"ARE you going for a ride, Bijou?" called out Pierrot, leaning out of
the window.
Denyse, who was just crossing the courtyard, pointed to her
riding-habit.
"Well, you can be sure that in this heat I should not entertain myself
by walking about in a cloth dress if I were not going to ride."
"Where are you going?"
"Why?"
"So that we can come and meet you--we two--M. Giraud and I,--at eleven
o'clock!"
Just behind Pierrot the tutor's head was to be seen.
"I am going to The Borderettes to take a message to Lavenue," answered
Bijou; and then, seeing Giraud, she said pleasantly: "Good morning. I
shall see you again, then, soon?"
Patatras was waiting in the shade. The old coachman, who always
accompanied Bijou, helped her into her saddle, and then, mounting in
his turn, prepared to follow her. When Pierrot saw this, he called out
again:
"How is it that none of the cousins are riding with you?"
"I did not tell them that I was going out."
"Ah!" he exclaimed regretfully, "if I were only free, wouldn't I come
with you!"
She turned round in her saddle, with an easy movement which showed
that she was not laced in at all, and answered Pierrot, with a merry
laugh:
"I should not have told you though, either!"
As soon as Bijou had passed through the gateway, she put Patatras to a
gallop, for the flies were teasing him dreadfully.
She went along through the hot air, meeting the sun, the burning rays
of which fell full on her pretty face without making it red. She did
not slacken her pace until she arrived at the narrow lane leading to
The Borderettes. It was almost perpendicular, and covered with loose
stones, and at the bottom of the little valley, which was very green,
in spite of the dry season, the farm, with its white walls and red
roof, looked like a perfectly new toy-house. When she was at the
bottom of the hill, Bijou pulled out of her pocket a little
looking-glass, and then arranged her veil and the loose curly locks of
hair, which had blown over her ears and the back of her neck. She then
gathered from the hedge a spray of mulberry blossom, which she
fastened in the bodice of her habit, arranged the little handkerchief,
trimmed with Valenciennes, daintily in her side-pocket, and then,
after another short gallop, pulled up at the entrance to the farm.
A rough voice called out: "Are you there, master?" and then a young
farm labourer came out of the house, saying: "Master ain't heard me
call; I'll go and find him."
A minute or two later, a tall young man, of some thirty-five years of
age, appeared. He was a true type of the Norman peasant, somewhat
meagre-looking, with fair hair, and a slight stoop. He looked very
warm and was out of breath. His face was so red that it seemed to be
turning purple.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, trying to get his breath again, "it's you,
Mad'moiselle Denyse, it's you, is it?"
"Yes, Monsieur Lavenue," she answered, smiling, "it is."
"Won't you get down?" he asked, holding out his hand to help her.
"No, thanks! I have only come to bring you a message from grandmamma.
It is about the Confirmation dinner next Monday; but you know all
about that, as you are the mayor?"
"Yes, I know about it!"
"Well, grandmamma would like to have some very nice peaches for
Monday, and some very nice pears; in fact, all kinds of nice things,
such as grow in your orchard."
"They shall bring you them, Mad'moiselle Denyse! You can be quite easy
about that. I'll see they are well chosen." And then, as the young
girl turned her horse round, he said, as he watched her, almost dazed
with admiration: "Are you going to start back already, mad'moiselle?
Won't you stop and have some refreshment--a bowl of milk now? I know
you like a drop o' good milk!" And then, in a persuasive tone, he
added, as he took hold of Patatras' bridle, "That 'ud give the horse a
rest, too; he's very warm after the run."
Farmer Lavenue's way of talking always amused Bijou. It had been more
than ten years now since the sturdy Norman had emigrated to Touraine,
and yet he had not lost his strong Norman accent in the slightest
degree.
It was Madame de Bracieux, who, thoroughly dissatisfied with the
Touraine farmers, had taken up this man. Charlemagne Lavenue had never
fraternised with the regular inhabitants of the place. He was looked
up to and admired by the simple-minded and unskilful villagers, who
saw him making money in the very place where others had been ruined.
He had, by "sending for people from his part of the world," gradually
transformed The Borderettes into a small Normandy, and he had so much
influence now in the place that he, an interloper, had been elected
mayor of Bracieux, to the exclusion of the former notables of the
place.
As Denyse did not reply, he lifted her down from her horse, saying as
he did so: "You will, mad'moiselle, won't you?" And then, after giving
the reins to the old groom, he led the way to the door of the farm,
and stood aside for Bijou to enter.
"How nice it is here, Monsieur Lavenue," she exclaimed, in a pleasant
way. "Have I ever seen this room before? No, I don't think I have!"
"Yes, you've seen it, mad'moiselle, only, you know, it's been fresh
white-washed, and, you see, that makes it different-like."
"When you are married, now," she said, smiling, "it will be very nice,
indeed."
Farmer Lavenue, who was looking at Bijou with hungry eyes, held his
head up erect, and then, shaking it slowly, he answered, with some
hesitation:
"I can't decide to give the farm a mistress, because I don't come
across one as suits me." And after a moment's silence, he added:
"That is to say, amongst them as I could have."
"Why, how's that? any of the girls from Bracieux, or Combes, or from
the villages round The Borderettes, would marry you, Monsieur Lavenue,
and there are some very pretty girls among them."
"I can't see as they are," he answered, blushing, and twisting about
in his fingers the huge, broad-brimmed hat which he always wore the
whole year round.
"You are difficult to please, then; do you mean that you don't think
Catherine Lebour pretty?"
"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse."
"Nor Josephine Lacaille?"
"No, Mad'moiselle Denyse."
"And Louise Pature?"
"No, mad'moiselle."
Bijou laughed merrily. "Oh, well, do you mean to say that you don't
admire any woman?"
"Yes, I do--there's _one_--"
"Who is it?" she asked, looking full at the peasant, with her frank,
innocent expression.
Lavenue turned redder still, and stooped down with an awkward movement
to pick up his hat, which had fallen to the ground.
"I can't say," he stuttered out; "she isn't for such as me."
Bijou did not hear his reply. With her pretty figure slightly bent,
and her head thrown back, she was slowly drinking a second cup of
milk, whilst the farmer, who had recovered himself, stood still, with
his eyes wide open, gazing at this fragile-looking young creature in
timid, half-fearful admiration.
When Bijou had finished her milk, she looked at him critically, with a
smile on her lips.
"My goodness! how warm it is to-day," he said, wiping with the back of
his hand the great drops of perspiration, which stood out on his
forehead.
"Thank you, so much, Monsieur Lavenue," said Denyse, getting up; "your
milk is delicious."
"Oh! but you aren't surely going to start off again already?" he said,
with a downcast look.
"Already! why, I have been here at least a quarter of an hour."
"Oh, well! it's been precious quick to me that quarter of an hour!" he
stammered; and then, in a lower voice, he added: "Thank you, very
much, Mad'moiselle Denyse, for the honour as you've done me. I sha'n't
forget it, that's certain!"
On getting up, Bijou had let the flowers, which she was wearing in her
bodice, fall to the ground.
As she turned towards the door, to see whether the horses were there,
the peasant, with a stealthy movement, stretched his long, sinewy body
out along the floor, and, snatching up the flowers, hid them away
under his blouse.
The groom was about to descend from his horse in order to help Denyse
to mount; but she made a sign to stop him.
"Monsieur Lavenue will help me on to my horse," she said; "he is very
strong."
She put her foot out in order to place it in the farmer's hand; but,
without any warning, he put his hands round her waist, and then,
steadying her a second against himself, he lifted her straight into
the saddle.
"Oh, well!" she exclaimed, in amazement, "I said you were strong, but
however could you hold me at arm's length like that, and put me on to
my horse, which is so tall?" and then, as he did not speak, but just
stood there, looking down and breathing heavily, she added: "There,
you see, I was too heavy! You are quite out of breath."
She started off before he had time to answer, calling out to him as
she rode away:
"Good morning, and thank you again, very much!"
Just as she was turning out of the farmyard, she looked round again at
the farmer, who was standing motionless, as though rooted to the
spot, with his arms hanging down at his sides.
"Don't forget grandmamma's peaches and pears, Monsieur Lavenue!" she
called out.
She then looked at her watch, and found that it was five minutes past
eleven. She had plenty of time to return home without hurrying, and
then, too, M. Giraud and Pierrot were to meet her, and they were never
free until eleven o'clock.
As she passed through a village, she gathered a spray of clematis from
the cemetery wall to replace the flowers which she had dropped, and
then, when she found herself quite alone, she took out her little
looking-glass again, and fluffed her hair up, as it was not curly
enough now that the heat had made it limp. At half-past eleven, as she
saw no signs of those whom she was expecting, she began to get
impatient, and put her horse to a gallop, for Patatras was getting
tired, and would keep stopping, and doing his utmost to browse the
leaves along the hedges.
Suddenly a serious, almost melancholy, expression came over the girl's
pretty, happy-looking face. She was just crossing a meadow, which was
skirted by a wood.
"Hallo, Bijou! that's how you cut us, is it?" exclaimed a voice.
She stopped short, looking surprised, and turned back a few steps.
Pierrot and M. Giraud, who had been lying down in the shade, rose from
the ground, leaving the long grass marked with their impress.
"Why, you are here already!" she said; "I did not expect to meet you
so far away from home; at what time did you start, then?"
"A little before the hour," answered Pierrot; and then he added slily,
winking at his tutor: "M'sieu' Giraud was a brick; he let me off a bit
earlier--without me begging much, either--and now, if we want to be at
Bracieux at twelve o'clock, we shall have to put our best feet first!"
They were walking along by the side of Bijou.
"Have you recovered from yesterday evening?" she asked, addressing M.
Giraud.
"Recovered?" said the young tutor. "How _recovered_?"
"Because you could not have enjoyed yourself very much! M. de
Tourville and M. de Juzencourt blocked you up, one after the other, in
a corner, to explain to you: the one that Charles de Tourville
embarked with William the Conqueror in 1066; and the other, that a
Juzencourt fought against Charles the Bold in 1477 under the walls of
Nancy. Am I not right?"
"Quite right! and M. de Juzencourt added that there was only blue
blood in his family. I did not quite understand why he should tell me
that."
"In order to prove to you that, traced clearly only since 1477, but
without the slightest _mesalliance_, the Juzencourts are more
respectable than the Tourvilles."
"Oh, indeed!"
"Yes, M. de Tourville married a young lady who was all very well, but
her name was Chaillot, and her father is on the Stock Exchange; you
see, therefore, that, as regards the Tourvilles, the family is older
than the Juzencourt family, but it is not so pure. You managed to put
such a good face on as you listened to all that. Oh, dear! I could
have laughed if you had not looked so wretched."
"It wasn't just the nuisance of having to listen to the Tourville and
Juzencourt yarns that made him look like that," observed Pierrot. "For
some time past he is always like that, even with me, and I can promise
you that I don't overpower him with yarns, either about Charles the
Bold or William the Conqueror."
"I am quite convinced on that score!" said Bijou, laughing.
"Dear me! it isn't that there'd be any difficulty about it,"
protested Pierrot. "I _could_ very well if I wanted to, but--confound
it!"
"Confound it! again?" said the young tutor, annoyed, and looking
reproachfully at his pupil. "You know that M. de Jonzac objects to
your speaking in that way. He particularly wishes you to be more
careful, and more correct, in your choice of words."
"Oh, well! if he were to talk to my friends, he'd hear a few things,
and he'd soon get used to it, too. It's always like that; just a
matter of getting used to things."
"I cannot imagine that very well, though," said Bijou; "Uncle Alexis
letting himself get used to the style of conversation of your
friends."
She drew up whilst she was speaking, and pointed to something in the
wood.
"Oh! look at that beautiful mountain ash, isn't it red? How pretty
those bunches are!"
"Do you want some of those berries?" proposed Pierrot.
"Yes, I should like some, they are so beautiful."
The youth entered the coppice, and they heard the branches snapping as
he broke them in order to make himself a passage, and presently the
top of the red tree shook and swayed, now bending down, and now
springing up again, as Pierrot shook it roughly.
Bijou, with her head bent, and a far-away look in her eyes, seemed to
be in a dream, quite oblivious of what was going on around her. She
started on hearing Pierrot's voice as he called out to her to know
whether he was to gather a large bunch.
"There is nothing worrying you, is there, mademoiselle?" asked
Monsieur Giraud timidly, as he stroked Patatras gently.
"Oh, no! Why?"
"Because you do not seem quite like yourself; you look rather sad."
"Sad?" she said, forcing a smile. "I look sad?"
"Yes. Just now, when you passed by without seeing us, you looked sad,
very sad, and now again--"
"Just now--that's quite possible. Yes, I did not feel quite gay; but,
now, why, I have no reason to be otherwise--quite the contrary. I feel
so happy here, in this velvety-looking field, and with this beautiful
sunshine that I love so much!" And then she added, as though in a
dream, and not taking any notice of the young man: "Yes, I am so
happy, I should like to stay like this for ever and ever."
She pressed her rosy lips to the spray of clematis with which she had
been playing the last minute or two, and then put it back into her
bodice, not seeing the hand which Giraud was holding out beseechingly
towards the poor flowers, which were already withering.
Pierrot came out of the thicket at this moment, carrying an immense
bunch of mountain ash berries. Bijou was smiling again by this time.
"You are ever so kind, Pierrot dear," she said, after thanking him,
"and all the more so as you will have the bother of carrying that for
another mile yet."
"Oh! if it would give you any pleasure, you know, I'd do things that
were a lot more bother than that!"
"You are good, Pierrot."
"It isn't because I'm good;" he said, and then coming nearer, so that
he touched the horse, he added very softly: "It's because I'm so fond
of you."
Bijou did not answer, and in another minute Pierrot began again:
"How well you sang last night. Didn't she, M'sieu' Giraud?"
"Wonderfully well," said the tutor. "And what a lovely voice! so
fresh, and so pure. I can understand something now which I did not
understand yesterday."
"What may that be?"
"The infinite power of the voice! Yes, before hearing you I did not
know what I know at present. You will sing again, will you not,
mademoiselle? Fancy, I have been here three weeks, and I had never had
the happiness of--"
"I will give you _that happiness_ as much as ever you like."
She was joking again now, for the little dreamy creature of a minute
before was Bijou once more.
As they approached the chateau, she put her hand up to shade her eyes.
"Why, what's going on?" she said; "the hall-door steps look black with
people."
"Hang it!" exclaimed Pierrot crossly. "They are all out there watching
for you! There's Paul, and there's Henry, and the abbe, and Uncle
Alexis, and Bertrade. Look, though! Who's that? You are right--there
are some other folks too. Ah! it's old Dubuisson, and Jeanne, and then
there's a fellow I don't know; a fellow all in black. Oh, well! he
must be a shivery sort to come to the country dressed in black, in
such heat as this."
"Perhaps it's M. Spiegel, Jeanne's _fiance_. They were to bring him."
"Yes, that must be it! I say, he doesn't look a very lively sort, your
Jeanne's _fiance_. She isn't though either--"
Bijou was looking round to see what had become of Giraud, who had
suddenly become so silent. He was following the young girl,
worshipping her as he walked along as though she were some idol.
Just at this moment, whilst Pierrot was very much taken up with
looking in the direction of the chateau, the little bunch of clematis
dropped from Bijou's dress, and fell at the tutor's feet. He picked it
up quickly, and slipped it into his pocket-book, after kissing it,
with a kind of passionate devotion, whilst behind him, the old groom,
silent and correct as usual, laughed to himself.