agreeable man; he is pleasant in company, and then, too, Madame Dolban
has known him a long time, no doubt. But after all, my dear Edouard,
you never spoke to him until within a week, for we cannot count the day
of your wedding; you were too busy to pay any attention to him then.”
“Oh, yes,” said Adeline, with a sigh, “that day he thought of nothing
but me.”
“Really, mesdames, you talk rather strangely; does it require so very
long, pray, to know a person and to form a judgment upon him? For my own
part, two days are enough for me; besides, what interest could Dufresne
have in putting on a false face with us? He has no need of our services,
and you know that in the world we are constantly guided by our own
interests; but aside from that, why should he put himself out? Dufresne
has money, he is in business.”
“What business?”
“Oh! business on the Bourse, commerce, speculation; in short, very
extensive business, according to what he tells me.”
“Has he an office, or any place? Is he a solicitor--a business agent?”
“No! no! But a man need not have any of those things now, to make his
way. Moreover, mesdames, allow me to tell you that you know nothing
about it.”
“Upon my word, my dear, you are very amiable! Why do you think that we
are not so well able as men to decide what may be useful to us?”
“Because you are not brought up to do it.”
“My dear,” said Madame Germeuil, “education supplies neither intellect
nor judgment. Believe me, a woman may give very good advice, and men are
almost always wrong to despise it. The only advice that I can give you
myself is not to form too rashly an intimacy with a man whom you have
known only a week. Friendship should not be given so readily.”
“But Edouard is naturally so kind, so easy-going----”
“Oh! I know how to value people. I promise you that Dufresne’s
friendship will be very valuable to me.”
“How so?”
“Parbleu! I mean to do as he does; and to increase our fortune, I too
will go into business. I feel, moreover, that a man cannot live without
having something to do. When we are in Paris, I can’t walk about from
morning till night; I shall neither go hunting nor fishing.”
“That is just what I told you when you insisted on leaving your place,”
said Mamma Germeuil; “but then you didn’t listen to me.”
“Oh! my dear mamma, if I had remained twenty years nailed to an office
stool, what would that have led me to? To be a deputy chief perhaps, a
year or two before being retired on a pension. A noble prospect! Instead
of that, I may become very wealthy some day.”
“What, Edouard, have you become ambitious now?”
“I am not ambitious, my dear Adeline; but suppose I were? our family may
be increased, and there is no law against a man’s thinking about the
welfare of his children.”
“Of course not! of course not!” said Madame Germeuil; “but sometimes, by
insisting upon running about after vain chimeras, you lose what you have
for certain.”
“Oh! never fear, madame, I shall not run after chimeras. I shall act
only upon certainty; I shall advance only a very little; and besides,
Dufresne will give me good advice.”
Thus ended this conversation. Edouard left the house to meditate upon
his new plans for acquiring wealth; Madame Germeuil returned sadly to
her bedroom, and Adeline went out to muse alone in the garden.
XVI
RETURN TO PARIS.--THE BUSINESS AGENT
A few days later, Monsieur Dufresne paid another visit to the family in
the country. Edouard received him like an old friend, Madame Germeuil
courteously, and Adeline rather coldly. The newcomer talked much of his
affairs, of his speculations, of his extensive schemes. All this charmed
and dazzled Murville, who was already crazy to start on the career which
his friend was to open to him, and who, hurt by his mother-in-law’s lack
of confidence in this method of making his way, was keenly desirous to
prove to her the absurdity of her fears.
Despite all that Edouard could say, Dufresne stayed but one day with
him. His time was all occupied and his interests recalled him to Paris.
But the season was advancing; they could not remain longer among the
fields, which were already losing their verdure. It was the end of
October, and they had been in the country nearly six months. Edouard
looked forward with delight to the moment for returning to Paris.
Adeline reproached him gently; Madame Germeuil said nothing, but she was
already apprehensive for the future, and everything had not turned out
as she had hoped when she gave her daughter’s hand to Murville. The
latter was of a weak, irresolute character, and yet Adeline did whatever
he desired.
“Ah!” thought the good lady, “my daughter is too loving, too emotional.
She is not the wife that Edouard needed. She knows how to do nothing but
embrace and sigh; and if he ever chooses to make a fool of himself, she
will never have the strength to resist! Let us hope that he will not do
it.”
They returned to Paris. Then Edouard set about realizing the plans that
he had formed. Every day he went to the Bourse and to the cafés where
business men gathered; he did not go into any business at once, but he
listened, walked about, talked and made acquaintances. Dufresne was
often present, and he had promised his friend to let him in for a share
in his brilliant speculations. Moreover, when business was not brisk,
such people passed their time agreeably, laughing, telling one another
the news of the day, talking about theatres, balls, fashions, concerts
and love-affairs. The course of the stock market did not prevent them
from being thoroughly posted as to the course of literature, music and
dancing. While negotiating bills of exchange on Vienna or London, they
enquired the name of the actress who was to play in the new piece; they
undertook to sell shares and to hire a box at the Bouffons; they
extolled the honesty of this or that tradesman, and the eccentricity of
Lord Byron; the punctuality of a commission merchant, and the pirouettes
of Paul; they knew the cause of the latest failure, and the plot of the
melodrama which was then the rage; they knew what had happened at the
last ball given by a banker, and in his wife’s curtained box at the
theatre. In fact, they knew everything, for they discussed all subjects.
At all these gatherings they declared war and peace, and settled the
course of the weather; they divided, reunited, and enlarged empires with
the end of a cane or switch; they knew the secrets of the cabinets of
all the powers of Europe!--yet when they returned home to their wives,
they did not notice everything that had taken place during their
absence.
Adeline sighed for the happy days that she had passed in the country
immediately after her marriage. However, her husband still loved her;
she did not doubt it; but she saw him less frequently, and when he was
with her, he no longer, as formerly, talked of love, of constancy, of
conjugal happiness, but he assured her that he would soon be engaged in
extensive affairs, speculations, in which he would make large profits.
“But what need have we of so much money, my dear?” said Adeline,
throwing her arms about her husband; “I am soon to be a mother, that is
to me the greatest of all joys; with your love I desire no other----”
“My dear love, what you say is very pretty; I share your sentiments, but
I see farther than you do. Never fear, we shall be very happy some day.”
“Ah! my dear, never so happy, never more happy than I have been; before
you knew Dufresne, you thought of nobody but me!”
“Well, now you are going to talk about Dufresne, are you? You don’t like
him; you have taken a grudge against him. What has he done to cause
this? He gives me good advice, and he is pushing me along the road to
wealth; I don’t see in that any reason for detesting him!”
“I detest nobody.”
“But you receive him coldly, and Madame Dolban too.”
“I receive him as I do everybody.”
“Oh! no doubt; you would like to live like a bear, and never see any
company.”
“I have not said that; but formerly I was enough for you, and you didn’t
need company to be happy in your home.”
“Pshaw! now you are crying! tears are no argument! how childish you are!
you know perfectly well that I love you, that I love nobody but you!”
“Oh! I won’t cry any more, my dear. If it pleases you, I will see a
great deal of company.”
“Oh! I don’t say that; we will see if my plans succeed. Dufresne tells
me that it would not be a bad idea for me to give evening parties,
punches, with a violin and an écarté table. But don’t mention this yet
to your mother,--she is so peculiar!”
“I won’t say anything, my dear.”
Edouard went out to his business, and Adeline remained alone. Thereupon,
she gave free vent to her tears, for she could not conceal the fact from
herself, that her husband was not the same. Still he loved her tenderly,
he was not unfaithful; why then should she be disturbed by a change
which was only natural and which nothing could prevent? Eight months of
wedded life had not diminished Adeline’s affection. Her love was still
as ardent, as exclusive, her caresses as warm and passionate; but a
man’s heart needs a respite in its affections; it is unable to love a
long while with the same passion; it beats violently and then stops; it
blazes and then grows cold; it is a fire which does not burn with equal
intensity; a trifle is sufficient to extinguish or rekindle it.
The young wife said all this to herself to console herself; above all,
she determined to conceal her grief from her mother; but she could not
change with respect to Dufresne; that man aroused in her a feeling of
repulsion, which her heart could not explain. And yet he was agreeable,
courteous to her; he had never ceased to be respectful in his
attentions: at what then could she take offence? She had no idea, but
she did not like him, and her glance caused him an embarrassment and
confusion which were not natural; she fancied that she detected in him a
sort of constraint which she could not define. When she appeared,
Dufresne seemed ill at ease, and he left the room if Madame Dolban were
present; if chance caused him to be left alone with his friend’s wife,
he had nothing to say; but at such times, his eyes followed Adeline’s
every movement, and they wore an expression which she could not endure.
Several days after the conversation he had had with his wife, Edouard
returned home with a triumphant air; his face was radiant, his eyes
gleamed with pleasure.
“What’s the matter, son-in-law, what has happened to you?” said Mamma
Germeuil; “you seem very happy.”
“In truth, I am, and I have good reason to be.”
“Of course you will let us share your joy, my dear.”
“Yes, mesdames, you will cease now, I hope, to say that I delude myself
with chimeras; by the luckiest chance I have recently become acquainted
with a rich foreigner, who proposes to settle in France. He was looking
for a large, pleasant house, all furnished, in one of the best quarters
of the city; I found one for him; he looked at it, was delighted with
it, bought it, and gives me six thousand francs for my trouble; and the
seller gives me as much more for my commission. Well! isn’t that rather
pleasant? Twelve thousand francs earned in a moment.”
“True, son-in-law, but you have been running about for three months to
reach that moment!”
“Twelve thousand francs! That is well worth taking a little trouble
for!”
“That is true, but such affairs must be rare.”
“I shall find others.”
“They will not all be so fortunate.”
“Oh! if a man earned twelve thousand francs every day, he would be too
lucky.”
“In this matter, you do not seem to have needed Dufresne’s assistance?”
“Oh! he will put me in the way of more profitable ones yet. But in order
to do a good business, I must have an office. You must understand that
when my clients come to see me, I can’t receive them in a salon or a
bedroom. I must have an office well stocked with boxes. That makes an
impression; and as it is impossible to have a suitable place here, we
must move.”
“What! do you mean to leave these lodgings, son-in-law?”
“Ah! my dear! this is where our hands were united by mamma. It was here
that Hymen fulfilled our wishes, and I have been so happy here!”
“My dear love, one is happy anywhere when one is rich. We will take a
much handsomer apartment. This salon is too small.”
“It is large enough to receive our friends.”
“Yes, but friends are not the only ones to be received; we have
acquaintances too.”
“Son-in-law, don’t you think that you are undertaking an establishment
beyond your means?”
“Madame, I wish to make my fortune; that is a very praiseworthy
ambition, it seems to me; why should I not try what thousands of others
have tried successfully? Have I less merit, less talents than my
predecessors? I propose to prove the contrary to your satisfaction. Who
is this manufacturer, whose name is in every mouth, whose wealth is
immense and his credit unlimited? He came to Paris without a sou; he
simply knew how to write and make figures; he entered, as a petty clerk,
the establishment of which to-day he is the owner; but he was ambitious,
he worked hard, and everything succeeded with him. This financier, who
is engaged in such enormous operations on the Bourse, arrived from his
village, asking hospitality at the taverns along the road, sleeping on
straw, and eating nothing but bread, lucky when he had enough of that to
satisfy his appetite. He stopped at Paris on Place du Péron, hesitating
whether he should ask alms or should jump into the river. A tradesman
happened to notice him and gave him a letter to carry; the promptness
and zeal which he displayed in doing the errand interested people in his
favor. Every one selected him for his messenger; he soon succeeded in
saving some money, and speculated on his own account; the movement of
stocks was favorable to him; and to make a long story short, he has
become a millionaire. I could cite you a hundred similar examples; and
since one may become something from nothing, it seems to me that it is
much easier to become rich when one already has something in hand.”
“When one has nothing, son-in-law, one does not risk ruining oneself.”
“Oh! only the fools ruin themselves, madame!”
“It is better to be a fool than a knave, and many people have made their
fortunes only at the expense of those of other people.”
“I trust, madame, that you do not consider me capable of enriching
myself in that way?”
“No, of course not! But before everything else one should be orderly and
economical. By this means the financier and manufacturer whom you
mentioned just now have grown rich, and not by giving extravagant
receptions and balls.”
“Other times, other methods, madame; to-day, men do business and seek
enjoyment at the same time. They negotiate a sale while drinking punch,
and sign a deed at a bouillotte or an écarté table, and buy consols
while dancing a quadrille. Well, I see no harm in all that. It is what
is called carrying on business gayly.”
“Yes, monsieur, but not substantially.--For my own part, I shall not
choose for my banker the one who gives the most beautiful parties; and
if it is your purpose to leave this lodging in order to live in that
way, I warn you that I shall not live with you.”
Edouard made no reply to his mother-in-law, but took his hat and went
out in a very ill humor, storming against women who insist upon meddling
in business of which they understand nothing. Madame Germeuil remained
with her daughter.
“Oh! mamma,” said Adeline, throwing herself into her mother’s arms,
“don’t be angry with Edouard. Alas! It is I alone who am guilty. It was
I who urged him to leave the place he had. But could I have anticipated?
It is that Dufresne, it is his advice which turns my husband’s head.”
“My dear Adeline, in the early days of your married life, you should
have taken possession of your husband’s mind, and accustomed him to do
what you wanted; at that time it would have been very easy for you, but
you did just the opposite.”
“I simply tried to please him, and we had but one will then! But soon I
am going to be a mother. Ah! how impatiently I await that moment! I am
sure that his child’s caresses will make Edouard forget all his schemes
of wealth and grandeur.”
“May you say true!”
The term marked by nature approached. Edouard realized that that was no
time to change his abode, so he said no more of his plans, and Adeline
thought that he had abandoned them. Soon she brought into the world a
pretty little girl, a faithful image of her mother’s charms. Edouard
desired that Dufresne should be his child’s godfather, but Madame
Germeuil refused him as an associate; so it was necessary to give way,
and to take in his place an old annuitant, most upright, orderly and
methodical, who gave the godmother three boxes of bonbons and two pairs
of gloves, and promised to dine every week with the young mother, in
order to learn how his goddaughter was coming on.
Edouard did not say a word, but he awaited his wife’s entire recovery
before putting his plans into execution; and he secretly hoped that
Madame Germeuil would persist in her refusal to change her lodgings, in
order that he might no longer have beneath his roof a mother-in-law
whose advice and reproaches were beginning to be distasteful to him.
Adeline was engrossed by the joy of being a mother; she nursed her
child, in spite of all that Edouard could say to prove that that was not
done in good society; but in that matter Adeline resisted her husband,
the mother-love carried the day, and that new sentiment abated in some
degree the force of the sentiment which hitherto had reigned
despotically in her heart.
For some time Madame Dolban had been a less frequent visitor at the
Murville house; Adeline and her mother did not know the reason, but they
were not sorry to be less often in the company of Dufresne, who
ordinarily accompanied Madame Dolban. They thought that if he saw him
less often, Edouard would pay less heed to the new dreams of wealth
which had been suggested to him by that young man.
The ladies were mistaken; Dufresne was very careful not to neglect
Murville, with whose character he was now perfectly acquainted. He knew
all that he could hope to gain by his acquaintance. He had, moreover,
extensive projects. Which events will soon place us in a position to
judge, no doubt. But like a clever man, Dufresne waited until the
propitious moment came to carry out his plans. He saw that Madame
Germeuil did not like him; the presence of Adeline’s mother interfered
with his designs; so he tried shrewdly to sow discord between her and
her son-in-law; he found a way of separating them, by suggesting to
Edouard to find a larger apartment in order to give handsome parties.
The two friends met everyday, and passed a large part of the morning
together; and when Murville left the house at night, it was to go to
other houses where Dufresne had agreed to meet him. Edouard could not do
without his friend, he was unwilling to do anything without consulting
him, to undertake anything until he had seen him. But if his wife gave
him advice, if his mother-in-law ventured to make a remonstrance,
Edouard lost his temper, flew into a rage, and insisted that he was the
master, whereas he was simply the plaything of the man who had the art
to flatter his tastes. A curious character! naturally weak, unreasonably
obstinate, intending to be firm and not to allow himself to be guided by
others, Edouard abandoned himself to the will of the man who secretly
advised him to be persevering and determined in his plans, because he
was well aware that that was the way to speak to a weak man who in his
eyes was simply a mass of ductile matter, to which he could give
whatever shape he chose.
Adeline did not suffer from the new duties to which she devoted herself;
on the contrary, her features seemed even lovelier, her eyes more
melting, her bearing more graceful; she was fascinating when she held
her child in her arms, and when she went out in the morning to give her
a breath of air. Another than Murville would have considered Adeline
improved; but a husband rarely makes such observations, he sees only
the contrary. In default of him, others notice his wife’s beauty, admire
what he does not see, praise what he has ceased to praise, and rave over
what he neglects; that is something that husbands do not think about,
that they do not trouble themselves about at all, and yet it is the
thing which plays them such cruel tricks.
One man observed what Edouard no longer observed; he followed Adeline,
without her knowledge, he admired her charms, he divined those which he
could not see and devoured with his eyes all that he could see. A
violent passion had assumed the mastery of him; he was simply waiting
for a favorable moment to try to induce her to share his passion.
However, there was very little hope that he could win her love, and he
knew it. Adeline was virtue personified; she was absolutely devoted to
her husband and to her child. But there was no obstacle, no barrier,
that the man who adored her had not resolved to overturn. Nothing can
check the impetuous torrent swelled by heavy rains; nothing could
discourage his love if we may thus name the unbridled desires, the
delirium, the jealousy that for a long time had filled his heart. He had
decided to attempt everything, to undertake everything, to dare
everything, in order to triumph over Adeline; his passion, long
concealed, was only the more violent on that account; the fire which
devoured him was likely to consume everything when it should break
forth. But who was this mysterious man, whose love thus far had remained
a secret? You know him, reader, and I will wager that you have already
guessed his name.
Edouard, who had plunged deeper than ever into business, of which he
understood nothing, but which seemed to him all the more attractive on
that account,--Edouard hired a handsome house, a fashionable carriage,
bought magnificent furniture of the latest style, furnished a very
elaborate office, with shelves on all sides, on which were pasteboard
boxes, empty to be sure, but soon to contain the documents relating to
the transactions which could not fail to come to his hands in a
multitude. Pending their arrival, our man hired a clerk, who passed his
time reading the _Gazette_ and cutting quill pens.
Adeline was installed in her new abode. She looked at everything, sighed
and held her peace. Madame Germeuil, on the contrary, burst forth into
reproaches, and had a violent scene with her son-in-law. She predicted
that he would ruin himself. Edouard was vexed and lost his temper, and a
rupture followed. Madame Germeuil left her son-in-law’s house, swearing
never to see him again; she refused to be moved by her daughter’s tears,
tears for which the good woman blamed herself in the depths of her
heart; she realized that it would have been better to give her daughter
to a man of firm but sensible character than to a weak, irresolute
creature, who had not enough intelligence to admit his failings, and too
much obstinacy to repair them. But the harm was done.
After Madame Germeuil’s departure there was another scene between the
husband and the wife; for Adeline could not forbear to scold her husband
in her turn, and she begged him to go after her mother and bring her
back. He was obstinate; he persisted in refusing to attempt a
reconciliation, and he informed his wife that he was determined to do as
he chose, that all remonstrance would be fruitless thenceforth and would
not change his line of conduct, in which he did not propose to be guided
by women.