this: what do you do? who are you? Not of much importance! I can see
that by your manners and your language. No matter--I want to know; are
you a milliner, flower-maker, seamstress--or something much lower down?
Come--answer me."
"Ha! ha! ha! this is too good, on my word! Madame questions me, and with
a tone of authority!--one would think she was talking to a slave! By
what right do you ask me all this?"
"By what right? Oh! I'll show you that I have a right. Listen: you are
Monsieur Edmond Didier's mistress."
"Oho! so you know that, my tall beauty! Very good! I understand it all
now; you're one of Edmond's old ones; a poor creature whom he abandoned
for me! Ha! ha! and you've come here to make a jealous row!"
"Well, yes, I was Edmond's mistress, I still am; for, if he has had a
caprice for you, it's not what can be called love!"
"Really! you believe that? you think that a man may not love me? Well!
you are mistaken, my dear; on the contrary, he loves me dearly, he
adores me; he told me so just now."
"Listen, girl, remember what I am going to say."
"If it's a song you are going to teach me, I'll remember it if I know
the tune."
"Don't jest, for my words are most serious."
"I don't care if they are; I am never serious myself."
"I forbid you--do you understand?--I forbid you to go to Edmond's rooms
again; and if you disobey me, beware! you have no idea to what length
jealousy may drive me."
"If it could drive you home to bed now, what an excellent thing it would
be!"
"You have heard me--and you will obey."
"Not much! This was a foolish step of yours, my dear; for I have
quarrelled with Edmond and I didn't intend to see him again; just a
minute ago he begged me to go to supper with him, and I refused; but now
that you forbid me to--oh! that puts a different face on the matter; I
will accept. I'll make it up with him, and we'll be like turtle-doves
again."
"Beware! don't drive me to extremities, you little strumpet!"
"Oh! if I'm a little strumpet, you're a big one! Let me tell you that I
snap my finger at you and your threats; and to prove it, there's Edmond
now, looking everywhere for me, and I'm going with him."
Edmond Didier was, in fact, coming toward them; he was still looking for
his little _débardeur_. Mademoiselle Amélia ran to him and seized his
arm, saying:
"I'm not angry any more, dear boy; I love you more than ever, and I'll
go to supper with you. You're glad of that, aren't you?"
The young man, thunderstruck by the sudden change that had taken place
in the grisette's humor, stared at her and tried to read in her eyes
whether she really meant what she said.
But she continued:
"You're surprised that I am not sulky any longer? Well! who do you
suppose you owe it to? I'll tell you; it's that tall mouse-gray domino
who's looking at us over there, and glaring at me as if she'd shoot me!
She forbade me to go with you! That instantly made me want to do it."
Edmond looked at the masker the girl pointed out; it was a fact that in
the eyes which were fixed upon his companion and himself there was a
gleam which had in it something fascinating. Those eyes were easily
recognizable, for, as Monsieur Beauregard had said, there were no others
at the ball which could be compared with them.
Edmond divined therefore who the person was who glared at him so, and,
in spite of himself, he was disturbed and embarrassed for a moment
beneath Thélénie's burning glance.
"Oh!" he stammered, "that domino told you--forbade you to speak to me,
did she?"
"Yes, she's one of your old ones, you must recognize her. Madame is
jealous, but I don't care a fig! You're through with her, I hope. At all
events, I'm not jealous--I'm no such fool! I prefer to dance. You are
going to galop with me."
The pearl-gray domino, whose eyes were still fixed on the young couple,
suddenly walked toward them, stopped beside Edmond and said in an
undertone:
"So this is the creature for whom you abandon me! She doesn't do you
credit!"
"Eh? what's she saying to you?" demanded Mademoiselle Amélia; "some
nasty thing about me, I'll bet."
"No, no! nothing at all!" Edmond replied, as he watched Thélénie
disappear in the crowd.
"I say yes; that tall giraffe spoke to you!"
"She called me a--monster!"
"Ah! how new that is!"
"Let us galop."
It was toward the end of this galop that Chamoureau had dropped his
partner, who lost her mask, her hair and her cap, and had fled as far as
possible, leaving the ball-room and rushing aimlessly into the foyer, so
great was his fear of being pursued and overtaken by his new conquest.
When he reached the foyer, the unlucky Spaniard dropped upon a bench,
saying to himself:
"I have too hard luck! I am pursued by cruel fate! What a face! great
God! what a horrible face! I wouldn't have her for charwoman! Why, if I,
a business agent, had such a woman in my house, she'd frighten all my
clients! And such an old thing! all skin and bone! and a profile like an
embroidery frame! When a woman has no more flesh than that, she must be
very bold, to go to the Opéra ball, and try to make an acquaintance! I
am not surprised that it hasn't happened to her for two years--she must
have meant ten!--And I treated her to candy! It's very lucky that her
mask fell off when it did! if it hadn't been for that, she'd have come
to supper, she'd have unmasked afterward, the wretch! and God knows all
the jokes the others would have made at my expense, especially
Freluchon, who's a connoisseur in pretty women; for he often used to
say to me: 'Chamoureau, your wife's too handsome for one man, it's
downright murder!'--He was dancing the galop just now with a handsome
wench dressed _à la Pompadour_, and Edmond with a _débardeur_; they both
have what they want, I'm the only one who has nothing, after paying for
so many sticks of candy. But I am done; I have had my fill of intrigues,
and if I weren't waiting for those fellows I'd go home. But I can't go
without Freluchon, as my clothes are at his room. We are to meet here in
the foyer, under the clock. It must be very late. I have had very little
sport here, and I've lost my false nose."
And Chamoureau watched the promenaders with a woe-begone expression. He
did not notice that a blue domino pointed him out to one of pearl-gray,
whispering:
"That's the man; he came with them."
The pearl-gray domino, with whom we are well acquainted, but whom our
widower did not know as yet, immediately seated herself beside him and
motioned to the blue domino to go.
At first Chamoureau simply moved away a little, to make room for the
person who had taken a seat by his side; then, allured by the perfume
that emanated from his neighbor, he glanced furtively at her, saying to
himself:
"Sapristi! this domino smells good; it's as if a bouquet had sat down
here. I ought to have guessed that that other woman didn't amount to
anything; she smelt of garlic, and when she got warm dancing--then it
was much worse!"
Chamoureau's examination of the pearl-gray domino was wholly to her
advantage; in addition to the perfume she exhaled, everything about her
was refined, stylish and in good taste. But when Thélénie fastened her
great black eyes on him, our widower was speechless with admiration, and
in his confusion he could think of nothing better to do than to pull up
his boots.
Thus far, Chamoureau had not addressed a word to his neighbor, although
he was dying to do so; she, however, saved him the trouble by opening
the conversation herself.
"Well, Monsieur Chamoureau, are you enjoying the ball?"
"What! how! madame knows me? I have the honor of being known to madame?"
murmured our widower, utterly bewildered to hear the stylish domino call
him by name.
"Yes, monsieur, I know you--not very well, I must admit; but well enough
to tempt me to seat myself here so that I might talk with you."
"Oh! how flattered I am, madame! What! it was to talk with me that you
came here to sit? that is extremely amiable on your part!"
"Oh, no! it is quite natural! Sometimes one passes the whole night here
without meeting a person with whom one can talk freely; for, to speak
frankly, the company is very much mixed at a masquerade."
"You don't know how fully I realize it, madame! for I myself, a moment
ago, was misled by a--a--less than nobody! But you understand--when
people are masked!"
"In spite of the mask, monsieur, there are always a thousand things
which enable one to recognize the well-bred woman, and which betray all
these grisettes, all these prostitutes who come here masked, to try to
make dupes."
"That is perfectly true, madame; there are a thousand things that betray
one's identity; and, as I sit beside you, madame, those things lead me
to believe that I am talking with an extremely _comme il faut_ person."
"Take care, Monsieur Chamoureau, you may be deceived again."
"Oh, no! this time I am sure of my ground!"
"You did not come to the ball alone, did you, monsieur?"
"No, madame, I came with two young men, friends of mine."
"Yes, Messieurs Freluchon and Edmond Didier."
"Ah! madame knows them also?"
"Very little; but I have a friend, a lady, who is very intimately
acquainted with one of them."
"Yes, I understand; and it's with Freluchon, I suppose?"
"No, with Monsieur Edmond; and between ourselves, I think that my poor
friend has bestowed her affections very ill."
"Yes, indeed, I should say so! If she relies on that young man's
fidelity, she is completely taken in."
"He has to my mind every appearance of a ne'er-do-well, hasn't he,
monsieur?"
"He's the worst ne'er-do-well in the world! one of those blades who make
love to the first woman they see; who have three, four, five mistresses
at the same time--I don't know how they manage it! I love the fair sex,
there's no doubt of that, and I cultivate it assiduously, but I don't
scatter myself about like that. _Ne quid nimis!_ That Latin axiom is my
motto. Forgive me for using a dead language, madame; it slipped from my
tongue."
"I congratulate you, monsieur, for not behaving as Edmond does."
"Freluchon's no better! Indeed, I think perhaps he's worse! He's a
thorough scapegrace, and, as he's rich, he can do more than others; but
he's an intimate friend of mine, and I don't propose to speak ill of
him, especially as my late wife had much esteem for him."
"Are you a widower, monsieur?"
"Alas! yes, madame; I have lost my Eléonore, my sweet better half! my
faithful companion!"
Chamoureau was on the point of blowing his nose, but he checked himself,
reflecting that it would be unwise to appear grief-stricken in that
lady's company; and, laying aside his melancholy, he assumed a sprightly
air.
"Does not madame dance?"
"Oh, no! monsieur, never at a masquerade. But what have you done with
your two friends?"
"They are dancing, madame; they must be on the floor."
"Between ourselves, Monsieur Chamoureau, it isn't good form to dance
here, unless one is disguised as you are; then anything is allowable;
but those gentlemen are not."
"True; but they are not exactly dancing; the galop is the only thing
they dance--the infernal galop."
"Oh, yes! I remember: I saw Monsieur Edmond pass just now with a woman
dressed as a _débardeur_--his mistress, I suppose?"
"Yes, that's one of his mistresses; it must be little Amélia; he was
looking for her."
"Who is this Amélia?"
"A young flower-maker: nineteen years old, with a piquant, roguish face,
eyes full of fire and a lovely figure!"
"You seem to know her very well!"
"I! oh! I don't know her at all; I am simply repeating what Edmond told
me about her a little while ago."
"Then you haven't seen this woman?"
"Not yet; but I shall see her before long, as we are all to sup
together; Freluchon arranged it all at the costumer's."
"Ah! you are to sup together!"
Thélénie was silent for some moments, apparently lost in reflection.
Meanwhile Chamoureau cudgelled his brain to think of something clever to
say to her; having had no success, he confined himself to adjusting his
cap and pulling up his boot-tops.
"Monsieur Chamoureau," said Thélénie at last, in her sweetest voice,
"will you give me your arm for a little promenade--not here in the
foyer, for there are too many people here."
"Will I, madame! why, I am only too happy that you should deign to take
me for your escort."
And the Spaniard, springing to his feet, offered his arm to the
pearl-gray domino, who took it with that lack of formality which a mask
sanctions.
Before leaving the foyer, Chamoureau, as proud as Lucifer to have on his
arm a stylish woman who left an odor of violets and patchouli as she
passed, said to himself:
"Faith, I don't care what happens! I propose to risk another stick of
candy!"
Whereupon he led the lady toward a buffet and urged her to take
something; but Thélénie dragged him away, saying:
"I am obliged to you, monsieur, but I never take anything here; besides,
I think that carrying about sticks of candy is very bad form.--Come, I
long to be out of this foyer."
Thélénie had just noticed the tall Beauregard, who was gazing at her
with an air of surprise, and with a mocking smile which seemed to say:
"What! you, elegance personified, on the arm of this Spaniard who looks
like a genuine buffoon!"
Chamoureau, who had a most exalted opinion of his new acquaintance since
she had told him that she never took anything at a ball, walked with her
into the corridor, where the domino guided him toward the staircase,
saying:
"Let us go up, there are too many people here."
"With pleasure; let us go up."
When they reached the second floor the domino continued to ascend,
saying:
"Let us go up farther."
Nor did she stop at the third, but said to her escort:
"Let us keep on."
And Chamoureau made no objection.
"Does she mean to take me up to the small boxes in the dome?" he said to
himself. "Have I inspired her with a frenzied passion? But I believe the
small boxes aren't open on ball nights. No matter, let her take me where
she will; she's a beautiful woman, her figure is enchanting, her hand
small, her language distinguished. God grant that I may not find behind
her mask any resemblance to that horrible shoe-stitcher! Gad! I am
distrustful now!"
The gray domino stopped in the passage leading to the amphitheatre and
said to her escort:
"Excuse me, monsieur, for making you come up so high, but I was anxious
that we should be alone for what I have to say to you."
"I would have followed you up in a balloon, madame, if you had asked
me."
"Oh! you go much too fast perhaps, monsieur, for, after all, you do not
know me."
"But I desire most ardently to make your acquaintance."
"Well, monsieur, I shall surprise you, no doubt, but I will not deny
that I too should be very glad to know you better, and that it was with
that end in view that I took my place by your side just now in the
foyer."
"Is it possible that I am so fortunate as to be distinguished by you--so
fortunate that a fond hope may be permitted to take root in my heart?"
"Oh! don't go so fast, monsieur; do you think that none but sensual
liaisons may exist between two persons of different sexes?"
"I don't say just that; but I have reached the age when love is as
necessary to men as the bottle to a child; I say the bottle as I might
say the nurse! Madame, should I be too presumptuous if I asked to see
your face?"
"It was for the express purpose of showing you my features that I
brought you here, monsieur. I am very glad to have you know what sort of
person you have to do with."
As she spoke, Thélénie removed her mask and Chamoureau uttered an
exclamation, this time of admiration.
Indeed, the first sight of her face might well arouse that sentiment.
All her features were beautiful and clean cut; her teeth were beyond
reproach, her hair as black as the crow's wing, and her eyes, whose
brilliancy we have already noted, were unusually large, fringed by long
black lashes, and surmounted by perfectly arched eyebrows. Perhaps that
face would have lost a little of its brilliancy in the daylight; there
were circles round the eyes and the complexion was a little sallow; but
in the gaslight these slight blemishes vanished and left only lovely
features and a countenance instinct with animation.
Chamoureau was fairly dazzled.
"Oh! madame!" he stammered; "on my word--I did not expect--I mean--yes,
I did expect to see a pretty face--but yours passes all
understanding--you are a goddess! I am compelled to admit that Eléonore
was only small beer beside you."
This unique compliment brought a faint smile to the lovely brunette's
lips.
"Now that you have seen me, monsieur," she rejoined, "do you still
desire to make my acquaintance?"
"Do I desire it, entrancing creature! Ah! it is more than a desire now,
it is a craving! it is more than a craving, it is----"
"Well, monsieur, I give you permission to call on me, I will receive
your visits--but only on one condition."
"I agree beforehand to all conceivable conditions."
"There is only one, monsieur; but you must swear to abide by it; if you
should fail, my door would be closed to you instantly."
"That fact should assure you of my obedience, madame; pray tell me what
the condition is."
"First of all, monsieur, I must tell you my name: I am Madame de
Sainte-Suzanne."
"De Sainte-Suzanne--what a charming name! You must be descended from
that Suzanne whom two rakes tried to catch a glimpse of as she left her
bath."
"My condition is, monsieur, that you will tell nobody--_nobody_, you
understand--that you know me and that you call on me."
"Agreed, _belle dame_; although certainly one may well be proud to know
you, although one is entitled to be vain of your acquaintance, from the
instant that you forbid me to speak, I will not lisp a word."
"Do not forget that promise, monsieur, especially when you are with your
friends Messieurs Edmond Didier and Freluchon."
"Oh! I'll be very careful, I know that they are terribly garrulous,
especially Freluchon."
"And if my name should happen to be mentioned in your presence, if I
should be the subject of conversation, you will listen and keep silent."
"If you wish, I will not even listen."
"I beg your pardon, monsieur, you will listen and remember everything
that is said; for I am inquisitive and am anxious to know what people
think of me."
"In that case, never fear; I'll open both my ears so wide that I won't
lose a word."
"Now, monsieur, I must leave you. See, this is my address;--you may
return to your friends and sup with them."
As she spoke, Thélénie handed Chamoureau a card, then hurriedly replaced
her mask.
"What is this, fascinating woman! are you going to leave me?" said the
Spaniard, tucking the card under his doublet. "I hoped--I dared to think
that you would allow me to escort you to your home."
"No, monsieur, it's impossible; I have friends here, and I must join
them again. The day after to-morrow, between two o'clock and five, I
give you permission to call. Now, adieu; I forbid you to follow me."
And Thélénie ran rapidly downstairs.
"All the same," said Chamoureau, pulling up his boot-tops, "I have made
a fine conquest!"
VII
THE DANGER OF FALLING ASLEEP IN COMPANY
Thélénie found Mademoiselle Héloïse in the balcony box; she motioned to
her to come with her.
"Do you mean to say we are going already?" asked the little black
domino.
"Already! why, it's very late. See, the dancers have plenty of room now,
which means that the ball is nearing its end."
"Have you spoken to Monsieur Edmond?"
"No, no, it's of no use; I leave him with his mistress--a flower-maker,
my dear; really, it makes me blush to think that I was jealous of such a
creature."
"But there are some very pretty flower-makers!"
"What of that? she's a grisette, all the same, and that sort of an
affair won't keep Edmond in chains for long. I say again that I regret
having lowered myself by speaking to that girl. However, I have just
made the acquaintance of a person who will keep me advised concerning my
faithless lover's intrigues."
"It's that tall man dressed as a Spaniard, I suppose, that that woman
came to tell you about?"
"Exactly; an idiot who thinks he's made a conquest of me.--Come this
way, we'll get down more quickly."
As the two women started downstairs, the tall man who had talked with
Thélénie in her box, happened to be directly in front of her. He stopped
her, saying:
"How is this? you have left your hidalgo? Oh! my dear, you were very
foolish to leave him, for you won't find his like at this ball."
"And I am not looking for him, you see, as I am going away."
"Without Edmond Didier?"
"Without Edmond Didier!"
"Whom you leave behind in the company of an extremely pretty little
_débardeur_."
"I am absolutely indifferent to that, as you see!"
"Oh! you conceal your thoughts; it certainly was for some purpose that
you consented to pass your arm through that fellow's,--that man had the
appearance of a mustard sign."
"That doesn't concern you; adieu!"
"You are in a great hurry."
"I don't see that we have anything more to say to each other."
"Nothing more to say to each other! You always forget that we have, on
the contrary, a very serious subject to discuss. But I will come to see
you."
"Very well, I am horribly tired. Adieu!"
"You run away as if you had seen Paul Duronceray here."
The name of Duronceray caused the fair Thélénie a painful shock; despite
the mask that covered her face it was easy to detect the perturbation
which that name aroused in her mind.
She soon succeeded in recovering herself, however, and rejoined in a
harsh voice:
"You are mistaken, Beauregard, I run away from nobody; and if Monsieur
Duronceray were here, I should not be the one to run away--but you!"
"I! oh, no! for now he ought to thank me, instead of bearing me a
grudge."
"Very well! hunt him up then!"
And the pearl-gray domino disappeared with her companion.
Monsieur Beauregard stood for some moments lost in thought; then he
shrugged his shoulders and returned to the foyer, saying to himself:
"The fact remains that I have no one to sup with; it is time to be
thinking about that."
Chamoureau, having discreetly allowed a few minutes to elapse, that he
might not appear to be following the pearl-gray domino, who had
forbidden him to do so, decided at last to descend from the amphitheatre
passage. Now that he had an intrigue fairly started with a lady as
elegant as she was lovely, the widower had none but contemptuous glances
for all the women who passed him. He puffed himself out in his ruff,
held his head erect with much dignity, squared his shoulders under his
cloak, and no longer took the trouble to pull up his boot-tops. He was a
man who had _arrived_; in other words, a man who had what he wanted and
who no longer needed to put himself out in order to gain his ends.
Meanwhile he desired to find his intimate friend Freluchon and young
Edmond, because he began to feel an inclination to sup.
In the corridor on the first floor a domino stopped him, and Chamoureau
shuddered as he recognized the shoe-stitcher's false light hair.
"Ah! I have found you again at last, my dear monsieur!" cried the
scrawny creature. "I am so glad! I have been looking for you ever since
that unlucky galop, when I fell; you let go with your left arm, I was a
little dizzy, and--_patatras_! And I lost my cap, too, and had hard work
finding it; I bruised myself somewhere when I fell, but it won't amount
to anything."
"But why were you looking for me, madame?" rejoined the Spaniard,
wrapping himself in his cloak, with a savage glare. "I was not looking
for you."
"Why, as it's pretty late, I was thinking about supper, as you asked me
to take supper with your friends."
"I think I see myself taking you to supper! You had a stick of candy
from me, and that's all you will get; for it's not decent to deceive
everybody as you do. At your age, and with a face like yours--to try to
make a conquest! Go and hide yourself!"
"Let me tell you that you're an impudent wretch, monsieur, and that a
man don't talk like that to a woman. When a man has such spindleshanks
as yours, he shouldn't put on so many airs. Did anyone ever hear of such
a thing! This blockhead flinging a miserable stick of candy in my face!
You might stuff it into your nose, your sweetmeat; it would go in. I'll
show you what I think of it!"
And the domino hurled her stick of candy at Chamoureau's legs and
angrily turned her back on him.
While the widower gazed in stupefaction at the shattered fragments of
the bonbon, Freluchon took his arm.
"What the deuce are you doing here," he said, "in rapt contemplation
before these broken bits of candy?"
"Faith! I was thinking, as I looked at them, what a pity it is to waste
good stuff like that."