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diff --git a/old/merbu10.txt b/old/merbu10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5ed84b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/merbu10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1716 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of La Mere Bauche, by Anthony Trollope +#12 in our series by Anthony Trollope + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.05/20/01*END* +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk, +from the 1864 Chapman & Hall edition. + + + + + +LA MERE BAUCHE +from "Tales from All Countries" + + + + +The Pyreneean valley in which the baths of Vernet are situated is not +much known to English, or indeed to any travellers. Tourists in +search of good hotels and picturesque beauty combined, do not +generally extend their journeys to the Eastern Pyrenees. They rarely +get beyond Luchon; and in this they are right, as they thus end their +peregrinations at the most lovely spot among these mountains, and are +as a rule so deceived, imposed on, and bewildered by guides, +innkeepers, and horse-owners, at this otherwise delightful place, as +to become undesirous of further travel. Nor do invalids from distant +parts frequent Vernet. People of fashion go to the Eaux Bonnes and +to Luchon, and people who are really ill to Bareges and Cauterets. +It is at these places that one meets crowds of Parisians, and the +daughters and wives of rich merchants from Bordeaux, with an +admixture, now by no means inconsiderable, of Englishmen and +Englishwomen. But the Eastern Pyrenees are still unfrequented. And +probably they will remain so; for though there are among them lovely +valleys--and of all such the valley of Vernet is perhaps the most +lovely--they cannot compete with the mountain scenery of other +tourists-loved regions in Europe. At the Port de Venasquez and the +Breche de Roland in the Western Pyrenees, or rather, to speak more +truly, at spots in the close vicinity of these famous mountain +entrances from France into Spain, one can make comparisons with +Switzerland, Northern Italy, the Tyrol, and Ireland, which will not +be injurious to the scenes then under view. But among the eastern +mountains this can rarely be done. The hills do not stand thickly +together so as to group themselves; the passes from one valley to +another, though not wanting in altitude, are not close pressed +together with overhanging rocks, and are deficient in grandeur as +well as loveliness. And then, as a natural consequence of all this, +the hotels--are not quite as good as they should be. + +But there is one mountain among them which can claim to rank with the +Pic du Midi or the Maledetta. No one can pooh-pooh the stern old +Canigou, standing high and solitary, solemn and grand, between the +two roads which run from Perpignan into Spain, the one by Prades and +the other by Le Boulon. Under the Canigou, towards the west, lie the +hot baths of Vernet, in a close secluded valley, which, as I have +said before, is, as far as I know, the sweetest spot in these Eastern +Pyrenees. + +The frequenters of these baths were a few years back gathered almost +entirely from towns not very far distant, from Perpignan, Narbonne, +Carcassonne, and Bezieres, and the baths were not therefore famous, +expensive, or luxurious; but those who believed in them believed with +great faith; and it was certainly the fact that men and women who +went thither worn with toil, sick with excesses, and nervous through +over-care, came back fresh and strong, fit once more to attack the +world with all its woes. Their character in latter days does not +seem to have changed, though their circle of admirers may perhaps be +somewhat extended. + +In those days, by far the most noted and illustrious person in the +village of Vernet was La Mere Bauche. That there had once been a +Pere Bauche was known to the world, for there was a Fils Bauche who +lived with his mother; but no one seemed to remember more of him than +that he had once existed. At Vernet he had never been known. La +Mere Bauche was a native of the village, but her married life had +been passed away from it, and she had returned in her early widowhood +to become proprietress and manager, or, as one may say, the heart and +soul of the Hotel Bauche at Vernet. + +This hotel was a large and somewhat rough establishment, intended for +the accommodation of invalids who came to Vernet for their health. +It was built immediately over one of the thermal springs, so that the +water flowed from the bowels of the earth directly into the baths. +There was accommodation for seventy people, and during the summer and +autumn months the place was always full. Not a few also were to be +found there during the winter and spring, for the charges of Madame +Bauche were low, and the accommodation reasonably good. + +And in this respect, as indeed in all others, Madame Bauche had the +reputation of being an honest woman. She had a certain price, from +which no earthly consideration would induce her to depart; and there +were certain returns for this price in the shape of dejeuners and +dinners, baths and beds, which she never failed to give in accordance +with the dictates of a strict conscience. These were traits in the +character of an hotel-keeper which cannot be praised too highly, and +which had met their due reward in the custom of the public. But +nevertheless there were those who thought that there was occasionally +ground for complaint in the conduct even of Madame Bauche. + +In the first place she was deficient in that pleasant smiling +softness which should belong to any keeper of a house of public +entertainment. In her general mode of life she was stern and silent +with her guests, autocratic, authoritative and sometimes +contradictory in her house, and altogether irrational and +unconciliatory when any change even for a day was proposed to her, or +when any shadow of a complaint reached her ears. + +Indeed of complaint, as made against the establishment, she was +altogether intolerant. To such she had but one answer. He or she +who complained might leave the place at a moment's notice if it so +pleased them. There were always others ready to take their places. +The power of making this answer came to her from the lowness of her +prices; and it was a power which was very dear to her. + +The baths were taken at different hours according to medical advice, +but the usual time was from five to seven in the morning. The +dejeuner or early meal was at nine o'clock, the dinner was at four. +After that, no eating or drinking was allowed in the Hotel Bauche. +There was a cafe in the village, at which ladies and gentlemen could +get a cup of coffee or a glass of eau sucre; but no such +accommodation was to be had in the establishment. Not by any +possible bribery or persuasion could any meal be procured at any +other than the authorised hours. A visitor who should enter the +salle a manger more than ten minutes after the last bell would be +looked at very sourly by Madame Bauche, who on all occasions sat at +the top of her own table. Should any one appear as much as half an +hour late, he would receive only his share of what had not been +handed round. But after the last dish had been so handed, it was +utterly useless for any one to enter the room at all. + +Her appearance at the period of our tale was perhaps not altogether +in her favour. She was about sixty years of age and was very stout +and short in the neck. She wore her own gray hair, which at dinner +was always tidy enough; but during the 'whole day previous to that +hour she might be seen with it escaping from under her cap in extreme +disorder. Her eyebrows were large and bushy, but those alone would +not have given to her face that look of indomitable sternness which +it possessed. Her eyebrows were serious in their effect, but not so +serious as the pair of green spectacles which she always wore under +them. It was thought by those who had analysed the subject that the +great secret of Madame Bauche's power lay in her green spectacles. + +Her custom was to move about and through the whole establishment +every day from breakfast till the period came for her to dress for +dinner. She would visit every chamber and every bath, walk once or +twice round the salle a manger, and very repeatedly round the +kitchen; she would go into every hole and corner, and peer into +everything through her green spectacles: and in these walks it was +not always thought pleasant to meet her. Her custom was to move very +slowly, with her hands generally clasped behind her back: she rarely +spoke to the guests unless she was spoken to, and on such occasions +she would not often diverge into general conversation. If any one +had aught to say connected with the business of the establishment, +she would listen, and then she would make her answers,--often not +pleasant in the hearing. + +And thus she walked her path through the world, a stern, hard, solemn +old woman, not without gusts of passionate explosion; but honest +withal, and not without some inward benevolence and true tenderness +of heart. Children she had had many, some seven or eight. One or +two had died, others had been married; she had sons settled far away +from home, and at the time of which we are now speaking but one was +left in any way subject to maternal authority. + +Adolphe Bauche was the only one of her children of whom much was +remembered by the present denizens and hangers-on of the hotel, he +was the youngest of the number, and having been born only very +shortly before the return of Madame Bauche to Vernet, had been +altogether reared there. It was thought by the world of those parts, +and rightly thought, that he was his mother's darling--more so than +had been any of his brothers and sisters,--the very apple of her eye +and gem of her life. At this time he was about twenty-five years of +age, and for the last two years had been absent from Vernet--for +reasons which will shortly be made to appear. He had been sent to +Paris to see something of the world, and learn to talk French instead +of the patois of his valley; and having left Paris had come down +south into Languedoc, and remained there picking up some agricultural +lore which it was thought might prove useful in the valley farms of +Vernet. He was now expected home again very speedily, much to his +mother's delight. + +That she was kind and gracious to her favourite child does not +perhaps give much proof of her benevolence; but she had also been +kind and gracious to the orphan child of a neighbour; nay, to the +orphan child of a rival innkeeper. At Vernet there had been more +than one water establishment, but the proprietor of the second had +died some few years after Madame Bauche had settled herself at the +place. His house had not thrived, and his only child, a little girl, +was left altogether without provision. + +This little girl, Marie Clavert, La Mere Bauche had taken into her +own house immediately after the father's death, although she had most +cordially hated that father. Marie was then an infant, and Madame +Bauche had accepted the charge without much thought, perhaps, as to +what might be the child's ultimate destiny. But since then she had +thoroughly done the duty of a mother by the little girl, who had +become the pet of the whole establishment, the favourite plaything of +Adolphe Bauche, and at last of course his early sweetheart. + +And then and therefore there had come troubles at Vernet. Of course +all the world of the valley had seen what was taking place and what +was likely to take place, long before Madame Bauche knew anything +about it. But at last it broke upon her senses that her son, Adolphe +Bauche, the heir to all her virtues and all her riches, the first +young man in that or any neighbouring valley, was absolutely +contemplating the idea of marrying that poor little orphan, Marie +Clavert! + +That any one should ever fall in love with Marie Clavert had never +occurred to Madame Bauche. She had always regarded the child as a +child, as the object of her charity, and as a little thing to be +looked on as poor Marie by all the world. She, looking through her +green spectacles, had never seen that Marie Clavert was a beautiful +creature, full of ripening charms, such as young men love to look on. +Marie was of infinite daily use to Madame Bauche in a hundred little +things about the house, and the old lady thoroughly recognised and +appreciated her ability. But for this very reason she had never +taught herself to regard Marie otherwise than as a useful drudge. +She was very fond of her protegee--so much so that she would listen +to her in affairs about the house when she would listen to no one +else;--but Marie's prettiness and grace and sweetness as a girl had +all been thrown away upon Maman Bauche, as Marie used to call her. + +But unluckily it had not been thrown away upon Adolphe. He had +appreciated, as it was natural that he should do, all that had been +so utterly indifferent to his mother; and consequently had fallen in +love. Consequently also he had told his love; and consequently also +Marie had returned his love. + +Adolphe had been hitherto contradicted but in few things, and thought +that all difficulty would be prevented by his informing his mother +that he wished to marry Marie Clavert. But Marie, with a woman's +instinct, had known better. She had trembled and almost crouched +with fear when she confessed her love; and had absolutely hid herself +from sight when Adolphe went forth, prepared to ask his mother's +consent to his marriage. + +The indignation and passionate wrath of Madame Bauche were past and +gone two years before the date of this story, and I need not +therefore much enlarge upon that subject. She was at first abusive +and bitter, which was bad for Marie; and afterwards bitter and +silent, which was worse. It was of course determined that poor Marie +should be sent away to some asylum for orphans or penniless paupers-- +in short anywhere out of the way. What mattered her outlook into the +world, her happiness, or indeed her very existence? The outlook and +happiness of Adolphe Bauche,--was not that to be considered as +everything at Vernet? + +But this terrible sharp aspect of affairs did not last very long. In +the first place La Mere Bauche had under those green spectacles a +heart that in truth was tender and affectionate, and after the first +two days of anger she admitted that something must be done for Marie +Clavert; and after the fourth day she acknowledged that the world of +the hotel, her world, would not go as well without Marie Clavert as +it would with her. And in the next place Madame Bauche had a friend +whose advice in grave matters she would sometimes take. This friend +had told her that it would be much better to send away Adolphe, since +it was so necessary that there should be a sending away of some one; +that he would be much benefited by passing some months of his life +away from his native valley; and that an absence of a year or two +would teach him to forget Marie, even if it did not teach Marie to +forget him. + +And we must say a word or two about this friend. At Vernet he was +usually called M. le Capitaine, though in fact he had never reached +that rank. He had been in the army, and having been wounded in the +leg while still a sous-lieutenant, had been pensioned, and had thus +been interdicted from treading any further the thorny path that leads +to glory. For the last fifteen years he had resided under the roof +of Madame Bauche, at first as a casual visitor, going and coming, but +now for many years as constant there as she was herself. + +He was so constantly called Le Capitaine that his real name was +seldom heard. It may however as well be known to us that this was +Theodore Campan. He was a tall, well-looking man; always dressed in +black garments, of a coarse description certainly, but scrupulously +clean and well brushed; of perhaps fifty years of age, and +conspicuous for the rigid uprightness of his back--and for a black +wooden leg. + +This wooden leg was perhaps the most remarkable trait in his +character. It was always jet black, being painted, or polished, or +japanned, as occasion might require, by the hands of the capitaine +himself. It was longer than ordinary wooden legs, as indeed the +capitaine was longer than ordinary men; but nevertheless it never +seemed in any way to impede the rigid punctilious propriety of his +movements. It was never in his way as wooden legs usually are in the +way of their wearers. And then to render it more illustrious it had +round its middle, round the calf of the leg we may so say, a band of +bright brass which shone like burnished gold. + +It had been the capitaine's custom, now for some years past, to +retire every evening at about seven o'clock into the sanctum +sanctorum of Madame Bauche's habitation, the dark little private +sitting-room in which she made out her bills and calculated her +profits, and there regale himself in her presence--and indeed at her +expense, for the items never appeared in the bill--with coffee and +cognac. I have said that there was never eating or drinking at the +establishment after the regular dinner-hours; but in so saying I +spoke of the world at large. Nothing further was allowed in the way +of trade; but in the way of friendship so much was now-a-days always +allowed to the capitaine. + +It was at these moments that Madame Bauche discussed her private +affairs, and asked for and received advice. For even Madame Bauche +was mortal; nor could her green spectacles without other aid carry +her through all the troubles of life. It was now five years since +the world of Vernet discovered that La Mere Bauche was going to marry +the capitaine; and for eighteen months the world of Vernet had been +full of this matter: but any amount of patience is at last +exhausted, and as no further steps in that direction were ever taken +beyond the daily cup of coffee, that subject died away--very much +unheeded by La Mere Bauche. + +But she, though she thought of no matrimony for herself, thought much +of matrimony for other people; and over most of those cups of evening +coffee and cognac a matrimonial project was discussed in these latter +days. It has been seen that the capitaine pleaded in Marie's favour +when the fury of Madame Bauche's indignation broke forth; and that +ultimately Marie was kept at home, and Adolphe sent away by his +advice. + +"But Adolphe cannot always stay away," Madame Bauche had pleaded in +her difficulty. The truth of this the capitaine had admitted; but +Marie, he said, might be married to some one else before two years +were over. And so the matter had commenced. + +But to whom should she be married? To this question the capitaine +had answered in perfect innocence of heart, that La Mere Bauche would +be much better able to make such a choice than himself. He did not +know how Marie might stand with regard to money. If madame would +give some little "dot," the affair, the capitaine thought, would be +more easily arranged. + +All these things took months to say, during which period Marie went +on with her work in melancholy listlessness. One comfort she had. +Adolphe, before he went, had promised to her, holding in his hand as +he did so a little cross which she had given him, that no earthly +consideration should sever them;--that sooner or later he would +certainly be her husband. Marie felt that her limbs could not work +nor her tongue speak were it not for this one drop of water in her +cup. + +And then, deeply meditating, La Mere Bauche hit upon a plan, and +herself communicated it to the capitaine over a second cup of coffee +into which she poured a full teaspoonful more than the usual +allowance of cognac. Why should not he, the capitaine himself, be +the man to marry Marie Clavert? + +It was a very startling proposal, the idea of matrimony for himself +never having as yet entered into the capitaine's head at any period +of his life; but La Mere Bauche did contrive to make it not +altogether unacceptable. As to that matter of dowry she was prepared +to be more than generous. She did love Marie well, and could find it +in her heart to give her anything--any thing except her son, her own +Adolphe. What she proposed was this. Adolphe, himself, would never +keep the baths. If the capitaine would take Marie for his wife, +Marie, Madame Bauche declared, should be the mistress after her +death; subject of course to certain settlements as to Adolphe's +pecuniary interests. + +The plan was discussed a thousand times, and at last so far brought +to bear that Marie was made acquainted with it--having been called in +to sit in presence with La Mere Bauche and her future proposed +husband. The poor girl manifested no disgust to the stiff ungainly +lover whom they assigned to her,--who through his whole frame was in +appearance almost as wooden as his own leg. On the whole, indeed, +Marie liked the capitaine, and felt that he was her friend; and in +her country such marriages were not uncommon. The capitaine was +perhaps a little beyond the age at which a man might usually be +thought justified in demanding the services of a young girl as his +nurse and wife, but then Marie of herself had so little to give-- +except her youth, and beauty, and goodness. + +But yet she could not absolutely consent; for was she not absolutely +pledged to her own Adolphe? And therefore, when the great pecuniary +advantages were, one by one, displayed before her, and when La Mere +Bauche, as a last argument, informed her that as wife of the +capitaine she would be regarded as second mistress in the +establishment and not as a servant, she could only burst out into +tears, and say that she did not know. + +"I will be very kind to you," said the capitaine; "as kind as a man +can be." + +Marie took his hard withered hand and kissed it; and then looked up +into his face with beseeching eyes which were not without avail upon +his heart. + +"We will not press her now," said the capitaine. "There is time +enough." + +But let his heart be touched ever so much, one thing was certain. It +could not be permitted that she should marry Adolphe. To that view +of the matter he had given in his unrestricted adhesion; nor could he +by any means withdraw it without losing altogether his position in +the establishment of Madame Bauche. Nor indeed did his conscience +tell him that such a marriage should be permitted. That would be too +much. If every pretty girl were allowed to marry the first young man +that might fall in love with her, what would the world come to? + +And it soon appeared that there was not time enough--that the time +was growing very scant. In three months Adolphe would be back. And +if everything was not arranged by that time, matters might still go +astray. + +And then Madame Bauche asked her final question: "You do not think, +do you, that you can ever marry Adolphe?" And as she asked it the +accustomed terror of her green spectacles magnified itself tenfold. +Marie could only answer by another burst of tears. + +The affair was at last settled among them. Marie said that she would +consent to marry the capitaine when she should hear from Adolphe's +own mouth that he, Adolphe, loved her no longer. She declared with +many tears that her vows and pledges prevented her from promising +more than this. It was not her fault, at any rate not now, that she +loved her lover. It was not her fault--not now at least--that she +was bound by these pledges. When she heard from his own mouth that +he had discarded her, then she would marry the capitaine--or indeed +sacrifice herself in any other way that La Mere Bauche might desire. +What would anything signify then? + +Madame Bauche's spectacles remained unmoved; but not her heart. +Marie, she told the capitaine, should be equal to herself in the +establishment, when once she was entitled to be called Madame Campan, +and she should be to her quite as a daughter. She should have her +cup of coffee every evening, and dine at the big table, and wear a +silk gown at church, and the servants should all call her Madame; a +great career should be open to her, if she would only give up her +foolish girlish childish love for Adolphe. And all these great +promises were repeated to Marie by the capitaine. + +But nevertheless there was but one thing in the world which in +Marie's eyes was of any value; and that one thing was the heart of +Adolphe Bauche. Without that she would be nothing; with that,--with +that assured, she could wait patiently till doomsday. + +Letters were written to Adolphe during all these eventful doings; and +a letter came from him saying that he greatly valued Marie's love, +but that as it had been clearly proved to him that their marriage +would be neither for her advantage, nor for his, he was willing to +give it up. He consented to her marriage with the capitaine, and +expressed his gratitude to his mother for the pecuniary advantages +which she had held out to him. Oh, Adolphe, Adolphe! But, alas, +alas! is not such the way of most men's hearts--and of the hearts of +some women? + +This letter was read to Marie, but it had no more effect upon her +than would have had some dry legal document. In those days and in +those places men and women did not depend much upon letters; nor when +they were written, was there expressed in them much of heart or of +feeling. Marie would understand, as she was well aware, the glance +of Adolphe's eye and the tone of Adolphe's voice; she would perceive +at once from them what her lover really meant, what he wished, what +in the innermost corner of his heart he really desired that she +should do. But from that stiff constrained written document she +could understand nothing. + +It was agreed therefore that Adolphe should return, and that she +would accept her fate from his mouth. The capitaine, who knew more +of human nature than poor Marie, felt tolerably sure of his bride. +Adolphe, who had seen something of the world, would not care very +much for the girl of his own valley. Money and pleasure, and some +little position in the world, would soon wean him from his love; and +then Marie would accept her destiny--as other girls in the same +position had done since the French world began. + +And now it was the evening before Adolphe's expected arrival. La +Mere Bauche was discussing the matter with the capitaine over the +usual cup of coffee. Madame Bauche had of late become rather nervous +on the matter, thinking that they had been somewhat rash in acceding +so much to Marie. It seemed to her that it was absolutely now left +to the two young lovers to say whether or no they would have each +other or not. Now nothing on earth could be further from Madame +Bauche's intention than this. Her decree and resolve was to heap +down blessings on all persons concerned--provided always that she +could have her own way; but, provided she did not have her own way, +to heap down,--anything but blessings. She had her code of morality +in this matter. She would do good if possible to everybody around +her. But she would not on any score be induced to consent that +Adolphe should marry Marie Clavert. Should that be in the wind she +would rid the house of Marie, of the capitaine, and even of Adolphe +himself. + +She had become therefore somewhat querulous, and self-opinionated in +her discussions with her friend. + +"I don't know," she said on the evening in question; "I don't know. +It may be all right; but if Adolphe turns against me, what are we to +do then?" + +"Mere Bauche," said the capitaine, sipping his coffee and puffing out +the smoke of his cigar, "Adolphe will not turn against us." It had +been somewhat remarked by many that the capitaine was more at home in +the house, and somewhat freer in his manner of talking with Madame +Bauche, since this matrimonial alliance had been on the tapis than he +had ever been before. La Mere herself observed it, and did not quite +like it; but how could she prevent it now? When the capitaine was +once married she would make him know his place, in spite of all her +promises to Marie. + +"But if he says he likes the girl?" continued Madame Bauche. + +"My friend, you may be sure that he will say nothing of the kind. He +has not been away two years without seeing girls as pretty as Marie. +And then you have his letter." + +"That is nothing, capitaine; he would eat his letter as quick as you +would eat an omelet aux fines herbes." + +Now the capitaine was especially quick over an omelet aux fines +herbes. + +"And, Mere Bauche, you also have the purse; he will know that he +cannot eat that, except with your good will." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Madame Bauche, "poor lad! He has not a sous in the +world unless I give it to him." But it did not seem that this +reflection was in itself displeasing to her. + +"Adolphe will now be a man of the world," continued the capitaine. +"He will know that it does not do to throw away everything for a pair +of red lips. That is the folly of a boy, and Adolphe will be no +longer a boy. Believe me, Mere Bauche, things will be right enough." + +"And then we shall have Marie sick and ill and half dying on our +hands," said Madame Bauche. + +This was not flattering to the capitaine, and so he felt it. +"Perhaps so, perhaps not," he said. "But at any rate she will get +over it. It is a malady which rarely kills young women--especially +when another alliance awaits them." + +"Bah!" said Madame Bauche; and in saying that word she avenged +herself for the too great liberty which the capitaine had lately +taken. He shrugged his shoulders, took a pinch of snuff and +uninvited helped himself to a teaspoonful of cognac. Then the +conference ended, and on the next morning before breakfast Adolphe +Bauche arrived. + +On that morning poor Marie hardly knew how to bear herself. A month +or two back, and even up to the last day or two, she had felt a sort +of confidence that Adolphe would be true to her; but the nearer came +that fatal day the less strong was the confidence of the poor girl. +She knew that those two long-headed, aged counsellors were plotting +against her happiness, and she felt that she could hardly dare hope +for success with such terrible foes opposed to her. On the evening +before the day Madame Bauche had met her in the passages, and kissed +her as she wished her good night. Marie knew little about +sacrifices, but she felt that it was a sacrificial kiss. + +In those days a sort of diligence with the mails for Olette passed +through Prades early in the morning, and a conveyance was sent from +Vernet to bring Adolphe to the baths. Never was prince or princess +expected with more anxiety. Madame Bauche was up and dressed long +before the hour, and was heard to say five several times that she was +sure he would not come. The capitaine was out and on the high road, +moving about with his wooden leg, as perpendicular as a lamp-post and +almost as black. Marie also was up, but nobody had seen her. She +was up and had been out about the place before any of them were +stirring; but now that the world was on the move she lay hidden like +a hare in its form. + +And then the old char-a-banc clattered up to the door, and Adolphe +jumped out of it into his mother's arms. He was fatter and fairer +than she had last seen him, had a larger beard, was more fashionably +clothed, and certainly looked more like a man. Marie also saw him +out of her little window, and she thought that he looked like a god. +Was it probable, she said to herself, that one so godlike would still +care for her? + +The mother was delighted with her son, who rattled away quite at his +ease. He shook hands very cordially with the capitaine--of whose +intended alliance with his own sweetheart he had been informed, and +then as he entered the house with his hand under his mother's arm, he +asked one question about her. "And where is Marie?" said he. +"Marie! oh upstairs; you shall see her after breakfast," said La Mere +Bauche. And so they entered the house, and went in to breakfast +among the guests. Everybody had heard something of the story, and +they were all on the alert to see the young man whose love or want of +love was considered to be of so much importance. + +"You will see that it will be all right," said the capitaine, +carrying his head very high. + +"I think so, I think so," said La Mere Bauche, who, now that the +capitaine was right, no longer desired to contradict him. + +"I know that it will be all right," said the capitaine. "I told you +that Adolphe would return a man; and he is a man. Look at him; he +does not care this for Marie Clavert;" and the capitaine, with much +eloquence in his motion, pitched over a neighbouring wall a small +stone which he held in his hand. + +And then they all went to breakfast with many signs of outward joy. +And not without some inward joy; for Madame Bauche thought she saw +that her son was cured of his love. In the mean time Marie sat up +stairs still afraid to show herself. + +"He has come," said a young girl, a servant in the house, running up +to the door of Marie's room. + +"Yes," said Marie; "I could see that he has come." + +"And, oh, how beautiful he is!" said the girl, putting her hands +together and looking up to the ceiling. Marie in her heart of hearts +wished that he was not half so beautiful, as then her chance of +having him might be greater. + +"And the company are all talking to him as though he were the +prefet," said the girl. + +"Never mind who is talking to him," said Marie; "go away, and leave +me--you are wanted for your work." Why before this was he not +talking to her? Why not, if he were really true to her? Alas, it +began to fall upon her mind that he would be false! And what then? +What should she do then? She sat still gloomily, thinking of that +other spouse that had been promised to her. + +As speedily after breakfast as was possible Adolphe was invited to a +conference in his mother's private room. She had much debated in her +own mind whether the capitaine should be invited to this conference +or no. For many reasons she would have wished to exclude him. She +did not like to teach her son that she was unable to manage her own +affairs, and she would have been well pleased to make the capitaine +understand that his assistance was not absolutely necessary to her. +But then she had an inward fear that her green spectacles would not +now be as efficacious on Adolphe, as they had once been, in old days, +before he had seen the world and become a man. It might be necessary +that her son, being a man, should be opposed by a man. So the +capitaine was invited to the conference. + +What took place there need not be described at length. The three +were closeted for two hours, at the end of which time they came forth +together. The countenance of Madame Bauche was serene and +comfortable; her hopes of ultimate success ran higher than ever. The +face of the capitaine was masked, as are always the faces of great +diplomatists; he walked placid and upright, raising his wooden leg +with an ease and skill that was absolutely marvellous. But poor +Adolphe's brow was clouded. Yes, poor Adolphe! for he was poor in +spirit, he had pledged himself to give up Marie, and to accept the +liberal allowance which his mother tendered him; but it remained for +him now to communicate these tidings to Marie herself. + +"Could not you tell her?" he had said to his mother, with very little +of that manliness in his face on which his mother now so prided +herself. But La Mere Bauche explained to him that it was a part of +the general agreement that Marie was to hear his decision from his +own mouth. + +"But you need not regard it," said the capitaine, with the most +indifferent air in the world. "The girl expects it. Only she has +some childish idea that she is bound till you yourself release her. +I don't think she will be troublesome." Adolphe at that moment did +feel that he should have liked to kick the capitaine out of his +mother's house. + +And where should the meeting take place? In the hall of the bath- +house, suggested Madame Bauche; because, as she observed, they could +walk round and round, and nobody ever went there at that time of day. +But to this Adolphe objected; it would be so cold and dismal and +melancholy. + +The capitaine thought that Mere Bauche's little parlour was the +place; but La Mere herself did not like this. They might be +overheard, as she well knew; and she guessed that the meeting would +not conclude without some sobs that would certainly be bitter and +might perhaps be loud. + +"Send her up to the grotto, and I will follow her," said Adolphe. On +this therefore they agreed. Now the grotto was a natural excavation +in a high rock, which stood precipitously upright over the +establishment of the baths. A steep zigzag path with almost never- +ending steps had been made along the face of the rock from a little +flower garden attached to the house which lay immediately under the +mountain. Close along the front of the hotel ran a little brawling +river, leaving barely room for a road between it and the door; over +this there was a wooden bridge leading to the garden, and some two or +three hundred yards from the bridge began the steps by which the +ascent was made to the grotto. + +When the season was full and the weather perfectly warm the place was +much frequented. There was a green table in it, and four or five +deal chairs; a green garden seat also was there, which however had +been removed into the innermost back corner of the excavation, as its +hinder legs were somewhat at fault. A wall about two feet high ran +along the face of it, guarding its occupants from the precipice. In +fact it was no grotto, but a little chasm in the rock, such as we +often see up above our heads in rocky valleys, and which by means of +these steep steps had been turned into a source of exercise and +amusement for the visitors at the hotel. + +Standing at the wall one could look down into the garden, and down +also upon the shining slate roof of Madame Bauche's house; and to the +left might be seen the sombre, silent, snow-capped top of stern old +Canigou, king of mountains among those Eastern Pyrenees. + +And so Madame Bauche undertook to send Marie up to the grotto, and +Adolphe undertook to follow her thither. It was now spring; and +though the winds had fallen and the snow was no longer lying on the +lower peaks, still the air was fresh and cold, and there was no +danger that any of the few guests at the establishment would visit +the place. + +"Make her put on her cloak, Mere Bauche," said the capitaine, who did +not wish that his bride should have a cold in her head on their +wedding-day. La Mere Bauche pished and pshawed, as though she were +not minded to pay any attention to recommendations on such subjects +from the capitaine. But nevertheless when Marie was seen slowly to +creep across the little bridge about fifteen minutes after this time, +she had a handkerchief on her head, and was closely wrapped in a dark +brown cloak. + +Poor Marie herself little heeded the cold fresh air, but she was glad +to avail herself of any means by which she might hide her face. When +Madame Bauche sought her out in her own little room, and with a +smiling face and kind kiss bade her go to the grotto, she knew, or +fancied that she knew that it was all over. + +"He will tell you all the truth,--how it all is," said La Mere. "We +will do all we can, you know, to make you happy, Marie. But you must +remember what Monsieur le Cure told us the other day. In this vale +of tears we cannot have everything; as we shall have some day, when +our poor wicked souls have been purged of all their wickedness. Now +go, dear, and take your cloak." + +"Yes, maman." + +"And Adolphe will come to you. And try and behave well, like a +sensible girl." + +"Yes, maman,"--and so she went, bearing on her brow another +sacrificial kiss--and bearing in her heart such an unutterable load +of woe! + +Adolphe had gone out of the house before her; but standing in the +stable yard, well within the gate so that she should not see him, he +watched her slowly crossing the bridge and mounting the first flight +of the steps. He had often seen her tripping up those stairs, and +had, almost as often, followed her with his quicker feet. And she, +when she would hear him, would run; and then he would catch her +breathless at the top, and steal kisses from her when all power of +refusing them had been robbed from her by her efforts at escape. +There was no such running now, no such following, no thought of such +kisses. + +As for him, he would fain have skulked off and shirked the interview +had he dared. But he did not dare; so he waited there, out of heart, +for some ten minutes, speaking a word now and then to the bath-man, +who was standing by, just to show that he was at his ease. But the +bath-man knew that he was not at his ease. Such would-be lies as +those rarely achieve deception;--are rarely believed. And then, at +the end of the ten minutes, with steps as slow as Marie's had been, +he also ascended to the grotto. + +Marie had watched him from the top, but so that she herself should +not be seen. He however had not once lifted up his head to look for +her; but with eyes turned to the ground had plodded his way up to the +cave. When he entered she was standing in the middle, with her eyes +downcast and her hands clasped before her. She had retired some way +from the wall, so that no eyes might possibly see her but those of +her false lover. There she stood when he entered, striving to stand +motionless, but trembling like a leaf in every limb. + +It was only when he reached the top step that he made up his mind how +he would behave. Perhaps after all, the capitaine was right; perhaps +she would not mind it. + +"Marie," said he, with a voice that attempted to be cheerful; "this +is an odd place to meet in after such a long absence," and he held +out his hand to her. But only his hand! He offered her no salute. +He did not even kiss her cheek as a brother would have done! Of the +rules of the outside world it must be remembered that poor Marie knew +but little. He had been a brother to her before he had become her +lover. + +But Marie took his hand saying, "Yes, it has been very long." + +"And now that I have come back," he went on to say, "it seems that we +are all in a confusion together. I never knew such a piece of work. +However, it is all for the best, I suppose." + +"Perhaps so," said Marie, still trembling violently, and still +looking upon the ground. And then there was silence between them for +a minute or so. + +"I tell you what it is, Marie," said Adolphe at last, dropping her +hand and making a great effort to get through the work before him. +"I am afraid we two have been very foolish. Don't you think we have +now? It seems quite clear that we can never get ourselves married. +Don't you see it in that light?" + +Marie's head turned round and round with her, but she was not of the +fainting order. She took three steps backwards and leant against the +wall of the cave. She also was trying to think how she might best +fight her battle. Was there no chance for her? Could no eloquence, +no love prevail? On her own beauty she counted but little; but might +not prayers do something, and a reference to those old vows which had +been so frequent, so eager, so solemnly pledged between them? + +"Never get ourselves married!" she said, repeating his words. +"Never, Adolphe? Can we never be married?" + +"Upon my word, my dear girl, I fear not. You see my mother is so +dead against it." + +"But we could wait; could we not?" + +"Ah, but that's just it, Marie. We cannot wait. We must decide +now,--to-day. You see I can do nothing without money from her--and +as for you, you see she won't even let you stay in the house unless +you marry old Campan at once. He's a very good sort of fellow +though, old as he is. And if you do marry him, why you see you'll +stay here, and have it all your own way in everything. As for me, I +shall come and see you all from time to time, and shall be able to +push my way as I ought to do." + +"Then, Adolphe, you wish me to marry the capitaine?" + +"Upon my honour I think it is the best thing you can do; I do +indeed." + +"Oh, Adolphe!" + +"What can I do for you, you know? Suppose I was to go down to my +mother and tell her that I had decided to keep you myself; what would +come of it? Look at it in that light, Marie." + +"She could not turn you out--you her own son!" + +"But she would turn you out; and deuced quick, too, I can assure you +of that; I can, upon my honour." + +"I should not care that," and she made a motion with her hand to show +how indifferent she would be to such treatment as regarded herself. +"Not that--; if I still had the promise of your love." + +"But what would you do?" + +"I would work. There are other houses beside that one," and she +pointed to the slate roof of the Bauche establishment. + +"And for me--I should not have a penny in the world," said the young +man. + +She came up to him and took his right hand between both of hers and +pressed it warmly, oh, so warmly. "You would have my love," said +she; "my deepest, warmest best heart's love should want nothing more, +nothing on earth, if I could still have yours." And she leaned +against his shoulder and looked with all her eyes into his face. + +"But, Marie, that's nonsense, you know." + +"No, Adolphe, it is not nonsense. Do not let them teach you so. +What does love mean, if it does not mean that? Oh, Adolphe, you do +love me, you do love me, you do love me?" + +"Yes;--I love you," he said slowly;--as though he would not have said +it, if he could have helped it. And then his arm crept slowly round +her waist, as though in that also he could not help himself. + +"And do not I love you?" said the passionate girl. "Oh, I do, so +dearly; with all my heart, with all my soul. Adolphe, I so love you, +that I cannot give you up. Have I not sworn to be yours; sworn, +sworn a thousand times? How can I marry that man! Oh Adolphe how +can you wish that I should marry him?" And she clung to him, and +looked at him, and besought him with her eyes. + +"I shouldn't wish it;--only--" and then he paused. It was hard to +tell her that he was willing to sacrifice her to the old man because +he wanted money from his mother. + + "Only what! But Adolphe, do not wish it at all! Have you not sworn +that I should be your wife? Look here, look at this;" and she +brought out from her bosom a little charm that he had given her in +return for that cross. "Did you not kiss that when you swore before +the figure of the Virgin that I should be your wife? And do you not +remember that I feared to swear too, because your mother was so +angry; and then you made me? After that, Adolphe! Oh, Adolphe! +Tell me that I may have some hope. I will wait; oh, I will wait so +patiently." + +He turned himself away from her and walked backwards and forwards +uneasily through the grotto. He did love her;--love her as such men +do love sweet, pretty girls. The warmth of her hand, the affection +of her touch, the pure bright passion of her tear-laden eye had re- +awakened what power of love there was within him. But what was he to +do? Even if he were willing to give up the immediate golden hopes +which his mother held out to him, how was he to begin, and then how +carry out this work of self-devotion? Marie would be turned away, +and he would be left a victim in the hands of his mother, and of that +stiff, wooden-legged militaire;--a penniless victim, left to mope +about the place without a grain of influence or a morsel of pleasure. + +"But what can we do?" he exclaimed again, as he once more met Marie's +searching eye. + +"We can be true and honest, and we can wait," she said, coming close +up to him and taking hold of his arm. "I do not fear it; and she is +not my mother, Adolphe. You need not fear your own mother." + +"Fear! no, of course I don't fear. But I don't see how the very +devil we can manage it." + +"Will you let me tell her that I will not marry the capitaine; that I +will not give up your promises; and then I am ready to leave the +house?" + +"It would do no good." + +"It would do every good, Adolphe, if I had your promised word once +more; if I could hear from your own voice one more tone of love. Do +you not remember this place? It was here that you forced me to say +that I loved you. It is here also that you will tell me that I have +been deceived." + +"It is not I that would deceive you," he said. "I wonder that you +should be so hard upon me. God knows that I have trouble enough." + +"Well, if I am a trouble to you, be it so. Be it as you wish," and +she leaned back against the wall of the rock, and crossing her arms +upon her breast looked away from him and fixed her eyes upon the +sharp granite peaks of Canigou. + +He again betook himself to walk backwards and forwards through the +cave. He had quite enough of love for her to make him wish to marry +her; quite enough now, at this moment, to make the idea of her +marriage with the capitaine very distasteful to him; enough probably +to make him become a decently good husband to her, should fate enable +him to marry her; but not enough to enable him to support all the +punishment which would be the sure effects of his mother's +displeasure. Besides, he had promised his mother that he would give +up Marie;--had entirely given in his adhesion to that plan of the +marriage with the capitaine. He had owned that the path of life as +marked out for him by his mother was the one which it behoved him, as +a man, to follow. It was this view of his duties as a man which had +I been specially urged on him with all the capitaine's eloquence. +And old Campan had entirely succeeded. It is so easy to get the +assent of such young men, so weak in mind and so weak in pocket, when +the arguments are backed by a promise of two thousand francs a year. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," at last he said. "I'll get my mother +by herself, and will ask her to let the matter remain as it is for +the present." + +"Not if it be a trouble, M. Adolphe;" and the proud girl still held +her hands upon her bosom, and still looked towards the mountain. + +"You know what I mean, Marie. You can understand how she and the +capitaine are worrying me." + +"But tell me, Adolphe, do you love me?" + +"You know I love you, only." + +"And you will not give me up?" + +"I will ask my mother. I will try and make her yield." + +Marie could not feel that she received much confidence from her +lover's promise; but still, even that, weak and unsteady as it was, +even that was better than absolute fixed rejection. So she thanked +him, promised him with tears in her eyes that she would always, +always be faithful to him, and then bade him go down to the house. +She would follow, she said, as soon as his passing had ceased to be +observed. + +Then she looked at him as though she expected some sign of renewed +love. But no such sign was vouchsafed to her. Now that she thirsted +for the touch of his lip upon her check, it was denied to her. He +did as she bade him; he went down, slowly loitering, by himself; and +in about half an hour she followed him, and unobserved crept to her +chamber. + +Again we will pass over what took place between the mother and the +son; but late in that evening, after the guests had gone to bed, +Marie received a message, desiring her to wait on Madame Bauche in a +small salon which looked out from one end of the house. It was +intended as a private sitting-room should any special stranger arrive +who required such accommodation, and therefore was but seldom used. +Here she found La Mere Bauche sitting in an arm-chair behind a small +table on which stood two candles; and on a sofa against the wall sat +Adolphe. The capitaine was not in the room. + +"Shut the door, Marie, and come in and sit down," said Madame Bauche. +It was easy to understand from the tone of her voice that she was +angry and stern, in an unbending mood, and resolved to carry out to +the very letter all the threats conveyed by those terrible +spectacles. + +Marie did as she was bid. She closed the door and sat down on the +chair that was nearest to her. + +"Marie," said La Mere Bauche--and the voice sounded fierce in the +poor girl's ears, and an angry fire glimmered through the green +glasses--"what is all this about that I hear? Do you dare to say +that you hold my son bound to marry you?" And then the august mother +paused for an answer. + +But Marie had no answer to give. See looked suppliantly towards her +lover, as though beseeching him to carry on the fight for her. But +if she could not do battle for herself, certainly he could not do it +for her. What little amount of fighting he had had in him, had been +thoroughly vanquished before her arrival. + +"I will have an answer, and that immediately," said Madame Bauche. +"I am not going to be betrayed into ignominy and disgrace by the +object of my own charity. Who picked you out of the gutter, miss, +and brought you up and fed you, when you would otherwise have gone to +the foundling? And this is your gratitude for it all? You are not +satisfied with being fed and clothed and cherished by me, but you +must rob me of my son! Know this then, Adolphe shall never marry a +child of charity such as you are." + +Marie sat still, stunned by the harshness of these words. La Mere +Bauche had often scolded her; indeed, she was given to much scolding; +but she had scolded her as a mother may scold a child. And when this +story of Marie's love first reached her ears, she had been very +angry; but her anger had never brought her to such a pass as this. +Indeed, Marie had not hitherto been taught to look at the matter in +this light. No one had heretofore twitted her with eating the bread +of charity. It had not occurred to her that on this account she was +unfit to be Adolphe's wife. There, in that valley, they were all so +nearly equal, that no idea of her own inferiority had ever pressed +itself upon her mind. But now--! + +When the voice ceased she again looked at him; but it was no longer a +beseeching look. Did he also altogether scorn her? That was now the +inquiry which her eyes were called upon to make. No; she could not +say that he did. It seemed to her that his energies were chiefly +occupied in pulling to pieces the tassel on the sofa cushion. + +"And now, miss, let me know at once whether this nonsense is to be +over or not," continued La Mere Bauche; "and I will tell you at once, +I am not going to maintain you here, in my house, to plot against our +welfare and happiness. As Marie Clavert you shall not stay here. +Capitaine Campan is willing to marry you; and as his wife I will keep +my word to you, though you little deserve it. If you refuse to marry +him, you must go. As to my son, he is there; and he will tell you +now, in my presence, that he altogether declines the honour you +propose for him." + +And then she ceased, waiting for an answer, drumming the table with a +wafer stamp which happened to be ready to her hand; but Marie said +nothing. Adolphe had been appealed to; but Adolphe had not yet +spoken. + +"Well, miss?" said La Mere Bauche + +Then Marie rose from her seat, and walking round she touched Adolphe +lightly on the shoulder. "Adolphe," she said, "it is for you to +speak now. I will do as you bid me." + +He gave a long sigh, looked first at Marie and then at his mother, +shook himself slightly, and then spoke: "Upon my word, Marie, I +think mother is right. It would never do for us to marry; it would +not indeed." + +"Then it is decided," said Marie, returning to her chair. + +"And you will marry the capitaine?" said La Mere Bauche. + +Marie merely bowed her head in token of acquiescence. "Then we are +friends again. Come here, Marie, and kiss me. You must know that it +is my duty to take care of my own son. But I don't want to be angry +with you if I can help it; I don't indeed. When once you are Madame +Campan, you shall be my own child; and you shall have any room in the +house you like to choose--there!" And she once more imprinted a kiss +on Marie's cold forehead. + +How they all got out of the room, and off to their own chambers, I +can hardly tell. But in five minutes from the time of this last kiss +they were divided. La Mere Bauche had patted Marie, and smiled on +her, and called her her dear good little Madame Campan, her young +little Mistress of the Hotel Bauche; and had then got herself into +her own room, satisfied with her own victory. + +Nor must my readers be too severe on Madame Bauche. She had already +done much for Marie Clavert; and when she found herself once more by +her own bedside, she prayed to be forgiven for the cruelty which she +felt that she had shown to the orphan. But in making this prayer, +with her favourite crucifix in her hand and the little image of the +Virgin before her, she pleaded her duty to her son. Was it not +right, she asked the Virgin, that she should save her son from a bad +marriage? And then she promised ever so much of recompense, both to +the Virgin and to Marie; a new trousseau for each, with candles to +the Virgin, with a gold watch and chain for Marie, as soon as she +should be Marie Campan. She had been cruel; she acknowledged it. +But at such a crisis was it not defensible? And then the recompense +should be so full! + +But there was one other meeting that night, very short indeed, but +not the less significant. Not long after they had all separated, +just so long as to allow of the house being quiet, Adolphe, still +sitting in his room, meditating on what the day had done for him, +heard a low tap at his door. "Come in," he said, as men always do +say; and Marie opening the door, stood just within the verge of his +chamber. She had on her countenance neither the soft look of +entreating love which she had worn up there in the grotto, nor did +she appear crushed and subdued as she had done before his mother. +She carried her head somewhat more erect than usual, and looked +boldly out at him from under her soft eyelashes. There might still +be love there, but it was love proudly resolving to quell itself. +Adolphe, as he looked at her, felt that he was afraid of her. + +"It is all over then between us, M. Adolphe?" she said. + +"Well, yes. Don't you think it had better be so, eh, Marie?" + +"And this is the meaning of oaths and vows, sworn to each other so +sacredly?" + +"But, Marie, you heard what my mother said." + +"Oh, sir! I have not come to ask you again to love me. Oh no! I am +not thinking of that. But this, this would be a lie if I kept it +now; it would choke me if I wore it as that man's wife. Take it +back;" and she tendered to him the little charm which she had always +worn round her neck since he had given it to her. He took it +abstractedly, without thinking what he did, and placed it on his +dressing-table. + +"And you," she continued, "can you still keep that cross? Oh, no! +you must give me back that. It would remind you too often of vows +that were untrue." + +"Marie," he said, "do not be so harsh to me." + +"Harsh!" said she, "no; there has been enough of harshness. I would +not be harsh to you, Adolphe. But give me the cross; it would prove +a curse to you if you kept it." + +He then opened a little box which stood upon the table, and taking +out the cross gave it to her. + +"And now good-bye," she said. "We shall have but little more to say +to each other. I know this now, that I was wrong ever to have loved +you. I should have been to you as one of the other poor girls in the +house. But, oh! how was I to help it?" To this he made no answer, +and she, closing the door softly, went back to her chamber. And thus +ended the first day of Adolphe Bauche's return to his own house. + +On the next morning the capitaine and Marie were formally betrothed. +This was done with some little ceremony, in the presence of all the +guests who were staying at the establishment, and with all manner of +gracious acknowledgments of Marie's virtues. It seemed as though La +Mere Bauche could not be courteous enough to her. There was no more +talk of her being a child of charity; no more allusion now to the +gutter. La Mere Bauche with her own hand brought her cake with a +glass of wine after her betrothal was over, and patted her on the +cheek, and called her her dear little Marie Campan. And then the +capitaine was made up of infinite politeness, and the guests all +wished her joy, and the servants of the house began to perceive that +she was a person entitled to respect. How different was all this +from that harsh attack that was made on her the preceding evening! +Only Adolphe,--he alone kept aloof. Though he was present there he +said nothing. He, and he only, offered no congratulations. + +In the midst of all these gala doings Marie herself said little or +nothing. La Mere Bauche perceived this, but she forgave it. Angrily +as she had expressed herself at the idea of Marie's daring to love +her son, she had still acknowledged within her own heart that such +love had been natural. She could feel no pity for Marie as long as +Adolphe was in danger; but now she knew how to pity her. So Marie +was still petted and still encouraged, though she went through the +day's work sullenly and in silence. + +As to the capitaine it was all one to him. He was a man of the +world. He did not expect that he should really be preferred, con +amore, to a young fellow like Adolphe. But he did expect that Marie, +like other girls, would do as she was bid; and that in a few days she +would regain her temper and be reconciled to her life. + +And then the marriage was fixed for a very early day; for as La Mere +said, "What was the use of waiting? All their minds were made up +now, and therefore the sooner the two were married the better. Did +not the capitaine think so?" + +The capitaine said that he did think so. + +And then Marie was asked. It was all one to her, she said. Whatever +Maman Bauche liked, that she would do; only she would not name a day +herself. Indeed she would neither do nor say anything herself which +tended in any way to a furtherance of these matrimonials. But then +she acquiesced, quietly enough if not readily, in what other people +did and said; and so the marriage was fixed for the day week after +Adolphe's return. + +The whole of that week passed much in the same way. The servants +about the place spoke among themselves of Marie's perverseness, +obstinacy, and ingratitude, because she would not look pleased, or +answer Madame Bauche's courtesies with gratitude; but La Mere herself +showed no signs of anger. Marie had yielded to her, and she required +no more. And she remembered also the harsh words she had used to +gain her purpose; and she reflected on all that Marie had lost. On +these accounts she was forbearing and exacted nothing--nothing but +that one sacrifice which was to be made in accordance to her wishes. + +And it was made. They were married in the great salon, the dining- +room, immediately after breakfast. Madame Bauche was dressed in a +new puce silk dress, and looked very magnificent on the occasion. +She simpered and smiled, and looked gay even in spite of her +spectacles; and as the ceremony was being performed, she held fast +clutched in her hand the gold watch and chain which were intended for +Marie as soon as ever the marriage should be completed. + +The capitaine was dressed exactly as usual, only that all his clothes +were new. Madame Bauche had endeavoured to persuade him to wear a +blue coat; but he answered that such a change would not, he was sure, +be to Marie's taste. To tell the truth, Marie would hardly have +known the difference had he presented himself in scarlet vestments. + +Adolphe, however, was dressed very finely, but he did not make +himself prominent on the occasion. Marie watched him closely, though +none saw that she did so; and of his garments she could have given an +account with much accuracy--of his garments, ay! and of every look. +"Is he a man," she said at last to herself, "that he can stand by and +see all this?" + +She too was dressed in silk. They had put on her what they pleased, +and she bore the burden of her wedding finery without complaint and +without pride. There was no blush on her face as she walked up to +the table at which the priest stood, nor hesitation in her low voice +as she made the necessary answers. She put her hand into that of the +capitaine when required to do so; and when the ring was put on her +finger she shuddered, but ever so slightly. No one observed it but +La Mere Bauche. "In one week she will be used to it, and then we +shall all be happy," said La Mere to herself. "And I,--I will be so +kind to her!" + +And so the marriage was completed, and the watch was at once given to +Marie. "Thank you, maman," said she, as the trinket was fastened to +her girdle. Had it been a pincushion that had cost three sous, it +would have affected her as much. + +And then there was cake and wine and sweetmeats; and after a few +minutes Marie disappeared. For an hour or so the capitaine was taken +up with the congratulating of his friends, and with the efforts +necessary to the wearing of his new honours with an air of ease; but +after that time he began to be uneasy because his wife did not come +to him. At two or three in the afternoon he went to La Mere Bauche +to complain. "This lackadaisical nonsense is no good," he said. "At +any rate it is too late now. Marie had better come down among us and +show herself satisfied with her husband." + +But Madame Bauche took Marie's part. "You must not be too hard on +Marie," she said. "She has gone through a good deal this week past, +and is very young; whereas, capitaine, you are not very young." + +The capitaine merely shrugged his shoulders. In the mean time Mere +Bauche went up to visit her protegee in her own room, and came down +with a report that she was suffering from a headache. She could not +appear at dinner, Madame Bauche said; but would make one at the +little party which was to be given in the evening. With this the +capitaine was forced to be content. + +The dinner therefore went on quietly without her, much as it did on +other ordinary days. And then there was a little time for vacancy, +during which the gentlemen drank their coffee and smoked their cigars +at the cafe, talking over the event that had taken place that +morning, and the ladies brushed their hair and added some ribbon or +some brooch to their usual apparel. Twice during this time did +Madame Bauche go up to Marie's room with offers to assist her. "Not +yet, maman; not quite yet," said Marie piteously through her tears, +and then twice did the green spectacles leave the room, covering eyes +which also were not dry. Ah! what had she done? What had she dared +to take upon herself to do? She could not undo it now. + +And then it became quite dark in the passages and out of doors, and +the guests assembled in the salon. La Mere came in and out three or +four times, uneasy in her gait and unpleasant in her aspect, and +everybody began to see that things were wrong. "She is ill, I am +afraid," said one. "The excitement has been too much," said a +second; "and he is so old," whispered a third. And the capitaine +stalked about erect on his wooden leg, taking snuff, and striving to +look indifferent; but he also was uneasy in his mind. + +Presently La Mere came in again, with a quicker step than before, and +whispered something, first to Adolphe and then to the capitaine, +whereupon they both followed her out of the room. + +"Not in her chamber," said Adolphe. + +"Then she must be in yours," said the capitaine. + +"She is in neither," said La Mere Bauche, with her sternest voice; +"nor is she in the house!" + +And now there was no longer an affectation of indifference on the +part of any of them. They were anything but indifferent. The +capitaine was eager in his demands that the matter should still be +kept secret from the guests. She had always been romantic, he said, +and had now gone out to walk by the river side. They three and the +old bath-man would go out and look for her. + +"But it is pitch dark," said La Mere Bauche. + +"We will take lanterns," said the capitaine. And so they sallied +forth with creeping steps over the gravel, so that they might not be +heard by those within, and proceeded to search for the young wife. + +"Marie! Marie!" said La Mere Bauche, in piteous accents; "do come to +me; pray do!" + +"Hush!" said the capitaine. "They'll hear you if you call." He +could not endure that the world should learn that a marriage with him +had been so distasteful to Marie Clavert. + +"Marie, dear Marie!" called Madame Bauche, louder than before, quite +regardless of the capitaine' s feelings; but no Marie answered. In +her innermost heart now did La Mere Bauche wish that this cruel +marriage had been left undone. + +Adolphe was foremost with his lamp, but he hardly dared to look in +the spot where he felt that it was most likely that she should have +taken refuge. How could he meet her again, alone, in that grotto? +Yet he alone of the four was young. It was clearly for him to +ascend. "Marie," he shouted, "are you there?" as he slowly began the +long ascent of the steps. + +But he had hardly begun to mount when a whirring sound struck his +ear, and he felt that the air near him was moved; and then there was +a crash upon the lower platform of rock, and a moan, repeated twice, +but so faintly, and a rustle of silk, and a slight struggle somewhere +as he knew within twenty paces of him; and then all was again quiet +and still in the night air. + +"What was that?" asked the capitaine in a hoarse voice. He made his +way half across the little garden, and he also was within forty or +fifty yards of the flat rock. But Adolphe was unable to answer him. +He had fainted and the lamp had fallen from his hands and rolled to +the bottom of the steps. + +But the capitaine, though even his heart was all but quenched within +him, had still strength enough to make his way up to the rock; and +there, holding the lantern above his eyes, he saw all that was left +for him to see of his bride. + +As for La Mere Bauche, she never again sat at the head of that +table,--never again dictated to guests,--never again laid down laws +for the management of any one. A poor bedridden old woman, she lay +there in her house at Vernet for some seven tedious years, and then +was gathered to her fathers. + +As for the capitaine--but what matters? He was made of sterner +stuff. What matters either the fate of such a one as Adolphe Bauche? + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of La Mere Bauche, by Anthony Trollope + diff --git a/old/merbu10.zip b/old/merbu10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..40970ba --- /dev/null +++ b/old/merbu10.zip |