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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6, by 
+Guy de Maupassant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6
+
+Author: Guy de Maupassant
+
+Release Date: October 13, 2010 [EBook #33928]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                BEL AMI
+
+                     The Works of Guy de Maupassant
+
+                               VOLUME VI
+
+
+NATIONAL LIBRARY COMPANY
+NEW YORK
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY
+BIGELOW, SMITH & CO.
+
+
+
+
+BEL AMI
+
+(A LADIES' MAN)
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+When the cashier had given him the change out of his five francpiece,
+George Duroy left the restaurant.
+
+As he had a good carriage, both naturally and from his military
+training, he drew himself up, twirled his moustache, and threw upon the
+lingering customers a rapid and sweeping glance--one of those glances
+which take in everything within their range like a casting net.
+
+The women looked up at him in turn--three little work-girls, a
+middle-aged music mistress, disheveled, untidy, and wearing a bonnet
+always dusty and a dress always awry; and two shopkeepers' wives dining
+with their husbands--all regular customers at this slap-bang
+establishment.
+
+When he was on the pavement outside, he stood still for a moment, asking
+himself what he should do. It was the 28th of June, and he had just
+three francs forty centimes in his pocket to carry him to the end of the
+month. This meant the option of two dinners without lunch or two lunches
+without dinner. He reflected that as the earlier repasts cost twenty
+sous apiece, and the latter thirty, he would, if he were content with
+the lunches, be one franc twenty centimes to the good, which would
+further represent two snacks of bread and sausage and two bocks of beer
+on the boulevards. This latter item was his greatest extravagance and
+his chief pleasure of a night; and he began to descend the Rue
+Notre-Dame de Lorette.
+
+He walked as in the days when he had worn a hussar uniform, his chest
+thrown out and his legs slightly apart, as if he had just left the
+saddle, pushing his way through the crowded street, and shouldering folk
+to avoid having to step aside. He wore his somewhat shabby hat on one
+side, and brought his heels smartly down on the pavement. He seemed ever
+ready to defy somebody or something, the passers-by, the houses, the
+whole city, retaining all the swagger of a dashing cavalry-man in civil
+life.
+
+Although wearing a sixty-franc suit, he was not devoid of a certain
+somewhat loud elegance. Tall, well-built, fair, with a curly moustache
+twisted up at the ends, bright blue eyes with small pupils, and
+reddish-brown hair curling naturally and parted in the middle, he bore a
+strong resemblance to the dare-devil of popular romances.
+
+It was one of those summer evenings on which air seems to be lacking in
+Paris. The city, hot as an oven, seemed to swelter in the stifling
+night. The sewers breathed out their poisonous breath through their
+granite mouths, and the underground kitchens gave forth to the street
+through their windows the stench of dishwater and stale sauces.
+
+The doorkeepers in their shirtsleeves sat astride straw-bottomed chairs
+within the carriage entrances to the houses, smoking their pipes, and
+the pedestrians walked with flagging steps, head bare, and hat in hand.
+
+
+When George Duroy reached the boulevards he paused again, undecided as
+to what he should do. He now thought of going on to the Champs Elysées
+and the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne to seek a little fresh air under the
+trees, but another wish also assailed him, a desire for a love affair.
+
+What shape would it take? He did not know, but he had been awaiting it
+for three months, night and day. Occasionally, thanks to his good looks
+and gallant bearing, he gleaned a few crumbs of love here and there, but
+he was always hoping for something further and better.
+
+With empty pockets and hot blood, he kindled at the contact of the
+prowlers who murmur at street corners: "Will you come home with me,
+dear?" but he dared not follow them, not being able to pay them, and,
+besides, he was awaiting something else, less venally vulgar kisses.
+
+He liked, however, the localities in which women of the town
+swarm--their balls, their cafés, and their streets. He liked to rub
+shoulders with them, speak to them, chaff them, inhale their strong
+perfumes, feel himself near them. They were women at any rate, women
+made for love. He did not despise them with the innate contempt of a
+well-born man.
+
+He turned towards the Madeleine, following the flux of the crowd which
+flowed along overcome by the heat. The chief cafés, filled with
+customers, were overflowing on to the pavement, and displayed their
+drinking public under the dazzling glare of their lit-up facias. In
+front of them, on little tables, square or round, were glasses holding
+fluids of every shade, red, yellow, green, brown, and inside the
+decanters glittered the large transparent cylinders of ice, serving to
+cool the bright, clear water. Duroy had slackened his pace, a longing to
+drink parched his throat.
+
+
+A hot thirst, a summer evening's thirst assailed him, and he fancied the
+delightful sensation of cool drinks flowing across his palate. But if he
+only drank two bocks of beer in the evening, farewell to the slender
+supper of the morrow, and he was only too well acquainted with the hours
+of short commons at the end of the month.
+
+He said to himself: "I must hold out till ten o'clock, and then I'll
+have my bock at the American café. Confound it, how thirsty I am
+though." And he scanned the men seated at the tables drinking, all the
+people who could quench their thirst as much as they pleased. He went
+on, passing in front of the cafés with a sprightly swaggering air, and
+guessing at a glance from their dress and bearing how much money each
+customer ought to have about him. Wrath against these men quietly
+sitting there rose up within him. If their pockets were rummaged, gold,
+silver, and coppers would be found in them. On an average each one must
+have at least two louis. There were certainly a hundred to a café, a
+hundred times two louis is four thousand francs. He murmured "the
+swine," as he walked gracefully past them. If he could have had hold of
+one of them at a nice dark corner he would have twisted his neck without
+scruple, as he used to do the country-folk's fowls on field-days.
+
+And he recalled his two years in Africa and the way in which he used to
+pillage the Arabs when stationed at little out-posts in the south. A
+bright and cruel smile flitted across his lips at the recollection of an
+escapade which had cost the lives of three men of the Ouled-Alane
+tribe, and had furnished him and his comrades with a score of fowls, a
+couple of sheep, some gold, and food for laughter for six months.
+
+The culprits had never been found, and, what is more, they had hardly
+been looked for, the Arab being looked upon as somewhat in the light of
+the natural prey of the soldier.
+
+In Paris it was another thing. One could not plunder prettily, sword by
+side and revolver in hand, far from civil authority. He felt in his
+heart all the instincts of a sub-officer let loose in a conquered
+country. He certainly regretted his two years in the desert. What a pity
+he had not stopped there. But, then, he had hoped something better in
+returning home. And now--ah! yes, it was very nice now, was it not?
+
+He clicked his tongue as if to verify the parched state of his palate.
+
+The crowd swept past him slowly, and he kept thinking. "Set of hogs--all
+these idiots have money in their waistcoat pockets." He pushed against
+people and softly whistled a lively tune. Gentlemen whom he thus elbowed
+turned grumbling, and women murmured: "What a brute!"
+
+He passed the Vaudeville Theater and stopped before the American café,
+asking himself whether he should not take his bock, so greatly did
+thirst torture him. Before making up his mind, he glanced at the
+illuminated clock. It was a quarter past nine. He knew himself that as
+soon as the glassful of beer was before him he would gulp it down. What
+would he do then up to eleven o'clock?
+
+He passed on. "I will go as far as the Madeleine," he said, "and walk
+back slowly."
+
+As he reached the corner of the Palace de l'Opera, he passed a stout
+young fellow, whose face he vaguely recollected having seen somewhere.
+He began to follow him, turning over his recollections and repeating to
+himself half-aloud: "Where the deuce did I know that joker?"
+
+He searched without being able to recollect, and then all at once, by a
+strange phenomenon of memory, the same man appeared to him thinner,
+younger, and clad in a hussar uniform. He exclaimed aloud: "What,
+Forestier!" and stepping out he tapped the other on the shoulder. The
+promenader turned round and looked at him, and then said: "What is it,
+sir?"
+
+Duroy broke into a laugh. "Don't you know me?" said he.
+
+"No."
+
+"George Duroy, of the 6th Hussars."
+
+Forestier held out his hands, exclaiming: "What, old fellow! How are
+you?"
+
+"Very well, and you?"
+
+"Oh, not very brilliant! Just fancy, I have a chest in brown paper now.
+I cough six months out of twelve, through a cold I caught at Bougival
+the year of my return to Paris, four years ago."
+
+And Forestier, taking his old comrade's arm, spoke to him of his
+illness, related the consultations, opinions, and advice of the doctors,
+and the difficulty of following this advice in his position. He was told
+to spend the winter in the South, but how could he? He was married, and
+a journalist in a good position.
+
+"I am political editor of the _Vie Francaise_. I write the proceedings
+in the Senate for the _Salut_, and from time to time literary criticisms
+for the _Planète_. That is so. I have made my way."
+
+Duroy looked at him with surprise. He was greatly changed, matured. He
+had now the manner, bearing, and dress of a man in a good position and
+sure of himself, and the stomach of a man who dines well. Formerly he
+had been thin, slight, supple, heedless, brawling, noisy, and always
+ready for a spree. In three years Paris had turned him into someone
+quite different, stout and serious, and with some white hairs about his
+temples, though he was not more than twenty-seven.
+
+Forestier asked: "Where are you going?"
+
+Duroy answered: "Nowhere; I am just taking a stroll before turning in."
+
+"Well, will you come with me to the _Vie Francaise_, where I have some
+proofs to correct, and then we will take a bock together?"
+
+"All right."
+
+They began to walk on, arm-in-arm, with that easy familiarity existing
+between school-fellows and men in the same regiment.
+
+"What are you doing in Paris?" asked Forestier.
+
+Duroy shrugged his shoulders. "Simply starving. As soon as I finished my
+term of service I came here--to make a fortune, or rather for the sake
+of living in Paris; and for six months I have been a clerk in the
+offices of the Northern Railway at fifteen hundred francs a year,
+nothing more."
+
+Forestier murmured: "Hang it, that's not much!"
+
+"I should think not. But how can I get out of it? I am alone; I don't
+know anyone; I can get no one to recommend me. It is not goodwill that
+is lacking, but means."
+
+His comrade scanned him from head to foot, like a practical man
+examining a subject, and then said, in a tone of conviction: "You see,
+my boy, everything depends upon assurance here. A clever fellow can more
+easily become a minister than an under-secretary. One must obtrude one's
+self on people; not ask things of them. But how the deuce is it that you
+could not get hold of anything better than a clerk's berth on the
+Northern Railway?"
+
+Duroy replied: "I looked about everywhere, but could not find anything.
+But I have something in view just now; I have been offered a
+riding-master's place at Pellerin's. There I shall get three thousand
+francs at the lowest."
+
+Forestier stopped short. "Don't do that; it is stupid, when you ought to
+be earning ten thousand francs. You would nip your future in the bud. In
+your office, at any rate, you are hidden; no one knows you; you can
+emerge from it if you are strong enough to make your way. But once a
+riding-master, and it is all over. It is as if you were head-waiter at a
+place where all Paris goes to dine. When once you have given riding
+lessons to people in society or to their children, they will never be
+able to look upon you as an equal."
+
+He remained silent for a few moments, evidently reflecting, and then
+asked:
+
+"Have you a bachelor's degree?"
+
+"No; I failed to pass twice."
+
+"That is no matter, as long as you studied for it. If anyone mentions
+Cicero or Tiberius, you know pretty well what they are talking about?"
+
+"Yes; pretty well."
+
+"Good; no one knows any more, with the exception of a score of idiots
+who have taken the trouble. It is not difficult to pass for being well
+informed; the great thing is not to be caught in some blunder. You can
+maneuver, avoid the difficulty, turn the obstacle, and floor others by
+means of a dictionary. Men are all as stupid as geese and ignorant as
+donkeys."
+
+He spoke like a self-possessed blade who knows what life is, and smiled
+as he watched the crowd go by. But all at once he began to cough, and
+stopped again until the fit was over, adding, in a tone of
+discouragement: "Isn't it aggravating not to be able to get rid of this
+cough? And we are in the middle of summer. Oh! this winter I shall go
+and get cured at Mentone. Health before everything."
+
+They halted on the Boulevard Poissonière before a large glass door, on
+the inner side of which an open newspaper was pasted. Three passers-by
+had stopped and were reading it.
+
+Above the door, stretched in large letters of flame, outlined by gas
+jets, the inscription _La Vie Francaise_. The pedestrians passing into
+the light shed by these three dazzling words suddenly appeared as
+visible as in broad daylight, then disappeared again into darkness.
+
+Forestier pushed the door open, saying, "Come in." Duroy entered,
+ascended an ornate yet dirty staircase, visible from the street, passed
+through an ante-room where two messengers bowed to his companion, and
+reached a kind of waiting-room, shabby and dusty, upholstered in dirty
+green Utrecht velvet, covered with spots and stains, and worn in places
+as if mice had been gnawing it.
+
+"Sit down," said Forestier. "I will be back in five minutes."
+
+And he disappeared through one of the three doors opening into the room.
+
+A strange, special, indescribable odor, the odor of a newspaper office,
+floated in the air of the room. Duroy remained motionless, slightly
+intimidated, above all surprised. From time to time folk passed
+hurriedly before him, coming in at one door and going out at another
+before he had time to look at them.
+
+They were now young lads, with an appearance of haste, holding in their
+hand a sheet of paper which fluttered from the hurry of their progress;
+now compositors, whose white blouses, spotted with ink, revealed a clean
+shirt collar and cloth trousers like those of men of fashion, and who
+carefully carried strips of printed paper, fresh proofs damp from the
+press. Sometimes a gentleman entered rather too elegantly attired, his
+waist too tightly pinched by his frock-coat, his leg too well set off by
+the cut of his trousers, his foot squeezed into a shoe too pointed at
+the toe, some fashionable reporter bringing in the echoes of the
+
+evening.
+
+Others, too, arrived, serious, important-looking men, wearing tall hats
+with flat brims, as if this shape distinguished them from the rest of
+mankind.
+
+Forestier reappeared holding the arm of a tall, thin fellow, between
+thirty and forty years of age, in evening dress, very dark, with his
+moustache ends stiffened in sharp points, and an insolent and
+self-satisfied bearing.
+
+Forestier said to him: "Good night, dear master."
+
+The other shook hands with him, saying: "Good night, my dear fellow,"
+and went downstairs whistling, with his cane under his arm.
+
+Duroy asked: "Who is that?"
+
+"Jacques Rival, you know, the celebrated descriptive writer, the
+duellist. He has just been correcting his proofs. Garin, Montel, and he
+are the three best descriptive writers, for facts and points, we have in
+Paris. He gets thirty thousand francs a year here for two articles a
+week."
+
+As they were leaving they met a short, stout man, with long hair and
+untidy appearance, who was puffing as he came up the stairs.
+
+Forestier bowed low to him. "Norbert de Varenne," said he, "the poet;
+the author of '_Les Soleils Morts_'; another who gets long prices. Every
+tale he writes for us costs three hundred francs, and the longest do not
+run to two hundred lines. But let us turn into the Neapolitan _café_, I
+am beginning to choke with thirst."
+
+As soon as they were seated at a table in the _café_, Forestier called
+for two bocks, and drank off his own at a single draught, while Duroy
+sipped his beer in slow mouthfuls, tasting it and relishing it like
+something rare and precious.
+
+His companion was silent, and seemed to be reflecting. Suddenly he
+exclaimed: "Why don't you try journalism?"
+
+The other looked at him in surprise, and then said: "But, you know, I
+have never written anything."
+
+"Bah! everyone must begin. I could give you a job to hunt up information
+for me--to make calls and inquiries. You would have to start with two
+hundred and fifty francs a month and your cab hire. Shall I speak to the
+manager about it?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+"Very well, then, come and dine with me to-morrow. I shall only have
+five or six people--the governor, Monsieur Walter and his wife, Jacques
+Rival, and Norbert de Varenne, whom you have just seen, and a lady, a
+friend of my wife. Is it settled?"
+
+Duroy hesitated, blushing and perplexed. At length he murmured: "You
+see, I have no clothes."
+
+Forestier was astounded. "You have no dress clothes? Hang it all, they
+are indispensable, though. In Paris one would be better off without a
+bed than without a dress suit."
+
+Then, suddenly feeling in his waistcoat pocket, he drew out some gold,
+took two louis, placed them in front of his old comrade, and said in a
+cordial and familiar tone: "You will pay me back when you can. Hire or
+arrange to pay by installments for the clothes you want, whichever you
+like, but come and dine with me to-morrow, half-past seven, number
+seventeen Rue Fontaine."
+
+Duroy, confused, picked up the money, stammering: "You are too good; I
+am very much obliged to you; you may be sure I shall not forget."
+
+The other interrupted him. "All right. Another bock, eh? Waiter, two
+bocks."
+
+Then, when they had drunk them, the journalist said: "Will you stroll
+about a bit for an hour?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+And they set out again in the direction of the Madeleine.
+
+"What shall we, do?" said Forestier. "They say that in Paris a lounger
+can always find something to amuse him, but it is not true. I, when I
+want to lounge about of an evening, never know where to go. A drive
+round the Bois de Boulogne is only amusing with a woman, and one has not
+always one to hand; the _café_ concerts may please my chemist and his
+wife, but not me. Then what is there to do? Nothing. There ought to be a
+summer garden like the Parc Monceau, open at night, where one would hear
+very good music while sipping cool drinks under the trees. It should not
+be a pleasure resort, but a lounging place, with a high price for
+entrance in order to attract the fine ladies. One ought to be able to
+stroll along well-graveled walks lit up by electric light, and to sit
+down when one wished to hear the music near or at a distance. We had
+about the sort of thing formerly at Musard's, but with a smack of the
+low-class dancing-room, and too much dance music, not enough space, not
+enough shade, not enough gloom. It would want a very fine garden and a
+very extensive one. It would be delightful. Where shall we go?"
+
+Duroy, rather perplexed, did not know what to say; at length he made up
+his mind. "I have never been in the Folies Bergère. I should not mind
+taking a look round there," he said.
+
+"The Folies Bergère," exclaimed his companion, "the deuce; we shall
+roast there as in an oven. But, very well, then, it is always funny
+there."
+
+And they turned on their heels to make their way to the Rue du Faubourg
+Montmartre.
+
+The lit-up front of the establishment threw a bright light into the four
+streets which met in front of it. A string of cabs were waiting for the
+close of the performance.
+
+Forestier was walking in when Duroy checked him.
+
+"You are passing the pay-box," said he.
+
+"I never pay," was the reply, in a tone of importance.
+
+When he approached the check-takers they bowed, and one of them held out
+his hand. The journalist asked: "Have you a good box?"
+
+"Certainly, Monsieur Forestier."
+
+He took the ticket held out to him, pushed the padded door with its
+leather borders, and they found themselves in the auditorium.
+
+Tobacco smoke slightly veiled like a faint mist the stage and the
+further side of the theater. Rising incessantly in thin white spirals
+from the cigars and pipes, this light fog ascended to the ceiling, and
+there, accumulating, formed under the dome above the crowded gallery a
+cloudy sky.
+
+In the broad corridor leading to the circular promenade a group of women
+were awaiting new-comers in front of one of the bars, at which sat
+enthroned three painted and faded vendors of love and liquor.
+
+The tall mirrors behind them reflected their backs and the faces of
+passers-by.
+
+Forestier pushed his way through the groups, advancing quickly with the
+air of a man entitled to consideration.
+
+He went up to a box-keeper. "Box seventeen," said he.
+
+"This way, sir."
+
+And they were shut up in a little open box draped with red, and holding
+four chairs of the same color, so near to one another that one could
+scarcely slip between them. The two friends sat down. To the right, as
+to the left, following a long curved line, the two ends of which joined
+the proscenium, a row of similar cribs held people seated in like
+fashion, with only their heads and chests visible.
+
+On the stage, three young fellows in fleshings, one tall, one of middle
+size, and one small, were executing feats in turn upon a trapeze.
+
+The tall one first advanced with short, quick steps, smiling and waving
+his hand as though wafting a kiss.
+
+The muscles of his arms and legs stood out under his tights. He expanded
+his chest to take off the effect of his too prominent stomach, and his
+face resembled that of a barber's block, for a careful parting divided
+his locks equally on the center of the skull. He gained the trapeze by a
+graceful bound, and, hanging by the hands, whirled round it like a wheel
+at full speed, or, with stiff arms and straightened body, held himself
+out horizontally in space.
+
+Then he jumped down, saluted the audience again with a smile amidst the
+applause of the stalls, and went and leaned against the scenery, showing
+off the muscles of his legs at every step.
+
+The second, shorter and more squarely built, advanced in turn, and went
+through the same performance, which the third also recommenced amidst
+most marked expressions of approval from the public.
+
+But Duroy scarcely noticed the performance, and, with head averted, kept
+his eyes on the promenade behind him, full of men and prostitutes.
+
+Said Forestier to him: "Look at the stalls; nothing but middle-class
+folk with their wives and children, good noodlepates who come to see
+the show. In the boxes, men about town, some artistes, some girls, good
+second-raters; and behind us, the strangest mixture in Paris. Who are
+these men? Watch them. There is something of everything, of every
+profession, and every caste; but blackguardism predominates. There are
+clerks of all kinds--bankers' clerks, government clerks, shopmen,
+reporters, ponces, officers in plain clothes, swells in evening dress,
+who have dined out, and have dropped in here on their way from the Opera
+to the Théatre des Italiens; and then again, too, quite a crowd of
+suspicious folk who defy analysis. As to the women, only one type, the
+girl who sups at the American _café_, the girl at one or two louis who
+looks out for foreigners at five louis, and lets her regular customers
+know when she is disengaged. We have known them for the last ten years;
+we see them every evening all the year round in the same places, except
+when they are making a hygienic sojourn at Saint Lazare or at Lourcine."
+
+Duroy no longer heard him. One of these women was leaning against their
+box and looking at him. She was a stout brunette, her skin whitened with
+paint, her black eyes lengthened at the corners with pencil and shaded
+by enormous and artificial eyebrows. Her too exuberant bosom stretched
+the dark silk of her dress almost to bursting; and her painted lips, red
+as a fresh wound, gave her an aspect bestial, ardent, unnatural, but
+which, nevertheless, aroused desire.
+
+She beckoned with her head one of the friends who was passing, a blonde
+with red hair, and stout, like herself, and said to her, in a voice loud
+enough to be heard: "There is a pretty fellow; if he would like to have
+me for ten louis I should not say no."
+
+Forestier turned and tapped Duroy on the knee, with a smile. "That is
+meant for you; you are a success, my dear fellow. I congratulate you."
+
+The ex-sub-officer blushed, and mechanically fingered the two pieces of
+gold in his waistcoat pocket.
+
+The curtain had dropped, and the orchestra was now playing a waltz.
+
+Duroy said: "Suppose we take a turn round the promenade."
+
+"Just as you like."
+
+They left their box, and were at once swept away by the throng of
+promenaders. Pushed, pressed, squeezed, shaken, they went on, having
+before their eyes a crowd of hats. The girls, in pairs, passed amidst
+this crowd of men, traversing it with facility, gliding between elbows,
+chests, and backs as if quite at home, perfectly at their ease, like
+fish in water, amidst this masculine flood.
+
+Duroy, charmed, let himself be swept along, drinking in with
+intoxication the air vitiated by tobacco, the odor of humanity, and the
+perfumes of the hussies. But Forestier sweated, puffed, and coughed.
+
+"Let us go into the garden," said he.
+
+And turning to the left, they entered a kind of covered garden, cooled
+by two large and ugly fountains. Men and women were drinking at zinc
+tables placed beneath evergreen trees growing in boxes.
+
+"Another bock, eh?" said Forestier.
+
+"Willingly."
+
+They sat down and watched the passing throng.
+
+From time to time a woman would stop and ask, with stereotyped smile:
+"Are you going to stand me anything?"
+
+And as Forestier answered: "A glass of water from the fountain," she
+would turn away, muttering: "Go on, you duffer."
+
+But the stout brunette, who had been leaning, just before, against the
+box occupied by the two comrades, reappeared, walking proudly arm-in-arm
+with the stout blonde. They were really a fine pair of women, well
+matched.
+
+She smiled on perceiving Duroy, as though their eyes had already told
+secrets, and, taking a chair, sat down quietly in face of him, and
+making her friend sit down, too, gave the order in a clear voice:
+"Waiter, two grenadines!"
+
+Forestier, rather surprised, said: "You make yourself at home."
+
+She replied: "It is your friend that captivates me. He is really a
+pretty fellow. I believe that I could make a fool of myself for his
+sake."
+
+Duroy, intimidated, could find nothing to say. He twisted his curly
+moustache, smiling in a silly fashion. The waiter brought the drinks,
+which the women drank off at a draught; then they rose, and the
+brunette, with a friendly nod of the head, and a tap on the arm with her
+fan, said to Duroy: "Thanks, dear, you are not very talkative."
+
+And they went off swaying their trains.
+
+Forestier laughed. "I say, old fellow, you are very successful with the
+women. You must look after it. It may lead to something." He was silent
+for a moment, and then continued in the dreamy tone of men who think
+aloud: "It is through them, too, that one gets on quickest."
+
+And as Duroy still smiled without replying, he asked: "Are you going to
+stop any longer? I have had enough of it. I am going home."
+
+The other murmured: "Yes, I shall stay a little longer. It is not late."
+
+Forestier rose. "Well, good-night, then. Till to-morrow. Don't forget.
+Seventeen Rue Fontaine, at half-past seven."
+
+"That is settled. Till to-morrow. Thanks."
+
+They shook hands, and the journalist walked away.
+
+As soon as he had disappeared Duroy felt himself free, and again he
+joyfully felt the two pieces of gold in his pocket; then rising, he
+began to traverse the crowd, which he followed with his eyes.
+
+He soon caught sight of the two women, the blonde and the brunette, who
+were still making their way, with their proud bearing of beggars,
+through the throng of men.
+
+He went straight up to them, and when he was quite close he no longer
+dared to do anything.
+
+The brunette said: "Have you found your tongue again?"
+
+He stammered "By Jove!" without being able to say anything else.
+
+The three stood together, checking the movement, the current of which
+swept round them.
+
+All at once she asked: "Will you come home with me?"
+
+And he, quivering with desire, answered roughly: "Yes, but I have only a
+louis in my pocket."
+
+She smiled indifferently. "It is all the same to me,"' and took his arm
+in token of possession.
+
+As they went out he thought that with the other louis he could easily
+hire a suit of dress clothes for the next evening.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+"Monsieur Forestier, if you please?"
+
+"Third floor, the door on the left," the concierge had replied, in a
+voice the amiable tone of which betokened a certain consideration for
+the tenant, and George Duroy ascended the stairs.
+
+He felt somewhat abashed, awkward, and ill at ease. He was wearing a
+dress suit for the first time in his life, and was uneasy about the
+general effect of his toilet. He felt it was altogether defective, from
+his boots, which were not of patent leather, though neat, for he was
+naturally smart about his foot-gear, to his shirt, which he had bought
+that very morning for four franc fifty centimes at the Masgasin du
+Louvre, and the limp front of which was already rumpled. His everyday
+shirts were all more or less damaged, so that he had not been able to
+make use of even the least worn of them.
+
+His trousers, rather too loose, set off his leg badly, seeming to flap
+about the calf with that creased appearance which second-hand clothes
+present. The coat alone did not look bad, being by chance almost a
+perfect fit.
+
+He was slowly ascending the stairs with beating heart and anxious mind,
+tortured above all by the fear of appearing ridiculous, when suddenly he
+saw in front of him a gentleman in full dress looking at him. They were
+so close to one another that Duroy took a step back and then remained
+stupefied; it was himself, reflected by a tall mirror on the first-floor
+landing. A thrill of pleasure shot through him to find himself so much
+more presentable than he had imagined.
+
+Only having a small shaving-glass in his room, he had not been able to
+see himself all at once, and as he had only an imperfect glimpse of the
+various items of his improvised toilet, he had mentally exaggerated its
+imperfections, and harped to himself on the idea of appearing grotesque.
+
+But on suddenly coming upon his reflection in the mirror, he had not
+even recognized himself; he had taken himself for someone else, for a
+gentleman whom at the first glance he had thought very well dressed and
+fashionable looking. And now, looking at himself carefully, he
+recognized that really the general effect was satisfactory.
+
+He studied himself as actors do when learning their parts. He smiled,
+held out his hand, made gestures, expressed sentiments of astonishment,
+pleasure, and approbation, and essayed smiles and glances, with a view
+of displaying his gallantry towards the ladies, and making them
+understand that they were admired and desired.
+
+A door opened somewhere. He was afraid of being caught, and hurried
+upstairs, filled with the fear of having been seen grimacing thus by one
+of his friend's guests.
+
+On reaching the second story he noticed another mirror, and slackened
+his pace to view himself in it as he went by. His bearing seemed to him
+really graceful. He walked well. And now he was filled with an unbounded
+confidence in himself. Certainly he must be successful with such an
+appearance, his wish to succeed, his native resolution, and his
+independence of mind. He wanted to run, to jump, as he ascended the last
+flight of stairs. He stopped in front of the third mirror, twirled his
+moustache as he had a trick of doing, took off his hat to run his
+fingers through his hair, and muttered half-aloud as he often did: "What
+a capital notion." Then raising his hand to the bell handle, he rang.
+
+The door opened almost at once, and he found himself face to face with a
+man-servant out of livery, serious, clean-shaven, and so perfect in his
+get-up that Duroy became uneasy again without understanding the reason
+of his vague emotion, due, perhaps, to an unwitting comparison of the
+cut of their respective garments. The man-servant, who had
+patent-leather shoes, asked, as he took the overcoat which Duroy had
+carried on his arm, to avoid exposing the stains on it: "Whom shall I
+announce?"
+
+And he announced the name through a door with a looped-back draping
+leading into a drawing-room.
+
+But Duroy, suddenly losing his assurance, felt himself breathless and
+paralyzed by terror. He was about to take his first step in the world he
+had looked forward to and longed for. He advanced, nevertheless. A fair
+young woman, quite alone, was standing awaiting him in a large room,
+well lit up and full of plants as a greenhouse.
+
+He stopped short, quite disconcerted. Who was this lady who was smiling
+at him? Then he remembered that Forestier was married, and the thought
+that this pretty and elegant blonde must be his friend's wife completed
+his alarm.
+
+He stammered: "Madame, I am--"
+
+She held out her hand, saying: "I know, sir; Charles has told me of your
+meeting last evening, and I am very pleased that he had the idea of
+asking you to dine with us to-day."
+
+He blushed up to his ears, not knowing what to say, and felt himself
+examined from head to foot, reckoned up, and judged.
+
+He longed to excuse himself, to invent some pretext for explaining the
+deficiencies of his toilet, but he could not think of one, and did not
+dare touch on this difficult subject.
+
+He sat down on an armchair she pointed out to him, and as he felt the
+soft and springy velvet-covered seat yield beneath his weight, as he
+felt himself, as it were, supported and clasped by the padded back and
+arms, it seemed to him that he was entering upon a new and enchanting
+life, that he was taking possession of something delightful, that he was
+becoming somebody, that he was saved, and he looked at Madame Forestier,
+whose eyes had not quitted him.
+
+She was attired in a dress of pale blue cashmere, which set off the
+outline of her slender waist and full bust. Her arms and neck issued
+from a cloud of white lace, with which the bodice and short sleeves were
+trimmed, and her fair hair, dressed high, left a fringe of tiny curls at
+the nape of her neck.
+
+Duroy recovered his assurance beneath her glance, which reminded him,
+without his knowing why, of that of the girl met overnight at the Folies
+Bergére. She had gray eyes, of a bluish gray, which imparted to them a
+strange expression; a thin nose, full lips, a rather fleshy chin, and
+irregular but inviting features, full of archness and charm. It was one
+of those faces, every trait of which reveals a special grace, and seems
+to have its meaning--every movement to say or to hide something. After a
+brief silence she asked: "Have you been long in Paris?"
+
+He replied slowly, recovering his self-possession: "A few months only,
+Madame. I have a berth in one of the railway companies, but Forestier
+holds out the hope that I may, thanks to him, enter journalism."
+
+She smiled more plainly and kindly, and murmured, lowering her voice:
+"Yes, I know."
+
+The bell had rung again. The servant announced "Madame de Marelle."
+
+This was a little brunette, who entered briskly, and seemed to be
+outlined--modeled, as it were--from head to foot in a dark dress made
+quite plainly. A red rose placed in her black hair caught the eye at
+once, and seemed to stamp her physiognomy, accentuate her character, and
+strike the sharp and lively note needed.
+
+A little girl in short frocks followed her.
+
+Madame Forestier darted forward, exclaiming: "Good evening, Clotilde."
+
+"Good evening, Madeleine." They kissed one another, and then the child
+offered her forehead, with the assurance of a grown-up person, saying:
+"Good evening, cousin."
+
+Madame Forestier kissed her, and then introduced them, saying: "Monsieur
+George Duroy, an old friend of Charles; Madame de Marelle, my friend,
+and in some degree my relation." She added: "You know we have no
+ceremonious affectation here. You quite understand, eh?"
+
+The young man bowed.
+
+The door opened again, and a short, stout gentleman appeared, having on
+his arm a tall, handsome woman, much younger than himself, and of
+distinguished appearance and grave bearing. They were Monsieur Walter, a
+Jew from the South of France, deputy, financier, capitalist, and manager
+of the _Vie Francaise_, and his wife, the daughter of Monsieur
+Basile-Ravalau, the banker.
+
+Then came, one immediately after the other, Jacques Rival, very
+elegantly got up, and Norbert de Varenne, whose coat collar shone
+somewhat from the friction of the long locks falling on his shoulders
+and scattering over them a few specks of white scurf. His badly-tied
+cravat looked as if it had already done duty. He advanced with the air
+and graces of an old beau, and taking Madame Forestier's hand, printed a
+kiss on her wrist. As he bent forward his long hair spread like water
+over her bare arm.
+
+Forestier entered in his turn, offering excuses for being late. He had
+been detained at the office of the paper by the Morel affair. Monsieur
+Morel, a Radical deputy, had just addressed a question to the Ministry
+respecting a vote of credit for the colonization of Algeria.
+
+The servant announced: "Dinner is served, Madame," and they passed into
+the dining-room.
+
+Duroy found himself seated between Madame de Marelle and her daughter.
+He again felt ill at ease, being afraid of making some mistake in the
+conventional handling of forks, spoons, and glasses. There were four of
+these, one of a faint blue tint. What could be meant to be drunk out of
+that?
+
+Nothing was said while the soup was being consumed, and then Norbert de
+Varenne asked: "Have you read the Gauthier case? What a funny business
+it is."
+
+After a discussion on this case of adultery, complicated with
+blackmailing, followed. They did not speak of it as the events recorded
+in newspapers are spoken of in private families, but as a disease is
+spoken of among doctors, or vegetables among market gardeners. They were
+neither shocked nor astonished at the facts, but sought out their hidden
+and secret motives with professional curiosity, and an utter
+indifference for the crime itself. They sought to clearly explain the
+origin of certain acts, to determine all the cerebral phenomena which
+had given birth to the drama, the scientific result due to an especial
+condition of mind. The women, too, were interested in this
+investigation. And other recent events were examined, commented upon,
+turned so as to show every side of them, and weighed correctly, with the
+practical glance, and from the especial standpoint of dealers in news,
+and vendors of the drama of life at so much a line, just as articles
+destined for sale are examined, turned over, and weighed by tradesmen.
+
+Then it was a question of a duel, and Jacques Rival spoke. This was his
+business; no one else could handle it.
+
+Duroy dared not put in a word. He glanced from time to time at his
+neighbor, whose full bosom captivated him. A diamond, suspended by a
+thread of gold, dangled from her ear like a drop of water that had
+rolled down it. From time to time she made an observation which always
+brought a smile to her hearers' lips. She had a quaint, pleasant wit,
+that of an experienced tomboy who views things with indifference and
+judges them with frivolous and benevolent skepticism.
+
+Duroy sought in vain for some compliment to pay her, and, not finding
+one, occupied himself with her daughter, filling her glass, holding her
+plate, and helping her. The child, graver than her mother, thanked him
+in a serious tone and with a slight bow, saying: "You are very good,
+sir," and listened to her elders with an air of reflection.
+
+The dinner was very good, and everyone was enraptured. Monsieur Walter
+ate like an ogre, hardly spoke, and glanced obliquely under his glasses
+at the dishes offered to him. Norbert de Varenne kept him company, and
+from time to time let drops of gravy fall on his shirt front. Forestier,
+silent and serious, watched everything, exchanging glances of
+intelligence with his wife, like confederates engaged together on a
+difficult task which is going on swimmingly.
+
+Faces grew red, and voices rose, as from time to time the man-servant
+murmured in the guests' ears: "Corton or Chateau-Laroze."
+
+Duroy had found the Corton to his liking, and let his glass be filled
+every time. A delicious liveliness stole over him, a warm cheerfulness,
+that mounted from the stomach to the head, flowed through his limbs and
+penetrated him throughout. He felt himself wrapped in perfect comfort of
+life and thought, body and soul.
+
+A longing to speak assailed him, to bring himself into notice, to be
+appreciated like these men, whose slightest words were relished.
+
+But the conversation, which had been going on unchecked, linking ideas
+one to another, jumping from one topic to another at a chance word, a
+mere trifle, and skimming over a thousand matters, turned again on the
+great question put by Monsieur Morel in the Chamber respecting the
+colonization of Algeria.
+
+Monsieur Walter, between two courses, made a few jests, for his wit was
+skeptical and broad. Forestier recited his next day's leader. Jacques
+Rival insisted on a military government with land grants to all officers
+after thirty years of colonial service.
+
+"By this plan," he said, "you will create an energetic class of
+colonists, who will have already learned to love and understand the
+country, and will be acquainted with its language, and with all those
+grave local questions against which new-comers invariably run their
+heads."
+
+Norbert de Varenne interrupted him with: "Yes; they will be acquainted
+with everything except agriculture. They will speak Arabic, but they
+will be ignorant how beet-root is planted out and wheat sown. They will
+be good at fencing, but very shaky as regards manures. On the contrary,
+this new land should be thrown entirely open to everyone. Intelligent
+men will achieve a position there; the others will go under. It is the
+social law."
+
+A brief silence followed, and the listeners smiled at one another.
+
+George Duroy opened his mouth, and said, feeling as much surprised at
+the sound of his own voice as if he had never heard himself speak: "What
+is most lacking there is good land. The really fertile estates cost as
+much as in France, and are bought up as investments by rich Parisians.
+The real colonists, the poor fellows who leave home for lack of bread,
+are forced into the desert, where nothing will grow for want of water."
+
+Everyone looked at him, and he felt himself blushing.
+
+Monsieur Walter asked: "Do you know Algeria, sir?"
+
+George replied: "Yes, sir; I was there nearly two years and a half, and
+I was quartered in all three provinces."
+
+Suddenly unmindful of the Morel question, Norbert de Varenne
+interrogated him respecting a detail of manners and customs of which he
+had been informed by an officer. It was with respect to the Mzab, that
+strange little Arab republic sprung up in the midst of the Sahara, in
+the driest part of that burning region.
+
+Duroy had twice visited the Mzab, and he narrated some of the customs of
+this singular country, where drops of water are valued as gold; where
+every inhabitant is bound to discharge all public duties; and where
+commercial honesty is carried further than among civilized nations.
+
+He spoke with a certain raciness excited by the wine and the desire to
+please, and told regimental yarns, incidents of Arab life and military
+adventure. He even hit on some telling phrases to depict these bare and
+yellow lands, eternally laid waste by the devouring fire of the sun.
+
+All the women had their eyes turned upon him, and Madame Walter said, in
+her deliberate tones: "You could make a charming series of articles out
+of your recollections."
+
+Then Walter looked at the young fellow over the glasses of his
+spectacles, as was his custom when he wanted to see anyone's face
+distinctly. He looked at the dishes underneath them.
+
+Forestier seized the opportunity. "My dear sir, I had already spoken to
+you about Monsieur George Duroy, asking you to let me have him for my
+assistant in gleaning political topics. Since Marambot left us, I have
+no one to send in quest of urgent and confidential information, and the
+paper suffers from it."
+
+Daddy Walter became serious, and pushed his spectacles upon his
+forehead, in order to look Duroy well in the face. Then he said: "It is
+true that Monsieur Duroy has evidently an original turn of thought. If
+he will come and have a chat with us to-morrow at three o'clock, we will
+settle the matter." Then, after a short silence, turning right round
+towards George, he added: "But write us a little fancy series of
+articles on Algeria at once. Relate your experiences, and mix up the
+colonization question with them as you did just now. They are facts,
+genuine facts, and I am sure they will greatly please our readers. But
+be quick. I must have the first article to-morrow or the day after,
+while the subject is being discussed in the Chamber, in order to catch
+the public."
+
+Madame Walter added, with that serious grace which characterized
+everything she did, and which lent an air of favor to her words: "And
+you have a charming title, 'Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique.' Is
+it not so, Monsieur Norbert?"
+
+The old poet, who had worn renown late in life, feared and hated
+new-comers. He replied dryly: "Yes, excellent, provided that the keynote
+be followed, for that is the great difficulty; the exact note, what in
+music is called the pitch."
+
+Madame Forestier cast on Duroy a smiling and protective glance, the
+glance of a connoisseur, which seemed to say: "Yes, you will get on."
+Madame de Marelle had turned towards him several times, and the diamond
+in her ear quivered incessantly as though the drop of water was about to
+fall.
+
+The little girl remained quiet and serious, her head bent over her
+plate.
+
+But the servant passed round the table, filling the blue glasses with
+Johannisberg, and Forestier proposed a toast, drinking with a bow to
+Monsieur Walter: "Prosperity to the _Vie Francaise_."
+
+Everyone bowed towards the proprietor, who smiled, and Duroy,
+intoxicated with success, emptied his glass at a draught. He would have
+emptied a whole barrel after the same fashion; it seemed to him that he
+could have eaten a bullock or strangled a lion. He felt a superhuman
+strength in his limbs, unconquerable resolution and unbounded hope in
+his mind. He was now at home among these people; he had just taken his
+position, won his place. His glance rested on their faces with a
+new-born assurance, and he ventured for the first time to address his
+neighbor. "You have the prettiest earrings I have ever seen, Madame."
+
+She turned towards him with a smile. "It was an idea of my own to have
+the diamonds hung like that, just at the end of a thread. They really
+look like dew-drops, do they not?"
+
+He murmured, ashamed of his own daring, and afraid of making a fool of
+himself:
+
+"It is charming; but the ear, too, helps to set it off."
+
+She thanked him with a look, one of those woman's looks that go straight
+to the heart. And as he turned his head he again met Madame Forestier's
+eye, always kindly, but now he thought sparkling with a livelier mirth,
+an archness, an encouragement.
+
+All the men were now talking at once with gesticulations and raised
+voices. They were discussing the great project of the metropolitan
+railway. The subject was not exhausted till dessert was finished,
+everyone having a deal to say about the slowness of the methods of
+communication in Paris, the inconvenience of the tramway, the delays of
+omnibus traveling, and the rudeness of cabmen.
+
+Then they left the dining-room to take coffee. Duroy, in jest, offered
+his arm to the little girl. She gravely thanked him, and rose on tiptoe
+in order to rest her hand on it.
+
+On returning to the drawing-room he again experienced the sensation of
+entering a greenhouse. In each of the four corners of the room tall
+palms unfolded their elegantly shaped leaves, rising to the ceiling, and
+there spreading fountain-wise.
+
+On each side of the fireplace were india-rubber plants like round
+columns, with their dark green leaves tapering one above the other; and
+on the piano two unknown shrubs covered with flowers, those of one all
+crimson and those of the other all white, had the appearance of
+artificial plants, looking too beautiful to be real.
+
+The air was cool, and laden with a soft, vague perfume that could
+scarcely be defined. The young fellow, now more himself, considered the
+room more attentively. It was not large; nothing attracted attention
+with the exception of the shrubs, no bright color struck one, but one
+felt at one's ease in it; one felt soothed and refreshed, and, as it
+were, caressed by one's surroundings. The walls were covered with an
+old-fashioned stuff of faded violet, spotted with little flowers in
+yellow silk about the size of flies. Hangings of grayish-blue cloth,
+embroidered here and there with crimson poppies, draped the doorways,
+and the chairs of all shapes and sizes, scattered about the room,
+lounging chairs, easy chairs, ottomans, and stools, were upholstered in
+Louise Seize silk or Utrecht velvet, with a crimson pattern on a
+cream-colored ground.
+
+"Do you take coffee, Monsieur Duroy?" and Madame Forestier held out a
+cup towards him with that smile which never left her lips.
+
+"Thank you, Madame." He took the cup, and as he bent forward to take a
+lump of sugar from the sugar-basin carried by the little girl, Madame
+Forestier said to him in a low voice: "Pay attention to Madame Walter."
+
+Then she drew back before he had time to answer a word.
+
+He first drank off his coffee, which he was afraid of dropping onto the
+carpet; then, his mind more at ease, he sought for some excuse to
+approach the wife of his new governor, and begin a conversation. All at
+once he noticed that she was holding an empty cup in her hand, and as
+she was at some distance from a table, did not know where to put it. He
+darted forward with, "Allow me, Madame?"
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+He took away the cup and then returned.
+
+"If you knew, Madame," he began, "the happy hours the _Vie Francaise_
+helped me to pass when I was away in the desert. It is really the only
+paper that is readable out of France, for it is more literary, wittier,
+and less monotonous than the others. There is something of everything in
+it."
+
+She smiled with amiable indifference, and answered, seriously:
+
+"Monsieur Walter has had a great deal of trouble to create a type of
+newspaper supplying the want of the day."
+
+And they began to chat. He had an easy flow of commonplace conversation,
+a charm in his voice and look, and an irresistible seductiveness about
+his moustache. It curled coquettishly about his lips, reddish brown,
+with a paler tint about the ends. They chatted about Paris, its suburbs,
+the banks of the Seine, watering places, summer amusements, all the
+current topics on which one can prate to infinity without wearying
+oneself.
+
+Then as Monsieur Norbert de Varenne approached with a liqueur glass in
+his hand, Duroy discreetly withdrew.
+
+Madame de Marelle, who had been speaking with Madame Forestier, summoned
+him.
+
+"Well, sir," she said, abruptly, "so you want to try your hand at
+journalism?"
+
+He spoke vaguely of his prospects, and there recommenced with her the
+conversation he had just had with Madame Walter, but as he was now a
+better master of his subject, he showed his superiority in it, repeating
+as his own the things he had just heard. And he continually looked his
+companion in the eyes, as though to give deep meaning to what he was
+saying.
+
+She, in her turn, related anecdotes with the easy flow of spirits of a
+woman who knows she is witty, and is always seeking to appear so, and
+becoming familiar, she laid her hand from time to time on his arm, and
+lowered her voice to make trifling remarks which thus assumed a
+character of intimacy. He was inwardly excited by her contact. He would
+have liked to have shown his devotion for her on the spot, to have
+defended her, shown her what he was worth, and his delay in his replies
+to her showed the preoccupation of his mind.
+
+But suddenly, without any reason, Madame de Marelle called, "Laurine!"
+and the little girl came.
+
+"Sit down here, child; you will catch cold near the window."
+
+Duroy was seized with a wild longing to kiss the child. It was as though
+some part of the kiss would reach the mother.
+
+He asked in a gallant, and at the same time fatherly, tone: "Will you
+allow me to kiss you, Mademoiselle?"
+
+The child looked up at him in surprise.
+
+"Answer, my dear," said Madame de Marelle, laughingly.
+
+"Yes, sir, this time; but it will not do always."
+
+Duroy, sitting down, lifted Laurine onto his knees and brushed the fine
+curly hair above her forehead with his lips.
+
+Her mother was surprised. "What! she has not run away; it is astounding.
+Usually she will only let ladies kiss her. You are irresistible,
+Monsieur Duroy."
+
+He blushed without answering, and gently jogged the little girl on his
+knee.
+
+Madame Forestier drew near, and exclaimed, with astonishment: "What,
+Laurine tamed! What a miracle!"
+
+Jacques Rival also came up, cigar in mouth, and Duroy rose to take
+leave, afraid of spoiling, by some unlucky remark, the work done, his
+task of conquest begun.
+
+He bowed, softly pressed the little outstretched hands of the women, and
+then heartily shook those of the men. He noted that the hand of Jacques
+Rival, warm and dry, answered cordially to his grip; that of Norbert de
+Varenne, damp and cold, slipped through his fingers; that of Daddy
+Walter, cold and flabby, was without expression or energy; and that of
+Forestier was plump and moist. His friend said to him in a low tone,
+"To-morrow, at three o'clock; do not forget."
+
+"Oh! no; don't be afraid of that."
+
+When he found himself once more on the stairs he felt a longing to run
+down them, so great was his joy, and he darted forward, going down two
+steps at a time, but suddenly he caught sight in a large mirror on the
+second-floor landing of a gentleman in a hurry, who was advancing
+briskly to meet him, and he stopped short, ashamed, as if he had been
+caught tripping. Then he looked at himself in the glass for some time,
+astonished at being really such a handsome fellow, smiled complacently,
+and taking leave of his reflection, bowed low to it as one bows to a
+personage of importance.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+When George Duroy found himself in the street he hesitated as to what he
+should do. He wanted to run, to dream, to walk about thinking of the
+future as he breathed the soft night air, but the thought of the series
+of articles asked for by Daddy Walter haunted him, and he decided to go
+home at once and set to work.
+
+He walked along quickly, reached the outer boulevards, and followed
+their line as far as the Rue Boursault, where he dwelt. The house, six
+stories high, was inhabited by a score of small households,
+trades-people or workmen, and he experienced a sickening sensation of
+disgust, a longing to leave the place and live like well-to-do people in
+a clean dwelling, as he ascended the stairs, lighting himself with wax
+matches on his way up the dirty steps, littered with bits of paper,
+cigarette ends, and scraps of kitchen refuse. A stagnant stench of
+cooking, cesspools and humanity, a close smell of dirt and old walls,
+which no rush of air could have driven out of the building, filled it
+from top to bottom.
+
+The young fellow's room, on the fifth floor, looked into a kind of
+abyss, the huge cutting of the Western Railway just above the outlet by
+the tunnel of the Batignolles station. Duroy opened his window and
+leaned against the rusty iron cross-bar.
+
+Below him, at the bottom of the dark hole, three motionless red lights
+resembled the eyes of huge wild animals, and further on a glimpse could
+be caught of others, and others again still further. Every moment
+whistles, prolonged or brief, pierced the silence of the night, some
+near at hand, others scarcely discernible, coming from a distance from
+the direction of Asnières. Their modulations were akin to those of the
+human voice. One of them came nearer and nearer, with its plaintive
+appeal growing louder and louder every moment, and soon a big yellow
+light appeared advancing with a loud noise, and Duroy watched the
+string of railway carriages swallowed up by the tunnel.
+
+Then he said to himself: "Come, let's go to work."
+
+He placed his light upon the table, but at the moment of commencing he
+found that he had only a quire of letter paper in the place. More the
+pity, but he would make use of it by opening out each sheet to its full
+extent. He dipped his pen in ink, and wrote at the head of the page, in
+his best hand, "Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique."
+
+Then he tried to frame the opening sentence. He remained with his head
+on his hands and his eyes fixed on the white sheet spread out before
+him. What should he say? He could no longer recall anything of what he
+had been relating a little while back; not an anecdote, not a fact,
+nothing.
+
+All at once the thought struck him: "I must begin with my departure."
+
+And he wrote: "It was in 1874, about the middle of May, when France, in
+her exhaustion, was reposing after the catastrophe of the terrible
+year."
+
+He stopped short, not knowing how to lead up to what should follow--his
+embarkation, his voyage, his first impressions.
+
+After ten minutes' reflection, he resolved to put off the introductory
+slip till to-morrow, and to set to work at once to describe Algiers.
+
+And he traced on his paper the words: "Algiers is a white city," without
+being able to state anything further. He recalled in his mind the pretty
+white city flowing down in a cascade of flat-roofed dwellings from the
+summit of its hills to the sea, but he could no longer find a word to
+express what he had seen and felt.
+
+After a violent effort, he added: "It is partly inhabited by Arabs."
+
+Then he threw down his pen and rose from his chair.
+
+On his little iron bedstead, hollowed in the center by the pressure of
+his body, he saw his everyday garments cast down there, empty, worn,
+limp, ugly as the clothing at the morgue. On a straw-bottomed chair his
+tall hat, his only one, brim uppermost, seemed to be awaiting an alms.
+
+The wall paper, gray with blue bouquets, showed as many stains as
+flowers, old suspicious-looking stains, the origin of which could not be
+defined; crushed insects or drops of oil; finger tips smeared with
+pomatum or soapy water scattered while washing. It smacked of shabby,
+genteel poverty, the poverty of a Paris lodging-house. Anger rose within
+him at the wretchedness of his mode of living. He said to himself that
+he must get out of it at once; that he must finish with this irksome
+existence the very next day.
+
+A frantic desire of working having suddenly seized on him again, he sat
+down once more at the table, and began anew to seek for phrases to
+describe the strange and charming physiognomy of Algiers, that ante-room
+
+of vast and mysterious Africa; the Africa of wandering Arabs and unknown
+tribes of negroes; that unexplored Africa of which we are sometimes
+shown in public gardens the improbable-looking animals seemingly made to
+figure in fairy tales; the ostriches, those exaggerated fowls; the
+gazelles, those divine goats; the surprising and grotesque giraffes; the
+grave-looking camels, the monstrous hippopotomi, the shapeless
+rhinosceri, and the gorillas, those frightful-looking brothers of
+mankind.
+
+He vaguely felt ideas occurring to him; he might perhaps have uttered
+them, but he could not put them into writing. And his impotence
+exasperated him, he got up again, his hands damp with perspiration, and
+his temples throbbing.
+
+His eyes falling on his washing bill, brought up that evening by the
+concierge, he was suddenly seized with wild despair. All his joy
+vanishing in a twinkling, with his confidence in himself and his faith
+in the future. It was all up; he could not do anything, he would never
+be anybody; he felt played out, incapable, good for nothing, damned.
+
+And he went and leaned out of the window again, just as a train issued
+from the tunnel with a loud and violent noise. It was going away, afar
+off, across the fields and plains towards the sea. And the recollection
+of his parents stirred in Duroy's breast. It would pass near them, that
+train, within a few leagues of their house. He saw it again, the little
+house at the entrance to the village of Canteleu, on the summit of the
+slope overlooking Rouen and the immense valley of the Seine.
+
+His father and mother kept a little inn, a place where the tradesfolk of
+the suburbs of Rouen came out to lunch on Sunday at the sign of the
+Belle Vue. They had wanted to make a gentleman of their son, and had
+sent him to college. Having finished his studies, and been plowed for
+his bachelor's degree, he had entered on his military service with the
+intention of becoming an officer, a colonel, a general. But, disgusted
+with military life long before the completion of his five years' term
+of service, he had dreamed of making a fortune at Paris.
+
+He came there at the expiration of his term of service, despite the
+entreaties of his father and mother, whose visions having evaporated,
+wanted now to have him at home with them. In his turn he hoped to
+achieve a future; he foresaw a triumph by means as yet vaguely defined
+in his mind, but which he felt sure he could scheme out and further.
+
+He had had some successful love affairs in the regiment, some easy
+conquests, and even some adventures in a better class of society, having
+seduced a tax collector's daughter, who wanted to leave her home for his
+sake, and a lawyer's wife, who had tried to drown herself in despair at
+being abandoned.
+
+His comrades used to say of him: "He is a sharp fellow, a deep one to
+get out of a scrape, a chap who knows which side his bread is buttered,"
+and he had promised himself to act up to this character.
+
+His conscience, Norman by birth, worn by the daily dealings of garrison
+life, rendered elastic by the examples of pillaging in Africa, illicit
+commissions, shaky dodges; spurred, too, by the notions of honor current
+in the army, military bravadoes, patriotic sentiments, the fine-sounding
+tales current among sub-officers, and the vain glory of the profession
+of arms, had become a kind of box of tricks in which something of
+everything was to be found.
+
+But the wish to succeed reigned sovereign in it.
+
+He had, without noticing it, began to dream again as he did every
+evening. He pictured to himself some splendid love adventure which
+should bring about all at once the realization of his hopes. He married
+the daughter of some banker or nobleman met with in the street, and
+captivated at the first glance.
+
+The shrill whistle of a locomotive which, issuing from the tunnel like a
+big rabbit bolting out of its hole, and tearing at full speed along the
+rails towards the machine shed where it was to take its rest, awoke him
+from his dream.
+
+Then, repossessed by the vague and joyful hope which ever haunted his
+mind, he wafted a kiss into the night, a kiss of love addressed to the
+vision of the woman he was awaiting, a kiss of desire addressed to the
+fortune he coveted. Then he closed his window and began to undress,
+murmuring:
+
+"I shall feel in a better mood for it to-morrow. My thoughts are not
+clear to-night. Perhaps, too, I have had just a little too much to
+drink. One can't work well under those circumstances."
+
+He got into bed, blew out his light, and went off to sleep almost
+immediately.
+
+He awoke early, as one awakes on mornings of hope and trouble, and
+jumping out of bed, opened his window to drink a cup of fresh air, as he
+phrased it.
+
+The houses of the Rue de Rome opposite, on the other side of the broad
+railway cutting, glittering in the rays of the rising sun, seemed to be
+painted with white light. Afar off on the right a glimpse was caught of
+the slopes of Argenteuil, the hills of Sannois, and the windmills of
+Orgemont through a light bluish mist; like a floating and transparent
+veil cast onto the horizon.
+
+Duroy remained for some minutes gazing at the distant country side, and
+he murmured: "It would be devilish nice out there a day like this." Then
+he bethought himself that he must set to work, and that at once, and
+also send his concierge's lad, at a cost of ten sous, to the office to
+say that he was ill.
+
+He sat down at his table, dipped his pen in the ink, leaned his forehead
+on his hand, and sought for ideas. All in vain, nothing came.
+
+He was not discouraged, however. He thought, "Bah! I am not accustomed
+to it. It is a trade to be learned like all other trades. I must have
+some help the first time. I will go and find Forestier, who will give me
+a start for my article in ten minutes."
+
+And he dressed himself.
+
+When he got into the street he came to the conclusion that it was still
+too early to present himself at the residence of his friend, who must be
+a late sleeper. He therefore walked slowly along beneath the trees of
+the outer boulevards. It was not yet nine o'clock when he reached the
+Parc Monceau, fresh from its morning watering. Sitting down upon a bench
+he began to dream again. A well-dressed young man was walking up and
+down at a short distance, awaiting a woman, no doubt. Yes, she appeared,
+close veiled and quick stepping, and taking his arm, after a brief clasp
+of the hand, they walked away together.
+
+A riotous need of love broke out in Duroy's heart, a need of amours at
+once distinguished and delicate. He rose and resumed his journey,
+thinking of Forestier. What luck the fellow had!
+
+He reached the door at the moment his friend was coming out of it. "You
+here at this time of day. What do you want of me?"
+
+Duroy, taken aback at meeting him thus, just as he was starting off,
+stammered: "You see, you see, I can't manage to write my article; you
+know the article Monsieur Walter asked me to write on Algeria. It is
+not very surprising, considering that I have never written anything.
+Practice is needed for that, as for everything else. I shall get used to
+it very quickly, I am sure, but I do not know how to set about
+beginning. I have plenty of ideas, but I cannot manage to express them."
+
+He stopped, hesitatingly, and Forestier smiled somewhat slyly, saying:
+"I know what it is."
+
+Duroy went on: "Yes, it must happen to everyone at the beginning. Well,
+I came, I came to ask you for a lift. In ten minutes you can give me a
+start, you can show me how to shape it. It will be a good lesson in
+style you will give me, and really without you I do not see how I can
+get on with it."
+
+Forestier still smiled, and tapping his old comrade on the arm, said:
+"Go in and see my wife; she will settle your business quite as well as I
+could. I have trained her for that kind of work. I, myself, have not
+time this morning, or I would willingly have done it for you."
+
+Duroy suddenly abashed, hesitated, feeling afraid.
+
+"But I cannot call on her at this time of the day."
+
+"Oh, yes; she is up. You will find her in my study arranging some notes
+for me."
+
+Duroy refused to go upstairs, saying: "No, I can't think of such a
+thing."
+
+Forestier took him by the shoulders, twisted him round on his heels, and
+pushing him towards the staircase, said: "Go along, you great donkey,
+when I tell you to. You are not going to oblige me to go up these
+flights of stairs again to introduce you and explain the fix you are
+in."
+
+Then Duroy made up his mind. "Thanks, then, I will go up," he said. "I
+shall tell her that you forced me, positively forced me to come and see
+her."
+
+"All right. She won't scratch your eyes out. Above all, do not forget
+our appointment for three o'clock."
+
+"Oh! don't be afraid about that."
+
+Forestier hastened off, and Duroy began to ascend the stairs slowly,
+step by step, thinking over what he should say, and feeling uneasy as to
+his probable reception.
+
+The man servant, wearing a blue apron, and holding a broom in his hand,
+opened the door to him.
+
+"Master is not at home," he said, without waiting to be spoken to.
+
+Duroy persisted.
+
+"Ask Madame Forestier," said he, "whether she will receive me, and tell
+her that I have come from her husband, whom I met in the street."
+
+Then he waited while the man went away, returned, and opening the door
+on the right, said: "Madame will see you, sir."
+
+She was seated in an office armchair in a small room, the walls of which
+were wholly hidden by books carefully ranged on shelves of black wood.
+The bindings, of various tints, red, yellow, green, violet, and blue,
+gave some color and liveliness to those monotonous lines of volumes.
+
+She turned round, still smiling. She was wrapped in a white dressing
+gown, trimmed with lace, and as she held out her hand, displayed her
+bare arm in its wide sleeve.
+
+"Already?" said she, and then added: "That is not meant for a reproach,
+but a simple question."
+
+"Oh, madame, I did not want to come up, but your husband, whom I met at
+the bottom of the house, obliged me to. I am so confused that I dare not
+tell you what brings me."
+
+She pointed to a chair, saying: "Sit down and tell me about it."
+
+She was twirling a goose-quill between her fingers, and in front of her
+was a half-written page, interrupted by the young fellow's arrival. She
+seemed quite at home at this work table, as much at her ease as if in
+her drawing-room, engaged on everyday tasks. A faint perfume emanated
+from her dressing gown, the fresh perfume of a recent toilet. Duroy
+sought to divine, fancied he could trace, the outline of her plump,
+youthful figure through the soft material enveloping it.
+
+She went on, as he did not reply: "Well, come tell me what is it."
+
+He murmured, hesitatingly: "Well, you see--but I really dare not--I was
+working last night very late and quite early this morning on the article
+upon Algeria, upon which Monsieur Walter asked me to write, and I could
+not get on with it--I tore up all my attempts. I am not accustomed to
+this kind of work, and I came to ask Forestier to help me this once--"
+
+She interrupted him, laughing heartily. "And he told you to come and see
+me? That is a nice thing."
+
+"Yes, madame. He said that you will get me out of my difficulty better
+than himself, but I did not dare, I did not wish to--you understand."
+
+She rose, saying: "It will be delightful to work in collaboration with
+you like that. I am charmed at the notion. Come, sit down in my place,
+for they know my hand-writing at the office. And we will knock you off
+an article; oh, but a good one."
+
+He sat down, took a pen, spread a sheet of paper before him, and waited.
+
+Madame Forestier, standing by, watched him make these preparations, then
+took a cigarette from the mantel-shelf, and lit it.
+
+"I cannot work without smoking," said she. "Come, what are you going to
+say?"
+
+He lifted his head towards her with astonishment.
+
+"But that is just what I don't know, since it is that I came to see you
+about."
+
+She replied: "Oh, I will put it in order for you. I will make the sauce,
+but then I want the materials of the dish."
+
+He remained embarrassed before her. At length he said, hesitatingly: "I
+should like to relate my journey, then, from the beginning."
+
+Then she sat down before him on the other side of the table, and looking
+him in the eyes:
+
+"Well, tell it me first; for myself alone, you understand, slowly and
+without forgetting anything, and I will select what is to be used of
+it."
+
+But as he did not know where to commence, she began to question him as a
+priest would have done in the confessional, putting precise questions
+which recalled to him forgotten details, people encountered and faces
+merely caught sight of.
+
+When she had made him speak thus for about a quarter of an hour, she
+suddenly interrupted him with: "Now we will begin. In the first place,
+we will imagine that you are narrating your impressions to a friend,
+which will allow you to write a lot of tom-foolery, to make remarks of
+all kinds, to be natural and funny if we can. Begin:
+
+"'My Dear Henry,--You want to know what Algeria is like, and you shall.
+I will send you, having nothing else to do in a little cabin of dried
+mud which serves me as a habitation, a kind of journal of my life, day
+by day, and hour by hour. It will be a little lively at times, more is
+the pity, but you are not obliged to show it to your lady friends.'"
+
+She paused to re-light her cigarette, which had gone out, and the faint
+creaking of the quill on the paper stopped, too.
+
+"Let us continue," said she.
+
+"Algeria is a great French country on the frontiers of the great unknown
+countries called the Desert, the Sahara, central Africa, etc., etc.
+
+"Algiers is the door, the pretty white door of this strange continent.
+
+"But it is first necessary to get to it, which is not a rosy job for
+everyone. I am, you know, an excellent horseman, since I break in the
+colonel's horses; but a man may be a very good rider and a very bad
+sailor. That is my case.
+
+"You remember Surgeon-Major Simbretras, whom we used to call Old
+Ipecacuanha, and how, when we thought ourselves ripe for a twenty-four
+hours' stay in the infirmary, that blessed sojourning place, we used to
+go up before him.
+
+"How he used to sit in his chair, with his fat legs in his red trousers,
+wide apart, his hands on his knees, and his elbows stuck, rolling his
+great eyes and gnawing his white moustache.
+
+"You remember his favorite mode of treatment: 'This man's stomach is
+out of order. Give him a dose of emetic number three, according to my
+prescription, and then twelve hours off duty, and he will be all right.'
+
+"It was a sovereign remedy that emetic--sovereign and irresistible. One
+swallowed it because one had to. Then when one had undergone the effects
+of Old Ipecacuanha's prescription, one enjoyed twelve well-earned hours'
+rest.
+
+"Well, my dear fellow, to reach Africa, it is necessary to undergo for
+forty hours the effects of another kind of irresistible emetic,
+according to the prescription of the Compagnie Transatlantique."
+
+She rubbed her hands, delighted with the idea.
+
+She got up and walked about, after having lit another cigarette, and
+dictated as she puffed out little whiffs of smoke, which, issuing at
+first through a little round hole in the midst of her compressed lips,
+slowly evaporated, leaving in the air faint gray lines, a kind of
+transparent mist, like a spider's web. Sometimes with her open hand she
+would brush these light traces aside; at others she would cut them
+asunder with her forefinger, and then watch with serious attention the
+two halves of the almost impenetrable vapor slowly disappear.
+
+Duroy, with his eyes, followed all her gestures, her attitudes, the
+movements of her form and features--busied with this vague pastime which
+did not preoccupy her thoughts.
+
+She now imagined the incidents of the journey, sketched traveling
+companions invented by herself, and a love affair with the wife of a
+captain of infantry on her way to join her husband.
+
+Then, sitting down again, she questioned Duroy on the topography of
+Algeria, of which she was absolutely ignorant. In ten minutes she knew
+as much about it as he did, and she dictated a little chapter of
+political and colonial geography to coach the reader up in such matters
+and prepare him to understand the serious questions which were to be
+brought forward in the following articles. She continued by a trip into
+the provinces of Oran, a fantastic trip, in which it was, above all, a
+question of women, Moorish, Jewish, and Spanish.
+
+"That is what interests most," she said.
+
+She wound up by a sojourn at Saïda, at the foot of the great tablelands;
+and by a pretty little intrigue between the sub-officer, George Duroy,
+and a Spanish work-girl employed at the _alfa_ factory at Ain el Hadjar.
+She described their rendezvous at night amidst the bare, stony hills,
+with jackals, hyenas, and Arab dogs yelling, barking and howling among
+the rocks.
+
+And she gleefully uttered the words: "To be continued." Then rising, she
+added: "That is how one writes an article, my dear sir. Sign it, if you
+please."
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"But sign it, I tell you."
+
+Then he began to laugh, and wrote at the bottom of the page, "George
+Duroy."
+
+She went on smoking as she walked up and down; and he still kept looking
+at her, unable to find anything to say to thank her, happy to be with
+her, filled with gratitude, and with the sensual pleasure of this
+new-born intimacy. It seemed to him that everything surrounding him was
+part of her, everything down to the walls covered with books. The
+chairs, the furniture, the air in which the perfume of tobacco was
+floating, had something special, nice, sweet, and charming, which
+emanated from her.
+
+Suddenly she asked: "What do you think of my friend, Madame de Marelle?"
+
+He was surprised, and answered: "I think--I think--her very charming."
+
+"Is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+He longed to add: "But not so much as yourself," but dared not.
+
+She resumed: "And if you only knew how funny, original, and intelligent
+she is. She is a Bohemian--a true Bohemian. That is why her husband
+scarcely cares for her. He only sees her defects, and does not
+appreciate her good qualities."
+
+Duroy felt stupefied at learning that Madame de Marelle was married, and
+yet it was only natural that she should be.
+
+He said: "Oh, she is married, then! And what is her husband?"
+
+Madame Forestier gently shrugged her shoulders, and raised her eyebrows,
+with a gesture of incomprehensible meaning.
+
+"Oh! he is an inspector on the Northern Railway. He spends eight days
+out of the month in Paris. What his wife calls 'obligatory service,' or
+'weekly duty,' or 'holy week.' When you know her better you will see how
+nice and bright she is. Go and call on her one of these days."
+
+Duroy no longer thought of leaving. It seemed to him that he was going
+to stop for ever; that he was at home.
+
+But the door opened noiselessly, and a tall gentleman entered without
+being announced. He stopped short on seeing a stranger. Madame Forestier
+seemed troubled for a moment; then she said in natural tones, though a
+slight rosy flush had risen to her cheeks:
+
+"Come in, my dear sir. I must introduce one of Charles' old friends,
+Monsieur George Duroy, a future journalist." Then in another tone, she
+added: "Our best and most intimate friend, the Count de Vaudrec."
+
+The two men bowed, looking each other in the eyes, and Duroy at once
+took his leave.
+
+There was no attempt to detain him. He stammered a few thanks, grasped
+the outstretched hand of Madame Forestier, bowed again to the new-comer,
+who preserved the cold, grave air of a man of position, and went out
+quite disturbed, as if he had made a fool of himself.
+
+On finding himself once more in the street, he felt sad and uneasy,
+haunted by the vague idea of some hidden vexation. He walked on, asking
+himself whence came this sudden melancholy. He could not tell, but the
+stern face of the Count de Vaudrec, already somewhat aged, with gray
+hair, and the calmly insolent look of a very wealthy man, constantly
+recurred to his recollection. He noted that the arrival of this unknown,
+breaking off a charming _tête-à-tête_, had produced in him that chilly,
+despairing sensation that a word overheard, a trifle noticed, the least
+thing suffices sometimes to bring about. It seemed to him, too, that
+this man, without his being able to guess why, had been displeased at
+finding him there.
+
+He had nothing more to do till three o'clock, and it was not yet noon.
+He had still six francs fifty centimes in his pocket, and he went and
+lunched at a Bouillon Duval. Then he prowled about the boulevard, and
+as three o'clock struck, ascended the staircase, in itself an
+advertisement, of the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+The messengers-in-waiting were seated with folded arms on a bench, while
+at a kind of desk a doorkeeper was sorting the correspondence that had
+just arrived. The entire get-up of the place, intended to impress
+visitors, was perfect. Everyone had the appearance, bearing, dignity,
+and smartness suitable to the ante-room of a large newspaper.
+
+"Monsieur Walter, if you please?" inquired Duroy.
+
+"The manager is engaged, sir," replied the doorkeeper. "Will you take a
+seat, sir?" and he indicated the waiting-room, already full of people.
+
+There were men grave, important-looking, and decorated; and men without
+visible linen, whose frock-coats, buttoned up to the chin, bore upon the
+breast stains recalling the outlines of continents and seas on
+geographical maps. There were three women among them. One of them was
+pretty, smiling, and decked out, and had the air of a gay woman; her
+neighbor, with a wrinkled, tragic countenance, decked out also, but in
+more severe fashion, had about her something worn and artificial which
+old actresses generally have; a kind of false youth, like a scent of
+stale love. The third woman, in mourning, sat in a corner, with the air
+of a desolate widow. Duroy thought that she had come to ask for charity.
+
+However, no one was ushered into the room beyond, and more than twenty
+minutes had elapsed.
+
+Duroy was seized with an idea, and going back to the doorkeeper, said:
+"Monsieur Walter made an appointment for me to call on him here at three
+o'clock. At all events, see whether my friend, Monsieur Forestier, is
+here."
+
+He was at once ushered along a lengthy passage, which brought him to a
+large room where four gentlemen were writing at a large green-covered
+table.
+
+Forestier standing before the fireplace was smoking a cigarette and
+playing at cup and ball. He was very clever at this, and kept spiking
+the huge ball of yellow boxwood on the wooden point. He was counting
+"Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five."
+
+"Twenty-six," said Duroy.
+
+His friend raised his eyes without interrupting the regular movement of
+his arm, saying: "Oh! here you are, then. Yesterday I landed the ball
+fifty-seven times right off. There is only Saint-Potin who can beat me
+at it among those here. Have you seen the governor? There is nothing
+funnier than to see that old tubby Norbert playing at cup and ball. He
+opens his mouth as if he was going to swallow the ball every time."
+
+One of the others turned round towards him, saying: "I say, Forestier, I
+know of one for sale, a beauty in West Indian wood; it is said to have
+belonged to the Queen of Spain. They want sixty francs for it. Not
+dear."
+
+Forestier asked: "Where does it hang out?"
+
+And as he had missed his thirty-seventh shot, he opened a cupboard in
+which Duroy saw a score of magnificent cups and balls, arranged and
+numbered like a collection of art objects. Then having put back the one
+he had been using in its usual place, he repeated: "Where does this gem
+hang out?"
+
+The journalist replied: "At a box-office keeper's of the Vaudeville. I
+will bring it you to-morrow, if you like."
+
+"All right. If it is really a good one I will take it; one can never
+have too many." Then turning to Duroy he added: "Come with me. I will
+take you in to see the governor; otherwise you might be getting mouldy
+here till seven in the evening."
+
+They re-crossed the waiting-room, in which the same people were waiting
+in the same order. As soon as Forestier appeared the young woman and the
+old actress, rising quickly, came up to him. He took them aside one
+after the other into the bay of the window, and although they took care
+to talk in low tones, Duroy noticed that they were on familiar terms.
+
+Then, having passed through two padded doors, they entered the manager's
+room. The conference which had been going on for an hour or so was
+nothing more than a game at ecarté with some of the gentlemen with the
+flat brimmed hats whom Duroy had noticed the night before.
+
+Monsieur Walter dealt and played with concentrated attention and crafty
+movements, while his adversary threw down, picked up, and handled the
+light bits of colored pasteboard with the swiftness, skill, and grace of
+a practiced player. Norbert de Varenne, seated in the managerial
+armchair, was writing an article. Jacques Rival, stretched at full
+length on a couch, was smoking a cigar with his eyes closed.
+
+The room smelled close, with that blended odor of leather-covered
+furniture, stale tobacco, and printing-ink peculiar to editors' rooms
+and familiar to all journalists. Upon the black wood table, inlaid with
+brass, lay an incredible pile of papers, letters, cards, newspapers,
+magazines, bills, and printed matter of every description.
+
+Forestier shook hands with the punters standing behind the card players,
+and without saying a word watched the progress of the game; then, as
+soon as Daddy Walter had won, he said: "Here is my friend, Duroy."
+
+The manager glanced sharply at the young fellow over the glasses of his
+spectacles, and said:
+
+"Have you brought my article? It would go very well to-day with the
+Morel debate."
+
+Duroy took the sheets of paper folded in four from his pocket, saying:
+"Here it is sir."
+
+The manager seemed pleased, and remarked, with a smile: "Very good, very
+good. You are a man of your word. You must look through this for me,
+Forestier."
+
+But Forestier hastened to reply: "It is not worth while, Monsieur
+Walter. I did it with him to give him a lesson in the tricks of the
+trade. It is very well done."
+
+And the manager, who was gathering up the cards dealt by a tall, thin
+gentleman, a deputy belonging to the Left Center, remarked with
+indifference: "All right, then."
+
+Forestier, however, did not let him begin the new game, but stooping,
+murmured in his ear: "You know you promised me to take on Duroy to
+replace Marambot. Shall I engage him on the same terms?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+Taking his friend's arm, the journalist led him away, while Monsieur
+Walter resumed the game.
+
+Norbert de Varenne had not lifted his head; he did not appear to have
+seen or recognized Duroy. Jacques Rival, on the contrary, had taken his
+hand with the marked and demonstrative energy of a comrade who may be
+reckoned upon in the case of any little difficulty.
+
+They passed through the waiting-room again, and as everyone looked at
+them, Forestier said to the youngest of the women, in a tone loud enough
+to be heard by the rest: "The manager will see you directly. He is just
+now engaged with two members of the Budget Committee."
+
+Then he passed swiftly on, with an air of hurry and importance, as
+though about to draft at once an article of the utmost weight.
+
+As soon as they were back in the reporters' room Forestier at once took
+up his cup and ball, and as he began to play with it again, said to
+Duroy, breaking his sentences in order to count: "You will come here
+every day at three o'clock, and I will tell you the places you are to go
+to, either during the day or in the evening, or the next morning--one--I
+will give you, first of all, a letter of introduction to the head of the
+First Department of the Préfecture of Police--two--who will put you in
+communication with one of his clerks. You will settle with him about all
+the important information--three--from the Préfecture, official and
+quasi-official information, you know. In all matters of detail you will
+apply to Saint-Potin, who is up in the work--four--You can see him
+by-and-by, or to-morrow. You must, above all, cultivate the knack of
+dragging information out of men I send you to see--five--and to get in
+everywhere, in spite of closed doors--six--You will have for this a
+salary of two hundred francs a month, with two sous a line for the
+paragraphs you glean--seven--and two sous a line for all articles
+written by you to order on different subjects--eight."
+
+Then he gave himself up entirely to his occupation, and went on slowly
+counting: "Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen." He missed the
+fourteenth, and swore, "Damn that thirteen, it always brings me bad
+luck. I shall die on the thirteenth of some month, I am certain."
+
+One of his colleagues who had finished his work also took a cup and ball
+from the cupboard. He was a little man, who looked like a boy, although
+he was really five-and-thirty. Several other journalists having come in,
+went one after the other and got out the toy belonging to each of them.
+Soon there were six standing side by side, with their backs to the wall,
+swinging into the air, with even and regular motion, the balls of red,
+yellow, and black, according to the wood they were made of. And a match
+having begun, the two who were still working got up to act as umpires.
+Forestier won by eleven points. Then the little man, with the juvenile
+aspect, who had lost, rang for the messenger, and gave the order, "Nine
+bocks." And they began to play again pending the arrival of these
+refreshments.
+
+Duroy drank a glass of beer with his new comrades, and then said to his
+friend: "What am I to do now?"
+
+"I have nothing for you to-day. You can go if you want to."
+
+"And our--our--article, will it go in to-night?"
+
+"Yes, but do not bother yourself about it; I will correct the proofs.
+Write the continuation for to-morrow, and come here at three o'clock,
+the same as to-day."
+
+Duroy having shaken hands with everyone, without even knowing their
+names, went down the magnificent staircase with a light heart and high
+spirits.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+George Duroy slept badly, so excited was he by the wish to see his
+article in print. He was up as soon as it was daylight, and was prowling
+about the streets long before the hour at which the porters from the
+newspaper offices run with their papers from kiosque to kiosque. He went
+on to the Saint Lazare terminus, knowing that the _Vie Francaise_ would
+be delivered there before it reached his own district. As he was still
+too early, he wandered up and down on the footpath.
+
+He witnessed the arrival of the newspaper vendor who opened her glass
+shop, and then saw a man bearing on his head a pile of papers. He rushed
+forward. There were the _Figaro_, the _Gil Blas_, the _Gaulois_, the
+_Evenement_, and two or three morning journals, but the _Vie Francaise_
+was not among them. Fear seized him. Suppose the "Recollections of a
+Chasseur d'Afrique" had been kept over for the next day, or that by
+chance they had not at the last moment seemed suitable to Daddy Walter.
+
+Turning back to the kiosque, he saw that the paper was on sale without
+his having seen it brought there. He darted forward, unfolded it, after
+having thrown down the three sous, and ran through the headings of the
+articles on the first page. Nothing. His heart began to beat, and he
+experienced strong emotion on reading at the foot of a column in large
+letters, "George Duroy." It was in; what happiness!
+
+He began to walk along unconsciously, the paper in his hand and his hat
+on one side of his head, with a longing to stop the passers-by in order
+to say to them: "Buy this, buy this, there is an article by me in it."
+He would have liked to have bellowed with all the power of his lungs,
+like some vendors of papers at night on the boulevards, "Read the _Vie
+Francaise_; read George Duroy's article, 'Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique.'" And suddenly he felt a wish to read this article himself,
+read it in a public place, a _café_, in sight of all. He looked about
+for some establishment already filled with customers. He had to walk in
+search of one for some time. He sat down at last in front of a kind of
+wine shop, where several customers were already installed, and asked for
+a glass of rum, as he would have asked for one of absinthe, without
+thinking of the time. Then he cried: "Waiter, bring me the _Vie
+Francaise_."
+
+A man in a white apron stepped up, saying: "We have not got it, sir; we
+only take in the _Rappel_, the _Siecle_, the _Lanierne_, and the _Petit
+Parisien_."
+
+"What a den!" exclaimed Duroy, in a tone of anger and disgust. "Here, go
+and buy it for me."
+
+The waiter hastened to do so, and brought back the paper. Duroy began to
+read his article, and several times said aloud: "Very good, very well
+put," to attract the attention of his neighbors, and inspire them with
+the wish to know what there was in this sheet. Then, on going away, he
+left it on the table. The master of the place, noticing this, called him
+back, saying: "Sir, sir, you are forgetting your paper."
+
+And Duroy replied: "I will leave it to you. I have finished with it.
+There is a very interesting article in it this morning."
+
+He did not indicate the article, but he noticed as he went away one of
+his neighbors take the _Vie Francaise_ up from the table on which he had
+left it.
+
+He thought: "What shall I do now?" And he decided to go to his office,
+take his month's salary, and tender his resignation. He felt a thrill of
+anticipatory pleasure at the thought of the faces that would be pulled
+up by the chief of his room and his colleagues. The notion of the
+bewilderment of the chief above all charmed him.
+
+He walked slowly, so as not to get there too early, the cashier's office
+not opening before ten o'clock.
+
+His office was a large, gloomy room, in which gas had to be kept burning
+almost all day long in winter. It looked into a narrow court-yard, with
+other offices on the further side of it. There were eight clerks there,
+besides a sub-chief hidden behind a screen in one corner.
+
+Duroy first went to get the hundred and eighteen francs twenty-five
+centimes enclosed in a yellow envelope, and placed in the drawer of the
+clerk entrusted with such payments, and then, with a conquering air,
+entered the large room in which he had already spent so many days.
+
+As soon as he came in the sub-chief, Monsieur Potel, called out to him:
+"Ah! it is you, Monsieur Duroy? The chief has already asked for you
+several times. You know that he will not allow anyone to plead illness
+two days running without a doctor's certificate."
+
+Duroy, who was standing in the middle of the room preparing his
+sensational effect, replied in a loud voice:
+
+
+"I don't care a damn whether he does or not."
+
+There was a movement of stupefaction among the clerks, and Monsieur
+Potel's features showed affrightedly over the screen which shut him up
+as in a box. He barricaded himself behind it for fear of draughts, for
+he was rheumatic, but had pierced a couple of holes through the paper to
+keep an eye on his staff. A pin might have been heard to fall. At length
+the sub-chief said, hesitatingly: "You said?"
+
+"I said that I don't care a damn about it. I have only called to-day to
+tender my resignation. I am engaged on the staff of the _Vie Francaise_
+at five hundred francs a month, and extra pay for all I write. Indeed, I
+made my _début_ this morning."
+
+He had promised himself to spin out his enjoyment, but had not been able
+to resist the temptation of letting it all out at once.
+
+The effect, too, was overwhelming. No one stirred.
+
+Duroy went on: "I will go and inform Monsieur Perthuis, and then come
+and wish you good-bye."
+
+And he went out in search of the chief, who exclaimed, on seeing him:
+"Ah, here you are. You know that I won't have--"
+
+His late subordinate cut him short with: "It's not worth while yelling
+like that."
+
+Monsieur Perthuis, a stout man, as red as a turkey cock, was choked with
+bewilderment.
+
+Duroy continued: "I have had enough of this crib. I made my _début_ this
+morning in journalism, where I am assured of a very good position. I
+have the honor to bid you good-day." And he went out. He was avenged.
+
+As he promised, he went and shook hands with his old colleagues, who
+scarcely dared to speak to him, for fear of compromising themselves, for
+they had overheard his conversation with the chief, the door having
+remained open.
+
+He found himself in the street again, with his salary in his pocket. He
+stood himself a substantial breakfast at a good but cheap restaurant he
+was acquainted with, and having again purchased the _Vie Francaise_, and
+left it on the table, went into several shops, where he bought some
+trifles, solely for the sake of ordering them to be sent home, and
+giving his name: "George Duroy," with the addition, "I am the editor of
+the _Vie Francaise_."
+
+Then he gave the name of the street and the number, taking care to add:
+"Leave it with the doorkeeper."
+
+As he had still some time to spare he went into the shop of a
+lithographer, who executed visiting cards at a moment's notice before
+the eyes of passers-by, and had a hundred, bearing his new occupation
+under his name, printed off while he waited.
+
+Then he went to the office of the paper.
+
+Forestier received him loftily, as one receives a subordinate. "Ah! here
+you are. Good. I have several things for you to attend to. Just wait ten
+minutes. I will just finish what I am about."
+
+And he went on with a letter he was writing.
+
+At the other end of the large table a fat, bald little man, with a very
+pale, puffy face, and a white and shining head, was writing, with his
+nose on the paper owing to extreme shortsightedness. Forestier said to
+him: "I say, Saint-Potin, when are you going to interview those
+people?"
+
+"At four o'clock."
+
+"Will you take young Duroy here with you, and let him into the way of
+doing it?"
+
+"All right."
+
+Then turning to his friend, Forestier added: "Have you brought the
+continuation of the Algerian article? The opening this morning was very
+successful."
+
+Duroy, taken aback, stammered: "No. I thought I should have time this
+afternoon. I had heaps of things to do. I was not able."
+
+The other shrugged his shoulders with a dissatisfied air. "If you are
+not more exact than that you will spoil your future. Daddy Walter was
+reckoning on your copy. I will tell him it will be ready to-morrow. If
+you think you are to be paid for doing nothing you are mistaken."
+
+Then, after a short silence, he added: "One must strike the iron while
+it is hot, or the deuce is in it."
+
+Saint-Potin rose, saying: "I am ready."
+
+Then Forestier, leaning back in his chair, assumed a serious attitude in
+order to give his instructions, and turning to Duroy, said: "This is
+what it is. Within the last two days the Chinese General, Li Theng Fao,
+has arrived at the Hotel Continental, and the Rajah Taposahib Ramaderao
+Pali at the Hotel Bristol. You will go and interview them." Turning to
+Saint-Potin, he continued: "Don't forget the main points I told you of.
+Ask the General and the Rajah their opinion upon the action of England
+in the East, their ideas upon her system of colonization and domination,
+and their hopes respecting the intervention of Europe, and especially of
+France." He was silent for a moment, and then added in a theatrical
+aside: "It will be most interesting to our readers to learn at the same
+time what is thought in China and India upon these matters which so
+forcibly occupy public attention at this moment." He continued, for the
+benefit of Duroy: "Watch how Saint-Potin sets to work; he is a capital
+reporter; and try to learn the trick of pumping a man in five minutes."
+
+Then he gravely resumed his writing, with the evident intention of
+defining their relative positions, and putting his old comrade and
+present colleague in his proper place.
+
+As soon as they had crossed the threshold Saint-Potin began to laugh,
+and said to Duroy: "There's a fluffer for you. He tried to fluff even
+us. One would really think he took us for his readers."
+
+They reached the boulevard, and the reporter observed: "Will you have a
+drink?"
+
+"Certainly. It is awfully hot."
+
+They turned into a _café_ and ordered cooling drinks. Saint-Potin began
+to talk. He talked about the paper and everyone connected with it with
+an abundance of astonishing details.
+
+"The governor? A regular Jew? And you know, nothing can alter a Jew.
+What a breed!" And he instanced some astounding traits of avariciousness
+peculiar to the children of Israel, economies of ten centimes, petty
+bargaining, shameful reductions asked for and obtained, all the ways of
+a usurer and pawnbroker.
+
+"And yet with all this, a good fellow who believes in nothing and does
+everyone. His paper, which is Governmental, Catholic, Liberal,
+Republican, Orleanist, pay your money and take your choice, was only
+started to help him in his speculations on the Bourse, and bolster up
+his other schemes. At that game he is very clever, and nets millions
+through companies without four sous of genuine capital."
+
+He went on, addressing Duroy as "My dear fellow."
+
+"And he says things worthy of Balzac, the old shark. Fancy, the other
+day I was in his room with that old tub Norbert, and that Don Quixote
+Rival, when Montelin, our business manager, came in with his morocco
+bill-case, that bill-case that everyone in Paris knows, under his arm.
+Walter raised his head and asked: 'What news?' Montelin answered simply:
+'I have just paid the sixteen thousand francs we owed the paper maker.'
+The governor gave a jump, an astonishing jump. 'What do you mean?' said
+he. 'I have just paid Monsieur Privas,' replied Montelin. 'But you are
+mad.' 'Why?' 'Why--why--why--' he took off his spectacles and wiped
+them. Then he smiled with that queer smile that flits across his fat
+cheeks whenever he is going to say something deep or smart, and went on
+in a mocking and derisive tone, 'Why? Because we could have obtained a
+reduction of from four to five thousand francs.' Montelin replied, in
+astonishment: 'But, sir, all the accounts were correct, checked by me
+and passed by yourself.' Then the governor, quite serious again,
+observed: 'What a fool you are. Don't you know, Monsieur Montelin, that
+one should always let one's debts mount up, in order to offer a
+composition?'"
+
+And Saint-Potin added, with a knowing shake of his head, "Eh! isn't that
+worthy of Balzac?"
+
+Duroy had not read Balzac, but he replied, "By Jove! yes."
+
+Then the reporter spoke of Madame Walter, an old goose; of Norbert de
+Varenne, an old failure; of Rival, a copy of Fervacques. Next he came
+to Forestier. "As to him, he has been lucky in marrying his wife, that
+is all."
+
+Duroy asked: "What is his wife, really?"
+
+Saint-Potin rubbed his hands. "Oh! a deep one, a smart woman. She was
+the mistress of an old rake named Vaudrec, the Count de Vaudrec, who
+gave her a dowry and married her off."
+
+Duroy suddenly felt a cold shiver run through him, a tingling of the
+nerves, a longing to smack this gabbler on the face. But he merely
+interrupted him by asking:
+
+"And your name is Saint-Potin?"
+
+The other replied, simply enough:
+
+"No, my name is Thomas. It is in the office that they have nicknamed me
+Saint-Potin."
+
+Duroy, as he paid for the drinks, observed: "But it seems to me that
+time is getting on, and that we have two noble foreigners to call on."
+
+Saint-Potin began to laugh. "You are still green. So you fancy I am
+going to ask the Chinese and the Hindoo what they think of England? As
+if I did not know better than themselves what they ought to think in
+order to please the readers of the _Vie Francaise_. I have already
+interviewed five hundred of these Chinese, Persians, Hindoos, Chilians,
+Japanese, and others. They all reply the same, according to me. I have
+only to take my article on the last comer and copy it word for word.
+What has to be changed, though, is their appearance, their name, their
+title, their age, and their suite. Oh! on that point it does not do to
+make a mistake, for I should be snapped up sharp by the _Figaro_ or the
+_Gaulois_. But on these matters the hall porters at the Hotel Bristol
+and the Hotel Continental will put me right in five minutes. We will
+smoke a cigar as we walk there. Five francs cab hire to charge to the
+paper. That is how one sets about it, my dear fellow, when one is
+practically inclined."
+
+"It must be worth something decent to be a reporter under these
+circumstances," said Duroy.
+
+The journalist replied mysteriously: "Yes, but nothing pays so well as
+paragraphs, on account of the veiled advertisements."
+
+They had got up and were passing down the boulevards towards the
+Madeleine. Saint-Potin suddenly observed to his companion: "You know if
+you have anything else to do, I shall not need you in any way."
+
+Duroy shook hands and left him. The notion of the article to be written
+that evening worried him, and he began to think. He stored his mind with
+ideas, reflections, opinions, and anecdotes as he walked along, and went
+as far as the end of the Avenue des Champs Elysées, where only a few
+strollers were to be seen, the heat having caused Paris to be evacuated.
+
+Having dined at a wine shop near the Arc de Triomphe, he walked slowly
+home along the outer boulevards and sat down at his table to work. But
+as soon as he had the sheet of blank paper before his eyes, all the
+materials that he had accumulated fled from his mind as though his brain
+had evaporated. He tried to seize on fragments of his recollections and
+to retain them, but they escaped him as fast as he laid hold of them, or
+else they rushed on him altogether pell-mell, and he did not know how to
+clothe and present them, nor which one to begin with.
+
+After an hour of attempts and five sheets of paper blackened by opening
+phrases that had no continuation, he said to himself: "I am not yet
+well enough up in the business. I must have another lesson." And all at
+once the prospect of another morning's work with Madame Forestier, the
+hope of another long and intimate _tête-à-tête_ so cordial and so
+pleasant, made him quiver with desire. He went to bed in a hurry, almost
+afraid now of setting to work again and succeeding all at once.
+
+He did not get up the next day till somewhat late, putting off and
+tasting in advance the pleasure of this visit.
+
+It was past ten when he rang his friend's bell.
+
+The man-servant replied: "Master is engaged at his work."
+
+Duroy had not thought that the husband might be at home. He insisted,
+however, saying: "Tell him that I have called on a matter requiring
+immediate attention."
+
+After waiting five minutes he was shown into the study in which he had
+passed such a pleasant morning. In the chair he had occupied Forestier
+was now seated writing, in a dressing-gown and slippers and with a
+little Scotch bonnet on his head, while his wife in the same white gown
+leant against the mantelpiece and dictated, cigarette in mouth.
+
+Duroy, halting on the threshold, murmured: "I really beg your pardon; I
+am afraid I am disturbing you."
+
+His friend, turning his face towards him--an angry face, too--growled:
+"What is it you want now? Be quick; we are pressed for time."
+
+The intruder, taken back, stammered: "It is nothing; I beg your
+pardon."
+
+But Forestier, growing angry, exclaimed: "Come, hang it all, don't waste
+time about it; you have not forced your way in just for the sake of
+wishing us good-morning, I suppose?"
+
+Then Duroy, greatly perturbed, made up his mind. "No--you see--the fact
+is--I can't quite manage my article--and you were--so--so kind last
+time--that I hoped--that I ventured to come--"
+
+Forestier cut him short. "You have a pretty cheek. So you think I am
+going to do your work, and that all you have to do is to call on the
+cashier at the end of the month to draw your screw? No, that is too
+good."
+
+The young woman went on smoking without saying a word, smiling with a
+vague smile, which seemed like an amiable mask, concealing the irony of
+her thoughts.
+
+Duroy, colored up, stammered: "Excuse me--I fancied--I thought--" then
+suddenly, and in a clear voice, he went on: "I beg your pardon a
+thousand times, Madame, while again thanking you most sincerely for the
+charming article you produced for me yesterday." He bowed, remarked to
+Charles: "I shall be at the office at three," and went out.
+
+He walked home rapidly, grumbling: "Well, I will do it all alone, and
+they shall see--"
+
+Scarcely had he got in than, excited by anger, he began to write. He
+continued the adventure began by Madame Forestier, heaping up details of
+catch-penny romance, surprising incidents, and inflated descriptions,
+with the style of a schoolboy and the phraseology of the barrack-room.
+Within an hour he had finished an article which was a chaos of nonsense,
+and took it with every assurance to the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+The first person he met was Saint-Potin, who, grasping his hand with the
+energy of an accomplice, said: "You have read my interview with the
+Chinese and the Hindoo? Isn't it funny? It has amused everyone. And I
+did not even get a glimpse of them."
+
+Duroy, who had not read anything, at once took up the paper and ran his
+eye over a long article headed: "India and China," while the reporter
+pointed out the most interesting passages.
+
+Forestier came in puffing, in a hurry, with a busy air, saying:
+
+"Good; I want both of you."
+
+And he mentioned a number of items of political information that would
+have to be obtained that very afternoon.
+
+Duroy held out his article.
+
+"Here is the continuation about Algeria."
+
+"Very good; hand it over; and I will give it to the governor."
+
+That was all.
+
+Saint-Potin led away his new colleague, and when they were in the
+passage, he said to him: "Have you seen the cashier?"
+
+"No; why?"
+
+"Why? To draw your money. You see you should always draw a month in
+advance. One never knows what may happen."
+
+"But--I ask for nothing better."
+
+"I will introduce you to the cashier. He will make no difficulty about
+it. They pay up well here."
+
+Duroy went and drew his two hundred francs, with twenty-eight more for
+his article of the day before, which, added to what remained of his
+salary from the railway company, gave him three hundred and forty
+francs in his pocket. He had never owned such a sum, and thought himself
+possessed of wealth for an indefinite period.
+
+Saint-Potin then took him to have a gossip in the offices of four or
+five rival papers, hoping that the news he was entrusted to obtain had
+already been gleaned by others, and that he should be able to draw it
+out of them--thanks to the flow and artfulness of his conversation.
+
+When evening had come, Duroy, who had nothing more to do, thought of
+going again to the Folies Bergères, and putting a bold face on, he went
+up to the box office.
+
+"I am George Duroy, on the staff of the _Vie Francaise_. I came here the
+other day with Monsieur Forestier, who promised me to see about my being
+put on the free list; I do not know whether he has thought of it."
+
+The list was referred to. His name was not entered.
+
+However, the box office-keeper, a very affable man, at once said: "Pray,
+go in all the same, sir, and write yourself to the manager, who, I am
+sure, will pay attention to your letter."
+
+He went in and almost immediately met Rachel, the woman he had gone off
+with the first evening. She came up to him, saying: "Good evening,
+ducky. Are you quite well?"
+
+"Very well, thanks--and you?"
+
+"I am all right. Do you know, I have dreamed of you twice since last
+time?"
+
+Duroy smiled, feeling flattered. "Ah! and what does that mean?"
+
+"It means that you pleased me, you old dear, and that we will begin
+again whenever you please."
+
+"To-day, if you like."
+
+"Yes, I am quite willing."
+
+"Good, but--" He hesitated, a little ashamed of what he was going to do.
+"The fact is that this time I have not a penny; I have just come from
+the club, where I have dropped everything."
+
+She looked him full in the eyes, scenting a lie with the instinct and
+habit of a girl accustomed to the tricks and bargainings of men, and
+remarked: "Bosh! That is not a nice sort of thing to try on me."
+
+He smiled in an embarrassed way. "If you will take ten francs, it is all
+I have left."
+
+She murmured, with the disinterestedness of a courtesan gratifying a
+fancy: "What you please, my lady; I only want you."
+
+And lifting her charming eyes towards the young man's moustache, she
+took his arm and leant lovingly upon it.
+
+"Let us go and have a grenadine first of all," she remarked. "And then
+we will take a stroll together. I should like to go to the opera like
+this, with you, to show you off. And we will go home early, eh?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He lay late at this girl's place. It was broad day when he left, and the
+notion occurred to him to buy the _Vie Francaise_. He opened the paper
+with feverish hand. His article was not there, and he stood on the
+footpath, anxiously running his eye down the printed columns with the
+hope of at length finding what he was in search of. A weight suddenly
+oppressed his heart, for after the fatigue of a night of love, this
+vexation came upon him with the weight of a disaster.
+
+He reached home and went to sleep in his clothes on the bed.
+
+Entering the office some hours later, he went on to see Monsieur Walter.
+
+"I was surprised at not seeing my second article on Algeria in the paper
+this morning, sir," said he.
+
+The manager raised his head, and replied in a dry tone: "I gave it to
+your friend Forestier, and asked him to read it through. He did not
+think it up to the mark; you must rewrite it."
+
+Duroy, in a rage, went out without saying a word, and abruptly entering
+his old comrade's room, said:
+
+"Why didn't you let my article go in this morning?"
+
+The journalist was smoking a cigarette with his back almost on the seat
+of his armchair and his feet on the table, his heels soiling an article
+already commenced. He said slowly, in a bored and distant voice, as
+though speaking from the depths of a hole: "The governor thought it
+poor, and told me to give it back to you to do over again. There it is."
+And he pointed out the slips flattened out under a paperweight.
+
+Duroy, abashed, could find nothing to say in reply, and as he was
+putting his prose into his pocket, Forestier went on: "To-day you must
+first of all go to the Préfecture." And he proceeded to give a list of
+business errands and items of news to be attended to.
+
+Duroy went off without having been able to find the cutting remark he
+wanted to. He brought back his article the next day. It was returned to
+him again. Having rewritten it a third time, and finding it still
+refused, he understood that he was trying to go ahead too fast, and
+that Forestier's hand alone could help him on his way. He did not
+therefore say anything more about the "Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique," promising himself to be supple and cunning since it was
+needful, and while awaiting something better to zealously discharge his
+duties as a reporter.
+
+
+He learned to know the way behind the scenes in theatrical and political
+life; the waiting-rooms of statesmen and the lobby of the Chamber of
+Deputies; the important countenances of permanent secretaries, and the
+grim looks of sleepy ushers. He had continual relations with ministers,
+doorkeepers, generals, police agents, princes, bullies, courtesans,
+ambassadors, bishops, panders, adventurers, men of fashion,
+card-sharpers, cab drivers, waiters, and many others, having become the
+interested yet indifferent friend of all these; confounding them
+together in his estimation, measuring them with the same measure,
+judging them with the same eye, though having to see them every day at
+every hour, without any transition, and to speak with them all on the
+
+same business of his own. He compared himself to a man who had to drink
+off samples of every kind of wine one after the other, and who would
+soon be unable to tell Château Margaux from Argenteuil.
+
+He became in a short time a remarkable reporter, certain of his
+information, artful, swift, subtle, a real find for the paper, as was
+observed by Daddy Walter, who knew what newspaper men were. However, as
+he got only centimes a line in addition to his monthly screw of two
+hundred francs, and as life on the boulevards and in _cafés_ and
+restaurants is costly, he never had a halfpenny, and was disgusted with
+his poverty. There is some knack to be got hold of, he thought, seeing
+some of his fellows with their pockets full of money without ever being
+able to understand what secret methods they could make use of to procure
+this abundance. He enviously suspected unknown and suspicious
+transactions, services rendered, a whole system of contraband accepted
+and agreed to. But it was necessary that he should penetrate the
+mystery, enter into the tacit partnership, make himself one with the
+comrades who were sharing without him.
+
+And he often thought of an evening, as he watched the trains go by from
+his window, of the steps he ought to take.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+Two months had gone by, September was at hand, and the rapid fortune
+which Duroy had hoped for seemed to him slow in coming. He was, above
+all, uneasy at the mediocrity of his position, and did not see by what
+path he could scale the heights on the summit of which one finds
+respect, power, and money. He felt shut up in the mediocre calling of a
+reporter, so walled in as to be unable to get out of it. He was
+appreciated, but estimated in accordance with his position. Even
+Forestier, to whom he rendered a thousand services, no longer invited
+him to dinner, and treated him in every way as an inferior, though still
+accosting him as a friend.
+
+From time to time, it is true, Duroy, seizing an opportunity, got in a
+short article, and having acquired through his paragraphs a mastery over
+his pen, and a tact which was lacking to him when he wrote his second
+article on Algeria, no longer ran any risk of having his descriptive
+efforts refused. But from this to writing leaders according to his
+fancy, or dealing with political questions with authority, there was as
+great a difference as driving in the Bois de Boulogne as a coachman, and
+as the owner of an equipage. That which humiliated him above everything
+was to see the door of society closed to him, to have no equal relations
+with it, not to be able to penetrate into the intimacy of its women,
+although several well-known actresses had occasionally received him with
+an interested familiarity.
+
+He knew, moreover, from experience that all the sex, ladies or
+actresses, felt a singular attraction towards him, an instantaneous
+sympathy, and he experienced the impatience of a hobbled horse at not
+knowing those whom his future may depend on.
+
+He had often thought of calling on Madame Forestier, but the
+recollection of their last meeting checked and humiliated him; and
+besides, he was awaiting an invitation to do so from her husband. Then
+the recollection of Madame de Marelle occurred to him, and recalling
+that she had asked him to come and see her, he called one afternoon when
+he had nothing to do.
+
+"I am always at home till three o'clock," she had said.
+
+He rang at the bell of her residence, a fourth floor in the Rue de
+Verneuil, at half-past two.
+
+At the sound of the bell a servant opened the door, an untidy girl, who
+tied her cap strings as she replied: "Yes, Madame is at home, but I
+don't know whether she is up."
+
+And she pushed open the drawing-room door, which was ajar. Duroy went
+in. The room was fairly large, scantily furnished and neglected looking.
+The chairs, worn and old, were arranged along the walls, as placed by
+the servant, for there was nothing to reveal the tasty care of the woman
+who loves her home. Four indifferent pictures, representing a boat on a
+stream, a ship at sea, a mill on a plain, and a wood-cutter in a wood,
+hung in the center of the four walls by cords of unequal length, and all
+four on one side. It could be divined that they had been dangling thus
+askew ever so long before indifferent eyes.
+
+
+Duroy sat down immediately. He waited a long time. Then a door opened,
+and Madame de Marelle hastened in, wearing a Japanese morning gown of
+rose-colored silk embroidered with yellow landscapes, blue flowers, and
+white birds.
+
+"Fancy! I was still in bed!" she exclaimed. "How good of you to come and
+see me! I had made up my mind that you had forgotten me."
+
+She held out both her hands with a delighted air, and Duroy, whom the
+commonplace appearance of the room had put at his ease, kissed one, as
+
+he had seen Norbert de Varenne do.
+
+She begged him to sit down, and then scanning him from head to foot,
+said: "How you have altered! You have improved in looks. Paris has done
+you good. Come, tell me the news."
+
+And they began to gossip at once, as if they had been old acquaintances,
+feeling an instantaneous familiarity spring up between them; feeling one
+of those mutual currents of confidence, intimacy, and affection, which,
+in five minutes, make two beings of the same breed and character good
+friends.
+
+Suddenly, Madame de Marelle exclaimed in astonishment: "It is funny how
+I get on with you. It seems to me as though I had known you for ten
+years. We shall become good friends, no doubt. Would you like it?"
+
+He answered: "Certainly," with a smile which said still more.
+
+He thought her very tempting in her soft and bright-hued gown, less
+refined and delicate than the other in her white one, but more exciting
+and spicy. When he was beside Madame Forestier, with her continual and
+gracious smile which attracted and checked at the same time; which
+seemed to say: "You please me," and also "Take care," and of which the
+real meaning was never clear, he felt above all the wish to lie down at
+her feet, or to kiss the lace bordering of her bodice, and slowly inhale
+the warm and perfumed atmosphere that must issue from it. With Madame de
+Marelle he felt within him a more definite, a more brutal desire--a
+desire that made his fingers quiver in presence of the rounded outlines
+of the light silk.
+
+She went on talking, scattering in each phrase that ready wit of which
+she had acquired the habit just as a workman acquires the knack needed
+to accomplish a task reputed difficult, and at which other folk are
+astonished. He listened, thinking: "All this is worth remembering. A man
+could write charming articles of Paris gossip by getting her to chat
+over the events of the day."
+
+Some one tapped softly, very softly, at the door by which she had
+entered, and she called out: "You can come in, pet."
+
+Her little girl made her appearance, walked straight up to Duroy, and
+held out her hand to him. The astonished mother murmured: "But this is a
+complete conquest. I no longer recognize her."
+
+The young fellow, having kissed the child, made her sit down beside him,
+and with a serious manner asked her pleasant questions as to what she
+had been doing since they last met. She replied, in her little
+flute-like voice, with her grave and grown-up air.
+
+The clock struck three, and the journalist arose.
+
+
+"Come often," said Madame de Marelle, "and we will chat as we have done
+to-day; it will always give me pleasure. But how is it one no longer
+sees you at the Forestiers?" He replied: "Oh! for no reason. I have been
+very busy. I hope to meet you there again one of these days."
+
+He went out, his heart full of hope, though without knowing why.
+
+He did not speak to Forestier of this visit. But he retained the
+recollection of it the following days, and more than the recollection--a
+sensation of the unreal yet persistent presence of this woman. It seemed
+to him that he had carried away something of her, the reflection of her
+form in his eyes, and the smack of her moral self in his heart. He
+remained under the haunted influence of her image, as it happens
+sometimes when we have passed pleasant hours with some one.
+
+He paid a second visit a few days later.
+
+The maid ushered him into the drawing-room, and Laurine at once
+appeared. She held out no longer her hand, but her forehead, and said:
+"Mamma has told me to request you to wait for her. She will be a
+quarter-of-an-hour, because she is not dressed yet. I will keep you
+company."
+
+Duroy, who was amused by the ceremonious manners of the little girl,
+replied: "Certainly, Mademoiselle. I shall be delighted to pass a
+quarter-of-an-hour with you, but I warn you that for my part I am not at
+all serious, and that I play all day long, so I suggest a game at
+touch."
+
+The girl was astonished; then she smiled as a woman would have done at
+this idea, which shocked her a little as well as astonished her, and
+murmured: "Rooms are not meant to be played in."
+
+He said: "It is all the same to me. I play everywhere. Come, catch me."
+
+And he began to go round the table, exciting her to pursue him, while
+she came after him, smiling with a species of polite condescension, and
+sometimes extending her hand to touch him, but without ever giving way
+so far as to run. He stopped, stooped down, and when she drew near with
+her little hesitating steps, sprung up in the air like a
+jack-in-the-box, and then bounded with a single stride to the other end
+of the dining-room. She thought it funny, ended by laughing, and
+becoming aroused, began to trot after him, giving little gleeful yet
+timid cries when she thought she had him. He shifted the chairs and used
+them as obstacles, forcing her to go round and round one of them for a
+minute at a time, and then leaving that one to seize upon another.
+Laurine ran now, giving herself wholly up to the charm of this new game,
+and with flushed face, rushed forward with the bound of a delighted
+child at each of the flights, the tricks, the feints of her companion.
+Suddenly, just as she thought she had got him, he seized her in his
+arms, and lifting her to the ceiling, exclaimed: "Touch."
+
+The delighted girl wriggled her legs to escape, and laughed with all her
+heart.
+
+Madame de Marelle came in at that moment, and was amazed. "What,
+Laurine, Laurine, playing! You are a sorcerer, sir."
+
+He put down the little girl, kissed her mother's hand, and they sat down
+with the child between them. They began to chat, but Laurine, usually so
+silent, kept talking all the while, and had to be sent to her room. She
+obeyed without a word, but with tears in her eyes.
+
+As soon as they were alone, Madame de Marelle lowered her voice. "You do
+not know, but I have a grand scheme, and I have thought of you. This is
+it. As I dine every week at the Forestiers, I return their hospitality
+from time to time at some restaurant. I do not like to entertain company
+at home, my household is not arranged for that, and besides, I do not
+understand anything about domestic affairs, anything about the kitchen,
+anything at all. I like to live anyhow. So I entertain them now and then
+at a restaurant, but it is not very lively when there are only three,
+and my own acquaintances scarcely go well with them. I tell you all this
+in order to explain a somewhat irregular invitation. You understand, do
+you not, that I want you to make one of us on Saturday at the Café
+Riche, at half-past seven. You know the place?"
+
+He accepted with pleasure, and she went on: "There will be only us four.
+These little outings are very amusing to us women who are not accustomed
+to them."
+
+She was wearing a dark brown dress, which showed off the lines of her
+waist, her hips, her bosom, and her arm in a coquettishly provocative
+way. Duroy felt confusedly astonished at the lack of harmony between
+this carefully refined elegance and her evident carelessness as regarded
+her dwelling. All that clothed her body, all that closely and directly
+touched her flesh was fine and delicate, but that which surrounded her
+did not matter to her.
+
+He left her, retaining, as before, the sense of her continued presence
+in species of hallucination of the senses. And he awaited the day of the
+dinner with growing impatience.
+
+Having hired, for the second time, a dress suit--his funds not yet
+allowing him to buy one--he arrived first at the rendezvous, a few
+minutes before the time. He was ushered up to the second story, and into
+a small private dining-room hung with red and white, its single window
+opening into the boulevard. A square table, laid for four, displaying
+its white cloth, so shining that it seemed to be varnished, and the
+glasses and the silver glittered brightly in the light of the twelve
+candles of two tall candelabra. Without was a broad patch of light
+green, due to the leaves of a tree lit up by the bright light from the
+dining-rooms.
+
+Duroy sat down in a low armchair, upholstered in red to match the
+hangings on the walls. The worn springs yielding beneath him caused him
+to feel as though sinking into a hole. He heard throughout the huge
+house a confused murmur, the murmur of a large restaurant, made up of
+the clattering of glass and silver, the hurried steps of the waiters,
+deadened by the carpets in the passages, and the opening of doors
+letting out the sound of voices from the numerous private rooms in which
+people were dining. Forestier came in and shook hands with him, with a
+cordial familiarity which he never displayed at the offices of the _Vie
+Francaise_.
+
+"The ladies are coming together," said he; "these little dinners are
+very pleasant."
+
+Then he glanced at the table, turned a gas jet that was feebly burning
+completely off, closed one sash of the window on account of the draught,
+and chose a sheltered place for himself, with a remark: "I must be
+careful; I have been better for a month, and now I am queer again these
+last few days. I must have caught cold on Tuesday, coming out of the
+theater."
+
+The door was opened, and, followed by a waiter, the two ladies appeared,
+veiled, muffled, reserved, with that charmingly mysterious bearing they
+assume in such places, where the surroundings are suspicious.
+
+As Duroy bowed to Madame Forestier she scolded him for not having come
+to see her again; then she added with a smile, in the direction of her
+friend: "I know what it is; you prefer Madame de Marelle, you can find
+time to visit her."
+
+They sat down to table, and the waiter having handed the wine card to
+Forestier, Madame de Marelle exclaimed: "Give these gentlemen whatever
+they like, but for us iced champagne, the best, sweet champagne,
+mind--nothing else." And the man having withdrawn, she added with an
+excited laugh: "I am going to get tipsy this evening; we will have a
+spree--a regular spree."
+
+Forestier, who did not seem to have heard, said: "Would you mind the
+window being closed? My chest has been rather queer the last few days."
+
+"No, not at all."
+
+He pushed too the sash left open, and returned to his place with a
+reassured and tranquil countenance. His wife said nothing. Seemingly
+lost in thought, and with her eyes lowered towards the table, she smiled
+
+at the glasses with that vague smile which seemed always to promise and
+never to grant.
+
+The Ostend oysters were brought in, tiny and plump like little ears
+enclosed in shells, and melting between the tongue and the palate like
+salt bon-bons. Then, after the soup, was served a trout as rose-tinted
+as a young girl, and the guests began to talk.
+
+They spoke at first of a current scandal; the story of a lady of
+position, surprised by one of her husband's friends supping in a private
+room with a foreign prince. Forestier laughed a great deal at the
+adventure; the two ladies declared that the indiscreet gossip was
+nothing less than a blackguard and a coward. Duroy was of their opinion,
+and loudly proclaimed that it is the duty of a man in these matters,
+whether he be actor, confidant, or simple spectator, to be silent as the
+grave. He added: "How full life would be of pleasant things if we could
+reckon upon the absolute discretion of one another. That which often,
+almost always, checks women is the fear of the secret being revealed.
+Come, is it not true?" he continued. "How many are there who would yield
+to a sudden desire, the caprice of an hour, a passing fancy, did they
+not fear to pay for a short-lived and fleeting pleasure by an
+irremediable scandal and painful tears?"
+
+He spoke with catching conviction, as though pleading a cause, his own
+cause, as though he had said: "It is not with me that one would have to
+dread such dangers. Try me and see."
+
+They both looked at him approvingly, holding that he spoke rightly and
+justly, confessing by their friendly silence that their flexible
+morality as Parisians would not have held out long before the certainty
+of secrecy. And Forestier, leaning back in his place on the divan, one
+leg bent under him, and his napkin thrust into his waistcoat, suddenly
+said with the satisfied laugh of a skeptic: "The deuce! yes, they would
+all go in for it if they were certain of silence. Poor husbands!"
+
+And they began to talk of love. Without admitting it to be eternal,
+Duroy understood it as lasting, creating a bond, a tender friendship, a
+confidence. The union of the senses was only a seal to the union of
+hearts. But he was angry at the outrageous jealousies, melodramatic
+scenes, and unpleasantness which almost always accompany ruptures.
+
+When he ceased speaking, Madame de Marelle replied: "Yes, it is the only
+pleasant thing in life, and we often spoil it by preposterous
+unreasonableness."
+
+Madame Forestier, who was toying with her knife, added: "Yes--yes--it is
+pleasant to be loved."
+
+And she seemed to be carrying her dream further, to be thinking things
+that she dared not give words to.
+
+As the first _entreé_ was slow in coming, they sipped from time to time
+a mouthful of champagne, and nibbled bits of crust. And the idea of
+love, entering into them, slowly intoxicated their souls, as the bright
+wine, rolling drop by drop down their throats, fired their blood and
+perturbed their minds.
+
+The waiter brought in some lamb cutlets, delicate and tender, upon a
+thick bed of asparagus tips.
+
+"Ah! this is good," exclaimed Forestier; and they ate slowly, savoring
+the delicate meat and vegetables as smooth as cream.
+
+Duroy resumed: "For my part, when I love a woman everything else in the
+world disappears." He said this in a tone of conviction.
+
+Madame Forestier murmured, with her let-me-alone air:
+
+"There is no happiness comparable to that of the first hand-clasp, when
+the one asks, 'Do you love me?' and the other replies, 'Yes.'"
+
+Madame de Marelle, who had just tossed a fresh glass of champagne off at
+a draught, said gayly, as she put down her glass: "For my part, I am not
+so Platonic."
+
+And all began to smile with kindling eyes at these words.
+
+Forestier, stretched out in his seat on the divan, opened his arms,
+rested them on the cushions, and said in a serious tone: "This frankness
+does you honor, and proves that you are a practical woman. But may one
+ask you what is the opinion of Monsieur de Marelle?"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders slightly, with infinite and prolonged
+disdain; and then in a decided tone remarked: "Monsieur de Marelle has
+no opinions on this point. He only has--abstentions."
+
+And the conversation, descending from the elevated theories, concerning
+love, strayed into the flowery garden of polished blackguardism. It was
+the moment of clever double meanings; veils raised by words, as
+petticoats are lifted by the wind; tricks of language; clever disguised
+audacities; sentences which reveal nude images in covered phrases; which
+cause the vision of all that may not be said to flit rapidly before the
+eye and the mind, and allow the well-bred people the enjoyment of a
+kind of subtle and mysterious love, a species of impure mental contact,
+due to the simultaneous evocation of secret, shameful, and longed-for
+pleasures. The roast, consisting of partridges flanked by quails, had
+been served; then a dish of green peas, and then a terrine of foie gras,
+accompanied by a curly-leaved salad, filling a salad bowl as though with
+green foam. They had partaken of all these things without tasting them,
+without knowing, solely taken up by what they were talking of, plunged
+as it were in a bath of love.
+
+The two ladies were now going it strongly in their remarks. Madame de
+Marelle, with a native audacity which resembled a direct provocation,
+and Madame Forestier with a charming reserve, a modesty in her tone,
+voice, smile, and bearing that underlined while seeming to soften the
+bold remarks falling from her lips. Forestier, leaning quite back on the
+cushions, laughed, drank and ate without leaving off, and sometimes
+threw in a word so risque or so crude that the ladies, somewhat shocked
+by its appearance, and for appearance sake, put on a little air of
+embarrassment that lasted two or three seconds. When he had given vent
+to something a little too coarse, he added: "You are going ahead nicely,
+my children. If you go on like that you will end by making fools of
+yourselves."
+
+Dessert came, and then coffee; and the liquors poured a yet warmer dose
+of commotion into the excited minds.
+
+As she had announced on sitting down to table, Madame de Marelle was
+intoxicated, and acknowledged it in the lively and graceful rabble of a
+woman emphasizing, in order to amuse her guests, a very real
+commencement of drunkenness.
+
+Madame Forestier was silent now, perhaps out of prudence, and Duroy,
+feeling himself too much excited not to be in danger of compromising
+himself, maintained a prudent reserve.
+
+Cigarettes were lit, and all at once Forestier began to cough. It was a
+terrible fit, that seemed to tear his chest, and with red face and
+forehead damp with perspiration, he choked behind his napkin. When the
+fit was over he growled angrily: "These feeds are very bad for me; they
+are ridiculous." All his good humor had vanished before his terror of
+the illness that haunted his thoughts. "Let us go home," said he.
+
+Madame de Marelle rang for the waiter, and asked for the bill. It was
+brought almost immediately. She tried to read it, but the figures danced
+before her eyes, and she passed it to Duroy, saying: "Here, pay for me;
+I can't see, I am too tipsy."
+
+And at the same time she threw him her purse. The bill amounted to one
+hundred and thirty francs. Duroy checked it, and then handed over two
+notes and received back the change, saying in a low tone: "What shall I
+give the waiter?"
+
+"What you like; I do not know."
+
+He put five francs on the salver, and handed back the purse, saying:
+"Shall I see you to your door?"
+
+"Certainly. I am incapable of finding my way home."
+
+They shook hands with the Forestiers, and Duroy found himself alone with
+Madame de Marelle in a cab. He felt her close to him, so close, in this
+dark box, suddenly lit up for a moment by the lamps on the sidewalk. He
+felt through his sleeve the warmth of her shoulder, and he could find
+nothing to say to her, absolutely nothing, his mind being paralyzed by
+the imperative desire to seize her in his arms.
+
+"If I dared to, what would she do?" he thought. The recollection of all
+the things uttered during dinner emboldened him, but the fear of scandal
+restrained him at the same time.
+
+Nor did she say anything either, but remained motionless in her corner.
+He would have thought that she was asleep if he had not seen her eyes
+glitter every time that a ray of light entered the carriage.
+
+"What was she thinking?" He felt that he must not speak, that a word, a
+single word, breaking this silence would destroy his chance; yet courage
+failed him, the courage needed for abrupt and brutal action. All at once
+he felt her foot move. She had made a movement, a quick, nervous
+movement of impatience, perhaps of appeal. This almost imperceptible
+gesture caused a thrill to run through him from head to foot, and he
+threw himself upon her, seeking her mouth with his lips, her form with
+his hands.
+
+But the cab having shortly stopped before the house in which she
+resided, Duroy, surprised, had no time to seek passionate phrases to
+thank her, and express his grateful love. However, stunned by what had
+taken place, she did not rise, she did not stir. Then he was afraid that
+the driver might suspect something, and got out first to help her to
+alight.
+
+At length she got out of the cab, staggering and without saying a word.
+He rang the bell, and as the door opened, said, tremblingly: "When shall
+I see you again?"
+
+She murmured so softly that he scarcely heard it: "Come and lunch with
+me to-morrow." And she disappeared in the entry, pushed to the heavy
+door, which closed with a noise like that of a cannon. He gave the
+driver five francs, and began to walk along with rapid and triumphant
+steps, and heart overflowing with joy.
+
+He had won at last--a married woman, a lady. How easy and unexpected it
+had all been. He had fancied up till then that to assail and conquer one
+of these so greatly longed-for beings, infinite pains, interminable
+expectations, a skillful siege carried on by means of gallant
+attentions, words of love, sighs, and gifts were needed. And, lo!
+suddenly, at the faintest attack, the first whom he had encountered had
+yielded to him so quickly that he was stupefied at it.
+
+"She was tipsy," he thought; "to-morrow it will be another story. She
+will meet me with tears." This notion disturbed him, but he added:
+"Well, so much the worse. Now I have her, I mean to keep her."
+
+He was somewhat agitated the next day as he ascended Madame de Marelle's
+staircase. How would she receive him? And suppose she would not receive
+him at all? Suppose she had forbidden them to admit him? Suppose she had
+said--but, no, she could not have said anything without letting the
+whole truth be guessed. So he was master of the situation.
+
+The little servant opened the door. She wore her usual expression. He
+felt reassured, as if he had anticipated her displaying a troubled
+countenance, and asked: "Is your mistress quite well?"
+
+She replied: "Oh! yes, sir, the same as usual," and showed him into the
+drawing-room.
+
+He went straight to the chimney-glass to ascertain the state of his hair
+and his toilet, and was arranging his necktie before it, when he saw in
+it the young woman watching him as she stood at the door leading from
+her room. He pretended not to have noticed her, and the pair looked at
+one another for a few moments in the glass, observing and watching
+before finding themselves face to face. He turned round. She had not
+moved, and seemed to be waiting. He darted forward, stammering: "My
+darling! my darling!"
+
+
+She opened her arms and fell upon his breast; then having lifted her
+head towards him, their lips met in a long kiss.
+
+He thought: "It is easier than I should have imagined. It is all going
+on very well."
+
+And their lips separating, he smiled without saying a word, while
+striving to throw a world of love into his looks. She, too, smiled, with
+that smile by which women show their desire, their consent, their wish
+to yield themselves, and murmured: "We are alone. I have sent Laurine to
+lunch with one of her young friends."
+
+He sighed as he kissed her. "Thanks, I will worship you."
+
+Then she took his arm, as if he had been her husband, to go to the sofa,
+on which they sat down side by side. He wanted to start a clever and
+attractive chat, but not being able to do so to his liking, stammered:
+"Then you are not too angry with me?"
+
+She put her hand on his mouth, saying "Be quiet."
+
+They sat in silence, looking into one another's eyes, with burning
+fingers interlaced.
+
+"How I did long for you!" said he.
+
+She repeated: "Be quiet."
+
+They heard the servant arranging the table in the adjoining
+dining-room, and he rose, saying: "I must not remain so close to you. I
+shall lose my head."
+
+The door opened, and the servant announced that lunch was ready. Duroy
+gravely offered his arm.
+
+They lunched face to face, looking at one another and constantly
+smiling, solely taken up by themselves, and enveloped in the sweet
+enchantment of a growing love. They ate, without knowing what. He felt a
+foot, a little foot, straying under the table. He took it between his
+own and kept it there, squeezing it with all his might. The servant came
+and went, bringing and taking away the dishes with a careless air,
+without seeming to notice anything.
+
+When they had finished they returned to the drawing-room, and resumed
+their place on the sofa, side by side. Little by little he pressed up
+against her, striving to take her in his arms. But she calmly repulsed
+him, saying: "Take care; someone may come in."
+
+He murmured: "When can I see you quite alone, to tell you how I love
+you?"
+
+She leant over towards him and whispered: "I will come and pay you a
+visit one of these days."
+
+He felt himself redden. "You know--you know--my place is very small."
+
+She smiled: "That does not matter. It is you I shall call to see, and
+not your rooms."
+
+Then he pressed her to know when she would come. She named a day in the
+latter half of the week. He begged of her to advance the date in broken
+sentences, playing with and squeezing her hands, with glittering eyes,
+and flushed face, heated and torn by desire, that imperious desire which
+follows _tête-à-tête_ repasts. She was amazed to see him implore her
+with such ardor, and yielded a day from time to time. But he kept
+repeating: "To-morrow, only say to-morrow."
+
+She consented at length. "Yes, to-morrow; at five o'clock."
+
+He gave a long sigh of joy, and they then chatted almost quietly with an
+air of intimacy, as though they had known one another twenty years. The
+sound of the door bell made them start, and with a bound they separated
+to a distance. She murmured: "It must be Laurine."
+
+The child made her appearance, stopped short in amazement, and then ran
+to Duroy, clapping her hands with pleasure at seeing him, and
+exclaiming: "Ah! pretty boy."
+
+Madame de Marelle began to laugh. "What! Pretty boy! Laurine has
+baptized you. It's a nice little nickname for you, and I will call you
+Pretty-boy, too."
+
+He had taken the little girl on his knee, and he had to play with her at
+all the games he had taught her. He rose to take his leave at twenty
+minutes to three to go to the office of the paper, and on the staircase,
+through the half-closed door, he still whispered: "To-morrow, at five."
+
+She answered "Yes," with a smile, and disappeared.
+
+As soon as he had got through his day's work, he speculated how he
+should arrange his room to receive his mistress, and hide as far as
+possible the poverty of the place. He was struck by the idea of pinning
+
+a lot of Japanese trifles on the walls, and he bought for five francs
+quite a collection of little fans and screens, with which he hid the
+most obvious of the marks on the wall paper. He pasted on the window
+panes transparent pictures representing boats floating down rivers,
+flocks of birds flying across rosy skies, multi-colored ladies on
+balconies, and processions of little black men over plains covered with
+snow. His room, just big enough to sleep and sit down in, soon looked
+like the inside of a Chinese lantern. He thought the effect
+satisfactory, and passed the evening in pasting on the ceiling birds
+that he had cut from the colored sheets remaining over. Then he went to
+bed, lulled by the whistle of the trains.
+
+He went home early the next day, carrying a paper bag of cakes and a
+bottle of Madeira, purchased at the grocer's. He had to go out again to
+buy two plates and two glasses, and arranged this collation on his
+dressing-table, the dirty wood of which was covered by a napkin, the jug
+and basin being hidden away beneath it.
+
+Then he waited.
+
+She came at about a quarter-past five; and, attracted by the bright
+colors of the pictures, exclaimed: "Dear me, yours is a nice place. But
+there are a lot of people about on the staircase."
+
+He had clasped her in his arms, and was eagerly kissing the hair between
+her forehead and her bonnet through her veil.
+
+An hour and a half later he escorted her back to the cab-stand in the
+Rue de Rome. When she was in the carriage he murmured: "Tuesday at the
+same time?"
+
+She replied: "Tuesday at the same time." And as it had grown dark, she
+drew his head into the carriage and kissed him on the lips. Then the
+driver, having whipped up his beast, she exclaimed: "Good-bye,
+Pretty-boy," and the old vehicle started at the weary trot of its old
+white horse.
+
+For three weeks Duroy received Madame de Marelle in this way every two
+or three days, now in the evening and now in the morning. While he was
+expecting her one afternoon, a loud uproar on the stairs drew him to the
+door. A child was crying. A man's angry voice shouted: "What is that
+little devil howling about now?" The yelling and exasperated voice of a
+woman replied: "It is that dirty hussy who comes to see the
+penny-a-liner upstairs; she has upset Nicholas on the landing. As if
+dabs like that, who pay no attention to children on the staircase,
+should be allowed here."
+
+Duroy drew back, distracted, for he could hear the rapid rustling of
+skirts and a hurried step ascending from the story just beneath him.
+There was soon a knock at the door, which he had reclosed. He opened it,
+and Madame de Marelle rushed into the room, terrified and breathless,
+stammering: "Did you hear?"
+
+He pretended to know nothing. "No; what?"
+
+"How they have insulted me."
+
+"Who? Who?"
+
+"The blackguards who live down below."
+
+"But, surely not; what does it all mean, tell me?"
+
+She began to sob, without being able to utter a word. He had to take off
+her bonnet, undo her dress, lay her on the bed, moisten her forehead
+with a wet towel. She was choking, and then when her emotion was
+somewhat abated, all her wrathful indignation broke out. She wanted him
+to go down at once, to thrash them, to kill them.
+
+He repeated: "But they are only work-people, low creatures. Just
+remember that it would lead to a police court, that you might be
+recognized, arrested, ruined. One cannot lower one's self to have
+anything to do with such people."
+
+She passed on to another idea. "What shall we do now? For my part, I
+cannot come here again."
+
+He replied: "It is very simple; I will move."
+
+She murmured: "Yes, but that will take some time." Then all at once she
+framed a plan, and reassured, added softly: "No, listen, I know what to
+do; let me act, do not trouble yourself about anything. I will send you
+a telegram to-morrow morning."
+
+She smiled now, delighted with her plan, which she would not reveal, and
+indulged in a thousand follies. She was very agitated, however, as she
+went downstairs, leaning with all her weight on her lover's arm, her
+legs trembled so beneath her. They did not meet anyone, though.
+
+As he usually got up late, he was still in bed the next day, when, about
+eleven o'clock, the telegraph messenger brought him the promised
+telegram. He opened it and read:
+
+"Meet me at five; 127, Rue de Constantinople. Rooms hired by Madame
+Duroy.--Clo."
+
+At five o'clock to the minute he entered the doorkeeper's lodge of a
+large furnished house, and asked: "It is here that Madame Duroy has
+taken rooms, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Will you show me to them, if you please."
+
+The man, doubtless used to delicate situations in which prudence is
+necessary, looked him straight in the eyes, and then, selecting one of
+the long range of keys, said: "You are Monsieur Duroy?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+The man opened the door of a small suite of rooms on the ground floor in
+front of the lodge. The sitting-room, with a tolerably fresh wall-paper
+of floral design, and a carpet so thin that the boards of the floor
+could be felt through it, had mahogany furniture, upholstered in green
+rep with a yellow pattern. The bedroom was so small that the bed
+three-parts filled it. It occupied the further end, stretching from one
+wall to the other--the large bed of a furnished lodging-house, shrouded
+in heavy blue curtains also of rep, and covered with an eider-down quilt
+of red silk stained with suspicious-looking spots.
+
+Duroy, uneasy and displeased, thought: "This place will cost, Lord knows
+how much. I shall have to borrow again. It is idiotic what she has
+done."
+
+The door opened, and Clotilde came in like a whirlwind, with
+outstretched arms and rustling skirts. She was delighted. "Isn't it
+nice, eh, isn't it nice? And on the ground floor, too; no stairs to go
+up. One could get in and out of the windows without the doorkeeper
+seeing one. How we will love one another here!"
+
+He kissed her coldly, not daring to put the question that rose to his
+lips. She had placed a large parcel on the little round table in the
+middle of the room. She opened it, and took out a cake of soap, a bottle
+of scent, a sponge, a box of hairpins, a buttonhook, and a small pair of
+curling tongs to set right her fringe, which she got out of curl every
+time. And she played at moving in, seeking a place for everything, and
+derived great amusement from it.
+
+She kept on chattering as she opened the drawers. "I must bring a little
+linen, so as to be able to make a change if necessary. It will be very
+convenient. If I get wet, for instance, while I am out, I can run in
+here to dry myself. We shall each have one key, beside the one left with
+the doorkeeper in case we forget it. I have taken the place for three
+months, in your name, of course, since I could not give my own."
+
+Then he said: "You will let me know when the rent is to be paid."
+
+She replied, simply: "But it is paid, dear."
+
+"Then I owe it to you."
+
+"No, no, my dear; it does not concern you at all; this is a little fancy
+of my own."
+
+He seemed annoyed: "Oh, no, indeed; I can't allow that."
+
+She came to him in a supplicating way, and placing her hands on his
+shoulders, said: "I beg of you, George; it will give me so much pleasure
+to feel that our little nest here is mine--all my own. You cannot be
+annoyed at that. How can you? I wanted to contribute that much towards
+our loves. Say you agree, Georgy; say you agree."
+
+She implored him with looks, lips, the whole of her being. He held out,
+refusing with an irritated air, and then he yielded, thinking that,
+after all, it was fair. And when she had gone, he murmured, rubbing his
+hands, and without seeking in the depths of his heart whence the opinion
+came on that occasion: "She is very nice."
+
+He received, a few days later, another telegram running thus: "My
+husband returns to-night, after six weeks' inspection, so we shall have
+a week off. What a bore, darling.--Clo."
+
+Duroy felt astounded. He had really lost all idea of her being married.
+But here was a man whose face he would have liked to see just once, in
+order to know him. He patiently awaited the husband's departure, but he
+passed two evenings at the Folies Bergère, which wound up with Rachel.
+
+Then one morning came a fresh telegram: "To-day at five.--Clo."
+
+They both arrived at the meeting-place before the time. She threw
+herself into his arms with an outburst of passion, and kissed him all
+over the face, and then said: "If you like, when we have loved one
+another a great deal, you shall take me to dinner somewhere. I have kept
+
+myself disengaged."
+
+It was at the beginning of the month, and although his salary was long
+since drawn in advance, and he lived from day to day upon money gleaned
+on every side, Duroy happened to be in funds, and was pleased at the
+opportunity of spending something upon her, so he replied: "Yes,
+darling, wherever you like."
+
+They started off, therefore, at about seven, and gained the outer
+boulevards. She leaned closely against him, and whispered in his ear:
+"If you only knew how pleased I am to walk out on your arm; how I love
+to feel you beside me."
+
+He said: "Would you like to go to Père Lathuile's?"
+
+"Oh, no, it is too swell. I should like something funny, out of the way!
+a restaurant that shopmen and work-girls go to. I adore dining at a
+country inn. Oh! if we only had been able to go into the country."
+
+As he knew nothing of the kind in the neighborhood, they wandered along
+the boulevard, and ended by going into a wine-shop where there was a
+dining-room. She had seen through the window two bareheaded girls
+seated at tables with two soldiers. Three cab-drivers were dining at the
+further end of the long and narrow room, and an individual impossible to
+classify under any calling was smoking, stretched on a chair, with his
+legs stuck out in front of him, his hands in the waist-band of his
+trousers, and his head thrown back over the top bar. His jacket was a
+museum of stains, and in his swollen pockets could be noted the neck of
+a bottle, a piece of bread, a parcel wrapped up in a newspaper, and a
+dangling piece of string. He had thick, tangled, curly hair, gray with
+scurf, and his cap was on the floor under his chair.
+
+The entrance of Clotilde created a sensation, due to the elegance of her
+toilet. The couples ceased whispering together, the three cab-drivers
+left off arguing, and the man who was smoking, having taken his pipe
+from his mouth and spat in front of him, turned his head slightly to
+look.
+
+Madame de Marelle murmured: "It is very nice; we shall be very
+comfortable here. Another time I will dress like a work-girl." And she
+sat down, without embarrassment or disgust, before the wooden table,
+polished by the fat of dishes, washed by spilt liquors, and cleaned by a
+wisp of the waiter's napkin. Duroy, somewhat ill at ease, and slightly
+ashamed, sought a peg to hang his tall hat on. Not finding one, he put
+it on a chair.
+
+They had a ragout, a slice of melon, and a salad. Clotilde repeated: "I
+delight in this. I have low tastes. I like this better than the Café
+Anglais." Then she added: "If you want to give me complete enjoyment,
+you will take me to a dancing place. I know a very funny one close by
+called the Reine Blanche."
+
+Duroy, surprised at this, asked: "Whoever took you there?"
+
+He looked at her and saw her blush, somewhat disturbed, as though this
+sudden question had aroused within her some delicate recollections.
+After one of these feminine hesitations, so short that they can scarcely
+be guessed, she replied: "A friend of mine," and then, after a brief
+silence, added, "who is dead." And she cast down her eyes with a very
+natural sadness.
+
+Duroy, for the first time, thought of all that he did not know as
+regarded the past life of this woman. Certainly she already had lovers,
+but of what kind, in what class of society? A vague jealousy, a species
+of enmity awoke within him; an enmity against all that he did not know,
+all that had not belonged to him. He looked at her, irritated at the
+mystery wrapped up within that pretty, silent head, which was thinking,
+perhaps, at that very moment, of the other, the others, regretfully. How
+he would have liked to have looked into her recollections--to have known
+all.
+
+She repeated: "Will you take me to the Reine Blanche? That will be a
+perfect treat."
+
+He thought: "What matters the past? I am very foolish to bother about
+it," and smilingly replied: "Certainly, darling."
+
+When they were in the street she resumed, in that low and mysterious
+tone in which confidences are made: "I dared not ask you this until now,
+but you cannot imagine how I love these escapades in places ladies do
+not go to. During the carnival I will dress up as a schoolboy. I make
+such a capital boy."
+
+When they entered the ball-room she clung close to him, gazing with
+delighted eyes on the girls and the bullies, and from time to time, as
+though to reassure herself as regards any possible danger, saying, as
+she noticed some serious and motionless municipal guard: "That is a
+strong-looking fellow." In a quarter of an hour she had had enough of it
+and he escorted her home.
+
+Then began quite a series of excursions in all the queer places where
+the common people amuse themselves, and Duroy discovered in his mistress
+quite a liking for this vagabondage of students bent on a spree. She
+came to their meeting-place in a cotton frock and with a servant's
+cap--a theatrical servant's cap--on her head; and despite the elegant
+and studied simplicity of her toilet, retained her rings, her bracelets,
+and her diamond earrings, saying, when he begged her to remove them:
+"Bah! they will think they are paste."
+
+She thought she was admirably disguised, and although she was really
+only concealed after the fashion of an ostrich, she went into the most
+ill-famed drinking places. She wanted Duroy to dress himself like a
+workman, but he resisted, and retained his correct attire, without even
+consenting to exchange his tall hat for one of soft felt. She was
+consoled for this obstinacy on his part by the reflection that she would
+be taken for a chambermaid engaged in a love affair with a gentleman,
+and thought this delightful. In this guise they went into popular
+wine-shops, and sat down on rickety chairs at old wooden tables in
+smoke-filled rooms. A cloud of strong tobacco smoke, with which still
+blended the smell of fish fried at dinner time, filled the room; men in
+blouses shouted at one another as they tossed off nips of spirits; and
+the astonished waiter would stare at this strange couple as he placed
+before them two cherry brandies. She--trembling, fearsome, yet
+charmed--began to sip the red liquid, looking round her with uneasy and
+kindling eye. Each cherry swallowed gave her the sensation of a sin
+committed, each drop of burning liquor flowing down her throat gave her
+
+the pleasure of a naughty and forbidden joy.
+
+Then she would say, "Let us go," and they would leave. She would pass
+rapidly, with bent head and the short steps of an actress leaving the
+stage, among the drinkers, who, with their elbows on the tables, watched
+her go by with suspicious and dissatisfied glances; and when she had
+crossed the threshold would give a deep sigh, as if she had just escaped
+some terrible danger.
+
+Sometimes she asked Duroy, with a shudder: "If I were insulted in these
+places, what would you do?"
+
+He would answer, with a swaggering air: "Take your part, by Jove!"
+
+And she would clasp his arm with happiness, with, perhaps, a vague wish
+to be insulted and defended, to see men fight on her account, even such
+men as those, with her lover.
+
+But these excursions taking place two or three times a week began to
+weary Duroy, who had great difficulty, besides, for some time past, in
+procuring the ten francs necessary for the cake and the drinks. He now
+lived very hardly and with more difficulty than when he was a clerk in
+the Northern Railway; for having spent lavishly during his first month
+of journalism, in the constant hope of gaining large sums of money in a
+day or two, he had exhausted all his resources and all means of
+procuring money. A very simple method, that of borrowing from the
+cashier, was very soon exhausted; and he already owed the paper four
+months' salary, besides six hundred francs advanced on his lineage
+account. He owed, besides, a hundred francs to Forestier, three hundred
+to Jacques Rival, who was free-handed with his money; and he was also
+eaten up by a number of small debts of from five francs to twenty.
+Saint-Potin, consulted as to the means of raising another hundred
+francs, had discovered no expedient, although a man of inventive mind,
+and Duroy was exasperated at this poverty, of which he was more sensible
+now than formerly, since he had more wants. A sullen rage against
+everyone smouldered within him, with an ever-increasing irritation,
+
+which manifested itself at every moment on the most futile pretexts. He
+sometimes asked himself how he could have spent an average of a thousand
+francs a month, without any excess and the gratification of any
+extravagant fancy, and he found that, by adding a lunch at eight
+francs to a dinner at twelve, partaken of in some large café on the
+boulevards, he at once came to a louis, which, added to ten francs
+pocket-money--that pocket-money that melts away, one does not know
+how--makes a total of thirty francs. But thirty francs a day is nine
+hundred francs at the end of the month. And he did not reckon in the
+cost of clothes, boots, linen, washing, etc.
+
+So on the 14th December he found himself without a sou in his pocket,
+and without a notion in his mind how to get any money. He went, as he
+had often done of old, without lunch, and passed the afternoon working
+at the newspaper office, angry and preoccupied. About four o'clock he
+received a telegram from his mistress, running: "Shall we dine together,
+and have a lark afterwards?"
+
+He at once replied: "Cannot dine." Then he reflected that he would be
+very stupid to deprive himself of the pleasant moments she might afford
+him, and added: "But will wait at nine at our place." And having sent
+one of the messengers with this, to save the cost of a telegram, he
+began to reflect what he should do to procure himself a dinner.
+
+At seven o'clock he had not yet hit upon anything and a terrible hunger
+assailed him. Then he had recourse to the stratagem of a despairing man.
+He let all his colleagues depart, one after the other, and when he was
+alone rang sharply. Monsieur Walter's messenger, left in charge of the
+offices, came in. Duroy was standing feeling in his pockets, and said in
+an abrupt voice: "Foucart, I have left my purse at home, and I have to
+go and dine at the Luxembourg. Lend me fifty sous for my cab."
+
+The man took three francs from his waistcoat pocket and said: "Do you
+want any more, sir?"
+
+"No, no, that will be enough. Thanks."
+
+And having seized on the coins, Duroy ran downstairs and dined at a
+slap-bank, to which he drifted on his days of poverty.
+
+At nine o'clock he was awaiting his mistress, with his feet on the
+fender, in the little sitting-room. She came in, lively and animated,
+brisked up by the keen air of the street. "If you like," said she, "we
+will first go for a stroll, and then come home here at eleven. The
+weather is splendid for walking."
+
+He replied, in a grumbling tone: "Why go out? We are very comfortable
+here."
+
+She said, without taking off her bonnet: "If you knew, the moonlight is
+beautiful. It is splendid walking about to-night."
+
+"Perhaps so, but I do not care for walking about!"
+
+He had said this in an angry fashion. She was struck and hurt by it, and
+asked: "What is the matter with you? Why do you go on in this way? I
+should like to go for a stroll, and I don't see how that can vex you."
+
+He got up in a rage. "It does not vex me. It is a bother, that is all."
+
+She was one of those sort of women whom resistance irritates and
+impoliteness exasperates, and she said disdainfully and with angry calm:
+"I am not accustomed to be spoken to like that. I will go alone, then.
+Good-bye."
+
+He understood that it was serious, and darting towards her, seized her
+hands and kissed them, saying: "Forgive me, darling, forgive me. I am
+very nervous this evening, very irritable. I have had vexations and
+annoyances, you know--matters of business."
+
+She replied, somewhat softened, but not calmed down: "That does not
+concern me, and I will not bear the consequences of your ill-temper."
+
+He took her in his arms, and drew her towards the couch.
+
+"Listen, darling, I did not want to hurt you; I was not thinking of what
+I was saying."
+
+He had forced her to sit down, and, kneeling before her, went on: "Have
+you forgiven me? Tell me you have forgiven me?"
+
+She murmured, coldly: "Very well, but do not do so again;" and rising,
+she added: "Now let us go for a stroll."
+
+He had remained at her feet, with his arms clasped about her hips, and
+stammered: "Stay here, I beg of you. Grant me this much. I should so
+like to keep you here this evening all to myself, here by the fire. Say
+yes, I beg of you, say yes."
+
+She answered plainly and firmly: "No, I want to go out, and I am not
+going to give way to your fancies."
+
+He persisted. "I beg of you, I have a reason, a very serious reason."
+
+She said again: "No; and if you won't go out with me, I shall go.
+Good-bye."
+
+She had freed herself with a jerk, and gained the door. He ran towards
+her, and clasped her in his arms, crying:
+
+"Listen, Clo, my little Clo; listen, grant me this much."
+
+She shook her head without replying, avoiding his kisses, and striving
+to escape from his grasp and go.
+
+
+He stammered: "Clo, my little Clo, I have a reason."
+
+She stopped, and looking him full in the face, said: "You are lying.
+What is it?"
+
+He blushed not knowing what to say, and she went on in an indignant
+tone: "You see very well that you are lying, you low brute." And with an
+angry gesture and tears in her eyes, she escaped him.
+
+He again caught her by the shoulders, and, in despair, ready to
+acknowledge anything in order to avoid a rupture, he said, in a
+despairing tone: "I have not a son. That's what it all means." She
+stopped short, and looking into his eyes to read the truth in them,
+said: "You say?"
+
+He had flushed to the roots of his hair. "I say that I have not a sou.
+Do you understand? Not twenty sous, not ten, not enough to pay for a
+glass of cassis in the café we may go into. You force me to confess what
+I am ashamed of. It was, however, impossible for me to go out with you,
+and when we were seated with refreshments in front of us to tell you
+quietly that I could not pay for them."
+
+She was still looking him in the face. "It is true, then?"
+
+In a moment he had turned out all his pockets, those of his trousers,
+coat, and waistcoat, and murmured: "There, are you satisfied now?"
+
+Suddenly opening her arms, in an outburst of passion, she threw them
+around his neck, crying: "Oh, my poor darling, my poor darling, if I had
+only known. How did it happen?"
+
+She made him sit down, and sat down herself on his knees; then, with her
+arm round his neck, kissing him every moment on his moustache, his
+mouth, his eyes, she obliged him to tell her how this misfortune had
+come about.
+
+He invented a touching story. He had been obliged to come to the
+assistance of his father, who found himself in difficulties. He had not
+only handed over to him all his savings, but had even incurred heavy
+debts on his behalf. He added: "I shall be pinched to the last degree
+for at least six months, for I have exhausted all my resources. So much
+the worse; there are crises in every life. Money, after all, is not
+worth troubling about."
+
+She whispered: "I will lend you some; will you let me?"
+
+He answered, with dignity: "You are very kind, pet; but do not think of
+that, I beg of you. You would hurt my feelings."
+
+She was silent, and then clasping him in her arms, murmured: "You will
+never know how much I love you."
+
+It was one of their most pleasant evenings.
+
+As she was leaving, she remarked, smilingly: "How nice it is when one is
+in your position to find money you had forgotten in your pocket--a coin
+that had worked its way between the stuff and the lining."
+
+He replied, in a tone of conviction: "Ah, yes, that it is."
+
+She insisted on walking home, under the pretense that the moon was
+beautiful and went into ecstasies over it. It was a cold, still night at
+the beginning of winter. Pedestrians and horses went by quickly, spurred
+by a sharp frost. Heels rang on the pavement. As she left him she said:
+"Shall we meet again the day after to-morrow?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"At the same time?"
+
+"The same time."
+
+"Good-bye, dearest." And they kissed lovingly.
+
+Then he walked home swiftly, asking himself what plan he could hit on
+the morrow to get out of his difficulty. But as he opened the door of
+his room, and fumbled in his waistcoat pocket for a match, he was
+stupefied to find a coin under his fingers. As soon as he had a light he
+hastened to examine it. It was a louis. He thought he must be mad. He
+turned it over and over, seeking by what miracle it could have found
+its way there. It could not, however, have fallen from heaven into his
+pocket.
+
+Then all at once he guessed, and an angry indignation awoke within him.
+His mistress had spoken of money slipping into the lining, and being
+found in times of poverty. It was she who had tendered him this alms.
+How shameful! He swore: "Ah! I'll talk to her the day after to-morrow.
+She shall have a nice time over it."
+
+And he went to bed, his heart filled with anger and humiliation.
+
+He woke late. He was hungry. He tried to go to sleep again, in order not
+to get up till two o'clock, and then said to himself: "That will not
+forward matters. I must end by finding some money." Then he went out,
+hoping that an idea might occur to him in the street. It did not; but at
+every restaurant he passed a longing to eat made his mouth water. As by
+noon he had failed to hit on any plan, he suddenly made up his mind: "I
+will lunch out of Clotilde's twenty francs. That won't hinder me from
+paying them back to-morrow."
+
+He, therefore, lunched for two francs fifty centimes. On reaching the
+office he also gave three francs to the messenger, saying: "Here,
+Foucart, here is the money you lent me last night for my cab."
+
+He worked till seven o'clock. Then he went and dined taking another
+three francs. The two evening bocks brought the expenditure of the day
+up to nine francs thirty centimes. But as he could not re-establish a
+credit or create fresh resources in twenty-four hours, he borrowed
+another six francs fifty centimes the next day from the twenty he was
+going to return that very evening, so that he came to keep his
+appointment with just four francs twenty centimes in his pocket.
+
+He was in a deuce of a temper, and promised himself that he would pretty
+soon explain things. He would say to his mistress: "You know, I found
+the twenty francs you slipped into my pocket the other day. I cannot
+give them back to you now, because my situation is unaltered, and I have
+not had time to occupy myself with money matters. But I will give them
+to you the next time we meet."
+
+She arrived, loving, eager, full of alarm. How would he receive her? She
+kissed him persistently to avoid an explanation at the outset.
+
+He said to himself: "It will be time enough to enter on the matter
+by-and-by. I will find an opportunity of doing so."
+
+He did not find the opportunity, and said nothing, shirking before the
+difficulty of opening this delicate subject. She did not speak of going
+out, and was in every way charming. They separated about midnight, after
+making an appointment for the Wednesday of the following week, for
+Madame de Marelle was engaged to dine out several days in succession.
+
+The next day, as Duroy, on paying for his breakfast, felt for the four
+coins that ought to be remaining to him, he perceived that they were
+five, and one of them a gold one. At the outset he thought that he had
+received it by mistake in his change the day before, then he understood
+it, and his heart throbbed with humiliation at this persistent charity.
+How he now regretted not having said anything! If he had spoken
+energetically this would not have happened.
+
+For four days he made efforts, as numerous as they were fruitless, to
+raise five louis, and spent Clotilde's second one. She managed, although
+he had said to her savagely, "Don't play that joke of the other
+evening's again, or I shall get angry," to slip another twenty francs
+into his trouser pockets the first time they met. When he found them he
+swore bitterly, and transferred them to his waistcoat to have them under
+his hand, for he had not a rap. He appeased his conscience by this
+argument: "I will give it all back to her in a lump. After all, it is
+only borrowed money."
+
+At length the cashier of the paper agreed, on his desperate appeals, to
+let him have five francs daily. It was just enough to live upon, but not
+enough to repay sixty francs with. But as Clotilde was again seized by
+her passion for nocturnal excursions in all the suspicious localities in
+Paris, he ended by not being unbearably annoyed to find a yellow boy in
+one of his pockets, once even in his boot, and another time in his
+watch-case, after their adventurous excursions. Since she had wishes
+which he could not for the moment gratify himself, was it not natural
+that she should pay for them rather than go without them? He kept an
+account, too, of all he received in this way, in order to return it to
+her some day.
+
+One evening she said to him: "Would you believe that I have never been
+to the Folies-Bergère? Will you take me there?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, afraid of meeting Rachel. Then he thought: "Bah!
+I am not married, after all. If that girl sees me she will understand
+the state of things, and will not speak to me. Besides, we will have a
+box."
+
+Another reason helped his decision. He was well pleased of this
+opportunity of offering Madame de Marelle a box at the theater without
+its costing anything. It was a kind of compensation.
+
+He left her in the cab while he got the order for the box, in order that
+she might not see it offered him, and then came to fetch her. They went
+in, and were received with bows by the acting manager. An immense crowd
+filled the lounge, and they had great difficulty in making their way
+through the swarm of men and women. At length they reached the box and
+settled themselves in it, shut in between the motionless orchestra and
+the eddy of the gallery. But Madame de Marelle rarely glanced at the
+stage. Wholly taken up with the women promenading behind her back, she
+constantly turned round to look at them, with a longing to touch them,
+to feel their bodices, their skirts, their hair, to know what these
+creatures were made of.
+
+Suddenly she said: "There is a stout, dark girl who keeps watching us
+all the time. I thought just now that she was going to speak to us. Did
+you notice her?"
+
+He answered: "No, you must be mistaken." But he had already noticed her
+for some time back. It was Rachel who was prowling about in their
+neighborhood, with anger in her eyes and hard words upon her lips.
+
+Duroy had brushed against her in making his way through the crowd, and
+she had whispered, "Good evening," with a wink which signified, "I
+understand." But he had not replied to this mark of attention for fear
+of being seen by his mistress, and he had passed on coldly, with haughty
+look and disdainful lip. The woman, whom unconscious jealousy already
+assailed, turned back, brushed against him again, and said in louder
+tones: "Good evening, George." He had not answered even then. Then she
+made up her mind to be recognized and bowed to, and she kept continually
+passing in the rear of the box, awaiting a favorable moment.
+
+As soon as she saw that Madame de Marelle was looking at her she touched
+Duroy's shoulder, saying: "Good evening, are you quite well?"
+
+He did not turn round, and she went on: "What, have you grown deaf since
+Thursday?" He did not reply, affecting a contempt which would not allow
+him to compromise himself even by a word with this slut.
+
+She began to laugh an angry laugh, and said: "So you are dumb, then?
+Perhaps the lady has bitten your tongue off?"
+
+He made an angry movement, and exclaimed, in an exasperated tone: "What
+do you mean by speaking to me? Be off, or I will have you locked up."
+
+Then, with fiery eye and swelling bosom, she screeched out: "So that's
+it, is it? Ah! you lout. When a man sleeps with a woman the least he can
+do is to nod to her. It is no reason because you are with someone else
+that you should cut me to-day. If you had only nodded to me when I
+passed you just now, I should have left you alone. But you wanted to do
+the grand. I'll pay you out! Ah, so you won't say good evening when you
+meet me!"
+
+She would have gone on for a long time, but Madame de Marelle had opened
+the door of the box and fled through the crowd, blindly seeking the way
+out. Duroy started off in her rear and strove to catch her up, while
+Rachel, seeing them flee, yelled triumphantly: "Stop her, she has stolen
+my sweetheart."
+
+People began to laugh. Two gentlemen for fun seized the fugitive by the
+shoulders and sought to bring her back, trying, too, to kiss her. But
+Duroy, having caught her up, freed her forcibly and led her away into
+the street. She jumped into an empty cab standing at the door. He jumped
+in after her, and when the driver asked, "Where to, sir?" replied,
+"Wherever you like."
+
+The cab slowly moved off, jolting over the paving stones. Clotilde,
+seized by a kind of hysterical attack, sat choking and gasping with her
+hands covering her face, and Duroy neither knew what to do nor what to
+say. At last, as he heard her sobbing, he stammered out: "Clo, my dear
+little Clo, just listen, let me explain. It is not my fault. I used to
+know that woman, some time ago, you know--"
+
+She suddenly took her hands from her face, and overcome by the wrath of
+a loving and deceitful woman, a furious wrath that enabled her to
+recover her speech, she pantingly jerked out, in rapid and broken
+sentences: "Oh!--you wretch--you wretch--what a scoundrel you are--can
+it be possible? How shameful--O Lord--how shameful!" Then, getting
+angrier and angrier as her ideas grew clearer and arguments suggested
+themselves to her, she went on: "It was with my money you paid her,
+wasn't it? And I was giving him money--for that creature. Oh, the
+scoundrel!" She seemed for a few minutes to be seeking some stronger
+expression that would not come, and then all at once she spat out, as it
+were, the words: "Oh! you swine--you swine--you swine--you paid her
+with my money--you swine--you swine!" She could not think of anything
+else, and kept repeating, "You swine, you swine!"
+
+Suddenly she leant out of the window, and catching the driver by the
+sleeve, cried, "Stop," and opening the door, sprang out.
+
+George wanted to follow, but she cried, "I won't have you get out," in
+such loud tones that the passers-by began to gather about her, and Duroy
+did not move for fear of a scandal. She took her purse from her pocket
+and looked for some change by the light of the cab lantern, then taking
+two francs fifty centimes she put them in the driver's hand, saying, in
+ringing tones: "There is your fare--I pay you, now take this blackguard
+to the Rue Boursault, Batignolles."
+
+Mirth was aroused in the group surrounding her. A gentleman said: "Well
+done, little woman," and a young rapscallion standing close to the cab
+thrust his head into the open door and sang out, in shrill tones,
+"Good-night, lovey!" Then the cab started off again, followed by a burst
+of laughter.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+George Duroy woke up chapfallen the next morning.
+
+He dressed himself slowly, and then sat down at his window and began to
+reflect. He felt a kind of aching sensation all over, just as though he
+had received a drubbing over night. At last the necessity of finding
+some money spurred him up, and he went first to Forestier.
+
+His friend received him in his study with his feet on the fender.
+
+"What has brought you out so early?" said he.
+
+"A very serious matter, a debt of honor."
+
+"At play?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, and then said: "At play."
+
+"Heavy?"
+
+"Five hundred francs."
+
+He only owed two hundred and eighty.
+
+Forestier, skeptical on the point, inquired: "Whom do you owe it to?"
+
+Duroy could not answer right off. "To--to--a Monsieur de Carleville."
+
+"Ah! and where does he live?"
+
+"At--at--"
+
+Forestier began to laugh. "Number ought, Nowhere Street, eh? I know that
+gentleman, my dear fellow. If you want twenty francs, I have still that
+much at your service, but no more."
+
+Duroy took the offered louis. Then he went from door to door among the
+people he knew, and wound up by having collected at about five o'clock
+the sum of eighty francs. And he still needed two hundred more; he made
+up his mind, and keeping for himself what he had thus gleaned, murmured:
+"Bah! I am not going to put myself out for that cat. I will pay her when
+I can."
+
+For a fortnight he lived regularly, economically, and chastely, his mind
+filled with energetic resolves. Then he was seized with a strong longing
+for love. It seemed to him that several years had passed since he last
+clasped a woman in his arms, and like the sailor who goes wild on seeing
+land, every passing petticoat made him quiver. So he went one evening
+to the Folies Bergère in the hope of finding Rachel. He caught sight of
+her indeed, directly he entered, for she scarcely went elsewhere, and
+went up to her smiling with outstretched hand. But she merely looked him
+down from head to foot, saying: "What do you want with me?"
+
+He tried to laugh it off with, "Come, don't be stuck-up."
+
+She turned on her heels, saying: "I don't associate with ponces."
+
+She had picked out the bitterest insult. He felt the blood rush to his
+face, and went home alone.
+
+Forestier, ill, weak, always coughing, led him a hard life at the paper,
+and seemed to rack his brain to find him tiresome jobs. One day, even,
+in a moment of nervous irritation, and after a long fit of coughing, as
+Duroy had not brought him a piece of information he wanted, he growled
+out: "Confound it! you are a bigger fool than I thought."
+
+The other almost struck him, but restrained himself, and went away
+muttering: "I'll manage to pay you out some day." An idea shot through
+his mind, and he added: "I will make a cuckold of you, old fellow!" And
+he took himself off, rubbing his hands, delighted at this project.
+
+He resolved to set about it the very next day. He paid Madame Forestier
+a visit as a reconnaissance. He found her lying at full length on a
+couch, reading a book. She held out her hand without rising, merely
+turning her head, and said: "Good-day, Pretty-boy!"
+
+He felt as though he had received a blow. "Why do you call me that?" he
+said.
+
+She replied, with a smile: "I saw Madame de Marelle the other day, and
+learned how you had been baptized at her place."
+
+He felt reassured by her amiable air. Besides, what was there for him to
+be afraid of?
+
+She resumed: "You spoil her. As to me, people come to see me when they
+think of it--the thirty-second of the month, or something like it."
+
+He sat down near her, and regarded her with a new species of curiosity,
+the curiosity of the amateur who is bargain-hunting. She was charming, a
+soft and tender blonde, made for caresses, and he thought: "She is
+better than the other, certainly." He did not doubt his success, it
+seemed to him that he had only to stretch out his hand and take her, as
+one gathers a fruit.
+
+He said, resolutely: "I did not come to see you, because it was better
+so."
+
+She asked, without understanding: "What? Why?"
+
+"No, not at all."
+
+"Because I am in love with you; oh! only a little, and I do not want to
+be head over ears."
+
+She seemed neither astonished, nor shocked, nor flattered; she went on
+smiling the same indifferent smile, and replied with the same
+tranquillity: "Oh! you can come all the same. No one is in love with me
+long."
+
+He was surprised, more by the tone than by the words, and asked: "Why
+not?"
+
+"Because it is useless. I let this be understood at once. If you had
+told me of your fear before, I should have reassured you, and invited
+you, on the contrary, to come as often as possible."
+
+He exclaimed, in a pathetic tone: "Can we command our feelings?"
+
+She turned towards him: "My dear friend, for me a man in love is struck
+off the list of the living. He becomes idiotic, and not only idiotic,
+but dangerous. I cease all intimate relations with people who are in
+love with me, or who pretend to be so--because they bore me, in the
+first place; and, secondly, because they are as much objects of
+suspicion to me as a mad dog, which may have a fit of biting. I
+therefore put them into a kind of moral quarantine until their illness
+is over. Do not forget this. I know very well that in your case love is
+only a species of appetite, while with me it would be, on the contrary,
+a kind of--of--of communion of souls, which does not enter into a man's
+religion. You understand its letter, and its spirit. But look me well in
+the face." She no longer smiled. Her face was calm and cold, and she
+continued, emphatically: "I will never, never be your mistress; you
+understand. It is therefore absolutely useless, it would even be
+hurtful, for you to persist in this desire. And now that the operation
+is over, will you agree to be friends--good friends--real friends, I
+mean, without any mental reservation."
+
+He had understood that any attempt would be useless in face of this
+irrevocable sentence. He made up his mind at once, frankly, and,
+delighted at being able to secure this ally in the battle of life, held
+out both hands, saying: "I am yours, madame, as you will."
+
+She read the sincerity of his intention in his voice, and gave him her
+hands. He kissed them both, one after the other, and then said simply,
+as he raised his head: "Ah, if I had found a woman like you, how gladly
+I would have married her."
+
+She was touched this time--soothed by this phrase, as women are by the
+compliments which reach their hearts, and she gave him one of those
+rapid and grateful looks which make us their slaves. Then, as he could
+find no change of subject to renew the conversation, she said softly,
+laying her finger on his arm: "And I am going to play my part of a
+friend at once. You are clumsy." She hesitated a moment, and then asked:
+"May I speak plainly?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Quite plainly?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Well, go and see Madame Walter, who greatly appreciates you, and do
+your best to please her. You will find a place there for your
+compliments, although she is virtuous, you understand me, perfectly
+virtuous. Oh! there is no hope of--of poaching there, either. You may
+find something better, though, by showing yourself. I know that you
+still hold an inferior position on the paper. But do not be afraid, they
+receive all their staff with the same kindness. Go there--believe me."
+
+He said, with a smile: "Thanks, you are an angel, a guardian angel."
+
+They spoke of one thing and another. He stayed for some time, wishing to
+prove that he took pleasure in being with her, and on leaving, remarked:
+"It is understood, then, that we are friends?"
+
+"It is."
+
+As he had noted the effect of the compliment he had paid her shortly
+before, he seconded it by adding: "And if ever you become a widow, I
+enter the lists."
+
+Then he hurried away, so as not to give her time to get angry.
+
+A visit to Madame Walter was rather awkward for Duroy, for he had not
+been authorized to call, and he did not want to commit a blunder. The
+governor displayed some good will towards him, appreciated his services,
+and employed him by preference on difficult jobs, so why should he not
+profit by this favor to enter the house? One day, then, having risen
+early, he went to the market while the morning sales were in progress,
+and for ten francs obtained a score of splendid pears. Having carefully
+packed them in a hamper to make it appear that they had come from a
+distance, he left them with the doorkeeper at Madame Walter's with his
+card, on which he had written: "George Duroy begs Madame Walter to
+accept a little fruit which he received this morning from Normandy."
+
+He found the next morning, among his letters at the office, an envelope
+in reply, containing the card of Madame Walter, who "thanked Monsieur
+George Duroy, and was at home every Saturday."
+
+On the following Saturday he called. Monsieur Walter occupied, on the
+Boulevard Malesherbes, a double house, which belonged to him, and of
+which a part was let off, in the economical way of practical people. A
+single doorkeeper, quartered between the two carriage entrances, opened
+the door for both landlord and tenant, and imparted to each of the
+entrances an air of wealth by his get-up like a beadle, his big calves
+in white stockings, and his coat with gilt buttons and scarlet facings.
+The reception-rooms were on the first floor, preceded by an ante-room
+hung with tapestry, and shut in by curtains over the doorways. Two
+footmen were dozing on benches. One of them took Duroy's overcoat and
+the other relieved him of his cane, opened the door, advanced a few
+steps in front of the visitor, and then drawing aside, let him pass,
+calling out his name, into an empty room.
+
+The young fellow, somewhat embarrassed, looked round on all sides when
+he perceived in a glass some people sitting down who seemed very far
+off. He was at sea at first as to the direction in which they were, the
+mirror having deceived his eyes. Then he passed through two empty
+drawing-rooms and reached a small boudoir hung with blue silk, where
+four ladies were chatting round a table bearing cups of tea. Despite the
+assurance he had acquired in course of his Parisian life, and above all
+in his career as a reporter, which constantly brought him into contact
+with important personages, Duroy felt somewhat intimidated by the get-up
+of the entrance and the passage through the deserted drawing-room. He
+stammered: "Madame, I have ventured," as his eyes sought the mistress of
+the house.
+
+She held out her hand, which he took with a bow, and having remarked:
+"You are very kind sir, to call and see me," she pointed to a chair, in
+seeking to sit down in which he almost fell, having thought it much
+higher.
+
+They had become silent. One of the ladies began to talk again. It was a
+question of the frost, which was becoming sharper, though not enough,
+however, to check the epidemic of typhoid fever, nor to allow skating.
+Every one gave her opinion on this advent of frost in Paris, then they
+expressed their preference for the different seasons with all the
+trivial reasons that lie about in people's minds like dust in rooms. The
+faint noise made by a door caused Duroy to turn his head, and he saw in
+a glass a stout lady approaching. As soon as she made her appearance in
+the boudoir one of the other visitors rose, shook hands and left, and
+the young fellow followed her black back glittering with jet through the
+drawing-rooms with his eyes. When the agitation due to this change had
+subsided they spoke without transition of the Morocco question and the
+war in the East and also of the difficulties of England in South Africa.
+These ladies discussed these matters from memory, as if they had been
+reciting passages from a fashionable play, frequently rehearsed.
+
+A fresh arrival took place, that of a little curly-headed blonde, which
+brought about the departure of a tall, thin lady of middle age. They now
+spoke of the chance Monsieur Linet had of getting into the
+Academie-Francaise. The new-comer formerly believed that he would be
+beaten by Monsieur Cabanon-Lebas, the author of the fine dramatic
+adaption of Don Quixote in verse.
+
+"You know it is to be played at the Odeon next winter?"
+
+"Really, I shall certainly go and see such a very excellent literary
+effort."
+
+Madame Walter answered gracefully with calm indifference, without ever
+hesitating as to what she should say, her mind being always made up
+beforehand. But she saw that night was coming on, and rang for the
+lamps, while listening to the conversation that trickled on like a
+stream of honey, and thinking that she had forgotten to call on the
+stationer about the invitation cards for her next dinner. She was a
+little too stout, though still beautiful, at the dangerous age when the
+general break-up is at hand. She preserved herself by dint of care,
+hygienic precautions, and salves for the skin. She seemed discreet in
+all matters; moderate and reasonable; one of those women whose mind is
+correctly laid out like a French garden. One walks through it with
+surprise, but experiencing a certain charm. She had keen, discreet, and
+sound sense, that stood her instead of fancy, generosity, and affection,
+together with a calm kindness for everybody and everything.
+
+She noted that Duroy had not said anything, that he had not been spoken
+to, and that he seemed slightly ill at ease; and as the ladies had not
+yet quitted the Academy, that favorite subject always occupying them
+some time, she said: "And you who should be better informed than any
+one, Monsieur Duroy, who is your favorite?"
+
+He replied unhesitatingly: "In this matter, madame, I should never
+consider the merit, always disputable, of the candidates, but their age
+and their state of health. I should not ask about their credentials, but
+their disease. I should not seek to learn whether they have made a
+metrical translation of Lope de Vega, but I should take care to obtain
+information as to the state of their liver, their heart, their lungs,
+and their spinal marrow. For me a good hypertrophy, a good aneurism, and
+above all, a good beginning of locomotor ataxy, would be a hundred times
+more valuable than forty volumes of disgressions on the idea of
+patriotism as embodied in barbaric poetry."
+
+An astonished silence followed this opinion, and Madame Walter asked
+with a smile: "But why?"
+
+He replied: "Because I never seek aught else than the pleasure that any
+one can give the ladies. But, Madame, the Academy only has any real
+interest for you when an Academician dies. The more of them die the
+happier you must be. But in order that they may die quickly they must be
+elected sick and old." As they still remained somewhat surprised, he
+continued. "Besides, I am like you, and I like to read of the death of
+an Academician. I at once ask myself: 'Who will replace him?' And I draw
+up my list. It is a game, a very pretty little game that is played in
+all Parisian salons at each decease of one of the Immortals, the game of
+'Death and the Forty Fogies.'"
+
+The ladies, still slightly disconcerted, began however, to smile, so
+true were his remarks. He concluded, as he rose: "It is you who really
+elect them, ladies, and you only elect them to see them die. Choose them
+old, therefore, very old; as old as possible, and do not trouble
+yourselves about anything else."
+
+He then retired very gracefully. As soon as he was gone, one of the
+ladies said: "He is very funny, that young fellow. Who is he?"
+
+Madame Walter replied: "One of the staff of our paper, who does not do
+much yet; but I feel sure that he will get on."
+
+Duroy strode gayly down the Boulevard Malesherbes, content with his
+exit, and murmuring: "A capital start."
+
+He made it up with Rachel that evening.
+
+The following week two things happened to him. He was appointed chief
+reporter and invited to dinner at Madame Walter's. He saw at once a
+connection between these things. The _Vie Francaise_ was before
+everything a financial paper, the head of it being a financier, to whom
+the press and the position of a deputy served as levers. Making use of
+every cordiality as a weapon, he had always worked under the smiling
+mask of a good fellow; but he only employed men whom he had sounded,
+tried, and proved; whom he knew to be crafty, bold, and supple. Duroy,
+appointed chief of the reporting staff, seemed to him a valuable fellow.
+
+This duty had been filled up till then by the chief sub-editor, Monsieur
+Boisrenard, an old journalist, as correct, punctual, and scrupulous as a
+clerk. In course of thirty years he had been sub-editor of eleven
+different papers, without in any way modifying his way of thinking or
+acting. He passed from one office to another as one changes one's
+restaurant, scarcely noticing that the cookery was not quite the same.
+Political and religious opinions were foreign to him. He was devoted to
+his paper, whatever it might be, well up in his work, and valuable from
+his experience. He worked like a blind man who sees nothing, like a deaf
+man who hears nothing, and like a dumb man who never speaks of anything.
+He had, however, a strong instinct of professional loyalty, and would
+not stoop to aught he did not think honest and right from the special
+point of view of his business.
+
+Monsieur Walter, who thoroughly appreciated him, had however, often
+wished for another man to whom to entrust the "Echoes," which he held to
+be the very marrow of the paper. It is through them that rumors are set
+afloat and the public and the funds influenced. It is necessary to know
+how to slip the all-important matter, rather hinted at than said right
+out, in between the description of two fashionable entertainments,
+without appearing to intend it. It is necessary to imply a thing by
+judicious reservations; let what is desired be guessed at; contradict in
+such a fashion as to confirm, or affirm in such a way that no one shall
+believe the statement. It is necessary that in the "Echoes" everyone
+shall find every day at least one line of interest, in order that every
+one may read them. Every one must be thought of, all classes, all
+professions, Paris and the provinces, the army and the art world, the
+clergy and the university, the bar and the world of gallantry. The man
+who has the conduct of them, and who commands an army of reporters, must
+be always on the alert and always on his guard; mistrustful, far-seeing,
+cunning, alert, and supple; armed with every kind of cunning, and gifted
+with an infallible knack of spotting false news at the first glance, of
+judging which is good to announce and good to hide, of divining what
+will catch the public, and of putting it forward in such a way as to
+double its effect.
+
+Monsieur Boisrenard, who had in his favor the skill acquired by long
+habit, nevertheless lacked mastery and dash; he lacked, above all, the
+native cunning needed to put forth day by day the secret ideas of the
+manager. Duroy could do it to perfection, and was an admirable addition
+to the staff. The wire-pullers and real editors of the _Vie Francaise_
+were half a dozen deputies, interested in all the speculations brought
+out or backed up by the manager. They were known in the Chamber as
+"Walter's gang," and envied because they gained money with him and
+through him. Forestier, the political editor, was only the man of straw
+of these men of business, the worker-out of ideas suggested by them.
+They prompted his leaders, which he always wrote at home, so as to do so
+in quiet, he said. But in order to give the paper a literary and truly
+Parisian smack, the services of two celebrated writers in different
+styles had been secured--Jacques Rival, a descriptive writer, and
+Norbert de Varenne, a poet and story-writer. To these had been added, at
+a cheap rate, theatrical, musical and art critics, a law reporter, and a
+sporting reporter, from the mercenary tribe of all-round pressmen. Two
+ladies, "Pink Domino" and "Lily Fingers," sent in fashion articles, and
+dealt with questions of dress, etiquette, and society.
+
+Duroy was in all the joy of his appointment as chief of the "Echoes"
+when he received a printed card on which he read: "Monsieur and Madame
+Walter request the pleasure of Monsieur Geo. Duroy's company at dinner,
+on Thursday, January 20." This new mark of favor following on the other
+filled him with such joy that he kissed the invitation as he would have
+done a love letter. Then he went in search of the cashier to deal with
+the important question of money. A chief of the reporting staff on a
+Paris paper generally has his budget out of which he pays his reporters
+for the intelligence, important or trifling, brought in by them, as
+gardeners bring in their fruits to a dealer. Twelve hundred francs a
+month were allotted at the outset to Duroy, who proposed to himself to
+retain a considerable share of it. The cashier, on his pressing
+instances, ended by advancing him four hundred francs. He had at first
+the intention of sending Madame de Marelle the two hundred and eighty
+francs he owed her, but he almost immediately reflected that he would
+only have a hundred and twenty left, a sum utterly insufficient to carry
+on his new duties in suitable fashion, and so put off this resolution to
+a future day.
+
+During a couple of days he was engaged in settling down, for he had
+inherited a special table and a set of pigeon holes in the large room
+serving for the whole of the staff. He occupied one end of the room,
+while Boisrenard, whose head, black as a crow's, despite his age, was
+always bent over a sheet of paper, had the other. The long table in the
+middle belonged to the staff. Generally it served them to sit on, either
+with their legs dangling over the edges, or squatted like tailors in the
+center. Sometimes five or six would be sitting on it in that fashion,
+perseveringly playing cup and ball. Duroy had ended by having a taste
+for this amusement, and was beginning to get expert at it, under the
+guidance, and thanks to the advice of Saint-Potin. Forestier, grown
+worse, had lent him his fine cup and ball in West Indian wood, the last
+he had bought, and which he found rather too heavy for him, and Duroy
+swung with vigorous arm the big black ball at the end of its string,
+counting quickly to himself: "One--two--three--four--five--six." It
+happened precisely that for the first time he spiked the ball twenty
+times running, the very day that he was to dine at Madame Walter's. "A
+good day," he thought, "I am successful in everything." For skill at
+cup and ball really conferred a kind of superiority in the office of
+the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+He left the office early to have time to dress, and was going up the Rue
+de Londres when he saw, trotting along in front of him, a little woman
+whose figure recalled that of Madame de Marelle. He felt his cheeks
+flush, and his heart began to beat. He crossed the road to get a view of
+her. She stopped, in order to cross over, too. He had made a mistake,
+and breathed again. He had often asked how he ought to behave if he met
+her face to face. Should he bow, or should he seem not to have seen
+her. "I should not see her," he thought.
+
+It was cold; the gutters were frozen, and the pavement dry and gray in
+the gas-light. When he got home he thought: "I must change my lodgings;
+this is no longer good enough for me." He felt nervous and lively,
+capable of anything; and he said aloud, as he walked from his bed to the
+window: "It is fortune at last--it is fortune! I must write to father."
+From time to time he wrote to his father, and the letter always brought
+happiness to the little Norman inn by the roadside, at the summit of the
+slope overlooking Rouen and the broad valley of the Seine. From time to
+time, too, he received a blue envelope, addressed in a large, shaky
+hand, and read the same unvarying lines at the beginning of the paternal
+epistle. "My Dear Son: This leaves your mother and myself in good
+health. There is not much news here. I must tell you, however," etc. In
+his heart he retained a feeling of interest for the village matters, for
+the news of the neighbours, and the condition of the crops.
+
+He repeated to himself, as he tied his white tie before his little
+looking-glass: "I must write to father to-morrow. Wouldn't the old
+fellow be staggered if he could see me this evening in the house I am
+going to? By Jove! I am going to have such a dinner as he never tasted."
+And he suddenly saw the dark kitchen behind the empty _café_; the copper
+stewpans casting their yellow reflections on the wall; the cat on the
+hearth, with her nose to the fire, in sphinx-like attitude; the wooden
+table, greasy with time and spilt liquids, a soup tureen smoking upon
+it, and a lighted candle between two plates. He saw them, too--his
+father and mother, two slow-moving peasants, eating their soup. He knew
+the smallest wrinkles on their old faces, the slightest movements of
+their arms and heads. He knew even what they talked about every evening
+as they sat at supper. He thought, too: "I must really go and see them;"
+but his toilet being ended, he blew out his light and went downstairs.
+
+As he passed along the outer boulevard girls accosted him from time to
+time. He replied, as he pulled away his arm: "Go to the devil!" with a
+violent disdain, as though they had insulted him. What did they take him
+for? Could not these hussies tell what a man was? The sensation of his
+dress coat, put on in order to go to dinner with such well-known and
+important people, inspired him with the sentiment of a new
+impersonality--the sense of having become another man, a man in society,
+genuine society.
+
+He entered the ante-room, lit by tall bronze candelabra, with
+confidence, and handed in easy fashion his cane and overcoat to two
+valets who approached. All the drawing-rooms were lit up. Madame Walter
+received her guests in the second, the largest. She welcomed him with a
+charming smile, and he shook hands with two gentlemen who had arrived
+before him--Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu, deputies, and
+anonymous editors of the _Vie Francaise_. Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu had a
+special authority at the paper, due to a great influence he enjoyed in
+the Chamber. No one doubted his being a minister some day. Then came the
+Forestiers; the wife in pink, and looking charming. Duroy was stupefied
+to see her on terms of intimacy with the two deputies. She chatted in
+low tones beside the fireplace, for more than five minutes, with
+Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu. Charles seemed worn out. He had grown much
+thinner during the past month, and coughed incessantly as he repeated:
+"I must make up my mind to finish the winter in the south." Norbert de
+Varenne and Jacques Rival made their appearance together. Then a door
+having opened at the further end of the room, Monsieur Walter came in
+with two tall young girls, of from sixteen to eighteen, one ugly and the
+other pretty.
+
+Duroy knew that the governor was the father of a family; but he was
+struck with astonishment. He had never thought of his daughters, save as
+one thinks of distant countries which one will never see. And then he
+had fancied them quite young, and here they were grown-up women. They
+held out their hands to him after being introduced, and then went and
+sat down at a little table, without doubt reserved to them, at which
+they began to turn over a number of reels of silk in a work-basket. They
+were still awaiting someone, and all were silent with that sense of
+oppression, preceding dinners, between people who do not find themselves
+in the same mental atmosphere after the different occupations of the
+day.
+
+Duroy having, for want of occupation, raised his eyes towards the wall,
+Monsieur Walter called to him from a distance, with an evident wish to
+show off his property: "Are you looking at my pictures? I will show them
+to you," and he took a lamp, so that the details might be distinguished.
+
+"Here we have landscapes," said he.
+
+In the center of the wall was a large canvas by Guillemet, a bit of the
+Normandy coast under a lowering sky. Below it a wood, by Harpignies, and
+a plain in Algeria, by Guillemet, with a camel on the horizon, a tall
+camel with long legs, like some strange monument. Monsieur Walter passed
+on to the next wall, and announced in a grave tone, like a master of the
+ceremonies: "High Art." There were four: "A Hospital Visit," by Gervex;
+"A Harvester," by Bastien-Lepage; "A Widow," by Bouguereau; and "An
+Execution," by Jean Paul Laurens. The last work represented a Vendean
+priest shot against the wall of his church by a detachment of Blues. A
+smile flitted across the governor's grave countenance as he indicated
+the next wall. "Here the fanciful school." First came a little canvas by
+Jean Beraud, entitled, "Above and Below." It was a pretty Parisian
+mounting to the roof of a tramcar in motion. Her head appeared on a
+level with the top, and the gentlemen on the seats viewed with
+satisfaction the pretty face approaching them, while those standing on
+the platform below considered the young woman's legs with a different
+expression of envy and desire. Monsieur Walter held the lamp at arm's
+length, and repeated, with a sly laugh: "It is funny, isn't it?" Then he
+lit up "A Rescue," by Lambert. In the middle of a table a kitten,
+squatted on its haunches, was watching with astonishment and perplexity
+a fly drowning in a glass of water. It had its paw raised ready to fish
+out the insect with a rapid sweep of it. But it had not quite made up
+its mind. It hesitated. What would it do? Then the governor showed a
+Detaille, "The Lesson," which represented a soldier in a barrack-room
+teaching a poodle to play the drum, and said: "That is very witty."
+
+Duroy laughed a laugh of approbation, and exclaimed: "It is charming,
+charm--" He stopped short on hearing behind him the voice of Madame de
+Marelle, who had just come in.
+
+The governor continued to light up the pictures as he explained them. He
+now showed a water-color by Maurice Leloir, "The Obstacle." It was a
+sedan chair checked on its way, the street being blocked by a fight
+between two laborers, two fellows struggling like Hercules. From out of
+the window of the chair peered the head of a charming woman, who watched
+without impatience, without alarm, and with a certain admiration, the
+combat of these two brutes. Monsieur Walter continued: "I have others in
+the adjoining rooms, but they are by less known men. I buy of the young
+artists now, the very young ones, and hang their works in the more
+
+private rooms until they become known." He then went on in a low tone:
+"Now is the time to buy! The painters are all dying of hunger! They have
+not a sou, not a sou!"
+
+But Duroy saw nothing, and heard without understanding. Madame de
+Marelle was there behind him. What ought he to do? If he spoke to her,
+might she not turn her back on him, or treat him with insolence? If he
+did not approach her, what would people think? He said to himself: "I
+will gain time, at any rate." He was so moved that for a moment he
+thought of feigning a sudden illness, which would allow him to withdraw.
+The examination of the walls was over. The governor went to put down his
+lamp and welcome the last comer, while Duroy began to re-examine the
+pictures as if he could not tire of admiring them. He was quite upset.
+What should he do? Madame Forestier called to him: "Monsieur Duroy." He
+went to her. It was to speak to him of a friend of hers who was about
+to give a fête, and who would like to have a line to that effect in the
+_Vie Francaise_. He gasped out: "Certainly, Madame, certainly."
+
+Madame de Marelle was now quite close to him. He dared not turn round to
+go away. All at once he thought he was going mad; she had said aloud:
+"Good evening, Pretty-boy. So you no longer recognize me."
+
+He rapidly turned on his heels. She stood before him smiling, her eyes
+beaming with sprightliness and affection, and held out her hand. He took
+it tremblingly, still fearing some trick, some perfidy. She added,
+calmly: "What has become of you? One no longer sees anything of you."
+
+He stammered, without being able to recover his coolness: "I have a
+great deal to do, Madame, a great deal to do. Monsieur Walter has
+entrusted me with new duties which give me a great deal of occupation."
+
+She replied, still looking him in the face, but without his being able
+to discover anything save good will in her glance: "I know it. But that
+is no reason for forgetting your friends."
+
+They were separated by a lady who came in, with red arms and red face, a
+stout lady in a very low dress, got up with pretentiousness, and walking
+so heavily that one guessed by her motions the size and weight of her
+legs. As she seemed to be treated with great attention, Duroy asked
+Madame Forestier: "Who is that lady?"
+
+"The Viscomtesse de Percemur, who signs her articles 'Lily Fingers.'"
+
+He was astounded, and seized on by an inclination to laugh.
+
+"'Lily Fingers!' 'Lily Fingers!' and I imagined her young like
+yourself. So that is 'Lily Fingers.' That is very funny, very funny."
+
+A servant appeared in the doorway and announced dinner. The dinner was
+commonplace and lively, one of those dinners at which people talk about
+everything, without saying anything. Duroy found himself between the
+elder daughter of the master of the house, the ugly one, Mademoiselle
+Rose and Madame de Marelle. The neighborhood of the latter made him feel
+very ill at ease, although she seemed very much at her ease, and chatted
+with her usual vivacity. He was troubled at first, constrained,
+hesitating, like a musician who has lost the keynote. By degrees,
+however, he recovered his assurance, and their eyes continually meeting
+questioned one another, exchanging looks in an intimate, almost sensual,
+fashion as of old. All at once he thought he felt something brush
+against his foot under the table. He softly pushed forward his leg and
+encountered that of his neighbor, which did not shrink from the contact.
+They did not speak, each being at that moment turned towards their
+neighbor. Duroy, his heart beating, pushed a little harder with his
+knee. A slight pressure replied to him. Then he understood that their
+loves were beginning anew. What did they say then? Not much, but their
+lips quivered every time that they looked at one another.
+
+The young fellow, however, wishing to do the amiable to his employer's
+daughter, spoke to her from time to time. She replied as the mother
+would have done, never hesitating as to what she should say. On the
+right of Monsieur Walter the Viscomtesse de Percemur gave herself the
+airs of a princess, and Duroy, amused at watching her, said in a low
+voice to Madame de Marelle. "Do you know the other, the one who signs
+herself 'Pink Domino'?"
+
+"Yes, very well, the Baroness de Livar."
+
+"Is she of the same breed?"
+
+"No, but quite as funny. A tall, dried-up woman of sixty, false curls,
+projecting teeth, ideas dating from the Restoration, and toilets of the
+same epoch."
+
+"Where did they unearth these literary phenomena?"
+
+"The scattered waifs of the nobility are always sheltered by enriched
+cits."
+
+"No other reason?"
+
+"None."
+
+Then a political discussion began between the master of the house, the
+two deputies, Norbert de Varenne, and Jacques Rival, and lasted till
+dessert.
+
+When they returned to the drawing-room, Duroy again approached Madame de
+Marelle, and looking her in the eyes, said: "Shall I see you home
+to-night?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because Monsieur Laroche Mathieu, who is my neighbor, drops me at my
+door every time I dine here."
+
+"When shall I see you?"
+
+"Come and lunch with me to-morrow."
+
+And they separated without saying anything more.
+
+Duroy did not remain late, finding the evening dull. As he went
+downstairs he overtook Norbert de Varenne, who was also leaving. The old
+poet took him by the arm. No longer having to fear any rivalry as
+regards the paper, their work being essentially different, he now
+manifested a fatherly kindness towards the young fellow.
+
+"Well, will you walk home a bit of my way with me?" said he.
+
+"With pleasure, my dear master," replied Duroy.
+
+And they went out, walking slowly along the Boulevard Malesherbes. Paris
+was almost deserted that night--a cold night--one of those nights that
+seem vaster, as it were, than others, when the stars seem higher above,
+and the air seems to bear on its icy breath something coming from
+further than even the stars. The two men did not speak at first. Then
+Duroy, in order to say something, remarked: "Monsieur Laroche Mathieu
+seems very intelligent and well informed."
+
+The old poet murmured: "Do you think so?"
+
+The young fellow, surprised at this remark, hesitated in replying: "Yes;
+besides, he passes for one of the most capable men in the Chamber."
+
+"It is possible. In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
+All these people are commonplace because their mind is shut in between
+two walls, money and politics. They are dullards, my dear fellow, with
+whom it is impossible to talk about anything we care for. Their minds
+are at the bottom mud, or rather sewage; like the Seine Asnières. Ah!
+how difficult it is to find a man with breadth of thought, one who
+causes you the same sensation as the breeze from across the broad ocean
+one breathes on the seashore. I have known some such; they are dead."
+
+Norbert de Varenne spoke with a clear but restrained voice, which would
+have rung out in the silence of the night had he given it rein. He
+seemed excited and sad, and went on: "What matter, besides, a little
+
+more or less talent, since all must come to an end."
+
+He was silent, and Duroy, who felt light hearted that evening, said with
+a smile: "You are gloomy to-day, dear master."
+
+The poet replied: "I am always so, my lad, so will you be in a few
+years. Life is a hill. As long as one is climbing up one looks towards
+the summit and is happy, but when one reaches the top one suddenly
+perceives the descent before one, and its bottom, which is death. One
+climbs up slowly, but one goes down quickly. At your age a man is happy.
+He hopes for many things, which, by the way, never come to pass. At
+mine, one no longer expects anything--but death."
+
+Duroy began to laugh: "You make me shudder all over."
+
+Norbert de Varenne went on: "No, you do not understand me now, but later
+on you will remember what I am saying to you at this moment. A day
+comes, and it comes early for many, when there is an end to mirth, for
+behind everything one looks at one sees death. You do not even
+understand the word. At your age it means nothing; at mine it is
+terrible. Yes, one understands it all at once, one does not know how or
+why, and then everything in life changes its aspect. For fifteen years I
+have felt death assail me as if I bore within me some gnawing beast. I
+have felt myself decaying little by little, month by month, hour by
+hour, like a house crumbling to ruin. Death has disfigured me so
+completely that I do not recognize myself. I have no longer anything
+about me of myself--of the fresh, strong man I was at thirty. I have
+seen death whiten my black hairs, and with what skillful and spiteful
+slowness. Death has taken my firm skin, my muscles, my teeth, my whole
+body of old, only leaving me a despairing soul, soon to be taken too.
+Every step brings me nearer to death, every moment, every breath hastens
+his odious work. To breathe, sleep, drink, eat, work, dream, everything
+we do is to die. To live, in short, is to die. I now see death so near
+that I often want to stretch my arms to push it back. I see it
+everywhere. The insects crushed on the path, the falling leaves, the
+white hair in a friend's head, rend my heart and cry to me, "Behold it!"
+It spoils for me all I do, all I see, all that I eat and drink, all that
+I love; the bright moonlight, the sunrise, the broad ocean, the noble
+rivers, and the soft summer evening air so sweet to breathe."
+
+He walked on slowly, dreaming aloud, almost forgetting that he had a
+listener: "And no one ever returns--never. The model of a statue may be
+preserved, but my body, my face, my thoughts, my desires will never
+reappear again. And yet millions of beings will be born with a nose,
+eyes, forehead, cheeks, and mouth like me, and also a soul like me,
+without my ever returning, without even anything recognizable of me
+appearing in these countless different beings. What can we cling to?
+What can we believe in? All religions are stupid, with their puerile
+morality and their egoistical promises, monstrously absurd. Death alone
+is certain."
+
+He stopped, reflected for a few moments, and then, with a look of
+resignation, said: "I am a lost creature. I have neither father nor
+mother, nor sister nor brother; no wife, no children, no God."
+
+He added, after a pause: "I have only verse."
+
+They reached the Pont de la Concorde, crossed it in silence, and walked
+past the Palais Bourbon. Norbert de Varenne began to speak again,
+saying: "Marry, my friend; you do not know what it is to live alone at
+my age. Solitude now fills me with horrible agony--solitude at home by
+the fireside of a night. It is so profound, so sad; the silence of the
+room in which one dwells alone. It is not alone silence about the body,
+but silence about the soul; and when the furniture creaks I shudder to
+the heart, for no sound but is unexpected in my gloomy dwelling." He was
+silent again for a moment, and then added: "When one is old it is well,
+all the same, to have children."
+
+They had got half way down the Rue de Bourgoyne. The poet halted in
+front of a tall house, rang the bell, shook Duroy by the hand, and said:
+"Forget all this old man's doddering, youngster, and live as befits your
+age. Good-night."
+
+And he disappeared in the dark passage.
+
+Duroy resumed his route with a pain at his heart. It seemed to him as
+though he had been shown a hole filled with bones, an unavoidable gulf
+into which all must fall one day. He muttered: "By Jove, it can't be
+very lively in his place. I should not care for a front seat to see the
+procession of his thoughts go by. The deuce, no."
+
+But having paused to allow a perfumed lady, alighting from her carriage
+and entering her house, to pass before him, he drew in with eager breath
+the scent of vervain and orris root floating in the air. His lungs and
+heart throbbed suddenly with hope and joy, and the recollection of
+Madame de Marelle, whom he was to see the next day, assailed him from
+head to foot. All smiled on him, life welcomed him with kindness. How
+sweet was the realization of hopes!
+
+He fell asleep, intoxicated with this idea, and rose early to take a
+stroll down the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne before keeping his
+appointment. The wind having changed, the weather had grown milder
+during the night, and it was as warm and as sunny as in April. All the
+frequenters of the Bois had sallied out that morning, yielding to the
+summons of a bright, clear day. Duroy walked along slowly. He passed the
+Arc de Triomphe, and went along the main avenue. He watched the people
+on horseback, ladies and gentlemen, trotting and galloping, the rich
+folk of the world, and scarcely envied them now. He knew them almost all
+by name--knew the amount of their fortune, and the secret history of
+their life, his duties having made him a kind of directory of the
+celebrities and the scandals of Paris.
+
+Ladies rode past, slender, and sharply outlined in the dark cloth of
+their habits, with that proud and unassailable air many women have on
+horseback, and Duroy amused himself by murmuring the names, titles, and
+qualities of the lovers whom they had had, or who were attributed to
+them. Sometimes, instead of saying "Baron de Tanquelot," "Prince de la
+Tour-Enguerrand," he murmured "Lesbian fashion, Louise Michot of the
+Vaudeville, Rose Marquetin of the Opera."
+
+The game greatly amused him, as if he had verified, beneath grave
+outward appearances, the deep, eternal infamy of mankind, and as if this
+had excited, rejoiced, and consoled him. Then he said aloud: "Set of
+hypocrites!" and sought out with his eye the horsemen concerning whom
+the worst tales were current. He saw many, suspected of cheating at
+play, for whom their clubs were, at all events, their chief, their sole
+source of livelihood, a suspicious one, at any rate. Others, very
+celebrated, lived only, it was well known, on the income of their wives;
+others, again, it was affirmed, on that of their mistresses. Many had
+paid their debts, an honorable action, without it ever being guessed
+whence the money had come--a very equivocal mystery. He saw financiers
+whose immense fortune had had its origin in a theft, and who were
+received everywhere, even in the most noble houses; then men so
+respected that the lower middle-class took off their hats on their
+passage, but whose shameless speculations in connection with great
+national enterprises were a mystery for none of those really acquainted
+with the inner side of things. All had a haughty look, a proud lip, an
+insolent eye. Duroy still laughed, repeating: "A fine lot; a lot of
+blackguards, of sharpers."
+
+But a pretty little open carriage passed, drawn by two white ponies with
+flowing manes and tails, and driven by a pretty fair girl, a well-known
+courtesan, who had two grooms seated behind her. Duroy halted with a
+desire to applaud this mushroom of love, who displayed so boldly at this
+place and time set apart for aristocratic hypocrites the dashing luxury
+earned between her sheets. He felt, perhaps vaguely, that there was
+something in common between them--a tie of nature, that they were of the
+same race, the same spirit, and that his success would be achieved by
+daring steps of the same kind. He walked back more slowly, his heart
+aglow with satisfaction, and arrived a little in advance of the time at
+the door of his former mistress.
+
+She received him with proffered lips, as though no rupture had taken
+place, and she even forgot for a few moments the prudence that made her
+opposed to all caresses at her home. Then she said, as she kissed the
+ends of his moustache: "You don't know what a vexation has happened to
+me, darling? I was hoping for a nice honeymoon, and here is my husband
+home for six weeks. He has obtained leave. But I won't remain six weeks
+without seeing you, especially after our little tiff, and this is how I
+have arranged matters. You are to come and dine with us on Monday. I
+have already spoken to him about you, and I will introduce you."
+
+Duroy hesitated, somewhat perplexed, never yet having found himself face
+to face with a man whose wife he had enjoyed. He was afraid lest
+something might betray him--a slight embarrassment, a look, no matter
+what. He stammered out: "No, I would rather not make your husband's
+acquaintance."
+
+She insisted, very much astonished, standing before him with wide open,
+wondering eyes. "But why? What a funny thing. It happens every day. I
+should not have thought you such a goose."
+
+He was hurt, and said: "Very well, I will come to dinner on Monday."
+
+She went on: "In order that it may seem more natural I will ask the
+Forestiers, though I really do not like entertaining people at home."
+
+Until Monday Duroy scarcely thought any more about the interview, but on
+mounting the stairs at Madame de Marelle's he felt strangely uneasy, not
+that it was so repugnant to him to take her husband's hand, to drink his
+wine, and eat his bread, but because he felt afraid of something without
+knowing what. He was shown into the drawing-room and waited as usual.
+Soon the door of the inner room opened, and he saw a tall, white-bearded
+man, wearing the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, grave and correct, who
+advanced towards him with punctilious politeness, saying: "My wife has
+often spoken to me of you, sir, and I am delighted to make your
+acquaintance."
+
+Duroy stepped forward, seeking to impart to his face a look of
+expressive cordiality, and grasped his host's hand with exaggerated
+energy. Then, having sat down, he could find nothing to say.
+
+Monsieur de Marelle placed a log upon the fire, and inquired: "Have you
+been long engaged in journalism?"
+
+"Only a few months."
+
+"Ah! you have got on quickly?"
+
+"Yes, fairly so," and he began to chat at random, without thinking very
+much about what he was saying, talking of all the trifles customary
+among men who do not know one another. He was growing seasoned now, and
+thought the situation a very amusing one. He looked at Monsieur de
+Marelle's serious and respectable face, with a temptation to laugh, as
+he thought: "I have cuckolded you, old fellow, I have cuckolded you." A
+vicious, inward satisfaction stole over him--the satisfaction of a thief
+who has been successful, and is not even suspected--a delicious, roguish
+joy. He suddenly longed to be the friend of this man, to win his
+confidence, to get him to relate the secrets of his life.
+
+Madame de Marelle came in suddenly, and having taken them in with a
+smiling and impenetrable glance, went toward Duroy, who dared not, in
+the presence of her husband, kiss her hand as he always did. She was
+calm, and light-hearted as a person accustomed to everything, finding
+this meeting simple and natural in her frank and native trickery.
+Laurine appeared, and went and held up her forehead to George more
+quietly than usual, her father's presence intimidating her. Her mother
+said to her: "Well, you don't call him Pretty-boy to-day." And the child
+blushed as if a serious indiscretion had been committed, a thing that
+ought not to have been mentioned, revealed, an intimate and, so to say,
+guilty secret of her heart laid bare.
+
+When the Forestiers arrived, all were alarmed at the condition of
+Charles. He had grown frightfully thin and pale within a week, and
+coughed incessantly. He stated, besides, that he was leaving for Cannes
+on the following Thursday, by the doctor's imperative orders. They left
+early, and Duroy said, shaking his head: "I think he is very bad. He
+will never make old bones."
+
+Madame de Marelle said, calmly: "Oh! he is done for. There is a man who
+was lucky in finding the wife he did."
+
+Duroy asked: "Does she help him much?"
+
+"She does everything. She is acquainted with everything that is going
+on; she knows everyone without seeming to go and see anybody; she
+obtains what she wants as she likes. Oh! she is keen, clever, and
+intriguing as no one else is. She is a treasure for anyone wanting to
+get on."
+
+
+George said: "She will marry again very quickly, no doubt?"
+
+Madame de Marelle replied: "Yes. I should not be surprised if she had
+some one already in her eye--a deputy, unless, indeed, he
+objects--for--for--there may be serious--moral--obstacles. But then--I
+don't really know."
+
+Monsieur de Marelle grumbled with slow impatience: "You are always
+suspecting a number of things that I do not like. Do not let us meddle
+with the affairs of others. Our conscience is enough to guide us. That
+should be a rule with everyone."
+
+Duroy withdrew, uneasy at heart, and with his mind full of vague plans.
+The next day he paid a visit to the Forestiers, and found them finishing
+their packing up. Charles, stretched on a sofa, exaggerated his
+difficulty of breathing, and repeated: "I ought to have been off a month
+ago."
+
+Then he gave George a series of recommendations concerning the paper,
+although everything had been agreed upon and settled with Monsieur
+Walter. As George left, he energetically squeezed his old comrade's
+hand, saying: "Well, old fellow, we shall have you back soon." But as
+Madame Forestier was showing him out, he said to her, quickly: "You have
+not forgotten our agreement? We are friends and allies, are we not? So
+if you have need of me, for no matter what, do not hesitate. Send a
+letter or a telegram, and I will obey."
+
+She murmured: "Thanks, I will not forget." And her eye, too, said
+"Thanks," in a deeper and tenderer fashion.
+
+As Duroy went downstairs, he met slowly coming up Monsieur de Vaudrec,
+whom he had met there once before. The Count appeared sad, at this
+departure, perhaps. Wishing to show his good breeding, the journalist
+eagerly bowed. The other returned the salutation courteously, but in a
+somewhat dignified manner.
+
+The Forestiers left on Thursday evening.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+Charles's absence gave Duroy increased importance in the editorial
+department of the _Vie Francaise_. He signed several leaders besides his
+"Echoes," for the governor insisted on everyone assuming the
+responsibility of his "copy." He became engaged in several newspaper
+controversies, in which he acquitted himself creditably, and his
+constant relations with different statesmen were gradually preparing him
+to become in his turn a clever and perspicuous political editor. There
+was only one cloud on his horizon. It came from a little free-lance
+newspaper, which continually assailed him, or rather in him assailed the
+chief writer of "Echoes" in the _Vie Francaise_, the chief of "Monsieur
+Walter's startlers," as it was put by the anonymous writer of the
+_Plume_. Day by day cutting paragraphs, insinuations of every kind,
+appeared in it.
+
+One day Jacques Rival said to Duroy: "You are very patient."
+
+Duroy replied: "What can I do, there is no direct attack?"
+
+But one afternoon, as he entered the editor's room, Boisrenard held out
+the current number of the _Plume_, saying: "Here's another spiteful dig
+at you."
+
+"Ah! what about?"
+
+"Oh! a mere nothing--the arrest of a Madame Aubert by the police."
+
+George took the paper, and read, under the heading, "Duroy's Latest":
+
+"The illustrious reporter of the _Vie Francaise_ to-day informs us that
+Madame Aubert, whose arrest by a police agent belonging to the odious
+_brigade des moeurs_ we announced, exists only in our imagination. Now
+the person in question lives at 18 Rue de l'Ecureuil, Montmartre. We
+understand only too well, however, the interest the agents of Walter's
+bank have in supporting those of the Prefect of Police, who tolerates
+their commerce. As to the reporter of whom it is a question, he would do
+better to give us one of those good sensational bits of news of which he
+has the secret--news of deaths contradicted the following day, news of
+battles which have never taken place, announcements of important
+utterances by sovereigns who have not said anything--all the news, in
+short, which constitutes Walter's profits, or even one of those little
+indiscretions concerning entertainments given by would-be fashionable
+ladies, or the excellence of certain articles of consumption which are
+of such resource to some of our compeers."
+
+The young fellow was more astonished than annoyed, only understanding
+that there was something very disagreeable for him in all this.
+
+Boisrenard went on: "Who gave you this 'Echo'?"
+
+Duroy thought for a moment, having forgotten. Then all at once the
+recollection occurred to him, "Saint-Potin." He re-read the paragraph in
+the _Plume_ and reddened, roused by the accusation of venality. He
+exclaimed: "What! do they mean to assert that I am paid--"
+
+Boisrenard interrupted him: "They do, though. It is very annoying for
+you. The governor is very strict about that sort of thing. It might
+happen so often in the 'Echoes.'"
+
+Saint-Potin came in at that moment. Duroy hastened to him. "Have you
+seen the paragraph in the _Plume_?"
+
+"Yes, and I have just come from Madame Aubert. She does exist, but she
+was not arrested. That much of the report has no foundation."
+
+Duroy hastened to the room of the governor, whom he found somewhat cool,
+and with a look of suspicion in his eye. After having listened to the
+statement of the case, Monsieur Walter said: "Go and see the woman
+yourself, and contradict the paragraph in such terms as will put a stop
+to such things being written about you any more. I mean the latter part
+of the paragraph. It is very annoying for the paper, for yourself, and
+for me. A journalist should no more be suspected than Cæsar's wife."
+
+Duroy got into a cab, with Saint-Potin as his guide, and called out to
+the driver: "Number 18 Rue de l'Ecureuil, Montmartre."
+
+It was a huge house, in which they had to go up six flights of stairs.
+An old woman in a woolen jacket opened the door to them. "What is it you
+want with me now?" said she, on catching sight of Saint-Potin.
+
+He replied: "I have brought this gentleman, who is an inspector of
+police, and who would like to hear your story."
+
+Then she let him in, saying: "Two more have been here since you, for
+some paper or other, I don't know which," and turning towards Duroy,
+added: "So this gentleman wants to know about it?"
+
+"Yes. Were you arrested by an _agent des moeurs_?"
+
+She lifted her arms into the air. "Never in my life, sir, never in my
+life. This is what it is all about. I have a butcher who sells good
+meat, but who gives bad weight. I have often noticed it without saying
+anything; but the other day, when I asked him for two pounds of chops,
+as I had my daughter and my son-in-law to dinner, I caught him weighing
+in bits of trimmings--trimmings of chops, it is true, but not of mine. I
+could have made a stew of them, it is true, as well, but when I ask for
+chops it is not to get other people's trimmings. I refused to take them,
+and he calls me an old shark. I called him an old rogue, and from one
+thing to another we picked up such a row that there were over a hundred
+people round the shop, some of them laughing fit to split. So that at
+last a police agent came up and asked us to settle it before the
+commissary. We went, and he dismissed the case. Since then I get my meat
+elsewhere, and don't even pass his door, in order to avoid his
+slanders."
+
+She ceased talking, and Duroy asked: "Is that all?"
+
+"It is the whole truth, sir," and having offered him a glass of cordial,
+which he declined, the old woman insisted on the short weight of the
+butcher being spoken of in the report.
+
+On his return to the office, Duroy wrote his reply:
+
+     "An anonymous scribbler in the _Plume_ seeks to pick a quarrel
+     with me on the subject of an old woman whom he states was
+     arrested by an _agent des moeurs_, which fact I deny. I have
+     myself seen Madame Aubert--who is at least sixty years of
+     age--and she told me in detail her quarrel with the butcher
+     over the weighing of some chops, which led to an explanation
+     before the commissary of police. This is the whole truth. As to
+     the other insinuations of the writer in the _Plume_, I despise
+     them. Besides, a man does not reply to such things when they
+     are written under a mask.
+
+     "GEORGE DUROY."
+
+Monsieur Walter and Jacques Rival, who had come in, thought this note
+satisfactory, and it was settled that it should go in at once.
+
+Duroy went home early, somewhat agitated and slightly uneasy. What reply
+would the other man make? Who was he? Why this brutal attack? With the
+brusque manners of journalists this affair might go very far. He slept
+badly. When he read his reply in the paper next morning, it seemed to
+him more aggressive in print than in manuscript. He might, it seemed to
+him, have softened certain phrases. He felt feverish all day, and slept
+badly again at night. He rose at dawn to get the number of the _Plume_
+that must contain a reply to him.
+
+The weather had turned cold again, it was freezing hard. The gutters,
+frozen while still flowing, showed like two ribbons of ice alongside the
+pavement. The morning papers had not yet come in, and Duroy recalled the
+day of his first article, "The Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique."
+His hands and feet getting numbed, grew painful, especially the tips of
+his fingers, and he began to trot round the glazed kiosque in which the
+newspaper seller, squatting over her foot warmer, only showed through
+the little window a red nose and a pair of cheeks to match in a woolen
+hood. At length the newspaper porter passed the expected parcel through
+the opening, and the woman held out to Duroy an unfolded copy of the
+_Plume_.
+
+He glanced through it in search of his name, and at first saw nothing.
+He was breathing again, when he saw between two dashes:
+
+     "Monsieur Duroy, of the _Vie Francaise_, contradicts us, and in
+     contradicting us, lies. He admits, however, that there is a
+     Madame Aubert, and that an agent took her before the commissary
+     of police. It only remains, therefore, to add two words, '_des
+     moeurs_,' after the word 'agent,' and he is right. But the
+     conscience of certain journalists is on a level with their
+     talent. And I sign,
+
+     "LOUIS LANGREMONT."
+
+George's heart began to beat violently, and he went home to dress
+without being too well aware of what he was doing. So he had been
+insulted, and in such a way that no hesitation was possible. And why?
+For nothing at all. On account of an old woman who had quarreled with
+her butcher.
+
+He dressed quickly and went to see Monsieur Walter, although it was
+barely eight o'clock. Monsieur Walter, already up, was reading the
+_Plume_. "Well," said he, with a grave face, on seeing Duroy, "you
+cannot draw back now." The young fellow did not answer, and the other
+went on: "Go at once and see Rival, who will act for you."
+
+Duroy stammered a few vague words, and went out in quest of the
+descriptive writer, who was still asleep. He jumped out of bed, and,
+having read the paragraph, said: "By Jove, you must go out. Whom do you
+think of for the other second?"
+
+"I really don't know."
+
+"Boisrenard? What do you think?"
+
+"Yes. Boisrenard."
+
+"Are you a good swordsman?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"The devil! And with the pistol?"
+
+"I can shoot a little."
+
+"Good. You shall practice while I look after everything else. Wait for
+me a moment."
+
+He went into his dressing-room, and soon reappeared washed, shaved,
+correct-looking.
+
+"Come with me," said he.
+
+He lived on the ground floor of a small house, and he led Duroy to the
+cellar, an enormous cellar, converted into a fencing-room and shooting
+gallery, all the openings on the street being closed. After having lit a
+row of gas jets running the whole length of a second cellar, at the
+end of which was an iron man painted red and blue; he placed on a
+table two pairs of breech-loading pistols, and began to give the word
+of command in a sharp tone, as though on the ground: "Ready?
+Fire--one--two--three."
+
+Duroy, dumbfounded, obeyed, raising his arm, aiming and firing, and as
+he often hit the mark fair on the body, having frequently made use of an
+old horse pistol of his father's when a boy, against the birds, Jacques
+Rival, well satisfied, exclaimed: "Good--very good--very good--you will
+do--you will do."
+
+Then he left George, saying: "Go on shooting till noon; here is plenty
+of ammunition, don't be afraid to use it. I will come back to take you
+to lunch and tell you how things are going."
+
+Left to himself, Duroy fired a few more shots, and then sat down and
+began to reflect. How absurd these things were, all the same! What did a
+duel prove? Was a rascal less of a rascal after going out? What did an
+honest man, who had been insulted, gain by risking his life against a
+scoundrel? And his mind, gloomily inclined, recalled the words of
+Norbert de Varenne.
+
+Then he felt thirsty, and having heard the sound of water dropping
+behind him, found that there was a hydrant serving as a douche bath, and
+drank from the nozzle of the hose. Then he began to think again. It was
+gloomy in this cellar, as gloomy as a tomb. The dull and distant rolling
+of vehicles sounded like the rumblings of a far-off storm. What o'clock
+could it be? The hours passed by there as they must pass in prisons,
+without anything to indicate or mark them save the visits of the warder.
+He waited a long time. Then all at once he heard footsteps and voices,
+and Jacques Rival reappeared, accompanied by Boisrenard. He called out
+as soon as he saw Duroy: "It's all settled."
+
+The latter thought the matter terminated by a letter of apology, his
+heart beat, and he stammered: "Ah! thanks."
+
+The descriptive writer continued: "That fellow Langremont is very
+square; he accepted all our conditions. Twenty-five paces, one shot, at
+the word of command raising the pistol. The hand is much steadier that
+way than bringing it down. See here, Boisrenard, what I told you."
+
+And taking a pistol he began to fire, pointed out how much better one
+kept the line by raising the arm. Then he said: "Now let's go and lunch;
+it is past twelve o'clock."
+
+They went to a neighboring restaurant. Duroy scarcely spoke. He ate in
+order not to appear afraid, and then, in course of the afternoon,
+accompanied Boisrenard to the office, where he got through his work in
+an abstracted and mechanical fashion. They thought him plucky. Jacques
+Rival dropped in in the course of the afternoon, and it was settled that
+his seconds should call for him in a landau at seven o'clock the next
+morning, and drive to the Bois de Vesinet, where the meeting was to take
+place. All this had been done so unexpectedly, without his taking part
+in it, without his saying a word, without his giving his opinion,
+without accepting or refusing, and with such rapidity, too, that he was
+bewildered, scared, and scarcely able to understand what was going on.
+
+He found himself at home at nine o'clock, after having dined with
+Boisrenard, who, out of self-devotion, had not left him all day. As soon
+as he was alone he strode quickly up and down his room for several
+minutes. He was too uneasy to think about anything. One solitary idea
+filled his mind, that of a duel on the morrow, without this idea
+awakening in him anything else save a powerful emotion. He had been a
+soldier, he had been engaged with the Arabs, without much danger to
+himself though, any more than when one hunts a wild boar.
+
+To reckon things up, he had done his duty. He had shown himself what he
+should be. He would be talked of, approved of, and congratulated. Then
+he said aloud, as one does under powerful impressions: "What a brute of
+a fellow."
+
+He sat down and began to reflect. He had thrown upon his little table
+one of his adversary's cards, given him by Rival in order to retain his
+address. He read, as he had already done a score of times during the
+day: "Louis Langremont, 176 Rue Montmartre." Nothing more. He examined
+these assembled letters, which seemed to him mysterious and full of some
+disturbing import. Louis Langremont. Who was this man? What was his age,
+his height, his appearance? Was it not disgusting that a stranger, an
+unknown, should thus come and suddenly disturb one's existence without
+cause and from sheer caprice, on account of an old woman who had had a
+quarrel with her butcher. He again repeated aloud: "What a brute."
+
+And he stood lost in thought, his eyes fixed on the card. Anger was
+aroused in him against this bit of paper, an anger with which was
+blended a strange sense of uneasiness. What a stupid business it was. He
+took a pair of nail scissors which were lying about, and stuck their
+points into the printed name, as though he was stabbing someone. So he
+was to fight, and with pistols. Why had he not chosen swords? He would
+have got off with a prick in the hand or arm, while with the pistols one
+never knew the possible result. He said: "Come, I must keep my pluck
+up."
+
+The sound of his own voice made him shudder, and he glanced about him.
+He began to feel very nervous. He drank a glass of water and went to
+bed.
+
+As soon as he was in bed he blew out his candle and closed his eyes. He
+was warm between the sheets, though it was very cold in his room, but
+he could not manage to doze off. He turned over and over, remained five
+minutes on his back, then lay on his left side, then rolled on the
+right. He was still thirsty, and got up to drink. Then a sense of
+uneasiness assailed him. Was he going to be afraid? Why did his heart
+beat wildly at each well-known sound in the room? When his clock was
+going to strike, the faint squeak of the lever made him jump, and he had
+to open his mouth for some moments in order to breathe, so oppressed did
+he feel. He began to reason philosophically on the possibility of his
+being afraid.
+
+No, certainly he would not be afraid, now he had made up his mind to go
+through with it to the end, since he was firmly decided to fight and not
+to tremble. But he felt so deeply moved that he asked himself: "Can one
+be afraid in spite of one's self?" This doubt assailed him. If some
+power stronger than his will overcame it, what would happen? Yes, what
+would happen? Certainly he would go on the ground, since he meant to.
+But suppose he shook? suppose he fainted? And he thought of his
+position, his reputation, his future.
+
+A strange need of getting up to look at himself in the glass suddenly
+seized him. He relit the candle. When he saw his face so reflected, he
+scarcely recognized himself, and it seemed to him that he had never seen
+himself before. His eyes appeared enormous, and he was pale; yes, he was
+certainly pale, very pale. Suddenly the thought shot through his mind:
+"By this time to-morrow I may be dead." And his heart began to beat
+again furiously. He turned towards his bed, and distinctly saw himself
+stretched on his back between the same sheets as he had just left. He
+had the hollow cheeks of the dead, and the whiteness of those hands that
+no longer move. Then he grew afraid of his bed, and in order to see it
+no longer he opened the window to look out. An icy coldness assailed him
+from head to foot, and he drew back breathless.
+
+The thought occurred to him to make a fire. He built it up slowly,
+without looking around. His hands shook slightly with a kind of nervous
+tremor when he touched anything. His head wandered, his disjointed,
+drifting thoughts became fleeting and painful, an intoxication invaded
+his mind as though he had been drinking. And he kept asking himself:
+"What shall I do? What will become of me?"
+
+He began to walk up and down, repeating mechanically: "I must pull
+myself together. I must pull myself together." Then he added: "I will
+write to my parents, in case of accident." He sat down again, took some
+notepaper, and wrote: "Dear papa, dear mamma." Then, thinking these
+words rather too familiar under such tragic circumstances, he tore up
+the first sheet, and began anew, "My dear father, my dear mother, I am
+to fight a duel at daybreak, and as it might happen that--" He did not
+dare write the rest, and sprang up with a jump. He was now crushed by
+one besetting idea. He was going to fight a duel. He could no longer
+avoid it. What was the matter with him, then? He meant to fight, his
+mind was firmly made up to do so, and yet it seemed to him that, despite
+every effort of will, he could not retain strength enough to go to the
+place appointed for the meeting. From time to time his teeth absolutely
+chattered, and he asked himself: "Has my adversary been out before? Is
+he a frequenter of the shooting galleries? Is he known and classed as a
+shot?" He had never heard his name mentioned. And yet, if this man was
+not a remarkably good pistol shot, he would scarcely have accepted that
+dangerous weapon without discussion or hesitation.
+
+Then Duroy pictured to himself their meeting, his own attitude, and the
+bearing of his opponent. He wearied himself in imagining the slightest
+details of the duel, and all at once saw in front of him the little
+round black hole in the barrel from which the ball was about to issue.
+He was suddenly seized with a fit of terrible despair. His whole body
+quivered, shaken by short, sharp shudderings. He clenched his teeth to
+avoid crying out, and was assailed by a wild desire to roll on the
+ground, to tear something to pieces, to bite. But he caught sight of a
+glass on the mantelpiece, and remembered that there was in the cupboard
+a bottle of brandy almost full, for he had kept up a military habit of a
+morning dram. He seized the bottle and greedily drank from its mouth in
+long gulps. He only put it down when his breath failed him. It was a
+third empty. A warmth like that of flame soon kindled within his body,
+and spreading through his limbs, buoyed up his mind by deadening his
+thoughts. He said to himself: "I have hit upon the right plan." And as
+his skin now seemed burning he reopened the window.
+
+
+Day was breaking, calm and icy cold. On high the stars seemed dying away
+in the brightening sky, and in the deep cutting of the railway, the red,
+green, and white signal lamps were paling. The first locomotives were
+leaving the engine shed, and went off whistling, to be coupled to the
+first trains. Others, in the distance, gave vent to shrill and repeated
+screeches, their awakening cries, like cocks of the country. Duroy
+thought: "Perhaps I shall never see all this again." But as he felt that
+he was going again to be moved by the prospect of his own fate, he
+fought against it strongly, saying: "Come, I must not think of anything
+till the moment of the meeting; it is the only way to keep up my pluck."
+
+And he set about his toilet. He had another moment of weakness while
+shaving, in thinking that it was perhaps the last time he should see his
+face. But he swallowed another mouthful of brandy, and finished
+dressing. The hour which followed was difficult to get through. He
+walked up and down, trying to keep from thinking. When he heard a knock
+at the door he almost dropped, so violent was the shock to him. It was
+his seconds. Already!
+
+They were wrapped up in furs, and Rival, after shaking his principal's
+hand, said: "It is as cold as Siberia." Then he added: "Well, how goes
+it?"
+
+"Very well."
+
+"You are quite steady?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"That's it; we shall get on all right. Have you had something to eat and
+drink?"
+
+"Yes; I don't need anything."
+
+Boisrenard, in honor of the occasion, sported a foreign order, yellow
+and green, that Duroy had never seen him display before.
+
+They went downstairs. A gentleman was awaiting them in the carriage.
+Rival introduced him as "Doctor Le Brument." Duroy shook hands, saying,
+"I am very much obliged to you," and sought to take his place on the
+front seat. He sat down on something hard that made him spring up again,
+as though impelled by a spring. It was the pistol case.
+
+Rival observed: "No, the back seat for the doctor and the principal, the
+back seat."
+
+Duroy ended by understanding him, and sank down beside the doctor. The
+two seconds got in in their turn, and the driver started. He knew where
+to go. But the pistol case was in the way of everyone, above all of
+Duroy, who would have preferred it out of sight. They tried to put it at
+the back of the seat and it hurt their own; they stuck it upright
+between Rival and Boisrenard, and it kept falling all the time. They
+finished by stowing it away under their feet. Conversation languished,
+although the doctor related some anecdotes. Rival alone replied to him.
+Duroy would have liked to have given a proof of presence of mind, but he
+was afraid of losing the thread of his ideas, of showing the troubled
+state of his mind, and was haunted, too, by the disturbing fear of
+beginning to tremble.
+
+The carriage was soon right out in the country. It was about nine
+o'clock. It was one of those sharp winter mornings when everything is as
+bright and brittle as glass. The trees, coated with hoar frost, seemed
+to have been sweating ice; the earth rang under a footstep, the dry air
+carried the slightest sound to a distance, the blue sky seemed to shine
+like a mirror, and the sun, dazzling and cold itself, shed upon the
+frozen universe rays which did not warm anything.
+
+Rival observed to Duroy: "I got the pistols at Gastine Renette's. He
+loaded them himself. The box is sealed. We shall toss up, besides,
+whether we use them or those of our adversary."
+
+Duroy mechanically replied: "I am very much obliged to you."
+
+Then Rival gave him a series of circumstantial recommendations, for he
+was anxious that his principal should not make any mistake. He
+emphasized each point several times, saying: "When they say, 'Are you
+ready, gentlemen?' you must answer 'Yes' in a loud tone. When they give
+the word 'Fire!' you must raise your arm quickly, and you must fire
+before they have finished counting 'One, two, three.'"
+
+And Duroy kept on repeating to himself: "When they give the word to
+fire, I must raise my arm. When they give the word to fire, I must raise
+my arm." He learnt it as children learn their lessons, by murmuring them
+to satiety in order to fix them on their minds. "When they give the word
+to fire, I must raise my arm."
+
+The carriage entered a wood, turned down an avenue on the right, and
+then to the right again. Rival suddenly opened the door to cry to the
+driver: "That way, down the narrow road." The carriage turned into a
+rutty road between two copses, in which dead leaves fringed with ice
+were quivering. Duroy was still murmuring: "When they give the word to
+fire, I must raise my arm." And he thought how a carriage accident would
+settle the whole affair. "Oh! if they could only upset, what luck; if he
+could only break a leg."
+
+But he caught sight, at the further side of a clearing, of another
+carriage drawn up, and four gentlemen stamping to keep their feet warm,
+and he was obliged to open his mouth, so difficult did his breathing
+become.
+
+The seconds got out first, and then the doctor and the principal. Rival
+had taken the pistol-case and walked away with Boisrenard to meet two of
+the strangers who came towards them. Duroy watched them salute one
+another ceremoniously, and then walk up and down the clearing, looking
+now on the ground and now at the trees, as though they were looking for
+something that had fallen down or might fly away. Then they measured off
+a certain number of paces, and with great difficulty stuck two walking
+sticks into the frozen ground. They then reassembled in a group and went
+through the action of tossing, like children playing heads or tails.
+
+Doctor Le Brument said to Duroy: "Do you feel all right? Do you want
+anything?"
+
+"No, nothing, thanks."
+
+It seemed to him that he was mad, that he was asleep, that he was
+dreaming, that supernatural influences enveloped him. Was he afraid?
+Perhaps. But he did not know. Everything about him had altered.
+
+Jacques Rival returned, and announced in low tones of satisfaction: "It
+is all ready. Luck has favored us as regards the pistols."
+
+That, so far as Duroy was concerned, was a matter of profound
+indifference.
+
+They took off his overcoat, which he let them do mechanically. They felt
+the breast-pocket of his frock-coat to make certain that he had no
+pocketbook or papers likely to deaden a ball. He kept repeating to
+himself like a prayer: "When the word is given to fire, I must raise my
+arm."
+
+They led him up to one of the sticks stuck in the ground and handed him
+his pistol. Then he saw a man standing just in front of him--a short,
+stout, bald-headed man, wearing spectacles. It was his adversary. He saw
+him very plainly, but he could only think: "When the word to fire is
+given, I must raise my arm and fire at once."
+
+A voice rang out in the deep silence, a voice that seemed to come from a
+great distance, saying: "Are you ready, gentlemen?"
+
+George exclaimed "Yes."
+
+The same voice gave the word "Fire!"
+
+He heard nothing more, he saw nothing more, he took note of nothing
+more, he only knew that he raised his arm, pressing strongly on the
+trigger. And he heard nothing. But he saw all at once a little smoke at
+the end of his pistol barrel, and as the man in front of him still stood
+in the same position, he perceived, too, a little cloud of smoke
+drifting off over his head.
+
+They had both fired. It was over.
+
+His seconds and the doctor touched him, felt him and unbuttoned his
+clothes, asking, anxiously: "Are you hit?"
+
+He replied at haphazard: "No, I do not think so."
+
+Langremont, too, was as unhurt as his enemy, and Jacques Rival murmured
+in a discontented tone: "It is always so with those damned pistols; you
+either miss or kill. What a filthy weapon."
+
+Duroy did not move, paralyzed by surprise and joy. It was over. They had
+to take away his weapon, which he still had clenched in his hand. It
+seemed to him now that he could have done battle with the whole world.
+It was over. What happiness! He felt suddenly brave enough to defy no
+matter whom.
+
+The whole of the seconds conversed together for a few moments, making an
+appointment to draw up their report of the proceedings in the course of
+the day. Then they got into the carriage again, and the driver, who was
+laughing on the box, started off, cracking his whip. They breakfasted
+together on the boulevards, and in chatting over the event, Duroy
+narrated his impressions. "I felt quite unconcerned, quite. You must,
+besides, have seen it yourself."
+
+Rival replied: "Yes, you bore yourself very well."
+
+When the report was drawn up it was handed to Duroy, who was to insert
+it in the paper. He was astonished to read that he had exchanged a
+couple of shots with Monsieur Louis Langremont, and rather uneasily
+interrogated Rival, saying: "But we only fired once."
+
+The other smiled. "Yes, one shot apiece, that makes a couple of shots."
+
+Duroy, deeming the explanation satisfactory, did not persist. Daddy
+Walter embraced him, saying: "Bravo, bravo, you have defended the colors
+of _Vie Francaise_; bravo!"
+
+George showed himself in the course of the evening at the principal
+newspaper offices, and at the chief _cafés_ on the boulevards. He twice
+encountered his adversary, who was also showing himself. They did not
+bow to one another. If one of them had been wounded they would have
+shaken hands. Each of them, moreover, swore with conviction that he had
+heard the whistling of the other's bullet.
+
+The next day, at about eleven, Duroy received a telegram. "Awfully
+alarmed. Come at once. Rue de Constantinople.--Clo."
+
+He hastened to their meeting-place, and she threw herself into his arms,
+smothering him with kisses.
+
+"Oh, my darling! if you only knew what I felt when I saw the papers this
+morning. Oh, tell me all about it! I want to know everything."
+
+He had to give minute details. She said: "What a dreadful night you must
+have passed before the duel."
+
+"No, I slept very well."
+
+"I should not have closed an eye. And on the ground--tell me all that
+happened."
+
+He gave a dramatic account. "When we were face to face with one another
+at twenty paces, only four times the length of this room, Jacques, after
+asking if we were ready, gave the word 'Fire.' I raised my arm at once,
+keeping a good line, but I made the mistake of trying to aim at the
+head. I had a pistol with an unusually stiff pull, and I am accustomed
+to very easy ones, so that the resistance of the trigger caused me to
+fire too high. No matter, it could not have gone very far off him. He
+shoots well, too, the rascal. His bullet skimmed by my temple. I felt
+the wind of it."
+
+She was sitting on his knees, and holding him in her arms as though to
+share his dangers. She murmured: "Oh, my poor darling! my poor darling!"
+
+When he had finished his narration, she said: "Do you know, I cannot
+live without you. I must see you, and with my husband in Paris it is not
+easy. Often I could find an hour in the morning before you were up to
+run in and kiss you, but I won't enter that awful house of yours. What
+is to be done?"
+
+He suddenly had an inspiration, and asked: "What is the rent here?"
+
+"A hundred francs a month."
+
+"Well, I will take the rooms over on my own account, and live here
+altogether. Mine are no longer good enough for my new position."
+
+She reflected a few moments, and then said: "No, I won't have that."
+
+He was astonished, and asked: "Why not?"
+
+"Because I won't."
+
+"That is not a reason. These rooms suit me very well. I am here, and
+shall remain here. Besides," he added, with a laugh, "they are taken in
+my name."
+
+But she kept on refusing, "No, no, I won't have it."
+
+"Why not, then?"
+
+Then she whispered tenderly: "Because you would bring women here, and I
+won't have it."
+
+He grew indignant. "Never. I can promise you that."
+
+"No, you will bring them all the same."
+
+"I swear I won't."
+
+"Truly?"
+
+"Truly, on my word of honor. This is our place, our very own."
+
+She clasped him to her in an outburst of love, exclaiming: "Very well,
+then, darling. But you know if you once deceive me, only once, it will
+be all over between us, all over for ever."
+
+He swore again with many protestations, and it was agreed that he should
+install himself there that very day, so that she could look in on him as
+she passed the door. Then she said: "In any case, come and dine with us
+on Sunday. My husband thinks you are charming."
+
+He was flattered "Really!"
+
+"Yes, you have captivated him. And then, listen, you have told me that
+you were brought up in a country-house."
+
+"Yes; why?"
+
+"Then you must know something about agriculture?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, talk to him about gardening and the crops. He is very fond of
+that sort of thing."
+
+"Good; I will not forget."
+
+She left him, after kissing him to an indefinite extent, the duel having
+stimulated her affection.
+
+Duroy thought, as he made his way to the office, "What a strange being.
+What a feather brain. Can one tell what she wants and what she cares
+for? And what a strange household. What fanciful being arranged the
+union of that old man and this madcap? What made the inspector marry
+this giddy girl? A mystery. Who knows? Love, perhaps." And he concluded:
+"After all, she is a very nice little mistress, and I should be a very
+big fool to let her slip away from me."
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+His duel had given Duroy a position among the leader-writers of the _Vie
+Francaise_, but as he had great difficulty in finding ideas, he made a
+specialty of declamatory articles on the decadence of morality, the
+lowering of the standard of character, the weakening of the patriotic
+fiber and the anemia of French honor. He had discovered the word anemia,
+and was very proud of it. And when Madame de Marelle, filled with that
+skeptical, mocking, and incredulous spirit characteristic of the
+Parisian, laughed at his tirades, which she demolished with an epigram,
+he replied with a smile: "Bah! this sort of thing will give me a good
+reputation later on."
+
+He now resided in the Rue de Constantinople, whither he had shifted his
+portmanteau, his hair-brush, his razor, and his soap, which was what his
+moving amounted to. Twice or thrice a week she would call before he was
+up, undress in a twinkling, and slip into bed, shivering from the cold
+prevailing out of doors. As a set off, Duroy dined every Thursday at her
+residence, and paid court to her husband by talking agriculture with
+him. As he was himself fond of everything relating to the cultivation of
+the soil, they sometimes both grew so interested in the subject of their
+conversation that they quite forgot the wife dozing on the sofa. Laurine
+would also go to sleep, now on the knee of her father and now on that of
+Pretty-boy. And when the journalist had left, Monsieur de Marelle never
+failed to assert, in that doctrinal tone in which he said the least
+thing: "That young fellow is really very pleasant company, he has a
+well-informed mind."
+
+February was drawing to a close. One began to smell the violets in the
+street, as one passed the barrows of the flower-sellers of a morning.
+Duroy was living beneath a sky without a cloud.
+
+One night, on returning home, he found a letter that had been slipped
+under his door. He glanced at the post-mark, and read "Cannes." Having
+opened it, he read:
+
+     "Villa Jolie, Cannes.
+
+     "DEAR SIR AND FRIEND,--You told me, did you not, that I could
+     reckon upon you for anything? Well, I have a very painful
+     service to ask of you; it is to come and help me, so that I may
+     not be left alone during the last moments of Charles, who is
+     dying. He may not last out the week, as the doctor has
+     forewarned me, although he has not yet taken to his bed. I have
+     no longer strength nor courage to witness this hourly death,
+     and I think with terror of those last moments which are drawing
+     near. I can only ask such a service of you, as my husband has
+     no relatives. You were his comrade; he opened the door of the
+     paper to you. Come, I beg of you; I have no one else to ask.
+
+     "Believe me, your very sincere friend,
+
+
+     "MADELEINE FORESTIER."
+
+A strange feeling filled George's heart, a sense of freedom and of a
+space opening before him, and he murmured: "To be sure, I'll go. Poor
+Charles! What are we, after all?"
+
+The governor, to whom he read the letter, grumblingly granted
+permission, repeating: "But be back soon, you are indispensable to us."
+
+George left for Cannes next day by the seven o'clock express, after
+letting the Marelles know of his departure by a telegram. He arrived the
+following evening about four o'clock. A commissionaire guided him to the
+Villa Jolie, built half-way up the slope of the pine forest clothed
+with white houses, which extends from Cannes to the Golfe Juan. The
+house--small, low, and in the Italian style--was built beside the road
+which winds zig-zag fashion up through the trees, revealing a succession
+of charming views at every turning it makes.
+
+The man servant opened the door, and exclaimed: "Oh! Sir, madame is
+expecting you most impatiently."
+
+"How is your master?" inquired Duroy.
+
+"Not at all well, sir. He cannot last much longer."
+
+The drawing-room, into which George was shown, was hung with pink and
+blue chintz. The tall and wide windows overlooked the town and the sea.
+Duroy muttered: "By Jove, this is nice and swell for a country house.
+Where the deuce do they get the money from?"
+
+The rustle of a dress made him turn round. Madame Forestier held out
+both hands to him. "How good of you to come, how good of you to come,"
+said she.
+
+And suddenly she kissed him on the cheek. Then they looked at
+one another. She was somewhat paler and thinner, but still
+fresh-complexioned, and perhaps still prettier for her additional
+delicacy. She murmured: "He is dreadful, do you know; he knows that he
+
+is doomed, and he leads me a fearful life. But where is your
+portmanteau?"
+
+"I have left it at the station, not knowing what hotel you would like me
+to stop at in order to be near you."
+
+She hesitated a moment, and then said: "You must stay here. Besides,
+your room is all ready. He might die at any moment, and if it were to
+happen during the night I should be alone. I will send for your
+luggage."
+
+He bowed, saying: "As you please."
+
+"Now let us go upstairs," she said.
+
+He followed her. She opened a door on the first floor, and Duroy saw,
+wrapped in rugs and seated in an armchair near the window, a kind of
+living corpse, livid even under the red light of the setting sun, and
+looking towards him. He scarcely recognized, but rather guessed, that it
+was his friend. The room reeked of fever, medicated drinks, ether, tar,
+the nameless and oppressive odor of a consumptive's sick room. Forestier
+held out his hand slowly and with difficulty. "So here you are; you have
+come to see me die, then! Thanks."
+
+Duroy affected to laugh. "To see you die? That would not be a very
+amusing sight, and I should not select such an occasion to visit Cannes.
+I came to give you a look in, and to rest myself a bit."
+
+Forestier murmured, "Sit down," and then bent his head, as though lost
+in painful thoughts. He breathed hurriedly and pantingly, and from time
+to time gave a kind of groan, as if he wanted to remind the others how
+ill he was.
+
+Seeing that he would not speak, his wife came and leaned against the
+window-sill, and indicating the view with a motion of her head, said,
+"Look! Is not that beautiful?"
+
+Before them the hillside, dotted with villas, sloped downwards towards
+the town, which stretched in a half-circle along the shore with its head
+to the right in the direction of the pier, overlooked by the old city
+surmounted by its belfry, and its feet to the left towards the point of
+La Croisette, facing the Isles of Lerins. These two islands appeared
+like two green spots amidst the blue water. They seemed to be floating
+on it like two huge green leaves, so low and flat did they appear from
+this height. Afar off, bounding the view on the other side of the bay,
+beyond the pier and the belfry, a long succession of blue hills showed
+up against a dazzling sky, their strange and picturesque line of summits
+now rounded, now forked, now pointed, ending with a huge pyramidal
+mountain, its foot in the sea itself.
+
+Madame Forestier pointed it out, saying: "This is L'Estherel."
+
+The void beyond the dark hill tops was red, a glowing red that the eye
+would not fear, and Duroy, despite himself, felt the majesty of the
+close of the day. He murmured, finding no other term strong enough to
+express his admiration, "It is stunning."
+
+Forestier raised his head, and turning to his wife, said: "Let me have
+some fresh air."
+
+"Pray, be careful," was her reply. "It is late, and the sun is setting;
+you will catch a fresh cold, and you know how bad that is for you."
+
+He made a feverish and feeble movement with his right hand that was
+almost meant for a blow, and murmured with a look of anger, the grin of
+a dying man that showed all the thinness of his lips, the hollowness of
+the cheeks, and the prominence of all the bones of the face: "I tell you
+I am stifling. What does it matter to you whether I die a day sooner or
+a day later, since I am done for?"
+
+She opened the window quite wide. The air that entered surprised all
+three like a caress. It was a soft, warm breeze, a breeze of spring,
+already laden with the scents of the odoriferous shrubs and flowers
+which sprang up along this shore. A powerful scent of turpentine and
+the harsh savor of the eucalyptus could be distinguished.
+
+Forestier drank it in with short and fevered gasps. He clutched the arm
+of his chair with his nails, and said in low, hissing, and savage tones:
+"Shut the window. It hurts me; I would rather die in a cellar."
+
+His wife slowly closed the window, and then looked out in space, her
+forehead against the pane. Duroy, feeling very ill at ease, would have
+liked to have chatted with the invalid and reassured him. But he could
+think of nothing to comfort him. At length he said: "Then you have not
+got any better since you have been here?"
+
+Forestier shrugged his shoulders with low-spirited impatience. "You see
+very well I have not," he replied, and again lowered his head.
+
+Duroy went on: "Hang it all, it is ever so much nicer here than in
+Paris. We are still in the middle of winter there. It snows, it freezes,
+it rains, and it is dark enough for the lamps to be lit at three in the
+afternoon."
+
+"Anything new at the paper?" asked Forestier.
+
+"Nothing. They have taken on young Lacrin, who has left the _Voltaire_,
+to do your work, but he is not up to it. It is time that you came back."
+
+The invalid muttered: "I--I shall do all my work six feet under the sod
+now."
+
+This fixed idea recurred like a knell _apropos_ of everything,
+continually cropping up in every idea, every sentence. There was a long
+silence, a deep and painful silence. The glow of the sunset was slowly
+fading, and the mountains were growing black against the red sky, which
+was getting duller. A colored shadow, a commencement of night, which yet
+retained the glow of an expiring furnace, stole into the room and seemed
+to tinge the furniture, the walls, the hangings, with mingled tints of
+sable and crimson. The chimney-glass, reflecting the horizon, seemed
+like a patch of blood. Madame Forestier did not stir, but remained
+standing with her back to the room, her face to the window pane.
+
+Forestier began to speak in a broken, breathless voice, heartrending to
+listen to. "How many more sunsets shall I see? Eight, ten, fifteen, or
+twenty, perhaps thirty--no more. You have time before you; for me it is
+all over. And it will go on all the same, after I am gone, as if I was
+still here." He was silent for a few moments, and then continued: "All
+that I see reminds me that in a few days I shall see it no more. It is
+horrible. I shall see nothing--nothing of all that exists; not the
+smallest things one makes use of--the plates, the glasses, the beds in
+which one rests so comfortably, the carriages. How nice it is to drive
+out of an evening! How fond I was of all those things!"
+
+He nervously moved the fingers of both hands, as though playing the
+piano on the arms of his chair. Each of his silences was more painful
+than his words, so evident was it that his thoughts must be fearful.
+Duroy suddenly recalled what Norbert de Varenne had said to him some
+weeks before, "I now see death so near that I often want to stretch out
+my arms to put it back. I see it everywhere. The insects crushed on the
+path, the falling leaves, the white hair in a friend's beard, rend my
+heart and cry to me, 'Behold!'"
+
+He had not understood all this on that occasion; now, seeing Forestier,
+he did. An unknown pain assailed him, as if he himself was sensible of
+the presence of death, hideous death, hard by, within reach of his hand,
+on the chair in which his friend lay gasping. He longed to get up, to go
+away, to fly, to return to Paris at once. Oh! if he had known he would
+not have come.
+
+Darkness had now spread over the room, like premature mourning for the
+dying man. The window alone remained still visible, showing, within the
+lighter square formed by it, the motionless outline of the young wife.
+
+Forestier remarked, with irritation, "Well, are they going to bring in
+the lamp to-night? This is what they call looking after an invalid."
+
+The shadow outlined against the window panes disappeared, and the sound
+of an electric bell rang through the house. A servant shortly entered
+and placed a lamp on the mantelpiece. Madame Forestier said to her
+husband, "Will you go to bed, or would you rather come down to dinner?"
+
+He murmured: "I will come down."
+
+Waiting for this meal kept them all three sitting still for nearly an
+hour, only uttering from time to time some needless commonplace remark,
+as if there had been some danger, some mysterious danger in letting
+silence endure too long, in letting the air congeal in this room where
+death was prowling.
+
+At length dinner was announced. The meal seemed interminable to Duroy.
+They did not speak, but ate noiselessly, and then crumbled their bread
+with their fingers. The man servant who waited upon them went to and fro
+without the sound of his footsteps being heard, for as the creak of a
+boot-sole irritated Charles, he wore list slippers. The harsh tick of a
+wooden clock alone disturbed the calm with its mechanical and regular
+sound.
+
+As soon as dinner was over Duroy, on the plea of fatigue, retired to his
+room, and leaning on the window-sill watched the full moon, in the midst
+of the sky like an immense lamp, casting its cold gleam upon the white
+walls of the villas, and scattering over the sea a soft and moving
+dappled light. He strove to find some reason to justify a swift
+departure, inventing plans, telegrams he was to receive, a recall from
+Monsieur Walter.
+
+But his resolves to fly appeared more difficult to realize on awakening
+the next morning. Madame Forestier would not be taken in by his devices,
+and he would lose by his cowardice all the benefit of his self-devotion.
+He said to himself: "Bah! it is awkward; well so much the worse, there
+must be unpleasant situations in life, and, besides, it will perhaps be
+soon over."
+
+It was a bright day, one of those bright Southern days that make the
+heart feel light, and Duroy walked down to the sea, thinking that it
+would be soon enough to see Forestier some time in course of the
+afternoon. When he returned to lunch, the servant remarked, "Master has
+already asked for you two or three times, sir. Will you please step up
+to his room, sir?"
+
+He went upstairs. Forestier appeared to be dozing in his armchair. His
+wife was reading, stretched out on the sofa.
+
+The invalid raised his head, and Duroy said, "Well, how do you feel? You
+seem quite fresh this morning."
+
+"Yes, I am better, I have recovered some of my strength. Get through
+
+your lunch with Madeleine as soon as you can, for we are going out for
+a drive."
+
+As soon as she was alone with Duroy, the young wife said to him, "There,
+to-day he thinks he is all right again. He has been making plans all the
+morning. We are going to the Golfe Juan now to buy some pottery for our
+rooms in Paris. He is determined to go out, but I am horribly afraid of
+some mishap. He cannot bear the shaking of the drive."
+
+When the landau arrived, Forestier came down stairs a step at a time,
+supported by his servant. But as soon as he caught sight of the
+carriage, he ordered the hood to be taken off. His wife opposed this,
+saying, "You will catch cold. It is madness."
+
+He persisted, repeating, "Oh, I am much better. I feel it."
+
+They passed at first along some of those shady roads, bordered by
+gardens, which cause Cannes to resemble a kind of English Park, and then
+reached the highway to Antibes, running along the seashore. Forestier
+acted as guide. He had already pointed out the villa of the Court de
+Paris, and now indicated others. He was lively, with the forced and
+feeble gayety of a doomed man. He lifted his finger, no longer having
+strength to stretch out his arm, and said, "There is the Ile Sainte
+Marguerite, and the chateau from which Bazaine escaped. How they did
+humbug us over that matter!"
+
+Then regimental recollections recurred to him, and he mentioned various
+officers whose names recalled incidents to them. But all at once, the
+road making a turn, they caught sight of the whole of the Golfe Juan,
+with the white village in the curve of the bay, and the point of Antibes
+at the further side of it. Forestier, suddenly seized upon by childish
+glee, exclaimed, "Ah! the squadron, you will see the squadron."
+
+Indeed they could perceive, in the middle of the broad bay, half-a-dozen
+large ships resembling rocks covered with leafless trees. They were
+huge, strange, mis-shapen, with excrescences, turrets, rams, burying
+themselves in the water as though to take root beneath the waves. One
+could scarcely imagine how they could stir or move about, they seemed so
+heavy and so firmly fixed to the bottom. A floating battery, circular
+and high out of water, resembling the light-houses that are built on
+shoals. A tall three-master passed near them, with all its white sails
+set. It looked graceful and pretty beside these iron war monsters
+squatted on the water. Forestier tried to make them out. He pointed out
+the Colbert, the Suffren, the Admiral Duperre, the Redoubtable, the
+Devastation, and then checking himself, added, "No I made a mistake;
+that one is the Devastation."
+
+They arrived opposite a species of large pavilion, on the front of which
+was the inscription, "Art Pottery of the Golfe Juan," and the carriage,
+driving up the sweep, stopped before the door. Forestier wanted to buy a
+couple of vases for his study. As he felt unequal to getting out of the
+carriage, specimens were brought out to him one after the other. He was
+a long time in making a choice, and consulted his wife and Duroy.
+
+"You know," he said, "it is for the cabinet at the end of the study.
+Sitting in my chair, I have it before my eyes all the time. I want an
+antique form, a Greek outline." He examined the specimens, had others
+brought, and then turned again to the first ones. At length he made up
+his mind, and having paid, insisted upon the articles being sent on at
+once. "I shall be going back to Paris in a few days," he said.
+
+They drove home, but as they skirted the bay a rush of cold air from one
+of the valleys suddenly met them, and the invalid began to cough. It was
+nothing at first, but it augmented and became an unbroken fit of
+coughing, and then a kind of gasping hiccough.
+
+Forestier was choking, and every time he tried to draw breath the cough
+seemed to rend his chest. Nothing would soothe or check it. He had to be
+borne from the carriage to his room, and Duroy, who supported his legs,
+felt the jerking of his feet at each convulsion of his lungs. The warmth
+of the bed did not check the attack, which lasted till midnight, when,
+at length, narcotics lulled its deadly spasm. The sick man remained till
+morning sitting up in his bed, with his eyes open.
+
+The first words he uttered were to ask for the barber, for he insisted
+on being shaved every morning. He got up for this operation, but had to
+be helped back into bed at once, and his breathing grew so short, so
+hard, and so difficult, that Madame Forestier, in alarm, had Duroy, who
+had just turned in, roused up again in order to beg him to go for the
+doctor.
+
+He came back almost immediately with Dr. Gavaut, who prescribed a
+soothing drink and gave some advice; but when the journalist saw him to
+the door, in order to ask his real opinion, he said, "It is the end. He
+will be dead to-morrow morning. Break it to his poor wife, and send for
+a priest. I, for my part, can do nothing more. I am, however, entirely
+at your service."
+
+Duroy sent for Madame Forestier. "He is dying," said he. "The doctor
+advises a priest being sent for. What would you like done?"
+
+She hesitated for some time, and then, in slow tones, as though she had
+calculated everything, replied, "Yes, that will be best--in many
+respects. I will break it to him--tell him the vicar wants to see him,
+or something or other; I really don't know what. You would be very kind
+if you would go and find a priest for me and pick one out. Choose one
+who won't raise too many difficulties over the business. One who will be
+satisfied with confession, and will let us off with the rest of it all."
+
+The young fellow returned with a complaisant old ecclesiastic, who
+accommodated himself to the state of affairs. As soon as he had gone
+into the dying man's room, Madame Forestier came out of it, and sat down
+with Duroy in the one adjoining.
+
+"It has quite upset him," said she. "When I spoke to him about a priest
+his face assumed a frightful expression as if he had felt the
+breath--the breath of--you know. He understood that it was all over at
+last, and that his hours were numbered." She was very pale as she
+continued, "I shall never forget the expression of his face. He
+certainly saw death face to face at that moment. He saw him."
+
+They could hear the priest, who spoke in somewhat loud tones, being
+slightly deaf, and who was saying, "No, no; you are not so bad as all
+that. You are ill, but in no danger. And the proof is that I have called
+in as a friend as a neighbor."
+
+They could not make out Forestier's reply, but the old man went on, "No,
+I will not ask you to communicate. We will talk of that when you are
+better. If you wish to profit by my visit--to confess, for instance--I
+ask nothing better. I am a shepherd, you know, and seize on every
+occasion to bring a lamb back to the fold."
+
+A long silence followed. Forestier must have been speaking in a faint
+voice. Then all at once the priest uttered in a different tone, the tone
+of one officiating at the altar. "The mercy of God is infinite. Repeat
+the Comfiteor, my son. You have perhaps forgotten it; I will help you.
+Repeat after me: 'Comfiteor Deo omnipotenti--Beata Maria semper
+virgini.'"
+
+He paused from time to time to allow the dying man to catch him up. Then
+he said, "And now confess."
+
+The young wife and Duroy sat still seized on by a strange uneasiness,
+stirred by anxious expectation. The invalid had murmured something. The
+priest repeated, "You have given way to guilty pleasures--of what kind,
+my son?"
+
+Madeleine rose and said, "Let us go down into the garden for a short
+time. We must not listen to his secrets."
+
+And they went and sat down on a bench before the door beneath a rose
+tree in bloom, and beside a bed of pinks, which shed their soft and
+powerful perfume abroad in the pure air. Duroy, after a few moments'
+silence, inquired, "Shall you be long before you return to Paris?"
+
+"Oh, no," she replied. "As soon as it is all over I shall go back
+there."
+
+"Within ten days?"
+
+"Yes, at the most."
+
+"He has no relations, then?"
+
+"None except cousins. His father and mother died when he was quite
+young."
+
+They both watched a butterfly sipping existence from the pinks, passing
+from one to another with a soft flutter of his wings, which continued to
+flap slowly when he alighted on a flower. They remained silent for a
+considerable time.
+
+The servant came to inform them that "the priest had finished," and they
+went upstairs together.
+
+Forestier seemed to have grown still thinner since the day before. The
+priest held out his hand to him, saying, "Good-day, my son, I shall call
+in again to-morrow morning," and took his departure.
+
+As soon as he had left the room the dying man, who was panting for
+breath, strove to hold out his two hands to his wife, and gasped, "Save
+me--save me, darling, I don't want to die--I don't want to die. Oh! save
+me--tell me what I had better do; send for the doctor. I will take
+whatever you like. I won't die--I won't die."
+
+He wept. Big tears streamed from his eyes down his fleshless cheeks, and
+the corners of his mouth contracted like those of a vexed child. Then
+his hands, falling back on the bed clothes, began a slow, regular, and
+continuous movement, as though trying to pick something off the sheet.
+
+His wife, who began to cry too, said: "No, no, it is nothing. It is only
+a passing attack, you will be better to-morrow, you tired yourself too
+much going out yesterday."
+
+Forestier's breathing was shorter than that of a dog who has been
+running, so quick that it could not be counted, so faint that it could
+scarcely be heard.
+
+He kept repeating: "I don't want to die. Oh! God--God--God; what is to
+become of me? I shall no longer see anything--anything any more. Oh!
+God."
+
+He saw before him some hideous thing invisible to the others, and his
+staring eyes reflected the terror it inspired. His two hands continued
+their horrible and wearisome action. All at once he started with a sharp
+shudder that could be seen to thrill the whole of his body, and jerked
+out the words, "The graveyard--I--Oh! God."
+
+He said no more, but lay motionless, haggard and panting.
+
+Time sped on, noon struck by the clock of a neighboring convent. Duroy
+left the room to eat a mouthful or two. He came back an hour later.
+Madame Forestier refused to take anything. The invalid had not stirred.
+He still continued to draw his thin fingers along the sheet as though to
+pull it up over his face.
+
+His wife was seated in an armchair at the foot of the bed. Duroy took
+another beside her, and they waited in silence. A nurse had come, sent
+in by the doctor, and was dozing near the window.
+
+Duroy himself was beginning to doze off when he felt that something was
+happening. He opened his eyes just in time to see Forestier close his,
+like two lights dying out. A faint rattle stirred in the throat of the
+dying man, and two streaks of blood appeared at the corners of his
+mouth, and then flowed down into his shirt. His hands ceased their
+hideous motion. He had ceased to breathe.
+
+His wife understood this, and uttering a kind of shriek, she fell on her
+knees sobbing, with her face buried in the bed-clothes. George,
+surprised and scared, mechanically made the sign of the cross. The nurse
+awakened, drew near the bed. "It is all over," said she.
+
+Duroy, who was recovering his self-possession, murmured, with a sigh of
+relief: "It was sooner over than I thought for."
+
+When the first shock was over and the first tears shed, they had to busy
+themselves with all the cares and all the necessary steps a dead man
+exacts. Duroy was running about till nightfall. He was very hungry when
+he got back. Madame Forestier ate a little, and then they both installed
+themselves in the chamber of death to watch the body. Two candles burned
+on the night-table beside a plate filled with holy water, in which lay a
+sprig of mimosa, for they had not been able to get the necessary twig of
+consecrated box.
+
+They were alone, the young man and the young wife, beside him who was no
+more. They sat without speaking, thinking and watching.
+
+George, whom the darkness rendered uneasy in presence of the corpse,
+kept his eyes on this persistently. His eye and his mind were both
+attracted and fascinated by this fleshless visage, which the vacillating
+light caused to appear yet more hollow. That was his friend Charles
+Forestier, who was chatting with him only the day before! What a strange
+and fearful thing was this end of a human being! Oh! how he recalled the
+words of Norbert de Varenne haunted by the fear of death: "No one ever
+comes back." Millions on millions would be born almost identical, with
+eyes, a nose, a mouth, a skull and a mind within it, without he who lay
+there on the bed ever reappearing again.
+
+For some years he had lived, eaten, laughed, loved, hoped like all the
+world. And it was all over for him all over for ever. Life; a few days,
+and then nothing. One is born, one grows up, one is happy, one waits,
+and then one dies. Farewell, man or woman, you will not return again to
+earth. Plants, beast, men, stars, worlds, all spring to life, and then
+die to be transformed anew. But never one of them comes back--insect,
+man, nor planet.
+
+A huge, confused, and crushing sense of terror weighed down the soul of
+Duroy, the terror of that boundless and inevitable annihilation
+destroying all existence. He already bowed his head before its menace.
+He thought of the flies who live a few hours, the beasts who live a few
+days, the men who live a few years, the worlds which live a few
+centuries. What was the difference between one and the other? A few more
+days' dawn that was all.
+
+He turned away his eyes in order no longer to have the corpse before
+them. Madame Forestier, with bent head, seemed also absorbed in painful
+thoughts. Her fair hair showed so prettily with her pale face, that a
+feeling, sweet as the touch of hope flitted through the young fellow's
+breast. Why grieve when he had still so many years before him? And he
+began to observe her. Lost in thought she did not notice him. He said to
+himself, "That, though, is the only good thing in life, to love, to hold
+the woman one loves in one's arms. That is the limit of human
+happiness."
+
+What luck the dead man had had to meet such an intelligent and charming
+companion! How had they become acquainted? How ever had she agreed on
+her part to marry that poor and commonplace young fellow? How had she
+succeeded in making someone of him? Then he thought of all the hidden
+mysteries of people's lives. He remembered what had been whispered about
+the Count de Vaudrec, who had dowered and married her off it was said.
+
+What would she do now? Whom would she marry? A deputy, as Madame de
+Marelle fancied, or some young fellow with a future before him, a higher
+class Forestier? Had she any projects, any plans, any settled ideas? How
+he would have liked to know that. But why this anxiety as to what she
+would do? He asked himself this, and perceived that his uneasiness was
+due to one of those half-formed and secret ideas which one hides from
+even one's self, and only discovers when fathoming one's self to the
+very bottom.
+
+Yes, why should he not attempt this conquest himself? How strong and
+redoubtable he would be with her beside him!
+
+How quick, and far, and surely he would fly! And why should he not
+succeed too? He felt that he pleased her, that she had for him more than
+mere sympathy; in fact, one of those affections which spring up between
+two kindred spirits and which partake as much of silent seduction as of
+a species of mute complicity. She knew him to be intelligent, resolute,
+and tenacious, she would have confidence in him.
+
+Had she not sent for him under the present grave circumstances? And why
+had she summoned him? Ought he not to see in this a kind of choice, a
+species of confession. If she had thought of him just at the moment she
+was about to become a widow, it was perhaps that she had thought of one
+who was again to become her companion and ally? An impatient desire to
+know this, to question her, to learn her intentions, assailed him. He
+would have to leave on the next day but one, as he could not remain
+alone with her in the house. So it was necessary to be quick, it was
+necessary before returning to Paris to become acquainted, cleverly and
+delicately, with her projects, and not to allow her to go back on them,
+to yield perhaps to the solicitations of another, and pledge herself
+irrevocably.
+
+The silence in the room was intense, nothing was audible save the
+regular and metallic tick of the pendulum of the clock on the
+mantelpiece.
+
+He murmured: "You must be very tired?"
+
+She replied: "Yes; but I am, above all, overwhelmed."
+
+The sound of their own voices startled them, ringing strangely in this
+gloomy room, and they suddenly glanced at the dead man's face as though
+they expected to see it move on hearing them, as it had done some hours
+before.
+
+Duroy resumed: "Oh! it is a heavy blow for you, and such a complete
+change in your existence, a shock to your heart and your whole life."
+
+She gave a long sigh, without replying, and he continued, "It is so
+painful for a young woman to find herself alone as you will be."
+
+He paused, but she said nothing, and he again went on, "At all events,
+you know the compact entered into between us. You can make what use of
+me you will. I belong to you."
+
+She held out her hand, giving him at the same time one of those sweet,
+sad looks which stir us to the very marrow.
+
+"Thank you, you are very kind," she said. "If I dared, and if I could do
+anything for you, I, too, should say, 'You may count upon me.'"
+
+He had taken the proffered hand and kept it clasped in his, with a
+burning desire to kiss it. He made up his mind to this at last, and
+slowly raising it to his mouth, held the delicate skin, warm, slightly
+feverish and perfumed, to his lips for some time. Then, when he felt
+that his friendly caress was on the point of becoming too prolonged, he
+let fall the little hand. It sank back gently onto the knee of its
+mistress, who said, gravely: "Yes, I shall be very lonely, but I shall
+strive to be brave."
+
+He did not know how to give her to understand that he would be happy,
+very happy, to have her for his wife in his turn. Certainly he could not
+tell her so at that hour, in that place, before that corpse; yet he
+might, it seemed to him, hit upon one of those ambiguous, decorous, and
+complicated phrases which have a hidden meaning under their words, and
+which express all one wants to by their studied reticence. But the
+corpse incommoded him, the stiffened corpse stretched out before them,
+and which he felt between them. For some time past, too, he fancied he
+detected in the close atmosphere of the room a suspicious odor, a
+foetid breath exhaling from the decomposing chest, the first whiff of
+carrion which the dead lying on their bed throw out to the relatives
+watching them, and with which they soon fill the hollow of their
+coffin.
+
+"Cannot we open the window a little?" said Duroy. "It seems to me that
+the air is tainted."
+
+"Yes," she replied, "I have just noticed it, too."
+
+He went to the window and opened it. All the perfumed freshness of night
+flowed in, agitating the flame of the two lighted candles beside the
+bed. The moon was shedding, as on the former evening, her full mellow
+light upon the white walls of the villas and the broad glittering
+expanse of the sea. Duroy, drawing in the air to the full depth of his
+lungs, felt himself suddenly seized with hope, and, as it were buoyed up
+by the approach of happiness. He turned round, saying: "Come and get a
+little fresh air. It is delightful."
+
+She came quietly, and leant on the window-sill beside him. Then he
+murmured in a low tone: "Listen to me, and try to understand what I want
+to tell you. Above all, do not be indignant at my speaking to you of
+such a matter at such a moment, for I shall leave you the day after
+to-morrow, and when you return to Paris it may be too late. I am only a
+poor devil without fortune, and with a position yet to make, as you
+know. But I have a firm will, some brains I believe, and I am well on
+the right track. With a man who has made his position, one knows what
+one gets; with one who is starting, one never knows where he may finish.
+So much the worse, or so much the better. In short, I told you one day
+at your house that my brightest dream would have been to have married a
+woman like you. I repeat this wish to you now. Do not answer, let me
+continue. It is not a proposal I am making to you. The time and place
+would render that odious. I wish only not to leave you ignorant that you
+can make me happy with a word; that you can make me either a friend and
+brother, or a husband, at your will; that my heart and myself are yours.
+I do not want you to answer me now. I do not want us to speak any more
+about the matter here. When we meet again in Paris you will let me know
+what you have resolved upon. Until then, not a word. Is it not so?" He
+had uttered all this without looking at her, as though scattering his
+words abroad in the night before him. She seemed not to have heard them,
+so motionless had she remained, looking also straight before her with a
+fixed and vague stare at the vast landscape lit up by the moon. They
+remained for some time side by side, elbow touching elbow, silent and
+reflecting. Then she murmured: "It is rather cold," and turning round,
+returned towards the bed.
+
+He followed her. When he drew near he recognized that Forestier's body
+was really beginning to smell, and drew his chair to a distance, for he
+could not have stood this odor of putrefaction long. He said: "He must
+be put in a coffin the first thing in the morning."
+
+"Yes, yes, it is arranged," she replied. "The undertaker will be here at
+eight o'clock."
+
+Duroy having sighed out the words, "Poor fellow," she, too, gave a long
+sigh of heartrending resignation.
+
+They did not look at the body so often now, already accustomed to the
+idea of it, and beginning to mentally consent to the decease which but a
+short time back had shocked and angered them--them who were mortals,
+too. They no longer spoke, continuing to keep watch in befitting fashion
+without going to sleep. But towards midnight Duroy dozed off the first.
+When he woke up he saw that Madame Forestier was also slumbering, and
+having shifted to a more comfortable position, he reclosed his eyes,
+growling: "Confound it all, it is more comfortable between the sheets
+all the same."
+
+A sudden noise made him start up. The nurse was entering the room. It
+was broad daylight. The young wife in the armchair in front of him
+seemed as surprised as himself. She was somewhat pale, but still pretty,
+fresh-looking, and nice, in spite of this night passed in a chair.
+
+Then, having glanced at the corpse, Duroy started and exclaimed: "Oh,
+his beard!" The beard had grown in a few hours on this decomposing flesh
+as much as it would have in several days on a living face. And they
+stood scared by this life continuing in death, as though in presence of
+some fearful prodigy, some supernatural threat of resurrection, one of
+these startling and abnormal events which upset and confound the mind.
+
+They both went and lay down until eleven o'clock. Then they placed
+Charles in his coffin, and at once felt relieved and soothed. They had
+sat down face to face at lunch with an aroused desire to speak of the
+livelier and more consolatory matters, to return to the things of life
+again, since they had done with the dead. Through the wide-open window
+the soft warmth of spring flowed in, bearing the perfumed breath of the
+bed of pinks in bloom before the door.
+
+Madame Forestier suggested a stroll in the garden to Duroy, and they
+began to walk slowly round the little lawn, inhaling with pleasure the
+balmy air, laden with the scent of pine and eucalyptus. Suddenly she
+began to speak, without turning her head towards him, as he had done
+during the night upstairs. She uttered her words slowly, in a low and
+serious voice.
+
+"Look here, my dear friend, I have deeply reflected already on what you
+proposed to me, and I do not want you to go away without an answer.
+Besides, I am neither going to say yes nor no. We will wait, we will
+see, we will know one another better. Reflect, too, on your side. Do not
+give way to impulse. But if I speak to you of this before even poor
+Charles is lowered into the tomb, it is because it is necessary, after
+what you have said to me, that you should thoroughly understand what
+sort of woman I am, in order that you may no longer cherish the wish you
+expressed to me, in case you are not of a--of a--disposition to
+comprehend and bear with me. Understand me well. Marriage for me is not
+a charm, but a partnership. I mean to be free, perfectly free as to my
+ways, my acts, my going and coming. I could neither tolerate
+supervision, nor jealousy, nor arguments as to my behavior. I should
+undertake, be it understood, never to compromise the name of the man who
+takes me as his wife, never to render him hateful and ridiculous. But
+this man must also undertake to see in me an equal, an ally, and not an
+inferior or an obedient and submissive wife. My notions, I know, are not
+those of every one, but I shall not change them. There you are. I will
+also add, do not answer me; it would be useless and unsuitable. We shall
+see one another again, and shall perhaps speak of all this again later
+on. Now, go for a stroll. I shall return to watch beside him. Till this
+evening."
+
+He printed a long kiss on her hand, and went away without uttering a
+word. That evening they only saw one another at dinnertime. Then they
+retired to their rooms, both exhausted with fatigue.
+
+Charles Forestier was buried the next day, without any funeral display,
+in the cemetery at Cannes. George Duroy wished to take the Paris
+express, which passed through the town at half-past one.
+
+Madame Forestier drove with him to the station. They walked quietly up
+and down the platform pending the time for his departure, speaking of
+trivial matters.
+
+The train rolled into the station. The journalist took his seat, and
+then got out again to have a few more moments' conversation with her,
+suddenly seized as he was with sadness and a strong regret at leaving
+her, as though he were about to lose her for ever.
+
+A porter shouted, "Take your seats for Marseilles, Lyons, and Paris."
+Duroy got in and leant out of the window to say a few more words. The
+engine whistled, and the train began to move slowly on.
+
+The young fellow, leaning out of the carriage, watched the woman
+standing still on the platform and following him with her eyes.
+Suddenly, as he was about to lose sight of her, he put his hand to his
+mouth and threw a kiss towards her. She returned it with a discreet and
+hesitating gesture.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+George Duroy had returned to all his old habits.
+
+Installed at present in the little ground-floor suite of rooms in the
+Rue de Constantinople, he lived soberly, like a man preparing a new
+existence for himself.
+
+Madame Forestier had not yet returned. She was lingering at Cannes. He
+received a letter from her merely announcing her return about the middle
+of April, without a word of allusion to their farewell. He was waiting,
+his mind was thoroughly made up now to employ every means in order to
+marry her, if she seemed to hesitate. But he had faith in his luck,
+confidence in that power of seduction which he felt within him, a vague
+and irresistible power which all women felt the influence of.
+
+A short note informed him that the decisive hour was about to strike: "I
+am in Paris. Come and see me.--Madeleine Forestier."
+
+Nothing more. He received it by the nine o'clock post. He arrived at her
+residence at three on the same day. She held out both hands to him
+smiling with her pleasant smile, and they looked into one another's eyes
+for a few seconds. Then she said: "How good you were to come to me there
+under those terrible circumstances."
+
+"I should have done anything you told me to," he replied.
+
+And they sat down. She asked the news, inquired about the Walters, about
+all the staff, about the paper. She had often thought about the paper.
+
+"I miss that a great deal," she said, "really a very great deal. I had
+become at heart a journalist. What would you, I love the profession?"
+
+Then she paused. He thought he understood, he thought he divined in her
+smile, in the tone of her voice, in her words themselves a kind of
+invitation, and although he had promised to himself not to precipitate
+matters, he stammered out: "Well, then--why--why should you not
+resume--this occupation--under--under the name of Duroy?"
+
+She suddenly became serious again, and placing her hand on his arm,
+murmured: "Do not let us speak of that yet a while."
+
+But he divined that she accepted, and falling at her knees began to
+passionately kiss her hands, repeating: "Thanks, thanks; oh, how I love
+you!"
+
+She rose. He did so, too, and noted that she was very pale. Then he
+understood that he had pleased her, for a long time past, perhaps, and
+as they found themselves face to face, he clasped her to him and printed
+a long, tender, and decorous kiss on her forehead. When she had freed
+herself, slipping through his arms, she said in a serious tone: "Listen,
+I have not yet made up my mind to anything. However, it may be--yes. But
+you must promise me the most absolute secrecy till I give you leave to
+speak."
+
+He swore this, and left, his heart overflowing with joy.
+
+He was from that time forward very discreet as regards the visits he
+paid her, and did not ask for any more definite consent on her part, for
+she had a way of speaking of the future, of saying "by-and-by," and of
+shaping plans in which these two lives were blended, which answered him
+better and more delicately than a formal acceptation.
+
+Duroy worked hard and spent little, trying to save money so as not to be
+without a penny at the date fixed for his marriage, and becoming as
+close as he had been prodigal. The summer went by, and then the autumn,
+without anyone suspecting anything, for they met very little, and only
+in the most natural way in the world.
+
+One evening, Madeleine, looking him straight in the eyes said: "You have
+not yet announced our intentions to Madame de Marelle?"
+
+"No, dear, having promised you to be secret, I have not opened my mouth
+to a living soul."
+
+"Well, it is about time to tell her. I will undertake to inform the
+Walters. You will do so this week, will you not?"
+
+He blushed as he said: "Yes, to-morrow."
+
+She had turned away her eyes in order not to notice his confusion, and
+said: "If you like we will be married in the beginning of May. That will
+be a very good time."
+
+"I obey you in all things with joy."
+
+"The tenth of May, which is a Saturday, will suit me very nicely, for it
+is my birthday."
+
+"Very well, the tenth of May."
+
+"Your parents live near Rouen, do they not? You have told me so, at
+least."
+
+"Yes, near Rouen, at Canteleu."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"They are--they are small annuitants."
+
+"Ah! I should very much like to know them."
+
+He hesitated, greatly perplexed, and said: "But, you see, they are--"
+Then making up his mind, like a really clever man, he went on: "My dear,
+they are mere country folk, innkeepers, who have pinched themselves to
+the utmost to enable me to pursue my studies. For my part, I am not
+ashamed of them, but their--simplicity--their rustic manners--might,
+perhaps, render you uncomfortable."
+
+She smiled, delightfully, her face lit up with gentle kindness as she
+replied: "No. I shall be very fond of them. We will go and see them. I
+want to. I will speak of this to you again. I, too, am a daughter of
+poor people, but I have lost my parents. I have no longer anyone in the
+world." She held out her hand to him as she added: "But you."
+
+He felt softened, moved, overcome, as he had been by no other woman.
+
+"I had thought about one matter," she continued, "but it is rather
+difficult to explain."
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Well, it is this, my dear boy, I am like all women, I have my
+weaknesses, my pettinesses. I love all that glitters, that catches the
+ear. I should have so delighted to have borne a noble name. Could you
+not, on the occasion of your marriage, ennoble yourself a little?"
+
+She had blushed in her turn, as if she had proposed something
+indelicate.
+
+He replied simply enough: "I have often thought about it, but it did not
+seem to me so easy."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+He began to laugh, saying: "Because I was afraid of making myself look
+ridiculous."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. "Not at all, not at all Every one does it,
+and nobody laughs. Separate your name in two--Du Roy. That looks very
+well."
+
+He replied at once like a man who understands the matter in question:
+"No, that will not do at all. It is too simple, too common, too
+well-known. I had thought of taking the name of my native place, as a
+literary pseudonym at first, then of adding it to my own by degrees, and
+then, later on, of even cutting my name in two, as you suggest."
+
+"Your native place is Canteleu?" she queried.
+
+"Yes."
+
+She hesitated, saying: "No, I do not like the termination. Come, cannot
+we modify this word Canteleu a little?"
+
+She had taken up a pen from the table, and was scribbling names and
+studying their physiognomy. All at once she exclaimed: "There, there it
+is!" and held out to him a paper, on which read--"Madame Duroy de
+Cantel."
+
+He reflected a few moments, and then said gravely: "Yes, that does very
+well."
+
+She was delighted, and kept repeating "Duroy de Cantel, Duroy de Cantel,
+Madame Duroy de Cantel. It is capital, capital." She went on with an air
+of conviction: "And you will see how easy it is to get everyone to
+accept it. But one must know how to seize the opportunity, for it will
+be too late afterwards. You must from to-morrow sign your descriptive
+articles D. de Cantel, and your 'Echoes' simply Duroy. It is done every
+day in the press, and no one will be astonished to see you take a
+pseudonym. At the moment of our marriage we can modify it yet a little
+more, and tell our friends that you had given up the 'Du' out of modesty
+on account of your position, or even say nothing about it. What is your
+father's Christian name?"
+
+"Alexander."
+
+She murmured: "Alexander, Alexander," two or three times, listening to
+the sonorous roll of the syllables, and then wrote on a blank sheet of
+paper:
+
+"Monsieur and Madame Alexander Du Roy de Cantel have the honor to inform
+you of the marriage of Monsieur George Du Roy de Cantel, their son, to
+Madame Madeleine Forestier." She looked at her writing, holding it at a
+distance, charmed by the effect, and said: "With a little method we can
+manage whatever we wish."
+
+When he found himself once more in the street, firmly resolved to call
+himself in future Du Roy, and even Du Roy de Cantel, it seemed to him
+that he had acquired fresh importance. He walked with more swagger, his
+head higher, his moustache fiercer, as a gentleman should walk. He felt
+in himself a species of joyous desire to say to the passers-by: "My name
+is Du Roy de Cantel."
+
+But scarcely had he got home than the thought of Madame de Marelle made
+him feel uneasy, and he wrote to her at once to ask her to make an
+appointment for the next day.
+
+"It will be a tough job," he thought. "I must look out for squalls."
+
+Then he made up his mind for it, with the native carelessness which
+caused him to slur over the disagreeable side of life, and began to
+
+write a fancy article on the fresh taxes needed in order to make the
+Budget balance. He set down in this the nobiliary "De" at a hundred
+francs a year, and titles, from baron to prince, at from five hundred to
+five thousand francs. And he signed it "D. de Cantel."
+
+He received a telegram from his mistress next morning saying that she
+would call at one o'clock. He waited for her somewhat feverishly, his
+mind made up to bring things to a point at once, to say everything right
+out, and then, when the first emotion had subsided, to argue cleverly in
+order to prove to her that he could not remain a bachelor for ever, and
+that as Monsieur de Marelle insisted on living, he had been obliged to
+think of another than herself as his legitimate companion. He felt
+moved, though, and when he heard her ring his heart began to beat.
+
+She threw herself into his arms, exclaiming: "Good morning, Pretty-boy."
+Then, finding his embrace cold, looked at him, and said: "What is the
+matter with you?"
+
+"Sit down," he said, "we have to talk seriously."
+
+She sat down without taking her bonnet off, only turning back her veil,
+and waited.
+
+He had lowered his eyes, and was preparing the beginning of his speech.
+He commenced in a low tone of voice: "My dear one, you see me very
+uneasy, very sad, and very much embarrassed at what I have to admit to
+you. I love you dearly. I really love you from the bottom of my heart,
+so that the fear of causing you pain afflicts me more than even the news
+I am going to tell you."
+
+
+She grew pale, felt herself tremble, and stammered out: "What is the
+matter? Tell me at once."
+
+He said in sad but resolute tones, with that feigned dejection which we
+make use of to announce fortunate misfortunes: "I am going to be
+married."
+
+She gave the sigh of a woman who is about to faint, a painful sigh from
+the very depths of her bosom, and then began to choke and gasp without
+being able to speak.
+
+Seeing that she did not say anything, he continued: "You cannot imagine
+how much I suffered before coming to this resolution. But I have neither
+position nor money. I am alone, lost in Paris. I needed beside me
+someone who above all would be an adviser, a consoler, and a stay. It is
+a partner, an ally, that I have sought, and that I have found."
+
+He was silent, hoping that she would reply, expecting furious rage,
+violence, and insults. She had placed one hand on her heart as though to
+restrain its throbbings, and continued to draw her breath by painful
+efforts, which made her bosom heave spasmodically and her head nod to
+and fro. He took her other hand, which was resting on the arm of the
+chair, but she snatched it away abruptly. Then she murmured, as though
+in a state of stupefaction: "Oh, my God!"
+
+He knelt down before her, without daring to touch her, however, and more
+deeply moved by this silence than he would have been by a fit of anger,
+stammered out: "Clo! my darling Clo! just consider my situation,
+consider what I am. Oh! if I had been able to marry you, what happiness
+it would have been. But you are married. What could I do? Come, think of
+it, now. I must take a place in society, and I cannot do it so long as I
+have not a home. If you only knew. There are days when I have felt a
+longing to kill your husband."
+
+He spoke in his soft, subdued, seductive voice, a voice which entered
+the ear like music. He saw two tears slowly gather in the fixed and
+staring eyes of his mistress and then roll down her cheeks, while two
+more were already formed on the eyelids.
+
+He murmured: "Do not cry, Clo; do not cry, I beg of you. You rend my
+very heart."
+
+Then she made an effort, a strong effort, to be proud and dignified, and
+asked, in the quivering tone of a woman about to burst into sobs: "Who
+is it?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, and then understanding that he must, said:
+
+"Madeleine Forestier."
+
+Madame de Marelle shuddered all over, and remained silent, so deep in
+thought that she seemed to have forgotten that he was at her feet. And
+two transparent drops kept continually forming in her eyes, falling and
+forming again.
+
+She rose. Duroy guessed that she was going away without saying a word,
+without reproach or forgiveness, and he felt hurt and humiliated to the
+bottom of his soul. Wishing to stay her, he threw his arms about the
+skirt of her dress, clasping through the stuff her rounded legs, which
+he felt stiffen in resistance. He implored her, saying: "I beg of you,
+do not go away like that."
+
+Then she looked down on him from above with that moistened and
+despairing eye, at once so charming and so sad, which shows all the
+grief of a woman's heart, and gasped out: "I--I have nothing to say. I
+have nothing to do with it. You--you are right. You--you have chosen
+well."
+
+And, freeing herself by a backward movement, she left the room without
+his trying to detain her further.
+
+Left to himself, he rose as bewildered as if he had received a blow on
+the head. Then, making up his mind, he muttered: "Well, so much the
+worse or the better. It is over, and without a scene; I prefer that,"
+and relieved from an immense weight, suddenly feeling himself free,
+delivered, at ease as to his future life, he began to spar at the wall,
+hitting out with his fists in a kind of intoxication of strength and
+triumph, as if he had been fighting Fate.
+
+When Madame Forestier asked: "Have you told Madame de Marelle?" he
+quietly answered, "Yes."
+
+She scanned him closely with her bright eyes, saying: "And did it not
+cause her any emotion?"
+
+"No, not at all. She thought it, on the contrary, a very good idea."
+
+The news was soon known. Some were astonished, others asserted that they
+had foreseen it; others, again, smiled, and let it be understood that
+they were not surprised.
+
+The young man who now signed his descriptive articles D. de Cantel, his
+"Echoes" Duroy, and the political articles which he was beginning to
+write from time to time Du Roy, passed half his time with his betrothed,
+who treated him with a fraternal familiarity into which, however,
+entered a real but hidden love, a species of desire concealed as a
+weakness. She had decided that the marriage should be quite private,
+only the witnesses being present, and that they should leave the same
+evening for Rouen. They would go the next day to see the journalist's
+parents, and remain with them some days. Duroy had striven to get her to
+renounce this project, but not having been able to do so, had ended by
+giving in to it.
+
+So the tenth of May having come, the newly-married couple, having
+considered the religious ceremony useless since they had not invited
+anyone, returned to finish packing their boxes after a brief visit to
+the Town Hall. They took, at the Saint Lazare terminus, the six o'clock
+train, which bore them away towards Normandy. They had scarcely
+exchanged twenty words up to the time that they found themselves alone
+in the railway carriage. As soon as they felt themselves under way, they
+looked at one another and began to laugh, to hide a certain feeling of
+awkwardness which they did not want to manifest.
+
+The train slowly passed through the long station of Batignolles, and
+then crossed the mangy-looking plain extending from the fortifications
+to the Seine. Duroy and his wife from time to time made a few idle
+remarks, and then turned again towards the windows. When they crossed
+the bridge of Asniéres, a feeling of greater liveliness was aroused in
+them at the sight of the river covered with boats, fishermen, and
+oarsmen. The sun, a bright May sun, shed its slanting rays upon the
+craft and upon the smooth stream, which seemed motionless, without
+current or eddy, checked, as it were, beneath the heat and brightness of
+the declining day. A sailing boat in the middle of the river having
+spread two large triangular sails of snowy canvas, wing and wing, to
+catch the faintest puffs of wind, looked like an immense bird preparing
+to take flight.
+
+Duroy murmured: "I adore the neighborhood of Paris. I have memories of
+dinners which I reckon among the pleasantest in my life."
+
+"And the boats," she replied. "How nice it is to glide along at sunset."
+
+Then they became silent, as though afraid to continue their outpourings
+as to their past life, and remained so, already enjoying, perhaps, the
+poesy of regret.
+
+Duroy, seated face to face with his wife, took her hand and slowly
+kissed it. "When we get back again," said he, "we will go and dine
+sometimes at Chatou."
+
+She murmured: "We shall have so many things to do," in a tone of voice
+that seemed to imply, "The agreeable must be sacrificed to the useful."
+
+He still held her hand, asking himself with some uneasiness by what
+transition he should reach the caressing stage. He would not have felt
+uneasy in the same way in presence of the ignorance of a young girl, but
+the lively and artful intelligence he felt existed in Madeleine,
+rendered his attitude an embarrassed one. He was afraid of appearing
+stupid to her, too timid or too brutal, too slow or too prompt. He kept
+pressing her hand gently, without her making any response to this
+appeal. At length he said: "It seems to me very funny for you to be my
+wife."
+
+She seemed surprised as she said: "Why so?"
+
+"I do not know. It seems strange to me. I want to kiss you, and I feel
+astonished at having the right to do so."
+
+She calmly held out her cheek to him, which he kissed as he would have
+kissed that of a sister.
+
+He continued: "The first time I saw you--you remember the dinner
+Forestier invited me to--I thought, 'Hang it all, if I could only find a
+wife like that.' Well, it's done. I have one."
+
+She said, in a low tone: "That is very nice," and looked him straight in
+the face, shrewdly, and with smiling eyes.
+
+He reflected, "I am too cold. I am stupid. I ought to get along quicker
+than this," and asked: "How did you make Forestier's acquaintance?"
+
+She replied, with provoking archness: "Are we going to Rouen to talk
+about him?"
+
+He reddened, saying: "I am a fool. But you frighten me a great deal."
+
+She was delighted, saying: "I--impossible! How is it?"
+
+He had seated himself close beside her. She suddenly exclaimed: "Oh! a
+stag."
+
+The train was passing through the forest of Saint Germaine, and she had
+seen a frightened deer clear one of the paths at a bound. Duroy, leaning
+forward as she looked out of the open window, printed a long kiss, a
+lover's kiss, among the hair on her neck. She remained still for a few
+seconds, and then, raising her head, said: "You are tickling me. Leave
+off."
+
+But he would not go away, but kept on pressing his curly moustache
+against her white skin in a long and thrilling caress.
+
+She shook herself, saying: "Do leave off."
+
+He had taken her head in his right hand, passed around her, and turned
+it towards him. Then he darted on her mouth like a hawk on its prey. She
+struggled, repulsed him, tried to free herself. She succeeded at last,
+and repeated: "Do leave off."
+
+He remained seated, very red and chilled by this sensible remark; then,
+having recovered more self-possession, he said, with some liveliness:
+"Very well, I will wait, but I shan't be able to say a dozen words till
+we get to Rouen. And remember that we are only passing through Poissy."
+
+"I will do the talking then," she said, and sat down quietly beside him.
+
+She spoke with precision of what they would do on their return. They
+must keep on the suite of apartments that she had resided in with her
+first husband, and Duroy would also inherit the duties and salary of
+Forestier at the _Vie Francaise_. Before their union, besides, she had
+planned out, with the certainty of a man of business, all the financial
+details of their household. They had married under a settlement
+preserving to each of them their respective estates, and every incident
+that might arise--death, divorce, the birth of one or more children--was
+duly provided for. The young fellow contributed a capital of four
+thousand francs, he said, but of that sum he had borrowed fifteen
+hundred. The rest was due to savings effected during the year in view of
+the event. Her contribution was forty thousand francs, which she said
+had been left her by Forestier.
+
+She returned to him as a subject of conversation. "He was a very steady,
+economical, hard-working fellow. He would have made a fortune in a very
+short time."
+
+Duroy no longer listened, wholly absorbed by other thoughts. She stopped
+from time to time to follow out some inward train of ideas, and then
+went on: "In three or four years you can be easily earning thirty to
+forty thousand francs a year. That is what Charles would have had if he
+had lived."
+
+George, who began to find the lecture rather a long one, replied: "I
+thought we were not going to Rouen to talk about him."
+
+She gave him a slight tap on the cheek, saying, with a laugh: "That is
+so. I am in the wrong."
+
+He made a show of sitting with his hands on his knees like a very good
+boy.
+
+"You look very like a simpleton like that," said she.
+
+He replied: "That is my part, of which, by the way, you reminded me just
+now, and I shall continue to play it."
+
+
+"Why?" she asked.
+
+"Because it is you who take management of the household, and even of me.
+That, indeed, concerns you, as being a widow."
+
+She was amazed, saying: "What do you really mean?"
+
+"That you have an experience that should enlighten my ignorance, and
+matrimonial practice that should polish up my bachelor innocence, that's
+all."
+
+"That is too much," she exclaimed.
+
+He replied: "That is so. I don't know anything about ladies; no, and you
+know all about gentlemen, for you are a widow. You must undertake my
+education--this evening--and you can begin at once if you like."
+
+She exclaimed, very much amused: "Oh, indeed, if you reckon on me for
+that!"
+
+He repeated, in the tone of a school boy stumbling through his lesson:
+"Yes, I do. I reckon that you will give me solid information--in twenty
+lessons. Ten for the elements, reading and grammar; ten for finishing
+accomplishments. I don't know anything myself."
+
+She exclaimed, highly amused: "You goose."
+
+He replied: "If that is the familiar tone you take, I will follow your
+example, and tell you, darling, that I adore you more and more every
+moment, and that I find Rouen a very long way off."
+
+He spoke now with a theatrical intonation and with a series of changes
+of facial expression, which amused his companion, accustomed to the ways
+of literary Bohemia. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye,
+finding him really charming, and experiencing the longing we have to
+pluck a fruit from the tree at once, and the check of reason which
+advises us to wait till dinner to eat it at the proper time. Then she
+observed, blushing somewhat at the thoughts which assailed her: "My dear
+little pupil, trust my experience, my great experience. Kisses in a
+railway train are not worth anything. They only upset one." Then she
+blushed still more as she murmured: "One should never eat one's corn in
+the ear."
+
+He chuckled, kindling at the double meanings from her pretty mouth, and
+made the sign of the cross, with a movement of the lips, as though
+murmuring a prayer, adding aloud: "I have placed myself under the
+protection of St. Anthony, patron-saint of temptations. Now I am
+adamant."
+
+Night was stealing gently on, wrapping in its transparent shadow, like a
+fine gauze, the broad landscape stretching away to the right. The train
+was running along the Seine, and the young couple began to watch the
+crimson reflections on the surface of the river, winding like a broad
+strip of polished metal alongside the line, patches fallen from the sky,
+which the departing sun had kindled into flame. These reflections slowly
+died out, grew deeper, faded sadly. The landscape became dark with that
+sinister thrill, that deathlike quiver, which each twilight causes to
+pass over the earth. This evening gloom, entering the open window,
+penetrated the two souls, but lately so lively, of the now silent pair.
+
+They had drawn more closely together to watch the dying day. At Nantes
+the railway people had lit the little oil lamp, which shed its yellow,
+
+trembling light upon the drab cloth of the cushions. Duroy passed his
+arms round the waist of his wife, and clasped her to him. His recent
+keen desire had become a softened one, a longing for consoling little
+caresses, such as we lull children with.
+
+
+He murmured softly: "I shall love you very dearly, my little Made."
+
+The softness of his voice stirred the young wife, and caused a rapid
+thrill to run through her. She offered her mouth, bending towards him,
+for he was resting his cheek upon the warm pillow of her bosom, until
+the whistle of the train announced that they were nearing a station. She
+remarked, flattening the ruffled locks about her forehead with the tips
+of her fingers: "It was very silly. We are quite childish."
+
+But he was kissing her hands in turn with feverish rapidity, and
+replied: "I adore you, my little Made."
+
+Until they reached Rouen they remained almost motionless, cheek against
+cheek, their eyes turned to the window, through which, from time to
+time, the lights of houses could be seen in the darkness, satisfied with
+feeling themselves so close to one another, and with the growing
+anticipation of a freer and more intimate embrace.
+
+They put up at a hotel overlooking the quay, and went to bed after a
+very hurried supper.
+
+The chambermaid aroused them next morning as it was striking eight. When
+they had drank the cup of tea she had placed on the night-table, Duroy
+looked at his wife, then suddenly, with the joyful impulse of the
+fortunate man who has just found a treasure, he clasped her in his arms,
+exclaiming: "My little Made, I am sure that I love you ever so much,
+ever so much, ever so much."
+
+She smiled with her confident and satisfied smile, and murmured, as she
+returned his kisses: "And I too--perhaps."
+
+But he still felt uneasy about the visit of his parents. He had already
+forewarned his wife, had prepared and lectured her, but he thought fit
+to do so again.
+
+"You know," he said, "they are only rustics--country rustics, not
+theatrical ones."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"But I know that: you have told me so often enough. Come, get up and let
+me get up."
+
+He jumped out of bed, and said, as he drew on his socks:
+
+"We shall be very uncomfortable there, very uncomfortable. There is only
+an old straw palliasse in my room. Spring mattresses are unknown at
+Canteleu."
+
+She seemed delighted.
+
+"So much the better. It will be delightful to sleep
+badly--beside--beside you, and to be woke up by the crowing of the
+cocks."
+
+She had put on her dressing-gown--a white flannel dressing-gown--which
+Duroy at once recognized. The sight of it was unpleasant to him. Why?
+His wife had, he was aware, a round dozen of these morning garments. She
+could not destroy her trousseau in order to buy a new one. No matter, he
+would have preferred that her bed-linen, her night-linen, her
+under-clothing were not the same she had made use of with the other. It
+seemed to him that the soft, warm stuff must have retained something
+from its contact with Forestier.
+
+He walked to the window, lighting a cigarette. The sight of the port,
+the broad stream covered with vessels with tapering spars, the steamers
+noisily unloading alongside the quay, stirred him, although he had been
+acquainted with it all for a long time past, and he exclaimed: "By Jove!
+it is a fine sight."
+
+Madeleine approached, and placing both hands on one of her husband's
+shoulders, leaned against him with careless grace, charmed and
+delighted. She kept repeating: "Oh! how pretty, how pretty. I did not
+know that there were so many ships as that."
+
+They started an hour later, for they were to lunch with the old people,
+who had been forewarned some days beforehand. A rusty open carriage bore
+them along with a noise of jolting ironmongery. They followed a long and
+rather ugly boulevard, passed between some fields through which flowed a
+stream, and began to ascend the slope. Madeleine, somewhat fatigued, had
+dozed off beneath the penetrating caress of the sun, which warmed her
+delightfully as she lay stretched back in the old carriage as though in
+a bath of light and country air.
+
+Her husband awoke her, saying: "Look!"
+
+They had halted two-thirds of the way up the slope, at a spot famous for
+the view, and to which all tourists drive. They overlooked the long and
+broad valley through which the bright river flowed in sweeping curves.
+It could be caught sight of in the distance, dotted with numerous
+islands, and describing a wide sweep before flowing through Rouen. Then
+the town appeared on the right bank, slightly veiled in the morning
+mist, but with rays of sunlight falling on its roofs; its thousand squat
+or pointed spires, light, fragile-looking, wrought like gigantic jewels;
+its round or square towers topped with heraldic crowns; its belfries;
+the numerous Gothic summits of its churches, overtopped by the sharp
+spire of the cathedral, that surprising spike of bronze--strange, ugly,
+and out of all proportion, the tallest in the world. Facing it, on the
+other side of the river, rose the factory chimneys of the suburb of
+Saint Serves--tall, round, and broadening at their summit. More numerous
+than their sister spires, they reared even in the distant country, their
+tall brick columns, and vomited into the blue sky their black and coaly
+breath. Highest of all, as high as the second of the summits reared by
+human labor, the pyramid of Cheops, almost level with its proud
+companion the cathedral spire, the great steam-pump of La Foudre seemed
+the queen of the busy, smoking factories, as the other was the queen of
+the sacred edifices. Further on, beyond the workmen's town, stretched a
+forest of pines, and the Seine, having passed between the two divisions
+of the city, continued its way, skirting a tall rolling slope, wooded at
+the summit, and showing here and there its bare bone of white stone.
+Then the river disappeared on the horizon, after again describing a long
+sweeping curve. Ships could be seen ascending and descending the stream,
+towed by tugs as big as flies and belching forth thick smoke. Islands
+were stretched along the water in a line, one close to the other, or
+with wide intervals between them, like the unequal beads of a verdant
+rosary.
+
+The driver waited until the travelers' ecstasies were over. He knew from
+experience the duration of the admiration of all the breed of tourists.
+But when he started again Duroy suddenly caught sight of two old people
+advancing towards them some hundreds of yards further on, and jumped
+out, exclaiming: "There they are. I recognize them."
+
+There were two country-folk, a man and a woman, walking with irregular
+steps, rolling in their gait, and sometimes knocking their shoulders
+together. The man was short and strongly built, high colored and
+inclined to stoutness, but powerful, despite his years. The woman was
+tall, spare, bent, careworn, the real hard-working country-woman who has
+toiled afield from childhood, and has never had time to amuse herself,
+while her husband has been joking and drinking with the customers.
+Madeleine had also alighted from the carriage, and she watched these two
+poor creatures coming towards them with a pain at her heart, a sadness
+she had not anticipated. They had not recognized their son in this fine
+gentleman and would never have guessed this handsome lady in the light
+dress to be their daughter-in-law. They were walking on quickly and in
+silence to meet their long-looked-for boy, without noticing these city
+folk followed by their carriage.
+
+They passed by when George, who was laughing, cried out: "Good-day,
+Daddy Duroy!"
+
+They both stopped short, amazed at first, then stupefied with surprise.
+The old woman recovered herself first, and stammered, without advancing
+a step: "Is't thou, boy?"
+
+The young fellow answered: "Yes, it is I, mother," and stepping up to
+her, kissed her on both cheeks with a son's hearty smack. Then he rubbed
+noses with his father, who had taken off his cap, a very tall, black
+silk cap, made Rouen fashion, like those worn by cattle dealers.
+
+Then George said: "This is my wife," and the two country people looked
+at Madeleine. They looked at her as one looks at a phenomenon, with an
+uneasy fear, united in the father with a species of approving
+satisfaction, in the mother with a kind of jealous enmity.
+
+The man, who was of a joyous nature and inspired by a loveliness born of
+sweet cider and alcohol, grew bolder, and asked, with a twinkle in the
+corner of his eyes: "I may kiss her all the same?"
+
+"Certainly," replied his son, and Madeleine, ill at ease, held out both
+cheeks to the sounding smacks of the rustic, who then wiped his lips
+with the back of his hand. The old woman, in her turn, kissed her
+daughter-in-law with a hostile reserve. No, this was not the
+daughter-in-law of her dreams; the plump, fresh housewife, rosy-cheeked
+as an apple, and round as a brood mare. She looked like a hussy, the
+fine lady with her furbelows and her musk. For the old girl all perfumes
+were musk.
+
+They set out again, walking behind the carriage which bore the trunk of
+the newly-wedded pair. The old fellow took his son by the arm, and
+keeping him a little in the rear of the others, asked with interest:
+"Well, how goes business, lad?"
+
+"Pretty fair."
+
+"So much the better. Has thy wife any money?"
+
+"Forty thousand francs," answered George.
+
+His father gave vent to an admiring whistle, and could only murmur,
+"Dang it!" so overcome was he by the mention of the sum. Then he added,
+in a tone of serious conviction: "Dang it all, she's a fine woman!" For
+he found her to his taste, and he had passed for a good judge in his
+day.
+
+Madeleine and her mother-in-law were walking side by side without
+exchanging a word. The two men rejoined them. They reached the village,
+a little roadside village formed of half-a-score houses on each side of
+the highway, cottages and farm buildings, the former of brick and the
+latter of clay, these covered with thatch and those with slates. Father
+Duroy's tavern, "The Bellevue," a bit of a house consisting of a ground
+floor and a garret, stood at the beginning of the village to the left. A
+pine branch above the door indicated, in ancient fashion, that thirsty
+folk could enter.
+
+The things were laid for lunch, in the common room of the tavern, on two
+tables placed together and covered with two napkins. A neighbor, come in
+to help to serve the lunch, bowed low on seeing such a fine lady appear;
+and then, recognizing George, exclaimed: "Good Lord! is that the
+youngster?"
+
+He replied gayly: "Yes, it is I, Mother Brulin," and kissed her as he
+had kissed his father and mother. Then turning to his wife, he said:
+"Come into our room and take your hat off."
+
+He ushered her through a door to the right into a cold-looking room with
+tiled floor, white-washed walls, and a bed with white cotton curtains. A
+crucifix above a holy-water stoup, and two colored pictures, one
+representing Paul and Virginia under a blue palm tree, and the other
+Napoleon the First on a yellow horse, were the only ornaments of this
+clean and dispiriting apartment.
+
+As soon as they were alone he kissed Madeleine, saying: "Thanks, Made. I
+am glad to see the old folks again. When one is in Paris one does not
+think about it; but when one meets again, it gives one pleasure all the
+same."
+
+But his father, thumbing the partition with his fist, cried out: "Come
+along, come along, the soup is ready," and they had to sit down to
+table.
+
+It was a long, countrified repast, with a succession of ill-assorted
+dishes, a sausage after a leg of mutton, and an omelette after a
+sausage. Father Duroy, excited by cider and some glasses of wine, turned
+on the tap of his choicest jokes--those he reserved for great occasions
+of festivity, smutty adventures that had happened, as he maintained, to
+friends of his. George, who knew all these stories, laughed,
+nevertheless, intoxicated by his native air, seized on by the innate
+love of one's birthplace and of spots familiar from childhood, by all
+the sensations and recollections once more renewed, by all the objects
+of yore seen again once more; by trifles, such as the mark of a knife on
+a door, a broken chair recalling some pretty event, the smell of the
+soil, the breath of the neighboring forest, the odors of the dwelling,
+the gutter, the dunghill.
+
+Mother Duroy did not speak, but remained sad and grim, watching her
+daughter-in-law out of the corner of her eye, with hatred awakened in
+her heart--the hatred of an old toiler, an old rustic with fingers worn
+and limbs bent by hard work--for the city madame, who inspired her with
+the repulsion of an accursed creature, an impure being, created for
+idleness and sin. She kept getting up every moment to fetch the dishes
+or fill the glasses with cider, sharp and yellow from the decanter, or
+sweet, red, and frothing from the bottles, the corks of which popped
+like those of ginger beer.
+
+Madeleine scarcely ate or spoke. She wore her wonted smile upon her
+lips, but it was a sad and resigned one. She was downcast. Why? She had
+wanted to come. She had not been unaware that she was going among
+country folk--poor country folk. What had she fancied them to be--she,
+who did not usually dream? Did she know herself? Do not women always
+hope for something that is not? Had she fancied them more poetical? No;
+but perhaps better informed, more noble, more affectionate, more
+ornamental. Yet she did not want them high-bred, like those in novels.
+Whence came it, then, that they shocked her by a thousand trifling,
+imperceptible details, by a thousand indefinable coarsenesses, by their
+very nature as rustics, by their words, their gestures, and their mirth?
+She recalled her own mother, of whom she never spoke to anyone--a
+governess, brought up at Saint Denis--seduced, and died from poverty and
+grief when she, Madeleine, was twelve years old. An unknown hand had had
+her brought up. Her father, no doubt. Who was he? She did not exactly
+know, although she had vague suspicions.
+
+The lunch still dragged on. Customers were now coming in and shaking
+hands with the father, uttering exclamations of wonderment on seeing his
+son, and slyly winking as they scanned the young wife out of the corner
+of their eye, which was as much as to say: "Hang it all, she's not a
+duffer, George Duroy's wife." Others, less intimate, sat down at the
+wooden tables, calling for "A pot," "A jugful," "Two brandies," "A
+raspail," and began to play at dominoes, noisily rattling the little
+bits of black and white bone. Mother Duroy kept passing to and fro,
+serving the customers, with her melancholy air, taking money, and wiping
+the tables with the corner of her blue apron.
+
+The smoke of clay pipes and sou cigars filled the room. Madeleine began
+to cough, and said: "Suppose we go out; I cannot stand it."
+
+They had not quite finished, and old Duroy was annoyed at this. Then she
+got up and went and sat on a chair outside the door, while her
+father-in-law and her husband were finishing their coffee and their nip
+of brandy.
+
+George soon rejoined her. "Shall we stroll down as far as the Seine?"
+said he.
+
+She consented with pleasure, saying: "Oh, yes; let us go."
+
+They descended the slope, hired a boat at Croisset, and passed the rest
+of the afternoon drowsily moored under the willows alongside an island,
+soothed to slumber by the soft spring weather, and rocked by the
+wavelets of the river. Then they went back at nightfall.
+
+The evening's repast, eaten by the light of a tallow candle, was still
+more painful for Madeleine than that of the morning. Father Duroy, who
+was half drunk, no longer spoke. The mother maintained her dogged
+manner. The wretched light cast upon the gray walls the shadows of heads
+with enormous noses and exaggerated movements. A great hand was seen to
+raise a pitchfork to a mouth opening like a dragon's maw whenever any
+one of them, turning a little, presented a profile to the yellow,
+flickering flame.
+
+As soon as dinner was over, Madeleine drew her husband out of the house,
+in order not to stay in this gloomy room, always reeking with an acrid
+smell of old pipes and spilt liquor. As soon as they were outside, he
+said: "You are tired of it already."
+
+She began to protest, but he stopped her, saying: "No, I saw it very
+plainly. If you like, we will leave to-morrow."
+
+"Very well," she murmured.
+
+They strolled gently onward. It was a mild night, the deep,
+all-embracing shadow of which seemed filled with faint murmurings,
+rustlings, and breathings. They had entered a narrow path, overshadowed
+by tall trees, and running between two belts of underwood of
+impenetrable blackness.
+
+"Where are we?" asked she.
+
+"In the forest," he replied.
+
+"Is it a large one?"
+
+"Very large; one of the largest in France."
+
+An odor of earth, trees, and moss--that fresh yet old scent of the
+woods, made up of the sap of bursting buds and the dead and moldering
+foliage of the thickets, seemed to linger in the path. Raising her head,
+Madeleine could see the stars through the tree-tops; and although no
+breeze stirred the boughs, she could yet feel around her the vague
+quivering of this ocean of leaves. A strange thrill shot through her
+soul and fleeted across her skin--a strange pain gripped her at the
+heart. Why, she did not understand. But it seemed to her that she was
+lost, engulfed, surrounded by perils, abandoned by everyone; alone,
+alone in the world beneath this living vault quivering there above her.
+
+She murmured: "I am rather frightened. I should like to go back."
+
+"Well, let us do so."
+
+"And--we will leave for Paris to-morrow?"
+
+"Yes, to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow morning?"
+
+"To-morrow morning, if you like."
+
+They returned home. The old folks had gone to bed. She slept badly,
+continually aroused by all the country sounds so new to her--the cry of
+the screech owl, the grunting of a pig in a sty adjoining the house, and
+the noise of a cock who kept on crowing from midnight. She was up and
+ready to start at daybreak.
+
+When George announced to his parents that he was going back they were
+both astonished; then they understood the origin of his wish.
+
+The father merely said: "Shall I see you again soon?"
+
+"Yes, in the course of the summer."
+
+"So much the better."
+
+The old woman growled: "I hope you won't regret what you have done."
+
+He left them two hundred francs as a present to assuage their
+discontent, and the carriage, which a boy had been sent in quest of,
+having made its appearance at about ten o'clock, the newly-married
+couple embraced the old country folk and started off once more.
+
+As they were descending the hill Duroy began to laugh.
+
+
+"There," he said, "I had warned you. I ought not to have introduced you
+to Monsieur and Madame du Roy de Cantel, Senior."
+
+She began to laugh, too, and replied: "I am delighted now. They are good
+folk, whom I am beginning to like very well. I will send them some
+presents from Paris." Then she murmured: "Du Roy de Cantel, you will
+see that no one will be astonished at the terms of the notification of
+our marriage. We will say that we have been staying for a week with your
+parents on their estate." And bending towards him she kissed the tip of
+his moustache, saying: "Good morning, George."
+
+He replied: "Good morning, Made," as he passed an arm around her waist.
+
+In the valley below they could see the broad river like a ribbon of
+silver unrolled beneath the morning sun, the factory chimneys belching
+forth their clouds of smoke into the sky, and the pointed spires rising
+above the old town.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+The Du Roys had been back in Paris a couple of days, and the journalist
+had taken up his old work pending the moment when he should definitely
+assume Forestier's duties, and give himself wholly up to politics. He
+was going home that evening to his predecessor's abode to dinner, with a
+light heart and a keen desire to embrace his wife, whose physical
+attractions and imperceptible domination exercised a powerful impulse
+over him. Passing by a florist's at the bottom of the Rue Notre Dame de
+Lorette, he was struck by the notion of buying a bouquet for Madeleine,
+and chose a large bunch of half-open roses, a very bundle of perfumed
+buds.
+
+At each story of his new staircase he eyed himself complacently in the
+mirrors, the sight of which continually recalled to him his first visit
+to the house. He rang the bell, having forgotten his key, and the same
+man-servant, whom he had also kept on by his wife's advice, opened the
+door.
+
+"Has your mistress come home?" asked George.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+But on passing through the dining-room he was greatly surprised to find
+the table laid for three, and the hangings of the drawing-room door
+being looped up, saw Madeleine arranging in a vase on the mantelpiece a
+bunch of roses exactly similar to his own. He was vexed and displeased;
+it was as though he had been robbed of his idea, his mark of attention,
+and all the pleasure he anticipated from it.
+
+"You have invited some one to dinner, then?" he inquired, as he entered
+the room.
+
+She answered without turning round, and while continuing to arrange the
+flowers: "Yes, and no. It is my old friend, the Count de Vaudrec, who
+has been accustomed to dine here every Monday, and who has come as
+usual."
+
+George murmured: "Ah! very good."
+
+He remained standing behind her, bouquet in hand, with a longing to hide
+it or throw it away. He said, however: "I have brought you some roses."
+
+She turned round suddenly, smiling, and exclaimed: "Ah! how nice of you
+to have thought of that."
+
+And she held out her arms and lips to him with an outburst of joy so
+real that he felt consoled. She took the flowers, smelt them, and with
+the liveliness of a delighted child, placed them in the vase that
+remained empty opposite the other. Then she murmured, as she viewed the
+result: "How glad I am. My mantelpiece is furnished now." She added
+almost immediately, in a tone of conviction: "You know Vaudrec is
+awfully nice; you will be friends with him at once."
+
+A ring announced the Count. He entered quietly, and quite at his ease,
+as though at home. After having gallantly kissed the young wife's
+fingers, he turned to the husband and cordially held out his hand,
+saying: "How goes it, my dear Du Roy?"
+
+It was no longer his former stiff and starched bearing, but an affable
+one, showing that the situation was no longer the same. The journalist,
+surprised, strove to make himself agreeable in response to these
+advances. It might have been believed within five minutes that they had
+known and loved one another for ten years past.
+
+Then Madeleine, whose face was radiant, said: "I will leave you
+together, I must give a look to my dinner." And she went out, followed
+by a glance from both men. When she returned she found them talking
+theatricals apropos of a new piece, and so thoroughly of the same
+opinion that a species of rapid friendship awoke in their eyes at the
+discovery of this absolute identity of ideas.
+
+The dinner was delightful, so intimate and cordial, and the Count stayed
+on quite late, so comfortable did he feel in this nice little new
+household.
+
+As soon as he had left Madeleine said to her husband: "Is he not
+perfect? He gains in every way by being known. He is a true
+friend--safe, devoted, faithful. Ah, without him--"
+
+She did not finish the sentence, and George replied: "Yes, I find him
+very agreeable. I think that we shall get on very well together."
+
+She resumed: "You do not know, but we have some work to do together
+before going to bed. I had not time to speak to you about it before
+dinner, because Vaudrec came in at once. I have had some important news,
+news from Morocco. It was Laroche-Mathieu, the deputy, the future
+minister, who brought it to me. We must work up an important article, a
+sensational one. I have the facts and figures. We will set to work at
+once. Bring the lamp."
+
+He took it, and they passed into the study. The same books were ranged
+in the bookcase, which now bore on its summit the three vases bought at
+the Golfe Juan by Forestier on the eve of his death. Under the table the
+dead man's mat awaited the feet of Du Roy, who, on sitting down, took up
+an ivory penholder slightly gnawed at the end by the other's teeth.
+Madeleine leant against the mantelpiece, and having lit a cigarette
+related her news, and then explained her notions and the plan of the
+article she meditated. He listened attentively, scribbling notes as he
+did so, and when she had finished, raised objections, took up the
+question again, enlarged its bearing, and sketched in turn, not the plan
+of an article, but of a campaign against the existing Ministry. This
+attack would be its commencement. His wife had left off smoking, so
+strongly was her interest aroused, so vast was the vision that opened
+before her as she followed out George's train of thought.
+
+She murmured, from time to time: "Yes, yes; that is very good. That is
+capital. That is very clever."
+
+And when he had finished speaking in turn, she said: "Now let us write."
+
+But he always found it hard to make a start, and with difficulty sought
+his expressions. Then she came gently, and, leaning over his shoulder,
+began to whisper sentences in his ear. From time to time she would
+hesitate, and ask: "Is that what you want to say?"
+
+He answered: "Yes, exactly."
+
+She had piercing shafts, the poisoned shafts of a woman, to wound the
+head of the Cabinet, and she blended jests about his face with others
+respecting his policy in a curious fashion, that made one laugh, and, at
+the same time, impressed one by their truth of observation.
+
+Du Roy from time to time added a few lines which widened and
+strengthened the range of attack. He understood, too, the art of
+perfidious insinuation, which he had learned in sharpening up his
+"Echoes"; and when a fact put forward as certain by Madeleine appeared
+doubtful or compromising, he excelled in allowing it to be divined and
+in impressing it upon the mind more strongly than if he had affirmed it.
+When their article was finished, George read it aloud. They both thought
+it excellent, and smiled, delighted and surprised, as if they had just
+mutually revealed themselves to one another. They gazed into the depths
+of one another's eyes with yearnings of love and admiration, and they
+embraced one another with an ardor communicated from their minds to
+their bodies.
+
+Du Roy took up the lamp again. "And now to bye-bye," said he, with a
+
+kindling glance.
+
+She replied: "Go first, sir, since you light the way."
+
+He went first, and she followed him into their bedroom, tickling his
+neck to make him go quicker, for he could not stand that.
+
+The article appeared with the signature of George Duroy de Cantel, and
+caused a great sensation. There was an excitement about it in the
+Chamber. Daddy Walter congratulated the author, and entrusted him with
+the political editorship of the _Vie Francaise_. The "Echoes" fell again
+to Boisrenard.
+
+Then there began in the paper a violent and cleverly conducted campaign
+against the Ministry. The attack, now ironical, now serious, now
+jesting, and now virulent, but always skillful and based on facts, was
+delivered with a certitude and continuity which astonished everyone.
+Other papers continually cited the _Vie Francaise_, taking whole
+passages from it, and those in office asked themselves whether they
+could not gag this unknown and inveterate foe with the gift of a
+prefecture.
+
+Du Roy became a political celebrity. He felt his influence increasing by
+the pressure of hands and the lifting of hats. His wife, too, filled him
+with stupefaction and admiration by the ingenuity of her mind, the value
+of her information, and the number of her acquaintances. Continually he
+would find in his drawing-room, on returning home, a senator, a deputy,
+a magistrate, a general, who treated Madeleine as an old friend, with
+serious familiarity. Where had she met all these people? In society, so
+she said. But how had she been able to gain their confidence and their
+affection? He could not understand it.
+
+"She would make a terrible diplomatist," he thought.
+
+She often came in late at meal times, out of breath, flushed, quivering,
+and before even taking off her veil would say: "I have something good
+to-day. Fancy, the Minister of Justice has just appointed two
+magistrates who formed a part of the mixed commission. We will give him
+a dose he will not forget in a hurry."
+
+And they would give the minister a dose, and another the next day, and
+a third the day after. The deputy, Laroche-Mathieu, who dined at the Rue
+Fontaine every Tuesday, after the Count de Vaudrec, who began the week,
+would shake the hands of husband and wife with demonstrations of extreme
+joy. He never ceased repeating: "By Jove, what a campaign! If we don't
+succeed after all?"
+
+He hoped, indeed, to succeed in getting hold of the portfolio of foreign
+affairs, which he had had in view for a long time.
+
+He was one of those many-faced politicians, without strong convictions,
+without great abilities, without boldness, and without any depth of
+knowledge, a provincial barrister, a local dandy, preserving a cunning
+balance between all parties, a species of Republican Jesuit and Liberal
+mushroom of uncertain character, such as spring up by hundreds on the
+popular dunghill of universal suffrage. His village machiavelism caused
+him to be reckoned able among his colleagues, among all the adventurers
+and abortions who are made deputies. He was sufficiently well-dressed,
+correct, familiar, and amiable to succeed. He had his successes in
+society, in the mixed, perturbed, and somewhat rough society of the high
+functionaries of the day. It was said everywhere of him: "Laroche will
+be a minister," and he believed more firmly than anyone else that he
+would be. He was one of the chief shareholders in Daddy Walter's paper,
+and his colleague and partner in many financial schemes.
+
+Du Roy backed him up with confidence and with vague hopes as to the
+future. He was, besides, only continuing the work begun by Forestier, to
+whom Laroche-Mathieu had promised the Cross of the Legion of Honor when
+the day of triumph should come. The decoration would adorn the breast of
+Madeleine's second husband, that was all. Nothing was changed in the
+main.
+
+It was seen so well that nothing was changed that Du Roy's comrades
+organized a joke against him, at which he was beginning to grow angry.
+They no longer called him anything but Forestier. As soon as he entered
+the office some one would call out: "I say, Forestier."
+
+He would pretend not to hear, and would look for the letters in his
+pigeon-holes. The voice would resume in louder tones, "Hi! Forestier."
+Some stifled laughs would be heard, and as Du Roy was entering the
+manager's room, the comrade who had called out would stop him, saying:
+"Oh, I beg your pardon, it is you I want to speak to. It is stupid, but
+I am always mixing you up with poor Charles. It is because your articles
+are so infernally like his. Everyone is taken in by them."
+
+Du Roy would not answer, but he was inwardly furious, and a sullen wrath
+sprang up in him against the dead man. Daddy Walter himself had
+declared, when astonishment was expressed at the flagrant similarity in
+style and inspiration between the leaders of the new political editor
+and his predecessor: "Yes, it is Forestier, but a fuller, stronger, more
+manly Forestier."
+
+Another time Du Roy, opening by chance the cupboard in which the cup and
+balls were kept, had found all those of his predecessor with crape round
+the handles, and his own, the one he had made use of when he practiced
+under the direction of Saint-Potin, ornamented with a pink ribbon. All
+had been arranged on the same shelf according to size, and a card like
+those in museums bore the inscription: "The Forestier-Du Roy (late
+Forestier and Co.) Collection." He quietly closed the cupboard, saying,
+in tones loud enough to be heard: "There are fools and envious people
+everywhere."
+
+But he was wounded in his pride, wounded in his vanity, that touchy
+pride and vanity of the writer, which produce the nervous susceptibility
+ever on the alert, equally in the reporter and the genial poet. The word
+"Forestier" made his ears tingle. He dreaded to hear it, and felt
+himself redden when he did so. This name was to him a biting jest, more
+than a jest, almost an insult. It said to him: "It is your wife who does
+your work, as she did that of the other. You would be nothing without
+her."
+
+
+He admitted that Forestier would have been no one without Madeleine; but
+as to himself, come now!
+
+Then, at home, the haunting impression continued. It was the whole place
+now that recalled the dead man to him, the whole of the furniture, the
+whole of the knicknacks, everything he laid hands on. He had scarcely
+thought of this at the outset, but the joke devised by his comrades had
+caused a kind of mental wound, which a number of trifles, unnoticed up
+to the present, now served to envenom. He could not take up anything
+without at once fancying he saw the hand of Charles upon it. He only
+looked at it and made use of things the latter had made use of formerly;
+things that he had purchased, liked, and enjoyed. And George began even
+to grow irritated at the thought of the bygone relations between his
+friend and his wife. He was sometimes astonished at this revolt of his
+heart, which he did not understand, and said to himself, "How the deuce
+is it? I am not jealous of Madeleine's friends. I am never uneasy about
+what she is up to. She goes in and out as she chooses, and yet the
+recollection of that brute of a Charles puts me in a rage." He added,
+"At the bottom, he was only an idiot, and it is that, no doubt, that
+wounds me. I am vexed that Madeleine could have married such a fool."
+And he kept continually repeating, "How is it that she could have
+stomached such a donkey for a single moment?"
+
+His rancor was daily increased by a thousand insignificant details,
+which stung him like pin pricks, by the incessant reminders of the other
+arising out of a word from Madeleine, from the man-servant, from the
+waiting-maid.
+
+One evening Du Roy, who liked sweet dishes, said, "How is it we never
+have sweets at dinner?"
+
+His wife replied, cheerfully, "That is quite true. I never think about
+them. It is all through Charles, who hated--"
+
+He cut her short in a fit of impatience he was unable to control,
+exclaiming, "Hang it all! I am sick of Charles. It is always Charles
+here and Charles there, Charles liked this and Charles liked that. Since
+Charles is dead, for goodness sake leave him in peace."
+
+Madeleine looked at her husband in amazement, without being able to
+understand his sudden anger. Then, as she was sharp, she guessed what
+was going on within him; this slow working of posthumous jealousy,
+swollen every moment by all that recalled the other. She thought it
+puerile, may be, but was flattered by it, and did not reply.
+
+He was vexed with himself at this irritation, which he had not been
+able to conceal. As they were writing after dinner an article for the
+next day, his feet got entangled in the foot mat. He kicked it aside,
+and said with a laugh:
+
+"Charles was always chilly about the feet, I suppose?"
+
+She replied, also laughing: "Oh! he lived in mortal fear of catching
+cold; his chest was very weak."
+
+Du Roy replied grimly: "He has given us a proof of that." Then kissing
+his wife's hand, he added gallantly: "Luckily for me."
+
+But on going to bed, still haunted by the same idea, he asked: "Did
+Charles wear nightcaps for fear of the draughts?"
+
+She entered into the joke, and replied: "No; only a silk handkerchief
+tied round his head."
+
+George shrugged his shoulders, and observed, with contempt, "What a
+baby."
+
+From that time forward Charles became for him an object of continual
+conversation. He dragged him in on all possible occasions, speaking of
+him as "Poor Charles," with an air of infinite pity. When he returned
+home from the office, where he had been accosted twice or thrice as
+Forestier, he avenged himself by bitter railleries against the dead man
+in his tomb. He recalled his defects, his absurdities, his littleness,
+enumerating them with enjoyment, developing and augmenting them as
+though he had wished to combat the influence of a dreaded rival over the
+heart of his wife. He would say, "I say, Made, do you remember the day
+when that duffer Forestier tried to prove to us that stout men were
+stronger than spare ones?"
+
+Then he sought to learn a number of private and secret details
+respecting the departed, which his wife, ill at ease, refused to tell
+him. But he obstinately persisted, saying, "Come, now, tell me all about
+it. He must have been very comical at such a time?"
+
+She murmured, "Oh! do leave him alone."
+
+But he went on, "No, but tell me now, he must have been a duffer to
+sleep with?" And he always wound up with, "What a donkey he was."
+
+One evening, towards the end of June, as he was smoking a cigarette at
+the window, the fineness of the evening inspired him with a wish for a
+drive, and he said, "Made, shall we go as far as the Bois de Boulogne?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+They took an open carriage and drove up the Champs Elysées, and then
+along the main avenue of the Bois de Boulogne. It was a breezeless
+night, one of those stifling nights when the overheated air of Paris
+fills the chest like the breath of a furnace. A host of carriages bore
+along beneath the trees a whole population of lovers. They came one
+behind the other in an unbroken line. George and Madeleine amused
+themselves with watching all these couples, the woman in summer toilet
+and the man darkly outlined beside her. It was a huge flood of lovers
+towards the Bois, beneath the starry and heated sky. No sound was heard
+
+save the dull rumble of wheels. They kept passing by, two by two in each
+vehicle, leaning back on the seat, silent, clasped one against the
+other, lost in dreams of desire, quivering with the anticipation of
+coming caresses. The warm shadow seemed full of kisses. A sense of
+spreading lust rendered the air heavier and more suffocating. All the
+couples, intoxicated with the same idea, the same ardor, shed a fever
+about them.
+
+George and Madeleine felt the contagion. They clasped hands without a
+word, oppressed by the heaviness of the atmosphere and the emotion that
+assailed them. As they reached the turning which follows the line of the
+fortification, they kissed one another, and she stammered somewhat
+confusedly, "We are as great babies as on the way to Rouen."
+
+The great flood of vehicles divided at the entrance of the wood. On the
+road to the lake, which the young couple were following, they were now
+thinner, but the dark shadow of the trees, the air freshened by the
+leaves and by the dampness arising from the streamlets that could be
+heard flowing beneath them, and the coolness of the vast nocturnal vault
+bedecked with stars, gave to the kisses of the perambulating pairs a
+more penetrating charm.
+
+George murmured, "Dear little Made," as he pressed her to him.
+
+"Do you remember the forest close to your home, how gloomy it was?" said
+she. "It seemed to me that it was full of horrible creatures, and that
+there was no end to it, while here it is delightful. One feels caresses
+in the breeze, and I know that Sevres lies on the other side of the
+wood."
+
+He replied, "Oh! in the forest at home there was nothing but deer,
+foxes, and wild boars, and here and there the hut of a forester."
+
+This word, akin to the dead man's name, issuing from his mouth,
+surprised him just as if some one had shouted it out to him from the
+depths of a thicket, and he became suddenly silent, assailed anew by
+the strange and persistent uneasiness, and gnawing, invincible, jealous
+irritation that had been spoiling his existence for some time past.
+After a minute or so, he asked: "Did you ever come here like this of an
+evening with Charles?"
+
+"Yes, often," she answered.
+
+And all of a sudden he was seized with a wish to return home, a nervous
+desire that gripped him at the heart. But the image of Forestier had
+returned to his mind and possessed and laid hold of him. He could no
+longer speak or think of anything else and said in a spiteful tone, "I
+say, Made?"
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+"Did you ever cuckold poor Charles?"
+
+She murmured disdainfully, "How stupid you are with your stock joke."
+
+But he would not abandon the idea.
+
+"Come, Made, dear, be frank and acknowledge it. You cuckolded him, eh?
+Come, admit that you cuckolded him?"
+
+She was silent, shocked as all women are by this expression.
+
+He went on obstinately, "Hang it all, if ever anyone had the head for a
+cuckold it was he. Oh! yes. It would please me to know that he was one.
+What a fine head for horns." He felt that she was smiling at some
+recollection, perhaps, and persisted, saying, "Come out with it. What
+does it matter? It would be very comical to admit that you had deceived
+him, to me."
+
+He was indeed quivering with hope and desire that Charles, the hateful
+Charles, the detested dead, had borne this shameful ridicule. And
+yet--yet--another emotion, less definite. "My dear little Made, tell me,
+I beg of you. He deserved it. You would have been wrong not to have
+given him a pair of horns. Come, Made, confess."
+
+She now, no doubt, found this persistence amusing, for she was laughing
+a series of short, jerky laughs.
+
+He had put his lips close to his wife's ear and whispered: "Come, come,
+confess."
+
+She jerked herself away, and said, abruptly: "You are crazy. As if one
+answered such questions."
+
+She said this in so singular a tone that a cold shiver ran through her
+husband's veins, and he remained dumbfounded, scared, almost breathless,
+as though from some mental shock.
+
+The carriage was now passing along the lake, on which the sky seemed to
+have scattered its stars. Two swans, vaguely outlined, were swimming
+slowly, scarcely visible in the shadow. George called out to the driver:
+"Turn back!" and the carriage returned, meeting the others going at a
+walk, with their lanterns gleaming like eyes in the night.
+
+What a strange manner in which she had said it. Was it a confession? Du
+Roy kept asking himself. And the almost certainty that she had deceived
+her first husband now drove him wild with rage. He longed to beat her,
+to strangle her, to tear her hair out. Oh, if she had only replied: "But
+darling, if I had deceived him, it would have been with yourself," how
+he would have kissed, clasped, worshiped her.
+
+He sat still, his arms crossed, his eyes turned skyward, his mind too
+agitated to think as yet. He only felt within him the rancor fermenting
+and the anger swelling which lurk at the heart of all mankind in
+presence of the caprices of feminine desire. He felt for the first time
+that vague anguish of the husband who suspects. He was jealous at last,
+jealous on behalf of the dead, jealous on Forestier's account, jealous
+in a strange and poignant fashion, into which there suddenly entered a
+hatred of Madeleine. Since she had deceived the other, how could he have
+confidence in her himself? Then by degrees his mind became calmer, and
+bearing up against his pain, he thought: "All women are prostitutes. We
+must make use of them, and not give them anything of ourselves." The
+bitterness in his heart rose to his lips in words of contempt and
+disgust. He repeated to himself: "The victory in this world is to the
+strong. One must be strong. One must be above all prejudices."
+
+The carriage was going faster. It repassed the fortifications. Du Roy
+saw before him a reddish light in the sky like the glow of an immense
+forge, and heard a vast, confused, continuous rumor, made up of
+countless different sounds, the breath of Paris panting this summer
+night like an exhausted giant.
+
+George reflected: "I should be very stupid to fret about it. Everyone
+for himself. Fortune favors the bold. Egotism is everything. Egotism as
+regards ambition and fortune is better than egotism as regards woman and
+love."
+
+The Arc de Triomphe appeared at the entrance to the city on its two tall
+supports like a species of shapeless giant ready to start off and march
+down the broad avenue open before him. George and Madeleine found
+themselves once more in the stream of carriages bearing homeward and
+bedwards the same silent and interlaced couples. It seemed that the
+whole of humanity was passing by intoxicated with joy, pleasure, and
+happiness. The young wife, who had divined something of what was passing
+through her husband's mind, said, in her soft voice: "What are you
+thinking of, dear? You have not said a word for the last half hour."
+
+He answered, sneeringly: "I was thinking of all these fools cuddling one
+another, and saying to myself that there is something else to do in
+life."
+
+She murmured: "Yes, but it is nice sometimes."
+
+"It is nice--when one has nothing better to do."
+
+George's thoughts were still hard at it, stripping life of its poesy in
+a kind of spiteful anger. "I should be very foolish to trouble myself,
+to deprive myself of anything whatever, to worry as I have done for some
+time past." Forestier's image crossed his mind without causing any
+irritation. It seemed to him that they had just been reconciled, that
+they had become friends again. He wanted to cry out: "Good evening, old
+fellow."
+
+Madeleine, to whom this silence was irksome, said: "Suppose we have an
+ice at Tortoni's before we go in."
+
+He glanced at her sideways. Her fine profile was lit up by the bright
+light from the row of gas jets of a café. He thought, "She is pretty.
+Well, so much the better. Jack is as good as his master, my dear. But if
+ever they catch me worrying again about you, it will be hot at the North
+Pole." Then he replied aloud: "Certainly, my dear," and in order that
+she should not guess anything, he kissed her.
+
+It seemed to the young wife that her husband's lips were frozen. He
+smiled, however, with his wonted smile, as he gave her his hand to
+alight in front of the café.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+On reaching the office next day, Du Roy sought out Boisrenard.
+
+"My dear fellow," said he, "I have a service to ask of you. It has been
+thought funny for some time past to call me Forestier. I begin to find
+it very stupid. Will you have the kindness to quietly let our friends
+know that I will smack the face of the first that starts the joke again?
+It will be for them to reflect whether it is worth risking a sword
+thrust for. I address myself to you because you are a calm-minded
+fellow, who can hinder matters from coming to painful extremities, and
+also because you were my second."
+
+Boisrenard undertook the commission. Du Roy went out on business, and
+returned an hour later. No one called him Forestier.
+
+When he reached home he heard ladies' voices in the drawing-room, and
+asked, "Who is there?"
+
+"Madame Walter and Madame de Marelle," replied the servant.
+
+His heart beat fast for a moment, and then he said to himself, "Well,
+let's see," and opened the door.
+
+Clotilde was beside the fireplace, full in a ray of light from the
+window. It seemed to George that she grew slightly paler on perceiving
+him. Having first bowed to Madame Walter and her two daughters, seated
+like two sentinels on each side of their mother, he turned towards his
+late mistress. She held out her hand, and he took it and pressed it
+meaningly, as though to say, "I still love you." She responded to this
+pressure.
+
+He inquired: "How have you been during the century that has elapsed
+since our last meeting?"
+
+She replied with perfect ease: "Quite well; and you, Pretty-boy?" and
+turning to Madeleine, added: "You will allow me to call him Pretty-boy
+still?"
+
+"Certainly, dear; I will allow whatever you please."
+
+A shade of irony seemed hidden in these words.
+
+Madame Walter spoke of an entertainment that was going to be given by
+
+Jacques Rival at his residence, a grand assault-at-arms, at which ladies
+of fashion were to be present, saying: "It will be very interesting. But
+I am so vexed we have no one to take us there, my husband being obliged
+to be away at that time."
+
+Du Roy at once offered his services. She accepted, saying: "My daughters
+and I will be very much obliged to you."
+
+He looked at the younger daughter, and thought: "She is not at all bad
+looking, this little Susan; not at all." She resembled a fair, fragile
+
+doll, too short but slender, with a small waist and fairly developed
+hips and bust, a face like a miniature, grayish-blue, enamel-like eyes,
+which seemed shaded by a careful yet fanciful painter, a polished,
+colorless skin, too white and too smooth, and fluffy, curly hair, in a
+charming aureola, like, indeed the hair of the pretty and expensive
+dolls we see in the arms of children much smaller than their plaything.
+
+The elder sister, Rose, was ugly, dull-looking, and insignificant; one
+of those girls whom you do not notice, do not speak to, and do not talk
+about.
+
+The mother rose, and, turning to George, said:
+
+"Then I may reckon upon you for next Thursday, two o'clock?"
+
+"You may reckon upon me, madame," he replied.
+
+As soon as she had taken her departure, Madame de Marelle rose in turn,
+saying: "Good afternoon, Pretty-boy."
+
+It was she who then clasped his hand firmly and for some time, and he
+felt moved by this silent avowal, struck again with a sudden caprice for
+this good-natured little, respectable Bohemian of a woman, who really
+loved him, perhaps.
+
+As soon as he was alone with his wife, Madeleine broke out into a laugh,
+a frank, gay laugh, and, looking him fair in the face, said, "You know
+that Madame Walter is smitten with you."
+
+"Nonsense," he answered, incredulously.
+
+"It is so, I tell you; she spoke to me about you with wild enthusiasm.
+It is strange on her part. She would like to find two husbands such as
+you for her daughters. Fortunately, as regards her such things are of no
+moment."
+
+He did not understand what she meant, and inquired, "How of no moment?"
+
+She replied with the conviction of a woman certain of the soundness of
+her judgment, "Oh! Madame Walter is one of those who have never even had
+a whisper about them, never, you know, never. She is unassailable in
+every respect. Her husband you know as well as I do. But with her it is
+quite another thing. She has suffered enough through marrying a Jew, but
+she has remained faithful to him. She is an honest woman."
+
+Du Roy was surprised. "I thought her a Jewess, too," said he.
+
+"She, not at all. She is a lady patroness of all the good works of the
+Church of Madeleine. Her marriage, even, was celebrated religiously. I
+do not know whether there was a dummy baptism as regards the governor,
+or whether the Church winked at it."
+
+George murmured: "Ah! so she fancied me."
+
+"Positively and thoroughly. If you were not bespoken, I should advise
+you to ask for the hand of--Susan, eh? rather than that of Rose."
+
+He replied, twisting his moustache: "Hum; their mother is not yet out of
+date."
+
+Madeleine, somewhat out of patience, answered:
+
+"Their mother! I wish you may get her, dear. But I am not alarmed on
+that score. It is not at her age that a woman is guilty of a first
+fault. One must set about it earlier."
+
+George was reflecting: "If it were true, though, that I could have
+married Susan." Then he shrugged his shoulders. "Bah! it is absurd. As
+if her father would have ever have accepted me as a suitor."
+
+He promised himself, though, to keep a more careful watch in the future
+over Madame Walter's bearing towards him, without asking whether he
+might ever derive any advantage from this. All the evening he was
+haunted by the recollection of his love passages with Clotilde,
+recollections at once tender and sensual. He recalled her drolleries,
+her pretty ways, and their adventures together. He repeated to himself,
+"She is really very charming. Yes, I will go and see her to-morrow."
+
+As soon as he had lunched the next morning he indeed set out for the
+Rue de Verneuil. The same servant opened the door, and with the
+familiarity of servants of the middle-class, asked: "Are you quite well,
+sir?"
+
+"Yes, thanks, my girl," he replied, and entered the drawing-room, in
+which an unskilled hand could be heard practicing scales on the piano.
+It was Laurine. He thought that she would throw her arms round his neck.
+But she rose gravely, bowed ceremoniously like a grown-up person, and
+withdrew with dignity. She had so much the bearing of an insulted woman
+that he remained in surprise. Her mother came in, and he took and kissed
+her hands.
+
+"How I have thought of you," said he.
+
+"And I," she replied.
+
+They sat down and smiled at one another, looking into each other's eyes
+with a longing to kiss.
+
+"My dear little Clo, I do love you."
+
+"I love you, too."
+
+"Then--then--you have not been so very angry with me?"
+
+"Yes, and no. It hurt me a great deal, but I understood your reasons,
+and said to myself, 'He will come back to me some fine day or other.'"
+
+"I dared not come back. I asked myself how I should be received. I did
+not dare, but I dearly wanted to. By the way, tell me what is the matter
+with Laurine. She scarcely said good-morning to me, and went out looking
+furious."
+
+"I do not know. But we cannot speak of you to her since your marriage. I
+really believe she is jealous."
+
+"Nonsense."
+
+"It is so, dear. She no longer calls you Pretty-boy, but Monsieur
+Forestier."
+
+Du Roy reddened, and then drawing close to her said:
+
+"Kiss me."
+
+She did so.
+
+"Where can we meet again?" said he.
+
+"Rue de Constantinople."
+
+"Ah! the rooms are not let, then?"
+
+"No, I kept them on."
+
+"You kept them on?"
+
+"Yes, I thought you would come back again."
+
+A gush of joyful pride swelled his bosom. She loved him then, this
+woman, with a real, deep, constant love.
+
+He murmured, "I love you," and then inquired, "Is your husband quite
+well?"
+
+"Yes, very well. He has been spending a month at home, and was off again
+the day before yesterday."
+
+Du Roy could not help laughing. "How lucky," said he.
+
+She replied simply: "Yes, it is very lucky. But, all the same, he is not
+troublesome when he is here. You know that."
+
+"That is true. Besides, he is a very nice fellow."
+
+"And you," she asked, "how do you like your new life?"
+
+"Not much one way or the other. My wife is a companion, a partner."
+
+"Nothing more?"
+
+"Nothing more. As to the heart--"
+
+"I understand. She is pretty, though."
+
+"Yes, but I do not put myself out about her."
+
+He drew closer to Clotilde, and whispered. "When shall we see one
+another again?"
+
+"To-morrow, if you like."
+
+"Yes, to-morrow at two o'clock."
+
+"Two o'clock."
+
+He rose to take leave, and then stammered, with some embarrassment: "You
+know I shall take on the rooms in the Rue de Constantinople myself. I
+mean it. A nice thing for the rent to be paid by you."
+
+It was she who kissed his hands adoringly, murmuring: "Do as you like.
+It is enough for me to have kept them for us to meet again there."
+
+Du Roy went away, his soul filled with satisfaction. As he passed by a
+photographer's, the portrait of a tall woman with large eyes reminded
+him of Madame Walter. "All the same," he said to himself, "she must be
+still worth looking at. How is it that I never noticed it? I want to see
+how she will receive me on Thursday?"
+
+He rubbed his hands as he walked along with secret pleasure, the
+pleasure of success in every shape, the egotistical joy of the clever
+man who is successful, the subtle pleasure made up of flattered vanity
+and satisfied sensuality conferred by woman's affection.
+
+On the Thursday he said to Madeleine: "Are you not coming to the
+assault-at-arms at Rival's?"
+
+"No. It would not interest me. I shall go to the Chamber of Deputies."
+
+He went to call for Madame Walter in an open landau, for the weather was
+delightful. He experienced a surprise on seeing her, so handsome and
+young-looking did he find her. She wore a light-colored dress, the
+somewhat open bodice of which allowed the fullness of her bosom to be
+divined beneath the blonde lace. She had never seemed to him so
+well-looking. He thought her really desirable. She wore her calm and
+ladylike manner, a certain matronly bearing that caused her to pass
+almost unnoticed before the eyes of gallants. She scarcely spoke
+besides, save on well-known, suitable, and respectable topics, her ideas
+being proper, methodical, well ordered, and void of all extravagance.
+
+Her daughter, Susan, in pink, looked like a newly-varnished Watteau,
+while her elder sister seemed the governess entrusted with the care of
+this pretty doll of a girl.
+
+Before Rival's door a line of carriages were drawn up. Du Roy offered
+Madame Walter his arm, and they went in.
+
+The assault-at-arms was given under the patronage of the wives of all
+the senators and deputies connected with the _Vie Francaise_, for the
+benefit of the orphans of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. Madame
+Walter had promised to come with her daughters, while refusing the
+position of lady patroness, for she only aided with her name works
+undertaken by the clergy. Not that she was very devout, but her marriage
+with a Jew obliged her, in her own opinion, to observe a certain
+religious attitude, and the gathering organized by the journalist had a
+species of Republican import that might be construed as anti-clerical.
+
+In papers of every shade of opinion, during the past three weeks,
+paragraphs had appeared such as: "Our eminent colleague, Jacques Rival,
+has conceived the idea, as ingenious as it is generous, of organizing
+for the benefit of the orphans of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris a
+grand assault-at-arms in the pretty fencing-room attached to his
+apartments. The invitations will be sent out by Mesdames Laloigue,
+Remontel, and Rissolin, wives of the senators bearing these names, and
+by Mesdames Laroche-Mathieu, Percerol, and Firmin, wives of the
+well-known deputies. A collection will take place during the interval,
+and the amount will at once be placed in the hands of the mayor of the
+Sixth Arrondissement, or of his representative."
+
+It was a gigantic advertisement that the clever journalist had devised
+to his own advantage.
+
+Jacques Rival received all-comers in the hall of his dwelling, where a
+refreshment buffet had been fitted up, the cost of which was to be
+deducted from the receipts. He indicated with an amiable gesture the
+little staircase leading to the cellar, saying: "Downstairs, ladies,
+downstairs; the assault will take place in the basement."
+
+He darted forward to meet the wife of the manager, and then shaking Du
+Roy by the hand, said: "How are you, Pretty-boy?"
+
+His friend was surprised, and exclaimed: "Who told you that--"
+
+Rival interrupted him with: "Madame Walter, here, who thinks the
+nickname a very nice one."
+
+Madame Walter blushed, saying: "Yes, I will admit that, if I knew you
+better, I would do like little Laurine and call you Pretty-boy, too. The
+name suits you very well."
+
+Du Roy laughed, as he replied: "But I beg of you, madame, to do so."
+
+She had lowered her eyes, and remarked: "No. We are not sufficiently
+intimate."
+
+He murmured: "Will you allow me the hope that we shall be more so?"
+
+"Well, we will see then," said she.
+
+He drew on one side to let her precede him at the beginning of the
+narrow stairs lit by a gas jet. The abrupt transition from daylight to
+this yellow gleam had something depressing about it. A cellar-like odor
+rose up this winding staircase, a smell of damp heat and of moldy walls
+wiped down for the occasion, and also whiffs of incense recalling sacred
+offices and feminine emanations of vervain, orris root, and violets. A
+loud murmur of voices and the quivering thrill of an agitated crowd
+could also be heard down this hole.
+
+The entire cellar was lit up by wreaths of gas jets and Chinese lanterns
+hidden in the foliage, masking the walls of stone. Nothing could be seen
+but green boughs. The ceiling was ornamented with ferns, the ground
+hidden by flowers and leaves. This was thought charming, and a
+delightful triumph of imagination. In the small cellar, at the end, was
+a platform for the fencers, between two rows of chairs for the judges.
+In the remaining space the front seats, ranged by tens to the right and
+to the left, would accommodate about two hundred people. Four hundred
+had been invited.
+
+In front of the platform young fellows in fencing costume, with long
+limbs, erect figures, and moustaches curled up at the ends, were already
+showing themselves off to the spectators. People were pointing them out
+as notabilities of the art, professionals, and amateurs. Around them
+were chatting old and young gentlemen in frock coats, who bore a family
+resemblance to the fencers in fighting array. They were also seeking to
+be seen, recognized, and spoken of, being masters of the sword out of
+uniform, experts on foil play. Almost all the seats were occupied by
+ladies, who kept up a loud rustling of garments and a continuous murmur
+of voices. They were fanning themselves as though at a theater, for it
+was already as hot as an oven in this leafy grotto. A joker kept crying
+from time to time: "Orgeat, lemonade, beer."
+
+Madame Walter and her daughters reached the seats reserved for them in
+the front row. Du Roy, having installed them there, was about to quit
+them, saying: "I am obliged to leave you; we men must not collar the
+seats."
+
+But Madame Walter remarked, in a hesitating tone: "I should very much
+like to have you with us all the same. You can tell me the names of the
+fencers. Come, if you stand close to the end of the seat you will not be
+in anyone's way." She looked at him with her large mild eyes, and
+persisted, saying: "Come, stay with us, Monsieur--Pretty-boy. We have
+need of you."
+
+He replied: "I will obey with pleasure, madame."
+
+On all sides could be heard the remark: "It is very funny, this cellar;
+very pretty, too."
+
+George knew it well, this vault. He recalled the morning he had passed
+there on the eve of his duel, alone in front of the little white carton
+target that had glared at him from the depths of the inner cellar like a
+huge and terrible eye.
+
+The voice of Jacques Rival sounded from the staircase: "Just about to
+begin, ladies." And six gentlemen, in very tight-fitting clothes, to set
+off their chests, mounted the platform, and took their seats on the
+chairs reserved for the judges. Their names flew about. General de
+Reynaldi, the president, a short man, with heavy moustaches; the
+
+painter, Joséphin Roudet, a tall, ball-headed man, with a long beard;
+Matthéo de Ujar, Simon Ramoncel, Pierre de Carvin, three
+fashionable-looking young fellows; and Gaspard Merleron, a master. Two
+placards were hung up on the two sides of the vault. That on the right
+was inscribed "M. Crévecoeur," and that on the left "M. Plumeau."
+
+They were two professors, two good second-class masters. They made their
+appearance, both sparely built, with military air and somewhat stiff
+movements. Having gone through the salute with automatic action, they
+began to attack one another, resembling in their white costumes of
+leather and duck, two soldier pierrots fighting for fun. From time to
+time the word "Touched" was heard, and the six judges nodded with the
+air of connoisseurs. The public saw nothing but two living marionettes
+moving about and extending their arms; they understood nothing, but they
+were satisfied. These two men seemed to them, however, not over
+graceful, and vaguely ridiculous. They reminded them of the wooden
+wrestlers sold on the boulevards at the New Year's Fair.
+
+The first couple of fencers were succeeded by Monsieur Planton and
+Monsieur Carapin, a civilian master and a military one. Monsieur Planton
+was very little, and Monsieur Carapin immensely stout. One would have
+thought that the first thrust would have reduced his volume like that of
+a balloon. People laughed. Monsieur Planton skipped about like a monkey:
+Monsieur Carapin, only moved his arm, the rest of his frame being
+
+paralyzed by fat. He lunged every five minutes with such heaviness and
+such effort that it seemed to need the most energetic resolution on his
+part to accomplish it, and then had great difficulty in recovering
+himself. The connoisseurs pronounced his play very steady and close, and
+the confiding public appreciated it as such.
+
+Then came Monsieur Porion and Monsieur Lapalme, a master and an amateur,
+who gave way to exaggerated gymnastics; charging furiously at one
+another, obliging the judges to scuttle off with their chairs, crossing
+and re-crossing from one end of the platform to the other, one advancing
+and the other retreating, with vigorous and comic leaps and bounds. They
+indulged in little jumps backwards that made the ladies laugh, and long
+springs forward that caused them some emotion. This galloping assault
+was aptly criticized by some young rascal, who sang out: "Don't burst
+yourselves over it; it is a time job!" The spectators, shocked at this
+want of taste, cried "Ssh!" The judgment of the experts was passed
+around. The fencers had shown much vigor, and played somewhat loosely.
+
+The first half of the entertainment was concluded by a very fine bout
+between Jacques Rival and the celebrated Belgian professor, Lebegue.
+Rival greatly pleased the ladies. He was really a handsome fellow, well
+made, supple, agile, and more graceful than any of those who had
+preceded him. He brought, even into his way of standing on guard and
+lunging, a certain fashionable elegance which pleased people, and
+contrasted with the energetic, but more commonplace style of his
+adversary. "One can perceive the well-bred man at once," was the remark.
+He scored the last hit, and was applauded.
+
+But for some minutes past a singular noise on the floor above had
+disturbed the spectators. It was a loud trampling, accompanied by noisy
+laughter. The two hundred guests who had not been able to get down into
+the cellar were no doubt amusing themselves in their own way. On the
+narrow, winding staircase fifty men were packed. The heat down below was
+getting terrible. Cries of "More air," "Something to drink," were heard.
+The same joker kept on yelping in a shrill tone that rose above the
+murmur of conversation, "Orgeat, lemonade, beer." Rival made his
+appearance, very flushed, and still in his fencing costume. "I will have
+some refreshments brought," said he, and made his way to the staircase.
+But all communication with the ground floor was cut off. It would have
+been as easy to have pierced the ceiling as to have traversed the human
+wall piled up on the stairs.
+
+Rival called out: "Send down some ices for the ladies." Fifty voices
+called out: "Some ices!" A tray at length made its appearance. But it
+only bore empty glasses, the refreshments having been snatched on the
+way.
+
+A loud voice shouted: "We are suffocating down here. Get it over and let
+us be off." Another cried out: "The collection." And the whole of the
+public, gasping, but good-humored all the same, repeated: "The
+collection, the collection."
+
+Six ladies began to pass along between the seats, and the sound of money
+falling into the collecting-bags could be heard.
+
+Du Roy pointed out the celebrities to Madame Walter. There were men of
+fashion and journalists, those attached to the great newspapers, the
+old-established newspapers, which looked down upon the _Vie Francaise_
+with a certain reserve, the fruit of their experience. They had
+witnessed the death of so many of these politico-financial sheets,
+offspring of a suspicious partnership, and crushed by the fall of a
+ministry. There were also painters and sculptors, who are generally men
+with a taste for sport; a poet who was also a member of the Academy, and
+who was pointed out generally, and a number of distinguished foreigners.
+
+Someone called out: "Good-day, my dear fellow." It was the Count de
+Vaudrec. Making his excuses to the ladies, Du Roy hastened to shake
+hands with him. On returning, he remarked: "What a charming fellow
+Vaudrec is! How thoroughly blood tells in him."
+
+Madame Walter did not reply. She was somewhat fatigued, and her bosom
+rose with an effort every time she drew breath, which caught the eye of
+Du Roy. From time to time he caught her glance, a troubled, hesitating
+glance, which lighted upon him, and was at once averted, and he said to
+himself: "Eh! what! Have I caught her, too?"
+
+The ladies who had been collecting passed to their seats, their bags
+full of gold and silver, and a fresh placard was hung in front of the
+platform, announcing a "surprising novelty." The judges resumed their
+seats, and the public waited expectantly.
+
+Two women appeared, foil in hand and in fencing costume; dark tights, a
+very short petticoat half-way to the knee, and a plastron so padded
+above the bosom that it obliged them to keep their heads well up. They
+were both young and pretty. They smiled as they saluted the spectators,
+and were loudly applauded. They fell on guard, amidst murmured
+gallantries and whispered jokes. An amiable smile graced the lips of the
+judges, who approved the hits with a low "bravo." The public warmly
+appreciated this bout, and testified this much to the two combatants,
+who kindled desire among the men and awakened among the women the native
+taste of the Parisian for graceful indecency, naughty elegance, music
+hall singers, and couplets from operettas. Every time that one of the
+fencers lunged a thrill of pleasure ran through the public. The one who
+turned her back to the seats, a plump back, caused eyes and mouths to
+open, and it was not the play of her wrist that was most closely
+scanned. They were frantically applauded.
+
+A bout with swords followed, but no one looked at it, for the attention
+of all was occupied by what was going on overhead. For some minutes they
+had heard the noise of furniture being dragged across the floor, as
+though moving was in progress. Then all at once the notes of a piano
+were heard, and the rhythmic beat of feet moving in cadence was
+distinctly audible. The people above had treated themselves to a dance
+to make up for not being able to see anything. A loud laugh broke out at
+first among the public in the fencing saloon, and then a wish for a
+dance being aroused among the ladies, they ceased to pay attention to
+what was taking place on the platform, and began to chatter out loud.
+This notion of a ball got up by the late-comers struck them as comical.
+They must be amusing themselves nicely, and it must be much better up
+there.
+
+But two new combatants had saluted each other and fell on guard in such
+masterly style that all eyes followed their movements. They lunged and
+recovered themselves with such easy grace, such measured strength, such
+certainty, such sobriety in action, such correctness in attitude, such
+measure in their play, that even the ignorant were surprised and
+charmed. Their calm promptness, their skilled suppleness, their rapid
+motions, so nicely timed that they appeared slow, attracted and
+captivated the eye by their power of perfection. The public felt that
+they were looking at something good and rare; that two great artists in
+their own profession were showing them their best, all of skill,
+cunning, thought-out science and physical ability that it was possible
+for two masters to put forth. No one spoke now, so closely were they
+watched. Then, when they shook hands after the last hit, shouts of
+bravoes broke out. People stamped and yelled. Everyone knew their
+names--they were Sergent and Ravignac.
+
+The excitable grew quarrelsome. Men looked at their neighbors with
+longings for a row. They would have challenged one another on account of
+a smile. Those who had never held a foil in their hand sketched attacks
+and parries with their canes.
+
+But by degrees the crowd worked up the little staircase. At last they
+would be able to get something to drink. There was an outburst of
+indignation when they found that those who had got up the ball had
+stripped the refreshment buffet, and had then gone away declaring that
+it was very impolite to bring together two hundred people and not show
+them anything. There was not a cake, not a drop of champagne, syrup, or
+beer left; not a sweetmeat, not a fruit--nothing. They had sacked,
+pillaged, swept away everything. These details were related by the
+servants, who pulled long faces to hide their impulse to laugh right
+out. "The ladies were worse than the gentlemen," they asserted, "and
+ate and drank enough to make themselves ill." It was like the story of
+the survivors after the sack of a captured town.
+
+There was nothing left but to depart. Gentlemen openly regretted the
+twenty francs given at the collection; they were indignant that those
+upstairs should have feasted without paying anything. The lady
+patronesses had collected upwards of three thousand francs. All expenses
+paid, there remained two hundred and twenty for the orphans of the Sixth
+Arrondissement.
+
+Du Roy, escorting the Walter family, waited for his landau. As he drove
+back with them, seated in face of Madame Walter, he again caught her
+caressing and fugitive glance, which seemed uneasy. He thought: "Hang it
+all! I fancy she is nibbling," and smiled to recognize that he was
+really very lucky as regarded women, for Madame de Marelle, since the
+recommencement of their amour, seemed frantically in love with him.
+
+He returned home joyously. Madeleine was waiting for him in the
+drawing-room.
+
+"I have some news," said she. "The Morocco business is getting into a
+complication. France may very likely send out an expeditionary force
+within a few months. At all events, the opportunity will be taken of it
+to upset the Ministry, and Laroche-Mathieu will profit by this to get
+hold of the portfolio of foreign affairs."
+
+Du Roy, to tease his wife, pretended not to believe anything of the
+kind. They would never be mad enough to recommence the Tunisian bungle
+over again. But she shrugged her shoulders impatiently, saying: "But I
+tell you yes, I tell you yes. You don't understand that it is a matter
+of money. Now-a-days, in political complications we must not ask: 'Who
+is the woman?' but 'What is the business?'"
+
+He murmured "Bah!" in a contemptuous tone, in order to excite her, and
+she, growing irritated, exclaimed: "You are just as stupid as
+Forestier."
+
+She wished to wound him, and expected an outburst of anger. But he
+smiled, and replied: "As that cuckold of a Forestier?"
+
+She was shocked, and murmured: "Oh, George!"
+
+He wore an insolent and chaffing air as he said: "Well, what? Did you
+not admit to me the other evening that Forestier was a cuckold?" And he
+added: "Poor devil!" in a tone of pity.
+
+Madeleine turned her back on him, disdaining to answer; and then, after
+a moment's silence, resumed: "We shall have visitors on Tuesday. Madame
+Laroche-Mathieu is coming to dinner with the Viscountess de Percemur.
+Will you invite Rival and Norbert de Varenne? I will call to-morrow and
+ask Madame Walter and Madame de Marelle. Perhaps we shall have Madame
+Rissolin, too."
+
+For some time past she had been strengthening her connections, making
+use of her husband's political influence to attract to her house,
+willy-nilly, the wives of the senators and deputies who had need of the
+support of the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+George replied: "Very well. I will see about Rival and Norbert."
+
+He was satisfied, and rubbed his hands, for he had found a good trick to
+annoy his wife and gratify the obscure rancor, the undefined and gnawing
+jealousy born in him since their drive in the Bois. He would never
+speak of Forestier again without calling him cuckold. He felt very well
+that this would end by enraging Madeleine. And half a score of times, in
+the course of the evening, he found means to mention with ironical good
+humor the name of "that cuckold of a Forestier." He was no longer angry
+with the dead! he was avenging him.
+
+His wife pretended not to notice it, and remained smilingly indifferent.
+
+The next day, as she was to go and invite Madame Walter, he resolved to
+forestall her, in order to catch the latter alone, and see if she really
+
+cared for him. It amused and flattered him. And then--why not--if it
+were possible?
+
+He arrived at the Boulevard Malesherbes about two, and was shown into
+the drawing-room, where he waited till Madame Walter made her
+appearance, her hand outstretched with pleased eagerness, saying: "What
+good wind brings you hither?"
+
+"No good wind, but the wish to see you. Some power has brought me here,
+I do not know why, for I have nothing to say to you. I came, here I am;
+will you forgive me this early visit and the frankness of this
+explanation?"
+
+He uttered this in a gallant and jesting tone, with a smile on his lips.
+She was astonished, and colored somewhat, stammering: "But really--I do
+not understand--you surprise me."
+
+He observed: "It is a declaration made to a lively tune, in order not to
+alarm you."
+
+They had sat down in front of one another. She took the matter
+pleasantly, saying: "A serious declaration?"
+
+"Yes. For a long time I have been wanting to utter it--for a very long
+time. But I dared not. They say you are so strict, so rigid."
+
+She had recovered her assurance, and observed: "Why to-day, then?"
+
+"I do not know." Then lowering his voice he added: "Or rather, because I
+have been thinking of nothing but you since yesterday."
+
+
+She stammered, growing suddenly pale: "Come, enough of nonsense; let us
+speak of something else."
+
+But he had fallen at her feet so suddenly that she was frightened. She
+tried to rise, but he kept her seated by the strength of his arms passed
+round her waist, and repeated in a voice of passion: "Yes, it is true
+that I have loved you madly for a long time past. Do not answer me. What
+would you have? I am mad. I love you. Oh! if you knew how I love you!"
+
+She was suffocating, gasping, and strove to speak, without being able to
+utter a word. She pushed him away with her two hands, having seized him
+by the hair to hinder the approach of the mouth that she felt coming
+towards her own. She kept turning her head from right to left and from
+left to right with a rapid motion, closing her eyes, in order no longer
+to see him. He touched her through her dress, handled her, pressed her,
+and she almost fainted under his strong and rude caress. He rose
+suddenly and sought to clasp her to him, but, free for a moment, she had
+managed to escape by throwing herself back, and she now fled from behind
+one chair to another. He felt that pursuit was ridiculous, and he fell
+into a chair, his face hidden by his hands, feigning convulsive sobs.
+Then he got up, exclaimed "Farewell, farewell," and rushed away.
+
+He quietly took his stick in the hall and gained the street, saying to
+himself: "By Jove, I believe it is all right there." And he went into a
+telegraph office to send a wire to Clotilde, making an appointment for
+the next day.
+
+On returning home at his usual time, he said to his wife: "Well, have
+you secured all the people for your dinner?"
+
+She answered: "Yes, there is only Madame Walter, who is not quite sure
+whether she will be free to come. She hesitated and talked about I don't
+know what--an engagement, her conscience. In short, she seemed very
+strange. No matter, I hope she will come all the same."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, saying: "Oh, yes, she'll come."
+
+He was not certain, however, and remained anxious until the day of the
+dinner. That very morning Madeleine received a note from her: "I have
+managed to get free from my engagements with great difficulty, and shall
+be with you this evening. But my husband cannot accompany me."
+
+Du Roy thought: "I did very well indeed not to go back. She has calmed
+down. Attention."
+
+He, however, awaited her appearance with some slight uneasiness. She
+came, very calm, rather cool, and slightly haughty. He became humble,
+discreet, and submissive. Madame Laroche-Mathieu and Madame Rissolin
+accompanied their husbands. The Viscountess de Percemur talked society.
+Madame de Marelle looked charming in a strangely fanciful toilet, a
+species of Spanish costume in black and yellow, which set off her neat
+figure, her bosom, her rounded arms, and her bird-like head.
+
+Du Roy had Madame Walter on his right hand, and during dinner only spoke
+to her on serious topics, and with an exaggerated respect. From time to
+time he glanced at Clotilde. "She is really prettier and fresher looking
+than ever," he thought. Then his eyes returned to his wife, whom he
+found not bad-looking either, although he retained towards her a hidden,
+tenacious, and evil anger.
+
+But Madame Walter excited him by the difficulty of victory and by that
+novelty always desired by man. She wanted to return home early. "I will
+escort you," said he.
+
+She refused, but he persisted, saying: "Why will not you permit me? You
+will wound me keenly. Do not let me think that you have not forgiven me.
+You see how quiet I am."
+
+She answered: "But you cannot abandon your guests like that."
+
+He smiled. "But I shall only be away twenty minutes. They will not even
+notice it. If you refuse you will cut me to the heart."
+
+She murmured: "Well, then I agree."
+
+But as soon as they were in the carriage he seized her hand, and,
+kissing it passionately, exclaimed: "I love you, I love you. Let me tell
+you that much. I will not touch you. I only want to repeat to you that I
+love you."
+
+She stammered: "Oh! after what you promised me! This is wrong, very
+wrong."
+
+He appeared to make a great effort, and then resumed in a restrained
+tone: "There, you see how I master myself. And yet--But let me only tell
+you that I love you, and repeat it to you every day; yes, let me come to
+your house and kneel down for five minutes at your feet to utter those
+three words while gazing on your beloved face."
+
+She had yielded her hand to him, and replied pantingly: "No, I cannot, I
+will not. Think of what would be said, of the servants, of my daughters.
+No, no, it is impossible."
+
+He went on: "I can no longer live without seeing you. Whether at your
+house or elsewhere, I must see you, if only for a moment, every day, to
+touch your hand, to breathe the air stirred by your dress, to gaze on
+the outline of your form, and on your great calm eyes that madden me."
+
+She listened, quivering, to this commonplace love-song, and stammered:
+"No, it is out of the question."
+
+He whispered in her ear, understanding that he must capture her by
+degrees, this simple woman, that he must get her to make appointments
+with him, where she would at first, where he wished afterwards. "Listen,
+I must see you; I shall wait for you at your door like a beggar; but I
+will see you, I will see you to-morrow."
+
+She repeated: "No, do not come. I shall not receive you. Think of my
+daughters."
+
+"Then tell me where I shall meet you--in the street, no matter where, at
+whatever hour you like, provided I see you. I will bow to you; I will
+say 'I love you,' and I will go away."
+
+She hesitated, bewildered. And as the brougham entered the gateway of
+her residence she murmured hurriedly: "Well, then, I shall be at the
+Church of the Trinity to-morrow at half-past three." Then, having
+alighted, she said to her coachman: "Drive Monsieur Du Roy back to his
+house."
+
+As he re-entered his home, his wife said: "Where did you get to?"
+
+He replied, in a low tone: "I went to the telegraph office to send off a
+message."
+
+Madame de Marelle approached them. "You will see me home, Pretty-boy?"
+said she. "You know I only came such a distance to dinner on that
+condition." And turning to Madeleine, she added: "You are not jealous?"
+
+Madame Du Roy answered slowly: "Not over much."
+
+The guests were taking their leave. Madame Laroche-Mathieu looked like a
+housemaid from the country. She was the daughter of a notary, and had
+been married to the deputy when he was only a barrister of small
+standing. Madame Rissolin, old and stuck-up, gave one the idea of a
+midwife whose fashionable education had been acquired through a
+circulating library. The Viscountess de Percemur looked down upon them.
+Her "Lily Fingers" touched these vulgar hands with repugnance.
+
+Clotilde, wrapped in lace, said to Madeleine as she went out: "Your
+dinner was perfection. In a little while you will have the leading
+political drawing-room in Paris."
+
+As soon as she was alone with George she clasped him in her arms,
+exclaiming: "Oh, my darling Pretty-boy, I love you more and more every
+day!"
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+The Place de la Trinité lay, almost deserted, under a dazzling July sun.
+An oppressive heat was crushing Paris. It was as though the upper air,
+scorched and deadened, had fallen upon the city--a thick, burning air
+that pained the chests inhaling it. The fountains in front of the church
+fell lazily. They seemed weary of flowing, tired out, limp, too; and the
+water of the basins, in which leaves and bits of paper were floating,
+looked greenish, thick and glaucous. A dog having jumped over the stone
+rim, was bathing in the dubious fluid. A few people, seated on the
+benches of the little circular garden skirting the front of the church,
+watched the animal curiously.
+
+Du Roy pulled out his watch. It was only three o'clock. He was half an
+hour too soon. He laughed as he thought of this appointment. "Churches
+serve for anything as far as she is concerned," said he to himself.
+"They console her for having married a Jew, enable her to assume an
+attitude of protestation in the world of politics and a respectable one
+in that of fashion, and serve as a shelter to her gallant rendezvous. So
+much for the habit of making use of religion as an umbrella. If it is
+fine it is a walking stick; if sunshiny, a parasol; if it rains, a
+shelter; and if one does not go out, why, one leaves it in the hall. And
+there are hundreds like that who care for God about as much as a cherry
+stone, but who will not hear him spoken against. If it were suggested to
+them to go to a hotel, they would think it infamous, but it seems to
+them quite simple to make love at the foot of the altar."
+
+He walked slowly along the edge of the fountain, and then again looked
+at the church clock, which was two minutes faster than his watch. It was
+five minutes past three. He thought that he would be more comfortable
+inside, and entered the church. The coolness of a cellar assailed him,
+he breathed it with pleasure, and then took a turn round the nave to
+reconnoiter the place. Other regular footsteps, sometimes halting and
+then beginning anew, replied from the further end of the vast pile to
+the sound of his own, which rang sonorously beneath the vaulted roof. A
+curiosity to know who this other promenader was seized him. It was a
+stout, bald-headed gentleman who was strolling about with his nose in
+the air, and his hat behind his back. Here and there an old woman was
+praying, her face hidden in her hands. A sensation of solitude and rest
+stole over the mind. The light, softened by the stained-glass windows,
+was refreshing to the eyes. Du Roy thought that it was "deucedly
+comfortable" inside there.
+
+He returned towards the door and again looked at his watch. It was still
+only a quarter-past three. He sat down at the entrance to the main
+aisle, regretting that one could not smoke a cigarette. The slow
+footsteps of the stout gentleman could still be heard at the further end
+of the church, near the choir.
+
+Someone came in, and George turned sharply round. It was a poor woman in
+a woolen skirt, who fell on her knees close to the first chair, and
+remained motionless, with clasped hands, her eyes turned to heaven, her
+soul absorbed in prayer. Du Roy watched her with interest, asking
+himself what grief, what pain, what despair could have crushed her
+heart. She was worn out by poverty, it was plain. She had, perhaps, too,
+a husband who was beating her to death, or a dying child. He murmured
+mentally: "Poor creatures. How some of them do suffer." Anger rose up in
+him against pitiless Nature. Then he reflected that these poor wretches
+believed, at any rate, that they were taken into consideration up above,
+and that they were duly entered in the registers of heaven with a debtor
+and creditor balance. Up above! And Du Roy, whom the silence of the
+church inclined to sweeping reflections, judging creation at a bound,
+muttered contemptuously: "What bosh all that sort of thing is!"
+
+The rustle of a dress made him start. It was she.
+
+He rose, and advanced quickly. She did not hold out her hand, but
+murmured in a low voice: "I have only a few moments. I must get back
+home. Kneel down near me, so that we may not be noticed." And she
+advanced up the aisle, seeking a safe and suitable spot, like a woman
+well acquainted with the place. Her face was hidden by a thick veil, and
+she walked with careful footsteps that could scarcely be heard.
+
+When she reached the choir she turned, and muttered, in that mysterious
+tone of voice we always assume in church: "The side aisles will be
+better. We are too much in view here."
+
+She bowed low to the high altar, turned to the right, and returned a
+little way towards the entrance; then, making up her mind, she took a
+chair and knelt down. George took possession of the next one to her, and
+as soon as they were in an attitude of prayer, began: "Thanks; oh,
+thanks; I adore you! I should like to be always telling you so, to tell
+you how I began to love you, how I was captivated the first time I saw
+you. Will you allow me some day to open my heart to tell you all this?"
+
+She listened to him in an attitude of deep meditation, as if she heard
+nothing. She replied between her fingers: "I am mad to allow you to
+speak to me like this, mad to have come here, mad to do what I am doing,
+mad to let you believe that--that--this adventure can have any issue.
+Forget all this; you must, and never speak to me again of it."
+
+She paused. He strove to find an answer, decisive and passionate words,
+but not being able to join action to words, was partially paralyzed. He
+replied: "I expect nothing, I hope for nothing. I love you. Whatever you
+may do, I will repeat it to you so often, with such power and ardor,
+that you will end by understanding it. I want to make my love penetrate
+you, to pour it into your soul, word by word, hour by hour, day by day,
+so that at length it impregnates you like a liquid, falling drop by
+drop; softens you, mollifies you, and obliges you later on to reply to
+me: 'I love you, too.'"
+
+He felt her shoulder trembling against him and her bosom throbbing, and
+she stammered, abruptly: "I love you, too!"
+
+He started as though he had received a blow, and sighed: "Good God."
+
+She replied, in panting tones: "Ought I to have told you that? I feel I
+am guilty and contemptible. I, who have two daughters, but I cannot help
+it, I cannot help it. I could not have believed, I should never have
+thought--but it is stronger than I. Listen, listen: I have never loved
+anyone but you; I swear it. And I have loved you for a year past in
+secret, in my secret heart. Oh! I have suffered and struggled till I can
+do so no more. I love you."
+
+She was weeping, with her hands crossed in front of her face, and her
+whole frame was quivering, shaken by the violence of her emotion.
+
+George murmured: "Give me your hand, that I may touch it, that I may
+press it."
+
+She slowly withdrew her hand from her face. He saw her cheek quite wet
+and a tear ready to fall on her lashes. He had taken her hand and was
+pressing it, saying: "Oh, how I should like to drink your tears!"
+
+She said, in a low and broken voice, which resembled a moan: "Do not
+take advantage of me; I am lost."
+
+He felt an impulse to smile. How could he take advantage of her in that
+place? He placed the hand he held upon his heart, saying: "Do you feel
+it beat?" For he had come to the end of his passionate phrases.
+
+For some moments past the regular footsteps of the promenader had been
+coming nearer. He had gone the round of the altars, and was now, for the
+second time at least, coming down the little aisle on the right. When
+Madame Walter heard him close to the pillar which hid her, she snatched
+her fingers from George's grasp, and again hid her face. And both
+remained motionless, kneeling as though they had been addressing fervent
+supplications to heaven together. The stout gentleman passed close to
+them, cast an indifferent look upon them, and walked away to the lower
+end of the church, still holding his hat behind his back.
+
+Du Roy, who was thinking of obtaining an appointment elsewhere than at
+the Church of the Trinity, murmured: "Where shall I see you to-morrow?"
+
+She did not answer. She seemed lifeless--turned into a statue of prayer.
+He went on: "To-morrow, will you let me meet you in the Parc Monseau?"
+
+She turned towards him her again uncovered face, a livid face,
+contracted by fearful suffering, and in a jerky voice ejaculated: "Leave
+me, leave me now; go away, go away, only for five minutes! I suffer too
+much beside you. I want to pray, and I cannot. Go away, let me pray
+alone for five minutes. I cannot. Let me implore God to pardon me--to
+save me. Leave me for five minutes."
+
+Her face was so upset, so full of pain, that he rose without saying a
+word, and then, after a little hesitation, asked: "Shall I come back
+presently?"
+
+She gave a nod, which meant, "Yes, presently," and he walked away
+towards the choir. Then she strove to pray. She made a superhuman effort
+to invoke the Deity, and with quivering frame and bewildering soul
+appealed for mercy to heaven. She closed her eyes with rage, in order no
+longer to see him who just left her. She sought to drive him from her
+mind, she struggled against him, but instead of the celestial apparition
+awaited in the distress of her heart, she still perceived the young
+fellow's curly moustache. For a year past she had been struggling thus
+every day, every night, against the growing possession, against this
+image which haunted her dreams, haunted her flesh, and disturbed her
+nights. She felt caught like a beast in a net, bound, thrown into the
+arms of this man, who had vanquished, conquered her, simply by the hair
+on his lip and the color of his eyes. And now in this church, close to
+God, she felt still weaker, more abandoned, and more lost than at home.
+She could no longer pray, she could only think of him. She suffered
+already that he had quitted her. She struggled, however, despairingly,
+resisted, implored help with all the strength of her soul. She would
+liked to have died rather than fall thus, she who had never faltered in
+her duty. She murmured wild words of supplication, but she was listening
+to George's footsteps dying away in the distance.
+
+She understood that it was all over, that the struggle was a useless
+one. She would not yield, however; and she was seized by one of those
+nervous crises that hurl women quivering, yelling, and writhing on the
+ground. She trembled in every limb, feeling that she was going to fall
+and roll among the chairs, uttering shrill cries. Someone approached
+with rapid steps. It was a priest. She rose and rushed towards him,
+holding out her clasped hands, and stammering: "Oh! save me, save me!"
+
+He halted in surprise, saying: "What is it you wish, madame?"
+
+"I want you to save me. Have pity on me. If you do not come to my
+assistance, I am lost."
+
+He looked at her, asking himself whether she was not mad, and then said:
+"What can I do for you?"
+
+He was a tall, and somewhat stout young man, with full, pendulous
+cheeks, dark, with a carefully shaven face, a good-looking city curate
+belonging to a wealthy district, and accustomed to rich penitents.
+
+"Hear my confession, and advise me, sustain me, tell me what I am to
+do."
+
+He replied: "I hear confessions every Saturday, from three to six
+o'clock."
+
+Having seized his arm, she gripped it tightly as she repeated: "No, no,
+no; at once, at once! You must. He is here, in the church. He is waiting
+for me."
+
+"Who is waiting for you?" asked the priest.
+
+"A man who will ruin me, who will carry me off, if you do not save me.
+I cannot flee from him. I am too weak--too weak! Oh, so weak, so weak!"
+She fell at his feet sobbing: "Oh, have pity on me, father! Save me, in
+God's name, save me!"
+
+She held him by his black gown lest he should escape, and he with
+uneasiness glanced around, lest some malevolent or devout eye should see
+this woman fallen at his feet. Understanding at length that he could not
+escape, he said: "Get up; I have the key of the confessional with me."
+
+And fumbling in his pocket he drew out a ring full of keys, selected
+one, and walked rapidly towards the little wooden cabin, dust holes of
+the soul into which believers cast their sins. He entered the center
+door, which he closed behind him, and Madame Walter, throwing herself
+into the narrow recess at the side, stammered fervently, with a
+passionate burst of hope: "Bless me father, for I have sinned."
+
+Du Roy, having taken a turn round the choir, was passing down the left
+aisle. He had got half-way when he met the stout, bald gentleman still
+walking quietly along, and said to himself: "What the deuce is that
+customer doing here?"
+
+The promenader had also slackened his pace, and was looking at George
+with an evident wish to speak to him. When he came quite close he bowed,
+and said in a polite fashion: "I beg your pardon, sir, for troubling
+you, but can you tell me when this church was built?"
+
+Du Roy replied: "Really, I am not quite certain. I think within the last
+twenty or five-and-twenty years. It is, besides, the first time I ever
+was inside it."
+
+"It is the same with me. I have never seen it."
+
+The journalist, whose interest was awakened, remarked: "It seems to me
+that you are going over it very carefully. You are studying it in
+detail."
+
+The other replied, with resignation: "I am not examining it; I am
+waiting for my wife, who made an appointment with me here, and who is
+very much behind time." Then, after a few moments' silence, he added:
+"It is fearfully hot outside."
+
+Du Roy looked at him, and all at once fancied that he resembled
+Forestier.
+
+"You are from the country?" said he, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, from Rennes. And you, sir, is it out of curiosity that you entered
+this church?"
+
+"No, I am expecting a lady," and bowing, the journalist walked away,
+with a smile on his lips.
+
+Approaching the main entrance, he saw the poor woman still on her knees,
+and still praying. He thought: "By Jove! she keeps hard at it." He was
+no longer moved, and no longer pitied her.
+
+He passed on, and began quietly to walk up the right-hand aisle to find
+Madame Walter again. He marked the place where he had left her from a
+distance, astonished at not seeing her. He thought he had made a mistake
+in the pillar; went on as far as the end one, and then returned. She had
+gone, then. He was surprised and enraged. Then he thought she might be
+looking for him, and made the circuit of the church again. Not finding
+her, he returned, and sat down on the chair she had occupied, hoping she
+would rejoin him there, and waited. Soon a low murmur of voices aroused
+his attention. He had not seen anyone in that part of the church. Whence
+came this whispering? He rose to see, and perceived in the adjacent
+chapel the doors of the confessional. The skirt of a dress issuing from
+one of these trailed on the pavement. He approached to examine the
+woman. He recognized her. She was confessing.
+
+He felt a violent inclination to take her by the shoulders and to pull
+her out of the box. Then he thought: "Bah! it is the priest's turn now;
+it will be mine to-morrow." And he sat down quietly in front of the
+confessional, biding his time, and chuckling now over the adventure. He
+waited a long time. At length Madame Walter rose, turned round, saw him,
+and came up to him. Her expression was cold and severe, "Sir," said she,
+"I beg of you not to accompany me, not to follow me, and not to come to
+my house alone. You will not be received. Farewell."
+
+And she walked away with a dignified bearing. He let her depart, for one
+of his principles was never to force matters. Then, as the priest,
+somewhat upset, issued in turn from his box, he walked up to him, and,
+looking him straight in the eyes, growled to his face: "If you did not
+wear a petticoat, what a smack you would get across your ugly chops."
+After which he turned on his heels and went out of the church, whistling
+between his teeth. Standing under the porch, the stout gentleman, with
+the hat on his head and his hands behind his back, tired of waiting, was
+scanning the broad squares and all the streets opening onto it. As Du
+Roy passed him they bowed to one another.
+
+The journalist, finding himself at liberty, went to the office of the
+_Vie Francaise_. As soon as he entered he saw by the busy air of the
+messengers that something out of the common was happening, and at once
+went into the manager's room. Daddy Walter, in a state of nervous
+excitement, was standing up dictating an article in broken sentences;
+issuing orders to the reporters, who surrounded him, between two
+paragraphs; giving instructions to Boisrenard; and opening letters.
+
+As Du Roy came in, the governor uttered a cry of joy: "Ah! how lucky;
+here is Pretty-boy!" He stopped short, somewhat confused, and excused
+himself: "I beg your pardon for speaking like that, but I am very much
+disturbed by certain events. And then I hear my wife and daughter
+speaking of you as Pretty-boy from morning till night, and have ended by
+falling into the habit myself. You are not offended?"
+
+"Not at all!" said George, laughingly; "there is nothing in that
+nickname to displease me."
+
+Daddy Walter went on: "Very well, then, I christen you Pretty-boy, like
+everyone else. Well, the fact is, great things are taking place. The
+Ministry has been overthrown by a vote of three hundred and ten to a
+hundred and two. Our prorogation is again postponed--postponed to the
+Greek calends, and here we are at the twenty-eighth of July. Spain is
+angry about the Morocco business, and it is that which has overthrown
+Durand de l'Aine and his following. We are right in the swim. Marrot is
+entrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet. He takes General Boutin
+d'Acre as minister of war, and our friend Laroche-Mathieu for foreign
+affairs. We are going to become an official organ. I am writing a
+leader, a simple declaration of our principles, pointing out the line to
+be followed by the Ministry." The old boy smiled, and continued: "The
+line they intend following, be it understood. But I want something
+interesting about Morocco; an actuality; a sensational article;
+something or other. Find one for me."
+
+Du Roy reflected for a moment, and then replied: "I have the very thing
+for you. I will give you a study of the political situation of the whole
+of our African colony, with Tunis on the left, Algeria in the middle,
+and Morocco on the right; the history of the races inhabiting this vast
+extent of territory; and the narrative of an excursion on the frontier
+of Morocco to the great oasis of Figuig, where no European has
+penetrated, and which is the cause of the present conflict. Will that
+suit you?"
+
+"Admirably!" exclaimed Daddy Walter. "And the title?"
+
+"From Tunis to Tangiers."
+
+"Splendid!"
+
+Du Roy went off to search the files of the _Vie Francaise_ for his first
+article, "The Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique," which, rebaptized,
+touched up, and modified, would do admirably, since it dealt with
+colonial policy, the Algerian population, and an excursion in the
+province of Oran. In three-quarters of an hour it was rewritten, touched
+up, and brought to date, with a flavor of realism, and praises of the
+new Cabinet. The manager, having read the article, said: "It is capital,
+capital, capital! You are an invaluable fellow. I congratulate you."
+
+And Du Roy went home to dinner delighted with his day's work, despite
+the check at the Church of the Trinity, for he felt the battle won. His
+wife was anxiously waiting for him. She exclaimed, as soon as she saw
+him: "Do you know that Laroche-Mathieu is Minister for Foreign Affairs?"
+
+"Yes; I have just written an article on Algeria, in connection with
+it."
+
+"What?"
+
+"You know, the first we wrote together, 'The Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique,' revised and corrected for the occasion."
+
+She smiled, saying: "Ah, that is very good!" Then, after a few moments'
+reflection, she continued: "I was thinking--that continuation you were
+to have written then, and that you--put off. We might set to work on it
+now. It would make a nice series, and very appropriate to the
+situation."
+
+He replied, sitting down to table: "Exactly, and there is nothing in the
+way of it now that cuckold of a Forestier is dead."
+
+She said quietly, in a dry and hurt tone: "That joke is more than out of
+place, and I beg of you to put an end to it. It has lasted too long
+already."
+
+He was about to make an ironical answer, when a telegram was brought
+him, containing these words: "I had lost my senses. Forgive me, and come
+at four o'clock to-morrow to the Parc Monceau."
+
+He understood, and with heart suddenly filled with joy, he said to his
+wife, as he slipped the message into his pocket: "I will not do so any
+more, darling; it was stupid, I admit."
+
+And he began his dinner. While eating he kept repeating to himself the
+
+words: "I had lost my senses. Forgive me, and come at four o'clock
+to-morrow to the Parc Monceau." So she was yielding. That meant: "I
+surrender, I am yours when you like and where you like." He began to
+laugh, and Madeleine asked: "What is it?"
+
+"Nothing," he answered; "I was thinking of a priest I met just now, and
+who had a very comical mug."
+
+Du Roy arrived to the time at the appointed place next day. On the
+benches of the park were seated citizens overcome by heat, and careless
+nurses, who seemed to be dreaming while their children were rolling on
+the gravel of the paths. He found Madame Walter in the little antique
+ruins from which a spring flows. She was walking round the little circle
+of columns with an uneasy and unhappy air. As soon as he had greeted
+her, she exclaimed: "What a number of people there are in the garden."
+
+He seized the opportunity: "It is true; will you come somewhere else?"
+
+"But where?"
+
+"No matter where; in a cab, for instance. You can draw down the blind on
+your side, and you will be quite invisible."
+
+"Yes, I prefer that; here I am dying with fear."
+
+"Well, come and meet me in five minutes at the gate opening onto the
+outer boulevard. I will have a cab."
+
+And he darted off.
+
+As soon as she had rejoined him, and had carefully drawn down the blind
+on her side, she asked: "Where have you told the driver to take us?"
+
+George replied: "Do not trouble yourself, he knows what to do."
+
+He had given the man his address in the Rue de Constantinople.
+
+She resumed: "You cannot imagine what I suffer on account of you, how I
+am tortured and tormented. Yesterday, in the church, I was cruel, but I
+wanted to flee from you at any cost. I was so afraid to find myself
+alone with you. Have you forgiven me?"
+
+He squeezed her hands: "Yes, yes, what would I not forgive you, loving
+you as I do?"
+
+She looked at him with a supplicating air: "Listen, you must promise to
+respect me--not to--not to--otherwise I cannot see you again."
+
+He did not reply at once; he wore under his moustache that keen smile
+that disturbed women. He ended by murmuring: "I am your slave."
+
+Then she began to tell him how she had perceived that she was in love
+with him on learning that he was going to marry Madeleine Forestier. She
+gave details, little details of dates and the like. Suddenly she paused.
+The cab had stopped. Du Roy opened the door.
+
+"Where are we?" she asked.
+
+"Get out and come into this house," he replied. "We shall be more at
+ease there."
+
+"But where are we?"
+
+
+"At my rooms," and here we will leave them to their _tête-à-tête_.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+
+Autumn had come. The Du Roys had passed the whole of the summer in
+Paris, carrying on a vigorous campaign in the _Vie Francaise_ during the
+short vacation of the deputies.
+
+Although it was only the beginning of October, the Chambers were about
+to resume their sittings, for matters as regarded Morocco were becoming
+threatening. No one at the bottom believed in an expedition against
+Tangiers, although on the day of the prorogation of the Chamber, a
+deputy of the Right, Count de Lambert-Serrazin, in a witty speech,
+applauded even by the Center had offered to stake his moustache, after
+the example of a celebrated Viceroy of the Indies, against the whiskers
+of the President of the Council, that the new Cabinet could not help
+imitating the old one, and sending an army to Tangiers, as a pendant to
+that of Tunis, out of love of symmetry, as one puts two vases on a
+fireplace.
+
+He had added: "Africa is indeed, a fireplace for France, gentleman--a
+fireplace which consumes our best wood; a fireplace with a strong
+draught, which is lit with bank notes. You have had the artistic fancy
+of ornamenting the left-hand corner with a Tunisian knick-knack which
+had cost you dear. You will see that Monsieur Marrot will want to
+imitate his predecessor, and ornament the right-hand corner with one
+from Morocco."
+
+This speech, which became famous, served as a peg for Du Roy for a half
+a score of articles upon the Algerian colony--indeed, for the entire
+series broken short off after his _début_ on the paper. He had
+energetically supported the notion of a military expedition, although
+convinced that it would not take place. He had struck the chord of
+patriotism, and bombarded Spain with the entire arsenal of contemptuous
+arguments which we make use of against nations whose interests are
+contrary to our own. The _Vie Francaise_ had gained considerable
+importance through its own connection with the party in office. It
+published political intelligence in advance of the most important
+papers, and hinted discreetly the intentions of its friends the
+Ministry, so that all the papers of Paris and the provinces took their
+news from it. It was quoted and feared, and people began to respect it.
+It was no longer the suspicious organ of a knot of political jugglers,
+but the acknowledged one of the Cabinet. Laroche-Mathieu was the soul of
+the paper, and Du Roy his mouthpiece. Daddy Walter, a silent member and
+a crafty manager, knowing when to keep in the background, was busying
+himself on the quiet, it is said, with an extensive transaction with
+some copper mines in Morocco.
+
+Madeleine's drawing-room had been an influential center, in which
+several members of the Cabinet met every week. The President of the
+Council had even dined twice at her house, and the wives of the
+statesmen who had formerly hesitated to cross her threshold now boasted
+of being her friends, and paid her more visits than were returned by
+her. The Minister for Foreign Affairs reigned almost as a master in the
+household. He called at all hours, bringing dispatches, news, items of
+information, which he dictated either to the husband or the wife, as if
+they had been his secretaries.
+
+
+When Du Roy, after the minister's departure, found himself alone with
+Madeleine, he would break out in a menacing tone with bitter
+insinuations against the goings-on of this commonplace parvenu.
+
+But she would shrug her shoulders contemptuously, repeating: "Do as much
+as he has done yourself. Become a minister, and you can have your own
+way. Till then, hold your tongue."
+
+He twirled his moustache, looking at her askance: "People do not know of
+what I am capable," he said, "They will learn it, perhaps, some day."
+
+She replied, philosophically: "Who lives long enough will see it."
+
+The morning on which the Chambers reassembled the young wife, still in
+bed, was giving a thousand recommendations to her husband, who was
+dressing himself in order to lunch with M. Laroche-Mathieu, and receive
+his instructions prior to the sitting for the next day's political
+leader in the _Vie Francaise_, this leader being meant to be a kind of
+semi-official declaration of the real objects of the Cabinet.
+
+Madeleine was saying: "Above all, do not forget to ask him whether
+General Belloncle is to be sent to Oran, as has been reported. That
+would mean a great deal."
+
+George replied irritably: "But I know just as well as you what I have to
+do. Spare me your preaching."
+
+She answered quietly: "My dear, you always forget half the commissions I
+entrust you with for the minister."
+
+He growled: "He worries me to death, that minister of yours. He is a
+nincompoop."
+
+She remarked quietly: "He is no more my minister than he is yours. He is
+more useful to you than to me."
+
+He turned half round towards her, saying, sneeringly: "I beg your
+pardon, but he does not pay court to me."
+
+She observed slowly: "Nor to me either; but he is making our fortune."
+
+He was silent for a few moments, and then resumed: "If I had to make a
+choice among your admirers, I should still prefer that old fossil De
+Vaudrec. What has become of him, I have not seen him for a week?"
+
+"He is unwell," replied she, unmoved. "He wrote to me that he was even
+obliged to keep his bed from an attack of gout. You ought to call and
+ask how he is. You know he likes you very well, and it would please
+him."
+
+George said: "Yes, certainly; I will go some time to-day."
+
+He had finished his toilet, and, hat on head, glanced at himself in the
+glass to see if he had neglected anything. Finding nothing, he came up
+to the bed and kissed his wife on the forehead, saying: "Good-bye, dear,
+I shall not be in before seven o'clock at the earliest."
+
+And he went out. Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu was awaiting him, for he was
+lunching at ten o'clock that morning, the Council having to meet at
+noon, before the opening of Parliament. As soon as they were seated at
+table alone with the minister's private secretary, for Madame
+Laroche-Mathieu had been unwilling to change her own meal times, Du Roy
+spoke of his article, sketched out the line he proposed to take,
+consulting notes scribbled on visiting cards, and when he had finished,
+said: "Is there anything you think should be modified, my dear
+minister?"
+
+"Very little, my dear fellow. You are perhaps a trifle too strongly
+affirmative as regards the Morocco business. Speak of the expedition as
+if it were going to take place; but, at the same time, letting it be
+understood that it will not take place, and that you do not believe in
+it in the least in the world. Write in such a way that the public can
+easily read between the lines that we are not going to poke our noses
+into that adventure."
+
+"Quite so. I understand, and I will make myself thoroughly understood.
+My wife commissioned me to ask you, on this point, whether General
+Belloncle will be sent to Oran. After what you have said, I conclude he
+will not."
+
+The statesman answered, "No."
+
+
+Then they spoke of the coming session. Laroche-Mathieu began to spout,
+rehearsing the phrases that he was about to pour forth on his colleagues
+a few hours later. He waved his right hand, raising now his knife, now
+his fork, now a bit of bread, and without looking at anyone, addressing
+himself to the invisible assembly, he poured out his dulcet eloquence,
+the eloquence of a good-looking, dandified fellow. A tiny, twisted
+moustache curled up at its two ends above his lip like scorpion's tails,
+and his hair, anointed with brilliantine and parted in the middle, was
+puffed out like his temples, after the fashion of a provincial
+lady-killer. He was a little too stout, puffy, though still young, and
+his stomach stretched his waistcoat.
+
+The private secretary ate and drank quietly, no doubt accustomed to
+these floods of loquacity; but Du Roy, whom jealousy of achieved success
+cut to the quick, thought: "Go on you proser. What idiots these
+political jokers are." And comparing his own worth to the frothy
+importance of the minister, he said to himself, "By Jove! if I had only
+a clear hundred thousand francs to offer myself as a candidate at home,
+near Rouen, and dish my sunning dullards of Normandy folk in their own
+sauce, what a statesman I should make beside these short-sighted
+rascals!"
+
+Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu went on spouting until coffee was served; then,
+seeing that he was behind hand, he rang for his brougham, and holding
+out his hand to the journalist, said: "You quite understand, my dear
+fellow?"
+
+"Perfectly, my dear minister; you may rely upon me."
+
+And Du Roy strolled leisurely to the office to begin his article, for he
+had nothing to do till four o'clock. At four o'clock he was to meet, at
+the Rue de Constantinople, Madame de Marelle, whom he met there
+regularly twice a week--on Mondays and Fridays. But on reaching the
+office a telegram was handed to him. It was from Madame Walter, and ran
+as follows: "I must see you to-day. Most important. Expect me at two
+o'clock, Rue de Constantinople. Can render you a great service. Till
+death.--Virginie."
+
+He began to swear: "Hang it all, what an infernal bore!" And seized with
+a fit of ill-temper, he went out again at once too irritated to work.
+
+For six weeks he had been trying to break off with her, without being
+able to wear out her eager attachment. She had had, after her fall, a
+frightful fit of remorse, and in three successive rendezvous had
+overwhelmed her lover with reproaches and maledictions. Bored by these
+scenes and already tired of this mature and melodramatic conquest, he
+had simply kept away, hoping to put an end to the adventure in that way.
+But then she had distractedly clutched on to him, throwing herself into
+this amour as a man throws himself into a river with a stone about his
+neck. He had allowed himself to be recaptured out of weakness and
+consideration for her, and she had enwrapt him in an unbridled and
+fatiguing passion, persecuting him with her affection. She insisted on
+seeing him every day, summoning him at all hours to a hasty meeting at a
+street corner, at a shop, or in a public garden. She would then repeat
+to him in a few words, always the same, that she worshiped and idolized
+him, and leave him, vowing that she felt so happy to have seen him. She
+showed herself quite another creature than he had fancied her, striving
+to charm him with puerile glances, a childishness in love affairs
+ridiculous at her age. Having remained up till then strictly honest,
+virgin in heart, inaccessible to all sentiment, ignorant of sensuality,
+a strange outburst of youthful tenderness, of ardent, naive and tardy
+love, made up of unlooked-for outbursts, exclamations of a girl of
+sixteen, graces grown old without ever having been young, had taken
+place in this staid woman. She wrote him ten letters a day, maddeningly
+foolish letters, couched in a style at once poetic and ridiculous, full
+of the pet names of birds and beasts.
+
+As soon as they found themselves alone together she would kiss him with
+the awkward prettiness of a great tomboy, pouting of the lips that were
+grotesque, and bounds that made her too full bosom shake beneath her
+bodice. He was above all, sickened with hearing her say, "My pet," "My
+doggie," "My jewel," "My birdie," "My treasure," "My own," "My
+precious," and to see her offer herself to him every time with a little
+comedy of infantile modesty, little movements of alarm that she thought
+pretty, and the tricks of a depraved schoolgirl. She would ask, "Whose
+mouth is this?" and when he did not reply "Mine," would persist till she
+made him grow pale with nervous irritability. She ought to have felt, it
+seemed to him, that in love extreme tact, skill, prudence, and exactness
+are requisite; that having given herself to him, she, a woman of mature
+years, the mother of a family, and holding a position in society, should
+yield herself gravely, with a kind of restrained eagerness, with tears,
+perhaps, but with those of Dido, not of Juliet.
+
+She kept incessantly repeating to him, "How I love you, my little pet.
+Do you love me as well, baby?"
+
+He could no longer bear to be called "my little pet," or "baby," without
+an inclination to call her "old girl."
+
+She would say to him, "What madness of me to yield to you. But I do not
+regret it. It is so sweet to love."
+
+All this seemed to George irritating from her mouth. She murmured, "It
+is so sweet to love," like the village maiden at a theater.
+
+Then she exasperated him by the clumsiness of her caresses. Having
+become all at once sensual beneath the kisses of this young fellow who
+had so warmed her blood, she showed an unskilled ardor and a serious
+application that made Du Roy laugh and think of old men trying to learn
+to read. When she would have gripped him in her embrace, ardently gazing
+at him with the deep and terrible glance of certain aging women,
+splendid in their last loves, when she should have bitten him with
+silent and quivering mouth, crushing him beneath her warmth and weight,
+she would wriggle about like a girl, and lisp with the idea of being
+pleasant: "Me love 'ou so, ducky, me love 'ou so. Have nice lovey-lovey
+with 'ittle wifey."
+
+He then would be seized with a wild desire to take his hat and rush out,
+slamming the door behind him.
+
+They had frequently met at the outset at the Rue de Constantinople; but
+Du Roy, who dreaded a meeting there with Madame de Marelle, now found a
+thousand pretexts for refusing such appointments. He had then to call on
+her almost every day at her home, now to lunch, now to dinner. She
+squeezed his hand under the table, held out her mouth to him behind the
+doors. But he, for his part, took pleasure above all in playing with
+Susan, who amused him with her whimsicalities. In her doll-like frame
+was lodged an active, arch, sly, and startling wit, always ready to show
+itself off. She joked at everything and everybody with biting readiness.
+George stimulated her imagination, excited it to irony and they
+understood one another marvelously. She kept appealing to him every
+moment, "I say, Pretty-boy. Come here, Pretty-boy."
+
+He would at once leave the mother and go to the daughter, who would
+whisper some bit of spitefulness, at which they would laugh heartily.
+
+However, disgusted with the mother's love, he began to feel an
+insurmountable repugnance for her; he could no longer see, hear, or
+think of her without anger. He ceased, therefore, to visit her, to
+answer her letters, or to yield to her appeals. She understood at length
+that he no longer loved her, and suffered terribly. But she grew
+insatiable, kept watch on him, followed him, waited for him in a cab
+with the blinds drawn down, at the door of the office, at the door of
+his dwelling, in the streets through which she hoped he might pass. He
+longed to ill-treat her, swear at her, strike her, say to her plainly,
+"I have had enough of it, you worry my life out." But he observed some
+circumspection on account of the _Vie Francaise_, and strove by dint of
+coolness, harshness, tempered by attention, and even rude words at
+times, to make her understand that there must be an end to it. She
+strove, above all, to devise schemes to allure him to a meeting in the
+Rue de Constantinople, and he was in a perpetual state of alarm lest the
+two women should find themselves some day face to face at the door.
+
+His affection for Madame de Marelle had, on the contrary, augmented
+during the summer. He called her his "young rascal," and she certainly
+charmed him. Their two natures had kindred links; they were both members
+of the adventurous race of vagabonds, those vagabonds in society who so
+strongly resemble, without being aware of it, the vagabonds of the
+highways. They had had a summer of delightful love-making, a summer of
+students on the spree, bolting off to lunch or dine at Argenteuil,
+Bougival, Maisons, or Poissy, and passing hours in a boat gathering
+flowers from the bank. She adored the fried fish served on the banks of
+the Seine, the stewed rabbits, the arbors in the tavern gardens, and the
+shouts of the boating men. He liked to start off with her on a bright
+day on a suburban line, and traverse the ugly environs of Paris,
+sprouting with tradesmen's hideous boxes, talking lively nonsense. And
+when he had to return to dine at Madame Walter's he hated the eager old
+mistress from the mere recollection of the young one whom he had left,
+and who had ravished his desires and harvested his ardor among the grass
+by the water side.
+
+He had fancied himself at length pretty well rid of Madame Walter, to
+whom he had expressed, in a plain and almost brutal fashion, his
+intentions of breaking off with her, when he received at the office of
+the paper the telegram summoning him to meet her at two o'clock at the
+Rue de Constantinople. He re-read it as he walked along, "Must see you
+to-day. Most important. Expect me two o'clock, Rue de Constantinople.
+Can render you a great service. Till death.--Virginie."
+
+He thought, "What does this old screech-owl want with me now? I wager
+she has nothing to tell me. She will only repeat that she adores me. Yet
+I must see what it means. She speaks of an important affair and a great
+service; perhaps it is so. And Clotilde, who is coming at four o'clock!
+I must get the first of the pair off by three at the latest. By Jove,
+provided they don't run up against one another! What bothers women are."
+
+And he reflected that, after all, his own wife was the only one who
+never bothered him at all. She lived in her own way, and seemed to be
+very fond of him during the hours destined to love, for she would not
+admit that the unchangeable order of the ordinary occupations of life
+should be interfered with.
+
+He walked slowly towards the rendezvous, mentally working himself up
+against Madame Walter. "Ah! I will just receive her nicely if she has
+nothing to tell me. Cambronne's language will be academical compared to
+mine. I will tell her that I will never set foot in her house again, to
+begin with."
+
+He went in to wait for Madame Walter. She arrived almost immediately,
+and as soon as she caught sight of him, she exclaimed, "Ah, you have had
+my telegram! How fortunate."
+
+He put on a grumpy expression, saying: "By Jove, yes; I found it at the
+office just as I was going to start off to the Chamber. What is it you
+want now?"
+
+She had raised her veil to kiss him, and drew nearer with the timid and
+submissive air of an oft-beaten dog.
+
+"How cruel you are towards me! How harshly you speak to me! What have I
+done to you? You cannot imagine how I suffer through you."
+
+
+He growled: "Don't go on again in that style."
+
+She was standing close to him, only waiting for a smile, a gesture, to
+throw herself into his arms, and murmured: "You should not have taken me
+to treat me thus, you should have left me sober-minded and happy as I
+was. Do you remember what you said to me in the church, and how you
+forced me into this house? And now, how do you speak to me? how do you
+receive me? Oh, God! oh, God! what pain you give me!"
+
+He stamped his foot, and exclaimed, violently: "Ah, bosh! That's enough
+of it! I can't see you a moment without hearing all that foolery. One
+would really think that I had carried you off at twelve years of age,
+and that you were as ignorant as an angel. No, my dear, let us put
+things in their proper light; there was no seduction of a young girl in
+the business. You gave yourself to me at full years of discretion. I
+thank you. I am infinitely grateful to you, but I am not bound to be
+tied till death to your petticoat strings. You have a husband and I a
+wife. We are neither of us free. We indulged in a mutual caprice, and it
+is over."
+
+"Oh, you are brutal, coarse, shameless," she said; "I was indeed no
+longer a young girl, but I had never loved, never faltered."
+
+He cut her short with: "I know it. You have told me so twenty times. But
+you had had two children."
+
+She drew back, exclaiming: "Oh, George, that is unworthy of you," and
+pressing her two hands to her heart, began to choke and sob.
+
+When he saw the tears come he took his hat from the corner of the
+mantelpiece, saying: "Oh, you are going to cry, are you? Good-bye, then.
+So it was to show off in this way that you came here, eh?"
+
+She had taken a step forward in order to bar the way, and quickly
+pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket, wiped her eyes with an
+abrupt movement. Her voice grew firmer by the effort of her will, as she
+said, in tones tremulous with pain, "No--I came to--to tell you some
+news--political news--to put you in the way of gaining fifty thousand
+francs--or even more--if you like."
+
+He inquired, suddenly softening, "How so? What do you mean?"
+
+"I caught, by chance, yesterday evening, some words between my husband
+and Laroche-Mathieu. They do not, besides, trouble themselves to hide
+much from me. But Walter recommended the Minister not to let you into
+the secret, as you would reveal everything."
+
+Du Roy had put his hat down on a chair, and was waiting very
+attentively.
+
+"What is up, then?" said he.
+
+"They are going to take possession of Morocco."
+
+"Nonsense! I lunched with Laroche-Mathieu, who almost dictated to me the
+intention of the Cabinet."
+
+"No, darling, they are humbugging you, because they were afraid lest
+their plan should be known."
+
+"Sit down," said George, and sat down himself in an armchair. Then she
+drew towards him a low stool, and sitting down on it between his knees,
+went on in a coaxing tone, "As I am always thinking about you, I pay
+attention now to everything that is whispered around me."
+
+And she began quietly to explain to him how she had guessed for some
+time past that something was being hatched unknown to him; that they
+were making use of him, while dreading his co-operation. She said, "You
+know, when one is in love, one grows cunning."
+
+At length, the day before, she had understood it all. It was a business
+transaction, a thumping affair, worked out on the quiet. She smiled now,
+happy in her dexterity, and grew excited, speaking like a financier's
+wife accustomed to see the market rigged, used to rises and falls that
+ruin, in two hours of speculation, thousands of little folk who have
+placed their savings in undertakings guaranteed by the names of men
+honored and respected in the world of politics of finance.
+
+She repeated, "Oh, it is very smart what they have been up to! Very
+smart. It was Walter who did it all, though, and he knows all about such
+things. Really, it is a first-class job."
+
+He grew impatient at these preliminaries, and exclaimed, "Come, tell me
+what it is at once."
+
+"Well, then, this is what it is. The Tangiers expedition was decided
+upon between them on the day that Laroche-Mathieu took the ministry of
+foreign affairs, and little by little they have bought up the whole of
+the Morocco loan, which had fallen to sixty-four or sixty-five francs.
+They have bought it up very cleverly by means of shady brokers, who did
+not awaken any mistrust. They have even sold the Rothschilds, who grew
+astonished to find Morocco stock always asked for, and who were
+astonished by having agents pointed out to them--all lame ducks. That
+quieted the big financiers. And now the expedition is to take place, and
+as soon as we are there the French Government will guarantee the debt.
+Our friends will gain fifty or sixty millions. You understand the
+matter? You understand, too, how afraid they have been of everyone, of
+the slightest indiscretion?"
+
+She had leaned her head against the young fellow's waistcoat, and with
+her arms resting on his legs, pressed up against him, feeling that she
+was interesting him now, and ready to do anything for a caress, for a
+smile.
+
+"You are quite certain?" he asked.
+
+"I should think so," she replied, with confidence.
+
+"It is very smart indeed. As to that swine of a Laroche-Mathieu, just
+see if I don't pay him out one of these days. Oh, the scoundrel, just
+let him look out for himself! He shall go through my hands." Then he
+began to reflect, and went on, "We ought, though, to profit by all
+this."
+
+"You can still buy some of the loan," said she; "it is only at
+seventy-two francs."
+
+He said, "Yes, but I have no money under my hand."
+
+She raised her eyes towards him, eyes full of entreaty, saying, "I have
+thought of that, darling, and if you were very nice, very nice, if you
+loved me a little, you would let me lend you some."
+
+He answered, abruptly and almost harshly, "As to that, no, indeed."
+
+She murmured, in an imploring voice: "Listen, there is something that
+you can do without borrowing money. I wanted to buy ten thousand francs'
+worth of the loan to make a little nest-egg. Well, I will take twenty
+thousand, and you shall stand in for half. You understand that I am not
+going to hand the money over to Walter. So there is nothing to pay for
+the present. If it all succeeds, you gain seventy thousand francs. If
+not, you will owe me ten thousand, which you can pay when you please."
+
+He remarked, "No, I do not like such pains."
+
+Then she argued, in order to get him to make up his mind. She proved to
+him that he was really pledging his word for ten thousand francs, that
+he was running risks, and that she was not advancing him anything, since
+the actual outlay was made by Walter's bank. She pointed out to him,
+besides, that it was he who had carried on in the _Vie Francaise_ the
+whole of the political campaign that had rendered the scheme possible.
+He would be very foolish not to profit by it. He still hesitated, and
+she added, "But just reflect that in reality it is Walter who is
+advancing you these ten thousand Francs, and that you have rendered him
+services worth a great deal more than that."
+
+"Very well, then," said he, "I will go halves with you. If we lose, I
+will repay you the ten thousand francs."
+
+She was so pleased that she rose, took his head in both her hands, and
+began to kiss him eagerly. He did not resist at first, but as she grew
+bolder, clasping him to her and devouring him with caresses, he
+reflected that the other would be there shortly, and that if he yielded
+he would lose time and exhaust in the arms of the old woman an ardor
+that he had better reserve for the young one. So he repulsed her gently,
+saying, "Come, be good now."
+
+She looked at him disconsolately, saying, "Oh, George, can't I even kiss
+you?"
+
+He replied, "No, not to-day. I have a headache, and it upsets me."
+
+She sat down again docilely between his knees, and asked, "Will you come
+and dine with us to-morrow? You would give me much pleasure."
+
+He hesitated, but dared not refuse, so said, "Certainly."
+
+"Thanks, darling."
+
+
+She rubbed her cheek slowly against his breast with a regular and
+coaxing movement, and one of her long black hairs caught in his
+waistcoat. She noticed it, and a wild idea crossed her mind, one of
+those superstitious notions which are often the whole of a woman's
+reason. She began to twist this hair gently round a button. Then she
+fastened another hair to the next button, and a third to the next. One
+to every button. He would tear them out of her head presently when he
+rose, and hurt her. What happiness! And he would carry away something of
+her without knowing it; he would carry away a tiny lock of her hair
+which he had never yet asked for. It was a tie by which she attached him
+to her, a secret, invisible bond, a talisman she left with him. Without
+willing it he would think of her, dream of her, and perhaps love her a
+little more the next day.
+
+He said, all at once, "I must leave you, because I am expected at the
+Chamber at the close of the sitting. I cannot miss attending to-day."
+
+She sighed, "Already!" and then added, resignedly, "Go, dear, but you
+will come to dinner to-morrow."
+
+And suddenly she drew aside. There was a short and sharp pain in her
+head, as though needles had been stuck into the skin. Her heart
+throbbed; she was pleased to have suffered a little by him. "Good-bye,"
+said she.
+
+He took her in his arms with a compassionate smile, and coldly kissed
+her eyes. But she, maddened by this contact, again murmured, "Already!"
+while her suppliant glance indicated the bedroom, the door of which was
+open.
+
+He stepped away from her, and said in a hurried tone, "I must be off; I
+shall be late."
+
+Then she held out her lips, which he barely brushed with his, and having
+handed her her parasol, which she was forgetting, he continued, "Come,
+come, we must be quick, it is past three o'clock."
+
+She went out before him, saying, "To-morrow, at seven," and he repeated,
+"To-morrow, at seven."
+
+They separated, she turning to the right and he to the left. Du Roy
+walked as far as the outer boulevard. Then he slowly strolled back along
+the Boulevard Malesherbes. Passing a pastry cook's, he noticed some
+_marrons glaces_ in a glass jar, and thought, "I will take in a pound
+for Clotilde."
+
+He bought a bag of these sweetmeats, which she was passionately fond of,
+and at four o'clock returned to wait for his young mistress. She was a
+little late, because her husband had come home for a week, and said,
+"Can you come and dine with us to-morrow? He will be so pleased to see
+you."
+
+"No, I dine with the governor. We have a heap of political and financial
+matters to talk over."
+
+She had taken off her bonnet, and was now laying aside her bodice, which
+was too tight for her. He pointed out the bag on the mantel-shelf,
+saying, "I have bought you some _marrons glaces_."
+
+She clapped her hands, exclaiming: "How nice; what a dear you are."
+
+She took one, tasted them, and said: "They are delicious. I feel sure I
+shall not leave one of them." Then she added, looking at George with
+sensual merriment: "You flatter all my vices, then."
+
+She slowly ate the sweetmeats, looking continually into the bag to see
+if there were any left. "There, sit down in the armchair," said she,
+"and I will squat down between your knees and nibble my bon-bons. I
+shall be very comfortable."
+
+He smiled, sat down, and took her between his knees, as he had had
+Madame Walter shortly before. She raised her head in order to speak to
+him, and said, with her mouth full: "Do you know, darling, I dreamt of
+you? I dreamt that we were both taking a long journey together on a
+camel. He had two humps, and we were each sitting astride on a hump,
+crossing the desert. We had taken some sandwiches in a piece of paper
+and some wine in a bottle, and were dining on our humps. But it annoyed
+me because we could not do anything else; we were too far off from one
+another, and I wanted to get down."
+
+He answered: "I want to get down, too."
+
+He laughed, amused at the story, and encouraged her to talk nonsense, to
+chatter, to indulge in all the child's play of conversation which lovers
+utter. The nonsense which he thought delightful in the mouth of Madame
+de Marelle would have exasperated him in that of Madame Walter.
+Clotilde, too, called him "My darling," "My pet," "My own." These words
+seemed sweet and caressing. Said by the other woman shortly before, they
+had irritated and sickened him. For words of love, which are always the
+same, take the flavor of the lips they come from.
+
+But he was thinking, even while amusing himself with this nonsense, of
+the seventy thousand francs he was going to gain, and suddenly checked
+the gabble of his companion by two little taps with his finger on her
+head. "Listen, pet," said he.
+
+"I am going to entrust you with a commission for your husband. Tell him
+from me to buy to-morrow ten thousand francs' worth of the Morocco loan,
+which is quoted at seventy-two, and I promise him that he will gain from
+sixty to eighty thousand francs before three months are over. Recommend
+the most positive silence to him. Tell him from me that the expedition
+to Tangiers is decided on, and that the French government will guarantee
+the debt of Morocco. But do not let anything out about it. It is a State
+secret that I am entrusting to you."
+
+She listened to him seriously, and murmured: "Thank you, I will tell my
+husband this evening. You can reckon on him; he will not talk. He is a
+very safe man, and there is no danger."
+
+But she had eaten all the sweetmeats. She crushed up the bag between her
+hands and flung it into the fireplace. Then she said, "Let us go to
+bed," and without getting up, began to unbutton George's waistcoat. All
+at once she stopped, and pulling out between two fingers a long hair,
+caught in a buttonhole, began to laugh. "There, you have brought away
+one of Madeleine's hairs. There is a faithful husband for you."
+
+Then, becoming once more serious, she carefully examined on her head the
+almost imperceptible thread she had found, and murmured: "It is not
+Madeleine's, it is too dark."
+
+He smiled, saying: "It is very likely one of the maid's."
+
+But she was inspecting the waistcoat with the attention of a detective,
+and collected a second hair rolled round a button; then she perceived a
+third, and pale and somewhat trembling, exclaimed: "Oh, you have been
+sleeping with a woman who has wrapped her hair round all your buttons."
+
+He was astonished, and gasped out: "No, you are mad."
+
+All at once he remembered, understood it all, was uneasy at first, and
+then denied the charge with a chuckle, not vexed at the bottom that she
+should suspect him of other loves. She kept on searching, and still
+found hairs, which she rapidly untwisted and threw on the carpet. She
+had guessed matters with her artful woman's instinct, and stammered out,
+vexed, angry, and ready to cry: "She loves you, she does--and she wanted
+you to take away something belonging to her. Oh, what a traitor you
+are!" But all at once she gave a cry, a shrill cry of nervous joy. "Oh!
+oh! it is an old woman--here is a white hair. Ah, you go in for old
+women now! Do they pay you, eh--do they pay you? Ah, so you have come to
+old women, have you? Then you have no longer any need of me. Keep the
+other one."
+
+She rose, ran to her bodice thrown onto a chair, and began hurriedly to
+put it on again. He sought to retain her, stammering confusedly: "But,
+no, Clo, you are silly. I do not know anything about it. Listen
+now--stay here. Come, now--stay here."
+
+She repeated: "Keep your old woman--keep her. Have a ring made out of
+her hair--out of her white hair. You have enough of it for that."
+
+With abrupt and swift movements she had dressed herself and put on her
+bonnet and veil, and when he sought to take hold of her, gave him a
+smack with all her strength. While he remained bewildered, she opened
+the door and fled.
+
+As soon as he was alone he was seized with furious anger against that
+old hag of a Mother Walter. Ah, he would send her about her business,
+and pretty roughly, too! He bathed his reddened cheek and then went out,
+in turn meditating vengeance. This time he would not forgive her. Ah,
+no! He walked down as far as the boulevard, and sauntering along stopped
+in front of a jeweler's shop to look at a chronometer he had fancied for
+a long time back, and which was ticketed eighteen hundred francs. He
+thought all at once, with a thrill of joy at his heart, "If I gain my
+seventy thousand francs I can afford it."
+
+And he began to think of all the things he would do with these seventy
+thousand francs. In the first place, he would get elected deputy. Then
+he would buy his chronometer, and would speculate on the Bourse, and
+would--
+
+He did not want to go to the office, preferring to consult Madeleine
+before seeing Walter and writing his article, and started for home. He
+had reached the Rue Druot, when he stopped short. He had forgotten to
+ask after the Count de Vaudrec, who lived in the Chaussee d'Antin. He
+therefore turned back, still sauntering, thinking of a thousand things,
+mainly pleasant, of his coming fortune, and also of that scoundrel of a
+Laroche-Mathieu, and that old stickfast of a Madame Walter. He was not
+uneasy about the wrath of Clotilde, knowing very well that she forgave
+quickly.
+
+He asked the doorkeeper of the house in which the Count de Vaudrec
+resided: "How is Monsieur de Vaudrec? I hear that he has been unwell
+these last few days."
+
+The man replied: "The Count is very bad indeed, sir. They are afraid he
+will not live through the night; the gout has mounted to his heart."
+
+Du Roy was so startled that he no longer knew what he ought to do.
+Vaudrec dying! Confused and disquieting ideas shot through his mind that
+he dared not even admit to himself. He stammered: "Thank you; I will
+call again," without knowing what he was saying.
+
+Then he jumped into a cab and was driven home. His wife had come in. He
+went into her room breathless, and said at once: "Have you heard?
+Vaudrec is dying."
+
+She was sitting down reading a letter. She raised her eyes, and
+repeating thrice: "Oh! what do you say, what do you say, what do you
+say?"
+
+"I say that Vaudrec is dying from a fit of gout that has flown to the
+heart." Then he added: "What do you think of doing?"
+
+She had risen livid, and with her cheeks shaken by a nervous quivering,
+then she began to cry terribly, hiding her face in her hands. She stood
+shaken by sobs and torn by grief. But suddenly she mastered her sorrow,
+and wiping her eyes, said: "I--I am going there--don't bother about
+me--I don't know when I shall be back--don't wait for me."
+
+He replied: "Very well, dear." They shook hands, and she went off so
+hurriedly that she forgot her gloves.
+
+George, having dined alone, began to write his article. He did so
+exactly in accordance with the minister's instructions, giving his
+readers to understand that the expedition to Morocco would not take
+place. Then he took it to the office, chatted for a few minutes with the
+governor, and went out smoking, light-hearted, though he knew not why.
+His wife had not come home, and he went to bed and fell asleep.
+
+Madeleine came in towards midnight. George, suddenly roused, sat up in
+bed. "Well?" he asked.
+
+He had never seen her so pale and so deeply moved. She murmured: "He is
+dead."
+
+"Ah!--and he did not say anything?"
+
+"Nothing. He had lost consciousness when I arrived."
+
+George was thinking. Questions rose to his lips that he did not dare to
+put. "Come to bed," said he.
+
+She undressed rapidly, and slipped into bed beside him, when he resumed:
+"Were there any relations present at his death-bed?"
+
+"Only a nephew."
+
+"Ah! Did he see this nephew often?"
+
+"Never. They had not met for ten years."
+
+"Had he any other relatives?"
+
+"No, I do not think so."
+
+"Then it is his nephew who will inherit?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"He was very well off, Vaudrec?"
+
+"Yes, very well off."
+
+"Do you know what his fortune was?"
+
+"No, not exactly. One or two millions, perhaps."
+
+He said no more. She blew out the light, and they remained stretched
+out, side by side, in the darkness--silent, wakeful, and reflecting. He
+no longer felt inclined for sleep. He now thought the seventy thousand
+francs promised by Madame Walter insignificant. Suddenly he fancied that
+Madeleine was crying. He inquired, in order to make certain: "Are you
+asleep?"
+
+"No."
+
+Her voice was tearful and quavering, and he said: "I forgot to tell you
+when I came in that your minister has let us in nicely."
+
+"How so?"
+
+He told her at length, with all details, the plan hatched between
+Laroche-Mathieu and Walter. When he had finished, she asked: "How do you
+know this?"
+
+He replied: "You will excuse me not telling you. You have your means of
+information, which I do not seek to penetrate. I have mine, which I wish
+to keep to myself. I can, in any case, answer for the correctness of my
+information."
+
+Then she murmured: "Yes, it is quite possible. I fancied they were up to
+something without us."
+
+But George, who no longer felt sleepy, had drawn closer to his wife, and
+gently kissed her ear. She repulsed him sharply. "I beg of you to leave
+me alone. I am not in a mood to romp." He turned resignedly towards the
+wall, and having closed his eyes, ended by falling asleep.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+
+The church was draped with black, and over the main entrance a huge
+scutcheon, surmounted by a coronet, announced to the passers-by that a
+gentleman was being buried. The ceremony was just over, and those
+present at it were slowly dispersing, defiling past the coffin and the
+nephew of the Count de Vaudrec, who was shaking extended hands and
+returning bows. When George Du Roy and his wife came out of the church
+they began to walk homeward side by side, silent and preoccupied. At
+length George said, as though speaking to himself: "Really, it is very
+strange."
+
+"What, dear?" asked Madeleine.
+
+"That Vaudrec should not have left us anything."
+
+She blushed suddenly, as though a rosy veil had been cast over her white
+skin, and said: "Why should he have left us anything? There was no
+reason for it." Then, after a few moments' silence, she went on: "There
+is perhaps a will in the hands of some notary. We know nothing as yet."
+
+He reflected for a short time, and then murmured: "Yes, it is probable,
+for, after all, he was the most intimate friend of us both. He dined
+with us twice a week, called at all hours, and was at home at our place,
+quite at home in every respect. He loved you like a father, and had no
+children, no brothers and sisters, nothing but a nephew, and a nephew he
+never used to see. Yes, there must be a will. I do not care for much,
+only a remembrance to show that he thought of us, that he loved us, that
+he recognized the affection we felt for him. He certainly owed us some
+such mark of friendship."
+
+She said in a pensive and indifferent manner: "It is possible, indeed,
+that there may be a will."
+
+As they entered their rooms, the man-servant handed a letter to
+Madeleine. She opened it, and then held it out to her husband. It ran as
+follows:
+
+    "Office of Maitre Lamaneur, Notary,
+    "17 Rue des Vosges.
+
+     "MADAME: I have the honor to beg you to favor me with a call
+     here on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between the hours of
+     two and four, on business concerning you.--I am,
+     etc.--LAMANEUR."
+
+George had reddened in turn. "That is what it must be," said he. "It is
+strange, though, that it is you who are summoned, and not myself, who am
+legally the head of the family."
+
+She did not answer at once, but after a brief period of reflection,
+said: "Shall we go round there by and by?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+They set out as soon as they had lunched. When they entered Maitre
+Lamaneur's office, the head clerk rose with marked attention and ushered
+them in to his master. The notary was a round, little man, round all
+over. His head looked like a ball nailed onto another ball, which had
+legs so short that they almost resembled balls too. He bowed, pointed to
+two chairs, and turning towards Madeleine, said: "Madame, I have sent
+for you in order to acquaint you with the will of the Count de Vaudrec,
+in which you are interested."
+
+George could not help muttering: "I thought so."
+
+The notary went on: "I will read to you the document, which is very
+brief."
+
+He took a paper from a box in front of him, and read as follows:
+
+"I, the undersigned, Paul Emile Cyprien Gontran, Count de Vaudrec, being
+sound in body and mind, hereby express my last wishes. As death may
+overtake us at any moment, I wish, in provision of his attacks, to take
+the precaution of making my will, which will be placed in the hands of
+Maitre Lamaneur. Having no direct heirs, I leave the whole of my
+fortune, consisting of stock to the amount of six hundred thousand
+francs, and landed property worth about five hundred thousand francs, to
+Madame Claire Madeleine Du Roy without any charge or condition. I beg
+her to accept this gift of a departed friend as a proof of a deep,
+devoted, and respectful affection."
+
+The notary added: "That is all. This document is dated last August, and
+replaces one of the same nature, written two years back, with the name
+of Madame Claire Madeleine Forestier. I have this first will, too, which
+would prove, in the case of opposition on the part of the family, that
+the wishes of Count de Vaudrec did not vary."
+
+Madeleine, very pale, looked at her feet. George nervously twisted the
+end of his moustache between his fingers. The notary continued after a
+moment of silence: "It is, of course, understood, sir, that your wife
+cannot accept the legacy without your consent."
+
+Du Roy rose and said, dryly: "I must ask time to reflect."
+
+The notary, who was smiling, bowed, and said in an amiable tone: "I
+understand the scruples that cause you to hesitate, sir. I should say
+that the nephew of Monsieur de Vaudrec, who became acquainted this very
+morning with his uncle's last wishes, stated that he was prepared to
+respect them, provided the sum of a hundred thousand francs was allowed
+him. In my opinion the will is unattackable, but a law-suit would cause
+a stir, which it may perhaps suit you to avoid. The world often judges
+things ill-naturedly. In any case, can you give me your answer on all
+these points before Saturday?"
+
+George bowed, saying: "Yes, sir."
+
+Then he bowed again ceremoniously, ushered out his wife, who had
+remained silent, and went out himself with so stiff an air that the
+notary no longer smiled.
+
+As soon as they got home, Du Roy abruptly closed the door, and throwing
+his hat onto the bed, said: "You were Vaudrec's mistress."
+
+Madeleine, who was taking off her veil, turned round with a start,
+exclaiming: "I? Oh!"
+
+"Yes, you. A man does not leave the whole of his fortune to a woman,
+unless--"
+
+She was trembling, and was unable to remove the pins fastening the
+transparent tissue. After a moment's reflection she stammered, in an
+agitated tone: "Come, come--you are mad--you are--you are. Did not you,
+yourself, just now have hopes that he would leave us something?"
+
+George remained standing beside her, following all her emotions like a
+magistrate seeking to note the least faltering on the part of an
+accused. He said, laying stress on every word: "Yes, he might have left
+something to me, your husband--to me, his friend--you understand, but
+not to you--my wife. The distinction is capital, essential from the
+point of propriety and of public opinion."
+
+Madeleine in turn looked at him fixedly in the eyes, in profound and
+singular fashion, as though seeking to read something there, as though
+trying to discover that unknown part of a human being which we never
+fathom, and of which we can scarcely even catch rapid glimpses in those
+moments of carelessness or inattention, which are like doors left open,
+giving onto the mysterious depths of the mind. She said slowly: "It
+seems to me, however, that a legacy of this importance would have been
+looked on as at least equally strange left to you."
+
+He asked abruptly: "Why so?"
+
+She said: "Because--" hesitated, and then continued: "Because you are my
+husband, and have only known him for a short time, after all--because I
+have been his friend for a very long while--and because his first will,
+made during Forestier's lifetime, was already in my favor."
+
+George began to stride up and down. He said: "You cannot accept."
+
+She replied in a tone of indifference: "Precisely so; then it is not
+worth while waiting till Saturday, we can let Maitre Lamaneur know at
+once."
+
+He stopped short in front of her, and they again stood for some moments
+with their eyes riveted on one another, striving to fathom the
+impenetrable secret of their hearts, to cut down to the quick of their
+thoughts. They tried to see one another's conscience unveiled in an
+ardent and mute interrogation; the struggle of two beings who, living
+side by side, were always ignorant of one another, suspecting, sniffing
+round, watching, but never understanding one another to the muddy
+depths of their souls. And suddenly he murmured to her face, in a low
+voice: "Come, admit that you were De Vaudrec's mistress."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders, saying: "You are ridiculous. Vaudrec was
+very fond of me, very--but there was nothing more--never."
+
+He stamped his foot. "You lie. It is not possible."
+
+She replied, quietly: "It is so, though."
+
+He began to walk up and down again, and then, halting once more, said:
+"Explain, then, how he came to leave the whole of his fortune to you."
+
+She did so in a careless and disinterested tone, saying: "It is quite
+simple. As you said just now, he had only ourselves for friends, or
+rather myself, for he has known me from a child. My mother was a
+companion at the house of some relatives of his. He was always coming
+here, and as he had no natural heirs he thought of me. That there was a
+little love for me in the matter is possible. But where is the woman who
+has not been loved thus? Why should not such secret, hidden affection
+have placed my name at the tip of his pen when he thought of expressing
+his last wishes? He brought me flowers every Monday. You were not at all
+astonished at that, and yet he did not bring you any, did he? Now he has
+given me his fortune for the same reason, and because he had no one to
+offer it to. It would have been, on the contrary, very surprising for
+him to have left it to you. Why should he have done so? What were you to
+him?"
+
+She spoke so naturally and quietly that George hesitated. He said,
+however: "All the same, we cannot accept this inheritance under such
+conditions. The effect would be deplorable. All the world would believe
+it; all the world would gossip about it, and laugh at me. My fellow
+journalists are already only too disposed to feel jealous of me and to
+attack me. I should have, before anyone, a care for my honor and my
+reputation. It is impossible for me to allow my wife to accept a legacy
+of this kind from a man whom public report has already assigned to her
+as a lover. Forestier might perhaps have tolerated it, but not me."
+
+She murmured, mildly: "Well, dear, do not let us accept it. It will be a
+million the less in our pockets, that is all."
+
+He was still walking up and down, and began to think aloud, speaking for
+his wife's benefit without addressing himself directly to her: "Yes, a
+million, so much the worse. He did not understand, in making his will,
+what a fault in tact, what a breach of propriety he was committing. He
+did not see in what a false, a ridiculous position he would place me.
+Everything is a matter of detail in this life. He should have left me
+half; that would have settled everything."
+
+He sat down, crossed his legs, and began to twist the end of his
+moustache, as he did in moments of boredom, uneasiness, and difficult
+reflection. Madeleine took up some embroidery at which she worked from
+time to time, and said, while selecting her wools: "I have only to hold
+my tongue. It is for you to reflect."
+
+He was a long time without replying, and then said, hesitatingly: "The
+world will never understand that Vaudrec made you his sole heiress, and
+that I allowed it. To receive his fortune in that way would be an
+acknowledgment on your part of a guilty connection, and on mine of a
+shameful complaisance. Do you understand now how our acceptance of it
+would be interpreted? It would be necessary to find a side issue, some
+clever way of palliating matters. To let it go abroad, for instance,
+that he had divided the money between us, leaving half to the husband
+and half to the wife."
+
+She observed: "I do not see how that can be done, since the will is
+plain."
+
+"Oh, it is very simple. You could leave me half the inheritance by a
+deed of gift. We have no children, so it is feasible. In that way the
+mouth of public malevolence would be closed."
+
+She replied, somewhat impatiently: "I do not see any the more how the
+mouth of public malevolence is to be closed, since the will is there,
+signed by Vaudrec?"
+
+He said, angrily: "Have we any need to show it and to paste it up on all
+the walls? You are really stupid. We will say that the Count de Vaudrec
+left his fortune between us. That is all. But you cannot accept this
+legacy without my authorization. I will only give it on condition of a
+division, which will hinder me from becoming a laughing stock."
+
+She looked at him again with a penetrating glance, and said: "As you
+like. I am agreeable."
+
+Then he rose, and began to walk up and down again. He seemed to be
+hesitating anew, and now avoided his wife's penetrating glance. He was
+saying: "No, certainly not. Perhaps it would be better to give it up
+altogether. That is more worthy, more correct, more honorable. And yet
+by this plan nothing could be imagined against us--absolutely nothing.
+The most unscrupulous people could only admit things as they were." He
+paused in front of Madeleine. "Well, then, if you like, darling, I will
+go back alone to Maitre Lamaneur to explain matters to him and consult
+him. I will tell him of my scruples, and add that we have arrived at the
+notion of a division to prevent gossip. From the moment that I accept
+half this inheritance, it is plain that no one has the right to smile.
+It is equal to saying aloud: 'My wife accepts because I accept--I, her
+husband, the best judge of what she may do without compromising herself.
+Otherwise a scandal would have arisen.'"
+
+Madeleine merely murmured: "Just as you like."
+
+He went on with a flow of words: "Yes, it is all as clear as daylight
+with this arrangement of a division in two. We inherit from a friend who
+did not want to make any difference between us, any distinction; who did
+not wish to appear to say: 'I prefer one or the other after death, as I
+did during life.' He liked the wife best, be it understood, but in
+leaving the fortune equally to both, he wished plainly to express that
+his preference was purely platonic. And you may be sure that, if he had
+thought of it, that is what he would have done. He did not reflect. He
+did not foresee the consequences. As you said very appropriately just
+now, it was you to whom he offered flowers every week, it is to you he
+wished to leave his last remembrance, without taking into consideration
+that--"
+
+She checked him, with a shade of irritation: "All right; I understand.
+You have no need to make so many explanations. Go to the notary's at
+once."
+
+He stammered, reddening: "You are right. I am off."
+
+He took his hat, and then, at the moment of going out, said: "I will
+try to settle the difficulty with the nephew for fifty thousand francs,
+eh?"
+
+She replied, with dignity: "No. Give him the hundred thousand francs he
+asks. Take them from my share, if you like."
+
+He muttered, shamefacedly: "Oh, no; we will share that. Giving up fifty
+thousand francs apiece, there still remains to us a clear million." He
+added: "Good-bye, then, for the present, Made." And he went off to
+explain to the notary the plan which he asserted had been imagined by
+his wife.
+
+They signed the next day a deed of gift of five hundred thousand francs,
+which Madeleine Du Roy abandoned to her husband. On leaving the notary's
+office, as the day was fine, George suggested that they should walk as
+far as the boulevards. He showed himself pleasant and full of attention
+and affection. He laughed, pleased at everything, while she remained
+thoughtful and somewhat severe.
+
+It was a somewhat cool autumn day. The people in the streets seemed in a
+hurry, and walked rapidly. Du Roy led his wife to the front of the shop
+in which he had so often gazed at the longed-for chronometer. "Shall I
+stand you some jewelry?" said he.
+
+She replied, indifferently: "Just as you like."
+
+They went in, and he asked: "What would you prefer--a necklace, a
+bracelet, or a pair of earrings?"
+
+The sight of the trinkets in gold, and precious stones overcame her
+studied coolness, and she scanned with kindling and inquisitive eyes the
+glass cases filled with jewelry. And, suddenly moved by desire, said:
+"That is a very pretty bracelet."
+
+It was a chain of quaint pattern, every link of which had a different
+stone set in it.
+
+George inquired: "How much is this bracelet?"
+
+"Three thousand francs, sir," replied the jeweler.
+
+"If you will let me have it for two thousand five hundred, it is a
+bargain."
+
+The man hesitated, and then replied: "No, sir; that is impossible."
+
+Du Roy went on: "Come, you can throw in that chronometer for fifteen
+hundred; that will make four thousand, which I will pay at once. Is it
+agreed? If not, I will go somewhere else."
+
+The jeweler, in a state of perplexity, ended by agreeing, saying: "Very
+good, sir."
+
+And the journalist, after giving his address, added: "You will have the
+monogram, G. R. C., engraved on the chronometer under a baron's
+coronet."
+
+Madeleine, surprised, began to smile, and when they went out, took his
+arm with a certain affection. She found him really clever and capable.
+Now that he had an income, he needed a title. It was quite right.
+
+The jeweler bowed them out, saying: "You can depend upon me; it will be
+ready on Thursday, Baron."
+
+They paused before the Vaudeville, at which a new piece was being
+played.
+
+"If you like," said he, "we will go to the theater this evening. Let us
+see if we can have a box."
+
+They took a box, and he continued: "Suppose we dine at a restaurant."
+
+"Oh, yes; I should like that!"
+
+
+He was as happy as a king, and sought what else they could do. "Suppose
+we go and ask Madame de Marelle to spend the evening with us. Her
+husband is at home, I hear, and I shall be delighted to see him."
+
+They went there. George, who slightly dreaded the first meeting with his
+mistress, was not ill-pleased that his wife was present to prevent
+anything like an explanation. But Clotilde did not seem to remember
+anything against him, and even obliged her husband to accept the
+invitation.
+
+The dinner was lovely, and the evening pleasant. George and Madeleine
+got home late. The gas was out, and to light them upstairs, the
+journalist struck a wax match from time to time. On reaching the
+first-floor landing the flame, suddenly starting forth as he struck,
+caused their two lit-up faces to show in the glass standing out against
+the darkness of the staircase. They resembled phantoms, appearing and
+ready to vanish into the night.
+
+Du Roy raised his hand to light up their reflections, and said, with a
+
+laugh of triumph: "Behold the millionaires!"
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+
+The conquest of Morocco had been accomplished two months back. France,
+mistress of Tangiers, held the whole of the African shore of the
+Mediterranean as far as Tripoli, and had guaranteed the debt of the
+newly annexed territory. It was said that two ministers had gained a
+score of millions over the business, and Laroche-Mathieu was almost
+openly named. As to Walter, no one in Paris was ignorant of the fact
+that he had brought down two birds with one stone, and made thirty or
+forty millions out of the loan and eight to ten millions out of the
+copper and iron mines, as well as out of a large stretch of territory
+bought for almost nothing prior to the conquest, and sold after the
+French occupation to companies formed to promote colonization. He had
+become in a few days one of the lords of creation, one of those
+omnipotent financiers more powerful than monarchs who cause heads to
+bow, mouths to stammer, and all that is base, cowardly, and envious, to
+well up from the depths of the human heart. He was no longer the Jew
+Walter, head of a shady bank, manager of a fishy paper, deputy suspected
+of illicit jobbery. He was Monsieur Walter, the wealthy Israelite.
+
+He wished to show himself off. Aware of the monetary embarrassments of
+the Prince de Carlsbourg, who owned one of the finest mansions in the
+Rue de Faubourg, Saint Honoré, with a garden giving onto the Champs
+Elysées, he proposed to him to buy house and furniture, without shifting
+a stick, within twenty-four hours. He offered three millions, and the
+prince, tempted by the amount, accepted. The following day Walter
+installed himself in his new domicile. Then he had another idea, the
+idea of a conqueror who wishes to conquer Paris, the idea of a
+Bonaparte. The whole city was flocking at that moment to see a great
+painting by the Hungarian artist, Karl Marcowitch, exhibited at a
+dealer's named Jacques Lenoble, and representing Christ walking on the
+water. The art critics, filled with enthusiasm, declared the picture the
+most superb masterpiece of the century. Walter bought it for four
+hundred thousand francs, and took it away, thus cutting suddenly short a
+flow of public curiosity, and forcing the whole of Paris to speak of him
+in terms of envy, blame, or approbation. Then he had it announced in the
+papers that he would invite everyone known in Parisian society to view
+at his house some evening this triumph of the foreign master, in order
+that it might not be said that he had hidden away a work of art. His
+house would be open; let those who would, come. It would be enough to
+show at the door the letter of invitation.
+
+This ran as follows: "Monsieur and Madame Walter beg of you to honor
+them with your company on December 30th, between 9 and 12 p. m., to view
+the picture by Karl Marcowitch, 'Jesus Walking on the Waters,' lit up by
+electric light." Then, as a postscript, in small letters: "Dancing after
+midnight." So those who wished to stay could, and out of these the
+
+Walters would recruit their future acquaintances. The others would view
+the picture, the mansion, and their owners with worldly curiosity,
+insolent and indifferent, and would then go away as they came. But Daddy
+Walter knew very well that they would return later on, as they had come
+to his Israelite brethren grown rich like himself. The first thing was
+that they should enter his house, all these titled paupers who were
+mentioned in the papers, and they would enter it to see the face of a
+man who had gained fifty millions in six weeks; they would enter it to
+see and note who else came there; they would also enter it because he
+had had the good taste and dexterity to summon them to admire a
+Christian picture at the home of a child of Israel. He seemed to say to
+them: "You see I have given five hundred thousand francs for the
+religious masterpiece of Marcowitch, 'Jesus Walking on the Waters.' And
+this masterpiece will always remain before my eyes in the house of the
+Jew, Walter."
+
+In society there had been a great deal of talk over these invitations,
+which, after all, did not pledge one in any way. One could go there as
+one went to see watercolors at Monsieur Petit's. The Walters owned a
+masterpiece, and threw open their doors one evening so that everyone
+could admire it. Nothing could be better. The _Vie Francaise_ for a
+fortnight past had published every morning a note on this coming event
+of the 30th December, and had striven to kindle public curiosity.
+
+Du Roy was furious at the governor's triumph. He had thought himself
+rich with the five hundred thousand francs extorted from his wife, and
+now he held himself to be poor, fearfully poor, when comparing his
+modest fortune with the shower of millions that had fallen around him,
+without his being able to pick any of it up. His envious hatred waxed
+daily. He was angry with everyone--with the Walters, whom he had not
+been to see at their new home; with his wife, who, deceived by
+Laroche-Mathieu, had persuaded him not to invest in the Morocco loan;
+and, above all, with the minister who had tricked him, who had made use
+of him, and who dined at his table twice a week. George was his agent,
+his secretary, his mouthpiece, and when he was writing from his
+dictation felt wild longings to strangle this triumphant foe. As a
+minister, Laroche-Mathieu had shown modesty in mien, and in order to
+retain his portfolio, did not let it be seen that he was gorged with
+gold. But Du Roy felt the presence of this gold in the haughtier tone of
+the parvenu barrister, in his more insolent gestures, his more daring
+affirmation, his perfect self-confidence. Laroche-Mathieu now reigned in
+the Du Roy household, having taken the place and the days of the Count
+de Vaudrec, and spoke to the servants like a second master. George
+tolerated him with a quiver running through him like a dog who wants to
+bite, and dares not. But he was often harsh and brutal towards
+Madeleine, who shrugged her shoulders and treated him like a clumsy
+child. She was, besides, astonished at his continual ill-humor, and
+repeated: "I cannot make you out. You are always grumbling, and yet your
+position is a splendid one."
+
+He would turn his back without replying.
+
+He had declared at first that he would not go to the governor's
+entertainment, and that he would never more set foot in the house of
+that dirty Jew. For two months Madame Walter had been writing to him
+daily, begging him to come, to make an appointment with her whenever he
+liked, in order, she said, that she might hand over the seventy thousand
+francs she had gained for him. He did not reply, and threw these
+despairing letters into the fire. Not that he had renounced receiving
+his share of their profits, but he wanted to madden her, to treat her
+with contempt, to trample her under feet. She was too rich. He wanted to
+show his pride. The very day of the exhibition of the picture, as
+Madeleine pointed out to him that he was very wrong not to go, he
+replied: "Hold your tongue. I shall stay at home."
+
+Then after dinner he suddenly said: "It will be better after all to
+undergo this affliction. Get dressed at once."
+
+She was expecting this, and said: "I will be ready in a quarter of an
+hour." He dressed growling, and even in the cab he continued to spit out
+his spleen.
+
+The court-yard of the Carlsbourg mansion was lit up by four electric
+lights, looking like four small bluish moons, one at each corner. A
+splendid carpet was laid down the high flight of steps, on each of which
+a footman in livery stood motionless as a statue.
+
+Du Roy muttered: "Here's a fine show-off for you," and shrugged his
+shoulders, his heart contracted by jealousy.
+
+His wife said: "Be quiet and do likewise."
+
+They went in and handed their heavy outer garments to the footmen who
+advanced to meet them. Several ladies were also there with their
+husbands, freeing themselves from their furs. Murmurs of: "It is very
+beautiful, very beautiful," could be heard. The immense entrance hall
+was hung with tapestry, representing the adventures of Mars and Venus.
+To the right and left were the two branches of a colossal double
+staircase, which met on the first floor. The banisters were a marvel of
+wrought-iron work, the dull old gilding of which glittered with discreet
+luster beside the steps of pink marble. At the entrance to the
+reception-rooms two little girls, one in a pink folly costume, and the
+other in a blue one, offered a bouquet of flowers to each lady. This was
+held to be charming.
+
+The reception-rooms were already crowded. Most of the ladies were in
+outdoor dress, showing that they came there as to any other exhibition.
+Those who intended remaining for the ball were bare armed and bare
+necked. Madame Walter, surrounded by her friends, was in the second room
+acknowledging the greetings of the visitors. Many of these did not know
+her, and walked about as though in a museum, without troubling
+themselves about the masters of the house.
+
+When she perceived Du Roy she grew livid, and made a movement as though
+to advance towards him. Then she remained motionless, awaiting him. He
+greeted her ceremoniously, while Madeleine overwhelmed her with
+affection and compliments. Then George left his wife with her and lost
+himself in the crowd, to listen to the spiteful things that assuredly
+must be said.
+
+Five reception-rooms opened one into the other, hung with costly stuffs,
+Italian embroideries, or oriental rugs of varying shades and styles, and
+bearing on their walls pictures by old masters. People stopped, above
+all, to admire a small room in the Louis XVI style, a kind of boudoir,
+lined with silk, with bouquets of roses on a pale blue ground. The
+furniture, of gilt wood, upholstered in the same material, was admirably
+finished.
+
+George recognized some well-known people--the Duchess de Ferraciné, the
+Count and Countess de Ravenal, General Prince d'Andremont, the beautiful
+Marchioness des Dunes, and all those folk who are seen at first
+performances. He was suddenly seized by the arm, and a young and pleased
+voice murmured in his ear: "Ah! here you are at last, you naughty
+Pretty-boy. How is it one no longer sees you?"
+
+It was Susan Walter, scanning him with her enamel-like eyes from beneath
+the curly cloud of her fair hair. He was delighted to see her again, and
+frankly pressed her hand. Then, excusing himself, he said: "I have not
+been able to come. I have had so much to do during the past two months
+that I have not been out at all."
+
+She said, with her serious air: "That is wrong, very wrong. You have
+caused us a great deal of pain, for we adore you, mamma and I. As to
+myself, I cannot get on without you. When you are not here I am bored
+to death. You see I tell you so plainly, so that you may no longer have
+the right of disappearing like that. Give me your arm, I will show you
+'Jesus Walking on the Waters' myself; it is right away at the end,
+beyond the conservatory. Papa had it put there so that they should be
+obliged to see everything before they could get to it. It is astonishing
+how he is showing off this place."
+
+They went on quietly among the crowd. People turned round to look at
+this good-looking fellow and this charming little doll. A well-known
+painter said: "What a pretty pair. They go capitally together."
+
+George thought: "If I had been really clever, this is the girl I should
+have married. It was possible. How is it I did not think of it? How did
+I come to take that other one? What a piece of stupidity. We always act
+too impetuously, and never reflect sufficiently."
+
+And envy, bitter envy, sank drop by drop into his mind like a gall,
+embittering all his pleasures, and rendering existence hateful.
+
+Susan was saying: "Oh! do come often, Pretty-boy; we will go in for all
+manner of things now, papa is so rich. We will amuse ourselves like
+madcaps."
+
+He answered, still following up his idea: "Oh! you will marry now. You
+will marry some prince, a ruined one, and we shall scarcely see one
+another."
+
+She exclaimed, frankly: "Oh! no, not yet. I want someone who pleases me,
+who pleases me a great deal, who pleases me altogether. I am rich enough
+for two."
+
+He smiled with a haughty and ironical smile, and began to point out to
+her people that were passing, very noble folk who had sold their rusty
+titles to the daughters of financiers like herself, and who now lived
+with or away from their wives, but free, impudent, known, and respected.
+He concluded with: "I will not give you six months before you are caught
+with that same bait. You will be a marchioness, a duchess or a princess,
+and will look down on me from a very great height, miss."
+
+She grew indignant, tapped him on the arm with her fan, and vowed that
+she would marry according to the dictates of her heart.
+
+He sneered: "We shall see about all that, you are too rich."
+
+She remarked: "But you, too, have come in for an inheritance."
+
+He uttered in a tone of contempt: "Oh! not worth speaking about.
+Scarcely twenty thousand francs a year, not much in these days."
+
+"But your wife has also inherited."
+
+"Yes. A million between us. Forty thousand francs' income. We cannot
+even keep a carriage on it."
+
+They had reached the last of the reception-rooms, and before them lay
+the conservatory--a huge winter garden full of tall, tropical trees,
+sheltering clumps of rare flowers. Penetrating beneath this somber
+greenery, through which the light streamed like a flood of silver, they
+breathed the warm odor of damp earth, and an air heavy with perfumes. It
+was a strange sensation, at once sweet, unwholesome, and pleasant, of a
+nature that was artificial, soft, and enervating. They walked on carpets
+exactly like moss, between two thick clumps of shrubs. All at once Du
+Roy noticed on his left, under a wide dome of palms, a broad basin of
+white marble, large enough to bathe in, and on the edge of which four
+large Delft swans poured forth water through their open beaks. The
+bottom of the basin was strewn with golden sand, and swimming about in
+it were some enormous goldfish, quaint Chinese monsters, with projecting
+eyes and scales edged with blue, mandarins of the waters, who recalled,
+thus suspended above this gold-colored ground, the embroideries of the
+Flowery Land. The journalist halted with beating heart. He said to
+himself: "Here is luxury. These are the houses in which one ought to
+live. Others have arrived at it. Why should not I?"
+
+He thought of means of doing so; did not find them at once, and grew
+irritated at his powerlessness. His companion, somewhat thoughtful, did
+not speak. He looked at her in sidelong fashion, and again thought: "To
+marry this little puppet would suffice."
+
+But Susan all at once seemed to wake up. "Attention!" said she; and
+pushing George through a group which barred their way, she made him turn
+sharply to the right.
+
+
+In the midst of a thicket of strange plants, which extended in the air
+their quivering leaves, opening like hands with slender fingers, was
+seen the motionless figure of a man standing on the sea. The effect was
+surprising. The picture, the sides of which were hidden in the moving
+foliage, seemed a black spot upon a fantastic and striking horizon. It
+had to be carefully looked at in order to understand it. The frame cut
+the center of the ship in which were the apostles, scarcely lit up by
+the oblique rays from a lantern, the full light of which one of them,
+seated on the bulwarks, was casting upon the approaching Savior. Jesus
+was advancing with his foot upon a wave, which flattened itself
+submissively and caressingly beneath the divine tread. All was dark
+about him. Only the stars shone in the sky. The faces of the apostles,
+in the vague light of the lantern, seemed convulsed with surprise. It
+was a wonderful and unexpected work of a master; one of those works
+which agitate the mind and give you something to dream of for years.
+People who look at such things at the outset remain silent, and then go
+thoughtfully away, and only speak later on of the worth of the painting.
+Du Roy, having contemplated it for some time, said: "It is nice to be
+
+able to afford such trifles."
+
+But as he was pushed against by others coming to see it, he went away,
+still keeping on his arm Susan's little hand, which he squeezed
+slightly. She said: "Would you like a glass of champagne? Come to the
+refreshment buffet. We shall find papa there."
+
+And they slowly passed back through the saloons, in which the crowd was
+increasing, noisy and at home, the fashionable crowd of a public fête.
+George all at once thought he heard a voice say: "It is Laroche-Mathieu
+and Madame Du Roy." These words flitted past his ear like those distant
+sounds borne by the wind. Whence came they? He looked about on all
+sides, and indeed saw his wife passing by on the minister's arm. They
+were chatting intimately in a low tone, smiling, and with their eyes
+fixed on one another's. He fancied he noticed that people whispered as
+they looked at them, and he felt within him a stupid and brutal desire
+to spring upon them, these two creatures, and smite them down. She was
+making him ridiculous. He thought of Forestier. Perhaps they were
+saying: "That cuckold Du Roy." Who was she? A little parvenu sharp
+enough, but really not over-gifted with parts. People visited him
+because they feared him, because they felt his strength, but they must
+speak in unrestrained fashion of this little journalistic household. He
+would never make any great way with this woman, who would always render
+his home a suspected one, who would always compromise herself, whose
+very bearing betrayed the woman of intrigue. She would now be a cannon
+ball riveted to his ankle. Ah! if he had only known, if he had only
+guessed. What a bigger game he would have played. What a fine match he
+might have won with this little Susan for stakes. How was it he had been
+blind enough not to understand that?
+
+They reached the dining-room--an immense apartment, with marble columns,
+and walls hung with old tapestry. Walter perceived his descriptive
+writer, and darted forward to take him by the hands. He was intoxicated
+with joy. "Have you seen everything? Have you shown him everything,
+Susan? What a lot of people, eh, Pretty-boy! Did you see the Prince de
+Guerche? He came and drank a glass of punch here just now," he
+exclaimed.
+
+Then he darted towards the Senator Rissolin, who was towing along his
+wife, bewildered, and bedecked like a stall at a fair. A gentleman bowed
+to Susan, a tall, thin fellow, slightly bald, with yellow whiskers, and
+that air of good breeding which is everywhere recognizable. George heard
+his name mentioned, the Marquis de Cazolles, and became suddenly jealous
+of him. How long had she known him? Since her accession to wealth, no
+doubt. He divined a suitor.
+
+He was taken by the arm. It was Norbert de Varenne. The old poet was
+airing his long hair and worn dress-coat with a weary and indifferent
+air. "This is what they call amusing themselves," said he. "By and by
+they will dance, and then they will go bed, and the little girls will be
+delighted. Have some champagne. It is capital."
+
+He had a glass filled for himself, and bowing to Du Roy, who had taken
+another, said: "I drink to the triumph of wit over wealth." Then he
+added softly: "Not that wealth on the part of others hurts me; or that I
+am angry at it. But I protest on principle."
+
+George no longer listened to him. He was looking for Susan, who had just
+disappeared with the Marquis de Cazolles, and abruptly quitting Norbert
+de Varenne, set out in pursuit of the young girl. A dense crowd in quest
+of refreshments checked him. When he at length made his way through it,
+he found himself face to face with the de Marelles. He was still in the
+habit of meeting the wife, but he had not for some time past met the
+husband, who seized both his hands, saying: "How can I thank you, my
+dear fellow, for the advice you gave me through Clotilde. I have gained
+close on a hundred thousand francs over the Morocco loan. It is to you I
+owe them. You are a valuable friend."
+
+Several men turned round to look at the pretty and elegant brunette. Du
+Roy replied: "In exchange for that service, my dear fellow, I am going
+to take your wife, or rather to offer her my arm. Husband and wife are
+best apart, you know."
+
+Monsieur de Marelle bowed, saying: "You are quite right. If I lose you,
+we will meet here in an hour."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+The pair plunged into the crowd, followed by the husband. Clotilde kept
+saying: "How lucky these Walters are! That is what it is to have
+business intelligence."
+
+George replied: "Bah! Clever men always make a position one way or
+another."
+
+She said: "Here are two girls who will have from twenty to thirty
+millions apiece. Without reckoning that Susan is pretty."
+
+He said nothing. His own idea, coming from another's mouth, irritated
+him. She had not yet seen the picture of "Jesus Walking on the Water,"
+and he proposed to take her to it. They amused themselves by talking
+scandal of the people they recognized, and making fun of those they did
+not. Saint-Potin passed by, bearing on the lapel of his coat a number of
+
+decorations, which greatly amused them. An ex-ambassador following him
+showed far fewer.
+
+Du Roy remarked: "What a mixed salad of society."
+
+Boisrenard, who shook hands with him, had also adorned his buttonhole
+with the green and yellow ribbon worn on the day of the duel. The
+Viscountess de Percemur, fat and bedecked, was chatting with a duke in
+the little Louis XVI boudoir.
+
+George whispered: "An amorous _tête-à-tête_."
+
+But on passing through the greenhouse, he noticed his wife seated beside
+Laroche-Mathieu, both almost hidden behind a clump of plants. They
+seemed to be asserting: "We have appointed a meeting here, a meeting in
+public. For we do not care a rap what people think."
+
+Madame de Marelle agreed that the Jesus of Karl Marcowitch was
+astounding, and they retraced their steps. They had lost her husband.
+George inquired: "And Laurine, is she still angry with me?"
+
+"Yes, still so as much as ever. She refuses to see you, and walks away
+when you are spoken of."
+
+He did not reply. The sudden enmity of this little girl vexed and
+oppressed him. Susan seized on them as they passed through a doorway,
+exclaiming: "Ah! here you are. Well, Pretty-boy, you must remain alone.
+I am going to take away Clotilde to show her my room."
+
+The two moved rapidly away, gliding through the throng with that
+undulating snake-like motion women know how to adopt in a crowd. Almost
+immediately a voice murmured: "George."
+
+It was Madame Walter, who went on in a low tone: "Oh! how ferociously
+cruel you are. How you do make me suffer without reason. I told Susan to
+get your companion away in order to be able to say a word to you.
+Listen, I must speak to you this evening, I must, or you don't know what
+I will do. Go into the conservatory. You will find a door on the left
+leading into the garden. Follow the path in front of it. At the end of
+it you will find an arbor. Wait for me there in ten minutes' time. If
+you won't, I declare to you that I will create a scene here at once."
+
+He replied loftily: "Very well. I will be at the spot you mention within
+ten minutes."
+
+And they separated. But Jacques Rival almost made him behindhand. He had
+taken him by the arm and was telling him a lot of things in a very
+excited manner. He had no doubt come from the refreshment buffet. At
+length Du Roy left him in the hands of Monsieur de Marelle, whom he had
+come across, and bolted. He still had to take precautions not to be seen
+by his wife or Laroche-Mathieu. He succeeded, for they seemed deeply
+interested in something, and found himself in the garden. The cold air
+struck him like an ice bath. He thought: "Confound it, I shall catch
+cold," and tied his pocket-handkerchief round his neck. Then he slowly
+went along the walk, seeing his way with difficulty after coming out of
+the bright light of the reception-rooms. He could distinguish to the
+right and left leafless shrubs, the branches of which were quivering.
+Light filtered through their branches, coming from the windows of the
+mansion. He saw something white in the middle of the path in front of
+him, and Madame Walter, with bare arms and bosom, said in a quivering
+voice; "Ah here you are; you want to kill me, then?"
+
+He answered quickly: "No melodramatics, I beg of you, or I shall bolt at
+once."
+
+She had seized him round the neck, and with her lips close to his, said:
+"But what have I done to you? You are behaving towards me like a wretch.
+What have I done to you?"
+
+He tried to repulse her. "You wound your hair round every one of my
+buttons the last time I saw you, and it almost brought about a rupture
+between my wife and myself."
+
+She was surprised for a moment, and then, shaking her head, said: "Oh!
+your wife would not mind. It was one of your mistresses who had made a
+scene over it."
+
+"I have no mistresses."
+
+"Nonsense. But why do you no longer ever come to see me? Why do you
+refuse to come to dinner, even once a week, with me? What I suffer is
+fearful. I love you to that degree that I no longer have a thought that
+is not for you; that I see you continually before my eyes; that I can no
+longer say a word without being afraid of uttering your name. You cannot
+understand that, I know. It seems to me that I am seized in some one's
+clutches, tied up in a sack, I don't know what. Your remembrance, always
+with me, clutches my throat, tears my chest, breaks my legs so as to no
+longer leave me strength to walk. And I remain like an animal sitting
+all day on a chair thinking of you."
+
+He looked at her with astonishment. She was no longer the big frolicsome
+tomboy he had known, but a bewildered despairing woman, capable of
+anything. A vague project, however, arose in his mind. He replied: "My
+dear, love is not eternal. We take and we leave one another. But when it
+drags on, as between us two, it becomes a terrible drag. I will have no
+more of it. That is the truth. However, if you can be reasonable, and
+receive and treat me as a friend, I will come as I used to. Do you feel
+capable of that?"
+
+She placed her two bare arms on George's coat, and murmured: "I am
+capable of anything in order to see you."
+
+"Then it is agreed on," said he; "we are friends, and nothing more."
+
+She stammered: "It is agreed on;" and then, holding out her lips to him:
+"One more kiss; the last."
+
+He refused gently, saying: "No, we must keep to our agreement."
+
+She turned aside, wiping away a couple of tears, and then, drawing from
+her bosom a bundle of papers tied with pink silk ribbon, offered it to
+Du Roy, saying: "Here; it is your share of the profit in the Morocco
+affair. I was so pleased to have gained it for you. Here, take it."
+
+He wanted to refuse, observing: "No, I will not take that money."
+
+Then she grew indignant. "Ah! so you won't take it now. It is yours,
+yours, only. If you do not take it, I will throw it into the gutter. You
+won't act like that, George?"
+
+He received the little bundle, and slipped it into his pocket.
+
+"We must go in," said he, "you will catch cold."
+
+She murmured: "So much the better, if I could die."
+
+She took one of his hands, kissed it passionately, with rage and
+despair, and fled towards the mansion. He returned, quietly reflecting.
+Then he re-entered the conservatory with haughty forehead and smiling
+lip. His wife and Laroche-Mathieu were no longer there. The crowd was
+thinning. It was becoming evident that they would not stay for the
+dance. He perceived Susan arm-in-arm with her sister. They both came
+towards him to ask him to dance the first quadrille with the Count de
+Latour Yvelin.
+
+He was astonished, and asked: "Who is he, too?"
+
+Susan answered maliciously: "A new friend of my sister's." Rose blushed,
+and murmured: "You are very spiteful, Susan; he is no more my friend
+than yours."
+
+Susan smiled, saying: "Oh! I know all about it."
+
+Rose annoyed, turned her back on them and went away. Du Roy familiarly
+took the elbow of the young girl left standing beside him, and said in
+his caressing voice: "Listen, my dear, you believe me to be your
+friend?"
+
+"Yes, Pretty-boy."
+
+
+"You have confidence in me?" "Quite."
+
+"You remember what I said to you just now?"
+
+"What about?"
+
+"About your marriage, or rather about the man you are going to marry."
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, then, you will promise me one thing?"
+
+"Yes; but what is it?"
+
+"To consult me every time that your hand is asked for, and not to accept
+anyone without taking my advice."
+
+"Very well."
+
+"And to keep this a secret between us two. Not a word of it to your
+father or your mother."
+
+"Not a word."
+
+"It is a promise, then?" "It is a promise."
+
+Rival came up with a bustling air. "Mademoiselle, your papa wants you
+for the dance."
+
+She said: "Come along, Pretty-boy."
+
+But he refused, having made up his mind to leave at once, wishing to be
+alone in order to think. Too many new ideas had entered his mind, and he
+began to look for his wife. In a short time he saw her drinking
+chocolate at the buffet with two gentlemen unknown to him. She
+introduced her husband without mentioning their names to him. After a
+few moments, he said, "Shall we go?"
+
+"When you like."
+
+She took his arm, and they walked back through the reception-rooms, in
+which the public were growing few. She said: "Where is Madame Walter, I
+should like to wish her good-bye?"
+
+"It is better not to. She would try to keep us for the ball, and I have
+had enough of this."
+
+"That is so, you are quite right."
+
+All the way home they were silent. But as soon as they were in their
+room Madeleine said smilingly, before even taking off her veil. "I have
+a surprise for you."
+
+He growled ill-temperedly: "What is it?"
+
+"Guess." "I will make no such effort."
+
+"Well, the day after to-morrow is the first of January."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"The time for New Year's gifts."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Here's one for you that Laroche-Mathieu gave me just now."
+
+She gave him a little black box resembling a jewel-case. He opened it
+indifferently, and saw the cross of the Legion of Honor. He grew
+somewhat pale, then smiled, and said: "I should have preferred ten
+millions. That did not cost him much."
+
+She had expected an outburst of joy, and was irritated at this coolness.
+"You are really incredible. Nothing satisfies you now," said she.
+
+He replied, tranquilly: "That man is only paying his debt, and he still
+owes me a great deal."
+
+She was astonished at his tone, and resumed: "It is though, a big thing
+at your age."
+
+He remarked: "All things are relative. I could have something bigger
+now."
+
+He had taken the case, and placing it on the mantel-shelf, looked for
+some moments at the glittering star it contained. Then he closed it and
+went to bed, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+The _Journal Officiel_ of the first of January announced the nomination
+of Monsieur Prosper George Du Roy, journalist, to the dignity of
+chevalier of the Legion of Honor, for special services. The name was
+written in two words, which gave George more pleasure than the
+derivation itself.
+
+An hour after having read this piece of news he received a note from
+Madame Walter begging him to come and dine with her that evening with
+his wife, to celebrate his new honors. He hesitated for a few moments,
+and then throwing this note, written in ambiguous terms, into the fire,
+said to Madeleine:
+
+"We are going to dinner at the Walter's this evening."
+
+She was astonished. "Why, I thought you never wanted to set foot in the
+house again."
+
+He only remarked: "I have changed my mind."
+
+When they arrived Madame Walter was alone in the little Louis XVI.
+boudoir she had adopted for the reception of personal friends. Dressed
+in black, she had powdered her hair, which rendered her charming. She
+had the air at a distance of an old woman, and close at hand, of a young
+one, and when one looked at her well, of a pretty snare for the eyes.
+
+
+"You are in mourning?" inquired Madeleine.
+
+She replied, sadly: "Yes, and no. I have not lost any relative. But I
+have reached the age when one wears the mourning of one's life. I wear
+it to-day to inaugurate it. In future I shall wear it in my heart."
+
+Du Roy thought: "Will this resolution hold good?"
+
+The dinner was somewhat dull. Susan alone chattered incessantly. Rose
+seemed preoccupied. The journalist was warmly congratulated. During the
+evening they strolled chatting through the saloons and the conservatory.
+As Du Roy was walking in the rear with Madame Walter, she checked him by
+the arm.
+
+"Listen," said she, in a low voice, "I will never speak to you of
+anything again, never. But come and see me, George. It is impossible for
+me to live without you, impossible. It is indescribable torture. I feel
+you, I cherish you before my eyes, in my heart, all day and all night.
+It is as though you had caused me to drink a poison which was eating me
+away within. I cannot bear it, no, I cannot bear it. I am willing to be
+nothing but an old woman for you. I have made my hair white to show you
+so, but come here, only come here from time to time as a friend."
+
+She had taken his hand and was squeezing it, crushing it, burying her
+nails in his flesh.
+
+He answered, quietly: "It is understood, then. It is useless to speak of
+all that again. You see I came to-day at once on receiving your letter."
+
+Walter, who had walked on in advance with his two daughters and
+Madeleine, was waiting for Du Roy beside the picture of "Jesus Walking
+on the Waters."
+
+"Fancy," said he, laughing, "I found my wife yesterday on her knees
+before this picture, as if in a chapel. She was paying her devotions.
+How I did laugh."
+
+Madame Walter replied in a firm voice--a voice thrilling with secret
+exultation: "It is that Christ who will save my soul. He gives me
+strength and courage every time I look at Him." And pausing in front of
+the Divinity standing amidst the waters, she murmured: "How handsome he
+is. How afraid of Him those men are, and yet how they love Him. Look at
+His head, His eyes--how simple yet how supernatural at the same time."
+
+Susan exclaimed, "But He resembles you, Pretty-boy. I am sure He
+resembles you. If you had a beard, or if He was clean shaven, you would
+be both alike. Oh, but it is striking!"
+
+She insisted on his standing beside the picture, and they all, indeed,
+recognized that the two faces resembled one another. Everyone was
+astonished. Walter thought it very singular. Madeleine, smiling,
+declared that Jesus had a more manly air. Madame Walter stood
+motionless, gazing fixedly at the face of her lover beside the face of
+Christ, and had become as white as her hair.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+
+During the remainder of the winter the Du Roys often visited the
+Walters. George even dined there by himself continually, Madeleine
+saying she was tired, and preferring to remain at home. He had adopted
+Friday as a fixed day, and Madame Walter never invited anyone that
+evening; it belonged to Pretty-boy, to him alone. After dinner they
+played cards, and fed the goldfish, amusing themselves like a family
+circle. Several times behind a door or a clump of shrubs in the
+conservatory, Madame Walter had suddenly clasped George in her arms, and
+pressing him with all her strength to her breast, had whispered in his
+ear, "I love you, I love you till it is killing me." But he had always
+coldly repulsed her, replying, in a dry tone: "If you begin that
+business once again, I shall not come here any more."
+
+
+Towards the end of March the marriage of the two sisters was all at once
+spoken about. Rose, it was said, was to marry the Count de
+Latour-Yvelin, and Susan the Marquis de Cazolles. These two gentlemen
+had become familiars of the household, those familiars to whom special
+favors and marked privileges are granted. George and Susan continued to
+live in a species of free and fraternal intimacy, romping for hours,
+making fun of everyone, and seeming greatly to enjoy one another's
+company. They had never spoken again of the possible marriage of the
+young girl, nor of the suitors who offered themselves.
+
+The governor had brought George home to lunch one morning. Madame Walter
+was called away immediately after the repast to see one of the
+tradesmen, and the young fellow said to Susan: "Let us go and feed the
+goldfish."
+
+They each took a piece of crumb of bread from the table and went into
+the conservatory. All along the marble brim cushions were left lying on
+the ground, so that one could kneel down round the basin, so as to be
+nearer the fish. They each took one of these, side by side, and bending
+over the water, began to throw in pellets of bread rolled between the
+fingers. The fish, as soon as they caught sight of them, flocked round,
+wagging their tails, waving their fins, rolling their great projecting
+eyes, turning round, diving to catch the bait as it sank, and coming up
+at once to ask for more. They had a funny action of the mouth, sudden
+and rapid movements, a strangely monstrous appearance, and against the
+sand of the bottom stood out a bright red, passing like flames through
+the transparent water, or showing, as soon as they halted, the blue
+edging to their scales. George and Susan saw their own faces looking up
+in the water, and smiled at them. All at once he said in a low voice:
+"It is not kind to hide things from me, Susan."
+
+"What do you mean, Pretty-boy?" asked she.
+
+"Don't you remember, what you promised me here on the evening of the
+fête?"
+
+"No."
+
+"To consult me every time your hand was asked for."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, it has been asked for."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"You know very well."
+
+"No. I swear to you."
+
+"Yes, you do. That great fop, the Marquis de Cazolles."
+
+"He is not a fop, in the first place."
+
+"It may be so, but he is stupid, ruined by play, and worn out by
+dissipation. It is really a nice match for you, so pretty, so fresh, and
+so intelligent."
+
+She inquired, smiling: "What have you against him?"
+
+"I, nothing."
+
+"Yes, you have. He is not all that you say."
+
+"Nonsense. He is a fool and an intriguer."
+
+She turned round somewhat, leaving off looking into the water, and said:
+"Come, what is the matter with you?"
+
+He said, as though a secret was being wrenched from the bottom of his
+heart: "I--I--am jealous of him."
+
+She was slightly astonished, saying: "You?"
+
+"Yes, I."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because I am in love with you, and you know it very well, you naughty
+girl."
+
+She said, in a severe tone: "You are mad, Pretty-boy."
+
+He replied; "I know very well that I am mad. Ought I to have admitted
+that--I, a married man, to you, a young girl? I am more than mad, I am
+guilty. I have no possible hope, and the thought of that drives me out
+of my senses. And when I hear it said that you are going to be married,
+I have fits of rage enough to kill someone. You must forgive me this,
+Susan."
+
+He was silent. The whole of the fish, to whom bread was no longer being
+thrown, were motionless, drawn up in line like English soldiers, and
+looking at the bent heads of those two who were no longer troubling
+themselves about them. The young girl murmured, half sadly, half gayly:
+"It is a pity that you are married. What would you? Nothing can be done.
+It is settled."
+
+He turned suddenly towards her, and said right in her face: "If I were
+free, would you marry me?"
+
+She replied, in a tone of sincerity: "Yes, Pretty-boy, I would marry
+you, for you please me far better than any of the others."
+
+He rose, and stammered: "Thanks, thanks; do not say 'yes' to anyone yet,
+I beg of you; wait a little longer, I entreat you. Will you promise me
+this much?"
+
+She murmured, somewhat uneasily, and without understanding what he
+wanted: "Yes, I promise you."
+
+Du Roy threw the lump of bread he still held in his hand into the water,
+and fled as though he had lost his head, without wishing her good-bye.
+All the fish rushed eagerly at this lump of crumb, which floated, not
+having been kneaded in the fingers, and nibbled it with greedy mouths.
+They dragged it away to the other end of the basin, and forming a moving
+cluster, a kind of animated and twisting flower, a live flower fallen
+into the water head downwards.
+
+Susan, surprised and uneasy, got up and returned slowly to the
+dining-room. The journalist had left.
+
+He came home very calm, and as Madeleine was writing letters, said to
+her: "Are you going to dine at the Walters' on Friday? I am going."
+
+She hesitated, and replied: "No. I do not feel very well. I would rather
+stay at home."
+
+He remarked: "Just as you like."
+
+Then he took his hat and went out again at once. For some time past he
+had been keeping watch over her, following her about, knowing all her
+movements. The hour he had been awaiting was at length at hand. He had
+not been deceived by the tone in which she had said: "I would rather
+stay at home."
+
+He was very amiable towards her during the next few days. He even
+appeared lively, which was not usual, and she said: "You are growing
+quite nice again."
+
+He dressed early on the Friday, in order to make some calls before going
+to the governor's, he said. He started just before six, after kissing
+his wife, and went and took a cab at the Place Notre Dame de Lorette. He
+said to the driver: "Pull up in front of No. 17, Rue Fontaine, and stay
+there till I tell you to go on again. Then drive to the Cock Pheasant
+restaurant in the Rue Lafayette."
+
+The cab started at a slow trot, and Du Roy drew down the blinds. As soon
+as he was opposite the door he did not take his eyes off it. After
+waiting ten minutes he saw Madeleine come out and go in the direction of
+the outer boulevards. As soon as she had got far enough off he put his
+head through the window, and said to the driver: "Go on." The cab
+started again, and landed him in front of the Cock Pheasant, a
+well-known middle-class restaurant. George went into the main
+dining-room and ate slowly, looking at his watch from time to time. At
+half-past seven, when he had finished his coffee, drank two liqueurs of
+brandy, and slowly smoked a good cigar, he went out, hailed another cab
+that was going by empty, and was driven to the Rue La Rochefoucauld. He
+ascended without making any inquiry of the doorkeeper, to the third
+story of the house he had told the man to drive to, and when a servant
+opened the door to him, said: "Monsieur Guibert de Lorme is at home, is
+he not?"
+
+"Yes sir."
+
+He was ushered into the drawing-room, where he waited for a few minutes.
+Then a gentleman came in, tall, and with a military bearing, gray-haired
+though still young, and wearing the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. Du
+Roy bowed, and said: "As I foresaw, Mr. Commissionary, my wife is now
+dining with her lover in the furnished rooms they have hired in the Rue
+des Martyrs."
+
+The commissary of police bowed, saying: "I am at your service, sir."
+
+George continued: "You have until nine o'clock, have you not? That limit
+of time passed, you can no longer enter a private dwelling to prove
+adultery."
+
+"No, sir; seven o'clock in winter, nine o'clock from the 31st March. It
+is the 5th of April, so we have till nine o'clock.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Commissionary, I have a cab downstairs; we can take the
+officers who will accompany you, and wait a little before the door. The
+later we arrive the best chance we have of catching them in the act."
+
+"As you like, sir."
+
+The commissary left the room, and then returned with an overcoat, hiding
+his tri-colored sash. He drew back to let Du Roy pass out first. But the
+journalist, who was preoccupied, declined to do so, and kept saying:
+"After you, sir, after you."
+
+The commissary said: "Go first, sir, I am at home."
+
+George bowed, and passed out. They went first to the police office to
+pick up three officers in plain clothes who were awaiting them, for
+George had given notice during the day that the surprise would take
+place that evening. One of the men got on the box beside the driver. The
+other two entered the cab, which reached the Rue des Martyrs. Du Roy
+said: "I have a plan of the rooms. They are on the second floor. We
+shall first find a little ante-room, then a dining-room, then the
+bedroom. The three rooms open into one another. There is no way out to
+facilitate flight. There is a locksmith a little further on. He is
+holding himself in readiness to be called upon by you."
+
+When they arrived opposite the house it was only a quarter past eight,
+and they waited in silence for more than twenty minutes. But when he
+saw the three quarters about to strike, George said: "Let us start now."
+
+They went up the stairs without troubling themselves about the
+doorkeeper, who, indeed, did not notice them. One of the officers
+remained in the street to keep watch on the front door. The four men
+stopped at the second floor, and George put his ear to the door and then
+looked through the keyhole. He neither heard nor saw anything. He rang
+the bell.
+
+The commissary said to the officers: "You will remain in readiness till
+called on."
+
+And they waited. At the end of two or three minutes George again pulled
+the bell several times in succession. They noted a noise from the
+further end of the rooms, and then a slight step approached. Someone was
+coming to spy who was there. The journalist then rapped smartly on the
+panel of the door. A voice, a woman's voice, that an attempt was
+evidently being made to disguise asked: "Who is there?"
+
+The commissary replied: "Open, in the name of the law."
+
+The voice repeated: "Who are you?"
+
+"I am the commissary of police. Open the door, or I will have it broken
+in."
+
+The voice went on: "What do you want?"
+
+Du Roy said: "It is I. It is useless to seek to escape."
+
+The light steps, the tread of bare feet, was heard to withdraw, and then
+in a few seconds to return.
+
+George said: "If you won't open, we will break in the door."
+
+He grasped the handle, and pushed slowly with his shoulder. As there
+was no longer any reply, he suddenly gave such a violent and vigorous
+shock that the old lock gave way. The screws were torn out of the wood,
+and he almost fell over Madeleine, who was standing in the ante-room,
+clad in a chemise and petticoat, her hair down, her legs bare, and a
+candle in her hand.
+
+He exclaimed: "It is she, we have them," and darted forward into the
+rooms. The commissary, having taken off his hat, followed him, and the
+startled woman came after, lighting the way. They crossed a
+drawing-room, the uncleaned table of which displayed the remnants of a
+repast--empty champagne bottles, an open pot of fatted goose liver, the
+body of a fowl, and some half-eaten bits of bread. Two plates piled on
+the sideboard were piled with oyster shells.
+
+The bedroom seemed disordered, as though by a struggle. A dress was
+thrown over a chair, a pair of trousers hung astride the arm of another.
+Four boots, two large and two small, lay on their sides at the foot of
+the bed. It was the room of a house let out in furnished lodgings, with
+commonplace furniture, filled with that hateful and sickening smell of
+all such places, the odor of all the people who had slept or lived there
+a day or six months. A plate of cakes, a bottle of chartreuse, and two
+liqueur glasses, still half full, encumbered the mantel-shelf. The upper
+part of the bronze clock was hidden by a man's hat.
+
+The commissary turned round sharply, and looking Madeleine straight in
+the face, said: "You are Madame Claire Madeleine Du Roy, wife of
+Monsieur Prosper George Du Roy, journalist, here present?"
+
+She uttered in a choking voice: "Yes, sir."
+
+"What are you doing here?" She did not answer.
+
+The commissary went on: "What are you doing here? I find you away from
+home, almost undressed, in furnished apartments. What did you come here
+for?" He waited for a few moments. Then, as she still remained silent,
+he continued: "Since you will not confess, madame, I shall be obliged to
+verify the state of things."
+
+In the bed could be seen the outline of a form hidden beneath the
+clothes. The commissary approached and said: "Sir."
+
+The man in bed did not stir. He seemed to have his back turned, and his
+head buried under a pillow. The commissary touched what seemed to be his
+shoulder, and said: "Sir, do not, I beg of you, force me to take
+action."
+
+But the form still remained as motionless as a corpse. Du Roy, who had
+advanced quickly, seized the bed-clothes, pulled them down, and tearing
+away the pillow, revealed the pale face of Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu. He
+bent over him, and, quivering with the desire to seize him by the throat
+and strangle him, said, between his clenched teeth: "Have at least the
+courage of your infamy."
+
+The commissary again asked: "Who are you?"
+
+The bewildered lover not replying, he continued: "I am a commissary of
+police, and I summon you to tell me your name."
+
+George, who was quivering with brutal wrath, shouted: "Answer, you
+coward, or I will tell your name myself."
+
+Then the man in the bed stammered: "Mr. Commissary, you ought not to
+allow me to be insulted by this person. Is it with you or with him that
+I have to do? Is it to you or to him that I have to answer?"
+
+His mouth seemed to be dried up as he spoke.
+
+The commissary replied: "With me, sir; with me alone. I ask you who you
+are?"
+
+The other was silent. He held the sheet close up to his neck, and rolled
+his startled eyes. His little, curled-up moustache showed up black upon
+his blanched face.
+
+The commissary continued: "You will not answer, eh? Then I shall be
+forced to arrest you. In any case, get up. I will question you when you
+are dressed."
+
+The body wriggled in the bed, and the head murmured: "But I cannot,
+before you."
+
+The commissary asked: "Why not?"
+
+The other stammered: "Because I am--I am--quite naked."
+
+Du Roy began to chuckle sneeringly, and picking up a shirt that had
+fallen onto the floor, threw it onto the bed, exclaiming: "Come, get up.
+Since you have undressed in my wife's presence, you can very well dress
+in mine."
+
+Then he turned his back, and returned towards the fireplace. Madeleine
+had recovered all her coolness, and seeing that all was lost, was ready
+to dare anything. Her eyes glittered with bravado, and twisting up a
+piece of paper she lit, as though for a reception, the ten candles in
+the ugly candelabra, placed at the corners of the mantel-shelf. Then,
+leaning against this, and holding out backwards to the dying fire one of
+her bare feet which she lifted up behind the petticoat, scarcely
+sticking to her hips, she took a cigarette from a pink paper case, lit
+it, and began to smoke. The commissary had returned towards her, pending
+that her accomplice got up.
+
+She inquired insolently: "Do you often have such jobs as these, sir?"
+
+He replied gravely: "As seldom as possible, madame."
+
+She smiled in his face, saying: "I congratulate you; it is dirty work."
+
+She affected not to look at or even to see her husband.
+
+But the gentleman in the bed was dressing. He had put on his trousers,
+pulled on his boots, and now approached putting on his waistcoat. The
+commissary turned towards him, saying: "Now, sir, will you tell me who
+you are?"
+
+He made no reply, and the official said: "I find myself obliged to
+arrest you."
+
+Then the man exclaimed suddenly: "Do not lay hands on me. My person is
+inviolable."
+
+Du Roy darted towards him as though to throw him down, and growled in
+his face: "Caught in the act, in the act. I can have you arrested if I
+choose; yes, I can." Then, in a ringing tone, he added: "This man is
+Laroche-Mathieu, Minister of Foreign Affairs."
+
+The commissary drew back, stupefied, and stammered: "Really, sir, will
+you tell me who you are?"
+
+The other had made up his mind, and said in forcible tones: "For once
+that scoundrel has not lied. I am, indeed, Laroche-Mathieu, the
+minister." Then, holding out his hand towards George's chest, in which a
+little bit of red ribbon showed itself, he added: "And that rascal wears
+on his coat the cross of honor which I gave him."
+
+Du Roy had become livid. With a rapid movement he tore the bit of ribbon
+from his buttonhole, and, throwing it into the fireplace, exclaimed:
+
+"That is all that is fit for a decoration coming from a swine like
+you."
+
+They were quite close, face to face, exasperated, their fists clenched,
+the one lean, with a flowing moustache, the other stout, with a twisted
+one. The commissary stepped rapidly between the pair, and pushing them
+apart with his hands, observed: "Gentlemen, you are forgetting
+yourselves; you are lacking in self-respect."
+
+They became quiet and turned on their heels. Madeleine, motionless, was
+still smoking in silence.
+
+The police official resumed: "Sir, I have found you alone with Madame Du
+Roy here, you in bed, she almost naked, with your clothes scattered
+about the room. This is legal evidence of adultery. You cannot deny this
+evidence. What have you to say for yourself?"
+
+Laroche-Mathieu murmured: "I have nothing to say; do your duty."
+
+The commissary addressed himself to Madeleine: "Do you admit, madame,
+that this gentleman is your lover?"
+
+She said with a certain swagger: "I do not deny it; he is my lover."
+
+
+"That is enough."
+
+The commissary made some notes as to the condition and arrangement of
+the rooms. As he was finishing writing, the minister, who had finished
+dressing, and was waiting with his greatcoat over his arm and his hat in
+his hand, said: "Have you still need of me, sir? What am I to do? Can I
+withdraw?"
+
+Du Roy turned towards him, and smiling insolently, said: "Why so? We
+have finished. You can go to bed again, sir; we will leave you alone."
+And placing a finger on the official's arm, he continued: "Let us
+retire, Mr. Commissary, we have nothing more to do in this place."
+
+Somewhat surprised, the commissary followed, but on the threshold of the
+room George stopped to allow him to pass. The other declined, out of
+politeness. Du Roy persisted, saying: "Pass first, sir."
+
+"After you, sir," replied the commissary.
+
+The journalist bowed, and in a tone of ironical politeness, said: "It is
+your turn, sir; I am almost at home here."
+
+Then he softly reclosed the door with an air of discretion.
+
+An hour later George Du Roy entered the offices of the _Vie Francaise_.
+Monsieur Walter was already there, for he continued to manage and
+supervise with solicitude his paper, which had enormously increased in
+circulation, and greatly helped the schemes of his bank. The manager
+raised his head and said: "Ah! here you are. You look very strange. Why
+did you not come to dinner with us? What have you been up to?"
+
+The young fellow, sure of his effect, said, emphasizing every word: "I
+
+have just upset the Minister of Foreign Affairs."
+
+The other thought he was joking, and said: "Upset what?"
+
+"I am going to turn out the Cabinet. That is all. It is quite time to
+get rid of that rubbish."
+
+The old man thought that his leader-writer must be drunk. He murmured:
+"Come, you are talking nonsense."
+
+"Not at all. I have just caught Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu committing
+adultery with my wife. The commissary of police has verified the fact.
+The minister is done for."
+
+Walter, amazed, pushed his spectacles right back on his forehead, and
+said: "You are not joking?"
+
+"Not at all. I am even going to write an article on it."
+
+"But what do you want to do?"
+
+"To upset that scoundrel, that wretch, that open evil-doer." George
+placed his hat on an armchair, and added: "Woe to those who cross my
+path. I never forgive."
+
+The manager still hesitated at understanding matters. He murmured:
+"But--your wife?"
+
+"My application for a divorce will be lodged to-morrow morning. I shall
+send her back to the departed Forestier."
+
+"You mean to get a divorce?"
+
+"Yes. I was ridiculous. But I had to play the idiot in order to catch
+them. That's done. I am master of the situation."
+
+Monsieur Walter could not get over it, and watched Du Roy with startling
+eyes, thinking: "Hang it, here is a fellow to be looked after."
+
+George went on: "I am now free. I have some money. I shall offer myself
+as a candidate at the October elections for my native place, where I am
+well known. I could not take a position or make myself respected with
+that woman, who was suspected by every one. She had caught me like a
+fool, humbugged and ensnared me. But since I became alive to her little
+game I kept watch on her, the slut." He began to laugh, and added: "It
+was poor Forestier who was cuckold, a cuckold without imagining it,
+confiding and tranquil. Now I am free from the leprosy he left me. My
+hands are free. Now I shall get on." He had seated himself astride a
+chair, and repeated, as though thinking aloud, "I shall get on."
+
+And Daddy Walter, still looking at him with unveiled eyes, his
+spectacles remaining pushed up on his forehead, said to himself: "Yes,
+he will get on, the rascal."
+
+George rose. "I am going to write the article. It must be done
+discreetly. But you know it will be terrible for the minister. He has
+gone to smash. He cannot be picked up again. The _Vie Francaise_ has no
+longer any interest to spare him."
+
+The old fellow hesitated for a few moments, and then made up his mind.
+"Do so," said he; "so much the worse for those who get into such
+messes."
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+
+Three months had elapsed. Du Roy's divorce had just been granted. His
+wife had resumed the name of Forestier, and, as the Walters were to
+leave on the 15th of July for Trouville, it was decided that he and they
+should spend a day in the country together before they started. A
+Thursday was selected, and they started at nine in the morning in a
+large traveling landau with six places, drawn by four horses with
+postilions. They were going to lunch at the Pavilion Henri-Quatre at
+Saint Germain. Pretty-boy had asked to be the only man of the party, for
+he could not endure the presence of the Marquis de Cazolles. But at the
+last moment it was decided that the Count de Latour-Yvelin should be
+called for on the way. He had been told the day before.
+
+The carriage passed up the Avenue of the Champs Elyseés at a swinging
+trot, and then traversed the Bois de Boulogne. It was splendid summer
+weather, not too warm. The swallows traced long sweeping lines across
+the blue sky that one fancied one could still see after they had passed.
+The three ladies occupied the back seat, the mother between her
+daughters, and the men were with their backs to the horses, Walter
+between the two guests. They crossed the Seine, skirted Mount Valerien,
+and gained Bougival in order to follow the river as far as Le Pecq.
+
+The Count de Latour-Yvelin, a man advancing towards middle-age, with
+long, light whiskers, gazed tenderly at Rose. They had been engaged for
+a month. George, who was very pale, often looked at Susan, who was pale
+too. Their eyes often met, and seemed to concert something, to
+understand one another, to secretly exchange a thought, and then to flee
+one another. Madame Walter was quiet and happy.
+
+The lunch was a long one. Before starting back for Paris, George
+suggested a turn on the terrace. They stopped at first to admire the
+view. All ranged themselves in a line along the parapet, and went into
+ecstasies over the far-stretching horizon. The Seine at the foot of a
+long hill flowed towards Maisons-Lafitte like an immense serpent
+stretched in the herbage. To the right, on the summit of the slope, the
+aqueduct of Marly showed against the skyline its outline, resembling
+that of a gigantic, long-legged caterpillar, and Marly was lost beneath
+it in a thick cluster of trees. On the immense plain extending in front
+of them, villages could be seen dotted. The pieces of water at Le
+Vesinet showed like clear spots amidst the thin foliage of the little
+forest. To the left, away in the distance, the pointed steeple of
+Sastrouville could be seen.
+
+Walter said: "Such a panorama is not to be found anywhere in the world.
+There is not one to match it in Switzerland."
+
+Then they began to walk on gently, to have a stroll and enjoy the
+prospect. George and Susan remained behind. As soon as they were a few
+paces off, he said to her in a low and restrained voice: "Susan, I adore
+you. I love you to madness."
+
+She murmured: "So do I you, Pretty-boy."
+
+He went on: "If I do not have you for my wife, I shall leave Paris and
+this country."
+
+She replied: "Ask Papa for my hand. Perhaps he will consent."
+
+He made a gesture of impatience. "No, I tell you for the twentieth time
+that is useless. The door of your house would be closed to me. I should
+be dismissed from the paper, and we should not be able even to see one
+another. That is a pretty result, at which I am sure to arrive by a
+formal demand for you. They have promised you to the Marquis de
+Cazolles. They hope that you will end by saying 'yes,' and they are
+waiting for that."
+
+She asked: "What is to be done?"
+
+He hesitated, glancing at her, sidelong fashion. "Do you love me enough
+to run a risk?"
+
+She answered resolutely: "Yes."
+
+"A great risk?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"The greatest of risks?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Have you the courage to set your father and mother at defiance?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Really now?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Very well, there is one way and only one. The thing must come from you
+and not from me. You are a spoilt child; they let you say whatever you
+like, and they will not be too much astonished at an act of daring the
+more on your part. Listen, then. This evening, on reaching home, you
+must go to your mamma first, your mamma alone, and tell her you want to
+marry me. She will be greatly moved and very angry--"
+
+Susan interrupted him with: "Oh, mamma will agree."
+
+He went on quickly: "No, you do not know her. She will be more vexed and
+angrier than your father. You will see how she will refuse. But you must
+be firm, you must not give way, you must repeat that you want to marry
+me, and no one else. Will you do this?"
+
+"I will."
+
+"On leaving your mother you must tell your father the same thing in a
+very serious and decided manner."
+
+"Yes, yes; and then?"
+
+"And then it is that matters become serious. If you are determined, very
+determined--very, very determined to be my wife, my dear, dear little
+Susan--I will--run away with you."
+
+She experienced a joyful shock, and almost clapped her hands. "Oh! how
+delightful. You will run away with me. When will you run away with me?"
+
+All the old poetry of nocturnal elopements, post-chaises, country inns;
+all the charming adventures told in books, flashed through her mind,
+like an enchanting dream about to be realized. She repeated: "When will
+you run away with me?"
+
+He replied, in low tones: "This evening--to-night."
+
+She asked, quivering: "And where shall we go to?"
+
+"That is my secret. Reflect on what you are doing. Remember that after
+such a flight you can only be my wife. It is the only way, but is--it is
+very dangerous--for you."
+
+She declared: "I have made up my mind; where shall I rejoin you?"
+
+"Can you get out of the hotel alone?"
+
+"Yes. I know how to undo the little door."
+
+"Well, when the doorkeeper has gone to bed, towards midnight, come and
+meet me on the Place de la Concorde. You will find me in a cab drawn up
+in front of the Ministry of Marine."
+
+"I will come."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Really."
+
+He took her hand and pressed it. "Oh! how I love you. How good and brave
+you are! So you don't want to marry Monsieur de Cazolles?"
+
+"Oh! no."
+
+"Your father was very angry when you said no?"
+
+"I should think so. He wanted to send me back to the convent."
+
+"You see that it is necessary to be energetic."
+
+"I will be so."
+
+She looked at the vast horizon, her head full of the idea of being ran
+off with. She would go further than that with him. She would be ran away
+with. She was proud of it. She scarcely thought of her reputation--of
+what shame might befall her. Was she aware of it? Did she even suspect
+it?
+
+Madame Walter, turning round, exclaimed: "Come along, little one. What
+are you doing with Pretty-boy?"
+
+They rejoined the others and spoke of the seaside, where they would soon
+be. Then they returned home by way of Chatou, in order not to go over
+the same road twice. George no longer spoke. He reflected. If the little
+girl had a little courage, he was going to succeed at last. For three
+months he had been enveloping her in the irresistible net of his love.
+He was seducing, captivating, conquering her. He had made himself loved
+by her, as he knew how to make himself loved. He had captured her
+childish soul without difficulty. He had at first obtained of her that
+she should refuse Monsieur de Cazolles. He had just obtained that she
+would fly with him. For there was no other way. Madame Walter, he well
+understood, would never agree to give him her daughter. She still loved
+him; she would always love him with unmanageable violence. He restrained
+her by his studied coldness; but he felt that she was eaten up by hungry
+and impotent passion. He could never bend her. She would never allow him
+to have Susan. But once he had the girl away he would deal on a level
+footing with her father. Thinking of all this, he replied by broken
+phrases to the remarks addressed to him, and which he did not hear. He
+only seemed to come to himself when they returned to Paris.
+
+Susan, too, was thinking, and the bells of the four horses rang in her
+ears, making her see endless miles of highway under eternal moonlight,
+gloomy forests traversed, wayside inns, and the hurry of the hostlers to
+change horses, for every one guesses that they are pursued.
+
+When the landau entered the court-yard of the mansion, they wanted to
+keep George to dinner. He refused, and went home. After having eaten a
+little, he went through his papers as if about to start on a long
+journey. He burnt some compromising letters, hid others, and wrote to
+some friends. From time to time he looked at the clock, thinking:
+"Things must be getting warm there." And a sense of uneasiness gnawed at
+his heart. Suppose he was going to fail? But what could he fear? He
+could always get out of it. Yet it was a big game he was playing that
+evening.
+
+He went out towards eleven o'clock, wandered about some time, took a
+cab, and had it drawn up in the Place de la Concorde, by the Ministry of
+Marine. From time to time he struck a match to see the time by his
+watch. When he saw midnight approaching, his impatience became feverish.
+Every moment he thrust his head out of the window to look. A distant
+clock struck twelve, then another nearer, then two together, then a last
+one, very far away. When the latter had ceased to sound, he thought: "It
+is all over. It is a failure. She won't come." He had made up his mind,
+however, to wait till daylight. In these matters one must be patient.
+
+He heard the quarter strike, then the half-hour, then the quarter to,
+and all the clocks repeated "one," as they had announced midnight. He no
+longer expected her; he was merely remaining, racking his brain to
+divine what could have happened. All at once a woman's head was passed
+through the window, and asked: "Are you there, Pretty-boy?"
+
+He started, almost choked with emotion, "Is that you, Susan?"
+
+"Yes, it is I."
+
+He could not manage to turn the handle quickly enough, and repeated:
+"Ah! it is you, it is you; come inside."
+
+She came in and fell against him. He said, "Go on," to the driver, and
+the cab started.
+
+She gasped, without saying a word.
+
+He asked: "Well, how did it go off?"
+
+She murmured, almost fainting: "Oh! it was terrible, above all with
+mamma."
+
+He was uneasy and quivering. "Your mamma. What did she say? Tell me."
+
+"Oh! it was awful. I went into her room and told her my little story
+that I had carefully prepared. She grew pale, and then she cried:
+'Never, never.' I cried, I grew angry. I vowed I would marry no one but
+you. I thought that she was going to strike me. She went on just as if
+she were mad; she declared that I should be sent back to the convent the
+next day. I had never seen her like that--never. Then papa came in,
+hearing her shouting all her nonsense. He was not so angry as she was,
+but he declared that you were not a good enough match. As they had put
+me in a rage, too, I shouted louder than they did. And papa told me to
+leave the room, with a melodramatic air that did not suit him at all.
+This is what decided me to run off with you. Here I am. Where are we
+going to?"
+
+He had passed his arm gently round her and was listening with all his
+ears, his heart throbbing, and a ravenous hatred awakening within him
+against these people. But he had got their daughter. They should just
+see.
+
+He answered: "It is too late to catch a train, so this cab will take us
+to Sevres, where we shall pass the night. To-morrow we shall start for
+La Roche-Guyon. It is a pretty village on the banks of the Seine,
+between Nantes and Bonnieres."
+
+She murmured: "But I have no clothes. I have nothing."
+
+He smiled carelessly: "Bah! we will arrange all that there."
+
+The cab rolled along the street. George took one of the young girl's
+hands and began to kiss it slowly and with respect. He scarcely knew
+what to say to her, being scarcely accustomed to platonic love-making.
+But all at once he thought he noted that she was crying. He inquired,
+with alarm: "What is the matter with you, darling?"
+
+She replied in tearful tones: "Poor mamma, she will not be able to sleep
+if she has found out my departure."
+
+Her mother, indeed, was not asleep.
+
+As soon as Susan had left the room, Madame Walter remained face to face
+with her husband. She asked, bewildered and cast down: "Good heavens!
+What is the meaning of this?"
+
+Walter exclaimed furiously: "It means that that schemer has bewitched
+her. It is he who made her refuse Cazolles. He thinks her dowry worth
+trying for." He began to walk angrily up and down the room, and went
+on: "You were always luring him here, too, yourself; you flattered him,
+you cajoled him, you could not cosset him enough. It was Pretty-boy
+here, Pretty-boy there, from morning till night, and this is the return
+for it."
+
+She murmured, livid: "I--I lured him?"
+
+He shouted in her face: "Yes, you. You were all mad over him--Madame de
+Marelle, Susan, and the rest. Do you think I did not see that you could
+not pass a couple of days without having him here?"
+
+She drew herself up tragically: "I will not allow you to speak to me
+like that. You forget that I was not brought up like you, behind a
+counter."
+
+He stood for a moment stupefied, and then uttered a furious "Damn it
+all!" and rushed out, slamming the door after him. As soon as she was
+alone she went instinctively to the glass to see if anything was changed
+in her, so impossible and monstrous did what had happened appear. Susan
+in love with Pretty-boy, and Pretty-boy wanting to marry Susan! No, she
+was mistaken; it was not true. The girl had had a very natural fancy for
+this good-looking fellow; she had hoped that they would give him her for
+a husband, and had made her little scene because she wanted to have her
+own way. But he--he could not be an accomplice in that. She reflected,
+disturbed, as one in presence of great catastrophes. No, Pretty-boy
+could know nothing of Susan's prank.
+
+She thought for a long time over the possible innocence or perfidy of
+this man. What a scoundrel, if he had prepared the blow! And what would
+happen! What dangers and tortures she foresaw. If he knew nothing, all
+could yet be arranged. They would travel about with Susan for six
+months, and it would be all over. But how could she meet him herself
+afterwards? For she still loved him. This passion had entered into her
+being like those arrowheads that cannot be withdrawn. To live without
+him was impossible. She might as well die.
+
+Her thoughts wandered amidst these agonies and uncertainties. A pain
+began in her head; her ideas became painful and disturbed. She worried
+herself by trying to work things out; grew mad at not knowing. She
+looked at the clock; it was past one. She said to herself: "I cannot
+remain like this, I shall go mad. I must know. I will wake up Susan and
+question her."
+
+She went barefooted, in order not to make a noise, and with a candle in
+her hand, towards her daughter's room. She opened the door softly, went
+in, and looked at the bed. She did not comprehend matters at first, and
+thought that the girl might still be arguing with her father. But all at
+once a horrible suspicion crossed her mind, and she rushed to her
+husband's room. She reached it in a bound, blanched and panting. He was
+in bed reading.
+
+He asked, startled: "Well, what is it? What is the matter with you?"
+
+She stammered: "Have you seen Susan?"
+
+"I? No. Why?"
+
+"She has--she has--gone! She is not in her room."
+
+He sprang onto the carpet, thrust his feet into his slippers, and, with
+his shirt tails floating in the air, rushed in turn to his daughter's
+room. As soon as he saw it, he no longer retained any doubt. She had
+fled. He dropped into a chair and placed his lamp on the ground in
+front of him.
+
+His wife had rejoined him, and stammered: "Well?"
+
+He had no longer the strength to reply; he was no longer enraged, he
+only groaned: "It is done; he has got her. We are done for."
+
+She did not understand, and said: "What do you mean? done for?"
+
+"Yes, by Jove! He will certainly marry her now."
+
+She gave a cry like that of a wild beast: "He, never! You must be mad!"
+
+He replied, sadly: "It is no use howling. He has run away with her, he
+has dishonored her. The best thing is to give her to him. By setting to
+work in the right way no one will be aware of this escapade."
+
+She repeated, shaken by terrible emotion: "Never, never; he shall never
+have Susan. I will never consent."
+
+Walter murmured, dejectedly: "But he has got her. It is done. And he
+will keep her and hide her as long as we do not yield. So, to avoid
+
+scandal, we must give in at once."
+
+His wife, torn by pangs she could not acknowledge, repeated: "No, no, I
+will never consent."
+
+He said, growing impatient: "But there is no disputing about it. It must
+be done. Ah, the rascal, how he has done us! He is a sharp one. All the
+same, we might have made a far better choice as regards position, but
+not as regards intelligence and prospects. He will be a deputy and a
+minister."
+
+Madame Walter declared, with savage energy: "I will never allow him to
+marry Susan. You understand--never."
+
+He ended by getting angry and taking up, as a practical man, the cudgels
+on behalf of Pretty-boy. "Hold your tongue," said he. "I tell you again
+that it must be so; it absolutely must. And who knows? Perhaps we shall
+not regret it. With men of that stamp one never knows what may happen.
+You saw how he overthrew in three articles that fool of a
+Laroche-Mathieu, and how he did it with dignity, which was infernally
+difficult in his position as the husband. At all events, we shall see.
+It always comes to this, that we are nailed. We cannot get out of it."
+
+She felt a longing to scream, to roll on the ground, to tear her hair
+out. She said at length, in exasperated tones: "He shall not have her. I
+won't have it."
+
+Walter rose, picked up his lamp, and remarked: "There, you are stupid,
+just like all women. You never do anything except from passion. You do
+not know how to bend yourself to circumstances. You are stupid. I will
+tell you that he shall marry her. It must be."
+
+He went out, shuffling along in his slippers. He traversed--a comical
+phantom in his nightshirt--the broad corridor of the huge slumbering
+house, and noiselessly re-entered his room.
+
+Madame Walter remained standing, torn by intolerable grief. She did not
+yet quite understand it. She was only conscious of suffering. Then it
+seemed to her that she could not remain there motionless till daylight.
+She felt within her a violent necessity of fleeing, of running away, of
+seeking help, of being succored. She sought whom she could summon to
+her. What man? She could not find one. A priest; yes, a priest! She
+would throw herself at his feet, acknowledge everything, confess her
+fault and her despair. He would understand that this wretch must not
+
+marry Susan, and would prevent it. She must have a priest at once. But
+where could she find one? Whither could she go? Yet she could not remain
+like that.
+
+Then there passed before her eyes, like a vision, the calm figure of
+Jesus walking on the waters. She saw it as she saw it in the picture. So
+he was calling her. He was saying: "Come to me; come and kneel at my
+feet. I will console you, and inspire you with what should be done."
+
+She took her candle, left the room, and went downstairs to the
+conservatory. The picture of Jesus was right at the end of it in a small
+drawing-room, shut off by a glass door, in order that the dampness of
+the soil should not damage the canvas. It formed a kind of chapel in a
+forest of strange trees. When Madame Walter entered the winter garden,
+never having seen it before save full of light, she was struck by its
+obscure profundity. The dense plants of the tropics made the atmosphere
+thick with their heavy breath; and the doors no longer being open, the
+air of this strange wood, enclosed beneath a glass roof, entered the
+chest with difficulty; intoxicated, caused pleasure and pain, and
+imparted a confused sensation of enervation, pleasure, and death. The
+poor woman walked slowly, oppressed by the shadows, amidst which
+appeared, by the flickering light of her candle, extravagant plants,
+recalling monsters, living creatures, hideous deformities. All at once
+she caught sight of the picture of Christ. She opened the door
+separating her from it, and fell on her knees. She prayed to him,
+wildly, at first, stammering forth words of true, passionate, and
+despairing invocations. Then, the ardor of her appeal slackening, she
+raised her eyes towards him, and was struck with anguish. He resembled
+Pretty-boy so strongly, in the trembling light of this solitary candle,
+lighting the picture from below, that it was no longer Christ--it was
+her lover who was looking at her. They were his eyes, his forehead, the
+expression of his face, his cold and haughty air.
+
+She stammered: "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" and the name "George" rose to her
+lips. All at once she thought that at that very moment, perhaps, George
+had her daughter. He was alone with her somewhere. He with Susan! She
+repeated: "Jesus, Jesus!" but she was thinking of them--her daughter and
+her lover. They were alone in a room, and at night. She saw them. She
+saw them so plainly that they rose up before her in place of the
+picture. They were smiling at one another. They were embracing. She rose
+to go towards them, to take her daughter by the hair and tear her from
+his clasp. She would seize her by the throat and strangle her, this
+daughter whom she hated--this daughter who was joining herself to this
+man. She touched her; her hands encountered the canvas; she was pressing
+the feet of Christ. She uttered a loud cry and fell on her back. Her
+candle, overturned, went out.
+
+What took place then? She dreamed for a long time wild, frightful
+dreams. George and Susan continually passed before her eyes, with Christ
+blessing their horrible loves. She felt vaguely that she was not in her
+room. She wished to rise and flee; she could not. A torpor had seized
+upon her, which fettered her limbs, and only left her mind on the alert,
+tortured by frightful and fantastic visions, lost in an unhealthy
+dream--the strange and sometimes fatal dream engendered in human minds
+by the soporific plants of the tropics, with their strange and
+oppressive perfumes.
+
+The next morning Madame Walter was found stretched out senseless, almost
+asphyxiated before "Jesus Walking on the Waters." She was so ill that
+her life was feared for. She only fully recovered the use of her senses
+the following day. Then she began to weep. The disappearance of Susan
+was explained to the servants as due to her being suddenly sent back to
+the convent. And Monsieur Walter replied to a long letter of Du Roy by
+granting him his daughter's hand.
+
+Pretty-boy had posted this letter at the moment of leaving Paris, for he
+had prepared it in advance the evening of his departure. He said in it,
+in respectful terms, that he had long loved the young girl; that there
+had never been any agreement between them; but that finding her come
+freely to him to say, "I wish to be your wife," he considered himself
+authorized in keeping her, even in hiding her, until he had obtained an
+answer from her parents, whose legal power had for him less weight than
+the wish of his betrothed. He demanded that Monsieur Walter should
+reply, "post restante," a friend being charged to forward the letter to
+him.
+
+When he had obtained what he wished he brought back Susan to Paris, and
+sent her on to her parents, abstaining himself from appearing for some
+little time.
+
+They had spent six days on the banks of the Seine at La Roche-Guyon.
+
+The young girl had never enjoyed herself so much. She had played at
+pastoral life. As he passed her off as his sister, they lived in a free
+and chaste intimacy--a kind of loving friendship. He thought it a clever
+stroke to respect her. On the day after their arrival she had purchased
+some linen and some country-girl's clothes, and set to work fishing,
+with a huge straw hat, ornamented with wild flowers, on her head. She
+thought the country there delightful. There was an old tower and an old
+chateau, in which beautiful tapestry was shown.
+
+George, dressed in a boating jersey, bought ready-made from a local
+tradesman, escorted Susan, now on foot along the banks of the river, now
+in a boat. They kissed at every moment, she in all innocence, and he
+ready to succumb to temptation. But he was able to restrain himself; and
+when he said to her, "We will go back to Paris to-morrow; your father
+has granted me your hand," she murmured simply, "Already? It was so nice
+being your wife here."
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+
+It was dark in the little suite of rooms in the Rue de Constantinople;
+for George Du Roy and Clotilde de Marelle, having met at the door, had
+gone in at once, and she had said to him, without giving him time to
+open the Venetian blinds: "So you are going to marry Susan Walter?"
+
+He admitted it quietly, and added: "Did not you know it?"
+
+She exclaimed, standing before him, furious and indignant:
+
+"You are going to marry Susan Walter? That is too much of a good thing.
+For three months you have been humbugging in order to hide that from me.
+Everyone knew it but me. It was my husband who told me of it."
+
+Du Roy began to laugh, though somewhat confused all the same; and having
+placed his hat on a corner of the mantel-shelf, sat down in an armchair.
+She looked at him straight in the face, and said, in a low and irritated
+tone: "Ever since you left your wife you have been preparing this move,
+and you only kept me on as a mistress to fill up the interim nicely.
+What a rascal you are!"
+
+He asked: "Why so? I had a wife who deceived me. I caught her, I
+obtained a divorce, and I am going to marry another. What could be
+simpler?"
+
+She murmured, quivering: "Oh! how cunning and dangerous you are."
+
+He began to smile again. "By Jove! Simpletons and fools are always
+someone's dupes."
+
+But she continued to follow out her idea: "I ought to have divined your
+nature from the beginning. But no, I could not believe that you could be
+such a blackguard as that."
+
+He assumed an air of dignity, saying: "I beg of you to pay attention to
+the words you are making use of."
+
+His indignation revolted her. "What? You want me to put on gloves to
+talk to you now. You have behaved towards me like a vagabond ever since
+I have known you, and you want to make out that I am not to tell you so.
+You deceive everyone; you take advantage of everyone; you filch money
+and enjoyment wherever you can, and you want me to treat you as an
+honest man!"
+
+He rose, and with quivering lip, said: "Be quiet, or I will turn you out
+of here."
+
+She stammered: "Turn me out of here; turn me out of here! You will turn
+me out of here--you--you?" She could not speak for a moment for choking
+with anger, and then suddenly, as though the door of her wrath had been
+
+burst open, she broke out with: "Turn me out of here? You forget, then,
+that it is I who have paid for these rooms from the beginning. Ah, yes,
+you have certainly taken them on from time to time. But who first took
+them? I did. Who kept them on? I did. And you want to turn me out of
+here. Hold your tongue, you good-for-nothing fellow. Do you think I
+don't know you robbed Madeleine of half Vaudrec's money? Do you think I
+don't know how you slept with Susan to oblige her to marry you?"
+
+He seized her by the shoulders, and, shaking her with both hands,
+exclaimed: "Don't speak of her, at any rate. I won't have it."
+
+She screamed out: "You slept with her; I know you did."
+
+He would have accepted no matter what, but this falsehood exasperated
+him. The truths she had told him to his face had caused thrills of anger
+to run through him, but this lie respecting the young girl who was going
+to be his wife, awakened in the palm of his hand a furious longing to
+strike her.
+
+He repeated: "Be quiet--have a care--be quiet," and shook her as we
+shake a branch to make the fruit fall.
+
+She yelled, with her hair coming down, her mouth wide open, her eyes
+aglow: "You slept with her!"
+
+He let her go, and gave her such a smack on the face that she fell down
+beside the wall. But she turned towards him, and raising herself on her
+hands, once more shouted: "You slept with her!"
+
+He rushed at her, and, holding her down, struck her as though striking a
+man. She left off shouting, and began to moan beneath his blows. She no
+longer stirred, but hid her face against the bottom of the wall and
+uttered plaintive cries. He left off beating her and rose up. Then he
+walked about the room a little to recover his coolness, and, an idea
+occurring to him, went into the bedroom, filled the basin with cold
+water, and dipped his head into it. Then he washed his hands and came
+back to see what she was doing, carefully wiping his fingers. She had
+not budged. She was still lying on the ground quietly weeping.
+
+"Shall you have done grizzling soon?"
+
+She did not answer. He stood in the middle of the room, feeling somewhat
+awkward and ashamed in the presence of the form stretched out before
+him. All at once he formed a resolution, and took his hat from the
+mantel-shelf, saying: "Good-night. Give the key to the doorkeeper when
+you leave. I shan't wait for your convenience."
+
+He went out, closed the door, went to the doorkeeper's, and said:
+"Madame is still there. She will be leaving in a few minutes. Tell the
+landlord that I give notice to leave at the end of September. It is the
+15th of August, so I am within the limits."
+
+And he walked hastily away, for he had some pressing calls to make
+touching the purchase of the last wedding gifts.
+
+The wedding was fixed for the 20th of October after the meeting of the
+Chambers. It was to take place at the Church of the Madeleine. There had
+been a great deal of gossip about it without anyone knowing the exact
+truth. Different tales were in circulation. It was whispered that an
+elopement had taken place, but no one was certain about anything.
+According to the servants, Madame Walter, who would no longer speak to
+her future son-in-law, had poisoned herself out of rage the very evening
+the match was decided on, after having taken her daughter off to a
+convent at midnight. She had been brought back almost dead. Certainly,
+she would never get over it. She had now the appearance of an old woman;
+her hair had become quite gray, and she had gone in for religion, taking
+the Sacrament every Sunday.
+
+At the beginning of September the _Vie Francaise_ announced that the
+Baron Du Roy de Cantel had become chief editor, Monsieur Walter
+retaining the title of manager. A battalion of well-known writers,
+reporters, political editors, art and theatrical critics, detached from
+old important papers by dint of monetary influence, were taken on. The
+old journalists, the serious and respectable ones, no longer shrugged
+their shoulders when speaking of the _Vie Francaise_. Rapid and complete
+success had wiped out the contempt of serious writers for the beginnings
+of this paper.
+
+The marriage of its chief editor was what is styled a Parisian event,
+George Du Roy and the Walters having excited a great deal of curiosity
+for some time past. All the people who are written about in the papers
+promised themselves to be there.
+
+The event took place on a bright autumn day.
+
+At eight in the morning the sight of the staff of the Madeleine
+stretching a broad red carpet down the lofty flight of steps overlooking
+the Rue Royale caused passers-by to pause, and announced to the people
+of Paris that an important ceremony was about to take place. The clerks
+on the way to their offices, the work-girls, the shopmen, paused,
+looked, and vaguely speculated about the rich folk who spent so much
+money over getting spliced. Towards ten o'clock idlers began to halt.
+They would remain for a few minutes, hoping that perhaps it would begin
+at once, and then moved away. At eleven squads of police arrived and set
+to work almost at once to make the crowd move on, groups forming every
+moment. The first guests soon made their appearance--those who wanted to
+be well placed for seeing everything. They took the chairs bordering the
+main aisles. By degrees came others, ladies in rustling silks, and
+serious-looking gentlemen, almost all bald, walking with well-bred air,
+and graver than usual in this locality.
+
+The church slowly filled. A flood of sunlight entered by the huge
+doorway lit up the front row of guests. In the choir, which looked
+somewhat gloomy, the altar, laden with tapers, shed a yellow light, pale
+and humble in face of that of the main entrance. People recognized one
+another, beckoned to one another, and gathered in groups. The men of
+letters, less respectful than the men in society, chatted in low tones
+and looked at the ladies.
+
+Norbert de Varenne, who was looking out for an acquaintance, perceived
+Jacques Rival near the center of the rows of chair, and joined him.
+"Well," said he, "the race is for the cunning."
+
+The other, who was not envious, replied: "So much the better for him.
+His career is safe." And they began to point out the people they
+recognized.
+
+"Do you know what became of his wife?" asked Rival.
+
+The poet smiled. "Yes, and no. She is living in a very retired style, I
+am told, in the Montmartre district. But--there is a but--I have noticed
+for some time past in the _Plume_ some political articles terribly like
+those of Forestier and Du Roy. They are by Jean Le Dal, a handsome,
+intelligent young fellow, of the same breed as our friend George, and
+who has made the acquaintance of his late wife. From whence I conclude
+that she had, and always will have, a fancy for beginners. She is,
+besides, rich. Vaudrec and Laroche-Mathieu were not assiduous visitors
+at the house for nothing."
+
+Rival observed: "She is not bad looking, Madeleine. Very clever and very
+sharp. She must be charming on terms of intimacy. But, tell me, how is
+it that Du Roy comes to be married in church after a divorce?"
+
+Norbert replied: "He is married in church because, in the eyes of the
+Church, he was not married before."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Our friend, Pretty-boy, from indifference or economy, thought the
+registrar sufficient when marrying Madeleine Forestier. He therefore
+dispensed with the ecclesiastical benediction, which constituted in the
+eyes of Holy Mother Church a simple state of concubinage. Consequently
+he comes before her to-day as a bachelor, and she lends him all her pomp
+and ceremony, which will cost Daddy Walter a pretty penny."
+
+The murmur of the augmented throng swelled beneath the vaulted room.
+Voices could be heard speaking almost out loud. People pointed out to
+one another celebrities who attitudinized, pleased to be seen, and
+carefully maintained the bearing adopted by them towards the public
+accustomed to exhibit themselves thus at all such gatherings, of which
+they were, it seemed to them, the indispensable ornaments.
+
+Rival resumed: "Tell me, my dear fellow, you who go so often to the
+governor's, is it true that Du Roy and Madame Walter no longer speak to
+one another?"
+
+"Never. She did not want to give him the girl. But he had a hold, it
+seems, on the father through skeletons in the house--skeletons connected
+with the Morocco business. He threatened the old man with frightful
+revelations. Walter recollected the example he made of Laroche-Mathieu,
+and gave in at once. But the mother, obstinate like all women, swore
+that she would never again speak a word to her son-in-law. She looks
+like a statue, a statue of Vengeance, and he is very uneasy at it,
+although he puts a good face on the matter, for he knows how to control
+himself, that fellow does."
+
+Fellow-journalists came up and shook hands with them. Bits of political
+conversation could be caught. Vague as the sound of a distant sea, the
+noise of the crowd massed in front of the church entered the doorway
+with the sunlight, and rose up beneath the roof, above the more discreet
+murmur of the choicer public gathered within it.
+
+All at once the beadle struck the pavement thrice with the butt of his
+halberd. Every one turned round with a prolonged rustling of skirts and
+a moving of chairs. The bride appeared on her father's arm in the
+bright light of the doorway.
+
+She had still the air of a doll, a charming white doll crowned with
+orange flowers. She stood for a few moments on the threshold, then, when
+she made her first step up the aisle, the organ gave forth a powerful
+note, announcing the entrance of the bride in loud metallic tones. She
+advanced with bent head, but not timidly; vaguely moved, pretty,
+charming, a miniature bride. The women smiled and murmured as they
+watched her pass. The men muttered: "Exquisite! Adorable!" Monsieur
+Walter walked with exaggerated dignity, somewhat pale, and with his
+spectacles straight on his nose. Behind them four bridesmaids, all four
+dressed in pink, and all four pretty, formed the court of this gem of a
+queen. The groomsmen, carefully chosen to match, stepped as though
+trained by a ballet master. Madame Walter followed them, giving her arm
+to the father of her other son-in-law, the Marquis de Latour-Yvelin,
+aged seventy-two. She did not walk, she dragged herself along, ready to
+faint at each forward movement. It could be felt that her feet stuck to
+the flagstones, that her legs refused to advance, and that her heart was
+beating within her breast like an animal bounding to escape. She had
+grown thin. Her white hair made her face appear still more blanched and
+her cheeks hollower. She looked straight before her in order not to see
+any one--in order not to recall, perhaps, that which was torturing her.
+
+Then George Du Roy appeared with an old lady unknown. He, too, kept his
+head up without turning aside his eyes, fixed and stern under his
+slightly bent brows. His moustache seemed to bristle on his lip. He was
+set down as a very good-looking fellow. He had a proud bearing, a good
+figure, and a straight leg. He wore his clothes well, the little red
+ribbon of the Legion of Honor showing like a drop of blood on his dress
+coat.
+
+Then came the relations, Rose with the Senator Rissolin. She had been
+married six weeks. The Count de Latour-Yvelin accompanied by the
+Viscountess de Percemur. Finally, there was a strange procession of the
+friends and allies of Du Roy, whom he introduced to his new family;
+people known in the Parisian world, who became at once the intimates,
+and, if need be, the distant cousins of rich parvenus; gentlemen ruined,
+blemished; married, in some cases, which is worse. There were Monsieur
+de Belvigne, the Marquis de Banjolin, the Count and Countess de Ravenel,
+Prince Kravalow, the Chevalier, Valréali; then some guests of Walter's,
+the Prince de Guerche, the Duke and the Duchess de Ferraciné, the
+beautiful Marchioness des Dunes. Some of Madame Walter's relatives
+preserved a well-to-do, countrified appearance amidst the throng.
+
+The organ was still playing, pouring forth through the immense building
+the sonorous and rhythmic accents of its glittering throats, which cry
+aloud unto heaven the joy or grief of mankind. The great doors were
+closed, and all at once it became as gloomy as if the sun had just been
+turned out.
+
+Now, George was kneeling beside his wife in the choir, before the lit-up
+altar. The new Bishop of Tangiers, crozier in hand and miter on head,
+made his appearance from the vestry to join them together in the Eternal
+name. He put the customary questions, exchanged the rings, uttered the
+words that bind like chains, and addressed the newly-wedded couple a
+Christian allocution. He was a tall, stout man, one of those handsome
+prelates to whom a rounded belly lends dignity.
+
+The sound of sobs caused several people to look round. Madame Walter was
+weeping, with her face buried in her hands. She had to give way. What
+could she have done else? But since the day when she had driven from her
+room her daughter on her return home, refusing to embrace her; since the
+day when she had said, in a low voice, to Du Roy, who had greeted her
+ceremoniously on again making his appearance: "You are the vilest
+creature I know of; never speak to me again, for I shall not answer
+you," she had been suffering intolerable and unappeasable tortures. She
+hated Susan with a keen hatred, made up of exasperated passion and
+heartrending jealousy, the strange jealousy of a mother and
+mistress--unacknowledgable, ferocious, burning like a new wound. And now
+a bishop was marrying them--her lover and her daughter--in a church, in
+presence of two thousand people, and before her. And she could say
+nothing. She could not hinder it. She could not cry out: "But that man
+belongs to me; he is my lover. This union you are blessing is infamous!"
+
+Some ladies, touched at the sight, murmured: "How deeply the poor mother
+feels it!"
+
+The bishop was declaiming: "You are among the fortunate ones of this
+world, among the wealthiest and most respected. You, sir, whom your
+talent raises above others; you who write, who teach, who advise, who
+guide the people, you who have a noble mission to fulfill, a noble
+example to set."
+
+Du Roy listened, intoxicated with pride. A prelate of the Roman Catholic
+Church was speaking thus to him. And he felt behind him a crowd, an
+illustrious crowd, gathered on his account. It seemed to him that some
+power impelled and lifted him up. He was becoming one of the masters of
+the world--he, the son of two poor peasants at Canteleu. He saw them all
+at once in their humble wayside inn, at the summit of the slope
+overlooking the broad valley of Rouen, his father and mother, serving
+the country-folk of the district with drink, He had sent them five
+thousand francs on inheriting from the Count de Vaudrec. He would now
+send them fifty thousand, and they would buy a little estate. They would
+be satisfied and happy.
+
+The bishop had finished his harangue. A priest, clad in a golden stole,
+ascended the steps of the altar, and the organ began anew to celebrate
+the glory of the newly-wedded couple. Now it gave forth long, loud
+notes, swelling like waves, so sonorous and powerful that it seemed as
+though they must lift and break through the roof to spend abroad into
+the sky. Their vibrating sound filled the church, causing body and
+spirit to thrill. Then all at once they grew calmer, and delicate notes
+floated through the air, little graceful, twittering notes, fluttering
+like birds; and suddenly again this coquettish music waxed once more, in
+turn becoming terrible in its strength and fullness, as if a grain of
+sand had transformed itself into a world. Then human voices rose, and
+were wafted over the bowed heads--Vauri and Landeck, of the Opera, were
+singing. The incense shed abroad a delicate odor, and the Divine
+Sacrifice was accomplished on the altar, to consecrate the triumph of
+the Baron George Du Roy!
+
+Pretty-boy, on his knees beside Susan, had bowed his head. He felt at
+that moment almost a believer, almost religious; full of gratitude
+towards the divinity who had thus favored him, who treated him with such
+consideration. And without exactly knowing to whom he was addressing
+himself, he thanked him for his success.
+
+When the ceremony was concluded he rose up, and giving his wife his arm,
+he passed into the vestry. Then began the interminable defiling past of
+the visitors. George, with wild joy, believed himself a king whom a
+nation had come to acclaim. He shook hands, stammered unmeaning remarks,
+bowed, and replied: "You are very good to say so."
+
+All at once he caught sight of Madame de Marelle, and the recollection
+of all the kisses that he had given her, and that she had returned; the
+recollection of all their caresses, of her pretty ways, of the sound of
+her voice, of the taste of her lips, caused the desire to have her once
+more for his own to shoot through his veins. She was so pretty and
+elegant, with her boyish air and bright eyes. George thought to himself:
+"What a charming mistress, all the same."
+
+She drew near, somewhat timid, somewhat uneasy, and held out her hand.
+He took it in his, and retained it. Then he felt the discreet appeal of
+a woman's fingers, the soft pressure that forgives and takes possession
+again. And for his own part, he squeezed it, that little hand, as though
+to say: "I still love you; I am yours."
+
+Their eyes met, smiling, bright, full of love. She murmured in her
+pleasant voice: "I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again soon,
+sir."
+
+He replied, gayly: "Soon, madame."
+
+She passed on. Other people were pushing forward. The crowd flowed by
+like a stream. At length it grew thinner. The last guests took leave.
+
+George took Susan's arm in his to pass through the church again. It was
+full of people, for everyone had regained their seats in order to see
+them pass together. They went by slowly, with calm steps and uplifted
+heads, their eyes fixed on the wide sunlit space of the open door. He
+felt little quiverings run all over his skin those cold shivers caused
+by over-powering happiness. He saw no one. His thoughts were solely for
+himself. When he gained the threshold he saw the crowd collected--a
+dense, agitated crowd, gathered there on his account--on account of
+George Du Roy. The people of Paris were gazing at and envying him. Then,
+raising his eyes, he could see afar off, beyond the Palace de la
+Concorde, the Chamber of Deputies, and it seemed to him that he was
+going to make but one jump from the portico of the Madeleine to that of
+the Palais Bourbon.
+
+He slowly descended the long flight of steps between two ranks of
+spectators. But he did not see them; his thoughts had now flown
+backwards, and before his eyes, dazzled by the brilliant sun, now
+floated the image of Madame de Marelle, re-adjusting before the glass
+the little curls on her temples, always disarranged when she rose.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6, by 
+Guy de Maupassant
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE ***
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6, by 
+Guy de Maupassant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6
+
+Author: Guy de Maupassant
+
+Release Date: October 13, 2010 [EBook #33928]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>BEL AMI</h1>
+
+<h1>The Works of Guy de Maupassant</h1>
+
+<h3>VOLUME VI</h3>
+
+
+<h3>NATIONAL LIBRARY COMPANY<br />
+NEW YORK</h3>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1909, By</span><br />
+BIGELOW, SMITH &amp; CO.</h3>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#I">I</a><br />
+<a href="#II">II</a><br />
+<a href="#III">III</a><br />
+<a href="#IV">IV</a><br />
+<a href="#V">V</a><br />
+<a href="#VI">VI</a><br />
+<a href="#VII">VII</a><br />
+<a href="#VIII">VIII</a><br />
+<a href="#IX">IX</a><br />
+<a href="#X">X</a><br />
+<a href="#XI">XI</a><br />
+<a href="#XII">XII</a><br />
+<a href="#XIII">XIII</a><br />
+<a href="#XIV">XIV</a><br />
+<a href="#XV">XV</a><br />
+<a href="#XVI">XVI</a><br />
+<a href="#XVII">XVII</a><br />
+<a href="#XVIII">XVIII</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>BEL AMI</h2>
+
+<h3>(A LADIES' MAN)</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2>
+
+
+<p>When the cashier had given him the change out of his five francpiece,
+George Duroy left the restaurant.</p>
+
+<p>As he had a good carriage, both naturally and from his military
+training, he drew himself up, twirled his moustache, and threw upon the
+lingering customers a rapid and sweeping glance&mdash;one of those glances
+which take in everything within their range like a casting net.</p>
+
+<p>The women looked up at him in turn&mdash;three little work-girls, a
+middle-aged music mistress, disheveled, untidy, and wearing a bonnet
+always dusty and a dress always awry; and two shopkeepers' wives dining
+with their husbands&mdash;all regular customers at this slap-bang
+establishment.</p>
+
+<p>When he was on the pavement outside, he stood still for a moment, asking
+himself what he should do. It was the 28th of June, and he had just
+three francs forty centimes in his pocket to carry him to the end of the
+month. This meant the option of two dinners without lunch or two lunches
+without dinner. He reflected that as the earlier repasts cost twenty
+sous apiece, and the latter thirty, he would, if he were content with
+the lunches, be one franc twenty centimes to the good, which would
+further represent two snacks of bread and sausage and two bocks of beer
+on the boulevards. This latter item was his greatest extravagance and
+his chief pleasure of a night; and he began to descend the Rue
+Notre-Dame de Lorette.</p>
+
+<p>He walked as in the days when he had worn a hussar uniform, his chest
+thrown out and his legs slightly apart, as if he had just left the
+saddle, pushing his way through the crowded street, and shouldering folk
+to avoid having to step aside. He wore his somewhat shabby hat on one
+side, and brought his heels smartly down on the pavement. He seemed ever
+ready to defy somebody or something, the passers-by, the houses, the
+whole city, retaining all the swagger of a dashing cavalry-man in civil
+life.</p>
+
+<p>Although wearing a sixty-franc suit, he was not devoid of a certain
+somewhat loud elegance. Tall, well-built, fair, with a curly moustache
+twisted up at the ends, bright blue eyes with small pupils, and
+reddish-brown hair curling naturally and parted in the middle, he bore a
+strong resemblance to the dare-devil of popular romances.</p>
+
+<p>It was one of those summer evenings on which air seems to be lacking in
+Paris. The city, hot as an oven, seemed to swelter in the stifling
+night. The sewers breathed out their poisonous breath through their
+granite mouths, and the underground kitchens gave forth to the street
+through their windows the stench of dishwater and stale sauces.</p>
+
+<p>The doorkeepers in their shirtsleeves sat astride straw-bottomed chairs
+within the carriage entrances to the houses, smoking their pipes, and
+the pedestrians walked with flagging steps, head bare, and hat in hand.</p>
+
+<p>When George Duroy reached the boulevards he paused again, undecided as
+to what he should do. He now thought of going on to the Champs Elysées
+and the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne to seek a little fresh air under the
+trees, but another wish also assailed him, a desire for a love affair.</p>
+
+<p>What shape would it take? He did not know, but he had been awaiting it
+for three months, night and day. Occasionally, thanks to his good looks
+and gallant bearing, he gleaned a few crumbs of love here and there, but
+he was always hoping for something further and better.</p>
+
+<p>With empty pockets and hot blood, he kindled at the contact of the
+prowlers who murmur at street corners: "Will you come home with me,
+dear?" but he dared not follow them, not being able to pay them, and,
+besides, he was awaiting something else, less venally vulgar kisses.</p>
+
+<p>He liked, however, the localities in which women of the town
+swarm&mdash;their balls, their cafés, and their streets. He liked to rub
+shoulders with them, speak to them, chaff them, inhale their strong
+perfumes, feel himself near them. They were women at any rate, women
+made for love. He did not despise them with the innate contempt of a
+well-born man.</p>
+
+<p>He turned towards the Madeleine, following the flux of the crowd which
+flowed along overcome by the heat. The chief cafés, filled with
+customers, were overflowing on to the pavement, and displayed their
+drinking public under the dazzling glare of their lit-up facias. In
+front of them, on little tables, square or round, were glasses holding
+fluids of every shade, red, yellow, green, brown, and inside the
+decanters glittered the large transparent cylinders of ice, serving to
+cool the bright, clear water. Duroy had slackened his pace, a longing to
+drink parched his throat.</p>
+
+<p>A hot thirst, a summer evening's thirst assailed him, and he fancied the
+delightful sensation of cool drinks flowing across his palate. But if he
+only drank two bocks of beer in the evening, farewell to the slender
+supper of the morrow, and he was only too well acquainted with the hours
+of short commons at the end of the month.</p>
+
+<p>He said to himself: "I must hold out till ten o'clock, and then I'll
+have my bock at the American café. Confound it, how thirsty I am
+though." And he scanned the men seated at the tables drinking, all the
+people who could quench their thirst as much as they pleased. He went
+on, passing in front of the cafés with a sprightly swaggering air, and
+guessing at a glance from their dress and bearing how much money each
+customer ought to have about him. Wrath against these men quietly
+sitting there rose up within him. If their pockets were rummaged, gold,
+silver, and coppers would be found in them. On an average each one must
+have at least two louis. There were certainly a hundred to a café, a
+hundred times two louis is four thousand francs. He murmured "the
+swine," as he walked gracefully past them. If he could have had hold of
+one of them at a nice dark corner he would have twisted his neck without
+scruple, as he used to do the country-folk's fowls on field-days.</p>
+
+<p>And he recalled his two years in Africa and the way in which he used to
+pillage the Arabs when stationed at little out-posts in the south. A
+bright and cruel smile flitted across his lips at the recollection of an
+escapade which had cost the lives of three men of the Ouled-Alane
+tribe, and had furnished him and his comrades with a score of fowls, a
+couple of sheep, some gold, and food for laughter for six months.</p>
+
+<p>The culprits had never been found, and, what is more, they had hardly
+been looked for, the Arab being looked upon as somewhat in the light of
+the natural prey of the soldier.</p>
+
+<p>In Paris it was another thing. One could not plunder prettily, sword by
+side and revolver in hand, far from civil authority. He felt in his
+heart all the instincts of a sub-officer let loose in a conquered
+country. He certainly regretted his two years in the desert. What a pity
+he had not stopped there. But, then, he had hoped something better in
+returning home. And now&mdash;ah! yes, it was very nice now, was it not?</p>
+
+<p>He clicked his tongue as if to verify the parched state of his palate.</p>
+
+<p>The crowd swept past him slowly, and he kept thinking. "Set of hogs&mdash;all
+these idiots have money in their waistcoat pockets." He pushed against
+people and softly whistled a lively tune. Gentlemen whom he thus elbowed
+turned grumbling, and women murmured: "What a brute!"</p>
+
+<p>He passed the Vaudeville Theater and stopped before the American café,
+asking himself whether he should not take his bock, so greatly did
+thirst torture him. Before making up his mind, he glanced at the
+illuminated clock. It was a quarter past nine. He knew himself that as
+soon as the glassful of beer was before him he would gulp it down. What
+would he do then up to eleven o'clock?</p>
+
+<p>He passed on. "I will go as far as the Madeleine," he said, "and walk
+back slowly."</p>
+
+<p>As he reached the corner of the Palace de l'Opera, he passed a stout
+young fellow, whose face he vaguely recollected having seen somewhere.
+He began to follow him, turning over his recollections and repeating to
+himself half-aloud: "Where the deuce did I know that joker?"</p>
+
+<p>He searched without being able to recollect, and then all at once, by a
+strange phenomenon of memory, the same man appeared to him thinner,
+younger, and clad in a hussar uniform. He exclaimed aloud: "What,
+Forestier!" and stepping out he tapped the other on the shoulder. The
+promenader turned round and looked at him, and then said: "What is it,
+sir?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy broke into a laugh. "Don't you know me?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"George Duroy, of the 6th Hussars."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier held out his hands, exclaiming: "What, old fellow! How are
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, and you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not very brilliant! Just fancy, I have a chest in brown paper now.
+I cough six months out of twelve, through a cold I caught at Bougival
+the year of my return to Paris, four years ago."</p>
+
+<p>And Forestier, taking his old comrade's arm, spoke to him of his
+illness, related the consultations, opinions, and advice of the doctors,
+and the difficulty of following this advice in his position. He was told
+to spend the winter in the South, but how could he? He was married, and
+a journalist in a good position.</p>
+
+<p>"I am political editor of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. I write the proceedings
+in the Senate for the <i>Salut</i>, and from time to time literary criticisms
+for the <i>Planète</i>. That is so. I have made my way."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy looked at him with surprise. He was greatly changed, matured. He
+had now the manner, bearing, and dress of a man in a good position and
+sure of himself, and the stomach of a man who dines well. Formerly he
+had been thin, slight, supple, heedless, brawling, noisy, and always
+ready for a spree. In three years Paris had turned him into someone
+quite different, stout and serious, and with some white hairs about his
+temples, though he was not more than twenty-seven.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier asked: "Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy answered: "Nowhere; I am just taking a stroll before turning in."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, will you come with me to the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, where I have some
+proofs to correct, and then we will take a bock together?"</p>
+
+<p>"All right."</p>
+
+<p>They began to walk on, arm-in-arm, with that easy familiarity existing
+between school-fellows and men in the same regiment.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing in Paris?" asked Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy shrugged his shoulders. "Simply starving. As soon as I finished my
+term of service I came here&mdash;to make a fortune, or rather for the sake
+of living in Paris; and for six months I have been a clerk in the
+offices of the Northern Railway at fifteen hundred francs a year,
+nothing more."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier murmured: "Hang it, that's not much!"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think not. But how can I get out of it? I am alone; I don't
+know anyone; I can get no one to recommend me. It is not goodwill that
+is lacking, but means."</p>
+
+<p>His comrade scanned him from head to foot, like a practical man
+examining a subject, and then said, in a tone of conviction: "You see,
+my boy, everything depends upon assurance here. A clever fellow can more
+easily become a minister than an under-secretary. One must obtrude one's
+self on people; not ask things of them. But how the deuce is it that you
+could not get hold of anything better than a clerk's berth on the
+Northern Railway?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy replied: "I looked about everywhere, but could not find anything.
+But I have something in view just now; I have been offered a
+riding-master's place at Pellerin's. There I shall get three thousand
+francs at the lowest."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier stopped short. "Don't do that; it is stupid, when you ought to
+be earning ten thousand francs. You would nip your future in the bud. In
+your office, at any rate, you are hidden; no one knows you; you can
+emerge from it if you are strong enough to make your way. But once a
+riding-master, and it is all over. It is as if you were head-waiter at a
+place where all Paris goes to dine. When once you have given riding
+lessons to people in society or to their children, they will never be
+able to look upon you as an equal."</p>
+
+<p>He remained silent for a few moments, evidently reflecting, and then
+asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you a bachelor's degree?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; I failed to pass twice."</p>
+
+<p>"That is no matter, as long as you studied for it. If anyone mentions
+Cicero or Tiberius, you know pretty well what they are talking about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; pretty well."</p>
+
+<p>"Good; no one knows any more, with the exception of a score of idiots
+who have taken the trouble. It is not difficult to pass for being well
+informed; the great thing is not to be caught in some blunder. You can
+maneuver, avoid the difficulty, turn the obstacle, and floor others by
+means of a dictionary. Men are all as stupid as geese and ignorant as
+donkeys."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke like a self-possessed blade who knows what life is, and smiled
+as he watched the crowd go by. But all at once he began to cough, and
+stopped again until the fit was over, adding, in a tone of
+discouragement: "Isn't it aggravating not to be able to get rid of this
+cough? And we are in the middle of summer. Oh! this winter I shall go
+and get cured at Mentone. Health before everything."</p>
+
+<p>They halted on the Boulevard Poissonière before a large glass door, on
+the inner side of which an open newspaper was pasted. Three passers-by
+had stopped and were reading it.</p>
+
+<p>Above the door, stretched in large letters of flame, outlined by gas
+jets, the inscription <i>La Vie Francaise</i>. The pedestrians passing into
+the light shed by these three dazzling words suddenly appeared as
+visible as in broad daylight, then disappeared again into darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier pushed the door open, saying, "Come in." Duroy entered,
+ascended an ornate yet dirty staircase, visible from the street, passed
+through an ante-room where two messengers bowed to his companion, and
+reached a kind of waiting-room, shabby and dusty, upholstered in dirty
+green Utrecht velvet, covered with spots and stains, and worn in places
+as if mice had been gnawing it.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down," said Forestier. "I will be back in five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>And he disappeared through one of the three doors opening into the room.</p>
+
+<p>A strange, special, indescribable odor, the odor of a newspaper office,
+floated in the air of the room. Duroy remained motionless, slightly
+intimidated, above all surprised. From time to time folk passed
+hurriedly before him, coming in at one door and going out at another
+before he had time to look at them.</p>
+
+<p>They were now young lads, with an appearance of haste, holding in their
+hand a sheet of paper which fluttered from the hurry of their progress;
+now compositors, whose white blouses, spotted with ink, revealed a clean
+shirt collar and cloth trousers like those of men of fashion, and who
+carefully carried strips of printed paper, fresh proofs damp from the
+press. Sometimes a gentleman entered rather too elegantly attired, his
+waist too tightly pinched by his frock-coat, his leg too well set off by
+the cut of his trousers, his foot squeezed into a shoe too pointed at
+the toe, some fashionable reporter bringing in the echoes of the
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>Others, too, arrived, serious, important-looking men, wearing tall hats
+with flat brims, as if this shape distinguished them from the rest of
+mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier reappeared holding the arm of a tall, thin fellow, between
+thirty and forty years of age, in evening dress, very dark, with his
+moustache ends stiffened in sharp points, and an insolent and
+self-satisfied bearing.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier said to him: "Good night, dear master."</p>
+
+<p>The other shook hands with him, saying: "Good night, my dear fellow,"
+and went downstairs whistling, with his cane under his arm.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy asked: "Who is that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jacques Rival, you know, the celebrated descriptive writer, the
+duellist. He has just been correcting his proofs. Garin, Montel, and he
+are the three best descriptive writers, for facts and points, we have in
+Paris. He gets thirty thousand francs a year here for two articles a
+week."</p>
+
+<p>As they were leaving they met a short, stout man, with long hair and
+untidy appearance, who was puffing as he came up the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier bowed low to him. "Norbert de Varenne," said he, "the poet;
+the author of '<i>Les Soleils Morts</i>'; another who gets long prices. Every
+tale he writes for us costs three hundred francs, and the longest do not
+run to two hundred lines. But let us turn into the Neapolitan <i>café</i>, I
+am beginning to choke with thirst."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they were seated at a table in the <i>café</i>, Forestier called
+for two bocks, and drank off his own at a single draught, while Duroy
+sipped his beer in slow mouthfuls, tasting it and relishing it like
+something rare and precious.</p>
+
+<p>His companion was silent, and seemed to be reflecting. Suddenly he
+exclaimed: "Why don't you try journalism?"</p>
+
+<p>The other looked at him in surprise, and then said: "But, you know, I
+have never written anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! everyone must begin. I could give you a job to hunt up information
+for me&mdash;to make calls and inquiries. You would have to start with two
+hundred and fifty francs a month and your cab hire. Shall I speak to the
+manager about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly!"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then, come and dine with me to-morrow. I shall only have
+five or six people&mdash;the governor, Monsieur Walter and his wife, Jacques
+Rival, and Norbert de Varenne, whom you have just seen, and a lady, a
+friend of my wife. Is it settled?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy hesitated, blushing and perplexed. At length he murmured: "You
+see, I have no clothes."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier was astounded. "You have no dress clothes? Hang it all, they
+are indispensable, though. In Paris one would be better off without a
+bed than without a dress suit."</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly feeling in his waistcoat pocket, he drew out some gold,
+took two louis, placed them in front of his old comrade, and said in a
+cordial and familiar tone: "You will pay me back when you can. Hire or
+arrange to pay by installments for the clothes you want, whichever you
+like, but come and dine with me to-morrow, half-past seven, number
+seventeen Rue Fontaine."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, confused, picked up the money, stammering: "You are too good; I
+am very much obliged to you; you may be sure I shall not forget."</p>
+
+<p>The other interrupted him. "All right. Another bock, eh? Waiter, two
+bocks."</p>
+
+<p>Then, when they had drunk them, the journalist said: "Will you stroll
+about a bit for an hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>And they set out again in the direction of the Madeleine.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we, do?" said Forestier. "They say that in Paris a lounger
+can always find something to amuse him, but it is not true. I, when I
+want to lounge about of an evening, never know where to go. A drive
+round the Bois de Boulogne is only amusing with a woman, and one has not
+always one to hand; the <i>café</i> concerts may please my chemist and his
+wife, but not me. Then what is there to do? Nothing. There ought to be a
+summer garden like the Parc Monceau, open at night, where one would hear
+very good music while sipping cool drinks under the trees. It should not
+be a pleasure resort, but a lounging place, with a high price for
+entrance in order to attract the fine ladies. One ought to be able to
+stroll along well-graveled walks lit up by electric light, and to sit
+down when one wished to hear the music near or at a distance. We had
+about the sort of thing formerly at Musard's, but with a smack of the
+low-class dancing-room, and too much dance music, not enough space, not
+enough shade, not enough gloom. It would want a very fine garden and a
+very extensive one. It would be delightful. Where shall we go?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, rather perplexed, did not know what to say; at length he made up
+his mind. "I have never been in the Folies Bergère. I should not mind
+taking a look round there," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"The Folies Bergère," exclaimed his companion, "the deuce; we shall
+roast there as in an oven. But, very well, then, it is always funny
+there."</p>
+
+<p>And they turned on their heels to make their way to the Rue du Faubourg
+Montmartre.</p>
+
+<p>The lit-up front of the establishment threw a bright light into the four
+streets which met in front of it. A string of cabs were waiting for the
+close of the performance.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier was walking in when Duroy checked him.</p>
+
+<p>"You are passing the pay-box," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I never pay," was the reply, in a tone of importance.</p>
+
+<p>When he approached the check-takers they bowed, and one of them held out
+his hand. The journalist asked: "Have you a good box?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Monsieur Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>He took the ticket held out to him, pushed the padded door with its
+leather borders, and they found themselves in the auditorium.</p>
+
+<p>Tobacco smoke slightly veiled like a faint mist the stage and the
+further side of the theater. Rising incessantly in thin white spirals
+from the cigars and pipes, this light fog ascended to the ceiling, and
+there, accumulating, formed under the dome above the crowded gallery a
+cloudy sky.</p>
+
+<p>In the broad corridor leading to the circular promenade a group of women
+were awaiting new-comers in front of one of the bars, at which sat
+enthroned three painted and faded vendors of love and liquor.</p>
+
+<p>The tall mirrors behind them reflected their backs and the faces of
+passers-by.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier pushed his way through the groups, advancing quickly with the
+air of a man entitled to consideration.</p>
+
+<p>He went up to a box-keeper. "Box seventeen," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"This way, sir."</p>
+
+<p>And they were shut up in a little open box draped with red, and holding
+four chairs of the same color, so near to one another that one could
+scarcely slip between them. The two friends sat down. To the right, as
+to the left, following a long curved line, the two ends of which joined
+the proscenium, a row of similar cribs held people seated in like
+fashion, with only their heads and chests visible.</p>
+
+<p>On the stage, three young fellows in fleshings, one tall, one of middle
+size, and one small, were executing feats in turn upon a trapeze.</p>
+
+<p>The tall one first advanced with short, quick steps, smiling and waving
+his hand as though wafting a kiss.</p>
+
+<p>The muscles of his arms and legs stood out under his tights. He expanded
+his chest to take off the effect of his too prominent stomach, and his
+face resembled that of a barber's block, for a careful parting divided
+his locks equally on the center of the skull. He gained the trapeze by a
+graceful bound, and, hanging by the hands, whirled round it like a wheel
+at full speed, or, with stiff arms and straightened body, held himself
+out horizontally in space.</p>
+
+<p>Then he jumped down, saluted the audience again with a smile amidst the
+applause of the stalls, and went and leaned against the scenery, showing
+off the muscles of his legs at every step.</p>
+
+<p>The second, shorter and more squarely built, advanced in turn, and went
+through the same performance, which the third also recommenced amidst
+most marked expressions of approval from the public.</p>
+
+<p>But Duroy scarcely noticed the performance, and, with head averted, kept
+his eyes on the promenade behind him, full of men and prostitutes.</p>
+
+<p>Said Forestier to him: "Look at the stalls; nothing but middle-class
+folk with their wives and children, good noodlepates who come to see
+the show. In the boxes, men about town, some artistes, some girls, good
+second-raters; and behind us, the strangest mixture in Paris. Who are
+these men? Watch them. There is something of everything, of every
+profession, and every caste; but blackguardism predominates. There are
+clerks of all kinds&mdash;bankers' clerks, government clerks, shopmen,
+reporters, ponces, officers in plain clothes, swells in evening dress,
+who have dined out, and have dropped in here on their way from the Opera
+to the Théatre des Italiens; and then again, too, quite a crowd of
+suspicious folk who defy analysis. As to the women, only one type, the
+girl who sups at the American <i>café</i>, the girl at one or two louis who
+looks out for foreigners at five louis, and lets her regular customers
+know when she is disengaged. We have known them for the last ten years;
+we see them every evening all the year round in the same places, except
+when they are making a hygienic sojourn at Saint Lazare or at Lourcine."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy no longer heard him. One of these women was leaning against their
+box and looking at him. She was a stout brunette, her skin whitened with
+paint, her black eyes lengthened at the corners with pencil and shaded
+by enormous and artificial eyebrows. Her too exuberant bosom stretched
+the dark silk of her dress almost to bursting; and her painted lips, red
+as a fresh wound, gave her an aspect bestial, ardent, unnatural, but
+which, nevertheless, aroused desire.</p>
+
+<p>She beckoned with her head one of the friends who was passing, a blonde
+with red hair, and stout, like herself, and said to her, in a voice loud
+enough to be heard: "There is a pretty fellow; if he would like to have
+me for ten louis I should not say no."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier turned and tapped Duroy on the knee, with a smile. "That is
+meant for you; you are a success, my dear fellow. I congratulate you."</p>
+
+<p>The ex-sub-officer blushed, and mechanically fingered the two pieces of
+gold in his waistcoat pocket.</p>
+
+<p>The curtain had dropped, and the orchestra was now playing a waltz.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy said: "Suppose we take a turn round the promenade."</p>
+
+<p>"Just as you like."</p>
+
+<p>They left their box, and were at once swept away by the throng of
+promenaders. Pushed, pressed, squeezed, shaken, they went on, having
+before their eyes a crowd of hats. The girls, in pairs, passed amidst
+this crowd of men, traversing it with facility, gliding between elbows,
+chests, and backs as if quite at home, perfectly at their ease, like
+fish in water, amidst this masculine flood.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, charmed, let himself be swept along, drinking in with
+intoxication the air vitiated by tobacco, the odor of humanity, and the
+perfumes of the hussies. But Forestier sweated, puffed, and coughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go into the garden," said he.</p>
+
+<p>And turning to the left, they entered a kind of covered garden, cooled
+by two large and ugly fountains. Men and women were drinking at zinc
+tables placed beneath evergreen trees growing in boxes.</p>
+
+<p>"Another bock, eh?" said Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>"Willingly."</p>
+
+<p>They sat down and watched the passing throng.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time a woman would stop and ask, with stereotyped smile:
+"Are you going to stand me anything?"</p>
+
+<p>And as Forestier answered: "A glass of water from the fountain," she
+would turn away, muttering: "Go on, you duffer."</p>
+
+<p>But the stout brunette, who had been leaning, just before, against the
+box occupied by the two comrades, reappeared, walking proudly arm-in-arm
+with the stout blonde. They were really a fine pair of women, well
+matched.</p>
+
+<p>She smiled on perceiving Duroy, as though their eyes had already told
+secrets, and, taking a chair, sat down quietly in face of him, and
+making her friend sit down, too, gave the order in a clear voice:
+"Waiter, two grenadines!"</p>
+
+<p>Forestier, rather surprised, said: "You make yourself at home."</p>
+
+<p>She replied: "It is your friend that captivates me. He is really a
+pretty fellow. I believe that I could make a fool of myself for his
+sake."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, intimidated, could find nothing to say. He twisted his curly
+moustache, smiling in a silly fashion. The waiter brought the drinks,
+which the women drank off at a draught; then they rose, and the
+brunette, with a friendly nod of the head, and a tap on the arm with her
+fan, said to Duroy: "Thanks, dear, you are not very talkative."</p>
+
+<p>And they went off swaying their trains.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier laughed. "I say, old fellow, you are very successful with the
+women. You must look after it. It may lead to something." He was silent
+for a moment, and then continued in the dreamy tone of men who think
+aloud: "It is through them, too, that one gets on quickest."</p>
+
+<p>And as Duroy still smiled without replying, he asked: "Are you going to
+stop any longer? I have had enough of it. I am going home."</p>
+
+<p>The other murmured: "Yes, I shall stay a little longer. It is not late."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier rose. "Well, good-night, then. Till to-morrow. Don't forget.
+Seventeen Rue Fontaine, at half-past seven."</p>
+
+<p>"That is settled. Till to-morrow. Thanks."</p>
+
+<p>They shook hands, and the journalist walked away.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had disappeared Duroy felt himself free, and again he
+joyfully felt the two pieces of gold in his pocket; then rising, he
+began to traverse the crowd, which he followed with his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He soon caught sight of the two women, the blonde and the brunette, who
+were still making their way, with their proud bearing of beggars,
+through the throng of men.</p>
+
+<p>He went straight up to them, and when he was quite close he no longer
+dared to do anything.</p>
+
+<p>The brunette said: "Have you found your tongue again?"</p>
+
+<p>He stammered "By Jove!" without being able to say anything else.</p>
+
+<p>The three stood together, checking the movement, the current of which
+swept round them.</p>
+
+<p>All at once she asked: "Will you come home with me?"</p>
+
+<p>And he, quivering with desire, answered roughly: "Yes, but I have only a
+louis in my pocket."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled indifferently. "It is all the same to me,"' and took his arm
+in token of possession.</p>
+
+<p>As they went out he thought that with the other louis he could easily
+hire a suit of dress clothes for the next evening.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Monsieur Forestier, if you please?"</p>
+
+<p>"Third floor, the door on the left," the concierge had replied, in a
+voice the amiable tone of which betokened a certain consideration for
+the tenant, and George Duroy ascended the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>He felt somewhat abashed, awkward, and ill at ease. He was wearing a
+dress suit for the first time in his life, and was uneasy about the
+general effect of his toilet. He felt it was altogether defective, from
+his boots, which were not of patent leather, though neat, for he was
+naturally smart about his foot-gear, to his shirt, which he had bought
+that very morning for four franc fifty centimes at the Masgasin du
+Louvre, and the limp front of which was already rumpled. His everyday
+shirts were all more or less damaged, so that he had not been able to
+make use of even the least worn of them.</p>
+
+<p>His trousers, rather too loose, set off his leg badly, seeming to flap
+about the calf with that creased appearance which second-hand clothes
+present. The coat alone did not look bad, being by chance almost a
+perfect fit.</p>
+
+<p>He was slowly ascending the stairs with beating heart and anxious mind,
+tortured above all by the fear of appearing ridiculous, when suddenly he
+saw in front of him a gentleman in full dress looking at him. They were
+so close to one another that Duroy took a step back and then remained
+stupefied; it was himself, reflected by a tall mirror on the first-floor
+landing. A thrill of pleasure shot through him to find himself so much
+more presentable than he had imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Only having a small shaving-glass in his room, he had not been able to
+see himself all at once, and as he had only an imperfect glimpse of the
+various items of his improvised toilet, he had mentally exaggerated its
+imperfections, and harped to himself on the idea of appearing grotesque.</p>
+
+<p>But on suddenly coming upon his reflection in the mirror, he had not
+even recognized himself; he had taken himself for someone else, for a
+gentleman whom at the first glance he had thought very well dressed and
+fashionable looking. And now, looking at himself carefully, he
+recognized that really the general effect was satisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>He studied himself as actors do when learning their parts. He smiled,
+held out his hand, made gestures, expressed sentiments of astonishment,
+pleasure, and approbation, and essayed smiles and glances, with a view
+of displaying his gallantry towards the ladies, and making them
+understand that they were admired and desired.</p>
+
+<p>A door opened somewhere. He was afraid of being caught, and hurried
+upstairs, filled with the fear of having been seen grimacing thus by one
+of his friend's guests.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the second story he noticed another mirror, and slackened
+his pace to view himself in it as he went by. His bearing seemed to him
+really graceful. He walked well. And now he was filled with an unbounded
+confidence in himself. Certainly he must be successful with such an
+appearance, his wish to succeed, his native resolution, and his
+independence of mind. He wanted to run, to jump, as he ascended the last
+flight of stairs. He stopped in front of the third mirror, twirled his
+moustache as he had a trick of doing, took off his hat to run his
+fingers through his hair, and muttered half-aloud as he often did: "What
+a capital notion." Then raising his hand to the bell handle, he rang.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened almost at once, and he found himself face to face with a
+man-servant out of livery, serious, clean-shaven, and so perfect in his
+get-up that Duroy became uneasy again without understanding the reason
+of his vague emotion, due, perhaps, to an unwitting comparison of the
+cut of their respective garments. The man-servant, who had
+patent-leather shoes, asked, as he took the overcoat which Duroy had
+carried on his arm, to avoid exposing the stains on it: "Whom shall I
+announce?"</p>
+
+<p>And he announced the name through a door with a looped-back draping
+leading into a drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>But Duroy, suddenly losing his assurance, felt himself breathless and
+paralyzed by terror. He was about to take his first step in the world he
+had looked forward to and longed for. He advanced, nevertheless. A fair
+young woman, quite alone, was standing awaiting him in a large room,
+well lit up and full of plants as a greenhouse.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped short, quite disconcerted. Who was this lady who was smiling
+at him? Then he remembered that Forestier was married, and the thought
+that this pretty and elegant blonde must be his friend's wife completed
+his alarm.</p>
+
+<p>He stammered: "Madame, I am&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She held out her hand, saying: "I know, sir; Charles has told me of your
+meeting last evening, and I am very pleased that he had the idea of
+asking you to dine with us to-day."</p>
+
+<p>He blushed up to his ears, not knowing what to say, and felt himself
+examined from head to foot, reckoned up, and judged.</p>
+
+<p>He longed to excuse himself, to invent some pretext for explaining the
+deficiencies of his toilet, but he could not think of one, and did not
+dare touch on this difficult subject.</p>
+
+<p>He sat down on an armchair she pointed out to him, and as he felt the
+soft and springy velvet-covered seat yield beneath his weight, as he
+felt himself, as it were, supported and clasped by the padded back and
+arms, it seemed to him that he was entering upon a new and enchanting
+life, that he was taking possession of something delightful, that he was
+becoming somebody, that he was saved, and he looked at Madame Forestier,
+whose eyes had not quitted him.</p>
+
+<p>She was attired in a dress of pale blue cashmere, which set off the
+outline of her slender waist and full bust. Her arms and neck issued
+from a cloud of white lace, with which the bodice and short sleeves were
+trimmed, and her fair hair, dressed high, left a fringe of tiny curls at
+the nape of her neck.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy recovered his assurance beneath her glance, which reminded him,
+without his knowing why, of that of the girl met overnight at the Folies
+Bergére. She had gray eyes, of a bluish gray, which imparted to them a
+strange expression; a thin nose, full lips, a rather fleshy chin, and
+irregular but inviting features, full of archness and charm. It was one
+of those faces, every trait of which reveals a special grace, and seems
+to have its meaning&mdash;every movement to say or to hide something. After a
+brief silence she asked: "Have you been long in Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied slowly, recovering his self-possession: "A few months only,
+Madame. I have a berth in one of the railway companies, but Forestier
+holds out the hope that I may, thanks to him, enter journalism."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled more plainly and kindly, and murmured, lowering her voice:
+"Yes, I know."</p>
+
+<p>The bell had rung again. The servant announced "Madame de Marelle."</p>
+
+<p>This was a little brunette, who entered briskly, and seemed to be
+outlined&mdash;modeled, as it were&mdash;from head to foot in a dark dress made
+quite plainly. A red rose placed in her black hair caught the eye at
+once, and seemed to stamp her physiognomy, accentuate her character, and
+strike the sharp and lively note needed.</p>
+
+<p>A little girl in short frocks followed her.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier darted forward, exclaiming: "Good evening, Clotilde."</p>
+
+<p>"Good evening, Madeleine." They kissed one another, and then the child
+offered her forehead, with the assurance of a grown-up person, saying:
+"Good evening, cousin."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier kissed her, and then introduced them, saying: "Monsieur
+George Duroy, an old friend of Charles; Madame de Marelle, my friend,
+and in some degree my relation." She added: "You know we have no
+ceremonious affectation here. You quite understand, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>The young man bowed.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened again, and a short, stout gentleman appeared, having on
+his arm a tall, handsome woman, much younger than himself, and of
+distinguished appearance and grave bearing. They were Monsieur Walter, a
+Jew from the South of France, deputy, financier, capitalist, and manager
+of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, and his wife, the daughter of Monsieur
+Basile-Ravalau, the banker.</p>
+
+<p>Then came, one immediately after the other, Jacques Rival, very
+elegantly got up, and Norbert de Varenne, whose coat collar shone
+somewhat from the friction of the long locks falling on his shoulders
+and scattering over them a few specks of white scurf. His badly-tied
+cravat looked as if it had already done duty. He advanced with the air
+and graces of an old beau, and taking Madame Forestier's hand, printed a
+kiss on her wrist. As he bent forward his long hair spread like water
+over her bare arm.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier entered in his turn, offering excuses for being late. He had
+been detained at the office of the paper by the Morel affair. Monsieur
+Morel, a Radical deputy, had just addressed a question to the Ministry
+respecting a vote of credit for the colonization of Algeria.</p>
+
+<p>The servant announced: "Dinner is served, Madame," and they passed into
+the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy found himself seated between Madame de Marelle and her daughter.
+He again felt ill at ease, being afraid of making some mistake in the
+conventional handling of forks, spoons, and glasses. There were four of
+these, one of a faint blue tint. What could be meant to be drunk out of
+that?</p>
+
+<p>Nothing was said while the soup was being consumed, and then Norbert de
+Varenne asked: "Have you read the Gauthier case? What a funny business
+it is."</p>
+
+<p>After a discussion on this case of adultery, complicated with
+blackmailing, followed. They did not speak of it as the events recorded
+in newspapers are spoken of in private families, but as a disease is
+spoken of among doctors, or vegetables among market gardeners. They were
+neither shocked nor astonished at the facts, but sought out their hidden
+and secret motives with professional curiosity, and an utter
+indifference for the crime itself. They sought to clearly explain the
+origin of certain acts, to determine all the cerebral phenomena which
+had given birth to the drama, the scientific result due to an especial
+condition of mind. The women, too, were interested in this
+investigation. And other recent events were examined, commented upon,
+turned so as to show every side of them, and weighed correctly, with the
+practical glance, and from the especial standpoint of dealers in news,
+and vendors of the drama of life at so much a line, just as articles
+destined for sale are examined, turned over, and weighed by tradesmen.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was a question of a duel, and Jacques Rival spoke. This was his
+business; no one else could handle it.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy dared not put in a word. He glanced from time to time at his
+neighbor, whose full bosom captivated him. A diamond, suspended by a
+thread of gold, dangled from her ear like a drop of water that had
+rolled down it. From time to time she made an observation which always
+brought a smile to her hearers' lips. She had a quaint, pleasant wit,
+that of an experienced tomboy who views things with indifference and
+judges them with frivolous and benevolent skepticism.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy sought in vain for some compliment to pay her, and, not finding
+one, occupied himself with her daughter, filling her glass, holding her
+plate, and helping her. The child, graver than her mother, thanked him
+in a serious tone and with a slight bow, saying: "You are very good,
+sir," and listened to her elders with an air of reflection.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner was very good, and everyone was enraptured. Monsieur Walter
+ate like an ogre, hardly spoke, and glanced obliquely under his glasses
+at the dishes offered to him. Norbert de Varenne kept him company, and
+from time to time let drops of gravy fall on his shirt front. Forestier,
+silent and serious, watched everything, exchanging glances of
+intelligence with his wife, like confederates engaged together on a
+difficult task which is going on swimmingly.</p>
+
+<p>Faces grew red, and voices rose, as from time to time the man-servant
+murmured in the guests' ears: "Corton or Chateau-Laroze."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy had found the Corton to his liking, and let his glass be filled
+every time. A delicious liveliness stole over him, a warm cheerfulness,
+that mounted from the stomach to the head, flowed through his limbs and
+penetrated him throughout. He felt himself wrapped in perfect comfort of
+life and thought, body and soul.</p>
+
+<p>A longing to speak assailed him, to bring himself into notice, to be
+appreciated like these men, whose slightest words were relished.</p>
+
+<p>But the conversation, which had been going on unchecked, linking ideas
+one to another, jumping from one topic to another at a chance word, a
+mere trifle, and skimming over a thousand matters, turned again on the
+great question put by Monsieur Morel in the Chamber respecting the
+colonization of Algeria.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Walter, between two courses, made a few jests, for his wit was
+skeptical and broad. Forestier recited his next day's leader. Jacques
+Rival insisted on a military government with land grants to all officers
+after thirty years of colonial service.</p>
+
+<p>"By this plan," he said, "you will create an energetic class of
+colonists, who will have already learned to love and understand the
+country, and will be acquainted with its language, and with all those
+grave local questions against which new-comers invariably run their
+heads."</p>
+
+<p>Norbert de Varenne interrupted him with: "Yes; they will be acquainted
+with everything except agriculture. They will speak Arabic, but they
+will be ignorant how beet-root is planted out and wheat sown. They will
+be good at fencing, but very shaky as regards manures. On the contrary,
+this new land should be thrown entirely open to everyone. Intelligent
+men will achieve a position there; the others will go under. It is the
+social law."</p>
+
+<p>A brief silence followed, and the listeners smiled at one another.</p>
+
+<p>George Duroy opened his mouth, and said, feeling as much surprised at
+the sound of his own voice as if he had never heard himself speak: "What
+is most lacking there is good land. The really fertile estates cost as
+much as in France, and are bought up as investments by rich Parisians.
+The real colonists, the poor fellows who leave home for lack of bread,
+are forced into the desert, where nothing will grow for want of water."</p>
+
+<p>Everyone looked at him, and he felt himself blushing.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Walter asked: "Do you know Algeria, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>George replied: "Yes, sir; I was there nearly two years and a half, and
+I was quartered in all three provinces."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly unmindful of the Morel question, Norbert de Varenne
+interrogated him respecting a detail of manners and customs of which he
+had been informed by an officer. It was with respect to the Mzab, that
+strange little Arab republic sprung up in the midst of the Sahara, in
+the driest part of that burning region.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy had twice visited the Mzab, and he narrated some of the customs of
+this singular country, where drops of water are valued as gold; where
+every inhabitant is bound to discharge all public duties; and where
+commercial honesty is carried further than among civilized nations.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke with a certain raciness excited by the wine and the desire to
+please, and told regimental yarns, incidents of Arab life and military
+adventure. He even hit on some telling phrases to depict these bare and
+yellow lands, eternally laid waste by the devouring fire of the sun.</p>
+
+<p>All the women had their eyes turned upon him, and Madame Walter said, in
+her deliberate tones: "You could make a charming series of articles out
+of your recollections."</p>
+
+<p>Then Walter looked at the young fellow over the glasses of his
+spectacles, as was his custom when he wanted to see anyone's face
+distinctly. He looked at the dishes underneath them.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier seized the opportunity. "My dear sir, I had already spoken to
+you about Monsieur George Duroy, asking you to let me have him for my
+assistant in gleaning political topics. Since Marambot left us, I have
+no one to send in quest of urgent and confidential information, and the
+paper suffers from it."</p>
+
+<p>Daddy Walter became serious, and pushed his spectacles upon his
+forehead, in order to look Duroy well in the face. Then he said: "It is
+true that Monsieur Duroy has evidently an original turn of thought. If
+he will come and have a chat with us to-morrow at three o'clock, we will
+settle the matter." Then, after a short silence, turning right round
+towards George, he added: "But write us a little fancy series of
+articles on Algeria at once. Relate your experiences, and mix up the
+colonization question with them as you did just now. They are facts,
+genuine facts, and I am sure they will greatly please our readers. But
+be quick. I must have the first article to-morrow or the day after,
+while the subject is being discussed in the Chamber, in order to catch
+the public."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter added, with that serious grace which characterized
+everything she did, and which lent an air of favor to her words: "And
+you have a charming title, 'Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique.' Is
+it not so, Monsieur Norbert?"</p>
+
+<p>The old poet, who had worn renown late in life, feared and hated
+new-comers. He replied dryly: "Yes, excellent, provided that the keynote
+be followed, for that is the great difficulty; the exact note, what in
+music is called the pitch."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier cast on Duroy a smiling and protective glance, the
+glance of a connoisseur, which seemed to say: "Yes, you will get on."
+Madame de Marelle had turned towards him several times, and the diamond
+in her ear quivered incessantly as though the drop of water was about to
+fall.</p>
+
+<p>The little girl remained quiet and serious, her head bent over her
+plate.</p>
+
+<p>But the servant passed round the table, filling the blue glasses with
+Johannisberg, and Forestier proposed a toast, drinking with a bow to
+Monsieur Walter: "Prosperity to the <i>Vie Francaise</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Everyone bowed towards the proprietor, who smiled, and Duroy,
+intoxicated with success, emptied his glass at a draught. He would have
+emptied a whole barrel after the same fashion; it seemed to him that he
+could have eaten a bullock or strangled a lion. He felt a superhuman
+strength in his limbs, unconquerable resolution and unbounded hope in
+his mind. He was now at home among these people; he had just taken his
+position, won his place. His glance rested on their faces with a
+new-born assurance, and he ventured for the first time to address his
+neighbor. "You have the prettiest earrings I have ever seen, Madame."</p>
+
+<p>She turned towards him with a smile. "It was an idea of my own to have
+the diamonds hung like that, just at the end of a thread. They really
+look like dew-drops, do they not?"</p>
+
+<p>He murmured, ashamed of his own daring, and afraid of making a fool of
+himself:</p>
+
+<p>"It is charming; but the ear, too, helps to set it off."</p>
+
+<p>She thanked him with a look, one of those woman's looks that go straight
+to the heart. And as he turned his head he again met Madame Forestier's
+eye, always kindly, but now he thought sparkling with a livelier mirth,
+an archness, an encouragement.</p>
+
+<p>All the men were now talking at once with gesticulations and raised
+voices. They were discussing the great project of the metropolitan
+railway. The subject was not exhausted till dessert was finished,
+everyone having a deal to say about the slowness of the methods of
+communication in Paris, the inconvenience of the tramway, the delays of
+omnibus traveling, and the rudeness of cabmen.</p>
+
+<p>Then they left the dining-room to take coffee. Duroy, in jest, offered
+his arm to the little girl. She gravely thanked him, and rose on tiptoe
+in order to rest her hand on it.</p>
+
+<p>On returning to the drawing-room he again experienced the sensation of
+entering a greenhouse. In each of the four corners of the room tall
+palms unfolded their elegantly shaped leaves, rising to the ceiling, and
+there spreading fountain-wise.</p>
+
+<p>On each side of the fireplace were india-rubber plants like round
+columns, with their dark green leaves tapering one above the other; and
+on the piano two unknown shrubs covered with flowers, those of one all
+crimson and those of the other all white, had the appearance of
+artificial plants, looking too beautiful to be real.</p>
+
+<p>The air was cool, and laden with a soft, vague perfume that could
+scarcely be defined. The young fellow, now more himself, considered the
+room more attentively. It was not large; nothing attracted attention
+with the exception of the shrubs, no bright color struck one, but one
+felt at one's ease in it; one felt soothed and refreshed, and, as it
+were, caressed by one's surroundings. The walls were covered with an
+old-fashioned stuff of faded violet, spotted with little flowers in
+yellow silk about the size of flies. Hangings of grayish-blue cloth,
+embroidered here and there with crimson poppies, draped the doorways,
+and the chairs of all shapes and sizes, scattered about the room,
+lounging chairs, easy chairs, ottomans, and stools, were upholstered in
+Louise Seize silk or Utrecht velvet, with a crimson pattern on a
+cream-colored ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you take coffee, Monsieur Duroy?" and Madame Forestier held out a
+cup towards him with that smile which never left her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Madame." He took the cup, and as he bent forward to take a
+lump of sugar from the sugar-basin carried by the little girl, Madame
+Forestier said to him in a low voice: "Pay attention to Madame Walter."</p>
+
+<p>Then she drew back before he had time to answer a word.</p>
+
+<p>He first drank off his coffee, which he was afraid of dropping onto the
+carpet; then, his mind more at ease, he sought for some excuse to
+approach the wife of his new governor, and begin a conversation. All at
+once he noticed that she was holding an empty cup in her hand, and as
+she was at some distance from a table, did not know where to put it. He
+darted forward with, "Allow me, Madame?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>He took away the cup and then returned.</p>
+
+<p>"If you knew, Madame," he began, "the happy hours the <i>Vie Francaise</i>
+helped me to pass when I was away in the desert. It is really the only
+paper that is readable out of France, for it is more literary, wittier,
+and less monotonous than the others. There is something of everything in
+it."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled with amiable indifference, and answered, seriously:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Walter has had a great deal of trouble to create a type of
+newspaper supplying the want of the day."</p>
+
+<p>And they began to chat. He had an easy flow of commonplace conversation,
+a charm in his voice and look, and an irresistible seductiveness about
+his moustache. It curled coquettishly about his lips, reddish brown,
+with a paler tint about the ends. They chatted about Paris, its suburbs,
+the banks of the Seine, watering places, summer amusements, all the
+current topics on which one can prate to infinity without wearying
+oneself.</p>
+
+<p>Then as Monsieur Norbert de Varenne approached with a liqueur glass in
+his hand, Duroy discreetly withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle, who had been speaking with Madame Forestier, summoned
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," she said, abruptly, "so you want to try your hand at
+journalism?"</p>
+
+<p>He spoke vaguely of his prospects, and there recommenced with her the
+conversation he had just had with Madame Walter, but as he was now a
+better master of his subject, he showed his superiority in it, repeating
+as his own the things he had just heard. And he continually looked his
+companion in the eyes, as though to give deep meaning to what he was
+saying.</p>
+
+<p>She, in her turn, related anecdotes with the easy flow of spirits of a
+woman who knows she is witty, and is always seeking to appear so, and
+becoming familiar, she laid her hand from time to time on his arm, and
+lowered her voice to make trifling remarks which thus assumed a
+character of intimacy. He was inwardly excited by her contact. He would
+have liked to have shown his devotion for her on the spot, to have
+defended her, shown her what he was worth, and his delay in his replies
+to her showed the preoccupation of his mind.</p>
+
+<p>But suddenly, without any reason, Madame de Marelle called, "Laurine!"
+and the little girl came.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down here, child; you will catch cold near the window."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy was seized with a wild longing to kiss the child. It was as though
+some part of the kiss would reach the mother.</p>
+
+<p>He asked in a gallant, and at the same time fatherly, tone: "Will you
+allow me to kiss you, Mademoiselle?"</p>
+
+<p>The child looked up at him in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Answer, my dear," said Madame de Marelle, laughingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, this time; but it will not do always."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, sitting down, lifted Laurine onto his knees and brushed the fine
+curly hair above her forehead with his lips.</p>
+
+<p>Her mother was surprised. "What! she has not run away; it is astounding.
+Usually she will only let ladies kiss her. You are irresistible,
+Monsieur Duroy."</p>
+
+<p>He blushed without answering, and gently jogged the little girl on his
+knee.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier drew near, and exclaimed, with astonishment: "What,
+Laurine tamed! What a miracle!"</p>
+
+<p>Jacques Rival also came up, cigar in mouth, and Duroy rose to take
+leave, afraid of spoiling, by some unlucky remark, the work done, his
+task of conquest begun.</p>
+
+<p>He bowed, softly pressed the little outstretched hands of the women, and
+then heartily shook those of the men. He noted that the hand of Jacques
+Rival, warm and dry, answered cordially to his grip; that of Norbert de
+Varenne, damp and cold, slipped through his fingers; that of Daddy
+Walter, cold and flabby, was without expression or energy; and that of
+Forestier was plump and moist. His friend said to him in a low tone,
+"To-morrow, at three o'clock; do not forget."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! no; don't be afraid of that."</p>
+
+<p>When he found himself once more on the stairs he felt a longing to run
+down them, so great was his joy, and he darted forward, going down two
+steps at a time, but suddenly he caught sight in a large mirror on the
+second-floor landing of a gentleman in a hurry, who was advancing
+briskly to meet him, and he stopped short, ashamed, as if he had been
+caught tripping. Then he looked at himself in the glass for some time,
+astonished at being really such a handsome fellow, smiled complacently,
+and taking leave of his reflection, bowed low to it as one bows to a
+personage of importance.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2>
+
+
+<p>When George Duroy found himself in the street he hesitated as to what he
+should do. He wanted to run, to dream, to walk about thinking of the
+future as he breathed the soft night air, but the thought of the series
+of articles asked for by Daddy Walter haunted him, and he decided to go
+home at once and set to work.</p>
+
+<p>He walked along quickly, reached the outer boulevards, and followed
+their line as far as the Rue Boursault, where he dwelt. The house, six
+stories high, was inhabited by a score of small households,
+trades-people or workmen, and he experienced a sickening sensation of
+disgust, a longing to leave the place and live like well-to-do people in
+a clean dwelling, as he ascended the stairs, lighting himself with wax
+matches on his way up the dirty steps, littered with bits of paper,
+cigarette ends, and scraps of kitchen refuse. A stagnant stench of
+cooking, cesspools and humanity, a close smell of dirt and old walls,
+which no rush of air could have driven out of the building, filled it
+from top to bottom.</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow's room, on the fifth floor, looked into a kind of
+abyss, the huge cutting of the Western Railway just above the outlet by
+the tunnel of the Batignolles station. Duroy opened his window and
+leaned against the rusty iron cross-bar.</p>
+
+<p>Below him, at the bottom of the dark hole, three motionless red lights
+resembled the eyes of huge wild animals, and further on a glimpse could
+be caught of others, and others again still further. Every moment
+whistles, prolonged or brief, pierced the silence of the night, some
+near at hand, others scarcely discernible, coming from a distance from
+the direction of Asnières. Their modulations were akin to those of the
+human voice. One of them came nearer and nearer, with its plaintive
+appeal growing louder and louder every moment, and soon a big yellow
+light appeared advancing with a loud noise, and Duroy watched the
+string of railway carriages swallowed up by the tunnel.</p>
+
+<p>Then he said to himself: "Come, let's go to work."</p>
+
+<p>He placed his light upon the table, but at the moment of commencing he
+found that he had only a quire of letter paper in the place. More the
+pity, but he would make use of it by opening out each sheet to its full
+extent. He dipped his pen in ink, and wrote at the head of the page, in
+his best hand, "Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique."</p>
+
+<p>Then he tried to frame the opening sentence. He remained with his head
+on his hands and his eyes fixed on the white sheet spread out before
+him. What should he say? He could no longer recall anything of what he
+had been relating a little while back; not an anecdote, not a fact,
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the thought struck him: "I must begin with my departure."</p>
+
+<p>And he wrote: "It was in 1874, about the middle of May, when France, in
+her exhaustion, was reposing after the catastrophe of the terrible
+year."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped short, not knowing how to lead up to what should follow&mdash;his
+embarkation, his voyage, his first impressions.</p>
+
+<p>After ten minutes' reflection, he resolved to put off the introductory
+slip till to-morrow, and to set to work at once to describe Algiers.</p>
+
+<p>And he traced on his paper the words: "Algiers is a white city," without
+being able to state anything further. He recalled in his mind the pretty
+white city flowing down in a cascade of flat-roofed dwellings from the
+summit of its hills to the sea, but he could no longer find a word to
+express what he had seen and felt.</p>
+
+<p>After a violent effort, he added: "It is partly inhabited by Arabs."</p>
+
+<p>Then he threw down his pen and rose from his chair.</p>
+
+<p>On his little iron bedstead, hollowed in the center by the pressure of
+his body, he saw his everyday garments cast down there, empty, worn,
+limp, ugly as the clothing at the morgue. On a straw-bottomed chair his
+tall hat, his only one, brim uppermost, seemed to be awaiting an alms.</p>
+
+<p>The wall paper, gray with blue bouquets, showed as many stains as
+flowers, old suspicious-looking stains, the origin of which could not be
+defined; crushed insects or drops of oil; finger tips smeared with
+pomatum or soapy water scattered while washing. It smacked of shabby,
+genteel poverty, the poverty of a Paris lodging-house. Anger rose within
+him at the wretchedness of his mode of living. He said to himself that
+he must get out of it at once; that he must finish with this irksome
+existence the very next day.</p>
+
+<p>A frantic desire of working having suddenly seized on him again, he sat
+down once more at the table, and began anew to seek for phrases to
+describe the strange and charming physiognomy of Algiers, that ante-room
+of vast and mysterious Africa; the Africa of wandering Arabs and unknown
+tribes of negroes; that unexplored Africa of which we are sometimes
+shown in public gardens the improbable-looking animals seemingly made to
+figure in fairy tales; the ostriches, those exaggerated fowls; the
+gazelles, those divine goats; the surprising and grotesque giraffes; the
+grave-looking camels, the monstrous hippopotomi, the shapeless
+rhinosceri, and the gorillas, those frightful-looking brothers of
+mankind.</p>
+
+<p>He vaguely felt ideas occurring to him; he might perhaps have uttered
+them, but he could not put them into writing. And his impotence
+exasperated him, he got up again, his hands damp with perspiration, and
+his temples throbbing.</p>
+
+<p>His eyes falling on his washing bill, brought up that evening by the
+concierge, he was suddenly seized with wild despair. All his joy
+vanishing in a twinkling, with his confidence in himself and his faith
+in the future. It was all up; he could not do anything, he would never
+be anybody; he felt played out, incapable, good for nothing, damned.</p>
+
+<p>And he went and leaned out of the window again, just as a train issued
+from the tunnel with a loud and violent noise. It was going away, afar
+off, across the fields and plains towards the sea. And the recollection
+of his parents stirred in Duroy's breast. It would pass near them, that
+train, within a few leagues of their house. He saw it again, the little
+house at the entrance to the village of Canteleu, on the summit of the
+slope overlooking Rouen and the immense valley of the Seine.</p>
+
+<p>His father and mother kept a little inn, a place where the tradesfolk of
+the suburbs of Rouen came out to lunch on Sunday at the sign of the
+Belle Vue. They had wanted to make a gentleman of their son, and had
+sent him to college. Having finished his studies, and been plowed for
+his bachelor's degree, he had entered on his military service with the
+intention of becoming an officer, a colonel, a general. But, disgusted
+with military life long before the completion of his five years' term
+of service, he had dreamed of making a fortune at Paris.</p>
+
+<p>He came there at the expiration of his term of service, despite the
+entreaties of his father and mother, whose visions having evaporated,
+wanted now to have him at home with them. In his turn he hoped to
+achieve a future; he foresaw a triumph by means as yet vaguely defined
+in his mind, but which he felt sure he could scheme out and further.</p>
+
+<p>He had had some successful love affairs in the regiment, some easy
+conquests, and even some adventures in a better class of society, having
+seduced a tax collector's daughter, who wanted to leave her home for his
+sake, and a lawyer's wife, who had tried to drown herself in despair at
+being abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>His comrades used to say of him: "He is a sharp fellow, a deep one to
+get out of a scrape, a chap who knows which side his bread is buttered,"
+and he had promised himself to act up to this character.</p>
+
+<p>His conscience, Norman by birth, worn by the daily dealings of garrison
+life, rendered elastic by the examples of pillaging in Africa, illicit
+commissions, shaky dodges; spurred, too, by the notions of honor current
+in the army, military bravadoes, patriotic sentiments, the fine-sounding
+tales current among sub-officers, and the vain glory of the profession
+of arms, had become a kind of box of tricks in which something of
+everything was to be found.</p>
+
+<p>But the wish to succeed reigned sovereign in it.</p>
+
+<p>He had, without noticing it, began to dream again as he did every
+evening. He pictured to himself some splendid love adventure which
+should bring about all at once the realization of his hopes. He married
+the daughter of some banker or nobleman met with in the street, and
+captivated at the first glance.</p>
+
+<p>The shrill whistle of a locomotive which, issuing from the tunnel like a
+big rabbit bolting out of its hole, and tearing at full speed along the
+rails towards the machine shed where it was to take its rest, awoke him
+from his dream.</p>
+
+<p>Then, repossessed by the vague and joyful hope which ever haunted his
+mind, he wafted a kiss into the night, a kiss of love addressed to the
+vision of the woman he was awaiting, a kiss of desire addressed to the
+fortune he coveted. Then he closed his window and began to undress,
+murmuring:</p>
+
+<p>"I shall feel in a better mood for it to-morrow. My thoughts are not
+clear to-night. Perhaps, too, I have had just a little too much to
+drink. One can't work well under those circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>He got into bed, blew out his light, and went off to sleep almost
+immediately.</p>
+
+<p>He awoke early, as one awakes on mornings of hope and trouble, and
+jumping out of bed, opened his window to drink a cup of fresh air, as he
+phrased it.</p>
+
+<p>The houses of the Rue de Rome opposite, on the other side of the broad
+railway cutting, glittering in the rays of the rising sun, seemed to be
+painted with white light. Afar off on the right a glimpse was caught of
+the slopes of Argenteuil, the hills of Sannois, and the windmills of
+Orgemont through a light bluish mist; like a floating and transparent
+veil cast onto the horizon.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy remained for some minutes gazing at the distant country side, and
+he murmured: "It would be devilish nice out there a day like this." Then
+he bethought himself that he must set to work, and that at once, and
+also send his concierge's lad, at a cost of ten sous, to the office to
+say that he was ill.</p>
+
+<p>He sat down at his table, dipped his pen in the ink, leaned his forehead
+on his hand, and sought for ideas. All in vain, nothing came.</p>
+
+<p>He was not discouraged, however. He thought, "Bah! I am not accustomed
+to it. It is a trade to be learned like all other trades. I must have
+some help the first time. I will go and find Forestier, who will give me
+a start for my article in ten minutes."</p>
+
+<p>And he dressed himself.</p>
+
+<p>When he got into the street he came to the conclusion that it was still
+too early to present himself at the residence of his friend, who must be
+a late sleeper. He therefore walked slowly along beneath the trees of
+the outer boulevards. It was not yet nine o'clock when he reached the
+Parc Monceau, fresh from its morning watering. Sitting down upon a bench
+he began to dream again. A well-dressed young man was walking up and
+down at a short distance, awaiting a woman, no doubt. Yes, she appeared,
+close veiled and quick stepping, and taking his arm, after a brief clasp
+of the hand, they walked away together.</p>
+
+<p>A riotous need of love broke out in Duroy's heart, a need of amours at
+once distinguished and delicate. He rose and resumed his journey,
+thinking of Forestier. What luck the fellow had!</p>
+
+<p>He reached the door at the moment his friend was coming out of it. "You
+here at this time of day. What do you want of me?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, taken aback at meeting him thus, just as he was starting off,
+stammered: "You see, you see, I can't manage to write my article; you
+know the article Monsieur Walter asked me to write on Algeria. It is
+not very surprising, considering that I have never written anything.
+Practice is needed for that, as for everything else. I shall get used to
+it very quickly, I am sure, but I do not know how to set about
+beginning. I have plenty of ideas, but I cannot manage to express them."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped, hesitatingly, and Forestier smiled somewhat slyly, saying:
+"I know what it is."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy went on: "Yes, it must happen to everyone at the beginning. Well,
+I came, I came to ask you for a lift. In ten minutes you can give me a
+start, you can show me how to shape it. It will be a good lesson in
+style you will give me, and really without you I do not see how I can
+get on with it."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier still smiled, and tapping his old comrade on the arm, said:
+"Go in and see my wife; she will settle your business quite as well as I
+could. I have trained her for that kind of work. I, myself, have not
+time this morning, or I would willingly have done it for you."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy suddenly abashed, hesitated, feeling afraid.</p>
+
+<p>"But I cannot call on her at this time of the day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; she is up. You will find her in my study arranging some notes
+for me."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy refused to go upstairs, saying: "No, I can't think of such a
+thing."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier took him by the shoulders, twisted him round on his heels, and
+pushing him towards the staircase, said: "Go along, you great donkey,
+when I tell you to. You are not going to oblige me to go up these
+flights of stairs again to introduce you and explain the fix you are
+in."</p>
+
+<p>Then Duroy made up his mind. "Thanks, then, I will go up," he said. "I
+shall tell her that you forced me, positively forced me to come and see
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. She won't scratch your eyes out. Above all, do not forget
+our appointment for three o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! don't be afraid about that."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier hastened off, and Duroy began to ascend the stairs slowly,
+step by step, thinking over what he should say, and feeling uneasy as to
+his probable reception.</p>
+
+<p>The man servant, wearing a blue apron, and holding a broom in his hand,
+opened the door to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Master is not at home," he said, without waiting to be spoken to.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Ask Madame Forestier," said he, "whether she will receive me, and tell
+her that I have come from her husband, whom I met in the street."</p>
+
+<p>Then he waited while the man went away, returned, and opening the door
+on the right, said: "Madame will see you, sir."</p>
+
+<p>She was seated in an office armchair in a small room, the walls of which
+were wholly hidden by books carefully ranged on shelves of black wood.
+The bindings, of various tints, red, yellow, green, violet, and blue,
+gave some color and liveliness to those monotonous lines of volumes.</p>
+
+<p>She turned round, still smiling. She was wrapped in a white dressing
+gown, trimmed with lace, and as she held out her hand, displayed her
+bare arm in its wide sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>"Already?" said she, and then added: "That is not meant for a reproach,
+but a simple question."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, madame, I did not want to come up, but your husband, whom I met at
+the bottom of the house, obliged me to. I am so confused that I dare not
+tell you what brings me."</p>
+
+<p>She pointed to a chair, saying: "Sit down and tell me about it."</p>
+
+<p>She was twirling a goose-quill between her fingers, and in front of her
+was a half-written page, interrupted by the young fellow's arrival. She
+seemed quite at home at this work table, as much at her ease as if in
+her drawing-room, engaged on everyday tasks. A faint perfume emanated
+from her dressing gown, the fresh perfume of a recent toilet. Duroy
+sought to divine, fancied he could trace, the outline of her plump,
+youthful figure through the soft material enveloping it.</p>
+
+<p>She went on, as he did not reply: "Well, come tell me what is it."</p>
+
+<p>He murmured, hesitatingly: "Well, you see&mdash;but I really dare not&mdash;I was
+working last night very late and quite early this morning on the article
+upon Algeria, upon which Monsieur Walter asked me to write, and I could
+not get on with it&mdash;I tore up all my attempts. I am not accustomed to
+this kind of work, and I came to ask Forestier to help me this once&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She interrupted him, laughing heartily. "And he told you to come and see
+me? That is a nice thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madame. He said that you will get me out of my difficulty better
+than himself, but I did not dare, I did not wish to&mdash;you understand."</p>
+
+<p>She rose, saying: "It will be delightful to work in collaboration with
+you like that. I am charmed at the notion. Come, sit down in my place,
+for they know my hand-writing at the office. And we will knock you off
+an article; oh, but a good one."</p>
+
+<p>He sat down, took a pen, spread a sheet of paper before him, and waited.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier, standing by, watched him make these preparations, then
+took a cigarette from the mantel-shelf, and lit it.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot work without smoking," said she. "Come, what are you going to
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>He lifted his head towards her with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"But that is just what I don't know, since it is that I came to see you
+about."</p>
+
+<p>She replied: "Oh, I will put it in order for you. I will make the sauce,
+but then I want the materials of the dish."</p>
+
+<p>He remained embarrassed before her. At length he said, hesitatingly: "I
+should like to relate my journey, then, from the beginning."</p>
+
+<p>Then she sat down before him on the other side of the table, and looking
+him in the eyes:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, tell it me first; for myself alone, you understand, slowly and
+without forgetting anything, and I will select what is to be used of
+it."</p>
+
+<p>But as he did not know where to commence, she began to question him as a
+priest would have done in the confessional, putting precise questions
+which recalled to him forgotten details, people encountered and faces
+merely caught sight of.</p>
+
+<p>When she had made him speak thus for about a quarter of an hour, she
+suddenly interrupted him with: "Now we will begin. In the first place,
+we will imagine that you are narrating your impressions to a friend,
+which will allow you to write a lot of tom-foolery, to make remarks of
+all kinds, to be natural and funny if we can. Begin:</p>
+
+<p>"'My Dear Henry,&mdash;You want to know what Algeria is like, and you shall.
+I will send you, having nothing else to do in a little cabin of dried
+mud which serves me as a habitation, a kind of journal of my life, day
+by day, and hour by hour. It will be a little lively at times, more is
+the pity, but you are not obliged to show it to your lady friends.'"</p>
+
+<p>She paused to re-light her cigarette, which had gone out, and the faint
+creaking of the quill on the paper stopped, too.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us continue," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"Algeria is a great French country on the frontiers of the great unknown
+countries called the Desert, the Sahara, central Africa, etc., etc.</p>
+
+<p>"Algiers is the door, the pretty white door of this strange continent.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is first necessary to get to it, which is not a rosy job for
+everyone. I am, you know, an excellent horseman, since I break in the
+colonel's horses; but a man may be a very good rider and a very bad
+sailor. That is my case.</p>
+
+<p>"You remember Surgeon-Major Simbretras, whom we used to call Old
+Ipecacuanha, and how, when we thought ourselves ripe for a twenty-four
+hours' stay in the infirmary, that blessed sojourning place, we used to
+go up before him.</p>
+
+<p>"How he used to sit in his chair, with his fat legs in his red trousers,
+wide apart, his hands on his knees, and his elbows stuck, rolling his
+great eyes and gnawing his white moustache.</p>
+
+<p>"You remember his favorite mode of treatment: 'This man's stomach is
+out of order. Give him a dose of emetic number three, according to my
+prescription, and then twelve hours off duty, and he will be all right.'</p>
+
+<p>"It was a sovereign remedy that emetic&mdash;sovereign and irresistible. One
+swallowed it because one had to. Then when one had undergone the effects
+of Old Ipecacuanha's prescription, one enjoyed twelve well-earned hours'
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear fellow, to reach Africa, it is necessary to undergo for
+forty hours the effects of another kind of irresistible emetic,
+according to the prescription of the Compagnie Transatlantique."</p>
+
+<p>She rubbed her hands, delighted with the idea.</p>
+
+<p>She got up and walked about, after having lit another cigarette, and
+dictated as she puffed out little whiffs of smoke, which, issuing at
+first through a little round hole in the midst of her compressed lips,
+slowly evaporated, leaving in the air faint gray lines, a kind of
+transparent mist, like a spider's web. Sometimes with her open hand she
+would brush these light traces aside; at others she would cut them
+asunder with her forefinger, and then watch with serious attention the
+two halves of the almost impenetrable vapor slowly disappear.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, with his eyes, followed all her gestures, her attitudes, the
+movements of her form and features&mdash;busied with this vague pastime which
+did not preoccupy her thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>She now imagined the incidents of the journey, sketched traveling
+companions invented by herself, and a love affair with the wife of a
+captain of infantry on her way to join her husband.</p>
+
+<p>Then, sitting down again, she questioned Duroy on the topography of
+Algeria, of which she was absolutely ignorant. In ten minutes she knew
+as much about it as he did, and she dictated a little chapter of
+political and colonial geography to coach the reader up in such matters
+and prepare him to understand the serious questions which were to be
+brought forward in the following articles. She continued by a trip into
+the provinces of Oran, a fantastic trip, in which it was, above all, a
+question of women, Moorish, Jewish, and Spanish.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what interests most," she said.</p>
+
+<p>She wound up by a sojourn at Saïda, at the foot of the great tablelands;
+and by a pretty little intrigue between the sub-officer, George Duroy,
+and a Spanish work-girl employed at the <i>alfa</i> factory at Ain el Hadjar.
+She described their rendezvous at night amidst the bare, stony hills,
+with jackals, hyenas, and Arab dogs yelling, barking and howling among
+the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>And she gleefully uttered the words: "To be continued." Then rising, she
+added: "That is how one writes an article, my dear sir. Sign it, if you
+please."</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"But sign it, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>Then he began to laugh, and wrote at the bottom of the page, "George
+Duroy."</p>
+
+<p>She went on smoking as she walked up and down; and he still kept looking
+at her, unable to find anything to say to thank her, happy to be with
+her, filled with gratitude, and with the sensual pleasure of this
+new-born intimacy. It seemed to him that everything surrounding him was
+part of her, everything down to the walls covered with books. The
+chairs, the furniture, the air in which the perfume of tobacco was
+floating, had something special, nice, sweet, and charming, which
+emanated from her.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she asked: "What do you think of my friend, Madame de Marelle?"</p>
+
+<p>He was surprised, and answered: "I think&mdash;I think&mdash;her very charming."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it not so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>He longed to add: "But not so much as yourself," but dared not.</p>
+
+<p>She resumed: "And if you only knew how funny, original, and intelligent
+she is. She is a Bohemian&mdash;a true Bohemian. That is why her husband
+scarcely cares for her. He only sees her defects, and does not
+appreciate her good qualities."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy felt stupefied at learning that Madame de Marelle was married, and
+yet it was only natural that she should be.</p>
+
+<p>He said: "Oh, she is married, then! And what is her husband?"</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier gently shrugged her shoulders, and raised her eyebrows,
+with a gesture of incomprehensible meaning.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! he is an inspector on the Northern Railway. He spends eight days
+out of the month in Paris. What his wife calls 'obligatory service,' or
+'weekly duty,' or 'holy week.' When you know her better you will see how
+nice and bright she is. Go and call on her one of these days."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy no longer thought of leaving. It seemed to him that he was going
+to stop for ever; that he was at home.</p>
+
+<p>But the door opened noiselessly, and a tall gentleman entered without
+being announced. He stopped short on seeing a stranger. Madame Forestier
+seemed troubled for a moment; then she said in natural tones, though a
+slight rosy flush had risen to her cheeks:</p>
+
+<p>"Come in, my dear sir. I must introduce one of Charles' old friends,
+Monsieur George Duroy, a future journalist." Then in another tone, she
+added: "Our best and most intimate friend, the Count de Vaudrec."</p>
+
+<p>The two men bowed, looking each other in the eyes, and Duroy at once
+took his leave.</p>
+
+<p>There was no attempt to detain him. He stammered a few thanks, grasped
+the outstretched hand of Madame Forestier, bowed again to the new-comer,
+who preserved the cold, grave air of a man of position, and went out
+quite disturbed, as if he had made a fool of himself.</p>
+
+<p>On finding himself once more in the street, he felt sad and uneasy,
+haunted by the vague idea of some hidden vexation. He walked on, asking
+himself whence came this sudden melancholy. He could not tell, but the
+stern face of the Count de Vaudrec, already somewhat aged, with gray
+hair, and the calmly insolent look of a very wealthy man, constantly
+recurred to his recollection. He noted that the arrival of this unknown,
+breaking off a charming <i>tête-à-tête</i>, had produced in him that chilly,
+despairing sensation that a word overheard, a trifle noticed, the least
+thing suffices sometimes to bring about. It seemed to him, too, that
+this man, without his being able to guess why, had been displeased at
+finding him there.</p>
+
+<p>He had nothing more to do till three o'clock, and it was not yet noon.
+He had still six francs fifty centimes in his pocket, and he went and
+lunched at a Bouillon Duval. Then he prowled about the boulevard, and
+as three o'clock struck, ascended the staircase, in itself an
+advertisement, of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The messengers-in-waiting were seated with folded arms on a bench, while
+at a kind of desk a doorkeeper was sorting the correspondence that had
+just arrived. The entire get-up of the place, intended to impress
+visitors, was perfect. Everyone had the appearance, bearing, dignity,
+and smartness suitable to the ante-room of a large newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Walter, if you please?" inquired Duroy.</p>
+
+<p>"The manager is engaged, sir," replied the doorkeeper. "Will you take a
+seat, sir?" and he indicated the waiting-room, already full of people.</p>
+
+<p>There were men grave, important-looking, and decorated; and men without
+visible linen, whose frock-coats, buttoned up to the chin, bore upon the
+breast stains recalling the outlines of continents and seas on
+geographical maps. There were three women among them. One of them was
+pretty, smiling, and decked out, and had the air of a gay woman; her
+neighbor, with a wrinkled, tragic countenance, decked out also, but in
+more severe fashion, had about her something worn and artificial which
+old actresses generally have; a kind of false youth, like a scent of
+stale love. The third woman, in mourning, sat in a corner, with the air
+of a desolate widow. Duroy thought that she had come to ask for charity.</p>
+
+<p>However, no one was ushered into the room beyond, and more than twenty
+minutes had elapsed.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy was seized with an idea, and going back to the doorkeeper, said:
+"Monsieur Walter made an appointment for me to call on him here at three
+o'clock. At all events, see whether my friend, Monsieur Forestier, is
+here."</p>
+
+<p>He was at once ushered along a lengthy passage, which brought him to a
+large room where four gentlemen were writing at a large green-covered
+table.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier standing before the fireplace was smoking a cigarette and
+playing at cup and ball. He was very clever at this, and kept spiking
+the huge ball of yellow boxwood on the wooden point. He was counting
+"Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five."</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty-six," said Duroy.</p>
+
+<p>His friend raised his eyes without interrupting the regular movement of
+his arm, saying: "Oh! here you are, then. Yesterday I landed the ball
+fifty-seven times right off. There is only Saint-Potin who can beat me
+at it among those here. Have you seen the governor? There is nothing
+funnier than to see that old tubby Norbert playing at cup and ball. He
+opens his mouth as if he was going to swallow the ball every time."</p>
+
+<p>One of the others turned round towards him, saying: "I say, Forestier, I
+know of one for sale, a beauty in West Indian wood; it is said to have
+belonged to the Queen of Spain. They want sixty francs for it. Not
+dear."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier asked: "Where does it hang out?"</p>
+
+<p>And as he had missed his thirty-seventh shot, he opened a cupboard in
+which Duroy saw a score of magnificent cups and balls, arranged and
+numbered like a collection of art objects. Then having put back the one
+he had been using in its usual place, he repeated: "Where does this gem
+hang out?"</p>
+
+<p>The journalist replied: "At a box-office keeper's of the Vaudeville. I
+will bring it you to-morrow, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. If it is really a good one I will take it; one can never
+have too many." Then turning to Duroy he added: "Come with me. I will
+take you in to see the governor; otherwise you might be getting mouldy
+here till seven in the evening."</p>
+
+<p>They re-crossed the waiting-room, in which the same people were waiting
+in the same order. As soon as Forestier appeared the young woman and the
+old actress, rising quickly, came up to him. He took them aside one
+after the other into the bay of the window, and although they took care
+to talk in low tones, Duroy noticed that they were on familiar terms.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having passed through two padded doors, they entered the manager's
+room. The conference which had been going on for an hour or so was
+nothing more than a game at ecarté with some of the gentlemen with the
+flat brimmed hats whom Duroy had noticed the night before.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Walter dealt and played with concentrated attention and crafty
+movements, while his adversary threw down, picked up, and handled the
+light bits of colored pasteboard with the swiftness, skill, and grace of
+a practiced player. Norbert de Varenne, seated in the managerial
+armchair, was writing an article. Jacques Rival, stretched at full
+length on a couch, was smoking a cigar with his eyes closed.</p>
+
+<p>The room smelled close, with that blended odor of leather-covered
+furniture, stale tobacco, and printing-ink peculiar to editors' rooms
+and familiar to all journalists. Upon the black wood table, inlaid with
+brass, lay an incredible pile of papers, letters, cards, newspapers,
+magazines, bills, and printed matter of every description.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier shook hands with the punters standing behind the card players,
+and without saying a word watched the progress of the game; then, as
+soon as Daddy Walter had won, he said: "Here is my friend, Duroy."</p>
+
+<p>The manager glanced sharply at the young fellow over the glasses of his
+spectacles, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you brought my article? It would go very well to-day with the
+Morel debate."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy took the sheets of paper folded in four from his pocket, saying:
+"Here it is sir."</p>
+
+<p>The manager seemed pleased, and remarked, with a smile: "Very good, very
+good. You are a man of your word. You must look through this for me,
+Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>But Forestier hastened to reply: "It is not worth while, Monsieur
+Walter. I did it with him to give him a lesson in the tricks of the
+trade. It is very well done."</p>
+
+<p>And the manager, who was gathering up the cards dealt by a tall, thin
+gentleman, a deputy belonging to the Left Center, remarked with
+indifference: "All right, then."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier, however, did not let him begin the new game, but stooping,
+murmured in his ear: "You know you promised me to take on Duroy to
+replace Marambot. Shall I engage him on the same terms?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>Taking his friend's arm, the journalist led him away, while Monsieur
+Walter resumed the game.</p>
+
+<p>Norbert de Varenne had not lifted his head; he did not appear to have
+seen or recognized Duroy. Jacques Rival, on the contrary, had taken his
+hand with the marked and demonstrative energy of a comrade who may be
+reckoned upon in the case of any little difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>They passed through the waiting-room again, and as everyone looked at
+them, Forestier said to the youngest of the women, in a tone loud enough
+to be heard by the rest: "The manager will see you directly. He is just
+now engaged with two members of the Budget Committee."</p>
+
+<p>Then he passed swiftly on, with an air of hurry and importance, as
+though about to draft at once an article of the utmost weight.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they were back in the reporters' room Forestier at once took
+up his cup and ball, and as he began to play with it again, said to
+Duroy, breaking his sentences in order to count: "You will come here
+every day at three o'clock, and I will tell you the places you are to go
+to, either during the day or in the evening, or the next morning&mdash;one&mdash;I
+will give you, first of all, a letter of introduction to the head of the
+First Department of the Préfecture of Police&mdash;two&mdash;who will put you in
+communication with one of his clerks. You will settle with him about all
+the important information&mdash;three&mdash;from the Préfecture, official and
+quasi-official information, you know. In all matters of detail you will
+apply to Saint-Potin, who is up in the work&mdash;four&mdash;You can see him
+by-and-by, or to-morrow. You must, above all, cultivate the knack of
+dragging information out of men I send you to see&mdash;five&mdash;and to get in
+everywhere, in spite of closed doors&mdash;six&mdash;You will have for this a
+salary of two hundred francs a month, with two sous a line for the
+paragraphs you glean&mdash;seven&mdash;and two sous a line for all articles
+written by you to order on different subjects&mdash;eight."</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave himself up entirely to his occupation, and went on slowly
+counting: "Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen." He missed the
+fourteenth, and swore, "Damn that thirteen, it always brings me bad
+luck. I shall die on the thirteenth of some month, I am certain."</p>
+
+<p>One of his colleagues who had finished his work also took a cup and ball
+from the cupboard. He was a little man, who looked like a boy, although
+he was really five-and-thirty. Several other journalists having come in,
+went one after the other and got out the toy belonging to each of them.
+Soon there were six standing side by side, with their backs to the wall,
+swinging into the air, with even and regular motion, the balls of red,
+yellow, and black, according to the wood they were made of. And a match
+having begun, the two who were still working got up to act as umpires.
+Forestier won by eleven points. Then the little man, with the juvenile
+aspect, who had lost, rang for the messenger, and gave the order, "Nine
+bocks." And they began to play again pending the arrival of these
+refreshments.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy drank a glass of beer with his new comrades, and then said to his
+friend: "What am I to do now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have nothing for you to-day. You can go if you want to."</p>
+
+<p>"And our&mdash;our&mdash;article, will it go in to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but do not bother yourself about it; I will correct the proofs.
+Write the continuation for to-morrow, and come here at three o'clock,
+the same as to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy having shaken hands with everyone, without even knowing their
+names, went down the magnificent staircase with a light heart and high
+spirits.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2>
+
+
+<p>George Duroy slept badly, so excited was he by the wish to see his
+article in print. He was up as soon as it was daylight, and was prowling
+about the streets long before the hour at which the porters from the
+newspaper offices run with their papers from kiosque to kiosque. He went
+on to the Saint Lazare terminus, knowing that the <i>Vie Francaise</i> would
+be delivered there before it reached his own district. As he was still
+too early, he wandered up and down on the footpath.</p>
+
+<p>He witnessed the arrival of the newspaper vendor who opened her glass
+shop, and then saw a man bearing on his head a pile of papers. He rushed
+forward. There were the <i>Figaro</i>, the <i>Gil Blas</i>, the <i>Gaulois</i>, the
+<i>Evenement</i>, and two or three morning journals, but the <i>Vie Francaise</i>
+was not among them. Fear seized him. Suppose the "Recollections of a
+Chasseur d'Afrique" had been kept over for the next day, or that by
+chance they had not at the last moment seemed suitable to Daddy Walter.</p>
+
+<p>Turning back to the kiosque, he saw that the paper was on sale without
+his having seen it brought there. He darted forward, unfolded it, after
+having thrown down the three sous, and ran through the headings of the
+articles on the first page. Nothing. His heart began to beat, and he
+experienced strong emotion on reading at the foot of a column in large
+letters, "George Duroy." It was in; what happiness!</p>
+
+<p>He began to walk along unconsciously, the paper in his hand and his hat
+on one side of his head, with a longing to stop the passers-by in order
+to say to them: "Buy this, buy this, there is an article by me in it."
+He would have liked to have bellowed with all the power of his lungs,
+like some vendors of papers at night on the boulevards, "Read the <i>Vie
+Francaise</i>; read George Duroy's article, 'Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique.'" And suddenly he felt a wish to read this article himself,
+read it in a public place, a <i>café</i>, in sight of all. He looked about
+for some establishment already filled with customers. He had to walk in
+search of one for some time. He sat down at last in front of a kind of
+wine shop, where several customers were already installed, and asked for
+a glass of rum, as he would have asked for one of absinthe, without
+thinking of the time. Then he cried: "Waiter, bring me the <i>Vie
+Francaise</i>."</p>
+
+<p>A man in a white apron stepped up, saying: "We have not got it, sir; we
+only take in the <i>Rappel</i>, the <i>Siecle</i>, the <i>Lanierne</i>, and the <i>Petit
+Parisien</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"What a den!" exclaimed Duroy, in a tone of anger and disgust. "Here, go
+and buy it for me."</p>
+
+<p>The waiter hastened to do so, and brought back the paper. Duroy began to
+read his article, and several times said aloud: "Very good, very well
+put," to attract the attention of his neighbors, and inspire them with
+the wish to know what there was in this sheet. Then, on going away, he
+left it on the table. The master of the place, noticing this, called him
+back, saying: "Sir, sir, you are forgetting your paper."</p>
+
+<p>And Duroy replied: "I will leave it to you. I have finished with it.
+There is a very interesting article in it this morning."</p>
+
+<p>He did not indicate the article, but he noticed as he went away one of
+his neighbors take the <i>Vie Francaise</i> up from the table on which he had
+left it.</p>
+
+<p>He thought: "What shall I do now?" And he decided to go to his office,
+take his month's salary, and tender his resignation. He felt a thrill of
+anticipatory pleasure at the thought of the faces that would be pulled
+up by the chief of his room and his colleagues. The notion of the
+bewilderment of the chief above all charmed him.</p>
+
+<p>He walked slowly, so as not to get there too early, the cashier's office
+not opening before ten o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>His office was a large, gloomy room, in which gas had to be kept burning
+almost all day long in winter. It looked into a narrow court-yard, with
+other offices on the further side of it. There were eight clerks there,
+besides a sub-chief hidden behind a screen in one corner.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy first went to get the hundred and eighteen francs twenty-five
+centimes enclosed in a yellow envelope, and placed in the drawer of the
+clerk entrusted with such payments, and then, with a conquering air,
+entered the large room in which he had already spent so many days.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he came in the sub-chief, Monsieur Potel, called out to him:
+"Ah! it is you, Monsieur Duroy? The chief has already asked for you
+several times. You know that he will not allow anyone to plead illness
+two days running without a doctor's certificate."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, who was standing in the middle of the room preparing his
+sensational effect, replied in a loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care a damn whether he does or not."</p>
+
+<p>There was a movement of stupefaction among the clerks, and Monsieur
+Potel's features showed affrightedly over the screen which shut him up
+as in a box. He barricaded himself behind it for fear of draughts, for
+he was rheumatic, but had pierced a couple of holes through the paper to
+keep an eye on his staff. A pin might have been heard to fall. At length
+the sub-chief said, hesitatingly: "You said?"</p>
+
+<p>"I said that I don't care a damn about it. I have only called to-day to
+tender my resignation. I am engaged on the staff of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>
+at five hundred francs a month, and extra pay for all I write. Indeed, I
+made my <i>début</i> this morning."</p>
+
+<p>He had promised himself to spin out his enjoyment, but had not been able
+to resist the temptation of letting it all out at once.</p>
+
+<p>The effect, too, was overwhelming. No one stirred.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy went on: "I will go and inform Monsieur Perthuis, and then come
+and wish you good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>And he went out in search of the chief, who exclaimed, on seeing him:
+"Ah, here you are. You know that I won't have&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>His late subordinate cut him short with: "It's not worth while yelling
+like that."</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Perthuis, a stout man, as red as a turkey cock, was choked with
+bewilderment.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy continued: "I have had enough of this crib. I made my <i>début</i> this
+morning in journalism, where I am assured of a very good position. I
+have the honor to bid you good-day." And he went out. He was avenged.</p>
+
+<p>As he promised, he went and shook hands with his old colleagues, who
+scarcely dared to speak to him, for fear of compromising themselves, for
+they had overheard his conversation with the chief, the door having
+remained open.</p>
+
+<p>He found himself in the street again, with his salary in his pocket. He
+stood himself a substantial breakfast at a good but cheap restaurant he
+was acquainted with, and having again purchased the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, and
+left it on the table, went into several shops, where he bought some
+trifles, solely for the sake of ordering them to be sent home, and
+giving his name: "George Duroy," with the addition, "I am the editor of
+the <i>Vie Francaise</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave the name of the street and the number, taking care to add:
+"Leave it with the doorkeeper."</p>
+
+<p>As he had still some time to spare he went into the shop of a
+lithographer, who executed visiting cards at a moment's notice before
+the eyes of passers-by, and had a hundred, bearing his new occupation
+under his name, printed off while he waited.</p>
+
+<p>Then he went to the office of the paper.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier received him loftily, as one receives a subordinate. "Ah! here
+you are. Good. I have several things for you to attend to. Just wait ten
+minutes. I will just finish what I am about."</p>
+
+<p>And he went on with a letter he was writing.</p>
+
+<p>At the other end of the large table a fat, bald little man, with a very
+pale, puffy face, and a white and shining head, was writing, with his
+nose on the paper owing to extreme shortsightedness. Forestier said to
+him: "I say, Saint-Potin, when are you going to interview those
+people?"</p>
+
+<p>"At four o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you take young Duroy here with you, and let him into the way of
+doing it?"</p>
+
+<p>"All right."</p>
+
+<p>Then turning to his friend, Forestier added: "Have you brought the
+continuation of the Algerian article? The opening this morning was very
+successful."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, taken aback, stammered: "No. I thought I should have time this
+afternoon. I had heaps of things to do. I was not able."</p>
+
+<p>The other shrugged his shoulders with a dissatisfied air. "If you are
+not more exact than that you will spoil your future. Daddy Walter was
+reckoning on your copy. I will tell him it will be ready to-morrow. If
+you think you are to be paid for doing nothing you are mistaken."</p>
+
+<p>Then, after a short silence, he added: "One must strike the iron while
+it is hot, or the deuce is in it."</p>
+
+<p>Saint-Potin rose, saying: "I am ready."</p>
+
+<p>Then Forestier, leaning back in his chair, assumed a serious attitude in
+order to give his instructions, and turning to Duroy, said: "This is
+what it is. Within the last two days the Chinese General, Li Theng Fao,
+has arrived at the Hotel Continental, and the Rajah Taposahib Ramaderao
+Pali at the Hotel Bristol. You will go and interview them." Turning to
+Saint-Potin, he continued: "Don't forget the main points I told you of.
+Ask the General and the Rajah their opinion upon the action of England
+in the East, their ideas upon her system of colonization and domination,
+and their hopes respecting the intervention of Europe, and especially of
+France." He was silent for a moment, and then added in a theatrical
+aside: "It will be most interesting to our readers to learn at the same
+time what is thought in China and India upon these matters which so
+forcibly occupy public attention at this moment." He continued, for the
+benefit of Duroy: "Watch how Saint-Potin sets to work; he is a capital
+reporter; and try to learn the trick of pumping a man in five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Then he gravely resumed his writing, with the evident intention of
+defining their relative positions, and putting his old comrade and
+present colleague in his proper place.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they had crossed the threshold Saint-Potin began to laugh,
+and said to Duroy: "There's a fluffer for you. He tried to fluff even
+us. One would really think he took us for his readers."</p>
+
+<p>They reached the boulevard, and the reporter observed: "Will you have a
+drink?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. It is awfully hot."</p>
+
+<p>They turned into a <i>café</i> and ordered cooling drinks. Saint-Potin began
+to talk. He talked about the paper and everyone connected with it with
+an abundance of astonishing details.</p>
+
+<p>"The governor? A regular Jew? And you know, nothing can alter a Jew.
+What a breed!" And he instanced some astounding traits of avariciousness
+peculiar to the children of Israel, economies of ten centimes, petty
+bargaining, shameful reductions asked for and obtained, all the ways of
+a usurer and pawnbroker.</p>
+
+<p>"And yet with all this, a good fellow who believes in nothing and does
+everyone. His paper, which is Governmental, Catholic, Liberal,
+Republican, Orleanist, pay your money and take your choice, was only
+started to help him in his speculations on the Bourse, and bolster up
+his other schemes. At that game he is very clever, and nets millions
+through companies without four sous of genuine capital."</p>
+
+<p>He went on, addressing Duroy as "My dear fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"And he says things worthy of Balzac, the old shark. Fancy, the other
+day I was in his room with that old tub Norbert, and that Don Quixote
+Rival, when Montelin, our business manager, came in with his morocco
+bill-case, that bill-case that everyone in Paris knows, under his arm.
+Walter raised his head and asked: 'What news?' Montelin answered simply:
+'I have just paid the sixteen thousand francs we owed the paper maker.'
+The governor gave a jump, an astonishing jump. 'What do you mean?' said
+he. 'I have just paid Monsieur Privas,' replied Montelin. 'But you are
+mad.' 'Why?' 'Why&mdash;why&mdash;why&mdash;' he took off his spectacles and wiped
+them. Then he smiled with that queer smile that flits across his fat
+cheeks whenever he is going to say something deep or smart, and went on
+in a mocking and derisive tone, 'Why? Because we could have obtained a
+reduction of from four to five thousand francs.' Montelin replied, in
+astonishment: 'But, sir, all the accounts were correct, checked by me
+and passed by yourself.' Then the governor, quite serious again,
+observed: 'What a fool you are. Don't you know, Monsieur Montelin, that
+one should always let one's debts mount up, in order to offer a
+composition?'"</p>
+
+<p>And Saint-Potin added, with a knowing shake of his head, "Eh! isn't that
+worthy of Balzac?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy had not read Balzac, but he replied, "By Jove! yes."</p>
+
+<p>Then the reporter spoke of Madame Walter, an old goose; of Norbert de
+Varenne, an old failure; of Rival, a copy of Fervacques. Next he came
+to Forestier. "As to him, he has been lucky in marrying his wife, that
+is all."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy asked: "What is his wife, really?"</p>
+
+<p>Saint-Potin rubbed his hands. "Oh! a deep one, a smart woman. She was
+the mistress of an old rake named Vaudrec, the Count de Vaudrec, who
+gave her a dowry and married her off."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy suddenly felt a cold shiver run through him, a tingling of the
+nerves, a longing to smack this gabbler on the face. But he merely
+interrupted him by asking:</p>
+
+<p>"And your name is Saint-Potin?"</p>
+
+<p>The other replied, simply enough:</p>
+
+<p>"No, my name is Thomas. It is in the office that they have nicknamed me
+Saint-Potin."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, as he paid for the drinks, observed: "But it seems to me that
+time is getting on, and that we have two noble foreigners to call on."</p>
+
+<p>Saint-Potin began to laugh. "You are still green. So you fancy I am
+going to ask the Chinese and the Hindoo what they think of England? As
+if I did not know better than themselves what they ought to think in
+order to please the readers of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. I have already
+interviewed five hundred of these Chinese, Persians, Hindoos, Chilians,
+Japanese, and others. They all reply the same, according to me. I have
+only to take my article on the last comer and copy it word for word.
+What has to be changed, though, is their appearance, their name, their
+title, their age, and their suite. Oh! on that point it does not do to
+make a mistake, for I should be snapped up sharp by the <i>Figaro</i> or the
+<i>Gaulois</i>. But on these matters the hall porters at the Hotel Bristol
+and the Hotel Continental will put me right in five minutes. We will
+smoke a cigar as we walk there. Five francs cab hire to charge to the
+paper. That is how one sets about it, my dear fellow, when one is
+practically inclined."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be worth something decent to be a reporter under these
+circumstances," said Duroy.</p>
+
+<p>The journalist replied mysteriously: "Yes, but nothing pays so well as
+paragraphs, on account of the veiled advertisements."</p>
+
+<p>They had got up and were passing down the boulevards towards the
+Madeleine. Saint-Potin suddenly observed to his companion: "You know if
+you have anything else to do, I shall not need you in any way."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy shook hands and left him. The notion of the article to be written
+that evening worried him, and he began to think. He stored his mind with
+ideas, reflections, opinions, and anecdotes as he walked along, and went
+as far as the end of the Avenue des Champs Elysées, where only a few
+strollers were to be seen, the heat having caused Paris to be evacuated.</p>
+
+<p>Having dined at a wine shop near the Arc de Triomphe, he walked slowly
+home along the outer boulevards and sat down at his table to work. But
+as soon as he had the sheet of blank paper before his eyes, all the
+materials that he had accumulated fled from his mind as though his brain
+had evaporated. He tried to seize on fragments of his recollections and
+to retain them, but they escaped him as fast as he laid hold of them, or
+else they rushed on him altogether pell-mell, and he did not know how to
+clothe and present them, nor which one to begin with.</p>
+
+<p>After an hour of attempts and five sheets of paper blackened by opening
+phrases that had no continuation, he said to himself: "I am not yet
+well enough up in the business. I must have another lesson." And all at
+once the prospect of another morning's work with Madame Forestier, the
+hope of another long and intimate <i>tête-à-tête</i> so cordial and so
+pleasant, made him quiver with desire. He went to bed in a hurry, almost
+afraid now of setting to work again and succeeding all at once.</p>
+
+<p>He did not get up the next day till somewhat late, putting off and
+tasting in advance the pleasure of this visit.</p>
+
+<p>It was past ten when he rang his friend's bell.</p>
+
+<p>The man-servant replied: "Master is engaged at his work."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy had not thought that the husband might be at home. He insisted,
+however, saying: "Tell him that I have called on a matter requiring
+immediate attention."</p>
+
+<p>After waiting five minutes he was shown into the study in which he had
+passed such a pleasant morning. In the chair he had occupied Forestier
+was now seated writing, in a dressing-gown and slippers and with a
+little Scotch bonnet on his head, while his wife in the same white gown
+leant against the mantelpiece and dictated, cigarette in mouth.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, halting on the threshold, murmured: "I really beg your pardon; I
+am afraid I am disturbing you."</p>
+
+<p>His friend, turning his face towards him&mdash;an angry face, too&mdash;growled:
+"What is it you want now? Be quick; we are pressed for time."</p>
+
+<p>The intruder, taken back, stammered: "It is nothing; I beg your
+pardon."</p>
+
+<p>But Forestier, growing angry, exclaimed: "Come, hang it all, don't waste
+time about it; you have not forced your way in just for the sake of
+wishing us good-morning, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>Then Duroy, greatly perturbed, made up his mind. "No&mdash;you see&mdash;the fact
+is&mdash;I can't quite manage my article&mdash;and you were&mdash;so&mdash;so kind last
+time&mdash;that I hoped&mdash;that I ventured to come&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Forestier cut him short. "You have a pretty cheek. So you think I am
+going to do your work, and that all you have to do is to call on the
+cashier at the end of the month to draw your screw? No, that is too
+good."</p>
+
+<p>The young woman went on smoking without saying a word, smiling with a
+vague smile, which seemed like an amiable mask, concealing the irony of
+her thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, colored up, stammered: "Excuse me&mdash;I fancied&mdash;I thought&mdash;" then
+suddenly, and in a clear voice, he went on: "I beg your pardon a
+thousand times, Madame, while again thanking you most sincerely for the
+charming article you produced for me yesterday." He bowed, remarked to
+Charles: "I shall be at the office at three," and went out.</p>
+
+<p>He walked home rapidly, grumbling: "Well, I will do it all alone, and
+they shall see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely had he got in than, excited by anger, he began to write. He
+continued the adventure began by Madame Forestier, heaping up details of
+catch-penny romance, surprising incidents, and inflated descriptions,
+with the style of a schoolboy and the phraseology of the barrack-room.
+Within an hour he had finished an article which was a chaos of nonsense,
+and took it with every assurance to the <i>Vie Francaise</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The first person he met was Saint-Potin, who, grasping his hand with the
+energy of an accomplice, said: "You have read my interview with the
+Chinese and the Hindoo? Isn't it funny? It has amused everyone. And I
+did not even get a glimpse of them."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, who had not read anything, at once took up the paper and ran his
+eye over a long article headed: "India and China," while the reporter
+pointed out the most interesting passages.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier came in puffing, in a hurry, with a busy air, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Good; I want both of you."</p>
+
+<p>And he mentioned a number of items of political information that would
+have to be obtained that very afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy held out his article.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is the continuation about Algeria."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good; hand it over; and I will give it to the governor."</p>
+
+<p>That was all.</p>
+
+<p>Saint-Potin led away his new colleague, and when they were in the
+passage, he said to him: "Have you seen the cashier?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why? To draw your money. You see you should always draw a month in
+advance. One never knows what may happen."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;I ask for nothing better."</p>
+
+<p>"I will introduce you to the cashier. He will make no difficulty about
+it. They pay up well here."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy went and drew his two hundred francs, with twenty-eight more for
+his article of the day before, which, added to what remained of his
+salary from the railway company, gave him three hundred and forty
+francs in his pocket. He had never owned such a sum, and thought himself
+possessed of wealth for an indefinite period.</p>
+
+<p>Saint-Potin then took him to have a gossip in the offices of four or
+five rival papers, hoping that the news he was entrusted to obtain had
+already been gleaned by others, and that he should be able to draw it
+out of them&mdash;thanks to the flow and artfulness of his conversation.</p>
+
+<p>When evening had come, Duroy, who had nothing more to do, thought of
+going again to the Folies Bergères, and putting a bold face on, he went
+up to the box office.</p>
+
+<p>"I am George Duroy, on the staff of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. I came here the
+other day with Monsieur Forestier, who promised me to see about my being
+put on the free list; I do not know whether he has thought of it."</p>
+
+<p>The list was referred to. His name was not entered.</p>
+
+<p>However, the box office-keeper, a very affable man, at once said: "Pray,
+go in all the same, sir, and write yourself to the manager, who, I am
+sure, will pay attention to your letter."</p>
+
+<p>He went in and almost immediately met Rachel, the woman he had gone off
+with the first evening. She came up to him, saying: "Good evening,
+ducky. Are you quite well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, thanks&mdash;and you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am all right. Do you know, I have dreamed of you twice since last
+time?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy smiled, feeling flattered. "Ah! and what does that mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means that you pleased me, you old dear, and that we will begin
+again whenever you please."</p>
+
+<p>"To-day, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am quite willing."</p>
+
+<p>"Good, but&mdash;" He hesitated, a little ashamed of what he was going to do.
+"The fact is that this time I have not a penny; I have just come from
+the club, where I have dropped everything."</p>
+
+<p>She looked him full in the eyes, scenting a lie with the instinct and
+habit of a girl accustomed to the tricks and bargainings of men, and
+remarked: "Bosh! That is not a nice sort of thing to try on me."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled in an embarrassed way. "If you will take ten francs, it is all
+I have left."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, with the disinterestedness of a courtesan gratifying a
+fancy: "What you please, my lady; I only want you."</p>
+
+<p>And lifting her charming eyes towards the young man's moustache, she
+took his arm and leant lovingly upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go and have a grenadine first of all," she remarked. "And then
+we will take a stroll together. I should like to go to the opera like
+this, with you, to show you off. And we will go home early, eh?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>He lay late at this girl's place. It was broad day when he left, and the
+notion occurred to him to buy the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. He opened the paper
+with feverish hand. His article was not there, and he stood on the
+footpath, anxiously running his eye down the printed columns with the
+hope of at length finding what he was in search of. A weight suddenly
+oppressed his heart, for after the fatigue of a night of love, this
+vexation came upon him with the weight of a disaster.</p>
+
+<p>He reached home and went to sleep in his clothes on the bed.</p>
+
+<p>Entering the office some hours later, he went on to see Monsieur Walter.</p>
+
+<p>"I was surprised at not seeing my second article on Algeria in the paper
+this morning, sir," said he.</p>
+
+<p>The manager raised his head, and replied in a dry tone: "I gave it to
+your friend Forestier, and asked him to read it through. He did not
+think it up to the mark; you must rewrite it."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, in a rage, went out without saying a word, and abruptly entering
+his old comrade's room, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you let my article go in this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>The journalist was smoking a cigarette with his back almost on the seat
+of his armchair and his feet on the table, his heels soiling an article
+already commenced. He said slowly, in a bored and distant voice, as
+though speaking from the depths of a hole: "The governor thought it
+poor, and told me to give it back to you to do over again. There it is."
+And he pointed out the slips flattened out under a paperweight.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, abashed, could find nothing to say in reply, and as he was
+putting his prose into his pocket, Forestier went on: "To-day you must
+first of all go to the Préfecture." And he proceeded to give a list of
+business errands and items of news to be attended to.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy went off without having been able to find the cutting remark he
+wanted to. He brought back his article the next day. It was returned to
+him again. Having rewritten it a third time, and finding it still
+refused, he understood that he was trying to go ahead too fast, and
+that Forestier's hand alone could help him on his way. He did not
+therefore say anything more about the "Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique," promising himself to be supple and cunning since it was
+needful, and while awaiting something better to zealously discharge his
+duties as a reporter.</p>
+
+<p>He learned to know the way behind the scenes in theatrical and political
+life; the waiting-rooms of statesmen and the lobby of the Chamber of
+Deputies; the important countenances of permanent secretaries, and the
+grim looks of sleepy ushers. He had continual relations with ministers,
+doorkeepers, generals, police agents, princes, bullies, courtesans,
+ambassadors, bishops, panders, adventurers, men of fashion,
+card-sharpers, cab drivers, waiters, and many others, having become the
+interested yet indifferent friend of all these; confounding them
+together in his estimation, measuring them with the same measure,
+judging them with the same eye, though having to see them every day at
+every hour, without any transition, and to speak with them all on the
+same business of his own. He compared himself to a man who had to drink
+off samples of every kind of wine one after the other, and who would
+soon be unable to tell Château Margaux from Argenteuil.</p>
+
+<p>He became in a short time a remarkable reporter, certain of his
+information, artful, swift, subtle, a real find for the paper, as was
+observed by Daddy Walter, who knew what newspaper men were. However, as
+he got only centimes a line in addition to his monthly screw of two
+hundred francs, and as life on the boulevards and in <i>cafés</i> and
+restaurants is costly, he never had a halfpenny, and was disgusted with
+his poverty. There is some knack to be got hold of, he thought, seeing
+some of his fellows with their pockets full of money without ever being
+able to understand what secret methods they could make use of to procure
+this abundance. He enviously suspected unknown and suspicious
+transactions, services rendered, a whole system of contraband accepted
+and agreed to. But it was necessary that he should penetrate the
+mystery, enter into the tacit partnership, make himself one with the
+comrades who were sharing without him.</p>
+
+<p>And he often thought of an evening, as he watched the trains go by from
+his window, of the steps he ought to take.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2>
+
+
+<p>Two months had gone by, September was at hand, and the rapid fortune
+which Duroy had hoped for seemed to him slow in coming. He was, above
+all, uneasy at the mediocrity of his position, and did not see by what
+path he could scale the heights on the summit of which one finds
+respect, power, and money. He felt shut up in the mediocre calling of a
+reporter, so walled in as to be unable to get out of it. He was
+appreciated, but estimated in accordance with his position. Even
+Forestier, to whom he rendered a thousand services, no longer invited
+him to dinner, and treated him in every way as an inferior, though still
+accosting him as a friend.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time, it is true, Duroy, seizing an opportunity, got in a
+short article, and having acquired through his paragraphs a mastery over
+his pen, and a tact which was lacking to him when he wrote his second
+article on Algeria, no longer ran any risk of having his descriptive
+efforts refused. But from this to writing leaders according to his
+fancy, or dealing with political questions with authority, there was as
+great a difference as driving in the Bois de Boulogne as a coachman, and
+as the owner of an equipage. That which humiliated him above everything
+was to see the door of society closed to him, to have no equal relations
+with it, not to be able to penetrate into the intimacy of its women,
+although several well-known actresses had occasionally received him with
+an interested familiarity.</p>
+
+<p>He knew, moreover, from experience that all the sex, ladies or
+actresses, felt a singular attraction towards him, an instantaneous
+sympathy, and he experienced the impatience of a hobbled horse at not
+knowing those whom his future may depend on.</p>
+
+<p>He had often thought of calling on Madame Forestier, but the
+recollection of their last meeting checked and humiliated him; and
+besides, he was awaiting an invitation to do so from her husband. Then
+the recollection of Madame de Marelle occurred to him, and recalling
+that she had asked him to come and see her, he called one afternoon when
+he had nothing to do.</p>
+
+<p>"I am always at home till three o'clock," she had said.</p>
+
+<p>He rang at the bell of her residence, a fourth floor in the Rue de
+Verneuil, at half-past two.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of the bell a servant opened the door, an untidy girl, who
+tied her cap strings as she replied: "Yes, Madame is at home, but I
+don't know whether she is up."</p>
+
+<p>And she pushed open the drawing-room door, which was ajar. Duroy went
+in. The room was fairly large, scantily furnished and neglected looking.
+The chairs, worn and old, were arranged along the walls, as placed by
+the servant, for there was nothing to reveal the tasty care of the woman
+who loves her home. Four indifferent pictures, representing a boat on a
+stream, a ship at sea, a mill on a plain, and a wood-cutter in a wood,
+hung in the center of the four walls by cords of unequal length, and all
+four on one side. It could be divined that they had been dangling thus
+askew ever so long before indifferent eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy sat down immediately. He waited a long time. Then a door opened,
+and Madame de Marelle hastened in, wearing a Japanese morning gown of
+rose-colored silk embroidered with yellow landscapes, blue flowers, and
+white birds.</p>
+
+<p>"Fancy! I was still in bed!" she exclaimed. "How good of you to come and
+see me! I had made up my mind that you had forgotten me."</p>
+
+<p>She held out both her hands with a delighted air, and Duroy, whom the
+commonplace appearance of the room had put at his ease, kissed one, as
+he had seen Norbert de Varenne do.</p>
+
+<p>She begged him to sit down, and then scanning him from head to foot,
+said: "How you have altered! You have improved in looks. Paris has done
+you good. Come, tell me the news."</p>
+
+<p>And they began to gossip at once, as if they had been old acquaintances,
+feeling an instantaneous familiarity spring up between them; feeling one
+of those mutual currents of confidence, intimacy, and affection, which,
+in five minutes, make two beings of the same breed and character good
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, Madame de Marelle exclaimed in astonishment: "It is funny how
+I get on with you. It seems to me as though I had known you for ten
+years. We shall become good friends, no doubt. Would you like it?"</p>
+
+<p>He answered: "Certainly," with a smile which said still more.</p>
+
+<p>He thought her very tempting in her soft and bright-hued gown, less
+refined and delicate than the other in her white one, but more exciting
+and spicy. When he was beside Madame Forestier, with her continual and
+gracious smile which attracted and checked at the same time; which
+seemed to say: "You please me," and also "Take care," and of which the
+real meaning was never clear, he felt above all the wish to lie down at
+her feet, or to kiss the lace bordering of her bodice, and slowly inhale
+the warm and perfumed atmosphere that must issue from it. With Madame de
+Marelle he felt within him a more definite, a more brutal desire&mdash;a
+desire that made his fingers quiver in presence of the rounded outlines
+of the light silk.</p>
+
+<p>She went on talking, scattering in each phrase that ready wit of which
+she had acquired the habit just as a workman acquires the knack needed
+to accomplish a task reputed difficult, and at which other folk are
+astonished. He listened, thinking: "All this is worth remembering. A man
+could write charming articles of Paris gossip by getting her to chat
+over the events of the day."</p>
+
+<p>Some one tapped softly, very softly, at the door by which she had
+entered, and she called out: "You can come in, pet."</p>
+
+<p>Her little girl made her appearance, walked straight up to Duroy, and
+held out her hand to him. The astonished mother murmured: "But this is a
+complete conquest. I no longer recognize her."</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow, having kissed the child, made her sit down beside him,
+and with a serious manner asked her pleasant questions as to what she
+had been doing since they last met. She replied, in her little
+flute-like voice, with her grave and grown-up air.</p>
+
+<p>The clock struck three, and the journalist arose.</p>
+
+<p>"Come often," said Madame de Marelle, "and we will chat as we have done
+to-day; it will always give me pleasure. But how is it one no longer
+sees you at the Forestiers?" He replied: "Oh! for no reason. I have been
+very busy. I hope to meet you there again one of these days."</p>
+
+<p>He went out, his heart full of hope, though without knowing why.</p>
+
+<p>He did not speak to Forestier of this visit. But he retained the
+recollection of it the following days, and more than the recollection&mdash;a
+sensation of the unreal yet persistent presence of this woman. It seemed
+to him that he had carried away something of her, the reflection of her
+form in his eyes, and the smack of her moral self in his heart. He
+remained under the haunted influence of her image, as it happens
+sometimes when we have passed pleasant hours with some one.</p>
+
+<p>He paid a second visit a few days later.</p>
+
+<p>The maid ushered him into the drawing-room, and Laurine at once
+appeared. She held out no longer her hand, but her forehead, and said:
+"Mamma has told me to request you to wait for her. She will be a
+quarter-of-an-hour, because she is not dressed yet. I will keep you
+company."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, who was amused by the ceremonious manners of the little girl,
+replied: "Certainly, Mademoiselle. I shall be delighted to pass a
+quarter-of-an-hour with you, but I warn you that for my part I am not at
+all serious, and that I play all day long, so I suggest a game at
+touch."</p>
+
+<p>The girl was astonished; then she smiled as a woman would have done at
+this idea, which shocked her a little as well as astonished her, and
+murmured: "Rooms are not meant to be played in."</p>
+
+<p>He said: "It is all the same to me. I play everywhere. Come, catch me."</p>
+
+<p>And he began to go round the table, exciting her to pursue him, while
+she came after him, smiling with a species of polite condescension, and
+sometimes extending her hand to touch him, but without ever giving way
+so far as to run. He stopped, stooped down, and when she drew near with
+her little hesitating steps, sprung up in the air like a
+jack-in-the-box, and then bounded with a single stride to the other end
+of the dining-room. She thought it funny, ended by laughing, and
+becoming aroused, began to trot after him, giving little gleeful yet
+timid cries when she thought she had him. He shifted the chairs and used
+them as obstacles, forcing her to go round and round one of them for a
+minute at a time, and then leaving that one to seize upon another.
+Laurine ran now, giving herself wholly up to the charm of this new game,
+and with flushed face, rushed forward with the bound of a delighted
+child at each of the flights, the tricks, the feints of her companion.
+Suddenly, just as she thought she had got him, he seized her in his
+arms, and lifting her to the ceiling, exclaimed: "Touch."</p>
+
+<p>The delighted girl wriggled her legs to escape, and laughed with all her
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle came in at that moment, and was amazed. "What,
+Laurine, Laurine, playing! You are a sorcerer, sir."</p>
+
+<p>He put down the little girl, kissed her mother's hand, and they sat down
+with the child between them. They began to chat, but Laurine, usually so
+silent, kept talking all the while, and had to be sent to her room. She
+obeyed without a word, but with tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they were alone, Madame de Marelle lowered her voice. "You do
+not know, but I have a grand scheme, and I have thought of you. This is
+it. As I dine every week at the Forestiers, I return their hospitality
+from time to time at some restaurant. I do not like to entertain company
+at home, my household is not arranged for that, and besides, I do not
+understand anything about domestic affairs, anything about the kitchen,
+anything at all. I like to live anyhow. So I entertain them now and then
+at a restaurant, but it is not very lively when there are only three,
+and my own acquaintances scarcely go well with them. I tell you all this
+in order to explain a somewhat irregular invitation. You understand, do
+you not, that I want you to make one of us on Saturday at the Café
+Riche, at half-past seven. You know the place?"</p>
+
+<p>He accepted with pleasure, and she went on: "There will be only us four.
+These little outings are very amusing to us women who are not accustomed
+to them."</p>
+
+<p>She was wearing a dark brown dress, which showed off the lines of her
+waist, her hips, her bosom, and her arm in a coquettishly provocative
+way. Duroy felt confusedly astonished at the lack of harmony between
+this carefully refined elegance and her evident carelessness as regarded
+her dwelling. All that clothed her body, all that closely and directly
+touched her flesh was fine and delicate, but that which surrounded her
+did not matter to her.</p>
+
+<p>He left her, retaining, as before, the sense of her continued presence
+in species of hallucination of the senses. And he awaited the day of the
+dinner with growing impatience.</p>
+
+<p>Having hired, for the second time, a dress suit&mdash;his funds not yet
+allowing him to buy one&mdash;he arrived first at the rendezvous, a few
+minutes before the time. He was ushered up to the second story, and into
+a small private dining-room hung with red and white, its single window
+opening into the boulevard. A square table, laid for four, displaying
+its white cloth, so shining that it seemed to be varnished, and the
+glasses and the silver glittered brightly in the light of the twelve
+candles of two tall candelabra. Without was a broad patch of light
+green, due to the leaves of a tree lit up by the bright light from the
+dining-rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy sat down in a low armchair, upholstered in red to match the
+hangings on the walls. The worn springs yielding beneath him caused him
+to feel as though sinking into a hole. He heard throughout the huge
+house a confused murmur, the murmur of a large restaurant, made up of
+the clattering of glass and silver, the hurried steps of the waiters,
+deadened by the carpets in the passages, and the opening of doors
+letting out the sound of voices from the numerous private rooms in which
+people were dining. Forestier came in and shook hands with him, with a
+cordial familiarity which he never displayed at the offices of the <i>Vie
+Francaise</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"The ladies are coming together," said he; "these little dinners are
+very pleasant."</p>
+
+<p>Then he glanced at the table, turned a gas jet that was feebly burning
+completely off, closed one sash of the window on account of the draught,
+and chose a sheltered place for himself, with a remark: "I must be
+careful; I have been better for a month, and now I am queer again these
+last few days. I must have caught cold on Tuesday, coming out of the
+theater."</p>
+
+<p>The door was opened, and, followed by a waiter, the two ladies appeared,
+veiled, muffled, reserved, with that charmingly mysterious bearing they
+assume in such places, where the surroundings are suspicious.</p>
+
+<p>As Duroy bowed to Madame Forestier she scolded him for not having come
+to see her again; then she added with a smile, in the direction of her
+friend: "I know what it is; you prefer Madame de Marelle, you can find
+time to visit her."</p>
+
+<p>They sat down to table, and the waiter having handed the wine card to
+Forestier, Madame de Marelle exclaimed: "Give these gentlemen whatever
+they like, but for us iced champagne, the best, sweet champagne,
+mind&mdash;nothing else." And the man having withdrawn, she added with an
+excited laugh: "I am going to get tipsy this evening; we will have a
+spree&mdash;a regular spree."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier, who did not seem to have heard, said: "Would you mind the
+window being closed? My chest has been rather queer the last few days."</p>
+
+<p>"No, not at all."</p>
+
+<p>He pushed too the sash left open, and returned to his place with a
+reassured and tranquil countenance. His wife said nothing. Seemingly
+lost in thought, and with her eyes lowered towards the table, she smiled
+at the glasses with that vague smile which seemed always to promise and
+never to grant.</p>
+
+<p>The Ostend oysters were brought in, tiny and plump like little ears
+enclosed in shells, and melting between the tongue and the palate like
+salt bon-bons. Then, after the soup, was served a trout as rose-tinted
+as a young girl, and the guests began to talk.</p>
+
+<p>They spoke at first of a current scandal; the story of a lady of
+position, surprised by one of her husband's friends supping in a private
+room with a foreign prince. Forestier laughed a great deal at the
+adventure; the two ladies declared that the indiscreet gossip was
+nothing less than a blackguard and a coward. Duroy was of their opinion,
+and loudly proclaimed that it is the duty of a man in these matters,
+whether he be actor, confidant, or simple spectator, to be silent as the
+grave. He added: "How full life would be of pleasant things if we could
+reckon upon the absolute discretion of one another. That which often,
+almost always, checks women is the fear of the secret being revealed.
+Come, is it not true?" he continued. "How many are there who would yield
+to a sudden desire, the caprice of an hour, a passing fancy, did they
+not fear to pay for a short-lived and fleeting pleasure by an
+irremediable scandal and painful tears?"</p>
+
+<p>He spoke with catching conviction, as though pleading a cause, his own
+cause, as though he had said: "It is not with me that one would have to
+dread such dangers. Try me and see."</p>
+
+<p>They both looked at him approvingly, holding that he spoke rightly and
+justly, confessing by their friendly silence that their flexible
+morality as Parisians would not have held out long before the certainty
+of secrecy. And Forestier, leaning back in his place on the divan, one
+leg bent under him, and his napkin thrust into his waistcoat, suddenly
+said with the satisfied laugh of a skeptic: "The deuce! yes, they would
+all go in for it if they were certain of silence. Poor husbands!"</p>
+
+<p>And they began to talk of love. Without admitting it to be eternal,
+Duroy understood it as lasting, creating a bond, a tender friendship, a
+confidence. The union of the senses was only a seal to the union of
+hearts. But he was angry at the outrageous jealousies, melodramatic
+scenes, and unpleasantness which almost always accompany ruptures.</p>
+
+<p>When he ceased speaking, Madame de Marelle replied: "Yes, it is the only
+pleasant thing in life, and we often spoil it by preposterous
+unreasonableness."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier, who was toying with her knife, added: "Yes&mdash;yes&mdash;it is
+pleasant to be loved."</p>
+
+<p>And she seemed to be carrying her dream further, to be thinking things
+that she dared not give words to.</p>
+
+<p>As the first <i>entreé</i> was slow in coming, they sipped from time to time
+a mouthful of champagne, and nibbled bits of crust. And the idea of
+love, entering into them, slowly intoxicated their souls, as the bright
+wine, rolling drop by drop down their throats, fired their blood and
+perturbed their minds.</p>
+
+<p>The waiter brought in some lamb cutlets, delicate and tender, upon a
+thick bed of asparagus tips.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! this is good," exclaimed Forestier; and they ate slowly, savoring
+the delicate meat and vegetables as smooth as cream.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy resumed: "For my part, when I love a woman everything else in the
+world disappears." He said this in a tone of conviction.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier murmured, with her let-me-alone air:</p>
+
+<p>"There is no happiness comparable to that of the first hand-clasp, when
+the one asks, 'Do you love me?' and the other replies, 'Yes.'"</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle, who had just tossed a fresh glass of champagne off at
+a draught, said gayly, as she put down her glass: "For my part, I am not
+so Platonic."</p>
+
+<p>And all began to smile with kindling eyes at these words.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier, stretched out in his seat on the divan, opened his arms,
+rested them on the cushions, and said in a serious tone: "This frankness
+does you honor, and proves that you are a practical woman. But may one
+ask you what is the opinion of Monsieur de Marelle?"</p>
+
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders slightly, with infinite and prolonged
+disdain; and then in a decided tone remarked: "Monsieur de Marelle has
+no opinions on this point. He only has&mdash;abstentions."</p>
+
+<p>And the conversation, descending from the elevated theories, concerning
+love, strayed into the flowery garden of polished blackguardism. It was
+the moment of clever double meanings; veils raised by words, as
+petticoats are lifted by the wind; tricks of language; clever disguised
+audacities; sentences which reveal nude images in covered phrases; which
+cause the vision of all that may not be said to flit rapidly before the
+eye and the mind, and allow the well-bred people the enjoyment of a
+kind of subtle and mysterious love, a species of impure mental contact,
+due to the simultaneous evocation of secret, shameful, and longed-for
+pleasures. The roast, consisting of partridges flanked by quails, had
+been served; then a dish of green peas, and then a terrine of foie gras,
+accompanied by a curly-leaved salad, filling a salad bowl as though with
+green foam. They had partaken of all these things without tasting them,
+without knowing, solely taken up by what they were talking of, plunged
+as it were in a bath of love.</p>
+
+<p>The two ladies were now going it strongly in their remarks. Madame de
+Marelle, with a native audacity which resembled a direct provocation,
+and Madame Forestier with a charming reserve, a modesty in her tone,
+voice, smile, and bearing that underlined while seeming to soften the
+bold remarks falling from her lips. Forestier, leaning quite back on the
+cushions, laughed, drank and ate without leaving off, and sometimes
+threw in a word so risque or so crude that the ladies, somewhat shocked
+by its appearance, and for appearance sake, put on a little air of
+embarrassment that lasted two or three seconds. When he had given vent
+to something a little too coarse, he added: "You are going ahead nicely,
+my children. If you go on like that you will end by making fools of
+yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>Dessert came, and then coffee; and the liquors poured a yet warmer dose
+of commotion into the excited minds.</p>
+
+<p>As she had announced on sitting down to table, Madame de Marelle was
+intoxicated, and acknowledged it in the lively and graceful rabble of a
+woman emphasizing, in order to amuse her guests, a very real
+commencement of drunkenness.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier was silent now, perhaps out of prudence, and Duroy,
+feeling himself too much excited not to be in danger of compromising
+himself, maintained a prudent reserve.</p>
+
+<p>Cigarettes were lit, and all at once Forestier began to cough. It was a
+terrible fit, that seemed to tear his chest, and with red face and
+forehead damp with perspiration, he choked behind his napkin. When the
+fit was over he growled angrily: "These feeds are very bad for me; they
+are ridiculous." All his good humor had vanished before his terror of
+the illness that haunted his thoughts. "Let us go home," said he.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle rang for the waiter, and asked for the bill. It was
+brought almost immediately. She tried to read it, but the figures danced
+before her eyes, and she passed it to Duroy, saying: "Here, pay for me;
+I can't see, I am too tipsy."</p>
+
+<p>And at the same time she threw him her purse. The bill amounted to one
+hundred and thirty francs. Duroy checked it, and then handed over two
+notes and received back the change, saying in a low tone: "What shall I
+give the waiter?"</p>
+
+<p>"What you like; I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>He put five francs on the salver, and handed back the purse, saying:
+"Shall I see you to your door?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. I am incapable of finding my way home."</p>
+
+<p>They shook hands with the Forestiers, and Duroy found himself alone with
+Madame de Marelle in a cab. He felt her close to him, so close, in this
+dark box, suddenly lit up for a moment by the lamps on the sidewalk. He
+felt through his sleeve the warmth of her shoulder, and he could find
+nothing to say to her, absolutely nothing, his mind being paralyzed by
+the imperative desire to seize her in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"If I dared to, what would she do?" he thought. The recollection of all
+the things uttered during dinner emboldened him, but the fear of scandal
+restrained him at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>Nor did she say anything either, but remained motionless in her corner.
+He would have thought that she was asleep if he had not seen her eyes
+glitter every time that a ray of light entered the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"What was she thinking?" He felt that he must not speak, that a word, a
+single word, breaking this silence would destroy his chance; yet courage
+failed him, the courage needed for abrupt and brutal action. All at once
+he felt her foot move. She had made a movement, a quick, nervous
+movement of impatience, perhaps of appeal. This almost imperceptible
+gesture caused a thrill to run through him from head to foot, and he
+threw himself upon her, seeking her mouth with his lips, her form with
+his hands.</p>
+
+<p>But the cab having shortly stopped before the house in which she
+resided, Duroy, surprised, had no time to seek passionate phrases to
+thank her, and express his grateful love. However, stunned by what had
+taken place, she did not rise, she did not stir. Then he was afraid that
+the driver might suspect something, and got out first to help her to
+alight.</p>
+
+<p>At length she got out of the cab, staggering and without saying a word.
+He rang the bell, and as the door opened, said, tremblingly: "When shall
+I see you again?"</p>
+
+<p>She murmured so softly that he scarcely heard it: "Come and lunch with
+me to-morrow." And she disappeared in the entry, pushed to the heavy
+door, which closed with a noise like that of a cannon. He gave the
+driver five francs, and began to walk along with rapid and triumphant
+steps, and heart overflowing with joy.</p>
+
+<p>He had won at last&mdash;a married woman, a lady. How easy and unexpected it
+had all been. He had fancied up till then that to assail and conquer one
+of these so greatly longed-for beings, infinite pains, interminable
+expectations, a skillful siege carried on by means of gallant
+attentions, words of love, sighs, and gifts were needed. And, lo!
+suddenly, at the faintest attack, the first whom he had encountered had
+yielded to him so quickly that he was stupefied at it.</p>
+
+<p>"She was tipsy," he thought; "to-morrow it will be another story. She
+will meet me with tears." This notion disturbed him, but he added:
+"Well, so much the worse. Now I have her, I mean to keep her."</p>
+
+<p>He was somewhat agitated the next day as he ascended Madame de Marelle's
+staircase. How would she receive him? And suppose she would not receive
+him at all? Suppose she had forbidden them to admit him? Suppose she had
+said&mdash;but, no, she could not have said anything without letting the
+whole truth be guessed. So he was master of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>The little servant opened the door. She wore her usual expression. He
+felt reassured, as if he had anticipated her displaying a troubled
+countenance, and asked: "Is your mistress quite well?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied: "Oh! yes, sir, the same as usual," and showed him into the
+drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>He went straight to the chimney-glass to ascertain the state of his hair
+and his toilet, and was arranging his necktie before it, when he saw in
+it the young woman watching him as she stood at the door leading from
+her room. He pretended not to have noticed her, and the pair looked at
+one another for a few moments in the glass, observing and watching
+before finding themselves face to face. He turned round. She had not
+moved, and seemed to be waiting. He darted forward, stammering: "My
+darling! my darling!"</p>
+
+<p>She opened her arms and fell upon his breast; then having lifted her
+head towards him, their lips met in a long kiss.</p>
+
+<p>He thought: "It is easier than I should have imagined. It is all going
+on very well."</p>
+
+<p>And their lips separating, he smiled without saying a word, while
+striving to throw a world of love into his looks. She, too, smiled, with
+that smile by which women show their desire, their consent, their wish
+to yield themselves, and murmured: "We are alone. I have sent Laurine to
+lunch with one of her young friends."</p>
+
+<p>He sighed as he kissed her. "Thanks, I will worship you."</p>
+
+<p>Then she took his arm, as if he had been her husband, to go to the sofa,
+on which they sat down side by side. He wanted to start a clever and
+attractive chat, but not being able to do so to his liking, stammered:
+"Then you are not too angry with me?"</p>
+
+<p>She put her hand on his mouth, saying "Be quiet."</p>
+
+<p>They sat in silence, looking into one another's eyes, with burning
+fingers interlaced.</p>
+
+<p>"How I did long for you!" said he.</p>
+
+<p>She repeated: "Be quiet."</p>
+
+<p>They heard the servant arranging the table in the adjoining
+dining-room, and he rose, saying: "I must not remain so close to you. I
+shall lose my head."</p>
+
+<p>The door opened, and the servant announced that lunch was ready. Duroy
+gravely offered his arm.</p>
+
+<p>They lunched face to face, looking at one another and constantly
+smiling, solely taken up by themselves, and enveloped in the sweet
+enchantment of a growing love. They ate, without knowing what. He felt a
+foot, a little foot, straying under the table. He took it between his
+own and kept it there, squeezing it with all his might. The servant came
+and went, bringing and taking away the dishes with a careless air,
+without seeming to notice anything.</p>
+
+<p>When they had finished they returned to the drawing-room, and resumed
+their place on the sofa, side by side. Little by little he pressed up
+against her, striving to take her in his arms. But she calmly repulsed
+him, saying: "Take care; someone may come in."</p>
+
+<p>He murmured: "When can I see you quite alone, to tell you how I love
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>She leant over towards him and whispered: "I will come and pay you a
+visit one of these days."</p>
+
+<p>He felt himself redden. "You know&mdash;you know&mdash;my place is very small."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled: "That does not matter. It is you I shall call to see, and
+not your rooms."</p>
+
+<p>Then he pressed her to know when she would come. She named a day in the
+latter half of the week. He begged of her to advance the date in broken
+sentences, playing with and squeezing her hands, with glittering eyes,
+and flushed face, heated and torn by desire, that imperious desire which
+follows <i>tête-à-tête</i> repasts. She was amazed to see him implore her
+with such ardor, and yielded a day from time to time. But he kept
+repeating: "To-morrow, only say to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>She consented at length. "Yes, to-morrow; at five o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>He gave a long sigh of joy, and they then chatted almost quietly with an
+air of intimacy, as though they had known one another twenty years. The
+sound of the door bell made them start, and with a bound they separated
+to a distance. She murmured: "It must be Laurine."</p>
+
+<p>The child made her appearance, stopped short in amazement, and then ran
+to Duroy, clapping her hands with pleasure at seeing him, and
+exclaiming: "Ah! pretty boy."</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle began to laugh. "What! Pretty boy! Laurine has
+baptized you. It's a nice little nickname for you, and I will call you
+Pretty-boy, too."</p>
+
+<p>He had taken the little girl on his knee, and he had to play with her at
+all the games he had taught her. He rose to take his leave at twenty
+minutes to three to go to the office of the paper, and on the staircase,
+through the half-closed door, he still whispered: "To-morrow, at five."</p>
+
+<p>She answered "Yes," with a smile, and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had got through his day's work, he speculated how he
+should arrange his room to receive his mistress, and hide as far as
+possible the poverty of the place. He was struck by the idea of pinning
+a lot of Japanese trifles on the walls, and he bought for five francs
+quite a collection of little fans and screens, with which he hid the
+most obvious of the marks on the wall paper. He pasted on the window
+panes transparent pictures representing boats floating down rivers,
+flocks of birds flying across rosy skies, multi-colored ladies on
+balconies, and processions of little black men over plains covered with
+snow. His room, just big enough to sleep and sit down in, soon looked
+like the inside of a Chinese lantern. He thought the effect
+satisfactory, and passed the evening in pasting on the ceiling birds
+that he had cut from the colored sheets remaining over. Then he went to
+bed, lulled by the whistle of the trains.</p>
+
+<p>He went home early the next day, carrying a paper bag of cakes and a
+bottle of Madeira, purchased at the grocer's. He had to go out again to
+buy two plates and two glasses, and arranged this collation on his
+dressing-table, the dirty wood of which was covered by a napkin, the jug
+and basin being hidden away beneath it.</p>
+
+<p>Then he waited.</p>
+
+<p>She came at about a quarter-past five; and, attracted by the bright
+colors of the pictures, exclaimed: "Dear me, yours is a nice place. But
+there are a lot of people about on the staircase."</p>
+
+<p>He had clasped her in his arms, and was eagerly kissing the hair between
+her forehead and her bonnet through her veil.</p>
+
+<p>An hour and a half later he escorted her back to the cab-stand in the
+Rue de Rome. When she was in the carriage he murmured: "Tuesday at the
+same time?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied: "Tuesday at the same time." And as it had grown dark, she
+drew his head into the carriage and kissed him on the lips. Then the
+driver, having whipped up his beast, she exclaimed: "Good-bye,
+Pretty-boy," and the old vehicle started at the weary trot of its old
+white horse.</p>
+
+<p>For three weeks Duroy received Madame de Marelle in this way every two
+or three days, now in the evening and now in the morning. While he was
+expecting her one afternoon, a loud uproar on the stairs drew him to the
+door. A child was crying. A man's angry voice shouted: "What is that
+little devil howling about now?" The yelling and exasperated voice of a
+woman replied: "It is that dirty hussy who comes to see the
+penny-a-liner upstairs; she has upset Nicholas on the landing. As if
+dabs like that, who pay no attention to children on the staircase,
+should be allowed here."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy drew back, distracted, for he could hear the rapid rustling of
+skirts and a hurried step ascending from the story just beneath him.
+There was soon a knock at the door, which he had reclosed. He opened it,
+and Madame de Marelle rushed into the room, terrified and breathless,
+stammering: "Did you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>He pretended to know nothing. "No; what?"</p>
+
+<p>"How they have insulted me."</p>
+
+<p>"Who? Who?"</p>
+
+<p>"The blackguards who live down below."</p>
+
+<p>"But, surely not; what does it all mean, tell me?"</p>
+
+<p>She began to sob, without being able to utter a word. He had to take off
+her bonnet, undo her dress, lay her on the bed, moisten her forehead
+with a wet towel. She was choking, and then when her emotion was
+somewhat abated, all her wrathful indignation broke out. She wanted him
+to go down at once, to thrash them, to kill them.</p>
+
+<p>He repeated: "But they are only work-people, low creatures. Just
+remember that it would lead to a police court, that you might be
+recognized, arrested, ruined. One cannot lower one's self to have
+anything to do with such people."</p>
+
+<p>She passed on to another idea. "What shall we do now? For my part, I
+cannot come here again."</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "It is very simple; I will move."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "Yes, but that will take some time." Then all at once she
+framed a plan, and reassured, added softly: "No, listen, I know what to
+do; let me act, do not trouble yourself about anything. I will send you
+a telegram to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled now, delighted with her plan, which she would not reveal, and
+indulged in a thousand follies. She was very agitated, however, as she
+went downstairs, leaning with all her weight on her lover's arm, her
+legs trembled so beneath her. They did not meet anyone, though.</p>
+
+<p>As he usually got up late, he was still in bed the next day, when, about
+eleven o'clock, the telegraph messenger brought him the promised
+telegram. He opened it and read:</p>
+
+<p>"Meet me at five; 127, Rue de Constantinople. Rooms hired by Madame
+Duroy.&mdash;Clo."</p>
+
+<p>At five o'clock to the minute he entered the doorkeeper's lodge of a
+large furnished house, and asked: "It is here that Madame Duroy has
+taken rooms, is it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you show me to them, if you please."</p>
+
+<p>The man, doubtless used to delicate situations in which prudence is
+necessary, looked him straight in the eyes, and then, selecting one of
+the long range of keys, said: "You are Monsieur Duroy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>The man opened the door of a small suite of rooms on the ground floor in
+front of the lodge. The sitting-room, with a tolerably fresh wall-paper
+of floral design, and a carpet so thin that the boards of the floor
+could be felt through it, had mahogany furniture, upholstered in green
+rep with a yellow pattern. The bedroom was so small that the bed
+three-parts filled it. It occupied the further end, stretching from one
+wall to the other&mdash;the large bed of a furnished lodging-house, shrouded
+in heavy blue curtains also of rep, and covered with an eider-down quilt
+of red silk stained with suspicious-looking spots.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, uneasy and displeased, thought: "This place will cost, Lord knows
+how much. I shall have to borrow again. It is idiotic what she has
+done."</p>
+
+<p>The door opened, and Clotilde came in like a whirlwind, with
+outstretched arms and rustling skirts. She was delighted. "Isn't it
+nice, eh, isn't it nice? And on the ground floor, too; no stairs to go
+up. One could get in and out of the windows without the doorkeeper
+seeing one. How we will love one another here!"</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her coldly, not daring to put the question that rose to his
+lips. She had placed a large parcel on the little round table in the
+middle of the room. She opened it, and took out a cake of soap, a bottle
+of scent, a sponge, a box of hairpins, a buttonhook, and a small pair of
+curling tongs to set right her fringe, which she got out of curl every
+time. And she played at moving in, seeking a place for everything, and
+derived great amusement from it.</p>
+
+<p>She kept on chattering as she opened the drawers. "I must bring a little
+linen, so as to be able to make a change if necessary. It will be very
+convenient. If I get wet, for instance, while I am out, I can run in
+here to dry myself. We shall each have one key, beside the one left with
+the doorkeeper in case we forget it. I have taken the place for three
+months, in your name, of course, since I could not give my own."</p>
+
+<p>Then he said: "You will let me know when the rent is to be paid."</p>
+
+<p>She replied, simply: "But it is paid, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I owe it to you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, my dear; it does not concern you at all; this is a little fancy
+of my own."</p>
+
+<p>He seemed annoyed: "Oh, no, indeed; I can't allow that."</p>
+
+<p>She came to him in a supplicating way, and placing her hands on his
+shoulders, said: "I beg of you, George; it will give me so much pleasure
+to feel that our little nest here is mine&mdash;all my own. You cannot be
+annoyed at that. How can you? I wanted to contribute that much towards
+our loves. Say you agree, Georgy; say you agree."</p>
+
+<p>She implored him with looks, lips, the whole of her being. He held out,
+refusing with an irritated air, and then he yielded, thinking that,
+after all, it was fair. And when she had gone, he murmured, rubbing his
+hands, and without seeking in the depths of his heart whence the opinion
+came on that occasion: "She is very nice."</p>
+
+<p>He received, a few days later, another telegram running thus: "My
+husband returns to-night, after six weeks' inspection, so we shall have
+a week off. What a bore, darling.&mdash;Clo."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy felt astounded. He had really lost all idea of her being married.
+But here was a man whose face he would have liked to see just once, in
+order to know him. He patiently awaited the husband's departure, but he
+passed two evenings at the Folies Bergère, which wound up with Rachel.</p>
+
+<p>Then one morning came a fresh telegram: "To-day at five.&mdash;Clo."</p>
+
+<p>They both arrived at the meeting-place before the time. She threw
+herself into his arms with an outburst of passion, and kissed him all
+over the face, and then said: "If you like, when we have loved one
+another a great deal, you shall take me to dinner somewhere. I have kept
+myself disengaged."</p>
+
+<p>It was at the beginning of the month, and although his salary was long
+since drawn in advance, and he lived from day to day upon money gleaned
+on every side, Duroy happened to be in funds, and was pleased at the
+opportunity of spending something upon her, so he replied: "Yes,
+darling, wherever you like."</p>
+
+<p>They started off, therefore, at about seven, and gained the outer
+boulevards. She leaned closely against him, and whispered in his ear:
+"If you only knew how pleased I am to walk out on your arm; how I love
+to feel you beside me."</p>
+
+<p>He said: "Would you like to go to Père Lathuile's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, it is too swell. I should like something funny, out of the way!
+a restaurant that shopmen and work-girls go to. I adore dining at a
+country inn. Oh! if we only had been able to go into the country."</p>
+
+<p>As he knew nothing of the kind in the neighborhood, they wandered along
+the boulevard, and ended by going into a wine-shop where there was a
+dining-room. She had seen through the window two bareheaded girls
+seated at tables with two soldiers. Three cab-drivers were dining at the
+further end of the long and narrow room, and an individual impossible to
+classify under any calling was smoking, stretched on a chair, with his
+legs stuck out in front of him, his hands in the waist-band of his
+trousers, and his head thrown back over the top bar. His jacket was a
+museum of stains, and in his swollen pockets could be noted the neck of
+a bottle, a piece of bread, a parcel wrapped up in a newspaper, and a
+dangling piece of string. He had thick, tangled, curly hair, gray with
+scurf, and his cap was on the floor under his chair.</p>
+
+<p>The entrance of Clotilde created a sensation, due to the elegance of her
+toilet. The couples ceased whispering together, the three cab-drivers
+left off arguing, and the man who was smoking, having taken his pipe
+from his mouth and spat in front of him, turned his head slightly to
+look.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle murmured: "It is very nice; we shall be very
+comfortable here. Another time I will dress like a work-girl." And she
+sat down, without embarrassment or disgust, before the wooden table,
+polished by the fat of dishes, washed by spilt liquors, and cleaned by a
+wisp of the waiter's napkin. Duroy, somewhat ill at ease, and slightly
+ashamed, sought a peg to hang his tall hat on. Not finding one, he put
+it on a chair.</p>
+
+<p>They had a ragout, a slice of melon, and a salad. Clotilde repeated: "I
+delight in this. I have low tastes. I like this better than the Café
+Anglais." Then she added: "If you want to give me complete enjoyment,
+you will take me to a dancing place. I know a very funny one close by
+called the Reine Blanche."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, surprised at this, asked: "Whoever took you there?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her and saw her blush, somewhat disturbed, as though this
+sudden question had aroused within her some delicate recollections.
+After one of these feminine hesitations, so short that they can scarcely
+be guessed, she replied: "A friend of mine," and then, after a brief
+silence, added, "who is dead." And she cast down her eyes with a very
+natural sadness.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, for the first time, thought of all that he did not know as
+regarded the past life of this woman. Certainly she already had lovers,
+but of what kind, in what class of society? A vague jealousy, a species
+of enmity awoke within him; an enmity against all that he did not know,
+all that had not belonged to him. He looked at her, irritated at the
+mystery wrapped up within that pretty, silent head, which was thinking,
+perhaps, at that very moment, of the other, the others, regretfully. How
+he would have liked to have looked into her recollections&mdash;to have known
+all.</p>
+
+<p>She repeated: "Will you take me to the Reine Blanche? That will be a
+perfect treat."</p>
+
+<p>He thought: "What matters the past? I am very foolish to bother about
+it," and smilingly replied: "Certainly, darling."</p>
+
+<p>When they were in the street she resumed, in that low and mysterious
+tone in which confidences are made: "I dared not ask you this until now,
+but you cannot imagine how I love these escapades in places ladies do
+not go to. During the carnival I will dress up as a schoolboy. I make
+such a capital boy."</p>
+
+<p>When they entered the ball-room she clung close to him, gazing with
+delighted eyes on the girls and the bullies, and from time to time, as
+though to reassure herself as regards any possible danger, saying, as
+she noticed some serious and motionless municipal guard: "That is a
+strong-looking fellow." In a quarter of an hour she had had enough of it
+and he escorted her home.</p>
+
+<p>Then began quite a series of excursions in all the queer places where
+the common people amuse themselves, and Duroy discovered in his mistress
+quite a liking for this vagabondage of students bent on a spree. She
+came to their meeting-place in a cotton frock and with a servant's
+cap&mdash;a theatrical servant's cap&mdash;on her head; and despite the elegant
+and studied simplicity of her toilet, retained her rings, her bracelets,
+and her diamond earrings, saying, when he begged her to remove them:
+"Bah! they will think they are paste."</p>
+
+<p>She thought she was admirably disguised, and although she was really
+only concealed after the fashion of an ostrich, she went into the most
+ill-famed drinking places. She wanted Duroy to dress himself like a
+workman, but he resisted, and retained his correct attire, without even
+consenting to exchange his tall hat for one of soft felt. She was
+consoled for this obstinacy on his part by the reflection that she would
+be taken for a chambermaid engaged in a love affair with a gentleman,
+and thought this delightful. In this guise they went into popular
+wine-shops, and sat down on rickety chairs at old wooden tables in
+smoke-filled rooms. A cloud of strong tobacco smoke, with which still
+blended the smell of fish fried at dinner time, filled the room; men in
+blouses shouted at one another as they tossed off nips of spirits; and
+the astonished waiter would stare at this strange couple as he placed
+before them two cherry brandies. She&mdash;trembling, fearsome, yet
+charmed&mdash;began to sip the red liquid, looking round her with uneasy and
+kindling eye. Each cherry swallowed gave her the sensation of a sin
+committed, each drop of burning liquor flowing down her throat gave her
+the pleasure of a naughty and forbidden joy.</p>
+
+<p>Then she would say, "Let us go," and they would leave. She would pass
+rapidly, with bent head and the short steps of an actress leaving the
+stage, among the drinkers, who, with their elbows on the tables, watched
+her go by with suspicious and dissatisfied glances; and when she had
+crossed the threshold would give a deep sigh, as if she had just escaped
+some terrible danger.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes she asked Duroy, with a shudder: "If I were insulted in these
+places, what would you do?"</p>
+
+<p>He would answer, with a swaggering air: "Take your part, by Jove!"</p>
+
+<p>And she would clasp his arm with happiness, with, perhaps, a vague wish
+to be insulted and defended, to see men fight on her account, even such
+men as those, with her lover.</p>
+
+<p>But these excursions taking place two or three times a week began to
+weary Duroy, who had great difficulty, besides, for some time past, in
+procuring the ten francs necessary for the cake and the drinks. He now
+lived very hardly and with more difficulty than when he was a clerk in
+the Northern Railway; for having spent lavishly during his first month
+of journalism, in the constant hope of gaining large sums of money in a
+day or two, he had exhausted all his resources and all means of
+procuring money. A very simple method, that of borrowing from the
+cashier, was very soon exhausted; and he already owed the paper four
+months' salary, besides six hundred francs advanced on his lineage
+account. He owed, besides, a hundred francs to Forestier, three hundred
+to Jacques Rival, who was free-handed with his money; and he was also
+eaten up by a number of small debts of from five francs to twenty.
+Saint-Potin, consulted as to the means of raising another hundred
+francs, had discovered no expedient, although a man of inventive mind,
+and Duroy was exasperated at this poverty, of which he was more sensible
+now than formerly, since he had more wants. A sullen rage against
+everyone smouldered within him, with an ever-increasing irritation,
+which manifested itself at every moment on the most futile pretexts. He
+sometimes asked himself how he could have spent an average of a thousand
+francs a month, without any excess and the gratification of any
+extravagant fancy, and he found that, by adding a lunch at eight
+francs to a dinner at twelve, partaken of in some large café on the
+boulevards, he at once came to a louis, which, added to ten francs
+pocket-money&mdash;that pocket-money that melts away, one does not know
+how&mdash;makes a total of thirty francs. But thirty francs a day is nine
+hundred francs at the end of the month. And he did not reckon in the
+cost of clothes, boots, linen, washing, etc.</p>
+
+<p>So on the 14th December he found himself without a sou in his pocket,
+and without a notion in his mind how to get any money. He went, as he
+had often done of old, without lunch, and passed the afternoon working
+at the newspaper office, angry and preoccupied. About four o'clock he
+received a telegram from his mistress, running: "Shall we dine together,
+and have a lark afterwards?"</p>
+
+<p>He at once replied: "Cannot dine." Then he reflected that he would be
+very stupid to deprive himself of the pleasant moments she might afford
+him, and added: "But will wait at nine at our place." And having sent
+one of the messengers with this, to save the cost of a telegram, he
+began to reflect what he should do to procure himself a dinner.</p>
+
+<p>At seven o'clock he had not yet hit upon anything and a terrible hunger
+assailed him. Then he had recourse to the stratagem of a despairing man.
+He let all his colleagues depart, one after the other, and when he was
+alone rang sharply. Monsieur Walter's messenger, left in charge of the
+offices, came in. Duroy was standing feeling in his pockets, and said in
+an abrupt voice: "Foucart, I have left my purse at home, and I have to
+go and dine at the Luxembourg. Lend me fifty sous for my cab."</p>
+
+<p>The man took three francs from his waistcoat pocket and said: "Do you
+want any more, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, that will be enough. Thanks."</p>
+
+<p>And having seized on the coins, Duroy ran downstairs and dined at a
+slap-bank, to which he drifted on his days of poverty.</p>
+
+<p>At nine o'clock he was awaiting his mistress, with his feet on the
+fender, in the little sitting-room. She came in, lively and animated,
+brisked up by the keen air of the street. "If you like," said she, "we
+will first go for a stroll, and then come home here at eleven. The
+weather is splendid for walking."</p>
+
+<p>He replied, in a grumbling tone: "Why go out? We are very comfortable
+here."</p>
+
+<p>She said, without taking off her bonnet: "If you knew, the moonlight is
+beautiful. It is splendid walking about to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so, but I do not care for walking about!"</p>
+
+<p>He had said this in an angry fashion. She was struck and hurt by it, and
+asked: "What is the matter with you? Why do you go on in this way? I
+should like to go for a stroll, and I don't see how that can vex you."</p>
+
+<p>He got up in a rage. "It does not vex me. It is a bother, that is all."</p>
+
+<p>She was one of those sort of women whom resistance irritates and
+impoliteness exasperates, and she said disdainfully and with angry calm:
+"I am not accustomed to be spoken to like that. I will go alone, then.
+Good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>He understood that it was serious, and darting towards her, seized her
+hands and kissed them, saying: "Forgive me, darling, forgive me. I am
+very nervous this evening, very irritable. I have had vexations and
+annoyances, you know&mdash;matters of business."</p>
+
+<p>She replied, somewhat softened, but not calmed down: "That does not
+concern me, and I will not bear the consequences of your ill-temper."</p>
+
+<p>He took her in his arms, and drew her towards the couch.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, darling, I did not want to hurt you; I was not thinking of what
+I was saying."</p>
+
+<p>He had forced her to sit down, and, kneeling before her, went on: "Have
+you forgiven me? Tell me you have forgiven me?"</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, coldly: "Very well, but do not do so again;" and rising,
+she added: "Now let us go for a stroll."</p>
+
+<p>He had remained at her feet, with his arms clasped about her hips, and
+stammered: "Stay here, I beg of you. Grant me this much. I should so
+like to keep you here this evening all to myself, here by the fire. Say
+yes, I beg of you, say yes."</p>
+
+<p>She answered plainly and firmly: "No, I want to go out, and I am not
+going to give way to your fancies."</p>
+
+<p>He persisted. "I beg of you, I have a reason, a very serious reason."</p>
+
+<p>She said again: "No; and if you won't go out with me, I shall go.
+Good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>She had freed herself with a jerk, and gained the door. He ran towards
+her, and clasped her in his arms, crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, Clo, my little Clo; listen, grant me this much."</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head without replying, avoiding his kisses, and striving
+to escape from his grasp and go.</p>
+
+<p>He stammered: "Clo, my little Clo, I have a reason."</p>
+
+<p>She stopped, and looking him full in the face, said: "You are lying.
+What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>He blushed not knowing what to say, and she went on in an indignant
+tone: "You see very well that you are lying, you low brute." And with an
+angry gesture and tears in her eyes, she escaped him.</p>
+
+<p>He again caught her by the shoulders, and, in despair, ready to
+acknowledge anything in order to avoid a rupture, he said, in a
+despairing tone: "I have not a son. That's what it all means." She
+stopped short, and looking into his eyes to read the truth in them,
+said: "You say?"</p>
+
+<p>He had flushed to the roots of his hair. "I say that I have not a sou.
+Do you understand? Not twenty sous, not ten, not enough to pay for a
+glass of cassis in the café we may go into. You force me to confess what
+I am ashamed of. It was, however, impossible for me to go out with you,
+and when we were seated with refreshments in front of us to tell you
+quietly that I could not pay for them."</p>
+
+<p>She was still looking him in the face. "It is true, then?"</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he had turned out all his pockets, those of his trousers,
+coat, and waistcoat, and murmured: "There, are you satisfied now?"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly opening her arms, in an outburst of passion, she threw them
+around his neck, crying: "Oh, my poor darling, my poor darling, if I had
+only known. How did it happen?"</p>
+
+<p>She made him sit down, and sat down herself on his knees; then, with her
+arm round his neck, kissing him every moment on his moustache, his
+mouth, his eyes, she obliged him to tell her how this misfortune had
+come about.</p>
+
+<p>He invented a touching story. He had been obliged to come to the
+assistance of his father, who found himself in difficulties. He had not
+only handed over to him all his savings, but had even incurred heavy
+debts on his behalf. He added: "I shall be pinched to the last degree
+for at least six months, for I have exhausted all my resources. So much
+the worse; there are crises in every life. Money, after all, is not
+worth troubling about."</p>
+
+<p>She whispered: "I will lend you some; will you let me?"</p>
+
+<p>He answered, with dignity: "You are very kind, pet; but do not think of
+that, I beg of you. You would hurt my feelings."</p>
+
+<p>She was silent, and then clasping him in her arms, murmured: "You will
+never know how much I love you."</p>
+
+<p>It was one of their most pleasant evenings.</p>
+
+<p>As she was leaving, she remarked, smilingly: "How nice it is when one is
+in your position to find money you had forgotten in your pocket&mdash;a coin
+that had worked its way between the stuff and the lining."</p>
+
+<p>He replied, in a tone of conviction: "Ah, yes, that it is."</p>
+
+<p>She insisted on walking home, under the pretense that the moon was
+beautiful and went into ecstasies over it. It was a cold, still night at
+the beginning of winter. Pedestrians and horses went by quickly, spurred
+by a sharp frost. Heels rang on the pavement. As she left him she said:
+"Shall we meet again the day after to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"At the same time?"</p>
+
+<p>"The same time."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, dearest." And they kissed lovingly.</p>
+
+<p>Then he walked home swiftly, asking himself what plan he could hit on
+the morrow to get out of his difficulty. But as he opened the door of
+his room, and fumbled in his waistcoat pocket for a match, he was
+stupefied to find a coin under his fingers. As soon as he had a light he
+hastened to examine it. It was a louis. He thought he must be mad. He
+turned it over and over, seeking by what miracle it could have found
+its way there. It could not, however, have fallen from heaven into his
+pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Then all at once he guessed, and an angry indignation awoke within him.
+His mistress had spoken of money slipping into the lining, and being
+found in times of poverty. It was she who had tendered him this alms.
+How shameful! He swore: "Ah! I'll talk to her the day after to-morrow.
+She shall have a nice time over it."</p>
+
+<p>And he went to bed, his heart filled with anger and humiliation.</p>
+
+<p>He woke late. He was hungry. He tried to go to sleep again, in order not
+to get up till two o'clock, and then said to himself: "That will not
+forward matters. I must end by finding some money." Then he went out,
+hoping that an idea might occur to him in the street. It did not; but at
+every restaurant he passed a longing to eat made his mouth water. As by
+noon he had failed to hit on any plan, he suddenly made up his mind: "I
+will lunch out of Clotilde's twenty francs. That won't hinder me from
+paying them back to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>He, therefore, lunched for two francs fifty centimes. On reaching the
+office he also gave three francs to the messenger, saying: "Here,
+Foucart, here is the money you lent me last night for my cab."</p>
+
+<p>He worked till seven o'clock. Then he went and dined taking another
+three francs. The two evening bocks brought the expenditure of the day
+up to nine francs thirty centimes. But as he could not re-establish a
+credit or create fresh resources in twenty-four hours, he borrowed
+another six francs fifty centimes the next day from the twenty he was
+going to return that very evening, so that he came to keep his
+appointment with just four francs twenty centimes in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>He was in a deuce of a temper, and promised himself that he would pretty
+soon explain things. He would say to his mistress: "You know, I found
+the twenty francs you slipped into my pocket the other day. I cannot
+give them back to you now, because my situation is unaltered, and I have
+not had time to occupy myself with money matters. But I will give them
+to you the next time we meet."</p>
+
+<p>She arrived, loving, eager, full of alarm. How would he receive her? She
+kissed him persistently to avoid an explanation at the outset.</p>
+
+<p>He said to himself: "It will be time enough to enter on the matter
+by-and-by. I will find an opportunity of doing so."</p>
+
+<p>He did not find the opportunity, and said nothing, shirking before the
+difficulty of opening this delicate subject. She did not speak of going
+out, and was in every way charming. They separated about midnight, after
+making an appointment for the Wednesday of the following week, for
+Madame de Marelle was engaged to dine out several days in succession.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, as Duroy, on paying for his breakfast, felt for the four
+coins that ought to be remaining to him, he perceived that they were
+five, and one of them a gold one. At the outset he thought that he had
+received it by mistake in his change the day before, then he understood
+it, and his heart throbbed with humiliation at this persistent charity.
+How he now regretted not having said anything! If he had spoken
+energetically this would not have happened.</p>
+
+<p>For four days he made efforts, as numerous as they were fruitless, to
+raise five louis, and spent Clotilde's second one. She managed, although
+he had said to her savagely, "Don't play that joke of the other
+evening's again, or I shall get angry," to slip another twenty francs
+into his trouser pockets the first time they met. When he found them he
+swore bitterly, and transferred them to his waistcoat to have them under
+his hand, for he had not a rap. He appeased his conscience by this
+argument: "I will give it all back to her in a lump. After all, it is
+only borrowed money."</p>
+
+<p>At length the cashier of the paper agreed, on his desperate appeals, to
+let him have five francs daily. It was just enough to live upon, but not
+enough to repay sixty francs with. But as Clotilde was again seized by
+her passion for nocturnal excursions in all the suspicious localities in
+Paris, he ended by not being unbearably annoyed to find a yellow boy in
+one of his pockets, once even in his boot, and another time in his
+watch-case, after their adventurous excursions. Since she had wishes
+which he could not for the moment gratify himself, was it not natural
+that she should pay for them rather than go without them? He kept an
+account, too, of all he received in this way, in order to return it to
+her some day.</p>
+
+<p>One evening she said to him: "Would you believe that I have never been
+to the Folies-Bergère? Will you take me there?"</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated a moment, afraid of meeting Rachel. Then he thought: "Bah!
+I am not married, after all. If that girl sees me she will understand
+the state of things, and will not speak to me. Besides, we will have a
+box."</p>
+
+<p>Another reason helped his decision. He was well pleased of this
+opportunity of offering Madame de Marelle a box at the theater without
+its costing anything. It was a kind of compensation.</p>
+
+<p>He left her in the cab while he got the order for the box, in order that
+she might not see it offered him, and then came to fetch her. They went
+in, and were received with bows by the acting manager. An immense crowd
+filled the lounge, and they had great difficulty in making their way
+through the swarm of men and women. At length they reached the box and
+settled themselves in it, shut in between the motionless orchestra and
+the eddy of the gallery. But Madame de Marelle rarely glanced at the
+stage. Wholly taken up with the women promenading behind her back, she
+constantly turned round to look at them, with a longing to touch them,
+to feel their bodices, their skirts, their hair, to know what these
+creatures were made of.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she said: "There is a stout, dark girl who keeps watching us
+all the time. I thought just now that she was going to speak to us. Did
+you notice her?"</p>
+
+<p>He answered: "No, you must be mistaken." But he had already noticed her
+for some time back. It was Rachel who was prowling about in their
+neighborhood, with anger in her eyes and hard words upon her lips.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy had brushed against her in making his way through the crowd, and
+she had whispered, "Good evening," with a wink which signified, "I
+understand." But he had not replied to this mark of attention for fear
+of being seen by his mistress, and he had passed on coldly, with haughty
+look and disdainful lip. The woman, whom unconscious jealousy already
+assailed, turned back, brushed against him again, and said in louder
+tones: "Good evening, George." He had not answered even then. Then she
+made up her mind to be recognized and bowed to, and she kept continually
+passing in the rear of the box, awaiting a favorable moment.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she saw that Madame de Marelle was looking at her she touched
+Duroy's shoulder, saying: "Good evening, are you quite well?"</p>
+
+<p>He did not turn round, and she went on: "What, have you grown deaf since
+Thursday?" He did not reply, affecting a contempt which would not allow
+him to compromise himself even by a word with this slut.</p>
+
+<p>She began to laugh an angry laugh, and said: "So you are dumb, then?
+Perhaps the lady has bitten your tongue off?"</p>
+
+<p>He made an angry movement, and exclaimed, in an exasperated tone: "What
+do you mean by speaking to me? Be off, or I will have you locked up."</p>
+
+<p>Then, with fiery eye and swelling bosom, she screeched out: "So that's
+it, is it? Ah! you lout. When a man sleeps with a woman the least he can
+do is to nod to her. It is no reason because you are with someone else
+that you should cut me to-day. If you had only nodded to me when I
+passed you just now, I should have left you alone. But you wanted to do
+the grand. I'll pay you out! Ah, so you won't say good evening when you
+meet me!"</p>
+
+<p>She would have gone on for a long time, but Madame de Marelle had opened
+the door of the box and fled through the crowd, blindly seeking the way
+out. Duroy started off in her rear and strove to catch her up, while
+Rachel, seeing them flee, yelled triumphantly: "Stop her, she has stolen
+my sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>People began to laugh. Two gentlemen for fun seized the fugitive by the
+shoulders and sought to bring her back, trying, too, to kiss her. But
+Duroy, having caught her up, freed her forcibly and led her away into
+the street. She jumped into an empty cab standing at the door. He jumped
+in after her, and when the driver asked, "Where to, sir?" replied,
+"Wherever you like."</p>
+
+<p>The cab slowly moved off, jolting over the paving stones. Clotilde,
+seized by a kind of hysterical attack, sat choking and gasping with her
+hands covering her face, and Duroy neither knew what to do nor what to
+say. At last, as he heard her sobbing, he stammered out: "Clo, my dear
+little Clo, just listen, let me explain. It is not my fault. I used to
+know that woman, some time ago, you know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She suddenly took her hands from her face, and overcome by the wrath of
+a loving and deceitful woman, a furious wrath that enabled her to
+recover her speech, she pantingly jerked out, in rapid and broken
+sentences: "Oh!&mdash;you wretch&mdash;you wretch&mdash;what a scoundrel you are&mdash;can
+it be possible? How shameful&mdash;O Lord&mdash;how shameful!" Then, getting
+angrier and angrier as her ideas grew clearer and arguments suggested
+themselves to her, she went on: "It was with my money you paid her,
+wasn't it? And I was giving him money&mdash;for that creature. Oh, the
+scoundrel!" She seemed for a few minutes to be seeking some stronger
+expression that would not come, and then all at once she spat out, as it
+were, the words: "Oh! you swine&mdash;you swine&mdash;you swine&mdash;you paid her
+with my money&mdash;you swine&mdash;you swine!" She could not think of anything
+else, and kept repeating, "You swine, you swine!"</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she leant out of the window, and catching the driver by the
+sleeve, cried, "Stop," and opening the door, sprang out.</p>
+
+<p>George wanted to follow, but she cried, "I won't have you get out," in
+such loud tones that the passers-by began to gather about her, and Duroy
+did not move for fear of a scandal. She took her purse from her pocket
+and looked for some change by the light of the cab lantern, then taking
+two francs fifty centimes she put them in the driver's hand, saying, in
+ringing tones: "There is your fare&mdash;I pay you, now take this blackguard
+to the Rue Boursault, Batignolles."</p>
+
+<p>Mirth was aroused in the group surrounding her. A gentleman said: "Well
+done, little woman," and a young rapscallion standing close to the cab
+thrust his head into the open door and sang out, in shrill tones,
+"Good-night, lovey!" Then the cab started off again, followed by a burst
+of laughter.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2>
+
+
+<p>George Duroy woke up chapfallen the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>He dressed himself slowly, and then sat down at his window and began to
+reflect. He felt a kind of aching sensation all over, just as though he
+had received a drubbing over night. At last the necessity of finding
+some money spurred him up, and he went first to Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>His friend received him in his study with his feet on the fender.</p>
+
+<p>"What has brought you out so early?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"A very serious matter, a debt of honor."</p>
+
+<p>"At play?"</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated a moment, and then said: "At play."</p>
+
+<p>"Heavy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five hundred francs."</p>
+
+<p>He only owed two hundred and eighty.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier, skeptical on the point, inquired: "Whom do you owe it to?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy could not answer right off. "To&mdash;to&mdash;a Monsieur de Carleville."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! and where does he live?"</p>
+
+<p>"At&mdash;at&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Forestier began to laugh. "Number ought, Nowhere Street, eh? I know that
+gentleman, my dear fellow. If you want twenty francs, I have still that
+much at your service, but no more."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy took the offered louis. Then he went from door to door among the
+people he knew, and wound up by having collected at about five o'clock
+the sum of eighty francs. And he still needed two hundred more; he made
+up his mind, and keeping for himself what he had thus gleaned, murmured:
+"Bah! I am not going to put myself out for that cat. I will pay her when
+I can."</p>
+
+<p>For a fortnight he lived regularly, economically, and chastely, his mind
+filled with energetic resolves. Then he was seized with a strong longing
+for love. It seemed to him that several years had passed since he last
+clasped a woman in his arms, and like the sailor who goes wild on seeing
+land, every passing petticoat made him quiver. So he went one evening
+to the Folies Bergère in the hope of finding Rachel. He caught sight of
+her indeed, directly he entered, for she scarcely went elsewhere, and
+went up to her smiling with outstretched hand. But she merely looked him
+down from head to foot, saying: "What do you want with me?"</p>
+
+<p>He tried to laugh it off with, "Come, don't be stuck-up."</p>
+
+<p>She turned on her heels, saying: "I don't associate with ponces."</p>
+
+<p>She had picked out the bitterest insult. He felt the blood rush to his
+face, and went home alone.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier, ill, weak, always coughing, led him a hard life at the paper,
+and seemed to rack his brain to find him tiresome jobs. One day, even,
+in a moment of nervous irritation, and after a long fit of coughing, as
+Duroy had not brought him a piece of information he wanted, he growled
+out: "Confound it! you are a bigger fool than I thought."</p>
+
+<p>The other almost struck him, but restrained himself, and went away
+muttering: "I'll manage to pay you out some day." An idea shot through
+his mind, and he added: "I will make a cuckold of you, old fellow!" And
+he took himself off, rubbing his hands, delighted at this project.</p>
+
+<p>He resolved to set about it the very next day. He paid Madame Forestier
+a visit as a reconnaissance. He found her lying at full length on a
+couch, reading a book. She held out her hand without rising, merely
+turning her head, and said: "Good-day, Pretty-boy!"</p>
+
+<p>He felt as though he had received a blow. "Why do you call me that?" he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>She replied, with a smile: "I saw Madame de Marelle the other day, and
+learned how you had been baptized at her place."</p>
+
+<p>He felt reassured by her amiable air. Besides, what was there for him to
+be afraid of?</p>
+
+<p>She resumed: "You spoil her. As to me, people come to see me when they
+think of it&mdash;the thirty-second of the month, or something like it."</p>
+
+<p>He sat down near her, and regarded her with a new species of curiosity,
+the curiosity of the amateur who is bargain-hunting. She was charming, a
+soft and tender blonde, made for caresses, and he thought: "She is
+better than the other, certainly." He did not doubt his success, it
+seemed to him that he had only to stretch out his hand and take her, as
+one gathers a fruit.</p>
+
+<p>He said, resolutely: "I did not come to see you, because it was better
+so."</p>
+
+<p>She asked, without understanding: "What? Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am in love with you; oh! only a little, and I do not want to
+be head over ears."</p>
+
+<p>She seemed neither astonished, nor shocked, nor flattered; she went on
+smiling the same indifferent smile, and replied with the same
+tranquillity: "Oh! you can come all the same. No one is in love with me
+long."</p>
+
+<p>He was surprised, more by the tone than by the words, and asked: "Why
+not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it is useless. I let this be understood at once. If you had
+told me of your fear before, I should have reassured you, and invited
+you, on the contrary, to come as often as possible."</p>
+
+<p>He exclaimed, in a pathetic tone: "Can we command our feelings?"</p>
+
+<p>She turned towards him: "My dear friend, for me a man in love is struck
+off the list of the living. He becomes idiotic, and not only idiotic,
+but dangerous. I cease all intimate relations with people who are in
+love with me, or who pretend to be so&mdash;because they bore me, in the
+first place; and, secondly, because they are as much objects of
+suspicion to me as a mad dog, which may have a fit of biting. I
+therefore put them into a kind of moral quarantine until their illness
+is over. Do not forget this. I know very well that in your case love is
+only a species of appetite, while with me it would be, on the contrary,
+a kind of&mdash;of&mdash;of communion of souls, which does not enter into a man's
+religion. You understand its letter, and its spirit. But look me well in
+the face." She no longer smiled. Her face was calm and cold, and she
+continued, emphatically: "I will never, never be your mistress; you
+understand. It is therefore absolutely useless, it would even be
+hurtful, for you to persist in this desire. And now that the operation
+is over, will you agree to be friends&mdash;good friends&mdash;real friends, I
+mean, without any mental reservation."</p>
+
+<p>He had understood that any attempt would be useless in face of this
+irrevocable sentence. He made up his mind at once, frankly, and,
+delighted at being able to secure this ally in the battle of life, held
+out both hands, saying: "I am yours, madame, as you will."</p>
+
+<p>She read the sincerity of his intention in his voice, and gave him her
+hands. He kissed them both, one after the other, and then said simply,
+as he raised his head: "Ah, if I had found a woman like you, how gladly
+I would have married her."</p>
+
+<p>She was touched this time&mdash;soothed by this phrase, as women are by the
+compliments which reach their hearts, and she gave him one of those
+rapid and grateful looks which make us their slaves. Then, as he could
+find no change of subject to renew the conversation, she said softly,
+laying her finger on his arm: "And I am going to play my part of a
+friend at once. You are clumsy." She hesitated a moment, and then asked:
+"May I speak plainly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite plainly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go and see Madame Walter, who greatly appreciates you, and do
+your best to please her. You will find a place there for your
+compliments, although she is virtuous, you understand me, perfectly
+virtuous. Oh! there is no hope of&mdash;of poaching there, either. You may
+find something better, though, by showing yourself. I know that you
+still hold an inferior position on the paper. But do not be afraid, they
+receive all their staff with the same kindness. Go there&mdash;believe me."</p>
+
+<p>He said, with a smile: "Thanks, you are an angel, a guardian angel."</p>
+
+<p>They spoke of one thing and another. He stayed for some time, wishing to
+prove that he took pleasure in being with her, and on leaving, remarked:
+"It is understood, then, that we are friends?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is."</p>
+
+<p>As he had noted the effect of the compliment he had paid her shortly
+before, he seconded it by adding: "And if ever you become a widow, I
+enter the lists."</p>
+
+<p>Then he hurried away, so as not to give her time to get angry.</p>
+
+<p>A visit to Madame Walter was rather awkward for Duroy, for he had not
+been authorized to call, and he did not want to commit a blunder. The
+governor displayed some good will towards him, appreciated his services,
+and employed him by preference on difficult jobs, so why should he not
+profit by this favor to enter the house? One day, then, having risen
+early, he went to the market while the morning sales were in progress,
+and for ten francs obtained a score of splendid pears. Having carefully
+packed them in a hamper to make it appear that they had come from a
+distance, he left them with the doorkeeper at Madame Walter's with his
+card, on which he had written: "George Duroy begs Madame Walter to
+accept a little fruit which he received this morning from Normandy."</p>
+
+<p>He found the next morning, among his letters at the office, an envelope
+in reply, containing the card of Madame Walter, who "thanked Monsieur
+George Duroy, and was at home every Saturday."</p>
+
+<p>On the following Saturday he called. Monsieur Walter occupied, on the
+Boulevard Malesherbes, a double house, which belonged to him, and of
+which a part was let off, in the economical way of practical people. A
+single doorkeeper, quartered between the two carriage entrances, opened
+the door for both landlord and tenant, and imparted to each of the
+entrances an air of wealth by his get-up like a beadle, his big calves
+in white stockings, and his coat with gilt buttons and scarlet facings.
+The reception-rooms were on the first floor, preceded by an ante-room
+hung with tapestry, and shut in by curtains over the doorways. Two
+footmen were dozing on benches. One of them took Duroy's overcoat and
+the other relieved him of his cane, opened the door, advanced a few
+steps in front of the visitor, and then drawing aside, let him pass,
+calling out his name, into an empty room.</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow, somewhat embarrassed, looked round on all sides when
+he perceived in a glass some people sitting down who seemed very far
+off. He was at sea at first as to the direction in which they were, the
+mirror having deceived his eyes. Then he passed through two empty
+drawing-rooms and reached a small boudoir hung with blue silk, where
+four ladies were chatting round a table bearing cups of tea. Despite the
+assurance he had acquired in course of his Parisian life, and above all
+in his career as a reporter, which constantly brought him into contact
+with important personages, Duroy felt somewhat intimidated by the get-up
+of the entrance and the passage through the deserted drawing-room. He
+stammered: "Madame, I have ventured," as his eyes sought the mistress of
+the house.</p>
+
+<p>She held out her hand, which he took with a bow, and having remarked:
+"You are very kind sir, to call and see me," she pointed to a chair, in
+seeking to sit down in which he almost fell, having thought it much
+higher.</p>
+
+<p>They had become silent. One of the ladies began to talk again. It was a
+question of the frost, which was becoming sharper, though not enough,
+however, to check the epidemic of typhoid fever, nor to allow skating.
+Every one gave her opinion on this advent of frost in Paris, then they
+expressed their preference for the different seasons with all the
+trivial reasons that lie about in people's minds like dust in rooms. The
+faint noise made by a door caused Duroy to turn his head, and he saw in
+a glass a stout lady approaching. As soon as she made her appearance in
+the boudoir one of the other visitors rose, shook hands and left, and
+the young fellow followed her black back glittering with jet through the
+drawing-rooms with his eyes. When the agitation due to this change had
+subsided they spoke without transition of the Morocco question and the
+war in the East and also of the difficulties of England in South Africa.
+These ladies discussed these matters from memory, as if they had been
+reciting passages from a fashionable play, frequently rehearsed.</p>
+
+<p>A fresh arrival took place, that of a little curly-headed blonde, which
+brought about the departure of a tall, thin lady of middle age. They now
+spoke of the chance Monsieur Linet had of getting into the
+Academie-Francaise. The new-comer formerly believed that he would be
+beaten by Monsieur Cabanon-Lebas, the author of the fine dramatic
+adaption of Don Quixote in verse.</p>
+
+<p>"You know it is to be played at the Odeon next winter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Really, I shall certainly go and see such a very excellent literary
+effort."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter answered gracefully with calm indifference, without ever
+hesitating as to what she should say, her mind being always made up
+beforehand. But she saw that night was coming on, and rang for the
+lamps, while listening to the conversation that trickled on like a
+stream of honey, and thinking that she had forgotten to call on the
+stationer about the invitation cards for her next dinner. She was a
+little too stout, though still beautiful, at the dangerous age when the
+general break-up is at hand. She preserved herself by dint of care,
+hygienic precautions, and salves for the skin. She seemed discreet in
+all matters; moderate and reasonable; one of those women whose mind is
+correctly laid out like a French garden. One walks through it with
+surprise, but experiencing a certain charm. She had keen, discreet, and
+sound sense, that stood her instead of fancy, generosity, and affection,
+together with a calm kindness for everybody and everything.</p>
+
+<p>She noted that Duroy had not said anything, that he had not been spoken
+to, and that he seemed slightly ill at ease; and as the ladies had not
+yet quitted the Academy, that favorite subject always occupying them
+some time, she said: "And you who should be better informed than any
+one, Monsieur Duroy, who is your favorite?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied unhesitatingly: "In this matter, madame, I should never
+consider the merit, always disputable, of the candidates, but their age
+and their state of health. I should not ask about their credentials, but
+their disease. I should not seek to learn whether they have made a
+metrical translation of Lope de Vega, but I should take care to obtain
+information as to the state of their liver, their heart, their lungs,
+and their spinal marrow. For me a good hypertrophy, a good aneurism, and
+above all, a good beginning of locomotor ataxy, would be a hundred times
+more valuable than forty volumes of disgressions on the idea of
+patriotism as embodied in barbaric poetry."</p>
+
+<p>An astonished silence followed this opinion, and Madame Walter asked
+with a smile: "But why?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "Because I never seek aught else than the pleasure that any
+one can give the ladies. But, Madame, the Academy only has any real
+interest for you when an Academician dies. The more of them die the
+happier you must be. But in order that they may die quickly they must be
+elected sick and old." As they still remained somewhat surprised, he
+continued. "Besides, I am like you, and I like to read of the death of
+an Academician. I at once ask myself: 'Who will replace him?' And I draw
+up my list. It is a game, a very pretty little game that is played in
+all Parisian salons at each decease of one of the Immortals, the game of
+'Death and the Forty Fogies.'"</p>
+
+<p>The ladies, still slightly disconcerted, began however, to smile, so
+true were his remarks. He concluded, as he rose: "It is you who really
+elect them, ladies, and you only elect them to see them die. Choose them
+old, therefore, very old; as old as possible, and do not trouble
+yourselves about anything else."</p>
+
+<p>He then retired very gracefully. As soon as he was gone, one of the
+ladies said: "He is very funny, that young fellow. Who is he?"</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter replied: "One of the staff of our paper, who does not do
+much yet; but I feel sure that he will get on."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy strode gayly down the Boulevard Malesherbes, content with his
+exit, and murmuring: "A capital start."</p>
+
+<p>He made it up with Rachel that evening.</p>
+
+<p>The following week two things happened to him. He was appointed chief
+reporter and invited to dinner at Madame Walter's. He saw at once a
+connection between these things. The <i>Vie Francaise</i> was before
+everything a financial paper, the head of it being a financier, to whom
+the press and the position of a deputy served as levers. Making use of
+every cordiality as a weapon, he had always worked under the smiling
+mask of a good fellow; but he only employed men whom he had sounded,
+tried, and proved; whom he knew to be crafty, bold, and supple. Duroy,
+appointed chief of the reporting staff, seemed to him a valuable fellow.</p>
+
+<p>This duty had been filled up till then by the chief sub-editor, Monsieur
+Boisrenard, an old journalist, as correct, punctual, and scrupulous as a
+clerk. In course of thirty years he had been sub-editor of eleven
+different papers, without in any way modifying his way of thinking or
+acting. He passed from one office to another as one changes one's
+restaurant, scarcely noticing that the cookery was not quite the same.
+Political and religious opinions were foreign to him. He was devoted to
+his paper, whatever it might be, well up in his work, and valuable from
+his experience. He worked like a blind man who sees nothing, like a deaf
+man who hears nothing, and like a dumb man who never speaks of anything.
+He had, however, a strong instinct of professional loyalty, and would
+not stoop to aught he did not think honest and right from the special
+point of view of his business.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Walter, who thoroughly appreciated him, had however, often
+wished for another man to whom to entrust the "Echoes," which he held to
+be the very marrow of the paper. It is through them that rumors are set
+afloat and the public and the funds influenced. It is necessary to know
+how to slip the all-important matter, rather hinted at than said right
+out, in between the description of two fashionable entertainments,
+without appearing to intend it. It is necessary to imply a thing by
+judicious reservations; let what is desired be guessed at; contradict in
+such a fashion as to confirm, or affirm in such a way that no one shall
+believe the statement. It is necessary that in the "Echoes" everyone
+shall find every day at least one line of interest, in order that every
+one may read them. Every one must be thought of, all classes, all
+professions, Paris and the provinces, the army and the art world, the
+clergy and the university, the bar and the world of gallantry. The man
+who has the conduct of them, and who commands an army of reporters, must
+be always on the alert and always on his guard; mistrustful, far-seeing,
+cunning, alert, and supple; armed with every kind of cunning, and gifted
+with an infallible knack of spotting false news at the first glance, of
+judging which is good to announce and good to hide, of divining what
+will catch the public, and of putting it forward in such a way as to
+double its effect.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Boisrenard, who had in his favor the skill acquired by long
+habit, nevertheless lacked mastery and dash; he lacked, above all, the
+native cunning needed to put forth day by day the secret ideas of the
+manager. Duroy could do it to perfection, and was an admirable addition
+to the staff. The wire-pullers and real editors of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>
+were half a dozen deputies, interested in all the speculations brought
+out or backed up by the manager. They were known in the Chamber as
+"Walter's gang," and envied because they gained money with him and
+through him. Forestier, the political editor, was only the man of straw
+of these men of business, the worker-out of ideas suggested by them.
+They prompted his leaders, which he always wrote at home, so as to do so
+in quiet, he said. But in order to give the paper a literary and truly
+Parisian smack, the services of two celebrated writers in different
+styles had been secured&mdash;Jacques Rival, a descriptive writer, and
+Norbert de Varenne, a poet and story-writer. To these had been added, at
+a cheap rate, theatrical, musical and art critics, a law reporter, and a
+sporting reporter, from the mercenary tribe of all-round pressmen. Two
+ladies, "Pink Domino" and "Lily Fingers," sent in fashion articles, and
+dealt with questions of dress, etiquette, and society.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy was in all the joy of his appointment as chief of the "Echoes"
+when he received a printed card on which he read: "Monsieur and Madame
+Walter request the pleasure of Monsieur Geo. Duroy's company at dinner,
+on Thursday, January 20." This new mark of favor following on the other
+filled him with such joy that he kissed the invitation as he would have
+done a love letter. Then he went in search of the cashier to deal with
+the important question of money. A chief of the reporting staff on a
+Paris paper generally has his budget out of which he pays his reporters
+for the intelligence, important or trifling, brought in by them, as
+gardeners bring in their fruits to a dealer. Twelve hundred francs a
+month were allotted at the outset to Duroy, who proposed to himself to
+retain a considerable share of it. The cashier, on his pressing
+instances, ended by advancing him four hundred francs. He had at first
+the intention of sending Madame de Marelle the two hundred and eighty
+francs he owed her, but he almost immediately reflected that he would
+only have a hundred and twenty left, a sum utterly insufficient to carry
+on his new duties in suitable fashion, and so put off this resolution to
+a future day.</p>
+
+<p>During a couple of days he was engaged in settling down, for he had
+inherited a special table and a set of pigeon holes in the large room
+serving for the whole of the staff. He occupied one end of the room,
+while Boisrenard, whose head, black as a crow's, despite his age, was
+always bent over a sheet of paper, had the other. The long table in the
+middle belonged to the staff. Generally it served them to sit on, either
+with their legs dangling over the edges, or squatted like tailors in the
+center. Sometimes five or six would be sitting on it in that fashion,
+perseveringly playing cup and ball. Duroy had ended by having a taste
+for this amusement, and was beginning to get expert at it, under the
+guidance, and thanks to the advice of Saint-Potin. Forestier, grown
+worse, had lent him his fine cup and ball in West Indian wood, the last
+he had bought, and which he found rather too heavy for him, and Duroy
+swung with vigorous arm the big black ball at the end of its string,
+counting quickly to himself: "One&mdash;two&mdash;three&mdash;four&mdash;five&mdash;six." It
+happened precisely that for the first time he spiked the ball twenty
+times running, the very day that he was to dine at Madame Walter's. "A
+good day," he thought, "I am successful in everything." For skill at
+cup and ball really conferred a kind of superiority in the office of
+the <i>Vie Francaise</i>.</p>
+
+<p>He left the office early to have time to dress, and was going up the Rue
+de Londres when he saw, trotting along in front of him, a little woman
+whose figure recalled that of Madame de Marelle. He felt his cheeks
+flush, and his heart began to beat. He crossed the road to get a view of
+her. She stopped, in order to cross over, too. He had made a mistake,
+and breathed again. He had often asked how he ought to behave if he met
+her face to face. Should he bow, or should he seem not to have seen
+her. "I should not see her," he thought.</p>
+
+<p>It was cold; the gutters were frozen, and the pavement dry and gray in
+the gas-light. When he got home he thought: "I must change my lodgings;
+this is no longer good enough for me." He felt nervous and lively,
+capable of anything; and he said aloud, as he walked from his bed to the
+window: "It is fortune at last&mdash;it is fortune! I must write to father."
+From time to time he wrote to his father, and the letter always brought
+happiness to the little Norman inn by the roadside, at the summit of the
+slope overlooking Rouen and the broad valley of the Seine. From time to
+time, too, he received a blue envelope, addressed in a large, shaky
+hand, and read the same unvarying lines at the beginning of the paternal
+epistle. "My Dear Son: This leaves your mother and myself in good
+health. There is not much news here. I must tell you, however," etc. In
+his heart he retained a feeling of interest for the village matters, for
+the news of the neighbours, and the condition of the crops.</p>
+
+<p>He repeated to himself, as he tied his white tie before his little
+looking-glass: "I must write to father to-morrow. Wouldn't the old
+fellow be staggered if he could see me this evening in the house I am
+going to? By Jove! I am going to have such a dinner as he never tasted."
+And he suddenly saw the dark kitchen behind the empty <i>café</i>; the copper
+stewpans casting their yellow reflections on the wall; the cat on the
+hearth, with her nose to the fire, in sphinx-like attitude; the wooden
+table, greasy with time and spilt liquids, a soup tureen smoking upon
+it, and a lighted candle between two plates. He saw them, too&mdash;his
+father and mother, two slow-moving peasants, eating their soup. He knew
+the smallest wrinkles on their old faces, the slightest movements of
+their arms and heads. He knew even what they talked about every evening
+as they sat at supper. He thought, too: "I must really go and see them;"
+but his toilet being ended, he blew out his light and went downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>As he passed along the outer boulevard girls accosted him from time to
+time. He replied, as he pulled away his arm: "Go to the devil!" with a
+violent disdain, as though they had insulted him. What did they take him
+for? Could not these hussies tell what a man was? The sensation of his
+dress coat, put on in order to go to dinner with such well-known and
+important people, inspired him with the sentiment of a new
+impersonality&mdash;the sense of having become another man, a man in society,
+genuine society.</p>
+
+<p>He entered the ante-room, lit by tall bronze candelabra, with
+confidence, and handed in easy fashion his cane and overcoat to two
+valets who approached. All the drawing-rooms were lit up. Madame Walter
+received her guests in the second, the largest. She welcomed him with a
+charming smile, and he shook hands with two gentlemen who had arrived
+before him&mdash;Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu, deputies, and
+anonymous editors of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu had a
+special authority at the paper, due to a great influence he enjoyed in
+the Chamber. No one doubted his being a minister some day. Then came the
+Forestiers; the wife in pink, and looking charming. Duroy was stupefied
+to see her on terms of intimacy with the two deputies. She chatted in
+low tones beside the fireplace, for more than five minutes, with
+Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu. Charles seemed worn out. He had grown much
+thinner during the past month, and coughed incessantly as he repeated:
+"I must make up my mind to finish the winter in the south." Norbert de
+Varenne and Jacques Rival made their appearance together. Then a door
+having opened at the further end of the room, Monsieur Walter came in
+with two tall young girls, of from sixteen to eighteen, one ugly and the
+other pretty.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy knew that the governor was the father of a family; but he was
+struck with astonishment. He had never thought of his daughters, save as
+one thinks of distant countries which one will never see. And then he
+had fancied them quite young, and here they were grown-up women. They
+held out their hands to him after being introduced, and then went and
+sat down at a little table, without doubt reserved to them, at which
+they began to turn over a number of reels of silk in a work-basket. They
+were still awaiting someone, and all were silent with that sense of
+oppression, preceding dinners, between people who do not find themselves
+in the same mental atmosphere after the different occupations of the
+day.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy having, for want of occupation, raised his eyes towards the wall,
+Monsieur Walter called to him from a distance, with an evident wish to
+show off his property: "Are you looking at my pictures? I will show them
+to you," and he took a lamp, so that the details might be distinguished.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we have landscapes," said he.</p>
+
+<p>In the center of the wall was a large canvas by Guillemet, a bit of the
+Normandy coast under a lowering sky. Below it a wood, by Harpignies, and
+a plain in Algeria, by Guillemet, with a camel on the horizon, a tall
+camel with long legs, like some strange monument. Monsieur Walter passed
+on to the next wall, and announced in a grave tone, like a master of the
+ceremonies: "High Art." There were four: "A Hospital Visit," by Gervex;
+"A Harvester," by Bastien-Lepage; "A Widow," by Bouguereau; and "An
+Execution," by Jean Paul Laurens. The last work represented a Vendean
+priest shot against the wall of his church by a detachment of Blues. A
+smile flitted across the governor's grave countenance as he indicated
+the next wall. "Here the fanciful school." First came a little canvas by
+Jean Beraud, entitled, "Above and Below." It was a pretty Parisian
+mounting to the roof of a tramcar in motion. Her head appeared on a
+level with the top, and the gentlemen on the seats viewed with
+satisfaction the pretty face approaching them, while those standing on
+the platform below considered the young woman's legs with a different
+expression of envy and desire. Monsieur Walter held the lamp at arm's
+length, and repeated, with a sly laugh: "It is funny, isn't it?" Then he
+lit up "A Rescue," by Lambert. In the middle of a table a kitten,
+squatted on its haunches, was watching with astonishment and perplexity
+a fly drowning in a glass of water. It had its paw raised ready to fish
+out the insect with a rapid sweep of it. But it had not quite made up
+its mind. It hesitated. What would it do? Then the governor showed a
+Detaille, "The Lesson," which represented a soldier in a barrack-room
+teaching a poodle to play the drum, and said: "That is very witty."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy laughed a laugh of approbation, and exclaimed: "It is charming,
+charm&mdash;" He stopped short on hearing behind him the voice of Madame de
+Marelle, who had just come in.</p>
+
+<p>The governor continued to light up the pictures as he explained them. He
+now showed a water-color by Maurice Leloir, "The Obstacle." It was a
+sedan chair checked on its way, the street being blocked by a fight
+between two laborers, two fellows struggling like Hercules. From out of
+the window of the chair peered the head of a charming woman, who watched
+without impatience, without alarm, and with a certain admiration, the
+combat of these two brutes. Monsieur Walter continued: "I have others in
+the adjoining rooms, but they are by less known men. I buy of the young
+artists now, the very young ones, and hang their works in the more
+private rooms until they become known." He then went on in a low tone:
+"Now is the time to buy! The painters are all dying of hunger! They have
+not a sou, not a sou!"</p>
+
+<p>But Duroy saw nothing, and heard without understanding. Madame de
+Marelle was there behind him. What ought he to do? If he spoke to her,
+might she not turn her back on him, or treat him with insolence? If he
+did not approach her, what would people think? He said to himself: "I
+will gain time, at any rate." He was so moved that for a moment he
+thought of feigning a sudden illness, which would allow him to withdraw.
+The examination of the walls was over. The governor went to put down his
+lamp and welcome the last comer, while Duroy began to re-examine the
+pictures as if he could not tire of admiring them. He was quite upset.
+What should he do? Madame Forestier called to him: "Monsieur Duroy." He
+went to her. It was to speak to him of a friend of hers who was about
+to give a fête, and who would like to have a line to that effect in the
+<i>Vie Francaise</i>. He gasped out: "Certainly, Madame, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle was now quite close to him. He dared not turn round to
+go away. All at once he thought he was going mad; she had said aloud:
+"Good evening, Pretty-boy. So you no longer recognize me."</p>
+
+<p>He rapidly turned on his heels. She stood before him smiling, her eyes
+beaming with sprightliness and affection, and held out her hand. He took
+it tremblingly, still fearing some trick, some perfidy. She added,
+calmly: "What has become of you? One no longer sees anything of you."</p>
+
+<p>He stammered, without being able to recover his coolness: "I have a
+great deal to do, Madame, a great deal to do. Monsieur Walter has
+entrusted me with new duties which give me a great deal of occupation."</p>
+
+<p>She replied, still looking him in the face, but without his being able
+to discover anything save good will in her glance: "I know it. But that
+is no reason for forgetting your friends."</p>
+
+<p>They were separated by a lady who came in, with red arms and red face, a
+stout lady in a very low dress, got up with pretentiousness, and walking
+so heavily that one guessed by her motions the size and weight of her
+legs. As she seemed to be treated with great attention, Duroy asked
+Madame Forestier: "Who is that lady?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Viscomtesse de Percemur, who signs her articles 'Lily Fingers.'"</p>
+
+<p>He was astounded, and seized on by an inclination to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"'Lily Fingers!' 'Lily Fingers!' and I imagined her young like
+yourself. So that is 'Lily Fingers.' That is very funny, very funny."</p>
+
+<p>A servant appeared in the doorway and announced dinner. The dinner was
+commonplace and lively, one of those dinners at which people talk about
+everything, without saying anything. Duroy found himself between the
+elder daughter of the master of the house, the ugly one, Mademoiselle
+Rose and Madame de Marelle. The neighborhood of the latter made him feel
+very ill at ease, although she seemed very much at her ease, and chatted
+with her usual vivacity. He was troubled at first, constrained,
+hesitating, like a musician who has lost the keynote. By degrees,
+however, he recovered his assurance, and their eyes continually meeting
+questioned one another, exchanging looks in an intimate, almost sensual,
+fashion as of old. All at once he thought he felt something brush
+against his foot under the table. He softly pushed forward his leg and
+encountered that of his neighbor, which did not shrink from the contact.
+They did not speak, each being at that moment turned towards their
+neighbor. Duroy, his heart beating, pushed a little harder with his
+knee. A slight pressure replied to him. Then he understood that their
+loves were beginning anew. What did they say then? Not much, but their
+lips quivered every time that they looked at one another.</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow, however, wishing to do the amiable to his employer's
+daughter, spoke to her from time to time. She replied as the mother
+would have done, never hesitating as to what she should say. On the
+right of Monsieur Walter the Viscomtesse de Percemur gave herself the
+airs of a princess, and Duroy, amused at watching her, said in a low
+voice to Madame de Marelle. "Do you know the other, the one who signs
+herself 'Pink Domino'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very well, the Baroness de Livar."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she of the same breed?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, but quite as funny. A tall, dried-up woman of sixty, false curls,
+projecting teeth, ideas dating from the Restoration, and toilets of the
+same epoch."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did they unearth these literary phenomena?"</p>
+
+<p>"The scattered waifs of the nobility are always sheltered by enriched
+cits."</p>
+
+<p>"No other reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"None."</p>
+
+<p>Then a political discussion began between the master of the house, the
+two deputies, Norbert de Varenne, and Jacques Rival, and lasted till
+dessert.</p>
+
+<p>When they returned to the drawing-room, Duroy again approached Madame de
+Marelle, and looking her in the eyes, said: "Shall I see you home
+to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because Monsieur Laroche Mathieu, who is my neighbor, drops me at my
+door every time I dine here."</p>
+
+<p>"When shall I see you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come and lunch with me to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>And they separated without saying anything more.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy did not remain late, finding the evening dull. As he went
+downstairs he overtook Norbert de Varenne, who was also leaving. The old
+poet took him by the arm. No longer having to fear any rivalry as
+regards the paper, their work being essentially different, he now
+manifested a fatherly kindness towards the young fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, will you walk home a bit of my way with me?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"With pleasure, my dear master," replied Duroy.</p>
+
+<p>And they went out, walking slowly along the Boulevard Malesherbes. Paris
+was almost deserted that night&mdash;a cold night&mdash;one of those nights that
+seem vaster, as it were, than others, when the stars seem higher above,
+and the air seems to bear on its icy breath something coming from
+further than even the stars. The two men did not speak at first. Then
+Duroy, in order to say something, remarked: "Monsieur Laroche Mathieu
+seems very intelligent and well informed."</p>
+
+<p>The old poet murmured: "Do you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow, surprised at this remark, hesitated in replying: "Yes;
+besides, he passes for one of the most capable men in the Chamber."</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible. In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
+All these people are commonplace because their mind is shut in between
+two walls, money and politics. They are dullards, my dear fellow, with
+whom it is impossible to talk about anything we care for. Their minds
+are at the bottom mud, or rather sewage; like the Seine Asnières. Ah!
+how difficult it is to find a man with breadth of thought, one who
+causes you the same sensation as the breeze from across the broad ocean
+one breathes on the seashore. I have known some such; they are dead."</p>
+
+<p>Norbert de Varenne spoke with a clear but restrained voice, which would
+have rung out in the silence of the night had he given it rein. He
+seemed excited and sad, and went on: "What matter, besides, a little
+more or less talent, since all must come to an end."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent, and Duroy, who felt light hearted that evening, said with
+a smile: "You are gloomy to-day, dear master."</p>
+
+<p>The poet replied: "I am always so, my lad, so will you be in a few
+years. Life is a hill. As long as one is climbing up one looks towards
+the summit and is happy, but when one reaches the top one suddenly
+perceives the descent before one, and its bottom, which is death. One
+climbs up slowly, but one goes down quickly. At your age a man is happy.
+He hopes for many things, which, by the way, never come to pass. At
+mine, one no longer expects anything&mdash;but death."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy began to laugh: "You make me shudder all over."</p>
+
+<p>Norbert de Varenne went on: "No, you do not understand me now, but later
+on you will remember what I am saying to you at this moment. A day
+comes, and it comes early for many, when there is an end to mirth, for
+behind everything one looks at one sees death. You do not even
+understand the word. At your age it means nothing; at mine it is
+terrible. Yes, one understands it all at once, one does not know how or
+why, and then everything in life changes its aspect. For fifteen years I
+have felt death assail me as if I bore within me some gnawing beast. I
+have felt myself decaying little by little, month by month, hour by
+hour, like a house crumbling to ruin. Death has disfigured me so
+completely that I do not recognize myself. I have no longer anything
+about me of myself&mdash;of the fresh, strong man I was at thirty. I have
+seen death whiten my black hairs, and with what skillful and spiteful
+slowness. Death has taken my firm skin, my muscles, my teeth, my whole
+body of old, only leaving me a despairing soul, soon to be taken too.
+Every step brings me nearer to death, every moment, every breath hastens
+his odious work. To breathe, sleep, drink, eat, work, dream, everything
+we do is to die. To live, in short, is to die. I now see death so near
+that I often want to stretch my arms to push it back. I see it
+everywhere. The insects crushed on the path, the falling leaves, the
+white hair in a friend's head, rend my heart and cry to me, "Behold it!"
+It spoils for me all I do, all I see, all that I eat and drink, all that
+I love; the bright moonlight, the sunrise, the broad ocean, the noble
+rivers, and the soft summer evening air so sweet to breathe."</p>
+
+<p>He walked on slowly, dreaming aloud, almost forgetting that he had a
+listener: "And no one ever returns&mdash;never. The model of a statue may be
+preserved, but my body, my face, my thoughts, my desires will never
+reappear again. And yet millions of beings will be born with a nose,
+eyes, forehead, cheeks, and mouth like me, and also a soul like me,
+without my ever returning, without even anything recognizable of me
+appearing in these countless different beings. What can we cling to?
+What can we believe in? All religions are stupid, with their puerile
+morality and their egoistical promises, monstrously absurd. Death alone
+is certain."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped, reflected for a few moments, and then, with a look of
+resignation, said: "I am a lost creature. I have neither father nor
+mother, nor sister nor brother; no wife, no children, no God."</p>
+
+<p>He added, after a pause: "I have only verse."</p>
+
+<p>They reached the Pont de la Concorde, crossed it in silence, and walked
+past the Palais Bourbon. Norbert de Varenne began to speak again,
+saying: "Marry, my friend; you do not know what it is to live alone at
+my age. Solitude now fills me with horrible agony&mdash;solitude at home by
+the fireside of a night. It is so profound, so sad; the silence of the
+room in which one dwells alone. It is not alone silence about the body,
+but silence about the soul; and when the furniture creaks I shudder to
+the heart, for no sound but is unexpected in my gloomy dwelling." He was
+silent again for a moment, and then added: "When one is old it is well,
+all the same, to have children."</p>
+
+<p>They had got half way down the Rue de Bourgoyne. The poet halted in
+front of a tall house, rang the bell, shook Duroy by the hand, and said:
+"Forget all this old man's doddering, youngster, and live as befits your
+age. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>And he disappeared in the dark passage.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy resumed his route with a pain at his heart. It seemed to him as
+though he had been shown a hole filled with bones, an unavoidable gulf
+into which all must fall one day. He muttered: "By Jove, it can't be
+very lively in his place. I should not care for a front seat to see the
+procession of his thoughts go by. The deuce, no."</p>
+
+<p>But having paused to allow a perfumed lady, alighting from her carriage
+and entering her house, to pass before him, he drew in with eager breath
+the scent of vervain and orris root floating in the air. His lungs and
+heart throbbed suddenly with hope and joy, and the recollection of
+Madame de Marelle, whom he was to see the next day, assailed him from
+head to foot. All smiled on him, life welcomed him with kindness. How
+sweet was the realization of hopes!</p>
+
+<p>He fell asleep, intoxicated with this idea, and rose early to take a
+stroll down the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne before keeping his
+appointment. The wind having changed, the weather had grown milder
+during the night, and it was as warm and as sunny as in April. All the
+frequenters of the Bois had sallied out that morning, yielding to the
+summons of a bright, clear day. Duroy walked along slowly. He passed the
+Arc de Triomphe, and went along the main avenue. He watched the people
+on horseback, ladies and gentlemen, trotting and galloping, the rich
+folk of the world, and scarcely envied them now. He knew them almost all
+by name&mdash;knew the amount of their fortune, and the secret history of
+their life, his duties having made him a kind of directory of the
+celebrities and the scandals of Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Ladies rode past, slender, and sharply outlined in the dark cloth of
+their habits, with that proud and unassailable air many women have on
+horseback, and Duroy amused himself by murmuring the names, titles, and
+qualities of the lovers whom they had had, or who were attributed to
+them. Sometimes, instead of saying "Baron de Tanquelot," "Prince de la
+Tour-Enguerrand," he murmured "Lesbian fashion, Louise Michot of the
+Vaudeville, Rose Marquetin of the Opera."</p>
+
+<p>The game greatly amused him, as if he had verified, beneath grave
+outward appearances, the deep, eternal infamy of mankind, and as if this
+had excited, rejoiced, and consoled him. Then he said aloud: "Set of
+hypocrites!" and sought out with his eye the horsemen concerning whom
+the worst tales were current. He saw many, suspected of cheating at
+play, for whom their clubs were, at all events, their chief, their sole
+source of livelihood, a suspicious one, at any rate. Others, very
+celebrated, lived only, it was well known, on the income of their wives;
+others, again, it was affirmed, on that of their mistresses. Many had
+paid their debts, an honorable action, without it ever being guessed
+whence the money had come&mdash;a very equivocal mystery. He saw financiers
+whose immense fortune had had its origin in a theft, and who were
+received everywhere, even in the most noble houses; then men so
+respected that the lower middle-class took off their hats on their
+passage, but whose shameless speculations in connection with great
+national enterprises were a mystery for none of those really acquainted
+with the inner side of things. All had a haughty look, a proud lip, an
+insolent eye. Duroy still laughed, repeating: "A fine lot; a lot of
+blackguards, of sharpers."</p>
+
+<p>But a pretty little open carriage passed, drawn by two white ponies with
+flowing manes and tails, and driven by a pretty fair girl, a well-known
+courtesan, who had two grooms seated behind her. Duroy halted with a
+desire to applaud this mushroom of love, who displayed so boldly at this
+place and time set apart for aristocratic hypocrites the dashing luxury
+earned between her sheets. He felt, perhaps vaguely, that there was
+something in common between them&mdash;a tie of nature, that they were of the
+same race, the same spirit, and that his success would be achieved by
+daring steps of the same kind. He walked back more slowly, his heart
+aglow with satisfaction, and arrived a little in advance of the time at
+the door of his former mistress.</p>
+
+<p>She received him with proffered lips, as though no rupture had taken
+place, and she even forgot for a few moments the prudence that made her
+opposed to all caresses at her home. Then she said, as she kissed the
+ends of his moustache: "You don't know what a vexation has happened to
+me, darling? I was hoping for a nice honeymoon, and here is my husband
+home for six weeks. He has obtained leave. But I won't remain six weeks
+without seeing you, especially after our little tiff, and this is how I
+have arranged matters. You are to come and dine with us on Monday. I
+have already spoken to him about you, and I will introduce you."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy hesitated, somewhat perplexed, never yet having found himself face
+to face with a man whose wife he had enjoyed. He was afraid lest
+something might betray him&mdash;a slight embarrassment, a look, no matter
+what. He stammered out: "No, I would rather not make your husband's
+acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>She insisted, very much astonished, standing before him with wide open,
+wondering eyes. "But why? What a funny thing. It happens every day. I
+should not have thought you such a goose."</p>
+
+<p>He was hurt, and said: "Very well, I will come to dinner on Monday."</p>
+
+<p>She went on: "In order that it may seem more natural I will ask the
+Forestiers, though I really do not like entertaining people at home."</p>
+
+<p>Until Monday Duroy scarcely thought any more about the interview, but on
+mounting the stairs at Madame de Marelle's he felt strangely uneasy, not
+that it was so repugnant to him to take her husband's hand, to drink his
+wine, and eat his bread, but because he felt afraid of something without
+knowing what. He was shown into the drawing-room and waited as usual.
+Soon the door of the inner room opened, and he saw a tall, white-bearded
+man, wearing the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, grave and correct, who
+advanced towards him with punctilious politeness, saying: "My wife has
+often spoken to me of you, sir, and I am delighted to make your
+acquaintance."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy stepped forward, seeking to impart to his face a look of
+expressive cordiality, and grasped his host's hand with exaggerated
+energy. Then, having sat down, he could find nothing to say.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur de Marelle placed a log upon the fire, and inquired: "Have you
+been long engaged in journalism?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only a few months."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! you have got on quickly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, fairly so," and he began to chat at random, without thinking very
+much about what he was saying, talking of all the trifles customary
+among men who do not know one another. He was growing seasoned now, and
+thought the situation a very amusing one. He looked at Monsieur de
+Marelle's serious and respectable face, with a temptation to laugh, as
+he thought: "I have cuckolded you, old fellow, I have cuckolded you." A
+vicious, inward satisfaction stole over him&mdash;the satisfaction of a thief
+who has been successful, and is not even suspected&mdash;a delicious, roguish
+joy. He suddenly longed to be the friend of this man, to win his
+confidence, to get him to relate the secrets of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle came in suddenly, and having taken them in with a
+smiling and impenetrable glance, went toward Duroy, who dared not, in
+the presence of her husband, kiss her hand as he always did. She was
+calm, and light-hearted as a person accustomed to everything, finding
+this meeting simple and natural in her frank and native trickery.
+Laurine appeared, and went and held up her forehead to George more
+quietly than usual, her father's presence intimidating her. Her mother
+said to her: "Well, you don't call him Pretty-boy to-day." And the child
+blushed as if a serious indiscretion had been committed, a thing that
+ought not to have been mentioned, revealed, an intimate and, so to say,
+guilty secret of her heart laid bare.</p>
+
+<p>When the Forestiers arrived, all were alarmed at the condition of
+Charles. He had grown frightfully thin and pale within a week, and
+coughed incessantly. He stated, besides, that he was leaving for Cannes
+on the following Thursday, by the doctor's imperative orders. They left
+early, and Duroy said, shaking his head: "I think he is very bad. He
+will never make old bones."</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle said, calmly: "Oh! he is done for. There is a man who
+was lucky in finding the wife he did."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy asked: "Does she help him much?"</p>
+
+<p>"She does everything. She is acquainted with everything that is going
+on; she knows everyone without seeming to go and see anybody; she
+obtains what she wants as she likes. Oh! she is keen, clever, and
+intriguing as no one else is. She is a treasure for anyone wanting to
+get on."</p>
+
+<p>George said: "She will marry again very quickly, no doubt?"</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle replied: "Yes. I should not be surprised if she had
+some one already in her eye&mdash;a deputy, unless, indeed, he
+objects&mdash;for&mdash;for&mdash;there may be serious&mdash;moral&mdash;obstacles. But then&mdash;I
+don't really know."</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur de Marelle grumbled with slow impatience: "You are always
+suspecting a number of things that I do not like. Do not let us meddle
+with the affairs of others. Our conscience is enough to guide us. That
+should be a rule with everyone."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy withdrew, uneasy at heart, and with his mind full of vague plans.
+The next day he paid a visit to the Forestiers, and found them finishing
+their packing up. Charles, stretched on a sofa, exaggerated his
+difficulty of breathing, and repeated: "I ought to have been off a month
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>Then he gave George a series of recommendations concerning the paper,
+although everything had been agreed upon and settled with Monsieur
+Walter. As George left, he energetically squeezed his old comrade's
+hand, saying: "Well, old fellow, we shall have you back soon." But as
+Madame Forestier was showing him out, he said to her, quickly: "You have
+not forgotten our agreement? We are friends and allies, are we not? So
+if you have need of me, for no matter what, do not hesitate. Send a
+letter or a telegram, and I will obey."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "Thanks, I will not forget." And her eye, too, said
+"Thanks," in a deeper and tenderer fashion.</p>
+
+<p>As Duroy went downstairs, he met slowly coming up Monsieur de Vaudrec,
+whom he had met there once before. The Count appeared sad, at this
+departure, perhaps. Wishing to show his good breeding, the journalist
+eagerly bowed. The other returned the salutation courteously, but in a
+somewhat dignified manner.</p>
+
+<p>The Forestiers left on Thursday evening.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2>
+
+
+<p>Charles's absence gave Duroy increased importance in the editorial
+department of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. He signed several leaders besides his
+"Echoes," for the governor insisted on everyone assuming the
+responsibility of his "copy." He became engaged in several newspaper
+controversies, in which he acquitted himself creditably, and his
+constant relations with different statesmen were gradually preparing him
+to become in his turn a clever and perspicuous political editor. There
+was only one cloud on his horizon. It came from a little free-lance
+newspaper, which continually assailed him, or rather in him assailed the
+chief writer of "Echoes" in the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, the chief of "Monsieur
+Walter's startlers," as it was put by the anonymous writer of the
+<i>Plume</i>. Day by day cutting paragraphs, insinuations of every kind,
+appeared in it.</p>
+
+<p>One day Jacques Rival said to Duroy: "You are very patient."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy replied: "What can I do, there is no direct attack?"</p>
+
+<p>But one afternoon, as he entered the editor's room, Boisrenard held out
+the current number of the <i>Plume</i>, saying: "Here's another spiteful dig
+at you."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! what about?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! a mere nothing&mdash;the arrest of a Madame Aubert by the police."</p>
+
+<p>George took the paper, and read, under the heading, "Duroy's Latest":</p>
+
+<p>"The illustrious reporter of the <i>Vie Francaise</i> to-day informs us that
+Madame Aubert, whose arrest by a police agent belonging to the odious
+<i>brigade des m&oelig;urs</i> we announced, exists only in our imagination. Now
+the person in question lives at 18 Rue de l'Ecureuil, Montmartre. We
+understand only too well, however, the interest the agents of Walter's
+bank have in supporting those of the Prefect of Police, who tolerates
+their commerce. As to the reporter of whom it is a question, he would do
+better to give us one of those good sensational bits of news of which he
+has the secret&mdash;news of deaths contradicted the following day, news of
+battles which have never taken place, announcements of important
+utterances by sovereigns who have not said anything&mdash;all the news, in
+short, which constitutes Walter's profits, or even one of those little
+indiscretions concerning entertainments given by would-be fashionable
+ladies, or the excellence of certain articles of consumption which are
+of such resource to some of our compeers."</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow was more astonished than annoyed, only understanding
+that there was something very disagreeable for him in all this.</p>
+
+<p>Boisrenard went on: "Who gave you this 'Echo'?"</p>
+
+<p>Duroy thought for a moment, having forgotten. Then all at once the
+recollection occurred to him, "Saint-Potin." He re-read the paragraph in
+the <i>Plume</i> and reddened, roused by the accusation of venality. He
+exclaimed: "What! do they mean to assert that I am paid&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Boisrenard interrupted him: "They do, though. It is very annoying for
+you. The governor is very strict about that sort of thing. It might
+happen so often in the 'Echoes.'"</p>
+
+<p>Saint-Potin came in at that moment. Duroy hastened to him. "Have you
+seen the paragraph in the <i>Plume</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and I have just come from Madame Aubert. She does exist, but she
+was not arrested. That much of the report has no foundation."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy hastened to the room of the governor, whom he found somewhat cool,
+and with a look of suspicion in his eye. After having listened to the
+statement of the case, Monsieur Walter said: "Go and see the woman
+yourself, and contradict the paragraph in such terms as will put a stop
+to such things being written about you any more. I mean the latter part
+of the paragraph. It is very annoying for the paper, for yourself, and
+for me. A journalist should no more be suspected than Cæsar's wife."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy got into a cab, with Saint-Potin as his guide, and called out to
+the driver: "Number 18 Rue de l'Ecureuil, Montmartre."</p>
+
+<p>It was a huge house, in which they had to go up six flights of stairs.
+An old woman in a woolen jacket opened the door to them. "What is it you
+want with me now?" said she, on catching sight of Saint-Potin.</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "I have brought this gentleman, who is an inspector of
+police, and who would like to hear your story."</p>
+
+<p>Then she let him in, saying: "Two more have been here since you, for
+some paper or other, I don't know which," and turning towards Duroy,
+added: "So this gentleman wants to know about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Were you arrested by an <i>agent des m&oelig;urs</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>She lifted her arms into the air. "Never in my life, sir, never in my
+life. This is what it is all about. I have a butcher who sells good
+meat, but who gives bad weight. I have often noticed it without saying
+anything; but the other day, when I asked him for two pounds of chops,
+as I had my daughter and my son-in-law to dinner, I caught him weighing
+in bits of trimmings&mdash;trimmings of chops, it is true, but not of mine. I
+could have made a stew of them, it is true, as well, but when I ask for
+chops it is not to get other people's trimmings. I refused to take them,
+and he calls me an old shark. I called him an old rogue, and from one
+thing to another we picked up such a row that there were over a hundred
+people round the shop, some of them laughing fit to split. So that at
+last a police agent came up and asked us to settle it before the
+commissary. We went, and he dismissed the case. Since then I get my meat
+elsewhere, and don't even pass his door, in order to avoid his
+slanders."</p>
+
+<p>She ceased talking, and Duroy asked: "Is that all?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the whole truth, sir," and having offered him a glass of cordial,
+which he declined, the old woman insisted on the short weight of the
+butcher being spoken of in the report.</p>
+
+<p>On his return to the office, Duroy wrote his reply:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"An anonymous scribbler in the <i>Plume</i> seeks to pick a quarrel
+with me on the subject of an old woman whom he states was
+arrested by an <i>agent des m&oelig;urs</i>, which fact I deny. I have
+myself seen Madame Aubert&mdash;who is at least sixty years of
+age&mdash;and she told me in detail her quarrel with the butcher
+over the weighing of some chops, which led to an explanation
+before the commissary of police. This is the whole truth. As to
+the other insinuations of the writer in the <i>Plume</i>, I despise
+them. Besides, a man does not reply to such things when they
+are written under a mask.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">George Duroy.</span>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Monsieur Walter and Jacques Rival, who had come in, thought this note
+satisfactory, and it was settled that it should go in at once.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy went home early, somewhat agitated and slightly uneasy. What reply
+would the other man make? Who was he? Why this brutal attack? With the
+brusque manners of journalists this affair might go very far. He slept
+badly. When he read his reply in the paper next morning, it seemed to
+him more aggressive in print than in manuscript. He might, it seemed to
+him, have softened certain phrases. He felt feverish all day, and slept
+badly again at night. He rose at dawn to get the number of the <i>Plume</i>
+that must contain a reply to him.</p>
+
+<p>The weather had turned cold again, it was freezing hard. The gutters,
+frozen while still flowing, showed like two ribbons of ice alongside the
+pavement. The morning papers had not yet come in, and Duroy recalled the
+day of his first article, "The Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique."
+His hands and feet getting numbed, grew painful, especially the tips of
+his fingers, and he began to trot round the glazed kiosque in which the
+newspaper seller, squatting over her foot warmer, only showed through
+the little window a red nose and a pair of cheeks to match in a woolen
+hood. At length the newspaper porter passed the expected parcel through
+the opening, and the woman held out to Duroy an unfolded copy of the
+<i>Plume</i>.</p>
+
+<p>He glanced through it in search of his name, and at first saw nothing.
+He was breathing again, when he saw between two dashes:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Monsieur Duroy, of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, contradicts us, and in
+contradicting us, lies. He admits, however, that there is a
+Madame Aubert, and that an agent took her before the commissary
+of police. It only remains, therefore, to add two words, '<i>des
+m&oelig;urs</i>,' after the word 'agent,' and he is right. But the
+conscience of certain journalists is on a level with their
+talent. And I sign,</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Louis Langremont.</span>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>George's heart began to beat violently, and he went home to dress
+without being too well aware of what he was doing. So he had been
+insulted, and in such a way that no hesitation was possible. And why?
+For nothing at all. On account of an old woman who had quarreled with
+her butcher.</p>
+
+<p>He dressed quickly and went to see Monsieur Walter, although it was
+barely eight o'clock. Monsieur Walter, already up, was reading the
+<i>Plume</i>. "Well," said he, with a grave face, on seeing Duroy, "you
+cannot draw back now." The young fellow did not answer, and the other
+went on: "Go at once and see Rival, who will act for you."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy stammered a few vague words, and went out in quest of the
+descriptive writer, who was still asleep. He jumped out of bed, and,
+having read the paragraph, said: "By Jove, you must go out. Whom do you
+think of for the other second?"</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"Boisrenard? What do you think?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Boisrenard."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you a good swordsman?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil! And with the pistol?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can shoot a little."</p>
+
+<p>"Good. You shall practice while I look after everything else. Wait for
+me a moment."</p>
+
+<p>He went into his dressing-room, and soon reappeared washed, shaved,
+correct-looking.</p>
+
+<p>"Come with me," said he.</p>
+
+<p>He lived on the ground floor of a small house, and he led Duroy to the
+cellar, an enormous cellar, converted into a fencing-room and shooting
+gallery, all the openings on the street being closed. After having lit a
+row of gas jets running the whole length of a second cellar, at the
+end of which was an iron man painted red and blue; he placed on a
+table two pairs of breech-loading pistols, and began to give the word
+of command in a sharp tone, as though on the ground: "Ready?
+Fire&mdash;one&mdash;two&mdash;three."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, dumbfounded, obeyed, raising his arm, aiming and firing, and as
+he often hit the mark fair on the body, having frequently made use of an
+old horse pistol of his father's when a boy, against the birds, Jacques
+Rival, well satisfied, exclaimed: "Good&mdash;very good&mdash;very good&mdash;you will
+do&mdash;you will do."</p>
+
+<p>Then he left George, saying: "Go on shooting till noon; here is plenty
+of ammunition, don't be afraid to use it. I will come back to take you
+to lunch and tell you how things are going."</p>
+
+<p>Left to himself, Duroy fired a few more shots, and then sat down and
+began to reflect. How absurd these things were, all the same! What did a
+duel prove? Was a rascal less of a rascal after going out? What did an
+honest man, who had been insulted, gain by risking his life against a
+scoundrel? And his mind, gloomily inclined, recalled the words of
+Norbert de Varenne.</p>
+
+<p>Then he felt thirsty, and having heard the sound of water dropping
+behind him, found that there was a hydrant serving as a douche bath, and
+drank from the nozzle of the hose. Then he began to think again. It was
+gloomy in this cellar, as gloomy as a tomb. The dull and distant rolling
+of vehicles sounded like the rumblings of a far-off storm. What o'clock
+could it be? The hours passed by there as they must pass in prisons,
+without anything to indicate or mark them save the visits of the warder.
+He waited a long time. Then all at once he heard footsteps and voices,
+and Jacques Rival reappeared, accompanied by Boisrenard. He called out
+as soon as he saw Duroy: "It's all settled."</p>
+
+<p>The latter thought the matter terminated by a letter of apology, his
+heart beat, and he stammered: "Ah! thanks."</p>
+
+<p>The descriptive writer continued: "That fellow Langremont is very
+square; he accepted all our conditions. Twenty-five paces, one shot, at
+the word of command raising the pistol. The hand is much steadier that
+way than bringing it down. See here, Boisrenard, what I told you."</p>
+
+<p>And taking a pistol he began to fire, pointed out how much better one
+kept the line by raising the arm. Then he said: "Now let's go and lunch;
+it is past twelve o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>They went to a neighboring restaurant. Duroy scarcely spoke. He ate in
+order not to appear afraid, and then, in course of the afternoon,
+accompanied Boisrenard to the office, where he got through his work in
+an abstracted and mechanical fashion. They thought him plucky. Jacques
+Rival dropped in in the course of the afternoon, and it was settled that
+his seconds should call for him in a landau at seven o'clock the next
+morning, and drive to the Bois de Vesinet, where the meeting was to take
+place. All this had been done so unexpectedly, without his taking part
+in it, without his saying a word, without his giving his opinion,
+without accepting or refusing, and with such rapidity, too, that he was
+bewildered, scared, and scarcely able to understand what was going on.</p>
+
+<p>He found himself at home at nine o'clock, after having dined with
+Boisrenard, who, out of self-devotion, had not left him all day. As soon
+as he was alone he strode quickly up and down his room for several
+minutes. He was too uneasy to think about anything. One solitary idea
+filled his mind, that of a duel on the morrow, without this idea
+awakening in him anything else save a powerful emotion. He had been a
+soldier, he had been engaged with the Arabs, without much danger to
+himself though, any more than when one hunts a wild boar.</p>
+
+<p>To reckon things up, he had done his duty. He had shown himself what he
+should be. He would be talked of, approved of, and congratulated. Then
+he said aloud, as one does under powerful impressions: "What a brute of
+a fellow."</p>
+
+<p>He sat down and began to reflect. He had thrown upon his little table
+one of his adversary's cards, given him by Rival in order to retain his
+address. He read, as he had already done a score of times during the
+day: "Louis Langremont, 176 Rue Montmartre." Nothing more. He examined
+these assembled letters, which seemed to him mysterious and full of some
+disturbing import. Louis Langremont. Who was this man? What was his age,
+his height, his appearance? Was it not disgusting that a stranger, an
+unknown, should thus come and suddenly disturb one's existence without
+cause and from sheer caprice, on account of an old woman who had had a
+quarrel with her butcher. He again repeated aloud: "What a brute."</p>
+
+<p>And he stood lost in thought, his eyes fixed on the card. Anger was
+aroused in him against this bit of paper, an anger with which was
+blended a strange sense of uneasiness. What a stupid business it was. He
+took a pair of nail scissors which were lying about, and stuck their
+points into the printed name, as though he was stabbing someone. So he
+was to fight, and with pistols. Why had he not chosen swords? He would
+have got off with a prick in the hand or arm, while with the pistols one
+never knew the possible result. He said: "Come, I must keep my pluck
+up."</p>
+
+<p>The sound of his own voice made him shudder, and he glanced about him.
+He began to feel very nervous. He drank a glass of water and went to
+bed.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was in bed he blew out his candle and closed his eyes. He
+was warm between the sheets, though it was very cold in his room, but
+he could not manage to doze off. He turned over and over, remained five
+minutes on his back, then lay on his left side, then rolled on the
+right. He was still thirsty, and got up to drink. Then a sense of
+uneasiness assailed him. Was he going to be afraid? Why did his heart
+beat wildly at each well-known sound in the room? When his clock was
+going to strike, the faint squeak of the lever made him jump, and he had
+to open his mouth for some moments in order to breathe, so oppressed did
+he feel. He began to reason philosophically on the possibility of his
+being afraid.</p>
+
+<p>No, certainly he would not be afraid, now he had made up his mind to go
+through with it to the end, since he was firmly decided to fight and not
+to tremble. But he felt so deeply moved that he asked himself: "Can one
+be afraid in spite of one's self?" This doubt assailed him. If some
+power stronger than his will overcame it, what would happen? Yes, what
+would happen? Certainly he would go on the ground, since he meant to.
+But suppose he shook? suppose he fainted? And he thought of his
+position, his reputation, his future.</p>
+
+<p>A strange need of getting up to look at himself in the glass suddenly
+seized him. He relit the candle. When he saw his face so reflected, he
+scarcely recognized himself, and it seemed to him that he had never seen
+himself before. His eyes appeared enormous, and he was pale; yes, he was
+certainly pale, very pale. Suddenly the thought shot through his mind:
+"By this time to-morrow I may be dead." And his heart began to beat
+again furiously. He turned towards his bed, and distinctly saw himself
+stretched on his back between the same sheets as he had just left. He
+had the hollow cheeks of the dead, and the whiteness of those hands that
+no longer move. Then he grew afraid of his bed, and in order to see it
+no longer he opened the window to look out. An icy coldness assailed him
+from head to foot, and he drew back breathless.</p>
+
+<p>The thought occurred to him to make a fire. He built it up slowly,
+without looking around. His hands shook slightly with a kind of nervous
+tremor when he touched anything. His head wandered, his disjointed,
+drifting thoughts became fleeting and painful, an intoxication invaded
+his mind as though he had been drinking. And he kept asking himself:
+"What shall I do? What will become of me?"</p>
+
+<p>He began to walk up and down, repeating mechanically: "I must pull
+myself together. I must pull myself together." Then he added: "I will
+write to my parents, in case of accident." He sat down again, took some
+notepaper, and wrote: "Dear papa, dear mamma." Then, thinking these
+words rather too familiar under such tragic circumstances, he tore up
+the first sheet, and began anew, "My dear father, my dear mother, I am
+to fight a duel at daybreak, and as it might happen that&mdash;" He did not
+dare write the rest, and sprang up with a jump. He was now crushed by
+one besetting idea. He was going to fight a duel. He could no longer
+avoid it. What was the matter with him, then? He meant to fight, his
+mind was firmly made up to do so, and yet it seemed to him that, despite
+every effort of will, he could not retain strength enough to go to the
+place appointed for the meeting. From time to time his teeth absolutely
+chattered, and he asked himself: "Has my adversary been out before? Is
+he a frequenter of the shooting galleries? Is he known and classed as a
+shot?" He had never heard his name mentioned. And yet, if this man was
+not a remarkably good pistol shot, he would scarcely have accepted that
+dangerous weapon without discussion or hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>Then Duroy pictured to himself their meeting, his own attitude, and the
+bearing of his opponent. He wearied himself in imagining the slightest
+details of the duel, and all at once saw in front of him the little
+round black hole in the barrel from which the ball was about to issue.
+He was suddenly seized with a fit of terrible despair. His whole body
+quivered, shaken by short, sharp shudderings. He clenched his teeth to
+avoid crying out, and was assailed by a wild desire to roll on the
+ground, to tear something to pieces, to bite. But he caught sight of a
+glass on the mantelpiece, and remembered that there was in the cupboard
+a bottle of brandy almost full, for he had kept up a military habit of a
+morning dram. He seized the bottle and greedily drank from its mouth in
+long gulps. He only put it down when his breath failed him. It was a
+third empty. A warmth like that of flame soon kindled within his body,
+and spreading through his limbs, buoyed up his mind by deadening his
+thoughts. He said to himself: "I have hit upon the right plan." And as
+his skin now seemed burning he reopened the window.</p>
+
+<p>Day was breaking, calm and icy cold. On high the stars seemed dying away
+in the brightening sky, and in the deep cutting of the railway, the red,
+green, and white signal lamps were paling. The first locomotives were
+leaving the engine shed, and went off whistling, to be coupled to the
+first trains. Others, in the distance, gave vent to shrill and repeated
+screeches, their awakening cries, like cocks of the country. Duroy
+thought: "Perhaps I shall never see all this again." But as he felt that
+he was going again to be moved by the prospect of his own fate, he
+fought against it strongly, saying: "Come, I must not think of anything
+till the moment of the meeting; it is the only way to keep up my pluck."</p>
+
+<p>And he set about his toilet. He had another moment of weakness while
+shaving, in thinking that it was perhaps the last time he should see his
+face. But he swallowed another mouthful of brandy, and finished
+dressing. The hour which followed was difficult to get through. He
+walked up and down, trying to keep from thinking. When he heard a knock
+at the door he almost dropped, so violent was the shock to him. It was
+his seconds. Already!</p>
+
+<p>They were wrapped up in furs, and Rival, after shaking his principal's
+hand, said: "It is as cold as Siberia." Then he added: "Well, how goes
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well."</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite steady?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite."</p>
+
+<p>"That's it; we shall get on all right. Have you had something to eat and
+drink?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I don't need anything."</p>
+
+<p>Boisrenard, in honor of the occasion, sported a foreign order, yellow
+and green, that Duroy had never seen him display before.</p>
+
+<p>They went downstairs. A gentleman was awaiting them in the carriage.
+Rival introduced him as "Doctor Le Brument." Duroy shook hands, saying,
+"I am very much obliged to you," and sought to take his place on the
+front seat. He sat down on something hard that made him spring up again,
+as though impelled by a spring. It was the pistol case.</p>
+
+<p>Rival observed: "No, the back seat for the doctor and the principal, the
+back seat."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy ended by understanding him, and sank down beside the doctor. The
+two seconds got in in their turn, and the driver started. He knew where
+to go. But the pistol case was in the way of everyone, above all of
+Duroy, who would have preferred it out of sight. They tried to put it at
+the back of the seat and it hurt their own; they stuck it upright
+between Rival and Boisrenard, and it kept falling all the time. They
+finished by stowing it away under their feet. Conversation languished,
+although the doctor related some anecdotes. Rival alone replied to him.
+Duroy would have liked to have given a proof of presence of mind, but he
+was afraid of losing the thread of his ideas, of showing the troubled
+state of his mind, and was haunted, too, by the disturbing fear of
+beginning to tremble.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage was soon right out in the country. It was about nine
+o'clock. It was one of those sharp winter mornings when everything is as
+bright and brittle as glass. The trees, coated with hoar frost, seemed
+to have been sweating ice; the earth rang under a footstep, the dry air
+carried the slightest sound to a distance, the blue sky seemed to shine
+like a mirror, and the sun, dazzling and cold itself, shed upon the
+frozen universe rays which did not warm anything.</p>
+
+<p>Rival observed to Duroy: "I got the pistols at Gastine Renette's. He
+loaded them himself. The box is sealed. We shall toss up, besides,
+whether we use them or those of our adversary."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy mechanically replied: "I am very much obliged to you."</p>
+
+<p>Then Rival gave him a series of circumstantial recommendations, for he
+was anxious that his principal should not make any mistake. He
+emphasized each point several times, saying: "When they say, 'Are you
+ready, gentlemen?' you must answer 'Yes' in a loud tone. When they give
+the word 'Fire!' you must raise your arm quickly, and you must fire
+before they have finished counting 'One, two, three.'"</p>
+
+<p>And Duroy kept on repeating to himself: "When they give the word to
+fire, I must raise my arm. When they give the word to fire, I must raise
+my arm." He learnt it as children learn their lessons, by murmuring them
+to satiety in order to fix them on their minds. "When they give the word
+to fire, I must raise my arm."</p>
+
+<p>The carriage entered a wood, turned down an avenue on the right, and
+then to the right again. Rival suddenly opened the door to cry to the
+driver: "That way, down the narrow road." The carriage turned into a
+rutty road between two copses, in which dead leaves fringed with ice
+were quivering. Duroy was still murmuring: "When they give the word to
+fire, I must raise my arm." And he thought how a carriage accident would
+settle the whole affair. "Oh! if they could only upset, what luck; if he
+could only break a leg."</p>
+
+<p>But he caught sight, at the further side of a clearing, of another
+carriage drawn up, and four gentlemen stamping to keep their feet warm,
+and he was obliged to open his mouth, so difficult did his breathing
+become.</p>
+
+<p>The seconds got out first, and then the doctor and the principal. Rival
+had taken the pistol-case and walked away with Boisrenard to meet two of
+the strangers who came towards them. Duroy watched them salute one
+another ceremoniously, and then walk up and down the clearing, looking
+now on the ground and now at the trees, as though they were looking for
+something that had fallen down or might fly away. Then they measured off
+a certain number of paces, and with great difficulty stuck two walking
+sticks into the frozen ground. They then reassembled in a group and went
+through the action of tossing, like children playing heads or tails.</p>
+
+<p>Doctor Le Brument said to Duroy: "Do you feel all right? Do you want
+anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, nothing, thanks."</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to him that he was mad, that he was asleep, that he was
+dreaming, that supernatural influences enveloped him. Was he afraid?
+Perhaps. But he did not know. Everything about him had altered.</p>
+
+<p>Jacques Rival returned, and announced in low tones of satisfaction: "It
+is all ready. Luck has favored us as regards the pistols."</p>
+
+<p>That, so far as Duroy was concerned, was a matter of profound
+indifference.</p>
+
+<p>They took off his overcoat, which he let them do mechanically. They felt
+the breast-pocket of his frock-coat to make certain that he had no
+pocketbook or papers likely to deaden a ball. He kept repeating to
+himself like a prayer: "When the word is given to fire, I must raise my
+arm."</p>
+
+<p>They led him up to one of the sticks stuck in the ground and handed him
+his pistol. Then he saw a man standing just in front of him&mdash;a short,
+stout, bald-headed man, wearing spectacles. It was his adversary. He saw
+him very plainly, but he could only think: "When the word to fire is
+given, I must raise my arm and fire at once."</p>
+
+<p>A voice rang out in the deep silence, a voice that seemed to come from a
+great distance, saying: "Are you ready, gentlemen?"</p>
+
+<p>George exclaimed "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>The same voice gave the word "Fire!"</p>
+
+<p>He heard nothing more, he saw nothing more, he took note of nothing
+more, he only knew that he raised his arm, pressing strongly on the
+trigger. And he heard nothing. But he saw all at once a little smoke at
+the end of his pistol barrel, and as the man in front of him still stood
+in the same position, he perceived, too, a little cloud of smoke
+drifting off over his head.</p>
+
+<p>They had both fired. It was over.</p>
+
+<p>His seconds and the doctor touched him, felt him and unbuttoned his
+clothes, asking, anxiously: "Are you hit?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied at haphazard: "No, I do not think so."</p>
+
+<p>Langremont, too, was as unhurt as his enemy, and Jacques Rival murmured
+in a discontented tone: "It is always so with those damned pistols; you
+either miss or kill. What a filthy weapon."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy did not move, paralyzed by surprise and joy. It was over. They had
+to take away his weapon, which he still had clenched in his hand. It
+seemed to him now that he could have done battle with the whole world.
+It was over. What happiness! He felt suddenly brave enough to defy no
+matter whom.</p>
+
+<p>The whole of the seconds conversed together for a few moments, making an
+appointment to draw up their report of the proceedings in the course of
+the day. Then they got into the carriage again, and the driver, who was
+laughing on the box, started off, cracking his whip. They breakfasted
+together on the boulevards, and in chatting over the event, Duroy
+narrated his impressions. "I felt quite unconcerned, quite. You must,
+besides, have seen it yourself."</p>
+
+<p>Rival replied: "Yes, you bore yourself very well."</p>
+
+<p>When the report was drawn up it was handed to Duroy, who was to insert
+it in the paper. He was astonished to read that he had exchanged a
+couple of shots with Monsieur Louis Langremont, and rather uneasily
+interrogated Rival, saying: "But we only fired once."</p>
+
+<p>The other smiled. "Yes, one shot apiece, that makes a couple of shots."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, deeming the explanation satisfactory, did not persist. Daddy
+Walter embraced him, saying: "Bravo, bravo, you have defended the colors
+of <i>Vie Francaise</i>; bravo!"</p>
+
+<p>George showed himself in the course of the evening at the principal
+newspaper offices, and at the chief <i>cafés</i> on the boulevards. He twice
+encountered his adversary, who was also showing himself. They did not
+bow to one another. If one of them had been wounded they would have
+shaken hands. Each of them, moreover, swore with conviction that he had
+heard the whistling of the other's bullet.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, at about eleven, Duroy received a telegram. "Awfully
+alarmed. Come at once. Rue de Constantinople.&mdash;Clo."</p>
+
+<p>He hastened to their meeting-place, and she threw herself into his arms,
+smothering him with kisses.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my darling! if you only knew what I felt when I saw the papers this
+morning. Oh, tell me all about it! I want to know everything."</p>
+
+<p>He had to give minute details. She said: "What a dreadful night you must
+have passed before the duel."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I slept very well."</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have closed an eye. And on the ground&mdash;tell me all that
+happened."</p>
+
+<p>He gave a dramatic account. "When we were face to face with one another
+at twenty paces, only four times the length of this room, Jacques, after
+asking if we were ready, gave the word 'Fire.' I raised my arm at once,
+keeping a good line, but I made the mistake of trying to aim at the
+head. I had a pistol with an unusually stiff pull, and I am accustomed
+to very easy ones, so that the resistance of the trigger caused me to
+fire too high. No matter, it could not have gone very far off him. He
+shoots well, too, the rascal. His bullet skimmed by my temple. I felt
+the wind of it."</p>
+
+<p>She was sitting on his knees, and holding him in her arms as though to
+share his dangers. She murmured: "Oh, my poor darling! my poor darling!"</p>
+
+<p>When he had finished his narration, she said: "Do you know, I cannot
+live without you. I must see you, and with my husband in Paris it is not
+easy. Often I could find an hour in the morning before you were up to
+run in and kiss you, but I won't enter that awful house of yours. What
+is to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>He suddenly had an inspiration, and asked: "What is the rent here?"</p>
+
+<p>"A hundred francs a month."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will take the rooms over on my own account, and live here
+altogether. Mine are no longer good enough for my new position."</p>
+
+<p>She reflected a few moments, and then said: "No, I won't have that."</p>
+
+<p>He was astonished, and asked: "Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I won't."</p>
+
+<p>"That is not a reason. These rooms suit me very well. I am here, and
+shall remain here. Besides," he added, with a laugh, "they are taken in
+my name."</p>
+
+<p>But she kept on refusing, "No, no, I won't have it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not, then?"</p>
+
+<p>Then she whispered tenderly: "Because you would bring women here, and I
+won't have it."</p>
+
+<p>He grew indignant. "Never. I can promise you that."</p>
+
+<p>"No, you will bring them all the same."</p>
+
+<p>"I swear I won't."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Truly, on my word of honor. This is our place, our very own."</p>
+
+<p>She clasped him to her in an outburst of love, exclaiming: "Very well,
+then, darling. But you know if you once deceive me, only once, it will
+be all over between us, all over for ever."</p>
+
+<p>He swore again with many protestations, and it was agreed that he should
+install himself there that very day, so that she could look in on him as
+she passed the door. Then she said: "In any case, come and dine with us
+on Sunday. My husband thinks you are charming."</p>
+
+<p>He was flattered "Really!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you have captivated him. And then, listen, you have told me that
+you were brought up in a country-house."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you must know something about agriculture?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, talk to him about gardening and the crops. He is very fond of
+that sort of thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Good; I will not forget."</p>
+
+<p>She left him, after kissing him to an indefinite extent, the duel having
+stimulated her affection.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy thought, as he made his way to the office, "What a strange being.
+What a feather brain. Can one tell what she wants and what she cares
+for? And what a strange household. What fanciful being arranged the
+union of that old man and this madcap? What made the inspector marry
+this giddy girl? A mystery. Who knows? Love, perhaps." And he concluded:
+"After all, she is a very nice little mistress, and I should be a very
+big fool to let her slip away from me."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>His duel had given Duroy a position among the leader-writers of the <i>Vie
+Francaise</i>, but as he had great difficulty in finding ideas, he made a
+specialty of declamatory articles on the decadence of morality, the
+lowering of the standard of character, the weakening of the patriotic
+fiber and the anemia of French honor. He had discovered the word anemia,
+and was very proud of it. And when Madame de Marelle, filled with that
+skeptical, mocking, and incredulous spirit characteristic of the
+Parisian, laughed at his tirades, which she demolished with an epigram,
+he replied with a smile: "Bah! this sort of thing will give me a good
+reputation later on."</p>
+
+<p>He now resided in the Rue de Constantinople, whither he had shifted his
+portmanteau, his hair-brush, his razor, and his soap, which was what his
+moving amounted to. Twice or thrice a week she would call before he was
+up, undress in a twinkling, and slip into bed, shivering from the cold
+prevailing out of doors. As a set off, Duroy dined every Thursday at her
+residence, and paid court to her husband by talking agriculture with
+him. As he was himself fond of everything relating to the cultivation of
+the soil, they sometimes both grew so interested in the subject of their
+conversation that they quite forgot the wife dozing on the sofa. Laurine
+would also go to sleep, now on the knee of her father and now on that of
+Pretty-boy. And when the journalist had left, Monsieur de Marelle never
+failed to assert, in that doctrinal tone in which he said the least
+thing: "That young fellow is really very pleasant company, he has a
+well-informed mind."</p>
+
+<p>February was drawing to a close. One began to smell the violets in the
+street, as one passed the barrows of the flower-sellers of a morning.
+Duroy was living beneath a sky without a cloud.</p>
+
+<p>One night, on returning home, he found a letter that had been slipped
+under his door. He glanced at the post-mark, and read "Cannes." Having
+opened it, he read:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Villa Jolie, Cannes.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir and Friend</span>,&mdash;You told me, did you not, that I could
+reckon upon you for anything? Well, I have a very painful
+service to ask of you; it is to come and help me, so that I may
+not be left alone during the last moments of Charles, who is
+dying. He may not last out the week, as the doctor has
+forewarned me, although he has not yet taken to his bed. I have
+no longer strength nor courage to witness this hourly death,
+and I think with terror of those last moments which are drawing
+near. I can only ask such a service of you, as my husband has
+no relatives. You were his comrade; he opened the door of the
+paper to you. Come, I beg of you; I have no one else to ask.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, your very sincere friend,</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Madeleine Forestier.</span>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A strange feeling filled George's heart, a sense of freedom and of a
+space opening before him, and he murmured: "To be sure, I'll go. Poor
+Charles! What are we, after all?"</p>
+
+<p>The governor, to whom he read the letter, grumblingly granted
+permission, repeating: "But be back soon, you are indispensable to us."</p>
+
+<p>George left for Cannes next day by the seven o'clock express, after
+letting the Marelles know of his departure by a telegram. He arrived the
+following evening about four o'clock. A commissionaire guided him to the
+Villa Jolie, built half-way up the slope of the pine forest clothed
+with white houses, which extends from Cannes to the Golfe Juan. The
+house&mdash;small, low, and in the Italian style&mdash;was built beside the road
+which winds zig-zag fashion up through the trees, revealing a succession
+of charming views at every turning it makes.</p>
+
+<p>The man servant opened the door, and exclaimed: "Oh! Sir, madame is
+expecting you most impatiently."</p>
+
+<p>"How is your master?" inquired Duroy.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all well, sir. He cannot last much longer."</p>
+
+<p>The drawing-room, into which George was shown, was hung with pink and
+blue chintz. The tall and wide windows overlooked the town and the sea.
+Duroy muttered: "By Jove, this is nice and swell for a country house.
+Where the deuce do they get the money from?"</p>
+
+<p>The rustle of a dress made him turn round. Madame Forestier held out
+both hands to him. "How good of you to come, how good of you to come,"
+said she.</p>
+
+<p>And suddenly she kissed him on the cheek. Then they looked at
+one another. She was somewhat paler and thinner, but still
+fresh-complexioned, and perhaps still prettier for her additional
+delicacy. She murmured: "He is dreadful, do you know; he knows that he
+is doomed, and he leads me a fearful life. But where is your
+portmanteau?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have left it at the station, not knowing what hotel you would like me
+to stop at in order to be near you."</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated a moment, and then said: "You must stay here. Besides,
+your room is all ready. He might die at any moment, and if it were to
+happen during the night I should be alone. I will send for your
+luggage."</p>
+
+<p>He bowed, saying: "As you please."</p>
+
+<p>"Now let us go upstairs," she said.</p>
+
+<p>He followed her. She opened a door on the first floor, and Duroy saw,
+wrapped in rugs and seated in an armchair near the window, a kind of
+living corpse, livid even under the red light of the setting sun, and
+looking towards him. He scarcely recognized, but rather guessed, that it
+was his friend. The room reeked of fever, medicated drinks, ether, tar,
+the nameless and oppressive odor of a consumptive's sick room. Forestier
+held out his hand slowly and with difficulty. "So here you are; you have
+come to see me die, then! Thanks."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy affected to laugh. "To see you die? That would not be a very
+amusing sight, and I should not select such an occasion to visit Cannes.
+I came to give you a look in, and to rest myself a bit."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier murmured, "Sit down," and then bent his head, as though lost
+in painful thoughts. He breathed hurriedly and pantingly, and from time
+to time gave a kind of groan, as if he wanted to remind the others how
+ill he was.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that he would not speak, his wife came and leaned against the
+window-sill, and indicating the view with a motion of her head, said,
+"Look! Is not that beautiful?"</p>
+
+<p>Before them the hillside, dotted with villas, sloped downwards towards
+the town, which stretched in a half-circle along the shore with its head
+to the right in the direction of the pier, overlooked by the old city
+surmounted by its belfry, and its feet to the left towards the point of
+La Croisette, facing the Isles of Lerins. These two islands appeared
+like two green spots amidst the blue water. They seemed to be floating
+on it like two huge green leaves, so low and flat did they appear from
+this height. Afar off, bounding the view on the other side of the bay,
+beyond the pier and the belfry, a long succession of blue hills showed
+up against a dazzling sky, their strange and picturesque line of summits
+now rounded, now forked, now pointed, ending with a huge pyramidal
+mountain, its foot in the sea itself.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier pointed it out, saying: "This is L'Estherel."</p>
+
+<p>The void beyond the dark hill tops was red, a glowing red that the eye
+would not fear, and Duroy, despite himself, felt the majesty of the
+close of the day. He murmured, finding no other term strong enough to
+express his admiration, "It is stunning."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier raised his head, and turning to his wife, said: "Let me have
+some fresh air."</p>
+
+<p>"Pray, be careful," was her reply. "It is late, and the sun is setting;
+you will catch a fresh cold, and you know how bad that is for you."</p>
+
+<p>He made a feverish and feeble movement with his right hand that was
+almost meant for a blow, and murmured with a look of anger, the grin of
+a dying man that showed all the thinness of his lips, the hollowness of
+the cheeks, and the prominence of all the bones of the face: "I tell you
+I am stifling. What does it matter to you whether I die a day sooner or
+a day later, since I am done for?"</p>
+
+<p>She opened the window quite wide. The air that entered surprised all
+three like a caress. It was a soft, warm breeze, a breeze of spring,
+already laden with the scents of the odoriferous shrubs and flowers
+which sprang up along this shore. A powerful scent of turpentine and
+the harsh savor of the eucalyptus could be distinguished.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier drank it in with short and fevered gasps. He clutched the arm
+of his chair with his nails, and said in low, hissing, and savage tones:
+"Shut the window. It hurts me; I would rather die in a cellar."</p>
+
+<p>His wife slowly closed the window, and then looked out in space, her
+forehead against the pane. Duroy, feeling very ill at ease, would have
+liked to have chatted with the invalid and reassured him. But he could
+think of nothing to comfort him. At length he said: "Then you have not
+got any better since you have been here?"</p>
+
+<p>Forestier shrugged his shoulders with low-spirited impatience. "You see
+very well I have not," he replied, and again lowered his head.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy went on: "Hang it all, it is ever so much nicer here than in
+Paris. We are still in the middle of winter there. It snows, it freezes,
+it rains, and it is dark enough for the lamps to be lit at three in the
+afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything new at the paper?" asked Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. They have taken on young Lacrin, who has left the <i>Voltaire</i>,
+to do your work, but he is not up to it. It is time that you came back."</p>
+
+<p>The invalid muttered: "I&mdash;I shall do all my work six feet under the sod
+now."</p>
+
+<p>This fixed idea recurred like a knell <i>apropos</i> of everything,
+continually cropping up in every idea, every sentence. There was a long
+silence, a deep and painful silence. The glow of the sunset was slowly
+fading, and the mountains were growing black against the red sky, which
+was getting duller. A colored shadow, a commencement of night, which yet
+retained the glow of an expiring furnace, stole into the room and seemed
+to tinge the furniture, the walls, the hangings, with mingled tints of
+sable and crimson. The chimney-glass, reflecting the horizon, seemed
+like a patch of blood. Madame Forestier did not stir, but remained
+standing with her back to the room, her face to the window pane.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier began to speak in a broken, breathless voice, heartrending to
+listen to. "How many more sunsets shall I see? Eight, ten, fifteen, or
+twenty, perhaps thirty&mdash;no more. You have time before you; for me it is
+all over. And it will go on all the same, after I am gone, as if I was
+still here." He was silent for a few moments, and then continued: "All
+that I see reminds me that in a few days I shall see it no more. It is
+horrible. I shall see nothing&mdash;nothing of all that exists; not the
+smallest things one makes use of&mdash;the plates, the glasses, the beds in
+which one rests so comfortably, the carriages. How nice it is to drive
+out of an evening! How fond I was of all those things!"</p>
+
+<p>He nervously moved the fingers of both hands, as though playing the
+piano on the arms of his chair. Each of his silences was more painful
+than his words, so evident was it that his thoughts must be fearful.
+Duroy suddenly recalled what Norbert de Varenne had said to him some
+weeks before, "I now see death so near that I often want to stretch out
+my arms to put it back. I see it everywhere. The insects crushed on the
+path, the falling leaves, the white hair in a friend's beard, rend my
+heart and cry to me, 'Behold!'"</p>
+
+<p>He had not understood all this on that occasion; now, seeing Forestier,
+he did. An unknown pain assailed him, as if he himself was sensible of
+the presence of death, hideous death, hard by, within reach of his hand,
+on the chair in which his friend lay gasping. He longed to get up, to go
+away, to fly, to return to Paris at once. Oh! if he had known he would
+not have come.</p>
+
+<p>Darkness had now spread over the room, like premature mourning for the
+dying man. The window alone remained still visible, showing, within the
+lighter square formed by it, the motionless outline of the young wife.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier remarked, with irritation, "Well, are they going to bring in
+the lamp to-night? This is what they call looking after an invalid."</p>
+
+<p>The shadow outlined against the window panes disappeared, and the sound
+of an electric bell rang through the house. A servant shortly entered
+and placed a lamp on the mantelpiece. Madame Forestier said to her
+husband, "Will you go to bed, or would you rather come down to dinner?"</p>
+
+<p>He murmured: "I will come down."</p>
+
+<p>Waiting for this meal kept them all three sitting still for nearly an
+hour, only uttering from time to time some needless commonplace remark,
+as if there had been some danger, some mysterious danger in letting
+silence endure too long, in letting the air congeal in this room where
+death was prowling.</p>
+
+<p>At length dinner was announced. The meal seemed interminable to Duroy.
+They did not speak, but ate noiselessly, and then crumbled their bread
+with their fingers. The man servant who waited upon them went to and fro
+without the sound of his footsteps being heard, for as the creak of a
+boot-sole irritated Charles, he wore list slippers. The harsh tick of a
+wooden clock alone disturbed the calm with its mechanical and regular
+sound.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as dinner was over Duroy, on the plea of fatigue, retired to his
+room, and leaning on the window-sill watched the full moon, in the midst
+of the sky like an immense lamp, casting its cold gleam upon the white
+walls of the villas, and scattering over the sea a soft and moving
+dappled light. He strove to find some reason to justify a swift
+departure, inventing plans, telegrams he was to receive, a recall from
+Monsieur Walter.</p>
+
+<p>But his resolves to fly appeared more difficult to realize on awakening
+the next morning. Madame Forestier would not be taken in by his devices,
+and he would lose by his cowardice all the benefit of his self-devotion.
+He said to himself: "Bah! it is awkward; well so much the worse, there
+must be unpleasant situations in life, and, besides, it will perhaps be
+soon over."</p>
+
+<p>It was a bright day, one of those bright Southern days that make the
+heart feel light, and Duroy walked down to the sea, thinking that it
+would be soon enough to see Forestier some time in course of the
+afternoon. When he returned to lunch, the servant remarked, "Master has
+already asked for you two or three times, sir. Will you please step up
+to his room, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>He went upstairs. Forestier appeared to be dozing in his armchair. His
+wife was reading, stretched out on the sofa.</p>
+
+<p>The invalid raised his head, and Duroy said, "Well, how do you feel? You
+seem quite fresh this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am better, I have recovered some of my strength. Get through
+your lunch with Madeleine as soon as you can, for we are going out for
+a drive."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she was alone with Duroy, the young wife said to him, "There,
+to-day he thinks he is all right again. He has been making plans all the
+morning. We are going to the Golfe Juan now to buy some pottery for our
+rooms in Paris. He is determined to go out, but I am horribly afraid of
+some mishap. He cannot bear the shaking of the drive."</p>
+
+<p>When the landau arrived, Forestier came down stairs a step at a time,
+supported by his servant. But as soon as he caught sight of the
+carriage, he ordered the hood to be taken off. His wife opposed this,
+saying, "You will catch cold. It is madness."</p>
+
+<p>He persisted, repeating, "Oh, I am much better. I feel it."</p>
+
+<p>They passed at first along some of those shady roads, bordered by
+gardens, which cause Cannes to resemble a kind of English Park, and then
+reached the highway to Antibes, running along the seashore. Forestier
+acted as guide. He had already pointed out the villa of the Court de
+Paris, and now indicated others. He was lively, with the forced and
+feeble gayety of a doomed man. He lifted his finger, no longer having
+strength to stretch out his arm, and said, "There is the Ile Sainte
+Marguerite, and the chateau from which Bazaine escaped. How they did
+humbug us over that matter!"</p>
+
+<p>Then regimental recollections recurred to him, and he mentioned various
+officers whose names recalled incidents to them. But all at once, the
+road making a turn, they caught sight of the whole of the Golfe Juan,
+with the white village in the curve of the bay, and the point of Antibes
+at the further side of it. Forestier, suddenly seized upon by childish
+glee, exclaimed, "Ah! the squadron, you will see the squadron."</p>
+
+<p>Indeed they could perceive, in the middle of the broad bay, half-a-dozen
+large ships resembling rocks covered with leafless trees. They were
+huge, strange, mis-shapen, with excrescences, turrets, rams, burying
+themselves in the water as though to take root beneath the waves. One
+could scarcely imagine how they could stir or move about, they seemed so
+heavy and so firmly fixed to the bottom. A floating battery, circular
+and high out of water, resembling the light-houses that are built on
+shoals. A tall three-master passed near them, with all its white sails
+set. It looked graceful and pretty beside these iron war monsters
+squatted on the water. Forestier tried to make them out. He pointed out
+the Colbert, the Suffren, the Admiral Duperre, the Redoubtable, the
+Devastation, and then checking himself, added, "No I made a mistake;
+that one is the Devastation."</p>
+
+<p>They arrived opposite a species of large pavilion, on the front of which
+was the inscription, "Art Pottery of the Golfe Juan," and the carriage,
+driving up the sweep, stopped before the door. Forestier wanted to buy a
+couple of vases for his study. As he felt unequal to getting out of the
+carriage, specimens were brought out to him one after the other. He was
+a long time in making a choice, and consulted his wife and Duroy.</p>
+
+<p>"You know," he said, "it is for the cabinet at the end of the study.
+Sitting in my chair, I have it before my eyes all the time. I want an
+antique form, a Greek outline." He examined the specimens, had others
+brought, and then turned again to the first ones. At length he made up
+his mind, and having paid, insisted upon the articles being sent on at
+once. "I shall be going back to Paris in a few days," he said.</p>
+
+<p>They drove home, but as they skirted the bay a rush of cold air from one
+of the valleys suddenly met them, and the invalid began to cough. It was
+nothing at first, but it augmented and became an unbroken fit of
+coughing, and then a kind of gasping hiccough.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier was choking, and every time he tried to draw breath the cough
+seemed to rend his chest. Nothing would soothe or check it. He had to be
+borne from the carriage to his room, and Duroy, who supported his legs,
+felt the jerking of his feet at each convulsion of his lungs. The warmth
+of the bed did not check the attack, which lasted till midnight, when,
+at length, narcotics lulled its deadly spasm. The sick man remained till
+morning sitting up in his bed, with his eyes open.</p>
+
+<p>The first words he uttered were to ask for the barber, for he insisted
+on being shaved every morning. He got up for this operation, but had to
+be helped back into bed at once, and his breathing grew so short, so
+hard, and so difficult, that Madame Forestier, in alarm, had Duroy, who
+had just turned in, roused up again in order to beg him to go for the
+doctor.</p>
+
+<p>He came back almost immediately with Dr. Gavaut, who prescribed a
+soothing drink and gave some advice; but when the journalist saw him to
+the door, in order to ask his real opinion, he said, "It is the end. He
+will be dead to-morrow morning. Break it to his poor wife, and send for
+a priest. I, for my part, can do nothing more. I am, however, entirely
+at your service."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy sent for Madame Forestier. "He is dying," said he. "The doctor
+advises a priest being sent for. What would you like done?"</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated for some time, and then, in slow tones, as though she had
+calculated everything, replied, "Yes, that will be best&mdash;in many
+respects. I will break it to him&mdash;tell him the vicar wants to see him,
+or something or other; I really don't know what. You would be very kind
+if you would go and find a priest for me and pick one out. Choose one
+who won't raise too many difficulties over the business. One who will be
+satisfied with confession, and will let us off with the rest of it all."</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow returned with a complaisant old ecclesiastic, who
+accommodated himself to the state of affairs. As soon as he had gone
+into the dying man's room, Madame Forestier came out of it, and sat down
+with Duroy in the one adjoining.</p>
+
+<p>"It has quite upset him," said she. "When I spoke to him about a priest
+his face assumed a frightful expression as if he had felt the
+breath&mdash;the breath of&mdash;you know. He understood that it was all over at
+last, and that his hours were numbered." She was very pale as she
+continued, "I shall never forget the expression of his face. He
+certainly saw death face to face at that moment. He saw him."</p>
+
+<p>They could hear the priest, who spoke in somewhat loud tones, being
+slightly deaf, and who was saying, "No, no; you are not so bad as all
+that. You are ill, but in no danger. And the proof is that I have called
+in as a friend as a neighbor."</p>
+
+<p>They could not make out Forestier's reply, but the old man went on, "No,
+I will not ask you to communicate. We will talk of that when you are
+better. If you wish to profit by my visit&mdash;to confess, for instance&mdash;I
+ask nothing better. I am a shepherd, you know, and seize on every
+occasion to bring a lamb back to the fold."</p>
+
+<p>A long silence followed. Forestier must have been speaking in a faint
+voice. Then all at once the priest uttered in a different tone, the tone
+of one officiating at the altar. "The mercy of God is infinite. Repeat
+the Comfiteor, my son. You have perhaps forgotten it; I will help you.
+Repeat after me: 'Comfiteor Deo omnipotenti&mdash;Beata Maria semper
+virgini.'"</p>
+
+<p>He paused from time to time to allow the dying man to catch him up. Then
+he said, "And now confess."</p>
+
+<p>The young wife and Duroy sat still seized on by a strange uneasiness,
+stirred by anxious expectation. The invalid had murmured something. The
+priest repeated, "You have given way to guilty pleasures&mdash;of what kind,
+my son?"</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine rose and said, "Let us go down into the garden for a short
+time. We must not listen to his secrets."</p>
+
+<p>And they went and sat down on a bench before the door beneath a rose
+tree in bloom, and beside a bed of pinks, which shed their soft and
+powerful perfume abroad in the pure air. Duroy, after a few moments'
+silence, inquired, "Shall you be long before you return to Paris?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," she replied. "As soon as it is all over I shall go back
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Within ten days?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, at the most."</p>
+
+<p>"He has no relations, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"None except cousins. His father and mother died when he was quite
+young."</p>
+
+<p>They both watched a butterfly sipping existence from the pinks, passing
+from one to another with a soft flutter of his wings, which continued to
+flap slowly when he alighted on a flower. They remained silent for a
+considerable time.</p>
+
+<p>The servant came to inform them that "the priest had finished," and they
+went upstairs together.</p>
+
+<p>Forestier seemed to have grown still thinner since the day before. The
+priest held out his hand to him, saying, "Good-day, my son, I shall call
+in again to-morrow morning," and took his departure.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had left the room the dying man, who was panting for
+breath, strove to hold out his two hands to his wife, and gasped, "Save
+me&mdash;save me, darling, I don't want to die&mdash;I don't want to die. Oh! save
+me&mdash;tell me what I had better do; send for the doctor. I will take
+whatever you like. I won't die&mdash;I won't die."</p>
+
+<p>He wept. Big tears streamed from his eyes down his fleshless cheeks, and
+the corners of his mouth contracted like those of a vexed child. Then
+his hands, falling back on the bed clothes, began a slow, regular, and
+continuous movement, as though trying to pick something off the sheet.</p>
+
+<p>His wife, who began to cry too, said: "No, no, it is nothing. It is only
+a passing attack, you will be better to-morrow, you tired yourself too
+much going out yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Forestier's breathing was shorter than that of a dog who has been
+running, so quick that it could not be counted, so faint that it could
+scarcely be heard.</p>
+
+<p>He kept repeating: "I don't want to die. Oh! God&mdash;God&mdash;God; what is to
+become of me? I shall no longer see anything&mdash;anything any more. Oh!
+God."</p>
+
+<p>He saw before him some hideous thing invisible to the others, and his
+staring eyes reflected the terror it inspired. His two hands continued
+their horrible and wearisome action. All at once he started with a sharp
+shudder that could be seen to thrill the whole of his body, and jerked
+out the words, "The graveyard&mdash;I&mdash;Oh! God."</p>
+
+<p>He said no more, but lay motionless, haggard and panting.</p>
+
+<p>Time sped on, noon struck by the clock of a neighboring convent. Duroy
+left the room to eat a mouthful or two. He came back an hour later.
+Madame Forestier refused to take anything. The invalid had not stirred.
+He still continued to draw his thin fingers along the sheet as though to
+pull it up over his face.</p>
+
+<p>His wife was seated in an armchair at the foot of the bed. Duroy took
+another beside her, and they waited in silence. A nurse had come, sent
+in by the doctor, and was dozing near the window.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy himself was beginning to doze off when he felt that something was
+happening. He opened his eyes just in time to see Forestier close his,
+like two lights dying out. A faint rattle stirred in the throat of the
+dying man, and two streaks of blood appeared at the corners of his
+mouth, and then flowed down into his shirt. His hands ceased their
+hideous motion. He had ceased to breathe.</p>
+
+<p>His wife understood this, and uttering a kind of shriek, she fell on her
+knees sobbing, with her face buried in the bed-clothes. George,
+surprised and scared, mechanically made the sign of the cross. The nurse
+awakened, drew near the bed. "It is all over," said she.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, who was recovering his self-possession, murmured, with a sigh of
+relief: "It was sooner over than I thought for."</p>
+
+<p>When the first shock was over and the first tears shed, they had to busy
+themselves with all the cares and all the necessary steps a dead man
+exacts. Duroy was running about till nightfall. He was very hungry when
+he got back. Madame Forestier ate a little, and then they both installed
+themselves in the chamber of death to watch the body. Two candles burned
+on the night-table beside a plate filled with holy water, in which lay a
+sprig of mimosa, for they had not been able to get the necessary twig of
+consecrated box.</p>
+
+<p>They were alone, the young man and the young wife, beside him who was no
+more. They sat without speaking, thinking and watching.</p>
+
+<p>George, whom the darkness rendered uneasy in presence of the corpse,
+kept his eyes on this persistently. His eye and his mind were both
+attracted and fascinated by this fleshless visage, which the vacillating
+light caused to appear yet more hollow. That was his friend Charles
+Forestier, who was chatting with him only the day before! What a strange
+and fearful thing was this end of a human being! Oh! how he recalled the
+words of Norbert de Varenne haunted by the fear of death: "No one ever
+comes back." Millions on millions would be born almost identical, with
+eyes, a nose, a mouth, a skull and a mind within it, without he who lay
+there on the bed ever reappearing again.</p>
+
+<p>For some years he had lived, eaten, laughed, loved, hoped like all the
+world. And it was all over for him all over for ever. Life; a few days,
+and then nothing. One is born, one grows up, one is happy, one waits,
+and then one dies. Farewell, man or woman, you will not return again to
+earth. Plants, beast, men, stars, worlds, all spring to life, and then
+die to be transformed anew. But never one of them comes back&mdash;insect,
+man, nor planet.</p>
+
+<p>A huge, confused, and crushing sense of terror weighed down the soul of
+Duroy, the terror of that boundless and inevitable annihilation
+destroying all existence. He already bowed his head before its menace.
+He thought of the flies who live a few hours, the beasts who live a few
+days, the men who live a few years, the worlds which live a few
+centuries. What was the difference between one and the other? A few more
+days' dawn that was all.</p>
+
+<p>He turned away his eyes in order no longer to have the corpse before
+them. Madame Forestier, with bent head, seemed also absorbed in painful
+thoughts. Her fair hair showed so prettily with her pale face, that a
+feeling, sweet as the touch of hope flitted through the young fellow's
+breast. Why grieve when he had still so many years before him? And he
+began to observe her. Lost in thought she did not notice him. He said to
+himself, "That, though, is the only good thing in life, to love, to hold
+the woman one loves in one's arms. That is the limit of human
+happiness."</p>
+
+<p>What luck the dead man had had to meet such an intelligent and charming
+companion! How had they become acquainted? How ever had she agreed on
+her part to marry that poor and commonplace young fellow? How had she
+succeeded in making someone of him? Then he thought of all the hidden
+mysteries of people's lives. He remembered what had been whispered about
+the Count de Vaudrec, who had dowered and married her off it was said.</p>
+
+<p>What would she do now? Whom would she marry? A deputy, as Madame de
+Marelle fancied, or some young fellow with a future before him, a higher
+class Forestier? Had she any projects, any plans, any settled ideas? How
+he would have liked to know that. But why this anxiety as to what she
+would do? He asked himself this, and perceived that his uneasiness was
+due to one of those half-formed and secret ideas which one hides from
+even one's self, and only discovers when fathoming one's self to the
+very bottom.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, why should he not attempt this conquest himself? How strong and
+redoubtable he would be with her beside him!</p>
+
+<p>How quick, and far, and surely he would fly! And why should he not
+succeed too? He felt that he pleased her, that she had for him more than
+mere sympathy; in fact, one of those affections which spring up between
+two kindred spirits and which partake as much of silent seduction as of
+a species of mute complicity. She knew him to be intelligent, resolute,
+and tenacious, she would have confidence in him.</p>
+
+<p>Had she not sent for him under the present grave circumstances? And why
+had she summoned him? Ought he not to see in this a kind of choice, a
+species of confession. If she had thought of him just at the moment she
+was about to become a widow, it was perhaps that she had thought of one
+who was again to become her companion and ally? An impatient desire to
+know this, to question her, to learn her intentions, assailed him. He
+would have to leave on the next day but one, as he could not remain
+alone with her in the house. So it was necessary to be quick, it was
+necessary before returning to Paris to become acquainted, cleverly and
+delicately, with her projects, and not to allow her to go back on them,
+to yield perhaps to the solicitations of another, and pledge herself
+irrevocably.</p>
+
+<p>The silence in the room was intense, nothing was audible save the
+regular and metallic tick of the pendulum of the clock on the
+mantelpiece.</p>
+
+<p>He murmured: "You must be very tired?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied: "Yes; but I am, above all, overwhelmed."</p>
+
+<p>The sound of their own voices startled them, ringing strangely in this
+gloomy room, and they suddenly glanced at the dead man's face as though
+they expected to see it move on hearing them, as it had done some hours
+before.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy resumed: "Oh! it is a heavy blow for you, and such a complete
+change in your existence, a shock to your heart and your whole life."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a long sigh, without replying, and he continued, "It is so
+painful for a young woman to find herself alone as you will be."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, but she said nothing, and he again went on, "At all events,
+you know the compact entered into between us. You can make what use of
+me you will. I belong to you."</p>
+
+<p>She held out her hand, giving him at the same time one of those sweet,
+sad looks which stir us to the very marrow.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, you are very kind," she said. "If I dared, and if I could do
+anything for you, I, too, should say, 'You may count upon me.'"</p>
+
+<p>He had taken the proffered hand and kept it clasped in his, with a
+burning desire to kiss it. He made up his mind to this at last, and
+slowly raising it to his mouth, held the delicate skin, warm, slightly
+feverish and perfumed, to his lips for some time. Then, when he felt
+that his friendly caress was on the point of becoming too prolonged, he
+let fall the little hand. It sank back gently onto the knee of its
+mistress, who said, gravely: "Yes, I shall be very lonely, but I shall
+strive to be brave."</p>
+
+<p>He did not know how to give her to understand that he would be happy,
+very happy, to have her for his wife in his turn. Certainly he could not
+tell her so at that hour, in that place, before that corpse; yet he
+might, it seemed to him, hit upon one of those ambiguous, decorous, and
+complicated phrases which have a hidden meaning under their words, and
+which express all one wants to by their studied reticence. But the
+corpse incommoded him, the stiffened corpse stretched out before them,
+and which he felt between them. For some time past, too, he fancied he
+detected in the close atmosphere of the room a suspicious odor, a
+f&oelig;tid breath exhaling from the decomposing chest, the first whiff of
+carrion which the dead lying on their bed throw out to the relatives
+watching them, and with which they soon fill the hollow of their
+coffin.</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot we open the window a little?" said Duroy. "It seems to me that
+the air is tainted."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she replied, "I have just noticed it, too."</p>
+
+<p>He went to the window and opened it. All the perfumed freshness of night
+flowed in, agitating the flame of the two lighted candles beside the
+bed. The moon was shedding, as on the former evening, her full mellow
+light upon the white walls of the villas and the broad glittering
+expanse of the sea. Duroy, drawing in the air to the full depth of his
+lungs, felt himself suddenly seized with hope, and, as it were buoyed up
+by the approach of happiness. He turned round, saying: "Come and get a
+little fresh air. It is delightful."</p>
+
+<p>She came quietly, and leant on the window-sill beside him. Then he
+murmured in a low tone: "Listen to me, and try to understand what I want
+to tell you. Above all, do not be indignant at my speaking to you of
+such a matter at such a moment, for I shall leave you the day after
+to-morrow, and when you return to Paris it may be too late. I am only a
+poor devil without fortune, and with a position yet to make, as you
+know. But I have a firm will, some brains I believe, and I am well on
+the right track. With a man who has made his position, one knows what
+one gets; with one who is starting, one never knows where he may finish.
+So much the worse, or so much the better. In short, I told you one day
+at your house that my brightest dream would have been to have married a
+woman like you. I repeat this wish to you now. Do not answer, let me
+continue. It is not a proposal I am making to you. The time and place
+would render that odious. I wish only not to leave you ignorant that you
+can make me happy with a word; that you can make me either a friend and
+brother, or a husband, at your will; that my heart and myself are yours.
+I do not want you to answer me now. I do not want us to speak any more
+about the matter here. When we meet again in Paris you will let me know
+what you have resolved upon. Until then, not a word. Is it not so?" He
+had uttered all this without looking at her, as though scattering his
+words abroad in the night before him. She seemed not to have heard them,
+so motionless had she remained, looking also straight before her with a
+fixed and vague stare at the vast landscape lit up by the moon. They
+remained for some time side by side, elbow touching elbow, silent and
+reflecting. Then she murmured: "It is rather cold," and turning round,
+returned towards the bed.</p>
+
+<p>He followed her. When he drew near he recognized that Forestier's body
+was really beginning to smell, and drew his chair to a distance, for he
+could not have stood this odor of putrefaction long. He said: "He must
+be put in a coffin the first thing in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, it is arranged," she replied. "The undertaker will be here at
+eight o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy having sighed out the words, "Poor fellow," she, too, gave a long
+sigh of heartrending resignation.</p>
+
+<p>They did not look at the body so often now, already accustomed to the
+idea of it, and beginning to mentally consent to the decease which but a
+short time back had shocked and angered them&mdash;them who were mortals,
+too. They no longer spoke, continuing to keep watch in befitting fashion
+without going to sleep. But towards midnight Duroy dozed off the first.
+When he woke up he saw that Madame Forestier was also slumbering, and
+having shifted to a more comfortable position, he reclosed his eyes,
+growling: "Confound it all, it is more comfortable between the sheets
+all the same."</p>
+
+<p>A sudden noise made him start up. The nurse was entering the room. It
+was broad daylight. The young wife in the armchair in front of him
+seemed as surprised as himself. She was somewhat pale, but still pretty,
+fresh-looking, and nice, in spite of this night passed in a chair.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having glanced at the corpse, Duroy started and exclaimed: "Oh,
+his beard!" The beard had grown in a few hours on this decomposing flesh
+as much as it would have in several days on a living face. And they
+stood scared by this life continuing in death, as though in presence of
+some fearful prodigy, some supernatural threat of resurrection, one of
+these startling and abnormal events which upset and confound the mind.</p>
+
+<p>They both went and lay down until eleven o'clock. Then they placed
+Charles in his coffin, and at once felt relieved and soothed. They had
+sat down face to face at lunch with an aroused desire to speak of the
+livelier and more consolatory matters, to return to the things of life
+again, since they had done with the dead. Through the wide-open window
+the soft warmth of spring flowed in, bearing the perfumed breath of the
+bed of pinks in bloom before the door.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier suggested a stroll in the garden to Duroy, and they
+began to walk slowly round the little lawn, inhaling with pleasure the
+balmy air, laden with the scent of pine and eucalyptus. Suddenly she
+began to speak, without turning her head towards him, as he had done
+during the night upstairs. She uttered her words slowly, in a low and
+serious voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, my dear friend, I have deeply reflected already on what you
+proposed to me, and I do not want you to go away without an answer.
+Besides, I am neither going to say yes nor no. We will wait, we will
+see, we will know one another better. Reflect, too, on your side. Do not
+give way to impulse. But if I speak to you of this before even poor
+Charles is lowered into the tomb, it is because it is necessary, after
+what you have said to me, that you should thoroughly understand what
+sort of woman I am, in order that you may no longer cherish the wish you
+expressed to me, in case you are not of a&mdash;of a&mdash;disposition to
+comprehend and bear with me. Understand me well. Marriage for me is not
+a charm, but a partnership. I mean to be free, perfectly free as to my
+ways, my acts, my going and coming. I could neither tolerate
+supervision, nor jealousy, nor arguments as to my behavior. I should
+undertake, be it understood, never to compromise the name of the man who
+takes me as his wife, never to render him hateful and ridiculous. But
+this man must also undertake to see in me an equal, an ally, and not an
+inferior or an obedient and submissive wife. My notions, I know, are not
+those of every one, but I shall not change them. There you are. I will
+also add, do not answer me; it would be useless and unsuitable. We shall
+see one another again, and shall perhaps speak of all this again later
+on. Now, go for a stroll. I shall return to watch beside him. Till this
+evening."</p>
+
+<p>He printed a long kiss on her hand, and went away without uttering a
+word. That evening they only saw one another at dinnertime. Then they
+retired to their rooms, both exhausted with fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>Charles Forestier was buried the next day, without any funeral display,
+in the cemetery at Cannes. George Duroy wished to take the Paris
+express, which passed through the town at half-past one.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier drove with him to the station. They walked quietly up
+and down the platform pending the time for his departure, speaking of
+trivial matters.</p>
+
+<p>The train rolled into the station. The journalist took his seat, and
+then got out again to have a few more moments' conversation with her,
+suddenly seized as he was with sadness and a strong regret at leaving
+her, as though he were about to lose her for ever.</p>
+
+<p>A porter shouted, "Take your seats for Marseilles, Lyons, and Paris."
+Duroy got in and leant out of the window to say a few more words. The
+engine whistled, and the train began to move slowly on.</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow, leaning out of the carriage, watched the woman
+standing still on the platform and following him with her eyes.
+Suddenly, as he was about to lose sight of her, he put his hand to his
+mouth and threw a kiss towards her. She returned it with a discreet and
+hesitating gesture.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2>
+
+
+<p>George Duroy had returned to all his old habits.</p>
+
+<p>Installed at present in the little ground-floor suite of rooms in the
+Rue de Constantinople, he lived soberly, like a man preparing a new
+existence for himself.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Forestier had not yet returned. She was lingering at Cannes. He
+received a letter from her merely announcing her return about the middle
+of April, without a word of allusion to their farewell. He was waiting,
+his mind was thoroughly made up now to employ every means in order to
+marry her, if she seemed to hesitate. But he had faith in his luck,
+confidence in that power of seduction which he felt within him, a vague
+and irresistible power which all women felt the influence of.</p>
+
+<p>A short note informed him that the decisive hour was about to strike: "I
+am in Paris. Come and see me.&mdash;Madeleine Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>Nothing more. He received it by the nine o'clock post. He arrived at her
+residence at three on the same day. She held out both hands to him
+smiling with her pleasant smile, and they looked into one another's eyes
+for a few seconds. Then she said: "How good you were to come to me there
+under those terrible circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"I should have done anything you told me to," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>And they sat down. She asked the news, inquired about the Walters, about
+all the staff, about the paper. She had often thought about the paper.</p>
+
+<p>"I miss that a great deal," she said, "really a very great deal. I had
+become at heart a journalist. What would you, I love the profession?"</p>
+
+<p>Then she paused. He thought he understood, he thought he divined in her
+smile, in the tone of her voice, in her words themselves a kind of
+invitation, and although he had promised to himself not to precipitate
+matters, he stammered out: "Well, then&mdash;why&mdash;why should you not
+resume&mdash;this occupation&mdash;under&mdash;under the name of Duroy?"</p>
+
+<p>She suddenly became serious again, and placing her hand on his arm,
+murmured: "Do not let us speak of that yet a while."</p>
+
+<p>But he divined that she accepted, and falling at her knees began to
+passionately kiss her hands, repeating: "Thanks, thanks; oh, how I love
+you!"</p>
+
+<p>She rose. He did so, too, and noted that she was very pale. Then he
+understood that he had pleased her, for a long time past, perhaps, and
+as they found themselves face to face, he clasped her to him and printed
+a long, tender, and decorous kiss on her forehead. When she had freed
+herself, slipping through his arms, she said in a serious tone: "Listen,
+I have not yet made up my mind to anything. However, it may be&mdash;yes. But
+you must promise me the most absolute secrecy till I give you leave to
+speak."</p>
+
+<p>He swore this, and left, his heart overflowing with joy.</p>
+
+<p>He was from that time forward very discreet as regards the visits he
+paid her, and did not ask for any more definite consent on her part, for
+she had a way of speaking of the future, of saying "by-and-by," and of
+shaping plans in which these two lives were blended, which answered him
+better and more delicately than a formal acceptation.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy worked hard and spent little, trying to save money so as not to be
+without a penny at the date fixed for his marriage, and becoming as
+close as he had been prodigal. The summer went by, and then the autumn,
+without anyone suspecting anything, for they met very little, and only
+in the most natural way in the world.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, Madeleine, looking him straight in the eyes said: "You have
+not yet announced our intentions to Madame de Marelle?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear, having promised you to be secret, I have not opened my mouth
+to a living soul."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is about time to tell her. I will undertake to inform the
+Walters. You will do so this week, will you not?"</p>
+
+<p>He blushed as he said: "Yes, to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>She had turned away her eyes in order not to notice his confusion, and
+said: "If you like we will be married in the beginning of May. That will
+be a very good time."</p>
+
+<p>"I obey you in all things with joy."</p>
+
+<p>"The tenth of May, which is a Saturday, will suit me very nicely, for it
+is my birthday."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, the tenth of May."</p>
+
+<p>"Your parents live near Rouen, do they not? You have told me so, at
+least."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, near Rouen, at Canteleu."</p>
+
+<p>"What are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"They are&mdash;they are small annuitants."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I should very much like to know them."</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated, greatly perplexed, and said: "But, you see, they are&mdash;"
+Then making up his mind, like a really clever man, he went on: "My dear,
+they are mere country folk, innkeepers, who have pinched themselves to
+the utmost to enable me to pursue my studies. For my part, I am not
+ashamed of them, but their&mdash;simplicity&mdash;their rustic manners&mdash;might,
+perhaps, render you uncomfortable."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled, delightfully, her face lit up with gentle kindness as she
+replied: "No. I shall be very fond of them. We will go and see them. I
+want to. I will speak of this to you again. I, too, am a daughter of
+poor people, but I have lost my parents. I have no longer anyone in the
+world." She held out her hand to him as she added: "But you."</p>
+
+<p>He felt softened, moved, overcome, as he had been by no other woman.</p>
+
+<p>"I had thought about one matter," she continued, "but it is rather
+difficult to explain."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is this, my dear boy, I am like all women, I have my
+weaknesses, my pettinesses. I love all that glitters, that catches the
+ear. I should have so delighted to have borne a noble name. Could you
+not, on the occasion of your marriage, ennoble yourself a little?"</p>
+
+<p>She had blushed in her turn, as if she had proposed something
+indelicate.</p>
+
+<p>He replied simply enough: "I have often thought about it, but it did not
+seem to me so easy."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>He began to laugh, saying: "Because I was afraid of making myself look
+ridiculous."</p>
+
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders. "Not at all, not at all Every one does it,
+and nobody laughs. Separate your name in two&mdash;Du Roy. That looks very
+well."</p>
+
+<p>He replied at once like a man who understands the matter in question:
+"No, that will not do at all. It is too simple, too common, too
+well-known. I had thought of taking the name of my native place, as a
+literary pseudonym at first, then of adding it to my own by degrees, and
+then, later on, of even cutting my name in two, as you suggest."</p>
+
+<p>"Your native place is Canteleu?" she queried.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated, saying: "No, I do not like the termination. Come, cannot
+we modify this word Canteleu a little?"</p>
+
+<p>She had taken up a pen from the table, and was scribbling names and
+studying their physiognomy. All at once she exclaimed: "There, there it
+is!" and held out to him a paper, on which read&mdash;"Madame Duroy de
+Cantel."</p>
+
+<p>He reflected a few moments, and then said gravely: "Yes, that does very
+well."</p>
+
+<p>She was delighted, and kept repeating "Duroy de Cantel, Duroy de Cantel,
+Madame Duroy de Cantel. It is capital, capital." She went on with an air
+of conviction: "And you will see how easy it is to get everyone to
+accept it. But one must know how to seize the opportunity, for it will
+be too late afterwards. You must from to-morrow sign your descriptive
+articles D. de Cantel, and your 'Echoes' simply Duroy. It is done every
+day in the press, and no one will be astonished to see you take a
+pseudonym. At the moment of our marriage we can modify it yet a little
+more, and tell our friends that you had given up the 'Du' out of modesty
+on account of your position, or even say nothing about it. What is your
+father's Christian name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alexander."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "Alexander, Alexander," two or three times, listening to
+the sonorous roll of the syllables, and then wrote on a blank sheet of
+paper:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur and Madame Alexander Du Roy de Cantel have the honor to inform
+you of the marriage of Monsieur George Du Roy de Cantel, their son, to
+Madame Madeleine Forestier." She looked at her writing, holding it at a
+distance, charmed by the effect, and said: "With a little method we can
+manage whatever we wish."</p>
+
+<p>When he found himself once more in the street, firmly resolved to call
+himself in future Du Roy, and even Du Roy de Cantel, it seemed to him
+that he had acquired fresh importance. He walked with more swagger, his
+head higher, his moustache fiercer, as a gentleman should walk. He felt
+in himself a species of joyous desire to say to the passers-by: "My name
+is Du Roy de Cantel."</p>
+
+<p>But scarcely had he got home than the thought of Madame de Marelle made
+him feel uneasy, and he wrote to her at once to ask her to make an
+appointment for the next day.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be a tough job," he thought. "I must look out for squalls."</p>
+
+<p>Then he made up his mind for it, with the native carelessness which
+caused him to slur over the disagreeable side of life, and began to
+write a fancy article on the fresh taxes needed in order to make the
+Budget balance. He set down in this the nobiliary "De" at a hundred
+francs a year, and titles, from baron to prince, at from five hundred to
+five thousand francs. And he signed it "D. de Cantel."</p>
+
+<p>He received a telegram from his mistress next morning saying that she
+would call at one o'clock. He waited for her somewhat feverishly, his
+mind made up to bring things to a point at once, to say everything right
+out, and then, when the first emotion had subsided, to argue cleverly in
+order to prove to her that he could not remain a bachelor for ever, and
+that as Monsieur de Marelle insisted on living, he had been obliged to
+think of another than herself as his legitimate companion. He felt
+moved, though, and when he heard her ring his heart began to beat.</p>
+
+<p>She threw herself into his arms, exclaiming: "Good morning, Pretty-boy."
+Then, finding his embrace cold, looked at him, and said: "What is the
+matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down," he said, "we have to talk seriously."</p>
+
+<p>She sat down without taking her bonnet off, only turning back her veil,
+and waited.</p>
+
+<p>He had lowered his eyes, and was preparing the beginning of his speech.
+He commenced in a low tone of voice: "My dear one, you see me very
+uneasy, very sad, and very much embarrassed at what I have to admit to
+you. I love you dearly. I really love you from the bottom of my heart,
+so that the fear of causing you pain afflicts me more than even the news
+I am going to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>She grew pale, felt herself tremble, and stammered out: "What is the
+matter? Tell me at once."</p>
+
+<p>He said in sad but resolute tones, with that feigned dejection which we
+make use of to announce fortunate misfortunes: "I am going to be
+married."</p>
+
+<p>She gave the sigh of a woman who is about to faint, a painful sigh from
+the very depths of her bosom, and then began to choke and gasp without
+being able to speak.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that she did not say anything, he continued: "You cannot imagine
+how much I suffered before coming to this resolution. But I have neither
+position nor money. I am alone, lost in Paris. I needed beside me
+someone who above all would be an adviser, a consoler, and a stay. It is
+a partner, an ally, that I have sought, and that I have found."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent, hoping that she would reply, expecting furious rage,
+violence, and insults. She had placed one hand on her heart as though to
+restrain its throbbings, and continued to draw her breath by painful
+efforts, which made her bosom heave spasmodically and her head nod to
+and fro. He took her other hand, which was resting on the arm of the
+chair, but she snatched it away abruptly. Then she murmured, as though
+in a state of stupefaction: "Oh, my God!"</p>
+
+<p>He knelt down before her, without daring to touch her, however, and more
+deeply moved by this silence than he would have been by a fit of anger,
+stammered out: "Clo! my darling Clo! just consider my situation,
+consider what I am. Oh! if I had been able to marry you, what happiness
+it would have been. But you are married. What could I do? Come, think of
+it, now. I must take a place in society, and I cannot do it so long as I
+have not a home. If you only knew. There are days when I have felt a
+longing to kill your husband."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke in his soft, subdued, seductive voice, a voice which entered
+the ear like music. He saw two tears slowly gather in the fixed and
+staring eyes of his mistress and then roll down her cheeks, while two
+more were already formed on the eyelids.</p>
+
+<p>He murmured: "Do not cry, Clo; do not cry, I beg of you. You rend my
+very heart."</p>
+
+<p>Then she made an effort, a strong effort, to be proud and dignified, and
+asked, in the quivering tone of a woman about to burst into sobs: "Who
+is it?"</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated a moment, and then understanding that he must, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Madeleine Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle shuddered all over, and remained silent, so deep in
+thought that she seemed to have forgotten that he was at her feet. And
+two transparent drops kept continually forming in her eyes, falling and
+forming again.</p>
+
+<p>She rose. Duroy guessed that she was going away without saying a word,
+without reproach or forgiveness, and he felt hurt and humiliated to the
+bottom of his soul. Wishing to stay her, he threw his arms about the
+skirt of her dress, clasping through the stuff her rounded legs, which
+he felt stiffen in resistance. He implored her, saying: "I beg of you,
+do not go away like that."</p>
+
+<p>Then she looked down on him from above with that moistened and
+despairing eye, at once so charming and so sad, which shows all the
+grief of a woman's heart, and gasped out: "I&mdash;I have nothing to say. I
+have nothing to do with it. You&mdash;you are right. You&mdash;you have chosen
+well."</p>
+
+<p>And, freeing herself by a backward movement, she left the room without
+his trying to detain her further.</p>
+
+<p>Left to himself, he rose as bewildered as if he had received a blow on
+the head. Then, making up his mind, he muttered: "Well, so much the
+worse or the better. It is over, and without a scene; I prefer that,"
+and relieved from an immense weight, suddenly feeling himself free,
+delivered, at ease as to his future life, he began to spar at the wall,
+hitting out with his fists in a kind of intoxication of strength and
+triumph, as if he had been fighting Fate.</p>
+
+<p>When Madame Forestier asked: "Have you told Madame de Marelle?" he
+quietly answered, "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>She scanned him closely with her bright eyes, saying: "And did it not
+cause her any emotion?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not at all. She thought it, on the contrary, a very good idea."</p>
+
+<p>The news was soon known. Some were astonished, others asserted that they
+had foreseen it; others, again, smiled, and let it be understood that
+they were not surprised.</p>
+
+<p>The young man who now signed his descriptive articles D. de Cantel, his
+"Echoes" Duroy, and the political articles which he was beginning to
+write from time to time Du Roy, passed half his time with his betrothed,
+who treated him with a fraternal familiarity into which, however,
+entered a real but hidden love, a species of desire concealed as a
+weakness. She had decided that the marriage should be quite private,
+only the witnesses being present, and that they should leave the same
+evening for Rouen. They would go the next day to see the journalist's
+parents, and remain with them some days. Duroy had striven to get her to
+renounce this project, but not having been able to do so, had ended by
+giving in to it.</p>
+
+<p>So the tenth of May having come, the newly-married couple, having
+considered the religious ceremony useless since they had not invited
+anyone, returned to finish packing their boxes after a brief visit to
+the Town Hall. They took, at the Saint Lazare terminus, the six o'clock
+train, which bore them away towards Normandy. They had scarcely
+exchanged twenty words up to the time that they found themselves alone
+in the railway carriage. As soon as they felt themselves under way, they
+looked at one another and began to laugh, to hide a certain feeling of
+awkwardness which they did not want to manifest.</p>
+
+<p>The train slowly passed through the long station of Batignolles, and
+then crossed the mangy-looking plain extending from the fortifications
+to the Seine. Duroy and his wife from time to time made a few idle
+remarks, and then turned again towards the windows. When they crossed
+the bridge of Asniéres, a feeling of greater liveliness was aroused in
+them at the sight of the river covered with boats, fishermen, and
+oarsmen. The sun, a bright May sun, shed its slanting rays upon the
+craft and upon the smooth stream, which seemed motionless, without
+current or eddy, checked, as it were, beneath the heat and brightness of
+the declining day. A sailing boat in the middle of the river having
+spread two large triangular sails of snowy canvas, wing and wing, to
+catch the faintest puffs of wind, looked like an immense bird preparing
+to take flight.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy murmured: "I adore the neighborhood of Paris. I have memories of
+dinners which I reckon among the pleasantest in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"And the boats," she replied. "How nice it is to glide along at sunset."</p>
+
+<p>Then they became silent, as though afraid to continue their outpourings
+as to their past life, and remained so, already enjoying, perhaps, the
+poesy of regret.</p>
+
+<p>Duroy, seated face to face with his wife, took her hand and slowly
+kissed it. "When we get back again," said he, "we will go and dine
+sometimes at Chatou."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "We shall have so many things to do," in a tone of voice
+that seemed to imply, "The agreeable must be sacrificed to the useful."</p>
+
+<p>He still held her hand, asking himself with some uneasiness by what
+transition he should reach the caressing stage. He would not have felt
+uneasy in the same way in presence of the ignorance of a young girl, but
+the lively and artful intelligence he felt existed in Madeleine,
+rendered his attitude an embarrassed one. He was afraid of appearing
+stupid to her, too timid or too brutal, too slow or too prompt. He kept
+pressing her hand gently, without her making any response to this
+appeal. At length he said: "It seems to me very funny for you to be my
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>She seemed surprised as she said: "Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. It seems strange to me. I want to kiss you, and I feel
+astonished at having the right to do so."</p>
+
+<p>She calmly held out her cheek to him, which he kissed as he would have
+kissed that of a sister.</p>
+
+<p>He continued: "The first time I saw you&mdash;you remember the dinner
+Forestier invited me to&mdash;I thought, 'Hang it all, if I could only find a
+wife like that.' Well, it's done. I have one."</p>
+
+<p>She said, in a low tone: "That is very nice," and looked him straight in
+the face, shrewdly, and with smiling eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He reflected, "I am too cold. I am stupid. I ought to get along quicker
+than this," and asked: "How did you make Forestier's acquaintance?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied, with provoking archness: "Are we going to Rouen to talk
+about him?"</p>
+
+<p>He reddened, saying: "I am a fool. But you frighten me a great deal."</p>
+
+<p>She was delighted, saying: "I&mdash;impossible! How is it?"</p>
+
+<p>He had seated himself close beside her. She suddenly exclaimed: "Oh! a
+stag."</p>
+
+<p>The train was passing through the forest of Saint Germaine, and she had
+seen a frightened deer clear one of the paths at a bound. Duroy, leaning
+forward as she looked out of the open window, printed a long kiss, a
+lover's kiss, among the hair on her neck. She remained still for a few
+seconds, and then, raising her head, said: "You are tickling me. Leave
+off."</p>
+
+<p>But he would not go away, but kept on pressing his curly moustache
+against her white skin in a long and thrilling caress.</p>
+
+<p>She shook herself, saying: "Do leave off."</p>
+
+<p>He had taken her head in his right hand, passed around her, and turned
+it towards him. Then he darted on her mouth like a hawk on its prey. She
+struggled, repulsed him, tried to free herself. She succeeded at last,
+and repeated: "Do leave off."</p>
+
+<p>He remained seated, very red and chilled by this sensible remark; then,
+having recovered more self-possession, he said, with some liveliness:
+"Very well, I will wait, but I shan't be able to say a dozen words till
+we get to Rouen. And remember that we are only passing through Poissy."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do the talking then," she said, and sat down quietly beside him.</p>
+
+<p>She spoke with precision of what they would do on their return. They
+must keep on the suite of apartments that she had resided in with her
+first husband, and Duroy would also inherit the duties and salary of
+Forestier at the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. Before their union, besides, she had
+planned out, with the certainty of a man of business, all the financial
+details of their household. They had married under a settlement
+preserving to each of them their respective estates, and every incident
+that might arise&mdash;death, divorce, the birth of one or more children&mdash;was
+duly provided for. The young fellow contributed a capital of four
+thousand francs, he said, but of that sum he had borrowed fifteen
+hundred. The rest was due to savings effected during the year in view of
+the event. Her contribution was forty thousand francs, which she said
+had been left her by Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>She returned to him as a subject of conversation. "He was a very steady,
+economical, hard-working fellow. He would have made a fortune in a very
+short time."</p>
+
+<p>Duroy no longer listened, wholly absorbed by other thoughts. She stopped
+from time to time to follow out some inward train of ideas, and then
+went on: "In three or four years you can be easily earning thirty to
+forty thousand francs a year. That is what Charles would have had if he
+had lived."</p>
+
+<p>George, who began to find the lecture rather a long one, replied: "I
+thought we were not going to Rouen to talk about him."</p>
+
+<p>She gave him a slight tap on the cheek, saying, with a laugh: "That is
+so. I am in the wrong."</p>
+
+<p>He made a show of sitting with his hands on his knees like a very good
+boy.</p>
+
+<p>"You look very like a simpleton like that," said she.</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "That is my part, of which, by the way, you reminded me just
+now, and I shall continue to play it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Because it is you who take management of the household, and even of me.
+That, indeed, concerns you, as being a widow."</p>
+
+<p>She was amazed, saying: "What do you really mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"That you have an experience that should enlighten my ignorance, and
+matrimonial practice that should polish up my bachelor innocence, that's
+all."</p>
+
+<p>"That is too much," she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "That is so. I don't know anything about ladies; no, and you
+know all about gentlemen, for you are a widow. You must undertake my
+education&mdash;this evening&mdash;and you can begin at once if you like."</p>
+
+<p>She exclaimed, very much amused: "Oh, indeed, if you reckon on me for
+that!"</p>
+
+<p>He repeated, in the tone of a school boy stumbling through his lesson:
+"Yes, I do. I reckon that you will give me solid information&mdash;in twenty
+lessons. Ten for the elements, reading and grammar; ten for finishing
+accomplishments. I don't know anything myself."</p>
+
+<p>She exclaimed, highly amused: "You goose."</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "If that is the familiar tone you take, I will follow your
+example, and tell you, darling, that I adore you more and more every
+moment, and that I find Rouen a very long way off."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke now with a theatrical intonation and with a series of changes
+of facial expression, which amused his companion, accustomed to the ways
+of literary Bohemia. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye,
+finding him really charming, and experiencing the longing we have to
+pluck a fruit from the tree at once, and the check of reason which
+advises us to wait till dinner to eat it at the proper time. Then she
+observed, blushing somewhat at the thoughts which assailed her: "My dear
+little pupil, trust my experience, my great experience. Kisses in a
+railway train are not worth anything. They only upset one." Then she
+blushed still more as she murmured: "One should never eat one's corn in
+the ear."</p>
+
+<p>He chuckled, kindling at the double meanings from her pretty mouth, and
+made the sign of the cross, with a movement of the lips, as though
+murmuring a prayer, adding aloud: "I have placed myself under the
+protection of St. Anthony, patron-saint of temptations. Now I am
+adamant."</p>
+
+<p>Night was stealing gently on, wrapping in its transparent shadow, like a
+fine gauze, the broad landscape stretching away to the right. The train
+was running along the Seine, and the young couple began to watch the
+crimson reflections on the surface of the river, winding like a broad
+strip of polished metal alongside the line, patches fallen from the sky,
+which the departing sun had kindled into flame. These reflections slowly
+died out, grew deeper, faded sadly. The landscape became dark with that
+sinister thrill, that deathlike quiver, which each twilight causes to
+pass over the earth. This evening gloom, entering the open window,
+penetrated the two souls, but lately so lively, of the now silent pair.</p>
+
+<p>They had drawn more closely together to watch the dying day. At Nantes
+the railway people had lit the little oil lamp, which shed its yellow,
+trembling light upon the drab cloth of the cushions. Duroy passed his
+arms round the waist of his wife, and clasped her to him. His recent
+keen desire had become a softened one, a longing for consoling little
+caresses, such as we lull children with.</p>
+
+<p>He murmured softly: "I shall love you very dearly, my little Made."</p>
+
+<p>The softness of his voice stirred the young wife, and caused a rapid
+thrill to run through her. She offered her mouth, bending towards him,
+for he was resting his cheek upon the warm pillow of her bosom, until
+the whistle of the train announced that they were nearing a station. She
+remarked, flattening the ruffled locks about her forehead with the tips
+of her fingers: "It was very silly. We are quite childish."</p>
+
+<p>But he was kissing her hands in turn with feverish rapidity, and
+replied: "I adore you, my little Made."</p>
+
+<p>Until they reached Rouen they remained almost motionless, cheek against
+cheek, their eyes turned to the window, through which, from time to
+time, the lights of houses could be seen in the darkness, satisfied with
+feeling themselves so close to one another, and with the growing
+anticipation of a freer and more intimate embrace.</p>
+
+<p>They put up at a hotel overlooking the quay, and went to bed after a
+very hurried supper.</p>
+
+<p>The chambermaid aroused them next morning as it was striking eight. When
+they had drank the cup of tea she had placed on the night-table, Duroy
+looked at his wife, then suddenly, with the joyful impulse of the
+fortunate man who has just found a treasure, he clasped her in his arms,
+exclaiming: "My little Made, I am sure that I love you ever so much,
+ever so much, ever so much."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled with her confident and satisfied smile, and murmured, as she
+returned his kisses: "And I too&mdash;perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>But he still felt uneasy about the visit of his parents. He had already
+forewarned his wife, had prepared and lectured her, but he thought fit
+to do so again.</p>
+
+<p>"You know," he said, "they are only rustics&mdash;country rustics, not
+theatrical ones."</p>
+
+<p>She laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"But I know that: you have told me so often enough. Come, get up and let
+me get up."</p>
+
+<p>He jumped out of bed, and said, as he drew on his socks:</p>
+
+<p>"We shall be very uncomfortable there, very uncomfortable. There is only
+an old straw palliasse in my room. Spring mattresses are unknown at
+Canteleu."</p>
+
+<p>She seemed delighted.</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better. It will be delightful to sleep
+badly&mdash;beside&mdash;beside you, and to be woke up by the crowing of the
+cocks."</p>
+
+<p>She had put on her dressing-gown&mdash;a white flannel dressing-gown&mdash;which
+Duroy at once recognized. The sight of it was unpleasant to him. Why?
+His wife had, he was aware, a round dozen of these morning garments. She
+could not destroy her trousseau in order to buy a new one. No matter, he
+would have preferred that her bed-linen, her night-linen, her
+under-clothing were not the same she had made use of with the other. It
+seemed to him that the soft, warm stuff must have retained something
+from its contact with Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>He walked to the window, lighting a cigarette. The sight of the port,
+the broad stream covered with vessels with tapering spars, the steamers
+noisily unloading alongside the quay, stirred him, although he had been
+acquainted with it all for a long time past, and he exclaimed: "By Jove!
+it is a fine sight."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine approached, and placing both hands on one of her husband's
+shoulders, leaned against him with careless grace, charmed and
+delighted. She kept repeating: "Oh! how pretty, how pretty. I did not
+know that there were so many ships as that."</p>
+
+<p>They started an hour later, for they were to lunch with the old people,
+who had been forewarned some days beforehand. A rusty open carriage bore
+them along with a noise of jolting ironmongery. They followed a long and
+rather ugly boulevard, passed between some fields through which flowed a
+stream, and began to ascend the slope. Madeleine, somewhat fatigued, had
+dozed off beneath the penetrating caress of the sun, which warmed her
+delightfully as she lay stretched back in the old carriage as though in
+a bath of light and country air.</p>
+
+<p>Her husband awoke her, saying: "Look!"</p>
+
+<p>They had halted two-thirds of the way up the slope, at a spot famous for
+the view, and to which all tourists drive. They overlooked the long and
+broad valley through which the bright river flowed in sweeping curves.
+It could be caught sight of in the distance, dotted with numerous
+islands, and describing a wide sweep before flowing through Rouen. Then
+the town appeared on the right bank, slightly veiled in the morning
+mist, but with rays of sunlight falling on its roofs; its thousand squat
+or pointed spires, light, fragile-looking, wrought like gigantic jewels;
+its round or square towers topped with heraldic crowns; its belfries;
+the numerous Gothic summits of its churches, overtopped by the sharp
+spire of the cathedral, that surprising spike of bronze&mdash;strange, ugly,
+and out of all proportion, the tallest in the world. Facing it, on the
+other side of the river, rose the factory chimneys of the suburb of
+Saint Serves&mdash;tall, round, and broadening at their summit. More numerous
+than their sister spires, they reared even in the distant country, their
+tall brick columns, and vomited into the blue sky their black and coaly
+breath. Highest of all, as high as the second of the summits reared by
+human labor, the pyramid of Cheops, almost level with its proud
+companion the cathedral spire, the great steam-pump of La Foudre seemed
+the queen of the busy, smoking factories, as the other was the queen of
+the sacred edifices. Further on, beyond the workmen's town, stretched a
+forest of pines, and the Seine, having passed between the two divisions
+of the city, continued its way, skirting a tall rolling slope, wooded at
+the summit, and showing here and there its bare bone of white stone.
+Then the river disappeared on the horizon, after again describing a long
+sweeping curve. Ships could be seen ascending and descending the stream,
+towed by tugs as big as flies and belching forth thick smoke. Islands
+were stretched along the water in a line, one close to the other, or
+with wide intervals between them, like the unequal beads of a verdant
+rosary.</p>
+
+<p>The driver waited until the travelers' ecstasies were over. He knew from
+experience the duration of the admiration of all the breed of tourists.
+But when he started again Duroy suddenly caught sight of two old people
+advancing towards them some hundreds of yards further on, and jumped
+out, exclaiming: "There they are. I recognize them."</p>
+
+<p>There were two country-folk, a man and a woman, walking with irregular
+steps, rolling in their gait, and sometimes knocking their shoulders
+together. The man was short and strongly built, high colored and
+inclined to stoutness, but powerful, despite his years. The woman was
+tall, spare, bent, careworn, the real hard-working country-woman who has
+toiled afield from childhood, and has never had time to amuse herself,
+while her husband has been joking and drinking with the customers.
+Madeleine had also alighted from the carriage, and she watched these two
+poor creatures coming towards them with a pain at her heart, a sadness
+she had not anticipated. They had not recognized their son in this fine
+gentleman and would never have guessed this handsome lady in the light
+dress to be their daughter-in-law. They were walking on quickly and in
+silence to meet their long-looked-for boy, without noticing these city
+folk followed by their carriage.</p>
+
+<p>They passed by when George, who was laughing, cried out: "Good-day,
+Daddy Duroy!"</p>
+
+<p>They both stopped short, amazed at first, then stupefied with surprise.
+The old woman recovered herself first, and stammered, without advancing
+a step: "Is't thou, boy?"</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow answered: "Yes, it is I, mother," and stepping up to
+her, kissed her on both cheeks with a son's hearty smack. Then he rubbed
+noses with his father, who had taken off his cap, a very tall, black
+silk cap, made Rouen fashion, like those worn by cattle dealers.</p>
+
+<p>Then George said: "This is my wife," and the two country people looked
+at Madeleine. They looked at her as one looks at a phenomenon, with an
+uneasy fear, united in the father with a species of approving
+satisfaction, in the mother with a kind of jealous enmity.</p>
+
+<p>The man, who was of a joyous nature and inspired by a loveliness born of
+sweet cider and alcohol, grew bolder, and asked, with a twinkle in the
+corner of his eyes: "I may kiss her all the same?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," replied his son, and Madeleine, ill at ease, held out both
+cheeks to the sounding smacks of the rustic, who then wiped his lips
+with the back of his hand. The old woman, in her turn, kissed her
+daughter-in-law with a hostile reserve. No, this was not the
+daughter-in-law of her dreams; the plump, fresh housewife, rosy-cheeked
+as an apple, and round as a brood mare. She looked like a hussy, the
+fine lady with her furbelows and her musk. For the old girl all perfumes
+were musk.</p>
+
+<p>They set out again, walking behind the carriage which bore the trunk of
+the newly-wedded pair. The old fellow took his son by the arm, and
+keeping him a little in the rear of the others, asked with interest:
+"Well, how goes business, lad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty fair."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better. Has thy wife any money?"</p>
+
+<p>"Forty thousand francs," answered George.</p>
+
+<p>His father gave vent to an admiring whistle, and could only murmur,
+"Dang it!" so overcome was he by the mention of the sum. Then he added,
+in a tone of serious conviction: "Dang it all, she's a fine woman!" For
+he found her to his taste, and he had passed for a good judge in his
+day.</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine and her mother-in-law were walking side by side without
+exchanging a word. The two men rejoined them. They reached the village,
+a little roadside village formed of half-a-score houses on each side of
+the highway, cottages and farm buildings, the former of brick and the
+latter of clay, these covered with thatch and those with slates. Father
+Duroy's tavern, "The Bellevue," a bit of a house consisting of a ground
+floor and a garret, stood at the beginning of the village to the left. A
+pine branch above the door indicated, in ancient fashion, that thirsty
+folk could enter.</p>
+
+<p>The things were laid for lunch, in the common room of the tavern, on two
+tables placed together and covered with two napkins. A neighbor, come in
+to help to serve the lunch, bowed low on seeing such a fine lady appear;
+and then, recognizing George, exclaimed: "Good Lord! is that the
+youngster?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied gayly: "Yes, it is I, Mother Brulin," and kissed her as he
+had kissed his father and mother. Then turning to his wife, he said:
+"Come into our room and take your hat off."</p>
+
+<p>He ushered her through a door to the right into a cold-looking room with
+tiled floor, white-washed walls, and a bed with white cotton curtains. A
+crucifix above a holy-water stoup, and two colored pictures, one
+representing Paul and Virginia under a blue palm tree, and the other
+Napoleon the First on a yellow horse, were the only ornaments of this
+clean and dispiriting apartment.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they were alone he kissed Madeleine, saying: "Thanks, Made. I
+am glad to see the old folks again. When one is in Paris one does not
+think about it; but when one meets again, it gives one pleasure all the
+same."</p>
+
+<p>But his father, thumbing the partition with his fist, cried out: "Come
+along, come along, the soup is ready," and they had to sit down to
+table.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long, countrified repast, with a succession of ill-assorted
+dishes, a sausage after a leg of mutton, and an omelette after a
+sausage. Father Duroy, excited by cider and some glasses of wine, turned
+on the tap of his choicest jokes&mdash;those he reserved for great occasions
+of festivity, smutty adventures that had happened, as he maintained, to
+friends of his. George, who knew all these stories, laughed,
+nevertheless, intoxicated by his native air, seized on by the innate
+love of one's birthplace and of spots familiar from childhood, by all
+the sensations and recollections once more renewed, by all the objects
+of yore seen again once more; by trifles, such as the mark of a knife on
+a door, a broken chair recalling some pretty event, the smell of the
+soil, the breath of the neighboring forest, the odors of the dwelling,
+the gutter, the dunghill.</p>
+
+<p>Mother Duroy did not speak, but remained sad and grim, watching her
+daughter-in-law out of the corner of her eye, with hatred awakened in
+her heart&mdash;the hatred of an old toiler, an old rustic with fingers worn
+and limbs bent by hard work&mdash;for the city madame, who inspired her with
+the repulsion of an accursed creature, an impure being, created for
+idleness and sin. She kept getting up every moment to fetch the dishes
+or fill the glasses with cider, sharp and yellow from the decanter, or
+sweet, red, and frothing from the bottles, the corks of which popped
+like those of ginger beer.</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine scarcely ate or spoke. She wore her wonted smile upon her
+lips, but it was a sad and resigned one. She was downcast. Why? She had
+wanted to come. She had not been unaware that she was going among
+country folk&mdash;poor country folk. What had she fancied them to be&mdash;she,
+who did not usually dream? Did she know herself? Do not women always
+hope for something that is not? Had she fancied them more poetical? No;
+but perhaps better informed, more noble, more affectionate, more
+ornamental. Yet she did not want them high-bred, like those in novels.
+Whence came it, then, that they shocked her by a thousand trifling,
+imperceptible details, by a thousand indefinable coarsenesses, by their
+very nature as rustics, by their words, their gestures, and their mirth?
+She recalled her own mother, of whom she never spoke to anyone&mdash;a
+governess, brought up at Saint Denis&mdash;seduced, and died from poverty and
+grief when she, Madeleine, was twelve years old. An unknown hand had had
+her brought up. Her father, no doubt. Who was he? She did not exactly
+know, although she had vague suspicions.</p>
+
+<p>The lunch still dragged on. Customers were now coming in and shaking
+hands with the father, uttering exclamations of wonderment on seeing his
+son, and slyly winking as they scanned the young wife out of the corner
+of their eye, which was as much as to say: "Hang it all, she's not a
+duffer, George Duroy's wife." Others, less intimate, sat down at the
+wooden tables, calling for "A pot," "A jugful," "Two brandies," "A
+raspail," and began to play at dominoes, noisily rattling the little
+bits of black and white bone. Mother Duroy kept passing to and fro,
+serving the customers, with her melancholy air, taking money, and wiping
+the tables with the corner of her blue apron.</p>
+
+<p>The smoke of clay pipes and sou cigars filled the room. Madeleine began
+to cough, and said: "Suppose we go out; I cannot stand it."</p>
+
+<p>They had not quite finished, and old Duroy was annoyed at this. Then she
+got up and went and sat on a chair outside the door, while her
+father-in-law and her husband were finishing their coffee and their nip
+of brandy.</p>
+
+<p>George soon rejoined her. "Shall we stroll down as far as the Seine?"
+said he.</p>
+
+<p>She consented with pleasure, saying: "Oh, yes; let us go."</p>
+
+<p>They descended the slope, hired a boat at Croisset, and passed the rest
+of the afternoon drowsily moored under the willows alongside an island,
+soothed to slumber by the soft spring weather, and rocked by the
+wavelets of the river. Then they went back at nightfall.</p>
+
+<p>The evening's repast, eaten by the light of a tallow candle, was still
+more painful for Madeleine than that of the morning. Father Duroy, who
+was half drunk, no longer spoke. The mother maintained her dogged
+manner. The wretched light cast upon the gray walls the shadows of heads
+with enormous noses and exaggerated movements. A great hand was seen to
+raise a pitchfork to a mouth opening like a dragon's maw whenever any
+one of them, turning a little, presented a profile to the yellow,
+flickering flame.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as dinner was over, Madeleine drew her husband out of the house,
+in order not to stay in this gloomy room, always reeking with an acrid
+smell of old pipes and spilt liquor. As soon as they were outside, he
+said: "You are tired of it already."</p>
+
+<p>She began to protest, but he stopped her, saying: "No, I saw it very
+plainly. If you like, we will leave to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," she murmured.</p>
+
+<p>They strolled gently onward. It was a mild night, the deep,
+all-embracing shadow of which seemed filled with faint murmurings,
+rustlings, and breathings. They had entered a narrow path, overshadowed
+by tall trees, and running between two belts of underwood of
+impenetrable blackness.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we?" asked she.</p>
+
+<p>"In the forest," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it a large one?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very large; one of the largest in France."</p>
+
+<p>An odor of earth, trees, and moss&mdash;that fresh yet old scent of the
+woods, made up of the sap of bursting buds and the dead and moldering
+foliage of the thickets, seemed to linger in the path. Raising her head,
+Madeleine could see the stars through the tree-tops; and although no
+breeze stirred the boughs, she could yet feel around her the vague
+quivering of this ocean of leaves. A strange thrill shot through her
+soul and fleeted across her skin&mdash;a strange pain gripped her at the
+heart. Why, she did not understand. But it seemed to her that she was
+lost, engulfed, surrounded by perils, abandoned by everyone; alone,
+alone in the world beneath this living vault quivering there above her.</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "I am rather frightened. I should like to go back."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let us do so."</p>
+
+<p>"And&mdash;we will leave for Paris to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow morning, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>They returned home. The old folks had gone to bed. She slept badly,
+continually aroused by all the country sounds so new to her&mdash;the cry of
+the screech owl, the grunting of a pig in a sty adjoining the house, and
+the noise of a cock who kept on crowing from midnight. She was up and
+ready to start at daybreak.</p>
+
+<p>When George announced to his parents that he was going back they were
+both astonished; then they understood the origin of his wish.</p>
+
+<p>The father merely said: "Shall I see you again soon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, in the course of the summer."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better."</p>
+
+<p>The old woman growled: "I hope you won't regret what you have done."</p>
+
+<p>He left them two hundred francs as a present to assuage their
+discontent, and the carriage, which a boy had been sent in quest of,
+having made its appearance at about ten o'clock, the newly-married
+couple embraced the old country folk and started off once more.</p>
+
+<p>As they were descending the hill Duroy began to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"There," he said, "I had warned you. I ought not to have introduced you
+to Monsieur and Madame du Roy de Cantel, Senior."</p>
+
+<p>She began to laugh, too, and replied: "I am delighted now. They are good
+folk, whom I am beginning to like very well. I will send them some
+presents from Paris." Then she murmured: "Du Roy de Cantel, you will
+see that no one will be astonished at the terms of the notification of
+our marriage. We will say that we have been staying for a week with your
+parents on their estate." And bending towards him she kissed the tip of
+his moustache, saying: "Good morning, George."</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "Good morning, Made," as he passed an arm around her waist.</p>
+
+<p>In the valley below they could see the broad river like a ribbon of
+silver unrolled beneath the morning sun, the factory chimneys belching
+forth their clouds of smoke into the sky, and the pointed spires rising
+above the old town.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Du Roys had been back in Paris a couple of days, and the journalist
+had taken up his old work pending the moment when he should definitely
+assume Forestier's duties, and give himself wholly up to politics. He
+was going home that evening to his predecessor's abode to dinner, with a
+light heart and a keen desire to embrace his wife, whose physical
+attractions and imperceptible domination exercised a powerful impulse
+over him. Passing by a florist's at the bottom of the Rue Notre Dame de
+Lorette, he was struck by the notion of buying a bouquet for Madeleine,
+and chose a large bunch of half-open roses, a very bundle of perfumed
+buds.</p>
+
+<p>At each story of his new staircase he eyed himself complacently in the
+mirrors, the sight of which continually recalled to him his first visit
+to the house. He rang the bell, having forgotten his key, and the same
+man-servant, whom he had also kept on by his wife's advice, opened the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Has your mistress come home?" asked George.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>But on passing through the dining-room he was greatly surprised to find
+the table laid for three, and the hangings of the drawing-room door
+being looped up, saw Madeleine arranging in a vase on the mantelpiece a
+bunch of roses exactly similar to his own. He was vexed and displeased;
+it was as though he had been robbed of his idea, his mark of attention,
+and all the pleasure he anticipated from it.</p>
+
+<p>"You have invited some one to dinner, then?" he inquired, as he entered
+the room.</p>
+
+<p>She answered without turning round, and while continuing to arrange the
+flowers: "Yes, and no. It is my old friend, the Count de Vaudrec, who
+has been accustomed to dine here every Monday, and who has come as
+usual."</p>
+
+<p>George murmured: "Ah! very good."</p>
+
+<p>He remained standing behind her, bouquet in hand, with a longing to hide
+it or throw it away. He said, however: "I have brought you some roses."</p>
+
+<p>She turned round suddenly, smiling, and exclaimed: "Ah! how nice of you
+to have thought of that."</p>
+
+<p>And she held out her arms and lips to him with an outburst of joy so
+real that he felt consoled. She took the flowers, smelt them, and with
+the liveliness of a delighted child, placed them in the vase that
+remained empty opposite the other. Then she murmured, as she viewed the
+result: "How glad I am. My mantelpiece is furnished now." She added
+almost immediately, in a tone of conviction: "You know Vaudrec is
+awfully nice; you will be friends with him at once."</p>
+
+<p>A ring announced the Count. He entered quietly, and quite at his ease,
+as though at home. After having gallantly kissed the young wife's
+fingers, he turned to the husband and cordially held out his hand,
+saying: "How goes it, my dear Du Roy?"</p>
+
+<p>It was no longer his former stiff and starched bearing, but an affable
+one, showing that the situation was no longer the same. The journalist,
+surprised, strove to make himself agreeable in response to these
+advances. It might have been believed within five minutes that they had
+known and loved one another for ten years past.</p>
+
+<p>Then Madeleine, whose face was radiant, said: "I will leave you
+together, I must give a look to my dinner." And she went out, followed
+by a glance from both men. When she returned she found them talking
+theatricals apropos of a new piece, and so thoroughly of the same
+opinion that a species of rapid friendship awoke in their eyes at the
+discovery of this absolute identity of ideas.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner was delightful, so intimate and cordial, and the Count stayed
+on quite late, so comfortable did he feel in this nice little new
+household.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had left Madeleine said to her husband: "Is he not
+perfect? He gains in every way by being known. He is a true
+friend&mdash;safe, devoted, faithful. Ah, without him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She did not finish the sentence, and George replied: "Yes, I find him
+very agreeable. I think that we shall get on very well together."</p>
+
+<p>She resumed: "You do not know, but we have some work to do together
+before going to bed. I had not time to speak to you about it before
+dinner, because Vaudrec came in at once. I have had some important news,
+news from Morocco. It was Laroche-Mathieu, the deputy, the future
+minister, who brought it to me. We must work up an important article, a
+sensational one. I have the facts and figures. We will set to work at
+once. Bring the lamp."</p>
+
+<p>He took it, and they passed into the study. The same books were ranged
+in the bookcase, which now bore on its summit the three vases bought at
+the Golfe Juan by Forestier on the eve of his death. Under the table the
+dead man's mat awaited the feet of Du Roy, who, on sitting down, took up
+an ivory penholder slightly gnawed at the end by the other's teeth.
+Madeleine leant against the mantelpiece, and having lit a cigarette
+related her news, and then explained her notions and the plan of the
+article she meditated. He listened attentively, scribbling notes as he
+did so, and when she had finished, raised objections, took up the
+question again, enlarged its bearing, and sketched in turn, not the plan
+of an article, but of a campaign against the existing Ministry. This
+attack would be its commencement. His wife had left off smoking, so
+strongly was her interest aroused, so vast was the vision that opened
+before her as she followed out George's train of thought.</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, from time to time: "Yes, yes; that is very good. That is
+capital. That is very clever."</p>
+
+<p>And when he had finished speaking in turn, she said: "Now let us write."</p>
+
+<p>But he always found it hard to make a start, and with difficulty sought
+his expressions. Then she came gently, and, leaning over his shoulder,
+began to whisper sentences in his ear. From time to time she would
+hesitate, and ask: "Is that what you want to say?"</p>
+
+<p>He answered: "Yes, exactly."</p>
+
+<p>She had piercing shafts, the poisoned shafts of a woman, to wound the
+head of the Cabinet, and she blended jests about his face with others
+respecting his policy in a curious fashion, that made one laugh, and, at
+the same time, impressed one by their truth of observation.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy from time to time added a few lines which widened and
+strengthened the range of attack. He understood, too, the art of
+perfidious insinuation, which he had learned in sharpening up his
+"Echoes"; and when a fact put forward as certain by Madeleine appeared
+doubtful or compromising, he excelled in allowing it to be divined and
+in impressing it upon the mind more strongly than if he had affirmed it.
+When their article was finished, George read it aloud. They both thought
+it excellent, and smiled, delighted and surprised, as if they had just
+mutually revealed themselves to one another. They gazed into the depths
+of one another's eyes with yearnings of love and admiration, and they
+embraced one another with an ardor communicated from their minds to
+their bodies.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy took up the lamp again. "And now to bye-bye," said he, with a
+kindling glance.</p>
+
+<p>She replied: "Go first, sir, since you light the way."</p>
+
+<p>He went first, and she followed him into their bedroom, tickling his
+neck to make him go quicker, for he could not stand that.</p>
+
+<p>The article appeared with the signature of George Duroy de Cantel, and
+caused a great sensation. There was an excitement about it in the
+Chamber. Daddy Walter congratulated the author, and entrusted him with
+the political editorship of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. The "Echoes" fell again
+to Boisrenard.</p>
+
+<p>Then there began in the paper a violent and cleverly conducted campaign
+against the Ministry. The attack, now ironical, now serious, now
+jesting, and now virulent, but always skillful and based on facts, was
+delivered with a certitude and continuity which astonished everyone.
+Other papers continually cited the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, taking whole
+passages from it, and those in office asked themselves whether they
+could not gag this unknown and inveterate foe with the gift of a
+prefecture.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy became a political celebrity. He felt his influence increasing by
+the pressure of hands and the lifting of hats. His wife, too, filled him
+with stupefaction and admiration by the ingenuity of her mind, the value
+of her information, and the number of her acquaintances. Continually he
+would find in his drawing-room, on returning home, a senator, a deputy,
+a magistrate, a general, who treated Madeleine as an old friend, with
+serious familiarity. Where had she met all these people? In society, so
+she said. But how had she been able to gain their confidence and their
+affection? He could not understand it.</p>
+
+<p>"She would make a terrible diplomatist," he thought.</p>
+
+<p>She often came in late at meal times, out of breath, flushed, quivering,
+and before even taking off her veil would say: "I have something good
+to-day. Fancy, the Minister of Justice has just appointed two
+magistrates who formed a part of the mixed commission. We will give him
+a dose he will not forget in a hurry."</p>
+
+<p>And they would give the minister a dose, and another the next day, and
+a third the day after. The deputy, Laroche-Mathieu, who dined at the Rue
+Fontaine every Tuesday, after the Count de Vaudrec, who began the week,
+would shake the hands of husband and wife with demonstrations of extreme
+joy. He never ceased repeating: "By Jove, what a campaign! If we don't
+succeed after all?"</p>
+
+<p>He hoped, indeed, to succeed in getting hold of the portfolio of foreign
+affairs, which he had had in view for a long time.</p>
+
+<p>He was one of those many-faced politicians, without strong convictions,
+without great abilities, without boldness, and without any depth of
+knowledge, a provincial barrister, a local dandy, preserving a cunning
+balance between all parties, a species of Republican Jesuit and Liberal
+mushroom of uncertain character, such as spring up by hundreds on the
+popular dunghill of universal suffrage. His village machiavelism caused
+him to be reckoned able among his colleagues, among all the adventurers
+and abortions who are made deputies. He was sufficiently well-dressed,
+correct, familiar, and amiable to succeed. He had his successes in
+society, in the mixed, perturbed, and somewhat rough society of the high
+functionaries of the day. It was said everywhere of him: "Laroche will
+be a minister," and he believed more firmly than anyone else that he
+would be. He was one of the chief shareholders in Daddy Walter's paper,
+and his colleague and partner in many financial schemes.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy backed him up with confidence and with vague hopes as to the
+future. He was, besides, only continuing the work begun by Forestier, to
+whom Laroche-Mathieu had promised the Cross of the Legion of Honor when
+the day of triumph should come. The decoration would adorn the breast of
+Madeleine's second husband, that was all. Nothing was changed in the
+main.</p>
+
+<p>It was seen so well that nothing was changed that Du Roy's comrades
+organized a joke against him, at which he was beginning to grow angry.
+They no longer called him anything but Forestier. As soon as he entered
+the office some one would call out: "I say, Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>He would pretend not to hear, and would look for the letters in his
+pigeon-holes. The voice would resume in louder tones, "Hi! Forestier."
+Some stifled laughs would be heard, and as Du Roy was entering the
+manager's room, the comrade who had called out would stop him, saying:
+"Oh, I beg your pardon, it is you I want to speak to. It is stupid, but
+I am always mixing you up with poor Charles. It is because your articles
+are so infernally like his. Everyone is taken in by them."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy would not answer, but he was inwardly furious, and a sullen wrath
+sprang up in him against the dead man. Daddy Walter himself had
+declared, when astonishment was expressed at the flagrant similarity in
+style and inspiration between the leaders of the new political editor
+and his predecessor: "Yes, it is Forestier, but a fuller, stronger, more
+manly Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>Another time Du Roy, opening by chance the cupboard in which the cup and
+balls were kept, had found all those of his predecessor with crape round
+the handles, and his own, the one he had made use of when he practiced
+under the direction of Saint-Potin, ornamented with a pink ribbon. All
+had been arranged on the same shelf according to size, and a card like
+those in museums bore the inscription: "The Forestier-Du Roy (late
+Forestier and Co.) Collection." He quietly closed the cupboard, saying,
+in tones loud enough to be heard: "There are fools and envious people
+everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>But he was wounded in his pride, wounded in his vanity, that touchy
+pride and vanity of the writer, which produce the nervous susceptibility
+ever on the alert, equally in the reporter and the genial poet. The word
+"Forestier" made his ears tingle. He dreaded to hear it, and felt
+himself redden when he did so. This name was to him a biting jest, more
+than a jest, almost an insult. It said to him: "It is your wife who does
+your work, as she did that of the other. You would be nothing without
+her."</p>
+
+<p>He admitted that Forestier would have been no one without Madeleine; but
+as to himself, come now!</p>
+
+<p>Then, at home, the haunting impression continued. It was the whole place
+now that recalled the dead man to him, the whole of the furniture, the
+whole of the knicknacks, everything he laid hands on. He had scarcely
+thought of this at the outset, but the joke devised by his comrades had
+caused a kind of mental wound, which a number of trifles, unnoticed up
+to the present, now served to envenom. He could not take up anything
+without at once fancying he saw the hand of Charles upon it. He only
+looked at it and made use of things the latter had made use of formerly;
+things that he had purchased, liked, and enjoyed. And George began even
+to grow irritated at the thought of the bygone relations between his
+friend and his wife. He was sometimes astonished at this revolt of his
+heart, which he did not understand, and said to himself, "How the deuce
+is it? I am not jealous of Madeleine's friends. I am never uneasy about
+what she is up to. She goes in and out as she chooses, and yet the
+recollection of that brute of a Charles puts me in a rage." He added,
+"At the bottom, he was only an idiot, and it is that, no doubt, that
+wounds me. I am vexed that Madeleine could have married such a fool."
+And he kept continually repeating, "How is it that she could have
+stomached such a donkey for a single moment?"</p>
+
+<p>His rancor was daily increased by a thousand insignificant details,
+which stung him like pin pricks, by the incessant reminders of the other
+arising out of a word from Madeleine, from the man-servant, from the
+waiting-maid.</p>
+
+<p>One evening Du Roy, who liked sweet dishes, said, "How is it we never
+have sweets at dinner?"</p>
+
+<p>His wife replied, cheerfully, "That is quite true. I never think about
+them. It is all through Charles, who hated&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He cut her short in a fit of impatience he was unable to control,
+exclaiming, "Hang it all! I am sick of Charles. It is always Charles
+here and Charles there, Charles liked this and Charles liked that. Since
+Charles is dead, for goodness sake leave him in peace."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine looked at her husband in amazement, without being able to
+understand his sudden anger. Then, as she was sharp, she guessed what
+was going on within him; this slow working of posthumous jealousy,
+swollen every moment by all that recalled the other. She thought it
+puerile, may be, but was flattered by it, and did not reply.</p>
+
+<p>He was vexed with himself at this irritation, which he had not been
+able to conceal. As they were writing after dinner an article for the
+next day, his feet got entangled in the foot mat. He kicked it aside,
+and said with a laugh:</p>
+
+<p>"Charles was always chilly about the feet, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied, also laughing: "Oh! he lived in mortal fear of catching
+cold; his chest was very weak."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy replied grimly: "He has given us a proof of that." Then kissing
+his wife's hand, he added gallantly: "Luckily for me."</p>
+
+<p>But on going to bed, still haunted by the same idea, he asked: "Did
+Charles wear nightcaps for fear of the draughts?"</p>
+
+<p>She entered into the joke, and replied: "No; only a silk handkerchief
+tied round his head."</p>
+
+<p>George shrugged his shoulders, and observed, with contempt, "What a
+baby."</p>
+
+<p>From that time forward Charles became for him an object of continual
+conversation. He dragged him in on all possible occasions, speaking of
+him as "Poor Charles," with an air of infinite pity. When he returned
+home from the office, where he had been accosted twice or thrice as
+Forestier, he avenged himself by bitter railleries against the dead man
+in his tomb. He recalled his defects, his absurdities, his littleness,
+enumerating them with enjoyment, developing and augmenting them as
+though he had wished to combat the influence of a dreaded rival over the
+heart of his wife. He would say, "I say, Made, do you remember the day
+when that duffer Forestier tried to prove to us that stout men were
+stronger than spare ones?"</p>
+
+<p>Then he sought to learn a number of private and secret details
+respecting the departed, which his wife, ill at ease, refused to tell
+him. But he obstinately persisted, saying, "Come, now, tell me all about
+it. He must have been very comical at such a time?"</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, "Oh! do leave him alone."</p>
+
+<p>But he went on, "No, but tell me now, he must have been a duffer to
+sleep with?" And he always wound up with, "What a donkey he was."</p>
+
+<p>One evening, towards the end of June, as he was smoking a cigarette at
+the window, the fineness of the evening inspired him with a wish for a
+drive, and he said, "Made, shall we go as far as the Bois de Boulogne?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>They took an open carriage and drove up the Champs Elysées, and then
+along the main avenue of the Bois de Boulogne. It was a breezeless
+night, one of those stifling nights when the overheated air of Paris
+fills the chest like the breath of a furnace. A host of carriages bore
+along beneath the trees a whole population of lovers. They came one
+behind the other in an unbroken line. George and Madeleine amused
+themselves with watching all these couples, the woman in summer toilet
+and the man darkly outlined beside her. It was a huge flood of lovers
+towards the Bois, beneath the starry and heated sky. No sound was heard
+save the dull rumble of wheels. They kept passing by, two by two in each
+vehicle, leaning back on the seat, silent, clasped one against the
+other, lost in dreams of desire, quivering with the anticipation of
+coming caresses. The warm shadow seemed full of kisses. A sense of
+spreading lust rendered the air heavier and more suffocating. All the
+couples, intoxicated with the same idea, the same ardor, shed a fever
+about them.</p>
+
+<p>George and Madeleine felt the contagion. They clasped hands without a
+word, oppressed by the heaviness of the atmosphere and the emotion that
+assailed them. As they reached the turning which follows the line of the
+fortification, they kissed one another, and she stammered somewhat
+confusedly, "We are as great babies as on the way to Rouen."</p>
+
+<p>The great flood of vehicles divided at the entrance of the wood. On the
+road to the lake, which the young couple were following, they were now
+thinner, but the dark shadow of the trees, the air freshened by the
+leaves and by the dampness arising from the streamlets that could be
+heard flowing beneath them, and the coolness of the vast nocturnal vault
+bedecked with stars, gave to the kisses of the perambulating pairs a
+more penetrating charm.</p>
+
+<p>George murmured, "Dear little Made," as he pressed her to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember the forest close to your home, how gloomy it was?" said
+she. "It seemed to me that it was full of horrible creatures, and that
+there was no end to it, while here it is delightful. One feels caresses
+in the breeze, and I know that Sevres lies on the other side of the
+wood."</p>
+
+<p>He replied, "Oh! in the forest at home there was nothing but deer,
+foxes, and wild boars, and here and there the hut of a forester."</p>
+
+<p>This word, akin to the dead man's name, issuing from his mouth,
+surprised him just as if some one had shouted it out to him from the
+depths of a thicket, and he became suddenly silent, assailed anew by
+the strange and persistent uneasiness, and gnawing, invincible, jealous
+irritation that had been spoiling his existence for some time past.
+After a minute or so, he asked: "Did you ever come here like this of an
+evening with Charles?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, often," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>And all of a sudden he was seized with a wish to return home, a nervous
+desire that gripped him at the heart. But the image of Forestier had
+returned to his mind and possessed and laid hold of him. He could no
+longer speak or think of anything else and said in a spiteful tone, "I
+say, Made?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever cuckold poor Charles?"</p>
+
+<p>She murmured disdainfully, "How stupid you are with your stock joke."</p>
+
+<p>But he would not abandon the idea.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Made, dear, be frank and acknowledge it. You cuckolded him, eh?
+Come, admit that you cuckolded him?"</p>
+
+<p>She was silent, shocked as all women are by this expression.</p>
+
+<p>He went on obstinately, "Hang it all, if ever anyone had the head for a
+cuckold it was he. Oh! yes. It would please me to know that he was one.
+What a fine head for horns." He felt that she was smiling at some
+recollection, perhaps, and persisted, saying, "Come out with it. What
+does it matter? It would be very comical to admit that you had deceived
+him, to me."</p>
+
+<p>He was indeed quivering with hope and desire that Charles, the hateful
+Charles, the detested dead, had borne this shameful ridicule. And
+yet&mdash;yet&mdash;another emotion, less definite. "My dear little Made, tell me,
+I beg of you. He deserved it. You would have been wrong not to have
+given him a pair of horns. Come, Made, confess."</p>
+
+<p>She now, no doubt, found this persistence amusing, for she was laughing
+a series of short, jerky laughs.</p>
+
+<p>He had put his lips close to his wife's ear and whispered: "Come, come,
+confess."</p>
+
+<p>She jerked herself away, and said, abruptly: "You are crazy. As if one
+answered such questions."</p>
+
+<p>She said this in so singular a tone that a cold shiver ran through her
+husband's veins, and he remained dumbfounded, scared, almost breathless,
+as though from some mental shock.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage was now passing along the lake, on which the sky seemed to
+have scattered its stars. Two swans, vaguely outlined, were swimming
+slowly, scarcely visible in the shadow. George called out to the driver:
+"Turn back!" and the carriage returned, meeting the others going at a
+walk, with their lanterns gleaming like eyes in the night.</p>
+
+<p>What a strange manner in which she had said it. Was it a confession? Du
+Roy kept asking himself. And the almost certainty that she had deceived
+her first husband now drove him wild with rage. He longed to beat her,
+to strangle her, to tear her hair out. Oh, if she had only replied: "But
+darling, if I had deceived him, it would have been with yourself," how
+he would have kissed, clasped, worshiped her.</p>
+
+<p>He sat still, his arms crossed, his eyes turned skyward, his mind too
+agitated to think as yet. He only felt within him the rancor fermenting
+and the anger swelling which lurk at the heart of all mankind in
+presence of the caprices of feminine desire. He felt for the first time
+that vague anguish of the husband who suspects. He was jealous at last,
+jealous on behalf of the dead, jealous on Forestier's account, jealous
+in a strange and poignant fashion, into which there suddenly entered a
+hatred of Madeleine. Since she had deceived the other, how could he have
+confidence in her himself? Then by degrees his mind became calmer, and
+bearing up against his pain, he thought: "All women are prostitutes. We
+must make use of them, and not give them anything of ourselves." The
+bitterness in his heart rose to his lips in words of contempt and
+disgust. He repeated to himself: "The victory in this world is to the
+strong. One must be strong. One must be above all prejudices."</p>
+
+<p>The carriage was going faster. It repassed the fortifications. Du Roy
+saw before him a reddish light in the sky like the glow of an immense
+forge, and heard a vast, confused, continuous rumor, made up of
+countless different sounds, the breath of Paris panting this summer
+night like an exhausted giant.</p>
+
+<p>George reflected: "I should be very stupid to fret about it. Everyone
+for himself. Fortune favors the bold. Egotism is everything. Egotism as
+regards ambition and fortune is better than egotism as regards woman and
+love."</p>
+
+<p>The Arc de Triomphe appeared at the entrance to the city on its two tall
+supports like a species of shapeless giant ready to start off and march
+down the broad avenue open before him. George and Madeleine found
+themselves once more in the stream of carriages bearing homeward and
+bedwards the same silent and interlaced couples. It seemed that the
+whole of humanity was passing by intoxicated with joy, pleasure, and
+happiness. The young wife, who had divined something of what was passing
+through her husband's mind, said, in her soft voice: "What are you
+thinking of, dear? You have not said a word for the last half hour."</p>
+
+<p>He answered, sneeringly: "I was thinking of all these fools cuddling one
+another, and saying to myself that there is something else to do in
+life."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "Yes, but it is nice sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"It is nice&mdash;when one has nothing better to do."</p>
+
+<p>George's thoughts were still hard at it, stripping life of its poesy in
+a kind of spiteful anger. "I should be very foolish to trouble myself,
+to deprive myself of anything whatever, to worry as I have done for some
+time past." Forestier's image crossed his mind without causing any
+irritation. It seemed to him that they had just been reconciled, that
+they had become friends again. He wanted to cry out: "Good evening, old
+fellow."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine, to whom this silence was irksome, said: "Suppose we have an
+ice at Tortoni's before we go in."</p>
+
+<p>He glanced at her sideways. Her fine profile was lit up by the bright
+light from the row of gas jets of a café. He thought, "She is pretty.
+Well, so much the better. Jack is as good as his master, my dear. But if
+ever they catch me worrying again about you, it will be hot at the North
+Pole." Then he replied aloud: "Certainly, my dear," and in order that
+she should not guess anything, he kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to the young wife that her husband's lips were frozen. He
+smiled, however, with his wonted smile, as he gave her his hand to
+alight in front of the café.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2>
+
+
+<p>On reaching the office next day, Du Roy sought out Boisrenard.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," said he, "I have a service to ask of you. It has been
+thought funny for some time past to call me Forestier. I begin to find
+it very stupid. Will you have the kindness to quietly let our friends
+know that I will smack the face of the first that starts the joke again?
+It will be for them to reflect whether it is worth risking a sword
+thrust for. I address myself to you because you are a calm-minded
+fellow, who can hinder matters from coming to painful extremities, and
+also because you were my second."</p>
+
+<p>Boisrenard undertook the commission. Du Roy went out on business, and
+returned an hour later. No one called him Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached home he heard ladies' voices in the drawing-room, and
+asked, "Who is there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Walter and Madame de Marelle," replied the servant.</p>
+
+<p>His heart beat fast for a moment, and then he said to himself, "Well,
+let's see," and opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>Clotilde was beside the fireplace, full in a ray of light from the
+window. It seemed to George that she grew slightly paler on perceiving
+him. Having first bowed to Madame Walter and her two daughters, seated
+like two sentinels on each side of their mother, he turned towards his
+late mistress. She held out her hand, and he took it and pressed it
+meaningly, as though to say, "I still love you." She responded to this
+pressure.</p>
+
+<p>He inquired: "How have you been during the century that has elapsed
+since our last meeting?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied with perfect ease: "Quite well; and you, Pretty-boy?" and
+turning to Madeleine, added: "You will allow me to call him Pretty-boy
+still?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, dear; I will allow whatever you please."</p>
+
+<p>A shade of irony seemed hidden in these words.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter spoke of an entertainment that was going to be given by
+Jacques Rival at his residence, a grand assault-at-arms, at which ladies
+of fashion were to be present, saying: "It will be very interesting. But
+I am so vexed we have no one to take us there, my husband being obliged
+to be away at that time."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy at once offered his services. She accepted, saying: "My daughters
+and I will be very much obliged to you."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at the younger daughter, and thought: "She is not at all bad
+looking, this little Susan; not at all." She resembled a fair, fragile
+doll, too short but slender, with a small waist and fairly developed
+hips and bust, a face like a miniature, grayish-blue, enamel-like eyes,
+which seemed shaded by a careful yet fanciful painter, a polished,
+colorless skin, too white and too smooth, and fluffy, curly hair, in a
+charming aureola, like, indeed the hair of the pretty and expensive
+dolls we see in the arms of children much smaller than their plaything.</p>
+
+<p>The elder sister, Rose, was ugly, dull-looking, and insignificant; one
+of those girls whom you do not notice, do not speak to, and do not talk
+about.</p>
+
+<p>The mother rose, and, turning to George, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Then I may reckon upon you for next Thursday, two o'clock?"</p>
+
+<p>"You may reckon upon me, madame," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she had taken her departure, Madame de Marelle rose in turn,
+saying: "Good afternoon, Pretty-boy."</p>
+
+<p>It was she who then clasped his hand firmly and for some time, and he
+felt moved by this silent avowal, struck again with a sudden caprice for
+this good-natured little, respectable Bohemian of a woman, who really
+loved him, perhaps.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was alone with his wife, Madeleine broke out into a laugh,
+a frank, gay laugh, and, looking him fair in the face, said, "You know
+that Madame Walter is smitten with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense," he answered, incredulously.</p>
+
+<p>"It is so, I tell you; she spoke to me about you with wild enthusiasm.
+It is strange on her part. She would like to find two husbands such as
+you for her daughters. Fortunately, as regards her such things are of no
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>He did not understand what she meant, and inquired, "How of no moment?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied with the conviction of a woman certain of the soundness of
+her judgment, "Oh! Madame Walter is one of those who have never even had
+a whisper about them, never, you know, never. She is unassailable in
+every respect. Her husband you know as well as I do. But with her it is
+quite another thing. She has suffered enough through marrying a Jew, but
+she has remained faithful to him. She is an honest woman."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy was surprised. "I thought her a Jewess, too," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"She, not at all. She is a lady patroness of all the good works of the
+Church of Madeleine. Her marriage, even, was celebrated religiously. I
+do not know whether there was a dummy baptism as regards the governor,
+or whether the Church winked at it."</p>
+
+<p>George murmured: "Ah! so she fancied me."</p>
+
+<p>"Positively and thoroughly. If you were not bespoken, I should advise
+you to ask for the hand of&mdash;Susan, eh? rather than that of Rose."</p>
+
+<p>He replied, twisting his moustache: "Hum; their mother is not yet out of
+date."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine, somewhat out of patience, answered:</p>
+
+<p>"Their mother! I wish you may get her, dear. But I am not alarmed on
+that score. It is not at her age that a woman is guilty of a first
+fault. One must set about it earlier."</p>
+
+<p>George was reflecting: "If it were true, though, that I could have
+married Susan." Then he shrugged his shoulders. "Bah! it is absurd. As
+if her father would have ever have accepted me as a suitor."</p>
+
+<p>He promised himself, though, to keep a more careful watch in the future
+over Madame Walter's bearing towards him, without asking whether he
+might ever derive any advantage from this. All the evening he was
+haunted by the recollection of his love passages with Clotilde,
+recollections at once tender and sensual. He recalled her drolleries,
+her pretty ways, and their adventures together. He repeated to himself,
+"She is really very charming. Yes, I will go and see her to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had lunched the next morning he indeed set out for the
+Rue de Verneuil. The same servant opened the door, and with the
+familiarity of servants of the middle-class, asked: "Are you quite well,
+sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, thanks, my girl," he replied, and entered the drawing-room, in
+which an unskilled hand could be heard practicing scales on the piano.
+It was Laurine. He thought that she would throw her arms round his neck.
+But she rose gravely, bowed ceremoniously like a grown-up person, and
+withdrew with dignity. She had so much the bearing of an insulted woman
+that he remained in surprise. Her mother came in, and he took and kissed
+her hands.</p>
+
+<p>"How I have thought of you," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"And I," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>They sat down and smiled at one another, looking into each other's eyes
+with a longing to kiss.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear little Clo, I do love you."</p>
+
+<p>"I love you, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;then&mdash;you have not been so very angry with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and no. It hurt me a great deal, but I understood your reasons,
+and said to myself, 'He will come back to me some fine day or other.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I dared not come back. I asked myself how I should be received. I did
+not dare, but I dearly wanted to. By the way, tell me what is the matter
+with Laurine. She scarcely said good-morning to me, and went out looking
+furious."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know. But we cannot speak of you to her since your marriage. I
+really believe she is jealous."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense."</p>
+
+<p>"It is so, dear. She no longer calls you Pretty-boy, but Monsieur
+Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy reddened, and then drawing close to her said:</p>
+
+<p>"Kiss me."</p>
+
+<p>She did so.</p>
+
+<p>"Where can we meet again?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Rue de Constantinople."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! the rooms are not let, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I kept them on."</p>
+
+<p>"You kept them on?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I thought you would come back again."</p>
+
+<p>A gush of joyful pride swelled his bosom. She loved him then, this
+woman, with a real, deep, constant love.</p>
+
+<p>He murmured, "I love you," and then inquired, "Is your husband quite
+well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very well. He has been spending a month at home, and was off again
+the day before yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy could not help laughing. "How lucky," said he.</p>
+
+<p>She replied simply: "Yes, it is very lucky. But, all the same, he is not
+troublesome when he is here. You know that."</p>
+
+<p>"That is true. Besides, he is a very nice fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"And you," she asked, "how do you like your new life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not much one way or the other. My wife is a companion, a partner."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing more. As to the heart&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I understand. She is pretty, though."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but I do not put myself out about her."</p>
+
+<p>He drew closer to Clotilde, and whispered. "When shall we see one
+another again?"</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to-morrow at two o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Two o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>He rose to take leave, and then stammered, with some embarrassment: "You
+know I shall take on the rooms in the Rue de Constantinople myself. I
+mean it. A nice thing for the rent to be paid by you."</p>
+
+<p>It was she who kissed his hands adoringly, murmuring: "Do as you like.
+It is enough for me to have kept them for us to meet again there."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy went away, his soul filled with satisfaction. As he passed by a
+photographer's, the portrait of a tall woman with large eyes reminded
+him of Madame Walter. "All the same," he said to himself, "she must be
+still worth looking at. How is it that I never noticed it? I want to see
+how she will receive me on Thursday?"</p>
+
+<p>He rubbed his hands as he walked along with secret pleasure, the
+pleasure of success in every shape, the egotistical joy of the clever
+man who is successful, the subtle pleasure made up of flattered vanity
+and satisfied sensuality conferred by woman's affection.</p>
+
+<p>On the Thursday he said to Madeleine: "Are you not coming to the
+assault-at-arms at Rival's?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. It would not interest me. I shall go to the Chamber of Deputies."</p>
+
+<p>He went to call for Madame Walter in an open landau, for the weather was
+delightful. He experienced a surprise on seeing her, so handsome and
+young-looking did he find her. She wore a light-colored dress, the
+somewhat open bodice of which allowed the fullness of her bosom to be
+divined beneath the blonde lace. She had never seemed to him so
+well-looking. He thought her really desirable. She wore her calm and
+ladylike manner, a certain matronly bearing that caused her to pass
+almost unnoticed before the eyes of gallants. She scarcely spoke
+besides, save on well-known, suitable, and respectable topics, her ideas
+being proper, methodical, well ordered, and void of all extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>Her daughter, Susan, in pink, looked like a newly-varnished Watteau,
+while her elder sister seemed the governess entrusted with the care of
+this pretty doll of a girl.</p>
+
+<p>Before Rival's door a line of carriages were drawn up. Du Roy offered
+Madame Walter his arm, and they went in.</p>
+
+<p>The assault-at-arms was given under the patronage of the wives of all
+the senators and deputies connected with the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, for the
+benefit of the orphans of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. Madame
+Walter had promised to come with her daughters, while refusing the
+position of lady patroness, for she only aided with her name works
+undertaken by the clergy. Not that she was very devout, but her marriage
+with a Jew obliged her, in her own opinion, to observe a certain
+religious attitude, and the gathering organized by the journalist had a
+species of Republican import that might be construed as anti-clerical.</p>
+
+<p>In papers of every shade of opinion, during the past three weeks,
+paragraphs had appeared such as: "Our eminent colleague, Jacques Rival,
+has conceived the idea, as ingenious as it is generous, of organizing
+for the benefit of the orphans of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris a
+grand assault-at-arms in the pretty fencing-room attached to his
+apartments. The invitations will be sent out by Mesdames Laloigue,
+Remontel, and Rissolin, wives of the senators bearing these names, and
+by Mesdames Laroche-Mathieu, Percerol, and Firmin, wives of the
+well-known deputies. A collection will take place during the interval,
+and the amount will at once be placed in the hands of the mayor of the
+Sixth Arrondissement, or of his representative."</p>
+
+<p>It was a gigantic advertisement that the clever journalist had devised
+to his own advantage.</p>
+
+<p>Jacques Rival received all-comers in the hall of his dwelling, where a
+refreshment buffet had been fitted up, the cost of which was to be
+deducted from the receipts. He indicated with an amiable gesture the
+little staircase leading to the cellar, saying: "Downstairs, ladies,
+downstairs; the assault will take place in the basement."</p>
+
+<p>He darted forward to meet the wife of the manager, and then shaking Du
+Roy by the hand, said: "How are you, Pretty-boy?"</p>
+
+<p>His friend was surprised, and exclaimed: "Who told you that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Rival interrupted him with: "Madame Walter, here, who thinks the
+nickname a very nice one."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter blushed, saying: "Yes, I will admit that, if I knew you
+better, I would do like little Laurine and call you Pretty-boy, too. The
+name suits you very well."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy laughed, as he replied: "But I beg of you, madame, to do so."</p>
+
+<p>She had lowered her eyes, and remarked: "No. We are not sufficiently
+intimate."</p>
+
+<p>He murmured: "Will you allow me the hope that we shall be more so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we will see then," said she.</p>
+
+<p>He drew on one side to let her precede him at the beginning of the
+narrow stairs lit by a gas jet. The abrupt transition from daylight to
+this yellow gleam had something depressing about it. A cellar-like odor
+rose up this winding staircase, a smell of damp heat and of moldy walls
+wiped down for the occasion, and also whiffs of incense recalling sacred
+offices and feminine emanations of vervain, orris root, and violets. A
+loud murmur of voices and the quivering thrill of an agitated crowd
+could also be heard down this hole.</p>
+
+<p>The entire cellar was lit up by wreaths of gas jets and Chinese lanterns
+hidden in the foliage, masking the walls of stone. Nothing could be seen
+but green boughs. The ceiling was ornamented with ferns, the ground
+hidden by flowers and leaves. This was thought charming, and a
+delightful triumph of imagination. In the small cellar, at the end, was
+a platform for the fencers, between two rows of chairs for the judges.
+In the remaining space the front seats, ranged by tens to the right and
+to the left, would accommodate about two hundred people. Four hundred
+had been invited.</p>
+
+<p>In front of the platform young fellows in fencing costume, with long
+limbs, erect figures, and moustaches curled up at the ends, were already
+showing themselves off to the spectators. People were pointing them out
+as notabilities of the art, professionals, and amateurs. Around them
+were chatting old and young gentlemen in frock coats, who bore a family
+resemblance to the fencers in fighting array. They were also seeking to
+be seen, recognized, and spoken of, being masters of the sword out of
+uniform, experts on foil play. Almost all the seats were occupied by
+ladies, who kept up a loud rustling of garments and a continuous murmur
+of voices. They were fanning themselves as though at a theater, for it
+was already as hot as an oven in this leafy grotto. A joker kept crying
+from time to time: "Orgeat, lemonade, beer."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter and her daughters reached the seats reserved for them in
+the front row. Du Roy, having installed them there, was about to quit
+them, saying: "I am obliged to leave you; we men must not collar the
+seats."</p>
+
+<p>But Madame Walter remarked, in a hesitating tone: "I should very much
+like to have you with us all the same. You can tell me the names of the
+fencers. Come, if you stand close to the end of the seat you will not be
+in anyone's way." She looked at him with her large mild eyes, and
+persisted, saying: "Come, stay with us, Monsieur&mdash;Pretty-boy. We have
+need of you."</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "I will obey with pleasure, madame."</p>
+
+<p>On all sides could be heard the remark: "It is very funny, this cellar;
+very pretty, too."</p>
+
+<p>George knew it well, this vault. He recalled the morning he had passed
+there on the eve of his duel, alone in front of the little white carton
+target that had glared at him from the depths of the inner cellar like a
+huge and terrible eye.</p>
+
+<p>The voice of Jacques Rival sounded from the staircase: "Just about to
+begin, ladies." And six gentlemen, in very tight-fitting clothes, to set
+off their chests, mounted the platform, and took their seats on the
+chairs reserved for the judges. Their names flew about. General de
+Reynaldi, the president, a short man, with heavy moustaches; the
+painter, Joséphin Roudet, a tall, ball-headed man, with a long beard;
+Matthéo de Ujar, Simon Ramoncel, Pierre de Carvin, three
+fashionable-looking young fellows; and Gaspard Merleron, a master. Two
+placards were hung up on the two sides of the vault. That on the right
+was inscribed "M. Crévec&oelig;ur," and that on the left "M. Plumeau."</p>
+
+<p>They were two professors, two good second-class masters. They made their
+appearance, both sparely built, with military air and somewhat stiff
+movements. Having gone through the salute with automatic action, they
+began to attack one another, resembling in their white costumes of
+leather and duck, two soldier pierrots fighting for fun. From time to
+time the word "Touched" was heard, and the six judges nodded with the
+air of connoisseurs. The public saw nothing but two living marionettes
+moving about and extending their arms; they understood nothing, but they
+were satisfied. These two men seemed to them, however, not over
+graceful, and vaguely ridiculous. They reminded them of the wooden
+wrestlers sold on the boulevards at the New Year's Fair.</p>
+
+<p>The first couple of fencers were succeeded by Monsieur Planton and
+Monsieur Carapin, a civilian master and a military one. Monsieur Planton
+was very little, and Monsieur Carapin immensely stout. One would have
+thought that the first thrust would have reduced his volume like that of
+a balloon. People laughed. Monsieur Planton skipped about like a monkey:
+Monsieur Carapin, only moved his arm, the rest of his frame being
+paralyzed by fat. He lunged every five minutes with such heaviness and
+such effort that it seemed to need the most energetic resolution on his
+part to accomplish it, and then had great difficulty in recovering
+himself. The connoisseurs pronounced his play very steady and close, and
+the confiding public appreciated it as such.</p>
+
+<p>Then came Monsieur Porion and Monsieur Lapalme, a master and an amateur,
+who gave way to exaggerated gymnastics; charging furiously at one
+another, obliging the judges to scuttle off with their chairs, crossing
+and re-crossing from one end of the platform to the other, one advancing
+and the other retreating, with vigorous and comic leaps and bounds. They
+indulged in little jumps backwards that made the ladies laugh, and long
+springs forward that caused them some emotion. This galloping assault
+was aptly criticized by some young rascal, who sang out: "Don't burst
+yourselves over it; it is a time job!" The spectators, shocked at this
+want of taste, cried "Ssh!" The judgment of the experts was passed
+around. The fencers had shown much vigor, and played somewhat loosely.</p>
+
+<p>The first half of the entertainment was concluded by a very fine bout
+between Jacques Rival and the celebrated Belgian professor, Lebegue.
+Rival greatly pleased the ladies. He was really a handsome fellow, well
+made, supple, agile, and more graceful than any of those who had
+preceded him. He brought, even into his way of standing on guard and
+lunging, a certain fashionable elegance which pleased people, and
+contrasted with the energetic, but more commonplace style of his
+adversary. "One can perceive the well-bred man at once," was the remark.
+He scored the last hit, and was applauded.</p>
+
+<p>But for some minutes past a singular noise on the floor above had
+disturbed the spectators. It was a loud trampling, accompanied by noisy
+laughter. The two hundred guests who had not been able to get down into
+the cellar were no doubt amusing themselves in their own way. On the
+narrow, winding staircase fifty men were packed. The heat down below was
+getting terrible. Cries of "More air," "Something to drink," were heard.
+The same joker kept on yelping in a shrill tone that rose above the
+murmur of conversation, "Orgeat, lemonade, beer." Rival made his
+appearance, very flushed, and still in his fencing costume. "I will have
+some refreshments brought," said he, and made his way to the staircase.
+But all communication with the ground floor was cut off. It would have
+been as easy to have pierced the ceiling as to have traversed the human
+wall piled up on the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Rival called out: "Send down some ices for the ladies." Fifty voices
+called out: "Some ices!" A tray at length made its appearance. But it
+only bore empty glasses, the refreshments having been snatched on the
+way.</p>
+
+<p>A loud voice shouted: "We are suffocating down here. Get it over and let
+us be off." Another cried out: "The collection." And the whole of the
+public, gasping, but good-humored all the same, repeated: "The
+collection, the collection."</p>
+
+<p>Six ladies began to pass along between the seats, and the sound of money
+falling into the collecting-bags could be heard.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy pointed out the celebrities to Madame Walter. There were men of
+fashion and journalists, those attached to the great newspapers, the
+old-established newspapers, which looked down upon the <i>Vie Francaise</i>
+with a certain reserve, the fruit of their experience. They had
+witnessed the death of so many of these politico-financial sheets,
+offspring of a suspicious partnership, and crushed by the fall of a
+ministry. There were also painters and sculptors, who are generally men
+with a taste for sport; a poet who was also a member of the Academy, and
+who was pointed out generally, and a number of distinguished foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>Someone called out: "Good-day, my dear fellow." It was the Count de
+Vaudrec. Making his excuses to the ladies, Du Roy hastened to shake
+hands with him. On returning, he remarked: "What a charming fellow
+Vaudrec is! How thoroughly blood tells in him."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter did not reply. She was somewhat fatigued, and her bosom
+rose with an effort every time she drew breath, which caught the eye of
+Du Roy. From time to time he caught her glance, a troubled, hesitating
+glance, which lighted upon him, and was at once averted, and he said to
+himself: "Eh! what! Have I caught her, too?"</p>
+
+<p>The ladies who had been collecting passed to their seats, their bags
+full of gold and silver, and a fresh placard was hung in front of the
+platform, announcing a "surprising novelty." The judges resumed their
+seats, and the public waited expectantly.</p>
+
+<p>Two women appeared, foil in hand and in fencing costume; dark tights, a
+very short petticoat half-way to the knee, and a plastron so padded
+above the bosom that it obliged them to keep their heads well up. They
+were both young and pretty. They smiled as they saluted the spectators,
+and were loudly applauded. They fell on guard, amidst murmured
+gallantries and whispered jokes. An amiable smile graced the lips of the
+judges, who approved the hits with a low "bravo." The public warmly
+appreciated this bout, and testified this much to the two combatants,
+who kindled desire among the men and awakened among the women the native
+taste of the Parisian for graceful indecency, naughty elegance, music
+hall singers, and couplets from operettas. Every time that one of the
+fencers lunged a thrill of pleasure ran through the public. The one who
+turned her back to the seats, a plump back, caused eyes and mouths to
+open, and it was not the play of her wrist that was most closely
+scanned. They were frantically applauded.</p>
+
+<p>A bout with swords followed, but no one looked at it, for the attention
+of all was occupied by what was going on overhead. For some minutes they
+had heard the noise of furniture being dragged across the floor, as
+though moving was in progress. Then all at once the notes of a piano
+were heard, and the rhythmic beat of feet moving in cadence was
+distinctly audible. The people above had treated themselves to a dance
+to make up for not being able to see anything. A loud laugh broke out at
+first among the public in the fencing saloon, and then a wish for a
+dance being aroused among the ladies, they ceased to pay attention to
+what was taking place on the platform, and began to chatter out loud.
+This notion of a ball got up by the late-comers struck them as comical.
+They must be amusing themselves nicely, and it must be much better up
+there.</p>
+
+<p>But two new combatants had saluted each other and fell on guard in such
+masterly style that all eyes followed their movements. They lunged and
+recovered themselves with such easy grace, such measured strength, such
+certainty, such sobriety in action, such correctness in attitude, such
+measure in their play, that even the ignorant were surprised and
+charmed. Their calm promptness, their skilled suppleness, their rapid
+motions, so nicely timed that they appeared slow, attracted and
+captivated the eye by their power of perfection. The public felt that
+they were looking at something good and rare; that two great artists in
+their own profession were showing them their best, all of skill,
+cunning, thought-out science and physical ability that it was possible
+for two masters to put forth. No one spoke now, so closely were they
+watched. Then, when they shook hands after the last hit, shouts of
+bravoes broke out. People stamped and yelled. Everyone knew their
+names&mdash;they were Sergent and Ravignac.</p>
+
+<p>The excitable grew quarrelsome. Men looked at their neighbors with
+longings for a row. They would have challenged one another on account of
+a smile. Those who had never held a foil in their hand sketched attacks
+and parries with their canes.</p>
+
+<p>But by degrees the crowd worked up the little staircase. At last they
+would be able to get something to drink. There was an outburst of
+indignation when they found that those who had got up the ball had
+stripped the refreshment buffet, and had then gone away declaring that
+it was very impolite to bring together two hundred people and not show
+them anything. There was not a cake, not a drop of champagne, syrup, or
+beer left; not a sweetmeat, not a fruit&mdash;nothing. They had sacked,
+pillaged, swept away everything. These details were related by the
+servants, who pulled long faces to hide their impulse to laugh right
+out. "The ladies were worse than the gentlemen," they asserted, "and
+ate and drank enough to make themselves ill." It was like the story of
+the survivors after the sack of a captured town.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing left but to depart. Gentlemen openly regretted the
+twenty francs given at the collection; they were indignant that those
+upstairs should have feasted without paying anything. The lady
+patronesses had collected upwards of three thousand francs. All expenses
+paid, there remained two hundred and twenty for the orphans of the Sixth
+Arrondissement.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy, escorting the Walter family, waited for his landau. As he drove
+back with them, seated in face of Madame Walter, he again caught her
+caressing and fugitive glance, which seemed uneasy. He thought: "Hang it
+all! I fancy she is nibbling," and smiled to recognize that he was
+really very lucky as regarded women, for Madame de Marelle, since the
+recommencement of their amour, seemed frantically in love with him.</p>
+
+<p>He returned home joyously. Madeleine was waiting for him in the
+drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>"I have some news," said she. "The Morocco business is getting into a
+complication. France may very likely send out an expeditionary force
+within a few months. At all events, the opportunity will be taken of it
+to upset the Ministry, and Laroche-Mathieu will profit by this to get
+hold of the portfolio of foreign affairs."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy, to tease his wife, pretended not to believe anything of the
+kind. They would never be mad enough to recommence the Tunisian bungle
+over again. But she shrugged her shoulders impatiently, saying: "But I
+tell you yes, I tell you yes. You don't understand that it is a matter
+of money. Now-a-days, in political complications we must not ask: 'Who
+is the woman?' but 'What is the business?'"</p>
+
+<p>He murmured "Bah!" in a contemptuous tone, in order to excite her, and
+she, growing irritated, exclaimed: "You are just as stupid as
+Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>She wished to wound him, and expected an outburst of anger. But he
+smiled, and replied: "As that cuckold of a Forestier?"</p>
+
+<p>She was shocked, and murmured: "Oh, George!"</p>
+
+<p>He wore an insolent and chaffing air as he said: "Well, what? Did you
+not admit to me the other evening that Forestier was a cuckold?" And he
+added: "Poor devil!" in a tone of pity.</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine turned her back on him, disdaining to answer; and then, after
+a moment's silence, resumed: "We shall have visitors on Tuesday. Madame
+Laroche-Mathieu is coming to dinner with the Viscountess de Percemur.
+Will you invite Rival and Norbert de Varenne? I will call to-morrow and
+ask Madame Walter and Madame de Marelle. Perhaps we shall have Madame
+Rissolin, too."</p>
+
+<p>For some time past she had been strengthening her connections, making
+use of her husband's political influence to attract to her house,
+willy-nilly, the wives of the senators and deputies who had need of the
+support of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>.</p>
+
+<p>George replied: "Very well. I will see about Rival and Norbert."</p>
+
+<p>He was satisfied, and rubbed his hands, for he had found a good trick to
+annoy his wife and gratify the obscure rancor, the undefined and gnawing
+jealousy born in him since their drive in the Bois. He would never
+speak of Forestier again without calling him cuckold. He felt very well
+that this would end by enraging Madeleine. And half a score of times, in
+the course of the evening, he found means to mention with ironical good
+humor the name of "that cuckold of a Forestier." He was no longer angry
+with the dead! he was avenging him.</p>
+
+<p>His wife pretended not to notice it, and remained smilingly indifferent.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, as she was to go and invite Madame Walter, he resolved to
+forestall her, in order to catch the latter alone, and see if she really
+cared for him. It amused and flattered him. And then&mdash;why not&mdash;if it
+were possible?</p>
+
+<p>He arrived at the Boulevard Malesherbes about two, and was shown into
+the drawing-room, where he waited till Madame Walter made her
+appearance, her hand outstretched with pleased eagerness, saying: "What
+good wind brings you hither?"</p>
+
+<p>"No good wind, but the wish to see you. Some power has brought me here,
+I do not know why, for I have nothing to say to you. I came, here I am;
+will you forgive me this early visit and the frankness of this
+explanation?"</p>
+
+<p>He uttered this in a gallant and jesting tone, with a smile on his lips.
+She was astonished, and colored somewhat, stammering: "But really&mdash;I do
+not understand&mdash;you surprise me."</p>
+
+<p>He observed: "It is a declaration made to a lively tune, in order not to
+alarm you."</p>
+
+<p>They had sat down in front of one another. She took the matter
+pleasantly, saying: "A serious declaration?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. For a long time I have been wanting to utter it&mdash;for a very long
+time. But I dared not. They say you are so strict, so rigid."</p>
+
+<p>She had recovered her assurance, and observed: "Why to-day, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know." Then lowering his voice he added: "Or rather, because I
+have been thinking of nothing but you since yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>She stammered, growing suddenly pale: "Come, enough of nonsense; let us
+speak of something else."</p>
+
+<p>But he had fallen at her feet so suddenly that she was frightened. She
+tried to rise, but he kept her seated by the strength of his arms passed
+round her waist, and repeated in a voice of passion: "Yes, it is true
+that I have loved you madly for a long time past. Do not answer me. What
+would you have? I am mad. I love you. Oh! if you knew how I love you!"</p>
+
+<p>She was suffocating, gasping, and strove to speak, without being able to
+utter a word. She pushed him away with her two hands, having seized him
+by the hair to hinder the approach of the mouth that she felt coming
+towards her own. She kept turning her head from right to left and from
+left to right with a rapid motion, closing her eyes, in order no longer
+to see him. He touched her through her dress, handled her, pressed her,
+and she almost fainted under his strong and rude caress. He rose
+suddenly and sought to clasp her to him, but, free for a moment, she had
+managed to escape by throwing herself back, and she now fled from behind
+one chair to another. He felt that pursuit was ridiculous, and he fell
+into a chair, his face hidden by his hands, feigning convulsive sobs.
+Then he got up, exclaimed "Farewell, farewell," and rushed away.</p>
+
+<p>He quietly took his stick in the hall and gained the street, saying to
+himself: "By Jove, I believe it is all right there." And he went into a
+telegraph office to send a wire to Clotilde, making an appointment for
+the next day.</p>
+
+<p>On returning home at his usual time, he said to his wife: "Well, have
+you secured all the people for your dinner?"</p>
+
+<p>She answered: "Yes, there is only Madame Walter, who is not quite sure
+whether she will be free to come. She hesitated and talked about I don't
+know what&mdash;an engagement, her conscience. In short, she seemed very
+strange. No matter, I hope she will come all the same."</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders, saying: "Oh, yes, she'll come."</p>
+
+<p>He was not certain, however, and remained anxious until the day of the
+dinner. That very morning Madeleine received a note from her: "I have
+managed to get free from my engagements with great difficulty, and shall
+be with you this evening. But my husband cannot accompany me."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy thought: "I did very well indeed not to go back. She has calmed
+down. Attention."</p>
+
+<p>He, however, awaited her appearance with some slight uneasiness. She
+came, very calm, rather cool, and slightly haughty. He became humble,
+discreet, and submissive. Madame Laroche-Mathieu and Madame Rissolin
+accompanied their husbands. The Viscountess de Percemur talked society.
+Madame de Marelle looked charming in a strangely fanciful toilet, a
+species of Spanish costume in black and yellow, which set off her neat
+figure, her bosom, her rounded arms, and her bird-like head.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy had Madame Walter on his right hand, and during dinner only spoke
+to her on serious topics, and with an exaggerated respect. From time to
+time he glanced at Clotilde. "She is really prettier and fresher looking
+than ever," he thought. Then his eyes returned to his wife, whom he
+found not bad-looking either, although he retained towards her a hidden,
+tenacious, and evil anger.</p>
+
+<p>But Madame Walter excited him by the difficulty of victory and by that
+novelty always desired by man. She wanted to return home early. "I will
+escort you," said he.</p>
+
+<p>She refused, but he persisted, saying: "Why will not you permit me? You
+will wound me keenly. Do not let me think that you have not forgiven me.
+You see how quiet I am."</p>
+
+<p>She answered: "But you cannot abandon your guests like that."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled. "But I shall only be away twenty minutes. They will not even
+notice it. If you refuse you will cut me to the heart."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "Well, then I agree."</p>
+
+<p>But as soon as they were in the carriage he seized her hand, and,
+kissing it passionately, exclaimed: "I love you, I love you. Let me tell
+you that much. I will not touch you. I only want to repeat to you that I
+love you."</p>
+
+<p>She stammered: "Oh! after what you promised me! This is wrong, very
+wrong."</p>
+
+<p>He appeared to make a great effort, and then resumed in a restrained
+tone: "There, you see how I master myself. And yet&mdash;But let me only tell
+you that I love you, and repeat it to you every day; yes, let me come to
+your house and kneel down for five minutes at your feet to utter those
+three words while gazing on your beloved face."</p>
+
+<p>She had yielded her hand to him, and replied pantingly: "No, I cannot, I
+will not. Think of what would be said, of the servants, of my daughters.
+No, no, it is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>He went on: "I can no longer live without seeing you. Whether at your
+house or elsewhere, I must see you, if only for a moment, every day, to
+touch your hand, to breathe the air stirred by your dress, to gaze on
+the outline of your form, and on your great calm eyes that madden me."</p>
+
+<p>She listened, quivering, to this commonplace love-song, and stammered:
+"No, it is out of the question."</p>
+
+<p>He whispered in her ear, understanding that he must capture her by
+degrees, this simple woman, that he must get her to make appointments
+with him, where she would at first, where he wished afterwards. "Listen,
+I must see you; I shall wait for you at your door like a beggar; but I
+will see you, I will see you to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>She repeated: "No, do not come. I shall not receive you. Think of my
+daughters."</p>
+
+<p>"Then tell me where I shall meet you&mdash;in the street, no matter where, at
+whatever hour you like, provided I see you. I will bow to you; I will
+say 'I love you,' and I will go away."</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated, bewildered. And as the brougham entered the gateway of
+her residence she murmured hurriedly: "Well, then, I shall be at the
+Church of the Trinity to-morrow at half-past three." Then, having
+alighted, she said to her coachman: "Drive Monsieur Du Roy back to his
+house."</p>
+
+<p>As he re-entered his home, his wife said: "Where did you get to?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied, in a low tone: "I went to the telegraph office to send off a
+message."</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle approached them. "You will see me home, Pretty-boy?"
+said she. "You know I only came such a distance to dinner on that
+condition." And turning to Madeleine, she added: "You are not jealous?"</p>
+
+<p>Madame Du Roy answered slowly: "Not over much."</p>
+
+<p>The guests were taking their leave. Madame Laroche-Mathieu looked like a
+housemaid from the country. She was the daughter of a notary, and had
+been married to the deputy when he was only a barrister of small
+standing. Madame Rissolin, old and stuck-up, gave one the idea of a
+midwife whose fashionable education had been acquired through a
+circulating library. The Viscountess de Percemur looked down upon them.
+Her "Lily Fingers" touched these vulgar hands with repugnance.</p>
+
+<p>Clotilde, wrapped in lace, said to Madeleine as she went out: "Your
+dinner was perfection. In a little while you will have the leading
+political drawing-room in Paris."</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she was alone with George she clasped him in her arms,
+exclaiming: "Oh, my darling Pretty-boy, I love you more and more every
+day!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Place de la Trinité lay, almost deserted, under a dazzling July sun.
+An oppressive heat was crushing Paris. It was as though the upper air,
+scorched and deadened, had fallen upon the city&mdash;a thick, burning air
+that pained the chests inhaling it. The fountains in front of the church
+fell lazily. They seemed weary of flowing, tired out, limp, too; and the
+water of the basins, in which leaves and bits of paper were floating,
+looked greenish, thick and glaucous. A dog having jumped over the stone
+rim, was bathing in the dubious fluid. A few people, seated on the
+benches of the little circular garden skirting the front of the church,
+watched the animal curiously.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy pulled out his watch. It was only three o'clock. He was half an
+hour too soon. He laughed as he thought of this appointment. "Churches
+serve for anything as far as she is concerned," said he to himself.
+"They console her for having married a Jew, enable her to assume an
+attitude of protestation in the world of politics and a respectable one
+in that of fashion, and serve as a shelter to her gallant rendezvous. So
+much for the habit of making use of religion as an umbrella. If it is
+fine it is a walking stick; if sunshiny, a parasol; if it rains, a
+shelter; and if one does not go out, why, one leaves it in the hall. And
+there are hundreds like that who care for God about as much as a cherry
+stone, but who will not hear him spoken against. If it were suggested to
+them to go to a hotel, they would think it infamous, but it seems to
+them quite simple to make love at the foot of the altar."</p>
+
+<p>He walked slowly along the edge of the fountain, and then again looked
+at the church clock, which was two minutes faster than his watch. It was
+five minutes past three. He thought that he would be more comfortable
+inside, and entered the church. The coolness of a cellar assailed him,
+he breathed it with pleasure, and then took a turn round the nave to
+reconnoiter the place. Other regular footsteps, sometimes halting and
+then beginning anew, replied from the further end of the vast pile to
+the sound of his own, which rang sonorously beneath the vaulted roof. A
+curiosity to know who this other promenader was seized him. It was a
+stout, bald-headed gentleman who was strolling about with his nose in
+the air, and his hat behind his back. Here and there an old woman was
+praying, her face hidden in her hands. A sensation of solitude and rest
+stole over the mind. The light, softened by the stained-glass windows,
+was refreshing to the eyes. Du Roy thought that it was "deucedly
+comfortable" inside there.</p>
+
+<p>He returned towards the door and again looked at his watch. It was still
+only a quarter-past three. He sat down at the entrance to the main
+aisle, regretting that one could not smoke a cigarette. The slow
+footsteps of the stout gentleman could still be heard at the further end
+of the church, near the choir.</p>
+
+<p>Someone came in, and George turned sharply round. It was a poor woman in
+a woolen skirt, who fell on her knees close to the first chair, and
+remained motionless, with clasped hands, her eyes turned to heaven, her
+soul absorbed in prayer. Du Roy watched her with interest, asking
+himself what grief, what pain, what despair could have crushed her
+heart. She was worn out by poverty, it was plain. She had, perhaps, too,
+a husband who was beating her to death, or a dying child. He murmured
+mentally: "Poor creatures. How some of them do suffer." Anger rose up in
+him against pitiless Nature. Then he reflected that these poor wretches
+believed, at any rate, that they were taken into consideration up above,
+and that they were duly entered in the registers of heaven with a debtor
+and creditor balance. Up above! And Du Roy, whom the silence of the
+church inclined to sweeping reflections, judging creation at a bound,
+muttered contemptuously: "What bosh all that sort of thing is!"</p>
+
+<p>The rustle of a dress made him start. It was she.</p>
+
+<p>He rose, and advanced quickly. She did not hold out her hand, but
+murmured in a low voice: "I have only a few moments. I must get back
+home. Kneel down near me, so that we may not be noticed." And she
+advanced up the aisle, seeking a safe and suitable spot, like a woman
+well acquainted with the place. Her face was hidden by a thick veil, and
+she walked with careful footsteps that could scarcely be heard.</p>
+
+<p>When she reached the choir she turned, and muttered, in that mysterious
+tone of voice we always assume in church: "The side aisles will be
+better. We are too much in view here."</p>
+
+<p>She bowed low to the high altar, turned to the right, and returned a
+little way towards the entrance; then, making up her mind, she took a
+chair and knelt down. George took possession of the next one to her, and
+as soon as they were in an attitude of prayer, began: "Thanks; oh,
+thanks; I adore you! I should like to be always telling you so, to tell
+you how I began to love you, how I was captivated the first time I saw
+you. Will you allow me some day to open my heart to tell you all this?"</p>
+
+<p>She listened to him in an attitude of deep meditation, as if she heard
+nothing. She replied between her fingers: "I am mad to allow you to
+speak to me like this, mad to have come here, mad to do what I am doing,
+mad to let you believe that&mdash;that&mdash;this adventure can have any issue.
+Forget all this; you must, and never speak to me again of it."</p>
+
+<p>She paused. He strove to find an answer, decisive and passionate words,
+but not being able to join action to words, was partially paralyzed. He
+replied: "I expect nothing, I hope for nothing. I love you. Whatever you
+may do, I will repeat it to you so often, with such power and ardor,
+that you will end by understanding it. I want to make my love penetrate
+you, to pour it into your soul, word by word, hour by hour, day by day,
+so that at length it impregnates you like a liquid, falling drop by
+drop; softens you, mollifies you, and obliges you later on to reply to
+me: 'I love you, too.'"</p>
+
+<p>He felt her shoulder trembling against him and her bosom throbbing, and
+she stammered, abruptly: "I love you, too!"</p>
+
+<p>He started as though he had received a blow, and sighed: "Good God."</p>
+
+<p>She replied, in panting tones: "Ought I to have told you that? I feel I
+am guilty and contemptible. I, who have two daughters, but I cannot help
+it, I cannot help it. I could not have believed, I should never have
+thought&mdash;but it is stronger than I. Listen, listen: I have never loved
+anyone but you; I swear it. And I have loved you for a year past in
+secret, in my secret heart. Oh! I have suffered and struggled till I can
+do so no more. I love you."</p>
+
+<p>She was weeping, with her hands crossed in front of her face, and her
+whole frame was quivering, shaken by the violence of her emotion.</p>
+
+<p>George murmured: "Give me your hand, that I may touch it, that I may
+press it."</p>
+
+<p>She slowly withdrew her hand from her face. He saw her cheek quite wet
+and a tear ready to fall on her lashes. He had taken her hand and was
+pressing it, saying: "Oh, how I should like to drink your tears!"</p>
+
+<p>She said, in a low and broken voice, which resembled a moan: "Do not
+take advantage of me; I am lost."</p>
+
+<p>He felt an impulse to smile. How could he take advantage of her in that
+place? He placed the hand he held upon his heart, saying: "Do you feel
+it beat?" For he had come to the end of his passionate phrases.</p>
+
+<p>For some moments past the regular footsteps of the promenader had been
+coming nearer. He had gone the round of the altars, and was now, for the
+second time at least, coming down the little aisle on the right. When
+Madame Walter heard him close to the pillar which hid her, she snatched
+her fingers from George's grasp, and again hid her face. And both
+remained motionless, kneeling as though they had been addressing fervent
+supplications to heaven together. The stout gentleman passed close to
+them, cast an indifferent look upon them, and walked away to the lower
+end of the church, still holding his hat behind his back.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy, who was thinking of obtaining an appointment elsewhere than at
+the Church of the Trinity, murmured: "Where shall I see you to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>She did not answer. She seemed lifeless&mdash;turned into a statue of prayer.
+He went on: "To-morrow, will you let me meet you in the Parc Monseau?"</p>
+
+<p>She turned towards him her again uncovered face, a livid face,
+contracted by fearful suffering, and in a jerky voice ejaculated: "Leave
+me, leave me now; go away, go away, only for five minutes! I suffer too
+much beside you. I want to pray, and I cannot. Go away, let me pray
+alone for five minutes. I cannot. Let me implore God to pardon me&mdash;to
+save me. Leave me for five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Her face was so upset, so full of pain, that he rose without saying a
+word, and then, after a little hesitation, asked: "Shall I come back
+presently?"</p>
+
+<p>She gave a nod, which meant, "Yes, presently," and he walked away
+towards the choir. Then she strove to pray. She made a superhuman effort
+to invoke the Deity, and with quivering frame and bewildering soul
+appealed for mercy to heaven. She closed her eyes with rage, in order no
+longer to see him who just left her. She sought to drive him from her
+mind, she struggled against him, but instead of the celestial apparition
+awaited in the distress of her heart, she still perceived the young
+fellow's curly moustache. For a year past she had been struggling thus
+every day, every night, against the growing possession, against this
+image which haunted her dreams, haunted her flesh, and disturbed her
+nights. She felt caught like a beast in a net, bound, thrown into the
+arms of this man, who had vanquished, conquered her, simply by the hair
+on his lip and the color of his eyes. And now in this church, close to
+God, she felt still weaker, more abandoned, and more lost than at home.
+She could no longer pray, she could only think of him. She suffered
+already that he had quitted her. She struggled, however, despairingly,
+resisted, implored help with all the strength of her soul. She would
+liked to have died rather than fall thus, she who had never faltered in
+her duty. She murmured wild words of supplication, but she was listening
+to George's footsteps dying away in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>She understood that it was all over, that the struggle was a useless
+one. She would not yield, however; and she was seized by one of those
+nervous crises that hurl women quivering, yelling, and writhing on the
+ground. She trembled in every limb, feeling that she was going to fall
+and roll among the chairs, uttering shrill cries. Someone approached
+with rapid steps. It was a priest. She rose and rushed towards him,
+holding out her clasped hands, and stammering: "Oh! save me, save me!"</p>
+
+<p>He halted in surprise, saying: "What is it you wish, madame?"</p>
+
+<p>"I want you to save me. Have pity on me. If you do not come to my
+assistance, I am lost."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her, asking himself whether she was not mad, and then said:
+"What can I do for you?"</p>
+
+<p>He was a tall, and somewhat stout young man, with full, pendulous
+cheeks, dark, with a carefully shaven face, a good-looking city curate
+belonging to a wealthy district, and accustomed to rich penitents.</p>
+
+<p>"Hear my confession, and advise me, sustain me, tell me what I am to
+do."</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "I hear confessions every Saturday, from three to six
+o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>Having seized his arm, she gripped it tightly as she repeated: "No, no,
+no; at once, at once! You must. He is here, in the church. He is waiting
+for me."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is waiting for you?" asked the priest.</p>
+
+<p>"A man who will ruin me, who will carry me off, if you do not save me.
+I cannot flee from him. I am too weak&mdash;too weak! Oh, so weak, so weak!"
+She fell at his feet sobbing: "Oh, have pity on me, father! Save me, in
+God's name, save me!"</p>
+
+<p>She held him by his black gown lest he should escape, and he with
+uneasiness glanced around, lest some malevolent or devout eye should see
+this woman fallen at his feet. Understanding at length that he could not
+escape, he said: "Get up; I have the key of the confessional with me."</p>
+
+<p>And fumbling in his pocket he drew out a ring full of keys, selected
+one, and walked rapidly towards the little wooden cabin, dust holes of
+the soul into which believers cast their sins. He entered the center
+door, which he closed behind him, and Madame Walter, throwing herself
+into the narrow recess at the side, stammered fervently, with a
+passionate burst of hope: "Bless me father, for I have sinned."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy, having taken a turn round the choir, was passing down the left
+aisle. He had got half-way when he met the stout, bald gentleman still
+walking quietly along, and said to himself: "What the deuce is that
+customer doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>The promenader had also slackened his pace, and was looking at George
+with an evident wish to speak to him. When he came quite close he bowed,
+and said in a polite fashion: "I beg your pardon, sir, for troubling
+you, but can you tell me when this church was built?"</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy replied: "Really, I am not quite certain. I think within the last
+twenty or five-and-twenty years. It is, besides, the first time I ever
+was inside it."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the same with me. I have never seen it."</p>
+
+<p>The journalist, whose interest was awakened, remarked: "It seems to me
+that you are going over it very carefully. You are studying it in
+detail."</p>
+
+<p>The other replied, with resignation: "I am not examining it; I am
+waiting for my wife, who made an appointment with me here, and who is
+very much behind time." Then, after a few moments' silence, he added:
+"It is fearfully hot outside."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy looked at him, and all at once fancied that he resembled
+Forestier.</p>
+
+<p>"You are from the country?" said he, inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, from Rennes. And you, sir, is it out of curiosity that you entered
+this church?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am expecting a lady," and bowing, the journalist walked away,
+with a smile on his lips.</p>
+
+<p>Approaching the main entrance, he saw the poor woman still on her knees,
+and still praying. He thought: "By Jove! she keeps hard at it." He was
+no longer moved, and no longer pitied her.</p>
+
+<p>He passed on, and began quietly to walk up the right-hand aisle to find
+Madame Walter again. He marked the place where he had left her from a
+distance, astonished at not seeing her. He thought he had made a mistake
+in the pillar; went on as far as the end one, and then returned. She had
+gone, then. He was surprised and enraged. Then he thought she might be
+looking for him, and made the circuit of the church again. Not finding
+her, he returned, and sat down on the chair she had occupied, hoping she
+would rejoin him there, and waited. Soon a low murmur of voices aroused
+his attention. He had not seen anyone in that part of the church. Whence
+came this whispering? He rose to see, and perceived in the adjacent
+chapel the doors of the confessional. The skirt of a dress issuing from
+one of these trailed on the pavement. He approached to examine the
+woman. He recognized her. She was confessing.</p>
+
+<p>He felt a violent inclination to take her by the shoulders and to pull
+her out of the box. Then he thought: "Bah! it is the priest's turn now;
+it will be mine to-morrow." And he sat down quietly in front of the
+confessional, biding his time, and chuckling now over the adventure. He
+waited a long time. At length Madame Walter rose, turned round, saw him,
+and came up to him. Her expression was cold and severe, "Sir," said she,
+"I beg of you not to accompany me, not to follow me, and not to come to
+my house alone. You will not be received. Farewell."</p>
+
+<p>And she walked away with a dignified bearing. He let her depart, for one
+of his principles was never to force matters. Then, as the priest,
+somewhat upset, issued in turn from his box, he walked up to him, and,
+looking him straight in the eyes, growled to his face: "If you did not
+wear a petticoat, what a smack you would get across your ugly chops."
+After which he turned on his heels and went out of the church, whistling
+between his teeth. Standing under the porch, the stout gentleman, with
+the hat on his head and his hands behind his back, tired of waiting, was
+scanning the broad squares and all the streets opening onto it. As Du
+Roy passed him they bowed to one another.</p>
+
+<p>The journalist, finding himself at liberty, went to the office of the
+<i>Vie Francaise</i>. As soon as he entered he saw by the busy air of the
+messengers that something out of the common was happening, and at once
+went into the manager's room. Daddy Walter, in a state of nervous
+excitement, was standing up dictating an article in broken sentences;
+issuing orders to the reporters, who surrounded him, between two
+paragraphs; giving instructions to Boisrenard; and opening letters.</p>
+
+<p>As Du Roy came in, the governor uttered a cry of joy: "Ah! how lucky;
+here is Pretty-boy!" He stopped short, somewhat confused, and excused
+himself: "I beg your pardon for speaking like that, but I am very much
+disturbed by certain events. And then I hear my wife and daughter
+speaking of you as Pretty-boy from morning till night, and have ended by
+falling into the habit myself. You are not offended?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all!" said George, laughingly; "there is nothing in that
+nickname to displease me."</p>
+
+<p>Daddy Walter went on: "Very well, then, I christen you Pretty-boy, like
+everyone else. Well, the fact is, great things are taking place. The
+Ministry has been overthrown by a vote of three hundred and ten to a
+hundred and two. Our prorogation is again postponed&mdash;postponed to the
+Greek calends, and here we are at the twenty-eighth of July. Spain is
+angry about the Morocco business, and it is that which has overthrown
+Durand de l'Aine and his following. We are right in the swim. Marrot is
+entrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet. He takes General Boutin
+d'Acre as minister of war, and our friend Laroche-Mathieu for foreign
+affairs. We are going to become an official organ. I am writing a
+leader, a simple declaration of our principles, pointing out the line to
+be followed by the Ministry." The old boy smiled, and continued: "The
+line they intend following, be it understood. But I want something
+interesting about Morocco; an actuality; a sensational article;
+something or other. Find one for me."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy reflected for a moment, and then replied: "I have the very thing
+for you. I will give you a study of the political situation of the whole
+of our African colony, with Tunis on the left, Algeria in the middle,
+and Morocco on the right; the history of the races inhabiting this vast
+extent of territory; and the narrative of an excursion on the frontier
+of Morocco to the great oasis of Figuig, where no European has
+penetrated, and which is the cause of the present conflict. Will that
+suit you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Admirably!" exclaimed Daddy Walter. "And the title?"</p>
+
+<p>"From Tunis to Tangiers."</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid!"</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy went off to search the files of the <i>Vie Francaise</i> for his first
+article, "The Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique," which, rebaptized,
+touched up, and modified, would do admirably, since it dealt with
+colonial policy, the Algerian population, and an excursion in the
+province of Oran. In three-quarters of an hour it was rewritten, touched
+up, and brought to date, with a flavor of realism, and praises of the
+new Cabinet. The manager, having read the article, said: "It is capital,
+capital, capital! You are an invaluable fellow. I congratulate you."</p>
+
+<p>And Du Roy went home to dinner delighted with his day's work, despite
+the check at the Church of the Trinity, for he felt the battle won. His
+wife was anxiously waiting for him. She exclaimed, as soon as she saw
+him: "Do you know that Laroche-Mathieu is Minister for Foreign Affairs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I have just written an article on Algeria, in connection with
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know, the first we wrote together, 'The Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique,' revised and corrected for the occasion."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled, saying: "Ah, that is very good!" Then, after a few moments'
+reflection, she continued: "I was thinking&mdash;that continuation you were
+to have written then, and that you&mdash;put off. We might set to work on it
+now. It would make a nice series, and very appropriate to the
+situation."</p>
+
+<p>He replied, sitting down to table: "Exactly, and there is nothing in the
+way of it now that cuckold of a Forestier is dead."</p>
+
+<p>She said quietly, in a dry and hurt tone: "That joke is more than out of
+place, and I beg of you to put an end to it. It has lasted too long
+already."</p>
+
+<p>He was about to make an ironical answer, when a telegram was brought
+him, containing these words: "I had lost my senses. Forgive me, and come
+at four o'clock to-morrow to the Parc Monceau."</p>
+
+<p>He understood, and with heart suddenly filled with joy, he said to his
+wife, as he slipped the message into his pocket: "I will not do so any
+more, darling; it was stupid, I admit."</p>
+
+<p>And he began his dinner. While eating he kept repeating to himself the
+words: "I had lost my senses. Forgive me, and come at four o'clock
+to-morrow to the Parc Monceau." So she was yielding. That meant: "I
+surrender, I am yours when you like and where you like." He began to
+laugh, and Madeleine asked: "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," he answered; "I was thinking of a priest I met just now, and
+who had a very comical mug."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy arrived to the time at the appointed place next day. On the
+benches of the park were seated citizens overcome by heat, and careless
+nurses, who seemed to be dreaming while their children were rolling on
+the gravel of the paths. He found Madame Walter in the little antique
+ruins from which a spring flows. She was walking round the little circle
+of columns with an uneasy and unhappy air. As soon as he had greeted
+her, she exclaimed: "What a number of people there are in the garden."</p>
+
+<p>He seized the opportunity: "It is true; will you come somewhere else?"</p>
+
+<p>"But where?"</p>
+
+<p>"No matter where; in a cab, for instance. You can draw down the blind on
+your side, and you will be quite invisible."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I prefer that; here I am dying with fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, come and meet me in five minutes at the gate opening onto the
+outer boulevard. I will have a cab."</p>
+
+<p>And he darted off.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as she had rejoined him, and had carefully drawn down the blind
+on her side, she asked: "Where have you told the driver to take us?"</p>
+
+<p>George replied: "Do not trouble yourself, he knows what to do."</p>
+
+<p>He had given the man his address in the Rue de Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>She resumed: "You cannot imagine what I suffer on account of you, how I
+am tortured and tormented. Yesterday, in the church, I was cruel, but I
+wanted to flee from you at any cost. I was so afraid to find myself
+alone with you. Have you forgiven me?"</p>
+
+<p>He squeezed her hands: "Yes, yes, what would I not forgive you, loving
+you as I do?"</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him with a supplicating air: "Listen, you must promise to
+respect me&mdash;not to&mdash;not to&mdash;otherwise I cannot see you again."</p>
+
+<p>He did not reply at once; he wore under his moustache that keen smile
+that disturbed women. He ended by murmuring: "I am your slave."</p>
+
+<p>Then she began to tell him how she had perceived that she was in love
+with him on learning that he was going to marry Madeleine Forestier. She
+gave details, little details of dates and the like. Suddenly she paused.
+The cab had stopped. Du Roy opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out and come into this house," he replied. "We shall be more at
+ease there."</p>
+
+<p>"But where are we?"</p>
+
+<p>"At my rooms," and here we will leave them to their <i>tête-à-tête</i>.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>Autumn had come. The Du Roys had passed the whole of the summer in
+Paris, carrying on a vigorous campaign in the <i>Vie Francaise</i> during the
+short vacation of the deputies.</p>
+
+<p>Although it was only the beginning of October, the Chambers were about
+to resume their sittings, for matters as regarded Morocco were becoming
+threatening. No one at the bottom believed in an expedition against
+Tangiers, although on the day of the prorogation of the Chamber, a
+deputy of the Right, Count de Lambert-Serrazin, in a witty speech,
+applauded even by the Center had offered to stake his moustache, after
+the example of a celebrated Viceroy of the Indies, against the whiskers
+of the President of the Council, that the new Cabinet could not help
+imitating the old one, and sending an army to Tangiers, as a pendant to
+that of Tunis, out of love of symmetry, as one puts two vases on a
+fireplace.</p>
+
+<p>He had added: "Africa is indeed, a fireplace for France, gentleman&mdash;a
+fireplace which consumes our best wood; a fireplace with a strong
+draught, which is lit with bank notes. You have had the artistic fancy
+of ornamenting the left-hand corner with a Tunisian knick-knack which
+had cost you dear. You will see that Monsieur Marrot will want to
+imitate his predecessor, and ornament the right-hand corner with one
+from Morocco."</p>
+
+<p>This speech, which became famous, served as a peg for Du Roy for a half
+a score of articles upon the Algerian colony&mdash;indeed, for the entire
+series broken short off after his <i>début</i> on the paper. He had
+energetically supported the notion of a military expedition, although
+convinced that it would not take place. He had struck the chord of
+patriotism, and bombarded Spain with the entire arsenal of contemptuous
+arguments which we make use of against nations whose interests are
+contrary to our own. The <i>Vie Francaise</i> had gained considerable
+importance through its own connection with the party in office. It
+published political intelligence in advance of the most important
+papers, and hinted discreetly the intentions of its friends the
+Ministry, so that all the papers of Paris and the provinces took their
+news from it. It was quoted and feared, and people began to respect it.
+It was no longer the suspicious organ of a knot of political jugglers,
+but the acknowledged one of the Cabinet. Laroche-Mathieu was the soul of
+the paper, and Du Roy his mouthpiece. Daddy Walter, a silent member and
+a crafty manager, knowing when to keep in the background, was busying
+himself on the quiet, it is said, with an extensive transaction with
+some copper mines in Morocco.</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine's drawing-room had been an influential center, in which
+several members of the Cabinet met every week. The President of the
+Council had even dined twice at her house, and the wives of the
+statesmen who had formerly hesitated to cross her threshold now boasted
+of being her friends, and paid her more visits than were returned by
+her. The Minister for Foreign Affairs reigned almost as a master in the
+household. He called at all hours, bringing dispatches, news, items of
+information, which he dictated either to the husband or the wife, as if
+they had been his secretaries.</p>
+
+<p>When Du Roy, after the minister's departure, found himself alone with
+Madeleine, he would break out in a menacing tone with bitter
+insinuations against the goings-on of this commonplace parvenu.</p>
+
+<p>But she would shrug her shoulders contemptuously, repeating: "Do as much
+as he has done yourself. Become a minister, and you can have your own
+way. Till then, hold your tongue."</p>
+
+<p>He twirled his moustache, looking at her askance: "People do not know of
+what I am capable," he said, "They will learn it, perhaps, some day."</p>
+
+<p>She replied, philosophically: "Who lives long enough will see it."</p>
+
+<p>The morning on which the Chambers reassembled the young wife, still in
+bed, was giving a thousand recommendations to her husband, who was
+dressing himself in order to lunch with M. Laroche-Mathieu, and receive
+his instructions prior to the sitting for the next day's political
+leader in the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, this leader being meant to be a kind of
+semi-official declaration of the real objects of the Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine was saying: "Above all, do not forget to ask him whether
+General Belloncle is to be sent to Oran, as has been reported. That
+would mean a great deal."</p>
+
+<p>George replied irritably: "But I know just as well as you what I have to
+do. Spare me your preaching."</p>
+
+<p>She answered quietly: "My dear, you always forget half the commissions I
+entrust you with for the minister."</p>
+
+<p>He growled: "He worries me to death, that minister of yours. He is a
+nincompoop."</p>
+
+<p>She remarked quietly: "He is no more my minister than he is yours. He is
+more useful to you than to me."</p>
+
+<p>He turned half round towards her, saying, sneeringly: "I beg your
+pardon, but he does not pay court to me."</p>
+
+<p>She observed slowly: "Nor to me either; but he is making our fortune."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent for a few moments, and then resumed: "If I had to make a
+choice among your admirers, I should still prefer that old fossil De
+Vaudrec. What has become of him, I have not seen him for a week?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is unwell," replied she, unmoved. "He wrote to me that he was even
+obliged to keep his bed from an attack of gout. You ought to call and
+ask how he is. You know he likes you very well, and it would please
+him."</p>
+
+<p>George said: "Yes, certainly; I will go some time to-day."</p>
+
+<p>He had finished his toilet, and, hat on head, glanced at himself in the
+glass to see if he had neglected anything. Finding nothing, he came up
+to the bed and kissed his wife on the forehead, saying: "Good-bye, dear,
+I shall not be in before seven o'clock at the earliest."</p>
+
+<p>And he went out. Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu was awaiting him, for he was
+lunching at ten o'clock that morning, the Council having to meet at
+noon, before the opening of Parliament. As soon as they were seated at
+table alone with the minister's private secretary, for Madame
+Laroche-Mathieu had been unwilling to change her own meal times, Du Roy
+spoke of his article, sketched out the line he proposed to take,
+consulting notes scribbled on visiting cards, and when he had finished,
+said: "Is there anything you think should be modified, my dear
+minister?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very little, my dear fellow. You are perhaps a trifle too strongly
+affirmative as regards the Morocco business. Speak of the expedition as
+if it were going to take place; but, at the same time, letting it be
+understood that it will not take place, and that you do not believe in
+it in the least in the world. Write in such a way that the public can
+easily read between the lines that we are not going to poke our noses
+into that adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so. I understand, and I will make myself thoroughly understood.
+My wife commissioned me to ask you, on this point, whether General
+Belloncle will be sent to Oran. After what you have said, I conclude he
+will not."</p>
+
+<p>The statesman answered, "No."</p>
+
+<p>Then they spoke of the coming session. Laroche-Mathieu began to spout,
+rehearsing the phrases that he was about to pour forth on his colleagues
+a few hours later. He waved his right hand, raising now his knife, now
+his fork, now a bit of bread, and without looking at anyone, addressing
+himself to the invisible assembly, he poured out his dulcet eloquence,
+the eloquence of a good-looking, dandified fellow. A tiny, twisted
+moustache curled up at its two ends above his lip like scorpion's tails,
+and his hair, anointed with brilliantine and parted in the middle, was
+puffed out like his temples, after the fashion of a provincial
+lady-killer. He was a little too stout, puffy, though still young, and
+his stomach stretched his waistcoat.</p>
+
+<p>The private secretary ate and drank quietly, no doubt accustomed to
+these floods of loquacity; but Du Roy, whom jealousy of achieved success
+cut to the quick, thought: "Go on you proser. What idiots these
+political jokers are." And comparing his own worth to the frothy
+importance of the minister, he said to himself, "By Jove! if I had only
+a clear hundred thousand francs to offer myself as a candidate at home,
+near Rouen, and dish my sunning dullards of Normandy folk in their own
+sauce, what a statesman I should make beside these short-sighted
+rascals!"</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu went on spouting until coffee was served; then,
+seeing that he was behind hand, he rang for his brougham, and holding
+out his hand to the journalist, said: "You quite understand, my dear
+fellow?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly, my dear minister; you may rely upon me."</p>
+
+<p>And Du Roy strolled leisurely to the office to begin his article, for he
+had nothing to do till four o'clock. At four o'clock he was to meet, at
+the Rue de Constantinople, Madame de Marelle, whom he met there
+regularly twice a week&mdash;on Mondays and Fridays. But on reaching the
+office a telegram was handed to him. It was from Madame Walter, and ran
+as follows: "I must see you to-day. Most important. Expect me at two
+o'clock, Rue de Constantinople. Can render you a great service. Till
+death.&mdash;Virginie."</p>
+
+<p>He began to swear: "Hang it all, what an infernal bore!" And seized with
+a fit of ill-temper, he went out again at once too irritated to work.</p>
+
+<p>For six weeks he had been trying to break off with her, without being
+able to wear out her eager attachment. She had had, after her fall, a
+frightful fit of remorse, and in three successive rendezvous had
+overwhelmed her lover with reproaches and maledictions. Bored by these
+scenes and already tired of this mature and melodramatic conquest, he
+had simply kept away, hoping to put an end to the adventure in that way.
+But then she had distractedly clutched on to him, throwing herself into
+this amour as a man throws himself into a river with a stone about his
+neck. He had allowed himself to be recaptured out of weakness and
+consideration for her, and she had enwrapt him in an unbridled and
+fatiguing passion, persecuting him with her affection. She insisted on
+seeing him every day, summoning him at all hours to a hasty meeting at a
+street corner, at a shop, or in a public garden. She would then repeat
+to him in a few words, always the same, that she worshiped and idolized
+him, and leave him, vowing that she felt so happy to have seen him. She
+showed herself quite another creature than he had fancied her, striving
+to charm him with puerile glances, a childishness in love affairs
+ridiculous at her age. Having remained up till then strictly honest,
+virgin in heart, inaccessible to all sentiment, ignorant of sensuality,
+a strange outburst of youthful tenderness, of ardent, naive and tardy
+love, made up of unlooked-for outbursts, exclamations of a girl of
+sixteen, graces grown old without ever having been young, had taken
+place in this staid woman. She wrote him ten letters a day, maddeningly
+foolish letters, couched in a style at once poetic and ridiculous, full
+of the pet names of birds and beasts.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they found themselves alone together she would kiss him with
+the awkward prettiness of a great tomboy, pouting of the lips that were
+grotesque, and bounds that made her too full bosom shake beneath her
+bodice. He was above all, sickened with hearing her say, "My pet," "My
+doggie," "My jewel," "My birdie," "My treasure," "My own," "My
+precious," and to see her offer herself to him every time with a little
+comedy of infantile modesty, little movements of alarm that she thought
+pretty, and the tricks of a depraved schoolgirl. She would ask, "Whose
+mouth is this?" and when he did not reply "Mine," would persist till she
+made him grow pale with nervous irritability. She ought to have felt, it
+seemed to him, that in love extreme tact, skill, prudence, and exactness
+are requisite; that having given herself to him, she, a woman of mature
+years, the mother of a family, and holding a position in society, should
+yield herself gravely, with a kind of restrained eagerness, with tears,
+perhaps, but with those of Dido, not of Juliet.</p>
+
+<p>She kept incessantly repeating to him, "How I love you, my little pet.
+Do you love me as well, baby?"</p>
+
+<p>He could no longer bear to be called "my little pet," or "baby," without
+an inclination to call her "old girl."</p>
+
+<p>She would say to him, "What madness of me to yield to you. But I do not
+regret it. It is so sweet to love."</p>
+
+<p>All this seemed to George irritating from her mouth. She murmured, "It
+is so sweet to love," like the village maiden at a theater.</p>
+
+<p>Then she exasperated him by the clumsiness of her caresses. Having
+become all at once sensual beneath the kisses of this young fellow who
+had so warmed her blood, she showed an unskilled ardor and a serious
+application that made Du Roy laugh and think of old men trying to learn
+to read. When she would have gripped him in her embrace, ardently gazing
+at him with the deep and terrible glance of certain aging women,
+splendid in their last loves, when she should have bitten him with
+silent and quivering mouth, crushing him beneath her warmth and weight,
+she would wriggle about like a girl, and lisp with the idea of being
+pleasant: "Me love 'ou so, ducky, me love 'ou so. Have nice lovey-lovey
+with 'ittle wifey."</p>
+
+<p>He then would be seized with a wild desire to take his hat and rush out,
+slamming the door behind him.</p>
+
+<p>They had frequently met at the outset at the Rue de Constantinople; but
+Du Roy, who dreaded a meeting there with Madame de Marelle, now found a
+thousand pretexts for refusing such appointments. He had then to call on
+her almost every day at her home, now to lunch, now to dinner. She
+squeezed his hand under the table, held out her mouth to him behind the
+doors. But he, for his part, took pleasure above all in playing with
+Susan, who amused him with her whimsicalities. In her doll-like frame
+was lodged an active, arch, sly, and startling wit, always ready to show
+itself off. She joked at everything and everybody with biting readiness.
+George stimulated her imagination, excited it to irony and they
+understood one another marvelously. She kept appealing to him every
+moment, "I say, Pretty-boy. Come here, Pretty-boy."</p>
+
+<p>He would at once leave the mother and go to the daughter, who would
+whisper some bit of spitefulness, at which they would laugh heartily.</p>
+
+<p>However, disgusted with the mother's love, he began to feel an
+insurmountable repugnance for her; he could no longer see, hear, or
+think of her without anger. He ceased, therefore, to visit her, to
+answer her letters, or to yield to her appeals. She understood at length
+that he no longer loved her, and suffered terribly. But she grew
+insatiable, kept watch on him, followed him, waited for him in a cab
+with the blinds drawn down, at the door of the office, at the door of
+his dwelling, in the streets through which she hoped he might pass. He
+longed to ill-treat her, swear at her, strike her, say to her plainly,
+"I have had enough of it, you worry my life out." But he observed some
+circumspection on account of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>, and strove by dint of
+coolness, harshness, tempered by attention, and even rude words at
+times, to make her understand that there must be an end to it. She
+strove, above all, to devise schemes to allure him to a meeting in the
+Rue de Constantinople, and he was in a perpetual state of alarm lest the
+two women should find themselves some day face to face at the door.</p>
+
+<p>His affection for Madame de Marelle had, on the contrary, augmented
+during the summer. He called her his "young rascal," and she certainly
+charmed him. Their two natures had kindred links; they were both members
+of the adventurous race of vagabonds, those vagabonds in society who so
+strongly resemble, without being aware of it, the vagabonds of the
+highways. They had had a summer of delightful love-making, a summer of
+students on the spree, bolting off to lunch or dine at Argenteuil,
+Bougival, Maisons, or Poissy, and passing hours in a boat gathering
+flowers from the bank. She adored the fried fish served on the banks of
+the Seine, the stewed rabbits, the arbors in the tavern gardens, and the
+shouts of the boating men. He liked to start off with her on a bright
+day on a suburban line, and traverse the ugly environs of Paris,
+sprouting with tradesmen's hideous boxes, talking lively nonsense. And
+when he had to return to dine at Madame Walter's he hated the eager old
+mistress from the mere recollection of the young one whom he had left,
+and who had ravished his desires and harvested his ardor among the grass
+by the water side.</p>
+
+<p>He had fancied himself at length pretty well rid of Madame Walter, to
+whom he had expressed, in a plain and almost brutal fashion, his
+intentions of breaking off with her, when he received at the office of
+the paper the telegram summoning him to meet her at two o'clock at the
+Rue de Constantinople. He re-read it as he walked along, "Must see you
+to-day. Most important. Expect me two o'clock, Rue de Constantinople.
+Can render you a great service. Till death.&mdash;Virginie."</p>
+
+<p>He thought, "What does this old screech-owl want with me now? I wager
+she has nothing to tell me. She will only repeat that she adores me. Yet
+I must see what it means. She speaks of an important affair and a great
+service; perhaps it is so. And Clotilde, who is coming at four o'clock!
+I must get the first of the pair off by three at the latest. By Jove,
+provided they don't run up against one another! What bothers women are."</p>
+
+<p>And he reflected that, after all, his own wife was the only one who
+never bothered him at all. She lived in her own way, and seemed to be
+very fond of him during the hours destined to love, for she would not
+admit that the unchangeable order of the ordinary occupations of life
+should be interfered with.</p>
+
+<p>He walked slowly towards the rendezvous, mentally working himself up
+against Madame Walter. "Ah! I will just receive her nicely if she has
+nothing to tell me. Cambronne's language will be academical compared to
+mine. I will tell her that I will never set foot in her house again, to
+begin with."</p>
+
+<p>He went in to wait for Madame Walter. She arrived almost immediately,
+and as soon as she caught sight of him, she exclaimed, "Ah, you have had
+my telegram! How fortunate."</p>
+
+<p>He put on a grumpy expression, saying: "By Jove, yes; I found it at the
+office just as I was going to start off to the Chamber. What is it you
+want now?"</p>
+
+<p>She had raised her veil to kiss him, and drew nearer with the timid and
+submissive air of an oft-beaten dog.</p>
+
+<p>"How cruel you are towards me! How harshly you speak to me! What have I
+done to you? You cannot imagine how I suffer through you."</p>
+
+<p>He growled: "Don't go on again in that style."</p>
+
+<p>She was standing close to him, only waiting for a smile, a gesture, to
+throw herself into his arms, and murmured: "You should not have taken me
+to treat me thus, you should have left me sober-minded and happy as I
+was. Do you remember what you said to me in the church, and how you
+forced me into this house? And now, how do you speak to me? how do you
+receive me? Oh, God! oh, God! what pain you give me!"</p>
+
+<p>He stamped his foot, and exclaimed, violently: "Ah, bosh! That's enough
+of it! I can't see you a moment without hearing all that foolery. One
+would really think that I had carried you off at twelve years of age,
+and that you were as ignorant as an angel. No, my dear, let us put
+things in their proper light; there was no seduction of a young girl in
+the business. You gave yourself to me at full years of discretion. I
+thank you. I am infinitely grateful to you, but I am not bound to be
+tied till death to your petticoat strings. You have a husband and I a
+wife. We are neither of us free. We indulged in a mutual caprice, and it
+is over."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are brutal, coarse, shameless," she said; "I was indeed no
+longer a young girl, but I had never loved, never faltered."</p>
+
+<p>He cut her short with: "I know it. You have told me so twenty times. But
+you had had two children."</p>
+
+<p>She drew back, exclaiming: "Oh, George, that is unworthy of you," and
+pressing her two hands to her heart, began to choke and sob.</p>
+
+<p>When he saw the tears come he took his hat from the corner of the
+mantelpiece, saying: "Oh, you are going to cry, are you? Good-bye, then.
+So it was to show off in this way that you came here, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>She had taken a step forward in order to bar the way, and quickly
+pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket, wiped her eyes with an
+abrupt movement. Her voice grew firmer by the effort of her will, as she
+said, in tones tremulous with pain, "No&mdash;I came to&mdash;to tell you some
+news&mdash;political news&mdash;to put you in the way of gaining fifty thousand
+francs&mdash;or even more&mdash;if you like."</p>
+
+<p>He inquired, suddenly softening, "How so? What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"I caught, by chance, yesterday evening, some words between my husband
+and Laroche-Mathieu. They do not, besides, trouble themselves to hide
+much from me. But Walter recommended the Minister not to let you into
+the secret, as you would reveal everything."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy had put his hat down on a chair, and was waiting very
+attentively.</p>
+
+<p>"What is up, then?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>"They are going to take possession of Morocco."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! I lunched with Laroche-Mathieu, who almost dictated to me the
+intention of the Cabinet."</p>
+
+<p>"No, darling, they are humbugging you, because they were afraid lest
+their plan should be known."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down," said George, and sat down himself in an armchair. Then she
+drew towards him a low stool, and sitting down on it between his knees,
+went on in a coaxing tone, "As I am always thinking about you, I pay
+attention now to everything that is whispered around me."</p>
+
+<p>And she began quietly to explain to him how she had guessed for some
+time past that something was being hatched unknown to him; that they
+were making use of him, while dreading his co-operation. She said, "You
+know, when one is in love, one grows cunning."</p>
+
+<p>At length, the day before, she had understood it all. It was a business
+transaction, a thumping affair, worked out on the quiet. She smiled now,
+happy in her dexterity, and grew excited, speaking like a financier's
+wife accustomed to see the market rigged, used to rises and falls that
+ruin, in two hours of speculation, thousands of little folk who have
+placed their savings in undertakings guaranteed by the names of men
+honored and respected in the world of politics of finance.</p>
+
+<p>She repeated, "Oh, it is very smart what they have been up to! Very
+smart. It was Walter who did it all, though, and he knows all about such
+things. Really, it is a first-class job."</p>
+
+<p>He grew impatient at these preliminaries, and exclaimed, "Come, tell me
+what it is at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, this is what it is. The Tangiers expedition was decided
+upon between them on the day that Laroche-Mathieu took the ministry of
+foreign affairs, and little by little they have bought up the whole of
+the Morocco loan, which had fallen to sixty-four or sixty-five francs.
+They have bought it up very cleverly by means of shady brokers, who did
+not awaken any mistrust. They have even sold the Rothschilds, who grew
+astonished to find Morocco stock always asked for, and who were
+astonished by having agents pointed out to them&mdash;all lame ducks. That
+quieted the big financiers. And now the expedition is to take place, and
+as soon as we are there the French Government will guarantee the debt.
+Our friends will gain fifty or sixty millions. You understand the
+matter? You understand, too, how afraid they have been of everyone, of
+the slightest indiscretion?"</p>
+
+<p>She had leaned her head against the young fellow's waistcoat, and with
+her arms resting on his legs, pressed up against him, feeling that she
+was interesting him now, and ready to do anything for a caress, for a
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite certain?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so," she replied, with confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very smart indeed. As to that swine of a Laroche-Mathieu, just
+see if I don't pay him out one of these days. Oh, the scoundrel, just
+let him look out for himself! He shall go through my hands." Then he
+began to reflect, and went on, "We ought, though, to profit by all
+this."</p>
+
+<p>"You can still buy some of the loan," said she; "it is only at
+seventy-two francs."</p>
+
+<p>He said, "Yes, but I have no money under my hand."</p>
+
+<p>She raised her eyes towards him, eyes full of entreaty, saying, "I have
+thought of that, darling, and if you were very nice, very nice, if you
+loved me a little, you would let me lend you some."</p>
+
+<p>He answered, abruptly and almost harshly, "As to that, no, indeed."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, in an imploring voice: "Listen, there is something that
+you can do without borrowing money. I wanted to buy ten thousand francs'
+worth of the loan to make a little nest-egg. Well, I will take twenty
+thousand, and you shall stand in for half. You understand that I am not
+going to hand the money over to Walter. So there is nothing to pay for
+the present. If it all succeeds, you gain seventy thousand francs. If
+not, you will owe me ten thousand, which you can pay when you please."</p>
+
+<p>He remarked, "No, I do not like such pains."</p>
+
+<p>Then she argued, in order to get him to make up his mind. She proved to
+him that he was really pledging his word for ten thousand francs, that
+he was running risks, and that she was not advancing him anything, since
+the actual outlay was made by Walter's bank. She pointed out to him,
+besides, that it was he who had carried on in the <i>Vie Francaise</i> the
+whole of the political campaign that had rendered the scheme possible.
+He would be very foolish not to profit by it. He still hesitated, and
+she added, "But just reflect that in reality it is Walter who is
+advancing you these ten thousand Francs, and that you have rendered him
+services worth a great deal more than that."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then," said he, "I will go halves with you. If we lose, I
+will repay you the ten thousand francs."</p>
+
+<p>She was so pleased that she rose, took his head in both her hands, and
+began to kiss him eagerly. He did not resist at first, but as she grew
+bolder, clasping him to her and devouring him with caresses, he
+reflected that the other would be there shortly, and that if he yielded
+he would lose time and exhaust in the arms of the old woman an ardor
+that he had better reserve for the young one. So he repulsed her gently,
+saying, "Come, be good now."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him disconsolately, saying, "Oh, George, can't I even kiss
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied, "No, not to-day. I have a headache, and it upsets me."</p>
+
+<p>She sat down again docilely between his knees, and asked, "Will you come
+and dine with us to-morrow? You would give me much pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated, but dared not refuse, so said, "Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, darling."</p>
+
+<p>She rubbed her cheek slowly against his breast with a regular and
+coaxing movement, and one of her long black hairs caught in his
+waistcoat. She noticed it, and a wild idea crossed her mind, one of
+those superstitious notions which are often the whole of a woman's
+reason. She began to twist this hair gently round a button. Then she
+fastened another hair to the next button, and a third to the next. One
+to every button. He would tear them out of her head presently when he
+rose, and hurt her. What happiness! And he would carry away something of
+her without knowing it; he would carry away a tiny lock of her hair
+which he had never yet asked for. It was a tie by which she attached him
+to her, a secret, invisible bond, a talisman she left with him. Without
+willing it he would think of her, dream of her, and perhaps love her a
+little more the next day.</p>
+
+<p>He said, all at once, "I must leave you, because I am expected at the
+Chamber at the close of the sitting. I cannot miss attending to-day."</p>
+
+<p>She sighed, "Already!" and then added, resignedly, "Go, dear, but you
+will come to dinner to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>And suddenly she drew aside. There was a short and sharp pain in her
+head, as though needles had been stuck into the skin. Her heart
+throbbed; she was pleased to have suffered a little by him. "Good-bye,"
+said she.</p>
+
+<p>He took her in his arms with a compassionate smile, and coldly kissed
+her eyes. But she, maddened by this contact, again murmured, "Already!"
+while her suppliant glance indicated the bedroom, the door of which was
+open.</p>
+
+<p>He stepped away from her, and said in a hurried tone, "I must be off; I
+shall be late."</p>
+
+<p>Then she held out her lips, which he barely brushed with his, and having
+handed her her parasol, which she was forgetting, he continued, "Come,
+come, we must be quick, it is past three o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>She went out before him, saying, "To-morrow, at seven," and he repeated,
+"To-morrow, at seven."</p>
+
+<p>They separated, she turning to the right and he to the left. Du Roy
+walked as far as the outer boulevard. Then he slowly strolled back along
+the Boulevard Malesherbes. Passing a pastry cook's, he noticed some
+<i>marrons glaces</i> in a glass jar, and thought, "I will take in a pound
+for Clotilde."</p>
+
+<p>He bought a bag of these sweetmeats, which she was passionately fond of,
+and at four o'clock returned to wait for his young mistress. She was a
+little late, because her husband had come home for a week, and said,
+"Can you come and dine with us to-morrow? He will be so pleased to see
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I dine with the governor. We have a heap of political and financial
+matters to talk over."</p>
+
+<p>She had taken off her bonnet, and was now laying aside her bodice, which
+was too tight for her. He pointed out the bag on the mantel-shelf,
+saying, "I have bought you some <i>marrons glaces</i>."</p>
+
+<p>She clapped her hands, exclaiming: "How nice; what a dear you are."</p>
+
+<p>She took one, tasted them, and said: "They are delicious. I feel sure I
+shall not leave one of them." Then she added, looking at George with
+sensual merriment: "You flatter all my vices, then."</p>
+
+<p>She slowly ate the sweetmeats, looking continually into the bag to see
+if there were any left. "There, sit down in the armchair," said she,
+"and I will squat down between your knees and nibble my bon-bons. I
+shall be very comfortable."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled, sat down, and took her between his knees, as he had had
+Madame Walter shortly before. She raised her head in order to speak to
+him, and said, with her mouth full: "Do you know, darling, I dreamt of
+you? I dreamt that we were both taking a long journey together on a
+camel. He had two humps, and we were each sitting astride on a hump,
+crossing the desert. We had taken some sandwiches in a piece of paper
+and some wine in a bottle, and were dining on our humps. But it annoyed
+me because we could not do anything else; we were too far off from one
+another, and I wanted to get down."</p>
+
+<p>He answered: "I want to get down, too."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed, amused at the story, and encouraged her to talk nonsense, to
+chatter, to indulge in all the child's play of conversation which lovers
+utter. The nonsense which he thought delightful in the mouth of Madame
+de Marelle would have exasperated him in that of Madame Walter.
+Clotilde, too, called him "My darling," "My pet," "My own." These words
+seemed sweet and caressing. Said by the other woman shortly before, they
+had irritated and sickened him. For words of love, which are always the
+same, take the flavor of the lips they come from.</p>
+
+<p>But he was thinking, even while amusing himself with this nonsense, of
+the seventy thousand francs he was going to gain, and suddenly checked
+the gabble of his companion by two little taps with his finger on her
+head. "Listen, pet," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to entrust you with a commission for your husband. Tell him
+from me to buy to-morrow ten thousand francs' worth of the Morocco loan,
+which is quoted at seventy-two, and I promise him that he will gain from
+sixty to eighty thousand francs before three months are over. Recommend
+the most positive silence to him. Tell him from me that the expedition
+to Tangiers is decided on, and that the French government will guarantee
+the debt of Morocco. But do not let anything out about it. It is a State
+secret that I am entrusting to you."</p>
+
+<p>She listened to him seriously, and murmured: "Thank you, I will tell my
+husband this evening. You can reckon on him; he will not talk. He is a
+very safe man, and there is no danger."</p>
+
+<p>But she had eaten all the sweetmeats. She crushed up the bag between her
+hands and flung it into the fireplace. Then she said, "Let us go to
+bed," and without getting up, began to unbutton George's waistcoat. All
+at once she stopped, and pulling out between two fingers a long hair,
+caught in a buttonhole, began to laugh. "There, you have brought away
+one of Madeleine's hairs. There is a faithful husband for you."</p>
+
+<p>Then, becoming once more serious, she carefully examined on her head the
+almost imperceptible thread she had found, and murmured: "It is not
+Madeleine's, it is too dark."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled, saying: "It is very likely one of the maid's."</p>
+
+<p>But she was inspecting the waistcoat with the attention of a detective,
+and collected a second hair rolled round a button; then she perceived a
+third, and pale and somewhat trembling, exclaimed: "Oh, you have been
+sleeping with a woman who has wrapped her hair round all your buttons."</p>
+
+<p>He was astonished, and gasped out: "No, you are mad."</p>
+
+<p>All at once he remembered, understood it all, was uneasy at first, and
+then denied the charge with a chuckle, not vexed at the bottom that she
+should suspect him of other loves. She kept on searching, and still
+found hairs, which she rapidly untwisted and threw on the carpet. She
+had guessed matters with her artful woman's instinct, and stammered out,
+vexed, angry, and ready to cry: "She loves you, she does&mdash;and she wanted
+you to take away something belonging to her. Oh, what a traitor you
+are!" But all at once she gave a cry, a shrill cry of nervous joy. "Oh!
+oh! it is an old woman&mdash;here is a white hair. Ah, you go in for old
+women now! Do they pay you, eh&mdash;do they pay you? Ah, so you have come to
+old women, have you? Then you have no longer any need of me. Keep the
+other one."</p>
+
+<p>She rose, ran to her bodice thrown onto a chair, and began hurriedly to
+put it on again. He sought to retain her, stammering confusedly: "But,
+no, Clo, you are silly. I do not know anything about it. Listen
+now&mdash;stay here. Come, now&mdash;stay here."</p>
+
+<p>She repeated: "Keep your old woman&mdash;keep her. Have a ring made out of
+her hair&mdash;out of her white hair. You have enough of it for that."</p>
+
+<p>With abrupt and swift movements she had dressed herself and put on her
+bonnet and veil, and when he sought to take hold of her, gave him a
+smack with all her strength. While he remained bewildered, she opened
+the door and fled.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was alone he was seized with furious anger against that
+old hag of a Mother Walter. Ah, he would send her about her business,
+and pretty roughly, too! He bathed his reddened cheek and then went out,
+in turn meditating vengeance. This time he would not forgive her. Ah,
+no! He walked down as far as the boulevard, and sauntering along stopped
+in front of a jeweler's shop to look at a chronometer he had fancied for
+a long time back, and which was ticketed eighteen hundred francs. He
+thought all at once, with a thrill of joy at his heart, "If I gain my
+seventy thousand francs I can afford it."</p>
+
+<p>And he began to think of all the things he would do with these seventy
+thousand francs. In the first place, he would get elected deputy. Then
+he would buy his chronometer, and would speculate on the Bourse, and
+would&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>He did not want to go to the office, preferring to consult Madeleine
+before seeing Walter and writing his article, and started for home. He
+had reached the Rue Druot, when he stopped short. He had forgotten to
+ask after the Count de Vaudrec, who lived in the Chaussee d'Antin. He
+therefore turned back, still sauntering, thinking of a thousand things,
+mainly pleasant, of his coming fortune, and also of that scoundrel of a
+Laroche-Mathieu, and that old stickfast of a Madame Walter. He was not
+uneasy about the wrath of Clotilde, knowing very well that she forgave
+quickly.</p>
+
+<p>He asked the doorkeeper of the house in which the Count de Vaudrec
+resided: "How is Monsieur de Vaudrec? I hear that he has been unwell
+these last few days."</p>
+
+<p>The man replied: "The Count is very bad indeed, sir. They are afraid he
+will not live through the night; the gout has mounted to his heart."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy was so startled that he no longer knew what he ought to do.
+Vaudrec dying! Confused and disquieting ideas shot through his mind that
+he dared not even admit to himself. He stammered: "Thank you; I will
+call again," without knowing what he was saying.</p>
+
+<p>Then he jumped into a cab and was driven home. His wife had come in. He
+went into her room breathless, and said at once: "Have you heard?
+Vaudrec is dying."</p>
+
+<p>She was sitting down reading a letter. She raised her eyes, and
+repeating thrice: "Oh! what do you say, what do you say, what do you
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"I say that Vaudrec is dying from a fit of gout that has flown to the
+heart." Then he added: "What do you think of doing?"</p>
+
+<p>She had risen livid, and with her cheeks shaken by a nervous quivering,
+then she began to cry terribly, hiding her face in her hands. She stood
+shaken by sobs and torn by grief. But suddenly she mastered her sorrow,
+and wiping her eyes, said: "I&mdash;I am going there&mdash;don't bother about
+me&mdash;I don't know when I shall be back&mdash;don't wait for me."</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "Very well, dear." They shook hands, and she went off so
+hurriedly that she forgot her gloves.</p>
+
+<p>George, having dined alone, began to write his article. He did so
+exactly in accordance with the minister's instructions, giving his
+readers to understand that the expedition to Morocco would not take
+place. Then he took it to the office, chatted for a few minutes with the
+governor, and went out smoking, light-hearted, though he knew not why.
+His wife had not come home, and he went to bed and fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine came in towards midnight. George, suddenly roused, sat up in
+bed. "Well?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>He had never seen her so pale and so deeply moved. She murmured: "He is
+dead."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!&mdash;and he did not say anything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. He had lost consciousness when I arrived."</p>
+
+<p>George was thinking. Questions rose to his lips that he did not dare to
+put. "Come to bed," said he.</p>
+
+<p>She undressed rapidly, and slipped into bed beside him, when he resumed:
+"Were there any relations present at his death-bed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only a nephew."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Did he see this nephew often?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never. They had not met for ten years."</p>
+
+<p>"Had he any other relatives?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I do not think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is his nephew who will inherit?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know."</p>
+
+<p>"He was very well off, Vaudrec?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very well off."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what his fortune was?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, not exactly. One or two millions, perhaps."</p>
+
+<p>He said no more. She blew out the light, and they remained stretched
+out, side by side, in the darkness&mdash;silent, wakeful, and reflecting. He
+no longer felt inclined for sleep. He now thought the seventy thousand
+francs promised by Madame Walter insignificant. Suddenly he fancied that
+Madeleine was crying. He inquired, in order to make certain: "Are you
+asleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice was tearful and quavering, and he said: "I forgot to tell you
+when I came in that your minister has let us in nicely."</p>
+
+<p>"How so?"</p>
+
+<p>He told her at length, with all details, the plan hatched between
+Laroche-Mathieu and Walter. When he had finished, she asked: "How do you
+know this?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied: "You will excuse me not telling you. You have your means of
+information, which I do not seek to penetrate. I have mine, which I wish
+to keep to myself. I can, in any case, answer for the correctness of my
+information."</p>
+
+<p>Then she murmured: "Yes, it is quite possible. I fancied they were up to
+something without us."</p>
+
+<p>But George, who no longer felt sleepy, had drawn closer to his wife, and
+gently kissed her ear. She repulsed him sharply. "I beg of you to leave
+me alone. I am not in a mood to romp." He turned resignedly towards the
+wall, and having closed his eyes, ended by falling asleep.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2>
+
+
+<p>The church was draped with black, and over the main entrance a huge
+scutcheon, surmounted by a coronet, announced to the passers-by that a
+gentleman was being buried. The ceremony was just over, and those
+present at it were slowly dispersing, defiling past the coffin and the
+nephew of the Count de Vaudrec, who was shaking extended hands and
+returning bows. When George Du Roy and his wife came out of the church
+they began to walk homeward side by side, silent and preoccupied. At
+length George said, as though speaking to himself: "Really, it is very
+strange."</p>
+
+<p>"What, dear?" asked Madeleine.</p>
+
+<p>"That Vaudrec should not have left us anything."</p>
+
+<p>She blushed suddenly, as though a rosy veil had been cast over her white
+skin, and said: "Why should he have left us anything? There was no
+reason for it." Then, after a few moments' silence, she went on: "There
+is perhaps a will in the hands of some notary. We know nothing as yet."</p>
+
+<p>He reflected for a short time, and then murmured: "Yes, it is probable,
+for, after all, he was the most intimate friend of us both. He dined
+with us twice a week, called at all hours, and was at home at our place,
+quite at home in every respect. He loved you like a father, and had no
+children, no brothers and sisters, nothing but a nephew, and a nephew he
+never used to see. Yes, there must be a will. I do not care for much,
+only a remembrance to show that he thought of us, that he loved us, that
+he recognized the affection we felt for him. He certainly owed us some
+such mark of friendship."</p>
+
+<p>She said in a pensive and indifferent manner: "It is possible, indeed,
+that there may be a will."</p>
+
+<p>As they entered their rooms, the man-servant handed a letter to
+Madeleine. She opened it, and then held it out to her husband. It ran as
+follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>"Office of Maitre Lamaneur, Notary,<br />
+"17 Rue des Vosges.</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Madame</span>: I have the honor to beg you to favor me with a call
+here on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between the hours of
+two and four, on business concerning you.&mdash;I am,
+etc.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Lamaneur.</span>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>George had reddened in turn. "That is what it must be," said he. "It is
+strange, though, that it is you who are summoned, and not myself, who am
+legally the head of the family."</p>
+
+<p>She did not answer at once, but after a brief period of reflection,
+said: "Shall we go round there by and by?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>They set out as soon as they had lunched. When they entered Maitre
+Lamaneur's office, the head clerk rose with marked attention and ushered
+them in to his master. The notary was a round, little man, round all
+over. His head looked like a ball nailed onto another ball, which had
+legs so short that they almost resembled balls too. He bowed, pointed to
+two chairs, and turning towards Madeleine, said: "Madame, I have sent
+for you in order to acquaint you with the will of the Count de Vaudrec,
+in which you are interested."</p>
+
+<p>George could not help muttering: "I thought so."</p>
+
+<p>The notary went on: "I will read to you the document, which is very
+brief."</p>
+
+<p>He took a paper from a box in front of him, and read as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"I, the undersigned, Paul Emile Cyprien Gontran, Count de Vaudrec, being
+sound in body and mind, hereby express my last wishes. As death may
+overtake us at any moment, I wish, in provision of his attacks, to take
+the precaution of making my will, which will be placed in the hands of
+Maitre Lamaneur. Having no direct heirs, I leave the whole of my
+fortune, consisting of stock to the amount of six hundred thousand
+francs, and landed property worth about five hundred thousand francs, to
+Madame Claire Madeleine Du Roy without any charge or condition. I beg
+her to accept this gift of a departed friend as a proof of a deep,
+devoted, and respectful affection."</p>
+
+<p>The notary added: "That is all. This document is dated last August, and
+replaces one of the same nature, written two years back, with the name
+of Madame Claire Madeleine Forestier. I have this first will, too, which
+would prove, in the case of opposition on the part of the family, that
+the wishes of Count de Vaudrec did not vary."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine, very pale, looked at her feet. George nervously twisted the
+end of his moustache between his fingers. The notary continued after a
+moment of silence: "It is, of course, understood, sir, that your wife
+cannot accept the legacy without your consent."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy rose and said, dryly: "I must ask time to reflect."</p>
+
+<p>The notary, who was smiling, bowed, and said in an amiable tone: "I
+understand the scruples that cause you to hesitate, sir. I should say
+that the nephew of Monsieur de Vaudrec, who became acquainted this very
+morning with his uncle's last wishes, stated that he was prepared to
+respect them, provided the sum of a hundred thousand francs was allowed
+him. In my opinion the will is unattackable, but a law-suit would cause
+a stir, which it may perhaps suit you to avoid. The world often judges
+things ill-naturedly. In any case, can you give me your answer on all
+these points before Saturday?"</p>
+
+<p>George bowed, saying: "Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Then he bowed again ceremoniously, ushered out his wife, who had
+remained silent, and went out himself with so stiff an air that the
+notary no longer smiled.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as they got home, Du Roy abruptly closed the door, and throwing
+his hat onto the bed, said: "You were Vaudrec's mistress."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine, who was taking off her veil, turned round with a start,
+exclaiming: "I? Oh!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you. A man does not leave the whole of his fortune to a woman,
+unless&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She was trembling, and was unable to remove the pins fastening the
+transparent tissue. After a moment's reflection she stammered, in an
+agitated tone: "Come, come&mdash;you are mad&mdash;you are&mdash;you are. Did not you,
+yourself, just now have hopes that he would leave us something?"</p>
+
+<p>George remained standing beside her, following all her emotions like a
+magistrate seeking to note the least faltering on the part of an
+accused. He said, laying stress on every word: "Yes, he might have left
+something to me, your husband&mdash;to me, his friend&mdash;you understand, but
+not to you&mdash;my wife. The distinction is capital, essential from the
+point of propriety and of public opinion."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine in turn looked at him fixedly in the eyes, in profound and
+singular fashion, as though seeking to read something there, as though
+trying to discover that unknown part of a human being which we never
+fathom, and of which we can scarcely even catch rapid glimpses in those
+moments of carelessness or inattention, which are like doors left open,
+giving onto the mysterious depths of the mind. She said slowly: "It
+seems to me, however, that a legacy of this importance would have been
+looked on as at least equally strange left to you."</p>
+
+<p>He asked abruptly: "Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>She said: "Because&mdash;" hesitated, and then continued: "Because you are my
+husband, and have only known him for a short time, after all&mdash;because I
+have been his friend for a very long while&mdash;and because his first will,
+made during Forestier's lifetime, was already in my favor."</p>
+
+<p>George began to stride up and down. He said: "You cannot accept."</p>
+
+<p>She replied in a tone of indifference: "Precisely so; then it is not
+worth while waiting till Saturday, we can let Maitre Lamaneur know at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>He stopped short in front of her, and they again stood for some moments
+with their eyes riveted on one another, striving to fathom the
+impenetrable secret of their hearts, to cut down to the quick of their
+thoughts. They tried to see one another's conscience unveiled in an
+ardent and mute interrogation; the struggle of two beings who, living
+side by side, were always ignorant of one another, suspecting, sniffing
+round, watching, but never understanding one another to the muddy
+depths of their souls. And suddenly he murmured to her face, in a low
+voice: "Come, admit that you were De Vaudrec's mistress."</p>
+
+<p>She shrugged her shoulders, saying: "You are ridiculous. Vaudrec was
+very fond of me, very&mdash;but there was nothing more&mdash;never."</p>
+
+<p>He stamped his foot. "You lie. It is not possible."</p>
+
+<p>She replied, quietly: "It is so, though."</p>
+
+<p>He began to walk up and down again, and then, halting once more, said:
+"Explain, then, how he came to leave the whole of his fortune to you."</p>
+
+<p>She did so in a careless and disinterested tone, saying: "It is quite
+simple. As you said just now, he had only ourselves for friends, or
+rather myself, for he has known me from a child. My mother was a
+companion at the house of some relatives of his. He was always coming
+here, and as he had no natural heirs he thought of me. That there was a
+little love for me in the matter is possible. But where is the woman who
+has not been loved thus? Why should not such secret, hidden affection
+have placed my name at the tip of his pen when he thought of expressing
+his last wishes? He brought me flowers every Monday. You were not at all
+astonished at that, and yet he did not bring you any, did he? Now he has
+given me his fortune for the same reason, and because he had no one to
+offer it to. It would have been, on the contrary, very surprising for
+him to have left it to you. Why should he have done so? What were you to
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>She spoke so naturally and quietly that George hesitated. He said,
+however: "All the same, we cannot accept this inheritance under such
+conditions. The effect would be deplorable. All the world would believe
+it; all the world would gossip about it, and laugh at me. My fellow
+journalists are already only too disposed to feel jealous of me and to
+attack me. I should have, before anyone, a care for my honor and my
+reputation. It is impossible for me to allow my wife to accept a legacy
+of this kind from a man whom public report has already assigned to her
+as a lover. Forestier might perhaps have tolerated it, but not me."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, mildly: "Well, dear, do not let us accept it. It will be a
+million the less in our pockets, that is all."</p>
+
+<p>He was still walking up and down, and began to think aloud, speaking for
+his wife's benefit without addressing himself directly to her: "Yes, a
+million, so much the worse. He did not understand, in making his will,
+what a fault in tact, what a breach of propriety he was committing. He
+did not see in what a false, a ridiculous position he would place me.
+Everything is a matter of detail in this life. He should have left me
+half; that would have settled everything."</p>
+
+<p>He sat down, crossed his legs, and began to twist the end of his
+moustache, as he did in moments of boredom, uneasiness, and difficult
+reflection. Madeleine took up some embroidery at which she worked from
+time to time, and said, while selecting her wools: "I have only to hold
+my tongue. It is for you to reflect."</p>
+
+<p>He was a long time without replying, and then said, hesitatingly: "The
+world will never understand that Vaudrec made you his sole heiress, and
+that I allowed it. To receive his fortune in that way would be an
+acknowledgment on your part of a guilty connection, and on mine of a
+shameful complaisance. Do you understand now how our acceptance of it
+would be interpreted? It would be necessary to find a side issue, some
+clever way of palliating matters. To let it go abroad, for instance,
+that he had divided the money between us, leaving half to the husband
+and half to the wife."</p>
+
+<p>She observed: "I do not see how that can be done, since the will is
+plain."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is very simple. You could leave me half the inheritance by a
+deed of gift. We have no children, so it is feasible. In that way the
+mouth of public malevolence would be closed."</p>
+
+<p>She replied, somewhat impatiently: "I do not see any the more how the
+mouth of public malevolence is to be closed, since the will is there,
+signed by Vaudrec?"</p>
+
+<p>He said, angrily: "Have we any need to show it and to paste it up on all
+the walls? You are really stupid. We will say that the Count de Vaudrec
+left his fortune between us. That is all. But you cannot accept this
+legacy without my authorization. I will only give it on condition of a
+division, which will hinder me from becoming a laughing stock."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at him again with a penetrating glance, and said: "As you
+like. I am agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>Then he rose, and began to walk up and down again. He seemed to be
+hesitating anew, and now avoided his wife's penetrating glance. He was
+saying: "No, certainly not. Perhaps it would be better to give it up
+altogether. That is more worthy, more correct, more honorable. And yet
+by this plan nothing could be imagined against us&mdash;absolutely nothing.
+The most unscrupulous people could only admit things as they were." He
+paused in front of Madeleine. "Well, then, if you like, darling, I will
+go back alone to Maitre Lamaneur to explain matters to him and consult
+him. I will tell him of my scruples, and add that we have arrived at the
+notion of a division to prevent gossip. From the moment that I accept
+half this inheritance, it is plain that no one has the right to smile.
+It is equal to saying aloud: 'My wife accepts because I accept&mdash;I, her
+husband, the best judge of what she may do without compromising herself.
+Otherwise a scandal would have arisen.'"</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine merely murmured: "Just as you like."</p>
+
+<p>He went on with a flow of words: "Yes, it is all as clear as daylight
+with this arrangement of a division in two. We inherit from a friend who
+did not want to make any difference between us, any distinction; who did
+not wish to appear to say: 'I prefer one or the other after death, as I
+did during life.' He liked the wife best, be it understood, but in
+leaving the fortune equally to both, he wished plainly to express that
+his preference was purely platonic. And you may be sure that, if he had
+thought of it, that is what he would have done. He did not reflect. He
+did not foresee the consequences. As you said very appropriately just
+now, it was you to whom he offered flowers every week, it is to you he
+wished to leave his last remembrance, without taking into consideration
+that&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She checked him, with a shade of irritation: "All right; I understand.
+You have no need to make so many explanations. Go to the notary's at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>He stammered, reddening: "You are right. I am off."</p>
+
+<p>He took his hat, and then, at the moment of going out, said: "I will
+try to settle the difficulty with the nephew for fifty thousand francs,
+eh?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied, with dignity: "No. Give him the hundred thousand francs he
+asks. Take them from my share, if you like."</p>
+
+<p>He muttered, shamefacedly: "Oh, no; we will share that. Giving up fifty
+thousand francs apiece, there still remains to us a clear million." He
+added: "Good-bye, then, for the present, Made." And he went off to
+explain to the notary the plan which he asserted had been imagined by
+his wife.</p>
+
+<p>They signed the next day a deed of gift of five hundred thousand francs,
+which Madeleine Du Roy abandoned to her husband. On leaving the notary's
+office, as the day was fine, George suggested that they should walk as
+far as the boulevards. He showed himself pleasant and full of attention
+and affection. He laughed, pleased at everything, while she remained
+thoughtful and somewhat severe.</p>
+
+<p>It was a somewhat cool autumn day. The people in the streets seemed in a
+hurry, and walked rapidly. Du Roy led his wife to the front of the shop
+in which he had so often gazed at the longed-for chronometer. "Shall I
+stand you some jewelry?" said he.</p>
+
+<p>She replied, indifferently: "Just as you like."</p>
+
+<p>They went in, and he asked: "What would you prefer&mdash;a necklace, a
+bracelet, or a pair of earrings?"</p>
+
+<p>The sight of the trinkets in gold, and precious stones overcame her
+studied coolness, and she scanned with kindling and inquisitive eyes the
+glass cases filled with jewelry. And, suddenly moved by desire, said:
+"That is a very pretty bracelet."</p>
+
+<p>It was a chain of quaint pattern, every link of which had a different
+stone set in it.</p>
+
+<p>George inquired: "How much is this bracelet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three thousand francs, sir," replied the jeweler.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will let me have it for two thousand five hundred, it is a
+bargain."</p>
+
+<p>The man hesitated, and then replied: "No, sir; that is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy went on: "Come, you can throw in that chronometer for fifteen
+hundred; that will make four thousand, which I will pay at once. Is it
+agreed? If not, I will go somewhere else."</p>
+
+<p>The jeweler, in a state of perplexity, ended by agreeing, saying: "Very
+good, sir."</p>
+
+<p>And the journalist, after giving his address, added: "You will have the
+monogram, G. R. C., engraved on the chronometer under a baron's
+coronet."</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine, surprised, began to smile, and when they went out, took his
+arm with a certain affection. She found him really clever and capable.
+Now that he had an income, he needed a title. It was quite right.</p>
+
+<p>The jeweler bowed them out, saying: "You can depend upon me; it will be
+ready on Thursday, Baron."</p>
+
+<p>They paused before the Vaudeville, at which a new piece was being
+played.</p>
+
+<p>"If you like," said he, "we will go to the theater this evening. Let us
+see if we can have a box."</p>
+
+<p>They took a box, and he continued: "Suppose we dine at a restaurant."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; I should like that!"</p>
+
+<p>He was as happy as a king, and sought what else they could do. "Suppose
+we go and ask Madame de Marelle to spend the evening with us. Her
+husband is at home, I hear, and I shall be delighted to see him."</p>
+
+<p>They went there. George, who slightly dreaded the first meeting with his
+mistress, was not ill-pleased that his wife was present to prevent
+anything like an explanation. But Clotilde did not seem to remember
+anything against him, and even obliged her husband to accept the
+invitation.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner was lovely, and the evening pleasant. George and Madeleine
+got home late. The gas was out, and to light them upstairs, the
+journalist struck a wax match from time to time. On reaching the
+first-floor landing the flame, suddenly starting forth as he struck,
+caused their two lit-up faces to show in the glass standing out against
+the darkness of the staircase. They resembled phantoms, appearing and
+ready to vanish into the night.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy raised his hand to light up their reflections, and said, with a
+laugh of triumph: "Behold the millionaires!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2>
+
+
+<p>The conquest of Morocco had been accomplished two months back. France,
+mistress of Tangiers, held the whole of the African shore of the
+Mediterranean as far as Tripoli, and had guaranteed the debt of the
+newly annexed territory. It was said that two ministers had gained a
+score of millions over the business, and Laroche-Mathieu was almost
+openly named. As to Walter, no one in Paris was ignorant of the fact
+that he had brought down two birds with one stone, and made thirty or
+forty millions out of the loan and eight to ten millions out of the
+copper and iron mines, as well as out of a large stretch of territory
+bought for almost nothing prior to the conquest, and sold after the
+French occupation to companies formed to promote colonization. He had
+become in a few days one of the lords of creation, one of those
+omnipotent financiers more powerful than monarchs who cause heads to
+bow, mouths to stammer, and all that is base, cowardly, and envious, to
+well up from the depths of the human heart. He was no longer the Jew
+Walter, head of a shady bank, manager of a fishy paper, deputy suspected
+of illicit jobbery. He was Monsieur Walter, the wealthy Israelite.</p>
+
+<p>He wished to show himself off. Aware of the monetary embarrassments of
+the Prince de Carlsbourg, who owned one of the finest mansions in the
+Rue de Faubourg, Saint Honoré, with a garden giving onto the Champs
+Elysées, he proposed to him to buy house and furniture, without shifting
+a stick, within twenty-four hours. He offered three millions, and the
+prince, tempted by the amount, accepted. The following day Walter
+installed himself in his new domicile. Then he had another idea, the
+idea of a conqueror who wishes to conquer Paris, the idea of a
+Bonaparte. The whole city was flocking at that moment to see a great
+painting by the Hungarian artist, Karl Marcowitch, exhibited at a
+dealer's named Jacques Lenoble, and representing Christ walking on the
+water. The art critics, filled with enthusiasm, declared the picture the
+most superb masterpiece of the century. Walter bought it for four
+hundred thousand francs, and took it away, thus cutting suddenly short a
+flow of public curiosity, and forcing the whole of Paris to speak of him
+in terms of envy, blame, or approbation. Then he had it announced in the
+papers that he would invite everyone known in Parisian society to view
+at his house some evening this triumph of the foreign master, in order
+that it might not be said that he had hidden away a work of art. His
+house would be open; let those who would, come. It would be enough to
+show at the door the letter of invitation.</p>
+
+<p>This ran as follows: "Monsieur and Madame Walter beg of you to honor
+them with your company on December 30th, between 9 and 12 p. m., to view
+the picture by Karl Marcowitch, 'Jesus Walking on the Waters,' lit up by
+electric light." Then, as a postscript, in small letters: "Dancing after
+midnight." So those who wished to stay could, and out of these the
+Walters would recruit their future acquaintances. The others would view
+the picture, the mansion, and their owners with worldly curiosity,
+insolent and indifferent, and would then go away as they came. But Daddy
+Walter knew very well that they would return later on, as they had come
+to his Israelite brethren grown rich like himself. The first thing was
+that they should enter his house, all these titled paupers who were
+mentioned in the papers, and they would enter it to see the face of a
+man who had gained fifty millions in six weeks; they would enter it to
+see and note who else came there; they would also enter it because he
+had had the good taste and dexterity to summon them to admire a
+Christian picture at the home of a child of Israel. He seemed to say to
+them: "You see I have given five hundred thousand francs for the
+religious masterpiece of Marcowitch, 'Jesus Walking on the Waters.' And
+this masterpiece will always remain before my eyes in the house of the
+Jew, Walter."</p>
+
+<p>In society there had been a great deal of talk over these invitations,
+which, after all, did not pledge one in any way. One could go there as
+one went to see watercolors at Monsieur Petit's. The Walters owned a
+masterpiece, and threw open their doors one evening so that everyone
+could admire it. Nothing could be better. The <i>Vie Francaise</i> for a
+fortnight past had published every morning a note on this coming event
+of the 30th December, and had striven to kindle public curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy was furious at the governor's triumph. He had thought himself
+rich with the five hundred thousand francs extorted from his wife, and
+now he held himself to be poor, fearfully poor, when comparing his
+modest fortune with the shower of millions that had fallen around him,
+without his being able to pick any of it up. His envious hatred waxed
+daily. He was angry with everyone&mdash;with the Walters, whom he had not
+been to see at their new home; with his wife, who, deceived by
+Laroche-Mathieu, had persuaded him not to invest in the Morocco loan;
+and, above all, with the minister who had tricked him, who had made use
+of him, and who dined at his table twice a week. George was his agent,
+his secretary, his mouthpiece, and when he was writing from his
+dictation felt wild longings to strangle this triumphant foe. As a
+minister, Laroche-Mathieu had shown modesty in mien, and in order to
+retain his portfolio, did not let it be seen that he was gorged with
+gold. But Du Roy felt the presence of this gold in the haughtier tone of
+the parvenu barrister, in his more insolent gestures, his more daring
+affirmation, his perfect self-confidence. Laroche-Mathieu now reigned in
+the Du Roy household, having taken the place and the days of the Count
+de Vaudrec, and spoke to the servants like a second master. George
+tolerated him with a quiver running through him like a dog who wants to
+bite, and dares not. But he was often harsh and brutal towards
+Madeleine, who shrugged her shoulders and treated him like a clumsy
+child. She was, besides, astonished at his continual ill-humor, and
+repeated: "I cannot make you out. You are always grumbling, and yet your
+position is a splendid one."</p>
+
+<p>He would turn his back without replying.</p>
+
+<p>He had declared at first that he would not go to the governor's
+entertainment, and that he would never more set foot in the house of
+that dirty Jew. For two months Madame Walter had been writing to him
+daily, begging him to come, to make an appointment with her whenever he
+liked, in order, she said, that she might hand over the seventy thousand
+francs she had gained for him. He did not reply, and threw these
+despairing letters into the fire. Not that he had renounced receiving
+his share of their profits, but he wanted to madden her, to treat her
+with contempt, to trample her under feet. She was too rich. He wanted to
+show his pride. The very day of the exhibition of the picture, as
+Madeleine pointed out to him that he was very wrong not to go, he
+replied: "Hold your tongue. I shall stay at home."</p>
+
+<p>Then after dinner he suddenly said: "It will be better after all to
+undergo this affliction. Get dressed at once."</p>
+
+<p>She was expecting this, and said: "I will be ready in a quarter of an
+hour." He dressed growling, and even in the cab he continued to spit out
+his spleen.</p>
+
+<p>The court-yard of the Carlsbourg mansion was lit up by four electric
+lights, looking like four small bluish moons, one at each corner. A
+splendid carpet was laid down the high flight of steps, on each of which
+a footman in livery stood motionless as a statue.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy muttered: "Here's a fine show-off for you," and shrugged his
+shoulders, his heart contracted by jealousy.</p>
+
+<p>His wife said: "Be quiet and do likewise."</p>
+
+<p>They went in and handed their heavy outer garments to the footmen who
+advanced to meet them. Several ladies were also there with their
+husbands, freeing themselves from their furs. Murmurs of: "It is very
+beautiful, very beautiful," could be heard. The immense entrance hall
+was hung with tapestry, representing the adventures of Mars and Venus.
+To the right and left were the two branches of a colossal double
+staircase, which met on the first floor. The banisters were a marvel of
+wrought-iron work, the dull old gilding of which glittered with discreet
+luster beside the steps of pink marble. At the entrance to the
+reception-rooms two little girls, one in a pink folly costume, and the
+other in a blue one, offered a bouquet of flowers to each lady. This was
+held to be charming.</p>
+
+<p>The reception-rooms were already crowded. Most of the ladies were in
+outdoor dress, showing that they came there as to any other exhibition.
+Those who intended remaining for the ball were bare armed and bare
+necked. Madame Walter, surrounded by her friends, was in the second room
+acknowledging the greetings of the visitors. Many of these did not know
+her, and walked about as though in a museum, without troubling
+themselves about the masters of the house.</p>
+
+<p>When she perceived Du Roy she grew livid, and made a movement as though
+to advance towards him. Then she remained motionless, awaiting him. He
+greeted her ceremoniously, while Madeleine overwhelmed her with
+affection and compliments. Then George left his wife with her and lost
+himself in the crowd, to listen to the spiteful things that assuredly
+must be said.</p>
+
+<p>Five reception-rooms opened one into the other, hung with costly stuffs,
+Italian embroideries, or oriental rugs of varying shades and styles, and
+bearing on their walls pictures by old masters. People stopped, above
+all, to admire a small room in the Louis XVI style, a kind of boudoir,
+lined with silk, with bouquets of roses on a pale blue ground. The
+furniture, of gilt wood, upholstered in the same material, was admirably
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>George recognized some well-known people&mdash;the Duchess de Ferraciné, the
+Count and Countess de Ravenal, General Prince d'Andremont, the beautiful
+Marchioness des Dunes, and all those folk who are seen at first
+performances. He was suddenly seized by the arm, and a young and pleased
+voice murmured in his ear: "Ah! here you are at last, you naughty
+Pretty-boy. How is it one no longer sees you?"</p>
+
+<p>It was Susan Walter, scanning him with her enamel-like eyes from beneath
+the curly cloud of her fair hair. He was delighted to see her again, and
+frankly pressed her hand. Then, excusing himself, he said: "I have not
+been able to come. I have had so much to do during the past two months
+that I have not been out at all."</p>
+
+<p>She said, with her serious air: "That is wrong, very wrong. You have
+caused us a great deal of pain, for we adore you, mamma and I. As to
+myself, I cannot get on without you. When you are not here I am bored
+to death. You see I tell you so plainly, so that you may no longer have
+the right of disappearing like that. Give me your arm, I will show you
+'Jesus Walking on the Waters' myself; it is right away at the end,
+beyond the conservatory. Papa had it put there so that they should be
+obliged to see everything before they could get to it. It is astonishing
+how he is showing off this place."</p>
+
+<p>They went on quietly among the crowd. People turned round to look at
+this good-looking fellow and this charming little doll. A well-known
+painter said: "What a pretty pair. They go capitally together."</p>
+
+<p>George thought: "If I had been really clever, this is the girl I should
+have married. It was possible. How is it I did not think of it? How did
+I come to take that other one? What a piece of stupidity. We always act
+too impetuously, and never reflect sufficiently."</p>
+
+<p>And envy, bitter envy, sank drop by drop into his mind like a gall,
+embittering all his pleasures, and rendering existence hateful.</p>
+
+<p>Susan was saying: "Oh! do come often, Pretty-boy; we will go in for all
+manner of things now, papa is so rich. We will amuse ourselves like
+madcaps."</p>
+
+<p>He answered, still following up his idea: "Oh! you will marry now. You
+will marry some prince, a ruined one, and we shall scarcely see one
+another."</p>
+
+<p>She exclaimed, frankly: "Oh! no, not yet. I want someone who pleases me,
+who pleases me a great deal, who pleases me altogether. I am rich enough
+for two."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled with a haughty and ironical smile, and began to point out to
+her people that were passing, very noble folk who had sold their rusty
+titles to the daughters of financiers like herself, and who now lived
+with or away from their wives, but free, impudent, known, and respected.
+He concluded with: "I will not give you six months before you are caught
+with that same bait. You will be a marchioness, a duchess or a princess,
+and will look down on me from a very great height, miss."</p>
+
+<p>She grew indignant, tapped him on the arm with her fan, and vowed that
+she would marry according to the dictates of her heart.</p>
+
+<p>He sneered: "We shall see about all that, you are too rich."</p>
+
+<p>She remarked: "But you, too, have come in for an inheritance."</p>
+
+<p>He uttered in a tone of contempt: "Oh! not worth speaking about.
+Scarcely twenty thousand francs a year, not much in these days."</p>
+
+<p>"But your wife has also inherited."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. A million between us. Forty thousand francs' income. We cannot
+even keep a carriage on it."</p>
+
+<p>They had reached the last of the reception-rooms, and before them lay
+the conservatory&mdash;a huge winter garden full of tall, tropical trees,
+sheltering clumps of rare flowers. Penetrating beneath this somber
+greenery, through which the light streamed like a flood of silver, they
+breathed the warm odor of damp earth, and an air heavy with perfumes. It
+was a strange sensation, at once sweet, unwholesome, and pleasant, of a
+nature that was artificial, soft, and enervating. They walked on carpets
+exactly like moss, between two thick clumps of shrubs. All at once Du
+Roy noticed on his left, under a wide dome of palms, a broad basin of
+white marble, large enough to bathe in, and on the edge of which four
+large Delft swans poured forth water through their open beaks. The
+bottom of the basin was strewn with golden sand, and swimming about in
+it were some enormous goldfish, quaint Chinese monsters, with projecting
+eyes and scales edged with blue, mandarins of the waters, who recalled,
+thus suspended above this gold-colored ground, the embroideries of the
+Flowery Land. The journalist halted with beating heart. He said to
+himself: "Here is luxury. These are the houses in which one ought to
+live. Others have arrived at it. Why should not I?"</p>
+
+<p>He thought of means of doing so; did not find them at once, and grew
+irritated at his powerlessness. His companion, somewhat thoughtful, did
+not speak. He looked at her in sidelong fashion, and again thought: "To
+marry this little puppet would suffice."</p>
+
+<p>But Susan all at once seemed to wake up. "Attention!" said she; and
+pushing George through a group which barred their way, she made him turn
+sharply to the right.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of a thicket of strange plants, which extended in the air
+their quivering leaves, opening like hands with slender fingers, was
+seen the motionless figure of a man standing on the sea. The effect was
+surprising. The picture, the sides of which were hidden in the moving
+foliage, seemed a black spot upon a fantastic and striking horizon. It
+had to be carefully looked at in order to understand it. The frame cut
+the center of the ship in which were the apostles, scarcely lit up by
+the oblique rays from a lantern, the full light of which one of them,
+seated on the bulwarks, was casting upon the approaching Savior. Jesus
+was advancing with his foot upon a wave, which flattened itself
+submissively and caressingly beneath the divine tread. All was dark
+about him. Only the stars shone in the sky. The faces of the apostles,
+in the vague light of the lantern, seemed convulsed with surprise. It
+was a wonderful and unexpected work of a master; one of those works
+which agitate the mind and give you something to dream of for years.
+People who look at such things at the outset remain silent, and then go
+thoughtfully away, and only speak later on of the worth of the painting.
+Du Roy, having contemplated it for some time, said: "It is nice to be
+able to afford such trifles."</p>
+
+<p>But as he was pushed against by others coming to see it, he went away,
+still keeping on his arm Susan's little hand, which he squeezed
+slightly. She said: "Would you like a glass of champagne? Come to the
+refreshment buffet. We shall find papa there."</p>
+
+<p>And they slowly passed back through the saloons, in which the crowd was
+increasing, noisy and at home, the fashionable crowd of a public fête.
+George all at once thought he heard a voice say: "It is Laroche-Mathieu
+and Madame Du Roy." These words flitted past his ear like those distant
+sounds borne by the wind. Whence came they? He looked about on all
+sides, and indeed saw his wife passing by on the minister's arm. They
+were chatting intimately in a low tone, smiling, and with their eyes
+fixed on one another's. He fancied he noticed that people whispered as
+they looked at them, and he felt within him a stupid and brutal desire
+to spring upon them, these two creatures, and smite them down. She was
+making him ridiculous. He thought of Forestier. Perhaps they were
+saying: "That cuckold Du Roy." Who was she? A little parvenu sharp
+enough, but really not over-gifted with parts. People visited him
+because they feared him, because they felt his strength, but they must
+speak in unrestrained fashion of this little journalistic household. He
+would never make any great way with this woman, who would always render
+his home a suspected one, who would always compromise herself, whose
+very bearing betrayed the woman of intrigue. She would now be a cannon
+ball riveted to his ankle. Ah! if he had only known, if he had only
+guessed. What a bigger game he would have played. What a fine match he
+might have won with this little Susan for stakes. How was it he had been
+blind enough not to understand that?</p>
+
+<p>They reached the dining-room&mdash;an immense apartment, with marble columns,
+and walls hung with old tapestry. Walter perceived his descriptive
+writer, and darted forward to take him by the hands. He was intoxicated
+with joy. "Have you seen everything? Have you shown him everything,
+Susan? What a lot of people, eh, Pretty-boy! Did you see the Prince de
+Guerche? He came and drank a glass of punch here just now," he
+exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Then he darted towards the Senator Rissolin, who was towing along his
+wife, bewildered, and bedecked like a stall at a fair. A gentleman bowed
+to Susan, a tall, thin fellow, slightly bald, with yellow whiskers, and
+that air of good breeding which is everywhere recognizable. George heard
+his name mentioned, the Marquis de Cazolles, and became suddenly jealous
+of him. How long had she known him? Since her accession to wealth, no
+doubt. He divined a suitor.</p>
+
+<p>He was taken by the arm. It was Norbert de Varenne. The old poet was
+airing his long hair and worn dress-coat with a weary and indifferent
+air. "This is what they call amusing themselves," said he. "By and by
+they will dance, and then they will go bed, and the little girls will be
+delighted. Have some champagne. It is capital."</p>
+
+<p>He had a glass filled for himself, and bowing to Du Roy, who had taken
+another, said: "I drink to the triumph of wit over wealth." Then he
+added softly: "Not that wealth on the part of others hurts me; or that I
+am angry at it. But I protest on principle."</p>
+
+<p>George no longer listened to him. He was looking for Susan, who had just
+disappeared with the Marquis de Cazolles, and abruptly quitting Norbert
+de Varenne, set out in pursuit of the young girl. A dense crowd in quest
+of refreshments checked him. When he at length made his way through it,
+he found himself face to face with the de Marelles. He was still in the
+habit of meeting the wife, but he had not for some time past met the
+husband, who seized both his hands, saying: "How can I thank you, my
+dear fellow, for the advice you gave me through Clotilde. I have gained
+close on a hundred thousand francs over the Morocco loan. It is to you I
+owe them. You are a valuable friend."</p>
+
+<p>Several men turned round to look at the pretty and elegant brunette. Du
+Roy replied: "In exchange for that service, my dear fellow, I am going
+to take your wife, or rather to offer her my arm. Husband and wife are
+best apart, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur de Marelle bowed, saying: "You are quite right. If I lose you,
+we will meet here in an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly."</p>
+
+<p>The pair plunged into the crowd, followed by the husband. Clotilde kept
+saying: "How lucky these Walters are! That is what it is to have
+business intelligence."</p>
+
+<p>George replied: "Bah! Clever men always make a position one way or
+another."</p>
+
+<p>She said: "Here are two girls who will have from twenty to thirty
+millions apiece. Without reckoning that Susan is pretty."</p>
+
+<p>He said nothing. His own idea, coming from another's mouth, irritated
+him. She had not yet seen the picture of "Jesus Walking on the Water,"
+and he proposed to take her to it. They amused themselves by talking
+scandal of the people they recognized, and making fun of those they did
+not. Saint-Potin passed by, bearing on the lapel of his coat a number of
+decorations, which greatly amused them. An ex-ambassador following him
+showed far fewer.</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy remarked: "What a mixed salad of society."</p>
+
+<p>Boisrenard, who shook hands with him, had also adorned his buttonhole
+with the green and yellow ribbon worn on the day of the duel. The
+Viscountess de Percemur, fat and bedecked, was chatting with a duke in
+the little Louis XVI boudoir.</p>
+
+<p>George whispered: "An amorous <i>tête-à-tête</i>."</p>
+
+<p>But on passing through the greenhouse, he noticed his wife seated beside
+Laroche-Mathieu, both almost hidden behind a clump of plants. They
+seemed to be asserting: "We have appointed a meeting here, a meeting in
+public. For we do not care a rap what people think."</p>
+
+<p>Madame de Marelle agreed that the Jesus of Karl Marcowitch was
+astounding, and they retraced their steps. They had lost her husband.
+George inquired: "And Laurine, is she still angry with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, still so as much as ever. She refuses to see you, and walks away
+when you are spoken of."</p>
+
+<p>He did not reply. The sudden enmity of this little girl vexed and
+oppressed him. Susan seized on them as they passed through a doorway,
+exclaiming: "Ah! here you are. Well, Pretty-boy, you must remain alone.
+I am going to take away Clotilde to show her my room."</p>
+
+<p>The two moved rapidly away, gliding through the throng with that
+undulating snake-like motion women know how to adopt in a crowd. Almost
+immediately a voice murmured: "George."</p>
+
+<p>It was Madame Walter, who went on in a low tone: "Oh! how ferociously
+cruel you are. How you do make me suffer without reason. I told Susan to
+get your companion away in order to be able to say a word to you.
+Listen, I must speak to you this evening, I must, or you don't know what
+I will do. Go into the conservatory. You will find a door on the left
+leading into the garden. Follow the path in front of it. At the end of
+it you will find an arbor. Wait for me there in ten minutes' time. If
+you won't, I declare to you that I will create a scene here at once."</p>
+
+<p>He replied loftily: "Very well. I will be at the spot you mention within
+ten minutes."</p>
+
+<p>And they separated. But Jacques Rival almost made him behindhand. He had
+taken him by the arm and was telling him a lot of things in a very
+excited manner. He had no doubt come from the refreshment buffet. At
+length Du Roy left him in the hands of Monsieur de Marelle, whom he had
+come across, and bolted. He still had to take precautions not to be seen
+by his wife or Laroche-Mathieu. He succeeded, for they seemed deeply
+interested in something, and found himself in the garden. The cold air
+struck him like an ice bath. He thought: "Confound it, I shall catch
+cold," and tied his pocket-handkerchief round his neck. Then he slowly
+went along the walk, seeing his way with difficulty after coming out of
+the bright light of the reception-rooms. He could distinguish to the
+right and left leafless shrubs, the branches of which were quivering.
+Light filtered through their branches, coming from the windows of the
+mansion. He saw something white in the middle of the path in front of
+him, and Madame Walter, with bare arms and bosom, said in a quivering
+voice; "Ah here you are; you want to kill me, then?"</p>
+
+<p>He answered quickly: "No melodramatics, I beg of you, or I shall bolt at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>She had seized him round the neck, and with her lips close to his, said:
+"But what have I done to you? You are behaving towards me like a wretch.
+What have I done to you?"</p>
+
+<p>He tried to repulse her. "You wound your hair round every one of my
+buttons the last time I saw you, and it almost brought about a rupture
+between my wife and myself."</p>
+
+<p>She was surprised for a moment, and then, shaking her head, said: "Oh!
+your wife would not mind. It was one of your mistresses who had made a
+scene over it."</p>
+
+<p>"I have no mistresses."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. But why do you no longer ever come to see me? Why do you
+refuse to come to dinner, even once a week, with me? What I suffer is
+fearful. I love you to that degree that I no longer have a thought that
+is not for you; that I see you continually before my eyes; that I can no
+longer say a word without being afraid of uttering your name. You cannot
+understand that, I know. It seems to me that I am seized in some one's
+clutches, tied up in a sack, I don't know what. Your remembrance, always
+with me, clutches my throat, tears my chest, breaks my legs so as to no
+longer leave me strength to walk. And I remain like an animal sitting
+all day on a chair thinking of you."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her with astonishment. She was no longer the big frolicsome
+tomboy he had known, but a bewildered despairing woman, capable of
+anything. A vague project, however, arose in his mind. He replied: "My
+dear, love is not eternal. We take and we leave one another. But when it
+drags on, as between us two, it becomes a terrible drag. I will have no
+more of it. That is the truth. However, if you can be reasonable, and
+receive and treat me as a friend, I will come as I used to. Do you feel
+capable of that?"</p>
+
+<p>She placed her two bare arms on George's coat, and murmured: "I am
+capable of anything in order to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is agreed on," said he; "we are friends, and nothing more."</p>
+
+<p>She stammered: "It is agreed on;" and then, holding out her lips to him:
+"One more kiss; the last."</p>
+
+<p>He refused gently, saying: "No, we must keep to our agreement."</p>
+
+<p>She turned aside, wiping away a couple of tears, and then, drawing from
+her bosom a bundle of papers tied with pink silk ribbon, offered it to
+Du Roy, saying: "Here; it is your share of the profit in the Morocco
+affair. I was so pleased to have gained it for you. Here, take it."</p>
+
+<p>He wanted to refuse, observing: "No, I will not take that money."</p>
+
+<p>Then she grew indignant. "Ah! so you won't take it now. It is yours,
+yours, only. If you do not take it, I will throw it into the gutter. You
+won't act like that, George?"</p>
+
+<p>He received the little bundle, and slipped it into his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"We must go in," said he, "you will catch cold."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "So much the better, if I could die."</p>
+
+<p>She took one of his hands, kissed it passionately, with rage and
+despair, and fled towards the mansion. He returned, quietly reflecting.
+Then he re-entered the conservatory with haughty forehead and smiling
+lip. His wife and Laroche-Mathieu were no longer there. The crowd was
+thinning. It was becoming evident that they would not stay for the
+dance. He perceived Susan arm-in-arm with her sister. They both came
+towards him to ask him to dance the first quadrille with the Count de
+Latour Yvelin.</p>
+
+<p>He was astonished, and asked: "Who is he, too?"</p>
+
+<p>Susan answered maliciously: "A new friend of my sister's." Rose blushed,
+and murmured: "You are very spiteful, Susan; he is no more my friend
+than yours."</p>
+
+<p>Susan smiled, saying: "Oh! I know all about it."</p>
+
+<p>Rose annoyed, turned her back on them and went away. Du Roy familiarly
+took the elbow of the young girl left standing beside him, and said in
+his caressing voice: "Listen, my dear, you believe me to be your
+friend?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Pretty-boy."</p>
+
+<p>"You have confidence in me?" "Quite."</p>
+
+<p>"You remember what I said to you just now?"</p>
+
+<p>"What about?"</p>
+
+<p>"About your marriage, or rather about the man you are going to marry."
+"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, you will promise me one thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"To consult me every time that your hand is asked for, and not to accept
+anyone without taking my advice."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well."</p>
+
+<p>"And to keep this a secret between us two. Not a word of it to your
+father or your mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a promise, then?" "It is a promise."</p>
+
+<p>Rival came up with a bustling air. "Mademoiselle, your papa wants you
+for the dance."</p>
+
+<p>She said: "Come along, Pretty-boy."</p>
+
+<p>But he refused, having made up his mind to leave at once, wishing to be
+alone in order to think. Too many new ideas had entered his mind, and he
+began to look for his wife. In a short time he saw her drinking
+chocolate at the buffet with two gentlemen unknown to him. She
+introduced her husband without mentioning their names to him. After a
+few moments, he said, "Shall we go?"</p>
+
+<p>"When you like."</p>
+
+<p>She took his arm, and they walked back through the reception-rooms, in
+which the public were growing few. She said: "Where is Madame Walter, I
+should like to wish her good-bye?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is better not to. She would try to keep us for the ball, and I have
+had enough of this."</p>
+
+<p>"That is so, you are quite right."</p>
+
+<p>All the way home they were silent. But as soon as they were in their
+room Madeleine said smilingly, before even taking off her veil. "I have
+a surprise for you."</p>
+
+<p>He growled ill-temperedly: "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guess." "I will make no such effort."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the day after to-morrow is the first of January."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"The time for New Year's gifts."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Here's one for you that Laroche-Mathieu gave me just now."</p>
+
+<p>She gave him a little black box resembling a jewel-case. He opened it
+indifferently, and saw the cross of the Legion of Honor. He grew
+somewhat pale, then smiled, and said: "I should have preferred ten
+millions. That did not cost him much."</p>
+
+<p>She had expected an outburst of joy, and was irritated at this coolness.
+"You are really incredible. Nothing satisfies you now," said she.</p>
+
+<p>He replied, tranquilly: "That man is only paying his debt, and he still
+owes me a great deal."</p>
+
+<p>She was astonished at his tone, and resumed: "It is though, a big thing
+at your age."</p>
+
+<p>He remarked: "All things are relative. I could have something bigger
+now."</p>
+
+<p>He had taken the case, and placing it on the mantel-shelf, looked for
+some moments at the glittering star it contained. Then he closed it and
+went to bed, shrugging his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Journal Officiel</i> of the first of January announced the nomination
+of Monsieur Prosper George Du Roy, journalist, to the dignity of
+chevalier of the Legion of Honor, for special services. The name was
+written in two words, which gave George more pleasure than the
+derivation itself.</p>
+
+<p>An hour after having read this piece of news he received a note from
+Madame Walter begging him to come and dine with her that evening with
+his wife, to celebrate his new honors. He hesitated for a few moments,
+and then throwing this note, written in ambiguous terms, into the fire,
+said to Madeleine:</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to dinner at the Walter's this evening."</p>
+
+<p>She was astonished. "Why, I thought you never wanted to set foot in the
+house again."</p>
+
+<p>He only remarked: "I have changed my mind."</p>
+
+<p>When they arrived Madame Walter was alone in the little Louis XVI.
+boudoir she had adopted for the reception of personal friends. Dressed
+in black, she had powdered her hair, which rendered her charming. She
+had the air at a distance of an old woman, and close at hand, of a young
+one, and when one looked at her well, of a pretty snare for the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You are in mourning?" inquired Madeleine.</p>
+
+<p>She replied, sadly: "Yes, and no. I have not lost any relative. But I
+have reached the age when one wears the mourning of one's life. I wear
+it to-day to inaugurate it. In future I shall wear it in my heart."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy thought: "Will this resolution hold good?"</p>
+
+<p>The dinner was somewhat dull. Susan alone chattered incessantly. Rose
+seemed preoccupied. The journalist was warmly congratulated. During the
+evening they strolled chatting through the saloons and the conservatory.
+As Du Roy was walking in the rear with Madame Walter, she checked him by
+the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," said she, in a low voice, "I will never speak to you of
+anything again, never. But come and see me, George. It is impossible for
+me to live without you, impossible. It is indescribable torture. I feel
+you, I cherish you before my eyes, in my heart, all day and all night.
+It is as though you had caused me to drink a poison which was eating me
+away within. I cannot bear it, no, I cannot bear it. I am willing to be
+nothing but an old woman for you. I have made my hair white to show you
+so, but come here, only come here from time to time as a friend."</p>
+
+<p>She had taken his hand and was squeezing it, crushing it, burying her
+nails in his flesh.</p>
+
+<p>He answered, quietly: "It is understood, then. It is useless to speak of
+all that again. You see I came to-day at once on receiving your letter."</p>
+
+<p>Walter, who had walked on in advance with his two daughters and
+Madeleine, was waiting for Du Roy beside the picture of "Jesus Walking
+on the Waters."</p>
+
+<p>"Fancy," said he, laughing, "I found my wife yesterday on her knees
+before this picture, as if in a chapel. She was paying her devotions.
+How I did laugh."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter replied in a firm voice&mdash;a voice thrilling with secret
+exultation: "It is that Christ who will save my soul. He gives me
+strength and courage every time I look at Him." And pausing in front of
+the Divinity standing amidst the waters, she murmured: "How handsome he
+is. How afraid of Him those men are, and yet how they love Him. Look at
+His head, His eyes&mdash;how simple yet how supernatural at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>Susan exclaimed, "But He resembles you, Pretty-boy. I am sure He
+resembles you. If you had a beard, or if He was clean shaven, you would
+be both alike. Oh, but it is striking!"</p>
+
+<p>She insisted on his standing beside the picture, and they all, indeed,
+recognized that the two faces resembled one another. Everyone was
+astonished. Walter thought it very singular. Madeleine, smiling,
+declared that Jesus had a more manly air. Madame Walter stood
+motionless, gazing fixedly at the face of her lover beside the face of
+Christ, and had become as white as her hair.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2>
+
+
+<p>During the remainder of the winter the Du Roys often visited the
+Walters. George even dined there by himself continually, Madeleine
+saying she was tired, and preferring to remain at home. He had adopted
+Friday as a fixed day, and Madame Walter never invited anyone that
+evening; it belonged to Pretty-boy, to him alone. After dinner they
+played cards, and fed the goldfish, amusing themselves like a family
+circle. Several times behind a door or a clump of shrubs in the
+conservatory, Madame Walter had suddenly clasped George in her arms, and
+pressing him with all her strength to her breast, had whispered in his
+ear, "I love you, I love you till it is killing me." But he had always
+coldly repulsed her, replying, in a dry tone: "If you begin that
+business once again, I shall not come here any more."</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of March the marriage of the two sisters was all at once
+spoken about. Rose, it was said, was to marry the Count de
+Latour-Yvelin, and Susan the Marquis de Cazolles. These two gentlemen
+had become familiars of the household, those familiars to whom special
+favors and marked privileges are granted. George and Susan continued to
+live in a species of free and fraternal intimacy, romping for hours,
+making fun of everyone, and seeming greatly to enjoy one another's
+company. They had never spoken again of the possible marriage of the
+young girl, nor of the suitors who offered themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The governor had brought George home to lunch one morning. Madame Walter
+was called away immediately after the repast to see one of the
+tradesmen, and the young fellow said to Susan: "Let us go and feed the
+goldfish."</p>
+
+<p>They each took a piece of crumb of bread from the table and went into
+the conservatory. All along the marble brim cushions were left lying on
+the ground, so that one could kneel down round the basin, so as to be
+nearer the fish. They each took one of these, side by side, and bending
+over the water, began to throw in pellets of bread rolled between the
+fingers. The fish, as soon as they caught sight of them, flocked round,
+wagging their tails, waving their fins, rolling their great projecting
+eyes, turning round, diving to catch the bait as it sank, and coming up
+at once to ask for more. They had a funny action of the mouth, sudden
+and rapid movements, a strangely monstrous appearance, and against the
+sand of the bottom stood out a bright red, passing like flames through
+the transparent water, or showing, as soon as they halted, the blue
+edging to their scales. George and Susan saw their own faces looking up
+in the water, and smiled at them. All at once he said in a low voice:
+"It is not kind to hide things from me, Susan."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean, Pretty-boy?" asked she.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you remember, what you promised me here on the evening of the
+fête?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"To consult me every time your hand was asked for."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it has been asked for."</p>
+
+<p>"By whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know very well."</p>
+
+<p>"No. I swear to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you do. That great fop, the Marquis de Cazolles."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not a fop, in the first place."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be so, but he is stupid, ruined by play, and worn out by
+dissipation. It is really a nice match for you, so pretty, so fresh, and
+so intelligent."</p>
+
+<p>She inquired, smiling: "What have you against him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I, nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you have. He is not all that you say."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. He is a fool and an intriguer."</p>
+
+<p>She turned round somewhat, leaving off looking into the water, and said:
+"Come, what is the matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>He said, as though a secret was being wrenched from the bottom of his
+heart: "I&mdash;I&mdash;am jealous of him."</p>
+
+<p>She was slightly astonished, saying: "You?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am in love with you, and you know it very well, you naughty
+girl."</p>
+
+<p>She said, in a severe tone: "You are mad, Pretty-boy."</p>
+
+<p>He replied; "I know very well that I am mad. Ought I to have admitted
+that&mdash;I, a married man, to you, a young girl? I am more than mad, I am
+guilty. I have no possible hope, and the thought of that drives me out
+of my senses. And when I hear it said that you are going to be married,
+I have fits of rage enough to kill someone. You must forgive me this,
+Susan."</p>
+
+<p>He was silent. The whole of the fish, to whom bread was no longer being
+thrown, were motionless, drawn up in line like English soldiers, and
+looking at the bent heads of those two who were no longer troubling
+themselves about them. The young girl murmured, half sadly, half gayly:
+"It is a pity that you are married. What would you? Nothing can be done.
+It is settled."</p>
+
+<p>He turned suddenly towards her, and said right in her face: "If I were
+free, would you marry me?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied, in a tone of sincerity: "Yes, Pretty-boy, I would marry
+you, for you please me far better than any of the others."</p>
+
+<p>He rose, and stammered: "Thanks, thanks; do not say 'yes' to anyone yet,
+I beg of you; wait a little longer, I entreat you. Will you promise me
+this much?"</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, somewhat uneasily, and without understanding what he
+wanted: "Yes, I promise you."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy threw the lump of bread he still held in his hand into the water,
+and fled as though he had lost his head, without wishing her good-bye.
+All the fish rushed eagerly at this lump of crumb, which floated, not
+having been kneaded in the fingers, and nibbled it with greedy mouths.
+They dragged it away to the other end of the basin, and forming a moving
+cluster, a kind of animated and twisting flower, a live flower fallen
+into the water head downwards.</p>
+
+<p>Susan, surprised and uneasy, got up and returned slowly to the
+dining-room. The journalist had left.</p>
+
+<p>He came home very calm, and as Madeleine was writing letters, said to
+her: "Are you going to dine at the Walters' on Friday? I am going."</p>
+
+<p>She hesitated, and replied: "No. I do not feel very well. I would rather
+stay at home."</p>
+
+<p>He remarked: "Just as you like."</p>
+
+<p>Then he took his hat and went out again at once. For some time past he
+had been keeping watch over her, following her about, knowing all her
+movements. The hour he had been awaiting was at length at hand. He had
+not been deceived by the tone in which she had said: "I would rather
+stay at home."</p>
+
+<p>He was very amiable towards her during the next few days. He even
+appeared lively, which was not usual, and she said: "You are growing
+quite nice again."</p>
+
+<p>He dressed early on the Friday, in order to make some calls before going
+to the governor's, he said. He started just before six, after kissing
+his wife, and went and took a cab at the Place Notre Dame de Lorette. He
+said to the driver: "Pull up in front of No. 17, Rue Fontaine, and stay
+there till I tell you to go on again. Then drive to the Cock Pheasant
+restaurant in the Rue Lafayette."</p>
+
+<p>The cab started at a slow trot, and Du Roy drew down the blinds. As soon
+as he was opposite the door he did not take his eyes off it. After
+waiting ten minutes he saw Madeleine come out and go in the direction of
+the outer boulevards. As soon as she had got far enough off he put his
+head through the window, and said to the driver: "Go on." The cab
+started again, and landed him in front of the Cock Pheasant, a
+well-known middle-class restaurant. George went into the main
+dining-room and ate slowly, looking at his watch from time to time. At
+half-past seven, when he had finished his coffee, drank two liqueurs of
+brandy, and slowly smoked a good cigar, he went out, hailed another cab
+that was going by empty, and was driven to the Rue La Rochefoucauld. He
+ascended without making any inquiry of the doorkeeper, to the third
+story of the house he had told the man to drive to, and when a servant
+opened the door to him, said: "Monsieur Guibert de Lorme is at home, is
+he not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes sir."</p>
+
+<p>He was ushered into the drawing-room, where he waited for a few minutes.
+Then a gentleman came in, tall, and with a military bearing, gray-haired
+though still young, and wearing the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. Du
+Roy bowed, and said: "As I foresaw, Mr. Commissionary, my wife is now
+dining with her lover in the furnished rooms they have hired in the Rue
+des Martyrs."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary of police bowed, saying: "I am at your service, sir."</p>
+
+<p>George continued: "You have until nine o'clock, have you not? That limit
+of time passed, you can no longer enter a private dwelling to prove
+adultery."</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; seven o'clock in winter, nine o'clock from the 31st March. It
+is the 5th of April, so we have till nine o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Mr. Commissionary, I have a cab downstairs; we can take the
+officers who will accompany you, and wait a little before the door. The
+later we arrive the best chance we have of catching them in the act."</p>
+
+<p>"As you like, sir."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary left the room, and then returned with an overcoat, hiding
+his tri-colored sash. He drew back to let Du Roy pass out first. But the
+journalist, who was preoccupied, declined to do so, and kept saying:
+"After you, sir, after you."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary said: "Go first, sir, I am at home."</p>
+
+<p>George bowed, and passed out. They went first to the police office to
+pick up three officers in plain clothes who were awaiting them, for
+George had given notice during the day that the surprise would take
+place that evening. One of the men got on the box beside the driver. The
+other two entered the cab, which reached the Rue des Martyrs. Du Roy
+said: "I have a plan of the rooms. They are on the second floor. We
+shall first find a little ante-room, then a dining-room, then the
+bedroom. The three rooms open into one another. There is no way out to
+facilitate flight. There is a locksmith a little further on. He is
+holding himself in readiness to be called upon by you."</p>
+
+<p>When they arrived opposite the house it was only a quarter past eight,
+and they waited in silence for more than twenty minutes. But when he
+saw the three quarters about to strike, George said: "Let us start now."</p>
+
+<p>They went up the stairs without troubling themselves about the
+doorkeeper, who, indeed, did not notice them. One of the officers
+remained in the street to keep watch on the front door. The four men
+stopped at the second floor, and George put his ear to the door and then
+looked through the keyhole. He neither heard nor saw anything. He rang
+the bell.</p>
+
+<p>The commissary said to the officers: "You will remain in readiness till
+called on."</p>
+
+<p>And they waited. At the end of two or three minutes George again pulled
+the bell several times in succession. They noted a noise from the
+further end of the rooms, and then a slight step approached. Someone was
+coming to spy who was there. The journalist then rapped smartly on the
+panel of the door. A voice, a woman's voice, that an attempt was
+evidently being made to disguise asked: "Who is there?"</p>
+
+<p>The commissary replied: "Open, in the name of the law."</p>
+
+<p>The voice repeated: "Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am the commissary of police. Open the door, or I will have it broken
+in."</p>
+
+<p>The voice went on: "What do you want?"</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy said: "It is I. It is useless to seek to escape."</p>
+
+<p>The light steps, the tread of bare feet, was heard to withdraw, and then
+in a few seconds to return.</p>
+
+<p>George said: "If you won't open, we will break in the door."</p>
+
+<p>He grasped the handle, and pushed slowly with his shoulder. As there
+was no longer any reply, he suddenly gave such a violent and vigorous
+shock that the old lock gave way. The screws were torn out of the wood,
+and he almost fell over Madeleine, who was standing in the ante-room,
+clad in a chemise and petticoat, her hair down, her legs bare, and a
+candle in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>He exclaimed: "It is she, we have them," and darted forward into the
+rooms. The commissary, having taken off his hat, followed him, and the
+startled woman came after, lighting the way. They crossed a
+drawing-room, the uncleaned table of which displayed the remnants of a
+repast&mdash;empty champagne bottles, an open pot of fatted goose liver, the
+body of a fowl, and some half-eaten bits of bread. Two plates piled on
+the sideboard were piled with oyster shells.</p>
+
+<p>The bedroom seemed disordered, as though by a struggle. A dress was
+thrown over a chair, a pair of trousers hung astride the arm of another.
+Four boots, two large and two small, lay on their sides at the foot of
+the bed. It was the room of a house let out in furnished lodgings, with
+commonplace furniture, filled with that hateful and sickening smell of
+all such places, the odor of all the people who had slept or lived there
+a day or six months. A plate of cakes, a bottle of chartreuse, and two
+liqueur glasses, still half full, encumbered the mantel-shelf. The upper
+part of the bronze clock was hidden by a man's hat.</p>
+
+<p>The commissary turned round sharply, and looking Madeleine straight in
+the face, said: "You are Madame Claire Madeleine Du Roy, wife of
+Monsieur Prosper George Du Roy, journalist, here present?"</p>
+
+<p>She uttered in a choking voice: "Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing here?" She did not answer.</p>
+
+<p>The commissary went on: "What are you doing here? I find you away from
+home, almost undressed, in furnished apartments. What did you come here
+for?" He waited for a few moments. Then, as she still remained silent,
+he continued: "Since you will not confess, madame, I shall be obliged to
+verify the state of things."</p>
+
+<p>In the bed could be seen the outline of a form hidden beneath the
+clothes. The commissary approached and said: "Sir."</p>
+
+<p>The man in bed did not stir. He seemed to have his back turned, and his
+head buried under a pillow. The commissary touched what seemed to be his
+shoulder, and said: "Sir, do not, I beg of you, force me to take
+action."</p>
+
+<p>But the form still remained as motionless as a corpse. Du Roy, who had
+advanced quickly, seized the bed-clothes, pulled them down, and tearing
+away the pillow, revealed the pale face of Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu. He
+bent over him, and, quivering with the desire to seize him by the throat
+and strangle him, said, between his clenched teeth: "Have at least the
+courage of your infamy."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary again asked: "Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>The bewildered lover not replying, he continued: "I am a commissary of
+police, and I summon you to tell me your name."</p>
+
+<p>George, who was quivering with brutal wrath, shouted: "Answer, you
+coward, or I will tell your name myself."</p>
+
+<p>Then the man in the bed stammered: "Mr. Commissary, you ought not to
+allow me to be insulted by this person. Is it with you or with him that
+I have to do? Is it to you or to him that I have to answer?"</p>
+
+<p>His mouth seemed to be dried up as he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>The commissary replied: "With me, sir; with me alone. I ask you who you
+are?"</p>
+
+<p>The other was silent. He held the sheet close up to his neck, and rolled
+his startled eyes. His little, curled-up moustache showed up black upon
+his blanched face.</p>
+
+<p>The commissary continued: "You will not answer, eh? Then I shall be
+forced to arrest you. In any case, get up. I will question you when you
+are dressed."</p>
+
+<p>The body wriggled in the bed, and the head murmured: "But I cannot,
+before you."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary asked: "Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>The other stammered: "Because I am&mdash;I am&mdash;quite naked."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy began to chuckle sneeringly, and picking up a shirt that had
+fallen onto the floor, threw it onto the bed, exclaiming: "Come, get up.
+Since you have undressed in my wife's presence, you can very well dress
+in mine."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned his back, and returned towards the fireplace. Madeleine
+had recovered all her coolness, and seeing that all was lost, was ready
+to dare anything. Her eyes glittered with bravado, and twisting up a
+piece of paper she lit, as though for a reception, the ten candles in
+the ugly candelabra, placed at the corners of the mantel-shelf. Then,
+leaning against this, and holding out backwards to the dying fire one of
+her bare feet which she lifted up behind the petticoat, scarcely
+sticking to her hips, she took a cigarette from a pink paper case, lit
+it, and began to smoke. The commissary had returned towards her, pending
+that her accomplice got up.</p>
+
+<p>She inquired insolently: "Do you often have such jobs as these, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied gravely: "As seldom as possible, madame."</p>
+
+<p>She smiled in his face, saying: "I congratulate you; it is dirty work."</p>
+
+<p>She affected not to look at or even to see her husband.</p>
+
+<p>But the gentleman in the bed was dressing. He had put on his trousers,
+pulled on his boots, and now approached putting on his waistcoat. The
+commissary turned towards him, saying: "Now, sir, will you tell me who
+you are?"</p>
+
+<p>He made no reply, and the official said: "I find myself obliged to
+arrest you."</p>
+
+<p>Then the man exclaimed suddenly: "Do not lay hands on me. My person is
+inviolable."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy darted towards him as though to throw him down, and growled in
+his face: "Caught in the act, in the act. I can have you arrested if I
+choose; yes, I can." Then, in a ringing tone, he added: "This man is
+Laroche-Mathieu, Minister of Foreign Affairs."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary drew back, stupefied, and stammered: "Really, sir, will
+you tell me who you are?"</p>
+
+<p>The other had made up his mind, and said in forcible tones: "For once
+that scoundrel has not lied. I am, indeed, Laroche-Mathieu, the
+minister." Then, holding out his hand towards George's chest, in which a
+little bit of red ribbon showed itself, he added: "And that rascal wears
+on his coat the cross of honor which I gave him."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy had become livid. With a rapid movement he tore the bit of ribbon
+from his buttonhole, and, throwing it into the fireplace, exclaimed:
+"That is all that is fit for a decoration coming from a swine like
+you."</p>
+
+<p>They were quite close, face to face, exasperated, their fists clenched,
+the one lean, with a flowing moustache, the other stout, with a twisted
+one. The commissary stepped rapidly between the pair, and pushing them
+apart with his hands, observed: "Gentlemen, you are forgetting
+yourselves; you are lacking in self-respect."</p>
+
+<p>They became quiet and turned on their heels. Madeleine, motionless, was
+still smoking in silence.</p>
+
+<p>The police official resumed: "Sir, I have found you alone with Madame Du
+Roy here, you in bed, she almost naked, with your clothes scattered
+about the room. This is legal evidence of adultery. You cannot deny this
+evidence. What have you to say for yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>Laroche-Mathieu murmured: "I have nothing to say; do your duty."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary addressed himself to Madeleine: "Do you admit, madame,
+that this gentleman is your lover?"</p>
+
+<p>She said with a certain swagger: "I do not deny it; he is my lover."</p>
+
+<p>"That is enough."</p>
+
+<p>The commissary made some notes as to the condition and arrangement of
+the rooms. As he was finishing writing, the minister, who had finished
+dressing, and was waiting with his greatcoat over his arm and his hat in
+his hand, said: "Have you still need of me, sir? What am I to do? Can I
+withdraw?"</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy turned towards him, and smiling insolently, said: "Why so? We
+have finished. You can go to bed again, sir; we will leave you alone."
+And placing a finger on the official's arm, he continued: "Let us
+retire, Mr. Commissary, we have nothing more to do in this place."</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat surprised, the commissary followed, but on the threshold of the
+room George stopped to allow him to pass. The other declined, out of
+politeness. Du Roy persisted, saying: "Pass first, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"After you, sir," replied the commissary.</p>
+
+<p>The journalist bowed, and in a tone of ironical politeness, said: "It is
+your turn, sir; I am almost at home here."</p>
+
+<p>Then he softly reclosed the door with an air of discretion.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later George Du Roy entered the offices of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>.
+Monsieur Walter was already there, for he continued to manage and
+supervise with solicitude his paper, which had enormously increased in
+circulation, and greatly helped the schemes of his bank. The manager
+raised his head and said: "Ah! here you are. You look very strange. Why
+did you not come to dinner with us? What have you been up to?"</p>
+
+<p>The young fellow, sure of his effect, said, emphasizing every word: "I
+have just upset the Minister of Foreign Affairs."</p>
+
+<p>The other thought he was joking, and said: "Upset what?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to turn out the Cabinet. That is all. It is quite time to
+get rid of that rubbish."</p>
+
+<p>The old man thought that his leader-writer must be drunk. He murmured:
+"Come, you are talking nonsense."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. I have just caught Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu committing
+adultery with my wife. The commissary of police has verified the fact.
+The minister is done for."</p>
+
+<p>Walter, amazed, pushed his spectacles right back on his forehead, and
+said: "You are not joking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. I am even going to write an article on it."</p>
+
+<p>"But what do you want to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"To upset that scoundrel, that wretch, that open evil-doer." George
+placed his hat on an armchair, and added: "Woe to those who cross my
+path. I never forgive."</p>
+
+<p>The manager still hesitated at understanding matters. He murmured:
+"But&mdash;your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"My application for a divorce will be lodged to-morrow morning. I shall
+send her back to the departed Forestier."</p>
+
+<p>"You mean to get a divorce?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I was ridiculous. But I had to play the idiot in order to catch
+them. That's done. I am master of the situation."</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Walter could not get over it, and watched Du Roy with startling
+eyes, thinking: "Hang it, here is a fellow to be looked after."</p>
+
+<p>George went on: "I am now free. I have some money. I shall offer myself
+as a candidate at the October elections for my native place, where I am
+well known. I could not take a position or make myself respected with
+that woman, who was suspected by every one. She had caught me like a
+fool, humbugged and ensnared me. But since I became alive to her little
+game I kept watch on her, the slut." He began to laugh, and added: "It
+was poor Forestier who was cuckold, a cuckold without imagining it,
+confiding and tranquil. Now I am free from the leprosy he left me. My
+hands are free. Now I shall get on." He had seated himself astride a
+chair, and repeated, as though thinking aloud, "I shall get on."</p>
+
+<p>And Daddy Walter, still looking at him with unveiled eyes, his
+spectacles remaining pushed up on his forehead, said to himself: "Yes,
+he will get on, the rascal."</p>
+
+<p>George rose. "I am going to write the article. It must be done
+discreetly. But you know it will be terrible for the minister. He has
+gone to smash. He cannot be picked up again. The <i>Vie Francaise</i> has no
+longer any interest to spare him."</p>
+
+<p>The old fellow hesitated for a few moments, and then made up his mind.
+"Do so," said he; "so much the worse for those who get into such
+messes."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2>
+
+
+<p>Three months had elapsed. Du Roy's divorce had just been granted. His
+wife had resumed the name of Forestier, and, as the Walters were to
+leave on the 15th of July for Trouville, it was decided that he and they
+should spend a day in the country together before they started. A
+Thursday was selected, and they started at nine in the morning in a
+large traveling landau with six places, drawn by four horses with
+postilions. They were going to lunch at the Pavilion Henri-Quatre at
+Saint Germain. Pretty-boy had asked to be the only man of the party, for
+he could not endure the presence of the Marquis de Cazolles. But at the
+last moment it was decided that the Count de Latour-Yvelin should be
+called for on the way. He had been told the day before.</p>
+
+<p>The carriage passed up the Avenue of the Champs Elyseés at a swinging
+trot, and then traversed the Bois de Boulogne. It was splendid summer
+weather, not too warm. The swallows traced long sweeping lines across
+the blue sky that one fancied one could still see after they had passed.
+The three ladies occupied the back seat, the mother between her
+daughters, and the men were with their backs to the horses, Walter
+between the two guests. They crossed the Seine, skirted Mount Valerien,
+and gained Bougival in order to follow the river as far as Le Pecq.</p>
+
+<p>The Count de Latour-Yvelin, a man advancing towards middle-age, with
+long, light whiskers, gazed tenderly at Rose. They had been engaged for
+a month. George, who was very pale, often looked at Susan, who was pale
+too. Their eyes often met, and seemed to concert something, to
+understand one another, to secretly exchange a thought, and then to flee
+one another. Madame Walter was quiet and happy.</p>
+
+<p>The lunch was a long one. Before starting back for Paris, George
+suggested a turn on the terrace. They stopped at first to admire the
+view. All ranged themselves in a line along the parapet, and went into
+ecstasies over the far-stretching horizon. The Seine at the foot of a
+long hill flowed towards Maisons-Lafitte like an immense serpent
+stretched in the herbage. To the right, on the summit of the slope, the
+aqueduct of Marly showed against the skyline its outline, resembling
+that of a gigantic, long-legged caterpillar, and Marly was lost beneath
+it in a thick cluster of trees. On the immense plain extending in front
+of them, villages could be seen dotted. The pieces of water at Le
+Vesinet showed like clear spots amidst the thin foliage of the little
+forest. To the left, away in the distance, the pointed steeple of
+Sastrouville could be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Walter said: "Such a panorama is not to be found anywhere in the world.
+There is not one to match it in Switzerland."</p>
+
+<p>Then they began to walk on gently, to have a stroll and enjoy the
+prospect. George and Susan remained behind. As soon as they were a few
+paces off, he said to her in a low and restrained voice: "Susan, I adore
+you. I love you to madness."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "So do I you, Pretty-boy."</p>
+
+<p>He went on: "If I do not have you for my wife, I shall leave Paris and
+this country."</p>
+
+<p>She replied: "Ask Papa for my hand. Perhaps he will consent."</p>
+
+<p>He made a gesture of impatience. "No, I tell you for the twentieth time
+that is useless. The door of your house would be closed to me. I should
+be dismissed from the paper, and we should not be able even to see one
+another. That is a pretty result, at which I am sure to arrive by a
+formal demand for you. They have promised you to the Marquis de
+Cazolles. They hope that you will end by saying 'yes,' and they are
+waiting for that."</p>
+
+<p>She asked: "What is to be done?"</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated, glancing at her, sidelong fashion. "Do you love me enough
+to run a risk?"</p>
+
+<p>She answered resolutely: "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"A great risk?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"The greatest of risks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you the courage to set your father and mother at defiance?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Really now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, there is one way and only one. The thing must come from you
+and not from me. You are a spoilt child; they let you say whatever you
+like, and they will not be too much astonished at an act of daring the
+more on your part. Listen, then. This evening, on reaching home, you
+must go to your mamma first, your mamma alone, and tell her you want to
+marry me. She will be greatly moved and very angry&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Susan interrupted him with: "Oh, mamma will agree."</p>
+
+<p>He went on quickly: "No, you do not know her. She will be more vexed and
+angrier than your father. You will see how she will refuse. But you must
+be firm, you must not give way, you must repeat that you want to marry
+me, and no one else. Will you do this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will."</p>
+
+<p>"On leaving your mother you must tell your father the same thing in a
+very serious and decided manner."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes; and then?"</p>
+
+<p>"And then it is that matters become serious. If you are determined, very
+determined&mdash;very, very determined to be my wife, my dear, dear little
+Susan&mdash;I will&mdash;run away with you."</p>
+
+<p>She experienced a joyful shock, and almost clapped her hands. "Oh! how
+delightful. You will run away with me. When will you run away with me?"</p>
+
+<p>All the old poetry of nocturnal elopements, post-chaises, country inns;
+all the charming adventures told in books, flashed through her mind,
+like an enchanting dream about to be realized. She repeated: "When will
+you run away with me?"</p>
+
+<p>He replied, in low tones: "This evening&mdash;to-night."</p>
+
+<p>She asked, quivering: "And where shall we go to?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is my secret. Reflect on what you are doing. Remember that after
+such a flight you can only be my wife. It is the only way, but is&mdash;it is
+very dangerous&mdash;for you."</p>
+
+<p>She declared: "I have made up my mind; where shall I rejoin you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you get out of the hotel alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I know how to undo the little door."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when the doorkeeper has gone to bed, towards midnight, come and
+meet me on the Place de la Concorde. You will find me in a cab drawn up
+in front of the Ministry of Marine."</p>
+
+<p>"I will come."</p>
+
+<p>"Really?"</p>
+
+<p>"Really."</p>
+
+<p>He took her hand and pressed it. "Oh! how I love you. How good and brave
+you are! So you don't want to marry Monsieur de Cazolles?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! no."</p>
+
+<p>"Your father was very angry when you said no?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so. He wanted to send me back to the convent."</p>
+
+<p>"You see that it is necessary to be energetic."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be so."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at the vast horizon, her head full of the idea of being ran
+off with. She would go further than that with him. She would be ran away
+with. She was proud of it. She scarcely thought of her reputation&mdash;of
+what shame might befall her. Was she aware of it? Did she even suspect
+it?</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter, turning round, exclaimed: "Come along, little one. What
+are you doing with Pretty-boy?"</p>
+
+<p>They rejoined the others and spoke of the seaside, where they would soon
+be. Then they returned home by way of Chatou, in order not to go over
+the same road twice. George no longer spoke. He reflected. If the little
+girl had a little courage, he was going to succeed at last. For three
+months he had been enveloping her in the irresistible net of his love.
+He was seducing, captivating, conquering her. He had made himself loved
+by her, as he knew how to make himself loved. He had captured her
+childish soul without difficulty. He had at first obtained of her that
+she should refuse Monsieur de Cazolles. He had just obtained that she
+would fly with him. For there was no other way. Madame Walter, he well
+understood, would never agree to give him her daughter. She still loved
+him; she would always love him with unmanageable violence. He restrained
+her by his studied coldness; but he felt that she was eaten up by hungry
+and impotent passion. He could never bend her. She would never allow him
+to have Susan. But once he had the girl away he would deal on a level
+footing with her father. Thinking of all this, he replied by broken
+phrases to the remarks addressed to him, and which he did not hear. He
+only seemed to come to himself when they returned to Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Susan, too, was thinking, and the bells of the four horses rang in her
+ears, making her see endless miles of highway under eternal moonlight,
+gloomy forests traversed, wayside inns, and the hurry of the hostlers to
+change horses, for every one guesses that they are pursued.</p>
+
+<p>When the landau entered the court-yard of the mansion, they wanted to
+keep George to dinner. He refused, and went home. After having eaten a
+little, he went through his papers as if about to start on a long
+journey. He burnt some compromising letters, hid others, and wrote to
+some friends. From time to time he looked at the clock, thinking:
+"Things must be getting warm there." And a sense of uneasiness gnawed at
+his heart. Suppose he was going to fail? But what could he fear? He
+could always get out of it. Yet it was a big game he was playing that
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>He went out towards eleven o'clock, wandered about some time, took a
+cab, and had it drawn up in the Place de la Concorde, by the Ministry of
+Marine. From time to time he struck a match to see the time by his
+watch. When he saw midnight approaching, his impatience became feverish.
+Every moment he thrust his head out of the window to look. A distant
+clock struck twelve, then another nearer, then two together, then a last
+one, very far away. When the latter had ceased to sound, he thought: "It
+is all over. It is a failure. She won't come." He had made up his mind,
+however, to wait till daylight. In these matters one must be patient.</p>
+
+<p>He heard the quarter strike, then the half-hour, then the quarter to,
+and all the clocks repeated "one," as they had announced midnight. He no
+longer expected her; he was merely remaining, racking his brain to
+divine what could have happened. All at once a woman's head was passed
+through the window, and asked: "Are you there, Pretty-boy?"</p>
+
+<p>He started, almost choked with emotion, "Is that you, Susan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is I."</p>
+
+<p>He could not manage to turn the handle quickly enough, and repeated:
+"Ah! it is you, it is you; come inside."</p>
+
+<p>She came in and fell against him. He said, "Go on," to the driver, and
+the cab started.</p>
+
+<p>She gasped, without saying a word.</p>
+
+<p>He asked: "Well, how did it go off?"</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, almost fainting: "Oh! it was terrible, above all with
+mamma."</p>
+
+<p>He was uneasy and quivering. "Your mamma. What did she say? Tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! it was awful. I went into her room and told her my little story
+that I had carefully prepared. She grew pale, and then she cried:
+'Never, never.' I cried, I grew angry. I vowed I would marry no one but
+you. I thought that she was going to strike me. She went on just as if
+she were mad; she declared that I should be sent back to the convent the
+next day. I had never seen her like that&mdash;never. Then papa came in,
+hearing her shouting all her nonsense. He was not so angry as she was,
+but he declared that you were not a good enough match. As they had put
+me in a rage, too, I shouted louder than they did. And papa told me to
+leave the room, with a melodramatic air that did not suit him at all.
+This is what decided me to run off with you. Here I am. Where are we
+going to?"</p>
+
+<p>He had passed his arm gently round her and was listening with all his
+ears, his heart throbbing, and a ravenous hatred awakening within him
+against these people. But he had got their daughter. They should just
+see.</p>
+
+<p>He answered: "It is too late to catch a train, so this cab will take us
+to Sevres, where we shall pass the night. To-morrow we shall start for
+La Roche-Guyon. It is a pretty village on the banks of the Seine,
+between Nantes and Bonnieres."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured: "But I have no clothes. I have nothing."</p>
+
+<p>He smiled carelessly: "Bah! we will arrange all that there."</p>
+
+<p>The cab rolled along the street. George took one of the young girl's
+hands and began to kiss it slowly and with respect. He scarcely knew
+what to say to her, being scarcely accustomed to platonic love-making.
+But all at once he thought he noted that she was crying. He inquired,
+with alarm: "What is the matter with you, darling?"</p>
+
+<p>She replied in tearful tones: "Poor mamma, she will not be able to sleep
+if she has found out my departure."</p>
+
+<p>Her mother, indeed, was not asleep.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Susan had left the room, Madame Walter remained face to face
+with her husband. She asked, bewildered and cast down: "Good heavens!
+What is the meaning of this?"</p>
+
+<p>Walter exclaimed furiously: "It means that that schemer has bewitched
+her. It is he who made her refuse Cazolles. He thinks her dowry worth
+trying for." He began to walk angrily up and down the room, and went
+on: "You were always luring him here, too, yourself; you flattered him,
+you cajoled him, you could not cosset him enough. It was Pretty-boy
+here, Pretty-boy there, from morning till night, and this is the return
+for it."</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, livid: "I&mdash;I lured him?"</p>
+
+<p>He shouted in her face: "Yes, you. You were all mad over him&mdash;Madame de
+Marelle, Susan, and the rest. Do you think I did not see that you could
+not pass a couple of days without having him here?"</p>
+
+<p>She drew herself up tragically: "I will not allow you to speak to me
+like that. You forget that I was not brought up like you, behind a
+counter."</p>
+
+<p>He stood for a moment stupefied, and then uttered a furious "Damn it
+all!" and rushed out, slamming the door after him. As soon as she was
+alone she went instinctively to the glass to see if anything was changed
+in her, so impossible and monstrous did what had happened appear. Susan
+in love with Pretty-boy, and Pretty-boy wanting to marry Susan! No, she
+was mistaken; it was not true. The girl had had a very natural fancy for
+this good-looking fellow; she had hoped that they would give him her for
+a husband, and had made her little scene because she wanted to have her
+own way. But he&mdash;he could not be an accomplice in that. She reflected,
+disturbed, as one in presence of great catastrophes. No, Pretty-boy
+could know nothing of Susan's prank.</p>
+
+<p>She thought for a long time over the possible innocence or perfidy of
+this man. What a scoundrel, if he had prepared the blow! And what would
+happen! What dangers and tortures she foresaw. If he knew nothing, all
+could yet be arranged. They would travel about with Susan for six
+months, and it would be all over. But how could she meet him herself
+afterwards? For she still loved him. This passion had entered into her
+being like those arrowheads that cannot be withdrawn. To live without
+him was impossible. She might as well die.</p>
+
+<p>Her thoughts wandered amidst these agonies and uncertainties. A pain
+began in her head; her ideas became painful and disturbed. She worried
+herself by trying to work things out; grew mad at not knowing. She
+looked at the clock; it was past one. She said to herself: "I cannot
+remain like this, I shall go mad. I must know. I will wake up Susan and
+question her."</p>
+
+<p>She went barefooted, in order not to make a noise, and with a candle in
+her hand, towards her daughter's room. She opened the door softly, went
+in, and looked at the bed. She did not comprehend matters at first, and
+thought that the girl might still be arguing with her father. But all at
+once a horrible suspicion crossed her mind, and she rushed to her
+husband's room. She reached it in a bound, blanched and panting. He was
+in bed reading.</p>
+
+<p>He asked, startled: "Well, what is it? What is the matter with you?"</p>
+
+<p>She stammered: "Have you seen Susan?"</p>
+
+<p>"I? No. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"She has&mdash;she has&mdash;gone! She is not in her room."</p>
+
+<p>He sprang onto the carpet, thrust his feet into his slippers, and, with
+his shirt tails floating in the air, rushed in turn to his daughter's
+room. As soon as he saw it, he no longer retained any doubt. She had
+fled. He dropped into a chair and placed his lamp on the ground in
+front of him.</p>
+
+<p>His wife had rejoined him, and stammered: "Well?"</p>
+
+<p>He had no longer the strength to reply; he was no longer enraged, he
+only groaned: "It is done; he has got her. We are done for."</p>
+
+<p>She did not understand, and said: "What do you mean? done for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, by Jove! He will certainly marry her now."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a cry like that of a wild beast: "He, never! You must be mad!"</p>
+
+<p>He replied, sadly: "It is no use howling. He has run away with her, he
+has dishonored her. The best thing is to give her to him. By setting to
+work in the right way no one will be aware of this escapade."</p>
+
+<p>She repeated, shaken by terrible emotion: "Never, never; he shall never
+have Susan. I will never consent."</p>
+
+<p>Walter murmured, dejectedly: "But he has got her. It is done. And he
+will keep her and hide her as long as we do not yield. So, to avoid
+scandal, we must give in at once."</p>
+
+<p>His wife, torn by pangs she could not acknowledge, repeated: "No, no, I
+will never consent."</p>
+
+<p>He said, growing impatient: "But there is no disputing about it. It must
+be done. Ah, the rascal, how he has done us! He is a sharp one. All the
+same, we might have made a far better choice as regards position, but
+not as regards intelligence and prospects. He will be a deputy and a
+minister."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter declared, with savage energy: "I will never allow him to
+marry Susan. You understand&mdash;never."</p>
+
+<p>He ended by getting angry and taking up, as a practical man, the cudgels
+on behalf of Pretty-boy. "Hold your tongue," said he. "I tell you again
+that it must be so; it absolutely must. And who knows? Perhaps we shall
+not regret it. With men of that stamp one never knows what may happen.
+You saw how he overthrew in three articles that fool of a
+Laroche-Mathieu, and how he did it with dignity, which was infernally
+difficult in his position as the husband. At all events, we shall see.
+It always comes to this, that we are nailed. We cannot get out of it."</p>
+
+<p>She felt a longing to scream, to roll on the ground, to tear her hair
+out. She said at length, in exasperated tones: "He shall not have her. I
+won't have it."</p>
+
+<p>Walter rose, picked up his lamp, and remarked: "There, you are stupid,
+just like all women. You never do anything except from passion. You do
+not know how to bend yourself to circumstances. You are stupid. I will
+tell you that he shall marry her. It must be."</p>
+
+<p>He went out, shuffling along in his slippers. He traversed&mdash;a comical
+phantom in his nightshirt&mdash;the broad corridor of the huge slumbering
+house, and noiselessly re-entered his room.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Walter remained standing, torn by intolerable grief. She did not
+yet quite understand it. She was only conscious of suffering. Then it
+seemed to her that she could not remain there motionless till daylight.
+She felt within her a violent necessity of fleeing, of running away, of
+seeking help, of being succored. She sought whom she could summon to
+her. What man? She could not find one. A priest; yes, a priest! She
+would throw herself at his feet, acknowledge everything, confess her
+fault and her despair. He would understand that this wretch must not
+marry Susan, and would prevent it. She must have a priest at once. But
+where could she find one? Whither could she go? Yet she could not remain
+like that.</p>
+
+<p>Then there passed before her eyes, like a vision, the calm figure of
+Jesus walking on the waters. She saw it as she saw it in the picture. So
+he was calling her. He was saying: "Come to me; come and kneel at my
+feet. I will console you, and inspire you with what should be done."</p>
+
+<p>She took her candle, left the room, and went downstairs to the
+conservatory. The picture of Jesus was right at the end of it in a small
+drawing-room, shut off by a glass door, in order that the dampness of
+the soil should not damage the canvas. It formed a kind of chapel in a
+forest of strange trees. When Madame Walter entered the winter garden,
+never having seen it before save full of light, she was struck by its
+obscure profundity. The dense plants of the tropics made the atmosphere
+thick with their heavy breath; and the doors no longer being open, the
+air of this strange wood, enclosed beneath a glass roof, entered the
+chest with difficulty; intoxicated, caused pleasure and pain, and
+imparted a confused sensation of enervation, pleasure, and death. The
+poor woman walked slowly, oppressed by the shadows, amidst which
+appeared, by the flickering light of her candle, extravagant plants,
+recalling monsters, living creatures, hideous deformities. All at once
+she caught sight of the picture of Christ. She opened the door
+separating her from it, and fell on her knees. She prayed to him,
+wildly, at first, stammering forth words of true, passionate, and
+despairing invocations. Then, the ardor of her appeal slackening, she
+raised her eyes towards him, and was struck with anguish. He resembled
+Pretty-boy so strongly, in the trembling light of this solitary candle,
+lighting the picture from below, that it was no longer Christ&mdash;it was
+her lover who was looking at her. They were his eyes, his forehead, the
+expression of his face, his cold and haughty air.</p>
+
+<p>She stammered: "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" and the name "George" rose to her
+lips. All at once she thought that at that very moment, perhaps, George
+had her daughter. He was alone with her somewhere. He with Susan! She
+repeated: "Jesus, Jesus!" but she was thinking of them&mdash;her daughter and
+her lover. They were alone in a room, and at night. She saw them. She
+saw them so plainly that they rose up before her in place of the
+picture. They were smiling at one another. They were embracing. She rose
+to go towards them, to take her daughter by the hair and tear her from
+his clasp. She would seize her by the throat and strangle her, this
+daughter whom she hated&mdash;this daughter who was joining herself to this
+man. She touched her; her hands encountered the canvas; she was pressing
+the feet of Christ. She uttered a loud cry and fell on her back. Her
+candle, overturned, went out.</p>
+
+<p>What took place then? She dreamed for a long time wild, frightful
+dreams. George and Susan continually passed before her eyes, with Christ
+blessing their horrible loves. She felt vaguely that she was not in her
+room. She wished to rise and flee; she could not. A torpor had seized
+upon her, which fettered her limbs, and only left her mind on the alert,
+tortured by frightful and fantastic visions, lost in an unhealthy
+dream&mdash;the strange and sometimes fatal dream engendered in human minds
+by the soporific plants of the tropics, with their strange and
+oppressive perfumes.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Madame Walter was found stretched out senseless, almost
+asphyxiated before "Jesus Walking on the Waters." She was so ill that
+her life was feared for. She only fully recovered the use of her senses
+the following day. Then she began to weep. The disappearance of Susan
+was explained to the servants as due to her being suddenly sent back to
+the convent. And Monsieur Walter replied to a long letter of Du Roy by
+granting him his daughter's hand.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty-boy had posted this letter at the moment of leaving Paris, for he
+had prepared it in advance the evening of his departure. He said in it,
+in respectful terms, that he had long loved the young girl; that there
+had never been any agreement between them; but that finding her come
+freely to him to say, "I wish to be your wife," he considered himself
+authorized in keeping her, even in hiding her, until he had obtained an
+answer from her parents, whose legal power had for him less weight than
+the wish of his betrothed. He demanded that Monsieur Walter should
+reply, "post restante," a friend being charged to forward the letter to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>When he had obtained what he wished he brought back Susan to Paris, and
+sent her on to her parents, abstaining himself from appearing for some
+little time.</p>
+
+<p>They had spent six days on the banks of the Seine at La Roche-Guyon.</p>
+
+<p>The young girl had never enjoyed herself so much. She had played at
+pastoral life. As he passed her off as his sister, they lived in a free
+and chaste intimacy&mdash;a kind of loving friendship. He thought it a clever
+stroke to respect her. On the day after their arrival she had purchased
+some linen and some country-girl's clothes, and set to work fishing,
+with a huge straw hat, ornamented with wild flowers, on her head. She
+thought the country there delightful. There was an old tower and an old
+chateau, in which beautiful tapestry was shown.</p>
+
+<p>George, dressed in a boating jersey, bought ready-made from a local
+tradesman, escorted Susan, now on foot along the banks of the river, now
+in a boat. They kissed at every moment, she in all innocence, and he
+ready to succumb to temptation. But he was able to restrain himself; and
+when he said to her, "We will go back to Paris to-morrow; your father
+has granted me your hand," she murmured simply, "Already? It was so nice
+being your wife here."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was dark in the little suite of rooms in the Rue de Constantinople;
+for George Du Roy and Clotilde de Marelle, having met at the door, had
+gone in at once, and she had said to him, without giving him time to
+open the Venetian blinds: "So you are going to marry Susan Walter?"</p>
+
+<p>He admitted it quietly, and added: "Did not you know it?"</p>
+
+<p>She exclaimed, standing before him, furious and indignant:</p>
+
+<p>"You are going to marry Susan Walter? That is too much of a good thing.
+For three months you have been humbugging in order to hide that from me.
+Everyone knew it but me. It was my husband who told me of it."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy began to laugh, though somewhat confused all the same; and having
+placed his hat on a corner of the mantel-shelf, sat down in an armchair.
+She looked at him straight in the face, and said, in a low and irritated
+tone: "Ever since you left your wife you have been preparing this move,
+and you only kept me on as a mistress to fill up the interim nicely.
+What a rascal you are!"</p>
+
+<p>He asked: "Why so? I had a wife who deceived me. I caught her, I
+obtained a divorce, and I am going to marry another. What could be
+simpler?"</p>
+
+<p>She murmured, quivering: "Oh! how cunning and dangerous you are."</p>
+
+<p>He began to smile again. "By Jove! Simpletons and fools are always
+someone's dupes."</p>
+
+<p>But she continued to follow out her idea: "I ought to have divined your
+nature from the beginning. But no, I could not believe that you could be
+such a blackguard as that."</p>
+
+<p>He assumed an air of dignity, saying: "I beg of you to pay attention to
+the words you are making use of."</p>
+
+<p>His indignation revolted her. "What? You want me to put on gloves to
+talk to you now. You have behaved towards me like a vagabond ever since
+I have known you, and you want to make out that I am not to tell you so.
+You deceive everyone; you take advantage of everyone; you filch money
+and enjoyment wherever you can, and you want me to treat you as an
+honest man!"</p>
+
+<p>He rose, and with quivering lip, said: "Be quiet, or I will turn you out
+of here."</p>
+
+<p>She stammered: "Turn me out of here; turn me out of here! You will turn
+me out of here&mdash;you&mdash;you?" She could not speak for a moment for choking
+with anger, and then suddenly, as though the door of her wrath had been
+burst open, she broke out with: "Turn me out of here? You forget, then,
+that it is I who have paid for these rooms from the beginning. Ah, yes,
+you have certainly taken them on from time to time. But who first took
+them? I did. Who kept them on? I did. And you want to turn me out of
+here. Hold your tongue, you good-for-nothing fellow. Do you think I
+don't know you robbed Madeleine of half Vaudrec's money? Do you think I
+don't know how you slept with Susan to oblige her to marry you?"</p>
+
+<p>He seized her by the shoulders, and, shaking her with both hands,
+exclaimed: "Don't speak of her, at any rate. I won't have it."</p>
+
+<p>She screamed out: "You slept with her; I know you did."</p>
+
+<p>He would have accepted no matter what, but this falsehood exasperated
+him. The truths she had told him to his face had caused thrills of anger
+to run through him, but this lie respecting the young girl who was going
+to be his wife, awakened in the palm of his hand a furious longing to
+strike her.</p>
+
+<p>He repeated: "Be quiet&mdash;have a care&mdash;be quiet," and shook her as we
+shake a branch to make the fruit fall.</p>
+
+<p>She yelled, with her hair coming down, her mouth wide open, her eyes
+aglow: "You slept with her!"</p>
+
+<p>He let her go, and gave her such a smack on the face that she fell down
+beside the wall. But she turned towards him, and raising herself on her
+hands, once more shouted: "You slept with her!"</p>
+
+<p>He rushed at her, and, holding her down, struck her as though striking a
+man. She left off shouting, and began to moan beneath his blows. She no
+longer stirred, but hid her face against the bottom of the wall and
+uttered plaintive cries. He left off beating her and rose up. Then he
+walked about the room a little to recover his coolness, and, an idea
+occurring to him, went into the bedroom, filled the basin with cold
+water, and dipped his head into it. Then he washed his hands and came
+back to see what she was doing, carefully wiping his fingers. She had
+not budged. She was still lying on the ground quietly weeping.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall you have done grizzling soon?"</p>
+
+<p>She did not answer. He stood in the middle of the room, feeling somewhat
+awkward and ashamed in the presence of the form stretched out before
+him. All at once he formed a resolution, and took his hat from the
+mantel-shelf, saying: "Good-night. Give the key to the doorkeeper when
+you leave. I shan't wait for your convenience."</p>
+
+<p>He went out, closed the door, went to the doorkeeper's, and said:
+"Madame is still there. She will be leaving in a few minutes. Tell the
+landlord that I give notice to leave at the end of September. It is the
+15th of August, so I am within the limits."</p>
+
+<p>And he walked hastily away, for he had some pressing calls to make
+touching the purchase of the last wedding gifts.</p>
+
+<p>The wedding was fixed for the 20th of October after the meeting of the
+Chambers. It was to take place at the Church of the Madeleine. There had
+been a great deal of gossip about it without anyone knowing the exact
+truth. Different tales were in circulation. It was whispered that an
+elopement had taken place, but no one was certain about anything.
+According to the servants, Madame Walter, who would no longer speak to
+her future son-in-law, had poisoned herself out of rage the very evening
+the match was decided on, after having taken her daughter off to a
+convent at midnight. She had been brought back almost dead. Certainly,
+she would never get over it. She had now the appearance of an old woman;
+her hair had become quite gray, and she had gone in for religion, taking
+the Sacrament every Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>At the beginning of September the <i>Vie Francaise</i> announced that the
+Baron Du Roy de Cantel had become chief editor, Monsieur Walter
+retaining the title of manager. A battalion of well-known writers,
+reporters, political editors, art and theatrical critics, detached from
+old important papers by dint of monetary influence, were taken on. The
+old journalists, the serious and respectable ones, no longer shrugged
+their shoulders when speaking of the <i>Vie Francaise</i>. Rapid and complete
+success had wiped out the contempt of serious writers for the beginnings
+of this paper.</p>
+
+<p>The marriage of its chief editor was what is styled a Parisian event,
+George Du Roy and the Walters having excited a great deal of curiosity
+for some time past. All the people who are written about in the papers
+promised themselves to be there.</p>
+
+<p>The event took place on a bright autumn day.</p>
+
+<p>At eight in the morning the sight of the staff of the Madeleine
+stretching a broad red carpet down the lofty flight of steps overlooking
+the Rue Royale caused passers-by to pause, and announced to the people
+of Paris that an important ceremony was about to take place. The clerks
+on the way to their offices, the work-girls, the shopmen, paused,
+looked, and vaguely speculated about the rich folk who spent so much
+money over getting spliced. Towards ten o'clock idlers began to halt.
+They would remain for a few minutes, hoping that perhaps it would begin
+at once, and then moved away. At eleven squads of police arrived and set
+to work almost at once to make the crowd move on, groups forming every
+moment. The first guests soon made their appearance&mdash;those who wanted to
+be well placed for seeing everything. They took the chairs bordering the
+main aisles. By degrees came others, ladies in rustling silks, and
+serious-looking gentlemen, almost all bald, walking with well-bred air,
+and graver than usual in this locality.</p>
+
+<p>The church slowly filled. A flood of sunlight entered by the huge
+doorway lit up the front row of guests. In the choir, which looked
+somewhat gloomy, the altar, laden with tapers, shed a yellow light, pale
+and humble in face of that of the main entrance. People recognized one
+another, beckoned to one another, and gathered in groups. The men of
+letters, less respectful than the men in society, chatted in low tones
+and looked at the ladies.</p>
+
+<p>Norbert de Varenne, who was looking out for an acquaintance, perceived
+Jacques Rival near the center of the rows of chair, and joined him.
+"Well," said he, "the race is for the cunning."</p>
+
+<p>The other, who was not envious, replied: "So much the better for him.
+His career is safe." And they began to point out the people they
+recognized.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know what became of his wife?" asked Rival.</p>
+
+<p>The poet smiled. "Yes, and no. She is living in a very retired style, I
+am told, in the Montmartre district. But&mdash;there is a but&mdash;I have noticed
+for some time past in the <i>Plume</i> some political articles terribly like
+those of Forestier and Du Roy. They are by Jean Le Dal, a handsome,
+intelligent young fellow, of the same breed as our friend George, and
+who has made the acquaintance of his late wife. From whence I conclude
+that she had, and always will have, a fancy for beginners. She is,
+besides, rich. Vaudrec and Laroche-Mathieu were not assiduous visitors
+at the house for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>Rival observed: "She is not bad looking, Madeleine. Very clever and very
+sharp. She must be charming on terms of intimacy. But, tell me, how is
+it that Du Roy comes to be married in church after a divorce?"</p>
+
+<p>Norbert replied: "He is married in church because, in the eyes of the
+Church, he was not married before."</p>
+
+<p>"How so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Our friend, Pretty-boy, from indifference or economy, thought the
+registrar sufficient when marrying Madeleine Forestier. He therefore
+dispensed with the ecclesiastical benediction, which constituted in the
+eyes of Holy Mother Church a simple state of concubinage. Consequently
+he comes before her to-day as a bachelor, and she lends him all her pomp
+and ceremony, which will cost Daddy Walter a pretty penny."</p>
+
+<p>The murmur of the augmented throng swelled beneath the vaulted room.
+Voices could be heard speaking almost out loud. People pointed out to
+one another celebrities who attitudinized, pleased to be seen, and
+carefully maintained the bearing adopted by them towards the public
+accustomed to exhibit themselves thus at all such gatherings, of which
+they were, it seemed to them, the indispensable ornaments.</p>
+
+<p>Rival resumed: "Tell me, my dear fellow, you who go so often to the
+governor's, is it true that Du Roy and Madame Walter no longer speak to
+one another?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never. She did not want to give him the girl. But he had a hold, it
+seems, on the father through skeletons in the house&mdash;skeletons connected
+with the Morocco business. He threatened the old man with frightful
+revelations. Walter recollected the example he made of Laroche-Mathieu,
+and gave in at once. But the mother, obstinate like all women, swore
+that she would never again speak a word to her son-in-law. She looks
+like a statue, a statue of Vengeance, and he is very uneasy at it,
+although he puts a good face on the matter, for he knows how to control
+himself, that fellow does."</p>
+
+<p>Fellow-journalists came up and shook hands with them. Bits of political
+conversation could be caught. Vague as the sound of a distant sea, the
+noise of the crowd massed in front of the church entered the doorway
+with the sunlight, and rose up beneath the roof, above the more discreet
+murmur of the choicer public gathered within it.</p>
+
+<p>All at once the beadle struck the pavement thrice with the butt of his
+halberd. Every one turned round with a prolonged rustling of skirts and
+a moving of chairs. The bride appeared on her father's arm in the
+bright light of the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>She had still the air of a doll, a charming white doll crowned with
+orange flowers. She stood for a few moments on the threshold, then, when
+she made her first step up the aisle, the organ gave forth a powerful
+note, announcing the entrance of the bride in loud metallic tones. She
+advanced with bent head, but not timidly; vaguely moved, pretty,
+charming, a miniature bride. The women smiled and murmured as they
+watched her pass. The men muttered: "Exquisite! Adorable!" Monsieur
+Walter walked with exaggerated dignity, somewhat pale, and with his
+spectacles straight on his nose. Behind them four bridesmaids, all four
+dressed in pink, and all four pretty, formed the court of this gem of a
+queen. The groomsmen, carefully chosen to match, stepped as though
+trained by a ballet master. Madame Walter followed them, giving her arm
+to the father of her other son-in-law, the Marquis de Latour-Yvelin,
+aged seventy-two. She did not walk, she dragged herself along, ready to
+faint at each forward movement. It could be felt that her feet stuck to
+the flagstones, that her legs refused to advance, and that her heart was
+beating within her breast like an animal bounding to escape. She had
+grown thin. Her white hair made her face appear still more blanched and
+her cheeks hollower. She looked straight before her in order not to see
+any one&mdash;in order not to recall, perhaps, that which was torturing her.</p>
+
+<p>Then George Du Roy appeared with an old lady unknown. He, too, kept his
+head up without turning aside his eyes, fixed and stern under his
+slightly bent brows. His moustache seemed to bristle on his lip. He was
+set down as a very good-looking fellow. He had a proud bearing, a good
+figure, and a straight leg. He wore his clothes well, the little red
+ribbon of the Legion of Honor showing like a drop of blood on his dress
+coat.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the relations, Rose with the Senator Rissolin. She had been
+married six weeks. The Count de Latour-Yvelin accompanied by the
+Viscountess de Percemur. Finally, there was a strange procession of the
+friends and allies of Du Roy, whom he introduced to his new family;
+people known in the Parisian world, who became at once the intimates,
+and, if need be, the distant cousins of rich parvenus; gentlemen ruined,
+blemished; married, in some cases, which is worse. There were Monsieur
+de Belvigne, the Marquis de Banjolin, the Count and Countess de Ravenel,
+Prince Kravalow, the Chevalier, Valréali; then some guests of Walter's,
+the Prince de Guerche, the Duke and the Duchess de Ferraciné, the
+beautiful Marchioness des Dunes. Some of Madame Walter's relatives
+preserved a well-to-do, countrified appearance amidst the throng.</p>
+
+<p>The organ was still playing, pouring forth through the immense building
+the sonorous and rhythmic accents of its glittering throats, which cry
+aloud unto heaven the joy or grief of mankind. The great doors were
+closed, and all at once it became as gloomy as if the sun had just been
+turned out.</p>
+
+<p>Now, George was kneeling beside his wife in the choir, before the lit-up
+altar. The new Bishop of Tangiers, crozier in hand and miter on head,
+made his appearance from the vestry to join them together in the Eternal
+name. He put the customary questions, exchanged the rings, uttered the
+words that bind like chains, and addressed the newly-wedded couple a
+Christian allocution. He was a tall, stout man, one of those handsome
+prelates to whom a rounded belly lends dignity.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of sobs caused several people to look round. Madame Walter was
+weeping, with her face buried in her hands. She had to give way. What
+could she have done else? But since the day when she had driven from her
+room her daughter on her return home, refusing to embrace her; since the
+day when she had said, in a low voice, to Du Roy, who had greeted her
+ceremoniously on again making his appearance: "You are the vilest
+creature I know of; never speak to me again, for I shall not answer
+you," she had been suffering intolerable and unappeasable tortures. She
+hated Susan with a keen hatred, made up of exasperated passion and
+heartrending jealousy, the strange jealousy of a mother and
+mistress&mdash;unacknowledgable, ferocious, burning like a new wound. And now
+a bishop was marrying them&mdash;her lover and her daughter&mdash;in a church, in
+presence of two thousand people, and before her. And she could say
+nothing. She could not hinder it. She could not cry out: "But that man
+belongs to me; he is my lover. This union you are blessing is infamous!"</p>
+
+<p>Some ladies, touched at the sight, murmured: "How deeply the poor mother
+feels it!"</p>
+
+<p>The bishop was declaiming: "You are among the fortunate ones of this
+world, among the wealthiest and most respected. You, sir, whom your
+talent raises above others; you who write, who teach, who advise, who
+guide the people, you who have a noble mission to fulfill, a noble
+example to set."</p>
+
+<p>Du Roy listened, intoxicated with pride. A prelate of the Roman Catholic
+Church was speaking thus to him. And he felt behind him a crowd, an
+illustrious crowd, gathered on his account. It seemed to him that some
+power impelled and lifted him up. He was becoming one of the masters of
+the world&mdash;he, the son of two poor peasants at Canteleu. He saw them all
+at once in their humble wayside inn, at the summit of the slope
+overlooking the broad valley of Rouen, his father and mother, serving
+the country-folk of the district with drink, He had sent them five
+thousand francs on inheriting from the Count de Vaudrec. He would now
+send them fifty thousand, and they would buy a little estate. They would
+be satisfied and happy.</p>
+
+<p>The bishop had finished his harangue. A priest, clad in a golden stole,
+ascended the steps of the altar, and the organ began anew to celebrate
+the glory of the newly-wedded couple. Now it gave forth long, loud
+notes, swelling like waves, so sonorous and powerful that it seemed as
+though they must lift and break through the roof to spend abroad into
+the sky. Their vibrating sound filled the church, causing body and
+spirit to thrill. Then all at once they grew calmer, and delicate notes
+floated through the air, little graceful, twittering notes, fluttering
+like birds; and suddenly again this coquettish music waxed once more, in
+turn becoming terrible in its strength and fullness, as if a grain of
+sand had transformed itself into a world. Then human voices rose, and
+were wafted over the bowed heads&mdash;Vauri and Landeck, of the Opera, were
+singing. The incense shed abroad a delicate odor, and the Divine
+Sacrifice was accomplished on the altar, to consecrate the triumph of
+the Baron George Du Roy!</p>
+
+<p>Pretty-boy, on his knees beside Susan, had bowed his head. He felt at
+that moment almost a believer, almost religious; full of gratitude
+towards the divinity who had thus favored him, who treated him with such
+consideration. And without exactly knowing to whom he was addressing
+himself, he thanked him for his success.</p>
+
+<p>When the ceremony was concluded he rose up, and giving his wife his arm,
+he passed into the vestry. Then began the interminable defiling past of
+the visitors. George, with wild joy, believed himself a king whom a
+nation had come to acclaim. He shook hands, stammered unmeaning remarks,
+bowed, and replied: "You are very good to say so."</p>
+
+<p>All at once he caught sight of Madame de Marelle, and the recollection
+of all the kisses that he had given her, and that she had returned; the
+recollection of all their caresses, of her pretty ways, of the sound of
+her voice, of the taste of her lips, caused the desire to have her once
+more for his own to shoot through his veins. She was so pretty and
+elegant, with her boyish air and bright eyes. George thought to himself:
+"What a charming mistress, all the same."</p>
+
+<p>She drew near, somewhat timid, somewhat uneasy, and held out her hand.
+He took it in his, and retained it. Then he felt the discreet appeal of
+a woman's fingers, the soft pressure that forgives and takes possession
+again. And for his own part, he squeezed it, that little hand, as though
+to say: "I still love you; I am yours."</p>
+
+<p>Their eyes met, smiling, bright, full of love. She murmured in her
+pleasant voice: "I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again soon,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>He replied, gayly: "Soon, madame."</p>
+
+<p>She passed on. Other people were pushing forward. The crowd flowed by
+like a stream. At length it grew thinner. The last guests took leave.</p>
+
+<p>George took Susan's arm in his to pass through the church again. It was
+full of people, for everyone had regained their seats in order to see
+them pass together. They went by slowly, with calm steps and uplifted
+heads, their eyes fixed on the wide sunlit space of the open door. He
+felt little quiverings run all over his skin those cold shivers caused
+by over-powering happiness. He saw no one. His thoughts were solely for
+himself. When he gained the threshold he saw the crowd collected&mdash;a
+dense, agitated crowd, gathered there on his account&mdash;on account of
+George Du Roy. The people of Paris were gazing at and envying him. Then,
+raising his eyes, he could see afar off, beyond the Palace de la
+Concorde, the Chamber of Deputies, and it seemed to him that he was
+going to make but one jump from the portico of the Madeleine to that of
+the Palais Bourbon.</p>
+
+<p>He slowly descended the long flight of steps between two ranks of
+spectators. But he did not see them; his thoughts had now flown
+backwards, and before his eyes, dazzled by the brilliant sun, now
+floated the image of Madame de Marelle, re-adjusting before the glass
+the little curls on her temples, always disarranged when she rose.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6, by 
+Guy de Maupassant
+
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6, by
+Guy de Maupassant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6
+
+Author: Guy de Maupassant
+
+Release Date: October 13, 2010 [EBook #33928]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                                BEL AMI
+
+                     The Works of Guy de Maupassant
+
+                               VOLUME VI
+
+
+NATIONAL LIBRARY COMPANY
+NEW YORK
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY
+BIGELOW, SMITH & CO.
+
+
+
+
+BEL AMI
+
+(A LADIES' MAN)
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+
+When the cashier had given him the change out of his five francpiece,
+George Duroy left the restaurant.
+
+As he had a good carriage, both naturally and from his military
+training, he drew himself up, twirled his moustache, and threw upon the
+lingering customers a rapid and sweeping glance--one of those glances
+which take in everything within their range like a casting net.
+
+The women looked up at him in turn--three little work-girls, a
+middle-aged music mistress, disheveled, untidy, and wearing a bonnet
+always dusty and a dress always awry; and two shopkeepers' wives dining
+with their husbands--all regular customers at this slap-bang
+establishment.
+
+When he was on the pavement outside, he stood still for a moment, asking
+himself what he should do. It was the 28th of June, and he had just
+three francs forty centimes in his pocket to carry him to the end of the
+month. This meant the option of two dinners without lunch or two lunches
+without dinner. He reflected that as the earlier repasts cost twenty
+sous apiece, and the latter thirty, he would, if he were content with
+the lunches, be one franc twenty centimes to the good, which would
+further represent two snacks of bread and sausage and two bocks of beer
+on the boulevards. This latter item was his greatest extravagance and
+his chief pleasure of a night; and he began to descend the Rue
+Notre-Dame de Lorette.
+
+He walked as in the days when he had worn a hussar uniform, his chest
+thrown out and his legs slightly apart, as if he had just left the
+saddle, pushing his way through the crowded street, and shouldering folk
+to avoid having to step aside. He wore his somewhat shabby hat on one
+side, and brought his heels smartly down on the pavement. He seemed ever
+ready to defy somebody or something, the passers-by, the houses, the
+whole city, retaining all the swagger of a dashing cavalry-man in civil
+life.
+
+Although wearing a sixty-franc suit, he was not devoid of a certain
+somewhat loud elegance. Tall, well-built, fair, with a curly moustache
+twisted up at the ends, bright blue eyes with small pupils, and
+reddish-brown hair curling naturally and parted in the middle, he bore a
+strong resemblance to the dare-devil of popular romances.
+
+It was one of those summer evenings on which air seems to be lacking in
+Paris. The city, hot as an oven, seemed to swelter in the stifling
+night. The sewers breathed out their poisonous breath through their
+granite mouths, and the underground kitchens gave forth to the street
+through their windows the stench of dishwater and stale sauces.
+
+The doorkeepers in their shirtsleeves sat astride straw-bottomed chairs
+within the carriage entrances to the houses, smoking their pipes, and
+the pedestrians walked with flagging steps, head bare, and hat in hand.
+
+
+When George Duroy reached the boulevards he paused again, undecided as
+to what he should do. He now thought of going on to the Champs Elysees
+and the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne to seek a little fresh air under the
+trees, but another wish also assailed him, a desire for a love affair.
+
+What shape would it take? He did not know, but he had been awaiting it
+for three months, night and day. Occasionally, thanks to his good looks
+and gallant bearing, he gleaned a few crumbs of love here and there, but
+he was always hoping for something further and better.
+
+With empty pockets and hot blood, he kindled at the contact of the
+prowlers who murmur at street corners: "Will you come home with me,
+dear?" but he dared not follow them, not being able to pay them, and,
+besides, he was awaiting something else, less venally vulgar kisses.
+
+He liked, however, the localities in which women of the town
+swarm--their balls, their cafes, and their streets. He liked to rub
+shoulders with them, speak to them, chaff them, inhale their strong
+perfumes, feel himself near them. They were women at any rate, women
+made for love. He did not despise them with the innate contempt of a
+well-born man.
+
+He turned towards the Madeleine, following the flux of the crowd which
+flowed along overcome by the heat. The chief cafes, filled with
+customers, were overflowing on to the pavement, and displayed their
+drinking public under the dazzling glare of their lit-up facias. In
+front of them, on little tables, square or round, were glasses holding
+fluids of every shade, red, yellow, green, brown, and inside the
+decanters glittered the large transparent cylinders of ice, serving to
+cool the bright, clear water. Duroy had slackened his pace, a longing to
+drink parched his throat.
+
+
+A hot thirst, a summer evening's thirst assailed him, and he fancied the
+delightful sensation of cool drinks flowing across his palate. But if he
+only drank two bocks of beer in the evening, farewell to the slender
+supper of the morrow, and he was only too well acquainted with the hours
+of short commons at the end of the month.
+
+He said to himself: "I must hold out till ten o'clock, and then I'll
+have my bock at the American cafe. Confound it, how thirsty I am
+though." And he scanned the men seated at the tables drinking, all the
+people who could quench their thirst as much as they pleased. He went
+on, passing in front of the cafes with a sprightly swaggering air, and
+guessing at a glance from their dress and bearing how much money each
+customer ought to have about him. Wrath against these men quietly
+sitting there rose up within him. If their pockets were rummaged, gold,
+silver, and coppers would be found in them. On an average each one must
+have at least two louis. There were certainly a hundred to a cafe, a
+hundred times two louis is four thousand francs. He murmured "the
+swine," as he walked gracefully past them. If he could have had hold of
+one of them at a nice dark corner he would have twisted his neck without
+scruple, as he used to do the country-folk's fowls on field-days.
+
+And he recalled his two years in Africa and the way in which he used to
+pillage the Arabs when stationed at little out-posts in the south. A
+bright and cruel smile flitted across his lips at the recollection of an
+escapade which had cost the lives of three men of the Ouled-Alane
+tribe, and had furnished him and his comrades with a score of fowls, a
+couple of sheep, some gold, and food for laughter for six months.
+
+The culprits had never been found, and, what is more, they had hardly
+been looked for, the Arab being looked upon as somewhat in the light of
+the natural prey of the soldier.
+
+In Paris it was another thing. One could not plunder prettily, sword by
+side and revolver in hand, far from civil authority. He felt in his
+heart all the instincts of a sub-officer let loose in a conquered
+country. He certainly regretted his two years in the desert. What a pity
+he had not stopped there. But, then, he had hoped something better in
+returning home. And now--ah! yes, it was very nice now, was it not?
+
+He clicked his tongue as if to verify the parched state of his palate.
+
+The crowd swept past him slowly, and he kept thinking. "Set of hogs--all
+these idiots have money in their waistcoat pockets." He pushed against
+people and softly whistled a lively tune. Gentlemen whom he thus elbowed
+turned grumbling, and women murmured: "What a brute!"
+
+He passed the Vaudeville Theater and stopped before the American cafe,
+asking himself whether he should not take his bock, so greatly did
+thirst torture him. Before making up his mind, he glanced at the
+illuminated clock. It was a quarter past nine. He knew himself that as
+soon as the glassful of beer was before him he would gulp it down. What
+would he do then up to eleven o'clock?
+
+He passed on. "I will go as far as the Madeleine," he said, "and walk
+back slowly."
+
+As he reached the corner of the Palace de l'Opera, he passed a stout
+young fellow, whose face he vaguely recollected having seen somewhere.
+He began to follow him, turning over his recollections and repeating to
+himself half-aloud: "Where the deuce did I know that joker?"
+
+He searched without being able to recollect, and then all at once, by a
+strange phenomenon of memory, the same man appeared to him thinner,
+younger, and clad in a hussar uniform. He exclaimed aloud: "What,
+Forestier!" and stepping out he tapped the other on the shoulder. The
+promenader turned round and looked at him, and then said: "What is it,
+sir?"
+
+Duroy broke into a laugh. "Don't you know me?" said he.
+
+"No."
+
+"George Duroy, of the 6th Hussars."
+
+Forestier held out his hands, exclaiming: "What, old fellow! How are
+you?"
+
+"Very well, and you?"
+
+"Oh, not very brilliant! Just fancy, I have a chest in brown paper now.
+I cough six months out of twelve, through a cold I caught at Bougival
+the year of my return to Paris, four years ago."
+
+And Forestier, taking his old comrade's arm, spoke to him of his
+illness, related the consultations, opinions, and advice of the doctors,
+and the difficulty of following this advice in his position. He was told
+to spend the winter in the South, but how could he? He was married, and
+a journalist in a good position.
+
+"I am political editor of the _Vie Francaise_. I write the proceedings
+in the Senate for the _Salut_, and from time to time literary criticisms
+for the _Planete_. That is so. I have made my way."
+
+Duroy looked at him with surprise. He was greatly changed, matured. He
+had now the manner, bearing, and dress of a man in a good position and
+sure of himself, and the stomach of a man who dines well. Formerly he
+had been thin, slight, supple, heedless, brawling, noisy, and always
+ready for a spree. In three years Paris had turned him into someone
+quite different, stout and serious, and with some white hairs about his
+temples, though he was not more than twenty-seven.
+
+Forestier asked: "Where are you going?"
+
+Duroy answered: "Nowhere; I am just taking a stroll before turning in."
+
+"Well, will you come with me to the _Vie Francaise_, where I have some
+proofs to correct, and then we will take a bock together?"
+
+"All right."
+
+They began to walk on, arm-in-arm, with that easy familiarity existing
+between school-fellows and men in the same regiment.
+
+"What are you doing in Paris?" asked Forestier.
+
+Duroy shrugged his shoulders. "Simply starving. As soon as I finished my
+term of service I came here--to make a fortune, or rather for the sake
+of living in Paris; and for six months I have been a clerk in the
+offices of the Northern Railway at fifteen hundred francs a year,
+nothing more."
+
+Forestier murmured: "Hang it, that's not much!"
+
+"I should think not. But how can I get out of it? I am alone; I don't
+know anyone; I can get no one to recommend me. It is not goodwill that
+is lacking, but means."
+
+His comrade scanned him from head to foot, like a practical man
+examining a subject, and then said, in a tone of conviction: "You see,
+my boy, everything depends upon assurance here. A clever fellow can more
+easily become a minister than an under-secretary. One must obtrude one's
+self on people; not ask things of them. But how the deuce is it that you
+could not get hold of anything better than a clerk's berth on the
+Northern Railway?"
+
+Duroy replied: "I looked about everywhere, but could not find anything.
+But I have something in view just now; I have been offered a
+riding-master's place at Pellerin's. There I shall get three thousand
+francs at the lowest."
+
+Forestier stopped short. "Don't do that; it is stupid, when you ought to
+be earning ten thousand francs. You would nip your future in the bud. In
+your office, at any rate, you are hidden; no one knows you; you can
+emerge from it if you are strong enough to make your way. But once a
+riding-master, and it is all over. It is as if you were head-waiter at a
+place where all Paris goes to dine. When once you have given riding
+lessons to people in society or to their children, they will never be
+able to look upon you as an equal."
+
+He remained silent for a few moments, evidently reflecting, and then
+asked:
+
+"Have you a bachelor's degree?"
+
+"No; I failed to pass twice."
+
+"That is no matter, as long as you studied for it. If anyone mentions
+Cicero or Tiberius, you know pretty well what they are talking about?"
+
+"Yes; pretty well."
+
+"Good; no one knows any more, with the exception of a score of idiots
+who have taken the trouble. It is not difficult to pass for being well
+informed; the great thing is not to be caught in some blunder. You can
+maneuver, avoid the difficulty, turn the obstacle, and floor others by
+means of a dictionary. Men are all as stupid as geese and ignorant as
+donkeys."
+
+He spoke like a self-possessed blade who knows what life is, and smiled
+as he watched the crowd go by. But all at once he began to cough, and
+stopped again until the fit was over, adding, in a tone of
+discouragement: "Isn't it aggravating not to be able to get rid of this
+cough? And we are in the middle of summer. Oh! this winter I shall go
+and get cured at Mentone. Health before everything."
+
+They halted on the Boulevard Poissoniere before a large glass door, on
+the inner side of which an open newspaper was pasted. Three passers-by
+had stopped and were reading it.
+
+Above the door, stretched in large letters of flame, outlined by gas
+jets, the inscription _La Vie Francaise_. The pedestrians passing into
+the light shed by these three dazzling words suddenly appeared as
+visible as in broad daylight, then disappeared again into darkness.
+
+Forestier pushed the door open, saying, "Come in." Duroy entered,
+ascended an ornate yet dirty staircase, visible from the street, passed
+through an ante-room where two messengers bowed to his companion, and
+reached a kind of waiting-room, shabby and dusty, upholstered in dirty
+green Utrecht velvet, covered with spots and stains, and worn in places
+as if mice had been gnawing it.
+
+"Sit down," said Forestier. "I will be back in five minutes."
+
+And he disappeared through one of the three doors opening into the room.
+
+A strange, special, indescribable odor, the odor of a newspaper office,
+floated in the air of the room. Duroy remained motionless, slightly
+intimidated, above all surprised. From time to time folk passed
+hurriedly before him, coming in at one door and going out at another
+before he had time to look at them.
+
+They were now young lads, with an appearance of haste, holding in their
+hand a sheet of paper which fluttered from the hurry of their progress;
+now compositors, whose white blouses, spotted with ink, revealed a clean
+shirt collar and cloth trousers like those of men of fashion, and who
+carefully carried strips of printed paper, fresh proofs damp from the
+press. Sometimes a gentleman entered rather too elegantly attired, his
+waist too tightly pinched by his frock-coat, his leg too well set off by
+the cut of his trousers, his foot squeezed into a shoe too pointed at
+the toe, some fashionable reporter bringing in the echoes of the
+
+evening.
+
+Others, too, arrived, serious, important-looking men, wearing tall hats
+with flat brims, as if this shape distinguished them from the rest of
+mankind.
+
+Forestier reappeared holding the arm of a tall, thin fellow, between
+thirty and forty years of age, in evening dress, very dark, with his
+moustache ends stiffened in sharp points, and an insolent and
+self-satisfied bearing.
+
+Forestier said to him: "Good night, dear master."
+
+The other shook hands with him, saying: "Good night, my dear fellow,"
+and went downstairs whistling, with his cane under his arm.
+
+Duroy asked: "Who is that?"
+
+"Jacques Rival, you know, the celebrated descriptive writer, the
+duellist. He has just been correcting his proofs. Garin, Montel, and he
+are the three best descriptive writers, for facts and points, we have in
+Paris. He gets thirty thousand francs a year here for two articles a
+week."
+
+As they were leaving they met a short, stout man, with long hair and
+untidy appearance, who was puffing as he came up the stairs.
+
+Forestier bowed low to him. "Norbert de Varenne," said he, "the poet;
+the author of '_Les Soleils Morts_'; another who gets long prices. Every
+tale he writes for us costs three hundred francs, and the longest do not
+run to two hundred lines. But let us turn into the Neapolitan _cafe_, I
+am beginning to choke with thirst."
+
+As soon as they were seated at a table in the _cafe_, Forestier called
+for two bocks, and drank off his own at a single draught, while Duroy
+sipped his beer in slow mouthfuls, tasting it and relishing it like
+something rare and precious.
+
+His companion was silent, and seemed to be reflecting. Suddenly he
+exclaimed: "Why don't you try journalism?"
+
+The other looked at him in surprise, and then said: "But, you know, I
+have never written anything."
+
+"Bah! everyone must begin. I could give you a job to hunt up information
+for me--to make calls and inquiries. You would have to start with two
+hundred and fifty francs a month and your cab hire. Shall I speak to the
+manager about it?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+"Very well, then, come and dine with me to-morrow. I shall only have
+five or six people--the governor, Monsieur Walter and his wife, Jacques
+Rival, and Norbert de Varenne, whom you have just seen, and a lady, a
+friend of my wife. Is it settled?"
+
+Duroy hesitated, blushing and perplexed. At length he murmured: "You
+see, I have no clothes."
+
+Forestier was astounded. "You have no dress clothes? Hang it all, they
+are indispensable, though. In Paris one would be better off without a
+bed than without a dress suit."
+
+Then, suddenly feeling in his waistcoat pocket, he drew out some gold,
+took two louis, placed them in front of his old comrade, and said in a
+cordial and familiar tone: "You will pay me back when you can. Hire or
+arrange to pay by installments for the clothes you want, whichever you
+like, but come and dine with me to-morrow, half-past seven, number
+seventeen Rue Fontaine."
+
+Duroy, confused, picked up the money, stammering: "You are too good; I
+am very much obliged to you; you may be sure I shall not forget."
+
+The other interrupted him. "All right. Another bock, eh? Waiter, two
+bocks."
+
+Then, when they had drunk them, the journalist said: "Will you stroll
+about a bit for an hour?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+And they set out again in the direction of the Madeleine.
+
+"What shall we, do?" said Forestier. "They say that in Paris a lounger
+can always find something to amuse him, but it is not true. I, when I
+want to lounge about of an evening, never know where to go. A drive
+round the Bois de Boulogne is only amusing with a woman, and one has not
+always one to hand; the _cafe_ concerts may please my chemist and his
+wife, but not me. Then what is there to do? Nothing. There ought to be a
+summer garden like the Parc Monceau, open at night, where one would hear
+very good music while sipping cool drinks under the trees. It should not
+be a pleasure resort, but a lounging place, with a high price for
+entrance in order to attract the fine ladies. One ought to be able to
+stroll along well-graveled walks lit up by electric light, and to sit
+down when one wished to hear the music near or at a distance. We had
+about the sort of thing formerly at Musard's, but with a smack of the
+low-class dancing-room, and too much dance music, not enough space, not
+enough shade, not enough gloom. It would want a very fine garden and a
+very extensive one. It would be delightful. Where shall we go?"
+
+Duroy, rather perplexed, did not know what to say; at length he made up
+his mind. "I have never been in the Folies Bergere. I should not mind
+taking a look round there," he said.
+
+"The Folies Bergere," exclaimed his companion, "the deuce; we shall
+roast there as in an oven. But, very well, then, it is always funny
+there."
+
+And they turned on their heels to make their way to the Rue du Faubourg
+Montmartre.
+
+The lit-up front of the establishment threw a bright light into the four
+streets which met in front of it. A string of cabs were waiting for the
+close of the performance.
+
+Forestier was walking in when Duroy checked him.
+
+"You are passing the pay-box," said he.
+
+"I never pay," was the reply, in a tone of importance.
+
+When he approached the check-takers they bowed, and one of them held out
+his hand. The journalist asked: "Have you a good box?"
+
+"Certainly, Monsieur Forestier."
+
+He took the ticket held out to him, pushed the padded door with its
+leather borders, and they found themselves in the auditorium.
+
+Tobacco smoke slightly veiled like a faint mist the stage and the
+further side of the theater. Rising incessantly in thin white spirals
+from the cigars and pipes, this light fog ascended to the ceiling, and
+there, accumulating, formed under the dome above the crowded gallery a
+cloudy sky.
+
+In the broad corridor leading to the circular promenade a group of women
+were awaiting new-comers in front of one of the bars, at which sat
+enthroned three painted and faded vendors of love and liquor.
+
+The tall mirrors behind them reflected their backs and the faces of
+passers-by.
+
+Forestier pushed his way through the groups, advancing quickly with the
+air of a man entitled to consideration.
+
+He went up to a box-keeper. "Box seventeen," said he.
+
+"This way, sir."
+
+And they were shut up in a little open box draped with red, and holding
+four chairs of the same color, so near to one another that one could
+scarcely slip between them. The two friends sat down. To the right, as
+to the left, following a long curved line, the two ends of which joined
+the proscenium, a row of similar cribs held people seated in like
+fashion, with only their heads and chests visible.
+
+On the stage, three young fellows in fleshings, one tall, one of middle
+size, and one small, were executing feats in turn upon a trapeze.
+
+The tall one first advanced with short, quick steps, smiling and waving
+his hand as though wafting a kiss.
+
+The muscles of his arms and legs stood out under his tights. He expanded
+his chest to take off the effect of his too prominent stomach, and his
+face resembled that of a barber's block, for a careful parting divided
+his locks equally on the center of the skull. He gained the trapeze by a
+graceful bound, and, hanging by the hands, whirled round it like a wheel
+at full speed, or, with stiff arms and straightened body, held himself
+out horizontally in space.
+
+Then he jumped down, saluted the audience again with a smile amidst the
+applause of the stalls, and went and leaned against the scenery, showing
+off the muscles of his legs at every step.
+
+The second, shorter and more squarely built, advanced in turn, and went
+through the same performance, which the third also recommenced amidst
+most marked expressions of approval from the public.
+
+But Duroy scarcely noticed the performance, and, with head averted, kept
+his eyes on the promenade behind him, full of men and prostitutes.
+
+Said Forestier to him: "Look at the stalls; nothing but middle-class
+folk with their wives and children, good noodlepates who come to see
+the show. In the boxes, men about town, some artistes, some girls, good
+second-raters; and behind us, the strangest mixture in Paris. Who are
+these men? Watch them. There is something of everything, of every
+profession, and every caste; but blackguardism predominates. There are
+clerks of all kinds--bankers' clerks, government clerks, shopmen,
+reporters, ponces, officers in plain clothes, swells in evening dress,
+who have dined out, and have dropped in here on their way from the Opera
+to the Theatre des Italiens; and then again, too, quite a crowd of
+suspicious folk who defy analysis. As to the women, only one type, the
+girl who sups at the American _cafe_, the girl at one or two louis who
+looks out for foreigners at five louis, and lets her regular customers
+know when she is disengaged. We have known them for the last ten years;
+we see them every evening all the year round in the same places, except
+when they are making a hygienic sojourn at Saint Lazare or at Lourcine."
+
+Duroy no longer heard him. One of these women was leaning against their
+box and looking at him. She was a stout brunette, her skin whitened with
+paint, her black eyes lengthened at the corners with pencil and shaded
+by enormous and artificial eyebrows. Her too exuberant bosom stretched
+the dark silk of her dress almost to bursting; and her painted lips, red
+as a fresh wound, gave her an aspect bestial, ardent, unnatural, but
+which, nevertheless, aroused desire.
+
+She beckoned with her head one of the friends who was passing, a blonde
+with red hair, and stout, like herself, and said to her, in a voice loud
+enough to be heard: "There is a pretty fellow; if he would like to have
+me for ten louis I should not say no."
+
+Forestier turned and tapped Duroy on the knee, with a smile. "That is
+meant for you; you are a success, my dear fellow. I congratulate you."
+
+The ex-sub-officer blushed, and mechanically fingered the two pieces of
+gold in his waistcoat pocket.
+
+The curtain had dropped, and the orchestra was now playing a waltz.
+
+Duroy said: "Suppose we take a turn round the promenade."
+
+"Just as you like."
+
+They left their box, and were at once swept away by the throng of
+promenaders. Pushed, pressed, squeezed, shaken, they went on, having
+before their eyes a crowd of hats. The girls, in pairs, passed amidst
+this crowd of men, traversing it with facility, gliding between elbows,
+chests, and backs as if quite at home, perfectly at their ease, like
+fish in water, amidst this masculine flood.
+
+Duroy, charmed, let himself be swept along, drinking in with
+intoxication the air vitiated by tobacco, the odor of humanity, and the
+perfumes of the hussies. But Forestier sweated, puffed, and coughed.
+
+"Let us go into the garden," said he.
+
+And turning to the left, they entered a kind of covered garden, cooled
+by two large and ugly fountains. Men and women were drinking at zinc
+tables placed beneath evergreen trees growing in boxes.
+
+"Another bock, eh?" said Forestier.
+
+"Willingly."
+
+They sat down and watched the passing throng.
+
+From time to time a woman would stop and ask, with stereotyped smile:
+"Are you going to stand me anything?"
+
+And as Forestier answered: "A glass of water from the fountain," she
+would turn away, muttering: "Go on, you duffer."
+
+But the stout brunette, who had been leaning, just before, against the
+box occupied by the two comrades, reappeared, walking proudly arm-in-arm
+with the stout blonde. They were really a fine pair of women, well
+matched.
+
+She smiled on perceiving Duroy, as though their eyes had already told
+secrets, and, taking a chair, sat down quietly in face of him, and
+making her friend sit down, too, gave the order in a clear voice:
+"Waiter, two grenadines!"
+
+Forestier, rather surprised, said: "You make yourself at home."
+
+She replied: "It is your friend that captivates me. He is really a
+pretty fellow. I believe that I could make a fool of myself for his
+sake."
+
+Duroy, intimidated, could find nothing to say. He twisted his curly
+moustache, smiling in a silly fashion. The waiter brought the drinks,
+which the women drank off at a draught; then they rose, and the
+brunette, with a friendly nod of the head, and a tap on the arm with her
+fan, said to Duroy: "Thanks, dear, you are not very talkative."
+
+And they went off swaying their trains.
+
+Forestier laughed. "I say, old fellow, you are very successful with the
+women. You must look after it. It may lead to something." He was silent
+for a moment, and then continued in the dreamy tone of men who think
+aloud: "It is through them, too, that one gets on quickest."
+
+And as Duroy still smiled without replying, he asked: "Are you going to
+stop any longer? I have had enough of it. I am going home."
+
+The other murmured: "Yes, I shall stay a little longer. It is not late."
+
+Forestier rose. "Well, good-night, then. Till to-morrow. Don't forget.
+Seventeen Rue Fontaine, at half-past seven."
+
+"That is settled. Till to-morrow. Thanks."
+
+They shook hands, and the journalist walked away.
+
+As soon as he had disappeared Duroy felt himself free, and again he
+joyfully felt the two pieces of gold in his pocket; then rising, he
+began to traverse the crowd, which he followed with his eyes.
+
+He soon caught sight of the two women, the blonde and the brunette, who
+were still making their way, with their proud bearing of beggars,
+through the throng of men.
+
+He went straight up to them, and when he was quite close he no longer
+dared to do anything.
+
+The brunette said: "Have you found your tongue again?"
+
+He stammered "By Jove!" without being able to say anything else.
+
+The three stood together, checking the movement, the current of which
+swept round them.
+
+All at once she asked: "Will you come home with me?"
+
+And he, quivering with desire, answered roughly: "Yes, but I have only a
+louis in my pocket."
+
+She smiled indifferently. "It is all the same to me,"' and took his arm
+in token of possession.
+
+As they went out he thought that with the other louis he could easily
+hire a suit of dress clothes for the next evening.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+
+"Monsieur Forestier, if you please?"
+
+"Third floor, the door on the left," the concierge had replied, in a
+voice the amiable tone of which betokened a certain consideration for
+the tenant, and George Duroy ascended the stairs.
+
+He felt somewhat abashed, awkward, and ill at ease. He was wearing a
+dress suit for the first time in his life, and was uneasy about the
+general effect of his toilet. He felt it was altogether defective, from
+his boots, which were not of patent leather, though neat, for he was
+naturally smart about his foot-gear, to his shirt, which he had bought
+that very morning for four franc fifty centimes at the Masgasin du
+Louvre, and the limp front of which was already rumpled. His everyday
+shirts were all more or less damaged, so that he had not been able to
+make use of even the least worn of them.
+
+His trousers, rather too loose, set off his leg badly, seeming to flap
+about the calf with that creased appearance which second-hand clothes
+present. The coat alone did not look bad, being by chance almost a
+perfect fit.
+
+He was slowly ascending the stairs with beating heart and anxious mind,
+tortured above all by the fear of appearing ridiculous, when suddenly he
+saw in front of him a gentleman in full dress looking at him. They were
+so close to one another that Duroy took a step back and then remained
+stupefied; it was himself, reflected by a tall mirror on the first-floor
+landing. A thrill of pleasure shot through him to find himself so much
+more presentable than he had imagined.
+
+Only having a small shaving-glass in his room, he had not been able to
+see himself all at once, and as he had only an imperfect glimpse of the
+various items of his improvised toilet, he had mentally exaggerated its
+imperfections, and harped to himself on the idea of appearing grotesque.
+
+But on suddenly coming upon his reflection in the mirror, he had not
+even recognized himself; he had taken himself for someone else, for a
+gentleman whom at the first glance he had thought very well dressed and
+fashionable looking. And now, looking at himself carefully, he
+recognized that really the general effect was satisfactory.
+
+He studied himself as actors do when learning their parts. He smiled,
+held out his hand, made gestures, expressed sentiments of astonishment,
+pleasure, and approbation, and essayed smiles and glances, with a view
+of displaying his gallantry towards the ladies, and making them
+understand that they were admired and desired.
+
+A door opened somewhere. He was afraid of being caught, and hurried
+upstairs, filled with the fear of having been seen grimacing thus by one
+of his friend's guests.
+
+On reaching the second story he noticed another mirror, and slackened
+his pace to view himself in it as he went by. His bearing seemed to him
+really graceful. He walked well. And now he was filled with an unbounded
+confidence in himself. Certainly he must be successful with such an
+appearance, his wish to succeed, his native resolution, and his
+independence of mind. He wanted to run, to jump, as he ascended the last
+flight of stairs. He stopped in front of the third mirror, twirled his
+moustache as he had a trick of doing, took off his hat to run his
+fingers through his hair, and muttered half-aloud as he often did: "What
+a capital notion." Then raising his hand to the bell handle, he rang.
+
+The door opened almost at once, and he found himself face to face with a
+man-servant out of livery, serious, clean-shaven, and so perfect in his
+get-up that Duroy became uneasy again without understanding the reason
+of his vague emotion, due, perhaps, to an unwitting comparison of the
+cut of their respective garments. The man-servant, who had
+patent-leather shoes, asked, as he took the overcoat which Duroy had
+carried on his arm, to avoid exposing the stains on it: "Whom shall I
+announce?"
+
+And he announced the name through a door with a looped-back draping
+leading into a drawing-room.
+
+But Duroy, suddenly losing his assurance, felt himself breathless and
+paralyzed by terror. He was about to take his first step in the world he
+had looked forward to and longed for. He advanced, nevertheless. A fair
+young woman, quite alone, was standing awaiting him in a large room,
+well lit up and full of plants as a greenhouse.
+
+He stopped short, quite disconcerted. Who was this lady who was smiling
+at him? Then he remembered that Forestier was married, and the thought
+that this pretty and elegant blonde must be his friend's wife completed
+his alarm.
+
+He stammered: "Madame, I am--"
+
+She held out her hand, saying: "I know, sir; Charles has told me of your
+meeting last evening, and I am very pleased that he had the idea of
+asking you to dine with us to-day."
+
+He blushed up to his ears, not knowing what to say, and felt himself
+examined from head to foot, reckoned up, and judged.
+
+He longed to excuse himself, to invent some pretext for explaining the
+deficiencies of his toilet, but he could not think of one, and did not
+dare touch on this difficult subject.
+
+He sat down on an armchair she pointed out to him, and as he felt the
+soft and springy velvet-covered seat yield beneath his weight, as he
+felt himself, as it were, supported and clasped by the padded back and
+arms, it seemed to him that he was entering upon a new and enchanting
+life, that he was taking possession of something delightful, that he was
+becoming somebody, that he was saved, and he looked at Madame Forestier,
+whose eyes had not quitted him.
+
+She was attired in a dress of pale blue cashmere, which set off the
+outline of her slender waist and full bust. Her arms and neck issued
+from a cloud of white lace, with which the bodice and short sleeves were
+trimmed, and her fair hair, dressed high, left a fringe of tiny curls at
+the nape of her neck.
+
+Duroy recovered his assurance beneath her glance, which reminded him,
+without his knowing why, of that of the girl met overnight at the Folies
+Bergere. She had gray eyes, of a bluish gray, which imparted to them a
+strange expression; a thin nose, full lips, a rather fleshy chin, and
+irregular but inviting features, full of archness and charm. It was one
+of those faces, every trait of which reveals a special grace, and seems
+to have its meaning--every movement to say or to hide something. After a
+brief silence she asked: "Have you been long in Paris?"
+
+He replied slowly, recovering his self-possession: "A few months only,
+Madame. I have a berth in one of the railway companies, but Forestier
+holds out the hope that I may, thanks to him, enter journalism."
+
+She smiled more plainly and kindly, and murmured, lowering her voice:
+"Yes, I know."
+
+The bell had rung again. The servant announced "Madame de Marelle."
+
+This was a little brunette, who entered briskly, and seemed to be
+outlined--modeled, as it were--from head to foot in a dark dress made
+quite plainly. A red rose placed in her black hair caught the eye at
+once, and seemed to stamp her physiognomy, accentuate her character, and
+strike the sharp and lively note needed.
+
+A little girl in short frocks followed her.
+
+Madame Forestier darted forward, exclaiming: "Good evening, Clotilde."
+
+"Good evening, Madeleine." They kissed one another, and then the child
+offered her forehead, with the assurance of a grown-up person, saying:
+"Good evening, cousin."
+
+Madame Forestier kissed her, and then introduced them, saying: "Monsieur
+George Duroy, an old friend of Charles; Madame de Marelle, my friend,
+and in some degree my relation." She added: "You know we have no
+ceremonious affectation here. You quite understand, eh?"
+
+The young man bowed.
+
+The door opened again, and a short, stout gentleman appeared, having on
+his arm a tall, handsome woman, much younger than himself, and of
+distinguished appearance and grave bearing. They were Monsieur Walter, a
+Jew from the South of France, deputy, financier, capitalist, and manager
+of the _Vie Francaise_, and his wife, the daughter of Monsieur
+Basile-Ravalau, the banker.
+
+Then came, one immediately after the other, Jacques Rival, very
+elegantly got up, and Norbert de Varenne, whose coat collar shone
+somewhat from the friction of the long locks falling on his shoulders
+and scattering over them a few specks of white scurf. His badly-tied
+cravat looked as if it had already done duty. He advanced with the air
+and graces of an old beau, and taking Madame Forestier's hand, printed a
+kiss on her wrist. As he bent forward his long hair spread like water
+over her bare arm.
+
+Forestier entered in his turn, offering excuses for being late. He had
+been detained at the office of the paper by the Morel affair. Monsieur
+Morel, a Radical deputy, had just addressed a question to the Ministry
+respecting a vote of credit for the colonization of Algeria.
+
+The servant announced: "Dinner is served, Madame," and they passed into
+the dining-room.
+
+Duroy found himself seated between Madame de Marelle and her daughter.
+He again felt ill at ease, being afraid of making some mistake in the
+conventional handling of forks, spoons, and glasses. There were four of
+these, one of a faint blue tint. What could be meant to be drunk out of
+that?
+
+Nothing was said while the soup was being consumed, and then Norbert de
+Varenne asked: "Have you read the Gauthier case? What a funny business
+it is."
+
+After a discussion on this case of adultery, complicated with
+blackmailing, followed. They did not speak of it as the events recorded
+in newspapers are spoken of in private families, but as a disease is
+spoken of among doctors, or vegetables among market gardeners. They were
+neither shocked nor astonished at the facts, but sought out their hidden
+and secret motives with professional curiosity, and an utter
+indifference for the crime itself. They sought to clearly explain the
+origin of certain acts, to determine all the cerebral phenomena which
+had given birth to the drama, the scientific result due to an especial
+condition of mind. The women, too, were interested in this
+investigation. And other recent events were examined, commented upon,
+turned so as to show every side of them, and weighed correctly, with the
+practical glance, and from the especial standpoint of dealers in news,
+and vendors of the drama of life at so much a line, just as articles
+destined for sale are examined, turned over, and weighed by tradesmen.
+
+Then it was a question of a duel, and Jacques Rival spoke. This was his
+business; no one else could handle it.
+
+Duroy dared not put in a word. He glanced from time to time at his
+neighbor, whose full bosom captivated him. A diamond, suspended by a
+thread of gold, dangled from her ear like a drop of water that had
+rolled down it. From time to time she made an observation which always
+brought a smile to her hearers' lips. She had a quaint, pleasant wit,
+that of an experienced tomboy who views things with indifference and
+judges them with frivolous and benevolent skepticism.
+
+Duroy sought in vain for some compliment to pay her, and, not finding
+one, occupied himself with her daughter, filling her glass, holding her
+plate, and helping her. The child, graver than her mother, thanked him
+in a serious tone and with a slight bow, saying: "You are very good,
+sir," and listened to her elders with an air of reflection.
+
+The dinner was very good, and everyone was enraptured. Monsieur Walter
+ate like an ogre, hardly spoke, and glanced obliquely under his glasses
+at the dishes offered to him. Norbert de Varenne kept him company, and
+from time to time let drops of gravy fall on his shirt front. Forestier,
+silent and serious, watched everything, exchanging glances of
+intelligence with his wife, like confederates engaged together on a
+difficult task which is going on swimmingly.
+
+Faces grew red, and voices rose, as from time to time the man-servant
+murmured in the guests' ears: "Corton or Chateau-Laroze."
+
+Duroy had found the Corton to his liking, and let his glass be filled
+every time. A delicious liveliness stole over him, a warm cheerfulness,
+that mounted from the stomach to the head, flowed through his limbs and
+penetrated him throughout. He felt himself wrapped in perfect comfort of
+life and thought, body and soul.
+
+A longing to speak assailed him, to bring himself into notice, to be
+appreciated like these men, whose slightest words were relished.
+
+But the conversation, which had been going on unchecked, linking ideas
+one to another, jumping from one topic to another at a chance word, a
+mere trifle, and skimming over a thousand matters, turned again on the
+great question put by Monsieur Morel in the Chamber respecting the
+colonization of Algeria.
+
+Monsieur Walter, between two courses, made a few jests, for his wit was
+skeptical and broad. Forestier recited his next day's leader. Jacques
+Rival insisted on a military government with land grants to all officers
+after thirty years of colonial service.
+
+"By this plan," he said, "you will create an energetic class of
+colonists, who will have already learned to love and understand the
+country, and will be acquainted with its language, and with all those
+grave local questions against which new-comers invariably run their
+heads."
+
+Norbert de Varenne interrupted him with: "Yes; they will be acquainted
+with everything except agriculture. They will speak Arabic, but they
+will be ignorant how beet-root is planted out and wheat sown. They will
+be good at fencing, but very shaky as regards manures. On the contrary,
+this new land should be thrown entirely open to everyone. Intelligent
+men will achieve a position there; the others will go under. It is the
+social law."
+
+A brief silence followed, and the listeners smiled at one another.
+
+George Duroy opened his mouth, and said, feeling as much surprised at
+the sound of his own voice as if he had never heard himself speak: "What
+is most lacking there is good land. The really fertile estates cost as
+much as in France, and are bought up as investments by rich Parisians.
+The real colonists, the poor fellows who leave home for lack of bread,
+are forced into the desert, where nothing will grow for want of water."
+
+Everyone looked at him, and he felt himself blushing.
+
+Monsieur Walter asked: "Do you know Algeria, sir?"
+
+George replied: "Yes, sir; I was there nearly two years and a half, and
+I was quartered in all three provinces."
+
+Suddenly unmindful of the Morel question, Norbert de Varenne
+interrogated him respecting a detail of manners and customs of which he
+had been informed by an officer. It was with respect to the Mzab, that
+strange little Arab republic sprung up in the midst of the Sahara, in
+the driest part of that burning region.
+
+Duroy had twice visited the Mzab, and he narrated some of the customs of
+this singular country, where drops of water are valued as gold; where
+every inhabitant is bound to discharge all public duties; and where
+commercial honesty is carried further than among civilized nations.
+
+He spoke with a certain raciness excited by the wine and the desire to
+please, and told regimental yarns, incidents of Arab life and military
+adventure. He even hit on some telling phrases to depict these bare and
+yellow lands, eternally laid waste by the devouring fire of the sun.
+
+All the women had their eyes turned upon him, and Madame Walter said, in
+her deliberate tones: "You could make a charming series of articles out
+of your recollections."
+
+Then Walter looked at the young fellow over the glasses of his
+spectacles, as was his custom when he wanted to see anyone's face
+distinctly. He looked at the dishes underneath them.
+
+Forestier seized the opportunity. "My dear sir, I had already spoken to
+you about Monsieur George Duroy, asking you to let me have him for my
+assistant in gleaning political topics. Since Marambot left us, I have
+no one to send in quest of urgent and confidential information, and the
+paper suffers from it."
+
+Daddy Walter became serious, and pushed his spectacles upon his
+forehead, in order to look Duroy well in the face. Then he said: "It is
+true that Monsieur Duroy has evidently an original turn of thought. If
+he will come and have a chat with us to-morrow at three o'clock, we will
+settle the matter." Then, after a short silence, turning right round
+towards George, he added: "But write us a little fancy series of
+articles on Algeria at once. Relate your experiences, and mix up the
+colonization question with them as you did just now. They are facts,
+genuine facts, and I am sure they will greatly please our readers. But
+be quick. I must have the first article to-morrow or the day after,
+while the subject is being discussed in the Chamber, in order to catch
+the public."
+
+Madame Walter added, with that serious grace which characterized
+everything she did, and which lent an air of favor to her words: "And
+you have a charming title, 'Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique.' Is
+it not so, Monsieur Norbert?"
+
+The old poet, who had worn renown late in life, feared and hated
+new-comers. He replied dryly: "Yes, excellent, provided that the keynote
+be followed, for that is the great difficulty; the exact note, what in
+music is called the pitch."
+
+Madame Forestier cast on Duroy a smiling and protective glance, the
+glance of a connoisseur, which seemed to say: "Yes, you will get on."
+Madame de Marelle had turned towards him several times, and the diamond
+in her ear quivered incessantly as though the drop of water was about to
+fall.
+
+The little girl remained quiet and serious, her head bent over her
+plate.
+
+But the servant passed round the table, filling the blue glasses with
+Johannisberg, and Forestier proposed a toast, drinking with a bow to
+Monsieur Walter: "Prosperity to the _Vie Francaise_."
+
+Everyone bowed towards the proprietor, who smiled, and Duroy,
+intoxicated with success, emptied his glass at a draught. He would have
+emptied a whole barrel after the same fashion; it seemed to him that he
+could have eaten a bullock or strangled a lion. He felt a superhuman
+strength in his limbs, unconquerable resolution and unbounded hope in
+his mind. He was now at home among these people; he had just taken his
+position, won his place. His glance rested on their faces with a
+new-born assurance, and he ventured for the first time to address his
+neighbor. "You have the prettiest earrings I have ever seen, Madame."
+
+She turned towards him with a smile. "It was an idea of my own to have
+the diamonds hung like that, just at the end of a thread. They really
+look like dew-drops, do they not?"
+
+He murmured, ashamed of his own daring, and afraid of making a fool of
+himself:
+
+"It is charming; but the ear, too, helps to set it off."
+
+She thanked him with a look, one of those woman's looks that go straight
+to the heart. And as he turned his head he again met Madame Forestier's
+eye, always kindly, but now he thought sparkling with a livelier mirth,
+an archness, an encouragement.
+
+All the men were now talking at once with gesticulations and raised
+voices. They were discussing the great project of the metropolitan
+railway. The subject was not exhausted till dessert was finished,
+everyone having a deal to say about the slowness of the methods of
+communication in Paris, the inconvenience of the tramway, the delays of
+omnibus traveling, and the rudeness of cabmen.
+
+Then they left the dining-room to take coffee. Duroy, in jest, offered
+his arm to the little girl. She gravely thanked him, and rose on tiptoe
+in order to rest her hand on it.
+
+On returning to the drawing-room he again experienced the sensation of
+entering a greenhouse. In each of the four corners of the room tall
+palms unfolded their elegantly shaped leaves, rising to the ceiling, and
+there spreading fountain-wise.
+
+On each side of the fireplace were india-rubber plants like round
+columns, with their dark green leaves tapering one above the other; and
+on the piano two unknown shrubs covered with flowers, those of one all
+crimson and those of the other all white, had the appearance of
+artificial plants, looking too beautiful to be real.
+
+The air was cool, and laden with a soft, vague perfume that could
+scarcely be defined. The young fellow, now more himself, considered the
+room more attentively. It was not large; nothing attracted attention
+with the exception of the shrubs, no bright color struck one, but one
+felt at one's ease in it; one felt soothed and refreshed, and, as it
+were, caressed by one's surroundings. The walls were covered with an
+old-fashioned stuff of faded violet, spotted with little flowers in
+yellow silk about the size of flies. Hangings of grayish-blue cloth,
+embroidered here and there with crimson poppies, draped the doorways,
+and the chairs of all shapes and sizes, scattered about the room,
+lounging chairs, easy chairs, ottomans, and stools, were upholstered in
+Louise Seize silk or Utrecht velvet, with a crimson pattern on a
+cream-colored ground.
+
+"Do you take coffee, Monsieur Duroy?" and Madame Forestier held out a
+cup towards him with that smile which never left her lips.
+
+"Thank you, Madame." He took the cup, and as he bent forward to take a
+lump of sugar from the sugar-basin carried by the little girl, Madame
+Forestier said to him in a low voice: "Pay attention to Madame Walter."
+
+Then she drew back before he had time to answer a word.
+
+He first drank off his coffee, which he was afraid of dropping onto the
+carpet; then, his mind more at ease, he sought for some excuse to
+approach the wife of his new governor, and begin a conversation. All at
+once he noticed that she was holding an empty cup in her hand, and as
+she was at some distance from a table, did not know where to put it. He
+darted forward with, "Allow me, Madame?"
+
+"Thank you, sir."
+
+He took away the cup and then returned.
+
+"If you knew, Madame," he began, "the happy hours the _Vie Francaise_
+helped me to pass when I was away in the desert. It is really the only
+paper that is readable out of France, for it is more literary, wittier,
+and less monotonous than the others. There is something of everything in
+it."
+
+She smiled with amiable indifference, and answered, seriously:
+
+"Monsieur Walter has had a great deal of trouble to create a type of
+newspaper supplying the want of the day."
+
+And they began to chat. He had an easy flow of commonplace conversation,
+a charm in his voice and look, and an irresistible seductiveness about
+his moustache. It curled coquettishly about his lips, reddish brown,
+with a paler tint about the ends. They chatted about Paris, its suburbs,
+the banks of the Seine, watering places, summer amusements, all the
+current topics on which one can prate to infinity without wearying
+oneself.
+
+Then as Monsieur Norbert de Varenne approached with a liqueur glass in
+his hand, Duroy discreetly withdrew.
+
+Madame de Marelle, who had been speaking with Madame Forestier, summoned
+him.
+
+"Well, sir," she said, abruptly, "so you want to try your hand at
+journalism?"
+
+He spoke vaguely of his prospects, and there recommenced with her the
+conversation he had just had with Madame Walter, but as he was now a
+better master of his subject, he showed his superiority in it, repeating
+as his own the things he had just heard. And he continually looked his
+companion in the eyes, as though to give deep meaning to what he was
+saying.
+
+She, in her turn, related anecdotes with the easy flow of spirits of a
+woman who knows she is witty, and is always seeking to appear so, and
+becoming familiar, she laid her hand from time to time on his arm, and
+lowered her voice to make trifling remarks which thus assumed a
+character of intimacy. He was inwardly excited by her contact. He would
+have liked to have shown his devotion for her on the spot, to have
+defended her, shown her what he was worth, and his delay in his replies
+to her showed the preoccupation of his mind.
+
+But suddenly, without any reason, Madame de Marelle called, "Laurine!"
+and the little girl came.
+
+"Sit down here, child; you will catch cold near the window."
+
+Duroy was seized with a wild longing to kiss the child. It was as though
+some part of the kiss would reach the mother.
+
+He asked in a gallant, and at the same time fatherly, tone: "Will you
+allow me to kiss you, Mademoiselle?"
+
+The child looked up at him in surprise.
+
+"Answer, my dear," said Madame de Marelle, laughingly.
+
+"Yes, sir, this time; but it will not do always."
+
+Duroy, sitting down, lifted Laurine onto his knees and brushed the fine
+curly hair above her forehead with his lips.
+
+Her mother was surprised. "What! she has not run away; it is astounding.
+Usually she will only let ladies kiss her. You are irresistible,
+Monsieur Duroy."
+
+He blushed without answering, and gently jogged the little girl on his
+knee.
+
+Madame Forestier drew near, and exclaimed, with astonishment: "What,
+Laurine tamed! What a miracle!"
+
+Jacques Rival also came up, cigar in mouth, and Duroy rose to take
+leave, afraid of spoiling, by some unlucky remark, the work done, his
+task of conquest begun.
+
+He bowed, softly pressed the little outstretched hands of the women, and
+then heartily shook those of the men. He noted that the hand of Jacques
+Rival, warm and dry, answered cordially to his grip; that of Norbert de
+Varenne, damp and cold, slipped through his fingers; that of Daddy
+Walter, cold and flabby, was without expression or energy; and that of
+Forestier was plump and moist. His friend said to him in a low tone,
+"To-morrow, at three o'clock; do not forget."
+
+"Oh! no; don't be afraid of that."
+
+When he found himself once more on the stairs he felt a longing to run
+down them, so great was his joy, and he darted forward, going down two
+steps at a time, but suddenly he caught sight in a large mirror on the
+second-floor landing of a gentleman in a hurry, who was advancing
+briskly to meet him, and he stopped short, ashamed, as if he had been
+caught tripping. Then he looked at himself in the glass for some time,
+astonished at being really such a handsome fellow, smiled complacently,
+and taking leave of his reflection, bowed low to it as one bows to a
+personage of importance.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+
+When George Duroy found himself in the street he hesitated as to what he
+should do. He wanted to run, to dream, to walk about thinking of the
+future as he breathed the soft night air, but the thought of the series
+of articles asked for by Daddy Walter haunted him, and he decided to go
+home at once and set to work.
+
+He walked along quickly, reached the outer boulevards, and followed
+their line as far as the Rue Boursault, where he dwelt. The house, six
+stories high, was inhabited by a score of small households,
+trades-people or workmen, and he experienced a sickening sensation of
+disgust, a longing to leave the place and live like well-to-do people in
+a clean dwelling, as he ascended the stairs, lighting himself with wax
+matches on his way up the dirty steps, littered with bits of paper,
+cigarette ends, and scraps of kitchen refuse. A stagnant stench of
+cooking, cesspools and humanity, a close smell of dirt and old walls,
+which no rush of air could have driven out of the building, filled it
+from top to bottom.
+
+The young fellow's room, on the fifth floor, looked into a kind of
+abyss, the huge cutting of the Western Railway just above the outlet by
+the tunnel of the Batignolles station. Duroy opened his window and
+leaned against the rusty iron cross-bar.
+
+Below him, at the bottom of the dark hole, three motionless red lights
+resembled the eyes of huge wild animals, and further on a glimpse could
+be caught of others, and others again still further. Every moment
+whistles, prolonged or brief, pierced the silence of the night, some
+near at hand, others scarcely discernible, coming from a distance from
+the direction of Asnieres. Their modulations were akin to those of the
+human voice. One of them came nearer and nearer, with its plaintive
+appeal growing louder and louder every moment, and soon a big yellow
+light appeared advancing with a loud noise, and Duroy watched the
+string of railway carriages swallowed up by the tunnel.
+
+Then he said to himself: "Come, let's go to work."
+
+He placed his light upon the table, but at the moment of commencing he
+found that he had only a quire of letter paper in the place. More the
+pity, but he would make use of it by opening out each sheet to its full
+extent. He dipped his pen in ink, and wrote at the head of the page, in
+his best hand, "Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique."
+
+Then he tried to frame the opening sentence. He remained with his head
+on his hands and his eyes fixed on the white sheet spread out before
+him. What should he say? He could no longer recall anything of what he
+had been relating a little while back; not an anecdote, not a fact,
+nothing.
+
+All at once the thought struck him: "I must begin with my departure."
+
+And he wrote: "It was in 1874, about the middle of May, when France, in
+her exhaustion, was reposing after the catastrophe of the terrible
+year."
+
+He stopped short, not knowing how to lead up to what should follow--his
+embarkation, his voyage, his first impressions.
+
+After ten minutes' reflection, he resolved to put off the introductory
+slip till to-morrow, and to set to work at once to describe Algiers.
+
+And he traced on his paper the words: "Algiers is a white city," without
+being able to state anything further. He recalled in his mind the pretty
+white city flowing down in a cascade of flat-roofed dwellings from the
+summit of its hills to the sea, but he could no longer find a word to
+express what he had seen and felt.
+
+After a violent effort, he added: "It is partly inhabited by Arabs."
+
+Then he threw down his pen and rose from his chair.
+
+On his little iron bedstead, hollowed in the center by the pressure of
+his body, he saw his everyday garments cast down there, empty, worn,
+limp, ugly as the clothing at the morgue. On a straw-bottomed chair his
+tall hat, his only one, brim uppermost, seemed to be awaiting an alms.
+
+The wall paper, gray with blue bouquets, showed as many stains as
+flowers, old suspicious-looking stains, the origin of which could not be
+defined; crushed insects or drops of oil; finger tips smeared with
+pomatum or soapy water scattered while washing. It smacked of shabby,
+genteel poverty, the poverty of a Paris lodging-house. Anger rose within
+him at the wretchedness of his mode of living. He said to himself that
+he must get out of it at once; that he must finish with this irksome
+existence the very next day.
+
+A frantic desire of working having suddenly seized on him again, he sat
+down once more at the table, and began anew to seek for phrases to
+describe the strange and charming physiognomy of Algiers, that ante-room
+
+of vast and mysterious Africa; the Africa of wandering Arabs and unknown
+tribes of negroes; that unexplored Africa of which we are sometimes
+shown in public gardens the improbable-looking animals seemingly made to
+figure in fairy tales; the ostriches, those exaggerated fowls; the
+gazelles, those divine goats; the surprising and grotesque giraffes; the
+grave-looking camels, the monstrous hippopotomi, the shapeless
+rhinosceri, and the gorillas, those frightful-looking brothers of
+mankind.
+
+He vaguely felt ideas occurring to him; he might perhaps have uttered
+them, but he could not put them into writing. And his impotence
+exasperated him, he got up again, his hands damp with perspiration, and
+his temples throbbing.
+
+His eyes falling on his washing bill, brought up that evening by the
+concierge, he was suddenly seized with wild despair. All his joy
+vanishing in a twinkling, with his confidence in himself and his faith
+in the future. It was all up; he could not do anything, he would never
+be anybody; he felt played out, incapable, good for nothing, damned.
+
+And he went and leaned out of the window again, just as a train issued
+from the tunnel with a loud and violent noise. It was going away, afar
+off, across the fields and plains towards the sea. And the recollection
+of his parents stirred in Duroy's breast. It would pass near them, that
+train, within a few leagues of their house. He saw it again, the little
+house at the entrance to the village of Canteleu, on the summit of the
+slope overlooking Rouen and the immense valley of the Seine.
+
+His father and mother kept a little inn, a place where the tradesfolk of
+the suburbs of Rouen came out to lunch on Sunday at the sign of the
+Belle Vue. They had wanted to make a gentleman of their son, and had
+sent him to college. Having finished his studies, and been plowed for
+his bachelor's degree, he had entered on his military service with the
+intention of becoming an officer, a colonel, a general. But, disgusted
+with military life long before the completion of his five years' term
+of service, he had dreamed of making a fortune at Paris.
+
+He came there at the expiration of his term of service, despite the
+entreaties of his father and mother, whose visions having evaporated,
+wanted now to have him at home with them. In his turn he hoped to
+achieve a future; he foresaw a triumph by means as yet vaguely defined
+in his mind, but which he felt sure he could scheme out and further.
+
+He had had some successful love affairs in the regiment, some easy
+conquests, and even some adventures in a better class of society, having
+seduced a tax collector's daughter, who wanted to leave her home for his
+sake, and a lawyer's wife, who had tried to drown herself in despair at
+being abandoned.
+
+His comrades used to say of him: "He is a sharp fellow, a deep one to
+get out of a scrape, a chap who knows which side his bread is buttered,"
+and he had promised himself to act up to this character.
+
+His conscience, Norman by birth, worn by the daily dealings of garrison
+life, rendered elastic by the examples of pillaging in Africa, illicit
+commissions, shaky dodges; spurred, too, by the notions of honor current
+in the army, military bravadoes, patriotic sentiments, the fine-sounding
+tales current among sub-officers, and the vain glory of the profession
+of arms, had become a kind of box of tricks in which something of
+everything was to be found.
+
+But the wish to succeed reigned sovereign in it.
+
+He had, without noticing it, began to dream again as he did every
+evening. He pictured to himself some splendid love adventure which
+should bring about all at once the realization of his hopes. He married
+the daughter of some banker or nobleman met with in the street, and
+captivated at the first glance.
+
+The shrill whistle of a locomotive which, issuing from the tunnel like a
+big rabbit bolting out of its hole, and tearing at full speed along the
+rails towards the machine shed where it was to take its rest, awoke him
+from his dream.
+
+Then, repossessed by the vague and joyful hope which ever haunted his
+mind, he wafted a kiss into the night, a kiss of love addressed to the
+vision of the woman he was awaiting, a kiss of desire addressed to the
+fortune he coveted. Then he closed his window and began to undress,
+murmuring:
+
+"I shall feel in a better mood for it to-morrow. My thoughts are not
+clear to-night. Perhaps, too, I have had just a little too much to
+drink. One can't work well under those circumstances."
+
+He got into bed, blew out his light, and went off to sleep almost
+immediately.
+
+He awoke early, as one awakes on mornings of hope and trouble, and
+jumping out of bed, opened his window to drink a cup of fresh air, as he
+phrased it.
+
+The houses of the Rue de Rome opposite, on the other side of the broad
+railway cutting, glittering in the rays of the rising sun, seemed to be
+painted with white light. Afar off on the right a glimpse was caught of
+the slopes of Argenteuil, the hills of Sannois, and the windmills of
+Orgemont through a light bluish mist; like a floating and transparent
+veil cast onto the horizon.
+
+Duroy remained for some minutes gazing at the distant country side, and
+he murmured: "It would be devilish nice out there a day like this." Then
+he bethought himself that he must set to work, and that at once, and
+also send his concierge's lad, at a cost of ten sous, to the office to
+say that he was ill.
+
+He sat down at his table, dipped his pen in the ink, leaned his forehead
+on his hand, and sought for ideas. All in vain, nothing came.
+
+He was not discouraged, however. He thought, "Bah! I am not accustomed
+to it. It is a trade to be learned like all other trades. I must have
+some help the first time. I will go and find Forestier, who will give me
+a start for my article in ten minutes."
+
+And he dressed himself.
+
+When he got into the street he came to the conclusion that it was still
+too early to present himself at the residence of his friend, who must be
+a late sleeper. He therefore walked slowly along beneath the trees of
+the outer boulevards. It was not yet nine o'clock when he reached the
+Parc Monceau, fresh from its morning watering. Sitting down upon a bench
+he began to dream again. A well-dressed young man was walking up and
+down at a short distance, awaiting a woman, no doubt. Yes, she appeared,
+close veiled and quick stepping, and taking his arm, after a brief clasp
+of the hand, they walked away together.
+
+A riotous need of love broke out in Duroy's heart, a need of amours at
+once distinguished and delicate. He rose and resumed his journey,
+thinking of Forestier. What luck the fellow had!
+
+He reached the door at the moment his friend was coming out of it. "You
+here at this time of day. What do you want of me?"
+
+Duroy, taken aback at meeting him thus, just as he was starting off,
+stammered: "You see, you see, I can't manage to write my article; you
+know the article Monsieur Walter asked me to write on Algeria. It is
+not very surprising, considering that I have never written anything.
+Practice is needed for that, as for everything else. I shall get used to
+it very quickly, I am sure, but I do not know how to set about
+beginning. I have plenty of ideas, but I cannot manage to express them."
+
+He stopped, hesitatingly, and Forestier smiled somewhat slyly, saying:
+"I know what it is."
+
+Duroy went on: "Yes, it must happen to everyone at the beginning. Well,
+I came, I came to ask you for a lift. In ten minutes you can give me a
+start, you can show me how to shape it. It will be a good lesson in
+style you will give me, and really without you I do not see how I can
+get on with it."
+
+Forestier still smiled, and tapping his old comrade on the arm, said:
+"Go in and see my wife; she will settle your business quite as well as I
+could. I have trained her for that kind of work. I, myself, have not
+time this morning, or I would willingly have done it for you."
+
+Duroy suddenly abashed, hesitated, feeling afraid.
+
+"But I cannot call on her at this time of the day."
+
+"Oh, yes; she is up. You will find her in my study arranging some notes
+for me."
+
+Duroy refused to go upstairs, saying: "No, I can't think of such a
+thing."
+
+Forestier took him by the shoulders, twisted him round on his heels, and
+pushing him towards the staircase, said: "Go along, you great donkey,
+when I tell you to. You are not going to oblige me to go up these
+flights of stairs again to introduce you and explain the fix you are
+in."
+
+Then Duroy made up his mind. "Thanks, then, I will go up," he said. "I
+shall tell her that you forced me, positively forced me to come and see
+her."
+
+"All right. She won't scratch your eyes out. Above all, do not forget
+our appointment for three o'clock."
+
+"Oh! don't be afraid about that."
+
+Forestier hastened off, and Duroy began to ascend the stairs slowly,
+step by step, thinking over what he should say, and feeling uneasy as to
+his probable reception.
+
+The man servant, wearing a blue apron, and holding a broom in his hand,
+opened the door to him.
+
+"Master is not at home," he said, without waiting to be spoken to.
+
+Duroy persisted.
+
+"Ask Madame Forestier," said he, "whether she will receive me, and tell
+her that I have come from her husband, whom I met in the street."
+
+Then he waited while the man went away, returned, and opening the door
+on the right, said: "Madame will see you, sir."
+
+She was seated in an office armchair in a small room, the walls of which
+were wholly hidden by books carefully ranged on shelves of black wood.
+The bindings, of various tints, red, yellow, green, violet, and blue,
+gave some color and liveliness to those monotonous lines of volumes.
+
+She turned round, still smiling. She was wrapped in a white dressing
+gown, trimmed with lace, and as she held out her hand, displayed her
+bare arm in its wide sleeve.
+
+"Already?" said she, and then added: "That is not meant for a reproach,
+but a simple question."
+
+"Oh, madame, I did not want to come up, but your husband, whom I met at
+the bottom of the house, obliged me to. I am so confused that I dare not
+tell you what brings me."
+
+She pointed to a chair, saying: "Sit down and tell me about it."
+
+She was twirling a goose-quill between her fingers, and in front of her
+was a half-written page, interrupted by the young fellow's arrival. She
+seemed quite at home at this work table, as much at her ease as if in
+her drawing-room, engaged on everyday tasks. A faint perfume emanated
+from her dressing gown, the fresh perfume of a recent toilet. Duroy
+sought to divine, fancied he could trace, the outline of her plump,
+youthful figure through the soft material enveloping it.
+
+She went on, as he did not reply: "Well, come tell me what is it."
+
+He murmured, hesitatingly: "Well, you see--but I really dare not--I was
+working last night very late and quite early this morning on the article
+upon Algeria, upon which Monsieur Walter asked me to write, and I could
+not get on with it--I tore up all my attempts. I am not accustomed to
+this kind of work, and I came to ask Forestier to help me this once--"
+
+She interrupted him, laughing heartily. "And he told you to come and see
+me? That is a nice thing."
+
+"Yes, madame. He said that you will get me out of my difficulty better
+than himself, but I did not dare, I did not wish to--you understand."
+
+She rose, saying: "It will be delightful to work in collaboration with
+you like that. I am charmed at the notion. Come, sit down in my place,
+for they know my hand-writing at the office. And we will knock you off
+an article; oh, but a good one."
+
+He sat down, took a pen, spread a sheet of paper before him, and waited.
+
+Madame Forestier, standing by, watched him make these preparations, then
+took a cigarette from the mantel-shelf, and lit it.
+
+"I cannot work without smoking," said she. "Come, what are you going to
+say?"
+
+He lifted his head towards her with astonishment.
+
+"But that is just what I don't know, since it is that I came to see you
+about."
+
+She replied: "Oh, I will put it in order for you. I will make the sauce,
+but then I want the materials of the dish."
+
+He remained embarrassed before her. At length he said, hesitatingly: "I
+should like to relate my journey, then, from the beginning."
+
+Then she sat down before him on the other side of the table, and looking
+him in the eyes:
+
+"Well, tell it me first; for myself alone, you understand, slowly and
+without forgetting anything, and I will select what is to be used of
+it."
+
+But as he did not know where to commence, she began to question him as a
+priest would have done in the confessional, putting precise questions
+which recalled to him forgotten details, people encountered and faces
+merely caught sight of.
+
+When she had made him speak thus for about a quarter of an hour, she
+suddenly interrupted him with: "Now we will begin. In the first place,
+we will imagine that you are narrating your impressions to a friend,
+which will allow you to write a lot of tom-foolery, to make remarks of
+all kinds, to be natural and funny if we can. Begin:
+
+"'My Dear Henry,--You want to know what Algeria is like, and you shall.
+I will send you, having nothing else to do in a little cabin of dried
+mud which serves me as a habitation, a kind of journal of my life, day
+by day, and hour by hour. It will be a little lively at times, more is
+the pity, but you are not obliged to show it to your lady friends.'"
+
+She paused to re-light her cigarette, which had gone out, and the faint
+creaking of the quill on the paper stopped, too.
+
+"Let us continue," said she.
+
+"Algeria is a great French country on the frontiers of the great unknown
+countries called the Desert, the Sahara, central Africa, etc., etc.
+
+"Algiers is the door, the pretty white door of this strange continent.
+
+"But it is first necessary to get to it, which is not a rosy job for
+everyone. I am, you know, an excellent horseman, since I break in the
+colonel's horses; but a man may be a very good rider and a very bad
+sailor. That is my case.
+
+"You remember Surgeon-Major Simbretras, whom we used to call Old
+Ipecacuanha, and how, when we thought ourselves ripe for a twenty-four
+hours' stay in the infirmary, that blessed sojourning place, we used to
+go up before him.
+
+"How he used to sit in his chair, with his fat legs in his red trousers,
+wide apart, his hands on his knees, and his elbows stuck, rolling his
+great eyes and gnawing his white moustache.
+
+"You remember his favorite mode of treatment: 'This man's stomach is
+out of order. Give him a dose of emetic number three, according to my
+prescription, and then twelve hours off duty, and he will be all right.'
+
+"It was a sovereign remedy that emetic--sovereign and irresistible. One
+swallowed it because one had to. Then when one had undergone the effects
+of Old Ipecacuanha's prescription, one enjoyed twelve well-earned hours'
+rest.
+
+"Well, my dear fellow, to reach Africa, it is necessary to undergo for
+forty hours the effects of another kind of irresistible emetic,
+according to the prescription of the Compagnie Transatlantique."
+
+She rubbed her hands, delighted with the idea.
+
+She got up and walked about, after having lit another cigarette, and
+dictated as she puffed out little whiffs of smoke, which, issuing at
+first through a little round hole in the midst of her compressed lips,
+slowly evaporated, leaving in the air faint gray lines, a kind of
+transparent mist, like a spider's web. Sometimes with her open hand she
+would brush these light traces aside; at others she would cut them
+asunder with her forefinger, and then watch with serious attention the
+two halves of the almost impenetrable vapor slowly disappear.
+
+Duroy, with his eyes, followed all her gestures, her attitudes, the
+movements of her form and features--busied with this vague pastime which
+did not preoccupy her thoughts.
+
+She now imagined the incidents of the journey, sketched traveling
+companions invented by herself, and a love affair with the wife of a
+captain of infantry on her way to join her husband.
+
+Then, sitting down again, she questioned Duroy on the topography of
+Algeria, of which she was absolutely ignorant. In ten minutes she knew
+as much about it as he did, and she dictated a little chapter of
+political and colonial geography to coach the reader up in such matters
+and prepare him to understand the serious questions which were to be
+brought forward in the following articles. She continued by a trip into
+the provinces of Oran, a fantastic trip, in which it was, above all, a
+question of women, Moorish, Jewish, and Spanish.
+
+"That is what interests most," she said.
+
+She wound up by a sojourn at Saida, at the foot of the great tablelands;
+and by a pretty little intrigue between the sub-officer, George Duroy,
+and a Spanish work-girl employed at the _alfa_ factory at Ain el Hadjar.
+She described their rendezvous at night amidst the bare, stony hills,
+with jackals, hyenas, and Arab dogs yelling, barking and howling among
+the rocks.
+
+And she gleefully uttered the words: "To be continued." Then rising, she
+added: "That is how one writes an article, my dear sir. Sign it, if you
+please."
+
+He hesitated.
+
+"But sign it, I tell you."
+
+Then he began to laugh, and wrote at the bottom of the page, "George
+Duroy."
+
+She went on smoking as she walked up and down; and he still kept looking
+at her, unable to find anything to say to thank her, happy to be with
+her, filled with gratitude, and with the sensual pleasure of this
+new-born intimacy. It seemed to him that everything surrounding him was
+part of her, everything down to the walls covered with books. The
+chairs, the furniture, the air in which the perfume of tobacco was
+floating, had something special, nice, sweet, and charming, which
+emanated from her.
+
+Suddenly she asked: "What do you think of my friend, Madame de Marelle?"
+
+He was surprised, and answered: "I think--I think--her very charming."
+
+"Is it not so?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+He longed to add: "But not so much as yourself," but dared not.
+
+She resumed: "And if you only knew how funny, original, and intelligent
+she is. She is a Bohemian--a true Bohemian. That is why her husband
+scarcely cares for her. He only sees her defects, and does not
+appreciate her good qualities."
+
+Duroy felt stupefied at learning that Madame de Marelle was married, and
+yet it was only natural that she should be.
+
+He said: "Oh, she is married, then! And what is her husband?"
+
+Madame Forestier gently shrugged her shoulders, and raised her eyebrows,
+with a gesture of incomprehensible meaning.
+
+"Oh! he is an inspector on the Northern Railway. He spends eight days
+out of the month in Paris. What his wife calls 'obligatory service,' or
+'weekly duty,' or 'holy week.' When you know her better you will see how
+nice and bright she is. Go and call on her one of these days."
+
+Duroy no longer thought of leaving. It seemed to him that he was going
+to stop for ever; that he was at home.
+
+But the door opened noiselessly, and a tall gentleman entered without
+being announced. He stopped short on seeing a stranger. Madame Forestier
+seemed troubled for a moment; then she said in natural tones, though a
+slight rosy flush had risen to her cheeks:
+
+"Come in, my dear sir. I must introduce one of Charles' old friends,
+Monsieur George Duroy, a future journalist." Then in another tone, she
+added: "Our best and most intimate friend, the Count de Vaudrec."
+
+The two men bowed, looking each other in the eyes, and Duroy at once
+took his leave.
+
+There was no attempt to detain him. He stammered a few thanks, grasped
+the outstretched hand of Madame Forestier, bowed again to the new-comer,
+who preserved the cold, grave air of a man of position, and went out
+quite disturbed, as if he had made a fool of himself.
+
+On finding himself once more in the street, he felt sad and uneasy,
+haunted by the vague idea of some hidden vexation. He walked on, asking
+himself whence came this sudden melancholy. He could not tell, but the
+stern face of the Count de Vaudrec, already somewhat aged, with gray
+hair, and the calmly insolent look of a very wealthy man, constantly
+recurred to his recollection. He noted that the arrival of this unknown,
+breaking off a charming _tete-a-tete_, had produced in him that chilly,
+despairing sensation that a word overheard, a trifle noticed, the least
+thing suffices sometimes to bring about. It seemed to him, too, that
+this man, without his being able to guess why, had been displeased at
+finding him there.
+
+He had nothing more to do till three o'clock, and it was not yet noon.
+He had still six francs fifty centimes in his pocket, and he went and
+lunched at a Bouillon Duval. Then he prowled about the boulevard, and
+as three o'clock struck, ascended the staircase, in itself an
+advertisement, of the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+The messengers-in-waiting were seated with folded arms on a bench, while
+at a kind of desk a doorkeeper was sorting the correspondence that had
+just arrived. The entire get-up of the place, intended to impress
+visitors, was perfect. Everyone had the appearance, bearing, dignity,
+and smartness suitable to the ante-room of a large newspaper.
+
+"Monsieur Walter, if you please?" inquired Duroy.
+
+"The manager is engaged, sir," replied the doorkeeper. "Will you take a
+seat, sir?" and he indicated the waiting-room, already full of people.
+
+There were men grave, important-looking, and decorated; and men without
+visible linen, whose frock-coats, buttoned up to the chin, bore upon the
+breast stains recalling the outlines of continents and seas on
+geographical maps. There were three women among them. One of them was
+pretty, smiling, and decked out, and had the air of a gay woman; her
+neighbor, with a wrinkled, tragic countenance, decked out also, but in
+more severe fashion, had about her something worn and artificial which
+old actresses generally have; a kind of false youth, like a scent of
+stale love. The third woman, in mourning, sat in a corner, with the air
+of a desolate widow. Duroy thought that she had come to ask for charity.
+
+However, no one was ushered into the room beyond, and more than twenty
+minutes had elapsed.
+
+Duroy was seized with an idea, and going back to the doorkeeper, said:
+"Monsieur Walter made an appointment for me to call on him here at three
+o'clock. At all events, see whether my friend, Monsieur Forestier, is
+here."
+
+He was at once ushered along a lengthy passage, which brought him to a
+large room where four gentlemen were writing at a large green-covered
+table.
+
+Forestier standing before the fireplace was smoking a cigarette and
+playing at cup and ball. He was very clever at this, and kept spiking
+the huge ball of yellow boxwood on the wooden point. He was counting
+"Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five."
+
+"Twenty-six," said Duroy.
+
+His friend raised his eyes without interrupting the regular movement of
+his arm, saying: "Oh! here you are, then. Yesterday I landed the ball
+fifty-seven times right off. There is only Saint-Potin who can beat me
+at it among those here. Have you seen the governor? There is nothing
+funnier than to see that old tubby Norbert playing at cup and ball. He
+opens his mouth as if he was going to swallow the ball every time."
+
+One of the others turned round towards him, saying: "I say, Forestier, I
+know of one for sale, a beauty in West Indian wood; it is said to have
+belonged to the Queen of Spain. They want sixty francs for it. Not
+dear."
+
+Forestier asked: "Where does it hang out?"
+
+And as he had missed his thirty-seventh shot, he opened a cupboard in
+which Duroy saw a score of magnificent cups and balls, arranged and
+numbered like a collection of art objects. Then having put back the one
+he had been using in its usual place, he repeated: "Where does this gem
+hang out?"
+
+The journalist replied: "At a box-office keeper's of the Vaudeville. I
+will bring it you to-morrow, if you like."
+
+"All right. If it is really a good one I will take it; one can never
+have too many." Then turning to Duroy he added: "Come with me. I will
+take you in to see the governor; otherwise you might be getting mouldy
+here till seven in the evening."
+
+They re-crossed the waiting-room, in which the same people were waiting
+in the same order. As soon as Forestier appeared the young woman and the
+old actress, rising quickly, came up to him. He took them aside one
+after the other into the bay of the window, and although they took care
+to talk in low tones, Duroy noticed that they were on familiar terms.
+
+Then, having passed through two padded doors, they entered the manager's
+room. The conference which had been going on for an hour or so was
+nothing more than a game at ecarte with some of the gentlemen with the
+flat brimmed hats whom Duroy had noticed the night before.
+
+Monsieur Walter dealt and played with concentrated attention and crafty
+movements, while his adversary threw down, picked up, and handled the
+light bits of colored pasteboard with the swiftness, skill, and grace of
+a practiced player. Norbert de Varenne, seated in the managerial
+armchair, was writing an article. Jacques Rival, stretched at full
+length on a couch, was smoking a cigar with his eyes closed.
+
+The room smelled close, with that blended odor of leather-covered
+furniture, stale tobacco, and printing-ink peculiar to editors' rooms
+and familiar to all journalists. Upon the black wood table, inlaid with
+brass, lay an incredible pile of papers, letters, cards, newspapers,
+magazines, bills, and printed matter of every description.
+
+Forestier shook hands with the punters standing behind the card players,
+and without saying a word watched the progress of the game; then, as
+soon as Daddy Walter had won, he said: "Here is my friend, Duroy."
+
+The manager glanced sharply at the young fellow over the glasses of his
+spectacles, and said:
+
+"Have you brought my article? It would go very well to-day with the
+Morel debate."
+
+Duroy took the sheets of paper folded in four from his pocket, saying:
+"Here it is sir."
+
+The manager seemed pleased, and remarked, with a smile: "Very good, very
+good. You are a man of your word. You must look through this for me,
+Forestier."
+
+But Forestier hastened to reply: "It is not worth while, Monsieur
+Walter. I did it with him to give him a lesson in the tricks of the
+trade. It is very well done."
+
+And the manager, who was gathering up the cards dealt by a tall, thin
+gentleman, a deputy belonging to the Left Center, remarked with
+indifference: "All right, then."
+
+Forestier, however, did not let him begin the new game, but stooping,
+murmured in his ear: "You know you promised me to take on Duroy to
+replace Marambot. Shall I engage him on the same terms?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+Taking his friend's arm, the journalist led him away, while Monsieur
+Walter resumed the game.
+
+Norbert de Varenne had not lifted his head; he did not appear to have
+seen or recognized Duroy. Jacques Rival, on the contrary, had taken his
+hand with the marked and demonstrative energy of a comrade who may be
+reckoned upon in the case of any little difficulty.
+
+They passed through the waiting-room again, and as everyone looked at
+them, Forestier said to the youngest of the women, in a tone loud enough
+to be heard by the rest: "The manager will see you directly. He is just
+now engaged with two members of the Budget Committee."
+
+Then he passed swiftly on, with an air of hurry and importance, as
+though about to draft at once an article of the utmost weight.
+
+As soon as they were back in the reporters' room Forestier at once took
+up his cup and ball, and as he began to play with it again, said to
+Duroy, breaking his sentences in order to count: "You will come here
+every day at three o'clock, and I will tell you the places you are to go
+to, either during the day or in the evening, or the next morning--one--I
+will give you, first of all, a letter of introduction to the head of the
+First Department of the Prefecture of Police--two--who will put you in
+communication with one of his clerks. You will settle with him about all
+the important information--three--from the Prefecture, official and
+quasi-official information, you know. In all matters of detail you will
+apply to Saint-Potin, who is up in the work--four--You can see him
+by-and-by, or to-morrow. You must, above all, cultivate the knack of
+dragging information out of men I send you to see--five--and to get in
+everywhere, in spite of closed doors--six--You will have for this a
+salary of two hundred francs a month, with two sous a line for the
+paragraphs you glean--seven--and two sous a line for all articles
+written by you to order on different subjects--eight."
+
+Then he gave himself up entirely to his occupation, and went on slowly
+counting: "Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen." He missed the
+fourteenth, and swore, "Damn that thirteen, it always brings me bad
+luck. I shall die on the thirteenth of some month, I am certain."
+
+One of his colleagues who had finished his work also took a cup and ball
+from the cupboard. He was a little man, who looked like a boy, although
+he was really five-and-thirty. Several other journalists having come in,
+went one after the other and got out the toy belonging to each of them.
+Soon there were six standing side by side, with their backs to the wall,
+swinging into the air, with even and regular motion, the balls of red,
+yellow, and black, according to the wood they were made of. And a match
+having begun, the two who were still working got up to act as umpires.
+Forestier won by eleven points. Then the little man, with the juvenile
+aspect, who had lost, rang for the messenger, and gave the order, "Nine
+bocks." And they began to play again pending the arrival of these
+refreshments.
+
+Duroy drank a glass of beer with his new comrades, and then said to his
+friend: "What am I to do now?"
+
+"I have nothing for you to-day. You can go if you want to."
+
+"And our--our--article, will it go in to-night?"
+
+"Yes, but do not bother yourself about it; I will correct the proofs.
+Write the continuation for to-morrow, and come here at three o'clock,
+the same as to-day."
+
+Duroy having shaken hands with everyone, without even knowing their
+names, went down the magnificent staircase with a light heart and high
+spirits.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+
+George Duroy slept badly, so excited was he by the wish to see his
+article in print. He was up as soon as it was daylight, and was prowling
+about the streets long before the hour at which the porters from the
+newspaper offices run with their papers from kiosque to kiosque. He went
+on to the Saint Lazare terminus, knowing that the _Vie Francaise_ would
+be delivered there before it reached his own district. As he was still
+too early, he wandered up and down on the footpath.
+
+He witnessed the arrival of the newspaper vendor who opened her glass
+shop, and then saw a man bearing on his head a pile of papers. He rushed
+forward. There were the _Figaro_, the _Gil Blas_, the _Gaulois_, the
+_Evenement_, and two or three morning journals, but the _Vie Francaise_
+was not among them. Fear seized him. Suppose the "Recollections of a
+Chasseur d'Afrique" had been kept over for the next day, or that by
+chance they had not at the last moment seemed suitable to Daddy Walter.
+
+Turning back to the kiosque, he saw that the paper was on sale without
+his having seen it brought there. He darted forward, unfolded it, after
+having thrown down the three sous, and ran through the headings of the
+articles on the first page. Nothing. His heart began to beat, and he
+experienced strong emotion on reading at the foot of a column in large
+letters, "George Duroy." It was in; what happiness!
+
+He began to walk along unconsciously, the paper in his hand and his hat
+on one side of his head, with a longing to stop the passers-by in order
+to say to them: "Buy this, buy this, there is an article by me in it."
+He would have liked to have bellowed with all the power of his lungs,
+like some vendors of papers at night on the boulevards, "Read the _Vie
+Francaise_; read George Duroy's article, 'Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique.'" And suddenly he felt a wish to read this article himself,
+read it in a public place, a _cafe_, in sight of all. He looked about
+for some establishment already filled with customers. He had to walk in
+search of one for some time. He sat down at last in front of a kind of
+wine shop, where several customers were already installed, and asked for
+a glass of rum, as he would have asked for one of absinthe, without
+thinking of the time. Then he cried: "Waiter, bring me the _Vie
+Francaise_."
+
+A man in a white apron stepped up, saying: "We have not got it, sir; we
+only take in the _Rappel_, the _Siecle_, the _Lanierne_, and the _Petit
+Parisien_."
+
+"What a den!" exclaimed Duroy, in a tone of anger and disgust. "Here, go
+and buy it for me."
+
+The waiter hastened to do so, and brought back the paper. Duroy began to
+read his article, and several times said aloud: "Very good, very well
+put," to attract the attention of his neighbors, and inspire them with
+the wish to know what there was in this sheet. Then, on going away, he
+left it on the table. The master of the place, noticing this, called him
+back, saying: "Sir, sir, you are forgetting your paper."
+
+And Duroy replied: "I will leave it to you. I have finished with it.
+There is a very interesting article in it this morning."
+
+He did not indicate the article, but he noticed as he went away one of
+his neighbors take the _Vie Francaise_ up from the table on which he had
+left it.
+
+He thought: "What shall I do now?" And he decided to go to his office,
+take his month's salary, and tender his resignation. He felt a thrill of
+anticipatory pleasure at the thought of the faces that would be pulled
+up by the chief of his room and his colleagues. The notion of the
+bewilderment of the chief above all charmed him.
+
+He walked slowly, so as not to get there too early, the cashier's office
+not opening before ten o'clock.
+
+His office was a large, gloomy room, in which gas had to be kept burning
+almost all day long in winter. It looked into a narrow court-yard, with
+other offices on the further side of it. There were eight clerks there,
+besides a sub-chief hidden behind a screen in one corner.
+
+Duroy first went to get the hundred and eighteen francs twenty-five
+centimes enclosed in a yellow envelope, and placed in the drawer of the
+clerk entrusted with such payments, and then, with a conquering air,
+entered the large room in which he had already spent so many days.
+
+As soon as he came in the sub-chief, Monsieur Potel, called out to him:
+"Ah! it is you, Monsieur Duroy? The chief has already asked for you
+several times. You know that he will not allow anyone to plead illness
+two days running without a doctor's certificate."
+
+Duroy, who was standing in the middle of the room preparing his
+sensational effect, replied in a loud voice:
+
+
+"I don't care a damn whether he does or not."
+
+There was a movement of stupefaction among the clerks, and Monsieur
+Potel's features showed affrightedly over the screen which shut him up
+as in a box. He barricaded himself behind it for fear of draughts, for
+he was rheumatic, but had pierced a couple of holes through the paper to
+keep an eye on his staff. A pin might have been heard to fall. At length
+the sub-chief said, hesitatingly: "You said?"
+
+"I said that I don't care a damn about it. I have only called to-day to
+tender my resignation. I am engaged on the staff of the _Vie Francaise_
+at five hundred francs a month, and extra pay for all I write. Indeed, I
+made my _debut_ this morning."
+
+He had promised himself to spin out his enjoyment, but had not been able
+to resist the temptation of letting it all out at once.
+
+The effect, too, was overwhelming. No one stirred.
+
+Duroy went on: "I will go and inform Monsieur Perthuis, and then come
+and wish you good-bye."
+
+And he went out in search of the chief, who exclaimed, on seeing him:
+"Ah, here you are. You know that I won't have--"
+
+His late subordinate cut him short with: "It's not worth while yelling
+like that."
+
+Monsieur Perthuis, a stout man, as red as a turkey cock, was choked with
+bewilderment.
+
+Duroy continued: "I have had enough of this crib. I made my _debut_ this
+morning in journalism, where I am assured of a very good position. I
+have the honor to bid you good-day." And he went out. He was avenged.
+
+As he promised, he went and shook hands with his old colleagues, who
+scarcely dared to speak to him, for fear of compromising themselves, for
+they had overheard his conversation with the chief, the door having
+remained open.
+
+He found himself in the street again, with his salary in his pocket. He
+stood himself a substantial breakfast at a good but cheap restaurant he
+was acquainted with, and having again purchased the _Vie Francaise_, and
+left it on the table, went into several shops, where he bought some
+trifles, solely for the sake of ordering them to be sent home, and
+giving his name: "George Duroy," with the addition, "I am the editor of
+the _Vie Francaise_."
+
+Then he gave the name of the street and the number, taking care to add:
+"Leave it with the doorkeeper."
+
+As he had still some time to spare he went into the shop of a
+lithographer, who executed visiting cards at a moment's notice before
+the eyes of passers-by, and had a hundred, bearing his new occupation
+under his name, printed off while he waited.
+
+Then he went to the office of the paper.
+
+Forestier received him loftily, as one receives a subordinate. "Ah! here
+you are. Good. I have several things for you to attend to. Just wait ten
+minutes. I will just finish what I am about."
+
+And he went on with a letter he was writing.
+
+At the other end of the large table a fat, bald little man, with a very
+pale, puffy face, and a white and shining head, was writing, with his
+nose on the paper owing to extreme shortsightedness. Forestier said to
+him: "I say, Saint-Potin, when are you going to interview those
+people?"
+
+"At four o'clock."
+
+"Will you take young Duroy here with you, and let him into the way of
+doing it?"
+
+"All right."
+
+Then turning to his friend, Forestier added: "Have you brought the
+continuation of the Algerian article? The opening this morning was very
+successful."
+
+Duroy, taken aback, stammered: "No. I thought I should have time this
+afternoon. I had heaps of things to do. I was not able."
+
+The other shrugged his shoulders with a dissatisfied air. "If you are
+not more exact than that you will spoil your future. Daddy Walter was
+reckoning on your copy. I will tell him it will be ready to-morrow. If
+you think you are to be paid for doing nothing you are mistaken."
+
+Then, after a short silence, he added: "One must strike the iron while
+it is hot, or the deuce is in it."
+
+Saint-Potin rose, saying: "I am ready."
+
+Then Forestier, leaning back in his chair, assumed a serious attitude in
+order to give his instructions, and turning to Duroy, said: "This is
+what it is. Within the last two days the Chinese General, Li Theng Fao,
+has arrived at the Hotel Continental, and the Rajah Taposahib Ramaderao
+Pali at the Hotel Bristol. You will go and interview them." Turning to
+Saint-Potin, he continued: "Don't forget the main points I told you of.
+Ask the General and the Rajah their opinion upon the action of England
+in the East, their ideas upon her system of colonization and domination,
+and their hopes respecting the intervention of Europe, and especially of
+France." He was silent for a moment, and then added in a theatrical
+aside: "It will be most interesting to our readers to learn at the same
+time what is thought in China and India upon these matters which so
+forcibly occupy public attention at this moment." He continued, for the
+benefit of Duroy: "Watch how Saint-Potin sets to work; he is a capital
+reporter; and try to learn the trick of pumping a man in five minutes."
+
+Then he gravely resumed his writing, with the evident intention of
+defining their relative positions, and putting his old comrade and
+present colleague in his proper place.
+
+As soon as they had crossed the threshold Saint-Potin began to laugh,
+and said to Duroy: "There's a fluffer for you. He tried to fluff even
+us. One would really think he took us for his readers."
+
+They reached the boulevard, and the reporter observed: "Will you have a
+drink?"
+
+"Certainly. It is awfully hot."
+
+They turned into a _cafe_ and ordered cooling drinks. Saint-Potin began
+to talk. He talked about the paper and everyone connected with it with
+an abundance of astonishing details.
+
+"The governor? A regular Jew? And you know, nothing can alter a Jew.
+What a breed!" And he instanced some astounding traits of avariciousness
+peculiar to the children of Israel, economies of ten centimes, petty
+bargaining, shameful reductions asked for and obtained, all the ways of
+a usurer and pawnbroker.
+
+"And yet with all this, a good fellow who believes in nothing and does
+everyone. His paper, which is Governmental, Catholic, Liberal,
+Republican, Orleanist, pay your money and take your choice, was only
+started to help him in his speculations on the Bourse, and bolster up
+his other schemes. At that game he is very clever, and nets millions
+through companies without four sous of genuine capital."
+
+He went on, addressing Duroy as "My dear fellow."
+
+"And he says things worthy of Balzac, the old shark. Fancy, the other
+day I was in his room with that old tub Norbert, and that Don Quixote
+Rival, when Montelin, our business manager, came in with his morocco
+bill-case, that bill-case that everyone in Paris knows, under his arm.
+Walter raised his head and asked: 'What news?' Montelin answered simply:
+'I have just paid the sixteen thousand francs we owed the paper maker.'
+The governor gave a jump, an astonishing jump. 'What do you mean?' said
+he. 'I have just paid Monsieur Privas,' replied Montelin. 'But you are
+mad.' 'Why?' 'Why--why--why--' he took off his spectacles and wiped
+them. Then he smiled with that queer smile that flits across his fat
+cheeks whenever he is going to say something deep or smart, and went on
+in a mocking and derisive tone, 'Why? Because we could have obtained a
+reduction of from four to five thousand francs.' Montelin replied, in
+astonishment: 'But, sir, all the accounts were correct, checked by me
+and passed by yourself.' Then the governor, quite serious again,
+observed: 'What a fool you are. Don't you know, Monsieur Montelin, that
+one should always let one's debts mount up, in order to offer a
+composition?'"
+
+And Saint-Potin added, with a knowing shake of his head, "Eh! isn't that
+worthy of Balzac?"
+
+Duroy had not read Balzac, but he replied, "By Jove! yes."
+
+Then the reporter spoke of Madame Walter, an old goose; of Norbert de
+Varenne, an old failure; of Rival, a copy of Fervacques. Next he came
+to Forestier. "As to him, he has been lucky in marrying his wife, that
+is all."
+
+Duroy asked: "What is his wife, really?"
+
+Saint-Potin rubbed his hands. "Oh! a deep one, a smart woman. She was
+the mistress of an old rake named Vaudrec, the Count de Vaudrec, who
+gave her a dowry and married her off."
+
+Duroy suddenly felt a cold shiver run through him, a tingling of the
+nerves, a longing to smack this gabbler on the face. But he merely
+interrupted him by asking:
+
+"And your name is Saint-Potin?"
+
+The other replied, simply enough:
+
+"No, my name is Thomas. It is in the office that they have nicknamed me
+Saint-Potin."
+
+Duroy, as he paid for the drinks, observed: "But it seems to me that
+time is getting on, and that we have two noble foreigners to call on."
+
+Saint-Potin began to laugh. "You are still green. So you fancy I am
+going to ask the Chinese and the Hindoo what they think of England? As
+if I did not know better than themselves what they ought to think in
+order to please the readers of the _Vie Francaise_. I have already
+interviewed five hundred of these Chinese, Persians, Hindoos, Chilians,
+Japanese, and others. They all reply the same, according to me. I have
+only to take my article on the last comer and copy it word for word.
+What has to be changed, though, is their appearance, their name, their
+title, their age, and their suite. Oh! on that point it does not do to
+make a mistake, for I should be snapped up sharp by the _Figaro_ or the
+_Gaulois_. But on these matters the hall porters at the Hotel Bristol
+and the Hotel Continental will put me right in five minutes. We will
+smoke a cigar as we walk there. Five francs cab hire to charge to the
+paper. That is how one sets about it, my dear fellow, when one is
+practically inclined."
+
+"It must be worth something decent to be a reporter under these
+circumstances," said Duroy.
+
+The journalist replied mysteriously: "Yes, but nothing pays so well as
+paragraphs, on account of the veiled advertisements."
+
+They had got up and were passing down the boulevards towards the
+Madeleine. Saint-Potin suddenly observed to his companion: "You know if
+you have anything else to do, I shall not need you in any way."
+
+Duroy shook hands and left him. The notion of the article to be written
+that evening worried him, and he began to think. He stored his mind with
+ideas, reflections, opinions, and anecdotes as he walked along, and went
+as far as the end of the Avenue des Champs Elysees, where only a few
+strollers were to be seen, the heat having caused Paris to be evacuated.
+
+Having dined at a wine shop near the Arc de Triomphe, he walked slowly
+home along the outer boulevards and sat down at his table to work. But
+as soon as he had the sheet of blank paper before his eyes, all the
+materials that he had accumulated fled from his mind as though his brain
+had evaporated. He tried to seize on fragments of his recollections and
+to retain them, but they escaped him as fast as he laid hold of them, or
+else they rushed on him altogether pell-mell, and he did not know how to
+clothe and present them, nor which one to begin with.
+
+After an hour of attempts and five sheets of paper blackened by opening
+phrases that had no continuation, he said to himself: "I am not yet
+well enough up in the business. I must have another lesson." And all at
+once the prospect of another morning's work with Madame Forestier, the
+hope of another long and intimate _tete-a-tete_ so cordial and so
+pleasant, made him quiver with desire. He went to bed in a hurry, almost
+afraid now of setting to work again and succeeding all at once.
+
+He did not get up the next day till somewhat late, putting off and
+tasting in advance the pleasure of this visit.
+
+It was past ten when he rang his friend's bell.
+
+The man-servant replied: "Master is engaged at his work."
+
+Duroy had not thought that the husband might be at home. He insisted,
+however, saying: "Tell him that I have called on a matter requiring
+immediate attention."
+
+After waiting five minutes he was shown into the study in which he had
+passed such a pleasant morning. In the chair he had occupied Forestier
+was now seated writing, in a dressing-gown and slippers and with a
+little Scotch bonnet on his head, while his wife in the same white gown
+leant against the mantelpiece and dictated, cigarette in mouth.
+
+Duroy, halting on the threshold, murmured: "I really beg your pardon; I
+am afraid I am disturbing you."
+
+His friend, turning his face towards him--an angry face, too--growled:
+"What is it you want now? Be quick; we are pressed for time."
+
+The intruder, taken back, stammered: "It is nothing; I beg your
+pardon."
+
+But Forestier, growing angry, exclaimed: "Come, hang it all, don't waste
+time about it; you have not forced your way in just for the sake of
+wishing us good-morning, I suppose?"
+
+Then Duroy, greatly perturbed, made up his mind. "No--you see--the fact
+is--I can't quite manage my article--and you were--so--so kind last
+time--that I hoped--that I ventured to come--"
+
+Forestier cut him short. "You have a pretty cheek. So you think I am
+going to do your work, and that all you have to do is to call on the
+cashier at the end of the month to draw your screw? No, that is too
+good."
+
+The young woman went on smoking without saying a word, smiling with a
+vague smile, which seemed like an amiable mask, concealing the irony of
+her thoughts.
+
+Duroy, colored up, stammered: "Excuse me--I fancied--I thought--" then
+suddenly, and in a clear voice, he went on: "I beg your pardon a
+thousand times, Madame, while again thanking you most sincerely for the
+charming article you produced for me yesterday." He bowed, remarked to
+Charles: "I shall be at the office at three," and went out.
+
+He walked home rapidly, grumbling: "Well, I will do it all alone, and
+they shall see--"
+
+Scarcely had he got in than, excited by anger, he began to write. He
+continued the adventure began by Madame Forestier, heaping up details of
+catch-penny romance, surprising incidents, and inflated descriptions,
+with the style of a schoolboy and the phraseology of the barrack-room.
+Within an hour he had finished an article which was a chaos of nonsense,
+and took it with every assurance to the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+The first person he met was Saint-Potin, who, grasping his hand with the
+energy of an accomplice, said: "You have read my interview with the
+Chinese and the Hindoo? Isn't it funny? It has amused everyone. And I
+did not even get a glimpse of them."
+
+Duroy, who had not read anything, at once took up the paper and ran his
+eye over a long article headed: "India and China," while the reporter
+pointed out the most interesting passages.
+
+Forestier came in puffing, in a hurry, with a busy air, saying:
+
+"Good; I want both of you."
+
+And he mentioned a number of items of political information that would
+have to be obtained that very afternoon.
+
+Duroy held out his article.
+
+"Here is the continuation about Algeria."
+
+"Very good; hand it over; and I will give it to the governor."
+
+That was all.
+
+Saint-Potin led away his new colleague, and when they were in the
+passage, he said to him: "Have you seen the cashier?"
+
+"No; why?"
+
+"Why? To draw your money. You see you should always draw a month in
+advance. One never knows what may happen."
+
+"But--I ask for nothing better."
+
+"I will introduce you to the cashier. He will make no difficulty about
+it. They pay up well here."
+
+Duroy went and drew his two hundred francs, with twenty-eight more for
+his article of the day before, which, added to what remained of his
+salary from the railway company, gave him three hundred and forty
+francs in his pocket. He had never owned such a sum, and thought himself
+possessed of wealth for an indefinite period.
+
+Saint-Potin then took him to have a gossip in the offices of four or
+five rival papers, hoping that the news he was entrusted to obtain had
+already been gleaned by others, and that he should be able to draw it
+out of them--thanks to the flow and artfulness of his conversation.
+
+When evening had come, Duroy, who had nothing more to do, thought of
+going again to the Folies Bergeres, and putting a bold face on, he went
+up to the box office.
+
+"I am George Duroy, on the staff of the _Vie Francaise_. I came here the
+other day with Monsieur Forestier, who promised me to see about my being
+put on the free list; I do not know whether he has thought of it."
+
+The list was referred to. His name was not entered.
+
+However, the box office-keeper, a very affable man, at once said: "Pray,
+go in all the same, sir, and write yourself to the manager, who, I am
+sure, will pay attention to your letter."
+
+He went in and almost immediately met Rachel, the woman he had gone off
+with the first evening. She came up to him, saying: "Good evening,
+ducky. Are you quite well?"
+
+"Very well, thanks--and you?"
+
+"I am all right. Do you know, I have dreamed of you twice since last
+time?"
+
+Duroy smiled, feeling flattered. "Ah! and what does that mean?"
+
+"It means that you pleased me, you old dear, and that we will begin
+again whenever you please."
+
+"To-day, if you like."
+
+"Yes, I am quite willing."
+
+"Good, but--" He hesitated, a little ashamed of what he was going to do.
+"The fact is that this time I have not a penny; I have just come from
+the club, where I have dropped everything."
+
+She looked him full in the eyes, scenting a lie with the instinct and
+habit of a girl accustomed to the tricks and bargainings of men, and
+remarked: "Bosh! That is not a nice sort of thing to try on me."
+
+He smiled in an embarrassed way. "If you will take ten francs, it is all
+I have left."
+
+She murmured, with the disinterestedness of a courtesan gratifying a
+fancy: "What you please, my lady; I only want you."
+
+And lifting her charming eyes towards the young man's moustache, she
+took his arm and leant lovingly upon it.
+
+"Let us go and have a grenadine first of all," she remarked. "And then
+we will take a stroll together. I should like to go to the opera like
+this, with you, to show you off. And we will go home early, eh?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He lay late at this girl's place. It was broad day when he left, and the
+notion occurred to him to buy the _Vie Francaise_. He opened the paper
+with feverish hand. His article was not there, and he stood on the
+footpath, anxiously running his eye down the printed columns with the
+hope of at length finding what he was in search of. A weight suddenly
+oppressed his heart, for after the fatigue of a night of love, this
+vexation came upon him with the weight of a disaster.
+
+He reached home and went to sleep in his clothes on the bed.
+
+Entering the office some hours later, he went on to see Monsieur Walter.
+
+"I was surprised at not seeing my second article on Algeria in the paper
+this morning, sir," said he.
+
+The manager raised his head, and replied in a dry tone: "I gave it to
+your friend Forestier, and asked him to read it through. He did not
+think it up to the mark; you must rewrite it."
+
+Duroy, in a rage, went out without saying a word, and abruptly entering
+his old comrade's room, said:
+
+"Why didn't you let my article go in this morning?"
+
+The journalist was smoking a cigarette with his back almost on the seat
+of his armchair and his feet on the table, his heels soiling an article
+already commenced. He said slowly, in a bored and distant voice, as
+though speaking from the depths of a hole: "The governor thought it
+poor, and told me to give it back to you to do over again. There it is."
+And he pointed out the slips flattened out under a paperweight.
+
+Duroy, abashed, could find nothing to say in reply, and as he was
+putting his prose into his pocket, Forestier went on: "To-day you must
+first of all go to the Prefecture." And he proceeded to give a list of
+business errands and items of news to be attended to.
+
+Duroy went off without having been able to find the cutting remark he
+wanted to. He brought back his article the next day. It was returned to
+him again. Having rewritten it a third time, and finding it still
+refused, he understood that he was trying to go ahead too fast, and
+that Forestier's hand alone could help him on his way. He did not
+therefore say anything more about the "Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique," promising himself to be supple and cunning since it was
+needful, and while awaiting something better to zealously discharge his
+duties as a reporter.
+
+
+He learned to know the way behind the scenes in theatrical and political
+life; the waiting-rooms of statesmen and the lobby of the Chamber of
+Deputies; the important countenances of permanent secretaries, and the
+grim looks of sleepy ushers. He had continual relations with ministers,
+doorkeepers, generals, police agents, princes, bullies, courtesans,
+ambassadors, bishops, panders, adventurers, men of fashion,
+card-sharpers, cab drivers, waiters, and many others, having become the
+interested yet indifferent friend of all these; confounding them
+together in his estimation, measuring them with the same measure,
+judging them with the same eye, though having to see them every day at
+every hour, without any transition, and to speak with them all on the
+
+same business of his own. He compared himself to a man who had to drink
+off samples of every kind of wine one after the other, and who would
+soon be unable to tell Chateau Margaux from Argenteuil.
+
+He became in a short time a remarkable reporter, certain of his
+information, artful, swift, subtle, a real find for the paper, as was
+observed by Daddy Walter, who knew what newspaper men were. However, as
+he got only centimes a line in addition to his monthly screw of two
+hundred francs, and as life on the boulevards and in _cafes_ and
+restaurants is costly, he never had a halfpenny, and was disgusted with
+his poverty. There is some knack to be got hold of, he thought, seeing
+some of his fellows with their pockets full of money without ever being
+able to understand what secret methods they could make use of to procure
+this abundance. He enviously suspected unknown and suspicious
+transactions, services rendered, a whole system of contraband accepted
+and agreed to. But it was necessary that he should penetrate the
+mystery, enter into the tacit partnership, make himself one with the
+comrades who were sharing without him.
+
+And he often thought of an evening, as he watched the trains go by from
+his window, of the steps he ought to take.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+
+Two months had gone by, September was at hand, and the rapid fortune
+which Duroy had hoped for seemed to him slow in coming. He was, above
+all, uneasy at the mediocrity of his position, and did not see by what
+path he could scale the heights on the summit of which one finds
+respect, power, and money. He felt shut up in the mediocre calling of a
+reporter, so walled in as to be unable to get out of it. He was
+appreciated, but estimated in accordance with his position. Even
+Forestier, to whom he rendered a thousand services, no longer invited
+him to dinner, and treated him in every way as an inferior, though still
+accosting him as a friend.
+
+From time to time, it is true, Duroy, seizing an opportunity, got in a
+short article, and having acquired through his paragraphs a mastery over
+his pen, and a tact which was lacking to him when he wrote his second
+article on Algeria, no longer ran any risk of having his descriptive
+efforts refused. But from this to writing leaders according to his
+fancy, or dealing with political questions with authority, there was as
+great a difference as driving in the Bois de Boulogne as a coachman, and
+as the owner of an equipage. That which humiliated him above everything
+was to see the door of society closed to him, to have no equal relations
+with it, not to be able to penetrate into the intimacy of its women,
+although several well-known actresses had occasionally received him with
+an interested familiarity.
+
+He knew, moreover, from experience that all the sex, ladies or
+actresses, felt a singular attraction towards him, an instantaneous
+sympathy, and he experienced the impatience of a hobbled horse at not
+knowing those whom his future may depend on.
+
+He had often thought of calling on Madame Forestier, but the
+recollection of their last meeting checked and humiliated him; and
+besides, he was awaiting an invitation to do so from her husband. Then
+the recollection of Madame de Marelle occurred to him, and recalling
+that she had asked him to come and see her, he called one afternoon when
+he had nothing to do.
+
+"I am always at home till three o'clock," she had said.
+
+He rang at the bell of her residence, a fourth floor in the Rue de
+Verneuil, at half-past two.
+
+At the sound of the bell a servant opened the door, an untidy girl, who
+tied her cap strings as she replied: "Yes, Madame is at home, but I
+don't know whether she is up."
+
+And she pushed open the drawing-room door, which was ajar. Duroy went
+in. The room was fairly large, scantily furnished and neglected looking.
+The chairs, worn and old, were arranged along the walls, as placed by
+the servant, for there was nothing to reveal the tasty care of the woman
+who loves her home. Four indifferent pictures, representing a boat on a
+stream, a ship at sea, a mill on a plain, and a wood-cutter in a wood,
+hung in the center of the four walls by cords of unequal length, and all
+four on one side. It could be divined that they had been dangling thus
+askew ever so long before indifferent eyes.
+
+
+Duroy sat down immediately. He waited a long time. Then a door opened,
+and Madame de Marelle hastened in, wearing a Japanese morning gown of
+rose-colored silk embroidered with yellow landscapes, blue flowers, and
+white birds.
+
+"Fancy! I was still in bed!" she exclaimed. "How good of you to come and
+see me! I had made up my mind that you had forgotten me."
+
+She held out both her hands with a delighted air, and Duroy, whom the
+commonplace appearance of the room had put at his ease, kissed one, as
+
+he had seen Norbert de Varenne do.
+
+She begged him to sit down, and then scanning him from head to foot,
+said: "How you have altered! You have improved in looks. Paris has done
+you good. Come, tell me the news."
+
+And they began to gossip at once, as if they had been old acquaintances,
+feeling an instantaneous familiarity spring up between them; feeling one
+of those mutual currents of confidence, intimacy, and affection, which,
+in five minutes, make two beings of the same breed and character good
+friends.
+
+Suddenly, Madame de Marelle exclaimed in astonishment: "It is funny how
+I get on with you. It seems to me as though I had known you for ten
+years. We shall become good friends, no doubt. Would you like it?"
+
+He answered: "Certainly," with a smile which said still more.
+
+He thought her very tempting in her soft and bright-hued gown, less
+refined and delicate than the other in her white one, but more exciting
+and spicy. When he was beside Madame Forestier, with her continual and
+gracious smile which attracted and checked at the same time; which
+seemed to say: "You please me," and also "Take care," and of which the
+real meaning was never clear, he felt above all the wish to lie down at
+her feet, or to kiss the lace bordering of her bodice, and slowly inhale
+the warm and perfumed atmosphere that must issue from it. With Madame de
+Marelle he felt within him a more definite, a more brutal desire--a
+desire that made his fingers quiver in presence of the rounded outlines
+of the light silk.
+
+She went on talking, scattering in each phrase that ready wit of which
+she had acquired the habit just as a workman acquires the knack needed
+to accomplish a task reputed difficult, and at which other folk are
+astonished. He listened, thinking: "All this is worth remembering. A man
+could write charming articles of Paris gossip by getting her to chat
+over the events of the day."
+
+Some one tapped softly, very softly, at the door by which she had
+entered, and she called out: "You can come in, pet."
+
+Her little girl made her appearance, walked straight up to Duroy, and
+held out her hand to him. The astonished mother murmured: "But this is a
+complete conquest. I no longer recognize her."
+
+The young fellow, having kissed the child, made her sit down beside him,
+and with a serious manner asked her pleasant questions as to what she
+had been doing since they last met. She replied, in her little
+flute-like voice, with her grave and grown-up air.
+
+The clock struck three, and the journalist arose.
+
+
+"Come often," said Madame de Marelle, "and we will chat as we have done
+to-day; it will always give me pleasure. But how is it one no longer
+sees you at the Forestiers?" He replied: "Oh! for no reason. I have been
+very busy. I hope to meet you there again one of these days."
+
+He went out, his heart full of hope, though without knowing why.
+
+He did not speak to Forestier of this visit. But he retained the
+recollection of it the following days, and more than the recollection--a
+sensation of the unreal yet persistent presence of this woman. It seemed
+to him that he had carried away something of her, the reflection of her
+form in his eyes, and the smack of her moral self in his heart. He
+remained under the haunted influence of her image, as it happens
+sometimes when we have passed pleasant hours with some one.
+
+He paid a second visit a few days later.
+
+The maid ushered him into the drawing-room, and Laurine at once
+appeared. She held out no longer her hand, but her forehead, and said:
+"Mamma has told me to request you to wait for her. She will be a
+quarter-of-an-hour, because she is not dressed yet. I will keep you
+company."
+
+Duroy, who was amused by the ceremonious manners of the little girl,
+replied: "Certainly, Mademoiselle. I shall be delighted to pass a
+quarter-of-an-hour with you, but I warn you that for my part I am not at
+all serious, and that I play all day long, so I suggest a game at
+touch."
+
+The girl was astonished; then she smiled as a woman would have done at
+this idea, which shocked her a little as well as astonished her, and
+murmured: "Rooms are not meant to be played in."
+
+He said: "It is all the same to me. I play everywhere. Come, catch me."
+
+And he began to go round the table, exciting her to pursue him, while
+she came after him, smiling with a species of polite condescension, and
+sometimes extending her hand to touch him, but without ever giving way
+so far as to run. He stopped, stooped down, and when she drew near with
+her little hesitating steps, sprung up in the air like a
+jack-in-the-box, and then bounded with a single stride to the other end
+of the dining-room. She thought it funny, ended by laughing, and
+becoming aroused, began to trot after him, giving little gleeful yet
+timid cries when she thought she had him. He shifted the chairs and used
+them as obstacles, forcing her to go round and round one of them for a
+minute at a time, and then leaving that one to seize upon another.
+Laurine ran now, giving herself wholly up to the charm of this new game,
+and with flushed face, rushed forward with the bound of a delighted
+child at each of the flights, the tricks, the feints of her companion.
+Suddenly, just as she thought she had got him, he seized her in his
+arms, and lifting her to the ceiling, exclaimed: "Touch."
+
+The delighted girl wriggled her legs to escape, and laughed with all her
+heart.
+
+Madame de Marelle came in at that moment, and was amazed. "What,
+Laurine, Laurine, playing! You are a sorcerer, sir."
+
+He put down the little girl, kissed her mother's hand, and they sat down
+with the child between them. They began to chat, but Laurine, usually so
+silent, kept talking all the while, and had to be sent to her room. She
+obeyed without a word, but with tears in her eyes.
+
+As soon as they were alone, Madame de Marelle lowered her voice. "You do
+not know, but I have a grand scheme, and I have thought of you. This is
+it. As I dine every week at the Forestiers, I return their hospitality
+from time to time at some restaurant. I do not like to entertain company
+at home, my household is not arranged for that, and besides, I do not
+understand anything about domestic affairs, anything about the kitchen,
+anything at all. I like to live anyhow. So I entertain them now and then
+at a restaurant, but it is not very lively when there are only three,
+and my own acquaintances scarcely go well with them. I tell you all this
+in order to explain a somewhat irregular invitation. You understand, do
+you not, that I want you to make one of us on Saturday at the Cafe
+Riche, at half-past seven. You know the place?"
+
+He accepted with pleasure, and she went on: "There will be only us four.
+These little outings are very amusing to us women who are not accustomed
+to them."
+
+She was wearing a dark brown dress, which showed off the lines of her
+waist, her hips, her bosom, and her arm in a coquettishly provocative
+way. Duroy felt confusedly astonished at the lack of harmony between
+this carefully refined elegance and her evident carelessness as regarded
+her dwelling. All that clothed her body, all that closely and directly
+touched her flesh was fine and delicate, but that which surrounded her
+did not matter to her.
+
+He left her, retaining, as before, the sense of her continued presence
+in species of hallucination of the senses. And he awaited the day of the
+dinner with growing impatience.
+
+Having hired, for the second time, a dress suit--his funds not yet
+allowing him to buy one--he arrived first at the rendezvous, a few
+minutes before the time. He was ushered up to the second story, and into
+a small private dining-room hung with red and white, its single window
+opening into the boulevard. A square table, laid for four, displaying
+its white cloth, so shining that it seemed to be varnished, and the
+glasses and the silver glittered brightly in the light of the twelve
+candles of two tall candelabra. Without was a broad patch of light
+green, due to the leaves of a tree lit up by the bright light from the
+dining-rooms.
+
+Duroy sat down in a low armchair, upholstered in red to match the
+hangings on the walls. The worn springs yielding beneath him caused him
+to feel as though sinking into a hole. He heard throughout the huge
+house a confused murmur, the murmur of a large restaurant, made up of
+the clattering of glass and silver, the hurried steps of the waiters,
+deadened by the carpets in the passages, and the opening of doors
+letting out the sound of voices from the numerous private rooms in which
+people were dining. Forestier came in and shook hands with him, with a
+cordial familiarity which he never displayed at the offices of the _Vie
+Francaise_.
+
+"The ladies are coming together," said he; "these little dinners are
+very pleasant."
+
+Then he glanced at the table, turned a gas jet that was feebly burning
+completely off, closed one sash of the window on account of the draught,
+and chose a sheltered place for himself, with a remark: "I must be
+careful; I have been better for a month, and now I am queer again these
+last few days. I must have caught cold on Tuesday, coming out of the
+theater."
+
+The door was opened, and, followed by a waiter, the two ladies appeared,
+veiled, muffled, reserved, with that charmingly mysterious bearing they
+assume in such places, where the surroundings are suspicious.
+
+As Duroy bowed to Madame Forestier she scolded him for not having come
+to see her again; then she added with a smile, in the direction of her
+friend: "I know what it is; you prefer Madame de Marelle, you can find
+time to visit her."
+
+They sat down to table, and the waiter having handed the wine card to
+Forestier, Madame de Marelle exclaimed: "Give these gentlemen whatever
+they like, but for us iced champagne, the best, sweet champagne,
+mind--nothing else." And the man having withdrawn, she added with an
+excited laugh: "I am going to get tipsy this evening; we will have a
+spree--a regular spree."
+
+Forestier, who did not seem to have heard, said: "Would you mind the
+window being closed? My chest has been rather queer the last few days."
+
+"No, not at all."
+
+He pushed too the sash left open, and returned to his place with a
+reassured and tranquil countenance. His wife said nothing. Seemingly
+lost in thought, and with her eyes lowered towards the table, she smiled
+
+at the glasses with that vague smile which seemed always to promise and
+never to grant.
+
+The Ostend oysters were brought in, tiny and plump like little ears
+enclosed in shells, and melting between the tongue and the palate like
+salt bon-bons. Then, after the soup, was served a trout as rose-tinted
+as a young girl, and the guests began to talk.
+
+They spoke at first of a current scandal; the story of a lady of
+position, surprised by one of her husband's friends supping in a private
+room with a foreign prince. Forestier laughed a great deal at the
+adventure; the two ladies declared that the indiscreet gossip was
+nothing less than a blackguard and a coward. Duroy was of their opinion,
+and loudly proclaimed that it is the duty of a man in these matters,
+whether he be actor, confidant, or simple spectator, to be silent as the
+grave. He added: "How full life would be of pleasant things if we could
+reckon upon the absolute discretion of one another. That which often,
+almost always, checks women is the fear of the secret being revealed.
+Come, is it not true?" he continued. "How many are there who would yield
+to a sudden desire, the caprice of an hour, a passing fancy, did they
+not fear to pay for a short-lived and fleeting pleasure by an
+irremediable scandal and painful tears?"
+
+He spoke with catching conviction, as though pleading a cause, his own
+cause, as though he had said: "It is not with me that one would have to
+dread such dangers. Try me and see."
+
+They both looked at him approvingly, holding that he spoke rightly and
+justly, confessing by their friendly silence that their flexible
+morality as Parisians would not have held out long before the certainty
+of secrecy. And Forestier, leaning back in his place on the divan, one
+leg bent under him, and his napkin thrust into his waistcoat, suddenly
+said with the satisfied laugh of a skeptic: "The deuce! yes, they would
+all go in for it if they were certain of silence. Poor husbands!"
+
+And they began to talk of love. Without admitting it to be eternal,
+Duroy understood it as lasting, creating a bond, a tender friendship, a
+confidence. The union of the senses was only a seal to the union of
+hearts. But he was angry at the outrageous jealousies, melodramatic
+scenes, and unpleasantness which almost always accompany ruptures.
+
+When he ceased speaking, Madame de Marelle replied: "Yes, it is the only
+pleasant thing in life, and we often spoil it by preposterous
+unreasonableness."
+
+Madame Forestier, who was toying with her knife, added: "Yes--yes--it is
+pleasant to be loved."
+
+And she seemed to be carrying her dream further, to be thinking things
+that she dared not give words to.
+
+As the first _entree_ was slow in coming, they sipped from time to time
+a mouthful of champagne, and nibbled bits of crust. And the idea of
+love, entering into them, slowly intoxicated their souls, as the bright
+wine, rolling drop by drop down their throats, fired their blood and
+perturbed their minds.
+
+The waiter brought in some lamb cutlets, delicate and tender, upon a
+thick bed of asparagus tips.
+
+"Ah! this is good," exclaimed Forestier; and they ate slowly, savoring
+the delicate meat and vegetables as smooth as cream.
+
+Duroy resumed: "For my part, when I love a woman everything else in the
+world disappears." He said this in a tone of conviction.
+
+Madame Forestier murmured, with her let-me-alone air:
+
+"There is no happiness comparable to that of the first hand-clasp, when
+the one asks, 'Do you love me?' and the other replies, 'Yes.'"
+
+Madame de Marelle, who had just tossed a fresh glass of champagne off at
+a draught, said gayly, as she put down her glass: "For my part, I am not
+so Platonic."
+
+And all began to smile with kindling eyes at these words.
+
+Forestier, stretched out in his seat on the divan, opened his arms,
+rested them on the cushions, and said in a serious tone: "This frankness
+does you honor, and proves that you are a practical woman. But may one
+ask you what is the opinion of Monsieur de Marelle?"
+
+She shrugged her shoulders slightly, with infinite and prolonged
+disdain; and then in a decided tone remarked: "Monsieur de Marelle has
+no opinions on this point. He only has--abstentions."
+
+And the conversation, descending from the elevated theories, concerning
+love, strayed into the flowery garden of polished blackguardism. It was
+the moment of clever double meanings; veils raised by words, as
+petticoats are lifted by the wind; tricks of language; clever disguised
+audacities; sentences which reveal nude images in covered phrases; which
+cause the vision of all that may not be said to flit rapidly before the
+eye and the mind, and allow the well-bred people the enjoyment of a
+kind of subtle and mysterious love, a species of impure mental contact,
+due to the simultaneous evocation of secret, shameful, and longed-for
+pleasures. The roast, consisting of partridges flanked by quails, had
+been served; then a dish of green peas, and then a terrine of foie gras,
+accompanied by a curly-leaved salad, filling a salad bowl as though with
+green foam. They had partaken of all these things without tasting them,
+without knowing, solely taken up by what they were talking of, plunged
+as it were in a bath of love.
+
+The two ladies were now going it strongly in their remarks. Madame de
+Marelle, with a native audacity which resembled a direct provocation,
+and Madame Forestier with a charming reserve, a modesty in her tone,
+voice, smile, and bearing that underlined while seeming to soften the
+bold remarks falling from her lips. Forestier, leaning quite back on the
+cushions, laughed, drank and ate without leaving off, and sometimes
+threw in a word so risque or so crude that the ladies, somewhat shocked
+by its appearance, and for appearance sake, put on a little air of
+embarrassment that lasted two or three seconds. When he had given vent
+to something a little too coarse, he added: "You are going ahead nicely,
+my children. If you go on like that you will end by making fools of
+yourselves."
+
+Dessert came, and then coffee; and the liquors poured a yet warmer dose
+of commotion into the excited minds.
+
+As she had announced on sitting down to table, Madame de Marelle was
+intoxicated, and acknowledged it in the lively and graceful rabble of a
+woman emphasizing, in order to amuse her guests, a very real
+commencement of drunkenness.
+
+Madame Forestier was silent now, perhaps out of prudence, and Duroy,
+feeling himself too much excited not to be in danger of compromising
+himself, maintained a prudent reserve.
+
+Cigarettes were lit, and all at once Forestier began to cough. It was a
+terrible fit, that seemed to tear his chest, and with red face and
+forehead damp with perspiration, he choked behind his napkin. When the
+fit was over he growled angrily: "These feeds are very bad for me; they
+are ridiculous." All his good humor had vanished before his terror of
+the illness that haunted his thoughts. "Let us go home," said he.
+
+Madame de Marelle rang for the waiter, and asked for the bill. It was
+brought almost immediately. She tried to read it, but the figures danced
+before her eyes, and she passed it to Duroy, saying: "Here, pay for me;
+I can't see, I am too tipsy."
+
+And at the same time she threw him her purse. The bill amounted to one
+hundred and thirty francs. Duroy checked it, and then handed over two
+notes and received back the change, saying in a low tone: "What shall I
+give the waiter?"
+
+"What you like; I do not know."
+
+He put five francs on the salver, and handed back the purse, saying:
+"Shall I see you to your door?"
+
+"Certainly. I am incapable of finding my way home."
+
+They shook hands with the Forestiers, and Duroy found himself alone with
+Madame de Marelle in a cab. He felt her close to him, so close, in this
+dark box, suddenly lit up for a moment by the lamps on the sidewalk. He
+felt through his sleeve the warmth of her shoulder, and he could find
+nothing to say to her, absolutely nothing, his mind being paralyzed by
+the imperative desire to seize her in his arms.
+
+"If I dared to, what would she do?" he thought. The recollection of all
+the things uttered during dinner emboldened him, but the fear of scandal
+restrained him at the same time.
+
+Nor did she say anything either, but remained motionless in her corner.
+He would have thought that she was asleep if he had not seen her eyes
+glitter every time that a ray of light entered the carriage.
+
+"What was she thinking?" He felt that he must not speak, that a word, a
+single word, breaking this silence would destroy his chance; yet courage
+failed him, the courage needed for abrupt and brutal action. All at once
+he felt her foot move. She had made a movement, a quick, nervous
+movement of impatience, perhaps of appeal. This almost imperceptible
+gesture caused a thrill to run through him from head to foot, and he
+threw himself upon her, seeking her mouth with his lips, her form with
+his hands.
+
+But the cab having shortly stopped before the house in which she
+resided, Duroy, surprised, had no time to seek passionate phrases to
+thank her, and express his grateful love. However, stunned by what had
+taken place, she did not rise, she did not stir. Then he was afraid that
+the driver might suspect something, and got out first to help her to
+alight.
+
+At length she got out of the cab, staggering and without saying a word.
+He rang the bell, and as the door opened, said, tremblingly: "When shall
+I see you again?"
+
+She murmured so softly that he scarcely heard it: "Come and lunch with
+me to-morrow." And she disappeared in the entry, pushed to the heavy
+door, which closed with a noise like that of a cannon. He gave the
+driver five francs, and began to walk along with rapid and triumphant
+steps, and heart overflowing with joy.
+
+He had won at last--a married woman, a lady. How easy and unexpected it
+had all been. He had fancied up till then that to assail and conquer one
+of these so greatly longed-for beings, infinite pains, interminable
+expectations, a skillful siege carried on by means of gallant
+attentions, words of love, sighs, and gifts were needed. And, lo!
+suddenly, at the faintest attack, the first whom he had encountered had
+yielded to him so quickly that he was stupefied at it.
+
+"She was tipsy," he thought; "to-morrow it will be another story. She
+will meet me with tears." This notion disturbed him, but he added:
+"Well, so much the worse. Now I have her, I mean to keep her."
+
+He was somewhat agitated the next day as he ascended Madame de Marelle's
+staircase. How would she receive him? And suppose she would not receive
+him at all? Suppose she had forbidden them to admit him? Suppose she had
+said--but, no, she could not have said anything without letting the
+whole truth be guessed. So he was master of the situation.
+
+The little servant opened the door. She wore her usual expression. He
+felt reassured, as if he had anticipated her displaying a troubled
+countenance, and asked: "Is your mistress quite well?"
+
+She replied: "Oh! yes, sir, the same as usual," and showed him into the
+drawing-room.
+
+He went straight to the chimney-glass to ascertain the state of his hair
+and his toilet, and was arranging his necktie before it, when he saw in
+it the young woman watching him as she stood at the door leading from
+her room. He pretended not to have noticed her, and the pair looked at
+one another for a few moments in the glass, observing and watching
+before finding themselves face to face. He turned round. She had not
+moved, and seemed to be waiting. He darted forward, stammering: "My
+darling! my darling!"
+
+
+She opened her arms and fell upon his breast; then having lifted her
+head towards him, their lips met in a long kiss.
+
+He thought: "It is easier than I should have imagined. It is all going
+on very well."
+
+And their lips separating, he smiled without saying a word, while
+striving to throw a world of love into his looks. She, too, smiled, with
+that smile by which women show their desire, their consent, their wish
+to yield themselves, and murmured: "We are alone. I have sent Laurine to
+lunch with one of her young friends."
+
+He sighed as he kissed her. "Thanks, I will worship you."
+
+Then she took his arm, as if he had been her husband, to go to the sofa,
+on which they sat down side by side. He wanted to start a clever and
+attractive chat, but not being able to do so to his liking, stammered:
+"Then you are not too angry with me?"
+
+She put her hand on his mouth, saying "Be quiet."
+
+They sat in silence, looking into one another's eyes, with burning
+fingers interlaced.
+
+"How I did long for you!" said he.
+
+She repeated: "Be quiet."
+
+They heard the servant arranging the table in the adjoining
+dining-room, and he rose, saying: "I must not remain so close to you. I
+shall lose my head."
+
+The door opened, and the servant announced that lunch was ready. Duroy
+gravely offered his arm.
+
+They lunched face to face, looking at one another and constantly
+smiling, solely taken up by themselves, and enveloped in the sweet
+enchantment of a growing love. They ate, without knowing what. He felt a
+foot, a little foot, straying under the table. He took it between his
+own and kept it there, squeezing it with all his might. The servant came
+and went, bringing and taking away the dishes with a careless air,
+without seeming to notice anything.
+
+When they had finished they returned to the drawing-room, and resumed
+their place on the sofa, side by side. Little by little he pressed up
+against her, striving to take her in his arms. But she calmly repulsed
+him, saying: "Take care; someone may come in."
+
+He murmured: "When can I see you quite alone, to tell you how I love
+you?"
+
+She leant over towards him and whispered: "I will come and pay you a
+visit one of these days."
+
+He felt himself redden. "You know--you know--my place is very small."
+
+She smiled: "That does not matter. It is you I shall call to see, and
+not your rooms."
+
+Then he pressed her to know when she would come. She named a day in the
+latter half of the week. He begged of her to advance the date in broken
+sentences, playing with and squeezing her hands, with glittering eyes,
+and flushed face, heated and torn by desire, that imperious desire which
+follows _tete-a-tete_ repasts. She was amazed to see him implore her
+with such ardor, and yielded a day from time to time. But he kept
+repeating: "To-morrow, only say to-morrow."
+
+She consented at length. "Yes, to-morrow; at five o'clock."
+
+He gave a long sigh of joy, and they then chatted almost quietly with an
+air of intimacy, as though they had known one another twenty years. The
+sound of the door bell made them start, and with a bound they separated
+to a distance. She murmured: "It must be Laurine."
+
+The child made her appearance, stopped short in amazement, and then ran
+to Duroy, clapping her hands with pleasure at seeing him, and
+exclaiming: "Ah! pretty boy."
+
+Madame de Marelle began to laugh. "What! Pretty boy! Laurine has
+baptized you. It's a nice little nickname for you, and I will call you
+Pretty-boy, too."
+
+He had taken the little girl on his knee, and he had to play with her at
+all the games he had taught her. He rose to take his leave at twenty
+minutes to three to go to the office of the paper, and on the staircase,
+through the half-closed door, he still whispered: "To-morrow, at five."
+
+She answered "Yes," with a smile, and disappeared.
+
+As soon as he had got through his day's work, he speculated how he
+should arrange his room to receive his mistress, and hide as far as
+possible the poverty of the place. He was struck by the idea of pinning
+
+a lot of Japanese trifles on the walls, and he bought for five francs
+quite a collection of little fans and screens, with which he hid the
+most obvious of the marks on the wall paper. He pasted on the window
+panes transparent pictures representing boats floating down rivers,
+flocks of birds flying across rosy skies, multi-colored ladies on
+balconies, and processions of little black men over plains covered with
+snow. His room, just big enough to sleep and sit down in, soon looked
+like the inside of a Chinese lantern. He thought the effect
+satisfactory, and passed the evening in pasting on the ceiling birds
+that he had cut from the colored sheets remaining over. Then he went to
+bed, lulled by the whistle of the trains.
+
+He went home early the next day, carrying a paper bag of cakes and a
+bottle of Madeira, purchased at the grocer's. He had to go out again to
+buy two plates and two glasses, and arranged this collation on his
+dressing-table, the dirty wood of which was covered by a napkin, the jug
+and basin being hidden away beneath it.
+
+Then he waited.
+
+She came at about a quarter-past five; and, attracted by the bright
+colors of the pictures, exclaimed: "Dear me, yours is a nice place. But
+there are a lot of people about on the staircase."
+
+He had clasped her in his arms, and was eagerly kissing the hair between
+her forehead and her bonnet through her veil.
+
+An hour and a half later he escorted her back to the cab-stand in the
+Rue de Rome. When she was in the carriage he murmured: "Tuesday at the
+same time?"
+
+She replied: "Tuesday at the same time." And as it had grown dark, she
+drew his head into the carriage and kissed him on the lips. Then the
+driver, having whipped up his beast, she exclaimed: "Good-bye,
+Pretty-boy," and the old vehicle started at the weary trot of its old
+white horse.
+
+For three weeks Duroy received Madame de Marelle in this way every two
+or three days, now in the evening and now in the morning. While he was
+expecting her one afternoon, a loud uproar on the stairs drew him to the
+door. A child was crying. A man's angry voice shouted: "What is that
+little devil howling about now?" The yelling and exasperated voice of a
+woman replied: "It is that dirty hussy who comes to see the
+penny-a-liner upstairs; she has upset Nicholas on the landing. As if
+dabs like that, who pay no attention to children on the staircase,
+should be allowed here."
+
+Duroy drew back, distracted, for he could hear the rapid rustling of
+skirts and a hurried step ascending from the story just beneath him.
+There was soon a knock at the door, which he had reclosed. He opened it,
+and Madame de Marelle rushed into the room, terrified and breathless,
+stammering: "Did you hear?"
+
+He pretended to know nothing. "No; what?"
+
+"How they have insulted me."
+
+"Who? Who?"
+
+"The blackguards who live down below."
+
+"But, surely not; what does it all mean, tell me?"
+
+She began to sob, without being able to utter a word. He had to take off
+her bonnet, undo her dress, lay her on the bed, moisten her forehead
+with a wet towel. She was choking, and then when her emotion was
+somewhat abated, all her wrathful indignation broke out. She wanted him
+to go down at once, to thrash them, to kill them.
+
+He repeated: "But they are only work-people, low creatures. Just
+remember that it would lead to a police court, that you might be
+recognized, arrested, ruined. One cannot lower one's self to have
+anything to do with such people."
+
+She passed on to another idea. "What shall we do now? For my part, I
+cannot come here again."
+
+He replied: "It is very simple; I will move."
+
+She murmured: "Yes, but that will take some time." Then all at once she
+framed a plan, and reassured, added softly: "No, listen, I know what to
+do; let me act, do not trouble yourself about anything. I will send you
+a telegram to-morrow morning."
+
+She smiled now, delighted with her plan, which she would not reveal, and
+indulged in a thousand follies. She was very agitated, however, as she
+went downstairs, leaning with all her weight on her lover's arm, her
+legs trembled so beneath her. They did not meet anyone, though.
+
+As he usually got up late, he was still in bed the next day, when, about
+eleven o'clock, the telegraph messenger brought him the promised
+telegram. He opened it and read:
+
+"Meet me at five; 127, Rue de Constantinople. Rooms hired by Madame
+Duroy.--Clo."
+
+At five o'clock to the minute he entered the doorkeeper's lodge of a
+large furnished house, and asked: "It is here that Madame Duroy has
+taken rooms, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Will you show me to them, if you please."
+
+The man, doubtless used to delicate situations in which prudence is
+necessary, looked him straight in the eyes, and then, selecting one of
+the long range of keys, said: "You are Monsieur Duroy?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+The man opened the door of a small suite of rooms on the ground floor in
+front of the lodge. The sitting-room, with a tolerably fresh wall-paper
+of floral design, and a carpet so thin that the boards of the floor
+could be felt through it, had mahogany furniture, upholstered in green
+rep with a yellow pattern. The bedroom was so small that the bed
+three-parts filled it. It occupied the further end, stretching from one
+wall to the other--the large bed of a furnished lodging-house, shrouded
+in heavy blue curtains also of rep, and covered with an eider-down quilt
+of red silk stained with suspicious-looking spots.
+
+Duroy, uneasy and displeased, thought: "This place will cost, Lord knows
+how much. I shall have to borrow again. It is idiotic what she has
+done."
+
+The door opened, and Clotilde came in like a whirlwind, with
+outstretched arms and rustling skirts. She was delighted. "Isn't it
+nice, eh, isn't it nice? And on the ground floor, too; no stairs to go
+up. One could get in and out of the windows without the doorkeeper
+seeing one. How we will love one another here!"
+
+He kissed her coldly, not daring to put the question that rose to his
+lips. She had placed a large parcel on the little round table in the
+middle of the room. She opened it, and took out a cake of soap, a bottle
+of scent, a sponge, a box of hairpins, a buttonhook, and a small pair of
+curling tongs to set right her fringe, which she got out of curl every
+time. And she played at moving in, seeking a place for everything, and
+derived great amusement from it.
+
+She kept on chattering as she opened the drawers. "I must bring a little
+linen, so as to be able to make a change if necessary. It will be very
+convenient. If I get wet, for instance, while I am out, I can run in
+here to dry myself. We shall each have one key, beside the one left with
+the doorkeeper in case we forget it. I have taken the place for three
+months, in your name, of course, since I could not give my own."
+
+Then he said: "You will let me know when the rent is to be paid."
+
+She replied, simply: "But it is paid, dear."
+
+"Then I owe it to you."
+
+"No, no, my dear; it does not concern you at all; this is a little fancy
+of my own."
+
+He seemed annoyed: "Oh, no, indeed; I can't allow that."
+
+She came to him in a supplicating way, and placing her hands on his
+shoulders, said: "I beg of you, George; it will give me so much pleasure
+to feel that our little nest here is mine--all my own. You cannot be
+annoyed at that. How can you? I wanted to contribute that much towards
+our loves. Say you agree, Georgy; say you agree."
+
+She implored him with looks, lips, the whole of her being. He held out,
+refusing with an irritated air, and then he yielded, thinking that,
+after all, it was fair. And when she had gone, he murmured, rubbing his
+hands, and without seeking in the depths of his heart whence the opinion
+came on that occasion: "She is very nice."
+
+He received, a few days later, another telegram running thus: "My
+husband returns to-night, after six weeks' inspection, so we shall have
+a week off. What a bore, darling.--Clo."
+
+Duroy felt astounded. He had really lost all idea of her being married.
+But here was a man whose face he would have liked to see just once, in
+order to know him. He patiently awaited the husband's departure, but he
+passed two evenings at the Folies Bergere, which wound up with Rachel.
+
+Then one morning came a fresh telegram: "To-day at five.--Clo."
+
+They both arrived at the meeting-place before the time. She threw
+herself into his arms with an outburst of passion, and kissed him all
+over the face, and then said: "If you like, when we have loved one
+another a great deal, you shall take me to dinner somewhere. I have kept
+
+myself disengaged."
+
+It was at the beginning of the month, and although his salary was long
+since drawn in advance, and he lived from day to day upon money gleaned
+on every side, Duroy happened to be in funds, and was pleased at the
+opportunity of spending something upon her, so he replied: "Yes,
+darling, wherever you like."
+
+They started off, therefore, at about seven, and gained the outer
+boulevards. She leaned closely against him, and whispered in his ear:
+"If you only knew how pleased I am to walk out on your arm; how I love
+to feel you beside me."
+
+He said: "Would you like to go to Pere Lathuile's?"
+
+"Oh, no, it is too swell. I should like something funny, out of the way!
+a restaurant that shopmen and work-girls go to. I adore dining at a
+country inn. Oh! if we only had been able to go into the country."
+
+As he knew nothing of the kind in the neighborhood, they wandered along
+the boulevard, and ended by going into a wine-shop where there was a
+dining-room. She had seen through the window two bareheaded girls
+seated at tables with two soldiers. Three cab-drivers were dining at the
+further end of the long and narrow room, and an individual impossible to
+classify under any calling was smoking, stretched on a chair, with his
+legs stuck out in front of him, his hands in the waist-band of his
+trousers, and his head thrown back over the top bar. His jacket was a
+museum of stains, and in his swollen pockets could be noted the neck of
+a bottle, a piece of bread, a parcel wrapped up in a newspaper, and a
+dangling piece of string. He had thick, tangled, curly hair, gray with
+scurf, and his cap was on the floor under his chair.
+
+The entrance of Clotilde created a sensation, due to the elegance of her
+toilet. The couples ceased whispering together, the three cab-drivers
+left off arguing, and the man who was smoking, having taken his pipe
+from his mouth and spat in front of him, turned his head slightly to
+look.
+
+Madame de Marelle murmured: "It is very nice; we shall be very
+comfortable here. Another time I will dress like a work-girl." And she
+sat down, without embarrassment or disgust, before the wooden table,
+polished by the fat of dishes, washed by spilt liquors, and cleaned by a
+wisp of the waiter's napkin. Duroy, somewhat ill at ease, and slightly
+ashamed, sought a peg to hang his tall hat on. Not finding one, he put
+it on a chair.
+
+They had a ragout, a slice of melon, and a salad. Clotilde repeated: "I
+delight in this. I have low tastes. I like this better than the Cafe
+Anglais." Then she added: "If you want to give me complete enjoyment,
+you will take me to a dancing place. I know a very funny one close by
+called the Reine Blanche."
+
+Duroy, surprised at this, asked: "Whoever took you there?"
+
+He looked at her and saw her blush, somewhat disturbed, as though this
+sudden question had aroused within her some delicate recollections.
+After one of these feminine hesitations, so short that they can scarcely
+be guessed, she replied: "A friend of mine," and then, after a brief
+silence, added, "who is dead." And she cast down her eyes with a very
+natural sadness.
+
+Duroy, for the first time, thought of all that he did not know as
+regarded the past life of this woman. Certainly she already had lovers,
+but of what kind, in what class of society? A vague jealousy, a species
+of enmity awoke within him; an enmity against all that he did not know,
+all that had not belonged to him. He looked at her, irritated at the
+mystery wrapped up within that pretty, silent head, which was thinking,
+perhaps, at that very moment, of the other, the others, regretfully. How
+he would have liked to have looked into her recollections--to have known
+all.
+
+She repeated: "Will you take me to the Reine Blanche? That will be a
+perfect treat."
+
+He thought: "What matters the past? I am very foolish to bother about
+it," and smilingly replied: "Certainly, darling."
+
+When they were in the street she resumed, in that low and mysterious
+tone in which confidences are made: "I dared not ask you this until now,
+but you cannot imagine how I love these escapades in places ladies do
+not go to. During the carnival I will dress up as a schoolboy. I make
+such a capital boy."
+
+When they entered the ball-room she clung close to him, gazing with
+delighted eyes on the girls and the bullies, and from time to time, as
+though to reassure herself as regards any possible danger, saying, as
+she noticed some serious and motionless municipal guard: "That is a
+strong-looking fellow." In a quarter of an hour she had had enough of it
+and he escorted her home.
+
+Then began quite a series of excursions in all the queer places where
+the common people amuse themselves, and Duroy discovered in his mistress
+quite a liking for this vagabondage of students bent on a spree. She
+came to their meeting-place in a cotton frock and with a servant's
+cap--a theatrical servant's cap--on her head; and despite the elegant
+and studied simplicity of her toilet, retained her rings, her bracelets,
+and her diamond earrings, saying, when he begged her to remove them:
+"Bah! they will think they are paste."
+
+She thought she was admirably disguised, and although she was really
+only concealed after the fashion of an ostrich, she went into the most
+ill-famed drinking places. She wanted Duroy to dress himself like a
+workman, but he resisted, and retained his correct attire, without even
+consenting to exchange his tall hat for one of soft felt. She was
+consoled for this obstinacy on his part by the reflection that she would
+be taken for a chambermaid engaged in a love affair with a gentleman,
+and thought this delightful. In this guise they went into popular
+wine-shops, and sat down on rickety chairs at old wooden tables in
+smoke-filled rooms. A cloud of strong tobacco smoke, with which still
+blended the smell of fish fried at dinner time, filled the room; men in
+blouses shouted at one another as they tossed off nips of spirits; and
+the astonished waiter would stare at this strange couple as he placed
+before them two cherry brandies. She--trembling, fearsome, yet
+charmed--began to sip the red liquid, looking round her with uneasy and
+kindling eye. Each cherry swallowed gave her the sensation of a sin
+committed, each drop of burning liquor flowing down her throat gave her
+
+the pleasure of a naughty and forbidden joy.
+
+Then she would say, "Let us go," and they would leave. She would pass
+rapidly, with bent head and the short steps of an actress leaving the
+stage, among the drinkers, who, with their elbows on the tables, watched
+her go by with suspicious and dissatisfied glances; and when she had
+crossed the threshold would give a deep sigh, as if she had just escaped
+some terrible danger.
+
+Sometimes she asked Duroy, with a shudder: "If I were insulted in these
+places, what would you do?"
+
+He would answer, with a swaggering air: "Take your part, by Jove!"
+
+And she would clasp his arm with happiness, with, perhaps, a vague wish
+to be insulted and defended, to see men fight on her account, even such
+men as those, with her lover.
+
+But these excursions taking place two or three times a week began to
+weary Duroy, who had great difficulty, besides, for some time past, in
+procuring the ten francs necessary for the cake and the drinks. He now
+lived very hardly and with more difficulty than when he was a clerk in
+the Northern Railway; for having spent lavishly during his first month
+of journalism, in the constant hope of gaining large sums of money in a
+day or two, he had exhausted all his resources and all means of
+procuring money. A very simple method, that of borrowing from the
+cashier, was very soon exhausted; and he already owed the paper four
+months' salary, besides six hundred francs advanced on his lineage
+account. He owed, besides, a hundred francs to Forestier, three hundred
+to Jacques Rival, who was free-handed with his money; and he was also
+eaten up by a number of small debts of from five francs to twenty.
+Saint-Potin, consulted as to the means of raising another hundred
+francs, had discovered no expedient, although a man of inventive mind,
+and Duroy was exasperated at this poverty, of which he was more sensible
+now than formerly, since he had more wants. A sullen rage against
+everyone smouldered within him, with an ever-increasing irritation,
+
+which manifested itself at every moment on the most futile pretexts. He
+sometimes asked himself how he could have spent an average of a thousand
+francs a month, without any excess and the gratification of any
+extravagant fancy, and he found that, by adding a lunch at eight
+francs to a dinner at twelve, partaken of in some large cafe on the
+boulevards, he at once came to a louis, which, added to ten francs
+pocket-money--that pocket-money that melts away, one does not know
+how--makes a total of thirty francs. But thirty francs a day is nine
+hundred francs at the end of the month. And he did not reckon in the
+cost of clothes, boots, linen, washing, etc.
+
+So on the 14th December he found himself without a sou in his pocket,
+and without a notion in his mind how to get any money. He went, as he
+had often done of old, without lunch, and passed the afternoon working
+at the newspaper office, angry and preoccupied. About four o'clock he
+received a telegram from his mistress, running: "Shall we dine together,
+and have a lark afterwards?"
+
+He at once replied: "Cannot dine." Then he reflected that he would be
+very stupid to deprive himself of the pleasant moments she might afford
+him, and added: "But will wait at nine at our place." And having sent
+one of the messengers with this, to save the cost of a telegram, he
+began to reflect what he should do to procure himself a dinner.
+
+At seven o'clock he had not yet hit upon anything and a terrible hunger
+assailed him. Then he had recourse to the stratagem of a despairing man.
+He let all his colleagues depart, one after the other, and when he was
+alone rang sharply. Monsieur Walter's messenger, left in charge of the
+offices, came in. Duroy was standing feeling in his pockets, and said in
+an abrupt voice: "Foucart, I have left my purse at home, and I have to
+go and dine at the Luxembourg. Lend me fifty sous for my cab."
+
+The man took three francs from his waistcoat pocket and said: "Do you
+want any more, sir?"
+
+"No, no, that will be enough. Thanks."
+
+And having seized on the coins, Duroy ran downstairs and dined at a
+slap-bank, to which he drifted on his days of poverty.
+
+At nine o'clock he was awaiting his mistress, with his feet on the
+fender, in the little sitting-room. She came in, lively and animated,
+brisked up by the keen air of the street. "If you like," said she, "we
+will first go for a stroll, and then come home here at eleven. The
+weather is splendid for walking."
+
+He replied, in a grumbling tone: "Why go out? We are very comfortable
+here."
+
+She said, without taking off her bonnet: "If you knew, the moonlight is
+beautiful. It is splendid walking about to-night."
+
+"Perhaps so, but I do not care for walking about!"
+
+He had said this in an angry fashion. She was struck and hurt by it, and
+asked: "What is the matter with you? Why do you go on in this way? I
+should like to go for a stroll, and I don't see how that can vex you."
+
+He got up in a rage. "It does not vex me. It is a bother, that is all."
+
+She was one of those sort of women whom resistance irritates and
+impoliteness exasperates, and she said disdainfully and with angry calm:
+"I am not accustomed to be spoken to like that. I will go alone, then.
+Good-bye."
+
+He understood that it was serious, and darting towards her, seized her
+hands and kissed them, saying: "Forgive me, darling, forgive me. I am
+very nervous this evening, very irritable. I have had vexations and
+annoyances, you know--matters of business."
+
+She replied, somewhat softened, but not calmed down: "That does not
+concern me, and I will not bear the consequences of your ill-temper."
+
+He took her in his arms, and drew her towards the couch.
+
+"Listen, darling, I did not want to hurt you; I was not thinking of what
+I was saying."
+
+He had forced her to sit down, and, kneeling before her, went on: "Have
+you forgiven me? Tell me you have forgiven me?"
+
+She murmured, coldly: "Very well, but do not do so again;" and rising,
+she added: "Now let us go for a stroll."
+
+He had remained at her feet, with his arms clasped about her hips, and
+stammered: "Stay here, I beg of you. Grant me this much. I should so
+like to keep you here this evening all to myself, here by the fire. Say
+yes, I beg of you, say yes."
+
+She answered plainly and firmly: "No, I want to go out, and I am not
+going to give way to your fancies."
+
+He persisted. "I beg of you, I have a reason, a very serious reason."
+
+She said again: "No; and if you won't go out with me, I shall go.
+Good-bye."
+
+She had freed herself with a jerk, and gained the door. He ran towards
+her, and clasped her in his arms, crying:
+
+"Listen, Clo, my little Clo; listen, grant me this much."
+
+She shook her head without replying, avoiding his kisses, and striving
+to escape from his grasp and go.
+
+
+He stammered: "Clo, my little Clo, I have a reason."
+
+She stopped, and looking him full in the face, said: "You are lying.
+What is it?"
+
+He blushed not knowing what to say, and she went on in an indignant
+tone: "You see very well that you are lying, you low brute." And with an
+angry gesture and tears in her eyes, she escaped him.
+
+He again caught her by the shoulders, and, in despair, ready to
+acknowledge anything in order to avoid a rupture, he said, in a
+despairing tone: "I have not a son. That's what it all means." She
+stopped short, and looking into his eyes to read the truth in them,
+said: "You say?"
+
+He had flushed to the roots of his hair. "I say that I have not a sou.
+Do you understand? Not twenty sous, not ten, not enough to pay for a
+glass of cassis in the cafe we may go into. You force me to confess what
+I am ashamed of. It was, however, impossible for me to go out with you,
+and when we were seated with refreshments in front of us to tell you
+quietly that I could not pay for them."
+
+She was still looking him in the face. "It is true, then?"
+
+In a moment he had turned out all his pockets, those of his trousers,
+coat, and waistcoat, and murmured: "There, are you satisfied now?"
+
+Suddenly opening her arms, in an outburst of passion, she threw them
+around his neck, crying: "Oh, my poor darling, my poor darling, if I had
+only known. How did it happen?"
+
+She made him sit down, and sat down herself on his knees; then, with her
+arm round his neck, kissing him every moment on his moustache, his
+mouth, his eyes, she obliged him to tell her how this misfortune had
+come about.
+
+He invented a touching story. He had been obliged to come to the
+assistance of his father, who found himself in difficulties. He had not
+only handed over to him all his savings, but had even incurred heavy
+debts on his behalf. He added: "I shall be pinched to the last degree
+for at least six months, for I have exhausted all my resources. So much
+the worse; there are crises in every life. Money, after all, is not
+worth troubling about."
+
+She whispered: "I will lend you some; will you let me?"
+
+He answered, with dignity: "You are very kind, pet; but do not think of
+that, I beg of you. You would hurt my feelings."
+
+She was silent, and then clasping him in her arms, murmured: "You will
+never know how much I love you."
+
+It was one of their most pleasant evenings.
+
+As she was leaving, she remarked, smilingly: "How nice it is when one is
+in your position to find money you had forgotten in your pocket--a coin
+that had worked its way between the stuff and the lining."
+
+He replied, in a tone of conviction: "Ah, yes, that it is."
+
+She insisted on walking home, under the pretense that the moon was
+beautiful and went into ecstasies over it. It was a cold, still night at
+the beginning of winter. Pedestrians and horses went by quickly, spurred
+by a sharp frost. Heels rang on the pavement. As she left him she said:
+"Shall we meet again the day after to-morrow?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"At the same time?"
+
+"The same time."
+
+"Good-bye, dearest." And they kissed lovingly.
+
+Then he walked home swiftly, asking himself what plan he could hit on
+the morrow to get out of his difficulty. But as he opened the door of
+his room, and fumbled in his waistcoat pocket for a match, he was
+stupefied to find a coin under his fingers. As soon as he had a light he
+hastened to examine it. It was a louis. He thought he must be mad. He
+turned it over and over, seeking by what miracle it could have found
+its way there. It could not, however, have fallen from heaven into his
+pocket.
+
+Then all at once he guessed, and an angry indignation awoke within him.
+His mistress had spoken of money slipping into the lining, and being
+found in times of poverty. It was she who had tendered him this alms.
+How shameful! He swore: "Ah! I'll talk to her the day after to-morrow.
+She shall have a nice time over it."
+
+And he went to bed, his heart filled with anger and humiliation.
+
+He woke late. He was hungry. He tried to go to sleep again, in order not
+to get up till two o'clock, and then said to himself: "That will not
+forward matters. I must end by finding some money." Then he went out,
+hoping that an idea might occur to him in the street. It did not; but at
+every restaurant he passed a longing to eat made his mouth water. As by
+noon he had failed to hit on any plan, he suddenly made up his mind: "I
+will lunch out of Clotilde's twenty francs. That won't hinder me from
+paying them back to-morrow."
+
+He, therefore, lunched for two francs fifty centimes. On reaching the
+office he also gave three francs to the messenger, saying: "Here,
+Foucart, here is the money you lent me last night for my cab."
+
+He worked till seven o'clock. Then he went and dined taking another
+three francs. The two evening bocks brought the expenditure of the day
+up to nine francs thirty centimes. But as he could not re-establish a
+credit or create fresh resources in twenty-four hours, he borrowed
+another six francs fifty centimes the next day from the twenty he was
+going to return that very evening, so that he came to keep his
+appointment with just four francs twenty centimes in his pocket.
+
+He was in a deuce of a temper, and promised himself that he would pretty
+soon explain things. He would say to his mistress: "You know, I found
+the twenty francs you slipped into my pocket the other day. I cannot
+give them back to you now, because my situation is unaltered, and I have
+not had time to occupy myself with money matters. But I will give them
+to you the next time we meet."
+
+She arrived, loving, eager, full of alarm. How would he receive her? She
+kissed him persistently to avoid an explanation at the outset.
+
+He said to himself: "It will be time enough to enter on the matter
+by-and-by. I will find an opportunity of doing so."
+
+He did not find the opportunity, and said nothing, shirking before the
+difficulty of opening this delicate subject. She did not speak of going
+out, and was in every way charming. They separated about midnight, after
+making an appointment for the Wednesday of the following week, for
+Madame de Marelle was engaged to dine out several days in succession.
+
+The next day, as Duroy, on paying for his breakfast, felt for the four
+coins that ought to be remaining to him, he perceived that they were
+five, and one of them a gold one. At the outset he thought that he had
+received it by mistake in his change the day before, then he understood
+it, and his heart throbbed with humiliation at this persistent charity.
+How he now regretted not having said anything! If he had spoken
+energetically this would not have happened.
+
+For four days he made efforts, as numerous as they were fruitless, to
+raise five louis, and spent Clotilde's second one. She managed, although
+he had said to her savagely, "Don't play that joke of the other
+evening's again, or I shall get angry," to slip another twenty francs
+into his trouser pockets the first time they met. When he found them he
+swore bitterly, and transferred them to his waistcoat to have them under
+his hand, for he had not a rap. He appeased his conscience by this
+argument: "I will give it all back to her in a lump. After all, it is
+only borrowed money."
+
+At length the cashier of the paper agreed, on his desperate appeals, to
+let him have five francs daily. It was just enough to live upon, but not
+enough to repay sixty francs with. But as Clotilde was again seized by
+her passion for nocturnal excursions in all the suspicious localities in
+Paris, he ended by not being unbearably annoyed to find a yellow boy in
+one of his pockets, once even in his boot, and another time in his
+watch-case, after their adventurous excursions. Since she had wishes
+which he could not for the moment gratify himself, was it not natural
+that she should pay for them rather than go without them? He kept an
+account, too, of all he received in this way, in order to return it to
+her some day.
+
+One evening she said to him: "Would you believe that I have never been
+to the Folies-Bergere? Will you take me there?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, afraid of meeting Rachel. Then he thought: "Bah!
+I am not married, after all. If that girl sees me she will understand
+the state of things, and will not speak to me. Besides, we will have a
+box."
+
+Another reason helped his decision. He was well pleased of this
+opportunity of offering Madame de Marelle a box at the theater without
+its costing anything. It was a kind of compensation.
+
+He left her in the cab while he got the order for the box, in order that
+she might not see it offered him, and then came to fetch her. They went
+in, and were received with bows by the acting manager. An immense crowd
+filled the lounge, and they had great difficulty in making their way
+through the swarm of men and women. At length they reached the box and
+settled themselves in it, shut in between the motionless orchestra and
+the eddy of the gallery. But Madame de Marelle rarely glanced at the
+stage. Wholly taken up with the women promenading behind her back, she
+constantly turned round to look at them, with a longing to touch them,
+to feel their bodices, their skirts, their hair, to know what these
+creatures were made of.
+
+Suddenly she said: "There is a stout, dark girl who keeps watching us
+all the time. I thought just now that she was going to speak to us. Did
+you notice her?"
+
+He answered: "No, you must be mistaken." But he had already noticed her
+for some time back. It was Rachel who was prowling about in their
+neighborhood, with anger in her eyes and hard words upon her lips.
+
+Duroy had brushed against her in making his way through the crowd, and
+she had whispered, "Good evening," with a wink which signified, "I
+understand." But he had not replied to this mark of attention for fear
+of being seen by his mistress, and he had passed on coldly, with haughty
+look and disdainful lip. The woman, whom unconscious jealousy already
+assailed, turned back, brushed against him again, and said in louder
+tones: "Good evening, George." He had not answered even then. Then she
+made up her mind to be recognized and bowed to, and she kept continually
+passing in the rear of the box, awaiting a favorable moment.
+
+As soon as she saw that Madame de Marelle was looking at her she touched
+Duroy's shoulder, saying: "Good evening, are you quite well?"
+
+He did not turn round, and she went on: "What, have you grown deaf since
+Thursday?" He did not reply, affecting a contempt which would not allow
+him to compromise himself even by a word with this slut.
+
+She began to laugh an angry laugh, and said: "So you are dumb, then?
+Perhaps the lady has bitten your tongue off?"
+
+He made an angry movement, and exclaimed, in an exasperated tone: "What
+do you mean by speaking to me? Be off, or I will have you locked up."
+
+Then, with fiery eye and swelling bosom, she screeched out: "So that's
+it, is it? Ah! you lout. When a man sleeps with a woman the least he can
+do is to nod to her. It is no reason because you are with someone else
+that you should cut me to-day. If you had only nodded to me when I
+passed you just now, I should have left you alone. But you wanted to do
+the grand. I'll pay you out! Ah, so you won't say good evening when you
+meet me!"
+
+She would have gone on for a long time, but Madame de Marelle had opened
+the door of the box and fled through the crowd, blindly seeking the way
+out. Duroy started off in her rear and strove to catch her up, while
+Rachel, seeing them flee, yelled triumphantly: "Stop her, she has stolen
+my sweetheart."
+
+People began to laugh. Two gentlemen for fun seized the fugitive by the
+shoulders and sought to bring her back, trying, too, to kiss her. But
+Duroy, having caught her up, freed her forcibly and led her away into
+the street. She jumped into an empty cab standing at the door. He jumped
+in after her, and when the driver asked, "Where to, sir?" replied,
+"Wherever you like."
+
+The cab slowly moved off, jolting over the paving stones. Clotilde,
+seized by a kind of hysterical attack, sat choking and gasping with her
+hands covering her face, and Duroy neither knew what to do nor what to
+say. At last, as he heard her sobbing, he stammered out: "Clo, my dear
+little Clo, just listen, let me explain. It is not my fault. I used to
+know that woman, some time ago, you know--"
+
+She suddenly took her hands from her face, and overcome by the wrath of
+a loving and deceitful woman, a furious wrath that enabled her to
+recover her speech, she pantingly jerked out, in rapid and broken
+sentences: "Oh!--you wretch--you wretch--what a scoundrel you are--can
+it be possible? How shameful--O Lord--how shameful!" Then, getting
+angrier and angrier as her ideas grew clearer and arguments suggested
+themselves to her, she went on: "It was with my money you paid her,
+wasn't it? And I was giving him money--for that creature. Oh, the
+scoundrel!" She seemed for a few minutes to be seeking some stronger
+expression that would not come, and then all at once she spat out, as it
+were, the words: "Oh! you swine--you swine--you swine--you paid her
+with my money--you swine--you swine!" She could not think of anything
+else, and kept repeating, "You swine, you swine!"
+
+Suddenly she leant out of the window, and catching the driver by the
+sleeve, cried, "Stop," and opening the door, sprang out.
+
+George wanted to follow, but she cried, "I won't have you get out," in
+such loud tones that the passers-by began to gather about her, and Duroy
+did not move for fear of a scandal. She took her purse from her pocket
+and looked for some change by the light of the cab lantern, then taking
+two francs fifty centimes she put them in the driver's hand, saying, in
+ringing tones: "There is your fare--I pay you, now take this blackguard
+to the Rue Boursault, Batignolles."
+
+Mirth was aroused in the group surrounding her. A gentleman said: "Well
+done, little woman," and a young rapscallion standing close to the cab
+thrust his head into the open door and sang out, in shrill tones,
+"Good-night, lovey!" Then the cab started off again, followed by a burst
+of laughter.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+
+George Duroy woke up chapfallen the next morning.
+
+He dressed himself slowly, and then sat down at his window and began to
+reflect. He felt a kind of aching sensation all over, just as though he
+had received a drubbing over night. At last the necessity of finding
+some money spurred him up, and he went first to Forestier.
+
+His friend received him in his study with his feet on the fender.
+
+"What has brought you out so early?" said he.
+
+"A very serious matter, a debt of honor."
+
+"At play?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, and then said: "At play."
+
+"Heavy?"
+
+"Five hundred francs."
+
+He only owed two hundred and eighty.
+
+Forestier, skeptical on the point, inquired: "Whom do you owe it to?"
+
+Duroy could not answer right off. "To--to--a Monsieur de Carleville."
+
+"Ah! and where does he live?"
+
+"At--at--"
+
+Forestier began to laugh. "Number ought, Nowhere Street, eh? I know that
+gentleman, my dear fellow. If you want twenty francs, I have still that
+much at your service, but no more."
+
+Duroy took the offered louis. Then he went from door to door among the
+people he knew, and wound up by having collected at about five o'clock
+the sum of eighty francs. And he still needed two hundred more; he made
+up his mind, and keeping for himself what he had thus gleaned, murmured:
+"Bah! I am not going to put myself out for that cat. I will pay her when
+I can."
+
+For a fortnight he lived regularly, economically, and chastely, his mind
+filled with energetic resolves. Then he was seized with a strong longing
+for love. It seemed to him that several years had passed since he last
+clasped a woman in his arms, and like the sailor who goes wild on seeing
+land, every passing petticoat made him quiver. So he went one evening
+to the Folies Bergere in the hope of finding Rachel. He caught sight of
+her indeed, directly he entered, for she scarcely went elsewhere, and
+went up to her smiling with outstretched hand. But she merely looked him
+down from head to foot, saying: "What do you want with me?"
+
+He tried to laugh it off with, "Come, don't be stuck-up."
+
+She turned on her heels, saying: "I don't associate with ponces."
+
+She had picked out the bitterest insult. He felt the blood rush to his
+face, and went home alone.
+
+Forestier, ill, weak, always coughing, led him a hard life at the paper,
+and seemed to rack his brain to find him tiresome jobs. One day, even,
+in a moment of nervous irritation, and after a long fit of coughing, as
+Duroy had not brought him a piece of information he wanted, he growled
+out: "Confound it! you are a bigger fool than I thought."
+
+The other almost struck him, but restrained himself, and went away
+muttering: "I'll manage to pay you out some day." An idea shot through
+his mind, and he added: "I will make a cuckold of you, old fellow!" And
+he took himself off, rubbing his hands, delighted at this project.
+
+He resolved to set about it the very next day. He paid Madame Forestier
+a visit as a reconnaissance. He found her lying at full length on a
+couch, reading a book. She held out her hand without rising, merely
+turning her head, and said: "Good-day, Pretty-boy!"
+
+He felt as though he had received a blow. "Why do you call me that?" he
+said.
+
+She replied, with a smile: "I saw Madame de Marelle the other day, and
+learned how you had been baptized at her place."
+
+He felt reassured by her amiable air. Besides, what was there for him to
+be afraid of?
+
+She resumed: "You spoil her. As to me, people come to see me when they
+think of it--the thirty-second of the month, or something like it."
+
+He sat down near her, and regarded her with a new species of curiosity,
+the curiosity of the amateur who is bargain-hunting. She was charming, a
+soft and tender blonde, made for caresses, and he thought: "She is
+better than the other, certainly." He did not doubt his success, it
+seemed to him that he had only to stretch out his hand and take her, as
+one gathers a fruit.
+
+He said, resolutely: "I did not come to see you, because it was better
+so."
+
+She asked, without understanding: "What? Why?"
+
+"No, not at all."
+
+"Because I am in love with you; oh! only a little, and I do not want to
+be head over ears."
+
+She seemed neither astonished, nor shocked, nor flattered; she went on
+smiling the same indifferent smile, and replied with the same
+tranquillity: "Oh! you can come all the same. No one is in love with me
+long."
+
+He was surprised, more by the tone than by the words, and asked: "Why
+not?"
+
+"Because it is useless. I let this be understood at once. If you had
+told me of your fear before, I should have reassured you, and invited
+you, on the contrary, to come as often as possible."
+
+He exclaimed, in a pathetic tone: "Can we command our feelings?"
+
+She turned towards him: "My dear friend, for me a man in love is struck
+off the list of the living. He becomes idiotic, and not only idiotic,
+but dangerous. I cease all intimate relations with people who are in
+love with me, or who pretend to be so--because they bore me, in the
+first place; and, secondly, because they are as much objects of
+suspicion to me as a mad dog, which may have a fit of biting. I
+therefore put them into a kind of moral quarantine until their illness
+is over. Do not forget this. I know very well that in your case love is
+only a species of appetite, while with me it would be, on the contrary,
+a kind of--of--of communion of souls, which does not enter into a man's
+religion. You understand its letter, and its spirit. But look me well in
+the face." She no longer smiled. Her face was calm and cold, and she
+continued, emphatically: "I will never, never be your mistress; you
+understand. It is therefore absolutely useless, it would even be
+hurtful, for you to persist in this desire. And now that the operation
+is over, will you agree to be friends--good friends--real friends, I
+mean, without any mental reservation."
+
+He had understood that any attempt would be useless in face of this
+irrevocable sentence. He made up his mind at once, frankly, and,
+delighted at being able to secure this ally in the battle of life, held
+out both hands, saying: "I am yours, madame, as you will."
+
+She read the sincerity of his intention in his voice, and gave him her
+hands. He kissed them both, one after the other, and then said simply,
+as he raised his head: "Ah, if I had found a woman like you, how gladly
+I would have married her."
+
+She was touched this time--soothed by this phrase, as women are by the
+compliments which reach their hearts, and she gave him one of those
+rapid and grateful looks which make us their slaves. Then, as he could
+find no change of subject to renew the conversation, she said softly,
+laying her finger on his arm: "And I am going to play my part of a
+friend at once. You are clumsy." She hesitated a moment, and then asked:
+"May I speak plainly?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Quite plainly?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Well, go and see Madame Walter, who greatly appreciates you, and do
+your best to please her. You will find a place there for your
+compliments, although she is virtuous, you understand me, perfectly
+virtuous. Oh! there is no hope of--of poaching there, either. You may
+find something better, though, by showing yourself. I know that you
+still hold an inferior position on the paper. But do not be afraid, they
+receive all their staff with the same kindness. Go there--believe me."
+
+He said, with a smile: "Thanks, you are an angel, a guardian angel."
+
+They spoke of one thing and another. He stayed for some time, wishing to
+prove that he took pleasure in being with her, and on leaving, remarked:
+"It is understood, then, that we are friends?"
+
+"It is."
+
+As he had noted the effect of the compliment he had paid her shortly
+before, he seconded it by adding: "And if ever you become a widow, I
+enter the lists."
+
+Then he hurried away, so as not to give her time to get angry.
+
+A visit to Madame Walter was rather awkward for Duroy, for he had not
+been authorized to call, and he did not want to commit a blunder. The
+governor displayed some good will towards him, appreciated his services,
+and employed him by preference on difficult jobs, so why should he not
+profit by this favor to enter the house? One day, then, having risen
+early, he went to the market while the morning sales were in progress,
+and for ten francs obtained a score of splendid pears. Having carefully
+packed them in a hamper to make it appear that they had come from a
+distance, he left them with the doorkeeper at Madame Walter's with his
+card, on which he had written: "George Duroy begs Madame Walter to
+accept a little fruit which he received this morning from Normandy."
+
+He found the next morning, among his letters at the office, an envelope
+in reply, containing the card of Madame Walter, who "thanked Monsieur
+George Duroy, and was at home every Saturday."
+
+On the following Saturday he called. Monsieur Walter occupied, on the
+Boulevard Malesherbes, a double house, which belonged to him, and of
+which a part was let off, in the economical way of practical people. A
+single doorkeeper, quartered between the two carriage entrances, opened
+the door for both landlord and tenant, and imparted to each of the
+entrances an air of wealth by his get-up like a beadle, his big calves
+in white stockings, and his coat with gilt buttons and scarlet facings.
+The reception-rooms were on the first floor, preceded by an ante-room
+hung with tapestry, and shut in by curtains over the doorways. Two
+footmen were dozing on benches. One of them took Duroy's overcoat and
+the other relieved him of his cane, opened the door, advanced a few
+steps in front of the visitor, and then drawing aside, let him pass,
+calling out his name, into an empty room.
+
+The young fellow, somewhat embarrassed, looked round on all sides when
+he perceived in a glass some people sitting down who seemed very far
+off. He was at sea at first as to the direction in which they were, the
+mirror having deceived his eyes. Then he passed through two empty
+drawing-rooms and reached a small boudoir hung with blue silk, where
+four ladies were chatting round a table bearing cups of tea. Despite the
+assurance he had acquired in course of his Parisian life, and above all
+in his career as a reporter, which constantly brought him into contact
+with important personages, Duroy felt somewhat intimidated by the get-up
+of the entrance and the passage through the deserted drawing-room. He
+stammered: "Madame, I have ventured," as his eyes sought the mistress of
+the house.
+
+She held out her hand, which he took with a bow, and having remarked:
+"You are very kind sir, to call and see me," she pointed to a chair, in
+seeking to sit down in which he almost fell, having thought it much
+higher.
+
+They had become silent. One of the ladies began to talk again. It was a
+question of the frost, which was becoming sharper, though not enough,
+however, to check the epidemic of typhoid fever, nor to allow skating.
+Every one gave her opinion on this advent of frost in Paris, then they
+expressed their preference for the different seasons with all the
+trivial reasons that lie about in people's minds like dust in rooms. The
+faint noise made by a door caused Duroy to turn his head, and he saw in
+a glass a stout lady approaching. As soon as she made her appearance in
+the boudoir one of the other visitors rose, shook hands and left, and
+the young fellow followed her black back glittering with jet through the
+drawing-rooms with his eyes. When the agitation due to this change had
+subsided they spoke without transition of the Morocco question and the
+war in the East and also of the difficulties of England in South Africa.
+These ladies discussed these matters from memory, as if they had been
+reciting passages from a fashionable play, frequently rehearsed.
+
+A fresh arrival took place, that of a little curly-headed blonde, which
+brought about the departure of a tall, thin lady of middle age. They now
+spoke of the chance Monsieur Linet had of getting into the
+Academie-Francaise. The new-comer formerly believed that he would be
+beaten by Monsieur Cabanon-Lebas, the author of the fine dramatic
+adaption of Don Quixote in verse.
+
+"You know it is to be played at the Odeon next winter?"
+
+"Really, I shall certainly go and see such a very excellent literary
+effort."
+
+Madame Walter answered gracefully with calm indifference, without ever
+hesitating as to what she should say, her mind being always made up
+beforehand. But she saw that night was coming on, and rang for the
+lamps, while listening to the conversation that trickled on like a
+stream of honey, and thinking that she had forgotten to call on the
+stationer about the invitation cards for her next dinner. She was a
+little too stout, though still beautiful, at the dangerous age when the
+general break-up is at hand. She preserved herself by dint of care,
+hygienic precautions, and salves for the skin. She seemed discreet in
+all matters; moderate and reasonable; one of those women whose mind is
+correctly laid out like a French garden. One walks through it with
+surprise, but experiencing a certain charm. She had keen, discreet, and
+sound sense, that stood her instead of fancy, generosity, and affection,
+together with a calm kindness for everybody and everything.
+
+She noted that Duroy had not said anything, that he had not been spoken
+to, and that he seemed slightly ill at ease; and as the ladies had not
+yet quitted the Academy, that favorite subject always occupying them
+some time, she said: "And you who should be better informed than any
+one, Monsieur Duroy, who is your favorite?"
+
+He replied unhesitatingly: "In this matter, madame, I should never
+consider the merit, always disputable, of the candidates, but their age
+and their state of health. I should not ask about their credentials, but
+their disease. I should not seek to learn whether they have made a
+metrical translation of Lope de Vega, but I should take care to obtain
+information as to the state of their liver, their heart, their lungs,
+and their spinal marrow. For me a good hypertrophy, a good aneurism, and
+above all, a good beginning of locomotor ataxy, would be a hundred times
+more valuable than forty volumes of disgressions on the idea of
+patriotism as embodied in barbaric poetry."
+
+An astonished silence followed this opinion, and Madame Walter asked
+with a smile: "But why?"
+
+He replied: "Because I never seek aught else than the pleasure that any
+one can give the ladies. But, Madame, the Academy only has any real
+interest for you when an Academician dies. The more of them die the
+happier you must be. But in order that they may die quickly they must be
+elected sick and old." As they still remained somewhat surprised, he
+continued. "Besides, I am like you, and I like to read of the death of
+an Academician. I at once ask myself: 'Who will replace him?' And I draw
+up my list. It is a game, a very pretty little game that is played in
+all Parisian salons at each decease of one of the Immortals, the game of
+'Death and the Forty Fogies.'"
+
+The ladies, still slightly disconcerted, began however, to smile, so
+true were his remarks. He concluded, as he rose: "It is you who really
+elect them, ladies, and you only elect them to see them die. Choose them
+old, therefore, very old; as old as possible, and do not trouble
+yourselves about anything else."
+
+He then retired very gracefully. As soon as he was gone, one of the
+ladies said: "He is very funny, that young fellow. Who is he?"
+
+Madame Walter replied: "One of the staff of our paper, who does not do
+much yet; but I feel sure that he will get on."
+
+Duroy strode gayly down the Boulevard Malesherbes, content with his
+exit, and murmuring: "A capital start."
+
+He made it up with Rachel that evening.
+
+The following week two things happened to him. He was appointed chief
+reporter and invited to dinner at Madame Walter's. He saw at once a
+connection between these things. The _Vie Francaise_ was before
+everything a financial paper, the head of it being a financier, to whom
+the press and the position of a deputy served as levers. Making use of
+every cordiality as a weapon, he had always worked under the smiling
+mask of a good fellow; but he only employed men whom he had sounded,
+tried, and proved; whom he knew to be crafty, bold, and supple. Duroy,
+appointed chief of the reporting staff, seemed to him a valuable fellow.
+
+This duty had been filled up till then by the chief sub-editor, Monsieur
+Boisrenard, an old journalist, as correct, punctual, and scrupulous as a
+clerk. In course of thirty years he had been sub-editor of eleven
+different papers, without in any way modifying his way of thinking or
+acting. He passed from one office to another as one changes one's
+restaurant, scarcely noticing that the cookery was not quite the same.
+Political and religious opinions were foreign to him. He was devoted to
+his paper, whatever it might be, well up in his work, and valuable from
+his experience. He worked like a blind man who sees nothing, like a deaf
+man who hears nothing, and like a dumb man who never speaks of anything.
+He had, however, a strong instinct of professional loyalty, and would
+not stoop to aught he did not think honest and right from the special
+point of view of his business.
+
+Monsieur Walter, who thoroughly appreciated him, had however, often
+wished for another man to whom to entrust the "Echoes," which he held to
+be the very marrow of the paper. It is through them that rumors are set
+afloat and the public and the funds influenced. It is necessary to know
+how to slip the all-important matter, rather hinted at than said right
+out, in between the description of two fashionable entertainments,
+without appearing to intend it. It is necessary to imply a thing by
+judicious reservations; let what is desired be guessed at; contradict in
+such a fashion as to confirm, or affirm in such a way that no one shall
+believe the statement. It is necessary that in the "Echoes" everyone
+shall find every day at least one line of interest, in order that every
+one may read them. Every one must be thought of, all classes, all
+professions, Paris and the provinces, the army and the art world, the
+clergy and the university, the bar and the world of gallantry. The man
+who has the conduct of them, and who commands an army of reporters, must
+be always on the alert and always on his guard; mistrustful, far-seeing,
+cunning, alert, and supple; armed with every kind of cunning, and gifted
+with an infallible knack of spotting false news at the first glance, of
+judging which is good to announce and good to hide, of divining what
+will catch the public, and of putting it forward in such a way as to
+double its effect.
+
+Monsieur Boisrenard, who had in his favor the skill acquired by long
+habit, nevertheless lacked mastery and dash; he lacked, above all, the
+native cunning needed to put forth day by day the secret ideas of the
+manager. Duroy could do it to perfection, and was an admirable addition
+to the staff. The wire-pullers and real editors of the _Vie Francaise_
+were half a dozen deputies, interested in all the speculations brought
+out or backed up by the manager. They were known in the Chamber as
+"Walter's gang," and envied because they gained money with him and
+through him. Forestier, the political editor, was only the man of straw
+of these men of business, the worker-out of ideas suggested by them.
+They prompted his leaders, which he always wrote at home, so as to do so
+in quiet, he said. But in order to give the paper a literary and truly
+Parisian smack, the services of two celebrated writers in different
+styles had been secured--Jacques Rival, a descriptive writer, and
+Norbert de Varenne, a poet and story-writer. To these had been added, at
+a cheap rate, theatrical, musical and art critics, a law reporter, and a
+sporting reporter, from the mercenary tribe of all-round pressmen. Two
+ladies, "Pink Domino" and "Lily Fingers," sent in fashion articles, and
+dealt with questions of dress, etiquette, and society.
+
+Duroy was in all the joy of his appointment as chief of the "Echoes"
+when he received a printed card on which he read: "Monsieur and Madame
+Walter request the pleasure of Monsieur Geo. Duroy's company at dinner,
+on Thursday, January 20." This new mark of favor following on the other
+filled him with such joy that he kissed the invitation as he would have
+done a love letter. Then he went in search of the cashier to deal with
+the important question of money. A chief of the reporting staff on a
+Paris paper generally has his budget out of which he pays his reporters
+for the intelligence, important or trifling, brought in by them, as
+gardeners bring in their fruits to a dealer. Twelve hundred francs a
+month were allotted at the outset to Duroy, who proposed to himself to
+retain a considerable share of it. The cashier, on his pressing
+instances, ended by advancing him four hundred francs. He had at first
+the intention of sending Madame de Marelle the two hundred and eighty
+francs he owed her, but he almost immediately reflected that he would
+only have a hundred and twenty left, a sum utterly insufficient to carry
+on his new duties in suitable fashion, and so put off this resolution to
+a future day.
+
+During a couple of days he was engaged in settling down, for he had
+inherited a special table and a set of pigeon holes in the large room
+serving for the whole of the staff. He occupied one end of the room,
+while Boisrenard, whose head, black as a crow's, despite his age, was
+always bent over a sheet of paper, had the other. The long table in the
+middle belonged to the staff. Generally it served them to sit on, either
+with their legs dangling over the edges, or squatted like tailors in the
+center. Sometimes five or six would be sitting on it in that fashion,
+perseveringly playing cup and ball. Duroy had ended by having a taste
+for this amusement, and was beginning to get expert at it, under the
+guidance, and thanks to the advice of Saint-Potin. Forestier, grown
+worse, had lent him his fine cup and ball in West Indian wood, the last
+he had bought, and which he found rather too heavy for him, and Duroy
+swung with vigorous arm the big black ball at the end of its string,
+counting quickly to himself: "One--two--three--four--five--six." It
+happened precisely that for the first time he spiked the ball twenty
+times running, the very day that he was to dine at Madame Walter's. "A
+good day," he thought, "I am successful in everything." For skill at
+cup and ball really conferred a kind of superiority in the office of
+the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+He left the office early to have time to dress, and was going up the Rue
+de Londres when he saw, trotting along in front of him, a little woman
+whose figure recalled that of Madame de Marelle. He felt his cheeks
+flush, and his heart began to beat. He crossed the road to get a view of
+her. She stopped, in order to cross over, too. He had made a mistake,
+and breathed again. He had often asked how he ought to behave if he met
+her face to face. Should he bow, or should he seem not to have seen
+her. "I should not see her," he thought.
+
+It was cold; the gutters were frozen, and the pavement dry and gray in
+the gas-light. When he got home he thought: "I must change my lodgings;
+this is no longer good enough for me." He felt nervous and lively,
+capable of anything; and he said aloud, as he walked from his bed to the
+window: "It is fortune at last--it is fortune! I must write to father."
+From time to time he wrote to his father, and the letter always brought
+happiness to the little Norman inn by the roadside, at the summit of the
+slope overlooking Rouen and the broad valley of the Seine. From time to
+time, too, he received a blue envelope, addressed in a large, shaky
+hand, and read the same unvarying lines at the beginning of the paternal
+epistle. "My Dear Son: This leaves your mother and myself in good
+health. There is not much news here. I must tell you, however," etc. In
+his heart he retained a feeling of interest for the village matters, for
+the news of the neighbours, and the condition of the crops.
+
+He repeated to himself, as he tied his white tie before his little
+looking-glass: "I must write to father to-morrow. Wouldn't the old
+fellow be staggered if he could see me this evening in the house I am
+going to? By Jove! I am going to have such a dinner as he never tasted."
+And he suddenly saw the dark kitchen behind the empty _cafe_; the copper
+stewpans casting their yellow reflections on the wall; the cat on the
+hearth, with her nose to the fire, in sphinx-like attitude; the wooden
+table, greasy with time and spilt liquids, a soup tureen smoking upon
+it, and a lighted candle between two plates. He saw them, too--his
+father and mother, two slow-moving peasants, eating their soup. He knew
+the smallest wrinkles on their old faces, the slightest movements of
+their arms and heads. He knew even what they talked about every evening
+as they sat at supper. He thought, too: "I must really go and see them;"
+but his toilet being ended, he blew out his light and went downstairs.
+
+As he passed along the outer boulevard girls accosted him from time to
+time. He replied, as he pulled away his arm: "Go to the devil!" with a
+violent disdain, as though they had insulted him. What did they take him
+for? Could not these hussies tell what a man was? The sensation of his
+dress coat, put on in order to go to dinner with such well-known and
+important people, inspired him with the sentiment of a new
+impersonality--the sense of having become another man, a man in society,
+genuine society.
+
+He entered the ante-room, lit by tall bronze candelabra, with
+confidence, and handed in easy fashion his cane and overcoat to two
+valets who approached. All the drawing-rooms were lit up. Madame Walter
+received her guests in the second, the largest. She welcomed him with a
+charming smile, and he shook hands with two gentlemen who had arrived
+before him--Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu, deputies, and
+anonymous editors of the _Vie Francaise_. Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu had a
+special authority at the paper, due to a great influence he enjoyed in
+the Chamber. No one doubted his being a minister some day. Then came the
+Forestiers; the wife in pink, and looking charming. Duroy was stupefied
+to see her on terms of intimacy with the two deputies. She chatted in
+low tones beside the fireplace, for more than five minutes, with
+Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu. Charles seemed worn out. He had grown much
+thinner during the past month, and coughed incessantly as he repeated:
+"I must make up my mind to finish the winter in the south." Norbert de
+Varenne and Jacques Rival made their appearance together. Then a door
+having opened at the further end of the room, Monsieur Walter came in
+with two tall young girls, of from sixteen to eighteen, one ugly and the
+other pretty.
+
+Duroy knew that the governor was the father of a family; but he was
+struck with astonishment. He had never thought of his daughters, save as
+one thinks of distant countries which one will never see. And then he
+had fancied them quite young, and here they were grown-up women. They
+held out their hands to him after being introduced, and then went and
+sat down at a little table, without doubt reserved to them, at which
+they began to turn over a number of reels of silk in a work-basket. They
+were still awaiting someone, and all were silent with that sense of
+oppression, preceding dinners, between people who do not find themselves
+in the same mental atmosphere after the different occupations of the
+day.
+
+Duroy having, for want of occupation, raised his eyes towards the wall,
+Monsieur Walter called to him from a distance, with an evident wish to
+show off his property: "Are you looking at my pictures? I will show them
+to you," and he took a lamp, so that the details might be distinguished.
+
+"Here we have landscapes," said he.
+
+In the center of the wall was a large canvas by Guillemet, a bit of the
+Normandy coast under a lowering sky. Below it a wood, by Harpignies, and
+a plain in Algeria, by Guillemet, with a camel on the horizon, a tall
+camel with long legs, like some strange monument. Monsieur Walter passed
+on to the next wall, and announced in a grave tone, like a master of the
+ceremonies: "High Art." There were four: "A Hospital Visit," by Gervex;
+"A Harvester," by Bastien-Lepage; "A Widow," by Bouguereau; and "An
+Execution," by Jean Paul Laurens. The last work represented a Vendean
+priest shot against the wall of his church by a detachment of Blues. A
+smile flitted across the governor's grave countenance as he indicated
+the next wall. "Here the fanciful school." First came a little canvas by
+Jean Beraud, entitled, "Above and Below." It was a pretty Parisian
+mounting to the roof of a tramcar in motion. Her head appeared on a
+level with the top, and the gentlemen on the seats viewed with
+satisfaction the pretty face approaching them, while those standing on
+the platform below considered the young woman's legs with a different
+expression of envy and desire. Monsieur Walter held the lamp at arm's
+length, and repeated, with a sly laugh: "It is funny, isn't it?" Then he
+lit up "A Rescue," by Lambert. In the middle of a table a kitten,
+squatted on its haunches, was watching with astonishment and perplexity
+a fly drowning in a glass of water. It had its paw raised ready to fish
+out the insect with a rapid sweep of it. But it had not quite made up
+its mind. It hesitated. What would it do? Then the governor showed a
+Detaille, "The Lesson," which represented a soldier in a barrack-room
+teaching a poodle to play the drum, and said: "That is very witty."
+
+Duroy laughed a laugh of approbation, and exclaimed: "It is charming,
+charm--" He stopped short on hearing behind him the voice of Madame de
+Marelle, who had just come in.
+
+The governor continued to light up the pictures as he explained them. He
+now showed a water-color by Maurice Leloir, "The Obstacle." It was a
+sedan chair checked on its way, the street being blocked by a fight
+between two laborers, two fellows struggling like Hercules. From out of
+the window of the chair peered the head of a charming woman, who watched
+without impatience, without alarm, and with a certain admiration, the
+combat of these two brutes. Monsieur Walter continued: "I have others in
+the adjoining rooms, but they are by less known men. I buy of the young
+artists now, the very young ones, and hang their works in the more
+
+private rooms until they become known." He then went on in a low tone:
+"Now is the time to buy! The painters are all dying of hunger! They have
+not a sou, not a sou!"
+
+But Duroy saw nothing, and heard without understanding. Madame de
+Marelle was there behind him. What ought he to do? If he spoke to her,
+might she not turn her back on him, or treat him with insolence? If he
+did not approach her, what would people think? He said to himself: "I
+will gain time, at any rate." He was so moved that for a moment he
+thought of feigning a sudden illness, which would allow him to withdraw.
+The examination of the walls was over. The governor went to put down his
+lamp and welcome the last comer, while Duroy began to re-examine the
+pictures as if he could not tire of admiring them. He was quite upset.
+What should he do? Madame Forestier called to him: "Monsieur Duroy." He
+went to her. It was to speak to him of a friend of hers who was about
+to give a fete, and who would like to have a line to that effect in the
+_Vie Francaise_. He gasped out: "Certainly, Madame, certainly."
+
+Madame de Marelle was now quite close to him. He dared not turn round to
+go away. All at once he thought he was going mad; she had said aloud:
+"Good evening, Pretty-boy. So you no longer recognize me."
+
+He rapidly turned on his heels. She stood before him smiling, her eyes
+beaming with sprightliness and affection, and held out her hand. He took
+it tremblingly, still fearing some trick, some perfidy. She added,
+calmly: "What has become of you? One no longer sees anything of you."
+
+He stammered, without being able to recover his coolness: "I have a
+great deal to do, Madame, a great deal to do. Monsieur Walter has
+entrusted me with new duties which give me a great deal of occupation."
+
+She replied, still looking him in the face, but without his being able
+to discover anything save good will in her glance: "I know it. But that
+is no reason for forgetting your friends."
+
+They were separated by a lady who came in, with red arms and red face, a
+stout lady in a very low dress, got up with pretentiousness, and walking
+so heavily that one guessed by her motions the size and weight of her
+legs. As she seemed to be treated with great attention, Duroy asked
+Madame Forestier: "Who is that lady?"
+
+"The Viscomtesse de Percemur, who signs her articles 'Lily Fingers.'"
+
+He was astounded, and seized on by an inclination to laugh.
+
+"'Lily Fingers!' 'Lily Fingers!' and I imagined her young like
+yourself. So that is 'Lily Fingers.' That is very funny, very funny."
+
+A servant appeared in the doorway and announced dinner. The dinner was
+commonplace and lively, one of those dinners at which people talk about
+everything, without saying anything. Duroy found himself between the
+elder daughter of the master of the house, the ugly one, Mademoiselle
+Rose and Madame de Marelle. The neighborhood of the latter made him feel
+very ill at ease, although she seemed very much at her ease, and chatted
+with her usual vivacity. He was troubled at first, constrained,
+hesitating, like a musician who has lost the keynote. By degrees,
+however, he recovered his assurance, and their eyes continually meeting
+questioned one another, exchanging looks in an intimate, almost sensual,
+fashion as of old. All at once he thought he felt something brush
+against his foot under the table. He softly pushed forward his leg and
+encountered that of his neighbor, which did not shrink from the contact.
+They did not speak, each being at that moment turned towards their
+neighbor. Duroy, his heart beating, pushed a little harder with his
+knee. A slight pressure replied to him. Then he understood that their
+loves were beginning anew. What did they say then? Not much, but their
+lips quivered every time that they looked at one another.
+
+The young fellow, however, wishing to do the amiable to his employer's
+daughter, spoke to her from time to time. She replied as the mother
+would have done, never hesitating as to what she should say. On the
+right of Monsieur Walter the Viscomtesse de Percemur gave herself the
+airs of a princess, and Duroy, amused at watching her, said in a low
+voice to Madame de Marelle. "Do you know the other, the one who signs
+herself 'Pink Domino'?"
+
+"Yes, very well, the Baroness de Livar."
+
+"Is she of the same breed?"
+
+"No, but quite as funny. A tall, dried-up woman of sixty, false curls,
+projecting teeth, ideas dating from the Restoration, and toilets of the
+same epoch."
+
+"Where did they unearth these literary phenomena?"
+
+"The scattered waifs of the nobility are always sheltered by enriched
+cits."
+
+"No other reason?"
+
+"None."
+
+Then a political discussion began between the master of the house, the
+two deputies, Norbert de Varenne, and Jacques Rival, and lasted till
+dessert.
+
+When they returned to the drawing-room, Duroy again approached Madame de
+Marelle, and looking her in the eyes, said: "Shall I see you home
+to-night?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because Monsieur Laroche Mathieu, who is my neighbor, drops me at my
+door every time I dine here."
+
+"When shall I see you?"
+
+"Come and lunch with me to-morrow."
+
+And they separated without saying anything more.
+
+Duroy did not remain late, finding the evening dull. As he went
+downstairs he overtook Norbert de Varenne, who was also leaving. The old
+poet took him by the arm. No longer having to fear any rivalry as
+regards the paper, their work being essentially different, he now
+manifested a fatherly kindness towards the young fellow.
+
+"Well, will you walk home a bit of my way with me?" said he.
+
+"With pleasure, my dear master," replied Duroy.
+
+And they went out, walking slowly along the Boulevard Malesherbes. Paris
+was almost deserted that night--a cold night--one of those nights that
+seem vaster, as it were, than others, when the stars seem higher above,
+and the air seems to bear on its icy breath something coming from
+further than even the stars. The two men did not speak at first. Then
+Duroy, in order to say something, remarked: "Monsieur Laroche Mathieu
+seems very intelligent and well informed."
+
+The old poet murmured: "Do you think so?"
+
+The young fellow, surprised at this remark, hesitated in replying: "Yes;
+besides, he passes for one of the most capable men in the Chamber."
+
+"It is possible. In the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
+All these people are commonplace because their mind is shut in between
+two walls, money and politics. They are dullards, my dear fellow, with
+whom it is impossible to talk about anything we care for. Their minds
+are at the bottom mud, or rather sewage; like the Seine Asnieres. Ah!
+how difficult it is to find a man with breadth of thought, one who
+causes you the same sensation as the breeze from across the broad ocean
+one breathes on the seashore. I have known some such; they are dead."
+
+Norbert de Varenne spoke with a clear but restrained voice, which would
+have rung out in the silence of the night had he given it rein. He
+seemed excited and sad, and went on: "What matter, besides, a little
+
+more or less talent, since all must come to an end."
+
+He was silent, and Duroy, who felt light hearted that evening, said with
+a smile: "You are gloomy to-day, dear master."
+
+The poet replied: "I am always so, my lad, so will you be in a few
+years. Life is a hill. As long as one is climbing up one looks towards
+the summit and is happy, but when one reaches the top one suddenly
+perceives the descent before one, and its bottom, which is death. One
+climbs up slowly, but one goes down quickly. At your age a man is happy.
+He hopes for many things, which, by the way, never come to pass. At
+mine, one no longer expects anything--but death."
+
+Duroy began to laugh: "You make me shudder all over."
+
+Norbert de Varenne went on: "No, you do not understand me now, but later
+on you will remember what I am saying to you at this moment. A day
+comes, and it comes early for many, when there is an end to mirth, for
+behind everything one looks at one sees death. You do not even
+understand the word. At your age it means nothing; at mine it is
+terrible. Yes, one understands it all at once, one does not know how or
+why, and then everything in life changes its aspect. For fifteen years I
+have felt death assail me as if I bore within me some gnawing beast. I
+have felt myself decaying little by little, month by month, hour by
+hour, like a house crumbling to ruin. Death has disfigured me so
+completely that I do not recognize myself. I have no longer anything
+about me of myself--of the fresh, strong man I was at thirty. I have
+seen death whiten my black hairs, and with what skillful and spiteful
+slowness. Death has taken my firm skin, my muscles, my teeth, my whole
+body of old, only leaving me a despairing soul, soon to be taken too.
+Every step brings me nearer to death, every moment, every breath hastens
+his odious work. To breathe, sleep, drink, eat, work, dream, everything
+we do is to die. To live, in short, is to die. I now see death so near
+that I often want to stretch my arms to push it back. I see it
+everywhere. The insects crushed on the path, the falling leaves, the
+white hair in a friend's head, rend my heart and cry to me, "Behold it!"
+It spoils for me all I do, all I see, all that I eat and drink, all that
+I love; the bright moonlight, the sunrise, the broad ocean, the noble
+rivers, and the soft summer evening air so sweet to breathe."
+
+He walked on slowly, dreaming aloud, almost forgetting that he had a
+listener: "And no one ever returns--never. The model of a statue may be
+preserved, but my body, my face, my thoughts, my desires will never
+reappear again. And yet millions of beings will be born with a nose,
+eyes, forehead, cheeks, and mouth like me, and also a soul like me,
+without my ever returning, without even anything recognizable of me
+appearing in these countless different beings. What can we cling to?
+What can we believe in? All religions are stupid, with their puerile
+morality and their egoistical promises, monstrously absurd. Death alone
+is certain."
+
+He stopped, reflected for a few moments, and then, with a look of
+resignation, said: "I am a lost creature. I have neither father nor
+mother, nor sister nor brother; no wife, no children, no God."
+
+He added, after a pause: "I have only verse."
+
+They reached the Pont de la Concorde, crossed it in silence, and walked
+past the Palais Bourbon. Norbert de Varenne began to speak again,
+saying: "Marry, my friend; you do not know what it is to live alone at
+my age. Solitude now fills me with horrible agony--solitude at home by
+the fireside of a night. It is so profound, so sad; the silence of the
+room in which one dwells alone. It is not alone silence about the body,
+but silence about the soul; and when the furniture creaks I shudder to
+the heart, for no sound but is unexpected in my gloomy dwelling." He was
+silent again for a moment, and then added: "When one is old it is well,
+all the same, to have children."
+
+They had got half way down the Rue de Bourgoyne. The poet halted in
+front of a tall house, rang the bell, shook Duroy by the hand, and said:
+"Forget all this old man's doddering, youngster, and live as befits your
+age. Good-night."
+
+And he disappeared in the dark passage.
+
+Duroy resumed his route with a pain at his heart. It seemed to him as
+though he had been shown a hole filled with bones, an unavoidable gulf
+into which all must fall one day. He muttered: "By Jove, it can't be
+very lively in his place. I should not care for a front seat to see the
+procession of his thoughts go by. The deuce, no."
+
+But having paused to allow a perfumed lady, alighting from her carriage
+and entering her house, to pass before him, he drew in with eager breath
+the scent of vervain and orris root floating in the air. His lungs and
+heart throbbed suddenly with hope and joy, and the recollection of
+Madame de Marelle, whom he was to see the next day, assailed him from
+head to foot. All smiled on him, life welcomed him with kindness. How
+sweet was the realization of hopes!
+
+He fell asleep, intoxicated with this idea, and rose early to take a
+stroll down the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne before keeping his
+appointment. The wind having changed, the weather had grown milder
+during the night, and it was as warm and as sunny as in April. All the
+frequenters of the Bois had sallied out that morning, yielding to the
+summons of a bright, clear day. Duroy walked along slowly. He passed the
+Arc de Triomphe, and went along the main avenue. He watched the people
+on horseback, ladies and gentlemen, trotting and galloping, the rich
+folk of the world, and scarcely envied them now. He knew them almost all
+by name--knew the amount of their fortune, and the secret history of
+their life, his duties having made him a kind of directory of the
+celebrities and the scandals of Paris.
+
+Ladies rode past, slender, and sharply outlined in the dark cloth of
+their habits, with that proud and unassailable air many women have on
+horseback, and Duroy amused himself by murmuring the names, titles, and
+qualities of the lovers whom they had had, or who were attributed to
+them. Sometimes, instead of saying "Baron de Tanquelot," "Prince de la
+Tour-Enguerrand," he murmured "Lesbian fashion, Louise Michot of the
+Vaudeville, Rose Marquetin of the Opera."
+
+The game greatly amused him, as if he had verified, beneath grave
+outward appearances, the deep, eternal infamy of mankind, and as if this
+had excited, rejoiced, and consoled him. Then he said aloud: "Set of
+hypocrites!" and sought out with his eye the horsemen concerning whom
+the worst tales were current. He saw many, suspected of cheating at
+play, for whom their clubs were, at all events, their chief, their sole
+source of livelihood, a suspicious one, at any rate. Others, very
+celebrated, lived only, it was well known, on the income of their wives;
+others, again, it was affirmed, on that of their mistresses. Many had
+paid their debts, an honorable action, without it ever being guessed
+whence the money had come--a very equivocal mystery. He saw financiers
+whose immense fortune had had its origin in a theft, and who were
+received everywhere, even in the most noble houses; then men so
+respected that the lower middle-class took off their hats on their
+passage, but whose shameless speculations in connection with great
+national enterprises were a mystery for none of those really acquainted
+with the inner side of things. All had a haughty look, a proud lip, an
+insolent eye. Duroy still laughed, repeating: "A fine lot; a lot of
+blackguards, of sharpers."
+
+But a pretty little open carriage passed, drawn by two white ponies with
+flowing manes and tails, and driven by a pretty fair girl, a well-known
+courtesan, who had two grooms seated behind her. Duroy halted with a
+desire to applaud this mushroom of love, who displayed so boldly at this
+place and time set apart for aristocratic hypocrites the dashing luxury
+earned between her sheets. He felt, perhaps vaguely, that there was
+something in common between them--a tie of nature, that they were of the
+same race, the same spirit, and that his success would be achieved by
+daring steps of the same kind. He walked back more slowly, his heart
+aglow with satisfaction, and arrived a little in advance of the time at
+the door of his former mistress.
+
+She received him with proffered lips, as though no rupture had taken
+place, and she even forgot for a few moments the prudence that made her
+opposed to all caresses at her home. Then she said, as she kissed the
+ends of his moustache: "You don't know what a vexation has happened to
+me, darling? I was hoping for a nice honeymoon, and here is my husband
+home for six weeks. He has obtained leave. But I won't remain six weeks
+without seeing you, especially after our little tiff, and this is how I
+have arranged matters. You are to come and dine with us on Monday. I
+have already spoken to him about you, and I will introduce you."
+
+Duroy hesitated, somewhat perplexed, never yet having found himself face
+to face with a man whose wife he had enjoyed. He was afraid lest
+something might betray him--a slight embarrassment, a look, no matter
+what. He stammered out: "No, I would rather not make your husband's
+acquaintance."
+
+She insisted, very much astonished, standing before him with wide open,
+wondering eyes. "But why? What a funny thing. It happens every day. I
+should not have thought you such a goose."
+
+He was hurt, and said: "Very well, I will come to dinner on Monday."
+
+She went on: "In order that it may seem more natural I will ask the
+Forestiers, though I really do not like entertaining people at home."
+
+Until Monday Duroy scarcely thought any more about the interview, but on
+mounting the stairs at Madame de Marelle's he felt strangely uneasy, not
+that it was so repugnant to him to take her husband's hand, to drink his
+wine, and eat his bread, but because he felt afraid of something without
+knowing what. He was shown into the drawing-room and waited as usual.
+Soon the door of the inner room opened, and he saw a tall, white-bearded
+man, wearing the ribbon of the Legion of Honor, grave and correct, who
+advanced towards him with punctilious politeness, saying: "My wife has
+often spoken to me of you, sir, and I am delighted to make your
+acquaintance."
+
+Duroy stepped forward, seeking to impart to his face a look of
+expressive cordiality, and grasped his host's hand with exaggerated
+energy. Then, having sat down, he could find nothing to say.
+
+Monsieur de Marelle placed a log upon the fire, and inquired: "Have you
+been long engaged in journalism?"
+
+"Only a few months."
+
+"Ah! you have got on quickly?"
+
+"Yes, fairly so," and he began to chat at random, without thinking very
+much about what he was saying, talking of all the trifles customary
+among men who do not know one another. He was growing seasoned now, and
+thought the situation a very amusing one. He looked at Monsieur de
+Marelle's serious and respectable face, with a temptation to laugh, as
+he thought: "I have cuckolded you, old fellow, I have cuckolded you." A
+vicious, inward satisfaction stole over him--the satisfaction of a thief
+who has been successful, and is not even suspected--a delicious, roguish
+joy. He suddenly longed to be the friend of this man, to win his
+confidence, to get him to relate the secrets of his life.
+
+Madame de Marelle came in suddenly, and having taken them in with a
+smiling and impenetrable glance, went toward Duroy, who dared not, in
+the presence of her husband, kiss her hand as he always did. She was
+calm, and light-hearted as a person accustomed to everything, finding
+this meeting simple and natural in her frank and native trickery.
+Laurine appeared, and went and held up her forehead to George more
+quietly than usual, her father's presence intimidating her. Her mother
+said to her: "Well, you don't call him Pretty-boy to-day." And the child
+blushed as if a serious indiscretion had been committed, a thing that
+ought not to have been mentioned, revealed, an intimate and, so to say,
+guilty secret of her heart laid bare.
+
+When the Forestiers arrived, all were alarmed at the condition of
+Charles. He had grown frightfully thin and pale within a week, and
+coughed incessantly. He stated, besides, that he was leaving for Cannes
+on the following Thursday, by the doctor's imperative orders. They left
+early, and Duroy said, shaking his head: "I think he is very bad. He
+will never make old bones."
+
+Madame de Marelle said, calmly: "Oh! he is done for. There is a man who
+was lucky in finding the wife he did."
+
+Duroy asked: "Does she help him much?"
+
+"She does everything. She is acquainted with everything that is going
+on; she knows everyone without seeming to go and see anybody; she
+obtains what she wants as she likes. Oh! she is keen, clever, and
+intriguing as no one else is. She is a treasure for anyone wanting to
+get on."
+
+
+George said: "She will marry again very quickly, no doubt?"
+
+Madame de Marelle replied: "Yes. I should not be surprised if she had
+some one already in her eye--a deputy, unless, indeed, he
+objects--for--for--there may be serious--moral--obstacles. But then--I
+don't really know."
+
+Monsieur de Marelle grumbled with slow impatience: "You are always
+suspecting a number of things that I do not like. Do not let us meddle
+with the affairs of others. Our conscience is enough to guide us. That
+should be a rule with everyone."
+
+Duroy withdrew, uneasy at heart, and with his mind full of vague plans.
+The next day he paid a visit to the Forestiers, and found them finishing
+their packing up. Charles, stretched on a sofa, exaggerated his
+difficulty of breathing, and repeated: "I ought to have been off a month
+ago."
+
+Then he gave George a series of recommendations concerning the paper,
+although everything had been agreed upon and settled with Monsieur
+Walter. As George left, he energetically squeezed his old comrade's
+hand, saying: "Well, old fellow, we shall have you back soon." But as
+Madame Forestier was showing him out, he said to her, quickly: "You have
+not forgotten our agreement? We are friends and allies, are we not? So
+if you have need of me, for no matter what, do not hesitate. Send a
+letter or a telegram, and I will obey."
+
+She murmured: "Thanks, I will not forget." And her eye, too, said
+"Thanks," in a deeper and tenderer fashion.
+
+As Duroy went downstairs, he met slowly coming up Monsieur de Vaudrec,
+whom he had met there once before. The Count appeared sad, at this
+departure, perhaps. Wishing to show his good breeding, the journalist
+eagerly bowed. The other returned the salutation courteously, but in a
+somewhat dignified manner.
+
+The Forestiers left on Thursday evening.
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+
+Charles's absence gave Duroy increased importance in the editorial
+department of the _Vie Francaise_. He signed several leaders besides his
+"Echoes," for the governor insisted on everyone assuming the
+responsibility of his "copy." He became engaged in several newspaper
+controversies, in which he acquitted himself creditably, and his
+constant relations with different statesmen were gradually preparing him
+to become in his turn a clever and perspicuous political editor. There
+was only one cloud on his horizon. It came from a little free-lance
+newspaper, which continually assailed him, or rather in him assailed the
+chief writer of "Echoes" in the _Vie Francaise_, the chief of "Monsieur
+Walter's startlers," as it was put by the anonymous writer of the
+_Plume_. Day by day cutting paragraphs, insinuations of every kind,
+appeared in it.
+
+One day Jacques Rival said to Duroy: "You are very patient."
+
+Duroy replied: "What can I do, there is no direct attack?"
+
+But one afternoon, as he entered the editor's room, Boisrenard held out
+the current number of the _Plume_, saying: "Here's another spiteful dig
+at you."
+
+"Ah! what about?"
+
+"Oh! a mere nothing--the arrest of a Madame Aubert by the police."
+
+George took the paper, and read, under the heading, "Duroy's Latest":
+
+"The illustrious reporter of the _Vie Francaise_ to-day informs us that
+Madame Aubert, whose arrest by a police agent belonging to the odious
+_brigade des moeurs_ we announced, exists only in our imagination. Now
+the person in question lives at 18 Rue de l'Ecureuil, Montmartre. We
+understand only too well, however, the interest the agents of Walter's
+bank have in supporting those of the Prefect of Police, who tolerates
+their commerce. As to the reporter of whom it is a question, he would do
+better to give us one of those good sensational bits of news of which he
+has the secret--news of deaths contradicted the following day, news of
+battles which have never taken place, announcements of important
+utterances by sovereigns who have not said anything--all the news, in
+short, which constitutes Walter's profits, or even one of those little
+indiscretions concerning entertainments given by would-be fashionable
+ladies, or the excellence of certain articles of consumption which are
+of such resource to some of our compeers."
+
+The young fellow was more astonished than annoyed, only understanding
+that there was something very disagreeable for him in all this.
+
+Boisrenard went on: "Who gave you this 'Echo'?"
+
+Duroy thought for a moment, having forgotten. Then all at once the
+recollection occurred to him, "Saint-Potin." He re-read the paragraph in
+the _Plume_ and reddened, roused by the accusation of venality. He
+exclaimed: "What! do they mean to assert that I am paid--"
+
+Boisrenard interrupted him: "They do, though. It is very annoying for
+you. The governor is very strict about that sort of thing. It might
+happen so often in the 'Echoes.'"
+
+Saint-Potin came in at that moment. Duroy hastened to him. "Have you
+seen the paragraph in the _Plume_?"
+
+"Yes, and I have just come from Madame Aubert. She does exist, but she
+was not arrested. That much of the report has no foundation."
+
+Duroy hastened to the room of the governor, whom he found somewhat cool,
+and with a look of suspicion in his eye. After having listened to the
+statement of the case, Monsieur Walter said: "Go and see the woman
+yourself, and contradict the paragraph in such terms as will put a stop
+to such things being written about you any more. I mean the latter part
+of the paragraph. It is very annoying for the paper, for yourself, and
+for me. A journalist should no more be suspected than Caesar's wife."
+
+Duroy got into a cab, with Saint-Potin as his guide, and called out to
+the driver: "Number 18 Rue de l'Ecureuil, Montmartre."
+
+It was a huge house, in which they had to go up six flights of stairs.
+An old woman in a woolen jacket opened the door to them. "What is it you
+want with me now?" said she, on catching sight of Saint-Potin.
+
+He replied: "I have brought this gentleman, who is an inspector of
+police, and who would like to hear your story."
+
+Then she let him in, saying: "Two more have been here since you, for
+some paper or other, I don't know which," and turning towards Duroy,
+added: "So this gentleman wants to know about it?"
+
+"Yes. Were you arrested by an _agent des moeurs_?"
+
+She lifted her arms into the air. "Never in my life, sir, never in my
+life. This is what it is all about. I have a butcher who sells good
+meat, but who gives bad weight. I have often noticed it without saying
+anything; but the other day, when I asked him for two pounds of chops,
+as I had my daughter and my son-in-law to dinner, I caught him weighing
+in bits of trimmings--trimmings of chops, it is true, but not of mine. I
+could have made a stew of them, it is true, as well, but when I ask for
+chops it is not to get other people's trimmings. I refused to take them,
+and he calls me an old shark. I called him an old rogue, and from one
+thing to another we picked up such a row that there were over a hundred
+people round the shop, some of them laughing fit to split. So that at
+last a police agent came up and asked us to settle it before the
+commissary. We went, and he dismissed the case. Since then I get my meat
+elsewhere, and don't even pass his door, in order to avoid his
+slanders."
+
+She ceased talking, and Duroy asked: "Is that all?"
+
+"It is the whole truth, sir," and having offered him a glass of cordial,
+which he declined, the old woman insisted on the short weight of the
+butcher being spoken of in the report.
+
+On his return to the office, Duroy wrote his reply:
+
+     "An anonymous scribbler in the _Plume_ seeks to pick a quarrel
+     with me on the subject of an old woman whom he states was
+     arrested by an _agent des moeurs_, which fact I deny. I have
+     myself seen Madame Aubert--who is at least sixty years of
+     age--and she told me in detail her quarrel with the butcher
+     over the weighing of some chops, which led to an explanation
+     before the commissary of police. This is the whole truth. As to
+     the other insinuations of the writer in the _Plume_, I despise
+     them. Besides, a man does not reply to such things when they
+     are written under a mask.
+
+     "GEORGE DUROY."
+
+Monsieur Walter and Jacques Rival, who had come in, thought this note
+satisfactory, and it was settled that it should go in at once.
+
+Duroy went home early, somewhat agitated and slightly uneasy. What reply
+would the other man make? Who was he? Why this brutal attack? With the
+brusque manners of journalists this affair might go very far. He slept
+badly. When he read his reply in the paper next morning, it seemed to
+him more aggressive in print than in manuscript. He might, it seemed to
+him, have softened certain phrases. He felt feverish all day, and slept
+badly again at night. He rose at dawn to get the number of the _Plume_
+that must contain a reply to him.
+
+The weather had turned cold again, it was freezing hard. The gutters,
+frozen while still flowing, showed like two ribbons of ice alongside the
+pavement. The morning papers had not yet come in, and Duroy recalled the
+day of his first article, "The Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique."
+His hands and feet getting numbed, grew painful, especially the tips of
+his fingers, and he began to trot round the glazed kiosque in which the
+newspaper seller, squatting over her foot warmer, only showed through
+the little window a red nose and a pair of cheeks to match in a woolen
+hood. At length the newspaper porter passed the expected parcel through
+the opening, and the woman held out to Duroy an unfolded copy of the
+_Plume_.
+
+He glanced through it in search of his name, and at first saw nothing.
+He was breathing again, when he saw between two dashes:
+
+     "Monsieur Duroy, of the _Vie Francaise_, contradicts us, and in
+     contradicting us, lies. He admits, however, that there is a
+     Madame Aubert, and that an agent took her before the commissary
+     of police. It only remains, therefore, to add two words, '_des
+     moeurs_,' after the word 'agent,' and he is right. But the
+     conscience of certain journalists is on a level with their
+     talent. And I sign,
+
+     "LOUIS LANGREMONT."
+
+George's heart began to beat violently, and he went home to dress
+without being too well aware of what he was doing. So he had been
+insulted, and in such a way that no hesitation was possible. And why?
+For nothing at all. On account of an old woman who had quarreled with
+her butcher.
+
+He dressed quickly and went to see Monsieur Walter, although it was
+barely eight o'clock. Monsieur Walter, already up, was reading the
+_Plume_. "Well," said he, with a grave face, on seeing Duroy, "you
+cannot draw back now." The young fellow did not answer, and the other
+went on: "Go at once and see Rival, who will act for you."
+
+Duroy stammered a few vague words, and went out in quest of the
+descriptive writer, who was still asleep. He jumped out of bed, and,
+having read the paragraph, said: "By Jove, you must go out. Whom do you
+think of for the other second?"
+
+"I really don't know."
+
+"Boisrenard? What do you think?"
+
+"Yes. Boisrenard."
+
+"Are you a good swordsman?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"The devil! And with the pistol?"
+
+"I can shoot a little."
+
+"Good. You shall practice while I look after everything else. Wait for
+me a moment."
+
+He went into his dressing-room, and soon reappeared washed, shaved,
+correct-looking.
+
+"Come with me," said he.
+
+He lived on the ground floor of a small house, and he led Duroy to the
+cellar, an enormous cellar, converted into a fencing-room and shooting
+gallery, all the openings on the street being closed. After having lit a
+row of gas jets running the whole length of a second cellar, at the
+end of which was an iron man painted red and blue; he placed on a
+table two pairs of breech-loading pistols, and began to give the word
+of command in a sharp tone, as though on the ground: "Ready?
+Fire--one--two--three."
+
+Duroy, dumbfounded, obeyed, raising his arm, aiming and firing, and as
+he often hit the mark fair on the body, having frequently made use of an
+old horse pistol of his father's when a boy, against the birds, Jacques
+Rival, well satisfied, exclaimed: "Good--very good--very good--you will
+do--you will do."
+
+Then he left George, saying: "Go on shooting till noon; here is plenty
+of ammunition, don't be afraid to use it. I will come back to take you
+to lunch and tell you how things are going."
+
+Left to himself, Duroy fired a few more shots, and then sat down and
+began to reflect. How absurd these things were, all the same! What did a
+duel prove? Was a rascal less of a rascal after going out? What did an
+honest man, who had been insulted, gain by risking his life against a
+scoundrel? And his mind, gloomily inclined, recalled the words of
+Norbert de Varenne.
+
+Then he felt thirsty, and having heard the sound of water dropping
+behind him, found that there was a hydrant serving as a douche bath, and
+drank from the nozzle of the hose. Then he began to think again. It was
+gloomy in this cellar, as gloomy as a tomb. The dull and distant rolling
+of vehicles sounded like the rumblings of a far-off storm. What o'clock
+could it be? The hours passed by there as they must pass in prisons,
+without anything to indicate or mark them save the visits of the warder.
+He waited a long time. Then all at once he heard footsteps and voices,
+and Jacques Rival reappeared, accompanied by Boisrenard. He called out
+as soon as he saw Duroy: "It's all settled."
+
+The latter thought the matter terminated by a letter of apology, his
+heart beat, and he stammered: "Ah! thanks."
+
+The descriptive writer continued: "That fellow Langremont is very
+square; he accepted all our conditions. Twenty-five paces, one shot, at
+the word of command raising the pistol. The hand is much steadier that
+way than bringing it down. See here, Boisrenard, what I told you."
+
+And taking a pistol he began to fire, pointed out how much better one
+kept the line by raising the arm. Then he said: "Now let's go and lunch;
+it is past twelve o'clock."
+
+They went to a neighboring restaurant. Duroy scarcely spoke. He ate in
+order not to appear afraid, and then, in course of the afternoon,
+accompanied Boisrenard to the office, where he got through his work in
+an abstracted and mechanical fashion. They thought him plucky. Jacques
+Rival dropped in in the course of the afternoon, and it was settled that
+his seconds should call for him in a landau at seven o'clock the next
+morning, and drive to the Bois de Vesinet, where the meeting was to take
+place. All this had been done so unexpectedly, without his taking part
+in it, without his saying a word, without his giving his opinion,
+without accepting or refusing, and with such rapidity, too, that he was
+bewildered, scared, and scarcely able to understand what was going on.
+
+He found himself at home at nine o'clock, after having dined with
+Boisrenard, who, out of self-devotion, had not left him all day. As soon
+as he was alone he strode quickly up and down his room for several
+minutes. He was too uneasy to think about anything. One solitary idea
+filled his mind, that of a duel on the morrow, without this idea
+awakening in him anything else save a powerful emotion. He had been a
+soldier, he had been engaged with the Arabs, without much danger to
+himself though, any more than when one hunts a wild boar.
+
+To reckon things up, he had done his duty. He had shown himself what he
+should be. He would be talked of, approved of, and congratulated. Then
+he said aloud, as one does under powerful impressions: "What a brute of
+a fellow."
+
+He sat down and began to reflect. He had thrown upon his little table
+one of his adversary's cards, given him by Rival in order to retain his
+address. He read, as he had already done a score of times during the
+day: "Louis Langremont, 176 Rue Montmartre." Nothing more. He examined
+these assembled letters, which seemed to him mysterious and full of some
+disturbing import. Louis Langremont. Who was this man? What was his age,
+his height, his appearance? Was it not disgusting that a stranger, an
+unknown, should thus come and suddenly disturb one's existence without
+cause and from sheer caprice, on account of an old woman who had had a
+quarrel with her butcher. He again repeated aloud: "What a brute."
+
+And he stood lost in thought, his eyes fixed on the card. Anger was
+aroused in him against this bit of paper, an anger with which was
+blended a strange sense of uneasiness. What a stupid business it was. He
+took a pair of nail scissors which were lying about, and stuck their
+points into the printed name, as though he was stabbing someone. So he
+was to fight, and with pistols. Why had he not chosen swords? He would
+have got off with a prick in the hand or arm, while with the pistols one
+never knew the possible result. He said: "Come, I must keep my pluck
+up."
+
+The sound of his own voice made him shudder, and he glanced about him.
+He began to feel very nervous. He drank a glass of water and went to
+bed.
+
+As soon as he was in bed he blew out his candle and closed his eyes. He
+was warm between the sheets, though it was very cold in his room, but
+he could not manage to doze off. He turned over and over, remained five
+minutes on his back, then lay on his left side, then rolled on the
+right. He was still thirsty, and got up to drink. Then a sense of
+uneasiness assailed him. Was he going to be afraid? Why did his heart
+beat wildly at each well-known sound in the room? When his clock was
+going to strike, the faint squeak of the lever made him jump, and he had
+to open his mouth for some moments in order to breathe, so oppressed did
+he feel. He began to reason philosophically on the possibility of his
+being afraid.
+
+No, certainly he would not be afraid, now he had made up his mind to go
+through with it to the end, since he was firmly decided to fight and not
+to tremble. But he felt so deeply moved that he asked himself: "Can one
+be afraid in spite of one's self?" This doubt assailed him. If some
+power stronger than his will overcame it, what would happen? Yes, what
+would happen? Certainly he would go on the ground, since he meant to.
+But suppose he shook? suppose he fainted? And he thought of his
+position, his reputation, his future.
+
+A strange need of getting up to look at himself in the glass suddenly
+seized him. He relit the candle. When he saw his face so reflected, he
+scarcely recognized himself, and it seemed to him that he had never seen
+himself before. His eyes appeared enormous, and he was pale; yes, he was
+certainly pale, very pale. Suddenly the thought shot through his mind:
+"By this time to-morrow I may be dead." And his heart began to beat
+again furiously. He turned towards his bed, and distinctly saw himself
+stretched on his back between the same sheets as he had just left. He
+had the hollow cheeks of the dead, and the whiteness of those hands that
+no longer move. Then he grew afraid of his bed, and in order to see it
+no longer he opened the window to look out. An icy coldness assailed him
+from head to foot, and he drew back breathless.
+
+The thought occurred to him to make a fire. He built it up slowly,
+without looking around. His hands shook slightly with a kind of nervous
+tremor when he touched anything. His head wandered, his disjointed,
+drifting thoughts became fleeting and painful, an intoxication invaded
+his mind as though he had been drinking. And he kept asking himself:
+"What shall I do? What will become of me?"
+
+He began to walk up and down, repeating mechanically: "I must pull
+myself together. I must pull myself together." Then he added: "I will
+write to my parents, in case of accident." He sat down again, took some
+notepaper, and wrote: "Dear papa, dear mamma." Then, thinking these
+words rather too familiar under such tragic circumstances, he tore up
+the first sheet, and began anew, "My dear father, my dear mother, I am
+to fight a duel at daybreak, and as it might happen that--" He did not
+dare write the rest, and sprang up with a jump. He was now crushed by
+one besetting idea. He was going to fight a duel. He could no longer
+avoid it. What was the matter with him, then? He meant to fight, his
+mind was firmly made up to do so, and yet it seemed to him that, despite
+every effort of will, he could not retain strength enough to go to the
+place appointed for the meeting. From time to time his teeth absolutely
+chattered, and he asked himself: "Has my adversary been out before? Is
+he a frequenter of the shooting galleries? Is he known and classed as a
+shot?" He had never heard his name mentioned. And yet, if this man was
+not a remarkably good pistol shot, he would scarcely have accepted that
+dangerous weapon without discussion or hesitation.
+
+Then Duroy pictured to himself their meeting, his own attitude, and the
+bearing of his opponent. He wearied himself in imagining the slightest
+details of the duel, and all at once saw in front of him the little
+round black hole in the barrel from which the ball was about to issue.
+He was suddenly seized with a fit of terrible despair. His whole body
+quivered, shaken by short, sharp shudderings. He clenched his teeth to
+avoid crying out, and was assailed by a wild desire to roll on the
+ground, to tear something to pieces, to bite. But he caught sight of a
+glass on the mantelpiece, and remembered that there was in the cupboard
+a bottle of brandy almost full, for he had kept up a military habit of a
+morning dram. He seized the bottle and greedily drank from its mouth in
+long gulps. He only put it down when his breath failed him. It was a
+third empty. A warmth like that of flame soon kindled within his body,
+and spreading through his limbs, buoyed up his mind by deadening his
+thoughts. He said to himself: "I have hit upon the right plan." And as
+his skin now seemed burning he reopened the window.
+
+
+Day was breaking, calm and icy cold. On high the stars seemed dying away
+in the brightening sky, and in the deep cutting of the railway, the red,
+green, and white signal lamps were paling. The first locomotives were
+leaving the engine shed, and went off whistling, to be coupled to the
+first trains. Others, in the distance, gave vent to shrill and repeated
+screeches, their awakening cries, like cocks of the country. Duroy
+thought: "Perhaps I shall never see all this again." But as he felt that
+he was going again to be moved by the prospect of his own fate, he
+fought against it strongly, saying: "Come, I must not think of anything
+till the moment of the meeting; it is the only way to keep up my pluck."
+
+And he set about his toilet. He had another moment of weakness while
+shaving, in thinking that it was perhaps the last time he should see his
+face. But he swallowed another mouthful of brandy, and finished
+dressing. The hour which followed was difficult to get through. He
+walked up and down, trying to keep from thinking. When he heard a knock
+at the door he almost dropped, so violent was the shock to him. It was
+his seconds. Already!
+
+They were wrapped up in furs, and Rival, after shaking his principal's
+hand, said: "It is as cold as Siberia." Then he added: "Well, how goes
+it?"
+
+"Very well."
+
+"You are quite steady?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"That's it; we shall get on all right. Have you had something to eat and
+drink?"
+
+"Yes; I don't need anything."
+
+Boisrenard, in honor of the occasion, sported a foreign order, yellow
+and green, that Duroy had never seen him display before.
+
+They went downstairs. A gentleman was awaiting them in the carriage.
+Rival introduced him as "Doctor Le Brument." Duroy shook hands, saying,
+"I am very much obliged to you," and sought to take his place on the
+front seat. He sat down on something hard that made him spring up again,
+as though impelled by a spring. It was the pistol case.
+
+Rival observed: "No, the back seat for the doctor and the principal, the
+back seat."
+
+Duroy ended by understanding him, and sank down beside the doctor. The
+two seconds got in in their turn, and the driver started. He knew where
+to go. But the pistol case was in the way of everyone, above all of
+Duroy, who would have preferred it out of sight. They tried to put it at
+the back of the seat and it hurt their own; they stuck it upright
+between Rival and Boisrenard, and it kept falling all the time. They
+finished by stowing it away under their feet. Conversation languished,
+although the doctor related some anecdotes. Rival alone replied to him.
+Duroy would have liked to have given a proof of presence of mind, but he
+was afraid of losing the thread of his ideas, of showing the troubled
+state of his mind, and was haunted, too, by the disturbing fear of
+beginning to tremble.
+
+The carriage was soon right out in the country. It was about nine
+o'clock. It was one of those sharp winter mornings when everything is as
+bright and brittle as glass. The trees, coated with hoar frost, seemed
+to have been sweating ice; the earth rang under a footstep, the dry air
+carried the slightest sound to a distance, the blue sky seemed to shine
+like a mirror, and the sun, dazzling and cold itself, shed upon the
+frozen universe rays which did not warm anything.
+
+Rival observed to Duroy: "I got the pistols at Gastine Renette's. He
+loaded them himself. The box is sealed. We shall toss up, besides,
+whether we use them or those of our adversary."
+
+Duroy mechanically replied: "I am very much obliged to you."
+
+Then Rival gave him a series of circumstantial recommendations, for he
+was anxious that his principal should not make any mistake. He
+emphasized each point several times, saying: "When they say, 'Are you
+ready, gentlemen?' you must answer 'Yes' in a loud tone. When they give
+the word 'Fire!' you must raise your arm quickly, and you must fire
+before they have finished counting 'One, two, three.'"
+
+And Duroy kept on repeating to himself: "When they give the word to
+fire, I must raise my arm. When they give the word to fire, I must raise
+my arm." He learnt it as children learn their lessons, by murmuring them
+to satiety in order to fix them on their minds. "When they give the word
+to fire, I must raise my arm."
+
+The carriage entered a wood, turned down an avenue on the right, and
+then to the right again. Rival suddenly opened the door to cry to the
+driver: "That way, down the narrow road." The carriage turned into a
+rutty road between two copses, in which dead leaves fringed with ice
+were quivering. Duroy was still murmuring: "When they give the word to
+fire, I must raise my arm." And he thought how a carriage accident would
+settle the whole affair. "Oh! if they could only upset, what luck; if he
+could only break a leg."
+
+But he caught sight, at the further side of a clearing, of another
+carriage drawn up, and four gentlemen stamping to keep their feet warm,
+and he was obliged to open his mouth, so difficult did his breathing
+become.
+
+The seconds got out first, and then the doctor and the principal. Rival
+had taken the pistol-case and walked away with Boisrenard to meet two of
+the strangers who came towards them. Duroy watched them salute one
+another ceremoniously, and then walk up and down the clearing, looking
+now on the ground and now at the trees, as though they were looking for
+something that had fallen down or might fly away. Then they measured off
+a certain number of paces, and with great difficulty stuck two walking
+sticks into the frozen ground. They then reassembled in a group and went
+through the action of tossing, like children playing heads or tails.
+
+Doctor Le Brument said to Duroy: "Do you feel all right? Do you want
+anything?"
+
+"No, nothing, thanks."
+
+It seemed to him that he was mad, that he was asleep, that he was
+dreaming, that supernatural influences enveloped him. Was he afraid?
+Perhaps. But he did not know. Everything about him had altered.
+
+Jacques Rival returned, and announced in low tones of satisfaction: "It
+is all ready. Luck has favored us as regards the pistols."
+
+That, so far as Duroy was concerned, was a matter of profound
+indifference.
+
+They took off his overcoat, which he let them do mechanically. They felt
+the breast-pocket of his frock-coat to make certain that he had no
+pocketbook or papers likely to deaden a ball. He kept repeating to
+himself like a prayer: "When the word is given to fire, I must raise my
+arm."
+
+They led him up to one of the sticks stuck in the ground and handed him
+his pistol. Then he saw a man standing just in front of him--a short,
+stout, bald-headed man, wearing spectacles. It was his adversary. He saw
+him very plainly, but he could only think: "When the word to fire is
+given, I must raise my arm and fire at once."
+
+A voice rang out in the deep silence, a voice that seemed to come from a
+great distance, saying: "Are you ready, gentlemen?"
+
+George exclaimed "Yes."
+
+The same voice gave the word "Fire!"
+
+He heard nothing more, he saw nothing more, he took note of nothing
+more, he only knew that he raised his arm, pressing strongly on the
+trigger. And he heard nothing. But he saw all at once a little smoke at
+the end of his pistol barrel, and as the man in front of him still stood
+in the same position, he perceived, too, a little cloud of smoke
+drifting off over his head.
+
+They had both fired. It was over.
+
+His seconds and the doctor touched him, felt him and unbuttoned his
+clothes, asking, anxiously: "Are you hit?"
+
+He replied at haphazard: "No, I do not think so."
+
+Langremont, too, was as unhurt as his enemy, and Jacques Rival murmured
+in a discontented tone: "It is always so with those damned pistols; you
+either miss or kill. What a filthy weapon."
+
+Duroy did not move, paralyzed by surprise and joy. It was over. They had
+to take away his weapon, which he still had clenched in his hand. It
+seemed to him now that he could have done battle with the whole world.
+It was over. What happiness! He felt suddenly brave enough to defy no
+matter whom.
+
+The whole of the seconds conversed together for a few moments, making an
+appointment to draw up their report of the proceedings in the course of
+the day. Then they got into the carriage again, and the driver, who was
+laughing on the box, started off, cracking his whip. They breakfasted
+together on the boulevards, and in chatting over the event, Duroy
+narrated his impressions. "I felt quite unconcerned, quite. You must,
+besides, have seen it yourself."
+
+Rival replied: "Yes, you bore yourself very well."
+
+When the report was drawn up it was handed to Duroy, who was to insert
+it in the paper. He was astonished to read that he had exchanged a
+couple of shots with Monsieur Louis Langremont, and rather uneasily
+interrogated Rival, saying: "But we only fired once."
+
+The other smiled. "Yes, one shot apiece, that makes a couple of shots."
+
+Duroy, deeming the explanation satisfactory, did not persist. Daddy
+Walter embraced him, saying: "Bravo, bravo, you have defended the colors
+of _Vie Francaise_; bravo!"
+
+George showed himself in the course of the evening at the principal
+newspaper offices, and at the chief _cafes_ on the boulevards. He twice
+encountered his adversary, who was also showing himself. They did not
+bow to one another. If one of them had been wounded they would have
+shaken hands. Each of them, moreover, swore with conviction that he had
+heard the whistling of the other's bullet.
+
+The next day, at about eleven, Duroy received a telegram. "Awfully
+alarmed. Come at once. Rue de Constantinople.--Clo."
+
+He hastened to their meeting-place, and she threw herself into his arms,
+smothering him with kisses.
+
+"Oh, my darling! if you only knew what I felt when I saw the papers this
+morning. Oh, tell me all about it! I want to know everything."
+
+He had to give minute details. She said: "What a dreadful night you must
+have passed before the duel."
+
+"No, I slept very well."
+
+"I should not have closed an eye. And on the ground--tell me all that
+happened."
+
+He gave a dramatic account. "When we were face to face with one another
+at twenty paces, only four times the length of this room, Jacques, after
+asking if we were ready, gave the word 'Fire.' I raised my arm at once,
+keeping a good line, but I made the mistake of trying to aim at the
+head. I had a pistol with an unusually stiff pull, and I am accustomed
+to very easy ones, so that the resistance of the trigger caused me to
+fire too high. No matter, it could not have gone very far off him. He
+shoots well, too, the rascal. His bullet skimmed by my temple. I felt
+the wind of it."
+
+She was sitting on his knees, and holding him in her arms as though to
+share his dangers. She murmured: "Oh, my poor darling! my poor darling!"
+
+When he had finished his narration, she said: "Do you know, I cannot
+live without you. I must see you, and with my husband in Paris it is not
+easy. Often I could find an hour in the morning before you were up to
+run in and kiss you, but I won't enter that awful house of yours. What
+is to be done?"
+
+He suddenly had an inspiration, and asked: "What is the rent here?"
+
+"A hundred francs a month."
+
+"Well, I will take the rooms over on my own account, and live here
+altogether. Mine are no longer good enough for my new position."
+
+She reflected a few moments, and then said: "No, I won't have that."
+
+He was astonished, and asked: "Why not?"
+
+"Because I won't."
+
+"That is not a reason. These rooms suit me very well. I am here, and
+shall remain here. Besides," he added, with a laugh, "they are taken in
+my name."
+
+But she kept on refusing, "No, no, I won't have it."
+
+"Why not, then?"
+
+Then she whispered tenderly: "Because you would bring women here, and I
+won't have it."
+
+He grew indignant. "Never. I can promise you that."
+
+"No, you will bring them all the same."
+
+"I swear I won't."
+
+"Truly?"
+
+"Truly, on my word of honor. This is our place, our very own."
+
+She clasped him to her in an outburst of love, exclaiming: "Very well,
+then, darling. But you know if you once deceive me, only once, it will
+be all over between us, all over for ever."
+
+He swore again with many protestations, and it was agreed that he should
+install himself there that very day, so that she could look in on him as
+she passed the door. Then she said: "In any case, come and dine with us
+on Sunday. My husband thinks you are charming."
+
+He was flattered "Really!"
+
+"Yes, you have captivated him. And then, listen, you have told me that
+you were brought up in a country-house."
+
+"Yes; why?"
+
+"Then you must know something about agriculture?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, talk to him about gardening and the crops. He is very fond of
+that sort of thing."
+
+"Good; I will not forget."
+
+She left him, after kissing him to an indefinite extent, the duel having
+stimulated her affection.
+
+Duroy thought, as he made his way to the office, "What a strange being.
+What a feather brain. Can one tell what she wants and what she cares
+for? And what a strange household. What fanciful being arranged the
+union of that old man and this madcap? What made the inspector marry
+this giddy girl? A mystery. Who knows? Love, perhaps." And he concluded:
+"After all, she is a very nice little mistress, and I should be a very
+big fool to let her slip away from me."
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+
+His duel had given Duroy a position among the leader-writers of the _Vie
+Francaise_, but as he had great difficulty in finding ideas, he made a
+specialty of declamatory articles on the decadence of morality, the
+lowering of the standard of character, the weakening of the patriotic
+fiber and the anemia of French honor. He had discovered the word anemia,
+and was very proud of it. And when Madame de Marelle, filled with that
+skeptical, mocking, and incredulous spirit characteristic of the
+Parisian, laughed at his tirades, which she demolished with an epigram,
+he replied with a smile: "Bah! this sort of thing will give me a good
+reputation later on."
+
+He now resided in the Rue de Constantinople, whither he had shifted his
+portmanteau, his hair-brush, his razor, and his soap, which was what his
+moving amounted to. Twice or thrice a week she would call before he was
+up, undress in a twinkling, and slip into bed, shivering from the cold
+prevailing out of doors. As a set off, Duroy dined every Thursday at her
+residence, and paid court to her husband by talking agriculture with
+him. As he was himself fond of everything relating to the cultivation of
+the soil, they sometimes both grew so interested in the subject of their
+conversation that they quite forgot the wife dozing on the sofa. Laurine
+would also go to sleep, now on the knee of her father and now on that of
+Pretty-boy. And when the journalist had left, Monsieur de Marelle never
+failed to assert, in that doctrinal tone in which he said the least
+thing: "That young fellow is really very pleasant company, he has a
+well-informed mind."
+
+February was drawing to a close. One began to smell the violets in the
+street, as one passed the barrows of the flower-sellers of a morning.
+Duroy was living beneath a sky without a cloud.
+
+One night, on returning home, he found a letter that had been slipped
+under his door. He glanced at the post-mark, and read "Cannes." Having
+opened it, he read:
+
+     "Villa Jolie, Cannes.
+
+     "DEAR SIR AND FRIEND,--You told me, did you not, that I could
+     reckon upon you for anything? Well, I have a very painful
+     service to ask of you; it is to come and help me, so that I may
+     not be left alone during the last moments of Charles, who is
+     dying. He may not last out the week, as the doctor has
+     forewarned me, although he has not yet taken to his bed. I have
+     no longer strength nor courage to witness this hourly death,
+     and I think with terror of those last moments which are drawing
+     near. I can only ask such a service of you, as my husband has
+     no relatives. You were his comrade; he opened the door of the
+     paper to you. Come, I beg of you; I have no one else to ask.
+
+     "Believe me, your very sincere friend,
+
+
+     "MADELEINE FORESTIER."
+
+A strange feeling filled George's heart, a sense of freedom and of a
+space opening before him, and he murmured: "To be sure, I'll go. Poor
+Charles! What are we, after all?"
+
+The governor, to whom he read the letter, grumblingly granted
+permission, repeating: "But be back soon, you are indispensable to us."
+
+George left for Cannes next day by the seven o'clock express, after
+letting the Marelles know of his departure by a telegram. He arrived the
+following evening about four o'clock. A commissionaire guided him to the
+Villa Jolie, built half-way up the slope of the pine forest clothed
+with white houses, which extends from Cannes to the Golfe Juan. The
+house--small, low, and in the Italian style--was built beside the road
+which winds zig-zag fashion up through the trees, revealing a succession
+of charming views at every turning it makes.
+
+The man servant opened the door, and exclaimed: "Oh! Sir, madame is
+expecting you most impatiently."
+
+"How is your master?" inquired Duroy.
+
+"Not at all well, sir. He cannot last much longer."
+
+The drawing-room, into which George was shown, was hung with pink and
+blue chintz. The tall and wide windows overlooked the town and the sea.
+Duroy muttered: "By Jove, this is nice and swell for a country house.
+Where the deuce do they get the money from?"
+
+The rustle of a dress made him turn round. Madame Forestier held out
+both hands to him. "How good of you to come, how good of you to come,"
+said she.
+
+And suddenly she kissed him on the cheek. Then they looked at
+one another. She was somewhat paler and thinner, but still
+fresh-complexioned, and perhaps still prettier for her additional
+delicacy. She murmured: "He is dreadful, do you know; he knows that he
+
+is doomed, and he leads me a fearful life. But where is your
+portmanteau?"
+
+"I have left it at the station, not knowing what hotel you would like me
+to stop at in order to be near you."
+
+She hesitated a moment, and then said: "You must stay here. Besides,
+your room is all ready. He might die at any moment, and if it were to
+happen during the night I should be alone. I will send for your
+luggage."
+
+He bowed, saying: "As you please."
+
+"Now let us go upstairs," she said.
+
+He followed her. She opened a door on the first floor, and Duroy saw,
+wrapped in rugs and seated in an armchair near the window, a kind of
+living corpse, livid even under the red light of the setting sun, and
+looking towards him. He scarcely recognized, but rather guessed, that it
+was his friend. The room reeked of fever, medicated drinks, ether, tar,
+the nameless and oppressive odor of a consumptive's sick room. Forestier
+held out his hand slowly and with difficulty. "So here you are; you have
+come to see me die, then! Thanks."
+
+Duroy affected to laugh. "To see you die? That would not be a very
+amusing sight, and I should not select such an occasion to visit Cannes.
+I came to give you a look in, and to rest myself a bit."
+
+Forestier murmured, "Sit down," and then bent his head, as though lost
+in painful thoughts. He breathed hurriedly and pantingly, and from time
+to time gave a kind of groan, as if he wanted to remind the others how
+ill he was.
+
+Seeing that he would not speak, his wife came and leaned against the
+window-sill, and indicating the view with a motion of her head, said,
+"Look! Is not that beautiful?"
+
+Before them the hillside, dotted with villas, sloped downwards towards
+the town, which stretched in a half-circle along the shore with its head
+to the right in the direction of the pier, overlooked by the old city
+surmounted by its belfry, and its feet to the left towards the point of
+La Croisette, facing the Isles of Lerins. These two islands appeared
+like two green spots amidst the blue water. They seemed to be floating
+on it like two huge green leaves, so low and flat did they appear from
+this height. Afar off, bounding the view on the other side of the bay,
+beyond the pier and the belfry, a long succession of blue hills showed
+up against a dazzling sky, their strange and picturesque line of summits
+now rounded, now forked, now pointed, ending with a huge pyramidal
+mountain, its foot in the sea itself.
+
+Madame Forestier pointed it out, saying: "This is L'Estherel."
+
+The void beyond the dark hill tops was red, a glowing red that the eye
+would not fear, and Duroy, despite himself, felt the majesty of the
+close of the day. He murmured, finding no other term strong enough to
+express his admiration, "It is stunning."
+
+Forestier raised his head, and turning to his wife, said: "Let me have
+some fresh air."
+
+"Pray, be careful," was her reply. "It is late, and the sun is setting;
+you will catch a fresh cold, and you know how bad that is for you."
+
+He made a feverish and feeble movement with his right hand that was
+almost meant for a blow, and murmured with a look of anger, the grin of
+a dying man that showed all the thinness of his lips, the hollowness of
+the cheeks, and the prominence of all the bones of the face: "I tell you
+I am stifling. What does it matter to you whether I die a day sooner or
+a day later, since I am done for?"
+
+She opened the window quite wide. The air that entered surprised all
+three like a caress. It was a soft, warm breeze, a breeze of spring,
+already laden with the scents of the odoriferous shrubs and flowers
+which sprang up along this shore. A powerful scent of turpentine and
+the harsh savor of the eucalyptus could be distinguished.
+
+Forestier drank it in with short and fevered gasps. He clutched the arm
+of his chair with his nails, and said in low, hissing, and savage tones:
+"Shut the window. It hurts me; I would rather die in a cellar."
+
+His wife slowly closed the window, and then looked out in space, her
+forehead against the pane. Duroy, feeling very ill at ease, would have
+liked to have chatted with the invalid and reassured him. But he could
+think of nothing to comfort him. At length he said: "Then you have not
+got any better since you have been here?"
+
+Forestier shrugged his shoulders with low-spirited impatience. "You see
+very well I have not," he replied, and again lowered his head.
+
+Duroy went on: "Hang it all, it is ever so much nicer here than in
+Paris. We are still in the middle of winter there. It snows, it freezes,
+it rains, and it is dark enough for the lamps to be lit at three in the
+afternoon."
+
+"Anything new at the paper?" asked Forestier.
+
+"Nothing. They have taken on young Lacrin, who has left the _Voltaire_,
+to do your work, but he is not up to it. It is time that you came back."
+
+The invalid muttered: "I--I shall do all my work six feet under the sod
+now."
+
+This fixed idea recurred like a knell _apropos_ of everything,
+continually cropping up in every idea, every sentence. There was a long
+silence, a deep and painful silence. The glow of the sunset was slowly
+fading, and the mountains were growing black against the red sky, which
+was getting duller. A colored shadow, a commencement of night, which yet
+retained the glow of an expiring furnace, stole into the room and seemed
+to tinge the furniture, the walls, the hangings, with mingled tints of
+sable and crimson. The chimney-glass, reflecting the horizon, seemed
+like a patch of blood. Madame Forestier did not stir, but remained
+standing with her back to the room, her face to the window pane.
+
+Forestier began to speak in a broken, breathless voice, heartrending to
+listen to. "How many more sunsets shall I see? Eight, ten, fifteen, or
+twenty, perhaps thirty--no more. You have time before you; for me it is
+all over. And it will go on all the same, after I am gone, as if I was
+still here." He was silent for a few moments, and then continued: "All
+that I see reminds me that in a few days I shall see it no more. It is
+horrible. I shall see nothing--nothing of all that exists; not the
+smallest things one makes use of--the plates, the glasses, the beds in
+which one rests so comfortably, the carriages. How nice it is to drive
+out of an evening! How fond I was of all those things!"
+
+He nervously moved the fingers of both hands, as though playing the
+piano on the arms of his chair. Each of his silences was more painful
+than his words, so evident was it that his thoughts must be fearful.
+Duroy suddenly recalled what Norbert de Varenne had said to him some
+weeks before, "I now see death so near that I often want to stretch out
+my arms to put it back. I see it everywhere. The insects crushed on the
+path, the falling leaves, the white hair in a friend's beard, rend my
+heart and cry to me, 'Behold!'"
+
+He had not understood all this on that occasion; now, seeing Forestier,
+he did. An unknown pain assailed him, as if he himself was sensible of
+the presence of death, hideous death, hard by, within reach of his hand,
+on the chair in which his friend lay gasping. He longed to get up, to go
+away, to fly, to return to Paris at once. Oh! if he had known he would
+not have come.
+
+Darkness had now spread over the room, like premature mourning for the
+dying man. The window alone remained still visible, showing, within the
+lighter square formed by it, the motionless outline of the young wife.
+
+Forestier remarked, with irritation, "Well, are they going to bring in
+the lamp to-night? This is what they call looking after an invalid."
+
+The shadow outlined against the window panes disappeared, and the sound
+of an electric bell rang through the house. A servant shortly entered
+and placed a lamp on the mantelpiece. Madame Forestier said to her
+husband, "Will you go to bed, or would you rather come down to dinner?"
+
+He murmured: "I will come down."
+
+Waiting for this meal kept them all three sitting still for nearly an
+hour, only uttering from time to time some needless commonplace remark,
+as if there had been some danger, some mysterious danger in letting
+silence endure too long, in letting the air congeal in this room where
+death was prowling.
+
+At length dinner was announced. The meal seemed interminable to Duroy.
+They did not speak, but ate noiselessly, and then crumbled their bread
+with their fingers. The man servant who waited upon them went to and fro
+without the sound of his footsteps being heard, for as the creak of a
+boot-sole irritated Charles, he wore list slippers. The harsh tick of a
+wooden clock alone disturbed the calm with its mechanical and regular
+sound.
+
+As soon as dinner was over Duroy, on the plea of fatigue, retired to his
+room, and leaning on the window-sill watched the full moon, in the midst
+of the sky like an immense lamp, casting its cold gleam upon the white
+walls of the villas, and scattering over the sea a soft and moving
+dappled light. He strove to find some reason to justify a swift
+departure, inventing plans, telegrams he was to receive, a recall from
+Monsieur Walter.
+
+But his resolves to fly appeared more difficult to realize on awakening
+the next morning. Madame Forestier would not be taken in by his devices,
+and he would lose by his cowardice all the benefit of his self-devotion.
+He said to himself: "Bah! it is awkward; well so much the worse, there
+must be unpleasant situations in life, and, besides, it will perhaps be
+soon over."
+
+It was a bright day, one of those bright Southern days that make the
+heart feel light, and Duroy walked down to the sea, thinking that it
+would be soon enough to see Forestier some time in course of the
+afternoon. When he returned to lunch, the servant remarked, "Master has
+already asked for you two or three times, sir. Will you please step up
+to his room, sir?"
+
+He went upstairs. Forestier appeared to be dozing in his armchair. His
+wife was reading, stretched out on the sofa.
+
+The invalid raised his head, and Duroy said, "Well, how do you feel? You
+seem quite fresh this morning."
+
+"Yes, I am better, I have recovered some of my strength. Get through
+
+your lunch with Madeleine as soon as you can, for we are going out for
+a drive."
+
+As soon as she was alone with Duroy, the young wife said to him, "There,
+to-day he thinks he is all right again. He has been making plans all the
+morning. We are going to the Golfe Juan now to buy some pottery for our
+rooms in Paris. He is determined to go out, but I am horribly afraid of
+some mishap. He cannot bear the shaking of the drive."
+
+When the landau arrived, Forestier came down stairs a step at a time,
+supported by his servant. But as soon as he caught sight of the
+carriage, he ordered the hood to be taken off. His wife opposed this,
+saying, "You will catch cold. It is madness."
+
+He persisted, repeating, "Oh, I am much better. I feel it."
+
+They passed at first along some of those shady roads, bordered by
+gardens, which cause Cannes to resemble a kind of English Park, and then
+reached the highway to Antibes, running along the seashore. Forestier
+acted as guide. He had already pointed out the villa of the Court de
+Paris, and now indicated others. He was lively, with the forced and
+feeble gayety of a doomed man. He lifted his finger, no longer having
+strength to stretch out his arm, and said, "There is the Ile Sainte
+Marguerite, and the chateau from which Bazaine escaped. How they did
+humbug us over that matter!"
+
+Then regimental recollections recurred to him, and he mentioned various
+officers whose names recalled incidents to them. But all at once, the
+road making a turn, they caught sight of the whole of the Golfe Juan,
+with the white village in the curve of the bay, and the point of Antibes
+at the further side of it. Forestier, suddenly seized upon by childish
+glee, exclaimed, "Ah! the squadron, you will see the squadron."
+
+Indeed they could perceive, in the middle of the broad bay, half-a-dozen
+large ships resembling rocks covered with leafless trees. They were
+huge, strange, mis-shapen, with excrescences, turrets, rams, burying
+themselves in the water as though to take root beneath the waves. One
+could scarcely imagine how they could stir or move about, they seemed so
+heavy and so firmly fixed to the bottom. A floating battery, circular
+and high out of water, resembling the light-houses that are built on
+shoals. A tall three-master passed near them, with all its white sails
+set. It looked graceful and pretty beside these iron war monsters
+squatted on the water. Forestier tried to make them out. He pointed out
+the Colbert, the Suffren, the Admiral Duperre, the Redoubtable, the
+Devastation, and then checking himself, added, "No I made a mistake;
+that one is the Devastation."
+
+They arrived opposite a species of large pavilion, on the front of which
+was the inscription, "Art Pottery of the Golfe Juan," and the carriage,
+driving up the sweep, stopped before the door. Forestier wanted to buy a
+couple of vases for his study. As he felt unequal to getting out of the
+carriage, specimens were brought out to him one after the other. He was
+a long time in making a choice, and consulted his wife and Duroy.
+
+"You know," he said, "it is for the cabinet at the end of the study.
+Sitting in my chair, I have it before my eyes all the time. I want an
+antique form, a Greek outline." He examined the specimens, had others
+brought, and then turned again to the first ones. At length he made up
+his mind, and having paid, insisted upon the articles being sent on at
+once. "I shall be going back to Paris in a few days," he said.
+
+They drove home, but as they skirted the bay a rush of cold air from one
+of the valleys suddenly met them, and the invalid began to cough. It was
+nothing at first, but it augmented and became an unbroken fit of
+coughing, and then a kind of gasping hiccough.
+
+Forestier was choking, and every time he tried to draw breath the cough
+seemed to rend his chest. Nothing would soothe or check it. He had to be
+borne from the carriage to his room, and Duroy, who supported his legs,
+felt the jerking of his feet at each convulsion of his lungs. The warmth
+of the bed did not check the attack, which lasted till midnight, when,
+at length, narcotics lulled its deadly spasm. The sick man remained till
+morning sitting up in his bed, with his eyes open.
+
+The first words he uttered were to ask for the barber, for he insisted
+on being shaved every morning. He got up for this operation, but had to
+be helped back into bed at once, and his breathing grew so short, so
+hard, and so difficult, that Madame Forestier, in alarm, had Duroy, who
+had just turned in, roused up again in order to beg him to go for the
+doctor.
+
+He came back almost immediately with Dr. Gavaut, who prescribed a
+soothing drink and gave some advice; but when the journalist saw him to
+the door, in order to ask his real opinion, he said, "It is the end. He
+will be dead to-morrow morning. Break it to his poor wife, and send for
+a priest. I, for my part, can do nothing more. I am, however, entirely
+at your service."
+
+Duroy sent for Madame Forestier. "He is dying," said he. "The doctor
+advises a priest being sent for. What would you like done?"
+
+She hesitated for some time, and then, in slow tones, as though she had
+calculated everything, replied, "Yes, that will be best--in many
+respects. I will break it to him--tell him the vicar wants to see him,
+or something or other; I really don't know what. You would be very kind
+if you would go and find a priest for me and pick one out. Choose one
+who won't raise too many difficulties over the business. One who will be
+satisfied with confession, and will let us off with the rest of it all."
+
+The young fellow returned with a complaisant old ecclesiastic, who
+accommodated himself to the state of affairs. As soon as he had gone
+into the dying man's room, Madame Forestier came out of it, and sat down
+with Duroy in the one adjoining.
+
+"It has quite upset him," said she. "When I spoke to him about a priest
+his face assumed a frightful expression as if he had felt the
+breath--the breath of--you know. He understood that it was all over at
+last, and that his hours were numbered." She was very pale as she
+continued, "I shall never forget the expression of his face. He
+certainly saw death face to face at that moment. He saw him."
+
+They could hear the priest, who spoke in somewhat loud tones, being
+slightly deaf, and who was saying, "No, no; you are not so bad as all
+that. You are ill, but in no danger. And the proof is that I have called
+in as a friend as a neighbor."
+
+They could not make out Forestier's reply, but the old man went on, "No,
+I will not ask you to communicate. We will talk of that when you are
+better. If you wish to profit by my visit--to confess, for instance--I
+ask nothing better. I am a shepherd, you know, and seize on every
+occasion to bring a lamb back to the fold."
+
+A long silence followed. Forestier must have been speaking in a faint
+voice. Then all at once the priest uttered in a different tone, the tone
+of one officiating at the altar. "The mercy of God is infinite. Repeat
+the Comfiteor, my son. You have perhaps forgotten it; I will help you.
+Repeat after me: 'Comfiteor Deo omnipotenti--Beata Maria semper
+virgini.'"
+
+He paused from time to time to allow the dying man to catch him up. Then
+he said, "And now confess."
+
+The young wife and Duroy sat still seized on by a strange uneasiness,
+stirred by anxious expectation. The invalid had murmured something. The
+priest repeated, "You have given way to guilty pleasures--of what kind,
+my son?"
+
+Madeleine rose and said, "Let us go down into the garden for a short
+time. We must not listen to his secrets."
+
+And they went and sat down on a bench before the door beneath a rose
+tree in bloom, and beside a bed of pinks, which shed their soft and
+powerful perfume abroad in the pure air. Duroy, after a few moments'
+silence, inquired, "Shall you be long before you return to Paris?"
+
+"Oh, no," she replied. "As soon as it is all over I shall go back
+there."
+
+"Within ten days?"
+
+"Yes, at the most."
+
+"He has no relations, then?"
+
+"None except cousins. His father and mother died when he was quite
+young."
+
+They both watched a butterfly sipping existence from the pinks, passing
+from one to another with a soft flutter of his wings, which continued to
+flap slowly when he alighted on a flower. They remained silent for a
+considerable time.
+
+The servant came to inform them that "the priest had finished," and they
+went upstairs together.
+
+Forestier seemed to have grown still thinner since the day before. The
+priest held out his hand to him, saying, "Good-day, my son, I shall call
+in again to-morrow morning," and took his departure.
+
+As soon as he had left the room the dying man, who was panting for
+breath, strove to hold out his two hands to his wife, and gasped, "Save
+me--save me, darling, I don't want to die--I don't want to die. Oh! save
+me--tell me what I had better do; send for the doctor. I will take
+whatever you like. I won't die--I won't die."
+
+He wept. Big tears streamed from his eyes down his fleshless cheeks, and
+the corners of his mouth contracted like those of a vexed child. Then
+his hands, falling back on the bed clothes, began a slow, regular, and
+continuous movement, as though trying to pick something off the sheet.
+
+His wife, who began to cry too, said: "No, no, it is nothing. It is only
+a passing attack, you will be better to-morrow, you tired yourself too
+much going out yesterday."
+
+Forestier's breathing was shorter than that of a dog who has been
+running, so quick that it could not be counted, so faint that it could
+scarcely be heard.
+
+He kept repeating: "I don't want to die. Oh! God--God--God; what is to
+become of me? I shall no longer see anything--anything any more. Oh!
+God."
+
+He saw before him some hideous thing invisible to the others, and his
+staring eyes reflected the terror it inspired. His two hands continued
+their horrible and wearisome action. All at once he started with a sharp
+shudder that could be seen to thrill the whole of his body, and jerked
+out the words, "The graveyard--I--Oh! God."
+
+He said no more, but lay motionless, haggard and panting.
+
+Time sped on, noon struck by the clock of a neighboring convent. Duroy
+left the room to eat a mouthful or two. He came back an hour later.
+Madame Forestier refused to take anything. The invalid had not stirred.
+He still continued to draw his thin fingers along the sheet as though to
+pull it up over his face.
+
+His wife was seated in an armchair at the foot of the bed. Duroy took
+another beside her, and they waited in silence. A nurse had come, sent
+in by the doctor, and was dozing near the window.
+
+Duroy himself was beginning to doze off when he felt that something was
+happening. He opened his eyes just in time to see Forestier close his,
+like two lights dying out. A faint rattle stirred in the throat of the
+dying man, and two streaks of blood appeared at the corners of his
+mouth, and then flowed down into his shirt. His hands ceased their
+hideous motion. He had ceased to breathe.
+
+His wife understood this, and uttering a kind of shriek, she fell on her
+knees sobbing, with her face buried in the bed-clothes. George,
+surprised and scared, mechanically made the sign of the cross. The nurse
+awakened, drew near the bed. "It is all over," said she.
+
+Duroy, who was recovering his self-possession, murmured, with a sigh of
+relief: "It was sooner over than I thought for."
+
+When the first shock was over and the first tears shed, they had to busy
+themselves with all the cares and all the necessary steps a dead man
+exacts. Duroy was running about till nightfall. He was very hungry when
+he got back. Madame Forestier ate a little, and then they both installed
+themselves in the chamber of death to watch the body. Two candles burned
+on the night-table beside a plate filled with holy water, in which lay a
+sprig of mimosa, for they had not been able to get the necessary twig of
+consecrated box.
+
+They were alone, the young man and the young wife, beside him who was no
+more. They sat without speaking, thinking and watching.
+
+George, whom the darkness rendered uneasy in presence of the corpse,
+kept his eyes on this persistently. His eye and his mind were both
+attracted and fascinated by this fleshless visage, which the vacillating
+light caused to appear yet more hollow. That was his friend Charles
+Forestier, who was chatting with him only the day before! What a strange
+and fearful thing was this end of a human being! Oh! how he recalled the
+words of Norbert de Varenne haunted by the fear of death: "No one ever
+comes back." Millions on millions would be born almost identical, with
+eyes, a nose, a mouth, a skull and a mind within it, without he who lay
+there on the bed ever reappearing again.
+
+For some years he had lived, eaten, laughed, loved, hoped like all the
+world. And it was all over for him all over for ever. Life; a few days,
+and then nothing. One is born, one grows up, one is happy, one waits,
+and then one dies. Farewell, man or woman, you will not return again to
+earth. Plants, beast, men, stars, worlds, all spring to life, and then
+die to be transformed anew. But never one of them comes back--insect,
+man, nor planet.
+
+A huge, confused, and crushing sense of terror weighed down the soul of
+Duroy, the terror of that boundless and inevitable annihilation
+destroying all existence. He already bowed his head before its menace.
+He thought of the flies who live a few hours, the beasts who live a few
+days, the men who live a few years, the worlds which live a few
+centuries. What was the difference between one and the other? A few more
+days' dawn that was all.
+
+He turned away his eyes in order no longer to have the corpse before
+them. Madame Forestier, with bent head, seemed also absorbed in painful
+thoughts. Her fair hair showed so prettily with her pale face, that a
+feeling, sweet as the touch of hope flitted through the young fellow's
+breast. Why grieve when he had still so many years before him? And he
+began to observe her. Lost in thought she did not notice him. He said to
+himself, "That, though, is the only good thing in life, to love, to hold
+the woman one loves in one's arms. That is the limit of human
+happiness."
+
+What luck the dead man had had to meet such an intelligent and charming
+companion! How had they become acquainted? How ever had she agreed on
+her part to marry that poor and commonplace young fellow? How had she
+succeeded in making someone of him? Then he thought of all the hidden
+mysteries of people's lives. He remembered what had been whispered about
+the Count de Vaudrec, who had dowered and married her off it was said.
+
+What would she do now? Whom would she marry? A deputy, as Madame de
+Marelle fancied, or some young fellow with a future before him, a higher
+class Forestier? Had she any projects, any plans, any settled ideas? How
+he would have liked to know that. But why this anxiety as to what she
+would do? He asked himself this, and perceived that his uneasiness was
+due to one of those half-formed and secret ideas which one hides from
+even one's self, and only discovers when fathoming one's self to the
+very bottom.
+
+Yes, why should he not attempt this conquest himself? How strong and
+redoubtable he would be with her beside him!
+
+How quick, and far, and surely he would fly! And why should he not
+succeed too? He felt that he pleased her, that she had for him more than
+mere sympathy; in fact, one of those affections which spring up between
+two kindred spirits and which partake as much of silent seduction as of
+a species of mute complicity. She knew him to be intelligent, resolute,
+and tenacious, she would have confidence in him.
+
+Had she not sent for him under the present grave circumstances? And why
+had she summoned him? Ought he not to see in this a kind of choice, a
+species of confession. If she had thought of him just at the moment she
+was about to become a widow, it was perhaps that she had thought of one
+who was again to become her companion and ally? An impatient desire to
+know this, to question her, to learn her intentions, assailed him. He
+would have to leave on the next day but one, as he could not remain
+alone with her in the house. So it was necessary to be quick, it was
+necessary before returning to Paris to become acquainted, cleverly and
+delicately, with her projects, and not to allow her to go back on them,
+to yield perhaps to the solicitations of another, and pledge herself
+irrevocably.
+
+The silence in the room was intense, nothing was audible save the
+regular and metallic tick of the pendulum of the clock on the
+mantelpiece.
+
+He murmured: "You must be very tired?"
+
+She replied: "Yes; but I am, above all, overwhelmed."
+
+The sound of their own voices startled them, ringing strangely in this
+gloomy room, and they suddenly glanced at the dead man's face as though
+they expected to see it move on hearing them, as it had done some hours
+before.
+
+Duroy resumed: "Oh! it is a heavy blow for you, and such a complete
+change in your existence, a shock to your heart and your whole life."
+
+She gave a long sigh, without replying, and he continued, "It is so
+painful for a young woman to find herself alone as you will be."
+
+He paused, but she said nothing, and he again went on, "At all events,
+you know the compact entered into between us. You can make what use of
+me you will. I belong to you."
+
+She held out her hand, giving him at the same time one of those sweet,
+sad looks which stir us to the very marrow.
+
+"Thank you, you are very kind," she said. "If I dared, and if I could do
+anything for you, I, too, should say, 'You may count upon me.'"
+
+He had taken the proffered hand and kept it clasped in his, with a
+burning desire to kiss it. He made up his mind to this at last, and
+slowly raising it to his mouth, held the delicate skin, warm, slightly
+feverish and perfumed, to his lips for some time. Then, when he felt
+that his friendly caress was on the point of becoming too prolonged, he
+let fall the little hand. It sank back gently onto the knee of its
+mistress, who said, gravely: "Yes, I shall be very lonely, but I shall
+strive to be brave."
+
+He did not know how to give her to understand that he would be happy,
+very happy, to have her for his wife in his turn. Certainly he could not
+tell her so at that hour, in that place, before that corpse; yet he
+might, it seemed to him, hit upon one of those ambiguous, decorous, and
+complicated phrases which have a hidden meaning under their words, and
+which express all one wants to by their studied reticence. But the
+corpse incommoded him, the stiffened corpse stretched out before them,
+and which he felt between them. For some time past, too, he fancied he
+detected in the close atmosphere of the room a suspicious odor, a
+foetid breath exhaling from the decomposing chest, the first whiff of
+carrion which the dead lying on their bed throw out to the relatives
+watching them, and with which they soon fill the hollow of their
+coffin.
+
+"Cannot we open the window a little?" said Duroy. "It seems to me that
+the air is tainted."
+
+"Yes," she replied, "I have just noticed it, too."
+
+He went to the window and opened it. All the perfumed freshness of night
+flowed in, agitating the flame of the two lighted candles beside the
+bed. The moon was shedding, as on the former evening, her full mellow
+light upon the white walls of the villas and the broad glittering
+expanse of the sea. Duroy, drawing in the air to the full depth of his
+lungs, felt himself suddenly seized with hope, and, as it were buoyed up
+by the approach of happiness. He turned round, saying: "Come and get a
+little fresh air. It is delightful."
+
+She came quietly, and leant on the window-sill beside him. Then he
+murmured in a low tone: "Listen to me, and try to understand what I want
+to tell you. Above all, do not be indignant at my speaking to you of
+such a matter at such a moment, for I shall leave you the day after
+to-morrow, and when you return to Paris it may be too late. I am only a
+poor devil without fortune, and with a position yet to make, as you
+know. But I have a firm will, some brains I believe, and I am well on
+the right track. With a man who has made his position, one knows what
+one gets; with one who is starting, one never knows where he may finish.
+So much the worse, or so much the better. In short, I told you one day
+at your house that my brightest dream would have been to have married a
+woman like you. I repeat this wish to you now. Do not answer, let me
+continue. It is not a proposal I am making to you. The time and place
+would render that odious. I wish only not to leave you ignorant that you
+can make me happy with a word; that you can make me either a friend and
+brother, or a husband, at your will; that my heart and myself are yours.
+I do not want you to answer me now. I do not want us to speak any more
+about the matter here. When we meet again in Paris you will let me know
+what you have resolved upon. Until then, not a word. Is it not so?" He
+had uttered all this without looking at her, as though scattering his
+words abroad in the night before him. She seemed not to have heard them,
+so motionless had she remained, looking also straight before her with a
+fixed and vague stare at the vast landscape lit up by the moon. They
+remained for some time side by side, elbow touching elbow, silent and
+reflecting. Then she murmured: "It is rather cold," and turning round,
+returned towards the bed.
+
+He followed her. When he drew near he recognized that Forestier's body
+was really beginning to smell, and drew his chair to a distance, for he
+could not have stood this odor of putrefaction long. He said: "He must
+be put in a coffin the first thing in the morning."
+
+"Yes, yes, it is arranged," she replied. "The undertaker will be here at
+eight o'clock."
+
+Duroy having sighed out the words, "Poor fellow," she, too, gave a long
+sigh of heartrending resignation.
+
+They did not look at the body so often now, already accustomed to the
+idea of it, and beginning to mentally consent to the decease which but a
+short time back had shocked and angered them--them who were mortals,
+too. They no longer spoke, continuing to keep watch in befitting fashion
+without going to sleep. But towards midnight Duroy dozed off the first.
+When he woke up he saw that Madame Forestier was also slumbering, and
+having shifted to a more comfortable position, he reclosed his eyes,
+growling: "Confound it all, it is more comfortable between the sheets
+all the same."
+
+A sudden noise made him start up. The nurse was entering the room. It
+was broad daylight. The young wife in the armchair in front of him
+seemed as surprised as himself. She was somewhat pale, but still pretty,
+fresh-looking, and nice, in spite of this night passed in a chair.
+
+Then, having glanced at the corpse, Duroy started and exclaimed: "Oh,
+his beard!" The beard had grown in a few hours on this decomposing flesh
+as much as it would have in several days on a living face. And they
+stood scared by this life continuing in death, as though in presence of
+some fearful prodigy, some supernatural threat of resurrection, one of
+these startling and abnormal events which upset and confound the mind.
+
+They both went and lay down until eleven o'clock. Then they placed
+Charles in his coffin, and at once felt relieved and soothed. They had
+sat down face to face at lunch with an aroused desire to speak of the
+livelier and more consolatory matters, to return to the things of life
+again, since they had done with the dead. Through the wide-open window
+the soft warmth of spring flowed in, bearing the perfumed breath of the
+bed of pinks in bloom before the door.
+
+Madame Forestier suggested a stroll in the garden to Duroy, and they
+began to walk slowly round the little lawn, inhaling with pleasure the
+balmy air, laden with the scent of pine and eucalyptus. Suddenly she
+began to speak, without turning her head towards him, as he had done
+during the night upstairs. She uttered her words slowly, in a low and
+serious voice.
+
+"Look here, my dear friend, I have deeply reflected already on what you
+proposed to me, and I do not want you to go away without an answer.
+Besides, I am neither going to say yes nor no. We will wait, we will
+see, we will know one another better. Reflect, too, on your side. Do not
+give way to impulse. But if I speak to you of this before even poor
+Charles is lowered into the tomb, it is because it is necessary, after
+what you have said to me, that you should thoroughly understand what
+sort of woman I am, in order that you may no longer cherish the wish you
+expressed to me, in case you are not of a--of a--disposition to
+comprehend and bear with me. Understand me well. Marriage for me is not
+a charm, but a partnership. I mean to be free, perfectly free as to my
+ways, my acts, my going and coming. I could neither tolerate
+supervision, nor jealousy, nor arguments as to my behavior. I should
+undertake, be it understood, never to compromise the name of the man who
+takes me as his wife, never to render him hateful and ridiculous. But
+this man must also undertake to see in me an equal, an ally, and not an
+inferior or an obedient and submissive wife. My notions, I know, are not
+those of every one, but I shall not change them. There you are. I will
+also add, do not answer me; it would be useless and unsuitable. We shall
+see one another again, and shall perhaps speak of all this again later
+on. Now, go for a stroll. I shall return to watch beside him. Till this
+evening."
+
+He printed a long kiss on her hand, and went away without uttering a
+word. That evening they only saw one another at dinnertime. Then they
+retired to their rooms, both exhausted with fatigue.
+
+Charles Forestier was buried the next day, without any funeral display,
+in the cemetery at Cannes. George Duroy wished to take the Paris
+express, which passed through the town at half-past one.
+
+Madame Forestier drove with him to the station. They walked quietly up
+and down the platform pending the time for his departure, speaking of
+trivial matters.
+
+The train rolled into the station. The journalist took his seat, and
+then got out again to have a few more moments' conversation with her,
+suddenly seized as he was with sadness and a strong regret at leaving
+her, as though he were about to lose her for ever.
+
+A porter shouted, "Take your seats for Marseilles, Lyons, and Paris."
+Duroy got in and leant out of the window to say a few more words. The
+engine whistled, and the train began to move slowly on.
+
+The young fellow, leaning out of the carriage, watched the woman
+standing still on the platform and following him with her eyes.
+Suddenly, as he was about to lose sight of her, he put his hand to his
+mouth and threw a kiss towards her. She returned it with a discreet and
+hesitating gesture.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+
+George Duroy had returned to all his old habits.
+
+Installed at present in the little ground-floor suite of rooms in the
+Rue de Constantinople, he lived soberly, like a man preparing a new
+existence for himself.
+
+Madame Forestier had not yet returned. She was lingering at Cannes. He
+received a letter from her merely announcing her return about the middle
+of April, without a word of allusion to their farewell. He was waiting,
+his mind was thoroughly made up now to employ every means in order to
+marry her, if she seemed to hesitate. But he had faith in his luck,
+confidence in that power of seduction which he felt within him, a vague
+and irresistible power which all women felt the influence of.
+
+A short note informed him that the decisive hour was about to strike: "I
+am in Paris. Come and see me.--Madeleine Forestier."
+
+Nothing more. He received it by the nine o'clock post. He arrived at her
+residence at three on the same day. She held out both hands to him
+smiling with her pleasant smile, and they looked into one another's eyes
+for a few seconds. Then she said: "How good you were to come to me there
+under those terrible circumstances."
+
+"I should have done anything you told me to," he replied.
+
+And they sat down. She asked the news, inquired about the Walters, about
+all the staff, about the paper. She had often thought about the paper.
+
+"I miss that a great deal," she said, "really a very great deal. I had
+become at heart a journalist. What would you, I love the profession?"
+
+Then she paused. He thought he understood, he thought he divined in her
+smile, in the tone of her voice, in her words themselves a kind of
+invitation, and although he had promised to himself not to precipitate
+matters, he stammered out: "Well, then--why--why should you not
+resume--this occupation--under--under the name of Duroy?"
+
+She suddenly became serious again, and placing her hand on his arm,
+murmured: "Do not let us speak of that yet a while."
+
+But he divined that she accepted, and falling at her knees began to
+passionately kiss her hands, repeating: "Thanks, thanks; oh, how I love
+you!"
+
+She rose. He did so, too, and noted that she was very pale. Then he
+understood that he had pleased her, for a long time past, perhaps, and
+as they found themselves face to face, he clasped her to him and printed
+a long, tender, and decorous kiss on her forehead. When she had freed
+herself, slipping through his arms, she said in a serious tone: "Listen,
+I have not yet made up my mind to anything. However, it may be--yes. But
+you must promise me the most absolute secrecy till I give you leave to
+speak."
+
+He swore this, and left, his heart overflowing with joy.
+
+He was from that time forward very discreet as regards the visits he
+paid her, and did not ask for any more definite consent on her part, for
+she had a way of speaking of the future, of saying "by-and-by," and of
+shaping plans in which these two lives were blended, which answered him
+better and more delicately than a formal acceptation.
+
+Duroy worked hard and spent little, trying to save money so as not to be
+without a penny at the date fixed for his marriage, and becoming as
+close as he had been prodigal. The summer went by, and then the autumn,
+without anyone suspecting anything, for they met very little, and only
+in the most natural way in the world.
+
+One evening, Madeleine, looking him straight in the eyes said: "You have
+not yet announced our intentions to Madame de Marelle?"
+
+"No, dear, having promised you to be secret, I have not opened my mouth
+to a living soul."
+
+"Well, it is about time to tell her. I will undertake to inform the
+Walters. You will do so this week, will you not?"
+
+He blushed as he said: "Yes, to-morrow."
+
+She had turned away her eyes in order not to notice his confusion, and
+said: "If you like we will be married in the beginning of May. That will
+be a very good time."
+
+"I obey you in all things with joy."
+
+"The tenth of May, which is a Saturday, will suit me very nicely, for it
+is my birthday."
+
+"Very well, the tenth of May."
+
+"Your parents live near Rouen, do they not? You have told me so, at
+least."
+
+"Yes, near Rouen, at Canteleu."
+
+"What are they?"
+
+"They are--they are small annuitants."
+
+"Ah! I should very much like to know them."
+
+He hesitated, greatly perplexed, and said: "But, you see, they are--"
+Then making up his mind, like a really clever man, he went on: "My dear,
+they are mere country folk, innkeepers, who have pinched themselves to
+the utmost to enable me to pursue my studies. For my part, I am not
+ashamed of them, but their--simplicity--their rustic manners--might,
+perhaps, render you uncomfortable."
+
+She smiled, delightfully, her face lit up with gentle kindness as she
+replied: "No. I shall be very fond of them. We will go and see them. I
+want to. I will speak of this to you again. I, too, am a daughter of
+poor people, but I have lost my parents. I have no longer anyone in the
+world." She held out her hand to him as she added: "But you."
+
+He felt softened, moved, overcome, as he had been by no other woman.
+
+"I had thought about one matter," she continued, "but it is rather
+difficult to explain."
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Well, it is this, my dear boy, I am like all women, I have my
+weaknesses, my pettinesses. I love all that glitters, that catches the
+ear. I should have so delighted to have borne a noble name. Could you
+not, on the occasion of your marriage, ennoble yourself a little?"
+
+She had blushed in her turn, as if she had proposed something
+indelicate.
+
+He replied simply enough: "I have often thought about it, but it did not
+seem to me so easy."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+He began to laugh, saying: "Because I was afraid of making myself look
+ridiculous."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders. "Not at all, not at all Every one does it,
+and nobody laughs. Separate your name in two--Du Roy. That looks very
+well."
+
+He replied at once like a man who understands the matter in question:
+"No, that will not do at all. It is too simple, too common, too
+well-known. I had thought of taking the name of my native place, as a
+literary pseudonym at first, then of adding it to my own by degrees, and
+then, later on, of even cutting my name in two, as you suggest."
+
+"Your native place is Canteleu?" she queried.
+
+"Yes."
+
+She hesitated, saying: "No, I do not like the termination. Come, cannot
+we modify this word Canteleu a little?"
+
+She had taken up a pen from the table, and was scribbling names and
+studying their physiognomy. All at once she exclaimed: "There, there it
+is!" and held out to him a paper, on which read--"Madame Duroy de
+Cantel."
+
+He reflected a few moments, and then said gravely: "Yes, that does very
+well."
+
+She was delighted, and kept repeating "Duroy de Cantel, Duroy de Cantel,
+Madame Duroy de Cantel. It is capital, capital." She went on with an air
+of conviction: "And you will see how easy it is to get everyone to
+accept it. But one must know how to seize the opportunity, for it will
+be too late afterwards. You must from to-morrow sign your descriptive
+articles D. de Cantel, and your 'Echoes' simply Duroy. It is done every
+day in the press, and no one will be astonished to see you take a
+pseudonym. At the moment of our marriage we can modify it yet a little
+more, and tell our friends that you had given up the 'Du' out of modesty
+on account of your position, or even say nothing about it. What is your
+father's Christian name?"
+
+"Alexander."
+
+She murmured: "Alexander, Alexander," two or three times, listening to
+the sonorous roll of the syllables, and then wrote on a blank sheet of
+paper:
+
+"Monsieur and Madame Alexander Du Roy de Cantel have the honor to inform
+you of the marriage of Monsieur George Du Roy de Cantel, their son, to
+Madame Madeleine Forestier." She looked at her writing, holding it at a
+distance, charmed by the effect, and said: "With a little method we can
+manage whatever we wish."
+
+When he found himself once more in the street, firmly resolved to call
+himself in future Du Roy, and even Du Roy de Cantel, it seemed to him
+that he had acquired fresh importance. He walked with more swagger, his
+head higher, his moustache fiercer, as a gentleman should walk. He felt
+in himself a species of joyous desire to say to the passers-by: "My name
+is Du Roy de Cantel."
+
+But scarcely had he got home than the thought of Madame de Marelle made
+him feel uneasy, and he wrote to her at once to ask her to make an
+appointment for the next day.
+
+"It will be a tough job," he thought. "I must look out for squalls."
+
+Then he made up his mind for it, with the native carelessness which
+caused him to slur over the disagreeable side of life, and began to
+
+write a fancy article on the fresh taxes needed in order to make the
+Budget balance. He set down in this the nobiliary "De" at a hundred
+francs a year, and titles, from baron to prince, at from five hundred to
+five thousand francs. And he signed it "D. de Cantel."
+
+He received a telegram from his mistress next morning saying that she
+would call at one o'clock. He waited for her somewhat feverishly, his
+mind made up to bring things to a point at once, to say everything right
+out, and then, when the first emotion had subsided, to argue cleverly in
+order to prove to her that he could not remain a bachelor for ever, and
+that as Monsieur de Marelle insisted on living, he had been obliged to
+think of another than herself as his legitimate companion. He felt
+moved, though, and when he heard her ring his heart began to beat.
+
+She threw herself into his arms, exclaiming: "Good morning, Pretty-boy."
+Then, finding his embrace cold, looked at him, and said: "What is the
+matter with you?"
+
+"Sit down," he said, "we have to talk seriously."
+
+She sat down without taking her bonnet off, only turning back her veil,
+and waited.
+
+He had lowered his eyes, and was preparing the beginning of his speech.
+He commenced in a low tone of voice: "My dear one, you see me very
+uneasy, very sad, and very much embarrassed at what I have to admit to
+you. I love you dearly. I really love you from the bottom of my heart,
+so that the fear of causing you pain afflicts me more than even the news
+I am going to tell you."
+
+
+She grew pale, felt herself tremble, and stammered out: "What is the
+matter? Tell me at once."
+
+He said in sad but resolute tones, with that feigned dejection which we
+make use of to announce fortunate misfortunes: "I am going to be
+married."
+
+She gave the sigh of a woman who is about to faint, a painful sigh from
+the very depths of her bosom, and then began to choke and gasp without
+being able to speak.
+
+Seeing that she did not say anything, he continued: "You cannot imagine
+how much I suffered before coming to this resolution. But I have neither
+position nor money. I am alone, lost in Paris. I needed beside me
+someone who above all would be an adviser, a consoler, and a stay. It is
+a partner, an ally, that I have sought, and that I have found."
+
+He was silent, hoping that she would reply, expecting furious rage,
+violence, and insults. She had placed one hand on her heart as though to
+restrain its throbbings, and continued to draw her breath by painful
+efforts, which made her bosom heave spasmodically and her head nod to
+and fro. He took her other hand, which was resting on the arm of the
+chair, but she snatched it away abruptly. Then she murmured, as though
+in a state of stupefaction: "Oh, my God!"
+
+He knelt down before her, without daring to touch her, however, and more
+deeply moved by this silence than he would have been by a fit of anger,
+stammered out: "Clo! my darling Clo! just consider my situation,
+consider what I am. Oh! if I had been able to marry you, what happiness
+it would have been. But you are married. What could I do? Come, think of
+it, now. I must take a place in society, and I cannot do it so long as I
+have not a home. If you only knew. There are days when I have felt a
+longing to kill your husband."
+
+He spoke in his soft, subdued, seductive voice, a voice which entered
+the ear like music. He saw two tears slowly gather in the fixed and
+staring eyes of his mistress and then roll down her cheeks, while two
+more were already formed on the eyelids.
+
+He murmured: "Do not cry, Clo; do not cry, I beg of you. You rend my
+very heart."
+
+Then she made an effort, a strong effort, to be proud and dignified, and
+asked, in the quivering tone of a woman about to burst into sobs: "Who
+is it?"
+
+He hesitated a moment, and then understanding that he must, said:
+
+"Madeleine Forestier."
+
+Madame de Marelle shuddered all over, and remained silent, so deep in
+thought that she seemed to have forgotten that he was at her feet. And
+two transparent drops kept continually forming in her eyes, falling and
+forming again.
+
+She rose. Duroy guessed that she was going away without saying a word,
+without reproach or forgiveness, and he felt hurt and humiliated to the
+bottom of his soul. Wishing to stay her, he threw his arms about the
+skirt of her dress, clasping through the stuff her rounded legs, which
+he felt stiffen in resistance. He implored her, saying: "I beg of you,
+do not go away like that."
+
+Then she looked down on him from above with that moistened and
+despairing eye, at once so charming and so sad, which shows all the
+grief of a woman's heart, and gasped out: "I--I have nothing to say. I
+have nothing to do with it. You--you are right. You--you have chosen
+well."
+
+And, freeing herself by a backward movement, she left the room without
+his trying to detain her further.
+
+Left to himself, he rose as bewildered as if he had received a blow on
+the head. Then, making up his mind, he muttered: "Well, so much the
+worse or the better. It is over, and without a scene; I prefer that,"
+and relieved from an immense weight, suddenly feeling himself free,
+delivered, at ease as to his future life, he began to spar at the wall,
+hitting out with his fists in a kind of intoxication of strength and
+triumph, as if he had been fighting Fate.
+
+When Madame Forestier asked: "Have you told Madame de Marelle?" he
+quietly answered, "Yes."
+
+She scanned him closely with her bright eyes, saying: "And did it not
+cause her any emotion?"
+
+"No, not at all. She thought it, on the contrary, a very good idea."
+
+The news was soon known. Some were astonished, others asserted that they
+had foreseen it; others, again, smiled, and let it be understood that
+they were not surprised.
+
+The young man who now signed his descriptive articles D. de Cantel, his
+"Echoes" Duroy, and the political articles which he was beginning to
+write from time to time Du Roy, passed half his time with his betrothed,
+who treated him with a fraternal familiarity into which, however,
+entered a real but hidden love, a species of desire concealed as a
+weakness. She had decided that the marriage should be quite private,
+only the witnesses being present, and that they should leave the same
+evening for Rouen. They would go the next day to see the journalist's
+parents, and remain with them some days. Duroy had striven to get her to
+renounce this project, but not having been able to do so, had ended by
+giving in to it.
+
+So the tenth of May having come, the newly-married couple, having
+considered the religious ceremony useless since they had not invited
+anyone, returned to finish packing their boxes after a brief visit to
+the Town Hall. They took, at the Saint Lazare terminus, the six o'clock
+train, which bore them away towards Normandy. They had scarcely
+exchanged twenty words up to the time that they found themselves alone
+in the railway carriage. As soon as they felt themselves under way, they
+looked at one another and began to laugh, to hide a certain feeling of
+awkwardness which they did not want to manifest.
+
+The train slowly passed through the long station of Batignolles, and
+then crossed the mangy-looking plain extending from the fortifications
+to the Seine. Duroy and his wife from time to time made a few idle
+remarks, and then turned again towards the windows. When they crossed
+the bridge of Asnieres, a feeling of greater liveliness was aroused in
+them at the sight of the river covered with boats, fishermen, and
+oarsmen. The sun, a bright May sun, shed its slanting rays upon the
+craft and upon the smooth stream, which seemed motionless, without
+current or eddy, checked, as it were, beneath the heat and brightness of
+the declining day. A sailing boat in the middle of the river having
+spread two large triangular sails of snowy canvas, wing and wing, to
+catch the faintest puffs of wind, looked like an immense bird preparing
+to take flight.
+
+Duroy murmured: "I adore the neighborhood of Paris. I have memories of
+dinners which I reckon among the pleasantest in my life."
+
+"And the boats," she replied. "How nice it is to glide along at sunset."
+
+Then they became silent, as though afraid to continue their outpourings
+as to their past life, and remained so, already enjoying, perhaps, the
+poesy of regret.
+
+Duroy, seated face to face with his wife, took her hand and slowly
+kissed it. "When we get back again," said he, "we will go and dine
+sometimes at Chatou."
+
+She murmured: "We shall have so many things to do," in a tone of voice
+that seemed to imply, "The agreeable must be sacrificed to the useful."
+
+He still held her hand, asking himself with some uneasiness by what
+transition he should reach the caressing stage. He would not have felt
+uneasy in the same way in presence of the ignorance of a young girl, but
+the lively and artful intelligence he felt existed in Madeleine,
+rendered his attitude an embarrassed one. He was afraid of appearing
+stupid to her, too timid or too brutal, too slow or too prompt. He kept
+pressing her hand gently, without her making any response to this
+appeal. At length he said: "It seems to me very funny for you to be my
+wife."
+
+She seemed surprised as she said: "Why so?"
+
+"I do not know. It seems strange to me. I want to kiss you, and I feel
+astonished at having the right to do so."
+
+She calmly held out her cheek to him, which he kissed as he would have
+kissed that of a sister.
+
+He continued: "The first time I saw you--you remember the dinner
+Forestier invited me to--I thought, 'Hang it all, if I could only find a
+wife like that.' Well, it's done. I have one."
+
+She said, in a low tone: "That is very nice," and looked him straight in
+the face, shrewdly, and with smiling eyes.
+
+He reflected, "I am too cold. I am stupid. I ought to get along quicker
+than this," and asked: "How did you make Forestier's acquaintance?"
+
+She replied, with provoking archness: "Are we going to Rouen to talk
+about him?"
+
+He reddened, saying: "I am a fool. But you frighten me a great deal."
+
+She was delighted, saying: "I--impossible! How is it?"
+
+He had seated himself close beside her. She suddenly exclaimed: "Oh! a
+stag."
+
+The train was passing through the forest of Saint Germaine, and she had
+seen a frightened deer clear one of the paths at a bound. Duroy, leaning
+forward as she looked out of the open window, printed a long kiss, a
+lover's kiss, among the hair on her neck. She remained still for a few
+seconds, and then, raising her head, said: "You are tickling me. Leave
+off."
+
+But he would not go away, but kept on pressing his curly moustache
+against her white skin in a long and thrilling caress.
+
+She shook herself, saying: "Do leave off."
+
+He had taken her head in his right hand, passed around her, and turned
+it towards him. Then he darted on her mouth like a hawk on its prey. She
+struggled, repulsed him, tried to free herself. She succeeded at last,
+and repeated: "Do leave off."
+
+He remained seated, very red and chilled by this sensible remark; then,
+having recovered more self-possession, he said, with some liveliness:
+"Very well, I will wait, but I shan't be able to say a dozen words till
+we get to Rouen. And remember that we are only passing through Poissy."
+
+"I will do the talking then," she said, and sat down quietly beside him.
+
+She spoke with precision of what they would do on their return. They
+must keep on the suite of apartments that she had resided in with her
+first husband, and Duroy would also inherit the duties and salary of
+Forestier at the _Vie Francaise_. Before their union, besides, she had
+planned out, with the certainty of a man of business, all the financial
+details of their household. They had married under a settlement
+preserving to each of them their respective estates, and every incident
+that might arise--death, divorce, the birth of one or more children--was
+duly provided for. The young fellow contributed a capital of four
+thousand francs, he said, but of that sum he had borrowed fifteen
+hundred. The rest was due to savings effected during the year in view of
+the event. Her contribution was forty thousand francs, which she said
+had been left her by Forestier.
+
+She returned to him as a subject of conversation. "He was a very steady,
+economical, hard-working fellow. He would have made a fortune in a very
+short time."
+
+Duroy no longer listened, wholly absorbed by other thoughts. She stopped
+from time to time to follow out some inward train of ideas, and then
+went on: "In three or four years you can be easily earning thirty to
+forty thousand francs a year. That is what Charles would have had if he
+had lived."
+
+George, who began to find the lecture rather a long one, replied: "I
+thought we were not going to Rouen to talk about him."
+
+She gave him a slight tap on the cheek, saying, with a laugh: "That is
+so. I am in the wrong."
+
+He made a show of sitting with his hands on his knees like a very good
+boy.
+
+"You look very like a simpleton like that," said she.
+
+He replied: "That is my part, of which, by the way, you reminded me just
+now, and I shall continue to play it."
+
+
+"Why?" she asked.
+
+"Because it is you who take management of the household, and even of me.
+That, indeed, concerns you, as being a widow."
+
+She was amazed, saying: "What do you really mean?"
+
+"That you have an experience that should enlighten my ignorance, and
+matrimonial practice that should polish up my bachelor innocence, that's
+all."
+
+"That is too much," she exclaimed.
+
+He replied: "That is so. I don't know anything about ladies; no, and you
+know all about gentlemen, for you are a widow. You must undertake my
+education--this evening--and you can begin at once if you like."
+
+She exclaimed, very much amused: "Oh, indeed, if you reckon on me for
+that!"
+
+He repeated, in the tone of a school boy stumbling through his lesson:
+"Yes, I do. I reckon that you will give me solid information--in twenty
+lessons. Ten for the elements, reading and grammar; ten for finishing
+accomplishments. I don't know anything myself."
+
+She exclaimed, highly amused: "You goose."
+
+He replied: "If that is the familiar tone you take, I will follow your
+example, and tell you, darling, that I adore you more and more every
+moment, and that I find Rouen a very long way off."
+
+He spoke now with a theatrical intonation and with a series of changes
+of facial expression, which amused his companion, accustomed to the ways
+of literary Bohemia. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye,
+finding him really charming, and experiencing the longing we have to
+pluck a fruit from the tree at once, and the check of reason which
+advises us to wait till dinner to eat it at the proper time. Then she
+observed, blushing somewhat at the thoughts which assailed her: "My dear
+little pupil, trust my experience, my great experience. Kisses in a
+railway train are not worth anything. They only upset one." Then she
+blushed still more as she murmured: "One should never eat one's corn in
+the ear."
+
+He chuckled, kindling at the double meanings from her pretty mouth, and
+made the sign of the cross, with a movement of the lips, as though
+murmuring a prayer, adding aloud: "I have placed myself under the
+protection of St. Anthony, patron-saint of temptations. Now I am
+adamant."
+
+Night was stealing gently on, wrapping in its transparent shadow, like a
+fine gauze, the broad landscape stretching away to the right. The train
+was running along the Seine, and the young couple began to watch the
+crimson reflections on the surface of the river, winding like a broad
+strip of polished metal alongside the line, patches fallen from the sky,
+which the departing sun had kindled into flame. These reflections slowly
+died out, grew deeper, faded sadly. The landscape became dark with that
+sinister thrill, that deathlike quiver, which each twilight causes to
+pass over the earth. This evening gloom, entering the open window,
+penetrated the two souls, but lately so lively, of the now silent pair.
+
+They had drawn more closely together to watch the dying day. At Nantes
+the railway people had lit the little oil lamp, which shed its yellow,
+
+trembling light upon the drab cloth of the cushions. Duroy passed his
+arms round the waist of his wife, and clasped her to him. His recent
+keen desire had become a softened one, a longing for consoling little
+caresses, such as we lull children with.
+
+
+He murmured softly: "I shall love you very dearly, my little Made."
+
+The softness of his voice stirred the young wife, and caused a rapid
+thrill to run through her. She offered her mouth, bending towards him,
+for he was resting his cheek upon the warm pillow of her bosom, until
+the whistle of the train announced that they were nearing a station. She
+remarked, flattening the ruffled locks about her forehead with the tips
+of her fingers: "It was very silly. We are quite childish."
+
+But he was kissing her hands in turn with feverish rapidity, and
+replied: "I adore you, my little Made."
+
+Until they reached Rouen they remained almost motionless, cheek against
+cheek, their eyes turned to the window, through which, from time to
+time, the lights of houses could be seen in the darkness, satisfied with
+feeling themselves so close to one another, and with the growing
+anticipation of a freer and more intimate embrace.
+
+They put up at a hotel overlooking the quay, and went to bed after a
+very hurried supper.
+
+The chambermaid aroused them next morning as it was striking eight. When
+they had drank the cup of tea she had placed on the night-table, Duroy
+looked at his wife, then suddenly, with the joyful impulse of the
+fortunate man who has just found a treasure, he clasped her in his arms,
+exclaiming: "My little Made, I am sure that I love you ever so much,
+ever so much, ever so much."
+
+She smiled with her confident and satisfied smile, and murmured, as she
+returned his kisses: "And I too--perhaps."
+
+But he still felt uneasy about the visit of his parents. He had already
+forewarned his wife, had prepared and lectured her, but he thought fit
+to do so again.
+
+"You know," he said, "they are only rustics--country rustics, not
+theatrical ones."
+
+She laughed.
+
+"But I know that: you have told me so often enough. Come, get up and let
+me get up."
+
+He jumped out of bed, and said, as he drew on his socks:
+
+"We shall be very uncomfortable there, very uncomfortable. There is only
+an old straw palliasse in my room. Spring mattresses are unknown at
+Canteleu."
+
+She seemed delighted.
+
+"So much the better. It will be delightful to sleep
+badly--beside--beside you, and to be woke up by the crowing of the
+cocks."
+
+She had put on her dressing-gown--a white flannel dressing-gown--which
+Duroy at once recognized. The sight of it was unpleasant to him. Why?
+His wife had, he was aware, a round dozen of these morning garments. She
+could not destroy her trousseau in order to buy a new one. No matter, he
+would have preferred that her bed-linen, her night-linen, her
+under-clothing were not the same she had made use of with the other. It
+seemed to him that the soft, warm stuff must have retained something
+from its contact with Forestier.
+
+He walked to the window, lighting a cigarette. The sight of the port,
+the broad stream covered with vessels with tapering spars, the steamers
+noisily unloading alongside the quay, stirred him, although he had been
+acquainted with it all for a long time past, and he exclaimed: "By Jove!
+it is a fine sight."
+
+Madeleine approached, and placing both hands on one of her husband's
+shoulders, leaned against him with careless grace, charmed and
+delighted. She kept repeating: "Oh! how pretty, how pretty. I did not
+know that there were so many ships as that."
+
+They started an hour later, for they were to lunch with the old people,
+who had been forewarned some days beforehand. A rusty open carriage bore
+them along with a noise of jolting ironmongery. They followed a long and
+rather ugly boulevard, passed between some fields through which flowed a
+stream, and began to ascend the slope. Madeleine, somewhat fatigued, had
+dozed off beneath the penetrating caress of the sun, which warmed her
+delightfully as she lay stretched back in the old carriage as though in
+a bath of light and country air.
+
+Her husband awoke her, saying: "Look!"
+
+They had halted two-thirds of the way up the slope, at a spot famous for
+the view, and to which all tourists drive. They overlooked the long and
+broad valley through which the bright river flowed in sweeping curves.
+It could be caught sight of in the distance, dotted with numerous
+islands, and describing a wide sweep before flowing through Rouen. Then
+the town appeared on the right bank, slightly veiled in the morning
+mist, but with rays of sunlight falling on its roofs; its thousand squat
+or pointed spires, light, fragile-looking, wrought like gigantic jewels;
+its round or square towers topped with heraldic crowns; its belfries;
+the numerous Gothic summits of its churches, overtopped by the sharp
+spire of the cathedral, that surprising spike of bronze--strange, ugly,
+and out of all proportion, the tallest in the world. Facing it, on the
+other side of the river, rose the factory chimneys of the suburb of
+Saint Serves--tall, round, and broadening at their summit. More numerous
+than their sister spires, they reared even in the distant country, their
+tall brick columns, and vomited into the blue sky their black and coaly
+breath. Highest of all, as high as the second of the summits reared by
+human labor, the pyramid of Cheops, almost level with its proud
+companion the cathedral spire, the great steam-pump of La Foudre seemed
+the queen of the busy, smoking factories, as the other was the queen of
+the sacred edifices. Further on, beyond the workmen's town, stretched a
+forest of pines, and the Seine, having passed between the two divisions
+of the city, continued its way, skirting a tall rolling slope, wooded at
+the summit, and showing here and there its bare bone of white stone.
+Then the river disappeared on the horizon, after again describing a long
+sweeping curve. Ships could be seen ascending and descending the stream,
+towed by tugs as big as flies and belching forth thick smoke. Islands
+were stretched along the water in a line, one close to the other, or
+with wide intervals between them, like the unequal beads of a verdant
+rosary.
+
+The driver waited until the travelers' ecstasies were over. He knew from
+experience the duration of the admiration of all the breed of tourists.
+But when he started again Duroy suddenly caught sight of two old people
+advancing towards them some hundreds of yards further on, and jumped
+out, exclaiming: "There they are. I recognize them."
+
+There were two country-folk, a man and a woman, walking with irregular
+steps, rolling in their gait, and sometimes knocking their shoulders
+together. The man was short and strongly built, high colored and
+inclined to stoutness, but powerful, despite his years. The woman was
+tall, spare, bent, careworn, the real hard-working country-woman who has
+toiled afield from childhood, and has never had time to amuse herself,
+while her husband has been joking and drinking with the customers.
+Madeleine had also alighted from the carriage, and she watched these two
+poor creatures coming towards them with a pain at her heart, a sadness
+she had not anticipated. They had not recognized their son in this fine
+gentleman and would never have guessed this handsome lady in the light
+dress to be their daughter-in-law. They were walking on quickly and in
+silence to meet their long-looked-for boy, without noticing these city
+folk followed by their carriage.
+
+They passed by when George, who was laughing, cried out: "Good-day,
+Daddy Duroy!"
+
+They both stopped short, amazed at first, then stupefied with surprise.
+The old woman recovered herself first, and stammered, without advancing
+a step: "Is't thou, boy?"
+
+The young fellow answered: "Yes, it is I, mother," and stepping up to
+her, kissed her on both cheeks with a son's hearty smack. Then he rubbed
+noses with his father, who had taken off his cap, a very tall, black
+silk cap, made Rouen fashion, like those worn by cattle dealers.
+
+Then George said: "This is my wife," and the two country people looked
+at Madeleine. They looked at her as one looks at a phenomenon, with an
+uneasy fear, united in the father with a species of approving
+satisfaction, in the mother with a kind of jealous enmity.
+
+The man, who was of a joyous nature and inspired by a loveliness born of
+sweet cider and alcohol, grew bolder, and asked, with a twinkle in the
+corner of his eyes: "I may kiss her all the same?"
+
+"Certainly," replied his son, and Madeleine, ill at ease, held out both
+cheeks to the sounding smacks of the rustic, who then wiped his lips
+with the back of his hand. The old woman, in her turn, kissed her
+daughter-in-law with a hostile reserve. No, this was not the
+daughter-in-law of her dreams; the plump, fresh housewife, rosy-cheeked
+as an apple, and round as a brood mare. She looked like a hussy, the
+fine lady with her furbelows and her musk. For the old girl all perfumes
+were musk.
+
+They set out again, walking behind the carriage which bore the trunk of
+the newly-wedded pair. The old fellow took his son by the arm, and
+keeping him a little in the rear of the others, asked with interest:
+"Well, how goes business, lad?"
+
+"Pretty fair."
+
+"So much the better. Has thy wife any money?"
+
+"Forty thousand francs," answered George.
+
+His father gave vent to an admiring whistle, and could only murmur,
+"Dang it!" so overcome was he by the mention of the sum. Then he added,
+in a tone of serious conviction: "Dang it all, she's a fine woman!" For
+he found her to his taste, and he had passed for a good judge in his
+day.
+
+Madeleine and her mother-in-law were walking side by side without
+exchanging a word. The two men rejoined them. They reached the village,
+a little roadside village formed of half-a-score houses on each side of
+the highway, cottages and farm buildings, the former of brick and the
+latter of clay, these covered with thatch and those with slates. Father
+Duroy's tavern, "The Bellevue," a bit of a house consisting of a ground
+floor and a garret, stood at the beginning of the village to the left. A
+pine branch above the door indicated, in ancient fashion, that thirsty
+folk could enter.
+
+The things were laid for lunch, in the common room of the tavern, on two
+tables placed together and covered with two napkins. A neighbor, come in
+to help to serve the lunch, bowed low on seeing such a fine lady appear;
+and then, recognizing George, exclaimed: "Good Lord! is that the
+youngster?"
+
+He replied gayly: "Yes, it is I, Mother Brulin," and kissed her as he
+had kissed his father and mother. Then turning to his wife, he said:
+"Come into our room and take your hat off."
+
+He ushered her through a door to the right into a cold-looking room with
+tiled floor, white-washed walls, and a bed with white cotton curtains. A
+crucifix above a holy-water stoup, and two colored pictures, one
+representing Paul and Virginia under a blue palm tree, and the other
+Napoleon the First on a yellow horse, were the only ornaments of this
+clean and dispiriting apartment.
+
+As soon as they were alone he kissed Madeleine, saying: "Thanks, Made. I
+am glad to see the old folks again. When one is in Paris one does not
+think about it; but when one meets again, it gives one pleasure all the
+same."
+
+But his father, thumbing the partition with his fist, cried out: "Come
+along, come along, the soup is ready," and they had to sit down to
+table.
+
+It was a long, countrified repast, with a succession of ill-assorted
+dishes, a sausage after a leg of mutton, and an omelette after a
+sausage. Father Duroy, excited by cider and some glasses of wine, turned
+on the tap of his choicest jokes--those he reserved for great occasions
+of festivity, smutty adventures that had happened, as he maintained, to
+friends of his. George, who knew all these stories, laughed,
+nevertheless, intoxicated by his native air, seized on by the innate
+love of one's birthplace and of spots familiar from childhood, by all
+the sensations and recollections once more renewed, by all the objects
+of yore seen again once more; by trifles, such as the mark of a knife on
+a door, a broken chair recalling some pretty event, the smell of the
+soil, the breath of the neighboring forest, the odors of the dwelling,
+the gutter, the dunghill.
+
+Mother Duroy did not speak, but remained sad and grim, watching her
+daughter-in-law out of the corner of her eye, with hatred awakened in
+her heart--the hatred of an old toiler, an old rustic with fingers worn
+and limbs bent by hard work--for the city madame, who inspired her with
+the repulsion of an accursed creature, an impure being, created for
+idleness and sin. She kept getting up every moment to fetch the dishes
+or fill the glasses with cider, sharp and yellow from the decanter, or
+sweet, red, and frothing from the bottles, the corks of which popped
+like those of ginger beer.
+
+Madeleine scarcely ate or spoke. She wore her wonted smile upon her
+lips, but it was a sad and resigned one. She was downcast. Why? She had
+wanted to come. She had not been unaware that she was going among
+country folk--poor country folk. What had she fancied them to be--she,
+who did not usually dream? Did she know herself? Do not women always
+hope for something that is not? Had she fancied them more poetical? No;
+but perhaps better informed, more noble, more affectionate, more
+ornamental. Yet she did not want them high-bred, like those in novels.
+Whence came it, then, that they shocked her by a thousand trifling,
+imperceptible details, by a thousand indefinable coarsenesses, by their
+very nature as rustics, by their words, their gestures, and their mirth?
+She recalled her own mother, of whom she never spoke to anyone--a
+governess, brought up at Saint Denis--seduced, and died from poverty and
+grief when she, Madeleine, was twelve years old. An unknown hand had had
+her brought up. Her father, no doubt. Who was he? She did not exactly
+know, although she had vague suspicions.
+
+The lunch still dragged on. Customers were now coming in and shaking
+hands with the father, uttering exclamations of wonderment on seeing his
+son, and slyly winking as they scanned the young wife out of the corner
+of their eye, which was as much as to say: "Hang it all, she's not a
+duffer, George Duroy's wife." Others, less intimate, sat down at the
+wooden tables, calling for "A pot," "A jugful," "Two brandies," "A
+raspail," and began to play at dominoes, noisily rattling the little
+bits of black and white bone. Mother Duroy kept passing to and fro,
+serving the customers, with her melancholy air, taking money, and wiping
+the tables with the corner of her blue apron.
+
+The smoke of clay pipes and sou cigars filled the room. Madeleine began
+to cough, and said: "Suppose we go out; I cannot stand it."
+
+They had not quite finished, and old Duroy was annoyed at this. Then she
+got up and went and sat on a chair outside the door, while her
+father-in-law and her husband were finishing their coffee and their nip
+of brandy.
+
+George soon rejoined her. "Shall we stroll down as far as the Seine?"
+said he.
+
+She consented with pleasure, saying: "Oh, yes; let us go."
+
+They descended the slope, hired a boat at Croisset, and passed the rest
+of the afternoon drowsily moored under the willows alongside an island,
+soothed to slumber by the soft spring weather, and rocked by the
+wavelets of the river. Then they went back at nightfall.
+
+The evening's repast, eaten by the light of a tallow candle, was still
+more painful for Madeleine than that of the morning. Father Duroy, who
+was half drunk, no longer spoke. The mother maintained her dogged
+manner. The wretched light cast upon the gray walls the shadows of heads
+with enormous noses and exaggerated movements. A great hand was seen to
+raise a pitchfork to a mouth opening like a dragon's maw whenever any
+one of them, turning a little, presented a profile to the yellow,
+flickering flame.
+
+As soon as dinner was over, Madeleine drew her husband out of the house,
+in order not to stay in this gloomy room, always reeking with an acrid
+smell of old pipes and spilt liquor. As soon as they were outside, he
+said: "You are tired of it already."
+
+She began to protest, but he stopped her, saying: "No, I saw it very
+plainly. If you like, we will leave to-morrow."
+
+"Very well," she murmured.
+
+They strolled gently onward. It was a mild night, the deep,
+all-embracing shadow of which seemed filled with faint murmurings,
+rustlings, and breathings. They had entered a narrow path, overshadowed
+by tall trees, and running between two belts of underwood of
+impenetrable blackness.
+
+"Where are we?" asked she.
+
+"In the forest," he replied.
+
+"Is it a large one?"
+
+"Very large; one of the largest in France."
+
+An odor of earth, trees, and moss--that fresh yet old scent of the
+woods, made up of the sap of bursting buds and the dead and moldering
+foliage of the thickets, seemed to linger in the path. Raising her head,
+Madeleine could see the stars through the tree-tops; and although no
+breeze stirred the boughs, she could yet feel around her the vague
+quivering of this ocean of leaves. A strange thrill shot through her
+soul and fleeted across her skin--a strange pain gripped her at the
+heart. Why, she did not understand. But it seemed to her that she was
+lost, engulfed, surrounded by perils, abandoned by everyone; alone,
+alone in the world beneath this living vault quivering there above her.
+
+She murmured: "I am rather frightened. I should like to go back."
+
+"Well, let us do so."
+
+"And--we will leave for Paris to-morrow?"
+
+"Yes, to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow morning?"
+
+"To-morrow morning, if you like."
+
+They returned home. The old folks had gone to bed. She slept badly,
+continually aroused by all the country sounds so new to her--the cry of
+the screech owl, the grunting of a pig in a sty adjoining the house, and
+the noise of a cock who kept on crowing from midnight. She was up and
+ready to start at daybreak.
+
+When George announced to his parents that he was going back they were
+both astonished; then they understood the origin of his wish.
+
+The father merely said: "Shall I see you again soon?"
+
+"Yes, in the course of the summer."
+
+"So much the better."
+
+The old woman growled: "I hope you won't regret what you have done."
+
+He left them two hundred francs as a present to assuage their
+discontent, and the carriage, which a boy had been sent in quest of,
+having made its appearance at about ten o'clock, the newly-married
+couple embraced the old country folk and started off once more.
+
+As they were descending the hill Duroy began to laugh.
+
+
+"There," he said, "I had warned you. I ought not to have introduced you
+to Monsieur and Madame du Roy de Cantel, Senior."
+
+She began to laugh, too, and replied: "I am delighted now. They are good
+folk, whom I am beginning to like very well. I will send them some
+presents from Paris." Then she murmured: "Du Roy de Cantel, you will
+see that no one will be astonished at the terms of the notification of
+our marriage. We will say that we have been staying for a week with your
+parents on their estate." And bending towards him she kissed the tip of
+his moustache, saying: "Good morning, George."
+
+He replied: "Good morning, Made," as he passed an arm around her waist.
+
+In the valley below they could see the broad river like a ribbon of
+silver unrolled beneath the morning sun, the factory chimneys belching
+forth their clouds of smoke into the sky, and the pointed spires rising
+above the old town.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+
+The Du Roys had been back in Paris a couple of days, and the journalist
+had taken up his old work pending the moment when he should definitely
+assume Forestier's duties, and give himself wholly up to politics. He
+was going home that evening to his predecessor's abode to dinner, with a
+light heart and a keen desire to embrace his wife, whose physical
+attractions and imperceptible domination exercised a powerful impulse
+over him. Passing by a florist's at the bottom of the Rue Notre Dame de
+Lorette, he was struck by the notion of buying a bouquet for Madeleine,
+and chose a large bunch of half-open roses, a very bundle of perfumed
+buds.
+
+At each story of his new staircase he eyed himself complacently in the
+mirrors, the sight of which continually recalled to him his first visit
+to the house. He rang the bell, having forgotten his key, and the same
+man-servant, whom he had also kept on by his wife's advice, opened the
+door.
+
+"Has your mistress come home?" asked George.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+But on passing through the dining-room he was greatly surprised to find
+the table laid for three, and the hangings of the drawing-room door
+being looped up, saw Madeleine arranging in a vase on the mantelpiece a
+bunch of roses exactly similar to his own. He was vexed and displeased;
+it was as though he had been robbed of his idea, his mark of attention,
+and all the pleasure he anticipated from it.
+
+"You have invited some one to dinner, then?" he inquired, as he entered
+the room.
+
+She answered without turning round, and while continuing to arrange the
+flowers: "Yes, and no. It is my old friend, the Count de Vaudrec, who
+has been accustomed to dine here every Monday, and who has come as
+usual."
+
+George murmured: "Ah! very good."
+
+He remained standing behind her, bouquet in hand, with a longing to hide
+it or throw it away. He said, however: "I have brought you some roses."
+
+She turned round suddenly, smiling, and exclaimed: "Ah! how nice of you
+to have thought of that."
+
+And she held out her arms and lips to him with an outburst of joy so
+real that he felt consoled. She took the flowers, smelt them, and with
+the liveliness of a delighted child, placed them in the vase that
+remained empty opposite the other. Then she murmured, as she viewed the
+result: "How glad I am. My mantelpiece is furnished now." She added
+almost immediately, in a tone of conviction: "You know Vaudrec is
+awfully nice; you will be friends with him at once."
+
+A ring announced the Count. He entered quietly, and quite at his ease,
+as though at home. After having gallantly kissed the young wife's
+fingers, he turned to the husband and cordially held out his hand,
+saying: "How goes it, my dear Du Roy?"
+
+It was no longer his former stiff and starched bearing, but an affable
+one, showing that the situation was no longer the same. The journalist,
+surprised, strove to make himself agreeable in response to these
+advances. It might have been believed within five minutes that they had
+known and loved one another for ten years past.
+
+Then Madeleine, whose face was radiant, said: "I will leave you
+together, I must give a look to my dinner." And she went out, followed
+by a glance from both men. When she returned she found them talking
+theatricals apropos of a new piece, and so thoroughly of the same
+opinion that a species of rapid friendship awoke in their eyes at the
+discovery of this absolute identity of ideas.
+
+The dinner was delightful, so intimate and cordial, and the Count stayed
+on quite late, so comfortable did he feel in this nice little new
+household.
+
+As soon as he had left Madeleine said to her husband: "Is he not
+perfect? He gains in every way by being known. He is a true
+friend--safe, devoted, faithful. Ah, without him--"
+
+She did not finish the sentence, and George replied: "Yes, I find him
+very agreeable. I think that we shall get on very well together."
+
+She resumed: "You do not know, but we have some work to do together
+before going to bed. I had not time to speak to you about it before
+dinner, because Vaudrec came in at once. I have had some important news,
+news from Morocco. It was Laroche-Mathieu, the deputy, the future
+minister, who brought it to me. We must work up an important article, a
+sensational one. I have the facts and figures. We will set to work at
+once. Bring the lamp."
+
+He took it, and they passed into the study. The same books were ranged
+in the bookcase, which now bore on its summit the three vases bought at
+the Golfe Juan by Forestier on the eve of his death. Under the table the
+dead man's mat awaited the feet of Du Roy, who, on sitting down, took up
+an ivory penholder slightly gnawed at the end by the other's teeth.
+Madeleine leant against the mantelpiece, and having lit a cigarette
+related her news, and then explained her notions and the plan of the
+article she meditated. He listened attentively, scribbling notes as he
+did so, and when she had finished, raised objections, took up the
+question again, enlarged its bearing, and sketched in turn, not the plan
+of an article, but of a campaign against the existing Ministry. This
+attack would be its commencement. His wife had left off smoking, so
+strongly was her interest aroused, so vast was the vision that opened
+before her as she followed out George's train of thought.
+
+She murmured, from time to time: "Yes, yes; that is very good. That is
+capital. That is very clever."
+
+And when he had finished speaking in turn, she said: "Now let us write."
+
+But he always found it hard to make a start, and with difficulty sought
+his expressions. Then she came gently, and, leaning over his shoulder,
+began to whisper sentences in his ear. From time to time she would
+hesitate, and ask: "Is that what you want to say?"
+
+He answered: "Yes, exactly."
+
+She had piercing shafts, the poisoned shafts of a woman, to wound the
+head of the Cabinet, and she blended jests about his face with others
+respecting his policy in a curious fashion, that made one laugh, and, at
+the same time, impressed one by their truth of observation.
+
+Du Roy from time to time added a few lines which widened and
+strengthened the range of attack. He understood, too, the art of
+perfidious insinuation, which he had learned in sharpening up his
+"Echoes"; and when a fact put forward as certain by Madeleine appeared
+doubtful or compromising, he excelled in allowing it to be divined and
+in impressing it upon the mind more strongly than if he had affirmed it.
+When their article was finished, George read it aloud. They both thought
+it excellent, and smiled, delighted and surprised, as if they had just
+mutually revealed themselves to one another. They gazed into the depths
+of one another's eyes with yearnings of love and admiration, and they
+embraced one another with an ardor communicated from their minds to
+their bodies.
+
+Du Roy took up the lamp again. "And now to bye-bye," said he, with a
+
+kindling glance.
+
+She replied: "Go first, sir, since you light the way."
+
+He went first, and she followed him into their bedroom, tickling his
+neck to make him go quicker, for he could not stand that.
+
+The article appeared with the signature of George Duroy de Cantel, and
+caused a great sensation. There was an excitement about it in the
+Chamber. Daddy Walter congratulated the author, and entrusted him with
+the political editorship of the _Vie Francaise_. The "Echoes" fell again
+to Boisrenard.
+
+Then there began in the paper a violent and cleverly conducted campaign
+against the Ministry. The attack, now ironical, now serious, now
+jesting, and now virulent, but always skillful and based on facts, was
+delivered with a certitude and continuity which astonished everyone.
+Other papers continually cited the _Vie Francaise_, taking whole
+passages from it, and those in office asked themselves whether they
+could not gag this unknown and inveterate foe with the gift of a
+prefecture.
+
+Du Roy became a political celebrity. He felt his influence increasing by
+the pressure of hands and the lifting of hats. His wife, too, filled him
+with stupefaction and admiration by the ingenuity of her mind, the value
+of her information, and the number of her acquaintances. Continually he
+would find in his drawing-room, on returning home, a senator, a deputy,
+a magistrate, a general, who treated Madeleine as an old friend, with
+serious familiarity. Where had she met all these people? In society, so
+she said. But how had she been able to gain their confidence and their
+affection? He could not understand it.
+
+"She would make a terrible diplomatist," he thought.
+
+She often came in late at meal times, out of breath, flushed, quivering,
+and before even taking off her veil would say: "I have something good
+to-day. Fancy, the Minister of Justice has just appointed two
+magistrates who formed a part of the mixed commission. We will give him
+a dose he will not forget in a hurry."
+
+And they would give the minister a dose, and another the next day, and
+a third the day after. The deputy, Laroche-Mathieu, who dined at the Rue
+Fontaine every Tuesday, after the Count de Vaudrec, who began the week,
+would shake the hands of husband and wife with demonstrations of extreme
+joy. He never ceased repeating: "By Jove, what a campaign! If we don't
+succeed after all?"
+
+He hoped, indeed, to succeed in getting hold of the portfolio of foreign
+affairs, which he had had in view for a long time.
+
+He was one of those many-faced politicians, without strong convictions,
+without great abilities, without boldness, and without any depth of
+knowledge, a provincial barrister, a local dandy, preserving a cunning
+balance between all parties, a species of Republican Jesuit and Liberal
+mushroom of uncertain character, such as spring up by hundreds on the
+popular dunghill of universal suffrage. His village machiavelism caused
+him to be reckoned able among his colleagues, among all the adventurers
+and abortions who are made deputies. He was sufficiently well-dressed,
+correct, familiar, and amiable to succeed. He had his successes in
+society, in the mixed, perturbed, and somewhat rough society of the high
+functionaries of the day. It was said everywhere of him: "Laroche will
+be a minister," and he believed more firmly than anyone else that he
+would be. He was one of the chief shareholders in Daddy Walter's paper,
+and his colleague and partner in many financial schemes.
+
+Du Roy backed him up with confidence and with vague hopes as to the
+future. He was, besides, only continuing the work begun by Forestier, to
+whom Laroche-Mathieu had promised the Cross of the Legion of Honor when
+the day of triumph should come. The decoration would adorn the breast of
+Madeleine's second husband, that was all. Nothing was changed in the
+main.
+
+It was seen so well that nothing was changed that Du Roy's comrades
+organized a joke against him, at which he was beginning to grow angry.
+They no longer called him anything but Forestier. As soon as he entered
+the office some one would call out: "I say, Forestier."
+
+He would pretend not to hear, and would look for the letters in his
+pigeon-holes. The voice would resume in louder tones, "Hi! Forestier."
+Some stifled laughs would be heard, and as Du Roy was entering the
+manager's room, the comrade who had called out would stop him, saying:
+"Oh, I beg your pardon, it is you I want to speak to. It is stupid, but
+I am always mixing you up with poor Charles. It is because your articles
+are so infernally like his. Everyone is taken in by them."
+
+Du Roy would not answer, but he was inwardly furious, and a sullen wrath
+sprang up in him against the dead man. Daddy Walter himself had
+declared, when astonishment was expressed at the flagrant similarity in
+style and inspiration between the leaders of the new political editor
+and his predecessor: "Yes, it is Forestier, but a fuller, stronger, more
+manly Forestier."
+
+Another time Du Roy, opening by chance the cupboard in which the cup and
+balls were kept, had found all those of his predecessor with crape round
+the handles, and his own, the one he had made use of when he practiced
+under the direction of Saint-Potin, ornamented with a pink ribbon. All
+had been arranged on the same shelf according to size, and a card like
+those in museums bore the inscription: "The Forestier-Du Roy (late
+Forestier and Co.) Collection." He quietly closed the cupboard, saying,
+in tones loud enough to be heard: "There are fools and envious people
+everywhere."
+
+But he was wounded in his pride, wounded in his vanity, that touchy
+pride and vanity of the writer, which produce the nervous susceptibility
+ever on the alert, equally in the reporter and the genial poet. The word
+"Forestier" made his ears tingle. He dreaded to hear it, and felt
+himself redden when he did so. This name was to him a biting jest, more
+than a jest, almost an insult. It said to him: "It is your wife who does
+your work, as she did that of the other. You would be nothing without
+her."
+
+
+He admitted that Forestier would have been no one without Madeleine; but
+as to himself, come now!
+
+Then, at home, the haunting impression continued. It was the whole place
+now that recalled the dead man to him, the whole of the furniture, the
+whole of the knicknacks, everything he laid hands on. He had scarcely
+thought of this at the outset, but the joke devised by his comrades had
+caused a kind of mental wound, which a number of trifles, unnoticed up
+to the present, now served to envenom. He could not take up anything
+without at once fancying he saw the hand of Charles upon it. He only
+looked at it and made use of things the latter had made use of formerly;
+things that he had purchased, liked, and enjoyed. And George began even
+to grow irritated at the thought of the bygone relations between his
+friend and his wife. He was sometimes astonished at this revolt of his
+heart, which he did not understand, and said to himself, "How the deuce
+is it? I am not jealous of Madeleine's friends. I am never uneasy about
+what she is up to. She goes in and out as she chooses, and yet the
+recollection of that brute of a Charles puts me in a rage." He added,
+"At the bottom, he was only an idiot, and it is that, no doubt, that
+wounds me. I am vexed that Madeleine could have married such a fool."
+And he kept continually repeating, "How is it that she could have
+stomached such a donkey for a single moment?"
+
+His rancor was daily increased by a thousand insignificant details,
+which stung him like pin pricks, by the incessant reminders of the other
+arising out of a word from Madeleine, from the man-servant, from the
+waiting-maid.
+
+One evening Du Roy, who liked sweet dishes, said, "How is it we never
+have sweets at dinner?"
+
+His wife replied, cheerfully, "That is quite true. I never think about
+them. It is all through Charles, who hated--"
+
+He cut her short in a fit of impatience he was unable to control,
+exclaiming, "Hang it all! I am sick of Charles. It is always Charles
+here and Charles there, Charles liked this and Charles liked that. Since
+Charles is dead, for goodness sake leave him in peace."
+
+Madeleine looked at her husband in amazement, without being able to
+understand his sudden anger. Then, as she was sharp, she guessed what
+was going on within him; this slow working of posthumous jealousy,
+swollen every moment by all that recalled the other. She thought it
+puerile, may be, but was flattered by it, and did not reply.
+
+He was vexed with himself at this irritation, which he had not been
+able to conceal. As they were writing after dinner an article for the
+next day, his feet got entangled in the foot mat. He kicked it aside,
+and said with a laugh:
+
+"Charles was always chilly about the feet, I suppose?"
+
+She replied, also laughing: "Oh! he lived in mortal fear of catching
+cold; his chest was very weak."
+
+Du Roy replied grimly: "He has given us a proof of that." Then kissing
+his wife's hand, he added gallantly: "Luckily for me."
+
+But on going to bed, still haunted by the same idea, he asked: "Did
+Charles wear nightcaps for fear of the draughts?"
+
+She entered into the joke, and replied: "No; only a silk handkerchief
+tied round his head."
+
+George shrugged his shoulders, and observed, with contempt, "What a
+baby."
+
+From that time forward Charles became for him an object of continual
+conversation. He dragged him in on all possible occasions, speaking of
+him as "Poor Charles," with an air of infinite pity. When he returned
+home from the office, where he had been accosted twice or thrice as
+Forestier, he avenged himself by bitter railleries against the dead man
+in his tomb. He recalled his defects, his absurdities, his littleness,
+enumerating them with enjoyment, developing and augmenting them as
+though he had wished to combat the influence of a dreaded rival over the
+heart of his wife. He would say, "I say, Made, do you remember the day
+when that duffer Forestier tried to prove to us that stout men were
+stronger than spare ones?"
+
+Then he sought to learn a number of private and secret details
+respecting the departed, which his wife, ill at ease, refused to tell
+him. But he obstinately persisted, saying, "Come, now, tell me all about
+it. He must have been very comical at such a time?"
+
+She murmured, "Oh! do leave him alone."
+
+But he went on, "No, but tell me now, he must have been a duffer to
+sleep with?" And he always wound up with, "What a donkey he was."
+
+One evening, towards the end of June, as he was smoking a cigarette at
+the window, the fineness of the evening inspired him with a wish for a
+drive, and he said, "Made, shall we go as far as the Bois de Boulogne?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+They took an open carriage and drove up the Champs Elysees, and then
+along the main avenue of the Bois de Boulogne. It was a breezeless
+night, one of those stifling nights when the overheated air of Paris
+fills the chest like the breath of a furnace. A host of carriages bore
+along beneath the trees a whole population of lovers. They came one
+behind the other in an unbroken line. George and Madeleine amused
+themselves with watching all these couples, the woman in summer toilet
+and the man darkly outlined beside her. It was a huge flood of lovers
+towards the Bois, beneath the starry and heated sky. No sound was heard
+
+save the dull rumble of wheels. They kept passing by, two by two in each
+vehicle, leaning back on the seat, silent, clasped one against the
+other, lost in dreams of desire, quivering with the anticipation of
+coming caresses. The warm shadow seemed full of kisses. A sense of
+spreading lust rendered the air heavier and more suffocating. All the
+couples, intoxicated with the same idea, the same ardor, shed a fever
+about them.
+
+George and Madeleine felt the contagion. They clasped hands without a
+word, oppressed by the heaviness of the atmosphere and the emotion that
+assailed them. As they reached the turning which follows the line of the
+fortification, they kissed one another, and she stammered somewhat
+confusedly, "We are as great babies as on the way to Rouen."
+
+The great flood of vehicles divided at the entrance of the wood. On the
+road to the lake, which the young couple were following, they were now
+thinner, but the dark shadow of the trees, the air freshened by the
+leaves and by the dampness arising from the streamlets that could be
+heard flowing beneath them, and the coolness of the vast nocturnal vault
+bedecked with stars, gave to the kisses of the perambulating pairs a
+more penetrating charm.
+
+George murmured, "Dear little Made," as he pressed her to him.
+
+"Do you remember the forest close to your home, how gloomy it was?" said
+she. "It seemed to me that it was full of horrible creatures, and that
+there was no end to it, while here it is delightful. One feels caresses
+in the breeze, and I know that Sevres lies on the other side of the
+wood."
+
+He replied, "Oh! in the forest at home there was nothing but deer,
+foxes, and wild boars, and here and there the hut of a forester."
+
+This word, akin to the dead man's name, issuing from his mouth,
+surprised him just as if some one had shouted it out to him from the
+depths of a thicket, and he became suddenly silent, assailed anew by
+the strange and persistent uneasiness, and gnawing, invincible, jealous
+irritation that had been spoiling his existence for some time past.
+After a minute or so, he asked: "Did you ever come here like this of an
+evening with Charles?"
+
+"Yes, often," she answered.
+
+And all of a sudden he was seized with a wish to return home, a nervous
+desire that gripped him at the heart. But the image of Forestier had
+returned to his mind and possessed and laid hold of him. He could no
+longer speak or think of anything else and said in a spiteful tone, "I
+say, Made?"
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+"Did you ever cuckold poor Charles?"
+
+She murmured disdainfully, "How stupid you are with your stock joke."
+
+But he would not abandon the idea.
+
+"Come, Made, dear, be frank and acknowledge it. You cuckolded him, eh?
+Come, admit that you cuckolded him?"
+
+She was silent, shocked as all women are by this expression.
+
+He went on obstinately, "Hang it all, if ever anyone had the head for a
+cuckold it was he. Oh! yes. It would please me to know that he was one.
+What a fine head for horns." He felt that she was smiling at some
+recollection, perhaps, and persisted, saying, "Come out with it. What
+does it matter? It would be very comical to admit that you had deceived
+him, to me."
+
+He was indeed quivering with hope and desire that Charles, the hateful
+Charles, the detested dead, had borne this shameful ridicule. And
+yet--yet--another emotion, less definite. "My dear little Made, tell me,
+I beg of you. He deserved it. You would have been wrong not to have
+given him a pair of horns. Come, Made, confess."
+
+She now, no doubt, found this persistence amusing, for she was laughing
+a series of short, jerky laughs.
+
+He had put his lips close to his wife's ear and whispered: "Come, come,
+confess."
+
+She jerked herself away, and said, abruptly: "You are crazy. As if one
+answered such questions."
+
+She said this in so singular a tone that a cold shiver ran through her
+husband's veins, and he remained dumbfounded, scared, almost breathless,
+as though from some mental shock.
+
+The carriage was now passing along the lake, on which the sky seemed to
+have scattered its stars. Two swans, vaguely outlined, were swimming
+slowly, scarcely visible in the shadow. George called out to the driver:
+"Turn back!" and the carriage returned, meeting the others going at a
+walk, with their lanterns gleaming like eyes in the night.
+
+What a strange manner in which she had said it. Was it a confession? Du
+Roy kept asking himself. And the almost certainty that she had deceived
+her first husband now drove him wild with rage. He longed to beat her,
+to strangle her, to tear her hair out. Oh, if she had only replied: "But
+darling, if I had deceived him, it would have been with yourself," how
+he would have kissed, clasped, worshiped her.
+
+He sat still, his arms crossed, his eyes turned skyward, his mind too
+agitated to think as yet. He only felt within him the rancor fermenting
+and the anger swelling which lurk at the heart of all mankind in
+presence of the caprices of feminine desire. He felt for the first time
+that vague anguish of the husband who suspects. He was jealous at last,
+jealous on behalf of the dead, jealous on Forestier's account, jealous
+in a strange and poignant fashion, into which there suddenly entered a
+hatred of Madeleine. Since she had deceived the other, how could he have
+confidence in her himself? Then by degrees his mind became calmer, and
+bearing up against his pain, he thought: "All women are prostitutes. We
+must make use of them, and not give them anything of ourselves." The
+bitterness in his heart rose to his lips in words of contempt and
+disgust. He repeated to himself: "The victory in this world is to the
+strong. One must be strong. One must be above all prejudices."
+
+The carriage was going faster. It repassed the fortifications. Du Roy
+saw before him a reddish light in the sky like the glow of an immense
+forge, and heard a vast, confused, continuous rumor, made up of
+countless different sounds, the breath of Paris panting this summer
+night like an exhausted giant.
+
+George reflected: "I should be very stupid to fret about it. Everyone
+for himself. Fortune favors the bold. Egotism is everything. Egotism as
+regards ambition and fortune is better than egotism as regards woman and
+love."
+
+The Arc de Triomphe appeared at the entrance to the city on its two tall
+supports like a species of shapeless giant ready to start off and march
+down the broad avenue open before him. George and Madeleine found
+themselves once more in the stream of carriages bearing homeward and
+bedwards the same silent and interlaced couples. It seemed that the
+whole of humanity was passing by intoxicated with joy, pleasure, and
+happiness. The young wife, who had divined something of what was passing
+through her husband's mind, said, in her soft voice: "What are you
+thinking of, dear? You have not said a word for the last half hour."
+
+He answered, sneeringly: "I was thinking of all these fools cuddling one
+another, and saying to myself that there is something else to do in
+life."
+
+She murmured: "Yes, but it is nice sometimes."
+
+"It is nice--when one has nothing better to do."
+
+George's thoughts were still hard at it, stripping life of its poesy in
+a kind of spiteful anger. "I should be very foolish to trouble myself,
+to deprive myself of anything whatever, to worry as I have done for some
+time past." Forestier's image crossed his mind without causing any
+irritation. It seemed to him that they had just been reconciled, that
+they had become friends again. He wanted to cry out: "Good evening, old
+fellow."
+
+Madeleine, to whom this silence was irksome, said: "Suppose we have an
+ice at Tortoni's before we go in."
+
+He glanced at her sideways. Her fine profile was lit up by the bright
+light from the row of gas jets of a cafe. He thought, "She is pretty.
+Well, so much the better. Jack is as good as his master, my dear. But if
+ever they catch me worrying again about you, it will be hot at the North
+Pole." Then he replied aloud: "Certainly, my dear," and in order that
+she should not guess anything, he kissed her.
+
+It seemed to the young wife that her husband's lips were frozen. He
+smiled, however, with his wonted smile, as he gave her his hand to
+alight in front of the cafe.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+
+On reaching the office next day, Du Roy sought out Boisrenard.
+
+"My dear fellow," said he, "I have a service to ask of you. It has been
+thought funny for some time past to call me Forestier. I begin to find
+it very stupid. Will you have the kindness to quietly let our friends
+know that I will smack the face of the first that starts the joke again?
+It will be for them to reflect whether it is worth risking a sword
+thrust for. I address myself to you because you are a calm-minded
+fellow, who can hinder matters from coming to painful extremities, and
+also because you were my second."
+
+Boisrenard undertook the commission. Du Roy went out on business, and
+returned an hour later. No one called him Forestier.
+
+When he reached home he heard ladies' voices in the drawing-room, and
+asked, "Who is there?"
+
+"Madame Walter and Madame de Marelle," replied the servant.
+
+His heart beat fast for a moment, and then he said to himself, "Well,
+let's see," and opened the door.
+
+Clotilde was beside the fireplace, full in a ray of light from the
+window. It seemed to George that she grew slightly paler on perceiving
+him. Having first bowed to Madame Walter and her two daughters, seated
+like two sentinels on each side of their mother, he turned towards his
+late mistress. She held out her hand, and he took it and pressed it
+meaningly, as though to say, "I still love you." She responded to this
+pressure.
+
+He inquired: "How have you been during the century that has elapsed
+since our last meeting?"
+
+She replied with perfect ease: "Quite well; and you, Pretty-boy?" and
+turning to Madeleine, added: "You will allow me to call him Pretty-boy
+still?"
+
+"Certainly, dear; I will allow whatever you please."
+
+A shade of irony seemed hidden in these words.
+
+Madame Walter spoke of an entertainment that was going to be given by
+
+Jacques Rival at his residence, a grand assault-at-arms, at which ladies
+of fashion were to be present, saying: "It will be very interesting. But
+I am so vexed we have no one to take us there, my husband being obliged
+to be away at that time."
+
+Du Roy at once offered his services. She accepted, saying: "My daughters
+and I will be very much obliged to you."
+
+He looked at the younger daughter, and thought: "She is not at all bad
+looking, this little Susan; not at all." She resembled a fair, fragile
+
+doll, too short but slender, with a small waist and fairly developed
+hips and bust, a face like a miniature, grayish-blue, enamel-like eyes,
+which seemed shaded by a careful yet fanciful painter, a polished,
+colorless skin, too white and too smooth, and fluffy, curly hair, in a
+charming aureola, like, indeed the hair of the pretty and expensive
+dolls we see in the arms of children much smaller than their plaything.
+
+The elder sister, Rose, was ugly, dull-looking, and insignificant; one
+of those girls whom you do not notice, do not speak to, and do not talk
+about.
+
+The mother rose, and, turning to George, said:
+
+"Then I may reckon upon you for next Thursday, two o'clock?"
+
+"You may reckon upon me, madame," he replied.
+
+As soon as she had taken her departure, Madame de Marelle rose in turn,
+saying: "Good afternoon, Pretty-boy."
+
+It was she who then clasped his hand firmly and for some time, and he
+felt moved by this silent avowal, struck again with a sudden caprice for
+this good-natured little, respectable Bohemian of a woman, who really
+loved him, perhaps.
+
+As soon as he was alone with his wife, Madeleine broke out into a laugh,
+a frank, gay laugh, and, looking him fair in the face, said, "You know
+that Madame Walter is smitten with you."
+
+"Nonsense," he answered, incredulously.
+
+"It is so, I tell you; she spoke to me about you with wild enthusiasm.
+It is strange on her part. She would like to find two husbands such as
+you for her daughters. Fortunately, as regards her such things are of no
+moment."
+
+He did not understand what she meant, and inquired, "How of no moment?"
+
+She replied with the conviction of a woman certain of the soundness of
+her judgment, "Oh! Madame Walter is one of those who have never even had
+a whisper about them, never, you know, never. She is unassailable in
+every respect. Her husband you know as well as I do. But with her it is
+quite another thing. She has suffered enough through marrying a Jew, but
+she has remained faithful to him. She is an honest woman."
+
+Du Roy was surprised. "I thought her a Jewess, too," said he.
+
+"She, not at all. She is a lady patroness of all the good works of the
+Church of Madeleine. Her marriage, even, was celebrated religiously. I
+do not know whether there was a dummy baptism as regards the governor,
+or whether the Church winked at it."
+
+George murmured: "Ah! so she fancied me."
+
+"Positively and thoroughly. If you were not bespoken, I should advise
+you to ask for the hand of--Susan, eh? rather than that of Rose."
+
+He replied, twisting his moustache: "Hum; their mother is not yet out of
+date."
+
+Madeleine, somewhat out of patience, answered:
+
+"Their mother! I wish you may get her, dear. But I am not alarmed on
+that score. It is not at her age that a woman is guilty of a first
+fault. One must set about it earlier."
+
+George was reflecting: "If it were true, though, that I could have
+married Susan." Then he shrugged his shoulders. "Bah! it is absurd. As
+if her father would have ever have accepted me as a suitor."
+
+He promised himself, though, to keep a more careful watch in the future
+over Madame Walter's bearing towards him, without asking whether he
+might ever derive any advantage from this. All the evening he was
+haunted by the recollection of his love passages with Clotilde,
+recollections at once tender and sensual. He recalled her drolleries,
+her pretty ways, and their adventures together. He repeated to himself,
+"She is really very charming. Yes, I will go and see her to-morrow."
+
+As soon as he had lunched the next morning he indeed set out for the
+Rue de Verneuil. The same servant opened the door, and with the
+familiarity of servants of the middle-class, asked: "Are you quite well,
+sir?"
+
+"Yes, thanks, my girl," he replied, and entered the drawing-room, in
+which an unskilled hand could be heard practicing scales on the piano.
+It was Laurine. He thought that she would throw her arms round his neck.
+But she rose gravely, bowed ceremoniously like a grown-up person, and
+withdrew with dignity. She had so much the bearing of an insulted woman
+that he remained in surprise. Her mother came in, and he took and kissed
+her hands.
+
+"How I have thought of you," said he.
+
+"And I," she replied.
+
+They sat down and smiled at one another, looking into each other's eyes
+with a longing to kiss.
+
+"My dear little Clo, I do love you."
+
+"I love you, too."
+
+"Then--then--you have not been so very angry with me?"
+
+"Yes, and no. It hurt me a great deal, but I understood your reasons,
+and said to myself, 'He will come back to me some fine day or other.'"
+
+"I dared not come back. I asked myself how I should be received. I did
+not dare, but I dearly wanted to. By the way, tell me what is the matter
+with Laurine. She scarcely said good-morning to me, and went out looking
+furious."
+
+"I do not know. But we cannot speak of you to her since your marriage. I
+really believe she is jealous."
+
+"Nonsense."
+
+"It is so, dear. She no longer calls you Pretty-boy, but Monsieur
+Forestier."
+
+Du Roy reddened, and then drawing close to her said:
+
+"Kiss me."
+
+She did so.
+
+"Where can we meet again?" said he.
+
+"Rue de Constantinople."
+
+"Ah! the rooms are not let, then?"
+
+"No, I kept them on."
+
+"You kept them on?"
+
+"Yes, I thought you would come back again."
+
+A gush of joyful pride swelled his bosom. She loved him then, this
+woman, with a real, deep, constant love.
+
+He murmured, "I love you," and then inquired, "Is your husband quite
+well?"
+
+"Yes, very well. He has been spending a month at home, and was off again
+the day before yesterday."
+
+Du Roy could not help laughing. "How lucky," said he.
+
+She replied simply: "Yes, it is very lucky. But, all the same, he is not
+troublesome when he is here. You know that."
+
+"That is true. Besides, he is a very nice fellow."
+
+"And you," she asked, "how do you like your new life?"
+
+"Not much one way or the other. My wife is a companion, a partner."
+
+"Nothing more?"
+
+"Nothing more. As to the heart--"
+
+"I understand. She is pretty, though."
+
+"Yes, but I do not put myself out about her."
+
+He drew closer to Clotilde, and whispered. "When shall we see one
+another again?"
+
+"To-morrow, if you like."
+
+"Yes, to-morrow at two o'clock."
+
+"Two o'clock."
+
+He rose to take leave, and then stammered, with some embarrassment: "You
+know I shall take on the rooms in the Rue de Constantinople myself. I
+mean it. A nice thing for the rent to be paid by you."
+
+It was she who kissed his hands adoringly, murmuring: "Do as you like.
+It is enough for me to have kept them for us to meet again there."
+
+Du Roy went away, his soul filled with satisfaction. As he passed by a
+photographer's, the portrait of a tall woman with large eyes reminded
+him of Madame Walter. "All the same," he said to himself, "she must be
+still worth looking at. How is it that I never noticed it? I want to see
+how she will receive me on Thursday?"
+
+He rubbed his hands as he walked along with secret pleasure, the
+pleasure of success in every shape, the egotistical joy of the clever
+man who is successful, the subtle pleasure made up of flattered vanity
+and satisfied sensuality conferred by woman's affection.
+
+On the Thursday he said to Madeleine: "Are you not coming to the
+assault-at-arms at Rival's?"
+
+"No. It would not interest me. I shall go to the Chamber of Deputies."
+
+He went to call for Madame Walter in an open landau, for the weather was
+delightful. He experienced a surprise on seeing her, so handsome and
+young-looking did he find her. She wore a light-colored dress, the
+somewhat open bodice of which allowed the fullness of her bosom to be
+divined beneath the blonde lace. She had never seemed to him so
+well-looking. He thought her really desirable. She wore her calm and
+ladylike manner, a certain matronly bearing that caused her to pass
+almost unnoticed before the eyes of gallants. She scarcely spoke
+besides, save on well-known, suitable, and respectable topics, her ideas
+being proper, methodical, well ordered, and void of all extravagance.
+
+Her daughter, Susan, in pink, looked like a newly-varnished Watteau,
+while her elder sister seemed the governess entrusted with the care of
+this pretty doll of a girl.
+
+Before Rival's door a line of carriages were drawn up. Du Roy offered
+Madame Walter his arm, and they went in.
+
+The assault-at-arms was given under the patronage of the wives of all
+the senators and deputies connected with the _Vie Francaise_, for the
+benefit of the orphans of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. Madame
+Walter had promised to come with her daughters, while refusing the
+position of lady patroness, for she only aided with her name works
+undertaken by the clergy. Not that she was very devout, but her marriage
+with a Jew obliged her, in her own opinion, to observe a certain
+religious attitude, and the gathering organized by the journalist had a
+species of Republican import that might be construed as anti-clerical.
+
+In papers of every shade of opinion, during the past three weeks,
+paragraphs had appeared such as: "Our eminent colleague, Jacques Rival,
+has conceived the idea, as ingenious as it is generous, of organizing
+for the benefit of the orphans of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris a
+grand assault-at-arms in the pretty fencing-room attached to his
+apartments. The invitations will be sent out by Mesdames Laloigue,
+Remontel, and Rissolin, wives of the senators bearing these names, and
+by Mesdames Laroche-Mathieu, Percerol, and Firmin, wives of the
+well-known deputies. A collection will take place during the interval,
+and the amount will at once be placed in the hands of the mayor of the
+Sixth Arrondissement, or of his representative."
+
+It was a gigantic advertisement that the clever journalist had devised
+to his own advantage.
+
+Jacques Rival received all-comers in the hall of his dwelling, where a
+refreshment buffet had been fitted up, the cost of which was to be
+deducted from the receipts. He indicated with an amiable gesture the
+little staircase leading to the cellar, saying: "Downstairs, ladies,
+downstairs; the assault will take place in the basement."
+
+He darted forward to meet the wife of the manager, and then shaking Du
+Roy by the hand, said: "How are you, Pretty-boy?"
+
+His friend was surprised, and exclaimed: "Who told you that--"
+
+Rival interrupted him with: "Madame Walter, here, who thinks the
+nickname a very nice one."
+
+Madame Walter blushed, saying: "Yes, I will admit that, if I knew you
+better, I would do like little Laurine and call you Pretty-boy, too. The
+name suits you very well."
+
+Du Roy laughed, as he replied: "But I beg of you, madame, to do so."
+
+She had lowered her eyes, and remarked: "No. We are not sufficiently
+intimate."
+
+He murmured: "Will you allow me the hope that we shall be more so?"
+
+"Well, we will see then," said she.
+
+He drew on one side to let her precede him at the beginning of the
+narrow stairs lit by a gas jet. The abrupt transition from daylight to
+this yellow gleam had something depressing about it. A cellar-like odor
+rose up this winding staircase, a smell of damp heat and of moldy walls
+wiped down for the occasion, and also whiffs of incense recalling sacred
+offices and feminine emanations of vervain, orris root, and violets. A
+loud murmur of voices and the quivering thrill of an agitated crowd
+could also be heard down this hole.
+
+The entire cellar was lit up by wreaths of gas jets and Chinese lanterns
+hidden in the foliage, masking the walls of stone. Nothing could be seen
+but green boughs. The ceiling was ornamented with ferns, the ground
+hidden by flowers and leaves. This was thought charming, and a
+delightful triumph of imagination. In the small cellar, at the end, was
+a platform for the fencers, between two rows of chairs for the judges.
+In the remaining space the front seats, ranged by tens to the right and
+to the left, would accommodate about two hundred people. Four hundred
+had been invited.
+
+In front of the platform young fellows in fencing costume, with long
+limbs, erect figures, and moustaches curled up at the ends, were already
+showing themselves off to the spectators. People were pointing them out
+as notabilities of the art, professionals, and amateurs. Around them
+were chatting old and young gentlemen in frock coats, who bore a family
+resemblance to the fencers in fighting array. They were also seeking to
+be seen, recognized, and spoken of, being masters of the sword out of
+uniform, experts on foil play. Almost all the seats were occupied by
+ladies, who kept up a loud rustling of garments and a continuous murmur
+of voices. They were fanning themselves as though at a theater, for it
+was already as hot as an oven in this leafy grotto. A joker kept crying
+from time to time: "Orgeat, lemonade, beer."
+
+Madame Walter and her daughters reached the seats reserved for them in
+the front row. Du Roy, having installed them there, was about to quit
+them, saying: "I am obliged to leave you; we men must not collar the
+seats."
+
+But Madame Walter remarked, in a hesitating tone: "I should very much
+like to have you with us all the same. You can tell me the names of the
+fencers. Come, if you stand close to the end of the seat you will not be
+in anyone's way." She looked at him with her large mild eyes, and
+persisted, saying: "Come, stay with us, Monsieur--Pretty-boy. We have
+need of you."
+
+He replied: "I will obey with pleasure, madame."
+
+On all sides could be heard the remark: "It is very funny, this cellar;
+very pretty, too."
+
+George knew it well, this vault. He recalled the morning he had passed
+there on the eve of his duel, alone in front of the little white carton
+target that had glared at him from the depths of the inner cellar like a
+huge and terrible eye.
+
+The voice of Jacques Rival sounded from the staircase: "Just about to
+begin, ladies." And six gentlemen, in very tight-fitting clothes, to set
+off their chests, mounted the platform, and took their seats on the
+chairs reserved for the judges. Their names flew about. General de
+Reynaldi, the president, a short man, with heavy moustaches; the
+
+painter, Josephin Roudet, a tall, ball-headed man, with a long beard;
+Mattheo de Ujar, Simon Ramoncel, Pierre de Carvin, three
+fashionable-looking young fellows; and Gaspard Merleron, a master. Two
+placards were hung up on the two sides of the vault. That on the right
+was inscribed "M. Crevecoeur," and that on the left "M. Plumeau."
+
+They were two professors, two good second-class masters. They made their
+appearance, both sparely built, with military air and somewhat stiff
+movements. Having gone through the salute with automatic action, they
+began to attack one another, resembling in their white costumes of
+leather and duck, two soldier pierrots fighting for fun. From time to
+time the word "Touched" was heard, and the six judges nodded with the
+air of connoisseurs. The public saw nothing but two living marionettes
+moving about and extending their arms; they understood nothing, but they
+were satisfied. These two men seemed to them, however, not over
+graceful, and vaguely ridiculous. They reminded them of the wooden
+wrestlers sold on the boulevards at the New Year's Fair.
+
+The first couple of fencers were succeeded by Monsieur Planton and
+Monsieur Carapin, a civilian master and a military one. Monsieur Planton
+was very little, and Monsieur Carapin immensely stout. One would have
+thought that the first thrust would have reduced his volume like that of
+a balloon. People laughed. Monsieur Planton skipped about like a monkey:
+Monsieur Carapin, only moved his arm, the rest of his frame being
+
+paralyzed by fat. He lunged every five minutes with such heaviness and
+such effort that it seemed to need the most energetic resolution on his
+part to accomplish it, and then had great difficulty in recovering
+himself. The connoisseurs pronounced his play very steady and close, and
+the confiding public appreciated it as such.
+
+Then came Monsieur Porion and Monsieur Lapalme, a master and an amateur,
+who gave way to exaggerated gymnastics; charging furiously at one
+another, obliging the judges to scuttle off with their chairs, crossing
+and re-crossing from one end of the platform to the other, one advancing
+and the other retreating, with vigorous and comic leaps and bounds. They
+indulged in little jumps backwards that made the ladies laugh, and long
+springs forward that caused them some emotion. This galloping assault
+was aptly criticized by some young rascal, who sang out: "Don't burst
+yourselves over it; it is a time job!" The spectators, shocked at this
+want of taste, cried "Ssh!" The judgment of the experts was passed
+around. The fencers had shown much vigor, and played somewhat loosely.
+
+The first half of the entertainment was concluded by a very fine bout
+between Jacques Rival and the celebrated Belgian professor, Lebegue.
+Rival greatly pleased the ladies. He was really a handsome fellow, well
+made, supple, agile, and more graceful than any of those who had
+preceded him. He brought, even into his way of standing on guard and
+lunging, a certain fashionable elegance which pleased people, and
+contrasted with the energetic, but more commonplace style of his
+adversary. "One can perceive the well-bred man at once," was the remark.
+He scored the last hit, and was applauded.
+
+But for some minutes past a singular noise on the floor above had
+disturbed the spectators. It was a loud trampling, accompanied by noisy
+laughter. The two hundred guests who had not been able to get down into
+the cellar were no doubt amusing themselves in their own way. On the
+narrow, winding staircase fifty men were packed. The heat down below was
+getting terrible. Cries of "More air," "Something to drink," were heard.
+The same joker kept on yelping in a shrill tone that rose above the
+murmur of conversation, "Orgeat, lemonade, beer." Rival made his
+appearance, very flushed, and still in his fencing costume. "I will have
+some refreshments brought," said he, and made his way to the staircase.
+But all communication with the ground floor was cut off. It would have
+been as easy to have pierced the ceiling as to have traversed the human
+wall piled up on the stairs.
+
+Rival called out: "Send down some ices for the ladies." Fifty voices
+called out: "Some ices!" A tray at length made its appearance. But it
+only bore empty glasses, the refreshments having been snatched on the
+way.
+
+A loud voice shouted: "We are suffocating down here. Get it over and let
+us be off." Another cried out: "The collection." And the whole of the
+public, gasping, but good-humored all the same, repeated: "The
+collection, the collection."
+
+Six ladies began to pass along between the seats, and the sound of money
+falling into the collecting-bags could be heard.
+
+Du Roy pointed out the celebrities to Madame Walter. There were men of
+fashion and journalists, those attached to the great newspapers, the
+old-established newspapers, which looked down upon the _Vie Francaise_
+with a certain reserve, the fruit of their experience. They had
+witnessed the death of so many of these politico-financial sheets,
+offspring of a suspicious partnership, and crushed by the fall of a
+ministry. There were also painters and sculptors, who are generally men
+with a taste for sport; a poet who was also a member of the Academy, and
+who was pointed out generally, and a number of distinguished foreigners.
+
+Someone called out: "Good-day, my dear fellow." It was the Count de
+Vaudrec. Making his excuses to the ladies, Du Roy hastened to shake
+hands with him. On returning, he remarked: "What a charming fellow
+Vaudrec is! How thoroughly blood tells in him."
+
+Madame Walter did not reply. She was somewhat fatigued, and her bosom
+rose with an effort every time she drew breath, which caught the eye of
+Du Roy. From time to time he caught her glance, a troubled, hesitating
+glance, which lighted upon him, and was at once averted, and he said to
+himself: "Eh! what! Have I caught her, too?"
+
+The ladies who had been collecting passed to their seats, their bags
+full of gold and silver, and a fresh placard was hung in front of the
+platform, announcing a "surprising novelty." The judges resumed their
+seats, and the public waited expectantly.
+
+Two women appeared, foil in hand and in fencing costume; dark tights, a
+very short petticoat half-way to the knee, and a plastron so padded
+above the bosom that it obliged them to keep their heads well up. They
+were both young and pretty. They smiled as they saluted the spectators,
+and were loudly applauded. They fell on guard, amidst murmured
+gallantries and whispered jokes. An amiable smile graced the lips of the
+judges, who approved the hits with a low "bravo." The public warmly
+appreciated this bout, and testified this much to the two combatants,
+who kindled desire among the men and awakened among the women the native
+taste of the Parisian for graceful indecency, naughty elegance, music
+hall singers, and couplets from operettas. Every time that one of the
+fencers lunged a thrill of pleasure ran through the public. The one who
+turned her back to the seats, a plump back, caused eyes and mouths to
+open, and it was not the play of her wrist that was most closely
+scanned. They were frantically applauded.
+
+A bout with swords followed, but no one looked at it, for the attention
+of all was occupied by what was going on overhead. For some minutes they
+had heard the noise of furniture being dragged across the floor, as
+though moving was in progress. Then all at once the notes of a piano
+were heard, and the rhythmic beat of feet moving in cadence was
+distinctly audible. The people above had treated themselves to a dance
+to make up for not being able to see anything. A loud laugh broke out at
+first among the public in the fencing saloon, and then a wish for a
+dance being aroused among the ladies, they ceased to pay attention to
+what was taking place on the platform, and began to chatter out loud.
+This notion of a ball got up by the late-comers struck them as comical.
+They must be amusing themselves nicely, and it must be much better up
+there.
+
+But two new combatants had saluted each other and fell on guard in such
+masterly style that all eyes followed their movements. They lunged and
+recovered themselves with such easy grace, such measured strength, such
+certainty, such sobriety in action, such correctness in attitude, such
+measure in their play, that even the ignorant were surprised and
+charmed. Their calm promptness, their skilled suppleness, their rapid
+motions, so nicely timed that they appeared slow, attracted and
+captivated the eye by their power of perfection. The public felt that
+they were looking at something good and rare; that two great artists in
+their own profession were showing them their best, all of skill,
+cunning, thought-out science and physical ability that it was possible
+for two masters to put forth. No one spoke now, so closely were they
+watched. Then, when they shook hands after the last hit, shouts of
+bravoes broke out. People stamped and yelled. Everyone knew their
+names--they were Sergent and Ravignac.
+
+The excitable grew quarrelsome. Men looked at their neighbors with
+longings for a row. They would have challenged one another on account of
+a smile. Those who had never held a foil in their hand sketched attacks
+and parries with their canes.
+
+But by degrees the crowd worked up the little staircase. At last they
+would be able to get something to drink. There was an outburst of
+indignation when they found that those who had got up the ball had
+stripped the refreshment buffet, and had then gone away declaring that
+it was very impolite to bring together two hundred people and not show
+them anything. There was not a cake, not a drop of champagne, syrup, or
+beer left; not a sweetmeat, not a fruit--nothing. They had sacked,
+pillaged, swept away everything. These details were related by the
+servants, who pulled long faces to hide their impulse to laugh right
+out. "The ladies were worse than the gentlemen," they asserted, "and
+ate and drank enough to make themselves ill." It was like the story of
+the survivors after the sack of a captured town.
+
+There was nothing left but to depart. Gentlemen openly regretted the
+twenty francs given at the collection; they were indignant that those
+upstairs should have feasted without paying anything. The lady
+patronesses had collected upwards of three thousand francs. All expenses
+paid, there remained two hundred and twenty for the orphans of the Sixth
+Arrondissement.
+
+Du Roy, escorting the Walter family, waited for his landau. As he drove
+back with them, seated in face of Madame Walter, he again caught her
+caressing and fugitive glance, which seemed uneasy. He thought: "Hang it
+all! I fancy she is nibbling," and smiled to recognize that he was
+really very lucky as regarded women, for Madame de Marelle, since the
+recommencement of their amour, seemed frantically in love with him.
+
+He returned home joyously. Madeleine was waiting for him in the
+drawing-room.
+
+"I have some news," said she. "The Morocco business is getting into a
+complication. France may very likely send out an expeditionary force
+within a few months. At all events, the opportunity will be taken of it
+to upset the Ministry, and Laroche-Mathieu will profit by this to get
+hold of the portfolio of foreign affairs."
+
+Du Roy, to tease his wife, pretended not to believe anything of the
+kind. They would never be mad enough to recommence the Tunisian bungle
+over again. But she shrugged her shoulders impatiently, saying: "But I
+tell you yes, I tell you yes. You don't understand that it is a matter
+of money. Now-a-days, in political complications we must not ask: 'Who
+is the woman?' but 'What is the business?'"
+
+He murmured "Bah!" in a contemptuous tone, in order to excite her, and
+she, growing irritated, exclaimed: "You are just as stupid as
+Forestier."
+
+She wished to wound him, and expected an outburst of anger. But he
+smiled, and replied: "As that cuckold of a Forestier?"
+
+She was shocked, and murmured: "Oh, George!"
+
+He wore an insolent and chaffing air as he said: "Well, what? Did you
+not admit to me the other evening that Forestier was a cuckold?" And he
+added: "Poor devil!" in a tone of pity.
+
+Madeleine turned her back on him, disdaining to answer; and then, after
+a moment's silence, resumed: "We shall have visitors on Tuesday. Madame
+Laroche-Mathieu is coming to dinner with the Viscountess de Percemur.
+Will you invite Rival and Norbert de Varenne? I will call to-morrow and
+ask Madame Walter and Madame de Marelle. Perhaps we shall have Madame
+Rissolin, too."
+
+For some time past she had been strengthening her connections, making
+use of her husband's political influence to attract to her house,
+willy-nilly, the wives of the senators and deputies who had need of the
+support of the _Vie Francaise_.
+
+George replied: "Very well. I will see about Rival and Norbert."
+
+He was satisfied, and rubbed his hands, for he had found a good trick to
+annoy his wife and gratify the obscure rancor, the undefined and gnawing
+jealousy born in him since their drive in the Bois. He would never
+speak of Forestier again without calling him cuckold. He felt very well
+that this would end by enraging Madeleine. And half a score of times, in
+the course of the evening, he found means to mention with ironical good
+humor the name of "that cuckold of a Forestier." He was no longer angry
+with the dead! he was avenging him.
+
+His wife pretended not to notice it, and remained smilingly indifferent.
+
+The next day, as she was to go and invite Madame Walter, he resolved to
+forestall her, in order to catch the latter alone, and see if she really
+
+cared for him. It amused and flattered him. And then--why not--if it
+were possible?
+
+He arrived at the Boulevard Malesherbes about two, and was shown into
+the drawing-room, where he waited till Madame Walter made her
+appearance, her hand outstretched with pleased eagerness, saying: "What
+good wind brings you hither?"
+
+"No good wind, but the wish to see you. Some power has brought me here,
+I do not know why, for I have nothing to say to you. I came, here I am;
+will you forgive me this early visit and the frankness of this
+explanation?"
+
+He uttered this in a gallant and jesting tone, with a smile on his lips.
+She was astonished, and colored somewhat, stammering: "But really--I do
+not understand--you surprise me."
+
+He observed: "It is a declaration made to a lively tune, in order not to
+alarm you."
+
+They had sat down in front of one another. She took the matter
+pleasantly, saying: "A serious declaration?"
+
+"Yes. For a long time I have been wanting to utter it--for a very long
+time. But I dared not. They say you are so strict, so rigid."
+
+She had recovered her assurance, and observed: "Why to-day, then?"
+
+"I do not know." Then lowering his voice he added: "Or rather, because I
+have been thinking of nothing but you since yesterday."
+
+
+She stammered, growing suddenly pale: "Come, enough of nonsense; let us
+speak of something else."
+
+But he had fallen at her feet so suddenly that she was frightened. She
+tried to rise, but he kept her seated by the strength of his arms passed
+round her waist, and repeated in a voice of passion: "Yes, it is true
+that I have loved you madly for a long time past. Do not answer me. What
+would you have? I am mad. I love you. Oh! if you knew how I love you!"
+
+She was suffocating, gasping, and strove to speak, without being able to
+utter a word. She pushed him away with her two hands, having seized him
+by the hair to hinder the approach of the mouth that she felt coming
+towards her own. She kept turning her head from right to left and from
+left to right with a rapid motion, closing her eyes, in order no longer
+to see him. He touched her through her dress, handled her, pressed her,
+and she almost fainted under his strong and rude caress. He rose
+suddenly and sought to clasp her to him, but, free for a moment, she had
+managed to escape by throwing herself back, and she now fled from behind
+one chair to another. He felt that pursuit was ridiculous, and he fell
+into a chair, his face hidden by his hands, feigning convulsive sobs.
+Then he got up, exclaimed "Farewell, farewell," and rushed away.
+
+He quietly took his stick in the hall and gained the street, saying to
+himself: "By Jove, I believe it is all right there." And he went into a
+telegraph office to send a wire to Clotilde, making an appointment for
+the next day.
+
+On returning home at his usual time, he said to his wife: "Well, have
+you secured all the people for your dinner?"
+
+She answered: "Yes, there is only Madame Walter, who is not quite sure
+whether she will be free to come. She hesitated and talked about I don't
+know what--an engagement, her conscience. In short, she seemed very
+strange. No matter, I hope she will come all the same."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, saying: "Oh, yes, she'll come."
+
+He was not certain, however, and remained anxious until the day of the
+dinner. That very morning Madeleine received a note from her: "I have
+managed to get free from my engagements with great difficulty, and shall
+be with you this evening. But my husband cannot accompany me."
+
+Du Roy thought: "I did very well indeed not to go back. She has calmed
+down. Attention."
+
+He, however, awaited her appearance with some slight uneasiness. She
+came, very calm, rather cool, and slightly haughty. He became humble,
+discreet, and submissive. Madame Laroche-Mathieu and Madame Rissolin
+accompanied their husbands. The Viscountess de Percemur talked society.
+Madame de Marelle looked charming in a strangely fanciful toilet, a
+species of Spanish costume in black and yellow, which set off her neat
+figure, her bosom, her rounded arms, and her bird-like head.
+
+Du Roy had Madame Walter on his right hand, and during dinner only spoke
+to her on serious topics, and with an exaggerated respect. From time to
+time he glanced at Clotilde. "She is really prettier and fresher looking
+than ever," he thought. Then his eyes returned to his wife, whom he
+found not bad-looking either, although he retained towards her a hidden,
+tenacious, and evil anger.
+
+But Madame Walter excited him by the difficulty of victory and by that
+novelty always desired by man. She wanted to return home early. "I will
+escort you," said he.
+
+She refused, but he persisted, saying: "Why will not you permit me? You
+will wound me keenly. Do not let me think that you have not forgiven me.
+You see how quiet I am."
+
+She answered: "But you cannot abandon your guests like that."
+
+He smiled. "But I shall only be away twenty minutes. They will not even
+notice it. If you refuse you will cut me to the heart."
+
+She murmured: "Well, then I agree."
+
+But as soon as they were in the carriage he seized her hand, and,
+kissing it passionately, exclaimed: "I love you, I love you. Let me tell
+you that much. I will not touch you. I only want to repeat to you that I
+love you."
+
+She stammered: "Oh! after what you promised me! This is wrong, very
+wrong."
+
+He appeared to make a great effort, and then resumed in a restrained
+tone: "There, you see how I master myself. And yet--But let me only tell
+you that I love you, and repeat it to you every day; yes, let me come to
+your house and kneel down for five minutes at your feet to utter those
+three words while gazing on your beloved face."
+
+She had yielded her hand to him, and replied pantingly: "No, I cannot, I
+will not. Think of what would be said, of the servants, of my daughters.
+No, no, it is impossible."
+
+He went on: "I can no longer live without seeing you. Whether at your
+house or elsewhere, I must see you, if only for a moment, every day, to
+touch your hand, to breathe the air stirred by your dress, to gaze on
+the outline of your form, and on your great calm eyes that madden me."
+
+She listened, quivering, to this commonplace love-song, and stammered:
+"No, it is out of the question."
+
+He whispered in her ear, understanding that he must capture her by
+degrees, this simple woman, that he must get her to make appointments
+with him, where she would at first, where he wished afterwards. "Listen,
+I must see you; I shall wait for you at your door like a beggar; but I
+will see you, I will see you to-morrow."
+
+She repeated: "No, do not come. I shall not receive you. Think of my
+daughters."
+
+"Then tell me where I shall meet you--in the street, no matter where, at
+whatever hour you like, provided I see you. I will bow to you; I will
+say 'I love you,' and I will go away."
+
+She hesitated, bewildered. And as the brougham entered the gateway of
+her residence she murmured hurriedly: "Well, then, I shall be at the
+Church of the Trinity to-morrow at half-past three." Then, having
+alighted, she said to her coachman: "Drive Monsieur Du Roy back to his
+house."
+
+As he re-entered his home, his wife said: "Where did you get to?"
+
+He replied, in a low tone: "I went to the telegraph office to send off a
+message."
+
+Madame de Marelle approached them. "You will see me home, Pretty-boy?"
+said she. "You know I only came such a distance to dinner on that
+condition." And turning to Madeleine, she added: "You are not jealous?"
+
+Madame Du Roy answered slowly: "Not over much."
+
+The guests were taking their leave. Madame Laroche-Mathieu looked like a
+housemaid from the country. She was the daughter of a notary, and had
+been married to the deputy when he was only a barrister of small
+standing. Madame Rissolin, old and stuck-up, gave one the idea of a
+midwife whose fashionable education had been acquired through a
+circulating library. The Viscountess de Percemur looked down upon them.
+Her "Lily Fingers" touched these vulgar hands with repugnance.
+
+Clotilde, wrapped in lace, said to Madeleine as she went out: "Your
+dinner was perfection. In a little while you will have the leading
+political drawing-room in Paris."
+
+As soon as she was alone with George she clasped him in her arms,
+exclaiming: "Oh, my darling Pretty-boy, I love you more and more every
+day!"
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+
+The Place de la Trinite lay, almost deserted, under a dazzling July sun.
+An oppressive heat was crushing Paris. It was as though the upper air,
+scorched and deadened, had fallen upon the city--a thick, burning air
+that pained the chests inhaling it. The fountains in front of the church
+fell lazily. They seemed weary of flowing, tired out, limp, too; and the
+water of the basins, in which leaves and bits of paper were floating,
+looked greenish, thick and glaucous. A dog having jumped over the stone
+rim, was bathing in the dubious fluid. A few people, seated on the
+benches of the little circular garden skirting the front of the church,
+watched the animal curiously.
+
+Du Roy pulled out his watch. It was only three o'clock. He was half an
+hour too soon. He laughed as he thought of this appointment. "Churches
+serve for anything as far as she is concerned," said he to himself.
+"They console her for having married a Jew, enable her to assume an
+attitude of protestation in the world of politics and a respectable one
+in that of fashion, and serve as a shelter to her gallant rendezvous. So
+much for the habit of making use of religion as an umbrella. If it is
+fine it is a walking stick; if sunshiny, a parasol; if it rains, a
+shelter; and if one does not go out, why, one leaves it in the hall. And
+there are hundreds like that who care for God about as much as a cherry
+stone, but who will not hear him spoken against. If it were suggested to
+them to go to a hotel, they would think it infamous, but it seems to
+them quite simple to make love at the foot of the altar."
+
+He walked slowly along the edge of the fountain, and then again looked
+at the church clock, which was two minutes faster than his watch. It was
+five minutes past three. He thought that he would be more comfortable
+inside, and entered the church. The coolness of a cellar assailed him,
+he breathed it with pleasure, and then took a turn round the nave to
+reconnoiter the place. Other regular footsteps, sometimes halting and
+then beginning anew, replied from the further end of the vast pile to
+the sound of his own, which rang sonorously beneath the vaulted roof. A
+curiosity to know who this other promenader was seized him. It was a
+stout, bald-headed gentleman who was strolling about with his nose in
+the air, and his hat behind his back. Here and there an old woman was
+praying, her face hidden in her hands. A sensation of solitude and rest
+stole over the mind. The light, softened by the stained-glass windows,
+was refreshing to the eyes. Du Roy thought that it was "deucedly
+comfortable" inside there.
+
+He returned towards the door and again looked at his watch. It was still
+only a quarter-past three. He sat down at the entrance to the main
+aisle, regretting that one could not smoke a cigarette. The slow
+footsteps of the stout gentleman could still be heard at the further end
+of the church, near the choir.
+
+Someone came in, and George turned sharply round. It was a poor woman in
+a woolen skirt, who fell on her knees close to the first chair, and
+remained motionless, with clasped hands, her eyes turned to heaven, her
+soul absorbed in prayer. Du Roy watched her with interest, asking
+himself what grief, what pain, what despair could have crushed her
+heart. She was worn out by poverty, it was plain. She had, perhaps, too,
+a husband who was beating her to death, or a dying child. He murmured
+mentally: "Poor creatures. How some of them do suffer." Anger rose up in
+him against pitiless Nature. Then he reflected that these poor wretches
+believed, at any rate, that they were taken into consideration up above,
+and that they were duly entered in the registers of heaven with a debtor
+and creditor balance. Up above! And Du Roy, whom the silence of the
+church inclined to sweeping reflections, judging creation at a bound,
+muttered contemptuously: "What bosh all that sort of thing is!"
+
+The rustle of a dress made him start. It was she.
+
+He rose, and advanced quickly. She did not hold out her hand, but
+murmured in a low voice: "I have only a few moments. I must get back
+home. Kneel down near me, so that we may not be noticed." And she
+advanced up the aisle, seeking a safe and suitable spot, like a woman
+well acquainted with the place. Her face was hidden by a thick veil, and
+she walked with careful footsteps that could scarcely be heard.
+
+When she reached the choir she turned, and muttered, in that mysterious
+tone of voice we always assume in church: "The side aisles will be
+better. We are too much in view here."
+
+She bowed low to the high altar, turned to the right, and returned a
+little way towards the entrance; then, making up her mind, she took a
+chair and knelt down. George took possession of the next one to her, and
+as soon as they were in an attitude of prayer, began: "Thanks; oh,
+thanks; I adore you! I should like to be always telling you so, to tell
+you how I began to love you, how I was captivated the first time I saw
+you. Will you allow me some day to open my heart to tell you all this?"
+
+She listened to him in an attitude of deep meditation, as if she heard
+nothing. She replied between her fingers: "I am mad to allow you to
+speak to me like this, mad to have come here, mad to do what I am doing,
+mad to let you believe that--that--this adventure can have any issue.
+Forget all this; you must, and never speak to me again of it."
+
+She paused. He strove to find an answer, decisive and passionate words,
+but not being able to join action to words, was partially paralyzed. He
+replied: "I expect nothing, I hope for nothing. I love you. Whatever you
+may do, I will repeat it to you so often, with such power and ardor,
+that you will end by understanding it. I want to make my love penetrate
+you, to pour it into your soul, word by word, hour by hour, day by day,
+so that at length it impregnates you like a liquid, falling drop by
+drop; softens you, mollifies you, and obliges you later on to reply to
+me: 'I love you, too.'"
+
+He felt her shoulder trembling against him and her bosom throbbing, and
+she stammered, abruptly: "I love you, too!"
+
+He started as though he had received a blow, and sighed: "Good God."
+
+She replied, in panting tones: "Ought I to have told you that? I feel I
+am guilty and contemptible. I, who have two daughters, but I cannot help
+it, I cannot help it. I could not have believed, I should never have
+thought--but it is stronger than I. Listen, listen: I have never loved
+anyone but you; I swear it. And I have loved you for a year past in
+secret, in my secret heart. Oh! I have suffered and struggled till I can
+do so no more. I love you."
+
+She was weeping, with her hands crossed in front of her face, and her
+whole frame was quivering, shaken by the violence of her emotion.
+
+George murmured: "Give me your hand, that I may touch it, that I may
+press it."
+
+She slowly withdrew her hand from her face. He saw her cheek quite wet
+and a tear ready to fall on her lashes. He had taken her hand and was
+pressing it, saying: "Oh, how I should like to drink your tears!"
+
+She said, in a low and broken voice, which resembled a moan: "Do not
+take advantage of me; I am lost."
+
+He felt an impulse to smile. How could he take advantage of her in that
+place? He placed the hand he held upon his heart, saying: "Do you feel
+it beat?" For he had come to the end of his passionate phrases.
+
+For some moments past the regular footsteps of the promenader had been
+coming nearer. He had gone the round of the altars, and was now, for the
+second time at least, coming down the little aisle on the right. When
+Madame Walter heard him close to the pillar which hid her, she snatched
+her fingers from George's grasp, and again hid her face. And both
+remained motionless, kneeling as though they had been addressing fervent
+supplications to heaven together. The stout gentleman passed close to
+them, cast an indifferent look upon them, and walked away to the lower
+end of the church, still holding his hat behind his back.
+
+Du Roy, who was thinking of obtaining an appointment elsewhere than at
+the Church of the Trinity, murmured: "Where shall I see you to-morrow?"
+
+She did not answer. She seemed lifeless--turned into a statue of prayer.
+He went on: "To-morrow, will you let me meet you in the Parc Monseau?"
+
+She turned towards him her again uncovered face, a livid face,
+contracted by fearful suffering, and in a jerky voice ejaculated: "Leave
+me, leave me now; go away, go away, only for five minutes! I suffer too
+much beside you. I want to pray, and I cannot. Go away, let me pray
+alone for five minutes. I cannot. Let me implore God to pardon me--to
+save me. Leave me for five minutes."
+
+Her face was so upset, so full of pain, that he rose without saying a
+word, and then, after a little hesitation, asked: "Shall I come back
+presently?"
+
+She gave a nod, which meant, "Yes, presently," and he walked away
+towards the choir. Then she strove to pray. She made a superhuman effort
+to invoke the Deity, and with quivering frame and bewildering soul
+appealed for mercy to heaven. She closed her eyes with rage, in order no
+longer to see him who just left her. She sought to drive him from her
+mind, she struggled against him, but instead of the celestial apparition
+awaited in the distress of her heart, she still perceived the young
+fellow's curly moustache. For a year past she had been struggling thus
+every day, every night, against the growing possession, against this
+image which haunted her dreams, haunted her flesh, and disturbed her
+nights. She felt caught like a beast in a net, bound, thrown into the
+arms of this man, who had vanquished, conquered her, simply by the hair
+on his lip and the color of his eyes. And now in this church, close to
+God, she felt still weaker, more abandoned, and more lost than at home.
+She could no longer pray, she could only think of him. She suffered
+already that he had quitted her. She struggled, however, despairingly,
+resisted, implored help with all the strength of her soul. She would
+liked to have died rather than fall thus, she who had never faltered in
+her duty. She murmured wild words of supplication, but she was listening
+to George's footsteps dying away in the distance.
+
+She understood that it was all over, that the struggle was a useless
+one. She would not yield, however; and she was seized by one of those
+nervous crises that hurl women quivering, yelling, and writhing on the
+ground. She trembled in every limb, feeling that she was going to fall
+and roll among the chairs, uttering shrill cries. Someone approached
+with rapid steps. It was a priest. She rose and rushed towards him,
+holding out her clasped hands, and stammering: "Oh! save me, save me!"
+
+He halted in surprise, saying: "What is it you wish, madame?"
+
+"I want you to save me. Have pity on me. If you do not come to my
+assistance, I am lost."
+
+He looked at her, asking himself whether she was not mad, and then said:
+"What can I do for you?"
+
+He was a tall, and somewhat stout young man, with full, pendulous
+cheeks, dark, with a carefully shaven face, a good-looking city curate
+belonging to a wealthy district, and accustomed to rich penitents.
+
+"Hear my confession, and advise me, sustain me, tell me what I am to
+do."
+
+He replied: "I hear confessions every Saturday, from three to six
+o'clock."
+
+Having seized his arm, she gripped it tightly as she repeated: "No, no,
+no; at once, at once! You must. He is here, in the church. He is waiting
+for me."
+
+"Who is waiting for you?" asked the priest.
+
+"A man who will ruin me, who will carry me off, if you do not save me.
+I cannot flee from him. I am too weak--too weak! Oh, so weak, so weak!"
+She fell at his feet sobbing: "Oh, have pity on me, father! Save me, in
+God's name, save me!"
+
+She held him by his black gown lest he should escape, and he with
+uneasiness glanced around, lest some malevolent or devout eye should see
+this woman fallen at his feet. Understanding at length that he could not
+escape, he said: "Get up; I have the key of the confessional with me."
+
+And fumbling in his pocket he drew out a ring full of keys, selected
+one, and walked rapidly towards the little wooden cabin, dust holes of
+the soul into which believers cast their sins. He entered the center
+door, which he closed behind him, and Madame Walter, throwing herself
+into the narrow recess at the side, stammered fervently, with a
+passionate burst of hope: "Bless me father, for I have sinned."
+
+Du Roy, having taken a turn round the choir, was passing down the left
+aisle. He had got half-way when he met the stout, bald gentleman still
+walking quietly along, and said to himself: "What the deuce is that
+customer doing here?"
+
+The promenader had also slackened his pace, and was looking at George
+with an evident wish to speak to him. When he came quite close he bowed,
+and said in a polite fashion: "I beg your pardon, sir, for troubling
+you, but can you tell me when this church was built?"
+
+Du Roy replied: "Really, I am not quite certain. I think within the last
+twenty or five-and-twenty years. It is, besides, the first time I ever
+was inside it."
+
+"It is the same with me. I have never seen it."
+
+The journalist, whose interest was awakened, remarked: "It seems to me
+that you are going over it very carefully. You are studying it in
+detail."
+
+The other replied, with resignation: "I am not examining it; I am
+waiting for my wife, who made an appointment with me here, and who is
+very much behind time." Then, after a few moments' silence, he added:
+"It is fearfully hot outside."
+
+Du Roy looked at him, and all at once fancied that he resembled
+Forestier.
+
+"You are from the country?" said he, inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, from Rennes. And you, sir, is it out of curiosity that you entered
+this church?"
+
+"No, I am expecting a lady," and bowing, the journalist walked away,
+with a smile on his lips.
+
+Approaching the main entrance, he saw the poor woman still on her knees,
+and still praying. He thought: "By Jove! she keeps hard at it." He was
+no longer moved, and no longer pitied her.
+
+He passed on, and began quietly to walk up the right-hand aisle to find
+Madame Walter again. He marked the place where he had left her from a
+distance, astonished at not seeing her. He thought he had made a mistake
+in the pillar; went on as far as the end one, and then returned. She had
+gone, then. He was surprised and enraged. Then he thought she might be
+looking for him, and made the circuit of the church again. Not finding
+her, he returned, and sat down on the chair she had occupied, hoping she
+would rejoin him there, and waited. Soon a low murmur of voices aroused
+his attention. He had not seen anyone in that part of the church. Whence
+came this whispering? He rose to see, and perceived in the adjacent
+chapel the doors of the confessional. The skirt of a dress issuing from
+one of these trailed on the pavement. He approached to examine the
+woman. He recognized her. She was confessing.
+
+He felt a violent inclination to take her by the shoulders and to pull
+her out of the box. Then he thought: "Bah! it is the priest's turn now;
+it will be mine to-morrow." And he sat down quietly in front of the
+confessional, biding his time, and chuckling now over the adventure. He
+waited a long time. At length Madame Walter rose, turned round, saw him,
+and came up to him. Her expression was cold and severe, "Sir," said she,
+"I beg of you not to accompany me, not to follow me, and not to come to
+my house alone. You will not be received. Farewell."
+
+And she walked away with a dignified bearing. He let her depart, for one
+of his principles was never to force matters. Then, as the priest,
+somewhat upset, issued in turn from his box, he walked up to him, and,
+looking him straight in the eyes, growled to his face: "If you did not
+wear a petticoat, what a smack you would get across your ugly chops."
+After which he turned on his heels and went out of the church, whistling
+between his teeth. Standing under the porch, the stout gentleman, with
+the hat on his head and his hands behind his back, tired of waiting, was
+scanning the broad squares and all the streets opening onto it. As Du
+Roy passed him they bowed to one another.
+
+The journalist, finding himself at liberty, went to the office of the
+_Vie Francaise_. As soon as he entered he saw by the busy air of the
+messengers that something out of the common was happening, and at once
+went into the manager's room. Daddy Walter, in a state of nervous
+excitement, was standing up dictating an article in broken sentences;
+issuing orders to the reporters, who surrounded him, between two
+paragraphs; giving instructions to Boisrenard; and opening letters.
+
+As Du Roy came in, the governor uttered a cry of joy: "Ah! how lucky;
+here is Pretty-boy!" He stopped short, somewhat confused, and excused
+himself: "I beg your pardon for speaking like that, but I am very much
+disturbed by certain events. And then I hear my wife and daughter
+speaking of you as Pretty-boy from morning till night, and have ended by
+falling into the habit myself. You are not offended?"
+
+"Not at all!" said George, laughingly; "there is nothing in that
+nickname to displease me."
+
+Daddy Walter went on: "Very well, then, I christen you Pretty-boy, like
+everyone else. Well, the fact is, great things are taking place. The
+Ministry has been overthrown by a vote of three hundred and ten to a
+hundred and two. Our prorogation is again postponed--postponed to the
+Greek calends, and here we are at the twenty-eighth of July. Spain is
+angry about the Morocco business, and it is that which has overthrown
+Durand de l'Aine and his following. We are right in the swim. Marrot is
+entrusted with the formation of a new Cabinet. He takes General Boutin
+d'Acre as minister of war, and our friend Laroche-Mathieu for foreign
+affairs. We are going to become an official organ. I am writing a
+leader, a simple declaration of our principles, pointing out the line to
+be followed by the Ministry." The old boy smiled, and continued: "The
+line they intend following, be it understood. But I want something
+interesting about Morocco; an actuality; a sensational article;
+something or other. Find one for me."
+
+Du Roy reflected for a moment, and then replied: "I have the very thing
+for you. I will give you a study of the political situation of the whole
+of our African colony, with Tunis on the left, Algeria in the middle,
+and Morocco on the right; the history of the races inhabiting this vast
+extent of territory; and the narrative of an excursion on the frontier
+of Morocco to the great oasis of Figuig, where no European has
+penetrated, and which is the cause of the present conflict. Will that
+suit you?"
+
+"Admirably!" exclaimed Daddy Walter. "And the title?"
+
+"From Tunis to Tangiers."
+
+"Splendid!"
+
+Du Roy went off to search the files of the _Vie Francaise_ for his first
+article, "The Recollections of a Chasseur d'Afrique," which, rebaptized,
+touched up, and modified, would do admirably, since it dealt with
+colonial policy, the Algerian population, and an excursion in the
+province of Oran. In three-quarters of an hour it was rewritten, touched
+up, and brought to date, with a flavor of realism, and praises of the
+new Cabinet. The manager, having read the article, said: "It is capital,
+capital, capital! You are an invaluable fellow. I congratulate you."
+
+And Du Roy went home to dinner delighted with his day's work, despite
+the check at the Church of the Trinity, for he felt the battle won. His
+wife was anxiously waiting for him. She exclaimed, as soon as she saw
+him: "Do you know that Laroche-Mathieu is Minister for Foreign Affairs?"
+
+"Yes; I have just written an article on Algeria, in connection with
+it."
+
+"What?"
+
+"You know, the first we wrote together, 'The Recollections of a Chasseur
+d'Afrique,' revised and corrected for the occasion."
+
+She smiled, saying: "Ah, that is very good!" Then, after a few moments'
+reflection, she continued: "I was thinking--that continuation you were
+to have written then, and that you--put off. We might set to work on it
+now. It would make a nice series, and very appropriate to the
+situation."
+
+He replied, sitting down to table: "Exactly, and there is nothing in the
+way of it now that cuckold of a Forestier is dead."
+
+She said quietly, in a dry and hurt tone: "That joke is more than out of
+place, and I beg of you to put an end to it. It has lasted too long
+already."
+
+He was about to make an ironical answer, when a telegram was brought
+him, containing these words: "I had lost my senses. Forgive me, and come
+at four o'clock to-morrow to the Parc Monceau."
+
+He understood, and with heart suddenly filled with joy, he said to his
+wife, as he slipped the message into his pocket: "I will not do so any
+more, darling; it was stupid, I admit."
+
+And he began his dinner. While eating he kept repeating to himself the
+
+words: "I had lost my senses. Forgive me, and come at four o'clock
+to-morrow to the Parc Monceau." So she was yielding. That meant: "I
+surrender, I am yours when you like and where you like." He began to
+laugh, and Madeleine asked: "What is it?"
+
+"Nothing," he answered; "I was thinking of a priest I met just now, and
+who had a very comical mug."
+
+Du Roy arrived to the time at the appointed place next day. On the
+benches of the park were seated citizens overcome by heat, and careless
+nurses, who seemed to be dreaming while their children were rolling on
+the gravel of the paths. He found Madame Walter in the little antique
+ruins from which a spring flows. She was walking round the little circle
+of columns with an uneasy and unhappy air. As soon as he had greeted
+her, she exclaimed: "What a number of people there are in the garden."
+
+He seized the opportunity: "It is true; will you come somewhere else?"
+
+"But where?"
+
+"No matter where; in a cab, for instance. You can draw down the blind on
+your side, and you will be quite invisible."
+
+"Yes, I prefer that; here I am dying with fear."
+
+"Well, come and meet me in five minutes at the gate opening onto the
+outer boulevard. I will have a cab."
+
+And he darted off.
+
+As soon as she had rejoined him, and had carefully drawn down the blind
+on her side, she asked: "Where have you told the driver to take us?"
+
+George replied: "Do not trouble yourself, he knows what to do."
+
+He had given the man his address in the Rue de Constantinople.
+
+She resumed: "You cannot imagine what I suffer on account of you, how I
+am tortured and tormented. Yesterday, in the church, I was cruel, but I
+wanted to flee from you at any cost. I was so afraid to find myself
+alone with you. Have you forgiven me?"
+
+He squeezed her hands: "Yes, yes, what would I not forgive you, loving
+you as I do?"
+
+She looked at him with a supplicating air: "Listen, you must promise to
+respect me--not to--not to--otherwise I cannot see you again."
+
+He did not reply at once; he wore under his moustache that keen smile
+that disturbed women. He ended by murmuring: "I am your slave."
+
+Then she began to tell him how she had perceived that she was in love
+with him on learning that he was going to marry Madeleine Forestier. She
+gave details, little details of dates and the like. Suddenly she paused.
+The cab had stopped. Du Roy opened the door.
+
+"Where are we?" she asked.
+
+"Get out and come into this house," he replied. "We shall be more at
+ease there."
+
+"But where are we?"
+
+
+"At my rooms," and here we will leave them to their _tete-a-tete_.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+
+Autumn had come. The Du Roys had passed the whole of the summer in
+Paris, carrying on a vigorous campaign in the _Vie Francaise_ during the
+short vacation of the deputies.
+
+Although it was only the beginning of October, the Chambers were about
+to resume their sittings, for matters as regarded Morocco were becoming
+threatening. No one at the bottom believed in an expedition against
+Tangiers, although on the day of the prorogation of the Chamber, a
+deputy of the Right, Count de Lambert-Serrazin, in a witty speech,
+applauded even by the Center had offered to stake his moustache, after
+the example of a celebrated Viceroy of the Indies, against the whiskers
+of the President of the Council, that the new Cabinet could not help
+imitating the old one, and sending an army to Tangiers, as a pendant to
+that of Tunis, out of love of symmetry, as one puts two vases on a
+fireplace.
+
+He had added: "Africa is indeed, a fireplace for France, gentleman--a
+fireplace which consumes our best wood; a fireplace with a strong
+draught, which is lit with bank notes. You have had the artistic fancy
+of ornamenting the left-hand corner with a Tunisian knick-knack which
+had cost you dear. You will see that Monsieur Marrot will want to
+imitate his predecessor, and ornament the right-hand corner with one
+from Morocco."
+
+This speech, which became famous, served as a peg for Du Roy for a half
+a score of articles upon the Algerian colony--indeed, for the entire
+series broken short off after his _debut_ on the paper. He had
+energetically supported the notion of a military expedition, although
+convinced that it would not take place. He had struck the chord of
+patriotism, and bombarded Spain with the entire arsenal of contemptuous
+arguments which we make use of against nations whose interests are
+contrary to our own. The _Vie Francaise_ had gained considerable
+importance through its own connection with the party in office. It
+published political intelligence in advance of the most important
+papers, and hinted discreetly the intentions of its friends the
+Ministry, so that all the papers of Paris and the provinces took their
+news from it. It was quoted and feared, and people began to respect it.
+It was no longer the suspicious organ of a knot of political jugglers,
+but the acknowledged one of the Cabinet. Laroche-Mathieu was the soul of
+the paper, and Du Roy his mouthpiece. Daddy Walter, a silent member and
+a crafty manager, knowing when to keep in the background, was busying
+himself on the quiet, it is said, with an extensive transaction with
+some copper mines in Morocco.
+
+Madeleine's drawing-room had been an influential center, in which
+several members of the Cabinet met every week. The President of the
+Council had even dined twice at her house, and the wives of the
+statesmen who had formerly hesitated to cross her threshold now boasted
+of being her friends, and paid her more visits than were returned by
+her. The Minister for Foreign Affairs reigned almost as a master in the
+household. He called at all hours, bringing dispatches, news, items of
+information, which he dictated either to the husband or the wife, as if
+they had been his secretaries.
+
+
+When Du Roy, after the minister's departure, found himself alone with
+Madeleine, he would break out in a menacing tone with bitter
+insinuations against the goings-on of this commonplace parvenu.
+
+But she would shrug her shoulders contemptuously, repeating: "Do as much
+as he has done yourself. Become a minister, and you can have your own
+way. Till then, hold your tongue."
+
+He twirled his moustache, looking at her askance: "People do not know of
+what I am capable," he said, "They will learn it, perhaps, some day."
+
+She replied, philosophically: "Who lives long enough will see it."
+
+The morning on which the Chambers reassembled the young wife, still in
+bed, was giving a thousand recommendations to her husband, who was
+dressing himself in order to lunch with M. Laroche-Mathieu, and receive
+his instructions prior to the sitting for the next day's political
+leader in the _Vie Francaise_, this leader being meant to be a kind of
+semi-official declaration of the real objects of the Cabinet.
+
+Madeleine was saying: "Above all, do not forget to ask him whether
+General Belloncle is to be sent to Oran, as has been reported. That
+would mean a great deal."
+
+George replied irritably: "But I know just as well as you what I have to
+do. Spare me your preaching."
+
+She answered quietly: "My dear, you always forget half the commissions I
+entrust you with for the minister."
+
+He growled: "He worries me to death, that minister of yours. He is a
+nincompoop."
+
+She remarked quietly: "He is no more my minister than he is yours. He is
+more useful to you than to me."
+
+He turned half round towards her, saying, sneeringly: "I beg your
+pardon, but he does not pay court to me."
+
+She observed slowly: "Nor to me either; but he is making our fortune."
+
+He was silent for a few moments, and then resumed: "If I had to make a
+choice among your admirers, I should still prefer that old fossil De
+Vaudrec. What has become of him, I have not seen him for a week?"
+
+"He is unwell," replied she, unmoved. "He wrote to me that he was even
+obliged to keep his bed from an attack of gout. You ought to call and
+ask how he is. You know he likes you very well, and it would please
+him."
+
+George said: "Yes, certainly; I will go some time to-day."
+
+He had finished his toilet, and, hat on head, glanced at himself in the
+glass to see if he had neglected anything. Finding nothing, he came up
+to the bed and kissed his wife on the forehead, saying: "Good-bye, dear,
+I shall not be in before seven o'clock at the earliest."
+
+And he went out. Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu was awaiting him, for he was
+lunching at ten o'clock that morning, the Council having to meet at
+noon, before the opening of Parliament. As soon as they were seated at
+table alone with the minister's private secretary, for Madame
+Laroche-Mathieu had been unwilling to change her own meal times, Du Roy
+spoke of his article, sketched out the line he proposed to take,
+consulting notes scribbled on visiting cards, and when he had finished,
+said: "Is there anything you think should be modified, my dear
+minister?"
+
+"Very little, my dear fellow. You are perhaps a trifle too strongly
+affirmative as regards the Morocco business. Speak of the expedition as
+if it were going to take place; but, at the same time, letting it be
+understood that it will not take place, and that you do not believe in
+it in the least in the world. Write in such a way that the public can
+easily read between the lines that we are not going to poke our noses
+into that adventure."
+
+"Quite so. I understand, and I will make myself thoroughly understood.
+My wife commissioned me to ask you, on this point, whether General
+Belloncle will be sent to Oran. After what you have said, I conclude he
+will not."
+
+The statesman answered, "No."
+
+
+Then they spoke of the coming session. Laroche-Mathieu began to spout,
+rehearsing the phrases that he was about to pour forth on his colleagues
+a few hours later. He waved his right hand, raising now his knife, now
+his fork, now a bit of bread, and without looking at anyone, addressing
+himself to the invisible assembly, he poured out his dulcet eloquence,
+the eloquence of a good-looking, dandified fellow. A tiny, twisted
+moustache curled up at its two ends above his lip like scorpion's tails,
+and his hair, anointed with brilliantine and parted in the middle, was
+puffed out like his temples, after the fashion of a provincial
+lady-killer. He was a little too stout, puffy, though still young, and
+his stomach stretched his waistcoat.
+
+The private secretary ate and drank quietly, no doubt accustomed to
+these floods of loquacity; but Du Roy, whom jealousy of achieved success
+cut to the quick, thought: "Go on you proser. What idiots these
+political jokers are." And comparing his own worth to the frothy
+importance of the minister, he said to himself, "By Jove! if I had only
+a clear hundred thousand francs to offer myself as a candidate at home,
+near Rouen, and dish my sunning dullards of Normandy folk in their own
+sauce, what a statesman I should make beside these short-sighted
+rascals!"
+
+Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu went on spouting until coffee was served; then,
+seeing that he was behind hand, he rang for his brougham, and holding
+out his hand to the journalist, said: "You quite understand, my dear
+fellow?"
+
+"Perfectly, my dear minister; you may rely upon me."
+
+And Du Roy strolled leisurely to the office to begin his article, for he
+had nothing to do till four o'clock. At four o'clock he was to meet, at
+the Rue de Constantinople, Madame de Marelle, whom he met there
+regularly twice a week--on Mondays and Fridays. But on reaching the
+office a telegram was handed to him. It was from Madame Walter, and ran
+as follows: "I must see you to-day. Most important. Expect me at two
+o'clock, Rue de Constantinople. Can render you a great service. Till
+death.--Virginie."
+
+He began to swear: "Hang it all, what an infernal bore!" And seized with
+a fit of ill-temper, he went out again at once too irritated to work.
+
+For six weeks he had been trying to break off with her, without being
+able to wear out her eager attachment. She had had, after her fall, a
+frightful fit of remorse, and in three successive rendezvous had
+overwhelmed her lover with reproaches and maledictions. Bored by these
+scenes and already tired of this mature and melodramatic conquest, he
+had simply kept away, hoping to put an end to the adventure in that way.
+But then she had distractedly clutched on to him, throwing herself into
+this amour as a man throws himself into a river with a stone about his
+neck. He had allowed himself to be recaptured out of weakness and
+consideration for her, and she had enwrapt him in an unbridled and
+fatiguing passion, persecuting him with her affection. She insisted on
+seeing him every day, summoning him at all hours to a hasty meeting at a
+street corner, at a shop, or in a public garden. She would then repeat
+to him in a few words, always the same, that she worshiped and idolized
+him, and leave him, vowing that she felt so happy to have seen him. She
+showed herself quite another creature than he had fancied her, striving
+to charm him with puerile glances, a childishness in love affairs
+ridiculous at her age. Having remained up till then strictly honest,
+virgin in heart, inaccessible to all sentiment, ignorant of sensuality,
+a strange outburst of youthful tenderness, of ardent, naive and tardy
+love, made up of unlooked-for outbursts, exclamations of a girl of
+sixteen, graces grown old without ever having been young, had taken
+place in this staid woman. She wrote him ten letters a day, maddeningly
+foolish letters, couched in a style at once poetic and ridiculous, full
+of the pet names of birds and beasts.
+
+As soon as they found themselves alone together she would kiss him with
+the awkward prettiness of a great tomboy, pouting of the lips that were
+grotesque, and bounds that made her too full bosom shake beneath her
+bodice. He was above all, sickened with hearing her say, "My pet," "My
+doggie," "My jewel," "My birdie," "My treasure," "My own," "My
+precious," and to see her offer herself to him every time with a little
+comedy of infantile modesty, little movements of alarm that she thought
+pretty, and the tricks of a depraved schoolgirl. She would ask, "Whose
+mouth is this?" and when he did not reply "Mine," would persist till she
+made him grow pale with nervous irritability. She ought to have felt, it
+seemed to him, that in love extreme tact, skill, prudence, and exactness
+are requisite; that having given herself to him, she, a woman of mature
+years, the mother of a family, and holding a position in society, should
+yield herself gravely, with a kind of restrained eagerness, with tears,
+perhaps, but with those of Dido, not of Juliet.
+
+She kept incessantly repeating to him, "How I love you, my little pet.
+Do you love me as well, baby?"
+
+He could no longer bear to be called "my little pet," or "baby," without
+an inclination to call her "old girl."
+
+She would say to him, "What madness of me to yield to you. But I do not
+regret it. It is so sweet to love."
+
+All this seemed to George irritating from her mouth. She murmured, "It
+is so sweet to love," like the village maiden at a theater.
+
+Then she exasperated him by the clumsiness of her caresses. Having
+become all at once sensual beneath the kisses of this young fellow who
+had so warmed her blood, she showed an unskilled ardor and a serious
+application that made Du Roy laugh and think of old men trying to learn
+to read. When she would have gripped him in her embrace, ardently gazing
+at him with the deep and terrible glance of certain aging women,
+splendid in their last loves, when she should have bitten him with
+silent and quivering mouth, crushing him beneath her warmth and weight,
+she would wriggle about like a girl, and lisp with the idea of being
+pleasant: "Me love 'ou so, ducky, me love 'ou so. Have nice lovey-lovey
+with 'ittle wifey."
+
+He then would be seized with a wild desire to take his hat and rush out,
+slamming the door behind him.
+
+They had frequently met at the outset at the Rue de Constantinople; but
+Du Roy, who dreaded a meeting there with Madame de Marelle, now found a
+thousand pretexts for refusing such appointments. He had then to call on
+her almost every day at her home, now to lunch, now to dinner. She
+squeezed his hand under the table, held out her mouth to him behind the
+doors. But he, for his part, took pleasure above all in playing with
+Susan, who amused him with her whimsicalities. In her doll-like frame
+was lodged an active, arch, sly, and startling wit, always ready to show
+itself off. She joked at everything and everybody with biting readiness.
+George stimulated her imagination, excited it to irony and they
+understood one another marvelously. She kept appealing to him every
+moment, "I say, Pretty-boy. Come here, Pretty-boy."
+
+He would at once leave the mother and go to the daughter, who would
+whisper some bit of spitefulness, at which they would laugh heartily.
+
+However, disgusted with the mother's love, he began to feel an
+insurmountable repugnance for her; he could no longer see, hear, or
+think of her without anger. He ceased, therefore, to visit her, to
+answer her letters, or to yield to her appeals. She understood at length
+that he no longer loved her, and suffered terribly. But she grew
+insatiable, kept watch on him, followed him, waited for him in a cab
+with the blinds drawn down, at the door of the office, at the door of
+his dwelling, in the streets through which she hoped he might pass. He
+longed to ill-treat her, swear at her, strike her, say to her plainly,
+"I have had enough of it, you worry my life out." But he observed some
+circumspection on account of the _Vie Francaise_, and strove by dint of
+coolness, harshness, tempered by attention, and even rude words at
+times, to make her understand that there must be an end to it. She
+strove, above all, to devise schemes to allure him to a meeting in the
+Rue de Constantinople, and he was in a perpetual state of alarm lest the
+two women should find themselves some day face to face at the door.
+
+His affection for Madame de Marelle had, on the contrary, augmented
+during the summer. He called her his "young rascal," and she certainly
+charmed him. Their two natures had kindred links; they were both members
+of the adventurous race of vagabonds, those vagabonds in society who so
+strongly resemble, without being aware of it, the vagabonds of the
+highways. They had had a summer of delightful love-making, a summer of
+students on the spree, bolting off to lunch or dine at Argenteuil,
+Bougival, Maisons, or Poissy, and passing hours in a boat gathering
+flowers from the bank. She adored the fried fish served on the banks of
+the Seine, the stewed rabbits, the arbors in the tavern gardens, and the
+shouts of the boating men. He liked to start off with her on a bright
+day on a suburban line, and traverse the ugly environs of Paris,
+sprouting with tradesmen's hideous boxes, talking lively nonsense. And
+when he had to return to dine at Madame Walter's he hated the eager old
+mistress from the mere recollection of the young one whom he had left,
+and who had ravished his desires and harvested his ardor among the grass
+by the water side.
+
+He had fancied himself at length pretty well rid of Madame Walter, to
+whom he had expressed, in a plain and almost brutal fashion, his
+intentions of breaking off with her, when he received at the office of
+the paper the telegram summoning him to meet her at two o'clock at the
+Rue de Constantinople. He re-read it as he walked along, "Must see you
+to-day. Most important. Expect me two o'clock, Rue de Constantinople.
+Can render you a great service. Till death.--Virginie."
+
+He thought, "What does this old screech-owl want with me now? I wager
+she has nothing to tell me. She will only repeat that she adores me. Yet
+I must see what it means. She speaks of an important affair and a great
+service; perhaps it is so. And Clotilde, who is coming at four o'clock!
+I must get the first of the pair off by three at the latest. By Jove,
+provided they don't run up against one another! What bothers women are."
+
+And he reflected that, after all, his own wife was the only one who
+never bothered him at all. She lived in her own way, and seemed to be
+very fond of him during the hours destined to love, for she would not
+admit that the unchangeable order of the ordinary occupations of life
+should be interfered with.
+
+He walked slowly towards the rendezvous, mentally working himself up
+against Madame Walter. "Ah! I will just receive her nicely if she has
+nothing to tell me. Cambronne's language will be academical compared to
+mine. I will tell her that I will never set foot in her house again, to
+begin with."
+
+He went in to wait for Madame Walter. She arrived almost immediately,
+and as soon as she caught sight of him, she exclaimed, "Ah, you have had
+my telegram! How fortunate."
+
+He put on a grumpy expression, saying: "By Jove, yes; I found it at the
+office just as I was going to start off to the Chamber. What is it you
+want now?"
+
+She had raised her veil to kiss him, and drew nearer with the timid and
+submissive air of an oft-beaten dog.
+
+"How cruel you are towards me! How harshly you speak to me! What have I
+done to you? You cannot imagine how I suffer through you."
+
+
+He growled: "Don't go on again in that style."
+
+She was standing close to him, only waiting for a smile, a gesture, to
+throw herself into his arms, and murmured: "You should not have taken me
+to treat me thus, you should have left me sober-minded and happy as I
+was. Do you remember what you said to me in the church, and how you
+forced me into this house? And now, how do you speak to me? how do you
+receive me? Oh, God! oh, God! what pain you give me!"
+
+He stamped his foot, and exclaimed, violently: "Ah, bosh! That's enough
+of it! I can't see you a moment without hearing all that foolery. One
+would really think that I had carried you off at twelve years of age,
+and that you were as ignorant as an angel. No, my dear, let us put
+things in their proper light; there was no seduction of a young girl in
+the business. You gave yourself to me at full years of discretion. I
+thank you. I am infinitely grateful to you, but I am not bound to be
+tied till death to your petticoat strings. You have a husband and I a
+wife. We are neither of us free. We indulged in a mutual caprice, and it
+is over."
+
+"Oh, you are brutal, coarse, shameless," she said; "I was indeed no
+longer a young girl, but I had never loved, never faltered."
+
+He cut her short with: "I know it. You have told me so twenty times. But
+you had had two children."
+
+She drew back, exclaiming: "Oh, George, that is unworthy of you," and
+pressing her two hands to her heart, began to choke and sob.
+
+When he saw the tears come he took his hat from the corner of the
+mantelpiece, saying: "Oh, you are going to cry, are you? Good-bye, then.
+So it was to show off in this way that you came here, eh?"
+
+She had taken a step forward in order to bar the way, and quickly
+pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket, wiped her eyes with an
+abrupt movement. Her voice grew firmer by the effort of her will, as she
+said, in tones tremulous with pain, "No--I came to--to tell you some
+news--political news--to put you in the way of gaining fifty thousand
+francs--or even more--if you like."
+
+He inquired, suddenly softening, "How so? What do you mean?"
+
+"I caught, by chance, yesterday evening, some words between my husband
+and Laroche-Mathieu. They do not, besides, trouble themselves to hide
+much from me. But Walter recommended the Minister not to let you into
+the secret, as you would reveal everything."
+
+Du Roy had put his hat down on a chair, and was waiting very
+attentively.
+
+"What is up, then?" said he.
+
+"They are going to take possession of Morocco."
+
+"Nonsense! I lunched with Laroche-Mathieu, who almost dictated to me the
+intention of the Cabinet."
+
+"No, darling, they are humbugging you, because they were afraid lest
+their plan should be known."
+
+"Sit down," said George, and sat down himself in an armchair. Then she
+drew towards him a low stool, and sitting down on it between his knees,
+went on in a coaxing tone, "As I am always thinking about you, I pay
+attention now to everything that is whispered around me."
+
+And she began quietly to explain to him how she had guessed for some
+time past that something was being hatched unknown to him; that they
+were making use of him, while dreading his co-operation. She said, "You
+know, when one is in love, one grows cunning."
+
+At length, the day before, she had understood it all. It was a business
+transaction, a thumping affair, worked out on the quiet. She smiled now,
+happy in her dexterity, and grew excited, speaking like a financier's
+wife accustomed to see the market rigged, used to rises and falls that
+ruin, in two hours of speculation, thousands of little folk who have
+placed their savings in undertakings guaranteed by the names of men
+honored and respected in the world of politics of finance.
+
+She repeated, "Oh, it is very smart what they have been up to! Very
+smart. It was Walter who did it all, though, and he knows all about such
+things. Really, it is a first-class job."
+
+He grew impatient at these preliminaries, and exclaimed, "Come, tell me
+what it is at once."
+
+"Well, then, this is what it is. The Tangiers expedition was decided
+upon between them on the day that Laroche-Mathieu took the ministry of
+foreign affairs, and little by little they have bought up the whole of
+the Morocco loan, which had fallen to sixty-four or sixty-five francs.
+They have bought it up very cleverly by means of shady brokers, who did
+not awaken any mistrust. They have even sold the Rothschilds, who grew
+astonished to find Morocco stock always asked for, and who were
+astonished by having agents pointed out to them--all lame ducks. That
+quieted the big financiers. And now the expedition is to take place, and
+as soon as we are there the French Government will guarantee the debt.
+Our friends will gain fifty or sixty millions. You understand the
+matter? You understand, too, how afraid they have been of everyone, of
+the slightest indiscretion?"
+
+She had leaned her head against the young fellow's waistcoat, and with
+her arms resting on his legs, pressed up against him, feeling that she
+was interesting him now, and ready to do anything for a caress, for a
+smile.
+
+"You are quite certain?" he asked.
+
+"I should think so," she replied, with confidence.
+
+"It is very smart indeed. As to that swine of a Laroche-Mathieu, just
+see if I don't pay him out one of these days. Oh, the scoundrel, just
+let him look out for himself! He shall go through my hands." Then he
+began to reflect, and went on, "We ought, though, to profit by all
+this."
+
+"You can still buy some of the loan," said she; "it is only at
+seventy-two francs."
+
+He said, "Yes, but I have no money under my hand."
+
+She raised her eyes towards him, eyes full of entreaty, saying, "I have
+thought of that, darling, and if you were very nice, very nice, if you
+loved me a little, you would let me lend you some."
+
+He answered, abruptly and almost harshly, "As to that, no, indeed."
+
+She murmured, in an imploring voice: "Listen, there is something that
+you can do without borrowing money. I wanted to buy ten thousand francs'
+worth of the loan to make a little nest-egg. Well, I will take twenty
+thousand, and you shall stand in for half. You understand that I am not
+going to hand the money over to Walter. So there is nothing to pay for
+the present. If it all succeeds, you gain seventy thousand francs. If
+not, you will owe me ten thousand, which you can pay when you please."
+
+He remarked, "No, I do not like such pains."
+
+Then she argued, in order to get him to make up his mind. She proved to
+him that he was really pledging his word for ten thousand francs, that
+he was running risks, and that she was not advancing him anything, since
+the actual outlay was made by Walter's bank. She pointed out to him,
+besides, that it was he who had carried on in the _Vie Francaise_ the
+whole of the political campaign that had rendered the scheme possible.
+He would be very foolish not to profit by it. He still hesitated, and
+she added, "But just reflect that in reality it is Walter who is
+advancing you these ten thousand Francs, and that you have rendered him
+services worth a great deal more than that."
+
+"Very well, then," said he, "I will go halves with you. If we lose, I
+will repay you the ten thousand francs."
+
+She was so pleased that she rose, took his head in both her hands, and
+began to kiss him eagerly. He did not resist at first, but as she grew
+bolder, clasping him to her and devouring him with caresses, he
+reflected that the other would be there shortly, and that if he yielded
+he would lose time and exhaust in the arms of the old woman an ardor
+that he had better reserve for the young one. So he repulsed her gently,
+saying, "Come, be good now."
+
+She looked at him disconsolately, saying, "Oh, George, can't I even kiss
+you?"
+
+He replied, "No, not to-day. I have a headache, and it upsets me."
+
+She sat down again docilely between his knees, and asked, "Will you come
+and dine with us to-morrow? You would give me much pleasure."
+
+He hesitated, but dared not refuse, so said, "Certainly."
+
+"Thanks, darling."
+
+
+She rubbed her cheek slowly against his breast with a regular and
+coaxing movement, and one of her long black hairs caught in his
+waistcoat. She noticed it, and a wild idea crossed her mind, one of
+those superstitious notions which are often the whole of a woman's
+reason. She began to twist this hair gently round a button. Then she
+fastened another hair to the next button, and a third to the next. One
+to every button. He would tear them out of her head presently when he
+rose, and hurt her. What happiness! And he would carry away something of
+her without knowing it; he would carry away a tiny lock of her hair
+which he had never yet asked for. It was a tie by which she attached him
+to her, a secret, invisible bond, a talisman she left with him. Without
+willing it he would think of her, dream of her, and perhaps love her a
+little more the next day.
+
+He said, all at once, "I must leave you, because I am expected at the
+Chamber at the close of the sitting. I cannot miss attending to-day."
+
+She sighed, "Already!" and then added, resignedly, "Go, dear, but you
+will come to dinner to-morrow."
+
+And suddenly she drew aside. There was a short and sharp pain in her
+head, as though needles had been stuck into the skin. Her heart
+throbbed; she was pleased to have suffered a little by him. "Good-bye,"
+said she.
+
+He took her in his arms with a compassionate smile, and coldly kissed
+her eyes. But she, maddened by this contact, again murmured, "Already!"
+while her suppliant glance indicated the bedroom, the door of which was
+open.
+
+He stepped away from her, and said in a hurried tone, "I must be off; I
+shall be late."
+
+Then she held out her lips, which he barely brushed with his, and having
+handed her her parasol, which she was forgetting, he continued, "Come,
+come, we must be quick, it is past three o'clock."
+
+She went out before him, saying, "To-morrow, at seven," and he repeated,
+"To-morrow, at seven."
+
+They separated, she turning to the right and he to the left. Du Roy
+walked as far as the outer boulevard. Then he slowly strolled back along
+the Boulevard Malesherbes. Passing a pastry cook's, he noticed some
+_marrons glaces_ in a glass jar, and thought, "I will take in a pound
+for Clotilde."
+
+He bought a bag of these sweetmeats, which she was passionately fond of,
+and at four o'clock returned to wait for his young mistress. She was a
+little late, because her husband had come home for a week, and said,
+"Can you come and dine with us to-morrow? He will be so pleased to see
+you."
+
+"No, I dine with the governor. We have a heap of political and financial
+matters to talk over."
+
+She had taken off her bonnet, and was now laying aside her bodice, which
+was too tight for her. He pointed out the bag on the mantel-shelf,
+saying, "I have bought you some _marrons glaces_."
+
+She clapped her hands, exclaiming: "How nice; what a dear you are."
+
+She took one, tasted them, and said: "They are delicious. I feel sure I
+shall not leave one of them." Then she added, looking at George with
+sensual merriment: "You flatter all my vices, then."
+
+She slowly ate the sweetmeats, looking continually into the bag to see
+if there were any left. "There, sit down in the armchair," said she,
+"and I will squat down between your knees and nibble my bon-bons. I
+shall be very comfortable."
+
+He smiled, sat down, and took her between his knees, as he had had
+Madame Walter shortly before. She raised her head in order to speak to
+him, and said, with her mouth full: "Do you know, darling, I dreamt of
+you? I dreamt that we were both taking a long journey together on a
+camel. He had two humps, and we were each sitting astride on a hump,
+crossing the desert. We had taken some sandwiches in a piece of paper
+and some wine in a bottle, and were dining on our humps. But it annoyed
+me because we could not do anything else; we were too far off from one
+another, and I wanted to get down."
+
+He answered: "I want to get down, too."
+
+He laughed, amused at the story, and encouraged her to talk nonsense, to
+chatter, to indulge in all the child's play of conversation which lovers
+utter. The nonsense which he thought delightful in the mouth of Madame
+de Marelle would have exasperated him in that of Madame Walter.
+Clotilde, too, called him "My darling," "My pet," "My own." These words
+seemed sweet and caressing. Said by the other woman shortly before, they
+had irritated and sickened him. For words of love, which are always the
+same, take the flavor of the lips they come from.
+
+But he was thinking, even while amusing himself with this nonsense, of
+the seventy thousand francs he was going to gain, and suddenly checked
+the gabble of his companion by two little taps with his finger on her
+head. "Listen, pet," said he.
+
+"I am going to entrust you with a commission for your husband. Tell him
+from me to buy to-morrow ten thousand francs' worth of the Morocco loan,
+which is quoted at seventy-two, and I promise him that he will gain from
+sixty to eighty thousand francs before three months are over. Recommend
+the most positive silence to him. Tell him from me that the expedition
+to Tangiers is decided on, and that the French government will guarantee
+the debt of Morocco. But do not let anything out about it. It is a State
+secret that I am entrusting to you."
+
+She listened to him seriously, and murmured: "Thank you, I will tell my
+husband this evening. You can reckon on him; he will not talk. He is a
+very safe man, and there is no danger."
+
+But she had eaten all the sweetmeats. She crushed up the bag between her
+hands and flung it into the fireplace. Then she said, "Let us go to
+bed," and without getting up, began to unbutton George's waistcoat. All
+at once she stopped, and pulling out between two fingers a long hair,
+caught in a buttonhole, began to laugh. "There, you have brought away
+one of Madeleine's hairs. There is a faithful husband for you."
+
+Then, becoming once more serious, she carefully examined on her head the
+almost imperceptible thread she had found, and murmured: "It is not
+Madeleine's, it is too dark."
+
+He smiled, saying: "It is very likely one of the maid's."
+
+But she was inspecting the waistcoat with the attention of a detective,
+and collected a second hair rolled round a button; then she perceived a
+third, and pale and somewhat trembling, exclaimed: "Oh, you have been
+sleeping with a woman who has wrapped her hair round all your buttons."
+
+He was astonished, and gasped out: "No, you are mad."
+
+All at once he remembered, understood it all, was uneasy at first, and
+then denied the charge with a chuckle, not vexed at the bottom that she
+should suspect him of other loves. She kept on searching, and still
+found hairs, which she rapidly untwisted and threw on the carpet. She
+had guessed matters with her artful woman's instinct, and stammered out,
+vexed, angry, and ready to cry: "She loves you, she does--and she wanted
+you to take away something belonging to her. Oh, what a traitor you
+are!" But all at once she gave a cry, a shrill cry of nervous joy. "Oh!
+oh! it is an old woman--here is a white hair. Ah, you go in for old
+women now! Do they pay you, eh--do they pay you? Ah, so you have come to
+old women, have you? Then you have no longer any need of me. Keep the
+other one."
+
+She rose, ran to her bodice thrown onto a chair, and began hurriedly to
+put it on again. He sought to retain her, stammering confusedly: "But,
+no, Clo, you are silly. I do not know anything about it. Listen
+now--stay here. Come, now--stay here."
+
+She repeated: "Keep your old woman--keep her. Have a ring made out of
+her hair--out of her white hair. You have enough of it for that."
+
+With abrupt and swift movements she had dressed herself and put on her
+bonnet and veil, and when he sought to take hold of her, gave him a
+smack with all her strength. While he remained bewildered, she opened
+the door and fled.
+
+As soon as he was alone he was seized with furious anger against that
+old hag of a Mother Walter. Ah, he would send her about her business,
+and pretty roughly, too! He bathed his reddened cheek and then went out,
+in turn meditating vengeance. This time he would not forgive her. Ah,
+no! He walked down as far as the boulevard, and sauntering along stopped
+in front of a jeweler's shop to look at a chronometer he had fancied for
+a long time back, and which was ticketed eighteen hundred francs. He
+thought all at once, with a thrill of joy at his heart, "If I gain my
+seventy thousand francs I can afford it."
+
+And he began to think of all the things he would do with these seventy
+thousand francs. In the first place, he would get elected deputy. Then
+he would buy his chronometer, and would speculate on the Bourse, and
+would--
+
+He did not want to go to the office, preferring to consult Madeleine
+before seeing Walter and writing his article, and started for home. He
+had reached the Rue Druot, when he stopped short. He had forgotten to
+ask after the Count de Vaudrec, who lived in the Chaussee d'Antin. He
+therefore turned back, still sauntering, thinking of a thousand things,
+mainly pleasant, of his coming fortune, and also of that scoundrel of a
+Laroche-Mathieu, and that old stickfast of a Madame Walter. He was not
+uneasy about the wrath of Clotilde, knowing very well that she forgave
+quickly.
+
+He asked the doorkeeper of the house in which the Count de Vaudrec
+resided: "How is Monsieur de Vaudrec? I hear that he has been unwell
+these last few days."
+
+The man replied: "The Count is very bad indeed, sir. They are afraid he
+will not live through the night; the gout has mounted to his heart."
+
+Du Roy was so startled that he no longer knew what he ought to do.
+Vaudrec dying! Confused and disquieting ideas shot through his mind that
+he dared not even admit to himself. He stammered: "Thank you; I will
+call again," without knowing what he was saying.
+
+Then he jumped into a cab and was driven home. His wife had come in. He
+went into her room breathless, and said at once: "Have you heard?
+Vaudrec is dying."
+
+She was sitting down reading a letter. She raised her eyes, and
+repeating thrice: "Oh! what do you say, what do you say, what do you
+say?"
+
+"I say that Vaudrec is dying from a fit of gout that has flown to the
+heart." Then he added: "What do you think of doing?"
+
+She had risen livid, and with her cheeks shaken by a nervous quivering,
+then she began to cry terribly, hiding her face in her hands. She stood
+shaken by sobs and torn by grief. But suddenly she mastered her sorrow,
+and wiping her eyes, said: "I--I am going there--don't bother about
+me--I don't know when I shall be back--don't wait for me."
+
+He replied: "Very well, dear." They shook hands, and she went off so
+hurriedly that she forgot her gloves.
+
+George, having dined alone, began to write his article. He did so
+exactly in accordance with the minister's instructions, giving his
+readers to understand that the expedition to Morocco would not take
+place. Then he took it to the office, chatted for a few minutes with the
+governor, and went out smoking, light-hearted, though he knew not why.
+His wife had not come home, and he went to bed and fell asleep.
+
+Madeleine came in towards midnight. George, suddenly roused, sat up in
+bed. "Well?" he asked.
+
+He had never seen her so pale and so deeply moved. She murmured: "He is
+dead."
+
+"Ah!--and he did not say anything?"
+
+"Nothing. He had lost consciousness when I arrived."
+
+George was thinking. Questions rose to his lips that he did not dare to
+put. "Come to bed," said he.
+
+She undressed rapidly, and slipped into bed beside him, when he resumed:
+"Were there any relations present at his death-bed?"
+
+"Only a nephew."
+
+"Ah! Did he see this nephew often?"
+
+"Never. They had not met for ten years."
+
+"Had he any other relatives?"
+
+"No, I do not think so."
+
+"Then it is his nephew who will inherit?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"He was very well off, Vaudrec?"
+
+"Yes, very well off."
+
+"Do you know what his fortune was?"
+
+"No, not exactly. One or two millions, perhaps."
+
+He said no more. She blew out the light, and they remained stretched
+out, side by side, in the darkness--silent, wakeful, and reflecting. He
+no longer felt inclined for sleep. He now thought the seventy thousand
+francs promised by Madame Walter insignificant. Suddenly he fancied that
+Madeleine was crying. He inquired, in order to make certain: "Are you
+asleep?"
+
+"No."
+
+Her voice was tearful and quavering, and he said: "I forgot to tell you
+when I came in that your minister has let us in nicely."
+
+"How so?"
+
+He told her at length, with all details, the plan hatched between
+Laroche-Mathieu and Walter. When he had finished, she asked: "How do you
+know this?"
+
+He replied: "You will excuse me not telling you. You have your means of
+information, which I do not seek to penetrate. I have mine, which I wish
+to keep to myself. I can, in any case, answer for the correctness of my
+information."
+
+Then she murmured: "Yes, it is quite possible. I fancied they were up to
+something without us."
+
+But George, who no longer felt sleepy, had drawn closer to his wife, and
+gently kissed her ear. She repulsed him sharply. "I beg of you to leave
+me alone. I am not in a mood to romp." He turned resignedly towards the
+wall, and having closed his eyes, ended by falling asleep.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+
+The church was draped with black, and over the main entrance a huge
+scutcheon, surmounted by a coronet, announced to the passers-by that a
+gentleman was being buried. The ceremony was just over, and those
+present at it were slowly dispersing, defiling past the coffin and the
+nephew of the Count de Vaudrec, who was shaking extended hands and
+returning bows. When George Du Roy and his wife came out of the church
+they began to walk homeward side by side, silent and preoccupied. At
+length George said, as though speaking to himself: "Really, it is very
+strange."
+
+"What, dear?" asked Madeleine.
+
+"That Vaudrec should not have left us anything."
+
+She blushed suddenly, as though a rosy veil had been cast over her white
+skin, and said: "Why should he have left us anything? There was no
+reason for it." Then, after a few moments' silence, she went on: "There
+is perhaps a will in the hands of some notary. We know nothing as yet."
+
+He reflected for a short time, and then murmured: "Yes, it is probable,
+for, after all, he was the most intimate friend of us both. He dined
+with us twice a week, called at all hours, and was at home at our place,
+quite at home in every respect. He loved you like a father, and had no
+children, no brothers and sisters, nothing but a nephew, and a nephew he
+never used to see. Yes, there must be a will. I do not care for much,
+only a remembrance to show that he thought of us, that he loved us, that
+he recognized the affection we felt for him. He certainly owed us some
+such mark of friendship."
+
+She said in a pensive and indifferent manner: "It is possible, indeed,
+that there may be a will."
+
+As they entered their rooms, the man-servant handed a letter to
+Madeleine. She opened it, and then held it out to her husband. It ran as
+follows:
+
+    "Office of Maitre Lamaneur, Notary,
+    "17 Rue des Vosges.
+
+     "MADAME: I have the honor to beg you to favor me with a call
+     here on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday between the hours of
+     two and four, on business concerning you.--I am,
+     etc.--LAMANEUR."
+
+George had reddened in turn. "That is what it must be," said he. "It is
+strange, though, that it is you who are summoned, and not myself, who am
+legally the head of the family."
+
+She did not answer at once, but after a brief period of reflection,
+said: "Shall we go round there by and by?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+They set out as soon as they had lunched. When they entered Maitre
+Lamaneur's office, the head clerk rose with marked attention and ushered
+them in to his master. The notary was a round, little man, round all
+over. His head looked like a ball nailed onto another ball, which had
+legs so short that they almost resembled balls too. He bowed, pointed to
+two chairs, and turning towards Madeleine, said: "Madame, I have sent
+for you in order to acquaint you with the will of the Count de Vaudrec,
+in which you are interested."
+
+George could not help muttering: "I thought so."
+
+The notary went on: "I will read to you the document, which is very
+brief."
+
+He took a paper from a box in front of him, and read as follows:
+
+"I, the undersigned, Paul Emile Cyprien Gontran, Count de Vaudrec, being
+sound in body and mind, hereby express my last wishes. As death may
+overtake us at any moment, I wish, in provision of his attacks, to take
+the precaution of making my will, which will be placed in the hands of
+Maitre Lamaneur. Having no direct heirs, I leave the whole of my
+fortune, consisting of stock to the amount of six hundred thousand
+francs, and landed property worth about five hundred thousand francs, to
+Madame Claire Madeleine Du Roy without any charge or condition. I beg
+her to accept this gift of a departed friend as a proof of a deep,
+devoted, and respectful affection."
+
+The notary added: "That is all. This document is dated last August, and
+replaces one of the same nature, written two years back, with the name
+of Madame Claire Madeleine Forestier. I have this first will, too, which
+would prove, in the case of opposition on the part of the family, that
+the wishes of Count de Vaudrec did not vary."
+
+Madeleine, very pale, looked at her feet. George nervously twisted the
+end of his moustache between his fingers. The notary continued after a
+moment of silence: "It is, of course, understood, sir, that your wife
+cannot accept the legacy without your consent."
+
+Du Roy rose and said, dryly: "I must ask time to reflect."
+
+The notary, who was smiling, bowed, and said in an amiable tone: "I
+understand the scruples that cause you to hesitate, sir. I should say
+that the nephew of Monsieur de Vaudrec, who became acquainted this very
+morning with his uncle's last wishes, stated that he was prepared to
+respect them, provided the sum of a hundred thousand francs was allowed
+him. In my opinion the will is unattackable, but a law-suit would cause
+a stir, which it may perhaps suit you to avoid. The world often judges
+things ill-naturedly. In any case, can you give me your answer on all
+these points before Saturday?"
+
+George bowed, saying: "Yes, sir."
+
+Then he bowed again ceremoniously, ushered out his wife, who had
+remained silent, and went out himself with so stiff an air that the
+notary no longer smiled.
+
+As soon as they got home, Du Roy abruptly closed the door, and throwing
+his hat onto the bed, said: "You were Vaudrec's mistress."
+
+Madeleine, who was taking off her veil, turned round with a start,
+exclaiming: "I? Oh!"
+
+"Yes, you. A man does not leave the whole of his fortune to a woman,
+unless--"
+
+She was trembling, and was unable to remove the pins fastening the
+transparent tissue. After a moment's reflection she stammered, in an
+agitated tone: "Come, come--you are mad--you are--you are. Did not you,
+yourself, just now have hopes that he would leave us something?"
+
+George remained standing beside her, following all her emotions like a
+magistrate seeking to note the least faltering on the part of an
+accused. He said, laying stress on every word: "Yes, he might have left
+something to me, your husband--to me, his friend--you understand, but
+not to you--my wife. The distinction is capital, essential from the
+point of propriety and of public opinion."
+
+Madeleine in turn looked at him fixedly in the eyes, in profound and
+singular fashion, as though seeking to read something there, as though
+trying to discover that unknown part of a human being which we never
+fathom, and of which we can scarcely even catch rapid glimpses in those
+moments of carelessness or inattention, which are like doors left open,
+giving onto the mysterious depths of the mind. She said slowly: "It
+seems to me, however, that a legacy of this importance would have been
+looked on as at least equally strange left to you."
+
+He asked abruptly: "Why so?"
+
+She said: "Because--" hesitated, and then continued: "Because you are my
+husband, and have only known him for a short time, after all--because I
+have been his friend for a very long while--and because his first will,
+made during Forestier's lifetime, was already in my favor."
+
+George began to stride up and down. He said: "You cannot accept."
+
+She replied in a tone of indifference: "Precisely so; then it is not
+worth while waiting till Saturday, we can let Maitre Lamaneur know at
+once."
+
+He stopped short in front of her, and they again stood for some moments
+with their eyes riveted on one another, striving to fathom the
+impenetrable secret of their hearts, to cut down to the quick of their
+thoughts. They tried to see one another's conscience unveiled in an
+ardent and mute interrogation; the struggle of two beings who, living
+side by side, were always ignorant of one another, suspecting, sniffing
+round, watching, but never understanding one another to the muddy
+depths of their souls. And suddenly he murmured to her face, in a low
+voice: "Come, admit that you were De Vaudrec's mistress."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders, saying: "You are ridiculous. Vaudrec was
+very fond of me, very--but there was nothing more--never."
+
+He stamped his foot. "You lie. It is not possible."
+
+She replied, quietly: "It is so, though."
+
+He began to walk up and down again, and then, halting once more, said:
+"Explain, then, how he came to leave the whole of his fortune to you."
+
+She did so in a careless and disinterested tone, saying: "It is quite
+simple. As you said just now, he had only ourselves for friends, or
+rather myself, for he has known me from a child. My mother was a
+companion at the house of some relatives of his. He was always coming
+here, and as he had no natural heirs he thought of me. That there was a
+little love for me in the matter is possible. But where is the woman who
+has not been loved thus? Why should not such secret, hidden affection
+have placed my name at the tip of his pen when he thought of expressing
+his last wishes? He brought me flowers every Monday. You were not at all
+astonished at that, and yet he did not bring you any, did he? Now he has
+given me his fortune for the same reason, and because he had no one to
+offer it to. It would have been, on the contrary, very surprising for
+him to have left it to you. Why should he have done so? What were you to
+him?"
+
+She spoke so naturally and quietly that George hesitated. He said,
+however: "All the same, we cannot accept this inheritance under such
+conditions. The effect would be deplorable. All the world would believe
+it; all the world would gossip about it, and laugh at me. My fellow
+journalists are already only too disposed to feel jealous of me and to
+attack me. I should have, before anyone, a care for my honor and my
+reputation. It is impossible for me to allow my wife to accept a legacy
+of this kind from a man whom public report has already assigned to her
+as a lover. Forestier might perhaps have tolerated it, but not me."
+
+She murmured, mildly: "Well, dear, do not let us accept it. It will be a
+million the less in our pockets, that is all."
+
+He was still walking up and down, and began to think aloud, speaking for
+his wife's benefit without addressing himself directly to her: "Yes, a
+million, so much the worse. He did not understand, in making his will,
+what a fault in tact, what a breach of propriety he was committing. He
+did not see in what a false, a ridiculous position he would place me.
+Everything is a matter of detail in this life. He should have left me
+half; that would have settled everything."
+
+He sat down, crossed his legs, and began to twist the end of his
+moustache, as he did in moments of boredom, uneasiness, and difficult
+reflection. Madeleine took up some embroidery at which she worked from
+time to time, and said, while selecting her wools: "I have only to hold
+my tongue. It is for you to reflect."
+
+He was a long time without replying, and then said, hesitatingly: "The
+world will never understand that Vaudrec made you his sole heiress, and
+that I allowed it. To receive his fortune in that way would be an
+acknowledgment on your part of a guilty connection, and on mine of a
+shameful complaisance. Do you understand now how our acceptance of it
+would be interpreted? It would be necessary to find a side issue, some
+clever way of palliating matters. To let it go abroad, for instance,
+that he had divided the money between us, leaving half to the husband
+and half to the wife."
+
+She observed: "I do not see how that can be done, since the will is
+plain."
+
+"Oh, it is very simple. You could leave me half the inheritance by a
+deed of gift. We have no children, so it is feasible. In that way the
+mouth of public malevolence would be closed."
+
+She replied, somewhat impatiently: "I do not see any the more how the
+mouth of public malevolence is to be closed, since the will is there,
+signed by Vaudrec?"
+
+He said, angrily: "Have we any need to show it and to paste it up on all
+the walls? You are really stupid. We will say that the Count de Vaudrec
+left his fortune between us. That is all. But you cannot accept this
+legacy without my authorization. I will only give it on condition of a
+division, which will hinder me from becoming a laughing stock."
+
+She looked at him again with a penetrating glance, and said: "As you
+like. I am agreeable."
+
+Then he rose, and began to walk up and down again. He seemed to be
+hesitating anew, and now avoided his wife's penetrating glance. He was
+saying: "No, certainly not. Perhaps it would be better to give it up
+altogether. That is more worthy, more correct, more honorable. And yet
+by this plan nothing could be imagined against us--absolutely nothing.
+The most unscrupulous people could only admit things as they were." He
+paused in front of Madeleine. "Well, then, if you like, darling, I will
+go back alone to Maitre Lamaneur to explain matters to him and consult
+him. I will tell him of my scruples, and add that we have arrived at the
+notion of a division to prevent gossip. From the moment that I accept
+half this inheritance, it is plain that no one has the right to smile.
+It is equal to saying aloud: 'My wife accepts because I accept--I, her
+husband, the best judge of what she may do without compromising herself.
+Otherwise a scandal would have arisen.'"
+
+Madeleine merely murmured: "Just as you like."
+
+He went on with a flow of words: "Yes, it is all as clear as daylight
+with this arrangement of a division in two. We inherit from a friend who
+did not want to make any difference between us, any distinction; who did
+not wish to appear to say: 'I prefer one or the other after death, as I
+did during life.' He liked the wife best, be it understood, but in
+leaving the fortune equally to both, he wished plainly to express that
+his preference was purely platonic. And you may be sure that, if he had
+thought of it, that is what he would have done. He did not reflect. He
+did not foresee the consequences. As you said very appropriately just
+now, it was you to whom he offered flowers every week, it is to you he
+wished to leave his last remembrance, without taking into consideration
+that--"
+
+She checked him, with a shade of irritation: "All right; I understand.
+You have no need to make so many explanations. Go to the notary's at
+once."
+
+He stammered, reddening: "You are right. I am off."
+
+He took his hat, and then, at the moment of going out, said: "I will
+try to settle the difficulty with the nephew for fifty thousand francs,
+eh?"
+
+She replied, with dignity: "No. Give him the hundred thousand francs he
+asks. Take them from my share, if you like."
+
+He muttered, shamefacedly: "Oh, no; we will share that. Giving up fifty
+thousand francs apiece, there still remains to us a clear million." He
+added: "Good-bye, then, for the present, Made." And he went off to
+explain to the notary the plan which he asserted had been imagined by
+his wife.
+
+They signed the next day a deed of gift of five hundred thousand francs,
+which Madeleine Du Roy abandoned to her husband. On leaving the notary's
+office, as the day was fine, George suggested that they should walk as
+far as the boulevards. He showed himself pleasant and full of attention
+and affection. He laughed, pleased at everything, while she remained
+thoughtful and somewhat severe.
+
+It was a somewhat cool autumn day. The people in the streets seemed in a
+hurry, and walked rapidly. Du Roy led his wife to the front of the shop
+in which he had so often gazed at the longed-for chronometer. "Shall I
+stand you some jewelry?" said he.
+
+She replied, indifferently: "Just as you like."
+
+They went in, and he asked: "What would you prefer--a necklace, a
+bracelet, or a pair of earrings?"
+
+The sight of the trinkets in gold, and precious stones overcame her
+studied coolness, and she scanned with kindling and inquisitive eyes the
+glass cases filled with jewelry. And, suddenly moved by desire, said:
+"That is a very pretty bracelet."
+
+It was a chain of quaint pattern, every link of which had a different
+stone set in it.
+
+George inquired: "How much is this bracelet?"
+
+"Three thousand francs, sir," replied the jeweler.
+
+"If you will let me have it for two thousand five hundred, it is a
+bargain."
+
+The man hesitated, and then replied: "No, sir; that is impossible."
+
+Du Roy went on: "Come, you can throw in that chronometer for fifteen
+hundred; that will make four thousand, which I will pay at once. Is it
+agreed? If not, I will go somewhere else."
+
+The jeweler, in a state of perplexity, ended by agreeing, saying: "Very
+good, sir."
+
+And the journalist, after giving his address, added: "You will have the
+monogram, G. R. C., engraved on the chronometer under a baron's
+coronet."
+
+Madeleine, surprised, began to smile, and when they went out, took his
+arm with a certain affection. She found him really clever and capable.
+Now that he had an income, he needed a title. It was quite right.
+
+The jeweler bowed them out, saying: "You can depend upon me; it will be
+ready on Thursday, Baron."
+
+They paused before the Vaudeville, at which a new piece was being
+played.
+
+"If you like," said he, "we will go to the theater this evening. Let us
+see if we can have a box."
+
+They took a box, and he continued: "Suppose we dine at a restaurant."
+
+"Oh, yes; I should like that!"
+
+
+He was as happy as a king, and sought what else they could do. "Suppose
+we go and ask Madame de Marelle to spend the evening with us. Her
+husband is at home, I hear, and I shall be delighted to see him."
+
+They went there. George, who slightly dreaded the first meeting with his
+mistress, was not ill-pleased that his wife was present to prevent
+anything like an explanation. But Clotilde did not seem to remember
+anything against him, and even obliged her husband to accept the
+invitation.
+
+The dinner was lovely, and the evening pleasant. George and Madeleine
+got home late. The gas was out, and to light them upstairs, the
+journalist struck a wax match from time to time. On reaching the
+first-floor landing the flame, suddenly starting forth as he struck,
+caused their two lit-up faces to show in the glass standing out against
+the darkness of the staircase. They resembled phantoms, appearing and
+ready to vanish into the night.
+
+Du Roy raised his hand to light up their reflections, and said, with a
+
+laugh of triumph: "Behold the millionaires!"
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+
+The conquest of Morocco had been accomplished two months back. France,
+mistress of Tangiers, held the whole of the African shore of the
+Mediterranean as far as Tripoli, and had guaranteed the debt of the
+newly annexed territory. It was said that two ministers had gained a
+score of millions over the business, and Laroche-Mathieu was almost
+openly named. As to Walter, no one in Paris was ignorant of the fact
+that he had brought down two birds with one stone, and made thirty or
+forty millions out of the loan and eight to ten millions out of the
+copper and iron mines, as well as out of a large stretch of territory
+bought for almost nothing prior to the conquest, and sold after the
+French occupation to companies formed to promote colonization. He had
+become in a few days one of the lords of creation, one of those
+omnipotent financiers more powerful than monarchs who cause heads to
+bow, mouths to stammer, and all that is base, cowardly, and envious, to
+well up from the depths of the human heart. He was no longer the Jew
+Walter, head of a shady bank, manager of a fishy paper, deputy suspected
+of illicit jobbery. He was Monsieur Walter, the wealthy Israelite.
+
+He wished to show himself off. Aware of the monetary embarrassments of
+the Prince de Carlsbourg, who owned one of the finest mansions in the
+Rue de Faubourg, Saint Honore, with a garden giving onto the Champs
+Elysees, he proposed to him to buy house and furniture, without shifting
+a stick, within twenty-four hours. He offered three millions, and the
+prince, tempted by the amount, accepted. The following day Walter
+installed himself in his new domicile. Then he had another idea, the
+idea of a conqueror who wishes to conquer Paris, the idea of a
+Bonaparte. The whole city was flocking at that moment to see a great
+painting by the Hungarian artist, Karl Marcowitch, exhibited at a
+dealer's named Jacques Lenoble, and representing Christ walking on the
+water. The art critics, filled with enthusiasm, declared the picture the
+most superb masterpiece of the century. Walter bought it for four
+hundred thousand francs, and took it away, thus cutting suddenly short a
+flow of public curiosity, and forcing the whole of Paris to speak of him
+in terms of envy, blame, or approbation. Then he had it announced in the
+papers that he would invite everyone known in Parisian society to view
+at his house some evening this triumph of the foreign master, in order
+that it might not be said that he had hidden away a work of art. His
+house would be open; let those who would, come. It would be enough to
+show at the door the letter of invitation.
+
+This ran as follows: "Monsieur and Madame Walter beg of you to honor
+them with your company on December 30th, between 9 and 12 p. m., to view
+the picture by Karl Marcowitch, 'Jesus Walking on the Waters,' lit up by
+electric light." Then, as a postscript, in small letters: "Dancing after
+midnight." So those who wished to stay could, and out of these the
+
+Walters would recruit their future acquaintances. The others would view
+the picture, the mansion, and their owners with worldly curiosity,
+insolent and indifferent, and would then go away as they came. But Daddy
+Walter knew very well that they would return later on, as they had come
+to his Israelite brethren grown rich like himself. The first thing was
+that they should enter his house, all these titled paupers who were
+mentioned in the papers, and they would enter it to see the face of a
+man who had gained fifty millions in six weeks; they would enter it to
+see and note who else came there; they would also enter it because he
+had had the good taste and dexterity to summon them to admire a
+Christian picture at the home of a child of Israel. He seemed to say to
+them: "You see I have given five hundred thousand francs for the
+religious masterpiece of Marcowitch, 'Jesus Walking on the Waters.' And
+this masterpiece will always remain before my eyes in the house of the
+Jew, Walter."
+
+In society there had been a great deal of talk over these invitations,
+which, after all, did not pledge one in any way. One could go there as
+one went to see watercolors at Monsieur Petit's. The Walters owned a
+masterpiece, and threw open their doors one evening so that everyone
+could admire it. Nothing could be better. The _Vie Francaise_ for a
+fortnight past had published every morning a note on this coming event
+of the 30th December, and had striven to kindle public curiosity.
+
+Du Roy was furious at the governor's triumph. He had thought himself
+rich with the five hundred thousand francs extorted from his wife, and
+now he held himself to be poor, fearfully poor, when comparing his
+modest fortune with the shower of millions that had fallen around him,
+without his being able to pick any of it up. His envious hatred waxed
+daily. He was angry with everyone--with the Walters, whom he had not
+been to see at their new home; with his wife, who, deceived by
+Laroche-Mathieu, had persuaded him not to invest in the Morocco loan;
+and, above all, with the minister who had tricked him, who had made use
+of him, and who dined at his table twice a week. George was his agent,
+his secretary, his mouthpiece, and when he was writing from his
+dictation felt wild longings to strangle this triumphant foe. As a
+minister, Laroche-Mathieu had shown modesty in mien, and in order to
+retain his portfolio, did not let it be seen that he was gorged with
+gold. But Du Roy felt the presence of this gold in the haughtier tone of
+the parvenu barrister, in his more insolent gestures, his more daring
+affirmation, his perfect self-confidence. Laroche-Mathieu now reigned in
+the Du Roy household, having taken the place and the days of the Count
+de Vaudrec, and spoke to the servants like a second master. George
+tolerated him with a quiver running through him like a dog who wants to
+bite, and dares not. But he was often harsh and brutal towards
+Madeleine, who shrugged her shoulders and treated him like a clumsy
+child. She was, besides, astonished at his continual ill-humor, and
+repeated: "I cannot make you out. You are always grumbling, and yet your
+position is a splendid one."
+
+He would turn his back without replying.
+
+He had declared at first that he would not go to the governor's
+entertainment, and that he would never more set foot in the house of
+that dirty Jew. For two months Madame Walter had been writing to him
+daily, begging him to come, to make an appointment with her whenever he
+liked, in order, she said, that she might hand over the seventy thousand
+francs she had gained for him. He did not reply, and threw these
+despairing letters into the fire. Not that he had renounced receiving
+his share of their profits, but he wanted to madden her, to treat her
+with contempt, to trample her under feet. She was too rich. He wanted to
+show his pride. The very day of the exhibition of the picture, as
+Madeleine pointed out to him that he was very wrong not to go, he
+replied: "Hold your tongue. I shall stay at home."
+
+Then after dinner he suddenly said: "It will be better after all to
+undergo this affliction. Get dressed at once."
+
+She was expecting this, and said: "I will be ready in a quarter of an
+hour." He dressed growling, and even in the cab he continued to spit out
+his spleen.
+
+The court-yard of the Carlsbourg mansion was lit up by four electric
+lights, looking like four small bluish moons, one at each corner. A
+splendid carpet was laid down the high flight of steps, on each of which
+a footman in livery stood motionless as a statue.
+
+Du Roy muttered: "Here's a fine show-off for you," and shrugged his
+shoulders, his heart contracted by jealousy.
+
+His wife said: "Be quiet and do likewise."
+
+They went in and handed their heavy outer garments to the footmen who
+advanced to meet them. Several ladies were also there with their
+husbands, freeing themselves from their furs. Murmurs of: "It is very
+beautiful, very beautiful," could be heard. The immense entrance hall
+was hung with tapestry, representing the adventures of Mars and Venus.
+To the right and left were the two branches of a colossal double
+staircase, which met on the first floor. The banisters were a marvel of
+wrought-iron work, the dull old gilding of which glittered with discreet
+luster beside the steps of pink marble. At the entrance to the
+reception-rooms two little girls, one in a pink folly costume, and the
+other in a blue one, offered a bouquet of flowers to each lady. This was
+held to be charming.
+
+The reception-rooms were already crowded. Most of the ladies were in
+outdoor dress, showing that they came there as to any other exhibition.
+Those who intended remaining for the ball were bare armed and bare
+necked. Madame Walter, surrounded by her friends, was in the second room
+acknowledging the greetings of the visitors. Many of these did not know
+her, and walked about as though in a museum, without troubling
+themselves about the masters of the house.
+
+When she perceived Du Roy she grew livid, and made a movement as though
+to advance towards him. Then she remained motionless, awaiting him. He
+greeted her ceremoniously, while Madeleine overwhelmed her with
+affection and compliments. Then George left his wife with her and lost
+himself in the crowd, to listen to the spiteful things that assuredly
+must be said.
+
+Five reception-rooms opened one into the other, hung with costly stuffs,
+Italian embroideries, or oriental rugs of varying shades and styles, and
+bearing on their walls pictures by old masters. People stopped, above
+all, to admire a small room in the Louis XVI style, a kind of boudoir,
+lined with silk, with bouquets of roses on a pale blue ground. The
+furniture, of gilt wood, upholstered in the same material, was admirably
+finished.
+
+George recognized some well-known people--the Duchess de Ferracine, the
+Count and Countess de Ravenal, General Prince d'Andremont, the beautiful
+Marchioness des Dunes, and all those folk who are seen at first
+performances. He was suddenly seized by the arm, and a young and pleased
+voice murmured in his ear: "Ah! here you are at last, you naughty
+Pretty-boy. How is it one no longer sees you?"
+
+It was Susan Walter, scanning him with her enamel-like eyes from beneath
+the curly cloud of her fair hair. He was delighted to see her again, and
+frankly pressed her hand. Then, excusing himself, he said: "I have not
+been able to come. I have had so much to do during the past two months
+that I have not been out at all."
+
+She said, with her serious air: "That is wrong, very wrong. You have
+caused us a great deal of pain, for we adore you, mamma and I. As to
+myself, I cannot get on without you. When you are not here I am bored
+to death. You see I tell you so plainly, so that you may no longer have
+the right of disappearing like that. Give me your arm, I will show you
+'Jesus Walking on the Waters' myself; it is right away at the end,
+beyond the conservatory. Papa had it put there so that they should be
+obliged to see everything before they could get to it. It is astonishing
+how he is showing off this place."
+
+They went on quietly among the crowd. People turned round to look at
+this good-looking fellow and this charming little doll. A well-known
+painter said: "What a pretty pair. They go capitally together."
+
+George thought: "If I had been really clever, this is the girl I should
+have married. It was possible. How is it I did not think of it? How did
+I come to take that other one? What a piece of stupidity. We always act
+too impetuously, and never reflect sufficiently."
+
+And envy, bitter envy, sank drop by drop into his mind like a gall,
+embittering all his pleasures, and rendering existence hateful.
+
+Susan was saying: "Oh! do come often, Pretty-boy; we will go in for all
+manner of things now, papa is so rich. We will amuse ourselves like
+madcaps."
+
+He answered, still following up his idea: "Oh! you will marry now. You
+will marry some prince, a ruined one, and we shall scarcely see one
+another."
+
+She exclaimed, frankly: "Oh! no, not yet. I want someone who pleases me,
+who pleases me a great deal, who pleases me altogether. I am rich enough
+for two."
+
+He smiled with a haughty and ironical smile, and began to point out to
+her people that were passing, very noble folk who had sold their rusty
+titles to the daughters of financiers like herself, and who now lived
+with or away from their wives, but free, impudent, known, and respected.
+He concluded with: "I will not give you six months before you are caught
+with that same bait. You will be a marchioness, a duchess or a princess,
+and will look down on me from a very great height, miss."
+
+She grew indignant, tapped him on the arm with her fan, and vowed that
+she would marry according to the dictates of her heart.
+
+He sneered: "We shall see about all that, you are too rich."
+
+She remarked: "But you, too, have come in for an inheritance."
+
+He uttered in a tone of contempt: "Oh! not worth speaking about.
+Scarcely twenty thousand francs a year, not much in these days."
+
+"But your wife has also inherited."
+
+"Yes. A million between us. Forty thousand francs' income. We cannot
+even keep a carriage on it."
+
+They had reached the last of the reception-rooms, and before them lay
+the conservatory--a huge winter garden full of tall, tropical trees,
+sheltering clumps of rare flowers. Penetrating beneath this somber
+greenery, through which the light streamed like a flood of silver, they
+breathed the warm odor of damp earth, and an air heavy with perfumes. It
+was a strange sensation, at once sweet, unwholesome, and pleasant, of a
+nature that was artificial, soft, and enervating. They walked on carpets
+exactly like moss, between two thick clumps of shrubs. All at once Du
+Roy noticed on his left, under a wide dome of palms, a broad basin of
+white marble, large enough to bathe in, and on the edge of which four
+large Delft swans poured forth water through their open beaks. The
+bottom of the basin was strewn with golden sand, and swimming about in
+it were some enormous goldfish, quaint Chinese monsters, with projecting
+eyes and scales edged with blue, mandarins of the waters, who recalled,
+thus suspended above this gold-colored ground, the embroideries of the
+Flowery Land. The journalist halted with beating heart. He said to
+himself: "Here is luxury. These are the houses in which one ought to
+live. Others have arrived at it. Why should not I?"
+
+He thought of means of doing so; did not find them at once, and grew
+irritated at his powerlessness. His companion, somewhat thoughtful, did
+not speak. He looked at her in sidelong fashion, and again thought: "To
+marry this little puppet would suffice."
+
+But Susan all at once seemed to wake up. "Attention!" said she; and
+pushing George through a group which barred their way, she made him turn
+sharply to the right.
+
+
+In the midst of a thicket of strange plants, which extended in the air
+their quivering leaves, opening like hands with slender fingers, was
+seen the motionless figure of a man standing on the sea. The effect was
+surprising. The picture, the sides of which were hidden in the moving
+foliage, seemed a black spot upon a fantastic and striking horizon. It
+had to be carefully looked at in order to understand it. The frame cut
+the center of the ship in which were the apostles, scarcely lit up by
+the oblique rays from a lantern, the full light of which one of them,
+seated on the bulwarks, was casting upon the approaching Savior. Jesus
+was advancing with his foot upon a wave, which flattened itself
+submissively and caressingly beneath the divine tread. All was dark
+about him. Only the stars shone in the sky. The faces of the apostles,
+in the vague light of the lantern, seemed convulsed with surprise. It
+was a wonderful and unexpected work of a master; one of those works
+which agitate the mind and give you something to dream of for years.
+People who look at such things at the outset remain silent, and then go
+thoughtfully away, and only speak later on of the worth of the painting.
+Du Roy, having contemplated it for some time, said: "It is nice to be
+
+able to afford such trifles."
+
+But as he was pushed against by others coming to see it, he went away,
+still keeping on his arm Susan's little hand, which he squeezed
+slightly. She said: "Would you like a glass of champagne? Come to the
+refreshment buffet. We shall find papa there."
+
+And they slowly passed back through the saloons, in which the crowd was
+increasing, noisy and at home, the fashionable crowd of a public fete.
+George all at once thought he heard a voice say: "It is Laroche-Mathieu
+and Madame Du Roy." These words flitted past his ear like those distant
+sounds borne by the wind. Whence came they? He looked about on all
+sides, and indeed saw his wife passing by on the minister's arm. They
+were chatting intimately in a low tone, smiling, and with their eyes
+fixed on one another's. He fancied he noticed that people whispered as
+they looked at them, and he felt within him a stupid and brutal desire
+to spring upon them, these two creatures, and smite them down. She was
+making him ridiculous. He thought of Forestier. Perhaps they were
+saying: "That cuckold Du Roy." Who was she? A little parvenu sharp
+enough, but really not over-gifted with parts. People visited him
+because they feared him, because they felt his strength, but they must
+speak in unrestrained fashion of this little journalistic household. He
+would never make any great way with this woman, who would always render
+his home a suspected one, who would always compromise herself, whose
+very bearing betrayed the woman of intrigue. She would now be a cannon
+ball riveted to his ankle. Ah! if he had only known, if he had only
+guessed. What a bigger game he would have played. What a fine match he
+might have won with this little Susan for stakes. How was it he had been
+blind enough not to understand that?
+
+They reached the dining-room--an immense apartment, with marble columns,
+and walls hung with old tapestry. Walter perceived his descriptive
+writer, and darted forward to take him by the hands. He was intoxicated
+with joy. "Have you seen everything? Have you shown him everything,
+Susan? What a lot of people, eh, Pretty-boy! Did you see the Prince de
+Guerche? He came and drank a glass of punch here just now," he
+exclaimed.
+
+Then he darted towards the Senator Rissolin, who was towing along his
+wife, bewildered, and bedecked like a stall at a fair. A gentleman bowed
+to Susan, a tall, thin fellow, slightly bald, with yellow whiskers, and
+that air of good breeding which is everywhere recognizable. George heard
+his name mentioned, the Marquis de Cazolles, and became suddenly jealous
+of him. How long had she known him? Since her accession to wealth, no
+doubt. He divined a suitor.
+
+He was taken by the arm. It was Norbert de Varenne. The old poet was
+airing his long hair and worn dress-coat with a weary and indifferent
+air. "This is what they call amusing themselves," said he. "By and by
+they will dance, and then they will go bed, and the little girls will be
+delighted. Have some champagne. It is capital."
+
+He had a glass filled for himself, and bowing to Du Roy, who had taken
+another, said: "I drink to the triumph of wit over wealth." Then he
+added softly: "Not that wealth on the part of others hurts me; or that I
+am angry at it. But I protest on principle."
+
+George no longer listened to him. He was looking for Susan, who had just
+disappeared with the Marquis de Cazolles, and abruptly quitting Norbert
+de Varenne, set out in pursuit of the young girl. A dense crowd in quest
+of refreshments checked him. When he at length made his way through it,
+he found himself face to face with the de Marelles. He was still in the
+habit of meeting the wife, but he had not for some time past met the
+husband, who seized both his hands, saying: "How can I thank you, my
+dear fellow, for the advice you gave me through Clotilde. I have gained
+close on a hundred thousand francs over the Morocco loan. It is to you I
+owe them. You are a valuable friend."
+
+Several men turned round to look at the pretty and elegant brunette. Du
+Roy replied: "In exchange for that service, my dear fellow, I am going
+to take your wife, or rather to offer her my arm. Husband and wife are
+best apart, you know."
+
+Monsieur de Marelle bowed, saying: "You are quite right. If I lose you,
+we will meet here in an hour."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+The pair plunged into the crowd, followed by the husband. Clotilde kept
+saying: "How lucky these Walters are! That is what it is to have
+business intelligence."
+
+George replied: "Bah! Clever men always make a position one way or
+another."
+
+She said: "Here are two girls who will have from twenty to thirty
+millions apiece. Without reckoning that Susan is pretty."
+
+He said nothing. His own idea, coming from another's mouth, irritated
+him. She had not yet seen the picture of "Jesus Walking on the Water,"
+and he proposed to take her to it. They amused themselves by talking
+scandal of the people they recognized, and making fun of those they did
+not. Saint-Potin passed by, bearing on the lapel of his coat a number of
+
+decorations, which greatly amused them. An ex-ambassador following him
+showed far fewer.
+
+Du Roy remarked: "What a mixed salad of society."
+
+Boisrenard, who shook hands with him, had also adorned his buttonhole
+with the green and yellow ribbon worn on the day of the duel. The
+Viscountess de Percemur, fat and bedecked, was chatting with a duke in
+the little Louis XVI boudoir.
+
+George whispered: "An amorous _tete-a-tete_."
+
+But on passing through the greenhouse, he noticed his wife seated beside
+Laroche-Mathieu, both almost hidden behind a clump of plants. They
+seemed to be asserting: "We have appointed a meeting here, a meeting in
+public. For we do not care a rap what people think."
+
+Madame de Marelle agreed that the Jesus of Karl Marcowitch was
+astounding, and they retraced their steps. They had lost her husband.
+George inquired: "And Laurine, is she still angry with me?"
+
+"Yes, still so as much as ever. She refuses to see you, and walks away
+when you are spoken of."
+
+He did not reply. The sudden enmity of this little girl vexed and
+oppressed him. Susan seized on them as they passed through a doorway,
+exclaiming: "Ah! here you are. Well, Pretty-boy, you must remain alone.
+I am going to take away Clotilde to show her my room."
+
+The two moved rapidly away, gliding through the throng with that
+undulating snake-like motion women know how to adopt in a crowd. Almost
+immediately a voice murmured: "George."
+
+It was Madame Walter, who went on in a low tone: "Oh! how ferociously
+cruel you are. How you do make me suffer without reason. I told Susan to
+get your companion away in order to be able to say a word to you.
+Listen, I must speak to you this evening, I must, or you don't know what
+I will do. Go into the conservatory. You will find a door on the left
+leading into the garden. Follow the path in front of it. At the end of
+it you will find an arbor. Wait for me there in ten minutes' time. If
+you won't, I declare to you that I will create a scene here at once."
+
+He replied loftily: "Very well. I will be at the spot you mention within
+ten minutes."
+
+And they separated. But Jacques Rival almost made him behindhand. He had
+taken him by the arm and was telling him a lot of things in a very
+excited manner. He had no doubt come from the refreshment buffet. At
+length Du Roy left him in the hands of Monsieur de Marelle, whom he had
+come across, and bolted. He still had to take precautions not to be seen
+by his wife or Laroche-Mathieu. He succeeded, for they seemed deeply
+interested in something, and found himself in the garden. The cold air
+struck him like an ice bath. He thought: "Confound it, I shall catch
+cold," and tied his pocket-handkerchief round his neck. Then he slowly
+went along the walk, seeing his way with difficulty after coming out of
+the bright light of the reception-rooms. He could distinguish to the
+right and left leafless shrubs, the branches of which were quivering.
+Light filtered through their branches, coming from the windows of the
+mansion. He saw something white in the middle of the path in front of
+him, and Madame Walter, with bare arms and bosom, said in a quivering
+voice; "Ah here you are; you want to kill me, then?"
+
+He answered quickly: "No melodramatics, I beg of you, or I shall bolt at
+once."
+
+She had seized him round the neck, and with her lips close to his, said:
+"But what have I done to you? You are behaving towards me like a wretch.
+What have I done to you?"
+
+He tried to repulse her. "You wound your hair round every one of my
+buttons the last time I saw you, and it almost brought about a rupture
+between my wife and myself."
+
+She was surprised for a moment, and then, shaking her head, said: "Oh!
+your wife would not mind. It was one of your mistresses who had made a
+scene over it."
+
+"I have no mistresses."
+
+"Nonsense. But why do you no longer ever come to see me? Why do you
+refuse to come to dinner, even once a week, with me? What I suffer is
+fearful. I love you to that degree that I no longer have a thought that
+is not for you; that I see you continually before my eyes; that I can no
+longer say a word without being afraid of uttering your name. You cannot
+understand that, I know. It seems to me that I am seized in some one's
+clutches, tied up in a sack, I don't know what. Your remembrance, always
+with me, clutches my throat, tears my chest, breaks my legs so as to no
+longer leave me strength to walk. And I remain like an animal sitting
+all day on a chair thinking of you."
+
+He looked at her with astonishment. She was no longer the big frolicsome
+tomboy he had known, but a bewildered despairing woman, capable of
+anything. A vague project, however, arose in his mind. He replied: "My
+dear, love is not eternal. We take and we leave one another. But when it
+drags on, as between us two, it becomes a terrible drag. I will have no
+more of it. That is the truth. However, if you can be reasonable, and
+receive and treat me as a friend, I will come as I used to. Do you feel
+capable of that?"
+
+She placed her two bare arms on George's coat, and murmured: "I am
+capable of anything in order to see you."
+
+"Then it is agreed on," said he; "we are friends, and nothing more."
+
+She stammered: "It is agreed on;" and then, holding out her lips to him:
+"One more kiss; the last."
+
+He refused gently, saying: "No, we must keep to our agreement."
+
+She turned aside, wiping away a couple of tears, and then, drawing from
+her bosom a bundle of papers tied with pink silk ribbon, offered it to
+Du Roy, saying: "Here; it is your share of the profit in the Morocco
+affair. I was so pleased to have gained it for you. Here, take it."
+
+He wanted to refuse, observing: "No, I will not take that money."
+
+Then she grew indignant. "Ah! so you won't take it now. It is yours,
+yours, only. If you do not take it, I will throw it into the gutter. You
+won't act like that, George?"
+
+He received the little bundle, and slipped it into his pocket.
+
+"We must go in," said he, "you will catch cold."
+
+She murmured: "So much the better, if I could die."
+
+She took one of his hands, kissed it passionately, with rage and
+despair, and fled towards the mansion. He returned, quietly reflecting.
+Then he re-entered the conservatory with haughty forehead and smiling
+lip. His wife and Laroche-Mathieu were no longer there. The crowd was
+thinning. It was becoming evident that they would not stay for the
+dance. He perceived Susan arm-in-arm with her sister. They both came
+towards him to ask him to dance the first quadrille with the Count de
+Latour Yvelin.
+
+He was astonished, and asked: "Who is he, too?"
+
+Susan answered maliciously: "A new friend of my sister's." Rose blushed,
+and murmured: "You are very spiteful, Susan; he is no more my friend
+than yours."
+
+Susan smiled, saying: "Oh! I know all about it."
+
+Rose annoyed, turned her back on them and went away. Du Roy familiarly
+took the elbow of the young girl left standing beside him, and said in
+his caressing voice: "Listen, my dear, you believe me to be your
+friend?"
+
+"Yes, Pretty-boy."
+
+
+"You have confidence in me?" "Quite."
+
+"You remember what I said to you just now?"
+
+"What about?"
+
+"About your marriage, or rather about the man you are going to marry."
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, then, you will promise me one thing?"
+
+"Yes; but what is it?"
+
+"To consult me every time that your hand is asked for, and not to accept
+anyone without taking my advice."
+
+"Very well."
+
+"And to keep this a secret between us two. Not a word of it to your
+father or your mother."
+
+"Not a word."
+
+"It is a promise, then?" "It is a promise."
+
+Rival came up with a bustling air. "Mademoiselle, your papa wants you
+for the dance."
+
+She said: "Come along, Pretty-boy."
+
+But he refused, having made up his mind to leave at once, wishing to be
+alone in order to think. Too many new ideas had entered his mind, and he
+began to look for his wife. In a short time he saw her drinking
+chocolate at the buffet with two gentlemen unknown to him. She
+introduced her husband without mentioning their names to him. After a
+few moments, he said, "Shall we go?"
+
+"When you like."
+
+She took his arm, and they walked back through the reception-rooms, in
+which the public were growing few. She said: "Where is Madame Walter, I
+should like to wish her good-bye?"
+
+"It is better not to. She would try to keep us for the ball, and I have
+had enough of this."
+
+"That is so, you are quite right."
+
+All the way home they were silent. But as soon as they were in their
+room Madeleine said smilingly, before even taking off her veil. "I have
+a surprise for you."
+
+He growled ill-temperedly: "What is it?"
+
+"Guess." "I will make no such effort."
+
+"Well, the day after to-morrow is the first of January."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"The time for New Year's gifts."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Here's one for you that Laroche-Mathieu gave me just now."
+
+She gave him a little black box resembling a jewel-case. He opened it
+indifferently, and saw the cross of the Legion of Honor. He grew
+somewhat pale, then smiled, and said: "I should have preferred ten
+millions. That did not cost him much."
+
+She had expected an outburst of joy, and was irritated at this coolness.
+"You are really incredible. Nothing satisfies you now," said she.
+
+He replied, tranquilly: "That man is only paying his debt, and he still
+owes me a great deal."
+
+She was astonished at his tone, and resumed: "It is though, a big thing
+at your age."
+
+He remarked: "All things are relative. I could have something bigger
+now."
+
+He had taken the case, and placing it on the mantel-shelf, looked for
+some moments at the glittering star it contained. Then he closed it and
+went to bed, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+The _Journal Officiel_ of the first of January announced the nomination
+of Monsieur Prosper George Du Roy, journalist, to the dignity of
+chevalier of the Legion of Honor, for special services. The name was
+written in two words, which gave George more pleasure than the
+derivation itself.
+
+An hour after having read this piece of news he received a note from
+Madame Walter begging him to come and dine with her that evening with
+his wife, to celebrate his new honors. He hesitated for a few moments,
+and then throwing this note, written in ambiguous terms, into the fire,
+said to Madeleine:
+
+"We are going to dinner at the Walter's this evening."
+
+She was astonished. "Why, I thought you never wanted to set foot in the
+house again."
+
+He only remarked: "I have changed my mind."
+
+When they arrived Madame Walter was alone in the little Louis XVI.
+boudoir she had adopted for the reception of personal friends. Dressed
+in black, she had powdered her hair, which rendered her charming. She
+had the air at a distance of an old woman, and close at hand, of a young
+one, and when one looked at her well, of a pretty snare for the eyes.
+
+
+"You are in mourning?" inquired Madeleine.
+
+She replied, sadly: "Yes, and no. I have not lost any relative. But I
+have reached the age when one wears the mourning of one's life. I wear
+it to-day to inaugurate it. In future I shall wear it in my heart."
+
+Du Roy thought: "Will this resolution hold good?"
+
+The dinner was somewhat dull. Susan alone chattered incessantly. Rose
+seemed preoccupied. The journalist was warmly congratulated. During the
+evening they strolled chatting through the saloons and the conservatory.
+As Du Roy was walking in the rear with Madame Walter, she checked him by
+the arm.
+
+"Listen," said she, in a low voice, "I will never speak to you of
+anything again, never. But come and see me, George. It is impossible for
+me to live without you, impossible. It is indescribable torture. I feel
+you, I cherish you before my eyes, in my heart, all day and all night.
+It is as though you had caused me to drink a poison which was eating me
+away within. I cannot bear it, no, I cannot bear it. I am willing to be
+nothing but an old woman for you. I have made my hair white to show you
+so, but come here, only come here from time to time as a friend."
+
+She had taken his hand and was squeezing it, crushing it, burying her
+nails in his flesh.
+
+He answered, quietly: "It is understood, then. It is useless to speak of
+all that again. You see I came to-day at once on receiving your letter."
+
+Walter, who had walked on in advance with his two daughters and
+Madeleine, was waiting for Du Roy beside the picture of "Jesus Walking
+on the Waters."
+
+"Fancy," said he, laughing, "I found my wife yesterday on her knees
+before this picture, as if in a chapel. She was paying her devotions.
+How I did laugh."
+
+Madame Walter replied in a firm voice--a voice thrilling with secret
+exultation: "It is that Christ who will save my soul. He gives me
+strength and courage every time I look at Him." And pausing in front of
+the Divinity standing amidst the waters, she murmured: "How handsome he
+is. How afraid of Him those men are, and yet how they love Him. Look at
+His head, His eyes--how simple yet how supernatural at the same time."
+
+Susan exclaimed, "But He resembles you, Pretty-boy. I am sure He
+resembles you. If you had a beard, or if He was clean shaven, you would
+be both alike. Oh, but it is striking!"
+
+She insisted on his standing beside the picture, and they all, indeed,
+recognized that the two faces resembled one another. Everyone was
+astonished. Walter thought it very singular. Madeleine, smiling,
+declared that Jesus had a more manly air. Madame Walter stood
+motionless, gazing fixedly at the face of her lover beside the face of
+Christ, and had become as white as her hair.
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+
+During the remainder of the winter the Du Roys often visited the
+Walters. George even dined there by himself continually, Madeleine
+saying she was tired, and preferring to remain at home. He had adopted
+Friday as a fixed day, and Madame Walter never invited anyone that
+evening; it belonged to Pretty-boy, to him alone. After dinner they
+played cards, and fed the goldfish, amusing themselves like a family
+circle. Several times behind a door or a clump of shrubs in the
+conservatory, Madame Walter had suddenly clasped George in her arms, and
+pressing him with all her strength to her breast, had whispered in his
+ear, "I love you, I love you till it is killing me." But he had always
+coldly repulsed her, replying, in a dry tone: "If you begin that
+business once again, I shall not come here any more."
+
+
+Towards the end of March the marriage of the two sisters was all at once
+spoken about. Rose, it was said, was to marry the Count de
+Latour-Yvelin, and Susan the Marquis de Cazolles. These two gentlemen
+had become familiars of the household, those familiars to whom special
+favors and marked privileges are granted. George and Susan continued to
+live in a species of free and fraternal intimacy, romping for hours,
+making fun of everyone, and seeming greatly to enjoy one another's
+company. They had never spoken again of the possible marriage of the
+young girl, nor of the suitors who offered themselves.
+
+The governor had brought George home to lunch one morning. Madame Walter
+was called away immediately after the repast to see one of the
+tradesmen, and the young fellow said to Susan: "Let us go and feed the
+goldfish."
+
+They each took a piece of crumb of bread from the table and went into
+the conservatory. All along the marble brim cushions were left lying on
+the ground, so that one could kneel down round the basin, so as to be
+nearer the fish. They each took one of these, side by side, and bending
+over the water, began to throw in pellets of bread rolled between the
+fingers. The fish, as soon as they caught sight of them, flocked round,
+wagging their tails, waving their fins, rolling their great projecting
+eyes, turning round, diving to catch the bait as it sank, and coming up
+at once to ask for more. They had a funny action of the mouth, sudden
+and rapid movements, a strangely monstrous appearance, and against the
+sand of the bottom stood out a bright red, passing like flames through
+the transparent water, or showing, as soon as they halted, the blue
+edging to their scales. George and Susan saw their own faces looking up
+in the water, and smiled at them. All at once he said in a low voice:
+"It is not kind to hide things from me, Susan."
+
+"What do you mean, Pretty-boy?" asked she.
+
+"Don't you remember, what you promised me here on the evening of the
+fete?"
+
+"No."
+
+"To consult me every time your hand was asked for."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Well, it has been asked for."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"You know very well."
+
+"No. I swear to you."
+
+"Yes, you do. That great fop, the Marquis de Cazolles."
+
+"He is not a fop, in the first place."
+
+"It may be so, but he is stupid, ruined by play, and worn out by
+dissipation. It is really a nice match for you, so pretty, so fresh, and
+so intelligent."
+
+She inquired, smiling: "What have you against him?"
+
+"I, nothing."
+
+"Yes, you have. He is not all that you say."
+
+"Nonsense. He is a fool and an intriguer."
+
+She turned round somewhat, leaving off looking into the water, and said:
+"Come, what is the matter with you?"
+
+He said, as though a secret was being wrenched from the bottom of his
+heart: "I--I--am jealous of him."
+
+She was slightly astonished, saying: "You?"
+
+"Yes, I."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because I am in love with you, and you know it very well, you naughty
+girl."
+
+She said, in a severe tone: "You are mad, Pretty-boy."
+
+He replied; "I know very well that I am mad. Ought I to have admitted
+that--I, a married man, to you, a young girl? I am more than mad, I am
+guilty. I have no possible hope, and the thought of that drives me out
+of my senses. And when I hear it said that you are going to be married,
+I have fits of rage enough to kill someone. You must forgive me this,
+Susan."
+
+He was silent. The whole of the fish, to whom bread was no longer being
+thrown, were motionless, drawn up in line like English soldiers, and
+looking at the bent heads of those two who were no longer troubling
+themselves about them. The young girl murmured, half sadly, half gayly:
+"It is a pity that you are married. What would you? Nothing can be done.
+It is settled."
+
+He turned suddenly towards her, and said right in her face: "If I were
+free, would you marry me?"
+
+She replied, in a tone of sincerity: "Yes, Pretty-boy, I would marry
+you, for you please me far better than any of the others."
+
+He rose, and stammered: "Thanks, thanks; do not say 'yes' to anyone yet,
+I beg of you; wait a little longer, I entreat you. Will you promise me
+this much?"
+
+She murmured, somewhat uneasily, and without understanding what he
+wanted: "Yes, I promise you."
+
+Du Roy threw the lump of bread he still held in his hand into the water,
+and fled as though he had lost his head, without wishing her good-bye.
+All the fish rushed eagerly at this lump of crumb, which floated, not
+having been kneaded in the fingers, and nibbled it with greedy mouths.
+They dragged it away to the other end of the basin, and forming a moving
+cluster, a kind of animated and twisting flower, a live flower fallen
+into the water head downwards.
+
+Susan, surprised and uneasy, got up and returned slowly to the
+dining-room. The journalist had left.
+
+He came home very calm, and as Madeleine was writing letters, said to
+her: "Are you going to dine at the Walters' on Friday? I am going."
+
+She hesitated, and replied: "No. I do not feel very well. I would rather
+stay at home."
+
+He remarked: "Just as you like."
+
+Then he took his hat and went out again at once. For some time past he
+had been keeping watch over her, following her about, knowing all her
+movements. The hour he had been awaiting was at length at hand. He had
+not been deceived by the tone in which she had said: "I would rather
+stay at home."
+
+He was very amiable towards her during the next few days. He even
+appeared lively, which was not usual, and she said: "You are growing
+quite nice again."
+
+He dressed early on the Friday, in order to make some calls before going
+to the governor's, he said. He started just before six, after kissing
+his wife, and went and took a cab at the Place Notre Dame de Lorette. He
+said to the driver: "Pull up in front of No. 17, Rue Fontaine, and stay
+there till I tell you to go on again. Then drive to the Cock Pheasant
+restaurant in the Rue Lafayette."
+
+The cab started at a slow trot, and Du Roy drew down the blinds. As soon
+as he was opposite the door he did not take his eyes off it. After
+waiting ten minutes he saw Madeleine come out and go in the direction of
+the outer boulevards. As soon as she had got far enough off he put his
+head through the window, and said to the driver: "Go on." The cab
+started again, and landed him in front of the Cock Pheasant, a
+well-known middle-class restaurant. George went into the main
+dining-room and ate slowly, looking at his watch from time to time. At
+half-past seven, when he had finished his coffee, drank two liqueurs of
+brandy, and slowly smoked a good cigar, he went out, hailed another cab
+that was going by empty, and was driven to the Rue La Rochefoucauld. He
+ascended without making any inquiry of the doorkeeper, to the third
+story of the house he had told the man to drive to, and when a servant
+opened the door to him, said: "Monsieur Guibert de Lorme is at home, is
+he not?"
+
+"Yes sir."
+
+He was ushered into the drawing-room, where he waited for a few minutes.
+Then a gentleman came in, tall, and with a military bearing, gray-haired
+though still young, and wearing the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. Du
+Roy bowed, and said: "As I foresaw, Mr. Commissionary, my wife is now
+dining with her lover in the furnished rooms they have hired in the Rue
+des Martyrs."
+
+The commissary of police bowed, saying: "I am at your service, sir."
+
+George continued: "You have until nine o'clock, have you not? That limit
+of time passed, you can no longer enter a private dwelling to prove
+adultery."
+
+"No, sir; seven o'clock in winter, nine o'clock from the 31st March. It
+is the 5th of April, so we have till nine o'clock.
+
+"Very well, Mr. Commissionary, I have a cab downstairs; we can take the
+officers who will accompany you, and wait a little before the door. The
+later we arrive the best chance we have of catching them in the act."
+
+"As you like, sir."
+
+The commissary left the room, and then returned with an overcoat, hiding
+his tri-colored sash. He drew back to let Du Roy pass out first. But the
+journalist, who was preoccupied, declined to do so, and kept saying:
+"After you, sir, after you."
+
+The commissary said: "Go first, sir, I am at home."
+
+George bowed, and passed out. They went first to the police office to
+pick up three officers in plain clothes who were awaiting them, for
+George had given notice during the day that the surprise would take
+place that evening. One of the men got on the box beside the driver. The
+other two entered the cab, which reached the Rue des Martyrs. Du Roy
+said: "I have a plan of the rooms. They are on the second floor. We
+shall first find a little ante-room, then a dining-room, then the
+bedroom. The three rooms open into one another. There is no way out to
+facilitate flight. There is a locksmith a little further on. He is
+holding himself in readiness to be called upon by you."
+
+When they arrived opposite the house it was only a quarter past eight,
+and they waited in silence for more than twenty minutes. But when he
+saw the three quarters about to strike, George said: "Let us start now."
+
+They went up the stairs without troubling themselves about the
+doorkeeper, who, indeed, did not notice them. One of the officers
+remained in the street to keep watch on the front door. The four men
+stopped at the second floor, and George put his ear to the door and then
+looked through the keyhole. He neither heard nor saw anything. He rang
+the bell.
+
+The commissary said to the officers: "You will remain in readiness till
+called on."
+
+And they waited. At the end of two or three minutes George again pulled
+the bell several times in succession. They noted a noise from the
+further end of the rooms, and then a slight step approached. Someone was
+coming to spy who was there. The journalist then rapped smartly on the
+panel of the door. A voice, a woman's voice, that an attempt was
+evidently being made to disguise asked: "Who is there?"
+
+The commissary replied: "Open, in the name of the law."
+
+The voice repeated: "Who are you?"
+
+"I am the commissary of police. Open the door, or I will have it broken
+in."
+
+The voice went on: "What do you want?"
+
+Du Roy said: "It is I. It is useless to seek to escape."
+
+The light steps, the tread of bare feet, was heard to withdraw, and then
+in a few seconds to return.
+
+George said: "If you won't open, we will break in the door."
+
+He grasped the handle, and pushed slowly with his shoulder. As there
+was no longer any reply, he suddenly gave such a violent and vigorous
+shock that the old lock gave way. The screws were torn out of the wood,
+and he almost fell over Madeleine, who was standing in the ante-room,
+clad in a chemise and petticoat, her hair down, her legs bare, and a
+candle in her hand.
+
+He exclaimed: "It is she, we have them," and darted forward into the
+rooms. The commissary, having taken off his hat, followed him, and the
+startled woman came after, lighting the way. They crossed a
+drawing-room, the uncleaned table of which displayed the remnants of a
+repast--empty champagne bottles, an open pot of fatted goose liver, the
+body of a fowl, and some half-eaten bits of bread. Two plates piled on
+the sideboard were piled with oyster shells.
+
+The bedroom seemed disordered, as though by a struggle. A dress was
+thrown over a chair, a pair of trousers hung astride the arm of another.
+Four boots, two large and two small, lay on their sides at the foot of
+the bed. It was the room of a house let out in furnished lodgings, with
+commonplace furniture, filled with that hateful and sickening smell of
+all such places, the odor of all the people who had slept or lived there
+a day or six months. A plate of cakes, a bottle of chartreuse, and two
+liqueur glasses, still half full, encumbered the mantel-shelf. The upper
+part of the bronze clock was hidden by a man's hat.
+
+The commissary turned round sharply, and looking Madeleine straight in
+the face, said: "You are Madame Claire Madeleine Du Roy, wife of
+Monsieur Prosper George Du Roy, journalist, here present?"
+
+She uttered in a choking voice: "Yes, sir."
+
+"What are you doing here?" She did not answer.
+
+The commissary went on: "What are you doing here? I find you away from
+home, almost undressed, in furnished apartments. What did you come here
+for?" He waited for a few moments. Then, as she still remained silent,
+he continued: "Since you will not confess, madame, I shall be obliged to
+verify the state of things."
+
+In the bed could be seen the outline of a form hidden beneath the
+clothes. The commissary approached and said: "Sir."
+
+The man in bed did not stir. He seemed to have his back turned, and his
+head buried under a pillow. The commissary touched what seemed to be his
+shoulder, and said: "Sir, do not, I beg of you, force me to take
+action."
+
+But the form still remained as motionless as a corpse. Du Roy, who had
+advanced quickly, seized the bed-clothes, pulled them down, and tearing
+away the pillow, revealed the pale face of Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu. He
+bent over him, and, quivering with the desire to seize him by the throat
+and strangle him, said, between his clenched teeth: "Have at least the
+courage of your infamy."
+
+The commissary again asked: "Who are you?"
+
+The bewildered lover not replying, he continued: "I am a commissary of
+police, and I summon you to tell me your name."
+
+George, who was quivering with brutal wrath, shouted: "Answer, you
+coward, or I will tell your name myself."
+
+Then the man in the bed stammered: "Mr. Commissary, you ought not to
+allow me to be insulted by this person. Is it with you or with him that
+I have to do? Is it to you or to him that I have to answer?"
+
+His mouth seemed to be dried up as he spoke.
+
+The commissary replied: "With me, sir; with me alone. I ask you who you
+are?"
+
+The other was silent. He held the sheet close up to his neck, and rolled
+his startled eyes. His little, curled-up moustache showed up black upon
+his blanched face.
+
+The commissary continued: "You will not answer, eh? Then I shall be
+forced to arrest you. In any case, get up. I will question you when you
+are dressed."
+
+The body wriggled in the bed, and the head murmured: "But I cannot,
+before you."
+
+The commissary asked: "Why not?"
+
+The other stammered: "Because I am--I am--quite naked."
+
+Du Roy began to chuckle sneeringly, and picking up a shirt that had
+fallen onto the floor, threw it onto the bed, exclaiming: "Come, get up.
+Since you have undressed in my wife's presence, you can very well dress
+in mine."
+
+Then he turned his back, and returned towards the fireplace. Madeleine
+had recovered all her coolness, and seeing that all was lost, was ready
+to dare anything. Her eyes glittered with bravado, and twisting up a
+piece of paper she lit, as though for a reception, the ten candles in
+the ugly candelabra, placed at the corners of the mantel-shelf. Then,
+leaning against this, and holding out backwards to the dying fire one of
+her bare feet which she lifted up behind the petticoat, scarcely
+sticking to her hips, she took a cigarette from a pink paper case, lit
+it, and began to smoke. The commissary had returned towards her, pending
+that her accomplice got up.
+
+She inquired insolently: "Do you often have such jobs as these, sir?"
+
+He replied gravely: "As seldom as possible, madame."
+
+She smiled in his face, saying: "I congratulate you; it is dirty work."
+
+She affected not to look at or even to see her husband.
+
+But the gentleman in the bed was dressing. He had put on his trousers,
+pulled on his boots, and now approached putting on his waistcoat. The
+commissary turned towards him, saying: "Now, sir, will you tell me who
+you are?"
+
+He made no reply, and the official said: "I find myself obliged to
+arrest you."
+
+Then the man exclaimed suddenly: "Do not lay hands on me. My person is
+inviolable."
+
+Du Roy darted towards him as though to throw him down, and growled in
+his face: "Caught in the act, in the act. I can have you arrested if I
+choose; yes, I can." Then, in a ringing tone, he added: "This man is
+Laroche-Mathieu, Minister of Foreign Affairs."
+
+The commissary drew back, stupefied, and stammered: "Really, sir, will
+you tell me who you are?"
+
+The other had made up his mind, and said in forcible tones: "For once
+that scoundrel has not lied. I am, indeed, Laroche-Mathieu, the
+minister." Then, holding out his hand towards George's chest, in which a
+little bit of red ribbon showed itself, he added: "And that rascal wears
+on his coat the cross of honor which I gave him."
+
+Du Roy had become livid. With a rapid movement he tore the bit of ribbon
+from his buttonhole, and, throwing it into the fireplace, exclaimed:
+
+"That is all that is fit for a decoration coming from a swine like
+you."
+
+They were quite close, face to face, exasperated, their fists clenched,
+the one lean, with a flowing moustache, the other stout, with a twisted
+one. The commissary stepped rapidly between the pair, and pushing them
+apart with his hands, observed: "Gentlemen, you are forgetting
+yourselves; you are lacking in self-respect."
+
+They became quiet and turned on their heels. Madeleine, motionless, was
+still smoking in silence.
+
+The police official resumed: "Sir, I have found you alone with Madame Du
+Roy here, you in bed, she almost naked, with your clothes scattered
+about the room. This is legal evidence of adultery. You cannot deny this
+evidence. What have you to say for yourself?"
+
+Laroche-Mathieu murmured: "I have nothing to say; do your duty."
+
+The commissary addressed himself to Madeleine: "Do you admit, madame,
+that this gentleman is your lover?"
+
+She said with a certain swagger: "I do not deny it; he is my lover."
+
+
+"That is enough."
+
+The commissary made some notes as to the condition and arrangement of
+the rooms. As he was finishing writing, the minister, who had finished
+dressing, and was waiting with his greatcoat over his arm and his hat in
+his hand, said: "Have you still need of me, sir? What am I to do? Can I
+withdraw?"
+
+Du Roy turned towards him, and smiling insolently, said: "Why so? We
+have finished. You can go to bed again, sir; we will leave you alone."
+And placing a finger on the official's arm, he continued: "Let us
+retire, Mr. Commissary, we have nothing more to do in this place."
+
+Somewhat surprised, the commissary followed, but on the threshold of the
+room George stopped to allow him to pass. The other declined, out of
+politeness. Du Roy persisted, saying: "Pass first, sir."
+
+"After you, sir," replied the commissary.
+
+The journalist bowed, and in a tone of ironical politeness, said: "It is
+your turn, sir; I am almost at home here."
+
+Then he softly reclosed the door with an air of discretion.
+
+An hour later George Du Roy entered the offices of the _Vie Francaise_.
+Monsieur Walter was already there, for he continued to manage and
+supervise with solicitude his paper, which had enormously increased in
+circulation, and greatly helped the schemes of his bank. The manager
+raised his head and said: "Ah! here you are. You look very strange. Why
+did you not come to dinner with us? What have you been up to?"
+
+The young fellow, sure of his effect, said, emphasizing every word: "I
+
+have just upset the Minister of Foreign Affairs."
+
+The other thought he was joking, and said: "Upset what?"
+
+"I am going to turn out the Cabinet. That is all. It is quite time to
+get rid of that rubbish."
+
+The old man thought that his leader-writer must be drunk. He murmured:
+"Come, you are talking nonsense."
+
+"Not at all. I have just caught Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu committing
+adultery with my wife. The commissary of police has verified the fact.
+The minister is done for."
+
+Walter, amazed, pushed his spectacles right back on his forehead, and
+said: "You are not joking?"
+
+"Not at all. I am even going to write an article on it."
+
+"But what do you want to do?"
+
+"To upset that scoundrel, that wretch, that open evil-doer." George
+placed his hat on an armchair, and added: "Woe to those who cross my
+path. I never forgive."
+
+The manager still hesitated at understanding matters. He murmured:
+"But--your wife?"
+
+"My application for a divorce will be lodged to-morrow morning. I shall
+send her back to the departed Forestier."
+
+"You mean to get a divorce?"
+
+"Yes. I was ridiculous. But I had to play the idiot in order to catch
+them. That's done. I am master of the situation."
+
+Monsieur Walter could not get over it, and watched Du Roy with startling
+eyes, thinking: "Hang it, here is a fellow to be looked after."
+
+George went on: "I am now free. I have some money. I shall offer myself
+as a candidate at the October elections for my native place, where I am
+well known. I could not take a position or make myself respected with
+that woman, who was suspected by every one. She had caught me like a
+fool, humbugged and ensnared me. But since I became alive to her little
+game I kept watch on her, the slut." He began to laugh, and added: "It
+was poor Forestier who was cuckold, a cuckold without imagining it,
+confiding and tranquil. Now I am free from the leprosy he left me. My
+hands are free. Now I shall get on." He had seated himself astride a
+chair, and repeated, as though thinking aloud, "I shall get on."
+
+And Daddy Walter, still looking at him with unveiled eyes, his
+spectacles remaining pushed up on his forehead, said to himself: "Yes,
+he will get on, the rascal."
+
+George rose. "I am going to write the article. It must be done
+discreetly. But you know it will be terrible for the minister. He has
+gone to smash. He cannot be picked up again. The _Vie Francaise_ has no
+longer any interest to spare him."
+
+The old fellow hesitated for a few moments, and then made up his mind.
+"Do so," said he; "so much the worse for those who get into such
+messes."
+
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+
+Three months had elapsed. Du Roy's divorce had just been granted. His
+wife had resumed the name of Forestier, and, as the Walters were to
+leave on the 15th of July for Trouville, it was decided that he and they
+should spend a day in the country together before they started. A
+Thursday was selected, and they started at nine in the morning in a
+large traveling landau with six places, drawn by four horses with
+postilions. They were going to lunch at the Pavilion Henri-Quatre at
+Saint Germain. Pretty-boy had asked to be the only man of the party, for
+he could not endure the presence of the Marquis de Cazolles. But at the
+last moment it was decided that the Count de Latour-Yvelin should be
+called for on the way. He had been told the day before.
+
+The carriage passed up the Avenue of the Champs Elysees at a swinging
+trot, and then traversed the Bois de Boulogne. It was splendid summer
+weather, not too warm. The swallows traced long sweeping lines across
+the blue sky that one fancied one could still see after they had passed.
+The three ladies occupied the back seat, the mother between her
+daughters, and the men were with their backs to the horses, Walter
+between the two guests. They crossed the Seine, skirted Mount Valerien,
+and gained Bougival in order to follow the river as far as Le Pecq.
+
+The Count de Latour-Yvelin, a man advancing towards middle-age, with
+long, light whiskers, gazed tenderly at Rose. They had been engaged for
+a month. George, who was very pale, often looked at Susan, who was pale
+too. Their eyes often met, and seemed to concert something, to
+understand one another, to secretly exchange a thought, and then to flee
+one another. Madame Walter was quiet and happy.
+
+The lunch was a long one. Before starting back for Paris, George
+suggested a turn on the terrace. They stopped at first to admire the
+view. All ranged themselves in a line along the parapet, and went into
+ecstasies over the far-stretching horizon. The Seine at the foot of a
+long hill flowed towards Maisons-Lafitte like an immense serpent
+stretched in the herbage. To the right, on the summit of the slope, the
+aqueduct of Marly showed against the skyline its outline, resembling
+that of a gigantic, long-legged caterpillar, and Marly was lost beneath
+it in a thick cluster of trees. On the immense plain extending in front
+of them, villages could be seen dotted. The pieces of water at Le
+Vesinet showed like clear spots amidst the thin foliage of the little
+forest. To the left, away in the distance, the pointed steeple of
+Sastrouville could be seen.
+
+Walter said: "Such a panorama is not to be found anywhere in the world.
+There is not one to match it in Switzerland."
+
+Then they began to walk on gently, to have a stroll and enjoy the
+prospect. George and Susan remained behind. As soon as they were a few
+paces off, he said to her in a low and restrained voice: "Susan, I adore
+you. I love you to madness."
+
+She murmured: "So do I you, Pretty-boy."
+
+He went on: "If I do not have you for my wife, I shall leave Paris and
+this country."
+
+She replied: "Ask Papa for my hand. Perhaps he will consent."
+
+He made a gesture of impatience. "No, I tell you for the twentieth time
+that is useless. The door of your house would be closed to me. I should
+be dismissed from the paper, and we should not be able even to see one
+another. That is a pretty result, at which I am sure to arrive by a
+formal demand for you. They have promised you to the Marquis de
+Cazolles. They hope that you will end by saying 'yes,' and they are
+waiting for that."
+
+She asked: "What is to be done?"
+
+He hesitated, glancing at her, sidelong fashion. "Do you love me enough
+to run a risk?"
+
+She answered resolutely: "Yes."
+
+"A great risk?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"The greatest of risks?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Have you the courage to set your father and mother at defiance?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Really now?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Very well, there is one way and only one. The thing must come from you
+and not from me. You are a spoilt child; they let you say whatever you
+like, and they will not be too much astonished at an act of daring the
+more on your part. Listen, then. This evening, on reaching home, you
+must go to your mamma first, your mamma alone, and tell her you want to
+marry me. She will be greatly moved and very angry--"
+
+Susan interrupted him with: "Oh, mamma will agree."
+
+He went on quickly: "No, you do not know her. She will be more vexed and
+angrier than your father. You will see how she will refuse. But you must
+be firm, you must not give way, you must repeat that you want to marry
+me, and no one else. Will you do this?"
+
+"I will."
+
+"On leaving your mother you must tell your father the same thing in a
+very serious and decided manner."
+
+"Yes, yes; and then?"
+
+"And then it is that matters become serious. If you are determined, very
+determined--very, very determined to be my wife, my dear, dear little
+Susan--I will--run away with you."
+
+She experienced a joyful shock, and almost clapped her hands. "Oh! how
+delightful. You will run away with me. When will you run away with me?"
+
+All the old poetry of nocturnal elopements, post-chaises, country inns;
+all the charming adventures told in books, flashed through her mind,
+like an enchanting dream about to be realized. She repeated: "When will
+you run away with me?"
+
+He replied, in low tones: "This evening--to-night."
+
+She asked, quivering: "And where shall we go to?"
+
+"That is my secret. Reflect on what you are doing. Remember that after
+such a flight you can only be my wife. It is the only way, but is--it is
+very dangerous--for you."
+
+She declared: "I have made up my mind; where shall I rejoin you?"
+
+"Can you get out of the hotel alone?"
+
+"Yes. I know how to undo the little door."
+
+"Well, when the doorkeeper has gone to bed, towards midnight, come and
+meet me on the Place de la Concorde. You will find me in a cab drawn up
+in front of the Ministry of Marine."
+
+"I will come."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Really."
+
+He took her hand and pressed it. "Oh! how I love you. How good and brave
+you are! So you don't want to marry Monsieur de Cazolles?"
+
+"Oh! no."
+
+"Your father was very angry when you said no?"
+
+"I should think so. He wanted to send me back to the convent."
+
+"You see that it is necessary to be energetic."
+
+"I will be so."
+
+She looked at the vast horizon, her head full of the idea of being ran
+off with. She would go further than that with him. She would be ran away
+with. She was proud of it. She scarcely thought of her reputation--of
+what shame might befall her. Was she aware of it? Did she even suspect
+it?
+
+Madame Walter, turning round, exclaimed: "Come along, little one. What
+are you doing with Pretty-boy?"
+
+They rejoined the others and spoke of the seaside, where they would soon
+be. Then they returned home by way of Chatou, in order not to go over
+the same road twice. George no longer spoke. He reflected. If the little
+girl had a little courage, he was going to succeed at last. For three
+months he had been enveloping her in the irresistible net of his love.
+He was seducing, captivating, conquering her. He had made himself loved
+by her, as he knew how to make himself loved. He had captured her
+childish soul without difficulty. He had at first obtained of her that
+she should refuse Monsieur de Cazolles. He had just obtained that she
+would fly with him. For there was no other way. Madame Walter, he well
+understood, would never agree to give him her daughter. She still loved
+him; she would always love him with unmanageable violence. He restrained
+her by his studied coldness; but he felt that she was eaten up by hungry
+and impotent passion. He could never bend her. She would never allow him
+to have Susan. But once he had the girl away he would deal on a level
+footing with her father. Thinking of all this, he replied by broken
+phrases to the remarks addressed to him, and which he did not hear. He
+only seemed to come to himself when they returned to Paris.
+
+Susan, too, was thinking, and the bells of the four horses rang in her
+ears, making her see endless miles of highway under eternal moonlight,
+gloomy forests traversed, wayside inns, and the hurry of the hostlers to
+change horses, for every one guesses that they are pursued.
+
+When the landau entered the court-yard of the mansion, they wanted to
+keep George to dinner. He refused, and went home. After having eaten a
+little, he went through his papers as if about to start on a long
+journey. He burnt some compromising letters, hid others, and wrote to
+some friends. From time to time he looked at the clock, thinking:
+"Things must be getting warm there." And a sense of uneasiness gnawed at
+his heart. Suppose he was going to fail? But what could he fear? He
+could always get out of it. Yet it was a big game he was playing that
+evening.
+
+He went out towards eleven o'clock, wandered about some time, took a
+cab, and had it drawn up in the Place de la Concorde, by the Ministry of
+Marine. From time to time he struck a match to see the time by his
+watch. When he saw midnight approaching, his impatience became feverish.
+Every moment he thrust his head out of the window to look. A distant
+clock struck twelve, then another nearer, then two together, then a last
+one, very far away. When the latter had ceased to sound, he thought: "It
+is all over. It is a failure. She won't come." He had made up his mind,
+however, to wait till daylight. In these matters one must be patient.
+
+He heard the quarter strike, then the half-hour, then the quarter to,
+and all the clocks repeated "one," as they had announced midnight. He no
+longer expected her; he was merely remaining, racking his brain to
+divine what could have happened. All at once a woman's head was passed
+through the window, and asked: "Are you there, Pretty-boy?"
+
+He started, almost choked with emotion, "Is that you, Susan?"
+
+"Yes, it is I."
+
+He could not manage to turn the handle quickly enough, and repeated:
+"Ah! it is you, it is you; come inside."
+
+She came in and fell against him. He said, "Go on," to the driver, and
+the cab started.
+
+She gasped, without saying a word.
+
+He asked: "Well, how did it go off?"
+
+She murmured, almost fainting: "Oh! it was terrible, above all with
+mamma."
+
+He was uneasy and quivering. "Your mamma. What did she say? Tell me."
+
+"Oh! it was awful. I went into her room and told her my little story
+that I had carefully prepared. She grew pale, and then she cried:
+'Never, never.' I cried, I grew angry. I vowed I would marry no one but
+you. I thought that she was going to strike me. She went on just as if
+she were mad; she declared that I should be sent back to the convent the
+next day. I had never seen her like that--never. Then papa came in,
+hearing her shouting all her nonsense. He was not so angry as she was,
+but he declared that you were not a good enough match. As they had put
+me in a rage, too, I shouted louder than they did. And papa told me to
+leave the room, with a melodramatic air that did not suit him at all.
+This is what decided me to run off with you. Here I am. Where are we
+going to?"
+
+He had passed his arm gently round her and was listening with all his
+ears, his heart throbbing, and a ravenous hatred awakening within him
+against these people. But he had got their daughter. They should just
+see.
+
+He answered: "It is too late to catch a train, so this cab will take us
+to Sevres, where we shall pass the night. To-morrow we shall start for
+La Roche-Guyon. It is a pretty village on the banks of the Seine,
+between Nantes and Bonnieres."
+
+She murmured: "But I have no clothes. I have nothing."
+
+He smiled carelessly: "Bah! we will arrange all that there."
+
+The cab rolled along the street. George took one of the young girl's
+hands and began to kiss it slowly and with respect. He scarcely knew
+what to say to her, being scarcely accustomed to platonic love-making.
+But all at once he thought he noted that she was crying. He inquired,
+with alarm: "What is the matter with you, darling?"
+
+She replied in tearful tones: "Poor mamma, she will not be able to sleep
+if she has found out my departure."
+
+Her mother, indeed, was not asleep.
+
+As soon as Susan had left the room, Madame Walter remained face to face
+with her husband. She asked, bewildered and cast down: "Good heavens!
+What is the meaning of this?"
+
+Walter exclaimed furiously: "It means that that schemer has bewitched
+her. It is he who made her refuse Cazolles. He thinks her dowry worth
+trying for." He began to walk angrily up and down the room, and went
+on: "You were always luring him here, too, yourself; you flattered him,
+you cajoled him, you could not cosset him enough. It was Pretty-boy
+here, Pretty-boy there, from morning till night, and this is the return
+for it."
+
+She murmured, livid: "I--I lured him?"
+
+He shouted in her face: "Yes, you. You were all mad over him--Madame de
+Marelle, Susan, and the rest. Do you think I did not see that you could
+not pass a couple of days without having him here?"
+
+She drew herself up tragically: "I will not allow you to speak to me
+like that. You forget that I was not brought up like you, behind a
+counter."
+
+He stood for a moment stupefied, and then uttered a furious "Damn it
+all!" and rushed out, slamming the door after him. As soon as she was
+alone she went instinctively to the glass to see if anything was changed
+in her, so impossible and monstrous did what had happened appear. Susan
+in love with Pretty-boy, and Pretty-boy wanting to marry Susan! No, she
+was mistaken; it was not true. The girl had had a very natural fancy for
+this good-looking fellow; she had hoped that they would give him her for
+a husband, and had made her little scene because she wanted to have her
+own way. But he--he could not be an accomplice in that. She reflected,
+disturbed, as one in presence of great catastrophes. No, Pretty-boy
+could know nothing of Susan's prank.
+
+She thought for a long time over the possible innocence or perfidy of
+this man. What a scoundrel, if he had prepared the blow! And what would
+happen! What dangers and tortures she foresaw. If he knew nothing, all
+could yet be arranged. They would travel about with Susan for six
+months, and it would be all over. But how could she meet him herself
+afterwards? For she still loved him. This passion had entered into her
+being like those arrowheads that cannot be withdrawn. To live without
+him was impossible. She might as well die.
+
+Her thoughts wandered amidst these agonies and uncertainties. A pain
+began in her head; her ideas became painful and disturbed. She worried
+herself by trying to work things out; grew mad at not knowing. She
+looked at the clock; it was past one. She said to herself: "I cannot
+remain like this, I shall go mad. I must know. I will wake up Susan and
+question her."
+
+She went barefooted, in order not to make a noise, and with a candle in
+her hand, towards her daughter's room. She opened the door softly, went
+in, and looked at the bed. She did not comprehend matters at first, and
+thought that the girl might still be arguing with her father. But all at
+once a horrible suspicion crossed her mind, and she rushed to her
+husband's room. She reached it in a bound, blanched and panting. He was
+in bed reading.
+
+He asked, startled: "Well, what is it? What is the matter with you?"
+
+She stammered: "Have you seen Susan?"
+
+"I? No. Why?"
+
+"She has--she has--gone! She is not in her room."
+
+He sprang onto the carpet, thrust his feet into his slippers, and, with
+his shirt tails floating in the air, rushed in turn to his daughter's
+room. As soon as he saw it, he no longer retained any doubt. She had
+fled. He dropped into a chair and placed his lamp on the ground in
+front of him.
+
+His wife had rejoined him, and stammered: "Well?"
+
+He had no longer the strength to reply; he was no longer enraged, he
+only groaned: "It is done; he has got her. We are done for."
+
+She did not understand, and said: "What do you mean? done for?"
+
+"Yes, by Jove! He will certainly marry her now."
+
+She gave a cry like that of a wild beast: "He, never! You must be mad!"
+
+He replied, sadly: "It is no use howling. He has run away with her, he
+has dishonored her. The best thing is to give her to him. By setting to
+work in the right way no one will be aware of this escapade."
+
+She repeated, shaken by terrible emotion: "Never, never; he shall never
+have Susan. I will never consent."
+
+Walter murmured, dejectedly: "But he has got her. It is done. And he
+will keep her and hide her as long as we do not yield. So, to avoid
+
+scandal, we must give in at once."
+
+His wife, torn by pangs she could not acknowledge, repeated: "No, no, I
+will never consent."
+
+He said, growing impatient: "But there is no disputing about it. It must
+be done. Ah, the rascal, how he has done us! He is a sharp one. All the
+same, we might have made a far better choice as regards position, but
+not as regards intelligence and prospects. He will be a deputy and a
+minister."
+
+Madame Walter declared, with savage energy: "I will never allow him to
+marry Susan. You understand--never."
+
+He ended by getting angry and taking up, as a practical man, the cudgels
+on behalf of Pretty-boy. "Hold your tongue," said he. "I tell you again
+that it must be so; it absolutely must. And who knows? Perhaps we shall
+not regret it. With men of that stamp one never knows what may happen.
+You saw how he overthrew in three articles that fool of a
+Laroche-Mathieu, and how he did it with dignity, which was infernally
+difficult in his position as the husband. At all events, we shall see.
+It always comes to this, that we are nailed. We cannot get out of it."
+
+She felt a longing to scream, to roll on the ground, to tear her hair
+out. She said at length, in exasperated tones: "He shall not have her. I
+won't have it."
+
+Walter rose, picked up his lamp, and remarked: "There, you are stupid,
+just like all women. You never do anything except from passion. You do
+not know how to bend yourself to circumstances. You are stupid. I will
+tell you that he shall marry her. It must be."
+
+He went out, shuffling along in his slippers. He traversed--a comical
+phantom in his nightshirt--the broad corridor of the huge slumbering
+house, and noiselessly re-entered his room.
+
+Madame Walter remained standing, torn by intolerable grief. She did not
+yet quite understand it. She was only conscious of suffering. Then it
+seemed to her that she could not remain there motionless till daylight.
+She felt within her a violent necessity of fleeing, of running away, of
+seeking help, of being succored. She sought whom she could summon to
+her. What man? She could not find one. A priest; yes, a priest! She
+would throw herself at his feet, acknowledge everything, confess her
+fault and her despair. He would understand that this wretch must not
+
+marry Susan, and would prevent it. She must have a priest at once. But
+where could she find one? Whither could she go? Yet she could not remain
+like that.
+
+Then there passed before her eyes, like a vision, the calm figure of
+Jesus walking on the waters. She saw it as she saw it in the picture. So
+he was calling her. He was saying: "Come to me; come and kneel at my
+feet. I will console you, and inspire you with what should be done."
+
+She took her candle, left the room, and went downstairs to the
+conservatory. The picture of Jesus was right at the end of it in a small
+drawing-room, shut off by a glass door, in order that the dampness of
+the soil should not damage the canvas. It formed a kind of chapel in a
+forest of strange trees. When Madame Walter entered the winter garden,
+never having seen it before save full of light, she was struck by its
+obscure profundity. The dense plants of the tropics made the atmosphere
+thick with their heavy breath; and the doors no longer being open, the
+air of this strange wood, enclosed beneath a glass roof, entered the
+chest with difficulty; intoxicated, caused pleasure and pain, and
+imparted a confused sensation of enervation, pleasure, and death. The
+poor woman walked slowly, oppressed by the shadows, amidst which
+appeared, by the flickering light of her candle, extravagant plants,
+recalling monsters, living creatures, hideous deformities. All at once
+she caught sight of the picture of Christ. She opened the door
+separating her from it, and fell on her knees. She prayed to him,
+wildly, at first, stammering forth words of true, passionate, and
+despairing invocations. Then, the ardor of her appeal slackening, she
+raised her eyes towards him, and was struck with anguish. He resembled
+Pretty-boy so strongly, in the trembling light of this solitary candle,
+lighting the picture from below, that it was no longer Christ--it was
+her lover who was looking at her. They were his eyes, his forehead, the
+expression of his face, his cold and haughty air.
+
+She stammered: "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" and the name "George" rose to her
+lips. All at once she thought that at that very moment, perhaps, George
+had her daughter. He was alone with her somewhere. He with Susan! She
+repeated: "Jesus, Jesus!" but she was thinking of them--her daughter and
+her lover. They were alone in a room, and at night. She saw them. She
+saw them so plainly that they rose up before her in place of the
+picture. They were smiling at one another. They were embracing. She rose
+to go towards them, to take her daughter by the hair and tear her from
+his clasp. She would seize her by the throat and strangle her, this
+daughter whom she hated--this daughter who was joining herself to this
+man. She touched her; her hands encountered the canvas; she was pressing
+the feet of Christ. She uttered a loud cry and fell on her back. Her
+candle, overturned, went out.
+
+What took place then? She dreamed for a long time wild, frightful
+dreams. George and Susan continually passed before her eyes, with Christ
+blessing their horrible loves. She felt vaguely that she was not in her
+room. She wished to rise and flee; she could not. A torpor had seized
+upon her, which fettered her limbs, and only left her mind on the alert,
+tortured by frightful and fantastic visions, lost in an unhealthy
+dream--the strange and sometimes fatal dream engendered in human minds
+by the soporific plants of the tropics, with their strange and
+oppressive perfumes.
+
+The next morning Madame Walter was found stretched out senseless, almost
+asphyxiated before "Jesus Walking on the Waters." She was so ill that
+her life was feared for. She only fully recovered the use of her senses
+the following day. Then she began to weep. The disappearance of Susan
+was explained to the servants as due to her being suddenly sent back to
+the convent. And Monsieur Walter replied to a long letter of Du Roy by
+granting him his daughter's hand.
+
+Pretty-boy had posted this letter at the moment of leaving Paris, for he
+had prepared it in advance the evening of his departure. He said in it,
+in respectful terms, that he had long loved the young girl; that there
+had never been any agreement between them; but that finding her come
+freely to him to say, "I wish to be your wife," he considered himself
+authorized in keeping her, even in hiding her, until he had obtained an
+answer from her parents, whose legal power had for him less weight than
+the wish of his betrothed. He demanded that Monsieur Walter should
+reply, "post restante," a friend being charged to forward the letter to
+him.
+
+When he had obtained what he wished he brought back Susan to Paris, and
+sent her on to her parents, abstaining himself from appearing for some
+little time.
+
+They had spent six days on the banks of the Seine at La Roche-Guyon.
+
+The young girl had never enjoyed herself so much. She had played at
+pastoral life. As he passed her off as his sister, they lived in a free
+and chaste intimacy--a kind of loving friendship. He thought it a clever
+stroke to respect her. On the day after their arrival she had purchased
+some linen and some country-girl's clothes, and set to work fishing,
+with a huge straw hat, ornamented with wild flowers, on her head. She
+thought the country there delightful. There was an old tower and an old
+chateau, in which beautiful tapestry was shown.
+
+George, dressed in a boating jersey, bought ready-made from a local
+tradesman, escorted Susan, now on foot along the banks of the river, now
+in a boat. They kissed at every moment, she in all innocence, and he
+ready to succumb to temptation. But he was able to restrain himself; and
+when he said to her, "We will go back to Paris to-morrow; your father
+has granted me your hand," she murmured simply, "Already? It was so nice
+being your wife here."
+
+
+
+
+XVIII
+
+
+It was dark in the little suite of rooms in the Rue de Constantinople;
+for George Du Roy and Clotilde de Marelle, having met at the door, had
+gone in at once, and she had said to him, without giving him time to
+open the Venetian blinds: "So you are going to marry Susan Walter?"
+
+He admitted it quietly, and added: "Did not you know it?"
+
+She exclaimed, standing before him, furious and indignant:
+
+"You are going to marry Susan Walter? That is too much of a good thing.
+For three months you have been humbugging in order to hide that from me.
+Everyone knew it but me. It was my husband who told me of it."
+
+Du Roy began to laugh, though somewhat confused all the same; and having
+placed his hat on a corner of the mantel-shelf, sat down in an armchair.
+She looked at him straight in the face, and said, in a low and irritated
+tone: "Ever since you left your wife you have been preparing this move,
+and you only kept me on as a mistress to fill up the interim nicely.
+What a rascal you are!"
+
+He asked: "Why so? I had a wife who deceived me. I caught her, I
+obtained a divorce, and I am going to marry another. What could be
+simpler?"
+
+She murmured, quivering: "Oh! how cunning and dangerous you are."
+
+He began to smile again. "By Jove! Simpletons and fools are always
+someone's dupes."
+
+But she continued to follow out her idea: "I ought to have divined your
+nature from the beginning. But no, I could not believe that you could be
+such a blackguard as that."
+
+He assumed an air of dignity, saying: "I beg of you to pay attention to
+the words you are making use of."
+
+His indignation revolted her. "What? You want me to put on gloves to
+talk to you now. You have behaved towards me like a vagabond ever since
+I have known you, and you want to make out that I am not to tell you so.
+You deceive everyone; you take advantage of everyone; you filch money
+and enjoyment wherever you can, and you want me to treat you as an
+honest man!"
+
+He rose, and with quivering lip, said: "Be quiet, or I will turn you out
+of here."
+
+She stammered: "Turn me out of here; turn me out of here! You will turn
+me out of here--you--you?" She could not speak for a moment for choking
+with anger, and then suddenly, as though the door of her wrath had been
+
+burst open, she broke out with: "Turn me out of here? You forget, then,
+that it is I who have paid for these rooms from the beginning. Ah, yes,
+you have certainly taken them on from time to time. But who first took
+them? I did. Who kept them on? I did. And you want to turn me out of
+here. Hold your tongue, you good-for-nothing fellow. Do you think I
+don't know you robbed Madeleine of half Vaudrec's money? Do you think I
+don't know how you slept with Susan to oblige her to marry you?"
+
+He seized her by the shoulders, and, shaking her with both hands,
+exclaimed: "Don't speak of her, at any rate. I won't have it."
+
+She screamed out: "You slept with her; I know you did."
+
+He would have accepted no matter what, but this falsehood exasperated
+him. The truths she had told him to his face had caused thrills of anger
+to run through him, but this lie respecting the young girl who was going
+to be his wife, awakened in the palm of his hand a furious longing to
+strike her.
+
+He repeated: "Be quiet--have a care--be quiet," and shook her as we
+shake a branch to make the fruit fall.
+
+She yelled, with her hair coming down, her mouth wide open, her eyes
+aglow: "You slept with her!"
+
+He let her go, and gave her such a smack on the face that she fell down
+beside the wall. But she turned towards him, and raising herself on her
+hands, once more shouted: "You slept with her!"
+
+He rushed at her, and, holding her down, struck her as though striking a
+man. She left off shouting, and began to moan beneath his blows. She no
+longer stirred, but hid her face against the bottom of the wall and
+uttered plaintive cries. He left off beating her and rose up. Then he
+walked about the room a little to recover his coolness, and, an idea
+occurring to him, went into the bedroom, filled the basin with cold
+water, and dipped his head into it. Then he washed his hands and came
+back to see what she was doing, carefully wiping his fingers. She had
+not budged. She was still lying on the ground quietly weeping.
+
+"Shall you have done grizzling soon?"
+
+She did not answer. He stood in the middle of the room, feeling somewhat
+awkward and ashamed in the presence of the form stretched out before
+him. All at once he formed a resolution, and took his hat from the
+mantel-shelf, saying: "Good-night. Give the key to the doorkeeper when
+you leave. I shan't wait for your convenience."
+
+He went out, closed the door, went to the doorkeeper's, and said:
+"Madame is still there. She will be leaving in a few minutes. Tell the
+landlord that I give notice to leave at the end of September. It is the
+15th of August, so I am within the limits."
+
+And he walked hastily away, for he had some pressing calls to make
+touching the purchase of the last wedding gifts.
+
+The wedding was fixed for the 20th of October after the meeting of the
+Chambers. It was to take place at the Church of the Madeleine. There had
+been a great deal of gossip about it without anyone knowing the exact
+truth. Different tales were in circulation. It was whispered that an
+elopement had taken place, but no one was certain about anything.
+According to the servants, Madame Walter, who would no longer speak to
+her future son-in-law, had poisoned herself out of rage the very evening
+the match was decided on, after having taken her daughter off to a
+convent at midnight. She had been brought back almost dead. Certainly,
+she would never get over it. She had now the appearance of an old woman;
+her hair had become quite gray, and she had gone in for religion, taking
+the Sacrament every Sunday.
+
+At the beginning of September the _Vie Francaise_ announced that the
+Baron Du Roy de Cantel had become chief editor, Monsieur Walter
+retaining the title of manager. A battalion of well-known writers,
+reporters, political editors, art and theatrical critics, detached from
+old important papers by dint of monetary influence, were taken on. The
+old journalists, the serious and respectable ones, no longer shrugged
+their shoulders when speaking of the _Vie Francaise_. Rapid and complete
+success had wiped out the contempt of serious writers for the beginnings
+of this paper.
+
+The marriage of its chief editor was what is styled a Parisian event,
+George Du Roy and the Walters having excited a great deal of curiosity
+for some time past. All the people who are written about in the papers
+promised themselves to be there.
+
+The event took place on a bright autumn day.
+
+At eight in the morning the sight of the staff of the Madeleine
+stretching a broad red carpet down the lofty flight of steps overlooking
+the Rue Royale caused passers-by to pause, and announced to the people
+of Paris that an important ceremony was about to take place. The clerks
+on the way to their offices, the work-girls, the shopmen, paused,
+looked, and vaguely speculated about the rich folk who spent so much
+money over getting spliced. Towards ten o'clock idlers began to halt.
+They would remain for a few minutes, hoping that perhaps it would begin
+at once, and then moved away. At eleven squads of police arrived and set
+to work almost at once to make the crowd move on, groups forming every
+moment. The first guests soon made their appearance--those who wanted to
+be well placed for seeing everything. They took the chairs bordering the
+main aisles. By degrees came others, ladies in rustling silks, and
+serious-looking gentlemen, almost all bald, walking with well-bred air,
+and graver than usual in this locality.
+
+The church slowly filled. A flood of sunlight entered by the huge
+doorway lit up the front row of guests. In the choir, which looked
+somewhat gloomy, the altar, laden with tapers, shed a yellow light, pale
+and humble in face of that of the main entrance. People recognized one
+another, beckoned to one another, and gathered in groups. The men of
+letters, less respectful than the men in society, chatted in low tones
+and looked at the ladies.
+
+Norbert de Varenne, who was looking out for an acquaintance, perceived
+Jacques Rival near the center of the rows of chair, and joined him.
+"Well," said he, "the race is for the cunning."
+
+The other, who was not envious, replied: "So much the better for him.
+His career is safe." And they began to point out the people they
+recognized.
+
+"Do you know what became of his wife?" asked Rival.
+
+The poet smiled. "Yes, and no. She is living in a very retired style, I
+am told, in the Montmartre district. But--there is a but--I have noticed
+for some time past in the _Plume_ some political articles terribly like
+those of Forestier and Du Roy. They are by Jean Le Dal, a handsome,
+intelligent young fellow, of the same breed as our friend George, and
+who has made the acquaintance of his late wife. From whence I conclude
+that she had, and always will have, a fancy for beginners. She is,
+besides, rich. Vaudrec and Laroche-Mathieu were not assiduous visitors
+at the house for nothing."
+
+Rival observed: "She is not bad looking, Madeleine. Very clever and very
+sharp. She must be charming on terms of intimacy. But, tell me, how is
+it that Du Roy comes to be married in church after a divorce?"
+
+Norbert replied: "He is married in church because, in the eyes of the
+Church, he was not married before."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Our friend, Pretty-boy, from indifference or economy, thought the
+registrar sufficient when marrying Madeleine Forestier. He therefore
+dispensed with the ecclesiastical benediction, which constituted in the
+eyes of Holy Mother Church a simple state of concubinage. Consequently
+he comes before her to-day as a bachelor, and she lends him all her pomp
+and ceremony, which will cost Daddy Walter a pretty penny."
+
+The murmur of the augmented throng swelled beneath the vaulted room.
+Voices could be heard speaking almost out loud. People pointed out to
+one another celebrities who attitudinized, pleased to be seen, and
+carefully maintained the bearing adopted by them towards the public
+accustomed to exhibit themselves thus at all such gatherings, of which
+they were, it seemed to them, the indispensable ornaments.
+
+Rival resumed: "Tell me, my dear fellow, you who go so often to the
+governor's, is it true that Du Roy and Madame Walter no longer speak to
+one another?"
+
+"Never. She did not want to give him the girl. But he had a hold, it
+seems, on the father through skeletons in the house--skeletons connected
+with the Morocco business. He threatened the old man with frightful
+revelations. Walter recollected the example he made of Laroche-Mathieu,
+and gave in at once. But the mother, obstinate like all women, swore
+that she would never again speak a word to her son-in-law. She looks
+like a statue, a statue of Vengeance, and he is very uneasy at it,
+although he puts a good face on the matter, for he knows how to control
+himself, that fellow does."
+
+Fellow-journalists came up and shook hands with them. Bits of political
+conversation could be caught. Vague as the sound of a distant sea, the
+noise of the crowd massed in front of the church entered the doorway
+with the sunlight, and rose up beneath the roof, above the more discreet
+murmur of the choicer public gathered within it.
+
+All at once the beadle struck the pavement thrice with the butt of his
+halberd. Every one turned round with a prolonged rustling of skirts and
+a moving of chairs. The bride appeared on her father's arm in the
+bright light of the doorway.
+
+She had still the air of a doll, a charming white doll crowned with
+orange flowers. She stood for a few moments on the threshold, then, when
+she made her first step up the aisle, the organ gave forth a powerful
+note, announcing the entrance of the bride in loud metallic tones. She
+advanced with bent head, but not timidly; vaguely moved, pretty,
+charming, a miniature bride. The women smiled and murmured as they
+watched her pass. The men muttered: "Exquisite! Adorable!" Monsieur
+Walter walked with exaggerated dignity, somewhat pale, and with his
+spectacles straight on his nose. Behind them four bridesmaids, all four
+dressed in pink, and all four pretty, formed the court of this gem of a
+queen. The groomsmen, carefully chosen to match, stepped as though
+trained by a ballet master. Madame Walter followed them, giving her arm
+to the father of her other son-in-law, the Marquis de Latour-Yvelin,
+aged seventy-two. She did not walk, she dragged herself along, ready to
+faint at each forward movement. It could be felt that her feet stuck to
+the flagstones, that her legs refused to advance, and that her heart was
+beating within her breast like an animal bounding to escape. She had
+grown thin. Her white hair made her face appear still more blanched and
+her cheeks hollower. She looked straight before her in order not to see
+any one--in order not to recall, perhaps, that which was torturing her.
+
+Then George Du Roy appeared with an old lady unknown. He, too, kept his
+head up without turning aside his eyes, fixed and stern under his
+slightly bent brows. His moustache seemed to bristle on his lip. He was
+set down as a very good-looking fellow. He had a proud bearing, a good
+figure, and a straight leg. He wore his clothes well, the little red
+ribbon of the Legion of Honor showing like a drop of blood on his dress
+coat.
+
+Then came the relations, Rose with the Senator Rissolin. She had been
+married six weeks. The Count de Latour-Yvelin accompanied by the
+Viscountess de Percemur. Finally, there was a strange procession of the
+friends and allies of Du Roy, whom he introduced to his new family;
+people known in the Parisian world, who became at once the intimates,
+and, if need be, the distant cousins of rich parvenus; gentlemen ruined,
+blemished; married, in some cases, which is worse. There were Monsieur
+de Belvigne, the Marquis de Banjolin, the Count and Countess de Ravenel,
+Prince Kravalow, the Chevalier, Valreali; then some guests of Walter's,
+the Prince de Guerche, the Duke and the Duchess de Ferracine, the
+beautiful Marchioness des Dunes. Some of Madame Walter's relatives
+preserved a well-to-do, countrified appearance amidst the throng.
+
+The organ was still playing, pouring forth through the immense building
+the sonorous and rhythmic accents of its glittering throats, which cry
+aloud unto heaven the joy or grief of mankind. The great doors were
+closed, and all at once it became as gloomy as if the sun had just been
+turned out.
+
+Now, George was kneeling beside his wife in the choir, before the lit-up
+altar. The new Bishop of Tangiers, crozier in hand and miter on head,
+made his appearance from the vestry to join them together in the Eternal
+name. He put the customary questions, exchanged the rings, uttered the
+words that bind like chains, and addressed the newly-wedded couple a
+Christian allocution. He was a tall, stout man, one of those handsome
+prelates to whom a rounded belly lends dignity.
+
+The sound of sobs caused several people to look round. Madame Walter was
+weeping, with her face buried in her hands. She had to give way. What
+could she have done else? But since the day when she had driven from her
+room her daughter on her return home, refusing to embrace her; since the
+day when she had said, in a low voice, to Du Roy, who had greeted her
+ceremoniously on again making his appearance: "You are the vilest
+creature I know of; never speak to me again, for I shall not answer
+you," she had been suffering intolerable and unappeasable tortures. She
+hated Susan with a keen hatred, made up of exasperated passion and
+heartrending jealousy, the strange jealousy of a mother and
+mistress--unacknowledgable, ferocious, burning like a new wound. And now
+a bishop was marrying them--her lover and her daughter--in a church, in
+presence of two thousand people, and before her. And she could say
+nothing. She could not hinder it. She could not cry out: "But that man
+belongs to me; he is my lover. This union you are blessing is infamous!"
+
+Some ladies, touched at the sight, murmured: "How deeply the poor mother
+feels it!"
+
+The bishop was declaiming: "You are among the fortunate ones of this
+world, among the wealthiest and most respected. You, sir, whom your
+talent raises above others; you who write, who teach, who advise, who
+guide the people, you who have a noble mission to fulfill, a noble
+example to set."
+
+Du Roy listened, intoxicated with pride. A prelate of the Roman Catholic
+Church was speaking thus to him. And he felt behind him a crowd, an
+illustrious crowd, gathered on his account. It seemed to him that some
+power impelled and lifted him up. He was becoming one of the masters of
+the world--he, the son of two poor peasants at Canteleu. He saw them all
+at once in their humble wayside inn, at the summit of the slope
+overlooking the broad valley of Rouen, his father and mother, serving
+the country-folk of the district with drink, He had sent them five
+thousand francs on inheriting from the Count de Vaudrec. He would now
+send them fifty thousand, and they would buy a little estate. They would
+be satisfied and happy.
+
+The bishop had finished his harangue. A priest, clad in a golden stole,
+ascended the steps of the altar, and the organ began anew to celebrate
+the glory of the newly-wedded couple. Now it gave forth long, loud
+notes, swelling like waves, so sonorous and powerful that it seemed as
+though they must lift and break through the roof to spend abroad into
+the sky. Their vibrating sound filled the church, causing body and
+spirit to thrill. Then all at once they grew calmer, and delicate notes
+floated through the air, little graceful, twittering notes, fluttering
+like birds; and suddenly again this coquettish music waxed once more, in
+turn becoming terrible in its strength and fullness, as if a grain of
+sand had transformed itself into a world. Then human voices rose, and
+were wafted over the bowed heads--Vauri and Landeck, of the Opera, were
+singing. The incense shed abroad a delicate odor, and the Divine
+Sacrifice was accomplished on the altar, to consecrate the triumph of
+the Baron George Du Roy!
+
+Pretty-boy, on his knees beside Susan, had bowed his head. He felt at
+that moment almost a believer, almost religious; full of gratitude
+towards the divinity who had thus favored him, who treated him with such
+consideration. And without exactly knowing to whom he was addressing
+himself, he thanked him for his success.
+
+When the ceremony was concluded he rose up, and giving his wife his arm,
+he passed into the vestry. Then began the interminable defiling past of
+the visitors. George, with wild joy, believed himself a king whom a
+nation had come to acclaim. He shook hands, stammered unmeaning remarks,
+bowed, and replied: "You are very good to say so."
+
+All at once he caught sight of Madame de Marelle, and the recollection
+of all the kisses that he had given her, and that she had returned; the
+recollection of all their caresses, of her pretty ways, of the sound of
+her voice, of the taste of her lips, caused the desire to have her once
+more for his own to shoot through his veins. She was so pretty and
+elegant, with her boyish air and bright eyes. George thought to himself:
+"What a charming mistress, all the same."
+
+She drew near, somewhat timid, somewhat uneasy, and held out her hand.
+He took it in his, and retained it. Then he felt the discreet appeal of
+a woman's fingers, the soft pressure that forgives and takes possession
+again. And for his own part, he squeezed it, that little hand, as though
+to say: "I still love you; I am yours."
+
+Their eyes met, smiling, bright, full of love. She murmured in her
+pleasant voice: "I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again soon,
+sir."
+
+He replied, gayly: "Soon, madame."
+
+She passed on. Other people were pushing forward. The crowd flowed by
+like a stream. At length it grew thinner. The last guests took leave.
+
+George took Susan's arm in his to pass through the church again. It was
+full of people, for everyone had regained their seats in order to see
+them pass together. They went by slowly, with calm steps and uplifted
+heads, their eyes fixed on the wide sunlit space of the open door. He
+felt little quiverings run all over his skin those cold shivers caused
+by over-powering happiness. He saw no one. His thoughts were solely for
+himself. When he gained the threshold he saw the crowd collected--a
+dense, agitated crowd, gathered there on his account--on account of
+George Du Roy. The people of Paris were gazing at and envying him. Then,
+raising his eyes, he could see afar off, beyond the Palace de la
+Concorde, the Chamber of Deputies, and it seemed to him that he was
+going to make but one jump from the portico of the Madeleine to that of
+the Palais Bourbon.
+
+He slowly descended the long flight of steps between two ranks of
+spectators. But he did not see them; his thoughts had now flown
+backwards, and before his eyes, dazzled by the brilliant sun, now
+floated the image of Madame de Marelle, re-adjusting before the glass
+the little curls on her temples, always disarranged when she rose.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Vol. 6, by
+Guy de Maupassant
+
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