out kisses
to him. It was over; she abandoned herself to him, without reserve, as
she might have offered herself to a god. The child already coquettish
and artful, but still timid, still trembling, had suddenly died within
her; and the woman was born, ready for passion, the woman resolute,
tenacious, announced only up to this time by the energy hidden in her
blue eye, which gave an air of courage and almost of bravado to her
dainty white face.
She heard the door opening, and did not turn round, divining that it
was her husband, without seeing him, as though a new sense, almost an
instinct, had just been generated in her also.
He asked: "Will you be soon ready? We are all going presently to the
paralytic's bath, to see if he is really getting better."
She replied calmly: "Yes, my dear Will, in five minutes."
But Gontran, returning to the drawing-room, was calling back Andermatt.
"Just imagine," said he; "I met that idiot Honorat in the park, and
he, too, refuses to attend you for fear of the others. He talks of
professional etiquette, deference, usages. One would imagine that
he creates the impression of--in short, he is a fool, like his two
brother-physicians. Certainly, I thought he was less of an ape than
that."
The Marquis remained overwhelmed. The idea of taking the waters without
a physician, of bathing for five minutes longer than necessary, of
drinking one glass less than he ought, tortured him with apprehension,
for he believed all the doses, the hours, and the phases of the
treatment, to be regulated by a law of nature, which had made provision
for invalids in causing the flow of those mineral springs, all whose
mysterious secrets the doctors knew, like priests inspired and learned.
He exclaimed: "So then we must die here--we may perish like dogs,
without any of these gentlemen putting himself about!"
And rage took possession of him, the rage egotistical and unreasoning
of a man whose health is endangered.
"Have they any right to do this, since they pay for a license like
grocers, these blackguards? We ought to have the power of forcing them
to attend people, as trains can be forced to take all passengers. I am
going to write to the newspapers to draw attention to the matter."
He walked about, in a state of excitement; and he went on, turning
toward his son:
"Listen! It will be necessary to send for one to Royat or Clermont. We
can't remain in this state."
Gontran replied, laughing: "But those of Clermont and of Royat are
not well acquainted with the liquid of Enval, which has not the same
special action as their water on the digestive system and on the
circulatory apparatus. And then, be sure, they won't come any more than
the others in order to avoid the appearance of taking the bread out of
their brother-doctors' mouths."
The Marquis, quite scared, faltered: "But what, then, is to become of
us?"
Andermatt snatched up his hat, saying: "Let me settle it, and
I'll answer for it that we'll have the entire three of them this
evening--you understand clearly, the--entire--three--at our knees. Let
us go now and see the paralytic."
He cried: "Are you ready, Christiane?"
She appeared at the door, very pale, with a look of determination.
Having embraced her father and her brother, she turned toward Paul, and
extended her hand toward him. He took it, with downcast eyes, quivering
with emotion. As the Marquis, Andermatt, and Gontran had gone on
before, chatting, and without minding them, she said, in a firm voice,
fixing on the young man a tender and decided glance:
"I belong to you, body and soul. Do with me henceforth what you
please." Then she walked on, without giving him an opportunity of
replying.
As they drew near the Oriols' spring, they perceived, like an enormous
mushroom, the hat of Père Clovis, who was sleeping beneath the rays of
the sun, in the warm water at the bottom of the hole. He now spent the
entire morning there, having got accustomed to this boiling water which
made him, he said, more lively than a yearling.
Andermatt woke him up: "Well, my fine fellow, you are going on better?"
When he had recognized his patron, the old fellow made a grimace of
satisfaction: "Yes, yes, I am going on--I am going on as well as you
please."
"Are you beginning to walk?"
"Like a rabbit, Mochieu--like a rabbit. I will dance a boree with my
sweetheart on the first Sunday of the month."
Andermatt felt his heart beating; he repeated: "It is true, then, that
you are walking?"
Père Clovis ceased jesting. "Oh! not very much, not very much. No
matter--I'm getting on--I'm getting on!"
Then the banker wanted to see at once how the vagabond walked. He kept
rushing about the hole, got agitated, gave orders, as if he were going
to float again a ship that had foundered.
"Look here, Gontran! you take the right arm. You, Bretigny,
the left arm. I am going to keep up his back. Come on!
together!--one--two--three! My dear father-in-law, draw the leg toward
you--no, the other, the one that's in the water. Quick, pray! I can't
hold out longer. There we are--one, two--there!--ouf!"
They had put the old trickster sitting on the ground; and he allowed
them to do it with a jeering look, without in any way assisting their
efforts.
Then they raised him up again, and set him on his legs, giving him
his crutches, which he used like walking-sticks; and he began to step
out, bent double, dragging his feet after him, whining and blowing. He
advanced in the fashion of a slug, and left behind him a long trail of
water on the white dust of the road.
Andermatt, in a state of enthusiasm, clapped his hands, crying out
as people do at theaters when applauding the actors: "Bravo, bravo,
admirable, bravo!!!"
Then, as the old fellow seemed exhausted, he rushed forward to hold him
up, seized him in his arms, although his clothes were streaming, and he
kept repeating:
"Enough, don't fatigue yourself! We are going to put you back into your
bath."
And Père Clovis was plunged once more into his hole by the four men who
caught him by his four limbs and carried him carefully like a fragile
and precious object.
Then, the paralytic observed in a tone of conviction: "It is good
water, all the same, good water that hasn't an equal. It is worth a
treasure, water like that!"
Andermatt turned round suddenly toward his father-in-law: "Don't keep
breakfast waiting for me. I am going to the Oriols', and I don't know
when I'll be free. It is necessary not to let these things drag!"
And he set forth in a hurry, almost running, and twirling his stick
about like a man bewitched.
The others sat down under the willows, at the side of the road,
opposite Père Clovis's hole.
Christiane, at Paul's side, saw in front of her the high knoll from
which she had seen the rock blown up.
She had been up there that day, scarcely a month ago. She had been
sitting on that russet grass. One month! Only one month! She recalled
the most trifling details, the tricolored parasols, the scullions,
the slightest things said by each of them! And the dog, the poor dog
crushed by the explosion! And that big youth, then a stranger to her,
who had rushed forward at one word uttered by her lips in order to
save the animal. To-day, he was her lover! her lover! So then she had
a lover! She was his mistress--his mistress! She repeated this word
in the recesses of her consciousness--his mistress! What a strange
word! This man, sitting by her side, whose hand she saw tearing up
one by one blades of grass, close to her dress, which he was seeking
to touch, this man was now bound to her flesh and to his heart, by
that mysterious chain, buried in secrecy and mystery, which nature has
stretched between woman and man.
With that voice of thought, that mute voice which seems to speak so
loudly in the silence of troubled souls, she incessantly repeated
to herself: "I am his mistress! his mistress!" How strange, how
unforeseen, a thing this was!
"Do I love him?" She cast a rapid glance at him. Their eyes met, and
she felt herself so much caressed by the passionate look with which he
covered her, that she trembled from head to foot. She felt a longing
now, a wild, irresistible longing, to take that hand which was toying
with the grass, and to press it very tightly in order to convey to
him all that may be said by a clasp. She let her own hand slip along
her dress down to the grass, then laid it there motionless, with the
fingers spread wide. Then she saw the other come softly toward it like
an amorous animal seeking his companion. It came nearer and nearer;
and their little fingers touched. They grazed one another at the ends
gently, barely, lost one another and found one another again, like lips
meeting. But this imperceptible caress, this slight contact entered
into her being so violently that she felt herself growing faint as if
he were once more straining her between his arms.
And she suddenly understood how a woman can belong to some man, how
she no longer is anything under the love that possesses her, how that
other being takes her body and soul, flesh, thought, will, blood,
nerves,--all, all, all that is in her,--just as a huge bird of prey
with large wings swoops down on a wren.
The Marquis and Gontran talked about the future station, themselves
won over by Will's enthusiasm. And they spoke of the banker's merits,
the clearness of his mind, the sureness of his judgment, the certainty
of his system of speculation, the boldness of his operations, and the
regularity of his character. Father-in-law and brother-in-law, in the
face of this probable success, of which they felt certain, were in
agreement, and congratulated one another on this alliance.
Christiane and Paul did not seem to hear, so much occupied were they
with each other.
The Marquis said to his daughter: "Hey! darling, you may perhaps one
day be one of the richest women in France, and people will talk of you
as they do about the Rothschilds. Will has truly a remarkable, very
remarkable--a great intelligence."
But a morose and whimsical jealousy entered all at once into Paul's
heart.
"Let me alone now," said he, "I know it, the intelligence of all those
engaged in stirring up business. They have only one thing in their
heads--money! All the thoughts that we bestow on beautiful things,
all the actions that we waste on our caprices, all the hours which we
fling away for our distractions, all the strength that we squander
on our pleasures, all the ardor and the power which love, divine
love, takes from us, they employ in seeking for gold, in thinking of
gold, in amassing gold! The man of intelligence lives for all the
great disinterested tendernesses, the arts, love, science, travels,
books; and, if he seeks money, it is because this facilitates the
true pleasures of intellect and even the happiness of the heart! But
they--they have nothing in their minds or their hearts but this ignoble
taste for traffic! They resemble men of worth, these skimmers of life,
just as much as the picture-dealer resembles the painter, as the
publisher resembles the writer, as the theatrical manager resembles the
dramatic poet."
He suddenly became silent, realizing that he had allowed himself to be
carried away, and in a calmer voice he went on: "I don't say that of
Andermatt, whom I consider a charming man. I like him a great deal,
because he is a hundred times superior to all the others."
Christiane had withdrawn her hand. Paul once more stopped talking.
Gontran began to laugh; and, in his malicious voice, with which he
ventured to say everything, in his hours of mocking and raillery:
"In any case, my dear fellow, these men have one rare merit: that is,
to marry our sisters and to have rich daughters, who become our wives."
The Marquis, annoyed, rose up: "Oh! Gontran, you are perfectly
revolting."
Paul thereupon turned toward Christiane, and murmured: "Would
they know how to die for one woman, or even to give her all their
fortune--all--without keeping anything?"
This meant so clearly: "All I have is yours, including my life," that
she was touched, and she adopted this device in order to take his
hands in hers:
"Rise, and lift me up. I am benumbed from not moving."
He stood erect, seized her by the wrists, and drawing her up placed her
standing on the edge of the road close to his side. She saw his mouth
articulating the words, "I love you," and she quickly turned aside,
to avoid saying to him in reply three words which rose to her lips in
spite of her, in a burst of passion which was drawing her toward him.
They returned to the hotel. The hour for the bath was passed. They
awaited the breakfast-bell. It rang, but Andermatt did not make his
appearance. After taking another turn in the park, they resolved to sit
down to table. The meal, although a long one, was finished before the
return of the banker. They went back to sit down under the trees. And
the hours stole by, one after another; the sun glided over the leaves,
bending toward the mountains; the day was ebbing toward its close; and
yet Will did not present himself.
All at once, they saw him. He was walking quickly, his hat in his hand,
wiping his forehead, his necktie on one side, his waistcoat half open,
as if after a journey, after a struggle, after a terrible and prolonged
effort.
As soon as he beheld his father-in-law, he exclaimed: "Victory! 'tis
done! But what a day, my friends! Ah! the old fox, what trouble he gave
me!"
And immediately he explained the steps he had taken and the obstacles
he had met with.
Père Oriol had, at first, shown himself so unreasonable that Andermatt
was breaking off the negotiations and going away. Then the peasant
called him back. The old man pretended that he would not sell his
lands but would assign them to the Company with the right to resume
possession of them in case of ill success. In case of success, he
demanded half the profits.
The banker had to demonstrate to him, with figures on paper and
tracings to indicate the different bits of land, that the fields all
together would not be worth more than forty-five thousand francs at the
present hour, while the expenses of the Company would mount up at one
swoop to a million.
But the Auvergnat replied that he expected to benefit by the enormously
increased value that would be given to his property by the erection
of the establishment and hotels, and to draw his interest in the
undertaking in accordance with the acquired value and not the previous
value.
Andermatt had then to represent to him that the risks should be
proportionate with the possible gains, and to terrify him with the
apprehension of the loss.
They accordingly arrived at this agreement: Père Oriol was to assign
to the Company all the grounds stretching as far as the banks of the
stream, that is to say, all those in which it appeared possible to find
mineral water, and in addition the top of the knoll, in order to erect
there a casino and a hotel, and some vine-plots on the slope which
should be divided into lots and offered to the leading physicians of
Paris.
The peasant, in return for this apportionment valued at two hundred and
fifty thousand francs, that is, at about four times its value, would
participate to the extent of a quarter in the profits of the Company.
As there was very much more land, which he did not part with, round
the future establishment, he was sure, in case of success, to realize
a fortune by selling on reasonable terms these grounds, which would
constitute, he said, the dowry of his daughters.
As soon as these conditions had been arrived at, Will had to carry
the father and the son with him to the notary's office in order to
have a promise of sale drawn up defeasible in the event of their not
finding the necessary water. And the drawing up of the agreement,
the discussion of every point, the indefinite repetition of the same
arguments, the eternal commencement over again of the same contentions,
had lasted all the afternoon.
At last the matter was concluded. The banker had got his station. But
he repeated, devoured by a regret: "It will be necessary for me to
confine myself to the water without thinking of the questions about the
land. He has been cunning, the old ape."
Then he added: "Bah! I'll buy up the old Company, and it is on that
I may speculate! No matter--it is necessary that I should start this
evening again for Paris."
The Marquis, astounded, cried out: "What? This evening?"
"Why, yes, my dear father-in-law, in order to get the definitive
instrument prepared, while M. Aubry-Pasteur will be making excavations.
It is necessary also that I should make arrangements to commence the
works in a fortnight. I haven't an hour to lose. With regard to this,
I must inform you that you are to constitute a portion of my board
of directors in which I will need a strong majority. I give you ten
shares. To you, Gontran, also I give ten shares."
Gontran began to laugh: "Many thanks, my dear fellow. I sell them back
to you. That makes five thousand francs you owe me."
But Andermatt no longer felt in a mood for joking, when dealing with
business of so much importance. He resumed dryly: "If you are not
serious, I will address myself to another person."
Gontran ceased laughing: "No, no, my good friend, you know that I have
cleared off everything with you."
The banker turned toward Paul: "My dear Monsieur, will you render me a
friendly service, that is, to accept also ten shares with the rank of
director?"
Paul, with a bow, replied: "You will permit me, Monsieur, not to accept
this graceful offer, but to put a hundred thousand francs into the
undertaking, which I consider a superb one. So then it is I who have to
ask for a favor from you."
William, ravished, seized his hands. This confidence had conquered him.
Besides he always experienced an irresistible desire to embrace persons
who brought him money for his enterprises.
But Christiane crimsoned to her temples, pained, bruised. It seemed to
her that she had just been bought and sold. If he had not loved her,
would Paul have offered these hundred thousand francs to her husband?
No, undoubtedly! He should not, at least, have entered into this
transaction in her presence.
The dinner-bell rang. They re-entered the hotel. As soon as they were
seated at table, Madame Paille, the mother, asked Andermatt:
"So you are going to set up another establishment?"
The news had already gone through the entire district, was known to
everyone, it put the bathers into a state of commotion.
William replied: "Good heavens, yes! The existing one is too defective!"
And turning round to M. Aubry-Pasteur: "You will excuse me, dear
Monsieur, for speaking to you at dinner of a step which I wished
to take with regard to you; but I am starting again for Paris, and
time presses on me terribly. Will you consent to direct the work of
excavation, in order to find a volume of superior water?"
The engineer, feeling flattered, accepted the office. In five minutes
everything had been discussed and settled with the clearness and
precision which Andermatt imported into all matters of business. Then
they talked about the paralytic. He had been seen crossing the park in
the afternoon with only one walking-stick, although that morning he
had used two. The banker kept repeating: "This is a miracle, a real
miracle. His cure proceeds with giant strides!"
Paul, to please the husband, rejoined: "It is Père Clovis himself who
walks with giant strides."
A laugh of approval ran round the table. Every eye was fixed on Will;
every mouth complimented him.
The waiters of the restaurant made it their business to serve him the
first, with a respectful deference, which disappeared from their faces
as soon as they passed the dishes to the next guest.
One of them presented to him a card on a plate. He took it up, and read
it, half aloud:
"Doctor Latonne of Paris would be happy if M. Andermatt
would be kind enough to give him an interview of a few
seconds before his departure."
"Tell him in reply that I have no time, but that I will be back in
eight or ten days."
At the same moment, a box of flowers sent by Doctor Honorat was
presented to Christiane.
Gontran laughed: "Père Bonnefille is a bad third," said he.
The dinner was nearly over. Andermatt was informed that his landau was
waiting for him. He went up to look for his little bag; and when he
came down again he saw half the village gathered in front of the door.
Petrus Martel came to grasp his hand, with the familiarity of a
strolling actor, and murmured in his ear: "I shall have a proposal to
make to you--something stunning--with reference to your undertaking."
Suddenly, Doctor Bonnefille appeared, hurrying in his usual fashion. He
passed quite close to Will, and bowing very low to him as he would do
to the Marquis, he said to him:
"A pleasant journey, Baron."
"That settles it!" murmured Gontran.
Andermatt, triumphant, swelling with joy and pride, pressed the hands
extended toward him, thanked them, and kept repeating: _"Au revoir!"_
He was nearly forgetting to embrace his wife, so much was he thinking
about other things. This indifference was a relief to her, and, when
she saw the landau moving away on the darkening road, as the horses
broke into a quick trot, it seemed to her that she had nothing more to
fear from anyone for the rest of her life.
She spent the whole evening seated in front of the hotel, between her
father and Paul Bretigny, Gontran having gone to the Casino, where he
went every evening.
She did not want either to walk or to talk, and remained motionless,
her hands clasped over her knees, her eyes lost in the darkness,
languid and weak, a little restless and yet happy, scarcely thinking,
not even dreaming, now and then struggling against a vague remorse,
which she thrust away from her, always repeating to herself, "I love
him! I love him!"
She went up to her apartment at an early hour, in order to be alone
and to think. Seated in the depths of an armchair and covered with a
dressing-gown which floated around her, she gazed at the stars through
the window, which was left open; and in the frame of that window she
evoked every minute the image of him who had conquered her. She saw
him, kind, gentle, and powerful--so strong and so yielding in her
presence. This man had taken herself to himself,--she felt it,--taken
her forever. She was alone no longer; they were two, whose two hearts
would henceforth form but one heart, whose two souls would henceforth
form but one soul. Where was he? She knew not; but she knew full well
that he was dreaming of her, just as she was thinking of him. At each
throb of her heart she believed she heard another throb answering
somewhere. She felt a desire wandering round her and fanning her cheek
like a bird's wing. She felt it entering through that open window, this
desire coming from him, this burning desire, which entreated her in the
silence of the night.
How good it was, how sweet and refreshing to be loved! What joy to
think of some one, with a longing in your eyes to weep, to weep with
tenderness, and a longing also to open your arms, even without seeing
him, in order to invite him to come, to stretch one's arms toward the
image that presents itself, toward that kiss which your lover casts
unceasingly from far or near, in the fever of his waiting.
And she stretched toward the stars her two white arms in the sleeves of
her dressing-gown. Suddenly she uttered a cry. A great black shadow,
striding over her balcony, had sprung up into her window.
She sprang wildly to her feet! It was he! And, without even reflecting
that somebody might see them, she threw herself upon his breast.
[Illustration]