Chamoureau aside and shouting:
"Come, off you go, Spaniard! You've had enough to drink; make room for
others!"
"I beg your pardon, messieurs, I am looking for a lady."
"Go to the deuce! You won't find your lady! Ohé! what a phiz! Ah! now
he's losing his boots! Look out, or you'll lose your nose next! Ha! ha!
what a ridiculous figure! Oh! that nose!"
At a masked ball, as soon as a few people begin to jeer at a person in
disguise, the crowd collects and swells the chorus; and as the widower
was a decidedly laughable figure in his ornate costume, and with his
false nose and moustaches, bursts of laughter arose on all sides as he
passed, and he was followed by people who shouted in his ears:
"Oh! that nose! Look at that Spaniard's nose!"
"That man has been deceived by women."
"He must have made a fool of himself for them."
"Don't you see that monsieur is a foreigner who has come to France to
study refined manners?"
"No, no; he's a joker, who made a bet that he would look more like an
ass than anybody else at the ball."
"Well, he has won! he has won!"
All these remarks were accompanied by loud laughter which made
Chamoureau frantic.
To escape the ovation with which he was honored in the foyer, he rushed
through one of the doors, sought the place where the crowd was most
dense, and succeeded in reaching the corridor. He went up one flight,
and as he neared the top, tore off his false nose.
"I'll take it off," he thought; "if I don't they'll recognize me by it
and never stop following me. There--now that I no longer have that nose,
I like to think that I shall not be noticed. But it's a very singular
thing: I come here masked, or practically so, so that no one may know
who I am, and I have to take off my mask to avoid being
recognized!--After all, I was suffocating with that nose and those
moustaches. I am much more comfortable this way.--But I can't understand
the conduct of my two ladies. I treat them to punch and enormous sticks
of candy, and they leave me! they disappear without saying a word to me!
Perhaps they saw their husbands, or lovers whose jealousy they fear.
They dreaded a scene if they were discovered with me. That must have
been the reason for their disappearance. I fancy they didn't belong to
the first society. Their language was a little free, and the
shepherdess's especially wasn't the purest French; but the pink domino
had a very neat figure--and no hoop-skirts! I shall find her again, I
hope.--With all this I have lost Freluchon and Monsieur Edmond.--But
they adore the monster galop, and I am sure of finding them when the
time comes for that.--But five glasses of punch at a franc a glass, five
francs, and ten for candy,--fifteen francs in all! that's rather high
for an intrigue that is hardly begun! If she had even given me an
assignation for to-morrow! I should have exacted that before handing
over the candy."
As he pursued these reflections, Chamoureau walked along the corridor on
the second floor, looking into every box in search of his pink domino.
He had his face against one of the little panes of glass, when he felt a
hand on his arm; he turned; a Norman peasant, masked, was hanging on his
arm, and she said to him in a wheedling voice:
"Here you are, Chamoureau, my sweet Chamoureau! Ah! what a good idea to
take off your false nose, and how much better-looking you are now! When
one has a face like yours, one shouldn't conceal it; do you hear, my
friend?"
Our widower felt a thrill of pleasure at hearing such compliments
addressed to himself. He would gladly have kissed the mask worn by the
Norman, to show his satisfaction, but he contented himself with pressing
her hand and arm most tenderly, saying:
"What, my charming peasant--do you know me?"
"Do I know you! Why bless my soul! who doesn't know you, O Chamoureau of
my heart? It was wholly on your account, to meet you, that I came
here."
"Really? But I had no idea myself that I should come. Our party wasn't
made up till very late in the evening."
"But I was certain that you would come; my little finger told me."[G]
"Is your little finger such a magician as that?"
"Yes, for it told me that you would be disguised as a Spaniard; that you
would have top boots which would cause you much annoyance----"
"By Jove! this is marvelous!"
"That you would make love to a pink domino and a shepherdess; I saw you
with them just now."
"It's the truth; I don't deny it."
"You even offered them candy."
"Offered! you mean that they asked me for it."
"It's the same thing. You gave them each a stick; so I hope you'll give
me one too, as I came to the ball solely to see you."
"If you came to the ball solely to see me, you ought not to care for
candy."
"I care to have you as generous to me as to others--as gallant--as
attentive--as amorous; will you be? Tell me, O my Chamoureau! for I love
you, I am on fire for you, as you see!"
"Really, lovely Norman, you manifest sentiments which flatter me; but
how do you know me?"
"If I should tell you, you would be greatly surprised; but I won't tell
you--not here, at all events; later, when you come to my house, we shall
see."
"You have a house?"
"Yes, my boy, one of the very swellest in the Chaussée d'Antin."
"Then you are rich?"
"Who isn't rich to-day? unless he's as stupid as a pot!"
"True; your reflection is very clever. And you are free?"
"As free as air!"
"And you will receive me?"
"You shall have the entrée every day. Come this way; there's another
buffet, where they sell candy."
Chamoureau submitted to be led to the buffet in the corridor on the
second floor; he could refuse nothing to a woman who declared that she
had come to the Opéra on his account.
The Norman selected a stick of the same size as those selected by the
pink domino and the shepherdess; she drank a glass of gooseberry wine,
then took the Spaniard's arm again, saying:
"Mon Dieu! how wise you were to take off your nose! you are a hundred
per cent. better looking!"
"But you, charming peasant, won't you take off your mask? You must
divine my longing to gaze upon your features."
"It's not necessary, you know me already."
"Really! I know you?"
"Yes, and you like me very much."
"As for that, I can readily believe it; however, I would be glad to see
you, so that I may recall where I have seen you before."
"You shall see me at my house on Rue de la Pépinière, opposite the
barracks."
"What number, and whom shall I ask for?"
"The number's of no consequence, you'll see me at my window."
"But where shall I look for your window? This is rather vague."
"I'll toss you a bouquet."
"Very good; but still I----"
At that moment, a young man who wore no mask walked along the corridor,
arm-in-arm with a little woman dressed as a dairymaid, to whom he was
talking very earnestly. Instantly Chamoureau's companion stopped,
crying:
"It's he! it's Adolphe! Ah! the traitor! the monster! I am sure he's
with Malvina!"
And dropping the arm that she held, the Norman peasant ran after the
couple and halted in front of the young man.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, "so I've caught you, you villain! you infamous
traitor! You couldn't come to the ball with me! Monsieur was sick; he
had the colic! And you refused to bring me, to come here with this
little minx! But I'm not such a fool, my boy; you don't make me swallow
such rubbish; I had an idea that I should catch you here."
"Come, come, Clorinde, don't make a scene; you know how I dislike them!
Don't shout so loud!"
"I'll shout as loud as I please, and you can't make me keep quiet, you
wicked rascal, for whom I sold my gold chain not a fortnight ago, and
who throws my money away on other women!"
"You talk like a fool, Clorinde; if I have spent the money for your
chain, I've spent plenty more with you!"
"You greenhorn! you, who had boots with holes in 'em and paper collars!
Ah! this is too much, on my word! And you think that I'll let you strut
about with your Malvina--for that's Malvina on your arm."
"Not at all, you are mistaken; it's a masker whom I met by chance, and
whom I tell you to treat with respect."
"_Ouiche!_ I'll treat her with respect; your charmer doesn't seem to
have any tongue; she doesn't open her mouth! If it isn't Malvina, why
doesn't she speak? But we'll soon see."
During this dialogue, the little dairymaid, who seemed to be all of a
tremble, clung to her escort's arm; but the Norman suddenly snatched
away her mask and cried:
"Ah! it wasn't Malvina! Ah! I was mistaken, was I? You are caught,
traitor! As for you, little one, you know what I promised you if you
ever went with Adolphe. I don't go back on my word--take that!"
As she spoke, the peasant dealt the dairymaid a powerful blow on the
cheek; the latter attempted to take her revenge and to return the blow
she had received from her jealous rival; but as Monsieur Adolphe had
taken advantage of the battle to make his escape, the Norman ran after
him, crying:
"It's no use for you to run away--I'll find you. Come, Adolphe, don't
run; I am not angry any more. Malvina has what she deserves, that's all
I wanted."
And the peasant disappeared in the crowd, while the little dairymaid
replaced her mask and tried to readjust her disordered costume.
"Oh! the fishwoman!" she exclaimed; "is it possible that there can be
such ill-bred women! But she shall pay me. I'll go to see her man--the
fat hosier who is ruining himself for her; I'll tell him about all the
games she plays on him. Bless my soul! there's enough of 'em to cover
the city wall."
One gentleman had been a silent spectator of this scene, which, however,
seemed exceedingly distasteful to him. The reader will guess that it was
Chamoureau, who saw his second conquest escape him with the stick of
candy which he had presented to her.
"How is this?" he said to himself at last; "she assured me that she came
to the Opéra this evening solely to see me, and she was on the watch for
one Adolphe! She told me that she loved me, that she was on fire for me,
and she leaves me to go and kick up a jealous row with that young
man--and she beats the girl he has on his arm!--The deuce! what a wench!
it's a bad move to deceive her. She told me that she was very rich, that
she had a fine house on Rue de la Pépinière. The little dairymaid
declares that she is kept by a hosier. What am I to believe out of all
that? The one thing that is certain is that she has run after her
Adolphe. I am very sorry that I bought the candy for her! but she said
such pleasant things to me and pressed my arm so affectionately! O these
women! I'll not trust them again; and yet it would be very cruel to have
come to the Opéra ball without making a single acquaintance! What would
those fellows think of me?"
In his disappointment, Chamoureau decided to go up another flight. There
were fewer people in the corridor on the third floor, but the couples
were more amorous in proportion to their scarcity; they talked into each
other's faces, gazed into each other's eyes, held each other's arms or
waists; and sometimes in the ardor of conversation, the hand strayed
over a shapely figure.
Our widower observed all this, and his regret that he was alone became
all the keener.
"All these people are very fortunate!" he said to himself; "they have
love-affairs, intrigues under way. I am well aware that I too have been
_intrigué_--mystified,--but nothing has come of it; for frankly I
believe that I should have been very foolish to walk on Rue de la
Pépinière, in the hope that a bouquet would be thrown to me from a
window! That Norman must have been lying to me. My wisest course now is
to join Freluchon and Edmond, so that I may go to supper with them.
Still, it is annoying not to take someone with me to the supper; for
I'll wager that each of them will have a little woman! Their luck is
beyond my comprehension! I suppose that it's the same as in gambling:
some people always win and others never do!"
As he communed thus with himself, Chamoureau noticed a black domino,
also walking alone, who had passed very close to him again and again
within a few minutes, glancing constantly in his direction. It was a
woman above middle height, very slender--too slender, in fact, because
she was so everywhere; a few wisps of fair hair escaped from beneath her
hood which came well over her forehead. The black mask was provided with
a very ample barb; it was impossible to obtain a glimpse of any feature.
The domino was simple and shabby, and the shoes were not elegant. But
she was a lone woman, who had every appearance of being in quest of an
adventure, and Chamoureau also pined for one.
"I will venture once more," he said to himself; "perhaps I shall have
better luck this time!" and he approached the thin domino.
"It's very hot, is it not, lovely masker?"
"Yes, it's extremely warm here."
"Still, there are fewer people here than downstairs."
"True; it's much less crowded; it's more comfortable here."
"But I believe the heat ascends."
"Do you think so? it's quite possible; no doubt it does ascend."
"Otherwise it would be cooler here than downstairs."
"Oh! yes, of course; if it were cooler here----"
"They would feel the heat more downstairs."
"She converses very agreeably," said our widower to himself. "She
doesn't try to be bright, to make fun of me, as the others did. I like
this way better; I feel more at ease with this stranger, and something
tells me that I have at last found what I sought. She doesn't try to
mystify me; but after all, I prefer that she shouldn't know me; then, if
I choose, I can retain my incognito with her."
The black domino stood beside the Spaniard, apparently waiting for him
to renew the conversation. He, after pulling up his boots, decided to
offer her his arm, murmuring in honeyed tones:
"Will you take a turn or two in the corridor with me?"
"With pleasure."
"You are not expecting anybody?"
"No, I am not expecting anybody."
"You are quite sure? Pardon me for asking the question, but, you see, I
have been walking with several ladies, and they all left me abruptly, to
run after other men! Frankly, I don't care to take the risk of having
that happen again."
"Oh! don't be afraid, monsieur; I am not capable of such conduct. I see
clearly that I have to do with a _comme il faut_ gentleman, and if you
knew me better you would understand that you can place entire confidence
in me. I have never known what it was to make sport of a man--I can
safely take my oath to that; and I flatter myself that I enjoy an
excellent reputation in the house where I lodge."
All this was said in the tone of a servant applying for a position and
announcing her readiness to refer to her former employers.
But Chamoureau was delighted; he was sure that he had found what he
wanted, and he pressed the arm that lay in his as he rejoined:
"What you tell me gives me great pleasure. I believe you; there is an
accent of truth in your words."
"Besides, you can ask my employers if they are not satisfied with me."
"Your employers?"
"To be sure--the people I work for."
"Ah! you work--in a shop?"
"Yes, monsieur; oh! I don't set up for a princess myself! I told you
that I had no desire to deceive anyone."
"That is very nice of you, and I can only praise your frankness. Might I
inquire what branch of trade you are in?"
"I work for a shoemaker, monsieur; I sew ladies' shoes."
Chamoureau was not so well pleased with this admission; he would have
preferred a milliner or a flower-maker; however, he said to himself:
"After all, there are some very pretty shoe-stitchers; if she is
virtuous enough to have only one lover, I shall have made a lucky find
all the same; she's a little thin, but she must be pretty. I'll tell
Freluchon that she's in the ballet at the Cirque. She's a blonde, and I
don't dislike blondes.--Tell me, lovely domino," he said aloud, "did
you come to the ball alone?"
"No, monsieur, I came with a friend of mine; but she was looking for
someone, and when she met him, I left them; I was afraid of being in
their way."
"That was most thoughtful! So then you are free?"
"Yes, monsieur, entirely free!"
"And no previous entanglement--no liaison?"
"Oh! none at all! absolutely none! I can safely swear that it's two
years since I have walked alone with a gentleman."
Chamoureau was in raptures at the thought that he was walking with a
woman to whom such a thing had not happened for two years. In his
enthusiasm he said to himself:
"With this one I can safely try a stick of candy; she deserves it more
than the others did; her frankness and innocence are worthy of the prize
of virtue!"
And he escorted his domino to the buffet, saying:
"Pray, take something."
"Oh! you are very kind, monsieur, but I am not thirsty."
"She isn't thirsty!" said Chamoureau to himself; "I doubt if I could
find another like her in the whole ball!"
And he became the more urgent:
"But do at least take a bonbon."
"You are very polite, monsieur; I don't like to keep refusing."
"I trust you will not."
"I will take a stick of candy."
And the black domino selected one of the smallest, which cost only three
francs, thereby putting the finishing touch to Chamoureau's delight. He
offered his arm to his conquest once more, saying:
"In that case, if you are free, charming stitcher, will you do me the
honor to sup with me and a few of my friends, who will also have ladies
with them--that is to say, I assume that they will."
"Yes, monsieur, certainly, and with pleasure."
"You are fascinating! I feel that I love you dearly already."
"And I, too; I shall be very glad to make your acquaintance."
"Do you mean it? Then my appearance is not disagreeable to you?"
"Ah! I should be very hard to suit, if I did not think you a very
handsome man! Monsieur must be accustomed to attracting women!"
Chamoureau turned redder than his rouge; the corridor had become too
narrow for him; he placed his cap more on one side, pulled up his
boot-flaps, and seemed to be walking on a spring-board, ready to jump.
"I don't know whom those fellows will bring to the supper," he said to
himself, "but I'll wager that their conquests won't hold a candle to
mine! I have an idea that this slender creature resembles the Madonnas
we see in the pictures of our greatest masters. However, I'll find out
about that; she's a good-natured body, and I am sure that she'll unmask
as soon as I ask her to.--Let's go down to the ball-room," said our
widower, taking his domino's hand; "we shall find my friends there; they
are great jokers; they like the galop and are quite capable of dancing
it.--Are you fond of dancing, my dear?"
"I am willing to do whatever anyone wishes, monsieur."
"That's very pleasant in company. In that case, if I ask you to remove
this mask--that conceals your features, you will not refuse, will you?"
"Take off my mask! oh, no! I won't take off my mask here; I will at
home."
"I presume that you don't keep it on at home; but what is there to
prevent your taking it off a moment here, while we are walking in this
corridor? You may put it right on again, if you please."
"But why do you want me to take it off?"
"I have just told you: because I long to look upon your features. That
is a very natural desire--and since you have admitted that my face was
not displeasing to you----"
"Oh! no, monsieur! far from it!"
"I am persuaded yours will be most pleasing to me."
"Oh! I am not very beautiful!"
"I will wager that you say that from modesty; at all events, it is not
necessary to be very beautiful in order to please; there are some
bright, saucy little faces that are far preferable to regular
beauties."
"I have an odd face."
"Well! odd faces are included in what I have just said. Do take off that
horrible mask!"
"Oh, no! I don't want to; I won't take it off till after supper, because
I am a little less bashful when I have drunk a little pure wine."
"What! do you intend to eat supper with your mask on?"
"Why not?"
"It would bother you a good deal while eating."
"Oh, no! I can turn up the barb."
"Take off your mask, pretty stitcher! I am sure that you're lovely
enough to paint, and you postpone it only to make your triumph all the
greater."
"I won't take off my mask now; no, monsieur, I'm determined on that!"
"She's very obstinate about it!" said Chamoureau to himself, as he
escorted his conquest to the ball-room; "it's simply to increase my
desire, to inflame my imagination! Female cunning! I know what that is!"
At the moment that the Spaniard and the domino stepped into the space
between the ball-room and the stage, a general galop began--one of those
monster galops in which the torrent of dancers rushes and leaps and
roars to the strains of music which would make mummies dance. Freluchon
and Edmond soon whirled by Chamoureau, the first with his arm about a
Marquise Pompadour, the second with his little _débardeur_. The sight
electrified our widower, who said to his domino:
"Suppose we venture? what do you say?"
"I ask nothing better."
With that, the lady threw her arm about her escort and they plunged into
the infernal galop. Then they had no choice but to go with the crowd,
the torrent; for woe betide the man who stops! He is instantly thrown
down by those who come behind.
But the Spaniard's bosom swelled with a noble ardor; he was pushed and
jostled, but he went on and on. The heat was extreme, however; and from
time to time his domino murmured:
"I am stifling! suppose we stop a minute?"
"No, no; we must keep on!" Chamoureau replied; "don't be afraid; I'm
holding you tight; you shan't fall."
But after they had danced for some time, the lady's hood fell back,
disclosing a tight fitting black cap on top of which the tower of fair
hair was mingled with locks of gray hair combed up from behind. A moment
later the tower fell to pieces; then it was the mask's turn to fall--and
our widower discovered that he held in his arms a woman of fifty, ugly
as the mortal sin, with a thin, sallow, vulgar face that would have been
disgusting even in a concierge.
Dumfounded, furious at what he saw, Chamoureau did not hesitate an
instant; he dropped his partner, who rolled on the floor among the feet
of the dancers; and he lost himself among the spectators.
"I am not surprised now that she proposed to sup in her mask!" he said
to himself.
VI
A GENUINE INTRIGUE
The pearl-gray domino had entered the enclosure reserved for the
dancers, walking boldly through the crowd, well able to repay in kind
those who pushed and jostled her, and paying no attention to the men who
spoke to her and tried to detain her by the usual phrases, which such
gentlemen do not vary enough.
"Where are you going, lovely domino?"
"Listen to me, my deserted beauty!"
"You are running after him--better come with me."
"If your face resembles your figure, you are the phoenix of dominos."
To all these pretty speeches, tall Thélénie replied only by a very
expressive shake of the head. When a man attempted to detain her by
taking her arm, she had no difficulty in releasing herself by a sudden
movement, saying in a far from encouraging tone:
"I advise you to let me alone, for I assure you that you are wasting
your time with me; and that would be a great pity, if you came to the
ball with the purpose of making good use of it."
Thélénie's black eyes, full of fire, looked about on all sides for the
little _débardeur_ with whom she had seen Edmond Didier talking. She
was certain of recognizing her, although there were many similar
costumes at the ball; a woman guided by jealousy takes in at a glance
the figure, the carriage, the foot, the hand and the slightest movements
of the person she believes to be her rival.
In a corner of the ball-room, near the orchestra, the pearl-gray domino,
convinced that she was not mistaken, halted in front of a little masked
_débardeur_ and said:
"I was looking for you."
"You were looking for me!"
"Yes, you."
"What for?"
"To speak to you, naturally."
"What can you have to say to me? I don't know you--at least, I don't
think I know you. But perhaps you're that big Julie who goes to the Café
du Cirque so often, near the Folies-Dramatiques, and who always wins at
dominoes."
"I am not big Julie; I never go to the Café du Cirque, and I don't play
dominoes. But you evidently go there, and I am not sorry to know it."
"I go where I please--what business is it of yours? What are you talking
about? If you were looking for me just to say that, it wasn't worth
putting yourself out, charming domino."