I BREAK WITH THE ARISTOCRACY.
Next morning I set out for St. Menehould, to see about M. Drouet’s
job. He told me what he wanted, and that he should require the new
furniture I was to make him to be of good, well-seasoned oak. In
order that I might set about it the more easily, he paid me one
hundred francs in advance; and with this prodigious sum in my pocket,
I went off to select the necessary timber, when whom should I meet
but Bertrand. The old soldier informed me that M. Drouet had spoken
to him about giving me fencing lessons, and I arranged with him, on
the spot, when I was to take them. In fact, I began that very day.
I remember well how my hand trembled with pleasure, when I grasped
the foil for the first time. At the end of an hour, I knew the five
parades, and could disengage decently.
“That will do for to-day,” cried my master, more tired than I was
myself.
I recollected something.
“Monsieur Bertrand,” said I; “I shall perhaps not be able to pay you
till the end of the month.”
“Oh, that’s all settled. Monsieur Drouet has paid me a month in
advance. He said that he owed you money.”
I felt a glow of emotion at this new proof of my good friend’s
generosity.
As I was crossing a field on my way home, I met the surveyor, M.
Mathieu. My good genius had preceded me there, too: the surveyor was
quite ready to impart to me the mysteries of the chain and level.
Leaving him, I went home in great glee, took my gun, and sallied
forth to slaughter partridges for my Latin master. I was fortunate
enough to knock over a brace of birds and a hare, which I sent the
same night to the Abbé Fortin.
Next day, as I was planing away with great zeal, the Abbé himself
stood before me.
“Well, my boy, you have sent me some game, and you must now help me
to eat it. Dinner at two, and I shall be glad to see your uncle, if
he will come with you.”
“Oh, Monsieur l’Abbé, it is too much honor!”
“At two o’clock, mind. Marguerite, the housekeeper, does not like to
be kept waiting.”
So saying, the worthy Curé left me.
My uncle, I found, would not be at home till the evening, so, at the
hour appointed, I found myself alone, tapping at the Abbé’s door, and
dressed out in all my Sunday splendor.
The Curé opened it himself.
“Ah, monsieur, I am so sorry to trouble you!”
“Trouble? Nonsense! Only Marguerite cannot be at the door and at
her kitchen stove at the same time. Talking of which, she tells me
we will not have dinner till three. Now, what do you say to a first
Latin lesson, as my friend Drouet tells me that you wish to learn
that language.”
I was only too glad to acquiesce; and, before dinner was served, I
understood that there were five declensions in the Roman tongue.
During the simple repast which followed, I surveyed the Abbé’s
furniture with a critical eye, and a mental resolve to do it all up
for him again.
Then, after having arranged about my future hours with my kind
preceptor, I returned home, one step further up the ladder of
progress. That very evening, we were apprised of a visit of the Count
de Dampierre, the Viscount de Malmy, and some other young nobles.
Hitherto, I had been in the habit of accompanying them, dressed in
regular keeper’s costume; but now I stuck steadily to my carpentry
work.
“Holloa, Réné!” said M. de Dampierre; “don’t you go with us to-day?”
“No, Monsieur le Comte,” I replied; “I have a lesson in mathematics
to-day.”
“What?” he exclaimed, with surprise. “Do you study mathematics?”
“Yes, and history and Latin, also.”
“And is all this necessary in our days for a game-keeper?”
“I am not going to be one.”
“What then?”
“I mean to be a carpenter, like ‘Emile.’”
“I don’t know him.”
“No? It is the ‘Emile’ of Monsieur Jean Jacques Rousseau that I mean;
but if the nation wants me, I shall be a soldier.”
“What do you mean by nation?”
“I mean our country—France.”
“We call that the kingdom, do we not?”
“Yes, Monsieur le Comte; but some think it high time that we should
call it a nation.”
“Then the mathematics are to teach you military engineering?”
“Yes; every officer should know how to draw a plan.”
“Officer! But before you can be an officer, you must be an
aristocrat.”
“At present, yes; but by the time I am ready, there may be changes in
the system.”
“You heard that, Malmy,” said M. de Dampierre, turning to the
Viscount.
“Yes!” replied the other, shrugging his shoulders.
“And what do you think of it all?” asked M. de Dampierre.
“I think that the class to which he belongs are losing their heads
altogether.”
I planed away vigorously, and affected not to hear. By-and-bye they
strolled off to the forest, laughing, whilst I got ready to go to M.
Mathieu, for my first lesson in engineering.